1/ On the third day of Trump’s election interference case involving falsified business records to conceal a hush money payment late in the 2016 campaign, two of the seven jurors already seated in the case were removed. One expressed concerns after being identified publicly based on details reported by the media. After being dismissed, Judge Juan Merchan blamed journalists for being too accurate in their reporting, and ordered the press to not report on certain details about prospective jurors going forward. The second juror was dismissed over concerns that he may not have been truthful about whether he’d ever been accused or convicted of a crime. Prosecutors said they found an article featuring a person with the same name who was arrested in Westchester in the 1990s for tearing down political ads. The juror reportedly “expressed annoyance about how much information was out there about him in the public.” Seven new jurors were seated hours later, bringing the total number to 12 jurors. The next six jurors selected will serve as alternates. Meanwhile, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office re-upped its request for Merchan to hold Trump in contempt of court for violating his gag order seven more times since Monday, calling the behavior “ridiculous.” Merchan said he would take up the matter next week. (Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / NBC News / Politico / Bloomberg / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / CBS News / NBC News / Axios)
2/ House Republicans privately urged Speaker Mike Johnson to change the chamber’s rules and raise the threshold required to trigger the procedure to oust the speaker. Doing so would allow Johnson to pass the $95 billion foreign aid package and still keep his job over the opposition from the House Freedom Caucus and other conservatives. Johnson, however, opted against the rule change, saying lowering the threshold for introducing a motion to vacate has “harmed this office and our House majority.” House Democrats have signaled they’ll provide the votes to overcome a planned blockade by conservatives and pass the long-stalled aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. However, if Republicans add political amendments or measures that weaken the bill, Democrats won’t provide the votes. Meanwhile, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene embarrassed herself and wasted everyone’s time by repeatedly proposing absurd and juvenile amendments to the foreign aid package, including “space laser technology on the southern border,” requiring lawmakers voting for Ukraine aid to “conscript in the Ukrainian military,” redirecting Ukraine aid to deport undocumented migrants, prohibiting aid for Ukraine unless the country bans abortion, and offsetting the cost of aid to Ukraine with the salaries of lawmakers who support it. In response, Florida Democrat Jared Moskowitz proposed renaming Greene’s office in the House the “Neville Chamberlain Room” (the British prime minister known for his policy of “appeasement” toward Adolf Hitler), and naming Greene “Vladimir Putin’s Special Envoy to the United States Congress.” The House is expected to hold a series of votes Saturday on the aid package with the Senate taking it up next week. (Punchbowl News / Axios / CNN / Politico / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / Washington Post)
3/ The Biden administration imposed new sanctions on Iran’s drone, steel, and auto industries in response to its missile attack on Israel. The new package is designed to “degrade and disrupt” Iran’s drone production. The U.K. also announced sanctions against Iranian military figures and organizations, and E.U. said they would increase sanctions against Iran. Tehran, meanwhile, said “We told the Americans in messages clearly” that Iran’s decision “to punish” Israel was “definite and final,” adding that they’re “not looking” for further escalation in the region. (Politico / Axios / Washington Post / NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post / CNN)
poll/ 53% of Americans under 30 say they’ll “definitely be voting” in the 2024 presidential election – on par with 2020 polling, which indicated 54% planned to vote. If the election were held today, 56% of likely young voters said they would vote for Biden, while 37% said they’d support Trump. (Harvard Youth Poll)
1/ Speaker Mike Johnson defied threats from his Republican colleagues to oust him and scheduled a vote on individual bills to fund Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan. Johnson plans to have the House vote on three individual foreign aid bills, a fourth bill sanctioning Russia, China, and Iran, and a fifth bill addressing border security measures. The package largely mirrors the Senate-passed $95 billion aid package, with the exception for the border security provisions. Johnson, however, will almost certainly need Democratic votes to get the package to the floor, as well as to save his job if he faces a motion to vacate. Biden endorsed the plan and urged Congress to work quickly. The House is expected to vote Saturday evening. (NBC News / Associated Press / CNN / Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / NPR / Axios / CNBC)
2/ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would “do everything necessary to defend itself.” Over the weekend, Iran launched more than 300 attack drones and cruise and ballistic missiles at Israel in response to an Israeli strike on Iran’s embassy in Syria that killed two Iranian generals. The U.S., U.K., and Germany have pressed Israel to not further escalate tensions with Iran and to instead be satisfied with its successful air defense that intercepted nearly all the missiles and drones. British Foreign Secretary David Cameron, however, said it’s “clear the Israelis are making a decision to act — we hope they do so in a way that does as little to escalate this as possible.” The U.S. and the E.U are also planning new sanctions on Iran meant to “degrade Iran’s military capacity.” Nevertheless, Netanyahu said Israel “will make our own decisions” about how to respond to Iran’s retaliatory strikes. Iran, meanwhile, warned that even the “tiniest invasion” by Israel would bring a “massive and harsh” response. (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / CNN / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press)
3/ For the second time in two weeks, Arizona House Republicans blocked an attempt to repeal the state’s 160-year-old near total ban on abortion, which was reinstated last week by the state Supreme Court. Despite pressure from Republican candidates facing competitive races in the state, including Trump and Kari Lake, the GOP-controlled legislature blocked the Democratic-led effort to repeal the abortion ban. Arizona Republicans hold a two-seat majority in both legislative chambers. Abortion rights advocates, meanwhile, say they’ve gathered enough signatures to put a proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would create a “fundamental right” to receive abortion care up until fetal viability, or about the 24th week of pregnancy. (New York Times / NBC News / CNN / ABC News / Politico / Wall Street Journal / Axios / The Guardian)
4/ The Senate dismissed the impeachment case against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. The Democratic-controlled Senate deemed both impeachment articles unconstitutional because they didn’t rise to the level of “high crimes and misdemeanors.” The trial was then adjourned without any votes to convict or acquit. House Republicans voted to impeach Mayorkas in February on their second try by a single vote over his handling of the southern border. He became the first Cabinet secretary to be impeached in nearly 150 years. (New York Times / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / NBC News / Politico / CNN)
1/ The House will vote on three individual bills to fund Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan. A fourth bill would wrap several Republican foreign policy proposals into one, including the seizure of Russian assets, and a House-approved bill that could ban TikTok in the U.S. In total, the legislative package roughly resembles the $95 billion aid bill the Senate passed two months ago. House Speaker Mike Johnson, however, doesn’t necessarily have the votes to bring the bills to the House floor and the House Freedom Caucus has threatened to oust him from the speakership if he moved forward with funding for Ukraine. Notably absent from the bills are any measures to address border security, which Republicans have demanded for months as a condition of approving aid to foreign countries. Further, it’s unclear if Johnson has the Senate’s support, given the chamber already passed bipartisan foreign aid legislation back in February, which has been sitting in the House ever since. (CNBC / Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / NPR)
2/ A second Republican agreed to co-sponsor an effort to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson from his job, less than 24 hours after Johnson outlined a plan to send aid to Ukraine and Israel. Rep. Thomas Massie, joining Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s attempt to end Johnson’s speakership, stood up during a closed-door Republican conference meeting and told Johnson to resign, saying “you’re not going to be the speaker much longer.” Johnson, meanwhile, dismissed the effort to remove him as speaker as “absurd,” saying: “I am not resigning.” Without Democratic support, Republicans would need a simple majority to oust their second speaker in six months. One Republican called the situation “a clusterfuck,” and another said: “We are screwed.” (Politico / CNN / Washington Post / The Hill / Axios / Wall Street Journal)
3/ House Republicans sent articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to the Senate. In February, House Republicans voted to impeach Mayorkas, citing his alleged failure to enforce border laws, reduce migrant crossings, and secure the southern border. Their first attempt to impeach Mayorkas failed when four Republicans joined Democrats in voting against the impeachment, but they were successful on their second try by a single vote. House Republicans have demanded a full trial, while the Democratic-controlled Senate is expected to dismiss the charges without a trial or conduct a speedy trial that ends without a conviction. At least one Republican Senator — Mitt Romney — has already said he’ll vote against a full trial. (NBC News / Washington Post / CNN / ABC News)
4/ The Supreme Court allowed Idaho to temporarily enforce a strict statewide ban on gender-affirming health care for transgender teenagers. The law makes it a felony to provide medical treatment, such as puberty-blocking drugs, hormone therapy, and surgical procedures, to transgender minors. Doctors could face up to 10 years in prison for providing gender-affirming care. The court did not address the merits of the issue, but whether the law could take effect as an appeal moves forward. (Washington Post / NBC News / CNN / NPR / Politico / ABC News / New York Times)
5/ The Supreme Court heard a challenge to the federal obstruction law that the Justice Department used to charge more than 350 pro-Trump rioters involved in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. The statute, which criminalizes efforts to obstruct, influence or impede any official proceeding, is also the basis for one of the four obstruction counts brought against Trump in a separate criminal case brought by special counsel Jack Smith. Conviction can result in a prison sentence of up to 20 years. The court appeared divided on the issue, with the conservative majority expressing concern with the Justice Department’s application of the law. The three liberals, meanwhile, seemed to agree that the federal obstruction law is broad enough to encompass the rioters who stormed the Capitol and disrupted Congress’ certification of Biden’s 2020 presidential election victory over Trump. A decision is expected by late June. (Associated Press / NPR / New York Times / Politico / NBC News / Bloomberg / Washington Post / CNN)
6/ On the second day of jury selection in Trump’s election interference case involving falsified business records to conceal a hush money payment late in the 2016 campaign, prosecutors moved to hold Trump in contempt for allegedly violating his gag order. The request to sanction Trump for violating his gag order by commenting on likely witnesses came on the second day of jury selection in the first-ever criminal trial of a U.S. president. “He is a criminal defendant, and like all criminal defendants, he is subject to court supervision,” assistant District Attorney Chris Conroy told Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan. The prosecutor asked Merchan to impose a $1,000 sanction for each of Trump’s three social media posts, order Trump to delete them, and to warn Trump that another violation could result in jail time. Merchan said he would hold a hearing on the request on April 24. Meanwhile, the first seven jurors were seated. Five more jurors and another six alternates still need to be picked. At one point, Merchan scolded Trump for muttering and gesturing while a prospective juror was being questioned, saying: “I won’t tolerate that. I will not have any jurors intimidated in this courtroom. I want to make this crystal clear.” (NBC News / CNN / CNBC / Politico / Associated Press / Washington Post / New York Times / Axios / Bloomberg)
Why Trump’s “hush money” case is bigger than hush money.
“The allegations are in substance, that Donald Trump falsified business records to conceal an agreement with others to unlawfully influence the 2016 presidential election.” (Washington Post)
poll/ 35% of Americans believe Trump did something illegal with regard to the hush money allegations, while 31% think he did something unethical without breaking the law, and 14% think he did nothing wrong at all. (Associated Press)
1/ Jury selection in Trump’s criminal hush money trial began, marking the first criminal prosecution of an American president. Trump is charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records as part of a scheme to conceal hush money payments during his 2016 campaign. If convicted, Trump could face up to four years in prison. The task of selecting 12 jurors and six alternates could take up to two weeks. More than half of the first 96 prospective jurors were dismissed after saying they can’t be fair or impartial, and the court adjourned for the day with no jurors chosen. Trump, meanwhile, appeared to nod off several times, sitting motionless in his seat at the defense table, his back slightly arched, his head drooping onto his chest, and his mouth going slack. Trump will be required to attend the trial each day, which will take place four days a week and could last eight weeks. This is the first of Trump’s four criminal prosecutions to go to trial. (New York Times / Associated Press / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Politico / NPR / NBC News / Axios)
2/ Biden warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against launching new strikes on Iran. Over the weekend, Iran launched a barrage of over 300 drones and missiles on Israel in retaliation for Israel’s assassination of two Iranian generals at the country’s embassy in Syria. Israeli air defense, supplemented by U.S. planes and warships, intercepted 99% of the incoming Iranian munitions. “You got a win. Take the win,” Biden told Netanyahu, warning him that the U.S. would not support or participate in any offensive counter-strike against Iran. In private, Biden has reportedly said he fears that Netanyahu is trying to drag the U.S. into a wider regional conflict. Nevertheless, Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant claimed that Israel had no choice but to respond to the attack, vowing to “exact a price.” Israel’s war Cabinet met for several hours and one official said Israel’s response to the Iranian attack may be “imminent,” but “will be coordinated with the Americans.” Iran, meanwhile, claimed its attack on Israel was “legitimate” and “responsible,” and that Tehran is not seeking to raise tension but will take “proportionate action” to defend itself. (Associated Press / New York Times / NBC News / CNN / Politico / Vox / Washington Post / NPR / Axios / Politico)
3/ The Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from Black Lives Matters organizer DeRay Mckesson, leaving in place a lower court decision that effectively eliminated the right to organize a protest in the states of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. At issue is whether an organizer of a protest can be held liable for injuries caused by another protester. Mckesson was sued by a Baton Rouge police officer, who was hit in the head with an object during a protest in July 2016 by an unknown assailant. Mckesson did not throw the object, and the fact is uncontested. Nevertheless, the officer sued Mckesson anyway because he was “in charge of the protest” and was “seen and heard giving orders” to protesters throughout the event. While there were no dissents, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote separately that the court’s refusal to hear the case “expresses no view about the merits of Mckesson’s claim.” Sotomayor, however, noted a First Amendment decision from the Supreme Court last year and said she expects the 5th Circuit to “give full and fair consideration to arguments” regarding that ruling’s impact in future proceedings in Mckesson’s case. (Vox / CNN / Daily Beast / USA Today / CBS News / NBC News)
4/ Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas missed the court’s scheduled cases with no explanation. The court typically provides an explanation for why a justice is absent. Chief Justice John Roberts, instead, said in court that Thomas “is not on the bench today” but would “participate fully” in the two cases being argued based on the briefs and transcripts. Thomas, 75, is the eldest of the nine justices, as well as the court’s longest-serving member. (Associated Press / Axios / NBC News)
1/ Biden is reportedly considering an executive order to limit the number of asylum-seekers who can cross the southern border. After the bipartisan Senate bill collapsed earlier this year, the Biden administration is studying whether Biden has the use authority in Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which gives the president the ability to block entry of certain immigrants if it would be “detrimental” to U.S. national interests. “We’re examining whether or not I have that power,” Biden said. “There’s no guarantee that I have that power all by myself without legislation. And some have suggested I should just go ahead and try it. And if I get shut down by the court, I get shut down by the court. But we’re trying to work that, work through that right now.” (Axios / Bloomberg)
2/ The Biden administration finalized a rule to close the “gun show loophole,” requiring people who sell firearms online and at gun shows to conduct background checks on customers. The new rule is estimated to impact more than 20,000 people engaged in unlicensed firearms sales. (Bloomberg / CNN)
3/ Biden will expand the boundaries of two national monuments in California: the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument and the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument. Biden set a goal of conserving 30% of America’s lands and waters by 2030. He has designated five new national monuments this term. (Washington Post)
4/ The top U.S. humanitarian aid official said famine is occurring in northern Gaza. Samantha Power, the administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, cited an assessment from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, which stated that the “latest evidence confirms that Famine is imminent in the northern governorates of the Gaza Strip and projected to occur anytime between mid-March and May 2024.” Power said the USAID “believe that assessment is credible.” The IPC classifies food shortages as a famine when at least 20% of households face an extreme lack of food, when at least 30% of children suffer from acute malnutrition, and when at least two adults or four children for every 10,000 people die each day from starvation or disease linked to malnutrition. Power said the rate of malnutrition among children in northern Gaza prior to Oct. 7 was “almost zero” but it now stands at one in three. (New York Times / CNN / Axios)
1/ The EPA finalized the first-ever national limits on toxic “forever chemicals” in drinking water, a group of human-made chemicals that are considered especially harmful because they don’t degrade, can accumulate in the body and the environment, and pose a health risk to people at even the smallest detectable levels of exposure. The new rule is expected to reduce drinking water exposure to these per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, for about 100 million people and prevent thousands of related illnesses and deaths. This is the first time the EPA has set a drinking water standard for a new contaminant since 1996. (Associated Press / NPR / Axios / Washington Post / New York Times / The Verge / Politico / Bloomberg)
2/ Judge Aileen Cannon agreed to shield the names of potential witnesses in Trump’s criminal classified documents case. Special counsel Jack Smith has been arguing since January that witnesses would likely face threats and harassment if their identities were revealed publicly. Among the people Smith was seeking to protect were FBI agents, Secret Service agents, “career civil servants and former close advisers” to Trump, including one who was so concerned about potential threats from “Trump world” that he refused to permit investigators to record an interview with him. Cannon, however, refused to categorically block witness statements from being disclosed, saying there was no basis for such a “sweeping” and “blanket” restriction on their inclusion in pretrial motions. (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / CNN / Associated Press)
3/ Hours after Arizona’s Supreme Court upheld a 160-year-old law banning nearly all abortions, Republicans in the state attempted to distance themselves from the ruling. Kari Lake, an Arizona Republican running for the U.S. Senate, denounced the ruling, saying it was “out of step with Arizonans” and called on state lawmakers to “come up” with a “solution that Arizonans can support.” Lake, a Trump ally and a 2020 election denier, however, had voiced support for the law in 2022, calling it a “great law” and an example for other states. Despite having supported abortion restrictions in the past two Arizona Republicans in the U.S. House representing districts that Biden won – Rep. Juan Ciscomani and Rep. David Schweikert – called the ruling a “disaster for women and providers” and that the issue “should be decided by Arizonans, not legislated from the bench,” urging the state legislature to “address this issue immediately.” Meanwhile, two days after saying states should make their own decisions about abortion Trump – who has repeatedly taken credit for the Supreme Court decision that ended the federal right to an abortion – said Arizona’s abortion law went too far. “That will be straightened out,” Trump suggested, adding that he wouldn’t sign a national abortion ban if he’s re-elected and passed by Congress. Abortion rights groups in Arizona said they’ve acquired enough signatures to put a constitutional amendment on abortion on the state’s ballot in November. (NBC News / Associated Press / CNN / Politico / Washington Post / Axios)
4/ House conservatives revolted against their own leadership and blocked legislation to extend a warrantless surveillance program after Trump urged lawmakers to “kill” it. It was Mike Johnson’s third attempt to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a controversial surveillance law that Democratic and Republican administrations have claimed is vital to protecting Americans from terrorists, hackers, and other foreign threats. In a 228 to 193 vote, 19 House Republicans blocked the House from debating their own party’s legislation. Although most Democrats and the White House support extending FISA, House Democrats refused to provide votes because Republicans had bundled the measure with an unrelated resolution condemning Biden’s border policies. (Politico / CNN / New York Times / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
5/ Trump’s former chief financial officer was to five months in jail after admitting that he had lied under oath about helping Trump inflate his net worth to win favorable loan terms. Allen Weisselberg will serve his sentence in New York City’s Rikers Island jail complex. Weisselberg spent three months in jail at Rikers last year after pleading guilty to helping orchestrate a tax fraud scheme at Trump’s company. (Associated Press / Washington Post / NBC News / New York Times / Politico)
1/ Arizona’s Supreme Court upheld a 160-year-old near-total ban on abortion. The court ruled that a 1864 territorial law, which went into effect 48 years before Arizona became a state, supersedes the state’s 2022 15-week ban. Under the 19th-century law, abortion is outlawed from the moment of conception, except when necessary to save the life of the mother. It makes no exceptions for rape or incest, and doctors who administer an abortion face a mandatory prison sentence of two to five years. The court delayed implementation of the ban for at least two weeks to allow for additional legal arguments. The Biden campaign responded to the ruling, saying “this is what leaving it to the states looks like” – a reference to Trump’s suggestion that abortion restrictions should be a states’ rights issue. In a statement, Biden called the ban “cruel” and “a result of the extreme agenda of Republican elected officials who are committed to ripping away women’s freedom” and vowed to “continue to fight to protect reproductive rights.” In March 2022, the Republican-controlled Arizona Legislature enacted a 15-week trigger ban, which went into effect after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Arizona’s near-total abortion ban is one of the strictest in the nation, similar to laws in Texas, Alabama, and Mississippi. (NBC News / Arizona Republic / CNN / Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Axios)
2/ Special counsel Jack Smith urged the Supreme Court to reject Trump’s claim that he’s immune from prosecution for attempting to overturn the 2020 election. “The Framers never endorsed criminal immunity for a former President, and all Presidents from the Founding to the modern era have known that after leaving office they faced potential criminal liability for official acts,” Smith said. “The president’s constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed does not entail a general right to violate them.” The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments on April 25, and a decision is expected by July. Trump faces four felony charges, including conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and obstruction. (ABC News / New York Times / Axios / Politico / CNN)
3/ The EPA issued new rules to force more than 200 chemical plants across the U.S. to reduce their cancer-linked toxic air pollution. The rule, the first update to national standards in nearly two decades, will cut more than 6,200 tons of toxic air pollution each year, and reduce emissions of ethylene oxide and chloroprene by 80%. The EPA estimates that around 104,000 people in the U.S. live within about 6 miles of facilities that use chemicals linked to cancer higher risks. Those living near such facilities are disproportionately low-income and minority neighborhoods that have elevated rates of cancer, respiratory problems, and premature deaths. (Axios / New York Times / Washington Post)
4/ The European Court of Human Rights ruled – for the first time – that a country had violated human rights by not protecting its people from the effects of climate change. In a first-of-its-kind case, a group of 2,000 Swiss women over 64 years old sued their government, arguing that climate change-driven heat waves undermined their health and quality of life, and put them at risk of dying. The court agreed that the Swiss government had violated their human rights due to “critical gaps” in its effort to enact laws to combat climate change. The court ordered Switzerland to put in place measures to address those shortcomings, and to pay the group’s legal expenses. (New York Times / The Verge / CNN / Bloomberg / Axios / Politico / Associated Press)
5/ For the 10th consecutive month Earth experienced record-high temperatures. Both the air and ocean temperatures reached their highest levels ever recorded in March. Over the past 12 months, average global temperatures have been 1.58C (2.8 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels, surpassing the Paris climate agreement threshold of 1.5C. (The Guardian / Axios / The Hill)
1/ Biden announced a new student loan forgiveness plan that would cancel student debt for more than 30 million borrowers. Under the new plan, the administration would cancel up to $20,000 of a borrower’s accrued, unpaid interest regardless of their income. About 4 million student loan borrowers could see their debt fully canceled under the proposal, and an additional 10 million more borrowers could get $5,000 or more in relief. If the full plan is implemented, the Biden administration estimates it will “fully eliminate” accrued interest on 23 million borrowers’ unpaid balances. “This relief can be life-changing,” Biden said. “Folks, I will never stop to deliver student debt relief on hardworking Americans, and it’s only in the interest of America that we do it. And again, it’s for the good of our economy that’s growing stronger and stronger — and it is. By freeing millions of Americans from this crushing debt […] it means they can finally get on with their lives, instead of their lives being put on hold.” Since taking office, Biden has canceled $146 billion in student loans debt for 4 million public servants, defrauded students, disabled borrowers, and others already entitled to forgiveness under existing programs. About 43 million Americans have some form of student loan debt. (Axios / Associated Press / Politico / NPR / Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / USA Today)
2/ The Biden administration awarded a $6.6 billion grant to the world’s leading maker of advanced semiconductor chips to help it build three factories in Arizona. The funding, under the U.S. CHIPS and Science Act, will support Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company’s more than $65 billion investment in three fabrication plants in Phoenix. TSMC is also eligible for around $5 billion in loans under the CHIPS Act. “For the first time ever, we will be making, at scale, the most advanced semiconductor chips on the planet here in the United States,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said. Biden added: “America invented these chips, but over time, we went from producing nearly 40% of the world’s capacity to close to 10%, and none of the most advanced chips. (That exposes) us to significant economic and national security vulnerabilities.” The three fabs are expected to create about 6,000 direct manufacturing jobs and more than 20,000 construction jobs. (NBC News / Politico / CNN / CNBC / New York Times)
3/ The chair of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence warned that it was “absolutely true” that some Republican members of Congress were repeating Russian propaganda on the House floor. “We see directly coming from Russia attempts to mask communications that are anti-Ukraine and pro-Russia messages,” Rep. Michael Turner said of his fellow Republicans, adding: “There are members of Congress today who still incorrectly say that this conflict between Russia and Ukraine is over NATO, which of course it is not.” Turner’s comments follow remarks from House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul, who said Russian propaganda had “infected a good chunk of my party’s base” and suggested that conservative media was to blame. (Washington Post / NBC News / The Guardian)
4/ Trump declined to endorse a national abortion ban, saying he believes it should be a states’ rights issue. Trump, who has repeatedly taken responsibility for the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022 because of the three conservative justices he appointed, said that it was “up to the states to do the right thing” on abortion, accusing Democrats of being “radical” on the issue. Following the Supreme Court ruling, Biden and Democrats have made abortion rights a central issue and voters have repeatedly voted in favor of greater abortion rights in state-level ballot measures, including in red states like Kansas and Kentucky. In a 604-word statement, Biden accused Trump of “lying,” saying: “Let there be no illusion. If Donald Trump is elected and the MAGA Republicans in Congress put a national abortion ban on the Resolute Desk, Trump will sign it into law.” Biden added that Trump was “responsible for creating the cruelty and the chaos that has enveloped America since the Dobbs decision.” Anti-abortion groups, meanwhile, said they were “deeply disappointed” in Trump’s refusal to endorse a federal ban on abortion. Nevertheless, the Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America group and its members said they would continue to work “tirelessly” to defeat Biden and Democrats in November. (ABC News / NPR / Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / Politico / Associated Press / Axios / The Hill)
5/ Trump sued the judge overseeing his criminal hush money case in an effort to – again – delay the start of the trial. New York appeals court judge, however, rejected Trump’s request to delay his April 15 trial. Trump had asked an appellate court for a change of venue and for a stay of Judge Juan Merchan’s gag order that prevents Trump from attacking witnesses, prosecutors, court staff, and the judge’s family. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, meanwhile, accused Trump of making a “last-ditch” bid to postpone the trial with his “effort to end-run” the gag order and “pollute the court” with attacks against the judge and his family “as part of a meritless effort to call the integrity of these proceedings into question.” (Associated Press / CNBC / The Hill / CBS News / New York Times / CNN)
6/ Biden could be left off the ballot in Ohio. Ohio’s presidential ballot law requires presidential candidates be certified 90 days before the general election, making the deadline Aug. 7. The Democratic National Convention, however, isn’t scheduled to convene until Aug. 19. The Secretary of State suggested that the issue could rectified in two ways: either the DNC moves up its nominating convention to meet the Aug. 7 deadline or by getting the state’s Republican legislature to “create an exemption to this statutory requirement.” Ohio voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020. (ABC News / NBC News / USA Today / Associated Press / Washington Post)
poll/ 21% of Americans think it would be “a good thing” if the next president has the power to change policy unilaterally without approval from Congress or the courts, while 30% think it’s neither good nor bad. (AP-NORC)
1/ Biden called for “an immediate ceasefire” in Gaza to “protect innocent civilians.” During a reportedly tense phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Biden called the deaths of humanitarian workers caused by Israeli airstrikes and the overall humanitarian situation in Gaza “unacceptable.” Biden conditioned future U.S. support for Israel with Netanyahu implementing “specific, concrete, and measurable steps to address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering, and the safety of aid workers.” He also urged Netanyahu “to empower his negotiators to conclude a deal without delay to bring the hostages home.” The White House added that “U.S. policy with respect to Gaza will be determined by our assessment of Israel’s immediate action on these steps.” Secretary of State Tony Blinken echoed the point, saying: “If we don’t see the changes we need to see, there will be a change in our policy.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Associated Press / CNN / Axios)
The Biden administration authorized the transfer of over 1,000 500-pound bombs and over 1,000 small-diameter bombs to Israel. The authorization on the same day that Israeli airstrikes killed seven aid workers for the charity group World Central Kitchen in Gaza. (CNN / Washington Post)
2/ A federal judge denied Trump’s request to dismiss the criminal charges that he mishandled classified documents. Trump had argued that the Presidential Records Act protected him from prosecution. Judge Aileen Cannon, however, said the PRA “does not provide a pre-trial basis to dismiss” either the mishandling charges or the related obstruction charges against Trump. The decision comes two days after special counsel Jack Smith said Cannon was pursuing a legal premise about the PRA that was “wrong” and based on a “fundamentally flawed” understanding of the case that has “no basis in law or fact.” (Washington Post / NBC News / Axios / CNN / Associated Press / Politico)
3/ A Georgia judge rejected Trump’s attempt to get his criminal election interference case dismissed on First Amendment grounds. Trump had argued that he can’t be charged because his denials, challenges, and lies about the outcome of the 2020 presidential election were protected by his right to free speech, even if they were false. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, however, ruled that “the defense has not presented, nor is the Court able to find, any authority that the speech and conduct alleged is protected political speech.” McAfee added that First Amendment protections don’t shield Trump or the other defendants because the indictment alleges that their statements were made “in furtherance of criminal activity.” (CNN / Axios / NBC News / CNBC)
4/ The judge overseeing Trump’s criminal case in Manhattan rejected his effort to delay the trial beyond April 15. Justice Juan Merchan said Trump had “myriad opportunities” to make the argument that he was immune in the hush money case before March 7. The timing of Trump’s March 7 filing “raises real questions about the sincerity and actual purpose of the motion,” Merchan wrote in his six-page decision. Trump faces charges of falsifying business records during the 2016 presidential campaign in effort to buy the silence of a woman he had an affair with. (Washington Post / CNN / New York Times / Politico / NBC News)
1/ Special Counsel Jack Smith warned the judge overseeing Trump’s classified documents case that she is pursuing a legal premise that “is wrong” and would “distort” the trial. In an unusual order last month, Judge Aileen Cannon directed Trump and Smith to submit briefs on potential jury instructions for two legal interpretations of the Espionage Act, under which Trump is charged with mishandling 32 classified records. In one version, jurors would be instructed to assume that Trump had complete authority to take any records he wanted from the White House under the Presidential Records Act — a 1978 law that manages the maintenance of White House documents produced during each presidency. Under this scenario, “neither a court nor a jury” would have the ability to review the decision, which could nullify much of Smith’s case against Trump. In the other version, jurors would review and determine whether a record retained by Trump could be categorized as “personal” or “presidential.” In this scenario, jurors could decided that official documents were mishandled. Federal prosecutors, however, rejected both proposals, writing that the PRA “should not play any role at trial at all,” arguing that Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified records occurred after his presidency ended. Smith added that Cannon’s order was based on a “fundamentally flawed” understanding of the case that has “no basis in law or fact.” Smith indicated that federal prosecutors would appeal if Cannon rules against them and accepts Trump’s arguments about his record-retention powers. (CNN / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Axios / New York Times / NBC News / Associated Press / CBS News)
How legal fights and stalling by judge could push Trump documents trial after election. “US District Judge Aileen Cannon, who was appointed to the federal bench by Trump in 2020, has drawn out the case with an unusual, eyebrow-raising approach in her nearly 10-month oversight of the case, delaying rulings on what experts say are routine legal questions that must be resolved before the case can go to trial.” (CNN)
Trump is trying everything he can to delay this month’s hush money criminal trial. Trump’s “own incessant rhetoric is generating significant publicity, and it would be perverse to reward defendant with an adjournment based on media attention he is actively seeking,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office said. The filing was in response to a request by Trump’s lawyers to delay the trial for the foreseeable future because of “prejudicial” publicity around the case. (CNN / NBC News)
2/ Biden condemned the Israeli strike that killed seven aid workers and blamed Israel for failing to protect both aid workers and civilians. “Incidents like yesterday’s simply should not happen,” Biden said. “This is not a stand-alone incident. This conflict has been one of the worst in recent memory in terms of how many aid workers have been killed. This is a major reason why distributing humanitarian aid in Gaza has been so difficult — because Israel has not done enough to protect aid workers trying to deliver desperately needed help to civilians.” Despite the tough talk, Biden reportedly has no plans to change his policy toward Israel. The Biden administration, meanwhile, said it wanted to see the results of an Israeli investigation into the airstrike on a charity helping to feed hungry Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip before making any decisions about how it would proceed. (Politico / Washington Post / CNN / New York Times)
3/ Trump sued his two own co-founders of Trump Media & Technology Group, accusing them of failing “spectacularly” to get the company off the ground, making a “series of reckless and wasteful decisions at a critical time” that caused “significant damage” to the company, and a “decline in the stock prices of its merger.” The suit argues that Andy Litinsky and Wes Moss — who own an 8.6% stake in the company — should forfeit their stock because they didn’t set up the corporate governance structure for Trump Media properly and failed to find a viable merger partner. In their own suit, the two say Trump was planning to dilute their stake while seeking millions of extra shares. TMGT went public last month, but share prices plummeted after the company disclosed a $58 million net loss for 2023 while generating total revenues of $4.1 million. (Bloomberg / CNN / Associated Press / CNBC / Daily Beast / Rolling Stone)
Trump Media was saved in 2022 by a Russian-American under criminal investigation. “Through leaked documents, the Guardian has learned that ES Family Trust operated like a shell company for a Russian-American businessman named Anton Postolnikov, who co-owns Paxum Bank and has been a subject of a years-long joint federal criminal investigation by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) into the Trump Media merger.” (The Guardian)
poll/ 47% of Americans approved of the job the Supreme Court is doing — the highest level in over a year — while 53% disapproved. In February, 40% of adults approved of the Supreme Court, while 60% disapproved. (Politico)
poll/ 28% of Republicans believe that Americans may have to resort to violence to get their country back on track, while 12% of Democrats agreed with the statement. Overall, 79% of Americans disagree that violence is a solution. (PBS)
poll/ 57% of Americans say Biden is more likable than say Trump (37%). Americans also say Biden is more honest and trustworthy than Trump (46% to 35%). (Gallup)
1/ An Israeli airstrike killed seven aid workers, leading to the World Central Kitchen charity suspending delivery of 240 tons of food to Gaza, where famine is imminent. The U.S.-based disaster relief nonprofit group said its team was traveling through a demilitarized zone in two armored cars and a third vehicle that were clearly marked with the World Central Kitchen logos when the convoy was hit three times in succession by missiles fired from a drone until the aid workers were all killed. The organization had coordinated its movements with the IDF. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted that an “unintentional” Israeli airstrike killed “innocent people” in Gaza, adding: “This happens in war.” The White House, meanwhile, said it was “outraged” and that the attack was “emblematic of a larger problem.” World Central Kitchen had served 42 million meals in the 175 days it operated in Gaza. More than 200 aid workers have been killed in the six months of fighting. (New York Times / Axios / Associated Press / Politico / NPR / Washington Post / CNN / NBC News / CNBC / Wall Street Journal)
2/ Florida’s Supreme Court ruled that the state’s constitution does not protect abortion rights, allowing the state’s six-week abortion ban to take effect May 1. But in a separate ruling, the court allowed a proposed state constitutional amendment on the November ballot, which would enshrine abortion rights in the state’s constitution. Amendment 4, if approved, will allow abortion up to the point of viability, which is generally around 24 weeks into a pregnancy. Constitutional amendments in Florida need the support of at least 60% of voters to be approved. (Washington Post / CNN / NBC News / USA Today / CBS News / ABC News / Politico / Associated Press / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
3/ A New York judge expanded Trump’s gag order to stop him from attacking family members of those involved in the criminal hush money case. Judge Juan Merchan expanded the gag order after Trump repeatedly targeted his daughter in social media posts. Trump’s “pattern of attacking family members of presiding jurists and attorneys assigned to his cases serves no legitimate purpose. It merely injects fear in those assigned or called to participate in the proceedings, that not only they, but their family members as well, are ‘fair game’ for Defendant’s vitriol,” Merchan said. “It is no longer just a mere possibility or a reasonable likelihood that there exists a threat to the integrity of the judicial proceedings. The threat is very real.” When jury selection begins April 15, Trump will become the first former American president to face criminal prosecution. (Axios / Politico / CNN / USA Today / NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times / CNBC)
4/ Trump posted a $175 million bond in his New York civil fraud case, preventing state Attorney General Letitia James from seizing his assets while the case is under appeal. Last week, a New York appeals court reduced Trump’s $464 million bond to $175 million, and extended the deadline by 10 days after more than 30 bond companies rejected Trump. If Trump doesn’t win on appeal, he will have to pay more than $450 million. Last year, New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron found Trump, the Trump Organization, Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and two former executives liable for knowingly inflating Trump’s net worth to get better loans and business deals. (Washington Post / Politico / Associated Press / New York Times / ABC News / Axios / CNN / NBC News)
5/ Trump’s net worth fell by more than $1 billion, as shares of his MAGA meme stock social media company plunged 21.5%. The Trump Media & Technology Group disclosed a $58 million net loss for 2023 while generating total revenues of $4.1 million. Trump owns 57% of the company, with his stake now worth $3.76 billion on paper. The company said it expects to operate at a loss for the “foreseeable future.” (Bloomberg / Axios / NBC News / CNBC / CNN)
6/ A group of House Republicans introduced a bill to rename D.C.’s Dulles International Airport to the Donald J. Trump International Airport. The effort has next to no prospects in Congress given the Republican’s one-vote majority in the House and Democrats controlling the Senate. Nevertheless, Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, a Pennsylvania Republican who sponsored the legislation, said: “In my lifetime, our nation has never been greater than under the leadership of President Donald J. Trump.” Democrats, meanwhile, panned the bill as “ridiculous” and an attempt by Republicans to “suck up” to Trump. “Donald Trump is facing 91 felony charges. If Republicans want to name something after him, I’d suggest they find a federal prison,” one Democrat said in a statement. Another Democrat added: “Dulles is an old, ugly airport that no one wants to see. So I think this is a fitting tribute to 45.” (Axios / Politico / NBC News / CBS News)
1/ The Biden administration authorized another weapons transfer to Israel despite public frustration with Israel’s conduct in the war and opposition to Israel’s planned invasion of Rafah, which could lead to mass casualties and exacerbate the humanitarian disaster on Gaza. The weapons package, worth billions of dollars, includes more than 1,800 MK84 2,000-pound bombs and 500 MK82 500-pound bombs, which have been linked to civilian deaths during Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. It was approved in 2008 but is only being fulfilled now. The Biden administration, however, is considering a new weapons sales worth more than $18 billion to Israel of fighter jets, air-to-air missiles, and guidance kits, which turn dumb bombs (like the MK84 and MK82) into precision-guided weapons. While the sale is pending U.S. government approval, it will be years before the weapons arrive in Israel. U.S. and Israeli officials, meanwhile, held virtual talks to discuss the Biden administration’s alternative proposals to the invasion of Rafah, where more than one million Palestinians are sheltering with nowhere to go. The meeting was supposed to take place last week in-person, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled it after the U.S. didn’t veto a U.N. resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. (Washington Post / NBC News / Associated Press / ABC News / CNN)
Al-Shifa Hospital has become a graveyard, Palestinian health official says. (Washington Post)
“Entire families dead”: Journalist describes scene at Al-Shifa Hospital after Israeli troops withdraw. (CNN)
“A horror movie”: One man describes the aftermath of Israel’s raid on Al-Shifa. (New York Times)
Israeli lawmakers vote to authorize ban on Al Jazeera operating in Israel, which will allow Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to ban the Qatar-based news network Al Jazeera from operating in Israel, citing national security concerns over its coverage of the war in Gaza. (Washington Post)
2/ Trump posted a video to his personal social media website depicting Biden with his hands and feet tied together in the back of a pickup truck. In a 20-second video, a pickup truck featuring pro-Trump flags can be seen with a large decal on its tailgate showing Biden hogtied, lying horizontally. “This image from Donald Trump is the type of crap you post when you’re calling for a bloodbath or when you tell the Proud Boys to ‘stand back and stand by,’” the Biden campaign said in a statement. “Trump is regularly inciting political violence and it’s time people take him seriously — just ask the Capitol Police officers who were attacked protecting our democracy on January 6.” Trump’s campaign, meanwhile, responded: “Democrats and crazed lunatics have not only called for despicable violence against President Trump and his family, they are actually weaponizing the justice system against him.” (CNN / USA Today / Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News)
3/ Biden proclaimed March 31 Transgender Day of Visibility and called on Americans to “join us in lifting up the lives and voices of transgender people throughout our Nation and to work toward eliminating violence and discrimination based on gender identity.” Despite International Transgender Day of Visibility being held annually on March 31 since 2009, Republicans attacked Biden for issuing the proclamation because it coincided with Easter (which varies from year to year). House Speaker Mike Johnson claimed that the “Biden White House has betrayed the central tenet of Easter” and called the decision “outrageous and abhorrent.” Trump’s reelection campaign characterized Biden’s proclamation in support of transgender and gender-nonconforming people as “blasphemous” part of a “years-long assault on the Christian faith.” The White House accused Republicans of “seeking to divide and weaken our country with cruel, hateful and dishonest rhetoric,” adding: “Biden will never abuse his faith for political purposes or for profit.” Trump, meanwhile, is now selling copies of the Bible, called the “God Bless the USA Bible,” for $60. (ABC News / CNN / Associated Press / Washington Post)
4/ The Manhattan district attorney asked the judge overseeing Trump’s criminal hush money trial to expand the gag order to stop Trump from attacking family members of people involved in the case. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg made the request after Trump repeatedly attacked New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan as “compromised” and called Merchan’s daughter, who works for a political consulting firm, a “Rabid Trump Hater.” Trump launched the series of attacks shortly after Merchan imposed a gag order barring Trump from making statements about witnesses, jurors, prosecutors, court staff or the family members of prosecutors and court staff. (Washington Post / CNN)
1/ The International Court of Justice ordered Israel to “take all necessary and effective measures” to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza as famine sets in, including opening more land crossings to allow food, water, fuel, and medical supplies into the enclave. The court’s order comes in response to a case brought by South Africa, which accuses Israel of state-sanctioned genocide in Gaza. The legally binding order instructs Israel to take measures “without delay” to ensure “the unhindered provision” of basic services and humanitarian assistance “at scale.” In a separate order, the judges called for Israel to ensure that its military “does not commit acts which constitute a violation” of Palestinians’ rights under the Genocide Convention. International aid organizations have said Israel’s restrictions on humanitarian supplies into Gaza have led to a man-made famine. (Axios / New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press)
Visualizing Gaza’s aid shortage as “man-made” famine looms. “Up to half of Gaza’s population faces starvation between now and July, according to recent estimates by global emergency experts.” (Washington Post)
2/ South Carolina will use a congressional map that a federal court ruled was “unconstitutional” because the Supreme Court hasn’t ruled on the redistricting case it heard in October. With no decision and the state facing a June 11 primary, the same court that had deemed the map unconstitutional agreed to allow South Carolina to use the racially gerrymandered map for this year’s congressional election. The three-judge panel noted that “with the primary election procedures rapidly approaching, the appeal before the Supreme Court still pending, and no remedial plan in place, the ideal must bend to the practical.” Last year, the judges held that the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature had “exiled” more than 30,000 Black residents from the 1st Congressional District in what the court called a “bleaching” to benefit Republicans. That amounted to an unconstitutional racial gerrymander, they concluded. If the Supreme Court later upholds the lower court ruling, then new maps would have to be drawn for the 2026 election. (CNN / Washington Post / NBC News / Politico)
3/ A California judge ruled that one of Trump’s former lawyers should be disbarred for his role in developing the legal strategy to overturn the 2020 election. John Eastman championed the fringe legal theory that Trump could pressure Pence to block or delay the Electoral College certification to overturn Biden’s victory. Nevertheless, Judge Yvette Roland ruled that Eastman violated ethics rules — and even potentially criminal law — by promoting Trump’s efforts to overturn the election. “In view of the circumstances surrounding Eastman’s misconduct and balancing the aggravation and mitigation, the court recommends that Eastman be disbarred,” Roland wrote. Eastman is also facing racketeering and conspiracy charges in a Georgia case accusing Trump and his allies of plotting to subvert the 2020 election results in the state. (Politico / Axios / Washington Post)
4/ Biden restored a series of Endangered Species Act protections that were stripped by Trump. The finalized regulations will reinstate blanket rule protections for species newly classified as threatened species with extinction. The new rules also give federal officials more leeway to consider the threat of climate change when protecting a species. In 2019, Trump weakened the Endangered Species Act and allowed the government to put an economic cost on saving a species. (Associated Press / CNN / New York Times)
1/ An Alabama Democrat won a special election in the state Legislature after making in vitro fertilization and abortion rights central to her campaign. Marilyn Lands – who had criticized the state’s near-total abortion ban and the recent state Supreme Court ruling that temporarily banned in vitro fertilization – said her win sends “a clear message” to Montgomery and called for the legislature to “repeal Alabama’s no-exceptions abortion ban, fully restore access to IVF, and protect the right to contraception.” The Biden campaign said the victory was a “warning sign” for Trump and “extreme MAGA Republicans,” adding that Alabama voters “know exactly who’s to blame for restricting their ability to decide how and when to build their families and they’re ready to fight back.” In 2020, Trump narrowly carried the district. (CNN / NBC News / Associated Press / Politico / The Hill / New York Times)
2/ The Biden administration pledged to rebuild Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge after a 984-foot cargo ship hit a pillar, causing it to collapse. Six people are presumed dead. “It’s my intention that the federal government will pay for the entire cost of reconstruction in that bridge,” Biden said. “I expect the Congress to support my effort.” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg warned of a “long and difficult path” to full recovery, but added that “Infrastructure is, or at least ought to be, a bipartisan priority.” Buttigieg said he expects the White House will need Congress to authorize additional funds beyond the approximately $1 billion allocated by the 2021 infrastructure law for emergency relief, noting that some Republicans “crossed the aisle” to support the bipartisan infrastructure bill. (Politico / ABC News / Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / NBC News)
3/ A federal appeals court blocked Texas’ plan to arrest migrants suspected of illegally entering the U.S. The 2-1 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit follows a lower-court ruling in February that said the state law, which would criminalize unauthorized immigration at the state level, is probably unconstitutional. The same court temporarily froze the law March 19 – hours after the Supreme Court said it could go into effect. The Biden administration initially challenged the law in January, arguing that the state law conflicts with the federal government’s immigration policy and violates the Constitution’s supremacy clause, which says that federal laws preempt conflicting state laws. Texas can now ask the Supreme Court to allow the law to go into effect again. In the meantime, same court is set to hear arguments on April 3 over the constitutionality of the law. (NBC News / Washington Post / Politico / Texas Tribune / CBS News)
4/ In a reversal, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will send officials to Washington for talks about his planned military operation in Rafah. On Monday, Netanyahu canceled the trip in protest over the U.S. not vetoing a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages held by Hamas, which the White House called “perplexing,” “a mistake,” and “unnecessary drama on Netanyahu’s part.” Biden plans to discuss “alternatives” to Israel’s attack on Rafah, which is overflowing with more than 1.4 million displaced civilians that’s been characterized by UNICEF as “unrecognizable” and “a hellish disregard for basic human needs and dignity.” The Biden administration has also repeatedly said it would not support a “major military operation” in Rafah, with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin urging Israel to abandon plans for the offensive. Israeli officials, neverthless, have made clear that they’ll enter Rafah and direct civilians to “humanitarian islands.” (Axios / Washington Post / Associated Press / New York Times / CNN / Bloomberg)
Poll: 55% of Americans disapprove of Israel’s military action in Gaza, while 36% approve. In November, 50% approved and 45% disapproved. (Gallup)
5/ Trump repeatedly attacked the New York judge – and the judge’s daughter – who imposed a gag order limiting what he can say about his upcoming criminal hush money trial. In a series of posts on his personal social media platform hours after being put under a gag order, Trump called Judge Juan Merchan a “hater” that, he claims, is “biased and conflicted.” Trump also complained that the gag order was “illegal, un-American, unConstitutional” and that Merchan was “wrongfully attempting to deprive me of my First Amendment Right to speak out against the Weaponization of Law Enforcement.” The gag order bars Trump from making public statements about jurors, potential witnesses, court’s staff, prosecution team or their families in the hush money trial. It doesn’t, however, bar comments about Merchan or his family. Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal a hush money payment to Stormy Daniels. The trial begins April 15. (Associated Press / NBC News / CNBC)
1/ The New York judge presiding over Trump’s hush money criminal trial imposed a gag order barring Trump from attacking witnesses, prosecutors, and jurors. Trump’s history of “prior extrajudicial statements establishes a sufficient risk to the administration of justice,” Justice Juan Merchan ruled, adding “there exists no less restrictive means to prevent such risk.” Merchan called Trump’s past attacks “threatening, inflammatory,” and “denigrating,” and said similar attacks would “undoubtedly risk impeding the orderly administration of the Court.” Trump is also barred from commenting about lawyers in the case, court staff, employees in the Manhattan District Attorney’s office and their family members if those statements are made with the “intent to materially interfere” with the case. The order, however, doesn’t apply to Merchan or Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. The trial begins with jury selection on April 15 – the first of Trump’s four criminal cases to go to trial. It will also mark the first criminal prosecution of a former American president. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / CNN / Associated Press / Bloomberg / CNBC)
2/ The Supreme Court appeared likely to preserve access to the abortion pill mifepristone, which is used in over 60% of U.S. abortions. The court heard oral arguments on the Biden administration’s appeal of lower court rulings, which restricted access to the pill, including its availability by mail. During arguments, there was little discussion about whether the FDA’s decisions to lift restrictions on the drug were unlawful, but instead the justices focused on whether the the group of anti-abortion doctors who brought the lawsuit even had legal standing to bring the claim. The case is the first abortion-related hearing since the court reversed Roe v. Wade. The Supreme Court has never restricted access to an approved drug by overriding the FDA’s conclusions about safety. A decision is expected by July. (Associated Press / Washington Post / NPR / Politico / NBC News / CNN / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
🔍 What’s at stake? Access to mifepristone directly affects women’s healthcare choices and autonomy over their bodies. If access is restricted, it could lead to increased use of surgical abortions or unapproved, more complicated medical procedures. The case also tests the FDA’s authority and could set a precedent that challenges the FDA’s ability to make independent, science-based decisions on drug safety and efficacy.
3/ NBC News is expected to drop former Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel as a paid contributor after NBC and MSNBC anchors criticized the network on its own airwaves. McDaniel was hired after resigning from her RNC post following Trump’s pressure campaign to force her out. Following the 2020 election, McDaniel endorsed Trump’s baseless, false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. She also participated in a call with Trump in which he pressured Wayne County canvassing officials to not certify the election results. Rachel Maddow – the biggest star and highest-rated anchor at MSNBC – opened her show with a 29-minute monologue that called McDaniel’s hiring “inexplicable,” and describing McDaniel as “someone who hasn’t just attacked us as journalists, but someone who is part of an ongoing project to get rid of our system of government. Someone who still is trying to convince Americans that this election stuff, it doesn’t really work.” Chuck Todd added that McDaniel “has credibility issues that she still has to deal with.” And Nicolle Wallace, meanwhile, accused NBC News of “wittingly or unwittingly” signaling to “election deniers” that they could spread falsehoods “as one of us, as badge-carrying employees of NBC News, as paid contributors to our sacred airwaves.” McDaniel, meanwhile, is exploring legal options if NBC terminates her contributor deal. (Variety / New York Post / Washington Post / New York Times / Axios / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal)
1/ The U.N. Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza during the month of Ramadan and the release of all hostages. The U.S., however, abstained, which allowed the resolution to pass 14-0. This is the first ceasefire resolution to pass after four previous failures: The U.S. has vetoed three previous resolutions since the conflict began, while Russia and China vetoed a U.S.-sponsored resolution last week. After the resolution passed, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the U.S. of “retreating” from a “principled position” and that the U.S. abstention “harms the war effort as well as the effort to liberate the hostages.” Netanyahu then canceled a diplomatic visit to Washington, which Biden had requested to discuss Netanyahu’s planned ground invasion of Rafah. The U.S. had intended to use the meeting to offer alternatives to reduce civilian casualties. The State Department called the decision “a bit surprising and unfortunate.” (NPR / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / CNN / Politico / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Associated Press / Axios)
2/ Trump’s hush money trial – his first of four criminal trials – will start April 15 in Manhattan. Trump’s lawyers had argued that a late release of more than 100,000 pages of potential evidence should postpone the trial. Prosecutors argued that only about 300 documents were pertinent to the trial, and that “99 percent” were irrelevant. At the hearing, Judge Juan Merchan refused to allow further delays, saying that despite Trump’s claims, the district attorney’s office “is not at fault for the late production of documents from the U.S. attorney’s office” and that Trump “has been given a reasonable amount of time.” Assuming the date holds, Trump will become the first former American president to face a trial on criminal charges. (Washington Post / NBC News / Axios / Associated Press / Politico / New York Times / Bloomberg)
3/ Trump only needs to post a bond of $175 million – not the original $454 million – while he appeals the verdict in his civil fraud case, a New York appeals court ruled. Trump now has 10 additional days to post the bond. The ruling comes on the last day of a 30-day grace period before New York Attorney General Letitia James could begin to collect on the judgment. Prior to the ruling, more than 30 bond companies had turned down Trump’s requests to guarantee the $454 million bond. The $175 million bond will be in place until at least September, meaning James won’t be able to seek to enforce the judgment until then, which could involve seizing Trump’s assets. (CNN / New York Times / Bloomberg / Axios / Associated Press / Politico / NPR / Washington Post / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
4/ House Republicans are down to a one-vote majority after Rep. Mike Gallagher announced he’ll resign from Congress April 19. Wisconsin law requires Gallagher’s seat to remain empty for the rest of his term. After his departure, Republicans will control 217 House seats to the Democrats’ 213. (NBC News / Politico / New York Times / Bloomberg)
5/ Marjorie Taylor Greene filed a motion to oust Speaker Mike Johnson after the House passed a $1.2 trillion government funding deal with mostly Democratic votes. In October, a contingent of hard-right conservatives oust then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy – a first in U.S. history – for working with Democrats to avoid a shutdown. Under current House rules, it takes one lawmaker to bring up a vote to oust the speaker, but a majority of the House for that vote to pass. “This is a betrayal of the American people. This is a betrayal of Republican voters,” Greene said. “The clock has started. It’s time for our conference to pick a new speaker.” (NPR / Associated Press / New York Times / NBC News / Politico)
6/ The Supreme Court will hear arguments this week on whether to roll back the availability of the abortion pill mifepristone – less than two years after overturning the constitutional right to an abortion. The FDA first approved mifepristone nearly 25 years ago and multiple studies have shown it to be safe. It’s used in nearly two-thirds of all abortions nationally, and at least 5.9 million women have used mifepristone since its approval in 2000. It’s also regularly prescribed for miscarriage treatment. Nevertheless, a conservative Christian anti-abortion group sued in November 2022, arguing that the FDA exceeded its authority when it approved mifepristone in 2000 and that it overstepped again in 2016 and 2021 when it made the pill easier to obtain, including through mail-order pharmacies. The court will also hear a second case next month, concerning whether to allow state bans on abortion even when an emergency room doctor believes ending a pregnancy would preserve the mother’s health. Federal emergency-care law that requires hospitals receiving Medicare dollars to provide “necessary stabilizing treatment” to patients. Decisions in both cases are expected by the end of June or in early July. (Associated Press / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / CNN / NPR / USA Today / NBC News)
1/ The Biden administration will cancel nearly $6 billion in federal student loans for 78,000 Americans through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. The latest student debt cancellation allows eligible borrowers to have their remaining debt forgiven if they have made a certain number of payments and are working for approved employers, like teachers, nurses, and firefighters. An additional 380,000 borrowers in the public sector are one to two years away from qualifying for the same debt forgiveness. In total, Biden has canceled $144 billion of federal student loan debt for nearly 4 million borrowers. (USA Today / NBC News / NPR / CNN / CBS News / Associated Press / CNBC / Axios)
2/ Congressional leaders released details of their $1.2 trillion deal to fund the government and avert a partial government shutdown. The package would fund about three-quarters of the federal government for the next six months, including defense, homeland security, financial services, and health agencies. The House will vote on the package on Friday, meaning lawmakers will need to waive a rule giving members 72 hours to consider legislation before voting on it. Meanwhile, Rand Paul and other Senate conservatives have threatened to slow swift passage of the bill down by introducing amendments. Government funding expires at midnight Friday. (Axios / Associated Press / Politico / NPR / Washington Post / New York Times)
3/ New York Attorney General Letitia James took her first step toward seizing Trump’s golf club and private estate in Westchester County, formally entering the judgments with the clerk’s office. James said she’s prepared to start seizing assets if Trump misses the March 25 deadline to post a $454 million bond for the civil fraud judgment she won against him. Trump’s lawyers claim it’s “a practical impossibility” to get the more than $350 million, plus roughly $100 million in interest, together by the deadline. Trump asked the appeals court to pause the judgment, saying 30 bonding companies have turned him down and he’ll be forced to sell properties in a “fire sale” to raise money if the court doesn’t waive the bond or allow him to post a smaller one for $100 million. (Bloomberg / CNN / The Hill / USA Today / Washington Post / Axios / CNBC)
4/ Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said no further delay in Trump’s hush money trial is warranted and that fewer than 300 of the some 200,000 documents turned over to Trump’s lawyers are relevant to the criminal case. Last week, Judge Juan Merchan delayed the March 25 start of Trump’s hush money case by at least 20 days to give Trump’s lawyers time to review the records. Trump had asked Merchan to dismiss the indictment and delay the trial for 90 days, claiming prosecutors withheld information from them about the federal prosecution of Michael Cohen. Bragg, however, told Merchan there was nothing in the material that should push the start of the trial past mid-April, saying “Enough is enough. These tactics by defendant and defense counsel should be stopped.” Trump faces 34 charges of falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment to Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential election. (NBC News / CNN / Washington Post / New York Times)
5/ The U.S. submitted a draft resolution to the United Nations calling for “an immediate and sustained ceasefire” in Gaza tied to the release of Israeli hostages. The U.N. Security Council is expected to vote on the resolution Friday morning. The draft resolution being circulated says that the Security Council “determines the imperative of an immediate and sustained ceasefire to protect civilians on all sides, allow for the delivery of essential humanitarian assistance, and alleviate humanitarian suffering, and towards that end unequivocally supports ongoing international diplomatic efforts to secure such a ceasefire in connection with the release of all remaining hostages.” Secretary of State Antony Blinken, meanwhile, said the “gaps are narrowing” between Israel and Hamas to get a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the release of hostages, but conceded that “there’s still real challenges.” (NBC News / CNN / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / The Guardian / Axios)
1/ A federal appeals court blocked a Texas law allowing state police to arrest people suspected of illegally crossing the Texas-Mexico border — hours after the Supreme Court had allowed it to go into effect. The appeals court judges are now considering whether the law should remain on hold while its constitutionality is being challenged in court. A district court ruled last month that the measure conflicts with federal immigration law. The law, known as Senate Bill 4, was signed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in December and allows law enforcement to arrest and deport migrants if they’re suspected of crossing the border illegally. However, Mexico’s government said it would not “under any circumstances” accept the return of any migrants from Texas. Those who reenter illegally after a deportation could face felony charges and a 10-to-20-year prison sentence. (New York Times / Washington Post / Texas Tribune / Associated Press / CNN / NBC News / Politico / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
2/ The Biden administration issued the strictest-ever rules for tailpipe emissions to ensure that the majority of new passenger cars and light trucks sold in the U.S. are all-electric or hybrids by 2032. The new standards require automakers to reduce emissions by over two-thirds by 2032 – limits so stringent they’ll compel automakers to rapidly boost sales of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles. In 2023, EVs made up about 7.6% of new car sales, but the new rule is targeting 35% to 56% for EVs in 2032, and 13% to 36% for plug-in hybrids. The rule will prevent 7.2 billion metric tons of carbon emissions from entering the atmosphere through 2055 – roughly four times the total emissions of the transportation sector as of 2021. “Three years ago, I set an ambitious target: that half of all new cars and trucks sold in 2030 would be zero-emission,” Biden said. “Together, we’ve made historic progress. Hundreds of new expanded factories across the country. Hundreds of billions in private investment and thousands of good-paying union jobs. And we’ll meet my goal for 2030 and race forward in the years ahead.” (New York Times / CNN / Politico / Bloomberg / CBS News / The Verge / Axios / NPR / Washington Post / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
3/ The Biden administration awarded Intel with about $20 billion in grants and loans to fund an expansion of its semiconductor factories across four states. The funding comes from the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act, which provides $53 billion in subsidies to boost the U.S. production of semiconductors. Most of the world’s advanced chips are currently made in Asia. The government grant is the largest yet from the CHIPS Act award and will go to the construction and expansion of Intel chip facilities in Arizona, Ohio, New Mexico, and Oregon. The projects are expected to create more than 10,000 manufacturing jobs and roughly 20,000 construction jobs. (NPR / Axios / Bloomberg / USA Today / Semafor / New York Times / NBC News / CNBC / Wall Street Journal)
4/ The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged, but still expects to cut rates three times in 2024. Committee members held rates steady at about 5.3% – a 23-year high. Inflation has eased considerably since hitting a 40-year high of 9.1% in 2022. Fed officials now predict inflation will end the year at 2.6%. As of February, inflation was at 3.2%. (Associated Press / NPR / Axios / Washington Post / NBC News / CNBC / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / New York Times)
5/ Alabama Republicans passed legislation that bans state funding for diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in public schools, universities, and state agencies. The law imposes restrictions on eight “divisive concepts” surrounding race, personal identity, and gender, and requires public colleges to designate bathrooms “for use by individuals based on their biological sex.” Gov. Kay Ivey signed the bill into law, which will take effect on Oct. 1. (NPR / Washington Post / New York Times)
1/ Biden and House Republicans reached a deal to fund the government, but Congress might not have time to pass the legislation before a partial shutdown this weekend. House rules require 72 hours between when legislation is made public and when members can vote, which means that the chamber can’t take it up until late Friday. The Senate, meanwhile, requires 30 hours of debate, unless all 100 senators give consent to move faster – any one senator can slow down consideration. Funding for several key agencies expires at midnight Friday. The six spending bills in package collectively fund about 70% of the federal government. (Washington Post / NPR / Politico / Associated Press / New York Times / NBC News / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
2/ The Supreme Court will allow Texas to immediately begin enforcing a controversial immigration law that gives state police the power to arrest people suspected of crossing the border illegally. The ruling doesn’t uphold the law, but allows it to go into effect while litigation continues in lower courts. A federal judge in Texas struck down the law in late February, but the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision without explanation, leading to an emergency request by the Biden administration, which argued that the Texas law is a clear violation of federal authority to set immigration policy. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, warned in a dissenting argument that the law “invites further chaos and crisis in immigration enforcement” and “upends the federal-state balance of power that has existed for over a century, in which the National government has had exclusive authority over entry and removal of noncitizens.” The law makes it a state crime to illegally cross the Texas-Mexico border, allows police to arrest migrants suspected of illegally crossing the border from Mexico, and imposes criminal penalties of up to six months in jail and up to 20 years in prison for subsequent offenses. S.B. 4 also empowers state judges to order deportations to Mexico without Mexico’s consent. (NBC News / CNN / Axios / Associated Press / Bloomberg / Washington Post / New York Times)
3/ Trump urged the Supreme Court to declare that he’s absolutely immune from criminal charges for his attempts to subvert the 2020 election, which resulted in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. In a 52-page filing, Trump argued that a ruling against him would “incapacitate every future president […] The president cannot function, and the presidency itself cannot retain its vital independence if the president faces criminal prosecution for official acts once he leaves office.” The court will hear oral arguments on the matter on April 25. (New York Times / NBC News / ABC News / Bloomberg / CBS News)
4/ Trump filed a defamation lawsuit against ABC News, arguing that George Stephanopoulos had harmed his reputation by saying multiple times on-air that Trump had raped E. Jean Carroll. The jury in the civil case last year found Trump was liable for sexually abusing and defaming Carroll, but didn’t find him liable for rape. Under New York law, rape is defined as forcible penetration with the penis. The judge later clarified that because of New York’s narrow legal definition of “rape,” the jury’s finding didn’t mean that Carroll had “failed to prove that Trump ‘raped’ her as many people commonly understand the word ‘rape.’” (CNN / New York Times / Associated Press / Politico)
5/ Former Trump White House adviser Peter Navarro reported to prison. Navarro – who claimed credit for the plan to overturn the 2020 election – was convicted of two counts of contempt of Congress for refusing to provide testimony and documents to the Jan. 6 select committee. He was sentenced to four months in jail and ordered to pay a $9,500 fine. Before reporting to jail, Navarro called the case against him an “unprecedented assault on the constitutional separation of powers,” adding: “I am pissed – that’s what I am feeling right now.” Navarro is the first high-ranking Trump official to serve prison time related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. (CNN / Axios / NBC News / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / CBS News / ABC News)
6/ A pro-Trump lawyer – who tried to overturn the 2020 election – was arrested and charged with conspiring to seize Michigan voting machines after the election. Stefanie Lambert was arrested after a hearing in a separate case about her leaking internal emails from Dominion Voting Systems. Lambert shared over 2,000 confidential Dominion documents with a southwestern Michigan sheriff, who has embraced conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and used his office to investigate false claims of widespread election fraud against Trump. Lambert faces four felony charges for accessing voting machines in Michigan. (Associated Press / USA Today / CNN / Washington Post / The Detroit News / The Hill)
7/ Jared Kushner praised the “very valuable” potential of Gaza’s “waterfront property” and suggested that Israel should “move the people out and then clean it up.” The former Trump White House intern, who is a real-estate developer with no diplomacy or foreign policy experience, called for Israel “do its best” to “move” those in Gaza to the desert in southern Israel. He added that “with diplomacy” Palestinian civilians could then be moved into Egypt. A United Nations report, meanwhile, predicts that all 2.2 million people in Gaza do not have enough food to eat, with half of the population on the brink of starvation and famine projected to arrive in northern Gaza “anytime between mid-March and May 2024.” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken added that “100% of the population in Gaza is at severe levels of acute food insecurity. That is the first time an entire population has been so classified.” The U.N. human rights chief blamed Israel’s sustained restrictions on aid into Gaza for the preventable starvation and famine that’s unfolding in the enclave. Neverthless, Kushner suggested that Israel “has gone way more out of their way than a lot of other countries would to protect civilians from casualties.” (The Guardian / Politico / CNN / Rolling Stone)
1/ Trump doesn’t have enough money to post the $464 million appeal bond he owes in his New York civil fraud case, according to a court filing by Trump’s attorneys. Trump needs to post the appeal bond in order to prevent New York Attorney General Letitia James from seizing his real estate assets. Trump’s legal team said they spent “countless hours” contacting about 30 surety companies through four separate brokers to try and raise the money, but none were willing to underwrite the bond. They ultimately concluded that raising the money for the appeal bond was “a practical impossibility.” Trump would need nearly $1 billion in cash reserves in order to convince the companies to help him out, which neither Trump nor the Trump Organization possesses. In the filing, Trump’s lawyers asked a panel of five Manhattan appeals court judges to allow him to hold off on posting the bond while he appeals the verdict. If the request is denied, AG James could start seizing Trump’s properties on March 25. (CNBC / New York Times / NBC News / CNN / Axios / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / ABC News)
2/ The EPA banned asbestos in the United States, a carcinogen linked to more than 40,000 American deaths annually. The rule bans the use of chrysotile asbestos, the only form still used in the U.S., which is found in products like brake linings, gaskets, and in chlorine bleach and sodium hydroxide production. Exposure to asbestos is known to cause lung cancer, mesothelioma and other cancers. The ban is a significant expansion of an earlier EPA regulation under the 2016 Frank Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act and will be implemented in phases, with immediate effects on imports and gradual prohibitions on other uses over the next two to five years. The rule does provide an exception for the Savannah River Site in South Carolina until 2037 to ensure the safe disposal of nuclear material. (ABC News / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
3/ Mike Pence declared that he will not endorse Trump in the 2024 general election. Pence cited “profound differences” between their views on various issues, including Trump’s stance on the national deficit, abortion, the TikTok ban reversal, and the Jan. 6 insurrection. Pence also criticized Trump for a political platform that he said is “at odds with the conservative agenda” they followed during their administration. Pence declined to say who he would personally vote for in the 2024 election, but said he would “never” vote for Biden. Pence said he plans to instead focus on promoting a “broad mainstream conservative agenda” for the remainder of the year. (Wall Street Journal / ABC News / The Guardian)
Trump once again described immigrants as criminals who are “poisoning the blood” of the country and compared them to animals released from prisons and mental institutions. During a nearly hourlong interview on Fox News, Trump also discussed his stances on abortion, NATO, and the potential TikTok ban, while continuing to falsely claim that the 2020 election was rigged. (New York Times)
Trump called for the imprisonment of Liz Cheney and other members of the January 6 committee in a series of posts on his personal social media platform. He also claimed that they suppressed evidence that would exonerate him from charges related to the Jan. 6 insurrection and said they should “go to jail along with the rest” of the January 6 “unselect” committee. Cheney responded by saying Trump was “afraid of the truth.” (The Guardian)
4/ Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held their first phone call in a month amidst growing disagreements over the war in Gaza. A White House spokesperson said the two discussed “the latest developments in Israel and Gaza, including the situation in Rafah and efforts to surge humanitarian assistance to Gaza.” Netanyahu also complained about a speech by Chuck Schumer that was critical of Israel’s actions in Gaza, which Biden endorsed, while defending his leadership and questioning the influence of domestic politics on Gaza war policy. (Axios)
1/ The Manhattan DA’s office agreed to delay the start of the hush money case against Trump by 30 days. “Specifically, yesterday the USAO produced approximately 31,000 pages of additional records and represented that there will be another production of documents by next week,” the DA’s office wrote in a motion to the court. The newly disclosed evidence relates to Trump’s former attorney, Michael Cohen, who pleaded guilty and served time for various offenses in a separate case in 2018. Trump’s defense attorneys had sought a longer postponement of up to 90 days and have asked the judge to sanction the DA’s office over the late disclosure of documents, claiming that the DA’s office engaged in “widespread misconduct” to improve their position in the potential trial. The trial was initially set to begin with jury selection on March 25. (NBC News / ABC News / New York Times)
2/ A federal judge in Florida rejected a motion to dismiss Trump’s classified documents case. In a brief written order, U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon said some of Trump’s arguments merit “serious consideration,” but she also noted that dismissing charges at this stage over definitional disputes of the terms in the Espionage Act would be premature. Cannon also expressed skepticism towards the defense’s argument based on the Presidential Records Act. Trump’s lawyers highlighted the lack of prosecution against Hillary Clinton for her use of a private email server, despite the FBI finding no classified material in her emails. Trump and his co-defendants, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, have pleaded not guilty to all 40 criminal charges related to the alleged mishandling of classified documents. (Washington Post / ABC News / NBC News)
A federal appeals court unanimously rejected former Trump adviser Peter Navarro’s attempt to avoid prison while appealing his contempt of Congress conviction for defying a Jan. 6 committee subpoena. Navarro, 74, must report to a Miami facility by March 19 to serve a four-month sentence, becoming the first former Trump adviser jailed for actions related to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. (ABC News)
3/ Chuck Schumer criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a speech on the Senate floor and called for new elections in Israel. Schumer cited Netanyahu’s prioritization of political survival over Israel’s best interests in the wake of Hamas’ attack and the ongoing bombardment of Gaza. Schumer, the highest-ranking elected Jewish official in the U.S., emphasized the need for change and a negotiated two-state solution, while also calling for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to step down. (ABC News / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / NBC News)
4/ The Biden administration imposed unprecedented sanctions on two Israeli settler outposts and three individuals in the West Bank due to violence against Palestinians. The move comes amid increased tensions between the Netanyahu government and the U.S. over the ongoing settler violence and humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where Israeli forces have killed more than 31,000 people. The sanctions block access to U.S. assets or property and prohibit banks from working with the targets of the sanctions. (Washington Post)
5/ An American company that paid indicted FBI informant Alexander Smirnov $600,000 in 2020 has ties to a UK firm owned by Trump business associates in Dubai. Smirnov was accused of lying to the FBI about the Bidens’ involvement in a bribery scheme with Ukrainian company Burisma and provided false accounts that Republicans used to justify a House impeachment investigation. The CEO of the American company, ETT, along with a Pakistani American investor and a former Damac Properties chairman linked to Trump, registered the related UK company in March 2020. The connections raise questions about the motivations behind Smirnov’s fabricated allegations and their potential political implications. (The Guardian)
1/ A Georgia judge threw out six charges in the Georgia election meddling case against Trump and his allies. The decision by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee marks the first time any charges have been dropped in the four criminal cases Trump faces. Most of the charges still stand, however, including claims that Trump and his team broke the law by trying to stay in power after he lost the 2020 election. The tossed charges were related to Trump’s efforts to pressure officials to violate election laws, like when he called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and told him to “find” enough votes for Trump to win. In his decision, Judge McAfee wrote that prosecutors could seek a reindictment to supplement the six dismissed counts, but said the “lack of detail” regarding the essential legal elements of the charges did not give the defendants “enough information to prepare their defenses intelligently.” (ABC News / Washington Post / Axios)
2/ The House overwhelmingly passed a bill to force TikTok’s Chinese owner to sell the app or face a U.S. ban, with both parties saying it threatens national security despite the company’s efforts to wall off U.S. data. The bill’s fate remains uncertain in the Senate, and courts may say it violates free speech, but some worry the move could worsen tensions with China as the U.S. continues to go after Chinese tech companies. The White House has said it backs the bill and views it as a way to address data risks. (New York Times / CNBC / CBS News / Washington Post)
3/ Biden and Trump both won enough votes in their respective primary races to be their parties’ nominees in the 2024 election, setting up a rematch of the 2020 election. Biden had little competition, while Trump easily beat his GOP opponents despite the ongoing criminal cases against him. The 2024 election campaign will be one of the longest in American history and the first presidential rematch in almost 70 years. (New York Times / Washington Post)
poll/ 63% of respondents blamed recent price increases on “large corporations taking advantage of inflation” — up from 54% in November. 38% blamed the price increases on Democratic policies, unchanged from November. (Financial Times-Michigan Ross via CNBC)
1/ A group of Independent and Democratic senators led by Bernie Sanders urged Biden to suspend U.S. military aid to Israel until it allows humanitarian assistance to reach Gaza. In a letter, the senators argued that blocking aid violates the Foreign Assistance Act. The senators insisted that more leverage is needed to change Israel’s policy. (New York Times / New Republic)
2/ The Biden administration announced a $300 million weapons package for Ukraine. The aid will be drawn from existing U.S. stockpiles and is meant as a stopgap measure to address the country’s need for ammunition and air defense systems amid Russia’s ongoing attacks. The move comes as Congress remains deadlocked over a $60.1 billion Ukraine aid bill, with the U.S. having exhausted its assistance to Ukraine since the last package in December 2022. (New York Times / NBC News)
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán claimed Trump told him he would cut off military aid to Ukraine to end the conflict with Russia. Orbán’s comments come after his visit to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate last Friday, where the Trump praised Orbán despite his critical stance on providing aid to Ukraine and his resistance to NATO expansion. (NBC News)
3/ Trump may not have sufficient liquid assets to cover the full $464 million civil fraud judgment against him if he loses his appeal. In a court filing, NY Attorney General Letitia James argued that Trump and his co-defendants should be required to post cash or bonds covering the entire amount to pause the judgment while they challenge the ruling, citing potential fluctuations in his real estate holdings’ value, post-judgment interest, and his other legal battles, including an $83.3 million defamation judgment. James urged the appeals court to reject Trump’s bid to stay the judgment with a $100 million bond, warning that Trump and his co-defendants might attempt to evade or impede enforcement of the judgment if they lose the appeal. (NBC News / CNBC / ABC News)
4/ Trump plans to argue in his upcoming hush money trial that he was unaware that his actions were illegal because his lawyers were involved in the process. Trump’s attorneys plan to argue that he “lacked the requisite intent to commit the conduct charged in the indictment.” The judge in the case, however, is not likely to allow Trump to present evidence of his lawyers’ involvement without explicitly invoking the advice-of-counsel defense, and Trump’s lawyers said they don’t plan to formally invoke that defense. Trump faces 34 charges related to allegedly covering up a $130,000 payment made to Stormy Daniels during his 2016 presidential campaign. The trial is set to begin with jury selection on March 25. (NBC News / CNN / USA TODAY)
5/ A bipartisan panel of three North Carolina judges unanimously ruled that a Republican-led effort to restructure the state’s election boards is unconstitutional. The law, passed by the GOP-controlled legislature over Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto, would have shifted the power to appoint election board members from the governor to the legislature and created boards with an equal number of Democrats and Republicans. The judges found that this infringed on the governor’s constitutional duties and was an unlawful attempt by the legislature to seize power from the executive branch. The ruling leaves the current structure in place, with the governor appointing a majority of members from his own party. Republican legislative leaders are expected to appeal the decision. (Raleigh News & Observer / Associated Press / New York Times)
1/ Biden proposed a $7.3 trillion budget for the next fiscal year that would raise taxes on high earners and corporations to keep Social Security and Medicare from hitting insolvency within the next decade. Additionally, the budget calls for restoring the expanded Child Tax Credit, fully funding nutrition assistance for women, infants and children through the WIC program, and allowing Medicare to negotiate more aggressively to bring down the cost of prescription drugs. Biden’s budget would cut the deficit by $3 trillion over the next 10 years through changes to the tax code that target the ultra-wealthy and cutting to “wasteful subsidies.” The fiscal 2025 budget would cut the deficit by $3 trillion over the next decade, and raise taxes by a net total of $4.9 trillion – more than 7% above what the government would collect without any policy changes. The plan, however, stand almost no chance of becoming law, given that Republicans control the House and have been unable to pass a budget for the current fiscal year, which began Oct. 1. (ABC News / Politico / Axios / Associated Press / NPR / Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
2/ Trump suggested that he’s open to “cutting” Social Security and Medicare, but later backtracked and claimed he was talking about “cutting waste.” In an interview, Trump, when was asked how he’d resolve the long-term solvency problems of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, said that there was “a lot you can do in terms of entitlements in terms of cutting and in terms of also the theft and the bad management of entitlements, tremendous bad management of entitlements.” Biden immediately seized on the comments, saying: “Not on my watch.” He later added: “Many of my Republican friends want to put Social Security and Medicare back on the chopping block again. Many of them are trying to cut Social Security and Medicare or raise the retirement age again. I will stop them.” Social Security is projected to be solvent through 2034, while Medicare is projected to be solvent through 2028. After that, benefits will face automatic cuts with policy changes to add revenue or reduce spending. (NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / CNBC)
3/ Trump posted a $91.6 million bond to appeal the $83.3 million judgement against him in the E. Jean Carroll defamation case. In January, a federal jury awarded Carroll $83.3 million in damages for Trump’s defamatory statements that denied he raped her, said she wasn’t his type, and accused her of making up the allegation. The bond prevent Carroll from collecting her $83.3 million judgment while Trump appeals the defamation verdict. Nevertheless, after posting his bond, Trump – again – denied Carroll’s rape and defamation claims against him, claiming she is “not a believable person.” Carroll’s lawyer, meanwhile, said she was considering a third defamation lawsuit against Trump. (New York Times / Axios / NBC News / CNN / Bloomberg / CNBC / Washington Post / Politico / NBC News / New York Times / CNBC)
4/ Trump asked to postpone his New York state hush-money trial until the Supreme Court rules on whether “presidential immunity” protects him from criminal prosecution. Trump has been charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records tied to a hush money payment to Stormy Daniels during his 2016 campaign. The trial is scheduled to begin on March 25. (Associated Press / Politico / CBS News / NBC News / CNN / Bloomberg)
5/ The Republican National Committee voted to install a new leadership team that was hand-picked by Trump, completing his takeover of the national party. Michael Whatley, a North Carolina Republican and supporter of Trump’s baseless claims of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election, was elected the party’s new national chairman. And Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, was voted in as co-chair. The newly installed leadership team began the process of pushing out dozens of staffers and other officials. (Washington Post / New York Times / USA Today / ABC News / NBC News / CNN / Associated Press / Politico)
1/ Biden will order the U.S. military to build a temporary port and pier in Gaza so more humanitarian aid can reach 2.3 million Palestinian civilians in need. Biden has reportedly grown frustrated with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has restricted the flow of humanitarian aid into the beleaguered territory despite U.S. pressure. “We’re not waiting on the Israelis,” one U.S. official said, noting that the ship transport of aid will supplement the on-going U.S. airdrops. The project is expected take several weeks before it’s operational, which will then allow aid to be distributed inside Gaza by the United Nations and other humanitarian personnel. Israel also agreed to open a third border crossing for delivery of trucked food and medicine to northern Gaza. Biden will announce the “emergency mission” to open a maritime route for humanitarian assistance during his State of the Union address tonight. Meanwhile, efforts to secure a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war before the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan appear to be failing with the Hamas delegation leaving negotiations in Cairo “to consult with the leadership of the movement.” Netanyahu has publicly ruled out Hamas’ demands for a permanent ceasefire, saying Israel intends to resume the offensive after any pause and expand it until “total victory” is achieved. (Politico / Associated Press / CBS News / Bloomberg / New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / CNN / ABC News / Axios)
2/ Despite facing criminal charges for mishandling of classified documents, Trump will receive U.S. intelligence briefings after he secures the Republican nomination. Although the there are no legal requirements to share classified information with Trump, it’s a tradition that dates back to 1952. The Biden administration is expected to modulate what it shares with Trump. Shortly after Biden took office, he barred Trump from receiving intelligence briefings typically given to former presidents, citing Trump’s “erratic behavior unrelated to the insurrection.” One former senior U.S. intelligence official added that they’d be “afraid” to give Trump access to classified intelligence. Trump is currently facing 40 counts related to the possession of classified documents and then obstructing efforts to retrieve them. (Politico / Daily Beast)
3/ Sweden formally joined NATO as the 32nd member, ending decades of post-World War II neutrality and joining the military alliance in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine more than two years ago. With Sweden’s neighbor Finland joining the alliance last year, NATO now controls almost all of the Baltic Sea. (New York Times / Politico / Associated Press)
4/ Alabama’s governor signed a bill to protect in vitro fertilization into law after the state Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are considered unborn children and that individuals could be held liable for destroying them. The legislation, however, doesn’t define or clarify whether under state law frozen embryos created via IVF have the same rights as children, but instead provides criminal and civil immunity “for death or damage to an embryo” related to IVF. Two Alabama clinics said they would resume IVF procedures, while one expressed significant caution. 66% of Americans oppose considering frozen embryos as people, while 31% support it. (NBC News / Politico / Washington Post / Axios)
About 1 in 8 voters say abortion is the most important issue in the 2024 elections. (Axios)
5/ Earth posted its warmest February ever – setting a monthly record for the ninth time in a row. It was also Earth’s warmest 12-month period. February 2024’s averaged 13.5 degrees Celsius (56.3 degrees Fahrenheit), breaking the previous record from 2016 by 0.12 degrees (0.22 degrees Fahrenheit). The last 12-months exceeded the Paris Agreement’s 1.5-degree target for a full year, coming in at 1.56 degrees (2.8 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than preindustrial levels. (Washington Post / Axios / Associated Press)
⏩ Notably next: Biden will deliver his State of the Union address tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern.
1/ The House passed a $460 billion package of spending bills, setting up a Senate vote before Friday’s deadline to avert yet another partial government shutdown. The measure packages six of the 12 required appropriations bills and will extend funding through Sept. 30 for the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, Energy, Interior, Veterans Affairs, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, as well as the FDA, military construction, and other federal programs. Lawmakers are still negotiating the other six government spending bills, which must pass by March 22 to avert a lapse in funding. (Washington Post / ABC News / New York Times / Associated Press / Politico / NBC News)
2/ The Supreme Court will hear arguments April 25 about whether Trump is immune from criminal prosecution for trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The case will be the last one argued in the court’s current calendar, but could take months for the justices to issue an opinion. The outcome will determine whether and how quickly Trump faces trial for allegedly trying to block Biden’s election victory. (Washington Post / CNBC / Bloomberg / CNN)
3/ Voting on Super Tuesday went as expected: Biden and Trump – facing 91 criminal charges – are all but certain to be headed for a rematch in 2024. Notably, while Biden lost North Carolina to Trump by about 75,000 votes in 2020, several exit polls indicated that 80% of Nikki Haley voters wouldn’t necessarily vote for the Republican nominee in November, and 66% said they didn’t believe Trump was physically or mentally fit to be president. Haley won about 249,651 of the Republican votes in North Carolina on Super Tuesday. The “uncommitted” protest against Biden continued in Minnesota, with nearly 19% of Democratic voters choosing “uncommitted” rather than for Biden. (Associated Press / Axios / Politico / NPR / New York Times / Washington Post)
4/ Nikki Haley suspended her presidential campaign, but stopped short of endorsing Trump. Instead, Haley said it’s up to Trump to “earn the votes of those in our party who did not support him.” Trump responded by saying “Nikki Haley got TROUNCED last night, in record setting fashion.” His campaign then sent out a fundraising email asking Republicans “TO UNITE AS A PARTY AND DEFEAT JOE BIDEN!” Biden, meanwhile, reached out to Haley’s supporters, saying: “Trump made it clear he doesn’t want Nikki Haley’s supporters. I want to be clear: There is a place for them in my campaign. I know there is a lot we won’t agree on. But on the fundamental issues of preserving American democracy, on standing up for the rule of law, on treating each other with decency and dignity and respect, on preserving NATO and standing up to America’s adversaries, I hope and believe we can find common ground.” (ABC News / NPR / NBC News / New York Times / Associated Press)
5/ Mitch McConnell endorsed Trump for president despite once denouncing Trump as “morally and practically responsible for provoking” the Jan. 6 insurrection in a “disgraceful dereliction of duty.” Nevertheless, McConnell said it was “abundantly clear” that Trump had “earned” the support of Republican voters and that “it should come as no surprise that as nominee, he will have my support.” The two have not spoken since 2020 – when McConnell acknowledged Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election. (Associated Press / Washington Post / Axios / Politico / NPR / New York Times / ABC News)
1/ Today is Super Tuesday. Democrats and Republicans are casting ballots in 15 states for their party’s nominee for president, Senate, House, and governors races that can determine political control of Congress and states for the next two to four years. Over a third of the total delegates are up for grabs: 854 Republican delegates and 1,420 Democratic delegates. It takes 1,215 delegates to win the Republican nomination, while it takes 1,968 delegates to win the Democratic nomination. Trump is expected to widen his lead over Nikki Haley, while Biden is expected to sweep on the Democratic side. [Editor’s note: Check back tomorrow for a full recap on Super Tuesday 2024.] (Associated Press / Washington Post / NPR / New York Times / CNN / NBC News / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema will not seek re-election, setting up a race between Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego and Republican Kari Lake to succeed her. Sinema left the Democratic Party in 2022 to become an independent. (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News)
The number of Americans who think Trump committed serious federal crimes has declined since December after steadily rising since the fall of 2022. (New York Times)
Do Americans have a “collective amnesia” about Trump? “It’s only been three years, but memories of Trump’s presidency have faded and changed fast.” (New York Times)
Biden’s new strategy: Go for Trump’s jugular. “Biden has told friends he thinks Trump is wobbly, both intellectually and emotionally, and will explode if Biden mercilessly gigs and goads him — ‘go haywire in public,’ as one adviser put it. (Axios)
2/ The Supreme Court temporarily blocked a new Texas immigration law, which allow state police to arrest, jail, and prosecute migrants suspected of illegally crossing the U.S. border. Justice Samuel Alito issued the administrative hold, which will block the law from taking effect until March 13, after civil rights groups and the Department of Justice sued, arguing the law is unconstitutional and could lead to racial profiling. The Justice Department also said the law would “profoundly” alter the status quo “that has existed between the United States and the States in the context of immigration for almost 150 years.” (NBC News / CNN / Bloomberg)
3/ The U.S. continued to airdrop aid into Gaza as the humanitarian crisis deepens. The Biden administration said it’s working to increase the delivery of humanitarian aid “through as many channels as possible,” because “the situation is simply intolerable.” Biden, meanwhile, said that a possible six-week ceasefire in Gaza is “in the hands of Hamas right now,” adding: “We need a ceasefire.” Israel, Hamas, and mediators want to secure a deal before March 10, the start of Ramadan, the holiest period in the Islamic calendar, which is observed by a month of fasting. (NPR / Bloomberg / New York Times / Washington Post)
4/ The Biden administration will cap all credit card late fees at $8, which regulators say will save Americans up to $10 billion a year. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule will close a legal loophole that had allowed some financial services to charge an average of $32 per month for a missed or late payment. Biden also announced the formation of a new “strike force” meant to crack down on “junk fees,” and other “anti-competitive, unfair, deceptive, or fraudulent business practices” on things like groceries, prescription drugs, health care, housing and financial services. (Associated Press / Washington Post / NPR / ABC News)
1/ The Supreme Court unanimously reversed the Colorado Supreme Court decision to remove Trump from the ballot for engaging in an insurrection on Jan. 6. The ruling ends efforts in Colorado, Illinois, Maine and elsewhere to remove Trump from the ballot. In an unsigned ruling with no dissents, the court said that only Congress – not the states – can disqualify a presidential candidate under the Constitution’s insurrection clause, suggesting that the result could lead to an unworkable “patchwork” where a candidate could be ineligible in one state but not another. “Nothing in the Constitution requires that we endure such chaos — arriving at any time or different times, up to and perhaps beyond the inauguration,” the court wrote. Five of the six conservative justices went further, saying that Congress must determine who was disqualified under Section 3 of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment. The justices, however, didn’t weigh in on whether Trump engaged in an insurrection by attempting to overturn the 2020 election results or encouraging the violence on Jan. 6. Trump, meanwhile, posted on his personal social media network after the decision: “BIG WIN FOR AMERICA!!!” (Washington Post / NBC News / Associated Press / Politico / NPR / New York Times / Axios / ABC News / CNN / CNBC / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
Biden warned that Trump won’t concede if he loses in November, saying: “Losers are never graceful.” (Axios)
2/ Trump’s former chief financial officer pleaded guilty to perjury related to testimony he gave during Trump’s civil fraud trial. Allen Weisselberg pleaded guilty to two counts of perjury and will be sentenced to five months in jail – his second guilty plea in a criminal case involving his work for Trump. He pleaded guilty in a tax fraud case in 2022 and was sentenced to five months. (Axios / NBC News / Politico / Associated Press / CNN / ABC News / Wall Street Journal / New York Times)
Trump – again – requested a delay in the $83 million judgment against him in the E. Jean Carroll’s defamation case. Trump also owes $454 million in his civil fraud case. (ABC News)
3/ Kamala Harris called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, citing the “humanitarian catastrophe” caused by the Israel-Hamas War. “Given the immense scale of suffering in Gaza, there must be an immediate ceasefire,” Harris said. Israel has reportedly agreed to a deal in principle, in which there would be a four- to six-week ceasefire in exchange for Hamas releasing hostages, and that “the onus right now is on Hamas.” Still, Harris added: “The Israeli government must do more to significantly increase the flow of aid. No excuses. […] People in Gaza are starving. The conditions are inhumane and our common humanity compels us to act.” The U.S. beganair-dropping 38,000 meals and other aid over the Gaza Strip after more than 100 Palestinians were killed in a chaotic scene where the Israeli military opened fire on a crowd gathered around a convoy of trucks carrying desperately needed aid. Meanwhile, a member of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war cabinet is scheduled to meet with Harris as talks drag on over a deal to release hostages taken during the Oct. 7 attacks. (Reuters / USA Today / NPR / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / ABC News / NBC News)
4/ The United Nations reported that it had found “reasonable grounds” to believe that sexual violence occurred during the Hamas terror attacks on Israel, including rape and gang rape in at least three locations. “In most of these incidents, victims first subjected to rape were then killed,” the report said, “and at least two incidents relate to the rape of women’s corpses.” The team also said it had found “clear and convincing evidence” that hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza were subjected to “rape and sexualized torture and sexualized cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.” (Washington Post / New York Times / CNN)
⏩ Notably next: Super Tuesday is tomorrow. Here’s what to expect. (NPR / Washington Post)
1/ A state judge in Illinois ruled that Trump had engaged in insurrection and disqualified him from the state’s primary ballot. Trump appealed Judge Tracie Porter’s decision to ban him for his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Illinois is the third state where Trump has been disqualified under the 14th Amendment, which bars insurrectionists from running for office. Rulings in all three states have been stayed pending appeals, which means Trump will still be on the Republican ballot when Illinois holds its primary March 19. (Bloomberg / Axios / CNN / New York Times / NBC News)
2/ A federal judge temporarily blocked a new Texas law that would allow state police to arrest, jail, and prosecute migrants suspected of illegally crossing the U.S. border. The law, Senate Bill 4, was set to take effect March 5, but U.S. District Judge David Ezra issued a preliminary injunction after the Justice Department and the American Civil Liberties Union sued to stop the law from being enforced, arguing that it’s unconstitutional and could lead to racial profiling. Ezra wrote in his opinion that the federal government “will suffer grave irreparable harm” if the law took effect because it could inspire other states to pass their own immigration laws, creating an inconsistent patchwork of immigration regulations. Texas appealed the ruling to the conservative 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. (Texas Tribune / Axios / Associated Press / New York Times / Washington Post / ABC News)
3/ The House passed a temporary funding bill to avert a partial government shutdown and extend funding for one week, sending the measure to the Senate, where it is expected to pass. It’s the fourth time that Congress has been forced to pass a stop-gap funding measure to avoid a shutdown despite Biden and then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy agreeing on a 2024 fiscal year budget last May. Far-right Republicans in the House, however, revolted against a bipartisan spending deal and ousted McCarthy instead. (Washington Post / CNN / Bloomberg / Axios / Politico / NPR / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
4/ Israeli troops opened fired on a large crowd of Palestinians waiting for humanitarian aid, killing more than 112 people and injuring at least 750 others. The convoy was bringing food to shelters for Palestinian civilians. Israeli troops reportedly opened fire as people pulled boxes of flour and canned goods off the trucks, causing the Palestinians to hide. After the shooting stopped, people went back to the trucks, and the soldiers opened fire again. Israel claimed that troops “didn’t open fire on a humanitarian aid convoy,” but also said the crowd “posed a threat” to soldiers “who responded to the threat with live fire.” Israel didn’t clarify what the threat was. The incident comes after the U.N. warned that a quarter of Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians face starvation. Biden, meanwhile, acknowledged that the shooting complicates negotiations in the hostage-for-ceasefire deal, saying “Probably not by Monday, but I’m hopeful.” Since the war began, at least 30,035 people have been killed in Gaza and 70,457 others have been injured. One U.S. official privately said the Biden administration is growing concerned that “Gaza is turning into Mogadishu.” (Associated Press / New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / ABC News / CNN)
1/ Mitch McConnell will step down as the Senate Republican leader in November. The 82-year-old is the longest-serving Senate leader in history and has faced a series of recent health issues, including a concussion, a fall that required him to use a wheelchair periodically to get around, and at least two episodes where he momentarily froze in front of the media. Aides, however, said McConnell’s announcement was unrelated to his health. “One of life’s most under appreciated talents is to know when it’s time to move on to life’s next chapter,” McConnell said. “So I stand before you today […] to say that this will be my last term as Republican leader of the Senate.” McConnell’s legacy includes blocking Obama from filling a vacant Supreme Court seat in 2016 with Merrick Garland. The decision directly led to the confirmation of three Trump-nominated Supreme Court justices – Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett – creating the most right-leaning court in nearly a century, which went on to overturn Roe v. Wade in June 2022, ending the national right to abortion. McConnell also helped guide 234 Trump-appointed judicial nominees to the bench, shifting the balance of the judiciary towards conservatives for the next generation. McConnell has called the Garland decision “the single most consequential thing I’ve ever done.” [Editor’s note: So long snake!] (Associated Press / NPR / NBC News / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
2/ The Supreme Court agreed to decide whether Trump is immune from prosecution for conspiring to overturn the 2020 election to remain in power. Arguments are set for the week of April 22 – a schedule that would permit a ruling with enough time for a trial before the November election – to consider an unanimous appeals court ruling, which rejected Trump’s assertion that he’s immune from federal prosecution for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Trump has repeatedly argued that his actions related to the Jan. 6 insurrection were part of his “official” duties as president and he therefore can’t be prosecuted without first being impeached and convicted by Congress. Since the Senate acquitted Trump of inciting the Jan. 6 insurrection, Trump has claimed he’s now subject to “double jeopardy.” He faces four felony counts brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith, including conspiring to defraud the U.S., conspiring to obstruct the formal certification in Congress of Biden’s victory, obstructing a congressional proceeding, and conspiracy against the right to vote. (Washington Post / Bloomberg / Axios / New York Times / CNBC / CNN / Politico / NPR / NBC News)
3/ A New York judge ordered Trump to pay his full $454 million civil fraud penalty before he can proceed with an appeal. Trump had offered to post a $100 million bond to temporarily delay the judgement, arguing that the lending ban in the Feb. 16 verdict made it “impossible” to secure a bond for the “complete” amount. Trump’s lawyers also noted that if he’s forced to put up a bond for the entire amount, “properties would likely need to be sold to raise capital under exigent circumstances” to raise the money. Judge Anil Singh, however, denied Trump’s request to delay paying the full amount while he appeals. Trump has until March 25 to post the full bond to pause collection so he can appeal, or he’ll be forced to pay the monetary penalty or risk having some of his assets seized. (CNBC / CNN / Associated Press / Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg)
4/ Biden and Trump won their party’s Michigan primary elections, but Biden faced opposition from voters over his support for Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. More than 100,000 voters – about 13% – marked “uncommitted” on their ballot in the Democratic primary as part of a pressure campaign to have Biden call for a permanent, unconditional ceasefire in Gaza. Biden won Michigan in 2020 by about 154,000 votes, while Trump carried the state in 2016 by about 11,000 votes. About 20,000 Democrats voted “uncommitted” in each of the last three Michigan Democratic presidential primaries. There are about 200,000 registered voters in Michigan who identified as Muslim, and about 300,000 identify as Middle Eastern or North African. (Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / NPR / Associated Press / CNN)
5/ Israel and Hamas both rejected Biden’s optimism that a hostage-for-ceasefire deal in Gaza could come as soon as next week. Hamas continues to demand that Israel agree to a permanent ceasefire and to withdraw all of its troops from Gaza before they’ll release the remaining hostages, while Israel has called the demand “delusional” and insists that it will continue fighting “until total victory.” More than 29,900 people have been killed in Gaza since the war began, with more than 70,300 injured, and thousands more missing and presumed dead. About 80% of the enclave’s population has been displaced. The U.N., meanwhile, warned that one in four people – about 575,000 people – in the Gaza Strip are “one step away” from starvation. (Associated Press / NBC News / CNN / New York Times / Bloomberg)
6/ Congress reached a deal to extend government funding for one week and avoid a partial shutdown. The agreement would extend funding for six agencies –Agriculture, Commerce, Justice and Science, Energy and Water, Interior, Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Transportation and Housing and Urban Development – until March 8. The deal also extends the deadline for the other six agencies – Defense, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Financial Services, State and Foreign Ops, and Legislative Branch – through March 22. Although there is bipartisan agreement, the House and Senate still need to pass the stopgap measure by Friday night. (Politico / CNN / Bloomberg / Axios / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
7/ Senate Republicans blocked passage of a bill to protect access to in vitro fertilization nationwide following the Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling that frozen embryos are children. Sen. Tammy Duckworth brought up the bill under unanimous consent – a procedure that allows any one senator to object – but it was blocked by Cindy Hyde-Smith, who called the legislation “a vast overreach.” Senate Republicans characterized the bill – which states that people have a right to “access assisted reproductive technology,” that doctors have the right to provide it, and insurers the right to cover it – as “bait” while also claiming they support IVF. In the wake of the scuttled vote, the Biden campaign tied the Alabama ruling to the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade in June 2022, arguing that if “Trump supported IVF, he would demand Republicans protect access to it — but he hasn’t.” (Politico / New York Times / Axios)
1/ Biden suggested that a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas could begin as soon as next week, saying talks were “close but not done yet.” Negotiators are nearing an agreement that would halt Israel’s military operations in Gaza in exchange for the release of many of the more than 100 remaining hostages being held by Hamas. Biden also confirmed that Israel had agreed to pause fighting in Gaza during the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, which begins in two weeks. He added that Israel risks losing “the overwhelming support of the vast majority of nations” if its “incredibly conservative” government continues down its current path. Israel, however, said it was “surprised” by Biden’s optimism of a ceasefire deal. Meanwhile, an active-duty member of the U.S. Air Force died after setting himself on fire outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington to protest Israel’s war in Gaza. Aaron Bushnell livestreamed his self-immolation on social media, declaring that he “will no longer be complicit in genocide […] I am about to engage in an extreme act of protest, but compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers, it’s not extreme at all.” Bushnell repeatedly yelled “Free Palestine” until he collapsed to the ground. (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / Bloomberg / NPR / CNN / Axios / CNN)
✏️ Inside the Democratic rebellion against Biden over the Gaza war. “Biden’s campaign has been surprised by the depth of anger and frustration over Israel. ‘We are getting hurt more than we anticipated’ by Biden’s support for Israel, one senior campaign adviser said.” (Reuters)
✏️ Biden Faces ‘Uncommitted’ Vote in Michigan’s Primary. “A protest vote against President Biden’s policies on Israel will show the extent of Democratic divisions, while Donald Trump is favored to win again as Nikki Haley presses on.” (New York Times)
✏️ Biden’s Stance on Israel-Hamas War Sows Reelection Risks. “Tuesday’s primary in the crucial swing state of Michigan may deliver a symbolic rebuke to the president’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war. Much of its sizable Arab-American population blames Biden for siding with Israel and failing to stop the fighting. Many younger voters and Black Americans agree, and there’s a grassroots push to vote ’uncommitted’ instead of endorsing the president, who has no serious challengers for the Democratic nomination.” (Bloomberg)
✏️ In Michigan Primary, Voters Vent Anger at Biden Over Gaza. “Michigan is home to the largest percentage of Arab-Americans in the U.S., many concentrated in Dearborn, represented in Congress by Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib, the lone Palestinian-American member of Congress. She and the city’s Arab-American mayor have backed the ‘uncommitted’ protest.” (Wall Street Journal)
2/ Speaker Mike Johnson was “unequivocally” clear that he wants to avoid a government shutdown during an “intense” private meeting with Biden and other congressional leaders. Biden summoned the top four leaders of Congress to the White House with four days to go until federal funding partially runs out. “I think that it’s Congress’s responsibility to fund the government,” Biden said. “We’ve got to get about doing it. A shutdown would damage the economy significantly. I think we can all agree to that. And we need bipartisan solutions.” Johnson, who is facing pressure from Biden, Democrats, Senate Republicans, and the ultraconservative wing of the House, said he believed they could come to an agreement and that Republicans were working in “good faith” on spending negotiations. “We’re very optimistic,” he added, saying that preventing a shutdown was “our first responsibility.” Aid for Ukraine, however, remains in doubt with Johnson refusing to take up the $95 billion aid package that the Senate passed earlier this month. “The need is urgent,” Biden demanded. “The consequences of inaction every day in Ukraine are dire.” Johnson, nevertheless, claims the Senate’s package “does nothing” to secure the U.S.-Mexico border, saying: “The first priority of the country is our border and making sure it’s secure.” (Politico / Washington Post / Associated Press / Axios / ABC News / NBC News / New York Times / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
3/ The former FBI informant charged with lying about the Bidens will be held in custody indefinitely because he poses a significant flight risk. Federal prosecutors indicted Alexander Smirnov on Feb. 14 for falsely telling the FBI that a Ukrainian energy company had paid bribes to Biden and his son Hunter. The bribery claim was a central part of House Republicans’ impeachment inquiry into Biden. House Republicans, meanwhile, subpoenaed Attorney General Merrick Garland for records from special counsel Robert Hur’s investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents. The chairmen of the House Oversight and Judiciary committees linked the request directly to their ongoing presidential impeachment inquiry, which centers on allegations that Biden and his family engaged in corrupt business practices. (Politico / NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post / CNBC / CNN / Axios / The Hill)
4/ Democrats in New York unveiled new congressional maps designed to help them retake the House majority this fall after voting down district lines proposed by a bipartisan redistricting committee. The map improves Democrats’ chances of picking up seats in two districts, but leaves the partisan makeup of 24 of the state’s 26 districts largely intact. (CNN / New York Times / Associated Press)
5/ Senate Democrats demanded a vote on a bill to federally protect in vitro fertilization and other fertility treatments. The Access to Family Building Act, introduced in January by Sen. Tammy Duckworth, who had her two daughters via IVF, would add federal protections for those seeking IVF and other reproductive assistance methods. Duckworth asked the Senate for unanimous consent, effectively daring Republicans to block its passage. Under unanimous consent, any one senator can object to moving the bill forward. In 2022, Duckworth tried to call for unanimous consent to pass the bill, but Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith blocked it without explanation. “Donald Trump suddenly supports IVF after crowing and claiming and taking credit for the fall of Roe v. Wade. You can’t do both,” Duckworth said. “And so let’s find out tomorrow if any Republicans show up to block the unanimous consent […] If you truly care about the sanctity of families, and you’re genuinely, actually, honestly interested in protecting IVF then you need to show it by not blocking this bill on the floor.” (Politico / Axios / CBS News / The Hill / NPR)
6/ Republicans in the Tennessee House passed a bill to ban displaying pride flags in public school classrooms. The legislation on behalf of parents who were concerned about display of the pride flags the classroom. The bill would prohibit public schools from displaying flags other than the U.S. and Tennessee state flag. While the measure would allow schools to display the POW/MIA flag, a flag that represents a city or metropolitan government or an official school flag, among other exceptions, it does not explicitly prohibit display of the Nazi or Confederate flags in schools. The 70-24 vote sends the legislation to the state Senate, where a final vote could happen as early as this week. (The Tennessean / Associated Press / The Hill)
1/ Alabama lawmakers are considering “clarifying” legislation that would “protect” in vitro fertilization following the state Supreme Court’s ruling that embryos are children and protected under Alabama’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act. With abortion and reproductive rights seen as a major liability for Republicans in 2024, the National Republican Senatorial Committee released talking points instructing Republicans to voice support for the procedure and distance themselves from the ruling. The state’s Republican attorney general said he “has no intention of using the recent Alabama Supreme Court decision as a basis for prosecuting IVF families or providers.” And, Trump called on the Alabama legislature to “act quickly to find an immediate solution to preserve the availability of IVF in Alabama” because Republicans “should always be on the side of the Miracle of Life — and the side of Mothers, Fathers, and their Beautiful Babies.” However, 125 House Republicans — including Speaker Mike Johnson — have cosponsored the “Life at Conception Act,” which clarifies that a “human being” includes “all stages of life, including the moment of fertilization, cloning, or other moment at which an individual member of the human species comes into being.” The bill doesn’t include an exception for in vitro fertilization. Democrats, meanwhile, accused Trump and the Republicans of trying to divert attention away from the role they played in overturning Roe v. Wade. The House Democrats’ main super PAC promised to pour money into attacking Republicans on fertility treatments. (New York Times / CNN / NBC News / Politico / Business Insider / Axios / Politico)
2/ A Republican Oklahoma state senator called the LGBTQ+ community “filth” following the death of 16-year-old nonbinary student Nex Benedict, who died after a fight in a high school bathroom. “We are a Republican state,” Tom Woods said at a legislative forum. “I’m going to vote my district. I’m going to vote my values. And we don’t want that in the state of Oklahoma […] I represent a constituency that doesn’t want that filth in Oklahoma.” Separately, the Oklahoma school superintendent, Ryan Walters, claimed that “radical leftists” had created a narrative about Nex’s death that “hasn’t been true.” Walters added: “There’s not multiple genders. There’s two. That’s how God created us,” saying he didn’t believe that nonbinary or transgender people exist. Transgender students in the school district said that Walters’ rhetoric has been seen by their classmates as permission to harass and bully them at school. In bodycam footage from an interview with Nex at the hospital following the Feb. 7 attack at the school, Nex described how they “got jumped” and “blacked out” while being beaten on the floor of the bathroom by three girls who had previously mocked Nex and their friends “because of the way that we dress.” School district officials said the students involved were in the bathroom for less than two minutes and all of the students “walked under their own power” to the nurse and assistant principal’s office after the fight. Nex died the next day. (Salon / The Independent / The Oklahoman / HuffPost / NBC News / New York Times / Mother Jones / New York Times)
3/ Trump claimed “the Black people” like him because they can relate to his criminal prosecutions and mug shot. After repeatedly citing the 91 felony charges he faces, including racketeering, conspiracy to obstruct justice and falsifying business records, Trump said: “A lot of people said that that’s why the Black people like me, because they have been hurt so badly and discriminated against. And they actually viewed me as I’m being discriminated against.” In a speech to the Black Conservative Federation, Trump continued: “When I did the mug shot in Atlanta, that mug shot is number one,” adding the Black population “embraced it more than anyone else […] “I’m being indicted for you, the Black population.” The Biden campaign, meanwhile, called Trump an “anti-Black tyrant” and “the proud poster boy for modern racism.” (Washington Post / ABC News / Associated Press / New York Times / NBC News / CNN)
👑 “My ultimate and absolute revenge”: Trump gives chilling CPAC speech on presidential agenda. “Trump styled himself as a ‘proud political dissident’ and promised ‘judgment day’ for political opponents in an address on Saturday that offered a chilling vision of a democracy in imminent peril.” (The Guardian)
👑 Trump’s CPAC speech showed clear signs of major cognitive decline. Trump claimed that America is on a “fast track to hell” under Biden and the Democrats and that “If crooked Joe Biden and his thugs win in 2024, the worst is yet to come. Our country will sink to levels that are unimaginable.” (Salon)
👑 Trump rambles his way through incoherent Nashville speech. “They want you to say what they want you, what they want to have you say. And we’re not gonna let that happen.” (HuffPost)
👑 Inside Trump’s potential second-term agenda. From nationwide abortion bans to classroom culture wars, assaults on climate science and political weaponization of the military, his return to the White House could make Trump 1.0 seem tame. (Politico)
👑 At CPAC, Trump Invokes Clashing Visions of America’s Future. “He used his speech to focus on a general-election contest between him and President Biden, not once mentioning his main Republican rival, Nikki Haley.” (New York Times)
👑 Dark Trump at CPAC: “Biden’s fast track to hell.” (Axios)
Nazis mingle openly at CPAC, spreading antisemitic conspiracy theories and finding allies. “The presence of these extremists has been a persistent issue at CPAC, and in previous years conference organizers have ejected well-known Nazis and white supremacists such as Nick Fuentes.” (NBC News)
4/ Trump appealed the $464 million civil fraud judgment against him in his New York civil fraud case. Trump’s appeal, however, won’t automatically halt enforcement of the judgment: he’ll need to post bond to cover the $364 million and an additional roughly $100 million in interest he was ordered to pay to prevent the New York attorney general’s office from collecting the $464 million he owes. The fine increases by nearly $112,000 per day until he pays. Trump also faces an $83.3 million judgment in an unrelated defamation case and, according to a recent analysis of his finances, he doesn’t have enough cash on hand to cover it all himself. (Associated Press / CNN / Axios / New York Times / CBS News / NBC News / CNBC / Bloomberg)
The Manhattan district attorney’s office asked for a gag order in Trump’s criminal case related to hush money payments made during his 2016 presidential campaign. The request – made before the trial even started – noted that Trump’s “longstanding history of attacking witnesses, investigators, prosecutors, judges, and others involved in legal proceedings against him.” The trial is scheduled to begin on March 25. Trump is accused of 34 felonies. (New York Times)
✏️ Notables.
Trump won South Carolina’s Republican primary, beating Nikki Haley in her home state. Trump has now won every contest that’s counted for Republican delegates, adding to previous wins in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Trump has collected 110 delegates so far, while Haley has won 20. The first candidate to win 1,215 delegates will win the Republican presidential nomination. (Associated Press / NPR / Politico)
The chair of the Republican National Committee will step down following Trump’s call for a new RNC leader. Ronna McDaniel will leave on March 8 – days after Super Tuesday. Trump had criticized the RNC for its decision to hold primary debates, which he refused to appear is. Trump said he wants Michael Whatley to be RNC chair and Lara Trump – his daughter-in-law – to be RNC co-chair. (Politico / NPR / Associated Press)
At least one member of the Republican National Committee is trying to stop the party from paying Trump’s legal bills. The effort to keep committee neutral in the primary and to not spend committee funds on Trump’s legal bills comes after Trump called for the RNC’s current leaders to be replaced, and instead install one of his senior campaign advisors and his daughter-in-law in top roles. Lara Trump, meanwhile, suggested that Republicans voters would support the committee paying Trump’s legal bills. (Associated Press / New York Times)
Hungary’s parliament approved Sweden’s bid to join NATO, ending the Nordic country’s more than 200-year history of military non-alignment. Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, widely seen as the most pro-Putin leader in the European Union, withheld approval of Sweden’s bid for more than 600 days. That ended after Sweden agreed to send Hungary fighter jets. (Axios / Politico / NPR / New York Times)
The Federal Trade Commission sued to block the $24.6 billion merger of the country’s two largest supermarket chains. The FTC argues that Kroger’s purchase of Albertsons – its biggest rival – would lead to higher prices, lower-quality products and services, and “eliminate fierce competition” for both shoppers and workers. (NPR / CNN / Axios)
House Republicans’ effort to impeach Biden appears to have collapsed after an FBI informant admitted that Russian intelligence was involved in his false claims about the Biden family. “I don’t see it going anywhere substantive,” one House Republican said, adding that there “aren’t close to enough” GOP votes to impeach Biden. (Axios / Politico)
⏩ Notably next: The Supreme Court still hasn’t acted on cases that could determine whether Trump can be kicked off the Colorado primary ballot or can further delay his election interference trial. (NBC News)
1/ A third Alabama fertility clinic stopped its vitro fertilization program following the state Supreme Court ruling that frozen embryos are children. By classifying “cryopreserved embryos” as children, the ruling opens families, clinics, and doctors up to wrongful death lawsuits. Biden called the ruling “a direct result of the overturning of Roe v. Wade,” adding: “The disregard for women’s ability to make these decisions for themselves and their families is outrageous and unacceptable.” The Biden campaign directly blamed Trump for the state court’s ruling, saying “What is happening in Alabama right now is only possible because Donald Trump’s Supreme Court justices overturned Roe v. Wade.” Tim Scott, who is among Trump’s possible picks for VP, dodged a question about the ruling, saying “ I haven’t studied the issue,” while Nikki Haley, who initially said she agreed that “embryos are babies,” she said she didn’t support the court’s decision. Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville, meanwhile, acknowledged that the situation is “hard” for women, and when asked what he would say to women who won’t have access to IVF treatment, he replied: “That’s unfortunate.” (CNN / Politico / NBC News / Axios)
✨ Why should I care? As an individual, this ruling may seem distant, especially if IVF isn’t a personal concern. However, its implications reach far beyond fertility clinics, and reflects a shift in how legal systems intersect with medical ethics and personal choices. If the core of American democratic values lies in the principles of liberty, personal autonomy, and the pursuit of happiness, then this ruling challenges those values by imposing legal definitions that restrict individual choices in matters of reproductive health. Moreover, it sets a precedent that could extend beyond Alabama’s borders, influencing policies in other states and reshaping the national discourse on reproductive rights and healthcare. Today, it’s IVF treatments; tomorrow, it might be another aspect of healthcare or personal liberty.
Unsettled questions: What happens if patients are no longer able or willing to pay embryo storage fees? What if stored embryos are damaged as a result of a freezer malfunction? What happens if an embryo transfer results in a miscarriage?
2/ Biden suggested that the current Republicans in Congress are “worse” than the “real racists” he served with as a senator in the 1970s, including segregationist Strom Thurmond. Biden said Thurmond did “terrible things,” but “at least you could work with some of these guys.” Biden added that the current generation of Republicans have “become a party of chaos and division […] These guys do not believe in basic democratic principles.” The comments come as Speaker Mike Johnson and House Republicans have continued to block an aid package for Ukraine and Israel, which already passed the Senate. Johnson, meanwhile, called Biden’s remarks “outrageous.” Biden also took aim at Trump for comparing his legal problems to the persecution of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died in jail last week. “Where the hell does this come from? If I stood here 10-15 years ago you all would have thought that I should be committed,” Biden continued, adding that Trump’s comment – “It is a form of Navalny [… It is a form of communism, of fascism” – was “astounding.” (Washington Post / Axios / New York Times / NBC News / ABC News / CNN)
3/ A federal appeals court revoked a moratorium on new coal mine leasing on public lands. The leasing moratorium — originally enacted in 2016 by then-Interior Secretary Sally Jewell as part of a strategy to address climate change — didn’t halt mining, but instead prohibited federal lease sales. However, a year later then-Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke rescinded Jewell’s decision and ordered the resumption of federal coal leasing. A court then reinstated the ban in 2022. And finally, a three judge panel in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals tossed the moratorium, saying the case was moot because Biden administration Interior Secretary Deb Haaland had already revoked the Zinke order to speed up energy permitting. The judges noted that a “de facto moratorium” appears to be in now since lease sales have dropped sharply over the past decade after many electric utilities switched to less polluting sources of energy generation. More than 260 million tons of coal – about half of the nation’s total – was mined on federal land in 2022. More than 400 million tons of coal were mined from federal lands in 2014. It’s not clear how Biden will respond to the ruling or how soon new federal leasing could resume. [Editor’s note: If this is confusing, you are not alone! This may be the most in the weeds WTFJHT blurb yet!] (Associated Press / NPR / The Hill)
4/ New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron denied Trump’s request to delay paying $453.5 million in fines stemming from his decade-long scheme to inflate the value of assets to obtain more favorable loan and insurance terms. Trump’s lawyer asked for a month-long delay in enforcement of the civil fraud judgment, saying it would “allow for an orderly post-Judgment process, particularly given the magnitude of Judgment.” Engoron replied that Trump’s attorney had “failed to explain, much less justify, any basis for a stay,” denying Trump’s request to pause enforcement of his ruling. Trump now has 30 days to post bond and appeal the ruling. (CBS News / Washington Post / Axios / NBC News / ABC News)
1/ The Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos created through in vitro fertilization are “children” under the state’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act. The Alabama ruling permits three couples to sue for wrongful death after their frozen embryos were destroyed in an accident at a fertility clinic. The state Supreme Court ruled that “unborn children are ‘children,’” including “extrauterine children,” and covered under the state’s Wrongful Death of a Minor law. “Even before birth, all human beings have the image of God, and their lives cannot be destroyed without effacing his glory,” Chief Justice Tom Parker wrote. The court’s ruling threatens the entire IVF industry in the state since the standard medical procedure during treatment is to extract multiple eggs from a woman, fertilize them to create embryos, transfer one embryo into the uterus in order to maximize the chances of successful implantation, and then store the remaining embryos that were genetically normal. The White House press secretary said the Alabama ruling was “exactly the type of chaos that we expected when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and paved the way for politicians to dictate some of the most personal decisions families can make.” Meanwhile, the University of Alabama at Birmingham health system paused all IVF procedures following the court decision due to fear of criminal prosecution and lawsuits. (CNN / Washington Post / Associated Press / New York Times / NPR / NBC News / AL.com)
2/ Trump privately told advisers and allies that he supports a 16-week national abortion ban, but wants to wait until after he secures the Republican presidential nomination to discuss his views publicly. “Know what I like about 16?” Trump reportedly told a source. “It’s even. It’s four months.” Trump, however, said he does support three exceptions: rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother. The Trump campaign, meanwhile, called the reporting “fake news,” but declined to say what, if any, national-level abortion policy Trump does support. (New York Times / Politico / NBC News / Associated Press)
Project 2025: An influential think tank close to Trump is developing plans to infuse Christian nationalist ideas in his administration should he return to power. “Spearheading the effort is Russell Vought, president of The Center for Renewing America, part of a conservative consortium preparing for Trump’s return to power.” (Politico)
3/ The former FBI informant charged with lying about the Bidens has “extensive and extremely recent” contacts with Russian intelligence agencies. Federal prosecutors said that Alexander Smirnov admitted that “officials associated with Russian intelligence were involved in passing a story” about Hunter Biden. Smirnov was arrested and charged with making a false statement and creating a false and fictitious record. Smirnov’s claims were a key part of the Republican impeachment inquiry into Biden. Democrats have called for an end to the probe after the Smirnov indictment, but Republicans have instead claimed their case “is not reliant” on the false claims and instead they would continue to “follow the facts.” Republicans, meanwhile, deleted references to the discredited FBI informant in a letter they sent to a potential witness in their impeachment inquiry. (Associated Press / NBC News / NPR / CBS News / CNN)
10 Republicans who treated the Biden bribery claim like gospel: Rep. Jim Jordan, Pat Fallon, Elise Stefanik, Andrew Clyde, Tim Burchett, Vivek Ramaswamy, Trump, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Anna Paulina Luna, and Nancy Mace. (Washington Post)
4/ Biden canceled an additional $1.2 billion in student loan debt for about 153,000 borrowers. The loan forgiveness covers borrowers who are enrolled in Biden’s loan repayment program (the Saving on a Valuable Education plan), initially borrowed $12,000 or less, and have been repaying their debt for at least 10 years. With the latest round of relief, Biden has canceled $138 billion of student debt for nearly 3.9 million borrowers since taking office. (NPR / New York Times / Politico / Washington Post / CNN)
poll/ 49% of voters said they support Biden over Trump (45%) in a hypothetical 2024 presidential matchup. 93% of Democrats support Biden and 91% of Republicans support Trump, while independents are divided, with 44% supporting Biden and 42% supporting Trump. (Quinnipiac)
1/ For the third time, the U.S. vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. The vote in the 15-member Security Council was 13 in favor with the U.S. against. The U.K. abstained from voting. The U.S. ambassador to the U.N. called the resolution “wishful and irresponsible,” adding that “demanding an immediate, unconditional ceasefire without an agreement requiring Hamas to release the hostages will not bring about a durable peace.” The U.S., meanwhile, proposed its own resolution, which instead calls for a “temporary ceasefire” linked to the release of hostages held by Hamas. (NPR / CNN / Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press)
2/ The Biden administration is preparing “major sanctions” against Russia in response to the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Russia claims that Navalny lost consciousness and died after taking a walk in the Arctic prison, where he was serving a combined prison sentence of more than 30 years on charges of extremism and fraud that he denied. “Whatever story the Russian government decides to tell the world, it’s clear that President Putin and his government are responsible for Mr. Navalny’s death,” National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby said. The “substantial package” of financial penalties will “come on the eve of the two-year anniversary of the Ukraine war,” National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan added. Biden, meanwhile, said “Make no mistake: Putin is responsible for Navalny’s death.” (Politico / ABC News / Bloomberg / Associated Press / NBC News / New York Times / NBC News)
3/ The Supreme Court declined to take up a case challenging an admissions policy aimed at encouraging diversity at a Virginia high school. Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, often ranked the best high school in the country, changed its admissions process in 2020 to boost racial diversity at the school. The new process ended the application fee, allotted a number of seats proportionally among the district’s middle schools, removed standardized tests, and shifted to a more holistic evaluation based on grades, a problem-solving essay and “experience factors,” among other measures. The effect on the first class admitted under the new process increased the percentage of Black students from 1% to 7% and Hispanic students from 3% to 11%. Asian American representation decreased from 73% to 54%. A group of parents, many of them Asian American, filed a lawsuit against the district, alleging that the new process was discriminatory months after the court overturned decades of precedent and effectively ended affirmative action programs in higher education. (Washington Post / ABC News / New York Times / Axios / Associated Press / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
4/ An FBI informant was indicted on two counts for providing agents allegedly false information about Biden and his son Hunter Biden during the 2020 presidential campaign. A federal grand jury indicted Alexander Smirnov with making a false statement and creating a false and fictitious record that Biden and his son each sought $5 million bribes from a Ukrainian company. Congressional Republicans, notably James Comer and Jim Jordan, have repeatedly praised Smirnov as “credible” and put his uncorroborated claims at the center of their impeachment inquiry into Biden. (Associated Press / NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post / ABC News / CNN)
5/ A Manhattan judge ordered Trump to pay $355 million (plus interest) and barred him from serving in a top role of any New York company for three years for fraudulently inflating the values of his properties. Justice Arthur Engoron concluded that Trump, his sons, and two former top finance executives were civilly liable for falsifying records, issuing false documents, and related conspiracy offenses. Engoron also ordered Eric Trump and Trump Jr. to pay $4 million and blocked them from serving as an officer or director for any New York corporation for two years. The company’s former longtime chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg was ordered to pay $1 million. New York Attorney General Letitia James said that with pre-judgment interest, the judgment totals over $450 million. Engoron criticized Trump and the defendants for refusing to admit wrongdoing for years, saying “Their complete lack of contrition and remorse borders on pathological.” Trump, meanwhile, announced the launch of a line of $399 Trump-branded sneakers. (NBC News / Associated Press / New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / NBC News / Associated Press)
1/ The first of Trump’s four criminal trials will start March 25. Justice Juan Merchan set the trial date after denying Trump’s attempt to dismiss the 34 felony charges, which center on allegations that Trump falsified business records to cover up hush money payments to Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential election. Trump’s lawyer, meanwhile, “strenuously” objected to the trial date, claiming the decision is “election interference” because “Trump is going to now spend the next two months working on this trial instead of out on the campaign trail running for president.” The trial is expected to last six weeks and Trump will be required to attend his Manhattan criminal trial in person. (Politico / New York Times / NBC News / NPR / CNBC / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Axios / Associated Press)
2/ The district attorney overseeing Trump’s election interference case in Georgia took the stand to defend her romantic relationship with the top special prosecutor in the case. Trump claimed that Fani Willis’s relationship with Nathan Wade created a conflict of interest that warrants removing her from the proceedings. Both Willis and Wade acknowledged that they had a personal relationship, but denied any wrongdoing. Wade testified that their relationship began in early 2022 — after he was hired for the case in Nov. 2021 — and ended in summer 2023. A former friend of Willis’s, however, testified that the relationship began in 2019. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / NBC News)
3/ Israel Defense Forces raided the main hospital in southern Gaza – a site where thousands of Palestinians have been using as a shelter. The IDF said it was conducting an operation to recover the bodies of hostages at Nasser Hospital, the largest functioning hospital in the enclave. Elsewhere, the Biden Administration and “a small group of Middle East partners” have been working on a “comprehensive plan” for durable peace between Israel and the Palestinians, which would include a pathway to a Palestinian state. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, nevertheless, warned the U.S. against recognizing a Palestinian state – whether directly or indirectly – saying it “would be a prize for those who planned and orchestrated the Oct. 7 massacre.” The State Department is currently reviewing policy options on possible U.S. and international recognition of a Palestinian state after the war in Gaza. Netanyahu, meanwhile, vowed to forge ahead with a “powerful” operation in Rafah where 1.1 million Palestinians currently reside, which the the Biden administration said it wouldn’t support under any circumstances. (CNN / NBC News / Axios / Washington Post / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / New York Times)
4/ Joe Manchin – who still hasn’t said whether he’ll launch a third party bid for president – suggested Mitt Romney would be his hypothetical running mate. Manchin also said he would consider Rob Portman, the moderate former Republican senator from Ohio, as a running mate. Manchin made the comment as part of his “listening tour.” When asked if he’s ruled out running for president, Manchin replied: “Third party run, everything is on the table. Nothing’s off the table. I’m still evaluating all that. Super Tuesday [March 5] pretty much would be a deadline that tells you where you are.” (NBC News / Politico)
5/ Up to half of the Amazon rainforest may cross a tipping point as soon as 2050 as “unprecedented stress” from climate change, deforestation, drought, fire, and rising temperatures threaten the ecosystem. While a catastrophic collapse of the entire forest is unlikely this century, by mid-century 10% to 47% of the Amazon will be exposed to stressors that could lead to a rapid transition from a rainforest to a savannah. The Amazon is home to more than 10% of Earth’s biodiversity and holds up to 20 years’ worth of global carbon dioxide emissions. The collapse of part or all of the rainforest would release the decades worth of global emissions into the atmosphere. Further, those same trees pump huge amounts of water into the atmosphere, which contributes up to 50% of rainfall and moisture supply in the region. (Axios / New York Times / The Guardian / Earth.org / Nature)
1/ Democrats won a special election and flipped George Santos’ seat in the House. Tom Suozzi defeated Republican Mazi Pilip to take the seat vacated by Santos, who was indicted on a charge of fraud and then expelled from Congress. When Suozzi is sworn in, Republicans will control 219 seats and Democrats will control 213 – meaning Republicans will only be able to lose two votes to pass legislation on party-line votes if all members are present and voting. After New York’s 3rd district flipped from red to blue, Santos texted a group chat with the top New York Republicans in the House: “I hope you guys are happy with this dismal performance and your 10 million for futile Bull Shit cost the party. I look very forward to most of you losing due to your absolute hate filled campaign to remove me from Congress arbitrarily. Now go tell the Republicans Base what you fucking idiots did and good luck raising money next quarter.” (Associated Press / Washington Post / Politico / New York Times / CNN / Daily Beast / Semafor)
2/ House Republicans voted to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on their second try by a single vote. The vote was 214-213, with three Republicans voting against the impeachment, which alleges that Mayorkas intentionally violated federal immigration laws and blocked congressional oversight of the Department of Homeland Security. Mayorkas is the first cabinet member to be impeached since William Belknap, secretary of war under Ulysses S. Grant, in 1876. Mayorkas is all but certain to be acquitted by the Democratic-led Senate. (New York Times / Washington Post / Axios / CNN / Associated Press / NPR / NBC News)
3/ The head of the House Intelligence Committee warned of a “serious national security threat” and called on Biden to “declassify all information” related to it. While Mike Turner did not provide additional public details, the threat is reportedly related to Russia wanting to put a nuclear weapon into space. Multiple sources familiar with the intelligence characterized it as “very sensitive,” “highly concerning and destabilizing.” Officials also said the capability was still under development, and Russia had not deployed it, yet. In an email to members of Congress, Turner said his committee had “identified an urgent matter with regard to a destabilizing foreign military capability” that should be known by all lawmakers. He encouraged them to come to a SCIF to review the intelligence. Biden was made aware of the threat last week and directed national security adviser Jake Sullivan to offer a briefing to senior lawmakers. The top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee said the classified information is “significant,” but “not a cause for panic.” White House officials also confirmed that the matter is “serious” but that there are ways to “contain” the threat without triggering mass panic. And, House Speaker Mike Johnson added: “We just want to assure everyone, steady hands are at the wheel. We’re working on it and there’s no need for alarm.” Johnson, nevertheless, announced the House would start its two-week recess early. Members return on Feb. 28 and a partial government shutdown is scheduled to begin Mar. 1. (NBC News / Washington Post / Politico / ABC News / New York Times / CNN / The Guardian / Associated Press / CBS News)
1/ The Senate approved $95 billion in aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan by a 70-29 vote. Despite efforts by Trump, hard-right Republicans, and House Speaker Mike Johnson to kill the legislation, Senate Republican support for the deal increased overnight, with 22 Republican senators voting in favor of the package. Hours before the vote, Johnson preemptively rejected the legislation and said he would not bring the Senate package to the House floor for a vote. Further, many hard-right Republicans have threatened to oust Johnson if he brings the legislation up in the House. Democrats, however, are limited in their options to bring the legislation to the floor: It would require a bipartisan group of lawmakers getting 218 members to sign on to a discharge petition to circumvent Republican leadership and force a floor vote. Discharge petitions rarely succeed. Biden, meanwhile, called for House Republicans to pass the aid package, saying: “Supporting this bill is standing up to Putin. We can’t walk away now. That’s what Putin is betting on.” (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / NPR / Associated Press / NBC News / CNN / Bloomberg)
2/ The Supreme Court gave special counsel Jack Smith one week to respond to Trump’s request to delay his federal criminal election subversion trial. Trump is appealing a court ruling that unanimously rejected his claim that he’s absolutely immune from criminal charges for actions he took while in office. Smith, however, has already urged the Supreme Court to resolve the immunity dispute quickly so that Trump’s trial, originally set for March 4, can begin later this year, but the court’s timing suggests that it might take its time reviewing the broader questions related to the issue of immunity. (Politico / New York Times / CNBC / Bloomberg)
All 4 of Trump’s criminal cases reach inflection points this week: “In Trump’s New York case, a judge is slated to finalize the timetable for his trial on charges that he falsified business records to cover up an affair with a porn star; In his Washington, D.C., case, the Supreme Court may signal whether it will quickly resolve Trump’s claim that he is “immune” from federal charges; In his Georgia case, where Trump is also facing state charges related to the 2020 election, a judge has scheduled a Thursday hearing to examine an effort by Trump and several co-defendants to disqualify the prosecutors; And in his Florida case, a judge is weighing Trump’s latest motion to postpone key deadlines.” (Politico)
3/ Inflation eased in January, slowing from 3.4% to 3.1% on a 12-month basis. Excluding food and fuel, “core” prices were flat at 3.9% compared with December. On a monthly basis, CPI rose by 0.3% from December to January, up from a 0.2% increase the previous month. Economists, however, were expecting inflation to ease to 0.2% from December (2.9% annually). The report puts pressure on the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates higher for longer as officials wait for further evidence that inflation is headed back to their 2% target. (Axios / Associated Press / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / NBC News / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / CNBC)
4/ More than 125 million Americans will be exposed to unhealthy levels of air pollution by 2054 as a result of climate change, according to a new report. After decades of success reining in pollution from smokestacks and tailpipes thanks to regulations like the 1970 Clean Air Act, climate change-related events are expected to cause a steady deterioration in U.S. air quality through 2054. The study finds that extreme heat, drought, and wildfires are increasing the prevalence of both tropospheric ozone and particulate matter, commonly referred to as PM2.5. Currently, about 83 million Americans – 1 in 4! – are already exposed to “unhealthy” air quality every year. But, by 2054 more than 125 million Americans will be exposed to at least one day of “unhealthy” air quality each year, 11 million will face at least one day of “very unhealthy” air quality, and two million will be exposed to at least one day of “hazardous” air quality. (The Verge / Axios / New York Times / CBS News)
5/ The Atlantic Ocean’s currents are heading towards a “tipping point” that would be “bad news for the climate system and humanity.” The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation carries warm water from the tropics to the North Atlantic, where it cools, becomes saltier and sinks deep into the ocean, before sending the colder water south along the ocean floor. But, as human-caused global heating melts the Greenland ice sheet, fresh water is released into the North Atlantic, diluting the dense and salty sea, which slows the AMOC. The research suggests that once the system passes its tipping point, Western Europe would start to cool down by as much as 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit every decade, sea levels in the North Atlantic would surge by around 3.3 feet, the southern hemisphere would become warmer, the bottom of the ocean would run short on oxygen, and the Amazon’s wet and dry seasons could flip (potentially pushing the already weakened rainforest past its own tipping point). The AMOC has declined 15% since 1950 and is in its weakest state in more than a millennium, according to past research. “The temperature, sea level and precipitation changes will severely affect society, and the climate shifts are unstoppable on human time scales,” the authors of the latest study warn. “What surprised us was the rate at which tipping occurs. It will be devastating.” (CNN / The Guardian / Scientific American / Washington Post / Common Dreams)
1/ Trump said he would “encourage” Russia to “do whatever the hell they want” to NATO countries that were “delinquent” in meeting the group’s guidelines for defense spending. Trump, recounting an exchange from his time in office with the leader of a “big country” who asked whether it would be protected if Russia attacked, said: “You didn’t pay. You’re delinquent […] No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want.” The White House called Trump’s comments “appalling and unhinged,” adding that “encouraging invasions of our closest allies by murderous regimes […] endangers American national security, global stability and our economy at home.” NATO’s secretary-general meanwhile, said that “any suggestion that allies will not defend each other undermines all of our security, including that of the U.S., and puts American and European soldiers at increased risk.” After Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014, NATO countries pledged to spend 2% of their economic output on defense. So far, only 11 of the 31 member countries have hit that target. (NBC News / Washington Post / NPR / New York Times / BBC / Associated Press / USA Today / The Guardian / Bloomberg / Politico / CNN / CNBC)
2/ More than a dozen Republicans ignored Trump and voted to forward on a bill to send $95 billion in aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. The vote was 67 to 27, with 18 Republicans voting to advance the foreign aid package. Last week, Republicans rejected a bipartisan version of the bill, which included border policy changes they had demanded, after Trump campaigned against the legislation for fear it could be seen as a win for Biden. It’s unclear, however, if House Speaker Mike Johnson would take up the legislation if it passes the Senate. (CNN / Politico / Washington Post)
3/ Despite Biden warning Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that a military operation in Rafah “should not proceed” without a “credible and executable” plan to protect the more than 1 million people sheltering there, Israel launched a “wave” of airstrikes that killed dozens of people, including children. The operation freed two hostages, and Netanyahu vowed to use “continued military pressure” to return the remaining hostages. (Associated Press / Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / CNN / NBC News / NPR)
4/ Biden – in private – has called Benjamin Netanyahu an “asshole,” saying the prime minister is impossible to deal with and the campaign in Gaza is “over the top.” So far, Biden has stopped short of directly criticizing Netanyahu in public and the White House has rejected calls to withhold military aid to Israel or impose conditions on it, saying that would only embolden Hamas. In private, however, Biden has suggested that “this guy” wants the war to drag on so he can remain in power, noting Netanyahu’s failure to shift tactics in Gaza and the repeated rejections of basic U.S. demands, like allowing, food, water, and medicine into Gaza. (NBC News / CNN / Washington Post)
5/ Trump asked the Supreme Court to block a lower court ruling that rejected his claim that he’s absolutely immune from criminal charges for attempting to overturn the 2020 election. While two lower courts have rejected Trump’s claim of total immunity, Trump insisted that presidents are shielded from prosecution and that a trial would “radically disrupt” his reelection bid. Nevertheless, Trump warned that if a president can be prosecuted for actions taken while in office “such prosecutions will recur and become increasingly common, ushering in destructive cycles of recrimination,” adding that “Without immunity from criminal prosecution, the Presidency as we know it will cease to exist.” Trump was charged by special counsel Jack Smith with four counts in connection with his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan has paused proceedings and the scheduled March 4 trial date until Trump’s appeal is resolved. (NBC News / NPR / Washington Post / New York Times)
1/ The Senate advanced a $95 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan after Republicans rejected a version of the bill that included the border policy changes they had demanded. The vote of 67-32 allows the Senate to begin consideration of the legislation, which would provide $60.1 billion for Ukraine, $14.1 billion for Israel, and $10 billion in humanitarian aid for civilians in global conflicts. The bill, however, still faces an uncertain future, and it’s unclear if the final package will clear the 60-vote threshold in Democratic-led Senate. It’s also expected to be even more difficult to win approval in the Republican-controlled House. Nevertheless, Chuck Schumer described the vote as a “good first step,” adding: “Failure to pass this bill would only embolden autocrats like Putin and Xi, who want nothing more than America’s decline.” (NBC News / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Axios)
2/ The EPA set strict, new limits on one of the deadliest types of air pollution. The new rules will limit the annual amount of fine particulate matter – also called PM2.5 – from factories, power plants, and other industrial facilities from 12 micrograms per cubic meter to 9. The new standards – the EPA’s first tightening of the rules since 2012 – are expected to prevent up to 4,500 premature deaths and avoid around 800,000 cases of asthma symptoms. (NPR / New York Times / CNN / Washington Post)
3/ The special counsel examining Biden’s handling of classified documents recommended “no criminal charges,” but did find evidence that Biden had “willfully retained and disclosed classified materials.” The report from special counsel Robert Hur said that while Biden’s practices “present serious risks to national security,” he wouldn’t recommend charges because Biden presents as a “sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory.” The report also made clear the “material distinctions” between a theoretical case against Biden and the pending case against Trump for his handling of classified documents. “Unlike the evidence involving Mr. Biden, the allegations set forth in the indictment of Mr. Trump, if proven, would present serious aggravating factors,” Hur writes. “Most notably, after being given multiple chances to return classified documents and avoid prosecution, Mr. Trump allegedly did the opposite.” (Washington Post / Associated Press / New York Times / NBC News / CNN / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
4/ The FCC outlawed unwanted robocalls generated by artificial intelligence. In a unanimous ruling, the FCC declared that calls made with AI-generated voices are “artificial” under the 1991 Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which restricts marketing calls that use artificial and prerecorded voice messages. The move follows a January incident where thousands of voters in New Hampshire received an unsolicited robocall from a faked voice of Biden that instructed voters to abstain from voting in the first primary of the election season. (CNN / Associated Press / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Axios)
5/ The Supreme Court appeared broadly skeptical that Colorado had the power to disqualify Trump from the ballot for engaging in an insurrection in an attempt to remain in the White House after losing the 2020 election. The justices heard arguments on a ruling from Colorado’s Supreme Court, which found that Trump engaged in an insurrection leading up to the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6. At issue is Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which bars certain public officials from serving in the government if they took part in an insurrection. During more than two hours of arguments, the court expressed concerns about the ability of a single state to disqualify a candidate from seeking national office, and appeared to be searching for a way to leave election decisions to voters. Justices from across the ideological spectrum suggested that Congress – not individual states – must set the standards before a presidential candidate can be disqualified for engaging in insurrection. (NPR / Washington Post / CNN / Axios / Associated Press / New York Times / NBC News / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
1/ House Republicans failed to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas after four Republicans joined Democrats in voting against what would have been the second-ever impeachment of a Cabinet official. Although the vote failed 214-216, Republicans immediately moved to bring back the resolution up for another vote, but it’s unclear when or if that will happen. (New York Times / NPR / Bloomberg / Washington Post / CNN / Associated Press)
2/ House Republicans failed to pass a standalone bill to send $17.6 billion in aid to Israel after Speaker Mike Johnson called the bipartisan Senate package that combined Israel and Ukraine with stricter border security and asylum laws “dead-on-arrival” in the chamber. The vote failed 250 to 180, with 166 Democrats and 14 Republicans opposing the measure. The bill required the support of two-thirds of the House to pass. (NBC News / Washington Post / Axios / CNN / CBS News)
3/ Senate Republicans blocked the $118 billion bipartisan border package that Republicans had demanded but then rejected after pressure from Trump, who is making the border a campaign issue. The bill failed to advance 49-50, falling short of the 60-vote threshold and essentially guarantees Congress won’t pass any broad immigration or border legislation before the presidential election. Republicans had initially demanded strict border policy changes in exchange for Ukraine aid, but abandoned that trade-off when House Republican leadership called the bill “dead on arrival.” After the failed vote, Chuck Schumer released a narrower, $95.3 billion version of the same package that would fund Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, but without the border-security provisions or funding. “Why have Republicans backed off on border when they know it’s the right thing to do?” Schumer said. “Two words: Donald Trump.” (Associated Press / Politico / NPR / Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / CNN / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
4/ Nikki Haley lost Nevada’s presidential primary to “None of These Candidates.” The primary, which is largely symbolic and awards no delegates, didn’t include Trump on the ballot. With 88% of the votes counted, Haley had 30.5% to 63.2% for “none of these candidates.” Following the embarrassing loss, Haley claimed the state’s nominating process had been “rigged” in favor of Trump. (Politico / NPR / ABC News / Bloomberg / USA Today / NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times)
5/ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected Hamas’s terms for a cease-fire and hostage-release agreement, calling the plan “delusional.” Hamas’s cease-fire proposal, negotiated by the U.S., Qatar, Israel and Egypt, included a three-phase hostage release plan, a 45-day pause in fighting, and the withdrawal of the Israeli military from Gaza. “There is no solution besides total victory,” Netanyahu said, adding that an Israeli victory in Gaza was “within reach.” (CNN / Associated Press / Politico / Washington Post / NBC News / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
1/ A federal appeals court rejected Trump’s claim that he’s immune from federal prosecution for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. “We cannot accept former President Trump’s claim that a President has unbounded authority to commit crimes that would neutralize the most fundamental check on executive power — the recognition and implementation of election results,” the three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit wrote. “Nor can we sanction his apparent contention that the Executive has carte blanche to violate the rights of individual citizens to vote and to have their votes count.” Trump has repeatedly argued that his actions before and during the Jan. 6 insurrection were part of his official duties as president and therefore he can’t be prosecuted for those crimes without first being impeached and convicted by Congress. Since the Senate acquitted Trump of inciting the Jan. 6 insurrection, Trump has claimed he’s now subject to “double jeopardy.” The D.C. Circuit panel, however, rejected the double jeopardy argument, writing that “the weight of historical authority indicates that the Framers intended for public officials to face ordinary criminal prosecution as well as impeachment.” The court concluded: “For the purpose of this criminal case, former President Trump has become citizen Trump, with all of the defenses of any other criminal defendant. But any executive immunity that may have protected him while he served as President no longer protects him against this prosecution.” Trump has until Feb. 12 to ask the Supreme Court to overturn the decision or ask the appeals court’s entire judicial lineup to take up the issue. He faces four counts, including conspiring to defraud the U.S. and to obstruct an official proceeding. (NPR / New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / CBS News / ABC News / CNBC / CNN / Associated Press / Axios / Bloomberg)
2/ House Republicans now plan to vote on a standalone Israel aid bill after rejecting a bipartisan border deal they had previously demanded. It’s not clear, however, whether Speaker Mike Johnson has the two-thirds majority needed to pass the standalone bill to provide $17.6 billion in aid to Israel. Nevertheless, Biden called on congressional Republicans to “show some spine” and pass the $118 billion bipartisan package that paired strict border security measures with assistance to Israel and Ukraine. “All indications are this bill won’t even move forward to the Senate floor. Why? A simple reason: Donald Trump. Because Donald Trump thinks it’s bad for him politically,” Biden said, adding that Trump wants to “weaponize” the issues at southern U.S. border for his presidential race rather than “actually solve it.” (New York Times / Associated Press / NPR / Politico / Politico / ABC News / NBC News / Bloomberg / CNN)
3/ Instead of passing the “toughest set of reforms to secure the border ever,” House Republicans plan to vote on a resolution to impeach Alejandro Mayorkas even though it’s unclear if they have enough support to charge the homeland security secretary. Republicans have a three-vote majority in the House and two Republicans are already on record opposing impeachment. The articles of impeachment accuse Mayorkas of “willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law” and “breach of public trust” amid a surge in unauthorized migrant crossings. If the vote is successful, Mayorkas would be the first Cabinet member impeached by the House in almost 150 years. However, he is not expected to be convicted in a trial in the Democratic-led Senate. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Axios / Politico / ABC News / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press)
Why the GOP wants to impeach Mayorkas but not pass the border deal. “Despite the GOP-controlled House taking steps to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over immigration this week, there’s little appetite among the party for a bill that might be in the national interest but that could alienate the past and possibly future president.” (CNN)
1/ House Republicans vowed to kill the Senate’s bipartisan $118.3 billion national security bill that pairs strict border enforcement policies with aid for Ukraine, Israel, and other U.S. allies. For months, Republicans have demanded concessions from Democrats, threatening to tank any deal that didn’t link significant new U.S. immigration restrictions with unrelated aid for Ukraine, Israel, and other U.S. allies. The proposed agreement includes $20.2 billion to improve security at the U.S. border, and would require the president to close the border if the number of migrant crossings reach a certain threshold, allow the government to more easily expel migrants at the border, and make it more difficult for migrants to claim asylum. In exchange, the bill includes $60.1 billion in aid for Ukraine, $14.1 billion for Israel, $10 billion in humanitarian assistance for civilians in Gaza, $2.33 billion for refugees from the war in Ukraine, and $4.83 billion for allies to “deter aggression by the Chinese government.” Nevertheless, House Speaker Mike Johnson called the legislation “even worse than we expected” and declared it “dead on arrival” in the House. Trump, who’s made the border his signature campaign issue, called it a “great gift to the Democrats, and a Death Wish for The Republican Party.” Several Republicans have admitted they’d rather walk away from border security policies they’ve sought for years than give Biden a win ahead in an election year. Biden, meanwhile, called the agreement some of the “toughest and fairest set of border reforms in decades,” and ones that he “strongly” supports. “Now, House Republicans have to decide. Do they want to solve the problem? Or do they want to keep playing politics with the border?” The Senate is expected to hold a key test vote on the package this week, which would require 60 votes to pass. It’s unclear whether it has the support to pass a filibuster. (Axios / Politico / NBC News / Associated Press / CNN / NPR / New York Times)
2/ Trump’s federal 2020 election trial was officially postponed indefinitely. The case had been paused since December while Trump appealed a lower-court’s rejection of his immunity claims. “The court will set a new schedule if and when the mandate is returned,” Judge Tanya Chutkan said in her order. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals eventual ruling will likely be appealed to the Supreme Court, prompting further delays. The delay in the federal election interference case makes it likely that the first of Trump’s four criminal trials will begin March 25 in Manhattan on New York state charges of business fraud in connection with hush money payments during the 2016 election. (NBC News / Associated Press / New York Times / Axios / Bloomberg / Washington Post / Politico)
64% of Americans want to see a verdict on the federal charges Trump faces related to election subversion in 2020 before this year’s presidential election. “A 72% majority of Democrats and 52% of independents say it’s essential that a verdict is reached pre-election. Republicans are more split. While 38% say that a verdict should be reached before the presidential election, including 20% who call that essential, another 39% say it doesn’t matter when the trial is held, and 23% that they think the trial should be held after this election.” (CNN)
3/ The Biden administration said it will take “further action” against Iranian-backed militias who have carried out attacks on U.S. troops in the Middle East. On Friday, the U.S. military struck more than 85 targets in Iraq and Syria used by Iranian forces and the Iran-backed militants. That action was followed by airstrikes on Saturday by the U.S. and U.K. targeting Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen in response to the group’s continued attacks in the Red Sea. “I would just say that the president was clear when he ordered them and when he conducted them that that was the beginning of our response and there will be more steps to come,” Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan said. (NBC News / CNN / Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg / NPR)
1/ The House passed a bipartisan tax package that pairs a temporary expansion of the child tax credit with a trio of business tax breaks. The bill includes $33 billion to expand the child tax credit for three years. The bill is estimated to benefit roughly 16 million children in low-income families in the first year, and lift half a million children out of poverty. The legislation would also revive some expired parts of the 2017 Republican tax cuts for businesses, including deductions for research and development, interest expenses, and investments in equipment. The vote was 357 to 70, with 188 Democrats and 169 Republicans voting in favor and 23 Democrats and 47 Republicans opposed. The bill will next go to the Senate, where Republicans can block the bill with a filibuster. (NPR / Politico / Washington Post / NBC News / Associated Press)
2/ Biden signed an executive order to impose new sanctions on four Israeli settlers involved in violent attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. At least eight Palestinians, including a child, have been killed, and 115 more have been injured in the nearly 500 attacks by Israeli settlers since Oct. 7. The first round of sanctions block the four from using the U.S. financial system and bar American citizens from dealing with them. The order notes that the violence by settlers undermines U.S. foreign policy objectives, “including the viability of a two-state solution and ensuring Israelis and Palestinians can attain equal measures of security, prosperity, and freedom.” (Politico / NPR / Associated Press / Washington Post / Axios / CNN / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
3/ The U.S. carried out airstrikes against a drone ground control station belonging to the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. U.S. officials also confirmed that plans have been approved for a series of strikes over a number of days against targets inside Iraq and Syria in response to drone and rocket attacks on U.S. forces in the region. “This is a dangerous moment in the Middle East,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said. “We will continue to work to avoid a wider conflict in the region, but we will take all necessary actions to defend the United States, our interests and our people, and we will respond when we choose, where we choose and how we choose.” (CNN / CBS News / Associated Press / New York Times / NBC News)
4/ Trump’s lawsuit over the dossier that alleged he engaged in “perverted sexual acts” and paid bribes to Russian officials was dismissed by a British High Court judge. Judge Karen Steyn said “there are no compelling reasons to allow the claim to proceed to trial,” because Trump had “chosen to allow many years to elapse – without any attempt to vindicate his reputation in this jurisdiction – since he was first made aware of the dossier” in January 2017. Last year, Trump sued ex-MI6 agent Christopher Steele and his consultancy, Orbis Business Intelligence, saying he suffered “significant damage and distress” from the publication of the Steele Dossier. Steyn, however, said she wouldn’t determine the accuracy of the dossier itself. (Bloomberg / Associated Press / Washington Post)
1/ FBI Director Christopher Wray warned that Chinese hackers are preparing to “wreak havoc and cause real-world harm” to critical U.S. infrastructure, including water treatment plants, electrical grids, oil and natural gas pipelines, and transportation systems. Wray, appearing before the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, argued that “there has been far too little public focus” that Chinese hackers are targeting U.S. infrastructure, adding: “And the risk that poses to every American requires our attention — now.” During congressional testimony, Jen Easterly, director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said: “This is a world where a major crisis halfway across the planet could well endanger the lives of Americans here at home through the disruption of our pipelines, the severing of our telecommunications, the pollution of our water facilities, the crippling of our transportation modes—all to ensure they can incite societal panic and chaos and to deter our ability to marshal military might and civilian will.” (NBC News / Wall Street Journal / CNN)
2/ The State Department is reportedly exploring the possibility of recognizing a Palestinian state following the end of the Gaza war. Secretary of State Tony Blinken asked State Department officials to review options for the recognition of a Palestinian state, including what a demilitarized Palestinian state would look like and how a two-state solution could be implemented in a way that assures security for Israel. While there has been no policy change, the consideration represents a major shift in American thinking, and the Biden administration has made linking normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia to the creation of a Palestinian state. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, has opposed the establishment of Palestinian state after the Israel-Hamas war. Negotiators, meanwhile, have been discussing a framework for a hostage release and six-week ceasefire. The Israeli government has also discussed an internal plan to exile top Hamas officials involved in the Oct. 7 terrorist attack to a third Middle East country as a step toward ending the war in the Gaza Strip. (Axios / Wall Street Journal / Semafor / Washington Post)
3/ The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged at a 22-year-high amid improving consumer confidence and a declining inflation rate. The Fed, however, continued to signal that they expect to cut rates by three-quarters of a percentage point over the course of 2024 as they gain “greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably toward 2%.” The Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, the personal consumption expenditures price index, ended 2023 at 2.6% from a year earlier – well below the 5.4% increase at the end of 2022. Interest rates, meanwhile, have remained at 5.25% to 5.5% since last summer, after the central bank raised rates 11 times since March 2022 in an effort to catch up with inflation that soared to 40-year highs. Meanwhile, threegaugesof consumer confidence all reached their highest levels since 2021. (Washington Post / CNBC / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / New York Times / NBC News / Associated Press / CNN)
poll/ 53% of voters in seven swing-state would be unwilling to vote for Trump if he were found guilty of a crime. 55% said they’d be unwilling to vote for Trump if he’s sentenced to prison. Trump faces 91 criminal charges across four separate indictments. (Bloomberg)
poll/ 50% of voters said they vote for Biden if the presidential election were held today. 44% said they’d vote for Trump. (Quinnipiac)
🤡 Dept. of Taylor Swift Living Rent Free in MAGA Heads.
Taylor Swift hasn’t endorsed Biden, but Trump and his MAGA allies nevertheless declared a “holy war” on the singer-songwriter. Swift, however, is reportedly a key name on Biden’s “wish lists of potential surrogates.”
Fox News host Sean Hannity urged Swift to “think twice” before endorsing Biden – months after defending Swift from conservatives for “hating on her” and her relationship with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, who has appeared in commercials for Bud Light and Pfizer.
Several pro-Trump influencers and conspiracy theorists claimed that the NFL is “rigged” in order to spread “Democrat propaganda” with the “unneeded and unwanted Taylor coverage” during the broadcast. “Calling it now: KC wins, goes to Super Bowl, Swift comes out at the halftime show and ‘endorses’ Joe Biden with Kelce at midfield.”
Fox News host Jeanine Pirro warned Swift to stay out of politics in 2024: “Don’t get involved. Don’t get involved in politics; we don’t want to see you there.”
Newsmax host Greg Kelly accused Swifties of “elevating her to an idol […] and you’re not supposed to do that. In fact, if you look it up in the Bible, it’s a sin!”
Earlier this month, Fox News host Jesse Waters claimed that Swift was a “Pentagon asset” developed at a NATO meeting to help Democrats as part of an “election interference psyop.”
Trump, meanwhile, reportedly told allies that he is “more popular” than Swift, and that no amount of celebrity endorsements will save Biden.
1/ Republicans – who have for months insisted on changes to border and migration policy as a condition of approving any additional aid to Ukraine – declared that the bipartisan Senate-proposed border deal would be “dead on arrival” in the House. The bipartisan deal, which represents the Republican’s best chance in decades to make substantial changes to immigration and border security, would require the U.S. to close the border if about 5,000 migrants cross illegally on any given day. It would also speed up the asylum process. Speaker Mike Johnson, who still hasn’t seen the legislative text, said House Republicans won’t accept any proposal that allows “even one illegal crossing,” calling it “surrender” and that “the number must be ZERO.” Asked whether the House Republican opposition to the legislation is due to Trump’s campaign against it, Johnson responded: “That’s absurd.” Immigration has been Trump’s defining issue, dating back to his first presidential campaign news conference on June 16, 2015 when he accused Mexico of sending “rapists” to the U.S. (The Hill / Politico / HuffPost / Politico)
2/ The Illinois State Board of Elections voted unanimously to dismiss an effort seeking to disqualify Trump from the state’s primary ballot, saying it didn’t have the authority to decide whether Trump had engaged in insurrection. The board’s unanimous ruling comes after its hearing officer found that a “preponderance of the evidence” shows Trump engaged in insurrection and is ineligible to run for president. The hearing officer, however, said “the Election Code is simply not suited for issues involving constitutional analysis,” and recommended that the board let the courts make the decision. While the decision is expected to be appealed in state courts, the issue will likely be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court, which hears arguments on whether Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol disqualifies him from the presidency. (Associated Press / CNN / New York Times / ABC News)
3/ A federal appeals court rejected a request to review a ruling that threatens to make it harder to enforce the Voting Rights Act’s protections against racial discrimination in the election process. The full 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that federal law doesn’t allow private groups or individuals to pursue cases enforcing Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act because the law doesn’t explicitly name them. Only the U.S. attorney general can file lawsuits to enforce the Voting Rights Act’s protections against racial discrimination. The vast majority of Voting Rights Act lawsuits for decades, however, have been filed by private parties – not the Justice Department. The ruling is expected to be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. (Reuters / NPR)
🔎 What’s at Stake? The integrity of the democratic process in the U.S. hinges on the fair and equal access to voting. By limiting the ability of private groups and individuals to file lawsuits under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, the ruling could lead to a reduction in the oversight and enforcement of voting rights. Given the historical significance of the Voting Rights Act in combatting racial discrimination in voting, this ruling can be seen as a step backwards as it disproportionately affects minority voters, who are more likely to be impacted by discriminatory voting practices.
📌 Day 1035: A federal appeals court ruled that only the federal government — not private citizens or civil rights groups — can sue to enforce the Voting Rights Act. In a 2-to-1 ruling, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that private entities cannot bring lawsuits under Section 2, a provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that prohibits discriminatory voting practices. The ruling runs counter to decades of legal practice and the vast majority of Voting Rights Act claims are brought by private entities. The decision will almost certainly be appealed and is likely headed to the Supreme Court. (CNN / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / NPR / Politico / NBC News)
4/ Trump called the United Auto Workers president a “dope” and called for his removal after the union endorsed Biden. Trump accused the union’s leader, Shawn Fain, of “selling the Automobile Industry right into the big, powerful, hands of China.” Fain, however, said Biden had “earned” the endorsement, saying Biden had “a history of serving others and serving the working class,” while Trump had “a history of serving himself and standing for the billionaire class.” Meanwhile, Biden, who joined the picket line with UAW members during their six-week strike against Detroit automakers last year, will travel to Michigan ahead of the state’s Feb. 27 presidential primary election. (Politico / New York Times / Politico)
1/ House Republicans released two articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, accusing him of “willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law” and “breach of public trust.” Republicans have repeatedly accused Mayorkas of failing to enforce immigration laws as a record number of migrants arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border, as well as obstructing congressional oversight, and rolling back Trump-era policies, including the construction on the U.S.-Mexico border wall. The articles of impeachment will be reviewed in committee on Tuesday. If they pass the committee, they then go to the full House for an impeachment vote. It would then be up to the Democratic-led Senate on whether to convict and potentially remove Mayorkas. (ABC News / CBS News / Axios / Politico / NPR / NBC News / Associated Press)
2/ Biden promised to “shut down the border when it becomes overwhelmed” if Congress passes a border security package. In the Senate, a bipartisan group reached a deal that would force the federal government to shut down the border for migrants crossing illegally during surges and expedite the asylum process. Biden said the deal would “be the toughest and fairest set of reforms to secure the border we’ve ever had in our country […] I would use it the day I sign the bill into law.” Trump, who has made immigration reform and the border a central part of his election campaign, has pressured House Republicans to kill the deal, writing that “it is the WORST BORDER IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD, an open wound in our once great Country.” At the same time, Trump demanded “CLOSE THE BORDER!” Speaker Mike Johnson, meanwhile, said the bipartisan Senate deal would be “dead on arrival” in the House. (Associated Press / Politico / CNN / Axios / Washington Post)
3/ Trump must pay writer E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million in damages for repeatedly defaming her. The jury awarded Carroll $18.3 million in compensatory damages – $11 million for repairing her reputation and $7.3 million for emotional harm – and $65 million in punitive damages. The verdict came after Trump stormed out of the courtroom during Carroll’s closing argument. He later posted on his personal social media site that he would be appealing, because “They have taken away all First Amendment Rights. THIS IS NOT AMERICA!” A different jury in May 2023 found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll in the 1990s, and for defaming her by mocking her claims after he left the White House. They awarded her $5 million in damages, which Trump is appealing. Carroll, meanwhile, vowed to use the money on “something Donald Trump hates,” suggesting she would create a “fund for the women who have been sexually assaulted by Donald Trump.” (New York Times / ABC News / CBS News / NBC News)
Trump lashed out at the financial monitor overseeing the Trump Organization and urged a judge to end the watchdog’s oversight of his company. “The request came days after Barbara Jones reported a range of issues — including an allegedly errant $48 million loan — in the former president’s New York civil business fraud case.” (CNBC / Daily Beast / Bloomberg)
4/ Biden is reportedly looking into slowing down weapons sales to Israel as leverage to get Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to scale back military operations in Gaza. A White House official, however, said there “has been no request” from the White House for the Defense Department to “slow walk deliveries.” The effort comes following weeks of unsuccessful attempts by the Biden administration to convince Netanyahu to change tactics in Gaza that minimize civilian casualties and to accept a postwar two-state solution. The Biden administration has twice approved emergency sales of weapons to Israel, bypassing Congress. (NBC News / The Hill / Reuters / Associated Press)
The U.S. and at least eight other countries paused funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees after Israel alleged that at least 12 UNRWA employees were “involved in” the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack. UNRWA has fired the accused staffers and launched an investigation. (Axios / Associated Press)
5/ American air defenses failed to intercept a drone attack that killed three U.S. troops in Jordan because it was confused with a U.S. drone that was returning to base at the same time. At least 34 troops were injured in the drone strike, which the Biden administration said was launched from Iraq by an Iran-backed militia. Biden vowed to respond, but was “working through options.” The National Security Council said the U.S. would react “in a time and a manner of our choosing,” adding: “We don’t want a wider war with Iran. We don’t want a wider war in the region, but we’ve got to do what we have to do.” (Associated Press / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post)
1/ Trump threatened anyone who donates to Nikki Haley “will be permanently barred from the MAGA camp.” The super political action committee backing Haley raised $50.1 million in the last six months of 2023 – about $5 million more than Trump’s super PAC. The Republican National Committee, meanwhile, is considering a move to declare Trump the “presumptive 2024 nominee” for the party’s presidential nomination, even though Haley has vowed to continue her campaign. While Trump would still need to reach the delegate requirements necessary to win the nomination, he would gain access to the RNC’s data operation, fundraising, and other committee ground operations. Trump needs to secure 1,215 delegates to officially become the party’s nominee. He currently has 32 delegates while Haley has 17. (Axios / The Dispatch / Bloomberg / CNN / NBC News / CNBC)
2/ Mitch McConnell privately told Republicans that Trump has complicated an emerging bipartisan border deal, which explicitly ties strict border policy changes to funding for Israel and Ukraine. McConnell, referring to Trump only as “the nominee,” said the politics “have changed,” and “we don’t want to do anything to undermine him.” Trump doesn’t want Congress to pass a border deal so he can use the issue in the presidential campaign. He’s encouraged Republicans to reject any border deal “unless we get EVERYTHING” the party has demanded, adding he would only accept a “PERFECT” deal. “We’re in a quandary,” McConnell said. (Punchbowl News / Washington Post / New York Times / NPR / CNN / Associated Press / Bloomberg / NBC News / Politico)
3/ Trump accused Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis of trying to “foment racial bias” in an effort disqualify her from prosecuting him and his allies. In addition to Willis’ disqualification, Trump wants the 13 counts against him, including violations of Georgia’s racketeering law, to be dismissed. The motion comes more than two weeks after Trump’s co-defendant Mike Roman alleged that Willis appointed Nathan Wade to serve as lead prosecutor in the case while engaging in a romantic relationship with him. Willis said the accusations were racist because they are Black, which Trump’s lawyers called an “attempt to foment racial animus.” The motion to dismiss charges was originally filed by Roman. (Axios / NBC News / Atlanta Journal-Constitution / Washington Post)
4/ Peter Navarro – who claimed credit for the plan to overturn the 2020 election – was sentenced to four months in jail and ordered to pay a $9,500 fine for defying a subpoena from the Jan. 6 select committee. Navarro refused to testify and provide documents related to attempts to overturn the 2020 election. “You are not a victim. You are not the object of a political prosecution. You are not,” Judge Amit Mehta told Navarro. “You have received every process you are due. Every process.” The former Trump White House adviser is the second senior Trump aide to be sentenced for stonewalling the Jan. 6 investigation. Stephen Bannon was sentenced to four months in prison on a similar contempt conviction in Oct. 2022. (Politico / NPR / USA Today / New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / ABC News)
1/ Trump won New Hampshire’s primary, defeating Nikki Haley and advancing closer to the Republican nomination. It was the first time a non-incumbent Republican candidate in the modern era won both the Iowa and New Hampshire Republican contests. Trump, however, used his victory speech to attack Haley after she refused to drop out of the race, calling her “DELUSIONAL!!!,” and an “imposter” who “had a very bad night.” He added: “I don’t get too angry. I get even.” Nevertheless, Haley vowed to continue her campaign and challenged Trump to debate her. “I have news for all of them. New Hampshire is first in the nation. It is not the last,” Haley said. “This race is far from over.” (Washington Post / Politico / NBC News / New York Times / CNN / Associated Press / NPR / Wall Street Journal)
Why the Supreme Court could matter more than Iowa and New Hampshire. “Even as Trump rumbles to the nomination, his eligibility to run for president still has not been settled.” (Politico)
Most N.H. GOP primary voters say Trump fit for presidency even if convicted. “About half of those who voted in the New Hampshire Republican primary Tuesday believed the false claim that Joe Biden did not legitimately win the 2020 presidential election, according to preliminary exit polls, underscoring the persistence of Trump’s false claims within the GOP that the election was stolen from him.” (Washington Post)
Majority of GOP primary voters aren’t MAGA, but most would be satisfied with Trump nomination. “About two-thirds of New Hampshire GOP primary voters described themselves as conservative, according to the early results of the exit poll, with about one-quarter calling themselves very conservative. Most said they did not consider themselves a part of the MAGA movement, referring to the ‘Make America Great Again’ slogan popularized by Trump in 2016.” (CNN)
2/ The United Auto Workers endorsed Biden for president. “This election is about who will stand up with us and who will stand in our way,” UAW President Shawn Fain said. “Our endorsement must be earned and Joe Biden has earned it.” Fain called Trump “a scab,” who “stands against everything we stand for as a union – as a society.” The UAW represents around 400,000 members. (NBC News / CNN / New York Times / Associated Press / Washington Post)
3/ A record 21.3 million Americans signed up for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act’s marketplaces. A record 5 million more people signed up for ACA policies for 2024 compared to 2023 – the third straight year of record enrollment. The 30% annual increase in ACA sign-ups come as Trump’s once again promised to repeal the program, saying it “sucks.” Enrollment figures, however, indicate that Republican-leaning states would be most affected if the law were repealed. (Washington Post / CNN / Axios / The Hill)
4/ The Justice Department urged the Supreme Court preserve full access to a widely used abortion pill, warning that a lower-court ruling restricting its availability would have “disruptive consequences” for women and “threatens profound harms” nationwide. The Supreme Court has agreed to review the lower court’s ruling, which would cut off mail-order prescriptions of mifepristone and require in-person doctor visits. “The loss of access to mifepristone would be damaging for women and healthcare providers around the Nation. For many patients, mifepristone is the best method to lawfully terminate their early pregnancies,” the Justice Department said. Central to the issue is the scope of the FDA’s authority to regulate mifepristone, which was first approved in 2000, and later approved for wider access through telemedicine, mail delivery, and prescribing by pharmacists in 2016. (Axios / CNN)
5/ More than 64,500 pregnancies have resulted from rape in the 14 states that banned abortion since Roe v. Wade was overturned, according to research by JAMA Internal Medicine. The majority of states with total bans on abortion don’t have exceptions for rape. And those that do have exceptions require victims to report the rape to authorities, something that only happens in a small fraction of sexual assaults. (Axios / NPR)
1/ Nikki Haley vowed to continue her presidential campaign even if Trump wins New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation Republican primary, saying “This has always been a marathon. It’s never been a sprint.” Most polls, however, showed Haley trailing Trump going into today’s primary by double digits. Voting is scheduled to close statewide at 8 p.m. Eastern. New Hampshire is the second state on the Republican electoral calendar after the Iowa caucuses, which Trump won last week. The Nevada Republicans will hold caucuses Feb. 8, followed by South Carolina’s primary Feb. 24. (NBC News / CNN / Washington Post / New York Times / Associated Press / NPR / Politico / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
Why many Democrats want Trump to win big in New Hampshire. “Either Trump dominates Nikki Haley in New Hampshire and the general election campaign effectively begins Wednesday — or Trump gets caught in a drawn-out primary at least until South Carolina’s GOP contest on Feb. 24.” (Axios)
Trump has a big problem ahead. “There’s a whole swath of the Republican electorate and a good chunk of independents who appear firmly committed to not voting for him in November if he becomes the nominee.” (Politico)
2/ Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who recently ended his 2024 presidential campaign and endorsed Trump, suggested that he would veto a proposed Republican bill to use taxpayer money to help pay Trump’s legal bills. The proposed bill would have allowed the state to create the “Freedom Fighters Fund,” which could then give Trump up to $5 million in taxpayer dollars for legal fees incurred from his ongoing court cases. The proposed new fund would come from the state’s public campaign-matching funds program and later be replenished from voluntary donations via driver’s license registrations. DeSantis, however, said he did not support the measure, tweeting: “But not the Florida Republican who wields the veto pen…” (Politico / Axios / Bloomberg)
3/ A federal appeals court rejected Trump’s request to lift a gag order that restricts his ability to criticize witnesses in his criminal case for attempting to overturn the 2020 election. “The court had a duty to act proactively to prevent the creation of an atmosphere of fear or intimidation aimed at preventing trial participants and staff from performing their functions within the trial process,” Judge Patricia Millett wrote for the unanimous three-judge panel. The gag order was initially imposed by Judge Tanya Chutkan in October in response to concerns from special counsel Jack Smith that Trump’s threats to witnesses, attorneys, and court personnel could taint the proceedings, intimidate witnesses, and influence jurors. A three-judge panel upheld the gag order last month, but narrowed the restrictions on speaking about witnesses in the case, but freed Trump to publicly criticize Smith. Trump can now appeal to the Supreme Court. (Associated Press / Politico / CNN)
4/ Israel proposed allowing Hamas senior leaders to leave Gaza as part of an agreement for a two-month ceasefire in exchange for the release of all remaining hostages. Pressure is building on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to resolve his nearly four-month war, which has failed to capture or kill most of Hamas’s senior leaders in Gaza and left around 70% of Hamas’ fighting force intact, according to Israel’s own estimates. International calls for a two-state solution have also intensified, which Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected. Meanwhile, Israel’s military said 24 soldiers were killed in the Gaza Strip – the deadliest day for the country’s forces since the war began – while trying to demolish part of a Palestinian neighborhood to create what they describe as a “security zone” between Gaza and Israel. The buffer zone would be about a half-mile wide and run along the entire length of Israel’s roughly 36-mile border with Gaza. Since Oct. 7, more than 25,000 people have been killed in Gaza, with more than 62,000 injured, over 1.9 million Palestinians have been displaced, nearly the entire Gaza Strip population faces a humanitarian crisis, and more than half a million people in the territory face “catastrophic hunger.” (CNN / Axios / Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
5/ The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists set their “Doomsday Clock” at 90 seconds to midnight, citing global instability driven by Russia’s war in Ukraine, Israel’s war on Hamas, the proliferation of nuclear weapons, artificial intelligence, state-sponsored disinformation, and the worsening climate crisis. The time on the symbolic clock is the same as last year. (NBC News / USA Today / CBS News)
1/ The Biden administration announced new steps to expand access to contraception, abortion medication, and emergency abortion care at hospitals on the 51st anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Eighteen months after the Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade, Biden called on Congress to “stop playing politics with a woman’s life and freedom” and codify Roe v. Wade into law. The Departments of Treasury, Labor, and Health and Human Services announced new guidance to “clarify standards” and make sure FDA-approved contraceptive medications are available for free under the Affordable Care Act. The Office of Personnel Management will offer new guidance to insurers to strengthen access to contraception for federal workers, retirees, and family members. HHS also announced a “comprehensive plan” to increase awareness and understanding about the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, which requires patients to receive emergency medical care regardless of their ability to pay. “We need to understand the horrific reality that women face every single day,” Harris said. “As we face this crisis and as we are clear-eyed about the harm, let us also understand who is responsible, shall we? The former president handpicked three Supreme Court justices because he intended for them to overturn Roe. He intended for them to take away your freedoms. And it is a decision he brags about.” (NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times / ABC News / CNN / Bloomberg)
2/ The Supreme Court allowed Border Patrol agents to cut through or move razor wire along the Mexican border that Texas installed to keep migrants from crossing into the state. The ruling, by a 5-to-4 vote, vacates a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals’ injunction and reinstates federal authority over the international boundary between Mexico and Texas. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh dissented. (NPR / New York Times / NBC News / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
3/ Trump warned the Supreme Court that removing him from Colorado’s 2024 ballot would “unleash chaos and bedlam.” Trump urged the court to “put a swift and decisive end” to lawsuits that say he is ineligible to serve as president because he “engaged in insurrection” on Jan. 6. The Colorado ruling was the first to find that the 14th Amendment’s insurrection clause applies to Trump, which prohibits someone from holding “any office […] under the United States” if they “engaged in insurrection” after taking an oath to support the Constitution. The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the case on Feb. 8. (Politico / ABC News / Bloomberg / NBC News / Axios / The Hill)
4/ Nikki Haley questioned whether Trump was “mentally fit” to serve as president after he repeatedly confused her for Nancy Pelosi during a speech. “Last night, Trump is at a rally and he’s going on and on mentioning me several times as to why I didn’t take security during the Capitol riots. Why I didn’t handle January 6 better. I wasn’t even in DC on January 6. I wasn’t in office then,” Haley said, adding: “They’re saying he got confused. That he was talking about something else. That he was talking about Nancy Pelosi. He mentioned me multiple times in that scenario.” Trump responded by boasting about his cognitive abilities, saying, “A few months ago I took a cognitive test my doctor gave me […] and I aced it.” Trump later challenged Haley to a cognitive test, saying “it would be my result against her result and she’s not going to win, not gonna even come close to winning.” (NBC News / The Hill / New York Times / CNN / Wall Street Journal / Axios)
5/ Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended his presidential campaign and endorsed Trump. “We don’t have a clear path to victory,” DeSantis said days before New Hampshire’s primary, where he’s projected to fall behind both Trump and Nikki Haley. As one former DeSantis adviser said: “It was a total failure to launch. This thing blew up on the launch pad.” (NBC News / Washington Post / Politico)
6/ The New Hampshire attorney general’s office is investigating an “unlawful attempt” at voter suppression after voters received a robocall that appears to be an AI voice clone of Biden. The fake recording called the election “a bunch of malarkey,” and urged voters that “it’s important that you save your vote for the November election […] your vote makes a difference in November, not this Tuesday.” Former New Hampshire Democratic Party chair Kathy Sullivan contacted the state’s attorney general after people started telling her they had received the robocall with her number on their caller IDs. The AG’s office said that “Although the voice in the robocall sounds like the voice of President Biden, this message appears to be artificially generated based on initial indications.” (NPR / Washington Post / NBC News / New York Times / CNN / Axios)
1/ The House and Senate passed a stopgap spending bill to prevent a partial government shutdown this weekend, sending the measure to Biden as Congress continues to struggle with approving all 12 appropriations bills that fund the government. The short-term spending package – the third since September – will extend current funding for the FDA, Energy, Agriculture, and Veterans Affairs through March 1, with funding for the rest of the government, including the Pentagon, continuing through March 8. Lawmakers, however, are in session together for six days prior to the March 1 deadline, and for 10 days before the March 8 deadline. The Senate passed the legislation, 77-18, followed by the House, 314-108, hours later, after 13 hardline Republicans – who have repeatedly held the chamber hostage in retaliation for the spending deal Speaker Mike Johnson reached with Democrats – launched a last-minute campaign to attach partisan border security measures to the funding package. (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / NBC News)
2/ A Justice Department investigation into the 2022 school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, found “cascading failures” and “no urgency” by law enforcement before, during, and after the attack that killed 19 children and two teachers. “Had law enforcement agencies followed generally accepted practices in an active shooter situation and gone right after the shooter to stop him, lives would have been saved and people would have survived,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in announcing the 600-page report, adding that the law enforcement response was a “failure that should not have happened.” For 77 minutes, nearly 400 law enforcement officers failed to intervene as an 18-year-old gunman with a semiautomatic rifle remained inside a pair of connected fourth grade classrooms. “During that period, no one assumed a leadership role to direct the response towards the active shooter, provide situational status to responding officers, establish some form of incident command, or clearly assume and communicate the role of incident commander,” the report said. All told, fewer than 10 law enforcement officers on the scene that day are known to have either been fired or resigned. (Associated Press / New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / NPR / Politico / USA Today)
3/ Texas refused to comply with a cease-and-desist letter from the Biden administration demanding that Texas National Guard stop blocking U.S. Border Patrol agents from accessing a public park. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton rejected the Biden administration’s demand that the state abandon the public park along the U.S.-Mexico border. “Because the facts and law side with Texas, the State will continue utilizing its constitutional authority to defend her territory, and I will continue defending those lawful efforts in court,” Paxton said. Homeland Security officials said a woman and two children drowned in the Rio Grande after Border Patrol agents “were physically barred by Texas officials from entering the area” under orders from Republican Gov. Greg Abbott. The Biden administration has threatened to “refer the matter to the Department of Justice for appropriate action” if Texas continues to deny Border Patrol agents full access to the area. (CBS News / NBC News / Axios)
4/ Florida House Republicans introduced legislation that would ban flags that depict a “racial, sexual orientation and gender, or political ideology viewpoint” in government buildings and schools. Republicans claim the ban on flags is to protect children from being “subliminally indoctrinated with critical race theory, Marxism and transgender ideology” in classrooms. Critics called legislation an attempt by Republicans to “bully” the LGBTQ and minority communities in the state. In the past two years, Florida banned “classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity” in the state’s public schools, ordered its schools to ignore federal guidelines aimed at protecting LGBTQ students and teachers from discrimination, expanded its ban on classroom instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity, banned an AP African-American Studies course, and released new standards for teaching Black history that requires students to learn that enslaved people “developed skills” that “could be applied for their personal benefit.” (Axios / Politico / Associated Press / The Hill / The Guardian)
1/ A Maine judge delayed ruling on whether Trump’s name can appear on that state’s primary ballot, saying the Supreme Court needs to issue a decision on a similar case in Colorado first. Earlier this year, Maine’s secretary of state removed Trump from the ballot based on the Constitution’s “insurrectionist ban.” The ruling sent the case back to Maine’s secretary of state, ordering her to modify, withdraw or confirm her ruling after the Supreme Court rules on the Colorado case. Oral arguments on the Colorado case are scheduled for Feb. 8. For now, Trump’s name is still on the ballot for the Maine Republican primary on March 5, which is Super Tuesday. (Associated Press / Axios / NPR / New York Times / Washington Post / CNN)
2/ A federal judge threatened to throw Trump out of court for making “disruptive” comments while E. Jean Carroll’s testified at his defamation trial. After an initial warning from Judge Lewis Kaplan, Carroll’s lawyer complained a second time that Trump could still be heard “loudly saying things that are false,” including “it is a witch hunt” and “it really is a con job,” while the columnist was testifying. Kaplan warned Trump that while he “has the right to be present here. That right can be forfeited and it can be forfeited if he is disruptive […] I hope I don’t have to consider excluding you from the trial.” Trump then threw his hands up and fired back at the judge: “I would love it, I would love it.” At the time of the exchange, Carroll was testifying about how Trump’s attacks on her credibility – after she publicly accused him of a sexual assault – led to threats of violence from his supporters and that put her in fear for her safety. A jury in a separate civil case last year found that Trump sexually abused and defamed Carroll and owed her $5 million in damages. This new trial is focused on whether Trump owes Carroll additional damages for separate comments he made about her. (Associated Press / Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / CNN / CNBC)
3/ The Supreme Court’s conservative majority seemed inclined to overturn or limit a 40-year-old precedent that gives federal agencies wide latitude to interpret unclear laws. The justices heard two cases concerning the so-called “Chevron deference,” which requires federal judges to defer to federal agencies when they offer a reasonable interpretation of an ambiguous statute. The 1984 decision was intended to stop judges from substituting their own interpretations of statues over the expertise of agencies. During 3 1/2 hours of oral arguments, the conservative majority generally signaled skepticism toward the Chevron deference, though it was unclear whether the court had the votes to overturn the ruling. The court could also take a different approach and place limits on when lower court judges can defer to agencies without overturning Chevron. (NBC News / CNN / NPR / Politico / New York Times / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Axios)
💡 What’s at stake? The potential rollback of the Chevron deference by the Supreme Court would fundamentally alter how federal agencies implement laws aimed at safeguarding public interests, especially in areas like environmental protection and public health. Federal agencies have traditionally used the deference to swiftly implement laws in response to emerging issues. If the Chevron deference is eliminated, agencies will face increased judicial scrutiny, leading to a decrease in regulatory action. This shift not only affects the environment and public health, but also impacts economic regulations, consumer protections, and education policies. Further, it also shifts the balance of power between the branches of government, potentially weakening the executive branch’s role in day-to-day governance.
4/ The Biden administration put the Houthi militant group back on a global terrorism list in response to their dozens of attacks on merchant and commercial vessels in the Red Sea. The “specially designated global terrorists” designation triggers an asset freeze and blocks the Iran-backed group’s access to the global financial system. After taking office, Biden removed the Trump administration’s designation of the Houthis as terrorists, arguing that it hampered humanitarian assistance to people in Yemen. (Washington Post / CNN / Axios / CNBC / Bloomberg / New York Times)
1/ Congressional leaders agreed on a short-term funding bill to avert a partial government shutdown. The House, however, canceled votes on the spending bill due to a winter storm despite several agencies and government functions set to run out of funding on Friday. The continuing resolution will extend the current two-tier funding deadline structure through March 1 and March 8 to give lawmakers more time to write and pass all 12 spending bills for the current fiscal year. (Politico / Axios / NPR / CBS News / NBC News)
2/ Trump won the Iowa Republican caucuses by an unprecedented margin, defeating Ron DeSantis by some 30 points. About 31 minutes after caucusing began, networks declared Trump the winner. Trump, facing 91 charges across four criminal cases, won 98 of 99 counties in Iowa. (Axios / Associated Press / New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / CNN)
[Poll] 66% of Iowa caucus-goers said Biden did not legitimately win the presidential election in 2020. 69% of those voters supported Trump. (Washington Post)
[Poll] 72% of Republicans agree that immigrants who enter the U.S. illegally are “poisoning the blood” of America. (CBS News)
Vivek Ramaswamy suspended his presidential campaign following Iowa caucuses. Ramaswamy won about 8% of support from caucusgoers. (CBS News / NBC News)
Asa Hutchinson suspended his presidential campaign after coming in last place at the Iowa caucuses. (CBS News)
3/ Biden is reportedly “running out” of patience with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the war against Hamas in Gaza entered its 100th day. Despite unprecedented military and diplomatic support, Biden hasn’t spoken to Netanyahu in more than 20 days due to Netanyahu’s resistance to address U.S. priorities, unwillingness to discuss plans for after the war, and his rejection of the U.S. plan for a reformed Palestinian Authority to have a role in post-Hamas Gaza. One U.S. official remarked: “The situation sucks and we are stuck.” Netanyahu, nevertheless, vowed to keep fighting until “total victory,” adding: “Nobody will stop us — not The Hague, not the axis of evil and not anybody else.” The Hague is currently hearing accusations that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza. (Axios / New York Times / NBC News / CNN)
4/ The U.S. has carried out its third military strike against Yemen-based Houthis, targeting four anti-ship ballistic missiles apparently being readied by the Iran-backed rebel group to attack commercial vessels and Navy ships. The militants have launched nearly 30 attacks on merchant ships in the region since November, vowing solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza and linking their actions to Western support for Israel. Many of the group’s targets, however, have had no connection to Israel. (New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / ABC News / CNN)
5/ The Biden administration demanded that Texas stop blocking federal Border Patrol agents from accessing a section of the U.S. southern border after a woman and two children drowned in the Rio Grande. Homeland Security said that when Border Patrol agents tried to respond to a distress call, they were “physically barred” by Texas Military Department agents from accessing the area, which had blocked off the area with fencing, gates, and razor wire. Texas officials said the three drownings had already occurred when Border Patrol asked for permission to enter the area. “It is impossible to say what might have happened if Border Patrol had had its former access to the area — including through its surveillance trucks that assisted in monitoring the area,” the Justice Department said. “At the very least, however, Border Patrol would have had the opportunity to take any available steps to fulfill its responsibilities and assist its counterparts in the Mexican government with undertaking the rescue mission. Texas made that impossible.” (CBS News / New York Times / CNN)
6/ Trump returned to a New York courtroom for the start of his second civil trial over a defamation lawsuit filed by E. Jean Carroll, who previously brought a civil lawsuit alleging Trump raped her in a Manhattan department store and then defamed her when he denied her story. Last year, a jury found Trump had sexually abused Carroll and then defamed her, awarding her $5 million in damages. This trial is for a separate incident of defamation, and will determine the damages Trump owes after remarks he made about Carroll during a televised town hall last year following the end of the first trial. (NPR / Axios / Politico)
1/ Trump defied the judge presiding over his $370 million civil fraud trial and delivered a brief courtroom speech claiming that he’s an “innocent man” and that the lawsuit brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James is “a fraud on me.” Judge Arthur Engoron had previously denied Trump’s request to give his own closing statement because Trump wouldn’t agree to refrain from personal attacks. Nevertheless, Trump’s attorney asked Engoron to allow Trump to speak for two to three minutes during closing arguments. Engoron then asked Trump if he would agree to stick to case-related subjects, which prompted Trump to begin his diatribe. For roughly five minutes, Trump claimed that James “hates Trump and uses Trump to get elected,” that the case was a “political witch hunt,” and demanded that prosecutors “should pay me for what I’ve gone through.” Trump then attacked Engoron, remarking that “You have your own agenda […] You can’t listen for more than one minute.” Engoron then instructed Trump’s lawyer to “control your client,” who didn’t appear to make any effort to do so. The trial has now concluded and Engoron said he plans to issue his ruling later this month. James has asked Engoron to impose $370 million in penalties and permanently bar Trump from running a business in New York. Hours before the trial’s final day began, police responded to a “swatting incident” at Engoron’s home. The bomb squad was called to investigate, but nothing was found. (Associated Press / New York Times / NBC News / CNN / Washington Post / Axios)
2/ South Africa formally accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. South Africa called on the International Court of Justice to order Israel to immediately suspend its “continuous bombing” of the Gaza Strip, where more than 23,400 people have been killed since the war began, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. More than 59,600 have been injured, and thousands more are missing and presumed dead. South Africa condemned Hamas’ attacks, but said “nothing” could justify Israel’s response. Lawyers representing South Africa argued that Israel’s military campaign was intended to “bring about the destruction” of the Palestinian population, noting that comments by Israeli leaders – calling Palestinians “human animals” – and actions – imposing a “complete siege” on the Gaza Strip – signaled “genocidal intent.” Israel dismissed the accusation as “absurd blood libel,” “atrocious and preposterous,” and called the case “one of the greatest shows of hypocrisy in history.” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, meanwhile, described the case as “meritless,” and called it “particularly galling given that those who are attacking Israel – Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, as well as their supporter of Iran – continue to openly call for the annihilation of Israel and the mass murder of Jews.” The court is expected to rule on South Africa’s request to stop the violence in Gaza within weeks, but a verdict on the question of genocide could take years. While the court’s rulings are legally binding, enforcement can be difficult. (CNN / New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post / Associated Press)
Looming Starvation in Gaza Shows Resurgence of Civilian Sieges in Warfare. “A U.N.-affiliated panel said the territory could tip into famine very soon. International laws to protect people from human-made famines offer little help.” (New York Times)
American intel officials warn of risk of Hezbollah attacking U.S. “U.S. officials assess that there’s a rising risk Lebanese Hezbollah militants will strike Americans in the Middle East — and even potentially hit inside the United States.” (Politico)
3/ The House Freedom Caucus continued to hold the chamber hostage while pressuring Speaker Mike Johnson to renege on the bipartisan spending deal to avert a government shutdown. Yesterday, members of the far-right group and their allies revolted against the bipartisan spending deal, openly criticized Johnson, and blocked a procedural vote on an unrelated bill in protest over the $1.66 trillion bipartisan spending deal. The ultra-conservative group is demanding the top-line budget number be at least $70 billion less, and include new border security. Some frustrated Republican centrists and appropriators are calling on Johnson to stick to the bipartisan deal and punish the conservatives. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, meanwhile, plans to introduce a short-term stopgap spending plan in order to give Congress more time to work out the details of the bipartisan spending agreement. (Politico / NBC News / Bloomberg)
4/ The Pentagon failed to properly track $1 billion worth of military equipment sent to Ukraine for its defense against Russia, according to a report by the Defense Department’s inspector general. The report, however, offered no evidence that any of the items – including night vision devices, air defense missiles, anti-tanks missiles, launch equipment, and kamikaze drones – have been misused or stolen. The new report comes as Congress debates whether to authorize a supplemental package of more than $60 billion in aid for Ukraine amid significant Republican opposition. (CNN / Bloomberg / New York Times)
✨ Well, That’s Fantastic!
U.S. carbon emissions shrank in 2023 for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic. Last year, U.S. greenhouse gas pollution from energy and industrial activities fell by 1.9% despite the economy growing by about 2.4%. To put that into perspective: in 2023, the U.S. emitted as much carbon as it did in 1991, when the economy was about a quarter of its current size. (Heatmap / NBC News)
The world’s capacity to generate renewable electricity grew by 50% in 2023 – the fastest rate in the past 25 years. The International Energy Agency reported that the global energy systems’ renewable energy capacity reached nearly 510 gigawatts last year – enough to power nearly 51 million homes for a year. About 75% of the growth was in increased solar capacity. (Associated Press / The Hill / International Energy Agency)
U.S. battery storage capacity could double in 2024 if all of the planned energy storage systems are brought online on schedule. Since 2021, battery storage in the U.S. has been growing, ending last year with around 16 gigawatts utility-scale battery capacity. Developers plan to add another 15 GW in 2024 – an 89% increase(!) – and around another 9 GW in 2025. Meanwhile, 12 GW of coal-fired capacity is expected to retire in 2024 and 2025. (Power Engineering / Energy Information Administration)
The Biden administration announced $623 million in grants to support electric vehicle charging infrastructure across the country. The grants will support 47 projects in 22 states and Puerto Rico, with an emphasis on rural areas and underserved communities, and lead to the construction of about 7,500 new EV charging ports. (Wired / ABC News)
1/ House Republicans revolted against a bipartisan spending deal, openly criticized their new speaker, and blocked a procedural vote on an unrelated bill. As a result, House votes for the day were cancelled while Speaker Mike Johnson attempts to reach a deal with members of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus. The 13 hard-line GOP members said they were “absolutely not” happy with Johnson, because “we’ve been involved in nothing” and the agreement largely resembles the one former Speaker Kevin McCarthy reached with Biden last year. The group also complained that the bipartisan spending deal, which would avert a partial government shutdown starting next week, was “unacceptable” because it doesn’t “secure the border” or “cut our spending.” (Axios / Politico / Wall Street Journal / CNN / NBC News)
2/ Hunter Biden made a unannounced appearance at the House Oversight Committee’s meeting on whether to hold him in contempt of Congress. Hunter Biden skipped the closed-door deposition last month, citing concerns that Republicans would distort his comments. “You are the epitome of white privilege, coming to the Oversight Committee, spitting in our face, ignoring a congressional subpoena to be deposed — what are you afraid of?” Republican Nancy Mace said, adding: “You have no balls.” Hunter Biden, however, has offered to testify publicly at least six times, but Republicans have refused the offer and insisted that any interview be held privately. Nevertheless, both the Judiciary and Oversight Committees voted along party lines to recommend holding him in contempt of Congress. (Politico / Washington Post / NBC News / NPR / Associated Press / New York Times)
3/ Trump will not be allowed to personally make a closing argument at his New York civil fraud trial after refusing to abide by the judge’s restrictions — including that he not give “a campaign speech” and that he sticks to “relevant” matters. Judge Arthur Engoron said he was initially “inclined” to let Trump speak with the caveat he limits his remarks to the “relevant, material facts” of the case, doesn’t introduce new evidence, “testify,” “comment on irrelevant matters,” “deliver a campaign speech,” or “impugn myself, my staff, plaintiff, plaintiff’s staff or the New York State Court System.” A Trump attorney, however, said Trump “cannot agree […] to the proposed preconditions and prior restraints.” Closing arguments are slated to take place on Thursday. Attorney General Letitia James has asked Engoron to impose a $370 million fine, ban Trump from working in New York’s real estate industry for life, and ban him from serving as an officer or director of a New York corporation. (Associated Press / NBC News / CNN / New York Times / Axios / CNBC)
4/ Trump, forgetting that his own mother was born in Scotland, baselessly promoted a false “birther” conspiracy theory that Nikki Haley is ineligible to be president because her parents were not U.S. citizens when she was born. Trump’s latest attack comes as a recent poll shows Haley cutting into his lead in New Hampshire, and his own eligibility under the insurrection clause of the Constitution is now under review by the Supreme Court. While Haley’s parents became citizens after her birth, she was born in South Carolina. Under the 14th Amendment, being born in the U.S. makes her a natural-born citizen, and therefore eligible to become president. Trump has previously used the false “birther” claims against then-President Barack Obama and later against Ted Cruz. (NBC News / NPR / New York Times)
📆 Republican presidential primary debate tonight. Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley are set to go head-to-head on CNN, while Trump will take part in a Fox News town hall at the same time. Chris Christie, suspended his presidential campaign, and Vivek Ramaswamy didn’t qualify for the debate.
1/ The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit reacted with skepticism to Trump’s unprecedented claim that a president could only be charged with a crime if they’ve been impeached and convicted by Congress first. Trump argued that prosecuting him for “official acts” unless first impeached by the House and convicted by the Senate would “open a Pandora’s box” of indicting other former presidents for actions they took while in office. At one point, when asked hypothetically if a president could face prosecution for ordering the SEAL Team Six to assassinate a political rival, Trump’s lawyer argued that such a case could only proceed “if he were impeached and convicted first.” If that’s the case, the Justice Department lawyer representing special counsel Jack Smith asked, “what kind of world are we living in” if a president can order a political assassination and avoid criminal charges by resigning before he can be impeached, adding that Trump’s view of immunity would mean an “extraordinarily frightening future.” All three judges appeared unlikely to dismiss Smith’s election subversion charges against Trump on claims of presidential immunity. Following the hearing, Trump warned of “bedlam” and declined to rule out political violence if the criminal charges against him hurt him in the 2024 election. [Editor’s Note: I typically avoid speculative reporting, prioritizing concrete events (i.e. it’s called “WHAT The Fuck Just Happened Today?” after all). However, the exceptional nature of this situation demands our attention as its outcome impacts democratic norms and necessitates a thorough examination.] (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / NPR / ABC News / Associated Press / Politico / The Guardian)
✨ Why should I care? The Constitution was designed to prevent the concentration of power and ensure accountability, including for the President. Granting immunity to a former president would conflict with these principles, potentially creating a dangerous precedent where presidential power is unchecked and unbalanced. The outcome will either affirm or challenge the foundational values of American democracy. If Trump is granted immunity, it could lead to a dangerous precedent where former presidents evade legal accountability, undermining the rule of law. Additionally, it serves as a reminder of the citizen’s role in democracy – to be informed, engaged, and critical of the actions of elected officials. This case demonstrates the necessity for a robust and independent judiciary as a check on executive power, emphasizing the importance of separation of powers in preserving democratic governance.
✏️ A federal court in Georgia is hearing a case on the security of the state’s voting machines. Despite Trump’s allegations, multiple audits and recounts in Georgia using these machines in 2020 and 2022 found no evidence of fraud. The trial is set to conclude by mid-2024, possibly affecting the general election. A ruling against the state could force changes in voting methods or increased security measures. (Politico)
2/ Trump said he hoped the economy would crash this year so the blame falls on Biden rather during his hypothetical second term. “And when there’s a crash, I hope it’s going to be during this next 12 months because I don’t want to be Herbert Hoover. The one president – I just don’t want to be Herbert Hoover,” Trump said. The U.S. stock market crashed during Hoover’s first year in office in 1929, which evolved into the Great Depression. “Donald Trump should just say he doesn’t give a damn about people, because that’s exactly what he’s telling the American people when he says he hopes the economy crashes,” Biden’s campaign manager said. “In his relentless pursuit of power and retribution, Donald Trump is rooting for a reality where millions of Americans lose their jobs and live with the crushing anxiety of figuring out how to afford basic needs.” The White House added: “A commander in chief’s duty is to always put the American people first; never to hope that hard-working families suffer economic pain for their own political benefit.” Trump’s comments came amid rising consumer confidence, cooling inflation, lower gas prices, rising wages, and optimism that the economy can achieve a so-called soft landing and avoid a recession. (CNN / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / CNN / CNBC)
3/ Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Israel to “stop taking steps that undercut the Palestinians’ ability to govern themselves effectively.” Blinken met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top Israeli leaders in an effort to push the U.S. ally to moderate its assault on the Gaza Strip, defuse regional tensions to prevent a broader war, and to work with Palestinians and neighboring countries to rebuild and govern the territory. “Extremists settler violence carried out with impunity, settlement expansion, demolitions, evictions all make it harder – not easier – for Israel to achieve lasting peace and security,” Blinken said. “Israel must be a partner to Palestinian leaders who are willing to lead their people in living side by side in peace with Israel as neighbors.” Far-right members of the Israeli government, however, have called for the mass removal of Palestinian civilians from Gaza and dismissed American demands for a “revamped and revitalized” Palestinian Authority, which runs parts of the West Bank, to take control in a postwar, Hamas-free Gaza. (Washington Post / CNN / NBC News / New York Times / Associated Press)
4/ Last year was Earth’s hottest in recorded history. The European Union’s climate agency reported that global temperatures in 2023 were “exceptionally high,” and averaging 1.48 degrees Celsius (2.66 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels during 1850-1900. This year is predicted to be even hotter, with Earth’s 12-month average temperature likely to exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) – the limit established by the 2015 Paris Agreement to limit warming to 1.5 degrees C (2.7 degrees F) above pre-industrial times to avert the most catastrophic consequences of climate change. (NBC News / Axios / Associated Press / Washington Post / New York Times)
1/ The Supreme Court agreed to review the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision to remove Trump from that state’s ballot. The court will hear the case on an expedited basis with arguments starting Feb. 8. The Colorado Republican Party urged the justices to rule by March 5, when many states, including Colorado, hold their primaries. Last month, Colorado’s top court disqualified Trump from the ballot, finding he engaged in an insurrection before and during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Maine’s secretary of state also barred Trump from that ballot over his role in the Capitol attack. Trump is separately appealing that ruling to a state court in Maine. The Republican National Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee, meanwhile, filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court supporting Trump’s efforts to remain on the 2024 ballot. (New York Times / NPR / NBC News / Washington Post / Associated Press / CBS News / CNN / Bloomberg)
Trump refused to sign Illinois’ ballot pledge to not “advocate the overthrow of the government.” “Under Illinois law, presidential candidates wanting to be on the state’s March 19th primary ballot had to turn in their nominating petitions to the State Board of Elections on Thursday or Friday, and the loyalty oath is a time-honored part of that process.” (WBEZ / Chicago Sun-Times)
Trump suggested that if he is re-elected he would have Biden indicted. “Trump has argued that former presidents are entitled to absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for any “official acts” conducted during their presidency.” (NBC News)
2/ Trump asked a Georgia judge to dismiss his 13 felony racketeering and conspiracy charges for trying to subvert the 2020 election, claiming the election subversion case violated presidential immunity, double jeopardy, and due process protections. Trump argued that pressuring Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in January 2021 to “find” enough votes to overturn Biden’s victory in the state was part of his official duties as president, and therefore he should enjoy immunity from criminal prosecution. In addition, Trump argued in the due process motion that he “lacked fair notice” that his baseless claims about widespread election fraud could be criminalized. Trump also argued that the case should be tossed because he was tried and acquitted on related charges before the U.S. Senate during his second impeachment, citing double jeopardy. (NBC News / CNN / Politico / New York Times / Bloomberg / ABC News / CBS News / Axios)
3/ The Supreme Court allowed Idaho to enforce its near-total ban on abortions, agreeing to hear an appeal in the case and scheduling arguments for April. A ruling is expected by the end of June. Idaho’s 2020 law bans most abortions and makes it a crime with a prison term of up to five years for anyone who performs or assists in an abortion, with an exception when “necessary to prevent the death of a pregnant woman.” In August 2022 the Biden administration sued to block the law, arguing that it illegally conflicts with the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, which requires hospitals to provide “necessary stabilizing treatment” when the health of the mother is in danger. (NPR / NBC News / Associated Press / Washington Post / New York Times / USA Today)
4/ House Republicans and Senate Democrats reached an agreement to avert a shutdown and keep the federal government funded until the end of the fiscal year. The deal would establish an overall spending level of $1.66 trillion for the 2024 fiscal year, setting spending levels at $886 billion for the military and $772 billion for other non-defense federal spending. The agreement is inline with the deal that Biden and then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy agreed to last year, who was later ousted by far-right House Republicans in October for cutting a deal with Biden and the Democrats. Nevertheless, the Freedom Caucus called Speaker Mike Johnson’s agreement a “total failure” and “totally unacceptable.” The House and Senate now have to craft the underlying bills and pass them in less than two weeks to avert a partial government shutdown. Funding for roughly 20% of the government will run out on Jan. 19, and money for the rest of the government runs out on Feb. 2. (Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / NPR)
✏️ Notables.
The Pentagon didn’t tell Biden, Congress, or other top officials that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was hospitalized. Austin first underwent what military officials described as an “elective medical procedure” on Dec. 22 and remained at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. On Jan. 1, Austin was admitted to the ICU related to complications from his procedure. The White House and Congress were notified on Jan. 4. (Politico / NPR / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
House Republicans recommended Hunter Biden be held in contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena, saying he “violated federal law.” Last month, Hunter Biden offered to answer questions in a public setting, contending that the Republican-led committees would release excerpts of the closed-door testimony in small batches that lacked context in an effort to damage the Biden family politically. (NBC News / Axios)
32% of Republicans disapprove of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Three years ago, 51% disapproved of those who forced their way into the Capitol to disrupted the peaceful transfer of power. (CBS News)
1/ Trump’s businesses received at least $7.8 million from foreign governments – most of it from China – during his time in office, according to a report by the House Oversight Committee. During the two-year period that the committee was able to review, at least 20 foreign government paid millions to Trump’s hotels in Washington, D.C., Las Vegas, New York’s Trump Tower, and Trump World Tower. Jamie Raskin, the ranking member of the Oversight Committee, said that the $7.8 million is “almost certainly only a fraction of Trump’s harvest of unlawful foreign state money, but this figure in itself is a scandal and a decisive spur to action.” The report argues that the payments violated the Constitution’s foreign emoluments clause, which prohibits a president from accepting money, payments or gifts “of any kind whatever” from foreign governments and monarchs unless he obtains “the consent of the Congress” to do so. Trump never went to Congress to seek consent. The evidence that Trump’s businesses profited from foreign governments during his presidency is the same conduct that House Republicans have unsuccessfully used as the basis of their impeachment inquiry into Biden. The Republican’s yearlong investigation has failed to produce evidence of anything approaching high crimes or misdemeanors. (New York Times / CNN / Washington Post / NBC News / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Politico)
🔎 What’s at stake? Trump’s acceptance of millions from foreign governments as president violates constitutional safeguards and undermines American democratic principles and norms. This act not only questions the impartiality of presidential decisions, but also threatens the nation’s integrity and independence. Such conduct risks setting a dangerous precedent where personal gain overshadows national interest, potentially allowing for critical policy decisions to be influenced by foreign entities. This issue is a reminder that in a democracy, leaders must prioritize the country’s welfare above all, maintaining integrity and independence from external influences.
2/ The Justice Department sued Texas over the state’s new law that would allow police to arrest, jail, and prosecute migrants who illegally enter the U.S. The state law makes it a misdemeanor to illegally cross the border and a second-degree felony for illegal re-entry, with punishments ranging from 180 days in jail to 20 years in prison. It also allows judges in Texas to issue de facto deportation orders. The Justice Department argued that the Constitution assigns the federal government – not individual states – the authority to regulate immigration and manage international borders. “Texas cannot run its own immigration system,” the Justice Department wrote in the lawsuit. “Under the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution and longstanding Supreme Court precedent, states cannot adopt immigration laws that interfere with the framework enacted by Congress.” (Associated Press / Axios / Politico / CBS News)
3/ Florida’s surgeon general – citing widely debunked misinformation – called for a halt to using mRNA coronavirus vaccines. Joseph Ladapo has repeatedly falsely claimed that the vaccine is ineffective and can permanently contaminate human DNA. Federal health officials and other experts, meanwhile, have refuted each of Ladapo’s false claims. “We’ve seen this pattern from Dr. Ladapo that every few months he raises some new concern and it quickly gets debunked,” Ashish Jha, a former White House Covid-19 response coordinator, said. “This idea of DNA fragments — it’s scientific nonsense. People who understand how these vaccines are made and administered understand that there is no risk here.” The coronavirus vaccines have prevented more than 3 millions deaths and saved the U.S. more than $1 trillion in medical costs. Covid hospitalizations, meanwhile, have been on the rise nationally, with nearly 30,000 Americans newly hospitalized the week of Dec. 23. (Washington Post / New York Times / The Guardian / The Hill)
4/ Federal prosecutors accused Sen. Bob Menendez of using his political influence to benefit Qatar and Egypt. The superseding indictment accuses Menendez of taking actions to benefit the government of Qatar in exchange for cash, gold bars, luxury watches, and Formula 1 tickets. In addition to the bribery charges, Menendez is accused of acting as a foreign agent for the government of Egypt while serving as the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Menendez has resisted calls that he resign from the Senate and has not ruled out running for re-election. His trial is scheduled for May. (New York Times / ABC News / Washington Post / CNN)
poll/ 25% of Americans falsely believe the FBI “probably” or “definitely” instigated the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. 11% think there is “solid evidence” that the FBI organized and encouraged the attack, while 13% say this is their “suspicion only.” Among Republicans, 34% said the FBI instigated the attack, compared with 30% of independents, and 13% of Democrats. (Washington Post)
1/ Trump asked the Supreme Court to keep his name on Colorado ballot. Last month, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that Trump engaged in an insurrection before and during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and as a result Trump was “disqualified from holding the office of President under Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.” It was the first time that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment’s “insurrection clause” has been used to disqualify a presidential candidate. And, last week Maine’s secretary of state removed Trump from the state’s presidential primary ballot based on the Constitution’s “insurrectionist ban.” Both states – which hold their primaries on Super Tuesday on March 5 – temporarily put their decisions on hold so they could be appealed. (Washington Post / CNN / ABC News / NBC News / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press)
2/ Biden will mark the third anniversary of the Jan. 6 insurrection with a speech at a key site in the Revolutionary War. Biden will deliver remarks – expected to highlight the stakes of the presidential election – near a site where a group of militias gathered to form a coalition to fight for democracy in the 1770s, and where George Washington rallied troops into a unified army. “We are running a campaign like the fate of our democracy depends on it, because it does,” Biden’s reelection campaign said, adding: If Trump wins in November, he “will use all of his power to systematically dismantle and destroy our democracy.” Trump faces 91 criminal charges stemming from his efforts to overturn his loss to Biden and three other felony cases. (Associated Press / NBC News / Washington Post / NPR / Axios)
💡 American democracy has overcome big stress tests since the 2020 election. More challenges are ahead. “Trump is running for the White House again and has been dominating the Republican primary as the first votes approach. He has called for pardoning those prosecuted for the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, continues to insist falsely that the 2020 election was ‘stolen’ and says he will use the federal government to seek revenge on his political enemies. Trump has used increasingly authoritarian rhetoric as he campaigns for the GOP nomination. If he wins, allies have been planning to seed the government with loyalists so the bureaucracy doesn’t hinder Trump’s more controversial plans the way it did during his first term.” (Associated Press)
3/ At least six states were forced to evacuate their state capitols after receiving bomb threats. No explosives were found and federal officials dismissed the threats as a hoax, which was sent via a mass email titled “Explosives inside of your State Capitol.” The email was sent to government offices in at least 23 states, although no specific state was mentioned in the email. The FBI said it was aware of the “numerous hoax” bomb threats. (Axios / ABC News / Washington Post / CNN / NPR / Associated Press)
4/ A federal appeals court ruled that Texas hospitals and doctors are not required to perform emergency abortions despite the Biden administration arguing that federal guidance takes priority over state laws. Texas had sued the Department of Health and Human Services over its 2022 guidance that required health providers to perform abortions in emergency situations, in accordance with a 1986 federal law that requires emergency rooms to provide stabilizing care regardless of a patient’s ability to pay. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, however, concluded that the federal law “does not mandate any specific type of medical treatment, let alone abortion.” The law “does not govern the practice of medicine,” the court added. (NBC News / Axios / New York Times / Washington Post / Texas Tribune)
1/ Maine’s secretary of state removed Trump from the state’s presidential primary ballot based on the Constitution’s “insurrectionist ban.” The decision makes Maine the second state to disqualify Trump from office, after the Colorado Supreme Court removed him from the ballot because of his actions before and during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Hours later, California announced that Trump would remain on the ballot in the nation’s most populous state, despite a request from the state’s lieutenant governor to consider excluding him on constitutional grounds. The Michigan Supreme Court, meanwhile, declined to hear a case attempting to remove Trump from the state’s ballot. Trump is expected to appeal the Colorado Supreme Court ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court and the decision by Maine’s secretary of state to that state’s Superior Court. (Associated Press / CNN / Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / CNN / Detroit Free Press / New York Times / Washington Post / Politico)
[Poll] 53% of Americans said Trump bears “a great deal” or “a good amount” of responsibility for the Jan. 6 attack. Two years ago, 60% of Americans blamed Trump for the attack. Among Republicans, 14% say Trump bears responsibility for the attack on the Capitol, about half as many as did in 2021 (27%). (Washington Post)
2/ A federal judge approved Georgia’s new, Republican-drawn congressional map that preserves Republican power. In October, the judge ordered the Georgia General Assembly to draw new congressional and state legislative maps to include an additional majority-Black district, two additional majority-Black state senate districts, and five additional majority-Black state House districts following the 2020 census, which diluted the political power of Black voters. The Republican-controlled legislature, however, approved a new congressional map that complied with the order, but safeguarded the Republicans 9-5 edge in its U.S. House delegation. (CNN / CBS News / Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
3/ Nikki Haley declined to say that slavery was a cause of the Civil War. Instead, she said the causes were “basically how the government was going to run” and “freedoms and what people could and couldn’t do.” The Republican candidate then turned the question around on the person who asked it. Hours later, Haley baselessly blamed a Democratic “plant” for the question at her New Hampshire campaign event and said “of course the Civil War was about slavery.” (ABC News / Politico / Associated Press)
4/ Ohio’s Republican governor vetoed a bill that would have prevented minors from receiving gender-affirming health care and restricted transgender girls’ participation on school sports teams. Mike DeWine said the “gut-wrenching” decision about whether a minor should have access to gender-affirming care “should not be made by the government, should not be made by the state of Ohio,” rather it should be made by the child’s parents and doctors. DeWine is one of two Republican governors who have vetoed restrictions on gender-affirming care. (NBC News / Axios / Associated Press / New York Times)
5/ A senior Hamas leader was killed by Israel in an explosion in Beirut – the biggest Israeli strike on the Lebanese capital since the 2006 war between the two countries. Israel, however, said it had “not taken responsibility” for the attack that killed Saleh al-Arouri in Lebanon, adding that they were bracing for retaliatory strikes from Hezbollah and Hamas militants in Lebanon. Senior U.S. officials, however, confirmed that Israel was responsible for the strike, raising concerns of a regional escalation of the war in Gaza. The Biden administration, meanwhile, bypassed Congress to approve a $147.5 million emergency sale of weapons to Israel. More than 22,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the war began, and about half of Gaza’s 2.2 million people are at risk of starvation, and 90% regularly go without food for a whole day. (CNN / NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / ABC News)
1/ The Supreme Court rejected special counsel Jack Smith’s request to immediately decide whether Trump is immune from prosecution for bid to overturn his 2020 election loss. The decision raises the possibility that Trump’s federal 2020 election trial will be delayed beyond its scheduled March 4 start date – the day before the Super Tuesday primary contests. A federal appeals court, meanwhile, is simultaneously considering the issue. Arguments before the court are set for Jan. 9, and the losing party will likely appeal and send the matter right back to the Supreme Court early in the new year. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / Bloomberg / Wall Street JournalNPR / Axios / Politico)
2/ Trump urged a federal appeals court to dismiss special counsel Jack Smith’s criminal election subversion case, arguing – again – that he is “absolutely immune” from prosecution because plotting to overturn the 2020 election was related to his official duties as president. Trump argued that no current or former president may be criminally prosecuted for “official acts” unless they have been impeached and convicted by the Senate. Since he was twice impeached but acquitted, Trump claims he has “absolute immunity.” The move came a day after the Supreme Court refused to fast track consideration of whether Trump should be immune from prosecution. (NPR / Politico / CNN / Bloomberg / New York Times)
3/ The Michigan Supreme Court rejected an attempt to keep Trump off the state’s 2024 primary ballot based on the Constitution’s “insurrectionist ban.” The ruling contrasts a recent ruling from the Colorado Supreme Court, which removed Trump from its primary ballot because of his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot – the first time in history that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment has been used to disqualify a presidential candidate. That decision has been paused pending an appeal, which the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to hear. (Associated Press / CNN / New York Times / Bloomberg / Axios)
4/ Trump endorsed a voter survey describing his potential second term political goals as “dictatorship,” “revenge,” and “power.”Earlier this month, Trump refused to rule out abusing power if re-elected president, saying he would not be a “dictator” if elected in 2024 “other than day one.” Trump has also praised authoritarian leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and North Korean strongman Kim Jong-un. (Politico / Axios)
Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco decried Republican claims that the Justice Department has been politicized against Trump, saying those accusations have contributed to an “unprecedented rise” in threats against law enforcement and other officials. “On a weekly basis — sometimes more often — I am getting reports about threats to public officials, threats to our prosecutors, threats to law enforcement agents who work in the Justice Department, threats to judges,” Monaco said. (NBC News / Politico / ABC News)
5/ Rudy Giuliani filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after being ordered to immediately pay the $148 million he owes for defaming two former Georgia election workers. Giuliani listed his net worth between $1 million and $10 million, but claims he owes as much as $500 million to various creditors. The decision allowed Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss to go after Giuliani’s assets in New York and Florida. (ABC News / Washington Post / Bloomberg / NBC News)
6/ The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that the state’s legislative maps, which favor Republicans, are unconstitutional and ordered new maps ahead of the 2024 elections. Under the now-tossed legislative maps, Republicans controlled 64 of the 99 seats in the state Assembly and 22 of the 33 in the state Senate. While the ruling likely won’t swing Republican control of either legislative chamber to Democrats, it will weaken the Republican’s 12-year hold on both. (New York Times / CNN / NBC News)
1/ Trump doubled down on his racist and xenophobic comments that undocumented immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country” and rebuffed bipartisan criticism that his rhetoric echos Hitler. “They’re destroying the blood of our country,” Trump said about undocumented immigrants at a speech in Iowa. “That’s what they’re doing. They’re destroying our country. They don’t like it when I said that — and I never read ‘Mein Kampf.’ They said, ‘Oh, Hitler said that.’” Hitler used the term “blood poisoning” to denigrate immigration in his manifesto “Mein Kampf.” Nevertheless, Trump brushed off the Hitler comparison and claimed that Hitler meant it “in a much different way,” without making his meaning clear. Undocumented immigrants, Trump added, were “destroying the blood of our country” and “destroying the fabric of our country.” Trump is the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination. (New York Times / Bloomberg / Politico / NBC News / Associated Press / ABC News)
2/ Biden said there’s “no question” that Trump supported the Jan. 6 insurrection, a day after the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that Trump was disqualified from the state’s 2024 ballot. “Well I think certainly it’s self-evident,” Biden said. “You saw it all. Now whether the 14th Amendment applies, I’ll let the court make that decision. But he certainly supported an insurrection. No question about it — none, zero. And he seems to be doubling down on everything.” Biden’s comments came hours after the state Supreme Court ruled that Trump was ineligible to serve as president because of his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection. “Once again,” Biden said, “[Trump] embraces political violence instead of rejecting it. We can’t let this happen.” Republican Senator Thom Tillis, meanwhile, introduced legislation that would withhold federal election administration funds from states that “misuse” 14th Amendment. The bill would amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 and add language to clarify that the Supreme Court has “sole jurisdiction” to adjudicate such 14th Amendment cases. (NBC News / Politico / ABC News / Bloomberg / USA Today / Axios / The Hill)
3/ Trump urged the Supreme Court to hold off on deciding whether he is entitled to immunity from federal criminal charges for his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. The court filing was in response to special counsel Jack Smith’s request for the Supreme Court to take up consideration of Trump’s immunity claim directly and skip over the appeals court process that could take months to resolve to ensure the trial can start on March 4. Trump’s lawyers argued that Smith has given “no compelling reason” why the Supreme Court should immediately step in other than to ensure “Trump will be subjected to a months-long criminal trial at the height of a presidential campaign where he is the leading candidate.” Earlier this month, Judge Tanya Chutkan denied Trump’s motion to dismiss his indictment on presidential immunity and constitutional grounds, writing that his “four-year service as Commander in Chief did not bestow on him the divine right of kings to evade the criminal accountability that governs his fellow citizens.” (NBC News / Bloomberg / USA Today)
1/ The Colorado Supreme Court removed Trump from the state’s 2024 presidential ballot, ruling that Trump engaged in an insurrection leading up to the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. “A majority of the court holds that President Trump is disqualified from holding the office of President under Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution,” the decision reads. “Because he is disqualified, it would be a wrongful act under the Election Code for the Colorado Secretary of State to list him as a candidate on the presidential primary ballot.” The decision from Colorado’s high court reverses a lower court’s ruling that said Trump had “engaged in an insurrection,” but that presidents are not subject to Section 3 of the 14th Amendment because they are not an “officer of the United States.” The ruling marks the first time in history that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment’s “insurrection clause” has been used to disqualify a presidential candidate. The ruling was 4-3 and will be placed on hold pending appeal until Jan. 4. [Editor’s note: This is breaking news. More soon.] (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / CNN / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / NBC News / ABC News / CNBC / CBS News / Axios)
2/ Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed one of the harshest state immigration laws in modern U.S. history. Senate Bill 4 makes unauthorized border crossings a state crime, authorizes state officials to arrest undocumented immigrants anywhere in the state, and allows judges to issue them de facto deportation orders. The law makes it a state crime – a Class B misdemeanor – to cross the Texas-Mexico border between ports of entry, and carries a punishment of up to six months in jail. Repeat offenders could face a second-degree felony with a punishment of two to 20 years in prison. The law allows a judge to drop the charges if a migrant agrees to be deported to Mexico – regardless of whether or not they emigrated from Mexico in the first place. The American Civil Liberties Union and the Texas Civil Rights Project filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the new Texas law. (Texas Tribune / CBS News / Associated Press / NPR / Axios / New York Times)
3/ After winning a $148 million defamation lawsuit against Rudy Giuliani, two Georgia election workers sued him again. Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss want a court to “permanently bar” Giuliani from repeating his debunked claims and making further defamatory statements against them. After an eight-person federal jury ordered Giuliani to pay the two workers $148 million in damages, Giuliani told reporters that his debunked allegations “were supportable and are supportable today,” adding that “he was in possession of video evidence demonstrating the truth of his allegations.” Giuliani, however, claimed he was unable to present the evidence of “all the videos at the time” showing “what happened at the arena.” In August, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell found Giuliani was liable for defaming Freeman and Moss, a determination that was based in part on his refusal to preserve and turn over key evidence in the case. (Politico / NBC News / Washington Post / CNBC)
4/ The U.N. Security Council delayed a vote on a new resolution calling for more humanitarian aid and a ceasefire in Gaza. About 20,000 Palestinians have been killed, with 70% of them women and children, by Israeli forces since Oct. 7, and the majority of the enclave’s 2.2 million people have been displaced with an estimated 60% of the population facing starvation. Diplomats have been working to finalize a resolution drafted by the United Arab Emirates, which calls for “cessation of hostilities” to allow for the delivery of needed humanitarian aid, in hopes of getting the U.S. to abstain or vote in favor of the resolution. The U.S. was the only Security Council member to veto the two previous ceasefire resolutions. And in the General Assembly, the U.S. was among 10 countries that voted against a resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. “We’re still working through the modalities of the resolution,” U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said. “It’s important for us that the rest of the world understand what’s at stake here and what Hamas did on the 7th of October and how Israel has a right to defend itself against those threats.” Israel, meanwhile, reportedly offered to pause fighting in Gaza for one week as part of a new deal to get Hamas to release more than three dozen hostages. (CNN / NBC News / Associated Press / New York Times / Washington Post / ABC News)
1/ Trump approvingly quoted Putin to support his unfounded claim that his four criminal indictments are political payback. During a Saturday campaign stop in New Hampshire, Trump baselessly claimed that Biden is a “threat to democracy” and that “even Vladimir Putin […] says that Biden’s – and this is a quote – politically motivated persecution of his political rival is very good for Russia because it shows the rottenness of the American political system.” Trump added: “They’re all laughing at us.” Trump also called Jan. 6 defendants “hostages,” and praised authoritarian leaders Viktor Orban as “highly respected” and Kim Jong Un as “very nice.” Trump faces 91 criminal charges across four separate cases of falsifying business records in a hush money scheme, mishandling classified documents, and trying to overturn the 2020 election results. There is no evidence that Biden has meddled in the prosecutions of Trump, which are taking place in four different federal and state courts. (Washington Post / New York Times / USA Today / CNN)
2/ Biden condemned Trump for his repeated statements that immigrants are “poisoning the blood” of America,” criticizing the rhetoric as “parroting Adolf Hitler.” During a Sunday speech in Nevada, Trump reiterated his baseless claim that migrants were “invading” the U.S. from prisons and “mental institutions” in other countries, while pledging to conduct the “largest deportation operation in American history” if elected to a second term. The term “blood poisoning” was used by Hitler in “Mein Kampf,” in which he criticized immigration and the mixing of races as an existential threat to the Aryan race. “Echoing the grotesque rhetoric of fascists and violent white supremacists and threatening to oppress those who disagree with the government are dangerous attacks on the dignity and rights of all Americans, on our democracy, and on public safety,” the White House said. “It’s the opposite of everything we stand for as Americans.” Trump’s remarks come as congressional Republicans have stalled a Ukraine-Israel aid package until Democrats agree to unrelated U.S.-Mexico border security reforms. (NBC News / CNN / Associated Press / Politico / Washington Post / The Hill / CNBC / Axios)
3/ A binder containing highly classified information related to Russian election interference disappeared in the final days of Trump’s presidency. The disappearance of the raw intelligence, known as “Crossfire Hurricane,” was so concerning to officials that the Senate Intelligence Committee was briefed about it last year because it contained details that could reveal secret sources and methods. The day before leaving office, Trump had the 10 inches thick binder brought to the White House so he could declassify most of the documents related to the FBI’s Russia investigation. In the two-plus years since Trump left office, the government has been unable to retrieve the missing intelligence, which was last seen at the White House during Trump’s final days in office. (CNN / New York Times)
4/ A federal appeals court rejected an effort by Mark Meadows to move his Georgia election interference case from state court to federal court. The judges found that “the events giving rise to this criminal action were not related to Meadows’s official duties,” and that “even if Meadows were an ‘officer,’ his participation in an alleged conspiracy to overturn a presidential election was not related to his official duties.” A key part of the Fulton County criminal case against Meadows involves setting up a call on Jan. 2, 2021, in which Trump urged Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to reverse his election loss in the state. (NBC News / Bloomberg / ABC News)
5/ A jury ordered Rudy Giuliani to pay two Georgia poll workers $148 million after he falsely accused them of helping to steal the 2020 presidential election from Trump. The eight-member panel awarded Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss $16.2 million apiece for claims that Giuliani defamed them, as well as $20 million apiece for the emotional suffering they experienced after Giuliani’s allegations were followed by threats, harassment, and professional consequences. Judge Beryl Howell had previously ruled that Giuliani had defamed the two workers. (NBC News / Politico / CNN / New York Times / Washington Post)
6/ House Democrats called on Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to recuse himself from the case examining whether Trump is absolutely immune from federal prosecution. Citing the court’s new code of conduct’s guidance on impartiality, Democrats told Thomas that his wife’s activities after the 2020 election raise “serious questions” about his ability to remain impartial in cases that involve the last presidential election and the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Ginni Thomas pressed the Trump White House and lawmakers to overturn Biden’s 2020 victory. She exchanged more than two dozen text messages with Mark Meadows to pursue overturning the election in the weeks after the vote, attended the Stop the Steal rally before the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, and told the House committee investigating the attack that she still believed the 2020 election was stolen. Separately, Thomas complained about his salary to a Republican lawmaker in January 2000 – almost a decade into his tenure – and suggested that if Congress didn’t increase salaries, “one or more justices will leave soon.” Thomas made the equivalent of $300,000 today. A month prior, Thomas borrowed $267,000 from a friend to buy a high-end RV. (Washington Post / ProPublica / CBS News / Politico)
1/ The White House warned Israel that its “high intensity” war in Gaza needs to “transition to the next lower intensity phase in a matter of weeks, not months.” National security adviser Jake Sullivan called for Israel to end its large-scale ground campaign in the Gaza Strip and to adopt more surgical and precise tactics in its war against Hamas. Biden administration officials believe that moving to lower-intensity fighting will decrease civilian casualties, allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza, and decrease the risk for regional war. The rate of civilian deaths in Gaza has outpaced those of other conflict zones in the 21st century, including “the deadliest moments of U.S.-led attacks in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan, which were themselves widely criticized by human rights groups.” More than 18,700 Palestinians have been killed, with 70% of them women and children. The vast majority of its 2.2 million people are displaced, and around half the population faces starvation. Nevertheless, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told Sullivan that Hamas will be destroyed, but “it will last more than several months, but we will win.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also pledged to press ahead with the offensive, saying: “Nothing will stop us. We are going on to the end, until victory, nothing less.” Earlier this week, Biden warned Israel that “indiscriminate bombing” of Gaza was costing it the support of the international community. (Axios / Washington Post / NBC News / New York Times / CNN / ABC News / Associated Press)
2/ Putin suggested that Western support for Ukraine is collapsing and that there would be no peace until Russia achieves its goals. Putin vaguely defined the goals of his “special military operation” as the “demilitarization” and “denazification” of Ukraine – the same false justifications that he used to launch the invasion nearly two years ago. Putin’s annual, four-hour news conference, called “Results of the Year with Vladimir Putin,” comes the same week that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Capitol Hill to make a last-ditch plea for more U.S. military aid. Congressional Republicans, however, have refused to approve additional aid for Ukraine unless it includes unrelated U.S.-Mexico border security reforms. European Union leaders, meanwhile, agreed to open negotiations for Ukraine to join the bloc. (NBC News / ABC News / New York Times / Washington Post / CNBC)
3/ The House and Senate have approved a $886 billion defense policy bill. The National Defense Authorization Act now heads to Biden’s desk for his expected signature. The annual defense bill provides a 5.2% pay raise for military personnel – the largest raise for service members in more than two decades – but also temporarily reauthorizes a controversial, warrantless surveillance program. Notably, many of the conservative provisions, like policies to restrict abortion access and transgender healthcare for service members, were stripped from the package. (NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / Wall Street Journal)
4/ Without evidence of high crimes or misdemeanors, House Republicans voted to authorize a bogus impeachment inquiry into Biden. Republicans allege that Biden and his family engaged in an “influence peddling” scheme and took payments from foreign adversaries, despite a yearlong investigation by Republicans on the House Judiciary and Oversight committees that hasn’t produced any evidence of wrongdoing. Following the 221 to 212 party-line vote, Biden denounced the inquiry as “baseless” and accused Republicans of ignoring the country’s “pressing challenges […] Instead of doing anything to help make Americans’ lives better, they are focused on attacking me with lies. Instead of doing their job on the urgent work that needs to be done, they are choosing to waste time.” Republicans are also moving to hold Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with their subpoena to testify privately. Hunter Biden said he is willing to testify publicly, citing concerns about Republicans manipulating any private testimony. (ABC News / New York Times / Washington Post/ Associated Press / NPR / Bloomberg / CBS News / NBC News / Axios)
1/ The COP28 climate summit ended in a historic deal that committed the world to “transitioning away from fossil fuels” for the first time. It’s the first time in three decades that the annual United Nations climate talks have explicitly called for curtailing fossil fuels. The non-binding deal, however, lacks what many countries and activists wanted: an unequivocal “phaseout” of fossil fuels. The final agreement calls for countries to reduce “both consumption and production of fossil fuels, in a just, orderly and equitable manner” while “accelerating action in this critical decade, so as to achieve net zero by 2050 in keeping with the science.” Over the next two years, countries will submit formal plans for curbing their greenhouse gas emissions through 2035. (Politico / NPR / New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Axios)
2/ The Supreme Court will decide whether to limit access to the commonly used abortion pill mifepristone. The court agreed to hear the Biden administration’s appeal of a lower court’s ruling that would cut off mail-order prescriptions of mifepristone and require in-person doctor visits, even in states where abortion remains legal. The White House said the lower court ruling “threatens to undermine the FDA’s scientific independent judgment and would reimpose outdated restrictions on access to safe and effective abortion medication.” The Alliance Defending Freedom – a conservative Christian anti-abortion group – filed the legal challenge, claiming the FDA minimized and overlooked the health risks of the drug when it was approved in 2000, and when it approved wider access through telemedicine, mail delivery, and prescribing by pharmacists in 2016. FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine will be the Supreme Court’s first abortion case since it overturned Roe v. Wade last year. A decision is expected by the end of June. (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / Associated Press / NBC News / Bloomberg)
3/ The Supreme Court agreed to hear a challenge to the felony obstruction statute used to charge at least 327 people in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. The justices will review an appeals court ruling that said the Justice Department could prosecute defendants under a federal law that makes it a crime to obstruct or impede an official proceeding. “Obstruction of an official proceeding” carries a 20-year maximum sentence, and is one of the four counts brought against Trump by special counsel Jack Smith in the federal election interference case. The justices are separately weighing Smith’s request to fast-track consideration of Trump’s claim he is immune from prosecution in the election-obstruction case. (NBC News / Washington Post / Politico / New York Times / ABC News / Associated Press / Axios / CBS News / USA Today / The Hill)
4/ The federal judge overseeing Trump’s election interference case temporarily paused all procedural deadlines while he appeals her decision that he’s not entitled to “presidential immunity” from criminal prosecution. Judge Tanya Chutkan said Trump’s appeal gives the higher court jurisdiction over the case and “automatically stays any further proceedings that would move this case towards trial or impose additional burdens of litigation on Defendant.” Chutkan previously dismissed Trump’s arguments, ruling that his “four-year service as Commander-in-Chief did not bestow on him the divine right of kings to evade the criminal accountability that governs his fellow citizens.” In a bid to speed that appeals process, special counsel Jack Smith has asked both the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court to hear the appeal on an expedited basis. The ruling doesn’t affect Trump’s conditions of release, the gag order, or the protective order in the case. Chutkan also noted that Trump’s March 4 trial date could be affected, and that she would reconsider that date when the appeals process has concluded. (CNN / NBC News / ABC News / CBS News / The Hill)
[Poll] 31% of Republican voters said they would not vote for Trump in 2024 if he’s convicted of a felony crime by a jury. (Reuters)
5/ A federal appeals court rejected Trump’s attempt to use presidential immunity in the upcoming defamation lawsuit brought by writer E. Jean Carroll for comments he made while denying her rape accusations in 2019. A three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Trump had effectively waived the presidential immunity defense by “failing to raise it” when Carroll first filed the defamation lawsuit four years ago. It’s the third time in recent weeks that federal courts have rejected Trump’s immunity arguments. (Politico / NBC News / Axios / New York Times / Associated Press / ABC News)
6/ The Federal Reserve held interest rates unchanged for a third meeting and signaled that they’ll likely cut borrowing costs three times in 2024. The Federal Open Market Committee voted unanimously to keep the benchmark federal funds rate in a targeted range between 5.25%-5.5% – the highest since 2001. Since March 2022, the Fed raised rates 11 times to combat high inflation, which had spiked to a 40-year high. While inflation – currently at 3% – remains above the Fed’s 2% target, “inflation has eased from its highs, and this has come without a significant increase in unemployment. That’s very good news,” Chair Jerome Powell said, adding: “No one is declaring victory. That would be premature.” Still, Fed officials expect to lower rates by 75 basis points next year, leaving rates around 4.6% by the end of 2024. (CNBC / CNN / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / New York Times)
1/ Biden warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel was losing international support because of its “indiscriminate bombing” of Gaza and that “he has to change.” Biden added: “This is the most conservative government in Israel’s history,” and that Netanyahu’s government “doesn’t want a two-state solution […] You cannot say there’s no Palestinian state at all in the future.” Biden’s comments come hours after Netanyahu refused to endorse a two-state solution for Palestinians and rejected Biden’s proposal to put the Palestinian Authority in charge of Gaza once the fighting ends. Biden capped his criticism of Netanyahu by saying Israel must be “careful” because “the whole world’s public opinion can shift overnight.” (Associated Press / Reuters / New York Times / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Washington Post)
2/ The United Nations General Assembly voted to demand an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, with 153 members in favor, 10 — including the U.S. and Israel — against, and 23 abstaining. The resolution is nonbinding and carries less weight than those made in the Security Council. Nevertheless, Israel’s representative to the United Nations called the resolution “hypocritical” and an “absurdity” that proved the “utter irrelevance” of the U.N. He added that the resolution “will not prevent Israel from defending itself.” (CNN / Washington Post / NBC News / ABC News)
3/ Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with Biden and lawmakers on Capitol Hill to make a personal appeal for more money and weapons to fight back invading Russian forces. The White House said it will run out of money to support Ukraine by the end of the month. And, Biden has asked Congress for more than $60 billion in aid for Ukraine as part of an aid package, which also includes funding for Israel and U.S. border operations. Republicans, however, have insisted that any money for Ukraine be linked to strict U.S.-Mexico border security reforms. Biden warned Congress that they need to pass “funding for Ukraine before they break for the holiday recess, before they give Putin the greatest Christmas gift they could possibly give him.” Mitch McConnell, however, declared that it is “practically impossible” for Congress to pass a deal this year. Meanwhile, a newly declassified U.S. intelligence assessment indicates that Russia has lost nearly 90% of its prewar army, and that two-thirds of its battle tanks have been destroyed. (NPR / Associated Press / Axios / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / NBC News)
4/ The pace of inflation continued to slow from last year, with consumer prices rising 0.1% in November compared to October. Overall inflation increased 3.1% compared to a year earlier – down from 3.2% in October. While still higher than normal, it’s a marked improvement since the consumer price index peaked at 9.1% in June 2022. The national average for unleaded gas, meanwhile, is at the lowest it’s been in nearly a year – and 23 cents less than it was a month ago. (Axios / NPR / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / CNN / CNBC)
5/ New York’s highest court ordered the state to draw new congressional districts ahead of the 2024 elections. The decision gives the Democrat-controlled Legislature the opportunity to draw more favorable district lines that could shift anywhere from two to six Republican-held seats toward their party. In 2022, Republicans flipped four seats in New York, giving them a narrow majority in the House. In 2024, Democrats need to win a net of five seats to win back the House next year. (New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / CNN)
6/ Former Congressman George Santos is talking to federal prosecutors about a plea deal. Federal prosecutors have indicted Santos on 23 criminal counts, including wire fraud, money laundering, theft of public funds, identity theft, falsifying records submitted to obstruct the FEC, and making materially false statements to the House of Representatives. His trial date has been set for Sept. 9, but prosecutors had asked to advance the case to May or June. Santos was expelled from Congress on Dec. 1 after a House Ethics Committee report accused him of a “complex web of unlawful activity involving [his] campaign, personal, and business finances.” (Washington Post / ABC News)
1/ Special counsel Jack Smith urged the Supreme Court to immediately step in and decide whether Trump is immune from criminal prosecution for charges related to his efforts to subvert the 2020 election. In order to keep Trump’s trial on track, scheduled to begin March 4, Smith asked the Supreme Court take up the matter directly and skip over the appeals court process that could take months to resolve. “The United States recognizes that this is an extraordinary request,” Smith wrote. “This is an extraordinary case.” Smith added: “This case presents a fundamental question at the heart of our democracy: whether a former president is absolutely immune from federal prosecution for crimes committed while in office or is constitutionally protected from federal prosecution when he has been impeached but not convicted before the criminal proceedings begin.” Trump has argued that he is “absolutely immune” from the criminal charges and that his actions were “official acts” as president. Earlier this month, U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan denied Trump’s motion to dismiss his indictment on presidential immunity and constitutional grounds, prompting Trump to appeal and ask for the case to be put on hold. The Supreme Court is not required to take up the case. If it does, any decision would be the first time in American history that the Supreme Court will have ruled on whether a former president can be prosecuted for actions taken while in office. (New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / NBC News / CNN / Politico / Axios / CNBC / ABC News)
Jack Smith reveals sweeping scope of bid to debunk Trump election machine claims. “In a 45-page filing, Smith’s team describes interviewing more than a dozen of the top intelligence officials in Trump’s administration — from his director of national intelligence to the administrator of the NSA to Trump’s personal intelligence briefer — about any evidence that foreign governments had penetrated systems that counted votes in 2020.” (Politico)
Trump won’t testify as planned in the civil trial over allegations that he lied about his wealth. In a statement, New York Attorney General Letitia James said that regardless of whether Trump testifies again, “we have already proven that he committed years of financial fraud and unjustly enriched himself.” The $250 million case — which is in its final stages — is putting his net worth on trial and threatening to block him from doing business in his native state. (Axios / NPR / NBC News)
2/ The U.S. vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. It’s the second time the U.S. was the only opposing vote on a ceasefire resolution. The vote in the 15-member council was 13-1, with the U.K. abstaining. “We do not support calls for an immediate cease-fire,” Deputy U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Robert Wood said. “This would only plant the seeds for the next war, because Hamas has no desire to see a durable peace, to see a two-state solution.” Wood added that the resolution was “imbalanced and detached from reality.” Instead, the Biden administration urged Israel to do more to limit civilian casualties and to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza. The Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack killed about 1,200 people in Israel. In response, Israel’s military campaign has since killed at least 17,000 people in Gaza — 70% of them women and children — wounded more than 46,000, and nearly 85% of the 2.3 million people living in Gaza have been displaced, with nowhere safe to go. (New York Times / Associated Press / Politico / Axios)
U.S. still unclear on what happens when the fighting between Israel and Hamas ends. “These are decisions for Israel to make,” Antony Blinken said. (Politico)
Former U.S. ambassador to Israel says Netanyahu is a “clear and present danger” to Israel. “Netanyahu and other Israeli officials allowed the money to flow into Gaza in the hope that it would help maintain peace and stability in the region, and in the belief that Hamas had neither the desire nor the capacity to launch a large-scale attack.” (Politico)
Israel used U.S.-supplied white phosphorus in Lebanon attack. “Lot production codes found on the shells match the nomenclature used by the U.S. military to categorize domestically produced munitions, which show they were made by ammunition depots in Louisiana and Arkansas in 1989 and 1992. The light green color and other markings — like ‘WP’ printed on one of the remnants — are consistent with white phosphorous rounds, according to arms experts.” (Washington Post)
3/ The Texas Supreme Court temporarily blocked a pregnant woman from obtaining an emergency abortion. The court froze a lower court’s ruling that would have allowed Kate Cox, who is 20 weeks pregnant, to obtain the procedure despite the state’s strict abortion ban. Her unborn baby was diagnosed with a fatal genetic condition and carrying the pregnancy to term could jeopardize her health and future fertility (her fetus had Trisomy 18, also called Edwards syndrome, and almost all such pregnancies end in miscarriage or stillbirth). As a result, a district court judge granted a temporary restraining order last week allowing Cox to terminate her nonviable pregnancy under the narrow exceptions to the state’s ban. But Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton petitioned the court and urged it to block Cox from obtaining an abortion, saying that if an abortion was allowed, “Nothing can restore the unborn child’s life that will be lost as a result.” Paxton also threatened prosecution against anyone, including hospital and doctors, who help facilitate the abortion. The Center for Reproductive Rights called Paxton’s court filing “stunning in its disregard for Ms. Cox’s life, fertility, and the rule of law.” The Texas Supreme Court, which is comprised of all Republicans, said that “without regard to the merits” of the arguments on either side, it had issued an administrative stay to give itself time to issue a final ruling. The case is the first to seek a court-ordered exception since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade las year. Cox, meanwhile, left the state for the procedure instead of waiting for the court to issue a ruling. (Texas Tribune / Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / NBC News / Associated Press)
Supreme Courts in 3 states will hear cases about abortion access this week. “Supreme court justices in Arizona, New Mexico, and Wyoming will hear arguments in cases that will impact abortion access across the Mountain West.” (NPR)
4/ The Supreme Court declined to hear a case challenging a ban on “conversion therapy” designed to protect LGBTQ youths. The court’s decision leaves Washington state’s law intact, as well as similar restrictions in 20 other states, which have banned the practice of attempting to change an LGBTQ child’s sexual orientation or gender identity through mental health counseling. A Christian marriage and family counselor, and advocate for conversion therapy, had challenged the law, claiming it violates his First Amendment right to free speech by censoring his conversations with clients. The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the ban, arguing the state has the power to regulate the safety of medical treatments. (Washington Post / NPR / Associated Press / Bloomberg)
5/ A federal judge banned the federal government from separating families at the U.S. southern border for eight years, calling the separation of thousands of families “represents one of the most shameful chapters in the history of our country.” The decision came as part of a settlement between families who were separated under the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy and the Justice Department. From 2017 to 2018, the Trump administration separated more than 5,000 children from parents, with no plan for reuniting families. An estimated 1,000 children remain separated from their families. (NPR / Axios / Associated Press / CBS News)
6/ The head of the OPEC oil cartel directed the group’s members to “reject any text or formula that targets” the continued production and sales of oil, gas, and coal “rather than emissions.” The secretary general of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries warned members ahead of the United Nations climate summit, known as COP 28, that there are “politically motivated campaigns” against oil-rich nations that put “our people’s prosperity and future at risk,” and that “pressure against fossil fuels may reach a tipping point with irreversible consequences.” More than 100 countries came to COP 28 supporting a call to phase out fossil fuels. However, countries like Saudi Arabia, the world’s leading exporter of oil, have rejected any climate deal that even mentions fossil fuels. Any agreement accepted at the climate summit must be unanimously endorsed by the 198 governments participating. Meanwhile, Sultan Al Jaber, the CEO of the United Arab Emirates’s national oil company, who is also leading the COP28 negotiations, released the draft agreement. The proposal removed language to phase out fossil fuels, and instead used watered-down language that suggested countries “could” reduce their use of consumption and production of oil, coal, and gas – the main drivers of the climate crisis. Al Gore said the U.N. climate summit is “on the verge of complete failure,” adding “the world desperately needs to phase out fossil fuels as quickly as possible, but this obsequious draft reads as if OPEC dictated it word for word. It is even worse than many had feared.” (CNN / Politico / New York Times / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Axios)
Rising sea levels threaten hazardous waste facilities along U.S. coast. “1.6 million tons of hazardous waste are stored at facilities that would be put at risk if sea levels rose by five or more feet compared to 2000 levels.” (Axios)
A group of California children sued the EPA, alleging it has harmed children’s health and welfare over decades. “The case, Genesis B. v. United States Environmental Protection Agency, alleges the EPA ‘intentionally allows’ planet warming pollution to come from the sources it regulates, such as vehicles and heavy-duty trucks, power plants, and oil and gas wells. It follows the first constitutional climate case in the US, which youth plaintiffs successfully tried in Montana earlier this year.” (CNN)
1/ Prosecutors in the Georgia election fraud case signaled they’re seeking prison sentences for Trump and his top allies for allegedly violating racketeering laws as part of their efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia despite the fact that Biden won the state. “We have a long road ahead,” Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis wrote in an email to Trump’s lawyer Steve Sadow. “Long after these folks are in jail, we will still be practicing law.” Willis’s team has reached plea deals with several co-defendants in the case, including Jenna Ellis, Sidney Powell, Kenneth Chesebro, and Scott Hall. Prosecutors, however, are not expected to offer plea agreements to Trump, Mark Meadows, or Rudy Giuliani. Fulton County prosecutors, meanwhile, listed several senior Trump administration officials and Georgia’s top elected leaders, as possible witnesses during the election interference trial, including Pence, Bill Barr, Jeffrey Rosen, Richard Donoghue, Scott Perry, Steve Bannon, Gov. Brian Kemp, Attorney General Chris Carr, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, and former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan. (The Guardian / Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
🤷♂️ Why should I care? This Georgia election fraud case is a direct challenge to the pillars of American democracy. It’s not just about Trump and his allies; it’s about preserving the sanctity of our elections and the rule of law. The case sends a clear message: no one is above the law – not even the highest officials. If we fail to hold them accountable, we risk normalizing election interference and undermining democracy as a whole. The implications are straightforward: If influential figures can overturn election results without consequence, it signals to future leaders that such actions are acceptable. As a result, the case is a litmus test for the resilience of our democratic institutions and their ability to withstand internal threats. It’s about setting a precedent that safeguards our democratic norms and ensures that future attempts to undermine the electoral process are deterred. We’re not just deciding the fate of a few individuals; we’re deciding the future of our democratic principles.
💡 How Trump would build his loyalty-first Cabinet: Pre-vetted loyalty to him and a commitment to stretch legal and governance boundaries. (Axios)
💡 Trump allies craft plans to give him unprecedented power if he wins the White House. “That includes more power to crack down on immigration and overhaul the Justice Department to punish opponents.” (NPR)
2/ Georgia’s Republican-controlled Legislature approved a new congressional map that likely violates a federal judge’s order requiring an additional majority-Black district. State lawmakers were ordered by District Judge Steve Jones to establish an additional Black-majority district to provide for fair representation of the state’s Black voters. Instead, the Republicans’ map dismantled one minority-majority district – by moving it farther into Republican territory – and then created a new court-ordered Black-majority district. Jones’ order stated that “the State cannot remedy the Section 2 violations described herein by eliminating minority opportunity districts elsewhere in the plans.” The map is expected to be signed by Gov. Brian Kemp, which would safeguard Republican control of Georgia’s General Assembly. Jones will determine whether the new maps comply with his order on Dec. 20. (NBC News / CNN / Associated Press / Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
3/ Trump appealed a judge’s ruling that he doesn’t have “absolute immunity” from prosecution in his federal election case and demanded that all proceedings be halted while a higher court considers his appeal to dismiss the criminal case. The back-to-back motions threaten to upend Trump’s March 4 trial date in the case. Prosecutors, meanwhile, have argued that Trump is just using every possible avenue to disrupt the case in the hopes of delaying the matter beyond the 2024 election. (The Hill / Washington Post / NBC News / Politico / Bloomberg / Associated Press)
4/ Kevin McCarthy will resign and leave Congress at the end of the year. Between the expulsion of George Santos last week and McCarthy’s departure, Republicans will have a three-vote majority in the House to pass key legislation, including two government funding deadlines. McCarthy was the first speaker in history to get ejected from the position. It took him 15 rounds of voting over four days to secure the job for just nine months. (NPR / Washington Post / Axios / Associated Press / Politico / New York Times)
5/ A Texas judge granted an emergency order to allow an abortion despite state law banning nearly all abortions with limited exceptions. Judge Maya Guerra Gamble granted permission for Kate Cox to have the abortion because the fetus has a genetic condition with very low chances of survival and her own health and fertility were at risk if she carried the pregnancy to term. The judge also issued a temporary restraining order blocking the enforcement of the state’s abortion ban and enforcement of S.B. 8, which allows civil lawsuits to be filed against those who help patients receive abortions. The case is believed to be the first of its kind since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year and allowed states to enact their own abortion restrictions. Since then, more than a dozen states have banned abortion or no longer have facilities where women can receive the procedure. Compared with a similar period in 2020, more than twice as many people traveled out of state for abortion care in the first half of 2023. (NPR / NBC News / Associated Press / New York Times / Axios)
6/ One of the world’s largest oil producers suggested that renewable energy is a threat to Earth’s climate. While at the 2023 COP28 U.N. Climate Change Conference, Saudi Arabia raised concerns about the “lifecycle” emissions produced by renewable energy sources, which are exponentially lower than that of the extraction and consumption of fossil fuels. Nevertheless, the Saudis emphasized that costly and novel methods of carbon removal from wind turbines, solar panels, and other renewable energy are needed to combat climate change. (Politico / Rolling Stone)
1/ Trump refused to rule out abusing power if re-elected president. In a Fox News town hall, Sean Hannity asked Trump to deny that he would abuse power to seek revenge on political opponents if he returns to the White House. Trump initially dodged the question. “You are promising America tonight you would never abuse power as retribution against anybody?” Hannity asked a second time. “Except for Day One,” Trump replied. Asked for clarification, Trump responded: “I want to close the border, and I want to drill, drill, drill.” Trump then doubled down on his comments: “I love this guy,” referring to Hannity. “He says, ‘You’re not going to be a dictator, are you?’ I said: ‘No, no, no. Other than Day One.’ We’re closing the border, and we’re drilling, drilling, drilling. After that, I’m not a dictator.” Biden’s campaign, meanwhile, warned Americans that Trump “has been telling us exactly what he will do if he’s re-elected, and tonight he said he will be a dictator on Day 1. Americans should believe him.” (Associated Press / NBC News / New York Times / ABC News / Washington Post / The Guardian / Rolling Stone / Daily Beast / Politico)
🔎 What’s at stake? The potential of Trump’s to return to power with intentions of abusing it for personal retribution and autocratic governance puts American democratic values at risk. The idea of a former president abusing power threatens the principles of fairness and justice central to democracy, which could lead to an erosion of democratic norms, undermining fairness, justice, and the rule of law. It’s not just about one leader’s actions but about the broader implications for democratic governance, accountability, and the rule of law. This situation tests the resilience of American democratic institutions and the commitment of its citizens to uphold democratic norms.
Trump and his allies are preparing for an aggressive expansion of his powers should he take back the White House. “The fiery language is not new, but he and a group of Trump insiders are working behind the scenes on plans to amass his power so that he can carry out an unprecedented restructuring of the U.S. government.” (NPR)
A second Trump administration will take action “criminally or civilly” against people in the media. “We will go out and find the conspirators, not just in the government, but in the media, yes, we’re going to come after the people in the media, who lied about American citizens, who helped Joe Biden rig the elections, we’re going to come after you,” Kash Patel said on Steve Bannon’s podcast, referring to a potential second Trump leadership. “Whether it’s criminally or civilly, we’ll figure that out, but yeah, we’re putting you all on notice.” (CNBC)
💡 Trump says he’ll be a dictator on “day one.” “This is a remarkable enough admission—practically every president abuses his power in some way, but few boast about it.” (The Atlantic)
💡 Why Trump refuses to deny he plans to become a dictator. “It’s because he loves dictators.” (Intelligencer)
2/ The Colorado Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case challenging Trump’s eligibility to appear on the state’s ballot in 2024. At issue is whether Trump is eligible to run for president under section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which states that anyone who “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” after taking an oath of office to support the Constitution is forbidden from holding any public office. Last month, Colorado District Court Judge Sarah Wallace found that although Trump’s actions met the definition of engaging in an insurrection by inciting a riot at the Capitol, he isn’t subject to Section 3 because he is not an “officer of the United States.” The provision explicitly bans insurrectionists from serving as U.S. senators, representatives, and presidential electors, but it doesn’t say anything about the presidency. (CNN / Politico / NBC News / Associated Press)
3/ The 10 Wisconsin Republicans who posed as fake electors for Trump admitted that Biden won the state in 2020. As part of a legal settlement, the group agreed to withdraw their inaccurate filings, acknowledge that Biden won the presidency, and to not serve as presidential electors in any election where Trump is on the ballot. The agreement also requires the 10 Republican activists to provide “full cooperation” with any “ongoing or future” Justice Department probes related to the 2020 presidential election and the deadly Jan. 6 riots at the Capitol. The settlement also marks the first time that any Trump electors have revoked their filings sent to Congress purporting that Trump had won in seven battleground states. (Washington Post / Associated Press / New York Times / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
4/ A Nevada grand jury charged six Republicans who acted as fake pro-Trump electors in the scheme to overturn Biden’s 2020 election win. Nevada joins Michigan and Georgia as the third state to charge pro-Trump activists who falsely asserted that Trump had won the election in their state. In announcing the indictments, Attorney General Aaron Ford said: “We cannot allow attacks on democracy to go unchallenged. Today’s indictments are the product of a long and thorough investigation, and as we pursue this prosecution, I am confident that our judicial system will see justice done.” At least five states, including Nevada, are investigating efforts by Trump electors to overturn the 2020 election, with criminal charges already filed in Michigan and Georgia. (Washington Post / CNN)
🤷♂️ Why should I care? The indictment of fake electors in Nevada serves as a wake-up call to the vulnerability and fragility of democracy. At stake is the integrity of the electoral system – fundamental to American democracy – because any attempt to manipulate or subvert the process undermines public trust and the legitimacy of governance. This incident also illustrates that democracy is a delicate structure that requires constant vigilance and protection, especially from internal subversions. It’s a direct assault on the principles of fair elections and the peaceful transition of power – both central to American democratic values. Moreover, the actions in Nevada – and the legal response to them – offer a civic lesson on the consequences of undermining democratic processes and the importance of each citizen’s role in upholding the values that form the bedrock of democracy. This incident, therefore, is not just about legal retribution but also about reinforcing the foundational principles that support and sustain the American democratic experiment for current and future generations.
5/ Humanity is in danger of crossing the point of no return for five of Earth’s natural systems because of human-caused climate change, according to a new study from an international team of more than 200 researchers. The collapse of Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets, widespread coral reef die-offs in warm water, disruption of the North Atlantic subpolar gyre circulation, and the abrupt thawing of permafrost regions are all in danger of being irreversibly crossed at 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming. Global temperatures have already risen between 1.1 and 1.3 degrees. “Tipping points in the Earth system pose threats of a magnitude never faced by humanity,” Tim Lenton said, lead author of the Global Tipping Points report. “They can trigger devastating domino effects, including the loss of whole ecosystems and capacity to grow staple crops, with societal impacts including mass displacement, political instability and financial collapse.” Lenton added that the report is a “tale of two future paths for humanity. We’ve basically left it too late for incremental action. Instead, we need to find and trigger what we’re calling some positive tipping points that accelerate action down an alternative pathway.” (Bloomberg / Politico / The Guardian / Associated Press)
1/ Special counsel Jack Smith accused Trump of a pattern of lying about electoral fraud since at least 2012 and “encouragement of violence,” saying Trump “sent” his supporters on Jan. 6 to criminally block the election results. In a new court filing, prosecutors said “evidence of [Trump’s] post-conspiracy embrace of particularly violent and notorious rioters is admissible to establish [Trump’s] motive and intent on January 6 — that he sent supporters, including groups like the Proud Boys, whom he knew were angry, and whom he now calls ‘patriots,’ to the Capitol to achieve the criminal objective of obstructing the congressional certification.” Prosecutors added that Trump’s lies about election fraud from the 2012 and 2016 elections show his “motive, intent, and plan to obstruct the certification of the 2020 election results and illegitimately retain power,” and that the baseless claims “demonstrate [Trump’s] common plan of falsely blaming fraud for election results he does not like.” Biden, meanwhile, said that “if Trump wasn’t running, I’m not sure I’d be running.” He added: “We cannot let him win for the sake of our country.” (Washington Post / Axios / CNN)
💡 Defending his 2020 fraud claims, Trump turns to fringe Jan. 6 theories. “Ever since he was indicted on charges of interfering in the 2020 election results, Donald Trump has relished the chance to use the case in Washington as a venue to air his baseless claims of fraud. Now he is using it to circulate a new set of falsehoods: that the federal government staged or incited violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to discredit Trump and his supporters.” (Washington Post)
💡 The fear of a looming Trump dictatorship. “This isn’t mere hyperbole. As my colleagues have reported over the past year, Trump has made clear his stark, authoritarian vision for a potential second term. He would embark on a wholesale purge of the federal bureaucracy, weaponize the Justice Department to explicitly go after his political opponents (something he claims is being done to him), stack government agencies across the board with political appointees prescreened as ideological Trump loyalists, and dole out pardons to myriad officials and apparatchiks as incentives to do his bidding or stay loyal.” (Washington Post)
💡 Americans are sleepwalking into a Trump dictatorship. “Trump’s devolution into an American dictator who believes that he is on a mission from God as some type of chosen one continues. This is mentally pathological behavior on a massive level. His Hitler-like behavior is only going to get worse as next year’s presidential election approaches and the pressure from his criminal and civil trials increases.” (Salon)
💡 Trump poses the biggest danger to the world in 2024. “Because maga Republicans have been planning his second term for months, Trump 2 would be more organised than Trump 1. True believers would occupy the most important positions. Mr Trump would be unbound in his pursuit of retribution, economic protectionism and theatrically extravagant deals. No wonder the prospect of a second Trump term fills the world’s parliaments and boardrooms with despair. But despair is not a plan. It is past time to impose order on anxiety.” (The Economist)
💡 A Trump dictatorship is increasingly inevitable. We should stop pretending. “If Trump does win the election, he will immediately become the most powerful person ever to hold that office. Not only will he wield the awesome powers of the American executive — powers that, as conservatives used to complain, have grown over the decades — but he will do so with the fewest constraints of any president, fewer even than in his own first term.” (Washington Post)
2/ House Republicans are blurring surveillance footage from the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol because they don’t want the rioters to be charged with crimes. Mike Johnson, who was involved in Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election based on false claims of mass election fraud, promised to release more than 44,000 hours of surveillance footage from Jan. 6 to the public after becoming speaker in October. “We have to blur some of the faces of persons who participated in events of that day because we don’t want them to be retaliated against and to be charged by the DOJ and to have other, you know, concerns and problems,” Johnson said. He added that House Republicans “want the American people to draw their own conclusions. I don’t think partisan elected officials in Washington should present a narrative and expect that it should be seen as the ultimate truth.” (NBC News / ABC News / CNN / The Hill)
3/ Tommy Tuberville dropped his one-man blockade of more than 450 military promotions, ending his nearly 10-month protest to an unrelated Pentagon policy that ensures abortion access for service members. Tuberville, however, said he will continue to block the promotion of all senior military positions that are four stars or higher. The reversal came amid mounting pressure from Tuberville’s fellow Republicans, who had criticized the blockade because it damaged military readiness and threatened national security, as well as Democrats threats to temporarily change Senate rules to bypass the hold and advance all the promotions in bulk. “We didnt get the win that we wanted,” Tuberville said. (NPR / New York Times / Washington Post / Axios / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / NBC News)
4/ The Israel Defense Forces advanced deeper into Gaza in what the military called “the most intense day since the beginning of the ground operation.” IDF troops said they were “in the heart of” Khan Younis – Gaza’s second largest city – and that Israeli forces have “completed the encirclement” of the Jabalya refugee camp in the northern part of the enclave. Southern Gaza’s main hospital is “grossly overcrowded with patients and displaced people,” according to the World Health Organization, which described the situation at the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis as “catastrophic.” A U.N. humanitarian coordinator warned that “an even more hellish scenario is about to unfold” in southern Gaza as Israel expands its evacuation orders ahead of an expected ground invasion in the south. As a result, Palestinians are now being warned to evacuate, but “there is nowhere safe to go and very little to survive on,” U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said. The U.N.’s top emergency relief official, Martin Griffiths, added: “Every time we think things cannot get any more apocalyptic in Gaza, they do. People are being ordered to move again, with little to survive on, forced to make one impossible choice after another. Such blatant disregard for basic humanity must stop.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, rejected the idea that an international force could be responsible for security in the Gaza Strip post-war. “Gaza must be demilitarized and the only country that can do this and ensure it lasts is Israel,” Netanyahu said. “I’m not ready to close my eyes and accept any other arrangement […] the only way for the war to end quickly is by applying sheer force.” (NBC News / CNN / ABC News / Washington Post / Associated Press / New York Times)
poll/ 49% of Americans between 18 and 29 years old “definitely” plan to vote in 2024 – down from 57% relative to this point in the 2020 election cycle. Among young Democrats, 66% plan to vote – nearly identical to four years ago – while 56% of young Republicans plan to vote – down 10 percentage points. And among young independents, 31% plan to vote – also a 10-point drop. (Harvard Youth Poll)
1/ Trump does not have “absolute immunity” from lawsuits seeking to hold him accountable for the Jan. 6 Capitol violence. A three-judge panel concluded that Trump’s incendiary speech to supporters near the White House on Jan. 6 was “not an official presidential act” and not protected by “presidential immunity.” Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan added: “When [Trump] acts in an unofficial, private capacity, he is subject to civil suits like any private citizen.” The ruling allows a number of lawsuits to move forward, including several brought by members of Congress and injured police officers. The court, however, left open the possibility for Trump to try to prove that he was acting as president, rather than as a candidate for reelection, when he addressed the crowd at the Ellipse. Hours later, the judge overseeing Trump’s criminal election subversion case ruled that he had no protection from prosecution as a former president. “Whatever immunities a sitting President may enjoy, the United States has only one Chief Executive at a time, and that position does not confer a lifelong ‘get-out-of-jail-free’ pass,” Judge Tanya Chutkan wrote. Trump’s “four-year service as Commander in Chief did not bestow on him the divine right of kings to evade the criminal accountability that governs his fellow citizens.” (Associated Press / Washington Post / New York Times / Axios / NBC News / Politico / Wall Street Journal / CBS News / Bloomberg / USA Today / CNBC)
💡 Why a Second Trump Presidency May Be More Radical Than His First. “Donald Trump has long exhibited authoritarian impulses, but his policy operation is now more sophisticated, and the buffers to check him are weaker.” (New York Times)
💡 If Trump wins. If Donald Trump returns to the White House, he’d bring a better understanding of the system’s vulnerabilities, more willing enablers, and a more focused agenda of retaliation against his adversaries. (The Atlantic)
💡 Democracy is at stake if Trump is reelected. “I look at it very much through the lens of stopping Donald Trump,” Liz Cheney said. “And so whatever it will take to do that is very much my focus. I think the danger is that great that that needs to be everybody’s top priority.” (NPR)
💡 Trump is showing how a second term would rewrite the rules of presidential power. “Trump’s concept of the untamable presidency sheds light on how he would behave in a second term given his apparent belief that any action a president might take is, by definition, legal. He has already promised he’d use four more years in the White House to enact personal ‘retribution’ against his political foes. If the twice-impeached former president wins the Republican nomination and the presidency, it is already clear that a second term would risk destroying the principle that presidents do not hold monarchial power.” (CNN)
💡 How Donald Trump uses dishonesty. “Some of the false statements Trump makes are unquestionably lies. Some are misinformation; some are exaggerations. Most are presumably intentional, but some may be mistakes or downstream from Trump’s consumption of misinformation. Since these lines are blurry, it’s more useful to speak broadly of falsehoods and false statements than to simply use the narrower term ‘lies.’ If the former is interpreted as offering moral leniency, that’s on the interpreter.” (Washington Post)
2/ Israel resumed its air raids and ground operation in the Gaza Strip after the temporary cease-fire between Hamas and Israel collapsed. During the seven-day cease-fire, Hamas freed more than 100 hostages, and Israel released more than 240 Palestinians from Israeli prisons. Following the collapse of a truce with Hamas, the Israel Defense Forces announced that it was expanding its operations to all of the Gaza Strip, and called for Gazans to evacuate to the south, which the United Nations’ humanitarian office said was “already overcrowded.” More than 80% of Gaza’s roughly 2.3 million people have now been displaced, with most of the population already relocated to the southern territory. The situation keeps getting “more apocalyptic,” the U.N.’s top humanitarian relief coordinator said. “People are being ordered to move again, with little to survive on, forced to make one impossible choice after another.” (Associated Press / Axios / Bloomberg / NBC News / CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / ABC News)
3/ Israel reportedly knew that Hamas was planning a major terror attack more than a year in advance. Israeli military and intelligence officials obtained a 40-page document last year, code-named “Jericho Wall,” which detailed the Oct. 7 attack, but officials dismissed the plan as beyond Hamas’s capabilities. And yet, the Hamas terror attack closely followed the outline in the document, which called for “a barrage of rockets at the outset of the attack, drones to knock out the security cameras and automated machine guns along the border, and gunmen to pour into Israel en masse in paragliders, on motorcycles and on foot — all of which happened on Oct. 7.” Three months before the attack, Israeli intelligence warned that Hamas had conducted a daylong training exercise that mirrored what was outlined in the blueprint. Israel, however, ignored the warnings. Since then, more than 1,200 people died and over 200 were abducted in the Oct. 7 attack, and at least 15,000 people in Gaza have been killed with about 1.8 million displaced since Israel’s invasion. The National Security Council, meanwhile, said that the U.S. intelligence community has indicated it was not aware of Hamas’ plan to attack Israel and “did not have access to this document.” (New York Times / NBC News / Politico / Axios)
4/ The White House warned it’ll be unable to continue providing weapons and assistance to Ukraine if Congress doesn’t approve additional funding by the end of the year. In letters to party leaders in the House and Senate, White House budget chief Shalanda Young said inaction threatens to “kneecap Ukraine on the battlefield” that will let “autocracy prevail.” She added: “We are out of money — and nearly out of time.” Republicans want to tie Ukraine aid to U.S.-Mexico border policy changes despite Congress failing to take meaningful action on immigration for decades. (Associated Press / Washington Post / Axios / Politico / Wall Street Journal / New York Times)
5/ The House voted to expel George Santos over his many fabrications on the 2022 campaign trail, 23 federal charges, and a recent House Ethics Committee report accusing him of a “complex web of unlawful activity involving [his] campaign, personal, and business finances.” The vote makes Santos the sixth lawmaker – and first Republican – ever to be expelled from the House. Meanwhile, Rep. Max Miller accused Santos of stealing his and his mother’s personal credit card information to make illegal campaign contributions. (Axios / CNN / New York Times / Bloomberg)
6/ The EPA issued new regulations to reduce methane emissions from oil and gas industry operations by nearly 80% over the next 15 years. The rule will prevent an estimated 58 million tons of methane from escaping into the atmosphere – the equivalent of nearly all the carbon dioxide emitted by the power sector in 2021. It is also equivalent to taking more than 300 million gas-powered cars off the road for a year. The amount of methane that would be captured from cutting down on leaks would be enough to heat nearly 8 million American homes for a winter. Meanwhile, many of the world’s biggest oil companies pledged slash methane emissions from their wells and drilling by more than 80% by 2030. (NPR / CNN / New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post / ABC News / Politico)
7/ The president of the global climate summit claimed there is “no science” that fossil fuels must be phased to avoid catastrophic warming and keep global temperatures from rising above 1.5 degrees Celsius over preindustrial levels. Sultan al-Jaber, who is the chief executive of the United Arab Emirates’ state-run oil company, made the comments little over a week before he officially began to preside over the annual U.N. climate negotiations, known as COP28. “There is no science out there, or no scenario out there, that says the phaseout of fossil fuel is what’s going to achieve 1.5,” al-Jaber said two weeks ago. The U.N., meanwhile, warned that nations must cut the emissions from fossil fuels by 43% by the end of this decade, compared to 2019 levels, if they hope to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. “The 1.5-degree limit is only possible if we ultimately stop burning all fossil fuels,” António Guterres, the U.N. secretary general, said. “Not reduce. Not abate. Phase out. With a clear time frame aligned with 1.5 degrees.” (The Guardian / New York Times / NPR / Axios / Bloomberg)
Open secret at climate talks: The top temperature goal is mostly gone. Leading scientists worldwide delivered a striking dose of reality to the United Nations on Sunday: it’s “becoming inevitable” that countries will miss the ambitious target they set eight years ago for limiting the warming of the Earth. (Politico)
1/ The United Nations World Meteorological Organization declared 2023 the warmest year ever recorded. Data from January through October showed global temperatures were around 1.4C (2.5F) above the pre-industrial average from 1850 to 1990, according to the provisional findings in the 2023 State of the Global Climate Report. “Record global heating should send shivers down the spines of world leaders and it should trigger them to act,” U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said. “We are living through climate collapse in real time, and the impact is devastating.” The nine years from 2015 to 2023 have been the warmest nine in 174 years of scientific recording, with 2023 breaking the previous single-year records set in 2020 and 2016. Petteri Taalas, the secretary general of the World Meteorological Organization, called it “a deafening cacophony of broken records.” July was Earth’s hottest month ever observed and may have been warmer than any time in the last 125,000 years. (New York Times / Washington Post / ABC News / Bloomberg / Associated Press)
Study warns about climate change misinformation during extreme weather. “A new study warns that some politicians and their followers have been using recent extreme weather events to spread misinformation about climate change.” (Axios)
2/ The annual United Nations climate summit convened with the goal of finding agreement on whether to phase out fossil fuels – the primary driver of global warming – or to scale up carbon capture technology to reduce emissions. The International Energy Agency, however, has called the idea of widespread carbon capture an “illusion.” The COP28 climate summit is hosted this year by the United Arab Emirates – an OPEC member – and the person responsible for brokering a global climate deal is Sultan al-Jaber – the CEO of one of the world’s largest oil producers. Days before COP28 began, it was reported that Sultan Al Jaber planned to use his role as COP president to promote Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. fossil fuel sales. In his opening address, Jaber told delegates they must “ensure the inclusion of the role of fossil fuels” in any climate agreement, and suggested that oil and gas companies “can lead the way.” [Editor’s note: Shocker.] (Washington Post / Bloomberg / Associated Press / NBC News / Politico / ABC News / CNN)
Nations at COP28 agreed to an unprecedented fund aimed at helping poor and vulnerable nations deal with the climate emergency. Diplomats from nearly 200 countries pledged about $549 million for the new fund, which “will pay for loss and damage, which occurs when rising seas, drought or other effects of climate change are so destructive that communities can no longer adapt.” Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Associated Press / The Guardian / Reuters
3/ The EPA proposed requiring water utilities nationwide to replace all of their lead pipes within 10 years in an effort to prevent another public health catastrophe like the one in Flint, Michigan, where approximately 99,000 residents were exposed to lead. Lead is a neurotoxin that can cause irreversible damage to the nervous system and the brain, and the EPA estimates that 9.2 million lead pipelines bring water to people across the U.S. If finalized, utilities for the first time would be required to dig up and replace their lead piping, even if their lead levels aren’t too high. The EPA has said it could cost $45 billion. (Axios / Associated Press / Washington Post / New York Times)
4/ The Senate Judiciary Committee authorized subpoenas for conservative billionaire Harlan Crow and judicial activist Leonard Leo about their close personal and financial relationships with some Supreme Court justices. The subpoenas were approved by 11 Democratic senators after Republicans members refused to vote and walked out of the committee room. Despite the successful vote, Senate would be forced to hold a vote to enforce the subpoenas – if Leo and Crow choose not to comply – which might not win the required 60 votes in the closely split chamber. The subpoenas are part of an ongoing investigation into Supreme Court ethics, and how undisclosed activists and donors have used gifts and luxury travel to gain access to the justices. (Axios / Politico / NBC News / Washington Post / CNN)
5/ An appeals court reinstated Trump’s gag order prohibiting him from attacking court staff in his ongoing $250 million civil fraud trial in New York. The gag order was first put in place by Judge Arthur Engoron in early October after Trump attacked his law clerk on social media. A New York appeals court earlier this month temporarily halted the gag order, which allowed Trump to again attack Engoron and the clerk. Engoron has said his chambers “have been inundated with hundreds of harassing and threatening phone calls, voicemails, emails, letters and packages,” and repeatedly warned about the possibility of violence stemming from Trump’s political rhetoric. After a panel of appeals court judges put the gag orders back in place, Engoron said he plans to enforce it “rigorously and vigorously.” Trump also faces a gag order in his federal 2020 election subversion case, which is currently on pause as a panel of federal judges weighs its merit. (New York Times / Associated Press / Axios / Politico / NPR / Washington Post / CNN / NBC News)
1/ About 90 House Republicans plan to support the vote to expel George Santos from Congress following the release of a House Ethics Committee report, which found “substantial evidence” that he knowingly filed false campaign finance statements and used campaign funds to pay for personal expenses including rent, trips, luxury items, cosmetic treatments like Botox, and a subscription to the adult-content site OnlyFans. Speaker Mike Johnson, meanwhile, said he has “real reservations” about the motion to expel embattled the New York Republican. Santos, meanwhile, has repeatedly vowed to not resign, reiterating his belief that the bipartisan Ethics report was “littered with hyperbole and littered with biased opinions.” A vote is expected as soon as Thursday. (Politico / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / CBS News)
2/ A grand jury indicted two Republican county supervisors in Arizona for delaying the certification of 2022 election results. The state attorney general charged Tom Crosby and Peggy Judd with two felonies for conspiring to delay the certification of election results and interfering with the secretary of state’s statewide canvas. Both are Class 5 felonies, and each crime carries a maximum punishment of 2.5 years in prison and a $150,000 fine. “The repeated attempts to undermine our democracy are unacceptable,” Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said. “I took an oath to uphold the rule of law, and my office will continue to enforce Arizona’s elections laws and support our election officials as they carry out the duties and responsibilities of their offices.” (NPR / NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times)
Trump embraces the Jan. 6 rioters on the trail. In court, his lawyers hope to distance him from them. “While Trump’s glorification of Jan. 6 defendants may boost him politically as he vies to retake the White House in 2024, his lawyers’ approach lays bare a concern that arguments linking him to the rioters could harm him in front of a jury.” (Associated Press)
3/ Trump doubled down on his calls to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act if he’s elected president again. Without offering any details about what his alternative health care plan might be, Trump promised “much better Healthcare than Obamacare for the American people,” adding: “Obamacare Sucks!!!” Republicans in Congress, however, have abandoned plans to repeal the ACA since failing to undo the health care law in 2017. Trump’s comments have also caught lawmakers off guard because there’s no consensus within the Republican Party on how to replace it. (NBC News / The Hill / Politico)
4/ Biden criticized Lauren Boebert in her own district as “one of the leaders of this extreme MAGA movement.” Following a tour of a wind tower manufacturer in Pueblo, Colo., Biden mocked Boebert for voting against the Inflation Reduction Act, saying: “She along with every single Republican colleague voted against the law that made these investments and jobs possible, and that’s not hyperbole, that’s a fact.” Boebert has repeatedly claimed the Inflation Reduction Act is “dangerous for America” and that Biden’s climate policies are “a massive failure.” CS Wind, however, is currently undergoing a $200 million expansion that is expected to create 850 jobs by 2026 with help from the tax benefits in Biden’s inflation reduction law. The factory is the largest of its kind in the world. “Did you all know that you’re part of a massive failure?” Biden said to the workers and local officials at CS Wind. “None of that sounds like a massive failure to me. How about you?” Biden added: “It all sounds like a massive failure in thinking by the congresswoman and her colleagues.” (NBC News / Washington Post / Associated Press)
5/ A co-founder of Students for Trump was arrested and charged with assault. Ryan Fournier is accused of grabbing his girlfriend’s arm and “striking her in the forehead with a firearm.” He faces two misdemeanor charges: assault on a female and assault with a deadly weapon. (Axios / NBC News / NPR)
1/ The truce between Israel and Hamas entered its fifth day after 12 more hostages held in the Gaza Strip were released in exchange for 30 Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons. Under the current truce, Hamas has released 81 hostages, while Israel has freed 180 Palestinians from prison – many of whom were detained but never charged. The U.S., meanwhile, urged Israel that any offensive in southern Gaza after the truce must be designed to avoid “significant further displacement” of Palestinian civilians. More than 1.7 million people have been displaced in Gaza, where health officials say the death toll has surpassed 14,500 since the start of the conflict. The World Health Organization also warned that disease may kill more Gazans than Israel’s bombardment if the enclave’s health system is not repaired. The United Nations added: “The humanitarian situation in Gaza remains catastrophic.” (NBC News / CNN / Washington Post / New York Times / Associated Press / ABC News)
Biden Navigates Divisions Over Gaza Inside the White House and Beyond. “Biden is facing deep anger over his solidarity with Israel among supporters and even from some staff members who have said they feel disenchanted with the president.” (New York Times)
2/ Hunter Biden offered to testify publicly before the House Oversight Committee in response to a Republican subpoena. Hunter Biden’s lawyer accused Republican lawmakers on the committee of selectively leaking information from closed-door depositions with other witnesses in his ongoing impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden, saying: “We have seen you use closed-door sessions to manipulate, even distort the facts and misinform the public. We therefore propose opening the door.” House Oversight Chairman James Comer, however, rejected the idea of a public hearing, saying: “Hunter Biden is trying to play by his own rules instead of following the rules required of everyone else. That won’t stand with House Republicans.” Comer added: “We expect full cooperation with our subpoena for a deposition but also agree that Hunter Biden should have the opportunity to testify in a public setting at a future date.” The House Republican inquiry has not provided any direct evidence that Joe Biden has committed any wrongdoing. The White House also accused House Republicans of abusing their power and “throwing spaghetti” at the wall after failing to produce evidence to support their allegations. (Associated Press / Politico / New York Times / Axios / ABC News / Washington Post / CNN)
3/ The political arm of the Koch network endorsed Nikki Haley for the 2024 Republican nomination. Americans for Prosperity Action said it believes that nearly 75% of Republican voters are ready to move on from Trump, despite the twice-impeached former president – who tried to overturn the 2020 presidential election, encouraged a deadly insurrection at the Capitol, and is the subject of four felony indictments – having a commanding lead in the race for the GOP nomination in virtually every poll with less than two months until the Iowa caucuses. AFP said the Republican party has been choosing “bad candidates who are going against America’s core principles,” suggesting that Haley “offers America the opportunity to turn the page on the current political era.” (Axios / Associated Press / NPR / New York Times / Washington Post / ABC News)
💩 Dept. of This Guy Shouldn’t Be President Again.
Fulton county prosecutors do not intend to offer plea deals for Trump, Mark Meadows, or Rudy Giuliani. “Prosecutors reached plea deals in quick succession with the former Trump lawyers Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis and Kenneth Chesebro – who all gave ‘proffer’ statements that were damaging to Trump to some degree – as well as the local bail bondsman Scott Hall.” (The Guardian)
Ex-Trump attorney John Eastman urged the court to set an earlier final plea date, calling the “Fulton County District Attorney’s Office proposal of June 21 ‘arbitrary and capricious.’ In the filing, Eastman attorney Wilmer Parker III said that the final plea date should be set earlier in the year ‘so that Defendants who do not have lifetime United States Secret Service protection and who are not running for election to an office can exercise and have their right to a jury trial completed within 2024.’” (NBC News)
Trump Seeks to Use Trial to Challenge Findings That 2020 Election Was Fair. “The federal judge overseeing Donald Trump’s upcoming election interference trial said in a ruling Monday that the former president’s attempt to subpoena what his legal team dubbed ‘missing’ records from the House Jan. 6 committee appeared to be a ‘fishing expedition’ that was not in good faith.” (NBC News / New York Times)
Bid to hold Trump accountable for Jan. 6 violence stalls at appeals court. “A three-judge panel of the appeals court is mulling a thorny constitutional question that hangs over each of the cases: whether Trump can be sued over his speech to an angry crowd on Jan. 6, 2021, just before the deadly riot at the Capitol. Since the panel considered whether Trump has immunity, Trump has surged to the front of the GOP presidential primary pack and been charged criminally twice for his efforts to subvert the 2020 election.” (Politico)
Pence told investigators he originally planned to skip the electoral certification on Jan. 6. “Speaking with special counsel Jack Smith’s team earlier this year, former Vice President Mike Pence offered harrowing details about how, in the wake of the 2020 presidential election, then-President Donald Trump surrounded himself with ‘crank’ attorneys, espoused ‘un-American’ legal theories, and almost pushed the country toward a ‘constitutional crisis,’ according to sources familiar with what Pence told investigators.” (ABC News)
1/ Biden won’t attend the United Nations climate summit in Dubai, which draws leaders from nearly 200 countries. The White House said it would send a climate envoy, including John Kerry, Ali Zaidi, and John Podesta. While Biden has called climate change “the ultimate threat to humanity,” it’s unclear why he will skip the annual COP28 after attending the previous two summits. Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates – the world’s fifth-largest oil producer – is hosting the climate talks this year. Leaked document show that the UAE plans to use its position as host country to discuss oil and gas deals with more than a dozen countries. (Associated Press / Politico / New York Times / CNN / Bloomberg / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
Why an oil kingdom is hosting the COP28 climate summit. “The United Nations rotates the location of COPs each year through Africa, Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Western Europe. This year, it was the Asia-Pacific group’s turn to host, and the United Arab Emirates made an unopposed bid in May 2021.” (Washington Post)
Former Coal Towns Get Money for Clean-Energy Factories. “An Energy Department program designed to create jobs and manufacturing in communities reliant on fossil fuels is backing projects in West Virginia, Colorado and elsewhere.” (New York Times)
Huge Turbines Will Soon Bring First Offshore Wind Power to New Yorkers. “New York’s best bet for entering the era of offshore wind power is stacked up at the water’s edge in Connecticut.” (New York Times)
Sodium in Batteries: Shift May Herald Another Shakeup. “Sodium — found in rock salts and brines around the globe — has the potential to make inroads into energy storage and electric vehicles because it’s cheaper and far more abundant than lithium, which currently dominates batteries. But while chemically and structurally similar, sodium has yet to be used on a large scale, partly due to the better range and performance of similarly sized lithium cells.” (Bloomberg)
Costs for renewables have plummeted and growth is exceeding expectations. “In 2009, the International Energy Agency predicted that solar power would remain too expensive to compete on the grid. It continued to underestimate the growth of renewable energy and EVs. Last year, more than four-fifths of the world’s new power capacity was renewables, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency.” (Wall Street Journal)
2/ Israel and Hamas agreed to extend their humanitarian pause in fighting for two more days. So far, Hamas has released 69 hostages in exchange for 150 Palestinian women and children in Israeli detention. Under the terms of the agreement, the pause could be extended by a day for every additional 10 hostages released by Hamas. Around 170 hostages abducted in the Hamas-led attacks on Oct. 7 remain in captivity in Gaza. The Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, meanwhile, has killed at least 13,000 people and created a humanitarian disaster for its 2.2 million residents. (New York Times / Associated Press / Washington Post / NBC News / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
White House grapples with internal divisions on Israel-Gaza. “The Hamas attacks and Israeli reaction have roiled the Biden team like no other issue during his presidency.” (Washington Post)
Gaza Civilians, Under Israeli Barrage, Are Being Killed at Historic Pace. “Even a conservative assessment of the reported Gaza casualty figures shows that the rate of death during Israel’s assault has few precedents in this century, experts say.” (New York Times)
3/ Trump revived his threat to roll back the Affordable Care Act if he returns to the White House, saying he’s “seriously looking at alternatives.” After trying and failing to repeal the ACA, Republicans have effectively given up on their calls to kill the ACA. According to a recent poll, 45% of voters say they trust Democrats when it comes to health care, while 22% said they trust Republicans. In 2017, a poll showed 22% of Americans supported the Republican effort to repeal and replace the ACA, which ultimately failed, while 55% opposed them. Nevertheless, Trump criticized Republicans who voted not to “terminate it” in 2017 and vowed not to “give up.” (NBC News / Washington Post / Axios)
Trump hints at expanded role for the military within the U.S. “Calling New York City and Chicago ‘crime dens,’ the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination told his audience, ‘The next time, I’m not waiting. One of the things I did was let them run it and we’re going to show how bad a job they do,’ he said. ‘Well, we did that. We don’t have to wait any longer.’” (Associated Press)
“Openly authoritarian campaign”: Trump’s threats of revenge fuel alarm. “Trump’s talk of seeking to ‘weaponize’ the DoJ and ‘retribution’ for opponents poses a direct threat to the rule of law and democracy in the US should he win a second term, experts say.” (The Guardian)
4/ George Santos expects to be expelled from Congress as early as this week following the release of a House Ethics Committee report, which found “substantial evidence” that he knowingly filed false campaign finance statements and used campaign funds to pay for personal expenses including rent, trips, luxury items, cosmetic treatments like Botox, and a subscription to the adult-content site OnlyFans. In a three-hour-long livestream, Santos described the report as “slanderous” and accused Ethics Committee Chairman Michael Guest of “weaponizing” his position and publishing a “hit-piece” against him. Santos currently faces 23 federal charges in an ongoing criminal case, including fraud, money laundering, falsifying records and aggravated identity theft. (Washington Post / NBC News)
1/ A Colorado judge ruled that Trump “engaged in an insurrection,” but said the 14th Amendment doesn’t apply to the presidency. Colorado District Court Judge Sarah Wallace found Trump “engaged in an insurrection” on Jan. 6, 2021, but concluded that it doesn’t apply to presidents because the provision explicitly bans insurrectionists from serving as senators, representatives, and presidential electors – but it doesn’t say anything about the presidency. Meaning, Trump can still appear on that state’s presidential primary ballot next year. However, the group that filed the lawsuit appealed the ruling, saying: “No court should adopt an interpretation of the Constitution that has such absurd results.” Trump, meanwhile, also has appealed the decision, taking issue with the judge’s finding that he “engaged” in the Jan. 6 insurrection. The case is expected to eventually reach the U.S. Supreme Court. (CNN / USA Today / Politico / The Guardian / Washington Post)
🤔 The Bizarre Reason a Colorado Judge Didn’t Disqualify Trump From Running in 2024. “Judge Sarah Wallace found the case that the former president violated the Fourteenth Amendment compelling. Then she found a way to ignore her own judgment.” (The New Republic)
🤔 Republican Who Voted To Impeach Trump Says He Would Still Vote For Trump. “Former Representative Peter Meijer described Trump’s actions on January 6 as ‘disqualifying.’ Now, as he mounts a run for Senate, the Michigan Republican is backtracking: ‘My overarching goal is to make Joe Biden a one-term president.’” (Vanity Fair)
2/ Israel and Hamas are near a “truce deal” to release some hostages seized by Hamas in Israel in exchange for a pause in fighting in Gaza. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for the Israeli government to back the proposed deal that could include around 50 women and children being exchanged for around 150 Israeli-held Palestinian prisoners, and lead to a 4-to-5-day pause in fighting. As part of the deal, Israel would also allow around 300 aid trucks per day to enter Gaza from Egypt. The numbers are subject to change and the deal could still fall apart. As Netanyahu convened his Cabinet for a vote, he emphasized that a pause in fighting to get hostages out wouldn’t lead to a cease-fire, saying: “There is nonsense out there as if after the pause in fighting, we will stop the war. We are at war and we will continue it until we achieve all the objectives. We will eliminate Hamas, return all the hostages and guarantee that there will be no element in Gaza that threatens Israel.” (New York Times / Washington Post / ABC News / CNN / NBC News / Axios / Associated Press / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Vox)
3/ The owner of the social media company formerly known as Twitter sued a nonprofit organization for defamation after it published research highlighting antisemitic and pro-Nazi content on the social media platform. Last week, Media Matters reported that X/Twitter “has been placing ads for major brands” like Apple, Amazon, and IBM “next to content that touts Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party.” Multiple businesses, including IBM, Apple, Warner Bros. Discovery, Sony, Comcast, and Disney, subsequently suspended their advertising on the platform. Elon Musk, meanwhile, endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy theory last week, which has been widely criticized, including by the White House. Shortly after Musk filed his “thermonuclear lawsuit,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton opened an investigation into Media Matters for “potential fraudulent activity.” Media Matters called the lawsuits “frivolous,” and said the organization “stands behind its reporting and looks forward to winning in court.” Separately, more than two dozen House Democrats accused Musk of “profiting off violent content by a terrorist organization” and demanded that he address Hamas-related content on the social media platform that “has become a hotbed of misinformation and terrorist propaganda.” (The Verge / CNN / Washington Post / New York Times / Axios / Associated Press / Texas Tribune)
🤔 Does Elon Musk’s Media Matters Lawsuit Have a Chance? ”“It’s one of those lawsuits that’s filed more for symbolism than for substance — as reflected in just how empty the allegations really are.” (Intelligencer)
🤔 “PR stunt masquerading as a lawsuit”: Experts slam Elon Musk’s attack on Media Matters’ reporting. (Salon.com)
🤔 Ron DeSantis Says He’s Never Personally Witnessed Elon Musk Attacking Jews When Asked About X Post Attacking Jews. (Vanity Fair)
1/ A federal appeals court ruled that only the federal government — not private citizens or civil rights groups — can sue to enforce the Voting Rights Act. In a 2-to-1 ruling, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that private entities cannot bring lawsuits under Section 2, a provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that prohibits discriminatory voting practices. The ruling runs counter to decades of legal practice and the vast majority of Voting Rights Act claims are brought by private entities. The decision will almost certainly be appealed and is likely headed to the Supreme Court. (CNN / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / NPR / Politico / NBC News)
🔎 What’s at Stake? This federal appeals court ruling represents a shift in the enforcement of voting rights in America. By potentially limiting the ability to challenge discriminatory voting practices to the federal government, it risks undermining the effectiveness of the Voting Rights Act. This is especially concerning as it could lead to reduced oversight and increased voter disenfranchisement, disproportionately affecting minority groups and threatening the integrity and fairness of the democratic process. The decision is at odds with the foundational American values of equal representation and participation in democracy. Vigilant protection of voting rights is essential for maintaining a robust and inclusive democratic system. Failure to address this issue risks long-term damage to the legitimacy of elections and the democratic principles upon which the United States is built. Addressing this ruling is crucial not only for the current generation but for safeguarding the democratic rights of future generations as well. It’s also a stark reminder that protecting voting rights is a continuous battle, requiring vigilance and active participation from all sectors of society.
2/ Earth briefly exceeded more than 2 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial benchmark this weekend, preliminary data showed. When compared with the 1991-2020 average, the global mean on Friday was 2.07 degrees Celsius (2.1 degrees Fahrenheit) above average preindustrial levels, and 2.06C (3.7F) above preindustrial on Saturday. This year is on track to be the hottest on record globally, with temperature records set in July, August, September, and October. November is on track to be the hottest such month on record. (Washington Post / Axios)
3/ The world has a 14% chance of keeping global warming below 1.5C even if all net-zero pledges are met, according to the United Nations’ 2023 “Emissions Gap Report.” To keep warming to the 2015 Paris climate agreement limit of 1.5C, countries need to cut their emissions by 42% by the end of the decade. Carbon emissions from the burning of coal, oil, and gas, however, rose 1.2% last year. Meanwhile, if every single country were to follow through on its stated net-zero plans, Earth would still be on track to heat up roughly 2.5 to 2.9C over preindustrial levels by the century’s end. “There is no person or economy left on the planet untouched by climate change, so we need to stop setting unwanted records on greenhouse gas emissions, global temperature highs and extreme weather,” Inger Andersen said, executive director of the U.N. Environmental Programme. “We must instead lift the needle out of the same old groove of insufficient ambition and not enough action, and start setting other records: on cutting emissions, on green and just transitions and on climate finance.” (Associated Press / Bloomberg / New York Times / Politico / Axios / NPR)
The world’s richest 1% generated as much carbon emissions as the poorest 66% in 2019. “Carbon emissions of the world’s richest 1% surpassed the amount generated by all car and road transport globally in 2019, while the richest 10% accounted for half of global carbon emissions that year. Meanwhile, emissions from the richest 1% are enough to cancel out the work of nearly 1 million wind turbines each year, Oxfam said.” (Washington Post)
4/ The U.S., Israel, and Hamas are reportedly close to an agreement to release some of the 240 hostages taken during the Oct. 7 terrorist attack in exchange for a five-day pause in fighting. Biden’s deputy national security adviser said while Israel and Hamas were close to a deal, “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed,” and that negotiations could still fall apart. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby echoed the statement, saying: “We believe we’re closer than we’ve ever been, so we’re hopeful. But there’s still work to be done, and nothing is done until it’s all done, so we’re gonna keep working on this.” Negotiations have centered around a brief pause in fighting where Hamas releases 50 women and children held hostage in exchange for roughly the same number of Palestinian women and teenagers held in Israeli prisons. Any deal would require a vote by the Israeli government, and some right-wing Israeli politicians have suggested they’ll oppose any agreement with Hamas. Meanwhile, Israel’s military released footage of what it said showed Hamas “forcibly transporting hostages” through al-Shifa hospital on Oct. 7, claiming the video was proof that Hamas used the hospital “as terrorist infrastructure.” The Hamas-run Palestinian Health Ministry suggested that the videos are just doctors treating patients regardless of who they are. Israel’s military also released video of what it said was a 55-meter section of a fortified tunnel running 10 meters beneath the al-Shifa hospital. News outlets have been unable to verify either side’s claims, when the videos were taken, or who the people in them were. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / Associated Press / ABC News)
5/ Americans can order another round of four free Covid-19 tests for home delivery. Get yours at COVIDtests.gov. The U.S. Postal Service will deliver them for free. (Associated Press)
1/ The Senate approved a temporary funding measure to avert a government shutdown, sending the measure to Biden for his signature before the Friday night deadline. The bill sets up two funding deadlines in early 2024, with roughly 20% percent of the federal government running out of money on Jan. 19 and the remaining 80% on Feb. 2. The legislation finances the government at current spending levels and contains no policy conditions – aspects that have enraged far-right Republicans. The “laddered” deadlines are designed to allow the House and Senate to negotiate and pass the 12 full-year spending measures. (Bloomberg / Axios / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times)
2/ George Santos will not seek reelection after the House Ethics Committee found “substantial evidence” that he violated federal criminal laws. The bipartisan report found that Santos engaged in a “complex web” of illegal activity, “blatantly stole” from his campaign, and sought to “fraudulently exploit every aspect of his House candidacy” for personal financial gain. The report concluded that Santos “cannot be trusted.” The Ethics Committee unanimously voted to refer the evidence to the Justice Department. Santos, meanwhile, has rejected calls for his resignation. (CNN / New York Times / Associated Press / Politico / Bloomberg / ABC News / NBC News / Washington Post / CNBC / CBS News)
3/ Israel Defense Forces raided Gaza’s Al-Shifa hospital for the second time in 24 hours, searching for evidence that the hospital was used by Hamas as a command center. Israel is facing growing international pressure to provide concrete evidence of extensive Hamas infrastructure at the facility to justify sending troops into a hospital, which has special protections under international humanitarian law. So far, the IDF has released photos and videos of AK-47s, hand grenades, military uniforms, and laptops identified as Hamas material found inside the hospital. The body of an Israeli hostage who was kidnapped on Oct. 7, was also found near the complex. The IDF, however, has not yet provided evidence of tunnels or a Hamas command center it claims exists under the hospital – a claim that Hamas and hospital staff have denied. News outlets and other third-party and international organizations have been unable to verify either side’s claims. Prior to the raids, Israel and the U.S. said they had intelligence that Hamas was using the hospital as a command center. That information has not been shared publicly. Humanitarian groups, meanwhile, condemned the raids on the hospital and said Israel’s actions highlighted the need for an immediate humanitarian cease-fire – calls that Israel and the U.S. have rejected. (Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / Bloomberg / New York Times / ABC News / CNN / CNBC / NBC News / Axios)
4/ An appeals court judge temporarily lifted Trump’s gag order in the ongoing New York civil fraud trial, clearing the way for Trump resume attacking the judge and court staff. Judge Arthur Engoron had initially imposed the gag order on Trump to prevent him from making statements about court staff, citing security risks. Since then, Trump has been fined twice for a total of $15,000 for violating the gag order, which was imposed after attacking court staff on social media. The appeals judge, however, raised concerns over restricting Trump’s free speech. The pause will remain in place until at least Nov. 27, when a full panel of appeals court judges will consider the matter. (CNN / Axios / Associated Press / NBC News)
1/ Israel Defense Forces raided and seized the largest hospital in Gaza in what they called a “precise and targeted operation against Hamas.” Israel and the U.S. have asserted that Hamas is using the hospital as cover for its military operations – an allegation that both Hamas and Al-Shifa hospital staff have denied. While the IDF reported they found “military equipment used by Hamas” at Al-Shifa, they offered no evidence of a vast tunnel network or military command center beneath the hospital. Prior to the raid, the White House warned Israel that “hospitals and patients must be protected,” saying “to be clear, we do not support striking a hospital from the air, and we do not want to see a firefight in the hospital.” The Biden administration has also reportedly grown frustrated that Israel isn’t doing enough to protect civilians, and that conversations with Israeli officials have largely been ignored. The U.S., however, is still fulfilling Israel’s weapons requests, and so far hasn’t threatened any consequences. The U.N. Security Council, meanwhile, condemned Israel’s raid on the hospital and adopted a resolution calling for “urgent and extended humanitarian pauses and corridors” in the Gaza Strip. The resolution also urged the “immediate and unconditional release of all hostages held by Hamas and other groups, especially children.” The U.S., Russia, and the UK abstained from the vote. Israel says 1,200 people were killed in the Hamas terrorist attack Oct. 7, with 239 people still held hostage in Gaza. More than 11,200 Palestinians — two-thirds of them women and children — have been killed since the war began, and more than 1.6 million people have been displaced. The United Nations’s humanitarian agency chief demanded that the “carnage” in Gaza “cannot be allowed to continue.” (CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / Bloomberg / NBC News / ABC News / NPR)
[Poll]: 32% of Americans said “the U.S. should support Israel” – down from 41% from a month ago. 39% said the U.S. “should be a neutral mediator,” 15% said the U.S. shouldn’t be involved at all, and 15% said the U.S. should support Palestinians. (Reuters)
2/ The world’s two largest climate polluters agreed to work together to speed their transition away from fossil fuels and to renewable energy. The U.S. and China agreed to “pursue efforts to triple renewable energy capacity globally by 2030” and to make “meaningful absolute power sector emission reduction.” The agreement comes two weeks before the annual U.N. Climate Change Conference, known as COP28. (New York Times / Washington Post / Axios / Politico)
3/ Climate change is “already far-reaching and worsening across every region of the United States,” according to the Fifth National Climate Assessment, a congressionally mandated study compiled every four years by 13 federal agencies. The report warns that climate change will bring “substantial and increasing economic costs” to the U.S. that will most directly affect the elderly, children, and low-income populations. Overall, the report warns that the U.S. is warming about 60% faster than the world. Biden called climate change “the ultimate threat to humanity” and that “anyone who willfully denies the impact of climate change is condemning the American people to a very dangerous future.” Biden added that the report “shows us in clear scientific terms that […] more action is still badly needed. We can’t be complacent. […] None of this is inevitable.” In a separate study, the annual Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change, heat-related deaths globally are projected to increase by 370% by mid-century, with an additional 524.9 million people expected to experience food insecurity if action is not taken to limit the effects of global warming. (New York Times / NBC News / Politico / Associated Press / Axios / Axios / ABC News / CNN / Washington Post / Vox / Wall Street Journal / NPR)
🔍 What’s at stake? Climate change is not abstract or distant; it is immediate and personal. The findings highlight the urgent threat climate change poses to humans, especially for vulnerable groups like the elderly, children, and low-income populations. Rising temperatures threaten food security, disproportionately intensify existing inequalities, strain healthcare systems, and economically burden individuals and nations. Climate change is not just an environmental issue but a moral imperative: the decisions and actions taken today shape the world for future generations. If left unchecked, climate change will lead to global resource scarcity, population displacement, and increased conflicts.
Nations made bold climate pledges. They aren’t close to meeting them. “Today, countries are still far from meeting these much-hyped promises, even as the impacts of climate change intensify across the globe. Deforestation remains rampant, pushing the Amazon rainforest toward a tipping point. Levels of methane in the atmosphere continue to climb to new records. The planet just endured its hottest 12 months in the modern era — and probably the hottest in 125,000 years.” (Washington Post)
The Solar-Panel Backlash Is Here. “The growing backlash against net metering isn’t just a response to wasted solar power—it’s also about for-profit power companies wary of rooftop solar panels that don’t make them money.” (The Atlantic)
4/ Fulton County prosecutors asked a judge to jail one of Trump’s co-defendants charged in the 2020 election subversion case for his alleged “effort to intimidate codefendants and witnesses,” according to court filings. District Attorney Fani Willis said Harrison Floyd had “engaged in numerous intentional and flagrant violations” of his bond agreement, citing recent comments Floyd made on a conservative podcasts and posts on the social media that tag Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, former Fulton County poll worker Ruby Freeman, and others. Meanwhile, an attorney for another one of Trump’s co-defendants in the election interference case admitted to leaking witness proffer videos, saying “I believe they help my client and the public needs to know that.” Jonathan Miller, an attorney for Misty Hampton, made the confession during an emergency hearing for a protective order following the leak of depositions by Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis, Kenneth Chesebro, and Scott Hall. The judge said he would issue a protective order barring the disclosure of certain discovery information by Thursday morning. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution / CNN / NBC News)
5/ Trump asked for a mistrial in his $250 million New York civil fraud case, claiming that the judge and his clerk are biased against him. In the filing for a mistrial, Trump’s attorneys argued that Judge Arthur Engoron unfairly ruled against him, made comments during the trial that allegedly show bias, and accused Engoron’s law clerk of bias and “co-judging” the case. Engoron, who already issued a partial gag order prohibiting Trump from making disparaging remarks about his law clerk, has already signaled that he will deny Trump’s motion. (NBC News / CNN / CBS News)
1/ The House passed a short-term funding bill to keep the government open after Democrats stepped in to rescue Speaker Mike Johnson and his spending plan that many Republicans opposed. The bill would fund some government departments until mid-January and the rest through early February, but it does not include spending cuts or policy changes that the House Freedom Caucus had demanded. Democrats, meanwhile, are dissatisfied that the measure doesn’t include emergency aid for Israel or Ukraine, and it also threatens a two-step shutdown next year. The bill still needs to pass the Senate and be signed into law by Biden before midnight on Friday to avert a shutdown. (CNN / NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / NPR / ABC News / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
2/ A former Trump attorney told Georgia prosecutors that in December 2020 Trump’s deputy chief of staff told her “the boss” didn’t plan to leave the White House “under any circumstances” – despite the fact that Trump had already lost the election and most of his subsequent challenges. “And [Dan Scavino] said to me, you know, in a kind of excited tone, ‘Well, we don’t care, and we’re not going to leave,’” Jenna Ellis said in a leaked deposition video. Ellis provided the testimony as part of a plea deal with prosecutors in which she pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting false statements and writings. Portions of recorded depositions with three other Trump co-defendants, who have accepted plea deals in the case, also leaked: Sidney Powell, Kenneth Chesebro, and Scott Hall. When prosecutors asked Powell why Trump ignored the White House attorneys and instead listened to her for legal advice, Powell replied: “Because we were the only ones willing to support his effort to sustain the White House. I mean, everybody else was telling him to pack up and go.” (Washington Post / ABC News)
3/ Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis asked for an emergency protective order after portions of videos from key witnesses in her election interference case against Trump leaked. “The release of these confidential video recordings is clearly intended to intimidate witnesses in this case, subjecting them to harassment and threats prior to trial,” Willis’ office said in a court filing. The prosecution’s filing included an apparent admission from an email chain with one of Trump’s co-defendants. An attorney for Harrison Floyd, a Trump ally charged for his alleged role in the harassment of election worker Ruby Freeman, initially said “It was Harrison Floyd’s team” who leaked the videos. In a subsequent email, Todd Harding, Floyd’s attorney, called the prior email admission “a typo.” Willis, meanwhile, said she expects the trial to conclude by early 2025, with proceedings likely underway during the final stretch of the 2024 presidential election. (CNN / NBC News / Washington Post)
4/ Trump’s allies are reportedly pre-screening up to 54,000 pro-Trump loyalists as a type of government-in-waiting if Trump wins the 2024 election. The headhunting operation aims to recruit 20,000 people to serve in the next administration and fill 4,000 presidential appointments as part of an effort to replace as many as 50,000 federal workers who are considered “policy-adjacent.” The project is being orchestrated by the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025. (Axios)
How Trump could reimpose “Schedule F” in 2025. “Trump say he would immediately reimpose his “Schedule F” executive order if he takes back the White House in the 2024 presidential elections.” (Axios
A radical plan for Trump’s second term. “Trump’s top allies are preparing to radically reshape the federal government if he is re-elected, purging potentially thousands of civil servants and filling career posts with loyalists to him and his “America First” ideology.” (Axios)
5/ Mike Johnson endorsed Trump’s 2024 presidential bid, saying he’s “all in” on the twice-impeached former president, who is facing 91 felony charges stemming from four indictments. Johnson, the second person in line to the presidency and the country’s highest-ranking Republican, played a key role in Trump’s efforts to overturn the election and objected to certifying Biden’s electoral win. In 2015, however, Johnson posted on Facebook that Trump “lacks the character and the moral center we desperately need again in the White House.” In a subsequent comment, Johnson said: “I am afraid [Trump] would break more things than he fixes. He is a hot head by nature, and that is a dangerous trait to have in a Commander in Chief.” (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / CNBC / Politico)
1/ With four days until a government shutdown, House Republicans, Democrats, and the White House have all panned House Speaker Mike Johnson’s complex two-tiered plan to temporarily fund the government. At least a half-dozen Republican members oppose the funding measure – enough to sink the bill without Democratic support – that would extend funding for some parts of the government through Jan. 19 and other parts through Feb. 2. They’ve demanded immediate spending cuts or changes to immigration law as a condition for their support. Democrats, meanwhile, dislike the two separate deadlines and would prefer the funding measure include aid for Israel and Ukraine. The White House called the proposal “a recipe for more Republican chaos and more shutdowns – full stop” and Biden is expected to threaten to veto the measure. The federal government will run out of money by the end of the day on Friday if no new deal is reached. (Politico / NPR / Washington Post / ABC News / CNN / Bloomberg)
2/ The Supreme Court issued its first-ever code of conduct following months of ethical controversies, which have diminished the public standing of the nine justices. The justices said they adopted the code of conduct to “dispel” the “misunderstanding” that the court’s nine justices “regard themselves as unrestricted by any ethics rules.” The court, however, failed to explain how the code will work and who would enforce it. (Axios / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Washington Post / CNN / CNBC / Bloomberg)
3/ Biden urged Israel to take “less intrusive action” at the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza, saying hospitals “must be protected.” Israeli forces and tanks currently surround Gaza’s largest hospital, which has been without electricity and water for three days. Israeli authorities claim a Hamas command hub operates beneath the hospital, a claim Hamas and hospital doctors refute. Despite the White House’s calls to protect civilians around Gaza’s hospitals, U.S. intelligence asserts that it’s “confident” Hamas maintains a command post under Al-Shifa. The World Health Organization characterized the situation at the hospital as “dire and perilous,” stating that continuous gunfire, shelling, and airstrikes means it “is not functioning as a hospital anymore.” Gaza’s health officials have called Al-Shifa a “circle of death,” with over 100 decomposing bodies with no way to preserve or remove them. Several newborns have also died, and at least 35 babies born prematurely face possible “death at any moment.” Roughly 8,000 displaced people are currently sheltering at the hospital complex. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, nevertheless, suggested that patients can still be evacuated from the hospital, saying: “There’s no reason why we just can’t take the patients out of there, instead of letting Hamas use it as a command center for terrorism, for the rockets that they fire against Israel, for the terror tunnels that they use to kill Israeli civilians.” Netanyahu also doubled down on Israel’s war against Hamas, vowing that Israel will see the “war to the end.” The enclave’s second-largest hospital, Al-Quds in Gaza City, has also been encircled by Israeli forces and unable to evacuate its 300 remaining patients and medical employees because of bombardments and gunfire. More than two-thirds of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million have been displaced since the war began. More than 11,000 Palestinians – two-thirds of them women and minors – have been killed since the war began. At least 1,200 people were killed in Israel in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. About 240 hostages were taken from Israel into Gaza by Hamas. (Associated Press / New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / CNN / ABC News / Bloomberg)
4/ Trump Jr. returned to the witness stand in the $250 million civil fraud trial, calling his father a “genius,” a “visionary,” and “an artist with real estate” who “creates things that other people would never envision.” New York Attorney General Letitia James sued Trump, Trump Jr. Eric Trump, and the Trump Organization last year, alleging “numerous acts of fraud and misrepresentation” to inflate the value of assets to obtain favorable loans from banks. Further, New York Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron has already concluded that the Trump Organization’s financial statements were fraudulent and ordered that all of Trump’s “business certificates” be canceled. The trial is largely intended to determine the punishment that Engoron will impose. (New York Times / Washington Post / ABC News / NBC News / CNN / CNBC)
⚡️ Weekend Notables.
Trump – echoing fascist dictators like Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini – “pledged” to “root out” his political opponents, which he called “vermin” and claimed they “lie, steal and cheat on elections.” In a Veterans Day post, Trump suggested that his political opponents pose a greater “threat from within” to the U.S. than “outside forces” like Russia, China, or North Korea. (Washington Post / New York Times / ABC News)
Trump is planning mass deportations, a new Muslim ban, a limit on asylum claims, adding tariffs to all imported goods, and building “freedom cities” on federal land if he returns to power in 2025. To speed mass deportations, Trump said he plans to follow “the Eisenhower model” – a reference was to a 1954 campaign to round up and expel Mexican immigrants that was named for an ethnic slur — “Operation Wetback.” (New York Times / Associated Press)
The Biden campaign criticized Trump’s threats, calling it a “horrifying reality that awaits the American people if Donald Trump is allowed anywhere near the Oval Office again. These extreme, racist, cruel policies dreamed up by him and his henchman Stephen Miller are meant to stoke fear and divide us, betting a scared and divided nation is how he wins this election.” The Trump campaign, meanwhile, defended the use of the word “vermin” to describe his political enemies, calling critics “snowflakes” whose “entire existence will be crushed” if Trump wins. (Politico / Axios)
1/ With eight days until a government shutdown, House Republicans canceled votes on two spending bills and adjourned for Veterans Day. Republicans have only approved seven of the 12 full-year spending measures individually, which were due Oct. 1. Speaker Mike Johnson, however, has been forced to cancel votes on three of the five remaining spending bills in the past two weeks after facing the same internal Republican divisions that led to the ousting of Kevin McCarthy as speaker. Biden, meanwhile, told reporters: “I wish the House would just get to work. The idea we’re playing games with a shutdown at this moment is just bizarre.” (Politico / NBC News / Axios / Bloomberg / Punchbowl)
2/ With eight days until a government shutdown, Marjorie Taylor Greene forced a vote on impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas instead of negotiating a deal to fund the government. The so-called privileged resolution requires the House to vote on the matter within two legislative days, and accuses Mayorkas of “willful admittance of border crossers” and says he has a duty to protect the U.S. from an “invasion.” The resolution comes after two of Greene’s constituents were killed in a car accident after a car suspected of carrying smuggled migrants fled from police and crashed. The Department of Homeland Security, meanwhile, responded to the resolution, saying “while the House Majority has wasted months trying to score points with baseless attacks, Secretary Mayorkas has been doing his job and working to keep Americans safe.” (ABC News / USA Today / Politico / The Hill)
3/ After Ohio voted to enshrine abortion rights in the state’s constitution, Democrats are moving to get similar measures on the 2024 ballot in Arizona, Nevada, and Florida. Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, voters have endorsed abortion rights via ballot initiatives in seven states: California, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, Vermont, and now Ohio. The National Republican Senatorial Committee, meanwhile, “is encouraging Republicans to clearly state their opposition to a national abortion ban and their support for reasonable limits on late-term abortions.” (Axios / CNN / NBC News)
The Supreme Court dismantled Roe. States are restoring it one by one. “Now, 17 months later, the court has an answer: Americans want to preserve or restore Roe-like protections. In contest after contest, including a major victory in Ohio this week, voters decisively chose abortion rights over limitations — even in deep-red pockets of the country.” (Politico)
4/ Following days of U.S. and international pressure, Israel agreed to daily, four-hour pauses in its military operations in the Gaza Strip to facilitate the evacuation of civilians and to allow for humanitarian aid to enter from Egypt. Israel will now designate a specific area or neighborhood and announce each four-hour window at least three hours in advance. The Oct. 7 Hamas attack killed more than 1,400 people in Israel. Palestinian authorities say the death toll from Israel’s response in Gaza now exceeds 10,000 people, which a senior Biden administration official say is likely “higher than is being cited,” and more than 1.5 million people have been displaced. (Associated Press / Washington Post / NBC News / Bloomberg / New York Times / CNN)
✏️ Notables.
The third Republican presidential debate recap: Vivek Ramaswamy attacked the debate moderator, called Republicans “a party of losers,” referred to Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis as “Dick Cheney in three-inch heels,” called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky an anti-democratic “comedian in cargo pants,” proposed building a wall on the U.S.-Canada border, and suggested Biden might be replaced by Michelle Obama; Haley called Ramaswamy “scum” for bringing up her daughter during an exchange about TikTok. DeSantis, Tim Scott, and Chris Christie were also there. Trump, meanwhile, held a rally 10 miles away. (Axios / Politico / Washington Post)
Joe Manchin will not seek re-election. The decision by the Senate’s most conservative Democrat all but assures Republicans will pick up his Senate seat in West Virginia, a deeply red state. (NBC News / Axios / New York Times / Washington Post)
Earth just had its hottest 12 months ever recorded. from November 2022 through October and found they were about 1.32 degrees Celsius — or 2.4 degrees Fahrenheit — above preindustrial averages, according to analysis from the nonprofit organization Climate Central. (NBC News)
The U.S. population will peak by 2080 and start declining. In 1918, the U.S. recorded its only population decline when the flu pandemic and deployment of more than one million troops for World War I produced a small drop in the estimated population. The Census Bureau projects that the U.S. will “most likely” peak at nearly 370 million people by 2080 without immigration increases. People 65 years or older are expected to outnumber children under 18 by 2029. (Axios / Wall Street Journal)
1/ Nearly 17 months after the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade – and for the second general election in a row – voters in increasingly Republican-leaning states defended abortion rights. In Tuesday’s off-year general elections, Ohio voters passed a constitutional amendment guaranteeing access to abortion. Trump won Ohio in 2020. In Kentucky, Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear won reelection – a state Biden lost by 26 points – after making support of abortion rights a key message of his campaign. And in Virginia, Democrats won majorities in both chambers, where Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin had put a 15-week abortion ban at the center of his campaign to help Republicans gain control both the House and Senate. In the 2022 midterm elections, voters in California, Michigan, and Vermont enshrined abortion rights in their state’s constitution, while voters in Kentucky rejected a proposed amendment to the state’s constitution to say that it does not “secure or protect a right” to abortion or the funding of abortion. (NBC News / CNN / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Washington Post / NPR / Associated Press / Politico / Vox)
The Special Elections Tell Us Nothing About 2024. “Democrats have a Biden problem, not a party problem.” (Intelligencer)
Republicans can’t sugarcoat their losses on abortion rights anymore. “The anti-abortion movement went all in last night. They lost decisively.” (Vox)
What to watch for in the third Republican debate. “Five Republican presidential hopefuls will gather on stage Wednesday night for the third GOP debate, with Trump once again skipping the event.” (Washington Post / Bloomberg / ABC News)
2/ The House censured the only Palestinian American in Congress for her comments about the Israel-Hamas war. Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib defended her use of a pro-Palestinian rallying cry – “from the river to the sea” – as “an aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence” and refused to retract it. The phrase, which is widely interpreted as calling for the elimination of Israel, has been deemed antisemitic by the Anti-Defamation League. Prior to the vote, Tlaib reiterated her calls for a cease-fire, defended her criticism of the Israeli government, and implored her colleagues to consider the plight of the Palestinian people, saying: “I can’t believe we have to say this, but Palestinian people are not disposable. We are human beings just like anyone else. […] The cries of the Palestinian and Israeli children sound no different to me. What I don’t understand is why the cries of Palestinian children sound different to you all. We cannot lose our shared humanity.” Nevertheless, the measure passed by a vote of 234 to 188, with 22 Democrats joining all but 4 Republicans in voting to formally rebuke Tlaib for allegedly “promoting false narratives” and “calling for the destruction of the state of Israel.” The measure also argued that a statement Tlaib made after Hamas’s attack on Israel – calling for the end of “the apartheid system that creates the suffocating, dehumanizing conditions that can lead to resistance” – “defended” terrorism. It is the second time Tlaib had faced a censure resolution over her criticism of Israel. (Washington Post / CBS News / ABC News / NPR / Associated Press / New York Times / CNN / NBC News)
3/ The U.S. called for limits on Israel’s control over the Gaza Strip after its war with Hamas, saying “Gaza cannot continue to be run by Hamas” but that “it’s also clear that Israel cannot occupy Gaza.” After Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested that Israel would assume responsibility for Gaza’s security “for an indefinite period,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned against the “forcible displacement of Palestinians from Gaza,” saying: “No re-occupation of Gaza after the conflict ends, no attempt to blockade or besiege Gaza. No reduction in the territory of Gaza.” The White House National Security Council added: “We believe that the Palestinians should be in charge of their future and they should be the determining voice and factor in their future.” So far, Israeli officials reportedly have not considered a post-war scenario that included independent Palestinian rule as a possibility. Meanwhile, Qatar and Egypt are negotiating a deal with Hamas to release up to 15 hostages in exchange for a 48-hour humanitarian pause, but Netanyahu rejected the possibility, saying: “There will be no cease-fire without the release of our hostages – everything else is false.” More than 1.5 million people have been displaced in Gaza, and it’s estimated that more than 10,500 have been killed. Israel says 1,400 people were killed in the Hamas terror attack Oct. 7, with some 239 people still held hostage in Gaza. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said the number of civilian deaths in Gaza means something is “clearly wrong” with the Israeli military operation. (Wall Street Journal / Associated Press / NBC News / CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / ABC News)
4/ The Minnesota Supreme Court rejected an attempt to block Trump from the state’s Republican primary ballot next year under the 14th Amendment. The justices, however, did not rule on the merits of the 14th Amendment claim – that Trump is ineligible to hold office on the basis that he “engaged in insurrection” – leaving open the possibility he could still be blocked from the 2024 general election ballot. The court said it dismissed the case because the state’s primary is “an internal party election to serve internal party purposes” and election officials and the courts don’t have the authority to stop the Republican Party from offering Trump as a primary candidate. (CNN / New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post)
✏️ Notables.
House Republicans issued subpoenas for Hunter and James Biden as part of their impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden.. It’s the first time House Republicans have directly tried to compel testimony from members of the Biden family as part of their months-long investigation, which Kevin McCarthy escalated to an impeachment inquiry in September. The inquiry, so far, has failed to provide direct evidence Biden committed any wrongdoing, broke the law or benefited from his son’s business dealings. (Politico / New York Times / Axios / NBC News / Associated Press / Washington Post)
Ivanka Trump testified that she had no role in preparing Trump’s inflated financial statements and that she wasn’t aware that Trump claimed a net worth of more than $4 billion. Ivanka was the fourth and final member of the Trump family to testify in the trial. (NBC News / Associated Press / NPR / New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Bloomberg / ABC News)
1/ Trump “stands alone in American history” for his efforts to overturn his loss in the 2020 presidential election, special counsel Jack Smith’s office said in a court filing. In a 79-page court filing, prosecutors asked a judge to reject Trump’s “meritless effort” to dismiss their four-count indictment, saying “no other president has engaged in conspiracy and obstruction to overturn valid election results and illegitimately retain power.” Prosecutors said they plan to show that Trump repeatedly lied about the results of the 2020 election as part of a conspiracy to subvert the legitimate results, and that he is now attempting to “rewrite the indictment” and “sanitize” his conduct by making claims that are full of “distortions and misrepresentations.” In total, Trump has made four attempts to dismiss the federal indictment charging him with attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election, which culminated in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by his supporters. (NBC News / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / CNBC / CBS News)
2/ Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested that Israel will have “overall security responsibility” in Gaza “for an indefinite period” after its war with Hamas despite a warning from the White House that a “reoccupation of Gaza by Israeli forces is not good.” In a call with Netanyahu, Biden urged Israel to agree to a three-day “humanitarian” pause in the fighting to allow for the release of 10-15 hostages and for aid to enter Gaza. An Israeli official likened a three-day pause to a cease-fire, saying Netanyahu doesn’t believe such a large window of time is needed to release such a small number of hostages. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant added: “We can’t cease this war until its goals are complete […] can’t stop […] until winning over Hamas and the return of hostages.” Israel’s military, meanwhile, has “encircled” Gaza City and is now “operating” in its “depths,” a move that U.S. officials warned would lead to increased casualties. In the month since the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack, at least 10,300 Palestinians, including more than 4,200 children, have been killed, and more than 25,900 have been wounded, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza. The World Health Organization said the death toll was “hard to fathom.” More than 1.5 million people – about 70% of the population – in the Gaza Strip has been displaced. At least 1,400 people were killed in Israel on Oct. 7, and at least 5,400 people have been injured, according to Israeli officials. (NBC News / Axios / ABC News / CNN / New York Times/ Washington Post / Associated Press / CNBC / Wall Street Journal)
✏️ Democrats in Congress Weigh Calls for Cease-Fire Amid Pressure From the Left. “Democrats in Congress, torn between their support for Israel in its war with Hamas and concern about civilian suffering in Gaza, are struggling with how far to go in calling for measures to mitigate civilian casualties as the left wing of the party escalates pressure for a cease-fire.” (New York Times)
✏️ Voter groups warn Biden his stance on Gaza could suppress youth turnout next year. “We are experts in youth voting behavior who have worked tirelessly across the years to generate Generation Z and Millennial enthusiasm for civic action under a variety of circumstances,” the leaders of progressive groups wrote in an open letter addressed to Biden. “We write to you to issue a very stark and unmistakable warning: you and your Administration’s stance on Gaza risks millions of young voters staying home or voting third party next year.” (NBC News)
✏️ The House voted to advance a resolution to censure Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib after a Democratic effort to block the measure failed. “Tlaib of Michigan, who is the first Palestinian-American woman to serve in Congress, is again facing Republican-led efforts to censure her over comments critical of Israel and in support of Palestinians amid Israel’s war against Hamas.” (CNN)
✏️ The U.S. wants a humanitarian pause in Gaza, not a cease-fire. What’s the difference? (NPR)
3/ With 10 days left before a potential government shutdown and no strategy to keep the government funded, Speaker Mike Johnson suggested that the public “trust us.” After House Republicans failed to find consensus on a spending plan during a closed-door meeting, which one member described as a “train wreck,” Johnson said he’d reveal the GOP’s funding plan “in short order,” but that he’s not going to “show you all the cards right now.” Johnson added: “Trust us: We’re working through the process in a way that I think that people will be proud of.” House Republicans are debating three possible approaches: the first is a “clean” continuing resolution, which would keep the government funded through mid-January; the second is a laddered spending plan that would fund different parts of the government incrementally – an approach that Senate Republicans have already panned; and the third option is to wait and see what the Democratic-led Senate sends them. The government must be funded by Nov. 17. (Punchbowl News / Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / CNN)
4/ 🗳️ Election Day, America. Voters in several states will participate in an off-year general election that will determine the next governor in two states, control of the state’s legislature in another, and whether to enshrine abortion rights into one state’s constitution. This is also a reminder that we’re less than 365 days from the 2024 presidential election, where Americans will vote on a new president, 34 Senate seats, and 435 House seats. Here’s what to watch for in today’s elections:
In Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, is seeking a second term against the state’s Republican attorney general.
In Mississippi, Gov. Tate Reeves, a Republican, is seeking reelection against a second cousin of Elvis Presley.
In Ohio, voters will decide whether to enshrine the right to abortion in the state Constitution and whether to legalize marijuana for recreational use.
In Virginia, Republicans are seeking full control of the Legislature.
In Pennsylvania, voters will fill an open seat on their Supreme Court.
1/ Trump repeatedly provided off topic testimony, lost his temper, and attacked the judge overseeing his $250 million civil fraud case, saying: “It’s a terrible thing you’ve done. You know nothing about me.” Trump called New York Attorney General Letitia James “a political hack” and her prosecutors “all haters,” complaining that this is “a very unfair trial.” The outburst prompted New York Judge Arthur Engoron to direct Trump’s lawyers to “control him,” saying “this is not a political rally, this is a courtroom.” James accused Trump and his co-defendants of a decade-long scheme to use “numerous acts of fraud and misrepresentation” to inflate Trump’s net worth in order get more favorable loan terms. Engoron has already ruled that Trump is liable for fraud, and the trial is meant to determine what damages Trump will pay. Nevertheless, Trump complained during testimony that Engoron “called me a fraud and he didn’t know anything about me.” Engoron suggested that Trump read the order where he found him liable for fraud. (Washington Post / NBC News / New York Times / CNN / Politico / Axios / Associated Press / NPR / ABC News / Wall Street Journal)
2/ A federal appeals court lifted a gag order imposed on Trump in the election subversion criminal case, temporarily allowing him to go back to disparaging prosecutors, witnesses, and court staffers involved in the proceeding. The pause will last about two weeks as the three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia considers Trump’s claim that the limited gag order violates his First Amendment rights. (CNN / New York Times / Washington Post)
3/ United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres warned that Gaza is “becoming a graveyard for children,” saying “the unfolding catastrophe makes the need for a humanitarian ceasefire more urgent with every passing hour.” More than 1.5 million people have been displaced and more than 10,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel’s bombardment began four weeks ago, according to the Gaza Health Ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip. Israel says 1,400 people were killed in the Hamas terror attack, and that 240 are still held hostage. Israel, however, rejected the Biden administration’s calls for a humanitarian cease-fire, saying it will continue to bombard the Gaza Strip with “all of its power.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu added that “there’ll be no cease-fire […] in Gaza without the release of our hostages,” saying “It’ll hamper our effort to get our hostages out because the only thing that works on these criminals in Hamas is the military pressure that we’re exerting.” Israel’s military, meanwhile, has “completed our encirclement” of Gaza City – effectively splitting the Gaza Strip in half – and was carrying out “a significant operation” as it carried out “a large attack on terrorist infrastructure both below and above ground.” (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / NBC News / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press / NPR / Politico / ABC News)
4/ The Biden administration has reportedly become deeply “uncomfortable” and “distressed” with some of Israel’s tactics, saying the “counterattack against Hamas has been too severe, too costly in civilian casualties, and lacking a coherent endgame.” A person familiar with the administration’s thinking said the White House has been skeptical of an Israeli ground invasion and concerned that “the situation inside Gaza would only get worse for the people there, and that would lead to escalation. They’re just trying different ways of, ‘How do you mitigate a set of actions that are inevitable and won’t work and will fail?’” State Department staffers, meanwhile, issued a memo that argues the Biden administration should be willing to publicly criticize Israel’s military tactics and its treatment of Palestinians. “We must publicly criticize Israel’s violations of international norms such as failure to limit offensive operations to legitimate military targets,” the memo states. “When Israel supports settler violence and illegal land seizures or employs excessive use of force against Palestinians, we must communicate publicly that this goes against our American values so that Israel does not act with impunity.” The document also says the administration’s private and public messaging “contributes to regional public perceptions that the United States is a biased and dishonest actor, which at best does not advance, and at worst harms, U.S. interests worldwide.” (Washington Post / Politico)
🔮 Dept. of Magical Thinking.
Biden trails Trump in five of the six battleground states one year before the 2024 election. Trump leads Biden by 10 points in Nevada, six in Georgia, five in Arizona, five in Michigan, and four in Pennsylvania. Biden holds a 2-point edge in Wisconsin. In 2020, Biden won all six battleground states. (New York Times)
76% of Americans believe the country is headed in the wrong direction. 33% have a favorable view of Biden, while 29% have a favorable view of Trump. (ABC News)
58% of Americans believe AI tools will increase the spread of misinformation during the 2024 presidential election cycle. (Associated Press)
1/ Biden called for a humanitarian “pause” in the Israel-Hamas war to allow for the release of hostages held in Gaza, but stopped short of calling for full cease-fire. Israeli officials say Hamas seized more than 240 hostages and killed about 1,400 people during the Oct. 7 terrorist attack. Since then, four hostages have been released and negotiations have continued. The Biden administration said humanitarian pauses would “facilitate aid getting in and hostages getting out” of Gaza. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also noted that “Palestinian civilians [are] continuing to bear the brunt of this action.” The Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry reports that at least 9,061 people have been killed and more than 23,000 have been injured in the Gaza Strip. An estimated 1.4 million people – more than half of the enclave’s population – are currently displaced. The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees reported that more than 690,000 displaced Palestinians were currently taking refuge in 149 shelters, describing the situation as “desperate.” UNICEF, the U.N. agency for children, reported that an average of 400 children had been killed or injured each day in Gaza over the past 25 days. UNICEF also described the repeated Israeli airstrikes on the Jabalya refugee camp as “horrific and appalling,” saying “this cannot become the new normal.” And, the U.N. Human Rights Office said it had “serious concerns” about Israel’s military operations, saying “these are disproportionate attacks that could amount to war crimes.” Israeli soldiers, meanwhile, have encircled Gaza City and are “conducting close combat battles with Hamas terrorists and expanding the fighting.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent a video message to troops in the field, saying “Nothing will stop us […] We will move forward. We will advance and win, and we will do it with God’s help.” (New York Times / Associated Press / Washington Post / ABC News / NBC News / CNN / CNBC / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
💡 What Israel should do now. “Israel’s current approach is clearly wrong. Here’s a better way to fight Hamas — and win.” (Vox)
💡 “A Desperate Situation Getting More Desperate.” (The Drift)
💡 “You can be a victim and a perpetrator at the same time,” Yuval Noah Harari said. “It’s a very simple fact—from the level of individuals to the level of entire nations. But impossible to accept for most people.” (YouTube)
💡 Biden and Netanyahu Look Headed for a Breakup on Unqualified U.S. Support for the Gaza War. “The president was right to support Israel after Hamas’ attacks on Oct. 7. But the U.S. must make it clear its priority is a lasting peace, not endless carnage.” (Daily Beast)
2/ The House voted down efforts to expel George Santos and censure Rashida Tlaib. The Republican-led resolution to expel Santos – who faces 23 federal charges for wire fraud, money laundering, theft of public funds, lying to Congress, and identity theft – failed 179 to 213, with 24 Republicans voting to expel. Meanwhile, all House Democrats and 23 Republicans rejected a resolution to censure Tlaib for her criticism of Israel and her speech at a protest calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war. House Democrats then scrapped plans to vote on a resolution to censure Marjorie Taylor Greene for her past support of political violence and history of antisemitic and racist remarks. (New York Times / Axios / Politico / CNN / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / NPR / Associated Press)
3/ Special counsel Jack Smith accused Trump of seeking to manipulate the courts to delay both his classified documents and election interference trials past the 2024 presidential election “at any cost.” Currently, Trump’s election interference trial is set to begin in early March, and the classified documents case is set to go to trial in late May – less than two months before the start of the Republican National Convention in July. Smith’s office is prosecuting both federal cases, and if Trump wins the election, he could likely shut down the cases as president. Trump’s lawyers have argued that they need a delay in the classified documents case because it will clash with the federal election case. While Judge Aileen Cannon didn’t explicitly agree to move the trial, she did acknowledge that there would be “adjustments” to the schedule. Hours later, Trump asked Judge Tanya Chutkan to halt his election interference case until the court issues an opinion on whether he has “absolute immunity” from criminal prosecution for actions he took while president. “Defendant Trump’s actions in the hours following the hearing […] confirm his overriding interest in delaying both trials at any cost,” the Justice Department said in a court filing. “This Court should [not] allow itself to be manipulated in this fashion.” (ABC News / CNN / Axios / Politico / The Messenger)
4/ Trump Jr. and Eric Trump both testified in the $250 million New York civil fraud trial accusing the Trump family of knowingly committing “numerous acts of fraud” by inflating Trump’s net worth on statements of financial condition in order get more favorable loans. The judge overseeing the case, Arthur Engoron, has already found Trump, Trump Jr., and Eric Trump liable for “persistent and repeated” fraud. The trial is to determine how much the Trumps and their businesses will have to pay. Nevertheless, Trump Jr., who signed and certified the accuracy of the statements, testified that “I wasn’t involved” in the Trump Organization’s statements of financial condition. He blamed his accountants, saying “That’s what we paid them to do.” Meanwhile, Eric Trump initially denied having “anything to do” with the financial statements or appraisals of Trump Organization assets, saying “I pour concrete, I operate properties.” But when shown an email exchange he had with an appraiser about appraisals, Eric raised his voice and said: “We were a major organization, a massive real estate organization […] of course, I was clear we had financial statements. Absolutely.” (New York Times / NBC News / CNN / ABC News / NPR)
1/ The Rafah border crossing opened for the first time since Israel imposed a siege on the Gaza Strip, allowing for up to 500 foreign nationals and seriously injured Palestinian civilians a day to enter into Egypt. Dozens of people were wounded during an Israeli airstrike on Jabalya – the most populous refugee camp in the region. It was the third strike on the camp in 24 hours. The United Nation’s Human Rights Office expressed concern that the airstrikes “could amount to war crimes.” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres added that he’s “appalled over the escalating violence in Gaza,” including the killing of civilians by Israeli airstrikes in the refugee camp, and reiterated that “all parties must abide by international law, international humanitarian law including the principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution.” Meanwhile, Gaza’s more than two million residents faced another communication blackout – the second major outage in five days – after a “complete interruption” of internet and phone service. Communication services are gradually being restored. The Biden administration reportedly believes that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s political future may only “last a matter of months” due to growing international opposition to the current Israeli military campaign in Gaza and anger over failures by Israel’s intelligence community to prevent the Hamas Oct. 7 terror attack. Nevertheless, Netanyahu vowed to press on with the military campaign in Gaza, saying: “We are in a difficult war. It will also be a long war. We have important achievements, but also painful losses.” (New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post / Associated Press / CNN / Politico / ABC News)
2/ The House Republican plan to fund $14 billion in emergency aid for Israel with cuts to the IRS would end up costing taxpayers $26 billion over 10 years, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said. By giving Israel $14 billion and attaching $14 billion in IRS funding cuts, the package would add $12.5 billion to the deficit through 2033, but result in $26.8 billion in lost tax revenue over the next 10 years. IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel, however, said the price tag of the Republicans’ plan could be even larger than CBO’s estimate: “This type of the cut, over the cost of the Inflation Reduction Act, would actually cost taxpayers $90 billion — that’s with a ‘B.’” Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act included $80 billion to modernize the IRS and improve tax collection and enforcement, which the CBO estimated at the time would cut the deficit by more than $100 billion. (Washington Post / The Hill / Insider)
3/ The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged at a 22-year high for the second straight policy meeting. Fed Chair Jerome Powell signaled that rates would remain high into next year to keep inflation moving down, and hinted that future rate hikes were possible. Rates have been in a range of 5.25% to 5.5% since July – up from near-zero in March 2022 – despite inflation falling significantly since hitting a four-decade high last summer of over 9%. “Inflation has been coming down but it’s still running well above our 2% target,” Powell said. “Given how far we have come, along with the uncertainties and risks we face, the committee is proceeding carefully.” GDP, meanwhile, rose at a 4.9% annual rate in the third quarter – the fastest clip in almost two years. (Wall Street Journal / CNBC / Bloomberg / New York Times / ABC News / Axios / NPR / NBC News)
U.S. job openings climbed to 9.6 million in September, up from 9.5 million in August. Prior to the pandemic monthly job openings had never topped 8 million. Layoffs, meanwhile, fell to 1.5 million in September from 1.7 million in August. (Associated Press / New York Times / Bloomberg)
💡 The economy is doing great, but why are Americans so gloomy? (Wall Street Journal)
4/ The Biden administration will spend $1.3 billion to build three large electrical transmission lines across six states to upgrade the nation’s power grid so it can better handle more renewable energy, as well as extreme weather. The lines, built with money from the bipartisan infrastructure law, will span from Arizona to New Mexico, Nevada to Utah, and through Vermont and New Hampshire and into Canada. Together, the three transmission lines will add 3.5 gigawatts of additional electric capacity to the grid – enough to power about 3 million homes – and create roughly 13,000 new jobs. Even so, the Energy Department said the U.S. needs to expand its transmission line network by two-thirds or more to meet Biden’s goal of 100% clean electricity generation by 2035. (CNN / New York Times / CNBC / The Hill)
5/ Infant mortality rates in the U.S. increased 3% last year – the largest increase in two decades. The national rate rose to 5.6 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in 2022, up from 5.44 per 1,000 the year before, the CDC reported. While the increase may seem small, it’s the first statistically significant jump since the rate rose from 6.8 deaths per 1,000 in 2001 to 7.0 deaths in 2002. The U.S. infant mortality rate is double that of most developed countries. (Associated Press / ABC News / Wall Street Journal)
1/ Speaker Mike Johnson and House Republicans unveiled a $14.3 billion aid package for Israel that cuts the IRS budget by about the same amount, while also leaving out Ukraine assistance and other bipartisan priorities. Senate Democrats and the White House called the bill a nonstarter, saying it’s “politicizing our national security interests.” Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned lawmakers at the Senate Appropriations Committee that failing to pass aid for both Israel and Ukraine would “embolden both Moscow and Tehran.” Mitch McConnell, meanwhile, has been stressing the need for linking aid for Ukraine and Israel together in a larger emergency funding package that also funds Taiwan and U.S. border security. “And if we don’t stand up to these challenges now,” McConnell said, “they will cost us a lot more in the future.” The Biden administration has asked for $105 billion in national security funding. (NPR / Washington Post / CNN / Politico / Associated Press)
2/ The Israeli Defense Forces took responsibility for an airstrike that dropped six bombs on a refugee camp in Gaza that killed and injured hundreds of people. The IDF claimed the blast killed a Hamas official behind the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, but didn’t acknowledge the civilian deaths and casualties. The IDF reiterated its warning to residents to evacuate south, but also said it would continue “striking in all parts of the Gaza Strip.” More than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been displaced since Israel’s total siege of the enclave. The commissioner general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency said the enclave’s entire population is “being dehumanized” and that thousands of children killed in Israeli airstrikes “cannot be collateral damage.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, ruled out a cease-fire, saying “this is a time for war.” (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / ABC News / CNN / Bloomberg / Wall street Journal / Associated Press / CNBC)
3/ Biden invoked emergency federal powers to assert oversight of artificial intelligence systems, part of an executive order aimed at safeguarding against threats posed by what he called the “most consequential technology of our time.” Using the Defense Production Act, the order legally requires AI products be tested to assure they can’t be used to produce biological or nuclear weapons, requires developers to share safety test results and other information with the government, and requires the National Institute of Standards and Technology to create standards to ensure AI tools are safe and secure before public release. The order also directs federal agencies to both deploy AI and guard against its possible bias. (Associated Press / NPR / Wall Street Journal / ABC News / Politico / NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post / CBS News)
4/ The Biden administration released a new proposal for student loan relief that prioritizes borrowers “experiencing financial hardship.” In June, the Supreme Court struck down Biden’s pandemic-era debt relief plan, which aimed to cancel up to $20,000 in student debt for an estimated 43 million borrowers. The new proposal would provide loan forgiveness for four categories of borrowers – those who have outstanding federal student loan balances that exceed the original amount borrowed; those with loans that entered repayment 25 or more years ago; those with loans for career-training programs that led to “unreasonable debt loads or provided insufficient earnings”; and those who attended school with “unacceptably high” student loan default rates – deemed eligible for forgiveness through income-driven repayment or other targeted relief programs. (Axios / NBC News)
5/ Senate Democrats plan to subpoena three wealthy and influential conservatives who provided Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito with luxury travel. Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee said they would subpoena Harlan Crow, Leonard Leo, and Robin Arkley II for documents as part of their investigation into ethics reform at the Supreme Court. “By accepting these lavish, undisclosed gifts, the justices have enabled their wealthy benefactors and other individuals with business before the Court to gain private access to the justices while preventing public scrutiny of this conduct,” the Senate Judiciary Committee said. “In order to adequately address this crisis, it is imperative that we understand the full extent of how people with interests before the Court are able to use undisclosed gifts to gain private access to the justices.” A vote is expected as soon as Nov. 9. (Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / NBC News / Associated Press / CNN)
Clarence Thomas didn’t fully repay a $267,230 loan for a luxury RV. “Thomas did not include the loan on his ethics disclosure forms, and it is not known whether he disclosed the loan forgiveness to the IRS, as required by law because loan forgiveness is taxable income.” (NPR / Washington Post / CBS News / Wall Street Journal)
1/ The Israel Defense Forces has “expanded” and will “continue and intensify” its ground operation in the Gaza Strip as troops and armored tanks have moved toward Gaza City from at least three sides to conduct “coordinated attacks from the ground and the air.” At least 1,400 people have died and 4,629 others have been injured in Israel since the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks. Since then, more than 1 million people – half of the population of Gaza – have been displaced, and the Hamas-run Gazan health ministry says over 8,000 people, including women and children, have died. When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was asked about the civilian death toll in Gaza from Israeli airstrikes, he claimed that “not a single civilian has to die,” accusing Hamas of “preventing them from leaving the areas of conflict.” Netanyahu also rejected calls for a humanitarian cease-fire, saying “this is a time for war” and that “calls for a cease-fire are calls for Israel to surrender to Hamas.” He added: “This is a battle of civilization against barbarians. The future of our civilization is at stake.” The United Nations, meanwhile, warned that “civil order” is deteriorating in Gaza after weeks of a total Israeli siege and bombardment, which Israel says is necessary in order to pressure Hamas to release hostages. Following pressure from Biden to “immediately and significantly” scale up the flow of humanitarian aid into the enclave, Israel agreed to allow 100 aid trucks per day into Gaza. (NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times / Associated Press / ABC News / CNN / CNBC / Bloomberg)
2/ A federal judge reinstated Trump’s gag order in his election subversion criminal case. Judge Tanya Chutkan had temporarily paused the gag order, which barred Trump from making public statements targeting prosecutors, court staff, and likely witnesses, on Oct. 20 as she considered Trump’s appeal. Chutkan, however, reinstate the order after prosecutors cited Trump’s recent social media comments about Mark Meadows that they said represented an attempt to influence and intimidate a likely witness in the case. Trump’s comments followed a report that Meadows was granted immunity to testify before a grand jury. After Chutkan reinstated the gag order, Trump called her a “very Biased, Trump Hating Judge” on his personal social media site, claiming the order “unconstitutionally takes away” his First Amendment Rights. Trump also called William Barr – a potential witness in the case against him – “dumb” and “weak” and a “loser.” (NBC News / Washington Post / Axios / ABC News / Associated Press / Politico / CNBC / NPR)
3/ Ivanka Trump will have to take the witness stand in the $250 million New York civil fraud case against Trump, Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and the Trump Organization, the judge overseeing the case ruled. Judge Arthur Engoron denied a motion from Ivanka’s attorneys to quash a subpoena for her testimony, who had argued that she shouldn’t be forced to appear after an appellate court removed her as a defendant in the case. The New York attorney general’s office, meanwhile, said it plans to call Trump Jr. to testify on Wednesday, Eric Trump on Thursday, and Ivanka on Friday. Trump will take the stand Nov. 6. (NBC News / CNN / Politico)
4/ Pence suspended his presidential campaign, saying “it’s become clear to me that this is not my time.” Pence’s decision to end his campaign – which drew an audible gasp from the audience – comes less than 90 days before the Iowa caucuses, which he had staked his campaign on. Pence previously argued that Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election should be disqualifying, saying that “anyone who puts themselves over the Constitution should never be president of the United States.” Meanwhile, Rep. Dean Phillips launched a primary challenge against Biden for the Democratic nomination for president. The White House and Biden campaign, however, barely acknowledged Phillips, saying Biden expects the congressman’s “almost 100%” support. (Politico / Washington Post / Associated Press / Bloomberg / NBC News / New York Times / ABC News / CNBC)
5/ The first of two trials to determine whether Trump is eligible to be president for his role in the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, kicked off in Denver. The lawsuit argues that Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election meet the disqualification criteria under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which bars anyone who “engaged in insurrection” after taking an oath to uphold the Constitution from holding higher office again. The lawsuit was filed by the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington on behalf of six Republican and unaffiliated voters. On Thursday, the Minnesota Supreme Court will hear arguments in a similar suit filed by a group called Free Speech for People, which also cites the same provision in the 14th Amendment of the Constitution. (NBC News / USA Today / Associated Press / New York Times / CNN)
1/ A manhunt for the gunman suspected of killing 18 people and injuring 13 others in Maine is ongoing. Suspect, Robert Card, shot and killed the victims at a bowling alley and restaurant in Lewiston and then fled. He remains at large and is considered armed and dangerous, and residents are under a shelter-in-place advisory. Biden urged Congress to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, similar to the ones used by Card, saying this “is not normal, and we cannot accept it.” This is the 36th mass killing in the United States this year and marks the deadliest shooting of 2023 thus far. (NBC News / NPR / Politico / Associated Press / Axios / New York Times / Washington Post)
2/ The Israeli military briefly sent tanks into the Gaza Strip as part of a “targeted raid” in order “to prepare the battlefield” in preparation for the “next stages of combat.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was “preparing for a ground incursion” of Gaza, but that he “won’t specify” when or how it would occur. The U.N. has warned that, despite Israeli evacuation warnings, “nowhere is safe in Gaza.” Israel has also rejected international calls for a cease-fire to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid supplies to the Gaza Strip. Since the Hamas terror attack on Oct. 7, the Israeli military has struck more than 7,000 targets inside of Gaza, which Palestinians have called an indiscriminately targeting of civilians. The Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry said at least 7,028 Palestinians have been killed, including 2,913 children. These claims could not be verified, and the State Department said it had no way to accurately assess the death toll. The House, meanwhile, passed a bipartisan resolution that states the U.S. “stands with Israel as it defends itself against the barbaric war launched by Hamas and other terrorists,” affirms Israel’s right to self-defense, and calls for an immediate halt of violence. And the Pentagon is deploying roughly 900 U.S. troops to the Middle East. None of the troops are going to Israel. (New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post / CNN / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
3/ Marjorie Taylor Greene introduced a resolution to censure Rashida Tlaib. The measure would censure Tlaib, the only Palestinian-American in Congress, for alleged “antisemitic activity, sympathizing with terrorist organizations and leading an insurrection” at the Capitol, because she spoke to protestors advocating for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. Tlaib called Greene’s resolution “deeply Islamophobic and attacks peaceful Jewish anti-war advocates.” Democrats are expected to censure Greene in retaliation for her history of inflammatory rhetoric, including a history of racism, homophobia, antisemitism, Islamophobia, and promotion of conspiracy theories. Meanwhile, other lawmakers are prepping a resolution to expel George Santos, who faces federal charges for wire fraud, money laundering, theft of public funds, lying to Congress, and identity theft. The tit-for-tat comes as the House faces a Nov. 17 deadline to pass a spending measure to avert a government shutdown, as well as consider Biden’s request for $106 billion in emergency funds for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, and the U.S. border. (NBC News / Politico / Axios / Politico / CBS News / Wall Street Journal)
4/ Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has discussed potential plea deals with at least six more Trump co-defendants in the Georgia election subversion case. Of the 19 defendants in the case, four have accepted a deal, including three attorneys who illegally conspired to overturn Trump’s 2020 election loss in Georgia. (CNN)
5/ Special counsel Jack Smith asked a judge to reimpose a federal gag order on Trump in the election interference case, citing Trump’s recent comments “targeting a known witness in this case in an attempt to influence and intimidate him.” Smith argued that the court should also consider stricter sanctions, including sending him to jail, if Trump keeps talking about witnesses in the case. Trump has “capitalized” on the temporary suspension of his partial gag order to “send an unmistakable and threatening message to a foreseeable witness in this case,” Smith said. (CNBC / Washington Post / Axios / Politico)
6/ A federal judge ordered Georgia to draw new congressional and state legislative maps before 2024. District Court Judge Steve Jones wrote that the political maps drawn by Republican lawmakers after the last census violate the federal Voting Rights Act by diluting the voting power of Black voters. Jones ordered lawmakers to redraw the congressional map to include an additional majority-Black district, two additional majority-Black state senate districts, and five additional majority-Black state House districts. (Associated Press / NPR / Washington Post / CNN)
7/ North Carolina Republicans approved a new congressional map that eliminates roughly half of the Democrats representing the state in the House. The state’s congressional delegation is currently split 7-7 between the political parties, but the new map divvies up the state’s 14 congressional districts into 10 districts that favor Republicans, three that favor Democrats, and one that is considered competitive for both parties. (New York Times / CNN / NPR)
✏️ Notables.
“The transition to clean energy is happening worldwide and it’s unstoppable,” according to the annual “World Energy Outlook” from the International Energy Agency. “It’s not a question of ‘if’, it’s just a matter of ‘how soon’ — and the sooner the better for all of us.” The agency expects there to be nearly 10 times as many electric cars on the road globally by 2030, and for renewables to account for almost half of the global energy mix – up from 30% today. (The Verge / CNN / Washington Post / IEA)
Collapse of the West Antarctic ice sheet is all but “unavoidable,” according to a study published in the journal Nature Climate Change. The study found that regardless of how aggressively humans act to reduce fossil fuel emissions, the waters near West Antarctica’s glaciers are forecast to warm at a pace three times faster than they have in the past, which will cause “widespread increases in ice-shelf melting, including in regions crucial for ice-sheet stability.” The melt process would likely take several centuries, but a total collapse of the West Antarctic ice sheet could contribute about 10 feet to overall sea level rise. (NBC News / Washington Post)
In 2023, Earth had at least 38 days that exceeded daily average temperatures of 1.5C – more than in any other year – according to the annual State of the Climate report. Before 2000, global average daily temperature never went higher than 1.5C (2.7F) above pre-industrial levels. The report concludes that: “Life on planet Earth is under siege.” (Bloomberg)
The newly elected House speaker, Mike Johnson, has questioned climate science, opposed clean energy, and accepted campaign contributions from oil and gas companies. Johnson “has consistently voted against dozens of climate bills and amendments, opposing legislation that would require companies to disclose their risks from climate change and bills that would reduce leaks of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from oil and gas wells. He has voted for measures that would cut funding to the Environmental Protection Agency.” (New York Times)
1/ After 22 days and three failed nominees, House Republicans elected a speaker to replace Kevin McCarthy. The House voted 220-209 to elect Mike Johnson as speaker – with all Republicans voting for Johnson and all Democrats voting for Hakeem Jeffries. “The people’s House is back in business,” Johnson said after taking the gavel. Johnson, who served on Trump’s defense team during his first impeachment trial, voted against certifying the 2020 election and led the amicus brief supporting a Texas lawsuit seeking to invalidate the results in four swing states Biden won. The lawsuit cited widespread voter fraud, which did not occur. The House has been unable to conduct routine business since Republicans ousted McCarthy for working with Democrats to pass a short-term spending bill to avert a shutdown. Johnson will immediately need to pass a measure to fund the government ahead of a Nov. 17 shutdown, and act on emergency aid for Israel, Ukraine, and the southern border. (Associated Press / Politico / NPR / Washington Post / New York Times / ABC News / NBC News / CNN / CNBC / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Axios)
2/ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was “preparing for a ground incursion” of the Gaza Strip to “exact the full price from the murderers.” Netanyahu, however, agreed to a Biden administration request to hold off on sending tanks and soldiers into Gaza to free more hostages, allow for the arrival of humanitarian aid into enclave, and to give the Pentagon time to deploy nearly a dozen air-defense systems to protect U.S. troops in the region. While Biden reiterated Israel’s right to defend itself, he called for a two-state solution, saying there must be “a vision of what comes next” because Israelis and Palestinians “equally deserve to live side-by-side in safety, dignity and peace.” The United Nations, meanwhile, warned that the humanitarian crisis in Gaza has reached an “unprecedented point,” as hospitals have shut down and clean water has “virtually run out.” The World Health Organization reported that 12 of 35 hospitals in Gaza were not functioning, and that seven major hospitals were well over capacity. When the U.N. called for a humanitarian cease-fire, a top Israeli diplomat said it was time to teach the world body “a lesson.” Russia and China also vetoed a U.S.-led U.N. Security Council draft resolution condemning the Hamas attack, called for the release of hostages, and for humanitarian aid for Gaza. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / Axios / Associated Press / NPR)
3/ Trump was fined $10,000 for – again – violating the gag order in his New York state’s $250 million civil fraud trial. Judge Arthur Engoron ordered Trump to the witness stand to face questioning under oath about comments he made earlier in the day that “this judge is a very partisan judge with a person who’s very partisan sitting alongside of him, perhaps even much more partisan than he is.” Trump claimed he was referring to the witness testifying, Michael Cohen, and not Engoron’s law clerk, who sits next to him. Engoron said he found Trump’s testimony “not credible” and fined him $10,000, saying “Don’t do it again or it will be worse.” This is the second time Engoron has fined Trump for violating the gag order, which prohibits him from speaking about any members of the court staff. (Associated Press / Politico / New York Times / ABC News / NBC News / CNN / CNBC / Bloomberg)
4/ Mark Meadows was granted immunity in special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Meadows has reportedly met with federal prosecutors at least three times, including once before a federal grand jury, providing testimony that he didn’t believe the election was stolen and that Trump was being “dishonest” when he claimed victory when polls first closed on Nov. 3, 2020. Meadows also told Smith’s team that he repeatedly told Trump following election that the allegations of voter fraud were baseless. Trump responded to the report on his personal social media platform claiming that “Mark Meadows NEVER told me that allegations of significant fraud (about the RIGGED Election!) were baseless. He certainly didn’t say that in his book!” (ABC News / CNN)
poll/ 75% of Americans agree that the “future of American democracy is at risk” in the 2024 presidential election. 23% of Americans agree that “true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country” – up from 15% in 2021. (PRRI / NPR)
1/ The Biden administration is reportedly worried that Israel lacks “achievable military objectives” ahead of its anticipated ground offensive in Gaza, but will refrain from “dictating terms” for Israel. Biden, nevertheless, sent a Marine three-star general and several military officers to advise the Israeli military. The U.S. has also reportedly called on Israel to delay its ground invasion for hostage negotiations and to address the worsening humanitarian crisis in the besieged enclave. Gaza’s 2.3 million people are running out of food, water, and medicine since Israel sealed off the territory following the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7. At least 2,000 children are among the more than 5,700 people that been killed in Gaza by Israeli air strikes, which have escalated in the past two days. At least six hospitals in Gaza have been forced to close due to a lack of fuel, in addition to those that have closed because of damage or attacks. A doctor at the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City – the largest hospital in the enclave – said that without electricity, the hospital “will just be a mass grave” and “there’s nothing to do for these wounded.” The Palestinian Health Ministry declared the health care system a “complete collapse.” U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres called for a humanitarian cease-fire, saying “the appalling attacks by Hamas,” which left 1,400 people dead, didn’t “justify the collective punishment” of civilians in Gaza. In response, Israeli officials called on Guterres to resign and said they’ll “reassess” their relations with the U.N. The Biden administration, meanwhile, is preparing for the possibility that more than 600,000 Americans living in Israel and Lebanon will require evacuation if the war escalates. (New York Times / HuffPost / Washington Post / NBC News / CNN / NPR / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / The Guardian)
2/ Tom Emmer dropped out of the speaker’s race four hours after House Republicans selected him as their nominee when it became clear he couldn’t secure the 217 votes needed to win the gavel. Republicans had nominated Emmer after five rounds of voting behind closed doors. However, at least two dozen Republicans immediately indicated they would not support Emmer for the speakership, including some members of the House Freedom Caucus. It’s unclear whether any Republican can get the required votes in the divided chamber. Emmer is the third Republican this month to be nominated to lead the party, only to have his bid collapse due to the party’s competing ideological groups. Republicans have also succeeded in rejecting their three top leaders for the job: Kevin McCarthy, Steve Scalise, and Emmer. Trump, meanwhile, called Emmer a “Globalist RINO” and “totally out-of-touch with Republican Voters,” adding that electing him speaker would’ve been a “tragic mistake.” Notably, Emmer voted to certify the 2020 election. The House remains frozen until a new speaker is elected. (CNN / NBC News / ABC News / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / Politico / NPR / Washington Post)
3/ A fourth Trump co-defendant pleaded guilty to illegally conspiring to overturn Trump’s 2020 election loss in Georgia. Jenna Ellis pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and abetting false statements related to the conspiracy to overturn the election in Trump’s favor. Ellis will cooperate with Fulton County prosecutors and serve five years of probation, pay $5,000 in restitution, and perform 100 hours of community service. She also agreed to write a letter of apology to the state of Georgia. Ellis is the third Trump campaign lawyer to accept a plea deal in the criminal racketeering case. (NBC News / NPR / Associated Press / New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNN / CNBC / CBS News / Atlanta Journal-Constitution / Politico)
📌 Day 1007: A third Trump co-defendant pleaded guilty to illegally conspiring to overturn Trump’s 2020 election loss in Georgia. Kenneth Chesebro agreed to provide evidence and cooperate with state prosecutors, who have charged him, Trump, and 17 others of conspiring to keep Trump in power. Sidney Powell and bail bondsman Scott Hall previously pleaded guilty in the criminal racketeering case. All three have agreed to testify against others in the case. (ABC News / New York Times / NBC News / CNN / Washington Post)
📌 Day 1003: Trump’s co-defendant Sidney Powell pleaded guilty in the Georgia election subversion case – one day before her trial was set to start. Powell, a former member of Trump’s legal team, was sentenced to six years of probation for conspiracy to commit intentional interference with performance of election duties. As part of the deal, Powell agreed to testify truthfully against any of the 17 remaining defendants, write an apology letter to the citizens of Georgia, pay nearly $9,000 in restitution and fines, and to turn over any documents in her possession related to the case. Powell is the second of Trump’s 18 co-defendants in the racketeering case to plead guilty. Scott Hall, a bail bondsman, pleaded guilty to five misdemeanor charges related to a voting system breach in Georgia’s Coffee County in early 2021. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution / CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / Axios / Associated Press / Politico / NPR / NBC News)
4/ Trump – seeking to toss federal charges that he conspired to defraud the U.S. – argued that his actions were protected by the First Amendment and that he can’t be tried again after being acquitted by the Senate during his second impeachment. In four separate motions to dismiss, Trump contends that the felony indictment — which charges him with conspiring to obstruct Congress’ certification of the 2020 election, conspiring to deprive Americans of the right to vote and have that vote counted, and conspiring to defraud government officials administering the election — “does not explain” how he violated the laws. Further, Trump argued that the Justice Department is criminalizing “core political speech,” and that he is the target of “selective and vindictive prosecution.” Trump also claims that he has absolute immunity from federal prosecution because his efforts to overturn his election loss and remain in office were at “the heart of his official responsibilities as President.” Special counsel Jack Smith asked a judge to dismiss Trump’s claim of absolute immunity, saying its implications “are startling.” (Politico / New York Times / NPR / NBC News / Axios / CBS News)
Trump’s lawyer argued that he should be allowed to assert presidential immunity as a defense in E. Jean Carroll’s defamation lawsuit, which accuses him of sexual assault. A district judge rejected Trump’s immunity argument in June, prompting him to appeal to the 2nd Circuit, which asked why Trump waited nearly three years to raise the immunity defense. (Politico / NBC News)
Michael Cohen testified that Trump directed him to falsely inflate his net worth. In the $250 million civil fraud trial brought by the New York Attorney General Letitia James, Cohen testified that “I was tasked by Mr. Trump to increase the total assets based upon a number that he arbitrarily elected,” and it was his responsibility to “increase those assets in order to achieve the number that Mr. Trump had tasked us.” Trump, meanwhile, watched from the defense table about 10 feet away. (New York Times / ABC News / NBC News / CNBC)
1/ The House entered its third week without a speaker after Republicans dropped Jim Jordan as their nominee while nine other Republicans have lined up for the speakership – seven of which voted to overturn the 2020 election. After three failed floor votes for his speaker bid, Republicans voted by secret ballot to drop Jordan as their nominee. Since then, nine Republicans have announced bids for the job and the conference is scheduled to vote Tuesday morning on a nominee. Only two of the nine – Tom Emmer and Austin Scott – voted to certify Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election. Trump’s allies in the House, however, have criticized Emmer for voting to certify the election and it’s not clear if any of the Republican lawmakers will be able to secure the 217 votes needed to serve as speaker. Interim Speaker Patrick McHenry, meanwhile, threatened to quit if his Republican colleagues try to move legislation on the floor without an explicit vote to expand his powers. Kevin McCarthy, who was ousted on Oct. 3, called the stalemate “embarrassing for the Republican Party.” (CNN / NBC News / Axios / Wall Street Journal)
2/ Hamas released two more hostages for “humanitarian and health reasons,” which follows the release of two American hostages last week. It’s believed that Hamas abducted more than 200 people during its Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel, which killed 1,400 people. The death toll in the Gaza Strip, meanwhile, has reportedly passed 5,000 as Israel continues its bombardment ahead of an expected ground invasion. The Biden administration, meanwhile, advised Israel to delay any ground invasion, hoping to buy time for hostage negotiations and to allow more humanitarian aid to reach Palestinians in the sealed-off enclave. At the same time, Biden sent a Marine three-star general and several military officers to Israel to advise the Israeli military about its operation in Gaza. (New York Times / Washington Post / NPR / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / NBC News)
3/ Biden asked Congress for $105 billion in national security funding for Ukraine, Israel, humanitarian aid, border security, and countering China in the Indo-Pacific. Biden called the funding package “a smart investment that’s going to pay dividends for American security for generations.” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer praised the package and said he would move quickly to pass Biden’s full national security package. House Republicans, however, have grown critical of the administration’s approach to the war in Ukraine and want to rein in government spending. The House is also without a speaker, preventing the chamber from conducting any legislative business. (Washington Post / CBS News / NPR / New York Times / CNN)
4/ A third Trump co-defendant pleaded guilty to illegally conspiring to overturn Trump’s 2020 election loss in Georgia. Kenneth Chesebro agreed to provide evidence and cooperate with state prosecutors, who have charged him, Trump, and 17 others of conspiring to keep Trump in power. Sidney Powell and bail bondsman Scott Hall previously pleaded guilty in the criminal racketeering case. All three have agreed to testify against others in the case. (ABC News / New York Times / NBC News / CNN / Washington Post)
5/ The Supreme Court temporarily allowed the White House to continue its efforts to pressure social media companies to remove misinformation from their platforms. Earlier this year, a lower court ruled that the Biden administration had likely violated the First Amendment by pressuring tech companies to remove or suppress misinformation. The Biden administration called the injunction “unprecedented.” The Supreme Court blocked the lower court’s injunction and agreed to immediately take up the government’s appeal. (Politico / CBS News / Bloomberg / NBC News / Washington Post)
6/ Trump was fined $5,000 for a “blatant violation” of a gag order in his New York civil fraud trial. After Trump disparaged a court staffer, Judge Arthur Engoron said, “this Court is way behind the ‘warning’ stage,” but stopped short of holding Trump in contempt. Engoron said that “future violations, whether intentional or unintentional,” could result in possible jail time or harsher financial penalties. (Axios / Associated Press / CNN / New York Times)
7/ Trump denied that he shared U.S. national security secrets with an Australian billionaire. Anthony Pratt, who was interviewed by special counsel Jack Smith’s office as part of the classified documents case, said Trump shared sensitive information about U.S. nuclear submarines with him, as well as U.S. military operations in Iraq and Trump’s conversations with the presidents of Iraq and Ukraine. Although Trump denied telling “a red haired weirdo from Australia” national security secrets, secret recordings obtained by “60 Minutes Australia” captured Pratt recounting his private conversations with Trump. (New York Times / NBC News / CNN / Rolling Stone)
1/ Trump’s co-defendant Sidney Powell pleaded guilty in the Georgia election subversion case – one day before her trial was set to start. Powell, a former member of Trump’s legal team, was sentenced to six years of probation for conspiracy to commit intentional interference with performance of election duties. As part of the deal, Powell agreed to testify truthfully against any of the 17 remaining defendants, write an apology letter to the citizens of Georgia, pay nearly $9,000 in restitution and fines, and to turn over any documents in her possession related to the case. Powell is the second of Trump’s 18 co-defendants in the racketeering case to plead guilty. Scott Hall, a bail bondsman, pleaded guilty to five misdemeanor charges related to a voting system breach in Georgia’s Coffee County in early 2021. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution / CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / Axios / Associated Press / Politico / NPR / NBC News)
2/ Jim Jordan told Republicans he would suspend his bid to become speaker after two failed efforts but hours later reversed course, saying he was “still running for speaker” after a plan he endorsed to empower a temporary speaker collapsed. Jordan said he planned to try for a third round of votes later Thursday. The proposal would have allowed Rep. Patrick McHenry to reopen the House after 16 days, allowing Republicans to address government spending and aid for Israel and Ukraine. 20 Republicans voted against Jordan in the first ballot, followed by 22 Republicans voting against him on the second ballot. Meanwhile, several House Republicans who voted against Jordan for speaker said they’ve been threatened or harassed as a result of a pressure campaign by Jordan’s allies – including one lawmaker saying they’ve received a “credible death threat.” [Editor’s note: It’s entirely possibly that by the time you read this the House will have elected a speaker. It’s also entirely possible that the House will still be leaderless.] (NBC News / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / Associated Press)
3/ Biden will address the nation on the U.S. response to the Hamas terror attacks Thursday at 8 p.m. Eastern. The Oval Office speech comes a day after Biden’s visit to Israel, followed by “blunt negotiations” with Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi open the gates to the Rafah border crossing to allow up to 20 trucks with humanitarian aid through. “I came to get something done – I got it done,” Biden said. More than a million people – nearly half the Gaza population – has been displaced following Israel’s warning that residents of northern Gaza evacuate. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told troops to “get organized, be ready” and that they would soon see Gaza “from within,” while Major General Yaron Finkelman, in charge of the Israel Defense Forces’ Southern Command, added that a ground invasion of Gaza is “going to be difficult, it’s going to be long, it’s going to be intense.” The Pentagon, meanwhile, plans to send Israel tens of thousands of 155mm artillery shells from U.S. emergency stocks that had been designated for Ukraine. Biden is expected to ask Congress for $100 billion for Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan, and the U.S.-Mexico border in the coming days. And, the State Department issued a worldwide caution alert, citing the “potential for terrorist attacks, demonstrations or violent actions against U.S. citizens and interests” due to tensions in the Middle East triggered by Hamas terror attack on Israel and the unfolding Israel-Hamas war. (Washington Post / New York Times / ABC News / Wall Street Journal)
4/ Mortgage rates climbed to 8% – a level last seen in 2000 – causing demand for home loans to drop to the lowest level since 1995. The slowing housing market is a direct result of the Federal Reserve’s efforts to curb inflation and cool the economy by raising its benchmark interest rate to a 22-year high – to a range of 5.25 to 5.5% – over the past 19 months. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, meanwhile, suggested that the central bank will skip a rate increase for a second straight meeting. (ABC News / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / New York Times)
1/ The latest U.S. intelligence assessment concludes that Israel was “not responsible” for the blast at the al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza, based on “overhead imagery, intercepts and open source information.” Biden said the strike appeared to have resulted from an “errant rocket fired by a terrorist group in Gaza,” adding “it appears as though it was done by the other team.” Following his trip to Israel, Biden announced a deal with Israel to allow humanitarian aid to move into Gaza from Egypt. The U.S. will send $100 million in humanitarian assistance for Palestinians, and Biden said he would ask Congress for an “unprecedented” aid package for Israel. More than a million people have been displaced in the Gaza Strip, which the World Health Organization described conditions as “spiraling out of control” for those trapped in the enclave ahead of an expected Israeli invasion. The Treasury Department, meanwhile, imposedsanctions on “10 key Hamas terrorist group members, operatives, and financial facilitators” following the “brutal and unconscionable massacre of Israeli civilians.” (Associated Press / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / CNN / NPR / NBC News / Axios / Politico / Bloomberg)
2/ Jim Jordan failed to win the House speakership for a second time as the number of Republicans refusing to back him grew. Jordan can only afford to lose four Republicans, but he lost 20 in the first round of balloting yesterday, and he lost 22 on the second ballot today. He said he plans to “keep going.” The House went into recess after failing to elect a speaker. Some Republicans, meanwhile, have discussed a resolution to expand interim Speaker Patrick McHenry’s powers, which would allow Congress to function until a permanent speaker is chosen. Democrats said they would be open to working with McHenry as interim speaker. The House has been leaderless for two weeks after Kevin McCarthy was ousted by his Republican colleagues. [Editor’s note: It’s entirely possibly that by the time you read this the House will have elected a speaker. It’s also entirely possible that the House will still be leaderless.] (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / NPR / NBC News / CNBC / Bloomberg)
3/ Trump appealed the gag order imposed on him in his federal election case, which accuses him of conspiring to overturn his 2020 election loss to Biden. Judge Tanya Chutkan’s order prohibits Trump from publicly disparaging witnesses, prosecutors, and court staff members, saying his public statements pose “grave threats to the integrity of these proceedings.” Trump nevertheless claimed that Chutkan “took away my right to speak,” saying “I’ll be the only politician in our history where I won’t be allowed to criticize people.” Trump also claimed that the order will hamper his ability to speak on the 2024 presidential campaign trail. (CNN / NBC News / CNBC)
poll/ 85% of voters say they are concerned that the war between Israel and Hamas will escalate into a wider war in the Middle East, while 13% are not concerned. (Quinnipiac)
1/ Biden will travel to Israel to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and show solidarity with the U.S. ally “in the face of Hamas’s brutal terrorist attack.” It’s the first time a U.S. president has visited Israel while it’s actively at war, and comes ahead of Israel’s expected ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza as international pressure builds over the humanitarian crisis – and rising civilian death toll – developing in the enclave. The Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza – the only way out of Gaza – will reopen to humanitarian aid for Palestinian civilians currently under siege by Israeli forces. The corridor, however, remains closed – for now – for hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinian civilians hoping to leave the bombarded territory. Biden, meanwhile, deployed two aircraft carrier strike groups to the region to deter Iran and proxy militant groups from joining a wider regional war. (CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / NPR / NBC News / Politico / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
2/ The U.S. secretly supplied Ukraine with long-range ATACMS missiles for the first time, which have been used to strike Russian military aircraft and ammunition depots in occupied Ukraine. Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other Ukrainian leaders had urged the U.S. to send ATACMS for more than a year, but the Biden administration feared that such a move could enrage Moscow and escalate U.S. involvement in the war. Biden green-lit the delivery last month, wanting to take the Russians by surprise. Some variants of the missiles have a maximum range of approximately 186 miles. (Associated Press / Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / CNN)
3/ The Supreme Court – again – allowed the federal government to ban “ghost guns” – unassembled and unmarked guns that can be bought online and then assembled into fully operative guns. In 2022, Biden announced a new federal rule to regulate homemade guns known as “ghost guns” more like regular guns, including requiring serial numbers and background checks for purchase. Gun manufacturers challenged the regulations in court and a federal judge in Texas issued a nationwide injunction barring the rule from going into effect. Today’s Supreme Court ruling invalidates that lower court ruling and allows the regulations to remain in effect while the legal challenge plays out. (NPR / CNN / Associated Press / CBS News)
4/ Jim Jordan failed to win the House speakership in the first round of voting after 20 of his Republicans colleagues voted against him. Jordan plans to force another vote after falling 17 votes short of the 217 he needed, saying “whatever it takes to get a speaker today.” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries won 212 votes, while several Republican members voted for previous candidates for the job, including Kevin McCarthy and Steve Scalise, who already withdrew from the race. In January, McCarthy was elected House speaker after multiple days of negotiations and 15 rounds of voting only to be ousted nine months later. The House has been without a speaker for more than 13 days. Jordan was one of the 147 Republicans who voted to reject the 2020 election results in Pennsylvania and Arizona, and was a “significant player” in Trump’s attempts to use Congress to overturn the election on Jan. 6. Jordan is also a co-leader of the impeachment inquiry against Biden despite no evidence linking him to high crimes or misdemeanors. [Editor’s note: It’s entirely possibly that by the time you read this the House will have elected a speaker. It’s also entirely possible that the House will still be leaderless.] (CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / ABC News)
1/ A federal judge imposed a narrow gag order on Trump, restricting him from attacking witnesses, prosecutors, and court staff involved in his election subversion case. “This is not about whether I like the language Mr. Trump uses,” Judge Tanya Chutkan said. “This is about language that presents a danger to the administration of justice […] His presidential candidacy does not give him carte blanche to vilify public servants who are simply doing their jobs.” Chutkan didn’t specify how she would enforce the gag order, but said she would address any consequences if and when Trump violated it. Before the order was even issued, Trump’s lawyer said they would appeal the ruling. Prosecutors had argued that a gag order was necessary to protect the integrity of judicial proceedings. Trump faces four felony charges in connection with what prosecutors allege was a “criminal scheme” to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election by enlisting a slate of so-called “fake electors,” using the Justice Department to conduct “sham election crime investigations,” trying to enlist Pence to “alter the election results,” and promoting false claims of a stolen election as the Jan. 6 riot raged. The gag order doesn’t extend to Trump’s three other pending criminal trials for election obstruction in Georgia, classified documents in Florida, or hush money payments during the 2016 campaign in New York. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / Politico / CNN / Wall Street Journal / NPR / Axios / Associated Press / ABC News / CNBC)
2/ The Biden administration reached a settlement with the more than 4,000 migrants who were separated from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border by the Trump administration. Under the proposed agreement, the federal government would be prohibited from using a “zero tolerance” prosecution policy to separated migrant families crossing the border for eight years. The settlement would also provide temporary benefits to separated families such as housing aid, work permits, health care, and allow them to apply for asylum again. In total, more than 4,000 children were separated from their families, including 290 U.S. citizen children, under the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy. An estimated 1,000 children still remain separated from their parents. (ABC News / NBC News / Associated Press / New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
3/ Biden warned Israel that occupying Gaza would be a “big mistake,” but added that “taking out the extremists is a necessary requirement.” Israel’s defense minister told the U.S. to brace for a “long war” against Hamas, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denied reporting that the Rafah border crossing with Egypt would reopen as temporary humanitarian corridor. More than a million people – about half of Gaza’s total population – have been displaced since the Israeli military declared a “complete siege” to the enclave in retaliation for the Oct. 7 terror attack by Hamas. The World Health Organization and United Nations, meanwhile, have warned that Gaza faces an “imminent” public health crisis as the enclave is running out of food and water. Hospitals are expected run out of fuel within 24 hours. (NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / CNBC / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
4/ Jim Jordan will force a House vote on Tuesday in his bid for speaker after winning the support of several key Republican skeptics. Reps. Mike Rogers and Ann Wagner were “hard no” on Jordan last week, but have now publicly endorsed the Ohioan, as have Ken Calvert and Vern Buchanan. Jordan needs to win at least 217 votes to become speaker in a chamber that is narrowly divided between 221 Republicans and 212 Democrats. He still faces an uphill climb to be elected speaker and can only lose four Republicans if every member votes. The House has been without a permanent speaker for nearly two weeks after eight Republicans sided with Democrats in voting to remove Kevin McCarthy. (The Guardian / Politico / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Axios)
1/ The House remains leaderless as Steve Scalise doesn’t have the 217 Republican votes needed to become speaker. Despite securing his party’s nomination over Jim Jordan in a conference-wide vote, at least 12 Republicans have publicly refused to back Scalise and more have expressed frustration or skepticism about his leadership. A two-hour, closed-door Republican meeting was described as unproductive and that no candidate is close to garnering the 217 Republican votes needed to win the speaker’s gavel. Without a speaker, the House is paralyzed and unable to move forward on any major items, including spending legislation and aid for Israel and Ukraine. (NBC News / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / CNBC / Associated Press / CNN)
2/ Federal prosecutors indicted Sen. Bob Menendez on charges of conspiring to act as an illegal foreign agent of Egypt while serving as the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The superseding indictment comes three weeks after a federal grand jury charged Menendez with accepting “hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes” in exchange for his political influence. The new indictment alleges that Menendez “provided sensitive U.S. Government information and took other steps that secretly aided the Government of Egypt.” (Politico / Axios / New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Associated Press)
3/ The U.S. urged Israel to avoid civilian casualties as the Israeli military said its preparing “for the next stage of the war” “to change the reality” in Gaza. Following Hamas’ terror attacks, which have killed more than 1,200 people, Israeli military officials said they’re now ready to “go on the offense” within Gaza. Israeli officials said they plan to capture or kill all of Hamas’s leaders, destroy the group’s militant units and underground tunnel network, and make it impossible for the terrorist organization to govern Gaza. The country has called up 360,000 reservists, who have started massing near the border with Gaza for an imminent ground invasion. Following a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned Hamas’ “reign of terror” while calling for “every possible precaution” to avoid harming civilians, saying “we democracies distinguish ourselves from terrorists by striving for a different standard, even when it’s difficult.” Netanyahu thanked Blinken for the support and then called for “moral clarity,” saying Hamas should be “crushed” and “spat out from the community of nations.” So far, at least 1,537 Palestinians have been killed after six days of Israeli airstrikes on Gaza. An additional 6,612 people have been injured. More than 338,000 Palestinians are currently homeless and in search of safety, but the territory’s exits – into Israel and Egypt – are both closed. Israel has also cut off supplies of electricity, food, water, and fuel as part of its “complete siege” on the enclave – a tactic outlawed under international law. Israel said there would be no pause in the siege unless Hamas releases the roughly 150 hostages who are believed to be in Gaza. The United Nations, meanwhile, warned of a developing humanitarian “disaster” in Gaza where the health system “has begun to collapse,” food and water are “quickly running out,” and residents are without reliable electricity. (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / CNN / CNN)
The U.S. and Qatar agreed to stop Iran from accessing $6 billion for humanitarian assistance in light of Hamas’s attack on Israel. The funds had been negotiated as part of a prisoner release deal last month. (New York Times / Washington Post)
4/ Inflation rose 3.7% from a year earlier, reinforcing the Federal Reserve’s intent to keep interest rates high. On a month-to-month basis, prices increased 0.4% from August to September, compared with a 0.6% rise from August to July. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said housing prices, which rose 7.2% from a year ago, were the largest contributor to September’s figure. Fed officials have signaled that they are likely to leave interest rates unchanged in November, but what happens at the December meeting is less clear, with a roughly 60% chance of no change and a 40% chance of a rate hike. (NBC News / Axios / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNBC / New York Times / Washington Post / Politico)
1/ Republicans nominated Steve Scalise to be the next speaker, but then the House recessed without voting. Although a majority of the 221 Republicans nominated Scalise for speaker, too many Republicans still plan to vote for Kevin McCarthy, which makes it unlikely that Scalise can win the 217 votes he needs on the House floor to win the speakership. If the House does elect Scalise, the chamber will then be able to restart legislative work – which stalled after McCarthy’s removal – including aid for Israel and funding measures to keep the government open after Nov. 17. (New York Times / Washington Post / The Hill / ABC News / NBC News / CNN / CNBC / Axios / Bloomberg)
2/ Federal prosecutors charged George Santos with 10 additional counts in a superseding indictment, accusing him of stealing the identities of donors and then fraudulently charging their credit cards to spend thousands of dollars. The new charges also include allegations that Santos embezzled money and conspired to falsify donation totals in order to hit fundraising targets set by national Republicans. Santos now faces 23 charges in the case, including the 13 filed against him earlier this year for wire fraud, money laundering, theft of public funds, and lying to Congress. Santos vowed not to resign or pursue a plea bargain. A group of House Republicans from New York, meanwhile, plan to introduce a resolution to expel Santos from Congress. (ABC News / Axios / CBS News / NBC News / Washington Post / NPR / Politico / NPR / CNN / Associated Press)
3/ The Biden administration plans to ask Congress to approve a funding package for Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan, and U.S. border security. Lawmakers in both parties have pledged to send funding to Israel, but additional help for Ukraine will likely come down to a far-right group of conservatives in the House, despite bipartisan support in both chambers. Two weeks ago, House Republicans opposed $300 million for Ukraine. Since then, numerous House Republicans have said they’re skeptical of the idea of linking the aid to Israel and Ukraine in a single package. (NBC News / Politico)
4/ North Carolina Republicans overrode the Democratic governor’s veto of two election bills and enacted vote-count restrictions and weakened the governor’s ability to oversee elections. One law eliminates Gov. Roy Cooper’s power to appoint the State Board of Elections. Now, Republican legislators, who hold supermajorities in the state’s House and Senate, will appoint boards with equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans. The legislation, however, doesn’t spell out how the boards will resolve most deadlocks. The other law ends a three-day grace period to receive and count absentee ballots as long as they are postmarked by Election Day. (NPR / Washington Post / Politico / CNN / Axios / NBC News)
5/ The world is “less likely than ever” to meet the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to 1.5C, according to DNV’s annual Energy Transition Outlook. The report finds that between 2017 and 2022, renewables met 51% of new energy demand, but fossil-fuel usage continued growing in absolute terms. To limit warming to 1.5°C by 2050, CO2 emissions would need to halve by 2030. DNV’s “most likely” forecast sees temperature rise of 2.2°C by 2100. ExxonMobil, meanwhile, is buying its oil and gas rival for $59.5 billion, betting that the transition away from fossil fuels will play out at a much slower pace. (Axios / Bloomberg)
1/ Biden condemned Hamas’ attack on Israel, saying “this is terrorism” and that Israel has a right to respond to this “act of sheer evil.” Comparing Hamas to the terrorist group ISIS, Biden said: “Our hearts may be broken but our resolve is clear. We’ll make sure the Jewish and democratic state of Israel can defend itself today, tomorrow as we always have,” promising ammunition and other assistance to ensure “Israel does not run out of these critical assets to defend its cities and its citizens.” Biden also said he would ask Congress to urgently “fund the national security requirements of our critical partners.” The unprecedented cross-border assault by Hamas militants over the weekend killed more than 1,000 people in Israel, including at least 14 Americans. While the Biden administration urged Israel to respond to the attack in a “proportionate” manner, it didn’t set any red lines. Israel has since mobilized 360,000 reservists and ordered a “complete siege” and bombardment of the Gaza Strip, where at least 900 Palestinians have been killed, including 260 children, and another 4,500 have been wounded so far. Biden’s national security adviser, meanwhile, accused Iran of being “complicit” in Hamas’ attack, saying: “They have provided the lion’s share of the funding for the military wing of Hamas. They provide training, they have provided capabilities, they have provided support, and they have had engagement in contact with Hamas over the years and years.” The Pentagon also warned Iran and Hezbollah – an Iran-backed militia in Lebanon – against joining the fighting. (Associated Press / NPR / New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / Politico / CNN / ABC News / Bloomberg / CNBC)
2/ Republicans are still divided on who will be the next House speaker, though a group of Kevin McCarthy’s allies have discussed nominating him again for speaker. House Republicans are scheduled to hear from Steve Scalise and Jim Jordan – the two current declared Republicans contenders for speaker. A party vote is scheduled for Wednesday, followed by a formal election on the floor. It’s not clear, however, if Jordan, Scalise, or McCarthy can get the 217 votes needed to earn the speaker’s gavel. (Politico / ABC News / NBC News / New York Times / CNN / CNBC / Wall Street Journal)
📌 SNAFU Week Notable: The House voted to remove Kevin McCarthy as speaker – a first in U.S. history. A contingent of eight hard-right conservatives joined Democrats to strip McCarthy of the speaker’s gavel in a 216-to-210 vote. The House will now be forced to hold votes on a new speaker, though it’s not clear that any other Republican could win enough votes to secure the gavel. It took McCarthy 15 rounds of voting to secure the position in January. (Associated Press / New York Times / NPR / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
3/ Justice Clarence Thomas renewed his call for the Supreme Court to reconsider libel laws as the court declined to revisit the landmark 1964 First Amendment decision in New York Times v. Sullivan, which required public figures suing for defamation to prove that the defendant had acted with “actual malice.” In his own separate opinion, Thomas said that while he agreed the court shouldn’t take up Blankenship v. NBCUniversal, leaving the precedent in place “comes at a heavy cost, allowing media organizations and interest groups ‘to cast false aspersions on public figures with near impunity.’” Thomas has come under recent scrutiny for failing to disclose that he’s accepted at least 38 vacations, 26 private jet flights, eight flights by helicopter, a dozen VIP passes to sporting events, two stays at luxury resorts in Florida and Jamaica, and a standing invitation to play at a high-end private golf club in Florida from several billionaire benefactors since 1991. (CNN / New York Times / Forbes / Rolling Stone)
4/ Trump’s $250 million civil fraud trial entered its second week with the Trump Organization’s longtime finance chief taking the stand. Allen Weisselberg testified that he once certified that Trump’s financial statements were “true, correct and complete” to prevent a loan default; that he urged the firm’s controller to add a 30% brand premium for seven of Trump’s golf courses; and that from 2011 until Trump became president, he would give Trump the statements of financial condition before they were finalized. After Trump was elected, Weisselberg said he would give the statements to Trump Jr. or Eric Trump. New York Attorney General Letitia James sued Trump, Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and Trump Organization executives last year, accusing them of engaging in a decade-long scheme of “numerous acts of fraud and misrepresentation” to inflate Trump’s net worth while lowering his tax burden. The trial is expected to run until December. Trump, meanwhile, again demanded that the trial be dismissed because –he claims – it’s “an Election Interference Witch Hunt, and everybody knows it.” Separately, Trump faces four upcoming criminal trials: federal and state charges in Georgia for allegedly trying to overturn the 2020 election; federal charges in Florida for allegedly possessing classified documents after leaving office and obstructing government efforts to get them back; and state charges in New York for allegedly falsifying business records in connection to a hush money payment in 2016. (ABC News / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press / Washington Post)
📌 SNAFU Week Notable: The judge overseeing Trump’s civil trial over alleged business fraud issued a gag order barring Trump from making public comments about the case. The decision by Judge Arthur Engoron came after Trump attacked one of his law clerks on social media. (Washington Post / NBC News)
📌 SNAFU Week Notable: Trump walked out of the courtroom during his civil fraud trial and complained that he was being taken away from his Republican presidential primary campaign because he was “stuck” in court. (CNBC / NBC News)
5/ Special counsel Jack Smith asked the judge overseeing Trump’s federal election obstruction case to implement protections for potential jurors, calling Trump’s use of social media a “weapon of intimidation.” The government asked for “limited” restrictions on how both sides can research and use information about prospective jurors, but requested that the court “strictly enforce” existing rules that shield jurors’ personal information. Smith’s team noted that the judge in Trump’s $250 million New York state civil fraud trial imposed a gag order last week after Trump disparaged his law clerk online. “Given that the defendant — after apparently reviewing opposition research on court staff — chose to use social media to publicly attack a court staffer, there is cause for concern about what he may do with social media research on potential jurors in this case,” the prosecutors wrote. Judge Tanya Chutkan is set to hear oral arguments on the government’s proposed limited gag order next week. (Bloomberg / ABC News)
6/ Biden voluntary met with the special counsel investigating how classified documents ended up at his private office and Delaware home. Special counsel Robert Hur is examining the retention of classified documents from Biden’s time as a senator and as vice president. Biden has said he was unaware he had the documents and that “there’s no there there.” (Associated Press / New York Times / CNN / Washington Post / NBC News)
🔮 Dept. of Magical Thinking.
46% of registered voters in Nevada said they’d support Biden in a hypothetical 2024 matchup with Trump (45%). Biden won Nevada by just over 2 percentage points in 2020. (CNN)
✏️ Notables: SNAFU Week Edition.
Hours before a potential government shutdown, Congress passed bipartisan legislation to fund the government through Nov. 17. The legislation includes $16 billion in emergency disaster assistance and extends authorization for the FAA through the end of the year. It does not, however, include any additional aid to Ukraine, despite bipartisan support in the Senate. (New York Times / Washington Post / NPR / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
Biden approved $9 billion in student loan forgiveness for 125,000 Americans, who qualified under existing programs, including the income-driven repayment plans and Public Service Loan Forgiveness. (CNBC / New York Times)
The Biden administration will expand Trump’s wall on the Mexican border, waiving 26 federal laws and regulations to allow for the construction of physical barriers. The funds for the new construction were appropriated in 2019 –before Biden took office. The law requires the funding to be used as approved and the construction to be completed in 2023. “The money was appropriated for the border wall,” Biden said. “I can’t stop that.” When asked if border walls work, Biden answered: “No.” (Associated Press / New York Times / CNN)
Trump shared classified information about U.S. Navy nuclear submarines with an Australian businessman at Mar-a-Lago shortly after he left office, including the number of nuclear warheads they can carry and how close they can get to Russian vessels without being detected. The Australian billionaire, Anthony Pratt, then allegedly shared the information with others, including more than a dozen foreign officials, several of his own employees, and a handful of journalists. (Bloomberg / New York Times / ABC News)
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will run as an independent for president. Kennedy, who has actively promoted conspiracy theories, accused Democratic leadership of “hijacking the party machinery” to stifle his challenge to Biden. Some of Kennedy’s siblings, meanwhile, issued a joint statement denounced his decision to run against Biden in a general election, calling “perilous for our country.” (New York Times / CNN)
1/ Instead of negotiating a deal to fund the government, Matt Gaetz and Kevin McCarthy got into a heated exchange during a closed-doors meeting with House Republicans. Gaetz accused McCarthy of paying social media influencers to attack him online. McCarthy responded that he wouldn’t waste his time or money on Gaetz. The Senate, meanwhile, has put together a bipartisan deal to temporarily fund the government and avert a shutdown, which House Republicans have largely dismissed because it “does nothing to deal with the border security” and contains additional aid for Ukraine. Further complicating matters is that at least 10 far-right conservative House lawmakers have declared that they will not vote for any stopgap measure under any circumstance. Lawmakers have until Sept. 30 to reach a deal to fund the government. If Congress doesn’t act, the government will shut down at 12:01 a.m. ET on Sunday. The government, meanwhile, started notifying the roughly 2 million federal workers and 1.3 million active-duty troops that a shutdown appears imminent. (Axios / Politico / CNN / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / CNBC / ABC News)
2/ Instead of negotiating a deal to fund the government, House Republicans held their first impeachment inquiry hearing into Biden. The House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer and his Republican colleagues on the Judiciary, and Ways and Means committees have yet to provide any evidence of wrongdoing by Biden, but continue to promise to present “two dozen pieces of evidence revealing Joe Biden’s corruption and abuse of public office.” Further, a Republican-picked witness said during the hearing that “the current evidence doesn’t support articles of impeachment,” but suggested that an inquiry was still warranted anyway. Democrats, meanwhile, accused Republicans of trying to impeach Biden as retribution for the House having twice impeached Trump. (NBC News / Axios / Associated Press / NPR / Washington Post / Politico)
3/ Instead of negotiating a deal to fund the government, the Senate adopted a resolution formally requiring men to wear a coat, tie, and pants. The move follows Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s request that the Senate’s sergeant-at-arms stop enforcing the chamber’s informal dress code, which was widely viewed to be inspired by Sen. John Fetterman, who often wears casual clothes. The bill, however, doesn’t specify what is deemed as business attire for women on the Senate floor. (Axios / Politico / CNN / Washington Post)
4/ The federal judge overseeing Trump’s election interference case denied his demand that she recuse herself. Trump had argued that U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan’s previous comments – “Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President”; and that Jan. 6 defendants had “blind loyalty to one person who, by the way, remains free to this day” – suggested a bias against him that could taint the proceedings. In declining Trump’s request to recuse herself, Chutkan said Trump had applied a “hypersensitive, cynical, and suspicious” reading of her statements when sentencing Jan. 6 defendants and that the “statements certainly do not manifest a deep-seated prejudice that would make fair judgment impossible.” Trump’s trial is set to begin in March. (New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post / CNN / Associated Press / ABC News / Politico / Bloomberg)
5/ Biden will deliver a speech today on the state of democracy in America and the existential threats facing the country. Biden is expected to argue that “there is something dangerous happening in America” and how Trump and his allies represent an “extremist movement that does not share the basic beliefs of our democracy.” Biden’s address follows a Trump rally at a nonunion Michigan auto parts factory, where he repeatedly demanded the endorsement of the United Automobile Workers or else warned “It’s a government assassination of your jobs and of your industry, the auto industry is being assassinated.” Biden campaign called Trump’s speech “low-energy,” “incoherent,” and “pathetic” attempt to win the support of blue collar workers at a nonunion shop. (NBC News / Associated Press / CNBC / New York Times / Washington Post / The Hill)
🔮 Dept. of Magical Thinking.
56% of registered voters say Congress should not hold hearings to start the process of removing Biden from office, while 39% say it should. (NBC News)
Trump is supported by 58% of the potential Republican primary electorate – 43 points ahead of Ron DeSantis with 15%. A front-runner in September hasn’t had a polling lead this large in 24 years. (CNN)
1/ A federal government shutdown looks increasingly likely as Kevin McCarthy lacks the votes needed to pass a short-term spending bill and House Republicans have indicated they won’t consider the Senate’s bipartisan plan to fund the government. Far-right conservatives in the House have pushed for deep spending cuts – that won’t pass the Democratic-controlled Senate – while also threatening to remove McCarthy as speaker. And although the Senate advanced a bipartisan continuing resolution, McCarthy rejected the idea because the proposal contains aid to Ukraine, which a number of House Republicans oppose. The Senate bill, however, would likely pass the House with Democratic votes, but McCarthy would risk fracturing the Republican conference that has repeatedly threatened to remove him as speaker. The government will shut down at 12:01 a.m. ET Sunday if Congress doesn’t pass a funding bill. (Washington Post / Associated Press / The Hill / CNN / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / Politico)
2/ Sen. Bob Menendez, his wife, and two business associates all pleaded not guilty court on federal bribery and extortion charges. Menendez has resisted calls from at least 30 of his fellow Democrats to resign despite authorities alleging that he used his “power and influence as a Senator” in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes, including “cash, gold, payments toward a home mortgage, compensation for a low-or-no-show job, a luxury vehicle” and more. It’s the second time in eight years that Menendez has been indicted on federal bribery and corruption charges. (ABC News / Axios / CNN / Washington Post / New York Times / Associated Press)
3/ The Federal Communications Commission plans to reinstate net neutrality rules that Trump repealed. The proposal would bar broadband providers from blocking or throttling internet traffic to some websites and speeding up access to others that pay extra. FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel called broadband access “not a luxury, it’s a necessity,” adding: “It is essential infrastructure for modern life. No-one without it has a fair shot at 21st century success. We need broadband to reach 100% of us, and it needs to be fast, open and fair.” Rosenworcel said the FCC “seeks to largely return to the successful rules the Commission adopted in 2015,” which would classify broadband as essential infrastructure on a par with water, power, and phone service. (TechCrunch / The Verge / The Hill / Politico)
4/ About 18 million Americans – nearly 7% of all U.S. adults – have had long COVID. The new data from the CDC also found that nearly twice as many women (4.4%) have had long COVID compared to men (2.3%). Long COVID is a condition that occurs when patients still have symptoms, including fatigue, difficulty breathing, headaches, brain fog, joint and muscle pain, and continued loss of taste and smell, at least four weeks after they have cleared the infection. (ABC News / CBS News)
5/ Hunter Biden sued Rudy Giuliani and his former attorney, claiming they violated computer fraud and data access laws. In the lawsuit, Hunter Biden accuses Giuliani and his former lawyer, Robert Costello, of “hacking into, tampering with, manipulating, copying, disseminating, and generally obsessing over data that they were given that was taken or stolen from” his devices, claiming they caused “total annihilation” of his digital privacy. Hunter Biden claimed that his data was “manipulated, altered, and damaged” before Giuliani and Costello received it, and that the pair made “further alterations and damage to the data to a degree that is presently unknown to Plaintiff.” The suit seeks more than $75,000 in damages, as well as to bar the two from accessing or copying Biden’s data. (NBC News / Politico / CNBC / CNN)
6/ The second Republican debate will take place at 9 p.m. ET today and air on Fox News Channel and Fox Business. Seven candidates will appear on the stage: Doug Burgum, Chris Christie, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Mike Pence, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Tim Scott. (NBC News / Bloomberg)
📊 Dept. of Magical Thinking.
45% of registered voters said they’d cast their ballots for Biden in a 2024 hypothetical matchup, while 40% said the same for Trump. (The Hill)
52% of Americans said they’d support Trump in a hypothetical 2024 matchup, while 42% said they’d support Biden. (ABC News)
53% of Republicans said Trump was a person of faith, while 23% said Biden is a person of faith. (Deseret News)
69% of Republican voters see Trump as a political outsider. By comparison, 57% see Ron DeSantis as being more inside the political establishment. (Monmouth University Poll)
1/ The Senate announced a bipartisan deal to keep the government open through mid-November and provide $6 billion in assistance to Ukraine. The stopgap measure to avert an Oct. 1 shutdown still needs to clear several procedural hurdles before full Senate approval. It then needs to overcome gridlock in the Republican-controlled House, where conservatives have threatened to remove Kevin McCarthy as speaker and delay the bill over Ukraine funding. (New York Times / Bloomberg / CNN / Politico / Washington Post)
2/ The Supreme Court – for the second time in three months – rejected Alabama’s request to use a congressional map that includes only one majority-Black district. In June, the court ruled that Alabama’s Republican-drawn congressional map violated the Voting Rights Act and ordered the state to redraw its seven-seat congressional map to include a second majority-Black district or “something quite close to it.” 27% of the state’s voting population is Black. A court-appointed special master submitted proposals for three districting plans yesterday, each of which would create a second majority- or near-majority-Black district. The three-judge panel is scheduled to meet next week to choose one. (NBC News / Politico / NPR / Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / Axios)
3/ Biden urged striking auto workers to “stick with it” during a picket line visit at a General Motors facility in Detroit, marking the first time a sitting president has joined a picket line. “You deserve what you earned, and you’ve earned a hell of a lot more than you’re getting paid now,” Biden told the workers. The strike is now in its 12th day and centers on a 36% wage increase, a return to traditional pensions, retiree health care, and a 32-hour workweek. The United Auto Workers represents 146,000 workers at General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler’s parent company Stellantis. (Associated Press / NBC News / NPR / New York Times / Politico / Washington Post / Bloomberg / CNBC / Axios / Wall Street Journal)
4/ The Federal Trade Commission and 17 states sued Amazon, alleging that the company violated antitrust laws to keep prices artificially high, lock sellers into its platform, and harm its rivals. The FTC argues that Amazon “uses a set of interlocking anticompetitive and unfair strategies to illegally maintain its monopoly power” by punishing sellers for offering lower prices elsewhere and pressuring them into paying for Amazon’s delivery network. “At the very least, any relief would require that the company halt those tactics,” FTC Chair Lina Khan said. “Effective relief also needs to be restoring competition to this market, which we’ll be asking the judge to do as well.” If the FTC suit is successful, it could lead to a court-ordered restructuring of the $1.3 trillion company. (NPR / New York Times / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / Politico)
5/ A judge ruled that Trump, Trump Jr., Eric Trump and the Trump Organization fraudulently inflated the value of assets to obtain favorable loans and lower insurance premiums. Judge Arthur Engoron, ruling in a civil lawsuit brought by Attorney General Letitia James, ordered that some of Trump’s business licenses be rescinded. As a result, the Trump Organization and some of its sister companies will be sent into receivership where a court-appointed officer will manage the dissolution of the canceled LLCs. Engoron’s ruling, however, didn’t settle six other issues in the case, which is scheduled to go to trial on Oct. 2. The trial will now focus on allegations related to falsification of business records, issuing false financial statements, insurance fraud, and conspiracy. James is seeking $250 million in damages in the case. (CBS News / CNBC / Bloomberg / Associated Press / New York Times)
6/ Trump claimed he’s being “unconstitutionally silence[d]” by special counsel Jack Smith, who requested a “narrowly tailored” gag order in the election interference case. After Trump tried to “undermine confidence in the criminal justice system and prejudice the jury pool,” Smith asked a federal judge to bar Trump from further making statements “regarding the identity, testimony, or credibility of prospective witnesses,” and “about any party, witness, attorney, court personnel, or potential jurors that are disparaging and inflammatory, or intimidating.” Trump claims that federal prosecutors are seeking to “muzzle” him “during the most important months of his campaign” for president. Trump, meanwhile, has continued to attack Smith online, calling him “deranged,” and has previously called U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan “very biased & unfair,” and accused her of being a “radical Obama hack.” (CNBC / CBS News / Politico / Axios)
1/ Trump vowed to investigate NBC News and MSNBC for “country threatening treason” and make them “pay a big price” if he gets reelected. On his personal social media platform, Trump claimed that Comcast, the parent company of NBC News and MSNBC, is not “entitled to use the very valuable Airwaves of the USA” for free because of their “knowingly dishonest and corrupt coverage of people, things, and events.” Despite being the featured interview guest on NBC’s “Meet the Press” last week, Trump repeated his baseless claim that the media is “THE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!” that “should pay a big price for what they have done to our once great Country!” The White House called Trump’s threats “an outrageous attack on our democracy and the rule of law.” (The Guardian / The Hill / Forbes / Talking Points Memo / Mediate)
2/ Trump suggested that Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley should be executed for reassuring the Chinese that Trump was not planning an attack them following the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection. Milley made two calls to China in the waning months of Trump’s presidency: The first was October 2020 when the Chinese had become concerned that Trump would preemptively attack them because he was losing the 2020 election. And the second was two days after the Capitol attack to again reassure the Chinese that Trump was not planning to attack them. Both calls were authorized by Trump-administration officials and coordinated with the rest of the Defense Department and other relevant agencies. Nevertheless, Trump wrote on his personal social media platform that Milley “turned out to be a Woke train wreck who, if the Fake News reporting is correct, was actually dealing with China to give them a heads up on the thinking of the President of the United States. This is an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH!” (Salon / The Atlantic / Yahoo News)
Trump didn’t purchase a Glock firearm after initially tweeting that he had. A since-deleted video posted by Trump’s spokesman, Steven Cheung, showed Trump being shown the firearm and commenting: “I want to buy one.” Another Trump spokesperson clarified that the purchase did not actually happen. Federal law prohibits the sale of guns to people under felony indictment. Trump currently faces 91 counts across four criminal indictment. (The Hill / CNBC / Associated Press)
3/ Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez refused to resign after a federal indictment accusing him of accepting “hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes” in exchange for his political influence. The indictment alleges Menendez and his wife received bribes included “cash, gold bars, payments toward a home mortgage, compensation for a low-or-no-show job, a luxury vehicle and other items of value.” He’s denied all wrongdoing, stating that “the allegations leveled against me are just that: allegations.” Last year, investigators found more than $480,000 in cash “hidden in clothing, closets, and a safe” – much of it stuffed into envelopes and hidden in a safe, closets and clothing, including a jacket with the Senate logo, according to the indictment. Menendez suggested that the cash was “from my personal savings account.” This is the second time Menendez has been indicted on bribery allegations: A 2015 indictment ended in a mistrial. He is up for reelection next year. (CNN / Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / CNBC / NBC News / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / ABC News)
4/ The House will reconvene and continue budget negotiations tomorrow with six days until a government shutdown. Kevin McCarthy will try to move forward on four spending bills, even though they’re unlikely to pass in the Democratic-controlled Senate. The House Freedom Caucus, however, has signaled they’ll continue to block any short-term spending bill, seeking deep spending cuts and limits on aid to Ukraine, among other demands. The House recessed last week after being unable to pass a basic rules measure to debate a Pentagon funding bill. McCarthy can lose only four Republican votes to pass legislation without having to rely on Democratic support. (Politico / CNN / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / CNBC)
✏️ Notables.
Trump argued that the First Amendment protects him from being barred from the 2024 ballot. A group in Colorado has filed a lawsuit seeking to block Trump from the ballot under a clause in the U.S. Constitution aimed at candidates who have supported an “insurrection.” Trump’s lawyer argued that the clause doesn’t apply because “the Fourteenth Amendment applies to one who ‘engaged in insurrection or rebellion,’ not one who only ‘instigated’ any action.” (Associated Press)
The Biden administration has allocated more than $1.4 billion to improve railway safety and boost capacity. The money from the 2021 infrastructure law is funding 70 projects in 35 states and Washington, D.C. (Associated Press)
A group of 25 state governors and the Biden administration pledged to quadruple the number of heat pumps in U.S. homes by 2030, from 4.7 million to 20 million. Buildings account for more than 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions. (Associated Press)
Fracking wells in the U.S. have used about 1.5 trillion gallons of water to extract fossil fuels since 2011 – as much tap water the entire state of Texas uses in a year. Fracking a single oil or gas well can use 40 million gallons of water or more. (New York Times)
The International Energy Agency and the COP28 climate summit are urging the U.S. and China to forge an agreement on confronting global warming. The U.S. and China are the world’s biggest emitters of carbon dioxide. (Washington Post)
Ron DeSantis suggested that humans are “safer than ever” from climate change. DeSantis’ remarks come less than a year after Hurricane Ian, the second-deadliest storm the continental U.S. has seen in decades. DeSantis, meanwhile, promised to roll back several of the Biden administration’s climate initiatives, calling them “part of an agenda to control you and to control our behavior.” (Politico / New York Times)
1/ Kevin McCarthy canceled House votes and sent members home for the weekend despite nine days remaining until a shutdown and no plan to fund the government. For the second time in three days five conservative Republicans tanked a procedural vote to start debate on a key military funding bill. McCarthy had planned to pass the defense bill – one of the 12 fiscal 2024 appropriations bills that both the House and Senate need to pass to fund the government – and begin work on a short-term funding bill to keep the entire government funded beyond Sept. 30. The House Freedom Caucus, however, has continued to demand even lower spending levels and no more aid for Ukraine – two proposals that would be dead on arrival in the Democratic-controlled Senate. “This is a whole new concept of individuals that just want to burn the whole place down,” McCarthy said. “It doesn’t work.” Trump, meanwhile, called on Republicans to “defund all aspects” of the “weaponized” Biden administration, claiming it’s their “last chance” to stop his “political prosecutions.” (CNBC / Axios / CNN / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg / Politico / NBC News)
2/ The Senate voted to confirm three key military promotions despite a monthslong blockade by Sen. Tommy Tuberville, who is protesting the Pentagon’s policy of reimbursing troops who must go across state lines to seek an abortion. To get past Tuberville’s hold on nominees, Chuck Schumer forced a full Senate vote to confirm the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Marine Corps commandant, and the Army chief of staff. “Senator Tuberville is forcing us to face his obstruction head on,” Schumer said. “I want to make clear to my Republican colleagues — this cannot continue.” More than 300 military promotions, however, remain in limbo. (CNN / Politico / Washington Post / Bloomberg / NPR / New York Times / Associated Press / NPR)
3/ The Biden administration will offer temporary legal status to about 472,000 Venezuelan migrants who arrived in the U.S. before July 31. The move will protect Venezuelans already in the U.S. from deportation and allow them to live and work legally in the country for 18 months. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas granted the expansion due to “Venezuela’s increased instability and lack of safety due to the enduring humanitarian, security, political, and environmental conditions.” Temporary Protected Status is not a pathway to permanent residency. (Associated Press / Washington Post / New York Times / NPR)
4/ Trump instructed a former assistant to tell federal investigators that she didn’t know anything about the boxes containing classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. Molly Michael said that after Trump heard the FBI wanted to interview her last year, Trump allegedly told her, “You don’t know anything about the boxes.” Michael also told investigators that Trump would write to-do lists for her using documents that were marked classified. (ABC News / New York Times)
Trump Privately Frets He Could Be Headed to Prison. “The former president and 2024 GOP frontrunner has wondered aloud in recent months about what life would be like if he’s convicted, and if appeals fail. While Trump publicly professes confidence, privately, three sources familiar with his comments say, he’s been asking lawyers and other people close to him what a prison sentence would look like for a former American president.” (Rolling Stone)
5/ A former White House aide accused Rudy Giuliani of groping her on the day of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Cassidy Hutchinson described meeting with Giuliani backstage at Trump’s speech – before his supporters marched on Congress in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election – where he put his hands “under my blazer, then my skirt.” Last year, Hutchinson testified that Trump knew some of his supporters were armed when he directed them to march on the Capitol on Jan. 6, and that both Trump and Mark Meadows ignored warnings about potential violence. (The Guardian / CNN / USA Today / CNBC)
Rudy Giuliani’s former lawyers sued him for $1.3 million in unpaid legal fees. The lawsuit alleges that Giuliani hadagreed to pay over $1.5 million to the law firm Davidoff Hutcher & Citron for more than three years’ worth of legal representation, but has only paid $214,000 to date. (Politico / Washington Post / NBC News / Insider)
poll/ 28% of Americans say they don’t like either political party – more than quadruple the share that said the same thing 30 years ago. In 1994, 6% of Americans viewed both parties negatively. (Pew Research Center)
1/ Increases in wildfire smoke have reversed two decades of improvements to air quality in three-quarters of all U.S. states. New research shows that from 2000 to 2022, “wildfires have undone 25% of previous progress” that resulted from the Clean Air Act of 1963. A noticeable shift in the overall trend began in 2015 with wildfire smoke having a statistically significant effect on PM 2.5 – very small particles that can travel into the lungs and bloodstream – trends in 35 out of 48 continental states. Some states have rolled back 50% or more of their progress since 2000, while others have completely erased their gains. More than two billion people globally were exposed to a day or more of wildfire-related air pollution each year between 2010 and 2019. (NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post)
2/ Biden announced the first-ever “American Climate Corps,” an initiative to train more than 20,000 young people for jobs in clean energy and climate resilience. Modeled on the New Deal-era Civilian Conservation Corps – which put millions to work during the Great Depression – the American Climate Corps provide young people with skills to work in wind and solar production and installation, disaster preparedness, forest management, coastal restoration, and land conservation. All participants in the program will be paid, and most positions will not require previous experience. “This is important because we’re not only opening up pathways to bold climate action, we’re not just opening up pathways to decarbonization, we’re opening up pathways to good paying careers, lifetimes of being involved in the work of making our communities more sustainable, more fair, more resilient in the face of a changing climate,” White House climate policy adviser Ali Zaidi said. (NPR / NBC News / New York Times / Bloomberg / Washington Post / CNN / CBS News / Axios)
3/ The Biden administration will resume offering free at-home Covid-19 tests through the mail. Starting next week, Americans can order four free tests from COVIDTests.gov. Covid-19 hospitalizations have surpassed 20,000 for the first time since mid-March, but remain far below the 2021-22 omicron peak of 150,674. (ABC News / Axios / CNBC / New York Times)
4/ The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged at a level between 5.25 and 5.5% – the highest level in 22 years. Fed officials, however, indicated that they expect to raise rates one more time this year, but with fewer rate cuts in 2024 and 2025 than previously estimated. They now expect to cut the federal funds rate to 5.1% by the end of 2024, 3.9% by the end of 2025, and 2.9% at the end of 2026. The central bank has raised rates 11 times in the last 18 months – the most aggressive series of rate hikes since the early 1980s. Inflation, meanwhile, has eased significantly since peaking at 9.1% last summer, but remains more than a percentage point higher than the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. (Wall Street Journal / NPR / Bloomberg / Axios / CNBC / New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / ABC News)
5/ Attorney General Merrick Garland defended the Justice Department’s independence during a House Judiciary Committee hearing, where Republicans accused him of the “weaponization” of the department’s work to favor Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. “I am not the president’s lawyer,” Garland said. “I will add I am not Congress’ prosecutor. The Justice Department works for the American people.” Garland repeatedly pushed back against House Republicans accusations that he was “slow walking” the Hunter Biden prosecution on tax and gun charges, compared to his department’s two cases against Trump for alleged mishandling of classified documents and efforts to overturn the 2020 election. “Our job is not to do what is politically convenient,” Garland said. “Our job is not to take orders from the president, from Congress, or from anyone else, about who or what to criminally investigate.” (Axios / Associated Press / Politico / New York Times / NBC News / ABC News / CNN / CNBC / Washington Post)
1/ Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on world leaders to remain united in defending Ukraine against Russian aggression. During the annual gathering of world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly, Biden warned that no nation can be secure if “we allow Ukraine to be carved up,” adding that “Russia believes the world will grow weary” of the war and stop providing support and assistance, which will allow Putin to “brutalize Ukraine without consequence.” Zelensky told the assembled leaders that Putin’s goal “is to turn our land, our people, our lives, our resources into a weapon against you, against the international rules-based order,” adding that Russia had weaponized food and energy “not only against our country, but against all of yours as well.” (Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Axios / Associated Press / New York Times / Politico / Washington Post / ABC News)
2/ Kevin McCarthy postponed a key procedural vote on a short-term spending bill aimed at averting a government shutdown amid opposition from more than 15 Freedom Caucus members, who planned to vote against the bill that would cut most non-defense discretionary spending by 8% and institute some Trump-era border policies. It’s the third time in as many months that McCarthy has had to pull a spending bill due to internal opposition, and it’s unclear when or if that vote will get rescheduled. Further, even if the continuing resolution gets approve, it has no chance of winning passage in the Senate, where Democrats hold the majority. With 12 days left to avoid a shutdown and no viable plan to fund the government, McCarthy said: “I won’t give up. I like a challenge. I don’t like this big a challenge, but we’re just going to keep doing it until we fix it.” Meanwhile, some House Republicans have suggested it might be time to begin working with Democrats in the House, where Republicans have a 221-212 majority. (Politico / Washington Post / The Hill / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Axios / CNBC / Associated Press)
3/ House Republicans plan to hold their first hearing next week in their impeachment inquiry into Biden. Despite no evidence that Biden personally benefited from his son’s business deals, the House Oversight Committee said it plans “to follow the evidence and money trail,” as well as the “constitutional and legal questions” surrounding Biden’s involvement in Hunter Biden’s deals. Nevertheless, the committee plans to issue a subpoena for bank records from two of the president’s family members. Republicans in both the House and Senate have also said they don’t think there is enough evidence to proceed with the investigation. Biden, meanwhile, wished House Republicans “lots of luck” on their impeachment inquiry. Last week, Kevin McCarthy directed House committees to open an impeachment inquiry in a move that appears to be aimed at appeasing conservative lawmakers. (CNN / NBC News / NPR / Associated Press / Axios / Washington Post / Bloomberg / CBS News / ABC News / CNBC)
poll/ 64% of voters feel that a Biden-Trump rematch means the political system is broken. 23% say that a rematch means the system is working. (CBS News)
poll/ 65% of Americans say they feel exhausted when thinking about politics, while 55% feel angry, 10% feel hopeful, and 4% are excited. [Editor’s note: Friendly reminder that the goal of this blog/newsletter/podcast is to be the antidote to an impossible political news cycle. Our free, once a day publication aims to present the most important news coming out of Washington in a digestible form for normal people. So if you know other normal people who are also exhausted by politics, consider sharing WTFJHT with them.] (Pew Research Center)
1/ Kevin McCarthy’s latest short-term funding proposal to avert a government shutdown doesn’t have enough votes to pass. McCarthy can only lose four Republican votes on a continuing resolution deal without relying on Democratic support. However, more than a dozen conservatives have already vowed to not support the plan – negotiated by the House Freedom Caucus and the more moderate Republican Main Street Caucus – to keep the government running until Oct. 31. The measure, which would cut most federal agency budgets by about 8% and resume construction of wall on the southern border, had little chance of passing the Democratic-controlled Senate. Government funding will run out in less than 13 days. (Axios / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
2/ Federal prosecutors asked the judge overseeing Trump’s indictment for conspiring to overturn the 2020 election to impose “a narrowly tailored” gag order on him. Special counsel Jack Smith’s office cited Trump’s “inflammatory,” “intimidating,” and “near-daily” comments about the case in seeking an order that would prohibit him from attacking prosecutors, witnesses, and the judge. “The defendant has an established practice of issuing inflammatory public statements targeted at individuals or institutions that present an obstacle or challenge to him,” Smith’s office wrote. Trump, nevertheless, responded to Smith’s request by posting on his personal social media site: “I’m campaigning for President against an incompetent person who has WEAPONIZED the DOJ & FBI to go after his Political Opponent, & I am not allowed to COMMENT? How else would I explain that Jack Smith is DERANGED, or Crooked Joe is INCOMPETENT?” (NBC News / Politico / New York Times / CNBC / USA Today)
Twitter turned over at least 32 direct messages from Trump’s account to the special counsel. “Newly unsealed court records indicate special counsel Jack Smith’s team warned that former President Trump could “precipitate violence” unless the court shielded its efforts to obtain information on his Twitter account.” (CNN / The Hill)
One of Trump’s co-defendants in the Georgia election interference case argued that the case against him should be moved to federal court because his attempts to help overturn the state’s 2020 election results were part of his job duties. Jeffrey Clark allegedly urged the then-acting U.S. Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen to send an official Justice Department letter to Georgia’s governor and legislative leaders saying the department had “identified significant concerns that may have impacted the outcome of the election in multiple States, including the State of Georgia.” Rosen refused to do so. The federal judge, however, was reportedly skeptical of Clark’s efforts to movie his Georgia case to federal court. (NBC News / CNN / The Hill / USA Today / Washington Post)
Trump wrote to-do lists for his White House assistant using documents that were marked classified. Molly Michael said “she received requests or taskings from Trump that were written on the back of notecards, and she later recognized those notecards as sensitive White House materials – with visible classification markings – used to brief Trump while he was still in office about phone calls with foreign leaders or other international-related matters.” (ABC News)
3/ Trump accused “liberal Jews” – on the final day of the Jewish New Year celebration – of voting “to destroy America & Israel.” The 2024 Republican presidential front-runner posted a meme on social media from a group that seeks to draw Jewish voters away from the Democratic Party, and commented: “Let’s hope you learned from your mistake & make better choices moving forward! Happy New Year!” It is unclear what prompted his post. (Washington Post / NBC News / The Hill)
4/ Trump, who appointed three Supreme Court justices who helped overturn Roe v. Wade, called Florida’s six-week abortion ban a “terrible mistake.” Although Trump repeatedly ducked questions about what he thinks is appropriate for a federal abortion ban, he claimed that he would “sit down with both sides and I’d negotiate something, and we’ll end up with peace on that issue for the first time in 52 years.” (Washington Post / New York Times / Associated Press)
5/ Biden sent acting Labor Secretary Julie Su and White House senior advisor Gene Sperling to Detroit to help mediate negotiations between the United Auto Workers and the Big Three automakers. About 12,700 of the union’s 150,000 automotive members – about 9% of the unionized workforce – stopped making vehicles and went on strike last week following failed negotiations on cost of living adjustments and quality of life improvements. UAW is seeking a wage increase of 36% over four years, while the carmakers have offered between 17.5% and 20% over 4 1/2 years. The industry is responsible for 3% of America’s gross domestic product. “It’s my hope that the parties can return to the negotiation table to forge a win-win agreement,” Biden said, adding that “even though no one wants a strike […] record corporate profits — which they have — should be shared by record contracts for the UAW.” Trump, meanwhile, accused UAW leadership of failing its members, saying “the autoworkers will not have any jobs […] because all of these cars are going to be made in China.” (NPR / Washington Post / CNBC / USA Today / Associated Press)
poll/ 75% of Americans said they support the United Auto Workers, while 19% sided with the auto companies. (Gallup)
1/ The world needs to invest $2.7 trillion a year to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 and keep temperatures from rising above 1.5 degrees Celsius this century, according to a new report by Wood Mackenzie. While governments’ existing net zero pledges cover 88% of annual global emissions, no major country is currently on track to even meet their emissions targets by 2030 – let alone 2050 – likely putting the world on track to warm by 2.5C by 2050. Staying below 1.5C, however, is still possible but requires wind and solar to become the world’s main source of power twice as fast while decreasing dependency on fossil fuels from the current 80% to 50%. Demand for fossil fuels are expected to peak around 2030 and fall roughly 25% by 2050 from 2019 levels. (Axios / Reuters / Recharge News / Wood Mackenzie / NBC News)
🔥 Inside Exxon’s strategy to downplay climate change. Internal documents show what the oil giant said publicly was very different from how it approached the issue privately in the Tillerson era. (Wall Street Journal)
2/ A federal judge ruled – again – that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program is illegal. Last year, the Biden administration attempted to preserve the program, which protects nearly 600,000 undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children from deportations, by codifying the policy into a federal regulation. The judge, however, didn’t order an immediate end to the program and current beneficiaries will be able to keep and renew their protection, but no new applications will be allowed. The Biden administration is expected to appeal the decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the case is likely to end up in the Supreme Court. (Associated Press / ABC News / Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / Bloomberg)
3/ Kevin McCarthy dared his Republican colleagues to make good on their threats to remove him as speaker, saying “If you want to file the motion, file the fucking motion.” The House has passed one of 12 required appropriations bills ahead of a Sept. 30 government funding deadline. Meanwhile, the House Freedom Caucus has opposed a continuing resolution to keep the government temporarily funded unless it includes their policy demands. Members of the caucus have repeatedly threatened to bring the motion to vacate to the floor and force McCarthy out of the speakership if he doesn’t comply with their demands, like ordering an impeachment inquiry into Biden. The motion to vacate was a key part of McCarthy’s deal with the House Freedom Caucus to become speaker of the House after 14 failed rounds of voting. Under their agreement, a single member can call a vote to remove him. If it did come to the full floor, it would need just a simple majority to pass. McCarthy later said that he “showed frustration” in the meeting because he is “frustrated with some people in the conference.” (ABC News / Axios / NBC News / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
4/ A Georgia judge rejected prosecutors’ plan to try all 19 defendants together in the 2020 election interference case in October. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee said that Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell will stand trial beginning Oct. 23, while Trump and his 16 other co-defendants will move forward on their own schedule, with a trial date yet be announced. McAfee said the decision to split the case into multiple trials was an “absolute necessity,” given the complexity and the burden it would create for the state’s court system. “The Fulton County Courthouse simply contains no courtroom adequately large enough to hold all 19 defendants, their multiple attorneys and support staff, the sheriff’s deputies, court personnel, and the State’s prosecutorial team,” McAfee wrote. (Washington Post / CNN / The Hill / Politico / USA Today / Associated Press / ABC News / NBC News / CNBC)
5/ Hunter Biden was indicted on three criminal counts related to his possession of a gun while using narcotics. Two counts are tied to Hunter Biden allegedly making false statements on a form indicating he was not using illegal drugs when he purchased a firearm in 2018, and a third count on illegally obtaining a firearm while addicted to drugs. Hunter Biden had previously reached a plea deal with David Weiss, who was appointed by Trump, to resolve the matter without charges, but that deal unexpectedly collapsed during a court hearing in July after U.S. Judge Maryellen Noreika expressed concern over the agreement and questioned the breadth of an immunity deal. Hunter Biden could theoretically face as much as 25 years in prison and fines of up to $750,000. (ABC News / Axios / CNN / NBC News / CNBC / New York Times)
poll/ 77% of Americans think there should be a maximum age limit for elected officials, including 76% of Democrats and 79% of Republicans. 45% said the maximum age limit should be 70, while 30% said the maximum age should be either 50 or 60, and 18% said 80 should be the limit. The median age of the Senate is 65, and in the House the median age is 57. (Axios)
1/ Inflation accelerated for a second consecutive month – the fastest pace in more than a year – due to a jump in gasoline prices, which accounted for more than half of the increase. Consumer prices rose 0.6% in August from the prior month – the most since inflation peaked at a four-decade high in June 2022 – and up 3.7% from a year earlier. Although prices climbed at a faster monthly pace than expected, the report keeps Federal Reserve officials on track to hold interest rates steady next week after raising rates to a 22-year high in July. The Fed has two more meetings this year – in early November and mid-December – and their decision on whether to lift rates higher will depend on whether price increases continue to slow in coming months. (Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / New York Times / USA Today / CNBC / ABC News / NBC News / Politico)
2/ A federal judge denied Mark Meadows’ request to pause court proceedings in Fulton County while he appeals the ruling. Last week, U.S. District Judge Steve Jones rejected Meadows’ request to move his case to federal court. Meadows “has not shown he is entitled to an emergency stay,” Jones ruled, adding: “Meadows’s contentions that he would be irreparably harmed by the possibility of facing trial next month are insufficient to carry his burden on the emergency stay requested.” Meadows, meanwhile, appealed the decision to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which granted him an expedited review. (CNBC / CNN / ABC News / Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
3/ A federal judge refused to give Trump permission to discuss classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, where he’s already mishandled classified documents. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, however, didn’t specify where the secure facility for reviewing sensitive records for Trump’s trial will be. Trump’s lawyers argued that requiring him to travel to talk about classified information would impose a heavy burden, given the complex logistics and security involved as both a former president and 2024 candidate. Prosecutors, however, told Cannon that Trump was seeking “special treatment that no other criminal defendant would receive.” (Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / CNBC / Bloomberg)
4/ Trump privately discussed impeaching Biden with House Republicans. Trump has been briefed weekly by Elise Stefanik, the third-ranking House Republican, on the impeachment strategy, as well as regularly talked with members of the House Freedom Caucus and other Republicans who’ve pushed for the inquiry. Two nights before Kevin McCarthy announced the impeachment inquiry, Trump had dinner with Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has introduced articles of impeachment against Biden. (New York Times / Politico)
5/ Mitt Romney will not seek re-election, saying it’s time for a “new generation of leaders” beyond Trump and Biden. Romney, 76, noted that he would be in his mid-80s by the end of another term and that it’s time for a new generation to “step up” and “shape the world they’re going to live in.” Romney is the only Republican to vote to convict Trump in both of his impeachment trials. (Washington Post / New York Times / NPR / CNN / Bloomberg)
poll/ 66% of voters support maximum age limits for president, members of Congress (68%), and Supreme Court justices (67%). (Associated Press)
1/ Kevin McCarthy directed three House committees to open an impeachment inquiry into Biden as far-right Republican lawmakers threaten to remove him as speaker. McCarthy said the impeachment inquiry would center on whether Biden benefited from Hunter Biden’s business dealings in Ukraine and elsewhere despite investigations led by Republicans on the House Judiciary and Oversight committees having not uncovered any direct evidence that Biden personally benefited from his son’s business dealings. Notably, McCarthy did not announce a full House vote to open the inquiry and it’s unclear if he has the 218 votes needed to launch a formal inquiry. Several centrist Republican lawmakers oppose the effort. McCarthy, meanwhile, is trying to secure enough votes from far-right Republicans – who have been pushing for a Biden impeachment – to keep the government funded beyond the Sept. 30 deadline to avoid a shutdown. A single Republican, however, can bring a no-confidence vote to the floor to remove McCarthy as speaker, and less than an hour after the announcement Matt Gaetz accused McCarthy of violating the power-sharing agreement he made with the far-right to be elected speaker in January. Gaetz threatened to bring a motion to vacate against McCarthy if he puts a short-term spending bills on the floor instead of holding votes on balancing the budget and term limits. Marjorie Taylor Greene also said she wouldn’t vote to fund the government unless the House opened a formal impeachment inquiry into Biden. The White House called the impeachment inquiry “extreme politics at its worst.” (Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / ABC News / NPR / CNN / CNBC / NBC News / Associated Press / Politico / Punchbowl News / Bloomberg)
Kevin McCarthy faces a ‘perfect storm’ of demands as a shutdown looms. “With a Sept. 30 deadline, the House speaker confronts right-wing demands to cut spending, limit migration, prop up Trump and impeach Biden — and veiled threats to his gavel.” (NBC News)
2/ A group of Minnesota voters filed a lawsuit seeking to block Trump from the 2024 presidential ballot in the state, citing the “insurrection clause” of the 14th Amendment. It’s the second lawsuit in the past month to try to keep Trump off the ballot in next year’s presidential race under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. (CNN / ABC News / Associated Press)
3/ Trump demanded that U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan recuse herself from presiding over his election subversion case. Trump’s attorneys claim she made “disqualifying” statements while sentencing two people for their roles in the Jan. 6 attack when she said: “This was nothing less than an attempt to violently overthrow the government, the legally, lawfully, peacefully elected government, by individuals who were mad that their guy lost […] it’s blind loyalty to one person who, by the way, remains free to this day.” Ultimately, the law leaves it up to Chutkan to decide whether her “impartiality might reasonably be questioned” or she has “a personal bias or prejudice concerning a party.” (Washington Post / Associated Press / CBS News / CNBC)
4/ Child poverty in the U.S. more than doubled last year, rising to 12.4% in 2022 from a record low of 5.2% in 2021. The overall poverty rate rose to 12.4% in 2022 from 7.8% in 2021. The spike follows two years of declines that coincided with record inflation and the expiration of Covid-era safety net programs, such as an expanded child tax credit, direct payments to households, enhanced unemployment and nutrition benefits, and increased rental assistance. The expanded child tax credits in particular are credited with lifting millions of children out of poverty and driving down the child poverty rate to a record low of 5.2% in 2021. (Washington Post / Politico / New York Times / NPR / CNN)
1/ The FDA approved updated Covid-19 vaccines targeting the omicron XBB.1.5 subvariant. The new vaccines are authorized for people 12 and older and are under emergency use for children 6 months through 11 years old. The CDC is expected to sign off Tuesday on the new boosters, meaning the vaccines could become available in pharmacies, clinics, and doctor’s offices by the end of the week. (The FDA decides who can get a shot; the CDC that recommends who should get it.) Although the XBB.1.5 subvariant accounts for about 3% of new Covid cases, the new shot does protect against EG.5 – the most prevalent variant at the moment which accounts for about 22% of new cases – and similar variants, health officials said. This is the first time the federal government is not buying all the shots, though most Americans with private health insurance or coverage through Medicare or Medicaid should still be able to get the vaccine for free. The estimated 30 million people without health insurance should still be able to a booster for free at community health centers or through the CDC’s Bridge Access Program. (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / CNN / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / CNBC)
2/ A federal appeals court ruled that the Biden administration most likely violated the First Amendment when it urged social media platforms to remove Covid-19 disinformation. The judges, all Republican nominees, wrote that the administration had “coerced the platforms to make their moderation decisions by way of intimidating messages and threats of adverse consequences” when it came to false or harmful content about Covid-19, the 2020 election, and other topics. The court found that Biden Administration officials had “significantly encouraged the platforms’ decisions by commandeering their decision-making processes.” (NPR / New York Times / CNN / Washington Post)
3/ Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito rejected calls for him to recuse himself from an upcoming tax case despite one of the lawyers involved in the case, David Rivkin, having interviewed him for two articles recently published in the Wall Street Journal. Alito said “there is no valid reason for my recusal in this case,” adding that the argument for him to recuse was “unsound.” Alito claimed that Rivkin was participating in the interviews “as a journalist, not an advocate.” Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin and Democrats on the panel asked that Alito recuse himself from the case, saying Alito used his interviews with Rivkin to “air his personal grievances” and now creates “an appearance of impropriety.” Durbin added that the “Court is in a crisis of its own making, and Justice Alito and the rest of the Court should be doing everything in their power to regain public trust, not the opposite.” (NPR / NBC News / Politico / CNN)
4/ A federal judge denied a request by Mark Meadows to move his Georgia election interference case to federal court, saying “the evidence before the Court overwhelmingly suggests that Meadows was not acting in his scope of executive branch duties during most of the Overt Acts alleged.” Nevertheless, Meadows filed an “emergency motion” asking the same judge to pause the order, claiming that could be “convicted and incarcerated” before his appeal can be heard. U.S. District Judge Steve Jones replied to Meadows’ request by ordering Georgia prosecutors to file a brief in response by Tuesday afternoon. At least four other co-defendants have tried to remove their cases to federal court. (NBC News / Washington Post / Politico / CNN / CNBC)
5/ The Fulton County special grand jury that investigated interference in Georgia’s 2020 presidential election recommended criminal indictments for 21 additional people who were not ultimately charged. Although Trump and 18 allies were charged in a racketeering indictment last month, the grand jury also recommended charging Lindsey Graham, David Perdue, Kelly Loeffler, Michael Flynn, Boris Epshteyn, Cleta Mitchell, and 15 others for crimes related to “the national effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election, focused on efforts in Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia.” Graham, who pressed Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and his staff about vote-counting procedures while they were in the middle of an ongoing recount, said “I’ll do the same thing” in the next election if he saw the need. (CNN / Politico / New York Times / CNBC / Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
6/ Trump inflated his net worth by at least $3.6 billion a year from 2011 to 2021. New York Attorney General Letitia James said that for seven years, Trump overstated his wealth from $1.9 billion to $3.6 billion per year. The filing is part of the state’s $250 million civil lawsuit against Trump, Trump Jr., Eric Trump, his business, and some of its top executives. Last month, James asked the court for partial summary judgment against Trump, asserting that a “mountain of undisputed evidence” backed up her allegations. The trial is set begin on Oct. 2, and wrap up by Dec. 22. (CNBC / Bloomberg / NBC News / CNN / ABC News)
1/ Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis accused Jim Jordan of trying to obstruct her prosecution of Trump and his 18 co-defendants for their efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. Last month, Jordan and other Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee demanded that Willis turn over all documents related to her prosecution of Trump, accusing her of coordinating with Biden administration officials. “There is no justification in the Constitution for Congress to interfere with a state criminal matter, as you attempt to do,” Willis said, adding that “the obvious purpose” of Jordan’s request “is to obstruct a Georgia criminal proceeding and to advance outrageous partisan misrepresentations.” (Atlanta Journal-Constitution / NBC News / New York Times / CNBC / The Hill)
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis asked a judge to keep jurors’ names secret. Willis also asked that courtroom cameras not show the jurors and bar the publication of written descriptions of the people on a jury after grand jurors, who issued the indictment against Trump and his allies, were doxed online. (CNBC / CNN)
2/ Trump notified the judge overseeing his Georgia election subversion case that he “may” try to move the state case into federal court. He would be the sixth defendant to file such a motion, joining Mark Meadows, Jeffrey Clark, David Shafer, Cathy Latham, and Shawn Still. Trump now has a month to file a formal notice of removal of the case to federal court in Georgia. (CNN / ABC News / CNBC)
3/ Trump was warned in May 2022 that the FBI could search Mar-a-Lago if he didn’t comply with a grand jury subpoena for the return of all the classified documents. Minutes after Trump’s lawyer, Evan Corcoran, told Trump he needed to comply with the subpoena, a different Trump attorney warned him that Trump is “just going to go ballistic” if he’s pushed to comply with the subpoena. On Aug. 8, 2022, the FBI executed a federal search warrant at Mar-a-Lago and recovered more than 100 classified documents. A Mar-a-Lago IT worker, meanwhile, struck a cooperation agreement with Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office to provide testimony. Yuscil Taveras previously “retracted his prior false testimony” and implicated Trump and others in obstruction of justice. (ABC News / NBC News / CNN / Reuters)
4/ A Trump trade adviser was convicted of criminal contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a subpoena from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Peter Navarro was convicted of two counts of criminal contempt of Congress, each punishable by up to a year behind bars and a fine of up to $100,000. Navarro is the second former Trump aide to be prosecuted for refusing to cooperate with the committee. Steve Bannon was convicted last year on two contempt counts. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / NBC News)
poll/ 61% of Americans say they think that Biden had at least some involvement in Hunter Biden’s business dealings, with 42% saying they think he acted illegally, despite Republicans on House Oversight Committee having not presented any direct evidence that Biden personally benefited. (CNN)
poll/ 46% of registered voters say that any Republican presidential nominee would be a better choice than Biden in 2024. 28% of Americans say Biden inspires confidence – down 7 percentage points from March. (CNN)
1/ Biden canceled all seven Trump-issued oil and gas leases in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and prohibited oil drilling in 13 million acres in the federally owned National Petroleum Reserve. “As the climate crisis warms the Arctic more than twice as fast as the rest of the world, we have a responsibility to protect this treasured region for all ages,” Biden said in a statement, adding that the state is full of “breathtaking natural wonders” that need protection. While the new regulations are intended to ensure “maximum protections” for nearly half of the petroleum reserve, it will not block the ConocoPhillips Willow project, which Biden approved earlier this year. The Willow project is expected to produce 576 million barrels of oil over 30 years. (New York Times / Bloomberg / Politico / Washington Post / CNN / The Hill)
2/ A federal judge ruled that Trump was liable a second time for defaming writer E. Jean Carroll and the upcoming trial will focus on what money damages he owes her. In May, Carroll was awarded $5 million in damages at a civil sexual assault trial against Trump after finding he sexually abused her and later defamed her in October 2022. A day later, Trump appeared on CNN and “falsely stated that he did not sexually abuse Carroll, that he has no idea who Carroll was, and that Carroll’s now-proven accusation was a ‘fake’ and ‘made up story’ created by a ‘whack job.’” Carroll then amended her original defamation lawsuit against Trump to include the comments he made on CNN. Judge Lewis Kaplan said since the jury in the first case found Trump liable for sexual assaulting and defaming Carroll, the verdict will carry over to the defamation case and only deal with the amount of damages Carroll deserves, who is seeking more than $10 million in damages. (CNN / CNBC / Washington Post / NBC News / ABC News / Wall Street Journal)
3/ The judge presiding over the Georgia election interference case against Trump and his 18 co-defendants said he’s “very skeptical” of the plan to put all 19 defendants on trial next month. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis initially asked for a March trial date, but moved up the timeframe after Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell asked for a speedy trial in the case. Prosecutors expect that the case will take about four months to present, excluding jury selection, and that they plan to call more than 150 witnesses. “It just seems a bit unrealistic to think that we can handle all 19 in forty-something days,” Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee said. The judge, however, denied the request by Chesebro and Powell to sever their cases from each other. The two will face jurors together on Oct. 23. (NBC News / Politico / ABC News / CNBC / Axios / Atlanta Journal-Constitution )
4/ A New York judge rejected Trump’s request to delay his Oct. 2 civil fraud trial, calling the request “completely without merit.” Attorney General Letitia James is seeking $250 million in damages in the case, which accuses Trump, Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and his other co-defendants of “numerous acts of fraud and misrepresentations” for more than a decade by “grossly” inflating Trump’s net worth by billions of dollars and deceiving lenders, insurers, and tax authorities with false and misleading financial statements. (CNBC / Reuters)
5/ Six voters in Colorado filed a lawsuit seeking to block Trump from the state’s ballots in 2024 for his role in the insurrection on Jan. 6. Their suit, which was filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, contends that Trump should be disqualified from running in future elections under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which prohibits anyone who “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the Constitution from holding office. Trump’s campaign called the case an “absurd conspiracy theory and political attack,” adding that there “is no legal basis for this effort except in the minds of those who are pushing it.” Last year, CREW successfully removed a county official in New Mexico, who was convicted of trespassing in connection with the attack on the Capitol. (NBC News / ABC News / New York Times / CNBC / Associated Press / Bloomberg)
1/ A federal court struck down Alabama’s congressional map. The three-judge panel wrote that it was “deeply troubled” that the state legislature refused to comply with the Voting Rights Act and a Supreme Court order to create a second district with either a Black majority “or something quite close to it” to give Black voters an opportunity to elect a representative of their choice. Nevertheless, the Republican-controlled legislature approved a new map with just one majority-Black seat and increased the share of Black voters in one of the state’s six majority-white congressional districts to about 40%, from about 30%. For the 2024 elections, the judges ordered that a new map be independently drawn, stripping the Republican-controlled legislature of the responsibility because it “ultimately did not even nurture the ambition to provide the required remedy.” State Republicans are expected to appeal the decision. (NPR / Associated Press / Politico / NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post / CNN)
2/ All 19 defendants have pleaded not guilty in the Georgia election interference case and waived their in-person arraignment. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has accused Trump and 18 co-conspirators of racketeering for taking part in a scheme to try to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia. Mark Meadows and four others are also seeking to move the charges against them out of state court and into federal court, where the indictment could potentially be dismissed. They claim they’re immune from state prosecution because their actions were performed in his capacity as a federal official. (ABC News / CNN / NBC News / NPR / Associated Press)
3/ The former leader of the Proud Boys was sentenced to 22 years in prison after being convicted of seditious conspiracy for organizing the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6 and leading the failed plot to stop the peaceful transfer of presidential power. It is the longest sentence yet among the more than 1,100 people charged in connection with the Capitol attack, surpassing the 18 years given to Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, who was also convicted of seditious conspiracy. Federal prosecutors had asked for a sentence of 33 years in federal prison. Three other Proud Boys – Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl, and Dominic Pezzola — were each sentenced last week to between 10 and 17 years in prison. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNBC / CNN / NBC News)
4/ Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office warned a judge that Trump’s “daily” statements “threaten to prejudice the jury pool” in the federal election conspiracy case. District Judge Tanya Chutkan had previously warned Trump to refrain from “inflammatory” comments about those involved in his case. She didn’t, however, impose any special restrictions on his speech. The case is one of four pending criminal cases Trump is facing as he seeks the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. (Bloomberg / CNBC)
5/ New York Attorney General Letitia James asked a judge to impose $20,000 in sanctions on Trump, Trump Jr, Eric Trump, their lawyers, and other co-defendants over “frivolous conduct” by repeatedly making “previously-rejected arguments” in their motions. James’ office said that there are five instances where Trump’s attorneys have made the same arguments that have already been rejected by the court for a lack of legal or factual basis. The $250 million civil trial – accusing Trump, his sons, his business, and other associates of “grossly” inflating Trump’s personal net worth to obtain favorable terms from banks and insurance companies – is scheduled to begin on Oct. 2. (ABC News / Axios / NBC News / Politico)
poll/ 59% of Republican primary voters plan to support Trump for the GOP presidential nomination – up 11 percentage points since April. Trump leads Ron DeSantis by 46 percentage points – nearly double since April. (Wall Street Journal)
poll/ 44% of Republicans say they are seriously concerned that the criminal charges Trump faces will negatively affect his ability to serve as president if reelected, while 56% are not seriously concerned about Trump’s legal fights, and 34% are concerned. (CNN)
1/ Trump pleaded not guilty to 13 felony charges alleging his role in a criminal conspiracy to overturn his 2020 election loss in Georgia – it’s the fourth time Trump has formally denied criminal charges this year. Trump also waived his right to an in-person arraignment hearing and asked a judge to sever his case from his co-defendants, who want a speedy trial. Trump’s lawyers argued that Trump wouldn’t have “sufficient time” to prepare if his trial begins Oct. 23, adding that it would “violate President Trump’s federal and state constitutional rights to a fair trial and due process of law.” (CBS News / CNBC / CNN / Politico / Bloomberg / Atlanta Journal-Constitution / NBC News / Associated Press / Washington Post / New York Times)
2/ New York’s attorney general asked a judge for a partial summary judgment against Trump in her $250 million lawsuit accusing the Trump family and Trump Organization of fraudulently overvaluing their assets by billions of dollars. Attorney General Letitia James cited what she called a “mountain of undisputed evidence” that Trump had “grossly and materially inflated” his net worth by between $812 million and $2.2 billion each year between 2011 and 2021. Trump is scheduled for a civil trial in New York in October, and James’ office is seeking $250 million and sanctions that would bar Trump, Eric Trump or Trump Jr. from doing business in the state. (New York Times / CNBC / CBS News / Bloomberg)
3/ Justice Clarence Thomas disclosed that he took three private jet trips in 2020, which were paid for by Republican megadonor Harlan Crow. While Thomas didn’t amend any past reports to list previously undisclosed private flights or hospitality from Crow, he did acknowledge that he’d “inadvertently omitted” bank accounts now valued at more than $100,000 from his financial disclosures dating back to 2017. Thomas claimed it was due to “a misinterpretation of the rules.” Thomas also said he flew on a private jet in May because of “increased security risk” following the leak of the Dobbs opinion overturning Roe v. Wade days earlier. (CNN / Washington Post / Politico / NBC News / Associated Press / ABC News / New York Times / NPR / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
4/ The Florida leader of the Proud Boys was sentenced to 17 years in prison for his role in the seditious conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election and keep Trump in power on Jan. 6. Although Joseph Biggs received the second-longest sentence so far in the more than 1,100 criminal cases related to the Capitol attack, prosecutors had sought a 33 year sentence. “That day broke our tradition of peacefully transferring power,” U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Kelly said as he delivered his sentence. “The mob brought an entire branch of government to heel.” (Politico / NBC News / New York Times / NPR / USA Today / ABC News)
5/ The U.S. Capitol physician cleared Mitch McConnell to continue his work schedule after he froze for the second time in a matter of weeks. The statement that McConnell is “medically clear” to work comes as the 81-year-old held calls with his closest allies and donors to reassure them that he can do his job after he abruptly froze during a news conference and was unable to respond for more than 30 seconds after being asked if he would run for re-election. For now, McConnell’s potential successors — John Thune, John Barrasso, and John Cornyn — are backing his leadership, but it takes five Republican senators to force a special conference meeting to discuss the matter. (CNN / Axios / Politico / New York Times)
1/ Georgia Senate Republicans are considering ways to punish District Attorney Fani Willis for indicting Trump and 18 other defendants, saying “we believe she is definitely tainted.” State Senate Majority Leader Steve Gooch threatened hold legislative hearings to investigate Willis, accusing her of “politicizing” her 51-count indictment accusing Trump and 18 co-defendants of a “criminal enterprise” to reverse the 2020 election results. Gooch also suggested that Republicans could take advantage of a new law, Senate Bill 92, which allows a state panel to investigate and remove prosecutors. He called it a powerful “tool in the toolbox.” Meanwhile, Georgia state Senator Colton Moore suggested that a civil war could break out over Trump’s prosecution, saying “we’ve got 19 people who are facing the rest of their life in prison because they spoke out against an election.” In a separate interview, Moore called Willis a “domestic threat.” (Atlanta Journal-Constitution / HuffPost / Associated Press)
2/ A federal judge ruled that Rudy Giuliani was liable for defaming two Georgia election workers when he repeatedly accused them of manipulating ballots while counting votes in Atlanta during the 2020 election. U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell imposed the default judgment and monetary punishment after Giuliani repeatedly failed to comply with her orders to turn over documents and other evidence. Howell accused Giuliani of “willful […] misconduct” and “slippery” statements in violating her orders to preserve and produce relevant evidence. The ruling means the case will now proceed to a trial to determine how much Giuliani will have to pay in damages to the two election workers. (CNBC / CNN / New York Times / Politico)
3/ Mitch McConnell – again – froze during a news conference and was unable to respond for more than 30 seconds after being asked if he would run for re-election. McConnell chuckled and began to answer the question when he abruptly stopped speaking, standing motionless and staring ahead for more than 30 seconds. When an aide stepped in to ask if he’d heard the question, McConnell remained unresponsive. “I’m sorry you all, we’re gonna need a minute,” the aide told reporters. In July, McConnell froze and went silent for 19 seconds before being escorted away from the cameras. He returned shortly afterward and continued his news conference, claiming he’s “fine.” The 81-year-old, however, fell two weeks prior to the July incident and has been using a wheelchair periodically to get around. McConnell also suffered a concussion after falling down earlier this year. (New York Times / NBC News / CNN / Politico / Bloomberg / ABC News / NPR / CBS News / CNBC)
4/ The Biden administration proposed a new rule that would extend overtime pay to 3.6 million more U.S. workers. Workers making less than about $55,000 annually would be automatically entitled to time-and-a-half pay under the Department of Labor proposal – up from $35,568 set in 2019 under Trump. The median full-time worker in the U.S. makes around $57,000 a year. (Associated Press / Washington Post / Politico / NPR / Wall Street Journal / CNN)
5/ Gov. Ron DeSantis rejected some $350 million in federal energy efficiency incentives for Florida – the only governor to block the Inflation Reduction Act energy rebates. If Florida doesn’t apply for the rebates by next August, the law allows the Energy Department to allocate Florida’s money to other states. DeSantis has also rejected an additional $3 million in IRA funding to help the state fight pollution, vetoed the federal Solar for All program, and turned down $24 million in grants from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. 47.9% of Americans have a unfavorable opinion of DeSantis. (Politico)
1/ The Biden administration named the first 10 medicines that will be subject to price negotiations between Medicare and pharmaceutical companies under the Inflation Reduction Act. The medications are some of the most widely used and costliest drugs older Americans use for heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and autoimmune conditions. Medicare spent $50.5 billion on the drugs last year, and the negotiations are projected to save the government an estimated $98.5 billion over a decade. Makers of the drugs have 30 days to participate in the negotiations or face excise taxes. As a provision of IRA mandates that a certain number of drugs will be added annually to the negotiations. (Politico / NBC News / New York Times / CNN / ABC News / Washington Post / CNBC / Wall Street Journal / USA Today)
2/ Hurricane Idalia strengthened into a Category 2 hurricane as it moved over record-warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico. Idalia is expected to make landfall along Florida’s Gulf Coast on Wednesday as a major Category 3 storm with continuous winds between 111-129 mph. The National Weather Service is warning that the surge will be anywhere from “devastating to catastrophic,” leading to an “extreme life-threatening” situation for anyone in the storm’s path. The water temperatures around southern Florida climbed to 100 degrees Fahrenheit in some areas this summer – a possible world record for sea surface temperatures – and temperatures in the Gulf overall have been record-warm. Warmer waters allow for what’s known as rapid intensification, a phenomenon where a storm’s wind speed increases at least 35 mph within 24 hours. Water temperatures along Idalia’s predicted path are close to 90F. (CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / Bloomberg / Axios)
3/ Air pollution is more dangerous to the health of the average person on planet Earth than smoking or alcohol, according to a benchmark study by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago. The annual Air Quality Life Index reported that fine particulate air pollution — i.e. vehicle and industrial emissions, wildfires and more — remain the “greatest external threat to public health.” Fine particulate matter is linked to lung disease, heart disease, strokes, and cancer. The World Health Organization estimates that permanently reducing these pollutants would add 2.3 years to the life expectancy of the average person. Cigarette smoking and other uses of tobacco reduces global life expectancy by 2.2 years. (CBS News / Wall Street Journal)
4/ The Biden administration weakened regulations protecting millions of acres of wetlands to comply with a Supreme Court ruling, which limited the federal government’s power to regulate wetlands that do not have a “continuous surface connection” to larger, regulated bodies of water. An estimated 1.2 million to 4.9 million miles of ephemeral streams will no longer be under federal protection and up to 63% of wetlands will be affected. In May, the Supreme Court limited the EPA’s authority to protect wetlands and waterways under the Clean Water Act, upending a half-century of federal rules governing the nation’s waterways. (Associated Press / Washington Post)
America Is Using Up Its Groundwater Like There’s No Tomorrow. Overuse is draining and damaging aquifers nationwide. (New York Times)
5/ The number of available jobs in the U.S. fell for the third consecutive month – dropping below 9 million for the first time since 2021. Job openings declined by 338,000 to a seasonally adjusted 8.8 million in July from the prior month, the Labor Department reported – the sixth decline in the last seven months. (Bloomberg / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
poll/ 57% of likely Georgia Republican primary voters support Trump, while 15% support Ron DeSantis. In a hypothetical heads-up matchup against DeSantis, Trump had a 33-point lead. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
1/ Trump’s trial on federal charges that he conspired to overturn his 2020 election loss will start March 4 – two years sooner than he requested and one day before Super Tuesday, when 14 states hold their presidential primaries. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan refused Trump’s request to push off the trial until April 2026, saying that was “far beyond what is necessary” and that “setting a trial date does not depend and should not depend on the defendant’s personal or professional obligations.” Chutkan added: “The public has a right to a prompt and efficient resolution of this matter,” noting that “there is a societal interest to a speedy trial.” A federal grand jury indicted Trump on four charges this month: conspiracy to defraud the U.S.; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction; and conspiracy against the right to vote and to have one’s vote counted. Elsewhere, Trump’s criminal trial in New York on charges of falsifying business records related to hush money payments is set for March 25. And in Florida, special counsel Jack Smith’s case accusing Trump of mishandling classified records is set for May 20. In Georgia, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis requested that Trump’s racketeering trial start Oct. 23, 2023. Willis initially proposed a March 4 start date, but one Trump’s co-defendants, Kenneth Chesebro, demanded a speedier trial. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press / NPR / ABC News / NBC News / CBS News / CNN / Washington Post / Politico / Bloomberg / CNBC)
2/ A federal judge in Atlanta heard arguments to determine whether Mark Meadows’s status as Trump’s chief of staff protects him from being tried in state court. Meadows, who was indicted in Georgia on charges that he conspired with Trump to overturn the 2020 presidential election, asked to move the Fulton County case to federal court, saying his actions “all occurred during his tenure and as part of his service as Chief of Staff.” Meadows spent more than two and a half hours testifying. Other defendants in the case, including Trump, are expected to raise similar immunity arguments that their actions were part of their responsibilities as a White House official. A decision is expected soon, and could apply to all 19 defendants. (NBC News / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press / Washington Post / New York Times / ABC News / Bloomberg / Politico)
3/ Trump and his 18 co-defendants will be arraigned Sept. 6 in Atlanta on charges that they conspired to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. At their arraignments, the defendants will formally hear the charges brought against them and enter their pleas. Trump’s arraignment will take place at 9:30 a.m. ET, followed by Rudy Giuliani’s arraignment at 9:45 a.m. The arraignments of the remaining 17 co-defendants will continue after that at 15-minute intervals. (Associated Press / The Hill / CNBC / NBC News / ABC News)
4/ Kevin McCarthy suggested that a Biden impeachment inquiry is “a natural step forward” when Congress returns from its August recess. McCarthy has reportedly told Republicans he plans to pursue impeachment – over claims of financial misconduct involving his son Hunter – and plans to start the process by the end of September. The White House dismissed McCarthy’s remarks as a “crazy exercise […] rooted not in facts and truth but partisan shamelessness.” Meanwhile, a Republican on the House Appropriations Committee proposed defunding the “prosecution of any major presidential candidate prior to the upcoming presidential election.” Andrew Clyde’s two amendments would “prohibit the use of federal funding” for both state and federal prosecutions, and its expected to marked up in the House Appropriations Committee after the House returns in mid-September. (NBC News / CNN / Associated Press)
poll/ 61% of Americans want Trump’s election subversion case to take place before the 2024 presidential election. Among Democrats, 89% want Trump to stand trial before the election, while 33% of Republicans agree. 63% of independents also want Trump’s trial to take place before the election. (Politico)
poll/ 50% of Americans think Trump should suspend his campaign after his fourth indictment. (ABC News)
poll/ 50% of Republican primary voters plan to vote for Trump – his lowest support to date. 43% say there is a chance they could change their mind and vote for someone else. (Emerson College)
poll/ 77% of Americans say Biden is too old for a second term, including 69% of Democrats and 89% of Republicans. (Associated Press)
1/ Trump surrendered at the Fulton County jail on 13 state charges that he conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia – it’s the fourth time this year that Trump has turned himself in to face criminal charges. Trump was also fingerprinted and a mugshot taken – a first in his four separate criminal cases. Trump and 18 political allies were indicted last week as part of a racketeering case accusing them of engaging in a “criminal enterprise” to “unlawfully change the outcome of the election in favor of Trump.” He is facing 13 separate felony counts in Georgia, including violating the state’s anti-racketeering act, soliciting a public officer to violate their oath, conspiring to impersonate a public officer, conspiring to commit forgery, and conspiring to file false documents. Prior to his surrender, Trump replaced his top Georgia lawyer, adding Steve Sadow, a veteran criminal defense lawyer who has previously challenged the state’s racketeering law. Sadow replaces Drew Findling, who helped negotiate Trump’s $200,000 bond in the case. [Editor’s note: At the time publishing, Trump was en route to Fulton County to turn himself in. This will be updated.] (New York Times / Washington Post / NPR / Associated Press / CNBC / CNN)
📌 Day 800: The Manhattan grand jury voted to indict Trump for his role in the hush-money payment to a porn star during his 2016 campaign.
📌 Day 871: The Justice Department charged Trump with 37 felony counts over his refusal to return classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago, including 31 counts under the Espionage Act of “willful retention” of national defense information, making false statements, and conspiracy to obstruct justice.
📌 Day 924: Trump was indicted by special counsel Jack Smith on federal charges over his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and subvert the will of American voters.
📌 Day 938 Trump and 18 others were indicted by an Atlanta grand jury in connection with efforts to overturn Biden’s 2020 win in Georgia. The 41-count indictment – 13 of which were lodged against Trump – is the fourth time Trump, the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, has been indicted since leaving office. In all, he faces 91 felony charges.
2/ Mark Meadows surrendered at the Fulton County Jail for his alleged role in the conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia after a federal judge rejected his effort to move the case from state court to federal court. Meadows claims his case should be handled by the federal courts because it involves his work for the Trump administration. Meadows faces two counts: violating Georgia’s anti-racketeering law and soliciting a public officer to violate their oath. The judge set his bond at $100,000. (NBC News / Politico / CNN / ABC News / CNBC)
3/ Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis asked a state judge to schedule Trump’s racketeering trial for Oct. 23, 2023 – about five months earlier than her original March 2024 proposal. Willis made the request in response to a demand by another defendant in the case, Kenneth Chesebro, for a speedier trial. “Without waiving any objection as to the sufficiency of Defendant Kenneth John Chesebro’s filing, the State requests that this Court specially set the trial in this case to commence on October 23, 2023, which falls within the term of the ‘next succeeding regular court term,’” Willis wrote. Trump, meanwhile, said he’s opposes the October trial date and said he’d seek to separate his case from Chesebro. Fulton Judge Scott McAfee granted Chesebro’s requqest for an Oct. 23 trial, and set his arraignment for Sept. 6. (Bloomberg / Politico / CNBC / CNN / NPR)
4/ Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee opened an investigation into Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, accusing her of coordinating with Biden administration officials. In a letter to Willis, House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan wrote that “your indictment and prosecution implicate substantial federal interests, and the circumstances surrounding your actions raise serious concerns about whether they are politically motivated.” The Republican-led committee claims that the allocation of funds appropriated by Congress gives them jurisdiction over the state-level probe. They’re seeking documents and other material from Willis, including any communications with the Justice Department and whether any federal dollars were used in her investigation that resulted in Trump’s fourth indictment. The questions echo the same line of inquiry that Republicans used to investigate Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who indicted Trump for falsifying business records to cover up an alleged hush money scheme. (Bloomberg / CNN / Politico / New York Times / The Hill / NPR)
5/ U.S. intelligence concluded that an intentional explosion or some other form of sabotage caused the plane crash that killed Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Russian mercenary leader who led a failed uprising against Putin two months ago. Prigozhin was listed as a passenger on the jet that crashed north of Moscow yesterday. Although a definitive conclusion has not been reached, there is no evidence that the plane he was on was taken down by a missile. Putin, meanwhile, expressed his condolences to the families of those killed, adding that Prigozhin was “a man of difficult fate” who had “made serious mistakes in life.” (NBC News / New York Times / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / Los Angeles Times / Bloomberg)
1/ Rudy Giuliani surrendered to Georgia authorities and was booked on charges that he illegally conspired to overturn Trump’s 2020 election loss in the state. Giuliani, who was released on $150,000 bond, told reporters that he was “very, very honored to be involved in this case because this case is a fight for our way of life. This indictment is a travesty.” He added: “If they can do this to me, they can do this to you.” Meanwhile, Trump-allied Sidney Powell also surrendered to authorities at the Fulton County Jail. Trump is expected to surrender on Thursday. (Washington Post / Associated Press / ABC News / NBC News / New York Times / CNN / CNBC / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
2/ A key witness in Trump’s classified documents case “retracted his prior false testimony” and implicated Trump and others in obstruction of justice after switching lawyers. Yuscil Taveras’ legal expenses were previously paid for by Trump’s Save America PAC. He initially testified to a grand jury that he was unaware of any effort at Mar-a-Lago to delete security footage. After hiring a new lawyer from the federal defender’s office in Washington in early July, Taveras – described as “Trump Employee 4” in court documents – changed his testimony and detailed the alleged effort by Trump, Carlos De Oliveira, and Walt Nauta to tamper with evidence. Prosecutors then filed additional charges on July 27, accusing Trump, Nauta, and de Oliveira of alleged attempts to pressure “Trump Employee 4” to delete the security footage. Taveras has not been charged in the case. (Politico / CBS News / ABC News / New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / Axios / CNN)
3/ The South Carolina Supreme Court upheld a ban on most abortion after roughly six weeks of pregnancy. The ”Fetal Heartbeat and Protection from Abortion Act” bans abortion after embryonic cardiac activity can be detected, which is generally around six weeks of pregnancy. South Carolina previously allowed abortion until 22 weeks. The 4-1 decision reverses the court’s January ruling, which struck down a similar law on the basis that it violated the State Constitution’s protections for privacy. The new ruling comes after Republican state lawmakers replaced the lone woman on the court, who retired because of the court’s age limits, with a male justice, and then passed a new six-week abortion ban. South Carolina is the only state to have an all-male state supreme court despite a population that’s 51.3% female. (Washington Post / ABC News / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / CNN)
4/ The first Republican presidential debate begins at 9 p.m. Eastern time tonight. Eight candidates will appear onstage in Milwaukee: Doug Burgum, Chris Christie, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Asa Hutchinson, Mike Pence, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Tim Scott. Trump, the current frontrunner for the Republican nomination, will not be at the debate. Instead, Trump will sit for an interview with Tucker Carlson, which he reportedly already recorded. The two-hour event, moderated by Fox News Channel hosts Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, will air exclusively on Fox News and the Fox Business Network, as well as on Fox’s website and digital platforms. It will not be simulcast across other networks or cable channels. Burgum, meanwhile, suffered a high-grade tear of his Achilles tendon while playing pick-up basketball with his staff yesterday said he will still participate in the debate. (New York Times / Washington Post / NPR / Associated Press / CNN / Politico)
poll/ 12% of potential Republican primary voters support Ron DeSantis, while 52% support Trump and 8% support Vivek Ramaswamy. (Yahoo! News)
1/ The Trump lawyer who led efforts to overturn the 2020 election surrendered at the Fulton County jail. John Eastman was the second of 19 co-defendants to turn himself in. He faces nine counts charges, including racketeering, conspiracy to commit forgery, and filing false documents. Eastman maintained that there was “no question in my mind” that the 2020 election was “absolutely” stolen. Trump, meanwhile, said he intends to surrender in Georgia on Thursday to face the 13 felony counts related to efforts to overturn the state’s 2020 presidential election result. (CNBC / The Hill / Associated Press / NBC News / ABC News / Wall Street Journal / Politico / NPR)
2/ The former chairman of the Georgia Republican Party – and one of the 19 co-defendants in the election interference case – claimed that he “acted at the direction” of Trump. Shafer and 15 other Republican fake electors met at the state capitol on Dec. 14, 2020 and falsely certified Trump as the winner in Georgia. “Attorneys for the President and Mr. Shafer specifically instructed Mr. Shafer, verbally and in writing, that the Republican electors’ meeting and casting their ballots on December 14, 2020 was consistent with counsels’ advice and was necessary to preserve the presidential election contest,” Shafer’s court filing states. Shafer faces eight charges, including false statements and writings, forgery in the first degree, and impersonating a public officer. (Politico / Axios)
3/ Mark Meadows asked a federal court in Georgia to block state authorities from arresting him and to “immediately” move his criminal election interference case to federal court, claiming the charges relate to his then-role in the federal government. Although Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis gave Meadows until Aug. 25 to surrender, Meadows argues that his surrender should be delayed until after an Aug. 28 hearing about his request to transfer the case to federal court. Willis, meanwhile, has refused to grant Meadows an extension, saying Meadows is “no different than any other criminal defendant in this jurisdiction” and that the two-week window for surrender was “a tremendous courtesy.” (CNBC / Bloomberg / New York Times / CNN)
4/ A federal judge temporarily blocked part of a Georgia’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth, ordering state officials to stop enforcing a key provision of the law more than a month after it took effect. Judge Sarah Geraghty said the law, which went into effect July 1, “is substantially likely to violate the Equal Protection Clause.” Meanwhile, a school board in suburban Atlanta voted to fire a teacher who read a book about gender fluidity to her fifth-grade class. Earlier that year, Georgia passed a law banning teachers from teaching “divisive lessons” and created a parent’s bill of rights that guarantees parents “the right to direct the upbringing and the moral or religious training of his or her minor child.” (CNN / The Hill)
5/ A federal appeals court ruled that Alabama can enforce a ban on hormone treatments and puberty blockers for transgender youth. The three-judge panel for the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals vacated a temporary injunction against enforcing the law, saying that the district court had erred in partly blocking the law, which the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature passed last year. All three judges hearing the appeal were nominated to their positions by Trump. More than 20 states now have laws banning or restricting gender-affirming care for minors. (Associated Press / New York Times)
poll/ 51% of likely Iowa Republican caucusgoers believe Trump’s claims that he won the 2020 presidential election despite no evidence of widespread election fraud, while 41% say they don’t, and 8% aren’t sure. (NBC News)
1/ The House Freedom Caucus threatened to oppose a stopgap funding bill, which would avert a government shutdown at the end of September. After Kevin McCarthy floated the idea of a stopgap bill last week, the ultraconservative House lawmakers are now demanding that any short-term spending bill increase the number of Border Patrol agents, require the Homeland Security Secretary to resume building the border wall, address “the unprecedented weaponization” of the Justice Department and FBI, and end “woke” Defense Department policies. Congress, however, is unlikely to pass all 12 appropriations bills by the Sept. 30 deadline, which would then force a shutdown of many federal government services. (Axios / NBC News / Politico)
2/ Trump confirmed that he’ll skip the first Republican presidential primary debate on Wednesday and instead sit for an interview with Tucker Carlson, which he’s reportedly already recorded. “The public knows who I am & what a successful Presidency I had,” Trump wrote on his personal social network. “I WILL THEREFORE NOT BE DOING THE DEBATES!” Trump is one of 10 Republican presidential candidates who have met the polling and fundraising criteria to qualify for the debate. Trump, however, has refused sign a loyalty pledge committing to support the eventual GOP nominee, which is required to secure a spot on the debate stage. (New York Times / NBC News / CNN)
3/ The Justice Department is seeking between 27 and 33 years in federal prison in the cases of four Proud Boys convicted of seditious conspiracy. Prosecutors are seeking 33 years in federal prison for Enrique Tarrio and Joseph Biggs, 30 years for Zachary Rehl, and 27 years for Ethan Nordean. Dominic Pezzola was acquitted of the seditious conspiracy charge but found guilty of assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers. Prosecutors are seeking 20 years for Pezzola. (NBC News / Associated Press)
A Florida Proud Boy convicted on seven counts stemming from his actions during the Jan. 6 riot is missing. An arrest warrant has been issued for Christopher Worrell. (NBC News)
4/ Trump agreed to a $200,000 bond in the Georgia criminal case accusing him of conspiring to overturn his 2020 presidential election results in the state.Under the terms of the “consent bond order,” Trump agreed to “perform no act to intimidate any person known to him or her to be a codefendant or witness in this case or to otherwise obstruct the administration of justice” – including on social media – and explicitly includes “posts on social media or reposts of posts made by another individual on social media.” Two of Trump’s co-defendants, John Eastman and Kenneth Chesebro, both agreed to a $100,000 bond. (NBC News / Associated Press / CNBC / Axios)
5/ Trump requested that his criminal trial on charges that he tried to overturn the 2020 election be delayed until April 2026 – nearly a year and a half after the 2024 election in which he is the Republican front-runner. Special counsel Jack Smith office, however, said delaying the criminal election subversion case until 2026 would “deny the public its right to a speedy trial.” Smith’s team has proposed a Jan. 2, 2024 trial date. (CNN / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press)
poll/ 62% of likely Republican voters said they’d renominate Trump for the 2024 race today. The next closest rival is Ron DeSantis at 16%. (CBS News)
1/ The Fulton County Sheriff’s Office is investigating online threats against the grand jurors who voted to indict Trump on racketeering charges after their names, photographs, phone numbers, and home addresses were purportedly posted on social media. While Georgia law requires that the names of all the grand jury members be publicly listed, the indictment doesn’t include any other personally identifiable information. An anonymous user called the list of jurors’ “a hit list,” while another user wrote “everyone on that jury should be hung.” One message said: “These jurors have signed their death warrant by falsely indicting President Trump.” (NBC News / USA Today / The Hill / CNN / Axios / New York Times)
Mark Meadows filed to transfer the case brought against him by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis into federal court. Meadows argues that the charges against him amount to “state interference in a federal official’s duties” in violation of the Constitution’s supremacy clause. (Politico)
2/ A Texas woman was arrested after threatening to kill the federal judge overseeing Trump’s prosecution on charges of seeking to overturn the 2020 election. Abigail Jo Shry called Judge Tanya Chutkan’s chambers two days after Trump was arraigned on the election interference charges, and left a “threatening voicemail message” intended for Chutkan, who was selected at random to oversee Trump’s criminal case. “Hey you stupid slave,” Shry said, the affidavit alleges. “You are in our sights, we want to kill you […] If Trump doesn’t get elected in 2024, we are coming to kill you, so tread lightly, bitch. You will be targeted personally, publicly, your family, all of it.” Shry also “made a direct threat to kill” Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, as well as all Democrats and members of the LGBTQ community. Although Shry told agents from the Department of Homeland Security that she left the message but had no plans to carry out an attack, she also told the agents that “if Sheila Jackson Lee comes to Alvin[, Texas], then we need to worry.” (Bloomberg Law / NBC News / Washington Post / Associated Press / New York Times)
A Canadian woman was sentenced to nearly 22 years in prison for mailing a threatening letter that contained ricin to Trump at the White House in 2020. The letter referred to Trump as “The Ugly Tyrant Clown” and read in part: “If it doesn’t work, I’ll find better recipe for another poison, or I might use my gun when I’ll be able to come. Enjoy! FREE REBEL SPIRIT.” (ABC News)
3/ Special counsel Jack Smith obtained Trump’s Twitter direct messages despite a “momentous” effort by Twitter to delay complying with a search warrant. Prosecutors wanted “all content, records, and other information relating to communications sent from or received” from October 2020 to January 2021 on Trump’s account on Twitter, including “all tweets created, drafted, favorited/liked, or retweeted,” all deleted tweets, as well as all metadata and logs. Smith’s office executed a search warrant for “evidence of criminal offenses” on Trump’s Twitter account in January after Elon Musk took over the company. Twitter, however, fought demands that it refrain from notifying Trump about the search warrant for two months, which led U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell to hold Twitter in contempt, fining the company $350,000, for missing a court-ordered deadline to comply with the search warrant. Howell also openly wondered whether the delay was “because the new CEO wants to cozy up with the former president?” (Politico / New York Times / NBC News / CNN)
poll/ 50% of Americans say Trump should suspend his presidential campaign, while 33% don’t think he should, and 17% are unsure. (ABC News)
poll/ 42% of American’s approve of Biden’s performance as president. (Associated Press)
1/ Federal Reserve officials warned of “significant” inflation risks, which could require them to raise rates again this year. At their July policy meeting, “most” Fed officials said inflation remained “unacceptably” high. A “couple” officials, however, thought the risks of raising rates too much versus too little “had become more two-sided, and it was important that the committee’s decisions balance the risk of an inadvertent overtightening of policy against the cost of an insufficient tightening.” The July meeting resulted in a quarter percentage point rate hike to a range between 5.25% and 5.5% – a 22-year high – and marked the 11th hike over the past 17 months, when they raised rates from near zero. Inflation, meanwhile, eased to 3.2% in July, down from a high of more than 9% in mid-2022. (Bloomberg / New York Times / CNBC / Wall Street Journal)
2/ The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate rose to 7.16% – the highest level since 2001. Mortgage rates have more than doubled since the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates. Mortgage applications, meanwhile, were 29% lower than the same week one year ago, slipping to the second-lowest level since 1995. (Bloomberg / Reuters / CNBC / Wall Street Journal)
Student loan bills for some borrowers are higher than mortgage payments. “Almost 7% of debt holders face bills of $1,000 or more. At the same time, about 23.7 million homes in the US have a mortgage payment of $1,000 or less, according to Black Knight.” (Bloomberg)
3/ A paid campaign fundraiser for George Santos was indicted in New York on federal charges for allegedly impersonating Kevin McCarthy’s former chief of staff. Samuel Miele was charged with four counts of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft for sending “fraudulent fund-raising” emails to more than a dozen potential contributors. In those messages, Miele claimed to be a “high-ranking aide to a member of the House with leadership responsibilities.” Miele earned a commission of 15% for each contribution he raised, prosecutors said. Three months ago, Santos was arrested on charges of wire fraud, money laundering, theft of public funds, and making false statements to Congress. (New York Times / CNBC / Associated Press)
4/ A federal appeals court limited access to a widely used abortion pill after finding that the FDA failed to follow the proper process when it loosened regulations in 2016 to make mifepristone more easily available. Mifepristone, however, will remain available for now under existing regulations while the litigation continues and the Justice Department is expected to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court. (CNBC / Washington Post / NBC News / Reuters / CBS News)
5/ Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis proposed a March 4 trial date for Trump and his 18 co-defendants. The date is one day before Super Tuesday, when more than a dozen states hold their Republican primary contests. Willis also asked to schedule arraignments for the defendants for the week of September 5, saying the dates “do not conflict” with Trump’s other criminal cases. The trial’s start date will ultimately be decided by a judge. Trump’s criminal trial in New York on charges of falsifying business records related to hush money payments, meanwhile, is set for March 25, and a federal judge in Florida set a May 20 trial date in special counsel Jack Smith’s case accusing Trump of mishandling classified records. In a separate federal case related to Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election, Smith’s office proposed a Jan. 2 trial start. (CNBC / Axios / CNN / The Hill)
poll/ 35% of Americans have a favorable view of Trump, while 62% have an unfavorable view. Among Republicans, 70% have a favorable opinion of Trump and 63% say they want him to run for president again. (Associated Press)
poll/ 53% of Americans approve of the Justice Department indicting Trump over his efforts to remain in office after losing the 2020 election. (Associated Press)
poll/ 54% of Americans think Trump should be prosecuted following the federal indictment accusing him of attempting to overturn the 2020 election. 42% think Trump should not be prosecuted. 64% say the federal criminal charges against Trump are serious, while 32% say they’re not serious. (Quinnipiac)
1/ Trump and 18 others were indicted by an Atlanta grand jury in connection with efforts to overturn Biden’s 2020 win in Georgia. The 41-count indictment – 13 of which were lodged against Trump – is the fourth time Trump, the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, has been indicted since leaving office. In all, he faces 91 felony charges. Trump now has 10 days to turn himself in to face accusations that he orchestrated a “criminal enterprise” to remain in power despite losing the election by violating the state’s racketeering act, soliciting a public officer to violate their oath, conspiring to impersonate a public officer, conspiring to commit forgery, and conspiring to file false documents. “Trump and the other Defendants charged in this Indictment refused to accept that Trump lost, and they knowingly and willfully joined a conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election in favor of Trump,” the indictment states. Racketeering carries up to 20 years in prison, while conspiracy can result in a minimum sentence of one year in prison with a variable maximum sentence. Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, Jeffrey Clark, John Eastman, Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis, Kenneth Chesebro, and several others were all charged with violating Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization act. The charges follow a 2 1/2-year criminal investigation by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. The probe was launched after audio leaked of Trump’s Jan. 2, 2021, phone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger asking him to “find” him 11,780 votes to overturn his 2020 loss in the state. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution / Washington Post / New York Times / Associated Press / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / NPR / Bloomberg / CNN / Politico / ABC News)
Keeping Track of the Trump Investigations. Here is a guide to the major criminal cases involving the former president. (New York Times)
📌 Day 800: The Manhattan grand jury voted to indict Trump for his role in the hush-money payment to a porn star during his 2016 campaign.
📌 Day 871: The Justice Department charged Trump with 37 felony counts over his refusal to return classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago, including 31 counts under the Espionage Act of “willful retention” of national defense information, making false statements, and conspiracy to obstruct justice.
📌 Day 924: Trump was indicted by special counsel Jack Smith on federal charges over his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and subvert the will of American voters.
Trump is charged with racketeering: Here’s what that means and what happens next for him. (Washington Post)
4 things revealed by Trump’s Georgia indictment. (Washington Post)
2/ The Mar-a-Lago property manager charged in the Trump classified documents case pleaded not guilty in Florida federal court. Carlos De Oliveira is accused of conspiring with Trump and Walt Nauta to delete security footage the Justice Department sought as part of its efforts to retrieve sensitive files from Trump after he left office. After the security footage was subpoenaed, De Oliveira allegedly told an IT employee at Mar-a-Lago that “the boss” wanted the footage deleted. De Oliveira was unable to enter a plea in late July and again last week because he was unable to find a Florida-based lawyer. Magistrate Judge Shaniek Maynard, meanwhile, wished De Oliveira “good luck.” (NBC News / CNN / Politico / CBS News / CNBC)
3/ The Biden administration will begin discharging student loans for 804,000 borrowers with a combined $39 billion in federal debt after a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit from conservative groups seeking to block the program. Last year, the Education Department said payment-tracking procedures “revealed significant flaws” in the system and that many borrowers were “missing out on progress toward [income-driven repayment] forgiveness.” The administration said it was addressing “historical failures” in which qualifying payments by people enrolled in income-driven repayment plans were not properly accounted for. (Axios / CBS News / ABC News)
✏️ Notables.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin criticized Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s ongoing hold on hundreds of military promotions as an “unprecedented” move that threatens the country’s safety. “Because of this blanket hold, starting today, for the first time in the history of the Department of Defense, three of our military services are operating without Senate-confirmed leaders,” Austin said. (NBC News)
Violent threats against public officials have escalated since 2013. In 2013, there were 38 such arrests — last year, there were 74. (NPR)
The U.S. has seen a record increase in homeless people this year. Homelessness is up roughly 11% from 2022 – the biggest recorded increase since the government started tracking comparable numbers in 2007. (Wall Street Journal)
1/ A Montana judge ruled that the state’s oil and gas policies failed to consider climate change when approving energy projects, violating young people’s constitutional right to a “clean and healthful environment.” District Court Judge Kathy Seeley found that a provision in the Montana Environmental Policy Act had harmed the state’s environment and the plaintiffs – a group of 16 kids, teens, and young adults. It was the first-of-its kind youth-led climate trial. In the ruling, Seeley wrote that “Montana’s emissions and climate change have been proven to be a substantial factor in causing climate impacts to Montana’s environment and harm and injury” to the youth. Montana is one of three states that have the affirmative right to a safe environment in their constitutions. (Bloomberg / Associated Press / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
Small changes in global average temperature are driving environmental and economic consequences. (Bloomberg)
The clean energy future is arriving faster than you think. “Wind and solar power are breaking records, and renewables are now expected to overtake coal by 2025 as the world’s largest source of electricity. Automakers have made electric vehicles central to their business strategies and are openly talking about an expiration date on the internal combustion engine. Heating, cooling, cooking and some manufacturing are going electric.” (New York Times)
2/ An Atlanta area grand jury started hearing evidence against Trump and others in the 2020 election subversion case. Multiple witnesses were spotted and testified before the grand jury today, including two former state lawmakers. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is expected to seek more than a dozen indictments in the case. Meanwhile, a list of criminal charges against Trump briefly appeared on a Fulton County website, which included conspiracy, false statements, forgery and, racketeering. Prosecutors, however, said Trump had not been indicted (yet?) and the Fulton County Clerk called the document “fictitious.” The two-page docket was then removed from the Fulton County court’s website. In July 2022, Willis notified 16 Trump electors that they were targets of the investigation. At least eight of them reached immunity deals that allow them to avoid prosecution if they cooperated. Trump is the first former U.S. president to face criminal charges, having been indicted in three separate cases, which total 78 charges: 44 federal charges and 34 state charges, all of them felonies, in three jurisdictions. (New York Times / CNN / Washington Post / ABC News / Wall Street Journal / Reuters / Associated Press / CNBC)
Georgia prosecutors have text messages and emails showing Trump’s team was behind the January 2021 voting system breach in Coffee County. “On January 1, 2021 – days ahead of the January 7 voting systems breach – Katherine Friess, an attorney working with Giuliani, Sidney Powell and other Trump allies, shared a ‘written invitation’ to examine voting systems in Coffee County with a group of Trump allies.” (CNN)
How Trump Tried to Overturn the Vote. “The Georgia case assembled by Ms. Willis offers a vivid reminder of the extraordinary lengths taken by Mr. Trump and his allies to exert pressure on local officials to overturn the election.” (New York Times)
How Donald Trump tried to undo his loss in Georgia in 2020. “In phone calls, speeches, tweets and media appearances, Trump and his allies pushed to overturn the 2020 election results in six swing states where certified results declared Joe Biden the winner, an effort that culminated in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol as Congress convened to confirm the results.” (Washington Post)
3/ Trump attacked the judge handling his election conspiracy case – despite being warned that he refrain from “inflammatory” attacks against those involved in his case. Three days after District Judge Tanya Chutkan warned Trump she would “take whatever measures are necessary to safeguard the integrity of these proceedings,” Trump posted on his personal social media site that Chutkan was “highly partisan” and “very biased & unfair,” adding that “she obviously wants me behind bars.” When Chutkan issued a protective order governing evidence and restricting what Trump could say publicly, she said that Trump’s “political campaign has to yield to the orderly administration of justice […] that’s how it has to be.” Prosecutors have requested a trial date of Jan. 2. (USA Today / Politico / Washington Post / CNN / New York Times / CNBC / Washington Post / CBS News / ABC News)
4/ Federal prosecutors accused Trump of seeking “special treatment that no other defendant would receive” in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case. Trump constructed sensitive compartmented information facility in one of his homes in order to review and discuss classified information in the case. Prosecutors, however, told a judge that “creating a secure location in Trump’s residence — which is also a social club — so he can discuss classified information would be an unnecessary and unjustified accommodation that deviates from the normal course of cases involving classified discovery.” (CNBC)
1/ Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas accepted at least 38 vacations, 26 private jet flights, eight flights by helicopter, a dozen VIP passes to sporting events, two stays at luxury resorts in Florida and Jamaica, and a standing invitation to play at a high-end private golf club in Florida from several billionaire benefactors since 1991. The travel often went unreported on Thomas’ required annual financial disclosure filings, and the total value of the undisclosed trips is probably in the millions of dollars. While it was previously reported that Harlan Crow paid for Thomas’ luxury vacations, his mother’s house, and a nephew’s tuition payments, Thomas, however, has also received special treatment from three other billionaires: David Sokol, H. Wayne Huizenga, and Paul “Tony” Novelly. All four billionaires have been major Republican donors. (ProPublica / New York Times / NPR / Bloomberg / CNN / Washington Post)
2/ Trump and one of his two co-defendants pleaded not guilty in federal court to three new charges in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case. Federal prosecutors initially accused Trump of committing 37 crimes in an indictment filed in June. Prosecutors, however, added three additional charges in a superseding indictment filed in July. Walt Nauta also pleaded not guilty. He faced six charges in the initial indictment, and was charged with two additional crimes in the superseding indictment. Carlos De Oliveira, meanwhile, was charged with four counts related to conspiring with Trump and Nauta to obstruct federal investigators’ efforts to retrieve secret national security documents from Trump after he left office. De Oliveira’s arraignment, however, was delayed because he hasn’t secured a Florida-based attorney. (Washington Post / New York Times / Associated Press / Politico / CNN / NBC News / CNBC)
3/ Inflation rose 3.2% from a year ago in July, up from 3% in June. It was the first annual inflation rate increase after 12 months of declines. The July inflation figure, however, remains far below last year’s peak of 9.1%, although it’s still above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. Federal Reserve policymakers, meanwhile, are debating whether to pause interest rate increases after raising them at 11 of the past 12 meetings from near zero to a range between 5.25% and 5.5% – a 22-year high. (Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNBC / NPR / New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / Politico)
4/ Biden signed an executive order limiting American investments in China as part of an effort to restrict the country’s ability to develop next-generation military and surveillance technologies. The order, which won’t go into effect until next year, would restrict American investments in certain high-tech sectors in China, including artificial intelligence, semiconductors, and quantum computing due to national security concerns. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce, meanwhile, said it has “serious concern” about the order and “reserves the right to take measures.” (Associated Press / Washington Post / Politico / Bloomberg / ABC News / Wall Street Journal / New York Times)
1/ Special counsel Jack Smith obtained a search warrant for Trump’s Twitter account earlier this year as part of the investigation into his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, according to a newly unsealed court filing. Twitter was forced to hand over the records and pay $350,000 for defying a judge’s deadline to comply with a Justice Department search warrant. The filing also reveals that the special counsel obtained a non-disclosure order, which “prohibited Twitter from disclosing the existence or contents of the search warrant to any person.” Prosecutors argued that if Trump learned about the warrant, it “would seriously jeopardize the ongoing investigation” by giving him “an opportunity to destroy evidence, change patterns of behavior, [or] notify confederates.” Judge Beryl Howell also found reason to believe that Trump might “flee prosecution” if he was told about the search warrant. (Politico / CNN / Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg / CNBC / Associated Press / The Hill / NBC News / ABC News)
2/ Trump threatened that he “will talk” about the criminal charges in his election conspiracy case, accusing federal prosecutors of “taking away my First Amendment rights.” Last week, special counsel Jack Smith asked a judge to impose a so-called protective order after Trump posted a message to his social media platform saying: “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!” Although Trump’s own lawyers chose not to object to a protective order, Trump said he didn’t care, calling the federal charges against him “bullshit” and accusing Biden of “weaponizing” the Justice Department to take out a political rival by “forcing me nevertheless to spend time and money away from the campaign trial in order to fight bogus, made-up accusations and charges.” (NBC News / Politico)
3/ An internal Trump campaign memo from late 2020 detailed their plan to subvert the Electoral College process and install fake, pro-Trump electors in multiple states to overturn the election. The six-page, previously unreleased memo by lawyer Kenneth Chesebro was referred to as the “Fraudulent Elector Memo” in last weeks’ special counsel indictment. The Dec. 6 memo proposed that groups of “electors” in seven key states that Biden won should meet and cast fake votes for Trump. According to Chesebro’s plan, Pence could then declare “that it is his constitutional power and duty, alone, as President of the Senate, to both open and count the votes,” which would allow him to count the fake Trump votes instead of the real electoral votes. Chesebro conceded in the memo that the idea was “controversial” and “likely” to be rejected by the Supreme Court, but “letting matters play out this way would guarantee that public attention would be riveted on the evidence of electoral abuses by the Democrats and would also buy the Trump campaign more time to win litigation that would deprive Biden of electoral votes and/or add to Trump’s column.” (New York Times / CNN / CNBC)
4/ Ohio voters rejected a Republican-backed ballot measure to raise the threshold to amend the state’s constitution ahead of a November referendum on whether to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution. With 97% of precincts reporting, 56.7% voted against the measure, while 43.3% voted to support it, according to the Ohio Secretary of State’s office. Since the Supreme Court ruled that women do not have a constitutional right to an abortion last year, voters in Michigan, Vermont, and California have enshrined abortion rights in their state constitution. Voters in Kansas and Kentucky, meanwhile, rejected referendums to change their constitutions to explicitly say they do not provide a right to abortion. (Washington Post / Politico / New York Times / CBS News / NBC News / CNN)
5/ Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended a second elected state attorney, saying she was “clearly and fundamentally derelict” in her duty. DeSantis suspended Monique Worrell, claiming she “systematically” under-prosecuted criminals in her jurisdiction in three cases, which he said constituted “both neglect of duty and incompetence.” Worrell called the move “a political hit job” by a “weak dictator,” accusing DeSantis of peddling a “false narrative” and engaging in “political gamesmanship.” Last year, DeSantis suspended Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren after Warren said he wouldn’t enforce state restrictions on abortion or gender-related surgery. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNBC)
1/ Ohio voters will decide whether to make it harder to amend the state constitution in a special election that has implications over the future of abortion rights in the state. If Issue 1 passes, it would raise the threshold for passing future changes to the Ohio constitution from a simple majority to 60%. And then, three months after that, voters will consider a constitutional amendment that would enshrine abortion access in the state constitution. Meaning: If Issue 1 passes, the referendum to amend the state constitution to protect abortion rights would have to get at least 60% of the vote, rather than a simple majority, to go into effect. The Republican-led State Legislature ordered the special election to front run the November effort to add an abortion rights amendment to the constitution. Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose previously acknowledged that the purpose of the summertime ballot measure was “100% about keeping a radical pro-abortion amendment out of our constitution.” (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Politico / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Associated Press / ABC News / Columbus Dispatch / USA Today / NPR)
2/ Supreme Court backed a Biden administration effort to regulate “ghost guns” – do-it-yourself firearm-making kits that are generally hard to trace. The ruling temporarily allows the government to require manufacturers of ghost gun kits to have serial numbers and conduct background checks on customers while a lawsuit challenging the regulations continues in the lower courts. John Roberts and Amy Coney Barrett joined with the court’s three liberal members to form the majority, while Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh dissented. (USA Today / NBC News / The Hill / Washington Post / Associated Press / Politico / New York Times / CNN)
3/ Biden designated a new national monument near the Grand Canyon – called the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni, or Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon. The designation conserves more than 1.1 million acres of land and permanently bans new uranium mining claims in the area “to help right the wrongs of the past and conserve this land […] for all future generations.” Arizona Republican lawmakers, meanwhile, voted to formally oppose the designation to preserve Native American cultural sites and protect the region from new uranium mining, calling it a “bureaucratic land grab.” The move is Biden’s fifth new national monument and advances his commitment to conserve at least 30% of American land and water by 2030. (AZ Central / USA Today / Politico / NPR / Washington Post / CNN / Wall Street Journal / New York Times)
4/ Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis restructured his presidential campaign operations for the third time in less than a month as he continues lose ground to Trump in national and statewide polling for the Republican nomination. DeSantis replaced his campaign manager after making two big staff cuts in the past few weeks, laying off about a third of his staff in late July in an attempt to cut costs. (Associated Press / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News)
poll/ 64% of Americans say they disapprove of last year’s Supreme Court ruling that women do not have a constitutional right to an abortion. 78% say that politicians in the federal government aren’t doing enough to ensure abortion access, with 60% saying that politicians in their state’s government are also doing too little. (CNN)
1/ Special counsel Jack Smith asked a federal judge to place Trump under a protective order after Trump posted a message to his social media platform saying: “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!” Prosecutors said Trump’s post “specifically or by implication” referenced those involved in his criminal case, which “could have a harmful chilling effect on witnesses.” Prosecutors also raised concerns that Trump might improperly share evidence in the case on his social media account. The message was posted hours after Trump swore in court that he would not attempt to intimidate witnesses. A protective order would limit what Trump could publicly say about the case. Trump, meanwhile, asked for narrower limits on the protective order, arguing that “the government seeks to restrict First Amendment rights.” (Axios / NBC News / The Hill / Politico / ABC News / CNN)
2/ Trump attacked special counsel Jack Smith and the judge assigned to oversee his election conspiracy case, posting to his social media platform that “Deranged Jack Smith is going before his number one draft pick, the Judge of his ‘dreams’ (WHO MUST BE RECUSED!), in an attempt to take away my FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS — This, despite the fact that he, the DOJ, and his many Thug prosecutors, are illegally leaking, everything and anything, to the Fake News Media!!!” Trump also posted a message calling for Judge Tanya Chutkan’s recusal and that he was seeking a venue change, saying it was “on very powerful grounds” but didn’t elaborate. Hours later, Trump’s attorney publicly walked back the plan, saying Trump was speaking with a “layman’s political sense.” (NBC News / Politico / New York Times)
3/ A federal judge dismissed Trump’s defamation counterclaim against E. Jean Carroll, who won a $5 million verdict against him for sexual abuse and defamation earlier this year. In June, Trump filed his counterclaim against Carroll, alleging she defamed him by saying he’d raped her. Jurors in the case didn’t find that Trump had raped her. Under New York law, rape is defined as forcible penetration with the penis. In his ruling, Judge Lewis Kaplan noted that Carroll’s statements were “substantially true” and dismissed Trump’s counterclaim. (NBC News / CNN / CNBC)
poll/ 51% of Americans believe Trump tried to stay in office beyond his term through illegal and unconstitutional means, while 29% believe Trump tried to stay in office by legal means, and 20% don’t believe Trump planned to stay in office at all. (CBS News)
poll/ 59% of Americans think the multiple indictments and investigations against Trump are an effort to stop his 2024 campaign. Among Republicans, 86% say the indictments and investigations are an effort to stop Trump’s 2024 campaign. (CBS News)
poll/ 69% of Republicans say Biden’s win was not legitimate – up from 63% earlier this year. Overall, 61% of Americans say Biden legitimately won the presidency, while 38% believe that he did not. (CNN)
1/ Trump pleaded not guilty to charges that he conspired to overturn the 2020 election results to keep himself in power. It was the third time in four months Trump stood before a judge on criminal charges. Trump will remain free while the case moves forward, but was prohibited from speaking to any a witness about the case except through his lawyers. Following the hearing, Trump claimed that “this is a very sad day for America. This is a persecution of a political opponent. This was never supposed to happen in America.” The next hearing in Trump’s 2020 election conspiracy case was set for Aug. 28 – days after the first debate in the 2024 Republican presidential primary. (Associated Press / New York Times / Bloomberg / NBC News / CNN / Washington Post)
📌 Day 924: Trump was indicted by special counsel Jack Smith on federal charges over his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and subvert the will of American voters. Trump was charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against the right to vote and have that vote counted.
poll/ 45% of Republicans said they would not vote for Trump if he were convicted of a felony, while 35% said they would. 52% of Republicans said they would not vote for Trump if he were “currently serving time in prison,” while 28% said they would. (Reuters)
1/ Trump was indicted by special counsel Jack Smith on federal charges over his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and subvert the will of American voters. “The attack on our nation’s Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was an unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy,” Smith said after the indictment was filed. “It was fueled by lies, lies by the defendant.” Trump was charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against the right to vote and have that vote counted. Prosecutors allege that Trump “was determined to remain in power” after losing the 2020 election, and that he and six unindicted co-conspirators orchestrated a conspiracy to overturn the results “by using knowingly false claims of election fraud to obstruct the government function by which those results are collected, counted and certified.” The six co-conspirators, who are not named in the indictment, include: Rudy Giuliani as co-conspirator 1, who promised a “trial by combat” on Jan. 6 and was “willing to pursue strategies the Defendant’s 2020 re-election campaign attorneys would not”; John Eastman as co-conspirator 2, who “devised and attempted to implement a strategy to leverage the Vice President’s ceremonial role overseeing the certification proceeding to obstruct the certification of the presidential election”; Sidney Powell as co-conspirator 3, “whose unfounded claims of election fraud the Defendant privately acknowledged to others sounded ‘crazy’”; Jeffrey Clark as co-conspirator 4, who worked with Trump to “use the Justice Department to open sham election crime investigations and influence state legislatures with knowingly false claims of election fraud”; Kenneth Chesebro as co-conspirator 5, who “assisted in devising and attempting to implement a plan to submit fraudulent slates of presidential electors to obstruct the certification proceeding”; and a “political consultant” as co-conspirator 6, who “helped implement a plan to submit fraudulent slates of presidential electors to obstruct the certification proceeding.” This was Trump’s third indictment – and his second on federal charges. He now faces 78 charges across his three indictments: 44 federal charges and 34 state charges – all of which are felonies – in three jurisdictions. (New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / Politico / Bloomberg / NBC News / USA Today / ABC News / CNN)
poll/ In a hypothetical 2024 rematch, 43% of voters said they’d vote for Trump, while 43% said they vote for Biden with 14% undecided. (New York Times)
1/ A Georgia judge denied an effort by Trump to toss out evidence gathered by a special grand jury and remove the district attorney from the criminal investigation into his attempts to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney said that while a “highly publicized criminal investigation is likely an unwelcome and unpleasant experience,” the “injuries” that Trump claimed to have suffered from the two-and-a-half-year investigation “are either insufficient or else speculative and unrealized.” McBurney also rejected efforts by Cathy Latham, who served as one of Trump’s fake electors in the state, saying neither had legal standing to block the investigation at this point. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is expected to present potential indictments to a regular grand jury by mid-August. Willis has asked Fulton County judges to schedule no trials in the weeks of Aug. 7 and 14. Trump, meanwhile, said he assumes he’ll be indicted “any day now.” (Politico / New York Times / NBC News / Bloomberg / CNN / The Hill / Wall Street Journal / Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
2/ A federal judge dismissed Trump’s $475 million defamation lawsuit against CNN. Trump had argued that CNN’s use of the phrase the “Big Lie” when discussing his false 2020 election fraud claims likened him to Adolf Hitler, which incited “readers and viewers to hate, contempt, distrust, ridicule, and even fear” him. U.S. District Judge Raag Singhal, who was appointed by Trump, wrote that “being ‘Hitler-like’ is not a verifiable statement of fact that would support a defamation claim.” Singhal added: “CNN’s use of the phrase ‘the Big Lie’ in connection with Trump’s election challenges does not give rise to a plausible inference that Trump advocates the persecution and genocide of Jews or any other group of people.” (Politico / NPR)
3/ Special counsel Jack Smith accused Trump of trying to delete security camera footage at Mar-a-Lago. In the 60-page superseding indictment, prosecutors allege that Trump asked two employees – aide Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago maintenance worker Carlos De Oliveira – to delete security footage after the Justice Department had issued a subpoena for it. The new indictment also charges Trump with illegally holding onto a document he’s alleged to have shared with visitors in New Jersey. Trump now faces 32 counts of willfully retaining national defense information under the Espionage Act and eight counts related to alleged efforts to obstruct the investigation. (CNN / Associated Press / New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / ABC News / CNBC)
4/ Trump’s political committee has spent more than $40 million this year defending him, his aides, and other allies. Since leaving office, the Save America PAC has spent about $56 million on Trump-related legal fees as he faces a federal indictment in Florida, state charges in New York, and possible criminal indictments in Washington and Georgia. (Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / ABC News / Associated Press)
poll/ 54% of Republicans said they prefer Trump to be the GOP’s presidential nominee. 17% said they support Ron DeSantis – Trump’s nearest challenger. No other candidate topped 3% support. (New York Times)
1/ Trump’s attorneys met with prosecutors from special counsel Jack Smith’s office ahead of a potential indictment in connection with his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Trump said his lawyers had “a productive meeting” with the prosecutors, which included his lawyers explaining to Smith’s team that “I did nothing wrong, was advised by many lawyers, and that an indictment of me would only further destroy our country.” Trump added that “no indication of notice was given during the meeting.” Last week, Trump received a letter notifying him he is a target of the special counsel’s investigation. An indictment would be the third one for Trump, who was indicted last month on 37 criminal counts related to his handling of classified materials. Trump was also indicted in April on 34 counts from the Manhattan DA related to falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment made to Stormy Daniels. The grand jury that’s been hearing evidence in the probe typically meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays. A court official, however, said that there haven’t been any indictments returned today and none are expected. Trump is the current front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination and no former or current president has ever been indicted. (NBC News / CNN / ABC News / New York Times / Associated Press / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
2/ Ron DeSantis cut more than a third of his presidential campaign staff. Some 38 staffers have been let go from the campaign since its May 24 launch. The campaign sent a note on “messaging guidance” to supporters, saying the campaign is “leaning into the reset” and “embrace being the underdog” as it cuts down on event and travel costs. The campaign has spent 40% of the $20 million it raised between entering the race. (Politico / CNN / NBC News / Washington Post)
3/ Mitch McConnell was escorted away from cameras after he suddenly froze mid-sentence and stopped speaking for about 25 seconds during a press conference. While the 81-year-old has claimed since then that he’s “fine,” he fell two weeks ago and has been using a wheelchair periodically to get around. Earlier this year, McConnell suffered a concussion after falling down. Meanwhile, 90-year-old Dianne Feinstein appeared confused and mistakenly started reading a statement during a routine Senate Appropriations Committee vote, which required her to simply say “Aye” or “Nay” when her name was called. Feinstein announced earlier this year that she will not run for reelection in 2024. (NBC News / ABC News / CNN / USA Today / NPR / Politico / New York Times)
4/The U.S. economy grew at a faster-than-expected pace during the second quarter. GDP increased at a 2.4% annualized rate for the April-through-June period after a 2% pace in the previous three months. The Federal Reserve said it no longer expected a recession to begin this year. (ABC News / CNBC / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / New York Times)
5/ The Supreme Court allowed work to resume on the Mountain Valley Pipeline. Last month, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily blocked completion of the natural gas pipeline while the court reviewed a provision in June’s debt ceiling legislation, which mandated the completion of the pipeline and barred most legal challenges to the construction. The pipeline provisions were added to the Fiscal Responsibility Act in order to secure Joe Manchin’s vote for the Inflation Reduction Act. (NPR / CNN / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Politico / NBC News)
1/ Rudy Giuliani conceded that he made “false” and defamatory statements that two Georgia election workers had mishandled ballots while counting votes in Atlanta during the 2020 election. Although Giuliani is no longer contesting the accusations by Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, he argued that his false claims were “constitutionally protected” speech and didn’t damage the women. In 2021, Freeman and Moss sued Giuliani, accusing him of defaming them when he falsely claimed they had engaged in fraud while counting ballots at State Farm Arena in Atlanta. The lawsuit also accused Giuliani of promoting a selectively edited video that purportedly showed the two women manipulating ballots, which made them the targets of a conspiracy theory spread by Trump and his allies. (Associated Press / NPR / CNN / Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
2/ Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty to federal tax charges after the judge refused to accept the terms of his initial plea deal. Biden originally agreed to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax crimes he committed in 2017 and 2018 with prosecutors agreeing to recommend probation. Prosecutors had also agreed not to pursue a separate felony gun-possession charge as long as Biden remains drug-free and agrees to never own a firearm again. Instead, Judge Maryellen Noreika, a Trump appointee, asked that the lawyers from both sides to clarify and limit the scope of the immunity deal after questioning whether the deal would protect Biden from the potential future criminal charges. The hearing ended with Biden pleading not guilty for the time being. He’s expected to reverse that plea if a new agreement meets Noreika’s approval. (New York Times / NBC News / CNN / Washington Post / NPR / ABC News / CNBC / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
3/ The Federal Reserve raised interest rates to the highest level in 22 years. For the 11th time in 17 months, the Fed raised the benchmark federal-funds rate from roughly 5.1% to 5.3%, after pausing rate increases in June. Inflation cooled in June to 3% from a peak of 9.1%, but remains above the Federal Reserve’s target of 2%. “Inflation has moderated somewhat since the middle of last year,” Chair Jerome Powell said. “Nonetheless, the process of getting inflation back down to 2% has a long way to go.” Congressional Budget Office, meanwhile, estimates that the U.S. economy will avoid slipping into a recession with GDP projected to rise at a 0.4% annual rate in the second half of this year. (Associated Press / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / NPR / Washington Post / New York Times / ABC News / NBC News / CNN / CNBC)
4/ A former national intelligence official turned-whistleblower testified that the U.S. is concealing a longstanding program that retrieves and reverse engineers UFOs. David Grusch appeared before the House Oversight Committee’s national security subcommittee alongside two former fighter pilots who had firsthand experience with “unidentified anomalous phenomena,” a phrase the federal government uses to refer to what are commonly known as UFOs. Grusch told lawmakers that during his work with a UAP task force, he was denied access to a UAP crash-retrieval and reverse-engineering program that had existed for decades. He added that the U.S. likely has been aware of “non-human” activity since the 1930s and claimed that the government has recovered “non-human biologics” from crashed UAPs. The Defense Department, meanwhile, said it “has not discovered any verifiable information to substantiate claims that any programs regarding the possession or reverse-engineering of extraterrestrial materials have existed in the past or exist currently.” (Associated Press / NBC News / CBS News / New York Times / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
1/ Kevin McCarthy suggested that House Republicans may pursue an “impeachment inquiry” into Biden. Following a series of congressional investigations targeting Biden, his administration, and his family members, House Republicans have sought to build a case that the Justice Department improperly interfered in a criminal investigation into Hunter Biden’s financial dealings and that Biden’s family members received payments from foreign companies. McCarthy said an impeachment inquiry would give Congress “the strongest power to get the rest of the knowledge and information needed” to investigate Biden. The White House, meanwhile, said House Republicans “eagerness to go after” Biden “regardless of the truth is seemingly bottomless […] Instead of focusing on the real issues Americans want us to address like continuing to lower inflation or create jobs, this is what” they want “to prioritize.” (Washington Post / Politico / NBC News / USA Today / CNN)
2/ Nancy Pelosi accused Kevin McCarthy of “playing politics” with the idea of expunging Trump’s two impeachments, saying he’s “afraid” and “looks pathetic.” Pelosi added: “As I’ve said before, Donald Trump is the puppeteer and what does he do all of the time but shine the light on the strings.” McCarthy reportedly promised Trump that he would move to expunge the two impeachments before Congress breaks for its August recess after he openly questioned whether Trump is “the strongest to win the [general] election” on national television. McCarthy, however, has not scheduled a floor vote, and said the idea should “go through committee like anything else.” (Politico / USA Today / CNN / The Hill)
3/ A federal judge blocked Biden’s temporary restrictions on migrants seeking asylum. The judge ruled that the system the Biden administration imposed in May – which disqualifies most people from applying for asylum if they have crossed into the U.S. without first applying online or seeking protection in a country they passed through – violates asylum laws that allow for anyone who enters the U.S. to ask for protection regardless of how they arrived. Judge Jon Tigar previously ruled against a similar policy under the Trump administration’s so-called transit ban. (New York Times / CNN / Washington Post / Associated Press / Politico / Wall Street Journal)
4/ The U.S. has surpassed 400 mass shootings in 2023. The U.S. has already outpaced the number of mass shootings recorded each year between 2013 and 2018, and there have been more mass shootings in 2023 so far than at this point in any year since at least 2013. (CNN)
5/ Pedestrian deaths in the U.S. have increased 77% since 2010. In 2022, an estimated 7,508 pedestrians were killed while walking – the most since 1981. While there’s no single explanation why walking has become more dangerous, road design and bigger vehicles are major contributing factors. (Vox)
6/ The July heat waves in the U.S., Mexico, Europe, and Asia would have been “virtually impossible” without climate change, according to a new study. The analysis by the World Weather Attribution network examined weather data and computer models to compare today’s current climate – which is around 1.2 degrees Celsius warmer than the pre-industrial era – with the climate of the past. They found that “the role of climate change is absolutely overwhelming” and that heat waves are becoming more common. The recent heat wave in China, for instance, was made 50 times as likely by climate change, the researchers said. (Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / CNN)
7/ The Atlantic Ocean’s currents could collapse “around mid-century under the current scenario of future emissions” because of human-caused climate change, according to a new analysis of 150 years of temperature data. The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation carries warm, salty water from the tropics to the North Atlantic, and then sends colder water south along the ocean floor. But as rising global temperatures melt Arctic ice, large amounts of fresh water enter the North Atlantic, which disrupts the balance of heat and salinity in the ocean, and weakens the current. Continued warming is expected to push the AMOC over its “tipping point” around the middle of this century, which could trigger rapid weather and climate changes, including a drop in temperatures in northern Europe, elevated warming in the tropics, faster sea-level rise along the coastlines of North America and Europe, and stronger storms on the East Coast of North America. The last time there was a major slowdown of the ocean currents around the North Atlantic was roughly 12,800 years ago when temperatures fell by around 18 degrees Fahrenheit in parts of Greenland and arctic-like conditions returned to parts of Europe. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / USA Today)
✏️ Notables.
A member of Rudy Giuliani’s team turned over thousands of pages of documents to special counsel Jack Smith as part of the federal investigation into Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Bernard Kerik, the former New York City Police commissioner, worked with Giuliani in the effort to uncover voter fraud following Biden’s victory. Kerik’s legal team initially refused to turn those documents over, citing attorney-client privilege. (Daily Beast / CNN / NBC News)
Special counsel Jack Smith’s office is investigating a February 2020 Oval Office meeting where Trump praised improvements to the security of U.S. elections, including the expanded use of paper ballots and security audits. “Trump was so encouraged by federal efforts to protect election systems that he suggested the FBI and Department of Homeland Security hold a press conference to take credit for the work.” (CNN)
The Fulton county district attorney reportedly is pursuing a racketeering indictment in the investigation into Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia. “The racketeering statute in Georgia requires prosecutors to show the existence of an ‘enterprise’ – and a pattern of racketeering activity that is predicated on at least two ‘qualifying’ crimes.” (The Guardian)
1/ Biden will establish a national monument honoring Emmett Till and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley. The monument will consist of three protected sites in Illinois and Mississippi central to the story of Till’s life and death at age 14. In August 1955, two white men abducted, tortured, and killed Till, a Black teenage from Chicago, after he was accused of whistling at a white woman in Mississippi. Till-Mobley insisted on an open coffin at his funeral, asserting that “the whole nation had to bear witness to this.” (New York Times / NPR / NBC News)
2/ Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suggested that Black people benefited from slavery by learning skills like “being a blacksmith,” which they applied to “doing things later in life.” The comment, said to a nearly all-White crowd of supporters, follows state’s new public school curriculum that middle school students should be taught that “slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.” DeSantis said he “wasn’t involved” in writing the new curriculum standards, but credited “a lot of scholars” with creating “the most robust standards in African American history probably anywhere in the country.” (Washington Post / Yahoo News / New York Times)
3/ Alabama Republicans defied a Supreme Court order to create a second majority-Black district in the state. Last month, the Supreme Court ruled that the state’s previous district lines marginalized the state’s Black population in violation of the Voting Rights Act and ordered a second district with either a Black majority “or something quite close to it” to give Black voters an opportunity to elect a representative of their choice. Instead, the Republican-controlled Legislature approved a new map with just one majority-Black seat and increased the share of Black voters in one of the state’s six majority-white congressional districts to about 40%, from about 30%. Additionally, the percentage of Black voters in the existing majority-Black district dropped to about 51% from about 55%. More than one-quarter of Alabama’s residents are Black. (NBC News / New York Times / CBS News / Reuters / Washington Post / CNN)
4/ The Justice Department sued Texas and Gov. Greg Abbott for building floating barriers in the Rio Grande. Abbott has argued that the new floating barrier of buoys is intended to deter migrants from crossing into the U.S. The Justice Department, however, said the large buoys “violate federal law, raise humanitarian concerns, present serious risks to public safety and the environment, and may interfere with the federal government’s ability to carry out its official duties.” Abbott, meanwhile, responded: “Texas will see you in court, Mr. President.” (CNN / Politico / Associated Press / ABC News)
5/ Trump’s trial in the classified documents case is set for May 20, 2024. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon rejected both Trump’s claim that a fair trial could only be held after the 2024 election and the Justice Department’s request to start as soon as December. The trial starts after nearly all the 2024 primaries have been completed, but before the Republican National Convention names an official nominee. Meaning if Trump won enough of those primaries, he could go to trial as the presumptive Republicans presidential nominee. (CNBC / Wall Street Journal / CNN / NBC News / Axios / New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg)
poll/ 32% of Republicans have an unfavorable view of Trump, while 66% have a favorable opinion of the former president. Last July, 24% viewed Trump unfavorably while 75% viewed him favorably. Overall, 63% of Americans have an unfavorable view of Trump. (Pew Research Center)
🚀 Well, That’s Fantastic.
One year old, the Inflation Reduction Act is already turbocharging clean energy technology. “The IRA is America’s most significant response to climate change, after decades of lobbying by oil, gas and coal interests stalled action, while carbon emissions climbed, creating a hotter, more dangerous world. Nearly 80 major clean energy manufacturing facilities have been announced, an investment equal to the previous seven years combined.” (Associated Press)
1/ The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced legislation that would require the U.S. Supreme Court to adopt a binding code of ethics. The legislation would require the Supreme Court to adopt and adhere to ethics and disclosure requirements equivalent to those applied to members of Congress and establish a process for enforcing them. The vote was 11-10 along party lines, with Republicans claiming that the bill could “destroy” the court. The legislation, however, is not expected to get the 60 votes required to advance in the Senate – and even if it did, it has little chance of being considered in the Republican-controlled House. The move follows reports that Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito failed to disclose luxury travel and accommodations provided by wealthy businessmen and political donors, and that Justice Sonia Sotomayor used taxpayer-funded court staff to help sell her books. (Associated Press / ABC News / New York Times / CNN / Politico / Washington Post)
How Harlan Crow Slashed his Tax Bill by Taking Clarence Thomas on Superyacht Cruises. “Crow’s voyages with Thomas, the data shows, contributed to a nice side benefit: They helped reduce Crow’s tax bill.” (ProPublica)
Influential activist Leonard Leo helped fund media campaign lionizing Clarence Thomas. “Leo is well-known for shepherding conservative judicial nominees, but the public relations campaign shows how he has continued to exert influence in support of right-leaning justices after helping them secure lifetime appointments.” (Washington Post)
2/ Kevin McCarthy reportedly promised Trump that the House would vote to expunge his two impeachments before its August recess. After McCarthy openly questioned whether Trump is “the strongest to win the [general] election” on national television, McCarthy promised to revisit the two impeachments in order to calm Trump. “He needs to endorse me — today!” Trump reportedly fumed to his staff following McCarthy’s television appearance. McCarthy, however, denies he made any deal with Trump to expunge his impeachment record. (Politico / ABC News / Politico)
3/ Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger complied with a subpoena from special counsel Jack Smith seeking all security video from an Election Day polling site. Trump and Rudy Giuliani had repeatedly falsely claimed that a pair of election workers stationed at Atlanta’s State Farm Arena engaged in fraud while they were counting ballots. The FBI and Georgia Bureau of Investigation previously investigated claims of voter fraud at the arena and concluded that “there was no evidence of any type of fraud as alleged.” The Georgia State Election Board also dismissed a years-long investigation into alleged misconduct by Fulton County election workers, finding no evidence of conspiracy. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution / NBC News / CNN)
4/ A federal judge denied Trump’s request for a new trial in the case where a jury ordered him to pay $5 million for sexually abusing and defaming E. Jean Carroll. Trump claimed that the award was excessive because the jury concluded that he had not raped Carroll – only that he sexually abused her and later defamed her when he denied her story. Judge Lewis Kaplan wrote in the order that the jury in the case did not reach “a seriously erroneous result” and its verdict is not “a miscarriage of justice,” as Trump had alleged. “There is no basis for disturbing the jury’s sexual assault damages,” Kaplan added. “And Mr. Trump’s arguments with respect to the defamation damages are no stronger.” (Associated Press / NPR / Washington Post / CNBC / Politico)
5/ The Florida Board of Education approved a new set of standards for how Black history should be taught to middle school students, including instruction on how slavery gave Black people a “personal benefit” because they “developed skills.” The new standards require high school students to be taught that the 1920 Ocoee massacre, where a white mob attacked Black residents, included “acts of violence perpetrated against and by African Americans.” As many as 60 people were killed when several Black residents attempted to vote, making it the deadliest instance of Election Day violence in U.S. history. The new standards were approved unanimously. (Washington Post / CNN / Politico)
1/ The U.S. and China need more time to “break new ground” to reach new climate agreements despite “productive” conversations. U.S. special climate envoy John Kerry said the two countries “had a very extensive set of frank conversations” and committed to “work intensively in the weeks ahead” to better address greenhouse gas emissions, boosting renewable power, and developing national climate plans ahead of a critical United Nations climate summit starting this November in Dubai. China is the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter, followed by the U.S. Although China has vowed to peak its carbon pollution by 2030 and hit carbon neutrality by 2060, Chinese leader Xi Jinping reiterated that the country would resist efforts from other nations to push it to move faster, saying the approach for achieving those targets “must be determined by ourselves, and will never be influenced by others.” (Politico / Washington Post / Bloomberg)
Al Gore on Extreme Heat and the Fight Against Fossil Fuels. “We know how to fix this,” Gore said. “We can stop the temperatures going up worldwide with as little as a three-year time lag by reaching net zero […] And if we stay at true net zero, we’ll see half of the human-caused CO2 coming out of the atmosphere in as little as 30 years.” (New York Times)
2/ Phoenix broke a 49-year-old record with its 19th consecutive day of high temperatures at or above 110 degrees Fahrenheit. Overnight temperatures in Phoenix haven’t dropped below 90 degrees for a record 9 days in a row. More than 85 million people in the U.S. are currently under heat alerts, and since early June more than 2,300 heat records have been broken. Two weeks ago Earth recorded its hottest days in modern history. Since then, China set an all-time high of nearly 126 degrees Fahrenheit – the country’s highest temperature ever observed and the highest recorded north of 40 degrees latitude globally – Death Valley hit 128 degrees, and the Persian Gulf International Airport in Iran reached 152 degrees on the heat index. The heat index measures how hot it feels outside, using both air temperature and humidity. (Associated Press / New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post / ABC News / CNN)
3/ More than 44 million people in 28 states have been affected by wildfire smoke this week and air quality alerts remain in effect for parts of 16 states. Air quality in the U.S., however, is expected to improve over the next few days. There are more than 800 active fires are burning throughout Canada. (New York Times / Washington Post / ABC News / NBC News / CNN)
💡 How to build a DIY air filter for wildfire smoke. The Corsi-Rosenthal Box is an affordable homemade air cleaning system that can reduce indoor exposure to wildfire smoke (and other airborne particles, like Covid-19). You’ll need a 20” box fan, four 20x20 MERV 13 furnace filters, some duct tape, and a piece of cardboard. Here’s your assembly guide.
4/ Kevin McCarthy suggested that the U.S. could plant a trillion trees to combat climate change instead of phasing out fossil fuels. McCarthy made the comment last month during a visit to a natural gas drilling site in Ohio. The idea comes from a 2019 study, which initially proposed planting a trillion trees as an effective climate solution. However, the authors of the study have since made three corrections, including that they were incorrect to state “tree restoration is the most effective solution to climate change to date,” and that new forests could absorb about half as much carbon as they initially suggested. The authors have also clarified that planting trees does not eliminate “the urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.” Planting one trillion trees would require a space roughly the size of the continental U.S. (Associated Press)
poll/ 55% of Americans are expecting a “significant negative effect” from climate change during their lifetime, while 41% are not. 67% say they’re either very concerned or somewhat concerned about climate change, while 32% say they’re either not so concerned or not concerned at all. (Quinnipiac)
1/ Trump has been notified that he’s a target in the Jan. 6 criminal investigation by special counsel Jack Smith. Trump confirmed the development in a post on his personal social media platform, writing: “Deranged Jack Smith, the prosecutor with Joe Biden’s DOJ, sent a letter (again, it was Sunday night!) stating that I am a TARGET of the January 6th Grand Jury investigation, and giving me a very short 4 days to report to the Grand Jury, which almost always means an Arrest and Indictment.” The target letter indicates that another indictment could be imminent, though it’s unclear what kind of charges Trump could face. It is also not clear whether anyone else received a target letter. It is, however, the second time that Smith has notified Trump that he’s a target in a federal investigation. The first was in June in connection with his handling of classified documents after leaving office and his alleged efforts to obstruct the government’s investigation. Days later, a federal grand jury indicted Trump on 37 charges. In March, a Manhattan grand jury indicted Trump on state charges related to hush money payments during the 2016 presidential campaign. The district attorney in Fulton County, Ga., is also leading an ongoing investigation related to the 2020 election and attempts to overturn the state’s results. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Associated Press / ABC News / Politico / Wall Street Journal / USA Today / NBC News / CNBC)
Trump and his allies are planning to increase his presidential power if he wins the 2024 election, reshaping the structure of the executive branch to concentrate greater authority in his hands. “Trump and his associates have a broader goal: to alter the balance of power by increasing the president’s authority over every part of the federal government that now operates, by either law or tradition, with any measure of independence from political interference by the White House, according to a review of his campaign policy proposals and interviews with people close to him.” (New York Times)
2/ The Georgia Supreme Court dismissed Trump’s petition to block the state’s investigation into his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and to throw out evidence gathered by a special purpose grand jury in the case. All nine justices said Trump’s lawyers had failed to present “extraordinary circumstances” that warranted shutting down the investigation. The ruling came weeks before Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is expected to seek indictments in the election probe. Trump is expected to be one of the defendants. (Washington Post / Atlanta Journal-Constitution / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Politico / CNBC / USA Today)
3/ U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon signaled that she will likely push back the start of Trump’s trial for allegedly mishandling classified documents. Cannon, however, appeared skeptical of Trump’s request that it be delayed until after the 2024 election. Cannon said a proposal from federal prosecutors that the trial be held in mid-December was “a bit rushed” and that the timeline was too “compressed.” Cannon previously intervened last year in the Justice Department’s investigation into Trump’s handling of classified materials, agreeing to order an outside review of documents seized from Mar-a-Lago. A federal appeals court panel later overturned the decision. Trump, meanwhile, praised Cannon, calling her a “very smart,” “very strong,” and “very highly respected judge.” Trump added: “I’m very proud to have appointed her.” (Washington Post / CNN)
4/ Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel criminally charged 16 people who falsely claimed to be the state’s 2020 presidential electors for Trump. All 16 people were charged with eight felonies “for their role in the alleged false electors scheme following the 2020 U.S. presidential election,” Nessel said. The charges include one count of conspiracy to commit forgery, two counts of forgery, one count of conspiracy to commit uttering and publishing, and one count of uttering and publishing – all of which carry a maximum of 14 years in prison. They also each face one count of conspiracy to commit election law forgery, and two counts of election law forgery, which each carry a maximum of five years in prison. (CNN / NBC News / Washington Post / CBS News / CNBC)
1/ An Iowa judge temporarily blocked the state’s new six-week abortion ban. For now, abortion is legal again in Iowa up to 20 weeks of pregnancy while the legal challenge plays out in the court system. On Friday, Gov. Kim Reynolds signed the “fetal heartbeat” law. It took effect immediately and banned nearly all abortions after cardiac activity in the embryo is detected, which can occur about six weeks into a pregnancy – before most women know they are pregnant. (NBC News / Des Moines Register / Associated Press / The Hill)
2/ House Republicans narrowly approved a must-pass defense policy bill, which restricts Pentagon policies that reimburse travel costs for troops seeking abortions and medical care for transgender troops. The $886 billion defense package authorizes funding and sets the policy for the Defense Department, and includes a 5.2% pay raise for service members. All but four Democrats voted against the package. The National Defense Authorization Act, however, expected to go nowhere in the Democratic-majority Senate, which will begin debate on its own defense legislation this month. (Associated Press / Politico / Vox / NPR / CNN / CBS News)
3/ A Republican from Arizona referred to Black people as “colored people” during a floor debate over his proposed amendment to the annual defense policy bill. Eli Crane’s amendment would prohibit the Pentagon from considering race, gender, religion, political affiliations or “any other ideological concepts” in training, promotion or retention decisions. “My amendment has nothing to do with whether or not colored people or Black people or anybody can serve,” said Crane. “The military was never intended to be, you know, inclusive. Its strength is not its diversity. Its strength is its standards.” Crane later claimed he “misspoke.” (Washington Post / NBC News / CBS News)
4/ The Biden administration eliminated $39 billion in student debt for more than 800,000 borrowers. The relief is part of an effort to fix what the administration calls “administrative failures” that denied student loan borrowers relief they were eligible. Under those repayment plans, borrowers could get any remaining debt canceled by the government after having made qualifying payments for 20 years or 25 years. However, “inaccurate payment counts” and other failures caused borrowers to lose “hard-earned progress” toward having their loans forgiven. Millions more will also have their loans adjusted as part of the program. The new student debt plan relies on a different law than the one that the Supreme Court recently struck down, which would have delivered relief to about 37 million people. (CBS News / ABC News / New York Times / Politico / Washington Post / CNBC)
5/ Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suggested that Covid-19 was “targeted to attack Caucasians and Black people,” saying that “the people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese.” Kennedy ended his conspiracy-filled rant by saying: “We don’t know whether it was deliberately targeted or not but there are papers out there that show the racial or ethnic differential and impact.” The 2024 candidate has a history of embracing and sharing conspiracy theories. Following backlash and accusations of antisemitism and racism, Kennedy claimed there was a “misinterpretation” of his statement. (New York Times / Politico / CNN / ABC News / New York Post)
poll/ 49% of Americans say democracy is not working well in the U.S., compared with 10% who say it’s working well and 40% only somewhat well. “The poll shows 53% of Americans say views of ‘people like you’ are not represented well by the government, with 35% saying they’re represented somewhat well and 12% very or extremely well. About 6 in 10 Republicans and independents feel like the government is not representing people like them well, compared with about 4 in 10 Democrats.” (Associated Press)
1/ Trump asked a federal judge to postpone his trial on charges of illegally retaining classified documents until after the 2024 election. Trump’s lawyers argued that it would be “unreasonable, telling, and would result in a miscarriage of justice” if the trial takes place as scheduled, citing the “unprecedented” legal issues, the amount of evidence and involvement of classified material, Trump’s presidential campaign, and the challenge of seating an impartial jury before the election. The filing was submitted 30 minutes before the midnight deadline. Judge Aileen Cannon, who Trump appointed to the bench, is overseeing the case. Last year, Cannon granted Trump’s request to temporarily block federal investigators from reviewing classified documents the FBI seized from Mar-a-Lago, and appointed a “special master” to review all 11,000 documents. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, however, twice reversed her decisions. Special Counsel Jack Smith, meanwhile, has requested a Dec. 11 trial date, noting that the case “involves straightforward theories of liability, and does not present novel questions of fact or law.” Trump faces 37 criminal counts related to his handling of classified materials. (New York Times / Washington Post / NPR / Bloomberg / Politico / NBC News / CBS News / ABC News)
2/ Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis seated a grand jury in Atlanta, which will likely decide whether Trump or his Republican allies should face criminal charges for their efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in Georgia. Willis launched the criminal investigation shortly after Trump asked Georgia’s secretary of state to “find” enough votes to overturn Biden’s victory in the state. Willis has indicated that charging decisions from her investigation into “possible criminal interference in the administration of Georgia’s 2020 general election” will be announced in August. She has asked court officials that trials and in-person hearings not be scheduled between July 31 and Aug. 18. (CNN / NBC News / Washington Post / Associated Press)
3/ The Justice Department won’t defend Trump from civil liability in E. Jean Carroll’s defamation lawsuit against him. Justice Department lawyers said in a letter that it has “determined that it lacks adequate evidence” to conclude that Trump was acting within the scope of his office as president in 2019 “when he denied sexually assaulting Ms. Carroll and made the other statements regarding Ms. Carroll that she has challenged in this action.” The move allows Carroll’s civil lawsuit to move forward to trial in January. The letter comes two months after a Manhattan federal jury in a separate case found that Trump sexually abused Carroll and awarded her $5 million for battery and defamation. (CNN / CNBC)
4/ Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville finally condemned White nationalists, saying “White nationalists are racists.” On CNN this week Tuberville was asked to clarify comments he made earlier this year in which he suggested that White nationalists were “Americans” and should not be barred from serving in the military. Tuberville, however, repeatedly insisted on CNN that it was a matter of “opinion” as to whether White nationalists are racist. When asked for his opinion, Tuberville responded: “My opinion of a White nationalist, if someone wants to call them White nationalist, to me, is an American. It’s an American. Now if that White nationalist is a racist, I’m totally against anything that they want to do because I am 110% against racism.” In attempt to further clarify his views on White nationalists, Tuberville said: “Listen, I’m totally against racism. And if the Democrats want to say white nationalists are racist, I’m totally against that too […] My definition is, racism bad.” Tuberville is a former college football coach, who was first elected in 2020. He has single-handedly stalled hundreds of promotions for key military officers since February in an attempt to reverse a Defense Department policy that offers time off and travel reimbursement to service members if they cannot obtain abortions in their state. (CNN / Washington Post / NBC News / ABC News / USA Today)
1/ The Biden administration will send cluster bombs to Ukraine, as well as armored vehicles and air defense missiles, in the next $800 million weapons package. Cluster weapons have been banned in more than 100 countries because they scatter “bomblets” across large areas that can fail to explode on impact but can cause indiscriminate harm to civilians long after the fighting ends. Biden defended the decision saying “the Ukrainians are running out of ammunition” in the fight against Russia. National security adviser Jake Sullivan added that Russia has already targeted Ukraine with cluster bombs. Biden, meanwhile, said it’s “premature” for Ukraine to join NATO, saying that Russia’s war in Ukraine needs to end before the alliance can consider adding Kyiv. (New York Times / Politico / CNN / CNN / Politico)
2/ A U.S. drone strike killed a top Islamic State group leader in Syria. Usamah al-Muhajir was killed while riding a motorcycle in northwestern Syria in an area where Russia conducts flight operations in support of the Syrian regime. Hours earlier, the same MQ-9 Reaper drones were “harassed” by Russian military jets for about two hours, according to the Defense Department. (Politico / ABC News)
3/ A retired college football coach turned U.S. senator has single-handedly blocked hundreds of promotions for key military officers since February. As a result, the Marine Corps are without a confirmed leader for the first time in 164 years and the nominations of more than 200 general and flag officers are currently stalled in the Senate. Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville is protesting the Defense Department’s reproductive health policies, which offer time off and travel reimbursement to service members if they cannot obtain abortions in their state. Further, more than half of the current Joint Chiefs are expected to retire in the coming months without a Senate-approved successor in place. [Editor’s note: Roll Tide.] (CNN / New York Times / The Hill / Politico)
4/ The House Freedom Caucus removed Marjorie Taylor Greene from their pro-Trump group “for some of the things she’s done.” The caucus voted just before Congress went on recess at the end of June and days after Greene got into a verbal fight with Lauren Boebert, another Freedom Caucus member. Greene called Boebert a “little bitch” on the House floor. (Politico / CNN / ABC News / USA Today)
5/ A D.C. Court of Appeals discipline committee recommended that Rudy Giuliani be disbarred for “frivolous” and “destructive” efforts to subvert the 2020 presidential election. “He claimed massive election fraud but had no evidence of it,” the three-member panel wrote in its 38-page decision. The committee accused Giuliani of “dishonesty,” saying his “hyperbolic claims of election fraud” were “utterly false” and “reckless.” The report concluded that Giuliani had “forfeited his right to practice law” in the District of Columbia. (Washington Post / Politico)
✏️ Notables.
Special counsel prosecutors question witnesses about chaotic Oval Office meeting after Trump lost the 2020 election. “Investigators have asked several witnesses before the grand jury and during interviews about the meeting, which happened about six weeks after Donald Trump lost the 2020 election. Some witnesses were asked about the meeting months ago, while several others have faced questions about it more recently, including Rudy Giuliani.” (CNN)
Trump’s former Chief of Staff said in a sworn statement that Trump had discussed having the IRS investigate two FBI officials involved in the Russia investigation. “[John] Kelly’s assertions were disclosed […] in connection with lawsuits brought by Peter Strzok, who was the lead agent in the FBI’s Russia investigation, and Lisa Page, a former lawyer in the bureau, against the Justice Department for violating their privacy rights when the Trump administration made public text messages between them.” (New York Times)
A New York judge ordered Steve Bannon to pay nearly $500,000 in unpaid legal fees related to congressional and criminal investigations into his efforts to crowdfund a wall along the southern U.S. border. “In a six-page order issued Friday, Judge Arlene Bluth ordered Bannon to pay $480,487.87 in unpaid bills as well as “reasonable legal fees” to his former lawyers who brought the lawsuit.” (CNN)
Federal appeals court allowed Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors to take effect. “The appeals court granted a stay of a lower court injunction, which had been blocking enforcement of a part of the state’s ban. The ban prohibits health care providers from performing gender-affirming surgeries and administering hormones or puberty blockers to transgender minors, pending the duration of the appeal.” (CNN)
A Kansas judge blocked transgender people from changing the sex listed on their driver’s licenses. “The judge issued the order three days after Attorney General Kris Kobach sued two officials in Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s administration. Kelly announced last month that the state’s motor vehicles division would continue changing driver’s licenses for transgender people so that their sex listing matches their gender identities.” (Associated Press)
Telecom companies have knowingly left behind more than 2,000 lead-covered cables that stretch across the U.S. The lead-covered cable network includes more than 1,750 underwater cables, and about 250 aerial cables alongside streets and fields next to schools and bus stops. “Roughly 330 of the total number of underwater cable locations identified are in a ‘source water protection area,’ designated by federal regulators as contributing to the drinking-water supply.” (Wall Street Journal)
City utilities have been leaving lead pipe in the ground for decades – even when it is easiest to remove during water main work. “Decades after the dangers of lead became clear, other cities have made different decisions and have been leaving lead pipe in the ground. Experts say it has likely happened hundreds of thousands of times.” (Associated Press)
An Oklahoma judge dismissed a lawsuit seeking reparations for the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. “Judge Caroline Wall dismissed with prejudice the lawsuit trying to force the city and others to make recompense for the destruction of the once-thriving Black district known as Greenwood.” (NPR)
1/ Earth recorded its hottest day ever for three straight days. The record was first set on Monday, when average global temperatures hit 61.16 degrees Fahrenheit, surpassing a previous record set in August 2016. That was followed by an average global temperature of 62.92 degrees Fahrenheit on Tuesday and Wednesday. “It’s not a record to celebrate and it won’t be a record for long, with northern hemisphere summer still mostly ahead and El Niño developing,” said Friederike Otto, senior lecturer in climate science at the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment in the UK. (CNN / ABC News / Axios)
2/ Texas’ strict abortion law led to nearly 10,000 more births than expected over a nine-month period. Texas Senate Bill 8, passed in September 2021, effectively banned abortions after six weeks of pregnancy with few exceptions. The research team estimated that from April to December 2022, Texas would have typically seen 287,289 births after analyzing years of previous live birth data from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Instead, there were about 297,000 total births during that nine-month period – about 3% more than expected without the law. The ban also decreased abortions in Texas and six adjacent states by 38%, according to researchers. (Texas Tribune / CNN / The Hill)
3/ U.S. companies added 497,000 jobs last month – the most in over a year. The ADP National Employment Report was well above 220,000 forecasted by economists. The government’s official employment report is due Friday. And while the ADP data often differs, it’s consistent with broader trends in the labor market and is viewed as a proxy for overall hiring activity. Job openings, meanwhile, fell to 9.82 million in May, down from 10.3 million in April and below the 9.9 million estimate. Monthly job openings, however, remain historically high: Before 2021, job openings never hit 8 million. Due to the strength of the labor market, some economists worry that the Federal Reserve will continue to push up interest rates to combat inflation that hit a four-decade high last year. (Bloomberg / Associated Press / New York Times / CNN / CNBC / CNBC)
The “Great Resignation” Is Over. “Tens of millions of Americans have changed jobs over the past two years, a tidal wave of quitting that reflected — and helped create — a rare moment of worker power as employees demanded higher pay, and as employers, short on staff, often gave it to them.” (New York Times)
Americans Have Quit Quitting Their Jobs. “A slowdown in voluntary departures can indicate a softening labor market if it reflects employers’ easing demand for workers, economists say. Employees might have less confidence they will find a better job or feel they have less bargaining power. Others might just be content with their jobs.” (Wall Street Journal)
4/ The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate climbed to 6.81% – the highest level since early November and up from 6.71% the week before. A year ago, the rate averaged 5.3%. (Associated Press / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
5/ A Trump aide pleaded not guilty to six charges related to the mishandling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, including conspiracy to obstruct justice and concealing records. The Justice Department accused Walt Nauta of helping Trump move boxes of classified documents Trump illegally kept from the federal government. Trump was named as a co-defendant for five of those counts. Nauta, however, was not arraigned with Trump on June 13 and unable to enter his plea in two prior court hearings because he couldn’t find a Florida-based lawyer to represent him. (CNN / CBS News / New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post)
Justice Department had video of boxes being moved at Mar-a-Lago before FBI search, unredacted document shows. “The Justice Department has made public more about the significant photographic and video evidence they collected last summer from Mar-a-Lago after the Trump presidency, in a newly released version of the investigative record that supported the FBI search of the resort.” (CNN)
1/ July 4th was Earth’s hottest day on record, with the global average temperature reaching 62.92 degrees Fahrenheit. Although it was the highest temperature since records began in 1979, some scientists believe July 4 may have been one of the hottest days on Earth in around 125,000 years. “It’s a death sentence for people and ecosystems,” Friederike Otto said, a senior lecturer at the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment. The World Meteorological Organization added that “The onset of El Niño will greatly increase the likelihood of breaking temperature records and triggering more extreme heat in many parts of the world and in the ocean.” El Niño is a naturally occurring climate pattern associated with warming of the ocean surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean. Meanwhile, June 2023 appears to have been the hottest June on record since the late 1800s, according to preliminary global data. (Associated Press / Washington Post / USA Today / Bloomberg / NPR / Axios)
2/ At least 17 mass shootings were recorded across the country over the Fourth of July holiday weekend. At least 18 people were killed, with at least 102 others injured. Meanwhile, a Trump supporter was arrested last week near Obama’s home with two guns, 400 rounds of ammunition, and a machete in his van. Taylor Taranto showed up at Obama’s home after Trump posted what he claimed was Obama’s address on his personal social network. “We got these losers surrounded!” Taranto wrote on Telegram. “See you in hell, Podesta’s and Obama’s!” (NBC News / Associated Press / NBC News / CNN)
3/ Special Counsel Jack Smith subpoenaed the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office as part of his investigation into Jan. 6 insurrection. Smith’s office requested information related to two lawsuits that alleged errors and fraud in the 2020 presidential results. Although Smith subpoenaed the secretary of state, he hasn’t reached out to former Gov. Doug Ducey, who played a central role in certifying Biden’s win in Arizona. Trump reportedly called Ducey to pressure him to find alleged voter fraud in the Arizona election that would help him overturn his loss in the state. Trump also repeatedly asked Pence to pressure Ducey to find the evidence to substantiate his claims of fraud. (AZ Central / Washington Post / CNN)
Trump once said a president under felony indictment would grind the government to a halt and create a constitutional crisis. “Trump said in 2016 that a president under indictment would “cripple the operations of our government” and create an “unprecedented constitutional crisis” – years before he himself was indicted on federal charges while running for a second term as president.” (CNN)
Judge orders release of more Mar-a-Lago search warrant information in Trump classified docs case. “Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart ordered that more be unsealed from the affidavit used to justify the search of former President Donald Trump’s Florida property that uncovered classified documents.” (NBC News)
4/ Federal Reserve officials signaled that they’re not done raising interest rates. Although the Fed held the federal funds rate steady at a range of 5-5.25% in June, which snapped a streak of 10 consecutive rate hikes since March 2022, officials noted that they might need to make two more increases this year to bring inflation down to their 2% target. Officials said they felt that “leaving the target range unchanged at this meeting would allow them more time to assess the economy’s progress toward the Committee’s goals of maximum employment and price stability.“ (CNN / CNBC / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / New York Times)
5/ The Secret Service is investigating how a small baggie of cocaine ended up in the White House. The white powder in a small plastic envelope, which lab testing confirmed was cocaine, was found during a routine search in an area of the West Wing where guests and staff members are screened for security. Biden was not at the White House when the cocaine was discovered, but reportedly “thinks it’s very important to get to the bottom of this.” (Washington Post / New York Times / ABC News / Politico / NBC News)
1/ A civil rights group demanded that the federal government end Harvard’s special admissions treatment for children of alumni, saying the policy discriminates against applicants of color in favor of less qualified white candidates. Following last week’s Supreme Court ruling that rejected race-based affirmative action, three civil rights groups filed a complaint with the Education Department claiming that Harvard’s preferences for “legacy” applicants violates a provision of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that bans racial discrimination in programs that receive federal funds. 70% of legacy admissions to Harvard are White, compared with about 40% of regular applicants. Further, legacy applicants are more than five times as likely to be admitted than non-legacy applicants. Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / Associated Press / Reuters)
2/ The Supreme Court blocked Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan, which aimed to cancel up to $20,000 of student debt for up to 40 million borrowers. In a 6-3 decision, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that the Biden administration exceeded its authority when it used emergency “waiver” powers tied to the Covid-19 pandemic to wipe out more than $400 billion in federal student loan debt. Biden, however, announced a “new path” for loan forgiveness using a different legal authority, the Higher Education Act. The 1965 law allows the secretary of education the authority to “compromise, waive or release” debt. The new plan, however, may not be implemented before the 2024 election. In the mean time, Biden said his administration would offer a temporary, 12-month “ramp” repayment program for student loan borrowers. The Education Department won’t refer borrowers with missed payments to credit agencies for 12 months “to give them a chance to get back up and running,” Biden said. (NBC News / CNN / Washington Post / Politico / ABC News / Wall Street Journal / CNBC)
3/ The Supreme Court ruled in favor of an evangelical Christian web designer who refused to work on same-sex weddings despite a state law that bars discrimination against gay people. The justices, divided 6-3 along ideological lines, said that Lorie Smith, who opposes same-sex marriage on religious grounds, has a free speech right under the First Amendment to refuse to endorse messages she disagrees with. “Colorado seeks to force an individual to speak in ways that align with its views but defy her conscience about a matter of major significance,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in the majority opinion. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, writing the dissent, said the court’s ruling was part of “a backlash to the movement for liberty and equality for gender and sexual minorities” and a type of “reactionary exclusion,” calling it “heartbreaking,” “a grave error,” and “profoundly wrong.” (Politico / NBC News / New York Times / CNN / Associated Press)
4/ Harris warned that “there is a national movement afoot to attack hard won and hard fought freedoms” following the Supreme Court’s decisions to end the use of race as a factor in college admissions, blocked the administration’s attempt to forgive student loan debt, and ruled that businesses could refuse LGBTQ customers. “This is a serious moment and fundamental issues are at stake,” Harris said, adding: “So, fight we must.” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, meanwhile, added that the Supreme Court is signaling “a dangerous creep toward authoritarianism,” saying “they are expanding their role into acting as though they are Congress itself.” (NPR / The Guardian / Politico)
poll/ 52% of Americans approve of the Supreme Court’s decision restricting the use of race as a factor in college admissions, while 32% disapprove, and 16% saying they don’t know. (ABC News)
1/ The Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in college admissions, undercutting 45 years of legal precedent. In a ruling divided along ideological lines, the court’s conservative majority held that the admissions programs at Harvard and the University of North Carolina relied on racial considerations in violation of the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause because they lacked sufficient “measurable objectives” justifying the use of race. Chief Justice John Roberts said the programs “unavoidably employ race in a negative manner.” Many universities “have concluded, wrongly, that the touchstone of an individual’s identity is not challenges bested, skills built, or lessons learned but the color of their skin,” Roberts added. “Our constitutional history does not tolerate that choice.” (Associated Press / NPR / Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / CNN / CNBC / Bloomberg / Politico / ABC News / CBS News / Wall Street Journal)
💡 Why should I care? College affirmative action programs promote fairness, diversity, and equal opportunities in education, which research has shown to foster critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving skills. By addressing the imbalances caused by discrimination we ensure that students from historically marginalized groups have equal access to education. Without these programs, historically marginalized groups face greater barriers in accessing higher education, which perpetuates existing inequalities, limits social mobility, and hinders progress towards a more equitable society. Affirmative action programs aim to create a more inclusive society by breaking cycles of disadvantage and works towards building a society that values diversity, equal opportunities, and the potential of all individuals.
The Supreme Court is expected to announce rulings on student loan forgiveness and LGBTQ protections Friday. (Politico / CNBC)
2/ Biden assailed the Supreme Court’s ruling against affirmative action in college admissions, calling it a “severe disappointment” because “discrimination still exists in America.” He added: “Today’s decision does not change that. It’s a simple fact.” When asked whether the decision should make people question the Supreme Court’s legitimacy and if this was a “rogue court,” Biden responded after several seconds: “This is not a normal court.” The Biden administration said it would provide guidance on how colleges could maintain diversity without violating the ruling. “We cannot let this decision be the last word,” Biden said. “The court can render a decision but it cannot change what America stands for.” Trump, meanwhile, praised the decision as a “great day for America.” (NBC News / New York Times / CBS News / CNBC / ABC News)
3/ The Supreme Court’s liberal justices blasted the court’s decision on affirmative action, warning that it “makes things worse, not better” for the country. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson accused the court’s conservative majority of a “let-them-eat-cake obliviousness,” saying “the majority pulls the ripcord and announces ‘colorblindness for all’ by legal fiat. But deeming race irrelevant in law does not make it so in life.” In a lengthy dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that the court’s majority was “further entrenching racial inequality in education” and never made an “attempt to make the extraordinary showing required” to reverse precedent. “The devastating impact of this decision cannot be overstated.” Sotomayor is the court’s lone Latina justice. (ABC News / CNBC / The Hill / Rolling Stone / Daily Beast)
4/ The Koch Network has raised more than $70 million to stop Trump from winning the Republican nomination for president in 2024. It’s the first time in its nearly 20-year history that Americans for Prosperity Action will actively try to influence the presidential primary. (New York Times)
poll/ 53% of Americans believe Trump has done something illegal regarding the classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago – up from 47% in April. (AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research)
1/ Roughly 87 million people in 17 states – representing nearly a third of the American population – are at risk for poor air quality as smoke from the Canadian wildfires spreads. Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh were among the cities with the worst air quality in the world, leading the EPA to warn “everyone should stay indoors” as the air quality indexes fell into the “very unhealthy” category. The smoke is the result of one of Canada’s worst wildfire seasons in decades, with more than 19 million acres of land already burned this year. There were nearly 500 active wildfires burning in Canada as of this morning, with more than 250 burning out of control. Wildfires in the U.S. have been growing in frequency, duration, and intensity due in part to human-caused climate change. The United Nations has also warned that a similar trend is occurring worldwide. Elsewhere, another 69 million people face heat alerts in the South, Southeast, and parts of the Midwest and California. (NBC News / Wall Street Journal / NPR / Washington Post / New York Times / Associated Press)
California set to face its first major heat wave of the year. “Temperatures could reach 110 degrees in the Central Valley.” (Washington Post)
A heat dome has caused Texas to rival the hottest locations on Earth. “A stagnant dome of high pressure has fueled dangerous heat and humidity across most of the state, with several cities hitting or surpassing 110 degrees Fahrenheit.” (NBC News)
💡 How to build a DIY air filter for wildfire smoke. The Corsi-Rosenthal Box is an affordable homemade air cleaning system that can reduce indoor exposure to wildfire smoke (and other airborne particles, like Covid-19). You’ll need a 20” box fan, four 20x20 MERV 13 furnace filters, some duct tape, and a piece of cardboard. Here’s your assembly guide.
2/ Trump sued E. Jean Carroll for defamation after a jury found he sexually abused and defamed her. Trump alleges that Carroll defamed him the day after the jury awarded her $5 million in damages when she said she Trump raped her. The federal jury had found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll, but not raping her. Trump “has been the subject of significant harm to his reputation, which, in turn, has yielded an inordinate amount of damages sustained as a result,” according to the filing. He wants Carroll to pay him unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, as well as to retract multiple statements. Meanwhile, a New York judge earlier this month allowed Carroll to amend her defamation lawsuit against Trump, letting her to seek additional damages after Trump repeated statements the jury found to be defamatory after the verdict. (CNN / NBC News / Bloomberg / Associated Press / USA Today / CNBC / ABC News)
3/ Rudy Giuliani recently met with federal prosecutors investigating Trump’s his efforts to reverse the 2020 election results. The voluntary interview with special counsel Jack Smith’s prosecutors comes as the grand jury has questioned the actions of Trump’s lawyers, including Giuliani, and their baseless claims of widespread voter fraud. (CNN / CNBC / NBC News)
poll/ 44% of voters overall say they would consider voting for third-party candidate in a 2024 matchup between Biden and Trump. Among Democrats, 45% say they’d consider a third-party candidate, while 34% of Republicans say they would consider backing a third-party candidate. (NBC News)
poll/ 63% of women disapprove of the Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Among men, 48% have an unfavorable view of DeSantis. (Florida Politics)
poll/ 30% of voters say the economy is the most important to issue in the 2024 presidential election. 28% say preserving democracy in the U.S. is the next most important issue, followed by gun violence (9%), abortion (8%), immigration (7%), health care (6%), climate change (4%), and racial inequality (3%). (Quinnipiac)
poll/ 60% of Americans say gun violence is a “very big problem” in the country. 62% say gun violence will increase in the next five years. 7% say gun violence will decrease. (Pew Research Center)
1/ The Supreme Court rejected a legal theory that state legislatures have the power to decide the rules for federal elections and draw partisan congressional maps. The justices ruled in a 6-3 vote that the North Carolina Supreme Court was acting within its authority when it struck down a congressional districting plan as excessively partisan under state law. In doing so, the court rejected the so-called “independent state legislature” theory, a fringe legal theory that Republicans claims limits the authority of state courts to question state legislatures on election laws for federal contests. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority that “state courts retain the authority to apply state constitutional restraints when legislatures act under the power conferred upon them by the Elections Clause. But federal courts must not abandon their own duty to exercise judicial review.” Roberts added: “The Elections Clause does not insulate state legislatures from the ordinary exercise of state judicial review.” Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch dissented. Trump and his allies used the now-rejected “independent state legislature” theory to justify their attempts to overturn the 2020 election. (Washington Post / NBC News / NPR / New York Times / Associated Press / Politico / CNN)
💡 Why should I care? The “independent state legislature” theory is the idea that only state lawmakers can set voting rules for federal elections. If accepted, state legislature could drastically change voting rules and limit your ability to participate in elections by, for example, limiting mail-in voting or reducing the number of polling places to make it harder for you, your family, or your neighbors to vote. It’s not just about legal rules – it’s about who gets a say in the future of our democracy. If fewer people can vote, fewer people will have a say in our government, what laws get made, and how our lives are impacted by those laws.
2/ Special counsel Jack Smith’s office will interview Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger as part of the federal investigation into Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. In January 2021, Trump called Raffensperger and pressed him to “find” the votes needed to win Georgia – a state that Biden won by nearly 12,000 votes. Trump told Raffensperger: “All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state.” Trump has repeatedly defended the call, calling it “perfect.” (Washington Post / NBC News / ABC News / CNN)
3/ The FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and other federal agencies downplayed or ignored “a massive amount of intelligence information” ahead of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, according to a Senate Homeland Security Committee report. The 105-page report, entitled “Planned in Plain Sight,” details how the FBI and DHS “failed to fully and accurately assess the severity of the threat identified by that intelligence, and formally disseminate guidance to their law enforcement partners with sufficient urgency and alarm to enable those partners to prepare for the violence that ultimately occurred on January 6th.” The report faults the agencies for downplaying the known dangers, being reluctant to issue warnings, and hesitating to share the intelligence. “At a fundamental level, the agencies failed to fulfill their mission and connect the public and nonpublic information they received,” the report concludes. (Washington Post / ABC News / Associated Press / New York Times)
4/ The audio recording of Trump discussing a “highly confidential” document he kept with an interviewer after leaving office leaked. In the two-minute recording, Trump states that “these are the papers […] This was done by the military and given to me. See as president I could have declassified it. Now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret.” Trump describes his “big pile of paper,” which he referred to as “highly confidential,” to the people in the room and says: “Isn’t it amazing? […] They presented me this – this is off the record.” His staffer responded: “Now we have a problem.” The recording is from a July 2021 interview Trump gave at his Bedminster, New Jersey, resort for people working on a book about Mark Meadows. The recording appears to undermine Trump’s claims that he had declassified documents before leaving office or didn’t have any restricted documents. Hours after the release of the tape, Trump – in an all-caps post on his personal social media site – acknowledged keeping classified documents he didn’t declassify while attacking special counsel Jack Smith and accusing the Justice Department and FBI of having “illegally leaked and ‘spun’ a tape and transcript of me which is actually an exoneration.” (CNN / Washington Post / NBC News / New York Times / Politico / CNBC / Associated Press)
5/ The current record heatwave across the U.S. South was made at least five times more likely due to human-caused climate change, scientists from Climate Central, a nonprofit science communication organization, have found. The Climate Shift Index, which estimates how much climate change is increasing the likelihood of extreme heat, is currently at Level 5 over southern portions of Texas. Level 5 indicates that human-caused climate change made the current excessive heat at least 5 times more likely. The historically intense heat dome responsible for the current heat wave is expected to persist through at least next week and into the following week. Scientists have found that heat domes are becoming larger, more frequent, and more intense with human-caused climate change, which increases the risks of heat-related illnesses, deaths, droughts, and wildfires. (The Guardian / New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / Climate Central)
1/ The Supreme Court dismissed Louisiana’s effort to block the creation of a second Black-majority congressional district, restoring a federal court’s ruling that the state’s congressional lines diluted the power of Black voters in violation of the federal Voting Rights Act. The court order noted that the case should be resolved “in advance of the 2024 congressional elections in Louisiana.” Louisiana state officials were sued last year for a new congressional map that the Republican-led state legislature adopted after overriding Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards’s veto. The new map made one of the state’s six districts majority Black, despite the 2020 census showing that the state’s population is 33% Black. (Associated Press / NBC News / CNN / Wall Street Journal / Politico)
2/ Roughly half a dozen Secret Service agents have testified before the grand jury investigating Trump’s role in the Jan. 6 insurrection. It’s not known how close the agents were to Trump on Jan. 6 or what information they have provided to special counsel Jack Smith’s grand jury. A year ago, former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson told the Jan. 6 committee that she heard secondhand that Trump knew some of his supporters were armed when he directed them to march on the Capitol on Jan. 6 and that he wanted Secret Service agents to drive him to the Capitol to join the rioters. Hutchinson said she heard this from Tony Ornato, who was Trump’s deputy White House chief of staff at the time. (NBC News)
3/ The Biden administration announced $42.5 billion in new federal funding to expand high-speed internet access to every American household by 2030. An estimated 8.5 million homes and small businesses – which represent more than 7% of the country – are considered underserved, with internet speed below 25 megabits per second for downloads and 3 Mbps for uploads. The funding, allotted by Congress through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, will go to all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and U.S. territories, with each state receiving a minimum of $107 million. 19 states receiving over $1 billion. (CNBC / Washington Post / ABC News)
4/ The Supreme Court rejected a Republican effort to block the Biden administration’s immigration policies. The Supreme Court said Texas and Louisiana lacked standing to challenge the federal guidelines, which prioritized the deportation of immigrants who pose a risk to public safety or those who entered the U.S. illegally. The states had argued that the policies prevent immigration authorities from doing their jobs. Writing for the majority, Justice Brett Kavanaugh called the legal challenge “an extraordinarily unusual lawsuit.” (Washington Post / Associated Press / New York Times / NPR / USA Today)
5/ The second most popular Republican presidential candidate proposed eliminating birthright citizenship despite the 14th Amendment guaranteeing citizenship to all individuals “born or naturalized in the United States.” Trump, the current front-runner in the Republican primary, has also promised to try to eliminate the protection if elected. (CNN / ABC News)
6/ Biden said the U.S. and its allies had “nothing to do with” a mercenary group’s brief uprising against Putin. “We made clear we are not involved,” Biden said, “this was part of a struggle within the Russian system.” Over the weekend, the leader of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, led an armed rebellion targeting Russia’s military leaders and accusing Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu of incompetence and botching the war in Ukraine. Prigozhin’s group took control of the strategic city of Rostov-on-Don and then advanced an army within 124 miles of Moscow before Putin gave Prigozhin a “personal guarantee” that he’d be allowed to leave for Belarus. Prigozhin later said he wasn’t trying to oust Putin but rather protest against a new law that would require his fighters in Ukraine to sign contracts with the Russian government by July 1. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNBC / CNN / CBS News)
7/ Trump received the Oakland County Republican Party’s “Man of the Decade” award despite his presidential loss in 2020, being impeachedtwice, charged with 34 felony counts related to hush money payments made during his 2016 presidential campaign, charged with 37 felony counts in a federal indictment for mishandling classified documents, and unanimously being found Trump liable for sexual abuse, battery, and defamation. (Daily Beast / Rolling Stone)
poll/ 36% of Americans view neither Biden nor Trump favorably. The 2016 Trump-Clinton presidential race is the only election on record in which both candidates were disliked by more Americans than liked on Election Day: Trump’s 61% unfavorable score was worst in presidential polling history, while Clinton’s 52% unfavorable score was the second-worst. (CNN)
✏️ Notables.
Justice Samuel Alito appears to have violated federal ethics laws by failing to disclose a luxury fishing trip to Alaska in 2008 with a Republican billionaire who later had cases before the Supreme Court. Republican megadonor Paul Singer’s hedge fund has appeared before the Supreme Court in at least 10 cases, including one in which Alito ruled in Singer’s favor, resulting in a $2.4 billion payout. Alito has never recused himself. (ProPublica)
A federal judge in Arkansas struck down the state’s law banning gender transition care for minors. The case had been closely watched as an important test of whether bans on transition care for minors, enacted by more than a dozen states, could withstand challenges. (New York Times)
The New York State Legislature approved a measure to provide legal protection for state doctors who prescribe and send abortion pills to patients in states with abortion bans. The legislation prevents New York courts and officials from cooperating with prosecution, lawsuits, or penalties against healthcare providers who comply with New York law. (New York Times)
The House voted to censure Adam Schiff for his role in leading investigations into Trump as chair of the House Intelligence Committee. The vote was along party lines. (NPR)
Hunter Biden agreed to plead guilty to not paying taxes in 2017 and 2018. Biden will also enter into a probation agreement on a charge of illegally owning a gun while being a drug user. (Axios)
American middle schoolers’ test scores in math and reading got significantly worse last year. The average math score for 13 year olds declined 9 points from the 2019-20 to 2022-23 school years, while their average reading score declined 4 points over the same time period. (Axios)
Programming note: This is the last update until Monday, June 26. I’ll be spending time with family next week, unless something truly wtf-y happens, in which case I’ll publish an emergency update. Sound good? Stay safe and I’m glad you’re here.
1/ Multiple federal agencies were hacked as part of a broader cyberattack that exploits a previously unknown vulnerability in widely used file sharing software. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said it’s still investigating the scope of the hacks, but it’s “working urgently to understand impacts and ensure timely remediation.” The breaches, however, were connected to a file transfer program called MOVEit, which a Russian-speaking hacking group known as CLOP has recently exploited to steal data from companies and demand ransom payments. Last week, CISA and the FBI issued a warning that CLOP was exploiting the vulnerability in MOVEIt. It’s the third known instance in as many years that foreign hackers have been able to breach federal agencies and steal information. (CNN / Politico / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
2/ The White House will continue to use the term “MAGA” despite the Office of Special Counsel ruling that it’s a violation of the Hatch Act – a law that bars federal employees from promoting partisan politics while in their official capacity. While White House officials have repeatedly referred to Republican members in Congress as “MAGA Republicans,” the Office of Special Counsel cited press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre’s use of the phrase “mega MAGA Republicans” ahead of the 2022 midterms as being in violation of the 1939 law. The office, however, did not recommend any reprimand and the law is widely viewed as unenforceable. Jean-Pierre, meanwhile, noted that “If you look at the archived Trump White House website, it contains about 2,000 — nearly 2,000 uses of “MAGA” to describe policies and official agendas,” adding that “Congressional Republicans have also used “MAGA” to refer to policies and official agenda frequently, for years now — even, clearly, before we entered the administration.” At least 13 officials violated the Hatch Act during the Trump administration. (Axios / NPR / NBC News / Washington Post)
Trump rejected lawyers’ efforts to avoid classified documents indictment. “The former president was not interested in attempting to negotiate a settlement in the classified documents investigation.” (Washington Post)
The Radical Strategy Behind Trump’s Promise to ‘Go After’ Biden. “Conservatives with close ties to Donald J. Trump are laying out a ‘paradigm-shifting’ legal rationale to erase the Justice Department’s independence from the president.” (New York Times)
3/ The Supreme Court upheld a 1978 law that prioritizes Native tribes when American Indian children are adopted. The vote was 7 to 2, with Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissenting. The Indian Child Welfare Act was enacted in response to a long history in which hundreds of thousands of Native children were separated from their families and raised by people with no connection to their culture. Before the Indian Child Welfare Act, between 25% and 35% of Native children were taken from their homes and placed with white families or in boarding schools in an attempt to assimilate them. (New York Times / NBC News / Associated Press / Washington Post / CNN / NPR)
4/ FDA advisers unanimously recommend that the COVID-19 vaccine be updated to target emerging subvariants of omicron, as well as drop the original coronavirus strain from the formulation. The panel recommended that drugmakers abandon the bivalent design and instead use a “monovalent” vaccine that only targets omicron subvariants. The FDA is expected to make a final decision on which COVID-19 strain to target soon. (NPR / NBC News)
poll/ 61% of Americans say overturning Roe v. Wade was a “bad thing,” while 38% said it was a “good thing.” 47% say abortion should be legal in all (34%) or most (13%) circumstances, while 49%, want it legal in only a few (36%) or illegal in all (13%) circumstances. (Gallup)
1/ Federal Reserve officials agreed to hold interest rates steady after 10 consecutive increases “in light of how far we have come in tightening policy, the uncertain lags in which monetary policy affects the economy, and the potential headwinds from credit tightening.” The decision keeps the benchmark federal funds rate in a target range between 5% and 5.25% – a 16-year high. Fed officials, however, expect to raise rates two more times this year to bring the interest rates up to 5.6% to get inflation back to 2%. The Fed anticipates that inflation will be 3.2% at the end of 2023 and at 2.5% by the end of 2024. (Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Axios / New York Times / Washington Post / CNBC / CNN)
💡 Explain like I’m Five: The Federal Reserve raises interest rates to curb inflation by making borrowing more expensive, which reduces spending and lowers demand for goods and services. High inflation erodes the value of money over time, resulting in a decrease in purchasing power. When borrowing costs are high, it becomes more expensive for people to take out loans for large purchases, such as homes, cars, or education. High borrowing costs also deter businesses from taking on debt to expand or invest in research and development, which limits innovation.
2/ At least 11 state have enacted 13 restrictive voting laws in 2023 so far. Two more restrictive voting bills in two states are awaiting the governors’ approval. At least 13 states, meanwhile, have enacted 19 laws that make it easier to vote. (CNN / Brennan Center)
3/ A Fox News chyron referred to Biden as a “wannabe dictator” who had “his political rival” arrested – hours after Trump pleaded not guilty to 37 federal charges related to his handling of classified documents after he left office and his refusal to return them. A chyron is the on-screen text that highlight the latest news. Fox briefly aired the side-by-side visual of Trump’s speech from his New Jersey Golf club and Biden speaking at the White House earlier in the day. The message was onscreen for 27 seconds. PBS, meanwhile, added a cautionary chyron to Trump’s New Jersey speech: “Experts warn that inflammatory rhetoric from elected officials or people in power can prompt individual actors to commit acts of violence.” (Associated Press / Washington Post / New York Times)
Republicans privately acknowledge Trump’s legal woes are serious this time. “An operative in Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ orbit, who requested anonymity to speak candidly without approval from higher-ups, said that ‘from an objective standpoint,’ the federal charges Trump faces for his post-presidency handling of classified documents are far more serious than the earlier ones around hush money payments before the 2016 election.” (NBC News)
G.O.P. Rivals See Trump’s Indictment as a Big Problem (for Them). “An all-indictment, all-the-time news diet could swallow the summer, denying attention to other Republican candidates who need it like oxygen.” (New York Times)
Jack Smith’s Backup Option. “Donald Trump was indicted in Florida. Could he also face charges in New Jersey?” (The Atlantic)
Judge in Trump Documents Case Has Scant Criminal Trial Experience. “Judge Aileen M. Cannon, under scrutiny for past rulings favoring the former president, has presided over only a few criminal cases that went to trial.” (New York Times)
4/ House Democrats killed a Republican effort to censure Adam Schiff and fine him $16 million for investigating allegations that Trump’s 2016 campaign colluded with Russia. The chamber voted 225-196-7 to table the resolution, with 20 Republicans joining with Democrats. The resolution sought to fine Schiff half the cost of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Trump and Russia’s alleged ties. The censure resolution was sponsored by GOP Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, who claims that Schiff “exploited his positions on [the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence to encourage and excuse abusive intelligence investigations of Americans for political purposes.” Luna also accused Schiff of having “used his position and access to sensitive information to instigate a fraudulently based investigation, which he then used to amass political gain and fundraising dollars.” (The Hill / CBS News / USA Today / Bloomberg / CNN)
1/ Trump surrendered to authorities and pleaded not guilty to 37 felony charges that he mishandled top secret classified information and obstructed justice after leaving the White House. Trump faces 31 counts of willful retention of national security records, one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice, one count of withholding a document, one count of corruptly concealing a document, one count of concealing a document in a federal investigation, one count of scheme to conceal, and one count of false statements and representations. In their 49-page indictment, federal prosecutors allege that Trump had documents with details on “defense and weapons capabilities of both the United States and foreign countries; United States nuclear programs; potential vulnerabilities of the United States and its allies to military attack; and plans for possible retaliation in response to a foreign attack.” Prosecutors added that Trump risked national security by keeping the classified documents in a bathroom, a ballroom, and his bedroom, among other places, at Mar-a-Lago. Nevertheless, Trump’s lawyer said at the arraignment that “We most certainly enter a plea of not guilty.” Trump’s personal aide, Walt Nauta, also appeared before the judge but did not enter a plea because he does not have a local Florida lawyer to represent him. Both Trump and Nauta were released with no travel restrictions, and they were not required to surrender their passports. It was the second time in three months that Trump was not mugshotted at an arraignment. Trump is currently the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination despite being impeachedtwice, charged with 34 felony charges in an unrelated case in New York, and still under investigation for his efforts to overturn 2020 election. He is the first former American president to stand accused of federal crimes, and faces the possibility of several years in prison if convicted. Alina Habba, a Trump attorney, meanwhile, said “People in charge of this country do not love America. They hate Donald Trump.” She added: “What we are witnessing today is the blatant and unapologetic weaponization of the criminal justice system.” (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / ABC News / NPR / CNN / Bloomberg / CNBC)
2/ A federal judge will allow E. Jean Carroll to amend her original defamation lawsuit against Trump to include comments he made at a CNN town hall. The New York author is seeking at least $10 million more in damages. A day after Carroll won her $5 million sexual abuse and defamation case against him, Trump appeared on CNN and called Carroll’s allegations “a fake story” and dismissed her as a “wack job.” (CNN / Bloomberg)
3/ Inflation fell to 4% in May from a year earlier. It’s the lowest reading in two years and well below last June’s peak of 9.1%, which was a 40-year high. While inflation remains well above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, the consumer price index reading puts the central bank on track to skip a rate increase on Wednesday after 10 consecutive hikes. Prices rose 0.1% in May from April. (NBC News / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / CNBC)
4/ Kevin McCarthy struck a temporary deal with 11 members of the Freedom Caucus to end their protest that prevented the House from considering any business for almost a week. The House is now on track to vote on several bills this week, including bills on gas stoves and pistol braces. Multiple members leaving McCarthy’s office said the conservative Freedom Caucus agreed to end the blockade while they continue discussions about deeper spending cuts. Matt Gaetz added that the “power-sharing agreement” McCarthy negotiated with conservatives to win the speaker’s gavel in January “must be renegotiated.” (Washington Post / NBC News / CNN / Politico)
5/ California’s summer wildfires increased about fivefold from 1971 to 2021. Peer-reviewed research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, finds that human-caused climate change is responsible for almost all of the increase in California’s wildfires over the past 50 years. The burned area grew 172% more than it would have without human-caused climate change. The 10 largest California wildfires have all happened in the last two decades – five of which occurred in 2020 and eight after 2017. Scientists estimate that the area burned in an average California summer could rise as much as 50% by 2050. (CNBC / USA Today / UCI News / Bloomberg)
1/ Trump vowed to continue running for president even if he’s convicted as part of the 37-count federal felony indictment, saying “I’ll never leave.” Trump, who is not legally prohibited from running for president from prison or as a convicted felon, cast the charges as part of his “final battle” with a “corrupt” and “weaponized Department of Injustice.” Trump’s remarks at the Georgia Republican Party’s annual convention came one day after special counsel Jack Smith unsealed the 37-count federal indictment, which he called “a political hit job” by a “deranged” Smith. “In the end, they’re not coming after me. They’re coming after you,” Trump said. “I’m just standing in their way.” (Politico / NBC News / New York Times / CNN)
📌 Day 871: The Justice Department charged Trump with 37 felony counts over his refusal to return classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago, including 31 counts under the Espionage Act of “willful retention” of national defense information, making false statements, and conspiracy to obstruct justice.
2/ A Montana judge will hear arguments in a first-of-its-kind lawsuit by 16 young people challenging Montana’s pro-fossil fuel policies. In Held v. Montana, the group accuse the state of violating their right to a “clean and healthful environment,” which is explicitly guaranteed in the state constitution, by promoting fossil fuel development. The trial started today and is scheduled to last two weeks. (Associated Press / Time / Montana Public Radio/ Washington Post / The Guardian)
3/ More than 725,000 Medicaid recipients have lost coverage since the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency. The federal pandemic-era policy required state Medicaid agencies to provide coverage, even if their eligibility changed. Since April, 14 states have started disenrolling people from Medicaid, with another 22 states starting the disenrollment processes this month. An estimated 17 million people could lose Medicaid coverage. (Axios / KFF)
4/ U.S. spy agencies have bought a “large amount” of “sensitive and intimate information” on Americans, according to new report by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Although most of the commercially available data from cars, phones, web tracking technologies, the Internet of Things, and more has been stripped of personal information and anonymized, the government said it’s trivial “to deanonymize and identify individuals.” The report notes that the government can “persistently” track the phones of “millions of Americans” without a warrant so long as it purchases the information, adding “The government would never have been permitted to compel billions of people to carry location tracking devices on their persons at all times, to log and track most of their social interactions, or to keep flawless records of all their reading habits.” (Wall Street Journal / Wired)
poll/ 48% of Americans agree that Trump should’ve been indicted by a federal grand jury related to his handling of classified documents. Americans find the charges either very (42%) or somewhat serious (19%), while 28% say the charges are not too serious or not serious at all. (ABC News)
poll/ 61% of likely Republican primary voters said the federal indictment charging Trump with 37 felonies won’t change their view of him. 80% of likely GOP primary voters said Trump should still be able to be president even if he’s convicted of violating the Espionage Act. (CBS News)
1/ The Justice Department charged Trump with 37 felony counts over his refusal to return classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago, including 31 counts under the Espionage Act of “willful retention” of national defense information, making false statements, and conspiracy to obstruct justice. The 49-page indictment says that even after the federal grand jury in Miami issued a subpoena demanding the return of all documents, Trump resisted and instead suggested that his attorney should either lie to the FBI, “hide or destroy documents,” or just show the FBI some of the documents and “conceal his continued retention of classified documents.” The indictment also indicates that some of the documents Trump took to Mar-a-Lago included “information regarding defense and weapons capabilities” of the U.S. and foreign countries, as well as U.S. nuclear programs. The classified documents, which “Trump was not authorized to possess or retain,” were allegedly stored “in a ballroom, a bathroom and shower, an office space, his bedroom, and a storage room,” and their “unauthorized disclosure […] could put at risk the national security of the United States.” After unsealing the indictment against Trump, special counsel Jack Smith said: “We have one set of laws in this country and they apply to everyone. Adhering to and applying the laws is what determines the outcome of an investigation. Nothing more, nothing less.” Trump, meanwhile, confirmed the indictment on his personal social media site, writing: “The corrupt Biden Administration has informed my attorneys that I have been Indicted, seemingly over the Boxes Hoax, even though Joe Biden has 1850 Boxes at the University of Delaware, additional Boxes in Chinatown, D.C., with even more Boxes at the University of Pennsylvania, and documents strewn all over his garage floor where he parks his Corvette, and which is ‘secured’ by only a garage door that is paper thin, and open much of the time.” It’s the first time a former president has faced federal charges. It’s the second time Trump has been indicted. Earlier this year, a grand jury in New York indicted Trump on state charges for falsifying business records related to the hush-money payment to a porn star during his 2016 campaign. (New York Times / Washington Post / NPR / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / NBC News / CNN / CNBC / ABC News / Politico / Associated Press)
Read the complete Trump indictment here. (Axios / NBC News)
💡 What should I care? An indictment of a former U.S. president demonstrates that no individual is above the law, reinforcing the principles of justice, and accountability. It sets a precedent that leaders can face consequences for abuse of power, discourages future leaders from engaging in similar misconduct, and bolsters faith in the democratic system. Ultimately, an indictment serves to uphold the rule of law, safeguard democratic values, and ensure that even the highest office is subject to scrutiny and accountability.
2/ Trump acknowledged during a 2021 meeting that he had retained “secret” military information that he had not declassified. Trump told two people working on Mark Meadows’ autobiography who didn’t have security clearance at his golf club in Bedminster about a classified plan to attack an unnamed nation that was prepared for him by the Department of Defense and a senior military official. “Secret. This is secret information. Look, look at this,” Trump said, according to a transcript in the indictment. “See as president I could have declassified it. “Now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret.” One of the unidentified writers responded: “Wow.” Trump then said the document was “classified,” and a woman in the room replied: “Now we have a problem.” (CNN / Bloomberg / New York Times / Associated Press / Washington Post)
3/ Two of Trump’s top lawyers resigned. Jim Trusty and John Rowley didn’t explain why they had resigned, other than to say “this is a logical moment” to do so given his indictment and “we will no longer represent him on either the indicted case or the January 6 investigation.” (CNBC / Politico)
4/ A Trump aide was indicted on six federal criminal charges connected to Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents. The indictment says that Trump directed Walt Nauta to “move boxes of documents to conceal them from Trump’s attorney, the FBI and the grand jury.” The offenses are punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Nauta also helped pack the documents as Trump was leaving the White House. (Washington Post / Axios / NBC News / ABC News / NPR / Bloomberg)
5/ A federal judge in Florida who handled Trump’s previous dispute with the Justice Department over classified documents will – initially – oversee the new criminal case. Judge Aileen Cannon presided over last year’s legal battle between the Justice Department and Trump’s lawyers over the classified documents the FBI seized from Mar-a-Lago. Cannon granted Trump’s request to temporarily block federal investigators from using documents with classified markings, appointing a “special master” to review all 11,000 documents. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, however, twicereversed her decisions. Trump appointed Cannon to the federal bench in 2020, meaning that she would be responsible for determining Trump’s sentence if he’s convicted. (ABC News / Bloomberg / New York Times / Politico)
1/ The Supreme Court rejected the Republican-drawn congressional maps in Alabama that illegally diluted the political power of its Black residents. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh joined the court’s three liberal members in the majority, ordering the State Legislature to draw a second Black-majority congressional district. Alabama has seven congressional districts, but only one with a majority of Black voters even though African Americans make up more than a quarter of the state’s population. The ruling was unexpected in part because the court has repeatedly chipped away at the Voting Rights Act, and will likely lead to challenges of maps drawn by Republican-led legislatures elsewhere. (NPR / Associated Press / New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / Politico / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
2/ The Justice Department informed Trump that he is a target in the federal investigation into the possible mishandling of classified documents. The notice from the office of the special counsel Jack Smith suggested that prosecutors may be moving closer to indicting Trump for potential mishandling of classified materials and possible obstruction of justice. Trump’s lawyers were sent the “target letter” days before meeting with Justice Department officials in what was described as a final attempt to stave off charges. Trump, meanwhile, posted on his personal social media platform: “No one has told me I’m being indicted, and I shouldn’t be because I’ve done NOTHING wrong.” (CNN / Politico / New York Times / NPR / ABC News / The Guardian)
Former White House official told federal prosecutors Trump knew of proper declassification process and followed it while in office. (CNN)
3/ Kevin McCarthy was forced to cancel votes in the House for the rest of the week following a revolt by the Freedom Caucus. McCarthy admitted that he had been “blindsided” when 11 Republicans joined with the Democrats to effectively freeze the House from considering any legislation for two days in a row. Members of the House Freedom Caucus said McCarthy betrayed promises he made in exchange for their support of his speakership in January when he struck a compromise deal with Biden to suspend the debt limit. “This is the difficulty. Some of these members, they don’t know what to ask for,” McCarthy said, adding: “We’re going to have to make up our work next week.” (NPR / New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / The Hill)
4/ Cuba reportedly agreed to allow China to build an electronic eavesdropping and intelligence-gathering facility on the island in exchange for billions in foreign aid. The base in Cuba would be roughly 100 miles from Florida and allow Beijing to collect electronic communications throughout the southeastern U.S., home to many military facilities. The National Security Council, meanwhile, said “this report is not accurate,” without providing any details other than the U.S. is “well aware of – and have spoken many times to – the People’s Republic of China’s efforts to invest in infrastructure around the world that may have military purposes, including in this hemisphere.” (Wall Street Journal / Politico / Reuters / CNN / USA Today)
1/ Mark Meadows testified to a federal grand jury as part of special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into Trump. Smith is overseeing two federal investigations of Trump: his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his alleged mishandling of classified documents after leaving office. Trump’s former chief of staff was reportedly asked about both subjects. Earlier this year, a federal judge rejected Trump’s claims of executive privilege and ordered Meadows and other former Trump aides to testify before the grand jury. Smith also subpoenaed Meadows for testimony and documents related to the probe. (New York Times / CNN / New York Times / ABC News)
2/ Steve Bannon was subpoenaed for documents and testimony by a federal grand jury in Washington as part of the investigation into Trump’s efforts to stay in office. The subpoena was sent in late May. Bannon was previously charged with contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a subpoena for documents and testimony issued by the Jan. 6 committee. He was convicted of two charges in July 2022 and the Justice Department recommended he be sentenced to six months in jail and fined $200,000. Separately, Trump’s former White House communication direction voluntarily met with federal prosecutors. Alyssa Farah Griffin provided information about Trump leading up to the Jan. 6 attack, including his state of mind and what he knew about his baseless claims of election fraud. (NBC News / CNN)
3/ A former Trump aide testified to a federal grand jury in Miami about Trump’s handling of classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago. Taylor Budowich was Trump’s spokesman at the time when the National Archives retrieved 15 boxes of documents from Mar-a-Lago, which should have been turned over to the agency when he left the White House. After handing over the 15 boxes, which contained highly sensitive documents, Trump’s aides drafted a statement asserting that all the presidential material had been returned, which was false (see: the 27 additional boxes of documents the FBI retrieved during the court-authorized search of Mar-a-Lago). Prosecutors have the draft statement. Budowich now runs Make America Great Again Inc., the super-PAC supporting Trump’s 2024 bid for reelection. Separately, about two dozen Secret Service agents assigned to Trump’s security detail at Mar-a-Lago were subpoenaed or have already appeared before a federal grand jury in Washington related Trump’s handling of classified documents. (New York Times / Bloomberg / NBC News / CNN / Associated Press)
4/ Pence argued that Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election should disqualify him from running for president. “Anyone who puts themselves over the Constitution should never be president of the United States,” Pence said, adding that “Jan. 6 was a tragic day in the life of our nation” and “Trump’s reckless words endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol.” No other major Republican candidate for president has mentioned Jan. 6 in an announcement speech. Pence, who is the first vice president in modern times to challenge his old running mate for the party’s nomination, concluded: “And anyone who asks someone else to put them over the Constitution should never be president again.” (The Hill / New York Times)
5/ Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas did not file his annual financial disclosure by the deadline. Instead, he asked for an extension following reporting and criticism about his decision to not disclose luxury vacations, estate sales, and gifts paid for by a Republican megadonor in previous years. Thomas received a 90-day extension to submit his required disclosure. Justice Samuel Alito also requested an extension. (Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Bloomberg / CNBC / CNN)
1/ The Human Rights Campaign issued a state of emergency for LGBTQ+ people living in the U.S. The declaration – a first in the organization’s more than 40-year history – comes after state legislatures have passed more than 75 anti-LGBTQ bills this year, more than double last year’s number, which was previously the worst year on record. “The multiplying threats facing millions in our community are not just perceived — they are real, tangible and dangerous,” the president of the Human Rights Campaign said in a statement. The organization also released a guidebook summarizing state-by-state anti-LGBTQ laws, as well as a “know your rights” guide for LGBTQ+ travelers and those living in hostile states. (NBC News / Axios / CNN / USA Today / ABC News)
2/ A federal judge temporarily blocked portions of a new Florida law that prohibits gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth. “The elephant in the room should be noted at the outset. Gender identity is real. The record makes this clear,” Judge Robert Hinkle said, adding: “Florida has adopted a statute and rules that prohibit these treatments even when medically appropriate.” In May, Ron DeSantis signed off on a first-of-its-kind rule making it illegal for health care professionals to provide gender-affirming care – including puberty blockers, hormone replacement therapy and surgeries – to transgender minors. Several other states, including Texas, have also recently enacted bans on gender-affirming care. (Axios / Politico / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press)
3/ A Texas sheriff recommended criminal charges for the flights that Ron DeSantis arranged to deport 49 asylum seekers from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard last year. The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office filed several counts of unlawful restraint, both misdemeanors and felonies, with the local district attorney, but didn’t name any individual suspects. “At this time, the case is being reviewed by the DA’s office. Once an update is available, it will be provided to the public,” Bexar County Sheriff’s Deputy Johnny Garcia said. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, meanwhile, threatened DeSantis with kidnapping charges after Florida flew three dozen migrants from Texas to Sacramento. Newsom’s administration is investigating who paid for the plane trips, if migrants were misled, and if any laws, including kidnapping, were violated. (Axios / The Guardian / Texas Tribune)
4/ A state school board in Oklahoma approved the nation’s first publicly funded religious school despite the state’s attorney general warning that the decision was unconstitutional. “The approval of any publicly funded religious school is contrary to Oklahoma law and not in the best interest of taxpayers,” Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said. “It’s extremely disappointing that board members violated their oath in order to fund religious schools with our tax dollars. In doing so, these members have exposed themselves and the state to potential legal action that could be costly.” The online public charter school – the St. Isidore of Seville Virtual Charter School – will be open to students across the state in kindergarten through grade 12. (Associated Press / USA Today / Politico)
5/ Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office recently issued federal grand jury subpoenas to multiple witnesses associated with the classified documents investigation involving Trump. The subpoenas were sent from southern Florida. For more than a year, the Justice Department’s investigation has been presenting evidence and witness testimony to a separate grand jury in Washington, which has focused on the possible mishandling of national security information and obstruction. It’s not clear what the Florida activity means for the direction of Smith’s work. One witness already testified before the grand jury in Florida, with at least one additional witness expected to appear. (Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Bloomberg / NBC News / CNN)
1/ Trump’s attorneys met with the Justice Department to argue why the government should not charge him in connection with his handling of classified documents after leaving office. A defense attorney meeting with Justice Department officials is often used when a charging decision is imminent. Trump’s team was seen leaving the Justice Department after 90-minutes. The meeting, however, did not include Attorney General Merrick Garland or Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco. The federal grand jury that has been hearing evidence in the investigation, meanwhile, is expected to meet again this week. If special counsel Jack Smith decides to charge Trump, it would be the first time a former president has been charged with a federal crime. After the meeting ended, Trump posted an all-caps message to his personal social media platform: “How can DOJ possibly charge me, who did nothing wrong, when no other presidents were charged.” (CBS News / Washington Post / NBC News / Bloomberg / CNN / CNBC / Wall Street Journal / ABC News / New York Times / Associated Press)
2/ Trump’s attorneys haven’t been able to find the classified document about a potential attack on Iran that Trump said he had kept after leaving the White House. Trump acknowledged that he held onto the classified Pentagon document during a recorded book interview in 2021. Federal prosecutors issued a subpoena seeking the return of “any and all” records that resembled the document Trump mentioned, but Trump’s legal team informed the Justice Department that they were unable to find the document. It is unclear if the Iran document was already returned to the National Archives or recovered in the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago. (CNN / New York Times)
The Justice Department ended its investigation into Pence’s handling of classified documents and will not bring any charges. In January, about a dozen documents marked classified were found in Pence’s home. (CNN)
3/ Pence filed paperwork declaring his campaign for president in 2024. He joins seven other Republicans who have formally announced campaigns for the GOP nomination, including Trump, Ron DeSantis, and Nikki Haley. Chris Christie and Doug Burgum are also expected to launch presidential campaigns this week. (Washington Post / New York Times / Associated Press / Politico)
4/ A federal judge ruled that first-of-its-kind Tennessee law that banned drag shows in public or where children could watch them is unconstitutional and can’t be enforced. U.S. District Judge Thomas Parker, who was appointed by Trump, wrote that the law is “unconstitutionally vague and substantially overbroad,” encouraged “discriminatory enforcement,” and was passed “for the impermissible purpose of chilling constitutionally-protected speech.” The measure aimed to criminalize what it called “adult cabaret entertainment” by charging first-time offenders with misdemeanors and repeat offenders with felony charges. Further, people convicted of multiple offenses could face prison sentences of up to six years. Nationwide, at least 26 bills have been introduced this year aiming to limit drag performances. 🏳️🌈 (Associated Press / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Politico)
5/ Florida reportedly flew three dozen migrants from Texas to Sacramento. A flight carrying roughly 20 migrants arrived in Sacramento on Monday, which follows a group of about 16 migrants who were flown to California’s capital and dropped off in front of a Catholic church on Friday. In both cases, the migrants were approached in Texas, taken to New Mexico, and then flown to Sacramento on chartered planes. California Attorney General Rob Bonta blamed Ron DeSantis for the “political stunt,” adding he is “prepared to bring civil and criminal action if the facts and the law support it.” Florida officials have not issued a denial. (Associated Press / San Francisco Chronicle / Politico / NBC News / San Francisco Chronicle)
1/ A group of Republicans threatened to delay plans to fast-track the House-passed bill to suspend the debt ceiling and limit federal spending before Monday’s default deadline. Lindsey Graham said he’d keep the Senate tied up “until Tuesday” unless he received assurances that there would be a supplemental funding bill to spend more money on the military than the debt limit deal allowed. Under the bill, defense spending would be capped at $886 billion next year – a 3% increase – which Susan Collins called “woefully inadequate.” Biden needs to sign the debt ceiling bill into law by Monday to avoid a default. “Time is a luxury the Senate does not have if we want to prevent default,” Chuck Schumer said. “June 5 is less than four days away. At this point, any needless delay or any last-minute holdups would be an unnecessary and even dangerous risk.” (CNBC / Washington Post / New York Times / Associated Press / NBC News / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
2/ The Senate passed a Republican effort to overturn Biden’s plan to cancel up to $20,000 in federal student loans for 43 million borrowers. Biden has promised to veto the measure. The legislation would also repeal the freeze on student loan repayment and limit the Education Department’s ability to cancel student loans in the future. It passed in a 52-46 vote, with two Democrats and one independent senator joining with Republicans. (Associated Press / CNBC / Politico / USA Today / NBC News)
💡 Why should I care? Imagine you and your friends want to play at the arcade, but some of them don’t have enough allowance left because they owe money. Or maybe some of your friends live in neighborhoods where they don’t get as much allowance or have to use it for other things, and so they don’t get to play at the arcade as often. If their parents cancel this debt, they would have more money to spend at the arcade, which means more fun for everyone and more business for the arcade. This is similar to how student loan forgiveness can help people from different backgrounds have the same chances to learn and succeed. Student loan forgiveness isn’t just about money; it’s about fairness and giving everyone an equal shot at success.
3/ The largest property insurer in California will stop selling coverage to homeowners because of the state’s “rapidly growing catastrophe exposure.” State Farm, which insures more homeowners in California than any other company, cited wildfire risk, rising construction costs, and challenges with reinsurance (which is when insurance companies buy their own insurance coverage). Disasters linked to climate change have caused $33 billion in damages since 2017 in the state. (New York Times / E&E News / Politico / Grist / Curbed)
4/ Humans have pushed Earth past seven of the eight safety limits related to planetary health and human well-being. A study by the Earth Commission found that only air pollution wasn’t already in “the danger zone,” revealing that significant damage to the planet is already occurring even before breaching the globally agreed 1.5 degree Celsius warming threshold. This study also introduced the concept of “justice” when quantifying what’s safe for the planet and people by incorporating factors such as human well-being, air pollution, overuse of fertilizers, groundwater supplies, the health of fresh surface water, and the overall natural and human-built environment. The study concludes that humans are taking “colossal risks with the future of civilization and everything that lives on Earth.” (Associated Press / The Guardian)
💡 Why should I care? Climate change directly impacts our lives and the future of our planet. It affects the well-being of communities, threatens biodiversity, and jeopardizes our economic stability. By addressing climate change, we can protect vulnerable populations, preserve the natural world, create a sustainable economy, and ensure a safe and livable future for ourselves and generations to come.
5/ Two Alabama congressional representatives want to block funding for U.S. Space Command’s temporary headquarters in Colorado. The two lawmakers submitted a draft House bill seeking to block the Biden administration from spending money on SPACECOM until “an official decision” is made on the location of its permanent headquarters, which the Trump administration said would be in Huntsville, Alabama. The Biden administration, however, has considered reversing the planned move to Alabama over concerns about the state’s near-total ban on abortion. (NBC News / The Hill / AL.com)
poll/ 84% of Americans who don’t identify as LGBTQ support equal rights for the LGBTQ community. 70% of non-LGBTQ Americans agree that companies should publicly support the LGBTQ community through hiring practices, advertising, and sponsorships. (GLAAD)
1/ The bipartisan deal to suspend the debt ceiling and limit federal spending cleared a major procedural hurdle in the House. The House voted 241-187 to formally consider the debt ceiling bill. While setting the rules for debate is nearly always decided along party lines, Kevin McCarthy needed 52 votes from Democrats to offset 29 Republican “no” votes. A final vote on the debt ceiling is expected later Wednesday – days ahead of the June 5 default deadline. If approved, it would then move to the Senate, where conservatives could force days of debate. “I cannot stress enough that we have no margin – no margin – for error,” Chuck Schumer warned. “Either we proceed quickly and send this bipartisan agreement to the president’s desk or the federal government will default for the first time ever.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNBC / CNN)
💡 What are the consequences of default? A U.S. default would likely cause severe disruption to financial markets worldwide – including declines in the value of your retirement savings and other investments. A default could also result in a recession, which may lead to job losses, hiring freezes, and increased borrowing costs for the U.S. government. Higher interest payments on government debt potentially leads to increased budget deficits, which impact government spending.
2/ Federal prosecutors obtained an audio recording of Trump acknowledging that he held onto a classified document after leaving the White House. On the July 2021 recording, Trump indicates that he wanted to share the classified document about a potential attack on Iran but the attendees didn’t have sufficient security clearances. The meeting was with two people working on the autobiography of Mark Meadows. The recording suggests that Trump understood he retained classified material, contrary to his repeated claims that he could retain presidential records and “automatically” declassify documents. Special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation has focused on the meeting as part of the criminal investigation into Trump’s handling of classified documents after leaving the White House. (CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / Politico)
💡 Why should I care? Government documents are classified to protect national security. Document classification ensures that sensitive information, like intelligence sources, defense strategies, diplomatic relations, and details about ongoing operations are safeguarded from unauthorized access or disclosure.
An employee at Mar-a-Lago was questioned by investigators about moving boxes of documents following a government request for surveillance footage. A Mar-a-Lago employee who was captured on video assisting a Trump aide in moving boxes on June 2, the day before classified material was collected in response to a subpoena, has been repeatedly questioned by investigators. In mid-July, authorities also scrutinized the employee’s involvement in a separate subpoena seeking security camera footage, as he allegedly had a conversation with an IT worker regarding camera functionality and data retention. The employee claimed innocence, stating that the conversation was unrelated to hiding information from authorities and that they were unaware of the investigation or subpoena at the time. (Washington Post)
3/ Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo signed legislation that protects access to abortion for out-of-state patients. The legislation codifies an existing executive order from the former governor, which banned Nevada officials and agencies from assisting with out-of-state investigations that could lead to the prosecution of people who travel to Nevada seeking abortion care. The bill also ensures that in-state medical boards, commissions, and licensing committees cannot discipline or disqualify physicians who provide abortion care. (Associated Press / NBC News / The Hill)
4/ The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that two state laws banning abortion are unconstitutional because they require a “medical emergency” before a doctor can perform an abortion. The court said the laws violated the Oklahoma Constitution, which provides an inherent right for a woman to terminate a pregnancy to save her own life. The ruling, however, will not restore full abortion access in the state because Oklahoma’s 1910 ban on abortion remains in effect, which made intentionally performing an abortion a felony unless “necessary to preserve her life.” (The Oklahoman / Politico / KOSU / The Hill)
5/ The woman who accused Biden of sexual assault during the 2020 presidential race defected to Russia. Tara Reade appeared at an event hosted by the Russian state news outlet Sputnik and said she will apply for Russian citizenship. “I feel really happy to be here, and I feel safe,” Reade said from Russia. Biden has strongly denied the allegation that he sexually assaulting Reade while she was working in his Senate office in 1993, saying the alleged assault “unequivocally, it never, never happened. It didn’t. It never happened.” Members of his Senate staff at the time said Reade never went to them with her claim of harassment. The event also featured convicted Russian agent Maria Butina, who promised to ask Putin “to fast track her citizenship request.” The White House declined to directly comment, saying: “I won’t attempt to speak for an aspiring Russian citizen, the convicted Russian spy who’s sponsoring her, or the foreign government with which she has chosen to align.” (CNN / NPR / CBS News / The Guardian / Insider)
1/ Biden and Kevin McCarthy reached an agreement in principle to lift the debt limit and prevent a default on the federal debt. The plan suspends the borrowing limit for two years, caps federal discretionary spending increases at 1%, while defense spending increases would be limited to about 3.5%, as proposed in Biden’s budget. The legislation also includes new work requirements for select social safety net programs, claws back unspent Covid-19 relief funds, reduces IRS funding, reallocates funds from the Inflation Reduction Act, and streamlines the process of issuing federal permits for energy projects. As part of a debt ceiling agreement, the freeze on federal student loan repayments will end at the end of the summer, which is when the Education Department had been preparing to restart payments. To avert a default, the Fiscal Responsibility Act needs be approved by both the House and the Senate and then signed by Biden before the Treasury Department’s June 5 deadline. A vote in the House is expected as soon as Wednesday night. (New York Times / NBC News / Politico / Bloomberg / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
💡 Why should I care? The U.S. debt ceiling plays a critical role in maintaining global financial stability. Failing to raise or suspend the debt limit risks a default on U.S. debts, causing a loss of confidence in the U.S. dollar and higher borrowing costs, as well as disruptions to financial markets. The broader impact would be an economic downturn. Hitting the debt ceiling would also disrupt government operations and services, potentially leading to delayed payments to beneficiaries of programs like Social Security, Medicare, and veterans’ benefits.
2/ At least 20 conservative Republicans rejected the debt ceiling deal, with some members of the House Freedom Caucus threatening to force a vote to remove Kevin McCarthy as speaker if the bill is passed. Dan Bishop said McCarthy “capitulated” to Democrats and suggested that he plans to trigger the formal process to remove the speaker. “I’m fed up with the lies. I’m fed up with the lack of courage, the cowardice,” Bishop said, adding: “Nobody could have done a worse job.” Under new rules this year, a single Republican can bring a no-confidence vote to the floor to remove the speaker. Chip Roy, another member of the House Freedom Caucus, added: “Not one Republican should vote for this bill. We will continue to fight it today, tomorrow, and no matter what happens, there’s going to be a reckoning about what just occurred unless we stop this bill by tomorrow.” Several prominent conservative groups, meanwhile, publicly threatened to downgrade any Republican lawmaker who supports the bill. (NBC News / New York Times / Politico / Bloomberg / CNBC / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
3/ The Texas House voted to impeach Attorney General Ken Paxton over allegations of bribery and abuse of office. A Republican-led House General Investigating Committee filed 20 articles of impeachment against Paxton last week, citing a “long-standing pattern of abuse of office and public trust,” including alleged bribery and obstruction of justice. The investigation began after Paxton requested that the Legislature pay the $3.3 million settlement from a whistleblower lawsuit against him. The Senate impeachment trial to determine whether Paxton should be permanently removed from office will start no later than Aug. 28. Ted Cruz called Paxton’s impeachment a “travesty.” (Texas Tribune / New York Times / Axios / Washington Post / NBC News / Dallas Morning News)
4/ Trump’s aides directed his lawyer to not search Trump’s Mar-a-Lago office for classified documents, despite a subpoena ordering Trump to return all documents still in his possession that were marked as classified. After Evan Corcoran completed his search of the Mar-a-Lago storage room and found 38 classified documents, he asked if he should search anywhere else. Several Trump aides, however, waved him off, assuring him that no documents would be found in Trump’s office. Corcoran then handed over the documents to the Justice Department and drafted an affidavit saying all the classified documents were turned over to the “best of my knowledge.” Corcoran had a fellow attorney, Christina Bobb, certify the letter, which attested to a “diligent search.” The FBI later recovered more than 100 classified documents at Mar-a-Lago – including some from Trump’s office. In total, more than 300 classified documents were retrieved from Mar-a-Lago. (The Guardian)
poll/ 63% of Republican voters say Trump is their strongest candidate to beat Biden in 2024, while 32% say another Republican candidate would be a stronger candidate. (Monmouth University Poll)
1/ The leader of the far-right Oath Keepers militia was sentenced to 18 years in prison for orchestrating a seditious conspiracy on Jan. 6 to keep Trump in power after he lost the 2020 election – the longest sentence imposed on a Jan. 6 defendant to date. A jury convicted Stewart Rhodes last November of seditious conspiracy for plotting to forcefully disrupt the transfer of power after the 2020 election. “You, sir, present an ongoing threat and a peril to this country, to the republic and to the very fabric of our democracy,” Judge Amit Mehta told Rhodes, adding: “For years, its clear that you have wanted the democracy in this country to devolve into violence and you have thought that violence is an acceptable means of accomplishing your ends.” Americans will “now hold our collective breaths every time an election is approaching,” Mehta concluded. A second Oath Keepers member convicted of seditious conspiracy, Kelly Meggs, was sentenced to 12 years in prison. (Associated Press / NPR / NBC News / Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / CNN)
2/ The Supreme Court limited the EPA’s authority to protect wetlands and waterways under the Clean Water Act – the second time in a year that the court has limited the EPA’s ability to combat pollution and climate change. At issue was what counts as “waters of the United States” under the landmark 51-year-old Clean Water Act and how far upstream federal water protections should extend to protect downstream water quality for drinking and wildlife. The ruling will prevent the EPA from putting federal protections on as much as 118 million acres of wetlands. Biden criticized the decision, saying the ruling “defies the science that confirms the critical role of wetlands in safeguarding our nation’s streams, rivers and lakes from chemicals and pollutants” and “upends the legal framework that has protected America’s waters for decades.” (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Politico / NPR / NBC News / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
3/ Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s Twitter livestream announcing his presidential campaign was marred by technical issues. Minutes into the audio-only Twitter Spaces forum between Elon Musk and DeSantis, the event’s audio repeatedly cut out and users were being kicked out — including DeSantis. “Are we on?” someone asked at one point. After nearly 20 minutes of crashing, echoing, and confusion, the livestream abruptly ended. Eventually, Musk launched a new Twitter Spaces, delaying DeSantis’ presidential announcement by nearly half an hour. Biden’s Twitter account, meanwhile, mocked the DeSantis disaster, tweeting: “This link works,” inviting followers to donate. (CNN / Washington Post / New York Times / NPR / Associated Press / Politico / Wall Street Journal)
poll/ 53% Republican primary voters prefer Trump for the party’s presidential nomination; 26% prefer DeSantis. (CNN)
poll/ 60% of Democratic voters said they favor Biden for the party’s presidential nomination. 20% prefer activist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and 8% back author Marianne Williamson. Another 8% say they would support an unnamed “someone else.”(CNN)
1/ Target pulled some LGBTQ-themed merchandise following “threats impacting our team members’ sense of safety and wellbeing while at work.” Target said conservative activists have knocked down Pride displays, approached workers, and posted threatening videos on social media from inside stores over its “tuck friendly” women’s swimsuits that allow trans women who have not had gender-affirming operations to conceal their genitalia. The so-called customers have falsely claimed that Target is selling the “tuck-friendly” swimsuits to kids – the swimsuits, however, are only offered in adult sizes. The move to remove “items that have been at the center of the most significant confrontational behavior” comes one week before Pride Month kicks off on June 1. (Associated Press / Politico / Washington Post / NBC News / ABC News)
2/ The South Carolina Senate passed a ban on abortion after six weeks of pregnancy. The legislation, which bans most abortions after early cardiac activity can be detected in a fetus or embryo, heads to Republican Gov. Henry McMaster, who has said he will sign it. A physician who knowingly violates the law would have their license revoked and could face felony charges, fines, and jail time. At least 25 states have restricted abortion access since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. (CNN / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
3/ A Florida elementary school restricted access to the poem recited at Biden’s 2020 presidential inauguration after a parent complaint and school review. Amanda Gorman – the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history – said she was “gutted” that her poem, “The Hill We Climb,” was moved to the library’s middle school section, which is for grades six through eight. A review committee at a Miami-Dade K-8 public school, however, determined that the poem and three other titles – “The ABCs of Black History,” “Cuban Kids,” and “Love to Langston” – were “better suited” for middle school students after one parent complained that the titles included inappropriate topics and were meant to “cause confusion and indoctrinate students.” Gorman said “The Hill We Climb” was inspired by the Jan. 6 insurrection “so that all young people could see themselves in a historical moment.” Miami-Dade County Public Schools is the nation’s fourth-largest school district by enrollment. (USA Today / The Hill / CNN / Miami Herald / New York Times / ABC News)
4/ House Republicans will vote on a measure to block Biden’s student loan forgiveness program, which would cancel up to $20,000 in federal student debt for millions of low- and middle-income borrowers. The resolution would also end a pandemic-era pause on loan payments. Biden has pledged to veto the resolution if it passes in both the House and Senate, saying it would “weaken America’s middle class” because the cost of higher education has become a “lifelong burden” on low- and middle-income Americans. The student debt relief program is currently on hold because of two challenges that are being considered by the Supreme Court, which is expected to issue its ruling in late June or early July. (CNN / NBC News / USA Today)
5/ Kevin McCarthy suggested that negotiations over raising the debt limit were progressing but the two sides still remained “far apart.” At the same time, McCarthy renewed his demand for Biden and the Democrats to accept spending cuts in exchange for raising the debt limit, claiming “it’s not my fault” that an unprecedented federal default is only eight days away. The White House called the standoff a “manufactured crisis” by Republicans pushing “extreme proposals” that would hurt “every single part of the country, whether you’re in a red state or a blue state.” Democrats, so far, have reportedly agreed to freeze spending at current levels, but Republicans have insisted on roughly $131 billion in spending cuts, while seeking an increase in military spending. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned the U.S. could run out of money to pay its bills as soon as June 1. House Democrats, meanwhile, have all 213 members signed onto a discharge petition to bypass McCarthy and force a vote to raise the debt ceiling. Democrats still need at least five Republicans. So far, no Republicans have agreed to support it. (CNBC / Bloomberg / Politico / New York Times / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal)
poll/ 51% of Americans want Congress to raise the debt ceiling and deal with spending cuts separately — a so-called “clean” increase. 25% say raising the debt ceiling should be tied to spending cuts demanded by House Republicans. (Monmouth University Poll / Bloomberg)
1/ The Texas billionaire and Republican megadonor with close ties to Clarence Thomas refused to answer questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee about his gifts to the Supreme Court justice. Harlan Crow told chairman Dick Durbin that the Senate Judiciary Committee did not have “the authority to investigate Mr. Crow’s personal friendship with Justice Clarence Thomas.” In response, Durbin said Crow “did not provide a credible justification” for refusing to cooperate, saying “Harlan Crow believes the secrecy of his lavish gifts to Justice Thomas is more important than the reputation of the highest court of law in this land.” Recent reporting revealed that Thomas received lavish gifts and luxury travel from Crow, plus favorable real estate transactions and gifts that Thomas never included in his annual financial disclosures. (CNN / Bloomberg / NBC News / Politico / Washington Post)
2/ E. Jean Carroll is seeking “very substantial” monetary damages of no less than $10 million from Trump in response to his insults made about her at a CNN town hall. A day after Carroll won her $5 million sexual abuse and defamation case against him, Trump appeared on CNN and “falsely stated that he did not sexually abuse Carroll, that he has no idea who Carroll was, and that Carroll’s now-proven accusation was a ‘fake’ and ‘made up story’ created by a ‘whack job.’” The amended lawsuit said Trump “doubled down” on his derogatory remarks about Carroll, “undeterred by the jury’s verdict, persisted in maliciously defaming Carroll yet again” at the CNN event. “It is hard to imagine defamatory conduct that could possibly be more motivated by hatred, ill will, or spite,” Carroll’s lawyers said. (New York Times / CNN / CNBC / Associated Press)
3/ Trump’s criminal trial on charges of falsifying business records related to a hush money payoff to Stormy Daniels is set to begin less than eight months before the 2024 presidential election. Trump’s New York trial starts March 25 – during the Republican primary schedule – and makes him the first American president, former or otherwise, to face criminal charges. Judge Juan Merchan warned Trump that he could be found in contempt if he shared evidence provided to his lawyers in the criminal case. Following the hearing, Trump complained about the protective order and the trial date on his personal social network, saying “I believe my First Amendment Rights, ‘Freedom of Speech,’ have been violated, and they forced upon us a trial date […] right in the middle of Primary season. Very unfair, but this is exactly what the Radical Left Democrats wanted. It’s called ELECTION INTERFERENCE.” Trump was indicted in March by a grand jury, which accused him of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / ABC News / CNN / CNBC)
4/ Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will announce his 2024 presidential campaign in a Twitter Spaces livestream with Elon Musk on Wednesday. The event will be moderated by David Sacks, a Republican donor who is openly supportive of DeSantis and is considered to be part of Musk’s inner circle on decisions about Twitter. Last year, Musk said he would support the governor if he were to run for president, though Musk said at an event Tuesday that he was not formally throwing his support behind DeSantis, or any other Republican. A Trump advisor, meanwhile, said “Announcing on Twitter is perfect for Ron DeSantis. This way he doesn’t have to interact with people and the media can’t ask him any questions.” Since acquiring Twitter, Musk has drawn criticism for his promise to return “free speech” to the social media site, including reducing content moderation and reinstating banned accounts — including Trump’s. Tucker Carlson, who remains one of the most popular figures in conservative media even after being fired by Fox News, recently announced that he would relaunch his program on Twitter. (NBC News / Politico / New York Times / Bloomberg)
poll/ 62% of Americans say they believe Biden’s mental fitness is a real concern, while 36% say it is not. 51% said Trump’s mental fitness was a real concern. 43% said it was not. (NPR)
1/ California, Arizona, and Nevada agreed to reduce their water use from the Colorado River to help keep Lake Mead and Lake Powell from falling to critically low levels. Under the agreement, the states will voluntarily conserve 3 million acre-feet of water until 2026 – about 13% of those states’ total allocation from the river – in exchange for $1.2 billion in federal funding. The deal comes as the water levels in the Colorado River, Lake Mead, and Lake Powell have declined to their lowest levels on record during the 23 year megadrought. The Colorado River supplies water to more than 40 million people, 30 tribal nations, and roughly 5.5 million acres of farmland across seven states. The electricity generated by dams at Lake Mead and Lake Powell also provide power to millions of homes and businesses across eight states. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / Los Angeles Times / NPR / ABC News / CNBC / Wall Street Journal)
2/ The World Meteorological Organization reported that weather- and climate-related disasters have killed more than 2 million people and caused economic damage of $4.3 trillion over the last half-century. 90% of the those 2 million deaths occurred in developing countries. The WMO tallied nearly 12,000 extreme weather, climate, and water-related events during that time. (NBC News / Axios)
3/ A third of the global population will live in dangerously hot conditions by 2080 if average global temperatures remain on track to rise 2.7C in the last two decades of the century, according to researchers from Exeter University’s Global Systems Institute. Under the current projections, India, Nigeria, and Indonesia would suffer the worst impact, with 600 million, 300 million and 100 million people respectively living in dangerously hot areas. However, if global warming is limited to 1.5C, it would reduce the number of people affected to 90 million in India, 40 million in Nigeria, and 5 million in Indonesia. (Bloomberg)
4/ The NAACP issued a travel advisory for Florida, warning that Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’s “aggressive attempts to erase Black history and to restrict diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in Florida schools” have turned the state into an “openly hostile” place for people of color and members of the LGBTQ+ community. The travel advisory comes four months after Florida rejected the College Board’s new Advanced Placement course in African American studies and warns travelers that “the governor and the state of Florida have shown that African Americans are not welcome in the state of Florida.” (NPR / Washington Post / New York Times / USA Today / Associated Press / Politico)
5/ The FBI violated their own standards more than 278,000 times when using a warrantless surveillance program to investigate people suspected of participating in the Jan. 6 insurrection, the George Floyd protests, and donors to a congressional candidate whose campaign was a possible “target of foreign influence.” The candidate involved was not elected to Congress. FBI officials, however, say they’ve already fixed the issue by tightening restrictions to the warrantless surveillance program. The improper searches were blamed on a misunderstanding between FBI analysts and Justice Department lawyers about how to properly use the program. Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act expires at the end of this year unless Congress reauthorizes the surveillance tool. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / NBC News / CBS News / Politico)
poll/ 35% of Americans said their financial situation was worse off compared to a year ago – the highest level since 2014. 73% said they were doing okay financially in 2022 – down 5 percentage points from 2021. (Axios)
poll/ 33% of Americans said they approve of Biden’s handling of the economy. (Associated Press)
1/ Kevin McCarthy and Chuck Schumer are planning a vote on a bipartisan deal to lift the federal debt limit ahead of a potential June 1 default deadline. “I see the path that we can come to an agreement,” McCarthy said. “And I think we have a structure now and everybody’s working hard.” Schumer said the Senate would take up the legislation after House passage, alerting senators they need to be prepared to return to the Capitol within 24 hours if the House passes legislation. In order to avoid a historic U.S. default, a deal needs to pass the Republican majority House and the Democratic-controlled Senate by the June 1 deadline. Hakeem Jeffries, meanwhile, warned that any “so-called extreme work requirements” for federal benefits like SNAP or Medicaid “that MAGA Republicans want to try to impose as a ransom note are a non-starter. Period. Full stop.” (Bloomberg / CNBC / Politico / CNN)
2/ The Texas legislature voted to ban gender-affirming care for most minors, sending the bill to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk. If enacted, Texas would become the largest state to ban gender-affirming care for minors, joining at least 17 other states that have passed similar bans. Two years ago, Abbott approved a bill barring transgender girls from playing female sports in public schools. (Washington Post / NPR / CNN / KUT Public Media)
3/ The South Carolina House approved a ban on most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. However, in January the state Supreme Court found a right to abortion in the state Constitution and struck down a similar six-week ban over privacy concerns. If enacted, Virginia would be the only state in the South where women have unrestricted access to abortions. (Associated Press / CNN / New York Times)
4/ The House Ethics Committee will continue with its investigation into George Santos even though the New York Republican is facing a federal indictment. Traditionally, the Ethics Committee has stepped aside when the Justice Department investigates a member of Congress. The committee, however, will continue to investigate Santos for any issues that fall under its jurisdiction, while the Justice Department investigates criminal matters. Federal prosecutors charged Santos with 13 financial crimes, including wire fraud, money laundering, theft of public funds, and lying to the House on financial forms in that case. House Republicans, meanwhile, blocked a Democratic effort to expel Santos from Congress. (Washington Post / NBC News / NPR)
5/ Penguin Random House, authors, parents, and a free speech group sued a Florida school district for removing 10 books related to race and the LGBTQ community. The school district restricted the books saying they violated Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Act – aka the “Don’t Say Gay” Act – after a high school teacher complained. The group, however, argues that “the books being singled out for possible removal are disproportionately books by non-white and/or LGBTQ authors” in violation of the 14th Amendment. The lawsuit also says that the school district violated the First Amendment by “depriving students of access to a wide range of viewpoints, and depriving the authors of the removed and restricted books of the opportunity to engage with readers and disseminate their ideas to their intended audiences.” (NBC News / Axios / Politico / Washington Post)
1/ Biden said he is “confident” the U.S. will avert a default as negotiations over raising the debt limit continue. “It would be catastrophic for the American economy and the American people if we didn’t pay our bills,” Biden said. “I’m confident everyone in the room agreed […] that we’re going to come together because there’s no alternative. We have to do the right thing for the country. We have to move on.” Republicans want to cut federal spending before lifting the debt limit, while Biden and the Democrats insist that raising the debt ceiling is nonnegotiable. Separately, House Democrats have started collecting signatures for a discharge petition that could circumvent House Republican leadership and force a vote to increase the debt limit should negotiations collapse. A discharge petition requires 218 or more members sign on. A group of Senate Democrats, meanwhile, started circulating a letter urging Biden to invoke the 14th Amendment to unilaterally lift the debt ceiling without involving Congress. The draft letter reminds Biden that the 14th Amendment says “the validity of the public debt, authorized by law […] shall not be questioned.” They add that “using this authority would allow the United States to continue to pay its bills on-time, without delay, preventing a global economic catastrophe.” (Associated Press / New York Times / ABC News / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News)
2/ The North Carolina legislature banned most abortions after 12 weeks. The Republican supermajority in both chambers of the state legislature voted to override the veto of Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper. Although the law includes exceptions for rape or incest and a “life-limiting anomaly” in the fetus, it does requires patients to meet in-person with a physician at least 72 hours before the procedure. The new law takes effect July 1. (Washington Post / New York Times / Axios / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
3/ The National Archives will turn over 16 records to special counsel Jack Smith that show Trump and his advisers knew the correct declassification process while he was president. The records were subpoenaed earlier this year and “reflect communications involving close presidential advisers, some of them directed to [Trump] personally, concerning whether, why, and how you should declassify certain classified records.” Trump has repeatedly the claimed that he had a “standing order” to declassify documents he took from the White House, circumventing the standard process. One of Trump’s lawyers in the classified documents investigation, meanwhile, resigned. (CNN / Politico)
4/ About 39% of American households say they struggle to make ends meet – up from 34% a year ago and 27% in 2021. More than 25 million American homes say they used credit cards to meet their spending needs – up from 22.4 million a year earlier. (Bloomberg)
5/ Between 2019 and 2020, the overall mortality rate for young Americans rose by 10.7%. In 2021, the overall mortality increased by an additional 8.3% to the highest level in nearly 15 years. Covid-19 wasn’t the major cause of death for young Americans during that time, but the social disruption caused by the pandemic did exacerbate anxiety and depression. Guns, however, remain the No. 1 cause of death in young people. (Wall Street Journal)
6/ The World Meteorological Organization warned there is a 66% chance that annual average global temperatures will exceed the Paris climate agreement threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels by 2027. Researchers at the U.N. agency also said there is a 98% chance that global temperatures will exceed the 2016 record in the next five years. “This will have far-reaching repercussions for health, food security, water management and the environment,” the secretary general of the meteorological organization said. “We need to be prepared.” (New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
poll/ 18% of Americans say they have confidence in the Supreme Court – an all time low since polling began in 1973. 46% say they have some confidence in the Supreme Court, while 36% say they have hardly any. (Associated Press-NORC)
1/ Biden will cut his trip to Asia short and return to Washington to continue negotiations on lifting the debt ceiling. Biden and the Democrats have argued that a debt ceiling increase should be done without conditions to avoid an economic disaster, while Republicans want to use it as leverage to cut federal spending, ease energy permits, and claw back Covid-19 funds. Kevin McCarthy, meanwhile, said that tighter work requirements for safety net programs like food stamps are his “red line” in negotiations, while Hakeem Jeffries called the idea “a nonstarter.” More than a dozen House Republicans meanwhile urged Chuck Schumer to cancel the Senate’s upcoming recess, saying it’s “irresponsible” for the chamber to be out of session during this “critical time leading up to June 1st.” The Treasury Department estimates that the U.S. could default on the nation’s $31.4 trillion debt as soon as June 1 if Congress doesn’t raise the debt ceiling. (NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNN / Bloomberg)
2/ Rudy Giuliani reportedly discussed selling presidential pardons for $2 million, which he would split with Trump, according to a lawsuit filed by Giuliani’s business development director and public relations consultant from 2019 to 2021. According to the lawsuit, Giuliani also told Noelle Dunphy he was able to break laws because he had “immunity.” The lawsuit, however, did not suggest any pardons were sold. Dunphy also alleged in her suit that after Giuliani hired her for $1 million a year in January 2019 he sexually assaulted and harassed her, refused to pay her wages, and often made “sexist, racist, and antisemitic remarks.” The suit alleges that Giuliani “often demanded that Dunphy work naked, or in short-shorts with an American flag on them that he bought for her,” adding that Giuliani “demanded oral sex while he took phone calls,” including with Trump, and told her he enjoyed it “because it made him feel like Bill Clinton.” Dunphy is seeking $10 million in compensatory and punitive damages. (Associated Press / NBC News / CBS News / Politico)
3/ House Democrats introduced a resolution to expel George Santos, who was recently indicted by the Justice Department on counts of wire fraud, money laundering, theft of public funds, and lying to Congress. While the move is expected to fail, it will force House Republicans to go on the record over Santos. About a dozen House Republicans have called for Santos to resign. (CNN / Axios / USA Today / ABC News)
4/ Biden vetoed a resolution that would have reinstated tariffs on solar panels imported from Chinese companies in Southeast Asia in violation of trade rules. Lawmakers in both parties have expressed concerns about what they call unfair competition from China, arguing that China should be punished for circumventing tariffs by shipping their products through Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. About three-quarters of solar panels imported to the U.S. in 2020 came from Southeast Asia. As a result of the veto, tariffs on solar panels from Southeast Asia will be waived until at least June 2024, providing a “bridge” to ensure that when new U.S. factories are operational, “we have a thriving solar installation industry ready to deploy American-made solar products to homes, businesses and communities across the nation,″ Biden said. A two-thirds majority of lawmakers in both houses would be needed to override Biden’s veto. “Passage of this resolution bets against American innovation,” Biden said. “It would undermine these efforts and create deep uncertainty for American businesses and workers in the solar industry.” (Washington Post / Associated Press / New York Times)
poll/ 16% of Americans said religion is the most important thing in their lives – down from 20% a decade ago. 28% said they “seldom” attend religious services, and 29% of respondents said they “never” attend religious services. A decade ago, those figures were 22% and 21%, respectively. (NPR)
poll/ In a hypothetical match-up, voters prefer Biden to Trump 44% to 38%. In March, Biden led Trump by five percentage points after trailing him by three points in February. (Reuters)
1/ A man armed with a metal baseball bat attacked two staff members in Rep. Gerry Connolly’s district office in Virginia. Xuan Kha Tran Pham entered the office and demanded to see the congressman, saying “Where’s Connolly?” Pham, 49, reportedly grew agitated when he learned Connolly was at a ribbon cutting for a food bank in another part of Fairfax County. He proceeded to attack two staff aides, smash a glass conference room window, and break computers. Pham faces charges of one count of felony aggravated malicious wounding and one count of malicious wounding. It’s not clear what his motivation may have been, but last year Pham filed a $29 million federal lawsuit alleging that the CIA had imprisoned him for decades in a “lower perspective based on physics called the book world” and that he was being “brutally tortured […] from the fourth dimension.” (CNN / NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post / NPR / Politico / Associated Press)
2/ Republican congressman Paul Gosar’s digital director is a neo-Nazi acolyte. Evidence shows Wade Searle pledging his allegiance to Nick Fuentes’ white supremacist “Groyper” movement, as well as posting extremist, anti-Semitic, racist, and anti-vaccine content on far-right websites. Searle’s alleged involvement occurred before and after he started working in Gosar’s office. (Talking Points Memo)
3/ Biden will meet with congressional leaders on the debt ceiling limit Tuesday following “productive” negotiations over the weekend. “I remain optimistic because I’m a congenital optimist,” Biden said despite time running out to strike a deal to avert a government default. Negotiations have centered on federal spending caps, clawing back unspent Covid-19 funds, speeding up the permitting process for energy projects, and stricter work requirements for social safety net programs. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, meanwhile, reiterated that the U.S. could default on its debt by June 1 if Congress doesn’t raise or suspend the debt limit. (CNN / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / CNBC / Bloomberg)
4/ Special counsel John Durham concluded that the FBI should never have launched a full investigation into connections between Trump’s campaign and Russia during the 2016 election, calling the investigation “seriously flawed.” Durham accused investigators of causing “severe reputational harm” to the FBI, saying agents “discounted or willfully ignored material information that did not support the narrative of a collusive relationship between Trump and Russia.” According to the 306-page report, the FBI used “raw, unanalyzed, and uncorroborated intelligence” as the basis for launching the “Crossfire Hurricane” investigation but was more cautious and skeptical of allegations of foreign influence regarding Clinton’s campaign. The FBI opened the Russia investigation after an Australian diplomat reported that Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos had bragged to him about the Russian government possessing dirt on Clinton. Durham was tapped in 2019 by then-Attorney General Bill Barr to examine the origins and conduct of the investigation into whether Trump’s 2016 campaign colluded with Russia. Durham, however, did not bring high-level indictments or uncover evidence of what Trump called “the crime of the century.” Instead, Durham charged three defendants during the four-year investigation. Two were acquitted and the third pleaded guilty to avoid prison time. (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Politico / Axios)
5/ Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis defunded diversity, equity, and inclusion programs at the state’s colleges and universities, calling the programs a “distraction from the core mission.” The legislation restricts how gender and race are taught on campus, and bans general education courses that “distort significant historical events,” teach “identity politics,” or are “based on theories that systemic racism, sexism, oppression, or privilege are inherent in the institutions of the United States and were created to maintain social, political, or economic inequities.” (NBC News / USA Today / CNN / Washington Post / Politico)
1/ The pandemic-era border policy used more than 2.8 million times to quick expel migrants without providing asylum hearings expires tonight. The Trump administration invoked the use of Title 42 as a Covid-19 precaution in March 2020. The Biden administration will revert to processing illegal border crossings as was done before the pandemic under Title 8 of the U.S. Code, which carries strict penalties, including five- and 10-year bans on reentry for those deported. Migrants, however, are being offered new legal pathways to enter the country if they apply online and meet certain conditions. Homeland Security officials predict as many as 13,000 migrants per day will try to cross into the U.S. after Title 42 expires – up from about 6,000 on a typical day. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / ABC News / NBC News / Associated Press)
2/ The EPA proposed new greenhouse gas emissions regulations that would eliminate nearly all carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel-fired power plants by 2040. The proposed rule would require coal- and gas-fired power plants to reduce or capture 90% of their carbon dioxide emissions by 2038 or be forced to retire. If finalized, the proposed regulation would mark the first time the federal government has restricted carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants. (Associated Press / Politico / NPR / NBC News / New York Times)
3/ CNN reported that “it’s hard to see how America was served by the spectacle of lies that aired on CNN” during Trump’s primetime town hall interview. In his first media appearance since being found liable for sexual abuse and defamation, Trump spent roughly 70 minutes maintaining his lie that the 2020 election was “rigged,” refusing to pledge to accept the results of the 2024 election, calling the moderator a “nasty person,” claiming he had the right to take classified documents to Mar-a-Lago, and saying he would pardon a “large portion” of the Jan. 6 rioters. Although Kaitlan Collins attempted to fact-checked his inaccurate claims, the live audience of Republicans and undeclared voters regularly clapped and laughed on behalf of Trump and his false claims. (CNN / Associated Press / Politico / NPR / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / CNBC)
4/ Dianne Feinstein attended her first Judiciary Committee meeting since she was hospitalized with shingles in February. Her absence stalled confirmations of some of Biden’s judicial nominees and lead some to call for her resignation. At 89-years-old, Feinstein is the oldest member of the Senate and has been advised by her doctors to work a “lighter schedule” as she continues to recover. She arrived at the Capitol in a wheelchair. (CNN / NBC News / Washington Post / ABC News)
poll/ In a hypothetical 2024 matchup, 44% of voters said they’d vote for Trump while 38% said they’d vote for Biden. The other 18% are either undecided or declined to answer. (Washington Post)
poll/ If the 2024 election were held today, 45% of voters said they’d vote for Biden while 43% said they’d vote for Trump. (Yahoo News)
1/ George Santos pleaded not guilty to 13 federal criminal charges. Santos, who was released on a $500,000 bond, faces seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, two counts of making false statements to Congress, and one count of defrauding campaign donors to purchase designer clothes, make a car payment, and pay personal credit card bills. Santos also faces a charge that he fraudulently applied for unemployment benefits in 2020 when he was employed and earning an annual salary of $120,000. He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted. (New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / CNN / ABC News / NBC News / Politico / NPR / Axios)
2/ CNN will host Trump for a live, two-hour town hall Wednesday night – one day after a civil jury found him liable for sexual assault, battery, and defamation. As president, Trump regularly attacked the news media, calling the press “the enemy of the people,” while repeatedly insulting journalists and threatening to revoke press passes. [Editor’s note: Why CNN, why?] (NPR)
3/ Inflation eased to the lowest level in two years, but prices remain higher than normal. Consumer prices in April were 4.9% higher than a year ago – down from the 5% inflation rate in March and June 2022’s peak of 9.1%. Last week, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates for the 10th time in 14 months to a range between 5% and 5.25% – the highest level in 16 years – in an effort to slow the economy. (NPR / CNBC / Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Bloomberg)
4/ An FDA advisory panel unanimously endorsed making birth control pills available without a prescription for the first time. The FDA’s outside experts said the benefits of making a birth control pill available without a prescription outweigh the risks. The FDA is expected to make a decision on the proposed use of the oral contraceptive, called Opill, this summer or early fall. (Axios / ABC News / New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News)
5/ Missouri House Republicans banned gender-affirming care for transgender minors and restricted transgender students from participating on school sports teams that align with their gender identity. Gov. Mike Parson is expected to sign both bills, which expire in 2027, after threatening a special legislative session on the issue if lawmakers didn’t act. At least 13 states this year have enacted laws or policies aimed at banning or severely limiting transition care for transgender youth. (Associated Press / New York Times / St. Louis Post-Dispatch / Missouri Independent)
6/ Ron DeSantis and Florida education officials rejected dozens of social studies textbooks and “fixed” dozens of other books to prevent “political indoctrination of children.” Florida initially rejected 81% of the textbooks submitted by publishers in part because they “contained prohibited subjects,” including critical race theory, or contained what the state’s education department considered “inaccurate material, errors and other information that was not aligned with Florida law.” The Florida education commissioner said that textbooks should “focus on historical facts” and be “free from inaccuracies or ideological rhetoric.” The list of rejected or changed materials included books on U.S. history, the Holocaust, psychology, references to the killing of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement, as well as descriptions of socialism and communism. (NPR / Tampa Bay Times / Washington Post / New York Times)
7/ Joe Manchin threatened to vote against all of Biden’s EPA nominees unless the administration rescinds new carbon emission standards for power plants. The EPA’s proposal, expected to be announced Thursday, would require coal and natural gas-fired power plants to drastically reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 2040 by establishing new limits on their emissions. Manchin accused the Biden administration of trying to advance a “radical climate agenda” that’s “designed to kill the fossil industry by a thousand cuts” by “regulat[ing] coal and gas-fueled power plants out of existence.” Electricity production accounts for about 25% of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. Of that, about 79% of those emissions come from coal and natural gas-fired power plants. Said another way: Roughly 20% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions come from burning fossil fuels to generate electricity. (Politico / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Reuters)
1/ A jury unanimously found Trump liable for the sexual abuse, battery, and defamation of E. Jean Carroll, awarding her $5 million in damages. The jury, however, didn’t find Trump liable for rape, as Carroll had alleged. In New York, sexual abuse is defined as subjecting a person to sexual contact without consent while rape is defined as sexual intercourse without consent. Carroll had accused Trump of sexually assaulting her in a Manhattan department store in the 1990s, which Trump denied, calling her a liar. Carroll later sued Trump for battery and defamation. Since it was a civil case – not criminal – Trump has not been convicted of any crime and faces no prison time. Trump called the verdict a “disgrace,” adding: “I have absolutely no idea who this woman is.” It is the first time a former president has been found civilly liable for sexual misconduct. (New York Times / NBC News / Associated Press / CNBC / Bloomberg / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
2/ A judge barred Trump from publicly posting evidence and other material related to the pending criminal hush money case. Judge Juan Merchan also barred Trump from reviewing evidence in the case other than in the presence of his lawyers and “shall not be permitted to copy, photograph, transcribe, or otherwise independently possess the Limited Dissemination Materials.” Prosecutors had argued that the “risk” of Trump using the material “inappropriately is substantial.” (CNBC / NBC News)
3/ The Senate Judiciary Committee asked Republican megadonor Harlan Crow to provide an accounting of the free travel and gifts he gave to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. The committee also asked Crow to provide a list of real estate transactions, transportation, lodging, and more he might have provided. The Senate Finance Committee is seeking similar information from Crow, who declined to answer questions. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden accused Crow of “stonewalling,” saying he would “explore using other tools at the committee’s disposal to obtain this critical information.” (Washington Post / Politico / NBC News / CNN / New York Times / The Hill / Bloomberg)
4/ Biden met with Kevin McCarthy and other congressional leaders for the first time since February to discuss raising the debt ceiling. The Treasury Department has warned that the government will default on its obligations for the first time in history as soon as June 1 unless Congress raises the borrowing limit. McCarthy said he “didn’t see any new movement” after the meeting, while Mitch McConnell blamed the White House for rejecting the Republican’s proposal to cut spending in exchange for lifting the debt limit. Democrats and the White House have maintained that they want the debt limit and spending deals to be handled separately. There are seven days when the House and Senate are in session and Biden is in town between now and the June 1 default deadline. (Washington Post / NPR / NBC News / New York Times / Bloomberg)
poll/ Between 34% and 38% of Americans say they have a “great deal” or “fair amount” of confidence in Biden, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, and Congress to do the right thing for the economy. (Gallup)
poll/ 66% of adults say the abortion drug mifepristone should remain on the market, while 24% say it should be taken off the market. (Washington Post)
1/ Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned that the only way for the U.S. to avoid an unprecedented default is for Congress to pass legislation to raise the debt ceiling, saying there are “no good options” and “these negotiations should not take place with a gun […] to the head of the American people.” Yellen urged congressional Republicans to drop their demand that Biden cut spending in exchange for raising the debt limit, saying failure to raise the debt ceiling will cause a “steep economic downturn” and “economic calamity” in the U.S. The U.S. is projected to default on its debt as early as June 1. Some legal experts contend that the White House can ignore Congress and invoke the 14th Amendment, which says “the validity of the public debt, authorized by law […] shall not be questioned,” to keep borrowing money past the limit, and to issue more federal debt to keep the government funded. Yellen, however, said invoking the 14th Amendment to get around the debt ceiling would risk a “constitutional crisis.” Biden and the Democrats, meanwhile, say Congress should simply increase the borrowing limit, which Republicans have refused unless it also cuts future federal spending. Some 43 Senate Republicans, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, say they oppose a “clean” debt limit bill and support the Kevin McCarthy’s “spending cuts and structural budget reform as a starting point for negotiations on the debt ceiling.” Democrats do not have the votes to overcome a Republican filibuster on legislation in the Senate. (Washington Post / ABC News / Politico / NPR / CNBC / Washington Post / New York Times / ABC News)
2/ The gunman who killed eight people and injured seven others in Texas was terminated by the Army three months after he enlisted for an unspecified mental health issue. Mauricio Garcia, who used an AR-15-style rifle in the attack and was shot dead by a police officer, joined the Army in June 2008 but failed to complete his basic training. An Army official said Garcia was “terminated” due to “designated physical or mental conditions,” without offering further details. A social media profile that appears to belong to Garcia, however, was filled with neo-Nazi content, a smiley face with a Hitler mustache, as well as rants against Jews, women and racial minorities. The profile also uploaded pictures outside the Allen Outlet Mall’s H&M entrance – where Garcia would later open fire – on April 16, including a screenshot from Google Maps showing the mall’s busiest hours. Garcia arrived at the mall wearing military-style body armor with a patch that said “RWDS.” The Right Wing Death Squad phrase is popular among white supremacists and far-right extremist groups. In his final post, Garcia wrote that no psychologist would have been able to fix him. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Associated Press / NBC News / Daily Beast / NPR / Politico)
3/ At least eight of the 16 Republican “fake electors” in Georgia have accepted immunity deals in the criminal investigation into Trump efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said the meeting of Trump’s electors on Dec. 14, 2020, Trump’s phone calls to multiple state officials, and his campaign’s involvement in a breach of election equipment are all key targets of her investigation. Willis secured eight cooperation agreements after notifying the 16 fake electors that they were targets in her investigation. (Washington Post / CNN)
4/ A jury will begin deliberations in E. Jean Carroll’s civil battery and defamation trial against Trump, who rejected his last chance to testify. “You must hold him to account for what he’s done,” Carroll’s lawyer said during closing arguments, adding that Trump followed a “playbook” he had for kissing and groping women without their consent before he raped Carroll in a department store dressing room in the mid-1990s. Trump’s lawyer, meanwhile, called Carroll’s case “a scam,” arguing that she “abused the system by bringing a false claim for money, status and political reasons […] minimizing real rape and exploiting real pain and suffering and we cannot let her profit to the tune of millions of dollars.” The jury is expected to begin deliberations Tuesday. (New York Times / Politico / CNBC / CNN / Wall Street Journal / NPR)
5/ The World Health Organization declared Covid-19 the global public health emergency over. The declaration was first issued more than three years ago, on Jan. 30, 2020. “That does not mean Covid-19 is over as a global health threat,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, noting that the official Covid-19 death toll was 7 million, but the real figure was estimated to be at least 20 million. The director of the CDC, meanwhile, resigned, saying the end of the Covid-19 public health emergency was a good time to make a transition. (Associated Press / NBC News)
poll/ 36% of Americans approve of the job Biden is doing as president – down from 42% in February. 47% “strongly” disapprove. (Politico)
poll/ 68% of Americans say Biden is too old for another term as president. 44%, meanwhile, say Trump is too old. Trump is 76; Biden is 80. (ABC News)
poll/ 47% of Democrats want the party to nominate “someone other than Biden.” Among Democratic-leaning voters, 58% want someone nominated other than Biden, while 77% of independents who lean Democrat want a different candidate. (Washington Post)
1/ Four members of the Proud Boys were found guilty of seditious conspiracy for their roles in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and their use of force to stop the certification of the election. A jury deliberated for seven days before finding Enrique Tarrio, Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, and Zachary Rehl guilty on seditious conspiracy and other charges, including three separate conspiracy charges, obstructing the Electoral College vote, and tampering with evidence. The men were convicted of at least one count punishable by up to 20 years in prison. (NPR / Washington Post / Associated Press / New York Times / NBC News / CNN)
2/ The special counsel investigating Trump’s mishandling of classified documents sent new grand jury subpoenas to top Trump employees for information about the handling of Mar-a-Lago surveillance footage. Trump Organization executives Matthew Calamari Sr. and his son Matthew Calamari Jr. are expected to appear today before the grand jury investigating. Calamari Sr. is the executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Trump Organization. He’s overseen security operations for Trump and his properties. Calamari Jr. is the director of security for the Trump Organization. It was previously reported that footage captured a Trump aide and another Mar-a-Lago employee moving boxes containing documents out of a storage closet. (CNN)
3/ A New York Supreme Court judge dismissed Trump’s lawsuit against the New York Times. In 2021, Trump filed a $100 million lawsuit against the New York Times and his niece Mary Trump, claiming the news outlet’s 2018 Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation into his tax records was “an insidious plot to obtain confidential and highly-sensitive records.” New York Supreme Court Justice Robert Reed, however, said Trump’s claims “fail as a matter of constitutional law.” Reed ordered Trump to pay all legal fees associated with the case. (New York Times / Axios)
4/ A Republican megadonor paid for two years of private school tuition for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’s great nephew. Thomas did not disclose the gift from Harlan Crow, who also treated Thomas to lavish vacations for over two decades. Thomas had taken legal custody of the boy at the time and was “raising him as a son,” but never disclosed that Crow was paying the $6,000-per-month bill for Hidden Lake Academy on his annual financial disclosures. (ProPublica / Washington Post / Associated Press / Politico / New York Times / USA Today / CNBC)
5/ Republican lawmakers in the North Carolina House approved legislation that would ban most abortions after 12 weeks, sending it to the state Senate for approval. The Care for Women, Children and Families Act would restrict the state’s ban on abortions from 20 weeks to 12 weeks, and includes exceptions for rape or incest, fatal fetal anomalies, and to protect the life of the mother. Although Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper has vowed to veto the bill, Republicans have a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers. (The Hill / USA Today / Associated Press / CNN)
1/ The Federal Reserve raised interest rates for the 10th time in just over a year but signaled that it could be done lifting rates. The quarter percentage point increase brings its benchmark rate to between 5 and 5.25% – the highest level in 16 years. Although inflation has cooled since last year’s peak of 7% to 4.2% as of March, it’s still more than double the Fed’s target of 2%. Economists at the Fed, meanwhile, are projecting a mild recession later this year. (Wall Street Journal / CNBC / Bloomberg / NPR / Politico / New York Times / Washington Post)
2/ Mexico agreed to accept non-Mexican migrants and asylum-seekers deported by the U.S. when pandemic-era border restrictions end. In a joint statement, Mexico said it will accept up to 30,000 migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela for “humanitarian” reasons once the Title 42 restrictions expire on May 11. Since March 2020, Title 42 was used to expel hundreds of thousands of migrants without giving them a chance to seek asylum. (CBS News / ABC News / Washington Post / Associated Press)
3/ Trump will not call any witnesses to rebut E. Jean Carroll’s account of him raping and defaming her. Attorney Joseph Tacopina said Trump would not testify in the civil case because he was in Scotland to break ground on a new golf course, and the one expert witness he planned to call is unable to testify due to a health issue. The jury instead saw a videotape of Trump’s deposition, which included footage from the “Access Hollywood” tape in which Trump brags about groping and kissing women without their consent. (CNBC / USA Today / New York Times)
4/ New York state banned natural gas and other fossil fuels in most new buildings – the first such law in the country. The new law will take effect in 2026 for buildings seven stories and shorter, and in 2029 for all other buildings. The ban on new natural gas hookups helps the state meet its goals under the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, which calls for cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030 and 85% by 2050. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / CNN / USA Today / The Hill)
5/ Test scores in U.S. history and civics for eighth graders fell to the lowest levels on record. The findings from the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as the Nation’s Report Card, show that about 40% of eighth graders scored “below basic” in U.S. history. 13% met proficiency standards for U.S. history. For civics, 22% of students were considered proficient. Peggy Carr, National Center for Education Statistics commissioner, said the scores were “woefully low in comparison to other subjects,” calling it “a national concern” because “the health of our democracy depends on informed and engaged citizens.” (NPR / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / The Hill)
1/ Biden will send 1,500 active duty troops to the southern border ahead of an expected surge of migrants when Title 42 restrictions end. They will join the 2,500 National Guard members already at the border. The military members, however, will not serve in a law enforcement capacity and will not interact with migrants, but instead “fill critical capability gaps, such as ground-based detection and monitoring, data entry, and warehouse support,” the Pentagon said. The troops will carry out this support for 90 days. Title 42, which was invoked at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, expires on May 11. It permitted the U.S., for public health reasons, to quickly expel migrants seeking asylum. (Politico / NBC News / New York Times / Associated Press / Bloomberg / CNN / ABC News / Wall Street Journal)
2/ House Democrats took a procedural step to bypass Kevin McCarthy and Republican leaders to raise the debt ceiling and avert a federal default. Democrats would need at least five Republicans to support a so-called “discharge petition,” which allows a majority of House lawmakers to bring a bill directly to the floor without the cooperation of leadership. Rather than trying to discharge the bill itself, Democrats instead would add the petition addressing the debt ceiling as an amendment to a placeholder bill from Democratic Rep. Mark DeSaulnier, which was filed in January. A possible default is now projected as soon as June 1. “House Democrats are working to make sure we have all options at our disposal to avoid a default,” Hakeem Jeffries wrote in a letter to colleagues. “The filing of a debt ceiling measure to be brought up on the discharge calendar preserves an important option. It is now time for MAGA Republicans to act in a bipartisan manner to pay America’s bills without extreme conditions.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / CNN / The Hill)
3/ U.S. job openings dropped to their lowest level in nearly two years – a sign that demand for workers is cooling. The number of available jobs fell for a third-straight month to 9.59 million from nearly 10 million a month earlier. Layoffs, meanwhile, jumped to the highest level since December 2020. (Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNBC)
4/ Some Republicans dismissed a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing about the Supreme Court’s ethics as a partisan spectacle. Democrats called the hearing to discuss whether Congress has the authority to require the Supreme Court to adopt an enforceable code of conduct after reports detailed Clarence Thomas’s failure to disclose luxury vacations funded by a wealthy Republican donor. Dick Durbin, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said “The Supreme Court could step up and fix this themselves,” but “for years, they have refused, and because the court will not act, Congress must.” Lindsey Graham, however, claimed Democrats were leading an “unseemly effort” to “destroy the legitimacy” of the Supreme Court, calling it an “assault on Justice Thomas.” Although Chuck Grassley dismissed the hearing as a “relentless political battering,” he did agree that “it does appear there needs to be better oversight” of the high court. Thom Tillis added that the court “could update, refresh and address the concerns without requiring any Congressional action.” Chief Justice John Roberts, however, declined the committee’s invitation to testify. (Politico / NPR / Bloomberg / Associated Press / CNN / ABC News)
1/ Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned that the U.S. could default “as early as June 1” unless Congress raises or suspends the debt ceiling. A default could cause “severe hardship to American families, harm our global leadership position, and raise questions about our ability to defend our national security interests,” Yellen said. The revised estimate from the Congressional Budget Office comes less than a week after House Republicans passed legislation to raise the debt ceiling through 2024 in exchange for billions of dollars in spending cuts and the repeal of federal funds to fight climate change. Democrats in the Senate, however, have refused to take up the legislation. And Biden, who has threatened to veto the bill, said Republicans need to protect the economy by raising the debt limit without the “reckless hostage taking.” (Washington Post / New York Times / Axios / NBC News / CNN)
2/ Regulators took possession of First Republic Bank and sold most of its assets, marking the third major bank failure in the U.S. in less than two months. JPMorgan – already the nation’s largest bank – agreed to the takeover after a private-sector solution fell through and will assume about $173 billion of First Republic’s loans, $30 billion of securities, and $92 billion in deposits. As part of the agreement, the FDIC will share losses with JPMorgan on First Republic’s loans. When the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates last year to slow the economy and curb inflation, it hurt the value of bonds and loans the bank bought when rates were low and then customers began to move their money in search of better returns. First Republic is the second-largest U.S. bank to collapse after Washington Mutual, which failed during the 2008 financial crisis and was also acquired by JPMorgan. Three of the four largest-ever bank failures have happened since March. First Republic Bank, Silicon Valley Bank, and Signature Bank held a total of $532 billion in assets – more than the 25 banks that failed in 2008 when adjusted for inflation. (CNBC / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg / NPR)
3/ The Federal Reserve is on track to raise interest rates for the 10th time as part of its yearlong effort to fight inflation despite the collapse of First Republic Bank. Another quarter-point rate increase on Wednesday would lift the benchmark federal funds rate to a 16-year high to just over 5% and mark the fastest rate-raising cycle in 40 years. (Wall Street Journal / Associated Press)
4/ The Supreme Court will reconsider a 1984 precedent that directs courts to defer to federal agencies when interpreting ambiguous laws. Overturning Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council would limit the regulatory authority of federal agencies. The Biden administration defended the Chevron doctrine, saying “Federal courts have invoked Chevron in thousands of reported decisions, and Congress has repeatedly legislated against its backdrop.” Justice Clarence Thomas, Justice Samuel Alito, Justice Neil Gorsuch, and Justice Brett Kavanaugh, however, have previously questioned the doctrine, arguing that it insulates agencies from the usual checks and balances. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson heard arguments in the case when it was at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and will not take part in the decision. The case will be heard next term, with a ruling likely in 2024. (Washington Post / Associated Press / The Hill / Wall Street Journal / CNN)
5/ The wife of Chief Justice John Roberts made $10.3 million over eight years matching top lawyers with law firms, including some that had cases before the Supreme Court. Jane Sullivan Roberts became a legal recruiter two years after Roberts’ confirmation as the chief justice in 2005. The disclosures were filed under federal whistleblower protection laws and were sent to the House and Senate Judiciary committees. (Insider / Forbes)
poll/ 74% of Americans blame the news media for political divisions in the U.S. 61% of Republicans say the news media is hurting democracy, compared with 23% of Democrats, and 36% of independents. (Associated Press)
1/ Pence testified before the federal grand jury investigating Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. The closed-door appearance comes one day after a federal appeals court rejected Trump’s emergency attempt to prevent or limit Pence’s testimony. A grand jury subpoena was issued by special counsel Jack Smith to compel Pence to testify about conversations he had with Trump leading up to the Jan. 6 insurrection, including the pressure campaign to have him block the certification of the election in his role as president of the Senate. It is the first time that a vice president has been compelled to testify about the president he served. (NBC News / CNN / Politico / New York Times / Washington Post)
2/ Senate Republicans blocked a resolution that would have allowed the Equal Rights Amendment to be added to the Constitution. The bipartisan resolution to remove an arbitrary 1982 deadline for ratification failed 51-47. It needed to clear a 60-vote threshold. The ERA, which prohibits discrimination based on sex, was first introduced in 1923 and later passed by Congress in 1972. Although Virginia became the 38th state to ratify the ERA in 2020 – meeting the required three-fourths needed for Constitutional amendments – it did so after the deadline. Chuck Schumer changed his vote to a “no,” which would allow him to bring the resolution back up later, saying: “This issue is too important, and we are not giving up.” (The Hill / CNN / Politico / ABC News / USA Today / Washington Post)
3/ A Missouri judge temporarily blocked enforcement of a first-of-its-kind rule that limited gender-affirming care for minors and adults in the state – hours before it was set to take effect. St. Louis County Circuit Judge Ellen Ribaudo said she wanted more time to review briefs from Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey, who issued the new restrictions. Ribaudo delayed implementation of the rule until 5 p.m. Monday, saying she expects to issue a ruling before then. Meanwhile, the Republican-controlled Montana House voted to discipline the state’s first transgender lawmaker after she told colleagues they would have “blood on [their] hands” if they passed a bill to ban gender-affirming care for minors. Zooey Zephyr is barred from attending or speaking from the House floor for the remainder of the 2023 session, but will be allowed to vote remotely. In Kansas, Republican legislators enacted a transgender bathroom law, overriding the Democratic governor’s veto of the measure. The Kansas law prevents transgender people from using the restrooms, locker rooms, prisons, domestic violence shelters, and rape crisis centers associated with their gender identity. In Minnesota, Democratic Gov. Tim Walz signed legislation that enshrines the right to abortion and gender-affirming care into law, and another that bans so-called conversion therapy. (CNN / NBC News / CNN / NPR / CBS News / Associated Press)
4/ The U.S. economy slowed at the start of 2023 with U.S. gross domestic product rising at a 1.1% annualized rate – down from a 2.6% rate in the last three months of 2022 and lower than the 1.9% annual growth analysts expected. The report from the Bureau of Economic Analysis showed that growth was weighed down by declining business investment, home buying, and construction. The economy is projected to slow further in 2023 as the Federal Reserve continues to work on getting inflation down to 2% with higher interest rates. (Associated Press / NPR / Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / CNBC / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
5/ Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley suggested that Biden would more likely die than make to the end of a second term. “I think we can all be very clear and say with a matter of fact that if you vote for Joe Biden, you really are counting on a President Harris because the idea that he would make until 86 years old is not something that I think is likely,” Haley said. Biden, already the oldest sitting U.S. president in history at 80 years old, would be 86 at the end of a second term if reelected. Biden announced his reelection bid with Harris two days ago. (CNBC / The Hill / Insider)
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1/ Chief Justice John Roberts declined to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee about the Supreme Court’s ethics practices, calling such testimony “exceedingly rare” for what he called “mundane matters.” Instead, Roberts released a statement that was meant to provide “new clarity” to the public about the court’s ethics principles and practices. The statement said all nines justices “reaffirm and restate foundational ethics principles and practices to which they subscribe in carrying out their responsibilities” as Supreme Court justices. The committee had planned to hold a hearing to examine “common sense proposals” to hold Supreme Court justices to the same ethical standards as the rest of the federal judiciary after it was reported that Justice Clarence Thomas hadn’t disclosed several luxury trips he received from a Republican megadonor. (NPR / CNN / Politico / NBC News)
2/ Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch neglected to disclose details of a nearly $2 million sale of property to the CEO of a prominent law firm executive in 2017. While Gorsuch did note on his federal disclosure forms that he made between $250,001 and $500,000 on the sale – which occurred nine days after he was confirmed for a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court by the Senate – he left the identity of the purchaser blank. The purchaser was Brian Duffy, chief executive officer of Greenberg Traurig – one of the nation’s biggest law firms that has appeared in at least 22 cases before the Supreme Court since Gorsuch joined in April 2017. Gorsuch sided with Greenberg Traurig clients eight times of the 12 times that Gorsuch recorded an opinion. (CNN / Politico)
3/ A bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation that requires the Supreme Court to implement a code of conduct – the only branch of government to operate without a code of conduct. The bill would require the court to establish its own code of conduct within one year and to make it available publicly, as well as appoint someone to handle any complaints of potential violations. “It’s pitiful that we’re having to introduce this bill—it’s pathetic that the Supreme Court hasn’t done this itself,” Sen. Angus King said, one of the bill’s sponsors. “The Supreme Court Code of Conduct Act is a commonsense step to restore and maintain faith in the high court by requiring the creation of consistent, transparent rules like the ones that apply to every other federal judge across our democracy. The other two branches of government already have codes of conduct, it is only reasonable the full Judiciary should as well.” (The Hill / Wall Street Journal / ABC News / CNN / USA Today)
4/ The House passed a Republican bill to cut federal spending and roll back Biden’s top legislative accomplishments in exchange for a one-year increase to the U.S. debt ceiling. The plan, approved 217-to-215 along party lines, cuts federal spending by nearly 14% over a decade, repeals Biden’s climate change tax credits, his student loan cancellation plan, imposes strict new work requirements for welfare recipients, and expands mining and fossil fuel production. The Republicans’ Limit, Save, Grow Act of 2023, however, has no chance of passing the Democratic-controlled Senate. The White House, meanwhile, promised not to budge on negotiations over the debt limit, saying Congress should raise the ceiling without conditions. “I’m happy to meet with McCarthy, but not on whether or not the debt limit gets extended,” Biden said. “That’s not negotiable.” (Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / Politico)
5/ E. Jean Carroll, in her civil lawsuit accusing Trump of battery and defamation, testified that “I’m here because Donald Trump raped me.” In 2019, Carroll alleged that Trump sexually assaulted her in the dressing room at a luxury department store in the mid-1990s. Trump denied the allegation and called Carroll a liar, saying the incident “never happened” and called her case a “hoax,” “scam,” “lie,” and “complete con job.” Carroll subsequently sued Trump for battery over the alleged rape, as well as defamation for his claims that she made up her story. For about three and a half hours today, Carroll detailed the alleged incident on the witness stand. “He lied and shattered my reputation, and I’m here to try and get my life back.” Trump, meanwhile, posted on his personal social media network that the lawsuit was “a made up SCAM” and accused Carroll’s attorney of being a “political operative.” The judge overseeing the trial called the posts “entirely inappropriate” and warned that Trump could be “tampering with a new source of potential liability.” (NBC News / Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / NPR / Bloomberg / Politico)
1/ Biden formally announced his 2024 re-election campaign. Biden, who once pitched himself as “the bridge” to a new generation of Democratic leaders during his 2020 campaign, argued that “the question we are facing is whether in the years ahead we have more freedom or less freedom, more rights or fewer,” adding: “I know what I want the answer to be. This is not a time to be complacent. That’s why I’m running for reelection.” In a three-minute video announcing his re-election, Biden cast Republicans as a danger to democracy who want to cut “Social Security that you’ve paid for your entire life while cutting taxes for the very wealthy. Dictating what health care decisions women can make, banning books, and telling people who they can love. All while making it more difficult for you to be able to vote.” Biden, who would be 86 at the end of a second term, concluded his announcement by saying: “It’s time to finish the job. Finish the job.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / NBC News / ABC News / CNN / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
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[Analysis] Almost every recent poll shows a highly competitive presidential race. (New York Times)
[Analysis] Biden vs. Trump 2024 would be the rematch nobody wants. (NBC News)
[Analysis] What young Democrats want from a 2nd Biden campaign. “Just a quarter of people under 45 said they would definitely support Biden in a general election, compared with 56% of older Democrats.” (Axios)
2/ Biden threatened to veto a House Republican debt ceiling bill that would require spending cuts in order to raise the debt ceiling, calling it “a reckless attempt to extract extreme concessions as a condition for the United States simply paying the bills it has already incurred.” The Republican proposal would make cuts to discretionary spending, repeal the Inflation Reduction Act’s climate change tax credits, impose new welfare work requirements, and cancel Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan. The White House has insisted that Republicans “address the debt limit without demands and conditions, just as the Congress did three times during the prior Administration,” saying Biden “has been clear that he will not accept such attempts at hostage-taking.” Still, if the proposal were to pass the full House, Chuck Schumer has already declared it dead in the Democratic-controlled Senate. The U.S. risks defaulting on its national debt as soon as early summer without an increase to the debt ceiling. (Washington Post / Axios / NPR / CNBC / Politico)
3/ The Senate will vote on the Equal Rights Amendment this week – 100 years after the measure was first introduced. Chuck Schumer said “the Equal Rights Amendment has never been as necessary and urgent as it is today,” citing the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, efforts to limit access to the abortion pill mifepristone, and state-level actions to roll back women’s rights. The proposed amendment to the Constitution would prohibit discrimination based on sex and guarantee that women have equal rights as men. Congress initially passed the ERA in 1972 and sent it to the states with a seven-year deadline for 38 states to ratify it. However, only 35 states had ratified the ERA by 1979 and the deadline was extended until 1982. Virginia eventually became the 38th state to ratify the ERA in 2020, after Nevada (2017) and Illinois (2018). Meaning, the Senate vote is largely symbolic since the deadline for ratification expired in 1982. (NBC News / Washington Post / The Hill / Axios)
4/ Washington State banned the sale of assault-style weapons, becoming the 10th state to prohibit sales of AR-15s and dozens of other high-powered semiautomatic rifles. House Bill 1240 bans the sale, transfer, distribution, manufacture, and importation of 62 different “assault weapons,” imposes a 10-day waiting period on all firearms purchases, and allows consumers to sue gun makers and retailers for “irresponsible conduct.” Several gun groups, however, have sued, saying the law violates the constitutional right to keep and bear arms. (Seattle Times / Associated Press / CNN)
poll/ 70% of Americans believe Biden should not run for re-election. 60% of Americans, however, say Trump should not run for president. (Axios)
poll/ 54% of Democrats “accept” that Biden is running for re-election. 28% say they are “confident,” 27% are “nervous,” and 22% are “excited.” (CBS News)
poll/ 63% of Republicans want Trump to be president again, even if he’s found guilty of a crime. Overall, 71% of Republicans said they think Trump should be president again. (NPR)
1/ Fox News parted ways with Tucker Carlson, effective immediately. Carlson’s departure comes a week after Fox News settled Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit for $787.5 million. Although Fox News said that the network and Carlson had “agreed to part ways,” Carlson found out he was fired about 10 minutes before the network announced his departure. “We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor,” Fox News said in a statement. Excluding sports, Tucker Carlson Tonight was the top rated prime-time show on cable TV. Carlson’s last broadcast aired Friday, and he ended the show by saying: “We’ll be back on Monday.” (NPR / CNN / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / Washington Post / New York Times / Politico)
2/ The Supreme Court protected full access to the most commonly used abortion pill in the U.S. In its first major abortion-related decision since overturning Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court blocked a lower court’s ruling that had revoked the FDA’s approval of mifepristone after more than two decades. As a result, mifepristone will remain widely available while appeals play out. Two of the nine justices – Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito – said they would have let part of District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s ruling to suspend the FDA’s approval of mifepristone take effect. (NBC News / CNN / NPR / Washington Post / New York Times)
3/ Chief Justice John Roberts declined to directly respond to a congressional request to investigate possible ethics violations by Justice Clarence Thomas. Instead, Roberts referred the request from Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin to the Judicial Conference. Durbin requested the investigation after a report found that Thomas had accepted luxury trips from a Republican megadonor for more than two decades. The trips were not disclosed on Thomas’ public financial filings. (CNN / Bloomberg)
4/ Trump’s legal team discussed using data from a breached Georgia voting machine to try and decertify the state’s 2021 U.S. Senate run-off election. In mid-January 2021, Jim Penrose, a former NSA official working with Sidney Powell, texted Doug Logan, CEO of Cyber Ninjas, which runs audits of voting systems: “Here’s the plan. Let’s keep this close hold. We only have until Saturday to decide if we are going to use this report to try to decertify the Senate run-off election or if we hold it for a bigger moment.” In Jan. 7, 2021, Trump allies and contractors working on his behalf copied sensitive software and data from voting equipment in Coffee County. The data was shared with several Trump allies and operatives, including Logan, Penrose, Powell and Rudy Giuliani. Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis, who is investigating the scheme to breach voting systems, has subpoenaed Penrose and Logan, as well as Powell and Giuliani. The Coffee County breach is also under investigation by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. (CNN)
5/ Florida’s surgeon general personally omitted information from a state study about Covid-19 vaccines last year to suggest that young men should not get vaccinated. Draft versions of the analysis show that Joseph Ladapo, a known Covid-19 vaccine skeptic, edited the document to say that men between 18 and 39 years old are at high risk of heart illness from Covid-19 vaccines that use mRNA technology – assertions that contradicted state data and go against guidance from the CDC and American Academy of Pediatrics. The initial draft of the document stated that there was no significant risk associated with the Covid-19 vaccines for young men. Ladapo, who was appointed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2021 to head the Florida Department of Health, later used the altered analysis to recommend that young men should not get the Covid-19 vaccine. (Politico / Tampa Bay Times / Associated Press)
6/ The Supreme Court rejected appeals from oil and gas companies facing nearly two dozen lawsuits by state and local governments accusing them of contributing to climate change. The lawsuits were filed by Rhode Island, as well as municipalities or counties in Maryland, Colorado, California, and Hawaii. The companies wanted the cases moved to federal courts, which the justices refused. Justice Brett Kavanaugh noted that he would have taken up one of the cases, while Justice Samuel Alito did not participate because he owns stock in ConocoPhillips and Phillips 66. (NBC News / Bloomberg / Washington Post)
poll/ 68% of Republican voters stand behind Trump despite his indictment and the other investigations into his conduct, saying the investigations are a politically motivated attempt to stop him from being president again. (NBC News)
poll/ 51% of likely Republican primary voters prefer Trump to Ron DeSantis (38%) in a hypothetical head-to-head matchup. In December, Republican primary voters preferred DeSantis (52%) over Trump (38%). (Wall Street Journal)
poll/ 36% of young Americans approve of Biden’s performance – a drop of three percentage points since last fall (39%) and five percentage points since last spring (41%). (Harvard Youth Poll)
1/ An arbitration panel ordered the MyPillow Guy to pay $5 million for losing his “Prove Mike Wrong” challenge that there was Chinese interference in the 2020 election. In August 2021, Mike Lindell, the MyPillow Inc. chief executive, claimed he had data showing Chinese interference and offered $5 million to anyone who could prove that the data was not from the 2020 election. Welp, Robert Zeidman, a computer forensics expert and a Nevada Republican who voted twice for Trump, proved that Lindell’s data “unequivocally did not reflect November 2020 election data,” according to the arbitration panel. Zeidman called the ruling “great,” saying “this was obviously manufactured bogus data.” Lindell, meanwhile, claimed the court “made a terribly wrong decision!” (Washington Post / NBC News / CNBC / New York Times / CNN / The Hill / Wall Street Journal)
2/ An attorney who helped Trump in his effort to overturn the 2020 election told top Republican donors that they need to curtail college voting, same-day voter registration, and automatic mailing of ballots to registered voters. “What are these college campus locations?” Mitchell asked during her presentation at a Republican National Committee donor retreat in Nashville. “What is this young people effort that they do? They basically put the polling place next to the student dorm so they just have to roll out of bed, vote, and go back to bed.” Mitchell singled out on campus voting in five states: Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, Virginia, and Wisconsin. (Washington Post / Stevens Point Journal)
3/ The Senate Judiciary Committee asked Chief Justice John Roberts to testify on Supreme Court ethics reform. The invitation follows a report that Justice Clarence Thomas accepted but never disclosed over two decades of luxury trips from a Republican billionaire donor. Chair Dick Durbin called on Roberts to appear before the committee on May 2, saying his testimony on ethics issues could “strengthen faith” in the Supreme Court. When asked if he planned to subpoena Roberts if he declines the invitation to testify, Durbin replied: “It takes a majority. I don’t have a majority.” Dianne Feinstein’s health-induced absence from the Judiciary Committee means Democrats don’t have the majority needed to issue a subpoena. (Politico / CNN / CNBC / Bloomberg / NBC News / Associated Press)
4/ House Republicans passed a bill to ban transgender women and girls from competing on school sports teams consistent with their gender identity. The first-of-its-kind federal legislation would amend Title IX to define sex as based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth. It would bar schools that receive federal funding from allowing people “whose sex is male” to participate in sports for women or girls. The bill, however, will likely fail in the Democratic-led Senate. Biden has also vowed to veto the measure. The Biden administration proposed new rules earlier this month that would prohibit categorical bans on transgender athletes at any school receiving federal funding. (NBC News / New York Times / ABC News / Axios / CNN / Politico)
1/ The Supreme Court temporarily extended access to the abortion pill mifepristone until at least Friday, freezing a lower court order that had invalidated the FDA’s approval of mifepristone more than two decades ago. In an order signed by Justice Samuel Alito, the court said it will act by Friday night. The Supreme Court is considering emergency appeals from the Biden administration and the brand-name manufacturer of the pill about whether to block a decision by U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, who revoked the FDA’s approval of mifepristone altogether. A federal appeals court later modified Kacsmaryk’s ruling so that mifepristone would remain available while the case continues, but blocked the drug from being mailed or dispensed as a generic and required patients to make three in-person visits with a doctor. (CNBC / Associated Press / New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / Politico / Axios / CNN / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
2/ The company that supplies two-thirds of mifepristone in the U.S. sued the FDA to keep its generic version of the abortion pill on the market. GenBioPro seeks to preemptively block the FDA from suspending approval of the drug if the courts order mifepristone off the market, arguing that the FDA can’t suspend its approval without finding an “imminent hazard to public health.” GenBioPro’s lawsuit adds that “the result will be chaos” if the FDA revokes approval of generic mifepristone, and that “upending nearly a quarter-century of public reliance on a safe and effective drug” would cause “catastrophic harm” to the company, doctors, and patients who rely on the drug. (New York Times / Politico / Axios / CNBC / CNN / NPR)
3/ The Florida Board of Education expanded its ban on classroom instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity, extending the restrictions from kindergarten through high school. The rule builds on the Parental Rights in Education law Florida, which Gov. Ron DeSantis signed in March 2022, that banned classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity for students in kindergarten through third grade. Under the updated rule, teachers who violate the ban risk losing their teaching licenses. The new guidelines were approved unanimously. (ABC News / CNN / Politico / Associated Press / Washington Post)
4/ The Nebraska Legislature approved a measure to allow people to carry concealed guns without a permit, removing the existing requirements for permits and training. While the bill doesn’t remove federal background check requirements for buying a gun, but it does overrides stricter gun laws in the state’s cities. If signed by Gov. Jim Pillen, Nebraska would become the 26th state to allow people to carry concealed guns without a permit. (Associated Press / KLKN TV / KETV 7)
5/ Republican lawmakers in Tennessee passed a bill to protect gun and ammunition dealers, manufacturers, and sellers from lawsuits – weeks after the Nashville school shooting that killed six people, including three 9-year-olds. The measure heads to Gov. Bill Lee. (Associated Press)
1/ Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans won’t allow Democrats to temporarily replace Dianne Feinstein on the Judiciary Committee, who was hospitalized for shingles in March and has been recovering at home. Feinstein’s absence has stalled confirmations of some of the Biden administration’s judicial nominees. She has not provided a return date. Chuck Schumer said he planned to ask for unanimous consent from the Senate to appoint a temporary substitute, but McConnell called the effort to substitute Feinstein on the panel “an extremely unusual” request with no known precedent. “Let’s be clear,” McConnell said. “Senate Republicans will not take part in sidelining a temporarily absent colleague off a committee just so Democrats can force through their very worst nominees.” It would take the support of at least 10 Republicans to allow Democrats to make the temporary change on the committee. Some progressive House Democrats have called on the 89-year-old Senator to resign. (Washington Post / USA Today / Associated Press / Bloomberg / NPR / Politico / ABC News)
How Feinstein’s absence has stopped Biden’s judicial nominees. “Democratic Senate absences and a Senate rule that gives Republicans the ability to veto district court nominees for courts in their home states.” (CNN)
2/ An anti-abortion coalition urged the Supreme Court to reinstate a lower court decision that suspended the FDA’s approval of the abortion pill mifepristone. The Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine claimed that the FDA’s approval of mifepristone more than 20 years ago had “stripped away every meaningful and necessary safeguard on chemical abortion.” The government, pharmaceutical companies, leading medical organizations, former FDA officials, 250 Democratic members of Congress, Democratic-led cities and states, and abortion-rights groups, meanwhile, urged the court not to second-guess the expertise of the FDA. On April 7, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of Texas suspended approval of mifepristone. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, however, modified the ruling so that the drug would remain available while the case continues, but rolled back the drug’s accessibility and limited its use through the seventh week of pregnancy. The Supreme Court is set to act by midnight on Wednesday. (Washington Post / Associated Press / NBC News)
3/ A federal judge in New York denied Trump’s request to delay the civil rape and defamation trial against him, which was brought by E. Jean Carroll. Trump’s lawyers wanted to postpone the trial for four weeks, arguing a “cooling off” period was necessary following his recent criminal indictment in Manhattan. Carroll’s lawsuit alleges that Trump raped her at a Manhattan department store in the mid-1990s, and Trump has repeatedly called Carroll a liar. The trial is scheduled to start April 25. (NBC News / New York Times / ABC News)
4/ Fox News reached a last-minute settlement with Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million. Dominion, which accused the network of defamation for promoting false claims that its voting machines in the 2020 election were rigged against Trump, had been seeking $1.6 billion in damages before the settlement. In a statement, Fox said “we acknowledge the court’s rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false,” adding “this settlement reflects Fox’s continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards.” The settlement came after the jury had been sat, but before opening statements began. (NBC News / New York Times / Bloomberg / CNBC / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Washington Post / Axios)
1/ The Supreme Court temporarily preserved access to the abortion pill mifepristone while considers a lower court’s ruling that restricted the FDA’s approval of the drug. The hold will remain in effect until midnight on Wednesday. Last week, U.S. Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk suspended the FDA’s approval of mifepristone after more than two decades. Although an appeals court blocked Kacsmaryk’s order that suspended the approval of mifepristone, the judges blocked mail delivery of the pill, reimposed doctor visits, and shortened the length of time mifepristone can be used during pregnancy. They also blocked the 2019 approval of the generic form of the drug. (Associated Press / New York Times / NBC News / CNBC)
2/ Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas reported rental income totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars over the last two decades from a firm has not existed since 2006. Nevertheless, Thomas continued to disclose between $50,000 and $100,000 in income from the old firm annually on his financial disclosures. Democratic lawmakers, meanwhile, called on the federal court system’s policymaking body, the Judicial Conference, to refer Thomas to the U.S. attorney general for potential ethics violations after it was reported that he failed to report real estate deals made with Republican megadonor Harlan Crow. Thomas also accepted luxury vacations from Crow for more than two decades in apparent violation of a financial disclosure law. The watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics also filed a civil and criminal complaint against Thomas, saying his failure to disclose “repeated, lavish gifts” undermines confidence in the Supreme Court as an institution. (Washington Post / CNBC / Washington Post)
3/ The $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News was delayed by one day to allow both parties to discuss a possible settlement. Dominion Voting Systems, which sells voting machines and election software, claims it was defamed by Fox News after its hosts and guests made false claims on air that the company helped rig the 2020 election against Trump. Dominion’s civil lawsuit seeks $1 billion in “lost enterprise value” and $600 million in lost profits. People directly involved in the case said that they didn’t expect a settlement, and jury selection and opening arguments are now scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Tuesday. (Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / New York Times / Associated Press / NPR / NBC News)
4/ House Republicans on the Judiciary Committee hosted a field hearing in New York to attack Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who is prosecuting Trump on 34 charges of falsifying business records in connection with his hush money payments to a porn star during his 2016 presidential campaign. In a political stunt by Jim Jordan and other Republicans, they accuse Bragg of “pro-crime, anti-victim policies” that they claim have caused “an increase in violent crime and a dangerous community for New York City residents.” Despite the claims, Manhattan’s current levels of both violent crime are down significantly from the record levels of the early 1990s. And, for what it’s worth, the crime rate in New York is about one-third that of Columbus, Ohio, which is just south of Jordan’s district. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / NBC News)
5/ Kevin McCarthy proposed a one-year debt ceiling increase paired with cuts to the budget and new work requirements to receive federal benefits, like Medicaid and food stamps. “Defaulting on our debt is not an option,” McCarthy said, but “a no strings-attached debt limit increase will not pass,” adding that “American debt is a ticking time bomb that will detonate unless we take serious, responsible action.” McCarthy, who has four votes to spare in a narrow majority, said House Republicans plan to vote “in the coming weeks” on forthcoming legislation to raise the debt ceiling, limit federal spending, claw back Covid-19 aid, and enact new work requirements for social programs. The plan, however, is likely dead on arrival in the Democratic-led Senate. And, the White House, which has argued that Congress should raise the debt limit without conditions, said “McCarthy is holding the full faith and credit of the United States hostage, threatening our economy and hardworking Americans’ retirement.” Lawmakers have about seven weeks to raise the debt limit and avert a financial catastrophe. (Washington Post / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / NBC News / CNBC)
1/ The Justice Department will seek emergency intervention from the Supreme Court to protect the availability of the widely-used abortion pill mifepristone. The decision comes after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals partially blocked U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s order, which suspended the FDA’s 2000 approval of mifepristone. It was the first time a court had ordered the suspension of a long-approved medication. The court, however, ruled that mifespristone could no longer be prescribed after the seventh week of pregnancy, rolled back mail delivery of the pill, and reimposed doctor visits. Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Justice Department “strongly disagrees” with the 5th Circuit’s decision, adding that the administration will “be seeking emergency relief from the Supreme Court to defend the FDA’s scientific judgment and protect Americans’ access to safe and effective reproductive care.” Any filing would go to Justice Samuel Alito, who handles emergency matters from the New Orleans-based 5th Circuit. Alito wrote the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning the constitutional right to abortion. (Bloomberg / Washington Post / NPR / CNBC / ABC News / CNN)
2/ Florida’s Republican legislature banned most abortions after six weeks, sending the bill to Gov. Ron DeSantis. The six-week ban includes exceptions for rape, incest, medical emergencies, and “fatal fetal abnormalities,” but effectively outlaws the procedure before many people know they’re pregnant. Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, patients in the South have been traveling to Florida for abortions. Of the 82,000 people who had an abortion in Florida in 2022, nearly 7,000 of those traveled to the state. Of the 13 states that prohibit nearly all abortions, most are in the South, including Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Alabama. (Washington Post / NBC News / New York Times)
3/ The FBI arrested a 21-year-old Air National Guardsman in connection with the leak of highly classified U.S. intelligence documents, which included maps, intelligence updates, and the assessment of Russia’s war in Ukraine. Federal agents took Jack Teixeira into custody, and the FBI conducted a search of his home in North Dighton, Massachusetts, which appears to be his mother’s. Teixeira was the administrator of a chat group where the classified documents first appeared. The chat group of about 20 to 30 people reportedly shared a “love of guns, racist online memes, and video games.” Attorney General Merrick Garland said Teixeira was arrested “without incident” on allegations of “alleged unauthorized removal, retention and transmission of classified national defense information.” Teixeira will likely face charges under 18 U.S.C. 793 – better known as the Espionage Act. (New York Times / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / CNBC / CNN / Politico)
4/ Sen. Dianne Feinstein asked to be temporarily replaced on the Judiciary Committee after some House Democrats called on her to resign while she recovers from shingles. The 89-year-old California Democrat is the oldest member of Congress and hasn’t cast a vote in the Senate since Feb. 16. Her absence has stalled efforts to confirm Biden’s judicial picks. The chamber returns to session next week after a two-week recess, but Feinstein won’t be returning “due to continued complications related to my diagnosis.” She has not provided a timetable for returning to Washington. “I understand that my absence could delay the important work of the Judiciary Committee,” Feinstein said after two House Democrats called on her to resign. “So I’ve asked Leader Schumer to ask the Senate to allow another Democratic senator to temporarily serve until I’m able to resume my committee work.” (New York Times / NPR / Associated Press / Politico / NBC News / ABC News / Washington Post / CNN)
5/ Trump sat for a deposition in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ $250 million lawsuit alleging “staggering” fraud in his real estate business practices. This is the second time that the attorney general’s office has questioned Trump under oath: Trump sat for a deposition in August, invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination more than 400 times. About a month later, James’ office sued Trump, three of his children, and their company, alleging years of fraud. Ahead of his deposition, Trump posted on his personal social media platform that the case is “another unjust & ridiculous persecution,” but suggested he “will finally be able to show what a great, profitable, and valuable company I built.” Trump went on to call James, who is black, a “racist” and her lawsuit “ridiculous.” The civil case is expected to go to trial in October. (New York Times / NBC News / ABC News / Bloomberg / Washington Post)
6/ Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas didn’t disclose that he sold real estate to Republican megadonor Harlan Crow, who also provided Thomas and his wife Ginni with luxury travel for more than two decades. The 2014 sale of Thomas’ childhood home to Crow never appeared on a disclosure form. Crow paid for $36,000 in improvements to the property and Thomas’ 94-year-old mother continues to live in the house under Crow’s ownership. It is the first known instance of money flowing from Crow to Thomas. (ProPublica)
1/ The EPA proposed tougher tailpipe emissions limits that could require up to 67% of new vehicles sold in the U.S. to be all-electric by 2032 – the nation’s most ambitious climate regulations to date. The new rules are expected to eliminate 7.3 billion tons of CO2 through 2055 – the equivalent of eliminating all greenhouse gas emissions from the entire U.S. transportation sector for four years. The limits would also surpass Biden’s previous commitment to have EVs make up roughly 50% of cars sold by 2030. Last year, EVs accounted for 5.8% of the 13.8 million new vehicles sold in the U.S. The White House has also set aside $7.5 billion to expand the EV charging network – as part of the 2021 $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill. And, the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act will provide tax credits up to $7,500 for car buyers to incentive EV adoption and affordability. The U.S. is the world’s third-largest market for EVs behind China and Europe. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / CNBC / NPR)
2/ The Federal Reserve projects the nation’s economy to fall into a “mild recession” by year’s end, according to minutes from the Fed’s March meeting minutes. Central bank officials scaled back their economic expectations for future rate hikes this year due in part to the string of bank failures and instability in the banking sector. Although Fed officials considered skipping a rate increase at their March meeting, they raised their benchmark lending rate a quarter point to a range of 4.75% to 5%. (Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / Forbes / CNBC)
3/ U.S. inflation fell to its lowest level in nearly two years. The consumer price index rose 0.1% from February to March, and 5% from a year ago. Despite the lower prices, inflation is still running more than two-and-a-half times the Fed’s target of 2% and the central bank is on track to raise interest rates at least once more before what they say will be an extended pause to let their work filter through the economy. Economists expect that the federal funds rate to settle around 5.25% and stay there through 2023. The central bank will announce its next policy decision on May 3. (Bloomberg / New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / NPR / CNBC)
4/ Trump sued Michael Cohen for $500 million over allegations that his former attorney violated their attorney-client relationship and breached a confidentiality agreement. Trump accused Cohen – a key witness in the criminal case against him – of revealing “confidences” in an “embarrassing or detrimental way,” including “falsehoods” about Trump “with malicious intent and to wholly self-serving ends.” A Trump lawyer added without evidence that Cohen “lied to the judge. He’s lied to the prosecutors. He’s lied to his employers. He’s lied to his own attorneys.” Cohen’s lawyer, meanwhile, said Trump “appears once again to be using and abusing the judicial system as a form of harassment and intimidation.” The lawsuit comes after Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony charges that he falsified business records to conceal $130,000 in reimbursement payments to Cohen, who paid Stormy Daniels days before the 2016 election in order to buy her silence about her sexual encounter with Trump. (ABC News / CNN / NBC News / Washington Post / Politico / Wall Street Journal)
Trump said he would continue campaigning for the White House even if convicted of a crime. “I’d never drop out, it’s not my thing,” Trump said when asked on Fox News about a potential conviction. (New York Times)
5/ A Delaware Superior Court judge sanctioned Fox News for withholding evidence in the $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems. Judge Eric Davis said Fox lawyers had previously “represented to him more than once” that Rupert Murdoch was only an officer at Fox Corp. and didn’t have any role in Fox News. The distinction may have narrowed what Fox turned over as part of the discovery process, like Murdoch’s internal emails and text messages. Davis also said the network has a “credibility problem” and such information “could have” led him to make different rulings earlier in the case, adding: “By the way, an omission is a lie.” Davis also said he would appoint a so-called “special master” to investigate whether the network lied to the court and withheld key evidence. The sanctions imposed against Fox will allow Dominion to conduct additional depositions of some Fox witnesses or redo any already done and that “Fox will do everything they can to make the person available, and it will be at a cost to Fox.” The trial in the $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit is scheduled to begin Monday. Meanwhile, a Fox Corp. shareholder sued Murdoch and four other board members, accusing them of failing to stop Fox News from “reporting false and dangerous misinformation” about the 2020 presidential election. (NBC News / New York Times / CNN / Washington Post / USA Today / NPR / The Hill / Reuters)
1/ Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg sued Jim Jordan to keep the House Judiciary Committee from interfering in his prosecution of Trump. In a 50-page lawsuit, Bragg describes a “transparent campaign to intimidate and attack” his office by Jordan and others, calling it “an unprecedentedly brazen and unconstitutional attack” by members of Congress on the prosecution and investigation of Trump. The House Judiciary Committee issued a subpoena last week to Mark Pomerantz, a former prosecutor involved in the criminal investigation of Trump. Bragg is seeking a court order to bar Pomerantz from complying with the subpoena. (New York Times / CNBC / Washington Post / CNN / Politico / USA Today)
2/ Trump appealed a judge’s order requiring Pence to testify before the grand jury investigating his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Trump is seeking to narrow the scope of the testimony that Pence has to give a grand jury, while also accusing the Justice Department of “attempting to destroy the long accepted, long held, Constitutionally based standards of attorney-client privilege and executive privilege.” Trump has lost several attempts in court to block other top officials from his administration from testifying based on claims of executive privilege. (New York Times / CNBC / NBC News / CNN / ABC News / Politico)
Stephen Miller arrived at the D.C. federal court where the Jan. 6 grand jury meets. (NBC News)
3/ Biden formally ended the Covid-19 national emergency, which was first enacted by the Trump administration in 2020. Biden signed the bipartisan congressional resolution behind closed doors despite publicly opposing the bill, saying it “would be a grave disservice to the American people.” The ending of the national emergency does not, however, affect the public health emergency, which underpins Title 42 – the border policy that allows the expulsion of migrants from U.S. borders without the opportunity to seek asylum. That policy is set to expire on May 11. The coronavirus has killed more than 1.13 million people in the U.S. and disrupted the global economy. (Associated Press / Washington Post / Politico)
4/ The International Monetary Fund downgraded its forecasts for the global economy, noting “the recent increase in financial market volatility.” The IMF now expects the global economic growth to slow from 3.4% in 2022 to 2.8% in 2023. The IMF also expects growth to hover around 3% for the next five years – its weakest medium-term growth forecast since 1990. The warning follows the failure of two U.S. banks last month, and UBS’s takeover of Credit Suisse in Europe. “Uncertainty is high, and the balance of risks has shifted firmly to the downside so long as the financial sector remains unsettled,” the organization said in its latest World Economic Outlook report. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, meanwhile, shrugged off the recent banking turmoil, saying “I’m not anticipating a downturn in the economy, although of course that remains a risk.” (CNN / CNBC / New York Times / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
Dept. of Mass Confusion/ I don’t know where or how to start with summarizing this story about leaked classified U.S. military and intelligence documents and could use your help deciphering this complicated story. From what I can gather, more than 100 documents that detail national security secrets – some labeled “Top Secret” – related to Ukraine, the Middle East, and China were recently leaked on social media. The documents in question are photographs of printed reports from a classified briefing. They appear to have been folded up, put in a pocket, and then taken out of a secure area to be photographed. Some documents were specifically marked for U.S. eyes only, meaning it’s likely that an American official leaked the information. The Justice Department has since opened an investigation into the leak of the “highly sensitive, classified” documents. The government’s current “working theory” is that the documents are authentic but were selectively edited before being leaked. Congress, meanwhile, has requested classified briefings. Send help.
1/ The Biden administration appealed a ruling by a federal judge in Texas that would block access to the widely-used abortion drug mifepristone. On Friday, a federal judge in Texas suspended the FDA’s 23-year-old approval of the abortion pill, while another federal judge in Washington State ordered the FDA to keep the pill available. Despite the conflicting orders by two federal judges, mifepristone continues to be available – for now – since the Texas judge, Matthew Kacsmaryk, stayed his own order for seven days to allow the FDA time to file an appeal. It’s the first time a federal judge has blocked an approved drug over the objection of the FDA. The Justice Department, meanwhile, asked the 5th U.S. Court of Appeals to suspend Kascmaryk’s order, arguing that the “extraordinary and unprecedented” ruling upends the status quo and should be blocked while they pursue a full appeal of the case. “If allowed to take effect,” Justice Department lawyers said, “the court’s order would thwart FDA’s scientific judgment and severely harm women.” The government asked the appeals court to issue its decision by Thursday at noon. Kascmaryk’s order is set to take effect Friday. (Washington Post / ABC News / Bloomberg / CNN / CNBC / New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / Axios / The Hill / NBC News)
Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said “everything is on the table” following a Texas federal judge’s ruling to suspend the FDA’s approval of the medication abortion drug mifepristone. “What you saw by that one judge in that one court in that one state — that’s not America,” Becerra said of the ruling issued Friday by District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk. (CNN / Politico)
2/ Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas defended the luxury vacations he accepted from a Republican megadonor for more than two decades, saying he was advised “by colleagues and others in the judiciary” that the trips were “personal hospitality” that didn’t need to be disclosed. Last week it was revealed that Thomas had traveled by private jet and yacht at the invitation of Harlan Crow, a Texas real estate billionaire, who is reportedly an avid collector of Nazi memorabilia and has a garden full of statues of the 20th century’s worst dictators. Nevertheless, the Supreme Court justice said Crow and his wife, Kathy, are “dearest friends” and, “as friends do, we have joined them on a number of family trips during the more than quarter-century we have known them.” A Judicial Conference committee adopted new rules that require Supreme Court justices and all federal judges to disclose all complimentary trips, travel by private jet, and stays at commercial properties, such as hotels, ski resorts or other private retreats owned by a company, rather than an individual. (Washington Post / Politico / NBC News / New York Times / CNN)
3/ The two former Democratic lawmakers, who were expelled by Republican colleagues from the Tennessee House, will likely get their seat back. Nashville’s Metro Council could return Justin Jones to the Legislature when it votes to fill the vacant position on an interim basis, while Justin Pearson could be reappointed at a meeting of the Shelby County Commission in his district. Jones, Pearson, and Gloria Johnson led a protest calling for gun reform on the House floor after a shooting at a Nashville school killed six people, including three 9-year-old children. Jones and Pearson, who are Black, were voted out, while Johnson, who is white, was spared expulsion by a single vote. (NPR / Associated Press / NBC News)
4/ The Washington State Senate approved a ban on the sale and manufacture of assault weapons in the state. While the bill bans the sale, manufacture, and import of assault weapons, it does not ban the possession of an assault weapon and it allows for ownership by law enforcement and military service members. The proposal passed the state House last month, setting the measure up to go to Gov. Jay Inslee for his signature. If signed into law, Washington would join nine other states that have enacted bans on the sale, manufacture, and transfer of assault weapons. (Fox 13 / King 5 / Seattle Times)
5/ A gunman killed four people and nine others were injured in a mass shooting at a bank in Louisville, Kentucky. The gunman, Connor Sturgeon, was an employee of Old National Bank and used an AR-15-style rifle. He livestreamed the attack on Instagram. Sturgeon was shot and killed after exchanging gunfire with the police. There have been at least 145 mass shootings in the U.S. this year. (New York Times / CNN / Associated Press / Washington Post / NPR / ABC News / NBC News)
1/ Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas accepted secret luxury vacations from a Republican megadonor for more than two decades without disclosing them. The trips were funded by Harlan Crow, a real-estate billionaire and Republican Party donor, who treated Thomas and his wife, Virginia “Ginni” Thomas to luxury vacations, stays at his properties and private resort, as well as free travel on his private jet and superyacht. Thomas didn’t disclose that travel on his annual financial disclosure forms, which appear to violate a federal law mandating top officials from the three branches of government, including the Supreme Court, file annual forms detailing their finances, outside income, and spouses’ sources of income. Judges are prohibited from accepting gifts from anyone with business before the court, and until a month ago the judicial branch had not defined an exemption for gifts considered “personal hospitality.” Sen. Dick Durbin, the second-highest ranking Democrat in the Senate and chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said Thomas’ actions were “simply inconsistent with the ethical standards the American people expect of any public servant, let alone a Justice on the Supreme Court,” adding that “the highest court in the land shouldn’t have the lowest ethical standards.” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, meanwhile, called for Thomas to be impeached, saying “this is beyond party or partisanship. This degree of corruption is shocking - almost cartoonish.” (ProPublica / Washington Post / New York Times / CNBC / NBC News / CBS News / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
2/ The Supreme Court refused to reinstate a West Virginia law barring transgender girls from playing on girls’ sports teams at school. West Virginia’s 2021 law – the Save Women’s Sports Act – was challenged by a 12-year-old middle school transgender girl and her parents to allow her to continue running on her middle school cross-country and track teams. The Supreme Court was not considering the ban on the merits but instead addressed whether the law should remain on hold while legal proceedings continue in lower courts. Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented, saying they would have granted the request to immediately reinstate the ban on transgender girls from participating on school sports teams consistent with their gender identity. Some 19 states have enacted laws like West Virginia’s in the last three years. (NPR / ABC News / CNN / Washington Post / NBC News / New York Times)
3/ The Biden administration proposed new regulations to make it illegal for schools to broadly ban transgender students from sports teams. Under the proposal, blanket or categorical bans on all transgender athletes would not be allowed, but schools could bar transgender athletes from participating in competitive high school and college sports for “fairness in competition.” Schools that want to limit participation by transgender athletes would have to consider the sport, the level of competition, and the grade or education level involved. (Washington Post / New York Times / NPR / The Hill)
4/ Idaho’s Republican governor signed a bill into law that makes it illegal to help a pregnant minor get an abortion in another state. The new “abortion trafficking” law – the first of its kind in the U.S. – makes helping a minor obtain abortion pills or cross state lines for an abortion without parental consent punishable by two to five years in prison. Anyone convicted could also be sued by the minor’s parent or guardian. Abortion has been banned at all stages of pregnancy in Idaho. (Associated Press / ABC News / NBC News)
5/ Tennessee Republican lawmakers expelled the first of three Democratic legislators from the state House for leading a protest calling for gun reform – the first partisan expulsion in the state’s modern history. Reps. Gloria Johnson, Justin Jones, and Justin Pearson violated House decorum rules by using a bullhorn on the House floor to lead the protest and speaking without being formally recognized. In the first vote, the legislature voted 72-25 to oust Jones, with votes on expelling the other two lawmakers expected to follow. “We called for you all to ban assault weapons and you respond with an assault on democracy,” Jones said during his opening statement, calling the resolution “a spectacle” and “a lynch mob assembled to not lynch me, but our democratic process.” The trio represent the three largest cities in Tennessee. (The Tennessean / Politico / ABC News / Washington Post / Associated Press / NPR / New York Times / CNN / NBC News)
6/ The IMF warned that its outlook for global economic growth over the next five years is the weakest in more than three decades. The world economy is expected to grow less than 3% this year – down from 3.4% last year – making it the lowest medium-term growth forecast since 1990. “There is simply no way that interest rates would go up so much after being low for so long and there would be no vulnerabilities. Something is going to go boom,” Kristalina Georgieva said, IMF Managing Director. Georgieva added that slower growth would be a “severe blow,” making it even harder for low-income nations to catch up. “Poverty and hunger could further increase, a dangerous trend that was started by the COVID crisis.” (Politico / Bloomberg / Associated Press)
Fear of an economic “lost decade” hangs over world leaders. “The war in Ukraine, stubbornly high inflation, rising interest rates, a fragile banking system and slower growth in China are all looming threats.” (Politico)
poll/ 32% of American say Biden deserves to be reelected – down 5 points since December. (CNN)
1/ Roughly six hours after pleading not guilty to 34 counts of filing false business records, Trump called the judge overseeing the case “a Trump-hating judge with a Trump-hating wife and family.” Judge Juan Merchan had asked Trump during his arraignment to “please refrain from making statements that are likely to incite violence or civil unrest, or jeopardize the safety or well-being of any individuals.” Nevertheless, Trump went ahead and singled out Judge Merchan and Merchan’s daughter, who is president of a digital campaign strategy agency that’s work with Biden, Harris, and other Democrats. Trump also called the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, a “criminal” for, he claims, leaking information about the case. “I never thought anything like this could happen in America,” Trump told supporters at Mar-a-Lago. “The only crime that I’ve committed has been to fearlessly defend our nation against those who seek to destroy it.” (Washington Post / ABC News / New York Times / Reuters)
2/ Pence will not appeal a court order requiring him to testify before the grand jury investigating Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election. Pence’s decision to not appeal means he will likely testify under oath about Trump’s unsuccessful attempts to pressure him into blocking the certification of the 2020 presidential election. Trump could still pursue an appeal to try to block Pence from testifying about their communications ahead of the Jan. 6 election certification. Trump, however, has lost similar cases previously. (NBC News / Politico / CNN / Washington Post)
3/ Wisconsin voters elected a liberal candidate to the State Supreme Court, flipping majority control from conservatives. Janet Protasiewicz’s victory means that the court is likely to reverse the state’s abortion ban and end the use of gerrymandered legislative maps drawn by Republicans. Protasiewicz’s victory also ends 15 years of conservative control of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. (NBC News / New York Times / CNN / Washington Post / NPR)
4/ A North Carolina Democratic state lawmaker switched party affiliation, giving Republicans a veto-proof supermajority in the state’s legislature. Tricia Cotham claimed she had been “bullied” for not toeing the party line, saying “They have pushed me out. They’ve made it very clear they do not want me.” Cotham said the turning point came when she was criticized for using the American flag and a prayer-hands emoji on social media and on her vehicles. North Carolina Democrats, meanwhile, called for Cotham’s resignation for her “deceit” and “betrayal.” Republicans now have a veto-proof majority in the middle of the legislative session, giving them the ability to bypass Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, and enact their agenda. (Washington Post / New York Times / Axios / Associated Press)
5/ The EPA proposed stricter rules for pollutants from coal- and oil-fired power plants, updating standards imposed more than a decade ago. The proposed rules aim to limit the mercury emissions and other toxic air pollutants from coal-fired power plants by up to 70%. The EPA said the new rules would also reduce nickel, arsenic, and lead pollution. Together, the pollutants can cause “significant health impacts including fatal heart attacks, cancer and developmental delays in children.” (New York Times / CNN / Associated Press / Washington Post)
6/ The Florida Senate passed a plan that would ban gender-affirming care for children diagnosed with gender dysphoria. The bill, SB 254, prohibits anyone under the age of 18 from undergoing surgeries or hormone therapies associated with gender-affirming care. The legislation comes after the Florida Board of Medicine and the Florida Board of Osteopathic Medicine – at the urging of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis – adopted rules that barred all doctors from treating minors with the surgeries and prescription treatments in November. Those rules went into effect last month. Florida is one of 13 states that have enacted bans on transgender care. (Politico / Miami Herald)
7/ Elon Musk labeled NPR’s Twitter account as “state-affiliated media,” a tag typically used for foreign media outlets that represent the official views of the government, like the Russian-government-owned RT and the Chinese Communist Party’s People’s Daily newspaper. NPR operates independently of the U.S. government. While the nonprofit media company receives federal money, the total amounts to less than 1% of its annual budget. As a result of being in the same category as propaganda outlets, Twitter “will not recommend or amplify” NPR’s posts on the platform. According to Twitter’s company policy, state-affiliated media is defined as “outlets where the state exercises control over editorial content.” Twitter’s policy previously stated that the label did not apply to state-financed organizations with editorial independence, specifically citing NPR and the BBC as examples. In his role as Twitter’s new owner, Rocket Man has banned journalists from the platform and revoked the New York Times’ verification after the news organization declined to pay to use Twitter. Musk, meanwhile, weighed in on NPR’s new label, responding to a post of Twitter’s rules, saying “seems accurate.” (Washington Post / Bloomberg / Semafor / Forbes / NPR)
1/ Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts related to hush money payments made during his 2016 presidential campaign. Trump, the nation’s 45th president and the Republican Party’s leading presidential candidate in the 2024 race, surrendered himself to the Manhattan district attorney’s office and appeared before a judge for his arraignment, where he entered a not guilty plea to falsifying business records in the first degree. Trump is the first former or sitting American president to be criminally charged and faces a maximum of four years in prison if convicted. While in custody, he was fingerprinted like any felony defendant, but special accommodations were made: Trump did not have a mug shot taken and was not handcuffed. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office allege that Trump “orchestrated” a “scheme” to help his 2016 presidential campaign through a series of hush money payments made by others, and then “repeatedly and fraudulently falsified New York business records” to “cover up crimes.” Prosecutor Chris Conroy told the court that Trump engaged in an “illegal conspiracy” to aid his campaign and “undermine the election.” All 34 counts against Trump are linked to a series of checks reimbursing Michael Cohen for his role in paying off adult film star Stormy Daniels, Playboy model Karen McDougal, and a former Trump Tower doorman who’d claimed to have a story about a child Trump had out of wedlock. Hours before the arraignment, Trump posted on his personal social network that the experience is “SURREAL,” adding, “WOW, they are going to ARREST ME. Can’t believe this is happening in America.” Trump is the focus of three other criminal investigations, including efforts to overturn the 2020 election results and his handling of classified documents after leaving the White House. Following the arraignment, Bragg told reporters: “Everyone stands equal before the law. No amount of money and no amount of power changes that enduring American principle.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / Associated Press / NPR / NBC News / CNN / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CBS News / CNBC / ABC News / Axios)
📌 Day 193: Trump advocated for rougher treatment of people in police custody, saying “Don’t be too nice.” He spoke dismissively of the practice by which arresting officers shield the heads of handcuffed suspects as they are placed in police cars. “I said, ‘You could take the hand away, OK,’” Trump said. (Associated Press)
2/ A federal appeals court denied Trump’s request to block his top aides from testifying about him to a grand jury investigating his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. While it’s not clear which aides were covered by the court order, Trump recently lost an emergency bid to prevent advisors like Mark Meadows, Dan Scavino, and Stephen Miller from answering questions. (Politico / CNN / Bloomberg)
3/ Job openings fell below 10 million in February for the first time since May 2021. There were 9.9 million job openings in February, down from 10.6 million in January. Meanwhile, four million workers quit their jobs in February, an increase from January — a sign of confidence they can find a better job elsewhere. The February JOLTS report also showed that the number of new hires decreased to 6.1 million from 6.3 million while layoffs fell to 1.5 million from 1.7 million. (CNBC / New York Times / CNN / Bloomberg / ABC News)
4/ The Florida Senate approved a proposed ban on abortion after six weeks of pregnancy. The proposal must still be approved by the House before it reaches the desk of Gov. Ron DeSantis. Republicans, however, hold a supermajority in the Legislature, and the bill is expected pass. The bill, S.B. 300, comes one year after DeSantis signed a 15-week ban into law. (Associated Press / CNN / Politico)
5/ Tennessee House Republicans initiated the process of expelling three Democratic lawmakers for “disorderly behavior.” The trio, using a bullhorn, led a protest on the House floor demanding stricter gun laws following the Nashville mass shooting that left three young children and three adults dead. Instead of doing something to end gun violence, Republican lawmakers filed resolutions seeking the expulsion of Reps. Gloria Johnson, Justin Jones, and Justin Pearson for “knowingly and intentionally bring[ing] disorder and dishonor to the House of Representatives.” Republican House Speaker Cameron Sexton also stripped Johnson and Jones of their committee assignments and restricted their access to legislative facilities for their role in the protest in support of gun control. (The Tennessean / Associated Press / Washington Post / CNN / Common Dreams)
1/ The Justice Department obtained new evidence in the Mar-a-Lago documents case that suggests potential obstruction by Trump. Federal investigators have reportedly gathered new evidence that boxes containing classified material were moved from a Mar-a-Lago storage area after the subpoena from the Justice Department was served, and that Trump personally examined some of those boxes and documents. The additional evidence is based on witness statements, security camera footage, and emails and text messages from a former Trump aide. (Washington Post / CNN)
2/ Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News will go to trial following a ruling by Superior Court Judge Eric Davis, who said it was “CRYSTAL clear” that none of the allegations made by Fox hosts and guests in the weeks after the election were true. Fox News had argued that the First Amendment protected the comments and opinions made on its air alleging that the election had somehow been stolen. “It appears oxymoronic to call the statements ‘opinions’ while also asserting the statements are newsworthy allegations and/or substantially accurate reports of official proceedings,” Davis said. The trial is expected to begin in mid-April. (Associated Press / New York Times / NBC News)
3/ Ron DeSantis signed legislation to allow Floridians to carry a concealed loaded weapon without a permit. The new law will allow anyone who can legally own a gun in Florida to carry one without a permit. No training or background checks will be required to carry concealed guns in public. The governor signed the bill in a private ceremony in his office with only bill sponsors, legislative leaders and gun rights advocates, including the National Rifle Association, in attendance. Florida is the 26th state to pass some form of permitless carry legislation. The new law takes effect July 1. (NBC News / ABC News / CNN)
4/ Millions of Americans are at risk of losing their Medicaid coverage as Covid-19 public health emergency safety net comes to an end. The Department of Health and Human Services estimates that 15 million people – roughly 1 in 6 people on Medicaid – will lose Medicaid insurance. Nearly half of those who lose coverage will be Black or Hispanic. During the public health emergency, states were required to keep people on Medicaid. As of Saturday that prohibition ended and states can begin removing people from the government health insurance rolls. Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma, and West Virginia are expected to start their disenrollment process this month. (New York Times / CBS News / CNBC / CNN / ABC News)
5/ Trump arrived in New York to surrender himself to authorities for his arraignment on hush-money charges. Trump is the first sitting or former U.S. president to be indicted after a Manhattan grand jury voted to formally accuse him of a crime related to his role in the hush-money payment to Stormy Daniels during his 2016 campaign. Trump will be arraigned, fingerprinted, and photographed around 2:15 p.m. Tuesday. The indictment itself, which describes the exact charges filed against Trump, is also expected to be unsealed Tuesday. Trump is facing multiple charges of falsifying business records, including at least one felony offense. “WITCH HUNT, as our once great Country is going to HELL!” Trump wrote on his personal social media platform. (Associated Press / NPR / Washington Post / New York Times / Politico)
poll/ 62% of Americans approve of the Trump indictment, while 38% disapprove. Among Democrats, 94% approve while 79% of Republicans disapprove. (CNN)
poll/ 57% of Republicans prefer Trump over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for the party’s 2024 presidential nominee – his largest-ever lead over DeSantis. 31% prefer DeSantis. (Yahoo! News)
1/ The Manhattan grand jury voted to indict Trump for his role in the hush-money payment to a porn star during his 2016 campaign. While the exact charges are unknown because the indictment remains under seal, Trump is reportedlyfacing more than 30 counts related to business fraud. Trump will be arraigned on Tuesday afternoon and will enter a plea of not guilty at a hearing at the New York State Supreme courthouse in lower Manhattan, at which point the specific charges will be unsealed. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office confirmed that it had contacted Trump’s attorney to “coordinate his surrender” on an indictment that “remains under seal.” Bragg’s office had initially asked for Trump to surrender on Friday, but lawyers for the disgraced former president said the Secret Service needed more time to prepare. Like any criminal defendant, Trump will have his fingerprints and mug shots taken when he is processed. Bragg has been investigating whether Trump falsified business records that violated campaign finance laws as part of the $130,000 paid to Stormy Daniels. Michael Cohen has claimed that he fronted the money used to pay Daniels – at Trump’s direction – during the closing days of the 2016 presidential campaign, and that Trump later reimbursed him, signing monthly checks while serving as president. As part of the scheme, Trump had Trump Organization employees falsely record the repayments as part of a non-existent “retainer” for “legal expenses” to justify the Cohen’s reimbursement. The felony indictment makes Trump the first former president to face criminal charges. Being charged with – or found guilty of – a crime, however, doesn’t disqualify Trump from running for office. (New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / Politico)
Trump and his aides were reportedly caught off guard by the timing of his indictment, believing that any action by the grand jury was still several weeks away. (New York Times / Washington Post)
Trump, meanwhile, took to his personal social network to call the grand jury indictment “political persecution and election interference at the highest level in history.” Trump accused “Radical Left Democrats” of a “Witch-Hunt to destroy the Make America Great Again movement,” calling Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg “a disgrace” while casting himself as “a completely innocent person.” (Politico)
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg defended his office’s decision to indict Trump, rejecting accusations by Republican lawmakers of political persecution as “baseless and inflammatory.” In a letter to the three committee chairmen who are pressing for documents and testimony about Trump’s case, Bragg’s office chastised them for choosing to “collaborate” with Trump, who is now under indictment, while characterizing their demands as “unlawful political interference” in an ongoing criminal case. (Politico / Washington Post / CNN)
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called the indictment “un-American,” and said he would not assist with any extradition request. Trump, a Florida resident, is expected to appear in court on Tuesday in New York. (Politico / CNN)
2/ A federal judge in Texas invalidated the Affordable Care Act’s mandate that insurers and employers offer certain preventive health care services, including some cancer and heart screenings. U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor ruled that the law’s requirement that ACA plans cover HIV-prevention measures violates federal law guaranteeing religious freedom. The lawsuit was brought by six individuals and two Christian-owned businesses who argued that the mandate would make them “complicit in facilitating homosexual behavior.” In 2018, O’Connor struck down the entire ACA on the grounds that “the individual mandate is unconstitutional.” The Supreme Court, however, upheld the ACA. It was the third time that the Supreme Court ruled the ACA constitutional. (Washington Post / NBC News / Axios / CNN)
The FDA approved an over-the-counter Narcan, an opioid overdose reversal drug. “The approval marks the first time any form of naloxone will be available without a prescription. The drug, which first received FDA approval in 1971, was originally an injection. The FDA approved the inhaled nasal spray version, more commonly known as Narcan, in 2015. It contains 4 mg of naloxone that can be sprayed into the nose like a common allergy medication.” (Politico)
3/ House Republicans passed legislation that would increase oil drilling and mining on public lands and waters. The Lower Energy Costs Act would increase domestic production of oil, natural gas and coal, cut some environmental regulations, ease permitting restrictions for pipelines, refineries and other projects, and repeal sections of the Inflation Reduction Act – the landmark climate change legislation that Biden signed into law last summer. All but one Republican – including four Democrats – voted in support of the bill. Chuck Schumer, meanwhile, called the package “dead on arrival” in the Democratic-controlled Senate. Biden has also said he’ll veto the measure if it reaches his desk, calling it “a thinly veiled license to pollute.” (Associated Press / Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Politico)
4/ A train hauling ethanol derailed and caught fire in Minnesota, triggering an evacuation of residents living near the crash site. The evacuation order was lifted hours later. Twenty-two cars carrying ethanol and corn syrup derailed around 1 a.m., and four caught fire, according to a BNSF Railway statement. The fire burned more than 8 hours. (ABC News / Associated Press / NBC News / NPR / CNN)
5/ The Senate passed a bill to end the national Covid-19 emergency, which Trump declared on March 13, 2020. The resolution cleared the House earlier this year and now heads to Biden’s desk, who said he plans to sign it despite his his opposition to ending the Covid-19 emergency. (CNN / Associated Press / Axios)
6/ Kevin McCarthy – again – declined to say whether the House would consider an assault weapons ban following the Nashville school shooting. When asked about calls for gun reform, McCarthy filibustered the press conference saying: “There’s not one person in America who doesn’t want to try to solve all this. We want to make sure we’re taking all the information. I would say to the nation as a whole that the problem that we [have] today, it’s not just going to be legislation. We’ve got to have a severe conversation here with this country. We’ve got to deal with mental illness. I don’t think one piece of legislation solves this. I think a nation together, working together, solves a problem that’s much bigger than us. We will get all the information, how we deal with any subject, and we’ll work through it.” A Democratic lawmaker, meanwhile, yelled at his Republican colleagues and repeatedly called them “cowards” for not supporting stricter gun measures in the wake of the Nashville school shooting. While several lawmakers walk by Jamaal Bowman without engaging, Republican Thomas Massie stopped to tell Bowman that “there’s never been a school shooting in a school that allows teachers to carry.” Massie then added: “Calm down.” Bowman responded: “Calm down? Children are dying. Nine-year-old children. The solution is not arming teachers.” (ABC News / NBC News)
After a mass shooting at an elementary school in Texas last year, Republican-led states moved expand access to firearms. One of them was Tennessee, where a shooter carrying multiple weapons killed six people, including three children. (New York Times)
Why do Americans own AR-15s? “Self-defense was the most popular reason for owning an AR-15. Other popular answers included recreation, target shooting and hunting, while some pointed to owning an AR-15 as their Second Amendment right.” (Washington Post)
1/ Kevin McCarthy suggested that lawmakers need to see “all the facts” before they consider any gun legislation following the shooting in Nashville where seven people were killed. The Nashville shooting was the 130th mass shooting incident in this U.S. this year, so far. Democrats planned to introduce a measure to boost federal research into the cause of gun violence, but it has little chance of passing the Republican-controlled House. Republican congressman Tim Burchett, meanwhile, said Congress is “not gonna fix” the problem of school shootings and that he doesn’t see a role for Congress in preventing future shootings “other than mess things up.” Instead, the three-term congressman from Tennessee suggested that Americans should focus on more thoughts and prayers, saying: “If you want to legislate evil, it’s just not going to happen. We need a real revival in this country. Let’s call on our Christian ministers and our people of faith.” (CNN / Washington Post)
2/ North Carolina residents no longer need a permit to buy a handgun. The state’s Republican-led legislature eliminated the longstanding permit system that required local sheriffs to perform character evaluations and criminal history checks of pistol applicants. Although Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed the measure, the legislature overrode the veto. The permit repeal takes effect immediately. (Associated Press / USA Today)
3/ The Idaho Legislature will vote to establish a new crime – dubbed “abortion trafficking” – that would limit minors’ ability to travel for an abortion without parental consent, even in states where the procedure is legal. House Bill 242 defines “abortion trafficking” as an adult “recruiting, harboring, or transporting the pregnant minor within this state” without the parent’s consent. The bill passed the Idaho House earlier this month. Less than a year ago, Idaho banned nearly all abortions in the state. (Washington Post / HuffPost)
4/ The Senate voted to formally repeal the war authorizations that justified the 1991 Gulf War and the 2003 Iraq War. The action is largely symbolic since U.S. combat operations against Iraq ended more than a decade ago and would have no effect on any ongoing military operations. Nearly 5,000 Americans lost their lives in Iraq and more than 31,000 U.S. troops were wounded. Iraqi deaths are estimated in the hundreds of thousands. (NPR / Associated Press)
5/ The Manhattan grand jury investigating Trump’s alleged hush money payment isn’t expected to hear evidence in the case until late April. The break is due in part to a pre-scheduled two weeks off beginning April 10. The hiatus comes about 10 days after Trump publicly predicted he would be arrested. Trump, meanwhile, released the following statement: “I HAVE GAINED SUCH RESPECT FOR THIS GRAND JURY, 7 PERHAPS EVEN THE GRAND JURY SYSTEM AS A WHOLE.” (Politico / Washington Post / Associated Press / CNN)
poll/ 57% of Americans believe Trump should be disqualified from running for president if he is criminally charged in any of the multiple state and federal investigations. 38% said he should not be barred from doing so if he’s criminally charged. (Quinnipiac)
poll/ 60% of Americans say the government spends too much money, while 22% say spending levels are about right, and 16% say the government is spending too little. At the same time, roughly 60% of Americans also say the government spends too little on education, health care, infrastructure, and Social Security, and Medicare. (Associated Press)
poll/ 31% of Americans say the economy is the most important issue facing the country – the top issue for respondents in the survey – followed by preserving democracy at 20%. No other issue, including health care, immigration, climate change, and education, broke double-digits. (NPR)
1/ A federal judge ordered Pence to testify to a grand jury investigating Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. Pence, however, can decline to answer questions related to his role in Congress on Jan. 6, when he was serving as president of the Senate for the certification of the 2020 presidential election. Special counsel Jack Smith subpoenaed Pence for his testimony and documents earlier this year in the investigation into whether efforts to overturn Biden’s 2020 victory constituted federal crimes. Pence challenged the subpoena under the Constitution’s “speech or debate” clause, which is intended to protect the separation of powers. Trump, meanwhile, argued that executive privilege barred Pence from appearing. It’s unclear whether Pence plans to appeal Judge James Boasberg’s decision, but previously said he would take the case to the Supreme Court if necessary.
(CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / ABC News / NBC News / Politico / Associated Press / CNBC)
Trump faces several investigations. Here’s where they stand. (New York Times)
2/ The wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas collected nearly $600,000 in anonymous donations for a conservative group. Between 2019 and the end of 2021, Virginia “Ginni” Thomas acted as the self-described “convener” who helped raise $596,000 in donations to Crowdsourcers for Culture and Liberty, which were channeled through the right-wing think tank Capital Research Center. The majority of that money – $400,000 – was routed through a different nonprofit, Donors Trust, which receives money from wealthy donors whose identities are not disclosed and steers it toward conservative causes. The arrangement, known as “fiscal sponsorship,” meant that Crowdsourcers didn’t have to disclose the donors, information about the group’s activities, or its spending that would’ve been required if it had registered as a nonprofit. It is not clear how much compensation, if any, Ginni Thomas received. Mark Paoletta, a lawyer for Ginni Thomas, claimed her activism with people and groups that have interests before the court represents “no plausible conflict of interest issue with respect to Justice Thomas.” (Washington Post / USA Today)
3/ Kevin McCarthy demanded a meeting with Biden to discuss raising the debt limit. The White House, however, responded to McCarthy’s demands by calling for House Republicans produce a budget proposal first. Republicans wants Biden and the Democrats to agree to spending cuts as a condition of raising the debt limit, but the White House has called on Republicans to accept a “clean” debt limit increase without any conditions – like they did three times during Trump’s presidency. Biden released his budget earlier this month, which would cut the deficit by $3 trillion over the next decade, and asked House Republicans to release a budget to begin negotiations on spending cuts from there. Republicans have yet to release their budget. Congress must raise or suspend the current $31 trillion cap by this summer or risk a default. (Washington Post / Bloomberg / CNN / The Hill / CNBC)
poll/ 46% of Americans think Trump has done something illegal, and an additional 29% consider Trump to have done something unethical, but not illegal. 23% of Americans, meanwhile, say Trump has done nothing wrong. (NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist National Poll)
poll/ 78% of Americans are not confident that life for their children’s generation will be better than it has been for them. 21% feel confident that their children are better off. (Wall Street Journal)
1/ A 28-year-old woman shot and killed three children and three staff members at a Christian school in Nashville before being shot and killed by the police. The woman, Audrey Hale, 28, a resident of Nashville, was armed with two assault-style rifles and a handgun. The White House, meanwhile, said: “Enough is enough […] How many more children have to be murdered before Republicans in Congress will step up and act to pass the assault weapons ban, to close loopholes in our background check system, or to require the safe storage of guns?” [Editor’s note: This is a developing story.] (The Hill / New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / ABC News)
The gun that divides a nation. “This is how it came to dominate the marketplace.” (Washington Post)
2/ Trump threatened “potential death & destruction” if he’s indicted by the Manhattan grand jury investigating the hush-money payment to Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign. In a late-night post on his personal social media platform, Trump called Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg a “degenerate psychopath” while wondering aloud “What kind of person can charge another person […] with a Crime, when it is known by all that NO Crime has been committed?” (Washington Post / CNN)
3/ The former publisher of the National Enquirer testified before the Manhattan grand jury investigating Trump’s role in a hush-money payment to Stormy Daniels. David Pecker, who previously served as CEO of American Media, also testified in January about how Michael Cohen asked American Media to buy the rights to Stormy Daniels’ story to keep her from publicly disclosing it – a practice known as “catch and kill.” The grand jury adjourned Monday without taking a vote on whether to indict Trump, and is next scheduled to meet on Wednesday. (CNN / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / CNBC / NBC News)
4/ A federal judge ordered Mark Meadows and other former Trump aides to testify to the grand jury investigating Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Judge Beryl Howell rejected Trump’s claims of executive privilege to block more than a half-dozen former administration officials from responding to grand jury subpoenas issued by special counsel Jack Smith for testimony and documents. In a separate decision last week, Howell ordered Trump lawyer Evan Corcoran to testify in the classified documents case under the “crime fraud” exception, provision that allows prosecutors to work around attorney-client privilege if they have reason to believe that legal advice or services were used to further a crime. Howell’s order noted that Smith’s team had made “a prima facie showing that the former president committed criminal violations.” Trump is expected to appeal the sealed ruling. (ABC News / NBC News / New York Times)
5/ The Fox News producer who sued the network alleging she was “conditioned and coerced” to give false testimony in the $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems has been fired. In the amended complaint, Abby Grossberg said she was fired in “yet another thinly veiled act of retaliation” while expanding on her earlier allegations about “impermissible coaching and coercion” by Fox lawyers, bias, unprofessional behavior by staff members, and discrimination by the network. Grossberg wants to correct the Sept. 14 deposition she gave about the network’s coverage of Dominion Voting Systems, which she says was inauthentic given how Fox News was “fraudulently inducing her to deny facts she knew to exist.” (NBC News / ABC News / Talking Points Memo / CNN / CBS News)
6/ Kentucky’s Democratic governor vetoed a Republican bill that would prohibit transgender minors from receiving gender-affirming care, such as surgical procedures or the use of certain hormones. The bill would also ban discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools, and allow teachers to refuse to refer to transgender students by their preferred pronouns. The Republican-majority state legislature could still override Gov. Andy Beshear. (Associated Press / CNN)
poll/ 38% of Americans said patriotism was very important to them – down from 70% in 1998 – while 39% said religion was very important – down from 62% in 1998. (Wall Street Journal)
poll/ 44% of Democratic voters want Biden to step aside in 2024, while 25% want Biden to run again, and 30% have no preference. (Monmouth University Poll)
1/ The Manhattan grand jury hearing evidence about Trump’s role in the hush-money payment to Stormy Daniels will not consider the matter again until at least Monday. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg declined to give details of the investigation, and it was unclear whether the grand jury was hearing witness testimony or reviewing other evidence today. Last week, Trump declared that he would be arrested Tuesday. (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico)
2/ The Manhattan district attorney called demands by three House Republican leaders to force his testimony about his criminal investigation into Trump “an unprecedented inquiry into a pending local prosecution.” The District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office rejected the House Republicans’ request for documents and testimony, saying they lacked a “legitimate basis for congressional inquiry” and that their requests for information “only came after Donald Trump created a false expectation that he would be arrested the next day and his lawyers reportedly urged you to intervene.” In a five-page letter to Jim Jordan and other House Republicans, Bragg said their request “treads into territory very clearly reserved to the states” and would be an inappropriate use of congressional power. (New York Times / CNN / Politico / The Hill / Washington Post)
3/ Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen backtracked on the prospect that regulators would not extend deposit insurance to protect the banking system. Yesterday, Yellen made a point of saying she had not considered or discussed temporarily expanding emergency federal insurance – or as she called it, “blanket insurance” – to all U.S. banking deposits without approval by Congress. Yellen, however, testified today before a House Appropriations subcommittee that federal emergency actions could be deployed again in the future if necessary, saying: “We have used important tools to act quickly to prevent contagion. And they are tools we could use again. Regional bank stocks fell Wednesday following comments Yellen made at a Senate hearing that afternoon. (Bloomberg / CNBC / Reuters)
4/ A hospital in Idaho will stop delivering babies or providing other obstetrical care due recently enacted state laws “that criminalize physicians for medical care nationally recognized as the standard of care.” After the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to an abortion, Idaho banned nearly all abortions and subjected physicians to prosecution for providing abortions, even if needed to protect the health of a pregnant patient. A physician who violates the law face two to five years in prison, along with their medical license being suspended or revoked. Bonner General Health in Sandpoint will discontinue obstetrical services in mid-May, meaning patients will now have to drive 46 miles for labor and delivery care. The Sandpoint area averages annual snowfall of about 60 inches. (Associated Press / Idaho Statesman / Washington Post)
5/ Georgia’s Republican Gov. Brian Kemp signed a bill to ban most gender-affirming care for minors. Senate Bill 140 bars doctors in Georgia from providing minors with hormone therapy or surgery related to gender transition. Physician who violate the law risk losing their license. The bill will take effect July 1. Kemp skipped the bill signing ceremony, in part, because he’s a total clown. Instead, he announced the signing on Twitter. (CNN / ABC News / Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
poll/ 78% of trans adults say that “living as a different gender has made them more satisfied with their lives.” 45% say they are “a lot” more satisfied. (Washington Post)
1/ The Manhattan grand jury hearing evidence about Trump’s involvement in the hush-money payment to Stormy Daniels did not meet today as scheduled. The reason for the grand jury adjournment, which typically meets on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, wasn’t immediately clear. The pause comes after unexpected testimony from Robert Costello, appearing on behalf of Trump, who called into question Michael Cohen’s testimony. Cohen, who has admitted to paying $130,000 to Daniels just before the 2016 election to stop her from going public about an alleged affair with Trump, had spent two days of testimony walking grand jurors through the chronology of Trump’s involvement in the payment. Any potential indictment against Trump will not be issued by the panel until Thursday at the earliest. Trump, meanwhile, has reportedly told advisers that he wants to be handcuffed when he makes an appearance in court, if he is indicted. Trump – apparently – wants to be handcuffed behind his back for a perp walk because he thinks any special arrangements would make him look weak. (Insider / New York Times / The Guardian / CNN / Associated Press / Washington Post / ABC News / CNBC / Politico)
2/ A federal appeals court ordered Trump’s attorney to testify before the grand jury investigating classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago and to turn over documents to federal prosecutors. Last week, prosecutors in special counsel Jack Smith’s office presented “sufficient” evidence that Trump “intentionally concealed” the existence of additional classified documents from his attorney, Evan Corcoran. U.S. Judge Beryl Howell wrote that prosecutors had made a “prima facie showing that [Trump] had committed criminal violations.” Trump appealed Howell’s ruling, but a three-judge appeals court panel denied the request to halt the order. Corcoran is scheduled to testify Friday. (Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Washington Post / New York Times / ABC News / CNN)
3/ The Federal Reserve raised interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point – the ninth increase since March 2022. The Federal Open Market Committee voted unanimously to increase the federal funds rate to a range of 4.75% to 5% – the highest since September 2007 – despite the risk of exacerbating stress in the banking sector. Fed officials, however, signaled they expect one more quarter-point rate increase this year, equivalent to a target range of 5%-5.25%, due to the instability in the banking system. Looking ahead to 2024, the Fed projected that rates would fall to 4.1%. In its latest forecast, Fed officials expect unemployment to rise to 4.5% – up from the current 3.6% – and that the U.S. economy will grow by 0.4% this year – down from 0.5% they projected in December. Officials, meanwhile, believe inflation will remain above normal levels and finish 2023 at 3.3%. (Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / CNBC)
4/ Drug shortages in the U.S. are increasing in frequency and duration, which represent an “unacceptable national security risk,” according to a report issued by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Between 2021 and 2022, drug shortages increased by nearly 30% due in part to an over-reliance on foreign countries like China and India. Although more than 15 basic critical care drugs have remained in shortage for more than a decade, there were over 295 active drug shortages in at the end of 2022. (ABC News / NBC News / The Hill)
1/ The Senate advanced a bill to repeal the congressional authorization used to attack Iraq in 1991 and 2003 – nearly 20 years to the day that the U.S. began its “shock and awe” campaign to topple Saddam Hussein’s regime. The bipartisan legislation would repeal the 2002 authorization for the use of military force that Bush used for the 2003 invasion, as well as the 1991 authorization for the first Gulf War under H.W. Bush. Although Obama formally ended the war in 2011 and ordered the withdrawal of U.S. troops, Trump used the 2002 authorization to justify the airstrike that killed Iranian military leader Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad in 2020. It’s unclear, however, if Kevin McCarthy will bring the legislation up for a vote in the House. “Repealing this [Authorization for Use of Military Force] is a necessary step towards putting the final remnants of the Iraq War squarely behind us,” Chuck Schumer said. (CBS News / NPR)
2/ The Pentagon will accelerate the training and delivery of Abrams tanks and Patriot missile defense systems for Ukraine. The U.S. will send 31 older M1-A1 models instead of the more modern version of the tank in order to get them to Ukraine this fall. A group of 65 Ukrainian soldiers, meanwhile, are scheduled to complete their training on the Patriot missile system in the coming days. Two Patriot systems are expected to be deployed to Ukraine in the coming of weeks. (CNN / Politico / Associated Press)
3/ The Minnesota House of Representatives advanced legislation that would shield patients who travel to the state for an abortion and the providers that treat them. If passed by the Senate and signed into law, the Reproductive Freedom Defense Act would prevent state courts or officials from complying with extraditions, arrests or subpoenas related to reproductive health care that a person receives in Minnesota. The bill now goes to the state Senate, where Democrats hold a thin majority. (Minnesota Public Radio / Associated Press / Washington Post)
4/ Missouri’s Republican attorney general filed an emergency regulation to limit access to gender-affirming treatments for minors. Andrew Bailey’s new rules will require an 18-month waiting period, 15 hourlong therapy sessions, and treatment of any mental illnesses before Missouri doctors can provide that kind of care to transgender children, Bailey’s office said. The Missouri Senate, meanwhile, advanced a pair of bills to prohibit gender-affirming health care for minors and restrict them from competing in sports. Both bills, which sunset in 2027, need a final vote from the Senate before heading to the House. (Associated Press / St. Louis Post-Dispatch / Fox 2 Now / KOMU)
5/ Biden designated new national monuments in Nevada and Texas. The designation of the Avi Kwa Ame monument in Nevada, and Castner Range monument in West Texas protects nearly 514,000 acres of land from new development. Biden also started the process to designate a new marine sanctuary in U.S. waters around the Pacific islands southwest of Hawaii, which will protect 777,000 square miles of islands, reefs, and marine life. After taking office, Biden committed to conserving 30% of America’s lands and waters by 2030. (NPR / Washington Post / Associated Press / New York Times)
6/ A Fox News producer filed a lawsuit claiming the network’s lawyers coerced her into providing misleading testimony in Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against the network. The lawsuit from Abby Grossberg came shortly after Fox News sought a temporary restraining order to prevent her from disclosing privileged information, like in-house legal discussions. In a federal civil suit, Grossberg alleges that Fox News lawyers “coerced, intimidated, and misinformed” her as they prepared her to testify in Dominion’s $1.6 billion defamation suit. Grossberg also contends that Fox News lawyers advised her against hiring a personal attorney and implied that she was being “too candid” in her deposition prep sessions. Grossberg claims the attorneys took extra time “to make sure she got her story straight and in line with [Fox’s] position” and that was urged to give generic answers, like “I do not recall.” (Associated Press / NBC News / Washington Post)
7/ U.S. cases of a rare and often deadly fungus tripled from 2019 to 2021. More than half of U.S. states have now reported the fungus, Candida auris, which is resistant to several antifungal medications. Candida auris has a mortality rate of up to 60%. The CDC and World Health Organization have labeled it a growing threat to public health. (Associated Press / NPR / Wall Street Journal)
Notable/ As of 2:08 pm Pacific time, Trump has not been indicted. (NBC News)
1/ Trump claimed he will be arrested Tuesday and urged his supporters to “protest, take our nation back!” The claim comes while District Attorney Alvin Bragg considers criminal charges over Trump’s handling of a hush money payment to Stormy Daniels during his 2016 presidential campaign. Trump, however, provided no clear basis for his expected arrest, and a Trump spokesperson said there had been no actual “notification” about an imminent arrest from Bragg’s office. If charged, Trump would be the first former president to be indicted in U.S. history. (New York Times / NPR / Associated Press / CNN / Politico)
2/ Three House Republican committee chairmen are demanding that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg testify before Congress “about what plainly appears to be a politically motivated prosecutorial decision” in any potential indictment of Trump in connection with hush money payments made ahead of the 2016 election. The letter to Bragg comes before any decision on charging Trump with a crime has been made. House Republicans, meanwhile, have threatened to defund Bragg’s office, vowing to “investigate if federal funds are being used to subvert our democracy by interfering in elections with politically motivated prosecutions.” (Politico / The Hill / NBC News)
3/ Trump asked a Georgia court to scrap the criminal investigation into efforts to overturn the state’s presidential election by him and his allies. The motion seeks to prohibit Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from filing charges and to suppress the grand jury’s final report, which recommended indictments for more than a dozen people. Trump’s lawyers also requested that Willis be “disqualified from further investigation and/or prosecution of this matter.” (Politico / NBC News / USA Today / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
4/ A federal judge ordered Trump’s attorney to testify as part of the special counsel investigation into his handling of classified documents. The judge said in an order under seal that Justice Department prosecutors had met the threshold for the crime-fraud exception – a provision that allows prosecutors to get around attorney-client privilege when they have reason to believe that legal advice or legal services have been used in furthering a crime. Prosecutors overseeing the investigation can now compel Evan Corcoran to answer more questions before a grand jury. (CNN / New York Times)
Dozens of Mar-a-Lago staff have been subpoenaed in the classified documents probe. “Many of the Mar-a-Lago staffers are being represented by counsel paid for by Trump entities, according to sources and federal elections records.” (CNN)
5/ Wyoming became the first state to ban the use of pills for abortion. Republican Gov. Mark Gordon signed a bill making it a felony to prescribe, sell, or use “any drug for the purpose of procuring or performing an abortion.” Violators could face up to six months in prison and a $9,000 fine. The legislation takes effect July 1. In addition to prohibiting abortion pills in the state, Gordon allowed a second anti-abortion bill to become law without his signature. The law bans abortion under most circumstances. (New York Times / Politico / CNN / ABC News)
6/ Biden vetoed legislation that would bar investment managers from weighing environmental, social, and corporate governance factors when selecting investments. It was Biden’s first veto of his presidency. Despite ESG factors – short-hand for environment, social, and governance – being a widely accepted investing principle since 2004, Republicans recently started attacking it as “woke capitalism” that, they argue, attempts to force climate change politics into Americans’ financial planning. Investment managers, however, are not required to consider ESG factors – they’re simply encouraged to consider them. “This bill would risk your retirement savings by making it illegal to consider risk factors MAGA House Republicans don’t like,” Biden tweeted. “Your plan manager should be able to protect your hard-earned savings — whether Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene likes it or not.” The rule will now stand, as Congress is unlikely to get a two-thirds majority in each chamber to override Biden’s veto. (New York Times / Associated Press / Politico / NPR / Bloomberg / NBC News)
7/ Earth will likely to cross a critical threshold for global warming within the next decade and the world’s current plans to avoid catastrophic warming are inadequate. The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports that unless there are “deep, rapid and sustained” cuts to greenhouse gas emissions, global average temperatures will rise 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels sometime around “the first half of the 2030s.” Beyond that threshold, scientists warn that the climate disaster will become so extreme that humans will not be able to adapt to the impact of catastrophic heat waves, flooding, drought, crop failures, famines, and infectious diseases. Earth has already warmed an average of 1.1 degrees Celsius since the industrial age. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for an end to new fossil fuel exploration and for rich countries to quit coal, oil, and gas by 2040. A climate expert at Greenpeace International warned: “This report is definitely a final warning on 1.5C. If governments just stay on their current policies, the remaining carbon budget will be used up before the next IPCC report [due in 2030].” (New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Associated Press / The Guardian)
1/ The Biden administration threatened to ban TikTok if the app’s Chinese owners refuse to sell their stake in the U.S. version of the app. TikTok has been under scrutiny over fears that Beijing could request Americans’ data from its parent company, ByteDance, for more than two years. In 2020, the Trump Administration threatened to ban the app, citing national security concerns. Since then, the White House has been trying to negotiate an agreement with TikTok that would safeguard its data and eliminate the need for ByteDance to divest. TikTok, meanwhile, dismissed the threat, saying: “If protecting national security is the objective, divestment doesn’t solve the problem: a change in ownership would not impose any new restrictions on data flows or access. The best way to address concerns about national security is with the transparent, U.S.-based protection of U.S. user data and systems, with robust third-party monitoring, vetting, and verification, which we are already implementing.” TikTok is used by more than 100 million Americans. (Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Associated Press / NPR / NBC News / CNN / Washington Post / Axios)
The FBI and the Department of Justice ByteDance’s use of TikTok to spy on journalists. “According to a source in position to know, the DOJ Criminal Division, Fraud Section, working alongside the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, has subpoenaed information from ByteDance regarding efforts by its employees to access U.S. journalists’ location information or other private user data using the TikTok app.” (Forbes)
2/ The Fulton County special grand jury heard an audio recording of Trump pressuring the then-Georgia House speaker to call a special legislative session to overturn the 2020 election results in the state. The call from Trump to Georgia House Speaker David Ralston lasted about 10 minutes, and at one point Trump asked Ralston who would stop him from holding a special session. Ralston responded: “A federal judge, that’s who.” The call to Ralston was in addition to the call where Trump pressured Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” the number of votes needed to overturn Biden’s victory and suggested that he publicly announce that he “recalculated” the election results. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution / CNN / NBC News)
3/ Federal prosecutors investigated Trump’s social media company for money laundering in connection with $8 million in loans with suspected Russian ties. The loans were wired through the Caribbean to Trump Media, which owns Trump’s Truth Social platform, in 2021 and 2022 from “two obscure entities that both appear to be controlled in part by the relation of an ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin.” The wires were reportedly made when Trump Media was on the “brink of collapse” after its planned merger with Digital World, a special purpose acquisition company, was delayed by an SEC investigation into whether the arrangement broke regulatory rules. (The Guardian / Variety / Forbes)
4/ Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Congress that the U.S. “banking system is sound” after the collapse of three regional U.S. banks last week. Yellen, appearing before the Senate Finance Committee, defended the actions by federal regulators to stabilize the U.S. financial system, saying guaranteeing the uninsured deposits at the failing banks was necessary to stem a possible contagion that put “community banks across the country at great risk of runs.” Eleven of the nation’s largest banks, meanwhile, agreed to collectively rescue First Republic Bank with $30 billion in deposits. Yellen, Fed Chair Jerome Powell and others issued the following statement: “This show of support by a group of large banks is most welcome, and demonstrates the resilience of the banking system.” (Wall Street Journal / Politico / Washington Post / Bloomberg / CNBC / ABC News)
5/ Leaked tax records show CEOs making millions through well-timed trades of competitors’ stock, likely using nonpublic information. While insider trading laws require executives of public companies to disclose trades they make in their own company’s stock, the disclosure requirement doesn’t apply to trades that executives make in partner companies and competitors. Executives, however, typically have deep knowledge of their industry and extensive access to nonpublic information about competitors, partners, and vendors. For instance: “A Gulf of Mexico oil executive invested in one partner company the day before it announced good news about some of its wells. A paper-industry executive made a 37% return in less than a week by buying shares of a competitor just before it was acquired by another company. And a toy magnate traded hundreds of millions of dollars in stock and options of his main rival, conducting transactions on at least 295 days. He made an 11% return over a recent five-year period, even as the rival’s shares fell by 57%.” (ProPublica)
1/ A federal judge in Texas heard arguments in a lawsuit that seeks to overturn the FDA’s approval of the pills used in medication abortions. The abortion-inducing pill known as mifepristone is used in more than half of the abortions in the U.S. The lawsuit alleges that the FDA did not adequately evaluate mifepristone’s safety before it approved the drug in 2000, and argues that the FDA should not have made the medication accessible via telehealth during the pandemic. The FDA, which took more than four years to approve mifepristone, said it approved the drug after “a thorough and comprehensive review of the scientific evidence presented and determined that it was safe and effective for its indicated use.” U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, who was appointed by Trump and and is known for his conservative views on abortion and same-sex marriage, took the unusual step of intentionally delaying the public notice of today’s planned hearing, citing a “barrage of death threats and protesters” and his interest in avoiding a “circus-like atmosphere.” Kacsmaryk said he would issue his ruling as soon as possible, which is expected to be appealed and could eventually reach the Supreme Court. (Associated Press / NBC News / Washington Post / NPR / Wall Street Journal)
2/ South Carolina Republican lawmakers are considering legislation that would make a person who has an abortion eligible for the death penalty. The South Carolina Prenatal Equal Protection Act would “ensure that an unborn child who is a victim of homicide is afforded equal protection under the homicide laws of the state.” The bill defines a “person” as an “unborn child at every stage of development from fertilization until birth.” While the bill provides some exceptions to save the life of the pregnant person or if they were “compelled to do so by the threat of imminent death or great bodily injury,” it provides no exceptions for rape or incest. (NBC News / Rolling Stone / USA Today / The Hill)
3/ Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis dismissed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a “territorial dispute,” saying protecting the European nation’s borders is not a “vital” U.S. interest. DeSantis’s view on Ukraine policy, which is now aligned with Trump’s, is a reversal from his earlier support for arming Ukraine in 2015 after Russia annexed Crimea. Some top congressional Republicans, however, have argued that a sovereign Ukraine is in the long-term interests of the U.S. and that Biden should be doing more to help Ukraine, framing Putin’s invasion as a fight to defend the post-World War II international security framework. (Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
4/ A pro-Trump super PAC filed an ethics complaint against Ron DeSantis, accusing him of waging a “shadow presidential campaign” in violation of state ethics and election laws. DeSantis, who is expected to announce a 2024 presidential bid, is seen as Trump’s biggest competition in the Republican primary. The super PAC, MAGA Inc., wants the Florida Commission on Ethics to impose the “most severe penalties permitted” — including disqualifying him from the ballot. (NBC News / CNBC / Associated Press / Bloomberg)
Trump prepares an extensive opposition file on “Ron DeSanctimonious.” An early look inside Trump’s operation into his rival for the nomination reveals nothing is off the table. (Politico)
poll/ 59% of Republican voters prefer a 2024 presidential primary nominee who agrees with their views on major issues. 41% prefer a GOP nominee who has a strong chance to beat Biden. (CNN)
poll/ 46% of Republican voters support Trump for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, while 32% support Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Trump led DeSantis 42% to 36% in February’s poll. (Quinnipiac)
1/ Inflation eased for the eighth straight month. Consumer prices increased 6% in February from a year earlier, down from 6.4% in January and a 40-year peak of 9.1% in June. Inflation, however, remains far above the Federal Reserve’s 2% annual inflation target. On a monthly basis, prices increased 0.4%. Just before the collapse of two major banks – which in some ways is the result of the Fed’s efforts to raise borrowing costs after years of near-zero interest rates – Chair Jerome Powell had opened the door to re-accelerating the pace of rate hikes if inflation remained high. Many economists, however, now expect the Fed to either slow its rate hikes or stop them altogether when it meets next week. (USA Today / Associated Press / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / Politico / NBC News / CNBC / New York Times / CNN)
2/ The Justice Department and SEC opened investigations into the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. The investigations are reportedly focused on stock sales by several bank executives made days before the bank failed. The Justice Department’s probe involves the fraud prosecutors in Washington and San Francisco. No one at the bank, however, has been accused of wrongdoing and the investigation could end without charges being brought. Separately, a class action lawsuit was filed against the parent company of Silicon Valley Bank, its CEO, and its chief financial officer, alleging that the company “understated the risks” that the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes “had the potential to cause irrevocable damage to the company.” (Wall Street Journal / Associated Press / Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg)
3/ The EPA proposed limiting the amount of harmful “forever chemicals” in drinking water – the first time the federal government has suggested setting a standard for a class of chemicals known to pose significant health risks. The proposal would require water utilities to detect and reduce PFAS contamination at 4 parts per trillion – the lowest level that PFAS can be accurately measured and detected. Last year, the EPA found that the chemicals could cause harm at levels “much lower than previously understood” and that almost no level of exposure was safe. (NBC News / New York Times / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post)
4/ Biden signed an executive order designed to increase background checks before firearm sales. The executive order directs Attorney General Merrick Garland to clarify the statutory definition of who is “engaged in the business” of selling firearms and to come up with a plan to deal with firearm sellers who are either avoiding doing background checks or may not realize they are required to do them. The National Instant Background Check System carried out more than 31 million background checks on people looking to own firearms or explosives last year. (NBC News / NPR / Washington Post)
5/ Russian fighter jets intercepted and collided with a U.S. drone over the Black Sea. Two Russian Su-27 aircraft flew “in the vicinity” of the U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone for 30 to 40 minutes and dumped fuel on the unmanned drone several times before one the warplanes hit its propeller. The drone, conducting “routine operations” over international airspace, was brought down by operators after the collision, which the U.S. military said was the result of “reckless” actions by Russian pilots. Russia, meanwhile, denied that the jet made contact. (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / CNN / NBC News)
1/ The Biden administration approved the Willow oil-drilling project in the Alaskan Arctic over the objections of nearby tribal communities, environmentalists, and Democrats, who warned that the development threatens the pristine wilderness and that the project’s greenhouse gas emissions contradict Biden’s vow to fight climate change. Last month, the Interior Department said it had “substantial concerns” about the Willow project, including its direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions and impact on wildlife. The Interior also estimated that the project would generate roughly 9.2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide a year – the equivalent to adding two million gas-powered cars to the roads. The U.S. currently emits about 5 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide annually. The decision allows ConocoPhillips to start developing three drilling sites within Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve. The project is expected to produce about 180,000 barrels of oil a day at its peak – equivalent to about 40% of Alaska’s current crude production. Separately, Biden made the entire U.S. Arctic Ocean indefinitely off limits to future oil and gas leasing, and limited drilling in more than 13 million acres in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, where ConocoPhillips’s 600 million-barrel Willow venture is planned. (Associated Press / Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Bloomberg / CNN / CNBC / NPR / Politico)
2/ The Biden administration took emergency measures to ensure that all depositors of Silicon Valley Bank – which failed Friday – and Signature Bank – which failed Sunday – would be paid back in full. Following the second- and third-largest bank failures in history, the U.S. Treasury, the Federal Reserve, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. invoked a so-called systemic-risk exception to back deposits beyond the federally insured ceiling of $250,000 to prevent contagion at other small and regional banks. “Americans can rest assured that our banking system is safe. Your deposits are safe,” Biden said. “Let me also assure you we will not stop at this; we’ll do whatever is needed.” The Federal Reserve also set up an emergency lending program to ensure that other banks could meet the needs of depositors. Federal officials noted that the money being used to aid depositors will come from the Deposit Insurance Fund that banks – not taxpayers – pay into. The failure of Silicon Valley Bank – the nation’s 16th largest bank – occurred two days before the 15th anniversary of the Federal Reserve-backed rescue of Bear Stearns. (NBC News / Associated Press / NPR / New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / CNBC / CNN)
3/ Trump has “no plans” to appear before the Manhattan grand jury investigating the hush money payment to Stormy Daniels during his 2016 presidential campaign. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office convened the grand jury to evaluate whether Trump falsified business records in connection with a $130,000 payment Michael Cohen made to Daniels before the 2016 election. The DA’s office informed Trump last week of his right to testify before a grand jury in the probe. Cohen, who is expected to testify before the grand jury next week, previously said he fronted the money involved in the transactions and was reimbursed by Trump. At least seven other people have testified about the hush money deal. It remains unclear, however, whether Bragg will seek an indictment at the end of the process. (ABC News / NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post / CNN)
4/ West Virginia’s Republican-majority Legislature passed a bill banning health care for transgender minors in the state. Despite every major medical organization, including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Psychiatric Association, supporting gender-affirming care for minors, more than a dozen states have restricted or have considered restricting access to care. The bill heads to the desk of Republican Gov. Jim Justice, who hasn’t taken a public stance on the legislation. (Associated Press / USA Today)
5/ A Texas man filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against three women who allegedly helped his ex-wife terminate her pregnancy. In the first lawsuit of its kind since Roe v. Wade was overturned, Marcus Silva alleges that his now ex-wife learned she was pregnant in July 2022 and conspired with friends to illegally obtain abortion-inducing medication without his knowledge to terminate the pregnancy. While Roe was overturned by the Supreme Court in June 2022, the state’s trigger law, which made performing abortion a crime punishable by up to life in prison, didn’t go into effect until August. However, in 2021 Texas passed a law that deputized private citizens to sue any person who performs an abortion or helps someone get an illegal abortion. Silva’s civil case could result in the women each being forced to pay over $1 million in damages. Texas’ abortion laws, however, exempt the pregnant person from prosecution. (Texas Tribune / Washington Post / Bloomberg)
1/ A Trump attorney admitted to knowingly making 10 public “misrepresentations” about the 2020 presidential election being stolen. On November 20, 2020, Jenna Ellis claimed on Newsmax that “with all those states (Nevada, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Georgia) combined we know that the election was stolen from President Trump and we can prove that.” Ellis later claimed on Fox News show on Dec. 5, 2020 that “we have over 500,000 votes (in Arizona) that were cast illegally,” adding on Dec. 15 on Newsmax that Trump was “the true and proper victor.” Ellis was censured for misconduct by Colorado legal officials for the repeated false statements about the election. As part of the public censure, Ellis agreed that her legal work for Trump “caused actual harm by undermining the American public’s confidence in the presidential election.” (Colorado Newsline / Associated Press / NBC News / Politico / New York Times / CNN)
2/ House Republicans launched an investigation into the Democratic-controlled Jan. 6 committee from last Congress. The subcommittee — made up of four Republicans and two Democrats — will look into roughly two million documents and records. It also launched a portal to collect tips from the public. The subcommittee is expected to focus on the security failures around Jan. 6, the treatment of Jan. 6 defendants, and possible training or resource reforms for U.S. Capitol Police. (CNN / NBC News)
3/ Mitch McConnell was hospitalized and is being treated for a concussion after falling. The hotel where the fall occurred was the Waldorf Astoria, formerly the Trump International Hotel. McConnell is expected to remain in the hospital for several more days. (ABC News / Washington Post / NBC News)
4/ U.S. companies cut nearly 80,000 job last month – up from 15,245 in February 2022. Since January, U.S. companies have announced more than 180,000 layoffs – the most for any January-February period since 2009. The Labor Department, meanwhile, reported that the number of new unemployment claims rose 21,000 to 211,000 for the week ending March 4 – the biggest increase in five months. Economists, however, expect Friday’s job report to show that the economy added 225,000 new jobs in February. (Bloomberg / Reuters / CNBC)
1/ Biden’s budget blueprint aims to cut federal budget deficits by nearly $3 trillion over the next decade. As part of the budget, Biden wants to increase the Medicare payroll tax on people making more than $400,000 per year, as well as impose a tax on households worth more than $100 million. Biden will release his fiscal 2024 budget plan tomorrow and has faced pressure to cut spending by House Republicans, who have refused to raise the nation’s debt limit – setting up the risk of a national default. House Republicans, however, have yet to offer a blueprint to balance the federal budget, but nevertheless are reportedly planning to pursue cuts to the foreign aid budget, as well as health care, food assistance, and housing programs for poor Americans. (Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / CNN)
2/ The White House condemned Tucker Carlson for his false narrative that the Jan. 6 Capitol riot was a largely peaceful event, calling his depiction of the “unprecedented, violent attack on our Constitution” both “shameful” and “false.” White House spokesperson Andrew Bates added: “We also agree with what Fox News’s own attorneys and executives have now repeatedly stressed in multiple courts of law: that Tucker Carlson is not credible.” Bates was referencing revelations from the $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems against Fox News, which led to the disclosure that a senior vice president at Fox News testified in his deposition that he did not consider Carlson’s show to be a “credible source of news.” (Politico / New York Times / The Hill)
3/ Tucker Carlson claimed that he “passionately” hated Trump, according to documents released from the $1.6 billion defamation suit against Fox News by Dominion Voting Systems. On Jan. 4, 2021, Carlson texted an unnamed Fox co-worker: “We are very, very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights. I truly can’t wait,” adding: “I hate him passionately […] I can’t handle much more of this.” Carlson continued: “What he’s good at is destroying things. He’s the undisputed world champion of that. He could easily destroy us if we play it wrong.” (NBC News / Associated Press / New York Times / Washington Post)
4/ Kevin McCarthy rejected President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s invitation to visit Ukraine. Although there is widespread bipartisan support for Ukraine in Congress, some House Republicans have called for an end to further military and financial aid to the country. “Let’s be very clear about what I said: no blank checks, OK? So, from that perspective, I don’t have to go to Ukraine to understand where there’s a blank check or not,” McCarthy said when informed about the invitation. “I will continue to get my briefings and others, but I don’t have to go to Ukraine or Kyiv to see it. And my point has always been, I won’t provide a blank check for anything.” The Pentagon, meanwhile, blocked the Biden administration from sharing American intelligence with the International Criminal Court in The Hague about Russian atrocities in Ukraine. Military leaders said they feared setting a precedent that might be used to prosecute Americans. The evidence reportedly includes material about Russia’s decisions to deliberately target civilian infrastructure and to abduct thousands of Ukrainian children. (Politico / CNN / New York Times)
5/ A bipartisan group of 12 senators introduced a bill that could be used to ban TikTok. While the RESTRICT Act isn’t aimed just at TikTok, it would give the federal government the ability to restrict or ban technologies from China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and Venezuela – nations deemed to be U.S. adversaries. The Commerce Department would be tasked with reviewing, identifying, and mitigating perceived risks from technology produced by companies with ties to foreign adversaries that poses “undue or unacceptable risk” to U.S. national security. (CNBC / Politico / NBC News / CNN)
1/ The Biden administration is reportedly considering restarting the practice of detaining migrant families who cross the border illegally. Although Biden ended the policy after taking office, saying he wanted a more humane immigration system, the White House and Department of Homeland Security officials have met multiple times to discuss various border-policy proposals when Title 42 ends May 11. Title 42 – invoked by the Trump administration in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic – is a public health law that allowed border agents to rapidly expel asylum-seeking migrants who crossed the border illegally. More than 2.3 million people have been expelled under Title 42, which ends May 11 with the expiration of a national emergency for the Covid-19 pandemic. (New York Times / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
2/ Walgreens – the nation’s second-largest pharmacy chain – will not dispense abortion pills in 20 states, including some places where abortion is still legal and available. Last month, 20 Republican state attorneys general threatened Walgreens and other pharmacies with legal action if they dispensed mifepristone. The Biden administration called Republican efforts to dissuade pharmacies from distributing abortion pills “dangerous and just unacceptable.” Meanwhile, five women who were denied abortions under Texas law while facing medical crises are suing the state – the first time that pregnant women have taken legal action against abortion bans. “[The women] have been denied necessary and potentially life-saving obstetrical care because medical professionals throughout the state fear liability under Texas’s abortion bans,” the lawsuit said. The women, however, are not seeking to block Texas’ abortion bans outright, but instead asked the court to clarify that abortions can be performed when a physician makes a “good faith judgment” that “the pregnant person has a physical emergent medical condition that poses a risk of death or a risk to their health (including their fertility).” (Politico / CNN / NPR / New York Times / CNN)
3/ The Federal Reserve warned that it will likely lift interest rates higher and faster than previously expected if incoming data continues to point to a strong economy and persistent inflation. “If the totality of the data were to indicate that faster tightening is warranted, we would be prepared to increase the pace of rate hikes,” Chairman Jerome Powell said, adding that “the latest economic data have come in stronger than expected, which suggests that the ultimate level of interest rates is likely to be higher than previously anticipated.” Last year, the Fed raised interest rates at the fastest pace since the 1980s, lifting the borrowing costs from near zero to above 4.5%. Powell’s latest remarks suggest that the Fed could raise rates to 5.6%. Fed officials also project that the unemployment rate will reach 4.6% by the end of the year – up from 3.4% currently. Historically, when the jobless rate has increased by at least 1 percentage point, a recession has followed. 56% of voters, meanwhile, say they want the Fed to stop increasing interest rates before it triggers a recession. (CNBC / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Associated Press / Washington Post / Groundwork Collaborative)
4/ Biden proposed raising taxes on Americans earning more than $400,000 in an attempt to ensure that Medicare is funded for at least the next 25 years. The plan would raise Medicare taxes to 5% from 3.8%. The Biden administration also proposed allowing Medicare to expand its ability to negotiate lower prescription drug prices. Forecasters have warned that Medicare’s hospital insurance trust fund, known as Part A, will be able to fully pay scheduled benefits until 2028. Medicare covers more than 65 million senior citizens and people with disabilities. The plan is part of the White House’s 2024 budget proposal, but will likely be rejected by the Republican-controlled House. (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / Bloomberg / NPR / CNN / Wall Street Journal / ABC News)
5/ Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger denounced Tucker Carlson for airing an “offensive and misleading” portrayal of the Jan. 6 insurrection, including a “disturbing accusation” that Officer Brian Sicknick’s death had nothing to do with the riot. In an internal message to officers, Manger wrote that Carlson’s program “conveniently cherry-picked from the calmer moments of our 41,000 hours of video” to incorrectly portray the violent attack as “mostly peaceful chaos,” adding that Carlson’s “commentary fails to provide context about the chaos and violence that happened before or during these less tense moments.” Kevin McCarthy granted Carlson access to more than 40,000 hours of the Capitol security footage from Jan. 6, which Carlson used in an attempt to downplay the violence and defend the pro-Trump mob. Mitch McConnell and several Senate Republicans called Carlson’s portrayal of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol a “mistake.” (Politico / CNN / NBC News / Associated Press / ABC News)
1/ Trump pledged to stay in the 2024 presidential race even if he’s indicted, saying “I am your retribution.” Trump is facing two state investigations and two federal investigations: Prosecutors in Atlanta are considering charges against Trump over his efforts to pressure Georgia state officials to overturn his 2020 loss to Biden; the Justice Department is investigating Trump’s actions related to the Jan. 6 insurrection; a Justice Department special counsel is also looking at his handling of classified documents after leaving the White House; and prosecutors in New York are looking at his past business practices, including alleged hush money payments to a former mistress. Trump, meanwhile, won the Conservative Political Action Conference’s straw poll with 62% of the votes. His closest rival – Ron DeSantis – won 20% of the votes. (New York Times / USA Today / ABC News / CNBC)
2/ Trump asked a federal court to block Pence from testifying to a grand jury about his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, citing executive privilege. The grand jury subpoena seeks documents and testimony from Pence related to the Jan. 6 events where pro-Trump rioters tried to disrupt the certification of Biden Electoral College victory by Congress. At the time, Pence was presiding over the certification proceedings as president of the Senate. Pence has claimed that because he was acting as president of the Senate that day, he is protected by the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause, which shields lawmakers from some law enforcement actions. (CNN / New York Times)
3/ Paul Manafort agreed to pay $3.15 million to settle a civil case filed by the Justice Department over his “willful failure to timely report his financial interest in foreign bank accounts.” Manafort failed to disclosed to the Treasury Department nearly two dozen bank accounts related to consulting work in Ukraine from 2006 to 2014. (CNN / NBC News / Washington Post)
4/ A cancerous lesion was removed from Biden’s chest during his physical last month and all cancerous tissue was successfully removed, White House physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor said. Basal cell carcinoma is the most common form of skin cancer with approximately 3.6 million cases diagnosed in the U.S. each year. (Politico / ABC News / Washington Post)
5/ Since 2017, nearly three-quarters of all new debt was approved in bills supported by Republicans, and three-fifths of it was signed into law by Trump, according to an analysis of House and Senate voting records and the fiscal estimates by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The CBO projects that the 13 new laws signed into law since 2017 will combine to add more than $11.5 trillion to the debt. Since 2000, the national debt has grown from under $6 trillion to $31.4 trillion. (New York Times)
1/ Trump can be sued by injured Capitol Police officers and Democratic lawmakers over the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol. In a federal court filing, the Justice Department said Trump is not entitled to absolute immunity against civil lawsuits seeking to hold him liable for the attack because “no part of a President’s official responsibilities includes the incitement of imminent private violence.” Although Trump enjoys broad legal latitude to communicate to the public on matters of concern, attorneys for the Justice Department’s civil division wrote that “by definition, such conduct plainly falls outside the President’s constitutional and statutory duties.” Two U.S. Capitol Police officers and 11 Democratic House members are seeking to hold Trump liable for injuries and damages caused during the riot. Trump has argued that he was acting in his official capacity as president when he told a crowd to “fight like hell” to keep Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 election. (Washington Post / NBC News / Bloomberg / Associated Press / CNN / Reuters)
2/ The House Ethics Committee opened an investigation into George Santos, who has admitted to numerous fabrications about his background and faced questions about his campaign and personal finances. The probe will look at whether Santos “engaged in unlawful activity with respect to his 2022 congressional campaign,” including allegations of sexual misconduct, failure to properly disclose information on his House financial disclosures, and whether he violated federal conflict of interest laws. Santos responded to the investigation, tweeting in third-person that “George Santos is fully cooperating.” (The Hill / New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post / CNN / Associated Press / CNBC)
3/ Biden plans to ask Congress for $1.6 billion to recapture stolen Covid-19 relief funds and help victims of identity theft. The Trump and Biden administrations distributed about $5 trillion in pandemic relief funds, and some experts estimate that more than a quarter of a trillion dollars were stolen by fraudsters. At least $2 billion has been recovered so far. (Washington Post / NBC News / Reuters)
4/ Eli Lilly will cap the out-of-pocket costs of insulin at $35 a month – a 70% cut in the price of its most commonly prescribed insulin products. About 8.4 million people in the U.S. with diabetes rely on insulin in order to live, and the annual cost of medical care for people with diabetes runs $9,601 on average. Eli Lilly will cut the list price of its generic insulin to $25 a vial on May 1 – down from its current list price of $82.41 per vial. And for people with private insurance, the out-of-pocket costs will be capped at $35. Biden called the announcement as “a big deal.” (NBC News / NPR / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Associated Press)
5/ The Senate voted to repeal a Biden administration rule that allowed retirement funds to consider climate and social factors in their investments decisions. Republicans have complained that the rule is a “woke” policy that politicizes retirement investments by pushing liberal environmental and social goals on Americans. Republicans have also argued that the rule would lead to disinvestment from the fossil fuel industry. The rule, however, is not a mandate to consider the environmental, social, and governance factors in investment selections. It was intended to reverse Trump-era policy that discouraged ESG investments. Nevertheless, Senate Republicans, with the help Jon Tester and Joe Manchin, passed the resolution the by a vote of 50 to 46 – a day after the House voted to rescind the rule. Biden, meanwhile, has threatened to veto the measure. (New York Times / Politico / CNN)
1/ Rupert Murdoch testified that several Fox News hosts “endorsed” Trump’s false claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. Murdoch, chairman of Fox News’s parent company, conceded in a deposition taken by Dominion Voting Systems that Sean Hannity, Jeanine Pirro, Maria Bartiromo, and Lou Dobbs promoted false claims that the election was stolen and that he could have stopped them but didn’t. “I would have liked us to be stronger in denouncing it, in hindsight,” Murdoch said. The Executive Chairman also said that it was “wrong” for Tucker Carlson to allow MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell to make baseless election fraud claims on Fox News, but argued that it was a business decision, saying “it is not red or blue, it is green.” A recently unsealed court filing revealed text messages and emails that many of the most prominent executives, hosts, and producers had privately said claims of election fraud in the 2020 election were bogus. Dominion sued Fox News in March 2021 and is seeking $1.6 billion for alleged lies that “deeply damaged Dominion’s once-thriving business.” (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / CNN / Bloomberg)
2/ Democratic leaders called on Rupert Murdoch “to stop spreading false election narratives and admit on the air that they were wrong to engage in such negligent behavior.” In a letter to Murdoch and the leadership of Fox News, Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries wrote: “Though you have acknowledged your regret in allowing this grave propaganda to take place, your network hosts continue to promote, spew, and perpetuate election conspiracy theories to this day.” Kevin McCarthy, meanwhile, defended his decision to give Fox News’ Tucker Carlson “exclusive” access to to 41,000 hours of Jan. 6 security footage of the Capitol attack. McCarthy and House republicans are also moving to provide defendants in Jan. 6-related cases access to the footage. (Washington Post / CNBC / ABC News / Associated Press / The Hill / Wall Street Journal)
3/ FBI Director Christopher Wray told Fox News that COVID-19 pandemic “most likely” started after a lab incident in Wuhan, China. The FBI’s assessment, however, is not the consensus among intelligence and scientific communities, though the Energy Department recently concluded in a “low confidence” assessment that COVID-19 most likely arose from a laboratory leak. “The FBI has for quite some time now assessed that the origins of the pandemic are most likely a potential lab incident in Wuhan,” Wray said on Fox News. “Here you are talking about a potential leak from a Chinese government-controlled lab.” Wray added that the Chinese government “has been doing its best to try to thwart and obfuscate” investigations into the origin of the pandemic. (NBC News / CNN / USA Today / NPR / Axios / New York Times)
4/ The Georgia Senate Ethics Committee approved legislation to ban ballot drop boxes statewide, as well as make it easier to kick voters off the rolls through residency challenges. The bill, which was rewritten multiple times this week, was passed Tuesday night after limited debate and builds on Georgia’s 2021 election law, which allowed an unlimited number of challenges of voter eligibility, shortened the period to request an absentee ballot, and shortened the early voting period before a runoff election. The expansion of challenges to voter registrations based on names appearing on the National Change of Address database, however, might violate the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. The next step would be a full vote in the Georgia Senate. (Georgia Public Broadcasting / Associated Press / NBC News)
5/ A Republican in Florida’s state Legislature proposed eliminating the Florida Democratic Party, disenfranchising some 5 million voters. “The Ultimate Cancel Act” would “immediately cancel” any party that “previously advocated for” slavery, which the Democratic Party did more than 150 years ago. All registered voters who belong to a canceled party would also be notified that their party no longer exists and have their voter registration changed to “no party affiliation.” (NBC News)
6/ Mississippi’s Republican governor signed a bill banning transgender health care for minors – the seventh state to enact restrictions on puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and surgery for minors. The bill also bans public funding for any institution or individual that provides such care to minors. A Republican in the Tennessee Senate, meanwhile, proposed banning gender-affirming care for low-income people, including adults, in the state. Republican lawmakers in at least five states have proposed similar bills to limit such care for adults. (NBC News / Washington Post)
1/ Trump – who repealed an Obama-era rule that required “high-hazard” cargo trains to be equipped with an advanced braking technology – visited the site of a toxic train derailment in Ohio. “Unfortunately, as you know, in too many cases, your goodness and perseverance were met with indifference and betrayal, in some cases,” Trump said. In 2018, at the urging of railroad and industry lobbyists, the Trump administration repealed an Obama-era rule that required electronically controlled pneumatic brakes on trains hauling a certain amount of flammable liquids, such as crude oil and ethanol. While the Obama-era brake rule would not have directly applied to the train that derailed in East Palestine, rail experts said the accident would have been less severe had the train had the upgraded brakes. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, meanwhile, plans to visit the site of the train derailment on Thursday – 20 days after a 150-car train carrying oil and toxic chemicals derailed, caused a fire, and spilled toxic chemicals into the environment and community of 4,000. (Politico / Bloomberg / Associated Press / Politico / NBC News / CNN)
2/ The Biden administration issued a new immigration rule that would bar migrants from applying for asylum in the U.S. if they crossed the border illegally or failed to first apply for safe harbor in another country. The new rule would take effect on May 11 and remain in place for two years. May 11 is also the end date of the Title 42, a Trump-era pandemic emergency rule that has been used more than 2 million times to expel asylum seekers on public health grounds. (Politico / CNN / New York Times / USA Today / Washington Post)
3/ Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner were subpoenaed by the special counsel overseeing the investigation into Trump’s efforts to remain in office after losing the 2020 election and the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. Jack Smith wants the couple to testify before a federal grand jury. Both Ivanka and Kushner served as senior Trump White House advisors. Smith previously issued a subpoena to Pence, who has said he will oppose the demand for his testimony, as well as Mark Meadows. (New York Times / CNBC)
4/ Kevin McCarthy provided Fox News host Tucker Carlson with exclusive access to the Capitol surveillance footage from the Jan. 6 insurrection. Carlson said he received “unfettered”access to 41,000 hours of surveillance footage, and that his producers have been looking at the video “trying to figure out what it means and how it contradicts or not the story we’ve been told for two years” about the riot. Five people died as a result of the attack, and 140 members of law enforcement were injured by the mob of Trump supporters. Democrats, meanwhile, criticized the move, calling it an “egregious security breach that endangers the hardworking women and men of the United States Capitol Police.” (Axios / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / NBC News / CNN / Associated Press)
Fox News feared losing viewers by airing truth about election, documents show. “Newly disclosed messages and testimony from some of the biggest stars and most senior executives at Fox News revealed that they privately expressed disbelief about President Donald J. Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him, even though the network continued to promote many of those lies on the air.” (Washington Post / New York Times)
Arizona’s top prosecutor concealed records debunking election fraud claims. “Newly released documents show how Republican Mark Brnovich publicized an incomplete account of his office’s probe of the 2020 election in Maricopa County.” (Washington Post)
poll/ 50% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents said their party has a better chance of winning the White House in 2024 with Biden as their nominee. In November, 54% reported “someone else” would give the Democrats a better chance of winning. (NPR)
1/ The U.S. formally accused Russia of committing crimes against humanity in Ukraine for “targeting civilians with death,” using rape as “a weapon of war,” stealing Ukrainian children and “reeducating” them, and targeting train stations, maternity wards, hospitals, schools, and orphanages. Biden made an unannounced visit to Kyiv to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy – taking a nearly 10-hour train ride from Poland to Kyiv to show his administration’s “unwavering support.” After meeting with Zelenskyy, Biden vowed that the U.S. would “not tire” in its support of Ukraine. “One year later, Kyiv stands,” Biden said. “And Ukraine stands. Democracy stands. The Americans stand with you, and the world stands with you.” (Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / NBC News / Politico / Washington Post)
2/ Putin suspended participation in the last remaining nuclear arms control treaty between Russia and the U.S. Putin, however, said Russia will not “withdraw” completely from the New START nuclear nonproliferation agreement, but that Russia won’t allow NATO countries to inspect its nuclear arsenal. The 2011 treaty placed “verifiable limits” on the number of intercontinental ballistic missiles and deployed nuclear warheads. In his state-of-the-nation address, Putin accused the U.S. and NATO of “using Ukraine as a battering ram against Russia,” adding: “It was they who unleashed this war. We are using force to stop the war.” (Associated Press / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Politico / The Guardian)
3/ The U.S. warned that China was “considering providing lethal assistance to Russia” in its efforts in Ukraine. Secretary of State Antony Blinken cautioned Beijing against providing “material support” to Russia’s war in Ukraine. Beijing responded, saying the U.S. was “not qualified to issue any orders to China” and that the Biden administration should “stop shirking responsibility and disseminating fake news.” Chinese leader Xi Jinping, meanwhile, is expected to visit Putin in the coming months. Immediately before Russia invaded Ukraine, Moscow and Beijing issued a joint statement and declared a “no limits” partnership. (Politico / New York Times / CBS News / ABC News)
4/ The special grand jury that investigated Trump’s efforts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 presidential election results recommended indictments of multiple people on a range of charges. “It is not a short list,” the forewoman said, adding “You’re not going to be shocked. It’s not rocket science […] it is not going to be some giant plot twist.” Rudy Giuliani and 16 Republicans who were part of a fake electors scheme are known targets in the inquiry. (New York Times / Associated Press / The Hill)
5/ The EPA will take control of the cleanup of the Norfolk Southern train derailment in Ohio that released hazardous chemicals into the environment. Norfolk Southern will be required to remediate the site under a plan approved by the EPA and pay for the remediation costs. The company has two days to respond to the directive. The EPA’s response comes 18 days after the Feb. 3 train derailment. (Washington Post / NPR / Associated Press / Bloomberg / NBC News)
1/ The special grand jury investigating efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election concluded that “one or more witnesses” committed perjury during their testimony and urged Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to “seek appropriate indictments for such crimes where the evidence is compelling.” Willis will now decide whether to criminally charge Trump or his allies based, in part, on the findings by the special grand jury. Willis told a judge last month that decisions about potential prosecutions were “imminent.” The jurors also “unanimously” concluded “that no widespread fraud took place in the Georgia 2020 presidential election,” rejecting Trump’s conspiracy theories after hearing “extensive testimony” from election officials, poll workers, and other experts. Witnesses were not identified in the public, five-page excerpt of the grand jury report, nor did it mention which Georgia laws – other than perjury – the jurors believe may have been violated. (Associated Press / NBC News / Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / CNN / CNBC)
2/ The special counsel investigating Trump’s his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection subpoenaed Mark Meadows for documents and testimony. Meadows is one of Trump’s most senior officials that Jack Smith’s office has subpoenaed. Last week, Smith subpoenaed Pence. Smith also is investigating Trump’s handling of classified documents after leaving office. (CNN)
3/ The FBI conducted two planned searches at the University of Delaware as part of the Justice Department’s investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents. The previously undisclosed searches were conducted in recent weeks, with the consent and cooperation of Biden’s legal team. The FBI removed multiple boxes from the premises, but the documents reportedly didn’t have classified markings. (CNN / CBS News / Wall Street Journal)
4/ Biden suggested that the three unidentified objects the U.S. military shot down were unrelated to the Chinese spy balloon, but that his administration still doesn’t “know exactly” what the objects were. The U.S. intelligence community’s current assessment is that the aerial objects were “most likely tied to private companies, recreation or research institutions.” Biden added that there is no evidence of a “sudden increase in number of objects in the sky.” (New York Times / CNN / Axios / Bloomberg / ABC News)
5/ The Kentucky Supreme Court ruled that the state’s near-total bans on abortion will remain in place while legal challenges continue. The state legislature passed two laws in 2019 that ban nearly all abortions in Kentucky with no exceptions for rape or incest. The American Civil Liberties Union has challenged the two laws on behalf of Kentucky’s two remaining clinics, which were forced to stop providing abortions in early August. The ACLU argued that the laws violate Kentucky’s state constitution, including the “right of seeking and pursuing their safety and happiness” and freedom from “absolute and arbitrary power.” In November, Kentucky voters rejected a ballot measure that would have amended the state constitution to explicitly say that there is no right to an abortion. (Politico / NPR)
6/ The president of the World Bank will resign after refusing to say whether he accepted the overwhelming scientific consensus that fossil fuels are driving the climate crisis. David Malpass, who was nominated by Trump, said he would resign in June – a year before his term ends. The departure allows Biden to install a new head of the World Bank who can implement the administration’s goal of overhauling the financial institution to focus more on fighting climate change. (Associated Press / New York Times / Axios / Washington Post / Bloomberg / The Guardian)
1/ The U.S. is track to add nearly $19 trillion in new debt over the next decade – $3 trillion more than previously forecast. The Congressional Budget Office added that the federal deficit will hit $1.4 trillion this year, and that deficits will average $2 trillion annually over the next decade, as tax receipts fail to keep pace with the rising costs of mandatory spending on programs like Medicare and Social Security. The nation’s debt currently exceeds $31 trillion. (New York Times / Politico)
2/ The U.S. could default as soon as July if the Congress doesn’t reach an agreement on lifting the debt ceiling. Although the Treasury Department is using so-called “extraordinary measures” to continue making good on federal obligations, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office warned that the Treasury “could run out of funds before July.” Republicans, meanwhile, have refused to raise or suspend the cap unless Democrats agree to unspecified spending cuts. Biden and the Democrats, however, have rejected negotiations on spending cuts, arguing that lawmakers should raise the debt limit without any other conditions. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen reiterated that an “economic and financial catastrophe” would ensue if Congress doesn’t act. (Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / CNN)
3/ The 19-year-old white supremacist who killed 10 Black people at a Buffalo supermarket was sentenced to life in prison without parole. “There can be no mercy for you, no understanding, no second chances,” Judge Susan Eagan said, telling Payton Gendron “there is no place for you or your ignorant, hateful and evil ideologies in a civilized society.” Gendron pleaded guilty in November to 15 criminal charges, including murder and first-degree domestic terrorism motivated by hate – a charge that carried a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the chance of parole. Gendron also faces 27 federal hate crime and firearm charges, which could make him eligible for the death penalty. (Associated Press / NPR / CNN / ABC News / New York Times / Washington Post)
4/ The Justice Department closed its sex trafficking investigation into Matt Gaetz and will not charge the congressman. Federal prosecutors and the FBI began investigating Gaetz in 2020 over allegations that the congressman had violated federal law by paying for sex, including sex with a minor that he transported across state lines to engage in prostitution. Gaetz’s close friend, Joel Greenberg, pleaded guilty in 2021 to six federal crimes, including sex trafficking involving a person under 18 years old, and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. Greenberg was sentenced to 11 years in prison. (CNN / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / NBC News)
5/ Federal prosecutors investigating Trump’s handling of classified documents asked a court to force one of Trump’s lawyers to answer questions before a grand jury. The Justice Department cited the “crime fraud” exception to attorney-client privilege, saying they have evidence that some of Trump’s conversations with his lawyer, Evan Corcoran, were used to carry out a crime or fraud. Although Corcoran already appeared before the grand jury, he repeatedly invoked attorney-client privilege in declining to answer certain questions. The Justice Department’s motion is seeking to compel Corcoran’s testimony. (New York Times / Politico / CNN / NBC News / Associated Press)
1/ Inflation climbed 6.4% in January, down from 6.5% in December, and well below the June peak of 9.1%. While it was the seventh straight year-over-year slowdown, the January consumer price index was still higher than expected. On a monthly basis, inflation climbed 0.5% from December – up from the previous reading of 0.1%. Economists expect inflation to fall to roughly 4% later this year. Today’s inflation reading and a recent unexpectedly strong jobs report puts the Federal Reserve on track to raise interest rates at their March meeting to ensure inflation continues to fall. Investors now expect the Fed to raise rates to around 5.2% by the summer, and then hold rates above 5% through the end of 2023. (Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNBC / Washington Post / New York Times / Associated Press / NBC News)
Biden named Federal Reserve Vice Chair Lael Brainard to serve as the White House’s top economic advisor. Brainard will replace White House National Economic Council Director Brian Deese, who announced his resignation. (Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / CNBC)
2/ Pence will challenge a federal grand jury subpoena issued by the special counsel investigating Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Pence is expected to advance a novel legal theory that the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause shields him from testifying, saying his role as president of the Senate – i.e. a member of the legislative branch – insulates him from grand jury questions. Jack Smith’s office is seeking documents and testimony from Pence about the Jan. 6 insurrection, when Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol and disrupted the certification of Biden’s election victory – a process that Pence was presiding over in the Senate at the time. (Politico / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press)
3/ South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem signed a bill prohibiting gender-affirming care for transgender minors. The law will ban the prescription of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and gender-affirming surgery for transgender people under the age of 18 in the state. Health care providers who violate the new law risk civil lawsuits and losing their professional or occupational licenses. (CNN / Associated Press)
4/ The Florida legislature expanded a program used to fly migrants to Democratic-led cities and states. Gov. Ron DeSantis can now relocate migrants from any state in the country – not just from Florida – to blue states that have sanctuary policies in place. The measure, passed both Republican-led chambers along party lines during a special session, formally creates the Unauthorized Alien Transport Program under the state’s Division of Emergency Management. It now goes to DeSantis for his signature. (NBC News)
5/ Gov. Ron DeSantis wanted to ban weapons from a campaign event but suggested that the city take responsibility for the firearms ban. DeSantis has been a vocal supporter of gun rights. In an October email, the city-run Tampa Convention Center’s safety and security manager wrote: “DeSantis/his campaign will not tell their attendees they are not permitted to carry because of the political optics,” adding: “Basically it sounds like they want us to say it’s our policy to disallow firearms within the event space if anyone asks.” (Washington Post)
6/ Nikki Haley announced that she will run for president, saying “It’s time for a new generation of leadership.” Haley is the first Republican to challenge Trump for the 2024 Republican nomination. (Washington Post / Associated Press / NBC News / New York Times / CBS News)
7/ Trump reportedly wants to expand the use of the death penalty and bring back death by firing squad, by hanging, and by guillotine if re-elected. Trump has also suggested televising footage of executions. “The [former] president believes this would help put the fear of God into violent criminals,” one source said. “He wanted to do some of these [things] when he was in office, but for whatever reasons didn’t have the chance.” (Rolling Stone)
1/ The U.S. shot down three “unidentified object” flying over Alaska, Canada, and Michigan – the fourth such downing in eight days. Pentagon and intelligence officials said they couldn’t confirm whether the objects were a balloon, but said they were traveling at an altitude – about 20,000 feet – that made it a potential threat to civilian aircraft. The Chinese spy balloon that drifted over the U.S. flew at 60,000 feet, which didn’t pose a danger to aircraft. Gen. Glen VanHerck, commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command and the U.S. Northern Command, said: “I’m not going to categorize them as balloons. We’re calling them objects for a reason. I’m not able to categorize how they stay aloft.” After the briefing, a defense official clarified that there was “no indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity with these recent takedowns.” The Pentagon later said the unidentified flying object shot down in Canadian airspace appeared to be a “small, metallic balloon with a tethered payload below it.” The Biden administration, meanwhile, announced the formation of an interagency group to address the unidentified objects flying over North American skies. (Associated Press / CNN / ABC News / NBC News / New York Times)
2/ A Georgia judge ruled that portions of a Fulton County grand jury’s investigation into Trump and his allies’ actions after the 2020 election be made public. In an eight-page ruling, Judge Robert McBurney ordered the report’s introduction and conclusion, as well as the section where jurors expressed concern “that some witnesses may have lied under oath during their testimony,” to be made public on Thursday. Those witnesses are not identified. Recommendations on who should or should not be prosecuted will also remain secret to protect their due process rights. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said last month that decisions on whether to bring charges were “imminent.” (NBC News / Politico / New York Times / Associated Press / NPR / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
3/ The special counsel investigating Trump’s role in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol subpoenaed Pence for documents and testimony. Jack Smith’s office wants Pence to testify about his interactions with Trump leading up to the 2020 election and the day of the attack on the Capitol. Trump’s lawyers, however, are expected to fight Pence’s subpoena on executive privilege grounds. (CNN / NBC News / NPR)
4/ Trump’s legal team turned over more materials with classified markings, including a laptop belonging to an aide who works for Save America PAC. The Trump aide had previously copied those same pages onto a thumb drive and laptop, apparently not realizing they were classified. The laptop and the thumb drive were turned over to investigators in January. Trump’s attorneys also handed over an empty folder marked “Classified Evening Briefing.” One of Trump’s lawyers, Tim Parlatore, said the empty classified folder was in Trump’s bedroom because Trump used it block the blue light from his landline telephone. The FBI, meanwhile, removed one document with classified markings from Pence’s Indiana home, and six “additional pages without such markings that were not discovered in the initial review” were also removed. (CNN / NBC News)
5/ Trump’s 2020 campaign hired a research firm to prove Trump’s electoral-fraud claims. Berkeley Research Group was hired to study 2020 election results in six states and look for fraud or irregularities to highlight in public and in the courts. The findings, however, were never released because the research contradicted some of Trump’s theories, such as his baseless allegations about rigged voting machines and large numbers of dead people voting, and the firm couldn’t prove that Trump was the rightful winner of the election. (Washington Post)
6/ CDC researchers reported that teen girls in the U.S. are “engulfed in a growing wave of violence and trauma,” showing increases in rape, suicidal thoughts, and record levels of feeling sad or hopeless. Nearly 15% of teen girls reported that they were forced to have sex – an increase of 27% and the first increase since the CDC began tracking it; 30% of teen girls said they have seriously considered suicide — up nearly 60% over the past 10 years; and 57% of teen girls said they felt “persistently sad or hopeless” – double the rate of boys and the highest in a decade. The CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey is done every two years and is based on data collected from a nationally representative sample of students in public and private high schools. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / Bloomberg)
1/ The Chinese spy balloon carried antennas and sensors for collecting intelligence and communications. The Pentagon, State Department, and FBI said China’s military-led spy balloon program was part of an effort to surveil “more than 40 countries across five continents.” While still in the air, American U-2 flybys captured high-resolution images of the Chinese balloon showed is was equipped with “multiple antennas to include an array likely capable of collecting and geolocating communications,” which were “clearly for intelligence surveillance and inconsistent with the equipment on board weather balloons.” The manufacturer of the balloon has a direct relationship with the Chinese military. (Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg)
2/ The House passed a resolution condemning China for its “brazen violation of United States sovereignty.” The resolution passed 419-0, after House Republicans initially tried but failed to symbolically rebuke Biden’s response to the balloon. The measure also calls on the Biden administration to provide additional briefings to members of Congress surrounding the balloon’s entry into U.S. airspace and decision-making process around downing the balloon. (Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Politico)
3/ Russia suggested that its U.S. relations are in a state of “unprecedented crisis.” Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov argued that the U.S. supplying Ukraine with weapons leaves no room for diplomacy and “has driven them into a deadlock.” Ryabkov also blamed the U.S. for the explosions that damaged the Nord Stream pipelines, threatening of unspecified “consequences” from Moscow for the “disgusting crime.” An investigation into the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipeline ruptures detected explosive residue and concluded the cause was “grievous sabotage.” (Associated Press / Bloomberg)
4/ North Korea displayed nearly a dozen advanced intercontinental ballistic missiles – reportedly enough to overwhelm U.S. missile defense systems. Images from state-run media show North Korea’s military parading at least 11 Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missiles down the streets of Pyongyang. The weapon is North Korea’s largest intercontinental ballistic missile and has the potential to reach the continental U.S. Pyongyang, however, hasn’t been able to demonstrate the warhead’s ability to survive reentry. A nuclear policy expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace suggested that eleven ICBMs could be enough to overwhelm the 44 ground-based interceptors the U.S. can launch from Alaska and California to destroy an oncoming ICBM in flight. (Politico / Reuters / CNN / Washington Post / ABC News / New York Times)
5/ The Supreme Court discussed, but failed to agree an ethics code of conduct. Although the nine justices say they voluntarily comply with the same guidelines that apply to other federal judges, internal discussions about adopting a formal code of ethics date back at least to 2019 and have failed to produce agreement. The justices have maintained that they can’t be bound by all of the rules that apply to lower court judges because of the unique role the Constitution assigns the Supreme Court. (Washington Post / CNN)
1/ Biden’s address to Congress highlighted his accomplishments on job growth, infrastructure, climate, drug price cuts for seniors, and consumer protections in his first two years in the White House. In his first State of the Union address to a divided Congress, Biden challenged the new House Republican majority to work with him, repeatedly saying “Let’s finish the job” while calling on lawmakers to pass policing reform, immigration legislation, codify abortion rights, and to cap the price of insulin. Republicans, however, heckled Biden over drugs entering the country and when he accused them of threatening Social Security and Medicare. Biden was also met with boos after he pointed out that 25% of the U.S. national debt was added under Trump’s tenure. “They’re the facts, check it out,” Biden replied. (Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / Bloomberg / NPR / CNBC)
2/ Hakeem Jeffries suggested that Republicans who heckled Biden during the State of the Union address are unfit to serve in Congress. During his speech, Biden accused Republicans of holding the “economy hostage” over the debt ceiling while pushing to end entitlement programs. “Instead of making the wealthy pay their fair share, some Republicans – some Republicans – want Medicare and Social Security to sunset.” Marjorie Taylor Greene, nevertheless, began calling Biden a “liar” from the back row over the reference to Rick Scott’s plan that “all federal legislation sunsets in 5 years.” (Medicare and Social Security were created through federal legislation and would seemingly need to be reauthorized every five years). Biden replied: “So folks, as we all apparently agree, Social Security and Medicare is off the books now, right?” Following the speech, Jeffries tweeted: “President Biden delivered a compelling speech outlining a vision to make life better for everyday Americans. And his dignity presented a stark contrast with the right-wing extremists who are unfit to serve.” (The Hill / Washington Post / Bloomberg / New York Times / Politico)
3/ Mitt Romney told George Santos “you don’t belong here” before Biden’s State of the Union address. Romney said he criticized Santos for “trying to shake hands […] given the fact that he’s under ethics investigation,” adding: “He should be sitting in the back row and staying quiet instead of parading in front of the president and people coming into the room.” Santos faces multiple investigations over his campaign finances and repeated lies about his resume and biography. Santos, meanwhile, said that Romney’s comments were “reprehensible” and “it wasn’t very Mormon of him.” (CNN / Washington Post / Bloomberg)
4/ The Labor Department’s internal watchdog identified “at least $191 billion” in misspent pandemic unemployment benefits. The new estimate is nearly $30 billion more than the $163 billion that the government had identified last year. Federal officials, however, said they can’t accurately compute the total amount of federal pandemic aid subject to fraud and abuse. (Washington Post / Politico)
5/ The U.S. intelligence community said China’s spy balloon was part of a global surveillance program designed to collect information about the military capabilities of countries around the world. The Pentagon said that in recent years Chinese surveillance balloons have been spotted over Latin America, South America, Southeast Asia, East Asia, and Europe, collecting information on military assets of emerging strategic interest to China. Antony Blinken, the U.S. secretary of state, said that the State Department has shared this information with dozens of countries. “We’re doing so because the United States was not the only target of this broader program, which has violated the sovereignty of countries across five continents.” (New York Times / Washington Post)
poll/ 35% of Americans say they are better off now than they were a year ago, while 50% are worse off. Since 1976, the only other time half or more of Americans to say they were worse off was during the Great Recession in 2008 and 2009. (Gallup)
1/ A federal judge suggested that the federal right to abortion might be protected by the Constitution’s 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said while the Supreme Court concluded that the 14th Amendment included no right to abortion, the question of whether the 13th Amendment provided a textual basis for the right to abortion went unexplored. In a pending criminal case against several anti-abortion activists, Kollar-Kotelly asked prosecutors and defense lawyers to address “whether the scope of Dobbs is in fact confined to the Fourteenth Amendment” and “whether, if so, any other provision of the Constitution could confer a right to abortion as an original matter […] such that Dobbs may or may not be the final pronouncement on the issue, leaving an open question.” (Politico / CNBC / The Hill)
2/ More than 3 million people in the U.S. were forced to evacuate their homes in the past year because of natural disasters worsened by a changing climate – about 1.4% of the U.S. adult population. While most displacements were short term, census figures show that roughly 16% of displaced adults never returned home, and 12% were displaced for more than six months. (E&E News / Politico)
3/ Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said “the process of getting inflation down has begun,” but is going to take time and interest rates may need to keep rising. Powell’s remarks followed the government’s jobs report that employers added 517,000 jobs in January – nearly double December’s gain – while unemployment fell to 3.4%, the lowest rate since 1969. Powell said the U.S. labor market remains “extraordinarily strong,” but the process of bringing inflation down to the Fed’s goal of 2% “is likely to take quite a bit of time. It’s not going to be, we don’t think, smooth. It’s probably going to be bumpy.” (Associated Press / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / CNBC / CNN / New York Times)
4/ Biden will deliver his second State of the Union address tonight. He’s expected to address the economy and infrastructure, including the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure act, and the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. Biden is also expected to address raising the debt ceiling, which House Republicans have refused to raise without cuts to federal spending. Biden, who turned 80 in November, will be the oldest president to ever deliver a State of the Union address. (Associated Press / Politico / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / NPR)
How to watch Biden’s State of the Union address. Biden’s speech is scheduled for 9 p.m. EST and will be broadcast by the major television networks and cable news TV channels. (Associated Press)
1/ The FBI arrested two people and charged them with conspiracy to attack the electrical substations around Baltimore and “completely destroy” the city. Sarah Clendaniel and Brandon Russell planned to use firearms to “inflict maximum harm on the power grid,” according to the FBI. The plot was reportedly driven by ethnically or racially motivated extremist beliefs. Russell is the founder of the neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen. Clendaniel and Russell met while incarcerated at separate prisons: Russell for possessing bombmaking materials and Clendaniel for robbing convenience stores with a machete. If convicted, they each face a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison. (NPR / CNN / Washington Post / New York Times)
2/ The U.S. shot down the Chinese surveillance balloon off the Carolina coast Saturday, about a week after it was spotted crossing the U.S. The Navy and Coast Guard are trying to recover the surveillance equipment the balloon was carrying. The Chinese foreign ministry declared its “strong discontent and protest” at Biden’s decision to shoot down the balloon, claiming that it was a civilian aircraft that had accidentally blown into the U.S. The chair of the House Intelligence Committee, meanwhile, criticized the Biden administration for lacking a sense of “urgency” and that the ballon “never should have been allowed to complete its mission.” During the Trump administration, however, at least three suspected Chinese spy balloons flew over the continental U.S. undetected, which weren’t discovered until after the Trump administration had already left. (NBC News / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Politico / New York Times)
3/ Jim Jordan issued subpoenas to the heads of the Justice Department, FBI, and Department of Education seeking documents related to local school board meetings. The House Judiciary chairman said the request is part of the committee’s investigation into whether a 2021 Justice Department memo addressing threats against school officials was used to label parents as domestic terrorists. The FBI has never charged a single parent in connection with the memo. Nevertheless, Jordan requested that Attorney General Merrick Garland, FBI Director Christopher Wray, and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to turn over all documents about how they “used federal counterterrorism resources against American parents” by March 1. (Politico / CNN / NBC News / The Hill)
4/ Some Supreme Court justices often use personal email accounts for work. Court employees reportedly said they were nervous about confronting the justices about using secure servers to transmit sensitive information. Despite the court calling the leak of a draft opinion reversing Roe v. Wade a “grave assault” on the court’s legitimacy, three former court employees said that “burn bags” meant to ensure the safe destruction of sensitive materials were often left open and unattended in hallways. (CNN)
5/ The U.S. unemployment rate fell to a 53-year low at 3.4%. Employers, meanwhile, added 517,000 jobs in January – far higher than the 187,000 estimated. Biden called the jobs report “strikingly good news,” adding: “our plan is working because of the grit and resolve of the American worker.” (Associated Press / New York Times / Bloomberg / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
poll/ 41% of Americans say they’re not as well off financially as they were when Biden took office – the most since 1986. (ABC News)
poll/ 33% of Americans rate the current economy as “good,” compared to 66% who rate it as “bad.” 62% expect the economy to be slowing or in a recession next year, while 38% say the economy will be growing or at least holding steady. (CBS News)
poll/ 67% of Americans expect inflation to rise over the next six months; 48% predict the market will fall; 41% expect unemployment will rise; and 43% say gross domestic product will fall. (Gallup)
poll/ 68% of Americans said they have little or no confidence in Biden, and 70% said the same for Democrats in Congress. 71%, however, said they lack confidence in Kevin McCarthy and 72% said they have little faith in Republicans in Congress. (ABC News)
poll/ 62% of Americans think Biden has accomplished “not very much” or “little or nothing” during his time in office, while 36% say he’s accomplished “a great deal” or “a good amount.” (Washington Post)
poll/ 58% of Democratic and Democratic-leaning independents said they would prefer someone other than Biden as their nominee in 2024. 49% of Republican and Republican-leaning independents say they’d prefer someone other than Trump as their nominee. (Washington Post)
1/ The FBI plans to search Pence‘s Indiana home for classified material in the coming days. Last month, Pence’s lawyers said they had found several classified documents at his home and turned them over to authorities. The investigation into classified documents that Trump took to Mar-a-Lago, meanwhile, has escalated for more than a year to include a criminal investigation into possible obstruction, among other potential crimes, which special counsel Jack Smith is overseeing. (Wall Street Journal)
2/ House Republicans removed Ilhan Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee for making what Kevin McCarthy described as “repeated antisemitic and anti-American remarks.” After entering Congress in 2019, Omar angered both Democrats and Republicans for suggesting on Twitter that Israel’s political allies in the U.S. were motivated by money rather than principle, saying: “It’s all about the Benjamins baby.” In a party-line vote, the resolution condemns Omar for using an antisemitic trope connecting Jews to money and disapproved of Omar equating “atrocities” by the U.S. military to those committed by terrorist groups like the Taliban and Hamas. Omar, a refugee from Somalia and one of the first Muslim women to serve in the House, has apologized for her comments. Democrats, meanwhile, criticized the push to oust Omar, arguing it amounts to an act of political retribution after Democrats stripped Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar of their assignments last term for violent rhetoric and posts.
(Washington Post / CNN / Associated Press / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
3/ Mitch McConnell removed Rick Scott from the Senate Commerce Committee as retribution for trying to replace him as leader of the GOP conference. McConnell also removed Mike Lee from the committee, who supported Scott’s effort to oust McConnell. (The Hill / CNN)
4/ Trump invoked the Fifth Amendment and declined to answer questions more than 400 times during an August deposition as part of New York Attorney General Letitia James’ civil investigation into the Trump Organization’s business practices. About a month later, James filed a lawsuit against Trump, three of his children, and executives of his business, accusing them of a long-running scheme to inflate the value of their properties. “This whole thing is very unfair,” Trump said in the deposition video. “Anyone in my position not taking the Fifth Amendment would be a fool, an absolute fool,” adding that on the advice of counsel, “I respectfully decline to answer the questions under the rights and privileges afforded to every citizen under the United States Constitution.” (CBS News / CNN / ABC News)
5/ Hunter Biden’s lawyers demanded that state and federal prosecutors open criminal investigations into who accessed and disseminated his personal data, and threatened Fox News’ Tucker Carlson with a defamation lawsuit for allegedly failing to correct false statements. Hunter’s lawyers allege that Trump’s allies broke the law in an effort to “weaponize” the personal data of Joe Biden‘s son during the 2020 election. It’s the first time Biden and his legal team have publicly addressed the reports that his personal data was found on a laptop left at a Delaware repair shop and shared by Republican operatives before the 2020 presidential election. A letter sent to the Justice Department’s National Security Division asked for an investigation into “individuals for whom there is considerable reason to believe violated various federal laws in accessing, copying, manipulating, and/or disseminating Mr. Biden’s personal computer data,” including Rudy Giuliani, who was Trump’s lawyer at the time, former computer repair shop owner John Paul Mac Isaac, Stephen Bannon, and their attorney Robert Costello. Biden’s lawyers wrote a similar letter to the Delaware attorney general’s office, requesting a probe into the same people, alleging they violated “various Delaware laws” in accessing Biden’s information from what Trump has called “the laptop from hell.” (Washington Post / NBC News / CBS News / Wall Street Journal / Axios)
6/ A federal judge ruled that a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the father of a man shot and killed by Kyle Rittenhouse can proceed. Rittenhouse was acquitted in 2021 of homicide charges after the then 17-year-old shot three men with an AR-style rifle at an August 2020 protest for racial justice in Kenosha, Wisconsin, killing two: Anthony Huber and Joseph Rosenbaum. Huber’s father, John Huber, filed a civil suit over his son’s death. Rittenhouse has maintained he acted in self-defense. (Associated Press / Washington Post / Rolling Stone)
1/ The FBI conducted a “planned search” of Biden’s beach house in Delaware, but found no documents with classified markings. Biden’s lawyer said the FBI did take some materials and handwritten notes that appeared to relate to his tenure as vice president. It’s the third known time that federal agents have searched properties associated with Biden for classified material. The FBI previously searched Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware, as well as his Washington office of the Penn Biden Center in mid-November after Biden’s attorneys first discovered classified material in a locked closet. (CNN / ABC News / Washington Post / Politico / NPR / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press / Bloomberg / NBC News)
2/ The College Board revised its framework for an Advanced Placement African American studies course following criticism from Gov. Ron DeSantis, who had threatened to ban the class in Florida. The College Board removed the names of several Black authors associated with critical race theory, and topics such as Black Lives Matter, slavery reparations, and queer theory from the formal curriculum. Instead, the topics are suggested for end-of-the-year student research projects that are “not a required part of the course framework that is formally adopted by states.” The College Board said the revisions were based on input from teachers running the pilot classes, as well as experts in the field, which includes 300 professors of African American studies across the U.S., and that “no states or districts have seen the official framework that is released, much less provided feedback on it.” Today is the start of Black History Month. (New York Times / NPR / NBC News)
3/ George Santos will temporarily step down from his two congressional committees amid multiple investigations into his campaign finances and other issues, including lying about his resume and family background. Santos told colleagues he will step down from the House Small Business Committee and the Science, Space and Technology Committee because “he’s a distraction.” The FBI, meanwhile, is investigating Santos’ role in an alleged GoFundMe scheme involving a disabled U.S. Navy veteran’s dying service dog. 78% of voters in Santos’s congressional district want him to resign, as well as 59% of New York voters. (Washington Post / NBC News / Associated Press)
4/ The Federal Reserve raised interest rates by a quarter-point, its eighth-consecutive hike, but the smallest since last March. “Inflation has eased somewhat but remains elevated,” the committee said in a statement, adding that rate hikes will be “ongoing” even at the risk of lost jobs. The Fed’s policy rate now sits between 4.5% and 4.75% – the highest since October 2007. (Wall Street Journal / Associated Press / Bloomberg / CNBC / CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / NPR / Politico)
5/ Biden will end the Covid-19 national and public health emergencies in May, formally restructuring the federal response to treat the coronavirus as an endemic. The public health emergency provided many Americans with free Covid-19 tests, treatments, and vaccines, as well as enhanced social safety net benefits. More than 500 on average people in the U.S. are dying from Covid-19 each day – about twice the number of deaths per day during a bad flu season. House Republicans, meanwhile, passed legislation to repeal vaccine mandates and declare the pandemic over. (Associated Press / New York Times / CNN)
1/ A sixth Memphis police officer “has been relieved of duty” for his involvement in the beating and subsequent death of Tyre Nichols by police officers. Five Black officers have been fired by the department and charged with second-degree murder and kidnapping in connection with Nichols’s death. The sixth officer, Preston Hemphill, has been suspended from duty and has not been charged. Hemphill is white. Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, was stopped by police on Jan. 7 for an alleged traffic violation. Videos show police officers kicking Nichols in the head, pepper-spraying him, hitting him repeatedly with a baton, and using a Taser on him after he was pulled over purportedly for reckless driving. Nichols appeared subdued and defenseless, and showed no signs of fighting back in the videos of the incident. He died three days later. (New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / NPR / CNBC / Wall Street Journal)
2/ Biden and Kevin McCarthy will meet Wednesday to discuss a “reasonable and responsible way” to lift the debt ceiling and avert a U.S. default. The Biden administration has argued that Congress has a “Constitutional obligation to prevent a national default” and should pass a debt limit increase without conditions attached – like Congress did three times during Trump’s tenure. McCarthy and Republicans, meanwhile, want to cut government spending, including to Social Security and Medicare benefits, in exchange for raising the borrowing cap. (Politico / CNN / Bloomberg / Associated Press)
3/ The Supreme Court didn’t disclose its longstanding financial ties with the person tasked with independently validating the investigation into the leaked draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade. The court consulted with former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to assess the investigation, which failed to identify who was responsible for the unprecedented leak. Chertoff concluded that the probe was a thorough one and that he “cannot identify any additional useful investigative measures.” The court, however, has paid Chertoff’s consulting firm at least $1 million to improve the justices’ security. The exact amount couldn’t be determined because the Supreme Court isn’t covered by federal public disclosure rules. While all nine justices were interviewed as part of the court’s internal investigation into who leaked a draft of the opinion, the justices weren’t required to sign sworn affidavits attesting that they weren’t involved. (CNN)
4/ The Biden administration proposed ending a Trump-era exemption that allowed employer-provided health plans to exclude coverage of birth control on moral grounds. While the proposed rule would leave in place the existing religious exemption for employers with objections, it would create an independent pathway for individuals to access contraceptive services without charge. Doctors or facilities that provide contraception in this way would then be reimbursed by an insurer on the Affordable Care Act exchanges, which would then receive a credit on the user fee it pays the government. In 2018, the Trump administration allowed some employers to deny insurance coverage for contraception to their employees on religious or moral grounds. (CNN / Wall Street Journal)
5/ Trump, calling Ron DeSantis “very disloyal,” claimed that the Florida governor is “trying to rewrite history” about the state’s Covid-19 response. Trump said DeSantis had “changed his tune a lot” about vaccines and even “promoted the vaccine as much as anyone.” Trump added that “Florida was closed for a long period of time.” The WHO, meanwhile, said Covid-19 remains a global health emergency, though the crisis “may be approaching an inflection point.” (CNN / Politico / CNBC)
1/ The U.S. economy expanded at a 2.9% annualized rate in the fourth quarter last year, beating expectations despite high interest rates and fears of a recession. For the year overall, GDP grew 2.1% after growing 5.7% in 2021. Most economists, however, think the slowing economy will slide into at least a mild recession by midyear, triggered in part by the highest borrowing costs in decades. (CNBC / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / Politico / Associated Press / Bloomberg / CBS News)
2/ Adam Schiff announced that he is running for U.S. Senate in 2024, seeking to replace Dianne Feinstein. Schiff has served in the House since 2001. “We’re in the fight of our lives for the future of our country,” Schiff said. “Our democracy is under assault from MAGA extremists, who care only about gaining power and keeping it. And our economy is simply not working for millions of Americans, who are working harder than ever just to get by.” The 89-year-old Feinstein, meanwhile, won’t announce her 2024 intentions until next year, saying “I need a little bit of time, so it’s not this year.” (Washington Post / Los Angeles times / KQED / NBC News / Politico / Raw StoryNew York Times)
3/ The Biden administration banned mining for 20 years in the watershed upstream from Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The plan closes over 350 square miles to mineral and geothermal leasing critical to a proposed copper and nickel mine the Trump administration had tried to greenlight. A 20-year moratorium is the longest amount of time the Interior Department can sequester the land without congressional approval. (Washington Post / New York Times / CBS News)
4/ The FBI seized the computer infrastructure used by a ransomware gang, which extorted more than $100 million from more than 1,500 victims worldwide, including hospitals, schools, and others. The Justice Department said it used a court order to seize two back-end servers belonging to the Hive ransomware group in Los Angeles, and took control of the group’s website. The FBI said it gained access to Hive’s computer networks in July and acquired decryption keys the bureau could pass to victims to decrypt their systems, which prevented more than $130 million in ransom payments. (Politico / CNN / NBC News)
5/ Florida students threatened to sue Gov. Ron DeSantis over his administration’s decision to reject an Advanced Placement African American studies course. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, representing three Florida AP honors high school students, accused DeSantis of violating federal and state constitutions by refusing to permit the course, adding that DeSantis “cannot exterminate our culture.” Florida Education Department, meanwhile, contends that the class is “contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks educational value.” (Washington Post / Axios)
poll/ 73% of Americans say House Republican leaders haven’t paid enough attention to the country’s most important problems. 67% disapprove of Republican leadership in Congress. (CNN)
1/ Kevin McCarthy blocked Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell from serving on the House Intelligence Committee in retribution for the Democratic-led House stripping Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar of their committee assignments in 2021 for embracing violence against Democratic members of Congress. McCarthy accused Schiff of lying when he served as chairman of the panel and “severely undermined its primary national security and oversight missions – ultimately leaving our nation less safe.”McCarthy also argued that Swalwell was unfit to serve on the committee because he was targeted by a suspected Chinese spy as part of an influence campaign in 2014, before he served on the intelligence panel. There’s no evidence of wrongdoing in relation to the allegation against Swalwell. Nevertheless, McCarthy said he made the decision “because integrity matters to me.” (Bloomberg / Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
2/ A former senior FBI counterintelligence official in New York was arrested over his ties to a Russian oligarch. Federal prosecutors charged Charles McGonigal with violating U.S. sanctions, conspiracy, and money laundering for working in 2021 with Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, who was sanctioned for interfering in the 2016 presidential election. From August 2017 through his retirement in September 2018, McGonigal allegedly concealed his relationship with Deripaska from the FBI while secretly taking cash payments of more than $225,000 and trying to get Deripaska removed from a U.S. sanctions list. (Washington Post / New York Times / ABC News / NBC News / Associated Press / NPR / CNBC / CNN)
Perhaps related: On October 4, 2016, FBI Director James Comey named McGonigal as the special agent in charge of the Counterintelligence Division for the New York Field Office. Weeks later, on October 31, the FBI concluded that their investigation into Russian collusion, finding no link between Trump and the Russian government. This was 8 days before the Trump-Clinton election.
3/ About a dozen classified documents were found at Pence’s Indiana home. Like Biden, Pence turned them over to the FBI. While Pence has repeatedly said he didn’t have classified documents in his possession, his representative to the National Archives said a “small number of documents” with classified markings were “inadvertently boxed and transported” to Pence’s home at the end of Trump’s administration. FBI investigators, meanwhile, found six additional classified documents while conducting a search of Biden’s Delaware home. Those six items are in addition to materials previously found at Biden’s Wilmington residence and in his private office. (CNN / New York Times / CNN / Politico)
4/ The U.S. has seen at least 39 mass shootings so far this month and more than 60 people have been killed. In the deadliest shooting of 2023 so far, 11 people were killed and nine other injured when a gunman opened fire in a dance studio as people celebrated the Lunar New Year in Monterey Park, California. (NBC News / CBS News / New York Times)
5/ The Biden administration will send 31 M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, following agreement with Germany to deliver 14 of its Leopard 2 tanks. European allies will also send enough tanks to assemble two Leopard tank battalions — equivalent to at least 70 tanks. Biden said the tanks would “enhance the Ukrainians’ capacity to defend its territory, adding that “there is no offensive threat to Russia. If Russian troops return to Russia, where they belong, this war would be over today.” (Associated Press / Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Politico)
6/ The Doomsday Clock moved up to 90 seconds to midnight. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists set the clock 10 seconds closer than last year due in part to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and threats of nuclear war, the threats of climate change, and concerns about more pandemics caused by humans. “We are sending a message that the situation is becoming more urgent,” Bulletin President Rachel Bronson said. “Crises are more likely to happen and have broader consequences and longer standing effects.” (USA Today / Associated Press)
7/ Facebook will reinstate Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts “in coming weeks” following a two-year suspension for inciting violence in the wake of the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection. “However, we are doing so with new guardrails in place to deter repeat offenses,” the company said. Nick Clegg, the company’s president, global affairs, added: “We’ve always believed that Americans should be able to hear from the people who want to lead the country. We don’t want to stand in the way of that.” (Axios / CNN / CNBC)
1/ The Supreme Court cannot identify the person who leaked a draft of the opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, which the court has called “one of the worst breaches of trust in its history.” Supreme Court Marshal Gail Curley conducted 126 formal interviews of 97 employees, but “was unable to identify a person responsible by a preponderance of the evidence.” Curley said 82 employees had access to copies of the draft opinion. The court also said it could not rule out that the opinion was inadvertently disclosed, “for example, by being left in a public space either inside or outside the building,” but also “the Court’s IT experts cannot absolutely rule out a hack.” (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / Politico / CNN / Associated Press / NPR)
2/ The U.S. reached its $31.4 trillion debt ceiling, forcing the Treasury Department to begin resorting to “extraordinary measures” to pay the bills. With no deal in sight to raise the artificial debt ceiling, the Treasury Department suspended certain federal investments to prevent a default that would cause “irreparable harm” to the economy. The accounting measures will preserve the nation’s ability to meet financial obligations until at least June 5. House Republicans have said they will not raise the borrowing limit unless Biden agrees to cuts in federal spending, including potentially to Social Security and Medicare. Biden and the Democrats, meanwhile, have said they will not negotiate and that it’s inappropriate to attach conditions to raising the limit. “I respectfully urge Congress to act promptly to protect the full faith and credit of the United States,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen wrote to Kevin McCarthy. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / CNBC / Associated Press / NBC News)
3/ The State Department will allow private citizens to financially sponsor the resettlement of refugees in the U.S. The pilot program, called “Welcome Corps,” will initially enlist 10,000 Americans, who will be able to sponsor up to 5,000 refugees. Groups of at least five people will be required to raise an initial $2,275 per refugee to help support them during their first three months in the country. Since 1980, the refugee program has been managed by nine federally funded nonprofits, which resettled at least 65,000 refugees a year. Trump, however, set the admissions ceiling at 15,000 refugees in his final year and gutted the refugee admissions infrastructure both in the U.S. and abroad. (Associated Press / CBS News / Politico / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / NPR)
4/ A federal judge declined to dismiss the contempt of Congress charges against Peter Navarro for defying a subpoena from the Jan. 6 Committee. The former Trump White House adviser will now go to trial at the end of the month for refusing to testify and refusing to provide documents. He faces a maximum sentence of a year in prison on each contempt of Congress charge if convicted. (Politico / CNN)
1/ George Santos reportedly scammed a disabled veteran out of $3,000 by using a fake animal charity to raise money for the veteran’s service dog’s cancer treatment. In May 2016, a veterinary technician connected U.S. Navy veteran Richard Osthoff with someone named Anthony Devolder, who ran a pet charity called “Friends of Pets United,” to set up a GoFundMe for his service dog Sapphire. Anthony Devolder, however, is an alias that Santos used for years before entering politics in 2020. After raising $3,000 for Sapphire’s lifesaving surgery, Osthoff says “Devolder” made excuses and became uncooperative before disappearing with the funds. Sapphire died Jan. 15, 2017. When asked for a comment, Santos replied: “Fake. No clue who this is.” (Patch.com / Semafor / CNN)
2/ Immigration records contradict George Santos’s claim that his mother died on Sept. 11, 2001 in New York City. Fatima Devolder applied for a U.S. visa in February 2003. She had not been in the U.S. since 1999. She died Dec. 23, 2016, after which Santos solicited donations to pay for her funeral. Nevertheless, Santos’s campaign website claimed “George’s mother was in her office in the South Tower on Sept. 11, 2001 […] She survived the tragic events on September 11th, but she passed away a few years later when she lost her battle to cancer.” Kevin McCarthy, meanwhile, insisted that he “always had a few questions” about George Santos’s resume, but “the voters made the decision, and he has a right to serve here.” In early 2021 a Santos aide was caught impersonating McCarthy’s chief of staff while soliciting campaign contributions. (Forward / Washington Post / ABC News)
3/ Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis rejected an AP African-American Studies course on the grounds that it violates state laws against the teaching of critical race theory. On Jan. 12, Florida Department of Education’s Office of Articulation informed the College Board, which runs the SAT test and the Advanced Placement (AP) program, that “as presented, the content of this course is inexplicably contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks educational value,” adding: “in the future, should College Board be willing to come back to the table with lawful, historically accurate content, FDOE will always be willing to reopen the discussion.” Florida’s Stop WOKE Act was signed into law last April and set new rules banning critical race theory, an academic framework for examining systemic racism. (Daily Beast / National Review)
4/ Ron DeSantis called on the Republican-controlled Legislature to permanently ban Covid-19 health measures, like mask mandates and vaccine requirements. The proposal, dubbed “Prescribe Freedom,” would indefinitely extend existing bans DeSantis signed in 2021, which imposed fines on businesses requiring Covid-19 vaccinations, prohibited mask requirements in schools, and banned vaccine mandates as a condition to travel. The coronavirus has killed more than 84,000 people in Florida. (NBC News / Politico / CNN / The Hill / USA Today)
5/ Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign asked Facebook to reinstate his account, arguing that his ban has “dramatically distorted and inhibited the public discourse” and that a continued ban would be a “deliberate effort by a private company to silence Mr. Trump’s political voice.” Trump was initially banned indefinitely from Facebook on Jan. 7, 2021 after the attack on the Capitol by his supporters. The House impeached Trump on a charge of incitement of insurrection. Facebook later shortened the suspension to two years and said it would assess whether the risk to public safety had subsided enough to restore his account. (NBC News / Washington Post / Bloomberg)
6/ Parts of Greenland are now hotter than at any time in the past 1,000 years and that the decade between 2001 and 2011 was the warmest in the entire period. Scientists reported that through 2011, the ice sheet in central-north Greenland was on average 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than it was during the 20th century, and that the rate of melting has increased with these changes. Greenland’s melting ice sheet is “a massive contributor to global sea level rise” and if carbon emissions continue unmitigated, the ice sheet is projected to contribute up to 19 inches of global sea level rise by 2100. In total, Greenland holds enough ice that it could lift global sea levels by roughly 24 feet if it all melted. (Washington Post / Nature / CNN / USA Today)
1/ Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen notified Congress that the U.S. will hit the debt ceiling Thursday. The debt limit is the maximum that the federal government is allowed to borrow to fulfill its financial obligations. Beginning Jan. 19, the Treasury Department will resort to “extraordinary measures” to avoid a potentially catastrophic default, which will enable “the government to meet its obligations for only a limited amount of time.” Those measures, however, will only delay a default until early June. Yellen urged lawmakers to “act in a timely matter” to increase or suspend the debt limit, saying the “failure to meet the government’s obligations would cause irreparable harm to the US economy, the livelihoods of all Americans, and global financial stability.” Kevin McCarthy called on Democrats to negotiate with Republicans over a fiscal plan that includes an increase in the federal debt limit. Biden and congressional Democrats, however, have said they will not offer any concessions or negotiate on raising the debt ceiling, saying it should be raised without conditions. (CNN / Associated Press / NBC News / New York Times / Bloomberg / NPR)
2/ Biden’s aides found five additional pages of classified material at his personal residence in Delaware. The discovery came hours after Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel to investigate why classified documents from Biden’s time as vice president have been found at both his home and the office he used at a Washington think tank. Last week, the White House disclosed that classified Obama-era documents were found in Biden’s possession on four separate occasions. In total, around 20 documents have been and immediately turned over to the National Archives or Justice Department. (New York Times / Politico / CNN / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press / CNBC)
3/ House Republicans demanded two years of visitor logs from Biden’s Delaware home and all other information related to the recently discovered classified documents. “We have a lot of questions,” James Comer said, chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, calling the matter “troubling.” Comer, referring to Biden’s home as a “crime scene” even though he acknowledged that he doesn’t know whether any laws were actually broken, said the matter had raised questions about whether Biden had “jeopardized our national security.” Comer, however, refused to explain why he wants to investigate the 20-ish classified documents that Biden voluntarily turned over, but not the roughly 300 classified documents — including some at the top secret level – that were retrieved from Trump only after the FBI executed a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago. The White House and the Secret Service, meanwhile, said they do not maintain visitor logs for Biden’s personal home in Delaware, “like every President across decades of modern history.” (Associated Press / Washington Post / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / CNN)
4/ A failed Republican candidate for the New Mexico House was arrested for orchestrating a series of shootings targeting Democratic state officials. Albuquerque police arrested Solomon Peña, who paid four other men to shoot at the Albuquerque-area homes of two county commissioners and two state legislators. Investigators believe Peña was present for at least one of the shootings. Peña lost the November election to incumbent Miguel Garcia and has repeatedly claimed that the election was rigged. (Albuquerque Journal / New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / NBC News)
5/ Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar received committee assignments after being removed from their committees in 2021 over violent social media posts. The House voted in February 2021 to remove Greene from her committee assignments for her embrace of conspiracy theories and past endorsement for executing Democratic politicians before being elected to Congress. Gosar was also removed from his two committees after he posted an animated video that depicted him killing Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and attacking Biden. Greene will now be seated on the Homeland Security Committee and Gosar will be seated on the House Natural Resources Committee. Greene, Gosar, and Lauren Boebert will also be seated on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee. “Joe Biden, be prepared,” Greene said in a statement. “We are going to uncover every corrupt business dealing, every foreign entanglement, every abuse of power.” Scandal-plagued George Santos alsoreceived a seat on the House Committee on Small Business, despite calls from his own party to resign. (NBC News / Washington Post / CNN)
1/ Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel to investigate the classified government records discovered at Biden’s private home and office. Biden said he was “cooperating fully and completely” with the Justice Department investigation into how classified information and government records from his time as vice president were stored. Federal law enforcement officials have interviewed multiple aides who worked for Biden in the final days of the Obama administration. Garland announced the appointment of former U.S. attorney Robert Hur after it was reported that a second batch of documents with classified markings were discovered in a space used by Biden since the Obama administration. “The extraordinary circumstances here require the appointment of a special counsel for this matter,” Garland said. “This appointment underscores for the public the department’s commitment to independence and accountability, and particularly sensitive matters and to making decisions indisputably guided only by the facts and the law.” Republicans on the House Oversight Committee, meanwhile, said that the appointment of a special counsel would not stop them from investigating Biden’s “mishandling of classified documents.” Biden said he was surprised to learn that classified documents were found at a private office he previously used, adding that his lawyers voluntarily and immediately contacted the National Archives to return the documents. Trump, meanwhile, intentionally didn’t return his documents after being repeatedly asked by the National Archives to do so, forcing a standoff for months that led to a subpoena and FBI search of Mar-a-Lago. (CNN / Associated Press / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / Politico / Bloomberg / CNBC)
2/ Kevin McCarthy suggested that the House would consider expunging one or both Trump impeachments. While McCarthy wasn’t explicit, he said “I would understand why members would want to bring that forward,” adding “and we’d look at it.” McCarthy also expressed sympathy for the things Trump “went through” as president. Trump was impeached twice: in 2019, for pressuring Ukraine to investigate his political rivals, and in 2021, for inciting the Jan. 6 insurrection. (Washington Post)
3/ Kevin McCarthy defended George Santos despite the freshman lawmaker admitting to lying about his background and multiple probes into his financial disclosures, campaign finances, and legal issues. “A lot of people here” have fabricated parts of their resumes, McCarthy claimed. Santos, meanwhile, has refused bipartisan calls for his resignation. “I wish well all of their opinions, but I was elected by 142,000 people,” Santos said. “Until those same 142,000 people tell me they don’t want me, uh, we’ll find out in two years.” (Axios / CNN / NBC News)
Efforts to elect George Santos may have run afoul of campaign finance rules. “The Federal Election Commission said it had no evidence that RedStone Strategies was registered as a political group, and there do not appear to be any records documenting its donors, contributions or spending.” (New York Times)
George Santos was paid for work at company accused of Ponzi scheme later than previously known. “Santos received payments as recently as April 2021 from a financial services company accused by the Securities and Exchange Commission of a “classic Ponzi scheme,” according to a court-appointed lawyer reviewing the firm’s assets.” (Washington Post)
4/ U.S. inflation fell to 6.5% in December compared with a year earlier – a sixth straight monthly decline. The annual inflation rate declined from 7.1% in November and a four-decade high of 9.1% in June. On a month-to-month basis, inflation fell by 0.1% in December. The Federal Reserve aims for 2% inflation on average. Cooling inflation puts the Fed on track to reduce the size of its interest-rate increases to a quarter-percentage-point starting in February. The central bank’s current benchmark rate is 4.3% after holding rates near zero for two years following the coronavirus pandemic. (Associated Press / CNN / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNBC / New York Times / NBC News)
5/ Alabama’s attorney general suggested that a pregnant person could be prosecuted for taking abortion pills despite the Biden administration expanding access to the drugs. Alabama’s near-total abortion ban, which took effect after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, exempts abortion seekers from prosecution and instead targets providers. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall nevertheless suggested that the state could still prosecute pregnant people under a 2006 state chemical endangerment law used to protect children from exposure to illicit drugs. Chemical endangerment is a felony in Alabama. Prosecutors have since extended the law to apply to pregnant people who take any drugs while pregnant or exposed their fetuses to drugs, essentially treating a fetus as a distinct person, regardless of their level of development. (Washington Post / 1819 News / AL.com / The Hill / CBS News)
6/ Republican legislators in Virginia introduced a bill to count a pregnant person’s fetus as a passenger in the car pool lane on highways, advancing so-called personhood laws that seek to protect the rights of the unborn through unconventional means. The legislation would require a pregnant person to have their pregnancy “certified” with the state Transportation Department, which would then be “linked” to automated toll collection devices in vehicles. Republicans in Texas introduced a similar measure last year. (NBC News)
1/ House Republicans approved the formation of the Weaponization of the Federal Government select committee to investigate any federal agency for perceived wrongdoing against conservatives, including the FBI, IRS, and the intelligence community. The subcommittee, approved on a party-line 221-211 vote and chaired by Jim Jordan, pledged to probe “ongoing criminal investigations” at the Justice Department despite the department’s long-standing practice of not providing information about ongoing investigations. The panel also has authority to obtain highly classified information typically only shared with the House Intelligence Committee. Democrats, meanwhile, likened the panel to Joseph McCarthy’s House Un-American Activities Committee, which harassed Americans suspected of being sympathetic to communism or socialism, saying: “This committee is nothing more than a deranged ploy by the MAGA extremists who have hijacked the Republican Party and now want to use taxpayer money to push their far-right conspiracy nonsense.” (Washington Post / Politico / New York Times / ABC News)
2/ Republicans on the House Oversight Committee asked the Treasury Department for suspicious activity reports related to financial transactions by the Biden family. Committee Chair James Comer requested the bank activity reports for Hunter Biden, President Biden’s brother James Biden, and several other Biden family associates and their related companies. Comer is also seeking the public testimony from three former Twitter executives about the company’s 2020 decision to temporarily suppress a story about Hunter Biden and his laptop. “Now that Democrats no longer have one-party rule in Washington, oversight and accountability are coming,” Comer said, adding that “there’s a very good possibility” that Hunter Biden will eventually receive a subpoena. (Bloomberg / Associated Press / New York Times / Politico / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
3/ House Republicans filed articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for his handling of immigration and the border. Pat Fallon, a Texas Republican, accused Mayorkas of “high crimes and misdemeanors” as homeland security secretary, claiming he failed to maintain “operational control over the border,” “willfully provided perjurious, false, and misleading testimony to Congress” and “knowingly slandered his own hardworking Border Patrol agents and mislead the general public.” As House minority leader, Kevin McCarthy called on Mayorkas to resign in November, saying he had failed to secure the southern border. The articles were referred to the Judiciary Committee, chaired by Jim Jordan. (NBC News / ABC News)
4/ George Santos refused to resign despite top New York Republican officials demanding he step down over the multiple inquiries into his finances, campaign spending, and fabrications about his background. Chairman Joseph Cairo Jr. of the Nassau County Republican Committee said Santos’s campaign was “a campaign of deceit, lies and fabrication,” adding that Santos “disgraced the House of Representatives, and we do not consider him one of our congresspeople.” Santos, meanwhile, said he has no plans to resign, saying he was elected to “serve the people […] not the party & politicians.” (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / Wall Street Journal / CNBC / CNN)
5/ The Supreme Court allowed New York to enforce a gun control law that places restrictions on carrying a concealed gun while legal challenges play out. The law requires people seeking gun licenses to show that they have “good moral character,” provide a list of social media accounts from the past three years, and bans guns from “sensitive place,” like health care settings, churches, and parks. Nevertheless, six Gun Owners of America members challenged the law, claiming it violates their constitutional right to keep and bear arms and flouts the court’s decision in June to strike down a law that required people seeking a license to carry a concealed handgun in public to demonstrate that they had a “proper cause.” The Uvalde school police chief, meanwhile, told investigators that he didn’t try to stop the gunman, who killed 19 children and two teachers, because “there’s probably going to be some deceased in there, but we don’t need any more from out here.” Pete Arredondo’s decision to not confront the gunman effectively left everyone in Classrooms 111 and 112 for dead, and was one of many times he did not follow the protocol for an active shooter. (New York Times / CNN / Politico / Bloomberg / CNN)
1/ House Republicans pushed through a rules package for the new Congress over concerns about the concessions Kevin McCarthy made to 20 far-right conservatives in order to secure his job. The rules packages passed 220-213, with one Republican joining the Democrats in unified opposition. Aside from the standard rules on decorum, the package includes a provision allowing lawmakers to reduce or eliminate federal agency programs, and reduce the salaries of individual federal employees. Another rule, known as “cut-go,” would require any new spending to be offset by cuts elsewhere in the budget. While Democrats opposed the rules, they were more concerned about what other “back-room deals” McCarthy had agreed to in exchange for votes from the House Freedom Caucus. Meanwhile, a “secret three-page addendum” that only some House Republicans have see contains “the most controversial concessions” that McCarthy made to secure the speaker’s gavel. Anyway, after adopting rules, House Republicans used their first legislative vote on repealing more than $70 billion — or nearly 90% — in new funding for the IRS to customer service, taxpayer assistance, and criminal investigations. The bill, however, is unlikely to pass the Senate. (New York Times / Politico / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Axios)
2/ In effort to equate it to the 320 classified documents the FBI seized from Trump’s residence, House Republicans requested a national security “damage assessment” of the 10 potentially classified documents found in Biden’s private office from his time as vice president. The Biden documents, which included intelligence memos and briefing materials on Ukraine, Iran, and the UK, were found on Nov. 2, 2022, in a “locked closet” in his Washington office space. The National Archives took custody of the documents the next day, and Attorney General Merrick Garland assigned the U.S. attorney in Chicago to investigate the matter. In contrast, Trump refused to turn over hundreds of classified documents to the National Archives for months, which led to the Archives referring the matter to the Justice Department, which led to the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago, where 33 boxes and containers were removed that are now under investigation by the Justice Department. Some of the documents found at Mar-a-Lago had some of the country’s highest security classification markings. Nevertheless, incoming House Intelligence Chair Mike Turner sent a request to Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, claiming that Biden’s retention of the documents, dated between 2013 and 2016, put him in “potential violation of laws protecting national security, including the Espionage Act and Presidential Records Act.” (Politico / Associated Press / CNN)
3/ Two House Democrats filed an official complaint with the House Committee on Ethics about George Santos, saying he misled voters about “his ethnicity, his religion, his education, and his employment and professional history, among other things.” Ritchie Torres and Daniel Goldman requested that the bipartisan committee investigate whether Santos, who admitted to lying about his background, broke the law when he filed “complete and accurate” financial disclosures. Separately, the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission alleging that Santos had run a “straw donor campaign” that helped him evade campaign finance limits. Republicans, meanwhile, have largely been silent on the matter, saying it was being addressed “internally.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico)
4/ Former Trump Organization finance chief Allen Weisselberg was sentenced to five months in jail for multiple tax crimes he committed at the company over more than 15 years. Weisselberg pleaded guilty last August to 15 felonies in a deal with prosecutors, which required him to testify truthfully at the trial of the Trump Organization, pay $2 million in back taxes, interest and penalties, and waive any right to appeal. Weisselberg will leave the firm after he completes his sentence. He will still receive his $500,000 annual bonus. (Bloomberg / New York Times / CNN / Wall Street Journal / CNBC)
5/ The Education Department proposed new federal student loan payment rules that would reduce the monthly bills for some borrowers and completely pause payments for others. Under the proposal, borrowers who make less than roughly $30,600 annually (or a family of four who makes less than about $62,400) wouldn’t have to make monthly payments on their federal student loans. The changes would also cut monthly payments in half for borrowers who make more than those annual amounts. The Biden administration estimates that the new income-driven repayment plan would save borrowers nearly $2,000 a year. (NPR / CNBC / Axios / Wall Street Journal)
6/ The last eight years were the eight warmest on record. The European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service reported that 2022 was the fifth-warmest year on record. Europe, meanwhile, had its hottest summer ever in 2022. The world is now 1.2 degrees Celsius (2.1 degrees Fahrenheit) hotter than pre-industrial levels. Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, most countries agreed to limit warming to well below 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels. (New York Times / CNN / Reuters)
1/ The Georgia special grand jury investigating “coordinated attempts to unlawfully alter the outcome of the 2020 elections” in the state by Trump and his allies has completed its work. After eight months of investigation, the special grand jury submitted its report on its findings to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who will decide whether to seek criminal indictments from a regular grand jury. While the grand jury’s recommendations were not made public, including whether criminal charges should be filed, the grand jury “voted to recommend that its report be published.” A hearing will be held on Jan. 24 to determine whether it will be made public. Willis has informed nearly 20 people that they may face criminal charges as a result of the investigation. Trump lost Georgia by less than 12,000 votes in 2020. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution / NBC News / CNN / Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / Associated Press / Bloomberg / CNBC)
2/ Trump and two Jan. 6 rioters were sued over the death of a U.S. Capitol Police officer. According to the lawsuit, Brian Sicknick, who was part of a police line guarding the Capitol on the day of the insurrection, was attacked with chemical spray. He suffered from two strokes and died the next day. The lawsuit claims that Trump instigated the attack by Julian Elie Khater and George Pierre Tanios, saying Sicknick’s death were “a direct and foreseeable consequence” of Trump’s “words and conduct” that day. In September, Khater and Tanios both pleaded guilty to assaulting law enforcement with pepper spray during the breach. The suit seeks at least $10 million in damages from each of the three defendants. (NPR)
3/ Kevin McCarthy was elected House speaker on the 15th round of voting, which followed four days of defeats, a series of concessions to ultraconservative Republicans, a confrontation with Matt Gaetz on the floor, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee being physically restrained from attacking Gaetz, and Trump calling two Republican lawmakers who refused to back McCarthy. To win the gavel, McCarthy agreed (among other things) to allow any one member to call a vote to remove him as speaker; gave the House Freedom Caucus three of the nine seats on the House Rules Committee; create a select committee on the “weaponization of the federal government”; require raising the debt ceiling to be accompanied with spending cuts; and vote individually on 12 appropriation bills, rather than one omnibus spending bill. The final tally was 216 for McCarthy and 212 for Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, and six Republicans voting “present.” Trump’s call into the chamber came on the two-year anniversary of the insurrection by his supporters to block congressional certification of Biden’s electoral win. (Politico / New York Times / CNN / Washington Post / USA Today / Axios)
4/ Newly sworn-in Congressman George Santos violated campaign finance law, according to a complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission. Santos, who has admitted to “embellishing” his biography, was accused of masking the source of his campaign’s funding, misrepresenting his campaign’s spending, and using campaign resources for personal expenses, including for an apartment rental. The nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center alleged that Santos “purported to loan his campaign $705,000 during the 2022 election. But it is far from clear how he could have done so with his own funds, because financial disclosure reports indicate that Santos had only $55,000 to his name in 2020.” Dozens of expenses on Santos’ campaign finance reports are listed as costing $199.99 – one penny below the $200 threshold for which receipts or itemized details are required by the FEC. (CBS News / Washington Post / Bloomberg)
5/ The Justice Department is reviewing roughly 10 classified documents found in the office space of Biden’s vice-presidential office in Washington. Attorney General Merrick Garland assigned the U.S. attorney in Chicago to review the classified documents, which were found on November 2 by Biden’s personal attorneys in a “locked closet” at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement. Special counsel to the president Richard Sauber said the attorneys alerted the White House Counsel’s office, who notified the National Archives, which took custody of the documents the next day. Special counsel Jack Smith, meanwhile, is investigating Trump for potentially mishandling at least 325 classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. (CBS News / Associated Press / CNN / Reuters)
1/ The Biden administration expanded its use of a Trump-era Covid-19 immigration policy to immediately turn away migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela crossing the border from Mexico illegally to claim asylum. As part of the new immigration rules, the Biden administration will allow up to 30,000 migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to legally apply for entry each month, as long as a U.S. sponsor applies for them first. “The failure to pass and fund this comprehensive plan has increased the challenges that we’re seeing at the Southwest border,” Biden said. “The Republicans haven’t been serious about this at all.” Last month, the Supreme Court allowed Title 42 to remain in effect while a legal challenge by 19 Republican state attorneys general played out. In November, a federal judge ruled that Title 42 was unlawful, and scheduled the policy to expire on Dec. 21. (NBC News / New York Times / NPR / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / CNN)
2/ The Federal Trade Commission proposed banning noncompete clauses in employment contracts, which limit workers from switching jobs or start competing businesses. Under the proposed rule, it would be illegal for companies to enter into or enforce noncompete contracts with employees or independent contractors. The rule would also require companies to rescind existing noncompete clauses and inform workers that they are void. Some 30 million people – about 1 in 5 workers – are bound by noncompete restrictions. If enacted, the FTC estimates that is would raise wages by $300 billion a year. “The freedom to change jobs is core to economic liberty and to a competitive, thriving economy,” said FTC Chair Lina Khan said. “Noncompetes block workers from freely switching jobs, depriving them of higher wages and better working conditions, and depriving businesses of a talent pool that they need to build and expand.” (Associated Press / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / NBC News / Politico / Axios / Bloomberg)
3/ Kevin McCarthy lost his 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th bids for House speaker. In what has become the longest speaker contest in 164 years, McCarthy has started to make concessions he previously ruled out to a group of 20 Republicans lawmakers who have continued to block his bid for the speaker’s gavel. McCarthy agreed to allow for one member to force a vote to oust the speaker – down from a previous threshold of five and a change that the McCarthy had said he wouldn’t accept – and to put more members of the House Freedom Caucus on the House Rules Committee, which controls the legislation that reaches the floor. Until a speaker is chosen, the House cannot pass laws or swear in its members. (CNN / Politico / NBC News / Associated Press / New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / NPR / Bloomberg)
4/ About 204,000 people applied for first-time unemployment benefits last week – down from the previous week’s total by 19,000 and below the pre-pandemic weekly average of 218,000. Companies, meanwhile, added 235,000 jobs in December – well above economists’ expectations of 150,000 and the 127,000 reported for November. (CNN / CNBC / Wall Street Journal)
5/ The Federal Reserve said it expects interest rates to remain high for “some time” as it tries to bring down inflation.Officials warned of “an unwarranted easing in financial conditions, especially if driven by a misperception by the public of the committee’s reaction function, would complicate the committee’s effort to restore price stability” – meaning market rallies threaten to hinder their ability to bring inflation down to their 2% target. Starting from near zero in March, the Fed raised interest rates to a target range of 4.25% to 4.5%, its highest level in 15 years. Officials project that rates will rise to a level above 5% in 2023 and hold it there until some time in 2024. No officials said they expected to cut rates in 2023. (New York Times / CNBC / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
6/ The U.S. and Germany will send Ukraine armored combat vehicles and an additional Patriot air defense system. The U.S. is sending about 50 Bradley Fighting Vehicles, a tracked armored combat vehicle that carries a turret-mounted machine gun, as well as a second missile defense system. Germany will provide 40 of its Marder Infantry Fighting Vehicle. (Politico / Washington Post / Bloomberg)
1/ House Republicans, despite being in the majority, were unable to elect a speaker – again – as Kevin McCarthy lost his 4th, 5th, and 6th bids for the gavel. A day after McCarthy lost his first three votes for speaker, Trump urged Republicans to vote for McCarthy, warningthem to “NOT TURN A GREAT TRIUMPH INTO A GIANT & EMBARRASSING DEFEAT.” Biden, meanwhile, called the House Republicans’ inability to elect a speaker “embarrassing,” saying it’s “not a good look” for the country, but also “not my problem.” McCarthy received 201 votes in all three votes today, short of the 218 typically needed to win, as 20 conservative Republicans instead supported Byron Donalds. Yesterday, the group supported Jim Jordan. The Democrats, meanwhile, have remained united behind their leader, Hakeem Jeffries, who will make history as the first Black lawmaker to lead a party in Congress whenever the House elects a new speaker and 118th Congress convenes. The House adjourned until 8 p.m. Eastern to allow more time for Republicans to negotiate with the holdouts. A seventh vote could take place when lawmakers return tonight. The Speaker of the House is second in the U.S. presidential line of succession, after the vice president. (Associated Press / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / NPR / NBC News / Washington Post / Axios / CNN / CNBC / Bloomberg / Politico)
Behind the humiliation of Kevin McCarthy. “The GOP has gone from being a disciplined party of limited government to a party of anti-government protest to, now, a party of performative verbiage.” (New Yorker)
House shitshow has a message for America: GOP can’t govern and doesn’t want to. “As Kevin McCarthy reaps the whirlwind, let’s hope voters understand this chaos was never really about Donald Trump.” (Salon)
Kevin McCarthy’s loyalty to Trump got him nothing. “The once-presumptive House leader has been through three embarrassing rounds of voting, with more to come.” (The Atlantic)
“Circular firing squad” derails GOP in new Congress. “Senate Republicans see chaos across the Capitol as an ominous sign as the party tries to regroup for 2024.” (Politico)
2/ The FDA expanded access to the abortion pill mifepristone, allowing brick-and-mortar and mail-order pharmacies to stock and dispense the drug. For more than 20 years, mifepristone could only be dispensed by a few mail-order pharmacies or specialty offices and clinics. Under the new policy, patients will still need a prescription, but now any pharmacy that agrees to accept those prescriptions and become a certified provider can dispense the pills in its stores and by mail order, depending on their state’s laws. However, more than a dozen states have near-total abortion bans or restrictions that would make it illegal or difficult for pharmacies to provide abortion pills. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the FDA temporarily suspended its long-standing requirement that women pick up the medicine in person, and later permanently lifted the in-person requirement altogether. (New York Times / Politico / NPR / Wall Street Journal)
3/ The WHO warned that the coronavirus Omicron subvariant XBB.1.5 “is the most transmissible form of Omicron to date.” XBB.1.5 was first detected in the U.S. and went from being present in 4% of sequenced cases U.S. to 40% in just a few weeks – it’s most common variant circulating in the country. XBB.1.5 has since spread to at least 29 countries. (Politico / CNN / CNBC)
1/ The House adjourned without a speaker because Kevin McCarthy failed to win a majority in three rounds of voting and 20 Republicans rejected his candidacy. Until a speaker is elected, the 118th Congress can’t swear in members or perform actual work, like consider legislation or create committee assignments. A nominee needs a majority of the House to win the speakership – 218 votes with all members present and participating – and voting will continue until someone gets a majority. In the third round of voting, McCarthy received 202 votes and Jim Jordan received 20. Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries received 212 Democratic votes. Before the third round of voting, Jordan called on Republicans to unite behind McCarthy, saying: “We better come together. I think Kevin McCarthy is the right guy to lead us. I really do.” McCarthy, however, lost support from one GOP lawmaker on the third ballot. McCarthy, meanwhile, acknowledged that voting “could” last for days and vowed to press ahead, saying: “we stay in until we win.” The speaker vote hasn’t gone to a second ballot since 1923, and of the 14 multiple ballot-elections for House speaker, 13 occurred before the Civil War. (Bloomberg / Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Politico / NPR / Associated Press / NBC News / ABC News)
2/ New York Republican George Santos – who admitted to making up his resume – is set to be sworn in as a member of the House as Brazilian authorities say they plan to reopen a 15-year-old fraud charge against Santos, now that they know where he is. The House, however, can’t swear in new members until a speaker is elected. Santos has admitted to what he calls “resume embellishment” about his education, work experience, and heritage, including a claim that his grandparents survived the Holocaust. The Rio de Janeiro prosecutor’s office, meanwhile, allege that Santos spent $700 at a clothing store in 2008 using a stolen checkbook and a false name. Although Santos admitted in a post on social media to stealing the checkbook of a man his mother was caring for, the Representative-elect now asserts that he is not a criminal “here or in Brazil.” While Democrats have demanded that Santos resign, Republican congressional leaders, including Kevin McCarthy, have been silent. (New York Times / Associated Press / Washington Post / Politico / CNN / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
3/ House Republicans plan to limit the ethics office’s ability to investigate lawmakers. The Office of Congressional Ethics is a nonpartisan, independent body tasked with investigating complaints of misconduct about sitting members and staff. House Republicans, however, plan to place term limits on the eight-person OCE board, require the approval of four board members for new hires, and allow the House Ethics Committee to take complaints directly from the public. (Wall Street Journal / Washington Post)
4/ Six years of Trump’s federal tax returns were released last week. Trump received income from more than a dozen countries during his time in office and paid little in federal income taxes the first and last year of his presidency, claiming large losses that he carried forward to reduce or practically eliminate his tax burden. Trump paid $641,931 in federal income taxes in 2015 – the year he began his presidential campaign – he paid $750 in 2016 and 2017, and nearly $1 million in 2018. In 2019, Trump paid $133,445 and nothing in 2020. The documents also appear to show that Trump violated his campaign promise to donate his $400,000 salary for each year that he served as president. In 2020, Trump reported $0 in charitable giving. (CNN / Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / CNBC / Associated Press)
1/ The Supreme Court temporarily blocked the Biden administration’s plans to end a Trump-era immigration policy used to quickly expel millions of asylum seekers at the southern border. In November, a federal judge ruled that Title 42 was unlawful, and scheduled the policy to expire on Dec. 21. The Supreme Court, however, paused that ruling, and said the policy would remain in place while a legal challenge by 19 Republican state attorneys general played out. Title 42 has been used to expel about 2.5 million migrants since being implemented in March 2020. (Washington Post / Politico / NPR / Associated Press / NBC News / New York Times / CNN)
2/ The Jan. 6 Committee released its final report and concluded that Trump criminally engaged in a “multi-part conspiracy” to overturn the 2020 presidential election, failed to act to stop his supporters from attacking the Capitol, and recommended that he be barred from holding office again. “The central cause of January 6th was one man, former President Donald Trump, who many others followed,” the 814-page report reads. “None of the events of January 6th would have happened without him.” The release of the full report comes three days after the committee referred Trump to the Justice Department for potential prosecution for inciting an insurrection, conspiracy to defraud the U.S., obstruction of an act of Congress, and another federal crime. Over the course of its 18-month investigation, the panel interviewed more than 1,000 witnesses and reviewed more than one million pages of documents, which were obtained after issuing more than 100 subpoenas. Trump, meanwhile, claimed that the committee “did not produce a single shred of evidence.” (New York Times / Associated Press / Washington Post / NPR / CNBC / CNN)
3/ The House passed a $1.7 trillion bill to fund the federal government through next fall and avert a shutdown. Overall, the legislation provides $772.5 billion for non-defense discretionary programs, $858 billion in defense funding, and nearly $45 billion in assistance to Ukraine. It also overhauls federal election law to try to prevent another Jan. 6. Biden is expected to sign the measure in the coming days. (New York Times / USA Today / Politico / CNBC / NBC News)
4/ Millions of Americans will lose Medicaid coverage starting in April after the omnibus spending bill changed the healthcare program’s enrollment rules. An estimated 1 in 5 people currently in the program will lose Medicaid coverage – about 15 million to 18 million people. When the Trump administration first declared the coronavirus pandemic a public health emergency, it barred states from kicking people off Medicaid, and states agreed to pause beneficiaries’ eligibility verifications under the 2020 Covid-19 relief bill. As a result, enrollment in Medicaid swelled by 20 million, to nearly 84 million people. The new spending bill would allow states to kick people off Medicaid starting April 1. The federal government will also wind down the enhanced funding given to states for the added enrollees over the next year. (CBS News / Wall Street Journal)
5/ Texas bused about 130 migrants to Harris’ residence in Washington on Christmas Eve in 18 degree weather – the coldest Christmas Eve on record for Washington. The three buses, which included babies and young children, were chartered by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. Since April, Abbott’s office has bused more than 15,000 people to Washington, New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia. The White House accused Abbott of having “abandoned children on the side of the road in below freezing temperatures on Christmas Eve without coordinating with any Federal or local authorities,” calling it “a cruel, dangerous, and shameful stunt.” (NBC News / New York Times / Associated Press / CNN)
1/ The Biden administration announced a new $1.85 billion military assistance package for Ukraine to counter the Russia’s invasion. The announcement came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in Washington to meet with Biden – his first international trip since Russia invaded his country 10 months ago. The security package includes the Patriot air defense missile system – the most advanced air defense weapon in the U.S. arsenal. “We will support Ukraine pursuing a just peace,” Biden told Zelenskyy in the Oval Office, adding that Putin was trying to “use winter as a weapon” in the ongoing war. Zelensky is also scheduled to address a joint meeting of Congress as lawmakers work to pass a $1.7 trillion spending package, which includes $44.9 billion in assistance for Ukraine. Putin, meanwhile, said Russia has “no limitations” on military spending for the war in Ukraine. (New York Times / Politico / Washington Post / NPR / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Axios / CNN)
2/ The House Ways and Means Committee voted to make six years of Trump’s tax returns public. A 29-page summary report shows that Trump reported millions in earnings between 2015 and 2020, but paid little or nothing in federal income taxes. In 2016 and 2017, Trump paid $750 in federal income taxes. Trump paid a combined $1.1 million in 2018 and 2019. And, in 2020, he paid nothing. In April 2019, House Democrats formally requested six years of Trump’s personal and business tax returns from the IRS to review the effectiveness of the presidential audit program. (New York Times / NBC News / CNN / Politico / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
3/ The IRS failed to audit Trump during his first two years in office despite a “mandatory” program that requires annual audits of a president’s tax returns. During Trump’s time in office, the IRS opened one “mandatory” audit – for his 2016 tax return – which didn’t take place until 2019 and wasn’t completed while he was still in office. The House Ways and Means Committee said the IRS presidential audit program was “dormant, at best,” during Trump’s term. Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden, meanwhile, said the IRS “was asleep at the wheel.” (CNN / NPR / New York Times / CNBC)
4/ A former White House aide to Trump told the Jan. 6 Committee that he witnessed Trump “tearing” documents. According to audio from Nick Luna’s deposition, Trump would sometimes tear up notes when he was finished with them. Luna’s testimony follows previous reports that Trump ripped up documents and tried to flush them down the White House toilet. Federal law requires that presidential records are preserved and handed over to the National Archives. Luna also testified that Mark Meadows had instructed him to not enter the room during a meeting with state Republican legislators who wanted to overturn the 2020 presidential election. (CBS News)
5/ The Jan. 6 Committee said it has evidence that the top ethics attorney in the Trump White House advised Cassidy Hutchinson to give misleading testimony. Stefan Passantino, who represented Hutchinson, allegedly urged the former White House aide to pretend to not recall details that she did and to refrain from talking about issues that could cast Trump in a negative light. The committee also said someone had promised Hutchinson a job, which disappeared after she cooperated with the committee. Before her public testimony, Hutchinson replaced Passantino as her lawyer, who was being paid Trump’s Save America PAC. Passantino, meanwhile, took a leave of absence from his law firm Tuesday. (CNN / New York Times)
1/ The Jan. 6 Committee is cooperating with the Justice Department’s investigation into Trump. After Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Jack Smith as special counsel last month, Smith requested the evidence that committee compiled over its 18-month investigation. The committee has nearly 1,200 witness interview transcripts, which it began sending to Smith’s team last week. The committee also sent the Justice Department all of Mark Meadows’ text messages and related evidence. (Punchbowl News)
2/ Congressional leaders reached an agreement on a $1.7 trillion spending package to fund the government through September. The so-called omnibus, which runs for 4,155 pages, would provide $858 billion in defense funding, $772.5 billion for non-defense discretionary programs, $44.9 billion in emergency assistance to Ukraine, and about $40 billion in emergency funds to help communities recover from hurricanes, wildfires, and droughts. The package increases the Justice Department budget by $212.1 million “to further support prosecutions related to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and domestic terrorism cases.” The legislation also includes an overhaul of the Electoral Count Act, which Trump tried to use to overturn the 2020 election. Congress needs to complete passage of the funding measure ahead of a midnight Friday deadline or face a partial government shutdown going into the Christmas holiday. Any senator, however, could hold up that deal in exchange for amendments or concessions. (Associated Press / Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / Politico / Axios)
3/ The U.S. Postal Service will buy at least 66,000 electric delivery trucks by 2028 as part of a push to transform its delivery fleet. The Postal Service will spend $9.6 billion on the vehicles, including $3 billion from the Inflation Reduction Act, and all new vehicles acquired from 2026 through 2028 are expected to be 100% electric. The USPS currently has more than 220,000 old vehicles in its fleet. (Washington Post / CBS News / CNN / CNBC)
4/ The Supreme Court blocked a pandemic-era border policy from ending this week. Chief Justice John Roberts put a lower court ruling to end the Trump-era policy on a temporary hold in response to an emergency request by 19 Republican-led states to keep the policy in place. Title 42 has been used more than 2 million times during the pandemic to expel asylum-seeking migrants. (NBC News / Politico)
Notably Next/ The House Ways and Means Committee is expected to vote this afternoon on whether to publicly release Trump’s tax returns. The committee tried to obtain six years’ worth of Trump’s tax returns in 2019, after Democrats retook the House majority. Unlike his predecessors, Trump never released his tax returns to the public, falsely claiming that he couldn’t release them while under “routine audit” by the IRS. In 2020, it was reported that Trump had paid $750 in federal income taxes in 2016, and another $750 in 2017. The tax data covered more than two decades and show that Trump had paid no income tax in 10 of the 15 years before he ran for president. Before the committee’s meeting, the committee’s top Republican called any release of Trump’s tax records a “dangerous new political weapon” that “even Democrats will come to regret.” (New York Times / CNN / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Associated Press)
1/ The Jan. 6 Committee formally accused Trump of inciting an insurrection, conspiracy to defraud the U.S., and obstructing Congress’ Jan. 6 joint session, and unanimously voted to refer the crimes to the Justice Department for prosecution. “That evidence has led to an overriding and straight-forward conclusion: the central cause of January 6th was one man, former President Donald Trump, who many others followed,” the committee wrote in its final report. “None of the events of January 6th would have happened without him.” It’s the first time in American history that Congress has referred a former president for criminal prosecution. Trump was also the first president in American history to be impeached twice. In addition to Trump’s criminal referrals, the panel referred Mark Meadows, Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Jeffrey Clark, and Kenneth Chesebro for prosecution. None of the committee’s referrals, however, compel the Justice Department to act. The panel also referred four Republicans – Kevin McCarthy, Jim Jordan, Scott Perry, and Andy Biggs – to the House Ethics Committee for ignoring the its subpoenas. “Faith in our system is the foundation of American democracy. If the faith is broken, so is our democracy,” Chairman Bennie Thompson said. “Donald Trump broke that faith. He lost the 2020 election and knew it, but he chose to try to stay in office through a multi-part scheme.” Thompson added: “This can never happen again.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / NBC News / CNN / NPR)
✏️ Trump faces a week of headaches on Jan. 6 and his taxes. “The House panel investigating the Capitol attack is set to release its report and may back criminal charges against the former president, while a separate committee could decide to release his tax returns. (New York Times)
✏️ How Trump jettisoned restraints at Mar-a-Lago and prompted legal peril. “Trump transplanted the chaos and norm flouting of his White House into his post-presidential life, leading to a criminal investigation into his handling of classified documents that presents potential legal peril.” (Washington Post)
2/ The House Ways and Means Committee is expected to vote Tuesday on whether to make six years of Trump’s tax records public. Following a three-year court fight for the tax returns – which other presidents have routinely made public since the 1970s – the committee obtained Trump’s returns from the Treasury Department last month. The tax returns cover 2015 through 2020. The panel needs a simple majority vote to release Trump’s returns, and Democrats hold 25 of the committee’s 42 seats. (NBC News / New York Times / Politico / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Bloomberg)
3/ A federal appeals court rejected an effort by 19 Republican-led states to keep a Trump-era border policy in place, which allowed border agents to expel migrants for public health reasons during the coronavirus pandemic before they could go through the asylum application process. The states, however, filed an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court to keep Title 42 in place. More than 2.4 million people have been expelled since the policy’s implementation in 2020. The public health measure is set to expire on Wednesday after a federal judge ruled in November that the policy was illegal. (Washington Post / USA Today / CNN / Politico / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
4/ The Senate gave final approval to an $858 billion defense spending bill, which increases the Pentagon’s budget by 8%, authorizes a 4.6% pay raise for military service members, and repeals the coronavirus vaccine mandate for troops. The bill is about $45 billion more than Biden’s budget request, and roughly 10% more than last year’s National Defense Authorization Act. It now heads to Biden for his expected signature. (New York Times / USA Today / CBS News)
5/ The national average for gasoline dropped to $3.14 a gallon – the lowest since July 2021. In June, prices spiked to an all-time record of $5.02 a gallon. (CNN)
6/ Nearly half of 18-to-29-year-olds live at home with their parents – a rate not seen since the end of the Great Depression. According to a new report, the rising number of young adults living at home has been “driven by financial concerns (i.e. rental costs) as well as other sociological factors (e.g. higher penetration of higher education and increasingly delayed age for marriage).” The top reasons for living at home were a desire to save money (51%) and inability to afford rent (39%). Interest rates, meanwhile, are at a 15-year high, mortgage rates are at their highest levels since 2001, and interest rates on credit cards are at their highest level since 1985. (Quartz / Bloomberg)
poll/ 65% of Americans say the country is on the wrong track and not headed in the right direction. From a list of issues, 35% of respondents ranked inflation/the economy is their top priority. “Threats to democracy” ranked second, at 12%, and immigration third at 10%. (USA Today)
1/ The Biden administration restarted its free Covid-19 test program as cases have increased roughly 55% since Thanksgiving. Households can order four free tests at covidtests.gov. The program was paused in September after distributing over 600 million tests, which put the administration on pace to deplete its stockpile before winter without new funding from Congress. (Politico / NPR / New York Times / Associated Press)
2/ Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis asked the state’s Supreme Court to convene a grand jury to “investigate crimes and wrongdoing committed against Floridians” related to Covid-19 vaccines. DeSantis provided no specifics about what wrongdoing a grand jury would investigate, but suggested that pharmaceutical companies needed to provide more data so independent researchers can study the side effects from vaccines. DeSantis also shared plans to establish Public Health Integrity Committee to counter CDC guidance, baselessly claiming that “anything they put out, you just assume, at this point, that it’s not worth the paper that it’s printed on.” Dr. Anthony Fauci, meanwhile, said he “doesn’t have a clue” what DeSantis hopes to accomplish. (CNN / The Hill / CNBC / Politico)
3/ An attorney disciplinary committee recommended that Rudy Giuliani be disbarred in Washington, DC. The three-person committee concluded that there was “clear and convincing evidence” that Giuliani acted unethically when he filed a lawsuit to block certification of the results in the 2020 presidential election. The committee’s findings, however, are “preliminary and nonbinding.” Giuliani’s law license has already been suspended in New York for making “demonstrably false and misleading statements” in his effort to reverse the 2020 election. (Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / Bloomberg / CNN)
4/ A campaign organized by oil and gas industry groups gathered enough signatures to overturn a California law that banned new oil and gas wells near homes, schools, and hospitals. More than 978,000 California residents have signed the Stop the Energy Shutdown petition – enough for a referendum aimed at stopping the new California law that set minimum distances between new oil wells and certain areas. Roughly 623,000 qualifying signatures are needed to put the measure on the 2024 ballot. Separately, California’s public utilities commission will vote on a proposal to reduce residential rooftop-solar incentives by about 75%. The proposal would change the existing “net metering” policy, which credits solar owners the full retail electricity price for excess power, to a lower rate for surplus power. (Associated Press / Bloomberg / NPR / Reuters)
poll/ 31% of voters hold a favorable view of Trump – his lowest favorability rating in more than seven years. 59%, meanwhile, have an unfavorable opinion of the twice-impeached former president. (Quinnipiac)
1/ The House is expected to pass a temporary spending measure tonight that would fund the government through through Dec. 23 and avert a shutdown. The weeklong stopgap bill will give Congress more time to finalize the full-year spending package, called an omnibus, which would fund the federal government through the 2023 fiscal year, ending Sept. 30. The omnibus measure is expected to total around $1.7 trillion. (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
2/ The Federal Reserve raised interest rates by half a point – the highest level in 15 years – and signaled that rates still have a “ways to go.” The 50 basis points hike, which increases rates to a range of 4.25-4.5%, is smaller than the previous four 75 basis-point increases, and comes after the latest figures showed inflation running at its slowest annual rate in nearly a year. “We made less progress than expected on inflation,” Chair Jerome Powell said, adding “it’s good to see progress, but let’s just understand we have a long ways to go to get better price stability.” The Fed, however, now expects to raise rates as high as 5.1% next year before cutting rates to 4.1% in 2024 – a higher level than previously indicated. Inflation, meanwhile, is expected to end 2022 at 5.6% and fall to 3.1% next year. (Associated Press / NPR / Politico / Bloomberg / CNBC / CNN / New York Times / Washington Post)
3/ The Republican congressman who suggested that Trump declare martial law in a text message to Mark Meadows said his only regret is that he misspelled the word “martial.” On Jan. 17, 2021, Ralph Norman urged Meadows to have Trump declare “Marshall Law” to prevent Biden from taking office. When asked about his text message, Norman replied: “Well, I misspelled ‘martial’.” The White House, meanwhile, accused Norman of pushing “MAGA conspiracy theories” and “violent rhetoric.” (HuffPost / The Guardian / Mediaite)
4/ The Trump Organization was found to have been “willfully disobeying” four grand jury subpoenas and three court orders during a criminal contempt trial held in secret last year. In December 2021, a New York judge found the Trump Corporation and Trump Payroll Corp in criminal contempt for failing to respond to multiple grand jury subpoenas for documents in a timely fashion. “There comes a time when a court must enforce its authority,” New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan wrote. “In this matter, that time is now.” He imposed a $4,000 fine. (New York Times / Bloomberg / Associated Press / CNN)
5/ Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton asked the Department of Public Safety for a list of transgender individuals in the state. In June, Paxton’s office requested information on Texans who changed their gender on state documents within the past two years. The department concluded that the data could not be “accurately produced” and didn’t provide any information to Paxton’s office. (Washington Post)
1/ Biden signed into law a bipartisan bill that codifies same-sex and interracial marriages. The landmark legislation replaces the Defense of Marriage Act – which defined marriage as between a man and a woman – with the Respect for Marriage Act, which prohibits states from denying the validity of out-of-state marriages based on sex, race or ethnicity. The legislation, however, doesn’t require states to issue marriage licenses for same-sex couples. “The road to this moment has been long, but those who believe in equality and justice, you never gave up,” Biden said, adding: “We got it done. We’re going to continue the work ahead. I promise you.” (NPR / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
2/ Mark Meadows discussed plans for overturning the 2020 election with at least 34 Republican members of Congress. The exchanges took place over text message, which were turned over to the Jan. 6 committee. In total, Meadows received at least 364 messages from Republican members of Congress related to overturning the 2020 election. He sent at least 95 messages of his own. In one example, Ralph Norman texted Meadows three days before Biden was set to take office, urging him to have Trump declare martial law, saying “we are at a point of no return” and “Our LAST HOPE is invoking Marshall Law!! PLEASE URGE TO PRESIDENT TO DO SO!!” (Talking Points Memo)
3/ Special counsel Jack Smith subpoenaed election officials in Nevada, New Mexico, and Georgia for all communications involving Trump, his campaign, lawyers, aides or allies from June 1, 2020, through January 20, 2021. Smith subpoenaed Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger for his testimony before a grand jury on Dec. 29 or, alternatively, Raffensperger can turn over all of the subpoenaed records to the FBI. In a Jan. 2 phone call, Trump asked Raffensperger to “find” the votes needed to win Georgia. Smith also sent the subpoenas to the New Mexico secretary of state’s office, as well as the Clark County, Nevada, elections division. Similar requests were previously sent to officials in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Arizona. Smith was appointed last month to oversee both the Justice Department’s Jan. 6 investigation, as well as the Mar-a-Lago classified documents investigation. (Associated Press / CNN / Bloomberg)
4/ The Jan. 6 committee will hold its final public meeting on Monday and will vote on whether to refer any individuals to the Justice Department for prosecution. Bennie Thompson, the committee’s chairman, said the committee will consider referrals covering five or six “subject matter areas.” The panel’s full report will be released on December 21. The House Oversight Committee, meanwhile, asked the National Archives to determine whether Trump retained any additional presidential records at his storage facility in Florida. At least two classified items were recently found at the storage unit. (CNN / Bloomberg)
5/ Inflation rose less than expected in November, with the consumer price index increasing 7.1% from a year ago — the lowest reading since the end of 2021. Inflation peaked at 9.1% in June. On a month-to-month basis, prices rose 0.1% in November – down from 0.4% in October. Inflation, however, remains well-above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target despite the central bank raising interest rates from just above zero early this year to about 4%. The Fed is expected to raise rates by a half-point tomorrow, after four straight three-quarter-point increases. (Politico / CNBC / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Axios)
1/ A federal judge declined to hold Trump or his office in contempt of court for failing to comply with a grand jury subpoena demanding he return all classified documents. The Justice Department had asked U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell to hold Trump’s office in contempt after his lawyers discovered at least two more classified documents in a storage unit in Florida. Judge Howell, however, left it to the Justice Department and Trump’s team to resolve the dispute themselves about whether Trump might have more classified documents at his properties after more than a year. (ABC News / CNN / Washington Post / NBC News / New York Times)
2/ The Republican candidate who lost Arizona’s governor race filed a lawsuit challenging the certification of the election and is asking the court to declare her the winner. While Arizona’s election results were certified last week, Kari Lake nevertheless asked the Maricopa County Superior Court to either declare her the winner or throw out the election results and require the county to conduct a new election. Lake claims that ballot printer and tabulator failures on Election Day were intentional by election officials, which “created chaos” with “oppressively long lines” that disproportionately depressed voter turnout for Republican voters. Lake claims that the alleged misconduct by election officials therefore “nullifies” the results and that their actions “wrongfully” led to the state naming Democratic Gov.-elect Katie Hobbs as the winner. Lake’s candidacy was centered on the false conspiratorial claims that the 2020 presidential election had been stolen from Trump. (New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post / CNN)
3/ Arizona’s conservative Democratic senator announced she will leave the Democratic Party and register as an independent. Kyrsten Sinema called the decision a “natural extension” to “reject party politics by declaring my independence from the broken partisan system in Washington.” Sinema’s announcement comes days after Democrats reached a 51-49 majority in the Senate. The Senate, however, will still functionally be a 51-49 chamber, meaning Democrats will have the votes to control Senate committees, retain subpoena power, and judicial and executive branch nominees. Sinema will also keep her committee assignments. (CNN / Politico / New York Times / NBC News)
4/ House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy could lose the election for the next speaker of the House, despite Republicans flipping the chamber in the midterms. McCarthy needs to earn 218 votes to become House speaker, and Republicans will start the 118th Congress with 222 seats. However, at least six Republicans have said they won’t vote for McCarthy, leaving him two shy of a majority. If McCarthy loses more than four GOP votes on Jan. 3, the House will keep voting until someone wins a majority of support from the lawmakers in attendance who are not voting “present.” The last time a vote for speaker had to go to multiple ballots was in 1923. (CNN / FiveThirtyEight / USA Today)
5/ Scientists successfully produced a fusion reaction for the first time that generated more energy than it consumed. While still at least a decade away from commercial use, the technology offers the promise of unlimited, cheap, and carbon-free electricity. The Department of Energy is expected to officially announce the “major scientific breakthrough” Tuesday. (CNN / Bloomberg / Washington Post / New York Times)
6/ The Keystone oil pipeline system was shut down after a pipe ruptured, spilling enough oil to become the largest onshore crude pipeline spill in nine years. An estimated 14,000 barrels of oil spilled into a creek in Kansas. Since 2010, the Keystone pipeline has leaked almost 26,000 barrels of crude on U.S. land. (Associated Press / Bloomberg / New York Times)
poll/ A majority of Americans don’t want either Biden or Trump to run for president in 2024. 70% of Americans say Biden should not run for a second term, while 19% support another run. 61%, meanwhile, say Trump should not seek the presidency, compared with 30% who believe he should. (CNBC)
1/ The House passed legislation to enshrine federal protections for marriages of same-sex and interracial couples. The 258-169 vote sends the Respect for Marriage Act to Biden. The Senate passed the same bill last week by a vote of 61-36. The House initially took up the legislation after the Supreme Court’s decision in June that overturned the federal right to an abortion and Justice Clarence Thomas’ concurring opinion that the Court should reconsider some past rulings, including its decision on same-sex marriage. Following the vote, Biden called the legislation a “critical step to ensure that Americans have the right to marry the person they love,” adding that it provides “hope and dignity to millions of young people across this country who can grow up knowing that their government will recognize and respect the families they build.” (Associated press / NPR / New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / NBC News / Politico / Bloomberg)
2/ The Justice Department asked a federal judge to hold Trump and his team in contempt of court for failing to comply with a subpoena to return classified documents in his possession. The judge hasn’t held a hearing or ruled on the request, yet. The request came after months of frustration from the Justice Department, which first issued a subpoena in May for any classified documents. While Trump’s lawyers certified that all classified documents had been returned, the FBI seized more than 100 classified documents during its court-authorized search warrant of Mar-a-Lago in August. Trump’s lawyers, meanwhile, recently found at least two classified documents in a Florida storage unit. (Washington Post / CNN)
3/ The Jan. 6 committee is reportedly considering criminal referrals for Trump and at least four others. While the committee hasn’t officially decided who to refer to the Justice Department for prosecution, the panel is considering referrals for Mark Meadows, John Eastman, Jeffrey Clark, and Rudy Giuliani. The committee is expected to reach a decision on criminal referrals when members meet virtually on Sunday. (CNN / Politico)
4/ Michael Flynn appeared before an Atlanta-area special grand jury investigating efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn Georgia’s 2020 presidential election results. Flynn’s appearance came after a Florida judged ordered him to testify, calling him a “necessary and material witness” in the grand jury investigation. (Washington Post / CNN)
5/ The House passed an $858 billion bill to fund the Defense Department, which includes a provision that lifts the Pentagon’s Covid-19 vaccine requirement for active duty service members. The legislation increase the Pentagon’s budget by $45 billion over Biden’s request. The measure now heads to the Senate, where the support of at least 10 Republicans is needed. (CNN / Wall Street Journal / CNBC / New York Times)
6/ WNBA star Brittney Griner was released from Russian detention in a prisoner swap for international arms dealer Viktor Bout, who is known as the “Merchant of Death.” Nine months ago, Griner was detained at a Moscow airport after Russian authorities said they found vape cartridges with cannabis oil in her luggage, which is illegal in Russia. She was sentenced in August to 9.5 years in prison for drug smuggling and sent to a penal colony. (NBC News / Politico / CBS News)
poll/ 43% of Americans approve of the way Biden is handling his job as president, while 55% disapprove. (Associated Press)
1/ The Supreme Court appeared split on whether state legislators can set voting rules for federal elections without oversight from state courts. The justices are considering a once-fringe legal idea being pressed by North Carolina’s Republican legislative leaders called the “independent state legislature” theory, which argues that an interpretation of the Constitution’s Elections Clause leaves no room for state courts to review election laws. If the justices were to side with the North Carolina Republicans, state lawmakers would have largely unchecked power to set election rules, including reshaping congressional districts through partisan gerrymandering, determining voter eligibility, and mail-in ballot requirements. Justice Elena Kagan called the independent state legislature argument “a theory with big consequences.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Politico)
2/ Democrat Raphael Warnock defeated Republican Herschel Walker in Georgia’s Senate runoff election. Warnock’s victory gives Democrats a 51-49 Senate majority. Starting in January, Democrats will have full power to send legislation to the Senate floor, have subpoena power, and vote on Biden’s nominees to judicial and executive positions. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution / NPR / Associated Press / New York Times / Washington Post)
3/ Trump’s lawyers found at least two classified documents in a Florida storage unit where the General Services Administration had shipped Trump’s belongings after he left the White House. Trump hired a search team after a federal judge pressured Trump’s lawyers to search more carefully for any remaining documents. The team searched Trump Tower, the Bedminster golf club, an office in Florida, and the Florida storage unit. The documents were turned over to the FBI and no other documents with classified markings were found during the search of four of Trump’s properties. (Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / Associated Press)
1/ The Trump organization was found guilty on all 17 counts of criminal tax fraud, conspiracy, falsifying business records, and other financial crimes. The verdict is the culmination of a three-year investigation by the Manhattan district attorney’s office, and the two entities – the Trump Corporation and the Trump Payroll Corp. – face a total of more than $1.6 million in fines. The case was built around testimony from the Trump Organization’s former finance chief, Allen Weisselberg, who pleaded guilty in August to 15 counts including tax fraud, conspiracy and grand larceny. In his testimony, Weisselberg detailed how he and the company’s comptroller, Jeffrey McConney, cheated state and federal tax authorities over a 15-year period by paying executives with “off the books” compensation, such as apartments and luxury cars. Prosecutors described the Trump Organization as a “culture of fraud and deception,” saying Trump sanctioned the tax-free benefits and personally signed some checks for private-school tuition for Weisselberg’s grandchildren. Trump, however, wasn’t charged. Trump and his children and his company also face a civil suit filed by the New York attorney general accusing them of “staggering” fraud. (Washington Post / New York Times / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Bloomberg / Axios)
2/ The Jan. 6 committee will make criminal referrals to the Justice Department. Chairman Bennie Thompson told reporters that the committee has “made decisions on criminal referrals,” but did not disclose how many or who the targets will be, or whether Trump will be among them. “At this point, there’ll be a separate document coming from me to DOJ,” Thompson said. When asked whether the committee believes any witnesses had perjured themselves, Thompson replied: “That’s part of the discussion.” The Justice Department has been pursuing its own criminal investigation and could act regardless of what referrals the panel makes. (CNN / New York Times / Bloomberg / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press)
3/ The Justice Department sent grand jury subpoenas to officials in Arizona, Michigan, and Wisconsin for all communications with Trump, his campaign, and his aides and allies. The requests are the first known subpoenas issued by special counsel Jack Smith, who Attorney General Merrick Garland tapped to oversee the Jan. 6 Capitol attack case and the criminal probe of Trump’s mishandling of classified documents. The three states were central to Trump’s failed plan to stay in power following the 2020 election. (Washington Post / Politico)
4/ Trump’s political action committee is paying the legal bills for key witnesses in the Justice Department’s investigation into classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago after Trump left office. Trump’s Save America PAC has paid Brand Woodward Law more than $120,000 to represent Kash Patel, who has testified in front of the grand jury, as well as Walt Nauta, a Trump valet who told FBI agents that Trump had instructed him to move boxes at Mar-a-Lago. Brand Woodward also represents Trump’s longtime adviser Dan Scavino and at least one other personal aide who has testified in front of the grand jury. (Washington Post)
5/ Trump failed to disclose a $19.8 million loan from a foreign creditor while running for president in 2016. Documents obtained by the New York attorney general’s office show that Trump had a previously unreported liability to South Korean company Daewoo when he took office in January 2017. Daewoo was the only South Korean company allowed to operate in North Korea during the 1990s. The loan was reported on the Trump Organization’s internal documents. The non-disclosure is not necessarily illegal because government disclosure laws require presidential candidates and presidents to list personal debts. The debt, however, still could have posed a conflict of interest given Trump’s frequent boasting about his close relationship with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un while president. (Forbes / The Guardian / The Independent)
1/ Early turnout in Georgia’s Senate runoff between Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker has broke daily voting records three times since polls opened. Ahead of the Tuesday runoff, more than 1.85 million Georgians have voted early, including more than 76,000 who didn’t turn out in the general election. Although Democrats have already secured control of the Senate, the party is seeking an outright majority instead of a 50-50 split and power-sharing agreement that’s currently in place. Polls indicate that Warnock is leading Walker by a margin of 52% to 48%. (NBC News / ABC News / Politico / CNN / Bloomberg)
2/ The Supreme Court seemed sympathetic to an evangelical Christian graphic designer in Colorado who doesn’t want to create wedding websites for same-sex couples despite the state’s anti-discrimination law. The case concerns Lorie Smith, who wants to create customized wedding websites the tell the stories of heterosexual couples “through God’s lens.” Smith claims that the state’s law barring discrimination based on sexual orientation is a violation of her First Amendment right because it forces her to provide services to gay and lesbian couples and engage in speech she doesn’t agree with. The conservative justices have viewed the case through the lens of free speech and suggested that Smith, who sees themselves as artists, could not be forced to create speech that violates her religious belief that marriage is only between a man and a woman. (NPR / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / Bloomberg)
3/ Chinese government-linked hackers stole at least $20 million in U.S. Covid relief benefits. The Secret Service accused the Chengdu-based hacking group known as APT41 of defrauding Covid-related unemployment insurance funds and Small Business Administration loan money in more than a dozen states. The theft of taxpayer funds by APT41 is the first time the Secret Service has publicly connected pandemic fraud tied to foreign, state-sponsored cybercriminals. The agency says it has seized over $1.4 billion in stolen funds since 2020. (NBC News / CNN)
4/ The Manhattan district attorney hired a former Justice Department official who led the New York attorney general’s civil inquiry into Trump and the Trump Organization. Alvin Bragg said that Matthew Colangelo will work on the office’s “most sensitive and high-profile white-collar investigations.” In addition to working on the New York attorney general’s investigation of the Trump Organization, Colangelo also served as acting associate attorney general at the Justice Department. Colangelo led dozens of lawsuits against the Trump administration, as well as oversaw an investigation into Trump’s charity, which caused the organization to dissolve. Bragg took office in January, and despite the departure of two of his most senior prosecutors in February, he’s said his office’s investigation of Trump is ongoing. (New York Times / Bloomberg)
5/ Trump, falsely citing “massive fraud” in his 2020 loss to Biden, called for the “termination” of the Constitution and “all rules” to declare himself the “RIGHTFUL WINNER.” Despite only a handful of Republican lawmakers condemning his assertions, the twice-impeached former president denied he actually wanted to “‘terminate’ the Constitution” two days later. Trump’s rant on his personal social network came after the release of internal Twitter emails showing deliberations over the company’s decision in 2020 to block links to a New York Post article that described emails found on Hunter Biden’s laptop. “Attacking the Constitution and all it stands for is anathema to the soul of our nation and should be universally condemned,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement, adding: “You cannot only love America when you win.” (CNN / Politico / The Hill / Washington Post / Axios / New York Times)
1/ The Supreme Court agreed to an expedited review of the Biden administration’s plan to cancel student-loan debt, announcing that it will hear full oral arguments in February. A final ruling is expected by June. In the meantime, the court said the plan – which would cancel up to $20,000 in federal student loan debt for more than 40 million borrowers – remains blocked. The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals issued that injunction in November in response to a legal challenge by six Republican-led states, who claim that the program was an unlawful exercise of presidential authority and would affect state revenues and tax receipts. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / CNBC / Bloomberg / New York Times / NBC News / CNN)
2/ The Senate passed legislation that would force a labor agreement between freight railroad companies and their workers, averting a potential Dec. 9 national rail strike. In a separate vote the Senate rejected a proposal to add seven days of paid sick leave to the deal. Under the tentative agreement, which several unions had rejected it because it lacked paid leave time, rail workers will receive a roughly 24% pay increase by 2024, more schedule flexibility, and one paid personal day. The legislation now goes to Biden. It was the first time since the 1990s that Congress has used its power to regulate interstate commerce to intervene in a national rail labor dispute. (Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Axios / NBC News / Politico / CNBC)
3/ The latest projections from the Bureau of Reclamation show that by July water levels at Lake Powell, the nation’s second-largest reservoir, could fall to the point that the dam no longer has enough water to generate hydroelectricity for 4.5 million people. Lake Powell is currently a quarter of its original size with water levels having fallen 170 feet amid the warming climate and historic drought. If water levels drop another 38 feet, the surface would approach the tops of eight underwater openings, which allow the Colorado River water to pass through to the Glen Canyon Dam. This is known as “minimum power pool” status, and in addition to being unable to produce power, the dam would have limited ability to pass water downstream to the cities and farms in Arizona, Nevada, and California. The Glen Canyon Dam already generates about 40% less power than it originally did, and the Colorado River is the region’s most important waterway, serving roughly 1 in 10 Americans. “A complete doomsday scenario,” the deputy power manager at Glen Canyon Dam said. (Washington Post)
4/ The House Ways and Means Committee received six years of Trump’s returns from the Treasury. The committee first asked for Trump’s returns three years ago, but the Treasury Department, however, refused to comply with the request while Trump was in office. Trump then sued to block the release of the records. The committee declined to say if they would release any of the returns publicly. (CNN / CNBC / Bloomberg)
5/ A federal appeals court halted the special master review of thousands of documents seized from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. The decision allows the Justice Department to continue its investigation into the mishandling of classified government documents. (Washington Post / Axios / CNN / CNBC)
6/ Kevin McCarthy demanded that the Jan. 6 committee chairman preserve all records and transcripts from the investigation into the attack on the U.S. Capitol. McCarthy also vowed that Republicans would hold their own hearings into “why the Capitol complex was not secure” on the day a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol seeking to stop the certification of Biden’s electoral win. (Washington Post / Politico)
1/ House Democrats elected Hakeem Jeffries to lead their caucus – the first Black person to lead a major political party in Congress. Jeffries succeeds Nancy Pelosi, who has led the Democrats for two decades and announced earlier this month that she would remain in Congress, but not run for the leadership post. Also elected to lead House Democrats in the next session of Congress include Katherine Clark as whip, and Pete Aguilar as the chairman of the party caucus, in charge of messaging. (NPR / Associated Press / New York Times)
2/ The House voted to force a labor contract between rail workers and rail companies, which tens of thousands of union workers had voted down because it didn’t include paid sick leave, which they currently don’t receive. In addition to the bill to codify the tentative contract agreement reached earlier this year, the House voted to add seven paid sick days to the contract. The Senate, however, still needs to consider both of the bills, making it possible that the labor contract could be imposed without the sick leave addition. Without congressional action or an agreement between unions and rail companies, a nationwide freight rail strike could begin as early as December 9, which would cost the U.S. an estimated $2 billion per day. (NPR / Associated Press / Politico / New York Times / CNBC / Wall Street Journal)
3/ Jerome Powell indicated that the Federal Reserve could begin to slow its interest rate increases, but will probably keep borrowing costs higher for longer than previously expected. The Fed has lifted interest rates from near-zero to a range of 3.75 to 4% since March. At each of its last four meetings alone, the central bank has increased rates by an unprecedented 0.75 basis-points aimed at combating high inflation – its the most aggressive action since the 1980s. The Fed is on track to raise interest rates by a half percentage point at its December meeting, and markets now expect rates to eclipse 5% next year. “It is likely that restoring price stability will require holding policy at a restrictive level for some time,” Powell said. “History cautions strongly against prematurely loosening policy. We will stay the course until the job is done.” (Washington Post / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / CNBC / New York Times / CNN)
4/ The age of first-time homebuyers in the U.S. is getting older as prices rise, mortgage rates increase, and inventory decreases. First-time buyers made up 26% of the market from July 2021 to June 2022, down from 34% last year – the lowest share of first-time buyers since the data collection began. The median age of home buyers in the U.S. is now 53 – the highest on record. While millennials saw the largest increases in homeownership between 2019 and 2021 due to pandemic relief and historically low mortgage rates, 27% of millennials lived in a home they owned at age 25-34, compared with 40% or more for previous generations. The average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage, meanwhile, has more than doubled in the past year. Mortgage rates, however, have dropped slightly for a third straight week after topping 7% last month. (Washington Post / The Hill / CNBC)
5/ NASA canceled a planned satellite to monitor greenhouse gas emissions in Earth’s atmosphere because the project got too costly. The Geostationary Carbon Observatory mission was supposed to be a low-cost satellite to monitor carbon dioxide and methane over North and South America with a price tag around $166 million. NASA, however, estimates that the mission will now cost more than $600 million, which would “have a detrimental impact on NASA’s Earth Science portfolio.” (Associated Press / NASA)
6/ Lawmakers plan to add $45 billion to the defense budget. The Senate and House Armed Services committees have reportedly come to a “compromise” to set the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act budget at $847 billion. Last year, Biden asked for $753 billion but was granted an NDAA worth about $778 billion. If Congress moves ahead with the increase, it would be the second year in a row that lawmakers have endorsed a national defense budget that is tens of billions more than Biden requested. Last year, Biden asked for about $744 billion but was given about $768 billion – $24 billion more than he had requested. (Politico)
1/ The Senate passed the Respect for Marriage Act to codify federal protections for same-sex and interracial marriages. While the legislation doesn’t force states to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, it does require states to recognize all marriages that were legal where they were performed, and protect current same-sex unions. The bill also repeals the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage as between a man and a woman. “For millions and millions of Americans, today is a very good day,” Chuck Schumer said prior to the vote. “An important day. A day that’s been a long time coming.” The bill’s passage sends it back to the House for another vote and then to Biden for his signature. (Washington Post / New York Times / Associated Press / Politico / NPR / NBC News / CNN)
2/ Congressional leaders vowed to pass legislation “ASAP” to avert a nationwide rail strike, saying they agree with Biden that a railroad strike in the coming weeks would put the economy “at risk.” A rail strike could happen as early as December 9. “I am calling on Congress to pass legislation immediately to adopt the Tentative Agreement between railroad workers and operators – without any modifications or delay – to avert a potentially crippling national rail shutdown,” Biden said in a statement. In September, the White House helped broker a tentative deal, but members of the largest unions rejected the proposal because it didn’t address scheduling and paid time-off issues. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / NPR / Politico / CNN)
3/ A federal jury convicted Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes of seditious conspiracy for plotting to forcefully disrupt the transfer of power after the 2020 election. Kelly Meggs, who ran the Florida chapter of the Oath Keepers at the time of the Jan. 6 attack, was also convicted of seditious conspiracy and other felonies. Seditious conspiracy carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. (Washington Post / NBC News / Associated Press / New York Times / Axios / CNN)
4/ Mark Meadows was ordered to testify to the grand jury investigating Trump’s effort to overturn the election in Georgia. Meadows had asked the state supreme court to block a subpoena for testimony, arguing that his appearance before the grand jury was barred by executive privilege. “We have reviewed the arguments raised by [Meadows] and find them to be manifestly without merit,” the justices wrote in a brief opinion. (Politico / CNBC)
5/ Kevin McCarthy disavowed the white nationalist Nick Fuentes, but declined to criticize Trump for having dinner with him. “The president can have meetings with who he wants,” McCarthy said. “I don’t think anybody, though, should have a meeting with Nick Fuentes,” adding: “The president didn’t know who he was.” Mitch McConnell, meanwhile, suggested that Trump is “highly unlikely to ever be elected president of the United States” after dining with a white supremacist and Holocaust denier. (New York Times / Business Insider / CNBC / Bloomberg / NBC News / Axios)
1/ Biden renewed his call for a ban on assault weapons following mass shootings at a Walmart in Virginia and a LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado, saying: “The idea we still allow semiautomatic weapons to be purchased is sick. It’s just sick. It has no social redeeming values. Zero. None. Not a single, solitary rationale for it except profit for the gun manufacturer.” Democrats, however, don’t have the 60 votes in the Senate to overcome a filibuster to advance an assault weapons ban bill, which the House passed in July. The window to enact legislation is also closing, as Republicans are set to take a majority in the House in January. (ABC News / Washington Post / CNN / The Hill)
2/ The FBI and Homeland Security have failed to address domestic terrorism, according to a report by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Since 2019, both Homeland Security and the FBI have repeatedly identified domestic terrorism – specifically white supremacist violence – as “the most persistent and lethal terrorist threat to the homeland.” The federal government, however, has continued to disproportionately allocate resources to international terrorist threats instead, according to the three-year investigation. “DHS and FBI’s inability to provide comprehensive data on the domestic terrorist threat creates serious concerns that they are not effectively prioritizing our counterterrorism resources to address the rising domestic terrorist threat,” the committee’s chairman said in a statement. (Salon / Yahoo News)
3/ Trump had dinner with white nationalist and antisemite Nick Fuentes at Mar-a-Lago last week. Fuentes is a far-right activist who frequently promotes racist and antisemitic conspiracy theories. Also at the dinner was Kanye West (who now goes by Ye), who recently lost endorsements deals after making a series of antisemitic remarks. Fuentes is reportedly helping Ye with his second presidential campaign. Following the dinner, Ye posted a video claiming that Trump “is really impressed with Fuentes.” In a statement, the White House said: “Bigotry, hate, and antisemitism have absolutely no place in America – including at Mar-A-Lago. Holocaust denial is repugnant and dangerous, and it must be forcefully condemned.” Democratic National Committee added: “If it was any other party, breaking bread with Nick Fuentes would be instantly disqualifying for Trump.” Republican lawmakers, meanwhile, have largely remained silent following Trump’s dinner with an antisemitic rapper and white nationalist activist. Trump has also repeatedly refused to disavow Fuentes. (Politico / ABC News / New York Times / NBC News / CNN / Axios / Bloomberg / The Guardian)
4/ The Justice Department is seeking to question Pence about Trump’s efforts to disrupt the transfer of power after the 2020 election. Pence is reportedly open to considering the request, but it’s unclear if Trump will attempt to assert executive privilege to block any potential testimony. Pence’s chief of staff and chief counsel have already testified to the grand jury investigating the matter. Separately, Kellyanne Conway voluntarily met with the Jan. 6 committee and spoke on the record. (New York Times / Politico / CNN / CNBC / NBC News)
5/ The Georgia Supreme Court reinstated the state’s six-week ban on abortions. A lower court ruling last week had put the ban on hold, calling it “unconstitutional.” In a one-page order, the justices put the lower court ruling on hold while they consider an appeal by the Georgia’s attorney general. (NPR / CNN)
6/ The Biden administration eased some oil sanctions against Venezuela and the Treasury Department granted Chevron a “limited” license to pump and export oil from the South American country. The six-month license stipulates that any oil produced can only be exported to the U.S., and that profits from the sale of energy would be directed to paying down debt owed to Chevron, rather than going to the state-run oil company, PDVSA. Chevron is the only remaining active U.S. oil company in Venezuela but has been barred by sanctions from operations there. A senior Biden official, meanwhile, claimed that easing sanctions – which began 15 years ago on grounds of drug trafficking, corruption, and human rights abuses – was not about adding supply to the global oil market to ease high energy prices exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but rather about restoring democracy to Venezuela. (Washington Post / New York Times / Associated Press / Politico / Bloomberg)
1/ The Supreme Court rejected Trump’s legal effort to block the release of his tax returns to Congress. Republicans, however, are expected to end the committee’s investigation when they take control of the House on Jan. 3, 2023. The order comes after a federal appeals court ruled that the Ways and Means Committee had the right to obtain six years of Trump’s tax records, which Chief Justice John Roberts temporarily blocked. The chief lawyer for the House had urged the Supreme Court not to intervene, saying: “Delaying Treasury from providing the requested tax information would leave the Committee and Congress as a whole little or no time to complete their legislative work during this Congress, which is quickly approaching its end.” The committee first sought the tax returns from the IRS in 2019. (CNBC / New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / NBC News / Axios / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
2/ The Biden administration will extend the pause on federal student loan payments through June 30, 2023. The extension, which began in March 2020 to help people who were struggling financially due to the Covid-19 pandemic, comes as the Biden administration’s student loan forgiveness plan remains blocked by federal courts. Federal student loan bills had been scheduled to resume in January. “We’re extending the payment pause because it would be deeply unfair to ask borrowers to pay a debt that they wouldn’t have to pay, were it not for the baseless lawsuits brought by Republican officials and special interests,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement. (CNBC / Axios / CNN / Bloomberg)
3/ Members of the largest railroad unions rejected a tentative labor contract brokered by the White House. Four of the 12 rail unions have now rejected the proposed contract, which the Biden administration had negotiated in September to avert a strike before the midterm elections. At issue are attendance policies that penalize workers for taking time off when they are sick or for personal time, as well as grueling, unpredictable schedules. Both sides have agreed to a cooling-off period until early December. Roughly 40% of freight moves by rail in the U.S. A national rail strike, which could happen as early as Dec. 5, could cost the economy more than $2 billion per day. (Washington Post / NPR / New York Times / CNN / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press)
4/ Lindsey Graham testified before the Fulton County special grand jury investigating efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election. Graham’s testimony came after a monthslong legal battle that went all the way to the Supreme Court, which declined to block the subpoena requiring him to appear. Prosecutors in Fulton County to question Graham about calls he made to Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia secretary of state, in the weeks after the 2020 election, as well as his interactions with the Trump campaign, and other issues related to the election. Graham reportedly testified for “just over two hours and answered all questions.” (Washington Post / Axios / CNN)
1/ A gunman killed five people and injured 18 others at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs on the eve of Transgender Day of Remembrance, which occurs annually on Nov. 20 to honor victims of anti-trans violence. Anderson Lee Aldrich faces five murder charges and five charges of committing a bias-motivated crime causing bodily injury. Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers said the shooting has “the trappings” of a hate crime. A year and a half before he was arrested, Aldrich allegedly threatened his mother with a homemade bomb. Despite the incident forcing neighbors to evacuate while the bomb squad and crisis negotiators talked him into surrendering, there is no record of anyone trying to trigger Colorado’s “red flag” law, which would have allowed the seizure of Aldrich’s weapons and ammo. 57% of American, meanwhile, say they want stricter gun laws – down from 66% in June. (Associated Press / NPR / Washington Post / New York Times)
2/ Diplomats from nearly 200 countries failed to reach an agreement to phase out fossil fuels, but agreed to set up a “loss and damage” fund to help vulnerable countries cope with climate change disasters. The meeting, known as COP27, ended with an agreement that reaffirmed the goal of keeping global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, but didn’t address the root cause of the climate crisis: greenhouse gas emissions. More than 80 other countries wanted language that would have called for a “phase-down” of all fossil fuels, which would have gone beyond the deal in Glasgow that called for a “phase-down” of coal only. The effort to phase out all fossil fuels, however, was “stonewalled by a number of large emitters and oil producers,” including China, Saudi Arabia, and Canada. (CNN / Vox / New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Associated Press)
3/ Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel to oversee two Justice Department criminal investigations into Trump: his handling of classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago and his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss. Garland named Jack Smith as special counsel, saying Trump’s presidential candidacy and Biden’s intention to run for reelection were “extraordinary circumstances” that necessitated a “special prosecutor to independently manage an investigation and prosecution.” Smith was previously the chief of the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section, overseeing public corruption and elections-related investigations. Trump, meanwhile, called Smith’s appointment “unfair,” claiming that the independent prosecutor “want[s] to do bad things to the greatest movement in the history of our country, but in particular, bad things to me.” (Wall Street Journal / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / CNBC)
4/ The Jan. 6 committee plans to release “all the evidence” it has collected “within a month” – before the panel ends when Republicans take control of the House in January. Adam Schiff, the chair of the House Intelligence Committee, added “the evidence is there” to make a criminal referral against Trump. (CBS News / ABC News)
5/ The Manhattan district attorney’s office has restarted its long-running criminal investigation into Trump and the $130,000 hush money Michael Cohen paid to Stormy Daniels on the eve of the 2016 presidential election. District Attorney Alvin Bragg is reportedly revisiting whether Allen Weisselberg, the former chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, could be pressured into cooperating with the probe. Weisselberg recently pleaded guilty to unrelated tax fraud charges in a criminal case involving the Trump Organization. The potential charges are related to insurance fraud and unrelated to the hush money payment. (New York Times)
6/ Chief Twit reinstated Trump’s Twitter account after posting a poll asking the platform’s users, bots, and fake accounts if the former president’s permanent ban for inciting the Jan. 6 violence at the Capitol should be reversed. Elon Musk, who has spent months complaining about Twitter’s problem with bot and fake accounts, claimed “the people have spoken” after more than 15 million votes were logged. The “yes” vote won, with 51.8%. Trump, meanwhile, said he sees “a lot of problems at Twitter” and poured cold water on the idea of returning to the platform, saying, “I don’t see any reason for it.” (New York Times / Bloomberg / NPR / Reuters / Associated Press)
1/ Nancy Pelosi will not seek a Democratic leadership role in the next Congress after Republicans take control of the House. “For me the hour has come for a new generation to lead the Democratic caucus that I so deeply respect,” Pelosi said a day after Republicans officiallywoncontrol of the House. “And I am grateful that so many are ready and willing to shoulder this awesome responsibility.” Pelosi is the first and only woman to hold the top position in the House and will continue to serve as a member of the House. “I have enjoyed working with three presidents,” Pelosi, who has served as House speaker under four different presidents, added. House Democrats are scheduled to vote on their leaders on Nov. 30. Hakeem Jeffries is considered Pelosi’s heir apparent. If elected, Jeffries would become the first Black lawmaker to lead a party in Congress. (Washington Post / New York Times / NPR / Politico / Associated Press / ABC News / Wall Street Journal / CNN / HuffPost)
2/ The Biden administration will ask the Supreme Court to revive its student loan debt relief program. Earlier this week, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a nationwide injunction temporarily barring the program. Separately, the Justice Department is asking the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to stay a decision by a Texas judge that ruled Biden’s debt relief program was “an unconstitutional exercise of Congress’s legislative power and must be vacated.” The filing says the judge “lacked jurisdiction to enter an order.” (Politico / CNBC)
3/ The Jan. 6 committee interviewed the lead Secret Service agent in Trump’s motorcade on the day of the insurrection. Robert Engel was driving the car when Trump tried to grab the car’s steering wheel after being told he was headed back to the White House because it wasn’t safe to go to the Capitol, according to former White House staffer Cassidy Hutchinson, who testified before the committee in June. Hutchinson said Tony Ornato, then-White House deputy chief of staff, had told her this story of Trump being “irate.” Pence, meanwhile, said he would not testify before the committee, because Congress “has no right to my testimony.” Pence added that it would establish a “terrible precedent for the Congress to summon a vice president of the United States to speak about deliberations that took place at the White House.” (CNN / Reuters)
4/ Michael Flynn was ordered to testify before a special grand jury investigating whether Trump and his allies tried to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia. In mid-December 2020, Flynn suggested that Trump “could take military capabilities,” put them in swing states, and “basically re-run an election in each of those states.” Flynn, Trump, attorney Sidney Powell, and others met at the White House on Dec. 18, 2020, to discuss “invoking martial law, seizing voting machines, and appointing Powell as special counsel to investigate the 2020 election.” Flynn must testify before the panel on Nov. 22. (NBC News)
5/ The Trump Organization’s longtime chief financial officer testified that he committed tax crimes and that the company stopped several illegal tax practices after Trump became president. Allen Weisselberg testified that senior employees received their bonuses via 1099 income, a tax form intended for self-employed individuals, which allowed the company to avoid payroll taxes. Executives could then open tax-deferred retirement accounts that only self-employed people qualify for. In addition, the company is accused of giving executives off-the-books perks including apartments, luxury cars, and private school tuition. Weisselberg testified that he carried out the scheme for his own benefit and that the Trump family was not involved in the schemes. Weisselberg pleaded guilty to 15 criminal counts in August. Under the deal, he will serve five months in jail if he testifies truthfully. (Bloomberg / Politico / CNN / CBS News)
1/ Trump — the twice-impeached former president who tried to overturn the 2020 presidential election, encouraged a deadly insurrection at the Capitol, and is the subject of multiple criminal investigations — filed to run for president for a third consecutive time. “In order to make America great and glorious again, I am tonight announcing my candidacy for president of the United States,” Trump said from Mar-a-Lago despite some Republicans blaming him for the party’s disappointing midterm election results. “We are a nation in decline. We are a failing nation for millions of Americans,” Trump said, adding that the “gravest threat to our civilization” was what he called the weaponization of the Justice Department and the FBI. Trump enters the race facing multiple ongoing civil and criminal investigations in multiple states related to tax fraud, his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, and the mishandling of classified documents stored at Mar-a-Lago. (Politico / Associated Press / NPR / Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / CNBC)
Senate Republicans voted to retain Mitch McConnell as minority leader – the longest serving GOP leader in Senate history. (NPR / Washington Post / Associated Press)
2/ The Senate advanced bipartisan legislation to protect same-sex marriage. In a 62-37 vote, 12 Republicans voted with all Democrats to end debate on the bill and advance the Respect for Marriage Act, which would enshrine same-sex marriage protections into federal law. The bill also repeals the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage as one man and one woman and allowed states to decline to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states. In May, 71% of Americans said they supported legal same-sex marriage – up from 27% in 1996. A final Senate vote could happen this week, which would send the amended version to the House for another vote before it would head to Biden to be signed into law. (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / Wall Street Journal)
3/ A judge overturned Georgia’s six-week abortion ban, ruling that key parts of the law “were plainly unconstitutional when drafted, voted upon, and enacted.” Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney noted that because the law was enacted before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned its 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade, the ban must be evaluated using a 2019 lens. As a result, abortions will — for the first time since July — be legal in Georgia, up to 22 weeks of pregnancy, effective immediately. The Georgia attorney general’s office immediately filed an appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court. (NPR / New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / CNN)
4/ A federal judge struck down a Trump-era policy used to expel more than 1 million migrants at the nation’s Southern border. The Trump administration first issued the Title 42 policy in 2020 at the outset of the coronavirus pandemic to stop the “introduction” of contagious diseases in the U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan said the order was “arbitrary and capricious in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act,” arguing that the policy had little proven benefit to public health and hasn’t been updated to align with the present state of the pandemic and availability of vaccines and treatment options. The order will go into effect on Dec. 21. (Politico / Washington Post / CBS News / CNN)
5/ The Biden administration warned of a “historically large increase” in federal student loan delinquency and defaults without its forgiveness plan. The Education Department stopped accepting applications for its student loan forgiveness plan last week after a judge in Texas called the policy “unconstitutional” and struck it down. Approximately 18 million borrowers are eligible to have their federal student loans discharged in their entirety under the program. These same borrowers are most in jeopardy of defaulting. About 60% of borrowers who qualified for forbearance haven’t made a single payment since August 2020. Payments, however, are set to resume Jan. 1, 2023, unless Biden extends the pause on repayments. (CNBC / Axios / Bloomberg)
1/ Kevin McCarthy won the Republican nomination for speaker with 188 votes from the caucus in a secret-ballot vote. Assuming that Republicans take control of the chamber, McCarthy will need to win at least 218 votes on the House floor in January to earn the speaker’s gavel. Republicans are currently one seat short of the majority in the House with 13 races still uncalled, including four in which the Republican candidates lead. In the Senate, Rick Scott said he plans to challenge Mitch McConnell for minority leader. McConnell, however, is expected to retain support from the majority of his conference. Trump, meanwhile, is expected to announce a third consecutive presidential campaign tonight from Mar-a-Lago. (Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Bloomberg / Axios / Washington Post / Associated Press)
2/ The director of the CIA warned his Russian counterpart against the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine. The National Security Council said Bill Burns’ meeting was part of an ongoing effort by the U.S. to “communicate with Russia on managing risk” and was not in any way to negotiate or to discuss any settlement of the war in Ukraine. National security adviser Jake Sullivan has also been in touch with his Russian counterparts about the consequences should Russia use a nuclear weapon in Ukraine. Russia, meanwhile, launched roughly 100 missiles aimed primarily at Ukraine’s electrical infrastructure. Two Russian missiles, however, missed Ukraine entirely and landed about four miles north in Poland. (New York Times / CNN / Associated Press / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
3/ The Customs and Border Protection commissioner resigned after a standoff with Biden’s Homeland Security secretary. Chris Magnus initially refused to step down after both Alejandro Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary, and the department’s deputy secretary asked him to resign. CBP staff reportedly had lost confidence in him. Magnus served in the job for less than a year. (New York Times / Politico / NPR / Washington Post)
4/ Federal prosecutors closed their investigation in whether Rudy Giuliani violated U.S. lobbying laws while doing business in Ukraine and no criminal charges will be brought. After more than two years, prosecutors wrote that “based on information currently available to the government, criminal charges are not forthcoming.” (New York Times / CNN / CNBC)
5/ U.S. intelligence reports that the United Arab Emirates attempted to steered U.S. foreign policy in its favor through a series of legal and illegal activities. The classified report reveals that the UAE spent more than $154 million on lobbyists since 2016 to exploit the vulnerabilities in American governance, as well as hundreds of millions of dollars on donations to American universities and think tanks. In one exploit, the UAE hired three former U.S. intelligence and military officials to surveil dissidents, politicians, journalists, and U.S. companies, as well as break into computers in the U.S. and other countries. (Washington Post)
1/ Democrats won the Senate while Republicans appear on track for a narrow majority in the House. As of Monday morning, 20 House seats remain uncalled, with 212 seats projected for Republicans and 203 for Democrats. To retain the House majority, Democrats would have to win 15 of the last 20 seats. Biden told reporters: “I think we’re going to get very close in the House […] but I don’t think we’re going to make it.” Meanwhile, in the Senate, Democratic incumbents Mark Kelly and Catherine Cortez Masto won re-election in Arizona and Nevada, respectively. The two victories mean Democrats will not only be able to unilaterally confirm Biden’s judges and executive branch nominees for two more years, but they have the chance to expand their Senate majority with a win in Georgia’s Senate run-off election next month. Biden, however, said that Democrats still lack the votes needed to codify abortion rights into law. (Politico / NBC News / CNBC / New York Times / NPR)
2/ A federal appeals court blocked Biden’s student loan forgiveness program while it considers a lawsuit brought by six Republican states to end the policy, which argued they were harmed by a freeze on the collection of student loan payments and interest. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals cited the potential “irreversible impact” of allowing debt forgiveness for about 40 million borrower to proceed “as compared to the lack of harm an injunction would presently impose.” The court had temporarily blocked the debt relief program in October. The appeals court decision comes days after a federal judge in Texas blocked the program and declared it “unlawful.” U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman, who was appointed by Trump, wrote: “In this country, we are not ruled by an all-powerful executive with a pen and a phone. Instead, we are ruled by a Constitution that provides for three distinct and independent branches of government.” About 26 million people had applied for debt relief and 16 million people had already had their relief approved. The government, however, is blocked from discharging any debt while the court considers the lawsuit to end the policy. The Education Department, meanwhile, is no longer accepting applications for debt relief because of the court orders. (Axios / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / CBS News / NPR / Associated Press / NBC News / CNN / CNBC)
3/ Trump sued the Jan. 6 committee to avoid cooperating with its subpoena for documents and his testimony. Trump was subpoenaed by the committee in October and was scheduled to be deposed on Nov. 14 – a day before his “big announcement,” where he is widely expected to announce the launch of his 2024 presidential campaign. Trump is challenging the legitimacy of the committee and claims he should be immune from testimony about the time he was president. (CNN / CNBC)
The Supreme Court refused to block a Jan. 6 committee subpoena for the phone records of Kelli Ward, the chairwoman of the Arizona Republican Party and a Trump ally. The vote was 7-to-2, with Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissenting, without explanation. (New York Times / NPR / Politico / NBC News)
4/ Trump claimed in a court filing that the highly sensitive national security documents he took to Mar-a-Lago were his “personal” property because he said so. The Justice Department, however, said that Trump cannot deem the records personal “simply by saying so,” and accused him of engaging in a “shell game” to shield documents from criminal investigators. The DOJ added that if the records were “personal,” then there’s no basis to shield them from investigators. (Politico / CNN / New York Times / CNBC)
5/ Officials from six nations spent more than $750,000 at Trump’s hotel in Washington while they were trying to influence U.S. foreign policy in 2017 and 2018, according to a report by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. The spending in the records included more than $250,000 by Malaysia, more than $280,000 by Qatar, more than $90,000 by Saudi Arabia, and more than $74,000 by the United Arab Emirates. The records also show a total of $65,139 in charges by the American Turkish Council, a nonprofit group with ties to the Turkish government, as well as $19,370 in spending by a delegation from the Embassy of China. (New York Times / NBC News / CNN / Axios)
1/ Control of Congress continues to hang in the balance two days after the 2022 midterm elections. Republicans are on track to take a narrow House majority, needing 9 more seats with 37 more races still up for grabs. Meanwhile, three Senate races remain uncalled: Arizona, Nevada and Georgia, which is headed for a Dec. 6 runoff. Democrats currently have a slight lead in Arizona, while Republicans maintain a slim advantage in Nevada. Some analysts say they expect the outstanding vote in both of those races to favor the Democratic candidates. Meanwhile, at a Democratic National Committee event, Biden said that, nationally, there were “a lot of concerns about whether democracy would meet the test.” He added: “It did.” Trump’s allies, meanwhile, are pushing him to delay his planned presidential announcement, while Paul Ryan called Trump “a drag on our ticket.” Trump, however, claims he’s “not at all angry” about the midterms. (New York Times / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / Politico / NPR / Washington Post)
2/ The consumer price index increased 7.7% from a year ago – down from 8.2% in September and June’s 9.1% rate. While that’s the lowest rate of inflation since January, inflation remains near a 40-year high and well above the Fed’s 2% target. The inflation report leaves the Federal Reserve on track to raise rates by 0.50 percentage points in December after four consecutive hikes of 0.75 percentage points. (Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / New York Times / Washington Post / CNBC / Politico / CBS News / ABC News)
3/ Home prices rose in 98% of metro markets from July through September despite mortgage rates rising to their highest level in 20 years. Nationwide, prices for an existing, median single-family home rose by 8.6% from last year to $398,500. Median prices were up 10% or more in 46% of cities. Home sales, however, have dropped for eight straight months through September. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 7.08% last week. A year ago, the 30-year fixed rate stood at 2.98%. (National Association of Realtors / Wall Street Journal / CNN / The Hill)
4/ The IRS urged the Supreme Court to allow the release of Trump’s tax returns to a House committee. Nine days ago, Chief Justice John Roberts temporarily blocked the IRS from transferring six years of Trump’s returns to the House Ways and Means Committee while the court considered Trump’s request for a longer delay. In a legal brief, the IRS and Treasury said Trump’s request for the delay “cannot satisfy the demanding standard for that extraordinary relief.” The committee, which has been seeking the documents since 2019, told the court that further delays would leave the committee “little or no time to complete their legislative work during this Congress, which is quickly approaching its end.” (Bloomberg / CNBC)
1/ Senate control hinges on three states, while Republicans have picked up fewer seats than predicted in the House. Republicans, however, are still poised to win a narrow majority in one if not both houses of Congress. In the Senate, Democrat John Fetterman flipped a key seat in Pennsylvania, while Republican Ron Johnson secured reelection in Wisconsin. Democrats currently control 48 seats to the Republicans 49, meaning whoever wins two of the three elections in Arizona, Georgia, and Nevada will control the Senate. In the House, Republicans are expected to win the five seats they needed to take control, but a large number of the most competitive races remain uncalled. In midterm elections since World War II, the president’s party has almost always lost seats, but Democrats seem to have avoided the so-called “red wave” that some strategists predicted was going to be fueled by record inflation and economic woes. Only three times since World War II has inflation been as high as it is today heading into the midterms, and in all three cases the president’s party lost between 15 and 48 seats in the House. “It was a good day for democracy,” Biden said. “And I think it was a good day for America.” (Politico / Bloomberg / New York Times / Washington Post / NPR / CNN / NBC News / CNBC / Wall Street Journal / MSNBC / ABC News)
The candidates who made history in the midterms: the first female governors in Arkansas, Massachusetts, and New York; the first Black person to be elected governor of Maryland; the nation’s first openly lesbian governor in Massachusetts; the first openly LGBTQ person to represent Vermont in Congress; the first member of Gen Z to be elected to Congress. (Washington Post / NPR)
2/ Georgia’s Senate race is headed to a runoff after neither candidate cleared the 50% threshold needed to win outright. The runoff between Democrat Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker will take place on Dec. 6, with the Senate majority potentially at stake for a second straight election cycle. With more than 95% of ballots counted on Wednesday afternoon, Warnock had 49.4% of the vote to Walker’s 48.5%. About 35,000 votes separated the two candidates. Georgia law requires a runoff if no candidate clears 50%. (Politico / Axios / Bloomberg / New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / NPR)
3/ Voters in California, Michigan, and Vermont enshrined abortion rights in their state’s constitution in the first nationwide election since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June. Voters in Kentucky – where abortion is currently banned – rejected a proposed amendment to the state’s constitution to say that it does not “secure or protect a right” to abortion or the funding of abortion. Kentucky is the second state in the post-Roe era to reject an anti-abortion ballot measure. In August, Kansas voters rejected a proposed state constitutional amendment that would have allowed the legislature to ban abortions. (New York Times / Associated Press / Washington Post / Axios / CNN / CNBC)
4/ Democrats flipped governorships in two states, while Republican governors Ron DeSantis, Greg Abbott, and Brian Kemp all easily won reelection. As of Wednesday afternoon, gubernatorial contests in Nevada, Oregon, and Arizona remain uncalled. Thirty-six states states voted to elect governors last night. (Politico / Wall Street Journal / FiveThirtyEight)
5/ Trump was reportedly “fuming” at Mar-a-Lago last night after at least 14 of his endorsed candidates were projected to lose in their races. Trump was particularly upset as Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz and gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano both lost their elections in Pennsylvania. Out of 39 competitive races in which Trump endorsed a candidate, his candidates won 12 races and lost 11, with 16 still undecided as of Wednesday afternoon. Prior to any races being called last night, Trump send an email blast boasting of “unprecedented successes.” Later, however, Trump acknowledged that the results were “somewhat disappointing.” (CNBC / Forbes / ABC News / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / Axios)
1/ Polls opened across the country today with control of Congress at stake in the first national election since the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. Republicans are favored to regain control of the House, where all 435 House seats are up for grabs. Control of the Senate, which is currently split 50-50, will likely be decided a handful of races in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Arizona, New Hampshire, and North Carolina despite 35 seats up for election this cycle. As of Tuesday afternoon, nearly 45 million ballots had been cast nationwide. While the earliest polls close at 6 p.m. Eastern today, we probably won’t know all the results of the midterm elections for days – or weeks – after voting concludes. (Washington Post / Associated Press / CNN / New York Times)
2/ Voting rights advocates monitoring polling sites across the country reported no major concerns with ballots, long lines, or voter intimidation so far. One early issue, however, occurred in Maricopa County – Arizona’s most populous county – where about 1 in 5 polling locations were experiencing a technical problem with their ballot tabulator machines in the first hours of voting. Despite election officials resolving the issue and assuring voters that their ballots would still be counted, Arizona Republicans nevertheless seized on the glitch and claimed it was evidence of widespread voter fraud. (Associated Press / Washington Post / CNN / NPR / NBC News / Bloomberg / New York Times)
3/ Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis refused to allow Justice Department election monitors to go inside polling locations, saying the government’s involvement would be “counterproductive” and “potentially undermine confidence in the election.” Brad McVay, the chief counsel for the Florida Department of State, said the federal officials were not included on a list of people allowed inside polling places under Florida law. On Monday, the Justice Department announced that it would send monitors to 64 jurisdictions nationwide. Federal monitors, however, need local permission to observe activity inside election sites. (Washington Post / CNN)
4/ The effects of climate change are already “far-reaching and worsening” throughout every region of the U.S., according to a draft of the National Climate Assessment. The U.S. has warmed 68% faster than Earth as a whole over the past 50 years, the report finds, noting “the things Americans value most are at risk.” While the U.S. cut greenhouse gas emissions by 12% from 2007- 2019, emissions need to drop by over 6% every year to meet the Biden administration’s climate goal of net-zero by 2050. (Washington Post / New York Times / Axios / CNBC)
1/ Earth is on track to see its 5th or 6th warmest year on record in 2022, with global average temperatures currently running about 1.15°C above the preindustrial average. “We just had the 8 warmest years on record,” the World Meteorological Organization said, calling its latest State of the Global Climate report a “chronicle of climate chaos.” The agency noted that “the warming continues” with accelerating sea level rise, record-breaking glacier melting, and extreme weather. Temperatures in Europe have increased at an average rate of 0.5 degrees Celsius per decade over the past 30 years – more than twice the global average. (Bloomberg / Washington Post / Axios / CBS News)
2/ U.N. Secretary General António Guterres called for the creation of a “climate solidarity pact” between rich and poor nations to meet the Paris Agreement’s target and limit the severity of global warming. Earth is losing “the fight of our lives,” Guterres said in opening remarks at the annual U.N. climate conference, known as COP27. “We are on a highway to climate hell with our foot on the accelerator. Humanity has a choice: cooperate or perish.” The Guterres called for China and the U.S. – the world’s two biggest polluters – to cooperate, saying they have a “particular responsibility to join efforts to make this pact a reality. This is our only hope of meeting our climate goals.” (NPR / Axios / New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Axios)
3/ More than 41 million pre-election ballots have been cast across 47 states, but Republicans in at least three battleground states have sued to disqualify thousands of mail ballots. In Pennsylvania, thousands of ballots have been set aside because the voter neglected to put a date on the outer envelope. While in Michigan, the Republican nominee for secretary of state filed a lawsuit seeking to toss absentee ballots not requested in person by Detroit voters. And in Wisconsin, some mail ballots won’t be counted if the required witness address is not complete. Pre-election voting, however, has been ahead of 2018 levels in states where data is available for the last three cycles. (CNN / Washington Post)
4/ A Russian oligarch known as “Vladimir Putin’s chef” admitted that Russia had interfered in U.S. elections and would continue to do so. “Gentlemen, we have interfered, are interfering and will interfere. Carefully, precisely, surgically and in our own way, as we know how to do,” Yevgeny Prigozhin said. In 2018, special counsel Robert Mueller charged Prigozhin with conspiracy to defraud the U.S. for his role in financing the Internet Research Agency, a “troll factory” in St. Petersburg that used social media to spread fake news during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign. Researchers, meanwhile, have identified a series of new Russian information operations attempting to influence the U.S. election by criticizing Biden and other Democrats for supporting Ukraine’s resistance to the Russia. (Associated Press / New York Times / CNN)
5/ Trump is reportedly planning to announce his 2024 presidential campaign before Thanksgiving. Two people from Trump’s inner circle said he has specifically discussed a Nov. 14 announcement. The Justice Department, meanwhile, is weighing whether a Trump candidacy would create the need for a special counsel to oversee the investigation into Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his mishandling of national security documents he took to Mar-a-Lago. Some Republicans aides and strategists say they expect Attorney General Merrick Garland to indict Trump in the next 60 to 90 days. (Axios / CNN)
1/ Biden called the midterms “a defining moment” for democracy as the “ultra MAGA” are trying to “succeed where they failed” in subverting the 2020 elections with threats of political violence and voter intimidation. “We can’t take democracy for granted any longer,” Biden said from Union Station in Washington, steps from the U.S. Capitol where a mob attempted to interrupt the certification of the 2020 election. Biden condemned Trump and other Republicans for encouraging political violence, voter intimidation, and “the Big Lie,” calling it “unprecedented,” “unlawful,” and “un-American” to “love your country only when you win.” Biden, arguing that Trump had undercut the rule of law, said: “American democracy is under attack because the defeated former president of the United States refuses to accept the results of the 2020 election.” Biden added that Trump “refuses to accept the will of the people. He refuses to accept the fact that he lost. He has abused his power and put the loyalty to himself before loyalty to the Constitution and he’s made a Big Lie an article of faith for the MAGA Republicans, a minority of that party.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / NBC News / CNN)
2/ Obama warned that “democracy as we know it may not survive” if Republicans win in Arizona. “That’s not an exaggeration,” Obama added. “That is a fact.” In Arizona, all but one of the 13 GOP nominees for federal or state office have denied or questioned the results of the 2020 election. If the GOP ticket were to win in Arizona, it would mean “election deniers serving as your governor, as your senator, as your secretary of state, as your attorney general.” (Washington Post)
3/ Some House Republicans have embraced plans to reduce federal spending on Social Security and Medicare if they take control of the House and Senate. The Republican leaders claim that cutting benefits are necessary to rein in government spending. Their proposals include raising the retirement age for Social Security and Medicare to 70 from 67, and increasing the premiums for health coverage. “They’re coming after your Social Security and Medicare in a big way,” Biden said, holding up a Republican plan that would also require Congress to reauthorize safety net programs every five years. “It goes out of existence if Congress doesn’t vote to keep it,” said Biden, calling the proposal “so outrageous you might not even believe it.” (New York Times / Axios / CNBC)
4/ America’s billionaires have spent a record $880 million on the 2022 midterm elections so far – most of their spending has been in favor of Republicans, three to two. Spending on state and federal races during this cycle, meanwhile, have already passed the inflation-adjusted record of $7.1 billion in 2018 and are projected to exceed $16.7 billion in total. The top 1% of donors, measured by income, have contributed about 38% of the total spent. (OpenSecrets / New York Times / CNBC / Bloomberg)
5/ The Justice Department granted immunity to a Trump aide in exchange for his grand jury testimony in the Mar-a-Lago case. Kash Patel appeared before the grand jury last month and refused to answer questions from prosecutors by repeatedly invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. A federal judge, however, granted Patel immunity from prosecution on any information he provides to the investigation and compelled him to testify. Prosecutors had argued that there was no reason that Patel would be prosecuted based on the kinds of questions they were asking. Patel’s grand jury appearance hasn’t yet been scheduled. (Wall Street Journal / New York Times / CNN / NBC News / ABC News)
poll/ 36% of Americans say inflation is the most urgent issue facing the country today – up 9 percentage points since late August. Abortion is the second most urgent issue at 10%, with no other issue reaching double digits. (Quinnipiac)
poll/ 84% of the Republican voters report a great deal of interest in the midterm elections. 68% of Democrats, meanwhile, say they’re interested in the elections. Overall, 82% of registered voters nationally say they definitely plan to vote this year. (NPR)
poll/ 53% of Republicans said they would “very likely” vote for a candidate who thought the 2020 election was stolen – which it was not. 39% of Republicans also said their preferred candidate should “definitely” concede if they were declared the loser in their race. (NPR)
poll/ 56% of Americans believe the Republican and Democratic parties do such a poor job that a third major party is needed. 61% of Americans have an unfavorable view of the Republican Party, while 57% have an unfavorable view of the Democratic Party. Overall, 27% of Americans say they have an unfavorable view of both both parties. In 1994, 6% of Americans felt that way. (CNBC)
1/ The Federal Reserve approved a fourth consecutive 0.75-point interest rate increase to combat inflation, despite concern about the risks of triggering a recession and putting millions out of work. The Fed has now raised rates six times this year, pushing its target range for the benchmark federal funds rate to between 3.75% and 4% – its highest level since Jan. 2008. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell added that the “ultimate level of interest rates will be higher than previously expected,” but that “at some point” it would be appropriate to slow the pace of increases. The Federal Open Market Committee said that “ongoing increases” will still be needed to bring rates to a level that are “sufficiently restrictive to return inflation to 2% over time.” (NBC News / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / CNBC / ABC News / Associated Press)
2/ The Biden administration will provide $13.5 billion in funds to help low- and moderate-income Americans lower their energy costs this winter. The Department of Health and Human Services will provide $4.5 billion through the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program to help cut heating costs, while the Energy Department will allocate $9 billion in Inflation Reduction Act funds for energy efficiency upgrades to 1.6 million low-income households. Last year, LIHEAP helped 5.3 million U.S. households with heating, cooling, and weatherization. (CNBC / ABC News / The Hill)
3/ A federal judge issued a restraining ordered against a group that’s been accused of “intimidation and harassment” of voters casting ballots at drop boxes in Arizona. U.S. District Court Judge Michael Liburdi said members of Clean Elections USA are barred from taking photos, filming, following, speaking to or yelling at anyone within 75 feet of a ballot drop box or the entrance to a building that houses one. The order also prohibits the group from “openly” carrying weapons or “visibly wear body armor” within 250 feet of drop boxes. Last week, the League of Women Voters sued the group, saying that its actions amounted to “time-tested methods of voter intimidation.” (NBC News / Associated Press / Washington Post / New York Times)
4/ Trump’s attorneys saw Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas as their “only chance” for overturning the results of the 2020 election, according to emails disclosed to congressional investigators. “We want to frame things so that Thomas could be the one to issue some sort of stay or other circuit justice opinion saying Georgia is in legitimate doubt,” Trump attorney Kenneth Chesebro wrote in a Dec. 31, 2020, email to Trump’s legal team. Chesebro argued that Thomas would “end up being key” to overturning then-President-elect Biden’s win, contending that Thomas would be “our only chance to get a favorable judicial opinion by Jan. 6, which might hold up the Georgia count in Congress.” Later that day, attorney John Eastman replied: “I think I agree with this.” The messages were part of a batch of eight emails that a federal judge in California ordered released to the Jan. 6 committee. (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times)
5/ The Jan. 6 committee is reportedly “in discussions” with Trump’s attorneys about him testifying under oath. Liz Cheney’s comments came after Trump’s team formally agreed to accept the committee’s subpoena seeking documents and testimony. The subpoena requires that Trump turn over documents by Friday, Nov. 4. He’s also required to appear for one or more days of deposition beginning around Nov. 14. Trump has reportedly told advisers he’d be open to a live appearance before the panel. Cheney, however, said “This is not a situation where the committee is going to put itself at the mercy of Donald Trump in terms of his efforts to create a circus.” (CNN / ABC News)
6/ Biden is set to deliver a speech tonight about the threats to American democracy by election deniers running for office “who seek to undermine faith in voting and democracy.” In prepared remarks, Biden plans to warn that candidates running for office who won’t commit to accepting the results of the elections are putting America on “the path to chaos.” The 7 p.m. ET speech comes six days before the Nov. 8 midterms – the first national election since the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. (Axios / CNN / New York Times / Bloomberg / ABC News)
1/ Chief Justice John Roberts temporarily blocked a House committee from accessing Trump’s tax records. On Monday, Trump asked the Supreme Court to intervene in the case, claiming the Ways and Means Committee doesn’t have a valid legislative purpose for obtaining his tax documents. Lower courts, however, have ruled that the committee has broad authority to obtain tax returns and rejected Trump’s claims that it was overstepping. Roberts said the case would remain on hold until the Supreme Court acts. He asked the committee to respond by noon on Nov. 10. (New York Times / Washington Post / NPR / CNN / Associated Press / NBC News)
2/ The Supreme Court refused to block a Georgia grand jury subpoena seeking Lindsey Graham’s testimony about efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in the state. Graham had asked the Supreme Court to block the subpoena, claiming that his efforts in Georgia were part of his official legislative duties and therefore shielded from questioning. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, however, wrote in a petition seeking to compel his testimony that Graham made two calls to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger after the election and asked about “reexamining certain absentee ballots cast in Georgia in order to explore the possibility of a more favorable outcome for former President Donald Trump.” The court’s order was a paragraph long with no noted dissents. Graham’s testimony is currently scheduled for Nov. 17. (CNN / USA Today / CBS News / New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post / Politico)
A federal judge rejected Mark Meadows challenge to a subpoena from the Jan. 6 committee, concluding that the former White House chief of staff was constitutionally barred from bringing it in the first place. Meadows, however, will likely appeal the ruling, effectively putting his testimony out of reach for the committee, which is slated to dissolve at the end of the year. (Politico / USA Today)
3/ The Justice Department said “vigilante ballot security efforts” in Arizona “raise serious concerns of voter intimidation” and likely violate the federal Voting Rights Act. The statement from the Justice Department comes days after a federal judge refused to stop a group of activists from gathering at and around ballot drop boxes to monitor voters in Maricopa County. The League of Women Voters alleged that several organizations planned “widespread campaigns to surveil and intimidate Arizona voters at ballot drop boxes and baselessly accuse them” of voter fraud. The so-called activists claim they’re watching for purported voter fraud, but election officials have reported that people in tactical gear and masks, including some with guns, have been watching over the drop boxes, taking photos and videos, and intimidating voters. (Washington Post / Associated Press / Axios / CNN)
4/ Twitter limited employee access to content moderation tools used to enforce its misinformation and civic integrity policies ahead of the midterm elections. Most of the people who work in Twitter’s Trust and Safety organization are currently unable penalize accounts that break rules around misleading information, offensive posts, or hate speech – many of the same policies that Trump routinely violated during the 2020 elections. (Bloomberg / NBC News)
5/ Biden warned that Republicans will put entitlement programs, including Social Security and Medicare, at risk if they take control of Congress. With a week until Election Day, Biden used a speech in Florida to assail what he called “mega-MAGA” Republicans, who proposed legislation to sunset all federal programs after five years, which would require a vote to keep programs like Social Security and Medicare intact. Biden contrasted the parties’ visions for the country, noting “this ain’t your father’s Republican Party” and that no Republicans voted for the Inflation Reduction Act, which included provisions to lower health care premiums and prescription drug costs. About 21% of the people in Florida are over the age of 65 – the second highest of any state. (CNN / Washington Post / Politico / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press)
1/ Federal prosecutors charged the man accused of breaking into Nancy Pelosi’s home with attempted kidnapping and assault. David DePape broke into the Pelosis’ San Francisco home through a glass door Friday morning, attacked her husband, Paul Pelosi, with a hammer, and shouted “Where’s Nancy?” DePape told police he was going to hold Nancy Pelosi hostage and wanted to “break her knee caps” to send a message to other Democrats. Nancy Pelosi was in Washington at the time. DePape brought with him a roll of tape, white rope, zip ties, two hammers, rubber gloves, and other items. He had posted memes and conspiracy theories on Facebook about Covid-19 vaccines, the 2020 election and the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, as well as blogged about QAnon and other bigoted and fringe topics. DePape is also facing state charges of attempted murder and other felonies. The attempted kidnapping charge carries a maximum of 20 years in prison, and up to 30 years for assaulting an immediate member of a federal official’s family and inflicting a serious injury with a dangerous weapon. Paul underwent surgery for a fractured skull and serious injuries to his hands and right arm. (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / CNN / Wall Street Journal / CNBC)
2/ Elon Musk tweeted and deleted a baseless anti-LGBTQ conspiracy theory about the attack on Nancy Pelosi’s husband. Three days after purchasing Twitter, Musk responded to a tweet by Hillary Clinton assailing the Republican Party for spreading “hate and deranged conspiracy theories” that she said encouraged the man who attacked Paul Pelosi. Musk replied that “There is a tiny possibility there might be more to this story than meets the eye” and then shared a link to an article from the Santa Monica Observer – an outlet that has repeatedly published fake stories, including that Clinton had died in the Sept. 11 attacks and that Democrats had been using a body double. The article alleges that Paul Pelosi was drunk and in a fight with a male prostitute. Musk’s tweet was later deleted after receiving immediate and widespread backlash. Days earlier, Musk pledged to advertisers that Twitter wouldn’t become a “free-for-all hellscape” under his leadership. Trump Jr., meanwhile, retweeted a proposed “Paul Pelosi” Halloween costume featuring men’s underwear and a hammer, saying “The Internet remains undefeated.” (New York Times / NBC News / Bloomberg / CNN / Axios)
3/ The Jan. 6 committee obtained eight emails from late 2020 that a judge described as evidence that Trump and his lawyer John Eastman “more likely than not” committed crimes. Last week, U.S. District Court Judge David Carter ordered Eastman, the architect of Trump’s effort to subvert the 2020 election, to deliver the emails to the committee. Eastman had argued that the emails should be shielded from the Jan. 6 committee, citing privileges for attorney-client communications or legal work product. Among the documents is an email that Carter said showed Trump signed legal documents attesting to voter fraud data that he knew was erroneous, communications between Trump attorneys that indicate they knew details they submitted to courts to challenge the election were false, as well as emails discussing filing lawsuits as a way to hold off congressional certification of Trump’s electoral loss. (Politico / CNN)
4/ Trump filed an emergency application asking the Supreme Court to temporary block Congress from obtaining his past tax returns. The tax records are set to be turned over to the House Ways and Means Committee this week if the court doesn’t act. In 2019, the House Ways and Means committee requested Trump’s tax returns, citing a federal law that gives the panel the authority to see any taxpayer’s documents. The Trump administration, however, refused to let the Treasury Department turn over the records. Since then, lower courts have ruled that the committee has broad authority to obtain tax returns, rejecting Trump’s claims that it was overstepping. (CNN / NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press / CNBC)
poll/ 49% of voters say the economy is extremely important to their vote for Congress. 42% of voters say abortion is extremely important to them, followed by crime (40%), gun policy (38%), and immigration (37%). Climate change is the least important issue at 28%. (Gallup)
1/ The U.S. economy grew in the third quarter, marking its first increase in 2022 after two straight quarters of decline. GDP, a sum of all the goods and services produced from July through September, increased at a 2.6% annualized pace for the period. However, the inflation-adjusted GDP last quarter was about the same as where it was at the end of 2021. The Commerce Department also reported that consumer spending – which makes up more than two-thirds of the economy – grew but at a slower pace than in the prior quarter, and investments in residential housing fell at an annual rate of about 26%. The Federal Reserve, meanwhile, has raised interest rates five times this year and is set to do so again next week and in December as inflation remains near a 40-year high. (Politico / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / Washington Post / New York Times / CNBC / NPR / CNN)
2/ Mortgage rates topped 7% for the first time in 20 years and is “leading to greater stagnation in the housing market.” A year ago the rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage averaged just over 3%. Mortgage applications, meanwhile, fell 42% from a year earlier despite home prices falling at a record pace. The Case-Shiller home price index showed that single-family home prices decline 2.6 percentage points from July to August – the largest decline in the history of the index, which debuted in 1987. Prices, however, are still up 13% compared to a year ago. Sales of newly built homes dropped nearly 11% in September from August – the fourth time in 2022 that new-home sales fell by 10% or more from the prior month. “As inflation endures, consumers are seeing higher costs at every turn, causing further declines in consumer confidence this month,” Freddie Mac said. “In fact, many potential homebuyers are choosing to wait and see where the housing market will end up, pushing demand and home prices further downward.” (NBC News / NPR / Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
3/ Americans die younger in conservative states, while states with more liberal policies are associated with lower mortality rates. Researchers analyzed mortality rates for all causes of death in all 50 states from 1999 to 2019 among adults aged 25 to 64. The study found that states with more liberal policies related to education, health care, gun safety, labor, economic taxes, and tobacco taxes were associated with lower mortality rates among people aged 25 to 64. The analysis simulated changing state policies to fully liberal could have saved more than 171,000 lives in 2019, while changing them to fully conservative may have cost over 217,000 lives. (USA Today / The Guardian / The Hill)
4/ More than 100 lawsuits have already been filed to challenge the Nov. 8 midterm elections that are still 12 days away. The legal challenges, reportedly largely organized by the Republican National Committee and its allies, have targeted mail-in voting rules, early voting, voter access, voting machines, voting registration, how mismarked absentee ballots are counted, and access for partisan poll watchers. The Democrats, meanwhile, have focused their legal efforts on voting access and helping those denied a chance to vote. Meanwhile in Arizona, two people armed with handguns and wearing tactical military gear and face masks showed up at a ballot drop box during early voting last week. (Associated Press / Bloomberg)
poll/ 40% of 18-to-29-year-olds said they will “definitely” vote in the Nov. 8 midterm elections – on pace to match or exceed the record-breaking 2018 youth turnout in a midterm election. Young voters also prefer Democratic control of Congress 57% to 31%, while 12% remain undecided. (Harvard Youth Poll)
1/ Earth’s on track to warm above 2 degrees Celsius and global reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are “nowhere near the scale” needed, according to a new report from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Under the current, combined climate pledges from the 193 Parties under the Paris Agreement, global temperatures are on track to rise to 2.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial averages by the end of the century – a full degree higher than the goal set out in the climate pact, which aimed to limit warming by 1.5 degrees Celsius. The U.N. said that while countries are “bending the curve of global greenhouse gas emissions downward,” the efforts “remain insufficient” and “to keep this goal alive, national governments need to strengthen their climate action plans now and implement them in the next eight years.” (NBC News / New York Times / Bloomberg / CNBC)
2/ The World Meteorological Organization warned that atmospheric carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide levels are accelerating and that 2020 and 2021 were the largest increases since record keeping began in 1983. “More bad news for the planet,” the WMO said in a statement. (Washington Post / NPR)
3/ A South Carolina judge ordered Mark Meadows to testify before the Georgia grand jury investigating Trump and his allies efforts to reverse the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said her inquiry is examining “the multistate, coordinated efforts to influence the results of the November 2020 election in Georgia and elsewhere.” Willis had to petition a judge in South Carolina to compel Meadows to comply with the subpoena because he doesn’t live in Georgia. Willis noted that Meadows traveled to Georgia where an audit of the state’s election was underway and participated in the telephone call Trump made on Jan. 2, 2021 to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger asking him to “find” 11,780 votes that would enable Trump to defeat Biden in the state. South Carolina Circuit Court Judge Edward Miller ruled that Meadows must comply with a subpoena as his testimony is “material and necessary to the investigation and that the state of Georgia is assuring not to cause undue hardship to him.” Meadows plans to appeal the ruling. (Washington Post / CNN / New York Times / Associated Press)
4/ Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito said the leak of his draft opinion eliminating the constitutional right to abortion after almost 50 years made some justices “targets for assassination,” complaining that the leak was a “grave betrayal of trust.” In his majority opinion to end Roe v. Wade, Alito wrote that the 1973 ruling was “egregiously wrong” and that there is no constitutional right to seek an abortion for any reason. When asked about criticism that the Supreme Court has strayed too far from public sentiment and become partisan when it overturns precedent, Alito pushed back, saying: “To say that the court is exhibiting a lack of integrity is something quite different. That goes to character, not to a disagreement with the result or the reasoning.” Alito also took issue with those who have questioned the legitimacy of the court, saying it “crosses an important line when they say that the court is acting in a way that is illegitimate. I don’t think anybody in a position of authority should make that claim lightly. That’s not just ordinary criticism. That’s something very different.” Alito’s remarks came during an event at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. (Washington Post / CBS News / CNBC)
poll/ 65% of registered Republican voters don’t believe Biden was elected legitimately. 22% believe in the legitimacy of Biden’s election. Overall, 60% of registered voters believe Biden’s election was legitimate and 33% do not. (NBC News)
1/ Biden warned Russia against using nuclear or radioactive weapons in Ukraine after Moscow’s unfounded accusation that Kyiv was planning to use a “dirty bomb” on its own soil and blame Russia for it. Diplomats from the U.S., France, and Britain called the claim “transparently false” in a rare joint statement, suggesting that the Kremlin could be planning a so-called “false flag” operation. “Let me just say, Russia would be making an incredibly serious mistake were it to use a tactical nuclear weapon,” Biden said. Ukraine’s nuclear energy operator, meanwhile, said that Russian forces occupying the nation’s largest nuclear power plant were engaged in secret work at a site where spent fuel is stored, which suggests “they are preparing a terrorist act using nuclear materials and radioactive waste stored.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / CNN)
2/ Progressive House Democrats retracted a letter written four months ago but released Monday that urged Biden to directly negotiate with Putin to end the war in Ukraine. Representative Pramila Jayapal claimed the letter – which called on the Biden administration to “seek a realistic framework for a cease-fire,” and to “pursue every diplomatic avenue to support such a solution that is acceptable to the people of Ukraine” – was “released by staff without vetting.” It was originally drafted and signed in June. Congress has committed more than $60 billion in security and humanitarian aid for Ukraine since Russia invaded in February. (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg / CNN)
3/ An estimated 4.6 million people in the U.S. will be ineligible to vote during this year’s midterm elections due to prior felony convictions – roughly 2% of the voting age population in the country. There are currently 11 states that deny voting rights to people even after they’ve completed their full sentences, including parole and probation. Further, “1 in 19 African-Americans of voting age is disenfranchised, a rate 3.5 times that of non-African Americans.” (NPR)
4/ Roughly 5% of all plastic products are recycled in America and the vast majority ends up in landfills, according to a report from Greenpeace. The report estimates that the U.S. reprocessed about 2.4 million tons of plastic waste in 2021 out 51 million tons produced, and that no plastic packaging in America meets the threshold to be called “recyclable” according to standards set by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation New Plastic Economy Initiative. Plastic must have a recycling rate of 30% to reach that standard. The rate of plastic recycling in the U.S. is also expected to drop further as “the industry plans to triple plastic production by 2050.” The report concludes that “plastic recycling is a failed concept.” (NPR / HuffPost)
5/ More than 80% of the continental U.S. is experiencing unusually dry conditions or drought – the largest proportion since NOAA began tracking 20 years ago. Record-low water levels on the Mississippi River are making it difficult to move cargo by barges, while the drought across the Mississippi Basin is allowing salt water to enter from the Gulf of Mexico, which could contaminate drinking water. In the West, the 22-year megadrought is now considered the driest in at least 1,200 years, and a recent study found that 42% of the drought is attributable to human-caused climate change. Last week, the National Weather Service projected another warm and dry winter for California, which follows the state’s three driest years on record. (Politico / Washington Post)
poll/ 62% of Americans say the federal government isn’t doing enough to fight climate change. While Congress approved in August the largest investment in climate spending in history, 49% of Americans say it won’t make much of a difference on climate change, 33% say it will help, and 14% think it will do more to hurt it. (Associated Press)
1/ Fourth- and eighth-graders in most states and across almost all demographic groups fell behind in reading and had the largest ever decline in math in the first National Assessment of Educational Progress since the pandemic began. The average math score for the fourth grade was 5 points lower than in 2019, and 8 points below the 2019 mark for the eighth grade. The share of eighth grade math students deemed proficient dropped from 34% to 26%, and 38% of eighth graders failed to grasp basic math concepts. No state or large urban district showed improvements in math. Reading scores, meanwhile, declined in more than half the states, dropping to 1992 levels. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona described the scores in both subjects as “appalling and unacceptable,” added “Let me be very clear: These results are not acceptable.” (Associated Press / Chalkbeat / CNN / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
2/ A federal appeals court temporarily blocked Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan. The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals issued the stay while it considers a motion from six Republican-led states to block the program. Last week, Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett rejected a similar effort from a Wisconsin taxpayer group. Nearly 22 million people — more than half of qualifying borrowers — have signed up since the application portal went live. (NPR / Associated Press / CNN)
3/ Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas temporarily blocked Lindsey Graham from having to testify before a Georgia grand jury investigating efforts to overturn Trump’s election loss. The order, which is an “administrative stay,” comes after the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously turned down Graham’s request to block the subpoena and affirmed the lower court’s decision that he must testify. Graham claims he is protected by the Constitution’s speech-or-debate clause, which shields legislators from certain law enforcement action for conduct connected to their legislative duties. Graham’s petition went to Thomas because he is the justice designated to hear emergency requests from the 11th Circuit. Democrats, meanwhile, have demanded that Thomas recuse himself from any cases related to the 2020 election because his wife had encouraged Trump White House officials and state legislators to overturn Biden’s victories in swing states. (CNBC / Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg / CNN / Axios)
4/ The Jan. 6 committee formally subpoenaed Trump, demanding his testimony before the panel dissolves at the end of the year. The subpoena requires Trump to turn over documents by Nov. 4 and to appear for one or several days of deposition under oath beginning on Nov. 14. Nancy Pelosi, meanwhile, suggested that Trump isn’t “man enough to show up” to testify, added: “I don’t think his lawyers will want him to show up because he has to testify under oath.” In a letter accompanying the subpoena, the committee wrote about its “overwhelming evidence” that shows Trump “personally orchestrated” the effort to overturn his defeat in the 2020 election, including false allegations of widespread voter fraud, “attempting to corrupt” the Justice Department, and pressuring state officials, members of Congress, and Pence to change the results. “In short, you were at the center of the first and only effort by any U.S. President to overturn an election and obstruct the peaceful transition of power, ultimately culminating in a bloody attack on our own Capitol and on the Congress itself,” they wrote said. It’s the second time in modern U.S. history that a president has been issued a congressional subpoena. (Associated Press / Politico / New York Times / ABC News / CBS News / CNN)
A judge has sentenced Steve Bannon to four months in prision and a $6,500 fine for criminal contempt of Congress. “U.S. District Court Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee, said Bannon inappropriately defied the House’s select committee on a matter of significant national interest, and even after roadblocks to his testimony had been removed.” (Politico / NPR)
5/ Classified documents recovered by the FBI from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home included U.S. secrets about Iran and China. At least one of the documents described Iran’s missile program. Other documents reportedly described highly sensitive intelligence work aimed at China. The documents about Iran and China are considered among the most sensitive the FBI has recovered to date. (Washington Post)
poll/ 80% of Americans believe that their opposing political party poses a threat that, if not stopped, will destroy America. Nevertheless, nearly two-thirds of Americans would still vote along party lines even if their candidate had a moral failing that wasn’t consistent with their own values. (NBC News)
1/ Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett rejected a challenge to Biden’s student loan forgiveness program. The challenge came from the Brown County Taxpayers Association in Wisconsin. Barrett, however, dismissed the case for lack of standing, ruling that paying taxes didn’t give the group grounds to challenge the action taken by the federal government in this instance. (CNBC / Axios / CNN / New York Times)
2/ A federal appeals court ordered Lindsey Graham to appear before a Georgia grand jury investigating Trump for criminal interference in the state’s 2020 presidential election. Graham had asked the court to block a subpoena from Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, claiming that a sitting senator is shielded from such investigations. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, however, denied Graham’s request and upheld a lower-court ruling that he may be questioned about certain topics, saying “Senator Graham has failed to demonstrate that he is likely to succeed on the merits of his appeal.” Graham is now expected to ask the Supreme Court to block the subpoena. Separately, former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone and former Senator Kelly Loeffler provided testimony to the grand jury in recent months. (Washington Post / CNBC / CNN)
poll/ 49% of Americans say they want Republicans in control of Congress, while 45% said they prefer Democrats in control. (Monmouth University Poll)
poll/ 60% of Americans say Trump should have to testify before the Jan. 6 committee. If Trump does testify, 77% said it should be done in public. (Washington Post)
poll/ 59% of voters say they believe outside politics influence the Justice Department’s decision to prosecute federal crimes, while 21% said little to no external politics influenced DOJ’s decisions, and 20% said they didn’t know or had no opinion at all. (Politico)
poll/ 9% of Americans think democracy is working “extremely” or “very well,” while 52% say it’s not working well and 37% say it’s working somewhat well. (Associated Press)
1/ Putin declared martial law in the four Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine that it doesn’t entirely control. The move follows Moscow’s internationally condemned staged referendums and illegal annexation last month. Speaking to his Security Council by video feed, Putin said the martial law order was necessary because the Ukrainian government refused to accept the sham referendums, which he claimed was “the will of the people.” Russian forces, however, have repeatedly lost ground to the Ukrainian counteroffensive in the annexed territories. The head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense council warned that Putin’s order was “preparation for the mass deportation of the Ukrainian population to depressed areas of [Russia] in order to change the ethnic composition of the occupied territory.” Biden added that Putin’s slowed military invasion has put the Russian leader in an “incredibly difficult position” that may lead him to “brutalize individual citizens in Ukraine, Ukrainian citizens, to try to intimidate them into capitulating.” (Associated Press / NPR / Washington Post / New York Times / Axios)
White House taking every step possible to avoid direct Biden-Putin encounter at next month’s G-20 summit in Indonesia. “U.S. officials have ruled out a formal meeting and are taking steps to ensure that the American president does not encounter his Russian counterpart in a hallway or even in a leaders’ group photo.” (Politico)
2/ Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused China of planning to seize Taiwan on a “much faster timeline” than previously thought. “There has been a change in the approach from Beijing toward Taiwan in recent years,” Blinken said, adding that China had made a “fundamental decision that the status quo was no longer acceptable, and that Beijing was determined to pursue reunification on a much faster timeline.” Chinese President Xi Jinping, meanwhile, used a widely-watched speech to say the “wheels of history are rolling on towards China’s reunification” with Taiwan. Xi added: “We reserve the option of taking all measures necessary.” China has refrained from publicly criticizing Russia’s war in Ukraine, and while China and Russia do not have a formal alliance, the two countries have a so-called “no limits” partnership. (Washington Post / Bloomberg)
3/ Mortgage applications dropped to a 25-year low as mortgage rates reached a 20-year high. New single-family home construction and permit applications for single-family dwellings fell last month. Homebuilder sentiment also fell to its lowest level since the early days of the pandemic. Meanwhile, 52% of Americans have considered holding second jobs to pay their living expenses as inflation hit a four-decade high in September. (CNBC / The Hill / CNN / Bloomberg)
4/ A Wisconsin taxpayers group asked the Supreme Court to block Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan. The Brown County Taxpayers Association filed the request for emergency relief, arguing that the Biden administration had overstepped its executive powers, circumvented Congress, and that the program would cost taxpayers more than the $400 billion that the Congressional Budget Office estimated. The request was filed to Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who is likely to refer the matter to the full court. The Biden administration has been sued by at least seven states and two organizations over the plan, which began accepting applications for debt relief on Monday. (CNN / NBC News / Axios)
5/ Trump appeared for a deposition as part of the defamation lawsuit brought by E. Jean Carroll, who Trump described as “not my type” when he denied her allegation that he had raped her in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman nearly three decades ago. Trump had tried for three years to delay the defamation case and avoid the deposition, but a federal judge ordered to appear under oath and answer questions, saying he “should not be able to run out the clock.” (CNN / ABC News / NBC News / New York Times)
6/ A federal judge ordered John Eastman to turn over four emails to the Jan. 6 committee because they are related to an attempted crime. Eastman the lawyer who promoted the legal theory that Pence could block or delay the Electoral College certification to overturn Biden’s victory. U.S. District Court Judge David Carter wrote in an 18-page opinion that Eastman’s emails “show that President Trump knew that the specific numbers of voter fraud were wrong but continued to tout those numbers, both in court and to the public.” Trump and his lawyers alleged in a Dec. 4 filing in Georgia that Fulton County had improperly counted more than 10,000 votes of dead people, felons, and unregistered voters. On Dec. 31, Eastman emailed the other Trump lawyers that the numbers filed in state court were not accurate. Trump, however, signed the legal documents knowing the evidence of election fraud was false. “The Court finds that these emails are sufficiently related to and in furtherance of a conspiracy to defraud the United States,” Carter wrote. (Politico / CNBC / CNN / The Hill)
1/ Biden pledged to codify Roe v. Wade into law if Democrats retain control of Congress in the November midterm elections. In a speech at a Democratic National Committee, Biden promised that the first bill he sends to Congress next year would be legislation to restore abortion rights under Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision that the Supreme Court overruled in June. “If you care about the right to choose, you got to vote,” Biden said, adding: “If Republicans get their way with a national ban, it won’t matter where you live in America.” While Biden has repeatedly advocated for changing the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster requirement to protect a woman’s right to an abortion and a broader constitutional right to privacy, at least two Democrats — Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema — have said they oppose the move. Earlier this year, Biden promised to codify Roe v. Wade if voters elected two more Democrats to the Senate. (Politico / CNN / NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post / ABC News / Axios)
A covert abortion network rises after Roe. “Amid legal and medical risks, a growing army of activists is funneling pills from Mexico into states that have banned abortion.” (Washington Post)
2/ The Interior Department announced the first-ever lease sale for offshore wind development in the Pacific Ocean. The Dec. 6 sale will target five areas in the Pacific Ocean off central and northern California, which could produce over 4.5 gigawatts of energy when fully developed – enough to power more than 1.5 million homes. The Biden administration is aiming to develop 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030 using traditional technology – enough to power 10 million homes – as well as an additional 15 gigawatts of floating offshore wind, which could power another 5 million homes. (Axios / CNN / Associated Press)
3/ The Biden administration plans to release 10 million to 15 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in an effort to keep gasoline prices from climbing. In March, the White House said it planned to release 180 million barrels of crude oil into the market throughout the year. There are about 15 million barrels remaining since the program was put into effect. The national average price was $3.87 a gallon. (Blomberg / Politico)
4/ The primary source for the Trump-Russia dossier was acquitted of four counts of lying to the FBI about where he got his information for the 2016 “Steele dossier.” In 2019, Attorney General William Barr asked John Durham to review the FBI’s investigation of the Trump campaign in 2016. Since then, Durham has lost both cases that have gone to trial as part of his investigation. The trial against Igor Danchenko, the analyst who was a primary source for the Steele dossier, is expected to be the special counsel’s last prosecution. (Washington Post / CNN / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
5/ The special master reviewing documents seized from Mar-a-Lago warned Trump’s lawyers that there was a “certain incongruity” to their executive privilege claims that at least one document was both Trump’s personal property and government property. “It’s a little perplexing as I go through the log,” Judge Raymond Dearie said of the documents over which Trump is seeking to claim privilege. “What’s the expression — ‘Where’s the beef?’ I need some beef.” Dearie, who is reviewing the documents to determine which ones the Justice Department can use in its criminal investigation, said that neither side has provided him with enough facts to make recommendations about Trump’s claims that certain documents were protected by either attorney-client privilege or executive privilege. “I don’t want to be dealing with nonsense objections, nonsense assertions,” Dearie said. (Bloomberg / CNN)
poll/ 19% of voters said recent disagreements with family or friends over political issues have hurt their relationship, and 48% of voters said a person’s political views reflect whether they are a good person. (New York Times)
poll/ 64% of voters say the country is moving in the wrong direction, naming the economy (26%) and inflation (18%) as the most important problem facing the country today. 24% see the U.S. as on the right track. (New York Times)
poll/ 65% of voters say the economy is getting worse, and 68% say the Biden administration could be doing more to combat inflation. (CBS News)
poll/ 70% of voters say they are dissatisfied with the way things are going in the U.S. today, and 64% are pessimistic about the state of politics in the country. (AP-NORC)
1/ The Biden administration launched the online application for student loan forgiveness. The plan is expected to provide debt relief to as many as 43 million borrowers. “This is a game changer for millions of Americans,” Biden said. The application can be found at studentaid.gov, and qualifying borrowers have until Dec. 31. to fill out the online form to receive up to $20,000 in federal student debt cancelation. During a test of the Education Department’s student debt relief portal this weekend, more than 8 million Americans signed up to have some of their student loans forgiven. The Education Department holds $1.6 trillion in student loan debt. (CNN / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / CNBC / New York Times)
2/ The U.S. is forecast to “100%” enter a recession in the coming 12 months, according to a new economics model projections. The Federal Reserve has raised interest rates five times so far this year in an effort to bring down persistently high inflation, and is expected to again next month. While the chances of a recession within 12 months have reached 100% under the model, the odds of a recession within 11 months have also increased to 73% – up from 30%. The 10-month probability rose to 25% from 0%. In a separate survey, economists put the probability of a recession over the next 12 months at 63% – up from 49% in July’s survey. It’s the first time the probability has been above 50% since July 2020. The Biden administration, meanwhile, suggested that the U.S. is “better positioned than most other countries” to mitigate inflation, which rose 8.2% year-over-year in September. Bernie Sanders, however, accused the Fed of “hurting” the U.S., saying it’s “wrong” to deal with inflation by “lowering wages and increasing unemployment.” Regardless, Biden has repeatedly said the U.S. will avoid a recession, but any downturn would be “very slight.” [Editor’s note: Hey there, this is a friendly reminder that WTFJHT is free, but supported entirely by your financial contributions. So, if you find yourself relying on WTFJHT, please consider investing in the continued production of this newsletter/blog/podcast. Become a member today.] (Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Politico / ABC News)
3/ The Trump Organization charged the Secret Service more than five times the recommended government rate for hotel stays at Trump properties while protecting the Trump family, according to the House Oversight Committee. The committee found that Trump’s company charged the Secret Service “exorbitant” and “excessive nightly rates on dozens of trips” – as high as $1,185 per night – despite claims by Eric Trump and the Trump Organization that federal employees traveling with him would stay at the properties “for free” or “at cost.” In total, U.S. taxpayers paid Trump’s company at least $1.4 million for Secret Service agents’ stays. (Washington Post / CNN / Politico / NBC News)
4/ The Justice Department asked a federal appeals court to end the special master review of documents seized during an FBI search of Trump’s Florida estate. In a filing to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, lawyers for the DOJ argued that the case didn’t present the “exceptional circumstances” necessary for a judge to interfere with a criminal investigation, and that Judge Aileen Cannon had “erred in ordering a special-master review” in the case. The appeals court ruled in Justice Department’s favor on a narrower issue in the case last month, allowing the department to resume using about 100 documents marked classified as part of its criminal investigation. (New York Times / Politico / NBC News / Bloomberg / CNN / Associated Press)
5/ The Jan. 6 committee asked the Secret Service for records of all contacts between its agents and members of the far-right Oath Keepers group prior to and on the day of the attack. During court testimony, members of the group, including leader Stewart Rhodes, claimed to be in contact with Secret Service agents prior to rallies for Trump after the 2020 election. Additionally, a Secret Service official confirmed that the agency’s protective intelligence division had reached out to the Oath Keepers in advance of protests in D.C. in November and December, as well as the Jan. 6 “Stop the Steal” rally. Members of the Oath Keepers are currently on trial for charges relating to the Capitol attack, including seditious conspiracy. (Washington Post / NBC News / CNN)
6/ The Justice Department recommended that Steve Bannon be sentenced to six months in jail and a $200,000 fine after he defied a subpoena to testify before the Jan. 6 committee. A jury found Bannon guilty in July on two misdemeanor counts of contempt of Congress for refusing to testify and provide documents to the committee. Bannon “has pursued a bad-faith strategy of defiance and contempt” from “the moment” he was served the subpoena, the Justice Department wrote in a sentencing memorandum. He is set to be sentenced Friday. He would be the first person to be incarcerated for contempt of Congress in more than a half-century. Trump, meanwhile, won’t say whether he’ll comply with the committee’s subpoena for testimony. (Politico / Washington Post / NPR / CNN / CNBC)
poll/ 49% of likely voters said they plan to vote a Republican in this year’s election for Congress. 45% said they planned to vote for a Democrat. The margin of error in this survey is plus or minus 4.1 percentage points. (New York Times)
1/ The Jan. 6 committee voted unanimously to subpoena Trump, demanding documents and his testimony under oath. “This is a question about accountability to the American people,” the panel’s chair, Bennie Thompson, said ahead of the vote. “He must be accountable. He is required to answer for his actions.” In the committee’s ninth public hearing, the panel focused on Trump’s “staggering betrayal” of his oath of office and his efforts to reverse the 2020 election, including his role in events that led to the violence at the Capitol. Before voting to subpoena Trump, the committee revealed new evidence that Secret Service agents in charge of assessing the risks of the Jan. 6, 2021, protest had expressed concerns about the rally more than a week before, were aware that many in the crowd would have weapons, and that Trump’s supporters planned to go to the Capitol threatening violence, including that Pence would be “‘a dead man walking if he doesn’t do the right thing.’” One agent described the morning of Jan. 6 as the “calm before the storm.” The panel also disclosed an email that Trump’s election night speech to falsely declare victory was part of a “premeditated plan.” The committee also revealed that Trump secretly ordered all U.S. troops withdrawn from Afghanistan and Somalia days after losing reelection to leave the problem to “the next guy.” The order was signed but was never carried out, which the committee says is evidence that Trump knew he had lost the election. The panel’s vice chairwoman, Liz Cheney, added that the committee “may ultimately decide” to make a series of criminal referrals to the Justice Department. The subpoena will expire at the end of this congressional term, which is Jan. 3, 2023. If Trump refuses to comply with the subpoena, the committee could vote to hold him in criminal contempt of Congress. If they do, it will then go to the full House for a vote. (Politico / NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press / NPR / CNN / Bloomberg / ABC News)
2/ The Supreme Court rejected Trump’s request to intervene in the Justice Department’s investigation of classified documents seized from Mar-a-Lago. The one-sentence order turned aside an emergency request from Trump, who had asked the Supreme Court to allow special master Raymond Dearie to review the classified documents taken during the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago. In response, the Justice Department told the court that allowing Dearie to review the classified documents would “irreparably injure” government, arguing that Trump legally had “no plausible claims” to ownership of the classified government material. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals earlier ruled that 103 of the seized documents, which were marked as classified, should be exempt from Dearie’s review. (CNBC / Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg / Axios)
3/ Security camera footage shows a Trump aide moving boxes out of a storage room at Mar-a-Lago before and after the Justice Department issued a subpoena in May demanding the return of classified documents. The Justice Department has interviewed Walt Nauta several times but is not formally cooperating with the investigation. Separately, but perhaps related, a Trump employee told the FBI about moving boxes – at the specific direction of Trump – out of a basement storage room at Mar-a-Lago after Trump received a subpoena for classified documents. It’s not clear whether that employee was Nauta. It’s also unclear if the boxes that were moved were among the material later retrieved by the FBI. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN)
4/ New York Attorney General Letitia James asked a judge to stop Trump from transferring his business assets to a new holding company amid a pending civil lawsuit accusing him, Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump, and the Trump Organization of widespread fraud. On Sept. 21, the same day that James sued Trump and the other defendants, Trump’s lawyers registered a new company in Delaware, called “Trump Organization II LLC.” James asked the court to freeze the Trump Organization’s New York assets and install an independent monitor over concerns that Trump “may be seeking to move assets out of state” to avoid accountability. (Politico / NBC News / New York Times / Bloomberg / CNBC / Axios)
5/ The Consumer Price Index, a measure of what consumers pay for goods and services, increased 8.2% from a year ago. While the reading was down from 8.3% in August and 9.1% in June – which was the highest inflation rate in four decades – prices still climbed 0.4% in September compared to August’s 0.1%. Economists had forecast a 0.2% gain. The core inflation, which excludes food and energy, increased 6.6% from a year ago – the highest level since 1982. From a month earlier, the measure is up 0.6%. Economists had expected a 0.4% monthly rise. The inflation report puts pressure on the Federal Reserve to increase interest rates by another 0.75 percentage point at its November meeting. The Fed has hiked interest rates 3 full percentage points since March. (Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNBC / ABC News / NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Axios)
6/ Mortgage rates jumped to their highest level in more than 20 years. The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate hit 6.92% this week. The last time the 30-year rate was this high was in April 2002. A year ago, the average rate was 3.05%. (CNN / Wall Street Journal / Money)
1/ The FDA authorized updated coronavirus booster shots for children as young as 5. The CDC, which recommends how vaccines are used, signed off hours later. The reformulated boosters are bivalent, meaning they contain a combination of components that target the original coronavirus strain and the Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5, which make up about 80% of the virus circulating in the U.S. (New York Times / CNBC / Associated Press / Washington Post)
“We are in trouble”: Study raises alarm about impacts of long covid. (Washington Post)
2/ Biden said the prospect of a “slight recession” is possible but that he doesn’t “anticipate it” despite inflation expected to return to a 40-year high and the Federal Reserve promising to continue raising interest rates until inflation cools. The core consumer price index, which excludes food and energy, is projected to rise 0.4% in September from August and 6.5% from a year earlier – matching the rate seen in March that was the highest since 1982. In response, the Fed has raised its benchmark rate five times this year to a range between 3% and 3.25% today from near zero. It’s the most rapid pace of rate increases since the early 1980s to fight inflation running near 40-year highs. (CNN / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNBC / Bloomberg)
3/ More than 2,600 federal officials reported stock investments in companies while those companies lobbied their agencies for favorable policies. During both Republican and Democratic administrations from 2016 through 2021, more than one in five senior federal employees across 50 federal agencies reported owning or trading stocks that stood to rise or fall with decisions their agencies made. Further, more than 60 officials at five agencies, including the FTC and the Justice Department, reported trading stock in companies shortly before their departments announced regulatory enforcement actions against those companies. (Wall Street Journal)
4/ The Jan. 6 committee will share new video footage and internal Secret Service emails that show Trump ratcheted up the conflict at the Capitol, despite being warned of escalating violence. The committee’s hearing on Thursday is expected to corroborate its key findings about Trump and the Jan. 6 insurrection: that Trump sought to rile up his supporters to block the certification of Biden’s electoral victory; used his speech near the Ellipse to encourage his supporters to “fight like hell” knowing some were armed; directed them to march on the Capitol; and then refused to call off the take. Since its last hearing in July, the committee has interviewed more members of Trump’s cabinet, received Secret Service communications, and interviewed Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. The committee’s final report is likely in December. (Washington Post / CNN / Associated Press)
5/ A federal judge rejected Trump’s attempt to delay his deposition in a defamation suit by a woman who claims he raped her in the 1990s. Trump’s deposition is now scheduled for Oct. 19. Judge Lewis Kaplan also denied Trump’s request to substitute the U.S. government into the case as a defendant – replacing him – on the grounds that the alleged defamation of New York columnist E. Jean Carroll occurred while he was president. Carroll brought the libel case three years ago, after Trump repeatedly denied her rape allegations and described her as “not my type.” Kaplan also noted that Trump’s efforts to delay the lawsuit and his production of “virtually” no documents was “inexcusable.” (CNBC / Politico / CNN / Washington Post / Associated Press)
6/ Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones was ordered to pay nearly $1 billion in damages to the families of eight victims of the Sandy Hook shooting, where 20 children and six educators were killed. Within hours of the shooting, Jones called it a hoax staged by “crisis actors” following a script written by the government to build support for gun control. During his testimony, Jones acknowledged he had been wrong about Sandy Hook and admitted that the shooting was “100 percent real.” In August, a jury ordered Jones to pay nearly $50 million to the parents of a first grader killed at Sandy Hook. Jones also faces a third trial, in a lawsuit filed by the parents of another child killed in the shooting. Infowars and its parent company Free Speech Systems, however, have filed for bankruptcy protection. (Washington Post / Politico / CNN / ABC News / New York Times)
poll/ 50% of voters say the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade has made them more motivated to vote – up 13 percentage points from May. (KFF Health Tracking Poll)
poll/ 46% of Americans call their personal financial situation poor – up from 37% in March. (Associated Press)
poll/ 22% of Americans rate the country’s current economic conditions as good, with 41% calling conditions somewhat poor, and 37% saying they’re very poor. (CNN)
1/ The International Monetary Fund warned that the world economy was headed for “stormy waters” and “the worst is yet to come.” The IMF’s World Economic Outlook report forecasts that global growth will slow to 2.7% in 2023, compared with projected growth of 3.2% this year. Aside from the global financial crisis and the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, this is “the weakest growth profile since 2001.” The report added that “for many people 2023 will feel like a recession.” (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / CNN / CNBC)
2/ The Biden administration suggested that the U.S. needs to “re-evaluate” its relationship with Saudi Arabia following the decision by the OPEC+ oil cartel to cut oil production by 2 million barrels. Days before the decision, U.S. officials urged their counterparts in Saudi Arabia and other big Gulf producers to delay the decision for another month, warning that cutting production would be viewed as siding with Russia in the Ukraine war. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, meanwhile, called on the Biden administration to “immediately freeze” U.S. cooperation with Saudi Arabia. And, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Biden would “work with Congress to think through what that relationship ought to look like going forward.” Chuck Schumer added that several legislative responses are under consideration, including a halt to arms sales and a new antitrust measure. (New York Times / Politico / NBC News / CNN / ABC News / Bloomberg / Washington Post)
3/ Biden pledged to “continue providing Ukraine with the support needed to defend itself, including advanced air defense systems.” The commitment follows Russia’s decision to launch 84 cruise missiles against targets across Ukraine on Monday, which G-7 leaders have called “indiscriminate attacks” against civilians that amount to “war crimes.” Putin claimed the strikes were in response to what he described as acts of “terrorism” and other alleged “crimes” by Kyiv. (CNN / Washington Post / Bloomberg)
4/ The Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to reject Trump’s appeal over classified documents seized from Mar-a-Lago. Trump had asked the Supreme Court to allow the special master reviewing the seized documents access to those marked as classified. The Justice Department, however, called the records “extraordinarily sensitive” and that Trump has no “plausible” claims of ownership over these sensitive government materials. They added that allowing the special master access to those records “would jeopardize national security ‘even by the judge alone, in chambers’” and “irreparably injure” the government. Separately, the Justice Department told Trump’s lawyers recently that they believe Trump still has government documents he took when he left the White House. (CNN / NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post / Axios)
A lawyer for former president Donald Trump who signed a letter stating that a “diligent search” for classified records had been conducted and that all such documents had been given back to the government has spoken with the FBI. Christina Bobb signed a letter in June certifying that “based upon the information that has been provided to me,” Trump had returned all classified records sought by the government. The Aug. 8 search of Trump’s home turned up additional records. (NBC News / Associated Press)
5/ Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ decision to fly migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard may have violated the state’s program for transporting undocumented individuals. The program was launched in July to “facilitate the transport of unauthorized aliens from this state,” and documents released by DeSantis’ office show that the transportation department sought a vendor to “implement and manage a program to relocate out of the State of Florida foreign nationals who are not lawfully present in the United States.” On Sept. 14, however, two planes picked up 48 migrants in San Antonio – not Florida. The planes made a brief stop in Crestview, Fla. and then proceeded to Martha’s Vineyard later that day. (CNN / Washington Post / Politico)
poll/ 51% of voters say climate change is important in their vote in the midterms. Among Democrats, 79% say climate change will be important in their vote, compared with 46% of independents and 27% of Republicans. (Washington Post)
1/ Biden pardoned anyone convicted of marijuana possession under federal law and urged governors to do the same. Biden also said his administration would review whether marijuana should continue to be listed as a Schedule 1 drug like heroin and LSD, saying that “makes no sense.” The pardons will clear about 6,500 people who were convicted on federal charges of simple possession from 1992 to 2021, as well as thousands more who were convicted under a Washington, D.C. code. (CNBC / New York Times / CNN / NBC News / Washington Post)
2/ A federal judge temporarily blocked enforcement of large parts of New York’s gun law. In a 53-page order, Judge Glenn Suddaby ruled that multiple provisions in the state’s new law are unconstitutional, including the restrictions on the ability to carry a gun in “sensitive places,” such as Times Square, the subway, libraries, public playgrounds, and zoos. State Attorney General Letitia James said her office would appeal the decision, adding that “common-sense gun control regulations help save lives.” (Associated Press / New York Times / CNN / NBC News / Politico)
3/ Biden said the U.S. is eyeing “alternatives” to oil from OPEC Plus countries as gasoline prices begin the climb again. After a roughly 100-day decline, gas prices in the U.S. rose nearly 3 cents a gallon to $3.83 a gallon – the biggest one-day hike in nearly four months. OPEC Plus announced yesterday that it would reduce its production by two million barrels a day to raise oil prices. The Biden administration, meanwhile, has reportedly discussed easing sanctions on Venezuela to allow Chevron to resume pumping oil there. The National Security Council, however, said there are no plans to change its sanctions policy toward Venezuela unless President Nicolas Maduro’s government “restores democracy” in the country. Venezuela has been under economic and oil sanctions since 2019, when the U.S. and dozens of its allies declared that opposition leader Juan Guaidó was Venezuela’s legitimate president. (New York Times / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
4/ The Federal Reserve said inflation has remained “stubbornly persistent” and that its benchmark interest rate will probably be at 4.5% to 4.75% by next spring or “until we are confident that inflation is firmly on the path toward our 2% goal.” The Fed raised its benchmark rate by three-quarters of a percentage point in September for a third time in a row, bringing it to 3% to 3.25%. The International Monetary Fund, meanwhile, warned that the “risks of recession are rising” globally and that “things are more likely to get worse before it gets better.” Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the IMF, said “multiple shocks, among them a senseless war, changed the economic picture completely,” calling the current economic environment a “period of historic fragility.” (Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / New York Times / Associated Press)
5/ Initial unemployment claims increased by 29,000 to 219,000 last week – inline with the 2019 prepandemic average of 218,000. The Labor Department will release its latest employment report Friday, and economists estimate that payrolls increased by about 275,000 in September. The unemployment rate is expected to hold steady at 3.7%. (Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNN / CNBC)
6/ Covid-19 boosters could prevent about 90,000 U.S. deaths this winter if more people would get their booster by the end of the year. A new analysis suggests that if booster vaccinations continue at their current pace, the nation could see a peak of more than 1,000 Covid-19 deaths per day this winter. The researchers found, however, that if 80% of eligible people receive their booster, it would prevent about 90,000 deaths and more than 936,000 hospitalizations. There are currently more than 400 daily Covid-19 deaths, on average, in the U.S. Meanwhile, nearly 24 million adults in the U.S. currently have long Covid, and more than 80% have reported having significant limitations in their day-to-day activities. As many as 4 million people are estimated to be out of work because of long Covid symptoms. (CNN / Axios)
poll/ 44% of Americans approve of the job Biden is doing as president – up for the third straight month. 49% of Americans, meanwhile, disapprove of Biden’s job performance, down from 54% last month. (Marist)
1/ The World Trade Organization warned that the outlook for global trade next year has “darkened considerably” with “multiple shocks” – from higher energy and food prices to rising interest rates – curbing import demand. World trade is now expected grow 1.0% in 2023, compared with a previous forecast of 3.4%. (Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Reuters)
2/ A coalition of oil-producing nations led by Russia and Saudi Arabia agreed to cut oil production by 2 million barrels per day. It’s the biggest production cut in more than two years and represents about 2% of global oil production. The White House called the decision by OPEC+ “shortsighted” and “unnecessary.” In response, the U.S. said it would release 10 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Biden and European leaders had urged more oil production to ease gasoline prices caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Oil prices have fallen to roughly $80 a barrel from more than $120 in early June. The group, however, wants to keep crude above $90 a barrel. (New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / CNBC)
3/ U.S. mortgage rates jumped to a 16-year high. Mortgage rates have increased 1.30 percentage points in the past seven weeks, with average 30-year fixed mortgage now at 6.75% – the highest since 2007. Mortgage applications, meanwhile, fell 14.2%. (Bloomberg / CNBC)
4/ A federal appeals court granted the Justice Department’s request to expedite its challenge of the appointment of a special master to review the documents recovered by the FBI from Mar-a-Lago. Last week the Justice Department asked the Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit to fast-track its appeal, saying its inability to access the non-classified documents was impeding their investigation. Trump, meanwhile, has publicly claimed that one reason that the FBI found boxes of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago was because federal workers were responsible for packing up the White House. A Freedom of Information Act request, however, revealed that Trump’s “transition team was responsible for putting the boxes on pallets and shrink-wrapping each pallet.” The General Services Administration was only involved in facilitating the shipping of the items. (Bloomberg / Reuters / CNN / Axios)
5/ The Republican nominee for a Georgia Senate seat – who has called for a total ban on abortion – paid for a girlfriend’s abortion in 2009. Herschel Walker wrote the woman a check for $700 and mailed it inside a “get well” card that read: “Rest, Relax […] Recover.” While Walker has denied the report, his team and top Republicans in the state knew of the allegation months before it surfaced, did nothing, and hoped it wouldn’t come out before the election. Top Republican leaders, the Republican National Committee, and Trump, meanwhile, reaffirmed their support of Walker. (Daily Beast / Politico / NPR)
6/ Dr. Mehmet Oz, the Republican nominee for Senate in Pennsylvania, killed over 320 dogs, 31 pigs, and 661 rabbits and other rodents between 1989 and 2010. Jezebel reviewed 75 studies published in academic journals by Dr. Oz, who was the “principal investigator” at the Columbia University Institute of Comparative Medicine labs at the time, and found that experiments had been conducted on at least 1,027 live animals. When Newsweek asked the Oz campaign for a comment, spokesperson Barney Keller replied: “Only the idiots at Newsweek believe what they read at Jezebel.” (Jezebel / Newsweek)
1/ The United Nations warned that the world is “on the edge of a recession.” In a new report, the United Nations Conference on Trade Development said that tightening monetary policy meant to fight inflation by central banks in the U.S., Europe, and the U.K. risks “pushing the world towards global recession and prolonged stagnation, inflicting worse damage than the financial crisis in 2008” and the Covid-19 contraction in economic activity. “Today we need to warn that we may be on the edge of a policy-induced global recession,” Secretary-General of UNCTAD Rebeca Grynspan said in a statement. “We still have time to step back from the edge of recession. Nothing is inevitable. We must change course.” The Federal Reserve, meanwhile, reaffirmed that bringing inflation down from its 40-year high will require a slowdown in economic growth and reduced demand for workers by employers. Interest rates are currently set in a range between 3 and 3.25%, and the Fed’s most recent projections suggest they’ll climb to 4.6% by the end of 2023. On the other hand, U.S. national debt exceeded $31 trillion for the first time, and the higher rates could add an additional $1 trillion to federal government interest payments this decade. (CNBC / CNN / Wall Street Journal / Yahoo News)
2/ Job openings dropped 10% in August to 10.01 million from 11.2 million in July. The 1.1 million drop in available positions is the largest decline since April 2020, and job openings are at their lowest level in a year. There are about 1.7 jobs for every unemployed person – down from about 2 in July. (Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNBC / New York Times)
3/ Home prices in the U.S. posted their largest monthly declines since 2009. Median home prices fell by 0.98% from July to August, while mortgage rates have more than doubled – from less than 3% to nearly 7% – since 2021. Wall Street, meanwhile, has forecasted a 5% to 10% decline in U.S. home prices by the end of 2023, which would be the second-biggest home price decline since the Great Depression
(Bloomberg / Fortune)
4/ Trump asked the Supreme Court to intervene in the dispute over classified government documents the FBI seized from Mar-a-Lago, saying the special master should be allowed to review the classified documents. Last month the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit granted the Justice Department’s request to keep about 100 classified documents separate from the special master’s review. Trump’s legal team, however, claims that the 11th Circuit lacked the judicial authority to stay the special master order “authorizing the review of seized documents bearing classification markings.” The petition was filed with Justice Clarence Thomas, who oversees emergency requests from the 11th Circuit and is likely to refer Trump’s request to the full court to consider. In January, the Supreme Court rejected Trump’s request to block the release of more than 750 pages of his White House records related to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Only Justice Clarence Thomas noted a dissent. (CNN / Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg / Politico / Axios)
5/ In early 2022 Trump’s lawyer refused his instructions to tell the National Archives that all the records had been returned, because he wasn’t sure the statement was true. Alex Cannon had facilitated the January transfer of 15 boxes of presidential records from Mar-a-Lago to the National Archives, and in February, Trump told Cannon to tell the archives he had returned “everything” they had requested. Cannon, however, told Trump he was uncomfortable making such a definitive statement. Separately, the archives notified Trump’s lawyers in May 2021 that it was missing the original correspondence between Trump and Kim Jong Un, as well as the letter that Obama left for Trump. (Washington Post / New York Times / CNN)
Trump’s White House aides weren’t surprised that the FBI found highly classified material in boxes at Mar-a-Lago. “During his four years in office, Trump never strictly followed the rules and customs for handling sensitive government documents, according to 14 officials from his administration.” White House Chief of Staff John Kelly added that Trump “rejected the Presidential Records Act entirely.” (Washington Post)
6/ Trump sued CNN for alleged defamation and is seeking at least $475 million in damages. Trump claims that CNN harmed his reputation with “false, defamatory, and inflammatory mischaracterizations of him” and that CNN “intended to interfere with [his] political career” as part of a “concerted effort to tilt the political balance to the Left.” For his part, Trump has repeatedly attacked that news organizations as “fake news” and “enemy of the people.” Less than 24 hours after filing suit against CNN, Trump encouraged his supporters to contribute $5 or more to his cause. (CBS News / Axios / Bloomberg)
1/ The National Archives told the House Oversight Committee that it hasn’t recovered all the presidential records from Trump administration officials that should have been transferred under the Presidential Records Act. The Archives will consult with the Justice Department “on whether ‘to initiate an action for the recovery of records unlawfully removed,’ as established under the Federal Records Act,” acting archivist Debra Steidel Wall said in a letter to Carolyn Maloney, the committee’s chairwoman. Wall added that the archives was working to retrieve electronic messages from certain unnamed White House officials who had used personal email and messaging accounts to conduct official business. (Washington Post / New York Times / ABC News / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
A majority of House Republicans last year voted to challenge the Electoral College and upend the presidential election. “On the day the Capitol was attacked, 139 Republicans in the House voted to dispute the Electoral College count.” (New York Times)
2/ Five members of the Oath Keepers militia planned an “armed rebellion” to keep Trump in power “by whatever means necessary,” the Justice Department said during its opening statements in the first seditious conspiracy trial to stem from the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Using text messages, video, and recorded calls, federal prosecutors said the group intended to “take matters into their own hands” to overturn the results of the 2020 election and “concocted a plan for an armed rebellion to shatter a bedrock of American democracy.” Prosecutors played a recording of Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes saying that his group “should have brought rifles” to the Capitol. The charge of seditious conspiracy calls for up to 20 years in prison. (Politico / Associated Press / Washington Post / Bloomberg / New York Times / NPR / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / USA Today)
3/ The Supreme Court rejected MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell’s appeal in a defamation lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems. Dominion sued Lindell and MyPillow in February 2021 for $1.3 billion in damages for pushing the “big lie” that Trump won the 2020 election and knowingly made baseless claims that Dominion’s machines manipulated vote counts to ensure that Biden defeated Trump. Dominion has also accused Trump allies Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani of defamation for falsely claiming that the election was “stolen.” (Bloomberg / NBC News / CBS News)
4/ The Supreme Court began its new term, which will include major cases on voting rights, clean water regulations, affirmative action, and discrimination against gay couples. During the court’s last term, which ended in June, the justices overturned of a half century of precedents that had guaranteed women the right to terminate most pregnancies, established a right to carry guns outside the home, and limited the government’s ability to address climate change. The court’s first case of the new term involves a dispute over the EPA’s power to regulate wetlands under the Clean Water Act and what counts as “waters of the United States.” If the court limits the EPA’s authority to protect wetlands from pollution, environmental advocates say about half of all wetlands and roughly 60% of streams would no longer be federally protected. (NPR / Associated Press / New York Times / Politico / FiveThirtyEight / The Hill)
poll/ 47% of voters said they want Republicans to control Congress while 44% said they’d prefer Democrats in control. 82% of Americans ranked inflation their top issue, compared with 56% who ranked abortion as a top concern, and 32% who said the coronavirus pandemic was very important. (Monmouth University Poll / CNBC)
1/ The Education Department scaled back eligibility for its student loan forgiveness plan after six Republican-led states sued to stop Biden from canceling up to $20,000 in student debt for millions of borrowers. The lawsuit filed in a federal court in Missouri by state attorneys general from Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, Nebraska, and South Carolina, as well as legal representatives from Iowa argue that student loan servicers would see a drop in revenue because borrowers are likely to consolidate their loans under the Federal Family Education Loan program – FFEL are loans that were originally made by private lenders but are guaranteed by the federal government. In response, the Biden administration said it would exclude FFEL from the loan forgiveness program. The move disqualifies roughly 2 million of the 44 million otherwise eligible borrowers. (Politico / Washington Post / Associated Press / NPR / CNN)
2/ The Senate approved a temporary spending package to avert a partial government shutdown. The stopgap funding bill extends government funding through Dec. 16. The House is expected to quickly pass the measure and send it to Biden for his signature before funding lapses Friday night. The legislation includes $12.4 billion in assistance for Ukraine, but does not include money for coronavirus or monkeypox vaccines, testing, and treatment. (Associated Press / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg)
3/ Mortgage rates surged to the highest level since 2007 with the average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage climbing to 6.7%. It was the sixth week in a row of rising rates. A year ago, rates were 3.01%. Applications to refinance a home loan, meanwhile, have declined to a 22-year low. (Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNBC)
4/ Biden warned that Hurricane Ian may have been responsible for “substantial loss of life” and approved a major disaster declaration for Florida in what could be the deadliest storm in the state’s history. “We’ve never seen a flood event like this,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said, calling it a one-in-500-year flood event that has brought “historic” damage to the state. The National Hurricane Center said Ian brought “catastrophic flooding” over Florida’s east and central regions. More than 2.5 million customers across Florida were without power Thursday morning. Although Ian was downgraded to a tropical storm after making landfall in Florida’s southwest coast as a Category 4 hurricane, the National Hurricane Center said Ian has intensified into a hurricane again after moving over the Atlantic Ocean. It projected to make a new landfall in South Carolina on Friday. Ian is “taking aim at the Carolinas and Georgia with life-threatening flooding, storm surge and strong winds,” the center said. (NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post / NPR / CNN / Axios)
5/ Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, testified before the Jan. 6 committee for about four and a half hours. Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson said Thomas answered “some questions” in her interview, including reiterating her belief that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. “It’s a work in progress,” Thompson said. “At this point, we’re glad she came.” Thomas repeatedly pressed White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to find ways to overturn the election, attended the rally that preceded the attack on the Capitol, and emailed with John Eastman, the architect of the campaign to push Pence to reject the 2020 election results during the counting of Electoral College votes. Thomas has also repeatedly claimed her political activities posed no conflict of interest with the work of her husband, who was the lone justice to dissent when the Supreme Court rejected Trump’s effort to block the release of his White House records to the Jan. 6 committee. (NBC News / NPR / CNN / Associated Press)
poll/ 47% of Americans say they trust the Supreme Court and the judicial branch – a 20-percentage-point drop from two years ago. 40% of Americans approve of the way the Supreme Court is handling its job – a record-tying-low. (Gallup)
1/ Biden promised to end hunger in the U.S. by the end of the decade, unveiling $8 billion in public- and private-sector commitments to make food healthier, more affordable, and accessible. It was the first White House summit dedicated to combating hunger in nearly a half-century. “I know we can do this,” Biden said. “This goal is within our reach.” Most of the policy proposals – like permanently extending the child tax credit, raising the minimum wage, and expanding nutrition assistance programs – will require congressional approval. (Washington Post / New York Times / Associated Press / NPR / Politico)
2/ The Congressional Budget Office reported that the poorest half of Americans – about 150 million people – hold 2% of the nation’s wealth. The top 10% of American families, meanwhile, account for 72% of the nation’s wealth. In 1989, the bottom half of the population held 4% of total wealth while the top 10 held 64%. “This report confirms what we already know: The very rich are getting much, much richer while the middle class is falling further and further behind, and being forced to take on outrageous levels of debt,” Bernie Sanders said. “The obscene level of income and wealth inequality in America is a profoundly moral issue that we cannot continue to ignore or sweep under the rug.” (Washington Post / Common Dreams)
3/ Biden warned that Social Security and Medicare are “on the chopping block” if Republicans regained control of Congress. Some Republicans have called for restructuring or scaling back entitlement programs with Rick Scott going so far as to draft a plan that would “sunset” Social Security and Medicare if Congress doesn’t act. Social Security’s combined reserves, meanwhile, are projected to be depleted in 2035. After that, the program will be able to pay about 77% of the scheduled benefits unless Congress steps in. Roughly 56 million people received retirement and survivors benefits in 2021. (New York Times)
4/ The European Union proposed new sanctions in response to Russia escalating its war in Ukraine by drafting at least 300,000 men into its army, threatening the use of nuclear weapons, and holding “sham” referendums. European leaders also vowed a “robust and united response” to the “sabotage” of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines. The White House, meanwhile, said that Russia’s attempts to annex four Ukrainian regions under its control were “illegitimate” and “outrageous.” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, “The Russian government falsified the results to advance the lie that the Ukrainian people want to be part of Russia.” The Biden administration also announced $1.1 billion in additional security assistance for Ukraine, bringing the total U.S. commitment to more than $16.2 billion. (New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / CNBC)
5/ Mitch McConnell endorsed a bipartisan electoral count reform bill in the Senate, which now has the public support from 11 Republican senators – enough to overcome the chamber’s 60-vote filibuster threshold. The legislation aims to stop future presidents from trying to overturn election results through Congress by raising the threshold for lawmakers to object to the electoral count and reaffirm that the vice president only has a ministerial role in the count of electoral votes. The House passed its own version last week. Prior to McConnell’s endorsement, the Senate Rules Committee voted to advance the bill. Ted Cruz was the lone senator to vote against the bill. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Texas Tribune)
poll/ 52% of voters said they support Congress reforming the electoral vote count law, and 53% said it should be more difficult for state governments to override presidential election results. (Politico)
poll/ 5% of Americans – roughly 13 million adults – agree that the use of force is justified to restore Trump as president. About 3.32% of Americans – 8.5 million adults – said they would participate in the use of force to restore the Trump presidency. (CBS News)
poll/ 42% of Republicans identify as “MAGA” Republicans, while 58% disavow the term. (NBC News)
1/ The Senate is set to vote on a short-term spending bill to keep the federal government running past Friday. In addition to maintaining current funding levels through Dec. 16, the bill also provides more than $12 billion to Ukraine, $1 billion to help families with heating and cooling costs, $2.5 billion to help New Mexico recover from wildfires, and $20 million in emergency funding for water and wastewater infrastructure improvements in Jackson, Mississippi. Prior to voting, Joe Manchin asked Chuck Schumer to remove his energy permitting package from the short-term government funding bill. The permitting proposal was a key part of Schumer’s deal with Manchin to pass the Inflation Reduction Act this summer on a party-line vote. Manchin conceded only after several Democrats and Republicans – including Mitch McConnell – threatened to vote against the spending measure and risk a government shutdown. (Politico / Washington Post / CBS News / New York Times / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
2/ Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton fled his home in a truck driven by his wife to avoid being served a subpoena in a lawsuit over funding for abortions. Several abortion rights organizations filed a lawsuit seeking a court order barring state officials from pursuing criminal charges against their employees for providing financial and other aid to Texans seeking abortion services out of state. In a sworn affidavit, the process server said that Paxton refused to accept the subpoena and instead ran from his garage into a truck driven by his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton. (Texas Tribune / NBC News / Bloomberg)
3/ More than 1,000 students walked out of Virginia public schools in protest of the state’s reversal of transgender protections. Earlier this month, Gov. Glenn Youngkin rewrote Virginia’s model policies for the treatment of transgender students, mandating that all students use school bathrooms and locker rooms according to the “biological sex” they were assigned at birth. The new policy also requires parental approval for staff members to refer to students by a different name or pronoun at school. “These revised guidelines will only hurt students in a time when students are facing unparalleled mental health challenges, and are a cruel attempt to politicize the existence of LGBTQIA+ students for political gain,” the Pride Liberation Project, a statewide LGBTQ youth advocacy group, said in a statement. (Washington Post / NBC News / USA Today)
4/ Hurricane Ian made landfall as a Category 3 storm over Cuba and is expected to strengthen into a Category 4 storm as it approaches Florida’s southwest coast. More than 2.5 million Florida residents are already under evacuation orders. The storm is expected to pass west of the Florida Keys Tuesday and come ashore just south of Sarasota on Florida’s Gulf Coast by Wednesday night. (Washington Post / NPR / New York Times / Associated Press)
5/ The Jan. 6 committee postponed its next hearing because of Hurricane Ian. It’s unclear when the panel’s ninth and final public hearing will be rescheduled. (Washington Post / New York Times)
6/ European leaders blamed the Kremlin for explosions that damaged three natural gas pipelines running under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany. “The damage that occurred in one day simultaneously at three lines of offshore pipelines of the Nord Stream system is unprecedented,” the operating company, Nord Stream AG, said in a statement. The Danish prime minister said she “cannot rule out” sabotage, saying “these are deliberate actions, not an accident. The situation is as serious as it gets.” The Polish prime minister added that “we can clearly see that it is an act of sabotage,” and “probably marks the next stage in the escalation of this situation in Ukraine.” It’s not clear what impact the damage will have on Europe’s energy supplies, but western officials have warned that the Kremlin is weaponizing its gas deliveries to Europe to punish governments for supporting Ukraine. (Associated Press / Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Politico / CBS News / The Guardian)
poll/ 41% of Americans favor charging Trump with crimes related to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, while 34% are against charging Trump and another 25% are unsure. (Bloomberg)
1/ An Arizona judge ruled that a 1864 ban on nearly all abortions in that state can be enforced, lifting a 1973 injunction that had barred enforcement of Arizona’s pre-statehood ban. The 1864 law mandates a two- to five-year prison sentence for anyone who helps a woman obtain an abortion and makes no exception for victims of rape or incest. The law was updated and codified in 1901. Judge Kellie Johnson cited the Supreme Court’s decision in June to overturn Roe v. Wade, which established a constitutional right to abortion as rationale for lifting the injunction. Johnson’s ruling came a day before Arizona’s 15-week ban on abortion was slated to go into effect. Biden, meanwhile, vowed to codify the right to an abortion into law if voters “give me two more senators in the United States Senate.” (Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / CNBC / The Guardian)
2/ Trump’s attorneys are attempting to assert attorney-client and executive privilege over grand jury testimony to prevent witnesses from sharing information in the Justice Department’s Jan. 6 criminal investigation. Earlier this month, the federal grand jury issued more than 40 subpoenas to former Trump aides seeking information about the role Trump played in the attempt to overturn the 2020 election, including the plan to create fake slates of pro-Trump electors in swing states that were won by Biden. The legal dispute, which is under seal, will determine how much evidence prosecutors can use from Trump’s conversations in the West Wing and with attorneys as he tried to overturn the 2020 election. (CNN / New York Times)
3/ Mark Meadows texted with an election denier in late December 2020 about attempts to gain access to voting systems in Arizona and Georgia. Phil Waldron, a retired Army colonel with ties to Michael Flynn, helped draft language for an executive order directing the Pentagon and Homeland Security to seize voting machines, as well as sending Meadows an “Options for 6 Jan” PowerPoint presentation that outlined a plan for overturning the election. Meadows recently complied with a Justice Department subpoena for information about the 2020 election, including these text messages. (CNN)
The White House switchboard dialed a cell phone registered to a Capitol rioter who had stormed the building on Jan. 6. The call was placed at 4:34 pm – shortly after Trump posted a video message on social media telling the rioters at the Capitol, “go home, we love you, you’re very special.” It lasted for nine seconds. (CNN / CBS News / The Guardian)
4/ The Biden administration announced $1.5 billion in grants to fight the opioid crisis. Last year, more than 107,000 people died after overdosing in the U.S. – a 15% increase from 2020. The grants will be used to expand access to treatment and recovery services, invest in better overdose education, and increase the accessibility of naloxone products. (CNBC)
5/ Biden’s plan to cancel student loan debt for millions of American borrowers will cost roughly $400 billion over the next decade, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The CBO expects 90% of the 37 million borrowers with loans from the federal government would take advantage of the plan to cancel up to $20,000 in student debt for lower- and middle-class borrowers. (Washington Post / New York Times)
6/ The U.S. warned Russia of “catastrophic” consequences if Putin uses nuclear weapons in Ukraine. “It’s very important that Moscow hear from us and know from us that the consequences would be horrific,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said. “And we’ve made that very clear.” National security adviser Jake Sullivan added that “In private channels we have spelled out in greater detail exactly what that would mean.” The comments by Blinken and Sullivan come after Putin addressed Russia last week, saying that if Russia’s “territorial integrity” was threatened, “we will certainly use all the means at our disposal” to retaliate and that “it’s not a bluff.” (Axios / NBC News / New York Times / CNN)
poll/ 23% of Americans approve of the way Congress is handling its job – its highest rating in 2022. 75%, however, disapprove. (Gallup)
poll/ 66% of voters say the November election is more important than past midterm campaigns. 68% of voters feel that their rights and freedoms are at stake in the midterm election. (Washington Post / CBS News)
poll/ 56% of Democrats say the party should replace Biden as its nominee for president in 2024, while 35% favor Biden for the nomination. 47% of Republicans, meanwhile, think Trump should be their 2024 nominee – a 20-point drop compared with his 2020 nomination. (ABC News)
Notable: Pollsters fear they’re blowing it again in 2022. Democrats seem to be doing better than expected with voters. But if the polls are wrong, they could be disappointed in November — again. [Editor’s note: ¯_(ツ)_/¯ ] (Politico)
1/ A federal appeals court ruled that the Justice Department could use the classified documents that were seized from Mar-a-Lago in its ongoing criminal investigation, blocking a lower court’s order that had limited the investigation into Trump’s handling of government materials. The three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals – two of whom were nominated by Trump – disagreed with Trump’s rationale that the classified documents were his property, rather than the government’s, writing that Trump “has not even attempted to show that he has a need to know the information contained in the classified documents.” The court also disagreed with the rationale used by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon to order a special master to review the classified documents and deny the DOJ’s request that they be exempted from it. Trump, meanwhile, told Fox News host Sean Hannity that “there doesn’t have to be a process [to declassify documents], as I understand it,” claiming that a president can declassify “even by thinking about it.” (CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press / CNBC)
2/ The special master overseeing the Mar-a-Lago documents investigation ordered Trump’s lawyers to submit a sworn declaration saying if they believe the Justice Department lied about the documents seized. While Trump has repeatedly claimed that the FBI planted evidence when they searched Mar-A-Lago, his lawyers have not made similar assertions in court. Judge Raymond Dearie set a Sept. 30 deadline for Trump’s lawyers to state in a court filing if the Justice Department included any items on their “inventory” of materials taken from Mar-a-Lago that were not actually seized during the search. (Washington Post / CNN)
3/ Virginia Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, agreed to participate in a voluntary interview with the Jan. 6 committee. Thomas repeatedly pressed White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to find ways to overturn the election and attended the rally that preceded the attack on the Capitol. The committee has also obtained email correspondence between Thomas and John Eastman, the architect of the campaign to push Pence to reject the 2020 election results during the counting of Electoral College votes. The committee will hold its next public hearing next Wednesday, Sept. 28 – likely the last in a series of hearings that began this summer. (CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / NPR / Associated Press)
4/ The House passed an electoral reform bill to prevent future presidents from trying to steal an election through Congress. The Presidential Election Reform Act amends the 135-year-old Electoral Count Act – the law that Trump and his allies tried to exploit in their efforts to overturn the 2020 election – by clarifying the vice president’s role in counting electoral votes as strictly ministerial. It also would raise the threshold for Congress to object to a state’s results. The bill passed 229-203, with nine Republicans joining Democrats in supporting the measure. None of those nine Republican lawmakers will be members of Congress next year. The legislation now goes to the Senate, where a bipartisan group has been working on a similar bill. (NBC News / NPR / New York Times / Washington Post)
5/ Senate Republicans blocked an effort to require the disclosure of large campaign donations to so-called dark money groups. The Disclose Act, which failed on a 49-49 vote along party lines, would have required super PACs to disclose donors who give $10,000 or more during an election cycle. (Washington Post / Bloomberg)
6/ The Senate ratified a global treaty to phase down the use and production of hydrofluorocarbons – its first international climate treaty in three decades. The planet-warming industrial chemicals, commonly found in refrigerators and air-conditioners, are thousands of times more potent than carbon dioxide at heating up the Earth. (Politico / CNBC / Washington Post / New York Times)
7/ An Indiana judge temporarily blocked enforcement of the state’s near-total ban on abortion a week after it took effect. The decision came as part of a lawsuit brought by abortion providers challenging the state ban, which prohibits most abortion except to save the woman’s life. The judge wrote that “there is reasonable likelihood that this significant restriction of personal autonomy offends the liberty guarantees of the Indiana Constitution” and that the clinics will prevail in the lawsuit. (NPR / CNN / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
1/ New York Attorney General Letitia James sued Trump, Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump, and executives at the Trump Organization. In the more than 200-page lawsuit, James alleges that the Trumps enriched themselves through “numerous acts of fraud and misrepresentations” for more than a decade by “grossly” inflating Trump’s net worth by billions of dollars and deceiving lenders, insurers, and tax authorities with false and misleading financial statements. “For too long, powerful, wealthy people in this country have operated as if the rules do not apply to them,” James said in a statement. “Donald Trump stands out as among the most egregious examples of this misconduct. With the help of his children and senior executives at the Trump Organization, Donald Trump falsely inflated his net worth by billions of dollars to unjustly enrich himself and cheat the system.” The civil lawsuit seeks to permanently bar the Trumps from ever running a business in the state again and about $250 million in penalties. In addition, James said she believes Trump and his family business violated several state criminal laws and “plausibly” broke federal criminal laws as well. Her office has referred the matter to federal prosecutors in Manhattan and the IRS. “The pattern of fraud that was used by Mr. Trump and the Trump organization was astounding,” James added. (New York Times/ CNN / Politico / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / NPR / Axios / Bloomberg / ABC News)
2/ The special master tasked with reviewing documents seized from Mar-a-Lago repeatedly challenged Trump’s lawyers refusal to offer proof that Trump had declassified any of the 100 documents that the FBI recovered from his estate. At the first hearing in the matter, U.S. District Judge Raymond Dearie said the Justice Department had presented evidence that several of the documents were classified – noting they are marked as such – and asked James Trusty, one of Trump’s attorneys, to explain why he should question the government’s determination. Trusty, however, repeatedly refused to disclose whether Trump had declassified any of the documents he brought to Mar-a-Lago. At one point, Dearie said that if Trump’s attorneys didn’t directly dispute the government’s argument that the documents are classified, “As far as I’m concerned, that’s the end of it.” Trusty then called it “premature” for Dearie to consider that issue right now, to which Dearie responded: “You can’t have your cake and eat it too.” Trump has implied that the 11,000 documents taken from Mar-a-Lago by the FBI were declassified, including the 100 bearing classification markings that suggest they contain highly sensitive national security-related intelligence. (Politico / New York Times / Bloomberg / Washington Post / Axios / Wall Street Journal / CNN / NPR)
3/ Biden condemned Russia’s efforts to “erase” Ukraine from the map after Putin threatened to use nuclear weapons if Kyiv continues its efforts to reclaim occupied territory. Putin also declared a “partial mobilization” to call up as many as 300,000 reservists to reverse setbacks in his war. At the United Nations, Biden said Putin’s war “shamelessly violated” U.N. principles by “extinguishing Ukraine’s right to exist as a state […] and Ukraine’s right to exist as a people,” while calling out Putin for making “irresponsible nuclear threats.” The world’s “blood should run cold” over the invasion, Biden added. On Wednesday, Putin threatened to use nuclear weapons, saying, “If the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will use all available means to protect our people — this is not a bluff.” Putin’s reference to his nuclear arsenal came a day after four Russian-controlled areas announced “referendums” on the annexation of nearly 15% of Ukraine into the Russian Federation – a plan Kyiv and its Western allies dismissed as a “sham” aimed at deterring a successful counteroffensive by Ukrainian troops. Russian airlines, meanwhile, were reportedly ordered to stop selling tickets to Russian men aged 18 to 65. (Washington Post / NBC News / Politico / New York Times / Bloomberg / Axios / CNBC / Wall Street Journal)
4/ The Federal Reserve approved its third consecutive 75-basis-point interest-rate hike as inflation remains near a 40-year high. The decision lifts the benchmark federal funds rate to a range between 3% and 3.25% – the highest level since early 2008 – and officials expect to raise interest rates to a range between 4.75% and 5% next year. Officials expect inflation to decline from 6.3% in August to 5.4% by the end of this year before eventually falling back to the Fed’s 2% goal by 2025. The U.S. unemployment rate, meanwhile, is projected to climb from 3.7% to 4.4% by next year, and GDP growth is forecasted to slump to 0.2% for 2022. (Bloomberg / CNBC / Wall Street Journal / CNN / NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post)
5/ Sales of existing U.S. homes fell for the seventh straight month in August as mortgage rates climbed toward their highest level in 14 years. The string of monthly sales declines is the longest stretch since the housing market crashed in 2007. The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage, meanwhile, hit 6.25% last week. (Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
1/ A Texas sheriff opened a criminal investigation into Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ decision to fly 48 Venezuelan migrants to Martha’s Vineyard. Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said the migrants appeared to have been “lured under false pretenses” into staying at a hotel before they were flown to Florida and later Martha’s Vineyard, where they were “left to fend for themselves.” DeSantis, meanwhile, defended his decision, saying outrage over the flights was misplaced because everyone had “signed consent forms.” (CNN / Politico / NBC News / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
2/ The U.S. arrested more than 2 million undocumented immigrants along the southwestern border in the past 11 months. It’s the first time that immigration arrests have topped 2 million, exceeding last year’s record of more than 1.7 million. In August, the number of undocumented immigrants from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras dropped 43% from last August, while the number of Cubans, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans rose 175%. Many of the migrants are seeking asylum, which was significantly restricted during the Trump administration. (New York Times / Washington Post)
3/ The Justice Department charged 47 defendants with stealing $240 million from a federal program that provided food for needy children during the pandemic – the largest Covid-19-related fraud to date. “This was a brazen scheme of staggering proportions,” U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger said in a statement. Federal prosecutors said a network of individuals and organizations tied to Feeding Our Future, a Minnesota-based nonprofit, “exploited a program” designed to provide meals for underserved children and that the defendants “prioritized their own greed” by purchasing “luxury cars, houses, jewelry, and coastal resort property abroad.” More than 125 million fake meals are at issue. (New York Times / NBC News / CNN / Washington Post)
4/ Newly obtained surveillance video shows Trump allies and contractors working on his behalf copying sensitive software and data from voting equipment in a Georgia county elections office on Jan. 7, 2021. The group of forensics experts from SullivanStrickler spent eight hours inside the Coffee County elections office examining electronic “poll pads,” which contain voter data and are used to check in voters at polling locations. SullivanStrickler was hired by Sidney Powell, a conspiracy theorist and Trump’s former lawyer. Among those seen in the footage is former Georgia Republican Party official Cathy Latham, who is under criminal investigation for posing as a fake elector in 2020. In sworn testimony last month, Latham said she briefly stopped by the office in Coffee County, but stayed in the foyer and spoke with an official about an unrelated matter at the front desk. The surveillance video footage, however, shows that Latham visited the elections office twice that day and stay for more than four hours in total. She also took a selfie with one of the forensics experts before leaving at 6:19 p.m. (CNN / Washington Post / New York Times)
5/ Trump’s lawyers acknowledged that the criminal investigation into his handling of sensitive government documents could lead to an indictment. In a letter to Judge Raymond Dearie – the newly appointed special master – Trump’s lawyers objected to Dearie’s request to “disclose specific information regarding declassification to the Court and to the Government.” Trump’s lawyers argued that forcing Trump to specify which documents he purportedly declassified would “fully and specifically disclose a defense to the merits of any subsequent indictment” and leave him at a legal disadvantage. Trump’s attorneys instead argued that the Justice Department hasn’t proven that the documents with classification markings are actually classified. Dearie has until Nov. 30 to complete his work but has reportedly set a timetable for the 11,000 documents seized at Mar-a-Lago to be inspected and labeled by Oct. 7. (Washington Post / CNN / New York Times / CNBC / NBC News / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
Trump was warned last year by a former White House lawyer that he could face legal liability if he did not return government documents he had taken with him to Mar-a-Lago. Shortly after the discussion with Eric Herschmann, Trump turned over 15 boxes of material to the National Archives, which contained 184 classified documents. (New York Times)
6/ Adults under 65 should be screened for anxiety and all adults should be checked for depression, according an influential group of medical experts. The draft guidance marks the first time that the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has recommended anxiety screening in primary care for adults without symptoms. The task force previously issued similar draft guidance for children and adolescents. Anxiety disorders affect about 40% of U.S. women and more than 1 in 4 men. This summer, more than 30% of U.S. adults reported symptoms of anxiety or depression. And, the CDC reports that the percentage of U.S. adults who received mental-health treatment within the past 12 months increased to 22% in 2021 – up from 19% in 2019. Globally, anxiety and depression increased by 25% during the first year of the pandemic. (Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Washington Post)
1/ Biden said he believes “the pandemic is over” despite the U.S. recording more than 2 million Covid-19 cases and more than 12,000 deaths in the last 28 days. The declaration was an apparent off-the-cuff remark and not part of Biden’s planned remarks, and come as his administration seeks an additional $22.4 billion from Congress for coronavirus vaccines, tests, and treatments. Biden, however, acknowledged that the U.S. still has a “problem” with the coronavirus that has killed more than 1 million Americans. Further, the federal government still designates Covid-19 a Public Health Emergency, and the WHO says it remains a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. “We are not there yet but the end is in sight,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the WHO. “We can see the finish line, but now is the worst time to stop running.” (Politico / Washington Post / CNN / NBC News / NPR / Wall Street Journal)
2/ Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin restricted the rights of transgender students in the state’s schools, issuing new “Model Policies” that roll back the work of Youngkin’s predecessor, Democrat Ralph Northam. The new guidelines will require transgender students to access school facilities and programs matching the sex they were assigned at birth and mandates that students who are minors must be referred to by the name and pronouns in their official records, unless a parent approves the use of something else. Further, school personnel won’t be required to refer to a student “in any manner” that would run counter to their personal or religious beliefs. The new rules will effect more than 1 million children enrolled in the state’s 133 school districts. (NPR / NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post)
3/ The Justice Department asked an appeals court to let the FBI regain access to about 100 classified documents taken from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, but didn’t try to block Judge Aileen Cannon’s appointment of Raymond Dearie to serve as special master. Last week, Judge Cannon’s granted a special master to review thousands of documents seized from Mar-a-Lago. She also blocked law enforcement agencies from using any of the documents for investigative purposes until the review is done. Lawyers with the Justice Department’s national security division wrote: “Although the government believes the district court fundamentally erred in appointing a special master and granting injunctive relief, the government seeks to stay only the portions of the order causing the most serious and immediate harm to the government and the public.” The Justice Department previously argued that delaying its investigation into Trump’s handling of classified government records could result in “irreparable harm.” Separately, months before the National Archives retrieved 15 boxes containing hundreds of classified documents from Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s team claimed that none of the material was sensitive or classified and that Trump had only 12 boxes of “news clippings.” Since the September 2021 call, the Archives and Justice Department have recovered 42 boxes of records from Trump’s estate, including 15 boxes handed over last January and an additional 27 boxes retrieved by the FBI during a court-authorized search of Mar-a-Lago last month. (New York Times / NBC News / CNN / NPR)
4/ Trump’s longtime accounting firm started turning over documents to the House Oversight Committee as part of its investigation into his potential conflicts of interest and foreign financial ties. The committee first subpoenaed Mazars USA for Trump’s financial records in April 2019 for information about his dealings from 2014 to 2018. Trump and Mazars USA recently agreed to turn over some “key financial documents” to the committee after the accounting firm said it could no longer stand behind the statements it had prepared for the Trump Organization over a decade. (New York Times / CNN)
5/ At least a dozen Republican candidates for governor and Senate wouldn’t commit to accepting the results of their contests. On the Democratic side, however, all 19 nominees said they would accept the outcome of the November results. Biden, meanwhile, said that it’s “much too early” to make the decision on whether he will run again for president in 2024. “Look, my intention, as I said to begin with, is that I would run again. But it’s just an intention. But is it a firm decision that I run again? That remains to be seen,” Biden said when asked whether he would run. (Washington Post / New York Times)
1/ Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis shipped about 50 migrants to Martha’s Vineyard without warning to make a political point about the record number of apprehensions at the southern border. While the two flights were paid for by Florida taxpayers under a state program to transport undocumented immigrants to so-called sanctuary destinations, they originated in San Antonio, Texas. The group of migrants, which included children, were told that they were being transported to Boston. Separately, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott used a state-funded program to send two buses of migrants – between 75 and 100 people – to Harris’s home in DC. The White House, meanwhile, called the actions by the two Republican governors “cruel” and “shameful” political stunts. And, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre accused Abbott of alerting Fox News to the bus’s arrivals instead of the Department of Homeland Security or the city of Washington. (New York Times / NPR / Washington Post / Texas Tribune / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
2/ The Senate delayed a vote to protect same-sex marriage until after the midterm elections. A bipartisan group of senators have been working to alleviate the concerns of Republicans in an attempt to persuade at least 10 of them to support the bill and overcome a filibuster. Despite the efforts, Republicans complained that their 50-member conference would view a vote as politically motivated if Chuck Schumer forced a vote before the midterms. The Respect for Marriage Act would enshrine federal protections for same-sex and interracial marriages, as well as repeal the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which recognized marriages in the U.S. as between one man and one woman. (Politico / Washington Post / NBC News / Bloomberg)
3/ The White House announced a “tentative” agreement between rail carriers and union leaders to avert a nationwide strike that threatened to cripple U.S. supply chains. After 20 straight hours of negotiations – which included Biden and other administration officials – workers won several of the concessions they were seeking, including better pay and more flexible schedules, like time off for doctors appointments. The parties had been negotiating a new contract for several years and were facing a 12:01 am Friday deadline – the end of a “cooling off period.” Union members, however, still have to vote to ratify the agreement, which is not expected for at least a couple of weeks. Biden called the deal to avoid what would have been an economically damaging strike “a big win for America.” (NPR / Politico / CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg)
4/ Mortgage rates topped 6% for the first time in 14 years and more than double their level a year ago. In an effort to tamp down inflation, the Federal Reserve has raised the federal funds rate by 2 full percentage points over four meetings this year. As a result, mortgage rates have gone up, and with inflation still high in August, the Fed is expected to raise the federal funds rate again when it meets next week. Rates, however, are still below the historical average of 7.8%. (Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
5/ Mark Meadows complied with a subpoena from the Justice Department’s investigation into Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. The former White House chief of staff, who turned over the same materials he gave the House committee investigating the attack, is the highest-ranking Trump official known to have responded to a subpoena in the federal investigation. (CNN)
6/ The New York attorney general’s office rejected an offer from Trump’s lawyers to settle the civil investigation into the Trump Organization. Attorney General Letitia James is reportedly also considering suing at least one of Trump’s adult children as part of her inquiry that’s focused on whether Trump fraudulently inflated the value of his assets. Separately, the Trump Organization is going to trial next month for criminal tax charges in Manhattan. (New York Times)
7/ Trump – threatening the Justice Department – warned that there would be “big problems” if he’s indicted over the mishandling classified documents after leaving the White House. Trump, speaking to conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, said an indictment would result in “problems in this country the likes of which perhaps we’ve never seen before” and that Americans “would not stand” for his prosecution. Trump added that an indictment wouldn’t stop him from running for president again. (Politico / Washington Post)
poll/ 45% of Americans approve of the job Biden is doing as president – up from 36% in July. (Associated Press)
poll/ 70% of Americans don’t think politicians “are informed enough” about abortion to “create fair policies.” 44% believe abortion will become less accessible in their lifetime. (Politico)
1/ Biden approved the first $900 million in U.S. funding to build EV charging stations in 35 states. The bipartisan infrastructure bill, which Congress approved in November, allocated $7.5 billion to build a national EV charging network. By 2030, Biden wants 50% of all new vehicles sold in the U.S. to be electric or plug-in hybrid electric models and 500,000 new EV charging stations. “America is confronting the climate crisis with American workers leading the way,” Biden said. “It used to be to buy an electric vehicle you had to make all sorts of compromises. Not now […] It’s all changing. Today, if you want an electric vehicle with a long range, you can buy one made in America.” (CNBC / CBS News / Reuters / Washington Post)
2/ Amtrak will shut down all long distance passenger trains starting Thursday because of the possible freight rail strike. The majority of Amtrak routes operate on tracks owned by freight railroads. Amtrak trains that operate between Washington, D.C. and Boston, however, would not be affected because Amtrak owns most of those tracks. Two unions representing the engineers and conductors who make up the two-person crews on each freight train are demanding changes to the scheduling rules that keep them “on call” every day they’re not at work and penalizes them for going to routine doctor visits or responding to family medical emergencies. Negotiators face a deadline of 12:01 a.m. Eastern on Friday to avert the freight shutdown. (CNN / Washington Post / Politico)
3/ The EPA’s inspector general office is investigating the water crisis in Jackson, Mississippi where roughly 150,000 residents have been under a boil-water advisory for seven weeks. The city issued a boil-water advisory after finding cloudiness in the water that could cause illness. The office issued a memo saying it will look into the federal response, as well as city and state officials. The current crisis began when heavy rains caused the Pearl River to flood and overwhelmed the water treatment plant, which was already using backup pumps because the pumps at the main water treatment facility were already damaged. (CNN / Politico / ABC News)
4/ Marco Rubio will co-sponsor Lindsey Graham’s bill to ban abortions nationwide after 15 weeks, which has received a tepid response from Republicans who say they “prefer this be dealt with at the state level.” In Indiana, the first new abortion ban passed by a state legislature since the overturning of Roe v. Wade in June will take effect on Thursday. The West Virginia Republican-majority Legislature, meanwhile, passed a near-total abortion ban. Under the new measure, rape and incest victims could obtain abortions at up to eight weeks of pregnancy, but only if they report to law enforcement first. And in Texas, the state delayed publication of its study on pregnancy-related deaths until after the midterms and the state’s upcoming legislative session. The delay means lawmakers likely won’t be able to use the data until 2025. The most recent state-level data available is nine years old. (Miami Herald / NPR / CNBC / NBC News /
Houston Chronicle)
5/ The special counsel appointed by the Trump administration to examine the origins of the Russia investigation appears to be winding down after three years. The federal grand jury John Durham used to hear evidence for his investigation has expired, and there are no plans to revive it. Durham and his team are working to complete a final report by the end of the year, which will be up to Attorney General Merrick Garland to decide whether to make its findings public. In 2019, then-Attorney General William Barr tapped Durham to review the FBI’s Russia probe and Barr later upgraded Durham to “special counsel” status shortly before the 2020 election, ensuring that Durham’s work would continue after Trump left office. (New York Times / CNN)
6/ House lawmakers proposed bipartisan legislation to reform the Electoral Count Act of 1887 – the first major legislative response to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. The bill, called the Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act, is similar to the bipartisan effort in the Senate to clarify the limited role of the vice president in certifying election result, raising the threshold for members of Congress to object to states’ presidential electors, and promoting an orderly presidential transition. (NBC News / Axios)
1/ Lindsey Graham introduced a bill that would ban abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy nationwide. While Graham’s measure stands no chance of enactment, it comes less than two months before the midterm elections when some Republican candidates are walking back their support for a total ban. 56% of voters say abortion will be very important to their midterm votes. Additionally, Mitch McConnell all but rejected the measure, saying that questions about the bill should be directed to Graham and that most Republican senators “prefer this be handled at the state level.” John Cornyn added: “That wasn’t a conference decision. It was an individual senator’s decision.” The White House, meanwhile, criticized the bill as “wildly out of step with what Americans believe.” (Washington Post / Politico / Axios / NBC News / New York Times / NPR / CNN)
2/ Inflation rose 8.3% in August compared with a year earlier. While inflation is down from an 8.5% jump in July and a four-decade high of 9.1% in June, it’s at a slower pace than anticipated given decreases in gasoline prices and other forms of energy fell. Economists expected consumer prices to rise about 8% annually in August. In response, stock markets posted their worst one-day performance since June 2020. The Federal Reserve, meanwhile, is expected to raise interest rates another 0.75 percentage point next week to slow economy further. The Census Bureau reported that from 2019 to 2021, real median household income decreased 2.8%. (Wall Street Journal / CNBC / Washington Post / Politico / New York Times / Axios / NBC News / Bloomberg)
3/ At least 97 current members of Congress reported trades by themselves or family in stocks or other financial assets that intersected with the work of congressional committees on which they serve. Over a three-year span, more than 3,700 trades were reported by lawmakers from both parties that posed potential conflicts between their public responsibilities and private finances. More than half of them sat on committees that potentially gave them insight into the companies they reported buying or selling. (New York Times)
4/ A potential national railroad strike threatens to further disrupt supply chains and cause billions of dollars in economic damage, forcing the Biden administration to develop contingency plans to keep critical supply chains operational as labor talks continue. Railroads and unions have until Friday to resolve a labor dispute when a federally mandated 30-day “cooling off” period ends. The White House is also considering the use of emergency powers to ensure essential supplies like food, energy, health-related products to consumers, and chlorine for wastewater treatment plants, can be delivered in the event of a strike. At issue is a dispute over wage increases and better health coverage between railway carriers and two unions, which represent 57,000 conductors and engineers. The railroads account for about 28% of U.S. freight. (Washington Post / CNN / New York Times / Bloomberg / Politico)
5/ More than 15,000 nurses in Minnesota went on strike after months of contract negotiations failed to produce a new deal that addresses understaffing and overwork. The strike against 16 hospital systems is the largest strike of private-sector nurses in U.S. history. (Bloomberg / CNN / Washington Post)
6/ The National Archives is not certain whether all of Trump’s presidential records are in its possession even after the FBI search of his Mar-a-Lago club, the House Oversight Committee said. In a letter to the acting archivist, Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney asked the Archives to “seek a personal certification from Donald Trump that he has surrendered all presidential records that he illegally removed from the White House after leaving office.” Maloney added: “I also ask that the agency conduct an urgent review of presidential records recovered from the Trump White House to assess whether presidential records remain unaccounted for and potentially in the possession of the former president,” she adds. On August 24, the Archives informed the committee that the agency didn’t know whether all of Trump’s White House records were accounted for. (CNN / Associated Press / Washington Post)
poll/ 47% of Americans could name all three branches of government while 25% couldn’t name a single branch. (The Hill)
1/ Trump asked a federal judge to deny the Justice Department’s request to limit the role of a special master in its review of classified documents seized from Mar-a-Lago as part of its criminal investigation. Last week, federal prosecutors – citing the risk of “irreparable harm” to national security – requested that District Judge Aileen Cannon stay the portion of her ruling blocking the government from reviewing about 100 documents with classification markings that were taken during the Aug. 8 FBI search of Mar-a-Lago. In a 21-page filing, Trump’s lawyers called the Justice Department’s investigation into Trump “unprecedented and misguided,” and referring to the seized documents as “purported ‘classified records,’” they claimed that the government “has not proven” that the materials marked classified are actually still classified. Instead, they argued, Trump might actually have the right to keep the materials in his possession. (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / CNN / NBC News / ABC News)
Trump told aides after his 2020 defeat that he would not depart the White House, insisting: “I’m just not going to leave.” To another aide Trump said: “We’re never leaving. How can you leave when you won an election?” (CNN / Vanity Fair)
2/ The Justice Department issued about 40 subpoenas seeking information about Trump and his associates related to the 2020 election and the Jan. 6 attack. According to one subpoena, the department requested information about any members of the executive and legislative branches who may have taken part in planning or executing the rally, or tried to “obstruct, influence, impede or delay” the certification of the presidential election. The department also seized the phones of two top Trump advisers, Boris Epshteyn and Mike Roman. At least 20 subpoenas sent out were seeking information about several lawyers involved in the fake elector scheme, including Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman. Last week, Stephen Miller, Trump’s White House political director, and more than a dozen other people received subpoenas from a federal grand jury seeking information related to the Save America PAC and the alleged “fake electors” plot. (New York Times / New York Times / CNN / CBS News / Politico)
The Jan. 6 committee will resume televised hearings later this month. The committee held eight hearings in June and July. (Wall Street Journal)
3/ Child poverty in the U.S. fell by 59% from 1993 to 2019 with the number of children protected by the social safety net tripling from 2 million in 1993 to 6.5 million in 2019. More than one in four children in the U.S. in 1993 lived in families below the federal government’s poverty threshold. Today, roughly one in 10 children live in families below the threshold. The decline of child poverty coincides with the expansion of safety net programs, namely the earned-income credit and the child tax credit. The earned-income credit alone reduced child poverty by 22%. (New York Times)
4/ Biden issued an executive order to encourage biomedical innovation in the U.S. as part of a “moonshot” effort aimed at “ending cancer as we know it.” The order will establish a biotechnology and biomanufacturing initiative to solidify supply chains and center drug manufacturing in the country. Biden also selected Dr. Renee Wegrzyn as the director of the new biomedical research agency, known as the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health. (The Hill / Associated Press / New York Times)
5/ A group of 22 Republican governors urged Biden to withdraw his student loan forgiveness plan, claiming it will “shift the burden of debt from the wealthy” to lower-income families. The Department of Education, however, estimates that nearly 90% of those benefiting from the student loan relief earn less than $75,000 a year, and that no individual making more than $125,000 or household making more than $250,000 will receive relief. According to the Census Bureau, the median income in the U.S. was $65,000 in 2020. (Axios)
poll/ 12% of Americans say the U.S. health care system is handled extremely or very well. 56% said health care in the U.S. is not handled well at all while 32% said it was handled somewhat well. (Associated Press)
poll/ 33% of Americans said they prefer strong, unelected leaders to weak elected ones. 38% agree that the government should act in the interests of the majority even if it conflicts with ethnic and religious minority groups’ civil rights. (Axios)
poll/ 49% of Americans approve of Biden’s job performance – his highest rating since April. Among young adults, 51% support Biden’s handling of the presidency following the Inflation Reduction Act and his decision to forgive up to $20,000 in college loans. In August, 40% approved of Biden’s job performance. (IBD/TIPP Poll)
1/ The Justice Department appealed a federal judge’s decision to grant a special master to review documents seized from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home. Earlier this week, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon ordered the appointment of an independent attorney “to review the seized property for personal items and documents and potentially privileged material subject to claims of attorney-client and/or executive privilege.” Prosecutors asked Cannon to exclude all documents with classification markings from any special master review and to put on hold her directive blocking the Justice Department from using the seized records for investigative purposes while they appeal her decision to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. In the filing, prosecutors wrote that allowing a special master to review the classified material would “cause the most immediate and serious harms to the government and the public.” (Washington Post / Axios / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / Politico / New York Times / Associated Press)
2/ A federal grand jury issued subpoenas seeking information about Trump’s Save America PAC, which was formed after his 2020 election loss. The Justice Department is investigating the activities leading up the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the election. Trump’s Save America PAC raised more than $135 million after the election by baselessly asserting claims of voter fraud they knew were false while consistently pushing supporters to donate. (ABC News / New York Times)
3/ Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reiterated that he is “strongly committed” to fighting inflation “until the job is done.” The central bank has raised interest rates four times this year from near zero in March to a range between 2.25% and 2.5% in July. Fed officials next meets Sept. 20-21, and Powell has kept the option open for a third consecutive 0.75-percentage-point rate rise. The average 30-year mortgage rate, meanwhile, climbed to 5.89% – the highest level since 2008. Last year at this time, the average mortgage rate was 2.88%. (CNBC / Bloomberg / New York Times / NBC News / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
4/ Congress must pass a funding bill before Sept. 30 to avoid a government shutdown. Bernie Sanders, however said he’d vote against the stopgap funding bill if Chuck Schumer follows through with a side deal he made with Joe Manchin to fast-track federal approvals of energy projects. Sanders said the permitting reform bill is “a huge giveaway to the fossil fuel industry” and that the legislation would make it easier for the fossil fuel industry to receive permits and complete “some of the dirtiest and most polluting oil and gas projects in America.” In order to secure Manchin’s support for the Inflation Reduction Act, Schumer promised to pass the permitting reform bill. (Bloomberg / The Hill)
5/ The White House warned that the environmental impact of producing cryptocurrencies could threaten the nation’s climate goals. A new report on the climate and energy implications of the crypto industry by the Office of Science and Technology Policy estimates that the industry is responsible for at least 25 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year – similar to the annual emissions of the entire U.S. railroad industry. The U.S. is responsible for 38% of the world’s Bitcoin mining, compared with 3.5% in 2020. While stopping short of prescribing specific regulations, the report urged federal agencies to work with states, communities, and industry to develop voluntary environmental performance standards. (Bloomberg / E&E News)
6/ Nearly 650,000 parcels of land in the U.S. are projected to be at least partially under water by 2050, according to a new report by the nonprofit Climate Central. As much as 4.4 million acres could fall below tidal boundaries that mark the line between private property and public land by 2050, which could double by 2100. Louisiana, in particular, is expected to see roughly 8.7% of its total land area – nearly 2.5 million acres – fall wholly below tidal boundary lines by 2050. (Washington Post / Phys.org)
7/ The Middle East and the eastern Mediterranean are warming nearly twice as fast as the global average. Temperatures in the region are projected to rise up to 5 degrees Celsius (9 degrees Fahrenheit) by the end of the century. Europe, meanwhile, recorded its hottest summer in history – its second historic summer in a row. (Associated Press / Washington Post)
poll/ 58% of Americans said Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement is threatening America’s democratic foundations. 60% of Republicans said they don’t think the MAGA movement represents the majority of the party. (Reuters)
poll/ 73% of Americans favor maximum age limits for elected officials. About a third of current U.S. senators are 70 years of age or older. (CBS News)
1/ Chuck Schumer promised a Senate vote on protecting same-sex marriage in the coming weeks whether or not there are 10 Republicans votes to pass it. Several GOP senators have already publicly expressed support, including Susan Collins, Rob Portman, and Thom Tillis, while Lisa Murkowski hasn’t committed either way. Ron Johnson, meanwhile, said he wouldn’t support the bill, despite saying earlier this year he saw “no reason to oppose” it. Johnson added that he believes the Supreme Court case giving same-sex couples the right to marry was “wrongly decided.” And, Ted Cruz said he’d vote against the bill to codify same-sex marriage protections into federal law. The House passed legislation to protect same-sex marriage in July, with support from 47 House Republicans. (Politico / Bloomberg)
2/ A Michigan judge permanently blocked enforcement of the state’s 91-year-old abortion ban. The 1931 law criminalizing most abortions in Michigan, which was dormant until the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, violated the tenets of the state Constitution, Court of Claims Judge Elizabeth Gleicher ruled. “A law denying safe, routine medical care not only denies women of their ability to control their bodies and their lives — it denies them of their dignity,” Gleicher wrote. “Michigan’s Constitution forbids this violation of due process.” She added: “Issuing a permanent injunction will cause no damage to the defendant attorney general or the intervenors. The harm to women, on the other hand, is a wholesale denial of their fundamental right to an abortion, necessitating permanent injunctive relief.” The Republican-controlled House and Senate could appeal the ruling. Meanwhile, the Michigan Supreme Court is considering a proposed amendment to the Nov. 8 ballot that would add abortion rights to the state constitution. (Detroit Free Press / Bloomberg / NPR)
3/ Steve Bannon is expected to surrender to New York prosecutors to face a new criminal indictment. Prosecutors alleged that Bannon and others defrauded donors to a private, $25 million fundraising effort, called “We Build the Wall,” to construct a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border. The case is expected to mirror aspects of the federal case in which Bannon was indicted but never tried because Trump pardoned him before that could happen. (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / NPR)
4/ The FBI found information about a foreign government’s nuclear-defense readiness at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence. Some of the seized documents were so closely held that many senior national security officials aren’t authorized to review them. Only the president and some Cabinet-level or a near-Cabinet-level official could authorize other government officials to review these special-access programs. The documents, however, were stored at Mar-a-Lago, with uncertain security, for more than 18 months after Trump left the White House. (Washington Post)
poll/ 67% of independents said they don’t want Trump to run for president in 2024, while 28% said they want him to give it another go. Overall, 61% said they don’t want Trump to run again. Meanwhile, 27% want Trump to run for president even if he is charged with a crime, including 61% of Republicans. (NPR)
1/ The FBI found 48 empty folders that contained classified information at Mar-a-Lago. Agents also found 42 empty folders of sensitive documents labeled with instructions to return to the staff secretary or a military aide. In all, the Justice Department’s search inventory list said the FBI seized 18 documents marked as top secret, 54 marked as secret, 31 marked as confidential, and 11,179 government documents without classification markings. The Justice Department did not say whether all the contents of the folders had been recovered. (New York Times / CNN / Associated Press)
2/ A federal judge granted Trump’s request for a special master to review the documents seized by the FBI from Mar-a-Lago, temporarily halting the Justice Department’s review of the documents in its criminal investigation. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon — a Trump appointee — authorized an independent third party to review the nearly 13,000 records taken during the Aug. 8 search for anything that may be protected by attorney-client privilege, or executive privilege as Trump is claiming. Cannon wrote that she had made her decisions “to ensure at least the appearance of fairness and integrity under the extraordinary circumstances.” While Cannon ordered the Justice Department to cease using the records for any “investigative purpose” until the review is complete, the special master appointment will not impede the ongoing national security assessments being conducted by the intelligence community. (NBC News / Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / NPR / CNN / ABC News)
3/ Trump’s attorney general said there is no “legitimate reason” for classified documents to have been at Mar-a-Lago. “No, I can’t think of a legitimate reason why they could be taken out of government, away from the government, if they are classified,” William Barr said on Fox News. “People say this [search] was unprecedented, but it’s also unprecedented for a president to take all this classified information and put them in a country club, okay?” Barr added that he was “skeptical” Trump’s claim that he declassified everything. Trump, meanwhile, posted a deluge of poppycock not worth repeating about Barr in response on his personal social network. (Washington Post / CNN)
4/ Surveillance video shows a Republican county official in Georgia escorting consultants working with Trump lawyer Sidney Powell into the county’s election offices on the same day the voting system was breached. The footage shows that Cathy Latham, a former GOP chairwoman of Coffee County who is under criminal investigation for posing as a fake elector in 2020, escorting a group of pro-Trump data forensics experts into the elections office shortly before noon on Jan. 7, 2021. Two of the men seen in the video with Latham, Scott Hall and Paul Maggio, have previously said that at the behest of Powell they gained access to and copied software and data from the Dominion Voting Systems machines used by Coffee County. Surveillance footage also shows that 11 days later Doug Logan and Jeffrey Lenberg visited the elections office, seeking evidence that Trump’s 2020 defeat was fraudulent. They’re under investigation for separate alleged breaches of voting machines in Michigan. Latham previously claimed in sworn testimony that she taught a full day of school that day and visited the elections office briefly after classes ended. (CNN / Washington Post)
5/ A judge removed a New Mexico county commissioner from office for his role in the Jan. 6 attack. Couy Griffin is the first public official in more than a century to be disqualified from office for violating the 14th Amendment. It also the first time a judge has formally ruled that the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol was an “insurrection.” Griffin was convicted earlier this year of trespassing when he breached barricades outside the Capitol. (New York Times / CNN)
poll/ 195 Republicans nominees running for office fully deny the legitimacy of the 2020 election, and an additional 61 candidates have raised questions around the results. There are 529 total Republicans running for office. (FiveThirtyEight)
poll/ 60% of voters said abortion should be legal in all or most cases - up from 55% in March. (Wall Street Journal)
poll/ 80% of Americans believe the U.S. is more divided now than it was during their parents’ generation. 64% of Americans said they think the potential for political violence will increase in the coming years. (CBS News)
1/ The wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas pressed lawmakers to overturn Biden’s 2020 victory in both Arizona and Wisconsin. It was previously reported that Virginia “Ginni” Thomas emailed 29 Arizona state lawmakers in November and December 2020, urging them to ignore Biden’s popular-vote victory and instead “choose” their own presidential electors. New emails, however, show that Thomas also urged at least two Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin, including the chair of the Senate elections committee, to overturn Biden’s win. The Jan. 6 committee asked Thomas to sit for a voluntary interview in June. At the time, Thomas said she “can’t wait” to talk to the committee, but later said she didn’t believe there was “sufficient basis” for her to sit for an interview. (Washington Post / Associated Press)
2/ A federal judge ordered Lindsey Graham to testify before a grand jury investigating efforts to overturn Trump’s election loss in Georgia. The judge, however, limited the scope of questions that Graham could be asked “about investigatory fact-finding” he conducted in phone calls made to state elections officials. It’s the second time that Judge Leigh Martin ruled that Graham must testify in the probe by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who intends to question Graham about two phone calls he made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in the aftermath of the 2020 election. (Washington Post / Politico / Bloomberg / Associated Press)
3/ Trump and the Mazars USA accounting firm agreed to turn over some “key financial documents” to the House Oversight and Reform Committee as part of its investigation into his potential conflicts of interest and foreign financial ties. The deal ends Trump’s yearslong effort to prevent Congress from obtaining his private financial records from Mazars USA.
In April 2019, the committee subpoenaed Mazars USA for financial information from Trump dating back 10 years. (Associated Press / Axios / CNBC)
4/ 2021 was one of the hottest years on record as the world saw record-high greenhouse gas concentrations, ocean heat, and sea level rise, according to the annual State of the Climate report. Depending on the dataset referenced, 2021 was either the fifth- or sixth-warmest on record, making the last seven years, from 2015-2021, the seven warmest years on record. The global average sea level rose to a record-high for the 10th consecutive year, and global ocean heat content saw record levels in 2021. (CBS News / ABC News / Axios)
5/ Republicans are exploring potential lawsuits to block Biden’s plan to cancel some student debt for tens of millions of Americans. Although no lawsuit has been filed yet, Republican attorneys general in Arizona, Missouri, and Texas, as well as Ted Cruz and allies of the Heritage Foundation, have discussed a strategy that could see multiple cases filed in different courts around the country. Republicans have called debt forgiveness illegal, fiscally irresponsible, and unfair to Americans who never attended college or already paid off their education loans. (Washington Post)
6/ Math and reading scores for elementary school students fell to their lowest levels in two decades during the pandemic. Math scores dropped seven points during the pandemic – a first-ever decline – while reading scores fell five points – the largest drop in 30 years of National Assessment of Educational Progress testing. (Washington Post / Politico / New York Times / Axios)
7/ The average 30-year mortgage rate rose to 5.66% – the highest level since June. The 30-year fixed-rate was 2.87% a year ago. The 15-year fixed-rate average jumped to 4.98% from 2.18% a year ago. In August, new listings dropped 15% from the same period a year ago – the biggest annual decline since the start of the pandemic. Goldman Sachs, meanwhile, estimates that the U.S. housing market will end 2022 with an overall 22% decline in new home sales and a 17% decline in existing home sales. Declines are expected to extend into 2023, with new home sales and existing home sales dropping 8% and 14%, respectively. (Washington Post / Bloomberg / Fortune)
poll/ 60% of Texas voters said they support abortion being “available in all or most cases,” while 29% said abortion should not be available in most cases, and 11% said abortion shouldn’t be available at all. One year ago, Texas implemented what was then the most restrictive abortion law in the country. (NPR)
poll/ 52% of voters agree that the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago “was part of a legal and proper investigation to determine” whether Trump was involved in any wrongdoing, while 41% view it as “just another example of the endless witch hunt and harassment the Democrats and Biden administration continue to pursue against former President Trump.” (Wall Street Journal)
1/ The Justice Department obtained the search warrant for Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate after receiving evidence that highly classified government documents were “likely concealed and removed” from a storage room as part of an effort to “obstruct” the FBI’s investigation. In a 36-page court filing, federal prosecutors said Trump’s representatives falsely claimed that a “diligent search” had been conducted and all sensitive material had been returned. “The government also developed evidence that government records were likely concealed and removed from the Storage Room and that efforts were likely taken to obstruct the government’s investigation,” Justice Department counterintelligence chief Jay Bratt wrote. More than 100 additional classified items were found during the Aug. 8 search, including three classified documents in desks inside Trump’s office and material so sensitive that “even the FBI counterintelligence personnel and DOJ attorneys conducting the review required additional clearances before they were permitted to review certain documents.” In total, more than 320 classified documents have now been recovered from Mar-a-Lago. Trump’s team has a deadline of 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday to respond to the government’s filing. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / NPR / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
Days before Mar-a-Lago subpoena, Trump lawyer claimed she scoured Trump’s office, closets and drawers. “A filing by Alina Habba in the case over Trump’s business empire could create exposure in the matter of classified information being stored at the ex-president’s home.” (Politico)
The Justice Department will likely to wait until after the November election to announce any charges against Trump, if any, according people familiar with the matter. “The unprecedented prospect of bringing charges against a former US president is creating intense scrutiny of the Justice Department in the aftermath of its search of his home at Mar-a-Lago. A separate DOJ probe is focused on his effort to overturn the 2020 election, which he lost to President Joe Biden.” (Bloomberg)
2/ The FDA authorized updated versions of Pfizer’s and Moderna’s Covid-19 boosters that target the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron subvariants. The CDC’s vaccine advisory group is set to meet Thursday to vote on whether to recommend the boosters, which means the Biden administration could begin offering boosters just after Labor Day. (NBC News / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times)
3/ About 3.8 million renters say they’re likely to be evicted in the next two months, according to the Census Bureau. In total, 8.5 million people are behind on their rent, and nearly half of all renters — more than 30 million people — have seen rent hikes in the past 12 months. The median rent in the U.S. topped $2,000 a month – up nearly 25% since before the pandemic. (MoneyWise)
4/ Life expectancy in the U.S. fell in 2021 for the second year in a row – the biggest two-year decline in almost 100 years. In 2019, someone born in the U.S. had an average life expectancy of 79 years, which dropped to 77 years in 2020, and to 76.1 years in 2021. Americans can now expect to live as long as they did in 1996, which Dr. Steven Woolf, a professor of population health and health equity at Virginia Commonwealth University, called “very disturbing” and a “historic” setback. (NPR / New York Times / Washington Post)
poll/ 14% of Americans view Covid-19 as a “severe” health risk in their community – down from 33% in January – and 28% of adults said they are “very” concerned about a coronavirus outbreak – down from 46% in January. 34% of “very liberal” Americans, meanwhile, say Covid-19 presents a “great risk” to their personal health and well-being – down from 47% in March. (Morning Consult / New York Times)
poll/ 76% young female voters in key battleground states oppose the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down the constitutional right to abortion, while 18% support it. Among young Republican women, 57% oppose the Dobbs decision, while 36% support it. 47% of voters aged 18-35 said they were very motivated to vote in November following the Dobbs decision – up from 38% in March. (Politico)
1/ Weather models are warning of a “very dangerous” and “prolonged heat wave” over western states this week and into the Labor Day weekend. More than 55 million people are currently under heat alerts in the west, including 20 of the most populated cities. More than 100 records could be broken. “We will very likely be in the midst of a full-fledged and potentially dangerous heat wave by midweek,” the National Weather Service in Los Angeles said. “Record breaking or not, this prolonged heat wave is going to be very dangerous.” (Washington Post / CNN)
2/ The Education Department will discharge another $1.5 billion in student debt for students who enrolled in Westwood College. The Education Department found that 79,000 borrowers who attended Westwood College, a private, for-profit institution that closed in 2016, were “routinely misled” about their job prospects and expected earnings after graduation. The forgiveness will happen automatically, regardless of whether former students have applied for a borrower defense discharge, the Education Department said. (The Hill / CNBC / CBS News)
3/ The Labor Department reported that there were 11.2 million job openings in July – up from the previous month’s 11 million and in excess of the 10.3 million estimated. Job openings outnumber available workers by about a 2-to-1 margin and have remained above 10 million since the summer of 2021. (CNBC / Wall Street Journal)
4/ Lindsey Graham warned that there would be “riots in the street” if Trump is prosecuted for taking highly classified government documents to Mar-a-Lago after leaving the White House. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre criticized the “dangerous” comments about violence from “extreme Republicans.” (Washington Post / New York Times)
5/ Trump demanded that the 2020 presidential election be declared “irreparably compromised” and that a new one be held “immediately!” after news that Facebook temporarily limited a controversial story about Hunter Biden’s laptop in users’ news feeds before the 2020 election. Trump was responding to comments from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerburg made on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast that the FBI had warned Facebook to be on the lookout for potential Russian misinformation on the platform. Nevertheless, the twice-impeached ex-president posted to his social media app, which is currentlybanned from the Google Play Store because of insufficient content moderation, that he should be declared the winner of the election that was decided two years ago, saying “this would be the minimal solution, declare the 2020 Election irreparably compromised and have a new Election, immediately!” Trump, meanwhile, spent Tuesday morning posting more than 60 inflammatory messages on social media, including many from QAnon accounts and 4chan. (Rolling Stone / Daily Beast / NBC News / Business Insider)
poll/ 43% of Americans believe a civil war is somewhat likely in the next 10 years. 54% of Americans who identify as “strong Republicans” say a civil war is likely in the next decade. (YouGov)
poll/ 71% of Americans approve of labor unions – the highest since 1965. 16% of Americans live in a household where at least one resident is a union member. (Gallup)
1/ The Justice Department identified “a limited set” of documents seized from Mar-a-Lago that are potentially covered by attorney-client privilege. The disclosure that a Justice Department “filter team” had completed its review of documents taken from Mar-a-Lago came as Trump’s lawyers pressed a federal judge two weeks after the Aug. 8 search to appoint a special master to review the documents. The filter team is separate from the team involved in the criminal investigation and “is in the process of following the procedures” spelled out in the search warrant to handle any privilege disputes. (New York Times / Washington Post / ABC News / Bloomberg / CNN / NPR / Associated Press)
2/ A heavily redacted copy of the FBI affidavit used to justify the search of Mar-a-Lago revealed that 14 of the 15 boxes Trump returned in January contained 184 documents with classification markings, including 25 marked “top secret,” 92 marked “secret,” and 67 marked “confidential.” Several of the documents contained Trump’s “handwritten notes,” some were related to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and not meant to be shared with foreign nations, and others refer to the systems used to protect intelligence gathered from secret human sources. The National Archives referred the matter to the Justice Department on Feb. 9 after finding what they described as “a lot of classified records.” The Justice Department wrote in its request for the search that there is “probable cause to believe that evidence of obstruction will be found” at Trump’s house. (Washington Post / Politico / NBC News / Associated Press / Axios / New York Times)
3/ The U.S. intelligence community will conduct a damage assessment of the possible risks to national security stemming from Trump’s handling of the top-secret documents stored at Mar-a-Lago. In the letter to the House Intelligence and Oversight Committees, Avril Haines, the director of national intelligence, informed the lawmakers that her office would lead an “assessment of the potential risk to national security that would result from the disclosure of the relevant documents.” Haines added that the DNI and Justice Department are “working together to facilitate a classification review of relevant materials, including those recovered during the search.” (Politico / New York Times / NBC News / CNN)
4/ A judge ruled that Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp must testify in the grand jury investigating Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election. Judge Robert McBurney, however, agreed to delay that testimony until after the Nov. 8 election. Kemp is running for reelection against Democrat Stacey Abrams. (NBC News / Politico / Axios / New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press)
5/ The Biden administration will end its free at-home Covid-19 test program this week due to a lack of funding. Officials said they want to preserve supply ahead of an anticipated fall surge in cases. (NPR / NBC News / CNN)
poll/ 55% of voters approve of the Inflation Reduction Act, while 45% disapprove. 54% approve of student loan debt relief, while 46% disapprove. (CBS News)
poll/ Democrats have a 67% chance to win the Senate – up from 40% on June 1. Republicans, meanwhile, have an 77% chance to win the House in the midterm elections – down from 86% on June 1. (FiveThirtyEight)
Democrats see a narrow path to keeping the House. “While Democrats acknowledge they still face major hurdles, there has been an unmistakable mood shift, according to interviews with candidates, strategists and officials.” (Washington Post)
poll/ 44% of Americans approve of the job Biden is doing – up six percentage points since July. (Gallup)
1/ A federal magistrate judge ordered the Justice Department to release a redacted version of the affidavit used to justified the FBI’s search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home. Judge Bruce Reinhart accepted the Justice Department’s redactions to keep secret the identities of witnesses, law enforcement agents, people who haven’t been charged, grand jury information, as well as details about “the investigation’s strategy, direction, scope, sources, and methods.” Reinhart ordered the government to release the redacted version by noon Friday. (Washington Post / Bloomberg / New York Times / Politico / Wall Street Journal)
2/ Trump’s lawyers had concerns about the two dozen boxes of presidential records that Trump took to Mar-a-Lago and agreed that the documents should be returned, according National Archive officials. In a May 2021 email to Trump’s lawyers, the National Archives chief counsel wrote: “It is also our understanding that roughly two dozen boxes of original presidential records were kept in the Residence of the White House over the course of President Trump’s last year in office and have not been transferred to NARA, despite a determination by Pat Cipollone in the final days of the administration that they need to be.” Trump eventually returned 15 boxes of documents to the Archives in early 2022 after Gary Stern, the Archives chief counsel, told Trump officials that he would have to notify Congress. After realizing there were hundreds of pages of classified material in the returned boxes, National Archives officials referred the matter to the Justice Department. (Washington Post)
The FBI search of Mar-a-Lago took place after Trump tried to delay the FBI from reviewing the classified material he took when he left office for months. “Trump ignored multiple opportunities to quietly resolve the FBI concerns by handing over all classified material in his possession — including a grand jury subpoena that Trump’s team accepted May 11.” (Washington Post)
Trump ordered his lawyers to get “my documents” back from federal law enforcement. Trump “has been demanding that his team find a way to recover ‘all’ of the official documents that Trump has long referred to as ‘mine’ — including the highly sensitive and top secret ones.” (Rolling Stone)
Trump claimed he needs his White House records back so he can add them to his presidential library. While the National Archives set up a website after he left office for his presidential library, the plans for the library are unclear. (Business Insider)
Trump is serving as his own communications director and strategic adviser, seeking tactical political and in-the-moment public relations victories, sometimes at the risk of stumbling into substantive legal missteps. “Facing serious legal peril in the documents investigation, the former president has turned to his old playbook of painting himself as persecuted amid legal and political stumbles.” (New York Times)
3/ The Justice Department released the unredacted memo justifying former Attorney General William Barr’s decision not to prosecute Trump for obstructing Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. The nine-page memo advised Barr that Mueller’s report “identifies no actions that, in our judgment, constituted obstructive acts, done with a nexus to a pending proceeding, with the corrupt intent necessary to warrant prosecution under obstruction-of-justice statutes.” The Mueller report, however, laid out 10 possible instances of obstruction of justice, including Trump directing his White House counsel to fire Mueller, pressuring then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions to narrow Mueller’s investigation, and the firing of the FBI Director James Comey. The D.C. Circuit ordered the release of the full memo, affirming two federal courts decisions that found Barr didn’t rely on the memo and had already made up his mind to not charge Trump before he commissioned the memo. A heavily redacted version of the memo was previously released in 2021. (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / ABC News / CNN)
4/ The Trump administration pressured the FDA to accelerate the authorization of vaccines and unproven treatments for Covid-19 before Election Day, according to a report released by the House subcommittee on the coronavirus crisis. Senior Trump administration officials also pressed the health agency to reauthorize the use of hydroxychloroquine after the FDA revoked emergency clearance of the drug because data showed it was ineffective against Covid-19 and could cause potentially dangerous heart complications. The report concluded the “crusade” against the FDA “resulted in damaging consequences for the coronavirus response.” (Politico / CNN / Washington Post / Associated Press)
5/ Former interior secretary Ryan Zinke lied to investigators several times about whether he wrongly blocked two native tribes from opening a casino in Connecticut in 2017. Investigators found that Zinke and his chief of staff made statements to inspector general’s office “with the overall intent to mislead them.” Zinke is favored to win a House seat in Montana this fall. (Politico / Washington Post)
6/ A federal judge in Idaho blocked part of the state’s abortion ban that criminalizes performing an abortion on a woman to protect her health. Earlier this month the Justice Department sued Idaho, arguing that the law would prevent emergency room doctors from performing abortions necessary to protect the health of a pregnant patient. The preliminary injunction left intact most of the bill’s other provisions, which constitute a near-total ban on the procedure. (New York Times / Washington Post)
7/ Texans who perform abortions now face up to life in prison after the state’s trigger law went into effect. The law criminalizes performing an abortion from the moment of fertilization unless the patient is facing “a life-threatening physical condition aggravated by, caused by, or arising from a pregnancy.” The statute also directs that the attorney general to seek a civil penalty of not less than $100,000, plus attorney’s fees. (Texas Tribune)
1/ Biden canceled up to $20,000 in student debt for Pell Grant recipients, and up to $10,000 for individual borrowers who make under $125,000 per year. Biden will also extended the federal student loan payment pause for what he called the “final time” through Dec. 31. About 43 million borrowers will benefit, and 20 million will have their debt completely canceled. The White House estimates that nearly 90% of relief will go to people earning less than $75,000. Student loan debt in the U.S. totals nearly $1.75 trillion. (Associated Press / NPR / Axios / CNBC / NBC News / USA Today / New York Times / Washington Post)
2/ Voters in rural western Michigan defunded their town’s only public library over books with LGBTQ content, accusing the librarians “grooming” children and promoting an “LGBTQ ideology.” The Patmos Library was stripped of 85% of its funding for next year and is in danger of closing. Meanwhile, in Idaho, a group of conservative Christians want to ban more than 400 books with LGBTQ characters, scenes describing sexual activity, or invoking the occult from a public library in Bonners Ferry. None of the books, however, are in the library’s collection. (Washington Post / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
3/ Roughly 20 million U.S. homes are behind on their utility bills – about 1 in 6 American homes. The National Energy Assistance Directors Association said it’s the worst-ever crisis the group has documented as the average price consumers pay for electricity surged 15% in July from a year earlier – the biggest 12-month increase since 2006. Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, electric utilities have shut off power to more than 3.6 million households, according to the Center for Biological Diversity. “I expect a tsunami of shutoffs.” (Bloomberg / Center for Biological Diversity)
4/ As many as 1 in 6 trees native to the contiguous U.S. are in danger of going extinct due to climate change. A new study assessing the health of all 881 tree species native to the Lower 48 found that extreme weather and prolonged droughts make trees vulnerable to invasive insects and pathogens – the predominant drivers of extinction risk. Biden’s plan to halve emissions in the U.S. by the end of the decade depends on forests to offset about 12% of its pollution. Meanwhile, a 2019 report from the United Nations estimated that 1 million species are in danger of dying out. (Washington Post)
5/ The U.S. has experienced five separate 1-in-1,000 year rain events in the past five weeks. A 1,000-year rain event has an 0.1% chance of happening in any given year. Since late July, St. Louis experienced its wettest day on record, Kentucky received more than 14 inches of rain over five days, eastern Illinois saw more than 8 inches of rain over a 12-hour period, Death Valley – the driest place in North America – came 0.01 inches shy of its all-time daily record, and Dallas recorded both its wettest day and wettest hour on record. (Washington Post)
6/ California plans to ban the sale of new gasoline-powered cars by 2035. The rule will require that all new cars sold in the state by 2035 to have zero emissions – up from 12% today. The ban will also require that 35% of all new passenger cars sold by 2026 have no emissions, which would climb to 68% by 2030. About 16% of new cars sold in California this year have zero emissions. The national average is 6%. The California Air Resources Board will vote on the measure Thursday. (New York Times / Politico / CNN)
poll/ 71% of Americans say they want to see gun laws made stricter, including about half of Republicans. 59% favor a ban on the sale of AR-15 rifles and other semiautomatic weapons and 88% say preventing mass shootings is extremely or very important. 60%, however, also say it’s very important to ensure that people can own guns for personal protection. (Associated Press)
1/ The National Archives said it found more than 700 pages of classified material – including some labeled “Special Access Program” – in the 15 boxes recovered from Trump in January. The National Archives informed Trump’s lawyers about the discovery in a May 10 letter, and said it would provide the FBI with access to the documents in order to investigate “whether those records were handled in an unlawful manner” and “conduct an assessment of the potential damage resulting from the apparent manner in which these materials were stored and transported and take any necessary remedial steps.” National Archives officials spent most of 2021 trying to get the material back from Trump. His lawyers tried to argue that some of the documents were protected by executive privilege despite Biden deferring all decisions regarding executive privilege assertions to top DOJ lawyers. Two officials tasked with representing Trump to the National Archives received calls trying to facilitate the documents’ return. Trump, however, rejected their efforts, calling the boxes of classified documents “mine.” The Justice Department, meanwhile, said it has recovered more than 300 documents with classified markings from Mar-a-Lago, with each document potentially comprising multiple pages. The first set in January, a second batch was delivered in June, and the FBI seized additional material during its August search. (Politico / New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post / ABC News / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNN)
2/ The Justice Department issued a new grand jury subpoena to the National Archives for more documents as part of its investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Earlier this year, the Justice Department requested the same documents and information that had previously been shared with the Jan. 6 committee. (CNN)
3/ Elections systems data obtained by Trump’s campaign and Sidney Powell was copied and shared with election deniers, conspiracy theorists, and right-wing commentators. SullivanStrickler was hired in Nov. 2020 to access county election systems in at least three battleground states and copy software and other data. The files were put on a server and downloaded dozens of times by “accounts associated with a Texas meteorologist who has appeared on Sean Hannity’s radio show; a podcaster who suggested political enemies should be executed; a former pro surfer who pushed disproven theories that the 2020 election was manipulated; and a self-described former ‘seduction and pickup coach’ who claims to also have been a hacker.” (Washington Post)
4/ A jury convicted two men of conspiring to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020 over her Covid-19 policies. Prosecutors described the plot as a rallying cry for a civil war by anti-government extremists. Barry Croft and Adam Fox face up to life in prison. (New York Times / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
5/ Biden is expected to announce Wednesday that he will cancel $10,000 of federal student loans per borrower making $125,000 a year or less, as well as extend the pause on student loan repayment for at least four additional months through December 2022. Roughly 45 million Americans have student debt and owe more than $1.7 trillion collectively. Borrowers are expected to resume loan payments Sept. 1. (Bloomberg / Washington Post / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
6/ Voters in New York and Florida head to the polls tonight. Democrats in Florida will pick their nominee to face Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis this fall. Manhattan Democrats will decide between House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerry Nadler and House Oversight Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney. After their districts were merged, only one can advance. Pat Ryan, a Democrat who serves as the executive of Ulster County, has put abortion rights at the center of his campaign in the special election in New York’s 19th District. Republican Marc Molinaro, the Republican executive of Dutchess County who ran for governor in 2018, has focused more on themes of public safety and inflation. (NBC News / Politico / New York Times)
1/ Dr. Anthony Fauci will leave the federal government in December to “pursue the next chapter” of his career. The nation’s top infectious disease expert has advised seven presidents in more than five decades of public service. (Associated Press / New York Times / Washington Post)
2/ Texas, Tennessee, and Idaho will enact abortion trigger laws this week. Starting Aug. 25, nearly all abortions in Tennessee will be outlawed, except in cases related to preventing the death or serious injury of a pregnant woman. The law makes no exceptions for rape or incest. Similar to Tennessee, Idaho will impose a near-total abortion ban, but with the exception of rape, incest or medical emergency. And in Texas, doctors can now be sued by almost anyone for performing an abortion, facing life in prison and fines of more than $100,000. (NPR)
3/ Louisiana state officials denied funding a New Orleans flood control project because of the city’s opposition to the state’s near-total abortion ban. It’s the second time that the Louisiana State Bond Commission voted to delay approval of the $39 million infrastructure project that would power the drainage pumps that protect the city’s 384,000 residents from flooding. The New Orleans City Council passed a resolution this summer asking police, sheriff’s deputies, and prosecutors not to enforce the ban, which doesn’t include exemptions for rape or incest. (Politico / CNN)
4/ A federal appeals court temporarily paused an order requiring Lindsey Graham to testify before a Georgia grand jury investigating efforts to reverse the 2020 election. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit asked a lower court to consider whether it would be appropriate for a sitting U.S. senator to testify before the grand jury. Graham formally appealed a judge’s order last week that he testify, saying doing so would cause “irreparable harm” that would be “in contravention of his constitutional immunity.” (Washington Post / NPR)
5/ The federal magistrate judge who authorized the warrant to search Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate suggested that the redacted version of the affidavit could make for “a meaningless disclosure.” U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart said that the FBI’s affidavit justifying the warrant was “reliable,” citing the “intense public and historical interest in an unprecedented search of a former President’s residence” justifies making an effort to unseal portions of it. Reinhart, however, said he agrees with the Justice Department that the “redactions will be so extensive that they will result in a meaningless disclosure.” Reinhart ordered Justice Department officials to submit proposed redactions by Thursday at noon Eastern time. Trump, meanwhile, filed a lawsuit asking a federal judge to appoint a third-party attorney, known as a special master, to review the documents seized from Mar-a-Lago. (Politico/ Washington Post / NBC News / New York Times / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
Trump’s haphazard handling of government documents — a chronic problem — contributed to the chaos he created after he refused to accept his loss in November 2020. “His unwillingness to let go of power, including refusing to return government documents collected while he was in office, has led to a potentially damaging, and entirely avoidable, legal battle that threatens to engulf the former president and some of his aides.” (New York Times)
6/ The congressional intelligence oversight committees asked the Biden administration for the documents seized from the search of Mar-a-Lago. The inquiry from the so-called Gang of Eight follows a similar request from Senate Intelligence Committee for an assessment of possible national security risks related to Trump’s handling of the sensitive documents. The Gang of Eight includes the top two congressional leaders in each chamber, as well as the top Democrat and Republican on the House and Senate intelligence committees. White House officials, meanwhile, have privately expressed concern over the classified material that Trump took to Florida. (Politico / CNN)
7/ A federal appeals court ordered the release of then-Attorney General William Barr’s secret 2019 Justice Department memo discussing whether Trump obstructed Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals said the Justice Department failed to show that the memo from the department’s Office of Legal Counsel was part of a deliberative process advising Barr about the issue, finding that Barr never seriously considered charging Trump with obstructing the Mueller investigation. Barr told Congress in March 2019 that after “consulting” with top DOJ officials he concluded that there wasn’t enough evidence to charge Trump with obstruction. After Mueller’s full report was released, however, his office said there was “substantial evidence” of obstruction. Mueller also wrote a letter to Barr saying the attorney general had mischaracterized his team’s work. (Politico / CNN / Washington Post / NPR)
poll/ 57% of voters said the various investigations into alleged wrongdoing by Trump should continue, while 40% say they should stop. 58%, meanwhile, said America’s best years are behind it and 61% said they’re willing to carry a protest sign for a day because they’re so upset. (NBC News)
poll/ 59% of Americans said they are concerned that student loan forgiveness will make inflation worse. Among Republicans, 81% say student loan forgiveness will make inflation worse, while 41% Democrats say the same. About 44 million borrowers owe a collective $1.7 trillion in federal student loan debt. (CNBC)
poll/ 5.6% of Americans described their current life situation as “suffering” in July – the highest level on record and translates to an estimated 14 million American adults. (Gallup)
1/ A federal judge ordered the Justice Department to redact the probable cause affidavit used to justify the FBI search of Trump’s Florida estate. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart said it’s “very important” that the public have as “much information” about the search of Mar-a-Lago and that he was “inclined” to unseal some of the affidavit. The Justice Department argued that unsealing the document could jeopardize the investigation and put witnesses at risk because the investigation into Trump’s handling of classified records is still “in its early stages” and “would provide a roadmap and suggest next investigative steps we are about to take.” A coalition of news organizations argued that the affidavit should be made public given the “historically significant, unprecedented execution of a search warrant in the residence of a former president.” Reinhart said he would give the Justice Department seven days to redact the document in a way that would not undermine its ongoing investigation before making a determination about whether to unseal the affidavit. (New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post / Politico / Wall Street Journal / CNN)
2/ The Justice Department subpoenaed the National Archives in May for all the documents that were given to the Jan. 6 committee. The subpoena asked for “all materials, in whatever form,” including the more than 770 pages of documents that Trump unsuccessfully tried to claim executive privilege over. The subpoena is not related to the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago. (New York Times)
3/ The Trump Organization’s former chief financial officer pleaded guilty to 15 tax fraud charges. Allen Weisselberg’s plea bargain requires him to testify truthfully as a prosecution witness when the Trump Organization goes on trial in October on related charges, as well as admit his role in conspiring with the company to carry out the scheme to evade taxes. Trump himself is not charged in the case and Weisselberg’s plea deal doesn’t require him to cooperate in the district attorney’s broader criminal investigation against Trump. (NBC News / New York Times / Politico / Associated Press / Washington Post)
4/ New coronavirus cases reported globally dropped 24% in the last week, according to the WHO. While global Covid-19 deaths fell 6% last week, they rose in the Western Pacific and Southeast Asia by 31% and 12% respectively. The Biden administration, meanwhile, is planning to end the underwriting for Covid-19 shots and treatments, shifting more control of pricing and coverage to the healthcare industry. (Associated Press / Wall Street Journal)
5/ People who’ve had Covid-19 face an increased risk of psychotic disorders like “brain fog,” psychosis, seizures, and dementia for at least two years, according to a large-scale University of Oxford study. The findings, based on the records of more than 1.25 million patients, show increased rates of neurological and psychological problems higher than after other types of respiratory infections. Last year, researchers reported that 1 in 3 patients experienced mood disorders, strokes, or dementia six months after Covid-19 infection. (Politico / Axios / STAT News / Bloomberg)
6/ The Biden administration will make an additional 1.8 million doses of the monkeypox vaccine available, allowing states and localities to start ordering more vaccine doses sooner than originally planned. The Department of Health and Human Services is also preparing an additional 50,000 doses of the antiviral treatment to help those who have already tested positive for monkeypox. More than 13,500 cases of monkeypox have been confirmed in the U.S. (CNN / Axios / USA Today)
7/ A Florida appeals court upheld a ruling that denied a 16-year-old an abortion because she was not “sufficiently mature” enough. Jane Doe 22-B is parentless and a ward of the state until she turns 18. Under Florida law, an abortion cannot be performed on a minor without the consent of a parent or guardian. (NBC News / Washington Post)
poll/ 54% of Americans – including 76% of Republicans – think there’s an “invasion” at the southern border. 56% of Americans believe immigrants are an important part of our American identity – down from 75% in January 2018. Border Patrol has apprehended migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border more than 1.8 million times since October – a record. (NPR / Ipsos)
1/ The director of the CDC announced a restructuring of the agency to “transform” it to better respond to public health emergencies. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said the agency had failed to effectively respond to the coronavirus pandemic, saying “in our big moment, our performance did not reliably meet expectations.” Walensky’s plan calls for less emphasis on the publication of scientific papers about rare diseases and more focus on efforts that prioritize public health needs by more rapidly turning research into health recommendations. The restructuring follows two reviews conducted in recent months into the CDC’s pandemic response and operations. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / Politico / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
Monkeypox cases jumped 20% in the last week to 35,000 across 92 countries. Nearly all reported cases are in Europe and the Americas. (CNBC)
Inside America’s monkeypox crisis. “100 days after the outbreak was first detected in Europe, no country has more cases than the United States — with public health experts warning the virus is on the verge of becoming permanently entrenched here.” (Washington Post)
2/ Federal Reserve officials indicated that they likely need to continue raising interest rates until inflation comes down substantially. Last month, officials voted to raise their benchmark rate by 0.75 percentage point in July, following June’s increase of the same size – the largest rate increases since 1994. Overall retail sales, meanwhile, were unchanged in July, slowed by the falling price of gasoline. Excluding the sale of gas and cars, retail sales rose 0.7% last month. (Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNBC / New York Times / Reuters)
3/ Pence said he would “consider” to testifying before the Jan. 6 committee “if there was an invitation.” “I would have to reflect on the unique role that I was serving as vice president,” Pence continued. “It would be unprecedented in history for the vice president to be summoned to testify on Capitol Hill. But, as I said, I don’t want to prejudge ever any formal invitation rendered to us.” During the same event, Pence also called on Republicans to stop attacking the FBI over the search of Mar-a-Lago. (Politico / New York Times / Bloomberg / USA Today / ABC News)
4/ Liz Cheney lost her Republican primary for Wyoming’s House seat by more than 35 points to a candidate endorsed by Trump. “This primary election is over, but now the real work begins,” Cheney said in her concession speech, noting that she had called opponent Harriet Hageman to congratulate her. Cheney, however, said she plans to be part of a bipartisan coalition that will do “whatever it takes” to keep Trump from holding office again, saying “I believe that Donald Trump continues to pose a very grave threat and risk to our republic.” Cheney also acknowledged that she was “thinking” about running for president in 2024. Cheney is now the eighth of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump to leave the House. Four others have opted against reelection, and four more lost GOP primaries. (NBC News / New York Times / NPR / Washington Post)
Six takeaways from the primaries in Wyoming and Alaska. (CNN)
Sarah Palin advanced to the general election for Alaska’s House seat. In the Senate all-party primary, Lisa Murkowski and Kelly Tshibaka will advance to the general election alongside Democrat Patricia Chesbro. (NBC News / New York Times)
5/ The Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general refused congressional requests for documents and staff testimony about the deleted Secret Service text messages that agents exchanged during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Joseph Cuffari told Congress last month that Secret Service text messages from Jan. 5 and 6, 2021, had been erased. Cuffari’s office, however, had delayed telling Congress about the missing messages for months. The House committees on Homeland Security and Oversight and Reform accused Cuffari of intentionally delaying their investigation into the Capitol attack, saying his “justifications for this noncompliance appear to reflect a fundamental misunderstanding of Congress’s authority and your duties as an inspector general.” The lawmakers also called on Cuffari to recuse himself from the investigation, a demand he refused along with blocking the release some records and interviews with staff members. (Washington Post / New York Times)
1/ The Lower Colorado River Basin crossed an unprecedented water shortage threshold that will require mandatory water cuts. The Bureau of Reclamation declared a “Tier 2” water shortage, which will reduce the amount of water that Arizona, Nevada, and Mexico can draw from the Colorado River starting in 2023 by 21%, 8%, and 7%, respectively. It’s the second year in a row that Arizona, Nevada, and Mexico will face water cuts and the bureau called for water conservation measures through 2026 in all seven states in the Colorado River Basin. The historic drought has drained about three-quarters of the water from lakes Powell and Mead, threatening their ability to generate hydropower. (Washington Post / CNN / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / Associated Press)
2/ Biden signed the Democrats’ landmark climate change, health care, and tax bill into law. The Inflation Reduction Act will invest $370 billion into combating climate change and bolstering low-emission forms of energy, while raising about $700 billion through corporate tax increases, prescription drug savings, and stepped up tax evasion enforcement. “This bill is the biggest step forward on climate, ever,” Biden said. The bill, which represents America’s largest investment in fighting climate change, will help the U.S. cut greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 40% below 2005 levels by 2030. The package, however, falls far short of the $3.5 trillion package Biden initially laid out, with safety net items stripped out by Joe Manchin and tax increases blocked by Kyrsten Sinema. At one point during the signing ceremony, Biden glanced at Joe Manchin and quipped: “Joe, I never had a doubt.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / CNN / ABC News / Associated Press)
3/ The Biden administration will cancel all remaining federal student loan debt for 208,000 students who attended the now-defunct for-profit ITT Technical Institute. The $3.9 billion in relief brings the total amount of loan discharges approved under Biden to nearly $32 billion. The Education Department found that ITT Tech engaged in widespread and pervasive misrepresentations, recruitment tactics, lending practices, and job placement figures. (CNN / CNBC)
4/ Jill Biden tested positive for Covid-19. She is experiencing “mild symptoms” but was prescribed a course of Paxlovid. (Politico / CNN / Associated Press)
5/ The Justice Department objected to releasing the affidavit used to justify the FBI search of Trump’s home, saying its release “would serve as a roadmap to the government’s ongoing investigation,” “compromise future investigative steps,” and “likely chill” cooperation with witnesses. “The fact that this investigation implicates highly classified materials further underscores the need to protect the integrity of the investigation and exacerbates the potential for harm if information is disclosed to the public prematurely or improperly,” DOJ officials wrote in response to a request by media organizations to unseal the supporting affidavit. The Justice Department, however, said it intends to unseal less sensitive information associated with the warrant. A federal judge in Florida will hear arguments Thursday over whether to make the affidavit public. (New York Times / Politico / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / Associated Press / ABC News / CNBC / Bloomberg)
6/ The FBI interviewed Trump’s White House counsel and his deputy counsel about the classified documents stored at Mar-a-Lago. Pat Cipollone and Patrick Philbin are the most senior former Trump officials interviewed in the criminal investigation of possible mishandling of classified information and obstruction. The two were designated as Trump’s representatives to handle material requested by the National Archives under the Presidential Records Act. (New York Times / CNN / ABC News)
7/ The Trump Organization’s longtime chief financial officer is in talks with Manhattan prosecutors to plead guilty to more than a dozen tax-fraud counts. Allen Weisselberg, however, will not cooperate with the district attorney’s investigation into Trump. Weisselberg and the Trump Organization were charged as part of an “off the books” scheme over 15 years to help top officials in the Trump Organization avoid paying taxes. Weisselberg is expected to be sentenced to 5 months in jail as part of the plea. He faced up to 15 years in prison if convicted at trial. (New York Times / NBC News / Bloomberg / NPR)
1/ The House passed the Inflation Reduction Act over unanimous Republican opposition, sending the multibillion-dollar climate, health, and tax bill to Biden’s desk to be signed into law. The legislation marks the single largest federal investment in addressing climate change and the most substantial change to national health care policy since the Affordable Care Act. In total, more than $370 billion will be dedicated to climate and energy programs aimed at reducing U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 40% below 2005 levels by the end of the decade. (Washington Post / New York Times / ABC News / NBC News / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
2/ More than 107 million Americans will live in an “extreme heat belt” by 2053 and experience heat index temperatures over 125 degrees at least one day a year – the extreme danger level on the National Weather Service’s heat index. A new report using hyperlocal data and climate projections finds that the future heat belt will stretch from Texas, Louisiana, and the Southeast through Missouri and Iowa to the Wisconsin border. Texas and Florida will bear the brunt of climate change, with the number of extreme heat days nearly doubling in the next thirty years. The model also finds that next year more than 8 million American are expected to experience heat index temperatures above 125 degrees. The heat index is what it feels like when humidity and air temperature are combined. It is commonly referred to as the “feels like” temperature. (NBC News / Bloomberg / CNBC)
3/ A new study finds that California is overdue for a once-a-century “megaflood” that could drop up to 100 inches of rain and 34 feet of snow. California last experienced a month-long, atmospheric river superstorm in 1862. The paper warns of “extraordinary impacts” and reports that such an event could transform “the interior Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys into a temporary but vast inland sea nearly 300 miles in length and [inundate] much of the now densely populated coastal plain in present-day Los Angeles and Orange Counties.” Most of California’s major highways would also be washed out or become inaccessible. A separate study concluded that human-caused climate change will intensify atmospheric rivers and could double or triple their economic damage in the western U.S. by the 2090s. Government agencies last studied a hypothetical California megaflood more than a decade ago and estimated that it could cause $725 billion in damages – three times the projected fallout from a severe San Andreas Fault earthquake, and five times the economic damage from Hurricane Katrina. While researchers can’t say when the next megaflood will strike, forecasters say there’s a 0.5 to 1.0% chance of it happening in any given year. (Washington Post / New York Times)
4/ The Justice Department is investigating Trump for violations of the Espionage Act. A federal magistrate judge unsealed the warrant authorizing the search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort on Friday, which shows that agents were seeking all “physical documents and records constituting evidence, contraband, fruits of crime, or other items illegally possessed in violation of three potential crimes,” including a part of the Espionage Act, which outlaws unauthorized retention of national security information that could harm the U.S. or aid a foreign adversary. The warrant also cited obstruction of justice as one of the potential crimes justifying the search, as well as the possible destruction of government records as another potential charge. Trump, meanwhile, argued that he used his authority to declassify the material before he left office. The three laws cited in the search warrant, however, don’t depend on whether the documents were classified or not. The FBI recovered 11 sets of classified documents from Mar-a-Lago, including some marked as top secret and meant to be only available in special government facilities. Federal agents were reportedly looking for classified documents related to nuclear weapons in particular, which Trump called a “hoax” before accusing the FBI of planting evidence. In total, agents took around 20 boxes from the property. In June, at least one Trump lawyer certified that all documents marked as classified and held in boxes in storage at Mar-a-Lago had been returned to the government. Leaders of the House Intelligence committee and House Oversight committee asked the Director of National Intelligence to initiate a review of Trump’s handling of the documents and potential harm to national security. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / Politico / NBC News / Bloomberg)
Intelligence officials sometimes purposely withheld sensitive information from Trump during classified briefings for fear of the “damage” he’d do if he knew. While in office, Trump shared classified information with the public multiple times, including revealing that he shared classified information with Russian diplomats, tweeting a classified satellite photo of an Iranian space facility, and disclosing that he ended a covert CIA program to arm anti-Assad rebels in Syria. (New York Times / Business Insider)
Rand Paul called for the repeal of the Espionage Act, claiming the FBI’s search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home was an “egregious affront to the 1st Amendment.” The Espionage Act made it illegal for people to obtain or disclose information relating to national defense that could harm the U.S. or benefit another country. (NPR / Axios)
The National Archives shot down Trump’s baseless claim that Obama “kept 33 million pages of documents, much of them classified.” In its statement, the National Archives and Records Administration said that it obtained “exclusive legal and physical custody” of Obama’s records when he left office in 2017, and that about 30 million pages of unclassified records were transferred to a NARA facility in the Chicago area and that they continue to be maintained “exclusively by NARA.” (Washington Post)
Trump frantically packed up documents to take with him in the last days of his presidency after accepting he was leaving the White House. “West Wing aides and government movers frantically tossed documents and other items into banker boxes that were shipped to a storage room at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida along with other, previously packed records set aside by Trump, sometimes erratically so, according to two sources with knowledge of Trump’s move and records issues.” (NBC News / Wall Street Journal / Business Insider)
Trump claimed that he “will do whatever” he can “to help the country” after the FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago. Trump, however, added: “The people of this country are not going to stand for another scam.” (Fox News)
5/ The FBI seized Scott Perry’s phone a day after agents searched Mar-a-Lago. While Perry hasn’t said why his phone was seized, the Justice Department’s inspector general has been investigating former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark and others as it examines the department’s role in seeking to assist Trump to block certification of the 2020 election results. Separately, the Jan. 6 committee previously subpoenaed Perry for information about his effort to help install Clark as acting attorney general. Perry has has refused to appear. (Politico / CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press)
6/ Rudy Giuliani is a “target” in Georgia’s criminal investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Giuliani is set to testify before the Fulton Country special grand jury investigating the case on Wednesday after trying to delay or avoid travel to Atlanta to testify, citing recent surgery to have a heart stent implanted. Meanwhile, a federal judge rejected Lindsey Graham’s request to throw out a subpoena compelling him to testify before the same grand jury. (New York Times / Politico / Washington Post / CNN / ABC News / NBC News)
7/ A federal grand jury investigating the Jan. 6 attack subpoenaed Trump’s White House lawyer for documents and testimony. Eric Herschmann represented Trump during the first impeachment trial. Pat Cipollone, who served as White House counsel, and Patrick Philbin, who served as deputy counsel, have also been subpoenaed. (Politico)
8/ Lawyers associated with Trump organized a multistate effort to access voting equipment and sensitive voting data in at least three battleground states as part of the effort to overturn the 2020 election. Under subpoena, a forensic data firm turned over documents showing that Sidney Powell and an attorney for the Trump campaign directed and paid for the firm to copy election data in Georgia, Michigan, and Nevada. (Washington Post)
1/ A group of historians warned Biden that the current moment in America is among the most dangerous to democracy in modern history, comparing the threat to democracy to the pre-Civil War era and to pro-fascist movements before World War II. The group of scholars focused on the rise of totalitarianism around the world and the threat to American democracy. (Washington Post)
2/ Attorney General Merrick Garland “personally approved the decision to seek a search warrant” for Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence and asked a Florida judge to unseal the warrant. Garland said he filed the motion to unseal both the warrant and the receipt that lists the items seized, citing the “substantial public interest” in the matter. Garland said the Justice Department “does not take such actions lightly” and first pursues “less intrusive” means to retrieve material, referring to the grand jury subpoena Trump received this spring for classified documents he improperly took to Mar-a-Lago when he left the White House. Investigators reportedly believed that the classified documents at Mar-a-Lago were so sensitive and related to national security that the Justice Department had to act. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / CNN / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / ABC News)
FBI Quest for Trump Documents Started With Breezy Chats, Tour of a Crowded Closet. (Wall Street Journal)
3/ A man wearing body armor and carrying an AR-15 style rifle fired a nail gun into the FBI’s Cincinnati office. The man exchanged gunfire with law enforcement officers after fleeing the area. The attack came days after FBI agents executed a search warrant at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, and a day after FBI Director Christopher Wray called the violent threats circulating online against federal agents and the Justice Department “deplorable and dangerous.” (Washington Post / New York Times / Associated Press / Politico / NPR)
4/ The Arctic has warmed nearly four times faster than the global average over the past 40 years. Scientists previously estimated that the Arctic is heating up about twice as fast as the rest of the planet, yet a new study finds that the region has warmed 3.8 times faster than the globe overall. (New York Times / NPR / Washington Post / CNN)
5/ Gas prices dropped below $4 a gallon for the first time in more than five months. The national average price has fallen for 58 consecutive days. (Associated Press / Washington Post / New York Times / CNBC)
6/ The number of Americans filing new unemployment claims reached its highest level this year. Initial jobless claims rose 14,000 to a seasonally adjusted 262,000 for the week ended Aug. 6 – slightly above July’s peak of 261,000 and above the 2019 weekly average of 218,000. (Wall Street Journal / Reuters)
7/ Rental costs in the U.S. are rising at their fastest pace in more than three decades, with the median rent surpassing $2,000 a month for the first time ever. Over the past year, rent was up 6.3%. In the years before the pandemic, the cost of rent typically climbed 3.5% a year. Mortgage rates, meanwhile, jumped back above 5%, after briefly dipping below that level for the first time in months a week earlier. Last year, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.87%. About 40% of households – roughly 5.4 million households – that are not current on their rent or mortgage payments said they could face eviction or foreclosure in the next two months. (Bloomberg / New York Times / CNN / Yahoo News / Washington Post)
8/ The U.S. murder rate climbed 6% in 2021, a modest increase compared to 2020, when the U.S. murder rate climbed nearly 30%. There were roughly 21 million guns sold in the U.S. in 2020, while in 2021 fewer than 19 million guns were sold. (CNBC)
poll/ 49% of voters approve of the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago. 42% said Trump either “definitely” or “probably” broke the law while he was president. (Politico)
1/ Trump invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination during a deposition with the New York attorney general’s office. Since March 2019, Letitia James’s office has been investigating whether the Trump Organization manipulated asset values to secure more favorable loans and tax benefits. Attorneys for James’ office have said in court that their investigation has collected evidence that Trump and his company have repeatedly used “fraudulent and misleading financial statements,” and that many of those statements were “generally inflated as part of a pattern to suggest that Mr. Trump’s net worth was higher than it otherwise would have appeared.” Trump nevertheless said he had “absolutely no choice” but to take the Fifth during his under-oath interview. Trump, Trump Jr., and Ivanka Trump all agreed to each sit for sworn testimony after losing a court battle to quash the subpoenas. While it’s unclear whether Ivanka or Trump Jr. invoked the Fifth, Eric Trump did so more than 500 times during a deposition in the same investigation in 2020. At a campaign stop in Iowa in 2016, Trump suggested that people who cite the Fifth were guilty, saying: “If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?” (New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / CNN / Politico / Associated Press / NPR / CNBC / CBS News)
2/ The FBI search of Mar-a-Lago was reportedly focused on whether Trump and his aides had returned all the documents and other material that were government property. Following a Justice Department investigation into Trump’s handling of classified and other material, officials became suspicious that Trump had not fully complied with requests to return material taken from the White House. While Trump returned 15 boxes of material to the National Archives in January, FBI agents removed another 12 boxes from Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday that had been in the resort’s basement. The warrant authorizing the search was reportedly based on information from an FBI confidential human source, who identified what classified documents Trump was still had and the location of those documents. (Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Politico / Newsweek
3/ U.S. inflation rose 8.5% in July from a year ago, a slight deceleration from 9.1% in June. The slower pace reflects lower energy costs and a drop in the price of gasoline, which has have fallen for 57 consecutive days since reaching a high of more than $5 a gallon in June. (Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNBC / Washington Post / New York Times)
4/ Biden signed legislation expanding health care benefits to millions of veterans who were exposed to toxic burn pits during their military service. The bipartisan bill, known as the PACT Act, is the most significant expansion of veterans’ health care and benefits in more than 30 years. (NBC News / ABC News / Washington Post)
5/ The Justice Department charged a member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps with plotting the assassination of John Bolton, who served in senior national security positions during the Trump and Bush administrations. Prosecutors said Shahram Poursafi had offered $300,000 to hire someone to kill Bolton at his office in D.C. or his home in Maryland. The Justice Department said the plot was likely in retaliation for the U.S. killing of top Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani in January 2020. (Washington Post / NPR / Wall Street Journal / Politico / New York Times / CNN)
poll/ 63% of Americans support using the popular vote to select a president, compared to 35% who would rather use the electoral college system. (NPR)
poll/ 70% of Americans say support using a ballot measure to decide abortion rights in their state. 54% said they would vote in favor of making abortion legal if there were a ballot measure. (USA Today)
poll/ 40% of Americans approve of the job Biden is doing as president – his highest approval rating in two months. 55%, meanwhile, disapprove. (Reuters)
1/ The FBI executed a federal search warrant at Mar-a-Lago connected to the 15 boxes of presidential documents that Trump improperly took from the White House. The National Archives previously confirmed that it found many pages of classified information in the boxes, which it retrieved in January. The same month, the National Archives asked the Justice Department to examine whether Trump’s handling of White House records violated federal law. To get a search warrant – done under FBI Director Christopher Wray, who was appointed to the role by Trump after he fired the previous FBI director, James Comey – the FBI would have needed to convince a federal judge that it had probable cause that a crime had been committed, and that agents might find evidence at Mar-a-Lago. Trump was in New York City at the time of the search, but released a statement saying his “beautiful home […] is currently under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents,” adding: “They even broke into my safe!” In June, federal agents – including a Justice Department counterintelligence official – visited Mar-a-Lago seeking more information about potentially classified material that Trump had taken to Florida from the White House. The FBI’s search of Trump’s home is separate from the Justice Department’s investigation into the Jan. 6 attack. Trump is also facing four more potential criminal investigations for fraudulent asset valuations at the Trump Organization by New York State, tax avoidance schemes by the Manhattan District Attorney, election interference in Georgia, and efforts to create fake electors and pressure Pence into overturning the 2020 election. Kevin McCarthy, meanwhile, suggested that he’ll investigate Attorney General Merrick Garland if Republicans took control of the House in November. Hours after the search, Trump addressed the FBI activity during a tele-rally for Sarah Palin, calling it “Another day in paradise. This is a strange day.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Politico / CNN / NBC News / New York Times / NPR)
Trump argued that he was too busy during his single term in office to sue Hillary Clinton before the four-year statute of limitations expired. Trump claims that Clinton, the Democratic Party, and several others, conspired to falsely accuse him and his 2016 campaign of colluding with Russia. (Bloomberg)
2/ Newly revealed photos show two occasions that Trump apparently tried to flush documents down the toilet. The photos were given to Maggie Haberman, a New York Times reporter, by a Trump White House source, and appear to be written in Trump’s handwriting in black marker. One image is from a White House toilet and the other one is from an overseas trip. White House staff previously reported finding Trump’s toilet periodically clogged with paper. (Axios / CNN)
3/ A federal appeals court ruled that the House can obtain Trump’s tax returns from the IRS. In April 2019, the House Ways and Means Committee requested six years of Trump’s tax returns under a law that allows the disclosure of an individual’s returns to the committee. The Trump Treasury Department, however, refused to comply with the request and the House filed a lawsuit seeking to enforce it in early July 2019. The ruling will likely be appealed to the Supreme Court. (CNN / New York Times / Politico / USA Today)
4/ Trump’s legal team is in direct communication with Justice Department officials about executive privilege issues related to its criminal probe into the Jan. 6 attack. The conversations are focused on whether Trump would be able to shield conversations he had with witnesses while he was president from a federal criminal grand jury. John Rowley, a former federal prosecutor, is representing Trump in talks with the DOJ. Rowley also represents Peter Navarro, who was charged with contempt of Congress for his refusal to cooperate with the Jan. 6 committee. The committee, meanwhile, is scheduled to speak with former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo today. Pompeo and then-Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin were among Trump’s cabinet members who discussed the possibility of invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office after the events of Jan. 6, 2021. (CNN / Politico / New York Times / Bloomberg)
The Atlanta-area district attorney investigating Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election rejected Rudy Giuliani’s request to postpone his grand jury appearance. Giuliani was ordered by a New York state judge to appear for an Aug. 9 grand jury interview after he failed to appear at a hearing to challenge a subpoena from District Attorney Fani Willis. Giuliani claimed that a recent medical procedure prevented him from flying for several weeks (Politico)
5/ Biden signed legislation providing $52 billion in subsidies to the semiconductor industry. The CHIPS and Science Act provides $10 billion for regional technology hubs, a 25% investment tax credit for the manufacturing of semiconductors and related equipment, and authorizes roughly $100 billion in spending over five years on scientific research, including more than $80 billion for the National Science Foundation. (NPR / Washington Post)
6/ Biden signed ratification documents for Finland and Sweden to join the NATO alliance. In May, both nations formally applied to NATO following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. NATO ambassadors ratified the accession protocols in July, and member states are currently in the process of doing the same. Putin, meanwhile, is adamantly opposed to any NATO expansion, calling it an imperialistic threat. (Politico / CNBC / Associated Press)
1/ The Senate passed the largest investment in U.S. history to counter climate change, putting the nation on a path to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 40% below their 2005 levels by 2030. The Inflation Reduction Act would also lower health-care costs, reduce the federal deficit, and be paid for through new taxes – including a 15% minimum tax on large corporations and a 1% tax on stock buybacks – and funding to boost IRS tax law enforcement. “After more than a year of hard work, the Senate is making history,” Chuck Schumer said shortly before final passage. “This bill will kickstart the era of affordable clean energy in America, it’s a game changer, it’s a turning point and it’s been a long time coming.” Senate Democrats passed the $740 billion packaged on a 51-50 vote – with all Republicans voting no – after Harris cast the tie-breaking vote. Republican lawmakers, however, successfully stripped a $35 price cap on the cost of insulin for private insurers from the package. More than 1 in 5 insulin users on private medical insurance pay more than $35 per month for the medicine. The bill now heads to the House, which is expected to pass it later this week, and send it to Biden for his signature. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / NBC News / CNN / Wall Street Journal / USA Today / Reuters / Associated Press / NPR)
2/ Climate change could exacerbate 58% of known human infectious diseases. Researchers found that 218 out of the known 375 human infectious diseases were made worse by one of 10 types of extreme weather connected to climate change, such as warming, floods or drought. Flooding, for example, can spread hepatitis, while rising temperatures can expand the life of mosquitoes carrying malaria, and droughts can bring rodents infected with hantavirus into communities as they search for food. Nine pathogens were “exclusively diminished” by climatic hazards. (Ars Technica / ABC News / PBS NewsHour)
3/ Indiana is the first state to pass a near-total ban on abortion since the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade. The law’s passage came three days after voters in Kansas rejected an amendment that would have stripped abortion rights protections from their State Constitution. The bill, which will go into effect Sept. 15, allows abortion only in cases of rape, incest, and lethal fetal anomalies. Doctors in the state who perform illegal abortions will lose their medical licenses. (NPR / New York Times / Washington Post)
4/ The Biden administration authorized a $1 billion package of ammunition, weapons, and equipment for Ukraine – the largest delivery of military aid yet. In total, the U.S. has committed $9.8 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion began in late February. (Associated Press / Politico / CNBC)
5/ The Jan. 6 committee received about two years’ worth of Alex Jones’ text messages. The messages were handed over to the committee by Mark Bankston, the attorney who represented Sandy Hook parents who successfully sued Jones and won $45.2 million in a civil trial. The committee subpoenaed Jones in November, demanding a deposition and information related to his efforts to spread misinformation about the 2020 election and a rally on the day of the attack. (CNN)
6/ The FBI confirmed that it sent tips the agency had collected about Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the Trump White House without investigation. FBI Director Christopher Wray also confirmed that the Trump White House directed which witnesses the FBI was permitted to interview. In total, the FBI collected more than 4,500 tips during its investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct by Kavanaugh. (Vanity Fair / Esquire / Daily Beast)
poll/ 69% of Americans think the nation’s economy is getting worse – the highest level since 2008. 12% think the economy is getting better, while 18% think it is staying the same. (ABC News / Bloomberg)
1/ The Justice Department charged four current and former Louisville police officers with violating Breonna Taylor’s civil rights, who was shot and killed by police in 2020 while she was sleeping. The charges against Joshua Jaynes, Kyle Meany, Kelly Goodlett, and Brett Hankison include conspiracy, use of force, obstruction of justice, as well as various civil rights violations. They are the first federal charges in connection with Taylor’s killing. “Breonna Taylor should be alive today,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said, adding that the falsification of the affidavit used to obtain the search warrant needed to authorize the raid had “violated federal civil rights laws, and that those violations resulted in Ms. Taylor’s death.” (CBS News / Associated Press / New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News)
2/ The Biden administration declared monkeypox a public health emergency, a designation that will free up emergency funds and speed distribution of the vaccine. The declaration comes more than a week after the WHO declared the outbreak a global health emergency. The U.S. has confirmed more than 6,600 cases of monkeypox – about 25% of confirmed infections worldwide. Health officials estimate that the government needs about 3.5 million doses to fight the outbreak. The U.S is currently distributing about 1.1 million doses due in part to the Department of Health and Human Services failing to ask the manufacturer early on to process bulk stock of the vaccine it already owned into vials for distribution. The U.S. owns the equivalent of about 16.5 million doses of the vaccine in bulk storage. The next delivery of half a million doses isn’t expected until October. Further, roughly 5 million more doses won’t be delivered until next year. The last time the U.S. declared a public health emergency was in response to Covid-19 in January 2020. (Politico / Axios / New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / CNBC)
3/ Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended Tampa’s elected prosecutor for pledging not to prosecute abortions and gender-affirming care, accusing Andrew Warren of “incompetence and willful defiance of his duties.” After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Warren and 90 other elected prosecutors across the country signed a joint statement saying that “enforcing abortion bans runs counter to the obligations and interests we are sworn to uphold.” Warren also signed a statement in June 2021, along more than 70 state prosecutors and attorneys generals, vowing not to prosecute crimes related to gender-affirming care. DeSantis, nonetheless, said Warren had “put himself publicly above the law” by signing the letters, adding: “Our government is a government of laws, not a government of men.” FBI Director Christopher Wray, meanwhile, told senators that the bureau has opened “a number” of investigations into abortion-related violent crime incidents. (Tampa Bay Times / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / CNN / The Hill)
4/ Alex Jones conceded that the 20 first graders and six educators killed at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012 – the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history – was “100 percent real” and not a hoax staged by crisis actors. Under oath and facing $150 million or more in damages for his false claims, the Infowars conspiracy theorist admitted that it was irresponsible of him to declare the school shooting a “false flag” by the government intended to force gun control on Americans. At one point, Jones was told that his legal team had inadvertently sent the contents of his cellphone – including the last two years’ worth of texts – to the lawyers for the Sandy Hook families, which showed that Jones had failed to produce court-ordered documents and contradicted claims that he had made under oath about his finances. Mark Bankston, a lawyer for the parents, asked Jones, “Do you know what perjury is?” Jones replied: “I’m not a tech guy.” (New York Times / Associated Press / NBC News / Washington Post)
5/ The Jan. 6 committee requested two years’ worth of records from Alex Jones’ phone as part of its investigation into the Capitol riot.The committee had previously requested records and a deposition from Jones regarding his role in the pro-Trump rally that preceded the riot. (Associated Press / New York Times / Axios / Rolling Stone)
1/ Kansas voters rejected a proposed state constitutional amendment that would have allowed the legislature to ban abortions. About 60% of voters wanted to maintain abortion protections compared with roughly 40% who wanted to strip them from the state constitution. Kansas was the first state to vote on abortion rights since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. “This vote makes clear what we know: the majority of Americans agree that women should have access to abortion and should have the right to make their own health care decisions,” Biden said in a statement. (Washington Post / NPR / Politico / New York Times / Bloomberg)
2/ Biden plans to sign a second executive order to support individuals traveling out state for an abortion. Both orders direct Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra to consider “all appropriate actions to ensure health care providers comply with federal non-discrimination laws so that women receive medically necessary care without delay.” It also calls for Becerra to “consider action to advance access” to abortion, including through Medicaid, for those who travel out of state. (New York Times / CNN / USA Today)
3/ The Senate passed legislation that expands medical care to an estimated 3.5 million veterans who may have been exposed to toxic burn pits on U.S. military bases. It’s the largest expansion of care in VA history, and is expected to cost $280 billion over a decade. While the House and Senate already passed the measure, a technical error required another Senate vote last week. However, 41 Republican senators voted against advancing the bill after Joe Manchin announced a deal with Chuck Schumer on a separate, unrelated tax and spending bill. The PACT Act was ultimately approved 86 to 11 several days later, and now heads to Biden for his signature. “Our veterans across America can breathe a sigh of relief,” Schumer said. “This is good news.” (Politico / NPR / NBC News / New York Times / Bloomberg)
4/ The Justice Department subpoenaed Trump’s White House counsel as part of its investigation into the Jan. 6 insurrection. Pat Cipollone is the highest-ranking White House official known to be called to testify by federal investigators. Cipollone witnessed Trump’s efforts to overturn the election, “including discussions about seizing voting machines, meddling in the Justice Department, and sending false letters to state officials about election fraud.” Last month, Cipollone spoke to the House Jan. 6 committee behind closed doors for more than seven hours. (ABC News / New York Times / NBC News / CNN)
5/ The Pentagon erased the phones of Trump’s departing senior defense officials, including text messages related to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Court records indicate that the Pentagon “wiped” the government-issued phones of officials in charge of mobilizing the National Guard to respond to the Capitol attack, including then-acting defense secretary Chris Miller and then-Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy. Separately, the inspector general at Homeland Security notified Congress last month that Secret Service text messages from Jan. 5 and Jan. 6 were “erased” as part of a device replacement program. (CNN / Washington Post / Bloomberg / The Hill / CNBC)
6/ Two Arizona Republicans who participated in efforts to submit fake slates of electors claiming Trump won the state told a Trump lawyer they were concerned that the plan “could appear treasonous.” Kelli Ward, the chairwoman of the Arizona Republican Party, and Kelly Townsend, a state senator, raised concerns to Kenneth Chesebro, a lawyer working for Trump’s campaign, about the alternate slate of electors plan because there were no legal challenges that could flip the results of Arizona’s election. Chesebro shared their concerns in a Dec. 11, 2020, email to other members of the legal team, which included Rudy Giuliani. Despite the concern, Ward joined the effort and signed a “certificate of the votes of the 2020 electors from Arizona” and claimed that Trump had won the state’s 11 Electoral College votes. Townsend, however, did not serve as one of the electors. Both have since received subpoenas from the Justice Department asking about the fake electors plan. (New York Times)
7/ A Trump-endorsed election denier won the Republican nomination to oversee voting in Arizona. Mark Finchem will appear on the November general election ballot for secretary of state. Finchem was at the Capitol on Jan. 6, and introduced several resolutions this year seeking to decertify the 2020 election in three Arizona counties based on false allegations of fraud. (NPR / Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News)
1/ The U.S. killed al Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahri in a drone strike. Zawahiri oversaw the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, alongside the group’s founder, Osama bin Laden. The attack against Zawahiri is the first known counterterrorism strike there since U.S. forces withdrew from Afghanistan last August. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / NBC News)
2/ The Justice Department sued Idaho over its near-total ban on abortion – the first challenge since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Idaho’s trigger law, passed in 2020, would make providing abortions a felony punishable by up to five years in prison, with exceptions for rape or incest if reported to law enforcement, or to prevent the death of the pregnant person. Attorney General Merrick Garland said the ban violates federal law that “requires hospitals to provide stabilizing care for a patient who comes in with a medical emergency that seriously jeopardizes their life or their health.” He added: “And where that stabilizing treatment is abortion, they must provide the abortion. They must do so notwithstanding a state law that is so narrow that it doesn’t even protect a woman’s life or health.” (NBC News / Wall Street Journal / CNN)
3/ Kansas is voting on whether to add an anti-abortion amendment to the state’s Constitution. If passed, the measure would add language to the constitution saying the state doesn’t grant a right to abortion and allow lawmakers to regulate it as they see fit. Kentucky will vote in November on adding similar language to its constitution. (Associated Press)
4/ Georgia taxpayers can list embryos as dependents on their tax returns. Georgia’s department of revenue said it would “recognize any unborn child with a detectable human heartbeat […] as eligible for [an] individual income tax dependent exemption” up to $3,000. (The Guardian)
5/ Florida ordered its schools to ignore federal guidelines aimed at protecting LGBTQ students and teachers from discrimination. Florida education commissioner Manny Diaz said the Biden administration’s proposed anti-discrimination changes to Title IX is not binding law and that following the guidelines could violate the state’s Parental Rights in Education law. That law, otherwise known as “Don’t Say Gay,” prohibits classroom instructions on gender identity and sexual identity for kids in kindergarten through third grade. Teachers and schools could face lawsuits for violations. (Axios / Politico)
6/ Trump endorsed “Eric” in Missouri’s Republican Senate primary. There are three Erics in the race. When asked to clarify which Eric – Former Gov. Eric Greitens, State Attorney General Eric Schmitt, or Eric McElroy – Trump’s team didn’t provide any clarity, saying only that the “endorsement speaks for itself.” (NBC News / The Guardian)
7/ A music festival in Atlanta was canceled because Georgia’s gun laws limited organizers ability to ban firearms in the public park. A 2014 state law passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature and signed by then-Gov. Nathan Deal allowed Georgians to legally carry firearms on public land. While there was no legal consensus on whether the law applied to private events on public property, a recent appeals court ruling made it harder for private groups to restrict guns at “short-term events” on public land. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution / NPR)
8/ The U.S. military runs more than 3,000 slot machines on American military bases overseas that earn more than $100 million each year from service members. The slot machines are operated by the Department of Defense in the name of “morale, welfare, and recreation.” (NPR)
poll/ 13% of Democrats approve of the way the Supreme Court is handling its job, while 74% of Republicans and 40% of independents approve. Overall, 43% of Americans approve of how the Supreme Court is handling its job. (Gallup)
1/ A Trump-endorsed conspiracy theorist is the leading Republican candidate to be Arizona’s next secretary of state. Mark Finchem is an outspoken supporter of Trump’s lie that the 2020 election was stolen, signed onto a resolution urging Congress to accept Trump’s fake electors in Arizona, attended the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, and previously identified himself as a member of the Oath Keepers, and embraced the QAnon conspiracy theories. If Finchem wins on Tuesday, he would be a general election win away from running the 2024 presidential vote in the swing state. “Ain’t gonna be no concession speech coming from this guy,” Finchem said. “I’m going to demand a 100 percent hand count if there’s the slightest hint that there’s an impropriety.” (Politico / FiveThirtyEight / New York Times / The Guardian)
2/ A Texas militia member was sentenced to more than seven years in prison for storming the Capitol on Jan. 6 – the longest punishment handed down to any participant in the attack on the Capitol so far. Guy Reffitt was convicted in March on five felony charges, including obstruction of Congress as it met to certify the 2020 election result, interfering with police during civil disorder, carrying a firearm to a riot, and threatening his teenage son, who turned him in to the FBI. The Justice Department asked for a 15-year sentence and requested that Reffitt’s crimes be treated as acts of domestic terrorism. The judge, however, declined prosecutors’ request to treat Reffitt as a terrorist under sentencing guidelines. (Politico / NBC News / Washington Post / Associated Press)
3/ Matt Gaetz repeatedly assured Roger Stone that “the boss” – Trump – would offer him a pardon if he was convicted of lying to Congress about his communications related to WikiLeaks’ release of emails from the Democratic National Committee and Clinton campaign. “The boss still has a very favorable view of you,” Gaetz told Stone, before stating that Trump had “said it directly” that Stone would not “do a day” in prison. Gaetz added: “I don’t think the big guy can let you go down for this.” The revelation comes from a hot microphone moment recorded by Danish filmmakers in 2019. Stone was convicted on seven felony counts for lying to Congress, witness tampering, and obstructing the House investigation into whether Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia to win the 2016 election and sentenced to 40 months in prison. Trump, however, commuted his prison sentence and eventually pardoned him. (Washington Post / Daily Beast)
4/ Susan Collins – who supports same-sex marriage – said the Democrats’ unrelated agreement with Joe Manchin on tax and climate change may jeopardize Republican support for the bipartisan Respect for Marriage Act. “I just think the timing could not have been worse and it came totally out of the blue,” Collins said, adding that Manchin and Chuck Schumer’s agreement “destroys the many bipartisan efforts that are under way.” While Republicans were expected to filibuster the bill in the Senate, five GOP Senators — including Collins — had announced their support. (HuffPost)
5/ Nancy Pelosi is scheduled to visit Taiwan this week – the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit the self-governing island in 25 years – despite China’s warnings that a visit would provoke an unspecified response. China warned against the “egregious political impact” of Pelosi’s visit, which is still officially unconfirmed, to the island that China claims as a part of its territory, saying its military “won’t sit by idly” if Beijing feels its “sovereignty and territorial integrity” is being threatened. Chinese President Xi Jinping warned Biden last week against “playing with fire” on Taiwan. (Politico / CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
6/ Biden tested positive for the coronavirus again Saturday after experiencing a Paxlovid “rebound.” About 5% of people who take the antiviral medication Paxlovid experience “rebound” infections days after testing negative. Biden has experienced “no reemergence of symptoms, and continues to feel quite well” and will, as a result, not resume treatment, the White House said. (New York Times / NBC News / CNN)
7/ The Biden administration plans to offer reformulated Covid-19 booster shots in September. The updated versions are expected to perform better against Omicron subvariant BA.5. (New York Times)
1/ Biden hailed the Inflation Reduction Act as “a historic agreement to fight inflation” and “the most significant legislation in history to tackle the climate crisis.” Biden’s remarks came a day after Joe Manchin blessed the package that would raise $739 billion over the decade in new revenue, including $313 billion from a 15% corporate minimum tax, spend $369 billion on energy and climate change initiatives, allow Medicare to negotiate the cost of some prescription drugs, provide three years of Affordable Care Act subsidies, and make changes to the tax code. Climate and energy provisions in the legislation are sufficient to cut U.S. carbon dioxide emissions 40% by 2030. Kyrsten Sinema, however, hasn’t publicly backed it or commented, and did not attend the caucus meeting. Senate Democrats want to get the bill passed before the chamber’s August recess, which is scheduled to begin August 6. To do that, the bill will first need to comply with the parliamentarian’s strict budget rules, then Democrats will need to have all 50 members to be present and vote for the package – as well as the tie-breaking vote from Harris – for it to pass the Senate with a simple majority. “My plea is: Put politics aside. Get it done,” Biden said. “We should pass this.” (Politico / The Guardian / Associated Press / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg / NBC News)
What’s in the “game changer” climate bill nobody saw coming. “The bill would use tax credits to incentivize consumers to buy electric cars, electric HVAC systems, and other forms of cleaner technology that would lead to less emissions from cars and electricity generation, and includes incentives for companies to manufacture that technology in the United States. It also includes money for a host of other climate priorities, like investing in forest and coastal restoration and in resilient agriculture.” (Vox)
Surprise Deal Would Be Most Ambitious Climate Action Undertaken by U.S. “The bill aims to tackle global warming by using billions of dollars in tax incentives to ramp up wind, solar, geothermal, battery and other clean energy industries over the next decade. Companies would receive financial incentives to keep open nuclear plants that might have closed, or to capture emissions from industrial facilities and bury them underground before they can warm the planet. Car buyers with incomes below a certain level would receive a $7,500 tax credit to purchase a new electric vehicle and $4,000 for a used one. Americans would receive rebates to install heat pumps and make their homes more energy-efficient.” (New York Times)
Senate deal could be most significant climate bill yet. “The climate and tax package would bolster American energy production and combat climate change through tax incentives for the renewable-energy sector, increasing wind, solar, battery and geothermal construction. Tens of millions of drivers would qualify for new tax credits to buy electric vehicles. Homeowners across the country would get financial help to pay for heat pumps and insulate their properties.” (Washington Post)
2/ The economy contracted for the second straight quarter, hitting a commonly accepted rule of thumb for a recession. The official arbiter of recessions in the U.S., however, is the National Bureau of Economic Research, which usually doesn’t make a recession determination until long after the fact. Gross domestic product fell at an annual rate of 0.9% from April to June – following a 1.6% annual drop from January to March. Most economists, meanwhile, expect the economy to grow in the third quarter and in 2022 as a whole. (CNBC / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / Associated Press)
3/ Biden and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen rejected claims that the U.S. is in a recession, pointing to the strong labor market, a rebound in manufacturing, and other metrics as signs of its health. Biden said that while “it’s no surprise that the economy is slowing down as the Federal Reserve acts to bring down inflation,” he pointed to strong job growth, unemployment at near record lows, and business investments. “That doesn’t sound like recession to me.” Yellen, meanwhile, noted that recessions are usually marked by substantial job losses, family budgets under strain, and a “broad-based weakening of the economy.” Yellen added: “That is not what we’re seeing right now.” (New York Times / Politico / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
4/ The House passed a $280 billion bill aimed at making the U.S. more competitive in the semiconductor industry. Chips and Science Act would subsidize domestic semiconductor manufacturing and expansion, as well as invest billions in science and technology innovation. Republican leaders urged their members to vote against the legislation after Chuck Schumer and Joe Manchin announced a deal on a separate climate, health care, and tax bill. (CNBC / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
5/ The Jan. 6 committee interviewed Trump’s former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who reportedly discussed possibly invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office with then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The committee will also interview Pompeo as soon as this week and is speaking with former acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney today. Mulvaney resigned a day after the January 2021 riot. The committee is also negotiating terms for a potential interview with former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe. (ABC News / CNN / CNBC)
poll/ 71% of Americans say political division and polarization is a key problem in the nation’s civil discourse. 47% said they’re “optimistic about the future because young people are committed to making this country a better place to live for everyone.” (Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service)
poll/ 54% of Georgia voters oppose the Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, with 49% saying they were “strongly opposed.” 42% of likely Georgia voters said they’re more likely to vote for a candidate who wants to protect abortion rights, while 26% said they’re motivated to vote for someone who want to limit access to the procedure. 55% of voters disagree with Georgia’s new abortion law, which outlaws the procedure as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. About 36% of Georgians support the measure. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
poll/ 60% of voters do not want Biden to run in the 2024 presidential election. 57% said Trump should not run again. (The Guardian)
poll/ 31% of Democrats would most prefer Harris as the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee if Biden doesn’t run, followed by 17% who chose California Gov. Gavin Newsom. (The Hill)
1/ The Justice Department is investigating Trump’s actions leading up to the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol as part of its criminal probe into efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. Prosecutors are questioning witnesses before a grand jury about Trump’s conversations and meetings in December 2020 and January 2021 about his involvement in efforts to reverse his election loss, his campaign to pressure Pence into overturning the election, and what instructions he gave his lawyers and advisers about the fake electors scheme. Investigators have also received phone records of key officials and aides in the Trump administration, including Mark Meadows, and recently seized phone records of top aides, including John Eastman, the lawyer who helped develop the fake electors scheme, and Jeffrey Clark, a former Justice Department official who supported Trump’s efforts to stop Biden from becoming president. Attorney General Merrick Garland, meanwhile, said the department will pursue justice “without fear or favor. We intend to hold everyone, anyone, who was criminally responsible for the events surrounding January 6th, for any attempt to interfere with the lawful transfer of power from one administration to another, accountable — that’s what we do. We don’t pay any attention to other issues with respect to that.” (Washington Post / New York Times / CNBC)
The Justice Department has reached out to more Trump White House officials. “The Justice Department has already brought two top aides to Pence in front of a federal grand jury, a move that signals its probe has reached inside former President Donald Trump’s White House and that investigators are looking at conduct directly related to Trump and his closest allies’ efforts to overturn the 2020 election.” (CNN)
Cassidy Hutchinson has recently cooperated with the Department of Justice investigation into the events of Jan. 6. “Hutchinson publicly testified before the Jan. 6 committee earlier this month, spending some two hours recounting details about what she said went on behind the scenes at the White House leading up to, during, and after the Jan. 6 attack.” (ABC News / CNN)
2/ The Jan. 6 committee and the House Oversight Committee called for a new inspector general to lead the investigation into erased Secret Service text messages related to the Capitol attack. In a letter sent to the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General and the head of the Council of Inspectors General, Bennie Thompson and Carolyn Maloney raised concerns about Inspector General Joseph Cuffari’s “failure to inform Congress of deleted Secret Service text messages in a timely manner despite being required by law to ‘immediately’ report problems or abuses that are ‘particularly serious or flagrant.’” The lawmakers added: “We do not have confidence that Inspector General Cuffari can achieve those standards.” (Washington Post / NPR / CNN)
3/ The Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 75 basis points for the second straight month to cool inflation that is running at a 40-year high. The rate increase is the Fed’s fourth hike this year – the most aggressive pace since the 1980s – lifting their benchmark rate to a range between 2.25% and 2.5%. Officials said they likely needed to raise rates to about 3.4% this year and 3.8% in 2023 to slow economic growth, which could send the unemployment rate up. While Chair Jerome Powell said “another unusually large increase could be appropriate at our next meeting,” he rejected speculation that the U.S. economy is in recession, saying “There’s just too many areas of the economy that are performing too well.” The Fed aims for inflation around 2%. The latest inflation data, however, showed prices increased 9.1% in June from a year earlier. (Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Washington Post / Axios / CNBC)
4/ Joe Manchin – in a sudden reversal – reached a deal with Democrats on legislation to reform the tax code, combat climate change, and lower health care costs. Manchin agreed to support roughly $370 billion in energy and climate spending, $300 billion in deficit reduction, three years of subsidies for Affordable Care Act premiums, prescription drug reform, impose a 15% corporate minimum tax, and increase investments in IRS tax enforcement. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 would “fight inflation, invest in domestic energy production and manufacturing, and reduce carbon emissions by roughly 40% by 2030.” Lawmakers could advance the measure as soon as next week if it meets the Senate Parliamentarian’s budget reconciliation rules, which would allow Democrats to pass it without any GOP votes. The reconciliation package was revealed hours after the Senate passed a $280 billion bipartisan bill aimed at boosting U.S. competitiveness with China by subsidizing the domestic production of semiconductors. Two weeks ago Manchin abandoned negotiations with Democrats, telling party leaders that he would not support any legislation dealing with climate or tax programs, citing inflation concerns. It’s not clear what changed Manchin’s mind about the plan, but some Republicans accused Manchin of being “deceitful” about his intentions on the reconciliation bill in order to get Mitch McConnell to stop blocking the semiconductor bill. Biden said the deal was “the action the American people have been waiting for.” (Washington Post / CNBC / New York Times / Politico / Wall Street Journal / Axios / CNN)
poll/ Democrats have a 52% chance to win the Senate – up from 40% on June 1. Republicans, meanwhile, have an 83% chance to win the House in the midterm elections. (FiveThirtyEight)
poll/ 75% of Democratic voters want the party to nominate someone other than Biden in the 2024 election. (CNN)
poll/ 79% of Americans feel that Trump acted either unethically or illegally in his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, including 45% who believe his actions were illegal. 66% of Republicans, meanwhile, still believe Biden’s win was not legitimate. (CNN)
1/ The Senate advanced a bill that would provide $52 billion in subsidies to domestic semiconductor manufacturers to boost U.S. competitiveness with China. The package, known as “CHIPS-plus,” would also invest billions in science and technology innovation, and provide grants, incentives and tax breaks to the sector. If the Senate passes the bill, as expected, it would then move to the House, where it also has the support needed for passage. (Washington Post / Bloomberg / CNBC)
2/ Biden is reportedly considering another extension to the student loan repayment pause, as well as forgiving $10,000 in student loan debt per borrower. The current moratorium on student loan payments expires Aug. 31, but the federal government’s student loan servicing contractors have been instructed to hold off on contacting borrowers about resuming payments. If the administration pushes back the pause on payments, it would be the seventh time the date has been rescheduled since March 2020. (Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / CNN)
3/ The U.S. leads in the most known monkeypox infections globally, reporting more than 3,400 confirmed or suspected cases. The Biden administration, meanwhile, is weighing whether to declare a public health emergency, and plans to name a White House coordinator to oversee the response. Almost 18,000 cases have been confirmed in nearly 70 countries, leading the WHO to declare monkeypox a global health emergency. (Wall Street Journal / Washington Post)
4/ Two top aides to Pence testified to a federal grand jury investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Pence’s chief of staff, Marc Short, and legal counsel Greg Jacob were subpoenaed in the Justice Department’s criminal investigation. Short is the highest-ranking White House official to testify for the panel. Mike Pompeo, separately, is tentatively scheduled to speak with the Jan. 6 committee in the coming days behind closed doors. (Wall Street Journal / New York Times / NBC News / CNN)
5/ Previously undisclosed emails show how the Trump campaign worked with outside lawyers and advisers to organize the fake elector plan to reverse Trump’s election defeat. Dozens of emails show the lawyers involved repeatedly used the word “fake” to refer to the alternative slates of electors and that the group even appointed a “point person” in seven states to help organize the fake electors. “Kind of wild/creative […] We would just be sending in ‘fake’ electoral votes to Pence so that ‘someone’ in Congress can make an objection when they start counting votes, and start arguing that the ‘fake’ votes should be counted,” Jack Wilenchik, a lawyer who helped organize the pro-Trump electors in Arizona, wrote in a Dec. 8, 2020, email to Boris Epshteyn, an adviser for the Trump campaign. In a follow-up email, Wilenchik added that “‘alternative’ votes is probably a better term than ‘fake’ votes.” The group also initially hoped to get Republican state legislatures or governors to join their scheme before Trump’s lawyers turned to pressuring Pence. (New York Times)
6/ A judge barred Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from investigating one of 16 “fake” Trump electors, because she hosted a campaign fundraiser for Burt Jones’ political opponent. Jones is the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor. A different prosecutor’s office, as selected by the state’s attorney general, will be responsible for investigating Jones, if one is warranted. (CNBC)
7/ The Justice Department urged a federal judge to reject efforts by leaders of the Oath Keepers to delay their September trial. Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and several other members of the group are facing seditious conspiracy charges for their roles in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. They asked a judge to postpone their trial, citing the publicity caused by the Jan. 6 committee’s recent hearings. (Politico)
8/ Attorney General Merrick Garland did not rule out prosecuting Trump. “We intend to hold everyone, anyone who was criminally responsible for the events surrounding Jan. 6, for any attempt to interfere with the lawful transfer of power from one administration to another, accountable,” Garland said. “That’s what we do.” (NBC News)
poll/ 22% of New Hampshire residents have a favorable opinion of Biden – an all-time low. Biden also trails potential 2024 candidates in favorability, including Pete Buttigieg, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and Cory Booker. (Politico)
1/ Biden continues to “improve significantly” from his coronavirus infection. “The president is responding to therapy as expected,” Dr. Kevin O’Connor wrote, adding that Biden still has a sore throat, though his cough, runny nose, and body aches “have diminished considerably.” Biden has been taking Paxlovid, an antiviral drug that helps reduce the chance of severe illness. (Associated Press / NPR)
2/ Joe Manchin tested positive for Covid-19. “It’s unclear what effect, if any, Manchin’s isolation will have on Democrats’ efforts to make progress on their legislative agenda. The Senate has a little under two weeks before it’s scheduled to start its August recess, and Democrats have indicated hopes in passing bills – from protecting same-sex marriage to increasing funding for semiconductor production in the US and changing laws surrounding prescription drug prices among other issues – before leaving town for about a month.” (CNN)
3/ The first two U.S. cases of monkeypox in children have been confirmed as part of an outbreak of more than 2,800 infections nationwide. “CDC and public health authorities are still investigating how the children became infected. The two cases are unrelated and in different jurisdictions.” (Washington Post)
4/ World Health Organization declared monkeypox a global health emergency. “The last time the WHO made a similar declaration was during the early stages of the Covid-19 outbreak in January 2020.” (Bloomberg)
5/ The dystopian American reality one month after the Roe v. Wade reversal. “Bans at six weeks gestation or earlier, before most women know they are pregnant, are in force in 12 states as of Thursday. The bans have forced patients seeking abortions, and who have the time and money, to travel hundreds of miles from home. At times, that travel has also placed friends, family and abortion rights organizations in legal jeopardy, as states have criminalized helping people obtain abortions. Other patients have seen routine care for miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies delayed, as doctors fear criminal sanctions should they accidentally violate bans.” (The Guardian)
6/ Biden faces a moment of truth on the economy this week. His advisers are downplaying recession fears ahead of data that could show the economy contracted for a second straight quarter – one common definition of a recession. The White House, however, preemptively “issued a document stating that two straight quarters of negative GDP ‘is neither the official definition nor the way economists evaluate the state of the business cycle.’ Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen went so far as to say she would be ‘amazed’ if the National Bureau of Economic Research — which determines whether we are officially in a recession — were to declare that. She also stated flatly that we’re not in a recession.” The administration’s message is that a “technical recession” isn’t necessarily a real one. The Federal Reserve, meanwhile, is expected to raise interest rates another 0.75 percentage point in an effort to tame inflation running at a four-decade high. After raising rates in June by the most since 1994, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell and his colleagues left the door open to a larger, full-percentage-point increase at the July 26-27 gathering. (CNN / Washington Post / Bloomberg / CNN / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
7/ The criminal case against Trump is getting stronger and “federal and state prosecutors may soon need to decide whether to bring charges against a former president and current front-runner for the Republican nomination.” (The Atlantic)
8/ Through subpoenas and search warrants, the Justice Department has made clear that it’s pursuing at least two related lines of inquiry that could lead to Trump. “One centers on the so-called fake electors. In that line of inquiry, prosecutors have issued subpoenas to some people who had signed up to be on the list of those purporting to be electors that pro-Trump forces wanted to use to help block certification of the Electoral College results by Congress on Jan. 6, 2021. The other line of Justice Department inquiry centers on the effort by a Trump-era Justice Department official, Jeffrey Clark, to pressure Georgia officials not to certify the state’s election results by sending a letter falsely suggesting that the department had found evidence of election fraud there.” (New York Times)
9/ Georgia Governor Brian Kemp will testify before before the grand jury investigating Trump’s efforts to overturn his election loss in the state. “Fani Willis, the district attorney in Fulton County, has also issued subpoenas in recent days seeking testimony from some of Trump’s closest confidantes and allies – including Rudy Giuliani and US Senator Lindsey Graham – and sent letters to 16 Georgia Republican leaders warning them that they are targets in a criminal probe.” (Bloomberg)
10/ Atlanta v. Trumpworld. Eighteen months into a criminal investigation of election interference by Trump and his allies, Fani Willis is “building the framework for a broad case that could target multiple defendants with charges of conspiracy to commit election fraud, or racketeering-related charges for engaging in a coordinated scheme to undermine the election.” (New York Times)
11/ Steve Bannon was found guilty of criminal contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a subpoena for documents and testimony issued by the Jan. 6 committee. “Bannon did not testify in his own defense and faces a maximum of one year in prison for each of the two counts. He will not be detained pending sentencing, which is scheduled for Oct. 21.” (CBC News)
12/ The Jan. 6 committee said it’s prepared to consider subpoenaing Virginia Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, if she does not appear voluntarily. “The committee requested testimony from Thomas in June, around the same time as news reports of her communications with White House officials and informal advisers, namely Trump attorney John Eastman, about efforts to overturn the election began to proliferate.” (Politico)
13/ Trump’s top allies are preparing to radically reshape the federal government if he is re-elected. “Trump, in theory, could fire tens of thousands of career government officials with no recourse for appeals. He could replace them with people he believes are more loyal to him and to his ‘America First’ agenda. An initial estimate by the Trump official who came up with Schedule F found it could apply to as many as 50,000 federal workers — a fraction of a workforce of more than 2 million, but a segment with a profound role in shaping American life. The impact could go well beyond typical conservative targets such as the Environmental Protection Agency and the Internal Revenue Service. Trump allies are working on plans that would potentially strip layers at the Justice Department — including the FBI, and reaching into national security, intelligence, the State Department and the Pentagon.” (Axios – Part 1 / Axios – Part 2 / Government Executive)
poll/ 67% of Americans favor term limits for Supreme Court justices instead of life terms, including 82% of Democrats and 57% of Republicans. (Associated Press)
1/ Biden tested positive for Covid-19. The White House said Biden, who is vaccinated and received a second booster shot in March, has “very mild symptoms” and will “carry out all of his duties fully” while isolating and working remotely. Biden is receiving Paxlovid, an antiviral drug used to minimize the severity of Covid-19, for his fatigue, runny nose, and occasional dry cough. His physician, Kevin O’Connor, said he anticipates that Biden will “respond favorably, as most maximally protected patients do,” to the treatment. Jill Biden and Kamala Harris both tested negative. Biden, meanwhile, tweeted: “Folks, I’m doing great. Thanks for your concern.”
(Axios / New York Times / Associated Press / CNBC / ABC News)
2/ The Jan. 6 committee will hold the eighth and final hearing tonight at 8 p.m. Eastern. The prime-time hearing will focus on the 187 minutes that Trump failed to act on Jan. 6, 2021, but instead “gleefully” watched TV news coverage at the White House despite pleas from aides, allies, and family to call off the attack. The committee plans to argue that Trump was derelict in his duties for “refusing to act to defend the Capitol as a violent mob stormed the Capitol.” The panel will hear testimony from two Trump White House advisers — former deputy national security adviser Matthew Pottinger and former deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews – about what went on in the West Wing on Jan. 6, as well as recorded testimony from Pat Cipollone, the former White House counsel. (New York Times / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Washington Post)
3/ Trump had “extreme difficulty” with his taped speech the day after Jan. 6, refusing to say the election was over and attempted to call the rioters patriots. In a three-minute speech on Jan. 7, Trump reluctantly condemned the violence and went to great lengths to not accuse the rioters of any wrongdoing. Adam Schiff said Jan. 6 committee will share some of the outtakes during the hearing, saying the recording show “all of those who are urging [Trump] to say something to do something to stop the violence. You’ll hear the terrible lack of a response from the President, and you’ll hear more about how he was ultimately prevailed upon to say something and what he was willing to say and what he wasn’t.” (Washington Post / CNN)
4/ The Homeland Security inspector general knew in Feb. 2021, that the Secret Service had deleted text messages related to the Jan. 6 attack, but chose not to tell Congress. Starting Jan. 27 2021, the Secret Service began resetting phones used by agents as part of a preplanned, agency-wide device-replacement program – shortly after text messages from Jan. 5 and 6 were requested by the Jan. 6 committee and the House and Senate Homeland Security Committees investigating the agency’s response to the Capitol riot. According to the Secret Service, the Homeland Security Inspector General Joseph Cuffari first requested the text messages on Feb. 26, 2021, and was informed that they had been erased. Cuffari, however, claimed the messages were erased after asking for the records. Regardless, Cuffari didn’t notify the Jan. 6 committee until July 2022 that the messages had been erased. Cuffari, meanwhile, directed the Secret Service to stop its internal investigations into what happened to the deleted text messages, saying it could interfere with his own criminal investigation into the agency’s destruction of text messages. The months-long delay in disclosing that Secret Service records had been deleted was flagged by two whistleblowers who worked with Cuffari. [Editor’s note: This is such a sad clusterfuck.] (Washington Post / CNN / NBC News)
5/ New unemployment claims rose to the highest level in more than eight months as more companies announced job cuts over fears of a recession amid high inflation and rising interest rates. Jobless claims, however, are still close to their levels before the coronavirus pandemic. Home prices, meanwhile, hit an all-time high in June as the median sales price climbed to $416,000 – up 13.4% on the year and the highest since records began in 1999. Mortgage applications, however, fell for the third week in a row and are at their lowest level in 22 years. The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage hit 5.51% this week – up from 2.88% from a year earlier. And the European Central Bank raised interest rates by half a percentage point – its first increase in more than a decade and a bigger jump than expected – as it attempts to tame record high inflation. (Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / ABC News / The Hill)
6/ The House passed legislation to codify access to contraception nationwide with all but eight Republicans voting in opposition. The Right To Contraception Act would establish a federal right to purchase and use contraception without government restriction. The measure, however, is expected to fail in the evenly divided Senate, where the measure will need 60 votes to break a likely Republican filibuster. A federal appeals court panel, meanwhile, allowed a Georgia law banning abortions after about six weeks to go into effect. In the ruling, the panel wrote that the Supreme Court case that overturned Roe v. Wade “makes clear that no right to abortion exists under the Constitution, so Georgia may prohibit them.” The court’s opinion also referred to the health care providers who filed the lawsuit as “abortionists,” rather than “plaintiffs.” (NBC News / New York Times / Axios / Wall Street Journal)
poll/ 53% of Americans said they disapprove of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, while 30% approve. 60% want Congress to pass a law guaranteeing access to abortion nationwide. (Associated Press)
poll/ 57% of Americans blame Trump for the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. While 50% think Trump should be charged with crimes based on the evidence presented at the Jan. 6 committee hearings, 61% said they don’t think Trump will face any charges. (NPR)
poll/ 31% of American approve of the way Biden is handling his job, while 60% disapproved. 71% said they didn’t want Biden to seek a second term, while 64% said they didn’t want Trump run for president in 2024. (Quinnipiac)
1/ A bipartisan group of senators reached a deal to reform the 135-year-old Electoral Count Act that Trump and his allies tried to exploit as part of their attempt to overturn the 2020 election results. The legislation would clearly define the role of states, presidential electors, and the vice president in a presidential election to prevent the events of Jan. 6, 2021, from happening again. A second bill would increase penalties for threatening or intimidating election officials, as well as clarify how the Post Service should handle mail-in ballots. The proposal, however, still needs to be approved by both chambers and will need at least 10 Republican senators to break a filibuster. (Washington Post / Politico / NBC News / New York Times / NPR / CNN)
2/ Trump called Wisconsin’s Republican house speaker “within the last week” and urged him to decertify Biden’s 2020 election win in that state. Robin Vos said he received a call from Trump after the state Supreme Court ruled that most absentee ballot drop boxes in Wisconsin are illegal. “He would like us to do something different in Wisconsin,” Vos said. “I explained it’s not allowed under the Constitution. He has a different opinion.” (CNBC / CNN / Washington Post)
3/ The Trump administration tried to add a citizenship question to the census to help Republicans win elections, not to protect people’s voting rights, according to a report issued by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. The documents, which include drafts of internal memos and secret email communications between political appointees at the Commerce Department, contradict statements made under oath by then-Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, who claimed that the Trump administration wanted to add the question to enforce the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and that the citizenship question was unrelated to congressional apportionment. The Supreme Court in June 2019, however, ruled that the rationale “appears to have been contrived,” and a week later Trump abandoned his effort to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. (Washington Post / NPR / New York Times)
4/ Rudy Giuliani was ordered to testify before a special grand jury in Georgia investigating efforts to overturn Trump’s 2020 electoral loss in the state. Giuliani was subpoenaed earlier this month as a “material witness” by the grand jury called to investigate any “coordinated attempts to unlawfully alter the outcome of the 2020 elections.” The subpoena said Giuliani falsely claimed that there had been “widespread voter fraud” in the state. A New York judge ordered Giuliani to testify Aug. 9 after he failed to appear at a July 13 hearing to challenge the subpoena. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution / New York Times / NBC News / CNBC)
5/ Biden called climate change an “emergency,” a “clear and present danger,” and an “existential threat” but stopped short of a formal climate emergency declaration, which would unlock federal resources to address climate change. Instead, Biden announced a set of executive actions to expand off-shore wind power generation and provide $2.3 billion in funding for climate disaster preparedness and projects like cooling stations in places facing extreme heat. Biden said he’ll announce additional executive actions in the coming weeks if Congress doesn’t act. (Bloomberg / CNBC / Reuters / Politico / NBC News / USA Today / Washington Post / ABC News)
6/ About 105 million people in 28 states – nearly a third of America – are currently living under heat advisories and excessive heat warnings. More than 200 million people in the U.S. will experience highs exceeding 90 degrees for the next three days. (Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
poll/ 36% of Americans approve of the job Biden is doing as president – his lowest approval rating since taking office. Last month, Biden’s job approval stood at 40%. The 4 percentage-point drop from June to July is attributable to a 9-point decline among Democrats. In June, 84% of Democrats said they approved of the job Biden was doing compared to 75% in July. Meanwhile, 5% of Republicans and 28% of independents approve of the job Biden is doing – unchanged from a month ago. (NPR)
1/ Biden is reportedly planning to declare a national climate emergency in an effort to advance his environmental agenda that Joe Manchin has twice sabotaged. After Manchin torpedoed Democratic efforts to pass robust climate change legislation last week, Biden said he would take “strong executive action” on climate, but didn’t provide details. White House officials, however, said Biden will announce new steps to combat climate change on Wednesday, but will stop short of declaring a national emergency. The White House said Biden’s address will focus on “tackling the climate crisis and seizing the opportunity of a clean energy future to create jobs and lower costs for families.” An emergency declaration would unlock billions of federal dollars and give Biden broad executive powers to spend federal funds on clean energy projects, restrict oil drilling, and curb fossil fuel use. More than 100 million Americans are currently under heat advisories or warnings. The U.K., meanwhile, recorded its highest ever temperature for the second day in a row, prompting British officials to declare the first-ever “red” warning for extreme heat in England. (Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg / Associated Press / CNN / Politico)
2/ The House passed legislation to codify federal protections for same-sex marriage, including a requirement that states recognize valid marriages performed in other states. 47 Republicans joined all House Democrats in passing the Respect for Marriage Act, which would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and enshrine marriage equality into federal law. The bill also codifies the right to interracial marriage. Democratic leaders moved forward with the bill after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and suggested that the justices might revisit cases that legalized gay marriage and contraceptive rights. The legislation, however faces an uncertain future in the evenly divided Senate where it’ll need 10 Republican Senate votes to overcome the filibuster. (New York Times / Axios / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
3/ The Secret Service said it could not recover the deleted text messages related to the Jan. 6 attack. Homeland Security Inspector General Joseph Cuffari told the Jan. 6 committee last week that after requesting records of texts related to the Capitol attack he learned “many of these texts were erased as part of a device-replacement program.” Agents were instructed to upload any old text messages involving government business to an internal agency drive before the reset. Many agents, apparently, failed to do so. The National Archives, meanwhile, asked the Secret Service to investigate the “potential unauthorized deletion” of agency text messages. (Washington Post / NPR / NBC News)
4/ Trump’s former deputy national security adviser will testify publicly at Thursday’s Jan. 6 committee hearing. Matthew Pottinger was in the White House during the Capitol riot and resigned shortly after Trump tweeted that Pence should have had more courage. Trump White House deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews will also testify. Matthews also resigned on Jan. 6, 2021. Meanwhile, Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the committee, has Covid-19 and will miss Thursday’s prime-time hearing. (CNN / New York Times / ABC News)
5/ The Justice Department said its investigation into Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results will continue even if he runs for president again. Recent reports indicate that Trump might declare that he’s running again in the near future in an apparent attempt to shield himself from potential prosecution. Trump wouldn’t legally enjoy any special protections as a candidate for president. The Justice Department has also added prosecutors and resources to its investigation in recent weeks. (Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
poll/ 78% of Americans believe we will never be rid of Covid-19 in our lifetime. 29% of Americans, meanwhile, say the pandemic is over and 36% feel like most people around them have moved on from the pandemic, but they haven’t. (Ipsos)
poll/ 61% of Americans think Congress should do more to address global warming, while 52% think the president should do more, and 57% think their governor should do more. (New York Times)
poll/ 67% of voters say that Democratic candidates for Congress in their area aren’t paying enough attention to the country’s most important problems, while 31% say the candidates have the right priorities. Similarly, 65% of voters say that Republican candidates in their area aren’t paying enough attention to important national problems, with 33% saying that GOP candidates have the right priorities. (CNN)
1/ Joe Manchin abandoned negotiations with Democrats on an economic package that contained incentives to combat climate change and new taxes on the wealthy and corporations because he’s concerned about inflation. Instead, Manchin said he’s only willing to support legislation to lower prescription drugs costs and extend enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies, suggesting that Democrats wait until September to pursue a party-line climate and tax policy. Manchin killed Biden’s Build Back Better Act seven months ago, where Democrats in the evenly divided Senate needed all 50 members to pass the economic package by simple majority under budget reconciliation rules. Manchin’s latest de facto veto of Biden’s economic agenda follows the June inflation report, which showed annual inflation running at 9.1% – the worst in more than 40 years. Manchin claimed that he’s still open to a deal, but and wants to see July’s inflation numbers before deciding, saying he “believes it’s time for leaders to put political agendas aside, reevaluate and adjust to the economic realities the country faces to avoid taking steps that add fuel to the inflation fire.” Bernie Sanders, however, accused Manchin of “intentionally sabotaging” Biden’s agenda, saying the “problem was that we continued to talk to Manchin like he was serious. He was not.” Sanders added that Manchin is a “major recipient” of fossil fuel money and that he’s received campaign donations from “25 Republican billionaires.” With climate legislation tabled, the Biden administration’s goal to cut U.S. emissions by about 50% by the end of 2030 — 101 months from this August – is now in jeopardy. The climate package’s tax credits for wind and solar power, nuclear plants, biofuels, advanced energy manufacturing, and electric vehicles, would have cut global warming causing emissions by nearly 40% by 2030. When asked about the consequences of Congress failing to act on climate change, House Budget Committee Chairman John Yarmuth replied: “We’re all going to die.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Politico / NBC News / Axios / NBC News / CNN / Talking Points Memo / Washington Post)
How One Senator Doomed the Democrats’ Climate Plan. “Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia led his party and his president through months of tortured talks, with nothing to show for it as the planet dangerously heats up.” (New York Times)
The hidden absurdities behind Joe Manchin’s ugly new reversal. “The West Virginia Democrat reportedly told party leaders late Thursday that he won’t support any new incentives to combat climate change or any new tax hikes on corporations or the wealthy. The Post reports that in private talks, Manchin appeared close to a deal, only to renege at the last minute.” (Washington Post)
Mother Nature Dissents. “From Texas to California, voters are enduring rude wake-up calls about the future of our country.” (The Atlantic)
2/ The Jan. 6 committee subpoenaed the Secret Service for text messages from Jan. 5 and Jan. 6, 2021, after the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general told lawmakers that messages sent by agents on the day of the Capitol attack had been erased. The subpoena demands the production of records by July 19 – tomorrow. Adam Kinzinger, one of two Republicans sitting on the committee, said it was “quite crazy” if the Secret Service deleted the messages. On Thursday, the committee will hold a prime-time hearing that will detail how Trump did “nothing” to stop the riot at the Capitol as it was unfolding, but instead “gleefully watch television during this time frame.” Kinzinger said the session “is going to open people’s eyes in a big way.” (CBS News / Politico / Washington Post / USA Today / The Hill)
December 2020: Trump entertained fringe legal advice from a lawyer suggesting that he could declare “martial law” to overturn the election. William Olson’s plan included tampering with the Justice Department and firing the acting attorney general, according to the Dec. 28 memo he wrote, titled “Preserving Constitutional Order.” According to his memo, Olson urged Trump to force the Justice Department to intercede with the Supreme Court to reverse his electoral defeat. (New York Times / CNN)
Trump Tells Team He Needs to Be President Again to Save Himself from Criminal Probes. Trump has “spoken about how when you are the president of the United States, it is tough for politically motivated prosecutors to ‘get to you,” says one of the sources, who has discussed the issue with Trump this summer. “He says when [not if] he is president again, a new Republican administration will put a stop to the [Justice Department] investigation that he views as the Biden administration working to hit him with criminal charges — or even put him and his people in prison.” (Rolling Stone)
A criminal probe of Trump could complicate Jan. 6 cases. “But if the Department of Justice starts assertively mounting a criminal investigation of Trump, it could create delays in other Jan. 6-related trials because defense attorneys for hundreds of defendants could demand access to much of the evidence against Trump as part of the discovery process.” (Politico)
John Eastman loses emergency request to protect his phone data from DOJ investigators. “US District Judge Robert Brack rejected Eastman’s arguments for emergency help from the court in an opinion Friday. Eastman had asked the court to block federal investigators from using the contents of his phone in their probe.” (CNN)
3/ Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis sent target letters to several prominent Georgia Republicans warning them they could be indicted as part of her criminal investigation into Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia. State Senators Burt Jones and Brandon Beach, and David Shafer, the chairman of the Georgia Republican Party, all received letters. Jones and Shafer participated in a meeting at the state Capitol on Dec. 14, 2020, in which 16 pro-Trump Georgia Republicans selected themselves as the electors for the state despite having no legal basis for doing so. Willis also subpoenaed Georgia Republican Rep. Jody Hice to appear before the grand jury. (Yahoo News / New York Times / CNN / Newsweek)
4/ The White House abandoned plans to nominate an anti-abortion Republican to a lifetime appointment as a federal judge after Rand Paul scuttled Biden’s deal with Mitch McConnell to nominate Chad Meredith. Biden had planned to nominate Meredith in a purported deal with McConnell to stop obstructing other judicial nominees in the Senate. “In considering potential District Court nominees, the White House learned that Senator Rand Paul will not return a ‘blue slip’ on Chad Meredith,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said. “Therefore, the White House will not nominate Mr. Meredith.” (New York Times / CNN / Associated Press)
5/ Ted Cruz claimed the Supreme Court was “clearly wrong” and “overreaching” when it legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. Cruz’s remarks come weeks after Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas argued in his concurring Roe v. Wade opinion that the court “should reconsider” past rulings, including Obergefell v. Hodges, as well as opinions that protected the right to same-sex intimacy and contraception. The House is expected to vote this week on a measure to codify marriage equality into federal law and repeal the Defense of Marriage Act. On Friday, the House passed the Women’s Health Protection Act and the Ensuring Access to Abortion Act to codify Roe v. Wade into law and protect people who are forced to travel out of state to receive care. All three measures are expected to die by a Republican filibuster in the Senate. (NBC News / USA Today / Washington Post / CNN)
6/ All 208 House Republicans voted against investigating white supremacist and neo-Nazi activity in the military and federal law enforcement. Despite unanimous Republicans opposition, the amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act was passed in a 218-208 party-line vote. The “Schneider Amendment” orders the FBI, Homeland Security, and the Secretary of Defense to publish a report that sets out ways to combat white supremacist and neo-Nazi activity in the uniformed services and law enforcement agencies. Once the House passes the $840 billion military spending bill, it will head to the Senate where it will need some Republican support to muster the 60 votes necessary to move the measure through the evenly divided chamber. (New York Times / Vice News / The Hill / Newsweek / Common Dreams)
poll/ 38% of Americans approve of the job Biden is doing as president, with 62% disapproving. 12% strongly approve of the way Biden is handling the presidency compared with 43% who say they strongly disapprove of his work. (CNN)
1/ Texas sued the Biden administration over federal rules requiring physicians and hospitals to provide abortions in medical emergencies, even in states with near-total bans. In its lawsuit, Texas claimed that the new guidance “forces hospitals and doctors to commit crimes and risk their licensure under Texas law.” Earlier this week, the Biden administration said the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act pre-empts state laws that restrict abortion access in emergency situations. Attorney General Ken Paxton accused Biden of trying “to use federal law to transform every emergency room in the country into a walk-in abortion clinic.” (Politico / CNBC / Washington Post / New York Times)
2/ Indiana’s Republican attorney general is investigating the doctor who treated a 10-year-old rape victim from Ohio. Ohio bans abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, with no exceptions for rape or incest. The child was six weeks and three days into her pregnancy. Abortion in Indiana is banned after 22 weeks of pregnancy, with some exceptions for medical emergencies. Nevertheless, Attorney General Todd Rokita said “we’re gathering evidence” on Dr. Caitlin Bernard, who he called an “abortion activist acting as a doctor.” Meanwhile, a Republican Senator blocked a Democratic request to unanimously pass a bill seeking to protect interstate travel for abortion. The Freedom to Travel for Health Care Act of 2022 would also protect health care providers who provide abortions to out-of-state patients. James Lankford objected to the request, claiming that the conversation is “not just about the right to travel and the right to health care it’s deeper than that, it’s the right to live.” (Politico / NBC News / The Hill / CNN)
3/ Trump tried to call a member of the White House support staff involved in the Jan. 6 committee investigation of the Capitol insurrection. Trump allegedly made the call after former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson testified about his conduct leading up to Jan. 6. The staffer that Trump tried to contact was in a position to corroborate part of what Hutchinson had said under oath. The Jan. 6 committee, meanwhile, is reportedly discussing whether to seek an interview with Pence and Trump. (CNN / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
4/ The Secret Service erased text messages from Jan. 5 and 6, 2021, shortly after oversight officials investigating the agency’s response requested the electronic communications. The Secret Service said the text messages were erased as a result of a “device-replacement program.” (The Intercept / CNN)
5/ Steve Bannon – again – lost his bid to delay his trial on criminal contempt of Congress charges. A federal judge said Bannon’s trial can start as scheduled next week. Bannon’s attorneys had argued that the publicity ahead of the trial raised the risk of prejudice against him among the jurors to be selected to hear his case. Judge Carl Nichols, however, rejected the arguments, saying the court would question potential jurors to determine whether a fair jury could be seated. (Wall Street Journal / Associated Press / CNBC)
poll/ 1% of 18-to-29-year-olds strongly approve of the job Biden is doing as president. 94% of Democrats under 30 said they wanted someone other than Biden to run for president in 2024. 46% of young voters favored Democratic control of Congress, while 28% wanted Republicans to take charge. (New York Times)
1/ Inflation climbed to 9.1% in June compared with a year earlier – the biggest 12-month increase in 40 years. On a monthly basis, the consumer price index jumped 1.3% from May to June, after prices had jumped 1% from April to May. While average wages in June were 5.1% higher than a year ago, energy prices rose by 41.6%, groceries were up 12.2%, and shelter costs were up 5.6% over the year. Further, average inflation-adjusted incomes fell 1% for the month and were down 3.6% from June 2021 to June 2022. The Federal Reserve’s beige book, a summary of the commentary on current economic conditions, reported that businesses “noted concerns over an increased risk of a recession” and that discretionary spending is showing signs of slowing due to higher gasoline and food prices. The Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 0.75 percentage points last month – the largest increase since 1994. Accelerated inflation, however, may require the Fed to consider a historic one percentage point rate hike later this month to slow the economy and restrain inflation. “Everything is in play,” Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic said. (Politico / NPR / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / CNBC / Bloomberg / New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Associated Press)
The inflation numbers are bad, but how bad are they? “Although many economists say inflation will stay at high levels at least through the end of the year, there are some signs that prices could be moderating.” (Vox)
Just how high is the risk of another recession? “Inflation is at a 40-year high. Stock prices are sinking. The Federal Reserve has just made borrowing even costlier. And the economy actually shrank in the first three months of this year.” (Associated Press)
Five charts explaining why inflation is at a 40-year high. “Persistent supply chain backlogs and high consumer demand for goods have kept prices elevated. More recently, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has strained global energy markets and sent the national average for a gallon of gas above $5 last month.” (Washington Post)
7 takeaways from a hot inflation number. (New York Times)
Inflation surge challenges Democrats’ economic plans. “The party is running out of time on prescription-drug, climate and tax proposals.” (Wall Street Journal)
2/ The FDA authorized the use of Novavax’s Covid-19 vaccine for adults. The Novavax protein-based Covid vaccine is given in two doses, administered 21 days apart. The Biden administration has secured an initial 3.2 million doses, enough to fully vaccinate 1.6 million people in the U.S. (NBC News / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
3/ The Senate approved Biden’s nominee to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. Steven Dettelbach is only the second Senate-confirmed director in the agency’s history. (Politico)
4/ Lindsey Graham asked a federal judge to revoke a subpoena issued by a Georgia grand jury investigating criminal interference in the 2020 election by Trump. The subpoena for Graham’s testimony says that he made at least two calls to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger about “reexamining certain absentee ballots cast in Georgia in order to explore the possibility of a more favorable outcome for former President Donald Trump.” Graham’s lawyers argued that “no extraordinary circumstances exist for compelling his testimony” and “sovereign immunity prohibits enforcement of the state court process on him as a federal officer.” (CNBC)
poll/ 18% of Americans say Biden should run for reelection in 2024, while 64% say he should not run. Among Democrats 41% say Biden should pass on a second term while 35% say he should pursue one. (Yahoo News)
poll/ 41% of voters want Democrats to control Congress following the 2022 midterms, compared with 40% who would prefer Republicans control Congress. (New York Times)
poll/ 53% of voters say America’s political system is too divided politically to solve the nation’s problems, while 41% believe the current system can still work. 58% say American democracy needs major reforms or a complete overhaul. (New York Times)
1/ In its seventh public hearing, the Jan. 6 committee detailed how divisions between White House lawyers and outside advisers pressing Trump to pursue election fraud conspiracy claims exploded into an “unhinged” meeting that featured screaming, personal insults, accusations of disloyalty, and a challenge to physically fight. Rep. Jamie Raskin said “the meeting has been called, quote, ‘unhinged,’ ‘not normal,’ and the ‘craziest meeting of the Trump presidency.’” Arguments during the Dec. 18, 2020, meeting broke out over Rudy Giuliani, Michael Flynn, Sidney Powell, and former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne urging Trump to declare a national emergency, take voting machines from states, and name Powell as a special counsel to pursue baseless claims of fraud – all in an effort to remain in office. Former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone recalled “pushing back” on the group by asking them to provide evidence that the election was fraudulent, but they showed a “general disregard for the importance of actually backing up what you say.” Former White House lawyer Eric Herschmann added that at one point he challenged Flynn to a fight as Flynn berating the White House attorneys for being “quitters” and not fighting hard enough for Trump. Herschmann said the group had suggested that Venezuela had meddled with the election and that internet-connected thermostats were changing votes. Cipollone added that he “was not happy to see the people in the Oval Office […] I don’t think any of these people were providing the president with good advice and I didn’t understand how they had gotten in.” The meeting lasted over six hours, beginning in the Oval Office and ending in Trump’s private residence. Hours later, Trump turned to riling up his supporters, tweeting for them to come to Washington and protest the Jan. 6 electoral vote count. “Be there, will be wild!” (Bloomberg / NPR / New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / Politico / CNBC / CNN)
2/ The Jan. 6 committee notified the Justice Department that Trump contacted one of its witnesses who hasn’t publicly testified yet. “After our last hearing, President Trump tried to call a witness in our investigation, a witness you have not yet seen in these hearings,” Liz Cheney said. “That person declined to answer or respond to President Trump’s call and instead alerted their lawyer to the call. Their lawyer alerted us.” It’s not the first time the panel has warned of potential attempts at tampering. In one phone call, according to the committee, a witness was told to be a “team player” and would remain in “good graces in Trump world” if they demonstrate that they were “protecting who I need to protect.” The Justice Department has the power to prosecute Trump if it determines he tampered with a congressional witness. “President Trump is a 76-year-old man, he is not an impressionable child,” Cheney said. “Just like everyone else in our country, he is responsible for his own actions and his own choices.” (Axios / New York Times / CNBC / Associated Press / Washington Post)
3/ The Biden administration told hospitals that they “must” provide women access to abortions in emergencies, even in states that have banned the procedure following the Supreme Court’s decision to end a constitutional right to abortion. The Department of Health and Human Services cited federal law that health emergencies take priority over state laws banning abortion. “Under the law, no matter where you live, women have the right to emergency care — including abortion care,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said. “Today, in no uncertain terms, we are reinforcing that we expect providers to continue offering these services, and that federal law preempts state abortion bans when needed for emergency care.” The Justice Department also announced that it’s launching a “reproductive rights task force” to prevent overreach from state and local governments seeking to impose new bans on access. Democrats in Congress, meanwhile, plan to vote this week on legislation that would protect the right to travel for abortion services and explicitly give health care providers the right to provide abortion services and patients the right to obtain them. The bills, however, are all but certain to fail in the Senate where Democrats lack the 60 votes required to break a Republican filibuster. (NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times / Associated Press)
Voters in Michigan will have the opportunity to vote on the Reproductive Freedom for All amendment this November. The initiative, if certified and passed, could enshrine permanent protections into the state’s constitution for abortion and other reproductive health services including miscarriage management, birth control, prenatal care, and in-vitro fertilization. (Politico)
A judge in Minnesota struck down several state laws restricting access to abortions. State District Judge Thomas Gilligan said the “laws violate the right to privacy because they infringe upon the fundamental right under the Minnesota Constitution to access abortion care and do not withstand strict scrutiny,” adding: “The parental notification law violates the guarantee of equal protection for the same reasons. The informed consent law also violates the right to free speech under the Minnesota Constitution, because it is misleading and confusing, and does not withstand intermediate scrutiny. Accordingly, this court is declaring those laws unconstitutional.” (NBC News)
4/ Biden still plans to nominate an anti-abortion Republican to a lifetime appointment as a federal judge in Kentucky despite several Senate Democrats promising to vote against Chad Meredith’s confirmation. While Biden has not formally nominated Meredith, the White House informed Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear’s office in a June 23 email. Biden’s plan to nominate Meredith is purported to be part of a deal with Mitch McConnell to stop obstructing other judicial nominees in the deadlocked Senate. (HuffPost / USA Today)
5/ The Biden administration is working on a plan to allow a second Covid-19 booster shot to all adults, pending federal agency approval. Currently, a second booster shot is available only to those 50 and older or those 12 and older who are immunocompromised. BA.5 Omicron subvariant has recently become dominant the variant in the U.S., accounting for more than 60% of all new infections. Antibodies from vaccines and previous coronavirus infections offer limited protection against BA.5. (Washington Post / CNN / New York Times)
6/ Jill Biden apologized for comparing the Latino community to breakfast tacos. “The diversity of this community – distinct as the bodegas of the Bronx, as beautiful as the blossoms of Miami, and as unique as the breakfast tacos here in San Antonio – is your strength,” Biden said in a speech. “And yet, it’s when you speak with one voice – unidos – that you find your power.” Biden also mispronounced the Spanish word “bodegas” in that line of the speech. The National Association of Hispanic Journalists, meanwhile, responded: “We are not tacos […] Do not reduce us to stereotypes.” (Dallas Morning News / Business Insider / ABC News / Politico)
poll/ 49% of Republican voters said they would support Trump in the 2024 election, while 25% said they would vote for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. (New York Times)
1/ A federal judge refused to delay Stephen Bannon’s trial on charges of criminal contempt of Congress. After refusing to cooperate with a congressional subpoena from the Jan. 6 committee for nearly nine months, Bannon informed the panel over the weekend that he was willing to testify. Bannon’s reversal came after he suggested that Trump had “waived” his claim of executive privilege and permitted him to testify. Prosecutors, however, disclosed Monday that Trump’s attorney Justin Clark told them Trump “never invoked executive privilege over any particular information or materials” and that Bannon’s lawyer “misrepresented to the committee what the former president’s counsel had told the defendant’s attorney.” The Justice Department told the federal judge that Bannon’s last-minute offer to testify was a “last-ditch attempt to avoid accountability” and “irrelevant” to whether he will be prosecuted for contempt. Bannon’s trial is set to begin July 18 on two counts of criminal contempt. (Washington Post / Bloomberg / CNN / Politico / The Guardian / New York Times / NBC News / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal)
Former Attorney General William Barr was subpoenaed in a $1.6 billion defamation suit brought against Fox News by the voting-machine company falsely accused of rigging the 2020 election. “Dominion Voting Systems Inc. is seeking sworn testimony from Barr, who served as former President Donald Trump’s attorney general, court filings show. Barr contradicted Trump about a month after the election by telling the Associated Press that the Justice Department had found no evidence of widespread voter fraud that would have changed the result.” (Bloomberg)
2/ A Fulton County judge ordered Lindsey Graham to testify before the special grand jury in Georgia that’s investigating Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election. Judge Robert McBurney described Graham as a “necessary and material witness” to the grand jury and ordered him to testify on Aug. 2. The grand jury wants to hear about two phone calls allegedly made by Graham to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger asking him to begin “reexamining certain absentee ballots cast in Georgia in order to explore the possibility of a more favorable outcome for former President Donald Trump.” (WSB-TV Atlanta / Reuters)
3/ The FDA is reviewing its first-ever application for an over-the-counter birth control pill – more than 60 years after the hormone-based pills were approved by the FDA. They have always required a prescription. HRA Pharma officials said they expect an FDA decision in about 10 months – typical for over-the-counter applications – meaning it could take until mid-2023 for Opill to be on shelves. Meanwhile, Biden called the Supreme Court “out of control” and its decision to overturn the constitutional right to abortion “an exercise in raw political power.” He then signed an executive order that aims to ensure the safety of abortion patients and providers, as well as access to the procedure through mobile clinics near the borders of states that restrict access. (Politico / New York Times / NBC News / CNBC / Associated Press)
4/ The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that most ballot drop boxes aren’t allowed in the state – one month before the state’s primary elections. The court also ruled that voters are required to physically return their own absentee ballots – meaning, a voter can’t have someone else return their completed absentee ballot on their behalf. (NPR)
5/ The latest Omicron subvariant has quickly become dominant in the U.S., according to the CDC. In the U.S., BA.5 now accounts for about 54% of all Covid-19 infections. BA.5 is highly transmissible and manages to at least partially skip past some of the immune defenses acquired through prior infections and vaccinations. (NPR / The Atlantic / Washington Post)
poll/ 64% of Democratic voters want someone other than Biden to run for president in 2024, while 26% say they’d prefer Biden to be their party’s candidate. Of the 64% of respondents who want a different Democratic candidate, 33% cited Biden’s age as the reason. At 79, Biden is the oldest president in U.S. history. In hypothetical matchup, however, Biden beats Trump 44% to 41%. (New York Times / Bloomberg)
poll/ 33% of voters say Biden deserves reelection, while 67% say Biden doesn’t deserve a second term. (Gallup)
1/ Federal Reserve officials expressed concern that elevated inflation posed a “significant risk” of becoming “entrenched” in the economy. According to minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee’s June meeting, officials said inflation had become “more persistent than they had previously anticipated,” emphasizing the need to raise interest rates faster and to levels high enough to slow economic growth and control cost-of-living increases running at their highest levels since 1981 – even if it meant causing a recession. In June, officials voted to raise their benchmark rate 0.75 percentage point, the largest increase since 1994. Members said the July meeting would likely result in another .50 or .75 percentage point increase, and warned “that an even more restrictive stance could be appropriate if elevated inflation pressures were to persist.” (Bloomberg / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / CNBC)
2/ The number of open U.S. jobs fell to 11.3 million in May – down from 11.6 million in April. While it was the second straight monthly decline in open positions, there were 5.95 million people unemployed in May – meaning there were nearly two available jobs for every unemployed person in the U.S. The unemployment rate in May was 3.6%, slightly above where it was before the pandemic. New applications for unemployment benefits, however, rose to 235,000 last week from 231,000 the week before. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / CNBC)
3/ Senate Democrats reached an agreement with Joe Manchin to raise taxes on some high earners to keep Medicare from going bankrupt. The plan – effectively a slimmed-down version of the Build Back Better Act that Manchin scuttled last year over fears of rising inflation – would impose taxes on certain income from pass-through businesses. The tax is expected to raise about $203 billion over a decade, which would be used to sustain Medicare’s key trust fund until 2031. The fund is currently projected to start running out of money in 2028. Democrats expect to submit the text of the legislation to the Senate’s parliamentarian in the next few days. If it complies with the chamber’s budget rules, Democrats could avoid a Republican filibuster and pass the provision with just 50 votes. (NBC News / Bloomberg / Washington Post / ABC News / Associated Press)
4/ The IRS audited former FBI Director James Comey and former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe. Trump fired Comey in 2017 while he oversaw the FBI’s investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia. Less than a year later, McCabe was similarly terminated after investigating Trump over the Comey firing. Out of about 153 million individual tax returns filed in 2017, about 5,000 people were selected for this type of audit – or about 1 in 30,600. The IRS, meanwhile, asked the Treasury Department’s inspector general for tax administration to look into how two perceived enemies of Trump came to be faced with rare, exhaustive audits that the agency says are supposed to be random. (New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post)
📌 [Day 110]: Trump fired James Comey on the recommendation of Jeff Sessions. In a letter dated Tuesday to Comey, Trump concurred “with the judgment of the Department of Justice that [Comey is not] able to effectively lead the bureau.” Earlier today, the FBI notified Congress that Comey misstated key findings involving the Clinton email investigation during testimony, saying that only a “small number” of emails had been forwarded to disgraced congressman Anthony Weiner, not the “hundreds and thousands” he’d claimed in his testimony. The move sweeps away the man who is responsible for the investigation into whether members of Trump’s campaign team colluded with Russia in its interference in last year’s election. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein laid out the reasons for Comey’s firing, arguing that the handling of his investigation into Clinton’s private server, his decision not to recommend charges be filed, and the news conference he held to explain his reasoning were the cause of his dismissal. Democrats reacted with shock and alarm, accusing Trump of ousting the FBI director to escape scrutiny over his campaign’s Russia ties. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer urged deputy Rosenstein to appoint a special prosecutor for the federal probe into the Trump campaign’s ties with Russian officials — warning that failing to do so will lead the public to “rightly suspect” that Comey’s surprise firing “was part of a cover-up.”
📌 [Day 670]: Trump wanted to order the Justice Department in April to prosecute Hillary Clinton and James Comey. The White House counsel at the time, Don McGahn, pushed back, saying Trump had no authority to order a prosecution, and that while he could request an investigation, that could prompt accusations of abuse of power.
1/ Trump White House counsel Pat Cipollone agreed to testify after receiving a subpoena from the Jan. 6 committee. Cipollone will sit for a videotaped, transcribed interview behind closed doors on Friday. He is not expected to testify publicly. Former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson’s testified last month that Cipollone repeatedly tried to prevent Trump from encouraging his supporters to march to the Capitol on Jan. 6. Hutchinson also testified that Cipollone had warned in the days leading up to the attack that Trump and his aides could be charged with “every crime imaginable” if Trump joined protesters at the Capitol. The committee scheduled its seventh hearing for July 12 at 10 a.m. ET. House Republicans, meanwhile, threatened to subpoena unspecified records of the Jan. 6 committee in retaliation if the GOP retakes the majority next year. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / ABC News / Axios / Bloomberg / CNN)
2/ Lindsey Graham will challenge the subpoena from a special grand jury in Georgia investigating Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election in the state. In a statement, Graham’s attorneys said the subpoena for his testimony is “all politics” and that Graham “plans to go to court, challenge the subpoena, and expects to prevail.” Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ special grand jury wants to hear from Graham because he allegedly made two calls to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and his staff following the election “about reexamining certain absentee ballots cast in Georgia in order to explore the possibility of a more favorable outcome for former President Donald Trump.” (NBC News / CNN)
3/ Biden planned to nominate an anti-abortion Republican to a lifetime appointment as a federal judge in Kentucky the day before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. In an email dated June 23, the White House informed Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s office that Chad Meredith was “to be nominated tomorrow” to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky. The next day the Supreme Court overturned Roe, effectively banning abortion in Kentucky because of its trigger law. While Meredith’s nomination was never announced or submitted by the White House, there has been no indication it has been rescinded either. The nomination was reportedly part of a deal with Mitch McConnell to stop holding up Biden’s other judicial nominations. (Courier Journal / CNN / Wall Street Journal / The Guardian)
4/ The seven states that make up the Colorado River Basin have less than 60 days to come up with a plan to significantly reduce their collective water consumption in the next 18 months or risk a potential collapse of the Colorado River system. Climate change and a two-decade-long drought have diminished river flows and reservoir water levels by about 20%. Scientists estimate that one-third of that loss can be attributed to warmer temperatures. As a result, the Bureau of Reclamation ordered Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Wyoming, Nevada, California, and Arizona to cut their water usage by 2 to 4 million acre-feet in 2023 — which amounts to more than Arizona’s entire annual usage. Under the terms of the 1922 Colorado River Compact, the Upper Basin is made up of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming, while the Lower Basin consists of Arizona, California, and Nevada and Mexico. Each basin has rights to 7.5 million acre-feet of water, with an additional 1.5 million acre-feet of water for Mexico. While the upper basin has never come close to using its full share of the water over the past century – using roughly 3.5 million acre-feet annually – the lower basin by some estimates uses more than 8.5 million acre-feet annually. Associated laws and agreements predetermine what happens at various stages of water shortages, and under a 2007 agreement, any shortages in supply would be borne by Arizona and Nevada first. The Bureau of Reclamation gave the states until Aug. 16 to figure out a path to conservation before the Bureau would take unilateral action to protect the system. (Politico / Water Desk)
5/ The Biden administration announced plans to “fix” the “broken” federal student loan system. The proposal would update protections for students defrauded by for-profit schools, overhaul of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, changes how interest accrues on some loans. The public has 30 days to comment on the Education Department’s proposals, and the final rules will go into effect no later than July 1, 2023. As many as 40 million Americans could be impacted by the changes. (CNBC / Wall Street Journal)
6/ Covid-19 was the third leading cause of death in the U.S. in 2020 and 2021, trailing heart disease and cancer. Between March 2020 and October 2021, Covid-19 accounted for one in every eight deaths and ranked in the top five causes of death for every age group of people older than 15 years. (JAMA Internal Medicine / Axios / Ars Technica)
poll/ 54% of Americans feel their lives are somewhat the same as it was before the pandemic, while 34% think their lives are not the same. (New York Times)
poll/ 54% of Texas voters oppose the state’s trigger law automatically banning abortions, while 37% support the trigger law. 15% of Texas voters said “abortion should never be permitted.” (University of Texas/Texas Politics Project Poll)
poll/ 57% of Americans disapprove of the Supreme Court’s decisions to overturn Roe v. Wade, while 41% approve. 52% of adults in states that have new restrictions on abortion or where prohibitions are set to soon take effect disapprove of the court’s decision, while 47% approve. 62% of Americans say abortion should be legal in all or most cases – largely unchanged since before the court’s decision. (Pew Research Center)
1/ At least seven people were killed in a shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, during a Fourth of July parade, and more than 30 people were injured. The suspected gunman, Robert “Bobby” Crimo III, had “preplanned this attack for several weeks” and disguised himself as a woman in an attempt to conceal his identity after firing more than 70 bullets from a rooftop using a “high-powered” rifle similar to an AR-15, officials said. Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli said that after Crimo fired into the crowd, he dropped his rifle and escaped with the crowd “almost as if he was an innocent spectator,” before walking to his mother’s home and borrowing a vehicle. Police discovered a second rifle inside the car. Both rifles had been legally purchased in the Chicago area. The shooting came a week and a half after Biden signed the most significant gun measure to pass Congress in nearly three decades. (NPR / CNN / New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal)
2/ The New York State Legislature passed a measure to enshrine the right to an abortion and access to contraception in the State Constitution. If fully enacted, the Equal Rights Amendment would explicitly add protections for New Yorkers to access abortion care. Amending the State Constitution requires passage by two separately elected Legislatures, and then approval by voters in a referendum. Florida’s ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, meanwhile, is back in effect after a state court judge blocked it earlier today. And in Ohio, a 10-year-old rape victim was denied an abortion. With the state’s trigger law banning abortions after six weeks in effect, the girl – who was six weeks and three days pregnant – had to travel to Indiana for the medical procedure. Biden, meanwhile, predicted that some states will try to arrest women for crossing state lines to get an abortion. “People are gonna be shocked when the first state […] tries to arrest a woman for crossing a state line to get health services,” Biden said. He added: “And I don’t think people believe that’s gonna happen. But it’s gonna happen, and it’s gonna telegraph to the whole country that this is a gigantic deal that goes beyond; I mean, it affects all your basic rights”. (New York Times / Bloomberg / Indianapolis Star / The Guardian / Reuters / The Hill / Business Insider / Politico)
A new Supreme Court case is the biggest threat to US democracy since January 6. “Moore v. Harper is a grave threat to US democracy, and the fate of that democracy probably comes down to Amy Coney Barrett.” (Vox)
The Supreme Court’s next target is the executive branch. “There are many ways for the conservative court to rein in federal agencies, and while there may not be a clear consensus on precisely which of those avenues to take at any given moment, one way or another, federal agencies exerting broad-based powers are already losing — and are almost certainly going to keep losing.” (Axios)
3/ Liz Cheney, the Jan. 6 committee’s vice chair, suggested that the panel could make “more than one criminal referral” to the Justice Department over Trump’s role in the attack on the Capitol. While bringing charges against a former president would be unprecedented and “difficult” for the country, not doing so would support a “much graver constitutional threat,” Cheney said. Adam Kinzinger, meanwhile, said that new witnesses have come forward since Cassidy Hutchinson testified. (Washington Post / ABC News / Associated Press)
4/ A Georgia grand jury subpoenaed Rudy Giuliani, Lindsey Graham, and five others as part of an investigation into Trump’s potential criminal interference in the 2020 presidential election. In addition to Giuliani and Graham, those being summoned to provide testimony include John Eastman, Cleta Mitchell, Kenneth Chesebro, and Jenna Ellis, who all advised Trump on ways to overturn Biden’s wins in Georgia and several other swing states. The special grand jury also issued a subpoena to Jacki Pick Deason, a podcaster who also supported Trump’s efforts to overturn the election. The grand jury, citing Giuliani’s December 2020 testimony claiming to have evidence of widespread voter fraud, believes Giuliani “possesses unique knowledge concerning communications between himself, former President Trump, the Trump Campaign, and other known and unknown individuals involved in the multi-state, coordinated efforts to influence the results of the November 2020 election in Georgia and elsewhere.” (Atlanta Journal-Constitution / Washington Post / Bloomberg / New York Times / CNBC / CNN)
poll/ 61% of voters don’t want Trump to run in 2024. 36% called Trump too erratic, 33% said he will divide America, and 30% said Trump is responsible for Jan. 6, 2021. (Harvard Center for American Political Studies and Harris)
poll/ 27% of Americans express “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in U.S. institutions – an all-time low. (Gallup)
poll/ 42% of Americans say they are struggling financially – up 18 points since last year. (Monmouth University)
1/ The Supreme Court restricted the EPA’s ability to limit greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants, dealing a major blow to Biden’s efforts to fight climate change and shift the nation’s energy production toward renewable sources. In its 6-3 ruling, the Supreme Court said the Clean Air Act doesn’t give EPA the authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants that contribute to global warming, writing that “a decision of such magnitude and consequence rests with Congress itself, or an agency acting pursuant to a clear delegation from that representative body.” In dissent, the court’s three liberal justices wrote that the majority had stripped the EPA of “the power to respond to the most pressing environmental challenge of our time.” Congress, meanwhile, hasn’t passed major climate legislation since the cap-and-trade bill, which died in the Senate in 2010. Biden called the ruling “another devastating decision that aims to take our country backwards,” accusing the court’s conservative majority of siding “with special interests that have waged a long-term campaign to strip away our right to breathe clean air.” Biden came into office with the most ambitious climate agenda of any president, pledging to cut the country’s pollution in half by 2030 and to have an emissions-free power sector by 2035. The Supreme Court decision, however, will likely limit Biden’s ability to use other departments and regulators to address climate change. The U.S. is the world’s largest historic emitter of greenhouse gases, and fossil fuel-fired power plants are the second-largest source of pollution in the U.S. behind transportation. Richard Lazarus, a professor of environmental law at Harvard, said “the court’s ruling is a major setback for EPA’s ability to address climate change, and it could hardly have come at a worse time,” and that the Biden administration is “running out of options right now.” (New York Times / Washington Post / NPR / Politico / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / Associated Press / NBC News / CBS News / CNN / CNBC)
2/ Biden called for eliminating the Senate filibuster to codify Roe v. Wade into law and federally protect access to abortion. “We have to codify Roe v. Wade in the law, and the way to do that is to make sure the Congress votes to do that,” Biden said. “And if the filibuster gets in the way, it’s like voting rights, we provide an exception for this, or an exception to the filibuster for this action.” Biden condemned the “outrageous behavior” of the Supreme Court, which overturned Roe v. Wade and revoked the constitutional right to abortion last week, saying the decision is “destabilizing” the country. The filibuster rule could be changed with a simple majority vote, but two Democrats – Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema – remain opposed to eliminating or making an exception to the Senate’s rule. Mitch McConnell, meanwhile, publicly praised his decision to block Obama from filling a Supreme Court vacancy after conservative Justice Antonin Scalia died in 2016, calling it his “single-most consequential decision.” McConnell’s refusal to consider Merrick Garland’s nomination 11 months before Trump took office cleared the way for Trump put Justice Neil Gorsuch on the bench – his first of three conservative appointees to the Supreme Court. (Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg / Politico / CNN / Wall Street Journal / Axios)
3/ Clarence Thomas cited a debunked claim that all Covid-19 vaccines are derived from the cells of “aborted children.” To be clear, none of the Covid-19 vaccines in the U.S. contain the cells of aborted fetuses. Thomas nevertheless made the baseless assertion in a dissenting opinion in a case that the Supreme Court declined to hear regarding New York’s coronavirus vaccine requirement for health care workers that doesn’t include a religious exemption. (Politico / NBC News)
4/ The Supreme Court agreed to hear a case promoting a controversial legal theory that state legislatures – not state courts – have the authority to decide how federal elections are conducted. Republican legislators in North Carolina are challenging a state Supreme Court ruling that threw out a voting map drawn by the GOP-controlled legislature that would give Republicans 10 safe seats out of 14 total. The court said the map was excessively partisan and violated the state constitution. At issue is a legal theory, known as the “independent state legislature theory,” that would give state legislatures sole authority to set the rules for federal elections – even if their actions violated state constitutions. Under the strongest form of this doctrine, state constitutions would cease to provide any constraint on state lawmakers, state courts would lose their power to strike down anti-democratic laws, and state governors would lose the power to veto new state election laws. The outcome could fundamentally change the way federal elections are conducted and have enormous impact on the 2024 election. (NPR / Washington Post / Politico / Vox / NBC News / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
5/ The Jan. 6 committee issued a subpoena to former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone to testify. Cipollone has been mentioned in each of the Jan. 6 committee’s six hearings often at key moments before, during, and after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Earlier this week, former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson testified about efforts to stop Trump from making a planned trip to the Capitol on Jan. 6. “Mr. Cipollone said something to the effect of ‘Please make sure we don’t go up to the Capitol, Cassidy. Keep in touch with me. We’re going to get charged with every crime imaginable if we make that movement happen.’” (New York Times / NPR / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
poll/ 66% of Americans believe Trump tried to overturn the 2020 election results and he should be prosecuted for it. (The Hill / Associated Press)
1/ Virginia Thomas – the conservative activist and wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas – told the Jan. 6 committee she saw no reason testify. In an eight-page letter to the committee, her attorney said he wants “a better justification for why Mrs. Thomas’s testimony is relevant” before she’ll comply with the request to talk about her role in seeking to reverse Trump’s 2020 election loss. “Mrs. Thomas is eager to clear her name and is willing to appear before the Committee to do so,” her lawyer, Mark Paoletta, wrote. “However, […] I am asking the Committee to provide a better justification for why Mrs. Thomas’s testimony is relevant to the Committee’s legislative purpose.” Paoletta noted that it’s “been a particularly stressful time” amid the Supreme Court rulings to eliminate the constitutional right to an abortion and expand gun rights. Thomas exchanged text messages with Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff at the time, urging him to challenge Biden’s victory. The committee also obtained emails between Thomas and John Eastman, the lawyer who promoted the legal strategy that Pence could block or delay the Electoral College certification on Jan. 6, 2021. (Daily Caller / New York Times / NBC News / Politico / Washington Post)
John Eastman dropped his lawsuit that tried to block the Jan. 6 committee from getting his call logs after the committee made clear “that they were not seeking the content” of Eastman’s communications – only the call logs from his carrier, Verizon. (NBC News)
2/ Harris called for abortion-rights supporters “to stand together” and “win the midterms,” but declined to support the idea of term limits for Supreme Court justices. “We cannot underestimate the significance of the upcoming elections and the need for all people who care about this issue to understand that we have to have a pro-choice Congress” to pass a law codifying abortion rights, Harris said, mentioning Senate races in Georgia, North Carolina, and Colorado. Republicans, however, are expected to take control of the House, and possibly the Senate, in the 2022 midterms. Nancy Pelosi, meanwhile, met with Pope Francis and received Communion despite the church’s strong opposition to abortion. (NPR / Associated Press)
3/ Consumer spending was weaker in early 2022 than previously reported, suggesting that the economy is on weaker footing than previously thought. According to new Commerce Department data, spending, adjusted for inflation, increased 0.5% in the first three months of the year – down from the government’s earlier estimate of 0.8% growth. In the final quarter of 2021, spending grew 0.6%. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, meanwhile, said he was more concerned about stamping out high inflation than about the possibility of raising interest rates too high and pushing the economy into a recession. “There’s no guarantee” the Fed can bring down inflation without causing a recession, Powell said, adding that “the process is highly likely to involve some pain.” (New York Times / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / NBC News)
4/ Justice Stephen Breyer will retire from the Supreme Court tomorrow, ending a nearly three-decade tenure and clearing the way for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to be sworn in. Jackson – the court’s first Black female justice – will be sworn in immediately after Breyer’s official retirement. (Politico / Washington Post)
poll/ 85% of Americans say the country is on the wrong track, and 79% describe the economy as poor. 39% of Americans approve of the job Biden is doing as president, while 60% disapprove. (Associated Press)
1/ Trump knew some of his supporters were armed when he directed them to march on the Capitol on Jan. 6, according to Cassidy Hutchinson, a former top aide to then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. Hutchinson, testifying before the Jan. 6 committee, said that both Trump and Meadows ignored warnings about potential violence on Jan. 6, that they both wanted Trump to join the march to the Capitol, and days before the insurrection Meadows told her “things might get real, real bad” at the Capitol. Hutchinson also detailed how, minutes before he took the stage at the Ellipse on Jan. 6, Trump insisted that Secret Service remove the metal detectors to allow his supporters armed with rifles, pistols, knives, brass knuckles, and other weapons into the rally, saying “‘I don’t f-ing care that they have weapons. They’re not here to hurt me […] Let my people in. They can march to the Capitol from here.’” Hutchinson said that Trump wanted to create a photo op of a very large crowd gathered to hear him speak. Trump then urged his supporters, knowing some of them were armed, to march to the Capitol. Hutchinson testified that after his speech, Trump demanded to be driven to the Capitol. His Secret Service detail, however, refused due to concerns of safety. When Trump was informed he would be returning to the White House instead, Hutchinson said, he became so “irate” that he “said something to the effect of, ‘I’m the f’ing president. Take me up to the Capitol now.’” Trump then tried to forcibly steer his limousine to the Capitol from the back seat and lunged for the throat of his bodyguard while wrestling for control of the vehicle. Later, as Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol – some chanting “Hang Mike Pence” – Hutchinson said that Meadows told her Trump “doesn’t want to do anything. He thinks Mike deserves it. He doesn’t think they’re doing anything wrong.” And, in his one-minute video calling for rioters to leave the Capitol and go home – posted to Twitter more than two hours after the mob overtook the Capitol – Trump reportedly wanted to include language about pardoning the rioters. His legal counsel, however, advised against it. Hutchinson also said that on Dec. 1, after Attorney General William Barr said there was no evidence of fraud in the 2020 election, Trump threw his lunch at a White House wall, splattering ketchup on the wall. And, lastly, Meadows and Rudy Giuliani later sought pardons as a result of the events of Jan. 6. Trump never pardoned either adviser before leaving office. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / Politico / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNBC / NPR)
✏️ Cassidy Hutchinson just changed everything. The January 6 hearings have been damning. Hutchinson’s testimony took them to a new level. (Vox)
✏️ 1/6 Takeaways: Angry Trump, dire legal warnings and ketchup. “Hutchinson testified that a defiant Trump was told there were guns and other weapons in the rally crowd at the White House, but sent his supporters to the Capitol anyway and even sought to physically pry the steering wheel from his presidential motorcade driver so he could join them.” (Associated Press)
2/ The FBI seized the phone of the attorney who developed Trump’s strategy to stop Congress from certifying the 2020 presidential election results on Jan. 6. Federal agents stopped John Eastman and took his iPhone as he was leaving a restaurant last week, according to a lawsuit he filed in New Mexico to recover his property from the government. According to the filing, the seizure of Eastman’s phone came on the same day that federal agents searched the home of Jeffrey Clark, a former Justice Department official who promised to help Trump reverse his election loss by pressuring the agency to promote his false claims of election fraud. Trump briefly considered appointing Clark to run the department because he was willing to declare the election results invalid in some key states. (Washington Post / CNN / New York Times / Politico / Wall Street Journal)
3/ The White House signaled that Biden will not pursue Senate Democratic proposals to build abortion clinics on federal land, fund people seeking abortions out of state, expanding the Supreme Court, or end the filibuster after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Progressive Democratic lawmakers, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, have called on Biden to declare a national medical emergency to acknowledge “the emergency situation and the urgency of getting help out.” So far, Biden’s response has consisted of urging voters to elect more Democrats and the launch of a website by the Department of Health and Human Services to help people find contraceptives and abortion services. Asked by recently if he thinks the Supreme Court is “broken,” Biden replied: “I think the Supreme Court has made some terrible decisions.” (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / NBC News)
4/ Global methane emissions “appear to be going in the wrong direction” despite a coalition of more than 100 nations voluntarily pledging to cut methane emissions by 30% by 2030. Kayrros, a firm that analyzes satellite data, said methane emissions rose 20% since the easing of the coronavirus pandemic, a development the French methane tracking firm called “worrisome.” (Washington Post / Axios)
1/ A Louisiana judge temporarily blocked enforcement of a statewide “trigger law” ban on abortion, allowing the state’s three remaining abortion clinics to continue operating. Louisiana is one of 13 states that had trigger laws on the books in anticipation of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. In several states, including Louisiana, those laws took effect immediately, halting abortion care across the state. The order followed a lawsuit by abortion providers alleging that the state’s “trigger” bans are “vague” because they don’t have a “clear and unambiguous effective date” and “lack adequate standing for enforceability.” A hearing is pending next week. (Axios / CBS News / New York Times / Washington Post / The Hill)
📌 Day 521: In a historic reversal, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and eliminated the constitutional right to an abortion after 49 years. The 6-to-3 decision to uphold a Mississippi abortion ban follows the leak of a draft opinion in May indicating that the court was poised to overturn Roe, which first declared a constitutional right to abortion, as well as Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which re-affirmed that right in 1992. The ruling leaves states free to restrict or ban abortions. At least 26 states – where roughly 33 million women of child-bearing age live – are expected to ban or restrict abortions, including battleground states like Arizona, Wisconsin, and Michigan, which have pre-Roe bans on abortion on the books. Georgia has a six-week ban in place. More than a quarter of the country’s 790 abortion clinics are estimated to close, and women in those states will have to travel an average of 552 miles to access the medical procedure.
2/ Attorney General Merrick Garland indicated that the Justice Department will protect the right to seek abortions across state lines, calling the Supreme Court decision to reverse Roe v. Wade “a devastating blow to reproductive freedom.” Garland said “bedrock constitutional principles” protect a women’s rights to seek reproductive care, and that the “Constitution continues to restrict states’ authority to ban reproductive services provided outside their borders.” Both Texas and Oklahoma recently passed abortion bans that allow private citizens to sue people who perform abortions or who otherwise help someone get one. In Texas, lawmakers have signaled that they want to make it illegal for people to travel out of state to get the procedure. In his concurring opinion, however, Justice Brett Kavanaugh suggested that women who travel to another state to receive an abortion would be protected by the constitutional right to interstate travel. Garland also said the department is “ready to work with other arms of the federal government that seek to use their lawful authorities to protect and preserve access to reproductive care,” noting that the FDA has approved the use of Mifepristone and that states cannot ban the medication based on disagreement with the FDA’s judgment. (Bloomberg / New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post)
3/ A coalition of 22 state attorneys general reaffirmed their commitment to defending abortion rights and expanding access to reproductive care in their states. “If you seek access to abortion and reproductive health care, we’re committed to using the full force of the law to support you,” the attorneys general wrote. “We will continue to use all legal tools at our disposal to fight for your rights and stand up for our laws,” they wrote. The coalition is comprised of the attorneys general of New York, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. “When it comes to abortion care,” they wrote, “it’s your body and your right to choose.” (CNN / New York Times)
4/ Justice Clarence Thomas indicated that he believes the Supreme Court should reconsider defamation laws as the court declined to revisit the First Amendment decision in New York Times v. Sullivan – a landmark 1964 ruling that set a high bar for public figures to sue news organizations for libel. The Coral Ridge Ministries Media unsuccessfully sued the Southern Poverty Law Center for labeling it as a “hate group” for broadcasting a television program that describes homosexuality as “lawless,” “an abomination,” “vile,” “against nature,” “profane,” and “shameful.” Thomas was the only justice to say he would have heard the case, saying the “actual malice” standard established by Sullivan has “allowed media organizations and interest groups to cast false aspersions on public figures with near impunity.” (Axios / Bloomberg / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
5/ The Jan. 6 committee unexpectedly scheduled a hearing for Tuesday to present “recently obtained evidence” and take witness testimony. The committee did not reveal the witness list or topic but said it would “present recently obtained evidence and receive witness testimony.” The committee previously said the next set of hearings would take place when Congress returns from its two-week July Fourth recess, sometime in mid-July. Tuesday’s hearing starts at 1 p.m. Eastern and will be the panel’s sixth hearing this month. (NBC News / New York Times / CNN / CNBC / Washington Post)
6/ More than 1 million voters from 43 states have switched to the Republican Party over the last year compared to about 630,000 who became Democrats. While Trump was in office, Democrats enjoyed a slight edge in the number of party switchers nationwide. (Associated Press)
poll/ 59% of Americans disapprove of the Supreme Court’s decision overturning the constitutional right to an abortion, including 67% of women. 78% of Republicans were in favor of the decision, 83% of Democrats disapproved. (Bloomberg / NPR)
1/ In a historic reversal, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and eliminated the constitutional right to an abortion after 49 years. The 6-to-3 decision to uphold a Mississippi abortion ban follows the leak of a draft opinion in May indicating that the court was poised to overturn Roe, which first declared a constitutional right to abortion, as well as Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which re-affirmed that right in 1992. The ruling leaves states free to restrict or ban abortions. At least 26 states – where roughly 33 million women of child-bearing age live – are expected to ban or restrict abortions, including battleground states like Arizona, Wisconsin, and Michigan, which have pre-Roe bans on abortion on the books. Georgia has a six-week ban in place. More than a quarter of the country’s 790 abortion clinics are estimated to close, and women in those states will have to travel an average of 552 miles to access the medical procedure. Writing for the majority, Justice Samuel Alito said that the 1973 decision “was egregiously wrong from the start” and “must be overruled” because the arguments were “exceptionally weak,” “had damaging consequences,” and “enflamed debate and deepened division” Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett joined the majority opinion. Chief Justice John Roberts didn’t join the majority opinion, but instead wrote that there was no need to overturn Roe to rule in Mississippi’s favor. In dissent, Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan wrote that the court had done damage to women’s equality and that the decision means “young women today will come of age with fewer rights than their mothers and grandmothers,” because the court’s opinion means that “from the very moment of fertilization, a woman has no rights to speak of. A state can force her to bring a pregnancy to term even at the steepest personal and familial costs.” They concluded: “With sorrow — for this court, but more, for the many millions of American women who have today lost a fundamental constitutional protection — we dissent.” Biden, meanwhile, called the decision a “tragic error” and urged voters to elect members of Congress willing to write abortion protections into law. Speaking from the White House, Biden said: “This is a sad day for the country in my view, but it doesn’t mean the fight is over.” (New York Times / NPR / Washington Post / NBC News / Politico / USA Today / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press / SCOTUSblog / Bloomberg)
Key passages from the Supreme Court’s decision that overturned Roe v. Wade. (New York Times)
Abortion is now banned in these states. Others will follow. Not all trigger bans immediately kick in, but abortion will soon be illegal in more than a dozen states. (Washington Post / Politico)
✏️ We’re not going back to the time before Roe – we’re going somewhere worse. We are entering an era not just of unsafe abortions but of the widespread criminalization of pregnancy. (New Yorker)
✏️ America is growing apart, possibly for good. The great “convergence” of the mid-20th century may have been an anomaly. (The Atlantic)
2/ Susan Collins and Joe Manchin claimed that Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch “misled” them about their views on Roe v. Wade and the importance of Supreme Court precedent during their confirmation proceedings in 2017 and 2018. “This decision is inconsistent with what Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh said in their testimony and their meetings with me, where they both were insistent on the importance of supporting long-standing precedents that the country has relied upon,” Collins said. In 2018, Collins assured voters that she wouldn’t support a judge who had “demonstrated hostility to Roe v. Wade,” saying Gorsuch and Kavanaugh – both Trump nominees – had assured her that Roe was “settled as precedent.” Manchin, meanwhile, said he’s “deeply disappointed” in the justices, adding that he “trusted Justice Gorsuch and Justice Kavanaugh when they testified under oath that they also believed Roe v. Wade was settled legal precedent and I am alarmed they chose to reject the stability the ruling has provided for two generations of Americans.” Manchin was the only Democrat to vote to confirm Kavanaugh. The Senate vote was 50-48. (The Hill / Associated Press / Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News)
3/ Trump publicly praised the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, saying the ruling “will work out for everybody.” Privately, however, Trump’s told people that he believes it will be “bad for Republicans” because the decision will anger independents and suburban women – a group who helped tilt the 2020 presidential election to Biden. (Washington Post / New York Times / Fox News)
4/ Justice Clarence Thomas, in his concurring opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, called on the Supreme Court to reexamine cases allowing both LGBTQ rights as well as the right to contraception. Thomas wrote that the court “should reconsider” its past rulings codifying rights to contraception access, same-sex relationships, and same-sex marriage, calling them “demonstrably erroneous decisions.” Thomas added that the court had a “duty to ‘correct the error’” established in Griswold v. Connecticut, Lawrence v. Texas, and Obergefell v. Hodges. (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / The Hill / CNBC)
poll/ 52% of Americans say overturning of Roe v. Wade it a step backward for the country. 56% of American women say the ruling will make their lives worse. (CBS News)
poll/ 25% of Americans say they have “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in Supreme Court – down from 36% in 2021 and five percentage points lower than the previous low recorded in 2014. (Gallup)
✏️ Notables.
Biden signed into law the first major gun safety legislation passed by Congress in nearly 30 years. The legislation comes just over a month after the mass shooting at a Texas elementary school killed 19 children and two adults, which came 10 days after a racist mass shooting at a Buffalo, N.Y., supermarket, which killed 10 Black people. Biden called the legislation a “monumental day” and said it “it’s going to save a lot of lives.” (NPR / New York Times / NBC News)
1/ The Supreme Court struck down a New York gun law enacted more than a century ago that limited who could carry a concealed handgun for self-defense in public, ruling for the first time that the Second Amendment protects gun rights outside the home. The 6-3 ruling to limit the ability of state and local governments to restrict guns outside the home marks the widest expansion of gun rights in a decade. At least six states have laws that prevent most people from legally carrying a handgun outside the home. Writing for the majority, Justice Clarence Thomas said that “the constitutional right to bear arms in public for self defense is not a second class right subject to an entirely different body of rules,” and that the Second Amendment is not limited to people who can demonstrate a special need to carry a gun in public. In dissent, Justice Stephen Breyer pointed to the nearly 300 mass shootings since January and to data showing “gun violence has now surpassed motor vehicle crashes as the leading cause of death among children and adolescents.” (New York Times / Politico / NPR / Associated Press / Washington Post / CNN / Bloomberg)
2/ The Senate moved a step closer to approving bipartisan gun control legislation after clearing the 60-vote threshold needed to break a Republican filibuster. The vote was 65-34, with 15 Republicans including Mitch McConnell joining all 50 Democrats in voting to advance the package. A final vote could come as soon as today, and the House is expected to pass the bill and send it to Biden’s desk for his signature before leaving for a two-week recess. The procedural vote came less than two hours after the Supreme Court struck down a New York law that required people to show a special need to carry a handgun in public. (NBC News / CNN / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Bloomberg)
3/ The Biden administration plans to reinstate Title IX protections for transgender students that were tossed out by the Trump administration. The proposal would also overhaul a controversial set of rules issued by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos that narrowed the definition of sexual harassment, expanded the rights of students accused of harassment, and required schools to allow cross-examination of parties in sexual misconduct complaints. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said the proposal would codify the protections of Title IX, which prohibits schools that get federal funds from discriminating on the basis of sex, for transgender students and ban “all forms of sex discrimination, including discrimination based on sex stereotypes, sex characteristics, pregnancy or related conditions, sexual orientation and gender identity.” (NPR / Associated Press / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times)
4/ The Biden administration agreed to cancel about $6 billion in federal student loan debt for roughly 200,000 borrowers who were defrauded by their college. In 2019 during the Trump administration, a group of borrowers sued the Education Department under a rule known as the borrower defense to repayment, which allows borrowers who believe they were defrauded by their college to request federal student loan relief. According to the settlement, the schools included in the deal – more than 150 – demonstrated “substantial misconduct” and many of them are now out of business. The administration has previously approved $25 billion in loan forgiveness for 1.3 million borrowers. Roughly 43 million Americans have federal student loan debt. (New York Times / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
5/ Federal agents searched the home of former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark, who played a key role in Trump’s efforts to get the Justice Department to challenge Biden’s election victory. In the days before Jan. 6, Clark and Trump devised a plan to oust then-acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and for Trump to then name him attorney general. According to the scheme, Clark would then direct the Justice Department intervene in Georgia and set aside its voting results in order to sway the state toward Trump. The alleged plan to appoint Clark acting attorney general prompted several Justice Department officials to threaten to resign. Trump considered but ultimately abandoned the plan before the Jan. 6 attack. Clark’s conduct is also the focus of today’s Jan. 6 hearing. (New York Times / CNN / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / ABC News)
6/ Trump pressured top Justice Department officials to “just say [the election] was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen” in his bid to stay in power, according to evidence presented during the Jan. 6 committee’s fifth hearing. Three Trump-era Justice Department officials recounted Trump’s efforts to enlist the Justice Department into helping overturn the election, including seizing voting machines from states in late December 2020. Former Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen testified that the Justice Department didn’t have the legal authority to carry out Trump’s request and that the DOJ “held firm” against political pressure. And, days after Jan. 6, at least five Republican lawmakers asked White House officials whether Trump would pardon them for their activities in the lead-up to Jan. 6. Reps. Andy Biggs Louie Gohmert, Scott Perry, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Matt Gaetz all requested pardons. Rep. Mo Brooks also sent an email asking for “all purpose” pardons for lawmakers who objected to the electoral votes from Arizona and Pennsylvania. (New York Times / Associated Press / Politico / Washington Post / NBC News / NPR)
1/ The Jan. 6 committee will delay its public hearings for several weeks citing new evidence. Since the hearings started, the committee has obtained footage from a documentary filmmaker who followed Trump and his inner circle spanning “almost a year,” additional Trump White House emails and records from the National Archives, new interviews and depositions, and information left on investigators’ tip line. The committee was expected to hold its final hearings by the end of June. Instead, sessions will resume in July following Thursday’s scheduled meeting, which will focus on Trump and his allies’ efforts to pressure Justice Department officials into helping them overturn the results of the 2020 election. Chairman Bennie Thompson said later “at least two” are planned for next month starting the week of July 11, after the House returns from its two-week recess. (NPR / Politico / Washington Post / ABC News / Bloomberg)
2/ The Justice Department issued subpoenas to people in at least two states as it expanded its Jan. 6 investigation into efforts by Trump supporters to undo Biden’s electoral victory through fake electors. Federal agents issued subpoenas to Brad Carver in Georgia, a lawyer who claimed to be a Trump elector, and Thomas Lane in Virginia, who worked on the Trump campaign’s efforts in Arizona and New Mexico. After leaving the Trump campaign, Lane went to work on the Republican National Committee’s election efforts in Virginia. Separately, some of the would-be Trump electors in Michigan also received subpoenas. (Washington Post)
3/ The Senate advanced a bipartisan gun safety bill, clearing a procedural hurdle to take up the compromise measures before the Fourth of July recess. Roughly a third of Senate Republicans helped advance the package, which House Republican leaders have formally opposed. Democrats, however, control the House and will likely pass the bill without Republican support. (New York Times / Politico / CNN / NBC News)
4/ Biden called on Congress to temporarily suspend the federal gas tax of 18.3 cents per gallon for three months to give Americans “just a little bit of breathing room.” Biden also asked states to suspend their own gas taxes and urged oil companies to increase refining capacity and pass “every penny” of their savings on to consumers. The administration estimates consumers could save about a dollar per gallon between the suspension of the federal and state gas taxes, and an increase in refining capacity could lower gas prices. The move, however, is unlikely to have the support in Congress needed to pass. And economists, meanwhile, have criticized the idea of suspending the gas tax since federal road and highway programs are funded from fuel tax revenue and the relief to consumers would be limited – the federal gas tax represents less than 5% of the total per gallon cost. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / Politico / Bloomberg)
What a pause in the gas tax would mean for prices at the pump. The White House is desperate to bring down prices, but some experts don’t think Biden’s idea would help much. (Washington Post)
5/ Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell acknowledged that higher interest rates could lead to a recession, saying the central bank is “not trying to provoke” a recession but it’s “certainly a possibility.” Powell, addressing the Senate Banking Committee a week after the Fed ordered the largest interest rate increase since 1994, said the central bank was “strongly committed to bringing inflation back down […] “We need to get inflation back down to 2%.” The consumer price index in May increased 8.6% over the past year, the highest level since December 1981. Economists, meanwhile, put the odds of a recession in the next 12 months at 44% – up from 28% in April. (NPR / CNBC / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / New York Times)
1/ Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen backed Biden’s position that a recession is “not inevitable.” Yellen acknowledged, however, that she expects some economic slowing as the Federal Reserve aggressively tries to curb inflation with increased interest rates. The year-over-year inflation rate is currently at 9.6% – a 40-year high – and the major stock market indexes are all down more than 20% from their highs. Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, however, said all the “precedents point towards a recession,” adding that the unemployment rate would need to rise above 5% for a sustained period in order to curb inflation. Biden, meanwhile, suggested pausing the federal gas tax as a way to reduce prices for Americans. The gas tax adds 18.4 cents total per gallon of gasoline, which currently cost about $5 a gallon on average. Biden is also considering lifting Trump-era tariffs to slow inflation. (Washington Post / Politico / ABC News / Bloomberg)
2/ The Supreme Court ruled that Maine cannot exclude religious schools from a state tuition program that lets parents to use vouchers to send their children to public or private schools. The program that does not allow public funds to go to schools that promote religious instruction. The court, however, ruled that if the state used taxpayer money to pay for students attending nonreligious private schools, it must also allow the use of taxpayer funds to pay for attendance at religious schools. The vote was 6 to 3, with the court’s three liberal justices in dissent. (New York Times / NPR / Washington Post / CNN)
3/ The Jan. 6 committee revealed evidence that Trump had a “direct and personal role” in pressuring state and local officials to overturn the 2020 election results, as well as involved in a scheme to put forward slates of fake pro-Trump electors in states won by Biden. The panel’s fourth hearing featured testimony from Republican officials on the receiving end of Trump’s outreach after the election, which showed that Trump knew that his claims of election fraud were unfounded and risked causing violence. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, whom Trump asked to “find” enough votes to flip the election in Georgia, testified that Trump received fewer votes than expected because roughly 28,000 Republicans who voted didn’t choose a president that year. “The numbers are the numbers,” he said. “The numbers don’t lie.” Arizona House of Representatives Speaker Rusty Bowers testified that Rudy Giuliani – despite acknowledging that he didn’t have any evidence – pressed him to allow a state committee to study evidence of voter fraud and to look into potentially removing Biden’s electors in the state. Bowers also said Trump lawyer John Eastman inquired about decertifying the electors. Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, meanwhile, testified that during a conference call, Trump had Eastman talk about helping to assemble the fake electors as a contingency. The committee also presented a text exchange between an aide to Sen. Ron Johnson and an aide to Pence attempting to arrange a handoff of fake electors minutes before Pence began to count electoral votes. The aide, Sean Riley, told Pence’s legislative director Chris Hodgson that Johnson wanted to hand deliver Pence lists of the fake electors from Michigan and Wisconsin to be introduced during the count. Hodgson replied: “Do not give that to him.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Politico / NPR / Associated Press / CNBC)
4/ The Jan. 6 committee subpoenaed a documentary filmmaker for footage of Trump and his inner circle before and after the insurrection. The existence of this footage was previously unreported. Alex Holder confirmed that he had turned over the footage to the committee, which includes “unparalleled access and exclusive interviews” with Trump, his children, Jared Kushner, and Mike Pence both before and after the events of Jan. 6, as well as never-before-seen footage of the Capitol riot. Holder’s cooperation and the footage came as a surprise to several former officials on Trump’s reelection campaign, who all claimed that they each had no idea that a documentary about Trump’s reelection campaign was being filmed. “What the fuck is this?” a former senior official on Trump’s reelection team said after seeing the news. (Politico / Rolling Stone / Washington Post / NPR)
5/ Homeland and national security officials are worried about Russia using Trump’s election lies to exploit U.S. divisions in November’s midterms. Five current and former U.S. officials suggested that Russia could deliberately stage small hacks of local election authorities designed to be noticed in order to seed more conspiracies about the integrity of U.S. elections. (CNN)
poll/ 58% of Americans think Trump should be charged with a crime for his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol – up from 52% in April. (ABC News)
Most Americans think Trump should be prosecuted. It’s not that easy. (Washington Post)
Despite growing evidence, a prosecution of Trump would face challenges. “If the Justice Department were to bring a case against Trump, prosecutors would face the challenge of showing that he knew — or should have known — that his position was based on assertions about widespread election fraud that were false or that his attempt to block the congressional certification of the outcome was illegal.” (New York Times)
1/ Trump was told that his plan to overturn the 2020 election was illegal, but pressured Pence to go along with it anyway, according to testimony from the Jan. 6 committee’s third hearing. Conservative lawyer John Eastman, the architect of the plan for Pence to use his authority to unilaterally reject the Electoral College results and overturn the 2020 election, admitted in front of Trump two days before the Capitol riot that his scheme was illegal and would lose at the Supreme Court “nine to nothing.” Even after the attack on the Capitol, Eastman continued to push for overturning the election. According to Pence lawyer Greg Jacob, Pence’s initial reaction to the scheme for him to stop the process of transferring presidential power was that there was “no way” this was “justifiable.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press)
2/ Shortly after the Capitol riot, John Eastman asked Rudy Giuliani if he could be on Trump’s “pardon list” despite pushing a plan to overturn the 2020 election that he knew was illegal. “I’ve decided that I should be on the pardon list, if that is still in the works,” Eastman wrote to Giuliani in an email. While Trump issued 143 pardons and commutations on his last night as president, Eastman did not receive a pardon. Meanwhile, White House lawyer Eric Herschmann testified that Eastman continued to press his scheme after the Capitol riot. “Get a great f-ing criminal defense lawyer,” Herschmann said he told Eastman. “You’re going to need it. And I hung up on him.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico)
3/ John Eastman claimed to have insight into a “heated fight” among the Supreme Court justices over whether to hear arguments about Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Eastman, who once clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas, sent an email on Dec. 24, 2020, saying “the odds are not based on the legal merits but an assessment of the justices’ spines […] For those willing to do their duty, we should help them by giving them a Wisconsin cert petition to add into the mix.” Kenneth Chesebro, a lawyer advising the Trump campaign, replied that the prospect of “‘wild’ chaos” on Jan. 6 could lead the Supreme Court to take up the case before Congress certified the electoral vote count. Five days earlier, on Dec. 19, Trump issued a call for his supporters to attend a Jan. 6 “protest” in Washington by tweeting: “Be there. Will be wild!” (New York Times / Washington Post)
4/ The Jan. 6 committee has obtained emails between Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and John Eastman. The committee said it plans to invite Thomas to testify about the emails and her involvement in Trump’s attempts to overturn the election. “I can’t wait to clear up misconceptions. I look forward to talking to them,” Thomas said. (Washington Post / CNN / Axios / Politico / Associated Press / CNBC)
5/ The Justice Department is reportedly pursuing a criminal investigation into the formation of alternate slates of pro-Trump electors seeking to overturn Biden’s victory. A federal grand jury issued subpoenas earlier this year to several pro-Trump lawyers who were working on the effort, including Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Jenna Ellis, and Kenneth Chesebro. (New York Times / CNBC)
6/ Biden signed an executive order aimed at combating “discriminatory legislative attacks” on the LGBTQ community by Republican-controlled states. The order seeks to discourage federal funding for “conversion therapy” while directing federal health and education agencies to expand access to gender affirming care and advance inclusive learning environments for LGBTQ children. The order is meant to counter 300-plus anti-LGBTQ laws introduced by state lawmakers over the past year. (Associated Press / NBC News / New York Times)
7/ There’s a 72% chance that the Federal Reserve’s attempts to address inflation will trigger a recession by 2024. In February, economic models predicted a 0% chance of a recession. A day after the Fed raised interest rates 75 basis points – its biggest interest rate hike in almost three decades – the Dow ended down 2.4%, the S&P 500 fell more than 3%, and the Nasdaq dropped more than 4%. Strategists said the S&P 500’s declines imply there’s an 85% chance of a U.S. recession, while European equities imply there’s an 80% chance of a recession. The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate in the U.S., meanwhile, jumped to 5.78% – the fastest pace since 1987. One year ago, the average rate was less than 2.93%. (Bloomberg / Washington Post / New York Times)
poll/ 54% of Americans support the idea of the Justice Department indicting Trump over the Capitol riot, compared to 37% who oppose the idea. 71% of Republicans, however, opposed the DOJ filing criminal charges against Trump. (Newsweek)
1/ The Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 75 basis points – the biggest increase since 1994 – to tackle the fastest inflation in four decades. Chairman Jerome Powell called the move “an unusually large one,” adding that he expects either a 50 basis point or 75 basis point increase at the Fed’s July meeting. Economic data showed that inflation unexpectedly rose to 8.6% in May. The Fed now expect prices to increase 5.2% in 2022, compared to an earlier forecast for 4.3%, with inflation dropping to 2.6% in 2023 – still above its 2% target rate. On average, Fed policymakers expect interest rates to rise to 3.4% by December, and 3.8% by the end of 2023 – up from the 1.9% they projected in March. And, as a result of its policies, the Fed now expects the unemployment rate to increase to 3.7% this year and to 4.1% by 2024. “We’re not trying to induce a recession now,” Powell said. “Let’s be clear about that. We’re trying to achieve 2% inflation.” (Wall Street Journal / New York Times / NPR / Associated Press / Bloomberg / Washington Post / CBS News / Politico)
🤓 WTF is inflation, the Fed, and interest rates: A normal person’s guide. The Federal Reserve’s goal is to keep prices stable and unemployment low. Inflation, however, has pushed prices up 8.6% in the past year. In response, the Fed is raising the federal funds rate to make borrowing money more expensive, which directly impacts things like credit card interest rates, new car loans, and mortgages. By raising rates, the Fed discourages consumer spending, which lowers demand, and allows prices to come down and stabilize over time. However, raising rates too high or too quickly could slow the economy too much, which could cause a recession and lead to layoffs. Fun times. (Washington Post)
2/ The FDA’s independent vaccine advisers voted unanimously to recommend the authorization of two Covid-19 vaccines for children as young as 6 months old. The FDA is expected to authorize the shots within days, with vaccinations beginning as early as June 21. Pfizer’s three-dose vaccine would cover children 6 months through 4 years old, while Moderna’s two-dose vaccine would cover children 6 months through 5 years old. Meanwhile, every state but Florida has pre-ordered Covid-19 vaccine doses for children under 5. Florida missed yesterday’s deadline to pre-order, guaranteeing a delay in access for parents in the state. (Politico / New York Times / McClatchy DC / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / ABC News)
3/ The U.S. will send an additional $1 billion in military aid to Ukraine. The military equipment will include anti-ship missile launchers, 18 more long-range M777 howitzers, and more rounds for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems. The package represents the largest single tranche of weapons and equipment since the war began. Overall, the U.S. has committed about $5.6 billion in security assistance to Ukraine, including this latest package, since February. (Associated Press / New York Times)
4/ Trump, Trump Jr., and Ivanka Trump must answer questions under oath in New York state’s civil investigation into their business practices. The New York Court of Appeals declined to take up their appeal, saying there was no “substantial constitutional question” that would warrant its intervention. Two lower courts have already rejected the claim that the probe by New York Attorney General Letitia James is politically motivated. Depositions are set to begin July 15. (Bloomberg / ABC News)
5/ A federal judge rejected Steve Bannon’s motion to dismiss the criminal contempt charge against him for defying a subpoena from the Jan. 6 committee. Judge Carl Nichols rebuffed Bannon’s arguments that the Jan. 6 committee’s subpoenas were illegal and that Trump had asserted executive privilege to block his testimony. Bannon’s trial will start July 18. If convicted, Bannon could face up to a year behind bars and a fine of up to $100,000. A conviction, however, would not require him to comply with the subpoena. (Politico / CNBC / CNN)
6/ A Republican member of Congress led an unofficial tour through the Capitol complex on Jan. 5, which included at least one person who marched to the Capitol the following day. The people who joined Barry Loudermilk for a Capitol tour – which lasted several hours, despite the complex being closed to the public at the time – on Jan. 5 photographed and recorded areas “not typically of interest to tourists, including hallways, staircases, and security checkpoints,” according to the Jan. 6 committee. The tour included a man who later recorded a video threatening members of Congress while marching on the Capitol the following day. “There’s no escape Pelosi, Schumer, Nadler,” the man said in the video. “They’re coming in, coming in like white on rice for Pelosi, Nadler, even you, AOC. We’re coming to take you out and pull you out by your hairs.” (Politico / New York Times / The Guardian)
1/ Attorney General William Barr told the Jan. 6 committee that Trump had “become detached from reality” while pursing efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. “Before the election it was possible to talk sense to the president,” Barr said. “After the election, he didn’t seem to be listening.” Barr’s testimony, shown at the panel’s second public hearing, portrayed Trump as refusing to believe that the results were legitimate. “I was somewhat demoralized,” Barr said, “because I thought, ‘Boy, if he really believes this stuff, he has, you know, lost contact with — he’s become detached from reality if he really believes this stuff.’” Former Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien also told the committee that Trump’s world had divided into “Team Crazy” vs. “Team Normal.” Despite repeatedly being advised against pursuing claims that the election was stolen, Trump pressed ahead and raised $250 million from supporters for the so-called “Official Election Defense Fund” – which has never actually existed. Trump instead used the money to create the Save America PAC, sending millions of dollars to allies and former Trump officials. (New York Times / Los Angeles Times / Politico / Washington Post / Bloomberg / CNBC)
✏️ The Fractious Night That Began Trump’s Bid to Overturn the Election. Trump’s advisers urged him not to declare victory on election night in 2020. He listened to the one who told him what he wanted to hear. (New York Times)
✏️ New details emerge of Oval Office confrontation three days before Jan. 6. Jeffrey Clark, a mid-level Justice Department official, wanted Trump to name him attorney general in a plan aimed at potentially overturning the election. (Washington Post)
2/ Rudy Giuliani denied that he was drunk when he urged Trump to declare victory on election night while votes were still being counted, accusing campaign aides Jason Miller and Bill Stepien of perjury. In a pair of tweets that were later deleted, Giuliani claimed that he had “REFUSED all alcohol that evening,” and that he was “disgusted and outraged at the out right lie” by Miller and Stepien. Miller had testified under oath that Giuliani was “definitely intoxicated” on election night 2020. Stepien, however, never referenced Giuliani’s sobriety at the hearing, though Giuliani apparently believed he had. (NBC News / Washington Post)
3/ The chairman of the Jan. 6 committee said the panel will not make a criminal referral of Trump or anyone else to the Justice Department. Bennie Thompson suggested that making a formal referral to the Justice Department is “not our job. Our job is to look at the facts and circumstances around January 6, what caused it and make recommendations after that.” Thompson added: “If the Department of Justice looks at it and sees something that needs further review, I’m sure they’ll do it.” Other committee members, however, pushed back, saying the panel has a responsibility to report criminal activity to the Justice Department and that they have “not issued a conclusion regarding potential criminal referrals.” Attorney General Merrick Garland, meanwhile, said he’s watching the House hearings, as are Justice Department lawyers prosecuting cases related to the attack on the Capitol. (CNN / NPR / NBC News / Wall Street Journal
4/ The Jan. 6 committee postponed its public hearing scheduled for Wednesday due to “technical issues” stemming from “overwhelming” demand on staff to produce videos. Wednesday’s hearing had been expected to focus on Trump’s efforts to replace Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen with Justice Department lawyer Jeffrey Clark, who was supportive of his fraud claims. The next hearing is scheduled for Thursday afternoon and will focus on Trump’s efforts to pressure Pence to refuse to certify the election results. (CNN / NBC News / New York Times)
5/ Voters have nominated at least 149 Republican candidates for state and federal office who have either repeated Trump’s lie that the 2020 election was rigged or campaigned on “election integrity” platforms. Overall, 108 won their nominations or advanced to runoffs have denied or directly questioned the 2020 election results, while 41 other winners have campaigned on tightening voting rules despite the lack of evidence of widespread fraud. (Washington Post)
6/ A bipartisan group of senators reached a tentative agreement on legislation to combat gun violence. Ten senators from each party signed on to a framework that would pair modest new gun restrictions with new funding for mental health and school security. The deal would also provide incentives for states to implement and enforce “red flag” laws, which allow authorities to keep guns away from people found by a judge to represent a risk to themselves or others. Mitch McConnell, meanwhile, said he’s “comfortable” with the framework and is inclined to support it. If passed, the proposal would be the most significant gun law to make it through Congress in decades. (Washington Post / ABC News / Politico / Wall Street Journal)
7/ The S&P 500 fell further into bear market territory ahead of Wednesday’s Federal Reserve decision on interest rates. Before last week’s higher than expected inflation report, the Fed was expected to raise interest rates by half a percentage point this week and then again in July after raising rates a quarter point in March and half a point in May. Traders, however, now expect a more than 90% chance of a 75-basis-point rate hike tomorrow. Despite economic indicators warning of a possible recession ahead, Biden told the nation’s largest federation of labor unions he’s “never been more optimistic about America than I am today.” And, despite U.S. stocks plunging further into a bear market and worsening inflation, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre added that the administration believes Americans are “well positioned” to face these economic challenges. (New York Times / CNBC / Wall Street Journal)
✏️ How the Fed and the Biden Administration Got Inflation Wrong. Officials applied an old playbook to a new crisis. “We fought the last war.” (Wall Street Journal)
1/ The House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection will present its findings to the American public tonight. The 90-minute hearing is the first in a series of six planned for this month and will lay out the evidence of what happened on the day of the attack, as well as the two months that preceded it as Trump led an effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The committee will present previously unreleased video of Trump’s top aides and family members testifying before its panel, footage revealing the role of the Proud Boys in the attack, and evidence showing Trump at the center of a “coordinated, multistep effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election,” which resulted in a mob of his supporters storming the Capitol and disrupting the peaceful transfer of power. The committee has interviewed more than 1,000 witnesses, obtained more than 140,000 documents, and issued nearly 100 subpoenas. “We’ll demonstrate the multipronged effort to overturn a presidential election, how one strategy to subvert the election led to another, culminating in a violent attack on our democracy,” Adam Schiff said. “It’s an important story, and one that must be told to ensure it never happens again.” (New York Times / Washington Post / NPR / Politico / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / ABC News)
How can I watch the Jan. 6 committee hearing? The committee will begin at 8 p.m. Eastern on Thursday. All major broadcast and cable news networks will carry the hearing live, except for Fox News, which will “cover the hearings as news warrants.”
When will the next Jan. 6 committee hearing be? Monday at 10 a.m. Eastern.
2/ A Republican gubernatorial candidate in Michigan was arrested by the FBI on misdemeanor charges for participating in the attack on the Capitol. Ryan Kelley was charged with knowingly entering restricted grounds without authority, damaging federal property, disorderly conduct, and knowingly engaging in an act of violence. All four charges are misdemeanors punishable by up to a year in prison. (Detroit News / NPR / Bloomberg / New York Times / Washington Post)
3/ The House passed a broad package of gun control legislation in response to recent mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas. The “Protecting Our Kids Act” passed 223-204 with five Republicans voting for the bill. The measure, however, is not expected to pass the Senate. (NPR / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
4/ Unemployment claims increased to the highest level in five months. Initial filings for unemployment benefits jumped to 229,000 – exceeding all estimates – while economists had forecast 195,000 claims. The White House, meanwhile, said it expects U.S. inflation to be “elevated” in tomorrow’s consumer price index report for May. Economists expect the report to show that prices continued to rise in May, on par with April’s inflation of 8.3%. (Bloomberg / NBC News / Reuters / MarketWatch / Barrons)
poll/ 66% of Americans say they expect inflation to get worse in the coming year, while 21% expect it to get better, and 12% think it will stay the same. (Washington Post)
poll/ 59% of Americans think it is more important to control gun violence while 35% say it’s more important to protect gun rights. 92% of Democrats and 54% of independents say it’s more important to control gun violence, while 70% of Republicans say it’s more important to protect gun rights. (NPR / Marist)
1/ A man armed with a pistol, a knife, and other weapons was arrested near Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s home. Nicholas John Roske told the authorities that he traveled from California to kill the Supreme Court justice. Roske told the police that he was upset about the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, and the leaked draft opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade. His plan was to break into Kavanaugh’s house, kill the justice, and then kill himself. (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / NPR / NBC News)
2/ Trump, Trump Jr., and Ivanka Trump agreed to testify in the New York attorney general’s civil probe into the family’s business practices. The deal comes more than six months after Attorney General Letitia James first issued subpoenas for their testimony, which the Trumps and the Trump Organization have fought. James previously said investigators have found “significant evidence” of wrongdoing in the investigation, which is focused on whether the Trump Organization misstated the values of its real estate properties to obtain favorable loans and tax deductions. The three are tentatively set to begin testifying on July 15. (CNBC / Reuters / The Guardian / Bloomberg / NBC News)
3/ The Jan. 6 committee is in active discussions with Trump’s White House counsel about testifying publicly at one of their upcoming hearings. Pat Cipollone’s testimony, however, will be restricted to the effort undertaken by former top Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark to help Trump attempt to overturn the 2020 election. Following the Jan. 6 riot, Cipollone advised Trump that he could face civil liability in connection with his role encouraging supporters to march on the Capitol. Gregory Jacob, a senior Pence adviser, meanwhile, is scheduled to testify publicly before the Jan. 6 committee about his efforts to help Pence fend off Trump attorney John Eastman’s campaign to disrupt the transition of power. (ABC News / Politico)
4/ The FDA’s panel of independent vaccine experts recommended authorization of Novavax’s coronavirus vaccine, paving the way for the fourth shot in the U.S. The Novavax shot is a protein-based vaccine, given as two shots. Moderna, meanwhile, said its updated vaccine shows a “superior neutralizing antibody response” against the omicron subvariants compared to its original vaccine. The Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 now represent 13% of new coronavirus cases in the U.S. – up from 7.5% a week ago and 1% in early May. The Biden administration said it’s preparing for a fall and winter wave driven by Omicron subvariants that could see 100 million coronavirus infections and a potentially significant number of deaths. (ABC News / Washington Post / New York Times / NPR)
5/ The House is expected to pass the most aggressive gun control legislation in years, which will stall in the evenly divided Senate. The House bill would raise the age for purchasing semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21, ban high-capacity magazines, require a background check for buying a “ghost gun,” and include safe storage requirements for firearms. House Democrats, however, are forcing a separate vote on each proposal in the legislation, in order to put Republicans on the record on each measure. The Justice Department, meanwhile, named a team of nine people, including an FBI official and former police chiefs, to aid in a review of the law enforcement response to the Uvalde, Texas, shooting that left 19 children and two teachers dead. Justice Department officials said they planned to conduct a comprehensive and “transparent” investigation that would lead to a report in six months. (Politico / New York Times / Associated Press / Washington Post)
poll/ 74% of Americans support raising the minimum legal age to buy a gun to 21 years old nationwide, 24% oppose. 57% support stricter gun laws in the U.S. 50% also support a nationwide ban on the sale of assault weapons. (Quinnipiac)
1/ The World Bank warned that the global economy may be headed for several years of above-average inflation and below-average growth. The bank cut its annual global growth forecast to 2.9% from January’s 4.1%, saying “subdued growth will likely persist throughout the decade because of weak investment in most of the world.” The world economy expanded 5.7% in 2021 following the Covid-19 pandemic, which triggered the deepest global recession since World War II. “The world economy is again in danger,” President David Malpass said in the Global Economic Prospects report. “It is facing high inflation and slow growth at the same time. Even if a global recession is averted, the pain of stagflation could persist for several years – unless major supply increases are set in motion.” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, meanwhile, conceded that inflation is at “unacceptable levels” and that she expects “inflation to remain high.” She pointed to “disruptions caused by the pandemic’s effect on supply chains, and the effects of supply side disturbances to oil and food markets resulting from Russia’s war in Ukraine” as the primary reasons for high prices. (Washington Post / Bloomberg / Associated Press / CNBC / Wall Street Journal / New York Times)
2/ Atmospheric CO2 topped 420 parts per million in May – 50% higher than the levels at the start of the Industrial Revolution and the highest concentration ever recorded in human history. Carbon dioxide levels are now comparable to the Pliocene Climatic Optimum – which was more than 4 million years ago. Two U.N. food agencies, meanwhile, warned that “climate shocks,” like drought and flooding, have exacerbated already steadily rising food and energy prices worldwide. (New Atlas / NOAA / Associated Press)
3/ The Department of Homeland Security issued a terrorism bulletin warning of heightened domestic extremists threats as the U.S. enters the midterm elections. In the latest National Terrorism Advisory System bulletin, DHS said that the U.S. was already in a “heightened threat environment” but a Supreme Court decision on abortion, an increase of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border, and the midterm elections could worsen the situation and trigger extremist violence over the next six months. The bulletin, which is scheduled to expire Nov. 30, warned of “violence by domestic violent extremists directed at democratic institutions, political candidates, party offices, election events, and election workers” will likely increase through the fall. (Associated Press / CNN)
4/ The Trump campaign directed a group of 16 Georgia Republicans named as “alternate” electors to operate with “complete secrecy and discretion” as Trump attempted to overturn his defeat by Biden. Robert Sinners, the Trump campaign’s election operations director for Georgia, sent a Dec. 13, 2020 email instructing the electors to tell security guards at the building that they had an appointment with state senators. “Please, at no point should you mention anything to do with Presidential Electors or speak to the media,” Sinners wrote, adding: “Your duties are imperative to ensure the end result — a win in Georgia for President Trump — but will be hampered unless we have complete secrecy and discretion.” (Washington Post / CNN)
5/ The Secret Service said Trump’s call for supporters “to walk down to the Capitol” on Jan. 6, 2021, prompted agents to consider options to secure a motorcade. Ultimately, however, agents found that transporting Trump to the Capitol “would not be feasible.” The Jan. 6 committee has interviewed Robert Engel, the top Secret Service agent on Trump’s protective detail during the Capitol attack. (Washington Post / CNN / Politico)
1/ Biden invoked the Defense Production Act to boost the domestic production of solar panels and their parts in an effort to shift the country toward clean energy. Biden also declared a 24-month tariff exemption for solar panels from four Southeast Asian nations after an investigation froze imports. The Commerce Department’s inquiry into possible trade violations involving Chinese solar panel- and cell-makers had cut solar installation forecasts nearly in half. In 2020, 89% of the solar panels used in the U.S. were imported. Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden invoked the Defense Production act “to make sure that he’s delivering for the American people.” (NPR / Associated Press / New York Times / NBC News / Reuters / Washington Post / CNN)
2/ Biden is expected to decide in July or August whether to partially forgive student-loan debt for 40 million borrowers who owe about $1.6 trillion. Earlier this year, Biden extended the pandemic-related pause in federal student loan payments through the end of August. Officials say Biden is likely to announce his plans closer to when the pause is scheduled to lapse. (Wall Street Journal)
3/ The U.S. has wasted 82.1 million Covid-19 vaccine doses – just over 11% of the doses the federal government distributed. CVS and Walmart were responsible for over a quarter of the doses thrown away. (NBC News / Axios)
4/ Pence’s chief of staff reportedly warned the Secret Service on Jan 5th that Trump was going to publicly turn against the vice president, and there could be a security risk because of it. It is unclear what the agent, Tim Giebels, did with Marc Short’s message. The next day, however, more than 2,000 pro-Trump rioters stormed the Capitol, with some chanting “Hang Mike Pence.” (New York Times / Axios)
5/ The Justice Department charged the former top leader of the Proud Boys extremist group and four other members with seditious conspiracy for their role in the Jan. 6 insurrection. The men were previously charged in a March indictment with conspiring to obstruct the certification of the 2020 presidential election, and the sedition charges add to the Justice Department’s allegations of an organized plot to use force to either to overthrow the government or to interfere with the execution of federal law. The Justice Department previously charged 11 members of the Oath Keepers and their leader Stewart Rhodes in January 2022 with similar seditious conspiracy charges. (Associated Press / Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
6/ The Justice Department declined to prosecute former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and communications chief Daniel Scavino despite being referred for contempt for failing to cooperate with the Jan. 6 committee. Meanwhile, former Trump White House adviser Peter Navarro was indicted by a grand jury on two counts of criminal contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a subpoena from the Jan. 6 committee. Navarro is the second Trump adviser to face criminal charges. Steve Bannon was indicted on a contempt of Congress charge in November after he refused the committee requests. (New York Times / CNN / Politico / Washington Post / ABC News / NBC News / CBS News)
Notably Next: The House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection of the Capitol will host its first televised hearing Thursday at 8 pm Eastern. After more than 100 subpoenas, 1,000 interviews, and 100,000 documents, the committee said it plans to present evidence from its 10-month investigation that show a deliberate, coordinated effort by Trump and his associates to delay certification of Biden’s 2020 presidential election, and how that led to the violence at the Capitol. At least six hearings are planned, two of them in prime time. (Bloomberg / Associated Press)
poll/ 45% of Americans say Trump is solely or mainly responsible for the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, while 55% say Trump is only somewhat or not really responsible. (Washington Post)
poll/ 83% of Americans described the state of the economy as poor or not so good. 35% said they aren’t satisfied at all with their financial situation. (Wall Street Journal)
poll/ 37% of Americans approve of Biden’s handling of the economy. 80% say that inflation is also an important factor in how they will vote this November. (ABC News)
poll/ 44% of Republican respondents said deadly mass shootings in the U.S. are something that must be accepted as part of a “free society.” 85% of Democrats and 73% of Independents, meanwhile, said mass shootings are “something we can prevent and stop if we really tried.” (Newsweek)
1/ The House will vote on legislation banning military-style “assault” weapons as early as next week following mass shootings in Texas and New York by 18-year-old assailants who used semi-automatic rifles to kill 31 people, including 19 children. The action, however, will mostly be symbolic with Senate Republicans vowing to oppose virtually any new limits on firearms. Meanwhile, four people were killed, including two doctors, after a gunman opened fire inside an Oklahoma hospital. The gunman blamed one of the physicians for causing him ongoing pain following back surgery in May. Michael Louis bought the AR-15-style weapon about an hour before the attack. Biden is scheduled to give a speech at 7:30 p.m. Eastern on “the recent tragic mass shootings and the need for Congress to act to pass common sense laws.” (Associated Press / The Hill / NBC News / CNN / Washington Post / New York Times)
2/ Biden claimed that he wasn’t aware of the baby formula shortage despite company executives telling him at the White House in February that a shortage would be severe following the closure of an Abbott plant in Michigan. Biden suggested that he was not informed until April. The FDA closed the plant in February after an inspection found samples of a dangerous bacteria. (ABC News / Washington Post)
3/ The Biden administration canceled $5.8 billion in student loan debt for 560,000 borrowers who attended Corinthian Colleges, the now-defunct for-profit school network. The debt relief is the largest ever single discharge of federal student loan debt. (CNN / Politico / New York Times)
4/ The EPA will reverse a Trump-era rule and restore authority to states to oppose gas pipelines, coal terminals, and other energy projects that pollute local rivers and streams. For 50 years, states under the Clean Water Act had the authority to review and block energy and infrastructure projects that threatened to pollute or harm waterways within their borders. But in 2020, Trump issued a regulation reining in that power. (New York Times / Washington Post)
5/ The Florida Supreme Court refused to consider a challenge to a new congressional map that gives a substantial advantage to Republicans. The map, which will likely give Republicans a potential 20-8 advantage, is expected to remain in place for this year’s elections. Trump carried Florida by 3.3 percentage points in the 2020 election and was favored by a majority of voters in 20 of the 28 districts. (New York Times / Politico)
6/ Social Security is projected to be able to pay benefits until 2035 – one full year later than previously projected. The rapid economic recovery following the brief recession caused by the Covid-19 pandemic means that the program’s combined reserves won’t be depleted until 2035. After that, the program will be able to pay 77% of scheduled benefits – which help support payouts for retirees, the elderly, survivors, and disabled – through tax income unless Congress steps in. About 56 million people received retirement and survivors benefits in 2021. [Editor’s note: While I’m happy that my Boomer and Gen X readers will be minimally impacted by this news, 2035 is about 15 years before I can retire. Who knows what kind of Social Security shit show awaits. And while I’d like to believe that the system and our elected representatives are capable of fixing this, I am also of the mindset that no one is coming to save us. So, if you find my work valuable, please consider becoming a supporting member so I can afford to retire, someday.] (Wall Street Journal / CNN / CNBC)
poll/ 57% of Americans say a woman should be able to get an abortion for any reason – the highest share since 1977. (Wall Street Journal)
poll/ 55% of Americans identify as “pro-choice” – up six percentage points following the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion that would strike down Roe v. Wade. Pro-choice sentiment is at its highest level since 1995 when it was 56%. (Gallup)
1/ The Republican National Committee has reportedly recruited an “army” of trained operatives to contest votes in Democratic-majority polling places. The RNC plan, as outlined by Matthew Seifried, the RNC’s election integrity director for Michigan, calls for connecting poll workers directly with party attorneys and district attorneys who could intervene to block vote counts at certain precincts. Steve Bannon previously called this the “precinct strategy,” which Trump recently endorsed. Nick Penniman, founder and CEO of the election watchdog group Issue One, said the strategy is designed to “create massive failure of certification” in Democratic precincts to justify intervention by GOP-controlled state legislatures to “throw the choosing of electors to state legislatures.” (Politico)
2/ The Supreme Court blocked Texas’ social media censorship law, which would have allowed Texans and the state’s attorney general to sue social media companies for taking down posts based on a user’s viewpoint. The court’s order isn’t the final ruling on the Texas’ law, which is currently pending before a federal appeals court and is expected to return to the Supreme Court. Under current U.S. law, online platforms are not responsible for what people post and a company’s policies over allowable content has long been considered a type of speech protected by the First Amendment. (New York Times / NPR / Axios)
3/ The Labor Department reported that U.S. job openings fell in April but remained close to record levels. Job openings declined by 455,000 to 11.4 million in April from March’s record high of 11.9 million. Some 4.4 million Americans quit or changed jobs in April, while employers hired 6.6 million people, and layoffs fell to an all-time low of 1.2 million. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, meanwhile, said she was “wrong” about “the path that inflation would take.” In 2021, Yellen projected that inflation would be a “small risk,” adding that she didn’t “anticipate that inflation is going to be a problem.” Inflation is currently running at a near-four-decade high. (Washington Post / CNBC / CNN / Wall Street Journal / The Hill / Bloomberg)
4/ The U.S. and Germany agreed to send Ukraine more advanced weapons to resist Russian forces. Biden, however, stressed that “we are not encouraging or enabling Ukraine to strike beyond its borders.” Germany said it will supply Ukraine with anti-aircraft missiles and radar systems, while the U.S. said it will provide four medium-range rocket systems and ammunition. The Biden administration also plans to sell Ukraine four MQ-1C Gray Eagle drones for battlefield use. The U.K. also asked the U.S. to sign off on a plan to send advanced, medium-range rocket systems to Ukraine. The Kremlin, meanwhile, accused the U.S. of “pouring fuel on the fire” and Western officials have worried that providing Kyiv with rockets that could strike inside Russia could provoke Putin into escalating the conflict. (NPR / NBC News / Associated Press / Politico / Washington Post / Reuters / New York Times)
poll/ 71% of Americans support same-sex marriage. When first polled about same-sex marriage in 1996, 27% of Americans supported legalizing gay marriage, and it wasn’t until 2011 that support reached the majority level. (Gallup)
1/ Biden, calling inflation his “top economic priority,” met with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and outlined a three-part plan to tackle high prices. Biden said the Fed has “a primary responsibility to control inflation” and that he’s “not going to interfere with their critically important work.” Biden added: “The most important thing we can do now to transition from rapid recovery to stable, steady growth is to bring inflation down.” The Fed is currently in the process of raising interest rates at the most aggressive pace since the 1980s to cool demand to moderate price pressures. (Politico / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Bloomberg / Associated Press)
2/ A lawyer for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign was found not guilty of lying to the FBI when he shared a tip about possible connections between Trump and Russia two months before the election. The jury verdict in favor of Michael Sussmann was the first courtroom test for special counsel John Durham, who was tasked by the Trump administration three years ago with finding possible wrongdoing among federal agents who investigated Trump’s potential ties with Russia during the 2016 campaign. Sussmann was accused of lying to the FBI in September 2016 when he brought the FBI allegations of a secret computer communications backchannel between the Trump Organization and Russia-based Alfa Bank. Sussmann had claimed that he was not bringing the information on behalf of a client. Prosecutors, however, alleged Sussmann had done so on behalf of the Clinton campaign and technology executive Rodney Joffe. After deliberating for about six hours, jurors found Sussmann not guilty. (Politico / NPR / Associated Press / New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
3/ The Justice Department subpoenaed former Trump adviser Peter Navarro to appear before a grand jury as part of its probe into the Jan. 6 insurrection. It’s the first known instance of prosecutors seeking testimony from someone who worked in the Trump White House. Navarro, meanwhile, called the subpoena the “fruit of the poisonous tree.” The House voted to refer Navarro to the Department of Justice on a criminal contempt of Congress charge last month after he refused to cooperate with the committee’s subpoena for testimony and documents. (New York Times / Politico / CNBC / Associated Press)
4/ A Republican lawyer central to the plot to reverse the 2020 election is recruiting an “army of citizens” to monitor elections for fraud. Cleta Mitchell’s network of grass-root groups, which have promoted misinformation and conspiracy theories, have been tapped to surveil and pressure local election officials. rather than ensure voters’ access to the ballot. The Republican National Committee has so far recruited more than 5,000 poll watchers and nearly 12,000 poll workers. Federal investigators, meanwhile, are looking at whether the Trump campaign played a role in the submission of false election certificates, issuing subpoenas related to the alternate electors in Georgia seeking communications with “any member, employee or agent of Donald J. Trump or any organization advocating in favor of the 2020 re-election of Donald J. Trump.” Investigators have also interviewed a Republican who was set to be a 2020 elector in Michigan. (New York Times / CNN)
5/ The House Judiciary Committee called an emergency hearing to consider the “Protecting Our Kids Act,” a package of eight gun control bills that Committee Chair Jerry Nadler said he intends to bring to the House floor “as soon as possible.” The omnibus package would increase the legal purchasing age for semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21, ban the import, sale, manufacture, transfer or possession of large-capacity magazines, and establish requirements and criminal penalties to regulate the storage of firearms on residential premises. Even if the package passed the House, it would still face a filibuster by Senate Republicans. At least 15 mass shootings have taken place across the United States since the shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. (Axios / CNBC / Washington Post)
poll/ 14% of Americans rate economic conditions as either “excellent” or “good,” while 46% say they are “poor,” with another 39% rating them as “only fair.” The Economic Confidence Index, meanwhile, dropped to -45 in May, down from -39 over the previous two months. The recent measure of Americans’ perceptions of current economic conditions and their outlook for the economy is the lowest reading since the tail end of the Great Recession in early 2009. (Gallup)
1/ The Jan. 6 committee subpoenaed five House Republicans, including Kevin McCarthy. In addition to McCarthy, the panel sent summons to Jim Jordan, Scott Perry, Andy Biggs, and Mo Brooks. Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson said the Republican lawmakers have information relevant to its investigation and that the panel was forced to issue the subpoenas after all five rejected requests to voluntarily testify. McCarthy indicated he might not comply with the subpoena, while Perry suggested that the subpoenas were “for headlines and sensationalization.” The move marked the first time that the bipartisan investigation has issued subpoenas to sitting members of Congress. The committee’s public hearings are scheduled to begin June 9. (Politico / CBS News / Washington Post / New York Times / Associated Press / NBC News / CNN / NPR / CNBC / Wall Street Journal)
2/ Biden authorized the National Archives to release an eighth tranche of Trump’s records to the Jan. 6 committee. Biden again declined to assert executive privilege over the records. The documents are set to be delivered to the committee by May 26. (Washington Post)
[December 2020] Attorney John Eastman urged Republican legislators in Pennsylvania to retabulate and throw out tens of thousands of absentee ballots in order to show Trump with a lead. Biden won Pennsylvania by more than 80,000 votes. (Politico / Washington Post)
3/ A federal grand jury issued a subpoena to the National Archives to obtain the 15 boxes of classified White House documents that Trump took with him to Mar-a-Lago. Federal prosecutors are investigating whether the classified White House documents were mishandled, including how the documents made their way from the White House residence to Mar-a-Lago, who boxed them up, and whether anyone knew the boxes contained classified material. (New York Times)
4/ The Biden administration canceled the sale of oil and gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico and the coast of Alaska. The Interior Department cited a “lack of industry interest in leasing in the area” for the decision to “not move forward.” The department also halted two leases under consideration for the Gulf of Mexico because of “conflicting court rulings that impacted work on these proposed lease sales.” (CBS News / Wall Street Journal)
5/ Finland moved to join NATO “without delay” in response to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Neighboring Sweden is expected to announce its own NATO bid soon. The Kremlin, meanwhile, warned that Finland’s announcement would “definitely” pose a threat to its security and Russia would be forced to take retaliatory “military-technical” steps “to stop the threats that arise.” (NBC News / Washington Post / Associated Press / New York Times)
1/ Senate Republicans and Joe Manchin blocked a bill to enshrine abortion rights into federal law, which would guarantee access nationwide even if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade. Democrats needed 60 votes to take up the Women’s Health Protection Act, but all 50 Republicans and Manchin voted against proceeding to debate. The final vote was 49-51. Following the vote, Biden criticized Republicans’ “failure” to protect access to reproductive health care, saying the vote “runs counter to the will of the majority of the American people” and that Republicans “have chosen to stand in the way of Americans’ rights to make the most personal decisions about their own bodies, families and lives.” Harris added that “the priority should be to elect pro-choice leaders.” (NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press / Politico / CNBC / Bloomberg)
2/ Republican Sen. Susan Collins called the police over a chalk message in front of her house asking her to support the Women’s Health Protection Act. Collins called the chalk message – “Susie, please, Mainers want WHPA —> vote yes, clean up your mess” – a “defacement of public property in front of our home.” Collins, a moderate, pro-choice Senate Republican previously voted to confirm several Supreme Court justices who appear poised to overturn Roe v. Wade. Collins also voted against Women’s Health Protection Act. (CNN / Buzzfeed News / Business Insider)
3/ The pace of inflation eased slightly in April for the first time in seven months. The Consumer Price Index increased by 8.3% in April compared to a year ago – below the 8.5% year-over-year increase in March, which was the highest rate since 1981. Prices rose 0.3% on a month-to-month basis. Core inflation, meanwhile, rose 0.6% in April – faster than March’s 0.3% increase. (Politico / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / CNBC)
4/ The House approved more than $40 billion in emergency aid to Ukraine. The package, which is larger than the $33 billion aid package Biden requested last month, includes more than $18.7 billion in military and security aid, and $8.8 billion in direct economic support for Ukraine. The package now heads to the Senate where it will need 60 votes to advance. (Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
5/ A New York judge released Trump from a contempt of court order – on the condition that he pays the $110,000 in fines he’s accumulated for failing to comply with a subpoena for documents issued by the New York Attorney General’s Office. The judge ruled that if Trump and his company didn’t pay the $110,000 penalty by May 20, he would reinstate the contempt order and retroactively apply the $10,000-a-day fine. (Associated Press / Politico / New York Times / ABC News / CNN)
6/ Several people who served as fake Republican electors in Georgia are cooperating in the criminal probe of Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. During interviews with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ office, witnesses have reportedly provided significant information about what happened on December 14, 2020, when pro-Trump electors met and voted on alternate slates. Trump, who lost Georgia by about 12,000 votes, pressured Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” the votes needed to swing the state to him. The call set off the criminal investigation. The Justice Department is also investigating fake electors and a grand jury recently issued subpoenas. (CNN)
poll/ 57% of Americans say Roe v. Wade should be left in place, while 36% want the Supreme Court to overturn the precedent. 33% of Americans support keeping abortion legal, 31% support abortion rights with some limitations, 26% say it should be illegal except for rape, incest or to save the mother’s life, and 8% say it should always be illegal. 52% of Americans, meanwhile, disapprove of the job the Supreme Court is doing – up from 42% from two months ago. (Monmouth)
1/ Biden said that tackling inflation is his “top domestic priority” as the average price for a gallon of gas nationwide hit $4.37 – the highest price since 2000 when AAA started keeping track. The Consumer Price Index, which will be released Wednesday, is expected to report that inflation is running above 8% – its highest level in 40 years. Biden also accused Republicans of pursuing an “extreme” agenda that would raise taxes on working class voters and help the wealthiest Americans and big corporations. The GOP plan would require all Americans to pay some federal income taxes, ban debt ceiling increases, and require all federal programs to expire every five years, unless renewed by Congress. About half of Americans do not pay federal income taxes because they do not earn enough. “The bottom line is this: Americans have a choice right now between two paths reflecting two very different sets of values,” Biden said. “My plan attacks inflation and lowers the deficit […] The other path is the ultra MAGA plan.” (New York Times / Washington Post / ABC News / CNBC)
2/ A group of House and Senate Democrats are introducing legislation to tighten judicial ethics laws, which would require more disclosure, a Supreme Court code of conduct, and a judicial recusal process. The Supreme Court is the only court that doesn’t follow a judicial code of ethics. The bill comes following the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion that would strike down Roe v. Wade, and news that the wife of Justice Clarence Thomas repeatedly urged White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to take steps to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Separately, Sen. Bob Casey, a self-described pro-life Democrat, said he would support legislation to codify Roe v. Wade into law. Wednesday’s procedural vote to open the debate on the bill to codify Roe, however, is still expected to fall short of the 60 votes needed to proceed in the 50-50 Senate. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
3/ An administrative law judge in Georgia ruled that Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene can stay on the ballot despite claims by a group of voters that she engaged in insurrection due to her support for the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. In his 19-page opinion, Judge Charles Beaudrot said the challengers failed to establish that Greene “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or [gave] aid or comfort to the enemies thereof under the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.” The ruling allows Greene to stay on the ballot for the state’s 14th Congressional District May 24 primary. (ABC News / Associated Press)
4/ A federal judge dismissed Trump’s lawsuit seeking to reinstate his Twitter account, but Elon Musk nevertheless said he would reverse Trump’s permanent ban if his deal to buy the social network goes through. Twitter permanently suspended Trump in Jan. 2021 after a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, citing the “risk of further incitement of violence.” Musk called the ban “a morally bad decision” that was “foolish in the extreme” because “It alienated a large part of the country and did not ultimately result in Donald Trump not having a voice.” It’s unclear if Trump would rejoin Twitter, but his advisers warned that rejoining would depress the value of his recently launched social media site, Truth Social, which has struggled to gain an audience. (Washington Post / New York Times / Associated Press / NPR)
5/ The Earth has a 50-50 chance of temporarily exceeding the 1.5 degrees Celsius of above preindustrial global warming threshold by 2026, a new report by the World Meteorological Organization finds. The annual average of global near-surface temperatures for any year over the next five years is forecast to be between 1.1 and 1.7 degrees Celsius higher than preindustrial levels – the average temperatures between the years 1850 and 1900. The United Kingdom’s Meteorological Office said there is a 93% chance that the world will set a record for hottest year by the end of 2026, and that there’s also a 93% chance that the five years from 2022 to 2026 will be the hottest on record. (Washington Post / USA Today / CBS News / PBS NewsHour)
poll/ 51% of voters express some confidence in the Supreme Court – down from 70% in Sept. 2020. (Yahoo News)
1/ The White House warned that the country is at “serious risk” of a nationwide ban on abortion after Mitch McConnell called such a ban “possible” if the leaked Supreme Court opinion overturning Roe v. Wade became final and Republicans gain control in Washington. McConnell suggested that if the draft represented the final ruling, lawmakers “not only at the state level but at the federal level” could codify abortion bans. Chuck Schumer, meanwhile, moved to advance a bill that would codify access to abortion into federal law. The effort, however, seems destined to fail because Democrats would need at least 60 votes to overcome a Republican filibuster. (NPR / USA Today / New York Times / ABC News / Washington Post)
2/ Justice Clarence Thomas – whose wife sent 21 text messages to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows imploring him to take steps to overturn the 2020 election – said he’s worried about declining respect for the Supreme Court. Thomas said the judiciary is threatened if people are unwilling to “live with outcomes we don’t agree with.” He then referred to reproductive-rights protests stemming from the leaked draft Supreme Court opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade as “unfortunate events” and “bodes ill for a free society.” Thomas added that the Supreme Court can’t be “bullied into giving you just the outcomes you want.” (Washington Post / NPR)
3/ Biden signed a bipartisan measure to streamline the process of supplying Ukraine with the military equipment to fight off Russia’s invasion. The measure, updates the World War II-era “lend-lease” program used to help U.S. allies defeat Nazi Germany, will cut some red tape but doesn’t include additional funding. Separately, Biden has asked Congress for $33 billion in aid to Ukraine. Putin, meanwhile, hailed his country’s army for “fighting for the Motherland.” (Associated Press / Washington Post / Bloomberg / New York Times)
4/ Biden announced that 20 internet companies agreed to provide discounted high-speed service to low-income consumers. Under the Affordable Connectivity Program, an estimated 48 million Americans would qualify for high-speed internet plans that cost no more than $30 a month (or $75 a month on Tribal lands). (NPR / ABC News / Associated Press)
5/ U.S. stock indexes fell to a 13-month low amid high inflation, rising interest rates, and concerns about the Federal Reserve’s ability to avoid a recession. Economists estimate that there’s a 28% probability of a recession sometime in the next 12 months – up from 18% in January. The U.S. economy, meanwhile, added 428,000 jobs and the unemployment rate remained at 3.6%. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / NBC News)
poll/ 66% of Americans say Roe v. Wade should not be completely struck down. 59% said they would support legislation to establish a nationwide right to abortion, including 81% of Democrats, 65% of independents, and 30% of Republicans. (CNN)
1/ Senate Democrats moved to vote on a bill to codify abortion rights into federal law in the wake of a leaked Supreme Court draft decision that would strike down Roe v. Wade. The vote, however, is all but certain to be blocked by Republicans because the bill needs 60 votes to advance. Senate Democrats are also short of the 50 votes needed to eliminate the filibuster. In February, the Senate voted on the House-passed Women’s Health Protection Act, which failed to advance in a 46 to 48 vote. Joe Manchin, meanwhile, reiterated that he still supports the filibuster, calling it “the only protection we have of democracy right now.” And Susan Collins, one of two Republican senators who support abortion rights, said she doesn’t support legislation to create a statutory right to abortion because the measure doesn’t “protect the right of a Catholic hospital to not perform abortions.” She added: “It supersedes all other federal and state laws, including the conscience protections that are in the Affordable Care Act.” Nevertheless, Chuck Schumer said the vote would be one of “the most important we ever take.” 52% of women of childbearing age in the U.S. would live in states where their right to an abortion is restrictive if Roe v. Wade is overturned. (New York Times / NPR / Washington Post / The Hill / NBC News / ABC News / Politico)
2/ Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Justice Department “will address appropriate next steps” if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade. While it’s unclear what kind of enforcement the Justice Department would use to protect women seeking abortions, Garland said the department has “steadfastly been committed to defending the right to abortion.” White House officials have looked at whether funding, potentially through Medicaid or another mechanism, could be made available to women to travel to other states for an abortion if
Congress can’t codify Roe v. Wade. Senate Republicans, meanwhile, have discussed potential legislation to restrict abortions nationwide if they gain control of the Senate. (Washington Post / NBC News)
3/ Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito canceled a conference appearance after his draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade leaked. Alito had been set to appear at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ judicial conference, which includes judges from the New Orleans-based federal appeals court and the district courts of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. A spokesperson for the court gave no reason why Alito canceled and would not attend. (Reuters)
4/ Louisiana House Republicans advanced a bill that would classify abortion as homicide and allow prosecutors to criminally charge patients. The bill would grant constitutional rights to a person “from the moment of fertilization,” which could also restrict in vitro fertilization and emergency contraception. (Washington Post)
5/ The stock market had one of its worst days since 2020 – a day after notching its biggest one-day gain in two years. The Dow lost 3.12% and the Nasdaq fell 4.99% – the index’s worst single-day drops since 2020 – while the S&P 500 fell 3.56%, marking its second worst day of the year. (CNBC / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / New York Times)
6/ Nearly 15 million people worldwide have died from causes related to the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new estimate from the World Health Organization. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
1/ Oklahoma’s Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a Texas-style abortion ban into law, which prohibits abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy and allows private citizens to sue abortion providers to enforce the law. The “Oklahoma Heartbeat Act” takes effect immediately and prohibits abortions once cardiac activity can be detected in an embryo, which can be as early as six weeks into a pregnancy – before many women even know that they’re pregnant. The Oklahoma Supreme Court denied an emergency request to temporarily halt the bill. The measure provides exceptions for medical emergencies, but not for rape or incest. (CNN / Associated Press)
2/ The National Republican Senatorial Committee circulated a three-page memo of talking points urging GOP candidates to “be the compassionate consensus-builder” on abortion and attack Democrats for their “extreme and radical views on abortion.” The memo also recommended that Republican candidates “Forcefully refute Democrat lies regarding GOP positions on abortion and women’s health care.” (Axios / New York Times)
3/ J.D. Vance won Ohio’s Senate Republican primary with 32% support after a late endorsement by Trump. Prior to Trump’s endorsement, Vance was in third place in polls with about 10% support. Vance will face off against Democratic U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, a 10-term House member and 2020 presidential candidate, who won his party’s nomination with nearly 70% of the vote. Elsewhere, a Republican candidate for the Michigan House of Representatives – who told women to “enjoy” rape – lost his race to represent Michigan’s 74th district. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Axios / The Guardian / NPR / PBS NewsHour)
A mole hunt, a secret website and Peter Thiel’s big risk: How J.D. Vance won his primary. “The former Trump critic leaned on a super PAC and his billionaire patron to put him in position for Trump’s all-important endorsement.” (Politico)
4/ Trump’s acting Homeland Security secretary changed and delayed an intelligence report about Russian interference in the 2020 election. According to a Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general report, Chad Wolf deviated from DHS standard review procedures and “rais[ed] objectivity concerns” by making changes to key a intelligence report that “appear to be based in part on political considerations.” A Sept. 2020 whistleblower claimed that Wolf had instructed DHS officials to “cease providing intelligence assessments on the threat of Russian interference” and, instead, focus on information related to activities being carried out by China and Iran, which better supported Trump’s reelection bid. (CBS News / CNN)
5/ Trump Jr. met with the Jan. 6 committee. Trump Jr. texted then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows ideas for overturning the 2020 election before it was called. Ivanka, Jared Kushner, and Trump Jr.’s fiancée Kimberly Guilfoyle have all sat for interviews with the committee. (CNN)
6/ A New York court denied Trump’s request to pause the $10,000 in daily fines while he appeals a contempt order. Trump was held in contempt after failing to comply with a subpoena from New York State Attorney General Letitia James in her civil fraud probe. (CNBC / CBS News)
7/ The Trump Organization and the Presidential Inaugural Committee agreed to pay $750,000 to settle a lawsuit that they illegally misused nonprofit funds to enrich the Trump family. The District of Columbia alleged that the inaugural committee coordinated with members of the Trump family “to grossly overpay for event space” at the Trump hotel during his 2017 inauguration. The Trump Organization will pay $400,000 and the PIC will pay $350,000. (New York Times / CNBC / CNN)
8/ The Federal Reserve raised interest rates by half a percentage point and plans to shrink pandemic-era economic support to combat the highest inflation in 40 years – the most aggressive Fed tightening of monetary policy at one meeting in decades. The rate increase is also the sharpest since 2000 and the second of seven hikes forecast for this year. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell acknowledged that the central bank’s attempt to combat rapid inflation without causing a recession would be “very challenging; it’s not going to be easy.” The S&P 500, meanwhile, rose 3% – its best day in two years. (Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / CNBC / Bloomberg / Politico)
9/ The U.S. surpassed 1 million Covid-19 deaths – 27 months after the country’s first confirmed coronavirus case. (NBC News)
poll/ 50% of voters said Roe v. Wade should not be overturned, while 28% said it should be overturned, and 22% are undecided. 68% of Democrats and 52% of Independents say Roe should not be overturned, while 51% of Republicans say it should. 57% of voters said they hope the Supreme Court supports abortion rights, compared to 28% who hope the justices oppose them, and 15% that said they do not know or have no opinion. (Politico / The Hill)
1/ The Supreme Court voted to strike down Roe v. Wade, according to a leaked draft opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito. While the draft could change before it’s finalized, the document was circulated among the justices in February and at least five justices – including all of three of Trump’s nominees – voted to overturn Roe, which established a constitutional right to an abortion 49 years ago. Alito writes that “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start,” adding that “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.” The Alito draft is related to the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case, which challenges a Mississippi law that bans abortions after 15 weeks. Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett voted with Alito after hearing oral arguments in December, while Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan are working on one or more dissents. It’s unclear how Chief Justice John Roberts will ultimately vote, and whether he will join an opinion or draft his own, but he is reportedly willing to uphold the Mississippi law. A final opinion is expected later this Spring or early summer, and if the draft opinion is adopted, the court would let individual states determine abortion’s legality. (Politico / New York Times / Washington Post)
📌 Day 468: Antiabortion groups and some Republican lawmakers have started meeting about potential federal legislation to outlaw abortion after six weeks of pregnancy if the Supreme Court weakens or overturns Roe v. Wade this summer. While a nationwide abortion ban would be extraordinarily difficult to pass given the need for 60 votes in the Senate to overcome a filibuster, antiabortion advocates have spoken with 10 possible Republican presidential candidates, including Trump, about a national strategy. Most of them reportedly said they’d be supportive of a national ban and would make the policy a centerpiece of a presidential campaign. (Washington Post)
10 key passages from Alito’s draft opinion. (Politico)
What would the end of Roe v. Wade mean? Key questions and answers. (New York Times)
How rare is a Supreme Court breach? Very rare. (Politico)
2/ Chief Justice John Roberts confirmed the authenticity of the draft opinion to overturn Roe v. Wade but said the document is not final. Roberts said he has directed the Supreme Court marshal to investigate the leak, calling the episode “a singular and egregious breach of trust.” Roberts added: “To the extent this betrayal of the confidences of the Court was intended to undermine the integrity of our operations, it will not succeed. The work of the Court will not be affected in any way.” Susan Collins, meanwhile, called the draft opinion “completely inconsistent” with what Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch told her during their private conversations as Supreme Court nominees. In 2018, Collins cast the vote pivotal in Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court. At the time, Collins said Kavanaugh assured her Roe v. Wade was “settled law.” (Washington Post / CNN / CNBC / NPR / NBC News / ABC News / The Hill)
3/ 26 states have laws aiming to limit abortion access if Roe v. Wade is overturned or weakened, including 9 with pre-Roe bans, and 13 states with “trigger bans” in place, meaning abortion will be banned if Roe is overturned. By contrast, 16 states and the District of Columbia have policies that explicitly protect the right to abortion. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, meanwhile, said she would immediately call for a special session to outlaw abortion in her state, while in Arkansas, Georgia, and Indiana Republican lawmakers have demanded special sessions to pass legislation limiting or eliminating abortion rights following the Supreme Court decision. And Missouri’s attorney general said he’s prepared to “immediately” ban abortion in the state if Roe is overturned. (CNN / New York Times / Washington Post)
4/ Biden blasted the “radical” Supreme Court draft opinion, saying other rights, including same-sex marriage and access to birth control, are in question if the leaked document becomes the decision of the court. “I believe that a woman’s right to choose is fundamental, Roe has been the law of the land for almost fifty years, and basic fairness and the stability of our law demand that it not be overturned,” Biden said, adding “the rationale used” in the draft opinion “would mean that every other decision relating to the notion of privacy is thrown into question.” Biden said his administration “will be ready when any ruling is issued,” but warned that if the Supreme Court “does overturn Roe, it will fall on our nation’s elected officials at all levels of government to protect a woman’s right to choose. And it will fall on voters to elect pro-choice officials this November.” (Associated Press / NBC News / Politico / CNBC / Axios / The Hill / Washington Post)
5/ Chuck Schumer said the Senate will vote to codify the right to abortion into federal law, saying this is “not an abstract exercise, this is as urgent and real as it gets […] Every American is going to see which side every senator stands.” Any such vote, however, would largely be symbolic as Democrats lack the 60-vote supermajority needed to pass Roe legislation in the Senate. Democrats also lack the support to eliminate the filibuster rules thanks to Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin, who have rejected efforts to drop or alter the filibuster. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders, meanwhile, called on Democrats to primary Sinema when she is up for re-election in 2024, because of her resistance to ending the Senate’s 60-vote threshold to protect abortion rights. In February, Manchin voted with Republicans to filibuster a House-passed bill that would codify Roe. The vote was 46-48. Earlier, Schumer and Nancy Pelosi, said “The Supreme Court is poised to inflict the greatest restriction of rights in the past fifty years – not just on women but on all Americans.” They added: “The Republican-appointed Justices’ reported votes to overturn Roe v. Wade would go down as an abomination, one of the worst and most damaging decisions in modern history.” (Associated Press / Bloomberg / Bloomberg / NPR / CNBC / Axios / ABC News / Politico)
6/ Republicans celebrated the Supreme Court draft opinion to overturn Roe v. Wade with calls for the FBI to investigate and pursue criminal charges against those responsible for the leak. Mitch McConnell called the leak “an effort by someone on the inside to discredit the institution” and that “the Department of Justice must pursue criminal charges if applicable.” Mitt Romney called the “breach” of the court’s process “an appalling affront against a critical institution and should be fully investigated and those responsible should be punished,” while Ted Cruz said the leak was a “breach of trust” being used to intimidate the high court. Meanwhile, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who recently signed a law banning abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, suggested that the leak was a “judicial insurrection” intended “to whip up a lot of the public to try and make [the ruling] very political, potentially try to bully [the justices] into changing one of their positions.” Charles Grassley, the Senate Judiciary Committee’s top Republican, tweeted: “The leak was a monumental breach of trust w/in our judicial system. The independent judiciary must remain free from political intimidation & outside influence.” (Politico / New York Times / The Hill / Fox News)
poll/ 54% of Americans say the Supreme Court should uphold Roe v. Wade, compared with 28% who say the ruling should be overturned. 57% of Americans oppose their state banning abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, and 58% oppose limiting abortion to the first six weeks of pregnancy. (ABC News / Washington Post)
Notables.
A record 4.5 million Americans quitting their jobs in March. The number of available jobs, meanwhile, rose to 11.5 million. (CNN / Wall Street Journal)
The Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates half a percentage point (50 basis points) Wednesday and again in June. In a survey of economists, fund managers, and strategists, 57% said the Fed’s effort to bring down inflation to 2% will create a recession, while 33% said it wouldn’t, and 10% weren’t sure. (CNBC)
Ivanka Trump testified to Jan. 6 committee about what happened inside the White House, as well as Trump’s state of mind during the attack on the Capitol. Ivanka did not invoke the Fifth Amendment or claim privilege during her interview. (CNN)
poll/ 52% of Americans say Trump should be charged with a crime for his role urging supporters to march to the Capitol on Jan. 6, while 42% say he should not be charged. (Washington Post)
1/ A special grand jury was seated in Georgia to help investigate whether Trump and others tried to illegally influence the 2020 election in the state. The case centers on Trump asking election officials to “find” him enough votes to overturn Biden’s win in that state. Trump lost Georgia by roughly 12,000 votes out of five million cast, and his efforts to reverse the outcome included direct calls to Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who oversees elections, and the lead investigator for his office. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis opened the investigation in early 2021, and the grand jury will have the power to subpoena testimony from witnesses and to obtain evidence. The probe is seen as the biggest threat of criminal prosecution that Trump currently faces. (Associated Press / CNBC / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post)
2/ New York City entered a higher risk level for coronavirus transmission as cases continue to rise. The city moved into the medium (yellow) risk category with nearly 2,500 new cases per day – a jump from about 600 in March – which could trigger a return to some public health restrictions. Preliminary research, meanwhile, suggests that two new Omicron subvariants – BA.2.12 and BA.2.12.1 – are about 25% more transmissible than Omicron (BA.2), which is currently dominant nationally. (New York Times / Washington Post)
3/ Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas reiterated his request from about a year ago for migrants to “not come” to the U.S. southern border. Mayorkas said Homeland Security is planning for the possibility of a record-breaking 18,000 border apprehensions per day if Title 42 is lifted – compared to the current number of about 7,000 per day – which would put a “strain on the system.” In April, the CDC said it would end the Trump-era pandemic restriction on May 23, which has been used to expel more than 1 million migrants at the southern border. (CNN / Politico)
4/ A federal judge allowed the Jan. 6 committee to obtain the Republican National Committee’s marketing email data leading up to the insurrection. District Court Judge Tim Kelly – a Trump appointee – said the committee had demonstrated its need for the RNC’s email data about efforts to fundraise off claims that the 2020 election was stolen. Kelly also issued an injunction to allow the RNC to appeal his ruling by May 5. The committee, meanwhile, said it wants to talk to three more House Republicans linked to the Jan. 6 attack, asking Reps. Mo Brooks, Andy Biggs, and Ronny Jackson to appear voluntarily. (Politico / Washington Post / CNN / NPR / ABC News)
5/ Antiabortion groups and some Republican lawmakers have started meeting about potential federal legislation to outlaw abortion after six weeks of pregnancy if the Supreme Court weakens or overturns Roe v. Wade this summer. While a nationwide abortion ban would be extraordinarily difficult to pass given the need for 60 votes in the Senate to overcome a filibuster, antiabortion advocates have spoken with 10 possible Republican presidential candidates, including Trump, about a national strategy. Most of them reportedly said they’d be supportive of a national ban and would make the policy a centerpiece of a presidential campaign. (Washington Post)
6/ The primaries for November’s midterm elections begin this month with voters in 13 states heading to the polls. All 435 House seats and 34 Senate seats are up for election in November. In the 50-50 Senate, 14 seats currently held by Democrats are up for election, while 21 are currently held by Republicans. Control of both chambers is in play. (NPR / CNN)
poll/ 47% of voters said they’re more likely to vote for the Republican in their district in November’s midterm elections, compared to 44% who said they’d likely vote for the Democrat. 10% said they were unsure which candidate they’d vote for, and the poll has a margin of error of 3.7 percentage points. (NPR)
poll/ 55% of Americans are in favor of increased military support in Ukraine despite 81% also saying they’re concerned that the war could expand to other countries or involve the possible use of nuclear weapons by Russia. (ABC News)
✏️ Notables.
Biden was warned that immigration and inflation could erode support for him and the Democratic party. “Despite the early warnings from his pollster, Biden and his top advisers have struggled to prevent either issue from becoming a major political liability.” (New York Times)
How Tucker Carlson stoked white fear to conquer cable. “A New York Times examination of the host’s career and influence at Fox News shows how his trajectory traces the transformation of American conservatism itself.” (Part 1; Part 2; Part 3)
Likelihood of a Trump indictment in the Manhattan district attorney investigation fades as the grand jury wraps up. “In the weeks since the Manhattan district attorney stopped presenting evidence to the jurors about Trump, new signs have emerged that the former president will not be indicted in Manhattan in the foreseeable future — if at all.” (New York Times)
1/ Biden asked Congress for $33 billion in additional funding for military, economic, and humanitarian aid for Ukraine and “its fight for freedom.” The funding request includes more than $20 billion in military and security assistance, $2.6 billion to support the deployment of American troops and equipment to the region, and $1.9 billion for cybersecurity and intelligence support, as well as $8.5 billion in economic assistance for the Ukrainian government to provide basic economic support. “Investing in Ukraine’s freedom and security is a small price to pay to punish Russian aggression, to lessen the risk for future conflicts,” Biden said. The request is more than twice the size of the $13.6 billion package approved last month and intended to last until the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. “The cost of failing to stand up to violent aggression in Europe has always been higher than the cost of standing firm against such attacks,” Biden said. “That is as it always has been, and as it always will be. America must meet this moment, and do its part.” The House, meanwhile, passed legislation allowing Biden to use a World War II-era law to quickly supply weapons to Ukraine on loan. (NPR / Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / Bloomberg / Associated Press)
2/ The U.S. economy unexpectedly shrank for the first time since 2020. In the first three months of 2022, gross domestic product in the U.S. declined at a 1.4% annualized rate. Economic forecasts had projected growth of roughly 1%. Last year, the U.S. economy grew by 5.7% – the fastest pace since 1984. Biden blamed the contraction on “technical factors,” citing the Omicron wave of the coronavirus, Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, companies with stockpiled inventories from 2021, and a jump in imports with a drop in exports. Consumer spending, however, grew at a 2.7% annual rate in the first quarter despite the Omicron wave, which limited spending on restaurants and travel in January. Consumer spending accounts for about two-thirds of the economy. (Wall Street Journal / CNBC / New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Associated Press)
3/ Senior Trump administration officials overruled Pentagon officials in 2020 to award a $700 million pandemic relief loan to a struggling trucking company. A report released by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis describes career employees at the Defense Department concluding that the trucking company Yellow didn’t qualify for the pandemic loan program because it wasn’t critical to maintaining national security. Corporate lobbyists for Yellow, however, worked closely with Mark Meadows, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Defense Secretary Mark Esper to secure the loan anyway, with Esper certifying that the Yellow was “critical to maintaining national security.” Yellow lost more than $100 million in 2019 and was sued by the Justice Department over claims that it had defrauded the federal government for a seven-year period. Last month, Yellow agreed to pay $6.85 million to resolve allegations “that they knowingly presented false claims to the U.S. Department of Defense by systematically overcharging for freight carrier services and making false statements to hide their misconduct.” (New York Times / Washington Post)
4/ The Oklahoma Senate approved a bill that would ban all abortions in the state and incentivizes private citizens to sue anyone who “performs or induces” or “aids or abets the performance” of an abortion. The “Oklahoma Heartbeat Act” prohibits abortions after the sixth week of pregnancy – before many women even know that they are pregnant – and would immediately cut off abortion access in the state. Oklahoma is the second state to pass a restrictive law modeled after Texas’ six-week abortion ban and the state has absorbed about half of all Texas patients who have been forced to leave their state for abortions. The bill already cleared the Oklahoma House in March and now goes to Gov. Kevin Stitt, who is expected to sign it. (CNN / Washington Post / Axios / Axios)
5/ Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp banned the instruction of so-called “divisive concepts” pertaining to race and racism in the classroom. In all, Kemp signed seven education bills into law, including the “Protect Students First Act,” which defines “divisive concepts” as, among others, those that teach “the United States of America is fundamentally racist; an individual, by virtue of his or her race, is inherently or consciously racist or oppressive toward individuals of other races,” and “an individual, solely by virtue of his or her race, bears individual responsibility for actions committed in the past by other individuals of the same race.” The same measure also gives an athletic oversight committee the authority to exclude transgender children from playing high school sports. Also among the measures signed into law is a “Parents’ Bill of Rights,” that codifies the “fundamental right of parents to direct the upbringing and education” of their children, and a measure that bans books deemed “harmful” from school libraries. (NBC News / CNN / Axios / Fox 5 / WSB-TV)
6/ Boeing has lost $1.1 billion so far on costs associated with Trump’s Air Force One contract. CEO David Calhoun said “Boeing probably shouldn’t have taken” the deal to modify two 747 jumbo jets to serve as Air Force One. The deal was negotiated by Calhoun’s predecessor after Trump publicly criticized the existing contract in 2016, tweeting “Cancel order!” Later, in 2018, Trump bragged that “Boeing gave us a good deal. And we were able to take that.” (CNBC / CNN)
7/ Trump claimed that he feared protesters throwing tomatoes, pineapples, and other “very dangerous” fruit could have killed him at campaign rallies. In a videotaped deposition Trump gave in October 2021 as part of a lawsuit filed by a group of protesters who allege they were assaulted by his security guards at a 2015 campaign rally, Trump insisted that fruit can be “very dangerous stuff […] you can get killed with those things.” He added that “tomatoes are bad” and that “some fruit is a lot worse.” Trump told the attorney for the plaintiffs that he expected his security guards to “knock the crap out” of anyone who was “about to throw a tomato” at a rally, framing the violence as “self-defense.” (Daily Beast / Axios / Washington Post / CNN)
1/ The White House is attempting to cobble together a narrower version of Biden’s Build Back Better bill that would win Joe Manchin’s support ahead of November’s elections. “There’s real fear inside the building that Manchin’s stonewalling will run out the clock on Biden’s legislative agenda throughout the rest of the year, leading the administration and congressional Democrats into November without anything else to offer voters,” one White House adviser said. Lawmakers in Congress view July 4 as the deadline for action – even if leaves out most of what Biden had initially hoped to accomplish. Manchin, meanwhile, hasn’t told the White House what, exactly, he would support in a final agreement, but privately told lawmakers recently that he wants Congress to approve a bipartisan energy deal in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and wants Biden to restart new offshore oil and gas lease sales to boost domestic fossil fuel production. Manchin also met with Chuck Schumer to discuss a party-line package focused on raising taxes and reducing the budget deficit to combat inflation. Climate advocates, meanwhile, have scaled back their expectations, saying “this is the last chance” for legislation that speeds the growth of clean energy – even if it requires a short-term boost in fossil fuels – fearing that any chance for climate action will be blocked if Republicans win control of Congress in the midterm elections. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Politico / Bloomberg)
2/ Biden expressed openness to forgiving some student loan debt, which could affect more than 43 million borrowers who hold more than $1.6 trillion in federal student loan debt – the second-largest debt held by Americans, behind mortgages. During a meeting with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Biden signaled multiple times that he was prepared not only to extend the current moratorium that lasts until Aug. 31, but to take executive action to forgive federal student loan debt outright. Senate Republicans, meanwhile, introduced legislation – called the Stop Reckless Student Loan Actions Act of 2022 – to stop Biden from “abusing” his authority to extend the federal student loan payment pause. (CBS News / Washington Post / NBC News)
3/ Dr. Anthony Fauci said the U.S. is “out of the full-blown explosive pandemic phase,” but made clear that the pandemic is not over and the U.S. could still see new waves of infections from highly transmissible variants. “We are in a different moment of the pandemic,” Fauci said, adding: “we don’t have 900,000 new infections a day and tens and tens and tens of thousands of hospitalizations and thousands of deaths. We are at a low level right now.” The Biden administration, meanwhile, renewed its push for $10 billion in Covid-19 supplemental funding, noting that without funding, the U.S. would not be able to secure enough second booster shots for every American if they’re needed this fall. (Washington Post / Associated Press / CNN)
4/ New York’s highest court rejected the state’s new congressional map as unconstitutional. New York Democrats drew a new congressional map that could have gained their party as many as three new seats. The Court of Appeals, however, found that the Democratic-led Legislature lacked the authority to redraw maps and that those they created “were drawn with an unconstitutional partisan intent.” Meanwhile, a state court in Kansas threw out a newly drawn map of congressional districts by Republicans in the State Legislature. The Republican plan divided Kansas City along both racial and partisan lines and would have threatened the only House seat held by a Democrat. (Washington Post / Associated Press / Politico)
5/ Biden reversed a Trump-era policy that relaxed requirements for energy efficient light bulbs. The new energy efficiency regulations will phase out old-fashioned incandescent lightbulbs and require lightbulbs to emit 45 lumens. The new standards will save consumers $3 billion each year in utility costs. In 2019, Trump complained that energy efficient light bulbs make him “always look orange.” (CNBC / Axios)
🐊 Dept. of Swamp Things.
The New York grand jury hearing evidence in the Manhattan district attorney’s investigation into the Trump Organization’s finances expires this week. The six-month special grand jury will not be extended and last heard evidence last year. (CNN)
Text messages show that Rep. Scott Perry urged Mark Meadows to have the then-Director of National Intelligence investigate baseless conspiracy theories of election fraud. After top Justice Department officials refused to intervene in the election process on Trump’s behalf in late December, Perry repeatedly pushed Meadows to give Justice Department attorney Jeffrey Clark the “authority to enforce what needs to be done.” (CNN / New York Times)
Text messages between Mark Meadows and dozens of congressional Republicans, including Marjorie Taylor Greene, cast a renewed spotlight the Trump White House and efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The newly revealed text messages have prompted calls for the Jan. 6 committee to issue subpoenas or other punitive measures against lawmakers involved. (Washington Post)
Text messages show that Fox News host Sean Hannity promised Mark Meadows he would push an Election Day get-out-the-vote message as part of the broader pro-Trump campaign. Meadows asked for Hannity’s help with messaging and offered a slogan. Hannity responded: “Yes sir. On it,” before adding, “any place in particular we need a push.” Meadows suggested Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Arizona, and Nevada. Hannity replied: “Got it. Everywhere.” (Washington Post / CNN)
Kevin McCarthy defended his recently leaked comments saying Trump was to blame for the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and pledge to urge him to resign. McCarthy suggested that the leak was all part of an attempt to divide the Republican conference ahead of the midterms. (CNN / Washington Post / New York Times)
Republican Rep. Madison Cawthorn was cited for bringing a loaded handgun through a TSA checkpoint at the Charlotte Douglas International Airport. It’s the second time that Cawthorn has been stopped at an airport in his home state for carrying a weapon. (CNN / CNBC)
1/ Kamala Harris tested positive for Covid-19, making her the highest-ranking Biden administration official to report being infected. Harris received positive results on both rapid and PCR tests after returning from a weeklong trip to California, and “has exhibited no symptoms, will isolate and continue to work from the vice president’s residence,” according to spokeswoman Kirsten Allen. Harris isn’t considered a close contact of Biden (she was last with Biden on April 18 at the White House Easter egg roll). (CNN / Bloomberg / Washington Post / Politico / New York Times)
2/ The CDC estimates that nearly 60% of the U.S. population has Covid-19 antibodies due to past coronavirus infection. About 75% of U.S. children and teens have been infected – an increase of about 30 percentage points since December. The researchers examined more than 200,000 blood samples and found the presence of antibodies in 33.5% of Americans in December – when the Omicron wave began – which jumped to 57.7% in February. The seven-day average of new coronavirus cases was 47,029 on Monday – up from about 38,000 the week prior. (Politico / Bloomberg / Associated Press / New York Times / CNBC)
3/ The Biden administration secured 20 million treatment courses of Pfizer’s antiviral Covid-19 pill and plans to nearly double the number of pharmacies that carry the antiviral pills. Studies have shown that Paxlovid can reduce the risk of hospitalization or death by about 90% when taken within three to five days of the start of symptoms. Paxlovid is authorized for use in patients 12 and older who test positive for Covid-19 and are at a high risk for developing a severe case. (Washington Post / CNN / NPR / Wall Street Journal)
4/ Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the West of pursuing a proxy war and warned there’s a “serious” risk of nuclear war over Ukraine. “The danger is serious, real. It can’t be underestimated,” Russia’s top diplomat said. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, speaking to reporters at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, said “any bluster about the possible use of nuclear weapons is dangerous and unhelpful.” Austin added that Putin “never imagined that the world would rally behind Ukraine so swiftly and surely.” The Biden administration, meanwhile, said that it supports Ukraine becoming a “neutral” nation in any possible peace deal. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, however, said there’s been “no sign to date” that Putin is serious about “meaningful negotiations.” (Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / New York Times)
5/ A federal judge temporarily blocked the Biden administration from ending Trump-era pandemic restriction at the U.S.-Mexico border. The policy, known as Title 42, allowed U.S. immigration officials during the pandemic to quickly expel migrants without letting them seek asylum. Title 42 prevented more than 1.7 million attempts to cross the U.S. border since March 2020. The CDC announced in April that the policy would be rescinded on May 23. A suit brought by 21 Republican-led states, however, challenged the plan, claiming it would create a surge of migration from Mexico. On Monday, U.S. District Judge Robert Summerhays said he would grant a temporary restraining order blocking the end of Title 42. Summerhays was appointed by Trump. (The Hill / Politico / USA Today / CNN / CBS News / New York Times / NBC News)
1/ A New York judge held Trump in contempt of court and fined him $10,000 a day for failing to turn over documents to the state’s attorney general. Judge Arthur Engoron said Trump failed to abide by his order to comply with the subpoena, and that his attorneys hadn’t shown they had conducted a proper search for records sought by state Attorney General Letitia James for her civil fraud investigation. Trump plans to appeal the decision, saying there are no records in his possession that match what James has asked for. (Associated Press / New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNN)
2/ Mark Meadows texted with Trump’s family, Trump associates, Jan. 6 rally organizers, Fox News hosts, and over 40 Republican members of Congress before and after the violence at the Capitol. The tranche of 2,319 text messages show how Meadows was the Trump administration’s point person for the effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election, and how Trump’s supporters reaffirmed their support for Trump in the aftermath. Marjorie Taylor Greene in particular was in frequent contact with Meadows during this timeframe, urging Meadows on Dec. 31, 2020 “to get organized for the 6th,” and on Jan. 17 that “the only way to save our Republic is for Trump to call for Marshall law,” calling for Trump to “declassify as much as possible so we can go after Biden and anyone else!”
[Editor’s note: There’s no way to summarize 2,319 text messages. Read the CNN article for a comprehensive overview.]
(CNN / Washington Post / Axios / Rolling Stone)
3/ Mark Meadows was warned that Jan. 6 could turn violent, but went ahead with the “Stop the Steal” rally anyway, according to the Jan. 6 committee. In a 248-page filing, lawyers for the committee highlighted the testimony of Cassidy Hutchinson, a White House aide in Meadows’s office: “I know that there were concerns brought forward to Mr. Meadows,” adding: “I know that people had brought information forward to him that had indicated that there could be violence on the 6th. But, again, I’m not sure if he — what he did with that information.” Meadows was also told that Trump’s plans to try to overturn the 2020 election using alternate electors were not “legally sound.” Douglas Letter, the general counsel of the House, wrote in the filing: “But despite this and other warnings, President Trump urged the attendees at the January 6th rally to march to the Capitol to ‘take back your country.’” Meadows is trying to block the committee’s subpoenas, including one sent to Verizon for his phone and text data. (New York Times)
4/ Twitter accepted Elon Musk’s $44 billion offer to buy the social media company and take it private. “Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated,” Musk said in a statement. Musk previously said he believes that “timeouts” from Twitter would be better than permanent bans, suggesting that Trump could possibly rejoin the platform. Twitter banned Trump following his tweets during the Jan. 6 insurrection, citing “the risk of further incitement of violence.” Trump, meanwhile, assured Fox News that even if Musk reinstates his Twitter account, he will not return. Instead, Trump said he will officially start posting “truths” to his own social media startup, Truth Social, over the next seven days, as planned. (CNBC / Reuters / The Verge)
5/ Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the U.S. hopes the war in Ukraine will result in a “weakened” Russia that no longer has the military capabilities to invade its neighbors. Russia “has already lost a lot of military capability,” Austin said. “And a lot of its troops, quite frankly. And we want to see them not have the capability to very quickly reproduce that capability.” Austin’s comments come following a trip to Kyiv with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, where they met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to pledge U.S. support in the war. They also announced that U.S. diplomats would be returning to Ukraine. (CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
poll/ 41% of Americans ages 18-29 approve of Biden’s job performance – down from 56% last spring. 40% of young Americans approve of congressional Democrats’ job performance, down from 52% in March 2021, and 31% approve of congressional Republicans’ performance – little changed from 28% last spring. (CNN)
1/ Biden announced another $800 million in military resources to Ukraine, calling it an “unmistakable message” to Putin that “he will never succeed in dominating and occupying all of Ukraine.” Biden added that the war was entering “a critical window.” The package, which includes heavy artillery and tactical drones, brings the U.S. support to over $2 billion since the war’s start eight weeks ago. Biden also said the U.S. will no longer allow Russian-affiliated ships to enter American ports. (New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal)
2/ The Justice Department appealed a federal court ruling striking down the mask requirement for passengers on public transportation after the CDC said the mandate was “necessary” to curb the spread of the coronavirus and protect public health. The decision came two days after U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle ordered an injunction against the mandate, saying the definition of masks as a form of sanitation were not within the agency’s authority to require that people wear them. (New York Times / Politico / Washington Post)
3/ Kevin McCarthy and Mitch McConnell – days after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol – told associates they believed Trump was responsible for inciting the riot. McCarthy reportedly planned to tell Trump to resign, but ultimately backed off, fearing retribution from Trump and his supporters. (New York Times)
4/ Top members of the Oath Keepers discussed plans to provide security for Trump allies like Roger Stone, Alex Jones, Ali Alexander, and Michael Flynn on Jan. 5 and Jan. 6. Several members of the group are now facing seditious conspiracy charges. (Politico / The Guardian)
5/ Alex Jones offered to be interviewed by federal investigators about his role in the Jan. 6 rally near the White House that preceded the attack on the Capitol. Jones has requested immunity from prosecution. (New York Times)
6/ The Florida House passed a new congressional map after Democratic lawmakers shut down the special legislative session for more than an hour with a pray-in and sit-in. The new map eliminates a Black-heavy congressional district and gives Republicans the chance to capture as many as four new seats. (NBC News / Politico / Washington Post)
7/ The Florida House revoked Disney World’s special tax district in retaliation after Disney criticized the Parents Rights in Education legislation, which prohibits discussions about gender-related issues in public school up to third grade. The bill would terminate the 25,000-acre Reedy Creek Improvement District that Walt Disney World uses to operate as its own municipality, along with five others. (New York Times / CBS News / Washington Post / CNBC)
8/ The Supreme Court ruled that Congress can continue excluding residents of Puerto Rico from a federal disability insurance program. The case involves the Supplemental Security Income that is available to those living in the 50 states who are older than 65, blind or disabled, but not those in Puerto Rico or other U.S. territories. (Politico / CNN)
1/ The Biden administration is prepping another $800 million in weapons and assistance for Ukraine, which could be approved within the next 36 hours. Last week, Biden approved a package of aid for Ukraine that would provide “new capabilities include artillery systems, artillery rounds, and armored personnel carriers” as well as the transfer of additional helicopters. The Biden administration also leveled a new round of sanctions against a Russian commercial bank, a Russian oligarch, and “companies operating in Russia’s virtual currency mining industry.” Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, Ukraine’s Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko, and several other finance ministers and central bank governors walked out of a closed-door G20 session when the Russian delegate started talking. (Bloomberg / CNN / Washington Post / Associated Press / CNN / Politico / CNN)
2/ Russia test fired a new intercontinental ballistic missile, a move Putin said would “provide food for thought” for those “trying to threaten our country” to “think twice.” Putin added that the launch as a show of strength “will reliably safeguard Russia’s security from external threats.” A small group of senior Kremlin insiders, meanwhile, are reportedly quietly questioning Putin’s decision to go to war, believing the invasion was a mistake that will set the country back for years. Some said they are increasingly worried that Putin could use nuclear weapons if faced with failure. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / The Hill / Bloomberg)
3/ The White House has discussed delaying the repeal of Title 42 border restrictions to avoid an influx of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border, which are already at the highest level since 2000. Title 42 is scheduled to end May 23. Trump issued the order in March 2020, using the pandemic as a reason for turning away migrants attempting to enter the U.S., without the chance to seek asylum. Meanwhile, some ICE and Customs and Border Protection operations are projected to run out of funds by July. Those projections are based on estimates that as many as 14,000 migrants could begin crossing the U.S.-Mexico border per day after Title 42 ends – nearly double March’s record high. (Axios / NBC News)
4/ The Florida Senate approved a new congressional map proposed by Gov. Ron DeSantis that gives Republicans a significant advantage over Democrats. The new map, one of the nation’s most aggressive, creates 20 seats that favor Republicans compared to eight that favor Democrats. As a result, Republicans are expected to hold 71% of the seats. Trump won Florida in 2020 with 51.2% of the vote. The Florida House is expected to pass the map this week. Democrats assailed the proposed map as unconstitutional and a violation of the Voting Rights Act’s prohibition on racial gerrymandering. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico)
5/ The judge who tossed out the federal government’s transportation mask mandate received a “not qualified” rating from the American Bar Association in 2020. Nevertheless, the Senate voted confirm U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle to a lifetime appointment following the 2020 presidential election. The Biden administration had relied on the Public Health Service Act to defend its Covid-19 mask mandate on public transportation, which gives the government broad authority to prevent the spread of communicable diseases. The administration argued that masks qualified as “sanitation” under the law, but Mizelle disagreed and instead used her own, much narrower interpretation of the term. Legal experts said she misunderstood how the federal government operates during a national public health emergency. Meanwhile, a new Omicron variant is gaining a foothold in the U.S., the CDC reports. The new strain, called BA.2.12.1, makes up about a fifth of all new Covid-19 cases. (NPR / CNN / NBC News / Vanity Fair)
poll/ 56% of Americans support mask mandates on planes, trains, and public transportation, while 24% are opposed and 20% have no opinion. (Associated Press)
1/ The Biden administration will appeal a federal judge’s ruling that lifted the nationwide Covid-19 mask mandate on public transport if the CDC decides to extend the requirement, which is set to expire May 3. The Justice Department and the CDC “disagree with the district court’s decision and will appeal, subject to CDC’s conclusion that the order remains necessary for public health,” the department said in a statement. Following the Florida judge’s ruling that struck down a federal mask requirement on airplanes, trains, buses, and other public transportation, TSA said it would stop enforcing mask mandates, as did most major U.S. airlines on domestic and some international flights. Earlier, Biden said Americans should decide for themselves whether to wear masks, saying the decision to mask is “up to them.” (New York Times / CNBC / Politico / CNBC / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
2/ The Supreme Court ruled that the Pentagon may take disciplinary action against an Air Force Reserve officer who refused to be vaccinated against the coronavirus on religious grounds. Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Dunn, who was seeking to avoid being shifted to the Individual Ready Reserve, said he decided that the coronavirus vaccine violated his faith after seeing Biden speak about it, which led him to conclude that “the vaccine ceased to be merely a medical intervention and took on a symbolic and even sacramental quality.” The Supreme Court, however, issued a brief, two-sentence order refusing to intervene. Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch dissented. After being ordered to choose among being vaccinated, resigning, or refusing the vaccine in writing, Dunn instead sent a one-word memorandum to a two-star general: “NUTS!” (New York Times / The Guardian / Bloomberg)
3/ The Biden administration plans to scrap a Trump-era rule that allowed healthcare providers to refuse performing abortions or other medical services that conflict with their religious or moral beliefs. The so-called “conscience rule” was unveiled by the Department of Health and Human Services in 2018 and finalized in 2019, but it never took effect after dozens of states, cities, and advocacy groups sued. Trump’s HHS said the rule fulfilled a “promise to promote and protect the fundamental and unalienable rights of conscience and religious liberty.” HHS is expected to rescind the rule as soon as the end of this month. (Politico / Reuters)
4/ Biden will restore stricter environmental standards for approving new pipelines, highways, power plants, and other infrastructure projects, reversing another Trump-era environmental rollback. The rule requires federal agencies to assess the climate impact of projects under the National Environmental Policy Act. The 1970 law required an assessment of the environmental consequences of federal actions, like oil and gas pipelines. In 2020, Trump claimed that the regulations needlessly hindered infrastructure projects, exempting projects from review to speed up the approval process. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
5/ The Education Department will grant federal student loan borrowers additional credit toward loan forgiveness. The changes would apply to an income-based program for repaying student loans and bring more than 3.6 million people – nearly 10% of all student loan borrowers – closer to debt forgiveness, including 40,000 who will be immediately eligible. The current income-based repayment program allows borrowers to pay a capped percentage of their income on loans for 20 to 25 years and then have the rest of the balance forgiven. A 2021 study, however, found that 32 borrowers out of eight million enrolled in the program successfully had their debt forgiven. The program has existed since 1992. The department, meanwhile, promised to address “historical failures in the administration of the federal student loan programs.” (Washington Post / NPR / Wall Street Journal / CNN / CNBC)
6/ A federal judge allowed a group of Georgia voters to move forward with their attempt to disqualify Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene from running for reelection, citing her alleged role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. The effort is based on the Constitution’s 14th Amendment – know as the “Disqualification Clause” – which bars members of the Confederacy from holding office, as well as any person who has taken an oath to protect the Constitution and “engaged in insurrection” against the United States or “given aid or comfort” to its “enemies.” District Judge Amy Totenberg denied Greene’s request to stop the lawsuit, saying “This case involves a whirlpool of colliding constitutional interests of public import.” (New York Times / ABC News / CNN)
poll/ 70% of the 111 candidates Trump has endorsed for governor, federal office, attorney general or secretary of state believe that the 2020 election was fraudulent. (FiveThirtyEight)
✏️ Notables.
Democrats’ worst Trump nightmare. “Unless we see big structural changes in the Democratic party’s coalition,” the 2024 outcome could be “Donald Trump winning a filibuster-proof trifecta [House, Senate, White House] with a minority of the vote.” (Axios)
Democrats are sleepwalking into a Senate disaster. “Overall, the combination of decreasing incumbency advantage and a poor national environment for Democrats means we should probably expect Democrats to control between 46 and 47 Senate seats after 2022.” (Slow Boring)
5 plot twists that could upend the midterms. “The House is about as good as gone for Democrats, but holding the Senate is still within reach if things break their way. Republicans are also poised to make gains in governor’s races.” (Politico)
1/ A federal judge in Florida struck down the Biden administration’s Covid-19 mask mandate for public transportation. U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, a Trump appointee, said the CDC exceeded its authority and had incorrectly claimed the mask mandate was a form of “sanitation.” Mizelle wrote that “Wearing a mask cleans nothing. At most, it traps virus droplets. But it neither ‘sanitizes’ the person wearing the mask or ‘sanitizes’ the conveyance.” The White House, meanwhile, said the CDC continues to recommend that people wear masks on public transportation and that the Justice Department will determine whether it will appeal the ruling. (CNN / CNBC / Associated Press / Washington Post / Bloomberg / New York Times / NPR / Politico)
2/ At least 10 mass shootings across the U.S. this weekend left eight people dead and dozens injured. The violence comes following Biden’s announced tougher gun regulations last week. In 2022, there have been 144 mass shootings, and total gun deaths for the year have reached more than 12,600. (CNN / Associated Press / NBC News)
3/ Alex Jones’s Infowars filed for bankruptcy in an effort to settle defamation lawsuits over his comments that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a hoax. Jones and his companies last year were found liable in a defamation lawsuit brought by the relatives of the 20 children and six teachers who were killed in the 2012 shooting. Jones called the massacre a hoax and that crisis actors faked the shooting in an effort by the government to take away guns and restrict firearms. The bankruptcy filing puts civil litigation on hold while the business reorganizes its finances. (NPR / Associated Press / Reuters / Bloomberg)
4/ Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that “all of the countries of the world” should be prepared for the possibility that Putin could use tactical nuclear weapons. Zelenskyy added that there is a “possibility” that Putin could turn to either nuclear or chemical weapons because he does not value Ukrainian lives. “We shouldn’t wait for the moment when Russia decides to use nuclear weapons,” Zelenskyy said. “We must prepare for that.” (CNN / The Hill)
5/ The Biden administration will resume selling onshore oil and gas leases on federal land to boost oil production in the U.S. amid soaring prices partly from the war in Ukraine. The Interior Department said the land offered for auction is 80% less than the 733,000 acres nominated and that royalties will also rise from 12.5% to 18.75% to “ensure fair return for the American taxpayer” – a 50% jump and the first increase to royalties since they were imposed in the 1920s. On the campaign trail, however, Biden called for an end to drilling on federal lands. (ABC News / CNN / NPR / Axios / CNBC)
6/ The Florida education department rejected 54 math books for its K-12 curriculum because they “contained prohibited subjects,” including critical race theory and Common Core learning concepts. Florida said 12 books were rejected because they didn’t meet the state’s benchmark standards, while 14 were rejected because they included prohibited topics and failed to meet curriculum standards. Overall, 41% of the 132 books submitted for review were rejected. (NPR / Washington Post)
1/ Russia threatened to deploy nuclear weapons in the Baltic Sea region if Finland and Sweden join NATO. The threat came a day after Finland and Sweden officials suggested that they were stepping up consideration of joining the military alliance in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Lithuanian Defense Minister Arvydas Anusauskas, however, said Russia already has nuclear weapons in the Baltic region. “The current Russian threats look quite strange, when we know that, even without the present security situation, they keep the weapon 100 km from Lithuania’s border,” Anusauskas said. (Bloomberg / Washington Post / Reuters / CNBC)
2/ The Republican-led Kentucky legislature override the governor’s veto to enact strict abortion restrictions that will force the state’s two clinics to stop providing abortions immediately. The new law makes Kentucky the first U.S. state without legal abortion access since the 1973 Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade established the right to end a pregnancy before the fetus is viable. House Bill 3 imposes limits on medication abortion, requires the cremation or burial of fetal remains, bans abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, and requires an in-person examination at least 24 hours prior to the medication abortion. An exception is allowed if the woman’s life is in danger, but there is no exception for rape or incest. (Washington Post / The 19th / Reuters / ABC News)
3/ Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a 15-week abortion ban into law. The new Florida law, which takes effect July 1, provides no exemptions for rape, incest or human trafficking. Abortions must also be reported to the state, along with information on why the procedure was provided. (Associated Press / NPR / Axios / Washington Post / CNN)
4/ Ron DeSantis proposed a new congressional map that would create four more Republican-leaning districts by breaking up a largely Black district. The DeSantis administration submitted its plan days after Florida’s legislators said they would defer to DeSantis on the new congressional boundaries. Last month, DeSantis vetoed a set of maps from the Republican-controlled Legislature that would have created less of a GOP advantage. (NBC News / Politico)
5/ The Republican National Committee unanimously voted to withdraw from the Commission on Presidential Debates, accusing the bipartisan commission of being biased in favor of Democrats. The RNC will also require GOP presidential candidates to attest in writing that they will only appear at party-sanctioned debates. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
6/ Chuck Schumer suggested that Biden “seems more open” to canceling student debt “than ever before.” On the campaign trail, Biden pledged to cancel $10,000 in student debt per borrower, but since then he’s wanted Congress to pass legislation to do so, which he would then sign. “I have talked personally to the president on this issue a whole bunch of times,” Schumer said. “I have told him that this is more important than just about anything else that he can do on his own.” Meanwhile, the Education Department extended the pause on federal student loan repayment, interest, and collections through August. It was the fourth extension of the pause on student loan payments. (Business Insider / The Hill)
poll/ Biden’s job approval among Generation Z and millennials is down roughly 20 points since 2021. (Gallup)
1/ The Biden administration extended the coronavirus public health emergency for another 90 days, allowing millions of Americans to keep getting free tests, vaccines, and treatments for at least three more months. The CDC, meanwhile, announced that it would extend the federal transportation mask requirement for an additional two weeks. The mask mandate is now extended through May 3. (New York Times / Associated Press / Bloomberg / Reuters)
2/ The U.S. will send an additional $800 million worth of military and other security assistance to Ukraine to help fight against Russia’s invasion. After speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Biden said that the “new package of assistance will contain many of the highly effective weapons systems we have already provided, and new capabilities tailored to the wider assault we expect Russia to launch in eastern Ukraine.” The U.S. will also expand the intelligence it provides to Ukraine’s forces so they can better target Russian military units in Donbas and Crimea. Separately, Finland and Sweden are expected to seek NATO membership as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Finland issued a formal “white paper” on the “fundamental changes in the security environment,” designed to inform parliamentary debate on the issue. Finland’s prime minister said she expects a decision would be made “within weeks.” Sweden’s prime minister, meanwhile, said she sees “no point in delaying this analysis or the process” over whether to join the alliance. (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / CNBC / Bloomberg)
3/ Mark Meadows was removed from North Carolina’s voter rolls as state officials investigate whether he committed voter fraud during the 2020 election. Trump’s White House chief of staff, who promoted baseless claims before and after the 2020 presidential election, was registered to vote in both Virginia and North Carolina. Last month, North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein’s office asked the State Bureau of Investigation to look into Meadows’ voter registration. Meadows reportedly filed his voter registration in September 2020, listing his address as a mobile home in North Carolina that he didn’t own and had never lived at. Meadows voted absentee by mail from that address in the 2020 election. In 2021, however, Meadows registered to vote in Virginia, where he and his wife own a condominium. Property records show that Meadows and his wife bought the unit in July 2017. (Asheville Citizen Times / Washington Post / New York Times / Associated Press / CNN)
4/ Two of Trump’s top White House lawyers met with the Jan. 6 committee. While neither Pat Cipollone and Patrick Philbin were under oath and their interviews were not transcribed, the two could return for formal testimony later. Biden, meanwhile, authorized the National Archives to hand over more of Trump’s White House documents to the Jan. 6 committee. Biden declined to assert executive privilege over the records. (Politico / New York Times / Washington Post)
5/ The State Department is unable to compile a complete list of gifts presented to Trump, his family, Pence, or other U.S. officials by foreign governments in 2020. Under federal law, government departments and agencies are required to submit a list to the State Department of gifts over $415 received from foreign governments to guard against potential conflicts of interest and undue influence over American officials. The department, however, said the Trump administration left office without providing an accounting of gifts. The report comes as House lawmakers investigate the boxes of classified materials Trump took with him to Mar-a-Lago after leaving office. (Associated Press / CNN / New York Times)
poll/ 74% of Americans think the worst of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is yet to come, while 11% think the worst is over. (Quinnipiac)
1/ U.S. inflation hit a 40-year high of 8.5% in March – the sharpest year-over-year increase since December 1981. It’s the sixth-straight month of inflation above 6%. The Federal Reserve’s average target is 2%. From February to March, inflation rose 1.2% – the biggest month-to-month jump since 2005 – with gasoline prices tied to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine driving more than half that increase. Since then, however, the national average for a gallon of gasoline has dropped to $4.10 – down from $4.33 – and several economists say March may be a high-water mark for overall inflation. (Associated Press / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Washington Post / CNBC)
2/ The Biden administration will temporarily allow E15 gasoline to be sold this summer to help ease gas prices. Gasoline that uses a 15% ethanol blend is usually banned from from June to September under the Clean Air Act because the blend’s higher volatility contributes to smog in warmer weather. The White House believes that the use of E15 can shave 10 cents off each gallon of gasoline, casting the decision as a move toward “energy independence.” Energy experts, however, say it would have a marginal impact at the pump because E15 gas is only available at about 2,300 fueling stations. Biden acknowledged that the move is “not going to solve all our problems, but it’s going to help some people,” adding that Americans’ ability to fill their gas tanks should not “hinge on whether a dictator declares war and commits genocide half a world away.” (NPR / Bloomberg / Washington Post / New York Times / CNBC / NBC News)
3/ Putin declared that peace talks with Kyiv had reached a “dead end” and that Russia’s “military operation will continue until its full completion” and its goals are met. Putin also dismissed evidence of Russian atrocities – dead civilians lying in the streets with bound hands, close-range gunshot wounds to the head, and signs of torture – in Bucha as “fake.” Separately, the U.S., Britain, and Australia said they were investigating an allegation that Russia had used “a poisonous substance of unknown origin” in Mariupol that may have sickened a handful of people. The Pentagon called the potential use of chemical weapons “deeply concerning” and said it was planning to expand the weapons it’s sending Ukraine to include Mi-17 helicopters that can be equipped to attack Russian vehicles, armored Humvees, and a range of other arms. (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / BBC)
4/ The U.S. ordered all non-emergency staff to leave its consulate in Shanghai as more than 200,000 Covid-19 cases have been reported since the start of March – its worst outbreak since the initial phase of the pandemic in early 2020. Most of Shanghai’s 25 million residents have been confined to their homes for up to three weeks as China maintains its “zero-Covid” strategy of handling outbreaks. The State Department had issued a travel advisory on April 8 warning U.S. citizens about “arbitrary enforcement of local laws” and Covid-19. restrictions. (Bloomberg / NPR / CNBC)
5/ Oklahoma Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a bill into law that makes performing an abortion a felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. The bill does not provide exceptions in cases of rape and incest – only in the case of a medical emergency. (CNN / Associated Press)
6/ Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed legislation that makes it a felony to provide gender-affirming medical care to people under 19. The law makes Alabama the third state in the country to pass a restriction on gender-affirming care for minors, though it is the first state to impose criminal penalties. Ivey also signed legislation that requires students to use school facilities for the sex listed on their original birth certificates and prohibits classroom discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in grades K-5 – adopting language used in Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill. (NBC News / New York Times)
1/ The Jan. 6 committee reportedly has enough evidence to refer Trump for criminal charges, but it’s concerned that making a referral to the Justice Department would politicize the investigation. While the panel plans to issue a detailed report of its findings, members and aides said they’re reluctant to support a criminal referral because it would create the impression that Democrats had asked Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate Trump. Rep. Liz Cheney, however, added that “there’s not really a dispute on the committee” that Trump and a number of people around him knew their actions were “unlawful” but “did it anyway.” She said the committee has “not made a decision” regarding a referral. (New York Times / CNN / NBC News / The Guardian)
2/ Trump Jr. texted then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows ideas for overturning the 2020 election before it was called. On November 5 – two days after the 2020 election – Trump Jr. texted Meadows: “This is what we need to do please read it and please get it to everyone that needs to see it because I’m not sure we’re doing it,” adding: “It’s very simple […] We have multiple paths We control them all.” The text messages outlined strategies the Trump team went on to pursue, including disseminating lies about election fraud and pressuring state and federal officials from certifying their results. Biden was declared the winner of the election two days later on November 7. (CNN / The Guardian)
3/ A leader of the Proud Boys pleaded guilty to two felony charges and agreed to cooperate with the Justice Department. Charles Donohoe pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and assaulting an officer. He faces more than seven years in prison. (CNN / Washington Post)
4/ Philadelphia reinstated its citywide indoor mask mandate after a 50% increase in Covid-19 cases in the past 10 days. The order, which takes effect April 18, makes Philadelphia the first major U.S. city to reinstate an indoor masking, and comes just over a month after it was officially lifted. (New York Times / Bloomberg / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
5/ Biden announced a new federal rule to regulate homemade guns known as “ghost guns” more like regular guns, including requiring serial numbers and background checks for purchase. The new rule expands the definition of a “firearm” to cover “buy build shoot” kits that people can buy online or from a firearm dealer and assemble themselves. About 20,000 suspected ghost guns were recovered by law enforcement last year during criminal investigations. Biden also said he was nominating Steve Dettelbach to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which has been without a Senate-confirmed director since 2015. (NPR / NBC News / ABC News / Washington Post)
6/ The White House warned that the Labor Department’s consumer price index report will show that inflation is “extraordinarily elevated.” Jen Psaki said the previous report — which showed prices rising 7.9% over the last 12 months in February – doesn’t reflect the effect of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on oil and gas prices. The Bureau of Labor Statistics will issue its March update to the consumer price index on Tuesday. Biden’s top economic adviser, meanwhile, said that while the U.S. economy is “facing a lot of uncertainty, we are facing rocky waters,” the U.S. is “probably better positioned than any other major economy to navigate effectively through them.” (CNBC / Bloomberg / Axios)
poll/ 71% of Americans blame Putin for the recent increase in gas prices, while 68% blame oil companies, and 51% blame Biden. (ABC News)
1/ The Senate voted 53 to 47 to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as the 116th Supreme Court justice, making her the first Black woman to serve on the high court. “This is one of the great moments of American history,” Chuck Schumer said before the vote. “Today we are taking a giant, bold and important step on the well-trodden path to fulfilling our country’s founding promise. This is a great moment for Judge Jackson but it is an even greater moment for America as we rise to a more perfect union.” Biden, meanwhile, called the vote a “historic moment” for the nation, saying “We’ve taken another step toward making our highest court reflect the diversity of America.” Jackson will be sworn in when Justice Stephen Breyer retires this summer. (New York Times / Washington Post / NPR / NBC News / CNN / Politico / Wall Street Journal)
2/ New York Attorney General Letitia James asked a Manhattan judge to hold Trump in contempt of court for refusing to comply with a court order to turn over documents for her investigation into his company. James also asked the judge to fine Trump $10,000 for every day he fails to surrender those documents. In February, Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron ordered Trump to “comply in full” with James’ subpoena seeking documents and information. Trump, however, missed the March 31 deadline to hand over records. “Instead of obeying a court order, Mr. Trump is trying to evade it,” James said, adding that Trump “did not comply at all,” but instead sent a response “raising objections to each of the eight document requests in the subpoena based on grounds such as overbreadth, burden, and lack of particularity.” (CNBC / CNN / Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / Bloomberg / CBS News)
3/ The Manhattan district attorney said the criminal investigation into Trump and his company is continuing, despite the recent resignation of the two senior prosecutors leading the case. “It’s open, it’s active, we have a great team in place of dedicated career prosecutors working every day,” Alvin Bragg said. “We’re exploring evidence that’s not been previously explored. We will leave no stone unturned.” The future of the investigation, which produced tax-fraud indictments of the Trump Organization and its chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg, was called into question after prosecutors Carey Dunne and Mark Pomerantz resigned in February. In his resignation letter, Pomerantz said Trump “is guilty of numerous felony violations,” but that the case had been “suspended indefinitely.” While Bragg said “the investigation is very much ongoing,” he wouldn’t place a timeline on the case other than to say that “investigations are not linear.” (Wall Street Journal / CNN / Bloomberg / ABC News)
4/ The Justice Department is investigating the 15 boxes of White House records that Trump took to Mar-a-Lago after leaving office. The Justice Department is reportedly in the “very early stages” of an investigation into possible mishandling of government records, some of which were labeled “top secret.” The Justice Department is also blocking the National Archives from sharing details on the 15 boxes with the House Oversight Committee, which has opened its own investigation. In a letter addressed to Attorney General Merrick Garland, Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney accused the Justice Department of “interfering” with its investigation by preventing the National Archives from cooperating with the panel. (Washington Post / CNN / NPR)
5/ The House voted to recommend criminal contempt of Congress charges against Peter Navarro and Dan Scavino, after the two former Trump aides defied subpoenas from the Jan. 6 committee. The 220-203 vote refers the two former Trump aides to the Justice Department for potential prosecution. Two Republicans – Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger – voted in favor of the referral. (New York Times / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
6/ Congress voted to revoke Russia’s “most favored nation” trade status and banned the import of Russian energy into the U.S. The House voted 413-9 to strip Moscow of its preferential trade status following a unanimous 100-to-0 vote in the Senate. Three Republican lawmakers in the House – Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz, and Thomas Massie – opposed the trade bill, while nine lawmakers, both Republicans and Democrats, opposed the legislation banning Russian energy imports. (New York Times / CNBC / Bloomberg / NBC News)
7/ The U.N. General Assembly suspended Russia from the Human Rights Council, approving a resolution that cited reports of “gross and systematic violations and abuses of human rights” in Ukraine. The resolution passed with 93 votes in favor, 24 against, and 58 abstentions. (NPR / CNN / Associated Press)
poll/ 70% of Americans view Russia as an enemy of the U.S. – up from 41% in January. (Pew Research Center)
1/ The U.S. imposed new sanctions on Russia’s largest financial institution, its largest private lender, and Putin’s adult children, as well as Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s wife and daughter, and members of Russia’s Security Council, including former President and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and current Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. Biden condemned the atrocities taking place in Ukraine as “major war crimes” and called on “responsible nations” to come together to hold Russia accountable, adding that he would be signing an executive order to ban all new U.S. investment in Russia. The sanctions against two of Russia’s largest banks, Sberbank and Alfa Bank, freeze all assets from going through the U.S. financial system and bar Americans from doing business with those two institutions. Sberbank holds nearly one-third of all the assets in Russian banks, while Alfa Bank is Russia’s largest private lender. “Our partners are outraged by the atrocities that are being committed in Russia, as we are,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said. “And we are working very actively with them to impose new sanctions that will cause Russia significant pain.” (Associated Press / Politico / Washington Post / CNN / CBS News / Bloomberg / New York Times / CNBC / ABC News)
2/ The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs warned that the “potential for significant international conflict is increasing, not decreasing.” Gen. Mark Milley, appearing before the House Armed Services Committee, said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is “the greatest threat to peace and security of Europe and perhaps the world” in his 42 years serving in the U.S. military. More than 60 Republicans, meanwhile, voted against a symbolic resolution affirming support for NATO and its “democratic principles.” The “no” votes represent more than 30% of the party’s conference. (CNN / Business Insider / The Week / Washington Post)
3/ The Jan. 6 committee obtained emails belonging to Trump’s lawyer. John Eastman had sought to keep the 101 emails secret – exchanged between Jan. 4 and Jan. 7, 2021 – which contain extensive communications between Eastman and others about plans to obstruct the certification of Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election. The emails were released to the committee after Judge David Carter ruled that Eastman hadn’t made a sufficient claim to attorney-client privilege. (CNN / The Guardian)
4/ A Virginia state court has disbarred an attorney who represented several high-profile Jan. 6 defendants, including a member of the Oath Keepers charged with seditious conspiracy. The Virginia State Bar said it found that Jonathon Moseley violated “professional rules that govern safekeeping property; meritorious claims and contentions; candor toward the tribunal; fairness to opposing party and counsel; unauthorized practice of law, multijurisdictional practice of law; bar admission and disciplinary matters […] and misconduct.” Moseley’s clients include Kelly Meggs, one of 11 Oath Keeper facing seditious conspiracy charges, and Zachary Rehl, a Proud Boys leaders charged with conspiring to obstruct Congress on Jan. 6, 2021. (Politico)
5/ The bipartisan $10 billion Covid-19 relief bill stalled in the Senate after Republicans blocked the measure from moving forward. Republicans demanded a vote on an amendment to prevent the Biden administration from ending a Trump-era border restriction that limited asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border to prevent the spread of Covid-19. The CDC announced last week it would lift the pandemic-era rule, known as Title 42, because of improving public health conditions. The impasse means lawmakers will depart for a two-week recess without passing aid. (Bloomberg / CBS News)
6/ A federal judge ruled that Trump administration officials involved in the “zero tolerance” immigration policy that separated thousands of immigrant families at the southern border cannot be sued. Judge John Hinderaker dismissed 15 Trump administration officials from the case, ruling they can’t be held personally liable for the government’s conduct. The Trump-appointed judge, however, rejected the government’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed in 2019 by the ACLU seeking damages for families affected by the policies. More than 5,000 families were separated from mid-2017 through June 2018 as part of the policy. It’s estimated that roughly 1,000 are still separated. (NBC News / Bloomberg)
7/ The House Judiciary Committee plans to hold a closed-door meeting to discuss how they could address ethical and conflict-of-interest concerns against Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife. Some lawmakers have suggested legislation to create a code of ethics for Supreme Court justices, while others have floated investigations or public hearings to pressure the justices to enact their own code. It was reported last month that Virginia Thomas, the wife of Justice Clarence Thomas, exchanged 29 text messages with then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows imploring him to take steps to overturn the 2020 election in the weeks after Election Day. (NBC News)
poll/ 37% of registered voters said Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas should “definitely” recuse himself from any cases related to the 2020 presidential election, while 16% said he “probably” should. 28% percent of voters said Thomas shouldn’t recuse himself, and 19% don’t know. (Politico)
1/ Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of committing a broad range of “the most terrible war crimes” since World War II. During a meeting of the U.N. Security Council, Zelenskyy urged members to do more to stop Moscow’s atrocities, saying Russia was abusing its veto powers at the Security Council to block peace efforts and that Russian leaders and soldiers should face a special tribunal like the one established at Nuremberg after World War II. Zelenskyy, appearing via video from Ukraine, said Russian forces killed unarmed civilians and children. “They cut off limbs, cut their throats. Women were raped and killed in front of their children. Their tongues were pulled out only because their aggressor did not hear what they wanted to hear from them.” Zelenskyy added that Russia should be removed from the U.N. Security Council or it should otherwise be dissolved. The Security Council hasn’t taken action against Russia because Moscow and its ally China are permanent members of the council and hold veto power over any measures it might take. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, meanwhile, said she will seek to remove Russia from the U.N. Human Rights Council. “Russia should not have a position of authority in a body whose purpose is to promote respect for human rights,” Thomas-Greenfield said. “Not only is it the height of hypocrisy, it is dangerous. Russia is using its membership on the Human Rights Council as a platform for propaganda to suggest Russia has a legitimate concern for human rights.” A suspension would require a two-thirds vote by the 193-member General Assembly. Separately, the chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court at the Hague opened an investigation a month ago into possible war crimes in Ukraine. (NBC News / NPR / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg)
2/ The U.S., European Union, and G7 are coordinating on a new round of sanctions on Russia following allegations of potential war crimes in Ukraine against civilians by Russian forces. The new sanctions package will ban all new U.S. investment in Russia, increased sanctions on financial institutions and state-owned enterprises in Russia, and sanction Russian government officials and their family members. “It’s a part of the continuation of our efforts to put consequences in place, hold Russian officials accountable,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said, adding that an announcement would come Wednesday. The European Commission, meanwhile, proposed a ban on imports of Russian coal, a ban Russian vessels from E.U. ports, as well as blocking the access of Russian road and shipping goods carriers into the E.U. The E.U. sanctions will also target two of Putin’s daughters. (Bloomberg / CNN / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
3/ The Treasury Department blocked Russia from withdrawing funds held in American banks to pay its debt obligations. The move is designed to force Russia into either depleting its international currency reserves or spending new revenue to make bond payments to avoid its first foreign currency debt default in a century. The Treasury Department said the action was taken on Monday, when more than half a billion dollars in Russian sovereign debt payments came due. Before it invaded Ukraine, Russia had more than $630 billion in foreign currency reserves, and continues to receive billions of dollars a week in payments under oil and gas contracts with customers in Europe. (New York Times / Bloomberg / Washington Post / Politico / Wall Street Journal)
4/ Senate negotiators announced a deal on a $10 billion coronavirus aid package, which would largely repurpose unused money from earlier bills passed by Congress. The package falls short of the initial $22.5 billion requested by the White House. Lawmakers are pushing to pass the aid package before the end of the week, when both chambers are scheduled to leave for a two-week recess. However, Mitt Romney, one of the key negotiators of the deal, is also still working to get 10 Republican senators to join with all 50 Democrats to clear the Senate’s 60 vote threshold. (ABC News / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / NPR / Politico)
5/ The Biden administration will extend the moratorium on federal student loan payments through the end of August. The move applies to more than 43 million Americans who owe a combined $1.6 trillion in student debt held by the federal government. The announcement is due Wednesday, marking the sixth extension since the coronavirus pandemic-era relief policy took effect in March 2020. (Politico / Associated Press / Bloomberg / USA Today)
6/ Ivanka Trump testified before the House Jan. 6 committee. “She’s answering questions,” Rep. Bennie Thompson, who chairs the committee, said. “I mean, you know, not in a broad, chatty term, but she’s answering questions.” Ivanka was with Trump for most of Jan. 6, including key Oval Office meetings, and was one of several aides who tried to persuade him to call off the violence that injured more than 150 police officers, and sent lawmakers and Pence fleeing for safety. Jared Kushner answered the committee’s questions for more than six hours last week, providing what one member of the panel described as “valuable” and “helpful” information. “There were some things revealed, but we’ll just share that a little later,” Thompson said of Kushner’s testimony. (NBC News / CNN / New York Times / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal)
7/ Oklahoma lawmakers approved a near-total ban on abortion. The measure would make performing an abortion “except to save the life of a pregnant woman in a medical emergency” a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison. With little discussion and no debate, the Republican-controlled House voted 70-14 to send the bill to Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt, who previously promised to sign “every piece of pro-life legislation” that came to his desk. (Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg)
1/ The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report warned that limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius will likely be irrevocably out of reach within eight years. Holding global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels would require emissions from coal, oil, and natural gas to peak before 2025, and for nations to collectively reduce their emissions by roughly 43% by 2030. “It’s now or never, if we want to limit global warming to 1.5°C,” the report’s co-chair, James Skea, said. “Without immediate and deep emissions reductions across all sectors, it will be impossible.” At the same time, the report finds that the world still has time to avoid the most extreme dangers of climate change. Doing so would require a “substantial reduction” in the use of fossil fuel coupled with a rapid adoption of renewable energy sources like wind and solar – economically viable replacements for fossil fuels that are becoming cheaper by the day. In 2021, the world generated a record-setting 10% of its energy from wind and solar. U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said the report revealed “a litany of broken climate promises” by governments and corporations, calling it a “a file of shame, cataloguing the empty pledges that put us firmly on track toward an unlivable world.” The World Health Organization, meanwhile, reports that 99% of the global population breathes air that doesn’t meet its standards for air quality. (New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / NPR / CNN / CNBC / NBC News)
2/ Biden called for a war crimes trial against Putin following reports of indiscriminate killings of civilians and mass graves in Bucha, Ukraine. “This guy is brutal, and what’s happening in Bucha is outrageous, and everyone’s seen it,” Biden said, adding: “I think it’s a war crime.” After Russian soldiers withdrew over the weekend from Bucha, a city on the outskirts of Kyiv, images emerged of dead civilians lying in the streets with bound hands, close-range gunshot wounds to the head, and signs of torture. “You may remember I got criticized for calling Putin a war criminal,” Biden said. “Well, the truth of the matter — we saw it happen in Bucha — this warrants him — he is a war criminal.” Biden added that he is seeking additional sanctions on Russia and will continue to supply weapons to Ukraine. The Biden administration also said it would work with allies to transfer Soviet-made tanks to Ukraine. (New York Times / Associated Press / Washington Post / Politico / Bloomberg / NPR / NBC News / CNBC)
3/ The Senate Judiciary Committee deadlocked on Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s nomination to the Supreme Court. The 11-11 tie forces Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to set up an additional floor vote for the Senate, where a simple majority (51 votes) is needed to move Jackson’s nomination forward. That vote is expected to succeed, setting up a final vote to confirm Jackson as the Supreme Court’s 116th justice – and its first Black woman – by the end of the week. (Wall Street Journal / Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / ABC News / CNN / CNBC / NPR)
4/ A New York judge blocked the state’s new congressional map, which would have given Democrats the advantage in 22 of the state’s 26 congressional seats. State Supreme Court Judge Patrick McAllister ruled that the map by the Democratic-controlled legislature “was unconstitutionally drawn with political bias.” McAllister ordered Democrats to come up with new “bipartisanly supported maps” by April 11. (Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / CNN)
5/ The Biden administration will end the Trump-era policy that limited asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border to prevent the spread of Covid-19. The CDC said the order, known as Title 42, will end on May 23 to give the Department of Homeland Security time to setup up a vaccination program for migrants crossing U.S. borders. Human rights groups have denounced Title 42 as a blanket deportation policy that violates U.S. and international asylum law. Immigration advocates, meanwhile, sued the Biden administration to lift the order, arguing Title 42 was being used as an immigration enforcement tool rather than a legitimate public health measure. (NBC News / Associated Press / CNBC / NPR)
poll/ 55% of Americans disapprove of the job Biden is doing as president – the lowest mark of his presidency. 40% approve. 51% of Americans approve of Biden’s handling of the coronavirus, while 63% disapprove of his handling of the economy and 51% disapprove of his handling of foreign policy. 46% of registered voters, meanwhile, said they preferred a Republican-controlled Congress after the 2022 midterm elections, compared to 44% who said they want Democrats in charge. The 2-point GOP lead, however, is within the poll’s margin of error (3.49%). It’s the first time that Republicans have lead on this question since 2014. (NBC News)
1/ Senators reached a bipartisan deal “in principle” for $10 billion in new Covid-19 funding. The scaled-back compromise, however, is less than half the White House’s original $22.5 billion request. Lawmakers hope Congress can approve the legislation next week before leaving for the two-week April recess. (New York Times / CNN / ABC News)
2/ Biden ordered the release of roughly a million barrels of oil a day from the nation’s emergency reserves to counteract the economic impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The release of as much as 180 million barrels of oil over the next six months from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve would be the largest-ever since the emergency stockpile was established in the early 1970s. The White House called it “unprecedented,” and Biden said he expects that gasoline prices could drop “fairly significantly.” Gas is currently averaging about $4.23 a gallon, compared with $2.87 a year ago. “This is a moment of consequence and peril for the world and pain at the pump for American families,” Biden said. (USA Today / New York Times / Associated Press / NPR / Bloomberg / Washington Post)
3/ The Justice Department expanded its Jan. 6 investigation to examine the fundraising and organizing for the rally that immediately preceded the riot at the Capitol, as well as attempts to obstruct the certification of Biden’s Electoral College victory. In the past two months, a federal grand jury has issued subpoena requests to government officials in Trump’s orbit who assisted in the rally, as well as the push by Trump allies to promote alternate slates of fake electors. One of the subpoenas sought information about people “classified as VIP attendees” at Trump’s Jan. 6 rally. (Washington Post / New York Times / CNN)
4/ Trump used an official White House phone to place at least one call during the Jan. 6 attack, which was not reflected in the official presidential call log. The Presidential Records Act mandates the preservation of White House records pertaining to a president’s official duties. According to Republican Senator Mike Lee, Trump called him on the day of the insurrection from the number 202-395-0000, which is a placeholder that corresponds to an official White House phone. Lee said Trump had meant to call Sen. Tommy Tuberville. Rudy Giuliani also left Lee a voicemail, which was allegedly meant for Tuberville. Trump’s official White House records are also missing seven hours and 37 minutes of phone logs, which correspond to the attack on the Capitol by his supporters. (The Guardian)
5/ A federal judge ruled that sections of Florida’s new election law were unconstitutional and racially motivated. “In the past 20 years, Florida has repeatedly sought to make voting tougher for Black voters because of their propensity to favor Democratic candidates,” Judge Mark Walker wrote in the decision. Walker overturned a provision limiting when people could use a drop box to submit their ballot, along with a section prohibiting from engaging with people waiting to vote, which he said “discourages groups who give food, water, and other forms of encouragement to voters waiting in long lines from continuing to do so.” Walker also placed the state under a 10-year order to receive clearance from the federal government before changing key parts of its voting laws again. The decision, however, is certain to be appealed and is likely to be overturned either by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta or the Supreme Court. (Associated Press / New York Times)
1/ U.S. intelligence officials believe Putin is “being misinformed by his advisers” who “are too afraid to tell him the truth” about his military’s struggles in Ukraine and the effect of sanctions on the Russian economy. “We have information that Putin felt misled by the Russian military which has resulted in persistent tension between Putin and his military leadership,” White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield said, adding that the U.S. was sharing this information now to show “this has been a strategic error for Russia.” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby added that Putin hasn’t been kept informed by his Defense Ministry, saying: “It is his military. It is his war. He chose it. So the fact that he may not have all the context, that he may not fully understand the degree to which his forces are failing in Ukraine, that’s a little discomforting.” Secretary of State Antony Blinken also acknowledged that Putin has been misinformed by his advisers, saying “[…] one of the Achilles’ heel of autocracies is that you don’t have people in those systems who speak truth to power or who have the ability to speak truth to power. And I think that is something that we’re seeing in Russia.” (Bloomberg / New York Times / Associated Press / Reuters)
2/ Trump called on Putin to release information regarding Hunter Biden’s alleged dealings with Eastern European oligarchs in an interview with a far-right journalist whose previous coverage about the Bidens’ ties to Ukraine has been discredited. The claim is unsubstantiated. Trump previously pressured the Ukrainian government to dig up dirt on Hunter and Joe Biden, which lead to his first impeachment, and during the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump urged Putin to hack Hillary Clinton’s personal emails. (Politico / NBC News / CNN)
3/ Susan Collins said she will vote for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation to the Supreme Court, becoming the first Republican senator to support for Biden’s nominee. Collins support all but guarantees that Jackson will become the first Black woman on the court. The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to vote on Jackson’s nomination April 4, and Democrats plan to quickly move it to the Senate floor for a final vote before the start of a two-week recess. (New York Times / Washington Post)
4/ The White House launched a Covid-19 website to help Americans navigate access to testing, treatment, vaccines, and masks. Biden, meanwhile, pressured Congress to approve billions in emergency coronavirus relief aid, saying: “This isn’t partisan. It’s medicine.” The website, COVID.gov, consolidates efforts launched earlier in the pandemic, and includes information on local virus spread, travel rules and restrictions, and information about to receive immediate antiviral treatments if you have Covid-19. “We’re now in a new moment in this pandemic,” Biden said. “It does not mean that Covid-19 is over. It means that Covid-19 no longer controls our lives.” The Biden administration has spent weeks calling on Republicans in Congress to approve $22.5 billion in emergency aid. The Senate, however, is still trying to reach an agreement on a $15 billion Covid-19 aid bill – similar in size to the one abruptly removed from the spending package earlier this month – before members leave for a two-week break at the end of next week. (NPR / Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / NBC News)
5/ The Biden administration plans to end Trump-era pandemic border policy restrictions that largely blocked migrants from entering the U.S. The change is expected to take effect in late May and would halt use of public health powers to set asylum limits at the U.S.-Mexico. According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data, at least 1.7 million migrants have been sent back to Mexico or their origin country since March 2020. (Associated Press / New York Times / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
6/ Biden is expected to invoke the Defense Production Act to help secure the minerals needed for the batteries used in electric vehicles and power storage on the electric grid. Adding minerals like lithium, nickel, graphite, cobalt, and manganese to the list of covered materials could help mining companies access $750 million under the DPA’s Title III fund. And while the U.S. possesses many of the minerals needed for clean energy technology, it relies primarily on imports from China, Russia, South Africa, and Australia. Russia, in particular, is a leading producer of nickel, copper, and other battery minerals, and the invasion of Ukraine has sent the necessary mineral prices soaring. (Politico / Bloomberg / Associated Press)
7/ The Biden administration will spend $3.16 billion to retrofit hundreds of thousands of homes in low-income areas, with the goal of making them more energy efficient. The funding for the federal Weatherization Assistance Program comes from Biden’s $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill and will allow the program to modernize about 450,000 homes with cost-effective upgrades like adding insulation to attics, swapping older appliances for more efficient models, and replacing leaky windows and doors. Trump proposed eliminating the program in 2017. (Washington Post / CNBC)
poll/ 47% of Americans say they worry a great deal about the cost of energy – up from 37% a year ago and is more than double the percentage in 2020. (Gallup)
poll/ 30% of Americans say inflation is the most urgent issue facing the country today, followed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (14%), immigration (9%), climate change (7%), health care (6%), and Covid-19 (3%), among others. (Quinnipiac)
1/ Trump’s Jan. 6 White House records are missing seven hours and 37 minutes of phone logs. The gap, which extends from a little after 11 a.m. to about 7 p.m. on Jan. 6, 2021, corresponds with the attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump’s supporters. The lack of an official White House record also stands in contrast to public reporting about conversations Trump had during the attack, which included calls with Sen. Tommy Tuberville, Sen. Mike Lee, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection has subpoenaed the phone records of more than 100 people and is now investigating whether Trump communicated that day through backchannels, including the phones of aides or “burner phones.” (Washington Post / CBS News / Associated Press / CNN)
2/ Two dozen Democratic lawmakers demanded that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas “promptly recuse himself” from future cases related to the attack on the Capitol or efforts to overturn the 2020 election. The group urged Thomas to “immediately issue a written explanation for his failure to recuse himself” from such cases following reports that his wife had pressured Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, to try to overturn Biden’s victory and was involved in the “Stop the Steal” movement. Thomas was the only justice to dissent in Trump’s request to block documents from being released to the committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack. The lawmakers also called on Chief Justice John Roberts to create “a binding Code of Conduct for the Supreme Court” that would require all justices to “issue written recusal decisions.” (Washington Post / CNBC)
3/ The Jan. 6 committee urged Attorney General Merrick Garland to criminally charge Mark Meadows for contempt of Congress, saying “the Department of Justice has a duty to act on this referral and others that we have sent.” In December, the full House voted to hold Meadows in contempt of Congress over his refusal to cooperate with the committee’s investigation. Adam Schiff warned that “without enforcement of congressional subpoenas, there is no oversight, and without oversight, no accountability.” Rep. Elaine Luria added: “Attorney General Garland, do your job so we can do ours.” The committee, meanwhile, voted to hold former Trump aides Dan Scavino and Peter Navarro in criminal contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with subpoenas. The full House is expected to vote to send both of those referrals to the Justice Department later this week. (Politico / Washington Post)
4/ The New York attorney general’s office said it has “uncovered significant evidence” suggesting that Trump “falsely and fraudulently valued” real estate assets for more than a decade. The potentially misleading valuations “and other misrepresentations” were used by the Trump Organization “to secure economic benefits, according to a court filing by New York Attorney General Letitia James. The filing was made in response to Trump, Trump Jr., and Ivanka Trump appealing a Feb. 17 order requiring them to sit for depositions.
James said their sworn testimony was necessary to determine if fraud occurred “and who may be responsible for any such fraud.” (CNBC / Bloomberg / Politico)
5/ Russia said it will “drastically reduce military activity” near Kyiv and northern Ukraine after Ukrainian negotiators said they had offered a peace proposal to their Russian counterparts. Russia also said it was ready to set a meeting between Putin and Zelensky once a draft peace agreement was ready. Biden, meanwhile, said he would reserve judgement on Russia’s claim that it will move forces, saying “we’ll see if they follow through on what they’re suggesting.” Secretary of State Antony Blinken added that the Kremlin’s negotiators hadn’t shown “signs of real seriousness,” saying “There is what Russia says and there is what Russia does.” (Politico / Bloomberg / ABC News / New York Times / Associated Press / NPR / NBC News / Washington Post)
6/ The FDA authorized a second booster of Pfizer and Moderna for adults 50 years and older, making more than 34 million Americans eligible for a fourth shot. The CDC, meanwhile, reported that the more contagious omicron subvariant, BA.2, is now the dominant version of Covid-19 in the U.S. The subvariant now accounts for more than 54% of cases nationally – up from 39% the previous week. (Politico / CBS News / Bloomberg / Washington Post / New York Times / CNBC / Wall Street Journal / NBC News)
poll/ 44% of Americans say they regularly wear a face mask in public – down from 65% in January. 40% say they’re avoiding nonessential travel, compared with 60% in January. And 47% say they regularly stay away from large groups – down from 65% in January. (Associated Press)
1/ A federal judge asserted that Trump “more likely than not” committed felony obstruction in his effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election. “Based on the evidence, the Court finds it more likely than not that President Trump corruptly attempted to obstruct the Joint Session of Congress on January 6, 2021,” U.S. District Court Judge David Carter wrote, ordering the release of 101 emails from Trump adviser John Eastman to the Jan. 6 committee. The committee had subpoenaed Eastman’s university email account, which he used to send key legal memos aimed at overturning Biden’s victory, but Eastman sued to prevent the committee from obtaining his emails from the school, claiming attorney-client privilege. “The illegality of the plan was obvious,” Carter wrote, rejecting Eastman’s effort to shield the documents, saying Eastman and Trump “launched a campaign to overturn a democratic election, an action unprecedented in American history […] it was a coup in search of a legal theory.” The ruling has no direct role in whether Trump will be charged criminally. (Washington Post / CNN / New York Times / Politico / ABC News / Associated Press / NBC News)
2/ Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ wife sent 21 text messages to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows imploring him to take steps to overturn the 2020 election in the weeks after Election Day. Virginia Thomas (who goes by Ginni) regularly checked in with Meadows to encourage him to push claims of voter fraud and work to overturn the election. Thomas also shared several false QAnon-related conspiracy theories, including that Trump had deliberately “watermarked” mail ballots to find potential voter fraud. In February 2021, the Supreme Court rejected Trump’s effort to block a Jan. 6 committee subpoena for White House records related to the certification of the election and the Capitol insurrection. Instead of recusing himself from the case, Thomas wrote in a dissent that it was “baffling” and “inexplicable” that the majority had decided against hearing the cases. The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection said it will seek an interview with Virginia Thomas. (Washington Post / CBS News / CNN / New York Times / The Guardian / Business Insider / Wall Street Journal / NBC News)
3/ Jared Kushner is expected to voluntarily appear before the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection. In text messages to Mark Meadows, Ginni Thomas suggested that she was in contact with Kushner regarding Trump attorney Sidney Powell, who promoted false conspiracy theories about widespread voting fraud. (ABC News)
4/ Biden stood by his ad-libbed comment that Putin “cannot remain in power,” claiming he was expressing “moral outrage” rather than “articulating a policy change” during his Saturday speech in Warsaw. “I’m not walking anything back,” Biden said of his unscripted comment. “I make no apologies for it.” Biden added that it was “ridiculous” for any one to view his comment as a call for regime change, saying: “Nobody believes […] I was talking about taking down Putin.” (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / NPR / Washington Post / CNBC / Associated Press / NBC News)
5/ Biden proposed a $5.8 trillion budget, which calls for deficit reduction, a new minimum tax on billionaires, and increased funding for police and gun violence prevention. The 2023 budget proposal in fiscal 2023, which begins in October, calls for $1.6 trillion in discretionary spending – a 7% increase over current levels. The White House projects that the proposed budget would reduce the federal deficit by more than $1 trillion over the next decade. Congress, however, is in charge of writing the federal budget and often ignores White House proposals. (NPR / New York Times / Bloomberg / USA Today / Associated Press / Politico / NBC News / Washington Post / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
6/ Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. The measure — titled the Parental Rights in Education bill — prohibits “classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity” in the state’s public schools and allows parents to sue their school district over violations. (ABC News / NPR / NBC News / Associated Press)
poll/ 40% of Americans approve of the job Biden is doing as president – the lowest mark of his presidency. 71% of Americans said they believe the U.S. is on the wrong track, while 22% said they believe it’s headed in the right direction. (NBC News)
poll/ 56% of Americans said Biden has not been “tough enough” on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, while 55% said they believed the U.S. should sanction Russia “as effectively as possible,” even if it hurts the U.S. economy. (Axios)
1/ The U.S. and its allies imposed new sanctions on more than 400 Russian individuals and entities, including lawmakers, and defense companies. Biden said that while “sanctions never deter,” the “maintenance of sanctions, the increasing the pain” on Putin is “what will stop him.” Administration officials said the sanctions in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have taken a severe toll on Russia’s economy so far. Forecasts project that the Russian economy will contract by 15% this year, wiping out 15 years of economic gains. (New York Times / Washington Post / Reuters / CNN)
2/ Biden called for Russia to be removed from the G-20 group of the world’s largest economies, but added that the decision was up to the group. Biden suggested that Ukraine should be allowed to participate in the meetings if member nations didn’t agree to the expulsion. In 2014, Russia was ejected from the G-8 – a smaller group of the world’s largest economies – following its annexation of the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine. Putin, meanwhile, still plans to attend the G-20 summit hosted by Indonesia later this year. (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg / NBC News)
3/ Biden warned that NATO would respond “in kind” if Russia used chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine. Biden declined to share any specifics, but said NATO’s response “would depend on the nature of the use.” NATO allies also agreed to provide Ukraine with equipment and training to deal with a possible Russian attack using chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons. The G-7 nations, meanwhile, issued a statement warning Putin against using chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons in Ukraine. (Washington Post / CNBC / Wall Street Journal / New York Times)
4/ A Manhattan prosecutor who investigated Trump’s financial dealings said he believes Trump is “guilty of numerous felony violations” and that it’s “a grave failure of justice” not to hold him accountable. The prosecutor, Mark Pomerantz, resigned in February after the new Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, abruptly stopped pursuing an indictment and “suspended indefinitely” the Trump investigation “contrary to the public interest.” In his resignation letter, Pomerantz said “the team that has been investigating Mr. Trump harbors no doubt about whether he committed crimes — he did.” Pomerantz added that the potential felonies are related to the “preparation and use of his annual Statements of Financial Condition,” which “were false.” Pomerantz and Carey Dunne, another top investigator on the team probing Trump and the Trump Organization, planned to charge Trump with falsifying business records, specifically his annual financial statements. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNBC / The Guardian)
5/ Trump repeatedly pushed Republican Rep. Mo Brooks to “rescind” the 2020 election results, “remove” Biden from office, and redo the last presidential election in several conversations last year. Brooks disclosed his conversations with Trump after Trump withdrew his endorsement of Brooks in the Republican U.S. Senate primary election in Alabama. Trump “has asked me to rescind the election of 2020,” Brooks said. “He always brings up, ‘we’ve got to rescind the election. We got to take Joe Biden down and put me in now’.” When asked if Trump still says that to him, Brooks replied: “yes.” Brooks played a central role in challenging the election, including discussing plans to object to the election with Trump at the White House and speaking during the “Stop the Steal” rally at the ellipse that preceded the Capitol attack. Brooks told the crowd that they needed to “start taking down names and kicking ass.” (ABC News / New York Times / CNN / Business Insider)
6/ The Jan. 6 committee investigating the Capitol attack will vote on Monday to hold two former Trump White House advisers, Peter Navarro and Dan Scavino Jr., in criminal contempt of Congress. The committee subpoenaed Scavino last September and Navarro in early February. Neither cooperated or provided testimony, but Navarro did call the investigators “terrorists.” If the full House also approves the referrals, it would then move onto the Justice Department for potential prosecution. Navarro was the former trade adviser, while Scavino was former deputy chief of staff. (NPR / Associated Press)
7/ Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson’s historic confirmation hearings concluded after hearing from outside witnesses. Members of the American Bar Association, which gave Jackson its highest professional rating, praised her as a “first rate” judge who would bring “impeccable” credentials to the job “without any biases.” The ABA said they found no evidence to support Republican allegations that Jackson was lenient in her sentencing as a federal trial court judge. Republicans on the committee, meanwhile, indicated that they don’t plan to delay or block Jackson’s confirmation vote, which is expected to take place early next month. Jackson would be the first Black woman on the court in its 233-year history. (Washington Post / CNN / NBC News / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal
8/ Biden threatened to remove two Trump-appointed members of the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition if they didn’t resign. Dr. Mehmet Oz and Herschel Walker are currently Republican Senate candidates in Pennsylvania and Georgia, respectively, despite the Biden administration’s policy prohibiting candidates for federal office from serving on boards and commissions. Trump reappointed Oz and Walker to two-year terms on the committee in December 2020. (NBC News / CNN / USA Today)
9/ Microplastic pollution was found in human blood for the first time. Scientists said they found the particles in almost 80% of the analyzed blood samples from 22 anonymous donors. Half the samples contained PET plastic (e.g. drink bottles), while a third contained polystyrene (e.g. food packaging), and a quarter of the blood samples contained polyethylene (e.g. plastic bags). The impact on health is unknown. [Editor’s note: Have a nice day.] (The Guardian)
poll/ 43% of Americans approve of the job Biden is doing as president; 68% think the country is heading in the wrong direction; and 56% feel that Biden’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has not been tough enough. On a positive note, 53% of Americans approve of Biden’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. (Associated Press / AP-NORC)
1/ The U.S. government formally accused Russia of committing war crimes in Ukraine – four weeks after Russia launched its invasion. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that “based on information currently available, the U.S. government assesses that members of Russia’s forces have committed war crimes in Ukraine,” noting that many of the buildings Russian forces have targeted are “clearly identifiable as in-use by civilians” in Russian “in huge letters visible from the sky.” The International Criminal Court on March 1 opened an investigation into possible war crimes in Ukraine. (CNBC / Wall Street Journal / Politico / Washington Post)
2/ Putin’s press secretary refused to rule out the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine. Dmitry Peskov said Putin would consider using nuclear weapons in the case of “an existential threat for our country,” adding that “Putin intends to make the world listen to and understand our concerns.” Peskov repeated Putin’s “main goals of the operation” are to “get rid of the military potential of Ukraine,” to ensure Ukraine is a “neutral country,” to get rid of “nationalist battalions,” for Ukraine to accept that Crimea is part of Russia, and to accept that the Moscow-backed separatist Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk “are already independent states.” The Pentagon, meanwhile, called the remarks “dangerous,” saying that’s “not the way a responsible nuclear power should act.” Putin previously warned countries that interfere in Ukraine should be prepared to face “the consequences you have never seen in history.” (CNN / Washington Post)
3/ NATO will double its troop presence on the alliance’s eastern flank in response to Russia’s continuing war in Ukraine. Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the deployment will consist of four new battle groups in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia. NATO will also provide Ukraine with equipment to protect against chemical, nuclear, or biological weapons. Stoltenberg called on Russia to stop its “nuclear saber rattling,” saying the use of chemical, nuclear, or biological weapons would be a “blatant violation of international law” and would fundamentally change the nature of the conflict. (Politico / CNBC / New York Times / Washington Post / Axios / BBC)
4/ Russia’s climate envoy resigned and left the country, citing his opposition to Putin’s war in Ukraine. Anatoly Chubais is the highest-level official to quit since the invasion of Ukraine. Separately, Russia’s central bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina tried to resign following the invasion. Putin, however, rejected the bid. Nabiullina was nominated for a new five-year term last week. (Bloomberg / NBC News / New York Times)
5/ Paul Manafort was blocked from leaving the country because he tried to use a revoked passport. Manafort attempted to fly from Miami to Dubai before Customs and Border Protection barred him from boarding the plane because of an issue with his passport. Although Manafort is not legally prevented from leaving the country or from applying for a new passport, he tried to travel using a passport that was revoked in October 2017 after his arrest. It was not clear why he tried to travel using an invalid passport. In 2018, Manafort was convicted on eight counts of tax and bank fraud, and he later pleaded guilty to financial crimes, violating foreign lobbying laws, and attempting to obstruct justice. At the time of his arrest in 2017, Manafort had three active passports, each with a different identification number. (Associated Press / CNBC / NBC News / CNN)
6/ Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson continued to defended her record against increasingly aggressive and contentious questioning from Senate Republicans that fact-checkers and Democrats have debunked and criticized. During her second day of questioning by members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Judge Jackson faced accusations from Lindsey Graham that she had been too lenient in her sentencing as a federal trial judge, but repeatedly interrupted her before she could give an answer. Ted Cruz also used his time to accuse Judge Jackson of not answering his questions despite continually interrupting her whenever she started to respond to his questions. And, Marsha Blackburn demanded that Judge Jackson “provide a definition for the word ‘woman.’” Judge Jackson replied: “I’m not a biologist.” Throughout the day, Judge Jackson repeatedly said that as a judge, she operated within the parameters of laws passed by Congress and that her overall record showed that her sentencing decisions were consistent with what the law recommended. Republicans, meanwhile, have started pressuring Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema to oppose Judge Jackson in the 50-50 Senate. (CNBC / Washington Post / Politico / Bloomberg / New York Times)
poll/ 58% of Americans say the Senate should confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. Only Chief Justice John Roberts, at 59% in 2005, had a higher level of support. For comparison, 51% of Americans were in favor of Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination, 45% supported Neil Gorsuch, and 41% were for accused sexual predator Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination. (Gallup)
poll/ 40% of Americans say the U.S. should have a “major role” in the Russia-Ukraine war. In February – just before the invasion began – 26% of Americans said the U.S. should have a major role in the conflict. (Associated Press)
1/ The Biden administration has exhausted the funds needed to purchase a potential fourth coronavirus vaccine dose for all Americans, unless lawmakers pass the $15 billion funding package. “Right now, we don’t have enough money for fourth doses, if they’re called for,” White House coronavirus coordinator Jeff Zients said. While federal regulators have secured enough doses to cover a fourth shot for Americans age 65 and older as well as the initial doses for children under age 5, analysts say the U.S. would need to purchase hundreds of millions of additional doses to ensure that every American could receive four shots, if necessary. In the United Kingdom, Covid-19 cases have jumped more than 36% over the past week, while in the U.S. the omicron subvariant BA.2 now represents between 50% to 70% of all Covid cases. Meanwhile, the number of at-home Covid-19 tests shipped each week by manufacturers in the U.S. has fallen by more than 50% over the last month. (Washington Post / Bloomberg / Politico)
2/ White House press secretary Jen Psaki tested positive for Covid-19 for a second time in five months. Psaki was scheduled to join Biden on a diplomatic trip to Europe tomorrow to attend a NATO summit, meet with G-7 leaders, and join a scheduled European Council Summit. Psaki said that she had “two socially distanced meetings” with Biden on Monday that were not considered to be in close contact, according to the CDC. Biden tested negative for the coronavirus on Tuesday. (CNN / New York Times / ABC News)
3/ Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson rejected misleading accusations by several Senate Republicans that she imposed lenient sentences in child pornography cases, asserting that “nothing could be further from the truth.” On her second day of confirmation hearings, Judge Jackson pushed back on the notion that she was tolerant of child sex-abuse, calling the crimes “sickening and egregious” and that she imposed “strict sentence[s] and all of the additional restraints available in the law.” Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, called the misleading claims by Josh Hawley and Marsha Blackburn “extreme” and “meritless.” Ted Cruz, meanwhile, used his time to question Judge Jackson about her views of critical race theory and called the nomination of enslaver Bushrod Washington not “controversial,” while Lindsey Graham used his allotted time to air grievances about the treatment of past Republican Supreme Court nominees and to attack Biden and other Democrats. (New York Times / Washington Post / The Hill / Politico / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
4/ A federal judge convicted an elected official from New Mexico of illegally entering restricted U.S. Capitol grounds on Jan. 6. Couy Griffin, who waived his right to a jury and elected to have U.S. District Court Judge Trevor McFadden decide his case, is the second Jan. 6 defendant to go on trial as part of the Justice Department’s prosecution. Griffin was acquitted, however, of engaging in disorderly and disruptive conduct during the riot that disrupted Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s presidential election victory. (Politico / Associated Press / CNN)
5/ Biden confirmed that Russia has used a hypersonic missile in Ukraine, saying it’s “the only thing that they can get through with absolute certainty.” Biden added: “It’s a consequential weapon […] it’s almost impossible to stop it. There’s a reason they’re using it.” Hypersonic missiles are capable of adjusting course and altitude to evade radar detection and missile defenses. The U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, meanwhile, said it expects Russia to “increasingly rely on its nuclear deterrent to signal the West and project strength” as the invasion of Ukraine stalls. And… at least seven forest fires have broken out near the Russian-held Chernobyl nuclear plant, raising fears that radiation could spread from the defunct facility. (ABC News / New York Times / CNN / Politico / Washington Post)
1/ The Senate Judiciary Committee held the first day of confirmation hearings for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, Biden’s Supreme Court pick. Jackson, the first Black woman nominated to serve on the Supreme Court, pledged to decide cases “without fear or favor” if confirmed, and vowed to make equal justice “a reality and not just an ideal.” Jackson told a divided Senate panel she was an independent thinker who decides cases “from a neutral posture,” and that she hoped to embody the “skill and integrity, civility and grace” of Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, whom she seeks to succeed. Sen. Josh Hawley, meanwhile, attacked Jackson in his opening statement, accusing her of issuing “lenient” sentences in child pornography cases as a trial judge. The White House called Hawley’s criticism “toxic and weakly presented misinformation,” adding that in the vast majority of Jackson’s cases involving child sex crimes, the sentences she imposed “were consistent with or above what the government or U.S. Probation recommended.” (Associated Press / New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNN)
2/ Justice Clarence Thomas was hospitalized with an infection after experiencing flu-like symptoms. Thomas, the longest-serving member of the Supreme Court and second-oldest justice, is being treated with intravenous antibiotics and his symptoms are reportedly improving. His illness is not related to Covid-19. (ABC News / Washington Post / USA Today)
3/ A federal judge ruled that former Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis knowingly violated the rights of same-sex couples by denying them marriage licenses. The ruling clears the way for a jury trial seeking damages against Davis as an individual. In 2015, Davis repeatedly refused to issue marriage licenses for same-sex couples in Kentucky, despite the Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges decision that legalized same-sex marriage and a letter from the governor instructing all county clerks to issue the licenses. Davis claimed that issuing the licenses would violate her Christian values. (NBC News / CNN / NPR)
4/ Biden warned that Russia is “exploring options for potential cyberattacks” against the U.S., advising U.S. companies to “harden your cyber defenses immediately.” In updated national cybersecurity guidance, the administration said Russia “could conduct malicious cyber activity against the United States […] as a response to the unprecedented economic costs we’ve imposed” in response to the Ukraine invasion. A senior NATO intelligence official, meanwhile, said the Russia-Ukraine war was “rapidly approaching” a stalemate, adding that “neither side here can win. Neither side will capitulate.” Separately, the U.S. sent Soviet-made air defense systems it had secretly acquired decades ago to Ukraine to help the country establish a de facto no-fly zone. (Politico / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / CNBC / New York Times)
5/ The House passed the Crown Act, which would ban “discrimination based on an individual’s texture or style of hair.” Crown stands for Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair, and now goes to the Senate. (NBC News)
6/ Former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows is under investigation for alleged voter fraud in North Carolina. The investigation comes after it was reported that Meadows registered to vote shortly before the 2020 election at a mobile home in Macon County, where he never lived or visited. Macon County District Attorney Ashley Welch requested the probe. (CNN / Salon)
7/ Mark Meadows was reportedly involved in efforts to encourage Trump’s supporters to march on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, according to a person who overhead the conversation that took place on a speakerphone. Scott Johnston, who worked on the team that helped plan the Ellipse rally, said he overheard Meadows, and Katrina Pierson, Trump’s national campaign spokeswoman, talking with Kylie Kremer, the executive director of Women for America First, about plans for a march to the Capitol and how to “make it look like they went down there on their own.” Johnston testified to the House committee investigating the Capitol attack in December. (Rolling Stone / Washington Post)
1/ The House passed legislation to revoke Russia’s “most-favored-nation” trade status, which would allow the U.S. to impose higher tariffs on Russian goods. The legislation would suspend normal trade relations with Russia and Belarus, as well as require the U.S. trade representative to urge Russia to be suspended from the World Trade Organization and to stop Belarus’s membership application process. The bill now heads to the Senate, where the chamber already has a matching bill with bipartisan support. (Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNBC / NPR)
2/ Biden’s national security adviser warned Moscow that there would be unspecified “consequences and implications of any possible Russian decision to use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine.” According to a new global threats report, the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency assessed that “Russia likely will increasingly rely on its nuclear deterrent to signal the West and project strength to its internal and external audiences.” Putin already has put Russia’s nuclear arsenal on a state of higher alert. Prior the report’s release, Russia threatened the U.S., saying it had “the might to put all of our brash enemies in their place.” Putin, meanwhile, promised to cleanse Russia of the “scum and traitors” who disagree with him, claiming that “a natural and necessary self-purification of society will only strengthen our country.” Biden called Putin a “murderous dictator, a pure thug who is waging an immoral war against the people of Ukraine.” (New York Times / Reuters / Bloomberg / New York Times / Bloomberg / The Hill / The Guardian / CNN)
3/ Senior Biden health aides are concerned that Covid-19 cases could soon rise again as a more contagious Omicron subvariant has rapidly spread in Europe. While cases in the U.S. are at an eight-month low, about a dozen European nations are seeing spikes in coronavirus infections caused by the subvariant, with Germany and Austria approaching or having exceeded record caseload levels. The White House Covid-19 task force and the CDC, meanwhile, have met to game out how to respond if cases begin to rise drastically. More than $15 billion in Covid-19 funding has stalled in Congress, despite the White House warning that the U.S. will soon run out of funding for future Covid-19 booster shots, new treatments, and testing efforts. And, the White House coronavirus coordinator announced he was leaving the administration next month. Jeff Zients will be replaced by Dr. Ashish Jha. (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / Bloomberg / Associated Press)
4/ A federal appeals court lifted a ban that blocked the federal government from accounting for the social cost of carbon when issuing new regulations, approving infrastructure projects, and other projects. On his first day in office, Biden issued an order that estimated each ton of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere would cause $51 in societal damages. The Trump administration had reduced the figure to about $7 or less per ton. The court’s decision reverses a February ruling by a district judge, who had sided with 10 states with Republican attorneys general that the carbon metric could cause them a real injury. (Politico / Washington Post / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal)
5/ Joe Manchin advised a conference of oil and gas executives that they should look for a “return on investment” when making campaign donations. Manchin, the Senate’s top recipient of coal, oil, and gas donations, said fossil fuel executives should “demand more” from politicians who solicit donations, which he referred to as the “mother’s milk.” Manchin added: “We haven’t been good at […] We haven’t told our story. There’s an old story in politics: Tell your story before someone tells one on you. It’s hard to play defense. It’s much easier to run an offensive play, then make your adjustments.” (The New Republic)
1/ Ukraine President Zelensky invoked Pearl Harbor and the Sept. 11 terror attacks as he pleaded with the U.S. Congress for more help, telling lawmakers “we need you right now […] I call on you to do more.” The Ukrainian leader urged the U.S. to establish a no-fly zone over his country – a proposal that the Biden administration and NATO allies have rejected — and the delivery of advanced antimissile defense systems. “This is a terror that Europe has not seen, has not seen for 80 years and we are asking for a reply, for an answer to this terror from the whole world,” Zelensky said. At the conclusion of his remarks, Zelensky urged Biden to do more, saying: “You are the leader of your great nation. I wish you to be the leader of the world. Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace.” Following Zelensky’s address to Congress, Putin accused the West of trying to “cancel Russia.” (Associated Press / CNN / NBC News / CNBC / Washington Post / Politico / New York Times)
2/ Biden called Putin a “war criminal” and said he will commit $800 million more in military aid to Ukraine. The new funding comes from the $13.6 billion aid package Biden signed into law Tuesday and the total amount of funding allocated this week to Ukraine to more than $1 billion. The new aid package includes 800 anti-aircraft missiles, 9,000 anti-armor systems, 7,000 small arms, like machine guns, shotguns and grenade launchers, 20 million rounds of ammunition, body armor, and drones. “This could be a long and difficult battle. But the American people will be steadfast in our support of the people of Ukraine in the face of Putin’s immoral, unethical attacks on civilian populations,” Biden said. “We are united in our abhorrence of Putin’s depraved onslaught. And we’re going to continue to have their backs as they fight for their freedom, their democracy, their very survival.” The Kremlin, meanwhile, called Biden’s rhetoric “unacceptable and unforgivable.” (CNN / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Politico / NBC News / Washington Post / Bloomberg / The Guardian)
3/ The International Court of Justice ordered Russia to “immediately suspend” its military operations in Ukraine, saying the Kremlin justified its invasion on the false pretext that Ukraine was committing genocide against Russian-speakers in the east of the country. The ruling is largely symbolic despite being legally binding because Moscow is not expected to comply with the ruling. Countries who refuse to abide by court orders can be referred to the U.N. Security Council, where Russia holds veto power. The vote was 13-2, with judges from Russia and China dissenting. Officials from Ukraine and Russia, meanwhile, said they have made progress on a tentative 15-point peace plan. The proposed deal includes a ceasefire and Russian withdrawal if Ukraine declares neutrality and agrees to not join NATO. (ABC News / Financial Times / Washington Post / The Guardian / Wall Street Journal / New York Times)
4/ The Federal Reserve raised interest rates by a quarter percentage point – the first increase since December 2018. Policymakers also signaled six additional similarly sized rate hikes this year to rein in the highest inflation in 40 years. Policymakers expect inflation to remain elevated, ending 2022 at 4.3% – well above the Fed’s 2% goal – before coming down to 2.3% in 2024. Based on the Fed’s median projections, rates are expected to rise to about 2.8% by the end of 2023. (Associated Press / CNBC / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Washington Post)
5/ The Republican National Committee sued its own email vendor in an effort to stop it from complying with a subpoena from the Jan. 6 committee for data on RNC and Trump campaign fundraising practices. Last week, the RNC sued the House committee, complaining about the Salesforce subpoena’s breadth. The subpoena calls for Salesforce to produce “all performance metrics and analytics related to email campaigns by or on behalf of Donald Trump for President, Inc., The Republican National Committee, or the Trump Make America Great Again Committee” for the period between Nov. 3, 2020 and Jan. 6, 2021. Salesforce, meanwhile, said it will begin producing documents to the committee imminently unless a court intervenes. Separately, the committee said it does not plan to subpoena to members of Congress who allegedly have information regarding the events leading up to and surrounding the attack on the Capitol. (CNN / Politico / Axios / ABC News)
6/ The Senate confirmed Shalanda Young as director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, making her the first Black woman to hold the Cabinet-level position. Young was confirmed in a bipartisan 61-36 vote after serving as acting director for the past year. (NBC News / CNN)
7/ The Senate approved legislation to make daylight saving time permanent starting next year. If passed in the House and signed by Biden, Americans would never again have to change their clocks twice a year. At least 18 states have passed laws to permanently switch to daylight saving time, though federal law must first change to allow it. (NPR / Axios / NBC News)
poll/ 69% of Americans favor sending U.S. troops to support European allies as a deterrent to keep Russia from invading those countries. 69% of Americans are also concerned that the conflict will lead to the use of nuclear weapons, while 30% are not worried. (Monmouth University)
poll/ 35% of Americans approve of the U.S. “taking military action even if it risks a nuclear conflict with Russia,” while 62% say they’re opposed to military action in this scenario. Overall, 47% of Americans approve of Biden’s handling of the Russian invasion, while 39% disapprove and 13% say they are not sure. (Pew Research Center)
1/ The White House will wind down a Covid-19 program that pays to test, treat, and vaccinate people who don’t have health insurance unless Congress approves more funding. The Biden administration also warned that the U.S. will soon run out of funding for future Covid-19 booster shots, new treatments, and testing efforts if the spending legislation remains stuck in Congress. Last week, lawmakers declined to add $22.5 billion in pandemic funding to the government spending bill because of a dispute over whether $7 billion should come from funds already allocated to states. As a result, uninsured Americans will no longer be able to submit claims for tests or Covid treatments starting next week. The government will also cut supplies of monoclonal antibody treatments to states by 30% after cancelling an order for hundreds of thousands of treatments. “We want to be clear, waiting to provide funding until we’re in a worse spot with the virus will be too late,” a senior administration official said. “Importantly, when you consider the cost of all these investments compared to the cost of what we will prevent in terms of hospitalizations, death and damage to our health care system and our economy, it is not a close call.” (NPR / Bloomberg / ABC News / NBC News / Politico / New York Times)
2/ Biden signed a $1.5 trillion government spending bill that will provide $13.6 billion in additional military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. The bill also funds the government for the current fiscal year. “With this bill,” Biden said, “we’re going to send a message to the American people, a strong message that Democrats and Republicans actually come together and get something done right now and to fulfill our most basic responsibilities to keep the government open and running for the American people.” The funding legislation did not include supplemental coronavirus relief that was originally included. (The Hill / CNBC / Washington Post)
3/ The Russian Foreign Ministry sanctioned Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, and other top officials in response to sanctions imposed by Washington on Russian officials. Others sanctioned include White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, Biden’s son Hunter Biden, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and CIA Director William Burns. White House press secretary Jen Psaki shrugged off the announcement, joking that the sanctions wouldn’t have much of an impact because “President Biden is a junior, so they may have sanctioned his dad, may he rest in peace.” Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, ridiculed the sanctions on her, tweeting: “I want to thank the Russian Academy for this Lifetime Achievement Award.” (CBS News / The Hill /New York Times / NBC News / The Guardian)
4/ A nine-page document found in the possession of the former leader of the Proud Boys outlined a plan to surveil and storm government buildings around the Capitol on Jan. 6. The document, titled “1776 Returns,” was broken into five parts — Infiltrate, Execution, Distract, Occupy, and Sit-In — and recommends recruiting at least 50 people to enter seven government buildings on Jan. 6 for purposes of “causing trouble.” The document, however, does not specifically mention attacking the Capitol building itself. A federal judge, meanwhile, ordered Enrique Tarrio to remain jailed pending trial on charges that he conspired with followers to obstruct certification of Biden’s electoral college victory. (New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post)
5/ The wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas attended the Jan. 6, 2021, “Stop the Steal” rally to protest Biden’s election. Ginni Thomas said she attended the rally in the morning but got cold and left before Trump addressed the crowd and before a pro-Trump mob broke into the Capitol. In December, Ginni Thomas was among a group of conservative leaders who co-signed a letter criticizing the work of the bipartisan House committee as “overtly partisan political persecution” and called for House Republicans to expel Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger from their conference for joining the committee investigating the attacks. The next month, the Supreme Court rejected Trump’s effort to block a congressional subpoena for White House records related to the certification of the 2020 presidential election and the Jan. 6 riot. Instead of recusing himself from the case, Clarence Thomas was the only justice to say he would grant Trump’s request. (Washington Post / NPR / New York Times)
6/ Joe Manchin, who has taken more money in political donations from fossil fuel interests than any other senator, said he is “very reluctant” to see the proliferation of electric vehicles. The centrist Democrat said he has “a hard time understanding” why the federal government would invest in a network of electric car charging stations, which Biden’s championed as part of his plan to grow the EV market in order to tackle the climate crisis. “I’ve read history, and I remember Henry Ford inventing the Model-T, but I sure as hell don’t remember the U.S. government building filling stations,” Manchin said. “The market did that.” Biden’s Build Back Better plan included half a trillion dollars in clean energy tax credits, as well as rebates for electric car purchases to speed up adoption. Manchin’s opposition, however, has stalled efforts to pass major climate legislation so far. (The Guardian)
7/ A Democratic super PAC accused Trump of violating campaign finance law by spending his existing political funds on a 2024 presidential run without declaring himself a candidate. Federal rules require those who raise or spend more than $5,000 in support of a presidential campaign to register with the FEC. (New York Times)
poll/ 52% of Americans don’t expect Biden to run for re-election in 2024, while 29% believe he’ll pursue a second term and 19% are undecided about his future. Among Democrats, 41% said they believe Biden will run again, while 32% disagree. (Wall Street Journal)
poll/ 39% of Americans approve of Biden’s handling of “the situation with Russia and Ukraine” – up from 34% two weeks ago. Biden’s approval on Russia and Ukraine among independents also climbed 12 points to 38%. (Yahoo News)
1/ NATO Secretary General warned that Russia’s false claim that the U.S. is working with Ukraine to develop biochemical weapons could be used by the Kremlin as a pretext for the use of chemical weapons. “We must remain vigilant because it is possible that Russia itself could plan chemical weapons operations under this fabrication of lies,” Jens Stoltenberg said. “That would be a war crime” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby added: “It is of the Russian playbook that that which they accuse you of they’re planning to do now. Now, again, we haven’t seen anything into it indicates some sort of imminent chemical or biological attack right now, but we’re watching this very, very closely.” Kirby also said Russian forces are “broadening their target sets” after rockets hit a Ukrainian military base near the Polish border. (Politico / Reuters / ABC News / Washington Post)
2/ The Kremlin instructed Russian state media to feature Fox News host Tucker Carlson “as much as possible,” according to a leaked memo produced by the Russian Department of Information and Telecommunications Support. The 12-page war memo told Russian media that it is “essential” to use more Carlson segments in their coverage because he “sharply criticizes” the actions of the United States and NATO and his position on the war in Ukraine is “Russia is only protecting its interests and security.” On March 9, Carlson repeated Russian disinformation that the United States set up biowarfare labs in Ukraine were “totally and completely true.” The following day, a “recommendations for coverage” memo from the Russian agency advised state media to relay the message that “activities of military biological laboratories with American participation on the territory of Ukraine carried global threats to Russia and Europe.” The document also encouraged hosts to allege that the “the United States is working on a ‘biogenocide of the Eastern Slavs.’” The claims of U.S.-run “biological research facilities” in Ukraine are not true. (Mother Jones / The Guardian / Business Insider / ABC News / NBC News / Washington Post)
3/ Russia asked China for military equipment as well as economic assistance to circumvent the sanctions that the U.S. and its allies have imposed on Putin and his regime. Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, however, warned China not to try to “bail out” Russia, saying “there will absolutely be consequences for large-scale sanctions evasion efforts […] We will not allow that to go forward and allow there to be a lifeline to Russia from these economic sanctions from any country anywhere in the world.” White House press secretary Jen Psaki added that China will face “significant consequences” if it violates the international sanctions against Russia. (CNN / Financial Times / New York Times / Bloomberg / Politico / Washington Post / Reuters)
4/ The Biden administration approved an additional $200 million in arms and equipment for Ukraine, which includes Javelin antitank missiles and Stinger antiaircraft missiles. Altogether, the administration has authorized $1.2 billion in weapons for Ukraine. Separately, 58 members of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus urged Biden to facilitate the offer from Poland to deliver MiG-29 airplanes to Ukraine. The Pentagon struck down the proposal, saying fighter jets departing from a U.S. or NATO base could be seen as an escalation of the United States’ role in the war. On Friday, Biden announced that in conjunction with other G-7 nations and the European Union, the U.S. will revoke “most favored nation” trade status for Russia, which would allow the U.S. and others to impose tariffs on Russian goods. (New York Times / Washington Post)
5/ Joe Manchin said he opposes Biden’s nominee for the Federal Reserve’s top job overseeing banks over her focus on climate change and its threat to financial stability, effectively blocking Sarah Bloom Raskin’s confirmation from advancing to the Senate floor. Manchin, who has close ties to the fossil fuel industry and has rejected Biden’s climate agenda, said the Federal Reserve “is not an institution that should politicize its critical decisions.” Raskin previously called for stronger climate policies, writing last September that regulators should “ask themselves how their existing instruments can be used to incentivize a rapid, orderly, and just transition away from high-emission and biodiversity-destroying investments.” Raskin would need at least one Republican to support her to be confirmed. (Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / CNBC / Wall Street Journal)
1/ The Biden administration warned that Russia could be preparing to use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine after Russian officials accused the U.S. of funding “secret biological experiments” at laboratories in two Ukrainian cities. The State Department responded to the allegations, warning that “Russia is inventing false pretexts in an attempt to justify its own horrific actions in Ukraine.” White House press secretary Jen Psaki added that Russia’s accusations were “preposterous,” saying “Russia has a history also of inventing outright lies like this.” (Washington Post / NBC News / New York Times / Associated Press / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
2/ The 2020 Census missed 18.8 million Americans – the biggest net undercount in three decades. The Census Bureau said that while the overall population total of 323 million was accurate, it undercounted the number of Hispanic, Black, and Native American residents and overcounted white and Asian residents. Census results are used to guide voting districts, congressional representation, and the allocation of an estimated $1.5 trillion in federal funds each year for health care, education, transportation, and other public services. (New York Times / Politico / NPR / Washington Post)
3/ The Consumer Price Index rose by 7.9% over the past year – the fastest pace of annual inflation in 40 years. The Labor Department also reported that inflation rose 0.8% from January to February – up from the 0.6% increase from December to January – reflecting the higher cost of gasoline, food, and shelter. The Federal Reserve, meanwhile, is expected to announce the first of a series of interest rate hikes next week aimed at slowing inflation. (Bloomberg / Politico / CNBC / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
4/ TSA will extend its travel mask mandate for airplanes and other public transportation through mid-April. The mandate will extend at least through April 18 while the CDC works “with government agencies to help inform a revised policy framework for when, and under what circumstances, masks should be required in the public transportation corridor.” TSA said it expects the average daily passenger traffic to be above 90% of prepandemic levels for the rest of the month due to spring break travel. (Politico / NBC News / CNN / New York Times)
5/ Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Jan. 6 investigation will continue until “we hold everyone accountable,” calling it “the most urgent investigation in the history of the Justice Department.” Garland added that the Justice Department will “not shy away” from investigations that may be seen as “controversial or sensitive or political.” Last week, the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot alleged that Trump and his allies “engaged in a criminal conspiracy to defraud the United States” to overturn the 2020 election. (NPR / USA Today)
6/ The Republican National Committee sued the Jan. 6 committee, seeking to block the panel’s subpoena of data from the RNC’s fundraising platform vendor. The House committee said it needed the Salesforce data to investigate how Trump and the RNC used the platform to disseminate false statements about the 2020 election and how they impacted supporters who read them. According to committee spokesman Tim Mulvey, the Trump campaign and the RNC solicited donations by pushing false claims of widespread voter fraud between November 2020 and Jan. 6, 2021, and sent emails that “encouraged supporters to put pressure on Congress to keep President Trump in power.” (Axios / Washington Post)
7/ Michael Flynn testified before the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack. In November, the committee sent Flynn a letter demanding that he testify about a December 2020 Oval Office meeting where Trump and others discussed declaring a national emergency and seizing voting machines. Flynn, however, didn’t answer any questions, exercising his 5th Amendment right. (NBC News)
1/ The Pentagon rejected Poland’s offer to transfer its MiG-29 fighter jets to the U.S. for delivery to Ukraine, saying “we do not believe Poland’s proposal is a tenable one” because there are “a range of logistical operational challenges” that would come with delivering the warplanes. U.S. officials added that they were blindsided and not consulted by the Polish government ahead of the public proposal, which attempted to shift the responsibility for delivering the aircraft. Russia’s Defense Ministry warned on Sunday that any country supporting Ukraine’s air force would be considered a participant in the conflict. (Politico / CNN / Axios / Associated Press / Washington Post)
2/ Congressional leaders reached a bipartisan agreement to send $13.6 billion in new humanitarian, military, and economic aid for Ukraine. The package is part of the $1.5 trillion spending bill to fund the government through September, which must pass by Friday to avoid a government shutdown. The Biden administration had requested $6.4 billion in aid for Ukraine. (NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times / CNBC)
3/ House Democrats stripped Biden’s $15 billion coronavirus relief package from the $1.5 trillion government funding bill amid disputes about how to cover the cost. More than a dozen lawmakers objected to how the bill would have clawed back about $7 billion in previously approved but unspent funds from state governments to offset some of the cost of the supplemental pandemic response measures. Republicans had opposed allocating more money for the pandemic until earlier funding were spent. Lawmakers from affected states, however, refused to let the spending package move forward, threatening to vote against the motion unless the earlier funds their states were supposed to receive were protected. After deliberating with lawmakers, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the Covid-19 funding would be dropped and that lawmakers would instead proceed with voting on just the government funding package, which includes the emergency aid to Ukraine. “It is heartbreaking to remove the Covid funding, and we must continue to fight for urgently needed Covid assistance,” Pelosi said. “But unfortunately that will not be included in this bill.” (Politico / Associated Press / New York Times / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
4/ Biden directed the federal government to explore the possible uses and regulations for cryptocurrencies. The executive order instructs federal agencies to produce a series of reports to better understand the risks and opportunities presented by digital currencies, including the impact on financial stability and the climate. (Washington Post / Politico / Associated Press / NBC News / New York Times)
5/ The Biden administration restored California’s authority to set its own tailpipe pollution standards for cars, which are stricter than federal standards. In 2019, the Trump administration revoked California’s waiver that allowed it to enforce more stringent rules. The EPA also withdrew the Trump-era regulation that blocked other states from adopting the state’s greenhouse gas standards. At least 15 states and the District of Columbia follow California’s vehicle standards. (New York Times / Politico / Associated Press)
6/ The Senate approved a $107 billion overhaul of the Postal Service – the largest reform in nearly two decades. The Postal Service Reform Act requires retired postal service employees to enroll in Medicare, impose new transparency standards, and repeals a requirement to pre-fund retirement benefits 75 years in advance. The bill passed with bipartisan support and heads to Biden’s desk to be signed. (Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Axios)
1/ Biden banned all imports of oil and natural gas from Russia, punishing Russia for its “vicious war of choice” in Ukraine. “The United States is targeting the main artery of Russia’s economy,” Biden said. “We will not be part of subsidizing Putin’s war.” Biden, however, warned that the decision would mean higher prices for energy and at the gas pump, saying “defending freedom is going to cost […] It’s going to cost us as well, in the United States.” 79% of Americans, meanwhile, said they favored a ban on Russian oil imports even if it increased energy prices in the U.S., while 13% said they opposed it. The U.S. move was matched in part by the U.K., which announced that it’ll phase out the import of Russian oil and oil products by the end of 2022. The European Union also took steps to scale back imports of Russian energy by approximately two-thirds this year. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, meanwhile, said the House plans to vote today on legislation to ban U.S. imports of Russian fossil fuels, calling it “an urgent imperative – both morally and for our security interests.” In addition to banning Russian oil, the bill would empower Biden to impose tariffs on other Russian products, take steps to suspend Russia from the World Trade Organization, and reauthorize and strengthen the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, which allows the U.S. to impose sanctions on countries in response to human rights abuses. (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / Associated Press / CNN / CNBC / NPR)
2/ Poland offered to transfer all of its Russian-made MiG-29 fighter jets “immediately and free of charge” to a U.S. air base in Germany. Russia has warned that delivering the jets to Ukraine would be seen as a provocation. Over the weekend, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. would give a “green light” if Poland or another NATO member sent jets to Ukraine and that the U.S. could “backfill” those jets with F-16, though it’s unclear where the U.S. would pull the jets from in order to send them to Poland. Also, by giving the planes to the U.S. rather than directly to the Ukrainians, the Polish government sidesteps the logistical challenge of transferring the jets themselves. Poland has 28 of the Soviet-era MiG-29 jets. (Politico / Wall Street Journal / The Guardian / NBC News / CNN)
3/ CIA Director William Burns said Putin is “angry and frustrated” with his invasion of Ukraine and will likely “double-down […] with no regard for civilian casualties.” Speaking before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Burns said Putin doesn’t appear to have a “sustainable political endgame in the face of what is going to continue to be fierce resistance from Ukrainians.” The likely result, Burns said, is “an ugly next few weeks” of fighting. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines added that Putin “is unlikely to be deterred […] and instead may escalate — essentially doubling down to achieve Ukrainian disarmament and neutrality to prevent it from further integrating with the U.S. and NATO if it doesn’t reach some diplomatic negotiation.” The Russian foreign ministry, meanwhile, reportedly suggested that Russia wants to go back to “peaceful co-existence” with the U.S., like during the Cold War. (Politico / NPR / ABC News)
4/ The Senate unanimously approved a bill to make lynching a federal hate crime – punishable by up to 30 years in prison. The Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act was approved by the House last month and now heads to Biden’s desk for his signature. It took more than 100 years and 200 failed attempts to outlaw lynching since the first anti-lynching legislation was introduced in 1900 by Rep. George Henry White. (NPR / CNN / New York Times)
5/ The first Jan. 6 defendant to take his case to trial was found guilty of all five charges he faced related to his role in the attack on the Capitol. A jury found Guy Wesley Reffitt, a Texas Three Percenter, guilty of leading a pro-Trump mob against the police at the Capitol, obstructing Congress’s duty to certify the 2020 election, carrying a firearm during the attack, and threatening his teenage son and daughter to keep them from turning him in to the FBI. Reffitt faces a maximum of 20 years in prison from the obstruction count alone and is scheduled to be sentenced on June 8. On Christmas Eve, Reffitt’s son Jackson submitted an online tip to the FBI warning that his father was planning to do “some serious damage.” No one responded to the tip until after the riot. (NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / CNN / CBS News)
6/ A federal grand jury indicted the longtime leader of the Proud Boys with conspiracy to obstruct Congress related to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, making him the second leader of a far-right group to face charges in the past several months. The indictment alleges that Enrique Tarrio “led the advance planning and remained in contact with other members of the Proud Boys during their breach,” including taking credit for what had happened on social media and participating in a private Telegram group chat during and after the attack. In January, prosecutors charged Stewart Rhodes, the leader of the Oath Keepers militia, with seditious conspiracy for his months-long effort to violently disrupt the transfer of power. (Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News)
7/ Florida’s Republican-controlled legislature passed a controversial bill that forbids lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade. The legislation, which Democrats and LGBTQ activists have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, now heads to Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has signaled his support for the measure. The bill bans “classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity” in kindergarten through third grade or “in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students.” Parents would be able to sue districts over violations. (Associated Press / NBC News / CNN / HuffPost / Washington Post / Politico)
1/ A bipartisan group of lawmakers reached a deal to ban the import of Russian energy and suspend normal trade relations with Russia and Belarus in response to the invasion of Ukraine. The bill also provides Biden with the authority to increase tariffs on both countries, and would require the U.S. trade representative to seek the suspension of Russia’s participation in the World Trade Organization, as well as try to halt Belarus’s attempt to join the global trade organization. It’s unclear, however, if Biden would sign the legislation if it reaches his desk. Over the weekend, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he “would support” a ban on Russian oil imports. The prospect of Russian energy sanctions sent oil prices to a 14-year high, with the average national gasoline price exceeding $4 a gallon. Putin, meanwhile, told a group of Aeroflot flight attendants that Western sanctions on Russia were “akin to a declaration of war.” (New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post / Politico)
2/ The Biden administration has discussed a possible deal to send Poland’s Soviet-era MiG fighter jets to Ukraine. In exchange, the U.S. would replace Poland’s planes with American-made F-16s. Ukraine’s government is interested in the old planes because the country’s military pilots already know how to fly them. Putin, however, warned that Moscow would view any Western attempts to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine as “participating in the armed conflict” against Russia. Separately, nearly all of the troops Russia amassed on Ukraine’s border are now fighting inside the country and the U.S. doesn’t believe that Russia is “preparing to move additional battalion tactical groups from elsewhere in the country to shore up what they’ve put into Ukraine.” Instead, Moscow is reportedly recruiting Syrians skilled in urban combat to fight in Ukraine. (New York Times / NBC News / Politico)
3/ After Trump described Putin as “smart,” “savvy,” and “a genius,” Pence said there was no room in the Republican Party for “apologists for Putin.” Trump, while insisting that the attack on Ukraine never would have happened on his watch, told the Conservative Political Action Conference last weekend that “The problem is not that Putin is smart, which of course he’s smart, but the real problem is that our leaders are dumb. Dumb. So dumb.” Former Attorney General William Barr, meanwhile, suggested that he would vote for Trump in 2024 despite believing that Trump was “responsible in the broad sense of that word” for the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol. “I think the whole idea was to intimidate Congress. And I think that that was wrong,” Barr said, adding that he hasn’t seen evidence that Trump “was legally responsible for it in terms of incitement.” Trump, however, continued to repeat his false claims of election fraud, saying that Barr “wouldn’t know voter fraud if it was staring him in the face—and it was. The fact is, he was weak, ineffective, and totally scared of being impeached, which the Democrats were constantly threatening to do.” (CBS News / Washington Post / Politico / Axios / NBC News)
4/ The National Archives delivered Trump’s White House visitor logs to the Jan. 6 committee. Trump had tried to block the release of the logs, but Biden rejected the claim that they were subject to executive privilege “in light of the urgency” of the committee’s work and Congress’s “compelling need.” The archives also turned over Pence’s records. (Reuters / The Guardian)
5/ Researchers identified Covid-associated brain shrinkage equivalent to as much as a decade of normal aging, according to a study published in Nature. The study used before-and-after brain images of 785 British people and found that even a mild case of Covid-19 may cause greater loss of gray matter and tissue damage in the brain than naturally occurs in people who have not been infected with the virus. The death toll from Covid-19, meanwhile, eclipsed 6 million. (New York Times / Bloomberg / USA Today / Politico)
6/ Florida’s surgeon general recommends against vaccinating healthy children for Covid-19 despite the CDC recommending that everyone age 5 and older get vaccinated. Florida “is going to be the first state to officially recommend against the Covid-19 vaccines for healthy children,” Joseph Ladapo said, without elaborating on the details or rationale. Ladapo, who leads Florida’s Department of Health, made the announcement at the end of a roundtable discussion that Gov. Ron DeSantis convened to discuss “ending Covid theater once and for all.” White House press secretary Jen Psaki, meanwhile, said “It’s deeply disturbing that there are politicians peddling conspiracy theories out there and casting doubt on vaccination when it is our best tool against the virus and the best tool to prevent even teenagers from being hospitalized.” The CDC recommends that parents get their children vaccinated, saying: “Covid-19 can make children very sick and cause children to be hospitalized. In some situations, the complications from infection can lead to death.” (Bloomberg / Palm Beach Post / Tampa Bay Times / New York Times / Politico)
7/ The Amazon rainforest is nearing its “tipping point” and more than half of the rainforest could irreversibly turn into a savanna, according to a study published in the journal Nature Climate Change. Satellite images taken over the past several decades show that more than 75% of the rainforest is getting drier and taking longer to regenerate after a disturbance, such as droughts and wildfires. Losing the rainforest could result in up to 90 billion tons of carbon dioxide getting put back into the atmosphere – the equivalent of several years of global emissions – and researchers fear that this carbon release would put the world’s goal of limiting temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius out of reach. (Washington Post / New York Times)
poll/ 71% of Americans said they’d support a ban on Russian oil even if it meant higher gasoline prices in the U.S., including 82% of Democrats, 70% of independents, and 66% of Republicans. (Quinnipiac)
1/ The House select committee tasked with investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection says Trump violated multiple laws in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election. In a major release of its findings filed in federal court late Wednesday, the committee alleges that Trump and his allies “engaged in a criminal conspiracy to defraud the United States” and that Trump himself violated multiple laws by trying to block Congress from certifying the results of the election. In 16 accompanying exhibits, the panel showcased testimony it received from key figures in Trump-world. The release of the findings is part of a legal effort to force John Eastman, a Trump attorney who played a crucial role in crafting Trump’s strategy to subvert the 2020 election, to turn over thousands of emails that the committee believes connect various elements of the scheme. Eastman says turning over the emails would violate attorney-client privilege, but the panel says Eastman’s privilege claim was potentially voided by the “crime/fraud exception,” which says communications aren’t protected if an attorney is found to be assisting their client in the commission of a crime. The committee has no authority to initiate criminal proceedings. (Politico / CNN / Washington Post / Associated Press / NBC News)
2/ Trump’s former Attorney General William Barr said Trump became enraged after he was told his claims of election fraud were nonsense. Barr says Trump asked him to attend a meeting in Trump’s private dining room in the White House on Dec. 1, after the Associated Pres published an interview in which Barr said there was no evidence of any widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election. During the meeting, Trump “was asking about different theories, and I had the answers. I was able to tell him, ‘This was wrong because of this,’” Barr said. Barr says he offered to resign because Trump was “obviously getting very angry about this,” and Trump slammed his hand on the table and accepted Barr’s offer. Barr added: “And then — boom. He slapped it again. ‘Accepted. Go home. Don’t go back to your office. Go home. You’re done.’” Barr is publishing a forthcoming book about his tenure in the Trump administration. (NBC News)
3/ Biden accused Texas Gov. Greg Abbott of “government overreach at its worst” for investigating the parents of trans children going through the gender confirmation process. “Like so many anti-transgender attacks proliferating in states across the country,” Biden said, Abbott’s actions “callously threaten to harm children and their families just to score political points.” Biden also said his administration is taking steps to protect transgender children in Texas, including inviting families to contact the civil rights office at Health and Human Services if they’ve been “targeted by a child welfare investigation because of this discriminatory gubernatorial order.” (Washington Post)
4/ The White House imposed new sanctions against eight Russian oligarchs and members of their families. Biden said the new sanctions are in response to Russia’s escalation and indiscriminate bombing of Ukraine. Biden said the goal of the sanctions is to “maximize the impact on Putin and Russia” by maintaining “the strongest unified economic campaign on Putin in all history.” As a result of the sanctions, the individuals and their families will be cut off from the U.S. financial system and all of their assets and property in the U.S. will be frozen or blocked from use. (CNN)
poll/ 50% of American voters say they prefer Biden’s tax plan over two prominent alternative proposals from the GOP, while 19% are unsure which plan they prefer. (YouGov)
1/ During his first State of the Union speech, Biden condemned President Vladimir Putin, called on the world to support Ukraine, and made his case to Americans that his administration is working to overcome the coronavirus pandemic and return to a time of prosperity and normalcy. The first half of the hourlong speech focused on the war in Europe, while the second half was mostly about Biden’s domestic agenda. Biden said Putin “badly miscalculated” when he invaded Ukraine, and that he would make Putin “pay a price” for attacking Russia’s neighbor. “He thought he could roll into Ukraine and the world would roll over,” Biden said. “Instead, he met with a wall of strength he never anticipated or imagined. He met the Ukrainian people.” There were several instances of bipartisan applause throughout the speech, but also moments where members of the GOP — Reps. Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene — interrupted or heckled Biden, including while Biden was reflecting on the life of his late son, Beau. Biden also renewed his calls for Congress to pass pieces of the failed “Build Back Better” domestic policy agenda, including expanded child care, elder care, prekindergarten education, climate change initiatives and prescription-drug price cuts. (New York Times / Rolling Stone / Daily Beast / New York Times / NPR / The Independent / Washington Post)
2/ Biden announced a new task force to go after the U.S.-based assets of Russian oligarchs. The task force, dubbed Task Force KleptoCapture, will seize yachts, luxury apartments, and other vestiges of wealth parked in the U.S. by Russian billionaires. “We are coming for your ill-begotten gains,” Biden said during his State of the Union speech on Tuesday. Biden also announced that the U.S. will close its skies to Russian aircraft in response to the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine, and the U.S. is expected to announce new sanctions against Putin’s financial allies in the coming days. (CNBC / Reuters / Washington Post / Business Insider / NBC News)
3/ Biden declared that his administration has a new plan for a pandemic reset, and that it’s time to stop letting COVID-19 “dictate how we live.” Biden pointed to the wide availability of vaccines, treatments and tests, and vowed that the country is moving toward “more normal routines.” He also touted a new “test to treat” plan that would see local pharmacies provide free antiviral pills to people who test positive for the virus. The 96-page plan is part of a broader White House strategy to move away from a state of crisis and convince Americans that they can return to normal, especially as Biden’s approval ratings remain dangerously low. (Washington PostAssociated Press / NPR)
4/ Trump called the Russian invasion of Ukraine “a holocaust” and urged Russia to end its attacks. During an interview with Fox News, Trump said Russia has “stop killing these people” and suggested that some kind of deal should be worked out in order to bring the conflict to an end. “They don’t respect the United States and the United States is like, I don’t know, they’re not doing anything about it,” Trump said. “This is a — this is a holocaust.” (The Hill)
5/ Trump’s border wall has been breached more than 3,200 times by smugglers, according to Customs and Border Protection records. Mexican smuggling gangs have breached new segments of the wall 3,272 times over the last three years, which the government has spent $2.6 million to repair during that period. CPB maintenance records show the damage has been more widespread than previously known, pointing to the wall as an ineffective impediment to unauthorized border crossings. (Washington Post)
poll/ 68% of people who watched last night’s State of the Union said Biden’s speech made them feel optimistic, while 53% said it made them feel proud. More than half said the speech made them feel like the coronavirus pandemic is mostly behind us. 78% of Americans who watched said they approved of Biden’s remarks, while 22% said they disapproved. (CBS News-YouGov)
1/ Russian forces bombed Ukraine’s second-largest city and closed in on the capital on Monday. A 40-mile convoy consisting of hundreds of tanks and other vehicles moved on the capital Kyiv and the northeastern city of Kharkiv, shelling a residential neighborhood and forcing Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to considering making some concessions. The Kremlin also threatened the prospect of using nuclear weapons for the second day in a row, announcing that its nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarines and long-range bombers had all been put on high alert. (Associated Press)
2/ U.S. intelligence agencies say they’re worried Putin may escalate the invasion of Ukraine as he becomes increasingly frustrated by the lack of progress by Russian forces. U.S. officials say they have solid intelligence that Putin is directing unusual bursts of anger at people in his inner circle over the state of the military campaign, adding that they “don’t believe he has a realistic understanding of what’s going on.” (NBC News)
3/ Trump claimed “there would be no NATO” without him, despite the fact that his “America First” foreign policies often involved pulling back from U.S. allies, undermining NATO, and threatening to withhold military aide from Ukraine. Nevertheless, Trump attempted to take credit for strengthening NATO and arming Ukraine’s military with advanced weaponry. “I hope everyone is able to remember that it was me, as President of the United States, that got delinquent NATO members to start paying their dues, which amounted to hundreds of billions of dollars,” Trump said in a statement. He added: “Also, it was me that got Ukraine the very effective anti-tank busters (Javelins) when the previous Administration was sending blankets. Let History so note!” (ABC News / The Independent)
4/ Biden declined to invoke executive privilege for former Trump officials Michael Flynn and Peter Navarro to shield them from testifying before the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection. The move will likely force Flynn and Navarro to choose between cooperating with the select committee or face a potential criminal referral from Congress. Navarro says he will take his case all the way to the Supreme Court, while Flynn’s attorney insisted that his client has not asserted executive privilege or refused to appear for a deposition in front of the committee. (Axios / Washington Post)
5/ Biden will give his first State of the Union speech tonight — and he plans to focus on Ukraine, the economy, COVID-19, and more. The speech comes just days after Russia invaded Ukraine and days after Biden nominated the first Black woman to sit on the Supreme Court. Ukrainian president Zelensky urged Biden to deliver a strong and “useful” message about the Russian invasion and to highlight the urgency and implications of the invasion for the Ukrainian people and the rest of the world. Editor’s note: Look for more details about Biden’s first SOTU speech in tomorrow’s update. (ABC News / CNN / CBS News / Wall Street Journal)
poll/ 49% of Americans say the coronavirus pandemic is at least “somewhat under control,” while 15% say it’s “not under control at all.” 58% say they support restrictions aimed at trying to manage the pandemic, while 38% say it’s more important to get rid of the restrictions. (Washington Post-ABC News)
1/ The Biden administration expanded sanctions against Russia, cutting off U.S. transactions with the country’s central bank. The new sanctions effectively prohibit Americans from doing any business with Russia’s central bank as well as freezes its assets within the United States. The new measures also target the National Wealth Fund of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation. (CNBC / CNN)
2/ Russia is facing a financial meltdown as U.S. sanctions eat away at its economy. Putin held crisis talks with his top economic advisers after the ruble crashed to a record low against the U.S. dollar, the Russian central bank more than doubled interest rates to 20%, and the Moscow stock exchange was shuttered for the day in response to crushing Western sanctions imposed over the weekend as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. (CNN)
3/ The U.S. will expel 12 Russian U.N. diplomats, accusing them of “espionage activities,” as Russia continues its attack on Ukraine. The State Department announced the expulsion in the hours after Moscow began its bombardment and invasion of Ukraine. Russia’s Ambassador to the U.N. responded by saying that Mills’ explanation for the expulsions was “not satisfactory.” (CNN)
4/ The California “freedom convoy” that was headed to Washington, DC disbanded after just one day. The convoy was expecting up to 2,000 truckers prior to its departure from Los Angeles on Friday, but it ultimately disbanded and cancelled all associated rallies on Saturday after only five rigs arrived in Las Vegas. (The Independent)
5/ Two Republican members of Congress participated in a white nationalist’s conference — and Mitt Romney called them “morons.” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul A. Gosar attended and spoke at the event. Marjorie Taylor Green later defended attending the conference, which was organized by white nationalist Nick Fuentes, saying she didn’t know he had promoted white-nationalist ideas. (Washington Post)
6/ Trump appealed a ruling that would force him to testify in the New York Attorney General’s probe into his business. Lawyers for Trump and his two oldest children — Ivanka and Don Jr. — filed papers on Monday with the appellate division of the state’s trial court, seeking to overturn Manhattan Judge Arthur Engoron’s Feb. 17 ruling. They argued that ordering the Trumps to testify violates their constitutional rights because their answers could be used in a parallel criminal investigation. (Associated Press)
poll/ 83% of Americans said they favored increased economic sanctions against Russia in response to the invasion, while 17% were opposed. 62% want to see the U.S. do more to stop Russian military action in Ukraine, while 38% say the country has already done enough. (CNN)
1/ Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine along three main fronts, marking the biggest land war in Europe since World War II. In televised remarks, Putin announced the start of a “special military operation” in Ukraine, adding that his goal was to “demilitarize” but not occupy the country. Putin blamed Ukraine for the crisis and reiterated its demands to NATO that Ukraine is never allowed to join the transatlantic defense alliance. Minutes later, Russia began bombing Ukraine by air, land, and sea using 75 heavy and medium bombers and more than 160 missiles of various types. Biden condemned the “premeditated war,” saying “Russia alone is responsible for the death and destruction this attack will bring, and the United States and its Allies and partners will respond in a united and decisive way. The world will hold Russia accountable.” Putin, casting aside international condemnation and sanctions, warned other countries not to interfere, saying “whoever tries to impede us, let alone create threats for our country and its people, must know that the Russian response will be immediate and lead to the consequences you have never seen in history.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared a state of emergency and called on Ukrainians to take up arms in defense. Western intelligence officials, meanwhile, expect Kyiv may fall to Russian forces within hours. The Pentagon ordered approximately 7,000 additional U.S. soldiers to Germany. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / Associated Press / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
2/ Biden condemned “Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified attack on Ukraine,” announcing a second, larger package of “severe sanctions” intended to cripple Russia’s economy, military, and elites. Biden said Putin’s aggression “cannot go unanswered” and in response his administration would cut off Russia’s largest banks and companies from the western financial markets, freeze trillions of dollars in Russian assets, and restrict exports of technology to Russia. “Putin’s aggression in Ukraine will end up costing Russia dearly, economically and strategically,” Biden said. “We will make sure that Putin will be a pariah on the international stage.” The Treasury Department said the sanctions target 80% of all banking assets in Russia. In the U.K., Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the British government would expand its sanctions, freezing the assets of all major Russian banks and locking them out of London’s financial markets. (Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Politico / Bloomberg / CNN)
3/ The United Nations Security Council will vote on a resolution condemning Russia’s invasion and call for an immediate and unconditional withdrawal of its troops. Russia, a permanent member of the council, is expected to veto the resolution. China, meanwhile, has refused to condemn Russia’s actions or characterize the attack as an “invasion,” but instead blamed the U.S. for “hyping” the prospect of war. China could also veto the resolution. (New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / CNBC)
4/ The White House science office will hold a first-of-its-kind event aimed at countering climate change disinformation and climate action delay tactics. The Office of Science and Technology Policy roundtable will bring together a group of 17 climate scientists, social scientists, engineers, and economists to discuss “why there is hesitancy to move ahead with effective action to reduce carbon emissions, to reduce greenhouse gases.” The Biden administration, meanwhile, is delaying new oil and gas leases and permits after a federal judge blocked federal agencies from using higher cost estimates of climate change because it would hike energy costs and hurt state revenues. On his first day in office, Biden restored the climate cost estimate to roughly $51 per ton of carbon dioxide emissions. The Trump administration had cut the number to roughly $7 or less per ton and were limited to the impacts in the U.S., rather than the world. (Washington Post / CNBC)
5/ Three former Minneapolis police officers were found guilty of violating George Floyd’s civil rights by failing to intervene while Derek Chauvin murdered Floyd by pressing his knee on his neck for more than nine minutes. A federal jury determined that Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng, and Thomas Lane had willfully violated Floyd’s civil rights by not providing medical care. Kueng and Thao are also charged with failing to intervene to stop Chauvin. They each face up to life in prison. A separate state trial is scheduled for June against the men on charges of aiding and abetting murder and manslaughter. (NBC News / CBS News / Washington Post / New York Times)
6/ The Florida House republicans approved legislation that bans discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools that are not considered “age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students.” The measure, dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, now moves to the Senate, where a similar piece of legislation is already being debated. Florida Gov. DeSantis has signaled support for the bill, but has stopped short of saying he would sign it if it reached his desk. Biden previously called the bill “hateful,” and vowed to “fight for the protections and safety” of LGBTQ youths. (The Hill / NBC News)
7/ Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered state health agencies to conduct “prompt and thorough” investigations into the use of gender-affirming care for transgender children. Abbott said the standard medical treatments provided to transgender adolescents should be classified as “child abuse” under existing state law, and that
Texas doctors, nurses, teachers, and members of the public have an obligation to report the parents of transgender minors to state authorities if it appears they are undergoing “elective procedures for gender transitioning.” Abbott’s orders stem from a Feb. 18 legal opinion authored by state Attorney General Ken Paxton, which concluded that providing medical treatments like puberty-suppressing drugs and hormones to transgender teenagers could constitute child abuse under several provisions of state law. (NBC News / Politico / New York Times / Washington Post)
8/ Texas is holding its midterm primary using legally disputed congressional maps. The Justice Department and civil rights groups have sued the state, saying Texas’s new congressional maps discriminate against racial and ethnic minorities and doesn’t reflect the past decade’s Latino population growth. The consolidated cases from civil rights groups and the federal government is not scheduled to go to trial until September, meaning the disputed congressional districts will likely be used when Texans elect their representatives in November. (Washington Post)
9/ A North Carolina court rejected the Republican-drawn map of the state’s 14 congressional districts. Instead, the court substituted its own version, which appears to split the districts roughly equally between Republicans and Democrats, with two seats seen as tossups. The rejected Republican-drawn map would have awarded the G.O.P. six seats to the Democrats four, leaving the remaining four as tossups. It’s the second time in less than two weeks that the Republican House map was invalidated as unconstitutionally partisan. (New York Times)
1/ The Pentagon said 80% of the 190,000 Russian troops near Ukraine are now in combat-ready positions, suggesting that an invasion is most likely imminent. “They are literally ready to go now,” a senior defense official said. “It is our assessment that [Putin] is fully prepared to conduct a large-scale invasion,” adding: “That is a likely option.” The Ukrainian government, meanwhile, said it received intelligence that a Russian military offensive, including an attack on the capital, Kyiv, could come as soon as Wednesday night. Ukraine’s parliament voted to declare a state of emergency, and government leaders urged Ukrainian citizens to leave Russia immediately. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
2/ Biden said he would issue economic sanctions on the company building the gas pipeline connecting Russia to Germany. The move comes a day after Germany froze certification of the Kremlin-backed Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “These steps are another piece of our initial tranche of sanctions in response to Russia’s actions in Ukraine. As I have made clear, we will not hesitate to take further steps if Russia continues to escalate,” Biden said in a statement. The move also reverses Biden’s decision last year to waive sanctions against Nord Stream 2 AG, the company that built the $11 billion natural gas pipeline. (CNN / Politico / Axios / Bloomberg / New York Times)
To no one’s surprise, Trump praised Putin’s “genius” decision to declare two regions in Ukraine as independent states and then move Russian armed forces to them. Trump told a conservative podcaster in an interview that Putin had made a “very savvy,” “smart move” Trump added: “We could use that on our southern border.” (The Guardian / NBC News / Washington Post)
3/ Two prosecutors leading the Manhattan District Attorney’s criminal probe into Trump and his business resigned from their positions. The resignation of Carey Dunne and Mark Pomerantz came following a monthlong pause in the presentation of evidence to a grand jury. The Manhattan district attorney’s office also changed hands in January, after the previous DA, Cyrus Vance, opted to not seek re-election. Vance was succeeded by Alvin Bragg, who reportedly has expressed doubts about moving forward with a case against Trump. The grand jury’s term expires in April. Separately, Trump’s longtime finance chief, Allen Weisselberg, asked a judge to throw out tax fraud charges against him, arguing that New York prosecutors targeted him as punishment because he wouldn’t flip on Trump. (New York Times / NBC News / Associated Press / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / CNBC)
4/ Ivanka Trump is negotiating with the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack about voluntarily appearing for an interview. Ivanka’s lawyers have been in talks with the committee since January, when the panel sent her a letter requesting her voluntary testimony. In a Jan. 20 letter to Ivanka, the committee said it had heard from Pence’s national security adviser about Trump’s refusal to condemn the violence, despite White House officials — including Ivanka, at least twice — urging him to do so. Rudy Giuliani, meanwhile, is expected to cooperate with the committee, and potentially reveal his contacts with Republican members of Congress involved in Trump’s effort to prevent certification of Biden’s election victory. (New York Times / CNN / The Guardian / CNBC)
5/ The Justice Department said it’s ending the Trump-era “China Initiative,” a national security program intended to counter China’s intelligence activities in the U.S. Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen said the decision was spurred by a recognition that the initiative’s name and approach fueled a “harmful perception” that the program discriminated against Asian-Americans. While the Justice Department credited the initiative with some major prosecution victories, including against Chinese spies working to steal U.S. technology, the program also targeted professors and researchers – often of Chinese descent – who allegedly didn’t disclose ties to Chinese institutions while applying for federal grants. The department will now pursue a broader effort to counter threats from adversarial nations including China, Russia, and Iran. (Bloomberg / CNN / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
poll/ 26% of Americans say the U.S. should have a major role in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, while 52% say the U.S. should have a minor role. 20% say the U.S. should have no role at all. (Associated Press)
1/ Biden announced “the first tranche” of new sanctions against Russia after Putin ordered troops into two Moscow-backed breakaway regions in Ukraine to carry out what Putin called “peacekeeping functions.” The sanctions, aimed at punishing Russia for “the beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine,” would effectively cut off Russia from Western financing, and target Russian elites and their family in an effort to make sure people close to Putin “share the pain.” Biden condemned Putin’s “bizarre” recognition of two separatist “republics” in eastern Ukraine, warning that Putin is “setting up a rationale to take more territory by force.” Biden also announced that he was moving additional troops and equipment to “strengthen” U.S. allies in the Baltics, but made clear they would not be there to “fight Russia.” (NBC News / Politico / CNN / Bloomberg / New York Times / Axios / Washington Post / CNBC / Wall Street Journal)
2/ Secretary of State Antony Blinken canceled a planned meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, saying “it does not make sense” in light of Russia’s actions in Ukraine. Blinken had agreed to meet with Lavrov only if Russia did not invade Ukraine. “Now that we see the invasion is beginning and Russia has made clear its wholesale rejection of diplomacy,” Blinken said, adding that the U.S. would continue to pursue diplomacy if Russia takes “demonstrable steps to provide the international community with any degree of confidence that it is serious about de-escalating and finding a diplomatic solution.” (CNN / Axios / New York Times / Yahoo News)
3/ The three white men convicted on state charges in Georgia for the murder of Ahmaud Arbery were also found guilty of federal hate crimes. A federal jury has found Travis McMichael, his father, Gregory McMichael, and their neighbor William Bryan guilty of hate crimes and attempted kidnapping when they chased and killed Arbery. The McMichaels were also guilty of one count each of the use of a firearm to commit a crime. All three men had been convicted of state murder charges earlier this year and sentenced to life in prison, with Bryan eligible for parole after 30 years. The three now face up to life in prison for the federal crimes, ensuring that the defendants will receive significant prison time even if their state convictions are overturned or sentences reduced on appeal. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / CNBC / NPR)
📌 Day 100: The Justice Department charged three white men with hate crimes for shooting and killing Ahmaud Arbery. A father and son armed themselves, got into a truck and chased and fatally shot the 25-year-old Black man after spotting him running in their Georgia neighborhood. Travis McMichael and his father, Gregory, and William “Roddie” Bryan where each charged with one count of interference with civil rights and attempted kidnapping. The McMichaels were also charged with using, carrying, and brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence. The Justice Department charged three white men with hate crimes for shooting and killing Ahmaud Arbery.
4/ A federal judge rejected Trump’s claim of “absolute immunity” from lawsuits accusing him of inciting the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, finding that there was evidence to suggest that he engaged in a conspiracy with organized groups to intimidate Congress into overturning the results of the 2020 election. Trump’s statements to his supporters before the riot “is the essence of civil conspiracy,” Judge Amit Mehta wrote in a 112-page ruling. Quoting repeatedly and at length from the Trump’s own public statements, Mehta said Trump’s rally speech “can reasonably be viewed as a call for collective action,” adding that Trump’s Twitter attack on Pence during the violence suggests a “tacit agreement” with those who stormed the Capitol. The three lawsuits against Trump were brought by Democratic House members and police officers seeking damages for physical and emotional injuries they incurred during “the first-ever presidential transfer of power marred by violence.” (Politico / CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / CBS News / CNBC / Bloomberg)
5/ The National Archives confirmed that it found classified information in the 15 boxes of White House records that Trump took to Mar-a-Lago. In a letter to Rep. Carolyn Maloney, U.S. Archivist David Ferriero wrote that officials had “identified items marked as classified national security information within the boxes” at Mar-a-Lago and confirmed that the matter has been sent to the Justice Department. The letter also indicated that the Archives “learned that additional paper records had been torn up by Trump were included in the records transferred,” despite the White House Counsel’s Office saying in 2018 “they would address the matter.” Ferriero added: “Although White House staff during the Trump Administration recovered and taped together some of the torn-up records, a number of other torn-up records that were transferred had not been reconstructed by the White House.” During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump repeatedly railed against Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server as secretary of state, insisting that she should be in jail. The FBI, however, did not recommend charges following an investigation. [Editor’s note: #butheremails] (CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press)
1/ Biden warned that “every indication” is that Putin will carry out an invasion of Ukraine “in the next several days.” Biden, maintaining there was a “diplomatic path” that avoids conflict, said the threat of a Russian invasion was “very high” and that the U.S. and its allies “have reason to believe that they are engaged in a false flag operation to have an excuse to go in.” Biden’s comments came after Ukraine said Russian-backed separatists were responsible for “a big provocation” after artillery shells hit a kindergarten in eastern Ukraine. The separatists accused the Ukrainians of staging the attack – the sort of incident the U.S. has warned Russia might try to use to create “an invented justification for war.” Despite earlier reports that Putin may be pulling some troops back, U.S. officials said they believe Moscow has instead increased its troop presence to some 150,000 along the Ukrainian border – with 7,000 new troops arriving in recent days. Russia, meanwhile, denied that it intends to invade Ukraine, dismissing the reports as “hysteria.” (NBC News / New York Times / Politico / ABC News / Associated Press / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
2/ Trump, Trump Jr., and Ivanka Trump must testify in New York Attorney General Letitia James’s civil probe of the Trump Organization, a state judge ruled. New York judge Arthur Engoron rejected their request to block James’s subpoenas for testimony and related documents, ordering the three to appear for depositions within 21 days. Trump was also ordered to comply with a subpoena for documents and other information within 14 days. James is investigating whether the Trump Organization inflated the valuations of real estate assets to obtain loans and tax benefits. In court filings, James has said her office has “uncovered substantial evidence establishing numerous misrepresentations in Trump’s financial statements provided to banks, insurers, and the Internal Revenue Service.” In February, Trump’s longtime accounting firm ended its relationship with the company and warned that financial statements from 2011 to 2020 “should no longer be relied upon.” Trump’s lawyers indicated that they would appeal the decision. (NBC News / NPR / Associated Press / New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / CNN / CNBC)
NOTABLE: For Trump, a Perilous Exclamation Point to Years of Wealth Inflation. The former president has spent decades inventing facts and figures to suit his needs. Now, dropped by his accountants, he is making new claims. (New York Times)
3/ A House committee urged the General Services Administration to consider terminating the lease of the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., citing Trump’s former accounting firm stating that a decade of the company’s financial statements cannot be relied on as accurate. In their letter to the GSA, the two top Democrats on the House Oversight Committee said the disclosures from Mazars warrant a closer look, pointing to a clause in the lease requiring that any information provided by the leaseholder to a bank “[…] shall be true and correct in all material respects.” Trump’s company, meanwhile, is preparing to sell the hotel lease soon, which is expected to net the Trump Organization a profit of more than $100 million. The House committee last year disclosed that the hotel lost more than $70 million from 2016 to 2020. (CNBC / Washington Post / The Hill)
4/ The Jan. 6 committee reportedly discussed issuing a subpoena for Ivanka Trump. Investigators last month requested Ivanka’s voluntary cooperation, saying she was “in direct contact” with Trump on the day of the riot and that she may have “direct knowledge” of his efforts to pressure Pence to block Congress’ certification of the 2020 election results. The prospect of a subpoena emerged in discussions about what options remained available after she appeared to refuse the request for cooperation. (The Guardian / Business Insider)
1/ Secretary of State Antony Blinken said there’s been “no meaningful pullback” of Russian forces at the Ukrainian border, disputing the Kremlin’s claim that it was withdrawing some troops. Blinken added that Russian troops “remain massed in a very threatening way along Ukraine’s borders. It would be good if they follow through on what they said. But so far, we haven’t seen it.” The NATO secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, agreed with the U.S. assessment, saying that Russia remains capable “of a full-fledged invasion of Ukraine without any warning time.” U.S. analysts estimate that more than 150,000 Russian troops have amassed near the Ukrainian border. (New York Times / Politico)
2/ Biden rejected Trump’s claim that his White House visitor logs were subject to executive privilege, directing the National Archives to the send Trump administration logs to the Jan. 6 committee. In a letter to the National Archives, White House counsel Dana Remus said Biden had determined that executive privilege “is not in the best interests of the United States” and “in light of the urgency” of the committee’s work, the Archives should provide the records to the committee within 15 days. Trump was trying to block the release of the records, which show appointment information about who entered the White House on the day of the insurrection. (New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / NBC News / CNN)
3/ The Jan. 6 committee subpoenaed six more people tied to the plan to use false slates of electors to help Trump stay in office after losing the 2020 election. The committee subpoenaed two of Trump’s campaign aides and Republican Party officials from Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. All six are ordered to provide documents to the committee by March 1, and to submit to questioning from March 8 to March 15. (New York Times / Bloomberg)
4/ The EPA will reinstate California’s authority to adopt its own, stricter tailpipe emission standards. The Biden administration is expected to finalize the waiver within days, which would reverse a Trump-era rollback. In 2019, the Trump administration revoked California’s decades-old waiver that allowed it to set stricter air pollution standards for cars and light trucks than those required by the federal government. Fourteen states and the District of Columbia – representing more than a third of the U.S. vehicle market – follow California standards. (E&E News / Bloomberg / CNN / New York Times)
5/ Trump’s former Interior Department secretary misused his position to advance a development project in his hometown and then lied about it to an ethics official. Inspector General Mark Greenblatt’s report found that Ryan Zinke repeatedly broke federal ethics rules by improperly participating in real estate negotiations, including directing his staff to assist on the project. Despite sending dozens of emails and text messages and meeting with developers in his office at Interior Department, Zinke told an ethics official in 2018 that he had done nothing improper. The Justice Department declined to bring charges. (Washington Post / Associated Press)
6/ The CDC is expected to loosen its indoor masking guidelines as a growing number of states have eased mask mandates following the Omicron wave. Speaking during a White House coronavirus task force briefing, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said the agency was working on guidance that was “relevant” and that it would be based on the level of severe disease and hospitalizations in a given community. “We want to give people a break from things like mask wearing when these metrics are better, and then have the ability to reach for them again should things worsen,” Walensky said. The U.S. reported an average of about 136,000 new daily Covid-19 cases over the last week – down 83% from the record high average set on Jan. 15. About 85,000 people with Covid-19 remain hospitalized nationwide – down from a peak of nearly 160,000 on Jan. 20. Biden, meanwhile, is set to deliver his State of the Union address on March 1 and is expected to lay out a new nationwide strategy to move past the pandemic. (New York Times / ABC News / NBC News / Washington Post / CNBC)
poll/ 49% of voters want states to rescind mask mandates, while 43% say it’s too early. 65% of Democrats think it’s too early for states to rescind mask mandates, compared to 20% of Republicans and 42% of Independents. (Politico)
1/ Biden warned that a Russian invasion of Ukraine “remains distinctly possible” despite Putin’s claim that Moscow had withdrawn some troops from the border and that he was open to renewed talks to end the standoff with the West. Biden said the U.S. has not verified Russia’s claim that it has begun to withdraw troops, saying its forces “remain very much in a threatening position.” NATO added that it had not seen “any de-escalation on the ground” by the Russian military. Earlier in the day, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said he saw reason for “cautious optimism” after Putin said Russia would “partially pull back troops.” Biden vowed to “give the diplomacy every chance” to prevent an invasion, but warned that if Russia does invade the “human” and “strategic” costs would be “immense” and an attack “would be met with overwhelming international condemnation.” Following a meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Putin said Russia would continue pushing for a rollback of NATO’s presence in Eastern Europe and a guarantee that Ukraine would never join the alliance. The U.S. and its allies have rejected those demands, while Scholz suggested that NATO’s expansion was “not on the agenda” as a way of defusing the tensions. (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Politico / NBC News / Associated Press / CNN / CNBC)
2/ NOAA reported that U.S. shorelines are projected to rise by as much as a foot over the next 30 years as climate change accelerates, leading to a “dramatic increase” in exposure to flooding for millions of Americans. “Sea level rise driven by global climate change is a clear and present risk to the United States, now and for the foreseeable future,” the report said. Rick Spinrad, the NOAA administrator, said the U.S. “is expected to experience as much sea level rise in 30 years as we saw over the span of the entire last century,” noting that while “current and future emissions matter,” U.S. coasts will rise “no matter what we do about emissions.” (Politico / Washington Post / NBC News / Associated Press)
3/ Senate Republicans boycotted and delayed a Senate Banking Committee vote on Biden’s five nominees to the Federal Reserve because one of the candidates pledged to focus on the ways climate change threatens financial stability and the economy. In order to prevent Sarah Bloom Raskin’s advancement, Republicans held up the vote on all five nominees, including Fed Chair Jerome Powell for a second term and Governor Lael Brainard to be the Fed’s No. 2. Biden nominated Raskin to serve as vice chairwoman for bank supervision. (Washington Post / Politico / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
4/ The Senate confirmed Dr. Robert Califf as FDA commissioner, which has been without a permanent leader for more than a year. The final vote was 50-46 for Califf, with five Democrats opposing him because of his prior work with the pharmaceutical industry and what they called the FDA’s lax record on opioids. The White House relied on six Republicans to move Califf across the finish line. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNBC)
5/ A 30th House Democrat will not seek re-election in 2022, adding to concerns the party may not be able to keep its majority in the House. Democratic Rep. Kathleen Rice is the latest lawmaker to announce that she won’t seek re-election. In total, 22 House Democrats have announced they will retire and 8 other are seeking another offices, compared with 14 Republicans. (NBC News / Washington Post / CNN / Axios)
poll/ 28% of Democrats said the party didn’t take advantage of having control of the White House and Congress in 2021, while 47% blamed Republicans for derailing their plans, and 25% said the party had accomplished its goals. (The Hill)
1/ The White House said it believes Russia could invade Ukraine at “essentially any time,” and Britain’s prime minister said Europe is “on the edge of a precipice.” Russia, meanwhile, left the door open to further negotiations with Russia’s foreign minister suggesting that talks “are far from being exhausted” but “can’t go on indefinitely.” The Kremlin has continued to press Ukraine to drop its bid to join NATO, and on Monday, Ukraine’s president didn’t rule out the possibility, saying: “Maybe the question of open doors is for us like a dream.” On Sunday, Ukraine’s ambassador to Britain suggested that Ukraine was willing to be “flexible” over its goal to join the alliance in order to avoid war. The U.S., meanwhile, evacuated its diplomats and military advisers from Kyiv and is moving all remaining staffers to a city near the Polish border, citing the “dramatic acceleration in the buildup of Russian forces.” Russian has amassed more than 130,000 troops outside Ukraine – about 60% of its ground combat forces and more than half of its air power. Russia has also moved some long-range artillery and rocket launchers into firing position. The Pentagon ordered 3,000 additional troops to Poland, bringing the total number of troops sent to Europe in the past two weeks to 5,000. (NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post / CBS News / ABC News / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Reuters / Politico / Associated Press / CNBC / CNN)
2/ The Western U.S. and northern Mexico are experiencing their driest period in at least 1,200 years, according to a new study. Scientists using tree ring data analyzed droughts in southwestern North America found that 2000-21 was the driest 22-year period since 800 A.D., which is as far back as the data goes. The last comparable multidecade megadrought occurred in the 1500s. The current drought is 5% drier than the old record. The study also calculated that 42% of the current megadrought can be attributed to human-caused climate change. (NPR / New York Times / Associated Press / CNBC)
3/ Trump’s long-time accounting firm cut ties with the Trump Organization last week, saying the annual financial statements it prepared for Trump from 2011 to 2020 “should not be relied upon.” In a Feb. 9 letter to the Trump Organization, Mazars USA said given what it called “the totality of circumstances,” it could no longer stand behind the financial statements it prepared for Trump. Mazars noted that while they had not “as a whole” found “material discrepancies” between the information the Trump Organization provided and the actual value of Trump’s assets, the statements should no longer be viewed as reliable. Mazars cited a “non-waivable conflict of interest” and that they can no longer do any new work for the company. The financial statements, which Trump used to secure loans, are at the center of two investigations by the Manhattan district attorney’s office and the office of the New York attorney general into whether Trump used the documents to defraud his lenders. (New York Times / NBC News / CNN)
4/ Rudy Giuliani is in discussions with the House Jan. 6 committee about testifying. The committee subpoenaed Giuliani last month for documents and testimony. Rep. Adam Kinzinger said he “fully” expects Giuliani to cooperate, while one person familiar with the matter said Giuliani was negotiating whether to give an informal interview or a formal deposition, as well as how much information he might try to shield from the committee by invoking executive privilege or attorney-client privilege with Trump. (New York Times / NBC News)
5/ The lawyer who helped craft Trump’s false argument that the 2020 election was stolen is attempting to shield more than 10,000 pages of emails from congressional investigators, citing attorney client or attorney work-product privileges. Last month, a judge ordered John Eastman to respond to the Jan. 6 committee’s subpoena of his Chapman University email account, which contains more than 94,000 pages of emails. In a court filing, Eastman said he had reviewed about 46,000 pages and provided about 8,000 to the committee, while holding back more than 10,000 pages he calls privileged material. (Politico / CNN)
poll/ 45% of Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters want the party renominate Biden in 2024, while 51% preferred a different candidate. 50% of Republican and Republican-leaning voters, meanwhile, want their party to nominate Trump again, while 49% want a different candidate. (CNN)
1/ U.S. inflation accelerated to 7.5% in January compared with a year ago – the steepest year-over-year increase since February 1982. It was the eighth straight month that inflation has been above 5% despite claims by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell that inflation would only be “transitory.” On a monthly basis, prices rose 0.6% from December to January. Over the past 12 months, the U.S. economy has added nearly 7 million jobs while average hourly earnings have climbed 5.7%. On an annual basis, however, inflation-adjusted average hourly earnings fell 1.7% in January from a year earlier, marking the 10th straight decline. Biden, meanwhile, said “while today’s report is elevated, forecasters continue to project inflation easing substantially by the end of 2022” and that there are “signs that we will make it through this challenge.” (Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / CNBC / Politico / NBC News / CNN)
2/ Following the inflation report, Joe Manchin assailed the prospect of Biden’s roughly $2 trillion social and climate package, saying Congress should not add “more fuel to an economy already on fire.” Manchin effectively killed the package in December after announcing that he would not support the legislation, citing concerns about inflation and the cost of the bill. “It’s beyond time for the Federal Reserve to tackle this issue head on,” Manchin said. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard, meanwhile, said he supports raising interest rates by a full percentage point by July, calling it a “sensible response to a surprise inflationary shock.” (Bloomberg / The Hill / Business Insider)
3/ White House call records do not reflect the calls made to or from Trump during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. While there is no evidence that any official records were tampered with or deleted, the House committee investigating the attack said they’re finding few records of calls between Trump and lawmakers that have been publicly reported in the hundreds of records from the National Archives turned over after the Supreme Court ruled against Trump’s efforts to block their release. The committee, however, is still waiting for additional records from the National Archives, and from phone companies that have been subpoenaed for the personal cellphone records for more than 100 people, including Eric Trump and Kimberly Guilfoyle. (New York Times / CNN)
4/ Trump reportedly tried to flush documents he had ripped into pieces down the White House toilet, according to White House staff who periodically found Trump’s toilet clogged with paper. Trump, meanwhile, denied that he may have flushed official documents down a White House toilet, calling the allegations “another fake story” that was “categorically untrue and simply made up by a reporter in order to get publicity for a mostly fictitious book.” The details of Trump flushing documents down a White House toilet come from New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman’s forthcoming book, “Confidence Man.” Earlier this month, the National Archives said Trump had ripped up some White House documents while he was in office. The agency also recently asked the Justice Department to investigate Trump’s handling of White House records after finding documents clearly marked as classified, including documents at the “top secret” level, in the boxes that Trump took from the White House when he left office. (Axios / Washington Post / New York Times /Politico / NBC News / Rolling Stone)
5/ The Biden administration will allocate $5 billion over five years to build half a million electric vehicle charging stations – five times the current number. The money, was approved as part of the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package, will fund the creation of a “network of EV charging stations along designated Alternative Fuel Corridors, particularly along the Interstate Highway System.” (Washington Post / CNBC / Reuters / The Verge / Wall Street Journal)
6/ The Senate passed legislation to end the use of forced arbitration to resolve workplace sexual harassment and assault claims. The reform guarantees that victims of workplace sexual harassment or assault are free to pursue lawsuits in court. More than 60 million Americans are subjected to third-party arbitration clauses in employment contracts. The bipartisan legislation was passed unanimously by a voice vote and now heads to Biden’s desk to be signed into law. (CNN / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Politico)
7/ Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene accused Nancy Pelosi of leading the “gazpacho police,” apparently confusing the cold tomato-based soup with the “Gestapo,” the Nazi secret police. During an interview, Greene said Pelosi was using Capitol police as “political pawns” and “sending them into our offices” to “investigate” – referring to a complaint from Rep. Troy Nehls, who claimed that Capitol Police entered his office. Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger, however, clarified that an officer entered Nehls’ office because the door had been “left open and unsecured, without anyone inside” after hours. (Washington Post / NBC News / Bloomberg / The Hill)
poll/ 56% of Americans said they have little or no confidence that American elections reflect the will of the people – up from 52% in September and 40% in January 2021. (CNN)
1/ New York, Massachusetts, and Illinois will ease mask requirements as the Omicron wave recedes, joining New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, Oregon in lifting mandates. New York and Illinois will drop their mask-or-vaccine mandates for indoor businesses, while Massachusetts will end its statewide school mandate. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said it was time to “let counties, cities and businesses to make their own decisions on what they want to do with respect to ‘mask or the vaccination’ requirement,” citing “a new phase in this pandemic.” White House press secretary Jen Psaki, meanwhile, said Americans living in states that have lifted their mask mandates should still follow CDC guidance “because the data is changing. The science is changing.” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky added that despite encouraging trends in coronavirus case rates in several states, the country as a whole is “not there yet.” Instead, Walensky said, “We continue to recommend masking in areas of high and substantial transmission. That’s much of the country right now, in public indoor settings.” The seven-day average of coronavirus cases in the U.S. has decreased by about 44% from the previous week, while hospitalizations have dropped by about 25%, and deaths, which lag behind those indicators, have increased by about 3%. (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / Wall Street Journal / NBC News)
2/ The National Archives asked the Justice Department to investigate Trump’s handling of White House records. The referral came after it was revealed that Trump took 15 boxes of documents to Mar-a-Lago instead of handing them over to the agency, and that Trump had turned over other White House records that had been torn up. Archives officials contacted the Justice Department after suspecting that Trump had possibly violated laws concerning the handling of government documents, including classified ones. The Presidential Records Act requires that presidential records be immediately transferred to the agency when a president leaves office. Meanwhile, former Trump White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman claimed that Trump would sometimes eat torn-up documents, saying that “After Michael Cohen left the office and I walked into the Oval, Donald, in my view, was chewing what he had just torn up.” (Washington Post / Axios / The Independent)
3/ Rudy Giuliani and other Trump legal advisors asked a Michigan prosecutor to hand over the county’s voting machines to the Trump team. James Rossiter, the prosecuting attorney for Antrim County in northern Michigan, said Giuliani and his colleagues made the request during a call after the county initially misreported its election results in favor of Biden. Officials later said that Trump had beaten Biden by more than 3,000 votes in Antrim, which was confirmed by a hand recount of the paper ballots. The call came around Nov. 20, 2020, when Trump’s legal team was searching for evidence to support his false claims that the election had been stolen. (Washington Post / CNBC)
4/ The House Jan. 6 committee subpoenaed Peter Navarro, Trump’s former trade adviser. The committee said it wanted to speak to Navarro because of reports that Navarro may have worked with Stephen Bannon and others to help develop a plan to delay the certification of the 2020 presidential election results. Navarro has previously publicly said that Trump and “more than 100” members of Congress were “on board with the strategy.” (CNN)
5/ The House approved legislation to keep the government funded through mid-March. The Senate plans to approve the plan by a Feb. 18 deadline, temporarily averting a shutdown as lawmakers seek a longer-term agreement on spending for the remainder of the year. (New York Times / CNBC)
6/ The House passed legislation overhauling the Postal Service’s finances and operations. The bill, which passed with bipartisan support, would relieve the mail agency of tens of billions of dollars in liabilities that leaders said prevented it from modernizing and providing efficient service. The bill now heads to the Senate, where it’s also expected to pass bipartisan support. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico)
7/ The White House approved a plan for U.S. troops in Poland to help Americans flee Ukraine if Russia invades. If U.S. troops are needed to support an evacuation, the 82nd Airborne Division would set up checkpoints for medical screening, shelters, and processing areas where Americans fleeing Ukraine could go. U.S. forces are not currently authorized to enter Ukraine if a war breaks out. The effort comes as the Biden administration tried avoid the kind of chaotic withdrawal conducted in Afghanistan last year. (Wall Street Journal / NBC News / CNN)
1/ The House is scheduled to vote on a short-term funding bill to avert a shutdown and keep the federal government funded through March 11 while talks on a broader spending package continue. Funding is currently set to expire on February 18. Once the House passes the stopgap bill, the Senate would need to approve it before it can be sent to Biden to be signed into law. House Appropriations Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro said the stopgap bill is needed to allow time for more negotiations between Republicans and Democrats on a complete $1.5 trillion appropriations package that would keep the government funded at least through September. (Bloomberg / CNN / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / Politico)
2/ The Supreme Court allowed a congressional map drawn by Alabama Republicans to remain in place despite a lower court saying the map violated the Voting Rights Act. A lower court had ordered Alabama Republicans to redraw the map because it resulted in one congressional district with a majority of Black voters even though they make up more than a quarter of the state’s population. “Black voters have less opportunity than other Alabamians to elect candidates of their choice to Congress,” the lower court wrote, ruling that the state had likely violated the federal Voting Rights Act. The Supreme Court’s 5-4 vote, however, means the upcoming elections will be conducted under the current map, drawn by Alabama’s Republican-controlled legislature. Chief Justice John Roberts joined the three liberal justices in dissent, who called the order “a disservice to Black Alabamians” who under Supreme Court precedent “have had their electoral power diminished — in violation of a law this Court once knew to buttress all of American democracy.” (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / CNN / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal)
3/ Mitch McConnell criticized the Republican National Committee for censuring two Republican lawmakers who serve on the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. In remarks at the Capitol, McConnell called the attack a “violent insurrection for the purpose of trying to prevent the peaceful transfer of power.” On Friday, the RNC approved a resolution accusing Rep. Liz Cheney and Rep. Adam Kinzinger of participating in the “persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.” Cheney and Kinzinger are the only GOP members of the House panel. (NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / ABC News)
4/ Biden’s top science adviser resigned after he acknowledged he mistreated demeaned his subordinates. Eric Lander, director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, apologized in an email to his staff after an internal review by the White House found credible evidence that he bullied staff in violation of the White House’s “safe and respectful workplace policy.” Lander is the first member of Biden’s Cabinet to resign. (Politico / New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post)
5/ Biden threatened to “bring an end” to the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline if Russia invades Ukraine. The pipeline, however, isn’t under U.S. control and Biden didn’t explain how he would keep that promise. Meanwhile, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz declined to commit to ending the pipeline if an invasion moves ahead. Although the pipeline between Russia and Germany was finished last September, it hasn’t transported any actual gas yet. (NBC News / Bloomberg / CNN / CNBC / Wall Street Journal)
6/ The IRS suspended its plan to use a private facial-recognition system to authenticate taxpayers’ identities for online access following criticism from privacy advocates and lawmakers over concerns about the collection of biometric data. The agency originally planned to start using the third-party service this summer, called ID.me, which would require all taxpayers to submit a “video selfie” to access their tax records and other services. The IRS said it would “transition away” from the facial recognition service over the coming weeks. (Washington Post / New York Times / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal)
poll/ Fewer than 1 in 5 people in the U.S. say the country is doing “the right amount to combat climate change.” 64% of Democrats and 26% of Republicans say the Biden administration is doing too little to address climate change. (Politico)
1/ Jill Biden said that two years of tuition-free community college – her signature legislative initiative – is “no longer” part of the Build Back Better agenda, telling a group of educators that she is “disappointed” that the provision was dropped because of necessary “compromises.” In October, Joe Biden told lawmakers that community college would likely not be in the bill. Democrats also didn’t include it in the roughly $2 trillion version that passed the House last year. “Congress hasn’t passed the Build Back Better legislation yet. And free community college is no longer part of that package,” the first lady said during an appearance in Washington before the Community College National Legislative Summit. (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
2/ New Jersey and Delaware will no longer require students and school employees to wear masks. New Jersey’s new policy will take effect the second week of March, while Delaware’s indoor mask mandate for public and private K-12 schools and child care facilities will end on March 31. The Democratic governors of New York and Connecticut also said they’re re-evaluating school mask mandates. The White House, meanwhile, said its “advice to every school district is to abide by public health guidelines. It continues to be at this point that the CDC is advising that masks can delay, reduce transmission.” (New York Times / NPR / CNN)
3/ Biden’s top science adviser bullied and demeaned subordinates, and created a hostile work environment, according to a White House investigation. Eric Lander, director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, apologized for his behavior following the two-month investigation, which found “credible evidence” that he created a toxic work environment. While swearing in political appointees on Inauguration Day, Biden pledged to fire anyone who disrespected their colleagues “On the spot. No ifs, ands or buts.” The White House declined to comment when asked whether Biden would seek Lander’s resignation. Lander, however, promised “check-ins” to ensure “that every employee knows how to report conduct that concerns them.” (Politico / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
4/ The North Carolina Supreme Court blocked the state’s new Republican-drawn congressional map, ruling 4-3 that they violate the state constitution. The new map could have given Republicans control of 11 of the state’s 14 districts and would likely have helped Republicans gain at least two seats in the state’s delegation. The state Supreme Court gave the General Assembly until Feb. 18 to submit a new redistricting proposal. (Politico / CNN)
5/ Pence rejected Trump’s claim that he could have “overturned” the results of the 2020 election, saying Trump is “wrong” and that the Republican Party needs accept the outcome. His comments came after Trump called on the Jan. 6 committee to investigate why Pence didn’t “overturned the election,” asserting that Pence had the “right” to do so. Speaking at the Federalist Society Florida Chapters conference, Pence called it “un-American” to suggest one person could have decided the outcome. The Republican Party, meanwhile, declared the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol “legitimate political discourse” in a resolution censuring GOP Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for participating on the House Jan. 6 committee. (CNN / ABC News / New York Times / NPR / NBC News / Washington Post)
6/ The National Archives retrieved 15 boxes of documents from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence that should have been turned over to the agency when he left the White House. The Presidential Records Act requires the preservation of memos, letters, notes, emails, faxes, and other written communications related to a president’s official duties. The documents from Trump’s Florida resort included letters from Kim Jong Un, which Trump once described as “love letters,” as well as a letter from Obama. The Archives said Trump’s representatives are “continuing to search” for additional records. (Washington Post)
1/ The U.S. accused Russia of planning to fabricate a video showing an attack by Ukraine on Russia or Russian-speaking people as a pretext for an invasion. Defense Department press secretary John Kirby said the scheme to stage and film a fabricated attack, which could include “graphic scenes of a staged false explosion with corpses,” would be used to accuse Ukraine of conducting a genocide against Russian-speaking people. A senior Biden administration official said Russian intelligence is intimately involved in the effort, and that Moscow has already recruited people who would be involved in the fake attack. The White House declassified the intelligence to deny Russia the chance to use the video as a reason to mount an invasion. (Washington Post / New York Times / Associated Press / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / ABC News / CNN)
2/ The leader of the Islamic State killed himself during an overnight raid by U.S. Special Operations commandos in Syria. Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi detonated an explosive, killing himself and 12 other people, including his wife and children, as U.S. forces approached with the intention of capturing him. Biden said that the raid serves as a “testament to America’s reach and capability to take out terrorist threats,” calling al-Quaryshi’s decision to detonate an explosive “a final act of desperate cowardice, with no regard to the lives of his own family or others the building.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / Politico / NBC News / USA Today)
3/ Less than three weeks before the Capitol riot, Trump’s allies circulated a memo arguing that he should use the National Security Agency and Defense Department to find evidence of election fraud and foreign interference. The plan, according to the memo, called for Trump to appoint three men to lead an effort to seize and analyze “NSA unprocessed raw signals data,” and then declassify the purported evidence to help Trump win. There is no evidence of widespread fraud or indication that foreign interference helped Biden win. One informal adviser to Trump at the time called the effort “amateur hour.” In a separate memo, authored just over two weeks after Election Day, lawyers working with the Trump campaign laid out the rationale for creating alternate slates of electors as part of an effort to buy time to overturn the results. (Washington Post / New York Times)
4/ Rudy Giuliani was unmasked as a contestant on “The Masked Singer,” prompting hosts Ken Jeong and Robin Thicke to walk out in protest. Giuliani is currently being sued for more than $1.3 billion in damages by Dominion Voting Systems for carrying out “a viral disinformation campaign about Dominion” made up of “demonstrably false” allegations intended to promote the “false preconceived narrative” that the election was stolen from Trump and to enrich himself through legal fees and his podcast. Giuliani is also the subject of a federal investigation into his dealings in Ukraine, including efforts to dig up damaging information on Trump’s political opponents. It’s unclear what costume Giuliani was wearing or what song he was singing and dancing to. (Deadline / Rolling Stone / A.V. Club / Intelligencer)
1/ Biden directed the Pentagon to deploy more than 3,000 American troops to Eastern Europe to reinforce NATO allies as Russia continues its military buildup near Ukraine’s borders. Roughly 2,000 troops will be going to Poland, while another 1,000 already based in Germany will be deployed to Romania. “These forces are not going to fight in Ukraine,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said. “We are making it clear that we’re going to be prepared to defend our NATO allies if it comes to that.” The administration, however, did not rule out sending additional troops to Europe, and still has 8,500 American troops on “high alert” for possible deployment if NATO activates its military response force. (Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / USA Today / CNN / NBC News)
2/ The EPA urged Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to reconsider his plan to spend up to $11.3 billion on as many as 165,000 new mostly gas-powered delivery vehicles, citing the damage the polluting vehicles could inflict on the environment and public health. DeJoy oversaw the agency’s decision to award the contract and signed off on a plan for limiting just 10% of the new trucks to be electric. The new, gas-powered trucks are expected average 8.6 miles per gallon – a 0.4 mpg improvement over the current fleet, which is nearly 30 years old and well below the industry standard for new service vehicles. DeJoy, however, justified the plan, claiming that the Postal Service couldn’t afford to buy more electric vehicles and that the current charging infrastructure was insufficient despite the Postal Service’s own analysis showing that 95% of mail routes could be electrified. Postal Service vehicles make up a third of the government’s fleet. (Washington Post)
3/ Biden relaunched the White House’s “Cancer Moonshot” initiative, which aims to reduce the death rate from the disease by 50% over the next 25 years. Biden called the goal “ambitious but doable,” noting that the death rate has fallen by about 25% in the past 20 years. The initiative promises improvements in prevention, detection, and treatment, but does not contain new money for the effort. In 2016, Congress authorized $1.8 billion for the program, which still has two years of funding left. Biden called on Congress to fund the effort, as well as his 2021 proposal to create a new health research agency, dubbed the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health. (Washington Post / CNN)
4/ A member of the House Jan. 6 committee accused Trump of tampering with witnesses by promising to pardon those involved in the attack if reelected in 2024. “Absolutely,” Rep. Pete Aguilar said when asked if Trump was tampering with witnesses by discussing potential pardons. “And I think the question is more from my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, you know where – where are they? Do they support this? When is enough enough?” Trump has repeatedly promised in recent days to pardon the Capitol rioters if he wins a second term as president. Between Jan. 6 and Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20, 2021, Trump considered issuing a blanket pardon for all participants in the Jan. 6 riot, reportedly making three calls to an adviser to ask: “Do you think I should pardon them? Do you think it’s a good idea? Do you think I have the power to do it?” (CNN / Politico / Talking Points Memo)
5/ A witness during Trump’s first impeachment sued Trump Jr., Rudy Giuliani, and two former Trump White House staffers, alleging that the group conspired to intimidate him from testifying and later retaliated against him. Retired Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman filed a civil lawsuit in federal court, accusing the defendants of engaging in an “intentional, concerted campaign of unlawful intimidation and retaliation” against him for testifying before Congress in 2019. Vindman alleges that the campaign was “designed to inflict maximum damage by creating and spreading disinformation” that would be repeated on Fox News and other right-wing outlets, which “destroyed” his ability to continue his career in national security and led to his retirement from the military. During Trump’s 2019 impeachment trial, Vindman testified about a July call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in which Trump asked Zelensky to investigate Biden’s son Hunter and his ties to Ukrainian businesses. (NPR / CNN / NBC News / Washington Post)
6/ More than 100 far-right candidates are running for political office as Republicans, according to the Anti-Defamation League. At least a dozen candidates reportedly had explicit connections to “white supremacists, anti-government extremists and members of the far-right Proud Boys.” Meanwhile, the eight Republicans seeking re-election who backed Trump’s impeachment or voted to convict him have raised more money than their GOP challengers. (The Guardian / NBC News)
1/ Joe Manchin called Biden’s $2 trillion Build Back Better plan “dead.” When asked about the legislation, Manchin replied: “What Build Back Better bill? It’s dead.” Manchin, however, has said he remains open to a smaller bill aimed at reducing carbon emissions, creating free pre-Kindergarten programs, and increasing federal health care subsidies, but that he hasn’t yet taken part in any negotiations with the White House. In December, Manchin abruptly announced his opposition to the 10-year, roughly $2 trillion social and climate spending package, which had already passed the House. (Associated Press / Bloomberg / NBC News)
2/ At least 4 million people quit or changed jobs in December – down from last month’s all-time high but still near record levels. Job openings totaled nearly 10.9 million in December – more than 4.6 million above the total unemployment level. The White House, meanwhile, warned that Friday’s job report data for last month could overstate the number of unemployed people, saying the January surveys were taken at the height of Covid-19 absences stemming from the holidays. (Washington Post / CNBC / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
3/ The U.S. daily death toll from Covid-19 rose to an average of more than 2,400 fatalities over the previous seven days – up 39% over the past two weeks and the highest level since mid-February last year. The last time U.S. Covid-19 deaths were this high, vaccines weren’t yet widely available. (CNBC / Wall Street Journal)
4/ Pfizer asked the FDA to authorize their Covid-19 vaccine for children ages 6 months to 5 years. The FDA had urged Pfizer to apply for emergency use authorization for their two-dose vaccine now so that young children would be eligible for a booster by the time the results from the three-dose trial are available. In a clinical trial, the two-dose regimen, while safe, failed to produce the expected immunity in 2- to 5-year-olds in a clinical trial, although it did so for the babies up to age 2. Federal regulators, however, believe that two doses should provide enough protection against the Omicron variant. Data on a third shot is not expected to be available until at least late March. The FDA will convene a panel of independent researchers and physicians in mid-February to review the data, potentially making the first vaccine for young children by the end of the month. The Pfizer shots contain one-tenth of the dose given to adults. There are more than 19 million Americans under 5 years old. (CNN / NBC News / Associated Press / New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
5/ Trump was directly involved in plans to use the federal government to seize voting machines after he lost the 2020 election. New accounts show that in one instance, Trump directed Rudy Giuliani to ask the Department of Homeland Security if it could legally take control of voting machines in key swing states. In another instance, Trump asked Attorney General William Barr about the possibility of whether the Justice Department could seize voting machines. Homeland Security’s acting deputy secretary, Ken Cuccinelli, said he didn’t have the authority to seize voting machines, and Barr reportedly immediately shot down the idea. Additionally, Trump’s advisers – retired Col. Phil Waldron and retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn – drafted two versions of an executive order to seize voting machines: one would have directed the Department of Defense to do so and the other the Department of Homeland Security. (New York Times / CNN / HuffPost)
6/ Trump called on the Jan. 6 committee to investigate why Pence did not reject electoral college votes from several states that Biden won. Despite no evidence of widespread fraud that would have changed the election results in any of the states that Biden won, Trump nevertheless suggested that Pence “could have sent the votes back to various legislators for reassessment after so much fraud and irregularities were found.” In the same statement, Trump claimed that the House committee examining the Jan. 6 insurrection was filled with “political hacks, liars, and traitors.” Meanwhile, a second top aide to Pence met with the committee. Greg Jacob’s appearance comes after Pence’s former chief of staff, Marc Short, sat for an interview last week. And, former White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany turned over text messages to the committee. (Washington Post / CNN / ABC News)
7/ Some of the Trump White House documents preserved by the National Archives had been ripped up and then taped back together. Despite the Presidential Records Act, which requires the preservation of documents related to a president’s official duties, Trump was known for tearing presidential records into pieces and tossing them on the floor. The Archives, which has handed over the documents to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection, said “some of the Trump presidential records received by the National Archives and Records Administration included paper records that had been torn up by former President Trump.” Meanwhile, Trump’s political action committee donated $1 million to a nonprofit where his former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, is a senior partner. The donation was made weeks after the House voted to establish a select committee to investigate the Capitol attack. (CNN / Washington Post / NBC News)
8/ New York Attorney General Letitia James subpoenaed the General Services Administration for information about Trump’s D.C. hotel lease. The inquiry seeks information related to Trump’s company’s successful bid to turn a historic D.C. post office into a hotel and whether he inflated his net worth to secure the lease. (Washington Post)
1/ A bipartisan group of governors told Biden that the country needs to “move away from the pandemic.” The daily average of U.S. cases remains near 519,000 – more than double from last winter – while daily deaths are averaging more than 1,000 per day. Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a Republican, said the U.S. should move toward treating the virus as endemic, asking Biden to “help give us clear guidelines on how we can return to a greater state of normality” in order to “move beyond the pandemic.” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat who also attended the meeting, added that “We’re not going to manage this to zero. We have to learn how to live with this.”
White House officials, meanwhile, have reportedly grown so frustrated with Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, saying he “is taking too passive a role in what may be the most defining challenge to the administration.” (CNN / New York Times / Washington Post)
2/ The FDA granted full approval to Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine. Moderna’s vaccine, which was previously available under emergency use authorization, is the second coronavirus vaccine to get full FDA approval. (Washington Post / Politico / New York Times)
3/ Biden’s nominee to lead the FDA doesn’t have the Senate votes needed to give the agency its first commissioner in more than a year. Biden nominated Robert Califf more than two months ago. Califf lead the FDA during the Obama administration, but the former commissioner has reportedly struggled to secure the support of the 50 senators needed over concerns about his past ties to the drug industry and regulatory track record on opioids. Five Democrats have signaled they’ll oppose him, while four Republicans have publicly backed his candidacy. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, meanwhile, indicated that she would support Califf’s nomination after he agreed to not seek employment or compensation from any pharmaceutical or medical device company that he interacts with “for four years” following his time in government. (Politico)
4/ The EPA will resume enforcing limits on the release of mercury from coal-fired power plants. The Trump administration reversed the 2012 Mercury and Air Toxics Standards in May 2020, which were first implemented during the Obama administration, claiming they were not “appropriate and necessary” because they were too burdensome to industry. The EPA, however, determined that it was “appropriate and necessary” to limit mercury and other toxic air pollutants from power plants using the Obama-era method of measuring the impact of regulation, concluding that the costs to industry is offset by public health benefits, such as prevention of disease and premature deaths. The EPA is expected to start enforcing the rule later this year and said it’s also examining whether to make the rules more stringent. (New York Times / CNN / Washington Post)
5/ Trump suggested that he’ll pardon the rioters charged in connection with the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol if he is elected president in 2024. “If I run and I win, we will treat those people from January 6 fairly,” Trump said during a Saturday rally in Conroe, Texas. “We will treat them fairly, and if it requires pardons, we will give them pardons because they are being treated so unfairly.” More than 725 people had been arrested in connection with the attack, with 165 people pleading guilty to various federal charges, and at least 70 receiving sentences or having their cases adjudicated. Five people also died in events related to the attack. It’s unclear, however, whether Trump’s suggestion also included those who asserted their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination in the House Jan. 6 select committee investigation. Separately, Trump released a statement Sunday falsely claiming that a bipartisan group of lawmakers working to reform the Electoral Count Act proves his assertion that Pence had the “right” to overturn the 2020 election. “Actually, what they are saying, is that Mike Pence did have the right to change the outcome, and they now want to take that right away. Unfortunately, he didn’t exercise that power, he could have overturned the Election!” Trump wrote. The White House, meanwhile, said that Trump’s assertion that Pence could have “overturned” the election shows “how unfit” he is to hold office. (Washington Post / CNN / Associated Press / NBC News / Politico / Wall Street Journal / The Hill)
6/ Atlanta’s top prosecutor asked the FBI for security assistance a day after Trump called on his supporters to hold “the biggest protests we’ve ever had” in places where he is being investigated. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is weighing whether to bring election-related criminal charges against Trump for his “attempts to improperly influence the administration of Georgia’s 2020 General Election,” and has convened a special grand jury to hear evidence in the case in May. At a Saturday rally, Trump told supporters that “if these radical, vicious, racist prosecutors do anything wrong or illegal, I hope we are going to have in this country the biggest protests we have ever had, in Washington, D.C., in New York, in Atlanta and elsewhere.” Willis asked the FBI to conduct a risk assessment of the Fulton County Courthouse and Government Center and provide “protective resources to include intelligence and federal agents” following Trump’s “alarming” rhetoric. The Manhattan District Attorney and the New York state Attorney General’s offices are conducting parallel investigations into Trump’s business practices. (Washington Post / CNBC / NBC News / CBS News / Business Insider)
7/ The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol issued subpoenas to 14 people who tried to submit false slates of electors as part of an effort to overturn the 2020 election. The subpoenas went to the secretaries and chairpeople of each group of false electors in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin – all states that Biden won. The panel also subpoenaed Judd Deere, a former White House spokesman with firsthand knowledge of Trump’s behavior before and during the attack on the Capitol. Pence’s former chief of staff, meanwhile, testified before the committee. Marc Short was with Pence at the Capitol during the attack. (CNN / Wall Street Journal / CNBC / ABC News)
1/ The U.S. economy grew 5.7% in 2021 – its fastest pace since 1984, when the country was rebounding from a recession and an era of high inflation. From October to December, GDP increased at a 6.9% annualized pace. Consumer spending also jumped to 7.9%, the most since 1946, but consumer prices reached 7% – the fastest year-over-year inflation since 1982. A record-breaking 6.4 million jobs were also added in 2021. (Washington Post / Associated Press / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Politico / CNBC / Bloomberg / NBC News)
2/ The Biden administration’s coronavirus vaccine mandate for health care workers takes effect in roughly half the U.S. today, and will extend to the rest of the country in coming weeks. The mandate covers about 10 million workers at hospitals and nursing homes that receive Medicare or Medicaid funding. The Supreme Court blocked Biden’s vaccination-or-testing mandate for large employers earlier this month, but upheld a vaccination requirement for health care workers at facilities subsidized by federal funds. These medical facilities will lose funding if they do not comply. (Washington Post / New York Times)
3/ A record 14.5 million Americans signed up for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act for 2022, eclipsing the previous enrollment record by nearly 2 million. “Health care should be a right, not a privilege, for all Americans,” Biden said, crediting the American Rescue Plan that Democrats in Congress passed last year, which increased subsidies and lifted the income cap to allow more people to be eligible for assistance. The enhanced benefits under the $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief package only last through the end of the year unless Congress takes further action. Biden’s proposed Build Back Better plan would extend the subsidies through 2025. Joe Manchin, however, has repeatedly said he opposes “a historic expansion of social programs” like Build Back Better because, he says, they would only feed inflation. (The Hill / NBC News / Washington Post / CBS News)
4/ Biden formally announced the retirement of Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer and reaffirmed his commitment to nominating the first Black woman to the court. “It’s long overdue in my opinion,” Biden said, noting that he would announce his choice by the end of February after reviewing candidates and their records. Republicans, meanwhile, have already preemptively attacked Biden’s unnamed Supreme Court nominee as a “radical liberal.” Senate Democrats need only a simple majority to confirm Biden’s future nominee in the 50-50 Senate. (NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg / Business Insider)
5/ The Biden administration approved more than 3,500 oil and gas drilling permits in its first year – nearly 900 more than the Trump administration. Despite announcing a halt on any new federal oil and gas leasing, the Biden administration set a record for the largest offshore lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico, and the Interior Department plans to auction off oil and gas drilling rights on more than 200,000 acres by the end of March, followed by 1 million acres off the coast of Alaska. In 2021, a federal judge blocked the Biden administration’s temporary suspension of new oil and gas drilling leases on public lands, writing that the authority to suspend oil and gas leasing lies “solely with Congress.” Interior Department appointees, meanwhile, say they were forced to resume leasing because they could be held in contempt if they didn’t follow the judge’s order. (Washington Post)
6/ Russia said there is “little optimism” about the diplomatic efforts by the U.S. and NATO to deescalate tensions along Ukraine’s border. The U.S. said it had offered a “diplomatic path forward” in the standoff with Russia over Ukraine. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, however, said: “We can’t say that they took our concerns into account or showed any readiness to take our concerns into consideration.” Last month, the Kremlin demanded that Ukraine and Georgia be permanently barred from joining NATO while calling on the military alliance to pull back its forces and equipment in Central and Eastern Europe, which the U.S. and NATO rejected. Republican leaders, meanwhile, have been pushing Biden to toughen his stance against Russian aggression, while the the party’s far-right has questioned why the U.S. would support Ukraine at all. (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / Axios / NBC News)
poll/ 43% of Americans said they would support Biden if the 2024 presidential election were held today, while 33% said they’d vote for Trump, 16% said they would choose a different candidate, and 6% said they wouldn’t vote. In a hypothetical race against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, 41% said they would vote for Biden, while 33% would support DeSantis. (The Hill)
poll/ In Georgia, 49% of registered voters said they would support incumbent Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, while 47% said they’d support Democrat Stacey Abrams. In 2018, Abrams lost to Kemp by 1.4 percentage points. (Quinnipiac)
poll/ 34% of Georgia voters approve of the job Biden is doing as president – down from 51% in May. 71% of Georgians believe the nation is on the wrong track. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
1/ Justice Stephen Breyer will retire at the end of the current Supreme Court term. Breyer, at age 83, is the oldest member of the court and one of the three remaining liberal justices. After the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 2020 and the appointment of Justice Amy Coney Barrett by Trump, Breyer’s been under pressure to retire while Democrats control the Senate. Although Biden’s pick will not change the balance of the court, currently split 6-3 between conservative and liberal justices, the new nominee is expected to be a much younger liberal who could serve on the court for decades. The White House, meanwhile, said Biden remains committed to nominating the first Black woman to the Supreme Court. (NBC News / CNN / Politico / New York Times / Washington Post)
2/ Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. offered Russia a “serious diplomatic path forward” to de-escalating military threats against Ukraine. The U.S. and NATO formally responded to Russia’s demands that NATO pull back forces from Eastern Europe and bar Ukraine from ever joining the alliance. Russia also demanded that the U.S. “shall not establish military bases” in the territories of any former Soviet states that are not already members of NATO, or “use their infrastructure for any military activities or develop bilateral military cooperation with them.” The U.S. and NATO previously said those requests would not be accommodated. The response, which U.S. Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan hand-delivered to Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “sets out a serious diplomatic path forward, should Russia choose it,” Blinken said, adding: “The ball is in their court.” (NBC News / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / ABC News / CNBC / Washington Post)
3/ The Biden administration canceled two mining leases in Minnesota that had been granted under the Trump administration. The Interior Department said it found that the leases to extract copper, nickel, and other hardrock minerals near Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness — were improperly renewed under Trump. The Obama Interior Department had blocked the Twin Metals Minnesota’s renewal request in December 2016 over concerns about the ecological and economic impact. (Washington Post / The Hill)
4/ The Federal Reserve said it would “soon” raise interest rates in order to tackle the highest inflation in a generation. Although central bankers left rates unchanged at near-zero — where they have been since March 2020 — Chairman Jerome Powell signaled that the Fed could begin raising interest rates at its next meeting in March and continue multiple times in 2022. “I think there’s quite a bit of room to raise interest rates without threatening the labor market,” Powell said. “This is by many measures a historically tight labor market.” (NBC News / CNN / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNBC / New York Times / Washington Post)
poll/ 46% of Americans believe Biden’s Build Back Better plan could lead to more inflation. 43% also say the bipartisan infrastructure bill will increase inflation. However, 23% self-report that they know a lot about what is in Build Back Better, while 47% say they don’t much at all. (Politico)
1/ The seven-day average of Covid-19 deaths reached 2,188 a day – the highest level since February 2021 and up about 1,000 per day from two months ago. Omicron infections, however, are resulting in fewer hospitalizations than during the Delta wave in the fall. Pfizer, meanwhile, has begun a clinical trial to evaluate a new, Omicron-specific vaccine. (Wall Street Journal / New York Times / NPR)
2/ The Biden administration is withdrawing its Covid-19 vaccination and testing mandate for businesses, following the Supreme Court’s decision to block the requirement. The mandate would have applied to some 80 million people if it had not been struck down by the court, which described the regulation’s approach as “a blunt instrument.” (CNN / New York Times / CNBC)
3/ The White House warned that a Russian invasion of Ukraine is “imminent” and that Biden “may be moving” some troops into Eastern Europe to demonstrate American commitment to its NATO allies. Biden also said that he would consider personally sanctioning Putin if Russian forces invade Ukraine, warning of “enormous consequences” for Russia not only economically and politically but “worldwide.” Moscow, meanwhile, said it had “profound concern” over NATO’s military movements in eastern Europe, accusing the West of “building up tension” in the region. The Kremlin, however, announced military exercises on Ukraine’s border, including fighter jet and ballistic missile exercises. The Biden administration also announced that it was working with gas and crude oil suppliers to secure energy for European allies in the event that Moscow weaponizes energy supplies by cutting off fuel shipments. (CNN / Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg / USA Today / ABC News / CNBC)
4/ Federal prosecutors are reviewing fake Electoral College certifications that declared Trump the winner of states that he lost. The certificates contain the signatures of Trump supporters who falsely claimed to be the rightful electors in Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Nevada, and New Mexico – all states that Biden won. The attorneys general in at least two of the seven states – Michigan and New Mexico – say they have referred investigations to federal prosecutors. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, meanwhile, confirmed that the Justice Department had “received those referrals. Our prosecutors are looking at those and I can’t say anything more on ongoing investigations.” The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol is also focusing on the falsified documents. (CNN / NPR)
5/ A federal judge ordered the Trump attorney who authored memos outlining how Trump could overturn the 2020 election to respond to a subpoena issued by the Jan. 6 select committee. The committee issued its subpoena to John Eastman’s former employer, Chapman University, on Jan. 18. Eastman had previously refused to provide information to the committee when it subpoenaed him directly. Eastman invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination 146 times when he was questioned by the committee last month. (CNN / Politico / Yahoo News)
6/ Biden was caught on a hot mic calling Fox News reporter Peter Doocy “a stupid son of a bitch.” As reporters were shouting questions while exiting the East Room, Doocy shouted: “Do you think inflation is a political liability in the midterms?” Thinking his microphone was turned off, Biden responded: “No, that’s a great asset. More inflation. What a stupid son of a bitch.” Doocy said Biden called him to apologize for the remark. It’s not the first time, however, that Biden was caught swearing on a hot mic. In 2010, a microphone picked up Biden telling Obama that passage of the Affordable Care Act was “a big fucking deal!” By comparison, Trump intentionally and repeatedly lobbed insults at journalists throughout his term, calling a reporter a “disgrace” for asking why he lied to Americans about the severity of Covid-19, and attacking another on live TV who asked what his message would be to Americans who are frightened by the coronavirus pandemic. Trump also threatened to revoke press passes, called CNN’s Jim Acosta “a rude, terrible person,” called April Ryan from American Urban Radio Networks a “loser,” accused CNN reporter Abby Phillip of “ask[ing] a lot of stupid questions,” and called PBS reporter Yamiche Alcindor, a woman of color, a “racist” for asking a question about white nationalists supporting him. (CNN / New York Times / CNBC)
poll/ 41% of Americans approve of Biden’s job performance – down from 44% in September and 59% in April. 21% of Americans say they’re satisfied with the way things are going in the U.S. – 12 points lower than last March (33%) and 15 points lower than in February 2018 (36%). (Pew Research Center)
1/ The Pentagon put 8,500 American troops on “high alert” as NATO and the U.S. prepare for a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine. Biden has also reportedlydiscussed deploying several thousand U.S. troops, as well as warships and aircraft, to NATO allies in Eastern Europe. The options include sending 1,000 to 5,000 troops, with the potential to increase that number tenfold. The British government, meanwhile, warned that the Kremlin was planning to install a pro-Russian leader in Ukraine. And, the State Department ordered the families of all American personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine to leave, citing the “threat of Russian military action.” Russia has amassed more than 100,000 troops and weaponry on Ukraine’s borders. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has warned that there will be “massive consequences” for Russia if it invades Ukraine. (CNN / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press / Washington Post / CBS News)
2/ A draft executive order prepared for Trump would have authorized the secretary of defense to have National Guard troops seize voting machines following the 2020 election, and release an assessment 60 days later – well after Trump was set to leave office on Jan. 20, 2021. Additionally, the draft order – dated Dec. 16, 2020 but never signed by Trump – would have appointed a special counsel “to institute all criminal and civil proceedings as appropriate based on the evidence collected.” The document was titled “Remarks on National Healing” and was part of a trove of documents released by the National Archives to the committee after the Supreme Court ruled against Trump’s claim of executive privilege. (Politico / NBC News)
3/ A Fulton County Superior Court judge granted a request to seat a special grand jury to investigate Trump’s efforts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results. The special grand jury will allow Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to issue subpoenas to compel witnesses to testify and to gather additional evidence. Willis said she expects to decide on whether to bring charges against Trump in the first half of 2022. (CNN / Washington Post)
4/ Former Attorney General William Barr spoke with the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. “To be honest with you, we’ve had conversations with the former attorney general already,” Bennie Thompson said. “We’ve talked to Department of Defense individuals. We are concerned that our military was part of this big lie on promoting that the election was false.” (CNN / CBS News / The Guardian / Politico)
5/ Trump called it “very, very unfair” that the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot asked Ivanka Trump to sit for an interview. “It’s a very unfair situation for my children,” Trump said. “It’s a disgrace, what’s going on […] They’ll go after children.” Michael Cohen, meanwhile, said Trump told him in 2012 that if one of his kids had to go to prison over the family business to “make sure” it was Trump Jr. – not Ivanka. (The Hill / Business Insider)
6/ The Arizona Democratic Party censured Sen. Kyrsten Sinema “as a result of her failure to do whatever it takes to ensure the health of our democracy.” The announcement came days after Sinema voted to maintain the Senate’s filibuster rules, effectively blocking Democrats’ voting legislation. The censure, however, is largely symbolic. (NPR / CBS News / CNN)
7/ A federal judge blocked the Biden administration’s Covid-19 vaccine requirement for federal employees, saying Biden didn’t have the authority to mandate “that all federal employees consent to vaccination against Covid-19 or lose their jobs.” The Justice Department said it was filing an appeal. (USA Today / Wall Street Journal)
8/ The Supreme Court agreed to reconsider race-based affirmative action in college admissions. The justices said they will hear challenges to admissions policies at Harvard and the University of North Carolina that use students’ race when trying to build diverse student bodies. Under the Trump administration, the Justice Department supported the lawsuit, but the Biden-era department switched that position and told the court it should not accept the challenge. (NBC News / CNN / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
poll/ 72% of Americans say the country is headed in the wrong direction; 61% say their family’s income is falling behind the cost of living; 70% agree say America has become so polarized that it can no longer solve the major issues facing the country; and 76% believe there is a threat to democracy and majority rule in this country. (NBC News)
1/ Senate Republicans blocked voting rights legislation for the fifth time and then Democrats failed to unite behind changing the Senate’s filibuster rules to pass it anyway – despite all 50 Democrats supporting the voting rights bill. First, Democrats fell 10 votes short of the 60 needed to break the Republican filibuster. Then, Democrats Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema joined with Republicans in rejecting an effort to reinstate the “talking filibuster,” which would have allowed the elections legislation to pass by a simple majority vote. It is unclear how Democrats will proceed after the twin defeats, though some Republicans have appeared open to reforming the narrower election-related issue about how Congress deals with disputes over presidential election results. Biden, meanwhile, said he was “profoundly disappointed that the United States Senate has failed to stand up for our democracy.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
2/ Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis requested a special grand jury to help investigate Trump and his efforts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results. Willis said the grand jury was needed because a “significant number of witnesses and prospective witnesses have refused to cooperate with the investigation absent a subpoena requiring their testimony.” A grand jury could issue subpoenas compelling them to provide information. Willis said that Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s secretary of state, was among those who had refused to cooperate without a subpoena. In a Jan. 2, 2021, call, Trump pressured Raffensperger to “find” him enough votes to overturn the state’s presidential election results. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution / New York Times / CNBC)
3/ The Supreme Court rejected Trump’s request to block the release of more than 750 pages of his White House records related to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. The court’s order effectively rejected Trump’s claim of executive privilege and paves the way for the release of the material from the National Archives — which Biden has already approved. Congressional investigators have sought the documents, which include speech drafts, call and visitor logs, handwritten notes, and other files, to determine Trump’s actions and mindset in the weeks leading up to the Jan. 6 attack, as well as what he did as his supporters were rioting at the Capitol. Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the House committee investigating the attack, said the committee will make Trump’s White House records public “as soon as we can go through them.” (CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / NPR / Politico / Bloomberg)
4/ The Jan. 6 Committee requested voluntary testimony from Ivanka Trump, saying witnesses have told investigators she was “in direct contact” with Trump on the day of the riot and that she may have “direct knowledge” of Trump’s efforts to pressure Pence to block Congress’ certification of the 2020 election results. “One of the president’s discussions with the vice president occurred by phone on the morning of January 6th,” the committee’s chairman, Bennie Thompson wrote in a letter to Ivanka Trump. “You were present in the Oval Office and observed at least one side of that telephone conversation.” The committee also said it has information that White House aides asked Ivanka aides to get Trump to intervene as his supporters ransacked the Capitol. (NBC News / Politico / New York Times / CNN / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
5/ Former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham told the Jan. 6 Committee that Trump held secret meetings at the White House in the days before the insurrection. Grisham said that only a few staffers knew about Trump’s meetings, which were mostly scheduled by then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. While the former press secretary told the committee she wasn’t sure who Trump met with in the White House residence, she directed the panel to former chief usher Timothy Harleth, who Grisham said would waved participants upstairs to the meetings. Grisham resigned from the White House on Jan. 6, 2021, following the Capitol riot. (The Guardian)
poll/ 56% of Americans disapprove of how Biden is handling his job as president, while 43% approve. In July, 59% of Americans said they approved of Biden’s job performance. 28% of Americans say they want Biden to run for reelection in 2024, including 48% of Democrats. (Associated Press)
poll/ 5% of Americans say Biden’s presidency has been better than expected, while 36% say it has been worse than expected, and 59% say it’s just as expected. The 5% who say Biden’s presidency has been better than expected is the lowest for any president on this question going back to Clinton in 1994. (NBC News)
1/ Senate Democrats are pressing ahead on voting rights despite unified opposition from Joe Manchin, Kyrsten Sinema, and Senate Republicans. A vote on voting rights legislation is expected to happen tonight. Republicans are expected to block the bill, which will prompt Chuck Schumer to then hold a vote to change Senate rules to allow for a “talking filibuster” that only covers the voting package, allowing it to pass by a simple majority in the evenly divided Senate. Manchin and Sinema, however, are expected to oppose the proposed changes. Manchin, meanwhile, admonished Democrats’ effort to change the filibuster rules in order to pass voting rights legislation, calling it “a great misleading of the American people” and a “perilous course” for the nation, while accusing his Democratic colleagues of trying to take the “easy way out” by “break[ing] the rules to change the rules.” (Politico / CNN / CNBC / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / CNN)
2/ Biden conceded that in order to get his Build Back Better agenda passed, Congress will have to “break it up” to get as much of it through as possible. “I’m confident we can get pieces, big chunks of the Build Back Better law signed into law,” Biden said, adding “and come back and fight for the rest later.” Biden pointed to roughly $500 billion in climate change provisions, funding for universal pre-kindergarten, and some financing provisions that he said had “clear” support. “I know that the two people who have opposed on the Democratic side at least, support a number of things that are in there,” Biden said, referring to Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema. (CNBC / CNN / The Hill / NPR)
3/ The U.S. will make 400 million N95 masks available for free at pharmacies and community health centers starting next week. The move, which officials called the “largest deployment of personal protective equipment in U.S. history,” comes days after the CDC updated its mask guidance to recommend that people wear “the most protective mask you can that fits well and that you will wear consistently.” The masks will be sourced from the Strategic National Stockpile, which has more than 750 million masks on hand. (Bloomberg / Washington Post / Associated Press / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / CNN)
4/ New York Attorney General Letitia James accused Trump’s business of repeatedly using “fraudulent or misleading” valuations of its assets to get loans and tax benefits. In a court filing Tuesday, James’s office claimed that the Trump Organization made “misrepresentations to financial institutions,” including the IRS, lenders, and insurers, and that many of the statements were “generally inflated as part of a pattern to suggest that Mr. Trump’s net worth was higher than it otherwise would have appeared.” The filing adds that Trump “was personally involved in reviewing and approving the statements of financial condition before their issuance.” The filing came in response to Trump’s effort to block James from questioning him, Trump Jr., and Ivanka Trump under oath. (New York Times / CNN / Washington Post / NBC News / Associated Press / Axios)
5/ The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol subpoenaed Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, and two other members of Trump’s legal team who pursued and disseminated bogus claims of mass election fraud. “The four individuals we’ve subpoenaed today advanced unsupported theories about election fraud, pushed efforts to overturn the election results, or were in direct contact with the former President about attempts to stop the counting of electoral votes,” Bennie Thompson, Democratic chairman of the panel, said in a statement. The committee also subpoenaed and obtained records of phone numbers associated with Eric Trump and Kimberly Guilfoyle. Separately, the National Archives will release four pages of Trump’s White House records to the Jan. 6 committee despite Trump’s pending request at the Supreme Court to block the handover. (New York Times / CNN / Washington Post / Associated Press / NBC News / NPR)
6/ Declassified drone footage shows that the U.S. military mistakenly killed 10 Afghan civilians — including seven children — last August in a botched strike in Kabul. The 25 minutes of footage show a car on a residential street, with figures moving around a courtyard, and children walking on the street. The Pentagon previously called the Aug. 29 strike “a tragic mistake.” But in November, the Air Force’s inspector general released findings of his investigation into the strike, which found no violations of law and did not recommend any disciplinary action. (New York Times)
7/ Biden said he expects Putin to invade Ukraine. “I’m not so sure he is certain what he is going to do,” Biden said, adding “Do I think he’ll test the West, test the United States and NATO, as significantly as he can? Yes, I think he will.” Asked to clarify whether he was accepting that an invasion is coming, Biden said: “My guess is he will move in. He has to do something.” Biden added that repercussions will “depend” on what Russia does, but warned that Putin has “never seen sanctions like the ones I promised would be imposed if he moves.” (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN)
1/ The Senate started debate on voting rights legislation even though the measure appears all but dead – a day after Democrats failed to meet their symbolic deadline to pass election reform by Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Consideration of the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act kicked off with Chuck Schumer warning “the eyes of the nation will be watching what happens this week in the United States Senate.” Republicans, however, are determined to filibuster the bills. While Democrats plan to vote on changing Senate rules in order to pass the legislation, they lack the votes needed due to opposition from Democratic Sens. Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin, despite both saying they support the bills. Debate is expected to continue into Wednesday or Thursday. Once it ends, the Senate will vote on a motion to end debate and move to a final vote on the bills, which is expected to fall short of the 60 votes needed to overcome a GOP filibuster. Senate Democrats are reportedly leaning toward voting on the revival of the so-called “talking filibuster” – which Sinema and Manchin won’t support either – that would, after lengthy debate, require a simple majority to advance any bill toward final passage. Schumer, however, made clear that the election reform vote and the associated filibuster reform would go forward, regardless if it’s guaranteed fail, saying: “If Republicans choose to continue the filibuster of voting rights legislation, we must consider and vote on the rules changes. Long odds are no excuse for this chamber to avoid this important issue. Again, members of this chamber were elected to debate and to vote. We’re going to vote.” (New York Times / Bloomberg / Politico / NBC News / ABC News / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
2/ Top career officials at the Census Bureau warned of “unprecedented” meddling by Trump’s political appointees in 2020. Officials wanted to address “an unusually high degree of engagement in technical matters” and “direct engagement” by political appointees with Wilbur Ross, who was then the secretary of the Commerce Department, which oversees the bureau. At the time, the Trump administration was pressing the bureau to end the count weeks early so that if Trump lost the election in November, he could still use the census numbers used to redistribute political representation in the House before leaving office. Ross, meanwhile, said he had no recollection of the memo. (New York Times / NPR / CNN)
3/ A fourth Covid-19 vaccine dose may not be sufficient at preventing breakthrough Omicron infections, according to a preliminary study in Israel. The early data suggests that a fourth dose of either the Pfizer or Moderna coronavirus vaccine can bring an increase in antibodies, but the level of antibodies needed to protect against infection from Omicron “is probably too high for the vaccine, even if it’s a good vaccine.” (Bloomberg / Reuters / CNN / New York Times)
4/ The Biden administration’s website to order four free at-home rapid tests per household is now live at covidtests.gov. The tests, however, won’t ship for another seven to 12 days. (CNN / ABC News)
5/ The Biden administration accused Russia of sending a group of saboteurs into eastern Ukraine to execute “an operation designed to look like an attack on them or Russian-speaking people in Ukraine.” The intel suggests that the group might “carry out acts of sabotage against Russia’s own proxy-forces,” providing Putin with a pretext for sending some or all of its 100,000 troops stationed outside of Ukraine over the border. Meanwhile, a bipartisan group of seven U.S. senators arrived in Ukraine to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other top Ukrainian leaders in what they say is a show of commitment to the country as an “increasingly belligerent Russia” has massed troops near portions of the border. (CNN / Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / ABC News / Wall Street Journal)
poll/ 47% of Americans prefer the Republican Party, while 42% prefer the Democratic Party. In the first quarter of 2021, an average of 49% of Americans preferred the Democratic Party, compared to 40% for the Republican Party – a net swing of 14 points. (Gallup)
poll/ 60% of voters age 18-29 prefer the Democratic Party, compared to 36% of young Americans who prefer the Republican Party. 53% of the voting group turned out to vote in the 2020 presidential election. (Axios)
1/ The global average surface temperature in 2021 was the sixth-highest since reliable temperature record-keeping began in 1880 – marking the 45th consecutive year that global surface temperatures were above average. More than two dozen countries set their warmest years ever in 2021, while the U.S. recorded its hottest summer since 1936. July was the hottest month humanity has recorded. 2021 was also the seventh year in a row that global temperatures were more than 1 degree Celsius above the preindustrial average. Overall, 2021 ranked seventh lowest for Northern Hemisphere snow cover, ninth smallest for average Arctic sea ice extent, and 10th highest for number of named tropical storms. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / The Guardian)
2/ Kyrsten Sinema will not support changing the Senate filibuster to pass voting rights legislation under any circumstance. In a Senate floor speech – just before Biden arrived at the Capitol to meet with all 50 Senate Democrats – Sinema said: “While I continue to support these bills, I will not support separate actions that worsen the underlying disease of division infecting our country.” She added: “We must address the disease itself, the disease of division, to protect our democracy, and it cannot be achieved by one party alone.” Sinema’s comments came after the House approved a measure to combine the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act into a single bill. Chuck Schumer has said the Senate would begin debate on the House-passed bill by Monday, the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. It will be the Senate’s fifth attempt to consider voting rights legislation after Republicans used the filibuster four times to prevent the bills from ever reaching the floor. Biden, meanwhile, conceded that “the honest to god answer is I don’t know whether we can get this done.” (Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Bloomberg)
3/ The Supreme Court blocked the Biden administration from enforcing a vaccine-or-testing mandate for large employers. The rule would have applied to nearly 80 million American workers, and OSHA estimated that it would cause 22 million people to get vaccinated, prevent 250,000 hospitalizations, and save over 6,500 lives. The court, however, allowed a separate mandate requiring health care workers at facilities receiving federal money to be vaccinated. (New York Times / Associated Press / NBC News / Washington Post / CNN / CNBC)
4/ Biden directed his staff to purchase an additional 500 million at-home rapid Covid-19 tests – doubling the number of tests the U.S. plans to send to the public free of charge. In addition, the administration will send 120 military medical personnel to six states where hospitals have been “hard-hit.” The U.S. has deployed more than 800 military and emergency personnel since Thanksgiving. More than 14,000 National Guard members have also been activated in 49 states to assist with the response to Covid-19. At least 19 states currently have less than 15% of their ICU beds available, largely due to the rapid spread of the Omicron variant and a shortage of available medical workers. And, calling it a “patriotic duty” to wear a mask, Biden said the administration would share details next week on how it will make “high-quality” masks available free. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / CNBC / Wall Street Journal)
5/ Kevin McCarthy will not cooperate with the Jan. 6 committee, which had asked him to voluntarily provide information about communications surrounding the attack on the Capitol, including details about Trump’s state of mind “before, during and after” the attack. McCarthy previously said he would be willing to discuss a phone conversation he had with Trump as the riot unfolded. “We also must learn about how the President’s plans for January 6th came together, and all the other ways he attempted to alter the results of the election,” committee Chairman Bennie Thompson wrote. “For example, in advance of January 6th, you reportedly explained to Mark Meadows and the former President that objections to the certification of the electoral votes on January 6th ‘was doomed to fail.’” Thompson did not rule out a possible subpoena for McCarthy. (Associated Press / NBC News / CNN / New York Times)
6/ The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol subpoenaed Twitter, Reddit and the parent companies of Facebook and Google for information and records relating to the spread of misinformation and efforts to overturn the 2020 election. The committee had asked for the records last summer, but said it received “inadequate responses” from some of the largest platforms. “We cannot allow our work to be delayed any longer,” the committee’s chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson said in a statement. “Two key questions for the Select Committee are how the spread of misinformation and violent extremism contributed to the violent attack on our democracy, and what steps — if any — social media companies took to prevent their platforms from being breeding grounds to radicalizing people to violence.” (Washington Post / CNBC / The Guardian)
7/ The Republican National Committee threatened to “prohibit” Republican nominees from participating in debates sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates, the nonprofit organization that has hosted them for more than three decades. Republicans have complained in recent years that the commission and how it handles debates is biased against GOP candidates. RNC officials sent a letter to CPD, saying the party plans to vote on changing its rules at their winter meeting in February to require candidates seeking the Republican nomination to sign a pledge to not participate in any debates sponsored by the commission. If the RNC moves forward with the change, it is unclear what that would mean for future debates. (New York Times / Politico / ABC News / NBC News / Washington Post)
1/ The White House will provide 10 million free coronavirus tests a month to U.S. schools to help keep classes in person. The expanded testing initiative comes as the country is seeing an Omicron-driven surge of cases that risks overwhelming the nation’s hospitals. At a Senate hearing, Dr. Janet Woodcock, the acting commissioner of the FDA, warned that the nation needs to ensure police, hospital, and transportation services aren’t disrupted by the wave, saying “It’s hard to process what’s actually happening right now, which is, most people are going to get Covid.” Dr. Anthony Fauci, meanwhile, added that the Omicron variant will infect “just about everybody” regardless of vaccination status, adding that “If you’re vaccinated, and if you’re boosted the chances of your getting sick are very, very low.” (Washington Post / NBC News /Washington Post / New York Times / CNBC / Wall Street Journal)
2/ Inflation increased 7% in 2021 – the fastest pace in 40 years. Consumer price rise exceeded 6% year over year for third straight month. While high, on a month-to-month basis, prices rose 0.5% in December, which was lower than the 0.8% measure in November and 0.9% in October. Biden said that “demonstrates that we are making progress in slowing the rate of price increases,” but conceded that the report “underscores that we still have more work to do, with price increases still too high and squeezing family budgets.” Joe Manchin, meanwhile, called the report “very, very troubling.” Manchin has repeatedly warned “a historic expansion of social programs” like Build Back Better would only feed inflation and has cited high prices as one of the reasons he won’t back the legislation. (New York Times / Politico / Associated Press / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / CNN)
3/ The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol asked House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to voluntarily provide information about his communications with Trump and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. Committee Chair Bennie Thompson said he wanted to hear about discussions McCarthy had with Meadows ahead of the attack, along with McCarthy’s communications with Trump during and after the violence. “It appears that you may also have discussed with President Trump the potential he would face a censure resolution, impeachment, or removal under the 25th Amendment,” Thompson wrote. “It also appears that you may have identified other possible options, including President Trump’s immediate resignation from office.” In particular, the panel said it was interested in a phone call that McCarthy had with Trump during the riot asking Trump to send help, which McCarthy previously described as “very heated.” McCarthy is the third GOP lawmaker the panel has asked to testify. The others, Jim Jordan and Scott Perry, have rejected the committee’s requests to sit for an interview or provide documents. Former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, meanwhile, appeared before the committee virtually. (New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post / Associated Press / Politico / CNN)
4/ The Jan. 6 committee issued subpoenas to two of Trump Jr.’s advisers. In letters to Andy Surabian and Arthur Schwartz, the committee said it had “reason to believe that you communicated with both organizers and speakers at the rally held on the Ellipse.” The panel also issued a subpoena for Ross Worthington, who helped draft Trump’s Jan. 6 speech for the rally at the Ellipse, which preceded the attack on the Capitol. The subpoenas require the three men to provide documents by Jan. 24 and appear for depositions between Jan. 31 and Feb. 2. (CNN / Politico / CBS News)
5/ Trump abruptly ended an interview with NPR after he was pressed on his baseless claims of election fraud and repeated lies that the 2020 election was “rigged.” Trump hung up on “Morning Edition” host Steve Inskeep nine minutes into the scheduled interview after Inskeep pushed back against false election claims, noting “Your own lawyers had no evidence of fraud, they said in court they had no evidence of fraud, and the judges ruled against you every time on the merits.” Inskeep also asked Trump whether he would endorse only Republican candidates in the midterms who are pressing his case that the 2020 contest against Biden was stolen from him. Trump responded: “They are going to do whatever they want to do — whatever they have to do, they’re going to do,” adding that the candidates “that are smart” are going to press his case. Trump then hung up. (Washington Post / New York Times / NPR)
6/ Mitch McConnell called Biden’s speech on changing the filibuster to pass voting rights and elections legislation “profoundly unpresidential,” adding that the speech was a “rant” that was “incoherent, incorrect, and beneath his office,” and “unbecoming of a President of the United States.” In his remarks in Atlanta, Biden backed changing the filibuster to ensure voting rights are protected, framing the issue as one that has historically received bipartisan support and accusing Senate Republicans of lacking the “courage to stand up to a defeated president to protect the right to vote.” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, meanwhile, said the Senate will vote on rule changes to the filibuster by Jan. 17. (NBC News / CNN / Axios)
1/ Biden endorsed “getting rid of the filibuster” in order to pass voting rights legislation. With less than 10 months until the 2022 midterms, Biden said “this is the moment to defend our democracy” and that the repeated obstruction of election reform by Senate Republicans had left Democrats with “no option but to change the Senate rules […] to prevent a minority of senators from blocking action on voting rights.” In his remarks, Biden cited the Jan. 6 insurrection, characterizing the “violent mob” of Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol to try to stop Biden’s electoral college win as an “attempted coup.” He added that the only way to protect the right to vote and ensure election security was to pass the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. “Pass it now,” Biden said. “I am tired of being quiet.” Changing the Senate rules, however, would require the support of all 50 Democrats and the vote of Kamala Harris to break a tie. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, meanwhile, have expressed strong public opposition to changing filibuster rules, and several other Democrats, including Mark Kelly, Jon Tester, and Jeanne Shaheen, haven’t committed to changing the Senate rules to allow elections reform legislation to pass by a simple majority. (NBC News / New York Times / ABC News / Politico / Washington Post / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / CNN)
2/ A record 145,982 people are in U.S. hospitals with Covid-19, passing the record of 142,273 set on Jan. 14, 2021. Overall the seven-day average of new cases stood at more than 714,600 – up 74% from a week ago. The U.S., however, reported 1.34 million cases in a single day on Monday, beating the previous record of 1,044,970 cases, which was set on Jan. 3. The daily average of new deaths was 1,674 – up 6% from a week earlier. (Washington Post / NBC News)
3/ The CDC is considering updating its mask guidance to recommend that people opt for N95 or KN95 masks rather than cloth face coverings. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky previously declined to officially recommend Americans wear N95s regularly. The White House, meanwhile, is weighing whether to offer better, higher quality masks, like KN95 or N95s, to all Americans for free. A senior administration official, however, said the effort would make little difference because “half the country won’t wear any mask.” A half dozen former health policy makers, including members of Biden’s transition team, said the Biden administration needs a reset on its Covid-19 strategy because “trust in the CDC, it feels like we have gone backwards.” (Washington Post / Politico / NBC News)
4/ The Justice Department is forming a new domestic terrorism unit. Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen said the number FBI investigations into domestic terrorism has more than doubled since March 2020. “We have seen a growing threat from those who are motivated by racial animus, as well as those who ascribe to extremist anti-government and anti-authority ideologies,” Olsen added. Republican senators, meanwhile, accused the FBI and the Justice Department of giving more attention to the Jan. 6 insurrection than to the 2020 racial justice protests. (Associated Press / Washington Post / CNN)
5/ Trump asked a federal judge for a preliminary injunction to stop a civil investigation into his business practices by New York Attorney General Letitia James. Trump called James’ investigation into how the Trump Organization valued its real estate holdings a “targeted attack against a political adversary.” James, meanwhile, called the filing a delay tactic and “neither Donald Trump nor the Trump Organization get to dictate if and where they will answer for their actions. Our investigation will continue undeterred because no one is above the law, not even someone with the name Trump.” (ABC News)
6/ House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy threatened to remove some Democratic members from their committee roles if Republicans win control of House in the midterms. McCarthy called out Reps. Eric Swalwell, Ilhan Omar, and Adam Schiff as Democrats he’d remove from their committee assignments in retaliation to Democrats removing Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene from her assignments for social media posts spreading baseless conspiracy theories and encouraging violence against Democrats. (NBC News)
7/ Republican state lawmakers in Florida are planning to pass legislation this year that bans abortions after 15 weeks, except if two doctors agree a fetus is suffering from a fatal abnormality. There are no exceptions for rape or incest. Florida’s current law restricts abortions after 24 weeks. (Politico)
poll/ 55% of Americans believe returning to their normal pre-coronavirus life poses no or little risk to their health – up from 40% in August. 58% of vaccinated Americans consider themselves to be less at risk of contracting the virus compared to 31% who are unvaccinated. 36% of vaccinated Americans, however, have self-reported a “breakthrough case.” (Axios)
1/ More than 5,400 K-12 schools stopped in-person instruction at some point last week due to the coronavirus pandemic. Coronavirus-related shutdowns during the 2021-2022 school year had previously peaked at about 2,800 in November. Meanwhile, classes in Chicago’s school district, the third largest in the country, have been canceled since last Tuesday after 73% of teachers voted to stop reporting to work amid concerns over the rapidly spreading Omicron variant. (Washington Post / New York Times)
2/ The Biden administration will require private health insurers to reimburse people for up to eight over-the-counter Covid-19 tests per month beginning Jan. 15. Under the new policy, Americans will be able to either purchase home testing kits for free under their insurance or submit receipts for the tests for reimbursement, up to the monthly per-person limit. PCR tests and rapid tests ordered or administered by a health provider will continue to be covered by insurance with no limit. (Associated Press / Politico)
3/ Trump, Rudy Giuliani, and Rep. Mo Brooks asked a federal judge to dismiss three lawsuits alleging that they incited the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell, two members of the Capitol Police, and a group of House Democrats have each accused Trump of inciting the insurrection. The suit filed by Swalwell also named Giuliani and Brooks. The suit from 11 House Democrats claimed Trump and Giuliani violated the Ku Klux Klan Act, which prohibits interference in Congress’s constitutional duties. During a hearing on the lawsuits, Trump argued he has “absolute immunity” from liability in the three civil suits and claimed that his speech outside the White House before the riot – urging attendees to “fight like hell” and march to the Capitol “to make your voices heard” – were protected by the First Amendment. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta, however, repeatedly highlighted that Trump’s last words were “‘go to the Capitol,’” but that Trump waited two hours to ask people to stop the violence. “What do I do about the fact the president didn’t denounce the conduct immediately?” Mehta continued: “Isn’t that, from a plausibility standpoint, that the President plausibly agreed with the conduct of the people inside the Capitol that day?” (Washington Post / Politico / CBS News / CNN)
Fox News hosts were more influential in Trump’s White House than previously known. “There were times the president would come down the next morning and say, ‘Well, Sean thinks we should do this,’ or, ‘Judge Jeanine thinks we should do this,’ ” said Grisham, referring to Fox News hosts Sean Hannity and Jeanine Pirro. (Washington Post / Rolling Stone)
4/ Rep. Jim Jordan will not cooperate with the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, calling it an “unprecedented and inappropriate demand.” Jordan – one of the 147 lawmakers who took part in the effort to raise objections to certifying Biden’s victory – declined to comply with the Dec. 22 request to appear before the panel to discuss his communication with Trump on Jan. 6. In November, however, Jordan told the Rules Committee that he had “nothing to hide” regarding the bipartisan committee’s investigation. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / Axios)
5/ The Republican National Committee spent nearly $720,000 in donor money in October and November to pay Trump’s legal bills. In total, the Republican Party spent $3 million between September and November. (ABC News)
6/ The Senate confirmed 41% of Biden’s nominations – the lowest first-year confirmation rate among the last three presidents. 75% of Bush’s first-year nominees were confirmed, while 69% of Obama’s and 57% of Trump’s were approved during their first year in office. 171 of Biden’s 2021 nominations are still awaiting a vote. (CNN)
7/ The past seven years have been the warmest on record “by a clear margin” and 2021 was the fifth-hottest ever, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. The hottest years on record were 2020 and 2016. U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, meanwhile, increased 6.2% in 2021 compared to 2020. Coal burned for electricity increased 17% in 2021 – the first annual increase in coal-fired electricity in the U.S. since 2014. (Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / Reuters / CNN)
1/ Biden condemned Trump and his allies of holding “a dagger at the throat of America,” denouncing “the former president” for promoting a “web of lies” and going to extraordinary lengths to cling to power because he “can’t accept he lost” a free and fair election. Speaking from Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol on the anniversary of that Jan. 6 attack, Biden said “for the first time time in our history, a president not just lost the election, he tried to prevent a peaceful transfer of power as a violent mob breached the Capitol.” Biden charged Trump with waging an “undemocratic” and “un-American” campaign to “pre-emptively sow doubt about the election results,” adding that Trump bears “singular responsibility” for the attack. “You can’t love your country only when you win,” Biden said. “You can’t obey the law only when it’s convenient. You can’t be patriotic when you embrace and enable lies.” (Washington Post / NBC News / NPR / Politico / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNBC / ABC News / CNN)
2/ Republicans accused Democrats of “exploiting” the deadly Jan. 6 attack for political purposes instead of “conducting basic oversight” of Capitol security. Top Republicans, however, were nowhere to be found at the Capitol as Biden and members of Congress commemorated the deadliest attack on the building in centuries. In a statement, Mitch McConnell called Jan. 6 “a dark day for Congress and our country” before accusing Democrats of trying to “exploit this anniversary” to advance voting rights protections that Republicans have repeatedly blocked. (NBC News / New York Times)
3/ Federal judges in D.C. have imposed lighter sentences than prosecutors have sought in 49 out of 74 sentencings held for Capitol riot defendants so far. Of the 701 federal defendants, 174 of defendants have pleaded guilty to storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, and 74 have been sentenced, but nearly all for misdemeanors. Of the 74 people who have been sentenced, fewer than half have received prison time for their actions. (Washington Post / Politico)
4/ The number of children in U.S. hospitals with Covid-19 more than doubled to over 4,000 in less than two weeks. An average of 766 children were admitted to hospitals every day with Covid-19 over the last seven-days. Over the previous seven-days, 383 children were hospitalized on average. The CDC, meanwhile, recommended that children ages 12 to 17 get a Pfizer coronavirus vaccine booster as Omicron infections disrupt schools and workplaces. (Washington Post / CNN)
5/ About 35% of Americans have received a coronavirus booster shot, and about 62% of Americans — about 206 million people — are fully vaccinated. The U.S. is averaging 1.08 million shots in arms per day, but reporting an average of 585,000 cases a day. Hospitalizations, meanwhile, are up 53% in the past two weeks, while deaths are down by 3%. (New York Times)
6/ The U.S. Postal Service asked for a temporary waiver from Biden’s coronavirus vaccine mandate, saying the vaccine-or-test mandate “is likely to result in the loss of many employees — either by employees leaving or being disciplined.” The mandate takes effect Jan. 10, but OSHA officials have said the agency would not issue citations for violations until Feb. 9. The Postal Service asked OSHA to extend the deadline by 120 days and to suspend the Postal Service’s compliance obligations until the Supreme Court rules on the legality of the vaccine requirement. (Washington Post)
7/ A group of Biden’s former health advisers called on the administration to develop a new national Covid-19 strategy centered on the “new normal” of living with the coronavirus indefinitely. In a series of articles in the Journal of the American Medical Association, six of the former health advisors who counseled Biden during the presidential transition called for universal access to low-cost testing; for vaccine mandates to be imposed more broadly; for the development of next-generation Covid-19 vaccines; for a “universal coronavirus vaccine” that would combat all known coronaviruses; for upgrades to public health infrastructure; and to make N95 masks free and readily available to everyone. The authors suggested that the administration needs to accept that Covid-19 is here to stay and to set specific benchmarks that should trigger emergency measures in order to avoid becoming stuck in “a perpetual state of emergency.” Asked about the recommendations, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden’s “ultimate goal continues to be to defeat the virus.” (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Politico)
poll/ 20% of Americans say they’re very confident in the integrity of the election system, 39% say they’re somewhat confident, and 41% say they’re somewhat or not confident at all in the system. (ABC News)
1/ The CDC’s independent vaccine advisory committee recommended booster doses of Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine for 12- to 17-year olds. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky is expected to accept the recommendation and make it official policy later today. The CDC also updated its vaccine guidance, recommending that individuals who received the Pfizer shot get a booster five months after getting their second shot instead of six. The updated guidance means nearly 6 million more people are now eligible for a booster shot. (Washington Post / NBC News / Axios / CNBC)
2/ The CDC will not add a testing requirement to its isolation guidelines for people infected with Covid-19 who want to end their isolation after five days. Last week, the agency shortened the time people should isolate after they test positive from 10 days to five if they’re free of fever and their symptoms have improved – no test required. The CDC also said it is not changing the definition of being fully vaccinated to include booster shots. “Individuals are considered fully vaccinated against Covid-19 if they’ve received their primary series. That definition is not changing,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said. (NPR / NBC News / ABC News)
3/ Coronavirus cases have been reported on all 92 cruise ships sailing with passengers in U.S. waters, according to the CDC. In every case, the CDC has either started an investigation or has investigated and continues to observe the ship. Last week, the CDC warned all travelers, including those who are vaccinated, to avoid cruise ships. (Washington Post)
4/ Trump canceled his planned Jan. 6 news conference to mark the first anniversary of the attack on the Capitol by a mob of his supporters, blaming the media and the bipartisan congressional committee investigating the attack. Instead, Trump promised to “discuss many of those important topics” at a rally he is planning for Jan. 15 in Arizona. Republican senators had said a press conference from Mar-a-Lago wasn’t a “good idea.” (Washington Post / Politico / New York Times)
5/ Trump’s former press secretary will speak to the committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol today. Stephanie Grisham resigned from the White House on Jan. 6 in response to the riot. Separately, Rep. Bennie Thompson, chairman of select committee, wants Pence to voluntarily speak with the panel about what he witnessed on Jan. 6 and the conversations he had with Trump and allies in the days leading up to the attack. The select panel has also issued a subpoena for the phone records of Sebastian Gorka, a pro-Trump commentator and conservative radio talk show host. Gorka, however, is suing the committee and Verizon to block the subpoena for his phone records. (CNN / NBC News / USA Today)
6/ The House panel investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot said it’s “in possession” of dozens of text messages that Fox News host Sean Hannity sent to Mark Meadows and other Trump associates around the time of the attack. In a letter to Hannity, the committee wrote that they were in possession of material that suggested Hannity “had advance knowledge regarding President Trump’s and his legal team’s planning for January 6th,” including a text Hannity sent to Meadows on Jan. 5, saying he was “very worried about the next 48 hours.” According to the committee letter, Hannity texted Meadows on Dec. 31, 2020, saying “We can’t lose the entire WH counsels office,” amid concerns that White House lawyers would quit in protest against plans to challenge the election results. “I do NOT see January 6 happening the way he is being told.” The select committee has asked Hannity to cooperate with its investigation and answer questions about the text messages sent to associates before, during, and after the assault. (Washington Post / Politico / Bloomberg / ABC News / NBC News)
7/ At least 57 people involved with the events of the Jan. 6 insurrection are running for elected office – including some who were arrested on charges related to the Capitol attack. At least 11 people who participated in the Jan. 6 riot were elected to public office in 2020, ranging from state legislature to city council to school board. (Politico)
8/ Attorney General Merrick Garland pledged to hold those responsible for the Jan. 6 riot at “any level” accountable, saying federal authorities would “follow the facts wherever they lead.” Garland’s remarks come as the attorney general faces pressure from lawmakers and others to take more aggressive action and charge those responsible for conspiring to stop Congress from certifying the election of Biden and for encouraging the insurrection that day – including possible action against Trump and his advisers. The Justice Department, meanwhile, has called the inquiry one of the largest in its history with authorities having made more than 700 arrests. More than 225 people have been accused of attacking or interfering with the police; about 275 have been charged with obstructing Congress’s duty to certify the vote; and more than 300 people have been charged with petty crimes, like trespassing and disorderly conduct. (Bloomberg / Washington Post / New York Times / USA Today)
9/ Mitch McConnell signaled that he’s open to reforming the Electoral Count Act – a year after Republicans objected to the certification of Biden’s win ahead of the Jan. 6 insurrection – saying: “It obviously has some flaws. And it is worth, I think, discussing.” Senate Minority Whip John Thune added that said there’s “some interest” among Senate Republicans in reforming the Electoral Count Act, which Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema have also endorsed. Democrats, however, are pursuing more comprehensive election reform and the federalization of elections. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has promised to hold a vote on Senate rules changes by Jan. 17 — Martin Luther King Jr. Day – to bypass Republican obstruction and pass the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act. (Politico / Axios)
10/ Ted Cruz warned that Republicans would likely impeach Biden “whether it’s justified or not” if they retake the House in the midterm elections. In an interview last month, Cruz claimed there are “potentially multiple grounds to consider” for impeaching Biden, including “the utter lawlessness” of his “refusal to enforce the border.” White House press secretary Jen Psaki, meanwhile, said “maybe Senator Cruz can work with us on getting something done on comprehensive immigration reform […] instead of name-calling.” (Washington Post)
11/ More than 40% of Americans lived in a county that experienced a climate-related disaster in 2021. More than 80% of Americans experienced a heat wave. NOAA estimates that the federal disaster declarations cost more than $104 billion. And, 2021 ended as the fifth hottest globally, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service records, which go back to 1979. (Washington Post / Bloomberg)
1/ The U.S. reported more than 1 million new Covid-19 infections – a single-day record for new cases for any country in the world. The seven-day average of cases climbed to 485,363 on Monday, more than doubling in the span of a week. The U.S. is reporting a seven-day average of about 1,200 Covid-19 deaths – well below last year’s holiday season when the January 2021 daily average was above 3,000 – and about 98,000 daily hospitalizations, a figure that’s approaching September’s peak Delta wave levels of about 103,000. The CDC estimates that the Omicron variant now accounts for up to 95% of all U.S. Covid-19 cases – up from 77% in the previous week. (CNBC / NBC News / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
2/ The U.S. doubled its order of Pfizer’s coronavirus antiviral pills, bringing the government’s total order of the drug to 20 million treatment courses. Monthly deliveries of Paxlovid, however, are not expected to ramp up into the millions until April and the combined order is not due to be filled until the end of September. Doctors, meanwhile, say the limited initial supply of the pills means they’re unlikely to alleviate the current strain on hospitals due to the Omicron surge. (Washington Post / New York Times)
3/ A record 4.5 million Americans voluntarily left their jobs in November – up from the 4.2 million who left or changed jobs in October, and surpassing the previous record of 4.4 million in September. The Labor Department also reported that employers posted 10.6 million job openings in November, down from 11.1 million in October but well above pre-pandemic levels. The unemployment rate, meanwhile, has fallen to 4.2%, close to what’s considered full employment. (Politico / CNN / New York Times / Bloomberg / Washington Post)
4/ Joe Manchin told reporters he’s had “no negotiations” with Democrats about reviving Biden’s $1.75 trillion social and climate spending bill. Last month, Manchin said he opposed the House-passed version of the bill, ending his party’s hopes of passing the package before the end of 2021. “I’m really not going to talk about Build Back Better because I think I’ve been very clear on that,” Manchin said outside his office today, adding that he feels “as strongly today” as he did in December about his concerns that the plan could exacerbate high inflation. When asked about possible rule changes to the filibuster, Manchin called it a “heavy lift” and indicated that his “absolute preference” is to do it with Republican support. Chuck Schumer, meanwhile, warned that Manchin will have to vote on Biden’s signature spending bill at some point, saying “I intend to hold a vote in the Senate on BBB and we’ll keep voting until we get a bill passed. The stakes are high for us to find common ground.” (Politico / NBC News / The Hill / Bloomberg / CNBC)
5/ Trump endorsed Hungary’s authoritarian prime minister Viktor Orban for reelection, pledging his “complete support” to the far-right populist who has championed turning Hungary into an “illiberal state.” In his endorsement, Trump called Orban a “strong leader” who has “done a powerful and wonderful job in protecting Hungary, stopping illegal immigration, creating jobs, trade, and should be allowed to continue to do so in the upcoming election.” (New York Times / Politico / Washington Post / Business Insider)
6/ The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol is running out of time as Trump and his allies block or slow down the committee’s subpoenas and document demands. The panel is facing a litany of lawsuits filed by Trump and his allies seeking to run out the clock ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, where Republicans are expected to regain control of the House, which would give them the power to shut down the investigation. Though the committee has interviewed hundreds of witnesses, some of the most important have yet to cooperate with the inquiry at Trump’s direction. “We’re moving as swiftly as I think any congressional committee ever has,” Adam Schiff said. “Some witnesses are far more important than others, and I think that some really important witnesses are attempting to deprive the committee and American people of what they know. There’s still some very significant witnesses and very significant documents we haven’t obtained.” The committee is also waiting on 800 pages of Trump’s official records and communications related to Jan. 6. Whether those records will be turned over is being litigated in the courts, where the U.S. district court and the U.S. appeals court have already ruled that Biden has the final say over which White House documents are subject to executive privilege. Last month, however, Trump asked the Supreme Court to block the release of those records, arguing that the documents are subject to executive privilege Biden, however, has declined to assert privilege on Trump’s behalf. (The Guardian / New York Times / Washington Post)
7/ The Jan. 6 select committee will reportedly ask Fox News Channel host Sean Hannity for his voluntary cooperation with its investigation. Hannity texted then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows during the riot, urging him to get Trump to stop his supporters. (Axios)
poll/ 29% of Republicans say the Jan. 6 attack by Trump supporters was not violent, while 61% say it was very or somewhat violent. Overall, 86% of adults describe the attack on the Capitol as extremely or very violent. (Associated Press)
poll/ 56% of voters disapprove of the job Biden is doing – the worst job approval rating of his presidency. Biden’s approval rating stands at 44%, down from 46% in September and 51% in April. (CNBC)
1/ The U.S. reported a pandemic record 403,385 Covid-19 cases over the past week – about 60% higher than the previous U.S. peak in Jan. 2021. The seven-day PCR test positive rate in the U.S. hit 17% – the highest since April 2020. The number of tests reported by states, however, are running below the 2021 highs, which suggests that cases are significantly undercounted. Hospitalizations and deaths, meanwhile, remain below previous peaks. Dr. Brian Monahan, the attending physician for Congress, warned of an “unprecedented” number of cases among members and staff, saying the seven-day coronavirus positivity rate within the Capitol has gone from less than 1% to greater than 13%, with Omicron making up a majority of those cases. (Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / Politico)
2/ The FDA authorized booster shots of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine for 12- to 15-year-olds. The agency also shortened the timeframe between the second and third shots to at least five months, down from six months. The agency will also allow some immunocompromised children ages 5 to 11 to get a third dose. (NPR / Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / CBS News)
3/ Twitter “permanently suspended” the personal account of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene for “repeated violations” of its Covid-19 misinformation policies. The suspension came after she published a tweet falsely suggesting “extremely high amounts of Covid vaccine deaths.” Facebook, meanwhile, suspended Greene 24 hours for spreading similar misinformation about the coronavirus. (NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / New York Times)
4/ New York Attorney General Letitia James subpoenaed Ivanka Trump and Trump Jr. as part of her civil tax fraud investigation into the Trump Organization. Ivanka and Trump Jr., however, have refused to comply with subpoenas. The attorney general’s office previously subpoenaed Trump for testimony and set a Jan. 7 deadline. Eric Trump was previously subpoenaed and provided testimony in Oct. 2020. (NBC News / ABC News / New York Times / CNN / Bloomberg / Washington Post / Politico)
5/ The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot said it has “firsthand testimony” that Ivanka Trump twice asked Trump to intervene as his supporters stormed the Capitol. Liz Cheney, the vice chair of the committee, said Ivanka “went in at least twice to ask [Trump] to ‘please stop this violence.’” Chairman Bennie Thompson added that the panel has “significant testimony” that the White House “had been told to do something.” Thompson said the panel believes Trump made “several videos” before he released his one-minute clip on social media 187 minutes after the attack began, in which Trump repeated false claims about the election he lost while encouraging the rioters to “Go home. We love you. You’re very special.” The panel has asked the National Archives for the videos that were never shared. (CNN / NBC News)
6/ Chuck Schumer announced that the Senate will vote on changes to the filibuster rules by Jan. 17 if Republicans continue to block voting rights legislation. In a letter to colleagues, Schumer said the Senate “must evolve” and will “debate and consider changes” to the rules by Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Schumer, however, will need buy-in from both Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema to change or eliminate the filibuster. Both have voiced opposition to changing Senate rules along party lines. “Let me be clear: January 6th was a symptom of a broader illness — an effort to delegitimize our election process,” Schumer wrote, “and the Senate must advance systemic democracy reforms to repair our republic or else the events of that day will not be an aberration — they will be the new norm.” (Associated Press / CNN / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / Politico / CNBC)
poll/ 64% of Americans believe U.S. democracy is “in crisis and at risk of failing.” 65% of Americans agree that U.S. democracy is “more at risk” now than it was a year ago. Among Republicans, that number climbs to 80%. (NPR)
poll/ 34% of Americans say violence against the government might be justified – from 23% in 2015 and 16% in 2010. While 62% said violence against the government is never justified, that view is down from 1995 when 95% of respondents said violence was never justified. (Washington Post)
poll/ 72% of Americans believe the people involved in the attack on the Capitol were “threatening democracy,” while 25% believes that the individuals involved were “protecting democracy.” (ABC News)
poll/ 34% of voters say the Republican Party is headed in the right direction – 10 points higher than before the attack on the Capitol. (Morning Consult)
1/ U.S. Covid-19 cases hit their highest level of the pandemic. The U.S. reported 441,278 new Covid-19 cases Tuesday – the highest single-day total – and surpassing the previous daily record by nearly 150,000. The seven-day average of U.S. cases topped 267,000 – more than double the rate in early December – exceeding the previous high mark of about 252,000 average daily cases set on Jan. 11, 2021. Hospitalizations and deaths, meanwhile, have been rising, but remain far below peak levels. The CDC reported that Omicron accounted for 58.6% of all Covid-19 cases in the U.S., while the Delta variant accounted for 41.1% of cases. (Politico / New York Times / NBC News / CNBC / Bloomberg)
2/ The CDC defended its decision to shorten the recommended isolation from 10 to five days for asymptomatic individuals who test positive for Covid-19, saying “we must adapt” as the coronavirus has also “proven its ability to adapt quickly.” The agency said the change in guidance was “motivated by science demonstrating that the majority of SARS-CoV-2 transmission occurs early in the course of illness.” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, however, acknowledged that minimizing disruptions to the economy in part motivated the decision, saying it “really had a lot to do with what we thought people would be able to tolerate […] that people were willing to adhere to.” As part of the updated guidance, the CDC did not recommend that people test negative for Covid-19 before reentering society, which public health experts and union leaders have criticized as reckless because it relies on people’s self-judgment to assess their transmission risk – which could lead to more spread and more Covid-19 cases. Instead, the CDC recommended that those ending their isolation can go back to their regular activities as long as they wear a mask for an additional five days. (Politico / NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / NPR / NBC News)
3/ Biden conceded that his efforts to expand Covid-19 testing capacity is “not enough. It’s clearly not enough,” adding that the long testing lines over the Christmas weekend “shows that we have more work to do.” The Biden administration, however, announced plans to order 500 million at-home test kits, which officials expect the free tests to be available as early as January. During a meeting between state leaders and members of his Covid-19 response team, Biden added: “I wish I had thought about ordering a half a billion [tests] two months ago,” before the recent surge. The FDA, meanwhile, said preliminary research shows some rapid antigen tests may be less sensitive at detecting the Omicron variant – meaning it’s possible the tests could miss an infection, known as a “false negative.” (CNN / CNBC / NBC News / Politico)
4/ The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol – at the request of the Biden administration – agreed to delay or withdraw demands for hundreds of Trump White House records. The White House flagged some of the records for potential national security concerns. The agreement, however, does not prevent the committee from making new requests. The committee, meanwhile, plans to hold public hearings in the new year, followed by an interim report in the summer, and a final report ahead of November’s elections. Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the House select committee investigating the Capitol attack, said the panel will also open an inquiry into Trump’s phone call seeking to stop Biden’s certification from taking place hours before the insurrection and why it took so long for him to call on his supporters to stand down. Thompson said Trump’s delayed response to the Capitol attack – which came 187 minutes after he instructed his supporters to march on the Capitol – could be a factor in deciding whether to make a criminal referral to the Justice Department. (New York Times / Washington Post / The Guardian / CNN / Bloomberg / Washington Post / The Hill)
5/ Biden signed a $768 billion defense policy bill – $24 billion more than he had requested. Aside from increased spending in almost every part of the military, the National Defense Authorization Act contains a 2.7% pay increase for most service members, billions more for weapons procurement than the Pentagon requested, and several changes to the military justice system and how the military handles sexual assault and harassment. (Politico / New York Times / CNN)
6/ Biden confirmed more judges to the federal bench in 2021 than any first-year president since Ronald Reagan. The Senate confirmed 40 of Biden’s judicial nominees, including 11 appellate picks. 78% of his confirmed judges were women and 53% were people of color. (Reuters)
poll/ 52% of Republicans disapprove of the job Mitch McConnell is doing as Senate minority leader. (Business Insider)
1/ Biden announced that pandemic relief for federal student loan borrowers will be extended once again until May 1, 2022. The extension affects about 41 million borrowers, including nearly 27 million who haven’t been paying their monthly bill since early in 2020. (New York Times / NPR / CNN / CNBC / Associated Press)
2/ The FDA issued an emergency use authorization for the first pill for the treatment of mild-to-moderate COVID-19 cases in adults and children ages 12 and older. The Pfizer pill, Paxlovid, is a faster way to treat early COVID-19 infections, though initial supplies will be extremely limited. All of the previously authorized drugs against the disease require an IV or an injection. “The efficacy is high, the side effects are low and it’s oral,” said Dr. Gregory Poland of the Mayo Clinic. “It checks all the boxes.” (Associated Press)
3/ Corporate donations to Sen. Joe Manchin’s PAC surged as he fought against Biden’s agenda. The political action committee received 17 contributions in October and 19 last month, according to a CNBC analysis of Federal Election Commission filings. (CNBC)
4/ The House committee investigating the Capitol riot is seeking information about Rep. Jim Jordan’s contact with Trump on Jan. 6. Committee investigators want to ask Jordan about “possibly multiple communications” he had with Trump on the day of the invasion, according to a letter from committee chair Bennie Thompson. The Ohio Republican has emerged as the top conduit for GOP House members involved in Trump’s efforts to overturn the election. (CNN / CNBC / Washington Post)
5/ A judge rejected a bid by former Trump advisor Michael Flynn to block a subpoena for his Jan. 6 phone records a day after he filed suit. Flynn claimed in federal court in Florida that the subpoena issued to him by the House Jan. 6 committee was too broad and that it punishes him for constitutionally protected speech as a private citizen. The judge, however, left the door open for Flynn to renew his bid if he thinks he can satisfy two issues that the judge cited in denying a restraining order against the committee. (CNBC / CNN / The Guardian / NBC News)
6/ A member of the Proud Boys pleaded guilty for his role in the Capitol riot. Matthew Greene pleaded guilty in federal court to two criminal charges: conspiracy and obstruction of an official proceeding, related to the Capitol siege on Jan. 6, 2021. (NPR)
1/ Biden acknowledged that the Build Back Better bill will not clear Congress this year despite efforts and pledges by Democrats to pass the $1.75 trillion social spending and climate bill before Christmas. “It takes time to finalize these agreements, prepare the legislative changes, and finish all the parliamentary and procedural steps needed to enable a Senate vote,” Biden said after it became clear that his team, so far, has failed to secure Joe Manchin’s vote. Pushing back the Build Back Better bill until next year means that the Dec. 15 child tax credit payments, which have been sent to families for the past six months but expired Wednesday, will be the last ones until the program is renewed. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the administration has “talked to Treasury officials and others about doing double-payments in February as an option,” if the Build Back Better Act passes in January. (Politico / Bloomberg / CNBC / Business Insider / Bloomberg)
2/ The Senate parliamentarian rejected the Democrats plan to include immigration reform in the social spending bill for the third time. Elizabeth MacDonough said provisions to extend work permits and provide temporary deportation protections for some immigrants who have been in the U.S. since before 2011 don’t comply with Senate rules associated with the reconciliation process. A so-called reconciliation bill can’t have provisions that are driven more by policy changes than by changes in the federal budget. Democrats had argued that the work permits and other provisions would have a budgetary impact. (Wall Street Journal / Associated Press / NPR / Politico / Bloomberg)
3/ The Trump administration engaged in “deliberate efforts” to undermine the nation’s response to the coronavirus for political purposes, the House Select subcommittee on the coronavirus said in a report. The committee said the administration repeatedly overruled public health and testing guidance by the nation’s top infectious disease experts, blocked officials from speaking publicly in order to promote Trump’s political agenda, and attempted to interfere with other public health guidance. The subcommittee also found that the Trump White House blocked the CDC from conducting public briefings for more than three months after a top CDC official in late-February 2020 “accurately warned the public about the risks posed by the coronavirus.” (NBC News / CNN)
4/ New York state reported its highest number of new Covid-19 cases in a single day of the entire pandemic. The 21,027 new cases surpassed the previous record of 19,942 set in January, and about 8% of total all Covid-19 tests were positive. Nationwide, hospitalizations have increased by about 3% and deaths rose by about 7% over the past week. (CNBC / Bloomberg / Washington Post)
5/ The Biden administration plans to replace all of the nation’s lead water pipes in the next decade. The Lead Pipe and Paint Action Plan will use $15 billion from the bipartisan infrastructure bill passed last month. Up to 10 million households, schools, and care facilities currently get their drinking water through lead pipes. (CBS News / NBC News)
6/ The FDA permanently lifted major restrictions on access to abortion pills, allowing doctors to prescribe the drugs online and have them mailed to patients or sent to local pharmacies. The drug, mifepristone, is approved for use in combination with another medication, misoprostol, to terminate pregnancies up to 10 weeks. Before the coronavirus pandemic, doctors could prescribe the pills to patients who were able to pick them up in person. In response to Covid-19, however, the Biden administration suspended that requirement, allowing them to be mailed to patients instead. (New York Times / NPR / Politico / Axios)
7/ A Florida man was sentenced to five years in prison for assaulting police officers with a fire extinguisher, a plank, and a long pole during the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol – the longest sentence for a Capitol rioter so far. Robert Palmer had argued that he should get a more lenient sentence because Trump has not been held accountable, which U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan rejected. Roger Stone, meanwhile, asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination to every question asked during his 90-minute deposition with the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot. And, a judge rejected a request from Fox News to dismiss a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems over baseless claims by Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Jeanine Pirro, and their guests that Dominion was using algorithms in voting machines that were created in Venezuela to rig multiple elections for Hugo Chávez, the late president. “Fox possessed countervailing evidence of election fraud from the Department of Justice, election experts, and Dominion at the time it had been making its statements,” Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis wrote. “The fact that, despite this evidence, Fox continued to publish its allegations against Dominion, suggests Fox knew the allegations were probably false.” (NBC News / Politico / CNN / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Washington Post / CNN)
8/ The Republican National Committee agreed to pay up to $1.6 million of Trump’s personal legal bills. The payments are meant to help Trump defend himself in parallel fraud investigations by New York Attorney General Letitia James and Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. At issue is whether the Trump Organization committed fraud by manipulating the value of assets to obtain loans and tax benefits. (Washington Post / New York Times)
Programming Note: As in years past, WTFJHT will publish on a modified holiday schedule to end the year. We’ll be publishing on Wednesday, Dec. 22 and again on Wednesday, Dec. 29 – unless, of course, something truly WTF-y happens. We’ll return to our regularly scheduled programming starting Monday, Jan. 3. WTFJHT supporting members can also expect an end of year member update from me next week on the status of WTFJHT, where we’re going with this thing in 2022, and – most importantly – an update on Baby S. and what he’s eating and doing the days. If you want to get in on the update, become a supporting member today.
Happy holidays and stuff from Matt, Joe, Baby S., and Ramona (the cat).
1/ Talks between Biden and Joe Manchin reportedly soured over the size and scope of the $1.75 trillion climate and social safety net legislation. Manchin continued to push for spending reductions, including eliminating the measure’s expanded child tax credit – a federal program that sends monthly tax credit checks to roughly 35 million families with young children. The final child tax credit payments went out today and the program is set to expire at the end of this year, unless lawmakers reauthorize it as part of the Build Back Better Act. Manchin, however, denied that his resistance to the bill was related to the inclusion of the child tax credits, telling reporters: “I’m not negotiating with any of you all, okay? […] This is bulls—. You’re bulls—. Okay. I’m done, I’m done!” Chuck Schumer, meanwhile, hasn’t said he’ll delay work on the bill, but the unresolved disputes with Manchin make it increasingly likely that Democrats will miss their self-imposed deadline to pass BBB before the end of the year. (Washington Post / Associated Press / Politico / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNBC / NBC News / The Hill)
2/ The House voted to hold Mark Meadows in contempt of Congress over his refusal to cooperate with the committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The former White House chief of staff initially provided numerous documents to the committee before he abruptly stopped cooperating with the panel a day before his scheduled Dec. 8 deposition, claiming executive privilege. The matter now goes to the Justice Department, which will decide whether to pursue criminal charges. Before the vote, lawmakers shared a series of text messages – from Fox News personalities, Trump Jr., and unnamed lawmakers – sent to Meadows as a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol, urging him to get Trump to end the violence. At least half a dozen people, including Rep. Jim Jordan, reached out during the riot to Meadows to get Trump to intervene. (NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times / NPR / ABC News / CNBC)
3/ A federal judge dismissed Trump’s lawsuit seeking to block Congress from obtaining his tax returns. In April 2019, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal first requested six years of Trump’s tax returns to review the effectiveness of the presidential audit program. A federal law gives the chairman of the committee broad authority to request any person’s tax returns. The Treasury Department, however, refused to provide the documents at the time and the Trump Justice Department supported Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s refusal to turn over the tax returns. Trump’s lawyers immediately appealed the decision. Separately, Trump’s longtime accountant testified before a New York grand jury investigating Trump’s financial practices. Donald Bender helped prepare Trump’s taxes and the financial statements used to obtain loans. (NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post)
4/ The Senate approved a $768 billion defense spending bill. Biden is expected to sign the measure, which will increase the Pentagon’s budget by roughly $24 billion more than he requested. (Politico / New York Times)
5/ The House passed legislation to raise the federal debt limit by $2.5 trillion, sending the bill to Biden for his signature. The Treasury Department had set a Wednesday deadline to extend the country’s borrowing authority, saying it was using so-called “extraordinary measures” to delay the threat of a default. The action came a week after party leaders reached a deal to allow a one-time-only change to Senate rules to increase the debt ceiling with a simple majority vote, instead of the 60 votes needed to move most legislation through the Senate. The $2.5 trillion figure punts the threat of a default until after next year’s midterm elections. (NPR / NBC News / New York Times / CBS News)
6/ The CDC warned that the Omicron variant is rapidly spreading in the U.S. and that “everything points to a large wave” coming as soon as January. The CDC detailed a “a triple whammy” scenario where an Omicron wave, coupled with Delta and influenza cases could overwhelm health systems, particularly those with low vaccination rates. While the Delta variant remains the dominant strain in the U.S., accounting for 96% of sequenced cases, the Omicron variant now makes up 3% of all sequenced Covid-19 cases in the U.S. – up from less than 0.1% in early December. Omicron has been detected in 33 U.S. states. In Europe, Omicron is expected to be the dominant variant by mid-January. Based on the available data so far, health officials say booster doses of both the Moderna and Pfizer coronavirus vaccines are likely to offer a substantial increase in protection against the Omicron variant. (Axios / Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg)
poll/ 60% of Americans say they feel “worn out” by how the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted their daily lives, and 45% feel “angry” about it. (Monmouth University)
1/ Joe Manchin signaled concerns about inflation and the cost and structure of the Democrats’ $1.7 trillion climate and social spending bill ahead of a phone call with Biden on the bill. Manchin, objecting to the way the entire bill is constructed, indicated that he’s concerned that the Build Back Better legislation relies on temporary spending that will likely become permanent, which – he says – hides the true costs over 10 years. “Inflation is real, it’s not transitory,” Manchin said. “It’s alarming. It’s going up, not down. And I think that should be something we’re concerned about.” Chuck Schumer, meanwhile, is pressing for the Senate to adopt the bill by Christmas. Manchin, however, hasn’t committed to the timeline. (Politico / The Hill / CNN / Bloomberg / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
2/ The U.S. surpassed 800,000 Covid-19 deaths – more than any other nation. About 600,000 of the 800,000 who have died so far have been 65 or older, and one in 100 older Americans has died from the coronavirus. For people younger than 65, the ratio is closer to 1 in 1,400. The total number of known coronavirus cases in the U.S. has surpassed 50 million. (New York Times / NBC News)
3/ The Supreme Court denied an emergency request to block New York’s coronavirus vaccine mandate for health care workers, doctors, and nurses. The legal challenge was filed by a group of 20 doctors and nurses who argued that the vaccine mandate violated the First Amendment because it allowed for medical objections exemptions but not for people with religious objections. Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Clarence Thomas dissented, with Gorsuch criticizing New York Governor Kathy Hochul for saying in September that unvaccinated people “aren’t listening to God and what God wants” while defending the lack of a religious exemption. (CNBC / CNN / Bloomberg)
4/ Mark Meadows turned over a PowerPoint presentation suggesting that Trump could declare a national security emergency in order to delay the certification of the 2020 election to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. A version of the PowerPoint, which spanned 38 pages and was titled “Election fraud, Foreign Interference and Options for 6 JAN,” was sent to Meadows on Jan. 5, and recommended that Trump declare a national emergency, seize paper ballots, and for all electronic voting to be rendered invalid, citing foreign “control” of electronic voting systems. Phil Waldron, a retired U.S. Army colonel who worked with Trump’s outside lawyers and circulated the proposals to challenge the 2020 election, said that he visited the White House on multiple times after the election, spoke with Meadows “maybe eight to 10 times,” and briefed several members of Congress on the eve of the Jan. 6 riot. Waldron, however, said he did not personally send the document to Trump’s former chief of staff. Meadows also sent an email on Jan. 5 saying the National Guard would be present at the Capitol on Jan. 6 to “protect pro Trump people,” according to a report from the House committee. It’s unclear, however, who Meadows sent the message to. (New York Times / The Guardian / Washington Post / Rolling Stone / NBC News / Politico / CNN)
5/ The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob said it had “no choice” but to advance criminal contempt proceedings against Mark Meadows after he decided to no longer cooperate with their investigation. The committee is scheduled to vote Monday night on holding Meadows in contempt, and the House will likely vote later this week to approve the resolution. Meadows would be the third of Trump’s associates to face criminal prosecution under the Justice Department for defying a subpoena. (Associated Press / CNN / NBC News / Washington Post / CNBC)
6/ Former White House trade adviser Peter Navarro refused to comply with a Congressional subpoena for documents related to the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus. Navarro said Trump ordered him not to turn over documents or share information about the White House coronavirus response, citing a “direct order” to claim executive privilege. The subcommittee gave Navarro until Dec. 15 to sit for a deposition and demanded again that he turn over relevant documents. Navarro served as one of Trump’s pandemic response advisers and warned the White House in a Jan. 2020 memo that the virus could become a “full-blown pandemic.” (Washington Post / CNN / Bloomberg)
1/ The Supreme Court allowed abortion providers in Texas to challenge the new state law that essentially bans abortions after about six weeks. The law – the most restrictive in the country – remains in place while abortion providers challenge the law in federal court. But at the same time, the court limited which state officials could be sued by abortion providers to four licensing officials who are involved with enforcement of SB8. Separately, the court also dismissed a challenge to the law brought by the Justice Department. White House press secretary Jen Psaki, meanwhile, said Biden was “very concerned” about the ruling, which is “a reminder of how much these rights are at risk.” (NPR / CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / NBC News / ABC News / CBS News / USA Today / Associated Press)
2/ A federal appeals court rejected Trump’s effort to stop the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol from obtaining his White House records. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit unanimously denied Trump’s request to block the National Archives from releasing roughly 800 pages of Trump documents, saying Biden’s decision not to invoke executive privilege over the material outweighed Trump’s residual secrecy powers. The court said Congress had a “uniquely vital interest” in studying the events of Jan. 6 and that Biden had made a “carefully reasoned” decision that the documents were in the public interest when he declined to assert executive privilege. “On the record before us, former President Trump has provided no basis for this court to override President Biden’s judgment and the agreement and accommodations worked out between the Political Branches over these documents,” the panel concluded. The court, however, paused its ruling for two weeks so that Trump could seek a Supreme Court intervention. (Associated Press / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / NBC News / Politico / CNN)
3/ The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol issued six new subpoenas to people involved in the planning of the rally that preceded the insurrection. In a statement, the committee said “some of the witnesses we subpoenaed today apparently worked to stage the rallies on January 5th and 6th, and some appeared to have had direct communication with the former president regarding the rally at the Ellipse directly preceding the attack on the U.S. Capitol.” Rep. Bennie Thompson, chairman of the committee, said the panel is seeking information from people involved with the rally’s planning or who witnessed the coordination of these plans. Among those subpoenaed were Max Miller, who was an aide to Trump and is now an Ohio congressional candidate, and Brian Jack, Trump’s former political affairs director. Kevin McCarthy hired Jack in March to direct the House Republicans midterm election efforts. (New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg)
4/ The New York attorney general is seeking to depose Trump early next year as part of her investigation into potential fraud inside the Trump Organization. Letitia James requested that Trump answer questions under oath on Jan. 7 in her New York office about his company’s business practices, including whether the Trump Organization committed tax fraud in the reported the value of certain properties to banks and tax authorities. James’ office is considering whether to file a civil suit against the company. (Washington Post / NBC News)
5/ The FDA authorized Pfizer’s Covid-19 booster shots for 16- and 17-year-olds. Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC, signed off on the move and strongly encouraged all 16- and 17-year-olds who have been vaccinated to get a booster as soon as they are six months past their second shot. Nearly 50 million Americans — about a quarter of those fully vaccinated — have gotten a booster shot. (New York Times / Washington Post)
6/ The Senate Republicans voted to roll back Biden’s vaccine and testing mandate for large employers with the help of two centrist Democrats: Joe Manchin and Jon Tester. The vote, however, is largely symbolic because the House is not expected to take up the measure, and the White House has said Biden will veto it if it reaches his desk. In September, Biden proposed a vaccination-or-testing rule that large private employers must require their workers to be vaccinated against Covid-19 or tested, or face losing their jobs. (NPR / New York Times / NBC News)
7/ Inflation hit a 39-year high in November, rising 6.8% from a year ago and the sixth straight month in which inflation topped 5%. Joe Manchin, meanwhile, said his concerns about inflation outweigh the benefits of Biden’s $1.7 trillion Build Back Better package, which focuses on reducing costs for child care and health care and fighting climate change. A report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office showed that if the temporary benefit programs in the bill were made permanent, the bill would add $3 trillion in deficits over ten years – more than double its 10-year cost. The White House disputed the CBO report, arguing that over the long term, the bill would boost worker productivity and reduce inflation, and that Biden would only support expanding programs if they were fully paid for. Republicans, however, urged Manchin to kill the bill in the 50-50 Senate, pointing to the 6.8% annual gain in the consumer price index. (New York Times / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / CNBC / Politico / Associated Press)
1/ Preliminary laboratory tests suggest that three doses of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine offer significant protection against the Omicron variant. The early data, which has not been peer reviewed or published, found that a third dose increased antibodies 25-fold compared with two doses against Omicron. The lab findings also indicate that the two-dose regimen “may not be sufficient” to protect against infection with Omicron, but may still protect against severe disease. Dr. Anthony Fauci, meanwhile, added that the emerging evidence suggests Omicron may be more transmissible than previous variants but cause less severe illness. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNN / Politico)
2/ A U.S. District Court judge temporarily blocked the Biden administration’s mandate for federal contractors to be vaccinated against Covid-19. Judge Stan Baker of the Southern District of Georgia said Biden likely exceeded his authority under the Procurement Act when he issued the Sept. 9 mandate, which applies to roughly a quarter of the U.S. workforce. The White House originally gave contractors until Dec. 8 to comply but later pushed back the deadline until Jan. 4. Senate Republicans, meanwhile, are expected to invoke and pass the Congressional Review Act to force a vote on a potential repeal of Biden’s employer vaccine mandate. Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin and Jon Tester have said they support the legislation. The bill would still have to pass the House and overcome a presidential veto. Nancy Pelosi, however, has said she does not plan to schedule a vote on the repeal in the House. (Bloomberg / CNBC / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / The Hill)
3/ The House approved legislation to create a one-time pathway for Senate Democrats to unilaterally raise the debt ceiling without Republican support, who have refused to drop their blockade against legislation to raise the borrowing cap long-term in protest of Biden’s economic agenda. The House took the first step to implement the plan by passing the measure 222-212, which allows Democrats to raise the debt ceiling once using a simple majority in the Senate rather than the 60 votes needed for most legislation. At least 10 Republicans in the Senate now need to support that bill in order to set up the process for Democrats to then increase the debt ceiling by a simple majority vote. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned that the debt limit could be reached as soon as Dec. 15, which would lead to a catastrophic and first-ever U.S. default. (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Politico / Bloomberg)
4/ Biden signed an executive order to cut the federal government’s carbon emissions 65% by the end of the decade and carbon neutral by 2050. Biden’s order establishes a “Buy Clean” policy, directing the federal government to use 100% clean electricity by 2030, stop buying gas-powered vehicles and instead create a fleet of electric vehicles by 2035, and upgrade federal buildings to be carbon neutral by 2045. “As the single largest land owner, energy consumer and employer in the nation, the federal government can catalyze private-sector investment and expand the economy and American industry by transforming how we build, buy and manage electricity, vehicles, buildings and other operations to be clean and sustainable,″ the order said. (Washington Post / NBC News / Associated Press / Bloomberg)
5/ The House passed a $768 billion defense policy bill – roughly $24 billion above what Biden had requested. The bill, which sets the policy agenda and authorizes funding, now moves to the Senate, where it’s expected to pass this week. The 2022 National Defense Authorization Act also contains changes to how sexual assault and harassment are prosecuted and handled within the military, and includes a 2.7% pay raise for both military service members and the Defense Department civilian workforce, and provides funding intended to counter China and bolster Ukraine, as well as money for new aircraft and ships. The bill also establishes a “multi-year independent Afghanistan War Commission” to examine the 20-year war. (New York Times / ABC News / CNN)
6/ The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol will move hold Mark Meadows in criminal contempt for refusing to appear for a scheduled deposition. Trump’s former chief of staff, who has turned over thousands of pages of documents, informed the panel that he was no longer willing to sit for a deposition, reversing a cooperation deal he had reached with the panel last week. “The select committee is left with no choice but to advance contempt proceedings and recommend that the body in which Mr. Meadows once served refer him for criminal prosecution,” Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson said wrote Meadows’s lawyer, George Terwilliger III. Meadows also sued Nancy Pelosi and members of the select panel, claiming that he can’t discuss matters that could be covered by executive privilege, which Biden has not asserted on Trump’s behalf. A federal judge, meanwhile, set a tentative July 18 date for Steve Bannon’s contempt of Congress trial. The date splits the difference between requests from prosecutors, who wanted a trial in mid-April, and Bannon’s lawyers, who requested 10 months to prepare. And, Pence’s former chief of staff is reportedly cooperating with the Jan. 6 committee. Marc Short was subpoenaed a few weeks ago. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Wall Street Journal / Axios / Politico / CNBC / New York Times)
1/ The Biden administration announced a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, citing China’s “ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang and other human rights abuses.” American athletes, however, are free to participate in the games. Both Democrats and Republicans in Congress, as well as human rights advocates, have called on the Biden administration to pressure Beijing over abuses against the Uyghur community (which has been declared a genocide both by Biden and the Trump administration), a crackdown on pro-democracy free speech protests in Hong Kong, China’s recent aggression toward Taiwan, pursuit of hypersonic weapons, and its secrecy surrounding the origins of the coronavirus pandemic. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the White House is looking to send a “clear message” that the human rights abuses in China mean there cannot be “business as usual.” (New York Times / Politico / NBC News / Washington Post / Bloomberg / CNN / CNBC)
2/ The Justice Department sued Texas over its plan to redraw congressional and state legislative voting districts, alleging that the Republican-led legislature’s redistricting plans disenfranchise minorities in violation of the Voting Rights Act. Texas’ redistricting plan “denies Black and Latino voters the equal opportunity to participate in the election process,” and was created “with discriminatory intent,” Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta said. The suit claims Texas is “refusing to recognize the State’s growing minority electorate” and asks the court to stop the state from holding elections under the new maps and to redraw Texas’s congressional and state House districts for 2022. The Justice Department previously sued Texas, as well as Georgia, over laws limiting ballot access. (Politico / NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / USA Today / CNBC)
3/ The metadata in a draft letter written by a Trump Justice Department official “indicates some involvement with the White House” in Trump’s failed attempt to overturn the 2020 election. In Dec. 2020, Jeffrey Clark drafted a letter to the Georgia governor and legislative leadership urging them to convene a special session of the legislature to investigate voter fraud claims. The metadata in the file indicates that the White House communications staff may have worked on the draft letter, which encouraged Georgia to appoint new electors who would overturn its election results and swing the presidential election to Trump. Clark had urged then-Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and Acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue to sign the letter, saying: “I think we should get it out as soon as possible.” Rosen and Donoghue, however, refused to send it. Clark was scheduled for a deposition before the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot on Saturday, but it was rescheduled for Dec. 16 because he has a “medical condition that precludes his participation.” Members of select committee, meanwhile, are pushing to rewrite the Electoral Count Act of 1887 – the law that Trump and his allies tried to use to overturn the 2020 election. Proposed reforms include clearer time limits for states to choose electors, limiting what a lawmaker can object to, and clarifying that the vice president’s role in the process is clerical and lacks the authority to unilaterally throw out a state’s votes, which Trump and his allies urged Pence to do. (Rolling Stone)
4/ Sidney Powell raised more than $14 million off of her baseless claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election. Powell is currently being sued for $1.3 billion by Dominion Voting Systems for defamation over her claims that the company rigged the election against Trump. She’s also claimed that “no reasonable person” would believe that her false conspiracies about widespread election fraud were “statements of fact.” (Washington Post)
5/ Devin Nunes resigned from Congress to become CEO of Trump’s media company. The shell company taking Trump’s social media startup public, however, is currently under investigation by two federal regulators. The SEC is investigating the potential merger between Trump Media and Technology Group and the special purpose acquisition company Digital World Acquisition, which may have violated securities rules by failing to disclose discussions it was reportedly having before initially raising nearly $300 million. Nunes, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, will start in January. (CNBC / Politico / CNN / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Politico)
6/ The Omicron variant of the coronavirus has been identified in at least 17 U.S. states since Dec. 1, when the the first case was reported in California. New York City, meanwhile, announced a coronavirus vaccine mandate for all private employers to combat the spread of Omicron. Mayor Bill de Blasio called the mandate a “pre-emptive strike” to slow another wave of cases and help reduce transmission during the winter months. And, since May 2021, people living in counties that voted heavily for Trump in the presidential election are nearly three times as likely to die from Covid-19 as those who live in areas that went for Biden. (Washington Post / New York Times / NPR)
1/ Biden signed legislation to keep the government funded through Feb. 18 after Republicans dropped a threat to force a shutdown over the administration’s vaccine mandates. The House passed the measure 221-212, sending it to the Senate, where a handful of Republican senators threatened to hold up the measure over the Biden administration’s vaccine-or-test mandate on private employers. Senators, however, voted down an amendment on the issue on a 48-to-50 vote, with two Republicans absent. The Senate then voted 69-28 to approve the spending bill. “Funding the government isn’t a great achievement,” Biden said. “It’s a bare minimum of what we need to get done.” Democrats and Republicans will now turn to several must-pass items in the coming weeks, which include increasing the debt limit and passing the annual National Defense Authorization Act. Chuck Schumer has also promised a vote before Christmas on Biden’s roughly $2 trillion Build Back Better legislation. (NPR / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / ABC News / Washington Post / CNBC)
2/ The U.S. added 210,000 jobs to the economy in in November – the smallest gain since December 2020 – while the unemployment rate fell to 4.2% from 4.6% – a new pandemic-era low. Economists had expected more than half a million new jobs in November. So far the U.S. has recovered about 82% of the jobs lost during the pandemic. “Simply put, America, America is back to work,” Biden said. “Because of the extraordinary strides we’ve made, we can look forward to a brighter, happier New Year, in my view.” (CNBC / NBC News / CNN / Politico / NPR / New York Times / CBS News / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / Bloomberg)
3/ New research indicates that the Omicron variant is spreading more than twice as quickly as Delta, which was previously the most contagious form of the coronavirus. Researchers concluded that the Omicron mutation has a “substantial ability to evade immunity from prior infection” and that the variant is at least three times more likely to cause reinfection than previous variants, such as Beta and Delta. In the U.S., Omicron has been detected in five states. The CDC also reported that nearly 2.2 million vaccine doses were administered over a 24-hour period ending Thursday – the largest single-day total since May. Roughly half of those shots were booster doses. The Biden administration, meanwhile, announced that it is sending an additional 9 million Covid-19 vaccine doses to Africa, bringing the total U.S. donation to 100 million vaccines. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNBC)
4/ The Biden administration reinstated the Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” policy, which forced asylum seekers to stay in Mexico while awaiting their immigration hearings. While the Biden administration had tried multiple times to roll back the policy, a federal judge in August ordered the program restored. The administration appealed to the Supreme Court which refused to block the order. Mexico agreed to restart the Migrant Protection Protocols policy, after the Biden administration agreed to address “humanitarian concerns” at the border, such as providing Covid-19 vaccines for migrants, secure shelters in Mexico, transportation to U.S. ports of entry, and access to essentials like health care and work permits in Mexico. Unaccompanied minors and other “particularly vulnerable individuals” will not be included in the program. (New York Times / Politico / CNBC)
5/ The attorney who helped Trump pressure Pence to overturn the 2020 election asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in response to a subpoena from the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. John Eastman joins former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark in asserting the Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination. While Clark appeared before the committee in response to a subpoena for records and testimony on Nov. 5, he refused to answer questions, citing Trump’s claims of executive privilege. The committee then recommended holding Clark in contempt of Congress for failing to cooperate with its inquiry. Clark, however, informed the committee that he “now intends to claim Fifth Amendment protection.” Eastman laid out six steps in a memo that he claimed Pence could take to attempt to overturn the 2020 election results and throw the election to Trump. One of them involved Pence unilaterally rejecting Biden’s victory in a handful of swing states and instead appointing alternate electors to the Electoral College, effectively denying Biden’s victory. (Politico / Washington Post / ABC News / CNN / Business Insider)
6/ At least 11 U.S. State Department employees had their iPhones hacked with spyware developed by the Israel-based NSO Group. The attacks come a month after the U.S. added NSO Group to a federal blacklist amid allegations that its phone-hacking tools had been used by foreign governments to “maliciously target” government officials, activists, human rights workers, journalists, academics, embassy workers, and others. The hacks are the first confirmed cases of NSO surveillance software, known as Pegasus, being used to target American officials. (Reuters / Washington Post)
1/ The Supreme Court appeared likely to uphold a Mississippi law that bans almost all abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. At issue is Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, a 2018 Mississippi law that banned abortions for women roughly two months earlier than current Supreme Court precedent allows. It is the most direct challenge to Roe v. Wade in nearly three decades. Lower courts have blocked the law, ruling that it violated the Supreme Court’s decisions in 1973’s Roe v. Wade, as well as 1992’s Planned Parenthood v. Casey. Those rulings held that women have a fundamental right to an abortion, states cannot ban abortion before the point of fetal viability — roughly between 22 and 24 weeks — and that laws restricting abortion should not pose an “undue burden.” Mississippi, however, appealed the decision to the Supreme Court and asked the justices to reverse all its prior abortion decisions outright and return the abortion question to the states. During arguments, the court’s six-member conservative majority appeared divided about whether to stop at 15 weeks or whether to overrule Roe entirely, allowing states to ban abortions. The court’s liberal justices, meanwhile, said overturning Roe would make the court appear political and that its reputation would be irreparably damaged if it cast aside decades of precedent because of new justices. “It is particularly important to show that what we do in overturning a case is grounded in principle and not social pressure,” Justice Stephen Breyer warned. Justice Sonia Sotomayor added: “Will this institution survive the stench that this creates in the public perception that the Constitution and its reading are just political acts? I don’t see how it’s possible.” Should 50 years of legal precedent be overturned, at least 20 states will immediately make almost all abortions unlawful: a dozen states have trigger laws that would automatically end most abortions and nine more have pre-Roe bans on the books. A decision is not expected until late June or early July. Last month, the justices heard arguments over a Texas law that bans abortion after about six weeks and allows enforcement by private citizens. The court has not yet issued a decision in the Texas case. (NBC News / NPR / New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / CNN / CNBC / Bloomberg)
2/ The first confirmed U.S. case of the coronavirus omicron variant was detected in California. The CDC said the fully vaccinated traveler, who returned to California from South Africa on Nov. 22, has mild Covid-19 symptoms that are improving. Since the new variant was first reported in South Africa last week, it has been identified in at least 24 countries. The World Health Organization has warned that the global risk of the omicron variant is “very high.” Federal judges in Kentucky and Louisiana, meanwhile, blocked the Biden administration from enforcing two mandates requiring millions of Americans to get vaccinated against Covid-19. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
3/ The House Freedom Caucus is urging Mitch McConnell to force a government shutdown in an effort to defund the Biden administration’s vaccine mandates. The House Freedom Caucus suggested that Senate Republicans have “important leverage” and can protest the vaccine mandates because Democrats need Republican votes to advance the spending measure by Friday night, when current funding for the government expires. Under Biden’s mandate, businesses that employ more than 100 workers must require vaccines or tested weekly. Entering the week, lawmakers had aimed to pass a spending bill that would finance the government at least into late Jan., but congressional leaders currently do not have an agreement on a stopgap resolution to keep the government open past Friday. (Politico / NBC News / CNN / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
4/ Trump tested positive for the coronavirus three days before his first debate against Biden in 2020, according to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and another former administration official. Trump’s positive test was on Sept. 26, 2020, the presidential debate was Sept. 29, and he was hospitalized for Covid-19 at Walter Reed National Medical Center on Oct. 2. The White House did not announce the positive test publicly or tell debate organizers at the time. Shortly after testing positive, Trump received a negative result from a different test and went ahead with a campaign rally and the debate. The administration first told the public on Oct. 2 that Trump had tested positive – several hours before he was hospitalized later that day. The White House at the time repeatedly declined to give a precise timeline of when Trump first received a positive coronavirus test result. Trump, meanwhile, called the report that he tested positive for Covid days before his first presidential debate “Fake News.” (The Guardian / Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News)
5/ Mark Meadows agreed to cooperate with the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Trump’s former White House chief of staff agreed to provide requested documents and sit for a deposition. Meadows initially refused to cooperate with the committee because of Trump’s claims of executive privilege, which has been waived by Biden. Meadows’s cooperation deal, however, comes a day after the committee announced that it will move to hold Jeffrey Clark in criminal contempt for not complying with its subpoena. Trump reportedly made several calls from the White House to top lieutenants at the Willard Hotel hours before the attack on the Capitol about how to delay Biden’s certification from taking place. Trump’s calls about stopping Biden’s certification have increasingly become a central focus in the committee’s investigation. (CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / NPR / ABC News)
poll/ 52% of 18-to-29-year-olds believe that American democracy is either “in trouble,” or “failing,” while 7% view the U.S. as a “healthy democracy.” 46% of young Republicans, meanwhile, place the chances of a second civil war at 50% or higher, compared to 32% of Democrats, and 38% of independents. (Harvard Youth Poll)
1/ Biden called the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus “a cause for concern, not a cause for panic,” urging Americans to get vaccinated, obtain booster shots, and to wear masks in indoor public places. Biden added that he didn’t believe there would be a need for lockdowns, saying “We’re throwing everything we have at this virus, tracking it from every angle; I’m sparing no effort, removing all roadblocks to keep the American people safe.” While administration officials believe the current vaccines likely provide protection against the new variant, it’ll be a few weeks until scientists know how effective they are against Omicron. Drugmakers, however, cautioned that existing vaccines could be less effective and the CDC now recommends that all adults “should” get a booster shot. The new Covid-19 variant has been detected in more than a dozen countries, though not yet in the U.S. Biden, meanwhile, announced travel bans on South Africa and seven other countries, warning that it’s “almost inevitable” that the variant will turn up in the U.S. “at some point.” (NPR / New York Times / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Politico / ABC News / CNBC)
2/ The White House told federal agencies they can delay punishing the roughly 3.5% of federal workers who failed to comply with Biden’s Covid-19 vaccine mandate, which took effect last week. Agencies instead will pursue “education and counseling […] as the first step in an enforcement process” and take no further actions beyond letters of reprimand for unvaccinated employees until Jan. 1, 2022. As of last week, 92% of the roughly 3.5 million people in the federal workforce and the military had received at least one shot, while an additional 4.5% had requested exemptions. (Bloomberg / Washington Post / Reuters)
3/ Trump argued that the pursuit of his White House records by the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack could permanently damage the presidency. “The [committee’s] clear disdain for President Trump is leading them to a course of action that will result in permanent damage to the institution of the presidency,” Trump’s attorneys wrote in a brief filed in federal court. Trump has asserted executive privilege over his White House records, which Biden has refused to grant. Earlier this month, Federal Judge Tanya Chutkan ruled against Trump, saying that he had no power to override the current administration’s decisions. A federal appeals court will hear oral arguments on November 30 in the historic case. Stephen Bannon, meanwhile, filed a motion to request all documents in his contempt-of-Congress case be made public, saying “Members of the public should make their own independent judgment as to whether the U.S. Department of Justice is committed to a just result based upon all the facts.” (NBC News / CNN / Washington Post)
4/ The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol plans to vote on holding a second Trump ally in contempt of Congress. The committee will meet this week to vote on whether the full House should refer Jeffrey Clark to the Justice Department on criminal contempt charges. Clark, a former Justice Department official involved in Trump’s unsuccessful efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, appeared for a deposition Nov. 5 but refused to answer questions, saying he was “duty bound not to provide testimony to your committee covering information protected by the former president’s assertion of executive privilege.” (Associated Press / New York Times / Bloomberg / CNN / CNBC)
5/ The Pentagon ordered an investigation into a U.S. airstrike in Syria in 2019 that killed dozens of women and children. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s decision follows recent allegations that the Trump administration covered up the airstrike, which killed 80 people. Gen. Michael Garrett will examine the strike over the next 90 days to determine whether any recommendations from previous inquiries were carried out, and whether anyone should be held accountable. (New York Times)
Notably Next: The Supreme Court will take up a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade on Wednesday; government funding runs out Friday; the U.S. could hit the debt limit as soon as Dec. 15; Democrats hope to pass Biden’s Build Back Better plan in the Senate by Christmas; and the House and Senate both need to pass the annual defense policy bill.
1/ The Biden administration will require all foreign travelers crossing U.S. borders to be fully vaccinated by Jan. 22. The administration previously announced that fully vaccinated nonessential foreign travelers could enter the U.S. beginning Nov. 8. The White House, however, delayed the requirement for essential foreign travelers, such as truck drivers and government officials, to allow more time to get vaccinated and not disrupt trade. The Biden administration also asked a federal appeals court to reinstate its workplace rule requiring employees at larger companies to be vaccinated against Covid-19 or face weekly testing. Republican-led states, private employers, and conservative groups challenged the requirement, arguing that OSHA lacked the authority to mandate vaccines. The Justice Department said in its filing that the federal government should be permitted to address “the grave danger of Covid-19 in the workplace.” (NBC News / Washington Post / Associated Press)
2/ Weekly unemployment claims totaled 199,000 last week – the lowest total in 52 years. The four-week average of initial jobless claims also dropped by 21,000 to about 252,000 – the lowest since mid-March 2020. (Politico / Washington Post / CNBC / Wall Street Journal)
3/ Biden authorized the release of 50 million barrels of crude from its strategic reserves to help offset a surge in gasoline prices. Biden called it the “largest-ever release,” which was done in concert with China, Japan, India, South Korea, and the U.K. “We’ve made historic progress over the last 10 months,” Biden said, pointing to the jobs added to the economy since taking office. But “disruptions related to the pandemic have caused challenges in our supply chain, which have sparked concern about shortages and contributed to higher prices.” He also vowed to continue “taking action.” (ABC News / Bloomberg)
4/ Biden will nominate Shalanda Young to serve as the administration’s budget director. Young, currently the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, would be the first Black woman to hold the post on a permanent basis. The administration withdrew its initial selection of Neera Tanden for budget director after bipartisan criticism about her past social media attacks on lawmakers. (New York Times / Washington Post)
5/ A federal appeals court is scheduled to hear oral arguments Nov. 30 about whether Congress can receive Trump’s White House records related to the Jan. 6 attack at the Capitol. Earlier this month, Judge Tanya Chutkan ordered the National Archives to hand over the material, ruling that Congress’s constitutional oversight powers, backed by Biden, outweighed Trump’s residual executive privilege. An appeals court, however, instituted a short-term hold, but notified lawyers for Trump, the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, and the National Archives that they should be prepared to address whether the court has the legal authority to hear the dispute. (NBC News / New York Times)
6/ The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol issued subpoenas to three right-wing extremist groups, including the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers. Dozens of members of both groups have been charged in the attack on the Capitol, and prosecutors have said they conspired ahead of time to disrupt the Electoral College proceedings. In all, the panel issued five new subpoenas for records and testimony, which came a day after the panel subpoenaed Roger Stone, Alex Jones and three others. (Washington Post / NPR / New York Times / CNN)
7/ The RNC paid $121,670 to a lawyer representing Trump in the criminal investigations into his real estate company’s financial practices by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. and state Attorney General Letitia James. There is no indication that either investigation involves Trump’s time as president or his political campaigns. In October, however, the RNC made two payments totaling $121,670 to the law firm of Ronald Fischetti, who was hired by the Trump Organization in April. (Washington Post / CNN)
poll/ 77% of Americans say inflation is personally affecting them. 35% say Biden deserves “the most” blame for the current inflation, compared to 30% who blame the disruptions on the Covid-19 pandemic. (Yahoo News)
poll/ 42% of Americans approve of the job Biden is doing as president – his lowest since taking office. (NPR / Marist)
1/ The number of U.S. Covid-19 deaths in 2021 surpassed the 2020 death toll. The total number of reported deaths linked to Covid-19 topped 770,800 on Saturday, according to federal data and Johns Hopkins University. New cases, meanwhile, are increasing with the seven-day rolling average ticking up to more than 90,000 cases a day after it dropped to about 70,000 last month. More than 30 states are seeing sustained upticks in infections. (Wall Street Journal / New York Times)
2/ More than 95% of the 3.5 million federal workers are in compliance with the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate. About 90% of workers have received at least one shot and the other 5% have requested a medical or religious exemption that has been either approved or is pending. Workers who are not in compliance will receive “education and counseling” with the goal of getting more federal workers fully vaccinated. Workers who don’t get vaccinated or secure an approved exception could ultimately be terminated. (Reuters / Associated Press / NPR / CNN)
3/ Biden nominated Jerome Powell for a second term as Federal Reserve chairman. Powell, a Republican, was originally appointed to the Fed’s governing board by Obama and was later elevated to the chairman’s post by Trump. Under Powell’s stewardship, the Fed set aside its practice of raising rates to pre-empt inflation and instead has kept interest rates near zero to stimulate a faster recovery following downturns, like from the Covid-19 pandemic. Inflation, meanwhile, has reached a three-decade high with the Labor Department reporting that prices in October were 6.2% higher than a year ago. Biden nominated current Fed governor Lael Brainard – seen as a leading contender to eventually replace Powell – to serve as vice chair. (NPR / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal)
4/ Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson publicly urged the Republican-controlled state Legislature to take over the running of federal elections and direct local officials to ignore election guidance issued by the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission. Johnson, a Republican, claimed that Republican control of Wisconsin elections was necessary despite previously acknowledging that there was “nothing obviously skewed about the results” of the 2020 presidential election. Johnson baselessly accused Democrats of cheating. Last month, a report on the 2020 results that was ordered by Republican state legislators found no evidence of voter fraud. Johnson’s push comes after a Republican member of the State Assembly formally proposed decertifying Wisconsin’s election results, and a Republican sheriff in Racine County called for five members of the state’s six-member election commission to be charged with felonies because they waived a requirement to send poll workers into nursing homes during the pandemic. Biden won Wisconsin last November by about 21,000 votes. In 2016, Trump won Wisconsin by about 23,000 votes. (New York Times / CNN / Washington Post)
5/ Two Fox News commentators resigned in protest over Tucker Carlson’s “documentary” about the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol. Jonah Goldberg and Stephen Hayes called the series “a collection of incoherent conspiracy-mongering, riddled with factual inaccuracies, half-truths, deceptive imagery, and damning omissions.” The two longtime conservative commentators concluded that “the voices of the responsible are being drowned out by the irresponsible” at Fox News, adding that Carlson’s three-part series relied on fabrications and unfounded conspiracy theories to exonerate Trump supporters who participated. Carlson, meanwhile, said the departure of Goldberg and Hayes “will substantially improve the channel.” (Washington Post / NPR / New York Times)
6/ A federal judge blamed the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol on Trump, suggesting that the rioters were pawns provoked into action. Speaking at sentencing hearing for rioter John Lolos, Judge Amit Mehta said rallygoers like him were “called to Washington, DC, by an elected official, prompted to walk to the Capitol by an elected official.” Mehta called the rioters who stormed the building “a pawn in the game played by people who know better.” Lolos received a 14-day jail sentence after pleading guilty to illegally demonstrating in the Capitol building. (Politico / CNN)
7/ Organizers for the Jan. 6 rally at the White House Ellipse coordinated closely with the White House, according to leaked group text messages. The messages from Amy Kremer and her daughter, Kylie Jane Kremer, detail their coordination with Trump’s team on the rally, including an in-person meeting at the White House, working with the team to announce the event, promote it, and grant access to VIP guests. “We are following POTUS’ lead,” Kylie wrote the group on Jan. 1 – before the Ellipse rally was publicly announced. Two days later, March For Trump organizer Dustin Stockton texted the group chat to ask who was “handling” rally credentials for VIPs. “It’s a combination of us and WH,” Kylie replied. The House Select Committee investigating the attack, meanwhile, has subpoenaed documents and testimony from both Amy and Kylie Kremer. Congressional investigators have reportedly obtained “tons of” group chats from the organizers. (Rolling Stone)
8/ The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection subpoenaed five more people, including Roger Stone and Alex Jones. The committee has asked Stone and Jones to provide testimony by Dec. 17 and Dec, 18, respectively, and to provide the panel with requested documents by Dec. 6. The committee is also demanding records and testimony from Dustin Stockton, Jennifer Lawrence who was also involved in organizing the rally that preceded the Capitol riot, and Taylor Budowich, who organized an advertising campaign to encourage attendance at the Jan. 6 rally. The panel has subpoenaed more than 20 witnesses and has interviewed more than 150 people across government, social media, and law enforcement. (Associated Press / NBC News / Washington Post)
9/ The United States – for the first time – was added to a list of “backsliding democracies,” according to the International IDEA’s Global State of Democracy 2021 report. “The United States, the bastion of global democracy, fell victim to authoritarian tendencies itself, and was knocked down a significant number of steps on the democratic scale,” the report said, pointing to a “visible deterioration” that began in 2019. “A historic turning point came in 2020-21 when former president Donald Trump questioned the legitimacy of the 2020 election results in the United States.” More than a quarter of the world’s population lives in democratically backsliding countries. (Washington Post / The Guardian / CBS News)
1/ The House passed Biden’s roughly $2 trillion social and climate spending package to “build back better.” The 220-213 vote came after House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy delayed the vote for more than eight hours with a meandering speech criticizing the bill and Biden’s policies. Centrist House Democrats had also demanded that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office release a full analysis of the legislation prior to voting. The CBO found that the package would add more than $367 billion to the deficit over the next 10 years. The White House, however, said that figure didn’t include revenue expected to be generated from beefing up tax-enforcement efforts at the IRS, which could capture roughly $400 billion in additional revenue. The package would provide universal pre-K for all children ages three and four, subsidize child care and expand family leave, cap certain drug costs, and expand financial aid for college. The bill would also set aside more than $550 billion to combat climate change, promote greener energy, and provide new incentives and tax credits for renewable energy and electric vehicle purchases. The legislation would also provide relief from deportation for millions of undocumented immigrants, provide hungry Americans with access to food, and promote affordable new housing nationwide. The measure now goes to the Senate, where it faces an uncertain future. “For the second time in just two weeks, the House of Representatives has moved on critical and consequential pieces of my legislative agenda,” Biden said in a statement, referring to the recently enacted $1 trillion infrastructure bill. “Now, the Build Back Better Act goes to the United States Senate, where I look forward to it passing as soon as possible so I can sign it into law.” If passed by the Senate, the legislation would be the most significant expansion of the social safety net by the government since the 1960s. In a floor speech before the vote, Nancy Pelosi said “with the passage of the Build Back Better Act, we, this Democratic Congress, are taking our place in the long and honorable heritage of our democracy with legislation that will be the pillar of health and financial security in America. It will be historic in forging landmark progress for our nation.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / Politico / NPR / USA Today)
2/ All American adults are now eligible for coronavirus vaccine boosters. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky authorized the booster doses hours after the agency’s independent panel of vaccine scientists unanimously endorsed opening up eligibility to everyone 18 and older. The panel said that all American adults “may” opt for a booster, while those 50 and older “should” get a booster. Earlier in the day, the FDA authorized Pfizer and Moderna boosters for people 18 and older. (Washington Post / Politico / Bloomberg / CNBC / Axios / New York Times)
3/ Biden nominated two new members to the U.S. Postal Service’s board of governors, replacing key allies of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. Biden nominated Daniel Tangherlini, a Democrat, to replace board Chair Ron Bloom, whose term is expiring. Biden also nominated Derek Kan, a Republican, to replace Republican John Barger, whose term is also expiring. DeJoy, a major donor to the Trump campaign as well as other GOP groups, was hired after then-Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin threatened to withhold funds from the Postal Service unless the Trump administration could take over decision-making authority at the agency. Within weeks of taking office in June 2020, DeJoy implemented cost-cutting measures that were faulted for slowing mail delivery during the 2020 election. (Washington Post / NPR / New York Times / Axios)
4/ Trump endorsed Rep. Paul Gosar a day after he was censured and stripped of his committee assignments for tweeting an anime video that depicted him killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and swinging swords at Biden. Trump praised Gosar as “a loyal supporter of our America First agenda, and even more importantly, the USA.” He added: “Gosar has my Complete and Total Endorsement!” Gosar, meanwhile, has claimed that he wasn’t promoting violence and has not apologized for the video. He is also reportedly soliciting the names of Democrats who should be stripped of their committee assignments in a Republican-controlled House. In February, the House removed Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene from her two committee seats for embracing baseless conspiracy theories and supporting violent rhetoric against Democrats, including the assassination of Nancy Pelosi. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, however, said that under a hypothetical Republican majority in 2022, he would give Gosar and Greene better committee assignments. (Washington Post / NBC News)
5/ A Wisconsin jury found Kyle Rittenhouse not guilty of homicide, attempted homicide, and other charges. Rittenhouse, who was 17 at the time, fatally shot two men and wounded another during protests over the shooting of a Black man by a white Kenosha police officer. Rittenhouse testified that he shot all three men with an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle in self-defense and pleaded not guilty to all counts. Seven months prior to the shooting, Rittenhouse appeared in the front row at a Trump rally in Des Moines. His social media presence at the time was filled with him posing with weapons, posting “Blue Lives Matter,” and supporting Trump for president. Biden, meanwhile, acknowledged that the verdict in the trial “will leave many Americans feeling angry and concerned, myself included,” but urged Americans to accept the verdicts and remain peaceful in protest. “Look, I stand by what the jury has concluded,” Biden said. “The jury system works, and we have to abide by it.” The verdict cannot be appealed. (NBC News / CNN / New York Times / ABC News / Washington Post / CNBC)
poll/ 60% of Republicans want Trump to run for president in 2024. Overall, 28% of Americans would like to see Trump make another run for the presidency, while 71% do not want him to run again. (Marquette Law School Poll)
poll/ 46% of voters say they want the Republican Party to win control of the House of Representatives, while 41% prefer the Democratic Party win control. 46% also say they want to see the Republican Party win control of the Senate with 42% saying they want to see the Democrats win. (Quinnipiac)
1/ The House voted to censure Rep. Paul Gosar for posting an animated video that depicted him killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and attacking Biden. Gosar was also stripped of his committee assignments. The vote was 223 to 207, with two Republicans – Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger – joining Democrats in favor. Kevin McCarthy called the vote an “abuse of power” by Democrats. Nancy Pelosi, however, deemed the social media post an “emergency,” saying: “We can not have a member joking about murdering another. This is about workplace harassment and violence against women.” In a speech from the House floor prior to the vote, Ocasio-Cortez said: “As leaders in this country, when we incite violence with depictions against our colleagues, that trickles down into violence in this country, and that is where we must draw the line, independent of party or belief. It is about a core recognition of human dignity and value and worth.” Gosar, meanwhile, claimed that the video was “mischaracterized,” but did not apologize. (Politico / Associated Press / New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post)
2/ Trump asked a federal appeals court to block the National Archives from sending his White House records related to the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol to Congress, arguing that the Constitution gives a former president the power to keep files confidential even though they are no longer in office – and even though Biden refused to assert executive privilege over them. Last week, a Federal District Court judge sided with Congress and the Biden administration that while Trump could invoke executive privilege, whatever residual secrecy powers he possessed were outweighed by the sitting president agreeing that the documents should be turned over to House investigators. The appeals court, however, temporarily put a hold on the ruling, and a three-judge panel is scheduled to review whether Trump can control records the National Archives is set to give to the House after Thanksgiving. (New York Times / CNN / Washington Post)
3/ The now-infamous shirtless insurrectionist wearing face paint and a horned helmet during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot was sentenced to 41 months in prison for his role in the attack. Jacob Chansley, the so-called “QAnon Shaman,” pleaded guilty on Sept. 3 to one felony count of unlawfully obstructing an official proceeding. During the attack, Chansley left a note for Pence on the Senate dais that read: “It’s Only A Matter Of Time. Justice Is Coming!” Chansley’s sentence of roughly 3.5 years is the longest sentence handed down to any Jan. 6 participant so far. (ABC News / Washington Post / CNN)
4/ The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights appointed the Republican attorney who helped Trump attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election to a federal election advisory board. Cleta Mitchell was named to the Board of Advisors for the federal Election Assistance Commission. While the advisory board can’t directly make policy, it does recommend guidelines for the EAC, which certifies voting systems and advises on federal election compliance. On Jan. 2, 2020, Mitchell joined Trump on a phone call where Trump asked Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” 11,780 votes to overturn the election in his favor. (Associated Press / Business Insider)
5/ The seven-day average of new hospital admissions with Covid-19 climbed in 25 states from a week earlier. Two weeks ago, only 14 states saw a rise in hospital admissions. (Bloomberg)
6/ The Biden administration will purchase 10 million courses of Pfizer’s Covid-19 antiviral pill once authorized. In a clinical trial, Paxlovid reduced the rate of death and hospitalization by 89% when given to people at high risk of severe illness within three days of symptoms. Paxlovid could become available at pharmacies within weeks pending FDA authorization. The FDA, meanwhile, is aiming to authorize booster doses of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine for all adults as soon as Thursday. The CDC’s independent committee of vaccine experts is scheduled to meet Friday to discuss the booster dose’s efficacy and safety. (Washington Post / New York Times)
7/ More than 100,000 people died of drug overdoses between April 2020 and April 2021 – the first time that drug-related deaths have reached six figures in any 12-month period. Overdose deaths were up almost 30% from the 78,000 deaths in the prior year. (NPR / New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
8/ Biden called for the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether oil and gas companies are engaging in “illegal conduct” by keeping gasoline prices high. In a letter to FTC Chair Lina Khan, Biden said there’s “mounting evidence of anti-consumer behavior by oil and gas companies,” noting that gasoline prices are rising even as the price of unfinished gasoline goes down. The national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline is $3.41 – that’s $1.29 more than a year ago. “This unexplained large gap between the price of unfinished gasoline and the average price at the pump is well above the pre-pandemic average,” Biden wrote. “Meanwhile, the largest oil-and-gas companies in America are generating significant profits off higher energy prices.” (Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / CNBC / New York Times / USA Today)
poll/ 40% of voters agree that Biden “is in good health,” while 50% disagreed – a 29-point shift since Oct. 2020. Biden turns 79 on Saturday. (Politico)
1/ Biden signed the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan into law – the largest federal investment in infrastructure in more than a decade. In total, the measure contains $550 billion in new funds to improve the nation’s highways, roads, bridges, ports, rail, pipes, and public transit systems, as well as upgrades to the electrical grid and expanded access to broadband internet. Before signing the legislation, Biden said “we’re finally getting this done” in a nod to Trump, who repeatedly tried and failed to secure a bipartisan infrastructure deal. “My message for the American people is this: America’s moving again, and your life’s going to change for the better.” Trump, meanwhile, said the 13 Republicans who voted for the bill “should be ashamed of themselves” for giving Biden and Democrats a victory. In the House, Democratic leaders expect to vote on the roughly $2 trillion climate, safety net, and tax package this week and send it to the Senate, despite uncertainty over the measure’s cost. The timing of Senate vote, however, is complicated by a Dec. 3 deadline to avoid a government shutdown, address the debt limit, and pass the annual defense policy bill. If the social safety net and climate bill passes the House and Senate, the total increased infrastructure spending as a share of the economy will eclipse Roosevelt’s New Deal. (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Politico / Bloomberg / ABC News / CNN / CNBC)
2/ Nearly 200 nations reached a climate agreement intended to propel the world toward more urgent climate action, but it falls short of what’s needed to avert a crisis. After two weeks of United Nations COP26 talks, delegates left Glasgow with Earth still on track to blow past the 2015 Paris accord goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels. The Glasgow Climate Pact doesn’t reflect the urgency expressed by international scientists in their “code red for humanity” climate report, after delegates agreed to “phase down” the use of coal power (the single biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions), phase out “inefficient” fossil fuel subsidies, and defer more action on reducing fossil fuel emissions to next year. The U.N. Environment Program reported that countries’ current COP26 commitments between now and 2030 would give humanity less than a 20% chance of keeping warming to 1.5 Celsius. The U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, meanwhile, reported that the world needs to roughly halve emissions over the next decade in order to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The world has already warmed 1.1 degrees Celsius. (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / NPR / Bloomberg / CNN)
3/ A federal court kept its block on the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate for businesses with 100 or more workers, saying the Labor Department “grossly exceeds OSHA’s statutory authority.” The order from a three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals instructs OSHA to “take no steps to implement or enforce” the federal mandate that all large employers require their workers to get vaccinated against the coronavirus or submit to weekly testing starting in January. Lawyers for the Justice and Labor departments, meanwhile, said stopping the mandate from taking effect will only prolong the Covid-19 pandemic and “would likely cost dozens or even hundreds of lives per day.” (Politico / Associated Press / New York Times / Washington Post / USA Today)
4/ The Trump administration covered up a 2019 airstrike in Syria that killed 80 people, including women and children. Immediately following the strike, an Air Force lawyer reported the incident as a possible war crime to his chain of command, which required an independent investigation. The military, however, never conducted the investigation into the bombing. Following complaints, the Defense Department’s inspector general office launched an inquiry into the March 18, 2019, strikes, but the report was delayed and ultimately “stripped” of any mention of the bombing. The Baghuz strike – which included a 500-pound bomb and two 2,000-pound bombs – was one of the largest civilian casualties in the war against the Islamic State, but it wasn’t publicly acknowledged by the U.S. military until last week. (New York Times / Reuters)
5/ Former “Apprentice” contestant Summer Zervos dropped her defamation lawsuit against Trump. Zervos sued Trump in 2017 after he denied allegations that he had sexually assaulted her. A judge had recently ordered Trump to sit for a deposition in the case by Dec. 23. Zervos did not give a reason for ending the case, but her attorneys said she “no longer wishes to litigate against the defendant and has secured the right to speak freely about her experience.” Last month, Trump’s lawyer sought to file a counterclaim against Zervos for allegedly “harassing, intimidating, punishing or otherwise maliciously inhibiting” Trump’s free speech rights. (Washington Post / NBC News / CNN)
6/ Steve Bannon surrendered to federal authorities, three days after being indicted by a federal grand jury on two counts of contempt of Congress for refusing to answer questions from the House Committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Each count of contempt of Congress is a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail and a maximum fine of $100,000. Bannon did not enter a plea and was released without bail after surrendering his passport. He is due back in court on Thursday. Following the court appearance, Bannon said his supporters should remained focused on taking on “the illegitimate Biden regime” because “we’re going to go on the offense on this […] Stand by.” Republicans, meanwhile, warned Democrats’ that forcing Bannon to comply paves the way for them to go after Biden’s aides for unspecified reasons if they take back the House in 2022. Separately, Adam Schiff said the committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection will “move quickly” to refer Mark Meadows for criminal contempt for not cooperating with its investigation. (NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times / CNBC / CNN / Associated Press)
7/ Republicans have added a net of five seats in the House based on redrawn district maps so far, while Democrats have lost one. Democrats currently hold 221 seats to the Republicans’ 213. So far, 12 states have completed the mapping process, which will continue, state by state, before next year’s midterm elections. In all, GOP-led legislatures and governors will redraw 187 House districts, compared with 75 for Democrats. Republicans need to flip five Democratic-held seats in the 2022 midterm elections to take back the House majority. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
poll/ 41% of Americans approve of Biden’s job performance, with 53% disapproving. In June, Biden’s approval rating stood at 50%. (Washington Post)
poll/ 51% of registered voters say they’d support the Republican candidate in their congressional district if the midterm elections were today, while 41% say they’d support the Democrat. That’s the biggest lead for Republicans since November 1981. (ABC News)
1/ A federal grand jury indicted Steve Bannon on charges of contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a subpoena from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Bannon faces one contempt count for his refusal to appear for a deposition and another for his refusal to produce documents to the congressional investigators, the Justice Department said in a statement. Attorney General Merrick Garland said the indictment reflects the Justice Department’s “steadfast commitment” to ensuring that the department adheres to the rule of law. If convicted, Bannon could face up to a year behind bars and a fine of up to $100,000. Law enforcement expects Bannon to self-surrender on Monday and appear in court that afternoon. (NBC News / CNN / NPR / Washington Post / ABC News / / Politico / CNBC / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press)
2/ Mark Meadows refused to appear for a deposition before the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, setting up a potential criminal referral to the Justice Department for contempt of Congress. Meadows’ lawyer said the former White House chief of staff “remains under the instructions” of Trump to not comply with the House subpoena on claims of executive privilege. Biden, however, has refused to invoke executive privilege for Trump officials and records in the House’s inquiry. Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson said Meadows’ “willful noncompliance” would force the select committee to “consider invoking contempt of Congress procedures” that could result in a criminal referral to the Justice Department, as well as the possibility of a civil action to enforce the subpoena. (CNN / Politico / NBC News / The Guardian / CNBC / The Hill)
3/ A federal appeals court temporarily blocked the National Archives from turning over Trump’s White House records to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol – a day before the committee was set to receive the first batch. On Tuesday, a lower court ruled that Biden can waive Trump’s claim to executive privilege over the documents, saying a former president’s claim to executive power to withhold records from Congress after leaving office does not continue in perpetuity. Less than an hour after the ruling, Trump filed a notice of appeal. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit then granted a temporary injunction while it considered Trump’s request to delay the release of documents and to “maintain the status quo” pending the appeal. The court will hear arguments on Nov. 30. (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / Bloomberg)
4/ Trump justified his supporters’ chants to “hang Mike Pence” during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, saying it was “common sense” and that Pence was “well-protected.” Trump defended the chants, telling ABC News’ Jonathan Karl during an interview for Karl’s new book, “Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show,” that “people were very angry” that Pence hadn’t overturned the election. Trump then repeated his baseless claims that the 2020 presidential election result was fraudulent. (Axios / NBC News / Washington Post / CNN / Business Insider / The Hill)
5/ House Democrats introduced a resolution to censure Republican Paul Gosar for tweeting an altered video that depicted him killing Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and swinging two swords at Biden. “For a Member of Congress to post a manipulated video on his social media accounts depicting himself killing Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and attacking President Biden is a clear cut case for censure,” the Democrats said in a statement. “For that Member to post such a video on his official Instagram account and use his official congressional resources in the House of Representatives to further violence against elected officials goes beyond the pale.” The Arizona Republican had defended the video as a “symbolic” fight over immigration policy and the “battle for the soul of America.” Violent threats against lawmakers, meanwhile, are on track to double this year. (CNBC / Washington Post)
6/ Top political officials in the Trump White House repeatedly tried to block public health warnings and guidance from the CDC last year about the coronavirus pandemic, according to newly released documents from the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis. The emails and transcripts detail how in the early days of the pandemic Trump and his allies in the White House blocked briefings and interviews with CDC officials, attempted to alter public safety guidance, and instructed agency officials to destroy evidence that might be construed as political interference. Several interviews also described efforts by Trump appointees to alter or influence the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report to better align with the White House’s more optimistic messaging about the state of the pandemic. (Politico / CNN / Washington Post / The Hill)
7/ Biden nominated Robert Califf to lead the FDA despite his ties to the pharmaceutical industry. Califf previously led the agency in 2016-2017, and has long been a consultant to drug companies. If confirmed by the Senate, Califf would oversee an agency that is responsible for more than $2.8 trillion worth of food, medical products, and tobacco. Joe Manchin and Richard Blumenthal both voted against Califf’s nomination in 2016, and signaled their opposition again over concerns about his ties to the drug industry and the FDA’s track record on opioids. The FDA has been without a Senate-confirmed administrator since Biden took office. (Politico / NPR / ABC News / The Hill / New York Times)
8/ A record 4.4 million Americans voluntarily quit their jobs in September, the Labor Department reported. The number of people quitting in September constituted 3% of the workforce, which was up from the previous record set in August, when 4.3 million people quit their jobs – or about 2.9% of the workforce. The number of available jobs, meanwhile, has topped 10 million for four consecutive months. Prior to the pandemic, the record was 7.5 million job openings. (Politico / CNN / New York Times / Washington Post)
1/ The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot issued new subpoenas to 10 former Trump White House officials, including Kayleigh McEnany and Stephen Miller. The chairman of the select committee, Bennie Thompson, said his panel “wants to learn every detail of what went on in the White House on January 6th and in the days beforehand,” including “precisely what role the former President and his aides played in efforts to stop the counting of the electoral votes and if they were in touch with anyone outside the White House attempting to overturn the outcome of the election.” Among those subpoenaed to provide testimony and documents include John McEntee (former White House personnel director), Christopher Liddell (former deputy chief of staff), Keith Kellogg (national security advisor to Pence), Ben Williamson (former deputy assistant to Trump and senior adviser to Mark Meadows), and Nicholas Luna (Trump’s former personal assistant). The subpoenas come a day after the committee issued subpoenas to six former Trump administration and campaign officials, bringing the total number of subpoenas issued to 35. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / NBC News / CNBC)
2/ A federal judge rejected Trump’s attempt to keep more than 700 pages of records from his White House secret. The decision by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan clears the way for the National Archives to release the documents requested by the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol beginning Friday. Trump’s lawyers had argued that the documents requested by the House committee – including White House call logs, visitor logs, and schedules related to Jan. 6, as well as three pages of handwritten notes from Trump’s then-chief of staff – were covered by executive privilege. In her ruling, however, Chutkan noted that the Biden administration had approved the release of Trump’s White House records, saying there can be only one president at a time, and that Trump’s assertion of executive privilege “is outweighed by President Biden’s decision not to uphold the privilege.” Chutkan added: “Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President.” (Reuters / New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / NBC News)
3/ At least 13 of Trump’s senior aides campaigned illegally for his re-election in violation of the Hatch Act – a law designed to prevent federal employees from abusing the power of their offices on behalf of candidates. The Office of Special Counsel report described a “willful disregard for the law” by senior Trump administration officials who “chose to use their official authority not for the legitimate functions of the government.” Special Counsel Henry Kerner said Trump’s “refusal to require compliance with the law laid the foundation for the violations,” which he called “especially pernicious considering the timing of when many of these violations took place.” The list includes several Cabinet officials and top White House aides, including Mike Pompeo, Mark Meadows, and Kayleigh McEnany. No punishments, however, are expected because the president in office at the time is the only person who can discipline their top employees. (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times)
4/ Nearly 1 million kids aged 5 to 11 will have received their first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine in their first week of eligibility. That represents about 3% of eligible children, with an additional 700,000 have appointments scheduled in the coming days. (NPR / Associated Press)
5/ The Biden administration will invest an additional $785 million to combat the spread of the coronavirus in communities hit hardest by the pandemic and those at the highest risk of death and disease. White House Covid-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients said the additional American Rescue Plan funding will also be used to build vaccine confidence in communities of color, rural areas, and low-income populations. (Washington Post / The Hill)
6/ People are dying from Covid-19 at a rate three times higher in counties where Trump won at least 60% of the vote than in counties where Biden won a similar percentage. In October, 25 out of every 100,000 residents in “Trump counties” died from Covid-19, compared to 7.8 per 100,000 for “Biden counties.” October was the fifth consecutive month that the gap between the death rates in Trump counties and Biden counties widened. (New York Times / Business Insider)
7/ Nancy Pelosi called for investigations by the House Ethic committee and law enforcement into Rep. Paul Gosar for posting a video that depicts him killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and swinging two swords at Biden. Gosar shared the altered, animated video from both his personal and professional Twitter accounts Sunday. Despite violating Twitter’s hateful conduct policy, the tweets have not been removed, but instead labeled with a “public interest notice.” Pelosi urged House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to join in condemning the “horrific video” and supporting the investigations, saying “threats of violence against Members of Congress and the President of the United States must not be tolerated.” (Washington Post / NPR)
8/ The Labor Department reported the largest annual increase in consumer prices in three decades. The worse-than-expected inflation report showed that prices rose 6.2% in October compared with a year ago. Joe Manchin, meanwhile, pointed to the pace of inflation as a reason to pause on the $1.75 trillion social spending and climate package, saying the “threat” of inflation is “getting worse,” and that lawmakers “can no longer ignore the economic pain.” Previously, Manchin suggested that the spending package could worsen inflation and that he wouldn’t support a bill to expand social programs if it “irresponsibly adds” to the national debt. (NPR / Washington Post / NBC News / New York Times / CNBC)
poll/ 65% of Americans support the bipartisan infrastructure deal, which Congress passed last week. 62% of Americans support the social safety net and climate bill. 42% of Americans, however, approve of the job Biden is doing as president. (Monmouth University)
1/ The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol issued subpoenas to six former Trump advisers “tied to efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election,” including two who were involved in plans at the Willard hotel “command center” to overturn the election the day before the attack on the Capitol. Those subpoenaed to provide testimony and documents include John Eastman, who outlined a legal strategy to deny Biden the presidency, former New York City police commissioner Bernard Kerik, who led efforts to investigate voting fraud in key states, Michael Flynn, Jason Miller, Bill Stepien, and Angela McCallum. The committee “needs to know every detail about their efforts to overturn the election, including who they were talking to in the White House and in Congress, what connections they had with rallies that escalated into a riot, and who paid for it all,” Chairman Bennie Thompson said in a statement. The committee is demanding records and testimony from witnesses between late November and mid-December. (CNN / ABC News / Washington Post / NBC News / Bloomberg / CNBC / USA Today)
2/ The House passed the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill to improve the country’s roads, bridges, pipes, ports, and Internet connections, which Biden hailed as a “monumental step forward for the nation.” After a months-long standoff between progressive and moderate Democrats, the funding package passed on a 228-to-206 vote: 13 Republicans joined 215 Democrats in support, while six progressive Democrats voted against the measure. Progressives had insisted that they could not back the measure without a vote on the $1.75 trillion social safety net and climate bill, which a half-dozen moderate-to-conservative Democrats refused to support without an official cost estimate from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, which could take a week or more. Progressives ultimately accepted a written commitment from moderates that they would pass the social safety net and climate package when it comes up for a vote in mid-November, provided the spending plan does not add to the deficit. Democrats are now aiming to vote on the safety net bill before Thanksgiving. “Finally, infrastructure week,” Biden told reporters. “I’m so happy to say that: infrastructure week.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / NPR / Bloomberg / NBC News)
3/ A federal court blocked the Biden administration’s mandate that millions of workers get vaccinated against Covid-19 or be tested weekly. Earlier in the week, the Biden administration set a Jan. 4 deadline for companies with 100 or more employees to mandate vaccinations or implement weekly testing of workers. A three-judge panel on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals said that the suit filed by several Republican-led states, companies, and conservative religious groups “give cause to believe there are grave statutory and constitutional issues with the Mandate.” The Biden administration, meanwhile, is “prepared to defend” the vaccine rules for large companies, Dr. Vivek Murthy, the surgeon general, said. “The president and the administration wouldn’t have put these requirements in place if they didn’t think that they were appropriate and necessary.” (Politico / CNN / New York Times)
4/ Ted Cruz accused Sesame Street’s Big Bird of “government propaganda” after the Muppet tweeted he had been vaccinated against Covid-19. Big Bird, who has been on TV since 1969, is officially 6 years old and became eligible for the vaccine after the FDA authorized the Pfizer vaccine for children ages 5 to 11. “I got the COVID-19 vaccine today! My wing is feeling a little sore, but it’ll give my body an extra protective boost that keeps me and others healthy,” Big Bird wrote on Twitter. Nevertheless, Cruz and other Republicans persist, accusing the Muppet of “brainwashing children” and calling the yellow anthropomorphic bird’s comment “evil.” (NPR / Business Insider / NBC News)
5/ The Justice Department indicted a Ukrainian national and a Russian national for alleged involvement in a ransomware attack on an American company. Yaroslav Vasinskyi and Yevgeniy Polyanin were charged with conspiracy to commit fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, among other charges, for deploying ransomware known as REvil over the Fourth of July weekend on U.S. software firm Kaseya, which affected about 1,500 businesses. Vasinskyi was arrested in Poland last month, while Polyanin remains at large. The Justice Department also said it had seized $6.1 million in ransom payments. European Union law enforcement, meanwhile, said authorities in Romania and South Korea had arrested five people in connection with REvil. (CNN / USA Today / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
6/ Trump said he will “probably” wait until after the 2022 midterm elections to announce whether he will run for president in 2024. “I am certainly thinking about it and we’ll see,” Trump said. “I think a lot of people will be very happy, frankly, with the decision, and probably will announce that after the midterms.” As for a potential running mate, Trump said “there are a lot of great people in the Republican Party,” calling Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis “a good man.” Trump, meanwhile, has continued to hold campaign-style rallies and send fundraising emails, telling voters “We’re going to take America back.” Meanwhile, on his final day as president, Trump told the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee he was leaving the GOP and creating his own political party and that he didn’t care if the move would destroy the Republican Party, saying “I’m done. I’m starting my own party. You lose forever without me. I don’t care.” (Politico / Fox News / NBC News / ABC News)
poll/ 38% of voters approve of the job Biden is doing as president – a new low – while 59% disapprove. 46% say Biden has done a worse job as president than they expected, and 64% say they don’t want Biden to run for a second term in 2024. (USA Today)
poll/ 58% of Americans say Biden isn’t paying attention to the nation’s most important problems. 36% say the economy is the most pressing problem facing the country, while 20% say the coronavirus pandemic is the nation’s top problem, followed by immigration (14%) and climate change (11%). (CNN)
1/ The House will vote on the $1 trillion infrastructure bill tonight after abandoning an agreement with progressive Democrats to first vote on a separate $1.75 trillion education, healthcare, and climate package. Party leaders began the day hoping to hold a vote on the social spending legislation, followed by a vote on the infrastructure legislation. A small group of moderates, however, refused to support the $1.75 trillion social safety net, climate, and tax package without a cost analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, which could take a week or more. The opposition forced Speaker Nancy Pelosi to change course, announcing that the House would vote first on the infrastructure bill, which already passed the Senate, and then take a procedural vote to begin debate on the $1.75 trillion Build Back Better bill, with hopes of passing it by Thanksgiving. Progressives, however, rejected Pelosi’s move to vote on infrastructure without the broader social spending plan, saying “If our six colleagues still want to wait” for the CBO review, “we would agree to give them that time — after which point we can vote on both bills together.” Pelosi, however, said the bipartisan infrastructure bill was too important to put off any longer and that she believes a “large number” of progressives actually plan to support the bill. “The agenda that we are advancing is transformative and historic, hence challenging,” Pelosi wrote in a letter to Democrats outlining the new plan. Pelosi can’t afford to lose more than three votes, unless some Republicans vote for the infrastructure bill. Earlier in the day, Biden called on House members to advance both bills, which total nearly $3 trillion in investments in infrastructure, social policy, and climate programs. “I’m asking every member of the House of Representatives to vote yes on both these bills right now,” Biden said. “Send the infrastructure bill to my desk, send the Build Back Better bill to the Senate. Let’s build on incredible economic progress, build on what we’ve already done because this will be such a boost when it occurs.” When asked whether she had the votes to pass the infrastructure bill, Pelosi replied: “We’ll see, won’t we?” (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Politico / Bloomberg / NBC News)
2/ The attorneys general in 11 states sued the Biden administration to stop new rules requiring workers at companies with at least 100 employees be vaccinated against Covid-19 or tested weekly. Under the new requirements, which apply to an estimated 84 million workers, employers have until Jan. 4 to make sure their workers are either vaccinated or produce a negative test weekly. Workers who remain unvaccinated must wear a mask at work, and employers aren’t required to provide or pay for the tests. A second rule requires about 17 million health care workers to be vaccinated, but with no option for weekly testing in lieu of vaccination. Employers could face penalties of up to nearly $14,000 per violation. (Wall Street Journal / CNN / NPR / Reuters)
3/ The American economy added 531,000 jobs in October and the unemployment rate declined to 4.6% — a new pandemic-era low but still well above the pre-pandemic jobless rate of 3.5%. The U.S. has recovered about 80% of the jobs lost at the depth of the recession in 2020. (Axios / New York Times / Associated Press)
4/ Pfizer’s Covid-19 antiviral pill reduced the risk of hospitalization or death by 89% in a clinical trial, making it the second pill to show efficacy against Covid-19. The drug also appears to be more effective than the Merck antiviral pill, which already received authorization in the U.K. and is currently awaiting federal authorization in the U.S. Both oral medicines attack the coronavirus by interfering with its ability to replicate itself. (NPR / Washington Post / New York Times)
5/ The Biden administration sued Texas over the state’s restrictive voting law, alleging that it disenfranchises eligible voters and that violates the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed SB1 into law in Sept., which banned 24-hour and drive-thru voting, imposed new hurdles on mail-in ballots, and empowered partisan poll watchers. “Our democracy depends on the right of eligible voters to cast a ballot and to have that ballot counted,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said. “The Justice Department will continue to use all the authorities at its disposal to protect this fundamental pillar of our society.” The law is set to got into effect Dec. 2. (New York Times / NPR / Washington Post / CNN)
6/ A federal judge questioned Trump’s effort to block the congressional Jan. 6 select committee from obtaining his White House records, expressing skepticism that a former president can overrule his successor’s decision to release them to investigators. “There is only one executive,” District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan said, noting that a former president has no authority over either branch of government. Chutkan added, however, that she might curb some “unbelievably broad” requests for records, which go back as far as April 2020, about Trump’s activities leading up to the attack on the Capitol. (Politico / CNN / Washington Post / The Hill)
Timeline of the coup: How Trump tried to weaponize the Justice Department to overturn the 2020 election. (CNN)
7/ A former Trump Justice Department official refused to answer the Jan. 6 select committee’s questions about Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election. Despite being subpoenaed last month to compel his testimony, Jeffrey Clark claimed he couldn’t provide testimony until the courts resolved Trump’s lawsuit challenging the Jan. 6 select committee’s access to his White House records. Clark cited potential executive and attorney-client privilege to justify his client’s refusal to cooperate. The Jan. 6 committee’s chair, Rep. Bennie Thompson, said Clark’s refusal to testify could lead to a referral to the Justice Department for contempt of Congress. (Politico / CNN)
8/ An analyst who contributed research to a 2016 dossier that detailed alleged ties between Trump and Russia was arrested as part of a probe by special counsel John Durham. In a 39-page indictment, a grand jury accused Igor Danchenko of five counts of making false statements to the FBI about his sources in the so-called Steele dossier, which detailed alleged ties between Trump and Russia. The dossier was also part of the basis for a secret FBI warrant to tap the phone of former Trump campaign advisor Carter Page as the FBI investigated possible ties between the 2016 Trump presidential campaign and Russia. Attorney General William Barr appointed Durham in 2019 to investigate the origins and handling of the Russia investigation for any wrongdoing. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNBC)
9/ The Manhattan district attorney convened a second grand jury to consider charges in their investigation of the Trump Organization. Both District Attorney Cyrus Vance and New York Attorney General Letitia James previously indicated that they were examining whether the Trump Organization manipulated the value of its assets to get favorable loan rates or to lower his taxes. An earlier grand jury returned felony indictments against two Trump companies and Trump’s longtime chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg, charging them with tax evasion. (Washington Post)
1/ The Biden administration announced plans to heavily regulate methane emissions from oil and gas drilling. The proposed EPA rules aim to curb methane emissions coming from roughly one million existing oil and gas rigs in the U.S. The EPA previously had rules to prevent methane leaks from oil and gas wells built since 2015, which were rescinded by the Trump administration. An estimated 75% of the country’s methane emissions will be covered by the new EPA rules. Separately, Joe Manchin has pushed to remove or weaken a provision in the $1.75 trillion social safety net and climate measure that would impose a fee on emissions of methane. (NBC News / New York Times)
2/ The CDC recommended the low-dose Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine for children ages 5 to 11. CDC director Rochelle Walensky’s recommendation came after a unanimous vote by the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices supporting the use of the vaccine for the approximately 28 million children in the age group. Biden called the decision “a turning point in our battle against Covid-19,” adding that the federal government has purchased enough of the low-dose children’s vaccine “for every child in America.” (NPR / Washington Post / Associated Press)
3/ House and Senate Democrats reached an agreement on lowering prescription drug prices – a key part of Biden’s $1.75 trillion “Build Back Better” package. The proposed deal would establish a $2,000 out-of-pocket limit for seniors’ expenses in Medicare Part D, allow the government power to regulate the prices of some of the most expensive drugs, like insulin. Kyrsten Sinema, who opposed previous proposals on prescription drug reform, endorsed the new agreement. (NBC News / ABC News / CNBC)
4/ House Democrats added four weeks of paid family and medical leave back to the $1.75 trillion social spending bill. Democrats had previously scrapped the family leave provision after failing to reach a compromise with Joe Manchin, who had raised objections to using the reconciliation bill to pass significant policy proposals like paid leave. In response to the announcement, Manchin said he still opposes the paid leave proposal, adding: “They know how I feel about that.” (CNN / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
5/ Republican Glenn Youngkin defeated Democrat Terry McAuliffe in Virginia’s gubernatorial election – a state that Biden won by 10 points 12 months ago. New Jersey governor’s race, meanwhile, remained too close to call, even though Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy had been favored to win reelection by a comfortable margin in a state Biden won by 16 points. And, at least eight Republicans who attended the Jan. 6 rally in Washington, D.C., that turned into a deadly insurrection were elected to office. Three were elected to state legislatures, and five won at the local level. Minneapolis voters rejected a ballot measure to replace the police department a year after the Black Lives Matter movement had elevated the issue of police reform. History, meanwhile, was made in a number of cities: Boston elected Michelle Wu as mayor, the first woman and person of color to run the city, ending the city’s 200-year history of electing white men; New York City elected Democrat Eric Adams as the city’s second Black mayor; Ed Gainey was elected as the first Black mayor of Pittsburgh; and Winsome Sears was elected lieutenant governor of Virginia – the highest office a woman of color has won in Virginia’s history. (NBC News / CNN / NPR / HuffPost / New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg)
6/ Senate Republicans blocked the John Lewis Voting Rights Act from advancing. The legislation would have restored parts of the Voting Rights Act, which was weakened by past Supreme Court rulings, including the federal government’s ability to require “preclearances” from the Justice Department for jurisdictions with a history of discrimination before changing their voting rules. The final vote was 50 to 49 with Republican Lisa Murkowski voting with Democrats in favor and Chuck Schumer changing his vote to “no” so he could have the legislation reconsidered. Republicans have also blocked the Freedom to Vote Act three prior times, insisting that the federal government has no role in setting state election practices. (Washington Post / CNN / Bloomberg / New York Times)
poll/ 41% of Republicans say they are confident their vote will be counted accurately – down from 84% in Oct. 2020. Overall, 66% say they are confident their vote will be counted accurately – down from 85% last year. Meanwhile, 22% of Republicans believe that Biden was elected legitimately, while 71% of independents and 93% of Democrats believe that Biden’s election was legitimate. Overall, 58% believe Biden was legitimately elected. (NBC News)
1/ Joe Manchin refused to endorse Biden’s $1.75 trillion social policy and climate package, saying he wants time to “thoroughly understanding the impact it will have on our national debt, our economy and the American people.” House Democratic leaders had planned to bring both the social safety net and separate $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bills to a vote this week. Manchin also rebuked liberal House Democrats for holding up a vote on the infrastructure legislation, saying “it’s all or nothing, and their position doesn’t seem to change unless we agree to everything. Enough is enough.” Manchin added: “Holding that bill hostage is not going to work to get my support of what you want.” The White House, meanwhile, said the House plan “is fully paid for, will reduce the deficit, and brings down costs for health care, child care, elder care and housing.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Axios / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
2/ A majority of Supreme Court justices seemed willing to let abortion providers in Texas challenge the state’s abortion law – the most restrictive in the nation. The justices are considering two cases: one brought by abortion providers in Texas, and the other by the Justice Department. The court’s focus isn’t directly on abortion rights, but rather on an unusual provision designed to thwart legal challenges by making the law only enforceable by private citizens rather than the state government. “There’s a loophole that’s been exploited here,” Justice Brett Kavanaugh said, agreeing with Justice Elena Kagan, who said the entire purpose of S.B. 8 was “to find the chink in the armor” of court precedent regarding judicial review. Justice Amy Coney Barrett added that the law was designed to prevent the abortion providers from presenting a “full constitutional defense.” The Justice Department, meanwhile, argued that the Texas law conflicts with a constitutional right established by Roe v. Wade, warning that if the Texas law remains in effect, “no constitutional right is safe. No constitutional decision from this court is safe.” Kavanaugh, however, characterized the Justice Department’s lawsuit as “irregular” and “unusual,” asking what authority the federal government has to sue over a state law. “The reason we’ve done it here,” federal solicitor general, Elizabeth Prelogar, argued, is because the law is “so unprecedented, extraordinary and extraordinarily dangerous for our constitutional structure.” (NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
3/ Biden warned world leaders at global climate summit that “climate change is already ravaging the world,” saying “we are standing at an inflection point in world history.” Biden said the COP26 summit in Glasgow, Scotland – widely seen as the most important international climate negotiations since the 2015 Paris climate accord – kicks off a “decisive decade” for combating climate change, which he called an “existential threat to human existence as we know it.” Biden warned that “none of us can escape the worst that is yet to come if we fail to seize this moment.” National climate pledges currently remain too weak to collectively meet the 2015 Paris agreement goals to keep average global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius. Biden, however, apologized for the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris climate accord under Trump, saying: “I guess I shouldn’t apologize, but I do apologize.” (Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / Washington Post / New York Times)
4/ During the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, a Trump attorney blamed Pence for the violence for refusing to block certification of Trump’s election loss. “The ‘siege’ is because YOU and your boss did not do what was necessary to allow this to be aired in a public way so that the American people can see for themselves what happened,” the lawyer, John Eastman, wrote to Greg Jacob, Pence’s chief counsel. Eastman sent the email while Pence, Jacob, and other advisers were under guard in a secure area. Rioters, meanwhile, chanted “Hang Mike Pence” while storming the Capitol complex. (Washington Post / New York Times / CNBC)
Notable: The Washington Post’s three-part investigative series about the causes, costs, and aftermath of Jan. 6. “The consequences of that day are still coming into focus, but what is already clear is that the insurrection was not a spontaneous act nor an isolated event. It was a battle in a broader war over the truth and over the future of American democracy.” (Washington Post)
Trump “greatly objected” to the Post’s findings, calling the 37 findings “fake news.” (Washington Post)
5/ Trump is trying to prevent Jan. 6 investigators from accessing handwritten memos from his chief of staff, call logs, files of top aides, White House visitor records, and drafts of election-related speeches, the National Archives revealed in a court filing. Trump has tried to block about 750 documents out of nearly 1,600. Among them are hundreds of pages from “multiple binders of the former press secretary [Kayleigh McEnany] which is made up almost entirely of talking points and statements related to the 2020 election,” according to the court filing. The records also include three handwritten notes from then-White House chief of Staff Mark Meadows about the events of Jan. 6, including two pages listing briefings and telephone calls about the Electoral College certification. Trump sued to block release on Oct. 15 and has asked a federal judge to issue an emergency order blocking the National Archives from transmitting them to the committee. (CNN / Associated Press / Politico)
poll/ 30% of Republicans believe violence may be necessary “to save our country,” compared to 11% of Democrats, and 17% of independents. Among those who believe the 2020 election was stolen from Trump – which it wasn’t – 39% support resorting to violence. (Washington Post / The Guardian)
poll/ 33% of Republicans say they will trust the results of the 2024 presidential election regardless of who wins, compared to 82% of Democrats. Overall, 62% of Americans say they will trust the results of the 2024 election. 81% Americans believe there is a “serious threat” to democracy, including 89% of Republicans, 80% of independents, and 79% of Democrats. (NPR / Marist)
poll/ 32% of Americans think the infrastructure and social spending bills will hurt people like them, while 25% think they will help them, and 18% think the bills won’t make a difference. Overall, 69% of Americans say they know little to nothing about what’s in both bills. (ABC News)
poll/ 42% of Americans approve of the job Biden is doing as president – down from 53% in April. 54% say they disapprove of Biden’s performance, up 6 points since August. (NBC News)
1/ House Democrats – again – postponed a vote on the $1 trillion Senate-approved infrastructure bill, pushing off its consideration until at least next week. The delay followed a visit to Capitol Hill by Biden, who asked House Democrats to support both the infrastructure plan and the separate social policy and climate change framework, saying: “We are at an inflection point. The rest of the world wonders whether we can function […] I don’t think it’s hyperbole to say that the House and Senate majorities – and my presidency – will be determined by what happens in the next week.” Progressive Democrats, however, blocked the scheduled vote, saying they wanted to review the written legislative text of the $1.75 trillion social spending outline – and receive assurances that Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema would vote for it, which neither have outright given. The House, meanwhile, passed another temporary extension for highway funding until Dec. 3 – the same deadline to address government funding and a debt ceiling default. The Senate unanimously approved that extension after it passed the House. (Politico / Bloomberg / New York Times / ABC News / Washington Post / NBC News)
2/ The FDA authorized Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine for emergency use in children 5 to 11. About 28 million children will be eligible to receive the pediatric doses, which are one-third of an adult dose. The Biden administration said it’s already procured 15 million doses that are ready to ship once the CDC signs off, which could happen early next week. Children will still need two injections three weeks apart. (New York Times / Associated Press / CNBC)
3/ Facebook relaxed its content moderation efforts before the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. After the election on Nov. 6, 2020, the company rolled back many of the anti-violence, -misinformation, and -hate speech safeguards it had put into place for U.S. users. Despite banning the main “Stop the Steal” Facebook group, the company allowed dozens of similar and look-alike groups to flourish on the platform. Facebook would later describe the formation of those look-alike groups as a “coordinated” campaign, according to the leaked documents. By the time the company attempted to reign in the spread of the groups, a mob was already storming the steps of the Capitol. (Washington Post / New York Times)
Thousands of leaked internal Facebook documents revealed how the company caused or contributed to a long list of atrocities and other real-world harms and that the people in charge of the company were fully aware of the platform’s role. The documents, known as the Facebook Papers, show how the company and its executives privately and meticulously tracked how Facebook exacerbated ongoing crises, ignored warnings from employees about risky design decisions, and how it exposed vulnerable communities to a series of physical and psychological harms. The documents were provided to Congress by whistleblower Frances Haugen, while redacted copies were sent to a consortium of newsrooms. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / New York Times)
Mark Zuckerberg frequently made public statements that conflicted with his company’s own internal research and reports. Frances Haugen cited at least 20 public statements by Zuckerberg in which she asserted his unique level of control over the company caused him to bear command responsibility for the variety of social harms it caused. Yet Zuckerberg’s public statements frequently denied or deflected any such responsibility, including during his 2020 testimony before Congress when he claimed the company removes 94% of hate speech it finds on its platform before a human reports it. The leaked documents revealed that number was actually less than 5%. (Washington Post)
Facebook employees complained that they had been “actively held back” by their superiors at the company when they tried to make changes. Following the attack on the U.S. Capitol, Facebook announced that it would ban Trump’s account for 24 hours, sparking backlash from Facebook employees. “Do you genuinely think 24 hours is a meaningful ban?” one staffer posted on an internal message board. “How are we expected to ignore when leadership overrides research based policy decisions to better serve people like the groups inciting violence today,” the staffer wrote. “Rank and file workers have done their part to identify changes to improve our platform but have been actively held back.” (The Atlantic)
Facebook took years to fix issues surrounding anger and misinformation on its platform. In 2017, the company began weighting the “angry” emoji reaction button at five times the value of the “like” reaction. Facebook’s own data scientists later concluded that the “angry,” “wow,” and “haha” reactions appeared more frequently on posts the company deemed “toxic” or those that contained misinformation. Facebook waited until 2020 to rebalance the weight of each reaction. After the fix was implemented, users began to get less misinformation, less “disturbing” content and less “graphic violence.” (Washington Post)
4/ At least 12 Republicans who participated in the Jan. 6 rally are running for office next week. The candidates include state legislators running for reelection, as well as local officials, and candidates seeking statehouse seats. Of the 12 candidates, three said they only attended the “Stop the Steal” rally that preceded the insurrection and never went to the Capitol, while nine went to the Capitol but denied entering the building or haven’t spoken about their involvement. Election Day is Tuesday. (BuzzFeed News)
5/ The House select committee investigating the Capitol attack is reportedly weighing criminal contempt charges for former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and any other witness who defies a subpoena. Meadows was first subpoenaed more than a month ago, but hasn’t provided the requested documents or testimony. While the committee has indicated that Meadows has been “engaging” in negotiations over the terms of turning over documents and appearing for a deposition, one person with knowledge of the negotiations said it’s becoming “increasingly clear” that Meadows has “no real intention” of providing documents or testimony to the committee. One major focus of the investigation is what Trump knew in the lead-up to Jan. 6, and Meadows’ efforts to aid in overturning the 2020 presidential election. (CNN / The Guardian)
6/ Rep. Adam Kinzinger – a vocal Republican critic of Trump – announced that he will not run for reelection in 2022. Kinzinger announced his departure from Congress after the Democratic-led Illinois legislature adopted a new congressional map, which eliminated the Republican-majority district Kinzinger represented for the last decade. Kinzinger was one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN)
7/ Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo was charged with a misdemeanor sex crime. The criminal complaint alleges that Cuomo “intentionally, and for no legitimate purpose, forcibly place[d] his hand under the blouse shirt of the victim” and “onto her intimate body part” for “purposes of degrading and gratifying his sexual desires.” The incident allegedly occurred on Dec. 7, 2020, at the governor’s mansion. A class A misdemeanor is punishable by up to a year in jail or three years probation. (NBC News / Washington Post)
8/ The Supreme Court agreed to consider limiting the EPA’s authority to restrict greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. A group of 18 Republican-led states and several coal companies are challenging a lower-court ruling that vacated Trump administration rules, which had eased greenhouse gas standards. In January, a federal appeals court tossed out the industry-friendly Trump-era rules, saying they interpreted the Clean Air Act too narrowly. (Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
1/ Joe Manchin panned a proposed billionaire income tax to help pay for the social safety net and climate change bill, which is expected to cost about $1.75 trillion. Manchin called the plan “convoluted,” saying he didn’t like “targeting different people” with higher taxes just because they’re wealthy. Instead, Manchin floated a 15% “patriotic tax” on corporations. The billionaire tax idea gained traction after Kyrsten Sinema blocked conventional tax rate increases for corporations and individuals. Sinema had reportedly supported the proposed tax on the 700 people in the U.S. with more than $1 billion in assets. Together, Manchin and Sinema’s objections have injected uncertainty into Biden’s domestic agenda and halved what had been a $3.5 trillion package. (New York Times / Bloomberg / Politico / Associated Press / Axios / ABC News)
2/ Senate Democrats dropped paid family and medical leave from Biden’s Build Back Better spending package. The plan initially included 12 weeks of paid family leave, which lawmakers later considered reducing to four weeks to overcome opposition from Joe Manchin, who said he didn’t want to create a new entitlement program. When asked about the provision, Manchin replied: “I just can’t do it.” Plans to bolster Medicare and Medicaid benefits have also been scaled back due to opposition from Manchin and industry groups. Manchin has reportedly soured on Medicare vouchers to help cover annual dental costs. (Bloomberg / Washington Post / NBC News / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
3/ Biden – again – refused to exert executive privilege over documents that Trump has tried to keep away from the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol. White House counsel Dana Remus informed National Archivist David Ferriero that Biden “has determined that an assertion of executive privilege is not in the best interests of the United States […] Accordingly, President Biden does not uphold the former president’s assertion of privilege.” The National Archives is set to begin turning over records to the House on Nov. 12. Trump previously tried to assert privilege on more than 40 documents and sued to attempt to block the House from accessing them. The committee is also expected to subpoena John Eastman, the lawyer who outlined a scheme for overturning the election results in two memos, which served as the basis of an Oval Office meeting on Jan. 4 between Eastman, Trump, and Pence. Recently, however, Eastman has claimed he wrote the memos at the request of “somebody in the legal team” whose name he could not recall. Separately, at least five former Trump administration staffers have voluntarily spoken with the House committee. (CNN / Washington Post / CBS News)
4/ The FDA’s independent panel of vaccine experts voted to recommend that the agency issue an emergency use authorization for the Pfizer Covid-19 shot for children ages 5-11. The FDA is expected to grant emergency approval for the shots and then pass the issue to the CDC for review, which has the final say. (NPR / Politico / CNBC)
5/ Deborah Birx, the White House Covid-19 response coordinator under Trump, testified that the Trump administration could have prevented more than 130,000 American deaths during the early stages of the pandemic. Birx told the Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis that the Trump administration had “gotten somewhat complacent through the campaign season,” became “distracted” by the election, and then ignored recommendations to curb the pandemic. “I believe if we had fully implemented the mask mandates, the reduction in indoor dining […] and we had increased testing, that we probably could have decreased fatalities into the 30% less to 40% less range,” Birx said. When asked if Trump “did everything he could to try to mitigate the spread of the virus and save lives during the pandemic,” Birx responded, “No.” Birx also criticized Scott Atlas, who joined the White House as a special government employee in August 2020 after appearances on Fox News in which he decried fears about Covid-19 and advocated for some Americans to be deliberately infected with the coronavirus in order to reach “herd immunity.” (New York Times / Axios / Washington Post / Politico)
6/ The U.S. issued its first passport with an “X” gender marker as part of an effort to implement gender-inclusive policies. The State Department said it expects to offer the “X” designation to more people early next year after it finishes system and form updates. The U.S. special diplomatic envoy for LGBTQ rights said the decision brings government documents in line with the “lived reality” for nonbinary, intersex, and gender-nonconforming people. (Associated Press / CNN)
7/ A Wisconsin judge ruled that the three men Kyle Rittenhouse shot during a protest against police brutality can’t be called “victims” during the trial. Kenosha County Circuit Judge Bruce Schroeder said using the describing the men shot by Rittenhouse, including two who died, as “victim” would be loaded with prejudice. Schroeder, however, allowed the men to be referred to as rioters, looters or arsonists if the teenager’s defense team has evidence to support the characterizations. (USA Today / NBC News)
1/ Biden and Democratic congressional leaders are pushing for a vote this week on the social spending and climate bill. An agreement could also allow the House to pass a separate $1.2 trillion bill to upgrade the country’s roads, bridges, pipes, ports, and Internet connections, and send it to Biden’s desk as soon as this week. Together, the two packages could dislodge roughly $3 trillion in economic spending initiatives. Chuck Schumer said there were three to four open issues on the social safety net and climate change bill, but Democrats were “on track to get this done.” Joe Manchin added that he believes a compromise on the package will come together this week. Negotiators are still working out the details for how to pay for the package after Kyrsten Sinema rejected increasing the marginal tax rates on corporations, capital gains and individuals. Sinema, however, has indicated that she is open to a minimum tax on corporations and has not ruled out a tax hike on billionaires. And, while it’s unclear what level of new taxes Manchin will support, he’s indicated that he supports Biden’s proposal to roll back some of the Trump tax cuts for high earners and corporations, as well as the White House plan to tax the investment incomes of billionaires. The bill, initially drafted at $3.5 trillion, is expected to ultimately cost between $1.5 trillion and $2 trillion. Biden said he wants a deal this week before he travels to Europe at the end of the week for the Group of 20 summit and a climate conference. (New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / Politico / CBS News / CNN / CNBC)
2/ A team of Trump advisers and lawyers setup a “war room” at a D.C. hotel in an effort to overturn the 2020 election in the weeks leading up to the Jan. 6 rally and attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob. The group – Rudy Giuliani, Steve Bannon, former NYC police chief Bernard Kerik, conservative lawyer John Eastman, One America News reporter Christina Bobb, retired Army colonel Phil Waldron, Boris Epshteyn, and others – set out to pressure Pence into blocking or delaying certification of Biden’s victory, while also publicizing alleged evidence of voter fraud and urging members of state legislatures to challenge and decertify their results. They called the set of rooms and suites at the Willard hotel the “command center,” which was located a block from the White House. The Trump campaign later reimbursed Kerik’s firm for more than $55,000 for rooms for the legal team. The congressional panel investigating Jan. 6 also cited Bannon’s involvement at the “‘war room’ organized at the Willard.” (Washington Post)
3/ Organizers for the Jan. 6 March for Trump and Stop the Steal rallies held “dozens” of planning meetings with members of Congress and White House staff. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Rep. Paul Gosar, Rep. Lauren Boebert, Rep. Mo Brooks, Rep. Madison Cawthorn, Rep. Andy Biggs, and Rep. Louie Gohmert or their staffs were reportedly involved in planning conversations leading up to the Jan. 6 insurrection in which Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol to object to the electoral certification. Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, was involved in the conversations surrounding the protests. Organizers also claim that Gosar offered them “several assurances” about a “blanket pardon” in an unrelated ongoing investigation to encourage them to plan the protests. No pardons were ultimately issued. (Rolling Stone)
4/ U.S. Customs and Border Protection determined that 60 CBP agents “engaged in misconduct and were subject to discipline” after sharing violent and obscene posts in secret Facebook groups. The CBP Discipline Review Board recommended firing 24 agents for “serious misconduct,” including an agent who posted “offensive images of an alt-right and white supremacist symbol and sexualized images of a Member of Congress.” Of the 60 employees found to have committed misconduct, two were fired, and 43 were suspended without pay. (CNN / Washington Post)
5/ The Russia-linked hackers behind the SolarWinds hack that infiltrated nine U.S. government agencies last year has launched another campaign to steal sensitive information stored in the cloud. Biden imposed sanctions on Moscow in April for the SolarWinds attack. The following month, hackers began targeting more than 140 technology companies, including those that manage or resell cloud computing services. Of the companies targeted, 14 were compromised. (New York Times / ABC News / Wall Street Journal)
1/ The Supreme Court – again – refused to block the Texas law that bans most abortions in the state after six weeks, but agreed to hear legal arguments over the nation’s most restrictive abortion law on Nov. 1. The court said it would focus specifically on whether the federal government has the authority to challenge the unusual way in which the Texas legislature crafted the law, which deputizes private individuals to sue anyone who performs the procedure or “aids and abets” it. The court, however, turned down a request from Texas to use the cases to decide whether to overturn the right to abortion established in 1973 in Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark decision legalizing abortion nationwide prior to viability, generally thought to be around 22 to 24 weeks. In December, the court will also consider a Mississippi law that bans most abortions after 15 weeks. Mississippi is explicitly asking the court to overturn Roe. (Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / CNN / NBC News / ABC News)
2/ Kyrsten Sinema won’t support raising taxes on businesses, high-income earners, or capital gains, potentially derailing the revenue-increasing provisions needed to finance Biden’s social safety net and climate plan. Democrats had hoped to pay for much of their plan by raising the corporate tax rate to 26.5% from 21%, moving the top personal income rate to 39.6% from 37%, and increasing the capital gains tax rate for those earning at least $400,000. The plan would also add a 3% surtax on income above $5 million. Instead, Biden’s advisers said that they are now pursuing a range of ideas to raise new revenues, including a new minimum tax on corporations, targeting America’s roughly 700 billionaires who don’t pay taxes on their unrealized gains, taxing stock buybacks, closing loopholes for high income Americans, and increased IRS enforcement. Sinema reportedly appears open to an excise tax on stock buybacks and a 15% minimum corporate tax rate. (Politico / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / CNN / NBC News)
3/ Five veterans on Kyrsten Sinema’s advisory board resigned from their roles, accusing her of “hanging your constituents out to dry.” In a letter to Sinema, the veterans accused the Arizona Democrat of “answering to big donors rather than your own people.” The group criticized her opposition to parts of Biden’s social safety net, education, climate, and tax plan, refusal to change the Senate filibuster to protect voting rights, failure to support prescription drug negotiations, and for not voting on the Jan. 6 commission. They added: “You have become one of the principal obstacles to progress.” (CNN / New York Times / The Hill)
4/ The White House, intelligence agencies, and Pentagon concluded “no country will be spared” from the effects of climate change, according to a series of four reports from the Biden administration on the threat of climate change. Together, the reports show that the effects of climate change will be wide-reaching, with rising temperatures, droughts, and extreme weather likely increasing the risks of instability and conflict within and between countries over food and water supplies, which could also lead to the displacement of tens of millions of people around the world. The top-level conclusion of the Financial Stability Oversight Council report is that climate change is an “emerging threat” to the stability of global markets and the economy, while the National Intelligence Estimate warns “that climate change will increasingly exacerbate risks to U.S. national security interests.” (Washington Post / CNN / NBC News / New York Times / Axios)
5/ The House voted to hold Steve Bannon in contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena issued by the committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Nine Republicans voted with all 220 Democrats to pass the resolution and send the matter to the Justice Department, which will decide whether to prosecute Bannon. Attorney General Merrick Garland declined to say whether he would move forward with charges, instead saying the Justice Department would “make a decision consistent with the principles of prosecution.” Contempt of Congress is a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail and a maximum fine of $100,000. (CNN / Associated Press / CNBC / Politico / New York Times)
6/ Rudy Giuliani’s former associate was convicted on six counts related to “influence buying” campaign finance schemes. Lev Parnas – a key figure in Trump’s first impeachment – was charged with conspiring to funnel $325,000 in donations to a pro-Trump super PAC on behalf of his company, Global Energy Producers, to give the appearance of a successful business and “obtain access to exclusive political events and gain influence with politicians.” In reality, the money came from a loan his business partner, Igor Fruman, had taken out on his Florida condo. Fruman previously pleaded guilty. Parnas faces up to five years in prison for each of five counts and a sixth count for falsifying records to the FEC, which carries a 20-year maximum prison sentence. (New York Times / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
poll/ 41% of Americans approve of Biden’s handling of the presidency, compared with 52% who disapprove. In July, 48% approved while 45% disapproved. (CNBC)
1/ Senate Republicans blocked a federal voting rights bill for the third time. All 50 Republicans voted against bringing the Freedom to Vote Act to the floor, a compromise version of the For the People Act, which Joe Manchin helped negotiate in an effort to win Republican support. Democrats remain at least 10 votes short of the 60 needed to overcome a filibuster to advance the bill without changing the Senate filibuster rule. Kyrsten Sinema and Manchin, however, remain reluctant to change the filibuster rules, saying any election overhaul needs bipartisan support. “If there’s anything worthy of the Senate’s attention, if there’s any issue that merits debate on this floor, it’s protecting our democracy from the forces that are trying to unravel it from the inside out,” Chuck Schumer said after switching his vote to “no” at the last moment in order to allow him to request another vote in the future. The Freedom to Vote Act would set federal standards for early and mail-in voting, allow for same-day voter registration, make Election Day a national holiday, and mandate that voters provide some form of identification before casting a ballot. Mitch McConnell, meanwhile, denounced the compromise legislation, saying: “The same rotten core is all still there.” (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / ABC News / CBS News)
2/ Joe Manchin reportedly threatened to leave the Democratic Party if Biden and congressional Democrats didn’t agree to his demand to cut the size of the social infrastructure bill from $3.5 trillion to $1.75 trillion. Manchin would declare himself an “American Independent,” but it’s unclear whether he’d end up caucusing with the Democrats – allowing them to maintain control of the Senate – or side with the Republicans and place the Senate in GOP control. When asked about the potential plan, Manchin replied: “I can’t control rumors, and it’s bullshit, bullshit spelled with a B, U, L, L, capital B.” (Mother Jones / Business Insider)
3/ Biden lowered the new tax-and-spending proposal to between $1.75 trillion and $1.9 trillion, telling Democrats during a private meeting that he believed they could secure a deal at that level. While the number is not finalized, it is far closer to Joe Manchin’s $1.5 trillion top line, but a significant reduction from the $3.5 trillion that Democrats initially pursued. A package up to $1.9 trillion would allow Democrats to accomplish some of their priorities, including at least some expansion of Medicare, the introduction of universal prekindergarten, and billions of dollars to address climate change. Biden’s plan to offer free community college, however, is expected to be dropped from the final package, as is the $150 billion program to encourage utility companies to switch to renewable energy. The enhanced child tax credit will likely be extended for only one additional year. Democrats had pushed to keep in place for up to five years. (Washington Post / CNN / CNBC / Wall Street Journal)
4/ The Biden administration scaled back its plan for the IRS to crackdown on tax cheats after criticism from Republican lawmakers and the banking industry. Under a revised plan, banks would be required to provide data about accounts with more than $10,000 in non-payroll income, rather than the $600 threshold that was initially proposed. The Treasury Department had estimated that its original proposal could raise $700 billion over a decade by cracking down on tax cheats. The proposal is currently included in the multi-trillion dollar social policy and climate change bill lawmakers and the White House have been negotiating for months. (ABC News / New York Times / Politico)
5/ The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol voted unanimously to recommend charging Stephen Bannon with criminal contempt for defying its subpoena. The full House is expected to vote on the recommendation this week. If passed, a criminal referral would be sent to the Justice Department, which would decide whether to press charges. A conviction could result in up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $100,000. Bannon has refused to comply with a committee subpoena demanding that he testify and hand over relevant documents about the riot and the effort to delay the electoral vote count, citing Trump’s attempt to claim “executive and other privileges.” No criminal charges have ever been filed when an assertion of executive privilege is involved. Meanwhile, Rep. Jim Jordan – a potential witness in the House’s investigation – struggled to answer questions about his communications with Trump during the Jan. 6 attack, telling a House panel that he doesn’t recall the number of times he spoke with Trump that day. And Trump’s former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, retained a top Republican lawyer to handle the Jan. 6 investigation. (NBC News / CNN / Washington Post / New York Times)
6/ The Westchester County district attorney’s office subpoenaed property-tax records related to the Trump National Golf Club in Ossining, N.Y. Every year since 2015, the Trump golf club has appealed its tax bill in court in an effort to cut the tax bill — sometimes by as much as 90%. That process usually requires a company to submit data about its property’s financial performance as evidence. The district attorney appears to be focused in part on whether the Trump Organization misled local officials about the property’s value to reduce its taxes. The Trump Organization is also facing a criminal investigation by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, who has already indicted Trump’s Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg on charges of felony tax fraud. (New York Times / Washington Post)
7/ The Trump administration discussed sending 250,000 troops to the southwest border at the start of the coronavirus pandemic – more than half the U.S. Army and a sixth of all American forces. In the spring of 2020, Stephen Miller pressed the Department of Homeland Security to develop a plan for the number of troops needed to secure the entire 2,000-mile border with Mexico against the coronavirus. Trump’s defense secretary, Mark Esper, quashed the idea following a brief, contentious confrontation with Miller in the Oval Office. Had Trump gone through with the deployment, it would have been the largest use of the military inside the U.S. since the Civil War, and dwarfing the American presence in both Afghanistan and Iraq at the height of the war. Around the same time, Trump was pressing his top aides to launch military raids against drug cartels inside Mexico. Trump was talked out of the idea after aides suggested that military raids inside Mexico would look like the U.S. was committing an act of war against one of its closest allies. (New York Times)
8/ More than 1.7 million migrants along the Mexico border were detained by the Border Patrol during the 2021 fiscal year that ended in September – the highest levels ever recorded. Earlier this year, Biden tapped Harris to address the “root causes” of migration from Central America’s Northern Triangle nations — Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. The latest Customs and Border Protection data indicates that the strategy has had little to no measurable effect. (Washington Post)
poll/ 62% of Americans believe Supreme Court bases its decisions more on the justices’ political views than the Constitution and the law. 62% say they favor changing the current lifetime appointment to a one-time, 15-year term. (Grinnell College National Poll)
poll/ 78% of Republicans say they want to see Trump run for president in 2024 – up from 66% in May. Overall, 51% of Americans say Trump has had a mainly negative impact on American politics, while 41% say he has had a mainly positive impact. (Quinnipiac)
1/ Trump sued the Jan. 6 select committee and the National Archives to block the release of his White House’s records related to the Capitol attack. In a federal lawsuit, Trump argued that the House select committee’s request for documents was “unprecedented in their breadth and scope and are untethered from any legitimate legislative purpose,” and “almost limitless in scope.” Trump alleged that the committee is seeking potentially millions of presidential records that he claims are covered by executive privilege, which the Biden administration previously declined to assert on Trump’s behalf. (CNN / Politico / Associated Press / NBC News / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
2/ The Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to temporarily block a Texas law that bans most abortions in the state while a legal challenge moves forward, calling the law “plainly unconstitutional.” The DOJ said that leaving the law in effect would allow Texas to “nullify” half a century of Supreme Court precedents “by banning abortion long before viability – indeed, before many women even realize they are pregnant.” In a 5 to 4 decision last month, the Supreme Court allowed the law to go into effect, saying the case presented “complex and novel” questions about whether the court had the authority to hear it. The court ordered Texas to respond by Thursday, and could rule this week. (New York Times / Associated Press / Washington Post / Politico)
3/ A key climate policy designed to phase out fossil fuels will likely be cut from the $3.5 trillion infrastructure package because Joe Manchin opposes the clean electricity program. Manchin, whose home state of West Virginia depends heavily on coal, told the White House that he is completely opposed to the Clean Electricity Performance Program, which would reward energy companies that switch from fossil fuels like coal and natural gas to clean power sources like solar, wind, and nuclear power. The Biden administration had been counting on the $150 billion program to achieve the bulk Biden’s pledge to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. As a result, the White House is rewriting the legislation without the climate provision while trying to cobble together a mix of other policies that could also cut emissions. Manchin is a crucial vote to passing any reconciliation package in the evenly divided Senate, and FEC filings show that he’s raised over $400,000 from energy companies in the third quarter. (NBC News / New York Times / Politico / Washington Post / Vox / Business Insider)
4/ The Biden administration laid out a roadmap for regulating a group of toxic “forever chemicals” that pose health risks to millions of Americans. The EPA wants to designate polyfluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, as hazardous substances under the nation’s Superfund law, which could make manufacturers and distributors of the chemicals liable for cleaning up contaminated sites. PFAS are commonly called “forever chemicals,” because they do not break down naturally and have turned up in drinking water and the food supply. The EPA previously promised to regulate PFAS under both the Obama and Trump administrations, but the agency met resistance from the American Chemistry Council, a trade association that represents the industry. (Politico / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / NBC News)
5/ The Texas Senate passed a bill requiring transgender youth to compete on sports teams that match their birth gender, not the gender they identify with. The measure requires public schools to assign athletes based on the sex on their birth certificates. The new law negates a current regulation that lets transgender students compete if they’ve received a court order allowing them to change the gender marked on their birth certificate. The bill now heads to Gov. Greg Abbott, who has indicated he intends to sign it. (NBC News / CBS News)
6/ The Senate is expected to take up a voting rights legislation this week, which Republicans plan to block. The bill – a pared-back version of the For the People Act – give all voters in all states access to a minimum of 15 early voting days and same-day registration, establish Election Day as a public holiday, require states to have automatic voter registration, restore the right to vote to Americans with felony convictions upon completion of their prison sentence, and prohibit partisan gerrymandering of congressional districts. Democrats would need 10 Republicans to join them in overcoming the filibuster. Chuck Schumer said the Freedom to Vote Act was necessary to “right the ship of our democracy and establish common sense national standards to give fair access to our democracy to all Americans.” Mitch McConnell, meanwhile, promised that the measure “will go nowhere,” calling it a “partisan power grab” to “micromanage elections across America.” (NBC News / The Hill)
1/ The Justice Department will ask the Supreme Court to block enforcement of a restrictive Texas abortion law while a legal challenge moves forward. The law, which bans most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy and empowers private citizens to sue anyone who “aids or abets” in the procedure, took effect Sept. 1 after the Supreme Court refused to grant an emergency request to stop it. The vote was 5 to 4, with Chief Justice John Roberts joining the court’s three liberal members in dissent. The Justice Department then sued the state of Texas after the court declined to block the law. Last week, a federal judge temporarily suspended enforcement of the abortion ban, saying he would “not sanction one more day of this offensive deprivation of such an important right.” The law, however, was allowed to go back into effect after the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals allowed the law to remain in place during ongoing litigation between Texas and the federal government. (New York Times / Politico / Washington Post / CNBC / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post)
2/ A Capitol Police officer was indicted on obstruction of justice charges in connection to the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection. Prosecutors allege a day after the riot, Michael Riley sent a private message on Facebook to a rioter and encouraged him to delete incriminating selfies and videos about being in the Capitol. Riley instructed the person to “Get off of social media” and to “Take down the part about being in the building they are currently investigating and everyone who was in the building is going to charged. Just looking out!” Riley also expressed support for the rioter’s political views, saying “im a capitol police officer who agrees with your political stance.” (CNN / Politico)
3/ The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol will move to hold Stephen Bannon in criminal contempt for not complying with its subpoena. Committee Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson accused Bannon of “hiding behind the former President’s insufficient, blanket, and vague statements regarding privileges he has purported to invoke. We reject his position entirely.” The panel will vote Tuesday to recommend criminal charges, sending the recommendation to the full House. If certified, Attorney General Merrick Garland would decide whether to criminally prosecute Bannon for failing to comply with the congressional subpoena. (Associated Press / Washington Post / NBC News / CNN)
4/ Biden’s commission studying potential reforms to Supreme Court warned that there are “considerable” risks to expanding the number of justices, according to the group’s preliminary “discussion materials.” The bipartisan commission agreed that Congress has the legal power to expand the court, but expansion efforts could hurt the court’s “long-term legitimacy or otherwise undermine its role in our legal system.” The group did not, however, that there is widespread support for term limits. The group is expected to present a final report to Biden by mid-November. (Washington Post / The Hill / NBC News / CNN / CNBC / Bloomberg)
5/ The U.S. will reopen its border to fully vaccinated foreign travelers on Nov. 8. The new policy will will require foreign national travelers from 33 countries to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 and show proof of a negative Covid-19 test taken three days prior to boarding an airplane. The policy applies to both those traveling by plane and over land from Canada and Mexico. (Politico / New York Times / CBS News / NBC News)
6/ An independent FDA advisory panel voted unanimously to recommend authorizing booster shots of Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine for people 18 years or older, at least two months after the first dose. The FDA will now consider the committee’s advice and the CDC’s advisory group will then be asked to consider it. The FDA panel voted yesterday to recommend authorizing Moderna booster shots. (Politico / New York Times / CNN / ABC News)
7/ A judge in New York ordered Trump to sit for a videotaped deposition as part of a civil lawsuit connected to a 2015 rally where protesters say Trump’s security guards assaulted them. A group of Mexican protesters said they were assaulted during a rally outside Trump Tower in Sept. 2015 over the then-candidate’s comments that Mexican immigrants were criminals and rapists. The lawsuit named Trump, his campaign, his former head of security Keith Schiller, and others. Trump’s deposition is scheduled for Oct. 18 at 10 a.m. at the Trump Tower in Manhattan. (ABC News / Business Insider / The Hill)
1/ The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack subpoenaed a former Justice Department lawyer who tried to use department resources to push Trump’s false claims of voting fraud in the 2020 election. Internal emails show that Jeffrey Clark urged top DOJ officials to send out a letter he drafted that falsely claimed the FBI found evidence of voter fraud in multiple states. Richard Donoghue, who served as the acting deputy attorney general at the time, replied: “There is no chance that I would sign this letter or anything remotely like this […] from where I stand, this is not even within the realm of possibility.” In early January, Trump reportedly entertained a plan to fire acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen and replace him with Clark, who would publicly pursue Trump’s baseless claims of voter fraud. The committee is seeking documents and a deposition from Clark by Oct. 29. Rosen, meanwhile, sat for an interview with the committee today. (Washington Post / Politico / NBC News / NPR / CNN)
2/ A federal judge held Washington, D.C.’s corrections director and jail warden in contempt of court, ruling they had improperly delayed medical treatment for a defendant detained as part of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Judge Royce Lamberth acted after jail officials failed to turn over the information needed to approve surgery for Christopher Worrell, who broke his wrist in May while in custody. Worrell, a member of the Proud Boys, was charged with four felonies, including rioting and spraying pepper gel at police. Prosecutors have alleged that Worrell traveled to Washington and coordinated with Proud Boys leading up to the attack. Lamberth, calling Worrell’s delayed treatment “incompetent” and “inexcusable,” said he would refer the case to the Justice Department to investigate whether the jail violated the civil rights of other detained Jan. 6 defendants. (New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press)
3/ The U.S. will lift travel restrictions at land borders with Canada and Mexico for fully vaccinated travelers. Starting in November, nonessential travelers, such as those entering for tourism or to visit family members, will be required to show proof of Covid-19 vaccination to Customs and Border Protection officers when they cross land borders. For the last 19 months, only “essential travel” had been allowed across the Canadian and Mexican borders. In January, essential travelers will also be required to be fully vaccinated. Unvaccinated travelers will continue to be banned from crossing. (New York Times / Associated Press / NBC News)
4/ Biden announced that the Port of Los Angeles will operate “24 hours a day, seven days a week” as part of an effort to relieve supply chain bottlenecks. The announcement follows a similar transition by the Port of Long Beach in September. Together, the ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach account for 40% of all shipping containers entering the U.S. As of Monday, there were 62 ships berthed at the two ports and 81 waiting to dock and unload. The average anchorage time has stretched to more than 11 days, driving prices higher for U.S. consumers. Consumer prices, meanwhile, climbed 5.4% from a year ago, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. (Washington Post / New York Times / Associated Press / Bloomberg / CNBC)
5/ The House approved a bill to raise the debt ceiling into early December, postponing the threat of a first-ever national default. The bill, passed by the Senate last week, now heads to Biden’s desk. He is expected to sign it later this week. The legislation extends the debt ceiling by $480 billion, which the Treasury Department has estimated is enough to last until at least Dec. 3 – the same day government funding will expire. (Politico / CNBC / New York Times)
6/ The Biden administration announced a plan to develop wind farms along nearly the entire U.S. coastline. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management will hold up to seven lease sales by 2025 in the Gulf of Maine, Gulf of Mexico, and off the coasts of California, the Carolinas, and Oregon as part of Biden’s pledge to deploy 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2030 – enough to power 10 million homes. (New York Times / Reuters)
poll/ 54% of Americans support requiring public school students aged 12 or older to be vaccinated against Covid-19 before they can attend classes in person. 45% oppose the vaccine mandate. 72% of Democrats favor a vaccine mandate for the students while 59% of Republicans are opposed. (Politico)
1/ A Capitol Police whistleblower accused the agency’s two senior leaders of significant “failures” surrounding the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. The whistleblower accused Sean Gallagher, the USCP’s acting chief of uniformed operations, and Yogananda Pittman, assistant chief of police for protective and intelligence operations, of failing to take appropriate action “which directly contributed to the deaths and wounding of officers and civilians.” The whistleblower also accused Pittman of lying to Congress about an intelligence report Capitol Police received a day before the riot. Pittman told congressional investigators in April that senior officials were also aware of the intelligence before the attack. The whistleblower, however, claimed that Pittman never sent “the single most important piece of intelligence information […] with any members of USCP leadership.” (Politico / NBC News)
2/ A federal appeals court temporarily reinstated the nation’s most restrictive abortion law. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals late Friday struck down a lower federal court ruling that temporarily blocked Texas from enforcing its ban on abortions as early as six weeks into pregnancy with no exceptions for rape or incest. Texas appealed the order just two days after it was issued. The Department of Justice has until Oct. 12 to respond to the ruling. The ban will remain in effect until then. (NPR / Texas Tribune / Washington Post / Bloomberg)
3/ Merck asked the FDA for emergency authorization for its antiviral pill for treating Covid-19 after it halved hospitalizations and deaths in a clinical trial. If authorized, the drug, molnupiravir, would be the first antiviral pill to treat Covid-19. (Associated Press / New York Times)
4/ The Biden administration canceled the remaining Trump-era border wall contracts in the Laredo and Rio Grande Valley. After taking office, Biden suspended wall construction and called for a review of projects and funds. In late July, Customs and Border Protection terminated two border wall contracts in the Laredo area, covering approximately 31 miles. The latest cancelations cover some 44 miles. (CNN / Yahoo News)
5/ The Biden administration has reunited 52 families separated by the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” border policy. At least 1,000 migrant children remain without their parents. Michelle Brane, the head of the Family Reunification Task Force, said progress has been slow because “there was no system in place for documenting separations,” and people have moved since being separated. (Business Insider / Axios)
6/ Trump’s Washington, D.C., hotel lost more than $70 million while he was in office despite taking in an estimated $3.7 million from foreign governments. The House Committee on Oversight and Reform said the Trump Organization had to inject $27 million into the hotel from other parts of its business, and got “preferential treatment” from Deutsche Bank, which had previously loaned Trump $170 million to renovate the hotel. The committee, which recently obtained documents from the General Services Administration, said the information raises “concerns about possible violations of the Constitution’s Foreign Emoluments Clause.” (Washington Post / NBC News / Associated Press / CNN / CNBC / Reuters)
7/ The Saudi royal family gifted Trump and administration officials with three robes made out of white tiger and cheetah fur, as well as a dagger that appeared to be made out of ivory. When a White House lawyer concluded that the gifts most likely violated the Endangered Species Act, the Trump administration instead held onto them and failed to disclose them on the State Department’s legally required annual filings for foreign gifts. The State Department’s inspector general is also investigating whether Trump’s political appointees took gift bags worth thousands of dollars, which were meant for foreign leaders at the 2020 Group of 7 summit. The summit was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. The inspector general is also trying to locate a $5,800 bottle of Japanese whiskey given to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and a 22-karat gold coin given to another State Department official. The Trump administration also reportedly never disclosed that Jared Kushner received two swords and a dagger from the Saudis, which he later paid for after he left office. (New York Times)
1/ Biden rejected Trump’s request to assert executive privilege over records related to the Jan. 6 attack. In a letter to the National Archives, the White House said Biden “determined that an assertion of executive privilege is not in the best interests of the United States.” Trump had claimed executive privilege in an attempt to shield documents requested by the House Select Committee about his and his aides’ activities during the Jan. 6 attack. (Washington Post / Politico / NBC News / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
2/ Trump directly asked the Justice Department nine times in Dec. and early Jan. to undermine the 2020 election results. According to a Senate Judiciary Committee report on Trump’s efforts to overturn the election, Trump tried replacing then-acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen with Jeffrey Clark, a DOJ lawyer who supported election fraud conspiracies and had indicated he would publicly pursue Trump’s baseless claims of voter fraud. During a Jan. 3 Oval Office meeting, Rosen, his deputy Richard Donoghue, and another official warned Trump that all of the Justice Department’s assistant attorneys general would resign en masse if he followed through with his plan to replace Rosen with Clark. White House counsel Pat Cipollone and his top deputy, Patrick Philbin, also threatened to quit. Cipollone called Trump’s plan a “murder-suicide pact.” (New York Times / CNN / Washington Post)
3/ Steve Bannon refused to comply with a subpoena and will not cooperate with the House select committee investigating Jan. 6. Bannon cited Trump’s claim of executive privilege, saying “we must accept his direction and honor his invocation of executive privilege.” After Bannon informed the panel that he would not cooperate, the committee threatened to pursue criminal contempt of Congress charges against Bannon. The committee has subpoenaed documents and testimony from Bannon, Dan Scavino, Kash Patel, and Mark Meadows. The four were ordered to turn over documents related to Jan. 6 by Oct. 7 (yesterday) and to sit for interviews by Oct. 15. Trump has directed the four to ignore the subpoenas. (New York Times / CNN / CNBC / Politico)
4/ The Senate voted to temporarily raise the debt limit by $480 billion, an amount the Treasury Department estimates will allow the U.S. to continue paying its bills until Dec. 3. The bill now moves to the House, which is expected to take up the legislation early next week. The two-month patch overcame a Republican filibuster, 61-38, after 11 Senate Republicans joined with all Democrats in voting to end debate and move the bill to final passage, which required a simple majority. (Politico / New York Times / ABC News / CNBC)
5/ A federal judge blocked enforcement of the new Texas law that bans nearly all abortions in the state after about six weeks of pregnancy. “From the moment S.B. 8 went into effect, women have been unlawfully prevented from exercising control over their lives in ways that are protected by the Constitution,” U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman said in his decision to grant a preliminary injunction, calling the law an “offensive deprivation” of a constitutional right. In his 113-page opinion, Pitman said Texas had “contrived an unprecedented and transparent statutory scheme” by delegating enforcement of the law to private individuals, who are entitled to collect $10,000 in damages if they bring a successful lawsuit against anyone who performs abortions or “aids and abets” them. The lawsuit was brought by the Biden administration and Attorney General Merrick Garland called the order “a victory for women in Texas and for the rule of law.” Within about an hour of Pitman’s decision, Texas filed a notice appealing the decision to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The outcome of that appeal will likely end up at the Supreme Court within weeks. (NPR / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / Associated Press)
6/ Biden restored environmental protections to national monuments that had been stripped by the Trump administration. Biden said that protecting Bears Ears National Monument, Grand Staircase-Escalante, and the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts should not become “a pendulum that swings back and forth depending on who is in public office.” In 2017, Trump signed an executive order that downsized Bears Ears by 85% and cut Grand Staircase in half. Biden joked that making the changes “might be the easiest thing I’ve ever done so far as president.” (NPR / New York Times / NBC News / ABC News)
poll/ 84% of Trump voters worry about discrimination against whites and think Christianity is under attack. 38% of Biden voters agree that anti-white discrimination is a problem and that Christianity is under attack. (Business Insider)
1/ The Senate postponed a vote to suspend the nation’s debt limit after Republicans planned to filibuster the effort for the third time in two weeks. Mitch McConnell and Republicans lawmakers continue to block debate on the legislation as part of their opposition to Biden’s economic agenda, arguing that Democrats should raise the debt limit unilaterally through reconciliation. Democrats, however, have repeatedly said that reconciliation is not an option, since it would be too complicated, time-consuming, and “risky” given the threat of a first-ever default on federal debt. Democrats need at least 10 Republicans to join them to break a filibuster on raising the debt ceiling. Schumer has said he wants Congress to pass legislation on the debt ceiling by the end of the week. (Washington Post / Reuters / CNN)
2/ Biden suggested that it’s a “real possibility” for Democrats to revise the Senate’s filibuster rules to overcome the Republican blockade on raising the debt ceiling. To invoke the “nuclear option” and change the filibuster rules, Democrats would need unity from their 50-member caucus, including Harris’ tie-breaking vote. Democrats said any “carve out” for the debt limit would apply only to the debt limit and not other measures. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, however, remain opposed to changing the Senate’s filibuster rules. Manchin called any speculation that he would support changing the filibuster “theatrics,” but added “we are not going to default as a country.” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, meanwhile, warned that Oct. 18 is the deadline before the U.S. “will be out of extraordinary measures, have limited cash, and likely to exhaust it very quickly.” She added that a default could plunge the U.S. into a recession. (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / Bloomberg / The Hill / CNN)
3/ Mitch McConnell offered to allow Democrats to temporarily raise the debt ceiling, but refused to lift the GOP blockade of a long-term increase. In a statement, McConnell said Republicans would let Democrats lift the debt ceiling through November to a fixed number, rather than suspending the limit until a set date, which would give Democrats more time to pass debt limit legislation through reconciliation without any Republican votes. “This will moot Democrats’ excuses about the time crunch,” McConnell said in a statement. Senate Democrats signaled they would accept McConnell’s offer, setting up a vote as soon as this week on the short-term debt patch. White House press secretary Jen Psaki, meanwhile, responded to McConnell’s proposal, saying: “We could get this done today, we don’t need to kick the can, we don’t need to go through a cumbersome process that every day brings additional risks.” (Politico / New York Times / Bloomberg / The Hill / Washington Post / CNN / Axios)
4/ Florida is the only state that hasn’t submitted a plan to the Education Department for how it’ll use federal Covid-19 relief funds for schools. The state’s plan is required before more than $2.3 billion in federal aid can be released to Florida’s schools. The Biden administration, meanwhile, ordered Arizona to stop using federal pandemic funding on a pair of grant programs only available to schools without mask mandates. (CNN / Associated Press)
5/ Trump’s top aides are expected to defy demands for documents and testimony from the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. The committee had issued subpoenas to Mark Meadows, Steve Bannon, Dan Scavino, and Kash Patel requesting documents by Oct. 7 and a deposition by Oct. 15. Trump and his legal team, however, have pressed the attorneys for the subpoenaed aides to defy the orders. The committee has also reportedly been unable to physically serve the subpoena to Scavino. (The Guardian / CNN)
6/ A federal judge sentenced a Jan. 6 rioter to 45 days in jail, 60 hours of community service, and $500 restitution for the damage done to the Capitol building. Matthew Mazzocco’s defense lawyer had asked for probation, while a federal prosecutor had suggested three months of home confinement. Instead, during Mazzocco’s sentencing, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan said that if the defendant “walks away with probation and a slap on the wrist, that’s not going to deter anyone from trying what he did again.” She added: “The country is watching.” Of 11 defendants sentenced so far, Mazzocco is the first to receive a jail term when prosecutors had not asked for one. (Washington Post)
7/ Trump praised Pence for downplaying the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, saying Pence’s Fox News interview “very much destroys and discredits the Unselect Committees Witch Hunt,” which is investigating the insurrection. During his interview with Sean Hannity, Pence blamed “the media” for distracting from Biden’s “failed agenda by focusing on one day in January,” adding that “they want to use that one day to try and demean the character and intentions of 74 million Americans.” A bipartisan group of former officials and former federal judges, meanwhile, asked the California bar association to investigate the conduct of John Eastman, the lawyer who outlined the legal strategy for Pence to overturn the 2020 election results by simply not counting electoral votes on Jan. 6. (The Hill / Washington Post)
poll/ 67% of Republicans say Trump should remain a major national political figure, including 44% who said they would like him to run for president in 2024. 32%, meanwhile, say they do not want Trump to remain a national political figure. (Pew Research Center)
poll/ 38% of Americans approve of the job Biden is doing as president – his lowest approval rating since taking office. 53% disapprove. (Quinnipiac)
1/ Mitch McConnell demanded that Biden pressure congressional Democratic leaders into raising the debt ceiling unilaterally because Republicans will not support the effort to lift the borrowing limit. McConnell wants Democrats to use budget reconciliation to lift the debt ceiling with only 50 votes instead of the normal 60-vote threshold – the same process Democrats are using to advance Biden’s $3.5 trillion social spending package. “Since mid-July, Republicans have clearly stated that Democrats will need to raise the debt limit on their own,” McConnell wrote in a letter to Biden. “We have simply warned that since your party wishes to govern alone, it must handle the debt limit alone as well.” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen previously said the government will run out of cash in about two weeks, which could cause a catastrophic debt default. Budget experts, however, say the reconciliation process would take at least two weeks to complete. (Bloomberg / Politico)
2/ Biden accused Republicans of playing “Russian roulette” with the U.S. economy by refusing to join Democrats in raising the debt ceiling. “Not only are Republicans refusing to do their job, they are threatening to use their power to prevent us from doing our job,” Biden said, blaming Mitch McConnell and Republicans for what he described as a “meteor headed to crash” the economy. “Frankly, I think it’s hypocritical, dangerous, and disgraceful. Their obstruction and irresponsibility knows no bounds.” Biden added that more than a quarter of U.S. debt – about $8 trillion – was incurred during the “reckless tax and spending policies” of the Trump administration, and that defaulting on the debt “would lead to a self-inflicted wound that takes our economy over a cliff.” Biden called on Republicans to “just get out of the way” and allow Democrats to hold a vote on the debt ceiling this week without “procedural tricks,” because “We are not expecting Republicans to do their part.” When asked whether he could guarantee the U.S. wouldn’t default on the nation’s debt, Biden answered: “No, I can’t. That’s up to Mitch McConnell.” (Washington Post / Bloomberg / Associated Press / Politico / ABC News / New York Times / NBC News / CNBC / CNN)
3/ Chuck Schumer told Senate Democrats he plans to hold a vote this week on a measure to suspend the debt limit until December 2022. “Let me be clear about the task ahead of us,” Schumer said. “We must get a bill to the President’s desk dealing with the debt limit by the end of the week, period.” Mitch McConnell, however, has vowed to block the attempt – again. Schumer threatened to cancel next week’s recess if the legislation doesn’t end up on Biden’s desk. “We do not have the luxury of waiting until October 18th,” Schumer said. “The consequences of even approaching the X Date could be disastrous for our economy and devastating to American families, raising the costs of borrowing for average Americans and hampering our economic recovery over the long-term.“ (Wall Street Journal / Politico)
4/ Democrats will try to pass both the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill and the $3.5 trillion investment in social programs by the end of October. The House twice delayed a vote on the Senate-passed infrastructure bill last week because progressive Democrats vowed to block it unless they also get a vote on the $3.5 trillion package, which Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema have objected to as too costly. Manchin wants the legislation limited to $1.5 trillion. Sinema condemned last week’s delayed vote on infrastructure, calling it a “failure” and “deeply disappointing for communities across our country.” Rep. Pramila Jayapal, chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, meanwhile, said progressives were willing to scale back some components of the legislation to reach a compromise, but that Manchin’s request to spend no more than $1.5 trillion is “not going to happen,” adding “that’s too small to get our priorities in […] Remember: What we want to deliver is child care, paid leave, climate change.” Biden told House Democrats that, after negotiations with moderates, he expects the cost to fall to between $1.9 trillion and $2.3 trillion. In a letter to Senate Democrats, Chuck Schumer said he wanted to reach a final deal “within a matter of days, not weeks,” noting that Democrats would need time after that to draft the legislation and get it cleared by the Senate parliamentarian. “Not every member will get everything he or she wanted,” he added. “But at the end of the day, we will pass legislation that will dramatically improve the lives of the American people. I believe we are going to do just that in the month of October.” (New York Times / CNBC / Wall Street Journal / The Hill)
5/ The Biden administration revoked a Trump-era rule that barred health clinics that receive federal funds from advising people about ending their pregnancies. The Department of Health and Human Services said the new regulation will restore the federal family planning program to the way it ran under the Obama administration. The new rule will go into effect on Nov. 8. (Associated Press / Washington Post / Axios)
6/ The Supreme Court declined to block New York City’s requirement that public school teachers receive Covid-19 vaccinations. In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that the state will require Covid-19 vaccines for all school children ages 12-17 once the FDA grants full approval – the first state to move forward on mandating vaccines for school children. West Virginia Governor Jim Justice, meanwhile, said there’s “no chance” he will mandate the Covid-19 vaccine for students because he believes “mandates only divide us.” (USA Today / ABC News / CBS News)
7/ A whistleblower accused Facebook of contributing to election misinformation and the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. While “Facebook has publicized its work to combat misinformation and violent extremism relating to the 2020 election and insurrection,” the whistleblower, Frances Haugen, said. “In reality, Facebook knew its algorithms and platforms promoted this type of harmful content, and it failed to deploy internally recommended or lasting countermeasures.” Haugen said that following the 2020 election, Facebook disbanded its civic integrity team, which was responsible for protecting the democratic process and tackling misinformation. “Facebook, over and over again, has shown it chooses profit over safety,” she added. Haugen will testify before Congress this week. (New York Times / Associated Press / NPR / USA Today)
8/ Rudy Giuliani admitted under oath that his “evidence” of voter fraud in the 2020 election came from unvetted posts on Facebook and other social media platforms. Eric Coomer, a former Dominion Voting Systems employee, is suing the Trump campaign and others for defamation for promoting election fraud conspiracy theories that he helped “rig” the election for Biden. According to an Aug. 14 deposition, Giuliani admitted that he got some of his information about Coomer’s alleged role in the nonexistent election fraud from social media, but wasn’t sure if it was Facebook or another platform. “Those social media posts get all one to me,” Giuliani said. (Business Insider / Colorado Sun / MSNBC)
9/ Trump asked a court to force Twitter to restore his social media account while his lawsuit against the social media giant continues. Trump asked a federal district judge for a preliminary injunction, arguing that Twitter was “censoring” him by indefinitely banning him from the platform. Twitter permanently banned Trump on Jan. 8, “due to the risk of further incitement of violence” following the Jan. 6 riot, in which hundreds of Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol. (Washington Post)
1/ Biden signed a short-term spending bill to keep the government running through Dec. 3. The House initially passed a funding bill last week on a party-line vote of 220-211, which Senate Republicans then blocked on Monday because it included an extension of the debt ceiling. The Senate and House, however, finally approved the funding legislation after Democrats stripped out the provision to suspend the debt ceiling, which lawmakers still need to address before Oct. 18 in order to prevent a default on the more than $28 trillion in U.S. debt. The stopgap funding bill also provides emergency aid to support the resettlement of Afghan refugees and aid to help communities rebuild from hurricanes, wildfires, and other recent natural disasters. (Politico / New York Times / CNBC / NBC News)
2/ Biden met privately with House Democrats in an effort to salvage both the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan and the $3.5 trillion social spending and climate change package. Nancy Pelosi has twice delayed a vote this week on the $1.2 trillion plan because progressive Democrats have vowed to vote it down unless they also get a vote on the $3.5 trillion package, which two moderate Democratic senators have objected to as too costly. During the meeting, Biden told members that the vote on infrastructure “ain’t going to happen”
until Democrats agree on the second bill, adding that a bill smaller than $3.5 trillion “can make historic investments.” Democratic leaders and the White House have proposed a $2.3 trillion compromise deal to Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema. But Manchin has insisted that he won’t support anything larger than $1.5 trillion in social spending – less than half of what progressives have sought. Sinema, meanwhile, left Washington for a “medical appointment” and scheduled fundraiser in Arizona. “We’re going to get this done,” Biden said after meeting with Democrats. But when pressed on a timeline, Biden replied: “It doesn’t matter when. It doesn’t whether it’s in six minutes, six days, or six weeks – we’re going to get it done.” It was not clear when Pelosi would schedule a vote on the infrastructure bill. (New York Times / Politico / Washington Post / ABC News / CNN / CNBC / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press)
3/ A federal judge questioned Texas’s defense of the nation’s most restrictive abortion law following the Justice Department’s emergency request to block the controversial law. U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman asked why the state went “to such great lengths” to create a “very unusual” law aimed at hindering judicial review if it’s “so confident in the constitutionality of the limitations on a woman’s access to abortion.” Following the nearly three-hour hearing, Pitman did not say when he would rule, but said he would give the matter “careful consideration” and “get to work” on an order. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press / NPR)
4/ Brett Kavanaugh tested positive for the coronavirus. Kavanaugh has no symptoms and has been fully vaccinated since January. The Supreme Court begins its new term Monday, when it will hear oral arguments in the courtroom for the first time since the onset of the pandemic. It is not clear how Kavanaugh’s positive test might affect his participation. (CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
5/ An experimental Covid-19 pill reduced the risk of hospitalization and death by nearly half in a clinical trial. Merck plans to seek emergency use authorization of molnupiravir in the U.S., and has already begun producing the drug, which must be taken twice a day for five days. Earlier this year, the company agreed to supply the U.S. with around 1.7 million courses of molnupiravir if it receives emergency use authorization or full approval from the FDA. (CNBC / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post)
6/ A Texas judge ruled that right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is legally responsible for all damages caused by his false claims that the Sandy Hook school shooting was a “giant hoax.” Judge Maya Guerra Gamble issued default judgments against Jones and his website Infowars for not complying with court orders to provide documents and evidence supporting his claims that the shooting was a “false flag” operation carried out by “crisis actors.” A jury will now be convened to determine how much Jones owes the plaintiffs stemming from a pair of 2018 lawsuits brought against him by the families of two children killed in the 2012 massacre. (HuffPost / CNN / CNBC / Washington Post)
7/ Starting today, the U.S. Postal Service will begin slowing mail service. About 40% of first-class mail will now see slower delivery under Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s restructuring plan to cut costs. Letters and other first-claim mail could take up to five days to reach their destinations instead of the previous three-day delivery standard. (CBS News / CNN / Washington Post)
poll/ 50% of Americans approve of the job Biden is doing as president, while 49% disapprove. In August, 54% approved, and 59% in July. (Associated Press)
1/ The Senate is expected to vote Thursday on a short-term spending bill to avert a shutdown and keep the government funded through Dec. 3. Democrats and Republicans, however, disagree on language in the House-passed measure regarding Afghan refugee benefits and funding for Israel’s Iron Dome. Congress must pass a funding bill before midnight Thursday to avoid a shutdown. The short-term government funding bill does not address raising the debt ceiling to prevent a first-ever default. (Politico / CNBC / Washington Post / CBS News)
2/ The House passed a standalone bill to lift the debt ceiling, which Senate Republicans are expected to reject. On Monday, Senate Republicans blocked a bill that would have funded the government into Dec., and suspended the debt ceiling until Dec. 2022. A group of moderate House Democrats, meanwhile, threatened to oppose the standalone measure, saying it was a pointless political maneuver with Senate Republicans firmly opposed. “We have a responsibility to uphold, to lift up, the full faith and credit of the United States of America — that’s what we have to do,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters. She noted that lawmakers had already voted to raise the debt limit last week, when the House passed the spending bill, adding: “If they’re concerned about how it might be in an ad, it’s already in an ad.” (CNBC / Politico / New York Times)
3/ Biden canceled a trip to Chicago to promote Covid-19 vaccinations in order to try and broker a compromise with two moderate Democratic senators threatening to sink his economic agenda. In a series of private meetings at the White House, Biden met with Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin in an attempt to salvage the two infrastructure bills. So far, Sinema or Manchin are unwilling to agree to the topline cost of the proposed $3.5 trillion education, climate, healthcare, and tax plan until the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package first passes the House. Manchin released a statement that suggests an agreement on the budget reconciliation package wasn’t close, saying: “I cannot – and will not – support trillions in spending or an all or nothing approach that ignores the brutal fiscal reality our nation faces.” The planned vote on the $1 trillion infrastructure package, however, was already moved from Monday to Thursday after it became clear that there was no House-Senate agreement on the $3.5 trillion bill, which House progressives are demanding that the Senate pass before they’ll support the infrastructure proposal. White House press secretary Jen Psaki described the meetings as “constructive” and that they “agreed that we are at a pivotal moment [and] need to continue to work to finalize the path forward.” Nancy Pelosi, meanwhile, held out the possibility that the House could delay Thursday’s vote on the $1 trillion infrastructure bill, accusing moderate Senate Democrats of “completely” disrupting the timeline for approving Biden’s economic agenda. She added: “We take it one step at a time.” (Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / The Hill)
4/ The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection issued 11 subpoenas to organizers of the pro-Trump rally outside the White House that turned into the riot. The committee is seeking documents and testimony as part of its investigation into the insurrection at the Capitol, communications between Trump White House associates and organizers of the “Stop the Steal” rally, as well as Trump’s actions before, during and after the riot. The subpoenas announced today come a week after the committee issued subpoenas targeting former Defense Department official Kash Patel and adviser Steve Bannon. (Washington Post / Axios / ABC News)
5/ Trump plans to sue to block the release of his White House records to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Trump is expected to cite executive privilege to block both his White House records, as well as to prevent Mark Meadows, Dan Scavino, Steve Bannon, and Kash Patel from testifying to the select committee. While Biden holds final authority over whether to shield specific documents, Trump can then file lawsuits in an attempt to block their release. (The Guardian)
6/ Trump lost a legal effort to enforce a nondisclosure agreement against Omarosa Manigault Newman, who wrote a tell-all book about working in his administration. Trump had filed the lawsuit against Manigault Newman, a former White House aide and “Apprentice” star, claiming she violated a nondisclosure agreement she had signed during the 2016 campaign to not reveal private or confidential information about his family, business, or personal life. An arbitrator, however, said that the nondisclosure agreement was “invalid under New York contract law,” and that the terms of the NDA “pertaining to confidential information and non-disparagement are vague and unenforceable.” (New York Times / CNBC)
7/ A former Trump White House press secretary accused Trump of abusing his staff, placating Putin, and making sexual comments about a young, female press aide. Among the many allegations in her new book, Stephanie Grisham recounts a meeting between Trump and Putin during the Group of 20 summit in Osaka in 2019 where Trump told Putin: “Okay, I’m going to act a little tougher with you for a few minutes. But it’s for the cameras, and after they leave, we’ll talk. You understand.” Grisham also writes that Trump once called her from Air Force One to inform her that his penis was neither small nor shaped like a toadstool, as Stormy Daniels had alleged in her 2018 book. After serving as press secretary where she never held a televised briefing with reporters, Grisham worked in Melania Trump’s office. (New York Times / Washington Post)
8/ A Trump donor accused one of Trump’s longtime top aides of repeatedly groping her and making unwanted sexual comments at a Las Vegas charity event last week. Trashelle Odom said Corey Lewandowski “repeatedly touched me inappropriately, said vile and disgusting things to me, stalked me, and made me feel violated and fearful.” She added that “Corey bragged multiple times about how powerful he is, and how he can get anyone elected, inferring he was the reason Trump became President.” Four first-hand witnesses at the event corroborated Odom’s allegations. Odom’s husband, John Odom, said that he wanted “accountability now” from Lewandowski and that they are exploring their legal options “to make sure he cannot harm anyone else.” Separately, South Dakota Gov. Kristi L. Noem dismissed a conservative media outlet’s claim that she is having an extramarital affair with Lewandowski, calling the rumors “total garbage and a disgusting lie.” (Politico / Washington Post)
poll/ 51% of Texas voters say Gov. Greg Abbott does not deserve to be reelected. 36% of Texas voters disapprove of Abbott’s handling of the situation at the Mexican border, 50% disapprove of his response to the coronavirus, and 53% disapprove of how he’s handled the issue of abortion. (Quinnipiac)
1/ Senate Republicans blocked a House-passed bill to fund the government and raise the debt ceiling, setting up a possible government shutdown this week and a federal debt default next month. The 48-50 party-line vote – to fund the government through Dec. 3, 2021 and suspend the debt limit through Dec. 16, 2022 – fell short of the 60 votes needed to advance the legislation to the floor. Republicans refused to back the debt limit increase as a form of protest of the Democrats’ plan to spend $3.5 trillion on education, child care, healthcare, and climate change – which would be paid for with higher taxes on corporations and the wealthy. “After today there will be no doubt about which party is working to solve the problems that face our country and which party is accelerating us toward unnecessary, avoidable disaster,” Chuck Schumer said, calling it “one of the most reckless, one of the most irresponsible votes” he’s taken in the Senate. “Republicans will solidify themselves for a long time as the party of default.” Lawmakers have until midnight Thursday to approve funding for the government or a shutdown will be triggered. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, meanwhile, has notified Congress that they have until mid-October to act before the federal government can no longer pay its bills. (New York Times / NBC News / Politico / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press / Bloomberg / CNN)
2/ The House will vote on the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill Thursday, which the Senate passed last month. Nancy Pelosi committed to a vote this week on the proposal to improve the country’s physical infrastructure after a group of moderate Democrats threatened to vote against a second, larger social policy and climate change bill, which Democrats are pursuing through budget reconciliation. House progressives, however, have warned that they will not vote on the $1 trillion bipartisan bill until the House and the Senate has passed the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill, which provides investments in education, health, child care, paid leave, and climate programs. That package, however, has yet to be completed. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, meanwhile, warned that there are 60 Democrats who would vote against the bipartisan infrastructure bill if the vote is held before the $3.5 trillion plan is finalized and adopted. That leaves Pelosi and her leadership team with three days to satisfy both the moderate and progressive factions of the party. “In order to move forward, we have to build consensus,” Pelosi said, adding: “I’m never bringing to the floor a bill that doesn’t have the votes.” (New York Times / Bloomberg / Politico / CNBC / Wall Street Journal / ABC News)
3/ The Biden administration proposed a federal rule that would modify DACA in an effort to “preserve and fortify” it against future legal challenges after a federal judge in Houston ruled in July that the program was illegal. The proposed rule relies on the Obama administration DACA guidelines and embraces the “consistent judgment” that immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as minors should not be a priority for deportation. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in the statement that “only Congress can provide permanent protection” for Dreamers. Trump tried to terminate the program in 2017, which the Supreme Court blocked. As of March 31, there were 616,030 DACA recipients. (CBS News / NBC News / CNN / Associated Press)
4/ The FBI reported that murder and manslaughter rose nearly 30% in 2020 — the biggest one-year increase on record. About 77% of murders were committed with a firearm – the highest share ever reported. Overall, however, crime in the U.S. is still below the historic highs reached in the early 1990s. (Washington Post / New York Times)
poll/ 40% of Americans approve of the job the Supreme Court is doing – a record low. 54% express “a great deal” or “fair amount” of trust in the judicial branch of the federal government – from 67% in 2020. (Gallup / CNN)
notable/ In counties where Trump received at least 70% of the vote, the coronavirus has killed about 47 out of every 100,000 people since the end of June. In counties where Trump won less than 32% of the vote, the number is about 10 out of 100,000. (New York Times)
1/ The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol subpoenaed four of Trump’s closest advisers, including Mark Meadows and Steve Bannon. The panel also issued subpoenas to Dan Scavino and Kash Patel. The subpoenas compel the four to produce documents relevant to the deadly attack by Oct. 7, and then sit for a deposition the following week. The committee said it was seeking information about Trump’s actions leading up to and during the riot. In a statement, Trump called the panel the “Unselect Committee” and promised to “fight the Subpoenas on Executive Privilege and other grounds, for the good of our Country.” (NPR / New York Times / Politico)
2/ Biden will not invoke executive privilege to shield Trump White House records from the House’s Jan. 6 committee investigating the Capitol insurrection. The decision would likely set up a legal fight with Trump citing “executive privilege” in an effort to block the information requests. White House spokesman Michael Gwin said Biden is “deeply committed to ensuring that something like [Jan. 6] can never happen again and he supports a thorough investigation into what occurred,” adding that “the events of Jan. 6th were a dark stain on our country’s history, and they represented an attack on the foundations of our constitution and democracy in a way that few other events have.” The National Archives has identified hundreds of pages of relevant documents, which will be sent to Biden and Trump lawyers. (Associated Press / Washington Post / CNN / Politico)
3/ The hand recount of Maricopa County’s 2020 vote – ordered and financed by Republicans – confirmed that Biden won and the election was not “stolen” from Trump. The draft report from Cyber Ninjas found that Trump received 261 fewer votes than the county’s official election results, and that there was less than a 1,000-vote difference between the county’s count and the recount. Biden won Arizona by roughly 10,500 votes. The recount took nearly six months and cost almost $6 million. Trump, meanwhile, issued a statement claiming the report “uncovered significant and undeniable evidence of FRAUD!” (AZ Central / NPR / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / The Hill / Washington Post)
4/ A New York judge ordered the Trump Organization to submit a report by Sept. 30 on its efforts to preserve, collect, and produce documents in response to subpoenas issued by the New York Attorney General. “For more than a year now, the Trump Organization has failed to adequately respond to our subpoenas, hiding behind procedural delays and excuses,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement. Judge Arthur Engoron stipulated that if James isn’t satisfied with the Trump Organization’s efforts to comply with the subpoenas, a third party will be hired to conduct a review of the company’s records and respond to the subpoena. Engoron’s order was dated Sept. 2 and unsealed Friday. (CNN / Bloomberg)
5/ The FDA authorized coronavirus booster shots of Pfizer’s vaccine for people over 65, as well as those at risk of serious illness due to frequent exposure to the coronavirus at their jobs. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, meanwhile, overruled her agency’s advisory panel, adding a recommendation for boosters for people who are considered high risk due to where they work, such as nurses, teachers, and grocery store employees. The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices had largely mirrored the FDA authorization in recommending boosters for people 65 and older, nursing home residents, and those with an underlying medical conditions six months after completing their second shot. The CDC panel, however, declined to recommend a booster for people at risk of illness because of their job. With Walensky’s sign-off, the White House could begin promoting and rolling out a plan that would make booster shots available for millions of Americans at pharmacies, doctors’ offices, and other sites that offer the Pfizer vaccine. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / ABC News / New York Times)
6/ The House passed legislation that would create a statutory right for health care professionals to provide abortions amid threats to Roe v. Wade from a Texas law banning most abortions. The Women’s Health Protection Act would essentially codify Roe v. Wade, guaranteeing the right to abortion before viability. The legislation, however, now faces an evenly split Senate, where Democrats would need at least 10 Republicans to support the bill for it to advance to a final vote. (NBC News / Washington Post / CNBC / USA Today)
7/ The U.S. special envoy to Haiti resigned in protest of what he called an “inhumane, counterproductive” decision to deport thousands of Haitian refugees. Daniel Foote accused the Biden administration of conducting a “deeply flawed” policy of returning migrants to Haiti – the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country – despite the deteriorating political and humanitarian conditions there. White House press secretary Jen Psaki, meanwhile, said Foote “had ample opportunity to raise concerns about migration during his tenure. He never once did so.” (Washington Post / CNN)
1/ The House passed legislation to fund the government through Dec. 3 and extend the debt limit until after the 2022 elections in a party-line vote with no Republicans supporting the bill. The fiscal package is needed to avoid a government shutdown and a first-ever default on U.S. debt. The bill now heads to the Senate, where Mitch McConnell has vowed that Republicans won’t support raising the debt ceiling. Without 10 Republicans in support, the bill would fail to advance past the 60-vote filibuster threshold. “This is playing with fire. Playing games with the debt ceiling is playing with fire and putting it on the back of the American people,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said. Failure to raise the debt ceiling could cost the U.S. economy 6 million jobs, wipe out $15 trillion in household wealth, send the unemployment rate to roughly 9% from around 5%, and plunge the country into an immediate recession, according to the chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. Congress has to pass a funding plan by Sept. 30 to prevent a shutdown, while Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned congressional leaders that the debt ceiling must be raised or suspended by some time in October, when the U.S. will exhaust all of its options to pay its bills. (NBC News / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / CNBC)
2/ Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas vowed to complete an investigation into the treatment of Haitian immigrants at the Texas-Mexico border after videos showed mounted Border Patrol agents running down migrants and using their reins as whips. Mayorkas told the House Homeland Security Committee that an undisclosed number of agents have already been placed on administrative duty. House Democrats, meanwhile, demanded that Customs and Border Protection officials brief the Oversight Committee this week about agent conduct, direction they received from supervisors, and disciplinary action being taken. (USA Today / New York Times)
3/ Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sent hundreds of state-owned vehicles to the southern border to form a “steel wall” to block migrants from crossing the border. Nearly 15,000 Haitians have taken refuge under the border bridge in Del Rio, Tex. while trying to seek asylum. “We effectively […] regained control of the border,” Abbott said. (Washington Post / Axios)
4/ An attorney who worked with Trump’s legal team tried to convince Pence that he could overturn the 2020 presidential election results. In a two-page memo, John Eastman laid out a six-step plan for Pence to overturn the election for Trump, which included throwing out the results from seven states. Under Eastman’s scheme, Pence could then declare Trump the winner with more Electoral College votes, at 232 votes to 222. Eastman and Trump proposed the plan to Pence on Jan. 4 in the Oval Office. A separate internal memo – issued two weeks after the 2020 election – show that the Trump campaign knew the election conspiracy theories pushed by pro-Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell were baseless and false. The Trump campaign’s communications staff, however, remained silent. (CNN / New York Times / The Hill)
5/ The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection will move “straight to subpoena” some “recalcitrant” witnesses. Rep. Adam Schiff said the panel will make requests “where we think they’ll be complied with,” but will skip the “time-consuming steps” of giving potential witnesses weeks to voluntarily comply. The Democratic chairman of the House Select Committee said the panel could start issuing subpoenas to companies and individuals “within a week.” (Politico / CNBC / CNN)
6/ Trump filed a $100 million lawsuit against his niece, the New York Times, and three of its reporters, claiming they conspired in an “insidious plot” to obtain his tax returns for a Pulitzer-winning story that detailed his undisclosed finances. The Trump lawsuit alleges that the Times convinced Mary Trump to “smuggle records out of her attorney’s office and turn them over to the Times” in violation of a confidentiality agreement she signed in 2001. The October 2018 article reported that Trump “participated in dubious tax schemes during the 1990s, including instances of outright fraud,” which allowed him to receive over $413 million from his father, Fred Trump Sr., while significantly reducing taxes. In a statement, Mary Trump called her uncle desperate and said, “I think he is a loser, and he is going to throw anything against the wall he can.” (Daily Beast / NBC News / New York Times / CNN / NPR / Washington Post)
poll/ Biden’s job approval rating fell six percentage points to 43% – the lowest of his presidency. 53% of Americans disapprove of Biden’s job performance. (Gallup)
poll/ 62% of Iowans disapprove of Biden’s job performance – a 12 percentage point drop in approval from June. 31% Iowans approve of how Biden is handling his job, while 7% are not sure. (Des Moines Register)
1/ House Democrats plan to combine a short-term government spending bill with the suspension of the debt limit in an effort to avert a government shutdown. The stopgap funding bill would last through Dec. 3, 2021, and the debt ceiling would be suspended through Dec. 2022. Mitch McConnell, however, reiterated that Republicans “will not support legislation that raises the debt limit.” The Republican threat is in protest of the Democrats decision to pursue trillions in new spending to overhaul federal healthcare, education, climate, immigration, and tax laws. McConnell called it “an effort to exploit this terrible yet temporary pandemic as a trojan horse for permanent socialism.” Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, meanwhile, warned that “a reckless Republican-forced default could plunge the country into a recession.” Congress has until the end of September to ratify a new spending agreement or risk a shutdown. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen previously warned that, under current conditions, the department will reach its borrowing limit some time in October, which would cause “irreparable harm” to the U.S. economy. The House is expected to vote on the package this week. (Wall Street Journal / The Hill / Politico / Washington Post / Bloomberg / CNN)
2/ The Senate’s parliamentarian blocked the Democrats’ plan to use the $3.5 trillion social and climate package to provide a path to citizenship for an estimated 8 million immigrants. Elizabeth MacDonough, the Senate parliamentarian, ruled that the proposal is “by any standard a broad, new immigration policy” and that “changing the law to clear the way to (Legal Permanent Resident) status is tremendous and enduring policy change that dwarfs its budgetary impact.” In a three-page memo to senators, MacDonough noted that under Senate rules, provisions are not allowed in such bills if their budget effect is “merely incidental” to their overall policy impact. (Associated Press / New York Times / Politico / CNN)
3/ More than 675,000 people in the U.S. have died of Covid-19, surpassing the country’s 1918 influenza pandemic death toll. The U.S. accounts for about 14% of total Covid-19 deaths globally despite the widespread availability of vaccines. Roughly 25.3% of eligible Americans (those 12 years and older) remain unvaccinated – or about 72 million people. (CNN / Bloomberg)
4/ The U.S. will lift travel restrictions on foreign visitors fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. Starting in November, international travelers will be allowed to enter the U.S. if they can show proof of vaccination before boarding the plane and that they have tested negative for the virus within three days of their flight. The move rolls back a blanket ban on travel for non-U.S. citizens imposed by the Trump administration. (NPR / CBS News / New York Times / CNN)
5/ The Biden administration began deporting Haitian migrants from a Texas border city where about 14,000 migrants had gathered under and around a bridge after crossing into the U.S. from Mexico. More than 320 migrants arrived in Port-au-Prince on three flights Sunday, and the Department of Homeland Security is expected to run five to eight flights a day to deter Haitians who are overwhelming Del Rio, Texas. Customs and Border Protection also plans to have at least 400 agents and officers in the Del Rio area and is prepared to send more. (Washington Post / Business Insider / Associated Press / NBC News / CNN / New York Times)
6/ The Supreme Court will hear arguments Dec. 1 on Mississippi’s restrictive abortion law, which bans abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The case has been blocked by lower courts because it directly violated Roe v. Wade’s protections for pre-viability abortions. The 1973 ruling established that a woman has the constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy in the first six months of pregnancy, when the fetus cannot survive outside the womb. The justices said they wanted to hear arguments on whether all bans of pre-viability abortions are unconstitutional. A ruling is expected next year. Earlier this month, the justices allowed Texas to move forward with its near-total abortion ban. (Politico / NPR / CNBC / CNN)
poll/ 70% of Americans disapprove of the restrictive Texas abortion law that allows “private citizens to use lawsuits to enforce this law rather than having government prosecutors handle these cases.” 81% say they disapprove of giving $10,000 to “private citizens who successfully file suits against those who perform or assist a woman with getting an abortion.” Meanwhile, 54% disagree with the Supreme Court allowing the Texas law to go into effect, while 39% agree with the court. (Monmouth University)
1/ An FDA advisory panel rejected a plan to offer Pfizer Covid-19 boosters shots for everyone 16 and older. Members of the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee voted 16 to 2 against approving the booster shot after scrutinizing new data from Israel and questioning whether the data justified boosters for the general population when the current vaccines still offer robust protection against severe Covid-19 disease and hospitalization. The panel, however, recommended booster shots for older Americans and other high-risk groups. The votes are non-binding and the FDA is expected make a final decision on boosters by early next week. An outside advisory panel to the CDC, meanwhile, has scheduled a two-day meeting next week to discuss plans to distribute booster shots in the U.S. (New York Times / CNBC / Associated Press / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Politico / Wall Street Journal / ABC News / CNN)
2/ The United Nations warned that the global average temperature is on track to rise 2.7 degrees Celsius by the end of the century. “The world is on a catastrophic pathway,” U.N. Secretary General António Guterres said. Based on the most recent commitments to curb greenhouse gas emissions from 191 countries, if implemented, would result in a 16% increase by 2030 compared with 2010 levels. The latest scientific research suggests that greenhouse gas emissions need to decrease by at least 25% by 2030 to avert the worst impacts of global warming. Guterres warned “there is high risk of failure.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
3/ The Pentagon admitted that the Aug. 29 drone strike in Kabul, which killed 10 civilians, including 7 children, was “a tragic mistake.” Gen. Frank McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, apologized for the error, saying the decision was made in an “earnest belief that it would prevent an imminent threat to our forces and the evacuees at the airport.” The car was believed to have been carrying explosives in its trunk. “We now assess it is unlikely that the vehicle and those who died were associated with ISIS-K,” McKenzie said. (Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / NBC News / CNBC / CNN / New York Times)
4/ The U.S. Capitol Police withdrew a request for 100 armed National Guard members to be on standby for a rally at the Capitol in support of the rioters charged in the Jan. 6 insurrection. Instead, Guard members will be armed with batons and accompanied by armed police in a support capacity. A fence, meanwhile, has been erected around the Capitol. The “Justice for J6” rally, organized by former Trump campaign strategist Matt Braynard, supposedly wants to “bring awareness and attention to the unjust and unethical treatment of nonviolent Jan. 6 political prisoners.” About 60 people have been denied bail and remain in pretrial custody out of the more than 600 charged in the deadly riot. (Washington Post / New York Times / Associated Press)
poll/ 59% of Americans blame white supremacist groups, Trump (56%), and conservative media that spread conspiracy theories and misinformation (55%) for the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. 34% of Americans agree that “Trump is a true patriot,” while 63% disagree, including 49% who completely disagree. (Public Religion Research Institute)
poll/ 44% of Americans approve of Biden’s job performance – the lowest level of his presidency. 50% disapproved, and the rest were not sure. (Reuters)
1/ The Justice Department asked a federal judge to block enforcement of a new Texas law that effectively bans almost all abortions. The Justice Department argued that the state adopted the law, which took effect this month after the Supreme Court refused to block its enforcement, “gravely and irreparably impaired women’s ability to exercise their constitutional right to an abortion across the State.” The 45-page emergency motion comes after the Biden administration sued Texas last week, asserting that the law – which allows private citizens to file civil lawsuits against anyone who helps a woman terminate her pregnancy – was passed in “open defiance of the Constitution.” (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Reuters)
2/ The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff called China twice in the final months of the Trump administration to reassure them that Trump had no plans to attack China, according to “Peril,” a new book by the Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Robert Costa. “Things may look unsteady,” Gen. Mark Milley told his counterpart, Gen. Li Zuocheng of China, on Jan. 8 – two days after Trump’s supporters attacked the Capitol to try to stop the certification of his election loss. “But that’s the nature of democracy, General Li. We are 100% steady. Everything’s fine. But democracy can be sloppy sometimes.” Milley was also reportedly so concerned that Trump could “go rogue” that he convened a secret meeting later that day with senior military officials to remind them that “the strict procedures are explicitly designed to avoid inadvertent mistakes or accident or nefarious, unintentional, illegal, immoral, unethical launching of the world’s most dangerous weapons.” He added: “And I’m part of that procedure.” Following the revelations, Trump called for “Dumbass” Milley to be “arrested” for “treason.” The White House, meanwhile, said Biden has “complete confidence” in Milley. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN)
3/ A federal judge denied Trump’s request to stop E. Jean Carroll’s defamation lawsuit against him from moving forward. The ruling allows for the case to proceed as an appeals court weighs whether Trump is immune from the suit. Carroll alleges Trump assaulted her in the Bergdorf Goodman department store in 1995 or 1996 and then defamed her by calling her a liar when she went public with her claims in 2019. Trump and the Justice Department have argued Trump can’t be sued because the comments were made while he was president. (Bloomberg / CNN / CNBC)
4/ The number of Americans living in poverty fell to a record low last year due to the pandemic relief aid Congress enacted. The U.S. Census Bureau reported poverty fell to 9.1% in 2020 – the lowest rate on record – from 11.8% in 2019. The Census Bureau estimated that the direct checks lifted 11.7 million people out of poverty last year, while unemployment benefits and food assistance prevented an additional 10.3 million people from falling into poverty. (Reuters / NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times)
5/ 1 in 500 Americans have died from Covid-19 in the 19 months since the nation’s first reported coronavirus infection. As of Tuesday night, 663,913 total people in the U.S. had died of Covid-19. The country averaged 1,805 new Covid-19 deaths each day over the past week. About 62% of Americans have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine – last among the world’s seven wealthiest democracies. (CNN / Washington Post)
6/ The FDA declined to endorse Pfizer’s Covid-19 booster shot, saying the vaccines currently approved provide sufficient protection against severe disease and death from Covid-19 without the need of additional doses. The FDA vaccine advisory committee is scheduled to review the report on Friday and recommend whether or not the agency should approve Pfizer’s application for a coronavirus booster shot. The Biden administration, meanwhile, wants to begin offering booster shots to the general public starting next week, pending authorization from the FDA. The U.S. has purchased a combined one billion doses from Pfizer and Moderna. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Politico / CNBC)
poll/ 68% of Americans say the recent rise in Covid-19 deaths in the U.S. was preventable, while 24% say it was not preventable. 51% disapprove of Biden’s plan to mandate Covid-19 vaccines, while 48% approve. (Quinnipiac)
poll/ 56% of Americans feel that democracy in the U.S. is under attack, 37% say it’s being tested, and 6% American democracy is not in danger. 51% say it’s likely that elected officials will successfully overturn the results of a future election because their party didn’t win, while 49% say that is unlikely. (CNN)
poll/ 42% of Americans approve the job Biden is doing as president, while 50% disapprove. (Quinnipiac)
1/ House Democrats outlined their proposed tax increases on corporations and wealthy people to help offset the costs of Biden’s $3.5 trillion economic plan. The House Ways and Means Committee plan calls for raising the corporate tax rate to 26.5% from 21%, a 3-percentage-point surcharge on individual income above $5 million, and raising the capital gains tax from 20% to 25%. White House spokesman Andrew Bates said the proposal “meets two core goals the President laid out at the beginning of this process: it does not raise taxes on Americans earning under $400,000 and it repeals the core elements of the Trump tax giveaways for the wealthy and corporations that have done nothing to strengthen our country’s economic health.” (Wall Street Journal / Politico / CNBC / Bloomberg)
2/ Joe Manchin – again – said he will not support the $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation package to expand the nation’s social safety net, which includes investments in climate change, health care, taxes, and education. “I cannot support $3.5 trillion,” Manchin said, citing his opposition to the proposed increase in the corporate tax rate. Chuck Schumer “will not have my vote on the 3.5,” Manchin said, adding “there’s no way” Congress can meet the Sept. 27 deadline set by Nancy Pelosi for passage. Manchin added: “It’s going to be $1, $1.5 [trillion]. We don’t know where it’s going to be. It’s not going to be at $3.5 [trillion], I can assure you.” Democrats need all 50 votes to pass the budget reconciliation package. Kyrsten Sinema, another moderate Democrat, has also expressed concern over the cost of the bill. (CNN / ABC News / Associated Press / USA Today / Bloomberg / Politico / NBC News)
3/ A group of leading U.S. and international scientists suggested that Covid-19 vaccine booster shots are “not appropriate at this stage in the pandemic.” The international group of scientists, which include some at the FDA and the WHO, concluded that “boosting” the vaccinated population doesn’t outweigh the benefit of using those doses to immunize the billions of unvaccinated people worldwide. “None of the studies has provided credible evidence of substantially declining protection against severe disease,” the authors wrote, noting there could be side-effects if boosters are introduced too soon or too broadly. The group did, however, say that booster shots may eventually be needed for the general population if vaccine-induced immunity wanes or a new variant emerges that can evade the body’s immune response. Several recent studies published by the CDC suggest that the vaccines hold steady against severe illness, including the Delta variant. The Biden administration, meanwhile, has proposed administering vaccine boosters eight months after the initial shots starting Sept. 20. A committee of FDA advisers is scheduled to meet on Friday to review the data. (New York Times / CNBC / Bloomberg / Politico)
4/ The U.S. ranks last among the world’s seven wealthiest democracies in Covid-19 vaccination rate. About 62% of Americans have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine. Canada leads the G7 countries in vaccination rates, with almost 75% of its population at least partially vaccinated, followed by France (73%), Italy (72%), UK (71%), Germany (66%), and Japan (63%). The U.S. ranks sixth out of the Group of 7 nations, however, for fully vaccinated people – about 53%. (New York Times)
5/ George W. Bush compared the Jan. 6 Capitol rioters to international extremists, warning that they are “children of the same foul spirit.” In a speech marking the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Bush said the U.S. has seen “growing evidence that the dangers to our country can come not only across borders, but from violence that gathers within.” Bush added that “it is our continuing duty to confront them.” Trump, meanwhile, called Bush “a failed and uninspiring [president]” who shouldn’t be “lecturing” Americans about the threat posed by domestic terrorism. Separately, Capitol Police plan to install temporary fencing around the Capitol ahead of a planned right-wing rally on Sept. 18. The “Justice for J6” rally is being organized by a former Trump campaign staffer in support of the jailed Jan. 6 rioters. (CNN / Washington Post / CBS News)
6/ Capitol Police arrested a man armed with multiple knives, a bayonet, and a machete near the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington. Donald Craighead told Capitol Police he was “on patrol” and began talking about white supremacist ideology and other rhetoric pertaining to white supremacy. His pickup truck also had a swastika and other White supremacist symbols painted on it. (ABC News / CNN)
poll/ 51% of Americans support coronavirus vaccination mandates for everyday activities, while 49% call vaccination mandates an unacceptable infringement on personal rights. (CNN)
1/ The Justice Department sued Texas over its restrictive new abortion law, saying it was enacted “in open defiance of the Constitution.” The new anti-abortion law – the nation’s most restrictive – bans the procedure as early as six weeks into pregnancy and deputizes private citizens to sue anyone who helps a woman terminate her pregnancy. Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Texas law’s “unprecedented” design seeks “to prevent women from exercising their constitutional rights by thwarting judicial review for as long as possible.” The Justice Department is seeking a preliminary injunction to prohibit enforcement of the Texas law while litigation continues, as well as a permanent order that the Texas ban is invalid and unenforceable. “It is settled constitutional law that ‘a state may not prohibit any woman from making the ultimate decision to terminate her pregnancy before viability,’” the lawsuit said. “But Texas has done just that.” Last week, the Supreme Court declined to block the Texas law, known as Senate Bill 8, but didn’t rule on whether it was constitutional. The law took effect Sept. 1, effectively ending most abortions in the state, with no exceptions for rape or incest. (New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / CNN / Bloomberg / CNBC)
Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer criticized the court’s refusal to block the Texas abortion statute, saying the unsigned opinion last week “was very, very, very wrong — I’ll add one more very.” (NBC News / Washington Post)
2/ Biden ordered all businesses with more than 100 employees to require their workers to be vaccinated against the coronavirus or face weekly testing. Biden also signed an executive order mandating vaccines for federal workers and contractors without an option for regular testing. “We’ve been patient, but our patience is wearing thin,” Biden said, appealing to the roughly 80 million Americans who are eligible for shots but remain unvaccinated. “Your refusal has cost all of us.” The new requirements could apply to as many as 100 million Americans – about two-thirds of the American workforce. Businesses that ignore the mandate could face up to $14,000 per violation. Republican governors and the RNC, meanwhile, threatened to sue the administration over the vaccine mandates for businesses and federal workers. Biden replied: “Have at it.” (Washington Post / New York Times / Associated Press / NBC News / Bloomberg / CNBC / CNN / Axios)
3/ Unvaccinated people are about 11 times more likely to die of Covid-19, according to three studies from the CDC. The reports also found that people who were not fully vaccinated this spring and summer were 4.5 times more likely to become infected and 10 times more likely to be hospitalized. The CDC also found that all three vaccines remained effective at protecting most people against hospitalization and death, but efficacy dropped from 91% to 78% when the Delta variant became the dominant strain of the virus. (New York Times / Washington Post / Axios)
4/ A Florida appeals court reinstated the state’s ban on school mask mandates while a legal challenge makes its way through the courts. In July, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed an executive order banning mask mandates in public schools and threatened consequences for districts that defy the order. Last month, a circuit court judge ruled that the state exceeded its authority by blocking mask mandates in schools in a case brought by a group of parents. Miami-Dade County Public Schools – the fourth largest district in the U.S. – is among the 13 of Florida’s 67 districts that had imposed mask requirements in defiance of the governor’s order. In response, the Florida Board of Education imposed funding cuts for school board members in two districts that imposed mask mandates. Biden, meanwhile, accused Republican governors fighting mask mandates and other Covid-19 precautions in schools of being “cavalier with the health of these kids,” adding “We’re playing for real here. This isn’t a game.” (CNN / Reuters / Bloomberg / Politico / NBC News / New York Times / CBS News)
5/ The Biden administration appealed a Texas court ruling that called the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program unlawful. In July, U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen ruled that the 2012 DACA program violated the Administrative Procedures Act and ordered the Biden administration to stop approving new DACA applications. The decision, however, left intact the program’s benefits for the more than 600,000 active DACA recipients otherwise unable to obtain legal status after being brought to the U.S. as children. Currently, there are more than 55,000 first-time DACA applications pending with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services pending the Justice Department appeal. (CNN / Axios / The Hill)
poll/ 49% of Americans disapprove of how Biden is handling his job as president, while 39% approve – a drop of six points in the last week. (YouGov)
1/ Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Justice Department is exploring “all options” to challenge Texas’s restrictive abortion law, days after the Supreme Court refused to block a statute that bans the procedure as early as six weeks into pregnancy with no exceptions for rape or incest. “We will not tolerate violence against those seeking to obtain or provide reproductive health services,” Garland said. “The department will provide support from federal law enforcement when an abortion clinic or reproductive health center is under attack.” Garland added that the Justice Department would “protect the constitutional rights of women and other persons” under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, a 1994 law that guarantees access for people seeking access to reproductive health clinics. A United Nations human rights group condemned the Texas anti-abortion law, calling it “structural sex and gender-based discrimination at its worst.” (New York Times / Washington Post / The Guardian)
2/ The U.S. surpassed more than 40 million total cases of the coronavirus – about a fifth of the global total. Covid-19 deaths in the U.S., meanwhile, have climbed to a seven-day average of about 1,500 a day. In early July, the seven-day average of daily deaths was in the low 200s. (New York Times / Washington Post)
3/ An estimated 7.5 million people lost all of their jobless benefits after three federal pandemic unemployment programs expired. Another 3 million more people lost a $300-per-week federal supplement to their state unemployment benefits. (Washington Post / New York Times)
4/ More than 32% of Americans live in a county that experienced a weather disaster in the last three months. Another 64% of Americans live in a place that experienced a multi-day heat wave. (Washington Post)
5/ Biden asked Congress for $30 billion to address “urgent” extreme weather recovery efforts and help fund the resettlement of tens of thousands of Afghans. The White House wants $24 billion in additional funding to help recovery efforts for wildfires and hurricanes, and $6.4 billion for Afghan refugee aid as part of its short-term budgetary request to Congress to keep the government running past Sept. 30. (NBC News / CNN / NPR)
6/ The Biden administration outlined a plan for solar energy to supply 45% of the nation’s electricity by 2050. Solar currently accounts for about 3% of U.S. electricity supply. The ambitious plan requires the nation’s solar capacity to double annually through 2025 and then double again by 2030. The Solar Futures Study from the Department of Energy also shows that by 2035, solar has the potential to power all American homes and employ as many as 1.5 million people — without raising electricity costs for consumers. (New York Times / CNN / CNBC / NBC News)
7/ Chuck Schumer rejected Joe Manchin’s call for a “strategic pause” on Biden’s $3.5 trillion tax and spending package. “We’re moving full speed ahead,” Schumer said. “We want to keep going forward. We think getting this done is so important for the American people.” Manchin, meanwhile, has privately warned the White House and congressional leaders that he’ll support about $1.5 trillion of the $3.5 trillion plan. (Politico / Axios)
8/ An internal Capitol Police memo warned of potential violence at an upcoming pro-Trump rally to support the insurrectionists charged in the Jan. 6 riots. The “Justice for J6” rally organizers argue that the hundreds of people charged in the insurrection are political prisoners. Nancy Pelosi, meanwhile, accused those of planning to participate in the rally of “coming back to praise the people who were out to kill” during the Jan. 6 attack by a pro-Trump mob. The rally is scheduled for Sept. 18 outside the Capitol. (CNN / Washington Post)
9/ The Biden administration told 11 officials appointed by Trump to military service academy advisory boards to resign or be dismissed. The officials asked to resign include Sean Spicer, Kellyanne Conway, and H.R. McMaster. They were appointed to the advisory boards of the Naval Academy, Air Force Academy and West Point respectively. (CNN / Politico)
1/ Joe Manchin demanded that Democrats “pause” on advancing Biden’s $3.5 trillion tax and spending package, saying a “significantly” smaller plan is needed because of rising inflation, soaring federal debt, and the coronavirus pandemic. Manchin – the linchpin vote in the evenly divided Senate – said he won’t agree to the $3.5 trillion plan “or anywhere near that level of additional spending” without fully assessing the effects on the economy. “Instead of rushing to spend trillions on new government programs and additional stimulus funding,” Manchin said, “Congress should hit a strategic pause on the budget reconciliation legislation.” House leaders have already set a Sept. 15 deadline for their reconciliation bill with a vote planned before the end of Sept. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, however, agreed to hold a vote on Biden’s roughly $1 trillion infrastructure plan by Sept. 27. House liberals, however, have warned that they won’t support the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill unless the Senate first approves the $3.5 trillion reconciliation proposal. (Washington Post / Bloomberg / CNN / The Hill)
2/ The acting commissioner of the FDA and CDC director asked the White House to scale back the Covid-19 vaccine booster plan for the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines. The FDA said it needed more time to collect and review all the necessary data on safety and efficacy. The Pfizer process, however, remains on track, but may need to be limited to high risk groups, such as nursing home residents, healthcare workers, and people over 65. Last month, the Biden administration recommended that people who had been vaccinated for at least eight months should get a booster starting Sept. 20. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / CNN)
3/ The House and Senate Judiciary committees plan to hold hearings to examine Texas’ six-week abortion ban and the Supreme Court procedure that allowed it to take effect this week. The hearing will examine the Supreme Court’s use of the so-called “shadow docket,” a controversial, expedited process for emergency actions taken by the court that often result in late-night decisions issued with minimal or no written opinions. On Wednesday, the court ruled 5 to 4 to leave in place the Texas law that bars most abortions in the state. There were no oral arguments before the justices and the majority opinion was an unsigned single paragraph. Chief Justice John Roberts joined the court’s three liberal justices in dissenting. Biden, meanwhile, denounced Texas’s new abortion law, calling it “almost un-American” and that the ban creates a “vigilante system” because it empowers private citizens to police the ban. The House plans to take up the Women’s Health Protection Act when lawmakers return on Sept. 20, which would establish the legal right to abortion nationwide and prevent states from putting medically unnecessary restrictions on the procedures. The bill, however, faces steep odds of passage in the Senate. (CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / CNBC)
4/ Biden ordered the declassification and release of documents related to the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. The executive order directs the Justice Department and other agencies to review classified documents related to the FBI’s investigations and sets specific timelines for their public, declassified release over the next six months. Some material will be released as early as next week’s 20th anniversary. (NBC News / Washington Post)
5/ The economy added 235,000 jobs in August – weaker-than-expected growth. The economy added roughly 1 million jobs in both June and July. The unemployment rate dropped to 5.2% from 5.4%. Biden, meanwhile, called the economic recovery “strong” but blamed the “impact of the Delta variant” for the sluggish growth of U.S. jobs. (CNBC / Politico)
poll/ 77% of Americans support Biden’s decision to end the war in Afghanistan, but 52% disapprove of the way the withdrawal was handled. 26% support the how the withdrawal was handled. (Washington Post)
poll/ 44% of Americans approve of the job Biden is doing as president while 51% disapprove. In late June, 50% approved while and 42% disapproved. Only Trump (37%) and Ford (37%) had lower approval ratings at this point in their terms since the Truman administration. (ABC News)
1/ Texas enacted the nation’s the most restrictive abortion ban after the Supreme Court failed to rule on an emergency request from Texas abortion clinics. The law, known as Senate Bill 8, prohibits doctors from performing abortions if a fetal heartbeat is detected, which is about six weeks into a pregnancy and before many women are even aware that they are pregnant. The law makes no exceptions for pregnancies resulting from incest or rape, and also deputizes private individuals to sue anyone who performs the procedure or “aids and abets” it. Individuals found to have violated the law would have to pay $10,000 to the person who successfully brings a suit. In an emergency request to the court, abortion providers wrote that the law “would immediately and catastrophically reduce abortion access in Texas, barring care for at least 85% of Texas abortion patients (those who are six weeks pregnant or greater) and likely forcing many abortion clinics ultimately to close.” Biden called the ban “extreme,” saying it “blatantly violates” a woman’s constitutional right to have an abortion, as affirmed by Roe v. Wade. He added that his administration was “deeply committed” to a woman’s right to have an abortion and pledged to “protect and defend” that right. The Supreme Court, however, is still expected to act on the Texas law, though there is no timeline. In May, the court agreed to review Mississippi’s ban on the procedure after 15 weeks of pregnancy, which directly challenges Roe v. Wade. Arguments are expected later this year, with a ruling in 2022. (Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / Bloomberg / Politico / NBC News)
2/ Texas Republicans passed new restrictions on the state’s voting process, overcoming a six-week walkout by Democrats to send the measure to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who plans to sign the bill into law. The legislation adds new ID requirements for vote by mail, creates new criminal and civil penalties for poll workers, empowers partisan poll watchers, and bans drive-through and 24-hour voting options. Texas and 17 other states have passed more than 30 bills this year aimed at restricting voting. (New York Times / NPR / Wall Street Journal)
3/ Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy threatened telecommunication companies that a future “Republican majority will not forget” if they cooperate with the House select committee investigating the January 6 riot at the Capitol. The comment follows the committee asked 35 companies to save records relevant to the attack – something McCarthy claimed “would put every American with a phone or computer in the crosshairs of a surveillance state run by Democratic politicians.” McCarthy added that complying with the request would be a “violation of federal law and subject to losing their ability to operate in the United States.” He did not, however, cite which law prohibits the companies from complying with the committee’s request. (Politico / The Hill / CNN)
4/ The Florida Department of Health changed the way it reported Covid-19 death data to the CDC as cases ballooned in August, giving the appearance that the pandemic was in decline. Until three weeks ago, Florida counted deaths by the date they were recorded, but on Aug. 10, the state began counting new deaths by the date the person died. Using the old methodology – a common method used by most states – Florida death data would have shown an average of 262 daily deaths. Instead, Florida showed 46 “new deaths” per day over the previous seven days. (Miami Herald)
5/ At least 15.1 million Covid-19 vaccine doses have been thrown away in the U.S. since March 1. According to CDC data, pharmacies and state governments have discarded doses for a number of reasons, including cracked vials, errors diluting the vaccine, freezer malfunctions, more doses in a vial than people who want them, among other things. Walgreens reported that it wasted nearly 2.6 million doses, CVS reported 2.3 million wasted doses, Walmart reported 1.6 million, and Rite Aid reported 1.1 million. Health departments in Texas, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Oklahoma each reported more than 200,000 wasted doses. (NBC News)
1/ The U.S. completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan, effectively ending the longest war in American history and fulfilling Biden’s pledge to end what he called the “forever war.” The evacuation operation at Kabul’s international airport also ended. Control of the airport was left in the hands of the Taliban. More than 2,400 U.S. troops were killed, including 13 in the past week, during the 20-year war that George W. Bush launched to overthrow the Taliban, who had harbored the al Qaeda terrorists responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Gen. Frank McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, said a number of American citizens in “the very low hundreds” were left behind, and that he believes they will still be able to leave the country. The U.S., however, is not expected to have any further diplomatic or military presence in the country. (Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg)
2/ The U.S. averaged more than 100,000 Covid-19 hospitalizations a day over the last week – the highest seven-day average since mid-January when nearly 140,000 people were hospitalized. (New York Times)
3/ The Education Department opened five civil rights investigations into statewide school mask bans in Iowa, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Utah. The department’s Office for Civil Rights will examine whether the policies in the five Republican-led states violate the rights of students with disabilities. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona accused the states of “putting politics over the health and education of the students they took an oath to serve,” calling the policies “simply unacceptable.” (Washington Post / Politico / New York Times / Associated Press)
4/ The House Select Committee investigating the January 6 riot plans to ask telecommunications companies to preserve the phone records of several Republican lawmakers who participated in the “Stop the Steal” rally, which served as a prelude to the Capitol insurrection. The list is reportedly still evolving, but currently includes Reps. Lauren Boebert, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Jim Jordan, Andy Biggs, Paul Gosar, Mo Brooks, Madison Cawthorn, Matt Gaetz, Louie Gohmert, Jody Hice, and Scott Perry. Last week, the committee demanded records from federal officials and Trump allies and staffers, including some of Trump’s family members. (CNN / NBC News)
1/ The death toll from the bombing attack at the Kabul airport in Afghanistan rose to 169 Afghans and 13 U.S. service members, a number that could increase as authorities examine fragmented remains. Thursday’s bombing — blamed on Afghanistan’s offshoot of the Islamic State group, an enemy of both the Taliban and the West — marked one of the most lethal terror attacks the country has seen. The U.S. said it was the deadliest day for American forces in Afghanistan since 2011. (Associated Press / CNN)
2/ Biden vowed to complete the U.S. evacuation of Afghanistan and hunt down ISIS leaders after the attack in Kabul. “We will rescue Americans, we will get our Afghan allies, and the mission will go on,” Biden said from the White House. “America will not be intimidated.” (CNBC)
3/ Seven Capitol Police officers are suing Trump and members of far-right extremist groups and political organizations of plotting to disrupt the peaceful transition of power during the Capitol riot on Jan. 6. The suit, which took a broad view of the riot’s origins, was the latest effort to hold former President Donald J. Trump accountable for the Capitol attack. (New York Times / CNBC)
4/ The Supreme Court blocked the Biden administration’s COVID-related eviction moratorium in an eight-page, unsigned opinion. The decision puts hundreds of thousands of tenants at risk of losing shelter, while the administration struggles to speed the flow of billions of dollars in federal funding to people who are behind in rent because of the coronavirus pandemic and its associated economic hardship. (CNN / New York Times)
5/ A Florida judge blocked Gov. Ron DeSantis’ order banning mask mandates. Leon County Circuit Judge John C. Cooper ruled that DeSantis overstepped his authority when he issued an executive order banning such mandates. (Associated Press)
1/ Roughly 89% of the funds from the Emergency Rental Assistance Program have not been distributed, according to the Treasury Department. Just $1.7 billion of the $46.5 billion in funds intended to prevent eviction were disbursed as of July. Meanwhile, the White House is bracing for a Supreme Court decision that could strike down its eviction moratorium. (New York Times)
2/ The Supreme Court ruled that the Biden administration must comply with a ruling ordering it to restart Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” program for asylum seekers. Under the program, thousands of asylum seekers were sent to wait outside U.S. territory while their claims were processed in immigration courts. (Washington Post)
3/ The House committee investigating the Capitol riot requested documents from several U.S. agencies related to the attack, signaling that they intend to conduct a sprawling investigative effort. The committee demanded records related to at least 30 members of Trump’s inner circle and plans to seek executive branch records related to the attack and its run-up — including “communications within and among the White House and Executive Branch agencies” on and before Jan. 6. (CNN / CNBC / Politico)
4/ The Secret Service warned Capitol Police about violent threats the day before the Jan. 6 attack. The documents shed further light on the intelligence failures by the Capitol Police in the days before the riot. Capitol Police were warned that their officers could face violence at the hands of supporters of former President Trump. (Politico)
5/ Biden received an inconclusive classified intelligence report on the origin of COVID-19. The report could not confirm whether the pathogen jumped from an animal to a human as part of a natural process, or escaped from a lab in central China. The intelligence community will seek within days to declassify elements of the report for potential public release, officials said. (Washington Post)
6/ The FCC proposed a $5.1 million fine against conservative activists for making unlawful robocalls that made false claims about mail-in voting. The calls lied about mail voting in the run-up to the 2020 election. It is the largest robocall fine ever proposed by the FCC for violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. (NBC News / Associated Press)
1/ The FDA granted full approval to the Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine, clearing the path to more vaccine mandates at hospitals, colleges, corporations and other organizations across the country. The vaccine is now officially approved for all people 16 and older, making it the first to move beyond emergency-use status in the United States. (New York Times / CNBC)
2/ The Pentagon will require all military personnel to get a COVID-19 vaccine. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is “prepared to issue updated guidance requiring all service members to be vaccinated,” according to Pentagon press secretary John Kirby. A timeline for when service members must receive the shot will be provided in the coming days. (The Hill)
3/ New York City will require all public school teachers and staff to get vaccinated. About 148,000 school employees — and contractors who work in schools — will have to get at least a first dose by Sept. 27, according to an announcement from the mayor and the city health and education departments. (Associated Press)
4/ The House committee investigating the Capitol riot plans to seek phone records from the day in question, including from members of Congress. The committee is poised to send notices to various telecommunications companies requesting that they preserve the phone records of several people, the first step in an investigatory process that could eventually lead to witness testimony. (CNN)
5/ Democrats plan to vote to advance Biden’s $3.5 trillion budget package. Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s plan to move the bill in tandem with the Senate-passed infrastructure legislation is threatened by a rebellion by moderate Democrats, who have insisted that the $550 billion infrastructure bill get a speedy vote and be signed into law before they consider the larger piece. (NBC News)
1/ A North Carolina man who claimed to have a bomb in a pickup truck near the U.S. Capitol surrendered to law enforcement after an hours-long standoff on Thursday. The standoff was resolved peacefully after roughly five hours of negotiations, ending when Floyd Ray Roseberry crawled out of the truck and was taken into police custody. (Associated Press / CNBC / CNN)
2/ Trump’s deal with the Taliban is drawing ire from his former allies. The former president and his secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, are attacking President Biden over Afghanistan even as their own policy faces harsh criticism. (New York Times)
3/ Rep. Lauren Boebert pushed to loosen drilling rules but failed to disclose her husband’s income from energy consulting. Boebert’s husband made nearly $1 million from energy consulting in the last two years, the Colorado Republican belatedly disclosed this week. (Washington Post)
4/ Republican Rep. Diana Harshbarger failed to properly disclose more than 700 stock trades worth as much as $10.9 million in violation of federal transparency law. Harshbarger and her husband’s delayed disclosures involve trades in stocks of companies like Facebook, Walmart, Apple, and Lockheed Martin. (Business Insider)
5/ The FBI says it hasn’t found much evidence that the U.S. Capitol insurrection was coordinated. Though federal officials have arrested more than 570 alleged participants, the FBI at this point believes the violence was not centrally coordinated by far-right groups or prominent supporters of then-President Trump. (Reuters)
6/ The White House is backtracking after Biden appeared to say the U.S. would defend Taiwan against China. A senior Biden administration official said U.S. policy on Taiwan had not changed after Biden appeared to suggest the U.S. would defend the island if it were attacked, a deviation from a long-held U.S. position of “strategic ambiguity.” (The Guardian)
poll/ 62% of Americans say the Afghanistan war was not worth fighting. 65% percent say they are extremely or very concerned about the dangers posed by domestic extremist groups, compared with 50% who are concerned about extremists from foreign countries. (Associated Press)
1/ A Texas school district made face masks part of its dress code in order to get around Gov. Abbott’s anti-mask mandate order. Several school districts in Texas have sought to require masks amid an increase in COVID-19 cases. Gov. Greg Abbott has tried to ban mask mandates. (NBC News)
2/ The Biden administration will use a federal civil rights office to deter states from banning universal masking in classrooms. The move, using the federal Department of Education’s civil rights enforcement authority, escalates the administration’s fight with Republican governors who are blocking local school districts from requiring masks to protect against the coronavirus. (New York Times)
3/ The Biden administration announced that it will require nursing home staff to be vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition for those facilities to continue receiving federal Medicare and Medicaid funding. The new mandate, in the form of a forthcoming regulation to be issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, could take effect as soon as next month. (Associated Press / CNN)
4/ The U.S. will advise most Americans to get booster vaccine shots eight months after they received their original dose. Nursing home residents and health care workers will most likely be the first to get booster shots, as soon as September, followed by other older people who were vaccinated last winter. The additional doses will be available to people eight months after they received their second dose. (New York Times / NBC News)
5/ Afghan President Ashraf Ghani resurfaced in the UAE after fleeing Afghanistan, according to the Emirati government. Ghani left Afghanistan on Sunday evening with no announcement or clear reporting on where he was going. As the Taliban entered the presidential palace and declared the war “over,” Ghani said he fled to prevent “a flood of bloodshed.” (CNBC)
6/ Federal officials pressed GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert over her apparent personal use of campaign funds. A letter from the Federal Election Commission to the treasurer of Boebert’s 2022 reelection campaign inquired about four Venmo payments totaling more than $6,000. (CNBC)
7/ The New York Attorney General says the NRA must be dissolved after failing to clean up misconduct. In a court filing, AG Letitia James said the National Rifle Association hasn’t cleaned up rampant financial and managerial misconduct as it claimed over the past year, illustrating the need for the gun-rights group to be dissolved. (Bloomberg)
poll/ 81% of voters surveyed support requiring every voter to show a photo ID to cast a ballot. Support for voter ID laws rose by 4 percentage points from March to July, and it increased by 13 percentage points among Black voters surveyed. (Honest Elections Project)
1/ Biden said he stands behind his decision to withdraw from Afghanistan after the Taliban regained control over the country. During an address from the White House, Biden said the U.S. mission in Afghanistan was always “narrowly focused on counterterrorism, not counterinsurgency or nation-building.” Biden also said he did not move to evacuate people sooner to avoid a “crisis of confidence.” (Axios / NPR / Washington Post)
2/ U.S. military commanders hid fatal flaws with the Afghan army and police forces for more than a decade. Those fears, rarely expressed in public, were ultimately borne out by the sudden collapse this month of the Afghan security forces, whose wholesale and unconditional surrender to the Taliban will go down as perhaps the worst debacle in the history of proxy warfare. (Washington Post)
3/ The Biden administration is implementing the largest permanent increase in food stamps in the program’s history. The jump in benefits comes after a revision of the initiative’s nutrition standards that supporters say will reduce hunger and better reflect how Americans eat. (New York Times)
4/ Texas COVID-19 hospitalizations have increased by 400% in the last month. As of Aug. 15, the state has reported around 2.8 million confirmed cases in 254 counties and 515,585 probable cases in 230 counties since the pandemic began. (Texas Tribune)
5/ House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she is looking to advance the bipartisan infrastructure bill and a broader $3.5 trillion budget framework simultaneously. The plan to tie the bipartisan infrastructure bill with the budget resolution comes after a group of nine moderate Democrats told her last week they wouldn’t vote for a budget resolution until the bipartisan infrastructure plan passes the House and is signed into law. (CBS News)
1/ New intelligence reports indicate Russia is making fresh efforts to interfere in the 2022 election. The Biden administration is receiving regular intelligence reports indicating Russian efforts to interfere in US elections are evolving and ongoing, current and former officials say, and in fact, never stopped, despite President Joe Biden’s warnings to Russian President Vladimir Putin over the summer and a new round of sanctions imposed in the spring. (CNN)
2/ The Supreme Court rejected a challenge to Indiana University’s vaccination requirement. Eight students asked the court for an emergency order, arguing that the risks of vaccination outweigh potential benefits for those in their age group. (NBC News)
3/ The U.S. reported nearly 1 million vaccinations in the past day, the most since early July. About 918,000 were administered on Friday, according to Cyrus Shapar, the White House’s COVID-19 data director. The number includes 576,000 people getting their first dose of the vaccine. (The Hill)
4/ The Former U.S. attorney in Atlanta says Trump wanted to fire him for not backing his election fraud claims. Byung J. Pak, who resigned abruptly on Jan. 4, told senators on Wednesday that he had done so after learning that the president planned to fire him, according to a person familiar with his testimony. (New York Times)
5/ Nine House moderates say they won’t back a budget vote until the infrastructure bill passes. The letter from nine Democrats, enough to block passage, threatens their party’s two-track plan to pass both a $3.5 trillion social policy budget blueprint and an infrastructure bill. (New York Times)
1/ The Senate passed a $3.5 trillion budget plan that includes a sweeping expansion of the social safety net. The 92-page blueprint, which would expand Medicaid, provide free preschool and community college, and fund climate change programs, passed along party lines. The blueprint sets in motion a perilous legislative process aimed at creating the largest expansion of the federal safety net in nearly six decades. (New York Times / Politico)
2/ Cuomo announced his resignation in an effort to head off a likely impeachment after a devastating report found he sexually harassed 11 women. “Wasting energy on distractions is the last thing that state government should be doing,” the three-term governor of New York said in a video address. “And I cannot be the cause of that.” (Washington Post)
3/ The federal government sent ventilators to Florida even as Gov. Ron DeSantis says he’s unaware of the shipment. A health administration official confirms the Strategic National Stockpile sent 200 ventilators and 100 high-flow nasal cannula kits to the state of Florida “earlier this week.” (CNN)
4/ California is the first state to require teachers and school staff to be vaccinated against the coronavirus or submit to regular testing in order to return to school. Gov. Gavin Newsom cited the surging delta variant, which has challenged plans for the opening of school this fall. Data, he said, shows the safety and effectiveness of the vaccines. (Washington Post)
5/ The Texas House speaker signed arrest warrants for the state Democrats who broke quorum over impending GOP voting restrictions. The move followed approval of a House motion to send for absent members, which enabled Phelan to issue the warrants. The Texas Supreme Court on Tuesday also stayed a trial court judge’s ruling that would have protected absent Democrats from arrest. (Washington Post)
6/ A federal judge says Trump’s accountants must turn over his tax records to the House of Representatives. A federal judge in Washington ruled that Trump must disclose certain financial records held by his accounting firm Mazars in response to a subpoena from congressional Democrats. The judge approved a subpoena for Trump’s records covering 2017 and 2018, but turned down most of the panel’s request for similar information dating back to 2011. (Politico / Bloomberg)
7/ Biden nominated Damian Williams to be the next U.S. Attorney in Manhattan. The selection is part of a slate of nominations for top law enforcement posts in the country, including for three offices that tend to investigate the Justice Department’s most prominent cases. (New York Times)
8/ YouTube suspended Sen. Rand Paul over a video that falsely claims masks are ineffective at preventing the spread of the coronavirus. The suspension was “a badge of honor,” Paul tweeted. (NBC News)
1/ The Pentagon will require all members of the U.S. military to get the COVID vaccine by September 15. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the mid-September deadline could be accelerated if the vaccine receives final FDA approval or infection rates continue to rise. “Getting vaccinated against COVID-19 is a key force protection and readiness issue,” Gen. Mark Milley wrote. (Associated Press)
2/ A Texas judge blocked the arrest of Democratic legislators who fled the state to stop the GOP from imposing new voting restrictions. State District Judge Brad Urrutia, a Democrat, signed a temporary restraining order late Sunday in a case newly filed by 19 Texas House Democrats against Gov. Greg Abbott and House Speaker Dade Phelan, both Republicans, who have called for arrests to restore a quorum in the House. (Texas Tribune / Washington Post)
3/ Senate Democrats unveiled a budget resolution that includes $3.5 trillion in spending boosts and tax breaks aimed at strengthening social and environmental programs. The measure lays the groundwork for separate legislation later this year that over a decade would pour mountains of federal resources into Democrats’ top priorities. Included would be more money for health care, education, family services and environmental programs and tax breaks for families, with much of it paid for with tax increases on the rich and corporations. (Associated Press / Politico)
4/ Trump’s former acting attorney general testified about Trump’s efforts to subvert the 2020 election. Jeffrey Rosen had a two-hour meeting with the Justice Department’s office of the inspector general and provided closed-door testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Saturday. (New York Times)
5/ A top aide to NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo resigned in the wake of the state attorney general’s report on Cuomo’s sexual harassment. The departure of Melissa DeRosa, who held the title of secretary to the governor, is considered a huge blow to Cuomo. The investigation into allegations of harassment by the New York governor also detailed DeRosa’s role in an effort to discredit one of Cuomo’s accusers. (Washington Post)
1/ The Biden administration is considering withholding federal funds, among other measures, in order to spur vaccinations. The moves, if adopted, would amount to a dramatic escalation in the effort to vaccinate the roughly 90 million Americans who are eligible for shots but remain unvaccinated. (Washington Post)
2/ The Biden administration extended the freeze on federal student-loan payments through January 2022. The pandemic relief, which suspends monthly loan payments and interest for 42 million Americans, had been set to expire at the end of September. The administration said this is the last time it will extend the freeze. (Bloomberg / Politico / The Hill)
3/ Nearly 1,800 victims’ relatives, first responders and survivors of 9/11 are calling on Biden to refrain from attending any memorials unless he upholds his pledge to declassify U.S. government evidence that they believe may show a link between Saudi Arabian leaders and the attacks. (NBC News)
4/ A woman who accused NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo of groping her last year has filed a criminal complaint with the Albany County sheriff’s department. The complaint from the woman, an executive assistant whose name has not been publicized, increases the possibility that Cuomo could face criminal charges. (New York Times)
5/ The select committee investigating the 1/6 insurrection is weighing whether to pursue call logs from the Trump White House on the day of the riot. If they pursue the logs, Biden would ultimately have to determine whether the records should be covered by executive privilege or qualify as essential evidence for the ongoing probe. (CNN)
1/ The FDA plans to fully approve the Pfizer vaccine by the start of next month. Giving final approval to the Pfizer vaccine — rather than relying on the emergency authorization granted late last year — could help increase inoculation rates at a moment when the highly transmissible Delta variant of the virus is sharply driving up the number of new cases. (New York Times)
2/ New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo sexually harassed multiple women, according to a report by state Attorney General Letitia James’ office. The investigation found that Cuomo engaged in “unwelcome and nonconsensual touching,” and made comments of a “suggestive” sexual nature to current and former state employees, as well as a number of women outside of state government. Joe Biden and the entire NY Democratic congressional delegation have called on Cuomo to resign. (CNN / The Hill)
3/ The State Department is investigating the whereabouts of a $5,800 bottle of whiskey the Japanese government gave to Mike Pompeo in 2019. It’s unclear whether Pompeo ever received the gift, as he was traveling in Saudi Arabia on June 24, 2019, the day that Japanese officials gave it to the State Department. (New York Times)
4/ Los Angeles is considering requiring vaccine proof at restaurants, gyms, and indoor sporting events. The mandate would require eligible individuals to demonstrate that they’ve received at least one vaccination dose to visit indoor places such as restaurants, bars, retail stores, gyms, spas, movie theaters, stadiums and concert venues. If passed, the measure would be the widest-ranging vaccination verification effort in the city to date. (Los Angeles Times)
5/ Trump is trying to block the Treasury Department from handing over his tax returns to Congress. Lawyers for Trump said the stated reason for seeing the returns, to examine how the IRS audits presidents, is simply a pretext for wanting to look for something embarrassing. (NBC News)
6/ Mexico plans to sue U.S.-based gunmakers over the flow of arms across the southern border. Mexico claims that lax controls over weapons sales are fueling arms-trafficking and violence. (Washington Post)
1/ A third police officer who responded to the U.S. Capitol insurrection has died by suicide, according to the Metropolitan Police Department. Officer Gunther Hashida was found dead in his residence on Thursday, July 29. This is the third known suicide of an officer who responded to the Capitol during the attack, and it is the second known suicide by a D.C. officer specifically. (CNN)
2/ Lindsey Graham tested positive for COVID-19 and has had “flu-like symptoms,” despite being vaccinated. Graham announced Monday that he now has only “mild symptoms” and is very glad he had been vaccinated because “without vaccination I am certain I would not feel as well as I do now.” Graham, before he got his results, was in the Senate on Monday morning, according to people who talked to him. He was wearing a mask at the time. (CNN / Reuters)
3/ House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy joked that “it will be hard not to hit” Nancy Pelosi with the gavel if he becomes House speaker. “I want you to watch Nancy Pelosi hand me that gavel. It will be hard not to hit her with it,” McCarthy said at a Saturday night event. Democrats are calling on McCarthy to apologize. (CNN / Washington Post)
4/ Jihadists are flooding the pro-Trump social network with propaganda. GETTR, the new platform started by members of the former president’s inner circle, is awash with beheading videos and extremist content. (Politico)
5/ Senators unveiled the final details of the $1 trillion infrastructure proposal. The more than 2,700-page bipartisan bill was finalized Sunday night, and it includes money for roads, transit systems and high-speed internet access. It’s the first phase of President Biden’s infrastructure plan. (NPR)
6/ The Treasury Department plans to invoke “extraordinary measures” after Congress missed the deadline to increase the debt-ceiling. The Treasury Department will begin conducting emergency cash-conservation steps to avoid busting the U.S. debt ceiling. Economists say those so-called extraordinary measures will allow the Treasury to pay off the government’s bills without issuing new debt for up to three months. (CNBC)
poll/ 40% Americans say the COVID situation is getting better, down from 89% in June. 45% say it’s getting worse. Most Americans now expect COVID disruption to persist through end of 2021 or later. (Gallup)
1/ Trump pressed his Justice Department to claim that the 2020 election results were corrupt. Trump pressed top Justice Department officials late last year to declare that the election was corrupt even though they had found no instances of widespread fraud. “Leave the rest to me,” and to congressional allies, the former president is said to have told top law enforcement officials. (New York Times / CNN / Washington Post)
2/ The Department of Justice ruled that the IRS must release Trump’s tax returns to Congress. Trump has refused for years to voluntarily disclose his income tax returns. Congress can now see them, the Justice Department said. (CNBC / The Hill)
3/ Trump said the Capitol police officers who spoke to Congress are “pussies.” Trump has expressed anger that the officers blamed him for the riot he clearly inspired and speculated they were being used as pawns by Speaker Nancy Pelosi. (Daily Beast)
4/ The delta variant of the coronavirus appears to cause more severe illness than earlier variants and spreads as easily as chickenpox, according to an internal federal health document that argues officials must “acknowledge the war has changed.” The document captures the struggle of the nation’s top public health agency to persuade the public to embrace vaccination and prevention measures, including mask-wearing, as cases surge across the United States and new research suggests vaccinated people can spread the virus. (Washington Post)
5/ Biden ordered the military to move toward mandatory COVID vaccinations. Biden said making the vaccines mandatory is important because troops often serve in places where vaccination rates are low. (Military.com)
1/ The White House and a bipartisan group of senators agreed on Wednesday on a far-reaching $1 trillion infrastructure bill. Democrats set an evening vote to advance it, paving the way for action on a crucial piece of President Biden’s agenda. According to a fact sheet released Wednesday afternoon by the White House, the resulting bill would provide about $550 billion in new federal money for roads, bridges, rail, transit, water and other physical infrastructure programs. (New York Times / CNN / NPR)
2/ Trump tried and failed to sabotage the Biden infrastructure deal. Those close to the former president say he remains miffed that Senate Republicans didn’t move a bill when he was in office. Though he has increasingly sought to undermine negotiations, Trump’s efforts to derail any infrastructure package have, so far, mostly been met with a shrug on Capitol Hill. (Politico)
3/ Four police officers delivered emotional testimony on Tuesday during the first hearing of the House select committee on the 1/6 insurrection. The officers recounted the physical and verbal abuse they endured defending the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 from a mob of Trump supporters. The officers urged members of the panel to probe the role that Trump played on Jan. 6, with Officer Dunn comparing the former president to someone who hired a “hit man.” (Washington Post)
4/ Biden will announce a vaccination requirement for all federal government employees and contractors on Thursday. All federal employees and contractors will be required to get vaccinated against COVID-19 or submit to regular testing and mitigation requirements. (CNN)
5/ The CDC is urging vaccinated people in COVID hot spots to resume wearing masks indoors. Health officials are also calling for all teachers, staffers and students in schools to wear masks, regardless of their vaccination status. CDC director Rochelle Walensky expressed disappointment and dismay that the summer surge in cases, driven by the delta variant’s startling transmissibility and low vaccination rates in many areas, had forced her agency’s hand. (Washington Post / NBC News)
6/ Nancy Pelosi said Kevin McCarthy is a “moron” for opposing a mask mandate in the House. Brian Monahan, the Capitol physician, instituted a new mask mandate for the lower chamber late Tuesday night in response to a spike in infections from the delta variant of the coronavirus. When asked about McCarthy’s comments opposing the mandate, Pelosi said, “He’s such a moron.” (The Hill)
poll/ Approval of the U.S. Supreme Court has declined to 49% after reaching a 10-year high of 58% a year ago. (Gallup)
1/ The VA issued a vaccine mandate for all health care workers, the first federal agency to do so. Employees who provide direct patient care have eight weeks to get inoculated against COVID-19 or face penalties, including possible removal. (New York Times)
2/ Biden said the long-term effects of COVID-19 can be considered a disability under federal civil rights laws. The administration’s announcement of the new policy was timed to coincide with the 31st anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act. (Washington Post)
3/ Democrats moved to elevate Liz Cheney’s role on the Jan. 6 commission by giving her prime a speaking slot on Tuesday. The Wyoming Republican will be one of two members of the nine member panel to deliver an opening statement at the committee’s first public hearing Tuesday. (Washington Post)
4/ Biden and the Iraqi prime minister plan to announce the end of U.S. combat missions in Iraq. Biden and Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi are meeting in the Oval Office on Monday and plan to make the announcement afterward. (NBC News)
5/ Michigan Republicans will return COVID relief funds that they used to pay their own bonuses. Six commissioners voted to pay themselves $65,000 in total, stoking outcry. (The Guardian)
6/ Trump urged Senate Republicans to abandon talks on a bipartisan infrastructure deal until after the midterm elections or when the GOP retakes majorities in Congress. (The Hill)
poll/ Biden’s average approval rating has been at around 53% for six months. Over the course of Biden’s first six months in office, his approval rating has never risen above 55% or fallen below 51% in an average of polls. It was 53% in April and 54% in May. (CNN)
1/ Trump’s PAC collected $75 million this year, but so far the group has not put money into pushing for the 2020 ballot reviews he touts. Even as he assiduously tracks attempts by his allies to cast doubt on the integrity of the 2020 election, the former president has been uninterested in personally bankrolling the effort in Arizona or to push for similar endeavors in other states, according to people familiar with the finances. Instead, the Save America leadership PAC — which has few limits on how it can spend its money — has paid for some of the former president’s travel, legal costs and staff, along with other expenses. (Washington Post)
2/ Alabama Republican Gov. Kay Ivey blamed “the unvaccinated folks” for the rise in COVID-19 cases in her state, a remarkable plea at a time when many GOP leaders are refusing to urge people to get vaccinated even as COVID-19 cases surge in many parts of the country. Alabama is the least vaccinated state in the country, with roughly 33.9% of residents fully vaccinated, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (CNN / Washington Post)
3/ Trump ally Tom Barrack strikes a $250 million bail deal to get out of jail. A federal magistrate judge on Friday ordered Tom Barrack, a longtime associate of Trump who was indicted earlier this week on charges of illegal foreign lobbying, released from jail pending trial, freeing him on a bail package that includes a $250 million bond secured by $5 million in cash. The judge also ordered Barrack to wear a GPS location monitoring bracelet, barred him from transferring any funds overseas, and restricted his travel to parts of Southern California and New York. (CNN)
4/ The conservative House Freedom Caucus urged Kevin McCarthy to try remove Nancy Pelosi from her position as Speaker of the House. In a letter Friday, the far-right group asked McCarthy to file and bring up a privileged motion by July 31 “to vacate the chair and end Nancy Pelosi’s authoritarian reign as Speaker of the House.” The motion is all but guaranteed to fail in the Democratic House, but it signals a stewing anger on the right towards the speaker. (Politico)
5/ Biden is expected to nominate Caroline Kennedy as U.S. ambassador to Australia. Kennedy, the daughter of former President John F. Kennedy, served as ambassador to Japan during the Obama administration. She is a longtime friend, ally and donor to Biden who endorsed the President’s candidacy early in the campaign and spoke last summer at the Democratic convention. (CNN)
6/ Lawyers for the state of Mississippi urged the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade. The state is appealing lower court rulings that struck down a law banning most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The court agreed in May to hear the case, which will be argued in the fall, most likely in November or December. (NBC News)
1/ Nancy Pelosi rejected two of the five GOP members who were selected to serve on the 1/6 committee. House Speaker Pelosi on Wednesday rejected the appointment of Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio and Jim Banks of Indiana, both of whom objected to the certification of the November 2020 election in the House, to serve on the commission. In response, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy pulled the remaining three GOP members. (CNN / The Hill / Washington Post / Politico)
2/ Trump’s longtime friend and ally Thomas Barrack was accused of trying to use his influence to help the United Arab Emirates. The billionaire businessman was arrested Tuesday in California and charged with violating foreign lobbying laws, obstructing justice and making false statements, officials said. (Washington Post / NBC News / CNBC)
3/ Ted Cruz is blocking diplomats from being confirmed for reasons that have nothing to do with their qualifications. An extraordinary effort by Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz to block nominees from being confirmed to vital jobs in the State Department is creating hurdles for the Biden administration and hindering U.S. diplomacy, according to Democrats and Republicans who spoke to CNN. (CNN)
4/ U.S. life expectancy fell by a year and a half in 2020, the largest one-year decline since World War II, public health officials said Wednesday. The decrease for both Black Americans and Hispanic Americans was even worse: three years. The drop spelled out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is due mainly to the COVID-19 pandemic, which health officials said is responsible for close to 74% of the overall life expectancy decline. (Associated Press)
5/ Senate Republicans blocked a vote Wednesday to start debate on a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, as they push for more time to strike a deal with Democrats and write the legislation. The vote was 49-51, short of the 60 votes needed to advance the measure. (CNN / Politico)
poll/ 48% of Democratic voters are “very” or “extremely” enthusiastic about the midterms, down 5 percentage points since April. A third of Republican voters said they’re “extremely enthusiastic” about the midterms. (Morning Consult)
poll/ 33% of Black adults and 43% of White adults say race relations in the United States are good. 40% of Black adults say race relations will eventually work out, down 14 points. U.S. adults’ positive ratings of relations between Black and White Americans are at their lowest point in more than two decades of measurement. (Gallup)
1/ Attorney General Merrick Garland formally prohibited the seizure of reporters’ records. Reversing years of department policy, Garland formally prohibited federal prosecutors from seizing the records of journalists in leak investigations, with limited exceptions. (Associated Press)
2/ The U.S. formally accused China of hacking Microsoft. The Biden administration is also organizing a broad group of allies to condemn Beijing for cyberattacks around the world, but will stop short of taking concrete punitive steps. (New York Times)
3/ One of the U.S. Capitol rioters was convicted of a felony and sentenced to 8 months in prison. Paul Hodgkins, a 38-year-old Floridian, is now the first Capitol rioter convicted of a felony to be sentenced. He pleaded guilty to breaching the Senate chamber during the U.S. Capitol insurrection and was sentenced on Monday in a closely watched case that could influence how hundreds of other rioters charged with the same felony are punished. (CNN / NBC News)
4/ The Biden Administration transferred its first detainee from Guantánamo Bay and repatriated him to Morocco. The Biden team picked up where the Obama administration left off with the repatriation of a Moroccan man, reducing the island prison’s population to 39. (New York Times)
5/ The Department of Justice says it won’t prosecute ex-Trump Commerce chief Wilbur Ross for misleading Congress on a Census question about citizenship status. Ross “misrepresented the full rationale for the reinstatement of the citizenship question” during appearances before House committees in 2018, the Commerce Department inspector general found. (NBC News)
6/ Trump’s business made $2.4 billion during the four years he served as president. Forbes estimates the pandemic helped wipe about $200 million off Trump’s top line last year. (Forbes)
1/ Arizona county election officials have identified fewer than 200 cases of potential voter fraud out of more than 3 million ballots cast in last year’s presidential election, undercutting former President Trump’s claims of a stolen election as his allies continue a disputed ballot review in the state’s most populous county. (Associated Press)
2/ A federal judge in Texas ruled that DACA is unlawful. The program has shielded hundreds of thousands of undocumented young adults from deportation, and the decision throws into question yet again the fate of immigrants known as Dreamers. The judge said Obama exceeded his authority when he created the program by executive order in 2012, but that he would not order that the program be immediately vacated. (New York Times)
3/ Sen. Joe Manchin said he wouldn’t carve out an exemption to the chamber’s filibuster rule for voting rights legislation, effectively dashing chances that Democrats could maneuver around Republican opposition to overhauling the nation’s elections laws. The West Virginia Democrat made the remarks after meeting with a group of Texas House Democrats who left the state to stall a vote on Republican-backed legislation that they say would restrict voting. (Bloomberg)
4/ A witness directly implicated Trump in a tax fraud scheme. A witness in the New York investigation against the Trump Organization has told prosecutors that Trump personally guaranteed he would cover school costs for the family members of two employees in lieu of a raise — directly implicating the former president in an ongoing criminal tax fraud case. Jennifer Weisselberg, ex-daughter-in-law of Allen Weisselberg, allegedly relayed to prosecutors that Trump turned to her and said: “Don’t worry, I’ve got it covered.” (Daily Beast)
5/ Biden selected Jane Hartley as ambassador to U.K.. The White House had considered such figures as Mike Bloomberg and Colin Powell to be ambassador to the Court of St. James’s, one of the plum posts in the American diplomatic corps. (Washington Post)
6/ Former Sen. Tom Udall is Biden’s pick as ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa. The two-term lawmaker was one of four choices named Friday. (Politico)
7/ Matt Gaetz’s campaign paid $25K to a Manhattan criminal defense lawyer who represented Jeffrey Epstein, new records show. Gaetz paid criminal defense attorney Marc Fernich $25K in June, records show. Fernich lists Jeffrey Epstein among his “notable clients.” (Business Insider)
poll/ Less than half of Republicans, 45%, are confident in the institution of science, compared with 72% in 1975. At the same time, Democratic confidence in science has increased from 67% to 79%. (Gallup)
1/ Senate Democrats revealed a $3.5 trillion plan to invest in health care, climate change, and more. The measure, which would include money to address climate change, expand Medicare and fulfill other Democratic priorities, is intended to deliver on President Biden’s economic proposal. “If we pass this, this is the most profound change to help American families in generations,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. (NBC News / New York Times / Politico)
2/ Vice President Harris suggested that she has discussed filibuster changes with senators. With a major voting bill stalled, the vice president told NPR that she won’t negotiate changes to Senate rules publicly, “but I’m certainly having conversations with folks.” (NPR)
3/ Trump said whoever “leaked” information about his time in the White House bunker last year should be “executed,” according to a new book. Then-President Trump told a number of his advisers in 2020 that whoever leaked the information had committed treason and should be executed for sharing details about the episode with members of the press. (CNN)
4/ The Justice Department attempted to seize Washington Post reporters’ email data one day before former AG Bill Barr left office. Newly unsealed court files shed more light on a contentious leak investigation. (New York Times)
5/ Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer says he will propose the federal decriminalization of marijuana. Schumer will offer draft legislation to remove marijuana from the list of controlled substances and begin regulating and taxing it. (New York Times)
6/ Tennessee abandoned its vaccine outreach to minors — not just for COVID-19. Tennessee halted all outreach to minors for all vaccines amid pressure from Republican lawmakers. A state vaccine expert was also fired. (The Tennessean)
1/ Texas Democrats plan to flee the state in an effort to block GOP-backed voting restrictions. The Texas lawmakers will head to D.C., risking arrest by leaving the state during the special legislative session. The move would be an attempt to become national symbols in the fight for voting rights, as Republicans in the state move ahead with a bill that would impose new limits on casting a ballot. (Texas Tribune / NBC News / New York Times)
2/ Trump lawyers might be penalized over a Michigan election lawsuit. The lawsuit alleging widespread fraud was voluntarily dropped after a judge in December found nothing but “speculation and conjecture.” (NBC News)
3/ Republicans are pushing to ban what they call “discrimination” against unvaccinated people. Legislation being introduced in states across the country would protect the civil rights of people who refuse to be vaccinated. (Axios)
4/ The EPA approved the use of toxic chemicals for fracking a decade ago, according to new files. The compounds can form PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals,” which have been linked to cancer and birth defects. The EPA approvals in 2011 came despite the agency’s own concerns about toxicity. (New York Times)
5/ The FDA is expected to announce a new warning about the Johnson & Johnson vaccine related to a rare autoimmune disorder. About 100 preliminary reports of Guillain-Barré have been detected after 12.8 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine were administered, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement. (Washington Post / New York Times)
6/ Biden backed Trump’s rejection of China’s claim to the South China Sea. The Biden administration on Sunday upheld a Trump-era rejection of nearly all of China’s significant maritime claims in the South China Sea. Biden also warned China that any attack on the Philippines in the flashpoint region would draw a U.S. response under a mutual defense treaty. (Associated Press)
1/ Biden told Putin the U.S. will take “any necessary action” after the latest massive ransomware attack. The White House says Biden has warned Putin that the United States would hold Moscow responsible for cyberattacks originating from Russia even if they cannot be directly linked to the Kremlin. (Washington Post)
2/ Michigan’s attorney general will launch an investigation into those who have allegedly peddled disinformation about the state’s Nov. 3 election for their own financial gain. The inquiry follows a recommendation in a GOP-led investigation into the election after the report found no evidence of widespread fraud. (Detroit Free Press)
3/ Biden nominated Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti as the U.S. ambassador to India. Garcetti would step down as L.A. mayor after Senate confirmation. Denise Bauer, a former ambassador to Belgium and prominent Biden donor, will be nominated ambassador to France. (Los Angeles Times / Washington Post)
4/ The C.D.C. issued new school guidance with an emphasis on full reopening. The guidance acknowledges that many students have suffered from months of virtual learning and urges schools to fully reopen in the fall, even if they cannot take all of the steps the agency recommends to curb the spread of the coronavirus. (New York Times)
5/ Biden signed an executive order to promote competition throughout the U.S. economy, in the most ambitious effort in generations to reduce the stranglehold of monopolies and concentrated markets in major industries. The order takes aim at monopolies in agriculture, airlines, broadband and banking. (Politico)
6/ The Department of Education urged Biden to extend student loan relief. The White House has not yet made a final decision on how and when to restart federal student loan payments, which have been frozen since March 2020. (Politico)
1/ Trump sued Google, Facebook, and Twitter. He filed a class action lawsuit seeking “punitive damages” to represent broader complaints about social media policies. (Axios / Associated Press / Washington Post / BBC)
2/ Trump told his chief of staff in 2018 that Hitler “did a lot of good things,” according to a new book by Michael Bender. The remarks shocked John Kelly, Bender reports, detailing the former president’s “stunning disregard for history.” (The Guardian)
3/ Weeks after her visit to the Holocaust Museum, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene made a new Nazi-era comparison in opposing the latest COVID-19 vaccination push. The Georgia Republican used the phrase “medical brown shirts” to describe officials and volunteers who are encouraging all Americans to get vaccinated. (Washington Post)
4/ Russian hackers are accused of breaching a contractor for the Republican National Committee last week, around the same time that Russian cyber-criminals launched the single largest global ransomware attack on record. The attack occurred weeks after a U.S.-Russian summit. (New York Times / Bloomberg / NBC News)
5/ Rep. Mo Brooks says he can’t be sued for inciting the Capitol riot because he is a federal employee. The Alabama Republican said he acted as member of Congress when he gave a fiery speech with Trump on Jan. 6 urging the crowd to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. (Washington Post)
6/ Republican Sen. Ron Johnson mouthed that climate change is “bullshit” during a GOP luncheon. Johnson insisted again last week that he is not a climate change denier, but video of him at a GOP event weeks earlier shows him telling the Republican group that it is “bullshit.” (CNN)
7/ Rep. Matt Gaetz’s associate Joel Greenberg asked for a 90-day sentencing delay due to his cooperation with prosecutors. A lawyer for Greenberg, a key figure in a federal probe involving Gaetz, asked a judge to delay the former county tax collector’s sentencing date by 90 days. The lawyer cited Greenberg’s continued cooperation with federal prosecutors. (CNBC)
8/ The FBI infiltrated a group whose members wanted to test homemade bombs, surveil the Capitol, and secede from the U.S. Court records show the FBI infiltrated a “Bible study” group in Virginia that, after the January 6 riot, had members discussing surveilling the U.S. Capitol and their wish to secede from the U.S. Investigators closely followed one member’s plans to build and test Molotov cocktails. (CNN)
poll/ Americans’ life ratings are at a record high. An estimated 59.2% of U.S. adults rate their lives well enough to be categorized as “thriving” exceeding the previous record-high estimate of 57.3% from 2017. (Gallup)
1/ The U.S. military vacated Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan after nearly 20 years. The base was the epicenter of the U.S. military’s counterterrorism campaign in Afghanistan, with fighter jets, drones, and cargo planes taking off from the twin runways day and night. The airfield was handed over to the Afghan National Security and Defense Force, effectively ending America’s longest foreign war. The U.S., however, will continue to pay nearly $4 billion annually until 2024 to finance the Afghan security forces. (Associated Press / New York Times / Washington Post)
2/ Attorney General Merrick Garland suspended federal executions, saying he said serious concerns about the arbitrariness of capital punishment, its disparate impact on people of color, and “the troubling number of exonerations” in death penalty cases. Garland ordered a review of whether the drug approved for federal executions poses risks of pain and suffering, as well as the decision made late last year to allow other methods of execution besides lethal injection, including electrocution and firing squad. In 2019 – after 17 years without executions – then-Attorney General William Barr directed federal prison officials to begin executing 13 people on death row. (NBC News / Politico / Washington Post)
3/ Biden endorsed major changes to the military justice system that would remove investigating and prosecuting sexual assault cases from the chain of command. The military justice system would instead hand sexual harassment and assault cases off to independent military lawyers. An independent review of how the military deals with sexual assault found that commanders need training in how to prevent what an official calls “daily acts of demeaning language and sexual harassment.” In a statement, Biden backed Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s decision to work with Congress on overhauling the system, saying “sexual assault is an abuse of power and an affront to our shared humanity. And sexual assault in the military is doubly damaging because it also shreds the unity and cohesion that is essential to the functioning of the U.S. military and to our national defense. Yet for as long as we have abhorred this scourge, the statistics and the stories have grown worse.” Biden, however, stopped short of backing a congressional effort to strip commanders of oversight of all major crimes. (New York Times / NPR / USA Today / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
4/ The U.S. economy added 850,000 jobs in June – the largest number of jobs added in a month since last August. Biden responded to the June jobs numbers, saying the American Rescue Plan relief bill was “proving to the naysayers and the doubters that they were wrong.” He added: “Our economy is on the move, and we have Covid-19 on the run.” The unemployment rate, meanwhile, ticked up to 5.9% from 5.8%. (Washington Post / CNBC)
5/ About 11% of people in the U.S. have missed their second dose of the coronavirus vaccine – nearly 15 million people. Second doses are considered missed if more than 42 days has passed since the initial jab. (Washington Post)
poll/ 59% of Americans believe crime is an “extremely” or “very” serious problem in the U.S. 17% say crime in their area is extremely or very serious, up from 10% last fall. (Washington Post)
poll/ 56% of Americans say ensuring access to voting is more important than tamping down on voter fraud. Among Democrats, 85% said voting access was more important, while 72% of Republicans said making sure no one votes who isn’t eligible was more important. (NPR)
poll/ 67% of Americans believe democracy in the U.S. is under threat, while 29% say democracy in the U.S. is alive and well. (PBS NewsHour)
1/ The Supreme Court upheld a pair of restrictive election laws in Arizona, overturning a lower court ruling that found the laws discriminated against minority voters. The Arizona laws invalidate ballots that are cast in the wrong precinct, and ban the practice known as “ballot harvesting,” in which third-party community groups or campaigns collect and return other people’s ballots. Democrats argued that the data showed the restrictions disproportionately affected voters of color, which would be a violation of the Voting Rights Act. Writing for the majority, Justice Samuel Alito said the law requires “equal openness” to the voting process and that a “mere inconvenience cannot be enough to demonstrate a violation” of the law. (NPR / ABC News / NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times / Axios)
2/ The Manhattan district attorney’s office charged the Trump Organization with a 15-year-long “scheme to defraud” the government and charged its chief financial officer with grand larceny and tax fraud. Allen Weisselberg allegedly avoided paying taxes on $1.7 million in off-the-books compensation, including apartment rent, car payments, and school tuition. In all, 15 criminal charges were filed against Weisselberg, including counts of conspiracy, grand larceny, criminal tax fraud, and falsifying business records. Grand larceny in the second degree carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison. “To put it bluntly, this was a sweeping and audacious illegal payments scheme,” Carey Dunne said, general counsel for the district attorney. Dunne added that the scheme to get “secret pay raises” while not paying taxes was “orchestrated by the most senior executives.” The Trump Organization, meanwhile, issued a statement, claiming that Weisselberg was being used as a “pawn in a scorched-earth attempt to harm the former president.” Weisselberg pleaded not guilty, as did an attorney on the Trump Organization’s behalf. Trump himself was not charged. (Washington Post / New York Times / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / CNN)
3/ 130 countries endorsed setting a 15% global minimum corporate tax rate. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development said the agreement on taxing global companies in countries where their goods or services are sold, even if they have no physical presence there, would generate an estimated $150 billion in additional tax revenue each year. “Multinational corporations will no longer be able to pit countries against one another in a bid to push tax rates down and protect their profits at the expense of public revenue,” Biden said. “They will no longer be able to avoid paying their fair share by hiding profits generated in the United States, or any other country, in lower-tax jurisdictions. This will level the playing field and make America more competitive.” (Washington Post / Bloomberg / New York Times)
4/ Nancy Pelosi appointed Republican Rep. Liz Cheney to the House select committee to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. In May, House Republicans removed Cheney from her leadership role because of her vote to impeach Trump and her continued criticism of Trump’s repeated lie that the 2020 election was stolen from him. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, meanwhile, threatened to strip any Republican member of their committee assignments if they accept an offer to serve on the committee. (CNN / CNBC / Axios)
5/ The Supreme Court struck down a California law that required charities and nonprofits to disclose their top donors. Under the law, the tax-exempt groups were required to report the names and addresses of all donors who gave more than $5,000 or 2% of the organization’s total donations. Conservative groups challenged the state’s disclosure requirements, saying the information was protected under the First Amendment’s freedom of association and that the disclosure could lead to harassment. California, meanwhile, said the state attorney general needed the information to investigate complaints of charitable fraud and self-dealing. (NPR / Washington Post / CNN / New York Times)
1/ The House voted to establish a 13-member committee to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. “That day, Jan. 6, was one of the darkest days in American history,” Nancy Pelosi said before the vote. The mob sought “to block the certification of an election and the peaceful transfer of power that is the cornerstone of our democracy.” The vote was 222-190, with two Republicans voting in favor. Pelosi will select eight of the 13 members herself, including its chairman. The remaining five will be appointed “after consultation with the minority leader,” Rep. Kevin McCarthy. The committee will also have the power to subpoena witnesses and documents. (Bloomberg / Politico / Washington Post / NBC News)
2/ The Supreme Court denied a challenge to the pandemic-related federal eviction moratorium. The court’s order means the CDC moratorium on evictions, which prohibits landlords from evicting certain tenants who fail to pay rent during the Covid-19 pandemic, will remain in place until July 31. John Roberts and Brett Kavanaugh joined with the court’s three liberals to keep the moratorium in place. (CNN / Politico)
3/ The Manhattan district attorney’s office is expected to charge the Trump Organization and its chief financial officer with tax-related crimes on Thursday. The charges reportedly involve non-monetary fringe benefits the Trump Organization gave to top executives, such as the use of apartments, cars, and school tuition. (Wall Street Journal / Associated Press / NBC News)
4/ Bill Cosby was released from prison after his sexual assault conviction was overturned by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Cosby was convicted on three felony counts of aggravated indecent assault in 2018 for drugging and sexually assaulting a woman in 2004. He served nearly three years of a three- to 10-year sentence. The state Supreme Court concluded that Cosby’s prosecution should never have occurred because of a non-prosecution deal Cosby made with former Montgomery County prosecutor Bruce Castor, who agreed not to criminally prosecute Cosby if he gave a deposition in the civil case brought against him by the woman he drugged and sexually assaulted. Castor is the same lawyer who represented Trump during his second impeachment trial. (Philadelphia Inquirer / ABC News / Associated Press / NBC News)
5/ The architect of the decades-long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is dead. Donald Rumsfeld, the secretary of Defense under both Gerald Ford and George W. Bush, was 88. Rumsfeld never expressed regret for the decision to invade Iraq, which cost the U.S. $700 billion and 4,400 American lives, insisting instead that “ridding the region of Saddam [Hussein’s] brutal regime has created a more stable and secure world.” In 2004, human rights groups and a bipartisan Senate committee said Rumsfeld should face criminal charges for his decisions that had led to the abuse of Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison and terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay. (New York Times / NPR / Politico / Washington Post / Reuters)
1/ Joe Manchin agreed to support the use of budget reconciliation to pass a broader tax and social spending bill. Manchin said he believes a Democratic-only infrastructure bill “can be done,” but hasn’t agreed on how big it will be, adding that it shouldn’t be linked to the separate bipartisan agreement. Manchin’s comments, however, come as the Progressive Caucus told the White House and party leaders that they would withhold their support for the bipartisan infrastructure bill if the bigger, broader tax and social spending package wasn’t passed in tandem. Manchin, meanwhile, urged progressive Democrats to “take the win” on the bipartisan agreement. (The Hill / Politico / New York Times / Bloomberg / Business Insider)
2/ Maricopa County will replace all of the voting equipment that was turned over to contractors hired by the Republican-controlled state Senate to conduct its audit of 2020 presidential election results. The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors said that because the equipment had been placed “under the control of persons not certified to handle election equipment,” the County would “not use the subpoenaed election equipment in any future election” because it “could pose a risk to free and fair elections.” The potential cost to taxpayers is unknown. The county is currently half way through a $6.1 million lease with Dominion Voting Systems for the equipment. Meanwhile, 49% of Arizona voters say they oppose the recount effort, while 46% support the audit. (Arizona Republic / CNN / The Hill / Politico)
3/ The House will vote to remove statues honoring Confederate and other white supremacist leaders from public display in the Capitol. The legislation would also remove a bust of Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, who wrote the 1857 Dred Scott decision that said Black people weren’t entitled to U.S. citizenship. Under the measure, Taney’s bust would be replaced with one of Thurgood Marshall, the first Black Supreme Court justice. The legislation, however, faces challenges in the evenly divided Senate where it would need 60 votes to overcome a filibuster. A similar bill passed the House last year, but didn’t advance in the then Republican-controlled Senate. (NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post / CBS News)
4/ Trump Organization attorneys met with New York prosecutors to argue why Trump’s company should not be criminally charged. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance has convened a grand jury and prosecutors have reportedly been considering criminal charges against Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s chief financial officer, as well as against the organization as an entity. Trump’s personal lawyer, however, has said that Vance does not currently plan to charge the Trump Organization with crimes related to “hush money” payments or real estate value manipulations. Ronald Fischetti said Vance’s team was considering charges against the Trump Organization and individual employees related to alleged failures to pay taxes on corporate benefits and perks. Weisselberg’s former daughter-in-law, meanwhile, said she is prepared to testify before the grand jury as part of the investigation into Trump’s company. (Washington Post / Politico / CNN)
5/ The Justice Department is investigating Rudy Giuliani over possible foreign lobbying for Turkish interests. In 2017, Trump and Giuliani pressured then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to persuade the Justice Department to drop money-laundering charges against Giuliani’s client Reza Zarrab, a Turkey-based, Iranian-born businessman. Giuliani also urged Trump to extradite a Turkish cleric living in exile in the U.S., who Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused of inciting a coup. The inquiry is separate from the criminal probe into Giuliani’s activities in Ukraine. (Bloomberg / ABC News)
1/ Biden walked back his threat to veto the bipartisan infrastructure deal if lawmakers don’t also pass the rest of his infrastructure proposals – which include tax increases, climate policy, health care provisions, and investments in child care – through budget reconciliation, which would bypass the 60-vote filibuster threshold. In a statement, Biden said it “was certainly not my intent” to create the impression he was threatening to veto “the very plan I had just agreed to.” He added: “Our bipartisan agreement does not preclude Republicans from attempting to defeat my Families Plan; likewise, they should have no objections to my devoted efforts to pass that Families Plan and other proposals in tandem.” Mitch McConnell, meanwhile, continued to pressure Biden and congressional Democrats to further weaken the link between the bipartisan infrastructure deal and the spending bill, warning that Biden and his party want to “hold a bipartisan bill hostage over a separate and partisan process.” Biden “has appropriately de-linked a potential bipartisan infrastructure bill from the massive, unrelated tax-and-spend plans that Democrats want to pursue on a partisan basis,” McConnell said, adding that Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi should follow suit and that Biden should “make sure they follow his lead.” Pelosi, however, has said she would not take up either proposal in the House until both get through the Senate, and Schumer plans to have the Senate vote on both measures next month. (Politico / New York Times / Bloomberg / CBS News / CNBC)
2/ Nancy Pelosi introduced legislation to create a select committee to probe the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob. The House is expected to vote on it Wednesday. (Washington Post)
3/ Biden ordered airstrikes Sunday against “facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups” near the border between Iraq and Syria. The Pentagon said the militias were using the facilities to launch drone attacks against U.S. personnel and facilities in Iraq. The Biden administration called the strikes an act of “self-defense.” (Associated Press / Reuters)
4/ The Supreme Court rejected a Virginia school board’s appeal to reinstate its transgender bathroom ban, which prohibited transgender students from using the restroom and locker room facilities that reflect their gender identity. The Supreme Court left in place lower court rulings that found the policy unconstitutional. (CBS News / ABC News / Politico / NBC News)
5/ Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas suggested that federal laws against the sale and cultivation of marijuana may no longer make sense. As the court declined to hear the appeal of a Colorado medical marijuana dispensary that was denied federal tax breaks, Thomas, one of the court’s most conservative justices, wrote that the “prohibition […] of marijuana may no longer be necessary or proper to support the federal government’s piecemeal approach.” Thomas added that “the federal government’s current approach is a half-in, half-out regime that simultaneously tolerates and forbids local use of marijuana.” (NBC News / CNBC)
6/ A federal judge dismissed antitrust lawsuits brought against Facebook by the FTC and a coalition of 48 state attorneys general. The cases accused Facebook of creating a monopoly over social networking by buying nascent rivals, like Instagram and WhatsApp, to limit competition, as well as stifling would-be competitors by cutting off their access to its data and systems. U.S. District Judge James Boasberg said the lawsuits were “legally insufficient” and didn’t provide evidence to prove that Facebook was a monopoly. The White House, meanwhile, is crafting an executive order aimed at using federal power to actively promote competition throughout the U.S. economy. (NPR / New York Times / Associated Press / Politico)
1/ The Justice Department filed a federal lawsuit against Georgia, alleging that the restrictions from its new voting law purposefully discriminate against Black Americans. Georgia’s Election Integrity Act, which was passed the Republican-led state legislature on a party-line vote and signed into law by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp in late March, changed how voters can cast their votes, imposed new limits on the use of absentee ballots, made it a crime for outside groups to provide food and water to voters waiting at polling stations, and handed greater control over election administration to the state legislature. “Our complaint alleges that recent changes to Georgia’s election laws were enacted with the purpose of denying or abridging the right of Black Georgians to vote on account of their race or color, in violation of Section Two of the Voting Rights Act,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said. Kristen Clarke, the head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, said several of the law’s provisions “were passed with a discriminatory purpose” that would disproportionately “push more Black voters to in-person voting where they will be more likely than white voters to confront long lines.” (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / Wall Street Journal / ABC News)
2/ Derek Chauvin was sentenced to 22 years and six months in prison for murdering George Floyd. Chauvin was convicted in April on charges of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter. He faced up to four decades in prison – prosecutors had asked for 30 years – and could get out on parole after serving two-thirds of his sentence, or about 15 years. Judge Peter Cahill went beyond the 12 1/2-year sentence prescribed under state guidelines, citing “your abuse of a position of trust and authority and also the particular cruelty” shown to Floyd. Separately, Chauvin and the three other former officers present for Floyd’s murder are also facing federal civil rights charges. (Associated Press / NPR / Bloomberg / New York Times / Washington Post / Axios / Wall Street Journal)
3/ The bipartisan infrastructure deal is now in jeopardy after Republicans complained they were “blindsided by Biden’s efforts to simultaneously pursue both the bipartisan deal and a package of Democratic priorities that can pass via reconciliation without GOP support. Yesterday – when Biden announced the bipartisan infrastructure deal – he said that if this “is the only one that comes to me, I’m not signing it,” adding that the deal is contingent upon it passing “in tandem” with a broader package of priorities. Several of the 11 Republicans who signed off on the bipartisan deal were described as “stunned,” “floored,” and “frustrated” that Biden later put conditions on accepting their deal, privately warning that they could walk away and torpedo the $1.2 trillion deal. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said senators shouldn’t be surprised by the two-track strategy, saying “That hasn’t been a secret, [Biden] hasn’t said it quietly, he hasn’t even whispered it.” Sen. Lindsey Graham, meanwhile, claimed that Biden duped the GOP senators who negotiated the deal, saying “most Republicans could not have known” about the two-track strategy. “There’s no way. You look like a fucking idiot now.” (Politico / Associated Press / The Hill / CNN / Business Insider)
4/ The Manhattan district attorney’s office informed Trump’s lawyers that it is considering criminal charges against the Trump Organization. Cyrus Vance Jr. could announce charges against the Trump Organization and its chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, as soon as next week in connection with fringe benefits Weisselberg received from the company. Investigators have also been probing Matthew Calamari – Trump’s Trump bodyguard who’s now the company’s chief operating officer – over whether he received tax-free fringe benefits from the company. It would be unusual to indict a company only for failing to pay taxes on fringe benefits. (New York Times / NBC News)
5/ Nearly all Covid-19 deaths in the U.S. now are among people who weren’t vaccinated. About 63% of eligible Americans 12 and older have received at least one dose, and 53% are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC. “Breakthrough” infections in fully vaccinated people accounted for fewer than 1,200 of more than 853,000 Covid-19 hospitalizations – about 0.1%. (Associated Press)
6/ The House voted to repeal a Trump-era rule that rolled back regulations of methane emissions from oil and gas industries. The final vote was 229-191 and now heads to Biden’s desk for his signature. The Senate passed the resolution at the end of April under the Congressional Review Act. (CNN / Washington Post)
poll/ 41% of Americans ages 18-34 have a positive view of socialism – up from 39% in 2019. 49% of Americans ages 18-34, meanwhile, have a positive view of capitalism – down from 58% in 2019. (Axios)
1/ Biden agreed to a bipartisan infrastructure deal after meeting with a group of senators at the White House. “We have a deal,” Biden said, endorsing the roughly $1 trillion infrastructure plan by a group of 10 senators. Under the framework, the bipartisan package would include about $579 billion in new spending to overhaul the nation’s transportation, electric utilities, water, and broadband infrastructure. The Senate, meanwhile, has started to work on a budget resolution that would allow Democrats to pass a second, much larger package of spending and tax increases unilaterally. Chuck Schumer said the Senate will simultaneously move forward with both the bipartisan agreement and the reconciliation bill. Nancy Pelosi told House Democratic leaders that the House won’t take up the bipartisan agreement until the Senate approves a package through reconciliation. (Bloomberg / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Politico / CNN / NBC News / CNBC)
2/ The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff pushed back against suggestions from a Republican congressman that the military was becoming too “woke” for teaching critical race theory at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Gen. Mark Milley called the accusations from Rep. Michael Waltz “offensive,” saying that studying institutional racism could be useful in understanding what “caused thousands of people to assault this building and try to overturn the Constitution of the United States of America” during the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol. Milley added that military university graduates should be “open-minded and be widely read,” adding: “I’ve read Mao Zedong. I’ve read Karl Marx. I’ve read Lenin. That doesn’t make me a communist. So what is wrong with understanding — having some situational understanding about the country for which we are here to defend?” The exchange came at a House Armed Services Committee hearing to discuss the 2022 Defense Department budget. (New York Times / Reuters / NPR)
3/ Rudy Giuliani was temporarily barred from practicing law in New York and faces disbarment for making “demonstrably false and misleading statements” while helping Trump challenge to the 2020 election results. The New York State appellate court temporarily suspended Giuliani’s law license, saying Giuliani represented an “immediate threat” to the public and had “directly inflamed” the tensions that led to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. “The seriousness of respondent’s uncontroverted misconduct cannot be overstated,” the court said. “This country is being torn apart by continued attacks on the legitimacy of the 2020 election and of our current president, Joseph R. Biden.” (New York Times / USA Today)
4/ The Department of Homeland Security is reportedly concerned about the conspiracy theory that Trump will be reinstated as president in August. In a private briefing with the House Committee on Homeland Security, the department’s top counterterrorism official told members that it was monitoring discussion of the topic among online extremist communities and that the department was concerned the false narrative that the election was rigged would trigger violence. Trump, meanwhile, has been telling acquaintances he expects to be reinstated as president by the end of the summer. (Politico)
5/ Nancy Pelosi announced the creation of a select committee to examine the January 6 attack on the Capitol, saying “It is imperative that we establish the truth of that day, and ensure that an attack of that kind cannot happen.” Pelosi said the investigation would take “two paths”: looking at the “root causes” of the attack, and the failures in security of the Capitol. Last month, Senate Republicans blocked the creation of an independent, bipartisan commission. (CBS News / Washington Post / Politico / New York Times / The Guardian)
6/ The Biden administration extended the national moratorium on evictions to help millions of tenants unable to make rent payments during the coronavirus pandemic. The nationwide ban on evictions was scheduled to expire on June 30, but Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC, extended the moratorium until July 31. The CDC said “this is intended to be the final extension of the moratorium.” (New York Times / Associated Press)
1/ Nancy Pelosi plans to appoint a select committee to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol after Senate Republicans blocked the creation of an independent, bipartisan commission. While Pelosi has not formally announced the committee, she suggested during a House Steering and Policy Committee meeting that she would move forward with plans to form an independent panel modeled after the 9/11 Commission in “pursuit of truth.” The House passed legislation last month to establish a bipartisan commission, but Senate Republicans filibustered the bill. (Politico / CNN)
2/ Biden’s Justice Department could end up defending Trump in lawsuits seeking to hold him accountable for the Jan. 6 attack, including one filed by two U.S. Capitol Police and one filed by Rep. Eric Swalwell, which alleges that Trump incited the riot in an effort to stop Congress from certifying Biden as the election winner. In an unrelated defamation case against Trump by author E. Jean Carroll, who contends that Trump raped her 25 years ago and then lied about it while in office, the Biden DOJ argued that presidents enjoy immunity for their comments while in office, including the right to a defense by government lawyers. The Biden Justice Department, meanwhile, declined to comment on whether it would use the same legal rationale of presidential immunity as the basis for intervening in other lawsuits Trump faces. (Reuters / Vanity Fair)
3/ Attorney General Merrick Garland backed away from a comprehensive review of actions by the Trump Justice Department, calling it “a complicated question.” Garland noted, however, that the department’s independent inspector general was already investigating related issues, including leak hunts, attempts to overturn the election, and whether Trump had improperly used the department’s powers to investigate and prosecute. (New York Times)
4/ Four Saudi operatives who killed journalist Jamal Khashoggi received paramilitary training in the U.S. a year before. The training of the Saudi Royal Guard was approved by the State Department and provided by Tier 1 Group, an Arkansas-based security company, under a license first issued in 2014, which continued through at least the first year of Trump’s term. Khashoggi was strangled and dismembered in 2018 after he entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. The CIA concluded that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman directed the operation. Trump later bragged that he protected the prince from Congress after ordering the assassination of Khashoggi. (New York Times)
5/ A Navy counterterrorism training document suggests that socialism is a “terrorist ideology.” A section of the training document, titled “Introduction to Terrorism/Terrorist Operations,” groups anarchists, socialists, and neo-nazis into the same “political terrorist” ideological category. The training document is designed for masters-at-arms, the Navy’s internal police. (The Intercept)
6/ Roughly 900 Secret Service employees tested positive for the coronavirus since March 2020. More than half – 477 – were responsible for protecting Trump and Pence, as well as their families and other government officials. More than 11% of Secret Service employees were infected. (Associated Press / Washington Post)
7/ Biden will replace the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The Supreme Court ruled that Biden had the authority to replace the agency’s director, Mark Calabria, who was appointed by Trump. (Bloomberg / New York Times / NBC News)
8/ Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation requiring the state’s public colleges and universities to survey students, faculty, and staff about their political views. As part of his push against the “indoctrination” of students, DeSantis threatened to cut funding from state universities that he determines doesn’t promote “intellectual diversity.” DeSantis also signed two other education bills mandating new civics and “patriotism” education requirements in K-12 schools, including teaching about the “evils” of communist and totalitarian governments. (Tampa Bay Times / Business Insider)
9/ Texas Gov. Greg Abbott vetoed a bill that would require schools teach children about domestic violence and child abuse. Abbott said the “bill fails to recognize the right of parents to opt their children out of the instruction.” Abbott also vetoed a bill that would have banned the use of heavy chains to tether dogs outside and leave them without drinkable water, adequate shade or shelter. (Texas Tribune / The Hill / The Guardian)
1/ Senate Republicans blocked debate on the For the People Act, an amended version of the voting rights legislation that passed the House in March. The vote to start debate on the voting legislation, failed 50-50 on party lines — 10 votes short of the supermajority needed to advance the bill and begin open debate in the Senate. Mitch McConnell called the bill, which would expand early voting, end partisan gerrymandering, make it easier to vote by mail, and make Election Day a federal holiday, a “partisan power grab.” Hours before the vote – and after weeks of saying he would vote against election reform unless it had bipartisan support – Sen. Joe Manchin finally agreed to vote to begin debate on the legislation in a show of unity against the GOP move, saying he reached a compromise with the other members of his party “to ensure every eligible voter is able to cast their ballot and participate in our great democracy.” Republicans, however, were unwilling to even debate voting rights. Earlier in the day, Biden urged the Senate to pass the voting rights bill, saying “we can’t sit idly by while democracy is in peril — here, in America. We need to protect the sacred right to vote and ensure ‘We the People’ choose our leaders, the very foundation on which our democracy rests.” White House press secretary Jen Psaki added that “this fight is not over, no matter the outcome today, it’s going to continue.” (Politico / Bloomberg / New York Times / Washington Post / ABC News / CNN / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press)
2/ Sen. Kyrsten Sinema defended her opposition to nixing the 60-vote legislative filibuster, saying “we will lose much more than we gain.” In an op-ed, Sinema – choosing to defend the filibuster over democracy – argued that eliminating the legislative filibuster would weaken “democracy’s guardrails” by “cementing uncertainty, deepening divisions and further eroding Americans’ confidence in our government.” Sinema also warned that a majority-rule Senate would lead to “ricochet” legislating, suggesting that Republicans would roll back any Democratic policy gains. Joe Manchin has also said he opposes getting rid of the filibuster. Following the failed vote on the For the People Act, Manchin was asked about the possibility of reforming the filibuster. He laughed and replied: “No guys, listen, I think you all know where I stand on the filibuster.”
(Washington Post / The Hill / New York Magazine)
3/ The White House does not expect to meet Biden’s goal of having 70% of all adults at least partially vaccinated by July 4. The U.S., however, has hit the vaccination target among adults ages 30 and older, and is expected to reach that threshold for those 27 and older by Independence Day. More than 175 million Americans have received at least one shot, and more than 150 million Americans are fully vaccinated. About one-third of Americans say they have no immediate plan to get vaccinated. (NBC News / CBS News / New York Times)
4/ The highly contagious coronavirus Delta variant is spreading in under-vaccinated pockets and will likely become the predominant strain in the U.S. within weeks, according to a new analysis. The variant, first identified in India, accounts for at least 14% of all new infections in the U.S. and studies suggest it’s around 60% more transmissible than the original strain that emerged from Wuhan, China, in late 2019. Dr. Anthony Fauci called the Delta variant the “greatest threat” to the nation’s attempt to eliminate Covid-19. (Bloomberg / NPR / CNBC)
5/ Trump asked aides in 2019 to look at what the Justice Department and the FCC could do to punish “Saturday Night Live” and other late-night shows for mocking him. After watching a rerun of SNL in March 2019, Trump tweeted that the episode was “not funny/no talent” that kept “knocking the same person (me), over & over, without so much of a mention of ‘the other side.’” He then asked: “Should Federal Election Commission and/or FCC look into this?” According to people familiar with the matter, Trump then asked advisers and lawyers about what the FCC, the courts systems, and the Department of Justice could do to investigate the shows. Trump reportedly had to be repeatedly advised that the shows are satire, a form of protected speech. (Daily Beast / Business Insider)
poll/ 43% of Iowans approve of the job Biden is doing as president, with 52% disapproving. (Des Moines Register)
poll/ 26% of Americans approve of the job Congress is doing – down 10 points from March. (Gallup)
1/ Nearly 10 million Americans enrolled in Medicaid during the coronavirus pandemic. Roughly 80 million people are now covered by Medicaid – nearly a quarter of the entire U.S. population. Federal health officials attributed the boost in enrollment to the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, approved by Congress in March 2020. That law gave states extra federal money to help cover Medicaid costs as long as the states didn’t remove any enrollees until after the coronavirus public health emergency was declared over. (Washington Post / The Hill / New York Times)
2/ The Biden administration is weighing whether to end a Trump-era policy that directed border officials to immediately expel the majority of immigrants crossing the border. The policy, known as Title 42, allows border agents to turn away migrants before they have the opportunity to seek asylum and was established through the CDC to prevent the coronavirus from spreading in holding facilities. The White House is considering ending family expulsions as early as July 31. (Axios)
3/ Officials in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office have reportedly grown frustrated by the lack of cooperation from the Trump Organization’s CFO. Allen Weisselberg is a key figure in prosecutors’ efforts to indict Trump due to his central role in nearly every aspect of the Trump Organization. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance’s investigators have been pressing Weisselberg to provide evidence implicating Trump as they scrutinize Trump’s business practices before he was president, including whether he inflated the value of assets to obtain bank loans and deflated the value of those same assets for tax breaks. Officials also believe Weisselberg continues to regularly speak with Trump. (Washington Post)
4/ The U.S. is preparing more sanctions against Russia in response to the poisoning of Aleksei Navalny. Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said the timing of the sanctions or what they would include would come “as soon as we develop the packages to ensure that we’re getting the right targets.” Biden imposed sanctions on Russia for the poisoning and imprisonment of Navalny, which were directed at Putin and the oligarchs who support him. (New York Times)
5/ The Biden administration will make gender confirmation surgery available to transgender veterans through Veterans Affairs health care coverage. Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough said that “for far too long, and for far too many,” respect and care “were not the norm for our LGBTQ+ community and our veterans,” adding that is why the VA is “determined to continue down that path. The path of progress.” The National Center for Transgender Equality estimates there are approximately 134,000 transgender veterans. (CNN)
6/ Trump suggested sending Americans infected with Covid-19 to Guantanamo Bay in an effort to suppress the number of cases on U.S. soil. During a February 2020 meeting as administration officials were discussing whether to bring infected Americans home for care, Trump reportedly asked: “Don’t we have an island that we own?” and “What about Guantánamo?” Trump brought it up a second time, saying “We import goods,” “We are not going to import a virus.” Aides eventually scuttled the idea of quarantining Americans on the same base where the U.S. holds terrorism suspects. (Washington Post)
7/ Joe Manchin told an electric utility trade group that the Biden administration’s pledge to cut carbon emissions is too “aggressive.” Manchin, whose home state is a major coal producer, defended coal-fired power plants at Edison Electric Institute’s 2021 conference, arguing that coal is being “singled out by environmentalists” as a polluter. “This is a global climate,” Manchin said. “Some of our environmental friends […] they make [us] believe we are polluting the whole climate.” The Biden administration, meanwhile, has set a goal to cut carbon emissions in half from 2005 levels by 2030, with a 2035 goal for the nation’s electric utilities to convert to 100% clean power. Manchin, however, told EEI that “I’ve always been very, very cautious about” transitioning to a net zero economy, adding that “you cannot eliminate your way there, [but] you can innovate your way there.” (HEATED / Utility Drive / RTO Insider)
poll/ 80% of Americans support requiring a photo ID to vote, while 18% oppose the idea. 71% support making in-person early voting easier, while 16% say it should be made harder. And, 50% said voting by mail should be made easier, while 39% saying it should be made harder. (Monmouth University)
1/ The Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act for the third time, dismissing an effort by Texas and 17 other Republican-led states that challenged the entirety of the 2010 healthcare law. The group argued that the ACA’s individual mandate requiring most Americans to obtain health insurance or pay a penalty became unconstitutional after Congress got rid of the penalty in the 2017 tax cut package. They claimed that the entire law, which provides healthcare coverage for about 31 million Americans, should fall – including protections for people with preexisting conditions – because the individual mandate was central to the ACA. In a 7 to 2 vote, the court said the group of states failed to show how they suffered the sort of direct injury that gave them legal standing to bring the case. The court, however, didn’t actually rule on whether the individual mandate is unconstitutional, but suggested it would be difficult for any challengers to try again on the same legal theory. In a tweet, Biden called the decision a “big win for the American people,” adding that “with millions of people relying on the Affordable Care Act for coverage, it remains, as ever, a BFD” – a reference to the 2010 ACA signing ceremony where Biden turned to Obama and said: “This is a big fucking deal.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / NPR / Politico / NBC News / CNN)
2/ Mitch McConnell rejected Joe Manchin’s voting rights compromise offer, which focused on expanding early voting, requiring voter ID, ending partisan gerrymandering in federal elections, having at least 15 consecutive days of early voting, and making Election Day a public holiday. McConnell’s pledge all but guarantees that Republicans will filibuster the voting bill that Chuck Schumer plans to send to the floor Tuesday. The bill will need 60 votes to proceed over a filibuster. (Politico / Axios / Washington Post / Bloomberg)
3/ The Biden administration will invest $3.2 billion to advance the development of antiviral pills to treat Covid-19 and other viruses. The Antiviral Program for Pandemics will speed up clinical trials and fund the research and production of oral antiviral drugs that could be taken at home. (NBC News / CNBC / Washington Post)
4/ The Education Department canceled more than $500 million in federal student loan debt for 18,000 borrowers who were defrauded by the now-defunct, for-profit ITT Technical Institute. The college chain closed in 2016 after making exaggerated claims about its graduates’ employment and earnings prospects after graduation. (New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post)
5/ The House voted to repeal the 2002 authorization for the use of military force in Iraq. The 2002 authorization was repeatedly applied beyond its original intent despite the Iraq War ending nearly a decade ago. Chuck Schumer said he will also put the authorization to a vote this year. Earlier this week, Biden said he supports repealing the authorization. Mitch McConnell, however, said he did not support repealing the authorization, calling it “reckless.” The bill would need the support of at least 10 Republican senators to pass. (Politico / New York Times)
6/ Biden signed legislation making Juneteenth a federal holiday to commemorate the end of slavery in the U.S. The bill unanimously passed the Senate, but 14 Republicans in the House voted against the proposal. Harris also signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act in her capacity as President of the Senate. The law goes into effect immediately, making Friday (tomorrow) the first federal Juneteenth holiday in American history. [Editor’s note: In observance of Juneteenth, there will be no WTFJHT update tomorrow (June 18). As a reminder, WTFJHT publishes Monday-Friday, except on federal and market holidays, including some other random days, like Biden’s and WTFJHT’s birthdays.] (Reuters / New York Times / Washington Post)
7/ A Florida GOP congressional candidate threatened his Republican opponent with “a Russian and Ukrainian hit squad” that would make her “disappear.” During a 30-minute call that was secretly recorded, William Braddock repeatedly warned a conservative activist not support Anna Paulina Luna in the Republican primary for a Tampa Bay-area congressional seat. Braddock called Luna “a fucking speed bump in the road. She’s a dead squirrel you run over every day when you leave the neighborhood.” In the recording, Braddock added: “I really don’t want to have to end anybody’s life […] But if it needs to be done, it needs to be done.” (Politico / Washington Post)
1/ After blocking major voting rights legislation for weeks, Sen. Joe Manchin finally outlined a list of changes he wants in a bid for a compromise. Manchin – the only Senate Democrat who is not sponsoring the For the People Act – has opposed the For the People Act, saying it’s too partisan and arguing that changes to voting laws should have bipartisan support. Republicans, however, have uniformly opposed the For the People Act. Manchin’s compromise proposal includes making Election Day a public holiday, providing at least 15 consecutive days of early voting, automatic voter registration through state departments of motor vehicles, and a requirement that states send mail-in absentee ballots to eligible voters if they are unable to vote in person. The proposal also includes voter identification requirements, which Democrats are generally are opposed to. Manchin also reaffirmed that he has not changed his views against eliminating the filibuster, meaning the Manchin version of the election bill would have no chance of passage without 10 Republicans supporting support the legislation. (Washington Post / NBC News / Politico / New York Times / Bloomberg / The Intercept)
2/ The Senate unanimously passed a measure to make Juneteenth, the day that marks the end of slavery in Texas, a federal holiday. The bill now heads to the House, where it is likely to be approved. In July 2020, Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson blocked the bill, saying a federal day off would cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. (Washington Post / CNN)
3/ The Education Department issued new guidance that the rights of transgender and gay students are protected at school by Title IX, a reversal of the Trump-era guidance that gay and transgender students are not protected by any federal laws. “The Supreme Court has upheld the right for LGBTQ+ people to live and work without fear of harassment, exclusion, and discrimination – and our LGBTQ+ students have the same rights and deserve the same protections. I’m proud to have directed the Office for Civil Rights to enforce Title IX to protect all students from all forms of sex discrimination,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said. “Today, the Department makes clear that all students – including LGBTQ+ students – deserve the opportunity to learn and thrive in schools that are free from discrimination.” (New York Times / CNN / USA Today)
4/ The Justice Department reversed a Trump-era immigration ruling that limited the possibility of asylum protections in the U.S. for women fleeing from domestic violence in other countries, and some victims of gang violence. Attorney General Merrick Garland vacated the 2018 decision by former Attorney General Jeff Sessions that ordered immigration judges to stop granting asylum to victims of “private violence,” like domestic violence or gangs. (NPR / New York Times)
5/ A federal judge blocked the Biden administration’s temporary suspension of new oil and gas drilling leases on public lands. Judge Terry Doughty said that the power to pause the offshore oil and gas leases “lies solely with Congress” because it was the legislative branch that originally made federal lands and waters available for leasing. The Interior Department said it would “comply with the decision,” suggesting that lease sales to drill in Alaska and in the Gulf of Mexico will likely resume for now. In January, Biden signed an executive order that temporarily banned new drilling leases on federal lands and waters, saying he wanted to pause new leases while the Interior Department reviewed the program. (NBC News / New York Times)
6/ The House Judiciary Committee opened an investigation into efforts by the Trump Justice Department to seize data from members of Congress, journalists, and the then-White House counsel. The Department of Justice’s inspector general has also opened a separate inquiry into the data seizures. In the Senate, Democratic leaders have called for former Attorneys General William Barr and Jeff Sessions to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Mitch McConnell, meanwhile, criticized the inquiries as unnecessary and accused Democrats of embarking on “politically motivated investigations,” saying “There is no need for a partisan circus here in Congress.” (NPR / The Guardian)
7/ The FBI told the House Oversight Committee that it is pursuing “hundreds of investigations” related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. FBI Director Christopher Wray called the effort “one of the most far-reaching and extensive” investigations in the bureau’s history. (New York Times)
8/ Twenty-one House Republicans voted against awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to the officers who responded to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob. The final vote in the House was 406-21 – nearly doubled the number of Republicans who voted against the initial legislation in March. (CNN / Washington Post)
9/ Biden and Putin described their first in-person summit as “constructive” and “good, positive.” Biden spoke to reporters after meeting for just under four hours, saying he pressed Putin over alleged hacking, human rights abuses, and more. “I did what I came to do,” Biden said, adding: “The bottom line is I told President Putin that we need to have some basic rules of the road that we can all abide by.” In a separate, sequential news conference, Putin denied Russia’s involvement in the recent cyberattacks against U.S. institutions, saying the U.S. is the biggest offender, while blaming the U.S. for the deterioration in the U.S.-Russia relationship. Putin added that “there has been no hostility” between the two leaders. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / Politico)
1/ The number of confirmed U.S. deaths from Covid-19 surpassed 600,000 – 15 months since the onset of the pandemic. The U.S. Covid-19 death toll is more than 200 times higher than the number of lives lost on Sept. 11, and higher than the number of American soldiers killed in combat during the Vietnam War, World War I, and World War II combined. The U.S., however, is now averaging 375 deaths per day – down from more than 3,000 per day in January and reaching their lowest point since March 2020 – due to the availability of effective vaccines. More than half of the U.S. population has received at least one shot of a Covid-19 vaccine and 43% of the population is fully vaccinated. The White House, meanwhile, plans to host a July 4th “independence from virus” bash as the CDC declared the so-called delta variant, which was first detected in India, a “variant of concern.” The delta variant accounts for 9.9% of cases in the U.S. (ABC News / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press / NBC News / NPR / CNN / Axios)
2/ A National Institutes of Health study suggests that the coronavirus may have been circulating in the U.S. as early as Dec. 24, 2019 – weeks before the first confirmed infection in the country. Nine people who had donated blood between Jan. 2 and March 18, 2020, tested positive for antibodies to SARS-CoV-2, according to the NIH report. (Washington Post / New York Times)
3/ The FBI warned lawmakers that QAnon “digital soldiers” could be compelled to shift “towards engaging in real-world violence” as they come to “no longer ‘trust the plan.’” Instead of abandoning the conspiracy theory after QAnon predictions failed to materialize, a FBI threat assessment concludes that followers might seek to harm “perceived members of the ‘cabal’ such as Democrats and other political opposition” as they take control of the movement. “The participation of some domestic violent extremists who are also self-identified QAnon adherents in the violent siege of the U.S. Capitol on 6 January underscores how the current environment likely will continue to act as a catalyst for some to begin accepting the legitimacy of violent action,” the unclassified FBI assessment says. (CNN / New York Times)
4/ The White House released a national strategy devoted to addressing domestic terrorism. The 32-page strategy calls for increased funding for the Justice Department and FBI to hire analysts, investigators, and prosecutors; improving information-sharing between the federal government and state and local partners as well as with social media companies; and addressing the long-term drivers of domestic terrorism, such as systemic racism. “We cannot ignore this threat or wish it away,” Biden said in the document’s introduction. “Preventing domestic terrorism and reducing the factors that fuel it demand a multifaceted response across the federal government and beyond.” (NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
5/ Trump pressured top Justice Department officials to challenge his election loss to Biden, and investigate debunked conspiracy theories and baseless claims of voter fraud. According to emails sent between December 2020 and early January, Trump and his aides – including White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows – pressured then-acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen to investigate unsubstantiated claims that the 2020 election had been stolen. The documents, released by the House Oversight Committee, also detail how an hour before Trump announced that William Barr would be stepping down as attorney general, Trump and his staff began pressuring Rosen – Barr’s eventual replacement – to embrace Trump’s claims of voter fraud and have the Justice Department investigate them. The House Oversight and Reform Committee have asked Meadows and several former Justice Department officials to testify about efforts to advance unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud. (New York Times / Washington Post / NPR / Bloomberg / Associated Press / Politico / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Axios / CNBC)
6/ A federal judge will allow the Justice Department to keep secret part of the memo used to back then-Attorney General William Barr’s decision not to charge Trump with obstruction of justice. Judge Amy Berman Jackson previously ordered the Justice Department to release the entire memo used in March 2019 to justify not charging Trump, accusing Barr of misleading the court about Robert Mueller’s findings in the Russia investigation. While Attorney General Merrick Garland has already released Section I of the memo, the Justice Department asked to appeal the release of the memo’s Section II. Jackson agreed to allow the Justice Department to keep Section II secret while they appeal. (CNN)
7/ The Senate confirmed Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals in a 53-44 vote. Jackson is the first Black woman confirmed to an appellate court in a decade and is one of five Black female circuit court judges currently serving. She fills the vacancy left by Attorney General Merrick Garland, who served on the bench for 24 years. Jackson is considered a top contender to be appointed to the Supreme Court. (Washington Post / ABC News)
1/ Biden reaffirmed NATO’s Article 5 – the central tenet of collective defense – calling it “a sacred obligation,” adding that the alliance is “critically important for U.S. interests.” The comments were a sharp contrast to Trump, who once declined to endorse Article 5 and called the alliance “obsolete.” NATO leaders, meanwhile, in a summit statement said China’s growing military and “assertive behavior” was “presenting challenges,” accusing the Chinese of working to undermine global order with “systemic challenges to the rules-based international order.” Separately, Biden said the U.S. would “respond in kind” if Putin “chooses not to cooperate” on cybersecurity. (New York Times / ABC News / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press / Washington Post)
2/ The Trump Justice Department subpoenaed Apple for information about an account that belonged to the sitting White House counsel, and then barred the company from telling him about it. Donald McGahn and his wife received disclosures from Apple last month that their accounts were subpoenaed by the Justice Department in February 2018. It’s not clear what the FBI was investigating, but the Justice Department appears to have accessed McGahn’s information around the same time it was reported that Trump had ordered McGahn the previous June to have Robert Mueller fired. McGahn, however, threatened to quit and Trump backed down. The seizure of McGahn’s records also happened the same month the Justice Department subpoenaed Apple for data related to the leaks of information about the Russia inquiry, which included more than 12 people connected to the House Intelligence Committee, including two of its Democratic members. Nancy Pelosi, meanwhile, called on former attorneys general William Barr and Jeff Sessions, as well as Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general at the time, to testify under oath in the House about what they knew. (New York Times / Associated Press / CNN / Politico)
3/ Former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said he was not aware of a subpoena that targeted Democratic members of Congress. At the time of the subpoena, Jeff Sessions was recused from the Russia probe, meaning the leak investigation would have fallen under Rosenstein. Jeff Sessions has also told people he does not recall approving a subpoena for lawmakers’ data in a leak case. And, former Attorney General William Barr, who took office a year after the subpoena was issued, said he does not recall discussing a probe for lawmakers’ data during his time leading the department, adding that he “never discussed the leak cases with Trump.” (CNN / Politico / Washington Post)
4/ Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Justice Department will tighten its rules around seizing information about members of Congress and their aides and vowed “strict accountability” for officials who let politics affect their work. Garland said his deputy, Lisa Monaco, will review and update the department’s existing policies “for obtaining records of the legislative branch,” noting that “we must ensure that full weight is accorded to separation-of-powers concerns moving forward.” The announcement came as John Demers, a Trump-era official who leads the Justice Department’s National Security Division, which oversees leak investigations, said he’ll resign at the end of next week. Garland will also meet with executives from CNN, The New York Times, and The Washington Post to discuss the Trump administration’s leak investigation that involved seeking reporter records from all three media outlets. (New York Times / Associated Press / Washington Post / NBC News / CNN)
5/ Mitch McConnell threatened to block any Supreme Court nominee put forward by Biden during the 2024 election cycle if Republicans regain control of the Senate next year. McConnell suggested that if he became majority leader again, he would give a Biden Supreme Court nominee in 2023 “a fair shot at a hearing” if the person was “not a radical, but a normal mainstream mainstream liberal.” McConnell, however, admitted that the prospects were “highly unlikely,” adding “we’d have to wait and see what happens.” (The Hill / New York Times / NBC News / Bloomberg)
poll/ 52% of Americans trust Biden to negotiate on the country’s behalf with other world leaders, and 49% trust him to negotiate with Putin specifically. 57% of Americans have confidence in Biden to do the right thing regarding world affairs. (ABC News)
1/ Attorney General Merrick Garland pledged to double the size of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division staff to protect every American’s right to vote. “There are plenty of things up for debate in America, but the right of all eligible Americans to vote is not one of them,” Garland said, calling the expansion of voting rights as a “central pillar” to American democracy. Garland added that the Justice Department will “do everything in its power to prevent election fraud, and if found to vigorously prosecute” but will also scrutinize “new laws that seek to curb voter access.” The additional trial attorneys will be hired over the next the next 30 days. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / NBC News / Axios)
2/ The Trump Justice Department secretly subpoenaed Apple for the metadata of at least two Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee, as well as their current and former staff, and family members, including a minor. The records of at least a dozen people tied to the committee were seized, including Rep. Adam B. Schiff, then the panel’s ranking Democrat and now its chairman, and Rep. Eric Swalwell. Trump administration prosecutors, looking for the sources behind news stories about contacts between Trump associates and Russia, subpoenaed Apple in 2017 and early 2018, which included a gag order, seeking the metadata for more than 100 accounts as part of the investigation to determine who was leaking classified information. The data obtained, however, did not tie the committee to the leaks of classified information about Russia. The gag order was renewed three times before it expired this year and Apple notified at least 12 people in May connected to the panel of subpoenas. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN)
3/ The Justice Department’s inspector general opened an investigation into the Trump administration’s secret seizure of data from Apple belonging to at least two Democratic lawmakers, their staff, and family members. Michael Horowitz said the review “will examine the Department’s compliance with applicable DOJ policies and procedures, and whether any such uses, or the investigations, were based upon improper considerations.” Horowitz added that the investigation would also look into the use of subpoenas to obtain journalists’ phone records, as well as “other legal authorities [used] to obtain communication records […] in connection with recent investigations of alleged unauthorized disclosures of information to the media by government officials.” Separately, Senate Democratic leaders demanded that former attorneys general William Barr and Jeff Sessions testify under oath about the secret subpoenas of Rep. Adam B. Schiff and Rep. Eric Swalwell, calling it “a gross abuse of power and an assault on the separation of powers.” The senators threatened to subpoena Barr and Sessions if they don’t appear voluntarily. The Biden administration, meanwhile, called the “behavior” of Trump’s attorneys general “appalling.” (Washington Post / New York Times / NPR / Bloomberg / USA Today / CNN / Associated Press / NBC News)
4/ The Biden administration will “repeal or replace” a rule allowing roads and development in more than half of Alaska’s Tongass National Forest. The move revives protections originally put in place in 2001 by Clinton, which Trump stripped three months before leaving office. (Washington Post)
5/ A bipartisan group of senators said they reached an agreement on the framework for an infrastructure deal. The deal reportedly includes $579 billion in new spending and would “be fully paid for and not include tax increases.” The overall proposal would spend $974 billion over five years and about $1.2 trillion if it continued over eight years. Lawmakers in both parties sounded skeptical that the proposal, which expected to address a narrow range of physical infrastructure projects, can get the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster in the Senate. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / NBC News)
1/ The Interior Department’s inspector general concluded that U.S. Park Police did not clear the park outside the White House of protesters on June 1, 2020, so Trump could walk to a nearby church for a photo op. Mark Greenblatt instead found that Park Police had the authority to clear the park and surrounding areas so that a contractor could install anti-scale fencing and did not know that Trump would be leaving the White House and crossing Lafayette Park until “mid-to late afternoon” on June 1 – hours after the contractor had arrived to begin installation. Park Police officials said the plan to clear the area was in place before a 2 p.m. meeting that included then-Attorney General William Barr, who “did not mention a potential presidential visit to the park,” according to the report. Barr, however, did urge officials to speed up the clearing process after Trump decided to walk through the area around 6:10 p.m. (NPR / Politico / NBC News / CBS News / ABC News / CNBC / USA Today)
2/ Former White House counsel Don McGahn testified behind closed doors last week about Trump’s attempts to obstruct the Russia investigation. In a transcript of the interview with members of the House Judiciary Committee, McGahn described Trump’s efforts to get him to tell Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to fire Robert Mueller over Trump’s claim that Mueller had a conflict of interest. McGahn refused to go along with Trump’s effort to fire Mueller, believing it could “cause this to spiral out of control.” McGahn also acknowledged that Trump told then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions that he should resign for having recused himself from overseeing the Russia investigation. Jerry Nadler, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said “McGahn’s testimony gives us a fresh look at how dangerously close President Trump brought us to, in Mr. McGahn’s words, the ‘point of no return.’” (New York Times / NBC News / Bloomberg / Washington Post)
3/ The U.S. reportedly lost more than $400 billion to fraudulent unemployment claims over the past year. The bulk of the money – representing as much as 50% of all unemployment money – likely ended in the hands of foreign crime syndicates in China, Nigeria, Russia and elsewhere. (Axios)
4/ The Trump Justice Department continued to pursued a CNN reporter’s records for half a year after a federal judge said the argument for access to internal emails was “speculative” and “unanchored in any facts.” The Trump administration also put CNN general counsel David Vigilante under a gag order prohibiting him from sharing any details about the Justice Department’s effort to obtain two months’ of CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr’s 2017 email logs. The pursuit for Starr’s records began in July 2020 under then-Attorney General William Barr. (CNN)
5/ The Keystone XL oil pipeline project was canceled after Biden revoked a key permit. TC Energy, the Canadian company behind the project, said it terminated the $9 billion project after Canadian officials failed to persuade Biden to reverse his cancellation of the permit. Keystone XL was expected to carry 830,000 barrels per day of Alberta oil sands crude to Nebraska. (NBC News / Associated Press / CNN)
poll/ 75% of respondents from 12 nations said they were confident that Biden would “do the right thing regarding world affairs,” compared with 17% for Trump last year. 62% of respondents said they have a favorable view of the U.S. compared to 34% at the end of Trump’s presidency in 2020. (Pew Research Center / Washington Post)
1/ Biden ended negotiations with a group of Republicans led by Sen. Shelley Moore Capito over infrastructure legislation, telling Capito that the latest GOP offer didn’t “meet the essential needs of our country to restore our roads and bridges, prepare us for our clean energy future, and create jobs.” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden was disappointed that Republicans had “increased their proposed new investments by only $150 billion” after he reduced his plan by more than $1 trillion. The White House and Capito ended up about $700 billion away. Capito, meanwhile, said she was “frustrated” with the White House and suggested that it “kept moving the goalposts” during negotiations. Biden will now focus on working with a bipartisan group of 20 senators who have been working separately on an alternative infrastructure proposal. Biden also spoke with Chuck Schumer about passing some of the infrastructure provisions through budget reconciliation, a fast-track procedure that would allow Democrats to avoid a filibuster and push through a package without support from Republicans. And, over in the House a bipartisan group calling themselves the Problem Solvers Caucus proposed a $1.249 trillion infrastructure plan that includes $761.8 billion in new spending. (CBS News / Washington Post / New York Times / ABC News / Politico / NBC News)
2/ The Biden administration will buy 500 million doses of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine to donate to 92 lower income countries and the African Union. The first 200 million doses will be distributed this year through the global COVAX alliance, followed by another 300 million in the first half of 2022. The Biden administration previously announced it would share at least 80 million vaccine doses globally by the end of June. (Washington Post / Associated Press / Politico)
3/ The U.S. is averaging fewer than 1 million vaccinations per day, threatening Biden’s goal of getting at least 70% of adults at least partially vaccinated by July 4. At least 13 states have already vaccinated 70% of adult residents, and an additional 15 states, plus D.C., are over 60% and will likely reach Biden’s goal. Covid-19 hospitalizations rates, meanwhile, continue to rise in communities with low vaccination rates. (Washington Post / New York Times)
4/ Two days after Joe Manchin vowed to block the federal election reform bill, Mitch McConnell said he would not support the bipartisan John Lewis Voting Rights Act, which Manchin and Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski have urged lawmakers to reauthorize. “There’s no threat to the voting rights law,” McConnell said. “It’s against the law to discriminate in voting based on race already. And so I think it’s unnecessary.” Manchin and Murkowski had proposed passing the John Lewis Voting Rights Act as an alternative to the For The People Act, which would restore a key provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that the Supreme Court struck down in 2013. That measure would also likely be blocked by a filibuster. Chuck Schumer, meanwhile, said the Senate will vote on the For the People Act, with or without Manchin. (The Hill / Vanity Fair / Business Insider / Politico / Washington Post / NBC News)
5/ The Senate passed the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act, a $250 billion bill aimed at countering China’s technological influence by investing in American technology, science, and research. The final vote was 68-32, with 19 Senate Republicans – including Mitch McConnell – joining Democrats in voting for passage. Bernie Sanders was the only member of the Democratic caucus to vote against the bill. The legislation now heads to the House before going to Biden’s desk. (New York Times / CNN / CNBC)
6/ Biden revoked and replaced three Trump executive orders that sought to ban TikTok and WeChat from the U.S. over national security concerns. Biden’s new order would instead establish “clear intelligible criteria” to evaluate national security risks for apps connected to foreign governments and direct the Commerce Department to undertake an “evidence-based” analysis of transactions involving apps that are manufactured or supplied or controlled by China. (Associated Press / New York Times / CNBC / Wall Street Journal)
7/ Harris warned Guatemalans thinking of migrating to the U.S.: “Do not come.” In her first foreign trip since taking office, Harris said the Biden administration wanted “to help Guatemalans find hope at home.” She added: “I want to be clear to folks in this region who are thinking about making that dangerous trek to the United States-Mexico border: Do not come. Do not come.” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, meanwhile, called Harris’ statement “disappointing,” and that the U.S. needed to “acknowledge its contributions to destabilization and regime change in the region.” Harris responded to criticism from both Republicans and members of her own party, saying: “I’m really clear: We have to deal with the root causes and that is my hope. Period.” (NPR / Politico / ABC News / NBC News)
8/ The Biden administration moved to repeal a Trump-era rule that ended federal protections for hundreds of thousands of streams and wetlands. The Trump-era rule narrowed the types of waterways that qualify for federal protection under the Clean Water Act. EPA Administrator Michael Regan said his team determined that the Trump administration’s rollback is “leading to significant environmental degradation.” (Washington Post / Associated Press / Politico)
9/ House Democrats reintroduced legislation that would protect abortion access even if Roe v. Wade were weakened or overturned. The Women’s Health Protection Act would guarantee the right for health care professionals to provide abortion care and prohibit state and federal lawmakers from imposing certain limits on abortion care, including mandatory ultrasounds, waiting periods, and admitting privileges requirements. The bill was first introduced in 2013, but has never received a vote in either chamber. (NBC News)
poll/ 47% of Americans say abortion is morally acceptable, while 46% say it’s morally wrong. Overall, 48% of Americans believe abortion should be legal “only under certain circumstances,” while 32% favor it being legal “under any circumstances,” and 19% think it should be “illegal in all circumstances.” (Gallup)
poll/ 29% of Republican voters think it’s likely that Trump will be reinstated as president this year. Overall, 72% of voters say they believe America’s democracy is currently being threatened, including 82% of Republicans, 77% of Democrats, and 72% of independents. (Morning Consult)
1/ Biden’s Justice Department will continue to defend Trump in a defamation lawsuit brought by E. Jean Carroll, who accused him of raping her 25 years ago. In a brief filed with a federal appeals court, the Justice Department argued that it should be permitted to substitute itself for Trump as defendant. The Justice Department, however, insisted that it did not endorse Trump’s “crude and disrespectful” remarks about Carroll, but instead argued that Trump could not be sued for defamation because he had made the statements as part of his official duties as president. Last September, the Justice Department and then-Attorney General William Barr intervened on Trump’s behalf to transfer the lawsuit from state court to federal court, substituting the federal government for Trump as the defendant. (CNN / Politico / New York Times / BuzzFeed News)
2/ The Koch network pressured Joe Manchin to oppose Biden’s key legislative items, including filibuster reform and the For the People Act. In a video series from Americans for Prosperity, a Koch super PAC, grassroots supporters were encouraged to push Manchin to “Reject Washington’s Partisan Agenda” and oppose his party’s own legislative priorities, including the idea of eliminating the filibuster, the For the People Act, and packing the Supreme Court. (CNBC)
3/ Capitol Police had intelligence that Trump supporters planned to attack the Capitol at least two weeks before the Jan. 6 riot but failed to act on the threats. In a joint report from the Senate Rules and Administration and the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committees, the bipartisan investigation found that Capitol Police intelligence officers knew as early as Dec. 21 that pro-Trump extremists were threatening violence, including plans to “storm the Capitol,” infiltrate the tunnel system, and “bring guns.” The information was only shared with command officers. “The failure to adequately assess the threat of violence on that day contributed significantly to the breach of the Capitol,” Sen. Gary Peters said, chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. “The attack was quite frankly planned in plain sight.” (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News)
4/ Trump’s impeachment lawyers are defending at least three people charged in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection. Michael van der Veen is defending a member of the Oath Keepers that helped plan and participate in storming the Capitol. Bruce Castor, meanwhile, is representing a mother and daughter who failed to follow repeated police orders to disperse in violation of a curfew. During Trump’s Senate impeachment trial, van der Veen and Castor argued that those who participated in the riot deserve “robust and swift investigation and prosecution.” (NPR)
5/ Senate Republicans are blocking the confirmation for Biden’s nominee to lead the federal personnel agency because of her support for abortion rights and critical race theory, an academic framework centered on the idea that racism is systemic. The delay on Kiran Ahuja’s nomination to lead the Office of Personnel Management is being led by Sen. Josh Hawley, who is a dipshit. (Washington Post)
6/ The Biden administration determined that more than 3,900 children were separated from their families after the Trump administration implemented its “zero-tolerance policy.” The report from the Biden administration’s Family Reunification Task Force also found that fewer than 60 families are now in the process of being reunited. Nearly 400 children have been repatriated to their country of origin. (ABC News)
7/ The Biden administration threatened to sue Texas if its Republican Governor Greg Abbott moves forward with plans to close more than 50 shelters housing about 4,000 migrant children. Abbott issued a disaster declaration last week, which directed a state agency to “take all necessary steps” to deny or discontinue licenses for child care facilities sheltering migrant children within 90 days. (CBS News)
8/ New audio reveals how Rudy Giuliani pressured the Ukrainian government in 2019 to investigate baseless conspiracies about Biden. During the roughly 40-minute, July 2019 phone call between Giuliani, U.S. diplomat Kurt Volker, and Andriy Yermak, a senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Giuliani repeatedly pressed Yermak to have Zelensky publicly announce investigations into possible corruption by Biden in Ukraine, and into claims that Ukraine meddled in the 2016 election to hurt Trump. Both claims are untrue. “All we need from the President [Zelensky] is to say […] he’s gonna investigate and dig up the evidence, that presently exists and is there any other evidence about involvement of the 2016 election, and then the Biden thing has to be run out,” Giuliani said, according to the audio. The call was a precursor to Trump’s July 25, 2019, call with Zelensky, where he pressured the Ukrainian president eight times to investigate Biden and his son. (CNN)
poll/ 70% of Americans support same-sex marriage – a record high. In 1996, 27% of Americans supported same-sex marriage. (Gallup)
poll/ 51% of voters support Trump’s two-year Facebook ban. Among Republicans, 15% supported the suspension, while 86% of Democrats supported Trump’s temporary ban. 46% of independent voters, however, supported the suspension with and 40% opposing it. (Politico)
1/ The U.S. reported an average of about 14,500 daily coronavirus cases over the past week with about 960,000 vaccinations administered each day. While more than half of Americans have received at least one vaccine dose, less than a quarter of Black Americans have received their first shot. 42% of Americans overall are fully vaccinated. (CNBC / Politico)
2/ Joe Manchin vowed to block the federal election reform bill. “I believe that partisan voting legislation will destroy the already weakening binds of our democracy, and for that reason, I will vote against the For the People Act,” Manchin wrote in an op-ed. “Furthermore, I will not vote to weaken or eliminate the filibuster.” The House approved the For the People Act in March with no Republican support. In the Senate, the bill would require at least 10 GOP votes or require elimination of the filibuster to be passed. Later, in a Fox News interview, Manchin called voting reform bill – which would require states to offer at least 15 days of early voting, universal access to mail-in voting, same-day registration for federal races, and make Election Day a national holiday – “the wrong piece of legislation to bring our country together and unite our country, and I’m not supporting that, because I think it would divide us more. I don’t want to be in a country that’s divided any further.” A national security adviser, meanwhile, called protecting the rights of Americans to vote is a national security issue, saying “we are not updating, refurbishing, revamping our own democratic processes and procedures to meet the needs of the modern moment.” (Politico / Associated Press / New York Times / NBC News / CNN / Bloomberg / Axios / CNBC / Washington Post)
3/ Trump’s chief of staff repeatedly pushed the Justice Department to investigate unfounded conspiracy theories about election fraud. In five emails sent during the last week of December and early January, Mark Meadows asked Jeffrey Rosen, then the acting attorney general, to examine debunked claims of election fraud and baseless conspiracies. Rosen declined to open the investigations. (New York Times)
4/ Rep. Mo Brooks was finally served a lawsuit alleging that he and other pro-Trump allies were partially accountable for the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol. According to court filings, Rep. Eric Swalwell’s legal team had been trying since March to serve Brooks and had hired a private investigator to serve the suit. (CNN / Axios)
5/ The Justice Department imposed a gag order on New York Times executives over an attempt to obtain four NYT reporters’ email logs from Google, which operates the Times’s email system. Google resisted the effort to obtain the information, and the secret legal battle, which began during the Trump administration and continued under Biden, was ultimately unsuccessful. A federal court lifted the gag order on Friday, which had been in effect since March 3. The disclosure came two days after the Biden Justice Department notified the four reporters that the Trump administration in 2020 had secretly seized their phone records from early 2017. The Biden administration, meanwhile, disavowed any knowledge that the Justice Department tried to seize the email data of four New York Times reporters and had obtained a gag order. (New York Times)
6/ The Justice Department said it would no longer secretly obtain reporters’ records during government leak investigations. In a statement, Justice Department spokesman Anthony Coley said that “in a change to its longstanding practice,” the department “will not seek compulsory legal process in leak investigations to obtain source information from members of the news media doing their jobs.” The reversal follows the recent disclosures that the Trump Justice Department had used court orders to obtain phone and email records for reporters at the Washington Post, CNN, and the New York Times. (Associated Press / Politico / Wall Street Journal)
7/ The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that thousands of immigrants living in the U.S. for humanitarian reasons are not eligible to apply to become permanent residents. The decision is a setback for as many as 400,000 immigrants in the U.S. who have Temporary Protected Status from deportation because of unsafe conditions in their home countries. The House, meanwhile, has already has passed legislation that would make it possible for TPS recipients to become permanent residents. The bill, however, faces uncertain prospects in the Senate. (Associated Press / Washington Post / ABC News / CNN)
8/ Earth’s atmospheric carbon dioxide hit levels not seen in more than 4 million years. According to scientists from Scripps Institution of Oceanography and NOAA, atmospheric carbon dioxide peaked in May 2020, reaching a monthly average of nearly 419 parts per million – the highest levels in human history. In 2021, daily levels recorded have twice exceeded 420 parts per million. Despite the sharp decrease in global greenhouse gas emissions early in the pandemic, NOAA said there was “no discernible impact” on the rate of increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. (Axios / Washington Post / USA Today)
1/ The economy added 559,000 jobs last month – double April’s total. The unemployment rate fell to 5.8% from 6.1%. Despite the gains, the U.S. has only replaced two-thirds of the jobs lost last year – about 7.4 million jobs shy of where it was February 2020. Biden defended the job gains, which were less than the 650,000 jobs economists had predicted, saying “you can’t reboot the world’s largest economy like flipping on a light switch […] This is progress that’s pulling our economy out of the worst crisis in the last 100 years.” Biden added: “We’re on the right track. Our plan is working. And we’re not going to let up now.” (CNN / NPR / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / CNBC)
2/ CDC Director Rochelle Walensky urged parents to vaccinate their teenagers against Covid-19, citing a rise in the number of teens hospitalized with the disease. The number of hospitalizations related to Covid-19 among U.S. teens in March and April was about three times greater than hospitalizations rates during three recent flu seasons. “Much of this suffering can be prevented,” Walensky said. “Vaccination is our way out of this pandemic.” Meanwhile, Dr. Anne Schuchat, the No. 2 official at the CDC, said the U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic “wasn’t a good performance,” and there’s still “a lot of work to do to get better prepared for the next one.” Schuchat is retiring this summer after 33 years at the agency. (NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post / NPR)
3/ Former White House counsel Don McGahn testified before the House Judiciary Committee about Trump’s attempts to obstruct the Russia investigation – two years after House Democrats originally sought his testimony. The committee first asked to interview McGahn in 2019, but the Trump White House blocked him from appearing, citing a Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel opinion. McGahn was the most-cited witness in the Mueller report. (Associated Press / NPR / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / CNN)
4/ The senior vice president and controller at the Trump Organization testified before a special grand jury convened by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office. Jeff McConney is among a number of witnesses that have already appeared before the special grand jury, which will decide whether criminal charges are warranted against Trump, his company, or employees. Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance has been investigating whether Trump inflated the value of assets to obtain bank loans and deflated the value of those same assets for tax breaks. (ABC News)
5/ Pence called the Jan. 6 pro-Trump riot attack on the U.S. Capitol “a dark day in the history of the United States” and that he doubts he’ll ever see “eye to eye” with Trump on the event. Despite distancing himself from Trump, Pence said he was “proud of what we accomplished for the American people over the last four years.” Pence then accused Democrats of using the riot to divide the country to “advance their radical agenda,” including what he called “the left-wing myth of systemic racism.” Two days after Biden attended a commemoration the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, Pence asserted that “America is not a racist country.” (Politico / New York Times / NPR / NBC News / CNN)
6/ Trump’s Facebook account will remain suspended until at least January 2023 and will only be reinstated “if the risk to public safety has receded.” The decision came after Facebook’s Oversight Board said the platform was justified in removing Trump’s account following the Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6, but that it had been wrong to impose an indefinite ban. Facebook said that when the suspension is “eventually” lifted, Trump would be subject to a set of “rapidly escalating sanctions” for further violations, including the permanent suspension of his account. Meanwhile, Trump – in an emailed statement – complained that the “ruling is an insult” and that the social media company “shouldn’t be allowed to get away with this censoring and silencing.” In a second emailed statement, Trump vowed not to dine privately with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg the “next time I’m in the White House,” adding: “It will be all business!” (Politico / NPR / NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post)
1/ Confirmed coronavirus cases in the U.S. have fallen to the lowest level since March 2020, when the pandemic began. The U.S. averaged roughly 16,860 new cases per day over the past week, and new cases declined in 43 states, while holding steady elsewhere. (NBC News / Axios)
2/ Unemployment claims fell below 400,000 for the first time since March 2020. 385,000 people, however, filed for first time unemployment benefits last week, and continuing claims rose by 169,000 to 3.77 million. (CNBC)
3/ The Biden administration outlined its plan for donating an initial 25 million Covid-19 vaccine doses to help low- and middle-income nations combat the pandemic. The U.S. will distribute about 75% of the doses through the global vaccine aid program COVAX, with the remaining 25% being sent directly to allies and “regional priorities,” including Mexico, Canada, West Bank and Gaza, Ukraine, Egypt, and Iraq. Overall, the White House plans to donate 80 million doses by the end of June, mostly through COVAX. (Politico / New York Times / Associated Press / ABC News)
4/ Biden’s latest infrastructure counteroffer would keep Trump’s 2017 tax cuts intact in exchange for $1 trillion in new spending on top of the $400 billion in baseline spending already approved for infrastructure needs. Instead of paying for the American Jobs Plan by raising the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%, the bipartisan infrastructure package would be financed through a 15% minimum tax on U.S. corporations and other tax proposals, including beefing up IRS audits and tax enforcement on the wealthy. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden was “absolutely not” abandoning efforts to raise the corporate rate to 28%, adding that it’s a way to “pay for a range of the bold proposals that he has put forward.” Biden has already reduced the cost of his American Jobs Plan to $1.7 trillion from $2.25 trillion. Republicans, meanwhile, have upped their offer to $928 billion from $586 billion, but their proposal only includes roughly $257 billion in new spending on top of the current $400 billion in projected federal spending. Biden wants at least $1 trillion over current levels. (Washington Post / USA Today / New York Times / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Politico)
5/ The FBI is investigating Postmaster General Louis DeJoy for potential violation of campaign finance law. The investigation focuses on allegations that DeJoy pressured employees at his former company, New Breed Logistics, to make contributions to Republican candidates or attend political fundraisers, which he would then reimburse through bonuses. FBI agents have interviewed current and former employees at New Breed Logistics, and prosecutors have also issued a subpoena to DeJoy himself for information. DeJoy, meanwhile, denied he ever “knowingly violated” campaign contribution laws. (Washington Post / Politico / New York Times / ABC News)
6/ Rep. Mo Brooks is reportedly avoiding a lawsuit from his colleague Rep. Eric Swalwell that seeks to hold him accountable for the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Swalwell’s attorneys have hired a private investigator in order to serve the lawsuit that alleges he and other pro-Trump allies were “responsible for the injury and destruction” of the Capitol. The investigator reportedly “has spent many hours over many days” since April searching for Brooks, “to no avail.” (CNN / Axios)
7/ The Justice Department is investigating whether Rep. Matt Gaetz obstructed justice when he called a witness in a potential sex crimes investigation. The obstruction probe stems from an inquiry about whether Gaetz had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old and paid for her travels with him. The witness is one of the women allegedly connected to Gaetz through his “wingman” Joel Greenberg, a Florida tax collector who pleaded guilty to several crimes, including the sex-trafficking of a 17-year-old girl in 2017. While Gaetz has denied all wrongdoing, including obstructing justice or having sex with the trafficked 17-year-old, Greenberg struck a plea deal with prosecutors last month and is cooperating with authorities in the investigation. (Politico / NBC News / CNN / CNBC)
8/ The Trump Justice Department secretly seized the phone records of four New York Times reporters in 2017 as part of a leak investigation. The Justice Department informed the paper that it had seized the phone records of Matt Apuzzo, Adam Goldman, Eric Lichtblau, and Michael Schmidt spanning nearly four months in 2017. The department also secured a court order to seize phone logs – but not the contents – of their emails, but “no records were obtained.” Last month, the Biden Justice Department disclosed that the Trump administration had also seized the phone logs of reporters at the Washington Post, and the phone and email logs for a CNN reporter. (New York Times / Washington Post)
1/ Biden declared June a “national month of action” to meet his goal of having 70% of U.S. adults at least partially vaccinated and 160 million adults fully vaccinated by the Fourth of July. Just under 63% of American adults have received at least one dose of the vaccine. The administration announced a raft of new initiatives to encourage Americans to get vaccinated, including free child care for parents and caregivers while they get their shots, as well as a national canvassing effort to work with churches, colleges, businesses, and celebrities. (Washington Post / Bloomberg / New York Times / CNBC)
2/ Texas Gov. Greg Abbott defended the restrictive voting bill that failed to pass, while attacking Biden for his comments that the Texas voting bill is “part of an assault on democracy.” Abbott called the Texas voter law “far more accommodative and provides far more hours to vote than it does in President Biden’s home state of Delaware.” The state of Delaware does not currently have early voting, but new state law will allow for 10 days of early voting starting next year. Abbott added: “If there’s any voter suppression taking place, the easier allegation is say that voter suppression has taken place in Delaware, not Texas.” (Dallas Morning News)
Texas Republicans blamed a typographical error for a controversial provision in the failed voting bill, which would have limited voting on Sundays to the hours between 1 p.m. and 9 p.m. Critics, however, say the provision would hurt get-out-the-vote efforts by Black churches. Despite no Republicans raising an issue with the start time during final debate over the bill last month, Republicans insisted that the 1 p.m. start time was an error and that it should have been 11 a.m. Republicans say they plan to use a special session to change the provision. (NBC News / Texas Tribune)
3/ Biden tapped Harris to lead the administration’s efforts to protect voting rights. The move comes as several Republican-led state legislatures have pushed to enact voting restrictions, which Biden called an “unprecedented assault” on democracy. Harris said the administration “will not stand by when confronted with any effort that keeps Americans from voting.” Biden also vowed that his administration would “fight like heck” to enact the For the People Act, which would expand voting rights and change campaign finance rules. The bill already passed the House, but has stalled in the Senate, where Democrats need the support of at least 10 Republicans to overcome a filibuster. Joe Manchin, meanwhile, continues to protect the filibuster, while refusing to support the voting rights bill. (CBS News / NPR / New York Times)
4/ Biden called out Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema for aligning too closely with Republicans and blocking efforts to pass the voting rights bill and other priorities. “I hear all the folks on TV saying, ‘Why doesn’t Biden get this done?’” Biden said. “Well, because Biden only has a majority of effectively four votes in the House and a tie in the Senate, with two members of the Senate who vote more with my Republican friends.” Sinema and Manchin have frustrated Democrats with their defense of the filibuster as Republican-led state governments have moved to place new limits on voting. While Sinema is a sponsor of the voting rights bill, Manchin has refused to sign on, calling the measure “too broad.” (Washington Post / Yahoo News / Business Insider)
5/ Trump permanently shut down his blog after 29 days, frustrated by the lack of readership, which made him reportedly “look small and irrelevant.” The “From the Desk of Donald J. Trump” blog was Trump’s attempt at influencing news coverage now that he’s out of office and still banned from Twitter and Facebook. (New York Times / CNBC)
1/ Biden issued a presidential proclamation recognizing June as Pride Month, saying he “will not rest until full equality for LGBTQ+ Americans is finally achieved and codified into law.” The White House noted that “after four years of relentless attacks on LGBTQ+ rights, the Biden-Harris Administration has taken historic actions to accelerate the march toward full LGBTQ+ equality.” On his first day in office, Biden signed an executive order directing federal agencies to protect LGBTQ people under federal laws that prohibit discrimination based on sex. Biden also reversed the Trump administration’s ban on transgender people openly enlisting and serving in the military, and issued an executive order expanding Title IX to protect LGBTQ students from discrimination. (NBC News / New York Times)
2/ The Biden administration suspended oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, undoing a move made by the Trump administration late last year. The Interior Department said a review of the Trump administration’s leasing program in the wildlife refuge found “multiple legal deficiencies,” including “insufficient analysis” required by environmental laws and a failure to assess alternatives. Last week, however, Justice Department attorneys defended a Trump-era oil and gas project in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska – an area that lies to the west of ANWR. (Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
3/ Texas Democrats abandoned the state House floor late Sunday night to block a vote on one of the most restrictive voting bills in the nation. Republicans faced a midnight deadline to approve the measure, which would have made it harder to vote by mail, limited early voting hours, empowered partisan poll watchers, and made it easier to overturn election results. Democrats staged the walkout with an hour left for the Legislature to approve the bill, leaving the House without a quorum needed to take a vote. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said he would order a special legislative session to revive the measure. Biden, meanwhile, called the restrictive voting bill “un-American” and “an assault on democracy.” (Texas Tribune / Washington Post / Associated Press / New York Times)
4/ Texas Gov. Greg Abbott threatened to defund the state Legislature after House Democrats staged a walkout to block one of his top legislative priorities. “No pay for those who abandon their responsibilities,” Abbott tweeted, pledging to veto the section of the state budget that funds the legislative branch. “Stay tuned.” Abbott has until June 20 to carry out the veto. (Texas Tribune / New York Times / NBC News / NPR / Washington Post)
5/ More than 100 scholars of democracy warned that “our entire democracy is now at risk” as a result of Republican-led states proposing or implementing “radical changes” to election laws. The public “Statement of Concern” calls on Senate Democrats to reform or kill the filibuster in order to pass the For the People Act, which already passed the House. Joe Manchin, meanwhile, has repeatedly pledged to protect the filibuster and has refused to sign on to the voting rights bill, calling the legislation “too darn broad” and partisan. The scholars conclude: “History will judge what we do at this moment.” (New York Times / Forbes / Washington Post)
6/ The Justice Department asked a federal judge to dismiss lawsuits against Trump, former attorney general William Barr, and other officials for using U.S. military and police to violently clear peaceful protestors from Lafayette Square last June so Trump could hold a Bible in front of St. John’s Church for photographs to dispel the notion that he was “weak” for hiding in a bunker. Justice Department lawyers argued that the lawsuits from the ACLU, Black Lives Matter, other civil liberties groups, and individual protesters should be dismissed because the Biden administration does not share Trump’s hostility toward George Floyd and the racial justice movement. An attorney for DC Police, meanwhile, said in court that the department used tear gas on protesters around Lafayette Square Park last June. It was the first time MPD admitted that tear gas was used on peaceful protestors. (Washington Post / WUSA 9)
7/ The Justice Department added four new defendants to the federal criminal conspiracy case against the Oath Keepers, a far-right extremist group that participated in the pro-Trump riot on Jan. 6 at the U.S. Capitol. (CNN)
8/ Trump has reportedly been telling confidants that he expects to be reinstated as president by August as a result of ongoing election audits in states like Arizona and Georgia. Meanwhile, at a QAnon conference, Trump’s first national security adviser called for a Myanmar-like military coup in America. Michael Flynn later claimed that he didn’t endorse a coup despite video of him supporting the idea, and saying “it should happen here.” Trump pardoned Flynn in November after he lost the election. Sidney Powell, the lawyer who is being sued for $1.3 billion by Dominion Voting Systems for defamation over her claims that the company rigged the election against Trump, told conference attendees Trump “can simply be reinstated,” despite there being no constitutional or legal remedy to overturn election results that have been certified by Congress. (New York Times – Maggie Haberman / Business Insider / Yahoo News / CNN / HuffPost)
1/ Senate Republicans blocked the creation of an independent, bipartisan commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, using their filibuster power in the Senate for the first time during Biden’s presidency. The vote was 54 in favor, 35 against, and 11 senators not voting — short of the 60 needed to proceed. Six Republicans voted in favor of proceeding with the legislation. Prior to the vote, McConnell reportedly asked his Republican Senate colleagues to filibuster the bill as “a personal favor” to him, dismissing the proposed commission – modeled after the 9/11 Commission – as a “purely political exercise.” Sen. Joe Manchin said there were “an awful lot of other Republicans that would have supported” the commission “if it hadn’t been for [McConnell’s] intervention,” guessing that “13 or 14” GOP senators might have voted for the bill. Manchin, however, reaffirmed that he would not reconsider his opposition to getting rid of the filibuster. Sen. Lisa Murkowski also took aim at McConnell over his opposition to the commission, saying: “To be making a decision for the short-term political gain at the expense of understanding and acknowledging what was in front of us on Jan. 6, I think we need to look at that critically. Is that really what this is about, one election cycle after another?” (New York Times / Washington Post / NPR / Politico / NBC News / Bloomberg / Axios / Wall Street Journal / CNBC)
2/ Senate Republicans delayed passage of a $195 billion bipartisan bill aimed at countering China’s global economic and political influence. A small group of conservative senators complained they didn’t have time to review the more than 2,400 pages of the American Innovation and Competition Act. The vote was postponed until June 8, when senators return from a weeklong Memorial Day recess. (New York Times / Associated Press / CBS News)
3/ The Biden administration defended a Trump-era oil and gas project in Alaska. The administration declined to explain how its position on the multibillion-dollar plan from ConocoPhillips to drill in part of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska aligns with Biden’s pledge to cut U.S. emissions in half by 2030, replace fossil fuels with renewable energy, and enhance protections for public lands and waters. The Arctic, meanwhile, is warming three times faster than the rest of the planet due to climate change. ConocoPhillips plans to install “chillers” to refreeze the thawing permafrost to ensure it’s stable enough to support the equipment needed to drill for oil, which will likely accelerate climate change when burned and the further melting of the permafrost. The project was pushed by Alaskan Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a centrist Republican seen as a potential administration ally in the evenly split Senate. (New York Times / Politico / The Guardian)
4/ Biden ordered the 90-day review into the origin of the coronavirus pandemic after intelligence officials told the White House they had unexamined evidence that required additional analysis. Officials declined to describe the evidence, but they’re reportedly “hoping to apply an extraordinary amount of computer power to the question of whether the virus accidentally leaked from a Chinese laboratory.” (New York Times)
5/ Hackers linked to Russian intelligence hacked the email system used by the U.S. Agency for International Development. Once compromised, hackers sent USAID-like emails to more than 3,000 accounts across more than 150 organizations with code that gave hackers access to the computer systems of the recipients, from “stealing data to infecting other computers on a network.” Those emails went out as recently as this week, and Microsoft, which identified the Russian group behind the attack as Nobelium, said it believes the attacks are ongoing. Microsoft also said it was the same group responsible for the SolarWinds hack, which breached at least seven government agencies and hundreds of large American companies. (New York Times)
6/ Federal prosecutors are investigating whether Ukrainian officials attempted to interfere in the 2020 presidential election, including using Rudy Giuliani to spread misleading claims about Biden to help Trump. The FBI and Brooklyn prosecutors are focused on current and former Ukrainian officials suspected of trying to influence the election by spreading unsubstantiated claims of corruption about Biden through several channels. The inquiry began during the final months of the Trump administration. Giuliani’s dealings with Ukrainian oligarchs while working as Trump’s lawyer are also the subject of an investigation by federal prosecutors in Manhattan. Federal agents seized Giuliani’s phone and computers while executive a search warrant in April. (New York Times)
7/ A federal judge appointed a so-called “special master” to review material seized from Rudy Giuliani and another lawyer through a search warrant. The special master will review files on electronic devices seized from Giuliani and Victoria Toensing for material that is potentially privileged. U.S. District Judge Paul Oetken also denied a series of requests by Giuliani and Toensing to return the trove of digital information the FBI seized as part of the investigation into potential violations of laws on lobbying for foreign entities. (Politico / ABC News / CNBC)
poll/ 73% of Republicans blame “left-wing protesters trying to make Trump look bad” for the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. 23% of Republicans, however, say Trump bears “some” or “a great deal” of the blame for the riot that left several people dead and more than 140 injured. (Yahoo News)
poll/ 23% of Republicans agree that “the government, media, and financial worlds in the U.S. are controlled by a group of Satan-worshipping pedophiles who run a global child sex trafficking operation,” 28% agree that “there is a storm coming soon that will sweep away the elites in power and restore the rightful leaders,” and 28% agree that “because things have gotten so far off track, true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country.” Among all Americans, fewer than 20% agree with those statements. (PRRI / CNN)
1/ Senate Republicans are expected to use the filibuster to block the establishment of a bipartisan, independent commission to study the Jan. 6 pro-Trump riot at the Capitol, which led to the deaths of five people and about 140 police officers injured. In the House, 35 Republicans backed the bill last week. Fewer than 10 Senate Republicans are expected to support the bill, likely making it the first successful use of a filibuster during the Biden administration. Sen. Joe Manchin, meanwhile, said “there is no excuse for any Republican to vote against” legislation to create a 9/11-style commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. But when asked if he would vote to eliminate the filibuster to allow the commission bill to pass with 51 votes, Manchin replied that while it was “frustrating” to see Republicans opposed to the bill, he is “not willing to destroy our government.” (CNN / Associated Press / Washington Post / Politico / CBS News / ABC News / NBC News)
2/ A federal judge warned that Trump’s “steady drumbeat” of false claims that the 2020 election was “stolen” from him could inspire his supporters to take up arms, as they did during the Capitol insurrection. Judge Amy Berman Jackson wrote: “The steady drumbeat that inspired defendant to take up arms has not faded away; six months later, the canard that the election was stolen is being repeated daily on major news outlets and from the corridors of power in state and federal government, not to mention in the near-daily fulminations of the former President.” Separately, Trump and Rudy Giuliani asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit accusing them of conspiring to incite the Capitol violence. At a pre-riot rally near the Capitol, Trump called on his followers to march to the Capitol and told them: “If you don’t fight like hell you’re not going to have a country anymore.” Giuliani, during the same rally, called for “trial by combat.” (CNN / CNBC)
3/ Senate Republicans offered a $928 billion infrastructure proposal to counter Biden’s American Jobs Plan, which was initially valued at $2.3 trillion. The $928 billion plan is an increase from the GOP’s original, five-year $568 billion proposal. It would not raise taxes, but instead be funded through repurposing unused Covid-19 relief money, an idea that Democrats are opposed to. The $928 billion plan falls short, however, of the White House’s latest $1.7 trillion compromise proposal. Senate Republicans have also made the definition of infrastructure a sticking point in negotiations. (Politico / Washington Post / NPR / CNN / ABC News / CNBC / Wall Street Journal / NBC News)
4/ Biden will propose a $6 trillion budget for the 2022 fiscal year – the highest sustained federal spending since World War II – with annual deficits of more than $1.3 trillion over the next decade. The budget contains no new major policies, but instead reflects the policies that Biden has already introduced, including the $2.3 trillion American Jobs Plan, the $1.8 trillion American Families Plan, and $1.5 trillion in proposed discretionary spending. The White House budget projects that the U.S. economy will grow by about 5% in 2021 and 4.3% in 2022, before leveling off at around 2% for the rest of the decade, after inflation. Biden’s budget also assumes that his proposed capital gains tax rate increase took effect in April, meaning that it’s too late for very-high-income households to realize gains at the lower tax rates if Congress approves the change and retroactive effective date. (New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / CNN)
5/ The Senate voted 68-30 to advance the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act, a bill to address China’s growing economic and geopolitical influence with a $250 billion investment in American technology, science, and research. After the Senate voted on 18 amendments – 14 of them from GOP senators – the vote was further delayed as Republicans threatened to filibuster the bill unless they got more votes on GOP amendments. The bill still faces additional debate before a final vote is held on passage. (Axios / Politico / Bloomberg / CNN / Reuters)
6/ Biden urged Congress to pass stricter gun control measures after eight people were killed during a mass shooting at a Northern California rail yard. “Enough,” Biden said in a statement. “Once again, I urge Congress to take immediate action and heed the call of the American people, including the vast majority of gun owners, to help end this epidemic of gun violence in America.” (NBC News / CNN / Los Angeles Times)
1/ Biden directed the intelligence community to “redouble” its efforts to determine the origin of the coronavirus pandemic after a new report highlighted how three scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology were hospitalized in November 2019 after developing symptoms consistent with Covid-19. Biden tasked the intelligence community with preparing a report within 90 days “on their most up-to-date analysis of the origins of Covid-19, including whether it emerged from human contact with an infected animal or from a laboratory accident,” in order to “bring us closer to a definitive conclusion.” In the statement Biden said the majority of the intelligence community had “coalesced” around those two scenarios, but “do not believe there is sufficient information to assess one to be more likely than the other.” (Washington Post / NBC News / Associated Press / CNBC / Politico)
2/ New York prosecutors convened a special grand jury to consider evidence in the criminal investigation into Trump’s business dealings. The panel, convened by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, is expected to decide whether to indict Trump, executives at the Trump Organization or the business itself. Vance’s investigation has scrutinized Trump’s relationship with his lenders and whether he manipulated the valuation of his assets for tax benefits. The grand jury will sit for three days a week for six months, and likely hear matters beyond the Trump Organization investigation. One adviser said there’s “a cloud of nerves” hanging over Trump. (Washington Post / Associated Press / CNN / Politico)
3/ Manhattan prosecutors told at least one witness to prepare for grand jury testimony related to the criminal case against Trump, his company, and its executives. (ABC News / CNN)
4/ U.S. troops and their NATO allies are set to be out of Afghanistan by early to mid-July – well ahead of Biden’s Sept. 11 deadline. The Pentagon, however, doesn’t have a plan to counter terrorist threats from groups like Al Qaeda or the Islamic State after troops leave, nor does it have a plan for ensuring security for Kabul’s international airport, which could jeopardize all diplomatic missions in Afghanistan. In addition, Defense Department officials haven’t secured agreements about repositioning American troops in nearby countries and haven’t decided whether American warplanes will continue to provide air support to Afghan forces to prevent cities from falling to the Taliban. (New York Times)
5/ Biden ousted four members of the Commission of Fine Arts, which is tasked with advising on “matters of design and aesthetics” in the nation’s capital. The seven-member independent federal agency consisted entirely of commissioners appointed by Trump. Last year, Trump signed an executive order requiring “beautiful” architecture as the preferred style for federal buildings. (CNN)
poll/ 85% of Republicans would prefer to see candidates running for office that mostly agree with Trump. 66% of Republicans say they think that Biden’s victory was not legitimate. (Quinnipiac)
1/ The Justice Department appealed a district court ruling that ordered it to release the entire memo used in 2019 to justify not charging Trump with obstruction of justice in the Russia investigation. Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson accused the Justice Department and then-Attorney General William Barr of being “disingenuous to this court” when describing Robert Mueller’s findings about why he decided not to pursue obstruction charges. Jackson ordered the entire document released. The Justice Department, however, released a partially unredacted version of the Office of Legal Counsel memo – a page and a half were made public. (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / Politico)
2/ Trump’s former White House counsel agreed to testify behind closed doors about Trump’s efforts to obstruct the Russia investigation. Donald McGahn will testify before the House Judiciary Committee next week about his role as a key witness in the Mueller report. A transcript of the interview will be released afterward. In 2019, the Trump White House invoked executive privilege and ordered McGahn not to comply with a congressional subpoena for documents related to Mueller’s investigation. McGahn spent more than 30 hours speaking to Mueller’s investigators, outlining two episodes where Trump asked him to have Mueller fired, and later asking McGahn to deny news reports about that conversation. McGahn rebuffed both requests. (New York Times / CNN / NBC News)
3/ New York federal prosecutors investigating Rudy Giuliani seized email and iCloud accounts they believe belong to two former Ukranian government officials, as well as the cell phone and iPad of a pro-Trump Ukrainian businessman. The attorney for Lev Parnas, an indicted former Giuliani ally, wrote in a court filing that the evidence seized “likely includes e-mail, text, and encrypted communications” between Giuliani, Victoria Toensing, Trump, William Barr, “high-level members of the Justice Department, Presidential impeachment attorneys Jay Sekulow, Jane Raskin and others, Senator Lindsey Graham, Congressman Devin Nunes and others, relating to the timing of the arrest and indictment of the defendants as a means to prevent potential disclosures to Congress in the first impeachment inquiry of then-President Donald. J. Trump.” The court filing also disclosed that federal prosecutors have “historical and prospective cell site information” related to Giuliani and Toensing – both were the subjects of search warrants executed last month. The court filing contained redacted portions, which could be read by copying and pasting them into another document. (CNN)
4/ Trump responded to a lawsuit seeking to hold him accountable for the Jan. 6 insurrection, saying he is protected under the First Amendment and had “absolute immunity” while President to contest the election. Trump argued that encouraging his supporters to oppose Congress from certifying the vote during the political rally on Jan. 6 was a constitutionally protected act of the presidency. The court filing was in response to a lawsuit from Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell alleging that Trump “directly incited the violence” by putting out “a clear call to action” and then “watched approvingly as the building was overrun.” (CNN)
5/ Kevin McCarthy and Mitch McConnell both condemned Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene for comparing Covid-19 safety measures to the treatment of Jews during the Holocaust. “Marjorie is wrong, and her intentional decision to compare the horrors of the Holocaust with wearing masks is appalling,” McCarthy said. “Let me be clear: the House Republican Conference condemns this language.” McConnell remarked that Greene’s words were “once again an outrageous and reprehensible comment.” The GOP leaders, however, both stopped short of calling for any formal discipline. Greene, a QAnon conspiracy theorist, was stripped of her committee assignments earlier this year over comments she made before being elected, including calling school shootings a hoax, and endorsing executing Democratic leaders and federal agents. (NPR / Wall Street Journal / USA Today / CNBC)
6/ Moderna said its Covid-19 vaccine provided strong protection in teens ages 12 to 17 in a late-stage trial, and plans to submit the data to U.S. regulators in early June. If authorized, the vaccine would become the second shot available for adolescents as young as 12. The FDA previously expanded authorization of Pfizer’s shot to include kids ages 12 to 15. (Politico / Washington Post)
7/ Half of the adults in the U.S. are now fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. “This is a major milestone in our country’s vaccination efforts,” Andy Slavitt, a White House senior adviser on the Covid-19 response, said. “The number was 1% when we entered office Jan. 20.” Biden set a goal of getting 70% of adults to receive at least their first dose by the Fourth of July. Nearly 5 million adolescents have also received at least one dose of the vaccine. (NPR / CNBC)
8/ The Department of Homeland Security will issue security directives requiring pipeline operators to report cyber incidents to federal authorities. The planned directives follow the ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline, which forced a shutdown that triggered a spike in gas prices and shortages in parts of the Southeast for 11 days. The directives will also require each company to designate a point person for cybersecurity. The Transportation Security Administration created pipeline-security guidelines more than a decade ago, but compliance has been voluntary. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
9/ Biden will meet with Putin next month in Geneva. The first face-to-face session between the two leaders will take place against the backdrop of rising tensions over Ukraine, cyberattacks, and new nuclear weapons Putin is deploying. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press)
poll/ 81% of Americans say they trust family and friends to be honest about their Covid-19 status. Americans, however, were less likely to trust people about their Covid-19 status outside of their close circles (38%), at sporting events or concerts (25%), indoor restaurants and bars (25%), and airports (24%). (Axios)
1/ Biden doubled FEMA’s budget for extreme weather preparation ahead of hurricane and wildfire season, saying “We’re going to spare no expense, no effort, to keep Americans safe and respond to crises when they arise.” The $1 billion for the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program will help communities prepare for hurricanes, wildfires, and other natural disasters. The U.S., however, logged 22 separate weather and climate-related disasters in 2020 that each exceeded $1 billion in damages. The administration will also start a new NASA initiative to develop “next generation climate data systems” to track the impact of climate change. “We all know that the storms are coming, and we’re going to be prepared,” Biden added. “We have to be ready.” (CNN / Washington Post / ABC News / New York Times)
2/ The Biden administration extended special protections for Haitians temporarily living in the U.S. after they were displaced by a 7.0-magnitude earthquake in 2010. The temporary protected status designation will be in place for 18 months and could protect as many as 150,000 Haitians already living in the U.S. In 2017, the Trump administration ended temporary protected status for nearly 60,000 Haitians, forcing them to leave the U.S. And, in a meeting on immigration in 2017, Trump said Haitians “all have AIDS” and questioned why the U.S. would admit people from “shithole countries” like Haiti after lawmakers floated the idea of restoring protections for immigrants from Haiti as part of a bipartisan immigration deal. (New York Times)
3/ More than 500 Biden campaign and Democratic Party staffers called on Biden to do more to protect Palestinian human rights and “hold Israel accountable for its actions.” The letter praises Biden for helping negotiate a ceasefire, which went into effect Friday, but called for him to acknowledge the “power imbalance” and the disproportionate number of deaths caused by Israeli forces compared with those caused by Palestinian militants. More than 230 Palestinians were killed by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza before the ceasefire, destroying 1,500 housing and commercial units and displacing more than 75,000 people. 12 people in Israel were killed by Hamas rockets. (Washington Post / Axios)
4/ Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned Belarus for faking a bomb threat in order to force down a Ryanair flight and arrest a dissident journalist. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko sent a MiG-29 fighter jet to intercept a commercial plane flying through the country’s airspace and ordered the plane to land in the capital. No bomb was found on board and Belarus’s top investigative agency said it had opened a criminal case into a false bomb threat. “This shocking act,” Blinken said, “perpetrated by the Lukashenka regime endangered the lives of more than 120 passengers, including U.S. citizens. Initial reports suggesting the involvement of the Belarusian security services and the use of Belarusian military aircraft to escort the plane are deeply concerning and require full investigation.” The European Union, meanwhile, called on all E.U. airlines to avoid flying over Belarus and ban Belarusian airlines from flying over the bloc’s airspace or landing in its airports. (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times)
5/ The Trump administration secretly obtained the 2017 phone and email records of a CNN correspondent. The Justice Department informed Barbara Starr in May that prosecutors had obtained her phone and email records last year for the two months between June 1, 2017 to July 31, 2017. It is unclear when the investigation was opened, and whether it happened under Jeff Sessions or William Barr. Starr was never the target of any investigation. In 2020, the Trump Justice Department also secretly obtained the phone records of three Washington Post reporters from 2017, who had covered the FBI’s Russia investigation. (CNN)
6/ Trump’s Commerce Department operated an intelligence-like agency to conduct criminal investigations into Americans’ social media posts, looking for comments critical about the administration and the census. Despite opening more than 1,000 cases, few resulted in arrests or criminal charges. The Investigations and Threat Management Service also searched employees’ offices at night and searched their emails looking for foreign influence. The Biden administration ordered ITMS to pause all criminal investigations in March, and in May suspended all activities. (Washington Post)
poll/ 58% of voters support using reconciliation to pass Biden’s American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan together. 55% of voters believe Republicans should work with Biden to pass the two bills. (Data For Progress)
poll/ 53% of Republicans believe Trump is the actual President, not Biden. 87% of Republicans also believe the government should place new limits on voting to protect elections from alleged fraud. (Ipsos)
1/ The House voted to create an independent commission to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol assault. The bill to create a bipartisan 10-person commission tasked with delivering a report on the causes and facts of the insurrection passed on a 252-to-175 vote with 35 Republicans supporting the measure. In the Senate, Democrats need 10 Republicans to join them in supporting the measure in order to reach the 60-vote threshold required for passage in the evenly divided Senate. (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / Axios / CNN)
2/ The House narrowly approved a $1.9 billion spending bill to fortify security at the Capitol after the Jan. 6 insurrection. The legislation was approved in a 213-212 vote after a group of Democratic progressives objected to spending millions more on the Capitol Police without more knowledge about whether some officers were complicit in the Jan. 6 riot. The funding bill, however, is unlikely to advance in the Senate, where Republicans have complained that House Democrats drafted the bill without their input. (Politico / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / ABC News)
3/ Israel and Hamas agreed to a tentative cease-fire after 11 days of fighting in the Gaza Strip. Since the fighting began, the Israeli aerial and artillery campaign has killed more than 230 Palestinians – including 64 children and 38 women – and wounded another 1,620 people. The truce will take effect Friday morning. (New York Times / CNBC / USA Today / Washington Post)
4/ Sen. Bernie Sanders will introduce a resolution disapproving of the U.S. sale of $735 million in weapons to Israel. The planned sale of the precision-guided weapons was approved by the Biden administration before the latest outbreak of violence between Hamas and the Israeli government. In the House, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Mark Pocan, and Rashida Tlaib introduced a similar resolution yesterday. (Washington Post / CNN)
5/ The Biden administration reinstalled the scientist responsible for producing the federal government’s definitive reports on climate change. The Trump administration removed Michael Kuperberg in November. Kuperberg coordinates climate change research across 13 federal agencies and production of the program’s National Climate Assessment. (Washington Post / HuffPost)
6/ Iowa and Texas both banned mask mandates in public schools. In Iowa, Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a bill preventing schools from mandating masks for students, employees, or members of the public. Cities or counties must also lift mask mandate restriction on businesses, although individual business owners may still require masks at their discretion. The law takes effect immediately. While in Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order prohibiting counties, public school districts, public health authorities, and government officials from requiring masks. Dr. Anthony Fauci, meanwhile, said many Americans are “misinterpreting” the latest CDC guidance advising that fully vaccinated people no longer needed to wear masks in most cases. “The problem is,” Fauci said, “people interpreted that as a signal that you don’t need masks anymore, which absolutely is not the case.” (Des Moines Register / CNN / Iowa Capital Dispatch / Bloomberg / NBC News)
7/ About 444,000 Americans filed first-time unemployment claims last week – a pandemic-era low. The figure, however, is still well-above pre-pandemic levels. (Bloomberg / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / CNBC)
8/ Lawyers located the parents of 54 migrant children separated from their families by the Trump administration. The Biden administration task force, however, estimates that roughly 1,000 families remain separated. (NBC News)
9/ The New York attorney general’s office opened a criminal tax investigation into the Trump Organization’s longtime chief financial officer. The investigation began with a referral from state tax authorities and involved Allen Weisselberg’s compensation by the Trump Organization and “whether taxes were paid on fringe benefits” from Trump, “including cars and tens of thousands of dollars in private school tuition for at least one” of Weisselberg’s grandchildren. While Weisselberg has not been accused of any wrongdoing, prosecutors are seeking to turn Weisselberg into a cooperating witness against Trump and the Trump Organization. Attorney General Letitia James notified the Trump Organization in January that it had opened an investigation into Weisselberg. (CNN / New York Times / Axios / CNBC / ABC News)
1/ Mitch McConnell will oppose legislation to create a commission tasked with investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, making it clear that the legislation will likely not have the votes to get through the Senate. McConnell called the proposal to create a bipartisan commission – with an equal number of Republicans and Democrats – “slanted and unbalanced.” Following McConnell’s remarks, Sen. Mike Rounds, who had previously expressed support for the commission, said he no longer backed the proposal. While the bill is expected to pass the House, the measure will need 10 Senate GOP votes to even start debate and allow amendments. The House is scheduled to vote on the bill today. (Washington Post / Politico / New York Times / CNN)
2/ The New York attorney general’s office opened a criminal investigation into the Trump Organization, in addition to its ongoing civil probe. New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office will join Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance’s office in the criminal investigation, saying: “We have informed the Trump Organization that our investigation into the organization is no longer purely civil in nature. We are now actively investigating the Trump Organization in a criminal capacity, along with the Manhattan DA.” The two offices have been conducting parallel investigations for more than a year: James’ investigation had been a civil one, while Vance’s had been a criminal investigation. Both probes have focused on whether the Trump Organization and Trump deliberately inflated the value of assets and while downplaying property values for tax benefits in financial filings. Separately, Trump is also facing a criminal investigation in Georgia over whether he improperly tried to influence election officials last year. Trump, meanwhile, called the criminal probe of his company “corrupt” and “in desperate search of a crime.” (CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / CNBC)
3/ Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law legislation that prohibits abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected, effectively banning most abortions in the state before many women know they are pregnant. The bill also allows any citizen to file a civil lawsuit against abortion providers, and anybody who “aids or abets” the performance of the procedure. The bill includes an exception for medical emergencies, but not for pregnancies that resulted from rape or incest. The law takes effect in September. (Texas Tribune / Dallas Morning News / USA Today)
4/ Tennessee will require businesses and government facilities to post a sign indicating that they allow transgender people to use their bathrooms, locker rooms or changing rooms associated with their gender identity. Republican Gov. Bill Lee signed the first-of-its-kind bill Monday, which LGBTQ advocacy groups called “offensive and humiliating.” Lee also signed a bill that opens public schools up to lawsuits if they allow transgender students or staff use bathrooms or locker room that match their gender identity. The bill defines a person’s sex as “a person’s immutable biological sex as determined by anatomy and genetics existing at the time of birth” and requires students and staff at public schools to only use a multi-occupancy bathroom or changing room with other people of the same “biological sex.” In addition, Lee also signed a transgender sports bill into law in March that requires students prove their sex at birth in order to play school sports. (Associated Press / NBC News / The Advocate / Insider / CNN)
5/ U.S. Capitol Police are conducting a criminal investigation related to a subpoena for information about a parody Twitter account dedicated to mocking Rep. Devin Nunes. The disclosure by the Capitol Police came a day after the Justice Department revealed that Trump’s Justice Department had used a secret grand jury subpoena in an attempt to identify the person behind the @NunesAlt account. The investigation, which is still open, reportedly involves a threat made online. Prosecutors, however, declined to identify anything specific that @NunesAlt had posted that was threatening, according to unsealed documents. (New York Times)
6/ The FBI is investigating a scheme to illegally finance Sen. Susan Collins’ 2020 re-election bid. The FBI believes a U.S. defense contractor illegally donated $150,000 to a super PAC for the Maine Republican, and then reimbursed family members for donations to Collins’ campaign. There’s no indication that Collins or her team were aware of the allegedly illegal donations. (Axios / Bloomberg / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
1/ House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy will oppose a bipartisan deal to form a 9/11-style commission to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, saying the independent probe would be “duplicative” of federal law enforcement efforts and “potentially counterproductive.” The formation of a bipartisan Jan. 6 commission, which was negotiated by the top Republican and Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, had been delayed for months, because Republicans insisted that the investigation be expanded to include violence by far-left protesters last summer. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called it “disappointing but not surprising” to see the “cowardice on the part of some on the Republican side” who do not “want to find the truth.” The Biden administration, meanwhile, issued a statement in support of the commission, saying: “The nation deserves such a full and fair accounting to prevent future violence and strengthen the security and resilience of our democratic institutions.” (Axios / Wall Street Journal / CNN / CNBC / ABC News / Politico)
2/ The Republican-dominated Maricopa County Board of Supervisors called on the GOP-led state Senate to end the recount of the 2020 election, saying the audit is a “sham” and a “con.” After Trump’s false allegations that fraud cost him the 2020 election, state Senate President Karen Fann used the Senate’s subpoena power to take possession of ballots and voting machines from Maricopa County. Fann then hired Cyber Ninjas, a firm owned by a Trump supporter who has promoted election conspiracies, to conduct an audit. Fann claims that Cyber Ninjas identified “serious problems” with the recount. The county’s five supervisors called the audit a “spectacle that is harming all of us,” with Board Chairman Jack Sellers accusing Fann of making an “attempt at legitimatizing a grift disguised as an audit.” (Washington Post / Associated Press)
3/ The House passed legislation to address hate crimes directed at Asian-Americans during the Covid-19 pandemic. The legislation directs the Justice Department to expedite the review of Covid-related hate crimes, especially those targeting Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, encourages the creation of state-run hate crime hotlines, and provides grants to law enforcement agencies to train officers to identify hate crimes. The vote was 364-62, with only Republicans in opposition. The measure now heads to the White House for Biden’s signature. (NBC News / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / New York Times)
4/ Researchers have found that climate change caused an estimated $8 billion in excess flooding damage during Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and affected an additional 70,000 people. Sea levels at the tip of Manhattan have risen about 8 inches since 1950, according to NOAA, and water levels could rise by more than a foot in New York City by midcentury, compared with the year 2000. Superstorm Sandy caused an estimated $70 billion in total damages, mostly from flooding, due to human-induced sea-level rise. (NPR)
5/ Trump’s Justice Department used a secret grand jury subpoena in an attempt to identify the person behind a Twitter account dedicated to mocking Rep. Devin Nunes. The California Republican also attempted to sue the owners of two parody accounts, one pretending to be his cow and the other his mother, and Twitter itself in 2019, claiming that the nameless critics had tried to “intimidate” him and “intended to generate and proliferate false and defamatory statements.” Twitter fought the subpoena and questioned whether the Justice Department might be abusing federal criminal law enforcement power to retaliate against a critic of a close ally of Trump. The DOJ request was later withdrawn after Biden took office. The person who operates the @NunesAlt account, meanwhile tweeted “why am I being sued by a US congressman? Why would the DOJ ever target me? Is it the mean tweets and bad memes?” (New York Times / Washington Post)
1/ The Supreme Court will hear a challenge to a Mississippi law that prohibits nearly all abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization will be the first abortion case since Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation last October, who is an outspoken opponent of abortion. The case directly challenges Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that legalized abortion nationwide, and the court said it will specifically review the question of whether states can ban abortions before a fetus can survive outside the womb. The Mississippi law would ban almost all abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, with narrow exceptions made for medical emergencies or cases in which there is a “severe fetal abnormality,” but not for instances of rape or incest. (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / Associated Press / NBC News / CNN / Vox / CBS News)
2/ The U.S. will send at least 20 million doses of the Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson and Johnson coronavirus vaccine abroad by the end of June. The 20 million doses are in addition to Biden’s previous commitment to send 60 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to other countries once the vaccine is cleared for use by the FDA. It’s unclear which countries will receive the doses, but Biden promised to “not use our vaccines to secure favors from other countries.” (New York Times / Associated Press / NBC News / Bloomberg / CNN)
3/ The Biden administration approved the sale of $735 million in precision-guided weapons to Israel. Congress was formally notified of the intended sale on May 5, and lawmakers have 15 days to object with a nonbinding resolution of disapproval. Lawmakers, however, are not expected to object to the deal despite violence between Israel and Palestinian militants, but more than 25 Democratic senators called for an immediate ceasefire to “prevent further loss of life and further escalation of violence.” Biden, meanwhile, “expressed his support” for a cease-fire in a call to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as fighting entered its eighth day, with more than 200 people dead, most of them Palestinians in Gaza. The U.S. also blocked a unanimous statement by the 15-nation U.N. Security Council expressing “grave concern” over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the loss of civilian lives. It was the third time the U.S. blocked the Security Council statement. (Washington Post / Associated Press /Reuters / CNN / New York Times / NPR / NBC News / Axios)
4/ About 39 million American families will start receiving monthly child tax credit payments starting July 15. The payments, which are part of the expanded child tax credit program in the American Rescue Plan, provide up to $300 a month for each child under 6, and up to $250 a month for each child 6 to 17 years old. The Biden administration estimates that more than 65 million children — or 88% of all U.S. kids nationwide — will receive the benefit. (Washington Post / NBC News / Politico)
5/ Attorneys for Rudy Giuliani accused federal authorities of treating Trump’s former personal attorney “as if he was the head of a drug cartel or a terrorist” after learning that investigators had obtained access to his iCloud account with an undisclosed 2019 search warrant. FBI agents also executed a search warrant in April and seized Giuliani’s electronic devices. Federal prosecutors asked the U.S. Southern District of New York to appoint a special master to review the evidence and filter out whatever information may be covered by attorney-client privilege. Lawyers for Giuliani said the material seized from covert 2019 search was illegal and suggested the search warrants executed in April were the “fruit of this poisoned tree.” In 2019, Giuliani and other trump allies sought damaging information on Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, which became a central part of Trump’s first impeachment proceeding. (Daily Beast / CNN / Washington Post / CNBC)
1/ The House Homeland Security Committee agreed to create a bipartisan, independent commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. The legislation would create a 10-person panel – half appointed by Democrats, including the chair, and half by Republicans – to conduct an investigation, make recommendations, and issue a final report by the end of the year. Subpoenas would require bipartisan support. The deal had been stalled for months since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi first proposed a 9/11-type commission, with both House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell concerned about the scope of the investigation. Pelosi wanted the panel to focus only on Jan. 6 and the groups that participated in the riot, but Republicans insisted that the scope include political violence by the far-left during protests against police brutality last year. McCarthy was noncommittal about whether he supports the commission, and in response to being told that the commission would be limited in scope to the Jan. 6 riot, he replied: “That’s very concerning to me.” (NBC News / CNN / Bloomberg / NPR / Washington Post)
2/ House Republicans elected Rep. Elise Stefanik as their new No. 3 leader, replacing Rep. Liz Cheney with a Trump loyalist. The secret-ballot vote came two days after House Republicans removed Cheney from the role following her criticism of Trump and refusal to stay quiet about Trump’s false narrative that the election was stolen. (New York Times / NPR / Politico / ABC News)
3/ The executive director of a top conservative group bragged in a leaked video that her organization had crafted the new voter suppression law in Georgia. During a private meeting in April, Jessica Anderson, the executive director of Heritage Action for America (a sister organization of the Heritage Foundation), told the foundation’s donors that her group was also helping craft similar bills for Republican state legislators across the country. “In some cases, we actually draft them for them,” Anderson said, “or we have a sentinel on our behalf give them the model legislation so it has that grassroots, from-the-bottom-up type of vibe.” The Georgia law had “eight key provisions that Heritage recommended,” Anderson said, including restricting mail ballot drop boxes, preventing election officials from sending absentee ballot request forms, making it easier for partisan workers to monitor the polls, preventing the collection of mail ballots, and restricting donations from nonprofit groups seeking to aid in election administration. (Mother Jones)
4/ Several Project Veritas operatives were reportedly involved in a secrete plot during the Trump administration to discredit perceived “enemies” of Trump inside the government. The campaign included a planned operation against Trump’s national security adviser at the time, H.R. McMaster, and surveillance operations against FBI employees. Female undercover operatives arranged dates with FBI employees aimed at secretly recording them making disparaging comments about Trump. The campaign against McMaster involved a plan to hire a woman armed with a hidden camera to capture McMaster making disparaging remarks his opponents could then use as leverage to get him fired as national security adviser. The operation ended in March 2018 when McMaster resigned. (New York Times)
5/ A Rep. Matt Gaetz associate agreed to cooperate with federal investigators and admitted to paying an underage girl to have sex with him and other men. Joel Greenberg pleaded guilty to six federal charges, including identity theft, stalking, wire fraud, conspiracy to bribe a public official, and sex trafficking of a minor. Greenberg admitted that he had paid a 17-year-old girl for sex and gave her drugs. Greenberg admitted that he “introduced the minor to other adult men, who engaged in commercial sex acts” with her. The former Florida tax official’s criminal case led to the investigation into whether Gaetz violated sex trafficking laws by having sex with the same girl. (New York Times / Associated Press / NBC News)
1/ The CDC said Americans who are fully vaccinated can safely go without masks or physical distancing in most cases, including indoors or in large groups. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky called the updated CDC guidance an “exciting and powerful moment,” which offered the country a renewed hope that a return to pre-pandemic “normalcy” is achievable as more people get vaccinated. Biden, calling it “a great day for America,” added that “It’s been made possible by the extraordinary success we’ve had in vaccinating so many Americans so quickly.” More than 154 million Americans have had at least one shot and 117 million are fully vaccinated – 35% of the population. Under the new guidance, which is based on recent real-world studies from Israel and the U.S., fully vaccinated people can resume domestic travel without needing to get tested before or after, and they do not need to self-quarantine. They also do not need to quarantine following exposure as long as they are asymptomatic. (NBC News / CNN / Washington Post / New York Times / CNBC / NPR)
2/ Jobless claims fell to a new pandemic low of 473,000 last week. The 2019 pre-pandemic weekly unemployment average, however, was 218,000. At least 13 Republican-led states, meanwhile, are terminating their involvement in federal pandemic-related unemployment programs early, which include the extra $300-a-week payments. (Wall Street Journal / Axios / The Hill)
3/ A Florida politician – and Rep. Matt Gaetz associate – is expected to plead guilty. Joel Greenberg previously pleaded not guilty to several charges, including stalking, wire fraud, and sex trafficking of a minor, but has been cooperating with the Justice Department since last year, providing investigators with information about encounters he and Gaetz had with women who were given cash or gifts in exchange for sex. The investigation into Greenberg spawned the sex-trafficking investigation into Gaetz. Multiple women paid by Greenberg have said they felt pressured to drink, do drugs, and then have sex with him. (Washington Post / Orlando Sentinel / NBC News / Daily Beast)
4/ The Republican, QAnon-supporting congresswoman from Georgia aggressively confronted Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and falsely accused her of supporting “terrorists” as they both exited the House chamber yesterday. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene reportedly approached Ocasio-Cortez and shouted questions about her support of antifa and Black Lives Matter, falsely labeling them as “terrorist” groups, and accusing Ocasio-Cortez of failing to defend her “radical socialist” beliefs by declining to publicly debate her. Ocasio-Cortez didn’t stop to answer Greene, but instead turned around threw her hands up in the air in exasperation. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, meanwhile, called Greene’s decision to “verbal[ly] assault” and “abuse” Ocasio-Cortez outside the House chamber “egregious” behavior and “a matter for the Ethics Committee.” Greene later tweeted that Ocasio-Cortez supports “defund the police” but “wants to call the police for security bc she’s afraid of debating with me about her socialist” Green New Deal, adding that Ocasio-Crotez was “a fraud & a hypocrite.” In February, the House voted to remove Greene from her two committee seats for embracing baseless QAnon conspiracy theories and supporting violent rhetoric against Democrats, including the assassination of Pelosi. (Washington Post / NBC News)
5/ [Speculation alert] Florida officials are reportedly preparing “contingency plans” for a Trump indictment as the Manhattan district attorney’s criminal investigation enters its final stages. Law-enforcement personnel in Palm Beach County are preparing for “thorny extradition issues that could arise” from a provision in Florida law that gives the state’s governor the authority to order an investigation into “the situation and circumstances of the person” in question “and whether the person ought to be surrendered” to another state if they’re indicted. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is a staunch Trump ally. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.‘s office is currently investigating whether Trump and his businesses committed banking and tax fraud. The Supreme Court also granted Vance’s investigators access to Trump’s tax and financial records. Trump, however, is residing at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, which is led by Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, who would likely be less sympathetic than DeSantis if Trump were indicted while in New Jersey. (Politico / Business Insider / South Florida Sun Sentinel)
poll/ 57% of unvaccinated adults said a $1,000 savings bond would persuade them to get a Covid-19 vaccine. 57% of unvaccinated adults who are employed said they’d get vaccinated if it were required to work in-person. (Morning Consult)
1/ House Republicans removed Rep. Liz Cheney from her leadership role because of her criticism of Trump’s repeated lie that the 2020 election was stolen from him and his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Prior to the removal of Cheney as the No. 3 House Republican over her condemnation of Trump’s election lies, Cheney delivered a defiant final speech from the House floor, calling Trump a “threat we have never seen before.” Cheney also warned that Trump “risks inciting further violence” by continuing to push his baseless claims about voter fraud that her fellow Republicans colleagues have echoed. “Remaining silent and ignoring the lie emboldens the liar. I will not participate in that,” Cheney said, adding: “If you want leaders who will enable and spread his destructive lies, I’m not your person, you have plenty of others to choose from. That will be their legacy.” Republicans are expected to replace Cheney with Rep. Elise Stefanik, a former moderate turned Trump loyalist who voted against certifying the results of the 2020 election. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / USA Today / Bloomberg / Axios)
2/ Trump’s acting attorney general testified that the Justice Department had “no evidence of widespread voter fraud” at the time of the Jan 6. attack on the Capitol. Jeffrey Rosen, however, declined to answer House Oversight Committee questions about whether Trump instructed him to take any action to advance the unfounded claims of election fraud. Meanwhile, Christopher Miller, who was the acting defense secretary on Jan. 6, testified about why it took hours for the National Guard to respond to the Capitol as the mob descended on the Capitol, saying he had worried that sending troops to the Capitol would contribute to perceptions of a “military coup” under Trump. (New York Times / Associated Press / NPR / Wall Street Journal)
3/ More than 100 Republicans threatened to form a third party if the Republican Party doesn’t break with Trump. The signatories, which include former ambassadors, governors, congressional members and Cabinet secretaries, called for the party to return to “principled” leadership, and reject division and conspiracy theories. The statement, which will be released Thursday and includes 13 principles that the signatories want the GOP to embrace, follows House Republicans ousting Liz Cheney. (Reuters / New York Times / NBC News)
4/ Biden’s attorney general and homeland security secretary both testified that the greatest domestic threat to the U.S. is from “those who advocate for the superiority of the white race.” Merrick Garland added that “if there has to be a hard hierarchy of things that we prioritize,” the Jan. 6 attack would be at the top because it most threatened democracy. “I have not seen a more dangerous threat to democracy than the invasion of the Capitol,” Garland said, calling it “an attempt to interfere with the fundamental element of our democracy, a peaceful transfer of power.” Alejandro Mayorkas added that “the department is taking a new approach to addressing domestic violent extremism, both internally and externally.” (New York Times)
5/ House Democrats and the White House reached an agreement to allow Donald McGahn to testify before Congress about Trump’s efforts to obstruct Robert Mueller’s investigation. House Democrats subpoenaed Trump’s former White House counsel in 2019 seeking his testimony about his role as a key witness in the Mueller report about Trump’s efforts to obstruct the Russia investigation. After McGahn refused to appear – at Trump’s direction – the Judiciary Committee sued. Trump’s Justice Department, which defended McGahn, argued that McGahn was “absolutely immune” from testifying before Congress about his job, which the D.C. Circuit later rejected. The deal offered no details about the testimony agreement, including McGahn whether would testify in public. (New York Times)
📌 Day 838: The White House invoked executive privilege and ordered former counsel Donald McGahn not to comply with a congressional subpoena for documents related to Robert Mueller’s investigation. In a letter to the House Judiciary Committee, White House counsel Pat Cipollone argued that “McGahn does not have the legal right to disclose these documents to third parties” and asked that the committee instead direct the request to the White House, “because they implicate significant Executive Branch confidentiality interests and executive privilege.” Trump has also promised to assert executive privilege to block McGahn’s testimony to the committee later this month. McGahn spent more than 30 hours speaking to Mueller’s investigators, outlining two episodes where Trump asked him to have Mueller fired, and later asking McGahn to deny news reports about that conversation. McGahn rebuffed both requests.
📌 Day 844: The White House asked Don McGahn to declare that Trump never obstructed justice. Two requests by presidential advisers show how far the White House has gone to try to push back on accusations that the president obstructed justice.
📌 Day 851: Trump instructed former White House counsel Don McGahn to defy a congressional subpoena and skip a House Judiciary Committee hearing scheduled for Tuesday.
📌 Day 852: Former White House counsel Don McGahn failed to appear at hearing in front of the House Judiciary Committee, following Trump’s instructions to ignore the congressional subpoena.
📌 Day 930: The House Judiciary Committee sued to force former White House counsel Donald McGahn to testify before Congress. The Judiciary Committee claimed that McGahn is “the most important witness, other than the president,” in their investigation into possible obstruction of justice by Trump. They asked a federal judge to strike down the Trump administration’s claim that McGahn and other aides are “absolutely immune” from the committee’s subpoenas.
1/ The FDA authorized Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine for children ages 12 and up, expanding access to the vaccine for millions of kids ahead of the next school year. The vaccine was 100% effective in preventing Covid-19 in children ages 12-15, similar to the 95% efficacy among adult clinical trial participants. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, meanwhile, urged parents to vaccinate their children, saying “I would encourage all parents to get their children vaccinated.” Pfizer vaccines for children could be administered as soon as Thursday. (ABC News / CBS News / Washington Post)
2/ More than one million people signed up for Affordable Care Act coverage during the special enrollment period that Biden launched in mid-February. “Since it became law more than a decade ago, the Affordable Care Act has been a lifeline for millions of Americans. The pandemic has demonstrated how badly it is needed, and how critical it is that we continue to improve upon it,” Biden said. “Through this opportunity for special enrollment, we have made enormous progress in expanding access to health insurance.” The Trump administration declined to reopen ACA enrollment after the Covid-19 pandemic began. Sign-ups are open through August 15. (CNN / NBC News / The Hill)
3/ Biden said that the White House will “make it clear” that people collecting unemployment benefits under the American Rescue Plan must take a “suitable” job offer or they’ll lose their benefits. As the number of job openings increased to 8.12 million in March – a record high – Republicans and businesses have said that the $300 weekly unemployment benefit is discouraging workers from returning to the labor market. “We’re going to make it clear that anyone collecting unemployment, who was offered a suitable job, must take the job or lose their unemployment benefits,” Biden said, adding: “There are a few Covid-19-related exceptions.” The latest jobs report showed that the U.S. economy added 266,000 jobs in April, short of the one million economists had forecast and a drop-off from the 770,000 jobs added in March. (NPR / Bloomberg / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
4/ The Biden administration approved the nation’s first large-scale offshore wind farm. The Vineyard Wind project calls for up to 84 turbines to be installed off Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, creating enough electricity to power 400,000 homes. The White House estimates that the project will also create about 3,600 jobs. (New York Times / Washington Post)
5/ Two Trump family members got “inappropriately – and perhaps dangerously – close” to the Secret Service agents protecting them, according to an upcoming book by Washington Post reporter Carol Leonnig. Zero Fail: The Rise and Fall of the Secret Service details how agents reported that Vanessa Trump, the wife of Trump Jr, “started dating one of the agents who had been assigned to her family.” Vanessa Trump filed for divorce in March 2018. Tiffany Trump – Trump’s daughter with Marla Maples – reportedly broke up with a boyfriend and “began spending an unusual amount of time alone with a Secret Service agent on her detail.” Leonnig reported that Secret Service leaders “became concerned at how close Tiffany appeared to be getting to the tall, dark and handsome agent.” The agent was subsequently reassigned. (The Guardian)
1/ The Biden administration announced new protections against discrimination in health care based on gender identity and sexual orientation. “Fear of discrimination can lead individuals to forgo care, which can have serious negative health consequences,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement. “It is the position of the Department of Health and Human Services that everyone — including LGBTQ people — should be able to access health care, free from discrimination or interference, period.” The move reverses a Trump policy that limited protections for transgender people in health care, which narrowed the legal definition of “sex discrimination” to “the plain meaning of the word ‘sex’ as male or female and as determined by biology.” (NPR / New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / Associated Press)
2/ The FBI confirmed that a Russian criminal group was responsible for the ransomware attack that closed a U.S. energy pipeline that transports 45% of the East Coast’s fuel supply. The Colonial Pipeline Company shut down all its operations Friday after Darkside hackers broke into some of its networks. In a statement, Darkside – a relatively new player in the ransomware space and believed to be operated by a Russian cybercrime gang referred to by the same name – said it wasn’t to blame and suggested that an affiliate may have been behind the attack. The group promised to do a better job of screening customers that buy its malware to run ransomware attacks. Biden, meanwhile, is expected to sign an executive order to strengthen cybersecurity for federal agencies and contractors. The Department of Transportation also issued an emergency declaration for 17 states and Washington, D.C., to keep fuel supply lines open. Colonial is using a phased approach to restore the pipeline, and said it may take several more days to recover from the cyberattack. (NBC News / New York Times / Bloomberg / Axios / CBS News / Politico)
3/ Three Republican governors plan to cut enhanced jobless benefits in their states in an effort to force people to return to work. Arkansas, Montana, and South Carolina have targeted the extra $300 in weekly enhanced jobless benefits from the $1.9 trillion pandemic relief package as businesses reopen and states lift restrictions. Other Republican governors have also recently reinstated requirements for unemployment aid, which they had suspended earlier in the pandemic. Biden, meanwhile, said the White House doesn’t “see much evidence” that the $300 per week federal unemployment benefit has deterred people from taking jobs, adding that “Americans want to work.” Biden instead called on companies to “step up” by helping workers access vaccines and raising wages, saying “My expectation is that as our economy comes back, these companies will provide fair wages and safe work environments. And if they do, they’ll find plenty of workers.” (Washington Post / CNBC)
4/ The WHO reclassified the highly contagious triple-mutant Covid-19 variant spreading in India as a “variant of concern.” In preliminary studies, the variant known as B.1.617 spread more easily than the original virus and there is concern that it may able to evade vaccines. The WHO initially classified B.1.617 as a “variant of interest,” because it had certain mutations were linked to higher transmission. (CNBC / New York Times / Wall street Journal)
5/ Mitch McConnell suggested that the “proper price tag” for Biden’s infrastructure package is between $600 billion and $800 billion. Biden, however, has proposed $2.3 trillion in infrastructure spending. Biden is set to meet with lawmakers from both parties this week in an effort to craft a compromise bill to refresh U.S. transportation, broadband, and water systems. (CNBC / The Hill)
6/ The Department of Homeland Security is implementing a warning system to gather intelligence and detect security threats from public social media posts. The goal is to detect the sort of posts that seemed to predict the Jan. 6 Capitol attack but were missed by law enforcement. (NBC News)
7/ The Biden administration launched the Scientific Integrity Task Force to ensure that the federal government’s scientific policies are free from political influence. An administration official said the task force’s review is less about the Trump administration’s actions to interfere in scientific decisions and more about protecting science in the federal government going forward. The 46 members from across the federal government will meet for the first time this week. (CNN)
8/ Air pollution from U.S. farms accounts for more than 17,000 annual deaths, according to a first-of-its-kind study that linked thousands of premature deaths per year to methane, ammonia, and hydrogen sulfide emissions by U.S. farms. About 80% of deaths were linked to fine-particle pollution from animal-based food agriculture at beef, pork, and dairy facilities. These emissions now account for more annual deaths than pollution from coal power plants. (Washington Post)
poll/ 64% of Americans think social media platforms do more to divide the nation than to bring it together, while 27% of adults believe that those platforms do more to bring us together. 66% of adults say they use social media once a day or more. (NBC News)
poll/ 63% of Americans approve of the job Biden is doing as president. 71% approve his handling of the pandemic. (Associated Press)
1/ The U.S. economy added 266,000 jobs in April – short of the one million that economists had forecast and a sharp drop-off from the 770,000 jobs added in March. The April unemployment rate remained unchanged at 6.1%. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce blamed the weaker-than-expected jobs report on the $300-per-week federal jobless benefit. Biden, however, argued that the disappointing employment numbers are evidence that Congress should pass his $4 trillion infrastructure and jobs package, saying: “Today’s report just underscores, in my view, how vital the actions we’re taking are – checks to people who are hurting, support for small businesses, for child care and school reopening, support to help families put food on the table.” Biden added: “Today there is more evidence our economy is moving in the right direction, but it is clear we have a long way to go.” (Wall Street Journal / New York Times / CNBC / ABC News / Axios / Washington Post / Politico / NBC News)
2/ Texas legislators approved new, more restrictive state election rules. The bill would make it a felony to provide voters with an application to vote by mail if they hadn’t requested one, empower partisan poll workers, and limit extended early voting hours. The House version of the bill differs significantly from the state Senate version and will go to a conference committee to resolve the differences. The vote in the Texas House came after Florida enacted its own restrictive voting laws. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the legislation live on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends,” which restricts voting by mail and at drop boxes. (NPR / NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post / CNN)
3/ The Justice Department filed federal criminal charges against Derek Chauvin and three other former Minneapolis police officers in connection with the death of George Floyd. The federal indictment accuses Chauvin – who was recently convicted on state charges of murder and manslaughter, and is now asking for a new trial – of depriving Floyd of his rights to be protected from the use of unreasonable force by a police officer when Chauvin held his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes. The other three ex-officers are accused of letting Floyd die by “willfully” failing to stop Chauvin when they saw Floyd “lying on the ground in clear need of medical care.” Separately, Chauvin was charged in another federal indictment with violating the civil rights of a 14-year-old Minneapolis boy during a September 2017 arrest by holding the boy by the neck and hitting him multiple times in the head with a flashlight “without legal justification.” (Associated Press / NPR / Washington Post / CNBC)
4/ The Federal Election Commission dropped the hush-money case looking into whether Trump violated election law when he directed Michael Cohen to pay Stormy Daniels $130,000 shortly before the 2016 election. The payment was never reported on Trump’s campaign filings. Cohen, however, was sentenced to prison for breaking campaign finance laws, tax evasion, and lying to Congress. Trump, meanwhile, thanked the FEC for dropping what he called “the phony case against me concerning payments to women relative to the 2016 presidential election.” (New York Times)
5/ The top respiratory disease official at the CDC resigned. Dr. Nancy Messonnier was the first U.S. official to warn about the severity of the coronavirus pandemic last year, saying “It’s not so much of a question of if this will happen anymore but rather more of a question of exactly when this will happen,” and that cities and towns should plan for “social distancing measures.” Trump threatened to fire Messonnier shortly after her warning, leading to the halt of regular CDC press briefings about the pandemic. Dr. Messonnier’s resignation is effective May 14. She will become an executive director at a philanthropical organization based in California. (Washington Post / New York Times / NPR / Politico)
6/ Trump’s Justice Department secretly obtained the phone records of three Washington Post journalists over reporting during the early months of the Trump administration about Russia’s role in the 2016 election. The Justice Department also tried to obtain their email records. A Justice Department spokesman said the approval of subpoenas to get records of reporters happened in 2020. William Barr served as Trump’s attorney general for nearly all of 2020, before departing Dec. 23. The subpoenas, however, covered the period from April 15, 2017 to July 31, 2017. The three reporters – Ellen Nakashima, Greg Miller, and Adam Entous – wrote a July 21, 2017, story detailing how Jeff Sessions had discussed the Trump campaign with the Russian ambassador while serving as Trump’s foreign policy adviser. In early August 2017, Sessions issued a warning that the “culture of leaking must stop.” (Washington Post)
1/ A federal judge accused the Justice Department and then-Attorney General William Barr of misleading the court about how they decided that Trump should not be charged with obstructing Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. In a 35-page opinion ordering the release of a March 2019 Office of Legal Counsel memo, Judge Amy Berman Jackson called Barr and department lawyers “disingenuous” for withholding the document, saying the department tried to “obfuscate” the purpose of the memo because Barr and his advisers had already decided they wouldn’t charge Trump with a crime before getting the written advice. “The review of the document reveals that the Attorney General was not then engaged in making a decision about whether the President should be charged with obstruction of justice,” Jackson wrote. “The fact that he would not be prosecuted was a given.” Barr and Justice Department attorneys had argued that the memo was part of the department’s decision-making process that helped Barr decide not to prosecute Trump for obstruction of justice. Jackson said because Barr had already decided against charging Trump before he got the written advice, the memo could be made public. (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / CNN)
2/ A federal judge struck down the national eviction moratorium, ruling that the CDC exceeded it’s authority and should be vacated. The moratorium was due to expire at the end of January, but Biden extended it – first until April and later through June. Federal Judge Dabney Friedrich noted that while Congress had ratified earlier extensions of the moratorium order – aimed at helping victims of the pandemic hold onto their homes – it had not done so for the latest extension, potentially leaving millions of Americans at risk of losing their homes. (NBC News / CNBC)
3/ The Biden administration said it supports waiving intellectual property protections for Covid-19 vaccines. “This is a global health crisis, and the extraordinary circumstances of the Covid-19 pandemic call for extraordinary measures,” U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai wrote in a statement. “The Administration believes strongly in intellectual property protections, but in service of ending this pandemic, supports the waiver of those protections for Covid-19 vaccines.” Pharmaceutical companies, however, have opposed the move, saying it won’t solve supply-production problems in the short term, and, until now, the U.S., other wealthy nations, and the European Union have opposed the waiver, saying IP protection creates incentives to innovate. (Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / CNBC)
4/ ICE deportations fell to the lowest monthly level on record. In April, ICE deported 2,962 immigrants – a 20% decline from March. Illegal border crossings, however, remain at a 20-year high. (Washington Post)
5/ Trump’s Facebook account will remain suspended for the time being. The company-funded tribunal of outside experts, however, ruled that it was not appropriate to indefinitely suspend Trump, saying “Within six months of this decision, Facebook must reexamine the arbitrary penalty it imposed on January 7 and decide the appropriate penalty.” In a statement, Trump called the decision “a total disgrace and an embarrassment to our country […] these corrupt social media companies must pay a political price.” Trump also began fundraising off of the Facebook announcement, texting supporters with a link to donate to his fundraising committee. (Politico / USA Today / Washington Post / NBC News)
1/ The FDA is expected to authorize Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine for children as young as 12 by next week. The Pfizer vaccine was authorized by the FDA for people 16 and older in December, while Moderna is currently authorized for ages 18 and up. Children now account for 22.4% of new coronavirus cases in the U.S. (New York Times / NPR / Washington Post / Associated Press)
2/ The number of people getting their first Covid-19 vaccine dose has declined in at least 47 states as the country approaches 150 million vaccinated people. The average number of people getting a first or single dose vaccine each day has fallen by about 50% from the April 13 peak. While the 11-day safety-based pause in the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is partly responsible, health officials say the decline is the mark of a successful campaign as the people most eager to get vaccinated have already gotten their shots. Biden, meanwhile, set a July 4th goal for the country to have 160 million adults in the U.S. fully vaccinated, and 70% of adults having at least one vaccine shot. More than 56% of adult Americans have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, and nearly 105 million are fully vaccinated. (Bloomberg / New York Times / Associated Press / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
3/ The White House will reallocate some Covid-19 vaccine doses away from states with lower demand to those where demand remains high. States will continue to receive weekly vaccine allotments based on their populations, but the new policy puts unordered doses into a federal bank for other states to order from. States with greater demand for vaccines can request and receive up to 50% of their regular allocation. Previously, unordered doses carried over week to week. (Washington Post / Politico / USA Today)
4/ America’s “new normal” temperature is one degree hotter than it was two decades ago, according to NOAA’s updated set of climate averages for the contiguous U.S. based on the 30-year period from 1991 to 2020. The 30-year average temperature for the contiguous U.S. hit a record high of 53.28 degrees. Twenty years ago, normal was 52.3 degrees based on data from 1971 to 2000, and the average U.S. temperature for the 20th century was 52 degrees. The U.S. is not just hotter, but also wetter in the eastern and central parts of the nation, and drier in the West than a decade earlier. (Associated Press / Washington Post)
5/ More than 180 businesses, executives, and community leaders released letters calling for expanded voting access in Texas, saying they oppose “any changes that would restrict eligible voters’ access to the ballot.” The letters criticize two voting bills currently advancing through the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature, including the reallocation of polling machines, limiting early voting options, and adding criminal penalties to various parts of the election process. “These provisions, among others, will inevitably damage our competitiveness in attracting businesses and workers to Houston,” the group, called Fair Elections Texas, said. “Voter suppression is a stain on our reputation that could cost our region millions of dollars.” (NBC News / New York Times / ABC News)
6/ House minority leader Kevin McCarthy said Republican lawmakers are questioning whether Rep. Liz Cheney can continue in her leadership role as she continues to criticize Trump and reject his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. “I have heard from members concerned about her ability to carry out the job as conference chair, to carry out the message,” McCarthy said on Fox News. “We all need to be working as one if we we’re able to win the majority.” Cheney, the party’s No. 3, accused Trump of “poisoning” U.S. democracy by repeating his false claims about the 2020 election and that Republicans should not “whitewash” the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, saying Trump’s role in fomenting it “is a line that cannot be crossed.” During an off-air moment caught on a hot mic, McCarthy told Fox and Friends host Steve Doocy: “I think she’s got real problems. I’ve had it with […] I’ve had it with her. You know, I’ve lost confidence. […] Well, someone just has to bring a motion, but I assume that will probably take place.” (Bloomberg / CNN / Axios / New York Times / Politico)
1/ Scientists and public health experts say that “herd immunity” in the U.S. may not be attainable due to vaccine hesitancy. About 30% of the U.S. population remains reluctant to be vaccinated. The original herd immunity threshold, meanwhile, was estimated to be about 60 to 70% of the population. Experts, however, now estimate that the herd immunity threshold to be at least 80% due to more contagious variants circulating in the U.S. Experts also say the coronavirus will most likely continue to circulate in the U.S., causing hospitalizations and deaths but in much smaller numbers. (New York Times)
Los Angeles County reported no new deaths related to Covid-19 and just 313 new cases of the coronavirus. Infections in L.A. County are at their lowest levels since the start of the pandemic. (Los Angeles Times)
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended the state’s remaining Covid-19 public health restrictions, saying “we are no longer in a state of emergency.” Since the beginning of the pandemic, Florida has reported the third-most Covid-19 cases in the U.S. at more than 2.2 million and the fourth-highest death toll at more than 35,000 fatalities. (CNBC / ABC News)
2/ The U.S. will restrict travel from India starting Tuesday, citing a surge in Covid-19 cases in the country and the emergence of coronavirus variants. The policy does not apply to American citizens, lawful permanent residents or other people with exemptions. India recorded 386,452 Covid-19 cases on Friday – the ninth day in a row the country has added more than 300,000 cases a day. The country also reported 3,498 deaths, bringing the death toll to 208,330. (Associated Press / CNN / NBC News)
3/ The EPA proposed phasing out the use of a common refrigerant blamed for driving global warming. The proposed regulation would cut down on the production and use of hydrofluorocarbons in cooling appliances in the U.S. by 85% over the next 15 years. It’s the first time the federal government has set national limits on hydrofluorocarbons, a class of man-made chemicals thousands of times more potent than carbon dioxide at warming the planet. Phasing out HFCs worldwide is expected to avert up to 0.5 degrees Celsius of global warming by the end of the century. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
4/ The Biden administration will raise the refugee ceiling to 62,500 this fiscal year. In a statement, Biden said that raising the cap “erases the historically low number set by the previous administration of 15,000, which did not reflect America’s values as a nation that welcomes and supports refugees.” The White House, however, abruptly reversed course on the number of refugees it will allow into the U.S. last month after the Biden administration said it would keep Trump’s historically low refugee admissions target at 15,000. (CNN / USA Today)
5/ The Biden administration will reunite four migrant families separated during the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy in 2017. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas called it “just the beginning” of a broader effort. More than 1,000 families, however, remain separated. (Associated Press / ABC News / NBC News)
6/ Rep. Liz Cheney pushed back against Trump’s attempt to commandeer the term “Big Lie” and accused him and those who perpetrate the falsehoods of “poisoning” democracy. After Trump issued a statement from his Save America PAC proclaiming that the presidential election “will be, from this day forth, known as THE BIG LIE!” – a term used to refer to the false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump – the No. 3 House Republican publicly rejected Trump’s false claim, tweeting: “The 2020 presidential election was not stolen Anyone who claims it was is spreading THE BIG LIE, turning their back on the rule of law, and poisoning our democratic system.” Cheney was one of 10 House Republicans to vote to impeach Trump for inciting the riot at the Capitol. (CNN / NBC News / Politico / Washington Post)
7/ The Capitol Police official who directed officers to look for anti-Trump protesters in the pro-Trump crowd on the morning of Jan. 6 was the deputy chief and sixth-ranking official in the department. Eric Waldow is facing congressional scrutiny for his 8:24 a.m. radio transmission: “With regards to pedestrian traffic on — on the grounds today, we anticipate a — a large presence for pro-Trump participants. What we’re looking for is any anti-Trump counter protesters.” (Politico)
8/ The Biden administration disclosed secret Trump-era rules for targeted killings away from conventional war zones. In 2017, Trump issued rules for counterterrorism “direct action” operations, like drone strikes and commando raids, in certain countries, giving commanders broad latitude to make decisions about attacks, including that there should be “near certainty” that civilians “will not be injured or killed in the course of operations.” A Biden administration review discovered that the Trump-era operating principles often made an exception to the requirement of “near certainty” that there would be no civilian casualties. The Biden administration suspended the rules on its first day in office and imposed an interim policy requiring approval for strikes outside of the war zones of Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. (New York Times)
9/ Joe Manchin said he does not support the bill to make D.C. the nation’s 51st state, likely dooming the measure’s chances in the Senate. “If Congress wants to make D.C. a state, it should propose a constitutional amendment,” Manchin said. “It should propose a constitutional amendment and let the people of America vote.” (Washington Post / CBS News)
1/ The FBI warned Rudy Giuliani in late 2019 that he was the target of a Russian disinformation operation aimed at damaging Biden ahead of the election. Giuliani received a so-called “defensive“ briefing by the FBI while involved with Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign and efforts in Ukraine to dig up dirt about Biden and his son, Hunter. Despite the warning, Giuliani continued to try and find damaging information on the Bidens, meeting with Kremlin-tied associates and publicly pushing misleading and unsubstantiated claims that were part of a Russia disinformation campaign. The FBI seized Giuliani’s cellphone and other electronic devices this week as part of a long-running criminal investigation into whether he acted as an unregistered foreign agent. (Washington Post / CNN / NBC News)
2/ The Trump administration’s firing of the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine is at the center of the federal criminal investigation into Rudy Giuliani. At least one of the search warrants executed this week seeks evidence related to Marie Yovanovitch and her role as ambassador. Guiliani worked to oust Yovanovitch, believing she had been obstructing his efforts to dig up dirt on the Biden family. Federal authorities are expected to check Giuliani’s electronic devices for communications between him and Trump administration officials about Yovanovitch before she was recalled in April 2019. (New York Times)
3/ Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz’s close friend wrote a “confession” letter last year detailing how he and Gaetz paid for sex with multiple women, including a minor who was 17 at the time. Joel Greenberg’s letter was part of a failed attempt to secure a pardon from Trump – with the help of Roger Stone – for their alleged sex crimes, which the Justice Department is investigating. “On more than one occasion, this individual was involved in sexual activities with several of the other girls, the congressman from Florida’s 1st Congressional District and myself,” Greenberg wrote. “From time to time, gas money or gifts, rent or partial tuition payments were made to several of these girls, including the individual who was not yet 18. I did see the acts occur firsthand and Venmo transactions, Cash App or other payments were made to these girls on behalf of the Congressman.” Stone wrote to Greenberg on Jan. 13: “I hope you are prepared to wire me $250,000 because I am feeling confident.” The pardon effort was not successful. (Daily Beast / CNN / Vanity Fair / Washington Post)
4/ Mitch McConnell and 37 Republicans called on Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to remove the “1619 project” from federal grant programs. The project reframes American history around August 1619 when the first slave ship arrived and the legacy that slavery played in shaping the country. Biden’s Education Department has proposed a grant program for schools that would incentivize them to use tools like the 1619 Project in their classrooms. In a letter, McConnell and republicans argued that the project tells a revisionist history of America’s founding and claimed that the administration put “ill-informed advocacy ahead of historical accuracy.” (Politico / CNN)
5/ The Biden administration returned more than $14 billion to the Pentagon, which was diverted by the Trump administration for the construction of a wall at the southwestern border. The administration also plans to cancel all related construction contracts. The Defense Department said the reclaimed funds would be returned to accounts designated for “schools for military children, overseas military construction projects in partner nations, and the National Guard and Reserve equipment account.” (ABC News / The Hill / Politico)
6/ Biden blamed the Trump administration for the problems at the U.S.-Mexico border, saying his administration inherited “one god-awful mess at the border.” Biden added that the border situation is the result of “the failure to have a real transition — cooperation from the last administration, like every other administration has done.” (NBC News)
7/ Republicans in the Florida Legislature passed an election overhaul bill that would place restrictions on ballot drop boxes and residents’ ability to vote by mail. The bill will limit the use of drop boxes and restrictions on where drop boxes cab be placed, add new voter ID and signature requirements, require voters to request an absentee ballot for each election, limit who could collect and return ballots, and restricts who can hand out items – including food or water or election-related material – for voters waiting in line. Gov. Ron DeSantis said on Fox News that he “of course” would sign the bill. (New York Times / NPR / CNN / NBC News / Washington Post)
1/ Biden declared that “America is rising anew” in his first address to Congress, calling for a $4 trillion investment in infrastructure, children, families, and education to help rebuild the economy and compete with rising global competitors. Biden pointed to the nation’s emergence from the coronavirus and events that, in his view, tested American democracy, saying “We have stared into an abyss of insurrection and autocracy — of pandemic and pain — and ‘we the people’ did not flinch.” Biden delivered his remarks with Nancy Pelosi and Kamala Harris sitting behind him – the first president to deliver an address to Congress with two women behind him – representing the line of succession to his office. “Now, after just 100 days, I can report to the nation: America is on the move again,” he added. “Turning peril into possibility. Crisis into opportunity. Setback into strength.” (Associated Press / Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News)
poll/ 85% of Americans who watched Biden’s first address to a joint session of Congress approve of his speech. 15% disapproved. Viewers described Biden’s speech as “Presidential, “Caring,” “Inspiring,” and “Bold.” (CBS News)
poll/ 71% of Americans who Biden’s speech said they feel more optimistic about the country’s direction. Overall, 68% said Biden has had the right priorities so far, while 32% said he has ignored the most important problems. (CNN)
2/ Another 553,000 Americans filed for initial unemployment benefits last week – a pandemic low for the third consecutive week. (Washington Post)
The State Department urged U.S. citizens to leave India “as soon as it is safe to do” due to the coronavirus outbreak. The travel advisory noted that “access to all types of medical care is becoming severely limited in India due to the surge in Covid-19 cases […] U.S. citizens who wish to depart India should take advantage of available commercial transportation options now.” (Washington Post)
3/ The Justice Department charged three white men with hate crimes for shooting and killing Ahmaud Arbery. A father and son armed themselves, got into a truck and chased and fatally shot the 25-year-old Black man after spotting him running in their Georgia neighborhood. Travis McMichael and his father, Gregory, and William “Roddie” Bryan where each charged with one count of interference with civil rights and attempted kidnapping. The McMichaels were also charged with using, carrying, and brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence. (USA Today / Associated Press)
4/ The Senate voted to restore an Obama-era regulation designed to reduce climate-changing methane emissions from oil and gas fields. The Trump administration eliminated federal requirements for oil and gas companies to monitor and repair methane leaks from pipelines, storage facilities, and wells. (NPR / CNBC)
5/ A bipartisan group of senators proposed legislation to remove military commanders from their role in prosecuting service members for sexual assault. There were 7,825 reports of sexual assault involving service members as victims in 2019 – a 3% increase from 2018. The conviction rate, however, was 7% in both 2018 and 2019 – the lowest rate since the department began reporting in 2010. (New York Times)
6/ Federal agencies are investigating at least two incidents on U.S. soil that appear similar to the “Havana syndrome” attack, a mysterious, invisible event reported by American diplomats based in Cuba in late 2016. One of the unexplained attacks occurred in November near the Ellipse, the oval lawn south of the White House, and sickened one National Security Council official. (CNN / CNBC)
1/ The White House unveiled a $1.8 trillion spending and tax plan to expand access to child care, education, paid leave, and an extension of some tax credits. Biden is expected to detail the American Families Plan in a joint session of Congress tonight, which starts around 9 p.m. ET. The proposed plan, which includes about $1 trillion in investments and $800 billion in tax credits over a decade, would provide $200 billion in universal pre-kindergarten, more than $100 billion in free community college, extend the expanded child tax credit through 2025, and set aside $225 billion to create a national paid family and medical leave program, among other initiatives. The plan, which the White House has billed as “generational investments in our future,” would largely be funded by raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans. Between the $2.3 trillion American Jobs Plan, which the White House unveiled last month, and the $1.8 trillion American Families Plan, Biden is proposing roughly $4 trillion in investments over the next decade that would expand the U.S. social safety net and the role of government in public life. (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNN / Politico / USA Today / CNBC)
2/ Federal investigators executed search warrants at Rudy Giuliani’s New York City home and office as part of a criminal investigation into his dealings in Ukraine. Investigators seized Giuliani’s electronic devices as part of a yearslong investigation by Manhattan federal prosecutors into possible violation of foreign-lobbying rules. The FBI also executed a search warrant at the Washington-area home of Victoria Toensing in connection with the Giuliani investigation. Toensing, a lawyer close to Giuliani, had dealings with several Ukrainians in an effort to try to dig up dirt about Biden as he ran for president. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / CBS News / NBC News / CNN)
3/ Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office repeatedly prevented state health officials from releasing the true coronavirus death toll in New York nursing homes for at least five months. Starting last April, Cuomo’s most senior aides overruled and obscured the state’s health officials from releasing a scientific paper, which incorporated the death toll, and two letters by the Health Department and meant for state legislators were never sent. The full data on nursing home deaths was not released until late January 2021, when a report by the state attorney general found that the state might have undercounted the true death toll by as much as 50%. (New York Times)
4/ Biden nominated a critic of Trump’s immigration policies to serve as director of ICE. If confirmed, Harris County, Texas, Sheriff Ed Gonzalez would be the first politically appointed director in years. The Trump administration never had a Senate-confirmed director. (CNN)
5/ The Biden administration will propose a ban on menthol cigarettes. Research shows menthol cigarettes are easier to become addicted to and harder to quit than regular tobacco products. Approximately 20 million Americans smoke menthols. (Washington Post / CBS News / New York Times)
poll/ 53% of Americans approve of the way Biden is handling his job and say he has the right priorities. 59% say Biden is doing a good job keeping his campaign promises, and 66% approve of his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. (CNN)
1/ Americans fully vaccinated against the coronavirus no longer need to wear masks outdoors in most situations except for large gatherings, according to updated CDC guidance. People who are fully vaccinated can go without masks outdoors when walking, running or biking, or gathering in small groups with friends outdoor. “Over the past year, we have spent a lot of time telling Americans what they cannot do, what they should not do,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said. “Today, I’m going to tell you some of the things you can do if you are fully vaccinated.” Despite declining coronavirus infections and deaths in the U.S., the CDC still recommends wearing a mask – even for vaccinated individuals – in public settings indoors and outdoors where there is a substantial risk of Covid-19 transmission, such as at concerts, sporting events, and other crowded gatherings. “Beginning today, gathering with a group of friends, in a park, going for a picnic […] as long as you are vaccinated and outdoors, you can do it without wearing a mask,” Biden said, calling it “a beautiful day.” (Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Axios / NBC News)
India reported more than 300,000 new confirmed Covid-19 cases for the sixth day in a row. India’s 323,144 new infections over the past 24 hours comprises 39% of global cases. (Washington Post / New York Times)
2/ The Department of Homeland Security limited ICE’s ability to arrest immigrants in or near courthouses. ICE officers will now be allowed to make civil immigration arrests near a courthouse only when it involves national security, a risk of imminent death or harm to anyone, the “hot pursuit” of someone who is “a threat to public safety,” or when there is risk of destruction of evidence in a criminal case. Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said that the Trump administration’s “expansion of civil immigration arrests at courthouses […] had a chilling effect on individuals’ willingness to come to court or work cooperatively with law enforcement.” (BuzzFeed News / NBC News)
3/ Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas launched an internal probe “to address the threat of domestic violent extremism within the Department of Homeland Security.” The task force will provide a “comprehensive review of how to best prevent, detect, and respond to threats related to domestic violent extremism within DHS.” The review comes after the Pentagon completed a 60-day “stand down” to address extremism after several veterans were found to have taken part in the Capitol riot. (ABC News / New York Times)
4/ Biden is expected to propose an $80 billion funding boost for the IRS and increased authority to combat tax dodging by the wealthiest Americans. The administration projects that the plan would generate about $700 billion over 10 years in net revenue. If approved, individuals who earn more than $400,000 a year would face a higher likelihood of a tax audit. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / CNN)
5/ Biden signed an executive order to raise the minimum wage paid by federal contractors to $15 an hour. The raise from $10.95 an hour would begin in January 2022, and agencies would have to implement the measure by March. (NBC News / New York Times)
poll/ 68% support Biden’s $2 trillion infrastructure proposal, while 29% oppose it. (CNBC / Monmouth University)
poll/ 25% of American women say they are financially worse off today than before the pandemic began, compared to 18% of men. 27% of non-White Americans say they are worse off now vs. 18% of Whites. (Washington Post)
1/ The U.S. Census Bureau released the first set of updated state population totals from the 2020 census, which were delayed for months due to the coronavirus pandemic and the Trump administration’s interference last year. California, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia all lost a seat in the House, while Texas picked up two seats, and Colorado, Florida, Montana, North Carolina, and Oregon all gained one seat each. Over the past decade, the U.S. population grew at the slowest rate since the 1930s. The full Census data used for redistricting will not be publicly released until the end of September. (NPR / Axios / Bloomberg / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / CNN / Politico)
2/ The Justice Department opened an investigation into the practices of the Louisville Metro Police Department – 13 months after LMPD officers killed Breonna Taylor inside her own apartment while serving a no-knock warrant. Attorney General Merrick Garland referred to Taylor during his announcement of the investigation, saying the Justice Department “will assess whether (Louisville Metro Police Department) engages in a pattern or practice of using unreasonable force, including with respect to people involved in peaceful expressive activities.” Last week, Garland announced a similar investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department following the police killing of George Floyd. (CNN / NBC News)
3/ Biden signed an executive order to create a White House task force to promote union membership. Kamala Harris will lead the task force, which will issue recommendations about how the federal government can use its authority to help workers join labor unions and bargain collectively. In 2018, Trump signed three executive orders to limit union protections and bargaining rights for federal employees. (New York Times)
4/ The Department of Agriculture extended a pandemic benefits program to feed up to 34 million children from low-income families over this summer. The plan will provide about $375 per child to buy food for the roughly 10 weeks they are out of school in the summer – about $7 a weekday. (NBC News / Axios)
5/ The U.S. will send 60 million doses of AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine abroad. The AstraZeneca vaccine, which hasn’t been authorized for use in the U.S. by the FDA, will be sent to other countries once it clears federal safety reviews. “We do not need to use AstraZeneca in our fight against covid,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said. AstraZeneca has not sought FDA authorization for its vaccine, but has already manufactured millions of doses in the U.S. under a federal contract. (Associated Press / Bloomberg / Washington Post)
6/ The CEO of a vaccine production facility sold more than $10 million worth of his company stock before disclosing that it had ruined 15 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine. The transactions were Robert Kramer’s first substantive sales of Emergent stock since April 2016. (Washington Post)
poll/ 22% of Americans said they’re willing to get the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, while 73% not yet immunized against the coronavirus say they’re not willing, and 4% had no opinion. (Washington Post)
7/ The Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal to a New York law that restricts an individual from carrying a concealed handgun in public. It’s the first time in more than a decade that the court has agreed to take up a central issue of the gun rights debate. (NBC News / Associated Press / Washington Post / New York Times)
poll/ 58% of Americans approve of the job Biden is doing as president, while 42% disapprove. A majority of Americans described Biden as “presidential,” “focused,” and “competent.” (CBS News)
1/ The U.S. death rate in 2020 was the highest above normal ever recorded. In 2020, 3.4 million people died in the U.S., representing a 16% increase from the previous year in what epidemiologists call “excess deaths,” or deaths above normal. The 1918 flu pandemic caused a 12% jump in excess deaths. The CDC has said about 10% of the deaths last year can be directly attributed to Covid-19. (New York Times)
The State Department issued more than 115 “Do Not Travel” advisories, citing “ongoing risks due to the COVID-19 pandemic.” As of last week, 33 countries were on the U.S. Do Not Travel list. (NPR)
2/ Sen. Ron Johnson questioned the “big push” to get everyone vaccinated against the coronavirus, saying he sees “no reason to be pushing vaccines on people,” asking “quite honestly, what do you care if your neighbor has one or not?” The Wisconsin Republican added that he was “highly suspicious” of the vaccine distribution effort, saying that it should be “limited” to the most vulnerable because – he claims – it’s “not a fully approved vaccine.” At the same time, Johnson acknowledged that the coronavirus “vaccines are 95% effective.” (Forbes / CNN)
Covid-19 hospitalizations among Americans 65 and older have fallen more than 70% since the start of the year. Covid-19 deaths among Americans 65 and older have declined more than 50% since their peak in January. (Associated Press)
3/ A federal vaccine advisory panel recommended that the U.S. resume the use of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine, saying the benefits outweighed the risk of a rare blood clot disorder. The vaccine would carry a warning label about a potential increase in the risk of rare but severe blood clots and low platelet counts. CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky is expected to decide whether to formally accept the recommendation shortly. Out of nearly 8 million people who have received the J&J shot, health officials discovered 15 cases of a rare kind of blood clot, three of them fatal. (Associated Press / NBC News / Politico / Axios / New York Times / Washington Post)
4/ The Department of Housing and Urban Development withdrew a Trump-era proposal that would’ve allowed single-sex homeless shelters to discriminate against transgender people. The Trump administration rule allowed federally funded homeless shelters to base admissions on a person’s “biological sex” instead of their gender identity. “We are taking a critical step in affirming HUD’s commitment that no person be denied access to housing or other critical services because of their gender identity,” Housing Secretary Marcia Fudge said. “HUD is open for business for all.” (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News)
5/ The Justice Department expects to charge more than 500 people in connection with the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. “Over 400 individuals have been charged in connection with the Capitol attack,” federal prosecutors said in court documents. “The investigation continues and the government expects that at least one hundred additional individuals will charged.” (NBC News)
poll/ 59% of 18-to-29-year-old Americans approve of Biden’s job performance, 65% approve of his handling of the coronavirus and 57% race relations. (Harvard Youth Poll)
poll/ 60% of Americans say the U.S. should do more to hold police accountable for the mistreatment of Black people, while 33% say the country is doing too much to interfere in how police officers do their job. (Washington Post)
1/ Biden pledged to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% by 2030 – double the country’s prior commitment under the 2015 Paris climate agreement – saying “the signs are unmistakable, the science is undeniable and the cost of inaction keeps mounting.” As of 2019, U.S. emissions were about 13% below 2005 levels. “This is the decisive decade,” Biden said during an Earth Day summit with 40 world leaders. “This is the decade that we must make decisions to avoid the worst consequences of the climate crisis. This is a moral imperative. An economic imperative. A moment of peril, but also a moment of extraordinary possibilities.” About 85% of current global emissions come from outside the U.S. The United Kingdom recently announced plans to reduce its emissions by 78% by 2035, while the European Union pledged to cut 55% of its emissions by 2030. China, the world’s largest emitter, pledged to reduce coal consumption starting in 2025 as part of an effort to reach net zero emissions by 2060. (NPR / New York Times / CNBC / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
2/ The Senate passed legislation denouncing discrimination against Asian communities in the U.S. The bill will also appoint an official in the Justice Department to review and expedite Covid-19-related hate crime reports. The vote was 94-1, with Sen. Josh Hawley voting in opposition. The legislation is expected to pass in the House before heading to Biden’s desk for a signature. (Axios / Washington Post / CNN)
3/ The House voted along party lines to grant statehood to Washington, D.C. The legislation would enfranchise more than 712,000 Americans, giving the 51st state one representative in the House and two senators. The White House, the Capitol, and the National Mall would remain a federal district. An identical bill passed the House in 2020, but died in the then-Republican-controlled Senate. The legislation would likely require at least 10 Republican Senators to vote in support to clear a 60-vote threshold for passage. It’s unclear if all Senate Democrats support the bill, which Republicans have called a Democratic power grab. (NBC News / NPR / New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Axios)
4/ The average daily number of coronavirus vaccinations in the U.S. dropped 11%. Over the past week, 3.02 million doses per day were administered – the biggest downturn in the seven-day average since February when winter storms forced vaccination sites to close and delayed shipments nationwide. (Washington Post)
poll/ 29% of health care works have considered leaving their profession as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. 55% of health workers are burned out. (Washington Post)
5/ An Office of Professional Responsibility investigation found that a Capitol Police official radioed “all outside units’ attention” on the morning of Jan. 6, that they should not be “looking for any pro-Trump in the crowd.” Rep. Zoe Lofgren, describing the radio broadcast during a House Administration Committee hearing on security failures around the Capitol attack, added that the radio transmission directed police to “only looking for any anti-Trump” protestors. Capitol Police, meanwhile, said the call “has been misquoted and is lacking […] necessary context.” (Politico / CNN)
6/ The Trump administration delayed approximately $20 billion in hurricane relief for Puerto Rico and then obstructed the investigation into the delay, according to a Housing and Urban Development inspector general report. “Delays and denials of access and refusals to cooperate negatively affected the ability of the [Office of Inspector General] to conduct this review,” the report said. Inspector General Rae Oliver Davis, appointed by Trump, found unprecedented bureaucratic hurdles set by the White House, including former senior administration officials in the Office of Management and Budget refusing to provide requested information about decision-making related to the relief funds. (Washington Post)
7/ Biden is expected to formally acknowledge that the killing of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians in the early 20th century constituted genocide. A bipartisan group of more than 100 House members called on Biden to become the first U.S. president to recognize the World War I-era deportation, starvation, and massacres of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire in modern-day Turkey as genocide. Turkey, meanwhile, has denied that the killings constituted genocide, saying that Armenians rose up against the government. (New York Times / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal)
8/ Biden is expected to propose almost doubling the capital gains tax rate for people earning more than $1 million, increasing the rate they pay on that income from 20% to 39.6%. The proposal would help pay for Biden’s American Family Plan, which would provide hundreds of billions of dollars for universal pre-kindergarten, expanded subsidies for child care, a national paid leave program, and free community college tuition. Biden will detail the American Family Plan in a joint address to Congress on April 28. (Bloomberg / New York Times)
9/ Senate Republicans released an outline for their own $568 billion infrastructure plan. Democrats, however, rejected the counteroffer to Biden’s $2 trillion infrastructure spending package, calling the GOP proposal “totally anemic” and an “insult.” Elizabeth Warren added that “the Republican proposal does not meet the moment.” (CNBC / Politico / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / NBC News)
1/ The Justice Department will investigate whether the Minneapolis Police Department “engages in a pattern or practice of unconstitutional or unlawful policing,” including the use of excessive force, discriminatory conduct, or the abuse of those with mental health illness or physical disabilities. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the investigation one day after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of murder in the death of George Floyd. The investigation is separate from the previously announced federal criminal inquiry into whether Chauvin violated Floyd’s civil rights during his arrest and death last May. (Washington Post / New York Times / NPR / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal)
A 16-year-old Black girl was shot and killed by a police officer outside her home after she called 911 for help in Columbus, Ohio. The shooting happened about 20 minutes before Derek Chauvin’s guilty verdict was announced. (Columbus Dispatch / NPR)
poll/ 71% of Americans agree that Derek Chauvin was guilty, while 13% disagreed and 15% had no opinion. (USA Today)
2/ Republican lawmakers in 34 states have introduced 81 anti-protest bills – more than twice as many proposals as in any other year. Republican legislators in Oklahoma and Iowa have granted immunity to drivers who strike and injure protesters with their car in public streets; Indiana would bar anyone convicted of unlawful assembly from state employment, including elected office; Minnesota would prohibit those convicted of unlawful protesting from receiving student loans and unemployment benefits; Kentucky would make it a crime to insult or taunt a police officer; and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed sweeping legislation he’s called “the strongest anti-looting, anti-rioting, pro-law-enforcement piece of legislation in the country.” (New York Times)
3/ The U.S. has administered 200 million coronavirus vaccines since Biden took office. Biden said that more than half of all U.S. adults had received at least one shot and that more than 80% of Americans 65 and older have been partially or fully vaccinated. “Today, we did it, today we hit 200 million shots in the 92nd day in office,” Biden said. “This is an American achievement, a powerful demonstration of unity and revolve – what unity will do for us, and a reminder of what we can accomplish when we pull together, as one people, to a common goal.” About 13 million doses were administered during the Trump administration. (Politico / NPR / CNN / ABC News)
New coronavirus cases globally were reported last week than in any seven-day period since the beginning of the pandemic. Last week’s 5.24 million new cases broke the previous record of 5.04 million, which was set in the week ended Jan. 4. (New York Times)
4/ The Trump administration awarded nearly $1.3 billion to a company to supply more than 100 million prefilled Covid-19 vaccine syringes in 2020, which have never been delivered. The ApiJect syringe never received the needed FDA approvals and the plant to manufacture the needles was never built. Pfizer said that even if ApiJect got all the needed approvals, it would “not have any impact on our output or process.”(NBC News)
5/ The U.S. Postal Service is running a covert internet surveillance program that tracks and collects Americans’ social media posts, looking for what a government bulletin described as “inflammatory” postings. The Internet Covert Operations Program has not previously been made public. According to a March 16 government bulletin, which was marked as “law enforcement sensitive” and distributed through the Department of Homeland Security, the iCOP program “monitored significant activity regarding planned protests occurring internationally and domestically […] Locations and times have been identified for these protests, which are being distributed online across multiple social media platforms, to include right-wing leaning Parler and Telegram accounts.” Why the post office, which handles mail deliveries, would a run social media surveillance program is unclear. (Yahoo News)
1/ Derek Chauvin was convicted of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter for killing George Floyd. In May 2020, Chauvin, who is white, knelt on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes as the 46-year-old Black man, who was handcuffed and face down in the street, repeatedly cried out, “I can’t breathe.” The former Minneapolis police officer faces up to 75 years in prison when he is sentenced in the coming weeks. Minnesota’s sentencing guidelines, however, call for sentences short of the maximum. Each murder charge for a person with no criminal history carries a presumptive prison sentence of 12.5 years in Minnesota, while manslaughter carries a presumptive prison sentence of four years. The jurors deliberated for about 10 hours over two days after the prosecution and defense teams presented nearly six hours of closing arguments. (New York Times / Politico / Washington Post / NBC News / Politico / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNBC)
📌 Day 1226: Trump threatened military violence against U.S. citizens in Minneapolis who were protesting the death of George Floyd, a handcuffed, unarmed black man who was killed while pleading for air as a white police officer kneeled on his neck for several minutes. Trump, who previously called the video of Floyd’s death “shocking,” tweeted that the protesters were “THUGS” and warned that “the Military is with [Gov. Tim Walz] all the way […] Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!” Hours later, the White House reposted Trump’s comment on its official account. Last month, Trump tweeted support for protesters in Minnesota, Michigan, and Virginia to “LIBERATE” themselves and defy coronavirus stay-at-home orders. In 2017, when neo-Nazis marched in Charlottesville, Va., and a counter-protester was killed, Trump responded by saying there were “very fine people” on “both sides” of the issue. (New York Times / Politico / NBC News / Washington Post / CNN)
📌 Day 1228: Police nationwide responded to protests against police violence by deliberately targeting demonstrators, journalists, and bystanders with pepper spray, tear gas, rubber bullets, and excessive use of force. The ongoing protests following the killing of George Floyd by a white police officer – who knelt on Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes – have taken place in at least 75 cities, including at the gates of the White House, in the days since Floyd’s death in Minneapolis. The officer, Derek Chauvin, has since been fired, arrested, and charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter. Since then, police have tear-gassed protesters, drove vehicles through crowds, opened fire with rounds of rubber bullets and pepper balls on journalists and bystanders, pushed over an elderly man with a cane who was walking away, shot a woman in the face with a rubber bullet as she left a grocery store, and shot a photojournalist in the eye with a rubber bullet, who is now permanently blind. Curfews have been enacted in more than two dozen cities, and about 5,000 National Guard troops have been activated in 15 states and the District of Columbia. Organizers have tried to keep the protests focused on police accountability and social justice through chanting and marching, but agitators, posing as peaceful protesters, have exploited the situation by looting stores, setting fire to buildings and police cars, and throwing firecrackers, bottles, bleach, and, reportedly, a molotov cocktail at police. Some advisers, meanwhile, have urged Trump to formally address the nation and call for calm, while others have said he should condemn only the looting or risk losing middle-of-the-road voters in November. The White House, however, declared a lid, which means no one should expect to see or hear from Trump for the rest of the day. (Slate / Nick Waters / Vox / Washington Post / New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / The Week)
📌 Day 1230: Trump threatened to deploy “thousands and thousands of heavily armed soldiers” to end “riots and lawlessness” if states and cities failed to quell the demonstrations sparked by the killing of George Floyd. In a brief Rose Garden speech, Trump declared himself “your president of law and order” and said he would mobilize every available federal force, both “civilian and military,” to “quickly solve the problem” and end the nationwide protests. Trump denounced the violence as “domestic acts of terror” as he ordered governors and mayors to establish “an overwhelming law enforcement presence.” Trump, however, stopped short of invoking the Insurrection Act, which would allow him to deploy active duty U.S. troops to respond to protests in cities across the country. After Trump made the announcement, he left without taking questions from reporters. (New York Times / Politico / Bloomberg / CNBC / CNN / Axios / NBC News / NPR / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Washington Post)
2/ EARLIER TODAY: Biden suggested that the evidence against Derek Chauvin was “overwhelming” and said he was praying for the “right verdict” in the George Floyd case. Biden also called the Floyd family to express his support and sympathy. Rep. Maxine Waters, meanwhile, urged protesters in Minnesota to “stay on the street” and “get more confrontational” if Chauvin is not convicted. The judge overseeing the trial, however, said the comments could be grounds for appeal and “may result in this whole trial being overturned.” (New York Times / Politico / NBC News / Washington Post / CNN)
3/ The Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general declined to investigate what role the Secret Service played in the clearing of peaceful protesters from Lafayette Square in June 2020 so Trump could stage a photo op. According to documents, Joseph Cuffari’s staff submitted a draft plan on June 10 to investigate whether the Secret Service violated its use-of-force policies when it cleared the area with rubber bullets and a sprayed chemical irritant. Trump and his aides then walked across the park to demonstrate strength and control amid the civil unrest that followed George Floyd’s death. Cuffari declined to approve the investigation, as well as another investigation into the spread of the coronavirus among the Secret Service as Trump continued to hold campaign events during the pandemic. Hundreds of officers were either infected with the coronavirus or had to quarantine after potential exposure. (Washington Post)
📌 Day 1230: As he spoke from the Rose Garden, police cleared peaceful protesters outside the White House with tear gas and flash grenades so Trump could pose by a church for photographs to dispel the notion that he was “weak” for hiding in a bunker over the weekend. Following his remarks in the Rose Garden, Trump left the White House and walked through Lafayette Square, where riot police and military police had cleared protesters moments before. Once Trump reached the far side of the square, he raised a bible in front of the church for a photo. Trump’s decision to speak to the nation from the Rose Garden and to then visit the church came together because he was reportedly upset about the news coverage of him retreating to the White House bunker amid the protests. Just before Trump spoke, Attorney General William Barr personallyordered law enforcement officials to clear protesters from Lafayette Square. (New York Times / CNN / ABC News / Vox / Washington Post / YouTube / Religious News Service)
4/ Biden will pledge to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions at least in half by 2030 – a near-doubling of the target that the U.S. committed to under the 2015 Paris climate agreement – when he convenes a virtual climate summit with more than three dozen world leaders on Thursday. In 2015, the U.S. pledged to cut emissions between 26 and 28% compared to 2005 levels as part of the Paris accord. Biden officials are still considering a target range for reducing its emissions, which could go above 50%. Trump pulled the U.S. from the global climate deal in 2017. (Washington Post)
5/ The Biden administration said it “strongly supports” making D.C. the 51st state, adding that Congress should “provide for a swift and orderly transition to statehood” for the more than 700,000 Washington residents who do not have full voting representation in the House and Senate. (Washington Post / CNBC)
6/ The U.S. ambassador to Russia initially refused to leave the country after the Kremlin “advised” him to return home following sanctions by the Biden administration. John Sullivan later announced that he would return home for “consultations” with American officials. Russia’s foreign ministry, meanwhile, announced it would expel 10 American diplomats and bar current officials from visiting Russia.
Satellite photos, meanwhile, show that Russia has moved warplanes and troops to Crimea and bases near Ukraine to a greater extent than has previously been disclosed. (Axios / NPR / Politico / Wall Street Journal / New York Times)
7/ A dozen megadonors contributed $1 in every $13 raised for federal candidates and political groups since 2009. The top 12 donors and their spouses – split equally between six Democrats and six Republicans – donated a combined $3.4 billion. (New York Times / Bloomberg)
1/ The White House abruptly reversed course on the number of refugees it will allow into the U.S. On Friday, the administration said it would keep Trump’s historically low refugee admissions target at 15,000, walking back Biden’s pledge to lift the cap to 62,500 this year and push it to 125,000 for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1. Democratic leaders called the administration’s admissions target “unacceptable” and hours later the White House said it would increase the cap on refugee admissions for the rest of this fiscal year by May 15. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that Biden would set the final cap and expects that it will be higher than Trump’s ceiling, but is “unlikely” to rise to the 62,500 that Biden had promised in February. (Washington Post / CNN / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
2/ The Biden administration ordered U.S. immigration enforcement agencies to stop using terms such as “alien,” “illegal alien,” and “assimilation” when referring to immigrants. In memos sent to department heads at Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, “alien” will become “noncitizen or migrant,” “illegal” will become “undocumented,” and “assimilation” will change to “integration,” among others. (Washington Post)
3/ The U.S. and China agreed to cooperate to fight climate change “with the seriousness and urgency that it demands.” John Kerry, the Biden administration’s special envoy for climate, said that despite various political disputes between the two countries, “it’s very important for us to try to keep those other things away, because climate is a life-or-death issue in so many different parts of the world.” China and the U.S. are the world’s two biggest carbon emitters, accounting for nearly half of the planet’s carbon dioxide. Biden is scheduled to hosts a virtual summit of world leaders to discuss efforts to reduce carbon emissions later this week. (New York Times / Associated Press)
poll/ 56% of Americans think climate change needs to be addressed immediately, while 11% think it needs to be addressed in the next few years, and 33% say action on climate can wait or doesn’t need to be addressed. (CBS News)
4/ The White House removed the Trump-appointed scientist from overseeing the National Climate Assessment, the government’s definitive report on the effects of climate change. Betsy Weatherhead – considered a mainstream scientist who believes that climate change is a real and serious issue – was reassigned to the U.S. Geological Survey, the Interior Department’s scientific arm. (Washington Post / CNN)
5/ The Supreme Court declined to take up a case from Republicans challenging changes to election rules in Pennsylvania. The case, by a former Republican congressional candidate and four individual voters, challenged the secretary of state’s decision to allow three extra days for receiving mail ballots because of the statements from the U.S. Postal Service that delivery would likely be slow amidst the coronavirus pandemic. (CNN / NBC News)
poll/ 63% of Americans supported term or age limits for Supreme Court justices, while 22% said they opposed limits. (NBC News)
6/ The Biden administration allocated $150 million to boost coronavirus response for underserved communities and vulnerable populations. Community-based health care providers must apply for the funds from the American Rescue Plan by May 14 and then the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will decide who is approved for funding. (CNN)
7/ Trump won nine of the 10 states in the 2020 election where most residents said they would probably or definitely not get a Covid-19 vaccine. Further, in more than 500 counties, at least a quarter of adults are unwilling to get vaccinated. A majority of residents in these counties voted to re-elect Trump. (New York Times)
poll/ 36% of adults under the age of 35 say they don’t plan on getting a Covid-19 vaccine. Overall, 27% of adults say they don’t plan to get the vaccine. (Quinnipiac / CNN)
8/ The Justice Department sued Roger Stone for nearly $2 million in unpaid federal income taxes and fees. The lawsuit accused Stone and his wife, Nydia, of underpaying their income taxes by $1,590,361 from 2007 to 2011, and that Stone was short on his 2018 tax bill by $407,036. (NBC News)
9/ A federal judge revoked bail for two leaders of the Proud Boys, contending that they’re too dangerous to remain free while awaiting trial. “The defendants stand charged with seeking to steal one of the crown jewels of our country, in a sense, by interfering with the peaceful transfer of power,” Judge Timothy Kelly said. “It’s no exaggeration to say the rule of law and […] in the end, the existence of our constitutional republic is threatened by it.” Ethan Nordean and Joseph Biggs are charged with conspiring to stop the certification of the 2020 election, and with organizing dozens of Proud Boys to the Capitol. (Politico)
10/ Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo violated federal ethics rules governing the use of taxpayer-funded resources, according to a report by the State Department’s inspector general’s office. The government watchdog determined that Pompeo and his wife, Susan, asked State Department employees to carry out tasks for their personal benefit more than 100 times. In 2020, Trump fired the State Department inspector general, Steve Linick, who had opened an investigation into Pompeo. (Politico)
1/ Biden will keep Trump’s historically low refugee admissions target at 15,000, walking back his pledge to lift the cap to 62,500 this year and push it to 125,000 for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1. Biden, however, signed an emergency determination to speed refugee admissions to the U.S and adjust the allocation limits set by Trump, who placed strict restrictions on accepting refugees from certain African and majority-Muslim countries. Rep. Ilhan Omar called Biden’s decision “shameful,” while Rep. Pramila Jayapal said it was “disastrous.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / NBC News)
2/ The Biden administration will spend $1.7 billion to track coronavirus variants. The money – which was part of the $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief bill passed last month – will go toward sequencing coronavirus genomes, creating six new new genomic epidemiology centers, and creating a national bioinformatics infrastructure. (Politico / NPR / Associated Press / Washington Post)
The U.S. and other nations will likely need booster shots and annual vaccinations against Covid-19. David Kessler, the chief science officer for Covid-19 response,, told a House subcommittee hearing that the U.S. should plan for booster shots in the future. Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, meanwhile, said that a “likely scenario” included the need for a third vaccine dose within 12 months after inoculation, after which “there will be an annual revaccination.” (CNBC / Washington Post / New York Times)
3/ Police officers and public officials donated money to Kyle Rittenhouse, who stands accused of murdering two protesters last August. Rittenhouse traveled about 15 miles from neighboring Illinois to Kenosha, Wisconsin, to offer armed protection to businesses during the protests over the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man who was shot multiple times at close range and left paralyzed. A data breach at a Christian crowdfunding website revealed that the donations were attached to email addresses traceable to police and other public officials. (The Guardian)
A gunman killed eight people and injured several others before shooting himself at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis. Brandon Hole was a former employee at the facility. The FBI was previously warned by a relative about Hole’s potential for violence. The FBI opened a preliminary investigation, but closed the inquiry after concluding there wasn’t sufficient evidence to continue. (The Indianapolis Star / New York Times / CNN)
4/ A founding member of the Oath Keepers arrested in the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate. Jon Ryan Schaffer is the first defendant to publicly flip in the domestic terrorism investigation, which has led to more than 410 people being charged. (Washington Post)
5/ Russia expelled 10 U.S. diplomats and indefinitely barred entry to eight U.S. officials in response to U.S. sanctions and expulsions. The officials included Attorney General Merrick Garland; Michael Carvajal, director of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons; Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland security; Susan Rice, Biden’s domestic policy adviser; FBI Director Christopher Wray; and Avril Haines, director of National Intelligence. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
poll/ 28% of Americans said they support bills restricting transgender athletes’ participation on sports teams, while 67% oppose such bills. (PBS / NPR)
The Alabama Legislature passed a bill to prevent transgender girls from playing on female sports teams. The bill would prohibit K-12 schools from letting a “biological male” participate on a female team. More than a dozen states are considering similar restrictions on transgender athletes or gender-confirming health care for transgender minors. (Associated Press)
poll/ 64% of Americans approve of Biden’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, while 29% disapprove. (Quinnipiac)
poll/ 59% of Americans approve of the way Biden is handling his job as president, while 39% disapprove. (Pew Research Center)
1/ The Biden administration imposed sanctions on Russia for alleged interference in the 2020 presidential election, the cyberattack against U.S. government and corporate networks, the illegal annexation and occupation of Crimea, and human rights abuses. The administration sanctioned six Russian technology companies that supported hacking operations run by Russia’s intelligence services and expelled 10 intelligence officers working under diplomatic cover in the U.S. The White House formally said the Russian intelligence service SVR was responsible for the hacking operation known as SolarWinds. The Treasury Department also sanctioned 32 entities and individuals for “carrying out Russian government-directed attempts to influence the 2020 U.S. presidential election, and other acts of disinformation and interference,” as well as eight individuals and entities associated with Russia’s actions in Crimea. The White House said the sanctions were intended “to impose costs on Russia for actions by its government and intelligence services against U.S. sovereignty and interests.” (Politico / Associated Press / New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / CNBC)
2/ Paul Manafort’s associate and former employee “provided the Russian Intelligence Services with sensitive information on polling and campaign strategy” during the 2016 election, according to the Treasury Department. Konstantin Kilimnik was one of 16 people sanctioned for attempting to influence the 2020 U.S. presidential election at the direction of the Kremlin. Kilimnik also “sought to promote the narrative that Ukraine, not Russia, had interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election,” the Treasury Department statement read. The Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on 2016 Russian election interference assessed that Kilimnik was a Russian intelligence officer, who worked with Manafort as a lobbyist for the pro-Russia president of Ukraine. Manafort was Trump’s campaign manager. (CNBC / Just Security / Axios / Washington Post)
3/ The House Judiciary Committee voted to recommend the creation of a commission to study the issue of paying reparations to the descendants of slaves in the U.S. The commission would also consider a “national apology” for the harm caused by slavery. It’s the first time the committee has acted on the decades-long effort to advance the measure to the full House. Neither chamber of Congress, however, has committed to a floor vote. (NBC News / New York Times / USA Today / CBS News)
4/ The House Committee on Oversight and Reform advanced legislation to make D.C. the 51st state. The full House is expected to pass the Washington, D.C. Admission Act – possibly as soon as next week – for the second consecutive year. The bill, however, is likely to face significant hurdles in the Senate where it needs the support of 60 senators to advance. (Washington Post)
5/ Democrats introduced legislation to expand the Supreme Court from nine justices to 13. “The court is broken, and make no mistake about it,” Sen. Edward Markey said. “The court is broken because Sen. Mitch McConnell, his Senate Republican colleagues, and Donald Trump broke it.” Nancy Pelosi, however, said she has “no plans to bring it to the floor,” adding that she supports Biden’s recent move to create a commission to study possible expansion of the Supreme Court. (NBC News / Politico / CBS News / CNN / ABC News)
6/ Biden reportedly hasn’t raised the Trump-era refugee cap because of political optics. One Democratic aide said Biden has not yet signed off on the refugee program because he wants to preserve his options. White House press secretary Jen Psaki, meanwhile, said Biden was committed to raising the refugee ceiling, but refused to provide a timeline. In February, Biden’s State Department said it planned to expand the Trump cap – set at 15,000 refugees – to up to 62,500. As of March 31, only 2,050 refugees had been allowed to resettle in the U.S, putting the Biden administration on track to accept the fewest number of refugees this year of any modern president – including Trump. (CNN)
1/ The U.S. Capitol Police inspector general found that the agency’s leaders failed to adequately prepare for the Jan. 6 attack despite being warned that “Congress itself is the target.” In a 104-page document, Michael Bolton criticized the way the Capitol Police prepared for and responded to the violence, finding that “heavier, less-lethal weapons,” including stun grenades, “were not used that day because of orders from leadership.” The IG report also found that some police equipment was at least 20 years old, including riot shields that shattered on impact. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Reuters / NPR)
The Justice Department won’t file charges against the Capitol Police officer who fatally shot Ashli Babbitt during the Jan. 6 riot. Babbitt attempted to breach a set of doors deep in the Capitol during the siege. (NBC News / Washington Post)
2/ Hundreds of U.S. corporations and executives signed on to a statement opposing “any discriminatory legislation” that would make it harder for people to vote. “We stand for democracy,” the statement reads. “We all should feel a responsibility to defend the right to vote and to oppose any discriminatory legislation or measures that restrict or prevent any eligible voter from having an equal and fair opportunity to cast a ballot.” The statement comes as Republicans have tried to enact new, restrictive voting rules in almost every state. Senior Republicans, including Trump and Mitch McConnell, have also called for companies to stay out of politics. (Bloomberg / New York Times / NBC News / CNBC)
3/ The former Minnesota police officer who shot and killed Daunte Wright during a traffic stop was arrested and charged with second-degree manslaughter. Kim Potter resigned from the Brooklyn Center Police Department Tuesday. Under Minnesota law, a person convicted of second-degree manslaughter can face up to 10 years behind bars and a fine of up to $20,000. (NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times)
4/ The Senate will take up the Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act. The bill intends to combat violence against Asian Americans by designating a Justice Department employee to expedite the review of hate crimes reported to police during the pandemic. The Stop AAPI Hate organization documented at least 3,795 attacks from last March 2020 to February 2021. At least 60 senators are needed to advance the legislation, which would require bipartisan support. (Reuters / NPR)
5/ The House Judiciary Committee will vote on legislation to create a commission to study the implications of slavery and develop reparations proposals for African Americans. If approved by the committee, as expected, it would set up a floor vote on the measure. The legislation has been stalled in the House for nearly 30 years. (NPR / CBS News / Washington Post)
6/ Matt Gaetz’s associate has been cooperating with the Justice Department since last year. Joel Greenberg has been providing investigators with information about encounters he and Gaetz had with women who were given cash or gifts in exchange for sex. Federal prosecutors are investigating allegations that Gaetz had sex with an underage girl who was 17 at the time, as well as with women who were provided drugs and money in violation of sex trafficking and prostitution laws. (New York Times / CNN)
1/ The CDC and the FDA recommended a “pause” in the use of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine after six women developed an “extremely rare” disorder involving blood clots and one died. More than 6.8 million people in the U.S. have received the vaccine without any other serious adverse reactions. In a statement, the two health agencies said that the move to temporarily halt administration of the shots was out of an “abundance of caution.” Scientists will examine possible links between the vaccine and the blood clot disorder and determine whether the FDA should continue to authorize the use of the vaccine or modify the authorization. The White House said the pause would “not have a significant impact on our vaccination plan” to administer 200 million shots by the end of April. White House Covid-19 coordinator Jeff Zients added that the “Johnson & Johnson vaccine makes up less than 5% of the recorded shots in arms in the United States to date.” (New York Times / Associated Press / NBC News / CNN / Wall Street Journal / Politico)
2/ Biden nominated Robert Santos to head the U.S. Census Bureau. If confirmed by the Senate, Santos would be the first person of color to permanently lead the agency. Santos, a third-generation native Mexican American, currently serves as the vice president and chief methodologist at the Urban Institute and as the president of the American Statistical Association. (NPR / Washington Post)
3/ Biden will withdraw all American troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11 – the 20th anniversary of the attacks that first drew the country’s into its longest war. In an agreement with the Taliban, the withdrawal extends the U.S. troop presence past the May 1 deadline set by the Trump administration. The 2021 threat assessment from U.S. intelligence agencies reported that a peace deal was unlikely and that “the Afghan government will struggle to hold the Taliban at bay if the coalition withdraws support.” Since October 2001, more than 2,200 U.S. troops have died and another 20,000 have been wounded. There are roughly 2,500 U.S. troops in Afghanistan now, as well as an additional 7,000 foreign coalition forces. American troop levels reached a high of 100,000 troops in August 2010. (Washington Post / New York Times / ABC News / CNN)
4/ Biden called on Putin to “de-escalate tensions” following a Russian military buildup at Ukraine’s border, saying the U.S. would “act firmly in defense of its national interests.” Russia has stationed the highest number of troops along Ukraine’s border since 2014. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, meanwhile, said the U.S. would increase its military presence in Germany by about 500 soldiers. Biden also suggested meeting Putin “in a third country” in the coming months. (New York Times / Associated Press / NBC News / Politico / CNN)
5/ Iran will begin enriching uranium to 60% purity for the first time after an attack on one of its key nuclear facilities. Iran blamed Israel for the attack, which they said caused a blackout and damaged centrifuges. Israel has not publicly admitted or denied a role in the explosion, and the White House asserted that “the U.S. was not involved in any manner. We have nothing to add on speculation about the causes or the impacts.” Iran’s foreign minister, however, warned that the attack could hurt ongoing negotiations to revive the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers. Weapons-grade levels requires uranium enriched to around 90% purity. (Associated Press / New York Times / Politico / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
6/ The police officer who fatally shot Daunte Wright resigned. Kim Potter had been an officer with the Brooklyn Center Police Department for 26 years. The city’s police chief, Tim Gannon, also resigned. Yesterday, Gannon said he believed that Potter was attempting to use a Taser on Wright, but instead pulled her firearm, fired a single, fatal shot into Wright’s chest after she repeatedly yelled “Taser!” (Washington Post / New York Times / USA Today / NPR / CNBC)
1/ The White House put the creation a national police oversight commission on hold, despite Biden’s campaign pledge to establish one within his first 100 days. Instead, the administration is moving forward with its efforts to pass the police reform bill named after George Floyd, who was killed after Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin put his knee to Floyd’s neck for seven minutes and 46 seconds. Chauvin’s murder trial is currently ongoing. The White House said national civil rights organizations and police unions counseled the administration that a commission was not necessary and redundant. (Politico / CNN)
2/ Biden called for an investigation into the police officer who shot and killed a 20-year-old Black man in a Minneapolis suburb. Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon said the officer who fatally shot Daunte Wright shouted “Taser!” but then fired a handgun instead. “The question is: was it an accident? Was it intentional? That remains to be determined by a full blown investigation,” Biden said. Gannon, meanwhile, said it was his “belief” that the officer intended to use their Taser during a traffic stop, but instead shot Wright, saying “This appears to me, from what I viewed, and the officer’s reaction and distress immediately after, that this was an accidental discharge.” After the officer fired, she is heard on video saying, “Holy shit. I just shot him.” Wright was killed about 10 miles from where George Floyd was killed by Derek Chauvin last year, and hours before the 11th day of Chauvin’s murder trial was set to begin. (New York Times / Associated Press / Star Tribune / ABC News / CNN / Axios /
3/ The U.S. administered 4.6 million vaccine doses on Saturday – a single-day record. The country has now averaged 3.1 million doses per day over the past week. Meanwhile, the U.S. is reporting 70,000 new coronavirus infections per day on average over the past week, a figure that’s above July’s peak of 67,000 cases. (CNBC)
38.9% of U.S. Marines have declined Covid-19 vaccinations.(CNN)
4/ Michigan’s average daily case count jumped about seven times since February. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky called on the state “to close things down,” rebuffing a request from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for the federal government to send more vaccines. “If we try to vaccinate our way out of what is happening in Michigan, we would be disappointed that it took so long for the vaccine to work, to actually have the impact,” Walensky said. “The answer is not necessarily to give vaccine. The answer to that is […] to go back to our basics […] to shut things down, to flatten the curve, to decrease contact with one another, to test to the extent that we have available to contact trace.” (Axios / New York Times / Bloomberg / CNBC)
5/ Biden nominated the Tucson police chief to lead Customs and Border Protection. If confirmed, Chris Magnus – a critic of the Trump administration’s anti-immigration policies – would be responsible for contending with the biggest increase in migrants arriving at the southwest border in two decades. Magnus also opposed Trump’s efforts to make Tucson a “sanctuary city.” Biden also said he intends to nominate Ur Jaddou as director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. (New York Times / Politico / Washington Post)
The Biden administration secured agreements with Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala to secure their borders and slow the number of migrants arriving at the U.S. border. (CNN / New York Times)
6/ The Biden Justice Department refused to disclose documents from the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy that separated thousands of migrant families at the U.S. border. The documents, requested by the lawyers representing separated families, include emails between Trump officials and minutes of high-level meetings during the planning of the policy. Among the unreleased documents is the agenda from a May 2018 meeting that included a show of hands vote by Trump officials on whether to separate families. (NBC News)
7/ The U.S. has admitted 2,050 refugees at the halfway point of this fiscal year, putting the Biden administration on track to accept the fewest number of refugees this year of any modern president – including Trump. Eight weeks ago Biden promised to reverse Trump-era immigration policies, to rebuild and enhance federal programs to resettle refugees, and to raise the annual cap on refugee admissions to 125,000 for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1, up from Trump’s limit of 15,000. Biden, however, hasn’t signed what is known as a presidential determination to make those changes official. At the current pace and without the reversal of Trump’s policies, the Biden administration will admit about 4,510 refugees – less than half of the figure admitted in Trump’s final year. (Washington Post)
1/ Biden created a bipartisan commission to study adding seats to the Supreme Court. Biden said the group has 180 days to produce a report on court expansion, term limits, and other “recommendations as to how to reform the court system, because it’s getting out of whack.” The executive order also mandates that the group holds public meetings and take input from a range of stakeholders. Biden previously said he’s “not a fan” of adding additional seats to the Supreme Court in order to alter its ideological balance, which currently has a 6 to 3 conservative tilt. Meanwhile, Justice Stephen Breyer, one of the court’s three liberals, recently warned against expanding the Supreme Court, saying its authority depends on “a trust that the court is guided by legal principle, not politics.” (New York Times / Politico / Washington Post / NPR)
2/ The White House released Biden’s $1.52 trillion budget request for 2022, calling for significant increase in spending aimed at fighting poverty and climate change, while keeping defense spending relatively flat. The budget outline would increase overall spending on discretionary programs by $118 billion (about 8% above last year’s levels), while defense spending would see an increase of $12.3 billion (1.7%), and other domestic programs would get a 15.9% boost. Administration officials said the budget request was “complimentary” to Biden’s $2 trillion infrastructure plan. (Washington Post / NPR / Politico / NBC News / Bloomberg / CNN)
3/ Former Trump administration appointees privately celebrated successfully influencing the CDC’s scientific reports on the coronavirus. New documents show that former Health and Human Services senior adviser Paul Alexander shared two examples of the CDC bowing to his pressure and changing language in their scientific reports to more closely align with Trump’s political messages about the pandemic. “Small victory but a victory nonetheless and yippee!!!” Alexander wrote in one email to then-HHS public affairs chief Michael Caputo on Sept. 9, 2020. (Washington Post / CNN)
4/ The CDC said the U.S. is seeing an increase in Covid-19 cases linked to youth sports. Between January and March, Michigan saw 291 cases stemming from youth sports teams, while in Minnesota at least 68 coronavirus cases were linked to participants in both school and club sports activities. CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said the increases in Michigan and Minnesota were “due, in part, to more highly transmissible variants.” The highly infectious B.1.1.7 variant, first identified in the U.K., recently became the dominate Covid strain in the U.S. (CNBC / CNN)
Pfizer requested that the FDA expand the emergency use of its Covid-19 vaccine to adolescents aged 12 to 15. (CNBC)
5/ The White House “border czar” will step down at the end of the month despite the administration struggling to address the flow of immigration from Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador. Roberta Jacobson, the former ambassador to Mexico, said her appointment on the National Security Council as the border coordinator was always intended to last for only about 100 days. Biden tapped Kamala Harris last month to lead the government’s diplomatic efforts with that region. (New York Times)
6/ Matt Gaetz sent accused sex trafficker Joel Greenberg $900 in May 2018, who then – using the same app – sent three young women money totaling $900. In the memo field of one of the Venmo payments, Gaetz instructed Greenberg to “hit up____,” using the nickname for one of the girls. The House Ethics Committee announced it was opening an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct by Gaetz. The House probe comes amid a Department of Justice investigation into Gaetz’s alleged relationship with a 17-year-old girl and whether she was paid to travel for sex, which could violate federal sex-trafficking laws. Gaetz, meanwhile, hired two defense lawyers to represent him in the investigations. One of the lawyers represents the Trump Organization in a separate criminal probe. (Daily Beast / Washington Post / CNBC / NBC News / Bloomberg)
1/ Biden announced executive actions to address what he called an “epidemic” of gun violence. Biden also pressed Congress to close background check loopholes, ban assault weapons, and strip gun manufacturers of liability protections, saying “much more needs to be done.” Biden said he asked the Justice Department to identify “immediate, concrete actions” he could take unilaterally. The Justice Department will also issue a proposed rule to curb so-called ghost guns and publish model “red flag” laws for states to use as guides. “We’ve got a long way to go, it seems like we always have a long way to go,” Biden said. “Gun violence in this country is an epidemic, and it’s an international embarrassment.” (Washington Post / Politico / NBC News / New York Times)
2/ More than 18,800 unaccompanied children crossed the southern border in March. The previous one-month high for unaccompanied minors arriving at the border was 11,861 – set in May 2019. U.S. authorities apprehended more than 172,000 migrants at the border in March – a 15-year high in monthly crossings. Of those, more than 100,000 were almost immediately expelled. (Politico / Washington Post)
3/ The Biden administration is spending at least $60 million per week to care for unaccompanied migrant teenagers and children in shelters operated by the Department of Health and Human Services. The cost of emergency shelter sites is more than 2.5 times higher than permanent shelters “due to the need to develop facilities quickly and hire significant staff over a short period of time,” a spokesman for HHS’s Administration for Children and Families said, adding that the average daily cost per child is “approximately $775 per day based on past experience.” (Washington Post)
4/ Justice Department lawyers still cannot find the parents of 445 children separated from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border by the Trump administration. The parents of 61 separated migrant children have been located since February. (New York Times)
5/ Joe Manchin will not vote to eliminate or weaken the filibuster under any circumstances and suggested that he would also be opposed to using budget reconciliation process to push major aspects of Biden’s agenda through Congress. “The time has come to end these political games, and to usher a new era of bipartisanship where we find common ground on the major policy debates facing our nation,” Manchin wrote in an op-ed. As a result, 10 Republicans would be needed to join all Democrats in the 50-50 Senate to pass major pieces of legislation. (CNBC / New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / CNN)
6/ Investigators from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office seized financial records from the former daughter-in-law of the Trump Organization’s Chief Financial Officer. Jennifer Weisselberg was married to Barry Weisselberg — the son of Allen Weisselberg — from 2004 to 2018. District Attorney Cyrus Vance’s office took possession of three boxes and a laptop as part of a grand jury subpoena. Jennifer Weisselberg turned over all records she possessed of her ex-husband’s bank accounts and credit cards, plus his statements of net worth and tax filings. Separately, the Trump Organization hired an experienced criminal defense attorney to represent it in the Manhattan prosecutors’ investigation into possible bank, tax or insurance fraud by the Trump and the Trump Organization. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
7/ One of Matt Gaetz’s associates, who faces a sex trafficking charge, is expected to plead guilty and will likely cooperate with federal prosecutors. Investigators are looking into a Bahamas trip Gaetz allegedly took in late 2018 or early 2019 and whether he violated sex trafficking or prostitution laws. Joel Greenberg’s possible cooperation with the Justice Department could provide investigators with key details. Specifically, investigators are trying to determine if the escorts were illegally trafficked across state or international lines for the purpose of sex with Gaetz. Greenberg introduced Gaetz to women he found through websites that connect people who are willing to go on dates in exchange for gifts and allowances, which feature women looking for “sugar daddy” relationships with wealthy men. Greenberg’s lawyer, Fritz Scheller, said his client was “uniquely situated” to help prosecutors and was seeking a deal “with the least exposure possible.” Scheller added: “I’m sure Matt Gaetz is not feeling very comfortable today.” (New York Times / CBS News / Washington Post / Politico / CNN / NBC News)
Matt Gaetz privately asked the White House for blanket pre-emptive pardons from Trump for himself and unidentified congressional allies for any crimes they may have committed. The request came in the final weeks of Trump’s term when Gaetz was already under investigation over whether he violated sex trafficking laws. Trump, meanwhile, said Gaetz “has never asked me for a pardon.” (New York Times / Politico)
1/ The CDC said the coronavirus variant first identified in the U.K. is now the dominant strain in the United States. The variant, known as B.1.1.7, is 50% more contagious than others and now accounts for about 27% of cases in the U.S. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said that the newer strain is more transmissible among younger people and that new outbreaks in the U.S. have been linked to youth sports and day care centers. (NPR / NBC News / Washington Post / CNBC)
😷 Dept. of “We’re gonna get through this.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~132,776,000; deaths: ~2,881,000
2/ Biden signaled that he was open to “good faith negotiations” with Republicans on his $2.3 trillion infrastructure proposal, but insisted he would “not be open to doing nothing. Inaction is simply not an option.” When asked if he would consider a lower corporate tax rate than 28%, as his plan currently calls for, Biden replied: “I’m willing to listen to that. We’ve got to pay for this,” noting that there are “many other ways we can do it.” The Treasury Department, meanwhile, outlined a proposed tax increase on businesses that, if enacted, would raise $2.5 trillion in revenue over 15 years, meant to offset the costs of the infrastructure package. (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / CNBC)
3/ Biden will announce new executive actions to curb gun violence on Thursday. While the extent of tomorrow’s announcement is unclear, Biden is expected to require background checks on buyers of so-called ghost guns – homemade or makeshift firearms that lack serial numbers. (Politico / CNN)
4/ The U.S. and Iran agreed – through intermediaries – on a plan to try to get both countries back into compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal. During a meeting with the current members of the deal, all parties agreed to establish a working group to focus on how to get the U.S. back to the deal by lifting economic sanctions imposed or reimposed after Trump pulled out of the accord in May 2018. Another working group would focus on how to get Iran back into compliance with the accord’s limitations on nuclear enrichment and stockpiles of enriched uranium. (New York Times)
5/ More than 500,000 Americans signed up for health care coverage through the Affordable Care Act marketplace between mid-February and the end of March. The Biden administration initially opened a “special enrollment period” for everyone on HealthCare.gov for people to buy insurance through May 15. The period was later extended until Aug. 15. (HuffPost)
6/ The National Republican Congressional Committee is warning donors who opt out of recurring monthly donations that “we will have to tell Trump you’re a DEFECTOR.” A tool provided by WinRed, a for-profit Republican donation platform, prechecks the box to enroll donors into repeating monthly donations by default. Donors who proactively uncheck the box are threatened with being labeled a “DEFECTOR.” The prechecked box is the same tactic that the Trump campaign used, which resulted in complaints of fraud to banks and credit card companies. (New York Times)
1/ All adults in the U.S. should be eligible to receive the Covid-19 vaccine by April 19, almost two weeks sooner than Biden’s original May 1 deadline. All but two states – Oregon and Hawaii – are already set to meet the new target date. “That doesn’t mean they will get it that day, that means they can join the line that day if they have not already done that beforehand,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said. As of last week, about half of states had already opened vaccinations to everyone 16 and older, which is expected to rise to 36 states by the end of this week. The Biden administration also said that 150 million coronavirus vaccine doses have been administered to Americans. (CNN / NBC News / NPR / Bloomberg / Associated Press)
😷 Dept. of “We’re gonna get through this.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~132,132,000; deaths: ~2,866,000
2/ Texas Gov. Greg Abbott banned government agencies, private businesses, and organizations that receive state funding from creating “vaccine passports,” saying Covid-19 vaccinations are voluntary and that no one should have to disclose private health information as a condition of engaging in normal activities. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued an executive order last week banning businesses from requiring customers to show proof they have been vaccinated against Covid-19 in order to get service. The Biden administration, meanwhile, has said “the government is not now, nor will we be, supporting a system that requires Americans to carry a credential” because it doesn’t want vaccine passports “used against people unfairly.” Instead, the administration will provide guidance for private-sector development of credentials. (Texas Tribune / New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg)
3/ The nonpartisan Senate parliamentarian ruled that Democrats could use budget reconciliation to advance more of Biden’s agenda with a simple majority. Democrats previously used budget resolution to pass the American Rescue Plan. “I always would prefer to do legislation in a bipartisan way, but we have to get big, bold things done,” Chuck Schumer said. “And so we need to have as many options as possible if Republicans continue to obstruct.” All 50 Democratic senators would need support the approach to advance Biden’s $2 trillion infrastructure and jobs package this fiscal year without a single Republican vote. Democratic moderates like Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, however, have advised against using the reconciliation process a second time. They alsooppose eliminating the filibuster to pass all bills with 51 votes, instead of 60, arguing that the supermajority requirement forces lawmakers to seek broad compromises. (Politico / Vox / New York Times / CNBC / Axios / NPR / ABC News / Associated Press / CBS News)
4/ Mitch McConnell warned businesses critical of state voting restrictions to “stay out of politics.” McConnell called it “quite stupid” for corporations to speak out politically on “incendiary” issues, like Georgia’s new voting law, but said he supports corporations making political donations. McConnell suggested that businesses have “a right to participate in the political process,” specifically noting that he’s “not talking about political contributions.” He added that “Republicans drink Coca-Cola, too, and we fly, and we like baseball. It’s irritating one hell of a lot of Republican fans.” (The Guardian / ABC News / CNN / Forbes / Washington Post)
5/ Arkansas’ Republican-controlled House and Senate enacted a ban on gender-affirming care for transgender children.
The override comes a day after Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s vetoed the bill. The state is the first to criminalize gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth. (Associated Press / Axios)
6/ The Education Department will hold a public hearing on how schools should handle sexual misconduct cases as part of an overhaul of Title IX regulations. During the presidential campaign, Biden promised to dismantle Trump-era rules on sexual misconduct that afforded greater protections to students accused of assault. Former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos formalized rules for how universities and K-12 schools should handle complaints of sexual assault and misconduct in 2020, which created protections for the accused, including the presumption that they’re innocent and the right to cross-examine their accusers. After the hearing, the department will begin the formal process to rewrite the Title IX rules. (NBC News / New York Times)
7/ Carbon dioxide topped 420 parts per million in the atmosphere for the first time – the halfway point to doubling preindustrial CO2 levels. The Mauna Loa Observatory on the Big Island of Hawaii began collecting CO2 measurements in the late 1950s. At the time, atmospheric CO2 concentration sat at around 315 parts per million. On Saturday, the daily average hit 421.21 parts per million – the first time in recorded history that atmospheric CO2 concentration has been so high. Previously, it had never exceeded 420 parts per million. (Washington Post)
1/ A record 4 million people in the U.S. received a coronavirus vaccine on Saturday. Over the past seven days, an average of 3.1 million shots have been administered each day and about 1 in 4 adults are now fully vaccinated, Andy Slavitt said, the White House’s senior adviser for Covid-19 response. While the daily coronavirus death toll in the U.S. is at its lowest level in months, the seven-day average of new daily cases rose 7% to 64,000, according to CDC Director Rochelle Walensky. In Michigan, daily new cases are up 39% compared with a week ago. Experts, however, disagree on whether the U.S. is on the cusp of a “fourth wave” or seeing the last gasps of the 14-month pandemic. Michael Osterholm, an adviser to Biden’s Covid-19 advisory board, predicted that the next two weeks would bring “the highest number of cases reported globally since the beginning of the pandemic.” Osterholm called Michigan’s 8,400 new cases a “wake-up call to everyone.” Meanwhile, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the former head of the FDA under Trump, said he did not foresee a fourth wave, saying “I think with the rate of vaccination that we’re having right now […] I think that there’s enough immunity in the population that you’re not going to see a true fourth wave of infection.” (Washington Post / CNBC / New York Times / CNN / Axios)
😷 Dept. of “We’re gonna get through this.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~131,594,000; deaths: ~2,857,000
2/ Nearly 200 companies signed a joint statement against proposals that threaten to restrict voting access in dozens of states. “We call on elected leaders in every state capitol and in Congress to work across the aisle and ensure that every eligible American has the freedom to easily cast their ballot and participate fully in our democracy,” the statement said. In Texas, there are currently 49 restrictive bills that have been introduced in the state legislature. Senate Bill 7 would ban overnight early voting and drive-through early voting. The state House is also considering its own voting bill, House Bill 6, which would prohibit election officials from sending absentee ballot applications to voters without their requests. Mitch McConnell, meanwhile, warned corporations of “serious consequences” if they use their economic power to act like “a woke parallel government.” McConnell called corporate opposition to restrictive new voting laws the “Outrage-Industrial Complex.” Since 2015, corporations have donated more than $50 million to state lawmakers to state legislators supporting voter suppression bills, including $22 million during the 2020 election. (Washington Post / Politico / Bloomberg / Associated Press)
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp complained about Major League Baseball’s decision to pull the All-Star Game out of the state over new voting restrictions Georgia’s Legislature recently approved. Kemp argued that the move would economically hurt the state. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, meanwhile, turned down an invitation to throw the first pitch at the Texas Rangers’ home opener, citing MLB’s decision to move the All-Star Game out of Atlanta. (New York Times / Politico)
3/ Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called for a global minimum corporate tax rate, saying she wants to halt an international “race to the bottom” by countries competing to lure corporations with lower taxes. As part of the Biden administration’s $2 trillion infrastructure and jobs proposal, the U.S. would raise the domestic corporate tax rate to 28% from 21%, raise the international minimum rate for foreign income from U.S. companies to 21% from 10.5%, and make it harder for foreign-owned companies with U.S. operations to benefit from shifting profits to low-tax countries. Trump lowered the U.S. tax rate from 35% to 21%, arguing that U.S. companies were incentivized to relocate offshore. Yellen criticized Trump’s unilateralist strategy, saying the U.S. “isolated ourselves and retreated from the international order that we created.” (Axios / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / CNN)
4/ The Trump campaign refunded 10.7% of the money it raised online in 2020 – $122 million. Donors complained of fraud to banks and credit card companies after the Trump operation had used multiple prechecked boxes to enroll them into recurring contributions. In total, the Trump and party operation raised $1.2 billion. (New York Times)
5/ The Supreme Court vacated an appeals court ruling that Trump could not block critics from his Twitter feed. In 2019, a lower court ruled that Trump’s account was a public forum because he had used it to regularly communicate with the public and that he could not exclude people based on their viewpoints. Both sides in the suit agreed that the case is moot since Trump is no longer president and has been banned from Twitter. In a 12-page concurring opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that the court will need to examine the power of tech companies, calling it is “unprecedented” to have “control of so much speech in the hands of a few private parties.” (New York Times / Politico / Washington Post / USA Today / CBS News)
6/ Arkansas’ Republican governor vetoed an anti-transgender health care bill that would make it illegal for transgender minors to receive gender-affirming “procedures.” Gov. Asa Hutchinson called the legislation “a product of the cultural war in America,” even though he believed the bill was “well-intended.” The Arkansas State Legislature could still override Hutchinson’s veto of the bill. (New York Times / CNN)
poll/ 40% of Americans disapprove of the Biden administration’s handling of the unaccompanied migrant children arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border, while 24% approve, and 35% have no opinion. (Associated Press)
poll/ 55% of Republicans believe the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol was led by left-wing activists “trying to make Trump look bad.” 51% of Republicans also believe that the riot was “mostly peaceful, law-abiding Americans.” And, 55% of Republicans believe Trump’s 2020 election loss was the result of illegal voting or election rigging. (Reuters)
1/ One U.S. Capitol Police officer was killed and another hospitalized after a man rammed his car into a security checkpoint outside the Capitol. The suspect was shot and killed after he “exited the vehicle with a knife in hand” and began “lunging” at the officers. The incident comes two weeks after the outer perimeter fence to the Capitol complex was removed. Investigators do not believe the incident was “terrorism related,” Chief Robert Contee of the Washington Metropolitan Police Department said. (CNBC / New York Times / Washington Post / NPR / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / ABC News)
2/ The CDC relaxed its travel guidance, saying Americans fully vaccinated against Covid-19 can resume domestic and overseas travel “at low risk to themselves.” The CDC guidance recommends they continue to wear a mask, avoid crowds, maintain social distance, and frequently wash their (damn) hands. Individuals do not need to get a test before or after domestic travel and do not need to self-quarantine on return, as long as they follow public health measures. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, however, said Americans should still try to avoid travel because Covid-19 cases are rising across the country. “We must balance this guidance with the fact that most Americans are still not vaccinated,” Walensky said. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / Politico / Wall Street Journal)
😷 Dept. of “We’re gonna get through this.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~129,989,000; deaths: ~2,833,000
3/ More than 171,000 migrants were taken into custody along the U.S. southern border in March, including a record number of unaccompanied minors. It was the highest monthly total since 2006. (Washington Post / CNN)
4/ Major League Baseball pulled its All-Star Game out of Atlanta due to Georgia’s restrictive new voting law. “Major League Baseball fundamentally supports voting rights for all Americans and opposes restrictions to the ballot box,” MLB Commissioner Robert Manfred said in a statement. (Axios / NBC News)
5/ The U.S. and Iran agreed to resume negotiations on restoring the 2015 nuclear agreement. The two countries will negotiate through intermediaries in Vienna next week to try to bring both back into compliance with the nuclear accord. In 2018, Trump unilaterally withdrew from the agreement to rein in Iran’s nuclear program, calling is “the worst deal ever negotiated.” Iran responded by exceeding enrichment and research limits. White House press secretary Jen Psaki called the upcoming indirect talks “a welcome and potentially constructive early step.” (Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Washington Post / CNN)
6/ The Justice Department investigation into Rep. Matt Gaetz is centered on whether he and an indicted Florida politician solicited women online for sex in exchange for cash, gifts, or drugs. Investigators believe Joel Greenberg, who was indicted last year for sex trafficking and other crimes, met women on websites that connects people for dates in exchange for gifts, fine dining, travel, allowances, etc. The Justice Department inquiry is also investigating whether Gaetz had sex with a 17-year-old girl and whether she received gifts. The sex trafficking charge against Greenberg involved the same girl. It’s a violation of federal child sex trafficking law to provide someone under 18 with anything of value – like meals, hotels, drugs, alcohol or cigarettes – in exchange for sex. A conviction carries a 10-year mandatory minimum prison sentence. Gaetz has also allegedly showed other lawmakers – while on the House floor – photos and videos of nude women he said he had slept with. (New York Times / CNN / ABC News)
1/ The Texas Senate passed new voting restrictions in the state. Senate Bill 7 would limit extended early voting hours, prohibit drive-thru voting, and make it illegal for election officials to send applications to vote by mail to voters, even if they qualify. The bill now heads to the House for consideration. (Texas Tribune / NBC News / Associated Press)
2/ Georgia’s Republican-controlled House stripped Delta Air Lines of a tax break worth tens of millions of dollars as punishment for its CEO’s criticism of the state’s new voting restrictions. The bill, however, was not taken up by the state Senate before it adjourned and has not become law. Delta’s CEO, Ed Bastian, called the bill “unacceptable” and that it “does not match Delta’s values.” Bastian added: “The entire rationale for this bill was based on a lie: that there was widespread voter fraud in Georgia in the 2020 elections. This is simply not true.” Delta Air Lines is Georgia’s largest employer. Coca-Cola, UPS, Home Depot, Porsche Cars North America, and the Atlanta Falcons have also criticized the legislation.
(Forbes / CNN / Reuters / NPR / CNBC / New York Times)
State lawmakers have introduced 361 restrictive election bills in 47 state legislatures – a 43% increase since mid-February. (NBC News)
3/ About 15 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine were accidentally ruined after a manufacturing contractor mistakenly mixed the vaccine with ingredients from the AstraZeneca coronavirus shot. The company still met its goal of shipping 20 million doses to the U.S. in March, and has promised 100 million doses by the end of May. (New York Times / Politico / NPR)
😷 Dept. of “We’re gonna get through this.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~129,335,000; deaths: ~2,822,000
Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine provides high levels of protection against Covid-19 six months after the second dose, with no serious safety concerns, according to the ongoing Phase 3 clinical trial. The trials also suggest that the vaccine is effective against the variant that first emerged in South Africa. (NBC News / CNN)
4/ Biden asked Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to conduct a review of his legal authority to cancel student debt. White House chief of staff Ron Klain said Biden will make a decision on how to proceed once he reviews the memo. “He’ll look at that legal authority, he’ll look at the policy issues around that, and then he’ll make a decision,” Klain said. “He hasn’t made a decision on that, either way, in fact, he hasn’t yet gotten the memos that he needs to start to focus on that decision.” (Politico / NBC News)
5/ Another 719,000 people applied for unemployment benefits – up 61,000 from last week. Prior to the pandemic, jobless claims typically ran below 220,000 a week. (Politico / Bloomberg)
1/ Biden unveiled his $2.25 trillion jobs, infrastructure, and green energy proposal to reshape the U.S. economy. Over the next eight years, the plan would rebuild 20,000 miles of roads, repair 10 of the most economically important bridges in the country, eliminate lead pipes from the nation’s water supply, update and modernize the electric grid, fund the construction of about a half-million electric vehicle charging stations, expand high-speed broadband across the entire country, upgrade and build new schools, and more. The White Houses said the spending would generate millions of new jobs as the country shifts away from fossil fuels and accelerates the fight against climate change. The White House also said the proposal would pay for itself over 15 years by raising the corporate tax rate to 28%, increasing the global minimum tax paid to 21%, ending federal tax breaks for fossil fuel companies, and ramping up tax enforcement. Nancy Pelosi said she wants to have the House pass the package by July 4. (New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / NPR / Politico / CNBC / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
2/ The Pentagon reversed Trump-era policies that banned transgender people from serving in the military. The new department policies will “allow transgender people who meet military standards to enlist and serve openly in their self-identified gender, and they will be able to get medically necessary transition-related care authorized by law.” Biden also issued his first presidential proclamation to formally celebrate Transgender Day of Visibility – an international day to commemorate trans lives and accomplishments. Biden said that despite the “hard-fought progress” for transgender and gender non-conforming people to “live openly and authentically,” trans people “still face systemic barriers to freedom and equality,” such as higher rates of violence, harassment and discrimination. (Associated Press / Axios / NPR / NBC News)
3/ Covid-19 was the third leading cause of death in the U.S. in 2020, behind heart disease and cancer. More than 3.3 million deaths were reported in the U.S. last year, a 15.9% increase from 2019. (CNBC / CNN)
😷 Dept. of “We’re gonna get through this.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~128,558,000; deaths: ~2,810,000
Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine is 100% effective in preventing Covid-19 in children ages 12 to 15. A clinical trial found no symptomatic infections among vaccinated the children, and there were no serious side effects. The data, however, have not yet been reviewed by independent experts. (New York Times / CNBC)
Republicans dismissed the idea of “vaccination passports”, which are designed to ensure that people can safely return to normal activities, such as flights, concerts, and indoor dining. The effort by some Republicans to create doubt about a vaccine passport program is centered on the idea that the federal government will try to control the population. (Washington Post)
4/ The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis reviewing the federal response to Covid-19 obtained documents that show the Trump administration “pursued a haphazard and ineffective approach to procurement” of personal protective equipment and medical supplies at the start of the pandemic. Specifically, Peter Navarro, who served as Trump’s trade adviser, warned Trump on March 1, 2020, to acquire medical supplies and invest in coronavirus tests, and other supplies to fight the virus, according to a memo. After Trump ignored Navarro’s recommendations, he pursued his own strategy to acquire supplies, committing more than $1 billion in federal funds with little oversight, which has since prompted multiple probes by multiple congressional committees. (Washington Post / Politico / CNN)
5/ The Biden administration dismissed more than 40 outside experts at the EPA, who were appointed by Trump. EPA Administrator Michael Regan said the decision to oust researchers with The Science Advisory Board and the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee was necessary to “ensure the agency receives the best possible scientific insight.” (Bloomberg / Washington Post / CNBC)
6/ Russian hackers stole thousands of State Department officials’ emails last year. A previously unreported breach revealed that Russians accessed emails in the department’s Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs and Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs. While it’s unclear whether the hack of State Department emails was part of the SolarWinds espionage campaign, it does not appear that the classified network was accessed. (Politico)
7/ Two Capitol Police officers sued Trump for the physical and emotional injuries they suffered as a result of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. In the lawsuit, James Blassingame and Sidney Hemby, accused Trump of inciting the violent mob with baseless claims of voter fraud and that Democrats were “trying to steal” the election. About 140 D.C. and Capitol police officers were injured during attacks, and two officers who had been on duty at the Capitol later died by suicide. (Washington Post / Bloomberg / Politico / ABC News)
8/ A federal judge ruled that a non-disclosure agreement that Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign required employees to sign was “invalid and unenforceable.” Jessica Denson, who had worked on Trump’s campaign as a phone bank supervisor and Hispanic outreach coordinator, claimed that she was the target of abusive treatment and sexual harassment. The Trump campaign later won a $50,000 award against Denson for violating the non-disparagement agreement. Denson then sued on behalf of herself and other Trump campaign aides who had been forced to sign confidentiality agreements, asking that they be invalidated as too broad and illegal in New York because they lasted indefinitely. (New York Times / Politico)
9/ Prosecutors working for the Manhattan district attorney subpoenaed the personal bank records of the Trump Organization’s chief financial officer and are scrutinizing gifts he received from Trump. While Allen Weisselberg has not been accused of wrongdoing, the effort appears to be an attempt to gain his cooperation to help prosecutors understand the inner workings of the company. Prosecutors are also examining whether Trump and the company manipulated property values to obtain loans and tax benefits. (New York Times)
10/ The Justice Department is investigating whether Rep. Matt Gaetz had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old and violated federal sex trafficking laws by paying her to travel with him. Attorney General William Barr opened the investigation in the final months of the Trump administration. Trump and several senior Justice Department officials were notified of the investigation. Gaetz called the investigation part of a scheme involving “false sex allegations” to extort his family for $25 million, adding that he and his father, Don Gaetz, have been cooperating with the FBI by “wearing a wire.” Gaetz, meanwhile, has privately told confidants that he’s considering not seeking re-election and possibly leaving Congress early for a job at Newsmax. (New York Times / Politico / Axios)
1/ Biden announced a “trailblazing” set of 11 judicial nominees who “reflect the full diversity of the American people — both in background and in professional experience.” Biden’s list of nominees include nine women, and nine people of color. Among the group, Ketanji Brown Jackson was nominated for the U.S. Court of Appeals seat vacated by Merrick Garland when he became U.S. attorney general. Jackson is considered a potential Supreme Court contender. Chuck Schumer, meanwhile, pledged to quickly confirm Biden’s first batch of nominees in order to “significantly mitigate the influence of Donald Trump’s unqualified, right-wing judges.” (New York Times / NBC News / Politico / NPR / The Guardian / Washington Post)
2/ Biden signed a two-month extension of the Paycheck Protection Program, which was set to expire on March 31. The extension also gives the Small Business Administration an additional 30 days to process loans submitted before the new May 31 deadline. (New York Times / Washington Post)
3/ A group of 21 Senate Democrats urged Biden to include recurring direct payments and an extension of jobless benefits in his infrastructure and economic recovery plan. “This crisis is far from over, and families deserve certainty that they can put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads,” the senators wrote. “Families should not be at the mercy of constantly-shifting legislative timelines and ad hoc solutions.” Biden is scheduled to unveil his $3 to $4 trillion recovery package on Wednesday, which is expected to be split into two pieces of legislation. (CNBC / CNN / The Hill)
4/ WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the joint mission to study the origins of the coronavirus in China didn’t adequately analyze the possibility of a lab leak before deciding the virus most likely spread from bats to humans via another animal. “Although the team has concluded that a laboratory leak is the least likely hypothesis, this requires further investigation,” Tedros said in a statement. The U.S. and 13 other countries, meanwhile, voiced frustration with the level of access China provided in a joint statement, saying the mission’s report “lacked access to complete, original data and samples.” White House press secretary Jen Psaki also criticized China’s lack of cooperation, saying “they have not been transparent. They have not provided underlying data. That certainly doesn’t qualify as cooperation.” (Bloomberg / Washington Post)
😷 Dept. of “We’re gonna get through this.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~127,988,000; deaths: ~2,798,000
5/ Several civil rights groups have filed at least three legal challenges to Georgia’s new voting limitations, arguing that curtailing voting access represents “intentional discrimination” against the state’s Black voters. One lawsuit, filed by the Georgia NAACP and other groups, said the law “is the culmination of a concerted effort to suppress the participation of Black voters and other voters of color by the Republican State Senate, State House, and governor.” Black residents in Georgia are 88% more likely to be below poverty level and therefore less likely to have the required forms of photo ID. (New York Times / NBC News)
6/ Attorney General Merrick Garland directed Justice Department employees to examine “the disturbing trend” of violence against Asian Americans, and to give priority to investigating and prosecuting hate crimes and incidents. The Biden administration also reinstated and expanded the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders to include coordination across federal agencies in responding to anti-Asian bias and violence. (Bloomberg / CBS News / The Hill)
7/ A New York appeals court allowed for a defamation lawsuit against Trump to move forward. Summer Zervos, a former contestant on “The Apprentice,” sued Trump for defamation after he denied her allegations that he sexually assaulted her in 2007. The case had been delayed until Trump was out of office because, as a sitting president, he was immune from a lawsuit brought in state court. (CNN)
poll/ 68% of Americans are satisfied with the Covid-19 vaccine process – up 34 percentage points since January. 74% of Americans say they are willing to receive a Covid-19 vaccine – up from 50% in September. (Gallup)
poll/ 52% of Americans approve of the job Biden is doing as president. 65% approve of his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, 51% approve of his handling of the economy, and 34% approve of his handling of immigration. (NPR)
1/ CDC Director Rochelle Walensky warned of “impending doom” as Covid-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths rise throughout the U.S. The seven-day average for new daily Covid-19 cases is nearly at 60,000 – up 10% from the prior week. Hospitalizations are up to about 4,800 a day, from 4,600 a week earlier. And, deaths have also started to rise again. Walensky attributed the rise to the spread of more contagious variants, increased travel, and governors lowering restrictions too quickly. “We have so much to look forward to, so much promise and potential of where we are and so much reason for hope,” Walensky said, “but right now I’m scared.” (NBC News / Politico / Bloomberg)
😷 Dept. of “We’re gonna get through this.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~127,443,000; deaths: ~2,788,000
The CDC extended the national ban on evictions through the end of June. The CDC initially released an order in September barring eviction through the end of 2020, citing a 1944 public health law. Congress extended it in December, and the Biden administration renewed it again through March 31. (CNBC / Politico)
A WHO-China report on the origins of Covid-19 concluded that the most likely scenario of the coronavirus jumping from bats to humans was through another animal and that the lab leak theory is “extremely unlikely.” It is not clear, however, if China will allow outside experts direct access to the data. Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said: “We’ve got real concerns about the methodology and the process that went into that report, including the fact that the government in Beijing apparently helped to write it.” (Associated Press / New York Times)
Documentary: Dr. Deborah Birx said she received a “very uncomfortable” and “very difficult” phone call from Trump following her Covid-19 warnings. “Well, I think you’ve heard other conversations that people have posted with the president,” Birx said as part of a CNN documentary, “Covid War: The Pandemic Doctors Speak Out.” “I would say it was even more direct than what people have heard. It was very uncomfortable, very direct and very difficult to hear.” (CNN / NBC News / Washington Post)
2/ Biden announced that 90% of adults will be eligible to get a coronavirus vaccine starting April 19. Additionally, the federal government will increase the number of pharmacies participating in the pharmacy vaccination program from 17,000 to 40,000 locations. The U.S. is on pace to administer 3 million vaccines a day. Biden, meanwhile, urged states that have eased mask and social distancing restrictions to reinstate them, saying “the war against Covid-19 is far from won,” “this is deadly serious […] If we let our guard down now we could see the virus getting worse not better.” (Bloomberg / CNN / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times)
The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are 90% effective at preventing symptomatic and asymptomatic infections after two doses in study of real-life conditions. One dose prevented 80% of infections by two weeks after vaccination. (New York Times / Washington Post)
3/ The Biden administration expects the number of unaccompanied children crossing the border to increase from more than 16,000 currently to as many as 26,000 by September. Until this month, the record for children taken into custody by Border Patrol officials was 11,475 in May 2019. (Wall Street Journal / Axios)
4/ Biden plans to expand wind farms along the East Coast in an effort to jump-start the growth of a zero-emission power source to fight climate change. The plan would generate 30 gigawatts of offshore wind power by the end of the decade, which is would power more than 10 million homes and cut 78 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
5/ The Biden administration will investigate Trump-era political interference on the science that informed policy. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy said that it will form a task force to review federal government policies and make sure they “prevent improper political interference” from affecting research or data. The task force also aims to prevent “the suppression or distortion of scientific or technological findings.” (New York Times / CNN)
6/ Russian hackers gained access to email accounts belonging to Trump’s Homeland Security chief and members of the department’s cybersecurity staff, who were responsible for identifying threats from foreign countries. The accounts were accessed as part of the SolarWinds hack, which included at least nine federal agencies and dozens of private companies. (Associated Press)
poll/ 72% of Americans approve of Biden’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, including 53% of Republicans who approve of Biden’s handling of vaccine distribution. (ABC News)
poll/ 38% of Americans say Trump made progress toward solving the major problems facing the country, while 37% say he made things worse, 15% said Trump tried but failed to solve the nation’s problems, and 10% said he did not address them. (Pew Research Center)
1/ Georgia’s governor signed new voting restrictions into law. The overhaul of the state’s election laws would impose rigid absentee voter identification requirements, limit drop boxes, shortens state runoffs, and expand the Legislature’s power over elections. Republican Gov. Brian Kemp signed the measure into law just over an hour after the bill passed both chambers of the legislature, calling it “common sense” legislation that ensure Georgia’s elections “are secure, accessible and fair.” Dozens of state legislatures are considering similar restrictions on voting following the 2020 presidential election. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution / NBC News / Washington Post / Bloomberg / CNN / New York Times)
2/ Biden condemned the new voting restrictions in Georgia as “outrageous,” “un-American,” and “Jim Crow in the 21st Century.” Three voting-advocacy groups, meanwhile, sued Georgia state officials over the new law, claiming that it will unconstitutionally restrict voting rights of all Georgians while disproportionately impacting Black voters. “Georgia has a long and egregious history of implementing election laws that hinder Black and minority citizens’ ability to participate equally in the political process,” the groups said in the complaint. The defendants include Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and four members of the State Election Board. (NBC News / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / Washington Post)
3/ Dominion Voting Systems filed a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News, alleging that the network intentionally aired false claims that the voting company had rigged the 2020 election in order to boost ratings. Dominion argued that Fox News and several of its on-air personalities promoted baseless claims that the company had manipulated its machines to benefit Biden in the election, and allowed falsehoods by their guests to go unchecked. Those same claims were repeatedly pushed by Trump’s lawyers, Rudolph Giuliani and Sidney Powell, during multiple appearances on Fox programs. Dominion has also sued Giuliani, Powell, and the MyPillow guy, Mike Lindell, for defamation, seeking damages of more than $1 billion. (Associated Press / Washington Post / New York Times)
4/ CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky warned of another surge in Covid-19 cases as the nation’s seven-day average of new cases per day jumped 7% over the last week. New hospitalizations are also up “slightly” at roughly 4,700 admissions per day. “I remain deeply concerned about this trajectory,” Walensky said. “And we know from prior surges that if we don’t control things now, there is a real potential for the epidemic curve to soar again.” (CNBC / ABC News)
😷 Dept. of “We’re gonna get through this.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~125,865,000; deaths: ~2,762,000
Johnson & Johnson will deliver 11 million doses of its single-shot Covid-19 vaccine to the U.S. next week. The U.S. received 4 million doses of the vaccine shortly at the end of February. (NBC News)
The U.S. administered 3.4 million Covid-19 doses in a single day, breaking the previous record of 2.62 million doses. (Axios)
The White House canceled a 50-person indoor party the Interior Department was planning to celebrate Secretary Deb Haaland’s confirmation after senior administration officials raised concerns that it could become a superspreader event. (Politico)
5/ Democrats introduced the “DEJOY Act” to block a piece of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s 10-year restructuring plan for the U.S. Postal Service. The Delivering Envelopes Judiciously On-time Year-round Act would prohibit the Postal Service from lengthening mail-delivery windows and require that it to adhere to current “service standards.” Under DeJoy’s plan, about 30% of first-class mail would take four to five days to arrive from the current standard of no more than three days. (Washington Post)
1/ The Biden administration expects to distribute 200 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines in its first 100 days – double its original goal that was surpassed last week. (Politico / NPR)
😷 Dept. of “We’re gonna get through this.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~125,235,000; deaths: ~2,750,000
2/ Another 684,000 people filed for initial unemployment claims last week – the lowest since mid-March of last year but still at historically high levels. In total, some 18.95 million people continue to collect jobless benefits. (ABC News / Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
The Senate voted 92-7 to extend the Paycheck Protection Program for another two months, sending the bill to Biden for his signature after the House passed the legislation last week. (Politico)
Black farmers received $20.8 million out of nearly $26 billion in payments under the Trump administration’s coronavirus relief for American farmers – about 0.1% of the overall package. (Washington Post)
3/ The U.S. could have limited coronavirus deaths to under 300,000 had it adopted widespread mask, social distancing, and testing protocols while awaiting a vaccine, according to a new research paper. UCLA economics professor Andrew Atkeson projected that the final U.S. death toll will be close to 670,000, and that without a vaccine that number would be close to 1.27 million. (Reuters)
4/ The White House will direct $10 billion to expand coronavirus vaccine access for low-income, rural, and minority communities. About $6 billion will go to 1,400 federally funded community health centers that serve high risk patients. An additional $3 billion will go to education and outreach programs by local health and community organizations to increase vaccination access and acceptance in high-risk communities. (NBC News)
FEMA will reimburse families for funeral expenses of loved ones who died last year from Covid-19. FEMA set aside $2 billion dollars to reimburse individuals and households for funeral expenses between Jan. 20 and Dec. 31, 2020, paying up to $9,000 in expenses for individual funerals and a maximum of $35,000 for families who lost multiple members. (ABC News)
5/ Gov. Andrew Cuomo arranged special access to state-administered coronavirus testing for family members and other influential people. New York law prohibits state officials from using their positions to secure privileges for themselves or others. (New York Times / Washington Post)
6/ The Texas attorney general’s office refused to release messages Ken Paxton sent or received while in Washington for the Jan. 6 pro-Trump rally that led to the Capitol riot. Paxton’s office is supposed to enforce the state’s open records laws under the Texas Public Information Act, which guarantees the public’s right to government records. Instead, the office has refused to release copies of Paxton’s emails and text messages. (Texas Tribune)
7/ The Senate confirmed Dr. Rachel Levine as assistant secretary for health in the Department of Health and Human Services – the first openly transgender federal official to be confirmed by the Senate. (NPR)
8/ The Georgia House passed a sweeping election overhaul bill to limit voting access in the state. The Republican-led effort would rewrite many of the state’s voting regulations, including limiting drop boxes, increasing absentee voter ID requirements, prohibiting distributing food and most beverages to people waiting in line to vote, and stripping the secretary of state of some authority. The 100-75 party-line vote sends the bill to the state Senate where Republican lawmakers are expected to pass the final bill next week before the end of the session. Biden, meanwhile, called efforts to limit voting rights “sick” and “un-American,” saying he’s “worried about is how un-American this whole initiative is. It’s sick. It’s sick.” (Atlanta Journal-Constitution / New York Times / Talking Points Memo / Politico / CNN)
9/ Joe Manchin said he had “legitimate” concerns over some of the provisions in the For the People Act, the most significant federal election and voting rights expansion in a generation. Manchin urged Democrats to take a bipartisan approach, saying “pushing through legislation of this magnitude on a partisan basis may garner short-term benefits, but will inevitably only exacerbate the distrust that millions of Americans harbor against the U.S. government.” To pass in the Senate, Democrats will likely need to persuade all 50 Democrats to change the filibuster rules to overcome uniform Republican opposition to the legislation. Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, however, have said they are no votes on getting rid of the filibuster. Biden, meanwhile, said the filibuster was being “abused in a gigantic way” and signaled that he could support changing the Senate’s rules in order to pass key parts of his agenda. “We’re going to get a lot done. And if we have to — if there’s complete lockdown and chaos as a consequence of the filibuster, then we’ll have to go beyond” the talking filibuster. (New York Times / Politico / NBC News / Washington Post)
1/ Kamala Harris will takeover efforts to address illegal immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border. Harris will work in the near term to slow the flow of “irregular migrants” by addressing “the root causes” that prompt them to leave their home countries. Long-term, Harris will be responsible for establishing a “strategic partnership” with Mexico and countries in the Northern Triangle – El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala – that is “based on respect and shared values, to enhance prosperity, combat current corruption, and strengthen the rule of law.” (ABC News / Politico / New York Times / Axios / CNBC)
Biden transition officials said the Trump administration didn’t increase capacity for child migrants despite warnings until just days before the inauguration. “They were sitting on their hands,” one transition official said. “It was incredibly frustrating.” (NBC News)
2/ Gun violence killed nearly 20,000 Americans in 2020, making it the deadliest year for gun violence in at least two decades. The next-highest recent year for shooting deaths was 2017, when nearly 16,000 people were killed. In 2020, people purchased about 23 million guns – a 64% increase over 2019 sales. (Washington Post)
3/ Biden extended the special enrollment period for purchasing Affordable Care Act health plans by three months, until Aug. 15. The second extension will help enrollees take advantage of the enhanced subsidies in the Covid-19 relief package. (NBC News / Washington Post)
4/ Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell clashed during a Senate Rules Committee hearing on a Democratic plan to overhaul federal elections and expand voting rights. The legislation under consideration is S. 1, the For the People Act, which would make it easier to vote, enact new campaign finance laws, and end partisan gerrymandering of congressional districts. It passed the House earlier this month with no Republican support, but faces steep odds of passing in the 50-50 Senate, where it will need at least 60 votes to advance. “Today, in the 21st century, there is a concerted, nationwide effort to limit the rights of citizens to vote and to truly have a voice in their own government,” Schumer said, calling Republican state legislators’ efforts to restrict voting access an “existential threat to our democracy” reminiscent of Jim Crow segregationist laws. “Shame! Shame! Shame!” McConnell told the Rules Committee that the bill “is a solution in search of a problem,” which would create an “implementation nightmare” for election administrators and officials, and is “an invitation for chaos.” Joe Manchin, meanwhile, demanded that any voting rights legislation be bipartisan, saying “We should not at all attempt to do anything to that will create more distrust and division.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / USA Today / CNBC / Wall Street Journal)
5/ Members of the Oath Keepers coordinated with the Proud Boys and other paramilitary groups in advance of Trump’s Jan. 6 rally. According to new evidence filed by the Justice Department, Kelly Meggs, the Florida leader of the Oath Keepers, said in private messages on Facebook that he coordinated with Proud Boys leadership, saying “I organized an alliance between Oath Keepers, Florida 3%ers, and Proud Boys. We have decided to work together and shut this shit down.” A week later, Meggs sent a private message that said: “Trump’s staying in, he’s gonna use the emergency broadcast system on cell phones to broadcast to the American people. Then he will claim the insurrection act […] Then wait for the 6th when we are all in dc to insurrection.” (Politico)
Trump and Trump Jr. hired an attorney to represent them in the lawsuit filed by Rep. Eric Swalwell, which alleges that Trump and his associates “directly incited the violence” during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by putting out “a clear call to action” and then “watched approvingly as the building was overrun.” (Daily Beast)
6/ The U.S. dropped 11 points in a global ranking of political rights and civil liberties over the last decade. The U.S. earned 83 out of 100 possible points, putting it on par with countries like Panama, Romania, and Croatia, and behind countries such as Argentina and Mongolia. A decade ago, the U.S. received a score of 94 out of 100. (The Guardian)
1/ Biden called on Congress to “immediately pass” legislation that would close loopholes in gun background checks and ban the purchase of assault weapons a day after the mass shooting at a grocery store in Boulder, Colorado, which left 10 dead. “I don’t need to wait another minute, let alone an hour to take common sense steps that will save the lives in the future,” Biden said, adding that background checks “should not be a partisan issue — it is an American issue […] We have to act.” Earlier this month, the House passed a pair of bills aimed at strengthening the nation’s gun laws. One would expand background checks and the other would extend the waiting period for background checks to 10 days from three days. Both bills face opposition in the Senate, where they don’t not currently have the 60 votes needed to advance. (USA Today / NPR / New York Times / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNBC / Washington Post)
The Boulder attack was the seventh mass shootings in the past week across the United States. On Tuesday, March 16, eight people, including six Asian women, were killed at three spas in Atlanta, Georgia; Five people were shot in a drive-by shooting in Stockton, California on March 17; Four people were taken to the hospital after a shooting outside of Portland, Oregon on March 18; Five people were shot inside a club in Houston, eight people were shot in Dallas, and one person was killed and five others injured during a shooting in Philadelphia on March 20. (CNN)
2/ A Colorado judge blocked Boulder’s ban on assault weapons 10 days ago – the gunman used an AR-15 rifle he purchased six days ago. In 2018, following the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, the city of Boulder passed an ordinance banning the possession, transfer or sale of assault weapons, and large-capacity magazines. But on March 12, Boulder County District Judge Andrew Hartman sided with the plaintiffs (the Colorado State Shooting Association and Boulder-based Gunsport of Colorado), ruling that a 2003 state law banned cities and counties from restricting guns that are otherwise legal under federal and state law. (Washington Post / Denver Post / Associated Press / New York Times)
3/ The second-largest teachers union is “not convinced” it’s safe to reduce social distancing in schools to three feet between students. Last week, the CDC updated its guidance for social distancing in schools to prevent the spread of Covid-19 from six feet to three feet. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, citing studies of limited virus transmission from the WHO and the American Academy of Pediatrics, said the “updated recommendations provide the evidence-based roadmap to help schools reopen safely, and remain open, for in-person instruction.” Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, however, said: “We are not convinced that the evidence supports changing physical distancing requirements at this time. Our concern is that the cited studies do not identify the baseline mitigation strategies needed to support 3 feet of physical distancing.” (CBS News)
4/ AstraZeneca’s recent Covid-19 vaccine trial results “may have included outdated information” that “provided an incomplete view of the efficacy” in its announcement touting its shot’s 79% effectiveness against the coronavirus, according to a statement by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. AstraZeneca unveiled its interim results on Monday without conducting the full analysis requested by the Data and Safety Monitoring Board. While the company announced its vaccine was 79% effective, the panel said it had seen data showing the vaccine may be 69 to 74% effective, and had “strongly recommended” that that information be included in the news release. “This is really what you call an unforced error,” Dr. Anthony Fauci said. “Because the fact is: This is very likely a very good vaccine, and this kind of thing does, as you say, do nothing but really cast some doubt about the vaccines and maybe contributes to the hesitancy.” (NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times / STAT News / Politico / ABC News)
😷 Dept. of “We’re gonna get through this.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~123,978,000; deaths: ~2,729,000
The Biden administration is not confident Johnson & Johnson will meet its deadline to deliver 20 million coronavirus vaccines by the end of March. Johnson & Johnson shipped four million doses at the end of February and an another 1.2 million doses since. (CNN)
5/ Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s 10-year strategic plan for the U.S. Postal Service includes higher postage rates, slower services, and reduced post office hours. “Does it make a difference if it’s an extra day to get a letter?” DeJoy told the House Oversight and Reform Committee in February. “Because something has to change. We cannot keep doing the same thing we’re doing.” (NBC News / CNN / NPR / Washington Post)
6/ Lawyers for pro-Trump attorney Sidney Powell claimed that “no reasonable person” would believe that her false conspiracies about widespread election fraud were “statements of fact.” Powell also asked a federal court to dismiss a $1.3 billion defamation suit filed against her by Dominion Voting Systems over her conspiracy theories. (CNBC / CNN / Wall Street Journal / The Guardian)
7/ The Trump administration impeded at least nine key oversight investigations, and 11 inspectors general or their senior aides said hostility to oversight reached unprecedented levels during Trump’s time in office. (Washington Post)
1/ Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas defended Biden’s immigration strategy, saying “the border is closed. We are expelling families, we are expelling single adults and we have made a decision that we will not expel young, vulnerable children.” Nearly 100,000 migrants were detained at the border in February. Mayorkas, in part, blamed Trump for the record number of migrants seeking entry into the country from Mexico and Central America, saying “there was a system in place in both Republican and Democratic administrations that was torn down during the Trump administration, and that is why the challenge is more acute than it ever has been before.” In 2019, the Trump administration cut more than $500 million in aid to Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador in an effort to slow the migration to the U.S. White House officials will travel to Mexico and Guatemala this week for what administration officials described as “ongoing discussions on how to manage an effective and humane plan of action on migration.” (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / ABC News / NPR / CNBC)
👑 Portrait of a President: Inside the Biden administration’s failure to contain the border surge. “The Biden administration is scrambling to control the biggest surge in 20 years, with the nation on pace for as many as 2 million migrants at the southern border this year — the outcome Biden said he wanted to avoid.” (Washington Post)
2/ More than 800 unaccompanied migrant children have been in Border Patrol custody for more than 10 days. The average time in custody is 130 hours, which exceeds the 72-hour legal limit. As of Saturday, Department of Health and Human Services was housing approximately 15,500 unaccompanied migrant minors, including more than 5,000 unaccompanied minors who are being held in a Customs and Border Protection tent holding facility not designed for long-term custody. (CNN / CBS News)
3/ The Biden administration secured hotel rooms to hold around 1,200 migrant families who cross the U.S.-Mexico border. The $86 million contract is for six months near border areas, including in Arizona and Texas. (Axios)
4/ Department of Homeland Security officials requested airplanes to transport migrants to states near the Canadian border for processing. Customs and Border Protection officials requested the air support from Immigration and Customs Enforcement after 1,000 members of families and unaccompanied minors crossed the Rio Grande on Friday. At the time, there were another 1,000 migrants that officials had been been unable to process. In recent days, CBP has used ICE planes to transport migrant families from the Rio Grande Valley, where facilities are overcapacity, to the El Paso area. (Washington Post)
5/ Border agents in the Rio Grande Valley were authorized to release adult migrants and families from custody before they have been given a date to appear in court. The move is “intended to mitigate operational challenges” by reducing the time immigrants spend in custody. Migrants are typically given a “notice to appear” before they are released or sent to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for detention. (NBC News)
6/ The U.S. seven-day average of daily new coronavirus cases is up at least 5% in 27 states. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, meanwhile, said the U.S. could experience “another avoidable surge” as states lift restrictions too early, warning Americans to continue to wear masks, avoid crowds, and wait to travel, even if they’ve been vaccinated. Lifting restrictions is a “serious threat to the progress we have made,” Walensky said. “We are at a critical point in this pandemic, a fork in the road.” (CNBC / Bloomberg / Axios)
😷 Dept. of “We’re gonna get through this.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~123,546,000; deaths: ~2,721,000
Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club has been partially closed after some of its employees were infected with the coronavirus. Trump moved to Mar-a-Lago after leaving Washington in January. (Associated Press / Washington Post)
7/ AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine provided strong protection against Covid-19 in a large clinical trial. The AstraZeneca vaccine was 79% effective over all in preventing symptomatic infections, 80% effective in participants aged 65 and over, and 100% effective in preventing serious illness and hospitalization across ages and ethnicities. The company plans to apply for emergency use authorization from the FDA in the first half of April. If authorized, it would be the fourth Covid-19 vaccine available in the U.S. (Associated Press / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / CNN)
💡 Why J&J’s shots aren’t reaching more arms. (Politico)
8/ The Justice Department said evidence from the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol supports charges of seditious conspiracy against some defendants. Sedition is the crime of conspiring to overthrow the government. People who conspire to “oppose by force the authority” of the government or use force “to prevent, hinder or delay the execution of any law of the United States” can be charged with sedition. “I personally believe the evidence is trending toward that, and probably meets those elements,” Michael Sherwin said, the federal prosecutor who had been leading the Justice Department’s inquiry. “I believe the facts do support those charges. And I think that, as we go forward, more facts will support that.” Sherwin also reiterated that prosecutors were examining Trump’s role in inciting the mob that marched to the Capitol. “It’s unequivocal that Trump was the magnet that brought the people to D.C. on the 6th. Now the question is, is he criminally culpable for everything that happened during the siege, during the breach?” Sherwin said. “We have people looking at everything.” Federal prosecutors, meanwhile, are preparing to start plea discussions with many of the more than 300 suspects charged in the riot. (New York Times / Washington Post)
9/ The House Oversight Committee held a hearing on legislation that the House passed last year to make Washington, D.C., the 51st state. Democrats argued that Washingtonians are treated as second-class citizens, performing the responsibilities of citizens but not receiving representation in Congress in return. Republicans, meanwhile, are uniformly opposed to the idea, claiming that the legislation violates the Constitution and accused Democrats of backing it in an attempt to improve their majorities in the House and the Senate. A new national poll finds that 54% of likely voters think D.C. should be a state, a record high level of support. (NBC News / New York Times / CBS News / Washington Post)
10/ The White House is considering a $3 trillion infrastructure and jobs package as part of Biden’s “Build Back Better” agenda. That effort is expected to be broken into two parts, rather than trying to push a single package through Congress. One plank would be focused on infrastructure, roads, bridges, and several climate change initiatives. The other would be centered on reducing economic inequities through investments in paid leave, universal pre-K, and community college, and extending the Child Tax Credit. Advisers are expected to present the proposal to Biden this week. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNBC)
11/ The Education Department canceled $1 billion in student loans for 72,000 students defrauded by for-profit schools. The move reversed a Trump administration policy that had provided only partial relief. Former Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos overruled department officials on student loan forgiveness in 2019, which Congress tried to overturn last March. Trump vetoed the measure. (Associated Press / Axios)
12/ Betsy DeVos earned at least $225 million in outside income while Trump’s education secretary. DeVos’s exact income is unclear because her income was reported in such wide ranges, with many assets being reported as “over $5 million” or “over $1 million.” (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington / Forbes)
1/ The House passed two immigration bills that would establish a path to citizenship for roughly 3.4 million undocumented immigrants. The American Dream and Promise Act, which passed 228 to 197, would create a path for citizenship for the approximately 2.5 million undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children, known as “Dreamers,” and others granted Temporary Protected Status for humanitarian reasons. The House also passed The Farm Workforce Modernization Act, which could create a path for more than 1 million undocumented farm workers to apply for legal status. The bills are narrower than the comprehensive immigration package introduced in February, which would have created a path to citizenship for most of the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. Neither bill, however, is likely to overcome the 60-vote threshold in the Senate. “Democrats [are] wasting time on a bill that could not be less timely or targeted to the issue at hand,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / CNBC / CNN / Bloomberg / ABC News / Wall Street Journal)
2/ More than 500 unaccompanied migrant children and teens have been held in jail-like detention centers for more than 10 days at the border. Under law, minors are allowed to be held for 72 hours in the Customs and Border Protection detention centers. (NPR)
3/ Biden urged Congress to “swiftly pass” the Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act to address the rise in discrimination and violence against Asian Americans following the mass shooting that killed eight people, including six Asian woman. “While we do not yet know the motive, as I said last week, we condemn in the strongest possible terms the ongoing crisis of gender-based and anti-Asian violence that has long plagued our nation,” Biden said in a statement. The measure would increase Justice Department oversight of coronavirus-related hate crimes, expedite the federal response to the rise of hate crimes, provide support to state and local governments to improve hate crimes reporting, and ensure that information on hate crimes is more accessible to Asian American communities. (CNBC / The Guardian / Washington Post / Axios)
4/ The CDC revised its physical distancing requirements for children in school, from 6 feet to 3 feet. Teachers and adult school staff, however, must still adhere to the 6 feet guidelines. Masks remain mandatory for all. (ABC News / NBC News / Associated Press / CNN / Washington Post)
😷 Dept. of “We’re gonna get through this.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~122,080,000; deaths: ~2,696,000
52% of front-line healthcare workers have been vaccinated. (Washington Post)
5/ The FBI is investigating whether Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his aides gave false data on New York nursing home deaths to the Justice Department. The state initially released only the number of nursing homes residents who died of Covid-19, despite knowing that thousands of residents had died after being transferred to hospitals. The FBI has also questioned state officials about a provision in last year’s state budget that granted nursing homes and hospitals broad legal protections for care during the pandemic, which made it difficult for families of residents who died or were infected by the coronavirus to sue. (The City / New York Times)
6/ U.S. diplomats accused China of threatening world stability while Chinese officials alleged that America is a human rights hypocrite during the first high-level meeting between the two global powers. In his opening statement, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Beijing needed to return to a rules-based system and vowed to bring up “deep concerns” about China’s actions in Hong Kong and Xinjiang. China’s Yang Jiechi replied that the U.S. was being “condescending” and wasn’t “qualified to speak to China from a position of strength,” adding “We hope that the United States will do better on human rights” – a reference to the Black Lives Matter movement in the U.S. The public exchange was supposed to be a four-minute photo-op but it lasted more than hour as the two sides traded barbs. (NBC News / Politico / CNN / Bloomberg / New York Times / CBS News / Reuters)
7/ The White House asked several staffers to resign or work remotely after past marijuana use was discovered during their background checks – regardless of whether they had been in one of 14 states where the drug is legal. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that “only five people” are no longer employed at the White House after disclosing marijuana use. (Daily Beast / Politico / CNN)
1/ The U.S. is on track to surpass Biden’s goal of administering 100 million Covid-19 shots by Friday. Just over 99 million shots have been administered since Biden took office, and the country is averaging nearly 2.5 million injections per day. 65% of people age 65 or older had received at least one shot and 36% have been fully vaccinated. The Biden administration is reportedly looking toward the middle of May to relax travel restrictions with Mexico and Canada, and on inbound international travel from the U.K., Europe, and Brazil. (NBC News / Politico / CNBC / Bloomberg)
😷 Dept. of “We’re gonna get through this.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~121,595,000; deaths: ~2,687,000
2/ Biden agreed to send about 2.5 million of doses of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine to Mexico. The announcement of the vaccine deal follows a recent call where Biden asked President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico whether more could be done to limit the flow of migrants coming to the border. Today, Mexico announced that it will limit travel across its northern and southern borders starting March 19, and deploy sanitary control measures at both borders to slow the spread of Covid-19. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that the discussions over vaccines and border security were “unrelated” but also “overlapping.” When asked if the vaccine offer to Mexico had “strings attached,” Psaki replied that there were “several diplomatic conversations — parallel conversations — many layers of conversations” at play. The U.S. will also send about 1.5 million doses to Canada. (Washington Post / NBC News / New York Times / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
3/ An inspector general’s report found no evidence to support a Pennsylvania postal worker’s claim that his supervisors had tampered with mail-in ballots during the presidential election. Richard Hopkins initially alleged that he overheard plans to backdate ballots received after Nov. 3 and pass them off as legitimate. Hopkins later released a sworn affidavit recanting those allegations. Lindsey Graham and other Republicans, however, repeatedly cited the initial allegation to press baseless claims of voter fraud in the election. (Washington Post)
4/ A dozen House Republicans voted against awarding Congressional Gold Medals to three police officers who defended the U.S. Capitol when it was attacked by a pro-Trump mob on Jan. 6. Several of the lawmakers objected to the use of the term “insurrectionists” in the resolution, while others objected to the use of the word “temple” to describe the Capitol. (Washington Post)
5/ 21 Republican-led states sued Biden for revoking the Keystone XL oil pipeline permit. The lawsuit alleges that Biden exceeded his authority to revoke the permit because of a 2011 provision that required Obama to approve the pipeline or issue a determination that it wasn’t in the national interest. Obama ultimately rejected the application, but Trump approved it. Biden then revoked the approval. Several of the states aren’t even near the proposed pipeline path. (NBC News)
6/ The Senate confirmed Xavier Becerra as health and human services secretary, the first Latino to lead the department. The vote was 50-49. Susan Collins was the only Republican to support Becerra’s nomination. (New York Times / NBC News / CNN)
7/ The Senate confirmed William Burns to be Biden’s CIA director. Ted Cruz had delayed Burns’ nomination in an effort to pressure the Biden administration to issue sanctions to stop the completion of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline between Russia and Germany. After Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued a “strong declaration” suggesting future sanctions, Cruz said he would no longer delay Senate confirmation. (Politico / CNN)
8/ New York prosecutors investigating Trump’s business practices sent new subpoenas to local governments near Trump’s Seven Springs as part of an inquiry into whether the value of the Westchester County property was improperly inflated to reduce his taxes. District Attorney Cyrus Vance’s office has also subpoenaed material from people who worked with Trump to develop the property. Meanwhile, the Manhattan district attorney’s office is scheduled to meet again with Michael Cohen for the eighth time. (Associated Press / Washington Post)
9/ Putin wished Biden “good health” after he agreed that the Russian leader was a “killer.” Biden also pledged that the Kremlin is “going to pay” for Russian interference in the 2020 election, which was detailed in a declassified intelligence report. Russia recalled its Washington ambassador after Biden’s comments, and warned of the possibility of an “irreversible deterioration of relations.” (New York Times / Reuters / CNN)
1/ Biden discouraged potential migrants hoping to enter the United States, saying “don’t come […] don’t leave your town or city or community.” More than 13,000 unaccompanied migrant children are currently in U.S. custody and the country is on pace to stop more migrants crossing the border than in the last 20 years. Republicans, meanwhile, have blamed the surge of migrants and unaccompanied minors at the southern border on Biden rescinding Trump’s immigration policies, including a program that returned asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their cases were being considered. (ABC News / CBS News / CNN / The Guardian / USA Today)
2/ Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testified that the U.S.-Mexico “border is secure and the border is not open.” In a hearing held by the House Homeland Security Committee, Mayorkas defended the Biden administration’s approach to creating a “fair and humane” immigration system despite the administration struggling to accommodate a surge of unaccompanied minors at the border. Republican lawmakers, meanwhile, repeatedly called the situation a “crisis” and blamed Biden for mishandling immigration policy. “The situation is undoubtedly difficult,” Mayorkas said. “What the president is committed to and what I am committed to execute is to ensure that we have an immigration system that works and that migration to our country is safe, orderly and humane.” (CNN / Politico / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
3/ The Biden administration limited what Border Patrol can share with the media about the migrant surge at the border. Officials said the restrictions are seen as an unofficial “gag order” that were communicated verbally – not through an official memo. Border Patrol officials were also told to deny all media requests for “ride-alongs” with agents and send all questions from the media to the press office in Washington for approval. (NBC News)
4/ Twenty-one Republican state attorneys general threatened to take action against the Biden administration over $350 billion set aside under coronavirus stimulus relief to help cities, counties, and states pay for the cost of the pandemic. In a seven-page letter, the Republican officials asked Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to clarify a provision in the $1.9 trillion stimulus law that prevents them from using the federal funds to deliberately reduce their revenue through local tax cuts. The law requires repayment if any of the money is spent in violation of that condition. The group claimed that the restrictions “would represent the greatest invasion of state sovereignty by Congress in the history of our Republic” — and they threatened to take “appropriate additional action” in response. (Washington Post / New York Times)
😷 Dept. of “We’re gonna get through this.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~121,003,000; deaths: ~2,676,000
Health and Human Services is directing $10 billion to increase Covid-19 testing in schools. Another $2.25 billion will support scaled-up testing in underserved populations and $150 million will be allocated to help get Covid-19 treatments to underserved communities. (NBC News / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
The CDC plans to update Covid-19 guidance for schools to reduce social distancing recommendations from 6 feet to 3 feet. A study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases, compared infection rates in Massachusetts public schools with different physical distancing requirements. The research suggests that 3 feet may be as safe as 6 feet if everyone is masked. (CNBC)
Twenty-three out of 31 top posts at the Department of Health and Human Services are held by officials in acting capacities. Approval of Biden’s nominees have been held up in the Senate by Republicans. (New York Times)
Trump recommended that everyone get the Covid-19 vaccine, calling it “safe” and “something that works.” (CNN / NBC News)
5/ Senate Democrats introduced the For the People Act, a comprehensive voting reform and anti-corruption bill that was passed by the House earlier this month. Chuck Schumer said proposals to roll back voting access in several Republican-led states “smack of Jim Crow” and represent a threat to democracy, which would be countered by the legislation. The bill, however, faces an uphill battle in the Senate, where it would require at least 10 Republican votes to overcome a filibuster. Schumer added “everything is on the table […] Failure is not an option.” (Bloomberg / CNBC / CNN / Axios / Washington Post)
6/ Biden suggested that he supports reforming the filibuster after Mitch McConnell threatened to go “scorched earth” if Democrats move all legislation to a simple majority vote in the Senate. “I don’t think that you have to eliminate the filibuster,” Biden said, adding that he preferred a return to the “talking filibuster” (a requirement that a senator holds the floor in order to delay a bill). “It’s getting to the point where, you know, democracy is having a hard time functioning.” At least nine Democratic senators, however, have said they aren’t ready to scrap the supermajority requirement for most legislation yet. (ABC News / Politico / New York Times / NPR)
7/ Biden promised that Putin “will pay a price” for his efforts to undermine the 2020 election following a declassified intelligence report that Russian meddled in the election with the aim of “denigrating” Biden’s candidacy. When asked what the consequences would be, Biden replied: “You’ll see shortly.” (CNN / Politico / Reuters / The Guardian)
1/ Putin authorized operations to interfere in the 2020 election by conducting an influence campaign aimed at “denigrating” Biden and the Democratic Party, while “supporting Trump, undermining public confidence in the electoral process, and exacerbating sociopolitical divisions in the U.S.,” according to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. No foreign government, however, attempted to change votes or alter ballots. Putin used proxies linked to Russian intelligence services to promote “influence narratives – including misleading or unsubstantiated allegations against President Biden – to U.S. media organizations, U.S. officials, and prominent U.S. individuals, including some close to former President Trump and his administration.” The U.S. intelligence community also found that Iran conducted influence operations and that China “considered but did not deploy influence efforts” intended to change the outcome of the election. (CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Axios / NBC News)
2/ The Army initially rejected Washington, D.C.’s request for the National Guard ahead of the Jan. 6 rally that led to the Capitol riot, saying the military shouldn’t be needed to help police with traffic and crowd management, unless more than 100,000 demonstrators were expected. The Army ultimately approved the mission and provided 340 members of the National Guard to help with street closures and crowd control as requested. (Washington Post / CNN)
3/ The U.S. is on pace to see the largest number of migrants apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border in two decades. The surge has created a backlog in Border Patrol stations, with more than 4,200 children in custody and 2,943 of those children being held over the 72-hour legal limit. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, however, insisted that the “difficult” situation was under control. Mayorkas defended the administration’s policy of allowing unaccompanied teens and children to remain in the country – rejecting the Trump-era policy of immediately sending children back to Mexico or other countries – but said “We are expelling most single adults and families.” As the Biden administration struggles to find space for the surge in migrant children and teenagers, many are being forced to sleep on gym mats with foil sheets and go for days without showering. (NBC News / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Associated Press)
4/ Mitch McConnell threatened to go “completely scorched earth” if Democrats weaken or eliminate the filibuster. McConnell promised to “break the Senate” and turn the chamber into a “100-car pileup” with procedural delays if Democrats nix the 60-vote threshold for most legislation. Sen. Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, meanwhile, said the filibuster was “making a mockery of American democracy” and holding the Senate “hostage” by turning “the world’s most deliberative body into one of the world’s most ineffectual bodies.” Democrats need 51 votes to kill off the filibuster, but Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema have said they oppose to changing the rules, as has Biden. Democratic priorities, including voting-rights legislation, background checks for gun purchases, a national $15 minimum wage, and immigration overhaul, will all likely face Republican filibusters. (New York Times / Axios / Bloomberg / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
5/ A Democratic senator suggested that the FBI’s 2018 background check of Brett Kavanaugh may have been “fake.” During his Supreme Court confirmation hearing, Kavanaugh was accused of sexual assault by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and several other women. Trump agreed at the time to order the “FBI to conduct a supplemental investigation” into the allegations against Kavanaugh. Then-FBI Director Christopher Wray, however, told the Senate that the White House had limited the Kavanaugh investigation. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse called on the newly-confirmed attorney general, Merrick Garland, to facilitate “proper oversight” into questions about how thoroughly the FBI investigated Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearing. (The Guardian)
6/ The Senate confirmed Deb Haaland to lead the Interior Department, making the congresswoman the first Native American ever to serve as a Cabinet secretary. Haaland will oversee the agency that manages the federal government’s relations with tribes, as well as 20% of U.S. land, and nearly a quarter of the nation’s oil and gas production. (Politico / ABC News)
7/ U.S. intelligence assessed that North Korea could be preparing to carry out their first weapons test since Biden took office. Kim Jong Un’s sister, meanwhile, warned the U.S. to “refrain from causing a stink” if it wants to “sleep in peace” for the next four years. The Biden administration had tried to reach out to North Korea through multiple channels since last month to start a dialogue on Pyongyang’s nuclear-weapons and ballistic-missile programs. The U.S. never received a response. (CNN / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal)
1/ Biden deployed FEMA to the U.S.-Mexico border to help shelter and transfer thousands of unaccompanied migrant teens and children, who are currently being held in Customs and Border Protection detention facilities and tent shelters. There are roughly 4,000 children currently in CBP custody – a 25% increase from a week earlier. The Biden administration has struggled to expand Health and Human Services shelter capacity, where about 8,500 teens and children are currently being held. Unaccompanied minors continue to arrive more quickly than HHS officials can match them with sponsors. The current average time children spend in facilities designed to hold adults for 24 hours, has increased to 117 hours – 45 hours longer than the legal limit. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said that a CBP facility is “no place for a child,” but that border agents are “working around the clock in difficult circumstances to take care of children temporarily in our care.” The White House, meanwhile, has declined to call the situation a “crisis” or label it a national emergency, which Trump did in 2019 to circumvent Congress and fund his border wall with money lawmakers refused to give him. (New York Times / NBC News / ABC News / Washington Post / Vox / CNN)
2/ FEMA will temporarily house up to 3,000 migrant teenage boys at a Dallas convention center in an effort to alleviate overcrowding at border facilities in South Texas. The Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center will be used for up to 90 days starting this week. (Associated Press / Washington Post)
3/ The CDC’s Covid-19 guidance during the Trump administration was not grounded in science or “primarily authored” by staff, according to a review ordered by Biden’s CDC director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, as part of her pledge to restore public trust in the agency. The review found that some guidance “used less direct language than available evidence supported,” “needed to be updated to reflect the latest scientific evidence,” and “presented the underlying science base for guidance inconsistently.” (Washington Post / CNN)
4/ The CDC warned that the U.S. could see another surge in Covid-19 cases as states relax restrictions and Americans return to airports for spring break travel. “I’m pleading with you, for the sake of our nation’s health,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said. “Cases climbed last spring, they climbed again in the summer, they will climb now if we stop taking precautions when we continue to get more and more people vaccinated.” The Transportation Security Administration, however, has screened more than 1 million people every day since Thursday – the highest volumes in a year. Dr. Anthony Fauci, meanwhile, warned states against the “risky business” of eliminating public health measures, saying even though things are headed “in the right direction,” caseloads were still too high to declare “victory” by eliminating restrictions. “Don’t spike the ball on the five-yard line. Wait until you get into the end zone. We are not in the end zone yet.” (CNBC / NBC News / CNN / CBS News)
5/ The Justice Department arrested and charged two men with assaulting the Capitol Police officer who died after being sprayed with a chemical by rioters storming the Capitol on Jan. 6. While it’s not clear whether Brian Sicknick died because of his exposure to the spray, Julian Elie Khater and George Pierre Tanios were charged with nine counts, including assaulting three officers with a deadly weapon. The Justice Department said that the rioters were recorded on video talking about attacking officers, including Sicknick. (Washington Post / NPR / New York Times)
6/ The U.S. has about 1,000 more troops in Afghanistan than it has disclosed, which brings the actual number of troops to around 3,500. The Trump administration and the Taliban agreed last year to remove all remaining American forces by May 1. Biden, meanwhile, hasn’t decided whether U.S. troops will stay beyond May 1 or leave, ending America’s longest war after more than 19 years. (New York Times)
7/ The Defense Department’s inspector general’s office concluded its long-delayed investigation into Michael Flynn and his acceptance of money from Russian and Turkish interests before joining the Trump administration, a potential violation of the Constitution’s emoluments clause. The inspector general’s investigation was opened in April 2017, but was put on hold for more than three years. After Trump’s pardon, however, the Justice Department allowed the inspector general’s office to resume its investigation. The watchdog’s office closed its investigation one week after the Biden administration took office and forwarded its findings to the Army. (Washington Post)
8/ The White House is expected to propose a suite of federal tax increases on corporations and the wealthy – the first major hike in almost 30 years – to fund key initiatives like infrastructure, climate, and expanded help for poor Americans. The tax hikes would be included as part of infrastructure and jobs packages and would likely include repealing portions of Trump’s 2017 tax law, which benefited corporations and wealthy individuals. The planned increases reportedly include: raising the corporate tax from 21% to 28%; increasing the income tax rate on people making more than $400,000; expanding the estate tax; paring back tax preferences on pass-through businesses such as LLCs; and setting up a higher capital gains tax rate for individuals making at least $1 million. The Tax Policy Center found that the plan would raise around $2.1 trillion over 10 years. (Bloomberg)
9/ Officials found the audio recording of Trump’s call urging Georgia’s top investigator to find evidence of voter fraud in the trash folder on her device. The audio file of the Dec. 23 call between Trump and investigator Frances Watson was discovered as part of a public records request. State officials originally said they did not think audio of the call existed. It’s also not clear why Watson moved the audio of the call to her trash folder. (CNN)
1/ Biden directed states to make all adults eligible for coronavirus vaccinations no later than May 1, and set a July 4th goal to “mark our independence from this virus.” The White House has promised that the country will have enough vaccine supply for all adults by the end of May – meaning not all adults will be able to get a vaccine on May 1, but instead they will be able to get in line for one. Biden also said he was doubling the number of pharmacies and the number of federally run mass vaccination centers to administer doses. The U.S., meanwhile, has administered more than 100 million Covid-19 shots so far, with 35 million people have been fully vaccinated and 66 million having received at least a first dose. The U.S. is now averaging of over 2 million doses a day. And at a Rose Garden event celebrating the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, Biden said the legislation “changes the paradigm. For the first time in a long time, this bill puts working people in this nation first.” (NBC News / NPR / Washington Post / Vox / CBS News / Bloomberg / New York Times / CNBC / The Guardian)
2/ The Justice Department expects to charge at least 100 more still-unidentified people connected to the Jan. 6 attack at the U.S. Capitol. Describing the investigation as “one of the largest,” “most complex” investigations and prosecutions in U.S. history, federal prosecutors have charged 320 people so far, executed more than 900 search warrants, and have received more than 15,000 hours of surveillance video. Authorities have also reviewed more 1,600 electronic devices, 210,000 tips, and 80,000 witness interviews. Prosecutors asked a judge for 60-day delays across a series of Capitol riot cases, saying it “will take time” to organize the evidence and make it available to suspects and their defense attorneys. (ABC News / Politico / NBC News / Washington Post)
3/ Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jerry Nadler, and at least 13 other House Democrats from New York called for Gov. Andrew Cuomo to resign. Six women have accused Cuomo of sexual assault or harassment, and allegations have also emerged that his administration covered up Covid nursing home deaths. “Unfortunately, the Governor is not only facing the accusation that he engaged in a pattern of sexual harassment and assault,” the lawmakers said in a joint statement. “There is also the extensive report from the Attorney General that found the Cuomo administration hid data on COVID-19 nursing home deaths from both the public and the state legislature.” The six harassment allegations are being investigated by state Attorney General Letitia James, while Democrats in the state Assembly initiated an impeachment investigation that will be carried out concurrently with the AG probe. Cuomo, meanwhile, addressed the allegations at a news conference, saying “I did not do what has been alleged, period […] I’m not going to resign, I was not elected by the politicians, I was elected by the people.” (ABC News / NPR / NBC News / CNN / Bloomberg / New York Times / Politico / Washington Post / The Guardian)
4/ The Biden administration will end a Trump-era policy that allowed the Department of Homeland Security to deport caregivers for unaccompanied migrant children. The 2018 policy allowed DHS to identify the immigration status of would-be caregivers and deport those who were in the country illegally. Officials said they hoped that revoking the policy would encourage more parents to come forward to claim their children, which would also help alleviate crowding at Health and Human Services facilities. (NBC News)
5/ The Manhattan district attorney leading the criminal investigation against Trump and the Trump Organization will not run for re-election. The decision by Cyrus Vance means that if he decides to indict Trump, the next district attorney will inherit the investigation and be responsible for prosecuting Trump. (New Yorker / New York Times / Bloomberg / CNN)
1/ Biden signed the $1.9 trillion economic relief package into law – his first major legislative achievement in office. “This historic legislation is about rebuilding the backbone of this country,” Biden said during signing. The American Rescue Package authorizes a third round of one-time stimulus payments up to $1,400 for most Americans, extends enhanced unemployment benefits, and changes the tax code to benefit families with children. The package also unlocks new federal aid to help schools reopen, aid cities and states with budget shortfalls, provide billions in aid for small businesses, and assists in the rollout of a coronavirus vaccine. The U.S. has officially allocated over $5 trillion in funding for Covid-19 relief. (Washington Post / Politico / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / ABC News / Bloomberg / The Guardian)
2/ Some Americans could receive coronavirus stimulus checks as soon as this weekend, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said. “This is, of course, just the first wave,” Psaki said, adding “payments to eligible Americans will continue throughout the course of the next several weeks.” (CNBC)
3/ Biden will address the nation tonight at 8 p.m. Eastern, marking the one-year anniversary of the day the World Health Organization declared a pandemic, and Covid-19 restrictions that forced the U.S. into lockdown. Biden is expected to use his prime-time remarks to “address the American people and talk about what we went through as a nation this past year.” Biden previewed his remarks on Wednesday, saying “I’m going to talk about what comes next […] explain what we will do as a government and what we will ask of the American people. There is light at the end of this dark tunnel. But we cannot let our guard down now or assume the victory is inevitable. Together, we’re gonna get through this pandemic and usher in a healthier and more hopeful future.” (ABC News / Bloomberg / CNN)
4/ The U.S. death rate increased 15% last year as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic – the deadliest year in recorded U.S. history. Covid-19 killed nearly 400,000 people in the U.S. in 2020, making it the third-leading cause of death behind heart disease and cancer. (Politico)
😷 Dept. of “We’re gonna get through this pandemic.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~118,358,000; deaths: ~2,626,000
All living former presidents and first ladies — except the Trumps — appeared in a public service announcement urging Americans to get vaccinated against the coronavirus. The Trumps received their coronavirus vaccinations privately at the White House in January, which wasn’t disclosed until recently. (Politico)
Trump issued a statement on presidential letterhead demanding credit for the privately developed coronavirus vaccines, saying “I hope that everyone remembers when they’re getting the Covid-19 (often referred to as the China Virus) Vaccine, that if I wasn’t president, you wouldn’t be getting that beautiful ‘shot’ for 5 years, at best, and probably wouldn’t be getting it at all. I hope everyone remembers!” (ABC News / Washington Post)
5/ More than 3,700 unaccompanied migrant children are in Border Patrol custody. One Homeland Security official described the border facilities as “absolutely” overcrowded, adding several were “severely overcapacity.” Border Patrol apprehended nearly 800 unaccompanied migrant children yesterday – nearly double current 450 daily average. After being taken into custody, unaccompanied children are required by law to be turned over to the Department of Health and Human Services within 72 hours. Kids, however, are currently staying in Border Patrol custody more than four days on average. (CNN)
6/ The House passed two bills bills aimed at strengthening the nation’s gun laws. The bills would expand background checks on the purchase or transfer of firearms and close the “Charleston loophole,” which allows gun sales to proceed without a completed background check if three businesses days have passed. The bill, however, faces opposition in the Senate, where it does not currently have the 60 votes needed to advance. (USA Today / NPR / New York Times)
84% of voters support universal background checks, while 11% oppose the policy. 77% of Republicans, 82% of independents, and 91% of Democrats approve of universal background checks. (Newsweek)
7/ In a newly released December phone call, Trump pressured Georgia’s Secretary of State chief investigator to find evidence of fraud with absentee-by-mail ballots, telling her that she would be “praised” for overturning results that were in favor of Biden. “Whatever you can do […] it would be — it’s a great thing,” Trump told Frances Watson, adding that “When the right answer comes out, you’ll be praised […] something bad happened.” At the time, Watson was investigating an audit of more than 15,000 signatures in Cobb County, which resulted in no evidence of fraudulent mail-in ballots. The six-minute call was first reported in January and released in full on Wednesday. (Wall Street Journal / NPR / CNN)
Michael Cohen has met with Manhattan district attorney’s office prosecutors at least seven times related to the investigation into Trump’s taxes and finances. (NBC News)
8/ Former Acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller said he believes that Trump’s speech on the morning of Jan. 6 caused a mob to violently attack the U.S. Capitol later that day, saying “Would anybody have marched on the Capitol, and tried to overrun the Capitol, without the president’s speech? I think it’s pretty much definitive that wouldn’t have happened.” As the acting defense secretary at the time, Miller was in charge of the military’s response and has since been criticized for the Department of Defense’s slow deployment of the National Guard. While Miller has rejected the criticism, calling the speed of the response normal, he added that political climate at the time as a “constant drumbeat” of “potential illegal, immoral, and unethical activities.” (Vice News)
9/ A bipartisan group of senators introduced the “Sunshine Protection Act of 2021” to make Daylight Saving Time permanent. Sixteen states have passed initiatives to keep DST year-round, but a federal statue is require for the state to enact the change. Daylight Saving Time begins Sunday and ends November 7. (CBS News)
poll/ 30% of Americans say they won’t get a coronavirus vaccine, while 45% say they will, and 22% saying they have already been vaccinated. 49% of Republican men, 47% of Trump supporters, 30% of white men without college degrees, and 38% of white evangelical Christians all say they will not get vaccinated. (NPR)
1/ The House passed Biden’s $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief package, which will send $1,400 stimulus checks to millions of Americans, extend enhanced unemployment benefits, help schools and colleges reopen, and fund vaccine distribution. One Democrat — Rep. Jared Golden — joined all Republicans in voting against the measure. The House passed a similar version of the bill last month, but had to approve changes made by the Senate after the parliamentarian ruled that the federal minimum wage increase violated the Senate’s rules. “This legislation is about giving the backbone of this nation – the essential workers, the working people who built this country, the people who keep this country going – a fighting chance,” Biden said in a statement. Nancy Pelosi called the bill a “force for fairness and justice in America,” comparing it to the Affordable Care Act in its significance, and saying “I join President Biden in his promise: help is on the way.” Despite 70% of Americans favoring the package, Republicans argued that the plan was a bloated “laundry list of left-wing priorities that predate the pandemic.” Biden is expected to sign the relief bill Friday, and mark the one-year anniversary of the pandemic in his first prime-time address to the nation Thursday. (New York Times / Washington Post / NPR / Politics / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / The Guardian / ABC News / CBS News / USA Today)
What’s in the Covid-19 relief package: Stimulus checks, unemployment assistance, aid to states and municipalities, nutrition assistance, housing aid, tax credits for families and workers, optional paid sick and family leave, education and child care funding, health insurance subsidies and Medicaid matching funds, more money for small businesses, and vaccine and testing funds. (CNN)
2/ Biden ordered an additional 100 million doses of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine. The planned purchase would bring the country’s total vaccine order to 800 million doses – split among three manufacturers – and give the U.S. more than enough supply to vaccinate every adult in the country. Johnson & Johnson, however, is unlikely to deliver the additional 100 million shots in time to speed up vaccinations this spring. (NBC News / Politico)
3/ Thousands of unaccompanied migrant children are being held in U.S. Border Patrol custody for more than four days on average in facilities unfit for minors. Under U.S. law, unaccompanied children have to be turned over within 72 hours to the Department of Health and Human Services. Instead, they’re staying in Customs and Border Protection facilities for 107 hours on average because, in part, the number of unaccompanied children crossing the border is outpacing the availability of proper shelter space for kids. Over the last 21 days, CBP encountered an average of 435 unaccompanied children daily – up from an average of around 340 children. (CNN)
4/ The Senate confirmed Merrick Garland to be the next U.S. attorney general. The 70-30 vote comes five years after Obama nominated Garland to serve on the Supreme Court. The Senate, then under Republican control, refused to consider a hearing or vote. Garland told senators that the attorney general is “not the president’s lawyer,” while noting that he will follow Biden’s lead on policy matters “as long as it is consistent with the law.” He is expected to be sworn in at the Justice Department on Thursday. (Associated Press / Politico / NPR / ABC News / New York Times / Washington Post)
5/ The Senate confirmed Rep. Marcia Fudge as secretary of Housing and Urban Development, making her the first Black woman to lead the agency in more than four decades. Her appointment leaves a vacancy in the House, where Democrats hold a narrow majority. (CNN / Washington Post)
6/ Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin extended the deployment of National Guard members at the U.S. Capitol through May. The number of Guard members will be reduced from about 5,200 to 2,300. Mitch McConnell, meanwhile, called the enhanced security measures at the Capitol an overreaction, “We’ve overdone it. I’m extremely uncomfortable with the fact that my constituents can’t come to the Capitol. There’s all this razor wire around the complex. It reminds me of my last visit to Kabul.” (Washington Post / ABC News / Politico)
7/ An expert on Georgia’s racketeering law was hired to help prosecutors investigating potential efforts by Trump and others to influence the 2020 election. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis engaged John Floyd to serve as a special assistant district attorney to work with her office on any cases involving allegations of racketeering. On Feb. 10, Willis’s office said it had opened a criminal investigation into “potential violations of Georgia law prohibiting the solicitation of election fraud, the making of false statements to state and local government bodies, conspiracy, racketeering, violation of oath of office and any involvement in violence or threats related to the election’s administration.” Willis’s office also confirmed that the investigation includes the Jan. 2 phone call in which Trump pressured Georgia’s secretary of state to “find” him enough votes to overturn the state’s presidential election results. (ABC News)
1/ House Democrats plan to pass the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package Wednesday and send it to Biden so he can sign it before key unemployment aid programs expire on Sunday. Despite united Republican opposition and a narrow Democratic majority, Nancy Pelosi said she is confident they have the votes to pass one of Congress’s largest-ever economic relief bills. House Democratic Caucus Chair Hakeem Jeffries said he was “110% confident” the package will pass. Millions of Americans are expected to receive direct payments of up to $1,400 this month. Expanded unemployment benefits would also be extended through Sept. 6 at $300 a week. The “American Rescue Plan” will also increase the tax break to $3,000 for every child age 6 to 17 and $3,600 for every child under the age of 6. (Politico / Washington Post / CNN / CNBC / ABC News)
Biden’s won’t out his name on the next round of stimulus checks in an effort to speed distribution. Distribution of an earlier round of coronavirus stimulus checks were delayed because Trump decided to add his name to the memo line of the checks. (New York Times / Bloomberg)
2/ The coronavirus relief bill will expand subsidies for health plans under the Affordable Care Act, making health insurance affordable for 1.3 million more Americans who could not afford insurance under the original law. The changes, however, will last only for two years. (New York Times / Associated Press)
3/ Since the pandemic, about 700,000 mothers have dropped out of the U.S. workforce in states where most students are learning from home. The participation rate of mothers in the labor force was about 18 percentage points lower than fathers’ before the pandemic. Last year, the gap widened by 5 points in states offering mostly remote instruction. About 10 million mothers living with their school-age children were unemployed in January, roughly 1.4 million more than in the same period last year. Separately, a national study found that younger children have fallen behind on reading skills during the pandemic. Second graders were 26% behind where they would have been, absent the pandemic, in their ability to read aloud accurately and quickly. Third graders were 33% behind. (Bloomberg / New York Times)
4/ More than 3,400 migrant children are in Customs and Border Protection custody – triple the number two weeks ago. More than 1,360 of the children have been detained in border facilities longer than the maximum 72 hours permitted by law despite being referred for placement in shelters by Homeland Security. Of those, 169 children are younger than 13. Around 2,800 are awaiting placement in shelters suitable for minors, but there are just under 500 beds available to accommodate them. Border agents, meanwhile, encountered about 78,000 migrants at the border in January — more than double the same time a year ago and higher than in any January in a decade. (New York Times / CNN)
5/ The Biden administration is “not ending family detention” despite recent court filings and public comments condemning migrant family detention. Instead, a senior Immigration and Customs Enforcement official said the agency will release some families more quickly and expand the number of family detention beds in order to move families through the process faster, including for deportation. “ICE does maintain and continues to a system for family detention,” the ICE official said. “We are not closing the family detention centers.” There are more than 100 families in a facility near San Antonio and over 350 in a South Texas facility. The number of immigrants taken into custody by ICE officers, meanwhile, fell more than 60% in February compared with the last three months of the Trump administration. (NBC News / Washington Post)
6/ The Biden administration notified the Supreme Court that it was dropping its defense of the Trump-era expansion of the “public charge” rule, which made it more difficult for immigrants to obtain permanent residency if they were likely to need benefits such as Medicaid, food stamps or federal housing aid. In 2019, the Department of Homeland Security expanded the public charge definition to include anyone likely to require a broader range of government benefits for more than 12 months in any three-year period. The Justice Department notified the court that the Biden administration agreed with the local governments challenging the policy. (NBC News / CNBC)
7/ Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a Republican-backed bill into law that makes it harder to vote by cutting the state’s early voting period and closing the polls an hour earlier on Election Day. Republicans in the state House and Senate approved the changes over the opposition of all Democratic legislators, saying election integrity must be protected. They noted, however, that Iowa has no history of election irregularities and that November’s election saw record turnout with no evidence of widespread voter fraud. (Des Moines Register / CNN / NBC News)
8/ The Georgia Senate passed a bill to repeal no-excuse absentee voting and require more voter ID. Under the legislation, voters would need to be 65 years old or older, absent from their precinct, observing a religious holiday, be required to provide care for someone with a physical disability, or required to work “for the protection of the health, life, or safety of the public during the entire time the polls are open,” or be an overseas or military voter to qualify for an absentee ballot. In addition, Georgians would need to provide a driver’s license number, state ID number or other identification. The legislation heads to the Georgia House of Representatives, where it is expected to pass. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution / CNN / NPR)
9/ The Manhattan district attorney’s office subpoenaed documents from a company that loaned the Trump Organization $130 million for its Chicago skyscraper and are examining whether the company misled lenders or insurance brokers about the valuation for certain properties. The subpoena to Fortress Investment Management was issued late last year. (CNN)
10/ The Republican National Committee brushed aside Trump’s cease-and-desist demand, saying it has “has every right to refer to public figures” while fundraising. Trump’s attorneys had asked the RNC and other GOP organization to stop using Trump’s name and likeness in fundraising appeals. The RNC, however, will move part of its spring donor retreat to Mar-a-Lago from a nearby hotel. (Politico / Washington Post)
poll/ 70% of adults say they support Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, while 28% oppose the legislation. (Pew Research Center)
1/ The Senate passed the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package. The American Rescue Plan includes $1,400 stimulus checks for hundreds of millions of Americans, $300-per-week jobless benefits until early September, a child allowance of up to $3,600 for one year, $350 billion for state aid, $34 billion to expand Affordable Care Act subsidies, and $14 billion for vaccine distribution. “I promised the American people help was on the way,” Biden said. “Today, I can say we’ve taken one more giant step of delivering on that promise.” The final vote was 50-49 along party lines. The legislation will have to be passed by the House again before Biden can sign it into law, because the Senate made changes to its version. The Senate bill limited the number of people receiving direct payments, capping them at $80,000 in income for individuals and $160,000 for couples. It also reduced the jobless benefit to $300 from $400 in the House bill. The House plans to pass the relief bill as soon as Tuesday, putting Biden on track to sign his first major legislative accomplishment into law by the end of the week. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, meanwhile, said that the Treasury Department was still “working on” the exact timeline of the stimulus check rollout, but that the White House expected “a large number of Americans to receive relief by the end of the month.” (NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post / ABC News / CNBC / Washington Post)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~117,061,000; deaths: ~2,598,000
More than one in five adults have now received at least one coronavirus vaccine dose, and just over one in ten have received two doses. The U.S. administered 5.3 million vaccines over the weekend, and is now administering more than 2 million shots a day on average. New coronavirus cases in the U.S., meanwhile, posted the slowest weekly increase since the pandemic began almost a year ago. (CNBC / Bloomberg)
Dr. Anthony Fauci said the number of vaccine doses available will sharply rise in the coming weeks following federal approval of Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose shot. (CBS News)
2/ New CDC guidance says that people who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 can safely visit with other fully vaccinated people indoors without wearing a mask or social distancing. The recommendations also say that vaccinated people can visit indoors with unvaccinated people from a single household who are at low risk for severe Covid-19 disease. The CDC, however, recommends that vaccinated people continue to adhere to public health restrictions, such as mask wearing and social distancing while in public. Dr. Anthony Fauci also warned that it is too early to end Covid-19 restrictions, saying “we’re going in the right direction but we just need to hang on a bit longer.” The guidelines continue to discourage visits involving long-distance travel. (Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / ABC News / CNN / NBC News / The Guardian)
3/ Russian intelligence agencies are spreading disinformation to undermine confidence in the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. The State Department’s Global Engagement Center identified four Russian websites spreading misinformation about the virus, as well as “international organizations, military conflicts, protests; and any divisive issue that they can exploit.” The campaign has played up the risk of side effects, questioned the efficacy of the vaccines, and said the U.S. rushed the Pfizer vaccine through the approval process, among other false or misleading claims. (Wall Street Journal / CNN)
4/ The Biden administration notified facilities handling migrant children that they can expand to full, pre-Covid-19 capacity, acknowledging “extraordinary circumstances” due to a rising number of minors crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. Shelters had been operating at 50% capacity to slow the spread of the coronavirus. A separate CDC document, however, says “facilities should plan for and expect to have Covid-19 cases,” citing the nature of the pandemic and that “there is no 0% risk scenario.” (CNN / Axios)
5/ The Biden administration granted temporary protected status to up to 320,000 Venezuelan migrants in the United States. The designation offers legal protections for 18 months to Venezuelans unable to safely return home because of natural disaster, violence, or civil unrest. Eligibility extends only to those in the country as of March 8 who apply within the next 180 days and meet vetting requirements. (Politico / Washington Post)
poll/ 68% of Americans approve of Biden’s approach to the pandemic. 56% of Americans think loosening mask mandates and restrictions on public gatherings is happening too quickly. (ABC News)
✏️ Notables.
Biden signed executive orders that would establish a Gender Policy Council within the White House and direct the Department of Education to review Trump administration policy changes to Title IX, which overhauled how schools and universities handle complaints of sexual assault and misconduct. (NPR / Bloomberg / NBC News / Washington Post)
Biden nominated two female generals to elite, four-star commands – months after their Pentagon bosses had agreed on their promotions but held them back out of fears that Trump would reject the officers because they were women. (New York Times)
Biden signed an executive order directing federal agencies to take a series of steps to promote voting access in what the White House calls “an initial step” in its efforts to “protect the right to vote and ensure all eligible citizens can freely participate in the electoral process.” Biden signed the order on the 56th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday,” when civil rights activists marching for the right to vote were brutally beaten by police while crossing Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. (Associated Press / CBS News / CNN)
Georgia’s Republican-controlled state Legislature is moving quickly to push through dozens of “election integrity” bills, which would, among other things, limit mail-in voting primarily to Georgians who are elderly, disabled or out of town on Election Day. One new proposal has targeted Sunday voting, which could reduce the impact of Black voters in the state. (New York Times / NBC News)
The Supreme Court rejected Trump’s final challenge to overturn the presidential election, dismissing his appeal of lower court rulings that upheld Wisconsin’s handling of mail-in ballots. (NBC News / USA Today)
The FBI said a member of the far-right nationalist Proud Boys was in communication with the Trump White House in the days before the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol. The FBI would not reveal the names of either party. Separately, a leader of the far-right group said he had been in touch with Roger Stone while at a protest in front of Marco Rubio’s home. During the protest, Enrique Tarrio put Stone on speaker phone to address the gathering. (New York Times)
Sen. Roy Blunt will not run for reelection in 2022. Blunt joins four other Republican senators – Rob Portman, Pat Toomey, Richard Shelby, and Richard Burr – to not seek reelection. (Politico / CNN)
Trump’s lawyers sent cease-and-desist letters to three of the largest GOP fundraising groups for using his name and likeness on fundraising emails and merchandise. Trump was reportedly upset that his name was being used without permission by groups that had helped Republicans who voted to impeach him. (CNBC / Politico)
1/ Senate Democrats agreed to lower the federal unemployment benefits to $300 a week – down from the $400 approved by the House – as part of the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package. Under the amendment, benefits would be extended through September instead of August, and the first $10,200 of unemployment benefits would be non-taxable income. The White House praised the agreement, with press secretary Jen Psaki tweeting that it would “provide more relief to the unemployed than the current legislation.” Passage of the relief bill, however, stalled for hours after Joe Manchin said he was unsatisfied with the concession. Manchin was also seen talking with Rob Portman, who has pushed an alternate unemployment amendment that would extend unemployment benefits at their current $300-per-week level into July, but without the new tax relief. The developments came as part of the Senate’s hours-long marathon of amendment votes on the relief package, known as a vote-a-rama, which followed Ron Johnson’s earlier demand that the clerks read the entire 628-page plan word by word. Meanwhile, seven Democrats joined with Republicans in voting down an effort by Bernie Sanders to restore raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour to the bill. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona voted down the minimum wage increase with a dramatic thumbs-down. (Wall Street Journal / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / NPR / CNN / NBC News / Bloomberg)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~115,922,000; deaths: ~2,577,000
2/ Senate Democrats are reportedly warming to the idea of eliminating the filibuster as fears grow that Republicans will block Biden’s agenda, including his plans for climate change, immigration, gun control, voting rights, and LGBT protections. Pressure started building last week after the proposed minimum wage increase had to be removed from the coronavirus relief package, forcing the White House to cut deals. However, two Senate Democrats — Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema — have said they will oppose any effort to do away with the filibuster, which requires 60 votes to end debate on major bills. (New York Times / Washington Post)
3/ There are about 9.5 million fewer jobs today than a year ago despite the U.S. economy adding 379,000 jobs in February. About 4 million people have been out of work for 27 weeks or longer. The unemployment rate in February was 6.2%, down from 6.3% in January. (NBC News / New York Times / Bloomberg / ABC News / CNBC)
4/ New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s senior aides rewrote a June nursing home report by state health officials to hide the higher Covid-19 death toll. The public report said 6,432 nursing home residents had died, when nearly 10,000 residents had actually died. Cuomo released the complete data after the state attorney general said thousands of deaths of nursing home residents had been undercounted. Cuomo claimed that he had withheld the true data out of fear that it could be used against the state by the Trump administration. State officials now say more than 15,000 residents of nursing homes and long-term-care facilities were confirmed or presumed to have died from Covid-19 since March of last year – about 50% higher than earlier official death tolls. (Wall Street Journal / New York Times / CNN)
5/ Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan rejected an allotment of 6,200 Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccines because he wants Detroiters to get “the best vaccines,” which he said are the Moderna and Pfizer shots. The White House senior adviser for COVID-19 response called Duggan’s comments a “misunderstanding.” Nationwide demand for a coronavirus vaccine, meanwhile, continues to outpace available supply. (Detroit Free Press / CNN)
6/ Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis received a $250,000 donation from a resident of a private, gated community about a month after the Key Largo club received enough coronavirus vaccine doses for 1,200 residents over the age of 65. Ocean Reef Club resident and former Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner made the donation to the Friends of Ron DeSantis PAC on February 25 after the club was chosen as a “pop-up” vaccination center. All 17 people from Key Largo who donated to DeSantis’ political committee live in Ocean Reef. Since DeSantis started using pop-up vaccinations sites, his political committee raised $2.7 million in February – more than any other month since he first ran for governor in 2018. DeSantis, meanwhile, said the state “wasn’t involved in it in any shape or form.” (Miami Herald / ABC News / CNN / Washington Post)
7/ Former House impeachment manager Eric Swalwell sued Trump, Trump Jr., Rudy Giuliani, and Rep. Mo Brooks, alleging that they and others were “responsible for the injury and destruction” of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. In the 65-page suit, Swalwell alleges that they “directly incited the violence” by putting out “a clear call to action” and then “watched approvingly as the building was overrun.” It’s the second major lawsuit seeking to hold Trump and his allies accountable for inciting the insurrection at the Capitol. Rep. Bennie Thompson previously sued Trump for inciting the riot, accusing him of violating the 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act by trying to prevent Congress from carrying out its official duties. (ABC News / CNN / Axios)
8/ The FBI arrested a Trump-appointed State Department aide on charges related to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, including assaulting an officer with a dangerous weapon, unlawful entry, violent and disorderly conduct, and obstructing Congress and law enforcement. Federico Guillermo Klein, now a former State Department aide, is the first arrest of a Trump administration official in connection with the insurrection. Klein was seen on camera wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat and shoving a riot shield into an officer and inciting the crowd as it tried to push past the police line, shouting, “We need fresh people, we need fresh people.” (Politico / Washington Post / Associated Press / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
9/ The Trump appointee at the agency that oversees Voice of America spent more than $1 million investigating his own staff. Michael Pack was reportedly “irate” last summer when he couldn’t fire or suspend U.S. Agency for Global Media executives, who had warned him that some of his plans might be illegal. Instead of using the inspectors general to determine what – if any – wrongdoing the executives might have committed, Pack personally signed a no-bid contract to hire a law firm to review social media posts, “news articles relating to Michael Pack,” and an inspectors general “audit on Hillary Clinton’s email breach.” (NPR)
poll/ 69% of Americans intend to get a Covid-19 vaccine or already have – up from 60% who said they planned to get vaccinated in November. (Pew Research Center)
poll/ 60% of Americans believe that the Covid-19 situation is improving, while 26% say it’s staying the same, and 14% believe it is getting worse. (Gallup)
poll/ 60% of Americans approve of Biden’s job performance so far. 70% approve his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. (Associated Press)
1/ The Senate voted to open debate on Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill. The vote was 51 to 50, with Harris breaking the 50-to-50 tie. As soon as the Senate voted to proceed to the bill, Sen. Ron Johnson forced the clerk to read all 628 pages of the bill, which will take hours. Republicans can use up to 20 hours of debate time, and then force an unlimited number of amendment votes. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer dismissed Johnson’s effort to delay, saying the tactic “will accomplish little more than a few sore throats for the Senate clerks […] No matter how long it takes, the Senate is going to stay in session to finish the bill this week.” Nancy Pelosi, meanwhile, has promised that the House will pass the Senate’s version of the bill, despite the limited eligibility for $1,400 relief checks and excluded $15 minimum wage increase. (Politico / NPR / Washington Post / Bloomberg)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~115,468,000; deaths: ~2,566,000
The United States is averaging 2 million vaccine doses administered per day. A month ago, the average was about 1.3 million. (New York Times)
2/ The Trump administration spent about $10 billion in hospitals funds on Operation Warp Speed contracts. Congress had allocated the money to help health care providers pay for pandemic-related expenses including staffing, personal protective equipment, and vaccine distribution. While Congress allowed the Department of Health and Human Services to move money between accounts, lawmakers required the agency notify them at least 10 days in advance of a transfer. Instead, HHS spent the money directly out of Provider Relief Fund on Operation Warp Speed contracts, without making a transfer, which didn’t trigger the congressional notification requirements. (STAT News)
3/ The House passed an expansion of federal voting rights over unified Republican opposition. The bill, titled the “For the People Act,” creates uniform national voting standards, overhauls campaign finance laws, and outlaws partisan redistricting – similar to a bill passed two years ago that stalled in the Senate, which was controlled by Republicans at the time. The measure passed 220-210, with one Democrat joining all Republican House members in voting against it. The bill is unlikely to draw the 60 votes needed to advance in the 50-50 Senate unless Democrats abandon the filibuster. (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / NPR)
4/ The House passed the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. The policing reform bill would ban chokeholds, end racial and religious profiling, establish a national database to track police misconduct, and prohibit certain no-knock warrants. The legislation would also alter “qualified immunity” – a legal doctrine that shields officers from lawsuits – making it easier to pursue claims of police misconduct. The bill passed 220 to 212, with two Democrats voting against it, and one Republican accidentally voting for it. After the vote, Rep. Lance Gooden tweeted that he had pressed the wrong button and meant to vote “no.” The House passed a similar bill last year, which failed in the Republican-controlled Senate. (NPR / Washington Post)
5/ The Biden administration will convert immigrant family detention centers in Texas into quick-release intake facilities, which would rapidly screen migrant parents and children and release them into the U.S. within 72 hours. The Department of Health and Human Services, meanwhile, has already re-opened a Trump-era overflow shelter in Carrizo Springs, Texas, to accommodate an influx of unaccompanied minors crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. The shelter system is currently at 94% occupancy and expected to reach its maximum this month. (Washington Post / Axios / Bloomberg)
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott stalled federal efforts to test migrants released from custody for Covid-19 and then blamed the Biden administration exposing Texans to the coronavirus. Earlier this week, Abbott relaxed the state’s Covid-19 restrictions despite health officials’ warnings. (CNN)
6/ Capitol Police requested that the National Guard continue to provide security at the U.S. Capitol for another two months. There are more than 5,000 Guard members currently in Washington, D.C. They’re all scheduled to go home on March 12. The House, meanwhile, canceled its session today after Capitol Police warned of a “possible plot” by a militia group to storm the building. (Associated Press / Politico / Washington Post / NPR / CNN)
7/ Federal investigators are examining communication records between members of Congress and the pro-Trump mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol. Justice Department officials have assigned more than two dozen prosecutors to look into whether lawmakers wittingly or unwittingly helped the insurrectionists. (CNN)
8/ The Trump administration referred at least 334 leaks of classified information for criminal investigation – a record. Under Trump, the FBI also established a special unit in its Counterintelligence Division for investigating leaks. Very few referrals, however, ended up identifying the leaker or going to trial. (The Intercept)
9/ Trump’s Justice Department declined to open a criminal investigation into the actions by Elaine Chao when she was transportation secretary. According to an Office of Inspector General report, Chao, the wife of Mitch McConnell, repeatedly used her position and agency staff to help family members who run a shipping business with ties to China. Chao also required DOT staff to help with personal errands, and do chores for her father, which included editing his Wikipedia page and promoting his Chinese-language biography. The inspector general referred the findings to the Justice Department in December 2020, which declined to open an investigation, citing “there is not predication” to do so. (New York Times / NPR)
10/ South Carolina senators added a firing squad to the list of execution methods in a bid to restart the state’s executions after nearly 10 years. Currently, inmates can choose between the electric chair and lethal injection. South Carolina, however, can’t put anyone to death currently because its supply of lethal injection drugs has expired and can no longer be used or purchased. Utah, Oklahoma, and Mississippi also allow a firing squad. (Associated Press)
1/ Biden called Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s decision to relax coronavirus restrictions “Neanderthal thinking” and that it was a “big mistake” for people to stop wearing masks. Other states, including Mississippi, have also begun to relax restrictions and end requirements to wear masks citing vaccination rates and lower numbers of Covid-19 cases. Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC, criticized the decision by governors of Texas and Mississippi to lift mask requirements and other restrictions to slow the spread of the coronavirus, saying “We have been very clear now is not the time to release all restrictions. The next month or two is really pivotal in terms of how this pandemic goes.” White House press secretary Jennifer Psaki added: “This entire country has paid the price for political leaders who ignored the science when it comes to the pandemic.” (USA Today / ABC News / New York Times / Bloomberg / Washington Post)
2/ Biden and Senate Democrats agreed to limit the number of people who are eligible for $1,400 stimulus checks. Under the new structure, payments would phase out at a faster rate than the House’s Covid-19 relief bill, which zeroed out at individuals earning $100,000 and $200,000 for couples. The Senate bill will cut off payments at $80,000 for individuals and $150,000 for couples. About 12 million fewer adults and 5 million fewer kids would get the stimulus payments under the new compromise. In January, Biden promised to boost stimulus payments for Americans to $2,000, telling Georgia voters that they would get $2,000 payments if Democrats won both Senate runoff elections. (NBC News / Washington Post / CNBC / Bloomberg)
3/ The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI warned of a “possible plot” by a militia group to breach the U.S. Capitol and “remove Democratic lawmakers on or about” March 4. The bulletin, titled “National Capital Region Remains Attractive Target for Domestic Violent Extremists,” warned that “Domestic Violent Extremists” or “Militia Violent Extremists” were emboldened by the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and may “exploit public gatherings either formally organized or spontaneous to engage in violence.” The threat appears to be connected to a QAnon conspiracy theory that Trump will return to power on March 4, because that was the original presidential inauguration day until 1933, when it was moved to Jan. 20. (NBC News / Associated Press / CBS News / Bloomberg)
4/ Maj. Gen. William Walker testified that he had National Guard troops at the ready for more than three hours on Jan. 6, while he waited for Trump’s Defense Department to authorize their deployment. Walker also told senators that on Jan. 5, he received a letter with the “unusual” restriction that he was first required to seek approval from the Secretary of the Army and Defense before deploying any Quick Reaction Force service members. Walker added that military leaders — including Michael Flynn’s brother — advised that deploying troops would not be “good optics.” (NPR / CNN / CNBC)
poll/ 62% of Americans support the $1.9 trillion Covid stimulus package, while 34% oppose it. (Monmouth University)
✏️ Notables.
The House Oversight Committee reissued a subpoena to Trump’s accounting firm for financial records related to the panel’s investigations into presidential conflicts of interest. The committee first issued the subpoena to Mazars USA in April 2019, but that expired with the new Congress. Separately, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance enforced a subpoena for Trump’s tax documents from Mazars last week. (NBC News)
The New York City Bar Association called for a “serious investigation” into Rudy Giuliani for promoting Trump’s baseless claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election. Multiple complaints have been sent to the Attorney Grievance Committee alleging Giuliani violated rules of conduct for attorneys. The committee’s staff attorney can recommend giving Giuliani a warning, suspending their license temporarily, or disbarring them altogether. (CNN)
The White House pulled Neera Tanden’s nomination to lead the Office of Management and Budget following bipartisan opposition stemming from her past social media posts that criticized lawmakers in both parties. The White House said it would find her another role in the administration that didn’t require confirmation. (CNN / New York Times / CBS News)
The Senate confirmed Gina Raimondo as the next secretary of the U.S. Commerce Department. The Senate also confirmed Cecilia Rouse to chair the Council of Economic Advisers. Rouse will be the first Black person to serve as the President’s top economist. (NPR / CNN)
At least 10 rockets were fired on an air base in Iraq where U.S. forces are stationed. A U.S. contractor died of a heart attack during the rocket barrage. The attack came less than a week after the U.S. military struck Iran-aligned militia targets in Syria in response to rocket attacks on American forces in the region in recent weeks. The Defense Department and the White House did not identify the group responsible for the attack. (Associated Press / New York Times / CNN)
Bipartisan senators introduced legislation that would repeal repeal the 1991 and 2002 authorizations for the use of military force in the Middle East. Sens. Tim Kaine and Todd Young unveiled the measure hours after an Iraqi military base housing U.S. troops and civilian contractors was hit by rocket attacks. Biden also angered congressional Democrats when he launched airstrikes in Syria last week without first seeking congressional approval. (Politico)
Trump’s White House physician made “sexual and denigrating” comments about a female subordinate, violated policy for drinking alcohol during presidential trips, and took Ambien while working that prompted concerns about his ability to provide proper care, according to the Department of Defense inspector general. Rep. Ronny Jackson denied the allegations, saying Democrats were “using this report to repeat and rehash untrue attacks on my integrity.” The findings, however, stem from a years-long IG investigation into Jackson that included interviews with dozens of colleagues. Jackson was elected to represent a Texas congressional district in November. (CNN / NBC News / Washington Post)
1/ Biden said the U.S. expects to have a large enough supply of coronavirus vaccines to vaccinate every adult in the nation by the end of May – two months earlier than anticipated. The White House said it was increasing supply of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines to states next week to 15.2 million doses per week – up from 14.5 million. States will also receive 2.8 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine this week, with the supply climbing to 4-6 million by the end of March and 5-6 million by the end of April. White House coronavirus coordinator Jeff Zients said states should prepare to administer 17-18 million total weekly doses of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines by early April. (Associated Press / CNBC)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~114,698,000; deaths: ~2,545,000
Merck will help manufacture Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine to boost the supply of the newly authorized vaccine. Under the unusual arrangement, Merck will dedicate two facilities in the U.S. to Johnson & Johnson’s shots. The White House said it was utilizing the Defense Production Act to help Merck secure equipment needed to upgrade its facilities for vaccine production, including the purchase of machinery, bags, tubing, and filtration systems. Biden has promised enough vaccine doses for 300 million Americans by the end of July. (Washington Post / CNN)
Trump’s homelessness czar resigned. During his last month in his post, Robert Marbut Jr. traveled the country and showed up uninvited at shelters for tours despite restrictions put in place to prevent the spread of Covid-19 among one of the highest-risk populations. Marbut also received one of about 70 available coronavirus vaccines at one facility. (Bloomberg)
2/ The World Health Organization warned that the global number of new coronavirus cases rose for the first time in nearly two months. Over the past week, cases jumped in every region except for Africa and the Western Pacific. The WHO blamed the surge on new variants and premature efforts to lift public health restrictions. (Washington Post)
3/ Texas’s governor ended his statewide mask mandate, saying “it is now time to open Texas 100 percent.” All businesses in the state will be able to reopen next week with no capacity limits. Meanwhile, more than 6,000 people were hospitalized with Covid-19 in Texas today, with more than 1,700 of those patients in intensive care units. Nevertheless, Greg Abbott said the “state mandates are no longer needed.” Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves also lifted his state’s mask mandate, saying that hospitalizations in the state have “plummeted” and that cases have declined dramatically. CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, meanwhile, said she was “really worried” about rolling back restrictions in some states, cautioning that with “stalling” cases and new variants spreading, “we stand to completely lose the hard-earned ground we have gained.” (New York Times / Politico / NBC News / Washington Post)
4/ FBI Director Christopher Wray told the Senate Judiciary Committee that the Jan. 6 insurrection was “an inspiration to a number of terrorist extremists” and that he considers the attack “domestic terrorism.” Wray defended the FBI’s handling of intelligence in the weeks leading up to Jan. 6, saying the FBI tracked “a large amount of information” about the potential for violence, but he didn’t explain what the FBI did with the information. Wray also told lawmakers that there’s no evidence indicating that the rioters were “fake Trump protesters” – a baseless claim that Republican Sen. Ron Johnson has advanced in recent weeks in an effort to downplay the violence committed by the pro-Trump mob. Wray said that there are 2,000 domestic terrorism investigations – up from almost 1,000 when he first started in 2017. “The problem of domestic terrorism has been metastasizing across the country for a long time now,” Wray added, “and it’s not going away anytime soon.” (Politico / NBC News / Washington Post / CNN / New York Times / NPR / Bloomberg / ABC News / Wall Street Journal)
5/ The Supreme Court is hearing arguments over two Arizona voting restrictions – one requiring election officials to discard ballots cast at the wrong precinct and the other making it a crime to collect ballots for delivery to polling places. Democrats sued, arguing that Republicans are increasingly trying to suppress the vote and that the rules discriminate against minorities and that they violate Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The justices reportedly seemed poised to uphold both Arizona laws. (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News)
6/ The U.S. needs 20,000 beds to shelter unaccompanied migrant children crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. While Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has claimed yesterday that the current influx is not a crisis, Biden was briefed today that the number of migrant children is on pace to exceed the all-time record by 45%. The Department of Health and Human Services, meanwhile, plans to loosen its coronavirus protocols to make room for an additional 2,000 kids and teens. Biden has asked Mexico’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, for help in keeping Central American migrants from immediately surging north toward the United States through Mexico. (Axios / New York Times)
7/ The Senate confirmed Miguel Cardona as education secretary. Cardona will be tasked with helping to reopen schools, addressing inequity in the nation’s education system, and managing the $1.5 trillion federal student loan program. (Washington Post)
8/ The Biden administration sanctioned seven senior Russian government figures over the poisoning and imprisonment of opposition leader Alexei Navalny. The sanctions block access to financial or other assets in the United States. The European Union also issued its own sanctions against four top Russian officials. (ABC News / NBC News / Washington Post)
9/ The Manhattan district attorney’s office has increased its focus on the Trump Organization’s chief financial officer as part of its financial fraud investigation. District Attorney Cyrus Vance has been asking witnesses about Allen Weisselberg and his sons, Barry and Jack Weisselberg, related to whether Trump and the Trump Organization manipulated property values to obtain loans and tax benefits. In 2018, Weisselberg was granted immunity by federal prosecutors in New York as part of their criminal investigation into hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal during the 2016 presidential campaign. (New York Times)
10/ Former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany will join Fox News as an on-air commentator. McEnany – who told reporters “I will never lie to you” when she took on the role of White House press secretary – routinely defended and promoted Trump’s misleading statements during press conference. (NBC News)
1/ The House passed Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package in a 219 to 212 vote. The measure would provide $1,400 payments to millions of Americans, speed up vaccine distribution and testing, and extend unemployment aid through the summer. More than a dozen House Republicans skipped the vote, saying they can’t attend “due to the ongoing public health emergency.” Those members, however, were scheduled to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando. The Senate will take up the measure this week, which currently includes hiking the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. The bill, however, is unlikely to receive support from Senate Republicans. Federal jobless aid expires on March 14. (Politico / CNN / USA Today)
2/ Senate Democrats and the White House abandoned efforts to include a $15 minimum wage increase in order to move Biden’s $1.9 trillion relief package forward before current supplemental unemployment benefits expire on March 14. Senior Democratic lawmakers briefly considered new tax penalties on big companies that don’t pay at least $15 an hour, but dropped the plan after it became clear that getting all 50 Senate Democrats to agree on the specifics would risk missing the deadline for extending unemployment benefits. The tax idea was floated after the Senate parliamentarian ruled that the increase in the federal minimum wage would violate the chamber’s rules. A group of 23 progressive lawmakers urged Biden to keep his campaign promise to raise the minimum wage and overrule the Senate parliamentarian. The White House, however, declined to overrule the parliamentarian, saying “that’s not an action we intend to take.” Democratic Sens. Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin, meanwhile, have both said they do not support increasing the minimum wage to $15 as part of the coronavirus relief package. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the administration would work with “members of Congress, with their staffs, about the best vehicle moving forward. But we don’t have a clear answer on what that looks like at this point.” (Washington Post / Bloomberg / Politico / CNN / ABC News / Business Insider / Wall Street Journal)
3/ The FDA authorized Johnson & Johnson’s one-shot coronavirus vaccine for emergency use. Johnson & Johnson’s initial supply will be limited to 3.9 million doses – expected to ship this week – with about 800,000 going directly to pharmacies. An estimated 20 million doses are expected by the end of March and 100 million doses by the end of June. (ABC News / NPR / New York Times / Washington Post)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~114,351,000; deaths: ~2,537,000
Biden will not consider sharing U.S. coronavirus vaccine supply with Mexico if Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador asked. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden “has made clear that he is focused on ensuring that vaccines are accessible to every American. That is our focus.” (Politico)
4/ The Biden administration’s task force for reuniting migrant families separated by the Trump administration will allow those families to reunite and settle in either in the U.S. or their county of origin. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas called the separation of more than 5,500 migrant families under the Trump administration “the most powerful and heartbreaking example of the cruelty that preceded this administration.” Approximately 105 families have been reunited so far. (Politico / NBC News)
5/ The Senate Judiciary Committee voted to advance Merrick Garland’s nomination for attorney general. The vote was 15 to 7 with all Democratic senators and four Republicans in favor. (CNN / NBC News)
6/ The Biden administration won’t release the visitors logs of attendees to virtual meetings, which is the primary meeting form during the coronavirus pandemic. “Virtual meetings will not be subject to release — in the same way that previous administrations didn’t release phone logs — but we’re planning on regularly releasing the attendee lists for in-person meetings at the White House,” an official said. Before the inauguration, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the White House would release its visitor logs and that Biden wants to bring “truth and transparency back” to the White House. In 2017, three organizations sued Trump for not releasing White House visitor logs and the Secret Service agreed to stop erasing the visitors logs following Freedom of Information Act requests at the time. (Politico)
7/ Republicans, conservative activists, and media personalities have repeatedly pushed false and fictional narratives about what happened on Jan. 6, in order to rewrite the story that a mob – incited by Trump – breached the United States Capitol to keep Trump in power through violence. For nearly two months, a campaign by pro-Trump groups has tried to minimize the insurrection by advancing baseless claims that antifa provocateurs were to blame for the violence on Jan. 6; that a few troublemakers spoiled the protest; and that the riot wasn’t a big deal. And, at a Senate hearing last week, Sen. Ron Johnson repeated the falsehood that “fake Trump protesters” fomented the violence. Democrats, meanwhile, have called for more investigations of the attacks – including Trump’s role – and negotiations continue over creating an outside commission. (Washington Post / New York Times)
8/ Trump attacked Biden’s tenure as president in his first public appearance since leaving office, calling it “the most disastrous first month of any president in modern history.” Trump started his 90-minute address – which began more than an hour late – by asking the Conservative Political Action Conference crowd: “Do you miss me?” before reviving his false claims of election fraud and attacking the Supreme Court for not siding with him, saying, the justices “should be ashamed of themselves for what they’ve done to our country [they] didn’t have the guts or the courage to do anything about it.” Trump said that he is “not starting a new party,” but suggested he may run again in 2024, saying: “Who knows? I may even decide to beat them for a third time.” Trump also named every Republican who supported his second impeachment and called for them to be ousted. 95% of conference attendees said the GOP should continue to embrace Trump’s policy ideas, and 68% of attendees said Trump should run again in 2024. (NPR / New York Times / NBC News / ABC News / CNN / Politico)
1/ The Senate parliamentarian ruled that the $15-an-hour minimum wage increase cannot be included in the $1.9 trillion Covid relief package. Elizabeth MacDonough said the plan to gradually increase the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025 was not compliant with the rules governing the budget reconciliation process that Congress is using to pass the bill with a simple majority. Democrats used budget reconciliation to keep Republicans from filibustering the minimum wage increase in the Senate. Rep. Ilhan Omar, meanwhile, called for MacDonough to be fired and replaced, which Republicans did in 2001 when the parliamentarian ruled against their plans. The White House, however, said it will not support overruling or firing MacDonough. Despite the ruling, the House still plans to vote Friday to pass the stimulus relief package with the $15 minimum wage included and send it to the Senate. Biden has promised to support a standalone bill to raise the minimum wage to $15, but it’s unlikely to get Republican support. About 11.4 million workers will lose unemployment benefits starting March 14. (NPR / New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / Politico / Axios / The Guardian)
2/ Biden authorized retaliatory airstrikes in Syria against two Iranian-backed militia groups. The Pentagon said the buildings belonged to Iran-backed militia groups responsible for the recent attacks against American and allied personnel in Iraq. The strikes – seven 500-pound bombs – were just over the border in Syria at an unofficial crossing at the Syria-Iraq border used to smuggle across weapons and fighters. (Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Reuters)
3/ Biden won’t hold Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman accountable for approving the operation that led to the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. “We assess that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman approved an operation in Istanbul, Turkey to capture or kill Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi,” a declassified intelligence report’s executive summary states. While the U.S. is preparing to levy sanctions against a group of Saudis implicated in the killing – but not Prince Mohammed himself – Biden’s national security team advised against bringing criminal charges or imposing travel sanctions that would bar MBS from entering the U.S., saying it would be “too complicated” and could jeopardized Saudi cooperation on counterterrorism and in confronting Iran. Biden’s aides said the administration would instead not invite MBS to the U.S. anytime soon. On the campaign trail, Biden promised to punish Saudi leadership for its role in Khashoggi’s murder in a way that Trump wouldn’t. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / ABC News / Wall Street Journal / CNN / New York Times / NBC News)
4/ The Biden administration is planning to open another tent facility in Texas in the coming weeks to house migrant families and children. The temporary U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility in Del Rio, Tex., is similar to the “soft-sided” structure that opened in Donna, Tex., three weeks ago to hold migrant family groups. The Del Rio tent facility also differs from the Carrizo Springs, Tex., facility that opened this week, which Health and Human Services uses to hold migrant teens who crossed the border without a parent. (Washington Post)
5/ The FDA advisory committee voted unanimously to recommend Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot coronavirus vaccine for emergency use. If the agency agrees, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine would be the third one cleared for use in the U.S., it will be the first vaccine to require just one dose instead of two. (NPR / USA Today / New York Times / CNBC / Politico / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~113,268,000; deaths: ~2,514,000
6/ Mitch McConnell said he would “absolutely” support Trump as the 2024 Republican presidential nominee. Earlier this month, McConnell called Trump’s role in the deadly Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol a “disgraceful dereliction of duty,” saying “Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day.” (NBC News)
1/ The House passed the Equality Act, which would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by extending civil rights protections to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Last week Biden called the bill “a critical step toward ensuring that America lives up to our foundational values of equality and freedom for all.” The same legislation was previously passed by the House in 2019, but blocked in the Republican-led Senate. While Democrats now control the White House, House, and Senate, the measure still faces an uphill fight in the Senate, where it would need 60 votes to break a legislative filibuster. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN)
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene posted an anti-transgender sign outside of her office, which is directly across the hall from another lawmaker who has a transgender child. Rep. Marie Newman had earlier hung a transgender pride flag next to her door in protest over Greene’s opposition to the Equality Act. (NBC News / CNN)
2/ Biden ended Trump’s ban on legal immigration that had dramatically cut legal immigration to the U.S. during the coronavirus pandemic. Last spring, Trump ordered a “pause” on the issuance of green cards and halted certain temporary work visas, saying he needed to protect U.S. jobs amid high unemployment due to the coronavirus pandemic. Biden said the Trump policy did “not advance the interests of the United States” and had prevented qualified and eligible non-U.S. residents from entering the country. Biden also eliminated Trump’s effort to cut funding for cities he deemed were “permitting anarchy, violence and destruction” following anti-police brutality protests last summer. (NPR / New York Times / NBC News / CBS News / The Guardian /Bloomberg)
Biden revoked Trump’s executive order that made classical architecture the preferred style for federal buildings in Washington. Trump had called modern federal buildings constructed over the last five decades “undistinguished,” “uninspiring” and “just plain ugly.” Instead, Trump required all new buildings be “beautiful.” (NPR)
3/ The Biden administration reopened a tent facility in Carrizo Springs, Texas, to house up to 700 immigrant teenagers after they cross the U.S.-Mexico border unaccompanied by a parent. The facility, closed since July 2019, is reopening because permanent facilities for migrant children have had to cut capacity by 40% because of the coronavirus pandemic. The administration is also planning to reopen a for-profit emergency temporary shelter in Homestead, Florida that once held up to 3,200 children and came under fire in 2019 following reports of sexual abuse, overcrowding, and negligent hiring practices. The administration has maintained that it has to reopen the facilities because of limited capacity at existing facilities during the pandemic and an influx of unaccompanied children. (Washington Post / Associated Press / Vox / NBC News / CNN / New York Times / CBS News)
A federal judge indefinitely blocked the Biden’s administration from enforcing a 100-day moratorium on most deportations. Judge Drew Tipton issued the preliminary injunction sought by Texas, which argued the moratorium violated federal law and risked imposing additional costs on the state. (CBS News)
Lawyers have located the parents of 105 children separated by the Trump administration. The parents of 506 separated migrant children, however, still haven’t been found and 322 of them were likely to have been deported. (NBC News)
4/ A new coronavirus variant is spreading rapidly in New York City and contains a mutation that may weaken the effectiveness of vaccines. The new variant, called B.1.526, first appeared in November, but by mid-February it accounted for about 27% of NYC viral sequences deposited into a database. Meanwhile, a new variant detected in California, which goes by two names, B.1.427 and B.1.429, now makes up more than half of the infections in 44 counties in the state. (New York Times / Washington Post)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~112,869,000; deaths: ~2,505,000
5/ Another 730,000 people filed for initial unemployment benefits – down from 841,000 the previous week. Continuing claims decreased to a pandemic-era low of 4.42 million, which is significantly higher than the pre-pandemic norm. Although the unemployment rate stands at 6.3%, a broader measure that includes those who have given up on their job searches is closer to 10%. (CNBC / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Politico)
6/ Acting U.S. Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman warned that the same groups involved in the Jan. 6 insurrection want to “blow up the Capitol” and “kill as many members as possible” during Biden’s first official address to Congress. During a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing on the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, Pittman told lawmakers that over 10,000 pro-Trump rioters came onto the Capitol grounds and that more than 800 of them ended up breaching the building. “Officers were unsure of when to use lethal force on Jan. 6,” Pittman said. “The department will also implement significant training to refresh our officers as to the use of lethal force.” Biden is expected to deliver an address to a joint session of Congress after passing Covid-19 relief. (NBC News / CNN / Bloomberg / New York Times / Washington Post)
7/ Trump’s tax returns and other financial documents were turned over to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. Cyrus Vance’s office enforced a subpoena on Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars USA, after the Supreme Court rejected Trump’s request to prevent the millions of pages of records from being handed over as part of an ongoing criminal grand jury investigation. Trump spent nearly 18 months trying to keep the records secret. (Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / Politico / CBS News / NBC News / CNBC)
8/ The Senate voted 64-35 to confirm Jennifer Granholm as secretary of the Department of Energy. Granholm – the second woman to head the department – is expected to play a major role in Biden’s promises to accelerate and expand the country’s shift renewable energy sources. (Axios)
9/ Postmaster General Louis DeJoy apologized for “unacceptable” mail delays during the holiday season in testimony before the House Oversight Committee, but warned that the postal system is “in a death spiral” and needs legislation to help restore it to financial stability. During testimony, DeJoy told lawmakers he intends to be around “a long time,” saying: “Get used to me.” Shortly after DeJoy testified, however, Biden announced three nominees to the Postal Service’s Board of Governors, which has the power to appoint and replace the postmaster general. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Biden wants to see leaders who can do a “better job” running USPS. (NPR / ABC News / Politico / Washington Post / NBC News / Bloomberg
1/ House Democrats plan to pass the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill by Friday, setting up the Senate to approve the bill with a simple majority, and send it to Biden before March 14, when several unemployment programs expire. A ruling from the Senate parliamentarian is expected soon about whether Biden’s proposed $15-an-hour minimum wage increase would be allowable under Senate “budget reconciliation” rules. Meanwhile, more than 150 American companies urged congressional leaders to pass “immediate and large-scale federal legislation to address the health and economic crises brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic,” saying “more must be done to put the country on a trajectory for a strong, durable recovery.” (CNBC / Washington Post / CNN / Bloomberg)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~112,420,000; deaths: ~2,493,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~28,322,000; deaths: ~505,000; vaccinated: ~13.4% of total population
2/ The FDA said Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine meets the requirements for emergency use authorization in a document posted ahead of Friday’s FDA advisers meeting, setting the stage the third effective vaccine developed in under a year to be authorized in the U.S. FDA scientists found that the single dose vaccine was 85% effective at preventing severe illness in clinical trials and 66% effective at preventing Covid-19 cases with any symptoms. (ABC News / New York Times / Washington Post)
3/ The Biden administration will make 25 million masks available – for free – to Americans at community health centers and food banks. The masks will be delivered by Department of Health and Human Services, in partnership with the Department of Defense starting in March through May. (ABC News)
4/ Two Senate committees postponed Neera Tanden’s confirmation hearing – Biden’s pick to head the White House Office of Management and Budget. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and the Senate Budget Committee were set to vote on Tanden’s nomination Wednesday ahead of a full Senate floor vote, but postponed “because members are asking for more time to consider the nominee.” (Axios / USA Today / Politico)
5/ The Biden administration is expected to release a U.S. intelligence report that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Separately, documents filed as part of a Canadian civil lawsuit say two private jets used by the Saudi assassination squad that killed and dismembered Khashoggi were owned by a company that the crown prince had seized less than a year before. Biden reportedly plans to call Saudi Arabia’s King Salman ahead of Thursday’s release of the report, which would be Biden’s first conversation as president with the Saudi king. (Reuters / CNN / The Guardian / Axios)
6/ The Washington, DC, attorney general’s office deposed Trump Jr. related to a lawsuit alleging the misuse of Trump inaugural funds. The attorney general’s office alleges that the Trump Organization signed a contract for a block of rooms at the the Loews Madison hotel during the 2017 inauguration, but forwarded the invoice to the Presidential Inaugural Committee, which then paid the bill. (CNN)
The Manhattan district attorney’s office subpoenaed Steve Bannon’s financial records related to crowd-funding border wall effort. The New Jersey attorney general’s office has also launched a civil inquiry into We Build the Wall, in addition to the criminal investigation. (CNN)
poll/ 61% of adults say the possibility that students will fall behind academically without in-person instruction should be given a lot of consideration as K-12 schools decide whether to reopen. In July 2020, 48% said students falling behind academically should be given a lot of consideration about whether to open for in-person instruction in the fall. (Pew Research Center)
poll/ 5.6% of U.S. adults identify as LGBT – up from 4.5% since 2017. (Gallup)
1/ Officials in charge of Capitol security on Jan. 6 blamed “intelligence failures” by the federal government for the “coordinated, military-style” attack on Congress that threatened the peaceful transfer of power. Testifying before a joint bipartisan committee of senators, former Capitol Police chief Steven Sund said he never saw a Jan. 5 FBI report warning that extremists were preparing to travel to Washington to commit violence and wage “war” on Jan. 6. “A clear lack of accurate and complete intelligence across several federal agencies contributed to this event, and not poor planning by the United States Capitol Police,” Sund said. “But none of the intelligence we received predicted what actually occurred.” Former House Sergeant-at-Arms Paul Irving said that while they were informed that Congress would be a target and some protesters could be armed, “the intelligence was not that there would be a coordinated assault on the Capitol, nor was that contemplated in any of the inter-agency discussions that I attended in the days before the attack.” Acting D.C. police chief Robert Contee added that he and Sund called the National Guard for help after the mob stormed the building, but a top Pentagon official said he would recommend against deploying the National Guard for fear of the “optics” of armed troops in front of the Capitol. (NBC News / Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / CNN / USA Today / BuzzFeed News / ABC News / Wall Street Journal)
2/ The House is expected to approve Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief proposal this week, after the House Budget Committee advanced the bill on Monday. The House will likely pass the bill, which includes $1,400 in direct payments to Americans, money for vaccine distribution and funding to state and local governments, in a party-line vote. It’s unclear, however, whether raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2025 will be included in the final Senate version of the legislation. Republicans, meanwhile, have proposed raising the federal minimum wage to $10, but only if businesses are required to use the E-Verify system designed to prevent employers from hiring undocumented workers. (CBS News / USA Today)
3/ The Biden administration is preparing sanctions to punish Russia for poisoning and jailing Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, as well as the SolarWinds hack on government agencies and private companies. The administration is calling the SolarWinds operation “indiscriminate” and “disruptive,” which was not equivalent to the kind of espionage the U.S. conducts. The U.S. is expected to coordinate sanctions with European allies in the coming weeks. (Washington Post / Politico)
4/ Democrats accused Sen. Joe Manchin – a conservative Democrat – and Republicans of having a “double standard” when it comes to confirming the women and people of color that Biden has nominated. Manchin said he was opposed to Neera Tanden becoming the first Asian American woman to lead the Office of Management and Budget because of her past tweets attacking lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. Democrats, however, argued that after Trump, there is no justification for having someone’s tweets disqualify them. Manchin has also indicated that he was having doubts about Deb Haaland, who would become the first Native woman to run the Interior, while Republicans have accused Haaland of being “radical,” because of her support for progressive environmental policies and opposition to new oil and gas drilling leases on federal land. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, meanwhile, pointed out that Manchin had voted to confirm Jeff Sessions – Trump’s first attorney general – despite accusations of racism throughout his career. Rep. Grace Meng added that “in the past, Trump nominees that they’ve confirmed and supported had much more serious issues and conflicts than just something that was written on Twitter.” Manchin responded, saying “I’m all about bipartisanship. I really am […] This is not personal at all.” Republicans have also pushed back on Xavier Becerra – Biden’s choice to run the Heath and Human Services Department – citing his views on expanding health care and abortion access to unauthorized immigrants. (Politico / The Guardian)
The Senate voted 78-20 to confirm Linda Thomas-Greenfield as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Thomas-Greenfield promised to restore the U.S. role as a defender of human rights and will look to repair multilateral relationships. (Axios)
The Senate confirmed Tom Vilsack as agriculture secretary. The vote was 92-7. (CNN)
Georgia Republican David Perdue will not run against an incumbent Democrat, Senator Raphael Warnock, in 2022 – one week after filing paperwork for a new campaign and days after visiting with Trump. (New York Times / Atlanta Journal-Constitution / CNBC)
1/ The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus topped 500,000 with more than 28,000,000 confirmed cases. More Americans have died from Covid-19 than in World War I, World War II, and the Vietnam War combined – and public health officials have said the actual death toll is likely significantly higher. Dr. Anthony Fauci called the death toll a “stunning,” “terrible,” “really horrible,” and “historic” figure, adding that the U.S. had “done worse than most any other country” despite being a “highly developed, rich country.” On February 23, 2020, Trump suggested that the coronavirus is “going to go away,” because “we’ve had no deaths” and “we have it very much under control in this country.” The coronavirus has killed more than 2,462,000 people worldwide. (NBC News / New York Times / ABC News / Politico / Washington Post / CNN / The Guardian / Wall Street Journal)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~111,643,000; deaths: ~2,472,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~28,175,000; deaths: ~500,000; vaccinated: ~13.3% of total population
First doses of the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines have reduced Covid-19 hospital admissions among the elderly in the U.K. by up to 85% and 94%, respectively. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
2/ Biden altered the Paycheck Protection Program to direct more funding toward very small businesses and those owned by minorities or located in underserved communities. Starting March 9, businesses with more than 20 employees will be shut out of the PPP for two weeks. Biden criticized the PPP’s early rollout for privileging larger businesses with existing banking connections while smaller businesses struggled to obtain relief. The administration, however, has not said whether it will seek to extend the program after the current funding expires March 31. (NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
3/ The Supreme Court rejected Trump’s last-ditch effort to keep his private financial records from the Manhattan district attorney. After a four-month delay, the court denied Trump’s motion in a one-sentence order with no recorded dissents, clearing the way for prosecutors in New York City to receive eight years of his tax returns and other financial records as part of an ongoing investigation into possible tax, insurance, and bank fraud. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance can now enforce a subpoena to Trump’s accountants, Mazars USA, to turn over records Trump has repeatedly refused to surrender. Mazars previously said it would comply with the final ruling of the courts. “The work continues,” Vance said in response to the Supreme Court order. (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg / NBC News / CNN / ABC News / The Guardian)
4/ The confirmation of Neera Tanden to lead the Office of Management and Budget is in doubt after two Republicans and a Democrat said they will vote against her nomination. Sens. Susan Collins, Mitt Romney, and Joe Manchin said Tanden’s “past actions” on social media behavior, including criticizing Bernie Sanders and Mitch McConnell, demonstrated the animosity that Biden “pledged to transcend” and that the OMB nominee did not have the “experience nor the temperament” to lead the office. The White House, meanwhile, signaled that it will continue to support Tanden, despite her path to confirmation growing increasingly narrow. (Politico / NBC News / Bloomberg / New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / CNN)
Republicans in the House and Senate are demanding that Biden withdraw the nomination of Xavier Becerra to head the Department of Health and Human Services, because of his support for abortion rights and “Medicare for All.” Despite the GOP’s opposition to Becerra, Democrats are confident they have the votes to get Becerra confirmed. (Politico / National Reviews)
5/ The U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up Republican challenges to the presidential election results in Pennsylvania. Trump and the Pennsylvania Republican Party had urged the justices to review a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling, which had extended the deadline for receiving mail-in ballots until three days after the election. About 10,000 ballots arrived during the three-day window – short of the number needed to overturn Biden’s 80,555-vote victory in the state. The justices offered no public explanation for their decision, but Justice Clarence Thomas dissented. (Washington Post / Politico / CNN)
6/ Dominion Voting Systems sued MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell for more than $1.3 billion, alleging that the Trump ally spread a baseless conspiracy theory that its voting machines were rigged “because the lie sells pillows.” Trump’s lawyers, Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani, have also each been sued by Dominion for $1.3 billion in damages. (Axios / ABC News / CNBC / NPR)
7/ The Justice Department and the FBI are investigating communications between the rioters who attacked the Capitol and Roger Stone. For weeks Justice Department officials have debated whether to open a full investigation into Stone, but if they find messages showing that Stone knew about or took part in plans to disrupt the certification of Biden’s electoral victory, officials would have a basis to open a full criminal investigation into Stone. Trump commuted Stone’s sentence in July and pardoned him in late December. The pardon, however, does not protect Stone from future prosecutions. (New York Times / Washington Post)
8/ Trump will speak at next week’s Conservative Political Action Conference – his first public appearance since leaving office. Trump reportedly intends to attack Biden’s immigration plan and tell attendees that he is Republicans’ “presumptive 2024 nominee” for president. (Axios / The Guardian / New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
poll/ 17% of Trump voters believe Biden was legitimately elected president, while 73% say Biden wasn’t legitimately elected. (USA Today / Suffolk University)
1/ The United States officially returned to the Paris climate accord, four years after the Trump administration abandoned the global climate pact. “This is a global existential crisis,” Biden said. “We can no longer delay or do the bare minimum to address climate change.” Under the terms of the agreement, the U.S. would reduce its emissions by about 25% by 2025. The country, however, is only on track to achieve about a 17% reduction and Biden has promised to chart a path toward net-zero U.S. emissions by 2050. “We know that just doing Paris is not enough,” John Kerry said, Biden’s special envoy for climate. “We feel an obligation to work overtime to try to make up the difference. We have a lot to do.” (Associated Press / NBC News / NPR / CNN / Bloomberg / The Guardian / Reuters)
2/ Biden affirmed that the United States is “fully committed” to NATO but warned global leaders that “democratic progress is under assault” and the world faces an “inflection point” that could result in a tilt toward autocracy. Without mentioning Trump, Biden said “I know the past few years have strained and tested our transatlantic relationship,” but the U.S. is “determined to reengage with Europe, to consult with you, to earn back our position of trusted leadership.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / ABC News / NBC News / Bloomberg)
The Biden administration said it was ready to restore the Iran nuclear deal that the Trump administration abandoned, offering to hold talks with other world powers and Iran to discuss Tehran’s nuclear program. (NBC News / New York Times / Bloomberg)
3/ Biden privately told a group of mayors and governors that the $15-an-hour minimum wage hike was unlikely to be in the final Covid-19 relief bill. “I really want this in there but it just doesn’t look like we can do it because of reconciliation,” Biden told the group. House Democrats, meanwhile, released the full text of the $1.9 trillion stimulus bill, which includes an increase in the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour, $1,400 direct checks for Americans making $75,000 or less, an extension of $400 federal unemployment benefits, and money for small businesses. (Politico / CNN)
4/ The Manhattan district attorney’s office enlisted an expert on white-collar crime to investigate Trump and the Trump Organization. District Attorney Cyrus Vance is investigating possible tax and bank-related fraud, including whether the Trump Organization inflated the value of its properties to obtain loans and tax benefits. Mark Pomerantz will serve as a special assistant district attorney and work exclusively on the Trump investigation. (New York Times)
A venture capitalist who donated nearly $1 million to Trump’s inaugural committee was sentenced to 12 years in prison. Imaad Zuberi pleaded guilty to tax evasion for filing false foreign agent registration records and providing illegal campaign contributions while lobbying high-level U.S. officials. Zuberi funneled from foreign entities over five years between 2012 and 2016, including a $900,000 contribution to the Trump inaugural committee in December 2016. Zuberi was also fined $1.75 million and ordered to pay $15.7 million in restitution. (NBC News)
5/ The U.S. Capitol Police suspended six officers with pay for their actions during the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. Another 29 are under investigation. Acting Chief Yogananda Pittman “has directed that any member of her department whose behavior is not in keeping with the Department’s Rules of Conduct will face appropriate discipline.” The Justice Department, meanwhile, charged six people suspected of being members of the Oath Keepers, alleging that they “did knowingly combine, conspire, confederate, and agree with each other and others known and unknown” to force entry to the Capitol and obstruct Congress from certifying the election results. (CNN / NBC News / CNBC / Washington Post / New York Times)
poll/ 56% of Americans are dissatisfied with U.S. gun laws and policy – the ninth consecutive year of dissatisfaction. (Gallup)
1/ The coronavirus pandemic cut life expectancy in the U.S. by an entire year in the first half of 2020 – the largest drop since World War II. Overall, Americans can now expect to live 77.8 years – similar to what it was in 2006. Life expectancy of the Black population, however, declined by 2.7 years to 72 years. The CDC noted that the data only reflects deaths that occurred during the first six months of 2020 and does not show the full impact of Covid-19. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / Associated Press / CNN)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~110,181,000; deaths: ~2,438,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~27,882,000; deaths: ~493,000; vaccinated: ~12.7% of total population
2/ Another 861,000 people filed for unemployment last week – up 13,000 from the prior week – and another 516,000 claims were filed last week for the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, a program for gig and self employed workers. The total number of people claiming benefits in all unemployment programs was 18.34 million. According to the Labor Department, since the beginning of the pandemic some 2.5 million women have left the American work force, compared with 1.8 million men. (Bloomberg / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / CNBC / New York Times)
More than 100 million workers in the world’s largest economies may need to switch occupation by 2030 as the Covid-19 pandemic accelerates changes to the labor force. (Bloomberg)
3/ The White House pledged $4 billion dollars to an international effort to get coronavirus vaccines to low- and middle-income countries. Despite more than 190 countries participating in the Covax program, the Trump administration opted out, partly because of Trump’s feud with the WHO. The U.S. will contribute an initial $2 billion in the coming days and the remaining $2 billion over the next two years. (Washington Post / NBC News)
4/ The U.S. attorney in Brooklyn and the FBI are investigating how New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo handled the Covid-19 pandemic in the state’s nursing homes. Cuomo’s administration recently revealed that more than 15,000 people have died from the coronavirus in New York’s nursing homes and long-term care facilities – up from the 8,500 previously disclosed – and his top aide admitted in a call with state lawmakers that the state had withheld data because it feared that the Trump administration would use the information to begin a federal civil rights investigation. Democrats in the New York State Senate, meanwhile, accused Cuomo of a “cover-up” and are moving to strip him of the emergency powers granted during the pandemic. Cuomo also allegedly threatened to “destroy” a New York State Assemblyman’s political career if he didn’t help cover up the nursing home-related deaths. (NBC News / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / CNN)
5/ Ted Cruz and his family flew to Cancun as 3 million Texans were left without power, safe drinking water, or heat amid freezing weather. After photos surfaced of his family boarding a flight from Houston, Cruz claimed he flew to Mexico for the night because his “girls asked to take a trip with friends” and he wanted to be a “good dad.” The CDC, however, has advised that Americans “avoid all travel to Mexico” due to the coronavirus pandemic and that “[a]ll air passengers coming to the United States, including U.S. citizens, are required to have a negative COVID-19 test” before boarding a U.S.-bound flight. Cruz, meanwhile, booked his return ticket from Cancun to Texas at 6 a.m. today. (Washington Post / New York Times / Associated Press / CNN / Axios / Dallas Morning News)
6/ Biden approved emergency declarations for Oklahoma and Texas as the region battles the effects of severe winter weather. The declaration authorizes FEMA to coordinate disaster relief, including sending generators, blankets, and other supplies. (The Hill / Washington Post)
7/ Congressional Democrats introduced a Biden-backed bill to remake the U.S. immigration system and provide a path to citizenship for millions of undocumented Americans. The U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021, while unlikely to win Republican support, would provide an eight-year pathway to citizenship for 11 million people living in the country without legal status, remove restrictions on family-based immigration, and expand worker visas. “We have an economic and moral imperative to pass big, bold and inclusive immigration reform,” Sen. Bob Menendez said, adding: “We’re here today because last November 80 million Americans voted against Donald Trump and against everything he stood for. They voted to restore common sense, compassion, and competence in our government. And part of that mandate is fixing our immigration system, which is a cornerstone of Trump’s hateful horror show.” (NBC News / New York Times / CNN / Associated Press / Axios)
8/ The White House and congressional Democrats are divided over efforts to force Trump’s former White House counsel to testify about Trump’s efforts to obstruct the Russia inquiry. Under Trump, the Justice Department had been representing Donald McGahn in fighting a subpoena from House Judiciary Committee to testify at an oversight hearing. In a court filing, however, the Biden administration asked “whether an accommodation might be available with respect to the Committee’s request” to force McGahn to testify at an oversight hearing. House Democrats urged the court to move forward in the “interests of judicial efficiency or fairness to the parties.” Biden’s White House lawyers are reportedly worried about establishing a precedent that could someday force them to testify about internal matters. (New York Times)
9/ The Supreme Court has refused – for nearly four months – to act on emergency filings related to a Manhattan grand jury’s subpoena of Trump tax returns. The grand jury is seeking Trump personal and business records back to 2011, including information about the hush-money payments Michael Cohen made to cover up alleged affairs. The justices have not explained the delay.(CNN)
10/ Nearly 5,000 National Guard troops will remain in Washington through mid-March amid concerns that QAnon followers believe Trump will return to office March 4. During a hearing with defense officials, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee said “Some of these people have figured out that apparently 75 years ago, the president used to be inaugurated on March 4. OK, now why that’s relevant, God knows, at any rate, now they are thinking maybe we should gather again and storm the Capitol on March 4. … That is circulating online.” (CNN / The Hill)
11/ South Carolina banned most abortions. After South Carolina lawmakers passed a restrictive “fetal heartbeat” abortion ban bill and S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster signed it into law – five weeks into the legislative session – legislators and members of the public began singing the words “Praise God” to the tune of “Amazing Grace.” (Associated Press / The State)
1/ Biden suggested that anyone in the country who wants a vaccine should be able to get one “by the end of July.” Jeff Zients, White House COVID-19 response coordinator, said in a task force briefing that “We are on track to have enough vaccine supply for 300 million Americans by the end of July.” The U.S. has averaged 1.64 million doses a day over the last week and about 56.3 million total doses have been administered. If the pace of vaccination stays where it is now, Biden’s initial goal of 100 million Covid-19 vaccine shots in the first 100 days of his presidency would be met in late March – around Day 67 of his presidency. (New York Times / USA Today / The Guardian)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~109,837,000; deaths: ~2,428,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~27,812,000; deaths: ~490,000; vaccinated: ~12.2% of total population
About a third of U.S. military personnel are declining to be vaccinated. About 960,000 members of the military and its contractors have been vaccinated. (New York Times)
2/ Biden clarified that his goal is to open the majority of K-8 schools by the end of his first 100 days in office. When asked to explain what he meant by “open,” Biden said, “I think many of them five days a week. The goal will be five days a week” in person. Last week, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the administration wants more than 50% of schools to have “some teaching” in person “at least one day a week” – not fully reopened – by the end of April. Kamala Harris, meanwhile, stressed that teachers should be given priority for Covid-19 vaccinations, but wouldn’t say if she believed that teacher vaccinations should be a prerequisite for reopening schools. Dr. Anthony Fauci, however, added that vaccinating all teachers against Covid-19 before reopening schools is a “non-workable” solution. (NPR / NBC News / Politico)
3/ The Biden administration will invest more than $1.6 billion to expand coronavirus testing and genetic sequencing. About $650 million will go toward testing in K-8 schools and homeless shelters, $815 million will increase manufacturing to address shortages in testing supplies, and $200 million will go to increasing genetic sequencing efforts to help track existing and new variants. The White House called the $200 million a “down payment” that would increase the number of virus samples that labs can sequence jumping from around 7,000 to around 25,000 each week. Testing coordinator Carole Johnson, meanwhile, described the $1.6 billion package a “pilot” that will serve as a bridge until Congress passes the $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief bill. (Washington Post / Politico / New York Times)
4/ Biden declined to support Democratic proposals to cancel up to $50,000 per borrower in student loan debt, saying “I will not make that happen.” Biden, however, said he was prepared to cancel $10,000 in debt, but anything more than that would require congressional action. Chuck Schumer and Elizabeth Warren, and other lawmakers introduced a resolution in early February calling on Biden to use executive action to wipe out up to $50,000 in student loan debt, arguing that the secretary of education has broad administrative authority to cancel the federal debt. In response to Biden’s dismissal to forgiving student debt, Schumer and Warren issued a joint statement saying that action is needed “to immediately deliver much-needed relief to millions of Americans.” “It’s time to act. We will keep fighting,” they added. (NBC News / CNN / Washington Post / Bloomberg)
5/ Economists warn that millions of jobs that have been eliminated by the coronavirus pandemic are permanent and unlikely to come back. A report coming out later this week from the McKinsey Global Institute says that 20% of business travel won’t come back and about 20% of workers could end up working from home indefinitely, which means fewer jobs at hotels, restaurants, and downtown shops. (Washington Post)
poll/ 52% of voters approve of the job Biden is doing as president. In February, 2017, voters gave Trump a 38% approval rating. (Quinnipiac)
✏️ Notables.
The Biden administration will send generators to Texas amid ongoing power outages and freezing weather. Biden also declared a state of emergency in Texas over the weekend. (Axios)
The Pentagon delayed promotions for two female generals over fears that Trump would replace them before leaving office. Then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, agreed to delay their promotion recommendations for Gen. Jacqueline Van Ovost of the Air Force and Lt. Gen. Laura Richardson of the Army until after the November elections on the assumption that the Biden administration would be more supportive. Both promotions are expected to go to the White House and then to the Senate for approval within the next few weeks. (New York Times)
Dominion Voting Systems “imminently” plans to sue MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell over his claims about nonexistent election fraud. The suit would make Lindell the third Trump ally sued by Dominion after the company filed $1.3 billion suits against attorneys Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani. (Daily Beast)
Trump issued a highly personal statement attacking Mitch McConnell after McConnell voted no on impeachment but said he held Trump “practically and morally responsible” for the assault on the Capitol on Jan. 6. Trump called McConnell a “dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack” who “doesn’t have what it takes,” claiming that McConnell cost Republicans the Senate and that senator won his reelection because of his endorsement. “If Republican senators are going to stay with him,” Trump said, “they will not win again.” (New York Times / Politico / NBC News)
Biden said he’s spoken to all former presidents “with one exception.” Trump was the first president in modern history to decline to meet with his successor. After confirming that he hasn’t spoken to Trump, Biden added: “I’m tired of talking about Donald Trump, don’t want to talk about him anymore.” [Editor’s note: Amen.] (CNN / Axios)
1/ The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee sued Trump, Rudy Giuliani, and two extremist groups, accusing them of conspiring to incite the violent riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 in order to interfere with Congress’ certification of the Electoral College count. The lawsuit, filed by the NAACP on behalf of Rep. Bennie Thompson, alleges that Trump and Giuliani, in collaboration with the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, violated the Ku Klux Klan Act, an 1871 statute designed to protect lawmakers from violent interference in Congress’s constitutional duties. The suit, filed in federal court in Washington, says that by repeatedly claiming that the election was stolen, Trump and Giuliani “endorsed rather than discouraged” threats of violence from his supporters in the weeks leading up to the assault on the Capitol. And, at the Jan. 6 rally near the White House, the two “began stoking the crowd’s anger and urging them to take action to forcibly seize control of the process for counting and approving the Electoral College ballots.” (Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Politico / Associated Press / NPR / NBC News / The Guardian / ABC News / CNN / Axios)
2/ The White House said Biden would support efforts to establish the creation of a “9/11-type commission” to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Nancy Pelosi said Monday that the House would move to establish an independent commission for Congress to “get to the truth” of the Capitol attack as well as “the interference with the peaceful transfer of power.” Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said the White House would also cooperate with Congress to deter similar episodes in the future. (Politico / New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post / CNN)
3/ House Democrats are finalizing the details of Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, aiming to vote on final legislation Feb. 26. Currently, the legislation would provide billions of dollars for schools and small businesses, extend unemployment benefits through the fall, provide $1,400 in direct payments, and gradually increase in the federal minimum wage to $15. While the full House could pass the legislation as soon as next week, two Democrats in the Senate have voiced opposition to raising the federal minimum wage. Any changes made in the Senate would mean that the bill would have to go back to the House for another vote. (New York Times / Bloomberg / CNBC / CNN)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~109,387,000; deaths: ~2,415,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~27,740,000; deaths: ~488,000; vaccinated: ~12% of total population
4/ Biden extended the federal moratorium on home foreclosure through the end of June, saying the pandemic had “triggered a housing affordability crisis.” Biden had previously extended the moratorium, which was set to expire at the end of January, until the end of March in an executive actions on his first day in office. The White House also extended the enrollment window to request forbearance mortgage and six months of additional forbearance for those who enroll on or before June 30. The moves will benefit about 2.7 million homeowners currently in Covid-19 forbearance and extend the availability of forbearance options for around 11 million other government-backed mortgages nationwide. (NBC News / CNBC / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
5/ The Biden administration will increase coronavirus vaccine doses sent to states to 13.5 million a week – up from 11 million doses. The White House will also double vaccines doses shipped to pharmacies, increasing the number of doses per week from 1 million to 2 million. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the weekly vaccine doses sent to states represents a 57% increase in supply since Biden was inaugurated Jan. 20. About 12% of the U.S. population has received at least one dose of a vaccine. (Washington Post / The Guardian / Bloomberg)
1/ Trump was acquitted for the second time in 13 months. The Senate voted 57-43 Saturday in favor of convicting Trump – one month and a week after insurrectionists incited a riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6 – 10 votes short of the required two-thirds majority necessary for conviction. Republicans Richard Burr, Bill Cassidy, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Mitt Romney, Ben Sasse, and Patrick Toomey joined all 50 Democrats in voting to find Trump guilty of “incitement of insurrection” – the largest number of senators to vote to find a president of their own party guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors. Trump is also the only U.S. president to have been impeached twice. (New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / Politico / ABC News)
👑 Six hours of paralysis: Inside Trump’s failure to act after a mob stormed the Capitol. “He was hard to reach, and you know why? Because it was live TV,” said one close Trump adviser. “If it’s TiVo, he just hits pause and takes the calls. If it’s live TV, he watches it, and he was just watching it all unfold.” (Washington Post)
👑 One Legacy of Impeachment: The most complete account so far of Jan. 6. “Though Mr. Trump escaped conviction, the Senate impeachment trial has served at least one purpose: It stitched together the most comprehensive and chilling account to date of last month’s deadly assault on the Capitol, ensuring that the former president’s name will be inextricably associated with a violent attempt to subvert the peaceful transfer of power, the first in American history.” (New York Times)
2/ Before the vote to acquit, House impeachment managers unexpectedly called for witnesses after Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy told her that Trump supported the mob in a phone call as the Jan. 6 attack was unfolding. Herrera Beutler said that McCarthy had relayed the details of his call with Trump to her, and that McCarthy asked Trump “to publicly and forcefully call off the riot.” Trump, instead, reportedly told McCarthy: “Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are.” House impeachment managers seized on her account, saying they wanted to subpoena her as a witness. The Senate then voted to call witnesses, which was reversed a few hours later after a deal to allow her statement read into the record. Trump’s attorney also threatened to seek depositions from 100 or more witnesses, which would have delayed Biden’s agenda by dragging out the trial. (Washington Post / New York Times / NPR / Bloomberg / ABC News / NBC News)
3/ Mitch McConnell denounced Trump minutes after voting to acquit, saying Trump was guilty of a “disgraceful dereliction of duty.” In his post-acquittal speech, McConnell said that Trump was “morally and practically responsible for provoking” the Jan. 6 insurrection, but said he is “constitutionally not eligible for conviction” because he is no longer in office. The Senate trial occurred after Trump left office because McConnell said he would not call back the Senate before lawmakers were set to return Jan. 19 unless every senator agreed to do so. The House impeached Trump on Jan. 13. McConnell also suggested that Trump could still face criminal liability, saying “The Constitution makes perfectly clear that Presidential criminal misconduct while in office can be prosecuted after the President has left office,” adding that Trump “didn’t get away with anything yet.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, meanwhile, called it “pathetic” for McConnell to have “kept the Senate shut down” and unable to receive the article of impeachment. Pelosi added that the 43 Republicans who voted to acquit Trump are “a cowardly group […] who apparently have no options, because they were afraid to defend their job, respect the institution in which they serve.” (New York Times / USA Today / NBC News / Washington Post)
4/ Trump celebrated the Senate voting to acquit him of inciting an insurrection minutes after the verdict was announced, calling the proceedings “yet another phase of the greatest witch hunt” perpetuated against him by “one political party.” Trump suggested that the Democrats’ attempt to end his political career had failed, saying “our historic, patriotic and beautiful movement to Make America Great Again has only just begun.” Lindsey Graham said Trump remains the party’s “most potent force” even after his second impeachment and that “the Trump movement is alive and well.” Trump, however, has reportedly voiced concern about being charged related to Jan. 6 riot. (NPR / Bloomberg / New York Times / Politico)
New York prosecutors are investigating more than $280 million in loans Trump took out for four Manhattan buildings. In court filings, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance said he is pursuing an investigation into possible insurance and bank fraud by the Trump Organization and its officers. (Wall Street Journal)
The Fulton County district attorney plans to investigate the post-Election Day phone call between Sen. Lindsey Graham and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger as part of a criminal investigation into whether Trump or his allies broke Georgia laws while trying to reverse his defeat in the state.(Washington Post)
5/ Lawmakers in both parties called for a bipartisan 9/11-style commission to investigate why government officials and law enforcement failed to stop the attack on the U.S. Capitol. In a letter to House Democrats, Nancy Pelosi said “our next step will be to establish an outside, independent 9/11-type Commission to ‘investigate and report on the facts and causes relating to the January 6, 2021 domestic terrorist attack upon the United States Capitol Complex.’” A commission is the primary remaining option for Congress to try to hold Trump accountable for his role in the assault. Separately, two Senate committees will investigate security failures during the riots, and Nancy Pelosi has also asked the House for a review of the Capitol’s security process. (The Guardian / New York Times / CNN / ABC News / Associated Press)
poll/ 58% of American believe Trump should have been convicted. 61% said Trump’s conduct warranted him being impeached and put on trial. (ABC News)
poll/ 75% of Republicans say they’d like to see Trump play a prominent role in the Republican Party. Overall, 60% of Americans do not want Trump to play a prominent role in the party. (Quinnipiac)
poll/ 62% of Americans say a third political party is needed – up from 57% in September. 33% of Americans say the two major parties are doing an adequate job representing the public. (Gallup)
✏️ Notables.
For the first time since November, the daily average of new coronavirus infections in the U.S. fell below 100,000 – well below the average daily infection rate of 200,000 for December and nearly 250,000 in January. (NPR / NBC News)
The U.S. is administering about 1.7 million coronavirus vaccines a day and more than 50 million Americans have now received the Covid-19 vaccine. (New York Times / ABC)
Biden reopened the federal health insurance marketplace on for three months so that uninsured people can buy a plan and those who want to change their marketplace coverage can do so. (NPR / Axios)
The WHO authorized the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine for emergency use. The vaccine will be distributed mainly to low- and middle-income countries as part of the global COVAX initiative. (Politico / Bloomberg)
At least 32 million of the 142 million rapid Covid-19 tests distributed by the U.S. government to states last year weren’t used as of early February. The unused tests cost taxpayers $160 million. (Wall Street Journal)
U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy plans to slow down mail delivery and make it more costly by raising postage rates and eliminating first-class mail. DeJoy, with the support of the agency’s bipartisan but Trump-appointed governing board, has discussed lumping all first-class mail into the same three- to five-day window as non-local mail. (Washington Post / NBC News)
Deputy White House press secretary TJ Ducklo resigned after he berated and threatened a female reporter who asked about his relationship with another reporter as part of a story about a potential conflict. (Washington Post / CNN)
⚖️ Trump’s Second Senate Impeachment Trial: Day 4.
What happened today? Trump’s legal team concluded its defense, accusing House impeachment managers of “political vengeance” and calling Trump’s second impeachment trial “a politically motivated witch hunt.” Trump’s team spent two hours and 32 minutes of the 16 hours allotted to present a defense, calling Democrats’ allegations that Trump incited the Capitol riot “patently absurd” and that his calls for supporters to “fight” on his behalf “ordinary political rhetoric” that fell short of the legal standard for incitement. “No thinking person could seriously believe that the president’s January 6 speech on the Ellipse was in any way an incitement to violence or insurrection,” Michael van der Veen, one of Trump’s attorneys, said. Trump’s defense then showed a selectively edited video of Democrats using the words “fight” or “fighting” in political speeches. Trump’s other lawyer, Bruce Castor, echoed complaints of “cancel culture,” saying “Let us be clear: This trial is about far more than President Trump. It is about silence and banning the speech the majority does not agree with. It is about canceling 75 million Trump voters and criminalizing political viewpoints.” And, finally, Trump lawyer David Schoen complained about “the hatred, the vitriol, the political opportunism that has brought us here today.” He blamed Trump’s impeachment on “hatred, animosity, division, political gain – and let’s face it, for House Democrats, President Trump is the best enemy to attack.”
What’s next? The Senate completed a question-and-answer session, and a vote on whether to convict or acquit could come as early as Saturday.
Three Republican senators met with Trump’s defense team prior to their rebuttal to the House impeachment managers’ presentation. Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz, and Mike Lee’s met with Trump lawyer David Schoen in the middle of the impeachment trial in which they will vote on whether to convict Trump and bar him from holding public office again. (CNN)
1/ The CDC released updated guidance to help schools safely bring students back into classrooms during the pandemic. The agency now recommends a combination of in-person and remote learning, proper use of masks, social distancing of six feet, strict cleaning and maintenance of classrooms, and rapid contact tracing. The guidance doesn’t mandate school reopenings, but calls it “critical for schools to open as safely and as quickly as possible for in-person learning.” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky urged states to prioritize teachers for vaccination, saying it would serve as an “additional layer of protection,” but that schools need to keep up safety practices “for the foreseeable future.” (NPR / Politico / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~108,070,000; deaths: ~2,379,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~27,478,000; deaths: ~481,000; vaccinated: ~10.9% of total population
The FDA agreed to allow Moderna to put as many as 14 doses in each vial of the company’s coronavirus vaccine — up from the current 10. Moderna currently supplies about half of the nation’s vaccine stock and a 14-dose vial could increase the vaccine supply by as much as 20%. (New York Times / Politico)
Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his administration reportedly covered up the scope of the coronavirus death toll in New York’s nursing homes out of fear it could be used against them by the Trump administration. (New York Times / ABC News)
2/ Trump was sicker with Covid-19 than publicly acknowledged and officials believed he would need to be put on a ventilator. When he was hospitalized with the coronavirus in October, Trump’s blood oxygen levels dropped into the 80s. Covid-19 is considered severe when blood oxygen levels fall to the low 90s. Trump received the Regeneron antibody cocktail before he was taken to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, which was not widely available at the time. Once at the hospital, Trump received the dexamethasone, a steroid recommended for Covid-19 patients with severe or critical forms of the disease, who often need mechanical ventilation or supplemental oxygen. Trump also received a five-day course of the antiviral drug remdesivir. Trump’s physician, Dr. Sean Conley, repeatedly downplayed concerns at the time, saying he wanted “to reflect the upbeat attitude that the team, the president, his course of illness has had,” and that he “didn’t want to give any information that might steer the course of illness in another direction.” (New York Times / CNN)
3/ The 2020 census data needed for legislative districts won’t be ready until Sept. 30 – six months after the March 31 deadline. The delay, first by the coronavirus pandemic and then by the Trump administration’s interference, threatens to upend the 2022 elections as states face tighter redistricting deadlines for Congress, as well as state and local offices. (New York Times / NPR)
4/ The Biden administration will phase in a new asylum process on Feb. 19 for tens of thousands of people seeking asylum at the southern U.S. border who have been forced to wait in Mexico under a Trump-era policy. The Department of Homeland Security plans to process about 300 people per day from among an estimated 25,000 people with “active cases” in the now-defunct “Remain in Mexico” program. (Associated Press / NPR)
5/ Biden’s deputy White House press secretary was suspended for one week without pay after verbally harassing and threatening a female reporter. T.J. Ducklo was put on leave following a Vanity Fair story reporting that Ducklo had made derogatory and misogynistic comments to a Politico reporter, including tell her “I will destroy you,” after learning that Politico was planning to publish an article about his relationship with a reporter at Axios. (NBC News / CNBC)
⚖️ Trump’s Second Senate Impeachment Trial: Day 3.
What happened today? The House impeachment managers prosecuting Trump rested their case, saying that if Trump is not convicted, it sets “a new terrible standard for presidential misconduct.” The managers used their final day of arguments to show how the insurrectionists – using his specific words – carried out the attack on the Capitol at Trump’s direction, warning that Trump could incite more violence if not convicted. The managers also focused on Trump’s history of celebrating violence and his lack of remorse following the Jan. 6 insurrection to demonstrate why he should be convicted and barred from holding federal office again. “Senators, America, we need to exercise our common sense about what happened,” Rep. Jamie Raskin, the lead impeachment manager, said in his final arguments. “Let’s not get caught up in a lot of outlandish lawyers’ theories here. Exercise your common sense about what just took place in our country.”
What’s next? Trump’s defense team will begin their arguments tomorrow against conviction. Trump’s defense is not expected to use all 16 hours of their allotted time for presentations and instead plans finish its arguments in the Senate’s impeachment trial by Friday night. A verdict could come as early as the weekend. Democrats are looking for at least 17 Senate Republicans to join them in voting to convict Trump.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville told Trump on Jan. 6 that Pence had been evacuated from the chamber before rioters reached Senate. Pence was removed from the Senate at 2:14 p.m., according to video footage from that day. Trump tweeted at 2:24 p.m. that “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution.” Meanwhile, Trump reportedly has not expressed remorse for putting Pence in that situation. (Politico / HuffPost)
The Justice Department said a leader of the Oath Keepers paramilitary group waited for Trump’s direction before the siege on the Capitol. The Justice Department filing says Jessica Watkins was “concern[ed] about taking action without his backing was evident in a November 9, 2020, text in which she stated, ‘I am concerned this is an elaborate trap. Unless the POTUS himself activates us, it’s not legit. The POTUS has the right to activate units too. If Trump asks me to come, I will. Otherwise, I can’t trust it.’ Watkins had perceived her desired signal by the end of December.” (CNN / New York Times)
A federal judge ordered a Proud Boy charged in the Capitol riot to be held without bond. Dominic Pezzola told a court that he was duped by Trump’s “deception” and “acted out of the delusional belief” that he was responding patriotically. (Politico)
1/ The Biden administration secured deals for another 200 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine, increasing available supply by 50%. Biden promised last month to purchase an additional 200 million doses — 100 million from Pfizer and 100 million from Moderna. The additional doses are expected to be delivered and available this summer. (Washington Post)
2/ Biden rescinded Trump’s national emergency declaration over the U.S.-Mexico border. In Feb. 2019, Trump used the emergency proclomation to redirect billions of dollars for construction of a wall along the southern border. (Axios / USA Today)
3/ Senior Justice Department officials in 2020 repeatedly tried to block a search warrant for Rudy Giuliani’s records related to his activities in Ukraine. While career Justice Department officials supported the search warrant – about whether Giuliani had illegally lobbied the Trump administration on behalf of Ukrainian officials and oligarchs who had helped him look for dirt on Biden in 2019 – political appointees raised concerns that the warrant would be issued too close to the election. The prosecutors tried again after the election, but political appointees at the Justice Department wouldn’t approve the warrant because Trump was still contesting the election, which was being led by Giuliani. (New York Times / CNN)
report/ Roughly 40% of coronavirus deaths in the U.S. could have been prevented if the nation’s average death rate matched other industrialized nations. The Lancet Commission on Public Policy and Health in the Trump Era report faulted Trump’s “inept and insufficient” response to Covid-19 for the death rate, saying his actions “caused a lot of citizens to fail to take it seriously and interfered with the kind of coordinated response they have been able to use in a lot of countries that are more successful than the U.S. in controlling the epidemic.” The report also said Trump weakening of the Affordable Care Act caused 2.3 million more Americans to become uninsured, which does not include those who lost health coverage during the pandemic. [Editor’s note: It’s important to highlight that the nation’s poor health outcomes can be traced back to more than four decades of health, economic, and social policies – not just Trump’s response to the pandemic.] (USA Today)
poll/ 66% of Republicans still believe Biden’s election was not legitimate. Overall, 65% of Americans view Biden’s 2020 victory as legitimate. (New York Times)
poll/ 39% of Republicans agreed that violence may be necessary to achieve political goals, while 31% of independents, and 17% of Democrats support taking violent actions if elected leaders do not defend the country. (NPR)
poll/ 29% of Republicans believe the debunked QAnon conspiracy theory that a group of government officials secretly worked to undermine the Trump administration. (Religion News Service)
⚖️ Trump’s Second Senate Impeachment Trial: Day 2.
What happened today? House Democrats opened their impeachment case against Trump arguing that he “assembled, inflamed and incited” the attack against the U.S. Capitol because he “ran out of nonviolent” ways to overturn the result of the election. The House impeachment managers, calling Trump no “innocent bystander” but the “inciter in chief,” presented never-before-seen security footage from Jan. 6 of a pro-Trump mob storming the Capitol, played audio of Capitol Police declaring a riot, and methodically detailed a nearly minute-by-minute account of what happened once the Capitol was breached. The prosecution argued that Trump sought to “prime” his supporters for the deadly Capitol attack months before it happened by engaging in a series of “false, outlandish lies” that he could only lose the election through fraud, likening Trump’s actions to someone trying “to light the match.”
What’s next? The Senate has taken a break in the proceedings for dinner and will resume shortly. Each trial day is expected to last about eight hours, and House managers have 16 total hours to make their presentations, after which Trump’s team will have the same amount of time to present its defense. Thursday’s proceedings are scheduled to begin at noon Eastern.
1/ Trump was reportedly “not happy” and “frustrated” by the performance of his lawyers during the first day of his second impeachment trial. Trump was particularly angry at Bruce Castor, one of his lawyers, for praising the House impeachment manager’s presentation before delivering a meandering, nearly hour-long defense during the first day of the Senate impeachment trial. In fact, Trump’s other lawyer, David Schoen, was supposed to present first, but Castor told the Senate that they “changed what we were going to do on account that we thought that the House managers’ presentation was well done.” Castor also referred to Trump as the “former president,” conceding that Trump lost the 2020 election when “smart” voters elected Biden. One person familiar with Trump’s reaction said that on a scale of one to 10, with 10 being the angriest, Trump “was an eight.” (New York Times / CNN / Politico / The Guardian)
Mitch McConnell signaled to Republicans that the vote on Trump’s impeachment is matter of conscience, suggesting that senators who disputed the constitutionality of the trial could still vote to convict. Six Republicans on yesterday voted in favor of the constitutionality of the Senate process. (Bloomberg / Politico)
2/ Georgia prosecutors opened a criminal investigation into Trump’s efforts to overturn the state’s 2020 election result, including a January phone call where Trump pressured the state’s top elections official to “find” enough votes to reverse Biden’s victory. In letters to state Republican officials, including Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis requested that they preserve documents related to “an investigation into attempts to influence the administration” of the 2020 election, “with particular care being given to set aside and preserve those that may be evidence of attempts to influence the actions of persons who were administering that election.” Willis did not mention Trump by name, but the letters indicate that the office is conducting a criminal investigation. (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Politico / Axios / NBC News)
3/ The CDC recommends double masking to reduce exposure to the coronavirus. A new study found that when you and another person double mask – i.e. wear a surgical mask with a cloth mask on top – the risk of transmitting the coronavirus falls more than 95%. The benefit falls to 80% if only one person wears a double mask. For optimal protection, the CDC study suggests improving the fit of the surgical mask – by knotting the ear loops and tucking in the sides close to the face to form a closer fit – so the mask fits snugly against your face. When only one person adjusted their surgical mask for a tighter fit, the protection benefit of double masking fell to 60%. The CDC continues to recommend that everyone age 2 and older should wear a mask when outside their home. (ABC News / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Politico / NPR)
The Biden administration is on track to meet its goal of administering 100 million Covid-19 shots in his first 100 days in office. The administration is averaging 1.5 million shots per day – up from 1.1 million two weeks ago. (NBC News)
4/ The White House clarified Biden’s school reopening goal, saying the administration wants more than 50% of schools to have “some teaching” in person “at least one day a week” – not fully reopened – by Day 100. In December, Biden said his goal was for “a majority of our schools” to be open within 100 days – a benchmark that many schools are already hitting. White House press secretary Jen Psaki called the objective “not the ceiling,” adding “hopefully, it’s more.” Last week, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said “there is increasing data to suggest that schools can safely reopen” and that “vaccination of teachers is not a prerequisite for safe reopening of schools.” Teachers, however, have called for more coronavirus testing, vaccinations and other safety measures before returning to classrooms. (USA Today / CNN / Bloomberg)
5/ The Biden administration “indefinitely” shelved the Trump administration’s forced U.S. takeover of TikTok. Last year, Trump ordered a ban on the Chinese-owned app, citing on national security concerns, unless it allowed for Oracle and Walmart take a large ownership stake in the popular video app. (Wall Street Journal / ABC News)
6/ Biden announced sanctions against Myanmar and those involved in the military coup. “The military must relinquish power seized and demonstrate respect for the role of the people,” Biden said as he signed an executive order to impose “strong export controls” and freeze U.S. assets that benefit Myanmar’s government. (Politico / NBC News)
poll/ 67% of Americans plan to get the Covid-19 vaccine or have already done so, 15% are certain they won’t, and 17% say probably not. (Associated Press)
poll/ 37% of Americans have a positive opinion of the Republican Party – down from 43% in November. 48% of Americans have a positive opinion of the Democratic Party. (Gallup)
Trump’s impeachment trial kicked off in the Senate with House Democrats playing a video montage of Trump whipping up a crowd of supporters, encouraging them to march to the U.S. Capitol and “fight like hell,” showing the pro-Trump mob violently breaching the Capitol, attacking police officers, and invoking Trump’s name as they tried to disrupt the certification of the November election. “Senators, this cannot be our future. This cannot be the future of America,” Rep. Jamie Raskin said in opening remarks. “We cannot have presidents inciting and mobilizing mob violence against our government and our institutions because they refuse to accept the will of the people.”
The first day of the proceeding were devoted to a debate over the constitutionality of the House prosecuting a president who has already left office. While Trump’s lawyers condemned the violence, they rejected the suggestion that he was responsible for it and maintained that the Constitution did not allow for an impeachment trial of a former president because it was meant to lead to removal. According to his defense attorneys, Trump was “horrified” by the violence at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, and that it is “absolutely not true” that Trump failed to quickly act to end the riot. In their revisionist history, Trump reportedly tweeted calls for peace “upon hearing of the reports of violence” and took “immediate steps” to mobilize resources to counter the rioters storming the building – these statements, however, conflict with the actual timeline of events. Bruce Castor, one of Trump’s attorneys, argued that Trump should not be punished for a “political speech,” and since he is “no longer is in office … the object of the Constitution has been achieved. He was removed by the voters.” House impeachment managers, meanwhile, argued that there is no “January exception” for presidents to escape repercussions through impeachment on their way out of office, saying the framers of the Constitution did not provide a waiver for accountability.
After House managers and Trump’s team presented their arguments on whether the trial was constitutional, the Senate voted 56 to 44 to proceed with Trump’s impeachment trial. Six Republicans voted to affirm the constitutionality of the trial.
Trump’s trial is adjourned until Wednesday, when each side will have up to 16 hours to present their case, spread out over two days per side. Senators will also have four hours to question the House managers and Trump’s attorneys.
📝 News and Notes:
One of Trump’s impeachment lawyers sued him last year, accusing him of making “repeated claims” that mail voting is ripe with fraud “despite having no evidence in support of these claims.” Michael van der Veen filed a lawsuit against Trump, the USPS, and Postmaster General Louis DeJoy in August on behalf of a client running for office, claiming that operational changes at USPS would make it harder for voters to cast ballots during the coronavirus pandemic. (Washington Post)
Trump – confident of his acquittal – plans a reemergence and retribution after his impeachment trial. (Politico)
77 Days: Trump’s Campaign to Subvert the Election. Hours after the United States voted, the president declared the election a fraud — a lie that unleashed a movement that would shatter democratic norms and upend the peaceful transfer of power. (New York Times)
Trump’s Jan. 6 Speech, Annotated. “The speech Trump gave at a rally just before the Capitol riot is at the center of the impeachment proceedings against the former president. Read and listen to the speech, with annotations on passages cited by the two sides.” (Wall Street Journal)
1/ The Biden administration will begin sending doses of Covid-19 vaccines to community health centers next week and boost the supply of vaccines sent to states by 5%. Since taking office, the number of doses sent to states has increased by 28% to 11 million doses a week. (NBC News / CNBC)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~106,741,000; deaths: ~2,335,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~27,161,000; deaths: ~467,000; vaccinated: ~10% of total population
Johnson & Johnson’s suggested that people may need to get vaccinated against Covid-19 annually – just like seasonal flu shots – over the next several years. (CNBC)
A team of WHO scientists investigating the origins of the coronavirus pandemic said it’s “extremely unlikely” that the virus was leaked from a laboratory in Wuhan. After 12 days of field work, the team said they found that the virus was spreading in Wuhan both inside and outside the Huanan Seafood Market, which indicates that the market was also not the original source of the outbreak. (Washington Post / NBC News / ABC News / New York Times)
2/ The office of Georgia’s secretary of state launched an investigation into Trump’s attempts to overturn the state’s election results. In December, Trump called Georgia officials amid an ongoing audit, asking Brad Raffensperger’s office to “find the fraud,” telling them they’d be a “national hero” for it. And on Jan. 2, Trump repeatedly demanded that Raffensperger “find” the 11,780 votes needed to overturn the results of the election in the state. (New York Times / ABC News)
3/ The Biden administration asked nearly all U.S. attorneys appointed during the Trump administration to resign. Several acting U.S. attorneys, who aren’t Senate confirmed or were appointed by the courts, will remain until a Biden appointee is approved by the Senate. The Justice Department, however, will allow John Durham to remain in the role of special counsel appointed to investigate the origins of the Trump-Russia inquiry. (CNN / NBC News / New York Times)
4/ The Air Force will deploy B-1 bombers and approximately 200 personnel to Norway for the first time in order to react more quickly to potential Russia aggression. (CNN)
poll/ 56% of Americans would like the Senate to vote to convict Trump. The same percentage say Trump encouraged the violence at the Capitol. (CBS News)
poll/ 49% of Americans said they were certain or very likely to get a Covid-19 vaccine, while 19% said they were “somewhat likely” to get vaccinated, and 32% said they were “not likely.” (CNBC / Bloomberg)
1/ The coronavirus variant first found in the U.K. – known as B.1.1.7 – is spreading rapidly across the U.S., doubling roughly every 10 days. The variant is more contagious than earlier forms of the coronavirus, may be more lethal, and the CDC warned that B.1.1.7 could become the predominant strain in the U.S. by March. Meanwhile, South Africa halted use of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine after evidence emerged that the vaccine offered only “minimal protection against mild-moderate disease” caused by B.1.351 – another variant, which was first seen in South Africa. The B.1.351 variant has already spread to at least 32 countries, including the U.S. Pfizer and Moderna, however, both said that studies indicate that their vaccines should grant protection against both variants, but are less effective against B.1.351. Biden, meanwhile, called the Trump administration’s handling of the pandemic, including the number of vaccine doses that were made available, “even more dire than we thought.” Biden added that it would be “difficult” to vaccinate most of the U.S. by summer. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / Politico)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~106,405,000; deaths: ~2,323,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~27,065,000; deaths: ~465,000; vaccinated: 9.8% of total population
The Supreme Court partly lifted restrictions on indoor worship services in California put in place to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The restrictions set varying limits on attendance at religious services by county, depending on infection rates. The court blocked that total ban but left in place a 25% capacity restriction and the prohibition on singing and chanting. (New York Times / Washington Post)
GOP Rep. Ron Wright died after an 18-day battle with COVID-19. A special election will likely be held in 2021 to select a new representative for the district. (Dallas Morning News / Politico)
2/ The House asked the Biden administration to release documents related to the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, “to understand the full scope and impact of efforts by the Trump White House to suppress coronavirus testing.” In a letter to White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain, the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis alleged that the Trump administration “refused to cooperate” with its inquiries and that Trump officials “failed to fully comply with two subpoenas and at least 20 document requests” by the committee. The letter focuses on Trump administration adviser Dr. Paul Alexander, who downplayed the importance of testing people without symptoms and allegedly tried to suppress scientific data and pressure members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force to alter public information. In August, the CDC changed its Covid-19 testing guidance to say that people without symptoms “do not necessarily need a test” – even if they were exposed to an infected person.
But in September, the CDC reversed the guidance, saying that anyone, including those without symptoms, who has been in close contact with an infected person needs a Covid-19 test. (CNN / CNBC / NPR)
3/ Congressional Democrats are expected to propose providing up to $3,600 per child to families as part of Biden’s $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief package. Under the proposal, the IRS would send $3,600 per child under the age of 6 over the year, or $3,000 per child of ages 6 to 17, phasing out the payments for those earning more than $75,000 and couples earning more than $150,000 per year. (NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / CNBC)
4/ Biden’s proposal to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour would result in 1.4 million job losses, but lift 900,000 Americans out of poverty by 2025 and raise the income for 17 million people, according to a new study from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. In its cost assessment of Biden’s “Raise the Wage Act of 2021,” the CBO said that the minimum wage increase would also increase the budget deficit by $54 billion over 10 years. While Biden said he didn’t expect the measure to make the $1.9 trillion covid relief package, he said he was prepared for a “separate negotiation” to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour from the current level of $7.25 an hour. “Look, no one should work 40 hours a week and live below the poverty wage,” Biden said. “And if you’re making less than $15 an hour, you’re living below the poverty wage.” (Washington Post / Reuters / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Politico)
Surprising exactly no one, 50 years of tax cuts for the wealthy have failed to “trickle down.” A London School of Economics study, which examined 18 developed countries from 1965 to 2015, shows that the incomes of the rich grew faster in countries where tax rates were lowered instead of trickling down to the middle class. (CBS News)
5/ Biden instructed the State Department to reengage with the United Nations Human Rights Council – reversing the Trump administration’s decision to withdraw nearly three years ago. The U.S. withdrew from the council in 2018 – calling the council “a cesspool of political bias” that is a “hypocritical and self-serving organization that makes a mockery of human rights” and “is not worthy of its name” – after the U.N.’s human rights chief called Trump’s policy of separating children at the border “unconscionable.” (NBC News / Politico / Washington Post)
6/ Biden, citing Trump’s “erratic behavior unrelated to the insurrection,” said Trump should not receive intelligence briefings even though they typically have been given to former presidents. “I just think that there is no need for him to have the intelligence briefings,” Biden said. “What value is giving him an intelligence briefing? What impact does he have at all, other than the fact he might slip and say something?” (CNN / NBC News / New York Times)
7/ Trump’s attorneys argued that the insurrection at the Capitol was perpetrated by people “of their own accord and for their own reasons” and not because Trump called on them to march on Congress and “fight like hell.” Trump’s lawyers, accusing House Democrats of engaging in “political theater” driven by “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” asserted in a new filing that Trump’s speech before the attack “did not direct anyone to commit unlawful actions,” and that he deserved no blame for the conduct of a “small group of criminals” because he was engaged in free speech protected by the First Amendment when he questioned the election results. Trump’s lawyers also argued that the Senate “lacks jurisdiction” and cannot convict a former president, calling the effort “patently ridiculous.” House impeachment managers, meanwhile, said: “We live in a Nation governed by the rule of law, not mob violence incited by Presidents who cannot accept their own electoral defeat.” (Politico / Washington Post / CNN / NPR / New York Times / CNBC / Wall Street Journal)
The FBI charged 211 people in the Capitol riot – nearly two dozen had ties to right-wing extremist groups. (NBC News)
Trump’s election fraud lies have cost taxpayers at least $519 million in legal fees prompted by dozens of lawsuits, enhanced security in response to death threats against poll workers, repairs following the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol, and more than $480 million for the military’s deployment through mid-March. (Washington Post)
Trump’s reelection campaign moved about $2.8 million of donor money to the Trump Organization – including more than $81,000 since Trump lost the election. (Forbes)
8/ Paul Manafort can’t be prosecuted in New York after Trump’s pardon. In October, a New York appeals court found that efforts to try Manafort for financial fraud violated the state’s double jeopardy law since Manafort had been convicted on similar charges in federal court. In December, Trump pardoned Manafort. Meanwhile, the double jeopardy defense is unlikely to help Stephen Bannon, who was also pardoned by Trump, because Bannon hasn’t been tried (or convicted) yet. (New York Times)
poll/ 67% of American’s approve of Biden’s handling of the coronavirus. In October, 61% said they disapproved of Trump’s response to the pandemic. (Washington Post)
poll/ 52% of Americans favor their senators voting to convict Trump in his second Senate impeachment trial, while 45% prefer their senators find him not guilty, and 3% are unsure. (Gallup)
poll/ 16% of Americans say democracy is working well or extremely well, while 45% think democracy isn’t functioning properly, and another 38% say it’s working only somewhat well. (Associated Press)
1/ The House and Senate both advanced a budget resolution, setting up passage of Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus stimulus plan over near unanimous Republican opposition. The Senate passed the budget blueprint early Friday morning 51-50 on a party line vote after Kamala Harris broke the tie. The House then passed the resolution later Friday in a 219-209 vote. House and Senate committees will now draft legislation using Biden’s framework, which calls for money for vaccine distribution, funding for hospitals and schools, $1,400 stimulus checks for most Americans, and expanded unemployment aid. Democrats are eyeing mid-March for final passage of the relief legislation. (NPR / New York Times / Associated Press / NBC News / CNN / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / Washington Post / Axios)
2/ Nearly 18 million Americans continue to receive unemployment benefits of some kind and there are about 10 million fewer jobs today than before the pandemic. More than 1 million Americans have filed first-time unemployment claims for the 46th consecutive week last week, while almost 40% of jobless workers – about 4 million people – are now classified as long-term unemployed, nearing the record 46% set following the Great Recession. The U.S. economy, meanwhile, added 49,000 jobs in January as the unemployment rate fell to 6.3%. (NBC News / NPR / CNN / CNBC / Politico / Wall Street Journal / Axios / Politico)
3/ Biden, responding to the jobs report, said “it is very clear our economy is still in trouble.” He added that many Americans are “really hurting” and that Congress has the opportunity “to do something consequential here.” Biden pledged “to act fast” on securing passage of his $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, making it clear that Democrats are willing to move forward without Republican support, while calling his American Rescue Plan “big,” “bold,” and “a real answer to the crisis we’re in.” Biden also pushed back on the Republicans’ Covid-19 relief counterproposal, which totaled to less than half of the $1.9 trillion White House plan, saying “Some in Congress think we’ve already done enough to deal with the crisis in the country. Others think that things are getting better and we can afford to sit back and either do little or nothing at all. That’s not what I see. I see enormous pain.” (CNN / NBC News / New York Times / Bloomberg / ABC News)
4/ Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin ordered more than 1,000 active-duty troops to help speed up state Covid-19 vaccination efforts. Military personnel will begin arriving in California within the next 10 days with more missions “to come.” The Pentagon is still weighing a request from FEMA for up to 10,000 troops. Biden, meanwhile, will use the Defense Production Act to increase supplies of vaccine, tests, and protective equipment. (Politico / NBC News)
5/ The House voted to remove Marjorie Taylor Greene from her two committee seats for embracing baseless conspiracy theories and supporting violent rhetoric against Democrats, including the assassination of Nancy Pelosi. The House voted 230-199 – with 11 Republicans joining every Democrat who voted – after House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy declined to take away her committee assignments. After being removed from the Budget Committee and the Committee on Education and Labor, Greene called Democrats “morons,” and declared that she had been “freed” from “tyrannical government,” adding that “this is going to be fun!” (Politico / New York Times / ABC News / Bloomberg / NBC News / Washington Post / Axios / New York Times / CNBC / Wall Street Journal)
poll/ 47% of Americans believe the Senate should vote to convict Trump during his impeachment trial. 50% say Trump bears a great deal or quite a bit of the responsibility for the events at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. (Associated Press)
1/ U.S. Covid-19 hospitalizations are at the lowest point since Thanksgiving as the rate of coronavirus vaccinations has accelerated. Hospitalizations declined by nearly 30% in the last three weeks to 91,000 patients – the lowest number since Nov. 28. More than 27 million Americans have received their first shot – higher than the total number of reported U.S. infections – and more than 6 million are fully inoculated. (ABC News / Washington Post)
Biden’s Covid-19 Response Team is considering sending masks directly to Americans. The Trump administration scrapped a similar plan last year, opting instead to send cloth masks to nonprofit organizations and state agencies. (NBC News)
Mitt Romney proposed sending at least $3,000 per child to millions of American families as a means of combating child poverty. Romney’s proposal would provide $4,200 a year for every child up to the age of 6 and $3,000 per year for every child 6 to 17. Democrats have drafted similar legislation that would provide $3,600 a year for children ages 0-5 and $3,000 a year for children aged 6-17. (Washington Post / CNBC / Axios / HuffPost)
2/ Weekly unemployment claims fell to 779,000 – the lowest level since the end of November. While claims remained well above the pre-pandemic peak of 695,000, it was the third consecutive decrease in initial claims. (Bloomberg / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
3/ House impeachment managers requested that Trump testify under oath during his own Senate impeachment trial next week about his involvement in the events that led to the Capitol riot Jan. 6. “In light of your disputing these factual allegations, I write to invite you to provide testimony under oath,” Rep. Jamie Raskin wrote in a letter to Trump. The letter comes two days after Trump’s legal team “denied many factual allegations set forth in the article of impeachment.” House impeachment managers invited Trump to testify either before or during his actual impeachment trial. The Senate could also seek to compel Trump’s testimony by subpoena. Trump’s defense team, meanwhile, rejected the invitation, accusing Democrats of waging a “public relations stunt.” (NBC News / Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / ABC News / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / USA Today / Associated Press / Axios)
A voting technology company filed a $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News, several of the network’s prominent hosts, Rudy Giuliani, and Sidney Powell. In its 276-page complaint, Smartmatic argues that Giuliani and Powell “created a story about Smartmatic” and that “Fox joined the conspiracy to defame and disparage Smartmatic and its election technology and software.” (New York Times / CNN / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
4/ Biden will halt and reverse several Trump administration foreign policy initiatives, including planned troop withdrawals in Germany and support for the Saudi-led offensive in Yemen that has resulted in one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. “America is back, diplomacy is back,” Biden said at the State department, adding that his administration would work toward “reclaiming our credibility and moral authority.” Biden also pledged to strengthen relationships with U.S. allies, saying they have “atrophied from four years of neglect and abuse” under Trump. (Bloomberg / CNBC / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / Axios / The Guardian)
Biden is expected announcement that he intends to allow more refugees into the United States this year. Trump steadily lowered the annual cap on refugees from the 110,000 in 2016 to a record low 15,000. (New York Times)
poll/ 39% of Americans on average are satisfied with life in the U.S. – the lowest in two decades. (Gallup)
poll/ 61% of Americans approve of Biden’s handling of his job in his first days in office. Nearly all modern presidents have had approval ratings averaging 55% or higher over their first three months in office. Trump’s approval rating, however, never surpassed 50%. (Associated Press)
What’s next: The House will vote on whether to strip Marjorie Taylor Greene of her committee assignments; and a “vote-a-rama” is underway in the Senate, a sort of free-for-all amendment procedure as part of the budget reconciliation process, known as “the worst part of the United States Senate.”
1/ Biden urged congressional Democrats to press ahead with the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan, saying “I’m not going to start my administration by breaking a promise to the American people.” Biden said he was open to negotiating the price tag for his Covid-19 relief proposal, including narrowing the distribution of $1,400 stimulus checks to focus on poor and middle-class people, but that he wouldn’t reduce the amount of the stimulus checks. “I think we can better target the number,” Biden said, but “We need to act — we need to act fast.” (NPR / NBC News / CNN / Bloomberg / Politico / Wall Street Journal)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~104,222,000; deaths: ~2,263,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~26,523,000; deaths: ~450,000
CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said teachers do not need to get vaccinated against Covid-19 before schools can safely reopen. “There is increasing data to suggest that schools can safely reopen and that safe reopening does not suggest that teachers need to be vaccinated,” Walensky said. “Vaccinations of teachers is not a prerequisite for safely reopening schools.” (CNBC)
California and New York announced plans for stadium sites for mass Covid-19 inoculations. (NBC News / Bloomberg)
The AstraZeneca vaccine may slow transmission of the coronavirus. (New York Times)
2/ The Senate approved a power-sharing agreement for governing the upper chamber that will allow Democrats to take control of committees. Without the so-called organizing resolution for the evenly-split Senate, Republicans had remained in control of committees and the confirmation process for Biden’s nominees. (CNN / Politico / Wall Street Journal)
3/ More than 370 Democratic congressional aides signed an open letter to senators urging them to convict Trump for inciting a violent “attack on our workplace” that threatened the peaceful transition of power. “As congressional employees, we don’t have a vote on whether to convict Donald J. Trump for his role in inciting the violent attack at the Capitol, but our senators do,” they wrote. “And for our sake, and the sake of the country, we ask that they vote to convict the former president and bar him from ever holding office again.” The staff members described ducking under office desks, barricading themselves in offices, and watching as rioters “smashed” their way through the Capitol on Jan. 6, blaming Trump and his “baseless, months long effort to reject votes lawfully cast by the American people.” (New York Times / CNN)
4/ The House will vote Thursday on whether to strip Marjorie Taylor Greene of her committee assignments after Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy failed to remove the conspiracy theorists for her past comments that Sandy Hook and Parkland school shootings were a hoax, and her endorsement of violence against Democrats, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Steny Hoyer, the No. 2 Democrat, said that “it is clear there is no alternative to holding a floor vote on the resolution to remove Representative Greene from her committee assignments” on the Education and Labor Committee, and the Budget Committee. (New York Times / CNN / Politico / NBC News / Washington Post)
5/ The House adopted rules to fine lawmakers up to $10,000 for bypassing security measures that were enacted after the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob. The measure passed on a 216-to-210 vote, with all but three Democrats present voting in favor and all Republicans present voting “no.” In a statement, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said: “It is beyond comprehension why any member would refuse to adhere to these simple, commonsense steps to keep this body safe.”(Washington Post / NBC News)
6/ The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office opened an investigation into Steve Bannon. Trump pardoned Bannon, who was indicted on federal fraud charges for his role in a fundraising scheme to build a border wall. Bannon and three others were arrested Aug. 20 and indicted on accusations they stole from hundreds of thousands of people who donated to the We Build the Wall campaign. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
7/ The Space Force “absolutely” has the “full support of the Biden administration,” according to White House press secretary Jen Psaki. On Tuesday, Psaki responded to a question about the future of Air Force branch established by Trump, saying: “Wow. Space Force. It’s the plane of today. It is an interesting question. I am happy to check with our Space Force point of contact. I’m not sure who that is. I will find out and see if we have any update on that.” The House Armed Services Committee’s top Republican called on Psaki to “immediately apologize” for her remarks, which he saw as dissmissive of the guardians in the Space Force. (Axios / New York Times / Politico)
poll/ 24% of Americans say they will likely never get the coronavirus vaccine if they can help it. 50%, meanwhile, plan to get the Covid-19 vaccine as soon as they are allowed, while 19% say they prefer to let other people get it first. (Monmouth University)
poll/ 78% of Americans support the $1,400 stimulus checks Biden is calling for, including 90% of Democrats and 64% of Republicans. 68% of Americans support the $1.9 trillion stimulus package. (Quinnipiac)
1/ House impeachment managers accused Trump of whipping the crowd in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6 “into a frenzy” and then aiming them “like a loaded cannon” at the Capitol. In a memorandum filed ahead of Trump’s second impeachment trial, the House’s nine impeachment managers said Trump was “singularly responsible” for the riot, accusing him of “a betrayal of historic proportions.” They added: “Trump’s responsibility for the events of January 6 is unmistakable” and that his “abuse of office threatened and injured our democratic order” and “his conduct endangered the life of every single member of Congress, jeopardized the peaceful transition of power and line of succession, and compromised our national security.” (Washington Post / NPR / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / CNN / ABC News / CBS News)
2/ Trump’s lawyers denied that he sought to subvert the election results and incite the deadly assault on the Capitol, arguing that the trial is unconstitutional because he is out of office. In a 14-page response to the House’s impeachment charge, Trump’s lawyers argued that Trump did not incite the crowd on Jan. 6 “to engage in destructive behavior” and suggested that case was “substantially flawed” and should be dismissed. Trump’s lawyers also denied that he was “factually in error” when he claimed that he had won the election “in a landslide,” claiming “insufficient evidence exists upon which a reasonable jurist could conclude that the 45th president’s statements were accurate or not, and he therefore denies they were false.” (New York Times / Politico / CNN / ABC News / Bloomberg)
3/ The Biden administration will distribute Covid-19 vaccine doses to retail pharmacies across the nation. Biden’s team said they would begin shipping roughly one million doses per week to about 6,500 pharmacies nationwide as a trial run. White House Covid-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients also announced that the administration will increase the weekly allocation of vaccines going to states by 5%, bringing the weekly total shipment of vaccines to 10.5 million per week. (Politico / CNN / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
4/ Biden will form a task force to reunite families separated at the southern border under Trump’s zero-tolerance immigration policy, which an administration official called a “moral failing.” Biden will also sign two other executive orders to authorize a review of Trump’s immigration policies that limited asylum and slowed down legal immigration into the U.S. “Trump was so focused on the wall he did nothing to address the root causes of why are people are coming to our southern border — it was a limited, wasteful and naive strategy, and it failed,” a senior administration official said. “People continue to migrate to the United States — even today — because of it. President Biden’s approach is to deal with immigration comprehensively, fairly and humanely.” (New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post / Associated Press / CNN / Wall Street Journal / CBS News)
5/ The Senate confirmed Alejandro Mayorkas as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security – the first Latino and immigrant to lead DHS. Despite opposition from Senate Republicans, Mayorkas secured enough votes for confirmation, by a 56-43 vote. DHS has not had a Senate-confirmed secretary since April 2019, when Trump ousted Kirstjen Nielsen. (Washington Post / NPR / USA Today / CNN / Associated Press)
6/ Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin dismissed hundreds of members of the Pentagon’s policy advisory boards, including the Trump administration’s last-minute nominees. Austin fired all members serving on DoD’s advisory boards and directed the immediate suspension of all committee operations while the Pentagon completes a “zero-based review” of at least 42 defense advisory committees to be completed by June. Last week, Austin suspended the onboarding process for Trump administration nominees to Pentagon advisory boards. (Wall Street Journal / Politico)
7/ The Senate confirmed Pete Buttigieg as Transportation Secretary – the first openly gay Cabinet secretary. Buttigieg was confirmed with bipartisan support by a vote of 86-13. (NPR / USA Today / Washington Post)
8/ Mitch McConnell likened Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s “loony lies and conspiracy theories” to a “cancer” on the Republican Party. While McConnell didn’t mention Greene by name in his three-sentence statement, Greene responded on Twitter, writing “the real cancer for the Republican Party is weak Republicans who only know how to lose gracefully.” McConnell also released a statement defending Rep. Liz Cheney, who has come under fire for voting to impeach Trump last month. (The Hill / NBC News / CNN / NPR / New York Times)
9/ A post-mortem by Trump’s chief pollster shows that Trump lost the 2020 election largely due to his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and voter perception that he wasn’t honest or trustworthy. Trump also lost ground with every age group in the 2020 election, compared to 2016, but he had his “greatest erosion with white voters, particularly white men.” It is unclear if Trump has seen the 27-page report prepared by Tony Fabrizio. (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times)
1/ The Biden administration reached a $231 million deal for 8.5 million at-home, over-the-counter Covid-19 rapid tests. The test, made by Ellume, “can detect Covid with roughly 95 percent accuracy within 15 minutes.” The FDA granted an emergency use authorization in December for the tests, which are expected to cost about $30 each. (NPR / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~103,334,000; deaths: ~2,236,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~26,297,000; deaths: ~443,000
Top Trump officials actively lobbied Congress to deny states any extra funding for the Covid-19 vaccine rollout last fall. Paul Mango, the former deputy chief of staff for policy at the Department of Health and Human Services, repeatedly argued that states didn’t need more federal funding because they hadn’t spent the $200 million provided by the government earlier in the year. (STAT News)
The Biden administration is trying to locate upwards of 20 million vaccine doses that have been sent to states but have yet to record as being administered to patients. (Politico)
The Biden administration warned health care providers against holding Covid-19 vaccine doses for second shots that could be administered for initial shots. Andy Slavitt, a senior adviser to the White House’s Covid response team, said providers should be confident that there will be a steady supply of doses and that stockpiling “does not need to happen and should not happen.” (CNN / Politico)
Dodger Stadium’s Covid-19 vaccination site was temporarily shut down after about 50 protesters gathered at the entrance, which included members of anti-vaccine and far-right groups. (Los Angeles Times)
FEMA asked the Pentagon to ready as many as 10,000 troops to support 100 Covid-19 vaccination sites nationwide. The goal is to administer 450,000 vaccinations a day. (CBS News)
2/ A group of 10 Republican senators proposed a $618 billion coronavirus relief plan – about one-third the size of Biden’s $1.9 trillion proposal. The proposed GOP package provides $160 billion for testing and vaccines, extends the $300 weekly unemployment insurance payments until July, and provides $1,000 direct payments. Democratic leaders, meanwhile, are prepared to pass Biden’s stimulus plan through a process called budget reconciliation, which allows legislation to pass with just 51 votes. (NBC News / Politico / CBS News / NPR / New York Times / Bloomberg / CNN / Axios / Wall Street Journal)
3/ Biden is reportedly open to scaling down his $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief package but the $618 billion GOP counterproposal is “not going to scratch the itch.” In particular, the White House said it is open to scaling down stimulus checks for families making more than $150,000 per year. According to Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, “The risk is not that [Biden’s proposed $1.9 trillion package] is too big. The risk is that it is too small.” Biden, meanwhile, agreed to meet with Republicans senators to discuss their Covid counterproposal. Ahead of the meeting, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer filed a joint budget resolution that they said will pave the way for “the landmark Biden-Harris coronavirus package,” declaring that “the time for decisive action is now.” (CNN / Washington Post / New York Times / Politico)
4/ The Congressional Budget Office projected that the economy will recover to its pre-pandemic size by the middle of 2021 – faster than previously expected. The nation’s unemployment rate, however, will remain above its pre-pandemic levels through the rest of this decade. Under the CBO’s projections, the unemployment rate would average 4.1% from 2026 to 2031, well above the 3.7 percent it averaged in 2019. The CBO projections do not assume any new stimulus, including Biden’s $1.9 trillion plan. (Washington Post / CNBC / New York Times / NBC News / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
5/ Trump’s five impeachment lawyers quit after he wanted his defense to focus on his baseless claim that the election was stolen from him. Trump’s lawyers planned to question whether impeaching a president who has already left office was unconstitutional. Trump, however, wanted his defense team to argue during his second impeachment trial that he won the 2020 election and that it was stolen from him while citing his own false claims of election fraud. Trump also reportedly insisted that the case was “simple” and has told advisers he could argue it himself and save the money on lawyers. Trump’s Senate trial for his role in inciting the attack on the U.S. Capitol begins Feb. 9. (Washington Post / CNN / New York Times / Politico / NBC News)
Trump named two lawyers, David Schoen and Bruce Castor, who will represent him in his coming impeachment trial in the Senate. Schoen has disputed official reports that Jeffrey Epstein, who was accused of sexually abusing dozens of girls, killed himself in jail, and maintains his belief that Epstein may have been murdered. Castor, meanwhile, declined to prosecute Bill Cosby in 2005. (Washington Post / Bloomberg / New York Times)
The rally that preceded the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol was funded in part by a top Trump campaign donor. The heiress to the Publix Super Markets chain, Julie Jenkins Fancelli, donated about $300,000 through a top fundraising official for Trump’s 2020 campaign, which Alex Jones, a noted conspiracy theorist, helped facilitate. Fancelli paid for more than half of the roughly $500,000 rally at the Ellipse where Trump spoke. Fancelli tapped Caroline Wren, who served as a deputy to Trump Jr.’s girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle, at Trump Victory, to organize the event with Ali Alexander, a far-right activist and leader of the “Stop the Steal” movement. Wren was listed as a “VIP Advisor” in the National Park Service permit for the rally. Federal Election Commission records show that Fancelli has donated more than $1 million to Trump Victory, Trump’s campaign, and the Republican National Committee since 2018. (Wall Street Journal / ProPublica)
Trump and the Republican Party raised $255.4 million in the weeks following the Nov. 3 election as he tried to undermine and overturn the results. (New York Times)
6/ A New York judge ordered Trump’s tax firm to turn over documents to New York Attorney General Letitia James. In December, Judge Arthur Engoron of State Supreme Court in Manhattan ordered the Trump Organization to produce records related to an investigation into whether Trump had inflated his assets in financial statements to secure bank loans and reduce his tax bill. The Trump Organization argued that the documents are protected by attorney-client privilege. On Friday, Justice Engoron ordered the Trump Organization to release even more documents to James’s office, rejecting the lawyers’ claim that the documents were privileged. (New York Times / CNN)
The Scottish Parliament will vote on an Unexplained Wealth Order into Trump’s finances. (The Scotsman)
7/ House Democrats introduced a resolution to force Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene from her two committee assignments for her inflammatory and false statements, including promoting conspiracy theories that the nation’s deadliest mass shootings were staged and that the 2018 California wildfires were started by “Jewish space lasers.” Greene also endorsed violence against Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats before she was elected. Last week, Greene was assigned seats on the House Education and Labor Committee and the House Budget Committee. (Politico / NBC News)
1/ Johnson and Johnson’s single-dose Covid-19 vaccine was 66% effective overall at preventing moderate to severe illness in a global study. In the U.S., the vaccine was 72% effective, but the efficacy rate dropped to 57% in South Africa, where a highly contagious variant is driving new cases. The vaccine was particularly effective at stopping severe disease in all regions, preventing 85% of severe infections and 100% of hospitalizations and deaths. Johnson and Johnson said it planned to apply for emergency authorization of its vaccine from the FDA, putting it on track to receive clearance later in February. (Washington Post / Bloomberg / Politico / New York Times / The Guardian / NBC News)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~101,880,000; deaths: ~2,202,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~25,875,000; deaths: ~436,000
Dr. Anthony Fauci called the new coronavirus variants a “wake-up call” to move faster on vaccinating the population. The highly transmissible variant, known as B.1351, has been identified in more than two dozen countries and has played a role in prompting Canada, Britain and Germany to introduce new travel bans. (Washington Post)
The Pentagon could send active-duty troops to assist with vaccines at roughly 100 vaccine sites nationwide. (New York Times)
2/ The Trump administration spent $200 million to send more than 8,700 ventilators to countries around the world last year with no way to keep track of where they ended up. In only 12 of 43 countries did the federal government have a good idea where the ventilators are. And, a Government Accountability Office report said it was unable to identify the Trump administration’s “criteria used for what ventilators went to what countries.” (Washington Post)
3/ There are currently 106 pending Republican-backed bills across 28 states that would restrict access to voting despite the 2020 election being “the most secure in American history.” Nearly a year ago, there were 35 restrictive bills pending across 15 states. (The Guardian / Brennan Center for Justice / The Hill)
A Republican Arizona lawmaker introduced a bill that would give the state Legislature the ability to revoke the secretary of state’s election certification at any time before the presidential inauguration. The bill rewrites parts of the state’s election law, such as sections on election observers and securing and auditing ballots, but also grants the Legislature, which is currently under GOP control, the ability to revoke the secretary of state’s certification “by majority vote at any time before the presidential inauguration.” (NBC News)
4/ The FBI said two pipe bombs discovered on Jan. 6 near the Democratic and Republican party headquarters were planted the night before the insurrection at the Capitol. The reward for information leading to the location, arrest, and conviction of the person or people responsible for placing the bomb is now $100,000. (Washington Post / CNN)
Some House lawmakers are privately refusing to work with each other, as Democratic leaders are putting pressure on the Republican leadership to denounce Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who endorsed violence against members of Congress. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, meanwhile, warned that “the enemy is within,” after two-thirds of the House Republicans voted to overturn the election hours after lawmakers were attacked by a mob on Jan. 6 demanding that very action. (Politico / Washington Post / The Hill / New York Times)
The acting chief of the U.S. Capitol Police called for permanent fencing around the Capitol building. Capitol Police will also be stationed at airports in Washington, D.C., and at the railroad terminal at Union Station to provide security on days with increased lawmaker travel. (ABC News / NBC News / New York Times)
5/ The Pentagon suspended the processing of a number of Trump’s last-minute appointees to defense advisory boards. The move effectively prevents a number of Trump allies, including Corey Lewandowski and David Bossie, from serving on the panels for the time being. The Biden team, meanwhile, is looking into whether it can replace dozens of Trump’s last-minute appointments to boards and commissions across the government. (Politico)
6/ Putin agreed to extend the New START nuclear arms control treaty between Russia and the United States for five years – a week before the pact was due to expire. The treaty limits each country to no more than 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and 700 deployed missiles and bombers. Russia had long proposed prolonging the pact, but the Trump administration waited until last year to start talks. (Politico)
7/ The former FBI lawyer who admitted to doctoring an email that officials used to justify secret surveillance of a former Trump campaign adviser was sentenced to 12 months of probation. Kevin Clinesmith admitted last August that he had altered an internal FBI email in the course of seeking a court’s permission to continue government surveillance of Carter Page, changing an e-mail about Page so that it said he was “not a source” for the CIA when he had been one. Prosecutors had asked that Clinesmith spend several months in prison for his crime. (Politico / NBC News / Washington Post)
1/ Democrats plan to bypass Republicans and approve a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package on a party-line basis using budget reconciliation. The process allows some legislation tied to the budget to pass the Senate with a simple majority, rather than the 60 votes needed to avoid a filibuster. Republicans have repeatedly rejected Biden’s plan, which would provide a $1,400 check, increase and extend federal unemployment, provide funds for vaccine distribution, state and local governments, and schools. Press secretary Jen Psaki also ruled out splitting up the package, saying the Biden administration is “not going to do this in a piecemeal way or break apart a big package meant to address the crisis we’re facing.” (Politico / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / New York Times)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~101,254,000; deaths: ~2,185,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~25,709,000; deaths: ~432,000
Scientists warn the United States is in a “race against new variants” of the coronavirus. A new variant, called P.1, emerged in early December in Brazil. The first confirmed case of P.1 in the U.S. was detected Monday. A separate variant that is thought to have emerged in South Africa has forced Moderna and Pfizer to reformulate their COVID-19 vaccines, creating “booster” shots to make sure the vaccines maintain their efficacies. (NPR / NBC News)
Health officials identified the first U.S. cases of the coronavirus variant that was initially detected in South Africa. The CDC said the variant, known as B. 1.351, has been found in South Carolina. The B. 1.351 variant is considered to be even more worrisome than the B.1.1.7 variant first seen in the United Kingdom. (NPR / Bloomberg / Politico / Washington Post)
The New York attorney general accused the state of severely undercounting Covid-19 deaths in nursing homes, saying that the official tally of about 8,500 may be off by as much as 50%. (New York Times / Politico / Axios)
2/ Biden signed two executive actions to expand access to reproductive health care and health insurance through the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid. “There’s nothing new that we’re doing here other than restoring the Affordable Care Act and restoring Medicaid to the way it was before Trump became president,” Biden said. “Because by fiat, he changed — made [it] more inaccessible, more expensive and more difficult for people to qualify for either of those two plans.” The order instructs the Department of Health and Human Services to open a special enrollment period for the ACA from Feb. 15 to May 15, giving Americans who lost their employer-based health insurance due to the pandemic an opportunity to sign up for coverage. Biden also issued a presidential memorandum unwinding the so-called Mexico City Policy, which prohibits international non-profits from receiving U.S. funding if they provide abortions, advocate to legalize and expand abortion access, or provide abortion counseling. The memorandum also directs the HHS to “take immediate action to consider” whether to remove regulations under Title X that supports family planning. (NPR / Politico / CBS News / Bloomberg / Washington Post / CNN / New York Times / The Guardian)
3/ The U.S. economy shrank by 3.5% in 2020 – the worst year for economic growth since World War II. It’s the first time the economy has contracted for the year since 2009, when GDP shrank by 2.5%. (Washington Post / New York Times)
4/ Senators are contemplating censuring Trump as an alternative to an impeachment trial, which will likely result in his acquittal as it’s become clear that Democrats won’t find the 17 Republican votes needed for a conviction. Susan Collins and Tim Kaine plan to file a censure resolution that Trump “gave aid and comfort” to the insurrectionists by “repeatedly lying about the election, slandering election officials, pressuring others to come to Washington for a wild event and encouraging them to come up to Congress.” A censure resolution requires only a simple majority vote and could prevent Trump from holding office again. Democratic senators said they’re ready move on to coronavirus pandemic relief, climate legislation, and Biden’s Cabinet confirmations. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Axios / Politico)
5/ After the Trump administration relocated the Bureau of Land Management’s headquarters to Colorado, more than 87% of staffers either quit or resigned. A total of 287 BLM employees left the job while 41 people moved to the new office in Colorado. About 95% of the more than 9,000 BLM staffers were working outside of Washington before the relocation took place. (Washington Post)
6/ House Republicans appointed a conspiracy theorist – who called school shootings a hoax – to the committee overseeing education. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has openly supported and spread conspiracy theories, including QAnon, for years, wrote on Facebook in 2018 that she agreed that the Parkland massacre that killed 17 students was a “false flag,” and posted a video in 2020 harassing a Parkland survivor, who was visiting Capitol Hill to lobby for gun safety measures. Speaker Nancy Pelosi called Greene’s appointment “absolutely appalling” and “beyond the pale,” saying she was “concerned about […] Republican leadership […] willing to overlook, ignore those statements.” Another post showed Greene endorsing executing top Democrats — including Pelosi — in 2018 and 2019. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Politico / NBC News / Bloomberg / NPR)
1/ The Department of Health and Human Services diverted millions of dollars in federal funds intended for vaccines research and public health emergencies to pay for unrelated salaries, administrative expenses, the removal of furniture, news subscriptions, and legal services. In 2018, an unidentified whistleblower alleged the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response had been misusing money since at least 2010 that Congress had allocated for the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority. A HHS inspector general report says the agency couldn’t account for $517.8 million from 2007 to 2016. And, as recently as fiscal year 2019, more than $25 million was improperly taken from BARDA. (Washington Post / Bloomberg / CNN / Axios)
2/ The Department of Homeland Security warned of “ideologically-motivated violent extremists” in the U.S. The DHS bulletin said the threat of violence – spurred by “grievances fueled by false narratives” about the unfounded claims about the 2020 election and “anger over COVID-19 restrictions … and police use of force” – will persist for “weeks” following Biden’s inauguration. The National Terrorism Advisory System was last used a year ago to warn of potential retaliation by Iran for the U.S. assassination of Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani. A year before that, DHS highlighted the threat from foreign terrorist groups, like ISIS or al-Qaida. (Washington Post / New York Times / ABC News / Politico / Axios)
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene reportedly endorsed executing Democratic leaders and federal agents in 2018 and 2019 before being elected to Congress. In January 2019, Greene “liked” a comment that said “a bullet to the head would be quicker” to remove House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and in other posts, Greene “liked” comments about executing FBI agents who, she believed, were part of a “deep state” working against Trump.(CNN / Washington Post)
A second police officer died by suicide following the insurrection at the Capitol Building on Jan. 6. A third member of law enforcement died from injuries he sustained during the Capitol attack. (Politico)
3/ House and Senate Democrats introduced legislation that would make Washington, D.C., the 51st state. The bill, first introduced in 2013, would give the District full authority over local issues and grant it full representation in Congress. While the bill could pass the House, its unlikely to clear the Senate because Democrats would need to overcome a filibuster for the legislation to pass. Meaning, they’d need at least 10 Republicans to join them. Most GOP lawmakers, however, are opposed to the legislation because D.C.’s congressional representation would likely be Democratic. (NBC News / The Hill)
4/ Democrats reintroduced the Raise the Wage Act, which would gradually increase the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025. The current federal minimum wage is $7.25, and hasn’t been increased since 2009. The majority of Republicans oppose the measure. (CNN / CNBC)
5/ The Biden administration started staffing a bipartisan commission to study reforms to the Supreme Court and the federal judiciary. Between nine and 15 members are expected to be appointed to the commission, which will study structural changes as part of a broader court review and reform effort. Biden, who is “not a fan of court packing,” proposed the commission in response to the Republican push to confirm Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court weeks before the November election. (Politico)
6/ The Biden administration will resume contact with Palestinian leaders and restore U.S. contributions to the U.N. agency which provides aid to Palestinians. Trump’s policies overwhelmingly favored the interests of Israel’s government, and the administration closed the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Washington, D.C., stopped contributions to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, moved the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, recognized Israeli sovereignty, and presented a peace proposal which left all Israeli West Bank settlements in place. (NPR)
7/ The Biden administration paused arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as part of a review of Trump administration agreements worth billions of dollars. The Trump administration pushed through arms sales to Riyadh and Abu Dhabi in 2020 as part of agreements to normalize relations with Israel. In 2019, Trump declared a national security “emergency” in order to authorize a multibillion-dollar sale of arms to Saudi Arabia, which bypassed congressional review. (Wall Street Journal / CNN)
8/ Biden affirmed the United States’ commitment to NATO, saying said he “strongly, strongly, strongly” backs the alliance’s collective defense. In 2017, Trump declined to pledge “unwavering” commitment to a provision in the NATO charter that commits members to rise to the defense of others in the pact. Trump also called the alliance “obsolete” during his first presidential campaign. (Bloomberg)
9/ Biden replaced the director of the nation’s immigration court system. During James McHenry’s tenure, the Trump administration placed quotas on the number of cases immigration judges should complete, while restricting their ability to grant asylum, close cases, and suspend deportation proceedings for certain immigrants. Jean King will take over on an acting basis as director of the Executive Office for Immigration Review. (Politico / BuzzFeed News / CBS News)
10/ Biden warned the climate crisis poses an “existential threat” that needs to be addressed “with a greater sense of urgency.” Biden then signed executive orders directing the government to elevate climate change to a national security priority, pause oil and gas leasing on federal land, conserve 30% of the country’s lands and waters in the next 10 years, double offshore wind energy, and move to an all-electric federal vehicle fleet, among other changes. “We have already waited too long to deal with this climate crisis, we can’t wait any longer,” Biden said. “We see it with our own eyes, we feel it in our bones. It’s time to act.” (NBC News / Associated Press / The Guardian / Politico / New York Times)
1/ Global Covid-19 cases topped 100 million – less than three months after the world hit 50 million cases and just over a year after the first confirmed U.S. case. The U.S. accounts for more than 25 million infections. (NBC News / CNN / CNBC)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~100,092,000; deaths: ~2,152,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~25,408,000; deaths: ~425,000
Biden will reopen the Affordable Care Act marketplace and reverse changes to Medicaid. (Washington Post / Reuters)
Several hundred Biden staffers have been administered the coronavirus vaccine “to ensure a COVID-safe working environment around the president and key leaders who have national security and continuity of government responsibilities.” (Axios)
2/ The Biden administration plans to purchase an additional 200 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, with the goal of having enough supply to vaccinate nearly the entire U.S. population by the end of the summer. The administration says it’ll buy an additional 100 million doses each from Moderna and Pfizer. The purchases would be in addition to the 400 million combined doses the companies had already committed to providing to the U.S. and would increase available supply by 50%, bringing the total to 600 doses by this summer. Weekly allocations of coronavirus vaccines will also increase by roughly 16% next week – about 1.5 million additional doses. The weekly allocation is expected to go from about 8.6 million doses to about 10 million doses. (NPR / NBC News / Washington Post / Bloomberg / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
3/ Mitch McConnell dropped his demand that Democrats promise to preserve the filibuster, easing a stalemate that prevented new senators from being seated and party leaders from negotiating a power-sharing agreement. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer refused to meet McConnell’s demands. McConnell, however, said he received “assurances” from two centrist Democrats – Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema – that they opposed getting rid of the procedural tool Republicans could use to obstruct Biden’s agenda. (New York Times / NPR / Politico / Washington Post / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / CNN)
4/ The House formally delivered the article of impeachment to the Senate, charging Trump with “incitement of insurrection” for his role in the deadly Capitol riot. House impeachment managers walked the article of impeachment through National Statuary Hall and the Capitol Rotunda to the Senate to present the article to the secretary of the Senate. Chief Justice John Roberts will not preside over the trial, like he did for Trump’s first impeachment trial. Instead, Sen. Patrick Leahy, the president pro tempore of the Senate, will preside. Biden, meanwhile, said Trump’s impeachment trial “has to happen” because there would be “a worse effect if it didn’t happen.” Trump is the first U.S. president to have been impeached twice and will be the first to be tried after leaving office. (Washington Post / NBC News / New York Times / Bloomberg / CNN)
5/ Senate Republicans voted en masse in an attempt to dismiss the impeachment charge against Trump as unconstitutional because he is no longer in office. All but five Republican senators endorsed the effort, signaling that the Senate does not have the votes to convict and that the proceedings will likely end with Trump’s acquittal. “Impeachment is for removal from office, and the accused here has already left office,” Rand Paul argued on the Senate floor earlier, adding that the trial would “drag our great country down into the gutter of rancor and vitriol, the likes of which has never been seen in our nation’s history.” To convict Trump, it would require 67 members of the 100-member Senate. Trump’s trial is scheduled to begin Feb. 9. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Associated Press / NBC News)
6/ The Pentagon restricted the commander of the D.C. National Guard’s authority ahead of the riot at the U.S. Capitol, requiring higher-level sign-off to deploy the guard. Maj. Gen. William Walker told House Appropriations Committee members that his authority to quickly deploy the guard was removed ahead of the riot and he needed approval from former Army secretary Ryan McCarthy and acting defense secretary Christopher Miller before dispatching troops. The acting chief of the Capitol Police, meanwhile, apologized to Congress for the security failures on Jan. 6, acknowledging that the department knew there was a “strong potential for violence” but “failed to meet its own high standards” to prevent what she described as a “terrorist attack.” Capitol Police officers are discussing holding a no-confidence vote targeting department leaders. (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / CNN)
poll/ 56% of Americans approve of the House impeaching Trump for “incitement of insurrection,” while 42% disapprove. 52% want the Senate to convict Trump, while 44% do not. (Monmouth University)
poll/ 50% of Americans say they have a great or fair amount of trust in the federal government to provide accurate information about the coronavirus – up from 40% two weeks ago. (Axios)
✏️ Notables.
Biden signed four executive orders aimed at advancing racial equity for Americans. The measures direct the Department of Housing and Urban Development “to take steps necessary to redress racially discriminatory federal housing policies,” direct the Department of Justice to end its use of private prisons, reaffirm the federal government’s “commitment to tribal sovereignty and consultation,” and combat xenophobia against Asian American and Pacific Islanders. (NPR / Politico / Washington Post / Axios / Wall Street Journal)
The Senate voted 84-15 to confirm Janet Yellen as Treasury secretary – the first woman to serve as Treasury secretary. (Axios / Politico)
The Senate confirmed Antony Blinken as secretary of state. Blinken promised a harder line against Russia and a review or Trump’s policy toward North Korea, which he described as “a problem that has not gotten better; in fact, it’s gotten worse.” (New York Times / Politico / NPR / CNBC)
Biden will suspend new oil and gas leasing on federal land. (Wall Street Journal)
The Justice Department rescinded a Trump-era memo that established a “zero tolerance” policy for migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally. Acting Attorney General Monty Wilkinson issued the new memo to federal prosecutors across the nation, saying the department would return to its “longstanding principle of making individualized assessments in criminal cases.” (Associated Press)
A federal judge in Texas blocked Biden’s 100-day deportation “pause.” Biden’s executive action ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement to halt most deportations for 100 days, allowing ICE to overhaul its enforcement priorities. (Washington Post / New York Times)
1/ Biden reversed Trump’s ban on transgender troops serving in the military, restoring protections first put in place by Obama. In 2017, Trump tweeted that the U.S. would no longer “accept or allow” transgender people in the military, saying the military “must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory” and it could not afford to accommodate them. As Biden signed the executive order, he said: “What I’m doing is enabling all qualified Americans to serve their country in uniform.” The order provides protection for all transgender service members, stops all involuntary separations or discharges based on gender identity, and directs the secretary of Defense and the secretary of Homeland Security to implement the order and brief Biden within 60 days on their progress. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / NPR / Associated Press / NBC News / Axios)
2/ Biden signed an executive order requiring the federal government to “Buy American” for products and services where possible. The new policies will tighten existing government procurement rules, reduce opportunities for waivers, and make it harder for federal agencies to purchase imported products. The order also ensures that small and midsize businesses will have better access to bid for government contracts. (Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Axios)
3/ Trump considered a plan in early January to replace the acting attorney general with a different Justice Department lawyer who would pursue his baseless claims of voter fraud. The plan would have forced Jeffrey Rosen out as the acting attorney general and replaced him with Jeffrey Clark, who had been working with Trump to devise ways to force Georgia lawmakers to overturn its presidential election results. Trump also pushed for the Justice Department to file its own lawsuit against four states, asking the Supreme Court to invalidate Biden’s victory. The efforts failed after Trump’s own appointees at the Justice Department refused to file what they viewed as a legally baseless lawsuit. Later, Trump forced Rosen and Clark to make their case to him in a White House meeting that two officials compared with an episode of “The Apprentice.” Trump ultimately backed off that plan after senior Justice Department leadership threatened to resign en masse if he removed Rosen. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, meanwhile, demanded that the Justice Department’s inspector general launch a probe “into this attempted sedition,” saying it is “unconscionable a Trump Justice Department leader would conspire to subvert the people’s will.” (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post)
👑 Portrait of a president: Trump’s chaotic last week. “Trump, in those final weeks in office, hadn’t simply dented the guardrails of governance. He’d demolished them.” (Vanity Fair)
The Justice Department and FBI are debating whether to not charge some of the individuals who stormed the U.S. Capitol. Some federal officials have argued that those who only unlawfully entered the Capitol should not be charged, while others have pushed back against the suggestion, saying it’s important to send a forceful message that the kind of political violence needs to be punished to discourage similar conduct in the future. Prosecutors, however, have signaled they’re considering charges of seditious conspiracy against anyone who planned and carried out violence aimed at the government. (Washington Post)
Ohio Republican Rob Portman will not seek a third Senate term in 2022. Portman previously said Trump “bears some responsibility” for the Jan. 6 Capitol riots. (Politico / Axios / CNN)
4/ The Justice Department’s inspector general will investigate whether any department official “engaged in an improper attempt to have DOJ seek to alter the outcome” of the 2020 election. Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz announced the investigation following reports that Trump considered replacing his acting attorney general with an official more amenable to his unfounded claims of voter fraud. (Associated Press / NBC News / Washington Post / Bloomberg / CNBC / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Axios)
5/ Dominion Voting Systems filed a defamation lawsuit against Rudy Giuliani. Dominion is seeking more than $1.3 billion in damages, accusing Giuliani of carrying out “a viral disinformation campaign about Dominion” made up of “demonstrably false” allegations intended to promote the “false preconceived narrative” that the election was stolen from Trump and enrich himself through legal fees and his podcast. The lawsuit comes after Dominion sued lawyer Sidney Powell for defamation earlier this month. In that lawsuit, Dominion also said it was seeking more than $1.3 billion in damages. (New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post)
Rudy Giuliani acknowledged that an associate had sent an email to Trump campaign officials asking that Giuliani be paid $20,000 a day for his work. When asked about the fee request in November, Giuliani called it a “lie.” (New York Times)
6/ The Supreme Court dismissed two cases over whether Trump illegally profited off his presidency. Both lawsuits involved the Constitution’s emoluments clauses, which forbids a president from receiving “any present, emolument, office or title of any kind whatever from any king, prince, or foreign state” or any state in the U.S. While lower court rulings had allowed the lawsuits to go forward, the Supreme Court also ordered that those rulings be thrown out because Trump is no longer in office. (NBC News / Associated Press / CNN / CNBC)
The Biden administration hasn’t decided whether to release Trump’s federal tax records to investigators. Since last March, a lawsuit filed by the House Ways and Means Committee to enforce a statutory request and a subpoena for six years of Trump’s federal tax records has been frozen. (Washington Post)
7/ CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky warned that the federal government doesn’t know how much coronavirus vaccine the nation has. Walensky said the lack of knowledge of vaccine supply is indicative of “the challenges we’ve been left with.” (CNBC)
8/ Biden reinstated Covid-19 travel restrictions on non-US citizens who have been to Brazil, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and much of Europe in an effort to contain the spread of the new coronavirus variant. The restrictions will also extend to travelers who have recently been to South Africa. Trump rescinded the travel restrictions two days before his term ended. (Reuters / CNN / Associated Press / Bloomberg / NPR / NBC News / Washington Post)
9/ Texas sued the Biden administration over its decision to pause most deportations for 100 days. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton cited a last-minute agreement between the state and the Trump administration that required Homeland Security to consult with the state and provide six months’ notice before making changes. (Axios / CNN / Bloomberg/ Wall Street Journal)
10/ Biden’s Treasury Department is “exploring ways to speed up” the process of adding Harriet Tubman to the front of the $20 bill. The Trump administration delayed the Obama-era initiative, with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin saying in 2019 that adding new security features was more important than the new imagery. (New York Times / CNN)
poll/ 56% of Americans approve of the House impeaching Trump for his role in inciting the insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6. 52% support a Trump conviction by the Senate. (Politico)
1/ Nancy Pelosi will transmit the article of impeachment charging Trump with “incitement of insurrection” to the Senate on Monday, triggering the start of Trump’s second impeachment trial. “The Senate will conduct a trial on the impeachment of Donald Trump,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said. “It will be a fair trial. But make no mistake, there will be a trial.” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, meanwhile, suggested that Trump’s trial should be delayed to mid-February to give him time to “mount a defense,” adding that “this impeachment began with an unprecedentedly fast and minimal process over in the House.” Under Senate rules, the impeachment trial must begin within one day after the House transmits the article if the chamber is in session. (NPR / Politico / CNN / NBC News / New York Times / CNBC / Washington Post / Axios)
Dozens of influential Republicans – including former top Trump administration officials – have reportedly lobbied GOP Senators to convict Trump. The effort would require at least 17 GOP votes to join all 50 Democrats in order to convict Trump. Some GOP members, however, are reportedly backing a long-shot bid to dismiss Trump’s trial, claiming it’s unconstitutional to put an ex-president on trial. (CNN / Politico / The Hill)
Trump hired South Carolina attorney Butch Bowers to defend him at his second impeachment trial after struggling to find someone to lead his defense. As attorneys who previously represented Trump declined to sign on for a second trial. (Politico / CNBC)
Trump’s campaign paid more than $2.7 million to the organizers of the Jan. 6 rally that led to violent rioters storming the U.S. Capitol. (Bloomberg)
2/ Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned that the new coronavirus variant first found in England “may be associated with a higher degree of mortality.” Some studies have suggested that the variant, known as B117, is 50 to 70% more transmissible. The CDC has also warned that the new variant might become the dominant source of infection in the U.S. by March. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / CNBC)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~97,902,000; deaths: ~2,100,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~24,738,000; deaths: ~413,000
Dr. Anthony Fauci acknowledged that the Trump administration’s lack of truthfulness and resistance to following the science on coronavirus “very likely” cost American lives. Fauci, was sidelined by the Trump task force in favor of advisers, like Scott Atlas, who pushed coronavirus misinformation, said the Biden administration’s approach to the pandemic will be “completely transparent, open and honest” with the American people. (CNN / Axios)
3/ Biden is expected to sign an executive order to significantly increase federal food assistance for millions of families struggling amid the pandemic. The orders will increase Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits for about 12 million families and provide money for families to replace the free or reduced-price lunches meals students would have normally received at school before the pandemic forced students out of classrooms. National Economic Council Director Brian Deese said the orders are “not a substitute” for the $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief bill that Biden hopes Congress will pass, but instead a “critical lifeline” for millions of Americans who need assistance now. (NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post / CNBC)
4/ The Senate confirmed Lloyd Austin to be the new Defense secretary, making the retired four-star Army general the first Black person to run the Pentagon. The 93-2 vote came a day after Congress granted General Austin a waiver to hold the post because he hadn’t been out of uniform for the legally mandated seven-year period. (New York Times / NPR / Politico / Wall Street Journal)
5/ Biden revoked Trump’s order banning federal agencies, contractors, and recipients of federal funding from conducting diversity training. Trump had deemed the workplace trainings “un-American” and harmful to white workers. (ABC News)
1/ Biden marked the start of his presidency by signing or finalizing 17 executive orders, memorandums, and proclamations to roll back some of Trump’s policies. Hours after his inauguration, Biden began signing orders on a range of issues, which included defunding the construction of Trump’s border wall, reversing Trump’s travel ban targeting Muslim-majority countries, ending the Trump administration’s efforts to exclude undocumented immigrants from the Census, recommitting to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, revoking the permit for the Keystone XL oil pipeline, and rejoining the Paris climate agreement. “There’s no time to start like today,” Biden told reporters in the Oval Office as he began signing. “I’m going to start by keeping the promises I made to the American people.” Biden also signed an order appointing Jeffrey Zients as his Covid-19 response coordinator who will report to the president, in an effort to “aggressively” gear up the nation’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. One of Biden’s top advisers described the flurry of executive authority as an effort to “reverse the gravest damages” done to the country by Trump. (New York Times / NPR / CBS News / CNN / Washington Post / The Guardian / Politico / Wall Street Journal / New York Times)
Biden signed an executive order requiring all political appointees to sign an ethics pledge, including a ban on lobbying for two years after they leave the administration. (The Hill)
Biden will reverse a Trump administration policy prohibiting funding for nongovernmental groups that provide or refer patients for abortions. (NPR)
Biden revoked a Trump administration report that aimed to promote “patriotic education” in schools. Biden disbanded Trump’s presidential 1776 Commission and withdrew the report that it released Monday. (Associated Press)
2/ Biden, pledging a “full-scale wartime effort” to combat the coronavirus, signed at least 10 executive orders and directives on his second day in office aimed at addressing the pandemic. Biden’s national strategy will address testing, treating, and vaccinating people for Covid-19 by ordering federal agencies to invoke the Defense Production Act to boost the manufacture of necessary supplies of masks, gowns, gloves, rapid test kits, testing agents and material for vaccines. Biden will also require travelers to wear masks on planes, trains, buses, and at airports, as well as require a negative Covid-19 test before flying to the U.S. Other orders and directives will create a public dashboard with real-time national and state-level data on cases, testing, vaccinations, and hospitalizations, deploy FEMA to set up 100 community vaccination sites in the next 30 days, and create a Covid-19 Health Equity Task Force to “address the disproportionate and severe impact of Covid-19 on communities of color and other underserved populations.” (New York Times / NPR / Politico / NBC News / CNN / Bloomberg / CNBC / Associated Press / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / New York Times)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~97,284,000; deaths: ~2,085,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~24,571,000; deaths: ~409,000
3/ Biden reversed Trump’s move to leave the World Health Organization – exactly one year after the United States recorded its first Covid-19 case. “I am honored to announce that the United States will remain a member of the World Health Organization,” Dr. Anthony Fauci told U.N.’s health agency. Dr. Fauci said the U.S. would re-engage at all levels and would join Covax, a program to distribute vaccines to poorer nations. The agency’s director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, thanks Biden and Dr. Fauci for recommitting to the Covid-19 fight, saying: “This is a good day for the WHO and a good day for global health.” (NPR / New York Times / Washington Post)
4/ The Biden administration identified 12 “immediate supply shortfalls” in the Trump administration’s pandemic response plans, including a nonexistent coronavirus vaccine distribution plan. Biden called the vaccine rollout “a dismal failure thus far,” adding “we didn’t get into this mess overnight,” and that “things are going to continue to get worse before they get better.” The shortfalls identified by the Biden team include a lack of N95 surgical masks and isolation gowns, swabs, reagents and pipettes used in testing. “What we’re inheriting from the Trump administration is so much worse than we could have imagined,” Jeff Zients, the Biden administration’s Covid-19 czar, said in a call. “We don’t have the visibility that we would hope to have into supply and allocations.” Meanwhile, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the new director of the CDC, warned that the Covid-19 vaccine would not be widely available by late February, as the Trump administration previously promised. The CDC also expects the U.S. to see another 100,000 or more Covid-19 deaths by next month, bringing the death toll to 508,000 by February 13. Dr. Anthony Fauci added that his “best-case scenario” is getting 85% of Americans vaccinated by the end of summer. (New York Times / CNN / Daily Beast / NBC News / CNN / Washington Post)
5/ Around 900,000 Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week. While down slightly from last week, jobless claims remain above the pre-pandemic peak of 695,000. (Politico / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
6/ Senate Republicans refused to agree to a power-sharing agreement unless Democrats promised to preserve the filibuster. Mitch McConnell has pressed Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to keep the 60-vote threshold on most legislation as part of their agreement. Democrats, however, have rejected the proposal, saying it would be a mistake to take the filibuster off the table now that they’re in control of both chambers of Congress and the White House for the first time in more than a decade. The stalemate is slowing down confirmation of Biden’s nominees, Trump’s impeachment trial, and more. (Politico / Wall Street Journal / Axios)
✏️ Notables.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she was “ready” to transmit the House’s impeachment charge against Trump to the Senate “soon,” declining to provide an exact date for doing so. Mitch McConnell, meanwhile, proposed delaying the impeachment trial until February to give Trump’s lawyers more time to prepare. The question of who will represent Trump also remains unanswered. (New York Times / ABC News / Washington Post / CNN)
The Biden administration is seeking a five-year extension to its nuclear arms treaty with Russia, which expires Feb. 5. Letting the treaty expire would allow both countries to deploy an unlimited number of nuclear-armed submarines, bombers, and missiles. (Washington Post)
The Senate confirmed Avril Haines as the director of national intelligence. Haines is the first woman to become director of national intelligence, where she’ll oversees 18 intelligence agencies and units, including the CIA and the National Security Agency. (Wall Street Journal / Politico / Axios)
Biden will keep FBI Director Christopher Wray in his role. Wray was appointed in 2017 after Trump fired James Comey. (CNN / Politico / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
Trump’s Pentagon blocked members of Biden’s incoming administration from accessing information about current operations, including the troop drawdowns, upcoming operations in Africa, and the Covid-19 vaccine distribution program. (Politico)
The Senate Armed Services Committee approved a waiver for Lloyd Austin’s nomination for defense secretary. The full Senate is expected to confirm Austin, who would be the first Black defense secretary. Austin required a waiver because the law requires that he be out of uniform for seven years before becoming Pentagon chief. Austin retired in 2016. (Politico)
Trump appointee Michael Pack resigned as the CEO of the federal agency over the Voice of America. On Pack’s first day as head of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, he sidelined or fired senior leaders at the agency and the chiefs of all the government-sponsored foreign broadcast networks. Biden named senior VOA news executive Kelu Chao as acting CEO. (NPR)
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Kathy Kraninger resigned at Biden’s request. (The Hill)
The Biden administration fired the general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board, a Trump appointee who was seen as a foe by worker advocates and labor unions, after Peter Robb refused a request from the new administration to resign. (Bloomberg Law / Washington Post / New York Times)
China imposed sanctions on 28 former Trump administration officials, including outgoing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The statement from China’s foreign ministry was released just minutes after Biden took office, which the new administration called “unproductive and cynical.” (NPR / NBC News)
Seven Senate Democrats filed an ethics complaint against Sens. Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz for their objections to the 2020 presidential election results. Democrats are requesting an investigation for their “objections to the electors after the violent attack” on Jan. 6. that “lent legitimacy to the mob’s cause and made future violence more likely.” (Politico)
1/ Biden was sworn as the 46th president of the United States, moments after Kamala Harris took her oath of office, making her the first woman and the first woman of color to serve as vice president. “This is America’s day,” Biden said as he began his Inaugural Address. “This is democracy’s day.” Biden – the oldest man to be sworn in as president at 78 – described today as “our historic moment of crisis and challenge,” as he called on the nation to end its “uncivil war” and embrace “Unity [as] the path forward. And we must meet this moment as the United States of America. If we do that, I guarantee you we will not fail.” Four years after Trump attacked the Washington establishment throughout his Inaugural Address, declaring that the “American carnage stops right here and stops right now,” Biden offered a direct rebuttal: “We’ve learned again that democracy is precious, democracy is fragile — and at this hour, my friends, democracy has prevailed.” (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Politico)
Trump left a note for Biden in the Oval Office’s Resolute Desk. A Trump White House spokesperson did not reveal the contents of what Trump left for Biden to read. (Politico / USA Today)
Melania Trump outsourced her “thank you” notes to the White House residence staff who cared for her and her family for the last four years. A low-level East Wing staffer wrote them “in her voice,” and she signed her name. (CNN)
💡 Biden inherits a country that is older, on shakier economic footing, and is more politically polarized. “The coronavirus pandemic halted the 11-year economic expansion and drove up unemployment just as the typical American household was starting to enjoy sustained income growth. Americans were living longer until the pandemic exacted a swift, deadly toll.” (Wall Street Journal)
💡 Trump will step into a financial minefield that appears to be unlike anything he has faced. “Baseless election fraud claims and the Capitol riot have compounded already-looming threats to his bottom line. And the cash lifelines he once relied on are gone.” (New York Times)
2/ Trump, who refused to concede, never congratulated Biden and skipped his successor’s swearing-in, held a small, socially distanced military-style send-off for himself before leaving for his Florida resort. “I hope they don’t raise your taxes,” Trump told the crowd of several hundred people at Joint Base Andrews. “But if they do, I told you so.” While Trump did not mention Biden by name, he did “wish the new administration great luck and great success.” Trump concluded his remarks, vowing to “be back in some form” and, as the Village People’s “Y.M.C.A.” began playing, Trump told his supporters: “Have a good life.” (Washington Post / Politico / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / The Guardian)
Trump discussed forming a new political party and wants to call it the “Patriot Party.” (Wall Street Journal)
The Proud Boys mock Trump, call him “extraordinarily weak” and a “total failure.” (New York Times)
Believers in the QAnon conspiracy theory struggled to square their falsehoods with the inauguration. As it became clear that their long-awaited mass arrests of Biden and other “deep-state” Democrats, followed by the restoration of the Trump presidency, did not happen, QAnon believers began to wonder if they had been tricked. (Daily Beast / New York Times)
3/ Trump granted clemency to 143 people in his final hours as president, wiping away the convictions and prison sentences for a host of corrupt politicians and business executives. In total, Trump issued a batch of 73 pardons and 70 commutations, including a pardon for Stephen Bannon, his former White House chief strategist who was charged with defrauding donors to a private fundraising effort for construction of a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, and Elliott Broidy, who pleaded guilty in October to acting as an unregistered foreign agent and lobbying the Trump administration on behalf of foreign interests. Trump, however, did not preemptively pardon himself or his family. (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / The Guardian)
Full list of Trump’s pardons and commuted sentences. (NBC News)
4/ Trump rescinded his administration’s ethics pledge intended to “drain the swamp.” In 2017, Trump signed an executive order that barred political appointees from lobbying the government or working for foreign countries related to their agency for five years. At the time Trump joked that his political appointees would “not be subject to those commitments after noon January 20, 2021.” However, in a late-night executive order issued in the final hours of his presidency, Trump rescinded the executive order. The Trump White House did not offer any justification for the reversal. (Washington Post / Politico / Bloomberg)
Trump extended post-presidency Secret Service protection to 14 members of his family who were not entitled to receive it, at no cost to them. (Washington Post)
Trump declassified some documents related to the FBI’s Russia investigation. No documents, however, were immediately released. (New York Times)
5/ Trump administration officials said Homeland Security entered into last-minute agreements to “sabotage” the Biden administration’s efforts to unwind its immigration policies. Homeland Security signed legal agreements with state and local authorities in recent weeks that would require the agency to delay making changes for 180 days. (NBC News)
6/ Biden plans to make immediate and extensive use of executive orders to undo much of the last four years under Trump. On Day One, Biden is expected to sign 17 executive actions, memorandums, and proclamations from the Oval Office to address the pandemic, economic relief, immigration, climate change, and racial equity. Biden will also sign executive orders to extend bans on pandemic-related home evictions and foreclosures, revoke the permit for the Keystone XL oil pipeline, and reverse Trump’s travel ban on several largely Muslim and African countries. (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
1/ In a farewell video, Trump claimed that he “took on the tough battles” during his four years in office and vowed that “the movement we started is only just beginning.” Trump did not concede, take responsibility for encouraging his supporters to attack the Capitol, or mention Biden by name in his farewell address.“We did what we came here to do,” Trump said, “and so much more.” Pence, meanwhile, confirmed he will not attend Trump’s farewell event tomorrow, but will instead attend the inauguration of Biden and Kamala Harris. Trump leaves office as the only twice-impeached U.S. president. (Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / Axios / Associated Press)
2/ Mitch McConnell said the mob that stormed the Capitol was “fed lies” and “provoked by the president” into violence, referring to Trump’s attempts to overturn the election based on his baseless claims of voter fraud. McConnell’s remarks came on his last full day as majority leader, shortly before he met with Chuck Schumer to work out rules for Trump’s Senate impeachment trial for “willful incitement of insurrection.” Former Attorney General William Barr, meanwhile, said that questioning the legitimacy of the Nov. 3 election “precipitated the riot,” but he didn’t blame Trump for inciting the mob. (New York Times / Politico / NPR / Bloomberg / CNBC / The Guardian / New York Times / Washington Post)
3/ Federal prosecutors filed conspiracy charges against three members of the Oath Keepers, an extremist militant group, for their role in the attack on the Capitol. The three were allegedly part of a group who had planned to breached the Capitol on opposite sides to hunt for lawmakers in an “organized and practiced fashion” so they could make “citizen’s arrests.” In charging papers, the FBI said during the riot, one of the members received a Facebook message that said: “All members are in the tunnels under capital seal them in. Turn on gas.” (Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / Washington Post / CNN)
The National Guard removed 12 people from inauguration duty after background checks found links to right-wing extremist movements or other security concerns.The service members include at least two with possible sympathies for anti-government groups, while another 10 were removed for reasons that defense officials declined to detail. (Bloomberg / New York Times / CNN / Washington Post / The Guardian)
QAnon extremists discussed posing as National Guard members in Washington in an effort to disrupt the inauguration. Others have reviewed maps of vulnerable spots in Washington and discussing how to interfere in security during the inauguration. (Washington Post)
4/ More than 400,000 people have died of the coronavirus in the United States – reaching the milestone on the eve of the anniversary of the first confirmed case and the final full day of Trump’s presidency. (New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post / CNN)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~96,059,000; deaths: ~2,054,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~24,217,000; deaths: ~402,000
5/ Biden rejected Trump’s effort to lift travel restrictions on much of Europe, the United Kingdom, and Brazil aimed at stopping the spread of the coronavirus to the U.S. In an executive order issued Monday evening, but effective on Jan. 26, Trump said that the travel restrictions would no longer be needed because the CDC will require all passengers from abroad to present proof of a negative coronavirus test before boarding a flight. Biden’s incoming White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, tweeted “On the advice of our medical team, the Administration does not intend to lift these restrictions on 1/26. In fact, we plan to strengthen public health measures around international travel in order to further mitigate the spread of Covid-19.” (Wall Street Journal / CNN / The Guardian / New York Times)
poll/ 73% of voters believe that the country is on the wrong track, compared with 21 percent who say it’s headed in the right direction. 73% also believe the country will remain divided over the next four years, compared to 24% who think it will be able to unite. (NBC News)
poll/ 51% of Americans say the coronavirus pandemic in the United States is not at all under control. 3% say it is completely under control, while 44% say it is mostly or somewhat under control. (Washington Post)
poll/ 55% of Americans say police response to the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol would have been harsher if the rioters had been mostly Black rather than mostly white. 28% say the response would have been the same, while 9% say the response would have been less harsh to a largely Black mob. (USA Today)
poll/ About 20% of Republicans said they approve of convicting Trump in his Senate impeachment trial. Overall, about 55% said they approve of the Senate convicting Trump and about 37% said they disapprove. (Politico)
poll/ Trump’s approval rating dropped to 34% – down 12 percentage points since the Nov. 3 election. Obama left office with a 59% approval rating. (Bloomberg)
poll/ 60% of voters think Trump will be remembered as either below average or one of the worst presidents in U.S. history. 75% said the country is headed in the wrong direction – the highest percentage since 1992. (NPR)
✏️ Notables.
The Trump administration issued oil and gas leases for more than 430,000 acres of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. (New York Times)
A federal appeals court vacated a Trump administration rule that eased restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that the Trump administration’s rule was based on a “mistaken reading of the Clean Air Act.” (ABC News / Wall Street Journal)
Biden will propose an overhaul of immigration laws on his first day in office, including providing a pathway to citizenship for immigrants without legal status and an expansion of refugee admissions. (Washington Post)
The State Department declared that China’s internment, forced labor, and forced sterilization of over 1 million Muslim minorities in Xinjiang constitutes “genocide” and “crimes against humanity.” The determination could lead to further sanctions against China under the Biden administration. Biden previously said the policies by Beijing amounted to “genocide.” (New York Times / Axios)
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted that multiculturalism “is not who America is,” claiming “all the -isms” only “points in one direction — authoritarianism.” (New York Times)
Trump’s “1776 Commission” report was supposed to be the definitive “patriotic” view of U.S. history, but aside from being mocked by historians, about 26% of the content was lifted from other sources without citations. The 18-member commission was formed after the protests that followed the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, by a white police officer. Trump insisted that the protests were the result of “left-wing indoctrination in our schools” and required a new “pro-American” curriculum. (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times)
1/ Trump is expected to pardon or commute the sentences of more than 100 people on his final full day in the White House. Trump met with Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump, and other aides Sunday to review a list of pardon requests, including whether to issue preemptive pardons to his adult children, aides, and himself. Trump allies, meanwhile, have reportedly sold their access to the White House to lobby Trump and White House aides for pardons. While there is nothing illegal about Trump associates being paid to lobby for clemency, any explicit offers of payment to Trump in return could be be a possible violations of bribery laws. (Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / The Guardian)
2/ The FBI is vetting all 25,000 National Guard troops in Washington tasked with securing the inauguration. U.S. defense officials said they were concerned about an inside threat from service members. Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy said that the vetting process hasn’t flagged any issues with the troops. (Associated Press / NBC News / Washington Post)
Capitol Police warned three days before the Capitol riot that “Congress itself” could be targeted by Trump supporters on Jan. 6. “Supporters of the current president see January 6, 2021, as the last opportunity to overturn the results of the presidential election,” according to the 12-page internal intelligence report. “This sense of desperation and disappointment may lead to more of an incentive to become violent. Unlike previous post-election protests, the targets of the pro-Trump supporters are not necessarily the counter-protesters as they were previously, but rather Congress itself is the target on the 6th.” (Washington Post)
The FBI is investigating whether foreign governments or groups helped fund the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, including payments of $500,000 in bitcoin to key figures in the alt-right. (NBC News)
3/ The director of the Census Bureau resigned after whistleblower complaints warned that political appointees were pressuring staff to release “statistically indefensible” data on the number of unauthorized immigrants in the country by Jan. 15, which could be “misinterpreted, misused, or otherwise tarnish the Bureau’s reputation.” Steven Dillingham’s term was scheduled to expire on Dec. 31, 2021. Trump appointed Dillingham to lead the agency in 2019 as the Trump administration pushed to add a question about citizenship to the 2020 Census, which was ultimately blocked by the Supreme Court. (Talking Points Memo / NPR / Politico / Washington Post)
4/ The National Security Agency moved to install a former GOP political operative and White House official as its general counsel. Under pressure from the White House, Defense Secretary Christopher Miller ordered NSA Director Gen. Paul Nakasone to place Michael Ellis the role. Nakasone was reportedly not in favor of Ellis’s selection and tried to delay his installation. Ellis tried to prevent the release of a portion of John Bolton’s, the former national security adviser, manuscript that dealt with Ukraine and would presumably be damaging to Trump. The Pentagon plans to swear Ellis in on Tuesday. (Washington Post / New York Times / CNN)
5/ At least five anti-vaccine organization received more than $850,000 in loans from the federal Paycheck Protection Program. The groups all oppose or question the safety of vaccination, and are known to spread misleading information about the coronavirus, raising questions about why the Trump administration approved loans to groups that actively opposed its own public health agenda. (Washington Post)
6/ By the time you read this, the number of coronavirus deaths in the U.S. will have surpassed 400,000 and more than 2 million people worldwide will have been killed by the virus. The U.S. confirmed its first case of the virus in Seattle on Jan. 21, 2020. As the total number of U.S. coronavirus cases surpassed 24 million, California health officials reported a new coronavirus variant linked to about 25% of new cases in the state. The new variant, known as L452R, is distinct from the highly contagious British mutation, known as B117, which has also been found in California. (NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times / Los Angeles Times)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~95,441,000; deaths: ~2,038,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~24,046,000; deaths: ~399,000
One Year, 400,000 Coronavirus Deaths: How the U.S. Guaranteed Its Own Failure. After the White House declined to pursue a unified national strategy, governors faced off against lobbyists, health experts and a restless public consumed by misinformation. (New York Times)
poll/ 56% of Americans believe there will be more violence at the inauguration, and 70% say America’s democracy is weaker – not stronger – than it was four years ago. (USA Today)
poll/ 43% of voters gave Trump a positive job approval rating – down from 45% before the November election and 44% shortly after he took office in 2017. (NBC News)
poll/ 67% of Americans approve of Biden’s handling of the presidential transition. In 2017, 40% of Americans approved of Trump’s handling of the transition. (Washington Post)
1/ Federal prosecutors said there was “strong evidence” the pro-Trump mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol planned to “capture and assassinate elected officials.” Hours later, however, the head of the investigation cautioned that the probe is still in its early stages and there was “no direct evidence of kill and capture teams.” The accusation came in an 18-page motion filed Thursday as part of the federal criminal case against Jacob Anthony Chansley, a well-known conspiracy theorist who was photographed shirtless, but wearing a fury hat with horns during the insurrection. “Strong evidence, including Chansley’s own words and actions at the Capitol, supports that the intent of the Capitol rioters was to capture and assassinate elected officials in the United States Government,” prosecutors wrote in their memo urging the judge to keep Chansley behind bars. Chansley also wrote a note for Pence in the Senate chamber, which read: “It’s only a matter of time, justice is coming.” (Associated Press / USA Today / NBC News / New York Times / Reuters)
2/ Secret Service officers evacuated Pence from the Senate chamber moments before the violent mob that stormed the Capitol reached the second-floor landing in the Senate. If the mob had arrived seconds earlier, Pence would have been in eyesight of the mob as he was being rushed across a reception hall into the a hideaway less than 100 feet from that landing. A Capitol Police officer, however, lured the rioters away from the Senate. Pence was later evacuated to a more secure location in the Capitol complex while rioters were still inside the Capitol. (Washington Post)
The inspectors general for the departments of Justice, Defense, Interior, and Homeland Security opened a review of its Capitol security and intelligence preparedness. “The inspectors general for all of those agencies will review what people knew and how they prepared for that day, along with their actions during the riot.” (Washington Post / NBC News)
Investigators have opened 275 criminal cases and charged 98 people in connection to the riot at the Capitol. The FBI has also conducted dozens of interviews into the killing of the Capitol Police officer, who died while confronting the pro-Trump mob. (CNN / New York Times)
Federal authorities are investigating several Bitcoin transactions made to right-wing figures ahead of the assault on the Capitol. On Dec. 8, someone made a simultaneous transfer of about $500,000 in Bitcoin to 22 different virtual wallets belonging to prominent right-wing organizations and personalities. (Yahoo News / New York Times)
👑 Portrait of a president: Trump explodes at Nixon comparisons as he prepares to leave office. “Inside the building, Trump has been weathering a second impeachment and growing isolation from his onetime allies in sullen desolation. He has grown more and more worried about what legal or financial calamities may await him when he is no longer president, people who have spoken to him said, fueled by warnings from lawyers and advisers. He is weighing pardons, including for himself and his family, as he attempts to muster a legal team for another impeachment trial. And he is resentful of Republicans who he feels abandoned him in his hour of need, including the GOP leaders of the House and Senate.” (CNN)
3/ More than two million people have died from the coronavirus worldwide. The global death toll passed one million deaths in late September – more than nine months after the pandemic began. The coronavirus death toll in the U.S., meanwhile, is quickly approaching 400,000 and is “expected” to hit half a million deaths next month. (Washington Post / New York Times / Washington Post / The Guardian)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~93,627,000; deaths: ~2,005,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~23,476,000; deaths: ~392,000
4/ Coronavirus vaccine reserves were already exhausted when the Trump administration promised to release additional doses. No such reserve existed because the Trump administration had already distributed what was available at the end of December, taking the doses directly off the manufacturing line. Nevertheless, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar announced on Tuesday that the administration would be “releasing the entire supply for order by states, rather than holding second doses in reserve.” (Washington Post / CNN)
Biden plans to deploy FEMA and the National Guard to build coronavirus vaccine clinics in order to “quickly jumpstart” efforts to make the vaccines available at local pharmacies. (CNBC)
5/ Operation Warp Speed waited more than two months to approve a plan to distribute the Covid-19 vaccines, leaving states with little time to prepare for the largest vaccination campaign in U.S. history. The CDC wanted to start planning in June, but officials at Operation Warp Speed held the release of the CDC’s distribution plan, saying it needed to go through the interagency-clearance process. The Biden administration, meanwhile, said it plans to retire the “Operation Warp Speed” name, citing “failures” by the Trump administration. (Wall Street Journal / NPR)
6/ The CDC warned that the U.K. variant of the coronavirus could become the predominant strain in the United States by March. While only 76 cases of the variant have been identified in the U.S., researchers estimate that is roughly 50% more transmissible than the more common strain. The variant, however, is not known to be more deadly or to cause more severe disease. (NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
7/ Trump will leave Washington hours before Biden’s inauguration and fly to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida to begin his post-presidential life. The White House is considering holding an elaborate send-off event for Trump that would have the feel of a state visit, with a red carpet, color guard, military band, and a 21-gun salute. (Associated Press / Bloomberg / NBC News)
poll/ 89% of Americans oppose the storming of the Capitol by Trump’s supporters. 57% say Trump deserves significant responsibility for the attack on the Capitol. (Washington Post)
poll/ 58% of Americans blame Trump for the violent insurrection that took place at the U.S. Capitol by a mob of his supporters. (NPR)
poll/ 29% of voters approve of the job Trump is doing as president – his lowest job approval rating ever. 68% of voters do not want Trump to remain a major political figure in the future. (Pew Research Center)
1/ Biden released a $1.9 trillion economic and health care rescue package to deliver direct aid to families, businesses, and communities, and provide money for testing and vaccine distribution. The emergency relief plan includes $400 billion for fighting the coronavirus, more than $1 trillion in direct relief to families, including direct payments of $1,400 to most Americans, and $440 billion for aid to communities and businesses. Called the “American Rescue Plan,” the proposal would meet Biden’s goal of administering 100 million vaccines by the 100th day of his administration, and help advance his plans to reopen most schools by the spring. (Washington Post / New York Times / Associated Press / CNBC / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~92,851,000; deaths: ~1,989,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~23,254,000; deaths: ~388,000
2/ Biden urged the Senate to balance the impeachment trial of Trump with the “other urgent business of this nation.” The Senate won’t return until Jan. 19 – the day before Biden’s inauguration – which means Trump’s trial will create a logistical challenge, and risks delaying confirmation of Biden’s cabinet nominees and legislative initiatives. All 100 senators must consent to allow the chamber to confirm Biden’s Cabinet and pass his legislative agenda on one track, and begin Trump’s trial for “incitement of insurrection” on another. Nancy Pelosi, meanwhile, hasn’t detailed her schedule for transmitting the single article of impeachment to the Senate. (CNN / Bloomberg / Politico / NPR / The Guardian / Wall Street Journal / CBS News / Washington Post)
3/ Trump is reportedly in “self-pity mode” after becoming the only U.S. president to be impeached twice. According to White House advisers and people close to him, Trump and has become “increasingly isolated, sullen, and vengeful” after being left to fend for himself at the White House as impeachment quickly gained steam. Trump has also instructed aides not to pay Rudy Giuliani’s legal fees, demanding that he personally approve any reimbursements for the expenses Giuliani incurred while traveling on his behalf to challenge election results. Trump has apparently expressed concern with some of Giuliani’s decisions. The lawyers who defended Trump in his previous impeachment trial, including Jay Sekulow and White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, have declined to defend him during the second impeachment trial. (Washington Post / CNN / Bloomberg)
4/ Trump issued an appeal for nonviolence after the House voted to impeach him for “incitement of insurrection,” saying he “unequivocally” condemned the attack on the U.S. Capitol. Trump released the five-minute video following heavy pressure from his advisers. He offered no humility, regret, or self-reflection, failed to mention the election, and did not concede that Biden won a free and fair election. The video was released through the White House Twitter account, because his personal account was permanently suspended on fears it could incite further violence. Trump alluded to the ban, saying there had been an “unprecedented assault on free speech.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / CNBC)
5/ Democratic lawmakers accused Republican colleagues of leading groups on “reconnaissance” tours of the Capitol the day before Trump supporters stormed the building. Rep. Mikie Sherrill said she saw “members of Congress who had groups coming through the Capitol that I saw on Jan. 5 for reconnaissance for the next day.” At least one protest organizer said he coordinated with three House Republicans and Capitol Police officers said they wouldn’t be surprised if some lawmakers helped organize the attack. Meanwhile, at least 31 members of Congress demanded that the acting House Sergeant of Arms, acting Senate Sergeant of Arms, and Acting Chief of the Capitol Police investigate what they described as an “extremely high number of outside groups” let into the building on Jan. 5 at a time when most tours were restricted because of the coronavirus pandemic. The letter says the tours were “unusual” and “concerning” and were reported to the Sergeant at Arms on Jan. 5, adding that the groups “could only have gained access to the Capitol Complex from a Member of Congress or a member of their staff.” Dozens of people on the FBI’s terrorist watch list were in Washington D.C. on the day of the Capitol insurrection – the majority suspected white supremacists whose past conduct was so alarming that their names had been previously added to the national Terrorist Screening Database. (New York Times / Washington Post / NPR / Politico /BuzzFeed News / NBC News / CNN)
Several Republican members of Congress complained about or circumvented metal detectors put in place after the deadly riot at the Capitol. The new safety measures to enter the House floor included metal detectors and physical pat-downs in some instances. (NPR / NBC News)
✏️ Notables.
The Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” border policy was pushed by then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, despite warnings that the government wasn’t prepared to deal with the consequences, according to a report from the Justice Department’s inspector general. The report concludes that top Justice Department officials were the “driving force” behind the 2018 decision to separate families and refer parents for prosecution. (NBC News / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / BuzzFeed News)
The D.C. Attorney General’s office notified Trump Jr. that it wants to interview him as part of a lawsuit alleging that Trump’s 2017 inaugural committee improperly funneled money to his business. In January 2020, the D.C. Attorney General’s office sued the Trump Organization and the Presidential Inaugural Committee, alleging that they wasted more than $1 million raised by the nonprofit by “grossly overpaying” to use the Trump Hotel in Washington for the 2017 inauguration. (Washington Post / CNN)
U.S. taxpayers spent $3,000 a month – more than $100,000 to date – to rent an apartment so Secret Service agents for Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner could use the bathroom while standing guard in front of their Washignton home. Agents were instructed to not use any of the half-dozen bathrooms inside the couple’s house. (Washington Post)
2020 was the second-hottest year in recorded history and the last decade was hotter on average than any time in at least 2,000 years. The last seven years have been the warmest since measurement began in the 19th century. (NBC News / Bloomberg / Washington Post)
1/ The House voted to impeach Trump, making him the only American president to be impeached twice. Ten Republicans, including the House’s No. 3 Republican, Liz Cheney, joined with all Democrats in a 232 to 197 vote to impeach Trump for “willful incitement of insurrection” – the gravest charge ever lodged against a sitting president – for his role in a riot by his supporters that left five dead and the Capitol ransacked. “We know that the President of the United States incited this insurrection, this armed rebellion against our common country,” Nancy Pelosi said on the House floor ahead of the vote. “He must go. He is a clear and present danger to the nation that we all love.” (Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / Politico / The Guardian / CNBC / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / CBS News / ABC News / NBC News)
EARLIER: The House approved a resolution encouraging Pence to use the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office before his term ends on Jan. 20. Pence, however, told Pelosi that he does not believe invoking the 25th Amendment “is in the best interest of our nation.” (NBC News)
Trump issued a statement calling on Americans to “ease tensions and calm tempers.” The statement was released as the House was debating his impeachment. (NPR / New York Times)
YouTube suspended Trump’s channel over concern about “ongoing potential for violence.” (New York Times)
👑 Portrait of a President: Pence Reached His Limit With Trump. It Wasn’t Pretty. “You can either go down in history as a patriot,” Trump told him, “or you can go down in history as a pussy.” (New York Times)
👑 Portrait of a President: Trump grows defiant as the White House becomes a ghost town. As he becomes the first president to be impeached twice, Trump lacks a robust response for the first time. (NBC News)
2/ Mitch McConnell rejected calls to bring the Senate back for an emergency session to begin Trump’s impeachment trial before Jan. 19. McConnell, however, told Republican senators that he has not ruled out voting to convict Trump on the House’s impeachment charge. Trump impeachment trial won’t begin until after Biden becomes president on Jan. 20. If the Senate convicts Trump, it could also vote to ban him from ever seeking office again. (CNN / Axios / Bloomberg / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
3/ The United States reported more than 4,200 Covid-19 deaths Tuesday – a single-day record. Tuesday’s deaths represents at least 1,597 more people than those killed in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Coronavirus cases, meanwhile, have continued to tick up over the past two weeks in more than 30 states. Only Tennessee, Idaho, and South Dakota are experiencing slight declines in case rates. (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~92,112,000; deaths: ~1,974,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~22,999,000; deaths: ~384,000
poll/ 55% of Americans support impeaching Trump while 45% oppose the effort. (CBS News)
poll/ 34% of Americans approve the job Trump is doing as president – his lowest in four years. 63% disapprove. (Politico)
✏️ Notables.
The Census Bureau stopped working on Trump’s directive to produce a count of unauthorized immigrants living in the U.S. for purposes of redrawing congressional districts in 2021. (NPR / ABC News)
Trump appointees at the EPA overruled the agency’s career scientists on a safety assessment for a toxic chemical that’s contaminated the drinking water for an estimated 860,000 Americans. (Politico)
1/ Trump refused to take responsibility for inciting the deadly riot at the Capitol, offered no regrets, and defended his pre-riot speech as “totally appropriate.” In his first public remarks since the violence last week that left five people dead, including a Capitol Police officer, Trump deflected blame and called the effort by House Democrats to impeach him for a second time a “witch hunt” that was “causing tremendous anger.” The attack on the Capitol came after Trump encouraged a crowd of supporters to march to the building and “fight like hell,” saying: “You’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong.” Trump also took aim at social media sites that have banned him, saying they had made a “catastrophic mistake” and acted in a “divisive” manner. Trump then left Washington to travel to Alamo, Tex., to tour a section of his border wall. (New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post / CNN / ABC News / Politico / NPR / Bloomberg / The Guardian / Wall Street Journal)
Trump privately – and falsely – blamed “Antifa people” for storming the Capitol despite overwhelming evidence showing the rioters were Trump supporters. (Axios)
The city of New York is “reviewing whether legal grounds exist” to terminate its business relationships with Trump. The city pays the Trump Organization about $17 million a year to run a carousel, two ice rinks, and a golf course in city parks. (Washington Post)
The director of Voice of America reassigned a reporter after asking Secretary of State Mike Pompeo questions he refused to answer. Patsy Widakuswara asked if Pompeo if he regretted saying in November that the presidential transition would proceed smoothly into a second term for Trump. (Vox / Washington Post)
2/ Mitch McConnell indicated that he believes Trump committed impeachable offenses and that he is reportedly “pleased” that Democrats are moving to impeach him. McConnell, who blames Trump for Republicans losing the Senate, believes impeaching Trump a second time would make it easier to “purge” him from the party. Kevin McCarthy, the minority leader, has asked other Republicans whether he should call on Trump to resign. Rep. Liz Cheney, the No. 3 Republican in the House, said she will vote to impeach Trump, saying there has “never been a greater betrayal” by a president to his office and his oath to the Constitution. (New York Times / CNN / NBC News / Washington Post)
3/ Two days before the riot at the Capitol, the FBI warned that extremists were traveling to Washington to commit violence and “war.” The internal FBI report, produced Jan. 5 by the F.B.I.’s Norfolk office in southern Virginia and sent to the bureau’s Washington Field Office, included examples of people sharing a map of the Capitol’s tunnels and possible meet-up points in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and South Carolina before traveling to Washington. The report also said “An online thread discussed specific calls for violence to include stating ‘Be ready to fight. Congress needs to hear glass breaking, doors being kicked in, and blood from their BLM and Pantifa slave soldiers being spilled. Get violent. Stop calling this a march, or rally, or a protest. Go there ready for war. We get our President or we die. NOTHING else will achieve this goal.” (Washington Post / New York Times)
Several Capitol Police officers have been suspended and more than a dozen others are under investigation for suspected involvement in the deadly riot at the Capitol. (Washington Post)
The House and Senate sergeants-at-arms face questions about why they failed to do more to deter Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol last week. Both have since resigned. (New York Times)
4/ Capitol Police briefed House Democrats about three more planned demonstrations in the coming days, including a plot to form a perimeter around the Capitol, the White House, and the Supreme Court to block Democrats from entering the Capitol so that Republicans could take control of the government. Another demonstration is being billed as the “largest armed protest ever to take place on American soil.” The pro-Trump extremists have reportedly published rules of engagement. (CNN / HuffPost)
5/ Trump declared a state of emergency in Washington, D.C., citing the “emergency conditions” surrounding Biden’s inauguration. Trump’s order allows the Department of Homeland Security and the FEMA to assist the city in any emergency response. There will be at least 10,000 National Guard troops in Washington, D.C., by Saturday – that’s more troops than in Iraq and Afghanistan combined. (Politico / Business Insider))
The Joint Chiefs of Staff condemned the Capitol riot and confirmed that Biden will become the 46th commander in chief of the armed forces on Jan. 20. In a memo to the entire U.S. military, the top generals called the riot as “a direct assault on the U.S. Congress, the Capitol building and our Constitutional process.” The top Pentagon brass said the military remained fully committed to protecting and defending the Constitution “against all enemies foreign and domestic.” (Washington Post)
6/ Three Democratic members of Congress have tested positive for Covid-19 after being locked down with colleagues who refused to wear masks during the riot at the U.S. Capitol. Reps. Brad Schneider, Pramila Jayapal, and Bonnie Watson Coleman all tested positive for Covid-19 since Monday. Schneider said “several Republican lawmakers in the room adamantly refused to wear a mask […] even when politely asked by their colleagues.” Jayapal added that “several Republicans not only cruelly refused to wear a mask but recklessly mocked colleagues and staff who offered them one.” (Axios / NBC News / HuffPost)
7/ The Trump administration expanded coronavirus vaccine eligibility to all Americans over 65 to accelerate distribution. Health Secretary Alex Azar also said future doses will be allocated based on the pace that states administer the vaccine. The government had been holding about half of newly available doses since the rollout began, but will instead release the second doses of the vaccine, which were reserved for booster shots. (CNN / Axios / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / NBC News)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~91,384,000; deaths: ~1,957,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~22,785,000; deaths: ~380,000
1/ House Democrats introduced an article of impeachment against Trump for “incitement of insurrection” for his role in the riots at the Capitol that left five people dead last week. The four-page impeachment article charges Trump with “inciting violence against the government of the United States.” Nancy Pelosi said the House will vote to impeach Trump on Wednesday if Pence doesn’t seek to remove him under the 25th Amendment or Trump doesn’t resign first. The impeachment resolution has at least 218 co-sponsors – enough to ensure passage – which would make Trump the first president in U.S. history to be impeached twice. While it’s unlikely that the Senate will hold a trial before Trump leaves office on Jan. 20, a conviction after his term ends would prevent Trump from federal office again. Earlier, during a pro forma session, Democrats attempted to pass a measure by unanimous consent calling on Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump, but House Republicans blocked the request. Pence reportedly hasn’t ruled out invoking the 25th Amendment, but wants to preserve the option in case Trump becomes more unstable. (New York Times / Washington Post / NPR / CNN / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / NBC News / ABC News / The Guardian / CNBC)
A 75-year-old congresswoman tested positive for the coronavirus after sheltering in a room with lawmakers who refused to wear masks during the takeover of the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, a cancer survivor, tested positive after maskless Republicans — including Reps. Andy Biggs, Michael Cloud, Markwayne Mullin, and Scott Perry — refused masks offered by Democratic Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester while in the room. (Washington Post / Washington Post)
2/ White House counsel Pat Cipollone and former Attorney General William Barr warned Trump against pardoning himself. Trump was advised that he could potentially face civil liability for his role in inciting the attack by encouraging his supporters to storm Congress. The federal investigation into the insurrection has put the entire pardon process “on hold,” meaning people who have been lobbying Trump for pardons, including Rudy Giuliani, may not receive one. (CNN / ABC News)
3/ The FBI warned law enforcement agencies of possible “armed protests” at all 50 state Capitols and at the U.S. Capitol starting Jan. 16. The FBI has also received information about a group calling for “storming” state, local, and federal government courthouses and administrative buildings if Trump is removed from office prior to Biden’s inauguration. “They have warned that if Congress attempts to remove POTUS via the 25th Amendment,” the bulletin read, “a huge uprising will occur.” (ABC News / NBC News / CNN)
The National Guard will increase the number of troops in Washington, D.C., to at least 10,000 in advance of the presidential inauguration. Troop levels could rise to 15,000. About 6,200 Guardsmen have already deployed to D.C. (Politico / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Axios)
House and Senate security officials declined Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund’s request that the D.C. National Guard be placed on standby two days before pro-Trump rioters stormed the Capitol. The FBI and the New York City Police Department also passed information to Capitol Police about the possibility of violence before the rally last week (Washington Post / NBC News)
Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf resigned, days after criticizing Trump over the riot at the U.S. Capitol. Wolf joins Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos as the the third Cabinet-level official to quit. (CNBC / Associated Press / Axios / CNN / Washington Post)
4/ Twitter permanently banned Trump “due to the risk of further incitement of violence.” The decision came after Facebook, Snapchat, YouTube, Twitch, Reddit, and other platforms made similar decisions. Twitter said two tweets that Trump had posted — one calling his supporters “patriots” and another saying he would not go to Biden’s inauguration — “were highly likely to encourage and inspire people to replicate the criminal acts that took place at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.” Trump then tried to evade the ban by using the @POTUS Twitter account to send four tweets complaining that “Twitter has gone further and further in banning free speech,” accusing Twitter employees of coordinating with Democrats “to silence me.” The Trump campaign’s Twitter account was also permanently banned after it shared the same four-tweet thread that Trump had attempted to post from the @POTUS account. Twitter also removed the accounts of Michael Flynn, Sidney Powell, and other supporters of Trump who promoted the QAnon conspiracy theory. Trump reportedly went “ballistic” after getting banned and losing direct access to more than 88 million followers. (New York Times / CNN / NBC News / NPR / CNBC / Axios / CBS News)
Amazon, Apple, and Google removed Parler – an app popular with Trump supporters, conservatives, and extremists – from their platforms. Parler, meanwhile, sued Amazon, alleging that the decision was “motivated by political animus” and anti-competitive reasons. Amazon Web Services cut off service to Parler, saying the platform violated Amazon’s terms of service by not doing enough to combat death threats and other risks to public safety. (New York Times / BuzzFeed News / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / CNBC / Politico)
Stripe will no longer process credit card payments for Trump’s campaign website following last week’s riot at the Capitol. (Wall Street Journal)
The PGA Championship will no longer be held at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J., next year. The organizers canceled plans to hold the event at Trump’s golf club in 2022 in the wake of last week’s riot at the U.S. Capitol, saying “It’s become clear that conducting the PGA Championship at Trump Bedminster would be detrimental to the PGA of America brand.” The Trump Organization responded, saying: “This is a breach of a binding contract, and they have no right to terminate the agreement.” (Associated Press / Washington Post / ABC News / NJ.com / New York Times)
5/ Trump urged Georgia’s lead elections investigator to “find the fraud” in a December phone call, saying the official would be a “national hero.” The call was separate from another Trump call to Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, pressuring him to “find” enough votes to overturn the state’s presidential election results. On Dec. 23, Trump called the investigations chief for the Georgia secretary of state’s office and attempted to intervene in Raffensperger’s ongoing investigation into allegations that Cobb election officials had accepted mail ballots with signatures that didn’t match those on file. State officials ultimately concluded that the allegation had no merit. Since Election Day, Trump has made at least three calls to government officials in Georgia in an attempt to overturn Biden’s victory. (Washington Post)
White House officials forced Atlanta’s top federal prosecutor to resign because Trump was upset he wasn’t doing enough to investigate baseless claims of election fraud. (Wall Street Journal)
6/ About 2% of the U.S. population has been vaccinated since the FDA approved the first two vaccine candidates a month ago. The U.S. seven-day average of coronavirus-related deaths, meanwhile, now exceeds 3,000 a day. In a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, Senate Democrats demanded that the Trump administration correct its “significant failures” in the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines, saying the U.S. “cannot afford for this vaccination campaign to continue to be hindered by the lack of planning, communication, and leadership we have seen so far.” The Trump administration set a goal of inoculating 20 million Americans by the end of December, but only 9 million have received their first dose despite nearly 25.5 million doses have been distributed. Biden has promised 100 million shots in his first 100 days. (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / CNN)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~90,725,000; deaths: ~1,942,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~22,541,000; deaths: ~376,000
poll/ 74% of voters say democracy in the United States is under threat. 56% say they hold Trump responsible for the mob that stormed the Capitol. (Quinnipiac / New York Times)
poll/ 57% of Americans want Trump to be immediately removed from office after he encouraged his supporters to riot inside the Capitol. (Reuters / ABC News)
1/ House Democrats plan to introduce articles of impeachment against Trump on Monday for “incitement of insurrection.” A draft copy of the impeachment resolution states that Trump “has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to national security, democracy, and the Constitution if allowed to remain in office, and […] thus warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States.” The move follows Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s earlier call for Trump to “immediately” resign for his role in a “horrific assault on our democracy,” adding “If the President does not leave office imminently and willingly, the Congress will proceed with our action.” Pence, meanwhile, privately ruled out invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office. The House could vote on the articles of impeachment early as early as the middle of next week. More than 196 members of the House and 37 Senators have called for Trump to be removed from office. (CNN / New York Times / ABC News / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Axios / NBC News)
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo discussed invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office. (CNBC)
👑 Portrait of a President: A President Increasingly Angry and Isolated. With resignations thinning the ranks around him and growing calls for his removal, president says he will depart peacefully on Jan. 20. (Wall Street Journal)
👑 Portrait of a President: The White House slips deeper into crisis in the final days of the Trump presidency. (New York Times)
2/ Nancy Pelosi spoke to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff about “preventing an unstable president from initiating military hostilities” or accessing the nuclear codes. In a letter to her House colleagues, Pelosi said “The situation of this unhinged President could not be more dangerous, and we must do everything that we can to protect the American people from his unbalanced assault on our country and our democracy.” Pelosi said Gen. Mark Milley “assured [her] that there are safeguards in place.” (New York Times / Washington Post / CNBC / NBC News)
3/ Prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney’s office opened a murder investigation into the death of a Capitol Police officer, who died after suffering injuries from the violent mob of Trump supporters at the Capitol. The investigation is being conducted jointly between the FBI and the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department, with cooperation from U.S. Capitol Police. (ABC News / CNN / Axios / New York Times / NBC News)
4/ Trump condemned the “heinous attack” on the Capitol that he incited and said he would leave office peacefully Jan. 20 after facing bipartisan calls for his removal and pressure from advisers to more forcefully respond to the riot, which left five people dead, including a Capitol Police officer. In his first tweet since getting temporarily blocked for egging on the violence by his supporters, Trump accepted no responsibility for the riot, but instead said: “To those who broke the law, you will pay.” The message came a day after Trump had encouraged the rioters to “go home” but ended with, “I love you.” White House counsel Pat Cipollone, meanwhile, has reportedly considered resigning after warning Trump that he risked legal exposure if he didn’t forcefully denounce the actions of his supporters who attacked the Capitol. In a separate video played at the Republican National Committee winter meeting, Trump thanked the committee members for their “loyalty.” (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / CNN / Wall Street Journal / NPR)
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos resigned. DeVos decided resigned after learning that Pence opposed invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office. DeVos is the second cabinet-level official to step down. (Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / CNN)
5/ Surprising no one, Trump announced that he will not attend Biden’s inauguration – two days after inciting a deadly riot at the Capitol. Trump will be the first president in more than 150 years — and only the fourth in U.S. history — to skip the ceremony. Biden addressed Trump’s decision, saying “It’s a good thing, him not showing up […] One of the few things he and I have ever agreed on.” (CBS News / CNBC / New York Times / Bloomberg)
Dominion Voting Systems sued lawyer Sidney Powell for defamation, demanding more than $1.3 billion in damages for spreading “wild” and “demonstrably false” allegations. Powell pushed Trump’s attempts to overturn election. (Washington Post / NBC News)
6/ The United States set a record for daily coronavirus-related deaths for the second day in a row, topping 4,000 deaths for the first time. Nearly 20,000 people in the country have died of Covid-19 in January alone. “We believe things will get worse as we get into January,” Dr. Anthony Fauci said in an interview. (CNBC / New York Times / NPR)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~88,618,000; deaths: ~1,910,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~21,809,000; deaths: ~368,000
7/ The U.S. lost 140,000 jobs in December – the first net decline in payrolls since last spring’s mass layoffs. The unemployment rate, meanwhile, remained unchanged at 6.7%, which is down from its high of nearly 15% in April but about double the 3.5% rate this time last year. (CNN / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
8/ Twitter permanently suspended Trump “due to the risk of further incitement of violence.” The decision came after Facebook made a similar decision to extend an initial 24 hour suspension to an indefinite one. Twitter also removed the accounts of Michael Flynn, Sidney Powell, and other supporters of Trump who promoted the QAnon conspiracy theory. (NBC News / CNBC / Axios)
1/ Congress confirmed Biden’s presidential victory after a violent mob loyal to Trump stormed the Capitol in an attempt to overturn the election. Following the violent assault on the Capitol, members of Congress and Pence made Biden’s victory official just after 3:40 a.m. in Washington. Biden received 306 electoral votes to Trump’s 232, and will be inaugurated the 46th president on Jan. 20. (Associated Press / Washington Post / New York Times / Reuters)
2/ Trump agreed to “an orderly transition” one day after inciting a mob to storm the Capitol and minutes after Congress certified Biden’s win. While Trump acknowledged for the first time he will leave office, he didn’t, however, admit defeat or concede. Instead, in a statement tweeted at 3:49 a.m. by aide Dan Scavino, Trump said: “Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on January 20th. While this represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history, it’s only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again.”
(Politico / Bloomberg / Washington Post / NPR / CNN)
3/ Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer called on Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment to immediately remove Trump from office. “By inciting sedition as he did yesterday, he must be removed for office,” Pelosi said. Earlier, Schumer said that “What happened at the U.S. Capitol yesterday was an insurrection against the United States, incited by the president. This president should not hold office one day longer” and the “quickest and most effective way” to remove Trump would be under the 25th Amendment. If Pence declines to act, Pelosi said Democrats were prepared to impeach Trump for a second time, and did not rule out canceling next week’s recess to bring the House back into session. “While there’s only 13 days left,” Pelsoi said, “any day could be a horror show for America.” (Washington Post / New York Times / NPR / Politico / Wall Street Journal / CNBC / Bloomberg / ABC News / CNN)
A trade group representing 14,000 U.S. companies called on Pence to “seriously consider” invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office. “This is sedition and should be treated as such,” the National Association of Manufacturers said. “The outgoing president incited violence in an attempt to retain power, and any elected leader defending him is violating their oath to the Constitution and rejecting democracy in favor of anarchy.” (CNBC / New York Times)
Biden characterized the mob of Trump supporters that stormed the Capitol as “insurrectionists domestic terrorist,” referring to the violence as “one of the darkest days in the history of our nation” and the attack an “unprecedented assault on our democracy.” Biden blamed Trump for inciting the violence, saying he had “unleashed an all-out assault on our institutions of democracy” and that he’s a “president who’s made his contempt for our democracy, the Constitution, the rule of law clear in everything he has done.” (Wall Street Journal / NBC News)
Trump refused requests to mobilize the National Guard to stop the mob at the Capitol. Pence eventually approved the order. (New York Times / CNN)
4/ The Justice Department said it would not rule out pursuing charges against Trump for his role in inciting a mob of his supporters to march on the Capitol and storm the building. “We are looking at all actors, not only the people who went into the building,” Michael Sherwin, the U.S. attorney in Washington, said. “If the evidence fits the elements of a crime, they’re gonna be charged.” The chairs of five House committees requested that FBI Director Christopher Wray brief them on the agency’s efforts to investigate the riot. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN)
5/ Trump told aides and advisers that he wants to pardon himself before leaving office. In multiple conversations since the election, Trump has asked whether he should pardon himself, including what the legal and political implications would be. It’s not clear, however, if Trump has brought up the idea since he incited his supporters to march on the Capitol and “fight.” Following the riots, White House Counsel Pat Cipollone advised Trump that he could face legal jeopardy for encouraging his supporters to storm the Capitol building. Trump has also considered pre-emptive pardons for Trump Jr., Eric Trump, Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner, and Rudy Giuliani. (New York Times / ABC News)
6/ Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram suspended Trump after he posted a video of himself repeating baseless claims that the election had been “stolen” while urging his supporters, who he had earlier incited to go to the Capitol, to “go home.” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Trump would be banned from Facebook and Instagram “indefinitely.” The ban will not be lifted before Inauguration Day. Twitter locked Trump’s account and deleted three tweets for using the platform “for the purpose of manipulating or interfering in elections or other civic processes.” Twitter threatened to permanently suspend Trump if he violated its rules again. YouTube also removed the video, while Shopify removed the online stores run by the Trump Organization and Trump campaign. (Politico / The Verge / CNN / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / New York Times / TechCrunch / NBC News)
Ivanka Trump deleted a tweet calling for “American patriots” – who stormed the Capitol – to stop the violence. (The Hill)
7/ Multiple Trump administration officials resigned after a violent mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, including Elaine Chao (transportation secretary), Mick Mulvaney (Trump’s former acting chief of staff, now special envoy to Northern Ireland), Matthew Pottinger (deputy national security adviser), John Costello (senior cybersecurity official), Tyler Goodspeed (acting chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers), Stephanie Grisham (chief of staff to Melania Trump), Rickie Niceta (event planner), and Sarah Matthews (deputy White House press secretary). Mulvaney reportedly called Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and told him: “I can’t do it. I can’t stay.” (New York Times / Axios / CNN / Associated Press / The Guardian / NPR)
White House Counsel Pat Cipollone reportedly instructed White House officials not to speak to Trump so they could reduce the chance that they could be prosecuted for treason under the Sedition Act. (Vanity Fair)
Trump banned Pence’s chief of staff from the White House. Trump blamed Marc Short for Pence’s decision to follow the Constitution as he presided over the Electoral College certification session. (Axios / Business Insider)
8/ A record 3,915 people died of Covid-19 in the United States on Wednesday – the second straight day that the country logged a record number of fatalities from the disease within a 24-hour period. The number of patients currently hospitalized nationwide is at a record high and 12 states hit a record number of hospitalizations. (Washington Post / ABC News)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~87,793,000; deaths: ~1,893,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~21,482,000; deaths: ~365,000
Another 787,000 Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, a slight decline from the previous week. (Politico / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
9/ Trump awarded Medals of Freedom to three golfers less than 24 hours after pro-Trump insurrectionists stormed the Capitol building and stalled congressional efforts to certify electoral college votes for Biden. (Washington Post)
poll/ 63% of voters believe Trump is at least “somewhat” responsible “for the events that led to” the riot at the Capitol. 49% say Trump is “very” responsible. (Politico)
1/ Pence rejected Trump’s demand to block certification of Biden’s win, saying only lawmakers can decide whether to accept or reject the Electoral College votes. On Tuesday, Pence told Trump that he does not have the authority to reject the electoral votes from states he lost. The meeting came hours after Trump inaccurately tweeted “The Vice President has the power to reject fraudulently chosen electors.” This statement is not true and the vice president does not have the unilateral power to alter the results sent to Congress. On Wednesday, Pence informed lawmakers that he was rebuffing Trump’s demand as lawmakers gathered for a joint session of Congress to count the electoral votes, saying “It is my considered judgment that my oath to support and defend the Constitution constrains me from claiming unilateral authority to determine which electoral votes should be counted and which should not.” (Politico / CNN / New York Times / Axios / USA Today)
2/ Mitch McConnell rebuked his Republican colleagues’ efforts to block the certification of the Electoral College, saying that overturning the results of the election “would damage our republic forever” and risked sending democracy into a “death spiral.” McConnell’s speech came after an objection was raised to the certification of Arizona’s 11 electoral votes to Biden and Harris by Rep. Paul Gosar and 60 other House colleagues minutes into the proceeding. McConnell denounced Trump’s “sweeping conspiracy theories” about election fraud and said he “will not pretend” voting to overturn the election would be a “harmless protest gesture.” (Axios / USA Today / ABC News)
3/ Trump encouraged thousands of supporters during a rally at the Ellipse to protest the count of electoral votes at the Capitol, saying “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol […] because you’ll never take back our country with weakness, you have to show strength and you have to be strong.” Trump, speaking about an hour before the start of the joint session of Congress, told his fans: “We will never give up. We will never concede. You don’t concede when there is theft involved. Your country has had enough. We will not take it anymore. We won this election, and we won it by a landslide. This was not a close election.” Trump added: “We will stop the steal […] I’m going to be watching because history is going to be made.” During the rally, Trump urged Pence to take action, saying “If not I’m going to be very disappointed in you” and vowed to “primary the hell out of” members of Congress who didn’t go along with his bid to overturn the election results, calling them “pathetic” and “weak Republicans.” (NBC News / Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / CNBC)
4/ The U.S. Capitol went into lockdown as a mob of Trump supporters surrounded and then stormed the building, forcing Congress to abruptly pause the constitutional process to affirm Biden’s win. Shortly after 1 p.m. ET, House offices were evacuated as Trump’s supporters stormed Capitol barriers and dozens of people breached the building while the constitutional proceedings continued inside. Lawmakers inside the House chamber were told to shelter in place and put on gas masks as tear gas and smoke grenades were fired in the Rotunda. Several House office buildings were evacuated due to potential bomb threats. Pence, meanwhile, was evacuated. At least one person was shot and taken to a hospital. As the mob engulfed the Capitol, Trump did not call for calm but instead tweeted that “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution.” The Army activated the entire District of Columbia National Guard – 1,100 troops – in response to a request from Mayor Muriel Bowser, who also declared a citywide curfew starting at 6 p.m. It was the first time the Capitol had been breached since the British attacked and burned the building during the War of 1812. Lawmakers, meanwhile, will resume counting Electoral College votes late Wednesday night. (Washington Post / NBC News / New York Times / CNN / Politico / Wall Street Journal / USA Today / Bloomberg / CNBC / Associated Press)
5/ Trump blamed his opponents for the violence and praised the mob that stormed the Capitol as “very special,” saying “we can’t play into the hands of these people.” In a televised speech Biden condemned Trump for stoking the violence and demanded that the president call on his supporters to end the “unprecedented assault” on democracy. “This is not dissent. It’s disorder. It’s chaos. It borders on sedition, and it must end now,” he added. “I call on this mob to pull back and allow the work of democracy to go forward.” Moments later, Trump tweeted a one-minute video – more than two hours after the mob overtook the building – repeating his lie that “the election was stolen” while advising the group to “go home now. We have to have peace.” He added: “We love you.” Trump later reiterated his false claim that the election was stolen, tweeting for his supporters to “remember this day.” (New York Times / Bloomberg / Washington Post / The Guardian / CNBC / Axios)
6/ Democrats won control of the Senate with victories in Georgia’s two runoff elections, assuring slim majorities in both chambers of Congress for Biden. Raphael Warnock defeated Kelly Loeffler, and Jon Ossoff won his race against David Perdue. With the Senate split, Kamala Harris will break 50-50 ties, putting Democrats in charge of the legislative agenda, committee chairmanships, and Congress’ confirmation and investigative powers. Some Republicans blamed Trump’s weeks of baseless claims that Georgia’s electoral system was rigged for the Democratic sweep. (NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Politico)
7/ The Trump administration is attempting undo some civil rights protections for minority groups. The Justice Department submitted a change to how it enforces Title VI of the Civil Rights Act for White House approval. (New York Times)
8/ Russian hackers behind the cyber espionage campaign accessed the Justice Department email accounts. About 3,500 employees’ emails accounts were accessed. There is no indication that classified systems were affected. (Politico / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / ABC News)
9/ Trump administration officials auctioned off oil and gas leases in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge despite a number of banks saying they would not finance Arctic energy projects due to flat oil prices. The sale of 11 tracts on just over 550,000 acres for $14.4 million was a fraction of what Republicans predicted it would yield. (Washington Post)
10/ Biden plans to nominate Merrick Garland for attorney general. Biden selected Garland over former Sen. Doug Jones and former deputy attorney general Sally Yates. Republicans blocked Garland’s Supreme Court nomination in 2016. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / CNN / USA Today / Axios)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~86,949,000; deaths: ~1,878,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~21,226,000; deaths: ~360,000
1/ Trump falsely claimed that Pence has the power to unilaterally throw out electoral votes when Congress meets to certify the election results on Wednesday. While Pence’s constitutional role is to ceremonially oversee Congress’s count of the Electoral College votes, Trump instead wants Pence to reject the votes for Biden, tweeting – falsely – that Pence “has the power to reject fraudulently chosen electors.” And during a rally in Georgia, Trump told supporters: “I hope Mike Pence comes through for us.” Meanwhile, a group of House and Senate Republicans plan to object to the certification of several states, forcing as much as 12 hours of debate and a half-dozen votes. There are not, however, enough votes in either chamber to overturn the outcome of the election and Pence would have to announce the failure of each one. Trump, nevertheless, vowed to continue to “fight like hell” to keep the White House and – again – falsely alleged that Democrats stole the election. When a joint session of Congress convenes Wednesday to certify the Electoral College votes, Trump plans to speak at a “Save America” rally near the White House. (New York Times / NBC News / NPR / Washington Post / CBS News / CNN / New York Times / ABC News)
A federal judge in Georgia denied another attempt by Trump to decertify the state’s presidential election results. Trump and his lawyers asked the judge to throw out the verified results, citing several previously debunked fraud allegations. Attorneys for Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger called the effort a bid to “disenfranchise millions of Georgia voters at the thirteenth hour.” (Politico / New York Times / CNN)
Trump replaced the top federal prosecutor in Atlanta with another Trump-appointed prosecutor – bypassing the top career prosecutor who would normally take over on an acting basis. U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak abruptly resigned Monday after serving three years in the role. Pak’s resignation came a day after the release of a recording of a phone call between President Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. During the call, Trump seemed to denigrate a federal prosecutor in Georgia, saying, “You have your never-Trumper U.S. attorney there.” (Talking Points Memo / Politico / Atlanta Journal-Constitution / The Hill)
Dominion Voting Systems plans to sue attorney Sidney Powell for defamation, and is exploring similar suits against Trump and others. (Axios)
2/ Arizona, California, and Rhode Island have the highest Covid-19 infection rates per capita of anywhere in the world. Coronavirus cases in the South, meanwhile, are rising quickly and account for more cases than any other U.S. region. And, nine states reported record Covid-19 hospitalizations Monday. (NBC News / Bloomberg / ABC News)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~86,231,000; deaths: ~1,866,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~21,008,000; deaths: ~357,000
Scientists are analyzing research data to see if they can double the supply of the Moderna coronavirus vaccine by cutting doses in half. (New York Times)
The House and Senate are using a Covid-19 test that the FDA says is prone to false results. (Politico)
3/ Four American intelligence agencies confirmed that the hack of the U.S. government and corporations was “likely Russian in origin.” The FBI, the National Security Agency, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said that “fewer than 10” federal agencies had been compromised by “an intelligence gathering effort.” The rare joint statement also said that the operation was “ongoing” – nearly a month after it was discovered. Trump, meanwhile, has cast doubt on that hack, suggesting that it could have been China and that “everything is well under control.” (Associated Press / New York Times / NBC News)
4/ The EPA finalized a “transparency” rule which will limit or exclude research about how pollution impacts human health. The new rule requires researchers to disclose their raw data. Leading researchers and academic organizations, however, argue that the new rule will restrict the EPA from using the most consequential research, because it often includes confidential medical records and other data that cannot be released because of privacy concerns. (Washington Post / CNN)
5/ Trump will not be allowed to visit Scotland to play golf during Biden’s inauguration. Prestwick airport has reportedly been told to expect the arrival of a U.S. military Boeing 757 aircraft, which is sometimes used by Trump, on January 19. Scotland’s first minister, however, stressed that it is illegal to travel in or out of the country without a valid reason, saying “Coming to play golf is not what I would consider to be an essential purpose.” Following news reports of Trump’s potential trip to Turnberry, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said the reports were “not accurate. President Trump has no plans to travel to Scotland.” (New York Times / Washington Post / The Independent / Sunday Post / The Guardian)
1/ Trump pressured Georgia’s secretary of state to “find” him enough votes to overturn the state’s presidential election results. Trump told Brad Raffensperger in an hourlong phone call, which also included Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and legal advisers, “We have won the election in Georgia based on all of this. And there’s nothing wrong with saying that, Brad.” Raffensperger pushed back, telling Trump “the challenge that you have is, the data you have is wrong.” Trump, however, continued to push his debunked theories of election fraud, like “stuffed ballot boxes,” and, at one point said: “So look. All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state.” Trump later added: “So what are we going to do here, folks? I only need 11,000 votes. Fellas, I need 11,000 votes. Give me a break.” At one point, Trump warned that Raffensperger was taking “a big risk” by not pursuing his false claims and threatened him with “a criminal offense.” Throughout the call, Trump repeated that “There’s no way I lost Georgia […] There’s no way. We won by hundreds of thousands of votes.” Trump lost to Biden by 11,779 votes. Since the election, there have been 18 attempted calls from the White House to the Georgia secretary of state’s office. An intern monitoring the line, however, thought the calls were a prank and hung up. (Washington Post / Atlanta Journal-Constitution / New York Times / NPR / Politico)
The 37 most outrageous lines from Trump’s call with the Georgia secretary of state. (CNN)
All 10 living former Defense secretaries said the “time for questioning the results” of the 2020 election has passed and warned that involving the U.S. military in election disputes would take the country into “dangerous” territory. (Washington Post / Axios)
2/ Trump’s call to Georgia’s secretary of state may have violated laws that prohibit interference in federal or state elections. Brad Raffensperger said that while it was unlikely his office would open an investigation into the call with Trump, he suggested that a criminal probe could still be launched by an Atlanta-area district attorney. Raffensperger added, “I understand that the Fulton County district attorney wants to look at it. Maybe that’s the appropriate venue for it to go.” A pair of House Democrats, meanwhile, asked FBI Director Christopher Wray to open a criminal probe, believing that Trump “engaged in solicitation of, or conspiracy to commit, a number of election crimes.” (New York Times / Politico / NBC News / The Guardian / NPR)
3/ A top election official in Georgia accused Trump’s legal team of “intentionally misleading” voters about voter fraud. In a press conference, Gabriel Sterling, a Georgia voting system implementation manager, systematically refuted Trump’s already-debunked claims of voter fraud, saying “This is all easily, provably false. Yet the president persists, and by doing so undermines Georgians’ faith in the election system.” Sterling added: “It was intentional, it was obvious, and anybody watching this knows that.” (USA Today / New York Times)
4/ A group of at least 11 Republican senators and senators-elect plan to challenge Biden’s Electoral College win on Jan. 6, calling for an “emergency 10-day audit” to investigate Trump’s numerous unfounded election fraud claims. The senators – led by Ted Cruz – provided no evidence, but cited unsubstantiated allegations of fraud and said they intend “to reject the electors from disputed states as not ‘regularly given’ and ‘lawfully certified.’” The same claims have been repeatedly rejected by courts. The new Congress will meet Wednesday to formally count the Electoral College votes. Pence, as the president of the senate, will preside over the joint session and signaled support for the effort to vote against certification. (NBC News / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / CNBC / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Axios)
A federal judge threw out a lawsuit from Rep. Louie Gohmert and several Arizona Republicans seeking to force Pence to decide the outcome of the 2020 election. (CNN / Politico)
5/ Covid-19 cases in the United States eclipsed 20 million as Trump falsely tweeted that the coronavirus cases and deaths are “exaggerated.” Dr. Anthony Fauci pushed back on the claim, saying “The numbers are real. We have well over 300,000 deaths. We are averaging two to three thousand deaths per day.” U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams also contradicted Trump’s claim, saying there is “no reason to doubt” the CDC’s Covid-19 death toll. The nation reported more than 210,000 new cases for Sunday as hospitalizations hit a record-high 125,544. (Politico / NBC News / CNN / NPR / ABC News / Wall Street Journal)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~85,521,000; deaths: ~1,850,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~20,758,000; deaths: ~353,000
The Trump administration fell well short of its goal to vaccinate 20 million people by January 1. About 12.4 million doses have been distributed to states, but only 2.8 million doses have been administered. (CNN / New York Times / Axios / Bloomberg)
Colorado officials reported the first known case of the more contagious coronavirus variant discovered in Britain. Scientists said the variant is more transmissible but does not make people sicker. The variant was detected in a man in his 20s with no travel history. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, meanwhile, ordered a third national lockdown for England as a more contagious coronavirus variant has surged. (Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg)
Trump skipped his annual New Year’s Eve party, leaving guests to party maskless with Rudy Giuliani and Vanilla Ice at Mar-a-Lago. (CNN / New York Times)
✏️ Notables.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office retained a forensic accounting specialists to help with its criminal investigation of Trump and his business. The investigation was opened in 2018 to examine the alleged hush-money payments made to two women who claimed to have had affairs with him years earlier, but has since expanded to include the Trump Organization’s activities more broadly. (Washington Post)
The Senate voted to override Trump’s veto of the $741 billion defense authorization bill – the first successful veto override of Trump’s presidency. (New York Times / Washington Post
Trump awarded Devin Nunes with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. Nunes defended Trump during the investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, as well as during his impeachment. Nunes also once sued a fake cow for defamatory tweets. (NPR / Washington Post / The Guardian)
Editor’s note: WTFJHT is currently on Infrastructure Week holiday. This will be the last edition of WTFJHT until Monday, January 4. (There will also be a members-only update on the state of WTFJHT next week, so if you want in on that, be sure to become a supporting member). In the mean time, I hope you all have a safe and happy New Years, and – please! – don’t forgot to watch your distance, wear your mask, and wash your damn hands. I’m glad you’re here.
1/ Mitch McConnell blocked a House-passed bill to increase stimulus checks in the coronavirus relief package from $600 to $2,000, saying instead that the Senate would “begin a process” to consider bigger payments. The Caring for Americans with Supplemental Help (Cash) Act passed the House with a bipartisan 275-to-134 vote. Trump, responding to the Senate developments, tweeted for McConnell to act unless he and other Republicans have a “death wish.” (Washington Post / New York Times / NPR / CNBC / Politico / Bloomberg / Washington Post / NBC News / The Guardian)
2/ The House voted to override Trump’s veto of the $740 billion National Defense Authorization Act – the first time a chamber of Congress has agreed to override a Trump veto. In a string of tweets, Trump wrote “WE NEED NEW & ENERGETIC REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP,” calling them “weak and tired,” and the override vote “a disgraceful act of cowardice.” Mitch McConnell said the Senate would vote Wednesday on the military policy bill. Bernie Sanders, however, promised to filibuster the override vote of Trump’s veto unless the Senate holds a vote on providing $2,000 direct payments to Americans. (New York Times / NPR / Washington Post / Politico / Axios)
3/ Trump signed the coronavirus stimulus package and spending bill to avert a government shutdown, but not before two unemployment programs expired, guaranteeing a delay in benefits for about 14 millions of unemployed Americans. The legislative package will provide $900 billion for the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, funds for schools, small businesses, hospitals, and direct payment checks for families. The package also extends unemployment benefits, the federal moratorium on evictions, and funds the federal government through September. Trump, however, blindsided lawmakers when he called the bill a “disgrace” days earlier, which was negotiated by his own Treasury secretary. (New York Times / NBC News / Politico / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Washington Post)
4/ The CDC predicts that the U.S. will see 400,000 coronavirus deaths by the time Trump leaves office on Jan. 20, 2021. U.S. case numbers surpassed 19 million Saturday, meaning at least 1 in 17 people have been infected. The virus has killed more than 332,000 people – or 1 in 1,000 have died. Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the former commissioner of the FDA, said that the U.S. is facing a “a grim month ahead of us.” Biden, meanwhile, will deliver an address on the coronavirus pandemic Tuesday as the nation experiences what Dr. Fauci described as a surge in cases “that has just gotten out of control in many respects.” (Bloomberg / New York Times / Washington Post / CBS News / Axios / CNN)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~81,747,000; deaths: ~1,785,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~19,449,000; deaths: ~337,000
Biden plans to invoke the Defense Production Act after he takes office to boost production of COVID-19 vaccines and personal protective equipment. (CNBC)
5/ Trump issued 26 new pardons, including for Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, and Jared Kushner’s father, Charles. Manafort, who admitted his crimes and initially agreed to cooperate with Robert Mueller but then lied to prosecutors, spent nearly two years in prison for bank and tax fraud, illegal foreign lobbying and witness tampering conspiracies before being released because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Stone, meanwhile, never cooperated after lying to Congress to protect Trump and was sentenced for obstruction of Congress and threatening a witness. Stone’s sentence was later commuted by Trump – days before he was set to surrender. The wording of the pardons for Manafort and Stone referred to the Mueller investigation as the “Russian collusion hoax,” “prosecutorial misconduct,” and “injustice.” Of the 65 pardons and commutations that Trump has granted, 60 have gone to people with a personal or political connection to Trump. (New York Times / CNN / Wall Street Journal / Axios)
6/ Biden accused Trump and his political appointees of obstructing the transition of power “in key national security areas.” Biden said his transition team had encountered “roadblocks” from political appointees in the Office of Management and Budget and the Defense Department, saying “It’s nothing short, in my view, of irresponsibility […] We need full visibility […] in order to avoid any window of confusion or catch-up that our adversaries may try to exploit.” (Washington Post)
Texas Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert sued Mike Pence in federal court. Gohmert and several other Republicans, including the Republican slate of electors from Arizona, want to permit Pence to overturn Trump’s defeat by ignoring Biden’s electors and count Trump’s losing slates instead when Congress meets to count Electoral College votes on Jan. 6. The lawsuit challenges the 1887 Electoral Count Act, alleging that the law unconstitutionally prevents Pence from exercising his authority to choose which votes to count. (Dallas Morning News / Politico)
7/ Since Jan. 20, 2017, Trump’s donors have contributed $10.5 million to his businesses. About $8.5 million came from the Trump campaign and various entities that Trump directly controls, while another $2 million came from other Republican candidates and committees. (HuffPost)
8/ Americans named Trump and Michelle Obama the most admired man and woman of 2020. Trump’s first-place finish ends Barack Obama’s 12-year run as most admired man. (Gallup)
poll/ 16% of Americans are satisfied with the direction the country is going – down from 21% in November. Trump’s job approval rating stands at 39% – down from 43% in November. Biden’s transition, however, is 65% – higher than Trump’s in 2016. (Gallup)
1/ Trump vetoed a $741 billion defense spending bill, which the House and Senate passed with veto-proof majorities. Trump refused to sign the legislation, saying it includes “provisions that fail to respect our veterans’ and military’s history” – a reference to a provision instructing the military to strip the names of Confederate leaders from military bases. Trump suggested that the bill was a “‘gift’ to China and Russia” and complained that the bill limited his authority to remove troops from Afghanistan and Germany. Trump also demanded a repeal of Section 230, which protects companies from legal responsibility for content posted on their websites. A repeal of Section 230 was not included in the National Defense Authorization Act. Both chambers plan to return the week after Christmas and are expected to vote to override the veto, making it the first successful veto override of Trump’s presidency. (Washington Post / Politico / New York Times / Axios)
2/ Trump suggested that he would not immediately sign the $900 billion coronavirus relief package passed by Congress, calling it a “disgrace” that was full of “wasteful and unnecessary” items. Trump demanded that Congress increase the “ridiculously low” $600 stimulus checks to $2,000. Trump largely left negotiations over the measure to lawmakers and his Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who was responsible for the $600 stimulus check idea. “It’s called the Covid relief bill, but it has almost nothing to do with Covid,” Trump said in a video posted online. If Trump refuses to sign the bill, the government would shut down on Dec. 29, the emergency economic aid would be frozen, and benefits from the previous COVID relief bill would expire at the end of the month, including a moratorium on evictions and extended unemployment insurance – all of which were addressed in the package approved by a veto-proof margin. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, meanwhile, responded to Trump’s call to increase stimulus checks to $2,000 per adult, saying she’d bring the measure to the floor by “unanimous consent” this week. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / Bloomberg / NPR / CNBC / CNN)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~78,472,000; deaths: ~1,726,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~18,382,000; deaths: ~326,000
3/ The Trump administration agreed to buy 100 million more doses of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine. The $1.95 billion agreement doubles the U.S. order of the vaccine to 200 million doses. Combined with the 200 million doses of the Moderna vaccine, the U.S. has acquired 400 million total doses – enough to treat 200 million people. Just over 1 million people in the U.S., meanwhile, have received their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine, roughly 19 million doses short of the federal government’s goal of inoculating 20 million Americans by the end of the year. (Politico / New York Times / CNBC)
4/ Trump granted clemency to 20 people, including two people who pleaded guilty in Robert Mueller’s Russia inquiry, four Blackwater contractors convicted in the killing of 14 Iraqi civilians, and three former Republican members of Congress. Trump pardoned former campaign aide George Papadopoulos and Alex van der Zwaan. Both pleaded guilty to lying to investigators during the Russia investigation and neither cooperated with Mueller. More than half of the cases did not meet the Justice Department’s standards for consideration. (New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post / CNN / The Guardian)
5/ The White House sent staffers a memo that they “will start departing” the week of Jan. 4., but were later instructed to “please disregard” the email. In the first memo, staffers were sent information about their pay, benefits, records, and security clearance, including a note that they would receive a “comprehensive checklist” in the coming days and be directed to “take inventory of your office space.” (Politico)
6/ A top Dominion Voting Systems employee sued the Trump campaign, several campaign surrogates, and pro-Trump media outlets alleging defamation. Despite no evidence of widespread voter fraud or irregularities, Eric Coomer was forced into hiding after becoming the subject of baseless conspiracy theories accusing him of using his position to steal the election for Biden. Among those being sued, include Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, Newsmax, One America News Network, OANN reporter Chanel Rion, blogger Michelle Malkin and others. Separately, the law firm representing Dominion Voting Systems sent letters to White House counsel Pat Cipollone and Giuliani instructing them to preserve all records related to Trump’s conspiracy theories. The defamation attorneys warned Giuliani to stop making “defamatory claims against Dominion” and to “preserve and retain all documents relating to Dominion and your smear campaign against the company” because legal action is “imminent.” (NPR / CNN)
1/ U.S. deaths are expected to top 3 million for the first time, making this the deadliest year in U.S. history. The U.S. is on track to see at least 400,000 more deaths in 2020 than in 2019 – due mainly to the coronavirus pandemic. (Associated Press)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~77,802,000; deaths: ~1,714,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~18,169,000; deaths: ~323,000
The CDC warned that travelers could spread a newly identified coronavirus strain from the U.K. to the U.S. European officials said the variant could be up to 70% more transmissible than other varieties. (Politico)
2/ The Senate approved more than $900 billion in emergency economic relief, government funding, and tax cuts shortly after the House passed the same package, which now head to Trump’s desk. While Trump is expected to sign that measure, logistical complexities – it must be enrolled on parchment paper, physically delivered to the White House and reviewed by administration lawyers – prevented the bill from quickly getting to him. Separately, Trump signed a seven-day government spending bill, averting a federal shutdown. Tucked inside the spending bill was over $110 billion in tax breaks for special interests. The stimulus bill will also limit the Federal Reserve’s ability to aid businesses, states, and cities through emergency lending. Biden, meanwhile, warned that the “darkest days” of the pandemic “are ahead of us, not behind us.” He called on Congress to prepare for a third stimulus package early next year. (NPR / Bloomberg / Washington Post / USA Today / Washington Post / CNN / Bloomberg / CNBC)
3/ Trump met privately with a group of congressional Republicans at the White House in preparation of a final effort to overturn the election results. The discussion reportedly focused on a contingent of House and Senate Republicans who are committed to objecting to the election results, prompting a marathon debate on the floor on Jan. 6, which would roll into Jan. 7. Rep. Mo Brooks said there are plans to challenge the results in six states, which could lead to about 18 hours of debate. Brooks and the group also met with Pence, who will preside over the joint session of Congress when lawmakers certify the Electoral College votes on Jan. 6. Trump, meanwhile, has been complaining about Pence, who he views as not fighting hard enough for him. In particular, Trump reportedly views Pence’s constitutional duty to certify the election result as the ultimate betrayal. Trump, meanwhile, lashed out at Mitch McConnell for acknowledging Biden’s victory, sending Republican senators a slide taking credit for McConnell’s career that read: “Sadly, Mitch forgot” – a reference to his June 19 tweet endorsing the Senate leader. (Politico / CNN / Axios / Washington Post / The Guardian)
Federal prosecutors have discussed making a legal request for Rudy Giuliani’s emails and other electronic communications. The Southern District of New York would need Justice Department approval before it can request a search warrant for materials that may be protected by attorney-client privilege. The Southern District has been reviewing Giuliani’s bank records as part of an investigation into his dealings in Ukraine. (NBC News)
Biden plans to nominate Miguel Cardona to be his secretary of education. Cardona has spent his career working as an elementary school teacher, principal, district administrator, and assistant superintendent. (NPR / Politico / Washington Post)
Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed California Secretary of State Alex Padilla to fill the Senate seat being vacated by Kamala Harris. Padilla will be the first Latino senator to represent the state. (NBC News / Politico / New York Times)
4/ Russian hackers accessed dozens of email accounts used by senior officials at the Treasury Department. “The agency suffered a serious breach, beginning in July, the full depth of which isn’t known,” Senator Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, said. “Treasury still does not know all of the actions taken by hackers, or precisely what information was stolen,” but it “appears to be significant.” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, meanwhile, said “I can assure you, we are completely on top of this,” but did not explain how the Russian intrusion was not detected for more than four months. (New York Times / Bloomberg / CNN)
5/ Trump’s longtime banker at Deutsche Bank resigned and will leave the bank next week. Rosemary Vrablic oversaw more than $300 million in loans to Trump’s company since 2011. Vrablic’s longtime colleague, Dominic Scalzi, also resigned. (New York Times)
1/ Trump discussed appointing a lawyer who promoted conspiracy theories about rigged voting machines as a special counsel to investigate nonexistent voter fraud. In a “heated” meeting in the Oval Office, Trump met with Sidney Powell, her client, Michael Flynn, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, and counsel Pat Cipollone. Rudy Giuliani participated by phone. The meeting reportedly broke out into a screaming match as Meadows and Cipollone pushed back on Powell and Flynn’s suggestions for overturning the election, while Powell accused Trump’s advisers of being quitters. Among the ideas discussed was Flynn’s earlier suggestion that Trump impose martial law and deploy the military to “rerun” the election. Giuliani, seperately, called the Department of Homeland Security’s Ken Cuccinelli and asked if it was possible for DHS to seize voting machines. Cuccinelli told Giuliani that DHS does not have that authority. Trump also asked about Powell getting a security clearance to pursue her work. While Trump later dismissed reports of the martial law discussion as “fake news” on Twitter, Trump had previously urged Attorney General William Barr to appoint a special counsel to look into election fraud, as well as one to investigate Hunter Biden. Barr, however, was unwilling to do what Tump wanted and later announced his resignation. (New York Times / CNN / NBC News / Axios / CNN / ABC News / Vox)
2/ Attorney General William Barr said he saw “no basis now for seizing [voting] machines” and that he would not appoint a special counsel to investigate allegations of voter fraud. Barr said that while he was “sure there was fraud in this election,” there was no evidence that was so “systemic or broad-based” that it would change the result. Barr added: “If I thought a special counsel at this stage was the right tool and was appropriate, I would name one, but I haven’t, and I’m not going to.” It was Barr’s final public appearance. (Washington Post / Associated Press / CNN / CNBC / Wall Street Journal / ABC News)
3/ Trump’s campaign filed a petition with the Supreme Court to overturn three separate Pennsylvania Supreme Court decisions related to mail-in ballots. Trump’s campaign asked the court to reject 2.6 million mail-in ballots and allow the Pennsylvania General Assembly to pick its own slate of electors. Overturning the Pennsylvania results, however, wouldn’t change the outcome of the election. If Biden somehow lost the state’s 20 electoral votes, he would still have 286 votes. (Associated Press / Bloomberg)
4/ Attorney General William Barr and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo both blamed the Russians for the SolarWinds hack that compromised at least a half dozen federal agencies. On Saturday, Pompeo said “we can say pretty clearly that it was the Russians” behind the hack of the federal government. Hours later, however, Trump tweeted that “it may be China (it may!)” – not Russia – saying “everything is well under control,” while insisting that the “Lamestream” news media had exaggerated the hack and suggested – without evidence – that the real issue was whether the election results had been compromised. But on Monday, Barr said that “from the information I have, I agree with Secretary Pompeo’s assessment” that “it certainly appears to be the Russians” behind the hack. (Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / NBC News)
5/ Congress reached an agreement on a $900 billion coronavirus stimulus package. The agreement includes $600 stimulus checks per adult and child, $300 per week in enhanced unemployment for 11 weeks, $319 billion for small businesses, including $284 billion for Paycheck Protection Program loans, $20 billion in EIDL Grants, $69 billion in testing and vaccine distribution funds, $82 billion in funding for colleges and schools, and $15 billion for live venues, independent movie theaters, and cultural institutions. More than $13 billion in food assistance is also in the bill. The package excludes liability protection from COVID-19-related lawsuits for businesses and universities and doesn’t include money for states and localities for Medicare. The relief package, however, includes a tax break for corporate meal expenses pushed by the White House – referred to as the “three-martini lunch” by critics – as a way to revive the restaurant industry during the pandemic. Both the House and Senate plan to pass the stimulus bill — which will be paired with a year-end spending measure — by midnight, when the latest government funding deadline hits. (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / CNBC / CNN / Politico / Axios)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~77,189,000; deaths: ~1,700,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~17,948,000; deaths: ~319,000
The FDA authorized emergency use of Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine. The vaccine was nearly 95% effective in clinical trials that enrolled 30,000 patients. (Politico)
A CDC advisory committee recommended that people 75 and older or frontline essential workers receive the COVID-19 vaccine next – following the frontline health care workers and nursing home residents, who have already started receiving the vaccine. (NPR)
A death every 33 seconds in the U.S. “For all of the efforts by some to diminish the death toll and to shrug at the steadily expanding saturation of American hospital beds, our country is losing an American every 33 seconds to covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus that emerged last year.” (Washington Post)
More than 16 million Britons are forced to stay at home in London and southeast England as a new coronavirus variant is spreading more quickly. The U.K. warned that the new variant that is thought to be up to 70% more transmissible than the original strain of the disease. (Bloomberg / NBC News / CNBC)
More than 2 million people passed through security checkpoints at U.S. airports on Friday and Saturday, despite guidance to stay home for the holidays. (NPR / ABC News )
The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis subpoenaed Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and CDC Director Robert Redfield. The oversight subcommittee is seeking documents that shed light on allegations of “efforts to interfere with scientific work at CDC.” (Wall Street Journal)
6/ The Trump administration is weighing legal immunity for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in a federal lawsuit accusing him of ordering the assassination attempt of a former top intelligence officer. The Saudi government asked to shield the prince from liability in response to a complaint brought by Saad Aljabri, a former Saudi counterterrorism leader and longtime U.S. intelligence ally now living in exile in Canada, who could disclose damaging secrets about the prince’s rise to power. (Washington Post)
7/ Trump signed an executive order requiring “beautiful” architecture as the preferred style for federal buildings. (Bloomberg)
1/ Congress plans to try and pass a two-day government funding extension in order to avoid a government shutdown after midnight as lawmakers struggle to finalize a $900 billion coronavirus relief package. The relief proposal is expected to include $600 direct payments for American families and children – half the stimulus checks issued last spring – $325 billion for small businesses, and $300 in enhanced weekly unemployment benefits, along with billions of dollars for small businesses, vaccine distribution, and schools. White House aides intervened and talked Trump out of calling for “at least” $1,200 in stimulus payments per person. Instead, Trump said that “stimulus talks [are] looking very good.” Meanwhile, Democrats accused Republicans of trying to “sabotage” Biden’s ability to lead an economic recovery after he takes office by cutting off the Federal Reserve’s emergency lending powers created by the CARES Act to protect the economy. [Editor’s note: FYI this entire blurb could be old news by the time you read this.] (CNBC / NBC News / CNN / Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~75,439,000; deaths: ~1,671,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~17,376,000; deaths: ~313,000
2/ Biden’s team of medical advisers warned that getting the coronavirus vaccine to every American could take six months or longer. One physician close to the transition speculated that it might not be until late summer or early fall before the vaccine begins to be widely available to the general public. Trump administration officials, however, have promised that the general public could start getting the vaccine in late February. The U.S., meanwhile, has ordered enough doses of the Pfizer and the Moderna vaccine to inoculate 150 million people. (NBC News)
3/ The suspected Russian hacking campaign hit more than 40 organizations in the U.S., Belgium, Canada, Israel, Mexico, Spain, the U.A.E., and the United Kingdom. In the U.S., hackers with ties to the Russian government penetrated several federal agencies, including departments of Homeland Security, Treasury, Commerce and State, as well as the nuclear weapons agency, and at least three states. The hacks began at least as early as March, but were discovered last week. Biden warned that his administration would impose “substantial costs” on those responsible, adding “We need to disrupt and deter our adversaries from undertaking significant cyber attacks in the first place.” Trump, meanwhile, has not publicly acknowledged the hack, which the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency called a “grave risk to the federal government.” (NBC News / Bloomberg / New York Times / CNN / Washington Post / Reuters / CNBC / The Intercept)
4/ Acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller ordered a Pentagon-wide halt to briefing the Biden transition team, calling it “a holiday pause.” While Miller said the halt in cooperation “mutually agreed upon,” a Biden spokesman said “there was no mutually agreed upon holiday break” and that the move reflected “isolated resistance” by political appointees. (Axios / Bloomberg / New York Times / Business Insider)
5/ Biden will nominate Rep. Deb Haaland to lead the Department of the Interior and Michael Regan to lead the EPA. If confirmed, Haaland would become the first Native American to serve as a Cabinet secretary and Regan would be the first Black man to head the EPA. (NPR / NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
6/ The Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit against the Trump administration’s plans to exclude undocumented immigrants from the final census count. The unsigned opinion said it would be “premature” to rule on the case, because it is “riddled with contingencies and speculation” and that the Trump administration doesn’t know how many undocumented immigrants there are or where they live. It’s not clear, however, if Trump will receive final numbers from the Census Bureau before he leaves office next month. The census is used to determine how many members of Congress each state gets in the House of Representatives. (NPR / NBC News / New York Times / Axios / CNBC)
7/ The Trump campaign spent more than $700 million since 2019 through a shell company that Jared Kushner helped create. American Made Media Consultants helped Trump’s campaign dodge federally mandated disclosures while also paying some of Trump’s top advisors and family members. Lara Trump, Pence’s nephew John Pence, and Trump campaign Chief Financial Officer Sean Dollman all served on the shell company’s board. When Trump leaves the White House as a private citizen next month, he’ll have more than $60 million in his new Save America PAC – about as much money as he spent to win the presidential nomination in 2016. (Business Insider / New York Times / New York Times)
8/ Trump reportedly plans to issue several pardons for friends and allies today. While it’s unclear who will be included, Trump has considered a pardon for his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, as well as preemptive pardons for family members. (Axios)
1/ The United States reported a record 247,403 new coronavirus cases and 3,656 COVID-19 deaths – the deadliest day of the pandemic to date. Three times as many people in the U.S. are dying every day now than three months ago, and the number of new cases is six times what it was then. (New York Times / NPR / The Guardian)
The FDA’s advisory committee recommended that the Moderna coronavirus vaccine be granted an expected emergency use authorization. The FDA plans to authorize the vaccine Friday. (Wall Street Journal / Washington Post)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~74,729,000; deaths: ~1,658,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~17,150,000; deaths: ~310,000
2/ Another 885,000 Americans filed new claims for unemployment benefits last week – the highest weekly total in three months. Another 455,000 people applied for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, a federal program for the self-employed, gig workers, and others who don’t qualify for traditional unemployment benefits. Before the pandemic, weekly jobless claims typically numbered about 225,000. (Associated Press / Politico / Bloomberg / New York Times / CBS News / The Guardian)
3/ While lawmakers are close to a $900 billion coronavirus stimulus deal, Congress is preparing for the possibility of a short government shutdown. Lawmakers have to pass a government funding and pandemic rescue package before federal funding lapses at 12:01 a.m. ET on Saturday. Republican leaders reportedly want to pass a stop-gap spending bill to extend the current government funding deadline an additional 48 hours, but Democrats want to pressure negotiators to come up with a deal by Friday night. The draft coronavirus proposal includes $600 in payments for individuals, $300-per-week in supplemental unemployment payments, aid for small businesses, and about $17 billion for airlines. It does not include aid for state and local governments or lawsuit liability protection. About 12 million people are set to lose benefits if pandemic-era provisions to expand unemployment eligibility expire and millions country could face eviction if a federal moratorium expires at the end of the year. (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNBC / ABC News)
Trump promised to follow through on his threat to veto the defense policy bill that passed with veto-proof majorities in both the House and the Senate. Trump has demanded that the defense bill eliminate Section 230, which provides tech companies with liability protections related to user-generated content on their platforms, and he’s insisted that language requiring the Pentagon to rename military commemorating Confederate-era figures be removed. (CNBC / NBC News / The Guardian)
4/ Suspected Russian hackers accessed the networks that maintain the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency warned that the hacks posed a “grave risk” to government networks and “critical infrastructure.” The list of known victims of the Russian hacks include the National Nuclear Security Administration, the State, Treasury, Energy, Commerce and Homeland Security departments, as well as the National Institutes of Health. (Politico / Associated Press / Washington Post / New York Times)
[Opinion] From Trump’s homeland security adviser: “We’re Being Hacked.” (New York Times)
5/ The House Judiciary Committee intends to reissue a subpoena for former White House Counsel Don McGahn’s testimony in 2021. McGahn was a central witness in Robert Mueller’s obstruction of justice investigation. McGahn told Mueller’s investigators that Trump twice ordered him to have Mueller removed and instructed him to create a false record about the decision. (Politico)
6/ Trump’s Mar-a-Lago neighbors say he can’t live there after he leaves the White House. In 1993, Trump signed an agreement with the town that prohibits club members from spending more than 21 days a year in the club’s guest suites and they can’t stay there for more than seven consecutive days. In a letter to the town of Palm Beach and the Secret Service, a lawyer representing a family that lives next to Mar-a-Lago reiterated that “Mar-a-Lago is a social club, and no one may reside on the property.” In 2018, Trump changed his domicile to Mar-a-Lago, in part for tax purposes. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / The Guardian)
1/ Nearly 8 million Americans fell into poverty over the past five months. The poverty rate jumped to 11.7% in November – up 2.4 percentage points since June. The federal poverty line is $26,200 for a family of four. (Washington Post)
The Federal Reserve officials expect the U.S. economy to shrink by 2.4% this year and for the GDP to roughly equals that of 2009 — the worst year of the Great Recession. (Politico / Washington Post)
2/ Congressional leaders and the White House are nearing agreement on a roughly $900 billion coronavirus relief deal that would include another round of direct payments. Checks are expected to be in the $600 to $700 range per person – less than the checks of $1,200 per person in the initial round earlier this year. The measure would also contain enhanced federal unemployment insurance, roughly $300 billion in Paycheck Protection Program loans, money for COVID-19 vaccine distribution and testing, and relief for hospitals. The bill, however, is not expected to include any new money for state and local governments. Congress must also pass a new spending bill by midnight Friday to avoid a government shutdown. (Washington Post / NPR / CNBC / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / New York Times)
3/ A Trump administration official repeatedly urged top health officials to adopt a “herd immunity” approach to COVID-19 and encourage millions of Americans to be infected by the virus. “Who cares” if “infants, kids, teens, young people, young adults, middle aged with no conditions” get infected, Paul Alexander, a senior adviser at the Department of Health and Humans Services, wrote in an email to health officials. “We want them infected.” Alexander also argued that colleges should stay open to facilitate the spread of COVID-19, saying “There is no other way, we need to establish herd, and it only comes about allowing the non-high risk groups expose themselves to the virus. PERIOD.” (Politico / Bloomberg / Axios)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~73,970,000; deaths: ~1,645,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~16,886,000; deaths: ~307,000
The Trump administration is negotiating with Pfizer to secure more coronavirus vaccines this spring, despite the company’s warning that worldwide deals have locked in hundreds of millions of doses through the summer. (Washington Post / Politico)
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo canceled his indoor holiday party after being forced him into quarantine because he was exposed to someone who tested positive for coronavirus. The department said Pompeo had tested negative for the virus. (Washington Post / ABC News / Associated Press / CNN / Washington Post)
👑 Portrait of a president: Trump appointees describe the crushing of the CDC. “The White House insisted on reviewing — and often softening — the C.D.C.’s closely guarded coronavirus guidance documents, the most prominent public expression of its latest research and scientific consensus on the spread of the virus. The documents were vetted not only by the White House’s coronavirus task force but by what felt to the agency’s employees like an endless loop of political appointees across Washington.” (New York Times)
4/ The White House counsel’s office “strongly” advised Trump not to fire FBI Director Christopher Wray after the election because it could put him in potential legal jeopardy. Trump wanted Wray to more aggressively investigated his political opponents, including announcing a probe into Biden’s son before November’s election. White House lawyers, however, told Trump that firing Wray would risk creating the perception of a “loyalty test” and could be seen as retaliation because Trump had publicly pressured him to take specific actions on certain investigations. (NBC News / Bloomberg)
Trump’s Director of National Intelligence is considering withholding certification of a report on foreign efforts to interfere with the Nov. 3 election. While the report is supposed to be delivered to lawmakers on Friday, John Ratcliffe wants the report to cite China more prominently.(Bloomberg)
5/ Trump has reportedly been pushing to have a special counsel appointed to investigate his baseless allegations of voter fraud and allegations surrounding Hunter Biden. Trump — angry that Attorney General William Barr didn’t publicly announce the investigation into Hunter Biden before the election — has consulted with White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, White House counsel Pat Cipollone, and outside allies on names of potential appointees. While a special counsel must be named by the attorney general, the Justice Department will undergo a change in leadership next week when Barr resigns. Trump has asked whether he could name one himself. (Associated Press / CNN)
6/ Betsy DeVos urged career employees at the Education Department to “be the resistance” when the Biden administration takes over next month. During a department-wide virtual meeting to discuss the transition to the new administration, DeVos told employees: “Let me leave you with this plea: Resist. Be the resistance against forces that will derail you from doing what’s right for students. In everything you do, please put students first — always.” (Politico)
7/ Biden will nominate Jennifer Granholm to run the Energy Department. Arun Majumdar, a scientist and engineer who led a new research agency under the Obama administration, is under consideration as deputy secretary. Biden also tapped Gina McCarthy, who ran the EPA under Obama, to coordinate the administration’s domestic climate agenda. (Politico / Washington Post)
8/ The U.S. Postal Service released Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s calendar following a Freedom of Information Act request. The calendar released from June 15 to Nov. 7, however, is almost entirely redacted. (HuffPost)
1/ The FDA confirmed that Moderna’s two-dose COVID-19 vaccine was “highly effective” and safe for adults, setting it up for an emergency authorization later this week to become the country’s second authorized COVID-19 shot. The FDA said the vaccine is 94.5% effective at preventing COVID-19 cases at least 14 days after vaccination and that there were no significant safety concerns. An FDA document also shows that asymptomatic infection was reduced by 63% after the first shot. Between the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, the U.S. has acquired 300 million doses in the first quarter of 2021 – enough doses for 150 million people. (ABC News / Politico / NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~73,271,000; deaths: ~1,631,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~16,652,000; deaths: ~303,000
2/ The FDA authorized the first home test for COVID-19 that doesn’t require a prescription. The test will cost about $30 and be available by January. The antigen test takes about five minutes to collect the sample and produces results within 15 minutes. (NPR / Politico / CBS News)
Pence will likely get the coronavirus vaccine by the end of the week. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, meanwhile, said that Trump is open to taking the coronavirus vaccine, but would not commit to the timing or Trump being inoculated in public to inspire confidence in its efficacy. (CNN)
3/ Mitch McConnell acknowledged Biden as president-elect for the first time – six weeks after the November election. McConnell also urged Senate Republicans not to join House members in contesting the state electoral results during the Jan. 6 joint session. “Many of us hoped that the presidential election would yield a different result, but our system of government has processes to determine who will be sworn in on Jan. 20,” McConnell said in a speech on the Senate floor. “The Electoral College has spoken. So today, I want to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden.” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer later took the floor, saying, “For the sake of the country President Trump should take his cue from leader McConnell that it’s time to end his term with a modicum of grace and dignity,” adding, “enough is enough.” (New York Times / ABC News / Politico / NPR / CNN / CBS News / Axios / CNBC)
4/ The White House refused to follow Mitch McConnell in acknowledging Trump’s election defeat. When asked about the electoral college vote, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said: “The president is still involved in ongoing litigation related to the election. Yesterday’s vote is one step in the constitutional process. So I will leave that to him and refer you to the campaign for more on that litigation.” When asked whether Trump plans to invite Biden to the White House, McEnany declined to say. (The Guardian / Washington Post)
5/ Biden will nominate Pete Buttigieg to be his secretary of transportation. Buttigieg would be the first openly gay Cabinet secretary should his nomination make it through the chamber. The transportation secretary is expected to play a central role in Biden’s push for a bipartisan infrastructure package. (Politico / Washington Post / CNN / Reuters)
6/ Trump is diverting 75% of most donations for the Georgia Senate runoff elections to his new Save America political action committee, which he plans to use to fund his future political activities. The other 25% is going to the Republican National Committee. (Politico / Business Insider)
7/ A New York judge rejected Trump’s claim of attorney-client privilege to shield documents from the New York Attorney General’s office. The Trump Organization has until Friday to turn over documents related to its Seven Springs Estate and its $21.1 million tax break. New York Attorney General Letitia James is investigating whether the Trump Organization improperly inflated the value of Seven Springs as part of the conservation easement on the property. (ABC News)
8/ Russian hackers breached at least five federal agencies as part of a months-long global espionage campaign. Hackers compromised the Treasury and Commerce departments, the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security, the National Institutes of Health, and parts of the Pentagon. About 18,000 private and government users downloaded a software update from SolarWinds, a widely used network-management software, that was manipulated by Russian hackers. Among those who use SolarWinds software include the CDC, the State Department, the Justice Department, parts of the Pentagon, and numerous utility companies. (Washington Post / New York Times)
poll/ 71% of Americans said they would get a COVID-19 vaccine – up from 63% in August. (NPR)
1/ The Electoral College affirmed Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States after the Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit by Texas seeking to throw out the election results in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin that Trump lost in November. All 538 electors cast their votes for president based on the election results that were recently certified by all 50 states and Washington, D.C. The president-elect is expected to speak in prime time after surpassing 270 electoral votes needed to win. On Friday, the Supreme Court issued a short, unsigned order that said Texas had “not demonstrated a judicially cognizable interest in the manner in which another state conducts its elections.” It dismissed all pending motions about the case. All six battleground states – Michigan, Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin – that Trump contested cast their votes for Biden. (Politico / Bloomberg / NBC News / CNBC / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / CNN / Washington Post / Politico / NPR / Bloomberg)
2/ The United States administered the first shots of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine to health care workers as the U.S. topped 300,000 total deaths since the pandemic began. On Friday, the FDA authorized the vaccine from Pfizer for emergency use in the United States for people age 16 and older. An initial shipment of about 2.9 million doses of the vaccine will be sent to 636 locations by the end of this week. Federal officials expect 20 million people to get the first of two required doses by the end of the month and have 100 million people in total immunized by the end of March. Trump, meanwhile, tweeted: “First Vaccine Administered. Congratulations USA! Congratulations WORLD!” (New York Times / Washignton Post / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / CNBC / New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~72,665,000; deaths: ~1,619,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~16,421,000; deaths: ~301,000
Moderna plans to ship just under 6 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine once the FDA issues an approval for emergency use. Approval could come as early as Friday. (CNBC)
💡 How Pfizer Delivered a Covid Vaccine in Record Time. (Wall Street Journal)
3/ Trump delayed a plan for senior White House staff members to receive the coronavirus vaccine early. In a tweet, Trump said he asked White House staffers to receive the coronavirus vaccine “somewhat later in the program, unless specifically necessary” after it was reported that the administration was planning to rapidly distribute the vaccine to staffers despite the first doses generally being reserved for health care workers. It’s not clear how many doses were allocated for the White House since many staff members had already tested positive for the virus and recovered. (New York Times / Bloomberg / The Guardian / CNN / Washington Post)
4/ Russian government hackers breached the Treasury, Commerce, and Homeland Security departments as part of a months-long global espionage campaign. While the full scope and significance of the breaches remain unclear, the hack, which may have begun as early as spring, led to an emergency National Security Council meeting at the White House on Saturday. The hackers, known as APT29 or Cozy Bear, are part of Russia’s foreign intelligence service, SVR, which also hacked the State Department and the White House email servers during the Obama administration. Last month, Trump fired the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Chris Krebs, after Krebs vouched for the integrity of the presidential election and disputed Trump’s claims of widespread electoral fraud. (Reuters / Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / Wall Street Journal / Politico / Associated Press / NBC News / Washington Post)
5/ Attorney General William Barr resigned and will leave “just before Christmas,” Trump announced via tweet. Trump said he and Barr had a “very nice meeting” and that their “relationship has been a very good one.” In a meeting last week, however, Trump raised the idea of firing Attorney General William Barr, reportedly “furious” that Barr had kept a federal investigation into Hunter Biden’s taxes from becoming public before the November election. Trump also told Fox News this weekend that Barr “should have stepped up” on the matter. Trump was also reportedly upset that Barr was considering resigning before January 20. Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rosen will become Acting Attorney General. (CNN / New York Times / NPR / Washington Post / NBC News / Associated Press)
SATURDAY: Trump attacked Barr on Twitter for not violating Justice Department policy to publicly reveal an investigation into Hunter Biden during the election. Trump retweeted a post that said Barr “should be fired by the end of business today” if he had worked to keep a criminal investigation of Biden’s son Hunter Biden secret during the election, following a report in the Wall Street Journal. Trump also called Barr “A big disappointment!” (New York Times / CNBC)
The Justice Department subpoenaed Hunter Biden, seeking documents and information related to more than two dozen entities, including Ukraine gas company Burisma. Meanwhile, Biden’s former business partner sent him an email in 2017 saying he did not disclose on his tax returns $400,000 in income from Burisma, where he sat on the board. Federal authorities are also actively investigating Hunter’s business dealings in foreign countries, principally China. (Associated Press / NBC News / CNN)
Trump and senior White House officials have discussed the possibility of appointing a special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden. Under Justice Department regulations, the appointment of a special counsel would have to be made by the attorney general. (Wall Street Journal)
1/ The White House ordered the FDA commissioner to grant emergency use authorization for Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine by the end of the day or resign. An FDA panel of outside advisers recommended that the agency grant emergency use authorization yesterday, and signoff was expected this weekend. Following White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows’s call with Stephen Hahn, the FDA accelerated its timetable for approving America’s first vaccine from Saturday morning to later Friday, saying “it will rapidly work toward finalization and issuance of an emergency use authorization.” Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, meanwhile, said the Trump administration informed Pfizer that they “intend to proceed towards an authorization for their vaccine.” (Washington Post / CNN / ABC News / Politico / The Guardian / CBS News / Axios)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~70,059,000; deaths: ~1,591,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~15,783,000; deaths: ~295,000
2/ Trump called the FDA “a big, old, slow turtle” for not approving a COVID-19 vaccine faster, while pressuring Commissioner Stephen Hahn to “get the dam vaccines out NOW.” Trump added: “Stop playing games and start saving lives!!!” Hahn, however, has repeatedly said the agency will not approve a vaccine that has not been proven safe and effective. (New York Times / Washington Post)
Devin Nunes tested positive for COVID-19. Test results for the California Republican’s cow, however, were unavailable. (Axios)
3/ The coronavirus will kill more people in the United States every day for the next 60 to 90 days than died on Sept. 11 or Pearl Harbor, CDC Director Robert Redfield said. Almost 3,000 Americans died on 9/11, and more than 2,400 were killed in Pearl Harbor. The U.S. – again – broke single-day COVID-19 records for reported deaths (3,110), cases (229,928), and hospitalizations (12,940), and is now averaging over 2,300 new coronavirus related deaths a day. (Washington Post / NBC News / ABC News)
4/ The attorneys general for Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Georgia asked the Supreme Court to reject Republican efforts to overturn Biden’s victory. Pennsylvania called the last-ditch legal effort by Texas and Trump “seditious” and built on an “absurd” foundation, warning that “Texas invites this court to overthrow the votes of the American people and choose the next president of the United States. That Faustian invitation must be firmly rejected.” The New York Times reports that the lawsuit, filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and backed by 17 other states and 106 Republican members of Congress, “represents the most coordinated, politicized attempt to overturn the will of the voters in recent American history.” Trump – repeating his baseless claims of widespread fraud – demanded that the court “save our Country from the greatest Election abuse in the history of the United States.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / CBS News / BuzzFeed News / Axios)
5/ The FBI issued at least one federal subpoena for records from the office of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton amid whistleblower allegations. In early October, aides alleged that Paxton may have been committing crimes that include abuse of office and bribery. Paxton, who is leading the last-ditch effort to overturn election results in four battleground states lost by Trump, also faces a 5-year-old indictment on felony securities fraud charges. Paxton, however, said he has not discussed a presidential pardon with the White House, calling the suggestion “ridiculous.” (KVUE-ABC / The Hill / KXAN-NBC / KENS-CBS / Business Insider / Talking Points Memo)
6/ The Manhattan district attorney’s office interviewed employees at Trump’s lender and insurer as part of the investigation into the Trump Organization. Prosecutors interviewed employees at Deutsche Bank, which has loaned more than $300 million to the Trump Organization, and at Aon, an insurance broker, which has worked with the Trump Organization. Trump will lose his protection from criminal prosecution when he leaves office in January. (New York Times / CNN)
7/ Trump’s legal team is attempting to halt the defamation lawsuit by E. Jean Carroll, asking to stay the case while the Justice Department appeals an October decision that the Justice Department can’t represent Trump because he wasn’t acting in his official capacity as president when he denied raping Carroll. (ABC News)
8/ The Senate approved a $741 billion defense authorization bill despite multiple threats from Trump that he would veto the measure. Both the House and Senate, however, approved the legislation by veto-proof margins. (CNBC / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
9/ Sen. Mike Lee blocked legislation to establish national museums dedicated to the histories of Latino Americans and American women, arguing the museums would “further divide an already divided nation with an array of segregated, separate-but-equal museums for hyphenated identity groups.” [Editor’s note: Mike Lee can be reached at 202-224-5444 in Washington, DC or at 801-524-5933 in Salt Lake City] (NPR / New York Times / Politico)
10/ The Senate passed a one-week funding bill to avert a government shutdown at midnight. The bill heads to Trump for his signature. (CNN / Bloomberg / CNBC)
1/ The United States recorded more than 3,100 COVID-19 deaths in a single day, exceeding the record set one week earlier. It’s the first time the U.S. recorded more than 3,000 deaths in a single day and it comes two weeks after Thanksgiving. The U.S. also reported 222,994 new coronavirus cases – another pandemic record. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / The Guardian)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~69,364,000; deaths: ~1,579,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~15,536,000; deaths: ~292,000
2/ CDC Director Robert Redfield directed staff to delete an email from a Trump political appointee attempting to meddle with the agency’s scientific report on the coronavirus’s risk to children. Paul Alexander – then the scientific adviser to Health and Human Services spokesperson Michael Caputo – sent an Aug. 8 email to Redfield demanding that the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports be changed to match Trump’s rhetoric downplaying the virus. Alexander also accused career scientists of trying to subvert Trump’s reelection bid. Redfield instructed staff to delete the email. HHS Secretary Alex Azar, meanwhile, said that instructing staff to delete documents is unethical and possibly a violation of federal record-keeping requirements. (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times)
3/ An FDA advisory panel recommended the approval of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine for emergency use in people over 16 years old. The FDA is expected to follow the recommendation and could grant emergency use authorization as early as Friday. Once authorized, vials of the vaccine will begin shipping to all 50 states, giving health care workers and nursing home residents first priority to begin receiving the first shots early next week. (CNBC / Associated Press / New York Times / NBC News / USA Today / Washington Post / CNN)
4/ New unemployment claims rose to 853,000 last week – the highest level since September – and an increase of 137,000 from the week before. Continuing claims, meanwhile, jumped by 230,000 to 5.76 million – the first increase since August. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / NBC News)
5/ Mitch McConnell told House and Senate leadership that Senate Republicans would not support a $908 billion bipartisan coronavirus relief proposal. Senate Republicans have taken exception to the group’s proposal to combine $160 billion in state and local aid with a temporary liability shield for businesses. It’s unclear what kind of package both the GOP-controlled Senate and Democratic-held House could support. Senate, meanwhile, must pass a spending bill – and have Trump sign it – by Friday night to avert a government shutdown. (Politico / Washington Post / CNBC)
More Americans have been forced to shoplift for food as aid runs out during the pandemic. About 12 million Americans will run out of unemployment benefits the day after Christmas and an estimated 54 million Americans will struggle with hunger this year – a 45% increase from 2019. (Washington Post)
6/ All 50 states and the District of Columbia certified their presidential results. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Ron Johnson, however, announced that he would hold a hearing on election “irregularities” on Dec. 16 — two days after the electoral college casts its votes. Biden is projected to win 306 electoral votes, while Trump is projected to win 232. Chuck Schumer called on Republicans to drop plans for the “ridiculous” hearing, asking “When is this nonsense detrimental to our democracy going to end?” (CNN / Washington Post / Politico)
7/ More than two dozen states filed motions with the Supreme Court opposing Texas’ bid to invalidate Biden’s win in Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed the lawsuit Tuesday asking the Supreme Court to invalidate the ballots of millions of voters in the four battleground states despite no evidence of widespread fraud. Pennsylvania called the lawsuit a “seditious abuse of the judicial process,” and Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr called the lawsuit an “attack on Georgia’s sovereignty” that should be dismissed outright because it is “constitutionally, legally and factually wrong.” Trump, meanwhile, warned Carr not to rally other Republican officials against the Texas lawsuit in a 15-minute phone call. Earlier Wednesday, Trump asked the Supreme Court to let him join the Texas lawsuit challenging the election results and met with several state attorneys general that are backing the legal challenge at the White House. (NBC News / CNN / Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
8/ Biden picked Susan Rice to lead the White House Domestic Policy Council, a position that does not require confirmation by the Senate. Rice served on the National Security Council during the Clinton administration and was ambassador to the United Nations and national security adviser under Obama. (NPR / Politico / Bloomberg)
Biden will nominate Denis McDonough for secretary of Veterans Affairs. McDonough served as Obama’s chief of staff from 2013 until 2017. (Politico)
poll/ 60% of voters say Biden’s victory is legitimate compared to 34% who think his win is not legitimate. (Quinnipiac)
1/ The U.S. recorded 2,249 COVID-19 deaths on average over the last seven days – breaking the previous mark of 2,232 set on April 17. Coronavirus cases per day, meanwhile, have surpassed 200,000 on average for the first time – an increase of 15% from the average two weeks earlier. (Associated Press / New York Times)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~68,693,000; deaths: ~1,566,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~15,330,000; deaths: ~289,000
Canada became the third country to authorize use of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. The FDA is expected to authorize use of the vaccine as early as this weekend. (Wall Street Journal / Washington Post)
At least 31 countries have reserved more COVID-19 vaccine per capita than the U.S. It is behind the 27 European Union countries, and sandwiched between Chile and Japan in 31st and 33rd, respectively. (Bloomberg)
U.S. emergency stockpile of COVID-19 personal protective equipment is short of targets. In May, the Trump administration said it would increase its supply of N95 respirator masks to 300 million. By mid-November, the U.S. Strategic National Stockpile and the Federal Emergency Management Agency held 142 million N95 masks. (Wall Street Journal)
2/ More than a third of Americans are living in areas where hospitals have fewer than 15% of intensive care beds available, according to data released by the Department of Health and Human Services. One in 10 Americans in the Midwest, South, and Southwest live in areas where intensive care beds are either full, or fewer than 5% of beds are available. (New York Times)
Rudy Giuliani’s “star” witness alleging voter fraud in Michigan will not self-quarantine and will not get tested despite Jenna Ellis and Giuliani’s positive coronavirus tests. Mellissa Carone said she’s “not concerned at all” about COVID-19. Health officials, however, ordered anyone who had been in contact with Giuliani at close range and for more than 15 minutes to self-quarantine. (Washington Post / Daily Beast)
3/ Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer rejected the Trump administration’s $916 billion coronavirus relief proposal. The Trump-backed plan offered pared-down unemployment benefits in exchange for $600 stimulus checks. A moderate, bipartisan group of lawmakers, meanwhile, have proposed a $908 billion framework that includes about $180 billion in new federal unemployment benefits – enough to fund $300 per week in federal supplementary unemployment benefits – and extends various unemployment programs set to expire at the end of the year. The framework, however, did not include another round of stimulus payments. Instead, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin proposed that lawmakers approve another stimulus check worth $600 per person and $600 per child, and provide about $40 billion in new funding for federal unemployment benefits. While Mnuchin’s plan would extend expiring benefits, it does not include any supplementary federal benefit. (Washington Post / NBC News / New York Times)
4/ The House passed a $741 billion defense authorization bill by a veto-proof margin. Trump, however, has threatened to veto the bill because it doesn’t repeal Section 230 – a law that shields internet companies from being liable for what’s posted on their platforms – and contains provisions that limit how much money he can allocate for his border wall, and the requirement that Confederate names be stripped from American military bases. The National Defense Authorization Act now heads to the Senate, where it’s also expected to pass with bipartisan support. It’s unclear, however, if it will similarly reach a veto-proof majority in the chamber. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN)
5/ Biden named Gen. Lloyd Austin, a retired four-star Army general, as his choice to lead the Department of Defense. Senate Democrats, however, are uneasy about granting a rarely invoked waiver from a law requiring a defense secretary to have been retired from active duty for at least seven years. In 2017, Jim Mattis received the waiver and was confirmed as secretary. If confirmed, the retired general would become the first Black defense secretary. (New York Times / NPR / CNN / Politico / The Guardian / Wall Street Journal / NBC News)
Biden selected Rep. Marcia Fudge as his Housing and Urban Development secretary, making her the second Black person to be chosen as a department head in his Cabinet. Fudge, a member of the House Agriculture Committee, and her allies in the Congressional Black Caucus, however, had lobbied openly for agriculture secretary. (Politico / Washington Post)
Biden plans to name Tom Vilsack as agriculture secretary, which would return him to the job he held for eight years during the Obama administration. The Department of Agriculture funds the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and school meals. The USDA estimates that 1 in 4 Americans use at least one of these food programs during a typical year. (NPR / Politico / CNN / Reuters)
A special purpose acquisition company with ties to at least two people selected by Biden for his Cabinet pitched unique access and insight into the federal government to investors. Since the initial pitch, Pine Island Acquisition Corp. has raised over $218 million from Wall Street. Pine Island’s team includes Tony Blinken – Biden’s choice to be secretary of State – and Ret. Gen. Lloyd Austin – his nominee for Defense secretary. (CNBC)
Seventeen states told the Supreme Court they support the effort by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to sue to reverse Biden’s projected win in the Electoral College. The filing came a day after Paxton asked the Supreme Court for permission to sue Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin – all of which Biden won – over their voting processes. (CNBC)
poll/ 24% of Republicans accept the results of the 2020 election. Overall, 61% of Americans trust the results of the election. (NPR)
poll/ 47% of Americans plan to get a vaccinated against COVID-19, while 27% aren’t sure and 26% say they definitely will not get vaccinated. Experts estimate at least 70% of the U.S. population needs to be vaccinated to keep the virus held in check. (Associated Press)
✏️ Notables.
Federal officials in Delaware – working with the IRS Criminal Investigation agency and the FBI – are investigating Hunter Biden’s taxes and business dealings. The criminal investigation that included tax issues began in 2018, and had been largely been dormant in recent months due to Justice Department guidelines prohibiting overt actions that could affect an election. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Delaware advised Biden’s lawyers of the investigation for the first time on Tuesday. (Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / Politico / NBC News / CNN)
The Federal Trade Commission and 48 attorneys general filed an antitrust lawsuits to break up Facebook, seeking to force the sell-off of assets such as Instagram and WhatsApp as independent businesses. The lawsuit accused Facebook of anti-competitive tactics to buy, bully or kill its rivals and illegally squash competition.
(Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / NPR / Politico / NBC News / CNN)
Melania Trump “just wants to go home,” according source familiar with Melania’s state of mind. When asked how Melania feels about rumors that Trump might announce a 2024 bid, the source added: “That might not go over well.” (CNN)
1/ The FDA said Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine “met the prescribed success criteria” for emergency authorization in a clinical study, saying the shot showed “a favorable safety profile, with no specific safety concerns.” The FDA noted that the two-dose vaccine reduced the risk of getting COVID-19 by about half after the first injection. The vaccine was found to be 95% effective after the second dose, three weeks later. The vaccine had several tolerable, short-term side effects, including sore arms, fatigue, headaches, muscle pain, and chills that typically resolved within one to two days. The FDA will meet Thursday to discuss the data and make recommendations in advance of a vote on whether to recommend authorization of the Pfizer vaccine. (Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / NBC News / ABC News)
2/ The Trump administration declined “multiple” offers from Pfizer to secure an additional 100 million to 500 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine. In July, Pfizer offered the Trump administration the option to purchase additional doses as part of a $1.95 billion deal for an initial 100 million doses. The Trump administration, however, turned down the offer. The Pfizer vaccine requires a two-dose treatment, meaning that 100 million doses is enough to vaccinate 50 million Americans. On Nov. 11, the European Union finalized a supply deal with Pfizer for 200 million doses. Trump, meanwhile, issued a symbolic executive order that prioritized the shipment of the coronavirus vaccine to Americans before other nations. Moncef Slaoui, the chief scientist of the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed, however, was unable to explain how the executive order would be enforced, saying: “Frankly, I don’t know, and frankly, I’m staying out of this. I can’t comment. I literally don’t know.” (New York Times / CNN / Politico / Axios / The Guardian / ABC News)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~68,047,000; deaths: ~1,554,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~15,114,000; deaths: ~286,000
3/ Biden pledged to distribute “100 million shots in the first 100 days” of his presidency. The pledge to administer 100 million shots aligns with vaccine supplies already secured. Biden also called on all Americans to wear masks in public for those 100 days to slow the spread of the virus and he said he would sign an executive order the day he is sworn in requiring Americans to wear masks on buses and trains crossing state lines. Biden also promised to prioritize reopening “the majority of our schools” in the same time frame. (Politico / Washington Post / The Guardian / NBC News / Bloomberg)
4/ Trump’s lawyer Jenna Ellis tested positive for the coronavirus after attending a senior staff Christmas party last week. Ellis reportedly did not wear a mask during the party, which included top administration officials. Ellis and Rudy Giuliani, who tested positive on Sunday, have been leading the Trump campaign’s legal efforts to dispute the results of the 2020 presidential election. (Politico / CNN / Axios)
5/ The Supreme Court rejected a last-minute attempt by Trump’s allies to overturn Biden’s victory in Pennsylvania. The justices – in a one-sentence order – turned down the emergency request from Rep. Mike Kelly and two other House candidates to decertify the results, who argued that a 2019 state law authorizing universal mail-in voting was unconstitutional and that all ballots cast by mail – more than 2.5 million in total – should be thrown out. Biden won the state by a more than 80,000-vote margin. (CNBC / Washington Post / New York Times / NPR / Wall Street Journal / Axios / USA Today / CNN / Politico)
Trump called the speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives – twice – to request help reversing his loss in the state. Speaker Bryan Cutler, however, told Trump he had no authority to step in, or to order the legislature into special session. (Washington Post / Bloomberg)
The Texas attorney general sued four battleground states Biden won – Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Ken Paxton claimed that pandemic-era changes to election procedures in those states violated federal law and is seeking to have the Supreme Court invalidate the election results. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel called Paxton’s motion “a publicity stunt, not a serious legal pleading.” Trump, meanwhile, tweeted praise for Paxton, saying “COURAGE & BRILLIANCE!” (Texas Tribune / NBC News / The Guardian / Bloomberg)
Federal judges in Michigan and Georgia denied Republican efforts to decertify Biden as the winner of the presidential election. (NBC News)
✏️ Notables.
A federal judge dismissed Michael Flynn’s prosecution after Trump’s pardon. Judge Emmet Sullivan said Trump’s pardon, which he called “extraordinarily broad,” does not mean the former national security adviser is innocent of lying to FBI agents about his talks with the Russian government. Sullivan also called the Justice Department’s previous arguments for dismissing the case “dubious to say the least” and suggested he “likely” would have rejected them. (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / CNN / CNBC)
The nation’s former cybersecurity and infrastructure security chief sued the Trump campaign, attorney Joseph diGenova, and the cable channel Newsmax for defamation, emotional distress, and conspiracy. Trump fired Christopher Krebs last month after Krebs said the recent presidential election was “the most secure in American history.” DiGenova said in an interview aired on Newsmax on Nov. 30 that Krebs “should be drawn and quartered” and “taken out at dawn and shot.” (NPR / Axios / CNBC / Washington Post)
A Trump appointee overseeing Voice of America and other federally funded news agencies has declined to cooperate with Biden’s transition team. Michael Pack refused to make officials from his agency available to answer questions about the agencies’ operations or provide records. (Washington Post)
Congressional Republican leaders rejected a resolution recognizing Biden is president-elect. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer offered a motion to affirm that it is preparing for the inauguration of Biden and Harris, but Mitch McConnell and Rules Committee Chairman Roy Blunt voted with House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy in blocking the motion. A Republican congressman, meanwhile, wants to condemn his GOP colleagues who refuse to support Trump’s efforts to challenge the election results. Rep. Alex Mooney proposed a resolution titled “Counting Every Legal Vote” that supported Trump’s efforts to question the results in states he lost, “investigate and punish election fraud,” and “condemns any member who calls upon Trump to concede prematurely before these investigations are complete.” (CNN / Washington Post)
1/ Trump called Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and urged him to call a special session of the state legislature so lawmakers could appoint electors who would back him at the electoral college and overturn Biden’s win in the state. Trump also asked Kemp to order an audit of absentee ballot signatures. “I will easily & quickly win Georgia if Governor @BrianKempGA or the Secretary of State permit a simple signature verification. Has not been done and will show large scale discrepancies,” Trump tweeted. “Why are these two ‘Republicans’ saying no? If we win Georgia, everything else falls in place!” Kemp, however, told Trump that he did not have the authority to order an audit and denied the request to call a special session. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, meanwhile, said a special session to overturn the state’s election results “would be then nullifying the will of the people.” (Washington Post / Politico / CNN / Axios / Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
👑 Trump’s Final Days of Rage and Denial. “The last act of the Trump presidency has taken on the stormy elements of a drama more common to history or literature than a modern White House.” (New York Times)
👑 As Trump rants over election, his administration accelerates push to lock in policy and staffing gains. “Over the final six weeks of Trump’s presidency, the administration has no plans to wind down its efforts to remake federal policies and even the government bureaucracy itself, aides said, despite the pending handoff to the incoming Democratic administration.” (Washington Post)
2/ Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger recertified the state’s election results and reaffirmed Biden’s victory after a second statewide recount of votes. The presidential ballots in Georgia have been counted three times. Biden prevailed in all three counts of the vote in Georgia. (Washington Post / ABC News / New York Times / CNN / Politico)
27 congressional Republicans acknowledge Biden’s win over Trump, and two Republicans consider Trump the winner despite all evidence showing otherwise. 220 Republicans in the House and Senate would not say who won the election. (Washington Post)
White House trade adviser Peter Navarro repeatedly violated the Hatch Act by using his official authority for campaign purposes. Navarro is one of more than a dozen Trump administration officials the Office of Special Counsel has found to have violated the act. (Axios)
3/ The Trump administration rejected requests from Biden’s transition team to meet with officials at the National Security Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency, and other intelligence agencies. The Pentagon’s recently appointed chief of staff, Kash Patel, reportedly “told everybody we’re not going to cooperate with the transition team,” according one former official, and he has “put a lot of restrictions on it.” In some instances, Patel blocked some career officials and experts from providing information about key defense issues to the Biden transition team, telling political appointees to take the lead instead. The Pentagon, meanwhile, pushed back against reports that the Trump administration had intentionally blocked the Biden transition team from meeting with defense intelligence agencies, saying the Biden team had improperly reached out to the agencies instead of the DoD transition team. (Washington Post / NBC News / Politico)
4/ Biden selected California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to serve as his secretary of Health and Human Services. If confirmed, Becerra would be the first Latino to run the health department. Biden’s transition team also announced other key public health roles, including Dr. Vivek Murthy to be surgeon general, Rochelle Walensky to be director of the CDC, Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith to be COVID-19 Equity Task Force co-chair, Dr. Anthony Fauci to be chief medical adviser on COVID-19, Jeff Zients to be counselor to the president and coordinator of the COVID-19 response, and Natalie Quillian to be deputy coordinator of the COVID-19 response. (New York Times / CBS News / Politico / NPR)
Biden’s pick to run the Office of Management and Budget runs a think tank that solicited donations from corporate and foreign interests. Neera Tanden spent nine years running the Center for American Progress, and between 2014 and 2019, CAP received at least $33 million from firms in the financial sector, private foundations funded by wealth earned on Wall Street, and in other investment firms. As OMB director, Tanden would have a hand in setting fiscal and personnel policy for agencies, oversee the regulatory process across the executive branch, and execute the annual spending plan. Tanden told staff that she will remain as CAP president through her confirmation, but suspended her involvement in fundraising after Biden announced her nomination. (Washington Post)
5/ Rudy Giuliani tested positive for the coronavirus and has been admitted to Georgetown University Medical Center. Giuliani, who has frequently appeared maskless, traveled to Michigan, Arizona, and Georgia last week and met indoors with state legislators to advance Trump’s baseless claims of election fraud. The Arizona Legislature, meanwhile, will close for a week “out of an abundance of caution” after Giuliani possibly exposed several Republican lawmakers to COVID-19. And public health officials in Michigan ordered several state lawmakers to begin quarantining after they were in recent, close contact with Giuliani. “Get better soon Rudy, we will carry on!!!” Trump tweeted. (New York Times / NBC News / Arizona Republic / Washington Post / CNN)
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar promised that every American will be able to get a coronavirus vaccine by the second quarter of 2021. The FDA, however, hasn’t authorized a vaccine, yet. (Axios)
Trump plans to hold a “vaccine summit” at the White House on Tuesday. Both Pfizer and Moderna – the two drug manufacturers likely to receive emergency authorizations for a COVID-19 vaccine – however rejected the invitations. (STAT News / Bloomberg)
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee invited an anti-vaccine doctor who promoted hydroxychloroquine as a COVID-19 treatment to testify. Dr. Jane Orient is the executive director of a group that opposes government involvement in medicine and views federal vaccine mandates as a violation of human rights. (New York Times)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~67,448,000; deaths: ~1,542,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~14,889,000; deaths: ~284,000
6/ Attorney General William Barr is considering resigning before January 20. Trump declined to say whether he had confidence in Barr last week after his attorney general said the Justice Department had found no evidence of widespread election fraud. The two later had a “contentious,” lengthy meeting inside the West Wing. (New York Times / CNN)
✏️ Notables.
The EPA declined to adopt stricter regulations on soot pollution, disregarding the recommendation of its own scientists to implement tougher standards. Administrator Andrew Wheeler, who was appointed by Trump, signed the standards Friday to retain the current thresholds for fine particle pollution for another five years. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to fully restore the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Trump tried to end the DACA program in September 2017, and in July Chad Wolf, the acting secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, suspended DACA pending a “comprehensive” review. U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis, however, ruled in November that Wolf had unlawfully ascended to the agency’s top job and vacated his suspension of protections for migrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children. (New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post / Politico / Axios)
Trump ordered the withdrawal “a majority” U.S. troops from Somalia in early 2021. There are currently about 700 troops in Somalia to assist the government fight against Al-Shabab, a terrorist group with links to al Qaeda. (Politico / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press / New York Times)
Melania Trump announced completion of a new White House tennis pavilion. The project refurbished the existing White House Tennis Court and Grandchildren’s Garden, and erected a new 1,200-square-foot building on the South Lawn. (Associated Press / Bloomberg)
1/ Biden will ask all Americans to wear masks for 100 days after he is inaugurated, saying “Just 100 days to mask, not forever. One hundred days.” Biden also asked Dr. Anthony Fauci to stay on as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases – the same position he has held since 1984 across six administrations. Fauci called Biden’s proposal a “good idea.” The CDC, meanwhile, now recommends “universal mask use” outside people’s homes as part of its updated coronavirus guidance. (CNN / Washington Post / Politico / New York Times / Axios / NPR)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~65,687,000; deaths: ~1,515,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~14,298,000; deaths: ~279,000
2/ The U.S. economy added 245,000 jobs in November on a seasonally adjusted basis as the unemployment rate fell to 6.7%, from 6.9% in October. The economy has brought back 12.3 million of the 22 million jobs lost in the first two months of the coronavirus pandemic, but there are still 10.7 million unemployed Americans, compared with 5.8 million in February. Hiring is now so slow that it could take another 40 months for the job market to fully recover from the pandemic. Biden, meanwhile, said the “grim” jobs report shows the economic recovery is stalling and warned of a “dark winter” ahead unless Congress passes a coronavirus relief bill immediately. (CNN / New York Times / CNBC / NPR / Reuters / The Guardian)
3/ Trump could preemptively pardon as many as 20 aides and associates before leaving office. Republicans, however, say offering legal reprieves to his friends and family members would be unprecedented, could tarnish, his legacy, and harm a 2024 campaign. (Politico)
4/ The Justice Department investigated Jared Kushner’s lawyer and a top Trump fundraiser over a possible scheme to offer bribes in exchange for clemency for a tax crimes convict. Unsealed, but heavily redacted court documents, disclosed that Abbe Lowell and Elliott Broidy were the subject of an investigation as recently as this summer into possible unregistered lobbying and bribery related to securing clemency for Hugh Baras, who had received a 30-month prison sentence on a conviction of tax evasion and improperly claiming Social Security benefits. The scheme involved Sanford Diller, a real estate developer, making a “substantial” political contribution in exchange for a pardon for Baras. However, Diller died in 2018 and Baras never received clemency. Broidy, meanwhile, pleaded guilty in October to a different scheme to lobby the Trump administration. (New York Times / NBC News)
5/ Trump’s campaign and its related committees spent more than $1.1 million at Trump’s own properties in the last weeks of his losing 2020 campaign. The Trump Victory fundraising committee, which is managed by Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee, spent $1.06 million at Trump properties in September, October, and November. And, Trump’s own campaign reported spending another $66,000. (Washington Post)
6/ The White House fired several members of the Pentagon’s Defense Business Board. Loyalists Corey Lewandowski and David Bossie were then appointed to the board. The firings come less than a month after Trump removed Defense Secretary Mark Esper. (Politico / Washington Post)
7/ White House communications director Alyssa Farah resigned after more than three years with the Trump administration. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Politico)
8/ The House voted to remove marijuana from the federal schedule of controlled substances, marking the first time a congressional chamber has voted in favor of decriminalizing marijuana at the federal level. The legislation, however, is almost certainly doomed in the Republican-led Senate. (Washington Post / Axios / CNN / New York Times)
1/ The U.S. recorded over 3,100 COVID-19 deaths in a single day – marking the single-worst daily death toll since the pandemic began and surpassing the April 15 high of 2,752 deaths. The U.S. also recorded nearly 205,000 new cases of COVID-19 – a month after topping 100,000 cases for the first time – as hospitalizations from the virus reached 100,000 – also the highest reported during the pandemic and more than double the number since the beginning of November. In total, more than 14 million cases in the U.S. have been reported since the start of the pandemic. (NBC News / Associated Press / CNN / New York Times / Washington Post)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~65,000,000; deaths: ~1,502,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~14,087,000; deaths: ~276,000
New claims for unemployment benefits fell to 714,000 last week – down from 836,000 in the prior week but well above pre-pandemic levels. Seasonally adjusted, the weekly initial claims were 712,000 and 787,000, respectively. (NBC News / Wall Street Journal / New York Times)
Dr. Anthony Fauci will meet virtually with Biden’s transition team for the first time to discuss the coronavirus response. Fauci will also stay on at the National Institutes of Health. (CBS News / Axios / CNN)
Obama, Bush, and Clinton volunteered to get their COVID-19 vaccines on camera to promote public confidence in what a Trump spokeswoman called the “Trump Vaccine.” White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany called it a “tremendous achievement” for the U.S. to have as many as 40 million vaccine doses ready by year’s end, crediting the accomplishment to “having a businessman as president.” (Bloomberg / CNN / NPR)
poll/ 60% of Americans say they would definitely or probably get a coronavirus vaccine if it was available today – up from 51% in September. 21%, however, do not intend to get vaccinated and are “pretty certain” more information will not change their mind. The remaining 18% say they definitely or probably would not get a coronavirus vaccine, but it’s possible they would decide to get vaccinated once people start getting a vaccine and more information becomes available. (Pew Research Center)
2/ Trump released a 46-minute video rant denouncing the election as “rigged” while repeating his baseless allegations of voter fraud that – he claims – was “massive” and “on a scale never seen before.” Trump claimed – without evidence – that “corrupt forces” had stuffed ballot boxes and that the voting system was “under coordinated assault and siege,” arguing that it was “statistically impossible” for him to have lost to Biden. Trump also called on the Supreme Court to “do what’s right for our country” and disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of voters so that “I very easily win in all states.” Trump called his diatribe “may be the most important speech I’ve ever made” and again refused to concede defeat. The video was released a day after Attorney General William Barr said that despite inquiries by the Justice Department and the FBI, “to date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election.” (New York Times / Washington Post)
3/ Trump and Attorney General William Barr had a “contentious,” two and a half hour meeting at the White House after Barr disclosed that the Justice Department had not uncovered evidence of widespread voter fraud that would change the election results. When asked by reporters whether he had confidence in Barr, Trump replied: “Ask me that in a number of weeks from now. They should be looking at all of this fraud […] He hasn’t done anything. He hasn’t looked” for voter fraud, “which is a disappointment, to be honest with you.” White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany also refused to say whether Trump still has faith in Barr. One source briefed on the meeting described Barr’s interaction with the president as “intense,” and one senior administration official indicated there was a chance Barr could be fired. (ABC News / CNN / Washington Post / NBC News / CNBC / The Hill)
4/ The White House liaison to the Justice Department has been banned from the building after trying to pressure staffers to give up information about election fraud. Heidi Stirrup was installed at the Justice Department as a White House liaison by chief of staff Mark Meadows in September. Stirrup has already been appointed as a member of the Board of Visitors to the Air Force Academy. (Associated Press / CNN)
5/ Ivanka Trump was deposed as part of suit from the Washington, D.C., attorney general over the costs of Trump’s 2017 inauguration. The Washington, DC, attorney general’s office is suing the Trump inaugural committee for “grossly overpaying” for event space at the Trump International Hotel. As a nonprofit, the committee must not allow “any portion of its funds to be spent in a way that are designed to benefit private persons or companies,” according to the lawsuit. The inaugural committee spent $1 million to rent event space at the Trump family’s hotel. (CNN /NPR / CBS News)
1/ Trump discussed whether to grant pre-emptive pardons to Trump Jr., Eric Trump, Ivanka Trump, and Jared Kushner. While Trump Jr. was under investigation – but never charged – by Robert Mueller for his contacts with Russians offering damaging information on Hillary Clinton during the 2016 campaign, any potential criminal exposure of Eric Trump or Ivanka Trump is unclear. Kushner, meanwhile, omitted several contacts with Russians offering damaging information on Clinton during the campaign when he filled out a form for his White House security clearance. Trump has also discussed preemptively pardoning Rudy Giuliani. (New York Times / ABC News)
2/ The Justice Department is investigating a potential “bribery-for-pardon” scheme involving a large political contribution in exchange for a presidential pardon by the White House. Heavily redacted documents revealed that prosecutors were investigating whether two individuals approached senior White House officials as unregistered lobbyists and secretly lobbied or paid bribes to obtain a pardon for someone convicted of a federal crime. The documents also show that a lawyer for a federal convict had discussions with the White House Counsel’s Office about a pardon or commutation. The documents, however, do not name the individuals involved or Trump, and they do not indicate if any other White House officials had knowledge of the scheme. The status of the investigation is unclear. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / NBC News / Bloomberg / ABC News)
3/ A government watchdog group sued Trump, Jared Kushner, and the White House to prevent them from deleting official emails and WhatsApp messages before they can be archived. The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics allege that Trump and his administration are violating the Presidential Records Act by failing to correctly preserve records of official government business. CREW and the other plaintiffs also say Trump has “planned or executed destruction” of records without notifying the archivist or Congress as required by law. (Axios / The Hill)
4/ Properties owned by the Trump Organization and the Kushner Companies profited from coronavirus pandemic relief programs, according to Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster loan data released by the Small Business Administration. Over 25 PPP loans, more than $3.65 million were given to businesses with addresses at Trump and Kushner real estate properties, who paid rent to those owners. Of those, 15 properties reported that they only kept one job, zero jobs or did not report a number at all. More than half of the money from the emergency fund for small businesses went to 5% of the recipients. (NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times)
5/ The director of the CDC warned that this winter may be “the most difficult time in the public health history of this nation.” Dr. Robert Redfield predicted that “December and January and February are going to be rough times” and the total deaths from COVID-19 could reach “close to 450,000” by February unless a large percentage of Americans embrace social distancing and mitigation strategies, like mask wearing. The number of COVID-19 patients in U.S. hospitals is at an all-time high and the U.S. has averaged 161,448 new cases daily over the last week – about 2.5 times the July peak. The White House coronavirus task force, meanwhile, warned that “we are in a very dangerous place” and “the COVID risk to all Americans is at a historic high.” (New York Times / CNN)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~64,327,000; deaths: ~1,489,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~13,870,000; deaths: ~273,000
6/ The CDC shortened its 14-day coronavirus quarantine guidance in an effort to boost compliance because Americans are bad at this. Instead of a 14-day quarantine, the CDC now recommends that potential exposure warrants a quarantine of 10 or seven days, depending on a person’s test results and symptoms. Those who lack symptoms can stop quarantining after 10 days or seven days with a negative COVID-19 test. “Reducing the length of quarantine may make it easier for people to take this critical public health action by reducing the economic hardship associated with a longer period, especially if they cannot work during that time,” Dr. Henry Walke, the CDC’s incident manager for its COVID-19 response, said. CDC officials also announced new guidance for traveling: If you’re planning a trip, you should get tested one to three days in advance and then be tested again three to five days after returning. (NPR / Washington Post / NBC News / New York Times / Bloomberg / Politico)
7/ White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows summoned FDA commissioner Stephen Hahn to the West Wing to explain why the agency hasn’t approve the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine. Pfizer applied for emergency clearance on Nov. 20, and the FDA is scheduled meet on Dec. 10 to discuss the request for authorization. Before the meeting, Hahn said that his agency was balancing speed with making “an appropriate decision.” Following the meeting, Hahn said the agency has “all hands on deck” and is “working day and night, and on the weekends” to evaluate and approve multiple coronavirus vaccines for emergency use authorization. (Axios / CNBC / ABC News)
Health care personnel and residents of long-term care facilities will be the first groups to be offered the COVID-19 vaccine. (NBC News)
8/ Trump threatened to veto an annual defense bill authorizing nearly $1 trillion in military spending unless Congress repeals a federal law that gives online companies broad legal protections for the content on their platforms. Section 230 is considered one of the Web’s foundational laws because it spares sites and services from being held liable for the content posted by their users. Trump previously threatened to veto the same defense bill over his opposition to provisions that would rename military bases honoring Confederate commanders. Top Republicans and Democrats, however, plan to ignore Trump’s demand. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Politico)
1/ Attorney General William Barr said the Justice Department has “not seen fraud on a scale that could have affected a different outcome in the election,” undercutting Trump’s baseless claims of widespread voting irregularities. Barr suggested that the FBI and Justice Department looked into some fraud claims, but they “haven’t seen anything to substantiate” any “claim that machines were programmed essentially to skew the election results.” Last month, Barr authorized U.S. attorneys to pursue any “substantial allegations” of voting irregularities, if they existed, before the 2020 presidential election was certified, despite no evidence of widespread fraud at that time. (Associated Press / Washington Post / Axios / ABC News)
2/ Trump’s political operation has raised between $150 million and $170 million since Election Day, using misleading appeals about voter fraud to fund his failed attempts to overturn the election. The first 75% of every contribution goes to a new political action committee that Trump set up in mid-November, Save America, which could be used on political activities after he leaves office. The other 25% is directed to the Republican National Committee. The campaign has sent about 500 post-election fundraising pitches to donors. (Washington Post / New York Times)
Trump Jr. launched a super PAC to mobilize Trump backers to vote in the upcoming Georgia Senate runoffs. The Save the U.S. Senate PAC will start airing commercials this week – only on conservative radio and TV stations – featuring Trump Jr. that are aimed at mobilizing Trump backers across Georgia. (Politico)
3/ An attorney for the Trump campaign called for the former head of U.S. cybersecurity to be executed for saying that the election was the “most secure in United States history.” Chris Krebs was fired after he rejected Trump’s unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud. Joe DiGenova, nevertheless, said that “Anybody who thinks the election went well, like that idiot Krebs […] that guy is a class A moron. He should be drawn and quartered. Taken out at dawn and shot.” Krebs suggested he might take legal action, calling DiGenova’s comments “more dangerous language, more dangerous behavior.” DiGenova, meanwhile, tried to walk back his remarks, saying it was “obvious that my remarks were sarcastic and made in jest.” (The Bulwark / Axios / Politico / CNN / NBC News)
4/ Attorney General William Barr appointed U.S. Attorney John Durham as special counsel to continue investigating the origins of the FBI’s 2016 probe into possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia. Barr made the appointment on October 19 and kept it secret so as not to interfere in the election. In 2019, Barr appointed Durham to investigate the FBI’s justification for the investigation that became Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian interference. That investigation has only netted one criminal charge — a low-level FBI lawyer who pleaded guilty to altering a surveillance application Carter Page. A special counsel can only be fired by the attorney general and for specific reasons such as misconduct, dereliction of duty, or conflict of interest, which must be documented in writing. (Associated Press / Axios / CNN / Bloomberg)
5/ Trump and Rudy Giuliani discussed a pardon preempting any charge or conviction before Trump leaves office. Giuliani has been under investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York for more than a year, reportedly focused on his actions in Ukraine, where he tried to dig up dirt about the Biden’s. A Giuliani spokeswoman said Trump’s personal attorney “cannot comment on any discussions that he has with his client.” Giuliani, however, tweeted: “Fake News NYT lies again. Never had the discussion they falsely attribute to an anonymous source. Hard to keep up with all their lies.” While rare, it is legal for a president to preemptively pardon people for federal crimes before they’ve been charged. (New York Times / CNBC / The Guardian / Politico)
6/ Scientists at the CDC found evidence that the coronavirus was present in the U.S. weeks earlier previously thought. While COVID-19 was first identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, it wasn’t until about Jan. 20 that the first confirmed COVID-19 case was identified in the U.S. Testing of 7,389 blood donations collected by the American Red Cross from residents in nine states, however, identified 106 infections in samples collected between Dec. 13 and Jan. 17. (NPR / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / ABC News / CNN)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~63,637,000; deaths: ~1,477,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~13,667,000; deaths: ~270,000
7/ Trump’s coronavirus adviser resigned. Dr. Scott Atlas, a radiologist with no experience in immunology, repeatedly made comments that were at odds with public health experts, including the experts on Trump’s coronavirus Task Force. Atlas fought against lockdowns, downplayed the seriousness of the virus, questioned the efficacy of masks, and urged the White House to embrace a strategy of “herd immunity.” Trump invited him to join the task force in August after seeing him on Fox News. (Politico / CNN / CBS News / NBC News / The Guardian)
8/ Biden formally introduced his six-person economic team, saying “help is on the way.” Biden tapped Janet Yellen as Treasury secretary, and nominated former Obama economics adviser Adewale Adeyemo as deputy secretary of the Treasury, Neera Tanden to lead the Office of Management and Budget, and Cecilia Rouse to chair the White House Council of Economic Advisers. Jared Bernstein and Heather Boushey will join Rouse as Council members. Progressive Democrats and Republicans have expressed opposition to Tanden for her ties to corporate and establishment political leaders. Since 2011, Tanden has been CEO of the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, and its political arm, the Center for American Progress Action Fund. Biden, meanwhile, said Congress should come together to pass a “robust” aid package, repeated his call for “immediate relief” in the current lame duck period, and pledged “a recovery for everybody.” (CNN / NBC News / NPR / Wall Street Journal / CNBC / Bloomberg)
Biden’s agenda for his first 100 days in office will center on the passage of a broad economic aid package and a series of executive actions. Transition officials say that the COVID-19 pandemic, economic recovery, and tackling racial inequality are his most urgent priorities, and that executive actions will be aimed at delivering on his campaign promises and undoing the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine government agencies. (CNN)
9/ A bipartisan group of senators introduced a coronavirus aid proposal worth about $908 billion, which Mitch McConnell immediately rejected. The bipartisan compromise, which was described as a “bridge,” would provide $300 a week in federal unemployment benefits for roughly four months, $160 billion in funding for state and local governments, as well as a temporary moratorium on some coronavirus-related lawsuits against companies. McConnell said he wants to pass a “targeted relief bill” instead because “we just don’t have time to waste time.” Congress needs to approve funding legislation by Dec. 11 to avoid a government shutdown. (Washington Post / CNBC / Politico / NBC News)
1/ Hospitalizations of COVID-19 patients in the United States reached an all-time high of 93,238 on Sunday – surpassing Saturday’s record of 91,635 COVID-19 patients. The number of coronavirus infections in the U.S., meanwhile, surpassed 13 million on Friday and Sunday marked the 27th consecutive day that the U.S. reported more than 100,000 new COVID-19 cases. (ABC News / Bloomberg / The Guardian / New York Times)
Dr. Anthony Fauci warned that Thanksgiving travel could make the current surge in COVID-19 cases worse. “What we expect, unfortunately, as we go for the next couple of weeks into December, is that we might see a surge superimposed on the surge we are already in,” Dr. Fauci said. (NBC News / NPR / The Guardian / CNBC)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~63,119,000; deaths: ~1,466,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~13,512,000; deaths: ~268,000
2/ Moderna applied for FDA emergency authorization of its coronavirus vaccine, becoming the second company to do so. Moderna’s vaccine was 94.1% effective in a 30,000-person clinical trial at preventing COVID-19 and 100% effective at preventing severe cases of the disease. If approved, vaccinations for Americans could begin as early as Dec. 21. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / NBC News / CNN)
3/ Biden’s senior White House communications team will be composed entirely of women – a first – with Jennifer Psaki, a veteran of the Obama administration, as White House press secretary. The transition team also announced that Kate Bedingfield will serve as the White House communications director; Karine Jean Pierre will be the principal deputy press secretary; Pili Tobar will serve as the deputy White House communications director; Symone Sanders will serve as the senior adviser and chief spokeswoman for Kamala Harris; and Ashley Etienne will serve as the communications director for Harris. Biden is also expected to nominate Neera Tanden as director of the Office of Management and Budget, and Cecilia Rouse to be chairwoman of the Council of Economic Advisers. Tanden would be the first woman of color to oversee the agency and Rouse would be the first woman of color to chair the council. Biden will also nominate former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen to be the first female treasury secretary. (New York Times / Washington Post / The 19th / Politico / NPR / Wall Street Journal)
Several members of Biden’s team and others under consideration for high-ranking posts have done work for undisclosed corporate clients and a fund that invests in government contractors. The consulting firm, WestExec Advisors, and the investment fund, Pine Island Capital Partners are strategic partners with an overlapping team of officials. WestExec’s founders include Antony Blinken, Biden’s choice for secretary of state, and Michèle Flournoy, one of the leading candidates to be his defense secretary. This year, Pine Island Capital purchased a weapons system parts manufacturer and another company that sells weapons training systems to the Pentagon and law enforcement agencies. Pine Island Capital, where Blinken and Flournoy have also served as advisers, raised $218 million this month for a new fund to invest in additional military and aerospace companies. In addition, Avril Haines, Biden’s pick to be director of national intelligence, Christina Killingsworth, who is helping with Biden’s White House budget office, Ely Ratner, who is helping organize the Biden transition at the Pentagon, and Jennifer Psaki, Biden’s pick for White House press secretary, all came out of WestExec. (New York Times)
4/ Arizona certified its election results, awarding the state’s 11 electoral votes to Biden. The certification came as Rudy Giuliani appeared before some Republican Arizona lawmakers in an unofficial hearing to ask lawmakers to overturn the election results, citing baseless claims of widespread election fraud. Biden beat the president in Arizona by more than 10,000 votes. (Politico / Axios / CNN)
5/ Two recounts in Wisconsin – requested by the Trump campaign – were completed and confirmed that Biden won the state. Trump’s campaign paid $3 million to cover the cost of recounts in two counties, which resulted in Biden gaining an additional 87 total votes. Biden won Wisconsin by more than 20,000 votes. (Washington Post/ USA Today / Axios)
6/ A federal appeals court unanimously rejected the Trump campaign’s emergency appeal to challenge Pennsylvania’s election results, writing that the campaign’s lawsuit lacked proof and its allegations in Pennsylvania “have no merit.” In five hours of oral arguments last week, Rudy Giuliani argued that the 2020 presidential election had been marred by widespread fraud in Pennsylvania. However, Giuliani failed to offer any tangible proof of that in court. The three-judge panel for the 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals denied the campaign’s effort to refile its lawsuit, saying “Charges of unfairness are serious. But calling an election unfair does not make it so. Charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither here. Voters, not lawyers, choose the President. Ballots, not briefs, decide elections.” (Associated Press / CNN / Axios / Washington Post / BuzzFeed News)
7/ Trump said he’ll leave the White House if the Electoral College affirms Biden’s win next month. When asked whether he would acknowledge defeat, Trump said it would “be a very hard thing to concede” – even if the Electoral College confirms Biden’s victory – adding: “If they do, they’ve made a mistake. This election was a fraud.” A day later, Trump reiterated his baseless claims of voter fraud, tweeting that Biden “can only enter the White House as President if he can prove that his ridiculous ‘80,000,000 votes’ were not fraudulently or illegally obtained.” (Bloomberg / New York Times / Washington Post / CBS News)
Trump continued to discredit the Georgia voting system, attacking both GOP Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. Trump called Kemp “hapless,” urging him to use his “emergency powers… to overrule his obstinate Secretary of State.” Kemp’s office, meanwhile, responded Trump’s demands to overturn the election results, saying state law “prohibits the governor from interfering in the election.” (ABC News / Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
👑 Inside Trump’s quest to overturn the election. “The result was an election aftermath without precedent in U.S. history. With his denial of the outcome, despite a string of courtroom defeats, Trump endangered America’s democracy, threatened to undermine national security and public health, and duped millions of his supporters into believing, perhaps permanently, that Biden was elected illegitimately.” (Washington Post)
poll/ Since the election, Biden’s favorability rating has risen six percentage points (55%) while Trump’s favorability has dropped three points (42%). (Gallup)
✏️ Notables.
The Supreme Court heard arguments on Trump’s efforts to exclude unauthorized immigrants from the census count, which is used to allocate seats in the House. The Court reportedly sounded skeptical that Trump could categorically exclude people living in the country illegally from the population count. Census Bureau officials have said they cannot produce the required data until after Trump leaves office in January. (Associated Press / New York Times / NPR / NBC News)
The Justice Department created a new rule that would allow methods – including firing squads and electrocution – to be used for federal executions. “Last week, the Justice Department announced that it plans to execute three more inmates on federal death row. If the administration does so, along with two other executions already scheduled, it will have put 13 prisoners to death since July, marking one of the deadliest periods in the history of federal capital punishment since at least 1927.” (New York Times)
The Trump administration moved to relax rules on companies’ liability for killing birds, releasing an analysis that says that modifying the 1918 Migratory Bird Treaty Act would not cause any substantial environmental harm. (Washington Post / Axios)
FCC Ajit Pai announced that he would step down when Biden is sworn in. Pai led the partisan repeal of Obama-era net neutrality regulation in 2017, which prohibited internet providers from blocking or slowing traffic to particular sites and offering higher speed “lanes” at higher prices. (CNBC / Politico / Washington Post)
Carter Page filed a $75 million lawsuit against the FBI, Justice Department, and James Comey, claiming he was the victim of “unlawful spying” during the bureau’s Russia investigation. (Axios)
The Government Accountability Office reported that the system for providing unemployment benefits consistently produced inaccurate data and lower-than-appropriate payouts to millions of workers amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The Labor Department’s weekly reports on jobless claims have published “flawed estimates of the number of individuals receiving benefits each week throughout the pandemic,” the GAO said. (CNN / Wall Street Journal)
1/ Trump pardoned Michael Flynn, his first national security advisor, who pleaded guilty – twice – to lying to the FBI about his Russian contacts during the presidential transition in late 2016 and early 2017. Trump announced the news on Twitter and wished Flynn “a truly fantastic Thanksgiving!” The pardon was issued before a judge ruled on a Justice Department motion to dismiss charges and undo Flynn’s guilty plea to lying to the FBI. Since last year, Flynn’s lawyers have sought to withdraw his guilty plea. In May, Attorney General William Barr and the Justice Department sought to dismiss its charges, declaring that prosecutors should not have brought the case against Flynn. The request to withdraw charges has been pending before a federal judge, who has been reviewing the case. Flynn’s pardon is expected to be part of a series of pardons that Trump issues between now and when he leaves office, including former Trump campaign advisers Rick Gates and George Papadopoulos. (CNBC / NBC News / Washington Post / NPR / Axios / New York Times / Politico / The Guardian / CNN)
2/ Biden dismissed pursuing investigations into Trump after he leaves office, saying “I will not do what this president does and use the Justice Department as my vehicle to insist that something happened.” Biden’s comments, however, didn’t rule out that the Justice Department could still investigate Trump, since it traditionally operates independently of the White House on criminal matters. Biden also acknowledged that states could continue pursue their own investigations. (USA Today)
3/ Unemployment claims rose for the second week in a row with 778,000 people filing for benefits. Claims haven’t risen for two consecutive weeks since July and it was the largest two-week increase since April. Another 311,000 people applied for jobless benefits under an emergency federal program for gig workers and the self-employed. (Wall Street Journal / New York Times / NPR / CNBC)
4/ The U.S. reported its highest daily coronavirus death toll in more than six months. The nearly 2,100 COVID-19 deaths reported Tuesday is the highest mark since May 6, when states reported a combined 2,611 fatalities. The U.S. has added more than one million new cases in each of the past two consecutive weeks. (Washington Post / New York Times)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~60,187,000; deaths: ~1,418,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~12,728,000; deaths: ~262,000
Trump administration health officials held their first “Operation Warp Speed” briefing with Biden. The initial meeting was focused on COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics, and distribution. (Politico)
The first 6.4 million doses of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine could be distributed as early as mid-December if authorized by the FDA and an independent advisory panel to the CDC. Officials said they are on track to have 40 million doses of vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna by the end of the year – enough to vaccinate 20 million people. (Washington Post)
5/ Biden’s pick for Secretary of State and a top contender for defense secretary co-founded a Washington consulting firm where at least 21 of the 38 employees donated to his campaign. Because WestExec’s staffers aren’t lobbyists – they aren’t directly advocating for federal dollars on behalf of clients – they don’t have to disclose who they worked for. One of WestExec former principals, Avril Haines, is Biden’s pick for director of national intelligence, and Michèle Flournoy, a potential pick for defense secretary, raised more than $100,000 alone for Biden. At least five WestExec employees are helping staff Biden’s review teams for the Pentagon, the Treasury Department, the Council of Economic Advisers and other agencies, including Jen Psaki, who is advising Biden’s transition team. Two other former WestExec employees, Lisa Monaco and Julianne Smith, are also considered potential Biden administration hires. (Politico)
✏️ Notables.
The Army Corps of Engineers denied a permit for a gold and copper mine in Alaska, saying it was “contrary to the public interest.” In a statement, the Army Corps said it would block the Pebble Mine because the project’s waste “does not comply with Clean Water Act guidelines.” (New York Times / Politico / Washington Post)
The City of El Paso hired legal counsel to collect more than $500,000 in debt owed by the Trump campaign from a rally that took place almost two years ago. (KTSM)
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin plans to transfer $455 billion in unspent Cares Act funding into an account that will require congressional authorization to use. The move leaves Janet Yellen, Mnuchin’s presumed successor, with just under $80 billion available in the Treasury’s Exchange Stabilization Fund. (Bloomberg)
1/ Biden introduced six of his top foreign policy and national security appointments and nominees, saying “the team meets this moment.” The announcement comes a day after the Trump administration ended its 16-day stalemate and said it would to begin cooperating with the incoming administration. “It’s a team that reflects the fact that America is back,” Biden said. “Ready to lead the world, not retreat from it.” Biden added that his nominees bring “experience and leadership, fresh thinking and perspective, and an unrelenting belief in the promise of America.” Hours after the General Services Administration authorized the Biden transition, Trump tweeted his insistence that he had won the election and that he will “never concede.” (New York Times / CNN / NPR / ABC News / Bloomberg / CNBC / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
The White House signed off on Biden receiving the President’s Daily Brief. (CNN)
📌 Day 1404: Biden named a number of high-level administration and Cabinet positions for his foreign policy and national security team, tapping Linda Thomas-Greenfield as the ambassador to the United Nations, Alejandro Mayorkas as homeland security secretary, and Avril Haines as director of national intelligence. Mayorkas would be the first Latino to run the department responsible for managing the nation’s immigration policies. Haines would be the highest-ranking woman to serve in the intelligence community. Biden also named his longtime adviser Antony Blinken as secretary of state, John Kerry as his climate czar, and Jake Sullivan as his national security adviser. Biden also plans to nominate Janet Yellen as treasury secretary. (Bloomberg / NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Politico / Bloomberg / CNN / The Guardian / New York Times / NPR)
2/ Pennsylvania and Nevada certified their 2020 election results, awarding a combined 26 electoral votes to Biden. North Carolina also certified its presidential vote totals, awarding the state’s 15 electoral votes to Trump. Biden has collected 306 electoral votes to Trump’s 232. (CNN / Associated Press / NBC News / Axios /Politico / CNBC / Washington Post)
The lame-duck president pardoned his final turkeys. “Thanksgiving is a very special day for turkeys,” Trump said. “Not a very good one, if you think about it.” Before walking off, Trump ignored a question from a reporter about whether he would pardon himself. (New York Times / ABC News)
3/ Trump made an impromptu appearance in the White House briefing room to celebrate the Dow surpassing 30,000 points for the first time, telling reporters he wanted to “congratulate the people of our country because there are no people like you.” Trump called the milestone a “sacred number” and then left without taking questions. The Dow rose by over 450 points a day after the Trump administration agreed to start the transition process and the news that Biden was set to nominate former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen as his Treasury secretary. Trump has repeatedly claimed that if Biden won the election, the stock market and the economy would “crash.” In the three weeks since Election Day, Trump has tweeted some 400 times in an attempt to undermine the integrity of the 2020 election results. (Politico / NPR / New York Times / CNBC / The Hill / NBC News)
4/ The White House coronavirus task force called for “significant behavior change of all Americans,” including the wearing of masks, to mitigate the spread. “There is aggressive, rapid, and expanding community spread across the country, reaching over 2,000 counties,” a set of task force reports said. The U.S. reported 154,656 new infections Monday, continuing a record high seven-day average of new cases. More than 85,000 coronavirus patients have been admitted to hospitals – a 17% rise – and daily fatalities increased by more than 30% over the past week. The nation is averaging 172,000 new virus cases per day – about doubling since the end of October. The CDC, meanwhile, is finalizing new guidance to shorten the length of time it recommends that people self-quarantine after potential exposure to the coronavirus from 14 days to seven or 10 days. The goal is to encourage more people to comply with self-quarantining. (CNN / Washington Post / CNN / Associated Press)
About 5.8 million Americans are expected to face eviction by the end of the year. In total, 17.8 million adults are behind on rent or mortgage payments. (Bloomberg)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~59,598,000; deaths: ~1,406,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~12,547,000; deaths: ~260,000
poll/ 53% of Republicans would vote for Trump in 2024. 12% said they would support Pence, and 8% would support Trump Jr. (Politico)
poll/ 3% of Trump voters believe that Biden legitimately won the 2020 election, while 73% consider Trump the winner. 24% said they are not sure. (CNBC)
1/ The General Services Administration formally recognized Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election – more than two weeks after securing the electoral votes necessary to win the White House. Emily Murphy, the Trump appointee who runs the GSA, faced weeks of criticism from Democrats, national security, and health experts, who argued that delaying the formal transition was hampering the incoming Biden administration from receiving classified briefings and preparing for the distribution of a coronavirus vaccine. In a letter to Biden, Murphy said she was “never directly or indirectly pressured by any Executive Branch official — including those who work at the White House or the G.S.A.” Biden is now able to access millions of dollars in federal funds and resources to begin his transition to power. Trump, meanwhile, tweeted that he had recommended that the GSA begin “initial protocols” for the transition. Trump also said he was not conceding. (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / NPR / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
2/ A group of Republican national security experts demanded that Trump concede the election. The statement’s signers – including former homeland security secretary Tom Ridge – urged Republican leaders to “strongly oppose” Trump’s “dangerous and extra-legal efforts to threaten and intimidate state officials in order to prevent a vote by the Electoral College,” adding that “Trump’s refusal to permit the presidential transition poses significant risks to our national security.” Meanwhile, more than 160 top American executives asked the Trump administration to acknowledge Biden as the president-elect and begin the transition, writing that “Every day that an orderly presidential transition process is delayed, our democracy grows weaker in the eyes of our own citizens and the nation’s stature on the global stage is diminished.” Some of the executives who signed on to the letter have also discussed withholding campaign donations from the two Republican Senate candidates in Georgia until party leaders push for a presidential transition. (Washington Post / New York Times / NPR)
3/ A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by Trump’s campaign seeking to block the certification of Pennsylvania’s election results. Judge Matthew Brann wrote that Trump’s campaign, which had asked him to disenfranchise nearly seven million voters, should have come to court “armed with compelling legal arguments and factual proof of rampant corruption” in its efforts to essentially nullify the results. The Trump campaign had claimed there were widespread improprieties with mail-in ballots in the state. In his 37-page ruling, Brann said he expected a compelling legal argument “and factual proof of rampant corruption” from the Trump campaign, but instead “this court has been presented with strained legal arguments without merit and speculative accusations” that were “unsupported by evidence.” Brann added: “This claim, like Frankenstein’s Monster, has been haphazardly stitched together.” (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / Bloomberg / CNN / Politico)
The Michigan State Board of Canvassers voted to certify the state’s presidential election results, effectively awarding the state’s 16 electoral votes to President-elect Biden. (Washington Post / NBC News)
4/ Biden named a number of high-level administration and Cabinet positions for his foreign policy and national security team, tapping Linda Thomas-Greenfield as the ambassador to the United Nations, Alejandro Mayorkas as homeland security secretary, and Avril Haines as director of national intelligence. Mayorkas would be the first Latino to run the department responsible for managing the nation’s immigration policies. Haines would be the highest-ranking woman to serve in the intelligence community. Biden also named his longtime adviser Antony Blinken as secretary of state, John Kerry as his climate czar, and Jake Sullivan as his national security adviser. Biden also plans to nominate Janet Yellen as treasury secretary. (Bloomberg / NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Politico / Bloomberg / CNN / The Guardian / New York Times / NPR)
5/ A third COVID-19 vaccine is reportedly highly effective. AstraZeneca said the results of an interim analysis show that its vaccine could be up to 90% effective in preventing the disease. Unlike the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, the AstraZeneca vaccine doesn’t have to be stored at freezer temperatures, making it potentially easier to distribute. (NBC News / Associated Press / Washington Post)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~59,026,000; deaths: ~1,394,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~12,370,000; deaths: ~258,000
6/ Trump Jr. tested positive for the coronavirus. A spokesman said Trump Jr. tested positive at the start of last week has been “quarantining out at his cabin since the result.” Trump Jr. is the first of Trump’s adult children to test positive, although his girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle tested positive in July, and Trump’s youngest child, Barron Trump, tested positive in October. Trump himself tested positive for COVID-19 on Oct. 1, and was hospitalized at Walter Reed Medical Center one day later. Trump Jr.’s announcement came hours after Rudy Giuliani’s son, Andrew Giuliani, a special assistant to the president, announced that he had tested positive. Two Republican senators, Rick Scott and Chuck Grassley of Iowa, also said they tested positive. (Bloomberg / CBS News / ABC News / New York Times / CNN)
Sen. Kelly Loeffler is self-isolating after she tested positive for the coronavirus. The Georgia senator, a Republican, is currently campaigning in a runoff election that could determine control of the Senate. Loeffler tested positive for the coronavirus on Friday evening and then receiving an inconclusive result on Saturday. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution / New York Times)
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson said he became “extremely sick” from COVID-19, but now believes he is “out of the woods” after receiving an antibody treatment. Carson said his initial symptoms were light, but then he became “desperately ill,” and noted that he has “several co-morbidities” that played a role. (NPR / CNN)
7/ The White House still plans to host partially indoor holiday parties despite warnings from health experts and a surge in COVID-19 cases. U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams, meanwhile, warned that Americans, including the White House, should follow the CDC guidelines and avoid large gatherings during what he called a “dire point” in the pandemic. Dr. Anthony Fauci called the September Rose Garden event “a super-spreader.” (ABC News / CNN)
8/ Trump skipped the G-20 summit’s “Pandemic Preparedness and Response” event to play golf. Trump briefly participated in the virtual summit from the Situation Room, tweeting throughout the opening session about his efforts to overturn the results of the presidential election. He then departed the White House for the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia. The U.S., meanwhile, recorded 195,500 new COVID-19 infections – another record. (New York Times / The Guardian / CNBC / CNN / Slate)
✏️ Notables.
Trump will veto legislation to fund the military unless a bipartisan provision to rename military bases honoring Confederate military leaders is removed. Both the Senate and House overwhelmingly passed a provision that would change the names of Confederate-named bases as part of the annual National Defense Authorization Act. (NBC News)
General Motors dropped its support of Trump’s lawsuit seeking to end California’s right to set its own fuel economy standards. Four years ago, GM was one of the first automakers to push Trump to loosen Obama-era standards on fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions and in 2019, GM supported the Trump administration’s legal effort to revoke California’s congressionally granted authority to set tougher standards than the federal government. (Associated Press / Bloomberg / New York Times)
The Trump administration acquired at least 135 tracts of privately owned land to build Trump’s border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border – and plans to acquire another 991 tracts. According to a study by the Government Accountability Office, the Justice Department filed 109 lawsuits against landowners between January 2017 and August 2020 to seize their property permanently. Trump administration lawyers have prepared another 100 lawsuits against landowners to permanently acquire their property. (CBS News)
Twenty-eight migrant children and their parents are facing deportation after refusing to be separated in detention and then losing an appeal for the right to claim asylum in the U.S. Because they crossed the border during Trump’s policy prohibiting immigrants from claiming asylum in the U.S. if they first passed through another country, they were not able to make their claim before an immigration judge. The policy has since been overturned, but immigrants who entered the U.S. when it was in place were not helped by the decision. (NBC News)
1/ Michigan’s Republican legislative leaders met with Trump at the White House ahead of the state’s canvassing board meeting on Monday, when the election results are expected to be certified. Details of the meeting with Mike Shirkey, the leader of the State Senate, and Lee Chatfield, the speaker of the state House, are unclear. Trump and his campaign have openly floated the idea that the board of canvassers could choose to not to certify the results, forcing the state legislatures to appoint new electors who would overturn the will of the voters. All 83 counties, however, have certified their vote counts, giving Biden a 156,000-vote margin of victory. The state board of canvassing is scheduled to meet Monday to certify the final state tally. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, meanwhile, refused to acknowledge President-elect Joe Biden’s victory – her first press briefing since October 1 and since Trump lost the election – and denied that Trump had invited officials from the Michigan state legislature to the White House as part of an “advocacy meeting.” Rudy Giuliani was involved in arranging the meeting, but won’t attend after being exposed to the coronavirus. Giuliani’s son, Andrew Giuliani, a White House aide, tested positive for COVID-19. And, finally, Trump has expressed interest in inviting Republican state legislators from Pennsylvania to the White House for a similar meeting. (NPR / Bloomberg / Politico / Associated Press / New York Times / Washington Post / The Hill / CBS News / Axios / Reuters / CNN)
✏️ Notables.
Trump is using the power of his office to try to reverse the results of the election, orchestrating a pressure campaign to persuade Republican officials in Michigan, Georgia, and elsewhere to overturn the will of voters in what critics call an unprecedented subversion of democracy. “In an extraordinary news conference Thursday at the Republican National Committee headquarters, Trump’s attorneys claimed without evidence there was a centralized conspiracy with roots in Venezuela to rig the U.S. presidential election. They alleged voter fraud in Atlanta, Detroit, Milwaukee, Philadelphia and other cities whose municipal governments are controlled by Democrats and where President-elect Joe Biden won by large margins.” (Washington Post)
Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election are unprecedented in American history. “Mr. Trump has only weeks to make his last-ditch effort work: Most of the states he needs to strip Mr. Biden of votes are scheduled to certify their electors by the beginning of next week. The electors cast their ballots on Dec. 14, and Congress opens them in a joint session on Jan. 6.” (New York Times)
Trump’s election power play: Persuade Republican legislators to do what U.S. voters did not. “Trump’s strategy for retaining power despite losing the U.S. election is focused increasingly on persuading Republican legislators to intervene on his behalf in battleground states Democrat Joe Biden won.” (Reuters)
Trump and his allies are taking increasingly frantic steps to subvert the results of the 2020 election. “Election law experts see it as the last, dying gasps of the Trump campaign and say Biden is certain to walk into the Oval Office come January. But there is great concern that Trump’s effort is doing real damage to public faith in the integrity of U.S. elections.” (Associated Press)
2/ Georgia certified the state’s general election results, then issued a correction to say certification is still on-going because a staffer “sent out the wrong press release,” and then officially certified the results. The certification ensured that Biden received the state’s 16 electoral votes. The certification followed a hand recount of the state’s five million votes that was requested by the Trump campaign. The recount found that Biden beat Trump by more than 12,000 votes. (New York Times / Washington Post / ABC News / Bloomberg)
3/ The United States reported a record high of more than 185,000 new coronavirus cases, a record number of hospitalizations, and more than 2,000 deaths. Less than three weeks ago, the U.S. reported 100,000 daily coronavirus cases for the first time. Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus coordinator, said, “This is faster, it is broader and, what worries me, is it could be longer.” Health experts and epidemiologists, meanwhile, added that the U.S. hasn’t seen the peak and that the worst is yet to come. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / New York Times)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~57,366,000; deaths: ~1,369,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~11,855,000; deaths: ~254,000
4/ Pfizer asked the FDA for emergency use authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine after initial results showed the vaccine was safe and 95% effective. The process is expected to take a few weeks, and an advisory committee meeting to review the vaccine has been tentatively scheduled for early December. Emergency use authorization would allow limited groups of Americans to get the vaccines before the FDA has completed the typical approval process. (New York Times / Stat News / CNBC)
5/ The Trump Administration vaccine distribution team will not brief Biden’s transition team and has “no plans to do so.” Trump’s unwillingness to share plans with the incoming administration “risks President-elect Biden’s team not being ready on day one to implement the plan or make adjustments to it,” Senator Chris Murphy said. Biden, meanwhile, called Trump’s refusal to concede “incredible irresponsibility, an incredibly damaging message being sent to the rest of the world about how democracy functions.” (Reuters / NBC News / New York Times)
6/ Biden named four more officials to White House posts and Judge Merrick Garland is under consideration to serve as attorney general. Louisa Terrell was named director of White House Office of Legislative Affairs, Cathy Russell was named director of the White House Office of Presidential Personnel, Carlos Elizondo was named White House social secretary, and Mala Adig was named policy director for Jill Biden. Garland, meanwhile, joins former U.S. Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, former civil rights chief Deval Patrick, and former U.S. Attorney Doug Jones, among others, on Biden’s short list for attorney general. (USA Today / NPR)
7/ The Census Bureau won’t be able to produce the state population totals required to reallocate seats in the House of Representatives until after Trump leaves office in January. In July, Trump said he wanted to remove unauthorized immigrants from the count, which would leave an older and whiter population as the basis for divvying up House seats, shifting the number of House seats held by Republicans over the next decade. Census Bureau Director Steven Dillingham cited “anomalies” discovered in processing that could delay the report past January 20, 2021. (New York Times / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
8/ Two separate New York State fraud investigations into Trump and his businesses have expanded to include about $26 million in consulting fee tax write-offs – some of which went to Ivanka Trump. The two inquiries — a criminal investigation by the Manhattan district attorney and a civil one by the state attorney general — are being conducted independently, but both offices issued subpoenas to the Trump Organization in recent weeks. On a 2017 disclosure Ivanka filed when joining the White House, she reported receiving payments from a consulting company she co-owned, which totaled $747,622 – exactly matching consulting fees claimed as tax deductions by the Trump Organization. Ivanka, meanwhile, called the investigations “harassment […] motivated by politics, publicity and rage.” (New York Times / Politico)
9/ The Supreme Court postponed a planned hearing into congressional efforts to see Robert Mueller’s secret grand jury material from the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. The House Judiciary Committee said the status of the case has changed because of the election, and that Biden and the new Congress should decided whether to pursue the grand jury material. (Washington Post)
1/ The CDC warned Americans against traveling for Thanksgiving, citing record rises in new coronavirus cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. Despite the guidance, around 50 million Americans are expected to travel for the Thanksgiving holiday next week. Officials said they were alarmed to see more than 1 million new cases reported across the U.S. within the past week. Nearly 80,000 patients are currently hospitalized with COVID-19 in the U.S. – another record. The CDC also projected that “newly reported COVID-19 deaths will likely increase over the next four weeks, with 7,300 to 16,000 new deaths likely to be reported in the week ending December 12, 2020.” White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, meanwhile, called the new guidelines and restrictions “Orwellian,” adding “that’s not the American way.” (New York Times / Washington Post / CNBC / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~56,076,000; deaths: ~1,347,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~11,486,000; deaths: ~251,000
The states that imposed fewer coronavirus-related restrictions now have the worst outbreaks. Outbreaks are comparatively smaller in states where efforts to contain the virus were stronger over the summer and fall. (New York Times)
Trump’s top medical adviser on the coronavirus pandemic, Dr. Scott Atlas, has not attended White House task force meetings in person since late September. Atlas, however, has continued to spread misinformation about the worsening health crisis. (NBC News)
2/ More than 743,000 workers filed new unemployment claims – an increase of 31,000 from the previous week. An additional 320,000 claims were processed for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, the program for gig and self-employed workers. Roughly 20.3 million people are claiming some form of unemployment insurance. About 12 millions Americans are scheduled to lose their jobless benefits the day after Christmas unless Congress passes another relief bill. (Washington Post / New York Times / NPR / ABC News)
3/ After the Wayne County Board of Canvassers certified the presidential results, Trump called both of the Republican board members who now say they want to “rescind” their votes to certify the election in the Michigan county. After briefly trying to block the county from certifying its election results, Monica Palmer and William Hartmann later voted Tuesday to certify the results of the Nov. 3 election. But in a pair of affidavits signed late Wednesday night, Palmer and Hartmann allege that they were improperly pressured into certifying the election and accused Democrats of reneging on a promise to audit votes in Detroit. The two Republicans are now seeking to rescind their decision to certify their county’s results – a day after the deadline and roughly 24 hours after Trump had spoken with Palmer and Hartmann. Trump, meanwhile, invited Michigan’s Republican state legislators to meet with him at the White House on Friday. (Washington Post / ABC News / New York Times / Detroit Free Press / Axios / CNN / Washington Post / The Guardian)
4/ The Trump campaign dropped its federal election lawsuit in Michigan seeking to block certification of the results, falsely claiming that the Wayne County Board of Canvassers certification had declined to certify the results, which had already been certified in favor of Biden. Rudy Giuliani said the campaign decided to withdraw its lawsuit “as a direct result of achieving the result we sought: to stop the election in Wayne County from being prematurely certified before residents can be assured that every legal vote has been counted and every illegal vote has not been counted.” Michigan’s secretary of state, however, said the two board members can’t rescind their votes and that the next step is for the state to certify its results on Nov. 23. (CBS News / Bloomberg / NBC News / Politico)
1/ More than 3 million people in the United States – about 1% of the population – have active coronavirus infections and are potentially contagious, according to a team of infectious-disease experts tracking the pandemic. The estimate does not include an approximately equal number of latent infections – the people who were infected in recent days but can’t pass it on yet because it is still incubating. On Monday, at least 1,707 new COVID-19 deaths were reported – about one American every minute – and by Wednesday, the U.S. had recorded it’s 250,000 death with a record 76,000 people hospitalized with the coronavirus. The White House coronavirus task force, meanwhile, stated in it’s weekly report that there is “now aggressive, unrelenting, expanding broad community spread across the country, reaching most counties, without evidence of improvement but rather, further deterioration.” (Washington Post / CNN / The Guardian / NBC News / CNBC / Wall Street Journal)
2/ Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine is reportedly 95% effective with no serious side effects. The company said it planned to apply for emergency approval from the Food and Drug Administration “within days.” Pfizer said it could have up to 50 million doses available by the end of the year, but only about half of the supply will go to the United States this year – or enough for about 12.5 million people. Moderna said this week that an early analysis of its vaccine showed it was nearly 95% effective. (New York Times / Washington Post)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~56,076,000; deaths: ~1,347,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~11,486,000; deaths: ~251,000
New York City’s entire public school system will close Thursday after the city reached a 3% test positivity rate over a seven-day rolling average. (New York Times)
The CDC deleted two documents it posted this summer to support Trump’s push to reopen schools this fall. The documents titled “The Importance of Reopening America’s Schools this Fall,” was issued two weeks after Trump complained about the agency’s guidance as “very tough and expensive” and threatened to withhold funding from schools that did not offer in-person classes. (New York Times)
The FDA authorized the first at-home coronavirus test. The test requires a prescription from a health care provider. The molecular single-use test and is expected to cost $50 or less. (New York Times / NPR)
Chuck Grassley tested positive for COVID-19. The 87-year-old is the oldest Republican currently serving in the Senate. (NBC News / USA Today / CNN)
3/ Trump fired the Department of Homeland Security director who repeatedly refuted Trump’s baseless claims of voter fraud. Christopher Krebs, the nation’s top election security official, was fired after his agency, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, released a statement calling the 2020 election “the most secure in American history.” Trump – in two misleading tweets about the security of the election – said Krebs’ termination was “effective immediately.” The former director acknowledged Trump’s action in a tweet: “Honored to serve. We did it right. Defend Today, Secure Tomrorow.” Adam Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, called the move “pathetic and predictable from a president who views truth as his enemy.” (NPR / Associated Press / Washington Post /Axios / USA Today / The Guardian)
4/ The Trump campaign formally asked election authorities in Wisconsin to conduct a recount in two counties. In a statement, the campaign said it transferred $3 million to Wisconsin to cover the costs of recounting votes in Milwaukee and Dane counties. Biden received 577,455 votes in the two counties compared with 213,157 for Trump. Biden won the state by a little more than 20,000 votes. (NPR / Reuters / Associated Press)
5/ Election officials in Michigan’s largest county certified the presidential election results after Republican members of the board initially refused to certify the vote tallies. The four-member Wayne County Board of Canvassers had deadlocked on the day for Michigan counties to certify the vote – which Trump called “a beautiful thing” on Twitter. Hours later, however, the board — composed of two Republicans and two Democrats — reversed itself and unanimously agreed to certify the results and ask the secretary of state to conduct an independent audit. (Politico / Washington Post / CNN)
6/ A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to stop expelling immigrant children who cross the southern border alone before they could request asylum or other protections under federal law. The Trump administration has expelled at least 8,800 unaccompanied children since March. (NBC News)
7/ White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows “can’t guarantee” that lawmakers will reach a deal to avert a mid-December shutdown. Congress and the White House have until Dec. 11 to approve new spending legislation to prevent the federal government from shutting down. (Washington Post)
1/ The leaders of three major medical associations urged Trump to share “all critical information related to COVID-19” with the incoming Biden administration “as soon as possible” in order to “save countless lives.” The CEOs of the American Hospital Association, the American Medical Association, and the American Nurses Association urged the Trump administration to share “real-time data and information on the supply of therapeutics, testing supplies, personal protective equipment, ventilators, hospital bed capacity […] the capacity of the Strategic National Stockpile, the assets from Operation Warp Speed, and plans for dissemination of therapeutics and vaccines […] so that there is no lapse in our ability to care for patients.” Biden, meanwhile, noted that getting a coronavirus vaccine to more than 300 million Americans is a “huge, huge, huge undertaking” that would be further complicated by a continued delay in the presidential transition. Over the past 14 days, coronavirus cases have increased in all 50 states plus Washington, D.C., the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Guam. There has also been a 100% or more increase in confirmed cases over 14 days in Vermont, Maine, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Iowa, Ohio, Colorado, Michigan, Nebraska, Kansas, Pennsylvania, and New York. The seven-day average of new deaths in the U.S., meanwhile, eclipsed the Aug. 2 peak of 1,150. And, more than 73,000 people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Monday – a new record. Dr. Anthony Fauci, meanwhile, called for the nation to adopt “a uniform approach” to the coronavirus pandemic, rather than the current “disjointed” state-by-state response. (NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~55,473,000; deaths: ~1,336,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~11,321,000; deaths: ~249,000
2/ The Pennsylvania Supreme Court rejected the Trump campaign’s claim that election observers were improperly denied access to watch ballot counting in Philadelphia. The court noted that state law mandates that observers be permitted to be “in the room” during ballot counting, but the law does not set a minimum distance between them and the counting tables. The 5-2 ruling by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court came as Rudy Giuliani appeared in federal court on behalf of the Trump campaign, claiming that Republican election observers weren’t allowed to get close enough to the vote counting tables in Philadelphia and Allegheny Counties. The loss in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court could harm the Trump campaign’s related legal effort in the federal court to block the state from certifying its election results in coming weeks. (CNBC / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / ABC News)
Rudy Giuliani reportedly asked Trump’s campaign to pay him $20,000 a day for his legal work. (New York Times)
3/ Lindsey Graham proposed throwing out legally mailed ballots to Georgia’s top elections official in an effort to reverse Trump’s narrow loss in the state. According to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, Graham questioned him about the state’s signature-matching law, whether political bias could have prompted poll workers to accept ballots with non-matching signatures, and if he had the power to throw out all mail ballots in counties found to have higher rates of non-matching signatures. Raffensperger said he took Graham’s comments as “an implication of look hard and see how many ballots you could throw out.” Graham denied pressuring Raffensperger to throw away legal ballots, calling the allegation “ridiculous.” Graham, however, acknowledged that he also reached out officials in Arizona and Nevada – states Biden also won – in an attempt to learn how they validate signatures on mail-in ballots. (Washington Post / Politico / NBC News / CNN / The Guardian / Wall Street Journal)
4/ Biden told aides that he’s concerned that Trump investigations would consume his presidency and divide the nation. Biden, however, wants his Justice Department to function independently from the White House and said he would leave the decisions to investigate up to the DOJ. Biden reportedly “just wants to move on” from Trump. (NBC News)
5/ Biden announced his first nine campaign aides and longtime advisers who will join him in the White House in January, including five women and four people of color.
In a statement, the transition team said Biden was committed to “to building an administration that looks like America.” (Associated Press / The Guardian / Politico / CBS News / NBC News / CNN / ABC News)
6/ Trump’s acting defense secretary announced that the U.S. military will halve the number of troops it has in Afghanistan within the next two months. The military will also cut a smaller number in Iraq. Christopher Miller announced the plan eight days after he took over for fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who had submitted a memo recommending that Afghanistan did not warrant reductions. (Washington Post / CNBC / Bloomberg)
7/ Trump asked his top national security aides what options were available to taking action against Iran’s main nuclear site in the coming weeks. The meeting occurred a day after international inspectors reported a significant increase in Iran’s stockpile of nuclear material. Seniors advisers reportedly warned Trump that a strike against Iran’s facilities could escalate into a broader conflict in the last weeks of his presidency. Officials left the meeting believing a missile attack inside Iran was off the table. Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei warned against an attack, saying “Any action against the Iranian nation would certainly face a crushing response.” Biden, meanwhile, has promised to rejoin the nuclear deal with Iran as long as Iran also comes back into compliance. (New York Times / The Guardian)
1/ More than 1 in 400 Americans tested positive for the coronavirus last week. The United States surpassed 11 million reported cases Sunday – one week after hitting the 10 million mark – and the number of COVID-19 deaths now stands at more than 246,000. The seven-day average of new daily cases is more than 140,000, with 49 states trending upward. Meanwhile, governors and mayors are implementing new restrictions to slow the spread with Chicago issuing a new stay-at-home advisory, Philadelphia announcing strict new rules, New Mexico going into a two-week lockdown, North Dakota imposing a new mask mandate, New Jersey limiting gatherings, and California putting more than 94% of its population in its most restrictive reopening tier. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / Bloomberg)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~54,786,000; deaths: ~1,323,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~11,173,000; deaths: ~248,000
40% of Americans are planning to participate in large gatherings of 10 or more people this holiday season despite concerns over the spread of COVID-19. (United Press International)
The Third Surge Is Breaking Healthcare Workers. “Hospitals have put their pandemic plans into action, adding more beds and creating makeshift COVID-19 wards. But in the hardest-hit areas, there are simply not enough doctors, nurses, and other specialists to staff those beds.” (The Atlantic)
2/ Trump has not attended a coronavirus task force meeting in “at least five months.” Since Election Day, Trump has reportedly ceased to actively manage the pandemic, which has killed at least 244,000 Americans, infected at least 10.9 million, and slowed the country’s economy. Instead, Trump has repeatedly and falsely claimed the election was rigged against him. (Washington Post)
3/ Trump’s coronavirus adviser called for Michiganders to “rise up” against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s new COVID-19 restrictions. After Whitmer announced Sunday a three-week pause on indoor dining, Dr. Scott Atlas tweeted: “The only way this stops is if people rise up. You get what you accept.” Whitmer denounced Atlas’ call to action, saying it is “incredibly reckless.” Dr. Anthony Fauci added that he “totally disagrees” with Atlas. (ABC News / Politico / New York Times)
4/ Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine candidates is 94.5% effective, according to the early findings from a 30,000-subject trial that is still under way. The news comes a week after a similar shot developed by Pfizer and BioNTech said their candidate was more than 90% effective in an interim analysis. The two companies could have enough vaccine for about 25 to 30 million people in the U.S. in December, with the first doses going to the highest risk groups. Moderna’s vaccine was co-developed with Dr. Anthony Fauci’s institute. Trump, meanwhile, seeking to take credit for the vaccine news, tweeted: “For those great ‘historians’, please remember that these great discoveries, which will end the China Plague, all took place on my watch!” (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Politico / Bloomberg / Politico / The Guardian)
5/ Biden called the vaccine news “really encouraging” but warned “more people may die” if the Trump administration doesn’t cooperate and start the transition process. “We are going into a very dark winter,” Biden said. “If we have to wait until January 20th to start that planning, it puts us behind, over a month and a half,” Biden continued. Dr. Anthony Fauci, meanwhile, said it is “obvious” that the Trump administration’s refusal to begin the presidential transition is not good from a public health perspective and could stall the rollout of potential vaccines. “Of course it would be better if we could start working with” Biden’s team, adding that the “virus is not going to stop and call a time out while things change. The virus is just going to keep going. The process is just going to keep going.” (The Guardian / NPR / Politico / NBC News / Politico / Associated Press / CNN)
6/ Trump acknowledged that Biden won the presidential election, but then refused to concede. “He won because the Election was Rigged,” Trump tweeted, but an hour later added: “RIGGED ELECTION. WE WILL WIN!“ followed by “He only won in the eyes of the FAKE NEWS MEDIA. I concede NOTHING! We have a long way to go. This was a RIGGED ELECTION!“ Trump also continued to blame his loss on debunked conspiracies theories about the 2020 election in a series of posts that Twitter flagged for their disputed information. (CNN / Politico / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / New York Times)
7/ National security adviser Robert O’Brien promised a “professional transition” with the incoming Biden administration. “If the Biden-Harris ticket is determined to be the winner — and, obviously, things look that way now — we’ll have a very professional transition with the National Security Council, no doubt about it,” Trump’s national security adviser said. Trump, however, has refused to acknowledge the results of the Nov. 3 election, which he lost to Biden. He has falsely proclaimed several times on Twitter that “I WON THE ELECTION” or complained about the process. Twitter put a warning label on the tweets, noting that “official sources have called this election differently.” A growing number of top Republicans have urged Trump to start an orderly transition of power. (NPR / NBC News / Politico / New York Times)
The General Services Administration official blocking President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team from accessing government resources is looking for a new job. Emily Murphy, who is responsible for deciding when election results are clear enough to trigger a transition of power, recently sent that message to an associate asking about career opportunities in 2021. (ABC News)
8/ Sixteen federal prosectors assigned to monitor the 2020 election said they had not seen evidence of any substantial fraud. The assistant U.S. attorneys urged Attorney General William Barr to rescind his directive allowing investigators to pursue allegations of “vote tabulation irregularities” before results are certified, saying “the policy change was not based in fact.” (Washington Post)
The Trump campaign withdrew a central part of its lawsuit seeking to stop the certification of the election results in Pennsylvania. Trump’s attorneys, in revised version of the lawsuit, removed allegations that election officials violated the Trump campaign’s constitutional rights by limiting observers from watching votes being counted. Trump’s campaign initially wanted 682,479 mail-in and absentee ballots to be thrown out, claiming they were processed without its representatives able to watch. Trump, meanwhile, has put Rudy Giuliani in charge of his campaign lawsuits related to the election. (Associated Press / The Guardian / New York Times / Politico / Washington Post)
Lawsuits that tried to disrupt Biden’s wins in four states are withdrawn. (CNN)
9/ The Trump administration will auction off oil and gas drilling rights in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska before Biden takes office. The Federal Register posted a “call for nominations” from the Bureau of Land Management relating to lease sales in about 1.5 million acres of the refuge along the coast of the Arctic Ocean. In a reversal of decades of protections, Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress in 2017 authorized potential oil and gas development in the refuge. Biden has opposed drilling in the refuge and any sales would be subject to review by the Biden administration. (Washington Post / New York Times)
10/ Chad Wolf has not been serving lawfully as the acting secretary of Homeland Security and his suspension of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program is invalid, a federal judge ruled. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration wrongly tried to shut down DACA protections, but Wolf nonetheless suspended DACA on July 28. The Trump administration, meanwhile, has renewed its effort to get Wolf confirmed before Inauguration Day. (CNN / NBC News / Axios)
11/ Trump is expected to order the Pentagon to reduce troop levels to 2,500 in Afghanistan and 2,500 in Iraq before Trump leaves office on January 20. The Pentagon, however, has repeatedly warned that doing so could jeopardize lasting peace in the region. There are currently 4,500 U.S. troops in Afghanistan and 3,000 in Iraq. (CNN / ABC News / Bloomberg / Washington Post)
12/ Hate crimes in the U.S. rose to the highest level in more than a decade. The number of hate crime murders also hit a record high in 2019. White nationalist hate groups, meanwhile, rose by 55% between 2017 and 2019. (Associated Press / Axios)
1/ The U.S. topped more than 153,000 coronavirus cases for the first time, hospitalizations hit another all-time high, and New Mexico and Oregon issued new lockdown orders. It’s the seventh time in nine days that the confirmed cases reached a new high. The death toll, meanwhile, surpassed 242,000. Biden’s coronavirus task force rejected the possibility of a national lockdown, but Biden did say he would ask governors to institute a mask mandate in their states. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~53,186,000; deaths: ~1,301,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~10,708,000; deaths: ~245,000
2/ More than 130 Secret Service officers are quarantining due to positive coronavirus tests or exposure stemming from Trump’s campaign rallies before Election Day. Roughly 10% of the agency’s core security team has been sidelined. At least 30 uniformed Secret Service officers tested positive and about 60 have been asked by the agency to quarantine. (Washington Post / New York Times / Axios)
3/ Trump’s efforts to overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s victory suffered three major setbacks in Arizona, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. In Arizona, Trump’s campaign dropped a legal challenge of a number of ballots in Maricopa County, saying Biden’s overall lead in the state is too big for the disputed ballots to make a difference. In Michigan, a judge declined a request to block the certification of election results in Detroit. And in Pennsylvania, Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar said a recount and a re-canvass was not necessary because Biden leads the vote count by more than 53,500 votes – outside the margin that would permit a recount. The law firm leading the Trump campaign’s efforts to challenge the election results in Pennsylvania withdrew from a federal lawsuit that it had filed on behalf of the campaign. And, a top lawyer at Jones Day, told colleagues that the firm would not get involved in additional litigation in this election. Meanwhile, North Carolina was called for Trump by four networks, with ABC and CNN projecting a Biden win in Georgia. All 50 states’ presidential races have been called, leaving Trump with 232 electoral votes to Biden’s 306 electoral votes. (CNBC / Bloomberg / New York Times / Politico / ABC News / CNN / CNN)
Trump’s campaign ended its “voter fraud” hotline after it was flooded with prank calls. While the campaign set up a conference room for hotline staff to take calls, sources said it was mostly spam or calls from people mocking the hotline. (CNN)
Obama called Republican lawmakers supporting Trump’s unfounded claims of voter fraud “disappointing,” adding “there’s damage to this.” (Politico / NBC News)
4/ The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency reported that the presidential election was “the most secure in American history,” rejecting Trump’s repeated baseless claims of voter fraud. The statement from state and federal election officials said they found “no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes or was in any way compromised,” and acknowledged the “many unfounded claims and opportunities for misinformation about the process of our elections.” Hours earlier, Trump repeated a baseless report that a voting machine system “deleted 2.7 million Trump votes nationwide.” Trump, meanwhile, tweeted that Democrats have complained for years about unsafe elections but “Now they are saying what a wonderful job the Trump Administration did in making 2020 the most secure election ever.” (New York Times / Bloomberg / Associated Press / NPR / The Guardian / CNN / Axios)
5/ Trump continues to insist to aides that he beat Biden and has asked advisers whether he could pressure Republican legislatures to pick pro-Trump electors in key states to steal the electoral votes needed to change the math and give him a second term. People briefed on the conversation say it wasn’t a very serious conversation as “Trump has spent his days toggling between his White House residence and the Oval Office, watching television coverage about the final weeks of his presidency. His mood is often bleak, advisers say.” For much of the week, Trump has been “sequestered from public view, tweeting grievances, falsehoods and misinformation about the election results and about Fox News’s coverage of him.” A half-dozen advisers and people close to Trump have concluded that there is no grand strategy and “Trump is simply trying to survive from one news cycle to the next.” (New York Times / Washington Post)
6/ Trump will lose the constitutional protection from prosecution when he leaves the White House on January 20, making him vulnerable to a pending grand jury investigation by the Manhattan district attorney into the Trump Organization and his taxes. Trump is expected to pardon campaign associates and members of his family as he leaves office. The biggest looming pardon question, however, is whether Trump will grant himself a pardon, amid state investigations into his business and finances and the prospect of federal investigators scrutinizing him after he leaves office. Trump’s pardon power does not extend to state crimes and would not protect him or others from ongoing investigations into the Trump Organization being led by the New York attorney general and the Manhattan district attorney. (New York Times / CNN)
White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said the Trump administration is operating “under the assumption there will be a second Trump term.” (Politico)
7/ The Trump administration is urging Mitch McConnell to confirm Chad Wolf as Homeland Security secretary before before Inauguration Day. Wolf has been serving in an acting capacity for a year and his appointment has been cast as invalid by the Government Accountability Office and in federal court. (CNN)
8/ The Trump administration plans to auction drilling rights in the U.S. Arctic National Wildlife Refuge before Biden’s inauguration. Biden, meanwhile, has pledged to permanently protect the refuge, saying drilling there would be a “big disaster.” (Bloomberg)
9/ Federal officials granted TikTok a 15-day extension to find an American buyer after the Trump administration failed to enforce its own deadline. Attorney General William Barr was responsible for enforcing Trump’s order. A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment on why the Trump administration did not enforce the initial deadline. (NPR / Wall Street Journal)
1/ Dr. Anthony Fauci urged Americans to “double down” on precautions as the U.S. recorded more than 145,000 coronavirus cases Wednesday – yet another record. The nation’s top infectious disease expert said that while “help is on the way […] it isn’t here yet,” referring to the early results from the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine candidate, which was more than 90% effective in preventing COVID-19 infections. The rise in infections comes with new highs in the number of deaths. The U.S. reported 1,549 deaths Wednesday – the highest since May 14. Fauci, meanwhile, added that working alongside the Trump administration has been “very stressful.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Axios / CNBC / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~52,553,000; deaths: ~1,291,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~10,514,000; deaths: ~243,000
2/ Corey Lewandowski tested positive for the coronavirus. The Trump campaign advisor, who has helped lead efforts to undermine Biden’s victory, was in Philadelphia for the news conference at Four Seasons Total Landscaping, alongside Rudy Giuliani and former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi. Lewandowski also attended the election night party at the White House, where several other people later tested positive. (New York Times / CNBC / CNN)
White House political affairs director Brian Jack tested positive for coronavirus. Jack attended Trump’s election night party at the White House. (New York Times / CNN)
Republic National Committee chief of staff Richard Walters tested positive for coronavirus. Walters was not at the White House election night party. (NBC News)
3/ Biden formed a COVID-19 transition team to coordinate the coronavirus response across the government. While the team has not yet been formally announced – and is different from the coronavirus task force that Biden unveiled Monday – it consists of 52 transition officials across most federal agencies. Biden’s 13-member coronavirus task force will eventually be integrated into the COVID-19 transition team. (Politico)
4/ Several Senate Republicans warned that Trump’s continued refusal to concede and allow Biden to begin the transition jeopardizes national security. Senate Republicans have said that Biden should at least be given access to the President’s Daily Brief. Sen. James Lankford, who chairs a Homeland Security subcommittee, said he will intervene if the the General Services Administration doesn’t certify the election by Friday. Without sign-off from Trump, Biden cannot receive the intelligence briefings. (New York Times / Politico / Washington Post)
5/ Biden named long-time aide Ron Klain as his White House chief of staff. In a statement, Biden called Klain an “invaluable” adviser, noting the work they did together during the economic crisis in 2009 and the Ebola outbreak in 2014. Klain has also been a senior adviser to Democratic presidents, vice presidents, candidates and senators. (New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg)
6/ The White House forced two senior Department of Homeland Security officials to resign. Bryan Ware, the Assistant Director for Cybersecurity for the DHS’ Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and Valerie Boyd, DHS assistant secretary for international affairs, were both pressured to resign. (CNN / Reuters)
7/ The Trump administration notified Congress of its intent to sell $23 billion in weapons to the United Arab Emirates. While there have been bipartisan efforts in Congress to block potential arms sales to Persian Gulf states, the sale will go forward after 30 calendar days unless both houses of Congress pass a resolution of disapproval by a veto-proof majority. (CNN / New York Times / CNBC / Axios)
8/ Trump told friends that he wants to start a digital media company to “wreck” Fox News. The subscription-based streaming platform would be similar to Fox Nation and would leverage Trump’s database of email and cellphone contacts collected during his campaign to launch. (Axios / Bloomberg / CNN)
1/ U.S. COVID-19 hospitalizations reached an all-time high of 61,964, as new daily cases passed 139,000 for the first time. The previous record for hospitalizations was 59,780 on April 12. The U.S., meanwhile, recorded more than 1 million new coronavirus cases in the past 10 days and is averaging more than 111,000 new cases a day – a record. More than 1,440 new deaths were also reported, pushing the the seven-day average to more than 1,000 new deaths a day for the first time since August 19. Public health experts, meanwhile, warn that the U.S. is heading for a “dark winter,” a “Covid hell,” and the “darkest days of the pandemic” – aka the next few months of the coronavirus pandemic will be unlike anything the nation has seen yet. (New York Times / CNBC / The Guardian / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post)
Two more people who attended Trump’s Election Night party at the White House have been diagnosed with the coronavirus, bringing the current tally of COVID-19 cases from the event to at least five. (CNBC)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~51,927,000; deaths: ~1,281,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~10,362,000; deaths: ~241,000
2/ Election officials in 45 states representing both political parties said there was no evidence of voter fraud or irregularities. State officials and secretaries of state in four of the five remaining states reported no major voting issues. Officials in Texas did not respond when asked whether they suspected or had evidence of illegal voting. (New York Times)
3/ A Pennsylvania postal worker admitted that he fabricated the allegations that a postmaster instructed postal workers to backdate ballots mailed after Election Day. Richard Hopkins told investigators from the U.S. Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General that the allegations of widespread voting irregularities were not true, and he signed an affidavit recanting his claims. Hopkins’s claim was cited by Lindsey Graham in a letter to the Justice Department calling for a federal investigation. Attorney General William Barr subsequently authorized federal prosecutors to investigate credible allegations of voting irregularities and fraud before results are certified. The Trump campaign also cited Hopkins’s allegation in a federal lawsuit seeking to prevent Pennsylvania election officials from certifying the states’ results. (Washington Post)
Georgia will conduct a statewide hand recount of ballots cast in the election amid baseless accusations of election fraud from Republicans. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said the hand recount, which will likely be both less accurate than a machine recount and more costly, “will help build confidence.” Meanwhile, Georgia’s Lieutenant Gov. Geoff Duncan, a Republican, said there have not been “any sort of substantial instances” of voter fraud in the state. (NPR / CNBC / CBS News / CNN)
The Trump campaign filed another lawsuit in Michigan challenging the election results over alleged irregularities, seeking to stop the state from certifying results that show Biden leading by about 146,000 votes. (Bloomberg)
4/ The Office of the Director of National Intelligence won’t provide Biden with intelligence reports until the General Services Administration recognizes that Biden won the election. GSA chief Emily Murphy has yet to sign the letter of “ascertainment,” which allows Biden’s transition team to begin the transfer of power. As a result, Biden is not receiving the President’s Daily Brief and it’s not clear whether any of his top advisers are getting access to any classified material at all. (NBC News / New York Times)
5/ Trump made his first public appearance in six days to visit Arlington National Cemetery for a ceremony commemorating Veterans Day. He did not speak at the event. Trump’s official schedule has been devoid of public events since Biden surpassed the 270 electoral votes. (Associated Press / CNN)
6/ Trump named three loyalists to top Pentagon jobs a day after firing Defense Secretary Mark Esper. James Anderson, who had been acting undersecretary for policy, resigned and was replaced by Anthony Tata, a retired Army one-star general and former Fox News commentator who failed to get through Senate confirmation earlier this year. Joseph Kernan, a retired Navy vice admiral, stepped down as undersecretary for intelligence, and was replaced by Ezra Cohen-Watnick, who becomes acting undersecretary for intelligence. Trump also named Christopher Miller as defense chief. (Associated Press)
poll/ 86% of Trump voters don’t think Biden legitimately won the election, but can’t provide any evidence to support the claim. (Washington Post)
1/ Attorney General William Barr authorized federal prosecutors to investigate “substantial allegations” of voter fraud – if they exist – before the results of the election are certified, despite no evidence of widespread fraud. In a reversal of long-standing Justice Department policy, Barr wrote that investigations “may be conducted if there are clear and apparently-credible allegations of irregularities that, if true, could potentially impact the outcome of a federal election in an individual State.” In Barr’s directive, he said he had already approved probes related to the 2020 election “in specific instances,” but did not elaborate on the circumstances or whether they remained open. (New York Times / Associated Press / Politico / Washington Post)
Trump’s campaign filed a lawsuit in Pennsylvania to block state officials from certifying President-elect Biden’s victory in the state. The lawsuit, brought by the campaign and two registered voters, alleged Pennsylvania’s mail-in voting system “lacked all of the hallmarks of transparency and verifiability that were present for in-person voters.” (Reuters / Bloomberg)
2/ The Justice Department’s top election crimes prosecutor resigned in protest after Barr authorized U.S. attorneys to probe alleged elections fraud. Richard Pilger told colleagues in an email that Barr’s memorandum breaks with the Justice Department’s policy on avoiding interference with elections that has stood for 40 years. A Justice Department official confirmed that the department is “looking into” allegations of ineligible voters in Nevada and mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania. (NPR / NBC News / CNN / Axios / The Guardian)
3/ Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ignored Biden’s victory and claimed there will be a “smooth transition” to a second Trump term. “We must count every legal vote,” Pompeo said. “We must make sure that any vote that was not lawful ought not be counted, that dilutes your vote if it’s done improperly, gotta get that right. When we get it right, we’ll get it right.” When asked whether the State Department was prepared to engage with Biden’s transition team, Pompeo replied: “There will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration.” (CNBC / Bloomberg / Axios / The Hill)
Trump installed Kash Patel as chief of staff to new acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller. (Wall Street Journal)
4/ The White House budget office instructed federal agencies to proceed with plans for Trump’s February budget. “The decision to proceed with Trump’s budget for the 2022 fiscal year has rankled and surprised several career staffers given Biden’s victory, as well as the fact that the incoming Biden administration is expected to submit its budget plan to Congress early next year.” The White House budget proposal is typically issued in February, which would be at least two weeks after Trump leaves office. (Washington Post)
5/ The White House continues to vet political appointees for Trump’s nonexistent second term. The White House Presidential Personnel Office is in the process of vetting candidates for job openings in the federal government and the White House intends to fill early next year. (Daily Beast)
6/ The Biden-Harris transition team is considering legal action if the Trump administration doesn’t formalize Biden’s win and give him access to agencies and transition funding. The General Services Administration is tasked with “ascertaining” the results of the presidential election, but GSA Administrator Emily Murphy, a Trump appointee, has refused to sign the paperwork to begin the transition. Biden, meanwhile, called Trump’s refusal to concede the election an “embarrassment” that “will not help his legacy.” (CBS News / Wall Street Journal / CNBC / ABC News / The Guardian)
Trump’s adviser leading his post-election challenge tested positive for the coronavirus. David Bossie joins Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, who both contracted the virus in the past week. (Bloomberg / CNBC)
7/ The FDA issued an emergency use authorization for a monoclonal antibody therapy to treat mild to moderate coronavirus infections in adults and children. The single antibody treatment is similar to the therapy given to Trump after he contracted the coronavirus. Eli Lilly said that its treatment should be administered as soon as possible after a positive coronavirus test, and within 10 days of developing symptoms. (New York Times / Bloomberg / CNN / Washington Post)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~51,285,000; deaths: ~1,269,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~10,210,000; deaths: ~240,000
8/ Lawyers can’t find the parents for 666 migrant kids separated by the Trump administration – a higher number than the 545 previously reported. (NBC News)
9/ Trump removed the official in charge of the program that produces the federal government’s scientific report on climate change. Michael Kuperberg, a climate scientist who had been executive director of the U.S. Global Change Research Program since July 2015, had been expected to stay on through the production of the fifth edition of the congressionally mandated National Climate Assessment. The move comes days after the White House tapped Betsy Weatherhead to lead the climate study. (Politico / Washington Post)
poll/ 70% of Republicans do not believe the election “free and fair” despite no evidence of fraud. (The Guardian)
1/ More than 10 million people have been infected with the coronavirus in the United States, which is about one-fifth of the 50 million infections worldwide. At least 105,000 new COVID-19 cases were reported on Sunday, down slightly from the daily record set a day earlier. All but one state had more cases last week than the week before. (NPR / ABC News / USA Today / CNN / Bloomberg)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~50,767,000; deaths: ~1,262,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~10,030,000; deaths: ~239,000
2/ Biden named 13 health experts to his Transition COVID-19 Advisory Board and declared the pandemic “one of the most important battles our administration will face.” Biden added: “I will be informed by science and by experts.” The panel will be co-chaired by the former FDA commissioner, former Surgeon General, and an associate professor of medicine and epidemiology at Yale. While Biden is unable to take control of the country’s response until after his Jan. 20 inauguration, the advisory board will work to create a plan for bringing the pandemic under control — a process Biden says will begin immediately after his inauguration – despite uncertainty over how much the Trump administration will cooperate. Biden also warned that the U.S. was facing a “dark winter” as the coronavirus continues to spread and appealed to Americans to wear mask, saying “a mask is not a political statement.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / Axios / NPR / NBC News / Bloomberg)
3/ Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine is reportedly more than 90% effective, according to an analysis by an independent data monitoring committee. Pfizer plans to ask the FDA for emergency authorization later this month, after it has collected two months of safety data. By the end of the year it will have manufactured enough doses to immunize 15 to 20 million people. Pfizer did not join Operation Warp Speed, the Jared Kushner initiative to rush a vaccine to market by providing funding for research and manufacturing. Instead, Pfizer invested $2 billion on the project and then made a $1.95 billion deal with the U.S. government to provide 100 million doses. (New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / STAT News / Politico / CNBC)
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson tested positive for COVID-19, days after Chief of Staff Mark Meadows also tested positive. Meadows and Carson attended the White House’s largely mask-free election night party alongside a group of officials in Trump’s Cabinet. (Axios / Washington Post)
Rep. Matt Gaetz, a close Trump ally, tested positive for coronavirus antibodies on Election Day. In March, Gaetz wore a gas mask on the House floor during a vote on an emergency funding bill to fight the spread of COVID-19. (Politico / The Hill)
4/ Biden plans to sign a series of executive orders after being sworn into office on Jan. 20 to reverse Trump’s policies, including rejoining the Paris climate accord, reversing the country’s withdrawal from the World Health Organization, repealing the ban on travel from some Muslim-majority countries, and reinstating the program allowing “Dreamers” to remain in the country. (Washington Post)
5/ Trump and his campaign continue to baselessly claim widespread election fraud, alleging that observers were blocked from ballot-counting rooms. The claim is without any basis in fact and is contradicted by several of Trump’s own legal filings. (New York Times / Washington Post / Axios)
Trump plans to hold campaign-style rallies in an effort to fight against the election results. He also reportedly plans to display the obituaries of people who supposedly voted but are dead. (Axios)
6/ Mitch McConnell supported Trump’s refusal to concede the election, saying Trump was “100 percent within his rights” to challenge the outcome and “look into allegations of irregularities and weigh his legal options.” McConnell, declining to recognize Biden’s victory, added that Trump was right to not concede the presidential race because no states have certified their results yet. Jason Miller, a senior adviser to Trump’s reelection effort, said conceding “is not even in our vocabulary right now.” (New York Times / NBC News / Politico)
7/ A Trump administration appointee has refused to recognize Biden as the winner of the election and has declined to sign a letter allowing Biden’s transition team to formally begin its work. Emily Murphy, the administrator for the General Services Administration, must first affirm the election results in order for Biden’s transition to receive the legally mandated millions of dollars in federal funding, as well as access to government officials, office space in agencies, and equipment authorized for the transition team. Meanwhile, John Barsa, the acting deputy administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development told political appointees that the transition of power hasn’t started and will not begin until Murphy signs off. (Washington Post / CNBC / CNN)
8/ Trump fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper by tweet. Trump tweeted that Christopher Miller, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, would immediately become acting defense secretary now that “Esper has been terminated.” Trump nominated Esper last year as his fourth defense secretary and the two had been at odds since Esper declined to deploy active-service troops to U.S. cities at the height of the Black Lives Matter protests this summer. Two White House officials said that FBI Director Christopher Wray and CIA Director Gina Haspel could be next. (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / CNBC / Wall Street Journal / CNN / The Guardian / Reuters / USA Today)
9/ Trump told advisers he’s thinking about running for president again in 2024. (Axios)
1/ Biden defeated Trump to become the 46th president of the United States. The Associated Press and TV networks called Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral votes for Biden, putting him over the 270-vote threshold needed to win the Electoral College. Shortly after, Nevada was also called for Biden. “With the campaign over, it’s time to put the anger and the harsh rhetoric behind us and come together as a nation,” Biden said in the statement. “It’s time for America to unite. And to heal. We are the United States of America. And there’s nothing we can’t do, if we do it together.” Shortly before news organization called the race, Trump tweeted “I WON THIS ELECTION, BY A LOT!” Kamala Harris will become the nation’s first woman, first Asian American, and first Black vice president. Trump, meanwhile, is the first president since 1992 to fail to win a second term. Biden is expected to give his victory speech at 8 p.m. Saturday — a full five days after the last ballots were cast. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / NPR / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / Los Angeles Times / USA Today / ABC News / NBC News / CNN)
2/ Moments after CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC, AP, and Fox News called the presidential election for Biden, Trump refused to concede, falsely claimed that the election was “far from over,” accused Biden of “rushing to falsely pose as the winner,” and threatened legal action to contest the results in some states. “Beginning Monday, our campaign will start prosecuting our case in court to ensure election laws are fully upheld and the rightful winner is seated,” Trump said in a statement issued while he was golfing at his club in Virginia. The Trump campaign has already filed — and lost — multiple lawsuits alleging voting violations in several states. (Fox News / NPR / Associated Press / Politico / CNN / @brianstelter)
3/ The U.S. recorded more than 1,000 coronavirus deaths for the fourth straight day. The U.S. also set a daily record for new cases for the third straight day, with more than 132,700 new cases. At least 17 states reported single day records for new cases, and four states reported record deaths. (New York Times)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~49,625,000; deaths: ~1,248,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~9,788,000; deaths: ~237,000
4/ White House chief of staff Mark Meadows tested positive for the coronavirus. He didn’t issue a statement after testing positive for coronavirus this week and directed officials and advisers to not disclose his condition. At least five other people within Trump’s orbit tested positive for coronavirus in the days before and after Election Day, including top campaign aide Nick Trainer. (Bloomberg / New York Times / Washington Post / CNN)
5/ Trump fired the leaders of the agencies responsible for the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile, electricity and natural gas regulation, and overseas aid. The White House declined comment on the firings, and declined to say whether there would be more following the election. (NPR)
Today in one sentence: Biden is on the verge of winning the presidency after taking the lead in the vote count in Pennsylvania and Georgia; Trump – citing no evidence – continued to question the integrity of the election and promised legal action; and the U.S. recorded at least 121,000 new coronavirus cases a day after hitting 100,000 for the first time since the pandemic began.
1/ Biden is on the verge of winning the presidency after taking the lead in the vote count in Pennsylvania and Georgia. While a recount is expected in Georgia due to the narrow margin, Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral votes alone would put Biden over the 270 threshold needed to win the presidency. In the past 50 years, few recounts have led to changes in the winners. In Nevada, Biden’s lead doubled to about 22,000 votes by Friday morning, while his lead in Arizona shrank to about 43,800 votes with more than 200,000 ballots left to be counted. Trump needs to win at least four of the five outstanding states — Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania – all of which are too close to call. Biden and Harris, meanwhile, are expected to address the nation in a primetime speech Friday evening. In July, Trump declined to say whether he would accept the results of the election if he lost, saying “I’m not a good loser. I don’t like to lose.” (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / NPR / USA Today / The Guardian / NBC News)
The Secret Service will ramp up protection for Biden as his campaign prepares to soon claim victory in his bid for the White House. (Washington Post)
Democrats picked up a Senate pickup in Arizona after Democrat Mark Kelly has defeated Republican Sen. Martha McSally. (NBC News / CNN)
2/ Trump – citing no evidence – continued to question the integrity of the election and promised legal action, baselessly tweeting “I easily WIN the Presidency of the United States with LEGAL VOTES CAST. The OBSERVERS were not allowed, in any way, shape, or form, to do their job and therefore, votes accepted during this period must be determined to be ILLEGAL VOTES. U.S. Supreme Court should decide!” There’s no evidence of widespread illegal votes in any state and the 3:10 a.m. tweet by the president was labeled as “misleading” by Twitter. Trump’s tweet followed a Thursday evening public address, which turned into his mostdishonestspeechof hispresidency. And, in a statement Friday morning, Trump said “this is no longer about any single election. This is about the integrity of our entire election process.” And, despite no evidence that Democrats have resisted counting legal ballots or throwing out illegal ballots, Trump also claimed “all legal ballots must be counted and all illegal ballots should not be counted, yet we have met resistance to this basic principle by Democrats at every turn.” Republicans, meanwhile, have pushed back against Trump’s false and baseless claims of election fraud. (NBC News / Politico / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Axios)
3/ Trump has not prepared a concession speech and has told allies that he has no intention of conceding the election. Trump and his aides, meanwhile, are prepared to act like he’s starting his second term early, potentially firing department heads like the FBI’s Chris Wray and Pentagon chief Mark Esper, and sign base-pleasing executive orders. (CNN / Politico / The Guardian / Axios)
4/ The U.S. recorded at least 121,000 new coronavirus cases – a day after hitting 100,000 for the first time since the pandemic began It’s the second week in a row of record-breaking growth. At least 20 states saw their highest daily counts, and the number of deaths exceeded 1,000 for the third consecutive day. New U.S. cases are up 55% from two weeks ago on average, and the U.S. is now averaging more than 94,000 cases a day – double where it was a month ago. And, 93% of U.S. counties with the highest number of new coronavirus cases per capita voted to reelect Trump.(New York Times / Washington Post / NPR / Associated Press)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~49,115,000; deaths: ~1,240,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~9,666,000; deaths: ~236,000
5/ A federal judge ordered the Small Business Administration to disclose detailed information for all Paycheck Protection Program loans, including names, addresses, and loan amounts. The SBA had previously released only summarized and anonymized data for loans under $150,000. The agency denied Freedom of Information Act requests by news agencies to release details about pandemic-related loans that would disclose information on businesses that benefited from $717 billion in federally backed borrowings. (NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
6/ Twitter banned Steve Bannon after he called for the beheading of Dr. Anthony Fauci and FBI Director Christopher Wray. His comments were made in a video posted to Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, which he called a “warning.” Bannon’s criminal defense lawyers, meanwhile, filed court papers seeking to withdraw from his case, where he is accused of defrauding donors to a crowdfunding campaign that claimed to be raising money for the construction of a private wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. (CNN / NPR / The Guardian / CNBC)
Today in one sentence: There was no conclusion to the U.S. presidential election (so far); Biden currently leads in several undecided states but votes continue to be counted in Nevada, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Arizona; Biden remains six electoral votes away from 270; Trump’s campaign pushed officials in Arizona to ensure all ballots were counted but sued in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Georgia to stop the counts; Biden urged Americans “to stay calm” and reiterated that “every vote must be counted,” while Trump, after a 14-hour Twitter silence, tweeted that states must “STOP THE COUNT!” and at a press conference later in the day repeated his false declaration that he won the election and falsely claimed that “they” are trying “to steal the election”; and, oh by the way, the U.S. reported more than 100,000 new coronavirus cases in a single day for the first time.
1/ Trump demanded that vote counting be stopped in states where he’s leading and demanded that the tallies continue where he’s losing. In a pair of all-caps tweets, Trump made multiple false claims about the remaining ballots left to be counted and contradicted his campaign’s own strategy. “STOP THE COUNT!” Trump tweeted, followed by “ANY VOTE THAT CAME IN AFTER ELECTION DAY WILL NOT BE COUNTED!” A number of states, including Pennsylvania, allow ballots to arrive for days after the election as long as they are postmarked by Election Day. Ballots often take longer to arrive from service members deployed overseas and election officials have pledged to count every valid vote.
2/ In Arizona, the Trump campaign sent a team to ensure that the remaining mail-in ballots are counted. Campaign manager Bill Stepien said the team believes the ballots will favor Trump and flip the state back to his column. The Associated Press and Fox News both called Arizona for Biden, who currently leads by about 60,000 votes. The state will release another round of counts around 9 p.m. Eastern.
3/ Trump’s campaign filed lawsuits in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Georgia to stop counting or disqualify ballots, and said it would demand a “recount” in Wisconsin. A judge in Georgia, however, denied Trump’s effort to disqualify ballots that a Republican poll watcher claimed had arrived after the deadline on Election Day. In court, the poll watcher offered no evidence that the ballots had arrived late, and county election officials testified that they had arrived on time. In Michigan, a judge denied the Trump campaign’s request to stop the counting of votes, saying the request made little sense since counting had essentially finished and Biden was ahead by about 150,000 votes. Trump’s lead in Georgia, meanwhile, has slipped to about 3,600 votes with roughly 42,000 ballots left to be counted. In Pennsylvania, Trump’s lead dropped to under 65,000 and is expected to shrink as more ballots are counted. Pennsylvania Secretary of State said it was possible they’d know the state’s presidential winner tonight.
4/ In Nevada, the Trump campaign said it was filing a federal lawsuit seeking to block alleged “illegal votes” from thousands of people, including those who became non-residents during the coronavirus pandemic and “dead voters.” At a news conference at the Clark County elections department headquarters, former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt and other Trump campaign surrogates, including former administration official Richard Grenell, claimed without evidence that ballots belonging to deceased people had been counted, and that “thousands” of people had voted despite moving out of the county. When pressed for evidence of those alleged illegal ballots, Grenell refused to answer questions and chided reporters for asking questions, saying, “Listen you’re getting information […] do your job, it’s pretty easy.” Biden is currently leading Trump by about 11,438 votes with 190,000 ballots to be counted. About 90% are from Clark County.
5/ Trump – again – falsely declared victory and repeated his baseless claim that “if you count the legal votes, I easily win.” There is no evidence support the claims and Trump did not provide evidence. Nevertheless, Trump added: “If you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us.” Trump spoke for 17 minutes and did not take any questions. ABC, CBS, and MSNBC all stopped broadcasting Trump’s remarks.
6/ Biden, meanwhile, said he had “no doubt” his campaign had won the election, but urged Americans to “stay calm” while the remaining votes are counted. “Each ballot must be counted, and that’s what we’re going through now,” Biden said. “Democracy is sometimes messy. It sometimes requires a little patience as well.” He added: “Stay calm. The process is working. The count is being completed. And we’ll know very soon.”
7/ More than 150,000 ballots were not processed and delivered on Election Day by the U.S. Postal Service. The number of mailed ballots not delivered by Election Day is expected to grow as more data is released in the coming days. (Washington Post)
8/ An international delegation monitoring the U.S. election said there is no evidence to support Trump’s allegations of mail-in voter fraud. Michael Georg Link, a German lawmaker who heads an observer mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said “we couldn’t see any violations” and that he was “very surprised” by Trump’s claims about fraud. Wisconsin election officials, meanwhile, rejected the Trump campaign’s unsubstantiated claims that there were irregularities in the voting process, reassuring voters that there are “no dark corners or locked doors in elections” and the state’s voting process was transparent. The Biden campaign characterized the Trump campaign’s call for a recount in Wisconsin as “pathetic” and “fruitless attempts,” pointing out that when Trump won Wisconsin by fewer than 23,000 votes in 2016, he called the victory a “landslide.” (Associated Press /ABC News / NPR)
The Office of Special Counsel opened an investigation into allegations that the Trump campaign’s use of the White House as an Election Day command center violated the Hatch Act. Rep. Bill Pascrell, who filed the complaint, said the Special Counsel’s office said that it “was not consulted [by the Trump campaign or White House] on the decision to use space inside the Eisenhower Executive Office Building as a campaign ‘war room,’” and that “[o]ur Hatch Act Unit has opened an investigation into these allegations to determine if the Hatch Act was violated.” (Reuters / InsiderNJ)
9/ The Justice Department told federal prosecutors that the law allowed them to send armed federal officers to polling locations to investigate potential voter fraud. While a law prohibits stationing armed federal officers at polls on Election Day, the department interpreted the statute to mean that they could send armed federal officers to locations where ballots were being counted anytime after that. The memo sent early Wednesday as the polls closed. (New York Times / USA Today)
10/ The control of the Senate hinges on Georgia, where at least one – and possibly both – of the state’s Senate races will go to a January runoff. Under Georgia law, if no candidate gets more than 50%, the two top vote-getters compete in a runoff to be held on Jan. 5, 2021. Incumbent Republican Senator David Perdue was at 49.98% with about 47,000 ballots still to be count. If that holds, he would face off against Democrat Jon Ossoff. Meanwhile, Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler is already headed to a runoff against Democrat Raphael Warnock. (Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
11/ The United States reported 102,831 new coronavirus cases in a single day for the first time, breaking the previous record set last week. Over the past seven days, the U.S. averaged about 85,000 new cases per day – a 20% increase from the week before – and 23 states have recorded more cases in the past week than in any other seven-day stretch. COVID-19 hospitalizations, meanwhile, reached all-time highs in 16 states and at least 1,097 deaths were reported Wednesday. (New York Times / NBC News / Axios / The Atlantic / CNN / NPR / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press /
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~48,581,000; deaths: ~1,232,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~9,601,000; deaths: ~235,000
Defense Secretary Mark Esper has prepared a letter of resignation. (NBC News)
An apartment management company owned in part by Jared Kushner submitted hundreds of eviction filings in court against tenants with past due rent during the pandemic. Westminster Management has been sending letters to tenants threatening legal fees and then filing eviction notices in court despite both a state and federal moratorium on evictions. (Washington Post)
Today in one sentence: Biden holds a 253 to 213 Electoral College advantage over Trump after narrowly winning both Wisconsin and Michigan; the Trump campaign, however, said it would request a recount; Biden holds a lead in Arizona and Nevada, while Trump is up in Alaska, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Georgia; Democrats are still projected to win the House but in the Senate, Democrats have only gained one seat, with five races yet to be called; Biden is currently winning the popular vote by nearly 3 million; and Trump falsely claimed he won the presidential election and vowed to take legal action to stop “all voting.”
1/ With millions of votes yet to be counted, Trump falsely asserted there was election fraud, demanded that “all voting must stop,” threatened to have the Supreme Court intervene in the election process, and declared himself the winner of the election, which will take days – if not weeks – to resolve. In a 2:30 a.m. address from the White House and surrounded by about 150 mask-less guests, Trump peddled multiple baseless claims that the normal process of counting ballots – which has been slowed by the impact of COVID-19 pandemic – is an “embarrassment” and a “fraud on the American public.” Trump also claimed victory in several states where millions of mail-in ballots are still being counted, describing the situation as a “major fraud in our nation,” and without offering any explanation, said “we’ll be going to the U.S. Supreme Court. We want all voting to stop.” Voting did stop when polls closed Tuesday night, but in several states counting of mail-in ballots couldn’t begin until Election Day, which are expected to take several days to complete. And, earlier in the night, Trump baselessly tweeted that “We are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the Election. We will never let them do it. Votes cannot be cast after the Polls are closed.” Twitter flagged the tweet as disputed and possibly misleading. There is no evidence to support any of Trump’s claims. On Wednesday, Biden said it was “clear” that he would reach 270 electoral votes and win the presidency, but stopped short of claiming victory. “Here, the people rule,” Biden said. “Power can’t be taken or asserted. It flows from the people. And it’s their will that determines who will be the president of the United States, and their will alone,” adding: “every vote must be counted. No one’s going to take our democracy away from us. Not now, not ever.” (The Guardian / New York Times / CNN / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / BuzzFeed News)
Arizona: Officials will update results around 9 p.m. Eastern
Georgia: Counting will be completed on Wednesday.
Nevada: Results will not be updated until noon Eastern on Thursday.
North Carolina: Mail ballots postmarked by Election Day are accepted until Nov. 12.
Pennsylvania: Officials expect most votes will be counted by Friday.
2/ Biden narrowly won both Wisconsin and Michigan. The Trump campaign, meanwhile, vowed to “immediately” request a recount in Wisconsin, which can be done if the margin of victory is within 1%. According to the current count, Biden leads by less than 21,000 votes or roughly 0.6 percentage points. Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien said in a statement that Trump “is well within the threshold to request a recount” in Wisconsin, and that the campaign planned to “immediately do so.” Trump’s campaign also filed lawsuits in Pennsylvania and Michigan to halt ballot counting, arguing that they were not given “meaningful access” to monitor the opening of ballots and the counting process. The Trump campaign also is seeking to intervene in a Pennsylvania case at the Supreme Court that deals with whether ballots received up to three days after the election can be counted. (NPR / Politico / CNN / The Guardian / Associated Press / NBC News / CNBC)
3/ Senate control rests on five uncalled races. Democratic prospects of taking control of the Senate were diminished after Republican incumbents, including Joni Ernst in Iowa, Steve Daines in Montana, and Susan Collins in Maine, all fended off challengers. Republicans hold a 53-47 advantage in the Senate and Democrats need to flip four seats to take the majority if Trump is re-elected – or three if Biden wins. Democrats have gained one seat. (Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNN / Axios)
4/ The U.S. Postal Service failed to comply with a federal judge’s order to sweep 12 postal processing facilities that cover 15 states for undelivered mail-in ballots on Election Day. Earlier Tuesday, Judge Emmet Sullivan ordered the Postal Service to search facilities after the agency said that some 300,000 ballots it had received had not been scanned for delivery. The judge gave USPS until 3 p.m. to complete the sweeps, but the agency rebuffed the order, saying it would stick to its own schedule. Nearly 7% of ballots in USPS sorting facilities on Tuesday were not processed on time for submission to election officials. On Wednesday, Sullivan threatened to call Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to appear before him, saying “I’m not pleased about this 11th-hour development last night. Someone may have a price to pay for that.” (Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / CNBC)
5/ The United States formally left the Paris climate agreement, a global pact forged five years ago to avert catastrophic climate change. The Trump formally notified the United Nations a year ago that the U.S. would withdraw from the agreement. Nearly 200 nations remain committed to the 2015 agreement, which aims to keep the increase in average temperatures worldwide “well below” 2 degrees Celsius. (Associated Press / NBC News / Scientific American / Axios)
1/ More than 100 million Americans voted early with more than 27 million mail-in ballots still outstanding – about 73% of the 137.5 million total ballots cast in the 2016 election, and more than double the 47 million early votes. The U.S. is on track to set a record turnout and surpass 150 million voters overall, which would mark the highest turnout of eligible voters by percentage in a presidential election since 1908. Several states have already recorded more votes than they did during the 2016 election – Texas, Washington, Montana, and Hawaii – and several battleground states – Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina – are nearing their 2016 totals. (New York Times / USA Today / Bloomberg)
2/ A federal judge ordered the U.S. Postal Service to sweep processing facilities in multiple battleground states for any remaining mail-in ballots and to rush delivery. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan gave USPS inspectors until 3 p.m. EST “to ensure that no ballots have been held up and that any identified ballots are immediately sent out for delivery.” (Axios / Reuters / Los Angeles Times)
3/ Trump clarified that he will declare victory on election night “when there is victory, if there is victory” saying “there’s no reason to play games.” The comment comes after Trump had told confidants he would declare victory prematurely if it looked like he was ahead. Biden, meanwhile, said he plans to address the nation as its new leader if news organizations declare him the mathematical president-elect – even if Trump continues to fight in court. (NPR / Axios)
Trump readies lawyers for election battle. “The legal battle could center on Pennsylvania, a crucial swing state where Trump has promised to mount challenges after the U.S. Supreme Court last month left in place an extension that would allow the state to count ballots received as many as three days after the Nov. 3 election.” (Bloomberg)
Here are the voting lawsuits that could lead to post-election fights over ballots. “At least a dozen major cases related to voting rules are still pending in key states, including Texas, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Minnesota and Nevada.” (Washington Post)
4/ The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley told news anchors that the U.S. military would have no role in a peaceful transfer of power. (Axios)
5/ The FBI is investigating robocalls and texts urging people to stay home on Election Day. Voters have received an estimated 10 million automated, spam calls in recent days telling them to “stay safe and stay home.” (Washington Post / Reuters)
6/ Trump’s top campaign strategist has been paid tens of thousands of dollars a month through a third-party campaign vendor founded by Steve Bannon, which is currently part of a federal fraud and money laundering investigation. Jason Miller appears to have been paid as recently as July by Citizens of the American Republic, and appears to have also taken monthly payments from a firm co-founded by two Trump officials — one of them being Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien. Campaign finance experts say the arrangement is illegal. (Salon)
7/ Deutsche Bank is looking for ways to end its relationship with Trump after the election. Trump owes the bank about $340 million across three loans which will start coming due in two years. (Reuters)
8/ Dr. Deborah Birx warned top Trump administration officials in a private memo that the coronavirus pandemic is entering “the most concerning and most deadly phase” that requires “much more aggressive action.” In the memo, Dr. Birx suggested that Trump and his advisers were spending too much time focusing on preventing lockdowns and not enough time on controlling the virus, saying “This is not about lockdowns — it hasn’t been about lockdowns since March or April. It’s about an aggressive balanced approach that is not being implemented.” Meanwhile, former FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb said the U.S. will likely see COVID-19 deaths “well above 1,000” per day for a “sustained period of time.” (Washington Post / New York Times / CNBC)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~47,220,000; deaths: ~1,211,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~9,324,000; deaths: ~233,000
1/ Trump told associates he intends to declare premature victory on Election Night in order to cast doubt on the integrity of the election and undermine the validity of uncounted mail-in ballots in the days after. Many states, however, won’t be done counting mail ballots by Tuesday night and it’s common for some states to take several days to finalize vote counts. Trump, nevertheless, told confidants he’ll declare victory on election night if it looks like he’s “ahead.” Speaking to reporters later, Trump first denied that he would declare victory prematurely, before confirming that he would try to shut down tabulating votes after polls close. “I think it’s a terrible thing when ballots can be collected after an election […] when states are allowed to tabulate ballots for a long period of time after the election is over […] that we can’t know the results of an election the night of the election. As soon as that election’s over, we’re going in with our lawyers.” (Axios / CNN / The Guardian / Bloomberg / New York Times)
⚡️ We Have Never Had Final Results on Election Day. “The scenario Mr. Trump is outlining — every vote in a modern election being “counted, tabulated, finished” by midnight — is not possible and never has been. No state ever reports final results on election night, and no state is legally expected to.” (New York Times)
The Texas Supreme Court rejected a Republican effort to invalidate 127,000 ballots that had already been cast in Harris County, Texas, which includes Houston and is largely Democratic. (Texas Tribune / New York Times / Axios / CNN)
A Nevada judge rejected a Republican lawsuit seeking to halt early vote counting in Clark County, which includes Las Vegas. The campaign and the Nevada Republican Party alleged that Clark County refused to allow full observation of the ballot-counting process as required under state law. (Bloomberg / CNN)
U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan ordered the U.S. Postal Service to follow its “extraordinary measures” policy and use its Express Mail Network to expedite ballots. USPS agreed with the judge’s order that the postal service must reinforce its “special procedures” to ensure it “delivers every ballot possible by the cutoff time on Election Day.” (Reuters)
Federal authorities are expected to build a “non-scalable” fence around the entire perimeter of the White House. (CNN)
2/ Dr. Anthony Fauci warned that the U.S. should prepare “for a whole lot of hurt” this winter from the coronavirus pandemic, saying “it’s not a good situation” and “you could not possibly be positioned more poorly.” Fauci said the country needs to make an “abrupt change” in its public health practices, because “all the stars are aligned in the wrong place as you go into the fall and winter season, with people congregating at home indoors.” Fauci also praised the Biden campaign’s approach to the coronavirus, saying it was “taking it seriously from a public health perspective,” while Trump is “looking at it from a different perspective,” which he said was “the economy and reopening the country.” The White House, meanwhile, said it was “unacceptable and breaking with all norms for Dr. Fauci […] to choose three days before an election to play politics.” Trump, however, has continued to tour the country insisting that the U.S. has “turned the corner” on the coronavirus even as the nation set a new daily record Friday with more than 98,000 cases. (Washington Post / NBC News / The Guardian / New York Times)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~46,835,000; deaths: ~1,204,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~9,269,000; deaths: ~232,000
The U.S. set a world record for coronavirus cases in 24 hours, with more than 100,000 new infections recorded. The daily caseload surpassed the 97,894 cases reported by India on a single day in September. (The Guardian / New York Times)
A new study from Stanford University estimates that 18 of Trump’s campaign rallies resulted in 30,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and more than 700 deaths. A separate investigation of 17 Trump campaign rallies found that 82% of host counties had an increased rate of new COVID-19 cases one month after the rally. (Washington Post / CNN)
America’s economy faces severe new strains in the two months between Tuesday’s election and January. “Millions of Americans are also at risk of having their power and water shut off with unpaid utility bills coming due, while protections for renters, student borrowers and jobless Americans will expire by the end of the year absent federal action.” (Washington Post / Bloomberg)
A House subcommittee on the coronavirus crisis called the Trump administration’s response to the pandemic in a report “an American fiasco” that’s “among the worst failures of leadership in American history.” (NBC News)
The Strategic National Stockpile is running low on medical gloves amid soaring demand across the country and is “woefully behind.” The Department of Health and Human Services’ goal is to have 4.5 billion gloves on hand. The stockpile, however, has 2 million. (NBC News)
3/ Trump threatened to fire Dr. Anthony Fauci after Election Day. While Trump was complaining about news media coverage of COVID-19 a campaign rally in South Florida, the crowd broke out into a “Fire Fauci” chant. “Don’t tell anybody, but let me wait till a little bit after the election,” Trump said, adding he appreciated their “advice.” At a campaign stop in Cleveland, Ohio, Biden weighed in: “I got a better idea. Elect me, and I’m gonna hire Dr. Fauci. And we’re gonna fire Donald Trump.” (The Guardian / Associated Press / NBC News / New York Times / Bloomberg / Politico / Washington Post / ABC News)
Trump baselessly claimed that doctors are lying about the number of Americans who’ve died from COVID-19 for monetary gain. There is no evidence for Trump’s claim. “Our doctors get more money if someone dies from Covid. You know that, right? I mean our doctors are very smart people. So what they do is they say ‘I’m sorry but everybody dies of Covid,’” Trump said, without citing any evidence, at a rally in Michigan. (CNN / Bloomberg)
4/ Trump approved of his supporters surrounding a Biden campaign bus and attempting to run it off the highway in Texas, tweeting a video of the caravan boxing in the campaign bus with the caption, “I LOVE TEXAS!” The FBI said it was investigating the incident. Trump defended the Texas drivers, tweeting “In my opinion, these patriots did nothing wrong. Instead, the FBI & Justice should be investigating the terrorists, anarchists, and agitators of ANTIFA, who run around burning down our Democrat run cities and hurting our people!” Trump revisited the story hours later, falsely claiming that an FBI investigation was “FALSE” and tweeting that his supporters “did nothing wrong.” Trump again said the FBI should be investigating “ANTIFA” instead. The Biden campaign canceled at least one event in Texas following the episode. Meanwhile in New York and New Jersey, a caravan of Trump supporters halted traffic on two major highways. (New York Times / Texas Tribune / NPR / Washington Post / CNN / NBC News / CNN / The Guardian)
1/ The U.S. set another pandemic record with 90,456 new COVID-19 cases reported in a single day – hours after the U.S. logged its 9 millionth coronavirus case. The country has reported more than 540,000 new coronavirus cases in the past week – the most for any seven-day period since July. Cases are on the rise in every swing state before Election Day and 14 states recorded all-time highs in new cases this week – the most of the pandemic. Trump, meanwhile, has continued to baselessly claim that “we are rounding the turn” on the pandemic. Pence, who chairs the White House’s coronavirus task force, hasn’t attended his own COVID-19 planning calls with all 50 governors in over a month. (NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / Bloomberg)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~45,374,000; deaths: ~1,186,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~9,916,000; deaths: ~230,000
The CDC will allow cruise ships to sail in U.S. waters starting Sunday. (USA Today)
Mitch McConnell expects to take up a new coronavirus stimulus package in 2021 – “right at the beginning of the year,” with legislation “targeted particularly at small businesses that are struggling and hospitals that are now dealing with a second wave of the coronavirus.” (CNBC)
The Dow closed out its worst week and month since March. (Wall Street Journal)
2/ Trump Jr. falsely claimed that COVID-19 deaths have dwindled to “almost nothing” the same day that at least 1,000 Americans died from the coronavirus. Trump Jr. also called the medical experts, who have been warning about a surge in cases, “truly morons.” Trump, meanwhile, tweeted misinformation that deaths are “WAY DOWN” in the U.S., claiming that mass testing has exaggerated the numbers of infections, and that hospitals are doing fine. (NBC News / The Guardian)
3/ The Department of Health and Human Services has withheld COVID-19 data from the public about which hospitals in which communities are reaching capacity. The documents show that hospitals report detailed information to HHS every day, which is reviewed and analyzed daily, but not widely circulated. A few dozen HHS staffers and its agencies, including the CDC and National Institutes of Health, receive the documents as part of a distribution list. Only one member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, Adm. Brett Giroir, appears to receive the documents directly. (NPR)
4/ Government scientists and physicians are attempting to push back against Trump’s political agenda on the coronavirus. The FDA issued stricter safety standards for a vaccine in September, the CDC reversed guidelines that had called for less testing for individuals exposed to the coronavirus who showed no symptoms, and Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, has taken her message directly to state and local officials, urging them to adopt mask mandates and restrict large gatherings. And, Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary Adm. Brett Giroir has given interviews warning that the country’s coronavirus situation is “tenuous,” but that it can control the virus by practicing what he calls the “3W’s” — watching your distance from others, wearing a mask, and washing your (damn!) hands. (Washington Post / Associated Press / CNN)
The White House’s coronavirus testing czar disputed Trump’s assertion that cases are surging because of increased testing, saying “It’s not just a function of testing […] we know that too because hospitalizations are going up.” (CNN)
5/ Trump canceled his campaign’s election night party at the Trump International Hotel, because gatherings of more than 50 people in Washington are prohibited by the city. Trump will instead spend the evening at the White House. The Trump campaign had sent out multiple fundraising solicitations to supporters for a party at Trump’s hotel. Meanwhile at a rally in Phoenix, Trump claimed the polls that show him trailing Biden are “fake,” saying “The biggest problem we have is if they cheat with the ballots. That’s my biggest problem. That’s my only thing — that’s the only thing I worry about.” (New York Times / Politico / NBC News)
More than 9 million people have voted early in Texas, surpassing the state’s total 2016 turnout. (New York Times)
The on-time rate for ballots in 17 postal districts representing 10 battleground states and 151 electoral votes was 89.1% — 5.9 percentage points lower than the national average. (Washington Post)
✏️ Notables.
Stephen Miller plans to revise Trump’s restrictive immigration agenda if he wins re-election next week. Miller outlined his four major priorities: limiting asylum, punishing “sanctuary cities,” expanding the so-called travel ban, and limiting work visas. The objective, Miller said, is “raising and enhancing the standard for entry” to the United States and that the executive orders are ready to be signed in “shock and awe” style if Trump is re-elected. (NBC News / The Guardian)
Border Patrol official have been expelling migrant children from other countries to Mexico. More than 200 children from countries such as Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador have been sent without an adult into Mexico, where they have no family. (New York Times)
Wilbur Ross remained on the board of a Chinese joint venture until January 2019 – nearly two years into his term as commerce secretary. The U.S.-China trade war started in the summer of 2018. (Foreign Policy)
Trump ordered the Pentagon to draw down U.S. troops in Afghanistan to about 2,500 in early 2021. National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien told the Aspen Institute he could “guarantee” that the planned drawdown is “the order of the commander in chief” and that Defense Secretary Mark Esper is aware and on board with the plan. (NBC News)
The Trump administration stripped gray wolves of their Endangered Species Act protections in the Lower 48 states. State wildlife agencies will assume control of managing an estimated 6,000 wolves – up from 1,000 when gray wolves were listed as endangered starting in 1967 – but their population is still so depleted that thousands of acres of historical wolf habitat remain uninhabited by any wolves. (Washington Post)
1/ The U.S. economy is about 3.5% smaller than it was before the pandemic. While the economy grew 7.4% during July, August, and September from the previous quarter, GDP shrank 1.2% in the first three months of the year, and 9% in the second quarter. At an annual rate, GDP grew by 33.1% in the third quarter as businesses reopened and people increased their shopping. (NPR / CNN / Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNBC)
2/ The Supreme Court allowed extended deadlines for receiving mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania and North Carolina. In the Pennsylvania case, the court left in place a lower court ruling allowing ballots to be counted until 5pm on Nov. 6, as long as they are postmarked by Election Day. The court also declined to block lower court rulings that allowed six extra days for accepting ballots sent by mail in North Carolina. Justice Amy Coney Barrett did not participate in either case, saying she did not have time to review the briefs. (NBC News / Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press)
Facing Gap in Pennsylvania, Trump Camp Tries to Make Voting Harder. “Trailing in the polls, President Trump and his campaign are pursuing a three-pronged strategy that would effectively suppress the mail-in vote in the critical state of Pennsylvania.” (New York Times)
3/ States lack federal funding needed to prepare sites to receive and distribute a coronavirus vaccine whenever the FDA authorizes one. While a vaccine is unlikely to be approved until later this year, the CDC ordered states to have five sites ready by Nov. 15 that are capable of receiving and administering a vaccine that must be stored at minus-94 Fahrenheit. States have received $200 million from the CDC to do planning, but are asking Congress for at least $8 billion for coronavirus vaccination operations. (Washington Post)
Shortly after joining the White House as Trump’s pandemic adviser, Dr. Scott Atlas encouraged officials to limit COVID-19 testing mainly to people experiencing symptoms. The push to de-emphasize tests coincided with a drop in testing across Florida at the end of July and early August. By early September, the seven-day average in daily tests dropped by nearly half. (CNN)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~44,855,000; deaths: ~1,179,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~8,923,000; deaths: ~229,000
4/ The Department of Health and Human Services awarded a $250 million advertising contract to “defeat despair and inspire hope” amid the coronavirus pandemic weeks before the election. Trump political appointees and the contractors hired, however, vetted celebrities for the ad campaign based on whether they had ever criticized Trump, or supported Obama, gay rights or same-sex marriage. Of at least 274 celebrities under consideration, 10 appear were approved. (Washington Post / Politico)
5/ Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, his wife, and his son repeatedly emailed State Department officials about personal matters. Emails show that Susan Pompeo routinely gave instructions to State Department officials from her personal email address about travel plans, restaurant reservations, and maintenance requests for the house the Pompeos rent, including repairs to the HVAC system, the porch, and the stairs. Nick Pompeo, meanwhile, emailed State Department officials about including the software company he worked for in an upcoming “data hackathon” event. Both Congress and the State Department’s inspector general have been investigating Pompeo and his wife for potential misuse of government resources. (NBC News)
1/ The United States reported another record-high average number of new coronavirus cases, bringing the seven-day average to about 71,832 – an increase of more than 20% compared to the previous week and an increase of about 40% from two weeks earlier. Over the last month, the number of people hospitalized for COVID-19 climbed an estimated 46% and 29 states have set new records for new daily cases since the pandemic began. The U.S. reported a record of more than 500,000 new cases over the past week. One top health official warned that the country is at a “critical point.” (CNBC / CNN / New York Times / Bloomberg)
Germany and France imposed new lockdowns as the rapid spread of the coronavirus overwhelms health services. French President Emmanuel Macron imposed a new nationwide lockdown, which will start on Friday. German Chancellor Angela Merkel imposed a one-month partial shutdown starting Monday. (Bloomberg / Reuters / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
The S&P 500 fell 3.5% – the biggest drop since June – the Dow dropped 3.4%, and the Nasdaq slid 3.7%. The selloff comes amid a surge in new coronavirus cases and another stimulus package not expected to be passed before the election. Trump, meanwhile, claimed that he was “saving suburbia” at a rally in Michigan and promised suburban women voters he’s “getting your kids back to school” and “getting your husbands – they want to get back to work. We’re getting your husbands back to work.” (CNBC / Bloomberg / Washington Post / CNN / ABC News / Wall Street Journal / New York Times)
2/ Dr. Anthony Fauci warned the U.S. is in a “bad position” as coronavirus cases and hospitalizations surge and that it could be 2022 “before we start having some semblances of normality.” Even though he’s “very certain” there will have a coronavirus vaccine “in the next few months,” Dr. Fauci said it would “easily” take until “the end of 2021” before “we have vaccinated a substantial proportion of the people” to allow for people return to crowded theaters, sporting events, and restaurants. Dr. Fauci also predicted that masks will be “very commonplace” following pandemic. Trump, meanwhile, argued that media coverage of COVID-19 should be “an election law violation,” tweeting that “COVID, COVID, COVID is being used by [the media], in total coordination, in order to change our great early election numbers.” (CNN / CNBC / Philadelphia Inquirer / Talking Points Memo / Yahoo News)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~44,312,000; deaths: ~1,172,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~8,837,000; deaths: ~228,000
3/ Jared Kushner bragged in mid-April that Trump had cut out the doctors and scientists advising him on the coronavirus pandemic. In an interview with Bob Woodward, Kushner boasted that Trump had taken “the country back from the doctors” and that the country was at the “beginning of the comeback phase.” Since Kushner’s April 18 interview, about 181,000 people in the U.S. have died from COVID-19. (CNN)
4/ Trump had more than $270 million in debt forgiven since 2010 after he defaulted on his loans for a Chicago skyscraper development. After the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago encountered financial problems, banks and hedge funds cut Trump granted him years of additional time to repay his debts, much of which was ultimately forgiven. Since 2010, Trump’s lenders have forgiven about $287 million in debt that he failed to repay. Trump, meanwhile, defended his failure to repay lenders, tweeting: “I was able to make an appropriately great deal with the numerous lenders on a large and very beautiful tower. Doesn’t that make me a smart guy rather than a bad guy?” (New York Times / CNN)
5/ The Trump campaign stranded hundreds of supporters in the freezing cold for hours after a rally at an airfield in Omaha. For several hours, hundreds and hundreds of people who attended the rally were stranded on dark, remote stretch of road near the airport waiting for buses that didn’t arrive, which were unable to reach the site because of a clogged two-lane road. The Trump campaign said it provided enough buses, “but local road closures and resulting congestion caused delays.” At least 30 people needed medical assistance. (NBC News / Washington Post / CNN)
6/ Trump will open up more than half of Alaska’s Tongass National Forest to logging and development. The decision to open up one of the biggest intact temperate rainforests reverses protections Clinton put in place in 2001 and represents one of the most sweeping public lands rollbacks Trump has enacted. (Washington Post)
7/ Former Homeland Security chief of staff Miles Taylor revealed himself to be Anonymous, the author of a 2018 New York Times op-ed that declared there was a “resistance” within the administration. In the op-ed, Taylor, who at the time was chief of staff to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, described Trump as “impetuous, adversarial, petty and ineffective.” Taylor was also the anonymous author of “A Warning,” a book describing Trump as an “undisciplined” and “amoral” leader whose abuse of power threatened the foundations of American democracy. Taylor resigned from the Department of Homeland Security in June 2019. (CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / ABC News / Politico / Axios)
📌 Day 594: A senior Trump administration official published an anonymous essay in the New York Times claiming cabinet members discussed removing Trump from office early in his presidency “given the instability many witnessed.” The official criticized Trump’s “amorality” and reckless decision-making, saying “there is a quiet resistance within the administration of people choosing to put country first” and that “Americans should know that there are adults in the room” who “fully recognize what is happening. And we are trying to do what’s right even when Donald Trump won’t.” (New York Times / CNN)
📌 Day 594 Trump called the unsigned op-ed a “disgrace” and “gutless.” Trump attacked the New York Times for publishing an essay by an unnamed administration official who claims the president’s advisers deliberately try to block Trump’s misguided impulses. The anonymous official wrote that Trump’s “impulses are generally anti-trade and anti-democratic.” At a White House event, Trump brought up the op-ed, saying “This is what we have to deal with” and that “they don’t like Donald Trump and I don’t like them.” He later demanded that “the Times must, for National Security purposes, turn him/her over to government at once!” (CNN / Associated Press / New York Times)
📌 Day 1022: A forthcoming book by an anonymous senior Trump administration claims that high-level White House aides were certain that Mike Pence would support using the 25th Amendment to have Trump removed from office. The author of “A Warning” – the same official behind the 2018 op-ed that declared there was a “resistance” within the administration – claimed that White House officials put together a list of Cabinet secretaries who were open to the idea of removing Trump because of mental incapacity and that “there was no doubt in the minds of these senior officials that Pence would support invoking the 25th Amendment if the majority of the Cabinet signed off on it.” Pence, meanwhile, said he never heard about any discussion of using the 25th amendment in the White House. (HuffPost / Politico)
1/ The Senate confirmed Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. Justice Clarence Thomas administered the constitutional oath to Barrett, with Trump and several Republican senators. Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. administered the judicial oath in a private ceremony at the court Tuesday. The Senate voted 52-48 to confirm Barrett – about a week before Election Day and 30 days after she was nominated by Trump to fill the seat of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. (NPR / Washington Post / New York Times)
2/ The White House’s science office ranked “ending the COVID-19 pandemic” atop the list of Trump’s top first-term accomplishments despite infections spreading across the U.S. at the fastest rate since the start of the pandemic. The U.S. has averaged 71,000 new cases per day over the past week – the most in any seven-day stretch since the crisis started. The Office of Science and Technology Policy, however, credited the administration for taking “decisive actions to engage scientists and health professionals in academia, industry, and government to understand, treat, and defeat the disease.” COVID-19 hospitalizations have risen at least 10% in the past week in 32 states. (Politico / NBC News / CNBC / Bloomberg)
Minnesota reported three COVID-19 outbreaks related to Trump campaign events held in September. (CNN)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~43,823,000; deaths: ~1,165,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~8,767,000; deaths: ~227,000
3/ The U.S. Postal Service argued that delivery delays during an election can’t be unlawful because the Constitution doesn’t guarantee states a level of service when it comes to mail-in ballots. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and Trump are seeking dismissal of a lawsuit brought by states that claim disruptive changes at the USPS over the summer violated the Elections Clause of the Constitution by putting election mail at risk. Separately, the Supreme Court ruled that mail-in ballots in Wisconsin could be counted only if they are received by Election Day. (Bloomberg / CNN / Politico)
4/ A federal judge ruled that the Justice Department can’t represent Trump in a defamation lawsuit because he wasn’t acting in his official capacity as president when he denied raping the writer E. Jean Carroll. Last month, the Justice Department intervened on Trump’s behalf in the suit, asking to move the case to federal court and to substitute the U.S. government as the defendant. The department argued that Trump was “acting within the scope of his office as President of the United States” when he disputed Carroll’s allegations. (NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / CNBC / Wall Street Journal / CNN)
5/ The Trump administration recently removed the chief scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Last month, the administration removed the agency’s acting chief scientist, Craig McLean, replacing him with Ryan Maue, a former researcher for the libertarian Cato Institute who has criticized climate scientists for what he has called unnecessarily dire predictions. A former White House policy adviser was also appointed NOAA’s chief of staff. (New York Times)
6/ Trump is considering issuing an executive order to show support for fracking. The proposed order would direct government agencies to analyze fracking’s impact on the economy and trade, as well as the consequences if fracking was banned. (Wall Street Journal)
7/ The Trump Organization has billed taxpayers at least $2.5 million in charges stemming from Trump’s more than 280 visits to his own properties since taking office. In addition, Trump’s campaign and fundraising committee paid $5.6 million to his companies since his inauguration in January 2017. (Washington Post / Washington Post)
1/ The U.S. hit an all-time high in new coronavirus cases two days in a row as the death toll surpassed 225,000. More than 85,000 cases were reported on Friday – the first time above 80,000 cases – breaking the previous single-day record set the day before by about 8,000 cases. The previous high of 75,723 was set July 29. On Saturday, six states reported their highest-ever infection totals and more than 78,000 new cases were reported nationwide. The number of daily deaths nationally has past 1,000 in recent days while hospitalizations have risen 40% in the past month. The average number of new coronavirus cases reported daily over the past week reached an all-time high of 68,767, and since Oct. 5, the seven-day average of new cases has exceeded the 14-day average. Former FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb warned that the nation is “at the cusp of what is going to be exponential spread in parts of the country.” Trump, meanwhile, falsely claimed – again – that coronavirus numbers are up because of an increase in testing. (New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / CNBC / The Guardian)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~43,375,000; deaths: ~1,158,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~8,688,000; deaths: ~226,000
2/ “We’re not going to control the pandemic,” Trump’s chief of staff said while defending the White House response to the coronavirus. Mark Meadows also dismissed the notion that the appropriate COVID-19 policy should be to “quarantine all of America” and argued that the focus should be on developing “vaccines, therapeutics and other mitigation areas.” Biden, meanwhile, called Meadows’ statement “an acknowledgment of what President Trump’s strategy has clearly been from the beginning of this crisis: to wave the white flag of defeat and hope that by ignoring it, the virus would simply go away. It hasn’t, and it won’t.” Dr. Anthony Fauci added that “the universal wearing of masks” is essential to curbing the spread and “if the situation continues to deteriorate regarding numbers of cases, hospitalizations and likely deaths while many people still refuse to wear masks, we should seriously consider mask mandates.” Hours earlier at a rally in North Carolina, Trump complained about “Covid, Covid. Covid, Covid, Covid, Covid” and blamed the media for covering the virus. (Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg / CNN / CNN / Axios / The Guardian / Associated Press / NBC News)
U.S. markets fell sharply, posting the worst day since early September as investors struggle with uncertainty about economic stimulus negotiations and soaring coronavirus cases around the country. (CNBC / Bloomberg / NBC News / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
Americans should brace for 100,000 new COVID-19 cases a day, Dr. William Haseltine, an internationally renowned infectious disease expert, said. (Daily Beast)
Health secretary Alex Azar has discussed seeking White House permission to remove FDA commissioner Stephen Hahn, frustrated by standards for authorizing a coronavirus vaccine. (Politico)
A top Trump administration official wanted Santa Claus performers to promote the benefits of a COVID-19 vaccination and, in exchange, offered them early vaccine access ahead of the general public. The $250 million federally funded effort has been scrapped. (Wall Street Journal)
3/ Trump has not attended a White House coronavirus task force meeting in months and is not expected to do so before the election. (NBC News)
4/ At least five of Pence’s aides, including his chief of staff and his senior political adviser, tested positive for COVID-19. Chief of staff Marc Short, aide Zach Bauer, outside adviser Marty Obst, and two other people in Pence’s office all tested positive for the coronavirus. Mike and Karen Pence both tested negative. The CDC’s guidelines for essential workers who have had close contact with an infected person include wearing a mask for 14 days “at all times while in the workplace.” Pence, however, did not quarantine and did not wear a mask at an outdoor rally on Sunday. (NBC News / New York Times / NPR / Washington Post / CNN / Axios / CNBC)
COVID-19 cases surged in counties after at least five Trump rallies. (USA Today)
5/ The Senate is expected to confirm Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court this evening. The final vote is scheduled at 7:30 p.m. ET — 30 days after Trump announced he was nominating Barrett. After saying on Saturday that he wouldn’t want to “miss that vote for the world,” Pence is not expected to preside over the Barrett’s confirmation after several aides recently tested positive for the coronavirus, unless his vote is somehow necessary to approve her. The White House also plans to host a swearing-in celebration for Barrett after the vote in the Rose Garden. About a dozen people who attended Barrett’s Sept. 26 Rose Garden nomination later tested positive for the coronavirus, including Trump, Melania, and three senators. The Rose Garden announcement was considered a “super spreader event.” To setup the vote, Republicans held a rare weekend session without the support of a single Democrat. (Bloomberg / CNBC / Wall Street Journal / ABC News / NBC News / Politico / Washington Post / Politico / New York Times)
✏️ Notables.
Trump privately told donors that it will be “very tough” for Republicans to keep control of the Senate because I don’t want to help some” of the party’s candidates. Trump reportedly mentioned “a couple” of senators he couldn’t get involved with. It was unclear who those senators were. (Washington Post / Bloomberg)
Jared Kushner said Black American’s are “complaining” about inequality and racism in the country, and suggested that Black Americans don’t “want” success enough. (NBC News / Bloomberg)
Trump reportedly plans to immediately fire FBI Director Christopher Wray, CIA Director Gina Haspel, and Defense Secretary Mark Esper if he wins re-election. (Axios)
The Trump-appointed head of an advisory council on the civil service resigned over Trump’s executive order to strip away protections against political interference in hiring and firing for career federal workers. Ronald Sanders served in federal personnel positions across four decades. (Washington Post)
The U.S. Office of Special Counsel is investigating whether Secretary of State Mike Pompeo violated the Hatch Act when he gave a speech to the Republican National Convention on a taxpayer funded trip to Jerusalem on August 25. (CNN / Axios)
Trump is averaging more than 50 false or misleading claims a day. During his first year as president, Trump averaged six claims a day. (Washington Post)
1/ The United States coronavirus cases set new a daily record, topping more than 82,600 cases and breaking the July 16 single-day record. The current surge is already more widespread than the waves this summer and spring. COVID-19 hospitalizations have increased in 38 states over the past week and continue to rise so quickly that some hospitals in the West and Midwest are already running out of hospital beds. A new study forecast that more than 511,000 Americans could die from COVID-19 by February – that’s more than all the lives lost by the U.S. in World War II. Biden warned that America was headed for a “dark winter” with no COVID-19 vaccine expected to be available for most of people until the middle of next year. Trump, meanwhile, declared that the U.S. is “rounding the corner” and that the pandemic “will soon be gone.” [Editor’s note: Please continue to watch your distance, wear your mask, and wash your damn hands.]. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / Washington Post / CNBC / The Guardian / Bloomberg)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~42,071,000; deaths: ~1,142,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~8,480,000; deaths: ~224,000
The World Health Organization warned that some countries are on “a dangerous track” with hospitals beginning to reach capacity. (CNBC)
Still no coronavirus stimulus deal. The nearly $2 trillion package under discussion between Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin faces resistance in the GOP-controlled Senate. (Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / CNBC)
The FDA approved remdesivir as a treatment for the coronavirus – the first and only fully FDA-approved drug in the U.S. for treating the coronavirus. In May, the FDA granted the antiviral drug for emergency use authorization, allowing doctors to use it on patients hospitalized with COVID-19 even though the medication had not been formally approved. (CNBC / Axios)
2/ Trump almost took responsibility for his administration’s failure on COVID-19 during the second and final debate, saying “I take full responsibility,” followed immediately by “It’s not my fault that it came here.” The coronavirus has killed more than 220,000 people in the United States. At one point during the debate, Trump said Americans were “learning to live with it.” To which Biden replied: “We’re learning to die with it.” (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / The Guardian / CNN / Axios)
3/ The Trump administration pressured the CDC to support the use of hotels to hold migrant children before deporting them. A federal judge halted the practice last month, saying the Trump administration had failed to provide a public health reason for keeping minors in hotel rooms, instead of the licensed shelters overseen by the Department of Health and Human Services. CDC officials, however, have declined to affirm the declaration from the HHS that detaining migrant children in hotels is the best way to protect them from the coronavirus. Trump campaign’s communications director, meanwhile, asserted that the reason 545 migrant children have not been reunited with their families – who were separated by the administration – is that “the parents do not want the children returned. During the debate, Trump suggested that the separated children were in facilities that “were so clean” and were well “taken care of.” Biden, however, called the policy of separating families and the inability to track down the parents of the children “criminal.” (Washington Post / Politico / BuzzFeed News)
✏️ Notables.
Trump faces payment deadlines for more than $400 million in loans in the next four years on his Chicago hotel, his D.C. hotel, and his Doral resort. (Washington Post)
A federal judge ordered the U.S. Postal Service to restore high-speed mail sorting machines at facilities that cannot process First Class election mail efficiently because of the coronavirus pandemic. (The Hill)
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s former company was awarded a $5 million contract last month with the United States Postal Service. (CBS News)
Sudan and Israel agreed to normalize relations, according to a joint statement released by the White House. (Washington Post / CNN / Bloomberg)
A member of the “Boogaloo Bois” was arrested and charged with opening fire on Minneapolis Police Third Precinct with an AK-47-style gun and screaming “Justice for Floyd” as he ran away during the protests following the May 25 killing of George Floyd. The boogaloo bois are an unorganized, far-right, anti-government, and extremist movement. (The Star Tribune)
White supremacists and far-right extremists are responsible for 67% of domestic terror attacks and plots this year – at least half of that violence targeting protesters. (The Guardian)
1/ Another 787,000 workers filed new unemployment claims last week – the lowest levels since March but still above above pre-pandemic levels. (Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / New York Times)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~41,539,000; deaths: ~1,136,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~8,396,000; deaths: ~223,000
2/ Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee advanced the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court in a 12-0 vote. Democrats boycotted the proceeding in protest of what they viewed as an illegitimate confirmation process. A full Senate vote is expected Monday – a month to the day after Trump announced her nomination to succeed Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / ABC News / Wall Street Journal / The Guardian)
Biden promised to name a bipartisan commission to propose an overhaul of the Supreme Court and federal judiciary, saying the current system is “getting out of whack.” (Washington Post)
3/ Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe accused Iran of sending fake, but menacing emails to voters, and warned that both Iran and Russia had obtained American voter data. While most of that voter registration was already public, Ratcliffe said government officials “have already seen Iran sending spoofed emails designed to intimidate voters, incite social unrest and damage President Trump.” Ratcliffe was referring to emails sent to Democratic voters, purportedly from pro-Trump far-right groups, including the Proud Boys. (Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / Reuters)
4/ U.S. intelligence officials are reportedly more concerned with Russian cyberattacks than the fake, threatening emails Iran sent to U.S. voters. Russia’s hackers have targeted a wide swath of American government networks, including those involved with the election, and appear to be preparing to sow chaos amid any uncertainty around election results. While intelligence officials didn’t say what Russia planned to do, they did say Russian groups could use their knowledge of the systems to deface websites, release nonpublic information, sow chaos and exacerbate disputes around the results. (New York Times / NPR)
5/ Trump has repeatedly discussed firing FBI Director Christopher Wray after the election with his advisers, frustrated that Wray won’t announce an investigation into Joe and Hunter Biden. Trump wants a similar announcement to the one made by then-FBI Director James Comey 11 days before the 2016 presidential election. (Washington Post)
6/ Trump posted an unedited 38-minute video of his “60 Minutes” interview that he abruptly walked out of, claiming the video revealed “bias, hatred and rudeness” on correspondent Lesley Stahl part. The footage, however, showed Stahl asking firm questions and repeatedly challenging Trump’s assertions that the coronavirus pandemic is nearing its end, why he doesn’t encourage people to wear masks, and how he would protect people with preexisting conditions if the Supreme Court strikes down the Affordable Care Act. In a second video posted of Stahl’s sit-down with Pence, she asks what just happened. “Trump is a man who speaks his mind,” Pence replied. In the interview, Stahl challenges Pence for offering campaign talking points in response to her questions. “This was not a rally. This was not just a campaign speech to the public. This was supposed to be an interview, and the same with the president,” she told Pence. “And I feel that you both have insulted ‘60 Minutes’ and me by not answering any of our questions and by giving set campaign speeches that we’ve heard both of you give at rallies and not answering our questions.” CBS News, meanwhile, accused the White House of violating an agreement it had with the network ahead of its Sunday air date. (NBC News / Politico / CNN / Axios / CBS News)
7/ Seattle, Portland, and New York City are suing the Trump administration over Trump’s threats to withhold federal funds from so-called “anarchist jurisdictions.” The cities argue that the administration’s actions violates Congress’ power to dictate how federal funds are spent, and states and localities’ authority to police and provide public safety as they see fit. (Seattle Times / Politico / CNN)
8/ Trump issued an executive order making it easier to hire and fire civil servants who work on policy. The order would shift employees from “competitive service” — which covers most of the 2.1 million executive branch employees — into the “excepted service,” which generally applies to political appointees. (Washington Post)
poll/ 56% of voters believe Trump does not deserve to be reelected, while 43% say he does. (Gallup)
1/ The CDC said it’s seeing a “distressing trend” in the United States’ coronavirus outbreak as COVID-19 cases grow “in all parts of the country.” The U.S. is reporting roughly 60,000 new COVID-19 cases daily – up nearly 17% compared with a week ago. Hospitalizations for COVID-19 have also hit the highest point since Aug. 22 with 37 states reporting increased hospitalizations, including 21 states that have recently reported new records or are approaching previous highs. (Bloomberg / CNBC)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~40,636,000; deaths: ~1,122,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~8,261,000; deaths: ~221,000
2/ The CDC expanded its definition of a “close contact” to a person who has been within 6 feet of an infected person for at least 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period. That includes multiple, brief encounters of one or two minutes at a time. The CDC had previously defined a close contact as someone who spent at least 15 consecutive minutes within six feet of a confirmed coronavirus case. (Washington Post / NBC News)
3/ The White House is considering millions of dollars in cuts for coronavirus relief, HIV treatment, and other health programs in cities that Trump has deemed “anarchist jurisdictions.” In September, Trump ordered federal agencies to reduce funding to jurisdictions that “disempower” police departments and promote “lawlessness.” The Department of Health and Human Services has identified federal grants for nearly 200 health programs that serve the poorest and sickest residents in New York, Portland, Ore., Washington, D.C., and Seattle. (Politico)
4/ Trump abruptly ended an interview with “60 Minutes” host Lesley Stahl and then threatened to post their interview before it broadcasts Sunday night. Trump, calling the interview “FAKE and BIASED,” tweeted a behind-the-scenes clip of a maskless Stahl speaking to two mask-wearing producers and wrote, “Lesley Stahl of 60 Minutes not wearing a mask in the White House after her interview with me. Much more to come.” Trump spent more than 45 minutes filming with Stahl before cutting off the interview. He didn’t return for an appearance he was supposed to tape with Pence. Trump reportedly ended the interview “because he was frustrated with Stahl’s line of questioning, one source said. Another person said the bulk of the interview was focused on coronavirus.” (New York Times / Washington Post / The Guardian / Politico / CNN)
5/ The Trump administration lost track of the parents for 545 migrant children who were separated at the U.S. border. About two-thirds of parents were deported to Central America without their children. Roughly 60 children were under the age of 5 when they were separated. (NBC News / New York Times)
6/ Trump maintains a bank account in China and has paid $188,561 in taxes while pursuing licensing deals from 2013 to 2015. Trump has repeatedly accused Biden of being “weak on China,” describing Biden family as “selling out our country” to China. Meanwhile, Trump paid $750 in U.S. taxes in 2016 and 2017. (New York Times / The Guardian)
7/ Despite more than 50 former senior intelligence officials saying that the Hunter Biden story “has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation,” Trump directed Attorney General William Barr to “act fast” and appoint a special prosecutor before election day. Rudy Giuliani obtained a laptop hard drive belonging to Hunter Biden that was purportedly left at a repair shop in Delaware. White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, meanwhile, told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt downplayed the need for a special counsel to independently investigate the emails between Hunter and a foreign businessmen while Joe Biden was vice president. (The Guardian / Politico / The Hill)
🤨 Rudy Giuliani was caught on camera putting his hand down his pants and moving it around in front of a 24-year-old actress pretending to be a television reporter. Giuliani and a fictional young female reporter, who was part of a Sacha Baron Cohen prank for the soon-to-be-released movie sequel to “Borat,” are seen going into a hotel bedroom for drinks — at the woman’s invitation — after conducting an interview about Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. In July, Giuliani called the NYPD on Baron Cohen after the comedian bursts into the bedroom in his Borat persona, shouting: “She’s 15. She’s too old for you!” Giuliani, however, didn’t mention to police the compromised position he was in when Borat came into the room. The film, “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan,” will be released Friday on Amazon Prime Video. (The Guardian / NBC News / Daily Beast / The Hill)
8/ Trump’s re-election campaign committee ended September with $63.1 million in the bank, while Biden reported $177.3 million for the final stretch of the campaign. Biden and Democratic allies are on pace to spent $142 million on TV ads in the closing days of the campaign, while Trump’s campaign has been canceling ad buys in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Ohio. Trump’s campaign and committees with the Republican National Committee have raised $1.5 billion since the start of 2019. (Associated Press / New York Times)
[Of note] Trump called the 2016 $10 million cash infusion a loan, but his campaign called it a donation. “Who paid it back, and how? Trump boasted about self-funding his 2016 campaign, but in its tense final moments, his advisers could only get him to agree to a loan. ‘It was like a cash advance.’” (BuzzFeed News)
1/ Mitch McConnell warned the White House not to strike a coronavirus relief deal before Election Day, suggesting that a vote on a stimulus package could interfere with the Senate’s timetable for confirming Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court by early next week. Earlier in the day, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she was “optimistic” a deal could be reached with the Trump administration in the coming days after the White House increased its offer to nearly $1.9 trillion – short of the $2.2 trillion legislation House Democrats passed earlier this month. McConnell, however, told reporters that if a deal were reached and passed by the House with Trump’s support, he would put it on the Senate floor “at some point.” (New York Times / Washington Post / CNBC / Bloomberg)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~40,636,000; deaths: ~1,122,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~8,261,000; deaths: ~221,000
2/ The coronavirus has caused about 299,000 more deaths in the U.S. than would be expected in a typical year – two-thirds of them from COVID-19 and the rest from other causes. COVID-19 will likely be the third-leading cause of mortality in the United States this year, behind heart disease and cancer. (Washington Post)
3/ The CDC issued new guidelines that all passengers and workers on planes, trains, buses, and other public transportation wear masks to control the spread of the coronavirus. The recommendations fall short of the CDC’s previously drafted order under the agency’s quarantine powers that would have required masks on all forms of public transportation, which transportation industry leaders and unions had wanted. The order was blocked by the White House. (Washington Post)
Melania Trump was scheduled to attend her first campaign appearance in more than a year, but canceled due to a “lingering cough” as she continues to recover from COVID-19. (NBC News / CNN)
4/ The Supreme Court allowed Pennsylvania to count mail-in ballots that arrive up to three days after Election Day, refusing a Republican request to stop a pandemic-related procedure approved by the state’s highest court. The court tied 4-4, leaving the lower court ruling in place and signaling how it could deal with similar election-related litigation in other states. (Politico / Axios / NBC News / CNN / Washington Post)
More than 34 million Americans have already voted with two weeks until Election Day – 24.5% of the more than 136 million total ballots cast in the 2016 election. (CNBC / Washington Post)
5/ The Commission on Presidential Debates will mute the microphones of both Trump and Biden, allowing each candidate to have two minutes of uninterrupted time at the beginning of each 15-minute segment during Thursday night’s debate. After two minutes, the mics will then be on for interruptions, which the commission called “open discussion.” The 90-minute debate is divided into six 15-minute segments. (USA Today / NPR / Axios / CBS News / New York Times)
6/ The Justice Department argued that Trump’s denial of a rape allegation was an official presidential act and he should not be sued personally because he “addressed matters relating to his fitness for office as part of an official White House response to press inquiries.” E. Jean Carroll sued Trump for defamation after he denied sexually assaulting her in the 1990s. On Sept. 8, however, the Justice Department and Attorney General William Barr intervened on Trump’s behalf to transfer the lawsuit from state court to a Federal District Court, substituting the federal government for Trump as the defendant. (New York Times)
7/ Trump told White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows that he didn’t mean it literally when he tweeted he had “fully authorized the total Declassification” of documents related to the Russia investigation and Hillary Clinton’s emails. “The president indicated to me that his statements on Twitter were not self-executing declassification orders and do not require the declassification or release of any particular documents,” Meadows said in a sworn court statement. The statement comes after a judge asked why the Trump tweets appeared to be in direct opposition to the White House’s position not to declassify the Russia records. (CNN / NBC News / Axios)
poll/ 49% of North Carolina likely voters support Biden, while 48% favor Trump – within the survey’s margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points. (ABC News)
poll/ 51% of Americans support Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation to the Supreme Court, while 46% of adults do not want Barrett to be seated, and 3% do not have an opinion of her nomination. The Senate will vote to confirm Barrett on Monday, Oct. 26. (Gallup)
1/ Health experts say the fall surge is here with COVID-19 hospitalizations increasing by 5% or more in 37 states. The U.S. is averaging more than 55,000 new cases a day, 10 states reported their highest single-day case counts on Friday, and only two states – Hawaii and Vermont – are showing downward trends by at least 10% compared to the previous week. (CNN / CNBC / CNN)
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi set a 48-hour deadline for the Trump administration to reach a coronavirus stimulus deal before the Nov. 3 election. White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, meanwhile, said it’s “too early to tell” whether enough Republicans in the Senate would support the $1.8 trillion package that Trump has backed. (CNBC / Bloomberg / NBC News)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~40,270,000; deaths: ~1,117,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~8,202,000; deaths: ~221,000
2/ Trump attacked Dr. Anthony Fauci as a “disaster,” called his other public health officials “idiots,” and claimed that “people are tired of coronavirus.” In a call with campaign staff, Trump suggested that “People are tired of hearing Fauci and these idiots, all these idiots who got it wrong.” Trump described Fauci as a “disaster,” adding that “every time he goes on television, there’s always a bomb. But there’s a bigger bomb if you fire him.” Trump’s comments came a day after Fauci said is was “absolutely not” surprised that Trump contracted COVID-19 after seeing him on TV in a “completely precarious situation” with “almost nobody wearing a mask.” More than 8,121,000 coronavirus cases and 219,000 fatalities have been reported in the U.S. since February. (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / Axios / The Guardian / CNBC / Washington Post / Bloomberg / ABC News / CNN / CBS News)
More than 1,000 current and former CDC officers criticized the “absence of national leadership on COVID-19,” saying the nation’s response to the pandemic has been “unprecedented and dangerous.” (Wall Street Journal)
Twitter removed a tweet from Dr. Scott Atlas – one of Trump’s top COVID-19 advisers – for falsely claiming that masks don’t help prevent the spread of coronavirus. (NBC News)
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer accused Trump of inciting “domestic terrorism” against public officials working to contain the coronavirus a day after Trump encouraged rally-goers who were chanting “lock her up.” Earlier this month, 13 men were arrested and charged in an alleged attempt to kidnap Whitmer. Trump senior campaign adviser Lara Trump defended Trump’s rhetoric, claiming that he was “having fun at a Trump rally.” Meanwhile, a 59-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of threatening to kidnap and kill Wichita Mayor Brandon Whipple over frustrations with the city’s mask ordinance. (NBC News / Axios / Wichita Eagle)
3/ The Health and Human Services department’s general counsel warned that Trump’s plan to give seniors $200 discount cards to buy prescription drugs could violate election law. Robert Charrow said in a memo that the timing and design of the $7.9 billion plan could invite legal challenges over inappropriately using federal funds so close to the election. Trump administration officials have instructed Charrow and his office to seek approval from the Department of Justice before moving forward with the drug-discount plan. (Politico)
The Government Accountability Office will investigate whether the Trump administration interfered with the coronavirus response at the CDC and FDA. The GAO will “review whether the CDC and FDA’s scientific integrity and communications policies have been violated and whether those policies are being implemented as intended to assure scientific integrity.” (Politico)
4/ A federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s plan to strip food stamps from nearly 700,000 jobless Americans, calling it “arbitrary and capricious.” The Agriculture Department had been “icily silent” about how many Americans would have been denied Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits had the changes been in effect during the pandemic, Chief Judge Beryl Howell said. (CNN / Axios)
5/ Trump’s campaign accused the Commission on Presidential Debates of “pro-Biden antics” and demanded changes to the format of Thursday’s debate. Trump’s campaign manager Bill Stepien claimed that debate organizers had “promised” that the debate would be about foreign policy rather than “fighting COVID-19,” “American families,” “race in America,” climate change, national security and leadership. While in some election years, the third presidential debate has focused on foreign policy, debate organizers, however, did not announce such a plan in 2020, saying that the third debate would mirror the format of the first: six subjects selected by the moderator. Stepien said the commission had “turned the entire debate season into a fiasco.” (New York Times)
6/ The Supreme Court will hear a challenge to the Trump administration’s use $2.5 billion in Pentagon money to build a southern border wall. A federal appeals court ruled in June that the administration improperly diverted the money to build more than 100 miles of border wall, saying only Congress could approve the transfer. (NBC News)
7/ The Supreme Court will take up a challenge to Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” program, which has forced at least 60,000 asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their requests were heard. In February, an appeals court blocked the program, saying it was at odds with both federal law and international treaties and was causing “extreme and irreversible harm.” (New York Times / Washington Post)
8/ A federal grand jury charged six Russian military intelligence officers in connection with major hacks worldwide, including the French election, the Winter Olympics, and U.S. hospitals and businesses. Known as the GRU, the hacking unit has previously been linked to the hacking and interference operations during the 2016 election. (Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Politico / Associated Press)
9/ The State Department has about 450 pages of records showing government spending at Trump’s properties, but it will release only two of those pages before the November election. The State Department pays for hotel rooms and other expenses when foreign leaders visit Trump properties, as well as when federal employees follow Trump and his family to Trump’s overseas clubs. (Washington Post)
poll/ Biden’s leads Trump by 11 percentage points among likely voters. (Yahoo News)
1/ The U.S. passed 8 million coronavirus cases – three weeks after passing the 7 million case mark. New daily cases topped 62,000 on Thursday, nearly reaching the 65,000-per-day peak in July. (Politico)
The Trump administration announced a deal to administer a future coronavirus vaccine to seniors and staff in long-term care facilities. The vaccine will be free of charge and available for residents in all long-term care settings, including skilled nursing facilities, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, residential care homes, and adult family homes. (CNBC / Politico)
Pfizer will not apply for emergency authorization for its coronavirus vaccine before the third week of November at the earliest, ruling out Trump’s repeated assertion that a vaccine would be ready before Election Day on Nov. 3. Pfizer said the company may know whether its vaccine is effective by the end of October, but it won’t have the required FDA safety data until the end of November. (Politico / New York Times / Washington Post)
Remdesivir and three other potential drug treatments for the coronavirus had “little or no effect” on death rates among hospitalized patients, according to a World Health Organization study. (CNBC)
The budget deficit eclipsed $3.1 trillion in the 2020 fiscal year – the biggest one-year gap between government spending and tax revenue in U.S. history. The deficit last year was about $1 trillion. (Washington Post / New York Times)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~39,127,000; deaths: ~1,096,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~8,028,000; deaths: ~219,000
2/ U.S. intelligence agencies warned the White House – twice – last year that Rudy Giuliani was the target of a Russian influence operation. During a December 2019 trip to Ukraine to gather information he thought would expose corrupt acts by Hunter Biden, Giuliani was interacting with people tied to Russian intelligence. Earlier in 2019, U.S. intelligence also warned in written materials sent to the White House that Giuliani was communicating with Russian assets. Giuliani was seeking information similar to what is allegedly contained in emails and other correspondence published this week by the New York Post, which the paper said came from Hunter Biden’s laptop and provided to Giuliani and Stephen Bannon. National security adviser Robert O’Brien briefed Trump in a private conversation at the time that any information Giuliani brought back from Ukraine should be considered contaminated by Russia. Trump reportedly “shrugged his shoulders” at O’Brien, dismissed concern, and said: “That’s Rudy.” (Washington Post)
Social media accounts tied to a Chinese billionaire – and Stephen Bannon backer – promoted a leak of Hunter Biden’s “hard disks” weeks before those New York Post stories. (Daily Beast)
Giuliani’s daughter is urging Americans to “end this nightmare” by voting for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Caroline Giuliani called on voters to end Trump’s “reign of terror” and “elect a compassionate and decent president.” (CNN)
3/ Federal investigators are examining whether the emails allegedly describing Hunter Biden’s business dealings in Ukraine and China are linked to a foreign intelligence operation. The FBI seized the laptop and a hard drive through a grand jury subpoena. The New York Post claimed in a series of articles this week that it obtained “smoking-gun” emails about Hunter and his dealings in Ukraine, which were allegedly found on a laptop brought to a computer repair shop in Delaware in April 2019. The repair shop owner took it upon himself to access the private material when nobody claimed the laptop. (NBC News / CNN)
4/A federal judge asked the White House counsel’s office to confirm directly with Trump whether he stands by his public statements that he declassified all records relating to the Russia investigation and Hillary Clinton’s emails. The White House and Justice Department have argued in court that the tweets didn’t declassify the records, saying officials never received an order from Trump or Attorney General William Barr. News outlets, meanwhile, have pursued Freedom of Information Act lawsuits for the complete Mueller report and related documents following Trump’s statements. (Politico / CNN)
5/ Trump and Biden held simultaneous town halls on competing TV networks in instead of a second presidential debate, which cancelled after Trump contracted the coronavirus and refused to participate in a virtual debate. Biden answered questions from voters for 90-minutes, offering long, detailed answers and promised to follow the science in combating the pandemic. “The words of a president matter,” Biden said. “No matter whether they’re good, bad or indifferent, they matter. When a president doesn’t wear a mask, or makes fun of folks like me when I was wearing a mask for a long time, then people say it mustn’t be that important.” Trump, meanwhile, refused to distance himself from QAnon supporters, admitted he owes $400 million to someone, and refused to say whether he had tested negative for coronavirus on the day of his first debate, saying “I probably did. Possibly I did, possibly I didn’t.” Trump also committed to a peaceful transition of power if he isn’t re-elected. (Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / The Guardian / ABC News / NBC News / CNBC / BuzzFeed News)
Takeaways from the dueling town halls:
Trump denied owing money to foreign entities, but conceded that he’s more than $400 million in debt. Trump claimed that amount he owes is “peanuts” compared with his overall assets. When asked if he owed money to foreign banks in any other country, Trump replied: “Not that I know of, but I will probably.” (New York Times)
Trump refused to denounce QAnon, claiming he doesn’t know if there is a secret government cabal of satanic pedophiles as the conspiracy theory claims. Instead, Trump said praised QAnon’s followers for being “very much against pedophilia. They fight it very hard.” The FBI considers QAnon a potential source of domestic terrorism. (The Guardian / Daily Beast)
Biden admitted that the 1994 crime bill was a mistake, saying “things have changed drastically” in the quarter-century since his crime bill’s passage. (New York Times)
Trump wouldn’t say if he was tested for COVID-19 on day of first debate. “I don’t know, I don’t even remember,” Trump Savannah Guthrie. “I test all the time. I can tell you this.”
Biden said he is “not a fan” of “court packing” but he’s “open to considering what happens” following the likely confirmation of Judge Amy Coney Barrett. (Washington Post)
Savannah Guthrie gets answers from Trump by setting a fast pace, following up, and challenging Trump’s evasions. When Trump said he wasn’t familiar with QAnon, Guthrie said “you do know,” to which he replied: “No, I don’t know. You tell me all about it. Let’s waste the whole show. Let’s go. Keep asking me these questions.” Guthrie also called out Trump for sharing false conspiracy theories relating to the death of Osama bin Laden. “You’re the president,” Guthrie told Trump. “You’re not someone’s crazy uncle who can retweet whatever.” (New York Times / Washington Post / BuzzFeed News / CNN / Politico)
6/ The Trump administration denied California’s request for a disaster relief aid related to six wildfires. FEMA said the request did not meet the threshold requirements for aid and the White House said the request for a presidential major disaster declaration was rejected because it was “not supported by the relevant data.” August and September account for five of the six biggest fires in nearly 90 years of recorded history in the state. (San Francisco Chronicle / New York Times / CNN)
7/ Ivanka Trump potentially violated the Hatch Act eight times in just over 48 hours on Twitter. Ivanka, who’s official position is Advisor to the President, sent eight tweets campaigning for her father despite the ethics law barring federal employees from using their official positions to push partisan politics. (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington)
8/ Trump earnestly shared a story from a satirical news site claiming that Twitter had “shut down its entire social network” to stop the spread of negative news about Biden. The Babylon Bee bills itself as “the world’s best satire site.” Trump, meanwhile, tweeted the story and added: “Wow, this has never been done in history. This includes his really bad interview last night. Why is Twitter doing this. Bringing more attention to Sleepy Joe & Big T.” Shortly after, Trump deleted the post and tweeted a clarification: “Big T was not a reference to me, but rather to Big Tech.” (Politico)
1/ Another 898,000 workers filed for unemployment benefits last week. After declining from a peak of about 7 million in March, claims jumped to the highest since August. The unemployment rate stands at 7.9% – more than double its pre-pandemic level. (CNBC / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
2/ Mitch McConnell won’t bring the White House’s proposed $1.8 trillion coronavirus stimulus package to the Senate floor. Trump, meanwhile, called for even more stimulus spending, saying “I would go higher” while complaining that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin “hasn’t come home with the bacon.” House Democrats, however, are seeking $2.2 trillion, calling the White House’s latest proposal insufficient. (Axios / Washington Post / Bloomberg / CNBC / New York Times)
[Research Studies] As many as eight million people may have slipped into poverty since May. (New York Times)
The Transportation Department will use a presidential memo calling for punishing “anarchist jurisdictions” when deciding which cities should get pandemic safety grants. The Trump administration has deemed Seattle, Portland, and New York City to be “permitting anarchy” for their handling of protests in response to the killing of George Floyd, racial injustice, and Trump administration policies. (Washington Post)
3/ Trump’s aides privately warned Republican party donors in February about the potential impact of the coronavirus at a time when Trump was publicly insisting that the virus was “very much under control” in the United States. On Feb. 24, senior members of Trump’s economic team briefed board members of the Hoover Institution about the outbreaking, saying they weren’t able to estimate the consequences of the virus on the American economy. The next day, Larry Kudlow, the director of the National Economic Council, told board members that the coronavirus virus was “contained in the U.S., to date, but now we just don’t know.” Hours earlier, Kudlow told CNBC that the virus was contained and “it’s pretty close to airtight.” Investors who were briefed on the Hoover meetings said that parts of the readout informed their trades. (New York Times)
The number of new coronavirus cases in the U.S. are surging again with several Midwestern states reporting elevated levels of infections in recent days. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
The White House has taken a more hands-on role in shaping recommendations from the CDC than previously reported. “White House advisers have made line-by-line edits to official health guidance, altering language written by CDC scientists on church choirs, social distancing in bars and restaurants as well as internal summaries of public-health reports, according to interviews with current and former agency and administration officials and their emails.” (Wall Street Journal)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~38,757,000; deaths: ~1,096,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~7,971,000; deaths: ~218,000
4/ The U.S. Postal Service agreed to reverse changes that slowed mail service nationwide. The suit, filed against Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and USPS, was brought by Montana Gov. Steve Bullock and argued that changes implemented in June harmed access to mail services in the state, resulting in delayed delivery of prescriptions, payments, job applications, and impeded the ability of residents to vote by mail. The postal service agreed to reverse all changes. (ABC News / NPR)
5/ The Senate Judiciary Committee will formally vote on Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court on Oct. 22 at 1 p.m. Eastern time. The full Senate will begin debate on Oct. 23. Mitch McConnell, meanwhile, told reporters: “We have the votes.” Republicans can confirm Barrett with a simple majority because the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees was eliminated, and at least 51 GOP senators have already signaled their support for Barrett. On the fourth day of Barrett’s confirmation hearings, Democrats tried to indefinitely delay proceedings, arguing that millions of Americans have already voted for the next president and that there’s never been a Supreme Court justice nominated and confirmed this close to an election. The Senate has taken half the average time to consider Barrett’s nomination. (Politico / CNN / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
6/ Trump and Joe Biden will face off tonight in dueling town halls on different networks at the same time. Tonight was supposed to be the day of the second presidential debate, but Trump refused to participate when the Commission for Presidential Debates said it would be hosted virtually because of his COVID-19 diagnosis. After the Trump backed out of the second debate, the commission canceled the debate altogether. ABC, meanwhile, scheduled a town hall with Biden shortly after. On Wednesday, NBC announced that agreed to air a town hall with Trump at the same time that Biden will appear on ABC. Both town halls will start at 8 p.m. ET. Biden’s will last for an hour and a half, while Trump’s will last for an hour. [Editor’s note: What a mess.] (ABC News / NBC News / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Politico)
At least three people connected to Biden’s presidential campaign have tested positive for the coronavirus. Sen. Kamala Harris’ communications director, Liz Allen, and a member of the flight crew for a recent campaign trip tested positive. The campaign announced a third case as part of its contact tracing efforts from the first two cases. Harris was not in what the CDC defines as close contact with either person. (CNN / ABC News / NBC News)
poll/ 62% of voters say the country is on the wrong track, compared to 29% who say it’s headed in the right direction. (NBC News)
poll/ Biden leads Trump 54% to 43% among likely voters – the highest level of support Biden has achieved since the poll began testing the head-to-head matchup in February. (NPR)
1/ U.S. coronavirus cases are rising again. In 46 states and Washington DC, the seven-day average of new coronavirus cases is up 46.5% in the past month, while tests are up 28.9%. Nationwide, the seven-day average as of Tuesday was 51,027 – the highest since Aug. 16. More than 20 states have hit a new high in their seven-day average of case counts in the past week, and more than half of those states also set new records again on Tuesday. Overall deaths in the United States during the pandemic are more than 85% higher than in 18 other high-income countries, such as Germany, Israel, and Denmark after adjusting for population size. Deaths in the U.S. are 29% higher than in Sweden, which never ordered strict social distancing and never went in to a full lockdown. (Bloomberg / NPR / Washington Post)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~38,352,000; deaths: ~1,090,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~7,900,000; deaths: ~217,000
2/ The White House supported a group of scientists arguing for a “herd immunity” strategy to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. While two senior administration officials cited an October 4 petition that thousands of doctors and scientists have signed, which argues against lockdowns and calls for a reopening of businesses and schools, the validity of the declaration is questionable due to a number of fake names among its “expert” signatories, including “Dr. Johnny Bananas” and “Dr. Person Fakename.” To achieve herd immunity, 60% to 70% of the U.S. population would have to become infected. Less than 10% of the U.S. population, however, has been exposed to COVID-19. (New York Times / Washington Post / Sky News / CNN / Daily Beast)
Barron Trump had coronavirus. Melania Trump said Barron tested positive, showed no symptoms, and has since tested negative. (The Guardian)
The White House coronavirus task force warned against small household gatherings as coronavirus cases rise across the country and colder months approach. Trump, meanwhile, continues to gather thousands of mostly maskless supporters at rallies. (CNN)
FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn rejected Trump administration pressure to rebrand the emergency authorization of a COVID-19 vaccine as a “pre-licensure” to avoid politicizing its scientific determinations. Health and Human Services Department officials had pitched the change to the FDA as a way to ensure a vaccine is free for all Americans, because Congress mandated that Medicare cover the cost of administering a licensed vaccine – the requirement did not include drugs authorized under emergency-use designation. (Politico)
[Behind the shock and awe] Trump’s COVID Task Force Is Now Openly Rebelling Against Him. From Fauci to Birx to Redfield, the president’s top health officials appear to be at their wits’ end. (Daily Beast)
3/ Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin acknowledged that a pre-election coronavirus relief package is unlikely. While Mnuchin and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have agreed on some areas, including a new round of $1,200 stimulus checks, they have remained apart on funding for state and local aid, child care, unemployment insurance, and testing and tracing programs, as well as a national plan for implementing tests. Trump, meanwhile, tweeted for negotiators to “go big or go home!!!” (Bloomberg / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / CNBC)
4/ A federal prosecutor appointed by Attorney General William Barr to review Obama administration officials’ “unmasking” of unnamed individuals in intelligence reports found no evidence of wrongdoing. U.S. Attorney John Bash was tasked with examining whether Obama officials, such as then-CIA Director John Brennan, then-FBI Director James Comey or then-Vice President Joe Biden, had inappropriately requested the identity of a person unnamed in intelligence reports, who later turned out to be Trump’s incoming national security adviser Michael Flynn. Bash found no substantive wrongdoing. Bash was appointed by Barr to head the “unmasking” probe in May as a spin-off of U.S. Attorney John Durham’s investigation into the origins of what became Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. In December, Durham told the Justice Department’s inspector general that he found no evidence that U.S. intelligence agencies had planted spies in the Trump campaign. Barr, meanwhile, rejected the conclusion that the FBI’s probe into Russian interference was justified. Trump, meanwhile, refused to say if he would keep Barr as his attorney general in a potential second term, saying “I have no comment. Can’t comment on that. It’s too early. I’m not happy with all of the evidence I have, I can tell you that. I’m not happy.” (Washington Post / NBC News / The Guardian / CNN / Bloomberg / Axios / CNBC)
5/ Justice Department attorneys argued in court that Trump’s tweets that he had “fully authorized the total declassification” of all documents related to the Russia investigation should not be considered a real declassification order. DOJ attorneys told a judge that the White House Counsel’s Office told the DOJ to disregard Trump’s tweets, saying they weren’t accompanied by an actual declassification order, and to proceed as though the tweets hadn’t occurred. BuzzFeed News had cited Trump’s tweets in a motion to gain access to Robert Mueller’s unredacted report as part of a Freedom of Information Act request. (Axios / BuzzFeed News / Politico)
The Justice Department sued the author of a book about her relationship with Melania Trump, claiming Stephanie Winston Wolkoff violated a nondisclosure agreement. Winston Wolkoff managed Trump’s inauguration festivities and then served as an unpaid adviser to Melania during the first year of the Trump administration before parting ways. The lawsuit asks a judge to order Winston Wolkoff to surrender any profits from her book, “Melania and Me: The Rise and Fall of My Friendship with the First Lady,” to a government trust. (CNBC / NBC News / Reuters)
6/ Federal prosecutors spent more than three years investigating whether an Egyptian state-owned bank backed Trump’s injection of $10 million into his 2016 campaign. The investigation, which predated and outlasted Robert Mueller’s probe, examined whether it was an illegal foreign campaign contribution. Mueller litigated the case up to the Supreme Court in 2019. The justices declined to hear the case. When the special counsel’s office shut down in 2019, Mueller transferred the investigation to prosecutors in Washington. The investigation remained open until current acting U.S. Attorney for D.C. Michael Sherwin formally closed the case in July. (CNN)
7/ Judge Amy Coney Barrett faced more questions from senators during the third day of her confirmation hearings for the Supreme Court. In her testimony, Barrett declined to share her legal views on abortion rights, voting rights, the Affordable Care Act, and whether she thought it was wrong to separate migrant children from their parents to deter immigration to the U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris closed the proceedings by saying they “lack legitimacy” and calling the hearing rushed and designed to secure a conservative majority on the court despite nearly 12 million votes already cast. Thursday will feature three panels of witnesses. The committee is expected to vote on the nominee on Oct. 22. (Washington Post / New York Times / The Guardian / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNBC)
1/ Trump tested negative for the coronavirus “on consecutive days,” White House physician Dr. Sean Conley said. Conley’s memo did not specify on which consecutive days Trump had tested negative. Trump was tested using an antigen test, which are considered to be less accurate than molecular tests. Conley added: Trump is “not infectious to others.” (CNN / Bloomberg / CNBC)
Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine trial was paused because of an unexplained illness in one of the volunteers. Eli Lilly also paused a trial of its monoclonal antibody drug — the same class of medicine Trump received — for safety concerns. (Washington Post / CNN / Politico / STAT News)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~38,000,000; deaths: ~1,084,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~7,848,000; deaths: ~216,000
2/ Trump, eager to prove he’s healthy despite his recent COVID-19 hospitalization, returned to the campaign trail on Monday night in Florida and kicking off four straight days of rallies. While claiming himself cured of COVID-19, Trump asserted he is “immune” to the coronavirus – there is no conclusive scientific backing for the claim. “I feel so powerful,” Trump said before leaving Washington. “I’ll kiss everyone in that audience. I’ll kiss the guys and the beautiful women. Just give you a big fat kiss.” (New York Times / NBC News / USA Today)
3/ Mitch McConnell announced that the Senate’s “first order of business” when it returns on Oct. 19 will be to vote on a “targeted” coronavirus relief bill, including new funding for the small business Paycheck Protection Program. House Democrats, Senate Republicans, and the Trump administration, however, are still far apart on a deal. Over the weekend, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin offered House Speaker Nancy Pelosi a roughly $1.8 trillion deal — about $400 billion less than the bill House Democrats passed earlier this month. Pelosi dismissed the proposal, and suggested that Trump “only wants his name on a check to go out before Election Day and for the [stock] market to go up.” Nancy Pelosi also told House Democrats that McConnell’s proposal was a nonstarter. Trump, meanwhile, tweeted for Congress to “Go big or go home!!!” on a “STIMULUS!” deal. (CNBC / Bloomberg / Politico / Axios)
4/ Amy Coney Barrett largely refused to answer questions about how she might rule on a challenge to the Affordable Care Act, if she would recuse herself from any lawsuit about the presidential election, and whether she would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade on the second day of confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee. When asked how she would rule if she gets on the court in time to hear a Republican challenge to the Affordable Care Act, Barrett insisted that she’s “not here on a mission to destroy the Affordable Care Act” and that she’s “not hostile to the ACA.” Barrett told the committee that she doesn’t have a judicial “agenda” on abortion while declining to answer if she believes that Roe v. Wade was wrongly decided and can be overturned. In 2006, however, Barrett signed an open letter calling Roe v. Wade “barbaric” and “an exercise of raw judicial power.” Barrett also declared that she would not “allow myself to be used as a pawn to decide this election for the American people.” She declined, however, to say whether she would recuse herself from any election-related cases. (Washington Post / NBC News / NPR / Politico / The Guardian / New York Times / Axios / Washington Post / CNBC)
5/ Trump continued his public criticism of Dr. Anthony Fauci, tweeting that Fauci’s pitching arm is “far more accurate than his prognostications” – a reference to the nation’s top infectious disease expert poor first pitch at Nationals Park. Trump’s criticism comes after Dr. Fauci balked at the Trump campaign including him in a political ad that made it look like he was endorsing Trump. Dr. Fauci said in a statement that “the comments attributed to me without my permission in the GOP campaign ad were taken out of context from a broad statement I made months ago about the efforts of federal public health officials.” Dr. Fauci also demanded that the Trump campaign refrain from using him in future campaign ads, saying it would be “outrageous” and “terrible” if he was featured in another commercial and it could “come back to backfire” on the campaign. Dr. Fauci, however, said “I’m not going to walk away from this outbreak, no matter who’s the president.” (CNN / Daily Beast / ABC News / NBC News / Politico / Axios)
Trump’s campaign is running a political ad that features the Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley without the officer’s “knowledge or consent,” according to a defense official. (Politico)
✏️Notables
🚨 The Supreme Court approved a Trump administration request to end the 2020 census count earlier than planned. Lower courts previously ordered the administration to keep counting through Oct. 31. The administration had sought to stop counting in order to to apportion House seats and distribute federal funds for the next 10 years by Dec. 31. [Editor’s note: This is breaking news. I’ll have a full overview tomorrow] (NPR / USA Today / CNBC)
Trump asked the Supreme Court to block a lower court’s ruling that would give the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office access to years of his income tax returns. If the Supreme Court agrees to hear his appeal, it will be the second time the court has heard the case. In July, the court ruled that presidents are not immune from investigation, sending the case back to lower courts for Trump’s lawyers to fight the subpoena. (CNBC / Axios)
The Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal by Congress that accused Trump of violating anti-corruption provisions in the U.S. Constitution over his private businesses accepting payments from foreign governments. Without comment, the justices let stand a decision by a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals to dismiss the lawsuit filed by 215 members of Congress. (Washington Post / Reuters)
More than 10.6 million voters have cast their ballots in the November election. By Oct. 16 of the 2016 presidential election, about 1.4 million voters had cast a ballot. Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and Virginia have received more early ballots than they did in the 2016 presidential election. (CNBC / Wall Street Journal)
Georgia voters overloaded polling places on the first day of early voting Monday as state and local officials reported glitches with the new and touch-screen voting system. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution / New York Times)
More than 3 million new voters registered in Texas after the 2016 election, meaning about 1 in 5 Texas voters in 2020 were not registered in 2016. (CBS News)
A federal appeals court upheld Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s order that limited counties to one mail-in ballot drop-off location. The three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, all appointed by Trump, rejected arguments that claimed Abbott’s order suppressed voting rights by making it harder to cast a ballot. (USA Today / Washington Post)
The Virginia voter registration system crashed on the last day for voters to register before Election Day. Officials said that a cut cable was to blame for the “temporary” system shutdown. (CBS News / Daily Beast / WUSA9)
A federal judge dismissed an attempt by the Trump campaign and the Republican Party to make ballot dropboxes in Pennsylvania unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Nicholas Ranjan ruled that the Trump campaign has no standing because of the lack of evidence of actual fraud. (Washington Post / CNN / Axios / WHYY)
The California Republican Party admitted to placing more than 50 “unauthorized” drop boxes for mail-in ballots in Los Angeles, Fresno, and Orange Counties. The deceptively labeled “official” drop boxes were placed near churches, gun shops, and Republican Party offices, and affixed with a white paper label identifying them as either an “Official Ballot Drop off Box” or a “Ballot Drop Box.” (New York Times / Washington Post / BuzzFeed News / Orange County Register)
Microsoft disrupted a hacking operation that it said could have indirectly affected election infrastructure if allowed to continue. The company won a court order to seize servers used by the Trickbot botnet, a network of infected computers that Microsoft said could have been used to lock up voter-registration systems. (Washington Post / CNN)
Eric Trump canceled a campaign event at a Michigan gun shop after a former employee was linked to the domestic terror plot against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. (ClickOnDetroit)
1/ More than 200 companies, special interest groups and foreign governments patronized Trump’s properties since he took office. Since 2016, more than 70 advocacy groups, businesses, and foreign governments held events at Trump properties, which were previously held at different locations or new events were developed to be hosted at Trump properties. Religious organizations also hosted prayer meetings, banquets, and tours on Trump properties. Tax records from 2016 show that Mar-a-Lago initiation fees delivered nearly $6 million in revenue, and 60 patrons with interests before the administration brought the Trump family $12 million in business in 2017 and 2018 – nearly all saw their interests advanced by the Trump administration. And, at least two dozen patrons reserved events for 2017 and 2018 at Trump properties had interests involving the administration, and more than 100 companies that wanted something from the federal government spent money at Trump properties. Trump himself has also attended 34 political fundraisers at his properties, which brought in $3 million in revenue. (New York Times)
2/ Trump’s adult children and their families have cost taxpayers at least $238,000 in room rentals at Trump properties for Secret Service protection since taking office. According to Secret Service records, when Eric Trump, Trump Jr., and Ivanka Trump have visited Trump properties for family business, Trump’s company charged the Secret Service for rooms agents used on each trip. (Washington Post)
3/ The Senate Judiciary Committee held the first of four days of confirmation hearings for Judge Amy Coney Barrett, Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court. Senator Lindsey Graham, the committee’s chairman, opened the hearing by saying this is “to confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court,” and “probably not about persuading each other,” because “all the Republicans will vote yes, all the Democrats will vote no.” After nearly five hours of opening statements by the committee’s members, Barret said judges should not try to legislate from the bench in her opening statement, saying the “courts are not designed to solve every problem or right every wrong in our public life. The policy decisions and value judgments of government must be made by the political branches elected by and accountable to the people.” Hearings will resume Tuesday for two rounds of questioning. Outside witnesses will testify on Barrett’s nomination on Thursday. The Judiciary Committee plans to reconvene on Oct. 22 to approve Barrett’s nomination. Barrett’s confirmation would cement conservative control of the nation’s highest court, giving them a 6-3 advantage. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Politico / Washington Post / The Guardian / NBC News / ABC News / CBS News / CNN)
The American Bar Association rated Judge Amy Coney Barrett as “well qualified” – its highest rating. (CNN)
Sen. Mike Lee, who tested positive for COVID-19 less than two weeks ago, appeared in person for Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings. Lee removed his mask when it was his turn to address the committee. (Politico / NPR / Axios)
4/ The White House blocked a CDC order requiring all passengers and employees wear masks on planes, trains, buses, and subways, and in airports, stations and depots. The order was drafted under the agency’s “quarantine powers” and had the support of the secretary of health and human services, Alex Azar. The White House Coronavirus Task Force, led by Pence, declined to discuss it. Public health officials have said that wearing masks is one of the most effective ways to stop the spread of the coronavirus, particularly in crowded, poorly ventilated public places, like transportation venues. (New York Times)
Coronavirus cases set a new single-day records in six U.S. states. Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma and West Virginia all had record single-day increases in cases on Friday. (NBC News)
Twitter flagged Trump’s tweet claiming he is “immune” from the coronavirus as a violation of “spreading misleading and potentially harmful information related to COVID-19.” (Bloomberg)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~37,694,000; deaths: ~1,079,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~7,797,000; deaths: ~216,000
5/ Trump delivered a short speech from the Blue Room balcony overlooking the South Lawn on Saturday after Dr. Sean Conley issued a doctor’s note saying Trump was “no longer considered a transmission risk to others” and described the president as “fever-free for well over 24 hours,” noting that “all symptoms improved.” Conley said Trump has met CDC criteria for “the safe discontinuation of isolation.” Calling it a “peaceful protest” in honor of “law and order,” Trump made his first public appearance since he was hospitalized after testing positive for the coronavirus, telling the crowd: “I’m feeling great!” The speech came two weeks after Trump nominated Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court in a ceremony that Dr. Anthony Fauci described as a “super spreader” event. The event was organized by Candace Owens, who has led a “BLEXIT” movement urging Black voters to leave the Democratic Party. BLEXIT paid for the travel and lodging for some guests. Trump spoke for about 15 minutes – shorter than the nearly 30 minutes that officials had advertised – to an estimated audience of 500. More than 2,000 guests had been invited. Late Monday, Conley said Trump testednegative on “consecutive days” for COVID-19 a week after being released from the hospital for treatment of the disease. He did not state which days. (New York Times / NBC News / ABC News / CNN / Politico / CBS News)
Trump used the United States Marine Band for the White House event, raising questions about employing the military for political purposes. (Washington Post)
Trump proposed the idea of ripping open his button-down shirt to reveal a shirt with the Superman logo as he left Walter Reed Medical Center last week. Trump did not go through with the stunt. (New York Times)
6/ The Trump campaign released a new ad using an out of context Dr. Anthony Fauci quote in an attempt to make it appear as if he is praising Trump’s response to the coronavirus. The nation’s leading infectious disease expert did not consent to being featured in the campaign ad, saying “In my nearly five decades of public service, I have never publicly endorsed any political candidate. The comments attributed to me without my permission in the GOP campaign ad were taken out of context from a broad statement I made months ago about the efforts of federal public health officials,” Fauci said. In the ad, Fauci says that he “can’t imagine that anybody could be doing more.” The clip is from an interview with Fox News in March in which he was speaking about the government’s response to the pandemic – not specifically about Trump’s efforts. Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh said the campaign will continue to run the ad despite Fauci’s objections. The White House, meanwhile, blocked Dr. Fauci – or any of the medical experts on the coronavirus task force – from appearing on ABC’s “This Week” this Sunday. (CNN / NBC News / Politico / Axios)
poll/ 62% of voters say the U.S. Supreme Court should uphold Roe v. Wade, while 24% would want it overturned. 52% say filling Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat should be left to the winner of the presidential election and a Senate vote next year. (ABC News / Washington Post)
poll/ Biden leads Trump by eight percentage points in Michigan and by 10 percentage points in Wisconsin among likely voters. Biden is up six percentage points on Trump in Nevada and is even in Iowa. (New York Times / CBS News / Politico)
poll/ 58% of voters disapprove of Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic while 21% say it is under control. Biden holds a 17-point lead over Trump in trust to handle the pandemic with 62% saying they distrust what Trump says about it. (ABC News)
1/ House Democrats introduced legislation to create a bipartisan commission to review whether Trump and future presidents are capable of carrying out their duties. The legislation would allow Congress to intervene under the 25th Amendment and remove the president from executive duties. Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the measure “is not about President Trump,” but suggested that Trump needs to disclose more about his health after his COVID-19 diagnosis. Pelosi also noted Trump’s “strange tweet” halting talks on new coronavirus aid and his subsequent effort to reverse course. Trump responded on Twitter, claiming that “Crazy Nancy is the one who should be under observation,” adding: “They don’t call her Crazy for nothing!” Trump also retweeted Republican allies who baselessly said he “wouldn’t put it past Speaker Pelosi to stage a coup.” While the 25th amendment does allow Pelosi to create a panel to review Trump or any other president’s health and fitness for office, the House will not be able to remove Trump from office without the consent of Pence and members of his cabinet. (NBC News / The Guardian / Associated Press)
2/ The White House is preparing a $1.8 trillion coronavirus relief offer despite Mitch McConnell indicating that a stimulus deal was “unlikely” before the election. Trump, tweeting that “Covid Relief Negotiations are moving along. Go Big,” is reportedly “desperate” for a deal, but has “zero leverage” to force Senate leadership to support the bill crafted by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. In the talks with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin before Trump abruptly ended negotiations Tuesday, Pelosi had been pursuing a $2.2 trillion boost to the economy – a scaled-back version of the Democrats’ earlier $3.5 trillion legislation. Trump, meanwhile, told Rush Limbaugh that he wants an even bigger stimulus than what Democrats have offered so far. Shortly after, however, the White House communications director, Alyssa Farah, told reporters the administration wants a package below $2 trillion. (Axios / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Bloomberg / Politico)
3/ Trump’s tax records show that more than $21 million in unusual payments were routed from a Las Vegas hotel Trump owns with Phil Ruffin through other Trump companies and paid out in cash. Most of the money flowed through a company called Trump Las Vegas Sales and Marketing that had little previous income, no clear business purpose, and no employees. It was characterized as a business expense. Seven weeks before the 2016 election, the Trump-Ruffin partnership borrowed $30 million from City National Bank in Los Angeles. On Oct. 28, Trump contributed $10 million to his campaign. (New York Times)
4/ Trump received a $21.1 million tax break for preserving the forest around his New York mansion after a 2016 appraisal valued the estate at $56.5 million — more than double the value assessed by the three Westchester county towns that each contained a piece of the property. New York Attorney General Letitia James is now investigating whether the Trump Organization improperly inflated the value of Seven Springs as part of the conservation easement on the property. The investigation also scrutinizes valuations, tax burdens, and conservation easements at Trump’s holdings in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York City. Eric Trump sat for a deposition in the case on Monday. (Washington Post)
5/ Dr. Sean Conley reported that Trump “has completed his course of therapy for COVID-19,” and he expects Trump to “return to public engagements” on Saturday. Dr. Conley, who has previously acknowledged providing the public with a positive view of Trump’s condition to satisfy the administration, did not say when Trump’s last negative coronavirus test occurred before his diagnosis. Shortly after Dr. Conley’s memo, Trump’s campaign called for the second presidential debate to take place as originally scheduled. The Commission on Presidential Debates, meanwhile, canceled the second debate between Trump and Biden altogether after Trump declined to do a virtual debate despite concerns over his COVID-19 diagnosis. (New York Times / CNN)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~36,712,000; deaths: ~1,065,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~7,649,000; deaths: ~214,000
6/ Trump will host his first in-person event since testing positive for the coronavirus on Saturday at the White House. Trump is expected to address the crowd from the balcony of the White House. (ABC News / NPR / Wall Street Journal)
7/ Trump will receive a “medical evaluation” during Tucker Carlson Tonight by Dr. Marc Siegel, a Fox News contributor. Dr. Siegel will also conduct an interview, but it’s not clear if either the “evaluation” or interview will occur live on-air or will be pre-taped from earlier in the day. Since being released from Walter Reed hospital, Trump has done two phone interviews, first with Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo Thursday morning, then with Fox News Sean Hannity Thursday night. (Fox News / Mediaite / Daily Beast)
Trump, coughing, told Sean Hannity he’s healthy and ready to hold rallies. Doctors and public health experts, meanwhile, called the move “reckless.” Later, Trump held what his campaign called a “radio rally,” in which he dialed in to Rush Limbaugh’s show for two hours.(CNN / NPR / Associated Press)
8/ Trump and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows are pushing the FDA to grant emergency authorization for the promising but unproven COVID-19 therapy that Trump received. Trump has repeatedly suggested in videos on Twitter that the Regeneron drug is a “cure” that would soon be broadly available while claiming that he himself had granted the drugs an emergency use authorization, which is not true. (Washington Post / CBS News)
9/ The Justice Department’s review into the origins of the Russia investigation will not be released until after the election. Trump criticized Attorney General William Barr after being told that the results of U.S. Attorney John Durham’s report about alleged abuses by the Obama administration and intelligence community will not result in any indictments or a public report before Nov. 3. Trump, speaking with Rush Limbaugh, complained that Barr and FBI Director Christopher Wray were not moving fast enough, saying, “They want to get more, more, more. They keep getting more. I said, ‘you don’t need any more.’” (Axios / CNBC)
10/ Judge Amy Coney Barrett failed to disclose two seminars she gave that was hosted by anti-abortion student groups on her Senate paperwork. In April 2013, Barrett gave a small hour-long seminar “for students on changes to law and life for women after Roe v. Wade” entitled “Being a Woman After Roe.” And in November 2013, Barrett spoke to Jus Vitae, the law school’s Right to Life club at the University of Notre Dame, on “The Supreme Court’s Abortion Jurisprudence.” (CNN)
11/ Twitter will temporarily slow the way information flows on its platform ahead of the Nov. 3 election, including imposing new warnings on lies, restricting premature declarations of victory, and blocking calls for polling violence and other disruptions. (Washington Post / New York Times)
1/ [DEBATE RECAP] Pence repeatedly interrupted Sen. Kamala Harris, ignored the moderator, went over time, and refused to directly answer the questions asked during the vice presidential debate. “Mr. Vice President, I’m speaking … I’m speaking,” Harris repeatedly had to say when Pence interrupted her. And, about an hour into the debate, moderator Susan Page noted that Pence had spoken more than Harris while trying to stop Pence from taking more time than allotted. Harris, meanwhile, called the Trump administration’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic “the greatest failure of any presidential administration in the history of our country,” saying “this administration has forfeited their right to reelection” due to its “ineptitude” and “incompetence.” Harris added “they knew what was happening and they didn’t tell you.” A fly also landed in Pence’s hair for two minutes. Other than that, the debate was more civil and substantive than last week’s failure, which was driven by Trump’s constant interruptions. (CNN / Bloomberg / NBC News / Politico / ABC News / New York Times / The Guardian)
2/ Trump refused to participate in the next presidential debate after the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates announced that it would be held virtually due to coronavirus concerns. The decision was made “in order to protect the health and safety of all involved,” the commission said in a statement. While Biden’s campaign agreed to the new format, Trump tweeted: “I’m not going to waste my time on a virtual debate. It’s not what debating is all about. It’s ridiculous.” Hours later, Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien proposed pushing the October 15 debate back a week and then move the third debate to October 29 – days before the November 3 election. Biden’s campaign, however, rejected the proposal, saying: “Trump chose today to pull out of the October 15th debate” and his “erratic behavior does not allow him to rewrite the calendar, and pick new dates of his choosing.” Biden will instead participate in a town hall moderated by ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos in Philadelphia on Oct. 15, taking questions directly from voters. According to Stepien, Trump will “pass on this sad excuse to bail out Joe Biden and do a rally instead.” Candidates are not required to participate in presidential debates. (CNN / Axios / CNBC / ABC News / New York Times / Politico / NBC News / Bloomberg / Washington Post)
3/ The coronavirus outbreak has infected “34 White House staffers and other contacts,” according to an internal FEMA memo. D.C. Health Director LaQuandra Nesbitt and health officers from nine counties and cities across the Washington region are asking anyone who worked in the White House in the past two weeks to get tested. (ABC News / Washington Post)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~36,359,000; deaths: ~1,059,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~7,592,000; deaths: ~213,000
The assistant commandant of the Marine Corps tested positive for the coronavirus. Gen. Gary Thomas is the second senior uniformed official to announce a COVID-19 diagnosis this week. (Washington Post)
Mitch McConnell hasn’t visited the White House since August because “their approach” to the coronavirus pandemic “is different than mine.” (NBC News)
White House chief of staff Mark Meadows hosted an Atlanta wedding for his daughter in May, despite statewide and city orders banning gatherings of more than 10 people to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Roughly 70 guests attended the May 31 wedding. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
4/ Trump suggested that he might have contracted COVID-19 from Gold Star family members despite the veterans’ group involved in organizing the event confirming all attendees tested negative before the ceremony and all are “doing well and exhibit no symptoms of COVID-19.” The Sept. 27 event was held indoors at the White House – one day after a Supreme Court event in the Rose Garden, where multiple attendees have subsequently tested positive. It is not publicy known where Trump contracted COVID-19 because the White House has refused to provide a timeline of Trump’s coronavirus tests in the days leading up to his diagnosis. Nevertheless, Trump said that he “figured there would be a chance” he would become infected with the coronavirus, because Gold Star family members “come within an inch of my face, sometimes. They want to hug me, and they want to kiss me. And they do.” (Politico / NBC News / CNN)
5/ Trump spent an hour downplaying his COVID-19 infection, attacking Kamala Harris, accusing political opponents of conspiring against him, and demanding that Attorney General William Barr indict Biden, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton for unspecified crimes. In the interview with the Fox Business – his first since testing positive for the coronavirus – Trump claimed that “I‘m back because I’m a perfect physical specimen, and I’m extremely young,” adding “Remember this: When you catch it you get better, and then you’re immune.” Trump also called Harris, the first woman of color on a major party ticket, a “monster.” (New York Times / Politico / NBC News / CNN / Vox / CNN)
The experimental antibody cocktail that Trump received as part of his COVID-19 treatment relied on human fetal tissue his administration opposes. In June 2019, the Trump administration suspended federal funding for most new scientific research involving fetal tissue derived from abortions. Trump has praised Regeneron’s treatment as “miracles coming down from God,” calling it a “cure” for COVID-19 and promising to provide it free to any patient who needed it. (Washington Post / New York Times)
6/ Trump required personnel at Walter Reed Medical Center to sign nondisclosure agreements in Nov. 2019 before they could be involved in his treatment. At least two doctors refused to sign nondisclosure agreements during Trump’s Nov. 16 visit and were not permitted to be involved in his care. Trump required signed NDAs from both physicians and non-medical staff, most of whom are active-duty military service members. The reason for Trump’s visit last year is still unknown. Existing legal protections under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act automatically prohibited anyone providing medical services from disclosing a patient’s health information without consent. It is unknown whether any Walter Reed personnel were asked to sign nondisclosure agreements during Trump’s recent treatment of COVID-19. (NBC News / Washington Post / CNN)
📌 Day 1033: Trump made an unscheduled visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to “begin portions of his routine annual physical exam” that included a “quick exam and labs,” according to the White House.
📌 Day 1219: Trump hasn’t completed his annual 2020 physical after claiming six months ago that he had started the process. The White House declined to explain why.
📌 Day 1321 Trump denied that his unscheduled visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center last November was because he had “suffered a series of mini-strokes.” No media outlets have reported that Trump had a series of mini-strokes. Trump, however, tweeted that it “Never happened to THIS candidate – FAKE NEWS.” Hours later, Trump’s physician issued an official statement saying Trump has not had a stroke, mini-stroke or heart-related emergencies. (@realDonaldTrump / The Guardian / CNBC / Washington Post)
✏️ Notables.
Federal prosecutors charged a top GOP fundraiser for conspiring to act as a foreign agent. The charging document says Elliott Broidy, a former top fundraiser for Trump, agreed to lobby the Trump administration and the Justice Department to drop or favorably resolve the investigation of a foreign national for his role in the embezzlement of billions of dollars from the Malaysia state development fund. (Washington Post / New York Times / CNBC)
Facebook permanently banned a U.S. marketing firm working on behalf of pro-Trump student organization Turning Point USA and Inclusive Conservation Group. The groups used fake personas to comment on news stories to praise Trump and criticize Biden. Experts described the operation as a domestic “troll farm.” (Axios / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
Federal and state officials in Michigan arrested and charged 13 men in connection with a failed plan to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer. That group repeatedly met throughout the summer for firearms training and combat drills. They attempted to build explosives, surveilled Whitmer’s vacation home, and had indicated that they wanted to take her hostage before the election in November. In April, thousands of people gathered at the State Capitol to protest Whitmer’s executive orders to shut down most of the state to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Trump encouraged the protests, tweeting, “LIBERATE MICHIGAN!” The FBI-led probe began in March and focused on militia groups’ discussing the “violent overthrow” of government and law enforcement officials. (NBC News / New York Times / The Detroit News)
Mike Pence agreed to have a plexiglass divider between himself and Kamala Harris at tonight’s vice presidential debate. Pence initially argued there was no need for a barrier on his side of the stage, but changed his mind after viewing the setup during a walk-through of the debate hall. (Washington Post / New York Times)
Biden: “If he still has COVID, we shouldn’t have a debate.” (CNN)
1/ A federal appeals court ruled that Manhattan’s district attorney can enforce a subpoena for eight years’ worth of Trump’s tax returns, rejecting arguments by Trump’s lawyers that the subpoena was too broad, politically motivated, and issued in “bad faith” and “out of malice” with “an intent to harass.” The Second Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the arguments, saying “There is nothing to suggest that these are anything but run-of-the-mill documents typically relevant to a grand jury investigation into possible financial or corporate misconduct. […] We have considered all of the President’s remaining contentions on appeal and have found in them no basis for reversal.” Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance, meanwhile, agreed not to enforce the subpoena for now, giving Trump’s legal team a chance to petition the Supreme Court – for a second time – for a stay. Vance issued the subpoena in August 2019. (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / CNN / Politico / CNBC / Associated Press / Reuters)
2/ Top Justice Department officials were “a driving force” behind Trump’s child separation policy. In 2018, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, deputy AG Rod Rosenstein, and others at the DOJ pushed Trump’s “zero tolerance” family separation policy at the U.S.-Mexico border, according to a two-year inquiry by the Justice Department’s inspector general. “We need to take away children,” Sessions told the five U.S. attorneys along the border with Mexico in May 2018. Rosenstein went further about a week later, telling prosecutors that it did not matter how young the children were. The draft report says that Justice Department officials understood and encouraged the separation of children as an expected part of the desire to prosecute all undocumented border crossers. Trump abandoned the policy amid global backlash. (New York Times / NBC News / The Independent)
The Trump administration announced new H-1B visa restriction. Under the new Departments of Labor and Homeland Security rules, employers will need to pay high-skilled foreign workers significantly higher wages, while narrowing the types of colleges degrees that qualify, and shorten the length of visas for certain contract workers. (Wall Street Journal / CBS News)
3/ Trump urged Congress to pass a new coronavirus stimulus package hours after abruptly ordering his negotiators to stop talks with Democrats until after the election. Trump tweeted for Congress to “IMMEDIATELY” approve a “Stand Alone Bill” for a new round of $1,200 stimulus checks, as well as $25 billion for the airline industry, and an additional $135 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program, adding, “I am ready to sign right now. Are you listening Nancy?” Efforts between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to negotiate a broad stimulus package ended Tuesday after Trump tweeted that he had “instructed my representatives to stop negotiating until after the election.” Trump’s tweets sent the stock market into a sharp downward slide. Hours later, Trump reversed himself and called on Congress to approve additional assistance for airlines, a small business aid program, and direct checks for many Americans. (NBC News / Politico / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / CNN / New York Times / Bloomberg)
4/ Trump told the White House medical staff “I feel great!” and that he has been “symptom-free” from the coronavirus for over 24 hours, as White House aides offered conflicting statements about whether Trump had returned to the Oval Office. White House physician Dr. Sean Conley said Trump hadn’t had a fever in four days, his oxygen saturation and respiratory rate were stable and normal, and his blood work on Monday showed “detectable levels” of COVID-19 antibodies. Dr. Conley, however, offered no information about what medication Trump is taking or the timing of Trump’s last negative test, which Conley also refused to provide at a Monday briefing. Meanwhile, in a two-hour stretch, Trump posted at least 50 tweets and retweets attacking Biden, Hillary Clinton, Kamala Harris, Obama, Michelle Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Bernie Sanders, and journalist Lester Holt. Trump also tweeted that he was declassifyingdocuments related to the Russia investigation, shared a conspiracy video from 2018, predicted the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court would be “fast and easy,” called presidential debate moderator Chris Wallace “a total JOKE,” and criticized his own FDA’s coronavirus vaccine safety standards as “another political hit job.” Trump, who is supposed to be observing a period of self-isolation in accordance with CDC guidelines, has insisted on returning to work in the Oval Office. White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, meanwhile, told reporters that safety precautions would be taken to accommodate Trump’s request But after Larry Kudlow, the director of the National Economic Council, said that Trump had been working from the Oval Office a day after returning from the hospital, the White House clarified Trump remained isolated in his residence. (Politico / Bloomberg / New York Times / Washington Post / The Guardian / CNN / Wall Street Journal / ABC News / Axios / Bloomberg)
[Developing] Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe approved the release of documents assist the Department of Justice’s review of the Obama administration’s handling of the Trump-Russia investigation. (Axios)
Senior White House adviser Stephen Miller tested positive for the coronavirus. Miller said in a statement that he has been “working remotely and self-isolating, testing negative every day” over the last five days, but has since tested positive. Miller is the eleventh official to test positive after attending a White House event in the Rose Garden and the latest member of Trump’s presidential debate prep team to test positive. Miller also traveled aboard Air Force One on a Minnesota campaign trip with Trump and Hicks. (CNN / Axios / The Guardian / Washington Post / NBC News)
Chris Christie remains hospitalized after testing positive COVID-19 a day after Trump and Melania Trump announced they had tested positive. (NJ.com)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~35,988,000; deaths: ~1,053,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~7,539,000; deaths: ~212,000
5/ The White House told staff that it had completed “all contact tracing” for positive COVID-19 cases. An email was sent to staff working across the White House complex and urged anyone who hasn’t been contacted, but suspects they’ve been in contact with someone infected to reach out to the White House Medical Office. At least one White House correspondent who tested positive for the coronavirus following direct interaction with White House officials, said there’s been no outreach by the White House to do contact tracing or to follow up. At least one other White House official said they’ve also alerted officials that they have had direct contact with positive White House personnel, but received no guidance on how to proceed. (CNN)
The White House informed a veterans group that there was a COVID-19 risk stemming from a Sept. 27 event at the White House. (Daily Beast)
poll/ 46% of Americans do not want the Senate to confirm Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, while 42% say the Senate should confirm her. (CNN)
poll/ Biden leads Trump in Florida (51% - 40%), Pennsylvania (54% - 41%), and Iowa (50% - 45%) among likely voters. (Quinnipiac)
1/ Trump ordered negotiators to stop talks with Democrats on a new coronavirus relief package until after the election, tweeting that he won’t agree to a deal until “after I win.” In a series of tweets, Trump said he rejected the Democrats’ latest proposal because – he claimed – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “is not negotiating in good faith.” The House passed a $2.2 trillion bill last week – down from its earlier $3.5 trillion package. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin had proposed a $1.6 trillion deal in response. The two sides remained at odds over how much state and local aid to include in an agreement. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, meanwhile, warned that “too little support would lead to a weak recovery, creating unnecessary hardship for households and businesses.” Powell said a prolonged slowdown could trigger “typical recessionary dynamics, as weakness feeds on weakness,” and that such a slowdown could exacerbate existing economic disparities, which “would be tragic.” Powell added: “The risks of overdoing it seem, for now, to be smaller.” The Dow fell by almost 400 points, and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq were also down by around 1.5% each. (NBC News / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / CNN / New York Times / CNBC / Wall Street Journal / Axios / Politico)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~35,644,000; deaths: ~1,047,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~7,493,000; deaths: ~211,000
2/ Members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff are self-quarantining after the Coast Guard’s No. 2 officer tested positive for the coronavirus. Adm. Charles Ray, the vice commandant of the Coast Guard, tested positive for the virus on Monday. Ray attended a Sept. 27 event at the White House and recently attended several meetings at the Pentagon in secure areas with members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. (CNN / Wall Street Journal / CNBC / NBC News / Bloomberg / The Guardian / Politico / Washington Post)
One of Trump’s valets tested positive. Trump was reportedly “upset.” (Bloomberg / CNN)
13 restaurant staffers are quarantining after catering a private Trump fundraiser in Minneapolis. (CBS News)
3/ The White House hasn’t conducted contact tracing for guests and staff members who attended the Rose Garden party where at least eight people, including Trump, are believed to have contracted COVID-19. Officials with the D.C. Department of Health have also been unable to connect with the White House to assist with contact tracing and other protocols regarding the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak. Instead, the White House has only notified people who came in close contact with Trump during the two days before his Thursday diagnosis. “We have reached out to the White House on a couple of different levels, a political level and a public health level,” said Mayor Muriel Bowser. White House spokesman Brian Morgenstern said in a statement that the White House “has a robust contact tracing program in place led by the White House Medical Unit with CDC personnel and guidance.” The White House also declined offers from the CDC to help investigate the outbreak. (New York Times / NBC News / CNN / USA Today)
4/ The White House approved the FDA’s new, tougher standards for coronavirus vaccine developers after the agency unilaterally published the guidelines. The guidelines make it unlikely that a vaccine would be authorized by Election Day. The FDA submitted the guidelines to the Office of Management and Budget for approval more than two weeks ago, but Meadows and the White House blocked them, worried that the new criteria would delay authorization of a vaccine. The new guidelines, which would be used for an emergency authorization of a vaccine, recommend gathering extra data about the safety of vaccines in the final stage of clinical trials, a step that would take more time. (Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal /New York Times)
5/ Trump left Walter Reed Medical Center and returned to the White House where he stood outside and removed his mask, despite the fact that he is still infected and contagious. He gave a double thumbs up and posed for photos before walking inside 72-hours after being hospitalized with COVID-19. At least 20 people have tested positive for the coronavirus after spending time at the White House recently. Soon after, Trump released a video downplaying the coronavirus and claiming that he “had to” face the coronavirus because he is a leader. “We’re going back. We’re going back to work. We’re gonna be out front. As your leader I had to do that. I knew there’s danger to it but I had to do it,” Trump said. “I stood out front. I led. Nobody that’s a leader would not do what I did. I know there’s a risk there’s a danger.” He added: “And now I’m better, and maybe I’m immune? I don’t know.” Trump again dismissed the pandemic that has killed more than 210,000 people in the United States, encouraging Americans to “get out there” and to not let the virus “dominate your lives.” Administration officials, meanwhile, plan for Trump to isolate in the White House residence, creating a makeshift office in the Map Room and the Diplomatic Reception Room. The White House hasn’t said how long Mr. Trump would remain in the residence and away from the West Wing where many of the senior aides who are considered essential workers are based. (CNN / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / Axios / CBS News / NPR / Axios / CNN / New York Times)
Trump’s personal doctor provided no substantive details about the president’s health except to say Trump “continues to do extremely well” upon returning to the White House after being hospitalized with COVID-19. (Politico / CNBC)
6/ Pence requested that no plexiglass dividers be placed on his side of the stage for tomorrow’s vice presidential debate after agreeing to the safety measure by the Commission on Presidential Debates to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Marc Short, the vice president’s chief of staff, said Pence does not view plexiglass dividers as medically necessary, but if Harris “wants it, she’s more than welcome to surround herself with plexiglass if that makes her feel more comfortable.” Last week, both campaigns agreed to extend the distance between Pence and Harris from about seven feet to 12 feet. (Washington Post / Politico)
Trump tweeted that he is “looking forward to” the second presidential debate even as he continues treatment this week for COVID-19. CDC guidelines, however, say people should isolate for 10 days from the point of showing systems, and in severe cases, 20 days. (NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
📅 The WTF Event Calendar.
7/ Eric Trump was deposed under oath as part of New York’s investigation into the Trump Organization’s financial dealings. The New York attorney general’s office is probing whether Trump’s real-estate company falsely reported property values in order to obtain loans or tax benefits. Eric initially refused to provide testimony until after the November election, but a state judge rejected his argument that he was too busy working on his father’s re-election campaign to submit to questioning. New York AG Letitia James is focusing on a property called Seven Springs that sits on 212 acres outside New York City, as well as transactions involving the Trump-owned 40 Wall Street building in lower Manhattan, a golf club in Los Angeles, and the Trump International Hotel and Tower Chicago. The Trump Organization has denied any wrongdoing. (Bloomberg / Axios)
poll/ 54% registered voters in Pennsylvania support Biden while 42% support Trump. (Quinnipiac)
poll/ 57% of likely voters say they support Biden for president, while 41% support Trump. The poll was conducted entirely after the first debate and mostly after Trump’s coronavirus infection was made public. 52% of Americans say they have a positive impression of Biden, compared with 39% who have a positive view of Trump. (CNN)
1/ At a news conference at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Saturday, doctors provided few medical details, but on Sunday doctors disclosed that Trump’s condition was more serious than the White House had acknowledged. On Saturday, White House physician Dr. Sean Conley said Trump was “doing very well,” that his fever had subsided, his symptoms were improving, and that he wasn’t receiving supplemental oxygen. Trump reportedly told doctors, “I feel like I could walk out of here today.”
2/ Minutes after Saturday’s news conference, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told reporters that Trump’s “vitals over the last 24 hours were very concerning and the next 48 hours will be critical,” adding that “We’re still not on a clear path to a full recovery.” Meadows’s remarks were attributed to “a person familiar with the president’s health” in a pool report sent to White House journalists, but video shows Meadows approaching pool reporters outside Walter Reed following the briefing and asking to speak off the record, making clear who the unnamed source was. Trump was reportedly “furious” with Meadows after he offered a more dire assessment and contradicted Dr. Conley’s assessment.
3/ On Sunday, Dr. Conley said Trump’s “oxygen saturation was transiently dipping below 94%” – a level that can indicate that a patient’s lungs are compromised – and that Trump had been prescribed dexamethasone, a steroid used to head off an immune system overreaction that kills many COVID-19 patients. The National Institutes of Health and World Health Organization both recommend dexamethasone for patients on supplemental oxygen or ventilators. Doctors also repeatedly ignored questions about the results of Trump’s CT scans and advanced imaging, only saying they had seen “expected findings.”
4/ Dr. Conley attempted to address the contradictory statements that had come from him and Meadows on Saturday, telling reporters “I didn’t want to give any information that might steer the course of illness in another direction. In doing so, it came off that we were trying to hide something, which wasn’t necessarily true.” Conley also said his comments were meant to reflect the “upbeat attitude” of the White House. White House communications director Alyssa Farah, meanwhile, said Dr. Conley withheld details about Trump’s medical condition in order to “convey confidence” and “raise the spirits” of the president.
Wednesday: Trump traveled to Minnesota for a rally; Hope Hicks started to have symptoms and was isolated in the back of the plane on the return flight.
Thursday: Hicks tested positive; Trump left the White House for a fundraiser with hundreds of supporters at his golf club in Bedminster, N.J.; Trump tested positive from a rapid test at some point Thursday; Trump confirmed on Sean Hannity’s show on Fox News that Hicks had tested positive; hours later Trump and Melania Trump announced that they had tested positive following the results from a PCR test.
Friday: Trump had a fever and his oxygen saturation levels dipped below 94%, White House physician Dr. Sean Conley said; Trump was given supplemental oxygen for about an hour at the White House; Trump was later taken to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and was administered an 8-gram dose of an experimental polyclonal antibody cocktail and his first dose of remdesivir.
Saturday: Trump’s blood oxygen level dropped for a second time to about 93% and was given the steroid dexamethasone; Trump was given a second dose of remdesivir; White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said Trump’s vital signs were “very concerning” and “We’re still not on a clear path to a full recovery”; Dr. Conley said Trump was 72 hours into the diagnosis 36 hours after Trump said he received a positive result (70 hours from Saturday would have meant a diagnosis on Wednesday); Trump tweeted a video that he was “starting to feel good.”
Sunday: Trump’s blood oxygen level improved to 98%; doctors suggested that Trump might be discharged Monday; Trump left the hospital to go for a drive-by in a black SUV with the windows rolled up and two Secret Service agents inside.
Monday: Trump tweeted that he’ll be leaving the hospital.
The White House identified at least 206 people who may have been exposed to the coronavirus at Trump’s fundraiser at Bedminster last week. (Axios)
At least 11 coronavirus cases can be traced to last week’s presidential debate in Cleveland. The city specifically said positive tests were traced to people involved in organizing the debate. (NBC News)
Trump finished a regimen of hydroxychloroquine “without side effects.” (CNBC)
Little evidence that the White House offered contact tracing or guidance to the hundreds of people potentially exposed. (Washington Post)
“It’s business as usual,” one White House official put it. “Among White House staff and the re-election effort, some advisers were furious that Trump wasn’t talked out of attending a high-roller fundraiser at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club on Thursday night, after the White House already learned of his exposure to the virus, two administration officials said.” (Daily Beast)
Mark Meadows provided no guidance to White House aides about what to do with Trump at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. (New York Times)
Trump’s reelection campaign won’t change any safety protocols for upcoming rallies despite Trump’s hospitalization after contracting COVID-19. (CNN)
[Analysis] Five questions about the White House’s botched handling of Trump’s coronavirus diagnosis. (Washington Post)
[Analysis] The White House Is Spreading Virus and Lies. “The White House is at war with the virus, with itself, and with reality — though not necessarily in that order.” (New York Magazine)
[Analysis] How to Cover a Sick Old Man. (New York Times)
🤮 The White House Super-Spreader Tracker:
➕ Trump
➕ Melania Trump
➕ Hope Hicks
➕ Bill Stepien, Trump’s campaign manager (Politico)
❓ Attorney General William Barr will quarantine out of caution (Associated Press / CNN)
5/ Trump unexpectedly left Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Sunday for a motorcade drive-by to wave to supporters. Video showed Trump wearing a mask and waving from behind the closed window of a black SUV, accompanied by at least two Secret Service agents, who were wearing respirators and eye protection. Prior to the drive-by, Trump reportedly told advisers that he was bored in the hospital. Dr. James Phillips, chief of disaster medicine at George Washington University Hospital and an attending physician at Walter Reed called the stunt “insanity,” tweeting that the “Presidential SUV is not only bulletproof, but hermetically sealed against chemical attack. The risk of COVID19 transmission inside is as high as it gets outside of medical procedures. The irresponsibility is astounding.” Multiple Secret Service agents criticized Trump’s drive-by, accusing Trump of putting his protective detail in unnecessary danger. “He’s not even pretending to care now,” an agent who requested anonymity said. “That should never have happened,” another unidentified agent said. The drive-by also violated CDC guidelines, which call on health care professionals to “limit transport and movement of the patient outside of the room to medically essential purposes.” In a video posted on Twitter around the same time, Trump said he’s “learned a lot” about the coronavirus while undergoing treatment. “This is the real school. This isn’t the let’s-read-the-book school. And I get it. And I understand it.” (Washington Post / Bloomberg / Axios / NBC News / Washington Post / The Hill / Associated Press / Politico / Los Angeles Times / The Guardian)
6/ Trump downplayed the seriousness of his coronavirus diagnosis, tweeting “Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life.” Trump also announced that he will be leaving Walter Reed medical center at 6:30 p.m. ET today after receiving treatment that included experimental treatments unavailable to most Americans. The virus has killed more than 211,000 Americans so far. Trump argued with his doctors after they told him to go to Walter Reed on Friday. Doctors reportedly gave Trump an ultimatum: he could go to the hospital while he could still walk, or doctors would take him in a wheelchair or on a stretcher if his health deteriorated. Trump waited to leave for the hospital until the stock market closed on Friday. Trump’s advisers, meanwhile, urged Trump not to check out of the hospital as recently as this morning, saying “You don’t wanna come back.” (Politico / CNN / NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Vanity Fair / CNN)
Trump Jr. “thinks Trump is acting crazy,” according to two Republicans briefed on the family conversations. “According to sources, Don Jr. has told friends that he tried lobbying Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump, and Jared Kushner to convince the president that he needs to stop acting unstable.” Trump Jr. said he “‘wants to stage an intervention, but Jared and Ivanka keep telling Trump how great he’s doing.’” Trump Jr. is also reportedly “reluctant to confront his father alone,” saying “I’m not going to be the only one to tell him he’s acting crazy.” (Vanity Fair)
Trump told Bob Woodward in March that he didn’t have “a lot of time” to meet with Dr. Anthony Fauci about the coronavirus. “Trump hailed Fauci in the March 19 interview as a ‘sharp guy’ who has ‘done it before,’ but when pressed if he had met with the nation’s leading infectious disease expert one-on-one for a better understanding of the virus, the President offered: ‘Yes, I guess, but honestly there’s not a lot of time for that, Bob.’ (Washington Post / CNN / The Guardian)
7/ The CDC updated its guidance about how COVID-19 spreads, confirming that the coronavirus is airborne and may infect people who are more than six feet apart, especially indoors with poor ventilation. Two weeks ago, the agency updated its guidance to say COVID-19 could spread through the air, but then abruptly reverted to its previous guidance. The new guidance now says the “CDC continues to believe, based on current science, that people are more likely to become infected the longer and closer they are to a person with COVID-19” and that the the virus can “sometimes be spread by airborne transmission” and can be spread by both droplets and aerosols released when people “cough, sneeze, sing, talk, or breathe.” (New York Times / CNN / Washington Post / Politico / ABC News)
8/ The Senate Judiciary Committee will begin the confirmation process for Judge Amy Coney Barrett on Oct. 12 despite two Republican committee members testing positive for the coronavirus. “The Senate’s floor schedule will not interrupt the thorough, fair, and historically supported confirmation process previously laid out” by Lindsey Graham, Mitch McConnell said in a statement. McConnell, however, said he’ll seek consent from Democrats to delay the return of the Senate to Oct. 19 after Senators Ron Johnson, Mike Lee, and Thom Tillis tested positive. (NPR / New York Times / Associated Press / Bloomberg / New York Times)
poll/ 72% of Americans said Trump did not take the “risk of contracting the virus seriously enough,” nor “the appropriate precautions when it came to his personal health.” (ABC News)
poll/ 65% of Americans agreed that if “Trump had taken coronavirus more seriously, he probably would not have been infected.” (Reuters)
poll/ 59% of voters said Trump “underestimated the risks of COVID-19” while 21% said he has “behaved appropriately.” 59% said Trump has not been wearing a mask and social distancing appropriately, 61% said Trump’s level of mask-wearing and social distancing has been “too little,” and 64% don’t think Trump should have attended a New Jersey fundraiser with top GOP donors after learning that Hope Hicks had tested positive for COVID-19. (Yahoo News)
poll/ 53% of voters prefer Biden for president following the debate but before news emerged that Trump had tested positive for the coronavirus. 39% prefer Trump. (Wall Street Journal / NBC News)
✏️ Notables.
Trump wants to fire FBI director Christopher Wray after the election. According to several senior officials and close associates, Trump intends to replace Wray near the start of a second term in office, saying the matter would be resolved “next year.” (Daily Beast)
Trump’s national security adviser claimed that Russians “have committed” to not interfering in the the election. American intelligence agencies, however, have alreadyreported that Russians have been active in the 2020 election. FBI Director Christopher Wray also told Congress in September that “the intelligence community consensus is that Russia continues to try to influence our elections.” And Microsoft provided similar evidence. Nevertheless, Robert C. O’Brien asserted that Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of Russia’s Security Council, promised not to interfere. (New York Times)
The federal agency that oversees the Voice of America investigated one of its journalists for anti-Trump bias. A report deemed “confidential” claims that VOA White House bureau chief Steve Herman had been unfair to Trump in his reporting and tweets, and had broken the broadcaster’s standards and social media policies. (NPR)
1/ Trump and Melania tested positive for the coronavirus months after playing down the pandemic that has killed more than 205,000 Americans and sickened millions more. Trump reportedly has a low-grade fever, nasal congestion, and a cough. He received an infusion of an experimental antibody cocktail and was taken to Walter Reed Medical Center Friday afternoon by helicopter after his condition worsened. He will remain at Walter Reed for a few days. Earlier in the day, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows told reporters that Trump had “mild symptoms.” Late Thursday night, Trump tweeted: “Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!“ Trump, 74, was diagnosed hours after one of his closest advisers, Hope Hicks, tested positive Thursday morning. Hicks traveled with Trump on Air Force One and Marine One this week to the presidential debate in Cleveland on Tuesday and to a campaign rally in Minnesota on Wednesday. After the White House learned of Hicks’ symptoms, Trump flew to New Jersey for a fundraiser anyway, delivered a speech, and was in close contact with dozens of other people, including campaign supporters at a roundtable event. At a political dinner Thursday night, Trump told guests that “the end of the pandemic is in sight.” While he did not appear ill at the time, he did not speak to reporters when he returned to the White House. The president’s physician, meanwhile, said Trump was “well.” Hicks is showing symptoms. Three days ago, at the presidential debate, Trump mocked Biden for wearing a mask every time he appeared in public. “I put a mask on when I think I need it,” Trump said. “Every time you see him, he’s got a mask. He could be speaking 200 feet away from it. And he shows up with the biggest mask I’ve ever seen.” The Trump campaign announced that all of Trump’s planned events are being postponed or going virtual. Trump also canceled his plans to travel to a rally in Florida. There are 32 days before the election on Nov. 3. (Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg / Washington Post / NBC News / CNN / Wall Street Journal / The Guardian / Politico / ABC News / NPR / CNBC / New Yorker / NPR / CNBC / BuzzFeed News / HuffPost / Los Angeles Times / Politico / Daily Beast / NBC News)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~34,439,000; deaths: ~1,026,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~7,313,000; deaths: ~209,000
What Trump did in the days before his coronavirus test. In the past week, Trump has debated Democratic nominee Joe Biden, held two rallies, participated in a dozen events, and interacted with thousands of supporters and donors. (Vox / Washington Post / Politico)
“No one was wearing masks” during Trump’s debate preparation, according to Chris Christie. (USA Today)
[Analysis] Pandemonium Inside the White House as Trump Contracts COVID-19. “No One Knows Where This Is Going to Go.” (Vanity Fair)
[Analysis] Now What? “Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis raises a number of questions about when the president was infected and how many other people in the White House might be sick.” (The Atlantic)
[Analysis] What Trump’s positive coronavirus test means for the presidential campaign. “If the White House sticks to that timeline, it means that, at least for half the time remaining before Election Day, Trump will have to suspend the campaign rallies that he had been holding regularly.” (New Yorker)
[Analysis] How Will Trump’s Positive COVID-19 Test Affect The Election? (FiveThirtyEight)
[Analysis] The October surprise is here: the health of Donald Trump and that of his wife and senior advisers, and what it all will mean for the governance of the United States. (New Yorker)
[Analysis] The Patient-in-Chief Will Affect How Americans See Covid’s Risk. “Trump and his staff have avoided some precautions taken by other Americans.” (Bloomberg)
[Analysis] How severe could Trump’s Covid-19 case be? “Although Trump has spent months downplaying the danger of the virus for himself and Americans, and frequently refuses to wear a mask, he also falls squarely into several higher-risk buckets — being over 70 years old, being male, and having obesity. These factors may raise his odds of severe disease and death from the coronavirus.” (Vox)
[Analysis] With COVID Hitting the West Wing, What Happens When the President Is a Liar? Two viruses—the coronavirus and disinformation—collide at the White House. (Mother Jones)
[Analysis] What Happens If A Presidential Nominee Can No Longer Run For Office? (FiveThirtyEight)
[Analysis] “This was avoidable”: Trump has been downplaying the virus from the start. In recent weeks, Trump has put himself and others at risk by holding mass gatherings, some indoors, and shunning mask use while claiming the end of the virus was just around the corner. (NBC News)
[Analysis] “This is the worst nightmare for the Trump campaign.” Trump once seemed impervious to October surprises is suddenly confronting one big enough to alter the election outcome. (Politico)
2/ Trump knew Thursday morning that Hope Hicks tested positive for coronavirus and continued with a full schedule of events anyway. The White House has not said when Trump first tested positive and it’s not known whether Trump was tested Thursday morning, but Trump said late Thursday he was awaiting results.After Trump learned that Hicks was positive Thursday, the White House modified plans for who would travel on Marine One and Air Force One to Trump’s fundraiser at his Bedminster golf club. On Monday, Trump claimed “We’re rounding the corner” on the pandemic. Trump was joined in the Rose Garden by Mike Pence; Alex Azar, Betsy DeVos, and the chief executive of Abbott Laboratories, Robert Ford. On Tuesday, Trump traveled on Air Force One to Cleveland for the first presidential debate with all of his adult children and senior members of his White House and campaign staff, including Jared Kushner, Trump Jr., Kimberly Guilfoyle, Lara Trump, Jason Miller, Stephen Miller, Mark Meadows, Robert O’Brien, and Rep. Jim Jordan. Nobody wore masks while boarding or deplaning. Bill Stepien, Trump’s campaign manager, was also seen on board without a mask and was later spotted getting into a staff van with Hicks. On Wednesday, Hicks was isolated in a separate cabin from the rest of the White House staff on Air Force One on the trip home from Wednesday’s rally in Minnesota night after falling ill. Trump left the White House on Thursday at 1 p.m. for the New Jersey fundraiser. Before his own diagnosis was made public, Trump sounded raspy on a call with Iowa voters and in an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News. Republican donors who attended Trump’s fundraiser at his Bedminster golf club, meanwhile, are reportedly “freaking out” and asking the Trump campaign and GOP officials for guidance on what to do. About 30 to 50 donors came close to Trump at the event. (Bloomberg / New York Times / CNBC / Politico / Daily Beast / HuffPost)
3/ Biden and Harris both tested negative for the coronavirus. Jill Biden and Doug Emhoff also tested negative. “I hope this serves as a reminder,” Biden said, “wear a mask, keep social distance, and wash your hands.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, meanwhile, said Trump’s frequent dismissal of COVID-19 health guidelines “was sort of a brazen invitation for something like this to happen.” (Axios / USA Today / CNBC / HuffPost / CNN)
4/ The Justice Department and FBI are preparing for Election Day civil unrest. While the department and the FBI monitors elections every year and engage in “extensive election planning,” including for “the possibility of violence,” officials familiar with the matter said the planning is particularly intense this year because of the unrest the country has already seen, and the nature of an election during a pandemic. Trump, meanwhile, has declined to say he’ll accept the election results, exaggerated claims about voter fraud, and urged supporters to “go into the polls and watch very carefully.” (Washington Post)
5/ Trump condemned “all White supremacists” – two days after refusing to do so at the presidential debate. “I condemn the KKK, I condemn all White supremacists, I condemn the Proud Boys. I don’t know much about the Proud Boys, almost nothing, but I condemn that,” Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity. Earlier in the day, however, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany wouldn’t give a declarative statement denouncing White supremacists. (Bloomberg / CNN / CBS News)
6/ Melania Trump mocked migrant children separated at the border, saying “give me a fucking break.” In a tape secretly recorded in 2018 by Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, a former friend and senior adviser to the first lady, Melania complained about being criticized for Trump’s policy of separating families who illegally crossed the southern border while at the same time needing to perform traditional first lady duties, such as preparing for Christmas. “They say I’m complicit. I’m the same like him, I support him. I don’t say enough I don’t do enough where I am,” she said. “OK, and then I do it and I say that I’m working on Christmas and planning for the Christmas and they said, ‘Oh, what about the children that they were separated?’ Give me a fucking break.” Earlier in the conversation, the first lady complained about Christmas decorations at the White House, saying “I’m working […] my ass off on the Christmas stuff, that you know, who gives a fuck about the Christmas stuff and decorations?” (CNN / New York Times / Washington Post)
7/ Judge Amy Coney Barrett added her name to a “right to life ad” in 2006 that called for putting “an end to the barbaric legacy of Roe v. Wade.” Barrett was a law professor at the University of Notre Dame when she added her name to the two-page ad, published by the St. Joseph County Right to Life group, an extreme anti-choice organization in South Bend, Indiana. Barrett failed to disclose her participation in ad in documents submitted to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Mitch McConnell, meanwhile, said the Senate intends to move “full steam ahead” on Barrett’s nomination. (The Guardian / Washington Post / NBC News / CNN / National Review / Politico)
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany falsely claimed that Amy Coney Barrett is a “Rhodes scholar.” When reporter pointed out that Barrett did not receive a Rhodes Scholarship, but instead received a bachelor’s degree from Rhodes College in Memphis, McEnany repleid: “My bad.” (Slate)
8/ Fox News paid Trump, Jr.‘s girlfriend’s former assistant upward of $4 million to avoid going to trial after an employee wrote a 42-page complaint accusing Kimberly Guilfoyle of repeated sexual harassment. In November, 2018, a young woman who had been one of Guilfoyle’s assistants at Fox News sent company executives a confidential, draft complaint demanding monetary relief. In July 2018, Fox News announced it “parted ways with Kimberly Guilfoyle” following a multimillion-dollar out-of-court settlement. (New Yorker / CNN)
1/ Around 837,000 people filed for first-time jobless benefits last week with continuing claims totaling 11.8 million – well above pre-pandemic levels. (NBC News / Bloomberg / New York Times)
2/ Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin failed to reach a deal on a new pandemic relief package. House Democrats, meanwhile, plan to vote on a new $2.2 trillion relief bill that Republicans oppose. The legislation is a slimmed-down version of the $3.4 trillion Heroes Act the House passed in May, which Senate Republicans and the White House also dismissed as too costly. (Politico / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~34,125,000; deaths: ~1,017,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~7,269,000; deaths: ~208,000
3/ Trump is the “single largest driver of misinformation” about COVID-19, according to a study by Cornell University that analyzed 38 million worldwide articles about the pandemic. Researchers found that nearly 38% of the “misinformation conversation” began with Trump driving ”spikes” about “miracle cures” for COVID-19, such as the use of disinfectants, ultraviolet light, or unproven treatments like hydroxychloroquine. (New York Times / NBC News)
4/ Trump suggested that he won’t “allow” the non-partisan Commission on Presidential Debates to change the format of the debates. Trump’s tweet – “Why would I allow the Debate Commission to change the rules for the second and third Debates when I easily won last time?” – comes a day after the commission announced that it would making changes to the format, including potentially allowing moderators to shut off the microphones if Trump or Biden break the rules. At Tuesday’s debate, Trump interrupted Biden or the moderator at least 128 times. The commission said the event “made clear that additional structure should be added to the format of the remaining debates to ensure a more orderly discussion of the issues.” The plans have not been finalized and the commission is still considering how it would carry out the plan. (CBS News / CNBC / Bloomberg / NBC News)
5/ White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany would not provide a declarative statement about whether or not Trump forcefully condemns white supremacy. Instead, McEnany pointed to Trump’s past statements denouncing the KKK and advocating for the death penalty for a white supremacist, while claiming that Trump’s “record on this is unmistakable and it’s shameful the media refuses to cover it.” At one point, McEnany accused CNN’s Kaitlan Collins of asking a “partisan attack question.” (Axios / CNN)
poll/ 39% of voters said Trump did worse than they expected during the first presidential debate, compared with 13% who said Biden underperformed. 57% of Republicans and 61% of independents said their primary reaction was disappointment. 37% of Democrats said they walked away angry, compared with 24% of independents and just 9% of Republicans. (SurveyMonkey)
poll/ 53% of likely voters said Biden did a better job in the debate, compared with 29% for Trump. 45% of those surveyed said Trump performed worse than expectations, while 11% said the same for Biden. (CNBC)
✏️ Notables.
Federal law enforcement officials were instructed to be sympathetic public comments about the Kenosha shooter. An internal Department of Homeland Security document directed officials to note that Kyle Rittenhouse, the teenager charged with killing two protesters, “took his rifle to the scene of the rioting to help defend small business owners” and to say that the media incorrectly labeled the group Patriot Prayer as racists. Officials were also instructed to bring conversations back to the need to preserve law and order: “This is also why we need to stop the violence in our cities. Chaotic and violent situations lead to chaotic, violent and tragic outcomes. Everyone needs law and order.” It is unclear whether any of the talking points originated at the White House or within Homeland Security’s own press office. (NBC News)
A federal judge blocked Trump’s federal law enforcement commission from releasing a report on ways to improve policing. Trump and Attorney General William Barr violated federal law by placing only current and former law-enforcement personnel on the 18-member commission, doing its work behind closed doors, and failing to include people with diverse views. (Politico / Bloomberg / Washington Post)
The Trump administration will admit a maximum of 15,000 refugees next year – a historic low. Last year’s limit was set at 18,000 refugees. (Axios / CNN / The Hill / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post)
The Trump administration mandated that the Farmers to Families Food Box Program include a letter from Trump claiming credit for the program. The USDA program provides millions of boxes of surplus food for families in need. The letter, on White House letterhead and featuring Trump’s signature reads: “As President, safeguarding the health and well-being of our citizens is one of my highest priorities. As part of our response to coronavirus, I prioritized sending nutritious food from our farmers to families in need throughout America.” The Trump administration denied that the move is political or improper. Fox News reported in July that Ivanka Trump was responsible for the idea. (Politico)
Pope Francis denied Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s meeting request, saying the Vatican does not receive politicians during an election period. Pompeo recently published a letter accusing the Vatican of putting its “moral authority” at risk by renewing an agreement with China over the appointment of bishops. The Vatican accused Pompeo of trying to use that issue to drag the Catholic Church into the U.S. presidential election. (BBC / New York Times / Reuters / Vox)
Brad Parscale is leaving the Trump campaign after he being detained and hospitalized in Florida over the weekend for threatening suicide while holding a handgun during a confrontation with his wife. Parscale served as Trump’s campaign manager until July, and has remained a senior adviser on digital projects for the campaign. Parscale said he is “stepping away from my company and any role in the campaign for the immediate future to focus on my family and get help dealing with the overwhelming stress.” (Axios / Politico / CNN / New York Times / Daily Mail / Washington Post)
Trump signed a bill to keep the government running through Dec. 11 after funding briefly expired. The move averts a government shutdown before the Nov. 3 election. (CNBC / Axios / Bloomberg / CNN)
1/ Trump refused to condemn white supremacists during the first presidential debate and instead directed the nation’s biggest domestic terrorist groups to “stand back and stand by.” During the debate, moderator Chris Wallace repeatedly asked Trump if he would condemn white supremacists and militia groups. Trump instead sidestepped the question and responded that “Sure, I’m willing to do anything,” before claiming that the violence in cities like Kenosha and Portland is a “left-wing problem, not a right-wing problem.” Biden then pressed Trump to condemn white supremacists, prompting Trump to ask “Who would you like me to condemn?” Wallace repeated: “White supremacists, white supremacists and right-wing militia.” Trump responded, tell the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by,” before pivoting to criticizing anti-fascists and “the left.” The Proud Boys, an alt-right self-described “western chauvinist” group, responded on social media by pledging allegiance to Trump and declaring that they are “standing by.” (Washington Post / CNN / Politico / NPR / Associated Press / New York Times / Daily Beast / New York Times / NBC News)
The first presidential debate in one sentence: Trump bullied his way through the debate for 98 minutes1; incessantly interrupted and insulted Biden nearly every time he spoke; Trump declined to condemn white supremacists, questioned the legitimacy of the November election, and refused to say whether he would concede should he lose2; Biden denounced Trump as a “clown” and told him to “shut up”3; Trump claimed that he’s unfamiliar with the Proud Boys4; and Biden called Trump “a racist” and “the worst president America has ever had”5.
Undecided voters called Trump “unhinged” and “un-American” but are unswayed by debate. “Out of 15 undecided voters in a virtual focus group conducted by veteran Republican pollster Frank Luntz, four said they were supporting Democratic nominee Joe Biden after watching the debate and two backed President Donald Trump. The rest remained on the fence.” (Politico)
The House adopted a resolution reaffirming lawmakers’ support for a peaceful transfer of power in the event that Trump loses the election. The measure passed with a 397-5 vote, with all five votes against coming from Republicans Matt Gaetz, Louie Gohmert, Clay Higgins, Steve King, and Thomas Massie. The Senate voted last week on a virtually identical measure, which lawmakers in that chamber passed unanimously. Neither the House nor the Senate version of the measure explicitly mentioned Trump’s comments last week that he would have to “see what happens” when asked if he would commit to a peaceful transition of power if he loses to Biden. (The Hill)
2/ Biden called Trump’s behavior in the first presidential debate a “national embarrassment” and urged the debate commission to exert more control over their next two meetings. Republicans, meanwhile, distanced themselves from Trump over his failure to condemn white supremacists, as Senator Tim Scott, the chamber’s only Black Republican, said that “white supremacy should be denounced at every turn. I think he misspoke, I think he should correct it. If he doesn’t correct it I guess he didn’t misspeak.” Later, in an attempt to clarify his “stand by” remarks, Trump falsely claimed that he had “always denounced any form” of white supremacy and asserted that he’d never heard of the Proud Boys extremist group. (Bloomberg / Politico / New York Times / NBC News / CNN)
3/ The Commission on Presidential Debates will implement rule changes “to maintain order” for the remaining debates after host Chris Wallace failed to control Trump. “Last night’s debate made clear that additional structure should be added to the format of the remaining debates to ensure a more orderly discussion of the issues,” the CPD said in a statement. One possibility being discussed is cutting off the microphones if Trump or Biden break the rules. Trump repeatedly resisted Wallace’s requests to follow the rules and to allow Biden to speak uninterrupted. Wallace called the debate a “sad” and “terrible missed opportunity.” The next presidential debate is a town hall format scheduled for Oct. 15 in Miami. (Associated Press / New York Times / Washington Post / Axios / CNN / Politico / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / ABC news / CNBC / CBS News)
Trump accused Chris Wallace of siding with Biden during the first presidential debate, tweeting an image of Trump on the left opposed by Wallace and Biden together on the right, in the style of an arcade game’s character-select screen. (New York Post / Mediaite)
4/ Trump will hold large campaign rallies in Wisconsin despite the White House Coronavirus Task Force recommending “maximal” social distancing in the state. The Trump campaign will hold a rally at the La Crosse Regional Airport Saturday afternoon, before flying to Green Bay for another rally. The task force has flagged both La Crosse and Green Bay as coronavirus “red zones” – the highest level of concern for community spread of the virus. (Washington Post)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~33,803,000; deaths: ~1,011,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~7,222,000; deaths: ~207,000
New York City’s coronavirus positivity rate is the highest it’s been since June. Mayor Bill de Blasio announced at a news conference that the city now has a 3.25% positivity rate, up from 1.93% on Monday. The jump came on the first day that public elementary schools across the city reopened. The city’s COVID-19 guidelines state that all public schools must shut down if the citywide seven-day positivity rate stays above 3%. Several of the spikes also occurred in Orthodox Jewish communities in South Brooklyn and Queens. City officials have threatened to introduce more severe localized lockdown measures, including restricting gatherings of more than 10 people, if outbreaks continue to occur. (New York Times / Axios)
[Study] Hydroxychloroquine is not effective at reducing coronavirus infection. (Reuters)
5/ The White House blocked a CDC order to keep cruise ships docked until mid-February. CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield had recommended that a “no sail” order be extended until February over concerns that cruise ships could become coronavirus hot spots. The White House Coronavirus Task Force, however, overruled Redfield. The White House deputy press secretary, meanwhile, claimed that the move was not politically motivated. The cruise industry has a major economic presence in Florida — a key battleground state where the polls are statistically tied. Before the industry shut down in March, passenger cruises were the sites of some of the most severe early coronavirus outbreaks. The administration will instead allow ships to sail after Oct. 31. (Axios / New York Times)
6/ House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin failed to reach a coronavirus stimulus deal. House Democrats planned to pass their roughly $2.2 trillion rescue legislation today, but called off the vote until tomorrow to allow more time for bipartisan talks. Both Pelosi and Mnuchin said that an agreement was possible despite Mitch McConnell saying the sides were “very, very far apart.” (Washington Post / CNBC / CNN)
✏️ Notables.
The Trump administration is planning ICE raids and targeted arrests in “sanctuary cities” across the U.S. next month. The raids, known informally as the “sanctuary op,” could begin in California as early as this week, according to three U.S. officials. The raids would then expand to cities including Denver and Philadelphia. Two officials with knowledge of plans for the sanctuary op described it as more of a political messaging campaign than a major ICE operation. (Washington Post)
Six senior officials at the U.S. Agency for Global Media have filed a whistleblower complaint, alleging that they were retaliated against for raising concerns about new political leadership installed earlier this year by Trump. (Politico)
Trump offered Amy Coney Barrett the Supreme Court nomination the same day he met her, which was three days after Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death. (Washington Post)
Trump’s top intelligence official released unverified Russian intelligence about Hillary Clinton that was previously rejected by Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee as having no factual basis. Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe declassified the summary of a Russian intelligence assessment, which claims that Clinton personally approved a plan “to stir up a scandal” against Trump “by tying him to Putin and the Russians’ hacking of the Democratic National Committee.” Ratcliffe, meanwhile, noted that the U.S. intelligence community “does not know the accuracy of this allegation or the extent to which the Russian intelligence analysis may reflect exaggeration or fabrication.” (Politico / New York Times / CNN)
ℹ️ Voter Guides: Everything you need to know about mail-in and early in-person voting in every state in the age of COVID-19, including the first day you can cast your ballot in the 2020 election. (FiveThirtyEight / Washington Post / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
📺 Next presidential debate: Tuesday, Sept. 29 in Cleveland from 9-10:30 p.m. Eastern time.
1/ More than 1 million people have died from the coronavirus worldwide in less than nine months — a figure that is almost certainly an undercount. With more than 200,000 deaths, the U.S. leads the global death toll, followed by Brazil at 142,000, and India at 95,500. The director general of the World Health Organization said the 1 million COVID-19 deaths marked a “difficult moment for the world,” urging countries to “bridge national boundaries” to fight back against the virus. Dr. Anthony Fauci, meanwhile, said that Florida’s move to reopen all bars and restaurants was “very concerning.” (CNN / NBC News / Washington Post / The Guardian / New York Times / BuzzFeed News)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~33,485,000; deaths: ~1,005,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~7,181,000; deaths: ~206,000
2/ Top White House officials pressured the CDC this summer to play down the risk of the coronavirus to children as the Trump administration pushed to reopen schools this fall. One member of Pence’s staff said she was repeatedly asked by Marc Short, Pence’s chief of staff, to get the CDC to produce reports and charts showing a decline in coronavirus cases among young people that would better support Trump’s claims that COVID-19 poses little danger to children and that schools should reopen. As part of the effort to circumvent the CDC, White House officials also tried to find alternate data showing that the pandemic was weakening and posed little danger to children. Olivia Troye, one of Pence’s top aides on the task force, said she regretted being “complicit” in the effort and called the situation a “nightmare.” (New York Times / CNN / The Hill)
3/ The Trump administration’s distribution of new coronavirus rapid tests have been plagued by confusion and a lack of planning. Health officials in several states haven’t been included in the distribution of the tests, leading to confusion about which nursing homes will receive them until the night before a shipment arrives. The lack of federal planning also has left states with no standardized way to capture results from the fast, cheap, and easy to use tests and include them in daily counts. As a result, as the rapid tests become more widely distributed, the data being used to guide the nation’s coronavirus response is becoming more inaccurate. (Washington Post)
4/ House Democrats released a new $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief proposal that includes funding for schools, small businesses, restaurants, airline workers, and more. The bill is $200 billion smaller than the Democrats’ most recent proposal, and down from the $3.4 trillion measure passed by the House in May. It also earmarks $75 billion in funding for coronavirus testing, contact tracing, and isolation measures “with special attention to the disparities facing communities of color.” It includes a second round of $1,200 payments per taxpayer and $500 per dependent, while extending weekly $600 federal unemployment payments through January 2021. It also comes with $436 billion to help state, local, territorial, and tribal governments pay first responders and health workers. (CNN / CNBC / Bloomberg / Axios / The Hill / ABC News)
5/ Biden and Harris released their 2019 tax returns. Biden’s return shows that he and his wife paid $299,346 in federal income taxes on a taxable income of $944,737 last year. Harris and her husband reported $3.1 million in taxable income and paid more than $1 million in federal taxes. Trump, a billionaire, paid $750 in income taxes in both 2016 and 2017. (Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / CNBC / Axios)
👑 Portrait of a President: How “The Apprentice” rescued Trump. Over 16 years, Trump earned $197 million from the “The Apprentice,” plus an additional $230 million from the licensing and multilevel marketing deals, which helped cover the losses of the real estate and casino projects that made up his business “empire.” “$8,768,330 paid to him by ACN, a multilevel marketing company that was accused of taking advantage of vulnerable investors; $50,000 from the Lifetime channel for a “juicy nighttime soap” that never materialized; $5,026 in net income from a short-lived mortgage business; and $15,286,244 from licensing his name to a line of mattresses. [… There was $500,000 to pitch Double Stuf Oreos, another half-million to sell Domino’s Pizza and $850,000 to push laundry detergent.” (New York Times / Bloomberg / The Guardian)
Michael Cohen: Trump’s “biggest fear” is a “massive tax bill, fraud penalties, fines, and possibly even tax fraud.” “Donald Trump’s financial records are the Rosetta stone for understanding the depth of his corruption and crimes,” Cohen said. “The more it is unraveled, the more he will unravel. It’s the reason he’s fought so hard to keep it under wraps.” (Yahoo News)
poll/ 20% of voters said they believed the winner of the presidential election will be called on election night, while 66% said they expect it to happen sometime later. (Politico)
poll/ Biden leads Trump 54% to 45% among likely Pennsylvania voters, and 54% to 44% among registered PA voters. 53% of registered voters in PA approve of how Trump has managed the economy, but 57% disapprove of how he’s handled the coronavirus outbreak. Trump’s overall approval rating among registered voters in the state sits at 43% positive and 55% negative, with 49% saying they disapprove “strongly.” (Washington Post)
poll/ Biden leads Trump 49% to 40% among likely Pennsylvania voters. 51% of PA voters said they trusted Biden more to pick the next Supreme Court justice, compared to 44% who said that about Trump. (New York Times)
✏️ Notables.
Michael Flynn’s defense lawyer met with Trump and asked that he not issue a pardon. Sidney Powell, Flynn’s lawyer, told Judge Emmet Sullivan that “I never discussed this case with the president until recently when I asked him not to issue a pardon and gave him a general update of the status of the litigation.” Trump previously said that he would consider a pardon for Flynn, which would end the criminal case. (Reuters / CNBC / Politico)
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross will end the 2020 Census on Oct. 5, despite a federal judge’s ruling that allows the count to continue until Oct. 31. U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh said she was “disturbed” that “despite the court’s order,” Census supervisors have told field workers to wrap up data collection early. Judge Koh set a Tuesday deadline for the Commerce Department to produce the administrative record of the decision-making behind Ross’ announcement. She also threatened to hold government lawyers in contempt of court if the deadline isn’t met. (Bloomberg / CNN / NBC News)
Trump allegedly called evangelical pastors “hustlers” in a 2015 conversation with Michael Cohen after reading an article about an Atlanta-based megachurch pastor trying to raise $60 million to buy a private jet. Trump reportedly told Cohen that the pastor was “full of shit,” but was delighted by the “scam.” (The Atlantic)
ℹ️ Voter Guides: Everything you need to know about mail-in and early in-person voting in every state in the age of COVID-19, including the first day you can cast your ballot in the 2020 election. (FiveThirtyEight / Washington Post / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
📺 Next presidential debate: Tuesday, Sept. 29 in Cleveland from 9-10:30 p.m. Eastern time.
1/ Trump paid $750 in federal income taxes in 2016 and 2017, and $0 in federal income taxes in 10 of the last 15 years because his businesses routinely reported losing more money than they made, according to two decades of tax data obtained by the New York Times. Trump further reduced his tax bill by claiming a $72.9 million tax refund in 2010 when he declared $1.4 billion in businesses losses, which the IRS has challenged. If auditors disallow Trump’s refund, he could be forced to pay more than $100 million. Trump is personally responsible for more than $300 million in loans that have to be paid off over the next four years. Most of Trump’s signature businesses, including his golf courses, reported losing large sums of money, which have helped to lower his tax bills. Trump also classified personal expenses, including his residences, aircraft, $70,000 in hairstyling for TV appearances, and more than $95,000 for hair and makeup services for Ivanka Trump, as business expenses. The tax data suggests that Trump also lowered his tax liability by paying his children as consultants for the businesses. As president, Trump has earned $73 million abroad in his first two years from foreign sources, despite pledging that he wouldn’t pursue new foreign deals while president. The records, however, do not reveal any previously unreported connections to Russia. In response to the report, an attorney for the Trump Organization said that “most, if not all, of the facts appear to be inaccurate,” but only took direct issue with the amount of taxes Trump had paid. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Bloomberg / Daily Beast / The Guardian / New York Times / CBS News)
[Analysis] Revelations and takeaways from Trump’s tax records. Trump has paid no federal income taxes for much of the past two decades; this tax avoidance sets him apart from most other affluent Americans; Trump’s tax avoidance also sets him apart from past presidents; a large refund has been crucial to his tax avoidance; the $72.9 million refund has since become the subject of a long-running battle with the IRS; Trump classifies much of the spending on his personal lifestyle as the cost of business; Trump’s estate in Westchester County, N.Y., typifies his aggressive definition of business expenses; Trump’s companies set aside about 20% of income for unexplained “consulting fees”; Trump’s businesses lose large amounts of money; the most successful part of the Trump business has been his personal brand; Trump’s unprofitable companies help reduce his tax bill; with money from “The Apprentice,” Trump went on his biggest buying spree since the 1980s; his 2016 presidential campaign may have been partly an attempt to resuscitate his brand; the presidency has helped his business; many of his businesses continue to lose money; Trump will soon face several major bills that could put further pressure on his finances; and Trump is personally on the hook for some of these bills. (New York Times / Associated Press / The Guardian)
[Analysis] What Trump was trying to hide by holding back his tax returns. “For years, the political world has speculated on what Trump was trying to hide by holding back his returns, and by falsely claiming that he can’t release them until the IRS finishes an extended audit. Was it that he paid no income taxes at all in some years? Was it that he was far less successful a businessman than he let on? Was he claiming legally dubious deductions? The answer, it turns out, is all of the above.” (Vox)
[Analysis] What we know — and still want to know — about Trump’s company. (Washington Post)
[Analysis] Trump’s legal risks once he’s out of office. “Trump took aggressive tax positions and that the IRS is challenging a $72.9 million refund claimed a decade ago in an audit that has yet to be resolved. If the Internal Revenue Service ultimately prevails, Trump could be liable for millions of dollars in penalties. He potentially could be subject to criminal prosecution if the IRS mounted a case that he knowingly violated the law, though that would be very difficult to do.” (Bloomberg)
[Analysis] Here’s how much you had to make in 2017 to pay more income tax than Trump: A single adult without kids making $18,000 would have paid more. (Vox / Washington Post)
How Trump’s taxes compare to those of other presidents. Obama paid nearly $1.8 million in federal income tax his first year in office, George W. Bush’s first-year federal tax bill was $250,221, and prior presidents each paid tens of thousands of dollars in taxes during the first years of their administrations. Trump paid $750. (Washington Post)
[Read] The New York Times Editor’s Note on the Trump tax investigation. (New York Times)
📌 Day 806: Trump asked Mitch McConnell to prioritize confirming the chief counsel of the IRS earlier this year. White House aides reportedly insisted that the confirmation of Michael Desmond was more important than the 2017 tax cuts and the nomination of William Barr as attorney general. Trump told McConnell on February 5th that he was worried Desmond would withdraw his nomination if the Senate didn’t act soon. Desmond was confirmed two weeks later. (New York Times)
2/ Trump dismissed the report of his tax avoidance as “totally fake news,” “made up,” and “illegally obtained.” Trump also suggested that he “paid many millions of dollars in taxes but was entitled, like everyone else, to depreciation & tax credits.” When asked about the report, Trump said “I’ve paid a lot,” but did not specify how much. He – again – promised that “it’ll all be revealed” after the completion of an IRS audit, which he has said for years. Nothing, however, prevents Trump from releasing his tax returns. In a 2016 debate against Hillary Clinton, Trump said not paying federal income tax “makes me smart.” (NPR / NBC News / Politico / USA Today)
In 1990, Trump attempted to change his father’s will, who’s mental state was in decline. At the time, creditors threatened to force Trump into personal bankruptcy and his wife at the time, Ivana, wanted “a billion dollars” in a divorce settlement. Trump sent an accountant and a lawyer to tell his father he needed to immediately sign a document changing his will. Fred was 85 years old at the time and within months was formally diagnosed with “early stages of dementia.” (Washington Post)
In the late 1990s, Trump tried to do business with Moscow’s late mayor Yury Luzhkov as part of a broader push to secure other real estate deals in Russia, which Trump was still pursuing as recently as 2016. Meanwhile, on Sunday, Trump repeatedly accused Hunter Biden of receiving millions of dollars from the wife of Luzhkov, asking why “nobody even has any question about it” while claiming that he “didn’t have anything to do with Russia.” (Politico)
3/ Trump wrote off $26 million in “consulting fees” between 2010 and 2018 by treating a family member as a consultant and then deducting the fee as a cost of doing business. While the “consultants” were not identified in the tax records, comparing Trump’s tax records to Ivanka Trump’s financial disclosures show that a company she co-owned received $747,622 in 2017 – which matches consulting fees claimed as tax deductions by the Trump Organization for hotel projects in Vancouver and Hawaii. In both deals, Ivanka appears to have double-dipped: serving as both a project manager in her official capacity as a senior staffer for her father’s company and as a “consultant” to those same projects. (CNN / Washington Post)
Trump wanted to name Ivanka as his running mate in 2016, according to a forthcoming book by former Trump campaign deputy Rick Gates. Trump repeatedly brought up the idea of naming Ivanka as his VP pick, prompting the campaign to poll the idea – twice. “I think it should be Ivanka. What about Ivanka as my VP?” Trump said. “She’s bright, she’s smart, she’s beautiful, and the people would love her!” Ivanka was reportedly the one who told Trump that it wasn’t a good idea. Pence was ultimately selected as Trump’s running mate only after he delivered a “vicious and extended monologue” about Bill and Hillary Clinton. (Washington Post / The Guardian / Bloomberg)
4/ Nancy Pelosi called the report that Trump has more than $300 million in loans coming due in the next four years a “national security question.” Pelosi, arguing that foreign nations or individuals could have “leverage” over the president, said the public has a “right to know” the details of his financial obligations. According to the Times report, Trump “is personally responsible” for the loans and “should he win re-election, his lenders could be placed in the unprecedented position of weighing whether to foreclose on a sitting president.” Democrats called on Trump to disclose his tax returns. Republican lawmakers, meanwhile, have remained largely silent and dodged questions about Trump’s taxes. (NBC News / CNBC / Axios)
A federal appeals judge questioned why Manhattan’s district attorney didn’t execute a grand jury subpoena for Trump’s tax returns weeks ago. Judge Pierre Leval said he believed that the order issued Sept. 1 by a three-member panel of judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit was meant to pause a lower court’s dismissal of Trump’s effort to kill the subpoena — but that it did not prevent the district attorney, Cyrus Vance from collecting Trump’s financial records from his accounting firm in the meantime. The general counsel in the district attorney’s office said the appeals court’s Sept. 1 order was not interpreted that way. (Washington Post)
📌 Day 1321: A federal appeals court temporarily blocked the release of Trump’s tax returns to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. Oral arguments for Trump’s appeal were set for Sept. 25. Even if Cyrus Vance is allowed to enforce the subpoena for eight years of Trump’s financial records, grand jury secrecy laws would prevent the documents from becoming public. Trump, meanwhile, complained that “the deck was clearly stacked against” him, and said he would ask the Supreme Court to intervene if necessary. (Washington Post / Axios / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / Reuters)
5/ CDC Director Robert Redfield warned a colleague that “everything” Trump’s new coronavirus task force adviser “says is false.” Redfield, during a phone call made in public on a commercial airline, said Dr. Scott Atlas is misleading Trump on range of issues, including the efficacy of face masks, whether young people are susceptible to the virus, and the benefits of herd immunity. Prior to joining the task force in August, Atlas was a frequent guest on Fox News, where he pushed to reopen the country and shared views that aligned with Trump’s opinions of the coronavirus pandemic. Pence, meanwhile, warned that “The American people should anticipate that cases will rise in the days ahead,” but moments later Trump insisted that the country is “rounding the corner,” even though the U.S. death toll surpassed 200,000 last week. Earlier this month, Redfield testified before Congress that “We’re nowhere near the end” as the global COVID-19 death toll nears 1 million. (NBC News / The Guardian)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~33,225,000; deaths: ~1,000,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~7,135,000; deaths: ~205,000
Experts say COVID-19 cases are likely about to surge. “States are rolling back restrictions, people are eager to get back to normal, and Thanksgiving and Christmas are coming up. America may be on the verge of repeating the same mistakes, which would risk yet another surge in the COVID-19 epidemic.” (Vox)
📌 Day 1343: Dr. Deborah Birx is reportedly so “distressed” with the direction of the coronavirus task force that she is not certain how much longer she will remain. Specifically, the White House task force coordinator recently confided to aides and friends that she believes that Dr. Scott Atlas, a recent addition to the task force, is giving Trump misleading information about the efficacy of face masks. Atlas does not have a background in infectious diseases or epidemiology. (CNN)
6/ The U.S. Postal Service stopped updating the national change of address system for three weeks in August as election officials were preparing to send out mail-in ballots to tens of millions of voters. The failure resulted in at least 1.8 million new changes of addresses not being registered in the database. (Time)
Trump’s 2016 campaign identified 3.5 million Black voters in key states that it wanted to “deter” from voting. A data leak obtained by the British news network Channel 4, shows that the Trump campaign prepared files on about 200 million American voters, separating some into eight different categories. One such category, assigned to 3.5 million Black voters, was titled: “Deterrence.” Black Americans were disproportionately marked “Deterrence” by the campaign when compared to general population stats. (Daily Beast)
7/ A third federal judge ordered the U.S. Postal Service to halt changes that have causes nationwide mail delays. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan agreed with a previous ruling that the changes are likely to risk the timely delivery of election mail, saying it is “clearly in the public interest to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, to ensure safe alternatives to in-person voting, and to require that the USPS comply with the law.” USPS removed 711 high-speed sorting machines around the country this year – a 15% reduction in capacity. (Washington Post)
poll/ 37% of voters said the Senate should confirm Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, while 34% said she should not be confirmed, and 29% didn’t know or have an opinion. 40% said Barrett should only receive a vote if Trump is reelected, 39% said she should be confirmed as soon as possible no matter what, and 20% didn’t have an opinion. (Politico)
poll/ 50% of American who were laid off because of the coronavirus remain unemployed, 33% have returned to their old job, and 15% are in a different job than before. (Pew Research Center / Vox)
✏️ Notables.
Trump named Judge Amy Coney Barrett as his Supreme Court nominee to fill the seat of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, calling it a “very proud moment indeed.” Trump called Barrett a woman of “towering intellect” and “unyielding loyalty to the Constitution” who would rule “based solely on the fair reading of the law.” The Senate Judiciary Committee will begin confirmation hearings for Barrett on Oct. 12. (NBC News / ABC News / CNN / NPR / New York Times)
Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Homeland Security told senators that White supremacists have become the “most persistent and lethal threat” to the U.S. from within the country. DHS is in charge of curbing domestic terrorism. Trump and Attorney General William Barr, meanwhile, have both claimed that the nation has been besieged by “left-wing” agitators inciting violence at protests over racial injustice. In 2019, Trump told reporters that he doesn’t consider “white nationalism” to be a growing problem. (Bloomberg)
The U.S. economy lost $16 trillion over the past 20 years as a result of discrimination against African Americans. The U.S. GDP totaled $19.5 trillion last year. (NPR)
A federal judge temporarily blocked Trump’s TikTok ban, allowing U.S. app stores to continue offering downloads. (NBC News / NPR)
Trump’s former campaign manager was taken by police and hospitalized after his wife said he had guns and was threatening to hurt himself. Brad Parscale’s wife called the police and reported that he was armed and threatening suicide. Police arrived and took him to Broward Health Medical Center under Florida’s Baker Act, which allows police to detain and commit a person who is potentially a threat to himself or others. (Sun-Sentinel / Washington Post / New York Times)
🗳 How To Vote In The 2020 Election In Every State.
Everything you need to know about mail-in and early in-person voting in every state in the age of COVID-19, including the first day you can cast your ballot in the 2020 election. (FiveThirtyEight / Washington Post / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
1/ The United States surpassed 7 million confirmed cases of COVID-19. The U.S. reached six million cases less than a month ago, on Aug. 30. The World Health Organization, meanwhile, warned that the global death toll could double to 2 million people before a vaccine is widely administered. “If we look at losing 1 million people in nine months and then we just look at the realities of getting vaccines out there in the next nine months, it’s a big task for everyone involved,” Mike Ryan, the executive director of WHO’s health emergencies program, said. Dr. Anthony Fauci, meanwhile, said that a “large proportion” of the U.S. will not be vaccinated against the coronavirus this year, challenging Trump’s repeated assertions that a vaccine will be ready by Election Day. (CNN / The Guardian / Washington Post / New York Times / CNBC / Wall Street Journal)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~32,391,000; deaths: ~986,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~7,021,000; deaths: ~204,000
Trump has reportedly lost patience with CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield and other public health experts on the coronavirus task force because their statements about the pandemic conflict with his assessments. (CNN)
Virginia public health officials warned of a “severe public health threat” if Trump’s planned campaign rally is allowed. Roughly 4,000 people are expected to attend the event, despite Gov. Ralph Northam’s order banning gatherings of more than 250 people. Hours before Trump arrived, Northam announced that he and his wife had tested positive for the coronavirus. (NBC News)
2/ White House chief of staff Mark Meadows called for FBI Director Christopher Wray to quit. The comment comes a day after the director testified to Congress that there was no evidence to support Trump’s claims of widespread voter fraud, and a week after Wray warned that “Russia continues to try to influence our elections” and is seeking to “primarily to denigrate” Biden’s campaign. Meadows, meanwhile, suggested that Wray “needs to get involved on the ground” and, “with all due respect,” Wray “has a hard time finding emails in his own FBI, let alone figuring out whether there’s any kind of voter fraud,” Meadows said, presumably referring to deleted anti-Trump texts between FBI officials on Robert Mueller’s team. (CBS News / Politico / New York Times / Axios / Associated Press)
3/ The Department of Justice announced that it opened an inquiry into nine ballots found “discarded” in northeastern Pennsylvania, an unusual move since DOJ policy calls for voter fraud investigations to be kept under wraps to avoid affecting the election outcome. While the press release didn’t elaborate on what “discarded” meant other than seven of the nine ballots were cast for Trump, the U.S. attorney for central Pennsylvania later said FBI investigators were examining mail-in ballots from military members in Luzerne County after finding nine ballots “improperly opened” by elections staff. The press release didn’t specify a crime or allege any wrongdoing. The White House, meanwhile, knew in advance and teased the department’s announcement earlier in the day, with White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany saying: “I can confirm for you that Trump ballots, ballots for the president, were found in Pennsylvania. And I believe you should be getting more information on that shortly.” Attorney General William Barr also personally briefed Trump about the investigation. Trump carried Luzerne County by about 20 points in 2016. (Politico / New York Times / ABC News / Washington Post)
More than 28 million mail-in ballots have been requested and another 42 million are scheduled to be automatically sent to voters across the country. The total number of pre-election ballots due to be distributed exceeds the roughly 50 million pre-Election Day ballots cast in 2016. Requests from registered Democrats outpace those from Republicans by more than 1.3 million ballot requests. Nationally, more than half a million ballots have already been cast in the 12 states reporting. Roughly two dozen states have now started absentee voting or in-person early voting. (CNN)
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said USPS can’t reassemble the high speed mail-sorting machines taken apart this year because they’ve already been stripped for parts. DeJoy also asked that a nationwide injunction be amended to acknowledge that the machines can’t be put back together. (Bloomberg)
4/ Senior Pentagon leaders have discussed what to do if Trump invokes the Insurrection Act and orders the active-duty military to quell protests during the election. Defense Department officials said there have been no preparations for military force during the elections, but suggested that top generals could resign if Trump ordered the active-duty military into the streets to quell protests. Pentagon officials also said under no circumstances would the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff send Navy SEALs or Marines to remove Trump from the White House – that task would fall to U.S. Marshals or the Secret Service. Last month, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, told Congress “I do not see the U.S. military as part of this process […] In the event of a dispute over some aspect of the elections, by law U.S. courts and the U.S. Congress are required to resolve any disputes, not the U.S. Military.” Trump, meanwhile, has repeatedly refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power no matter who wins the election. (New York Times / CNN)
😱 Dept. of “We’re going to have to see what happens.”
Trump “seemed to get a real kick” out of making the press “go crazy” with his refusal to commit to a peaceful, orderly transition of power. “According to a Justice Department prosecutor, there is internal concern in some department circles that Attorney General William Barr will join post-election lawsuits on behalf of the Trump campaign or its allies.” (Daily Beast)
“Everyone sees the train wreck coming”: Trump reveals his November endgame. “After more than four years of nonstop voter fraud claims and insinuations that he might not accept the election results, the president isn’t keeping his intent a secret.” (Politico)
The apocalypse scenario. “Democratic lawyers are preparing to challenge any effort by President Trump to swap electors chosen by voters with electors selected by Republican-controlled legislatures. One state of particular concern: Pennsylvania, where the GOP controls the state house.” (Axios)
Trump’s escalating attacks on election prompt fears of a constitutional crisis. “Trump escalated his months-long campaign to undermine the legitimacy of the Nov. 3 election with comments Wednesday that, taken together and at face value, pose his most substantial threat yet to the nation’s history of free and fair elections.” (Washington Post)
Turbulent 2020 Presidential Campaign Approaches a Storm. “Impending Supreme Court pick, first Trump-Biden debate will test an election landscape no shock seems to alter.” (Wall Street Journal)
5/ Trump will nominate Judge Amy Coney Barrett to fill the Supreme Court vacancy left by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Aides, however, cautioned that until it is announced, there is always the possibility that Trump makes a last-minute change. Trump is scheduled to make the announcement on Saturday afternoon and the Senate Judiciary Committee plans to hold confirmation hearings the week of October 12. (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / CNN / CNBC)
6/ A federal judge ordered the 2020 Census to continue through the end of October. In July, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who oversees the Census Bureau, directed all counting efforts to end by Sept. 30 — a month earlier than planned — in order to deliver the results to Trump by the end of the year. U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh granted a preliminary injunction to stop the Census from finishing at the end of September, saying a shortened schedule would likely produce inaccurate results. The Trump administration is appealing to the Supreme Court. The Census, conducted once every ten years, is used to determine the distribution of $1.5 trillion in federal spending each and the number of congressional seats each state receives. (Associated Press / NPR)
7/ The Trump administration rescinded an award recognizing the work of a Finnish journalist after discovering she had criticized Trump on social media posts. The State Department then lied to the public and Congress about the reasons it rescinded the award, according to the agency’s internal watchdog. At the time, the department said it made a mistake in notifying Jessikka Aro that she had won an International Woman of Courage award in 2019 for her work in exposing Russian propaganda and misinformation. The agency’s inspector general, however, said that her social media posts critical of Trump were the reason the award was rescinded. (ABC News / Washington Post)
poll/ 57% of Americans say the replacement for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg should be left to the winner of the presidential election and a Senate vote next year. 38% say Ginsburg’s replacement should be nominated by Trump and confirmed by the current Senate. (Washington Post)
poll/ Biden leads Trump 65% to 27% among voters born after 1996. 70% of Generation Z voters have negative opinions about Trump, including 61% who view him “very” unfavorably. (Morning Consult)
🗳 How To Vote In The 2020 Election In Every State.
Everything you need to know about mail-in and early in-person voting in every state in the age of COVID-19, including the first day you can cast your ballot in the 2020 election. (FiveThirtyEight / Washington Post / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
1/ Trump refused to commit to a “peaceful transfer of power” if he loses the election, saying “We’re going to have to see what happens.” Trump – apparently referring to mail-in ballots, which he has repeatedly attacked as widely fraudulent, despite providing no evidence to support his claims – continued: “The ballots are a disaster. Get rid of the ballots and you’ll have a very peaceful — there won’t be a transfer, frankly. There’ll be a continuation.” On Wednesday, Trump said he wanted to quickly confirm a replacement for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg because he expects the Supreme Court to decide the result of the election, which could split 4-to-4 if a ninth justice is not seated. And in June, Trump declined to commit to accepting the results of the election if he lost, saying he would “have to see,” before claiming that mail-in voting would “rig the election.” Biden’s campaign, meanwhile, said “The American people will decide this election and the United States government is perfectly capable of escorting trespassers out of the White House.” (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / ABC News / CNN / Axios / CNBC / Bloomberg)
Eight times Trump said he won’t accept the election results or leave office if he loses. (CNN)
2/ Congressional Republicans dismissed Trump’s comments, but failed to directly criticize his remarks. Many Republicans, including Mitch McConnell, promised that there would be a peaceful transfer of power if Biden won, but didn’t explain what they’d do if Trump resisted leaving office. “The President says crazy stuff. We’ve always had a peaceful transition of power. It’s not going to change,” Sen. Ben Sasse said. Mitch McConnell, meanwhile, promised an “orderly transition.” Meanwhile, during a Fox News Radio interview, Trump said he would abide by a Supreme Court decision if the election results were contested, but before leaving the White House for North Carolina, Trump said he wasn’t sure the election could be “honest” because mail-in ballots are “a whole big scam.”
(Politico / New York Times / Bloomberg / CNN / New York Times / ABC News / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / The Guardian)
Internal USPS documents link changes behind mail slowdowns to top executives. “Newly obtained records appear in conflict with months of Postal Service assertions that blamed lower-level managers for strategies tied to delivery delays” (Washington Post)
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy told a judge the U.S. Postal Service can’t reassemble the high speed mail-sorting machines that were taken apart this year. A nationwide injunction issued last week in Yakima, Washington, “requires the USPS to reverse disruptive operational changes implemented by DeJoy, including restrictions on overtime and changes to the handling of election mail, such as absentee ballots applications.” (Bloomberg)
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said that Trump “is incorrect” when he says USPS isn’t equipped to handle the surge in mail-in voting due to the coronavirus pandemic. “The Postal Service will do it’s job to deliver the ballots. When the President goes into that the Postal Service doesn’t – is not equipped to do it, which, he is incorrect with that,” DeJoy said. “We’re equipped to do it and we’re going to deliver ballots.” (CNN)
[Long read] The Election That Could Break America. If the vote is close, Donald Trump could easily throw the election into chaos and subvert the result. Who will stop him? (The Atlantic)
[Long read] The Legal Fight Awaiting Us After the Election. The aftermath of November’s vote has the potential to make 2000 look like a mere skirmish. (New Yorker)
3/ FBI Director Christopher Wray told senators that the U.S. has “not seen” large-scale voter fraud “by mail or otherwise.” Wray, testifying before the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said “Americans must have confidence in our voting system and our election infrastructure,” because it would be a “major challenge” for a foreign country to attempt “any kind of coordinated national voter fraud effort in a major election.” (Washington Post / Axios)
4/ Trump suggested that the White House would overrule the FDA if the agency issued new, tougher standards for the emergency authorization of a coronavirus vaccine. Trump questioned why the FDA would set a higher standard for granting emergency authorization for a vaccine, saying it “sounds like a political move.” The FDA is expected to soon announce new standards for an emergency authorization, which are meant to increase public trust and transparency in the vaccine process. FDA commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn, meanwhile, promised the Senate Health Committee that the “FDA will not authorize or approve any COVID-19 vaccine before it has met the agency’s rigorous expectations for safety and effectiveness.” He also said that the FDA “will not permit any pressure from anyone to change that.” Trump, however, said any new FDA guidance “has to be approved by the White House. We may or may not approve it.” (CNN / Bloomberg / The Hill / USA Today)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~32,060,000; deaths: ~980,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~6,968,000; deaths: ~203,000
5/ Another 825,000 Americans filed for state unemployment benefits last week. An additional 630,000 people filed for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, an emergency federal program that covers freelancers and self-employed workers. (Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
House Democrats are preparing a $2.4 trillion coronavirus relief package for possible negotiations with the White House and Senate Republicans. The bill would include enhanced unemployment insurance, direct payments to Americans, Paycheck Protection Program small-business loan funding, and aid to airlines, among other provisions. While the new legislation would be narrower in scope than the $3.4 trillion Heroes Act the House passed in May, it’s larger than what Senate Republicans said they could accept. Trump has indicated he’d be willing to go as high as $1.5 trillion. (CNBC / Bloomberg / Washington Post / Politico / NBC News)
poll/ Biden leads Trump among likely voters in Iowa 45% to 42%. The two candidates are tied in Georgia at 45%, while Trump leads Biden 46% to 43% in Texas. Roughly 90% of voters in all three states say they have definitely made up their minds about whom to vote for. (New York Times)
✏️ Notables.
Nearly 500 retired senior military officers, former Cabinet secretaries, service chiefs, and other officials signed an open letter supporting Biden for president, saying he has “the character, principles, wisdom and leadership necessary to address a world on fire.” The officers said Trump has failed “to meet challenges large or small.” (Washington Post / NBC News / CNN)
Trump tweeted that he was “praying” for two police officers who were shot during protests after a grand jury brought no charges against Louisville police for killing Breonna Taylor. The only charges were against fired Officer Brett Hankison, who shot into the home next to Taylor’s with people inside. Trump also offered sympathy to Taylor’s family. (Associated Press / Politico)
The Trump administration no longer recognizes Aleksandr Lukashenko as the legitimate president of Belarus. In a statement, a spokesperson for the State Department said the U.S. “cannot consider Aleksandr Lukashenko the legitimately elected leader of Belarus,” and that the country should begin “a national dialogue leading to the Belarusian people enjoying their right to choose their leaders in a free and fair election under independent observation.” A new round of protests began this week in the capital city of Minsk after news reports revealed that Lukashenko had held a secret inauguration ceremony. (Axios)
Mary Trump sued Trump and his siblings for allegedly defrauding her out of tens of millions in inheritance decades ago by manipulating the value of properties and lying to her about the worth of her inheritance. “Fraud was not just the family business – it was a way of life,” the lawsuit says in its first sentence. (Washington Post / New York Times / ABC News / NBC News)
🗳 How To Vote In The 2020 Election In Every State.
Everything you need to know about mail-in and early in-person voting in every state in the age of COVID-19, including the first day you can cast your ballot in the 2020 election. (FiveThirtyEight / Washington Post / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
1/ Trump predicted that the election “will end up in the Supreme Court,” tying the confirmation of a justice to the election. Trump, who has repeatedly and baselessly warned of voter fraud and corruption in the upcoming election, said: “I think this will end up in the Supreme Court and I think it’s very important that we have nine justices, and I think the system’s going to go very quickly.” Trump – again – claimed without evidence that Democrats are trying to rig the election and that he wants a Supreme Court that will agree with him, because “it’s a scam — the scam will be before the United States Supreme Court and I think having a 4-4 situation is not a good situation.” (Bloomberg / New York Times / Washington Post)
poll/ 59% of Americans think the winner of the presidential election should be the one to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. March 2016, 57% said that Obama should have been the one to fill the vacancy created by the death of Antonin Scalia, rather than the president elected in November. (CNN)
poll/ 63% of voters don’t expect to know the winner of the presidential election on Election Night, while 30% think the country will know. (Quinnipiac)
[Speculation] The Trump campaign has reportedly discussed a contingency plan to bypass election results and appoint loyal electors in battleground states where Republicans hold the legislative majority. If Trump loses, he would then ask state legislators to ignore the popular vote on claims of rampant fraud, which experts have noted is extraordinarily rare, and instead choose electors directly ahead of the “safe harbor” deadline on Dec. 8. Electors don’t meet until six days later, Dec. 14. (The Atlantic / The Week)
Ted Cruz blocked a Senate resolution to honor the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg after Democrats added language noting Ginsburg’s dying request that her seat not be filled until the next president is sworn in. Chuck Schumer tried to pass the resolution by unanimous consent, but Cruz objected, accusing Chuck Schumer of turning the bipartisan resolution into a “partisan resolution.” (CNN / Texas Tribune)
2/ Dr. Deborah Birx is reportedly so “distressed” with the direction of the coronavirus task force that she is not certain how much longer she will remain. Specifically, the White House task force coordinator recently confided to aides and friends that she believes that Dr. Scott Atlas, a recent addition to the task force, is giving Trump misleading information about the efficacy of face masks. Atlas does not have a background in infectious diseases or epidemiology. (CNN)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~31,747,000; deaths: ~974,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~6,934,000; deaths: ~202,000
3/ The Trump administration shifted at least $7 billion from public health programs to Operation Warp Speed, a public-private partnership to speed up vaccine development. The administration pulled $6 billion from the Strategic National Stockpile’s $16.7 billion allocation meant to replenish stocks of medical protective gear, ventilators, and testing supplies. And, another $1 billion was pulled from the CDC and directed to Operation Warp Speed. In total, the Warp Speed program’s budget is as large as $18 billion – larger than the $10 billion budget the administration has routinely cited in public. (Bloomberg)
Dr. Anthony Fauci said there’s “growing optimism” that one or more safe and effective vaccines will be found by the end of the year or early 2021. Dr. Robert Redfield, the director of CDC told members of a Senate committee that 700 million doses of a vaccine is “going to take us April, May, June, possibly July, to get the entire American public completely vaccinated.” In testimony before the Senate health committee, Fauci, Redfield, Dr. Stephen Hahn, the commissioner of food and drugs, and Adm. Brett Giroir, the assistant secretary for health, each said they would take a vaccine and recommend their families do the same should the FDA deem it safe and effective. (CNBC / New York Times)
4/ The Department of Homeland Security has awarded more than $6 million in contracts since 2018 to the consulting firm where acting secretary Chad Wolf’s wife is an executive. Hope Wolf’s firm has received federal contracts in the past, but hadn’t done any work for DHS until after Chad became chief of staff at the Transportation Security Administration in 2017, a DHS agency. (NBC News)
5/ The Department of Justice won’t allow any senior officials to testify before Congress in the next two weeks because of the way Democrats treated Attorney General William Barr previously. The DOJ accused Democrats of “scolding and insulting the Attorney General” during a July 28 hearing, as well as repeatedly interrupting him and refusing to let him answer questions. Judiciary Committee chair Jerry Nadler, meanwhile, accused Barr of “trying to pick a fight” with the committee in order to “change the subject from the President’s disastrous handling of the pandemic, and set a new standard for sheer arrogance and open contempt of Congress.” He added: “We will plan accordingly.” (CNN)
6/ A New York state judge ordered Eric Trump to testify before the election as part of a fraud investigation into his family’s real estate business. Last week, Eric’s lawyers said he was willing to be interviewed, but only after the presidential election because he did not want his deposition to be used “for political purposes.” The judge, however, said New York Attorney General Letitia James is not “bound by timelines of the national election,” and that Eric must testify no later than Oct. 7. (Bloomberg / New York Times / CNBC)
7/ A former National Security Council official accused White House aides of falsely asserting that John Bolton’s book contained classified information in order to prevent its publication. In a letter filed in court, Ellen Knight suggested that the Justice Department told a court that the book, “The Room Where It Happened,” contained classified information and opened a criminal investigation into Bolton based on false pretenses. Knight said that after she determined in April that Bolton’s book contained no classified information, political appointees repeatedly asked her to sign a declaration to use against Bolton that made false assertions. She also said that after her refusal, she was reassigned from the White House. (New York Times)
8/ The House passed legislation to fund the government through Dec. 11 and avoid a government shutdown. Funding was set to expire in eight days. Republicans and the White House agreed to “increased accountability” over a $30 billion aid package for famers in exchange for nearly $8 billion in “desperately needed nutrition assistance for hungry schoolchildren and families.” (Washington Post / New York Times / Axios)
🗳 How To Vote In The 2020 Election In Every State. Everything you need to know about mail-in and early in-person voting in every state in the age of COVID-19, including the first day you can cast your ballot in the 2020 election. (FiveThirtyEight / Washington Post / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
1/ Trump lied and claimed that the coronavirus “affects virtually nobody” as the U.S. death toll crossed 200,000 – more than the combined number of Americans killed in the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Iraq War, the War in Afghanistan, and the Persian Gulf War. The number of U.S. deaths is equivalent to a 9/11 attack every day for 67 days. The U.S. death toll is expected to double to 400,000 by the end of the year as schools and colleges reopen and cold weather sets in. In March, Trump said 200,000 deaths would mean that his administration had “done a very good job” of protecting Americans from the coronavirus. “A lot of people think that goes away in April, with the heat,” Trump said in February, and later this summer, Trump told Fox News: “It’s going to disappear, and I’ll be right eventually.” Meanwhile at a rally in Ohio today, Trump bragged that he’s done an “amazing” and “incredible” job, adding: “The only thing we’ve done a bad job in is public relations because we haven’t been able to convince people — which is basically the fake news — what a great job we’ve done.” The U.S. has the highest death toll of any country in the world, accounting for about 21% of the global death toll despite representing only 4% of the world’s population. Trump added: “By the way, open your schools!” (New York Times / CNN / Associated Press / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / CNBC / ABC News / Bloomberg / Los Angeles Times / Vox)
A public affairs official at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases will “retire” after revelations that he was the anonymous author of blog posts disparaging Dr. Anthony Fauci, who heads that agency. William Crews had derided his own colleagues, saying that “government officials responsible for the pandemic response should be executed,” and called his boss a “mask nazi,” whom he described as the “attention-grubbing and media-whoring Anthony Fauci.” (Daily Beast / Washington Post / CNN / New York Times)
The CDC recommends that Halloween trick-or-treating, Thanksgiving parades, and Black Friday shopping should all be avoided. The new guidance for the upcoming holiday season also warns that if people gather in person they so outdoors, keeping groups small, practice mask wearing and social distancing, and considering local virus conditions, as well as where attendees are coming from. (Bloomberg)
2/ The Pentagon spent money meant for medical equipment on defense contracts for military equipment. The Cares Act gave the Pentagon $1 billion to “prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus,” but instead of paying for masks and other medical supplies, the Defense Department diverted funding toward military supplies, like jet engine parts, body armor, and dress uniforms. The money was mostly funneled to defense contractors, some of which had already received funding from the Paycheck Protection Program. (Washington Post)
3/ The FDA is expected to announce a new, tougher standard for issuing an emergency authorization for a coronavirus vaccine, making it unlikely that any vaccine will be authorized before Election Day. The FDA will require manufacturers seeking emergency authorization to track participants in late-stage clinical trials for two months following their second vaccine shot. Despite Heath and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar giving himself rule-making authority over health agencies, including the FDA, the department said the change won’t affect the FDA’s work on vaccines and COVID-19 treatments. A group of external medical experts that advises the CDC, meanwhile, will delay a vote on a COVID-19 vaccine roll-out plan until government officials authorize a specific vaccine or vaccines. The next scheduled committee meeting is in late October. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
Trump is expected to announce a series of executive actions on health care. The orders could include a safeguard on insurance protections for pre-existing conditions should the Supreme Court undercuts the Affordable Care Act, a measure to prevent patients from receiving “surprise” medical bills, and an effort to address mental health. (Politico)
4/ The Manhattan district attorney suggested that it has grounds to investigate Trump and his businesses for tax fraud and falsifying business records. The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office is seeking eight years of Trump’s tax returns and related records. While Cyrus Vance’s office court filing doesn’t directly accuse Trump or any of his business of wrongdoing, it includes news reports that prosecutors say justify the grand jury inquiry. It’s the first time Vance’s office has suggested that tax fraud are among the possible areas of investigation. (New York Times / CNBC / Washington Post)
5/ The CIA assessed in late August that Putin and Russian officials “are aware of and probably directing Russia’s influence operations” aimed at interfering in the 2020 presidential election by denigrating Joe Biden. The first line of the CIA assessment, compiled August 31, reads: “We assess that President Vladimir Putin and the senior most Russian officials are aware of and probably directing Russia’s influence operations aimed at denigrating the former U.S. Vice President, supporting the U.S. president and fueling public discord ahead of the U.S. election in November.” The assessment was compiled with input from the National Security Agency and the FBI using public, unclassified, and classified intelligence sources. The CIA also analyzed the activities of Andreii Derkach, a Ukrainian lawmaker who provided information to Rudy Giuliani, including efforts to disseminate disparaging information about Biden in the U.S. through lobbyists, Congress, the media, and contacts with figures close to Trump. Giuliani said he “interviewed” Derkach three times. (Washington Post / NBC News / CNN)
6/ One of Robert Mueller’s top deputies accused the special counsel’s office of failing to fully determine what happened in the 2016 election, like subpoenaing Trump and scrutinizing his finances, out of fear that he would disband their office. In his new book Where Law Ends: Inside the Mueller Investigation, Andrew Weissmann singles out Mueller’s deputy, Aaron Zebley, for being overly cautious and stopping investigators from taking a broad look at Trump’s finances. “Had we used all available tools to uncover the truth, undeterred by the onslaught of the president’s unique powers to undermine our efforts?” Weissmann writes, adding, “I know the hard answer to that simple question: We could have done more.” Weissmann ran the unit that prosecuted Paul Manafort for numerous financial crimes. (New York Times / Washington Post / The Atlantic)
7/ Mitt Romney, Chuck Grassley, and Cory Gardner all said they do not oppose a confirmation vote this year to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. With a 53-seat majority, Mitch McConnell has the votes he needs to move forward with a confirmation vote either before or just after the Nov. 3 election, despite Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins opposing an election-year confirmation. Trump said he’ll name his choice to replace Ginsburg on Saturday. (Politico / Des Moines Register / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / CNN)
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer invoked the “two-hour rule” in order to prevent Republicans from rushing through a vote to confirm Trump’s pick to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The rule prohibits any Senate committee or subcommittee from meeting after the Senate has been in session for two hours or after 2 p.m. Schumer said he invoked the rule because “we can’t have business as usual when Republicans are destroying the institution as they have done.” Senate Democrats will not be invoking the rule Wednesday, because they don’t want do prevent the Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee or the Intelligence Committee hearings from going forward. (CBS News)
Republicans plan to ask the Supreme Court to review a Pennsylvania state court ruling that extended the due date for mail ballots – the first Supreme Court test since the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. (The Hill)
8/ The Office of the Special Counsel is investigating Education Secretary Betsy DeVos for potential Hatch Act violations after appearing on Fox News and criticizing Biden in September. The Department of Education then promoted the interview through official channels. At least 12 Trump senior officials have violated the Hatch Act, according to the OSC, most of which have resulted in a warning letter to the offender. (Politico / New York Times)
poll/ Nearly 90% of Americans say lawmakers need to pass a new coronavirus stimulus package to mitigate the fallout from the pandemic. 39% of voters say Democrats and Republicans are “equally responsible” for the failure to pass additional economic aid. (Financial Times)
🗳 How To Vote In The 2020 Election In Every State. Everything you need to know about mail-in and early in-person voting in every state in the age of COVID-19, including the first day you can cast your ballot in the 2020 election. (FiveThirtyEight / Washington Post / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
1/ Trump urged Senate Republicans to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg “without delay,” tweeting that filling the seat is an “obligation” they must consider. Trump, calling his shortlist of five candidates “the greatest list ever assembled,” said he plans to name his pick to replace Ginsburg “either Friday or Saturday.” Trump added that he wants the new justice confirmed before the November election, and promised that his nominee “will be a woman.” Two GOP senators, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, both said they don’t support voting on a new nominee before voters get to vote. Democrats need two more Republicans to defect in order to prevent a confirmation. (New York Times / NPR / ABC News / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNBC / Bloomberg / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / NPR / The Guardian / New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press)
📌 Day 1339: RIP RBG. Ginsburg, who once called then-presidential candidate Trump a “faker” and more recently described this period of American history as “an aberration,” dictated the following statement days before her death: “My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed.”
Mitch McConnell vowed that Trump’s nominee to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg will be put to the Senate floor for a vote and suggested it could be done before Election Day. Lindsey Graham, meanwhile, said he will vote for Ginsburg’s replacement before next election. ((Bloomberg / NPR / Politico / Axios)
Obama called for Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s successor to be appointed by the election winner, saying she “left instructions for how she wanted her legacy to be honored.” (Medium – Obama /Vox)
Biden called on Senate Republicans to consider the will of the voters and not take up the Supreme Court vacancy until after the election, warning that a quick replacement of Ginsburg would “plunge us deeper into the abyss.” Biden, citing 2016 as precedent, said “There is no doubt, let me be clear, that the voters should pick the president and the president should pick the justice for the Senate to consider. This was the position of the Republican Senate took in 2016 when there were almost 10 months to go before the election. That’s the position the United States Senate must take today.” (Washington Post / NPR / Politico / Politico)
Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins said the vacancy left by the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg should be made after the presidential election, citing the proximity to Election Day. In a statement, Collins said “In fairness to the American people, who will either be re-electing the President or selecting a new one, the decision on a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court should be made by the President who is elected on November 3rd.” (NPR / CNN)
Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski said she will not support Trump’s nomination to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court before Election Day. Murkowski, the second GOP senator to publicly oppose voting on a Supreme Court nominee before the November election, said “For weeks, I have stated that I would not support taking up a potential Supreme Court vacancy this close to the election,” Murkowski said in a statement. “Sadly, what was then a hypothetical is now our reality, but my position has not changed.” (NBC News / CNBC)
Judge Amy Coney Barrett is considered to be the leading contender to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. If Judge Barrett were nominated and confirmed, she would be the sitting justice with the least courtroom experience, but one viewed as a home run by conservative Christians and anti-abortion activists. (New York Times / Bloomberg / New York Times / Washington Post)
[Insights] The 6 Republican senators who will decide the Supreme Court fight. “Some are facing difficult elections. Others are institutionalists. But they will play critical roles in replacing Ruth Bader Ginsburg.” (Politico)
2/ By the time you read this, 200,000 people will be dead from the coronavirus in the United States. On March 30, Dr. Deborah Birx told Americans “If we do things together, well, almost perfectly, we can get in the range of 100,000 to 200,000 fatalities.” Experts, meanwhile, are predicting a new spike of coronavirus cases this fall. And, more than half of U.S. states are reporting a rise in coronavirus cases with 27 states and Puerto Rico all reporting test positivity rates above 5% – the threshold that the World Health Organization recommends municipalities hold steady for at least two weeks before businesses reopen. (NBC News / NPR / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / New York Times / CNN)
3/ Trump’s political appointees tried to silence a top official at the CDC after she warned “we have way too much virus across the country.” Anne Schuchat, CDC principal deputy director, had appealed to Americans to wear masks, saying she hoped the country could “take it seriously and slow the transmission.” The next day in a June 30 email, Paul Alexander wrote to his boss, Michael Caputo, assistant secretary for public affairs at HHS, and reprimanded Schuchat, arguing that her comments contradicted Trump administration officials, including Pence. “Importantly, having the virus spread among the young and healthy is one of the methods to drive herd immunity,” Alexander added. “She is duplicitous.” (New York Times / Washington Post)
4/ The CDC reversed its previous guidance about how the coronavirus is transmitted, claiming that it had mistakenly posted a “draft” that stated that it was “possible” for the coronavirus to spread through airborne particles, which can remain suspended in the air and travel beyond 6 feet. The updated guidance, which was posted on the CDC’s website on Friday, said the virus can be transmitted through tiny, aerosolized droplets that are “produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes, sings, talks, or breathes.” It also recommended that people use air purifiers to prevent the disease from spreading indoors. On Monday, however, the agency reverted to its previous language, saying the guidance was “posted in error” and that the virus is thought to spread “between people who are in close contact with one another (within about 6 feet).” It was the third major revision to CDC information or guidelines published since May. (NBC News / CNN / CNBC / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNN / Reuters)
5/ Heath and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar gave himself rule-making authority over the nation’s health agencies, including the FDA. In a Sept. 15 memo, Azar declared that power to sign any new rules related to the nation’s foods, medicines, medical devices and other products, including vaccines, “is reserved to the Secretary.” The memo requires the secretary of HHS to sign any new rule. (New York Times / Politico / Axios / NBC News)
Medicare won’t cover the cost of administering a coronavirus vaccine approved for emergency use. While lawmakers passed the Cares Act in March to ensure free coronavirus vaccine coverage, Medicare doesn’t cover costs for drugs approved under emergency use designations. (Wall Street Journal)
6/ A federal judge ordered Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to prioritize election mail and restore overtime for U.S. Postal Service employees, saying that “managerial failures” at the agency undermined the public’s faith in mail-in voting. An injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero directs the USPS to pre-approve all overtime from Oct. 26 to Nov. 6, and to give first-class treatment to all election mail beginning Oct. 15. (Bloomberg / CNN)
The USPS saw a decline in the rate of on-time delivery for first-class mail after Louis DeJoy took over as postmaster general in June. According to new data, the changes implemented by DeJoy shortly after he took over led to reductions in the amount of First-Class mail that was delivered on time. The reductions in on-time deliveries and delivery speeds persisted even after DeJoy announced in August that he would suspend the changes until after the election. (The Guardian)
A judge dismissed the Trump campaign’s lawsuit against Nevada over its plan to mail ballots to all registered voters. The judge called the campaign’s allegation that mailing ballots would lead to massive fraud “impermissibly speculative.” (Bloomberg)
A group of Trump supporters illegally disrupted early voting at a polling location in Virginia. The group formed a line to force voters to walk around, while changing “four more years” and waving Trump flags. In Virginia, it is illegal to “hinder or delay a qualified voter in entering or leaving a polling place,” and that any kind of political advocacy is prohibited within 40 feet of any entrance to a polling place. (New York Times)
poll/ 50% of voters said the winner of the presidential election should pick the next justice “since the election is fewer than 50 days away,” while 37% said Trump should pick the next justice “since he is the current president.” 12% had no opinion. (Politico)
poll/ 62% of Americans want the winner of the November presidential election to name a successor to Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court. Eight out of 10 Democrats and five in 10 Republicans agreed that the appointment should wait until after the election. (Reuters)
poll/ 60% of likely voters under the age of 30 say they will vote for Biden, compared with 27% for Trump. 56% of likely voters who support Trump are “very enthusiastic” about voting for him, compared with 35% of likely voters who support Biden when asked about their enthusiasm. (NPR)
poll/ 62% of registered Latino voters nationwide say they plan to vote for Biden, compared with 26% who say they’re voting for Trump. 59% say Biden will be better at addressing the concerns of the Latino community, while 18% say Trump will be better. 41% say Biden will do better when it comes to handling the economy, compared with 39% who say Trump will be better. (NBC News)
✏️ Notables.
The Justice Department labeled New York City, Seattle, and Portland, Oregon “anarchist jurisdictions” and threatened to withhold federal funding for “permitting violence and destruction of property” during protests over racism and police brutality. In a statement, Attorney General William Barr claimed the jurisdictions were “permitting anarchy” and that “We cannot allow federal tax dollars to be wasted when the safety of the citizenry hangs in the balance.” It’s unclear if the administration can legally withhold federal funding. (Washington Post / NBC News / The Guardian / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
The doctor who performed unwanted hysterectomies at an ICE facility is not a board certified OB-GYN. A whistleblower accused Dr. Mahendra Amin of conducting unnecessary or unwanted gynecological procedures on women detained at the Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla, Georgia. (Daily Beast)
The Treasury Department opened an investigation into allegations of “rampant racism” at the U.S. Mint. A group of Black employees at the Mint asked Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to intervene in June. (Wall Street Journal)
Former FBI Director James Comey will testify publicly before the Senate Judiciary Committee on September 30. Lindsey Graham’s committee is conducting a review of the FBI’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. (Politico / CNN)
Rudy Giuliani’s associate, Lev Parnas, was indicted on new federal fraud charges. “Prosecutors said Mr. Parnas persuaded an array of investors to pump more than $2 million into the company, which was intended to offer an insurance-like product to protect consumers. But Fraud Guarantee never got off the ground.” (New York Times)
Trump approved a deal that will allow TikTok to continue operating in the U.S. Oracle will become TikTok’s cloud provider and give it control over the company’s U.S. data. TikTok’s Chinese-based parent company, ByteDance, will continue to own about 80% of the company and maintain control over the algorithm. (Bloomberg / Politico)
A woman suspected of sending a letter containing the deadly poison ricin to the White House and several federal prisons was arrested. She was taken into custody as she was trying to enter the United States from Canada in New York state. U.S. prosecutors in Washington, D.C., are expected to bring charges against her. It is unclear when the letter was sent or where it was intercepted. The identity of the woman is also unknown at this time. The ricin was confirmed in field and laboratory tests. (NBC News / CNN / Wall Street Journal / New York Times)
Government funding runs out in nine days. The House Democrats unveiled a short-term spending bill that would keep the government funded through Dec. 11, which Senate Republicans called shameful because it omits a $30 billion bailout for farmers. Democrats oppose the bailout money because they view it as a payoff to farmers hurt by Trump’s trade policies. (Washington Post)
The Supreme Court announced Friday that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has died of metastatic pancreatic cancer, setting up a fight over filling a Supreme Court seat with less than 50 days until the election. “Our nation has lost a jurist of historic stature,” Chief Justice John Roberts said in a statement. “Today we mourn, but with confidence that future generations will remember Ruth Bader Ginsburg as we knew her — a tireless and resolute champion of justice.”
Ginsburg, who was appointed in 1993 by Clinton, was only the second woman to serve on the Supreme Court. She had overcome four bouts with pancreatic, lung, and colon cancer since 1999. And, following a recurrence in July, Ginsburg vowed to stay on the court “as long as I can do the job full steam.”
The vacancy, however, gives Trump the opportunity to name her successor, and Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans have promised to try to fill the vacancy. In 2016, Senate Republicans refused to consider Judge Merrick Garland, saying that holding hearings in the last year of a president’s term would deprive voters of a chance to weigh in on what kind of justice they wanted.
Early voting, meanwhile, has alreadybegun in Virginia, Wyoming, South Dakota, and Minnesota.
According to a former Trump White House official, McConnell, who has called the obstruction of Garland “the most important decision I’ve made in my political career,” told donors earlier this year “that when R.B.G. meets her reward, even if it’s October, we’re getting our judge. He’s saying it’s our October Surprise.” Following news of Ginsburg’s death, McConnell releasedastatementannouncing that “Trump’s nominee will receive a vote on the floor of the United States Senate.”
Senator Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, and – in 2018 when he was chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee – Chuck Grassley, however, have previouslyannounced that they were opposed to confirming a new Supreme Court justice in 2020. “Fair is fair,” Murkowski said.
Meanwhile a a rally in Minnesota, Trump – apparently unaware of Ginsburg’s death – launched into a series of sexist attacks on Hillary Clinton and stoked fears of Islamic terrorism that would occur if Biden were elected.
Ginsburg, who once called then-presidential candidate Trump a “faker” and more recently described this period of American history as “an aberration,” dictated the following statement days before her death: “My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed.”
📌 Day 1330: Trump unveiled a revised list of 20 potential Supreme Court justices that includes Sens. Tom Cotton and Ted Cruz. Trump’s top aides and advisors have encouraged him for months to release an updated list of justices ahead of Election Day as a way to remind his base what’s at stake on November 3. Cotton said he was “honored” to be selected for the list and that he believes “the Supreme Court could use some more justices who understand the difference between applying the law and making the law.” Cruz said in a statement that he is “grateful for the president’s confidence in me and for his leadership in nominating principled constitutionalists to the federal bench.” The list’s release was originally slated to take place prior to the Republican National Convention. (Axios / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
[Wednesday] The Supreme Court said it will hold arguments by telephone when its new term opens next month. (Bloomberg)
What Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Death Means for America. “But her passing less than two months before the presidential election also tosses one more lit match into the tinderbox of national politics in 2020: It will surely inflame a deeply polarized country already riven by a deadly pandemic, a steep economic downturn, and civil unrest in its major cities.” (The Atlantic)
🗳 How To Vote In The 2020 Election In Every State. Everything you need to know about mail-in and early in-person voting in every state in the age of COVID-19, including the first day you can cast your ballot in the 2020 election. (FiveThirtyEight / Washington Post / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
1/ The Department of Health and Human Services rewrote the CDC guidance about who should be tested for the coronavirus last month and then “dropped” it on the CDC website despite staff scientists’ objections to the document. The guidance, which said it was not necessary to test people without symptoms of COVID-19 even if they had been exposed to the virus, was not written by CDC scientists and skipped the agency’s scientific review process. (New York Times)
2/ The CDC reversed its coronavirus testing guidance and now recommends that people get tested if they’ve been within six feet of a person “with documented SARS-CoV-2 infection” for at least 15 minutes. “You need a test,” reads the latest version of the document, noting that even if people do not have symptoms still need a test if they have been in close contact. The previous phrasing suggested asymptomatic people who have had close contact with an infected individual “do not necessarily need a test.” (Politico / CNN / NBC News / CNBC / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / Washington Post / New York Times)
3/ Trump – contradicting his administration’s own health officials – claimed there will be enough doses of coronavirus vaccine for every American by April. Earlier this week, however, CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield testified that a COVID-19 vaccine won’t be widely available until late summer 2021. Trump, nevertheless, claimed that “Hundreds of millions of doses will be available every month and we expect to have enough vaccines for every American by April and again I’ll say even at that later stage, the delivery will go as fast as it comes.” Trump’s comments came two days after he said the U.S. would start distributing a coronavirus vaccine as early as October, and that Redfield had “made a mistake” and shared “incorrect information.” (Politico / CNBC / USA Today)
👑 Portrait of a president. “A series of new revelations about the federal government’s coronavirus response could reinforce concerns about whether the Trump administration’s political motives were a higher priority than the health of Americans.” (CNN)
Dr. Anthony Fauci said he would “take the heat” for any potential problems associated with the rollout of a coronavirus vaccine. When asked whether he could “assure all of us that if the corners have been cut, if there is something sideways or wrong with the process, that you will tell us and take the heat” for that, Fauci replied, “The answer […] is yes.” Earlier this week, Fauci said he was confident there would be a “safe and effective vaccine” available by the end of 2020, despite Trump’s claims that a vaccine would be widely available before the November election. (MSNBC / Business Insider)
Trump once said the coronavirus might be a “good thing” because it means he no longer has to shake hands with “disgusting people,” according to a former top adviser to Mike Pence. In a new video for the group Republicans Voters Against Trump, Olivia Troye, who served on the White House coronavirus task force, says Trump made the comment during one of the task force meetings she attended. “Maybe this COVID thing is a good thing,” Trump said. “I don’t like shaking hands with people. I don’t have to shake hands with these disgusting people.” When asked about Troye’s claims, Trump said he has never met her and has no idea who she is. “She was on the task force as some kind of a lower-level person,” he told reporters. “I have no idea who she is.” (The Independent / Business Insider)
4/ United States lawyers at Julian Assange’s extradition trial accepted the claim that the WikiLeaks founder was offered a presidential pardon in return for information that would resolve the “ongoing speculation about Russian involvement” in the hacking of Democratic National Committee emails. Assange’s lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, said in a witness statement that she was present at a meeting at the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2017 between Assange, then-Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, and Trump associate Charles Johnson. At the meeting, the pair allegedly told Assange that they could help grant him a presidential pardon in exchange for information that would “benefit President Trump politically.” Rohrabacher and Johnson said Trump knew about the meeting and approved offering Assange what they described as a “win-win” proposal. Lawyers representing the U.S. accepted the witness statement as accurate and confirmed they had no intention of cross-examining the claim. (Daily Beast / Reuters / The Guardian / NBC News)
📌 Day 1126: Trump offered to pardon Julian Assange if the WikiLeaks founder agreed to say Russia was not involved in hacking emails from the Democratic National Committee. Assange’s lawyer, Edward Fitzgerald, claimed at a court hearing in London that former Republican congressman Dana Rohrabacher offered Assange the deal in 2017. Fitzgerald said he had a statement from another Assange lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, that shows “Mr. Rohrabacher going to see Mr. Assange and saying, on instructions from the president, he was offering a pardon or some other way out, if Mr. Assange … said Russia had nothing to do with the DNC leaks.” White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham denied the allegation, saying Trump “barely knows Dana Rohrabacher” and has “never spoken to him on this subject or almost any subject.” In Sept. 2017, Rohrabacher said that as part of the deal, Assange would have to hand over a computer drive or other data storage devices that would prove that Russia was not the source of the hacked emails. The White House confirmed that Rohrabacher had called John Kelly, then Trump’s chief of staff, to talk about a possible deal with Assange. Kelly reportedly declined to pass it along to Trump. (The Guardian / Daily Beast / Washington Post / Washington Post / The Verge / CNBC)
5/ The Trump administration announced $13 billion in aid to Puerto Rico to help with rebuilding in the aftermath of 2017’s Hurricane Maria. The funds come three years after the deadly storm and six weeks before the presidential election. Trump once reportedly considered “selling” or “divesting” Puerto Rico, and a former Homeland Security chief of staff said Trump asked officials whether the U.S. could trade Greenland for Puerto Rico. Trump also falsely accused Puerto Rico of using federal hurricane relief funds to pay off the island’s debt. (CNN / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
6/ The Trump administration will ban WeChat and TikTok from U.S. app stores starting Sunday night. Americans will be blocked from downloading the Chinese-owned apps due to concerns that they pose a threat to national security. Current users will not see any significant changes and officials from the U.S. Department of Commerce say they will not bar additional technical transactions for TikTok until Nov. 12. The order bars Apple’s app store, Alphabet’s Google Play, and others from offering the apps on any platform “that can be reached from within the United States.” The ban on new U.S. downloads could still be rescinded by Trump before it takes effect. (Reuters / CNBC / New York Times / NBC News)
poll/ Biden leads Trump among likely voters in Arizona by nine percentage points, by 17 percentage points in Maine, and by one point in North Carolina. In all three states, Democratic Senate candidates were leading Republican incumbents by five percentage points or more. (New York Times)
poll/ 54% of voters plan to vote before Election Day. In 2016, about 42% of voters did so. 39% of voters say they will vote by mail – above the 21% who say they normally do. (Associated Press)
🗳 How To Vote In The 2020 Election In Every State. Everything you need to know about mail-in and early in-person voting in every state in the age of COVID-19, including the first day you can cast your ballot in the 2020 election. (FiveThirtyEight / Washington Post / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
1/ Another 860,000 people applied for unemployment insurance last week – the 26th-straight week that unemployment claims have remained above the 1960s pre-pandemic record. The total number of people claiming unemployment insurance went up by about 100,000 to 29.7 million as of Aug. 29. (Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
2/ Attorney General William Barr criticized his own Justice Department, equating them to preschoolers and “headhunters.” Barr insisted that he has the ultimate authority to intervene in investigations and to overrule career lawyers as he sees fit. “What exactly am I interfering with?” he asked at an event hosted by Hillsdale College. “Under the law, all prosecutorial power is invested in the attorney general.” In February, Barr overrode a sentencing recommendation for Roger Stone, and in May he directed federal prosecutors to withdraw the government’s case against Michael Flynn, who twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. (NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
3/ Shortly before federal police officers cleared Lafayette Square with smoke and tear gas on June 1, federal and military officials stockpiled ammunition and tried to obtain a sound cannon and “heat ray” that could be deployed against demonstrators. Active Denial System technology was developed to disperse crowds in the early 2000s, but shelved over concerns, in part, of the safety and ethics of using it on human beings. D.C. National Guard Maj. Adam DeMarco told lawmakers that military officials were searching for crowd control technology deemed too unpredictable to use in war zones. DeMarco’s account also contradicts the administration’s claims that protesters were violent, that tear gas was never used, and that demonstrators were warned multiple times to disperse. DeMarco did, however, authorize the transfer of about 7,000 rounds of ammunition to the D.C. Armory. (NPR / Washington Post / NBC News)
📌 Day 1230: As he spoke from the Rose Garden, police cleared peaceful protesters outside the White House with tear gas and flash grenades so Trump could pose by a church for photographs to dispel the notion that he was “weak” for hiding in a bunker over the weekend. Following his remarks in the Rose Garden, Trump left the White House and walked through Lafayette Square, where riot police and military police had cleared protesters moments before. Once Trump reached the far side of the square, he raised a bible in front of the church for a photo. Trump’s decision to speak to the nation from the Rose Garden and to then visit the church came together because he was reportedly upset about the news coverage of him retreating to the White House bunker amid the protests. Just before Trump spoke, Attorney General William Barr personallyordered law enforcement officials to clear protesters from Lafayette Square. (New York Times / CNN / ABC News / Vox / Washington Post / YouTube / Religious News Service)
4/ Trump blamed nationwide protests against police brutality on schools teaching students about the impact of slavery and racism on American history, calling it “toxic propaganda” and “left-wing indoctrination.” Trump – again – denounced the “1619 Project,” a Pulitzer Prize-winning public school curriculum developed by the New York Times that aims to reframe American history from when the first slave ship arrived, equating the curriculum as “radical” “toxic” “child abuse” that threatens “to impose a new segregation.” Earlier this month, Trump tweeted that the Department of Education would cut off federal funding to schools that adopted the 1619 curriculum. Trump also announced he would create a “1776 Commission” to promote a “pro-American curriculum that celebrates the truth about our nation’s great history,” which he said would encourage educators to teach students about the “miracle of American history.” (Bloomberg / Washington Post)
5/ Attorney General William Barr argued that coronavirus-related lockdowns were the “greatest intrusion on civil liberties” in history “other than slavery,” which he characterized as a “different kind of restraint.” When asked to explain the “constitutional hurdles” involved in preventing churches from meeting during the pandemic, Barr called stay at home orders a form of “house arrest” before comparing it to slavery. Barr went on to accuse governors of “treat[ing] free citizens as babies” by using their executive powers to prevent people from going back to work, and suggested that the federal response to the pandemic should be guided by politicians and elected officials rather than “the person in the white coat.” (CNN / Politico)
6/ FBI Director Christopher Wray warned that “Russia continues to try to influence our elections” and is seeking to “primarily to denigrate” Biden’s campaign. Wray said Russia has not successfully hacked any election systems and that activity has been limited to social media misinformation and influence operations. Wray added that his biggest concern is the “steady drumbeat of misinformation” that could undermine confidence in the result of the 2020 election. Meanwhile, the Trump administration’s top intelligence official will brief congressional intelligence committees on threats to the November election. Last month, Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe said he would no longer give Congress in-person briefings about election security, citing concern over “unauthorized disclosures of sensitive information.” (Bloomberg / Washington Post / New York Times / The Guardian / Wall Street Journal / CNN)
7/ A federal judge temporarily blocked U.S. Postal Service operational changes that have slowed mail delivery, saying that Trump and Postmaster General Louis DeJoy are “involved in a politically motivated attack on the efficiency of the Postal Service” that could disrupt the 2020 election. Judge Stanley Bastian granted a nationwide preliminary injunction sought by 14 states, saying mail delivery backlogs “likely will slow down delivery of ballots, both to the voters and back to the states” this fall. The states sued the Trump administration and the U.S. Postal Service, challenging the so-called “leave behind” policy, where trucks leave the facility on time, whether or not there is more mail to load. (Politico / Washington Post)
[April] U.S. Postal Service leaders planed to distribute 650 million masks nationwide before the White House nixed the plan. The Department of Health and Human Services had suggested that a pack of five reusable masks be sent to every residential address in the country. The draft news release was never sent and instead HHS created Project America Strong, a $675 million effort to distribute “reusable cotton face masks to critical infrastructure sectors, companies, healthcare facilities, and faith-based and community organizations across the country.” (Washington Post)
The White House offered to provide the Big Ten with enough COVID-19 tests for resume football. The Big Ten instead sourced the tests from a private company. (ABC News)
8/ Trump continued his lies about mail-in voting, tweeting that the results “may NEVER BE ACCURATELY DETERMINED” because “big unsolicited ballot states” automatically send ballots to registered voters. There is no evidence that states that send mail-in ballots to registered voter have had issues with accuracy, and voter fraud, broadly speaking, has proved exceedingly rare. Twitter, meanwhile, labeled Trump’s tweet indicating that it included potentially misleading information regarding the process of mail-in voting. (New York Times / Associated Press / Reuters)
9/ Another woman accused Trump of sexual assault while at the U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York in 1997. Former model Amy Dorris alleged that Trump “shoved his tongue down my throat” and that “his grip became tighter and his hands were very gropey and all over my butt, my breasts, my back, everything.” Dorris provided evidence to support her account of her encounters with Trump, including her ticket to the U.S. Open and six photos showing her with Trump over several days in New York. Several people also corroborated her account. Dorris was 24 at the time, while Trump was 51 and married to his second wife, Marla Maples. Trump’s attorneys say Trump denies having ever harassed, abused or behaved improperly toward Dorris. (The Guardian / The Independent / NBC News)
10/ Trump’s businesses have charged the Secret Service more than $1.1 million in private transactions since he took office, including rentals at the Bedminster, N.J., club that was closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. (Washington Post)
🗳 How To Vote In The 2020 Election In Every State. Everything you need to know about mail-in and early in-person voting in every state in the age of COVID-19, including the first day you can cast your ballot in the 2020 election. (FiveThirtyEight / Washington Post / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
1/ Trump – again – claimed that the coronavirus will “disappear” without a vaccine and that the U.S. would develop “herd mentality.” The correct term is “herd immunity,” which occurs when enough individuals develop immunity to prevent the spread of a disease. “With time it goes away,” Trump said during an ABC News town hall. “You’ll develop, you’ll develop herd — like a herd mentality. It’s going to be, it’s going to be herd-developed, and that’s going to happen. That will all happen.” Trump also denied that he downplayed the threat of the coronavirus, contradicting his recorded statements, before downplaying the pandemic even further, saying “in many ways, I up-played it in terms of action.” Trump also insisted that the U.S. is “rounding the corner” when it comes to the virus, even as the U.S. death toll approaches 200,000 people. (New York Times / CNN / The Hill / ABC News / The Guardian)
Dept. of Trump’s ABC News Town Hall A collection of opinion and analysis from Trump’s Tuesday night town hall.
‘Just A Firehose Of Lying’: Trump’s Town Hall Widely Roasted As A Train Wreck. “President Donald Trump ventured from the safe space of Fox News to a considerably more challenging town hall hosted by ABC News in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Tuesday night.” (Talking Points Memo)
‘He was lying through his teeth.’ “Voters stood up and spoke the truth to President Trump on Tuesday night. And Trump had a very hard time coming out of his Fox bubble to face real questions.” (CNN)
Trump’s ABC town hall revealed a president disconnected from reality. “He faced tough questions from voters — and had few answers.” (Vox)
Trump faces great peril outside Fox News bubble. “President Trump deigned to take hard questions at a town hall on Tuesday night, and the verdict of his propagandists is in: Trump was treated with hideous unfairness even as he managed to convert the spectacle into a triumph through sheer force of his forthrightness and deep benevolence.” (Washington Post)
Trump squirms in TV spotlight as voters pin him down on Covid, health and race. “The president stepped outside his Fox News bubble on Tuesday night – and endured a barrage of criticism he couldn’t bat back.” (The Guardian)
Trump, in Philadelphia, Says He ‘Up-Played’ the Virus, Then Downplays It. “President Trump presented a view of the pandemic radically at odds with the view of public health officials, insisting again that the virus would disappear on its own.” (New York Times)
Trump made at least 22 false or misleading claims at ABC town hall. (CNN)
2/ CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield testified that a COVID-19 vaccine won’t be widely available until late spring or summer 2021 and that Americans will not return “our regular life” until then. Redfield said that wearing a mask remains “the most important, powerful public health tool we have,” adding that a “face mask is more guaranteed to protect me against COVID than when I take a COVID vaccine.” Trump, nevertheless, insisted that the U.S. could start distributing a coronavirus vaccine “some time in October” – a much more optimistic estimate than his own health officials – and that Redfield “made a mistake” and shared “incorrect information,” asserting that “The mask is not as important as the vaccine.” Trump added: “The mask, perhaps, helps.” Biden, meanwhile, said: “I trust vaccines. I trust the scientists. But I don’t trust Donald Trump. At this point, the American people can’t either.” (NPR / CNBC / New York Times / Washington Post / Axios / New York Times /Bloomberg / The Guardian / CNBC)
3/ Trump criticized Biden for not implementing a national mask mandate, even though Biden is not the president and has no authority to do so. Trump’s comments were in reference to a policy promise Biden made as part of his plan to combat the pandemic if he is elected president. Trump added that “A lot of people don’t want to wear masks. There are a lot of people think that masks are not good.” (Washington Post / ABC News / USA Today / The Guardian / Business Insider)
4/ Trump urged congressional Republicans to support a new coronavirus economic relief bill with “much higher numbers” and stimulus payments for Americans. In May, House Democrats passed a $3.5 trillion bill and have said they would settle for a $2.2 trillion package. Senate Republicans, however, have tried to advance a $300 billion bill, without stimulus checks. Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin both said Trump could support a $1.5 trillion deal. (Bloomberg / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
5/ A whistleblower complaint accused an ICE detention center of performing unnecessary hysterectomies on immigrant women and failed to follow procedures meant to keep both detainees and employees safe from the coronavirus, which facilitated the spread of COVID-19. The complaint by a nurse who previously worked at an ICE facility in Georgia said detained women told her they did not understand why they had to get a hysterectomy. Nancy Pelosi called on the Department of Homeland Security to “immediately investigate” the allegations of “high rates of hysterectomies done to immigrant women.” In a statement, Pelosi said Americans “need to know why and under what conditions so many women, reportedly without their informed consent, were pushed to undergo this extremely invasive and life-altering procedure.” The complaint also alleges “jarring medical neglect” at the ICE facility for its refusal to test detainees who had been exposed to the coronavirus or those who showed symptoms of COVID-19. (NPR / BBC / Washington Post / The Hill / Forbes / Vice News / CNN / Vox)
6/ Attorney General William Barr encouraged federal prosecutors to consider charging violent protesters with sedition. To bring a sedition case, prosecutors would have to prove that demonstrators conspired to attack or overthrow the government. (Wall Street Journal)
7/ Michael Caputo will take a 60-day leave of absence from the Department of Health and Human Services after accusing government scientists of “sedition” and calling on the Trump’s supporters to arm themselves ahead of the election. HHS said in a statement that Caputo would be on leave to “focus on his health and the well-being of his family.” The health department’s assistant secretary for public affairs had claimed in a Facebook Live video that scientists at the CDC “don’t want America to get well” and that the “shooting will begin” after the presidential election. Paul Alexander, who was at the center of efforts to muzzle the department’s career scientists, will also be leaving the department. (Politico / ABC News / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Washington Post / NBC News)
8/ Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s operational changes delayed nearly 350 million pieces – about 7% – of first-class mail during the five weeks they were in effect. Before the changes, the Postal Service delivered more than 90% of first-class mail on time, but deliver rates dropped to about 83% following the changes. Additionally, delivery rates fell 20.4 percentage points in northern Ohio, 19.1 percentage points in Detroit, and 17.9 percentage points in central Pennsylvania – all regions that could decide the November election. The Postal Service, meanwhile, sent postcards urging voters to “plan ahead” if they intended to vote by mail. (Washington Post / New York Times)
9/ The Big Ten Conference will play football this fall after Trump had a “productive conversation” with the league’s commissioner. Trump also personally spoke with several unnamed Big Ten coaches, athletic directors, and parents. Several Big Ten schools are located in swing states, including Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa. The conference postponed its fall sports season on Aug. 11 because of health concerns. Eight days later, Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren issued a statement that the decision “will not be revisited.” One Big Ten president said Trump “had nothing to do with our decision and did not impact the deliberations. In fact, when his name came up, it was a negative because no one wanted this to be political.” Trump, meanwhile, tweeted “It is my great honor to have helped!!!” (Yahoo News / ESPN / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times)
poll/ 42% of Americans approve of the job Trump is doing as president – essentially unchanged since July. (Gallup)
🗳 How To Vote In The 2020 Election In Every State. Everything you need to know about mail-in and early in-person voting in every state in the age of COVID-19, including the first day you can cast your ballot in the 2020 election. (FiveThirtyEight / Washington Post / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
1/ The Justice Department opened a criminal investigation and issued grand jury subpoenas to John Bolton’s publisher and literary agent. The department convened a grand jury after failing to stop publication of “The Room Where It Happened” this summer to investigate whether Bolton unlawfully disclosed classified information. The subpoenas, to Simon & Schuster and Javelin, requested all communications with Trump’s former national security adviser. Bolton, however, didn’t receive a subpoena. In the book, which was released in June, Bolton painted a picture of an out-of-control president consumed by his own re-election. Trump, meanwhile, has tweeted that he wants Bolton prosecuted, claiming he “broke the law” and “should be in jail, money seized, for disseminating, for profit, highly Classified information.” (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Axios)
2/ A federal judge ruled that Chad Wolf is likely unlawfully serving as acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Judge Paula Xinis also temporarily barred the Trump administration from enforcing Wolf’s new asylum restrictions on members of two immigration advocacy groups. Judge Xinis said former acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin MacAleenan’s appointment was “invalid under the agency’s applicable order of succession, and so he lacked the authority to amend the order of succession to ensure Wolf’s installation as Acting Secretary.” He added that “by extension, because Wolf filled the role of Acting Secretary without authority, he promulgated the challenged rules also ‘in excess of […] authority,’ and not ‘in accordance with the law.’” (CNN)
📌 Day 1303: Trump’s top two officials at the Department of Homeland Security are illegally serving in their positions, according to a Government Accountability Office report. The independent watchdog agency reported to Congress that Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf and his deputy Kenneth Cuccinelli are serving under an invalid order of succession under the Vacancies Reform Act. After the resignation of Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen in April 2019, Kevin McAleenan took over and altered the order of succession for other officials to succeed him after his departure. GAO has referred the matter to the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security for further review and potential action. (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / Axios)
3/ The White House trade adviser refused to testify to Congress about a canceled ventilator contract that would have wasted $504 million. Peter Navarro was called to testify before the House Oversight subcommittee on economic and consumer policy on Wednesday, but the hearing has been canceled after the White House declined to make Navarro available for testimony. (NBC News)
📌 Day 1322: The Trump administration backed out of a $646.7 million deal to buy ventilators after a congressional investigation found “evidence of fraud, waste and abuse” in the acquisition, which negotiated by White House trade advisor Peter Navarro. The House Committee on Oversight and Reform’s Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy has since opened a probe of all federal contracts negotiated by Navarro. (ProPublica / Washington Post / CNBC)
The Department of Homeland Security will not make officials available for a House Intelligence Committee investigation into the department’s response to protests in Portland. (Washington Post)
4/ The Trump administration’s top health spokesperson apologized to staffers for accusing career federal scientists of “sedition” and working to undermine Trump. Michael Caputo, the assistant secretary of health for public affairs, and top adviser Paul Alexander also repeatedly tried to revise, delay, or scuttle key CDC scientific bulletins to paint the administration’s pandemic response in a more positive light. Caputo, who is reportedly considering a leave of absence to address physical health problems, said he regretted having embarrassed HHS Secretary Alex Azar and the Health and Human Services department. Chuck Schumer, meanwhile, called on Azar to resign following reports that Caputo and Alexander interfered in the weekly scientific reports from the CDC. Schumer said that the department has “become subservient to the president’s daily whims” and that Azar has been “almost entirely silent about the chaos and mismanagement in his own agency.” (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / CNBC / CNN)
📌 Day 1334: Political appointees at the Department of Health and Human Services repeatedly demanded that the CDC revise or delay weekly scientific reports on the coronavirus pandemic that they believed were unflattering to Trump. Officials characterized the effort by Michael Caputo and Paul Alexander as an attempt to intimidate the authors and water down the reports, which are written to update scientists and public health experts on trends in infectious diseases, including the coronavirus. In one email to CDC Director Robert Redfield and other senior officials, Alexander accused CDC scientists of trying to “hurt the president” with the reports, which he referred to as “hit pieces on the administration” because they didn’t align with Trump’s optimistic message about the outbreak. (Politico / New York Times)
5/ Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House will stay in session until lawmakers and the White House agree on another coronavirus stimulus package. The House is scheduled to adjourn on Oct. 2 until after the election. “We are committed to staying here until we have an agreement,” Pelosi said. “We are optimistic that the White House at least will understand that we have to do something.” (Bloomberg / Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / CNBC)
6/ Jared Kushner claimed that the tapes of Trump privately admitting to downplaying the threat of the coronavirus in March are an example of him being “very forthcoming with the American people” about the dangers of COVID-19. Journalist Bob Woodward, however, said Monday that Trump “possessed the specific knowledge that could have saved lives” in January, but didn’t share the information in his State of the Union address, which 40 million people watched. [Editor’s note: Jared Kushner is a dipshit.](TODAY / NBC News)
📌 Day 1329: Trump privately admitted weeks before the first confirmed U.S. COVID-19 death that he knew the coronavirus “is deadly stuff […] more deadly” than the flu, but he “wanted to always play it down” because “I don’t want to create a panic.” In a series of recorded interviews with journalist Bob Woodward in early February and March, Trump acknowledged the “deadly” nature of the coronavirus, saying it’s “pretty amazing” that “you just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed,” while publicly insisting that the virus was “going to disappear” and that “everything is working out.” More than 189,000 Americans have died of COVID-19. In total, Woodward conducted 18 on-the-record interviews with Trump between last December and July for his new book, “Rage.” Biden, meanwhile, slammed Trump, saying “he knew how deadly it was,” “purposely played it down,” and “knowingly and willingly lied about the threat it posed to the country for months.” (Washington Post / CNN / NPR / NBC News / Politico / Politico / New York Times / New York Times / Axios)
7/ The company that hosted Trump’s indoor rally in Nevada was fined $3,000 for violating the state’s restrictions on large gatherings.Sunday’s rally was held at a facility owned by Xtreme Manufacturing in Henderson, Nevada, where thousands of Trump supporters — most of whom were not wearing masks — gathered to hear Trump speak. A senior public information officer for the city of Henderson said a compliance officer “observed six violations of the directives and the City’s Business Operations Division has issued a Business License Notice of Violation to Xtreme Manufacturing and assessed a penalty of $3,000.” The company has a month to respond to the notice and either dispute or pay the penalty. (CNN)
A Trump campaign ad calls on people people to “support our troops,” but uses stock photos of Russian-made fighter jets and Russian models dressed as soldiers. (Politico)
8/ Pro-Trump teenagers are being paid by a conservative nonprofit to cast doubt about the integrity of the election and play down the threat from COVID-19 on on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. The messages were posted at the direction of Turning Point Action, an affiliate of Turning Point USA, and meant to evade rules put in place following the 2016 presidential campaign by social media companies to limit disinformation. In response to questions, Twitter suspended at least 20 accounts involved in the activity for “platform manipulation and spam.” Facebook, meanwhile, removed a number of accounts as part of an ongoing investigation. (Washington Post)
9/ The Trump administration issued a broad new travel advisory warning against travel to China and Hong Kong, citing a risk of “arbitrary detention” and “arbitrary enforcement of local laws” in order to compel cooperation with investigations, pressure family members to return to China from abroad, influence civil disputes, and “gain bargaining leverage over foreign governments.” It also warns that U.S. travelers may be “subjected to prolonged interrogations and extended detention without due process,” and that those traveling to or visiting China may be detained “without access to U.S. consular services or information about their alleged crime.” A spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry criticized the advisory and said the U.S. should “fully respect the facts and should not engage in unwarranted political manipulation” when issuing such advisories. (Associated Press / The Hill)
The World Trade Organization ruled that tariffs imposed in 2018 by the U.S. on Chinese goods violated international trading rules. Since March 2018, the U.S. has imposed tariffs on $400 billion in Chinese exports. (CNBC / Bloomberg)
poll/ 71% of Americans believe they have more in common with one another than many people think, including 74% of Democrats, 78% of Republicans and 66% of Independents. (Politico)
poll/ Favorability toward the U.S. in the UK, Canada, France, Japan, and Australia is the lowest it has been in at least two decades. Of the 13 nations surveyed, 15% say the U.S. has done a good job of dealing with the outbreak. (Pew Research Center / CNN)
🗳 How To Vote In The 2020 Election In Every State. Everything you need to know about mail-in and early in-person voting in every state in the age of COVID-19, including the first day you can cast your ballot in the 2020 election. (FiveThirtyEight / Washington Post / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
1/ Political appointees at the Department of Health and Human Services repeatedly demanded that the CDC revise or delay weekly scientific reports on the coronavirus pandemic that they believed were unflattering to Trump. Officials characterized the effort by Michael Caputo and Paul Alexander as an attempt to intimidate the authors and water down the reports, which are written to update scientists and public health experts on trends in infectious diseases, including the coronavirus. In one email to CDC Director Robert Redfield and other senior officials, Alexander accused CDC scientists of trying to “hurt the president” with the reports, which he referred to as “hit pieces on the administration” because they didn’t align with Trump’s optimistic message about the outbreak. (Politico / New York Times)
📌 Day 1329: A top aide at the Department of Health and Human Services is trying to prevent Dr. Anthony Fauci from speaking about the risks that coronavirus poses to children. Emails show Paul Alexander — a senior adviser to Michael Caputo, HHS’s assistant secretary for public affairs — attempting to dictate what the government’s top infectious disease expert should say during media interviews as recently as this week. Alexander specifically told Fauci’s press team that he should not promote mask-wearing by children. Fauci, however, said he had not seen the emails and that his staff had not instructed him to minimize the risk coronavirus poses to children or the need for kids to wear masks, saying “No one tells me what I can say and cannot say. I speak on scientific evidence.” (Politico)
House Democrats launched an investigation into how Trump appointees have pressured the CDC to change or delay scientific reports on coronavirus. (Politico)
[August] Trump demanded that the National Institutes of Health authorize the emergency use of plasma from recovered coronavirus patients to treat new ones. At the time, NIH had lingering concerns over its effectiveness. Four days later, however, the FDA approved plasma therapy. (New York Times)
2/ The top communications official at the Department of Health and Human Services baselessly accused career government scientists of forming a “resistance unit” for “sedition” against Trump. In a Facebook livestream, Michael Caputo claimed that “There are scientists who work for this government who do not want America to get well, not until after Joe Biden is president.” Caputo also encouraged his followers to buy ammunition, predicting that Trump would win the 2020 election and that Biden would refuse to concede. “And when Donald Trump refuses to stand down at the inauguration, the shooting will begin,” he said. “The drills that you’ve seen are nothing. If you carry guns, buy ammunition, ladies and gentlemen, because it’s going to be hard to get.” The assistant secretary of public affairs at HHS also complained during the livestream that his “mental health has definitely failed.” Caputo later deleted his Twitter account after he suggested tear-gassing reporters. (New York Times / Axios / Bloomberg / The Hill / Talking Points Memo)
3/ In August, Trump told Bob Woodward “nothing more could have been done” about the coronavirus as the U.S. death toll from COVID-19 was surging. Woodward said Trump “possessed the specific knowledge that could have saved lives” in January, and that he was present “before the virus was on anyone’s radar” when National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien told Trump on Jan. 28, that “This virus will be the biggest national security threat you face in your presidency.” Trump, however, declined to share that information during his State of the Union address on Feb. 4, which 40 million people watched. Trump also privately told Woodward in February that he knew how deadly the virus was and in March he admitted that he was intentionally playing it down. (CBS News / CNN / NBC News / Axios)
4/ Trump held an indoor campaign rally in Nevada, in defiance of state regulations and his own administration’s pandemic health guidelines. Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak accused Trump of “reckless and selfish actions” and called the rally “an insult to every Nevadan who has followed the directives, made sacrifices, and put their neighbors before themselves.” During the event, Trump told the crowd that the U.S. was “making the last turn” when it comes to defeating the coronavirus. While masks were encouraged at the event, few people wore them. Later, Trump said he was not afraid of catching the coronavirus at his rallies, because “I’m on stage and it’s very far away.” (Associated Press / New York Times / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / CNN)
Coronavirus cases are increasing in 11 states by 5% or more, based on weekly averages. Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, and Wyoming are all seeing rising case counts. While cases in those 11 states are increasing, the overall daily average of new cases in the U.S. is declining. Over the past seven days, the country has reported an average of about 34,300 new cases per day, down more than 15% compared to a week ago. (CNBC)
Pence canceled plans to attend a fundraiser hosted by QAnon conspiracy theory supporters. Trump’s re-election campaign did not provide a reason or say whether the fundraiser might be held at a later time. (NBC News)
Trump’s ambassador to China will resign ahead of November’s presidential election. Pompeo announced on Twitter that Terry Branstad would be leaving the post after three years, but didn’t provide a reason for the departure. (NBC News)
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo relaunched his extravagant, taxpayer-funded “Madison Dinners” during the coronavirus pandemic. The dinners had been on pause since March because of the coronavirus, but they’re back, with a dinner scheduled for Monday and at least three others on the calendar in September and October. (NBC News / Kansas City Star)
5/ A federal judge temporarily blocked the U.S. Postal Service from sending a notice about the November elections to Colorado residents because the mailer “provides patently false information” about the state’s election policies. U.S. District Judge William Martinez granted an emergency request from Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold to halt the mailings because the pre-election mailers incorrectly advise voters to request a ballot at least 15 days before Election Day and to return the official ballot at least seven days before. The state already automatically mails ballots to voters. The judge said he was “deeply troubled” by the “false or misleading information” in the notices. USPS, however, asked the judge to reconsider the ruling, claiming the notices were accurate because they direct voters to check state rules. (CNN / Washington Post / Denver Post / Bloomberg)
Louis DeJoy gave Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee more than $600,000 after the U.S. Postmaster General job became available. DeJoy now holds the position. (Bloomberg)
Trump – again – suggested that North Carolinians illegally vote twice. Twitter labeled the tweet with a public interest notice because it violated the social media platform’s “Civic Integrity Policy.” (ABC News)
6/ Trump claimed – without evidence – that climate change has nothing to do with the wildfires in California, Oregon, and Washington. Trump also suggested that the record-breaking temperatures in California would cool down on their own after California’s secretary for natural resources urged him to not “put our head in the sand” and ignore climate change. Trump replied: “It’ll start getting cooler. You just watch.” Trump, with a laugh, added: “I don’t think science knows, actually.” Trump largely blamed the wildfires on poor forest management practices and claimed that an unnamed European leader told him his country has “‘trees that are far more explosive than they have in California, and we don’t have any problem.’” (CNN / CNBC / Bloomberg / New York Times)
NOAA hired a longtime climate science denier as deputy assistant secretary of commerce for observation and prediction. David Legates will reports to Neil Jacobs, the acting head of the agency that is in charge of the federal government’s sprawling weather and climate prediction work. (NPR)
7/ The Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General is investigating the circumstances of Roger Stone’s sentencing recommendations. The investigation is focused on events in February, when Trump’s Justice Department overruled its own prosecutors and reduced Stone’s sentencing recommendation. All four prosecutors quit the case as a result. (NBC News)
8/ Trump claimed that he received “the highly honored Bay of Pigs award,” which doesn’t exist. The Bay of Pigs was a failed attempt by the CIA and Cuban exiles to instigate the overthrow of Fidel Castro. In a tweet attacking Biden, Trump said Biden “spent 47 years in politics being terrible to Hispanics” and is now “relying on Castro lover Bernie Sanders to help him out.” He added: “Remember, Miami Cubans gave me the highly honored Bay of Pigs Award for all I have done for our great Cuban Population!” Trump did receive an endorsement in 2016 from the Bay of Pigs Veterans Association, but that is not an award. (The Guardian / The Independent)
🗳 How To Vote In The 2020 Election In Every State. Everything you need to know about mail-in and early in-person voting in every state in the age of COVID-19, including the first day you can cast your ballot in the 2020 election. (FiveThirtyEight / Washington Post / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
1/ Trump claimed that the U.S. is “rounding the corner” on the coronavirus pandemic, predicting that “Next year will be the greatest economic year in the history our country, I project.” The U.S., however, continues to see about 36,000 new cases a day, about 850 new deaths, on average, every day, a 8.4% unemployment rate, and about half of the jobs lost during the pandemic have been recovered. Dr. Anthony Fauci, meanwhile, called the current COVID-19 data “disturbing,” and that the U.S. might not return to pre-coronavirus life until the end of 2021. Fauci added that the U.S. will be in a “more precarious situation” in the fall and winter if current case rate continues. (NBC News / CNN / CNBC / NBC News / CNN / The Guardian)
2/ Trump insisted that “everyone knew” the coronavirus was airborne in February, saying “When I say it was airborne, everybody knew it was airborne. This was no big thing. Read the reports. China came out with a statement that it was an airborne disease. I heard it was an airborne disease. I assumed it early on.” It wasn’t until March, however, that the World Health Organization acknowledged that the virus could be spread through airborne particles. (CNN / CNBC)
Trump held six indoor rallies after admitted to Bob Woodward on Feb. 7 that he knew the coronavirus “goes through air” and is more deadly than “even your strenuous flus.” In the interview, Trump told Woodward, “It goes through air, Bob,” adding, “you just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed.” Yet Trump participated in rallies in New Hampshire on February 10, Arizona on February 19, Colorado on February 20, Nevada on February 21, South Carolina on February 28, and North Carolina on March 2. No social distancing measures were implemented for those rallies. (CBS News)
Trump falsely claimed at a rally in Michigan that he had revitalized the auto manufacturing industry in the state. However, the industry had lost jobs before the coronavirus pandemic hit the state in March. “We brought you a lot of car plants, we brought you a lot … and we’re going to bring you a lot more,” Trump told the crowd. Only one new major assembly facility — a Jeep plant on Detroit’s east side — has been announced during Trump’s term, and two General Motors plants in Michigan were idled by the company last year. Trump also said that after speaking with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, officials announced “five new car companies are coming to Michigan,” but no such announcement has been made. More than 5,000 Michiganders attended the rally at an aircraft hanger in Freeland, MI, most of whom were not wearing masks. The director of the National Institutes of Health, meanwhile, said he was “pretty puzzled” and “rather disheartened” by Trump’s crowded campaign rally in Michigan. (Detroit Free Press / Common Dreams / Politico)
3/ A top prosecutor working on Attorney General William Barr’s probe of the Russia investigation resigned because of concerns about political pressure to deliver a report before the presidential election. In 2019, Barr appointed U.S. Attorney John Durham to investigate the FBI’s legal justification for the counterintelligence investigation that looked at ties between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russian efforts to meddle in the election. Nora Dannehy said she believed that Durham was pressured by Barr to produce results of their investigation before the work was completed. (Hartford Courant / CNN / Associated Press / Politico)
4/ A retired judge appointed to review the Justice Department’s effort to dismiss its prosecution of Michael Flynn said it seems like a “corrupt and politically motivated favor” done in response to pressure by Trump. In a court filing, John Gleeson said the department should not be allowed to drop the case because “the only coherent explanation for the Government’s exceedingly irregular motion […] is that the Justice Department has yielded to a pressure campaign led by the President for his political associate.” (Politico / Axios / CNBC / Reuters)
5/ In a reversal, a federal appeals court blocked hundreds of thousands of felons in Florida from registering to vote if they still owe fines and fees. In May, a lower court found that the law discriminated against the majority of felons by imposing an unlawful “pay-to-vote system.” (Washington Post / New York Times)
6/ A group of 14 states asked a federal judge to reverse service cuts and changes at the U.S. Postal Service. The states filed a motion asking a U.S. District Court in Washington to order USPS to treat election mail, including ballots and registration forms, as First Class mail and to ensure it’s delivered promptly. The states also asked the judge to end the “leave behind” policy, which requires that postal trucks leave at certain times, irrespective of whether or not there is additional mail to load. They also asked the judge to order USPS to replace or reinstall any removed sorting machines needed to ensure timely processing. (Washington Post)
The Trump campaign is considering holding a political event on White House grounds near Election Day. While Trump was criticized for using the venue as a political prop during the Republican National Convention, he was reportedly so happy with how things went that he wants to do it again. One option under consideration would be for Trump to hold a victory party with supporters on election night. Another option is a rally-style event at the White House on the night before the election. No final decision has been made and plans could still change, the people said. (NBC News)
7/ A federal judged rejected the Trump administration’s request to exclude undocumented immigrants from being counted in the U.S. Census. A three-judge panel in New York ruled that the move would violate the statute governing congressional apportionment because it runs afoul of a statute saying apportionment must be based on everyone who is a resident of the United States. The panel found that Trump’s July 21 memorandum was “an unlawful exercise of the authority granted to the President,” and that all residents must be counted for apportionment purposes regardless of their legal status. (Washington Post / Politico / NBC News)
8/ ICE agents flew immigrant detainees to Virginia in order to facilitate the deployment of Homeland Security tactical teams to quell protests in Washington. The June 2nd transfers were done to skirt rules that prevent ICE agents from traveling on the charter flights unless detainees are also aboard. After the transfer, dozens of detainees tested positive for the coronavirus, leading an outbreak of more than 300 inmates at the Farmville, Va., immigration jail. One died. (Washington Post)
9/ Secretary of State Mike Pompeo assigned official government work to a top advisers through his wife, who used a private email account to relay the requests. As a congressman, Pompeo was criticized Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email system while serving at the State Department. Pompeo is currently being investigated by the State Department inspector general’s office about the misuse of government resources. In May, Pompeo asked Trump to fire then-inspector general Steve Linick. (McClatchy DC)
10/ The Trump administration withheld nearly $4 million for a program that tracks and treats FDNY firefighters and medics suffering from 9/11 related illnesses. The payments were authorized by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, but Treasury Department started withholding parts of payments about four years ago. The payments are meant to cover medical services for firefighters, emergency medical technicians, and paramedics treated by the FDNY World Trade Center Health Program. (New York Daily News)
poll/ 62% of Americans fear that political pressure from Trump will cause the FDA to approve a coronavirus vaccine without making sure it’s safe and effective. (Washington Post)
🗳 How To Vote In The 2020 Election In Every State. Everything you need to know about mail-in and early in-person voting in every state in the age of COVID-19, including the first day you can cast your ballot in the 2020 election. (FiveThirtyEight / Washington Post / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
1/ Russia, China, and Iran have all recently attempted to hack people and organizations involved in the 2020 presidential election. An investigation by Microsoft’s cybersecurity experts concluded that it’s the same Russian military unit that oversaw the “hack and leak” campaign of Democratic emails during the 2016 presidential election. The report said the Russian group had targeted more than 200 organizations that “are directly or indirectly affiliated with the upcoming U.S. election.” Chinese hackers targeted Biden’s campaign and at least one person formerly associated with the Trump administration, while Iranian hackers tried to log into the accounts of Trump administration officials and Trump campaign staff. The findings come a day after a whistleblower claimed that the White House and the Department of Homeland Security had tried to “censor or manipulate” intelligence on Russia’s interference because it “made the president look bad,” and instructed government analysts to focus on interference by China and Iran. (CNN / Washington Post / New York Times / CNBC)
The U.S. Treasury sanctioned a member of the Ukrainian Parliament for alleged efforts to interfere in the U.S. presidential election, accusing him of being “an active Russian agent” involved in Moscow’s “covert influence campaign” to interfere in the 2020 U.S. election. Andrii Derkach, who met with Rudy Giuliani in December, had promoted “false and unsubstantiated” allegations about Biden “from at least late 2019 through mid-2020.” Derkach had also worked with Giuliani to dig up information on Biden, and his son Hunter. Three other Russian nationals who also sanctioned – Artem Lifshits, Anton Andreyev and Darya Aslanova – for their work at the Russian troll factory known as the Internet Research Agency. (Politico / Bloomberg / CNN / BuzzFeed News / CNBC / Axios)
2/ Russian hackers targeted one of Biden’s election campaign advisory firms. Microsoft recently alerted the campaign that over the past two months, the hackers targeted staff at the Washington-based campaign strategy and communications firm, SKDKnickerbocker, which has been working with Biden and other Democrats. The hackers failed to gain access to the firm’s networks. Meanwhile, a Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed the allegations as “nonsense.” It is unclear whether Biden’s campaign was the target or whether the hackers were attempting to gain access to information about other SKDK clients. (Reuters)
3/ Senate Republicans failed to advance their coronavirus stimulus bill – four months after House Democrats passed their $3 trillion plan. The $300 billion package would have reinstated enhanced federal unemployment insurance at $300 per week through Dec. 27 – half of the $600 weekly payment that expired at the end of July – established legal protections for businesses and health providers, added funding for testing and vaccines, and provided money for schools and child care. Democrats called the package inadequate and refused to accept any proposal less than $2.2 trillion, arguing that it did little to address the economic devastation of the pandemic. The package fell short of the 60 votes needed to move toward passage with all Democrats and one Republican opposed, leaving no clear path forward for economic relief before the November elections. (CNN / Washington Post / ABC News / CNBC / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / The Guardian)
COVID-19 has claimed over 900,000 live globally, with the United States accounting for more than a fifth of the fatalities. (NBC News)
The algorithm used by the Department of Health and Human Services to allocate pandemic relief money to hospitals discriminates against predominantly Black communities. (Bloomberg)
People who tested positive for COVID-19 were more than twice as likely to report eating or drinking at a bar or restaurant in the past two weeks. (NBC News)
4/ Unemployment claims remained unchanged at 884,000 people last week. Continuing claims, meanwhile, increased to 13.385 million. Overall about 29.6 million people are receiving some form of assistance from state and federal programs. The unemployment rate, meanwhile, has fallen to 8.4%. [Editor’s note: The Labor Department changed how it seasonally adjusts and reports the numbers, so the past two weeks’ totals are not directly comparable to reports from earlier in the pandemic.] (Bloomberg / CNBC / Wall Street Journal / New York Times)
5/ The Justice Department charged 57 people with stealing more than $175 million from the Paycheck Protection Program meant to help small businesses during the coronavirus pandemic. Federal law enforcement authorities have reportedly identified nearly 500 individuals suspected of committing coronavirus-related loan fraud and have opened “several hundred” investigations. (CNBC / Politico / New York Times)
Congressional Democrats accused a top Trump administration health official of “extensive abuse” of millions in taxpayer dollars to boost her “personal brand.” The leaders from four congressional committees are calling on Seema Verma to “personally reimburse the taxpayers for these inappropriate expenditures.” (Politico / CNBC)
6/ Trump bragged that he protected Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman from Congress after ordering the assassination of the American journalist Jamal Khashoggi. “Yeah, but Iran is killing 36 people a day, so —” Trump told Bob Woodward for his upcoming book, “Rage,” before Woodward redirected the conversation. “I saved his ass,” Trump reportedly said. “I was able to get Congress to leave him alone. I was able to get them to stop.” The CIA concluded that Prince Mohammed had personally ordered Khashoggi’s murder. Trump has used executive power to veto a bipartisan bill to end U.S. support for the Saudis in Yemen, as well as bypass congressional efforts to block an $8 billion arms sales to Saudi Arabia. (Business Insider)
7/ Trump called a reporter a “disgrace” after asking why the president lied to Americans about the severity of COVID-19. ABC News correspondent Jon Karl – referring to audio recordings from February of Trump saying COVID-19 was “deadly” while he was publicly minimizing the threat of the coronavirus – asked Trump during a news conference: “Why did you lie to the American people, and why should we trust what you have to say now?” Trump didn’t answer the question, but instead replied: “That’s a terrible question and the phraseology. I didn’t lie. What I said is we have to be calm. We can’t be panicked.” Trump insisted that he was a leader and it was his duty to have “confidence in our country” and not “instill panic” by “jump[ing] up and down and start shouting that we have a problem that is a tremendous problem.” But as one Trump campaign adviser said: “Hard to say fake news when there is audio of his comments.” (Politico / The Hill / New York Times / CNN / Axios)
[Woodward Book] Trump said he does not believe he has a responsibility to understand the “anger and pain” felt by Black Americans because of his privileged upbringing. (NBC News)
[Woodward Book] Trump claimed that North Korea’s Kim Jong Un told him how he had his own uncle killed, bragging that Kim “tells me everything.” (ABC News)
poll/ 46% of American households report facing serious financial pain during the coronavirus pandemic. 54% of those with household incomes under $100,000 reported serious financial problems, compared to 20% of households with incomes greater than $100,000. 35% say they have used up all or most of their savings, and 28% report serious problems paying off debt. (NPR)
poll/ 51% of voters in six 2020 swing states said Trump is mentally unfit to be president, while 49% said he is fit to hold the job. Similarly, 52% to 48%, also responded that Biden is mentally unfit to be president. (CNBC)
poll/ 61% of voters would prefer to vote before Election Day, compared to 39% who would prefer to vote on Election Day. 46% of voters said they are uncomfortable going to a polling place. (Washington Post)
⚡️ Notables.
Trump unveiled a revised list of 20 potential Supreme Court justices that includes Sens. Tom Cotton and Ted Cruz. Trump’s top aides and advisors have encouraged him for months to release an updated list of justices ahead of Election Day as a way to remind his base what’s at stake on November 3. Cotton said he was “honored” to be selected for the list and that he believes “the Supreme Court could use some more justices who understand the difference between applying the law and making the law.” Cruz said in a statement that he is “grateful for the president’s confidence in me and for his leadership in nominating principled constitutionalists to the federal bench.” The list’s release was originally slated to take place prior to the Republican National Convention. (Axios / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
A federal judge rejected Trump’s bid to dismiss a lawsuit alleging that Trump’s inaugural committee and the Trump Organization misused nonprofit funds to enrich Trump’s businesses. The suit was brought by D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine in January and claims that Trump’s inaugural committee was aware that it was being overcharged for services at Trump’s D.C. hotel in 2017 and still spent over $1 million at the hotel. Some of the money was spent on a private party for Trump’s three older children. Part of the inaugural committee’s argument is that Racine’s office failed to show a violation of the Nonprofit Act and that the committee is not “continuing to act” in violation of the law. D.C. Superior Court Judge José López rejected that argument and allowed the suit to move forward. (NBC News)
Trump’s reelection campaign asked a federal judge in Las Vegas to block a Nevada law and prevent mail-in ballots from being sent to all active voters in the state. Lawyers for the campaign argues that sending ballots to nearly 1.7 million active voters will hurt Republicans and “‘confuse’ their voters and ‘create incentive’ to stay away from the polls.” The campaign also argued that it forces Republicans to divert resources to “educating Nevada voters on those changes and encouraging them to still vote.” (ABC News)
🗳 How To Vote In The 2020 Election In Every State. Everything you need to know about mail-in and early in-person voting in every state in the age of COVID-19, including the first day you can cast your ballot in the 2020 election. (FiveThirtyEight / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
1/ Top Trump appointees at the Department of Homeland Security repeatedly tried to “censor or manipulate” reports on Russia’s interference in the U.S. elections because it “made the President look bad.” According to a whistleblower report filed by former senior DHS official Brian Murphy and released by the House Intelligence Committee, Murphy said that on at least two occasions Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf “instructed” him that an “intelligence notification” about Russian disinformation efforts should be “held” and that he should “instead start reporting on interference activities by China and Iran.” Murphy also said that Acting Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Ken Cuccinelli directed senior career officials at DHS to change intelligence assessments to make the threat of white supremacy “appear less severe” and include information on “left-wing” groups. Murphy was removed from his position at DHS and assigned to a management role in July. (Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / ABC News / Politico)
2/ Trump privately admitted weeks before the first confirmed U.S. COVID-19 death that he knew the coronavirus “is deadly stuff […] more deadly” than the flu, but he “wanted to always play it down” because “I don’t want to create a panic.” In a series of recorded interviews with journalist Bob Woodward in early February and March, Trump acknowledged the “deadly” nature of the coronavirus, saying it’s “pretty amazing” that “you just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed,” while publicly insisting that the virus was “going to disappear” and that “everything is working out.” More than 189,000 Americans have died of COVID-19. In total, Woodward conducted 18 on-the-record interviews with Trump between last December and July for his new book, “Rage.” Biden, meanwhile, slammed Trump, saying “he knew how deadly it was,” “purposely played it down,” and “knowingly and willingly lied about the threat it posed to the country for months.” (Washington Post / CNN / NPR / NBC News / Politico / Politico / New York Times / New York Times / Axios)
3/ Dr. Anthony Fauci said it’s “unlikely” a coronavirus vaccine will be ready before the November election but that a vaccine by “the end of the year” is more likely. Trump, however, claimed that a vaccine could be ready by Election Day, telling reporters “maybe even before November 1st. We think we can probably have it some time during the month of October.” Despite Trump’s pressure on health officials to speed up the vaccine timeline, nine drug companies pledged not to seek regulatory approval before the safety and efficacy of their experimental coronavirus vaccines have been established in Phase 3 clinical trials. The FDA also previously said it would authorize a coronavirus vaccine so long as it is safe and at least 50% effective, but commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn recently said the agency is prepared to bypass the full federal approval process in order to make a vaccine available as soon as possible. Trump, however, claimed that the “results that are shockingly good,” despite results from the trials, which typically take years to complete, not expected until October. Results will also be reviewed by the Data and Safety Monitoring Board, an independent group of medical experts who observe patient safety and treatment data. Meanwhile, clinical trials for the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford has been put on hold due to “potentially unexplained illness.” (CNBC / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Washington Post / STAT / NBC News / USA Today)
The U.S. Agency for International Development will shut down its coronavirus task force. (Politico)
The White House ordered airports to end COVID-19 screening of passengers on inbound international flights. (Yahoo News)
More police officers have died from COVID-19 this year than have been killed on patrol. At least 101 officers have died from Covid-19, while at least 82 have died by other means. (CNN)
4/ A top aide at the Department of Health and Human Services is trying to prevent Dr. Anthony Fauci from speaking about the risks that coronavirus poses to children. Emails show Paul Alexander — a senior adviser to Michael Caputo, HHS’s assistant secretary for public affairs — attempting to dictate what the government’s top infectious disease expert should say during media interviews as recently as this week. Alexander specifically told Fauci’s press team that he should not promote mask-wearing by children. Fauci, however, said he had not seen the emails and that his staff had not instructed him to minimize the risk coronavirus poses to children or the need for kids to wear masks, saying “No one tells me what I can say and cannot say. I speak on scientific evidence.” (Politico)
5/ Trump claimed that he’s “taking the high road” by not meeting with top Democrats to discuss the next coronavirus relief package. House Democrats and the White House have made no progress on a potential deal as tens of millions of Americans remain on unemployment and the U.S. death toll approaches 190,000. “I don’t need to meet with them to be turned down,” Trump told reporters. “They don’t want to make a deal because they think if the country does as badly as possible […] that’s good for the Democrats.” He added: “I am taking the high road. I’m taking the high road by not seeing them.” The Senate, meanwhile, returned from its August recess with no indication of progress on a relief package, making a bipartisan compromise before the election unlikely. (Axios / Politico)
6/ The Justice Department will represent Trump in a defamation suit brought by columnist E. Jean Carroll, who accused Trump of raping her in a Manhattan department store in the 1990s. The DOJ – an independent federal law enforcement agency – argued that the Justice Department can replace Trump’s private legal team with government lawyers – who are funded by taxpayer money – because Trump was acting in his official capacity as president when he denied ever knowing Carroll. For now, the case will move from the state court in New York to the U.S. District Court in Manhattan. Last month, a New York judge ruled that the lawsuit could proceed, potentially opening the door to Trump being deposed. Carroll is also seeking a DNA sample to compare to a dress she claims she was wearing at the time of the alleged attack. Attorney General William Barr, meanwhile, defended the Justice Department’s involvement in the lawsuit, saying it is “not particularly unusual” for the DOJ to step in when an elected government official is sued civilly in court. (New York Times / CNN / NBC News / Bloomberg / Washington Post / NBC News)
📌 Day 1019: E. Jean Carroll filed a defamation lawsuit against Trump, saying he lied when he denied her claims that he had raped her in the dressing room of an upscale department store in the 1990s. After the writer and advice columnist came forward with the allegation in June, Trump denied raping Carroll, said he had “never met that person in my life,” and accused her of “totally lying” because she was “not my type.” (New York Times / Politico / CNN / BuzzFeed News)
7/ Postmaster General Louis DeJoy pressured employees at his former company to make donations to Republican candidates and then reimbursed them through bonuses. While it’s legal to encourage employees to make donations, federal campaign finance law bars reimbursing them for those contributions, known as a straw-donor scheme used to skirt contribution limits. According to employees familiar with New Breed Logistics’ financial and payroll systems, DeJoy pressured employees to write checks and attend fundraisers for Republicans at his mansion beside a country club in North Carolina. DeJoy would then instruct payroll employees to give bonus payments to those staffers to help defray the cost of their contributions. (Washington Post / New York Times)
The House Oversight and Reform Committee will investigate allegations that Postmaster General Louis DeJoy asked employees to donate to political candidates and then reimbursed them through bonuses. Committee chair Carolyn Maloney said that DeJoy may have lied to the panel under oath and urged the Board of Governors of the U.S. Postal Service to immediately suspend DeJoy, whom she said “they never should have hired in the first place.” Trump, meanwhile, said he’s open to an investigation of DeJoy’s fundraising, saying his postmaster general, should lose his job “if something can be proven that he did something wrong.” (Washington Post / NPR / New York Times)
The chairman of the USPS Board of Governors is also a director of Mitch McConnell’s $130 million super PAC. (HuffPost)
8/ White House officials talked to Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie about taking over the Pentagon if Trump decides to fire Defense Secretary Mark Esper. Trump and Esper have repeatedly clashed over a variety of issues both publicly and privately in the last several months. Two senior administration officials said Trump discussed the position directly with Wilkie at the White House last month, and two other senior administration officials said Wilkie had senior-level discussions with the White House about becoming Trump’s next defense secretary. The conversations included the possibility of naming Wilkie acting defense secretary if Trump fires Esper. Another official, however, said there are currently “no plans to replace Secretary Esper.” (NBC News)
Trump accused the U.S. military of waging wars to boost the profits of defense manufacturing companies. “I’m not saying the military’s in love with me – the soldiers are, the top people in the Pentagon probably aren’t because they want to do nothing but fight wars so that all of those wonderful companies that make the bombs and make the planes and make everything else stay happy,” Trump told reporters. The remarks come after it was reported that Trump disparaged American troops as “suckers” and “losers” for dying in battle. (CNN / Politico / New York Times)
The Trump administration tax cut for military service members must be repaid in 2021. Effective this month, the Defense Department will temporarily defer the 6.2% Social Security tax withholding for all DOD service members who make less than $8,666.66 per month in basic pay. (NBC News)
More than 2,000 U.S. troops will be withdrawn from Iraq this month. (NBC News)
9/ Michael Cohen claimed that Trump is an authoritarian, racist sexual predator who “loved Putin.” According to his new book, “Disloyal: A Memoir,” Cohen alleges that Trump made “overt and covert attempts to get Russia to interfere in the 2016 election.” Cohen also alleges that Trump praised Putin because he assumed he would lose the election and wanted to make sure he could borrow money from Russian sources in the future. Cohen describes Trump as “a cheat, a liar, a fraud, a bully, a racist, a predator, a con man” who was also well aware of the hush-money payoff to Stormy Daniels during the campaign. The memoir also describes Trump’s “hatred and contempt” of Obama. After Obama’s inauguration, Trump hired a man to play a “Faux-Bama” for a video in which Trump “ritualistically belittled the first Black president and then fired him.” Cohen also ties Jerry Falwell Jr.’s 2016 presidential endorsement of Trump to Cohen’s role in keeping “a bunch of photographs, personal photographs” of the Falwells from becoming public. (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Reuters / NBC News / NBC News)
poll/ 77% of youth voters in 13 battleground states “definitely” plan to vote in the November elections – a 7-point increase since July. (The Hill)
✏️ Notables.
A federal judge ordered the Census Bureau to temporarily stop following a revised plan to finish the 2020 census at the end of September. The temporary restraining order stops the Census Bureau from winding down operations until a court hearing is held on Sept. 17 after a coalition of cities, counties and civil rights groups demanded that the bureau restore its previous plan for finishing the census at the end of October. (NBC News)
Three draft reports from the Department of Homeland Security all rank the threat from white supremacists as the deadliest domestic terror threat facing the U.S. – above the danger from foreign terrorist groups. (Politico)
The White House directed federal agencies to cancel racial sensitivity trainings, calling it “divisive” and “un-American.” In a two-page memo, Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought instructed federal agencies to identify contracts related to training sessions involving “white privilege” or “critical race theory,” and to do everything possible to cancel those contracts. The memo also tells all federal agencies to identify and cancel cancel contracts that involve teaching that America is an “inherently racist or evil country.” (Washington Post)
Trump instructed the Department of Education to investigate the use of the New York Times’ “1619 Project” in public school curriculum. The Pulitzer-Prize winning project aims to reframe American history “by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of [the United States’] national narrative.” Trump tweeted that the “Department of Education is looking at this. If so, they will not be funded!” (CNN)
A Norwegian lawmaker nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in the Middle East. Christian Tybring-Gjedde was one of two Norwegian lawmakers who nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018 for efforts to bring reconciliation between North and South Korea. (Associated Press / Vox)
Pence will attend a fundraiser next week hosted by supporters of the QAnon conspiracy theory. The baseless conspiracy theory posits that Trump is waging a campaign against enemies in the “deep state” and a child sex trafficking ring run by satanic pedophiles and cannibals. (Associated Press)
🗳 How To Vote In The 2020 Election In Every State. Everything you need to know about mail-in and early in-person voting in every state in the age of COVID-19, including the first day you can cast your ballot in the 2020 election. (FiveThirtyEight / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
1/ Trump disparaged members of the U.S. military who had been captured or killed as “losers” and “suckers.” In 2018, Trump canceled a visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris, telling senior staff members: “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.” He publicly blamed the rain for the decision, saying “the helicopter couldn’t fly” and that the Secret Service wouldn’t drive him – neither claim is true. Trump reportedly was also concerned about his hair in the rain. During the same trip, Trump referred to the more than 1,800 marines who lost their lives at Belleau Wood as “suckers” for getting killed. When John McCain died in August 2018, Trump told senior staff “We’re not going to support that loser’s funeral.” Trump was also reportedly furious that flags were lowered to half-staff, saying: “What the fuck are we doing that for? Guy was a fucking loser.” Trump was not invited to McCain’s funeral. And, on Memorial Day 2017, Trump and John Kelly visited the Arlington Cemetery gravesite of Kelly’s son, Robert, who was killed in 2010 in Afghanistan. While standing by Robert’s grave, Trump turned to John and said: “I don’t get it. What was in it for them?” The White House, meanwhile, called the report “patently false.” (The Atlantic / Associated Press / Washington Post)
[2015] Trump called John McCain a “loser,” saying the decorated Vietnam War veteran was “not a war hero, He’s a war hero because he was captured.” Trump then added: “I like people that weren’t captured.” (Washington Post / YouTube)
📌 Day 663: Trump blamed the Secret Service for his canceled visit to a World War I cemetery in France, claiming that he suggested driving after it was deemed unsafe to take a helicopter. “By the way,” Trump tweeted, “when the helicopter couldn’t fly to the first cemetery in France because of almost zero visibility, I suggested driving. Secret Service said NO.” (ABC News / USA Today)
📌 Day 473: John McCain told friends that he does not want Trump to attend his funeral and would like Mike Pence to come instead. During the 2016 presidential primary, Trump said McCain was considered a war hero only “because he was captured” during the Vietnam War and that he prefers military figures weren’t taken prisoner by the enemy. (New York Times / NBC News)
2/ Trump disputed reports that he called dead American service members “losers” and “suckers,” calling it “a disgraceful situation” by a “terrible magazine.” Trump suggested that the Atlantic had “made it up,” using “a couple of people that have been failures in the administration.” The White House also denied the Atlantic report, which was independently verified by both the Associated Press and the Washington Post. “If people really exist that would have said that, they’re lowlifes and they’re liars,” Trump said. “And I would be willing to swear on anything that I never said that about our fallen heroes. There is nobody that respects them more.” He added, “What animal would say such a thing?” Later, Trump tweeted that the report “is more made up Fake News given by disgusting & jealous failures in a disgraceful attempt to influence the 2020 Election!” Former National Security Adviser John Bolton, meanwhile, called Trump’s alleged remarks disparaging soldiers who died in combat “despicable.”
(New York Times / Associated Press / NBC News / Politico / BuzzFeed News / Bloomberg)
The Pentagon ordered the military’s independent newspaper to cease publication at the end of the month and dissolve the organization by the end of January. (Politico)
3/ The World Health Organization does not expect widespread COVID-19 vaccinations until mid-2021. Trump’s vaccine chief added that it is “extremely unlikely” that a vaccine could be available before the election. Trump, meanwhile, suggested that a vaccine “will be delivered before the end of the year, in my opinion, before the end of the year, but it really might even be delivered before the end of October.” (Reuters / New York Times / NPR / CNN)
4/ Trump mocked Biden for wearing a face mask and observing social distancing measures. The U.S., meanwhile, continues to lead the world in coronavirus cases under Trump’s direction, with more than 6 million infections and 187,000 deaths. (CNN / Politico)
Trump’s campaign is running Facebook ads with a manipulated photo of Biden, edited to make him appear older. (HuffPost)
poll/ 55% of Americans think Trump’s rhetoric on protests over racial injustice is making matters worse, while 13% think he is making it better. 29% believe what Trump has said on the topic has had no effect. (ABC News)
🗳 How To Vote In The 2020 Election In Every State. Everything you need to know about mail-in and early in-person voting in every state in the age of COVID-19, including the first day you can cast your ballot in the 2020 election. (FiveThirtyEight / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
1/ Another 881,000 people applied for state unemployment benefits last week. In total, the number of continuing claims is about 13.3 million with roughly 29 million people receiving some form of unemployment assistance as of mid-August. (Wall Street Journal / NPR / CNBC / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / The Guardian)
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the Senate Republicans’ new coronavirus relief proposal “emaciated,” saying it lacked relief money for housing assistance, food stamps, and enhanced unemployment aid. Schumer also accused Mitch McConnell of “planning another round of partisan games” and said Republicans are “moving even further in the wrong direction.” (Washington Post / Politico / CNN)
[Last Month] Trump’s executive actions aimed at bypassing stalled negotiations with Congress only has one state paying new jobless benefits, with few evictions paused. (Washington Post)
[Last Month] Two states are paying out the $300 supplemental $300 jobless benefit. “Part of the reason for the slow start is that implementing the new program falls on overwhelmed state unemployment offices that have already struggled to process applications and deliver benefits during the pandemic. Another complication is that the program’s funding is coming from disaster money at the Federal Emergency Management Agency.” (Bloomberg)
[Last Month] Grocery shoppers cut back on spending after the $600 in weekly additional unemployment checks expired in July. (Wall Street Journal)
2/ The Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee sued Montana in an attempt to block an expansion of mail-in voting in the state. Last month, Gov. Steve Bullock issued a directive allowing counties to expand voting by mail and early voting “at their local discretion,” including mailing ballots to qualified voters. The lawsuit alleges that Bullock’s order is unconstitutional because the “directive creates a patchwork election code with no uniform procedures across the state.” Montana, however, already allows voters to request and submit absentee ballots. The Trump campaign also sued New Jersey and Nevada last month for planning to send mail-in ballots to all state voters. Bullock said in a statement that mail-in voting in Montana is “safe, secure, and was requested by a bipartisan coalition of Montana election officials seeking to reduce the risk of COVID-19 and keep Montanans safe and healthy.” (CNN / Axios)
Georgia likely removed nearly 200,000 people from the voter rolls in error after concluding that they had moved and not changed the address on their voter registration. The ACLU of Georgia reviewed 313,243 names that were removed from the state’s voter rolls in late 2019 and found that 63.3% of voters had not moved and were purged in error. (CNN)
A Baltimore mail facility allowed 68,000 pieces of political mail to sit untouched for five days ahead of the June 2 primary. According to an audit of the U.S. Postal Service’s performance during the primary election season, the delayed pieces were not ballots. (Baltimore Sun)
The U.S. Postal Service paid Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s former company about $286 million since 2013. DeJoy still holds at least a $30 million stake in the company. (New York Times)
[Analysis] The Trump Administration Continues to Erode Election Security. “The DHS, the DOJ, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence have all had recent controversies that bode poorly for electoral integrity.” (Wired)
3/ Trump encouraged North Carolina residents to illegally vote twice — once by mail and once in person — to test if “their system’s as good as they say it is.” Voting twice in the same election is illegal and in North Carolina it is a Class I felony. When asked whether he had confidence in the mail-in voting system, Trump suggested to “let them send it in and let them go vote, and if their system’s as good as they say it is, then obviously they won’t be able to vote. […] that’s what they should do.” Trump later tried to clarify his remarks, tweeting that “In order for you to MAKE SURE YOUR VOTE COUNTS & IS COUNTED,” people should “go to your Polling Place to see whether or not your Mail In Vote has been Tabulated (Counted). If it has you will not be able to Vote & the Mail In System worked properly. If it has not been Counted, VOTE (which is a citizen’s right to do).” Twitter added a “public interest notice” to Trump’s tweets that they “violated the Twitter Rules about civic and election integrity.” Attorney General William Barr, meanwhile, defended Trump’s statement, suggesting that he “was trying to make the point that the ability to monitor this system is not good.” When told that voting twice is illegal, Barr replied: “I don’t know what the law in the particular state says.” Barr then added that he’s not sure if it is illegal to vote twice in any state before baselessly claiming that state and local officials are “playing with fire” if they rely on mail-in ballots in the November election. (NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post / USA Today / The Guardian / ABC News / Axios / CNBC / Politico / New York Times / CNN / Bloomberg / The Week)
Among registered voters in North Carolina, Trump trails Biden 45% to 47%. The last three presidential elections were decided by fewer than four percentage points in North Carolina. (Monmouth University / The Hill)
4/ A Homeland Security intelligence bulletin warned that Russia is trying to undermine the integrity of the election by “amplifying” false claims that mail-in voting will result in widespread fraud. Analysts issued the warning to federal and state law enforcement after finding with “high confidence” that “Russian malign influence actors” have targeted the absentee voting process “by spreading disinformation” since at least March. “We assess that Russia is likely to continue amplifying criticisms of vote-by-mail and shifting voting processes amidst the COVID-19 pandemic to undermine public trust in the electoral process,” the bulletin reads. Separately, DHS officials withheld a July bulletin that warned of a Russian campaign to spread misinformation about Biden’s mental health. (ABC News / CNN)
5/ Democratic senators called on the Trump administration to impose sanctions on Russia for seeking to interfere in the 2020 U.S. election. In a letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, 11 senators cited the nation’s top counterintelligence official publicly stating that Russia is using several measures “to denigrate former Vice President [Joe] Biden” and other Democrats in advance of the election. While the Treasury Department declined to comment, Attorney General William Barr claimed that he viewed China as more of a threat than Russia. “I’ve seen intelligence. That’s what I’ve concluded,” he said, with no elaboration. (Politico / Washington Post)
6/ Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar rejected concerns that the Trump administration is rushing the approval of a coronavirus vaccine before Election Day. Three vaccine candidates have entered Phase 3 clinical trials, which take months to complete, and results are not expected until late October at the earliest. The CDC, however, recently directed states to prepare to begin vaccine distribution by Nov. 1 – two days before the election. When pressed about how the CDC selected its target date, Azar denied that the decision was politically motivated, saying “It has nothing to do with elections. This has to do with delivering safe, effective vaccines to the American people as quickly as possible and saving lives.” FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn recently apologized for overstating the benefits of treating COVID-19 patients with convalescent plasma, which his agency approved an emergency use authorization for after coming under attack from Trump. (Politico / CBS News)
[Rumor mill] FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn and HHS Secretary Alex Azar are locked in a “tit for tat” dispute over COVID-19 messaging. “Azar was furious when Hahn openly backtracked on claims about plasma’s effectiveness, at a time when President Donald Trump was preparing to tout the treatment at the Republican National Convention.” (Politico)
7/ Trump ordered officials to find ways to cut federal funding to cities that the Trump administration has deemed “lawless.” In a five-page memo, Trump directed the White House Office of Management and Budget to withdraw federal funds for any “anarchist jurisdiction” that “disempowers or defunds police departments.” The memo also directs Attorney General William Barr to publicly post a list of jurisdictions that have “permitted violence and the destruction of property” within the next 14 days. The memo specifically mentions Portland, Seattle, New York, and Washington, D.C. (New York Post / New York Times / The Guardian / Bloomberg / Politico / Washington Post / CNBC / Axios)
[Fox News] poll/ Biden is ahead in key states that Trump won in 2016. Biden leads Trump in Arizona (49-40%), North Carolina (50-46%), and in Wisconsin (50-42%). Trump, meanwhile, tweeted that Fox News should “get a new pollster” because the “Fake News Suppression Poll” is “Fake News.” (Fox News)
poll/ 52% of likely voters support Biden, while 42% support Trump. 50% of likely voters say having Trump as president makes them feel less safe, while 35% say it makes them feel more safe, and 14% say it doesn’t have any impact on how they feel. (Axios / Quinnipiac)
🗳 How To Vote In The 2020 Election In Every State. Everything you need to know about mail-in and early in-person voting in every state in the age of COVID-19, including the first day you can cast your ballot in the 2020 election. (FiveThirtyEight / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
1/ The CDC directed states to prepare to distribute a coronavirus vaccine to health care workers and high-risk groups as soon as late October or early November, heightening concerns that the Trump administration is seeking to rush a vaccine before Election Day. Public health officials in all states and territories, as well as New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Houston, and San Antonio, were sent CDC guidance outlining scenarios for distributing two vaccine candidates — each requiring two doses a few weeks apart — at hospitals, mobile clinics, and other facilities. And, in a letter to state governors and health departments last week, CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield asked state governors to waive permits for building vaccine distribution sites “that would prevent these facilities from becoming fully operational by November 1, 2020.” Dr. Anthony Fauci and FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn have both recently said that a vaccine could be available before clinical trials have been completed. “I believe that by the time we get to the end of this calendar year,” Fauci said, “we will feel comfortable that we do have a safe and effective vaccine.” Hahn added that an emergency authorization for a vaccine could be appropriate even before the vaccine has completed Phase 3 clinical trials. (New York Times / CNN / The Hill / NBC News / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Politico)
2/ The Trump administration backed out of a $646.7 million deal to buy ventilators after a congressional investigation found “evidence of fraud, waste and abuse” in the acquisition, which negotiated by White House trade advisor Peter Navarro. The House Committee on Oversight and Reform’s Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy has since opened a probe of all federal contracts negotiated by Navarro. (ProPublica / Washington Post / CNBC)
Congressional investigators uncovered more than $1 billion dollars in potential waste and fraud in the Paycheck Protection Program. The money went to companies that “double dipped” and received multiple in violation of the program’s rules, according to a preliminary analysis by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis. The report says there is a “high risk that PPP loans may have been diverted from small businesses truly in need to ineligible businesses or even to criminals.” The subcommittee found more than 10,000 loans in which the borrowers obtained more than one loan. Because the Trump administration decided to only audit loans for more than $2 million, only 65 of the loans would otherwise have been subject to additional review. More than 600 loans totaling nearly $100 million went to companies that are barred or suspended from doing business with the federal government. More than 350 loans worth roughly $200 million went to government contractors that had been flagged by the federal government for performance or integrity issues. More than 11,000 additional borrowers had other red flags of various types. (NBC News / Chicago Tribune)
3/ FEMA will no longer reimburse states for the cost of face masks and personal protective equipment in nonemergency settings. Under the new guidance, which goes into effect on Sept. 15., cloth face coverings and PPE for teachers, schools, public housing, and courthouses will no longer be eligible for the public assistance fund because they don’t meet FEMA’s definition of a “direct emergency protective measures.” The Department of Health and Human Services, however, said “schools in need will still receive cloth face masks” from HHS instead of FEMA. (NPR)
4/ The Department of Homeland Security withheld an intelligence bulletin warning of a Russian campaign to spread misinformation about Joe Biden’s mental health. In the draft July bulletin, titled “Russia Likely to Denigrate Health of US Candidates to Influence 2020 Election,” analysts said with “high confidence” that “Russian malign influence actors are likely to continue denigrating presidential candidates through allegations of poor mental or physical health to influence the outcome of the 2020 election.” An hour after its submission, however, DHS Chief of Staff John Gountanis intervened, saying “Please hold on sending this one out until you have a chance to speak to [acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf].” The Biden campaign, meanwhile, accused Trump of blocking the release of the report, saying the Russian narrative “aligns with Trump’s own constantly backfiring attacks” that Biden is not mentally competent to be president. “And why would he do this?” a spokesperson for the Biden campaign said, “Because Russia and the Trump campaign are speaking from the same script of smears and lies.” Nearly two months later, the bulletin has not been circulated to local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies. (ABC News / NBC News / CNN / CNBC / Axios)
5/ Melania Trump “regularly” used a private email account while in the White House. Stephanie Winston Wolkoff said she corresponded multiple times per day with Melania through a private Trump Organization email account, iMessage, and Signal, an encrypted messaging app. Trump made the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private emails and server a major part of his 2016 campaign, calling it “worse than Watergate.” (Washington Post / Associated Press / Axios)
poll/ 8% of Americans said crime was a top priority for the country, compared with 30% who said it was the economy or jobs, and 16% who said it was healthcare. (Reuters)
poll/ 52% of voters view the Black Lives Matter movement favorably – a 9 percentage point drop since June. (Politico)
poll/ 28% of Biden supporters say they won’t accept a Trump victory as fair and accurate, while 19% of Trump’s supporters say they won’t accept a Biden victory as legitimate. (USA Today)
poll/ 57% of Democratic voters plan to cast their ballots before Election Day, either through the mail (28%), a drop box (11%), or voting early at a satellite location (18%). 66% of Republicans, meanwhile, plan to vote in-person on Election Day. (Grinnell College)
poll/ 36% of Americans expect the winner of the 2020 presidential election to be announced on election night. 24% expect the results announced within one or two days of Election Day, 14% think we’ll know in a week, and 13% think it will take a few weeks. (Axios)
A Democratic data and analytics firm warned of a “red mirage” on election night, where it’ll appear that Trump has won, but lose days later when mail ballots are counted. (Axios)
Editor’s note: Friendly reminder that polls should be thought of as directional evidence of a prevailing feeling. They’re inherently flawed, biased, and should never be used for prediction. Like the weather report, polls are a point-in-time temperature check. We’ve all been caught out in the rain on sunny day, right?
✏️ Notables.
An internal Census Bureau document warned that cutting the 2020 census short increased the risk of “serious errors” in the national head count, which “may not be fixed.” Last month, the Trump administration forced the bureau to end all counting efforts a month sooner and prepare state population totals for Trump by the end of this year, as required by federal law. (NPR)
Trump and his campaign accused the Drudge Report and a CNN analyst of spreading rumors that Trump had a “series of mini-strokes.” Yesterday, despite no media outlets reporting that Trump had a stroke, Trump tweeted an unprompted denial, calling the non-existent reports “FAKE NEWS.” The Drudge Report had led with the headline: “TRUMP DENIES MINI-STROKE SENT HIM TO HOSPITAL.” The Trump campaign also called for CNN to fire Joe Lockhart, saying he, too, had spread the rumor when he asked on Twitter if Trump had “a stroke which he is hiding from the American public.” Pence, meanwhile, told Fox News that he does not “recall” being told to be on “standby” in the event Trump “had to undergo a procedure that would have required him to be anesthetized” during his his sudden visit to Walter Reed Medical Center last November. The White House has never explained Trump’s visit to Walter Reed, describing it only as a “routine, planned interim checkup.” (Politico / Axios / Talking Points Memo)
A Kenosha business owner accused Trump of using his burned camera shop for political gain. Tom Gram, the owner of a Rode’s Camera Shop, said he declined the White House’s request to be part of Trump’s tour of the damage. Instead, the former owner of the shop participated in the tour and praised Trump’s response to the demonstrations. (WTMJ-TV / The Hill)
A former top Department of Homeland Security official accused the Trump administration of “throwing fuel on the fire” of domestic extremism in the United States. Elizabeth Neumann, who resigned in April, said right-wing extremist groups “borrowed from ISIS’s playbook and they learned how to radicalize people online.” White House Communications Director Alyssa Farah, meanwhile, dismissed Neumann’s concerns as those of a “disgruntled employee.” (NPR)
Federal prosecutors are reportedly preparing to charge a longtime GOP fundraiser in connection with efforts to influence the U.S. government on behalf of foreign interests. “Elliott Broidy is under scrutiny for his alleged role in a campaign to persuade high-level Trump administration officials to drop an investigation of Malaysian government corruption, as well as for his attempt to push for the extradition of an outspoken Chinese dissident back to his home country.” (Washington Post)
Trump told Sarah Sanders to “go to North Korea and take one for the team” after Kim Jong-un appeared to wink at her during a summit in Singapore in June 2018. “We made direct eye contact and Kim nodded and appeared to wink at me,” the former White House press secretary wrote in her memoir. “I was stunned. I quickly looked down and continued taking notes.” When Sanders told Trump and John Kelly, then chief of staff, about the incident, Trump replied: “Kim Jong Un hit on you! He did! He fucking hit on you! […] That settles it. You’re going to North Korea and taking one for the team!” Sanders replied: “Sir, please stop.” (The Guardian)
The federal debt is expected to exceed the size of the economy in 2021 as a result of the pandemic recession – a level not reached since the aftermath of World War II. (Wall Street Journal / New York Times)
👑 Portrait of a president.
Trump’s interviews with friendly hosts can go awry even when they throw him a lifeline. “Trump’s ominous answer about anarchists and looters supposedly packing a commercial jet flying to Washington came in response to a fairly simple but unrelated question.” (Washington Post)
Trump says some really strange things. Republicans say no comment, again. Trump “said some startling things in an interview with Laura Ingraham on Fox News. To name a few: A plane ‘almost completely loaded with thugs’ wearing black uniforms had come to Washington last week to disrupt the Republican National Convention. The president’s opponent in the 2020 campaign, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., was being controlled by ‘people that you’ve never heard of, people that are in the dark shadows.’ Police officers like the one in Kenosha, Wis., who shot an unarmed Black man seven times last week — leaving him paralyzed from the waist down — have a hard time with pressure and so ‘they choke, just like in a golf tournament, they miss a three-foot.’” (New York Times)
🗳 How To Vote In The 2020 Election In Every State. Everything you need to know about mail-in and early in-person voting in every state in the age of COVID-19, including the first day you can cast your ballot in the 2020 election. (FiveThirtyEight / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
1/ Trump compared police officers who shoot unarmed people to golfers who “choke” while putting. While discussing the shooting of Jacob Blake, who was shot seven times in the back by an officer, with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham, Trump said sometimes an officer “makes a mistake” or “chokes” under pressure, “Just like in a golf tournament, they miss a three-foot putt.” Ingraham interjected and redirected Trump: “You’re not comparing it to golf, because of course that’s what the media would say.” Trump responded: “No, I’m saying people choke. People choke. And people are bad people. […] You have some bad people, and they choke. […] People choke under those circumstances, and they make a bad decision.” (Politico / The Guardian / USA Today / The Hill / Business Insider)
2/ Trump defended the Kenosha gunman charged with murdering two people and claimed that the 17-year-old acted in self-defense. Trump suggested that video he had seen showed Kyle Rittenhouse “trying to get away from them, I guess, it looks like” and that protesters “very violently attacked him. I guess he was in very big trouble.” Trump added: “He probably would have been killed.” Video of Rittenhouse at the protests showed him carrying an assault rifle and telling someone on the phone: “I just killed somebody.” Rittenhouse has been charged as an adult with two counts of first-degree homicide and one count of attempted homicide. (Reuters / Politico / CBS News / USA Today / NPR / CNN)
Trump visited Kenosha despite objections from Wisconsin’ governor and Kenosha’s mayor, where he blamed “anti-police and anti-American riots” for the property damaged during the civil unrest that followed the the shooting of Jacob Blake. “You have anarchists and you have the looters and you have the rioters. You have all types. You have agitators,” Trump said. (USA Today / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / New York Times)
3/ Trump spread a baseless conspiracy theory that “people that are in the dark shadows” are “controlling the streets” in Kenosha and other cities, and manipulating Biden’s campaign. When Fox News host Laura Ingraham asked “What does that mean,” saying the statement “sounds like conspiracy theory,” Trump claimed “We had somebody get on a plane from a certain city this weekend, and in the plane it was almost completely loaded with thugs, wearing these dark uniforms, black uniforms, with gear and this and that.” Trump declined to elaborate, but claimed the matter was “under investigation right now” because “a lot of the people were on the plane to do big damage.” Trump provided no evidence for his claims. (Washington Post / NBC News / CNN / New York Times / ABC News)
4/ Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf said Attorney General William Barr is “working on” conspiracy charges against leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement. During an interview with Tucker Carlson on Fox News, Wolf said charging antifascists and leaders of the BLM movement with conspiracy under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act statute is “something that I have talked to [Attorney General William Barr] personally about.” He added: “I know that they are working on it.” RICO is a federal law that focuses on acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization and was used to take down organized crime in the U.S. Wolf said Barr was “targeting and investigating the heads of those organizations” as well as those who are “paying for those individuals to move across the country.” (Daily Beast)
Trump called companies supporting the Black Lives Matter movement “weak” and that they’re led by “weak people.” Trump added that he considered the movement’s name “so discriminatory.” (Bloomberg)
5/ Trump denied that his unscheduled visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center last November was because he had “suffered a series of mini-strokes.” No media outlets have reported that Trump had a series of mini-strokes. Trump, however, tweeted that it “Never happened to THIS candidate – FAKE NEWS.” Hours later, Trump’s physician issued an official statement saying Trump has not had a stroke, mini-stroke or heart-related emergencies. (@realDonaldTrump / The Guardian / CNBC / Washington Post)
📌 Day 1033: Trump made an unscheduled visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to “begin portions of his routine annual physical exam” that included a “quick exam and labs,” according to the White House.
📌 Day 1219: Trump hasn’t completed his annual 2020 physical after claiming six months ago that he had started the process. The White House declined to explain why.
6/ Pence was put on “standby to take over the powers of the presidency temporarily” if Trump needed to be anesthetized during an unscheduled hospital visit last November. Trump’s visit did not follow the protocol of a routine presidential medical exam, and the White House has claimed that Trump had undergone a “quick exam and labs” as part of his annual physical out of anticipation of a “very busy 2020.”(CNN)
7/ A federal appeals court temporarily blocked the release of Trump’s tax returns to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. Oral arguments for Trump’s appeal were set for Sept. 25. Even if Cyrus Vance is allowed to enforce the subpoena for eight years of Trump’s financial records, grand jury secrecy laws would prevent the documents from becoming public. Trump, meanwhile, complained that “the deck was clearly stacked against” him, and said he would ask the Supreme Court to intervene if necessary. (Washington Post / Axios / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / Reuters)
poll/ 52% of Americans say they will vote early, of which 19% say they will vote early in person and 33% say they will vote by mail. 33% say they will vote in person on Election Day, while 11% say they might not vote at all. (NBC News)
✏️ Notables.
The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis investigation found that over $1 billion in emergency coronavirus aid relief went to companies who “double dipped” and received multiple Paycheck Protection Program loans. The Subcommittee found over 10,000 loans where the borrower obtained more than one loan, and over 600 loans for nearly $100 million went to companies that had been suspended from doing business with the federal government. (NBC News)
The National Institutes of Health said “there are insufficient data to recommend” the use of convalescent plasma for hospitalized coronavirus patients. The FDA granted emergency authorization for convalescent plasma one day before the Republican National Convention, where Trump referred to the therapy as having the potential to “save thousands of lives.” (Bloomberg / NIH)
The Trump administration will not join the global effort to develop, manufacture, and distribute a coronavirus vaccine because the World Health Organization is involved. More than 170 countries are participating in the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility to speed vaccine development, secure doses for all countries, and distribute them to high-risk populations. The White House not wanting to work with the WHO effectively eliminates the chance to secure doses from a pool of vaccine candidates. WHO officials, meanwhile, have said countries can pursue multiple strategies and sign bilateral deals directly with drugmakers while also joining COVAX. (Washington Post)
The Department of Health and Human Services is bidding out a $250 million contract to a consulting firm to “defeat despair and inspire hope” about the coronavirus pandemic. An internal HHS document outlines that the winning firm will need to “share best practices for businesses to operate in the new normal and instill confidence to return to work and restart the economy.” (Politico)
Twitter deleted a post spreading false information that attempted to minimize COVID-19 deaths. Trump had retweeted the post, made by a supporter of the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory, which suggested that the CDC had “quietly updated the Covid number to admit that only 6%” of reported deaths — or about 9,000 — actually died from COVID.” Dr. Anthony Fauci, meanwhile, debunked the theory promoted by Trump, saying that the “180,000-plus deaths are real deaths from COVID-19. Let (there) not be any confusion about that.” (Washington Post / CNN / CNBC)
Facebook took down 13 fake accounts and two pages associated with the Russian Internet Research Agency – the same group that interfered in the 2016 presidential election. The IRA had created a fake new site, called Peace Data, and recruited U.S. journalists to write articles targeting left-leaning readers on topics such as racial justice, the Biden-Harris campaign and Trump’s policies. Facebook took action after being warned by the FBI about the Russian effort. (NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post / CNN)
Attorney General William Barr issued new rules restricting the use of government surveillance on elected officials and political campaigns. FBI agents will now be required to get permission from the attorney general before submitting applications to FISA courts to surveil elected official, a political candidate, or any of their staff, official advisers or informal advisers. The new policies add to earlier restrictions imposed by Barr and FBI Director Chris Wray after the DOJ inspector general concluded that the FBI had misused the process for getting authority to eavesdrop on Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. Trump has repeatedly called the investigation into Russia’s efforts to help his 2016 campaign a “witch hunt.” (Bloomberg / Washington Post / Axios / NBC News)
Attorney General William Barr removed the head of a Justice Department office that ensures the legality of federal counter-terrorism and counterintelligence activities. Barr hasn’t explained the removal of deputy assistant attorney general Brad Wiegmann, who was in charge of the office of law and policy in the national security section of the justice department until he was reassigned two weeks ago. Wiegmann, a 23-year career public servant – not a political appointee – will be replaced by a cyber-crimes prosecutor and political appointee, who has very little relevant experience. Kellen Dwyer made headlines in November 2018 when he accidentally revealed that federal charges had been secretly filed against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. (ABC News / The Guardian)
The EPA relaxed rules meant to keep lead, selenium and arsenic, and other pollution out of rivers and streams. Scaling back how coal-fired power plants dispose of wastewater is meant to extend the life of aging plants by making them more competitive with cheaper natural gas and renewable energy. (New York Times)
💌 Send me a handwritten postcard or letter with advice for the future generation about wtf has happened over the last four years and what needs to be done.
Not sure where to start? Consider the Trump administration’s impact on climate change, healthcare, immigration, education, civil rights, or whatever, like this goddamn pandemic, and how it’s changed you, your relationships, and your outlook for the future.
Matt at WTF Just Happened Today?
505 Broadway E #211
Seattle, WA 98102 USA
🗳 How To Vote In The 2020 Election In Every State. Everything you need to know about mail-in and early in-person voting in every state in the age of COVID-19, including the first day you can cast your ballot in the 2020 election. (FiveThirtyEight / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~25,335,000; deaths: ~849,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~6,024,000; deaths: ~184,000
1/ The Director of National Intelligence will no longer give Congress in-person briefings about election security, citing concern over “unauthorized disclosures of sensitive information.” Instead, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence will provide the House and Senate Intelligence Committees with written updates. Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe framed the move as an attempt to “ensure clarity and consistency” in intelligence agencies’ interactions with Congress. The Department of Justice, Department of Defense, and Department of Homeland Security will continue briefing Congress. Trump, meanwhile, said Ratcliffe made the decision because he “got tired” of intelligence leaking from Congress “so, he wants to do it in a different form.” The Senate confirmed Ratcliffe in May in a 49-to-44 vote along party lines. He received more votes against his confirmation than any DNI in the 15-year history of the office.
(CNN / Politico / New York Times / ABC News / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press)
2/ Trump’s newest coronavirus task force member is urging the White House to embrace “herd immunity” as U.S. coronavirus case count topped 6 million. The controversial strategy would require lifting social distancing restrictions and allowing the coronavirus to spread through the population. The World Health Organization, meanwhile, urged countries to continue implementing safety measures to control the spread of the coronavirus, such as limiting public gatherings and protecting vulnerable groups as they try to reopen businesses and services, saying “No country can just pretend the pandemic is over.” Scott Atlas, who does not have a background in infectious diseases or epidemiology, joined the White House earlier this month as a pandemic adviser. He has advocated that the U.S. adopt Sweden’s model, which public health officials and infectious disease experts have called reckless. The U.S. has recorded more than 183,000 deaths from the virus. (Washington Post / Politico / NBC News / CNBC)
3/ FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn said he’d be willing to fast-track emergency use authorization for a coronavirus vaccine before phase 3 trials are over, but insisted he wouldn’t rush approval to please the Trump administration. “We have a convergence of the COVID-19 pandemic with the political season,” Hahn said, “and we’re just going to have to get through that and stick to our core principles.” Hahn’s comments come a week after he granted emergency authorization of convalescent plasma to treat COVID-19 patients. Hahn was immediately criticized for overstating its benefits and apologized a day later. That announcement came a day after Trump accused the FDA, without any evidence, of moving too slowly to hurt him politically. (Financial Times / CNBC / Axios / Bloomberg)
The White House privately alerted seven states in June that their coronavirus cases had put them in the “red zone” of highest virus spread, according to eight weeks of previously confidential reports released by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis. The risk assessments came at the same time Trump was insisting that his pandemic response was working and Pence had written an op-ed dismissing fears of a “second wave” of the virus as “overblown.” By late June, 10 states were in the red zone, by mid-July, 19 states were in the red zone, and by early August, the task force document listed 23 states in the red zone. Trump, meanwhile, Trump falsely claimed that large portions of the U.S. are “corona-free.” (Politico)
4/ The Justice Department never fully investigated Trump’s relationship with Russia and secretly narrowed the investigation into Russian election interference. When then-deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein appointed Robert Mueller as special counsel in May 2017, he instructed Mueller to only conduct a criminal investigation of possible coordination between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin, which curtailed an FBI counterintelligence probe into Trump’s ties to Russia. Rosenstein concluded that the FBI didn’t have enough evidence to investigate Trump’s ties to a foreign adversary, and he suspected that the acting FBI director, Andrew McCabe, had conflicts of interest. McCabe had approved the counterintelligence investigation out of concerns that Trump’s decades of personal and financial dealings in Russia posed a national security threat. Rosenstein never told McCabe about his decision. (New York Times / Axios)
A federal appeals court denied Michael Flynn’s petition to force a district court judge to immediately drop his criminal case, as requested by the Justice Department. A planned hearing on the Justice Department’s attempt to abandon the criminal case against Flynn can now proceed. Flynn twice pleaded guilty to charges that he lied to FBI agents in 2017 about his conversations with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. In May, Attorney General William Barr and the Justice Department moved to drop the case, citing improprieties by the FBI decision-makers who ordered the interview of Flynn. Judge Emmet Sullivan, who is presiding over Flynn’s case and accepted his guilty plea for lying to federal agents, argued that he should be allowed to probe whether the Justice Department was dropping the case as a favor to a Trump ally. (Politico / NBC News / New York Times / Bloomberg / Washington Post / Axios)
Trump reportedly considered the idea of “settling” with Robert Mueller. According to the new book, Donald Trump v. The United States, Trump told White House counsel Don McGahn “that there was nothing to worry about because if it was zeroing in on him, he would simply settle with Mueller. He would settle the case, as if he were negotiating terms in a lawsuit.” (Axios)
5/ Trump offered John Kelly the FBI director job a day after firing James Comey, but demanded that he “be loyal to him, and only him.” At the time, Kelly was the secretary for the Department of Homeland Security and reportedly “immediately realized the problem with Trump’s request for loyalty, and he pushed back on the President’s demand,” saying he would be loyal to the Constitution and the rule of law. Kelly went on to serve as White House chief of staff. (Axios / CNN)
6/ Former White House counsel Don McGahn sent a two-page memo in February 2018 to then-Chief of Staff John Kelly arguing that Jared Kushner’s security clearance needed to be downgraded. Kelly was concerned about giving Kushner a top-secret clearance after receiving a briefing about a routine FBI investigation into Kushner’s background. McGahn wrote to Kelly that Kushner’s background check “raises serious additional concerns about whether this individual ought to retain a top security clearance until such issues can be investigated and resolved.” McGahn instead recommended that Kushner be given interim secret clearance “until further information is received.” Ultimately, Trump intervened to ensure Kushner received top-secret security clearance. (Axios)
A federal appeals court dismissed the House Judiciary Committee lawsuit to seeking to force former White House counsel Don McGahn to testify about Trump, saying that Congress has not passed a law expressly authorizing it to sue to enforce its subpoenas. (Washington Post / CNN)
7/ Trump praised a right-wing caravan of supporters in Portland who had fired paint and pellet guns at protesters. A day after a man was shot and killed during a clash between demonstrators at a pro-Trump vehicle rally, Trump shared a video on Twitter of the “Trump cruise rally,” calling them “GREAT PATRIOTS!” In another tweet, Trump referred to protesters in Washington, D.C., as “Disgraceful Anarchists” and said his administration is “watching them closely.” Trump also said the “big backlash going on in Portland cannot be unexpected,” called the mayor of Portland “a FOOL,” and called on the state to “Bring in the National Guard!” Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, meanwhile, said “I’d appreciate that either the president support us or stay the hell out of the way.” He added: “Do you seriously wonder, Mr. President, why this is the first time in decades that America has seen this level of violence? It’s you who have created the hate and the division.” White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, meanwhile, claimed Trump had not seen the video of his supporters using paintballs and pepper spray against Portland protesters, which Trump himself tweeted out this weekend. The caption of the video reads: “Trump people unload paintballs and pepper spray. They shot me too.” (NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / Axios / The Guardian)
8/ The governor of Wisconsin urged Trump to “reconsider” his planned trip to visit Kenosha amid ongoing protests over the police shooting of Jacob Blake. Gov. Tony Evers sent a letter to the White House warning that Trump’s presence “will only hinder our healing” and “delay our work to overcome division and move forward together.” Evers also said he was worried that having Trump in town would require “a massive re-direction of these resources to support your visit at a time when it is critical that we continue to remain focused on keeping the people of Kenosha safe and supporting the community’s response.” A White House spokesperson said Trump still plans to visit on Tuesday. (Washington Post / USA Today / Associated Press / CNN / Politico)
A Kenosha militia Facebook event advocating that attendees bring weapons was reported at least 455 times as “a credible threat of violence.” Facebook moderators, however, deemed the page “non-violating” of company policy. The page and event were eventually removed from the platform on several hours after the shooting. (BuzzFeed News)
9/ Biden condemned the violence in Portland and accused Trump of “fanning the flames of hate and division in our society” by “recklessly encouraging violence.” Biden criticized Trump as having “long ago forfeited any moral leadership in this country” and argued that Trump “can’t stop the violence” that has arisen in the United States “because for years he has fomented it.” Biden also responded to Trump’s accusations that he would be soft on crime, saying Trump has been “incapable of telling us the truth, incapable of facing the facts. Incapable of healing.” During his speech in Pittsburgh, Biden repeatedly asked: “Do you really feel safer under Donald Trump?” (NBC News / CNN / Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / Washington Post)
poll/ 96% of Biden and Trump supporters say they have decided how they will vote — up 2% from late July. 8% remain undecided. (Yahoo News)
poll/ Biden leads Trump 50% to 44% among likely voters following the Republican National Convention. Prior to the convention, Biden lead Trump 52% to 42%. (Morning Consult)
poll/ 49.9% of active-duty service members have an unfavorable view of Trump, compared to 38% who view Trump favorably. 42% said they “strongly” disapprove of Trump’s time in office. 43% said they would vote for Biden if the election was held today, and 37% said they plan to vote to re-elect Trump. (Military Times)
✏️ Notables.
The House Oversight Committee will issue a subpoena for Postmaster General Louis DeJoy for records related to recent operational changes at the U.S. Postal Service. Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney accused DeJoy of ignoring the panel’s demand for documents related to Postal Service mail delays, voting by mail, and contacts with White House officials or the Trump campaign. (Politico / NBC News / CNN / Wall Street Journal / Axios)
A Trump-appointed federal housing official tricked four public housing residents into appearing in a video that was used during the Republican National Convention. Three of the tenants said they were never told that their interviews would be edited into a video clip that aired during the RNC, and all three said they opposed Trump and were misled about the video. Lynne Patton is a longtime Trump associated and is head of the New York office of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Under the Hatch Act, Patton is barred from using her government position to engage in political activities. (New York Times)
Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf claimed he didn’t know the naturalization ceremony he participated in at the White House would be broadcast during the Republican National Convention. Wolf’s comments came after DHS employees received an email reminding them not to engage in “partisan political activity.” Democrats have also called for an investigation into Wolf’s potential violation of the Hatch Act. (Politico / HuffPost)
A group of Voice of America journalists accused the parent agency’s new CEO of “endanger[ing] the personal security of VOA reporters at home and abroad, as well as threatening to harm U.S. national security objectives.” The group alleges that Michael Pack’s remarks in an interview prove he has a damaging agenda for the international broadcasters he oversees. Pack was nominated by Trump in 2018 to lead the U.S. Agency for Global Media. (NPR)
👑 Portrait of a president.
Trump Embraces Fringe Theories on Protests and the Coronavirus. “Trump unleashed an especially intense barrage of Twitter messages over the weekend, embracing fringe conspiracy theories claiming that the coronavirus death toll has been exaggerated and that street protests are actually an organized coup d’état against him.” (New York Times)
How Trump Sowed COVID Supply Chaos: “Try Getting It Yourselves.” In a March 16 conference call, President Trump told governors that the federal government would try to help, but that for “respirators, ventilators, all of the equipment—try getting it yourselves.” (Wall Street Journal)
💌 Send me a handwritten postcard or letter with advice for the future generation about wtf has happened over the last four years and what needs to be done.
Not sure where to start? Consider the Trump administration’s impact on climate change, healthcare, immigration, education, civil rights, or whatever, like this goddamn pandemic, and how it’s changed you, your relationships, and your outlook for the future.
Matt at WTF Just Happened Today?
505 Broadway E #211
Seattle, WA 98102 USA
🗳 How To Vote In The 2020 Election In Every State. Everything you need to know about mail-in and early in-person voting in every state in the age of COVID-19, including the first day you can cast your ballot in the 2020 election. (FiveThirtyEight / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~24,566,000; deaths: ~834,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~5,903,000; deaths: ~182,000
At least 200,000 more people have died than usual since March – about 60,000 higher than the number of deaths that have been directly linked to the coronavirus. (New York Times)
1/ Trump’s effort to block a subpoena for his financial records would “significantly impair” an ongoing investigation into potential financial crimes, according to the Manhattan district attorney. Cyrus Vance urged the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reject Trump’s emergency bid to block the subpoena for eight years of his tax returns, saying the “continued delay of the grand jury’s investigation is unwarranted” because Trump has “no chance of success.” Trump has until Monday to respond in writing. Oral arguments are scheduled for Sept. 1. (Reuters / Politico)
2/ A federal judge ordered the Trump administration and the U.S. Postal Service to turn over documents and information about USPS service changes that could undermine mail-in voting. U.S. District Judge Stanley Bastian gave the administration 10 days to comply with the order, which is tied to a lawsuit brought by 20 states over the changes made by Postmaster General Louis Dejoy. The Justice Department opposed the request, arguing that responding to the requests would be burdensome and that much of the information is already part of the public record. Among the information sought by the states is a list of all mail sorting machines identified for decommissioning, including their locations, and whether they will be reinstalled if they have already been decommissioned. (Associated Press / CNN)
A judge ordered an Iowa county to invalidate 50,000 requests for absentee ballots, agreeing with Trump’s campaign that its elections commissioner overstepped his authority by pre-filling them with voters’ personal information. (NBC News)
3/ Trump “profoundly” accepted the Republican Party’s nomination for a second term, botching the word “proudly” in his prepared text, during a 70-minute speech on the South Lawn of the White House. Trump repeatedly misrepresented his own record and leveled numerous false or misleading attacks on Democrats, asserting that he is responsible for everything good that has happened since taking office and that everyone else is to blame for the country’s problems. Trump, meanwhile, has presided over the deaths of 180,000 Americans with nearly 30 million people out of work from the coronavirus, and civil unrest over racial injustice that he has repeatedly and consistently stoked. And, nearly every claim Trump made about Biden’s positions was false. Trump, nevertheless, claimed the nation is on the cusp of a takeover by “violent anarchists” who would exploit a “weak” Joe Biden to destroy America, adding: “No one will be safe in Biden’s America.” Nearly 2,000 guests on the lawn were packed into rows of chairs with few wearing masks despite the pandemic and social distancing guideline. (NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
👑 Portrait of a president: Instead of Evolving as President, Trump Has Bent the Job to His Will. When asked to define what his second-term agenda would be, Trump replied: “But so I think, I think it would be, I think it would be very, very, I think we’d have a very, very solid, we would continue what we’re doing, we’d solidify what we’ve done, and we have other things on our plate that we want to get done.” (New York Times)
The Biden campaign bought the domain name KeepAmericaGreat.com and turned it into a list of Trump’s broken promises. “Trump isn’t looking for a second term,” the page reads. “He’s looking for a do-over.” The page also lists a number of promises Trump had made that the Biden campaign says he hasn’t delivered on. Trump announced that Keep America Great would be his re-election slogan before the formal launch of his campaign last year. (Politico / NBC News)
4/ A senior White House official dismissed concerns about the lack of social distancing at Trump’s GOP acceptance speech, saying “everybody is going to catch this thing eventually.” An estimated 1,500 people, mostly maskless, attended the speech. Most guests were not administered rapid coronavirus tests upon entry. (Talking Points Memo)
Four people involved with the Republican National Convention meeting in Charlotte tested positive for COVID-19. A spokesman for the party said two attendees and two individuals “supporting the event” tested positive upon arriving at the convention and were immediately sent home. In all, 792 tests were given to people who attended or provided support to the convention in Charlotte. (Charlotte Observer / CNN)
A member of Defense Secretary Mark Esper’s team tested positive for COVID-19. A defense official said the staffer was part of the advance team for Esper’s trip in the Indo-Pacific region and did not come into contact with Esper or Pentagon staff. (CNN)
5/ Thousands of demonstrators marched on Washington demanding an end to systemic racism while honoring the 57th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” address. Speakers called for the Senate to take up the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which would make it easier to prosecute police officers for misconduct, and enact a new version of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The “Get Your Knee Off Our Necks” Commitment March convened hours after Trump’s acceptance speech on the South Lawn of the White House where he railed against what he called agitators bent on destroying “the American way of life.” (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / USA Today)
Jacob Blake, who is now paralyzed from the waist down after a Kenosha police officer shot him seven times in the back, is handcuffed to his hospital bed. Blake was shackled to his bed because of a warrant related to a July charge of third-degree sexual assault, criminal trespass, and disorderly conduct. (CNN / New York Times)
6/ FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn removed the agency’s chief spokeswoman, who was installed by the White House 11 days ago. Emily Miller previously worked in communications for the re-election campaign of Ted Cruz and was a journalist for One America News, the conservative cable network. Separately, the Department of Health and Human Services terminated the contract of a public relations consultant who had advised Hahn to correct misleading comments about the benefits of blood plasma for COVID-19. HHS, however, denied that Wayne Pines’s contract was terminated because of his involvement in the plasma messaging. (New York Times / Politico / CNN)
✏️ Notables.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee announced contempt proceedings against Secretary of State Mike Pompeo over his “ongoing refusal to comply” with a subpoena for records related to the State Department’s involvement in attempts to link Joe Biden to corruption in Ukraine. In a statement, Chairman Eliot Engel cited Pompeo’s “unprecedented record of obstruction and defiance of the House’s constitutional oversight authority.” (CNBC / Axios / New York Times)
Twitter removed two fake, pro-Trump accounts that had co-opted the identities of African Americans. The fake accounts used the images of Black men for their profile pictures and had five separate tweets with at least 10,000 retweets related to abandoning the Democratic Party. (NBC News)
The Pentagon will reduce the U.S. force in Iraq to about 3,500 troops from about 5,200. “The U.S. and Iraq refrained from publicly setting a schedule for reducing the approximately 5,200 American troops now in the country when Iraq’s prime minister visited Washington last week.” (Wall Street Journal / ABC News)
University of Pennsylvania faculty asked the provost to investigate how Trump was admitted to the school in 1966.
Eric Orts and five other faculty cited “new evidence” on secretly recorded tapes between Mary Trump and Maryanne Trump Barry, in which Trump’s sister says a friend took his entrance exam. Mary Trump’s new book also alleges that Trump paid someone to take his SATs. In July, the six professors wrote that “failing to investigate an allegation of fraud at such a level broadcasts to prospective students and the world at large that the playing field is not equal, that our degrees can be bought, and that subsequent fame, wealth, and political status will excuse past misconduct.” (Washington Post)
💌 Send me a handwritten postcard or letter with advice for the future generation about wtf has happened over the last four years and what needs to be done.
Not sure where to start? Consider the Trump administration’s impact on climate change, healthcare, immigration, education, civil rights, or whatever, like this goddamn pandemic, and how it’s changed you, your relationships, and your outlook for the future.
Matt at WTF Just Happened Today?
505 Broadway E #211
Seattle, WA 98102 USA
I don’t know who needs to hear this, but a postcard costs $0.35 and a First Class letter costs $0.55. Buy stamps online here.
🗳 How To Vote In The 2020 Election In Every State. Everything you need to know about mail-in and early in-person voting in every state in the age of COVID-19, including the first day you can cast your ballot in the 2020 election. (FiveThirtyEight / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~24,285,000; deaths: ~829,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~5,857,000; deaths: ~181,000
1/ Another 1 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, and an another 608,000 workers applied for aid through the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program. In total, 27 million workers are unemployed and more than 14.5 million are collecting benefits – up from 1.7 million a year ago. The report also marks the 22nd time in 23 weeks that new jobless claims have come in above 1 million. Before the coronavirus pandemic, initial claims had never topped 700,000 in a week. (CNN / CNBC / Associated Press / Politico / New York Times)
2/ The CDC attempted to clarify its recommendation that people with no symptoms “do not necessarily need a test” – even after exposure to the coronavirus. In a new statement, the CDC’s director, Dr. Robert Redfield, said that “testing may be considered for all close contacts of confirmed or probable COVID-19 patients.” He added: “Everyone who needs a COVID-19 test, can get a test. Everyone who wants a test does not necessarily need a test.” The CDC’s previous guidance recommended that people exposed to the coronavirus be tested because of the threat of asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic transmission. Despite Redfield’s statement, the CDC’s website had not been updated. (NBC News / New York Times / NBC News / USA Today)
The Trump administration will purchase 150 million rapid coronavirus tests for about $750 million, which will be deployed in nursing homes, schools and other areas with populations at high risk. Abbott Laboratories received an emergency authorization from the FDA on Wednesday for the test, which costs $5 and can produce results in 15 minutes without the use of any lab equipment. (Reuters / Politico)
3/ Trump – without evidence – claimed that problems with mail-in ballots on Election Day will come from election officials who are “going to count them wrong.” Multiple investigations and studies – including Trump’s own voter fraud investigatory committee – have found no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the U.S. Trump, however, said he’s not worried about USPS’s ability to deliver ballots – “it has nothing to do with the post office” – but rather “The problem is when they dump all these [ballots] in front of a few people who are counting them, and they’re going to count them wrong.” Trump added that the “only thing” he’s worried about is “unsolicited ballots, where they’re going to send 80 million unsolicited ballots to people that they don’t even know if they’re alive or if they’re living there.” Earlier this month, Trump threatened to veto any coronavirus relief package that included funding for the USPS, and baselessly suggested that election drop boxes would lead to widespread fraud. (NBC News)
The live audience for Trump’s Republican convention address won’t receive coronavirus tests. Instead, guests received instructions that they must wear masks. (Politico)
Department of Homeland Security sent employees an email advising them not to engage in “partisan political activity,” citing “heightened scrutiny.” The warning comes days after acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf participated in a naturalization ceremony at the Republican National Convention. (CNN / Politico)
4/ Trump dismissed the NBA player-led protest of the police shooting of Jacob Blake hours after Jared Kushner said the players were “very fortunate” to be “able to take a night off from work.” Trump told reporters that while he doesn’t “know much” about the protest, “I know their ratings have been very bad because I think people are a little tired of the NBA […] They’ve become like a political organization, and that’s not a good thing.” Pence’s chief of staff, Marc Short, meanwhile, called the protests “absurd and silly,” adding “If they want to protest, I don’t think we care.” The comments from the White House come a day after the NBA postponed three scheduled playoff games, prompted by the Milwaukee Bucks’ demanding that lawmakers address police brutality and racial injustice. The unprecedented decision to postpone games was followed by players and teams from the WNBA, MLB, NFL, MLS, and pro tennis sitting out events Wednesday night. Trump has made restoring “law and order” a centerpiece of his campaign following the death of George Floyd, a Black man Minneapolis police killed in late May, which spurred national protests. (ESPN / Washington Post / CNN / Politico / The Hill / Washington Post / CNBC / CNN / Axios / Mediate / Wall Street Journal)
5/ Biden accused Trump of “rooting for more violence, not less” because he thinks it benefits him politically. Biden also suggested that Trump is making the situation worse by “pouring gasoline on the racial flames that are burning […] the people have a right to be angry, people have a right to protest.” He continued: “This is the same guy, when people came out of Charlottesville and a young woman gets killed, they’re spewing hate, and their veins bulging, carrying swastikas […] he says there are very fine people on both sides. He just keeps pouring fuel on the fire. He’s encouraging this.” Biden concluded: “This is his America.” (NBC News / Bloomberg / Politico)
Kamala Harris, meanwhile, accused Trump and Republicans of ignoring “the reality” of the “life of a Black person in America.” In a speech to prebut Trump’s appearance at RNC, Harris said Trump’s “reckless disregard for the well-being of the American people” has been deadly. As “Donald Trump stood idly by […] Instead of rising to meet the most difficult moment of his presidency, Donald Trump froze. He was scared and he was petty and vindictive.” (CNN / Politico / Axios)
The RNC aired a video meant to give viewers “a taste of Biden’s America,” but the video included footage from Barcelona, Spain. Other images of protests in the segment included a march in Brooklyn, a car on fire in Chicago, and drone footage of a tree on fire in New York. (BuzzFeed News)
6/ Lt. Col. Yevgeny Vindman filed a complaint with the Pentagon’s inspector general suggesting he and his brother Alexander was retaliated against for disclosing potential ethics violations by senior White House officials. Alexander Vindman served as a key witness during Trump’s impeachment and was dismissed from his position on the National Security Council in February. Yevgeny Vindman worked as a deputy legal adviser for the NSC and a senior ethics official on the NSC staff. He was also removed after the impeachment proceedings ended. Yevgeny Vindman’s legal team said in a statement that actions were “improperly taken against him in retaliation for his protected disclosures involving matters that ultimately led to the president’s impeachment as well as disclosures of misconduct by other current senior members of the president’s national security team.” (CBS News / Axios)
7/ The Trump Organization has charged taxpayers more than $900,000 in fees related to Trump’s 271 visits to his own properties since he took office. At least $570,000 came as a result of Trump’s travel. Campaign finance records also show that the Trump Organization received at least $3.8 million in fees related to 37 instances in which Trump headlined a political event at one of his properties. (Washington Post)
The White House said that it has compiled a “very large” dossier on a Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter and others, calling them a “disgrace to journalism and the American people.” In a statement, White House spokesperson Judd Deere accused The Washington Post of “blatantly interfering with the business relationships of the Trump Organization” and demanded “it must stop.” (CNN / Washington Post)
💌 Send me a handwritten postcard or letter with advice for the future generation about wtf has happened over the last four years and what needs to be done.
Not sure where to start? Consider the Trump administration’s impact on climate change, healthcare, immigration, education, civil rights, or whatever, like this goddamn pandemic, and how it’s changed you, your relationships, and your outlook for the future.
Matt at WTF Just Happened Today?
505 Broadway E #211
Seattle, WA 98102 USA
I don’t know who needs to hear this, but a postcard costs $0.35 and a First Class letter costs $0.55. Buy stamps online here.
🗳 How To Vote In The 2020 Election In Every State. Everything you need to know about mail-in and early in-person voting in every state in the age of COVID-19, including the first day you can cast your ballot in the 2020 election. (FiveThirtyEight / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
😷 Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~24,012,000; deaths: ~822,000
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~5,813,000; deaths: ~180,000
1/ The CDC abruptly changed its COVID-19 testing guidance to exclude people without symptoms who have been exposed to COVID-19. Previously, the CDC said testing was appropriate for people with recent or suspected exposure, even if they were asymptomatic, “because of the potential for asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic transmission.” The guidance now recommends that, for healthy people who have been within six feet of an infected person for at least 15 minutes, “you do not necessarily need a test.” Experts, however, questioned the revision, calling it “potentially dangerous” and saying “testing, even for asymptomatic people, is critical to keeping community transmission low since we know that presymptomatic transmission drives much of the spread.” The new guidance was introduced without an announcement. Instead, the CDC website was quietly updated. (CNN / New York Times / NBC News / ABC News)
2/ The White House pressured the CDC to change its guidance on testing asymptomatic people who have been exposed to the coronavirus. “It’s coming from the top down,” an official said. Another said the guidelines were not written by the CDC but were imposed. HHS Assistant Secretary Brett Giroir said the changes were “discussed at the last task force meeting and approved,” and that the idea had originated with himself and CDC Director Robert Redfield. However, Thursday was the same day Dr. Anthony Fauci was under general anesthesia for vocal cord surgery. Dr. Fauci confirmed that he was not part of the discussion. Trump has repeatedly suggested that the U.S. should do less testing. (CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg)
3/ The Trump administration threatened to withhold Medicare and Medicaid funding from hospitals if they don’t report COVID-19 data to the Department of Health and Human Services. Until now, some hospitals were voluntarily reporting this information. The new rules, however, make reporting a requirement for participation in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. In July, the administration ordered hospitals to stop reporting coronavirus data to the CDC, but instead send results to HHS by way of a private vendor. Weeks later, HHS reversed course and returned the responsibility for data collection to the CDC. [Editor’s note: I’m admittedly confused here. Anyone able to clarify all of this for me?] (New York Times)
4/ The intelligence community said there is “no information or intelligence” that foreign countries, including Russia, are “engaged in any kind of activity to undermine any part of the mail-in vote.” The disclosure contradicts Trump and Attorney General William Barr, who have repeatedly falsely claimed that foreign adversaries are targeting mail ballots as part of a “rigged” presidential election. Senior officials, however, declined to discuss Russia’s efforts to amplify Trump’s attempts to sow mistrust and doubt about the legitimacy of the election. (NPR / Politico / CNN / Associated Press)
5/ Trump said he will send federal law enforcement and the National Guard to to Kenosha, Wisconsin to “restore law and order” amid protests over the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, who was shot multiple times at close range and left paralyzed. Trump’s authority to send in federal resources, however, is limited without the direct invitation of the state government. Meanwhile, a white, 17-year-old police admirer was arrested and charged with homicide after two people were killed and another seriously wounded by gunfire. Kyle Rittenhouse traveled about 15 miles from Antioch, Illinois to Kenosha. He also appeared in the front row at a Trump rally in January. After three days following Blake’s shooting, Trump has not directly addressed it, but instead tweeted that he “will NOT stand for looting, arson, violence, and lawlessness on American streets.” (Politico / Bloomberg / ABC News / NBC News / Associated Press / Washington Post / BuzzFeed News)
6/ The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to reinstate restrictions on an abortion medication that were temporarily suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic. In July, a federal judge blocked the FDA from enforcing its rule on mifepristone, saying the restrictions were an undue burden and “substantial obstacle” on women’s access to abortion services. The administration’s request, if granted, would again prevent women from getting the drug unless they visit a hospital, clinic, or medical office, and acknowledge in writing that they have been advised of the drug’s risks. (CNBC)
7/ In 2018, Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection officials suggested deploying a microwave weapon against immigrants at the border. The “heat ray” was designed by the military to make people’s skin feel like it is burning when they get within range of its invisible beams. Kirstjen Nielsen, then the secretary of homeland security, told an aide afterward that she would not authorize the use of the device. At a separate meeting earlier in the day – and 15 days before the 2018 midterms – Trump directed his Nielsen and White House staff that “extreme action” was needed to stop the migrants caravans heading to the U.S. border. (New York Times)
poll/ 66% of likely voters in Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin say they have serious concerns about COVID-19 – down from 69% two weeks ago. The share of respondents who said they have “very serious” concerns about the coronavirus dropped to 45% from 49%. (CNBC)
poll/ 49% of Black Americans say they are somewhat or very likely to get a flu shot this year, compared 65% of white Americans and 60% of Hispanics. 28% of Black Americans say they would be willing to take a first-generation COVID-19 vaccine, compared to 51% of white Americans and 56% of Hispanics. Overall, 62% of those surveyed say they are somewhat or very likely to get a flu shot, while 48% say they’ll take a first-generation COVID-19 vaccine. (Axios)
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo addressed the RNC from a rooftop in Jerusalem, where he was on a government-paid diplomatic mission, even though State Department employees were expressly told to avoid political activity and not to attend political conventions. No sitting secretary of state had previously addressed a national political convention in at least 75 years. (New York Times / Politico)
Trump pardoned a man from the White House and hosted a naturalization ceremony for five others during the RNC. The full pardon for Jon Ponder, a man convicted of robbing a bank, aired during a segment in the first minutes of the RNC’s second night. Followed by Acting Homeland Security secretary Chad Wolf administering the Oath of Allegiance for five new citizens in a pre-taped ceremony. The Hatch Act prohibits federal employees from engaging in most political activity inside federal buildings or while on duty. A White House official, however, claimed that because the naturalization ceremony was part of Trump’s official schedule and publicized on a public website, “there was no violation of law.” (Washington Post / NPR / The Guardian / New York Times / Los Angeles Times / Axios)
White House chief of staff Mark Meadows dismissed accusations that Trump administration officials violated the Hatch Act by speaking at the Republican National Convention, saying “Nobody outside of the Beltway really cares.” Trump administration officials, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, National Economic Director Larry Kudlow, and counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway, have all accepted speaking roles at the RNC. (Politico / Axios)
People who attended Melania Trump’s Rose Garden speech at the RNC were not required to get tested for COVID-19. A person who attended the speech said there were screening questions on the RSVP form, but no actual coronavirus tests or temperature checks were required or conducted at the White House. Most of the attendees also did not wear masks, and the chairs provided for attendees were not spaced six feet apart. (CNN)
The RNC canceled one of its scheduled speakers after she promoted an anti-Semitic and QAnon conspiracy theories on Twitter. Hours before Mary Ann Mendoza, a member of the Trump campaign’s advisory board, was set to appear in a video praising Trump’s efforts on immigration policy, she retweeted a threat containing nearly every anti-Semitic trope of the last century and claimed that Jewish forces in the banking industry were are out to enslave the world. Mendoza later deleted her tweet and posted an apology “for not paying attention.” (Daily Beast / CNN / CNBC / Washington Post / Politico / NBC News)
🗳 How To Vote In The 2020 Election In Every State. Everything you need to know about mail-in and early in-person voting in every state in the age of COVID-19, including the first day you can cast your ballot in the 2020 election. (FiveThirtyEight / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
1/ The FDA “grossly misrepresented data” about the use of blood plasma therapy to treat coronavirus patients, according to the Center for Pharmaceutical Policy and Prescribing at the University of Pittsburgh. Trump, Dr. Stephen Hahn, the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, and Alex Azar, the health and human services secretary, announced the emergency approval of convalescent plasma, claiming that it would reduce coronavirus deaths by 35% this year. Experts and scientists, however, say the way the administration framed the data is misleading and don’t know exactly where the statistic came from. The data may have been calculated based on a small subgroup of hospitalized COVID-19 patients in a Mayo Clinic study, but does not appear in the official authorization letter issued by the FDA, nor was it in a memo written by FDA scientists. (New York Times)
2/ FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn apologized for overstating the benefits of treating COVID-19 patients with convalescent plasma. While the therapy is considered safe, plasma has not yet been proven effective against the coronavirus. Hahn did not dispute Trump’s assessment that plasma is a “very effective” treatment at a news conference, but distorted the findings from a Mayo Clinic study when he said “if you are one of those 35 out of 100 people who these data suggest survive as a result of it, this is pretty significant.” Hahn later conceded scientists found that patients given plasma early in their illness fared better than those who received it later. The Mayo study, however, lacked a control group. (Politico / Associated Press / Bloomberg / CNBC)
3/ Stephen Hahn pushed back against Trump’s baseless claim that the “deep state” is deliberately stalling coronavirus vaccine development at the FDA. “I have not seen anything that I would consider to be ‘deep state’ at the FDA,” Hahn said in response to Trump’s accusation that people working at the FDA are intentionally complicating efforts to test COVID-19 vaccines in order to delay the results until after the November election. Despite Trump’s attacks, Hahn says he still has “a very good relationship with the president” and that he feels “very comfortable and continue to feel comfortable with that relationship.” (Reuters / The Hill)
4/ Dr. Anthony Fauci warned against an emergency use authorization for a coronavirus vaccine until it’s proven safe and effective. “One of the potential dangers if you prematurely let a vaccine out is that it would make it difficult, if not impossible, for the other vaccines to enroll people in their trial,” Fauci said. Health experts say they’re worried that the White House may pressure the FDA to push out a vaccine under an emergency use authorization before it has been fully tested. Fauci also declined to comment on Trump’s recent tweets about the “deep state” and the FDA, but he reiterated the risks of rushing vaccine development “before you have a signal of efficacy.” (Reuters)
5/ New York and New Jersey sued Trump and Postmaster General Louis DeJoy over changes to postal service operations.
The lawsuit asks the court to vacate recent changes, including the removal of mailboxes and mail sorting machines, and curtailing of overtime, made to the U.S. Postal Service and to stop it from implementing additional service reductions at a time when a pandemic has prompted millions more people than usual to plan to vote by mail. New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement: “This USPS slowdown is nothing more than a voter suppression tactic […] these authoritarian actions are not only jeopardizing our democracy and fundamental right to vote, but the immediate health and financial well-being of Americans across the nation.” (Bloomberg / Reuters)
6/ The House Foreign Affairs Committee’s subpanel on oversight is investigating Mike Pompeo’s decision to speak at the Republican National Convention. Pompeo’s choice to speak at the convention “may violate the Hatch Act, government-wide regulations implementing that Act, and State Department policies,” according to a letter sent by Rep. Joaquin Castro to Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun. The Hatch Act prohibits federal employees from participating in certain political activities. On Feb. 18, 2020, Biegun sent State Department employees an email – approved by Pompeo – of legal memos about the limitations on the political activity for U.S. diplomats and other State staffers. And in July, Pompeo sent a memo warning staffers — and specifically Senate-confirmed officials — not to attend political conventions. Castro said that Pompeo’s speech is not only “highly unusual and likely unprecedented,” but that “it appears that it may also be illegal.” (Daily Beast / Politico / Axios / Washington Post / NBC News)
7/ Trump will nominate Chad Wolf to be the permanent, Senate-confirmed secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Wolf has been the acting secretary since November 2019, and the department has not had a confirmed secretary since April 2019 when former Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen was forced to resign. Since taking over from acting Secretary Kevin McAleenan, Wolf has overseen a crackdown at the U.S.-Mexico border and was responsible for sending Homeland Security agents to Portland, Oregon in July. A recent Government Accountability Office report found that Wolf’s appointment is invalid. (Axios / Politico / ABC News / CNN / CBS News / Wall Street Journal)
8/ Trump’s reelection campaign has paid his private companies at least $2.3 million for rent, food, lodging, and other expenses, according to Federal Election Commission filings. Trump, the richest president in American history, has yet to donate to his 2020 campaign. (Forbes)
9/ U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services canceled a planned furlough of more than 13,400 employees, which would have crippled the processing of applications for green cards, work permits, U.S. citizenship and other immigration benefits. USCIS funds itself almost entirely through the fees it collects, unlike most other federal agencies. The agency said it was considering a planned furlough of more than 13,400 employees after citizenship and immigration applications fell because of the coronavirus pandemic. In May, the agency asked Congress for an emergency $1.2 billion infusion, but a bailout faded following a standoff between Congress and the Trump administration on a COVID-19 relief package last month. (Wall Street Journal / CBS News)
🗳 How To Vote In The 2020 Election In Every State. Everything you need to know about mail-in and early in-person voting in every state in the age of COVID-19, including the first day you can cast your ballot in the 2020 election. (FiveThirtyEight / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
1/ The New York Attorney General’s Office is investigating whether the Trump Organization and Trump inflated his assets in financial documents to secure loans and get tax benefits. In court filings, Letitia James’ office also asked the court to order Eric Trump to provide testimony after he initially agreed to sit for a deposition on July 22, but then abruptly canceled. “For months, the Trump Organization has made baseless claims in an effort to shield evidence from a lawful investigation into its financial dealings,” James said. “They have stalled, withheld documents, and instructed witnesses, including Eric Trump, to refuse to answer questions under oath.” The state’s top prosecutor opened the investigation in March 2019 after Michael Cohen told Congress that Trump had inflated his assets in financial statements to secure loans and had understated them to reduce his real estate taxes. The Manhattan district attorney’s office has also recently suggested in court filings that it is investigating possible bank and insurance fraud by Trump and the Trump Organization.(Washington Post / Bloomberg / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / CNN)
The Manhattan district attorney’s office agreed to delay enforcing a subpoena for Trump’s financial records until after a federal appeals court has ruled on Trump’s request for a stay pending appeal of his lawsuit. (CNN)
2/ Postmaster General Louis DeJoy denied that the policies he’s implemented have led to the current mail delays and insisted that the changes, including the removal of blue collection boxes and mail sorting machines, had preceded him assuming office June 15. In a contentious hearing before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, DeJoy testified that the cost-cutting measures he put in place were an attempt to have USPS trucks run on schedule, and pushed back against suggestions that the changes were intended to influence the 2020 election by making mail-in voting less reliable. “I am not engaged in sabotaging the election,” DeJoy told the committee, calling the claims “misleading.” As DeJoy testified, Trump tweeted his baseless accusations that mail-in voting would be used to rig the November election against him. DeJoy also refused to agree to restore the mail-sorting machines that had been removed from use, but acknowledged that a “deterioration in service” had occurred. Democrats, meanwhile, threatened to subpoena DeJoy for deliberately withholding internal decision-making documents. Robert Duncan, chairman of the Postal Service Board of Governors, also testified. (CNN / Washington Post / NBC News / Politico / New York Times / Bloomberg / Reuters / Wall Street Journal / ABC News / CNN)
The House passed a $25 billion bill for emergency U.S. Postal Service funding. The bill would also reverse recent cost-cutting operational changes that have slowed mail service around the country. The measure isn’t expected to reach Trump’s desk as the Republican-held Senate is unlikely to vote on it. (Axios / CNN / NBC News / The Hill / Washington Post)
Homeland Security’s acting chief said the department does not have the authority to send agents to polling locations despite Trump’s pledge to send “law enforcement” to polling locations to guard against the threat of voter fraud on Election Day. Chad Wolf said: “This is not a mission for the Department of Homeland Security.” (CNN)
3/ Twitter flagged Trump’s tweet that mail drop boxes are a “voter security disaster” and “not Covid sanitized,” labeling it a “misleading health claim that could potentially dissuade people from participation in voting.” The tweet violated the company’s Civic Integrity Policy and restricted other users from sharing, liking or replying to the tweet. The tweet, however, was allowed to “remain on the service given its relevance to ongoing public conversation.” (Axios / New York Times / NBC News / Bloomberg)
4/ Trump, without evidence, accused the FDA of deliberately delaying coronavirus vaccine trials until after the election, tweeting that “The deep state, or whoever, over at the FDA is making it very difficult for drug companies to get people in order to test the vaccines and therapeutics.” Dr. Stephen Hahn, who Trump picked last year to head the agency, said earlier this month that the agency “will not cut corners” to approve a vaccine. Five days earlier, White House trade adviser Peter Navarro privately accused the FDA of being part of the “Deep State” during a meeting that was supposed to be about COVID-19 and the Strategic National Stockpile. (CNN / Axios)
5/ The FDA issued an emergency use authorization for blood plasma as a treatment for COVID-19 – one day after Trump accused the agency of moving too slowly. Last week, the FDA declined to back the treatment over concerns from government scientists that there wasn’t enough evidence for the treatment’s effectiveness. Several clinical trials are examining the use of convalescent plasma for COVID-19, but none have been completed and results aren’t expected for at least several more weeks. Trump, however, claimed that convalescent plasma is a “powerful therapy” that the FDA found “safe and very effective,” saying it “had an incredible rate of success.” The FDA, however, said a more rigorous study is needed to prove whether the treatment effective. (Politico / Washington Post / NBC News / CNN / Bloomberg / Bloomberg / New York Times / New York Times)
Scientists and FDA officials warned that more rigorous study is needed to prove whether convalescent plasma is an effective treatment for patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Experts say the therapy hasn’t been adequately tested. Britain’s public health system, the National Health Service, meanwhile, said that although U.S. studies into the use of the use of blood plasma were “promising,” they were “not conclusive,” and more studies need to be performed. White House trade adviser Peter Navarro, meanwhile, exaggerated the efficacy of blood plasma as a coronavirus treatment, urging Americans to disregard any skepticism of the controversial therapy. (CNBC / Washington Post / Politico)
The Trump administration is reportedly considering fast tracking an experimental coronavirus vaccine developed in the U.K. for use in the United States. One option being considered would involve the FDA awarding emergency use authorization in October to a vaccine being developed in a partnership between AstraZeneca and Oxford University. AstraZeneca said it hasn’t talked to the U.S. government about an emergency use authorization, and a spokesperson for Health and Human Services said any claim of an emergency authorization for a vaccine before the election is “absolutely false.” A top FDA official, meanwhile, threatened to resign if the Trump administration approved a vaccine before it is shown to be safe and effective. (Financial Times / CNBC / Politico / Reuters)
poll/ 57% of Republicans consider the more than 177,000 coronavirus deaths in the U.S. “acceptable.” 90% of Democrats and 67% percent of independents said the number of deaths was unacceptable. 73% of Republicans say things are “going well” when it comes to the way the U.S. has handled the pandemic. 75% of Republicans say the country is better off today than it was four years ago. (CBS News)
poll/ 31% of Americans approve of Trump’s leadership during the coronavirus pandemic – down from 44% approval in March. (Associated Press)
✏️ Notables.
Trump accepted his official nomination for a second term with a speech complaining about voting by mail while accusing Democrats of “using COVID to steal the election.” As the Republican National Convention got underway in Charlotte, N.C., Trump used a surprise speech at the convention not to preview a second term agenda, but to allege, without evidence, that Democratic-run states might mail ballots only to neighborhoods where members of their own party live. Trump also repeated his unfounded allegations that Obama and Biden had spied on his campaign in 2016, saying “They’re trying to steal the election from Republicans. Just like they did it last time, with spying.” (Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / NBC News)
Trump will speak every night of the Republican National Convention this week. Typically, nominees only speak on the last night of the convention. Trump, however, will deliver his formal acceptance speech from a stage on the South Lawn at the White House. All of Trump’s adult children, including Tiffany, will also speak during the convention. The convention begins tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern. (Axios / New York Times)
Kellyanne Conway will leave the Trump administration at the end of the month. Conway, whose title is counselor to the president, is one of Trump’s longest-serving aides. She was Trump’s third campaign manager in 2016 and the first woman to successfully manage a presidential bid to victory. She says she is leaving the White House to focus on her family. A White House official said Conway met with Trump on Sunday night to let him know she would be leaving. “This is completely my choice and my voice,” she said in a statement. “In time, I will announce future plans. For now, and for my beloved children, it will be less drama, more mama.” (Washington Post / Politico / NPR / CNN / New York Times / USA Today / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
Trump’s sister criticized him for his “lack of preparation” and lying, saying “you can’t trust him” because he “has no principles.” In secretly recorded audio between 2018 and 2019, Maryanne Trump Barry, a retired federal judge, talked candidly to Trump’s niece, Mary Trump, about her relationship with her brother. “All he wants to do is appeal to his base,” Barry said. “He has no principles. None. None. And his base, I mean my God, if you were a religious person, you want to help people. Not do this.” She also criticized Trump’s use of Twitter, saying “His goddamned tweet and lying, oh my God. I’m talking too freely, but you know. The change of stories. The lack of preparation. The lying. Holy shit.” Trump addressed the recording in a statement: “Every day it’s something else, who cares. I miss my brother, and I’ll continue to work hard for the American people. Not everyone agrees, but the results are obvious. Our country will soon be stronger than ever before.” (Washington Post / CBS News / New York Times / Yahoo News / Politico / Washington Post)
Melania Trump’s friend and adviser reportedly secretly taped the first lady making disparaging remarks about Trump and his adult children. (Yashar Ali)
White House chief of staff Mark Meadows claimed that Trump doesn’t know much about QAnon because there are more important things to focus on. Last week Trump praised supporters of the QAnon internet conspiracy theory because he heard “they like me very much, which I appreciate.” The FBI has labeled QAnon a potential domestic terrorist threat. (Politico)
Trump reportedly directed Homeland Security officials to get their orders by watching Fox Business host Lou Dobbs “every night.” Former DHS chief of staff Miles Taylor was basically the “shadow chief of staff” for the department and the Trump “would call us and […] he would say, ‘Why the hell didn’t you watch Lou Dobbs last night? You need to listen to Lou. What Lou says is what I want to do.’” (HuffPost)
Attorney General William Barr told Rupert Murdoch to “muzzle” a Fox News personality who was critical of Trump. In an October 2019 column, Napolitano wrote “The criminal behavior to which Trump has admitted is much more grave than anything alleged or unearthed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, and much of what Mueller revealed was impeachable.” Trump reportedly “was so incensed by [Napolitano’s] TV broadcasts that he had implored Barr to send Rupert a message in person […] about ‘muzzling the judge.’” (The Guardian)
1/ Biden challenged Americans to overcome Trump’s “season of darkness,” saying “no rhetoric is needed. Just judge this president on the facts.” As he accepted the Democratic Party’s nomination for president, Biden urged Americans to embrace what he called “a path of hope and light” and reject Trump, who “has failed in his most basic duty to the nation: He’s failed to protect us. He has failed to protect America.” During his acceptance speech, Biden condemned Trump without ever mentioning him by name, calling “this a life-changing election” that “will determine what America’s going to look like for a long, long time.” (Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg / Politico / Axios / CNBC)
🗳 How To Vote In The 2020 Election In Every State. Everything you need to know about mail-in and early in-person voting in every state in the age of COVID-19, including the first day you can cast your ballot in the 2020 election. (FiveThirtyEight / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
2/ Trump denounced Biden’s convention speech, saying “I’m the only thing standing between the American dream and total anarchy, madness and chaos.” At a gathering of the Council for National Policy in Arlington, Trump called the Democratic convention the “darkest and angriest and gloomiest” in the country’s history, saying “where Joe Biden sees American darkness, I see American greatness.” Trump claimed that voting by mail is “filthy,” a “disgrace,” and would lead to the “greatest catastrophe” ever while peddling fears about “violent mobs” overtaking U.S. cities. Trump also attacked Obama, saying “you can’t be a great president when much of what he’s done we’ve undone.” (New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post)
3/ More than 70 former national security officials called Trump “unfit to lead,” accusing him of undermining the rule of law, “spreading misinformation,” “undermining public health experts,” aligning himself with dictators and engaging “in corrupt behavior that renders him unfit to serve as president.” The officials, who served under Trump, George W. Bush, George H.W. Bush, and Ronald Reagan, endorsed Biden, saying he has the “character, experience, and temperament to lead this nation.” (New York Times / The Hill)
4/ Trump pledged to send “sheriffs,” “law enforcement,” and “U.S. attorneys” to polling locations to guard against the nonexistent threat of voter fraud on Election Day. An election law expert said Trump does not have the authority to deploy local law enforcement officials to monitor elections. However, when asked by Fox News host Sean Hannity if he was going to “have an ability” to monitor and avoid fraud during the elections, Trump replied: “We’re going to have everything.” While Trump’s campaign could hire off-duty police to work the polls, any attempt to do so would likely draw legal challenges from Democrats, who would argue that the move amounted to attempted voter suppression. (CNN / The Hill / Mother Jones)
Trump repeated his unsubstantiated claim that mail-in ballots would lead to voter fraud and claimed without evidence that states expanding mail-in voting because of the coronavirus pandemic aren’t adopting sufficient safeguards against fraud. Five states already holding elections almost entirely by mail without serious issues of fraud. Nevertheless, Trump claimed that mail-in voting “will be a tremendous embarrassment for our country, it will go on forever and you will never know who won. This is a very serious problem and something has to be done about it.” He added: “They all think I’m trying to steal the election. Just the opposite. I want fair results.” (Bloomberg)
Trump’s campaign provided no evidence of election fraud involving mail-in ballots after being ordered by a federal court judge to back up its claims about fraud in Pennsylvania’s vote-by-mail system. (The Intercept)
The Trump re-election effort has spent more than $1 billion since 2017. The record-breaking sum is the combined effort of the Trump campaign, the Republican Party, and two affiliated committees. The DNC, by comparison, has spent roughly $643 million so far, according to federal records. (Washington Post)
[Noted] Facebook Braces Itself for Trump to Cast Doubt on Election Results. “The world’s biggest social network is working out what steps to take should President Trump use its platform to dispute the vote.” (New York Times)
[Noted] The Republican Embrace of QAnon Goes Far Beyond Trump. As the president all but endorses the internet-driven conspiracy theory, it is shifting from the fringes of the internet to become an offline political movement. (New York Times)
5/ Postmaster General Louis DeJoy testified that he is “extremely highly confident” that mail-in ballots sent seven days before Election Day will be properly processed and counted. In testimony before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, DeJoy said the agency will continue to prioritize ballots over other mail, but urged the public to “vote early.” DeJoy also defended recent operational changes to the Postal Service, saying the effort is in service of making the mail agency run more efficiently, adding that the USPS will make “dramatic changes” after the election. DeJoy testified that he had never spoken to Trump about the Postal Service, adding that he also had never spoken to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin or White House chief of staff Mark Meadows about the changes. (CBS News / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / New York Times / Politico / Washington Post / NBC News)
A former top Postal Service official testified that the Trump administration has been “politicizing” the Postal Service and using Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin to inappropriately influence the organization. David Williams, former USPS Inspector General and former Vice Chair of the USPS Board of Governors, testified that he resigned “when it became clear to me that the administration was politicizing the Postal Service with the treasury secretary as the lead figure for the White House in that effort.” (CBS News)
Louis DeJoy’s selection as Postmaster General was “highly irregular” and he was not among the candidates initially vetted for the position by a national search firm hired by USPS leaders. House Oversight Committee Democrats say DeJoy’s name was put forward by John Barger, a member of the Postal Service’s Board of Governors, who also happens to be a Republican donor and managing director at a California-based private investment firm. And, weeks before DeJoy was selected as postmaster general, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin held a series of one-on-one meetings with members of the Postal Service Board of Governors. Neither the Treasury Department nor the Postal Service would confirm that the meetings ever occurred. (Politico / NBC News)
✏️ Notables.
Trump filed an emergency request for a federal appeals court to stop the release of his tax returns. In the motion, Trump’s lawyers asked the court to impose an immediate stay on the case, allowing his legal team time to appeal. (NBC News / CNN)
Steve Bannon pleaded not guilty after being indicted and taken into custody in New York on federal fraud charges. A federal judge agreed to release the former Trump administration chief strategist on a $5 million bond, and his travel will be restricted to New York and Washington D.C.. Bannon is also prohibited from using private jets or boats without prior approval. (Axios)
Trump Jr. attempted to distance himself from the “We Build The Wall” crowdfunding campaign after Steve Bannon and three others were arrested and charged with defrauding donors. Trump Jr.‘s name is listed on the organization’s website as having endorsed the campaign to build a private border wall. (The Hill)
Former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach said in an interview last year that he had spoken with Trump three times about the private border wall project at the center of a federal fraud investigation. Kobach said Trump was “enthusiastic” about the project and it carried his “blessing.” (CNN)
Trump blamed California for its wildfires and threatened to withhold federal money, telling the state “you gotta clean your floors, you gotta clean your forests.” He added: “Maybe we’re just going to have to make them pay for it because they don’t listen to us.” (Politico)
🗳 How To Vote In The 2020 Election In Every State. Everything you need to know about mail-in and early in-person voting in every state in the age of COVID-19, including the first day you can cast your ballot in the 2020 election. (FiveThirtyEight / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
1/ More than 1.1 million people filed for unemployment last week after dipping below a million the week before. Jobless claims have come in over the one million mark for 21 out of the last 22 weeks and the unemployment rate remains at around 10% five months after the coronavirus pandemic began. (CNBC / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / The Hill / CNN)
2/ A federal judge rejected Trump’s effort to block the Manhattan district attorney from obtaining eight years of his tax returns, dismissing arguments that Cyrus Vance’s grand jury subpoena was “wildly overbroad” and issued “in bad faith.” Vance’s grand jury investigation is looking into payments made to Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. The district attorney’s office also recently suggested that it’s investigating Trump and his company for “alleged bank and insurance fraud.” Last month, the Supreme Court ruled that Trump is not immune from investigation. Trump, meanwhile, told reporters that “we’ll probably end up back in the Supreme Court,” saying “This is a continuation of the witch hunt, the greatest witch hunt in history. There’s never been anything like it.” Trump’s planned appeal will likely push the matter past the election. And even if Vance defeats Trump’s legal challenges, the documents will still be covered by grand jury secrecy laws. (New York Times / Axios / Politico / Washington Post / CNBC / Bloomberg / CNN / Associated Press / Reuters)
3/ Stephen Bannon and three other men were arrested and charged with defrauding donors to a crowdfunding campaign that claimed to be raising money for the construction of a private wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. The campaign, called “We Build the Wall,” was publicly supported by several of Trump’s allies, and raised more than $25 million. Bannon personally took in over $1 million from the scheme via a non-profit he controls, “and at least some of it was used to cover hundreds of thousands of dollars in [his] personal expenses,” according to the indictment. Also named in the indictment is Brian Kolfage, the founder and president of We Build the Wall, Andrew Badolato, and Timothy Shea. According to prosecutors from the Southern District of New York, the four men “orchestrated a scheme to defraud hundreds of thousands of donors […] capitalizing on their interest in funding a border wall to raise millions of dollars, under the false pretense that all of that money would be spent on construction.” The United States Postal Inspection Service assisted in the investigation. Hours after Bannon’s arrest, Trump said he felt “very badly,” but claimed he knew “nothing” about the fundraising project or the people involved with it. (New York Times / Washington Post / Axios / NPR / Politico / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / NBC News / CNN / CNBC)
[Analysis] Three people who led Trump’s 2016 campaign have now faced criminal charges. Corey Lewandowski was arrested on misdemeanor battery charges after he grabbed a Breitbart reporter’s arm at a Trump property in Florida. Paul Manafort was sentenced to more than seven years in prison after being convicted or pleading guilty to bank and tax fraud, witness tampering, and conspiracy against the United States. And now Stephen Bannon, who was arrested on federal fraud charges related to a scheme that redirected private donations intended for building a privately financed wall on the border with Mexico to himself and others. (Washington Post)
4/ Obama called out and criticized Trump during his speech at the Democratic National Convention, warning that Trump represents an existential threat to American democracy. “That’s what’s at stake right now — our democracy,” Obama said. Adding that Trump has had “no interest in using the awesome power of his office to help anyone but himself and his friends,” because he had “no interest in treating the presidency as anything but one more reality show.” Obama also underscored the consequences of Trump’s failures as president, saying “170,000 Americans dead, millions of jobs gone, our worst impulses unleashed, our proud reputation around the world badly diminished, and our democratic institutions threatened like never before.” Obama concluded: “Donald Trump hasn’t grown into the job because he can’t.” Meanwhile, at the White House, Trump responded on Twitter: “HE SPIED ON MY CAMPAIGN, AND GOT CAUGHT! WHY DID HE REFUSE TO ENDORSE SLOW JOE UNTIL IT WAS ALL OVER, AND EVEN THEN WAS VERY LATE? WHY DID HE TRY TO GET HIM NOT TO RUN?” (New York Times / Politico / NBC News / Axios / CNN)
5/ Trump praised supporters of the QAnon internet conspiracy theory because he heard “they like me very much, which I appreciate.” The FBI has said QAnon — which baselessly alleges that a cabal of sex traffickers within the “deep state” is engaged in a global fight to take down Trump — poses a domestic terrorist threat. While Trump claimed that he doesn’t know much about the conspiracy theory, he said he’s “heard that it is gaining in popularity,” adding: “I’ve heard these are people that love our country.” When a reporter told Trump that the central premise of the QAnon theory is that Trump is saving the world from a satanic cult of pedophiles and cannibals connected to the Democratic Party, Trump responded: “Is that supposed to be a bad thing or a good thing? If I can help save the world from problems, I am willing to do it. I’m willing to put myself out there.” (Axios / Politico / NBC News / New York Times / CNN / Reuters)
✏️ Notables.
The Department of Health and Human Services will reverse course and have hospitals report COVID-19 data to the CDC again. In July, HHS had instructed hospitals to no longer report new cases, hospital capacity, inventories, and other key data through the CDC’s National Health Safety Network, but to instead use the HHS Protect system, which has been plagued by delays and inconsistencies in data since being implemented. (Wall Street Journal)
The U.S. Postal Service instructed maintenance managers around the country not to reconnect or reinstall any mail sorting machines they had already disconnected. The emails were sent shortly after USPS Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said he was “suspending” his new policies “to avoid even the appearance of any impact on election mail.” (Vice News)
Trump’s cabinet officials had a 2018 show-of-hands vote in the White House Situation Room to move forward with separating migrant children, despite Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen warning that there were not enough resources to separate parents, prosecute them for crossing the border, and return them to their children in a timely manner. None of the 11 officials at the meeting said separating families would be inhumane, and any moral argument regarding immigration “fell on deaf ears” inside the White House, one official said. (NBC News)
Trump ordered Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen to leave her post in D.C. and go to the border at least half a dozen times, according to Miles Taylor, who worked in the Department of Homeland Security from 2017 to 2019. According to Taylor, Trump at one point told Nielsen to “‘Get your ass on TV at the border, what are you doing, what the hell are you doing?’” (Politico)
The Trump administration is moving forward with a plan to sell F-35 fighter jets and advanced armed drones to the United Arab Emirates. The UAE is currently working with the Trump administration on a plan to formalize diplomatic ties with Israel. American officials say the new push to sell the advanced weapons is not a direct reward for the Emirati role in any particular diplomatic breakthrough, but they did not deny that it comes as a result of the broader diplomatic effort to forge official ties between the two Middle Eastern nations. Some parts of the Israeli government have voiced concerns about the sale, and Congress is unlikely to approve it without the support of the Israeli government. (New York Times)
The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to decide whether Trump can block his critics on Twitter. An appeals court previously ruled that Trump’s practice of blocking critics violates the First Amendment. (Politico)
A former Department of Homeland Security chief of staff said Trump once asked him and other officials whether the U.S. could trade Greenland for Puerto Rico because, in Trump’s words, “Puerto Rico was dirty and the people were poor.” (NBC News)
The National Susan B. Anthony Museum and House declined Trump’s pardon of the late women’s suffrage leader, who was charged in 1872 with voting illegally. The museum noted that “If one wants to honor Susan B. Anthony today, a clear stance against any form of voter suppression would be welcome.” (Yahoo News)
🗳 How To Vote In The 2020 Election In Every State. Everything you need to know about mail-in and early in-person voting in every state in the age of COVID-19, including the first day you can cast your ballot in the 2020 election. (FiveThirtyEight / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
1/ The Senate Intelligence Committee made criminal referrals of Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, Steven Bannon, and other Trump allies to federal prosecutors in 2019. The bipartisan referrals were meant to pass along their suspicions that the men may have misled the committee during their testimony. The committee also made criminal referrals of Blackwater founder Erik Prince and former Trump campaign co-chair Sam Clovis. A criminal referral to the Justice Department means Congress believes a matter warrants investigation for potential violation of the law. There has been no public indication of any investigation. Attorneys for Trump Jr., Kushner, Bannon, and Clovis previously denied that their clients misled the committee. (NBC News / Washington Post / Los Angeles Times)
Trump dismisses new report on 2016 election interference as his allies continue to pursue theories it debunks. “Trump has pushed the debunked theories that Ukraine, not Russia, interfered in the 2016 election and that it did so on behalf of his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton. The report found that Russian intelligence operations manufactured that theory, which Trump has never disavowed and which played a role in his impeachment when he pressed the issue in a 2019 phone call with Ukraine’s president.” (Washington Post)
[IDEAS] Russiagate Was Not a Hoax. The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence confirmed what the Mueller report could not. (The Atlantic)
2/ Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer accused the Trump administration of “concealing” its role in selecting Louis DeJoy as postmaster general. In mid-June, Schumer had asked the USPS Board of Governors for documents and information related to the executive search firm that helped select DeJoy. The secretary of the board, Michael Elston, responded in early July that “with respect to the specific information you requested, much of it is confidential.” A lawyer for the executive search firm said the board refused to waive a nondisclosure agreement, blocking congressional lawmakers from conducting “oversight obligations to better understand the selection of Mr. DeJoy.” (Washington Post / CNBC)
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows claimed that Louis DeJoy did not consult with Trump before “suspending” changes to U.S. Postal Services operations. “The postmaster general did that on his own,” Meadows said. “That was an independent decision that was made by the postmaster general and the board of governors.” (The Hill)
3/ House Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused Louis DeJoy of not committing to replacing the sorting machines, mailboxes, and other mail infrastructure that has already been removed. Following a conversation with DeJoy, Pelosi released a statement, saying: “The Postmaster General frankly admitted that he had no intention of replacing the sorting machines, blue mailboxes and other key mail infrastructure that have been removed and that plans for adequate overtime, which is critical for the timely delivery of mail, are not in the works.” Pelosi added that Dejoy’s “suspension” of cost-cutting and operational changes are “wholly insufficient and does not reverse damage already wreaked.” Meanwhile, some postal union leaders doubt that the mail-processing equipment that remains in place would fully restore the capacity of the Postal Service. (Axios / CNN)
4/ Trump’s reelection campaign sued New Jersey over the state’s decision to mail a ballot to all residents. The lawsuit alleges that Gov. Phil Murphy’s executive order usurps the legislature’s authority to decide when and how elections are held. Murphy responded, saying “the President’s campaign is putting itself on record as wanting to delegitimize our November election instead of working with us to ensure that voters rights are upheld alongside public health.” (CNN)
5/ The Trump administration said it would consider the Democrats’ plan to spend $25 billion on the U.S. Postal Service as long as lawmakers include coronavirus relief payments and additional funding for small businesses through the Paycheck Protection Program. The new stimulus package has been stalled with Democrats and Republicans at least $1 trillion apart. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to hold a vote Saturday on $25 billion in funding for the Postal Service. (Bloomberg)
6/ White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany declined to say whether Trump would accept the election results if he lost, saying Trump has been clear that he will “see what happens” in November. On Monday, Trump told reporters that “the only way we’re going to lose this election is if the election is rigged.” (CBS News)
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany defended Trump’s support of far-right House candidates with histories of racist remarks, saying Trump hadn’t done a “deep dive” into their pasts. Trump congratulated Laura Loomer, a self-described Islamophobe, for winning in Florida’s 21st Congressional District. Last week Trump called Marjorie Taylor Greene, a QAnon conspiracy theorist caught making racist rants, a “future Republican Star.” McEnany suggested Trump congratulated them as a matter of routine. (Politico)
7/ Trump called for a boycott of Goodyear tires after an employee posted a photo of the company’s policy banning employees from wearing “MAGA Attire” in the workplace. During a diversity training event at the company’s Topeka, Kansas plant, a slide labeled “Zero Tolerance” was presented and spelled out appropriate and inappropriate displays in the workplace. “Black Lives Matter” and “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride” were considered appropriate, while “Blue Lives Matter,” “All Lives Matter,” “MAGA Attire,” and “Political Affiliated Slogans or Material” were considered inappropriate. “Don’t buy GOODYEAR TIRES,” Trump tweeted. “They announced a BAN ON MAGA HATS. Get better tires for far less! (This is what the Radical Left Democrats do. Two can play the same game, and we have to start playing it now!)” Goodyear denied that the slide was created or distributed by their corporate office and claimed it was not part of a diversity training class. Meanwhile, several photos surfaced on social media showing Goodyear tires on Trump’s presidential limousine. When asked whether Trump would order the tires removed, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany responded: “I’m not going to comment on security matters.” (Politico / CNN / Washington Post / Bloomberg / WIBW)
poll/ 22% of college students don’t plan to enroll this fall. Of those not returning to school, 73% are working full time, 4% are taking classes at a different university, and 2% are doing volunteer work. 85% of students believe they are likely or very likely to be exposed to the coronavirus if they return to campus this fall. (Axios)
poll/ 68% of Americans say they’re embarrassed by the U.S. response to the coronavirus. 62% say Trump should be doing more to fight it. 58% disapprove of the way Trump has handled the outbreak, and 55% say the worst is yet to come. 67% say they know someone who has been diagnosed with COVID-19. 79% of Americans are angry about the way things are going in the country today. (CNN)
🗳 How To Vote In The 2020 Election. A state-by-state guide to everything you need to know about mail-in and early in-person voting in the age of COVID-19, including the first day you can cast your ballot in the 2020 election. (FiveThirtyEight / NBC News)
📺 Democratic Convention: Night One Moments That Mattered. “Democrats kicked off their virtual nominating convention Monday with a focused denunciation of President Trump, showcasing dozens of testimonials that culminated in lancing criticism from former first lady Michelle Obama, who cast Trump as incapable of meeting America’s needs and said Joe Biden would usher in racial justice and ease the coronavirus pandemic.” (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / Politico)
1/ Postmaster General Louis DeJoy announced that he is temporarily “suspending” some controversial cost-cutting initiatives until after the election “to avoid even the appearance of any impact on election mail.” In his statement, DeJoy said “mail processing equipment and blue collection boxes will remain where they are” and that “overtime has, and will continue to be, approved as needed.” DeJoy did not address whether changes that have already been made (e.g. removed equipment or changes in operational practices) would be rolled back. DeJoy and USPS board of governors Chairman Robert Duncan is scheduled to testify on Friday at a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing, and again at the the House Oversight and Reform Committee on Monday. (Politico / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / USA Today / CNBC)
2/ At least 20 states plan to sue the U.S. Postal Service and Louis DeJoy, seeking to reverse operational changes made without first seeking approval from the Postal Regulatory Commission. The lawsuits, expected to be filed in federal court in Washington state and Pennsylvania, will also argue that the changes will impede states’ ability to run free and fair elections. (Washington Post / Reuters)
Five of the six members of the U.S. Postal Service’s board of governor are linked to GOP and Trump circles through various campaign, legal, and financial connections. The board of governors were responsible for selecting Louis DeJoy as postmaster general. (CNBC)
3/ Paul Manafort’s interactions with Russian intelligence services during the 2016 presidential election posed a “grave counterintelligence threat,” according to a bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee report on Russian interference, which detailed “counterintelligence threats and vulnerabilities.” The report found that the former Trump campaign chairman had “created opportunities for Russian intelligence services to exert influence over, and acquire confidential information on, the Trump Campaign” when he hired Russian national Konstantin Kilimnik, described for the first time as a “Russian intelligence officer,” to serve as a liaison between him and Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. The report also found that Trump and senior campaign officials tried to obtain advance information about WikiLeaks’ email dumps from Roger Stone, and that Trump spoke to Stone about WikiLeaks, despite telling Robert Mueller in written answers he had “no recollections” that they had spoken about it. The committee also found “significant evidence” to suggest that WikiLeaks was “knowingly collaborating with Russian government officials.” Overall, the report largely supports the key findings on Russian election interference made by Robert Mueller, including that Putin had ordered the 2016 hacking and release of Democratic Party emails intended to harm Hillary Clinton’s campaign, and found numerous contacts between Trump associates and Russians or people with ties to the Russian government, as well as efforts by Trump to take advantage of the leaks politically. The report, however, stops short of alleging a direct coordination effort despite Trump associates being eager to exploit the Kremlin’s aid. (Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Politico / Bloomberg / Associated Press / Axios / CNN)
MORE FINDINGS:
Russia “took advantage” of members of the Trump transition team’s “relative inexperience in government, opposition to Obama administration policies, and Trump’s desire to deepen ties with Russia to pursue unofficial channels through which Russia could conduct diplomacy.”
Trump Jr. expected to receive “derogatory information” at the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting that would benefit the campaign. The meeting, however, “was part of a broader influence operation” from the Russian government, though there’s no evidence Trump campaign members knew of it. Two of the Russians who met with Trump Jr., Jared Kushner and Manafort had “significant connections” to the Russian government, including Russian intelligence, and Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya’s ties were “far more extensive and concerning than what had been publicly known.”
Michael Cohen “reached out to the Kremlin directly to solicit the Russian government’s assistance” about building a Trump Tower in Moscow.
Trump said he plans to seek a third term “because they spied on my campaign.” Trump’s often-repeated claim that the Obama administration illegally spied on his campaign has been refuted by Trump’s own FBI in a detailed report. Trump made the claim during a rally in Wisconsin last night. “We are going to win four more years,” he told the crowd. “And then after that, we’ll go for another four years because they spied on my campaign. We should get a redo of four years.” According to the 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, however, “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.” (Rolling Stone)
Roger Stone dropped his appeal of seven federal felony convictions for lying to Congress. In July, Trump commuted Stone’s sentence, sparing him from having to serve any prison time. (Politico / NBC News)
4/ Trump retweeted Russian propaganda about Joe Biden that the U.S. intelligence community says it part of Moscow’s ongoing effort to “denigrate” Biden ahead of the election. The tweet contained audiotapes of a 2016 conversation between Biden and then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. The material was released earlier this year by Andriy Derkach, a Ukrainian lawmaker named by the US intelligence community in its August 7 statement about Russia’s disinformation campaign against Biden. There is no proof of wrongdoing on the tapes, but Trump and his allies, along with Kremlin-controlled media outlets, have used the tapes to stoke conspiracies about Biden’s dealings with Ukraine. (CNN)
poll/ 49% of registered voters said they would vote for Biden, while 38% said they would vote for Trump. Among likely voters, Biden is ahead 50% to 41%. (Yahoo News)
poll/ 44% of Americans say they would get a government-approved coronavirus vaccine if one becomes widely available, with 22% saying they wouldn’t, and 32% saying they aren’t sure. (NBC News)
✏️ Notables.
Trump pardoned Susan B. Anthony to commemorated the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote. The women’s suffragist was arrested after voting illegally in 1872 and fined $100. During the same event, Trump, disparaged the country’s most admired woman, Michelle Obama, as “over her head” after her Democratic National Convention speech criticizing him. “He has had more than enough time to prove that he can do the job, but he is clearly in over his head,” Obama said in her 19-minute taped remarks. “He cannot meet this moment. He simply cannot be who we need him to be for us,” she said, before invoking Trump’s response when asked about lives lost from coronavirus in the country: “It is what it is.” (CNN / New York Times / Associated Press)
A federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s rollback of anti-discrimination protections for transgender patients, citing a recent Supreme Court decision awarding workplace discrimination protections to LGBTQ employees. (Politico)
In 2019, Trump wanted to cut off emergency relief funding to California during a series of wildfires because it was a blue state, according to Miles Taylor, former chief of staff to former Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen. Taylor alleges that Trump asked for funding to be pulled from FEMA during the wildfires, which caused millions of dollars in damage in California, because “he was so rageful that people in the state of California didn’t support him.” Taylor also claims that Trump tried to reinstate the practice of separating children from their families at the border in order to scare immigrants, and that Trump became “visibly furious” when Nielsen refused to do so. (Politico)
New Zealand’s prime minister called Trump’s claim that New Zealand has had a “big surge” in coronavirus cases “patently wrong.” New Zealand recorded nine COVID-19 cases this week after going months without any. The United States, meanwhile, has seen at least 167,000 die and has recently averaged around 50,000 new cases each day. (Washington Post / NPR)
The Trump campaign started selling face masks and is telling Trump’s supporters that he “urges all patriotic Americans to wear a face cover when they are unable to socially distance.” Trump initially refused to wear a face mask and called them a “double-edged sword.” He also mocked Biden for wearing one in public in May. Mask use among Trump’s base increased after Trump started wearing one. (Axios)
🗳 How To Vote In The 2020 Election. A state-by-state guide to everything you need to know about mail-in and early in-person voting in the age of COVID-19, including the first day you can cast your ballot in the 2020 election. (FiveThirtyEight / NBC News)
📺 Democratic Convention. This year’s Democratic National Convention, which was originally set to take place in Milwaukee, will instead be held virtually because of the coronavirus pandemic. The convention kicks-off today and will run through Thursday. Tonight’s theme, “We the People,” starts at 9 p.m. Eastern and will feature Michelle Obama and Bernie Sanders, as well as other party leaders. Watch live on DemConvention.com, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Twitch, Amazon Prime Video, Microsoft Bing, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Roku TV – or via broadcast television. (Bloomberg / NBC News / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
1/ Nancy Pelosi recalled the House from summer recess to vote on legislation to block changes at the Postal Service that could disenfranchise voters who use mail-in ballots. The House was not scheduled to return until Sept. 14, but will vote Saturday on a $25 billion bill to fund the Postal Service and “prohibit the Postal Service from dialing back levels of service it had in place” on Jan. 1 until the pandemic ends. The Postal Service is expected to receive as many as 80 million mail-in ballots cast by Americans who are worried about voting in-person because of the coronavirus. Trump, meanwhile, attacked the Postal Service, declaring that the agency “has been failing for many decades” and asserting that Democrats “don’t have a clue.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / Axios / CNBC / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
[Analysis] Tracing Trump’s Postal Service obsession, from “loser” to “scam” to “rigged election.” (Washington Post)
[Context] Postal crisis ripples across nation as election looms. Trump’s furious objection to mail-in balloting and a new Trump-allied postmaster general are raising fears about the election and the Postal Service. (New York Times)
2/ Postmaster General Louis DeJoy agreed to testify at an “urgent” hearing before the House Oversight Committee next Monday about changes to the U.S. Postal Service. Trump, meanwhile, denied that his administration was attempting to slow down the mail or that he’s “tampering” with the election, arguing that DeJoy is trying “to make the post office great again,” which he claimed is “one of the disasters of the world.” And, speaking to reporters outside the White House, Trump claimed “I have encouraged everybody to speed up the mail, not slow the mail.” Trump later tweeted “SAVE THE POST OFFICE!” after wondering aloud on Twitter “Why is Congress scheduled to meet [DeJoy] during the Republican Convention, rather than now, while the Dems are having their Convention.” Last week, Trump admitted that he opposed additional funding for the Postal Service and election security because they would help facilitate voting by mail amid the coronavirus pandemic. On Saturday, Trump continued his attacks on mail-in voting during a press conference, claiming without evidence that voting by mail will make the U.S. a “laughingstock.” (Axios / Politico / NBC News)
3/ At least six states are preparing to sue the Trump administration to prevent operational changes and funding lapses to the U.S. Postal Service that could affect voting in the 2020 presidential election. Attorneys general in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Washington, and North Carolina are in discussions about how best to approach the suit. New York is reportedly also considering action. The states are expected to announce the lawsuit early this week. Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring said the cohort is working “to determine what Trump and U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy are doing, whether they have already violated or are likely to violate any laws, and what tools we have at our disposal to put a stop to President Trump’s ongoing attack on our Postal Service and our democracy.” (Washington Post / New York Times)
4/ Trump suggested that the FDA should approve an untested experimental coronavirus treatment. Despite no public data or peer-reviewed research showing that the experimental botanical extract, oleandrin, has ever been tested in animals or humans for its efficacy against COVID-19, Trump said the extract should be marketed as a dietary supplement or approved as a drug to cure COVID-19. Oleandrin was promoted to Trump during an Oval Office meeting in July by HUD Secretary Ben Carson and MyPillow.com CEO Mike Lindell — a prominent Trump donor who recently took a financial stake in the company that develops the extract. (Axios)
White House staffers are still upset with Deputy National Security Adviser Matt Pottinger months after he wore a face mask in front of Trump. Several senior officials viewed Pottinger’s mask-wearing as an indication that he was publicly challenging the president. Trump has also reportedly teased Pottinger behind his back for wearing a mask. (Daily Beast)
5/ Trump’s coronavirus task force warned that the spread of COVID-19 in Georgia is “widespread and expanding” under current policies. The task force “strongly recommends” Georgia adopt a statewide mask mandate because “Current mitigation efforts are not having a sufficient impact.” (Atlanta Journal-Constitution / NBC News)
The COVID-19 rate in children have been “steadily increasing” since March, according to updated CDC guidance. “Recent evidence suggests that children likely have the same or higher viral loads in their nasopharynx compared with adults and that children can spread the virus effectively in households and camp settings,” the guidance states. Health experts say children make up more than 7% of all coronavirus cases in the U.S., while comprising about 22% of the country’s population. (CNN)
The FDA issued an emergency authorization for the use of a saliva-based test for the coronavirus. The test, known as SalivaDirect, was developed at the Yale School of Public Health and funded by the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association. (Wall Street Journal / ESPN)
poll/ 53% of voters are “extremely enthusiastic” about voting in this year’s election. Overall, 50% of registered voters back the Biden-Harris ticket, while 46% say they support Trump and Pence. (CNN)
poll/ Biden and Harris lead Trump and Pence 53% to 41% among registered voters. Among voters who say they are “absolutely certain” to vote, Biden and Harris lead 54% to 43%. (Washington Post)
poll/ 58% of voters who support Joe Biden say their vote is more in opposition to Trump than in support of Biden. 74% of Trump voters say their vote is more in support of Trump than against Biden. Overall, 50% of voters say they would vote for Biden if the election were held today, while 41% back Trump. (Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Axios)
poll/ 50% of Americans have a favorable view of Biden and 52% see Harris favorably compared to 42% favorability for Trump and 44% for Pence. (ABC News)
poll/ 42% of Americans approve of the job Trump is doing as president – a slight improvement since June. (Gallup)
✏️ Notables.
Trump told aides that he’d like to meet with Putin before the November election. Administration officials are considering a possible meeting next month in New York. The aim of a summit would be to announce progress toward a new nuclear arms control agreement between Russia and the U.S. Trump and his team also plan to have him hold more meetings with world leaders in the weeks leading up to the election. (NBC News / Bloomberg)
The Senate Intelligence Committee asked the Justice Department to investigate Stephen Bannon for potentially lying to lawmakers during its investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. The bipartisan letter also raised concerns about testimony by Trump’s family members and confidants, including Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, Paul Manafort, and Hope Hicks, that appeared to contradict information provided by a former deputy campaign chairman to Robert Mueller. The letter was sent July 19, 2019 and it’s not clear what action the Justice Department took on the referral. (Los Angeles Times)
The Trump administration approved an oil leasing program to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling. The move will auction off oil and gas rights in the 1.6 million-acre coastal wilderness. (Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / CNN)
U.S. intelligence agencies assessed that Iran offered bounties to Taliban fighters to target American and coalition troops in Afghanistan. Payments were linked to at least six attacks carried out in the last year alone, including a suicide bombing at a U.S. air base in December. (CNN)
Trump’s younger brother, who unsuccessfully sued his niece to stop the publication of her book calling Donald Trump “the world’s most dangerous man,” died. Robert Trump was 71. Trump said he may hold a memorial service for Robert at the White House this week. In a statement Trump called Robert “not just my brother, he was my best friend.” Speaking to reporters later, Trump portrayed his brother as a lifelong supporter, saying “If I had the number one show, or if I had a big success, and no matter what I did — whether it was real estate deals or anything else — he was right there and in many cases helped with whatever I did. And then when I became president he was one of the most loyal people, there was no jealousy.” (New York Times / Politico / Washington Post)
1/ Trump’s top two officials at the Department of Homeland Security are illegally serving in their positions, according to a Government Accountability Office report. The independent watchdog agency reported to Congress that Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf and his deputy Kenneth Cuccinelli are serving under an invalid order of succession under the Vacancies Reform Act. After the resignation of Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen in April 2019, Kevin McAleenan took over and altered the order of succession for other officials to succeed him after his departure. GAO has referred the matter to the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security for further review and potential action. (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / Axios)
2/ Trump perpetuated a racist and false conspiracy theory that Kamala Harris is not eligible to be vice president because her parents were immigrants. The claim is false. Harris was born in California and is eligible to serve. Trump, nevertheless, continued: “I heard it today that she doesn’t meet the requirements – I have no idea if that’s right.” Constitutional law experts say Harris’ parents are beside the point since the 14th Amendment grants citizenship to all people born in the U.S. And, Article II Section 1 of the Constitution says that to be eligible for the vice presidency and presidency, a candidate must be natural-born U.S. citizen, at least 35, and a resident of the United States for a minimum of 14 years. Trump appeared to be referring to a widely discredited op-ed that claims that the U.S. Constitution doesn’t grant birthright citizenship. Trump used a similar tactic to undermine the legitimacy of Barack Obama’s administration by claiming that Obama was born outside the United States. (New York Times / Associated Press)
3/ The U.S. Postal Service warned 46 states and D.C. that it cannot guarantee all ballots cast by mail for the November election will arrive in time to be counted because of lags in mail delivery. States — including the key battleground states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Florida — were warned that their long-standing deadlines for requesting, returning and counting ballots were “incongruous” with mail service and that voters who send ballots in close to those deadlines may become disenfranchised. In Pennsylvania, USPS warned that some ballots might not be delivered on time because the state’s deadlines are too tight for its “delivery standards.” The ballot warnings were reportedly planned before the appointment of Louis DeJoy as postmaster general, but issued at the end of July. (Washington Post / The Philadelphia Inquirer / CNN)
New Jersey’s election will – for the first time – be conducted mostly by mail to ensure voters’ and poll workers’ safety during the pandemic. New Jersey will send ballots to all active registered voters while also providing the option to vote in person. (New York Times / Washington Post)
Trump’s new postmaster general hasn’t met with state election officials. A bipartisan group of secretaries of state, who are responsible for running elections, requested to meet this week with Louis DeJoy, who was appointed to the job in May, but the meeting hasn’t been scheduled. Election officials are expected to begin sending out absentee ballots as soon as September. (NPR)
4/ The U.S. Postal Service proposed removing 20% of letter sorting machines before revising the plan weeks later to closer to 15%. As a result, about 502 machines will be taken out of service. In May, the USPS planned to remove 969 sorting machines for all types of letters and flat mail. 746 were delivery bar code sorters, which are used to sort letters, postcards, ballots, marketing mail, and other similarly sized pieces. A document distributed to union officials in mid-June, however, said 502 of those machines would be removed from facilities. Meanwhile, a grievance filed by the American Postal Workers Union says the USPS is decommissioning 10% of its mail-sorting machines, which have the capacity to collectively sort 21.4 million pieces of paper mail per hour. (Vice News / Washington Post)
The U.S. Postal Service removed some collection boxes from neighborhood streets in Oregon, citing “duplicate” boxes in the area. (The Oregonian)
Obama condemned Trump’s efforts to “actively kneecap” the USPS ahead of the November election, casting the moves as “unique to modern political history.” (Politico)
Trump and Melania requested a mail-in ballot for Florida’s primary election, despite repeatedly criticizing mail-in voting and falsely claiming that it leads to widespread voter fraud. Last week, Trump singled out Florida as an exception, tweeting that his supporters there should request an absentee ballot and vote by mail because the election system in the Republican-run battleground state is “Safe and Secure, Tried and True.” (USA Today / CNN)
5/ The internal watchdog at the U.S. Postal Service is reviewing recent policy changes and examining Louis DeJoy’s compliance with federal ethics rules. Last week, Democratic lawmakers asked the inspector general to launch an inquiry into DeJoy, including policy changes he’s made since taking over in June and whether DeJoy has “met all ethics requirements.” DeJoy still owns at least a $30 million equity stake in his former company, a USPS contractor. DeJoy also recently bought stock options for Amazon, another USPS competitor. (CNN)
6/ The CDC suggested that people who have recovered from COVID-19 can safely interact with others for three months. While the CDC still recommends physical distancing, mask-wearing, and other precautions, the agency’s updated guidance on quarantining states that people should quarantine if they’ve been in close contact with someone who has COVID-19, “excluding people who have had COVID-19 within the past 3 months.” Further, people who have tested positive for the virus don’t need to be tested for up to three months as long as they don’t develop symptoms. (NBC News / New York Times)
The CDC asked four states and one city to draft plans for how they would distribute a coronavirus vaccine when limited doses become available. The Defense Department, meanwhile, will handle manufacturing logistics, including acquisition of raw material, establishing factories, and training workers. Trump also announced a collaboration with McKesson Corp to aid in vaccine distribution. (Washington Post / Bloomberg)
U.S. researchers will manufacture a strain of the coronavirus that could be used in human challenge trials of vaccines, in which healthy volunteers would be vaccinated and then intentionally infected with the virus. The work is preliminary and the trials would not replace large-scale, Phase 3 trials. (Reuters / Washington Post)
poll/ 71% of Americans see the coronavirus as a real threat, but 35% say they won’t get vaccinated against it once a vaccine becomes available, while 60% say they will get the vaccine. 71% of Democrats say they’ll get the vaccine, while only 48% of Republicans say the same. (NPR)
[Fox News] poll/ 49% of voters prefer Joe Biden, compared to 42% for Trump. In July, the same poll had Biden up over Trump by 8 percentage points, holding 49% support compared with Trump’s 41%. (Fox News / Politico)
Notables.
Trump will deliver his Republican National Convention speech from the White House lawn “because it is a great place,” Trump said. “It’s a place that makes me feel good, it makes the country feel good.” He added that it’s “very big, a very big lawn,” and would allow a “big group of people” to attend while maintaining social distancing. Nancy Pelosi called the decision “very wrong” and said the idea that Trump plans to “degrade once again the White House, as he has done over and over again, by saying he’s going to completely politicize it, is something that should be rejected right out of hand.” (New York Post)
A former FBI lawyer agreed to plead guilty to altering an email that helped justify surveillance of Carter Page as part of the 2016 investigation into Russian interference in the election. Kevin Clinesmith plans to admit to one charge of altering an email to another official in 2017 that said Page wasn’t a previous government source, when he had been one. (New York Times / CNN / Washington Post / Associated Press)
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance’s grand investigation into Trump goes beyond investigating 2016 payments to Stormy Daniels. In a filing urging a U.S. district judge to reject Trump’s challenge to a subpoena seeking his tax filings, Vance wrote that Trump has had ample “notice” that “the investigation was not limited to Cohen’s 2016 payments.” (Bloomberg)
Michael Cohen’s book alleges that Trump worked with Russia to win the 2016 presidential election. In an excerpt released from the book, entitled “Disloyal, A Memoir,” Cohen claims that Trump worked to get close to Putin and “his coterie of corrupt billionaire oligarchs,” and that Trump lied when he told the American public he had no dealings in Russia. (NBC News)
A federal appeals court panel unanimously overturned a lower-court order requiring Hillary Clinton to provide a sworn deposition about her use of a private email account and server during her four years as secretary of State. (Politico)
Trump will visit his “very ill” younger brother in at a New York hospital before heading to his private golf resort in Bedminister, N.J. Robert Trump’s exact condition is unknown, but he was hospitalized in June in the intensive care unit at Mount Sinai hospital for more than a week. “I have a wonderful brother. We’ve had a great relationship for a long time. From Day 1. Long time. And he’s in the hospital right now,” Trump said. “Hopefully he’ll be all right but he’s having a hard time.” (ABC News / Washington Post)
A White House correspondent asked Trump “do you regret at all the lying you’ve done to the American people?” Trump responded with “All the what?” before calling on another journalist, who asked a question about payroll tax. Trump has told more than 20,000 “false or misleading claims” over the course of his presidency. (The Guardian / Washington Post)
1/ Trump vowed to block funding for the U.S. Postal Service so Democrats “can’t have universal mail-in voting” during the coronavirus pandemic. On Wednesday, Trump told reporters he would not approve $25 billion in emergency funding for the Postal Service, or $3.5 billion in supplemental funding for election resources. And then on Thursday, Trump directly linked Democrats’ coronavirus relief spending proposal to his continued baseless claims that increased mail-in voting would perpetuate “one of the greatest frauds in history,” saying “if they don’t get those two items, that means you can’t have universal mail-in voting because they’re not equipped to have it.” Trump added: “They don’t have the money to do the universal mail-in voting. So therefore, they can’t do it, I guess. Are they going to do it even if they don’t have the money?” States, meanwhile, are working to increase their capacity for mail-in voting with a surge of Americans expected to vote by mail this fall because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Trump also threatened to veto an earlier, $2 trillion round of coronavirus relief spending for unemployment benefits, small businesses, and national security industries if it included any direct funding for the Postal Service. (HuffPost / Washington Post / New York Times / Business Insider / Axios / Bloomberg / Washington Post / CNN)
The United States Postal Service has removed some mail sorting machines that would likely be tasked with sorting ballots without explanation or reason. At least 19 mail sorting machines from five processing facilities around the country have either already been removed or are scheduled to be in the near future. USPS has not announced any policy, explained why this is happening, what will happen to the machines or the workers who use them. (Vice News)
A former top official at the USPS warned that recent operational changes by Postmaster General Louis Dejoy could “disenfranchise” voters. Ronald Stroman, who stepped down earlier this year as the second in command at USPS, said the changes being implemented just months ahead of an election in which a record number of Americans are expected to vote by mail is “a high-risk proposition.” (The Guardian)
The Supreme Court rejected an emergency request by the Republican National Committee and the Rhode Island Republican Party to block state voters from casting mail-in ballots without in-person witness verification during the coronavirus pandemic. Rhode Island requires voters mailing their ballots to sign them in front of two witnesses or a notary, but Gov. Gina Raimondo suspended that requirement because of worries that it would expose voters to the virus. (Associated Press / Reuters / Washington Post)
A federal judge in Pennsylvania ordered the Trump campaign and the GOP to produce evidence of vote-by-mail fraud in the state by Friday. The order effectively forces the campaign to back up Trump’s false claims about massive voter fraud in postal voting. District Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan said the Court finds “instances of voter fraud are relevant to the claims and defenses in this case” and ordered Republicans to turn over any evidence of fraud to the Democratic Party and the Sierra Club, which are part of the lawsuit. Democrats had asked for information and documents that would show steps the Republicans took to study the possibility of fraud, especially related to the use of dropboxes, ballot collection and mailed-in ballots in the primary elections. Until now, Trump and the GOP have refused to do so. (CNN)
2/ Nancy Pelosi and 174 House Democrats demanded that the USPS reverse operational changes made by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, arguing that the changes will hamper mail-in voting on Election Day. “The House is seriously concerned that you are implementing policies that accelerate the crisis at the Postal Service, including directing Post Offices to no longer treat all election mail as First Class,” the letter reads. The letter warns that the changes “will cause further delays to election mail that will disenfranchise voters and put significant financial pressure on election jurisdictions.” DeJoy also eliminated overtime pay for hundreds of thousands of postal workers and required that mail is kept until the next day if distribution centers are running late. He also removed or reassigned nearly two dozen postal leaders, implemented a hiring freeze, and requested “early retirement authority” for non-union employees. (NBC News)
3/ Trump’s newly appointed postmaster general holds a multi-million dollar stake in his former company XPO Logistics, a United States Postal Service contractor. Newly obtained financial disclosures show Louis DeJoy holds at least $30 million in XPO holdings, likely creating a conflict of interest as the transportation and logistics company does business with the Postal Service and has contracts with other U.S. government agencies, including the Department of Defense. Separately, on the same day in June 2020 that DeJoy divested large amounts of Amazon shares, he purchased stock options giving him the right to buy new shares of Amazon at a price much lower than their current market price. DeJoy and USPS have said he fully complied with ethics regulations, but ethics experts say they were shocked that officials at USPS approved the arrangement. (CNN)
4/ The United States reported nearly 1,500 deaths from the coronavirus in a single day Wednesday – the highest since mid-May – as Trump urged Americans to “open up our schools and open up our businesses.” More than half the deaths reported on Wednesday were spread across five states that saw some of the most dramatic case spikes in June and July. The country’s seven-day average of newly reported deaths has remained above 1,000 for 17 consecutive days. According to an analysis of estimates from the CDC, at least 200,000 more people have died than usual since March – about 60,000 higher than the number of deaths that have been directly linked to the coronavirus. (Washington Post / New York Times / New York Times)
Kamala Harris blamed Trump for the severity of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States, saying he is “delusional” and failed to take the virus “seriously from the start.” (CNBC)
Joe Biden called for a national mask mandate, saying “Every single American should be wearing a mask when they’re outside for the next three months, at a minimum. Every governor should mandate — every governor should mandate mandatory mask wearing.” (CNN)
5/ The director of the CDC warned that the United States could have “the worst fall, from a public health perspective, we’ve ever had” if Americans don’t follow CDC coronavirus guidelines. Dr. Robert Redfield urged Americans to do four simple things to avoid exacerbating the crisis: “wear a mask, social distance, wash your hands and be smart about crowds.” He added: “I’m not asking some of America to do it. We all gotta do it.” Separately, Dr. Redfield said years of underinvestment in public health infrastructure left the United States “unprepared” for the “greatest public health crisis that’s hit this nation in a century.” (CNN / WebMD / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
40.9% of Americans “reported at least one adverse mental or behavioral health condition” since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. According to the new CDC study, 31% of respondents were suffering from anxiety or depression; 26% experienced traumatic disorder; 13% were using drugs or alcohol more heavily to cope with the pandemic; and 11% had seriously contemplated suicide. (Yahoo News)
6/ The Senate adjourned through Labor Day with talks on a new coronavirus relief bill stalled after six days without in-person meetings. White House officials and top Democrats were trillions of dollars apart when talks collapsed last week. Democrats say they won’t negotiate with White House officials until the GOP agrees to spend at least $2 trillion – double the size of the GOP’s initial proposal. The House passed a $3.4 trillion relief bill in May, but Republicans waited weeks to discuss. (Politico / Washington Post)
White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow said Trump opposes the “voting rights” plans backed by Democrats in the next coronavirus relief bill. Kudlow labeled the Democratic plan to give states $3.6 billion to promote election security and mail-in voting during the once-in-a-lifetime pandemic a “really liberal left” wish list item. (CNBC / Politico)
7/ Unemployment claims fell below 1 million for the first time since the pandemic began in March with 963,000 people filing for first-time benefits. Another 489,000 people applied under the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program. Continuing claims totaled about 15.5 million. Before the coronavirus pandemic, the worst week on record was in 1982, when 695,000 people filed for unemployment benefits. In late March, nearly 6.9 million Americans applied for benefits in a single week. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNBC)
8/ The Trump administration proposed changing the definition of American-made shower heads to allow more water flow following complaints from Trump about his hair routine and need to keep his hair “perfect.” Under a 1992 law, shower heads in the U.S. are not allowed to produce more than 2.5 gallons of water per minute. “So shower heads — you take a shower, the water doesn’t come out,” Trump said in July. “You want to wash your hands, the water doesn’t come out. So what do you do? You just stand there longer or you take a shower longer? Because my hair — I don’t know about you, but it has to be perfect. Perfect.” Last December, Trump said regulators were looking to revise rules meant to conserve water for sinks, faucets, and toilets, claiming “People are flushing toilets 10 times, 15 times, as opposed to once.” (Associated Press / The Guardian / BBC / New York Times / Bloomberg)
poll/ 60% of Americans, including 87% of Democrats and 37% of Republicans, considered the selection of Kamala Harris for vice president to be a “major milestone” for the United States. 46% of Americans said they would vote for a Biden/Harris ticket, while 38% would vote for Trump/Pence. (Reuters)
1/ For the 16th consecutive day the U.S. has averaged over 1,000 coronavirus deaths. The U.S. is averaging just under 53,000 new cases of COVID-19 per day – down 11% from the week prior. (CNN)
A Florida sheriff banned his deputies from wearing masks at work. Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods disputed the idea that masks are a consensus approach to battling the pandemic despite a majority of epidemiologists and other health experts saying face masks and social distancing are key to slowing the spread of the coronavirus. Florida set a daily record for COVID-19 deaths on Tuesday. (Washington Post)
Trump added a frequent Fox News guest, who echoes his views on reopening schools, lockdowns, and college football, as a coronavirus adviser. Dr. Scott Atlas has reportedly been informally advising Trump for weeks after Trump first saw Atlas on Fox News, asserting that it doesn’t matter “how many cases” there are in the U.S., wrongly claiming those under 18 years old have “essentially no risk of dying,” implying that high risk teachers should “know how to protect themselves” from COVID-19 and baselessly claiming that “children almost never transmit the disease.” Atlas has also called the idea that schools cannot reopen this fall “hysteria.” (CNN)
A team of virologists and aerosol scientists were able to isolate live coronavirus in the air up to 16 feet from patients hospitalized with COVID-19. The team collected air samples from a ward dedicated to COVID-19 patients from seven and 16 feet away. The samples collected could then infect cells in a lab dish. (New York Times)
2/ The White House clarified that it will provide less financial assistance for the unemployed than Trump initially promised. Unemployment benefit will be $300 per week, not the $400 Trump announced on Saturday when he approved an executive action to expand unemployment benefits. Further, the extra $300 a week in federal unemployment benefits will likely to take a few weeks to reach people, but the funding could be exhausted in five or six weeks. More than 30 million people are receiving some form of unemployment benefits. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / ABC News / Bloomberg)
3/ Congress and the Trump administration remain “miles apart” on negotiations over a coronavirus stimulus deal. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin reportedly reached out to Pelosi seeking a meeting on the stalled talks, but “the White House is not budging from their position concerning the size and scope of a legislative package,” Pelosi and Chuck Schumer said in a joint statement. Pelosi and Schumer also signaled that Mnuchin – again – rejected their offer to find a middle ground between the Democrats’ $3 trillion package the GOP’s $1 trillion proposal. Pelosi and Schumer have not met with Mnuchin and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows since since Friday. (CNBC / Axios / Washington Post / Reuters)
4/ Public hospital data about the coronavirus pandemic is lagging by a week or more since the Trump administration ordered states to bypass the CDC and report data directly to the Department of Health and Human Services. HHS officials said the quality-control process has led to some delays in reporting hospital capacity estimates. Nearly three dozen current and former members of a federal health advisory committee, meanwhile, have warned that the new coronavirus database is placing an undue burden on hospitals and will have “serious consequences on data integrity.” (Wall Street Journal / New York Times)
5/ Minutes after Joe Biden named Kamala Harris as his running mate, Trump’s re-election campaign and the Republican National Committee attacked Harris, labeling her the “nastiest,” “meanest,” “most horrible,” and “most liberal leftist nominee” ever to run for vice president. Trump senior adviser Katrina Pierson attempted to paint Harris as an overzealous criminal prosecutor on one hand, while suggesting that her and Biden would neglect law and order on the other. Fox News, meanwhile, attacked Harris throughout Tuesday night with Tucker Carlson intentionally and repeatedly mispronouncing the senator’s first name before being called out by a guest. “So what?” he Carlson, “Comma-la.” And, finally, when Trump was asked about his tweet calling Harris a “phony,” Trump responded: “That she was a what?” He then continued: “She’s very big into raising taxes, she wants to slash funds for our military at a level that nobody would ever believe, she’s against fracking […] extraordinarily nasty.” (NBC News / The Guardian / CNN / New York Times / Politico / Bloomberg / CNN / The Hill)
Trump donated to Kamala Harris in 2011 and 2013. Trump gave donations of $5,000 and $1,000 to Harris’s re-election campaign for California attorney general. (Bloomberg)
[Analysis] What you need to know about Kamala Harris. “Harris, who is Black and Indian American, will become the first woman of color on a major-party presidential ticket when she and Biden are formally nominated by Democrats at next week’s virtual convention. She will be only the fourth woman on a major-party ticket. Here’s what you should know about her.” (Washington Post)
[Behind the move] Inside Joe Biden’s search for his own running mate. “The journey that led to Biden’s selection of Kamala Harris as his running mate began two years ago, say those familiar with the process.” (NBC News)
[Perspective] Tucker Carlson’s mangling of Kamala Harris’s name was all about disrespect. “Here’s the thing: It’s really not that hard to get Harris’s name right.” (Washington Post)
[Perspective] Kamala Harris crystallizes Trump’s view of women. “Trump responded by sorting women into the good “suburban housewife” he believes will vote for him, and the nasty women who have not respected him.” (New York Times)
[Dept. of Whatever] Jared Kushner met privately with Kanye West last weekend. When asked about the meeting, the rapper, who has filed petitions to get on the November ballots for president in several states, tweeted: “I’m willing to do a live interview with the New York Time about my meeting with Jared.” In a recent poll, 2% of voters overall supported West, and just 2% of Black voters supported him. (New York Times / Politico)
6/ Several states concerned about slower-than-usual mail delivery are extending mail-in ballot deadlines and making backup plans to ease early voting. Legislators in Nevada and Mississippi will allow ballots to be counted as long as they are postmarked by Election Day – even if they arrive much later. Connecticut made a similar change for the state’s primary, while Minnesota agreed to set aside its deadline as part of a court settlement. Several over states are also adding technology that would allow both elections directors and voters to track ballots as they move through the postal system. The American Postal Worker Union, meanwhile, warned that a U.S. Postal Service reorganization, introduced in July, has resulted in thousands of delayed letters. Another directive, requiring mail carriers to immediately head out on their routes, carrying only packages and letters that were sorted the night before, has resulted in some carriers doubling back to pick up a second batch later in the day. (Reuters / Bloomberg)
7/ Trump has averaged less than one intelligence briefing a week since July 1 – after it became public that he had ignored intelligence reports about Russia offering bounties to the Taliban for each American soldier killed in Afghanistan. Trump went from a high of 4.1 briefings per week on average in March 2017 to 0.7 per week since July 1. Monday’s briefing was his first in August and the first since July 22. In July, Trump received three briefings. (HuffPost)
8/ Trump privately told people that he intends to replace Secretary of Defense Mark Esper after the November election, frustrated that Esper hasn’t done more to publicly defend him on reports that Russia paid Taliban fighters “bounties” for the killing of U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Esper, however, has told people close to him that he intends to leave regardless of the election’s outcome. (Bloomberg)
poll/ 40% of voters blame Democrats for failing to pass a new COVID-19 relief package before the initial $600 unemployment benefit expired last week. 39%, meanwhile, blame Trump and Republicans in Congress. (CNBC)
poll/ 79% of Americans say religious institutions should be required to follow the same social distancing guidelines as secular businesses and entities. 19% say houses of worship should be allowed more flexibility than other kinds of establishments when it comes to rules about social distancing. (Public Research Center)
poll/ 59% of voters oppose the Trump administration’s demand that schools and colleges fully open for in-person instruction. (Politico)
Nearly 1,200 students and staffers in a Georgia school district have been quarantined after 38 students and 12 staff members tested positive for COVID-19 – one week into the new school year. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
A school district in New Jersey voted this week to hold all classes remotely after more than 400 teachers opted out of in-person classes over health concerns. (CBS News)
Notables.
A federal judge in New York invalidated rule changes made by the Trump administration that would have allowed individuals and corporations to kill large numbers of birds as long as they could prove the birds weren’t specifically targeted. U.S. District Judge Valerie E. Caproni said there is nothing in the century-old Migratory Bird Treaty Act that indicates that in order for an action to be prohibited, it must be directed specifically at birds. He added: “Nor does the statute prohibit only intentionally killing migratory birds. And it certainly does not say that only ‘some’ kills are prohibited.” Under the Trump administration’s reasoning, a company like BP, which was responsible for the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that killed up to a million birds, would not be liable for punishment under the changes to the law. “It is not only a sin to kill a mockingbird, it is also a crime,” Judge Caproni wrote. (Washington Post)
Trump criticized wind power during an interview on Fox News and mourned “all the birds” that are killed by windmills each year. “Site and home values going way down,” Trump told Sean Hannity. “If you see a windmill and hear a windmill, your home is worth half or less than half. It kills all the birds.” (Daily Beast)
Trump tweeted congratulations to a QAnon conspiracy theorist who won the Republican nomination in Georgia’s 14th Congressional District runoff. Marjorie Taylor Greene has posted hours of racist, anti-Semitic, and Islamophobic videos on Facebook. (Axios / NBC News / CNN / ABC News / New York Times)
Russia approved approved a coronavirus vaccine that hasn’t completed clinical trials. Putin said receiving the vaccine would be voluntary and that it had “proven efficient” and “passed all the necessary tests,” but no data has been published by researchers for peer review and the long-term effects of the treatment remained unclear. Less than 100 people have received the inoculation. (Washington Post / NBC News / Associated Press / New York Times / Bloomberg / Politico)
1/ Joe Biden selected Kamala Harris as his running mate, announcing the decision hours after Trump suggested that some men would feel “insulted” if he chose a woman. Harris, the daughter of Indian and Jamaican immigrants, will be the first Black woman and first Asian-American to be nominated for national office by a major party. Trump, meanwhile, told Fox Sports Radio that Biden has “roped himself into a certain group of people.” Following Biden’s announcement, Trump attacked Harris, calling her “nasty” and “disrespectful,” adding that “Phony Kamala will abandon her own morals.” (Washington Post / Axios / New York Times / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Axios)
About 76% of Americans will be eligible to vote by mail in the 2020 election – the most in U.S. history. (New York Times)
2/ Trump baselessly claimed that Americans will “have to learn to speak Chinese” if Biden wins in November. “China will own the United States if this election is lost by Donald Trump,” Trump said, referring to himself in the third person. “And with me, they were having the worst year in 67 years because I tariffed the hell out of them.” (CNN / Politico)
3/ Trump was abruptly escorted from a press briefing by Secret Service after a man claiming to have a weapon was shot by an officer outside the White House. The unidentified 51-year-old man was shot near the White House fence after he approached a Secret Service officer, told him he had a weapon, ran toward the officer, and pulled an object from his clothing, according to the Secret Service. The agency did not answer questions about whether the man actually had a gun, or if the officer was injured. After being taken to the Oval Office, Trump returned to the briefing room about 10 minutes later. After addressing the shooting, Trump picked up where he left off: “So I was telling you that the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 are now 50 percent above the March level,” he said. “NASDAQ is setting new records.” (CNBC / NBC News / The Guardian)
4/ Trump claimed that he would not have called on Obama to resign from office if 160,000 Americans had died under his administration’s watch. Trump, however, tweeted in 2014 that Obama should resign for allowing a single doctor who tested positive for Ebola to enter the U.S. (Axios)
5/ Trump claimed that in 1917 the Spanish Flu “probably ended the Second World War,” even though that pandemic began in 1918 and World War II didn’t begin until 1939. “The closest thing is in 1917, they say, the great pandemic,” Trump said, comparing the Spanish Flu to COVID-19. “It certainly was a terrible thing where they lost anywhere from 50 to 100 million people, probably ended the Second World War.” He added: “All the soldiers were sick. That was a terrible situation.” A White House official claimed Trump was talking about World War I, where more soldiers died from the disease than from fighting. (USA Today / Business Insider)
6/ Trump urged universities to “Play College Football!” hours before the Big Ten and Pac-12 announced they had postponed fall sports due to the coronavirus pandemic. Nevertheless, Trump told Fox Sports Radio that he thinks “football’s making a tragic mistake,” saying there’s “nothing like” the “atmosphere” of college football and “you can’t have empty seats.” Trump, meanwhile, said that the NBA is “not working” because players are kneeling during the national anthem to protest police brutality. (Politico / NBC News / New York Times / CNBC)
7/ The White House is considering new immigration rules to temporarily block entry by citizens and legal residents from returning to the United States if authorities believe they may be infected with the coronavirus. White House officials have been circulating a proposal that would expand the government’s power to prevent re-entry if an official “reasonably believes that the individual either may have been exposed to or is infected with the communicable disease.” The proposal relies on the existing legal authority of the CDC to protect the country, but it’s unclear whether the Trump administration has the legal authority to block citizens and permanent residents from returning to their own country. (New York Times / Washington Post)
8/ The Trump administration has argued that the coronavirus pandemic has forced them to circumvent immigration law for migrant children. The administration has said that they can’t risk infected children spreading COVID-19 through the system, using that as justification for expelling thousands of migrant children back to their home countries without legal screenings or protection. The expulsion policy, however, is used to “prevent the introduction” of COVID-19 into the United States. And, even after children test negative for the virus, they aren’t being allowed to access their legal protections. Instead, migrants who test positive for COVID-19 are required to remain in the U.S., while those who test negative are expelled. (ProPublica)
poll/ Biden maintains a 10-point lead over Trump less than three months from November’s general election. Biden is supported by 51% of registered voters, while Trump is supported by 41%. (Monmouth University / Politico)
How Trump fell short in containing the coronavirus. “As the White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows is responsible for coordinating the vast executive branch, including its coronavirus response. But in closed-door meetings, he has revealed his skepticism of the two physicians guiding the anti-pandemic effort, Deborah Birx and Anthony S. Fauci, routinely questioning their expertise, according to senior administration officials and other people briefed on the internal discussions.” (Washington Post)
The Trump Pandemic: A blow-by-blow account of how Trump killed thousands of Americans. Trump has always been malignant and incompetent. “As president, he has coasted on economic growth, narrowly averted crises of his own making, and corrupted the government in ways that many Americans could ignore. But in the pandemic, his vices—venality, dishonesty, self-absorption, dereliction, heedlessness—turned deadly. They produced lies, misjudgments, and destructive interventions that multiplied the carnage. The coronavirus debacle isn’t, as Trump protests, an ‘artificial problem’ that spoiled his presidency. It’s the fulfillment of everything he is.” (Slate)
Unwanted Truths: Inside Trump’s battles with U.S. intelligence agencies. Last year, intelligence officials gathered to write a classified report on Russia’s interest in the 2020 election. This is what happened next. (New York Times)
A president ignored: Trump’s claims increasingly met with a collective shrug. “More than 3½ years into his presidency, Trump increasingly finds himself minimized and ignored — as many of his more outlandish or false statements are briefly considered and then, just as quickly, dismissed.” (Washington Post)
The FDA chief is caught between scientists and Trump. Many medical experts — including members of his own staff — worry about whether Dr. Stephen Hahn has the fortitude and political savvy to protect the scientific integrity of the FDA from Trump. (New York Times)
1/ Trump signed four executive actions at his Bedminster golf club to defer payroll taxes, student loan payments, and evictions through the end of the year. The actions to circumvent Congress on coronavirus economic relief also extends an additional $400-per-week in unemployment benefits — down from $600 — until 2021. States, however, must pick up the tab for 25% (or $100) of the $400 additional benefit each person may receive in weekly financial aid. A number of governors have expressed alarm about the setup as states have seen tax revenues plummet during the pandemic, while costs increase. While Trump said he signed four “executive orders,” only the one on housing is an actual executive order – the other three are marked “memorandum,” which carry less weight. The actions are also expected to draw legal challenges as it is not clear what authority Trump had to act since Congress controls federal spending. Nancy Pelosi called them “absurdly unconstitutional.” And, Maxine Waters, chair of the House Financial Services Committee, said in a statement that “Unilaterally eliminating the payroll tax and ignoring Congress’s power of the purse on funding unemployment insurance will do nothing to help Americans recover.” Trump, however, suggested that the four measures he signed “will take care of pretty much this entire situation.” (Politico / NBC News / New York Times / NPR / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / CNN / CNBC / ABC News / HuffPost)
Trump promised to permanently cut the payroll taxes that fund Social Security and Medicare if he wins reelection in November. “If I’m victorious on November 3rd, I plan to forgive these taxes and make permanent cuts to the payroll tax,” Trump said. “I’m going to make them all permanent.” (Washington Post)
What’s in Trump’s four executive orders. “A close read of the actual text of executive actions he signed Saturday suggests that even if they are deemed constitutional, they will not quickly deliver the aid Trump promised. They may not deliver much at all.” (Washington Post / CNN)
Trump’s orders on coronavirus relief create confusion. “Businesses and the unemployed faced uncertainty as administration officials defended the president’s directives and Democrats criticized them.” (New York Times)
Trump said he would consider an executive order requiring insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions. The Affordable Care Act, however, already requires insurers to cover pre-existing conditions. (Axios)
2/ Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the White House is open to resuming coronavirus aid talks with Democrats and are “prepared to put more money on the table.” Two weeks of talks collapsed on Friday. Democrats had started with a $3.4 trillion plan, but suggested they were willing to compromise at around $2 trillion. Republicans, meanwhile, started at $1 trillion, but said $2 trillion was too high. Trump, meanwhile, tweeted that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “want to make a deal. Amazing how it all works, isn’t it.” It’s unclear what he was referring to as top congressional Democrats said they had not reached out to the White House since last week. (Washington Post / CNBC / New York Times)
3/ At least 97,000 children in the U.S. tested positive for COVID-19 during the last two weeks of July – a 40% increase in COVID-19 cases. The report from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association says at least 338,000 children have tested positive since the pandemic began, meaning more than a quarter have tested positive during those two weeks. More than seven out of 10 infections were from states in the southern and western U.S. Missouri, Oklahoma, Alaska, Nevada, Idaho and Montana were among the states with the highest percent increase of child infections, while New York City, New Jersey and other states in the Northeast, where the virus peaked in March and April, had the lowest percent increase. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / CBS News)
The Georgia school in viral photos with students walking without masks in tightly packed hallways will close for cleaning after nine people test positive for coronavirus – six students and three staff members. [Editor’s note: 🤦♂️] (Washington Post)
4/ The White House has explored executive actions Trump could take to curb mail-in voting. Aides and advisers have reportedly considered everything from directing the postal service to not deliver certain ballots to stopping local officials from counting them after Election Day. Meanwhile, since taking over the Postal Service, Louis DeJoy has implemented a series of new policies that have slowed mail delivery across the country. And, on Friday, DeJoy reassigned 23 postal executives, including the two top Postal Service officials who oversaw day-to-day operations. Separately, the Postal Service has informed states that they’ll need to pay first-class 55-cent postage to mail ballots to voters, rather than the normal 20-cent bulk rate. (Politico / USA Today / The Hill / The American Prospect)
Sen. Richard Blumenthal called on the Trump administration to declassify reports detailing Russian efforts to influence the 2020 elections. Top Democrats in both chambers of Congress have called for the FBI to provide lawmakers with a “defensive briefing” regarding what appears to be a “concerted foreign interference campaign” targeting Congress. Blumenthal said the intelligence he heard during a classified briefing “is absolutely chilling, startling and shocking,” adding that the intelligence suggests previous Soviet and Russian techniques “are looking like child’s play compared to what they’re doing now globally.” (Axios)
Facebook allowed conservative news outlets and personalities to repeatedly spread false information without penalties. According to internal discussions, Facebook removed “strikes” so that conservative pages were not penalized for violations of misinformation policies. (NBC News)
5/ Trump’s lawyers accused Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. of “still fishing for a way to justify his harassment of the President” in a court battle over eight years of Trump’s income tax returns and other financial documents from his accountants. Vance is investigating hush-money payments made before the 2016 presidential election to Stormy Daniels, and in a filing last week, Vance suggested there might be grounds to look at possible fraud at the Trump Organization. Trump’s lawyers, meanwhile, urged the judge to block Vance’s grand jury from reviewing his tax filings and disputed the suggestion that the panel may be looking into bank and insurance fraud at the Trump Organization. Trump sued Vance in September to block a subpoena to Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars USA, claiming the subpoena was issued in bad faith and that it sought too much information and constituted harassment of the president. The Supreme Court, however, ruled last month Trump’s not immune from state criminal investigations. (Bloomberg / CNBC)
A federal judge rebuffed the Trump administration’s attempt to invoke executive privilege to withhold emails about Trump’s hold on U.S. aid to Ukraine in 2019. “U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said Monday that the government had failed to make a convincing showing that the 21 messages between White House aide Robert Blair and Office of Management and Budget official Michael Duffey were eligible for protection under legal privileges protecting the development of presidential advice or decisions made by other government officials.” (Politico)
6/ A White House aide reached out to South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem last year about the process for adding Trump’s face to Mount Rushmore. When Trump arrived in the Black Hills for a fireworks-filled July 4 extravaganza, Noem privately presented him with a four-foot replica of Mount Rushmore that included his face. Trump, meanwhile, denied that his team approached South Dakota’s governor about adding his face to the monument, tweeting he “never suggested it although […] sounds like a good idea to me!” Mount Rushmore is a federal – not state – monument. (New York Times / CNN / The Guardian)
Notables.
China announced sanctions against 11 U.S. citizens in response to earlier U.S. sanctions against 11 Chinese officials. Among those targeted were Senators Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Tom Cotton, Josh Hawley and Pat Toomey and Representative Chris Smith, as well as individuals at U.S. non-profits and rights organizations. A spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry said China “has decided to impose sanctions on individuals who have behaved egregiously on Hong Kong-related issues” in response “to those wrong U.S. behaviors.” It is unclear what the latest round of sanctions will entail. (CNBC / Bloomberg / Reuters)
Trump walked out of a news conference after a reporter asked him about a lie he’s told more than 150 times. Speaking at his Bedminster golf club, Trump claimed that he is the one who got the Veterans Choice program passed – adding, “They’ve been trying to get that passed for decades and decades and decades and no president’s ever been able to do it, and we got it done.” Obama, however, signed the program into law in 2014. When CBS News White House correspondent Paula Reid pointed out that Veterans Choice was passed in 2014, Trump tried to call on another reporter instead, but then paused and responded: “OK. Thank you very much, everybody.” He then walked away as the song “YMCA” played. (CNN)
Attorney General William Barr told Fox News that Democrats and the left are intent on “tearing down the system” in a pursuit for “total victory.” Barr also accused Black Lives Matter of being an anti-government operation that has been co-opted and is part of a coordinated effort to push Trump out of office. “The left wants power because that is essentially their state of grace in their secular religion,” he said. “They want to run peoples’ lives so they can design utopia for all of us and that’s what turns them on. And it’s the lust for power and they weren’t expecting Trump’s victory and it outrages them.” (Washington Post / The Hill)
The EPA will rescind regulations for methane gas emissions and will end requirements that oil and gas producers have systems and procedures to detect methane leaks in their systems. (Wall Street Journal / New York Times)
1/ Negotiations over a new coronavirus relief package failed after the Trump administration rejected a Democratic offer to compromise on the $1 trillion Republican plan and their $3.4 trillion plan. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, however, called the offer a “non-starter.” Mnuchin and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said they would recommend that Trump move ahead with executive orders to suspend payroll taxes, extend eviction protections, boost unemployment benefits, and help student loan borrowers. Trump, meanwhile, tweeted that “Pelosi and Schumer only interested in Bailout Money for poorly run Democrat cities and states. Nothing to do with China Virus! Want one trillion dollars. No interest. We are going a different way!” (Bloomberg / PoliticoNew York Times / The Hill / CNN / Washington Post)
The U.S. economy added 1.8 million jobs in July. The unemployment rate fell to 10.2% in July, down from a peak of 14.7% in April, but above the 3.5% rate in February before the coronavirus pandemic. (Politico / CNBC / Washington Post)
The number who were unemployed between 15 and 26 weeks rose by a seasonally adjusted 4.6 million to 6.5 million people in July. The reading is the highest on record since 1948 and nearly double the prior peak, set in 2009 at the end of the last recession. (Wall Street Journal)
As Gov. Ron DeSantis pushed for schools to reopen, Florida health directors were instructed to not tell school boards whether the risks of opening campuses were too great. State leaders told school boards they would need Health Department approval if they wanted to keep classrooms closed, but health directors were ordered to only provide suggestions on how to reopen safely. (Palm Beach Post)
Virus keeps spreading as schools begin to open, frightening parents, and alarming public health officials. “School openings in Alabama are a local decision, but public health officials offer guidance in part based on the risk in that county. As of Thursday, 44 of the state’s 67 counties are considered ‘high risk’ or ‘very high risk.’” (Washington Post)
A 15-year-old student at North Paulding High School in Georgia posted photos showing students crowded into a packed hallway on their first day of school with few wearing masks and little sign of social distancing. The sophomore who posted the photos was initially suspended over the act. Her suspension was later lifted and wiped from her record. (New York Times / CNN)
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo gave the gave the greenlight for schools to reopen and bring back students in the fall for in-person instruction. (NBC News / Politico)
2/ Trump baselessly claimed that Joe Biden, a practicing Catholic, is “against God” and would somehow “hurt God” and the bible if he was elected president. In a rally-style speech on the tarmac of the Cleveland airport that was supposed to be a chance to promote economic recovery, Trump instead pivoted to personal attacks, claiming that Biden would “Take away your guns, destroy your second amendment, no religion, no anything. Hurt the bible, hurt God. He’s against God, he’s against guns.” Biden responded in a statement, saying that Trump’s “shameful” comments were “beneath the office he holds” and “beneath the dignity the American people so rightly expect and deserve from their leaders.” (Politico / CBS News / Washington Post / BBC / CNN / The Hill)
3/ Trump signed a pair of executive orders banning Americans and U.S. companies from doing business with the Chinese-owned TikTok and WeChat apps in 45 days, citing an effort to “address the national emergency with respect to the information and communication technology supply chain.” According to the vaguely worded order, TikTok’s “data collection threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information — potentially allowing China to track the locations of Federal employees and contractors, build dossiers of personal information for blackmail, and conduct corporate espionage.” TikTok, however, has maintained that it stores all data belonging to U.S. customers in facilities outside of China that are not subject to Chinese law. Microsoft, meanwhile, is in talks to buy TikTok’s U.S. operations. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross will be responsible for defining what constitutes a transaction. (Bloomberg / The Verge / Politico / Axios / Wall Street Journal / CNN)
4/ The U.S. intelligence community’s top election security official said China sees Trump as “unpredictable” and “prefers” that he not win reelection, while Russia is working to “denigrate” Joe Biden. The statement from William Evanina, director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, comes amid criticism from Democratic lawmakers that the intelligence community has been withholding intelligence information from the public about the threat of foreign election interference in the upcoming election. Evanina also said Iran is seeking to “undermine US democratic institutions, President Trump, and to divide the country.” (Washington Post / CNN / New York Times / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / CNN)
Facebook fired an employee who collected evidence showing the company is giving right-wing pages preferential treatment when it comes to misinformation. Facebook also removed his post from the company’s internal communication platform and restricted internal access to the information he cited. (BuzzFeed News)
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reportedly warned Russia’s foreign minister against paying bounties to Taliban-linked militants for killing American service members. Pompeo’s warning is the first known rebuke from a senior American official over the bounties program and runs counter to Trump’s insistence that the matter is a “hoax.” (New York Times)
5/ A federal appeals court ruled that House Democrats can sue to force former White House counsel Don McGahn to comply with a congressional subpoena for testimony. A divided US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said McGahn, however, can continue to challenge the House’s subpoena on other grounds, meaning he won’t likely appear anytime soon. The Judiciary Committee first subpoenaed McGahn in April 2019 as it examined potential obstruction of justice by Trump during Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. Trump directed McGahn not to appear and the committee filed a federal lawsuit to force McGahn to testify. (Washington Post / CNN / Associated Press / Reuters)
6/ Trump can’t postpone E. Jean Carroll’s defamation case against him by using an immunity defense, a New York judge ruled. Carroll sued Trump last November for defamation after he called her a liar and said he had never met her. She had accused him of rape. Carroll will now seek to depose Trump and get a DNA test from him to compare with a sample on a dress the author said she wore at the time of the alleged attack. The judged rejected Trump’s argument that a sitting president is immune to civil lawsuits in state court, citing a recent Supreme Court decision in a case to subpoena Trump’s tax records. (New York Post / Bloomberg / New York Times)
7/ Congressional Democrats called for an investigation of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy after he instituted cost-cutting measures that postal workers say have delayed mail delivery. DeJoy, a major Republican donor, implemented policies that prohibit postal workers from taking overtime or making extra trips to deliver mail on time. “Let me be clear that with regard to election mail, the Postal Service and I are fully committed to fulfilling our role in the electoral process,” DeJoy said. “Despite any assertions to the contrary, we are not slowing down election mail or any other mail.” Lawmakers from both parties, meanwhile, have urged DeJoy to switch course on policies. (Washington Post / Politico)
8/ In 2017, Trump’s advisers were hesitant to give him military options amid escalating tensions with both North Korea and Iran fearing he might accidentally take the U.S. to war. At the time, Trump dubbed Kim Jong Un “little rocket man” and the North Korean dictator responded by calling Trump a “dotard.” Senior administration members reportedly informed their counterparts in both countries that they did not know how Trump would respond, or if he would respond at all. (CNN)
1/ Nearly 1.2 million people filed for unemployment benefits last week – the 20th consecutive week with more than 1 million new claims. The decline comes after the extra $600 a week in pandemic-related unemployment benefits ended for millions of unemployed Americans. More than 32.1 million Americans are receiving some form of unemployment benefits. (Washington Post / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
2/ The White House and Congress remain far apart on an agreement for a new coronavirus relief agreement, with “no top-line numbers that have been agreed to,” according to White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. Trump again threatened to act on his own to provide relief, saying he expects to sign an executive order on Friday or Saturday to extend enhanced unemployment benefits and impose a payroll tax break. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, meanwhile, stood up before a room full of Senate Republicans and declared that he is not “owned by Nancy.” He added: “I can tell you those reports are false.” (CNBC / New York Times / Politico / Bloomberg)
3/ Trump claimed – without evidence– that it was possible the U.S. could have a coronavirus vaccine before the Nov. 3 election, contradicting the timeline most health experts have called realistic. “Sooner than the end of the year, could be much sooner,” Trump told Geraldo Rivera in an interview. When asked, “Sooner than November 3?” Trump replied, “I think in some cases, yes, possible before, but right around that time.” Trump also said “it wouldn’t hurt” his reelection prospects if a vaccine became available before Election Day, but insisted “I want it fast because I want to save lives.” Experts, however, have said that if the development, testing, and production of a vaccine is able to hit certain criteria, then the earliest a vaccine could arrive is the end of the year or the beginning of 2021. Public health officials also estimate that more than 100 million American essential workers should get vaccinated before the general public, yet only 10 million to 20 million doses are expected to be available at first. (Reuters / NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
The State Department lifted its “do not travel” advisory warning U.S. citizens against traveling abroad due to the coronavirus pandemic. Although the guidance has been lifted, the European Union has blocked entry to U.S. tourists, and the UK requires travelers from the U.S. to quarantine for 14 days. (CNN)
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced that he has tested positive for coronavirus shortly before he was supposed to meet Trump in Cleveland. (NBC News / CNN / Axios)
Trump will sign an executive order requiring the federal government to buy “essential” drugs from U.S. companies. (CNBC)
4/ The New York prosecutors seeking Trump’s tax records have also subpoenaed Deutsche Bank, his primary lender since the late 1990s, for financial records that he and his company provided to the bank. The Manhattan district attorney’s office issued the subpoena last year. In a court filing this week, Manhattan district attorney’s office suggested that it’s investigating Trump and his company for bank and insurance fraud, citing “public reports of possibly extensive and protracted criminal conduct at the Trump Organization” and suggested that they were also investigating possible crimes involving bank and insurance fraud. (New York Times)
The ACLU has filed nearly 400 lawsuits and other legal actions against the Trump administration since Trump’s election. (Associated Press)
The New York attorney general filed a lawsuit seeking to dissolve the National Rifle Association, alleging that a decades-long pattern of “fraud and abuse” had irreparably undermined its ability to operate as a nonprofit. The civil lawsuit, filed by Letitia James in state court, alleges that the NRA’s leadership engaged in self-dealing, and made false or misleading disclosures to the attorney general and the IRS. The lawsuit also accuses Wayne LaPierre, the NRA’s CEO, of using “a secret ‘poison pill contract’” to guarantee himself lifetime income from the gun group. (Washignton Post / New York Times / NPR / Politico / ABC News / NBC News / NBC News)
5/ Facebook and Twitter both removed a Trump campaign post for spreading coronavirus misinformation. Twitter temporarily blocked the Trump campaign account from tweeting until it deleted a video of Trump claiming that children are “almost immune from this disease.” Facebook removed the same video, as well as hundreds of accounts from a foreign troll farm posing as African-Americans in support of Donald Trump and QAnon. (NPR / CNN / Washington Post / NBC News)
6/ Trump will reimpose 10% tariffs on aluminum imports from Canada, a little over a month after implementing the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement designed to lower trade barriers in North America. (Politico / Wall Street Journal)
1/ Trump insisted that the coronavirus pandemic “will go away like things go away,” claiming inaccurately that only a “relatively small portion” of the country is seeing increases in coronavirus cases, and promising that a vaccine will be available “long before the end of the year.” The U.S., however, continues to see tens of thousands of new daily cases and recorded 1,380 deaths on Tuesday. On average, 1,000 people are dying each day from COVID-19. And, as Dr. Anthony Fauci said Wednesday, “the numbers don’t lie,” the U.S. has the worst coronavirus outbreak in the world. Trump’s comments that “this thing’s going away” came during a call-in interview with Fox News, in which he also claimed – inaccurately – that “some doctors” say children are “totally,” “virtually,” and “almost immune” to the virus. “My view is the schools should open. This thing is going away.” Following a coronavirus task force meeting in the Oval Office this week, a person familiar with the meeting said Trump was struggling to grasp the severity of the pandemic. “He still doesn’t get it,” the person said. “He does not get it.” Joe Biden, meanwhile, weighed in, saying: “Donald Trump continues to live in a world of delusion.” (Washington Post / CNN / CNBC / Bloomberg / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / Reuters / Vox)
Hours after Trump boasted that U.S. testing is the “best ever,” Dr. Anthony Fauci said coronavirus testing is too slow. “We need to do better,” Fauci said. “No excuses. It needs to be done.” (Bloomberg / CNN)
Emerging research indicates a connection between COVID-19 and significant neurological effects in young brains. In a recent study published by JAMA, a cohort of 27 young patients who had suffered from multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children developed new-onset neurological symptoms in the absence of other respiratory symptoms. (NBC News)
Public school students in Chicago will begin the academic year remotely, leaving New York City as the only major school system in the country that will try to offer in-person classes when schools start this fall. (New York Times)
The Trump administration sticks to its view that schools reopen as the U.S. nears 5 million coronavirus cases. “The U.N. chief warned that the world faces a ‘generational catastrophe’ because of school closures, with more than a billion students at home. In a video message, he urged countries to suppress the virus sufficiently to allow schools to reopen, calling the coronavirus pandemic ‘the largest disruption of education ever.’ A policy brief […] emphasized that suppressing transmission of the virus is “the single most significant step” leaders can take toward reopening schools.” (Washington Post)
The FDA expanded its list of hand sanitizers that consumers should avoid to 115. The agency flagged hand sanitizers with “concerningly low levels of ethyl alcohol or isopropyl alcohol,” microbial contamination, or inadequate levels of benzalkonium chloride. The CDC recommends the use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers with at least 60% ethanol. (New York Times)
2/ Negotiations on a new coronavirus relief bill remain deadlocked with both sides claiming they’ve made concessions. Mitch McConnell accused Democrats of stalling and conceding too little in negotiations, while Democrats say that Republicans haven’t recognized the severity of the coronavirus crisis in their relief proposal. Republicans have argued that the $600 weekly enhanced unemployment benefit is a disincentive for people to return to work, because some people made more money on unemployment than they did at their jobs. The White House proposed reducing the figure to $400 weekly through early December, which Trump indicated support for, saying he wants to “get funds to people so they can live.” In an interview on Fox News, however, Trump said he didn’t want the benefits to “disincentivize” people from going back to work. Democrats, meanwhile, have refused to budge on the $600 figure. Democrats are also seeking $1 trillion in state and local aid while Republicans have countered with $200 billion. Democrats have also called for $3.6 billion for the United States Postal Service to ensure a secure and safe election, including broader mail balloting, but Republicans have opposed the funds. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / New York Times)
3/ The State Department’s acting inspector general resigned less than three months after replacing the inspector general Trump fired in May. Stephen Akard’s departure was announced by his deputy, Diana Shaw, who told colleagues that she will become the temporary acting inspector general effective on Friday. Akard became inspector general after Trump abruptly fired Steve Linick in May on Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s recommendation. Linick had been pursuing investigations into Pompeo and his potential misuse of department resources to push arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates before Trump fired him. (Washington Post / New York Times / Axios / Politico / ABC News / CNN)
4/ The Trump campaign sued the state of Nevada over its plan to send absentee ballots to all active voters this November, falsely claiming that expanding mail-in voting would make voter fraud “inevitable.” At the same time, however, Trump encouraged voters in Florida to vote by mail after months of criticizing the practice. (The Nevada Independent / ABC News / CNN)
Trump said he is considering delivering his Republican National Convention speech from the White House after abandoning plans to hold the full convention in Charlotte, and later Jacksonville, Fla., over concerns that large crowds could spread the novel coronavirus. (Politico / CNN / Washington Post)
poll/ 58% of Americans say the U.S. “should allow all voters to vote by mail in elections this year” to help slow the spread of the coronavirus. 31% said the U.S. “should not allow all voters to vote by mail in elections this year because it jeopardizes election security.” (Politico)
poll/ 66% of voters oppose delaying the presidential election due to the coronavirus pandemic and 54% think Trump floated the idea of postponing it to help himself get re-elected. (Reuters)
poll/ 14% of voters said they would take a coronavirus vaccine if Trump recommended it. 43%, meanwhile, said they’d take a vaccine based on the advice of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the CDC (43%), or their family (46%). (Politico)
✏️ Notables.
House Democrats are investigating Kodak’s $765 million federal loan to make ingredients for generic drugs and are seeking documents from a U.S. agency involved in granting the proposed funding. Shares of Kodak surged 20% on July 27. The loan, however, wasn’t announced until July 28. (Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / Politico / NBC News)
Johnson & Johnson will develop and deliver 100 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine for the U.S. in a deal totaling more than $1 billion. The doses will be provided to Americans at no cost if they’re used as part of a COVID-19 vaccination campaign, although health care professionals could charge for the cost of administering the vaccine. The company also received $456 million earlier this year to develop the vaccine. (CNBC)
Several former lobbying clients of the acting secretary of Homeland Security received millions of dollars’ worth of government contracts when he held senior positions within the department. Chad Wolf was a lobbyist for over a decade at Wexler & Walker before he took leadership roles with DHS under Trump. Since then, several of Wolf’s former clients earned at least $160 million in contracts from DHS. (CNBC)
Three Defense Department officials contradicted Trump’s claim that the explosion in Beirut was an “attack.” The defense officials said they didn’t know what Trump was talking about. And, Lebanese officials have not called the explosion an attack. An estimated 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate stored in a warehouse in the Port of Beirut exploded. (CNN)
1/ Trump insisted that the coronavirus pandemic is “under control” and that U.S. deaths reaching 1,000 people a day “is what it is.” When asked how he could claim that his administration has the virus under control, Trump replied: “They are dying. That’s true. And it is what it is. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t doing everything we can. It’s under control, as much as you can control it. This is a horrible plague that beset us.” Trump then congratulated himself, saying his administration has “done a great job” despite more than 4.71 million confirmed cases and at least 155,478 deaths. Trump again suggested that “There are those that say you can test too much,” but when asked who says that, Trump relied: “Just read the manuals. Read the books.” When asked what books and manuals he’s referring to, Trump changed the subject instead. (Axios / CNBC / CNN / USA Today / The Guardian / Washington Post / CBS News / Vox)
.@jonathanvswan: “Oh, you’re doing death as a proportion of cases. I’m talking about death as a proportion of population. That’s where the U.S. is really bad. Much worse than South Korea, Germany, etc.”@realdonaldtrump: “You can’t do that.”
At least six states will band together to purchase millions of coronavirus tests. Virginia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Ohio, and Maryland have formed a purchasing compact to request 500,000 rapid tests that could be deployed to address outbreaks from one of two companies approved by the FDA to sell antigen tests. (Washington Post / New York Times)
2/ The White House is considering three executive orders to bypass the stalled coronavirus relief negotiations. The plan by White House chief of staff Mark Meadows would delay the collection of federal payroll taxes, reinstitute an expired eviction moratorium, and extend enhanced federal unemployment benefits using unspent money already appropriated by Congress. The White House plans to reappropriate $81 billion in unspent CARES Act money and then direct the Labor Department to loan state unemployment agencies additional money so they could provide laid-off workers anywhere from $200 to $600 per week in unemployment benefits. (Politico)
3/ Trump downplayed the legacy of John Lewis and instead complained how the recently deceased civil rights icon made a “big mistake” by not coming to his inauguration. When asked to reflect on Lewis’s contributions to the civil rights movement, Trump instead claimed “nobody has done more for Black Americans than I have,” and that Lewis “chose not to come to my inauguration.” Trump also declined to say whether he found Lewis’s life story “impressive,” and – again – said “He didn’t come to my inauguration. He didn’t come to my State of the Union speeches. And that’s OK.” (Axios / New York Times / CNN)
4/ The Census Bureau will end all counting efforts for the 2020 census a month sooner than previously announced. Door-knocking efforts, collecting responses online, over the phone and by mail will end on Sept. 30 instead of Oct. 31 — the previously announced end date for all counting efforts. The bureau has also asked Congress to push back the legal deadline of Dec. 31 by four months, but so far only Democrats have introduced legislation that would extend the deadlines. Congressional Democrats and census advocates are also concerned that the White House has pressured the bureau to stop counting soon in order to benefit Republicans when House seats are reapportioned and voting districts are redrawn. Roughly 4 out of 10 households nationwide yet to be counted. (NPR)
5/ Trump claimed he has the authority to issue an executive order addressing mail-in voting in the November election despite the Constitution expressly giving states the right to run their elections. Trump, however, said he hadn’t ruled out doing so, but didn’t elaborate on what an executive order on mail-in voting would entail. (Politico)
6/ Trump encouraged Floridians to vote by mail and claimed that Florida’s election system is “safe and secure” after repeatedly trying to discredit mail-in voting. 53% of voters in Florida, however, have expressed health concerns about voting in person and prefer voting by mail in November. And, at least 77% of voters will be able to vote through the mail in the fall. (CNN / Politico / The Hill / Washington Post)
7/ The House Oversight Committee called Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to testify on Sept. 17 about changes made to the U.S. Postal Service under the Trump administration. After DeJoy, a former fundraiser for Trump and the Republican National Committee, was appointed by Trump in May, USPS mail has been backlogged and delayed. (Axios)
poll/ 59% of Americans support a mandatory, nationwide stay-at-home order for two weeks to slow the spread of the coronavirus. 62% support a single, national strategy for when businesses can reopen, 60% support a similar strategy for schools, and 55% support temporary travel bans between states. (NPR / Axios)
poll/ 82% of voters support a national face mask mandate, while 18% oppose a mandate. (The Hill)
poll/ 13% of Americans are satisfied with the state of the nation – down seven percentage points in the past month and 32 points since reaching a 15-year high in February. American satisfaction has not been this low since November 2011.(Gallup)
Notables.
Trump defended his “I just wish her well” comment about Ghislaine Maxwell, saying he doesn’t want her to die in jail like her former boyfriend and alleged accomplice, Jeffrey Epstein. Maxwell was arrested on allegations of child sex trafficking. Trump also suggested that Epstein’s death might not have been a suicide, which contradicts both the New York City medical examiner’s office and his own attorney general. (CNN)
The House Intelligence Committee will investigate the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis, which has compiled “intelligence reports” on journalists and protesters in Portland and other cities. “The revelations require a full accounting and, if substantiated, must never be allowed to occur again,” Rep. Adam Schiff wrote to senior department officials, including the acting secretary, Chad Wolf. (Axios / Washington Post)
The White House was sued over the lack of a sign language interpreter at the administration’s COVID-19 briefings. The National Association of the Deaf and five deaf Americans filed a lawsuit, asking a federal judge to order the White House to add live televised ASL interpretation at all public coronavirus briefings. (CNN / The Hill)
The deputy White House liaison to the U.S. Agency for International Development was fired after a series of comments critical of gay marriage and LGBTQ rights. Late Monday morning, Merritt Corrigan unlocked her previously private Twitter account and in a series of tweets said “gay marriage isn’t marriage,” “Men aren’t women,” and that the U.S. gives aid only to countries that “celebrate sexual deviancy.” When asked for a comment, Corrigan said she would address the matter at a news conference she plans to hold with two far-right conspiracy theorists on Thursday. (NBC News / Bloomberg / Politico)
1/ Dr. Deborah Birx warned that the country is in a “new phase” of the coronavirus pandemic and that the current outbreak is “extraordinarily widespread.” Birx stressed that Americans need to follow public health recommendations, including wearing a mask and practicing social distancing. She added: “What we are seeing today is different from March and April. […] It’s into the rural as equal urban areas. […] To everybody who lives in a rural area, you are not immune or protected from this virus.” (CNN / New York Times / Axios)
The U.S. recorded more than 1.9 million new coronavirus infections in July – nearly 42% of the more than 4.5 million cases reported since the pandemic began and more than double the number documented in any other month. (New York Times)
The former head of the FDA warned that the country’s rate of coronavirus infections indicates “it’s going to be hard to keep the virus out.” (CBS News)
[Perspective] A coronavirus vaccine won’t change the world right away. “The declaration that a vaccine has been shown safe and effective will be a beginning, not the end. Deploying the vaccine to people in the United States and around the world will test and strain distribution networks, the supply chain, public trust and global cooperation. It will take months or, more likely, years to reach enough people to make the world safe.” (Washington Post)
[Public Records] Millions of dollars of Paycheck Protection Program loans went to China-backed businesses in critical sectors. According to a review of publicly available loan data, “$192 million to $419 million has gone to more than 125 companies that Chinese entities own or invest in. Many of the loans were quite sizable; at least 32 Chinese companies received loans worth more than $1 million, with those totaling as much as $180 million.” (New York Times)
[Public Records] A defense contractor was accused of misrepresenting its size in order to received a loan worth at least $2 million through the Paycheck Protection Program for small businesses. “A review of business data by Project on Government Oversight and the nonprofit Anti-Corruption Data Collective concluded that Atlantic Diving Supply was one of at least 27 PPP recipients estimated annual sales of more than $1 billion in 2019. Another 2,068 loan recipients cleared $100 million in sales last year, according to the analysis.” (Washington Post)
2/ Trump tweeted that Dr. Deborah Birx’s performance has been “pathetic.” Prior to Dr. Birx’s comment that the virus is in a “new phase,” and that it is “extraordinarily widespread,” Nancy Pelosi said Dr. Birx had been “too positive” about Trump’s handling of the pandemic. Trump then accused Dr. Birx of unfairly criticizing the administration’s response to the pandemic, saying she “took the bait & hit us.” Pelosi also said she does not have confidence in Dr. Birx, linking her to Trump’s disinformation about the virus spread of the coronavirus. “I think the president is spreading disinformation about the virus and she is his appointee,” Pelosi said, “so I don’t have confidence there, no.” (CNN / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / Politico / Reuters / Daily Beast)
Trump rebuked Dr. Anthony Fauci, retweeting a video of Fauci explaining to a House subcommittee that the U.S. has seen more cases than European countries because it shut down a fraction of its economy in response to the pandemic. “Wrong!” Trump wrote. (Politico)
3/ Trump floated the possibility of using an executive order to impose a moratorium on evictions as talks on a new coronavirus relief plan have stalled in Congress. The two sides are trying to find a compromise between the $3.5 trillion Democratic plan and the $1 trillion package that Senate Republicans introduced last week. The Republican proposal did not include a federal moratorium on evictions. The White House is also exploring whether Trump can unilaterally extend enhanced unemployment insurance payments that were part of the March stimulus legislation that has since expired. Trump told reporters at the White House: “I have a lot of powers with respect to executive orders and we’re looking at that very seriously right now.” He didn’t specify those powers were, though. (Bloomberg / Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
4/ The Manhattan District Attorney’s office suggested that it’s investigating Trump and his company for bank and insurance fraud. Until now, Cyrus Vance’s inquiry had appeared focused on hush-money payments made in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election to two women who said they had affairs with Trump. But, in a court filing Vance said Trump’s arguments that a subpoena for eight years of his personal and corporate tax records was too broad stemmed from “the false premise” that the probe was limited to hush-money payments. Vance told the judge that he was justified in demanding the financial records, citing public reports of “extensive and protracted criminal conduct at the Trump Organization.” The filing doesn’t say specifically what Vance is investigating, but instead quotes from an October opinion by a district judge in New York, who listed a number of publicly reported investigations that included allegations of “insurance and bank fraud by the Trump Organization.” (New York Times / Associated Press / Bloomberg / CNN / Axios)
Deutsche Bank opened an internal investigation into a 2013 transaction between Trump’s personal banker and a company part-owned by Jared Kushner. In June 2013, the banker, Rosemary Vrablic, and two of her Deutsche Bank colleagues purchased a Park Avenue apartment for about $1.5 million from a company called Bergel 715 Associates. In 2011, Kushner introduced Vrablic to Donald Trump – a time when most mainstream banks refused to do business with Trump because of his history of defaults and bankruptcies. Vrablic and her superiors agreed to take Trump on as a client, despite defaulting on a Deutsche loan three years earlier. In an annual personal financial report, Kushner and Ivanka Trump reported that they had received $1 million to $5 million last year from Bergel 715. (New York Times)
Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner earned at least $36.2 million in outside income as they served in the White House last year. The Office of Government Ethics require administration officials to report the worth of assets and liabilities in ranges. The two advisers reported a minimum combined income that was at least $7 million higher than in 2018, when they reported making at least $29 million. (Washington Post)
5/ Trump threatened legal action after Nevada’s Legislature passed a bill to automatically send mail-in ballots to all active voters. Trump tweeted that lawmakers were “using Covid to steal the state” in an “illegal late night coup.”
Trump also claimed without evidence that the “Post Office could never handle the Traffic of Mail-In Votes without preparation.” House Majority Whip James Clyburn, meanwhile, said he believes Trump is “trying to put a cloud over the election” and has has no intention of “peacefully” transferring power if he loses in November. (Politico / Bloomberg / Axios / CBS News)
poll/ 52% of Americans believe Trump will not accept the results of November’s election if he loses. 55% of Trump supporters say they refuse to accept a narrow Trump loss if mail-in ballots contribute a Biden victory. (Yahoo News)
Notables.
Homeland Security reassigned a senior official whose office compiled “intelligence reports” about journalists and protesters in Portland. Brian Murphy, the acting under secretary for intelligence and analysis, was reassigned after his office disseminated “open-source intelligence reports” containing Twitter posts of journalists, noting they had published leaked unclassified documents. (New York Times / Washington Post)
Trump appointed his choice to fill the Pentagon’s top policy job to a temporary senior position in the same Defense Department office that does not require Senate approval. Anthony Tata confirmation hearing was canceled amid bipartisan opposition to the nomination. Tata’s role is essentially the deputy of the role he had been nominated for. (Politico / CNN / New York Times)
Trump will allow Microsoft to pursue an acquisition of TikTok from its Chinese owner after he said he was planning to ban the social media app over concerns that it represents a national security risk. Trump also said that the U.S. should receive money in return for letting the deal happen. Trump indicated a deadline of Sept. 15, after which TikTok would be banned in the U.S. (Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Reuters / CNBC)
House Democrats subpoenaed four top aides to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, accusing them of stonewalling their investigation into the firing of the State Department’s former inspector general earlier this year. Pompeo previously said he recommended that Trump fire Steve Linick as the State Department inspector general, citing leaks from Linick’s office and claiming that the internal watchdog was trying to undermine his department. At the time of his termination, Linick and office were investigating the Trump administration’s use of an emergency declaration to expedite arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. (Politico / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press)
1/ Nearly 30 million Americans are set to lose $600 per week in federal unemployment benefits after talks between Congress and the White House stalled. The $600 weekly benefit for unemployed Americans from March’s CARES Act is set to expire at midnight and Democrats want a full extension of the benefit into next year, while Senate Republicans argue the benefit is a disincentive to return to work. At a news conference at the White House, Mark Meadows, the chief of staff, accused Democrats of playing “politics as usual” while at the opposite ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said administration officials “do not understand the gravity of the situation.” Meadows and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will continue negotiations Saturday with Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and Pelosi. (Washington Post / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Politico / Axios)
2/ Dr. Anthony Fauci told the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis he is “cautiously optimistic” that a “safe and effective” coronavirus vaccine will be available to the public by the end of 2020, but warned that “one can never guarantee the safety or effectiveness unless you do the trial.” Fauci said that the Trump administration’s decision to leave coronavirus shutdown decisions to the states created a patchwork of policies that essentially imposed restrictions on about half of the country, and that “There were some states that did it very well, and there were some states did not.” Fauci also contradicted Trump’s past statements that the coronavirus would eventually vanish, saying “I do not believe it would disappear because it’s such a highly transmissible virus.” Fauci testified alongside Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the CDC, and Adm. Brett Giroir, the Trump administration testing czar. Giroir told Congress the U.S. “cannot test our way out of this or any other pandemic” and that “testing does not replace personal responsibility,” such as wearing a mask or washing hands. Redfield, meanwhile, testified that he was not consulted or given advance warning that the Trump administration was going to direct hospitals to stop reporting data to the CDC. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNBC / Politico / The Guardian / NBC News)
3/ Trump defended his suggestion that the U.S. should delay the November election. During a press conference that was supposed to be about the coronavirus, Trump – again – baselessly attacked the mail-in voting process. “You’re sending out hundreds of millions of universal mail-in ballots. Hundreds of millions,” he said. “Where are they going? Who are they being sent to?” trump – again – falsely claimed that mail-in voting and absentee ballots lead to more voter fraud, vastly overstated the number of ballots that would be needed, and continued sow doubt about the election process in general. “I don’t want to see a crooked election,” he said. “This will be the most rigged election in history if that happens.” There is no evidence that mail ballots increase electoral fraud and several anti-fraud protections are built into the process. (New York Times)
The White House condemned Hong Kong’s decision to delay legislative elections a day after Trump suggested that the United States postpone its own election in November. Kayleigh McEnany condemned Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam’s decision to delay legislative elections, saying the “action undermines the democratic processes and freedoms that have underpinned Hong Kong’s prosperity.” (Politico / The Hill)
The U.S. Postal Service is experiencing days-long backlogs of mail following changes implemented by Trump fundraiser-turned-postmaster general Louis DeJoy. The new policies have resulted in at least a two-day delay in parts of the country. (Washington Post)
4/ The Department of Homeland Security compiled “intelligence reports” about American journalists covering protests in Portland. The Office of Intelligence and Analysis distributed three Open Source Intelligence Reports to federal law enforcement agencies and others that included descriptions of the tweets by a New York Times journalist and the editor in chief of Lawfare and noted that they had published leaked, unclassified documents about DHS operations in Portland. A DHS spokesperson said in a statement that after he learned about the practice, Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf directed the OIA to “immediately discontinue collecting information involving members of the press” and that in no way does Wolf “condone this practice and he has immediately ordered an inquiry into the matter.” (Washington Post / The Independent)
5/ Trump threatened to send the National Guard to Portland to clear out protesters, which he described as a “beehive of terrorists.” The first protest in Portland since the federal agencies agreed to pull back their officers, however, was a peaceful affair and passed without major incident or intervention by the police. On Wednesday, Gov. Kate Brown said that “Trump’s troops” were behaving like an occupying army in Portland and provoking unrest with heavy-handed tactics. Trump, meanwhile, claimed that Portland was rife with professional agitators and anarchists and that “many should be arrested.” He also claimed that Brown and Portland’s mayor, Ted Wheeler, “don’t know what they’re doing,” and complained that it’s “not our job to go clean out the cities, it’s supposed to be done by local law enforcement.” (The Independent / The Guardian / The Oregonian / Washington Post)
Notables.
The White House said Trump still supports his nominee for the Pentagon’s top policy job despite the Senate Armed Services Committee canceling Brig. Gen. Anthony Tata’s confirmation hearing amid “serious questions” about his fitness for the post. Tata once tweeted that Obama was a “terrorist leader.” (Politico)
Trump was sued – again – for blocking people on Twitter. The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University sued Trump in federal court in New York — the same court that ruled in May 2018 that Trump cannot block people from using his account because he uses it to announce policy updates. That decision was backed by a federal appeals court in July 2019. (Politico)
Trump will order China’s Bytedance Ltd. to divest its ownership of TikTok, a popular video-sharing app that U.S. officials have deemed a national security risk. Earlier this month, Trump said he was considering banning TikTok as a way of retaliating against China for its handling of the coronavirus. Microsoft, meanwhile, is said to be in talks to acquire TikTok’s U.S. operations. (Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
Trump’s campaign canceled a series of ad spending as it undergoes “a review and fine-tuning of the campaign’s strategy” less than 100 days before Election Day. The moves comes after Brad Parscale was demoted and Bill Stepien was promoted to campaign manager a little more than two weeks ago. (CNN / NBC News)
The government dropped its effort to silence Michael Cohen and will no longer demand that Trump’s former personal lawyer not speak with the media before his book is released. Cohen was released from prison in May amid coronavirus fears in prisons, only to be re-imprisoned earlier this month because he refused to sign a form banning him from publishing the book or communicating with the media or public. (Associated Press)
The FBI reportedly hid at least three copies of key Russia investigation documents in remote locations throughout the Bureau in the event that Trump tried to interfere in its investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.(CNN)
1/ Another 1.43 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week – the 19th straight week that the tally exceeded one million and the second weekly increase in a row after nearly four months of declines. 17 million Americans filed for ongoing benefits. An additional 830,000 new claims were filed for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, a benefit offered to gig and self-employed workers. (Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
2/ The U.S. suffered its worst quarterly economic contraction on record in the second quarter. GDP shrank 9.5% from April through June – the largest quarterly decline since the government started publishing data 70 years ago. On an annualized basis, GDP fell at a rate of 32.9%. The contraction came as states imposed lockdowns across the country to contain the coronavirus. Trump recently told Fox News that “We’re going to have a great year next year. We’re going to have a great third quarter. And the nice thing about the third quarter is that the results are going to come out before the election.” (New York Times / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / Politico / The Guardian)
3/ Lawmakers are “nowhere close to a deal” on a new round of coronavirus aid, according to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. A last-ditch effort by Senate Republicans to pass a standalone extension of extension of federal unemployment insurance failed in the Senate. The Republican proposal would have renewed enhanced unemployment benefits, but slash them from $600 a week to $200. Democrats blocked the effort, pushing for the full $600 to go into next year, which was blocked by Republicans. The Senate is scheduled to leave Washington without any resolution on the expiring benefit, which would leave tens of millions of Americans in limbo as more than 1 million new unemployment claims filed for the 19th week in a row and after the economy recorded its worst quarter on record. (New York Times / Politico / CNBC)
Herman Cain died a month after being diagnosed with coronavirus. Cain attended Trump’s rally in Tulsa, sharing photos of himself not wearing a mask while at the event. Cain’s positive coronavirus test came less than two weeks after he attended the rally. Others who attended the rally subsequently became sick, including Trump Jr.’s girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle, and six Trump campaign staffers. (Axios / BuzzFeed News / Politico)
After testing positive for COVID-19, Rep. Louie Gohmert said he will take hydroxychloroquine. Experts have warned that the anti-malaria drug doesn’t treat the coronavirus. (The Hill)
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a mandate that all members wear a face mask while inside the House. The mandate was announced hours after Rep. Louis Gohmert revealed that he tested positive for COVID-19. Gohmert frequently refused to wear a mask on the House floor. Members and staff will be required to wear masks in the halls of the House,” Pelosi said. She added that members and staffers will not be allowed in the House Chamber if they refuse to obey the new mandate. (CBS News)
4/ Trump – lacking authority – mused about a “delay” of the 2020 election, questioning the integrity of voting during the coronavirus pandemic, and claiming without evidence that widespread mail-in voting would be a “catastrophic disaster” and lead to fraudulent results. The tweet about whether the date should be pushed back until “people can properly, securely and safely vote” marked the first time Trump has explicitly raised the idea of delaying the November elections. There is no evidence that mail-in voting leads to fraud. Only Congress can change the date of the election, which was fixed as the first Tuesday after Nov. 1 by an act of Congress in 1845. It would require new legislation for the election to be delayed. Trump’s tweet came shortly after a report was released showing the worst economic contraction in modern American history. (Washington Post / The Hill / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Reuters / CNN / New York Times / Associated Press / NPR / Axios / BBC)
5/ Trump vowed to protect the “Suburban Lifestyle Dream” and promised that Americans will “would “no longer be bothered or financially hurt by having low income housing” in their communities. Last week, Trump rescinded the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Rule, an addition to the 1968 Fair Housing Act designed to reduce racial segregation in American suburbs by requiring local governments that receive federal funding to study racial bias in their housing patterns and develop plans to address it. “Your housing prices will go up based on the market, and crime will go down,” Trump tweeted. “I have rescinded the Obama-Biden AFFH Rule. Enjoy!” Earlier this month, Trump announced that his administration was replacing the fair housing rule with its own rule, dubbed “Preserving Community and Neighborhood Choice.” (CNBC / New York Times / USA Today / The Guardian)
📌 Day 1282: Trump repealed a fair housing regulation he claimed would lead to “destruction” of the country’s suburbs. The White House replaced the rule, which required local governments to proactively track patterns of poverty and segregation to gain access to federal housing funds, with a checklist of questions that would allow local governments to essentially self-certify that they are meeting their obligation to “affirmatively further fair housing” under the 1968 Fair Housing Act. (Washington Post / Politico)
6/ The federal appeals court in Washington will reconsider its earlier ruling ordering the dismissal of a criminal case against Michael Flynn. U.S. District Judge Emmett Sullivan had requested the case be reheard after Attorney General William Barr dropped the prosecution of Trump’s former national security adviser, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Russian ambassador in 2016. Last month, a divided three-judge panel instructed Sullivan to grant the Justice Department’s May 7 request to dismiss federal charges against Flynn. (New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg)
1/ More than 150,000 people have died in the United States from the coronavirus – five months after the first reported death in the U.S. – and more than a fifth of the world’s 662,000-plus recorded deaths. Florida, North Carolina, and California set new state records for coronavirus-related deaths reported in a single day on Wednesday. An average of nearly 1,000 virus-related deaths a day have been reported over the past week – worst rate since early June. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNBC / CNN)
A Texas Republican who has been walking around the Capitol without a mask or maintaining social distance tested positive for the coronavirus. Rep. Louie Gohmert, who was scheduled to fly to Texas with Trump this morning but tested positive during a pre-screen at the White House, suggested that he contracted coronavirus because he recently started wearing a mask more frequently. Gohmert also attended Tuesday’s House Judiciary Committee hearing with Attorney General William Barr in person and footage from earlier in the day shows Gohmert and Barr walking together, with neither wearing a mask. A Justice Department spokeswoman said Barr will be tested today because of his proximity to Gohmert at the hearing. (Politico / Washington Post / Daily Beast / CNN / CNBC)
2/ Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter all removed a video shared by Trump that baselessly claims that there is a “cure” for the coronavirus. There is no cure. The video, published by Breitbart, shows a group of people calling themselves “America’s Frontline Doctors” and claiming to be doctors who have worked with COVID-19 patients. One member of the group, who identified herself as Dr. Stella Immanuel, claimed that “You don’t need masks” to prevent the spread of coronavirus because hydroxychloroquine is a “cure.” Immanuel’s other medical claims include doctors using alien DNA in medical treatments, that the government is run by lizard-like “reptilian” aliens, that certain medical issues like endometriosis, cysts, infertility, and impotence are caused by sex with “spirit husbands” and “spirit wives” in a dreamworld. Trump also retweeted tweets defending the use of the drug hydroxychloroquine – including one that accused Dr. Anthony Fauci of having “misled the American public” – despite the FDA saying it was “unlikely to be effective” and carried potential risks. In June, the FDA revoked an emergency use authorization for the use of hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine in the treatment of COVID-19, and in a July 1 update, the FDA warned that there were reports of serious heart rhythm problems and other safety issues, including blood and lymph system disorders, kidney injuries, and liver problems and failure. Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, who served under Trump, added that hydroxychloroquine “definitively” does not work as a coronavirus treatment. Dr. Fauci, meanwhile, said that all the “valid” scientific data shows hydroxychloroquine isn’t effective in treating COVID-19. Twitter also briefly locked Trump Jr.’s account after he tweeted the video and called it a “must watch!!!” (CBS News / NBC News / New York Times / CNBC / Axios / Daily Beast / CBS News)
Trump said he was “very impressed” by Immanuel and her fellow Frontline Doctors. “I can tell you this,” Trump said, “she was on air along with many other doctors. They were big fans of hydroxychloroquine and I thought she was very impressive in the sense that from where she came, I don’t know which country she comes from, but she said that she’s had tremendous success with hundreds of different patients, and I thought her voice was an important voice, but I know nothing about her.” Trump then pivoted to the video he shared, saying “For some reason the internet wanted to take them down and took them off. I guess Twitter took them off and I think Facebook took them off. I don’t know why I think they’re very respected doctors.” (CNN / Daily Beast)
Pence and his staff met with the group of Frontline Doctors after social media sites removed the video for misinformation. Immanuel was not among them members to meet with Pence. (CNN)
Russian intelligence services have been spreading disinformation about the coronavirus pandemic to American and Western audiences. (New York Times / Associated Press)
3/ Trump falsely claimed that large portions of the U.S. are “corona-free,” despite a federal report that 21 states have outbreaks so severe that they are in the so-called “red zone.” 28 states are in the “yellow zone,” and only one state, Vermont, is in the “green zone.” Trump’s trade adviser, meanwhile, refused to answer what Trump meant when he said the U.S. is “getting towards corona-free” but touted hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for coronavirus even though the FDA has determined that it is “unlikely to be effective.” Peter Navarro, who is not a medical professional, added: “I’m sitting on 63 million doses of hydroxychloroquine at the FEMA stockpile and that would save – that’s enough for 4 million Americans.” Trump also defended sharing a misleading video that claimed hydroxychloroquine is a “cure” for the virus, telling reporters that “from a safety standpoint it’s safe.” (New York Times / Axios / ABC News / New York Times)
4/ Trump wondered aloud why “nobody likes me” during a White House coronavirus briefing. Trump also questioned why Dr. Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx have a higher approval rating than him, despite the fact that they serve on the White House coronavirus task force and have helped shape the administration’s policies. “He’s got this high approval rating,” Trump said a day after he retweeted a message claiming Fauci had misled the public. “Why don’t I have a high approval rating — and the administration — with respect to the virus?” He added, “They’re highly thought of, but nobody likes me,” before concluding: “It can only be my personality.” (New York Times / Axios / CNN)
Trump abruptly ended a press briefing after being asked about retweeting misinformation and his support for a doctor who downplayed masks, and suggested that alien DNA was used in medical treatments. (CNN)
Trump criticized governors for moving too slowly to open their states’ economies amid the coronavirus pandemic, saying “we’ll see what happens with them.” (Bloomberg)
An hour before Dr. Anthony Fauci threw the first pitch at the season opener between the New York Yankees and the Washington Nationals, Trump announced that he, too, had been invited to throw out an opening pitch of his own. Trump, however, had not actually been invited by the Yankees and soon after tweeted that “won’t be able to be in New York to throw out the opening pitch.” (New York Times)
✏️ Notables.
The Trump administration will reject new DACA applications and limit renewals for more than 640,000 so-called “Dreamers” enrolled in the program. The White House said after the Supreme Court rejected Trump’s plan to end DACA the administration would “limit the scope” of the program while it reviews its legality. (NBC News / CBS News / Associated Press / Politico)
Trump’s lawyers filed a new challenge to the Manhattan district attorney’s subpoena for his tax returns, arguing that the subpoena was “wildly overbroad,” issued in “bad faith,” and amounts to “harassment.” On July 9, the Supreme Court ruled that Trump was not immune from state criminal probes, but that Trump could challenge the subpoena on other grounds. (Reuters)
The Trump administration agreed to a “phased withdrawal” of Customs and Border Protection and ICE agents from Portland. Under an agreement between Gov. Kate Brown and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, state police will provide security for the exterior of federal courthouse, while federal officers will continue to provide security for the interior of the building. The Justice Department, meanwhile, will send nearly 100 federal agents and officers to Detroit, Cleveland, and Milwaukee in an expansion of Operation Legend. (New York Times / Bloomberg / USA Today / Axios)
A watchdog group accused Trump’s reelection campaign of obscuring nearly $170 million worth of campaign spending through so-called “pass-through” vendors that paid subcontractors on behalf of the campaign. In an FEC complaint, the Campaign Legal Center said American Made Media Consultants and Parscale Strategy, two companies run by campaign leadership, have been disguised as vendors offering services to the campaign, but in reality they serve as a “clearing house” for firms pay out contracts to various subcontractors and vendors without revealing the ultimate recipients of the donor money. (ABC News / Washington Post)
Trump never confronted Putin about alleged Russian bounties paid to Taliban fighters to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan, saying “I have never discussed it with him.” Trump spoke with Putin last week and later said, “We don’t talk about what we discussed.” But when asked this week, Trump said he didn’t raise the issue because the phone call was meant “to discuss other things” and because “frankly that’s an issue that many people said was fake news.” Trump has spoken to Putin at least eight times since the intelligence about the alleged Russian bounties was included in his President’s Daily Brief in February. (Axios / Washington Post / Daily Beast / The Hill / New York Times)
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany couldn’t explain why the coronavirus stimulus bill includes $1.75 billion for a new FBI building. “So, this was part of the President’s priority of updating the FBI building, keeping it in DC, and it’s been one of the things that’s been mentioned that’s in this bill and it’s a part of one of the President’s priorities and it’s been a priority for several months.” She added: It is “not a dealbreaker.” (CNN)
Trump directed to the CIA to block former CIA director John Brennan from accessing his official records. It’s common practice, however, for the CIA to allow former directors review classified files when writing books about their careers so they ensure they don’t expose any national secrets. Brennan’s book, “Undaunted: My Fight Against America’s Enemies, at Home and Abroad,” is scheduled to be published on Oct. 6. (Washington Post)
The Trump administration will cut back its deployments in Germany by nearly 12,000 troops, shifting some units to Belgium and Italy. About 6,400 troops will return to the U.S. (NBC News / Associated Press / New York Times)
1/ Trump’s national security adviser tested positive for COVID-19. Robert O’Brien, the closest person to Trump and highest-ranking official to test positive so far, “has mild symptoms and has been self-isolating and working from a secure location off site,” the White House said. “There is no risk of exposure to the president or the vice president.” When asked by reporters about O’Brien, Trump responded: “I haven’t seen him lately. I heard he tested [positive].” O’Brien was also one of the first administration officials to wear a mask at the White House. (Bloomberg / Politico / CNN / Associated Press / NBC News / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
About 35% of COVID-19 patients who weren’t hospitalized do not recover quickly and experience ongoing symptoms, such as fatigue and cough for up to three weeks after their diagnosis, according to a CDC report. (NBC News)
FDA warned that at least 77 hand sanitizer products may be toxic when absorbed through the skin. Many of the products’ labels say they contain ethanol, but FDA tests show that they contain methanol. (Washington Post)
About 4,000 federal employees contracted the coronavirus while at work and at least 60 died. The total number of claims is expected to increase to 6,000 within weeks. (Washington Post)
At least 14 members of the Miami Marlins, including 12 players, tested positive for the coronavirus. MLB postponed Monday night’s scheduled game between the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Yankees in Philadelphia after the Phillies hosted the Marlins for three games this weekend. The Yankees would have occupied the same visitors’ clubhouse that the Marlins have since departed. (Washington Post / New York Times)
Trump will no longer throw out the ceremonial first pitch for the New York Yankees on Aug. 15 because of his “strong focus” on the coronavirus. Trump has never thrown out a first pitch while in office, but said he “will make it later in the season!” The decision by the Yankees to invite Trump to throw out the opening pitch drew criticism from some NY elected officials, including NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio and Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., who contrasted the franchise’s rhetorical support for racial justice and equality with Trump’s record on race relations. (Axios / Politico)
2/ Senate Republicans are planning to lower supplemental unemployment benefits from $600 to $200 per week as part of their $1 trillion coronavirus relief bill. The proposal, which the Trump administration has agreed to, calls for a two-month transition for states to implement a new program that would cap unemployed payments at 70% of a worker’s previous income. House Democrats, meanwhile, have proposed extending the $600 benefit until January because the unemployment rate remains very high. The GOP package is also expected to include another round of $1,200 direct payments to some Americans, additional funds for the Paycheck Protection Program, $25 billion to improve coronavirus testing programs, and more than $100 billion to help reopen schools and colleges. White House officials have also floated the idea of breaking off some policy items into separate bills to try and pass them more quickly. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has repeatedly rejected that approach. (Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / Axios / CNN / NBC News)
3/ An experimental COVID-19 vaccine entered Phase 3 clinical trials, in which the first of 30,000 volunteers received test shots developed by the National Institutes of Health and Moderna. Dr. Anthony Fauci estimated that full enrollment of the trial’s 30,000 participants will be completed by the end of the summer and that the results might be available by November. Volunteers will receive either two 100 microgram injections of the vaccine or a placebo 28 days apart with the goal of determining whether the vaccine is safe and effective. Moderna said it would be able to deliver about 500 million doses per year, and possibly up to a billion doses per year, starting in 2021. Moderna has received at least $955 million in federal funding to develop the vaccine and said it does not plan to sell the vaccine at cost, but will instead sell it for profit. (New York Times / Washington Post / CBS News / Associated Press / CNN)
4/ One of the largest television station operators in the country delayed its broadcast of a baseless conspiracy theory suggesting that Dr. Anthony Fauci was responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. Following an outcry on social media, Sinclair Broadcast Group pulled an edition of “America This Week,” in which Eric Bolling, a former Fox News personality, interviewed Judy Mikovits, an anti-vaccine activist and maker of the widely discredited “Plandemic” video, and her lawyer, Larry Klayman about their plans to sue Fauci. During the prerecorded interview, Mikovits, who is referred to as “an expert in virology,” claimed that Fauci “manufactured” the coronavirus and shipped it to China. Bolling also proposed that China then “accelerated the virus” while researching a vaccine and “it somehow leaked out of a laboratory.” There is no evidence that the virus was man-made in a lab, let alone that Fauci was involved. Sinclair operates 191 stations in 89 markets broadcasting to 629 channels. (Media Matters / CNN / Bloomberg / Associated Press / Politico)
5/ The Trump administration will send 100 more deputy U.S. Marshals to Portland. The Department of Homeland Security is also considering a plan to send an additional 50 Customs and Border Protection personnel to the city. As of mid-July, there were 114 federal agents deployed to Portland. (Washington Post / Oregon Public Broadcasting)
SEATTLE, Wash. — A riot was declared in Seattle during a protest in support of Black Lives Matter, against police violence, and the presence of federal law enforcement. After demonstrators began marching, five trailers at a nearby construction site for a future juvenile detention center were set on fire. Protesters also spray painted the 12th police precinct and tried to disable cameras outside the building. Police deployed “less-lethal munitions” to clear people away from the precinct, firing flash grenades and pepper spray at protesters, and at times abruptly rushing into the crowd to knock people to the ground. Police later claimed that protesters were throwing rocks, fireworks, and “other explosives” at officers. A photo shared by police, however, appears to be a colored smoke bomb. Federal officials also deployed a tactical team to Seattle this week. At least 47 people were arrested on charges of assaulting officers, obstruction and failure to disperse. (CBS News / Seattle Times / CNN / New York Times)
AUSTIN, Texas — A man was shot and killed at a Black Lives Matter protest in Austin, Texas. The suspect drove through the crowd of protesters before shooting the victim with a rifle. The shooter was released by police “pending further investigation.” (BuzzFeed News)
6/ An Army National Guard officer who witnessed protesters forcibly removed from Lafayette Square last month will testify that Park Police’s use of force was an “unnecessary” and “unprovoked” escalation that he and his fellow National Guardsmen viewed as “deeply disturbing.” Adam DeMarco’s testimony directly contradicts statements by Attorney General William Barr and the White House about the the events that preceded Trump’s visit to St. John’s Church for a photo op. DeMarco will say that “demonstrators were behaving peacefully” and that tear gas was deployed in an “excessive use of force.” (Axios / Washington Post / Politico)
📌 Day 1230: As he spoke from the Rose Garden, police cleared peaceful protesters outside the White House with tear gas and flash grenades so Trump could pose by a church for photographs to dispel the notion that he was “weak” for hiding in a bunker over the weekend. Following his remarks in the Rose Garden, Trump left the White House and walked through Lafayette Square, where riot police and military police had cleared protesters moments before. Once Trump reached the far side of the square, he raised a bible in front of the church for a photo. Trump’s decision to speak to the nation from the Rose Garden and to then visit the church came together because he was reportedly upset about the news coverage of him retreating to the White House bunker amid the protests. Just before Trump spoke, Attorney General William Barr personallyordered law enforcement officials to clear protesters from Lafayette Square. (New York Times / CNN / ABC News / Vox / Washington Post / YouTube / Religious News Service)
poll/ 59% of “Lean Trump” voters said the nationwide protests against racism and police brutality are “completely right” or “somewhat right.” 72% of Americans with “Mixed Feelings” about Trump said the protesters were right, too. (Vanity Fair)
poll/ 60% of Americans say the worst effects of the pandemic are yet to come. 28% of Americans rate the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus “good” or “excellent,” while 48% rate the response “poor,” and another 23% call it “fair.” 53% of U.S. adults say that stress related to coronavirus has had a negative impact on their mental health – up from 39% in May. (Kaiser Family Foundation)
poll/ 32% of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of the pandemic. 38% approve of the way Trump is handling the economy – down from 67% in January. 20% say the U.S. is headed in the right direction – the lowest of Trump’s presidency so far. And, 38% approve of the job Trump is doing as president. (Associated Press / Axios)
Notables.
Germany rejected Trump’s suggestion that Russia should be allowed to re-join the G7. Germany’s foreign secretary said there was no prospect of re-admitting Russia until it had resolved the situation in eastern Ukraine and Crimea. In June, Trump said it was “common sense” for Putin to be invited back into the G7. Russia used to be a member of the group, then called the G8, until it invaded and annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and backed a rebellion in eastern Ukraine. (Reuters / Business Insider)
Trump promoted tweets from Republican senators touting the benefits of a defense authorization bill he has threatened to veto. The legislation currently includes a provision instructing the Pentagon to rename military installations named after Confederate generals. (Washington Post)
Attorney General William Barr directed the FBI to declassify a redacted report about the Christopher Steele dossier. In doing so, the FBI unmasked the name of an expert in Russian politics who had agreed to tell investigators what he knew if the FBI kept his identity secret so he could protect himself, his sources, and his family and friends in Russia. (New York Times)
Melania Trump plans to renovate the White House Rose Garden. Melania called the renovation, which includes electrical upgrades for television appearances, a new walkway, and new flowers and shrubs, an “act of expressing hope and optimism for the future,” and that during difficult times “the White House and the Rose Garden have always stood as a symbol of our strength, resilience and continuity.” Trump, however, has repeatedly used the Rose Garden to announce executive actions, boast about the economy, and extend his political battles. (New York Times)
Trump will not visit the Capitol Rotunda to pay respects to the late civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis, who will lie in state for two days before being buried in a private funeral in Atlanta Thursday. Trump did did not offer an explanation for why. (Axios / Politico)
1/ The CDC published new guidance recommending that schools reopen in the fall – two weeks after Trump criticized its earlier recommendations on school reopenings as “very tough and expensive.” The new guidelines start with an unsigned statement on “the importance of reopening America’s schools this fall,” and repeatedly describe children as low risk for being infected by or transmitting the coronavirus. A recent National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report, however, concludes that “There is insufficient evidence with which to determine how easily children and youth contract the virus and how contagious they are once they do.” Nevertheless, the CDC claimed that “the best available evidence indicates that COVID-19 poses relatively low risks to school-aged children,” and that “reopening schools creates opportunity to invest in the education, well-being, and future of one of America’s greatest assets — our children.” Earlier this month, an internal CDC document warned that fully reopening schools would be the “highest risk” for the spread of coronavirus. Dr. Anthony Fauci said the country should try “as best as we possibly can” to keep children in school, but “it depends on where you are” and reopenings should depend on the level of virus transmission in individual communities. (New York Times / CNN / Washington Post)
Barron Trump’s school will not fully reopen in September despite Trump’s repeated demands and threats to withhold federal money. St. Andrew’s Episcopal School will decided in August whether to adopt a hybrid model for the fall that would allow limited in-person education or to resume holding all classes completely online as was done in the spring. (New York Times / Washington Post)
2/ Trump canceled the in-person portion of the Republican National Convention as the coronavirus continues to spread across the U.S. The event was supposed to be held in Jacksonville, FL next month after North Carolina officials said they wanted the party to take health precautions. Trump, however, abruptly announced at a press conference last night that “the timing for this event is not right, just not right with what’s happened recently.” He cited the “flare-up” of coronavirus cases in Florida and said “I have to protect the American people.” Trump has repeatedly downplayed and denied the dangers of large gatherings over the last few months and accused Democrats of “purposely” keeping their states closed for political advantage. Trump said he still plans to give an acceptance speech of some kind, but it won’t be done in person. (NBC News / Washington Post / Associated Press / Bloomberg / New York Times)
3/ Trump said he would deploy as many as 75,000 federal agents into U.S. cities as part of his “surge” against “violent crime.” Trump told Fox News that he would would dispatch “50,000, 60,000 people” into American cities, but eventually upped the number to 75,000. “We’ll go into all of the cities, any of the cities. We’re ready,” he said. Trump first said the federal government would “have to be invited in,” but added suggested that a lack of invitation wouldn’t prevent him from deploying federal agents. “At some point we’ll have to do something much stronger than being invited in,” he said. Meanwhile, the Trump administration deployed a Special Response Team, comprised of an unspecified number of Customs and Border Patrol agents, to Seattle to protect federal property. (CNN / New York Times / Seattle Times)
4/ New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo threatened to sue the Trump administration after the Department of Homeland Security admitted that it made false statements defending its decision to block New York residents from participating in Trusted Traveler Programs, including Global Entry. Cuomo alleged that top Homeland Security officials Chad Wolf and Ken Cuccinelli “have criminal liability” and that the agency “abused government resources to advance political purposes.” DHS blocked New Yorkers from the program over a state law limiting immigration agents’ access to the state’s driver’s license data. (Politico / CNBC / CNN)
5/ Trump repealed a fair housing regulation he claimed would lead to “destruction” of the country’s suburbs. The White House replaced the rule, which required local governments to proactively track patterns of poverty and segregation to gain access to federal housing funds, with a checklist of questions that would allow local governments to essentially self-certify that they are meeting their obligation to “affirmatively further fair housing” under the 1968 Fair Housing Act. (Washington Post / Politico)
6/ China ordered the U.S. to close its consulate in Chengdu. The move is retaliation after Trump ordered China to close its consulate in Houston, TX. A spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry called the move “a legitimate and necessary response to the unjustified act by the United States.” The U.S. consulate in Chengdu is responsible for monitoring Tibet and other areas in the southwest that are are home to non-ethnic Chinese minorities that are considered especially sensitive by Beijing. (Associated Press / New York Times)
poll/ The approval rating for governors in four states hit hardest by the coronavirus all sink. In Florida, 58% disapprove of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ handling of the pandemic, while 40% approve, and in Texas, 55% disapprove of Gov. Greg Abbott, while 44% approve. In Arizona, 62% disapprove, while 36% approve of Gov. Doug Ducey, and in Georgia, 55% disapprove, while 44% approve of Gov. Brian Kemp. (Axios)
[Fox News] poll/ Voters prefer Biden over Trump in Michigan, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania. In Michigan, Biden leads Trump 49% to 40%, while 11% are undecided. 51% of voters in Minnesota say they’d vote for Biden if the election was today, compared to 38% who say they’d vote for Trump. And Biden leads Trump 50% to 39% in Pennsylvania, while 10% are undecided. (Fox News)
1/ The U.S. surpassed four million coronavirus cases a little over two weeks after reaching three million, doubling the total number of infections in six weeks. New cases climbed by more than 71,000 and the nation’s overall death toll topped 140,000 with more than 1,100 coronavirus deaths reported Wednesday – the first time since May 29 that the daily count exceeded that number. Public health experts have warned that the actual number of infections are potentially 10 times higher than what’s been reported and could be as much 13 times higher in some regions. (Wall Street Journal / USA Today / New York Times / Washington Post)
Nearly 75% of detainees in ICE custody in a Virginia facility have contracted COVID-19. Of the 360 immigrants in custody at the center, there are 268 confirmed cases of coronavirus currently under isolation or monitoring. (CNN)
Officials in 12 states said they still have requests pending for orders of personal protective equipment. Trump, however, claimed there are “zero unfilled requests” and “No governor needs anything right now.” (ABC News)
Stephen Miller’s grandmother died of COVID-19. His uncle blames Miller and the Trump administration for her death, citing Trump’s initial “lack of a response” to the coronavirus crisis. (Mother Jones)
A Marine assigned to Trump’s helicopter squadron tested positive for COVID-19. Trump was scheduled to travel to Bedminster, N.J., this weekend by helicopter. (Politico)
Two White House cafeterias were closed and contact tracing has been initiated after an employee tested positive for COVID-19. The cafeterias are in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building and the New Executive Office Building, which are part of the White House complex located next to the West Wing. It is not clear if the employee who tested positive was a cafeteria worker. The White House did not say what kind of symptoms the employee showed. White House employees were notified in an email and were told there was no need for them to self-quarantine, but they were advised to monitor themselves for symptoms of the virus and to stay home if they felt sick. (NBC News / New York Times)
Employees of ICE, Customs and Border Protection, and the TSA sued the Trump administration for hazard pay, claiming they’re entitled to it for being exposed to the coronavirus on the job. (Washington Post)
2/ Another 1.4 million U.S. workers filed for unemployment insurance last week. It was the 18th straight week in which initial claims totaled more than 1 million, snapping a 15-week streak of declining initial claims. 16.2 million people filed for ongoing benefits. (CNBC / Bloomberg / ABC News / Wall Street Journal / Politico)
3/ The White House and Senate Republicans failed to reach an agreement on a coronavirus legislative package. The main area of dispute was over an extension of the $600 per week federal unemployment assistance for workers who have lost their jobs. The GOP proposal would replace the expiring $600 benefit with roughly $200 per week. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, meanwhile, said the administration would seek to limit the new unemployment payments to 70% of a worker’s wages, saying “You don’t get paid to stay more to stay home than you do when you have a job.” Democrats, meanwhile, want to extend the $600 payment through January. The GOP package would also include another round of $1,200 stimulus checks to about 160 million American households. The current draft proposal also does not include a payroll tax cut, Trump’s preferred idea, but does includes $16 billion in funds for new testing, which the administration has opposed, and conditions a portion of education funding on schools reopening. (Politico / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg)
4/ Trump insisted that the cognitive test he recently took was “difficult” and “not that easy” because he had to correctly recall the phrase “person, woman, man, camera, TV.” Trump said he was given “extra points” for repeating the words in order and that his doctors were impressed, because – he claimed – “nobody gets it in order […] But for me it was easy.” Trump also claimed that he was able to pass the test “because I have, like, a good memory, because I’m cognitively there.” It was the third time Trump had bragged about “acing” a cognitive test in recent interviews. The Montreal Cognitive Assessment consists of one page of basic questions and is used as “a cognitive screening test designed to assist Health Professionals in the detection of mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease.” [Editor’s note: I don’t like to dunk on mental illness and I try to avoid playing armchair psychologist. But the situation becomes fair game when the president takes victory lap after victory lap about passing a test he should pass in order to question someone else’s mental fitness and play politics. WTF, right?] (USA Today / The Guardian / CBS News)
The mayor of Portland was tear gassed by federal agents outside of a federal courthouse during a protest against the presence of federal agents in the city. Mayor Ted Wheeler was standing at the front of a crowd of demonstrators outside of the Mark O. Hatfield Federal Courthouse when police fired tear gas and stun grenades into the crowd. It is unclear whether the federal agents knew Wheeler was in the crowd when they used the tear gas. “I’m not going to lie — it stings; it’s hard to breathe,” Wheeler said. “And I can tell you with 100 percent honesty, I saw nothing which provoked this response.” (Associated Press / New York Times / The Guardian)
The Justice Department inspector general will review the conduct of federal agents in Portland and Washington, D.C., following concerns from members of Congress and the public. Michael Horowitz said his office will work with the Department of Homeland Security inspector general’s office to investigate use of force in Portland. (Portland / Associated Press)
5/ The Senate passed its version of the National Defense Authorization Act, which includes the removal of Confederate names from military bases. Trump has threatened to veto the $740 billion bill over the provision to rename Confederate military bases. The House and Senate have now both passed versions of the bill and will spend several weeks negotiating a compromise, which then must pass both chambers before it can be sent for Trump’s signature or veto. (Reuters / USA Today / The Hill)
6/ A federal judge ordered that Michael Cohen be released from prison and into home confinement, finding that the government had retaliated against him planning to write a tell-all book about Trump. (New York Times / CNBC / CNN)
poll/ 37% of Floridians approve of Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, while 59% disapprove. 40% approve the job Trump is doing as president, while 58% disapprove. (Quinnipiac)
poll/ 75% of Americans favor requiring people wear face coverings while in public. 89% of Democrats and 58% of Republicans are in favor wearing face masks in public. The poll was conducted before Trump said it’s patriotic to wear a mask. (Associated Press)
1/ The U.S. reported more than 1,000 daily deaths from the coronavirus for the first time since May. The average number of daily deaths have been rising for most of July. Daily confirmed cases also rose by more than 64,000 Tuesday and the U.S. has regularly logged over 60,000 new daily infections over the past week. Starting with the first reported case on January 21, it took 99 days for 1 million Americans to become infected. It then took 43 days after that to reach 2 million cases. And then 28 days later, on July 8, the U.S. reached 3 million cases. The country is on pace to reach 4 million COVID-19 cases about two weeks after recording its 3 millionth case, and the CDC suggests that the actual number may be 10 times higher. Nationwide, the death toll is on track to surpass 200,000 by Election Day. (Washington Post / Politico / Axios / Wall Street Journal / CNN)
Hospitals had two days to stop reporting coronavirus data to the CDC and instead report data to a new portal maintained by the Department of Health and Human Services. The abrupt change left many state officials and hospitals scrambling to adopt the new national reporting system. (CNBC)
Trump was seen maskless at the Trump International Hotel this week, prompting local authorities to investigate the hotel’s compliance with city rules. (Washington Post)
2/ Trump will expand “Operation Legend,” sending a “surge” federal law enforcement officers to Chicago and Albuquerque and claiming that “This bloodshed must end. We have no choice but to get involved.” Earlier this month, the Trump administration launched “Operation Legend” in Kansas City, Missouri, with agents from the FBI, U.S. Marshals Service, Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to fight “the sudden surge of violent crime.” Trump claimed that the movement to defund traditional policing efforts had led to a spike in violent crime. He called the protests in Portland “worse than Afghanistan,” where the administration is using the Federal Protective Service, a Department of Homeland Security component that’s responsible for securing federal buildings around the country. Trump, conflating administration programs, defended the use of force in Pacific Northwest city, where officers clad in military fatigues have arrested and detained demonstrators for questioning in unmarked cars. Oregon’s governor, Portland’s mayor, and the protesters have all said that the DHS agents have only increased tensions in the city. And, mayors throughout the U.S. have called on the administration to pull back agents. Senior DHS officials, however, said agents of the department would remain in Portland until the unrest had subsided. (Bloomberg / CNN / Politico / New York Times / The Guardian / Washington Post)
Customs and Border Protection confirmed that it deployed officers from three paramilitary units to Portland, OR as part of a federal crackdown on protests against racism and police brutality. A CPB spokesperson said in an email that they have “agents and officers from our special operations groups deployed” to the area, but did not give any details about how many agents were deployed. Several videos posted online show officers in camouflage uniforms with no clear identification badges using force and unmarked vehicles to transport arrested protesters, which civil-rights advocates have said violate protesters’ right to free speech under the First Amendment. (Reuters)
Trump’s reelection campaign released a new Facebook ad with an image of a group of protesters attacking a police officer alongside the words “public safety vs chaos & violence.” The photo, however, is from a pro-democracy protest in Kyiv, Ukraine, from 2014. (Business Insider)
3/ The Trump administration has been detaining migrant children in hotels and then deporting them despite federal anti-trafficking laws that require most kids be sent to the shelters for placement with family sponsors. The U.S. has used three Hampton Inn & Suites hotels in Arizona and at the Texas-Mexico border nearly 200 times, while more than 10,000 beds for children sit empty at government shelters. (Associated Press)
A federal judge denied a request to release families from ICE custody due to the confined space and potential spread of coronavirus. Judge James Boasberg agreed with that families and children should be released because the facilities lacked social distancing and medical care, but said other options outside of the blanket release needed to be considered. (CNN)
4/ The Trump administration ordered China to close its consulate in Houston, TX – a significant escalation in the Trump administration’s ongoing political and economic battle with China. In a statement, the State Department said the order comes in response to repeated violations of American sovereignty by China, including “massive illegal spying and influence operations” throughout the U.S. Aside from the embassy in Beijing, the U.S. has five consulates in mainland China: Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Wuhan, and Shenyang. A spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs called on the U.S. to reverse the decision immediately, “Otherwise China will certainly make legitimate and necessary reactions.” (Washington Post / New York Times / Click2Houston / BBC / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
5/ Trump asked the U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom in February 2018 to see if the British government could move the British Open golf tournament to the Trump Turnberry resort in Scotland. Robert Wood Johnson, a billionaire NFL owner, was advised against making the request by his deputy, Lewis Lukens, who warned that it would be an unethical use of the presidency for private gain. Johnson, however, raised the idea of Turnberry hosting the British Open with the secretary of state for Scotland. Lukens emailed officials at the State Department at the time to tell them what had happened and was forced out by Johnson a few months later. The State Department inspector general also investigated Johnson last fall after he allegedly made racist generalizations about Black men and questioned why the Black community celebrates Black History Month. It is unclear how much the investigators focused on Johnson’s inappropriate comments or the allegations that he was asked by Trump to push to have the British Open take place at one of his golf properties. The findings were submitted in February, but it is not clear why the review has not been made public. (New York Times / CNN)
6/ Trump offered the accomplice of accused sex trafficker and pedophile Jeffrey Epstein well-wishes. Ghislaine Maxwell was charged with recruiting and grooming girls as young as 14 into a circle of sexual abuse with powerful men around the world. Trump, who “met her numerous times over the years, especially since I lived in Palm Beach,” was asked during a press conference whether he expected Maxwell to go public with the names of men who have been accused in lawsuits of taking part in the sex-trafficking ring that Epstein ran. “I don’t know,” Trump replied. “I haven’t really been following it too much. I just wish her well, frankly […] But I wish her well, whatever it is.” (CNN / NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times / Politico)
Every photo of Trump and Maxwell together. (Forbes)
poll/ 8% of Americans think daycare centers, preschools and K-12 schools should open this fall without restrictions. 46% think schools should reopen with major adjustments, 14% say school should reopen with minor adjustments, and 31% say schools should not open at all. (Associated Press)
1/ Trump told Americans that the coronavirus pandemic “will probably, unfortunately, get worse before it gets better.” During his first White House coronavirus task force briefing in weeks, Trump directed Americans to “get a mask” because “they will have an effect and we need everything we can get.” Trump, who wasn’t wearing a mask himself, added: “We are asking everybody, when you are not able to socially distance, wear a mask.” The U.S., meanwhile, recorded more than 1,000 deaths Tuesday – the first time the country has topped that mark in nearly 50 days when 1,052 fatalities were reported. (New York Times / CNN / Washington Post)
2/ The CDC estimates that the actual number of coronavirus infections in the U.S. is anywhere between 2 to 13 times higher than the reported cases. The higher estimate is based on a study of antibodies derived from blood samples drawn from 10 geographic regions. The findings suggest that large numbers of people who did not have symptoms or did not seek medical care may have kept the virus circulating in their communities. About 40% of infected people do not develop symptoms, but may still pass the virus on to others. (Bloomberg / Washington Post / New York Times)
Trump sometimes receives multiple coronavirus tests in a day. “As I’ve made clear from this podium, the president is the most tested man in America,” White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters. “He’s tested more than anyone, multiple times a day, and we believe that he’s acting appropriately.” (Politico / CNN)
3/ The Justice Department accused a pair of Chinese hackers of targeting U.S. firms involved in coronavirus research, saying the Chinese government was acting like “an organized criminal syndicate.” The indictment says Li Xiaoyu and Dong Jiazhi, both Chinese nationals living in China, operated both for their own profit, as well as for the Chinese intelligence service. The 11-count indictment says the two hackers recently “researched vulnerabilities in the networks of biotech and other firms publicly known for work on COVID-19 vaccines, treatments, and testing technology.” (NBC News / ABC News / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Politico / Washington Post)
Trump-owned properties in the U.S, have imported more than eight tons of goods from China since September 2019. (CNN)
4/ Trump signed a memorandum seeking to ban undocumented immigrants from being counted in the census, reversing the longstanding policy of counting everyone regardless of citizenship or legal status. The directive would exclude millions of people when determining how many House seats each state should have when district lines are redrawn next year. The memo directs Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to collect data about immigrants for the purpose of withholding those numbers from the population totals. It’s not clear how undocumented immigrants would be identified since the census questionnaire was distributed in March and did not require respondents to indicate whether they or others in their household are citizens. The memo will almost certainly draw legal challenges. (NBC News / USA Today / NPR / Washington Post / Axios / CNN / Politico / New York Times)
5/ Trump plans to deploy federal law enforcement officers to Chicago and threatened to send agents to other “Democrat” cities to quell ongoing protests over racism and police brutality. The agents will assist other federal law enforcement and Chicago police officers, though no specific plan for what the agents will do — or what they will be prohibited from doing — has been made public. “We’re going to have more federal law enforcement, that I can tell you,” Trump said. “In Portland, they’ve done a fantastic job. They’ve been there three days and they really have done a fantastic job in a very short period of time, no problem.” Last week, Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf declared that Portland was “under siege” by protesters, which he characterized as a “violent mob” of “anarchists.” The city, however, has been besieged by a series of law enforcement agencies, including his own federal police officers, and not “violent anarchists.” Over the weekend, unidentified officers from Customs and Border Protection in unmarked camouflage uniforms started arresting peaceful protesters and taking them away in unmarked vehicles. They have also fired tear gas and less-lethal munitions into crowds of demonstrators. The new federal force, drawn from a range of DHS teams including the Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Marshals Service, was created last month in an executive order signed by Trump, which tasked them with protecting historic monuments, memorials, statues, and federal facilities. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, meanwhile, tried to provide a legal justification for the administration’s decision to deploy federal law enforcement to Portland, citing a provision of federal law (40 U.S. Code 1315) that says the secretary of Homeland Security “shall protect the buildings, grounds and property that are owned, occupied, or secured by the federal government […] and the persons on the property.” The measure allows the secretary to deputize Homeland Security employees “in connection with the protection of” federal property. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot expressed concern about the possibility of Trump sending federal agents to Chicago after what happened in Portland, saying: “We don’t need federal agents without any insignia taking people off the streets and holding them, I think, unlawfully.” Wolf, meanwhile, dismissed the objection to federal intervention in Chicago, saying: “I don’t need invitations by the state, state mayors, or state governors to do our job. We’re going to do that, whether they like us there or not.” (Chicago Tribune / New York Times / CBS News / The Guardian / NBC News / CNN / Associated Press / Portland Mercury / BBC / Bulwark / CBS News)
The Trump administration has consulted with the former government lawyer who wrote the legal justification for waterboarding. (The Guardian)
Defense Secretary Mark Esper has raised concerns about federal agents patrolling the streets of U.S. cities in camouflage uniforms, saying federal law enforcement officers were being confused with troops because of their similar uniforms. (Politico)
The Senate rejected a bipartisan effort to scale back Pentagon transfers of surplus military gear to local police departments. In a 51-49 vote, the Senate rejected an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act to ban the transfer of certain offensive equipment to law enforcement agencies, including tear gas, grenades and grenade launchers, bayonets, armor-piercing firearms and ammunition, weaponized drones, and tracked combat vehicles. (Politico / New York Times)
poll/ 31% of Americans say they believe that the number of Americans dying from COVID-19 is lower than the number reported, 37% believe the actual number of deaths is higher, and 31% believe the actual number is on par with the official count. 59% of Republicans say the death count is overinflated, compared to 9% of Democrats. (Axios)
poll/ 63% of Americans support the Black Lives Matter movement. 69% say Black people and other minorities are not treated as equal to white people in the criminal justice system, while 26% say they are treated equally. 55% say recent killings of unarmed Black people are “a sign of broader problems in the treatment of black people by police,” while 40% see them as isolated incidents. Meanwhile, 55% of Americans oppose moving funds from police departments to social services — and 43% say they oppose it “strongly.” (ABC News / Washington Post)
Notables.
Trump threatened to veto defense policy legislation because it includes a provision that would direct the Pentagon to rename military bases currently named after Confederate leaders. Hours later, the House approved the bill anyway, which authorizes $740 billion for the Defense Department and Energy Department’s national security programs, includes a 3% pay raise for troops, funds for military house upgrades, and $1 billion for coronavirus response. The vote was 295-125, more than the two-thirds majority needed to override a potential veto. (Wall Street Journal / The Hill / Politico / Reuters)
Trump tweeted that “the game is over for me” if he sees a player kneel during the national anthem. His tweet came a day after San Francisco Giants manager Gabe Kapler joined several players in kneeling before their victory against the Oakland Athletics on Monday night. (CBS News)
Senate Republican leaders vowed to fill any Supreme Court vacancy should one become available, even if the vacancy occurs after the November election. When asked if the Senate would fill a vacancy even during the lame-duck session after the presidential election, Sen. John Thune said, “We will. That would be part of this year. We would move on it.” Sen. Josh Hawley said the difference between 2016, when Republicans blocked Obama’s nominee Merrick Garland, and now is that Obama couldn’t run again, but Trump is on the ballot trying to win a second term. (CNN)
1/ The Trump administration is trying to block funding for coronavirus testing and contact tracing, the CDC and the National Institutes of Health in the upcoming coronavirus relief package. The Senate Republican proposal would allocate $25 billion to states for conducting testing and contact tracing, about $10 billion for the CDC, and about $15 billion for the National Institutes of Health. The proposal would also provide $5.5 billion to the State Department and $20 billion to the Pentagon. White House officials, however, is seeking to zero out the funding in the upcoming bill and push states to take responsibility for testing. Trump has also repeatedly questioned the value of widespread testing, arguing that if there were fewer tests conducted, the number of infections would be lower. (Washington Post / New York Times / ABC News / CNN)
The director of the CDC said the pandemic could be brought under control over the next four to eight weeks if “we could get everybody to wear a mask right now.” Researchers have found that wearing a basic cloth face covering is more effective in reducing the spread of COVID-19 than wearing nothing at all. Meanwhile, in a Fox News interview that aired Sunday, Trump said, “I don’t agree with the statement that if everybody wear a mask everything disappears.” On Monday, however, Trump tweeted that face masks are “Patriotic” after months of refusing to wear a face covering in public. (Wall Street Journal / CNBC)
State and local officials warn that they lack key resources to confront a surge in coronavirus cases. Labs in some places are taking a week or longer to provide test results, which health experts say render tests near-useless. (Washington Post)
A South Korea study found that children between the ages of 10 and 19 can spread the coronavirus at least as well as adults do. Children under 10 were roughly half as likely as adults to spread the virus to others. (New York Times)
2/ The next coronavirus relief bill is expected to tie school funding to classrooms reopening and will likely include a payroll tax cut. The GOP plan is expected to include around $70 billion for elementary and secondary schools. About 10% will be set aside for nonpublic schools. Trump previously suggested he would not sign a new relief bill unless a payroll tax cut is included and the administration is also trying structure a payroll tax cut as a deferral rather than a straight cut. (Washington Post / Politico / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
3/ Trump insisted that he’ll “be right eventually” about the coronavirus pandemic, repeating his claim that “it’s going to disappear.” In a Fox News Sunday interview, Trump downplayed the danger of the coronavirus, saying that the rising number of U.S. deaths “is what it is,” claimed that many cases are just people who “have the sniffles” and that many of those cases are “young people that would heal in a day,” and called Dr. Anthony Fauci “a little bit of an alarmist.” The U.S. death toll, meanwhile, passed crossed 140,000. Trump also insisted that the U.S. has “the best mortality rate” in the world, which is not true. (CNN / NPR / Washington Post / New York Times / Axios / CNN / The Independent)
4/ Trump will resume the White House coronavirus task force briefings on Tuesday. Trump held near-daily news conferences for several weeks before abandoning the practice after an April session during which he speculated that disinfectants, such as bleach, or sunlight could be injected “inside the body” to fight the coronavirus. Sunday marked the 41st straight day that the seven-day average for new daily coronavirus infections in the U.S. trended upward. (Bloomberg / Washington Post / New York Times / The Guardian / Wall Street Journal)
5/ Trump declined to say whether he would accept the results of the election if he lost. When asked by Fox News’ Chris Wallace whether he was a “good loser,” Trump replied: “I’m not a good loser. I don’t like to lose.” Trump then said he thinks that mail-in voting is going to “rig the election.” Wallace then asked, “Are you suggesting that you might not accept the results of the election?” Trump responded: “I have to see. I’m not just going to say yes. I’m not going to say no.” Trump then claimed that Hillary Clinton is “the one who never accepted the loss.” (CNBC / Axios / Associated Press)
6/ Joe Biden warned about Russian interference in the 2020 election, citing intelligence briefings that he is now receiving. “We know from before and I guarantee you I know now because now I get briefings again,” Biden said. “The Russians are still engaged in trying to delegitimize our electoral process. Fact.” The briefings are done in coordination with the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and the intelligence community’s election threats executive. (Bloomberg / Washington Post)
Democrats in the House and Senate have requested that the FBI provide Congress with counterintelligence briefing regarding what appears to be a “concerted foreign interference” targeting Congress. (Axios / Politico)
poll/ 34% of Americans trust Trump to handle the coronavirus pandemic. 54%, meanwhile, trust Biden to handle the pandemic. (ABC News)
Notables.
The White House portraits of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush were removed from a prominent space in the Grand Foyer to a small, rarely used room that is not seen by most visitors. Traditionally, the portraits of the most recent presidents are given the most prominent placement at the entrance of the executive mansion. (CNN)
Trump defended his opposition to removing Confederate symbols, claiming that “When people proudly hang their Confederate flags, they’re not talking about racism. They love their flag, it represents the South.” Trump also threatened to veto legislation to rename U.S. military installations named after Confederate figures, despite its support from Congress and the military. “I don’t care what the military says,” Trump said. “I’m supposed to make the decision.” (Axios / Politico)
Trump accused Fox News’ Chris Wallace of misrepresenting the difficulty of the cognitive test he took as part of a medical examination. “The first two questions are easy,” Trump said, “but I bet you couldn’t even answer the last five questions. They get very hard.” Wallace pointed out that “it’s not the hardest test. They have a picture and it says ‘what’s that’ and it’s an elephant.” Trump then pushed back: “No, no, no. … You see, that’s all misrepresentation.” When asked to describe the questions that Trump felt were “very hard,” Trump said “I’ll get you the test,” and then challenged Joe Biden to “take the same test that I took,” claiming that “Joe Biden could not answer those questions.” (Axios / Rolling Stone / Daily Beast / CNN Business)
Top State Department employees blocked a whistle blower complaint that reported misconduct by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. A redacted version of the complaint indicates that top officials enabled misconduct by Pompeo after the whistle blower voiced concerns, as well as “numerous firsthand accounts” of such behavior, internally. (New York Times)
The sheriff of Jacksonville, Fla., said he can’t provide security for the Republican National Convention because of a lack of clear plans, adequate funding, and enough law enforcement officers. “As we’re talking today, we are still not close to having some kind of plan that we can work with that makes me comfortable that we’re going to keep that event and the community safe,” Duval County Sheriff Mike Williams said. (Politico)
1/ The U.S. recorded more than 75,600 new coronavirus cases on Thursday – the 11th time in the past month that a new record has been set. The previous single-day record, 68,241 cases, was announced last Friday. As of Wednesday, the seven-day average case number in the U.S. exceeded 63,000, up from around 22,200 a month ago, and the number of daily cases has more than doubled since June 24, when the country registered 37,014 cases. (New York Times / Reuters / The Guardian / Wall Street Journal / CNN)
2/ The White House blocked the CDC from testifying at a House hearing about reopening schools during the pandemic. The House Education and Labor Committee invited CDC Director Robert Redfield to testify before the Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education Subcommittee on July 23 about safely reopening schools. The committee, however, was told – at the direction of the White House – that neither Redfield nor any other official would appear for testimony. A White House official later said: “Dr. Redfield has testified on the Hill at least four times over the last three months. We need our doctors focused on the pandemic response.” Separately, the CDC said more guidance for opening schools won’t be released until later this month. (Washington Post / Politico)
3/ White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany claimed that “the science should not stand in the way” of sending American children back to school in the fall, but then claimed that “the science is on our side” and that the administration wants municipalities and states to “just simply follow the science, open our schools.” Research from the Kaiser Family Foundation, however, found that one in four teachers risk becoming seriously ill if they contract COVID-19, and that around 3 million people over the age of 65 live in a household with a school-age child. (USA Today / The Guardian / NBC News)
4/ More than 25 U.S. states have issued statewide mask mandates. Face coverings will also be required at stores like Walmart, Target, and CVS, as well as in a number of Republican-led states where governors previously resisted issuing mask requirements. A handful of other states are also requiring visitors from high-infection areas to quarantine for at least 14 days upon arrival. (New York Times)
Georgia’s governor sued Atlanta’s mayor from mandating masks be worn in the city to prevent the spread of coronavirus. The lawsuit, which names Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and the City Council as defendants, comes a day after Gov. Brian Kemp banned cities and counties statewide from implementing mask mandates. The lawsuit argues that Kemp has the power to “suspend municipal orders that are contradictory” to state laws or executive orders, challenging Bottom’s decision to take Atlanta back to “phase one” guidelines on July 10, which forced restaurants to close dining rooms and other restrictions — including the new mask mandate. Trump, meanwhile, arrived in Atlanta for a visit without wearing a mask. (Politico / Atlanta Journal-Constitution / Axios / Associated Press)
Sen. Dianne Feinstein will introduce an amendment at the Senate’s next coronavirus relief stimulus bill that would withhold federal funding from states that don’t require residents to wear masks in public. “Wearing masks in public should be mandatory. Period,” Feinstein said. “My hope has been that other governors would show the leadership to institute their own mask mandates, but so far that hasn’t happened. It’s time for Congress to step in.” 22 states currently have not issued statewide mask mandates for public settings. (Axios)
5/ The Trump reelection campaign is investigating spending irregularities during Brad Parscale’s tenure as campaign manager. Parscale, who controlled all campaign spending since January 2017, was recently demoted. Jared Kushner hired Jeff DeWit at the end of June to review the campaign’s operations, contracts, and spending. (Business Insider / [Readable Version Here])
6/ Trump’s properties made over $17 million from the Trump campaign and his fundraising committees since 2016. The payments to Trump’s business came in the second quarter, as the coronavirus pandemic was spreading, and were largely related to a Republican National Committee donor retreat at Mar-a-Lago resort in early March. (CNBC /
David Fahrenthold – Washington Post)
7/ The Pentagon effectively banned displays of the Confederate flag on U.S. military installations. Defense Secretary Mark Esper announced the new policy in a memo, saying the “flags we fly must accord with the military imperatives of good order and discipline, treating all our people with dignity and respect, and rejecting divisive symbols.” The memo does not explicitly mention the word “Confederate” but instead states that the American flag is the “principal flag we are authorized and encouraged to display.” The memo also specifies 10 other flags that troops are authorized to fly. Esper’s new policy does not address the base-naming issue. Trump has previously rejected any notion of changing base names, and has defended the flying of the Confederate flag, saying it’s a freedom of speech issue. (Washington Post / Politico / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Associated Press)
poll/ 64% of Americans don’t trust what Trump says about the coronavirus, while 34% say he’s credible. 63% say it’s more important to control the spread of the coronavirus than to restart the economy. 38% of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of the outbreak – down from 46% in May and 51% in March – while 60% disapprove – up from 53% in May and 45% in March. (ABC News / Washington Post)
1/ Another 1.3 million people filed unemployment last week – the 17th straight week that news claims exceeded 1 million. Continuing claims totaled 17.4 million and another 14.3 million people claimed Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, which brings the total number of people on all programs to 32 million unemployed. Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, the record for weekly unemployment filings was 695,000 in 1982. (Washington Post / CNBC / CNN / ABC News / NBC News)
2/ The U.K., U.S., and Canadian governments accused hackers from Russia’s intelligence services of attempting to steal coronavirus vaccine research. The U.K. National Cyber Security Centre said the Russian hacking group, known as APT29, “the Dukes” or “Cozy Bear,” is targeting vaccine research and development organizations, and therapeutic sectors. The National Security Agency said the Russian hackers are using malware and fraudulent emails to trick people into turning over passwords and other security credentials in an effort to access the research. The hacking group is one of the two Russian intelligence groups that hacked the Democratic National Committee servers during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign. (New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post / CNN / Bloomberg)
3/ Previously public data disappeared from the CDC’s website after the Trump administration directed hospitals to submit information on COVID-19 patients directly to the Department of Health and Human Services, rather than through a longstanding CDC reporting system. The information removed from the website includes the current inpatient and intensive care unit bed occupancy, health care worker staffing, and personal protective equipment supply status and availability. Since the pandemic began, the CDC has published data on availability of hospital beds and intensive care units across the country. [Update: Hours after the data disappeared, HHS directed the CDC to re-establish their public hospital data.] (CNBC / NBC News / CNN / Vice News)
📌 Day 1272: The Trump administration ordered hospitals to bypass the CDC and send all coronavirus patient information to a central database maintained by the Department of Health and Human Services. HHS will collect daily reports about patients each hospital is treating, how many beds and ventilators are available, and more. Officials claimed that the change will streamline data gathering and assist the White House coronavirus task force in allocating supplies. The HHS database, however, will receive information that is not available to the public, which could affect the work of researchers, modelers, and health officials who rely on CDC data to make projections and public health decisions. The Trump administration has also asked governors to send the National Guard to hospitals to collect data about coronavirus patients, supply, and capacity. Hospital industry leaders say any issues with data collection lie primarily with HHS and the administration’s constantly changing instructions. (New York Times / NBC News / CNN / Washington Post)
4/ A White House coronavirus task force document shows 18 states are in the “red zone” for COVID-19 cases with more than 100 new cases per 100,000 population last week. The document, dated July 14, suggests that more than a dozen states should revert to strict protective measures, limit social gatherings, close bars and gyms, and require residents to wear masks at all times. (Center for Public Integrity)
A national mandatory mask mandate for employees of public-facing businesses could have save 40,000 lives. The study by MIT and the Vancouver School of Economics estimated that mandating masks for employees in public would have reduced the death toll by 40%, with a 90% chance that the actual number would have been from 17,000 lives to 55,000 lives. (Bloomberg)
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp explicitly banned cities from requiring people to wear masks in public to stop the spread of COVID-19, insisting that the state’s less-stringent guidelines take precedence. Kemp’s order voids existing mask mandates in more than a dozen cities or counties, calling mask mandates “a bridge too far.” On Wednesday, Georgia reported its second-highest new coronavirus case count to date. (NPR / Washington Post / Associated Press / Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
5/ Trump replaced his campaign manager with four months to go before the presidential election. Brad Parscale, who became Trump’s campaign manager in February 2018, will continue to work for the campaign as a senior adviser for data and digital operations. He will be replaced by deputy campaign manager Bill Stepien, who was expelled from former NJ Gov. Chris Christie’s administration following the intentional lane closures on the George Washington Bridge in 2013 — an episode known as Bridgegate. He was never formally accused of any wrongdoing and ended up joining Trump’s 2016 campaign team. A senior campaign adviser said Trump, Pence, and top campaign advisers have been discussing the Parscale move for a number of days. Parscale had been marginalized in the campaign following Trump’s rally in Oklahoma and lagging poll numbers. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Axios)
The Republican Party will hold a scaled-back convention in Jacksonville. The new plans will mean smaller crowds, fewer speeches, and the use of indoor and outdoor venues. Attendance will be limited to the 2,500 regular RNC delegates for the first three days of the convention. For the final day, when Trump attendance will be capped at 7,000 people. (Washington Post / CNN)
6/ The White House’s presidential personnel office has been conducting “loyalty tests” with health officials and political appointees across federal agencies. White House officials said the interviews are a necessary exercise to determine who would be willing to serve in a second term if Trump is reelected, but officials called for the interviews say the exercise is to root out threats of leaks and other potentially subversive acts months before the presidential election. (Politico)
poll/ 72% of voters say the country is on the wrong track — a 16-point jump since March. 51% of voters say that if the election were held today, they’d vote for Biden while 40% said they’d vote for Trump. The poll’s margin error was 3.3 percentage points. (NBC News)
poll/ 50% of Americans identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party, compared to 39% for the Republican Party. In January, 47% of Americans identify with or lean toward the Republican Party, compared to 45% for the Democratic Party. (Gallup)
✏️ Notables.
Trump’s new Postmaster General said mail deliveries could be delayed by a day or more under a cost-cutting effort. In a memo, Louis DeJoy said that if distribution centers are running late, “they will keep the mail for the next day” and as a result “we may see mail left behind or mail on the workroom floor or docks. The change comes a month after DeJoy, a major donor to Trump, took over the mail service. Meanwhile, more than 18,500 Floridians’ ballots were not counted during the March presidential primary because they arrived by mail after the deadline. (Associated Press / Washington Post)
The Trump administration is considering banning travel to the U.S. by members of China’s Communist Party and their families. The draft presidential proclamation under consideration would cite the same statute in the Immigration and Nationality Act used in 2017 to institute a travel ban on a number of Muslim countries and could also authorize the U.S. to revoke the visas of party members and their families who are already in the country. (Wall Street Journal / New York Times)
A top Trump administration official violated federal contracting regulations by directing millions of taxpayer dollars in contracts that ultimately benefited Trump– and GOP–aligned communications consultants, according to an HHS inspector general report. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services chief Seema Verma only halted the contracts after an investigation by Politico raised questions about their legality. The agency had already paid out more than $5 million to the contractors by the time the contracts were stopped. A 15-month audit by the HHS inspector general found that CMS “improperly administered the contracts and created improper employer-employee relationships” with the contractors. At least eight former White House, presidential transition team, and campaign officials for Trump were hired as outside contractors and paid hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. (Politico / Kaiser Health News)
Trump posed for an Oval Office photo with several Goya Foods products one day after Ivanka Trump tweeted support for the company amid boycott calls after its CEO praised Trump. (HuffPost)
1/ Trump’s senior trade adviser criticized Dr. Anthony Fauci’s handling of the pandemic, accusing the nation’s top infectious disease expert of being “wrong about everything” related to the coronavirus. The White House tried to distance itself from Peter Navarro’s USA Today op-ed, saying Navarro wasn’t speaking on behalf of the administration and that he “didn’t go through normal White House clearance processes.” Trump also lightly rebuked Navarro’s remarks, saying “He made a statement representing himself. He shouldn’t be doing that.” Fauci, meanwhile, responded: “I can’t explain Peter Navarro. He’s in a world by himself.” The Trump administration has tried to raise questions about Fauci’s credibility in recent days, including sending reporters a list of instances in which they alleged Fauci had been wrong about aspects of the pandemic. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Politico / CNBC)
2/ Dr. Anthony Fauci called the White House’s attempts to discredit him “bizarre,” saying “it doesn’t do anything but reflect poorly on them.” The nation’s top infectious disease expert said undermining a top health official in the middle of a pandemic “ultimately hurts the president […] Rather than these games people are playing,” Fauci said, “let’s stop this nonsense […] We’ve got to figure out, How can we get our control over this now, and, looking forward, how can we make sure that next month, we don’t have another example of California, Texas, Florida, and Arizona?” (The Atlantic / Washington Post / NBC News / Axios / NPR)
3/ At a press conference to announce new measures against China, Trump quickly veered into a rambling, stream-of-consciousness set of remarks, drifting from one topic to another for 54 minutes. Trump briefly addressed the coronavirus – vaguely promising a vaccine and demanding that Beijing be held responsible for “unleashing [the coronavirus] upon the world” – as he wandered from China, to trade, to Joe Biden, to military spending, to his friendship with Mexico’s president, to crime in Chicago, to the death penalty, to energy taxes, to climate change, to historical statues, to European trade, and more. At one point Trump paused and said: “We could go on for days.” Nevertheless, he persisted, suggesting that Biden would get rid of windows and “abolish the suburbs” if elected. At the end of the speech, he took questions from reporters for six minutes. (New York Times / CNN / Washington Post)
Trump – again – insisted that the U.S. would have fewer coronavirus cases if it reduced the amount of testing across the country. “Think of this, if we didn’t do testing, instead of testing over 40 million people, if we did half the testing we would have half the cases,” Trump said at his Rose Garden press conference. “If we did another, you cut that in half, we would have, yet again, half of that. But the headlines are always testing.” Hospitalizations across the country, however, continue to hit new record highs, indicating widespread community transmission. (CNBC)
4/ Trump’s lawyers told a federal judge that they intend to fight a New York grand jury subpoena for his tax returns. The effort comes less than a week after the Supreme Court struck down Trump’s argument that the subpoena was invalid because a sitting president could not be criminally investigated, clearing the way for the Manhattan district attorney to demand the records. In the filing, Trump’s lawyers cited a concurring opinion written by Brett Kavanaugh, and joined by Neil Gorsuch, that said Trump “may raise further arguments as appropriate,” including whether the subpoena is too broad or it would impede his ability to do his job. (New York Times / NBC News / CNN)
poll/ 66% of U.S. adults say Trump “should release his tax returns from earlier years,” and 68% said Americans have a right to see each presidential candidate’s financial records before the election. 26% said they believe Trump’s taxes contain incriminating evidence against him, and 10% said Trump is trying to hide significant financial losses. (Reuters)
poll/ 65% of voters reject Trump’s threat to cut federal funding for schools that don’t reopen while 22% said schools should have their federal money reduced if they don’t fully reopen. (Politico)
poll/ 36% of voters approve of the job Trump is doing as president while 60% disapprove – a 6 point drop in job approval compared to last month. (Quinnipiac)
Notables.
The Trump administration weakened one of the signature environmental conservation laws in the U.S. in order to expedite the permit process for infrastructure projects. The changes will reduce the amount of time allowed to complete reviews of major infrastructure projects like freeways, power plants, and pipelines. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
Trump signed a secret authorization in 2018 to giving the CIA more freedom in both the kinds of operations it conducts and who it targets. The authorization also allows the CIA to more easily authorize its own cyber operations without getting approval from the White House. (Yahoo News)
The National Security Council sent a list of allegations about Lt. Col. Alex Vindman to the Pentagon after he testified before the House in impeachment proceedings against Trump. Vindman was on track to be promoted to colonel, but accusations outlined in the document, if substantiated, would have kept him from moving up in rank. (NBC News)
Ivanka Trump tweeted support for Goya Foods after its CEO’s said “we’re all truly blessed” to have Trump as a leader. The comments last week by Robert Unanue prompted calls to boycott the brand. “If it’s Goya, it has to be good,” Ivanka tweeted in both English and Spanish, along with a photo of her posing with can of black beans. The tweet, however, could be a violation of federal ethics laws, which prohibit executive branch employees of endorsing any products. (NBC News)
Trump said he would welcome Michael Flynn back into his administration after the Justice Department moved to drop the criminal charge against him. Flynn later pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about the nature of his conversations with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. (CBS News / Politico)
Trump’s Chief of Staff Mark Meadows appears to have violated the Hatch Act during two separate interviews with Fox News. The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington complaint to the Official of the Special Counsel calls for an investigation into Meadows’s comments advocating for Trump’s reelection against Joe Biden, as well as an apparent endorsement of a Republican congressional candidate. (The Hill / CREW)
An experimental coronavirus vaccine has been found to trigger an immune response with mild side effects – fatigue, chills, headache, and muscle pain –– in all 45 participants in the first human tests. Whether that immune response, however, is enough to protect someone from the coronavirus remains unclear. (Washington Post / USA Today / Wall Street Journal / CNN)
1/ The Trump administration rescinded its rule barring international students from living in the U.S. while taking classes online this fall. The policy change, issued by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, required international college students to take at least one in-person class or leave the country. The White House will instead apply the rule to new students. Seventeen states and the District of Columbia, and Harvard University and MIT sued the administration over the requirement. (NBC News / New York Times / CNN / Wall Street Journal / USA Today / Bloomberg / Washington Post)
2/ Ivanka Trump announced a White House-backed ad campaign that encourages people who are unemployed due to the coronavirus to “find something new.” The campaign, which encourages people to “learn a completely new skill,” has reportedly been in the works for some time, but gained new urgency after efforts to slow the coronavirus outbreak left millions of people unemployed. Meanwhile, the federal program that provides a $600-per-week increase to unemployment benefits will expire in less than two weeks. More than 30 million people receive this benefit. Trump and White House officials have argued the $600-per-week unemployment bonus disincentivizes people from working. (Associated Press / Bloomberg / Washington Post / CNN)
3/ The Trump administration ordered hospitals to bypass the CDC and send all coronavirus patient information to a central database maintained by the Department of Health and Human Services. HHS will collect daily reports about patients each hospital is treating, how many beds and ventilators are available, and more. Officials claimed that the change will streamline data gathering and assist the White House coronavirus task force in allocating supplies. The HHS database, however, will receive information that is not available to the public, which could affect the work of researchers, modelers, and health officials who rely on CDC data to make projections and public health decisions. The Trump administration has also asked governors to send the National Guard to hospitals to collect data about coronavirus patients, supply, and capacity. Hospital industry leaders say any issues with data collection lie primarily with HHS and the administration’s constantly changing instructions. (New York Times / NBC News / CNN / Washington Post)
4/ Four former CDC chiefs rebuked Trump’s “repeated efforts to subvert” CDC guidelines. In a Washington Post op-ed, Tom Frieden, Jeffrey Koplan, David Satcher, and Richard Besser accused Trump of undermining science with “partisan potshots,” arguing that his “extraordinary” efforts to diminish the agency’s guidance were contributing to a resurgence of coronavirus cases across the United States. They said they “cannot recall over our collective tenure a single time when political pressure led to a change in the interpretation of scientific evidence.” (Axios / Politico / CNBC)
The Trump administration’s coronavirus testing czar rejected Trump’s suggestion that public health officials are liars. “Look, we may occasionally make mistakes based on the information we have, but none of us lie. We are completely transparent with the American people,” Adm. Brett Giroir said. Giroir’s remarks came after Trump retweeted a conservative former game show host, who wrote: “Everyone is lying. The CDC, Media, Democrats, our Doctors, not all but most, that we are told to trust.” (TODAY / Politico)
5/ The Strategic National Stockpile may not have the capacity to supply medical professionals with personal protective equipment. Between FEMA and the stockpile, the U.S. has 56 million N-95 or KN-95 respirators in reserve after sending out more than 130 million masks since the COVID-19 crisis began. There are fewer than 900,000 gloves in the reserve after shipping 82.7 million earlier this year. Hospitals, meanwhile, are looking ahead and securing supplies of drugs for treating COVID-19 that have been found effective for some patients, including the dexamethasone and remdesivir, should a second wave of the virus threaten drug shortages. The administration has also struggled to procure body bags. (NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
6/ A record 4.5 million Americans lost health insurance between February and May. More adults have lost coverage due to job losses during that three-month period than in any one-year period in history. A study conducted by the nonpartisan consumer advocacy group Families U.S.A. found that the estimated increase in uninsured laid-off workers over the three-month period was nearly 40% higher than the highest previous increase during the 2008 to 2009 recession when 3.9 million people lost insurance. “This is the worst economic downturn since World War II,” said the author of the study. “It dwarfs the Great Recession.” (New York Times)
7/ A Mexican immigrant died after contracting COVID-19 while in ICE custody. Onoval Perez-Montufa is the third known ICE detainee to die of COVID-19 complications. More than 3,180 immigrants have tested positive for the coronavirus while in ICE custody, according to the agency’s latest statistics. At least 949 detainees who tested positive remain detained and have been placed in isolation or are under monitoring. Some have been deported or released. (CBS News)
8/ A New York judge lifted the temporary restraining order that prevented Mary Trump from discussing her tell-all book about her uncle Donald Trump. The book is scheduled to be released today. The order did not apply to the book’s publisher, Simon & Schuster, which planned to go ahead with publication regardless of the lawsuit. The judge’s decision allows Mary Trump to do interviews promoting the book. (Axios)
9/ When asked why Black Americans are still being killed by police, Trump responded: “So are white people.” In an interview with CBS News, Trump said the killing of George Floyd was “terrible” but asserted that “more white people” are killed by police before calling the question “a terrible question to ask.” Statistics show that while more white Americans are killed by the police over all, minorities are killed at higher rates. A 2018 study found that Black men are 3.5 times more likely to be killed by law enforcement than white men. Another study published in late June found that Black people were three times more likely to be killed by law enforcement officers than white people. In the same interview, Trump defended his attacks on the movement to take down Confederate statues and symbols by claiming that it’s a “freedom of speech” issue. (CBS News / Axios / New York Times)
poll/ 71% of American parents say it would be risky to send their children back to school in the fall, including a majority of Republicans. (Axios)
1/ Trump’s advisers anonymously sent media outlets a “lengthy list” of remarks made by Dr. Anthony Fauci in an effort to discredit him and stop him from making additional statements about the dangers of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. One White House official said several Trump administration officials are “concerned about the number of times Dr. Fauci has been wrong on things,” citing Fauci’s comments in January that the coronavirus was “not a major threat” and his guidance in March that “people should not be walking around with masks.” The scientific and medical consensus on how to respond to the virus, however, has evolved over time, both in the U.S. and around the world. Many of Fauci’s “wrong” statements highlighted by the White House official were based on the best available data at the time and were widely echoed by Trump, other members of the coronavirus task force, and senior White House officials. Fauci, meanwhile, said that the states recently reopening had driven a spike in cases across the country. “We did not shut down entirely,” Fauci said. “And that’s the reason why — when we went up, we started to come down, and then we plateaued at a level that was really quite high, about 20,000 infections a day. Then, as we started to reopen, we’re seeing the surges that we’re seeing today as we speak.” (NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times / ABC News)
Trump – without evidence – retweeted a former game show personality who accused doctors and the CDC of “lying” about the coronavirus. There is no evidence the CDC or doctors are “lying.” (ABC News / Politico)
2/ Internal CDC documents warned that fully reopening K-12 schools and universities would be the “highest risk” for the spread of coronavirus. The 69-page document was circulated within the administration as Trump attacked the CDC guidelines around reopening schools as “too tough” and he, Pence, and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos increased their pressure on schools to fully reopen by the fall. During a White House task force briefing last week, Pence announced that the CDC would issue new guidance on reopening schools next week because “we just don’t want the guidance to be too tough.” CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield, however, later said that the CDC would not be releasing new guidance nor changing the guidance. (New York Times / CNN)
Betsy DeVos refused to say whether schools should follow the CDC guidelines on reopening, saying the guidelines are meant to be “flexible.” DeVos also told “Fox News Sunday” that “If schools aren’t going to reopen and not fulfill that promise, they shouldn’t get the funds,” and that the money should be redirected to families who can use it to find another option for their children. (CNN / Axios / Politico)
The Los Angeles and San Diego unified school districts will be remote-only in the fall. The two largest public school districts in California enroll about 825,000 students. (Los Angeles Times / Axios / New York Times)
Attorneys general in 17 states and the District of Columbia sued the Trump administration over its guidance to not allow foreign students to take online-only courses this fall. Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology also filled lawsuits against the guidance last week and nearly 100 members of Congress sent a letter to DHS urging the department to rescind the policy. (CNN / New York Times)
3/ Two top health officials in the Trump administration said they “expect deaths to go up” in the U.S. as coronavirus cases continue to skyrocket in parts of the country. Admiral Brett Giroir, an assistant secretary with the Health and Human Services department, and surgeon general Dr. Jerome Adams both emphasized their concerns about the surging outbreaks, many of which are occurring in areas where people haven’t followed the recommendations from the CDC on how to limit the spread. “We’re all very concerned about the rise in cases, no doubt about that,” said Adm. Giroir, who has been in charge of the Trump administration’s testing response. “We do expect deaths to go up. If you have more cases, more hospitalizations, we do expect to see that over the next two or three weeks before this turns around.” (New York Times)
Florida reported a record 15,300 new coronavirus cases on Sunday – the most by any state in a single day. It shattered previous highs of 11,694 reported by California last week and 11,571 reported by New York on April 15. (Miami Herald / Washington Post / CNN / Politico)
California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered indoor operations for restaurants, wineries, bars, movie theaters, and more to close immediately. 30 counties – which represent about 80% of Californians – will also be required to close fitness centers, places of worship, offices for noncritical sectors, personal care services, hair salons, barbershops, and malls. (CNBC / Politico / Axios)
Trump wore a mask for the first time in public. [Editor’s note: I can’t believe this is “news” but here we are.] (CBS News / CNN / Associated Press)
4/ Trump commuted Roger Stone’s jail sentence, who was convicted in 2019 of seven felonies for lying to Congress, witness tampering, and obstructing the House investigation into whether Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia to win the 2016 election. Stone was scheduled to begin his 40-month prison sentence on Tuesday. The White House denounced the “overzealous prosecutors” who convicted Stone on “process-based charges” as a result of the “witch hunts” as part of the “Russia hoax” investigation. The letter does not argue that Stone is innocent, only that he should not have been investigated in the first place. Attorney General William Barr recommended against granting Stone clemency. (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / Associated Press / Politico / BBC / CNN)
Robert Mueller responded to Trump’s claim that Roger Stone was a “victim” in the Justice Department’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. In a Washington Post op-ed, Mueller wrote: “Stone was prosecuted and convicted because he committed federal crimes. He remains a convicted felon, and rightly so.” (Washington Post / Axios / Politico)
5/ The White House granted Trump a second 45-day extension to file his personal financial disclosure forms. The forms, which were originally due on May 15, are supposed to detail Trump’s income, debt, stock holdings, and outstanding loans for 2019, but Trump got an extension until the end of June. On June 29, Scott Gast, deputy counsel to the president, granted Trump a second extension, until Aug. 13. Federal law allows only two such extensions. (Washington Post)
✏️ Notables.
The Trump administration lifted a ban on the sales of silencers to private overseas buyers that was intended to protect American troops in Afghanistan. Michael Williams, who joined the White House as assistant deputy general counsel in 2017, spent nearly two years trying to overturn the prohibition as general counsel of the American Suppressor Association. (New York Times)
China announced retaliatory sanctions against U.S. officials in response to U.S. sanctions over Beijing’s treatment of Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities in China’s Xinjiang Province. Among the U.S. officials and organizations named in the sanctions are Sens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, Rep. Chris Smith, Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback, and the Congressional-Executive Commission on China. A spokesperson for China announced the sanctions at a press conference on Monday, calling on the U.S. to “stop interfering in China’s international affairs.” The U.S. sanctions against Chinese officials include the freezing of all US assets and a block preventing US nationals from conducting business with them. “We urge the US to immediately withdraw its wrong decision and stop interfering in China’s internal affairs or undermining China’s interests,” the spokesperson said. (CNN / The Guardian / Politico)
Trump reportedly considered “selling” or “divesting” Puerto Rico in 2017 after the island was devastated by Hurricane Maria. According to Elaine Duke, who was serving as DHS’ acting secretary when the hurricane hit the island, Trump’s “initial ideas were more of as a businessman” and that he asked “Can we outsource the electricity? Can we can we sell the island? You know, or divest of that asset?” (New York Times / CNN)
Trump criticized a privately built border wall by his supporters in South Texas, saying it was “only done to make me look bad.” A segment of the wall along the Texas-Mexico border was showing dangerous “signs of erosion“ only months after being completed. (Associated Press / Politico)
Trump claimed that “nobody ever heard” that Abraham Lincoln was a member of the Republican Party before Trump became president. “Like people don’t remember, nobody ever heard of it until I came along, nobody remembered it for a long time, or they didn’t use it at least, I use it all the time: Abraham Lincoln was a Republican,” Trump said. He added: “You know you say that and people say, ‘I didn’t know that,’ but he was Republican, so we’re doing a great job.” (Twitter / The Independent)
Trump the victim: President complains in private about the pandemic hurting him. Trump has complained about the coronavirus destroying “the greatest economy,” which he claims to have personally built, laments the unfair “fake news” media, and he bemoans the “sick, twisted” police officers in Minneapolis, whose killing of an unarmed black man in their custody provoked the nationwide racial justice protests. (Washington Post)
1/ The United States set another single-day record for coronavirus cases – the sixth time in 10 days – as new cases rose more than 63,000. At least 33 states saw an increase in new cases compared to last week, while Miami-Dade County in Florida reported a 28% positivity rate of people tested. (CNBC / CNN / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
A White House reporter tested positive for the coronavirus after attending two press briefings this week. The White House is offering free tests to reporters who were in proximity to the person. (New York Post)
2/ Dr. Anthony Fauci last saw Trump in person at the White House on June 2 and hasn’t briefed Trump on the coronavirus in at least two months. Trump, meanwhile, publicly criticized Fauci, telling Fox News’ Sean Hannity that the nation’s top infectious disease experts “has made a lot of mistakes.” Earlier this week, Trump said he disagreed with Fauci’s characterization that new cases could surpass 100,000 a day if the virus continues to spread at its current pace, saying “I think we are in a good place […] We’ve done a good job […] I think we are going to be in very good shape.” (CNBC / NBC News / Financial Times)
3/ The White House has pressured the FDA to reverse itself and grant a second emergency authorization for the use of hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19. The FDA revoked the emergency authorization for hydroxychloroquine last month after major studies found the medication wasn’t effective. Trump, however, praised a new study on Twitter this week, which scientists have widely criticized as flawed, urging the FDA to “Act Now.” White House trade adviser Peter Navarro has led the administration’s effort press the FDA to approve the antimalarial drug. There are 60 million doses of hydroxychloroquine in the Strategic National Stockpile that can’t be distributed unless the FDA issues an emergency authorization. (Washington Post)
4/ Trump instructed the Treasury Department to review the tax-exempt status of schools and threatened to revoke their funding “if this Propaganda or Act Against Public Policy continues.” In a series of tweets, Trump accused Democrats of exploiting the pandemic for political gain by refusing to reopen schools and businesses to hurt the economy and his re-election, suggesting in a tweet that too many schools were about “Radical Left Indoctrination, not Education.” He added: “Our children must be Educated, not Indoctrinated!” Most colleges and universities — private and public — are registered as tax exempt because of their educational purposes. (Politico / CNBC / Reuters)
The American Academy of Pediatrics said “one-size-fits-all approach is not appropriate” for decision making, calling the Trump administration’s threats to withhold federal funds from schools that do not fully reopen “a misguided approach.” (Politico)
5/ Trump postponed a campaign rally in New Hampshire citing “safety reasons” due to Tropical Storm Fay. One campaign official, however, said “We can’t have a repeat of Tulsa,” and people familiar with the sign-ups said interest in the rally was significantly lower than anticipated. Current weather forecasts indicate that the rain is supposed to stop around noon on Saturday, with the chance of rain falling to less than 40% by 5 p.m.; the rally was scheduled for 8 p.m. (New York Times / NBC News / Associated Press / Washington Post / The Guardian)
Trump arrived in Miami without a mask as Florida reported its highest seven-day case average to date – surpassing the record it set just 48 hours earlier. Miami-Dade County reported that 33.5% of virus tests on Thursday had come back positive; on Friday, it was reported at 27.8%. (Miami Herald / NBC Miami / Sun Sentinel / CNN / New York Times / Washington Post)
6/ Trump claimed that he “aced” a cognitive test and that the doctors “were very surprised” and called it “an unbelievable thing.” The White House, however, would not say when Trump took the test or why. Trump, however, volunteered to Sean Hannity that “I actually took one when I — very recently, when I — when I was — the radical left were saying, is he all there? Is he all there? And I proved I was all there, because I got — I aced it. I aced the test.” (New York Times)
7/ Trump said he’s “looking at” pardoning Roger Stone, saying his former aide and longtime confidant “was framed. He was treated horrible. He was treated so badly.” Stone was convicted of seven felonies for obstructing the congressional inquiry, lying to investigators under oath, and trying to block the testimony of a witness whose account would have exposed his lies. Stone is set to go to prison next week unless Trump intervenes. When told that Stone was “praying” for a pardon ahead of his deadline to report to prison, Trump said, “If you say he’s praying, his prayer may be answered,” adding, “Let’s see what happens.” (CNN / Politico / Washington Post / NBC News)
8/ Mark Esper confirmed that he was briefed this year on about the Russian bounty program to pay Taliban fighters for killing U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan. Esper told lawmakers that he had seen intelligence about Russian payments in February, but added that his top generals did not believe those initial reports were credible at the time. The Secretary of Defense addd that he has not seen intelligence that corroborates claims that American troops were actually killed as a result of the payments. (CNN / NBC News)
Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley condemned Confederate leaders as traitors and said he supports a review of Army bases named for Confederate generals who “fought for an institution of slavery that may have enslaved one of their ancestors.” (Politico / Axios)
The Department of Homeland Security has been deploying its resources and agents to guard monuments and statues across the country. The DHS was originally created in the wake of Sept. 11, 2001 and was tasked with guarding the U.S. against terrorism, and Trump initially repurposed the agency when he first took office to focus on illegal immigration and border security. Now, it is increasingly focused on protecting statues. “American ideals are under attack,” said a DHS spokesperson. “President Trump is taking strong action to restore order. Acting Secretary Wolf is committed to using all DHS authorities and resources to implement President Trump’s agenda.” (New York Times)
poll/ 67% of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, while 33% approve. (ABC News)
1/ Another 1.3 million workers filed new claims for state unemployment benefits last week – the 14th straight week of declines. More than 48 million people have now filed for unemployment benefits for the first time in the past 16 weeks. (CNN / Washington Post / NBC News / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
2/ The Supreme Court cleared the way for prosecutors in New York to enforce a subpoena for Trump’s financial and tax records, rejecting Trump’s assertion that he enjoys “absolute” immunity from investigation while in office. The decision allows Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. to subpoena Trump’s accounting firm for years of financial documents and tax records as part of a criminal investigation into hush-money payments made before the 2016 election to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal. “No citizen, not even the president, is categorically above the common duty to produce evidence when called upon in a criminal proceeding,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority. In a separate decision, the court ruled that Congress could not see many of the same records, citing “significant separation of powers concerns.” Both cases will now go back to the lower courts to determine if Trump needs to turn over any documents, making it unlikely that Americans will see Trump’s taxes before Election Day. In a series of tweets, Trump called the rulings “a political prosecution” that were “not fair to this Presidency or Administration!” (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Bloomberg / Politico / NPR / CNBC / Associated Press)
3/ Dr. Anthony Fauci advised states “having a serious problem” with a surge in coronavirus cases to “seriously look at shutting down.” The government’s top infectious disease expert said some states “went too fast” with reopening and that in other states, residents didn’t follow social distancing guidelines. Trump, meanwhile, continued to push to reopen the country as quickly as possible despite the U.S. setting another record for new cases on Wednesday – the fifth national record in nine days. At least five states — Missouri, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and West Virginia — set single-day records for new infections on Wednesday as the daily number of new cases had increased by 72% over the past two weeks. (Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
4/ The CDC will not revise its guidelines for reopening schools despite pressure from Trump and the White House. Dr. Robert Redfield said the CDC was already planning to issue additional reference documents for schools in coming days. On Wednesday, however, Pence told reporters that the CDC would be issuing a new “set of tools” next week after Trump complained that the existing guidelines were too “tough” and “impractical.” (CNN / Associated Press / The Hill / Washington Post)
5/ The World Health Organization acknowledged that the coronavirus may become airborne and spread through particles in the air in “indoor crowded spaces.” The agency also acknowledged that the virus can be transmitted by people who do not have symptoms. WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that “the pandemic is still accelerating.” The Republican National Convention, meanwhile, could be moved to an outdoor stadium. While no decision has been made, Republicans involved in the planning believe there could be less risk of transmission at a large outdoor stadium. (CNBC / New York Times / Washington Post / Washington Post)
A group of attorneys in Jacksonville, FL filed a lawsuit to prevent the GOP from holding the Republican National Convention in the city next month. The suit claims holding the convention amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic would be “a nuisance injurious to the health [and] welfare” of the city. The suit was filed days after Florida set new records for the most confirmed COVID-19 cases in one state in a single day — more than 11,400 cases on Saturday. The plaintiffs are requesting that the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena admit no more than 2,500 people and leave the rest of the 15,000 seats in the arena “isolated or roped off” to ensure social distancing. (CNN / The Hill)
6/ Attorney General William Barr pressured Manhattan’s former former U.S. attorney to resign during a June 18 meeting at a New York hotel and in a subsequent phone call. Geoffrey Berman, who had pursued a number of investigations close to Trump’s inner circle, including Michael Cohen and Rudy Giuliani, was fired after refusing Barr’s request for him to resign. “The Attorney General said that if I did not resign from my position I would be fired. He added that getting fired from my job would not be good for my resume or future job prospects. I told him that while I did not want to get fired, I would not resign,” Berman told the House Judiciary Committee in a closed-door interview. Berman was fired late on Friday, June 19th. (Politico / CNN / Axios)
7/ Michael Cohen was taken into custody by U.S. Marshals for violating terms of his early release from prison. Cohen’s detention came a week after he was photographed eating at a Manhattan restaurant. Cohen, who is writing a book about his time working for Trump, also reportedly balked an agreement that he not talk to the media or write a book while serving the rest of his criminal sentence in home confinement. (CNBC / CNN / New York Times)
1/ Trump threatened to cut federal funding if schools don’t fully physically reopen. Trump, however, lacks the authority to force schools to reopen and federal funding has already been appropriated by Congress. About 90% of school district budgets are raised by states and municipalities. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, meanwhile, claimed there is “no excuse” for schools not to reopen, saying “adults who are fear mongering and making excuses simply have got to stop doing it and turn their attention on what is right for students and for their families.” (Politico / New York Times / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / CNBC)
Several states are suing the Department of Education over its decision to divert COVID-19 relief funding from K-12 public schools and give it to private schools. Attorneys general in California, Michigan, Maine, New Mexico, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia have all joined the suit, which claims the DOE unlawfully interpreted the CARES Act by allowing school districts to receive funding based on the total student population instead of the total public school student population. The interpretation has lead tens of millions of dollars to be diverted from public schools in the poorest districts to private schools with tuition rates that are similar to private colleges. The suit specifically names Education Secretary Betsy DeVos as one of the defendants. (PBS News Hour)
Harvard and MIT sued the Trump administration over new rules barring international students from staying in the U.S. while taking classes online. The schools are seeking a temporary restraining order and an injunction preventing the government from enforcing the directive, arguing that the administration is trying to pressure institutions to reopen amid the coronavirus pandemic. (ABC News / Politico / Wall Street Journal)
2/ The CDC will issue new guidance on school openings after Trump called the existing guidelines too “tough,” “very impractical,” and “expensive.” Trump’s tweet about the CDC came minutes after he threatened to cut federal funding to schools that do not physically reopen. At a White House Coronavirus Task Force briefing, Pence said the government would partner with school districts to figure out the best approach if they found the CDC guidelines a barrier to reopening. During the briefing, CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield said the agency’s guidance “is intentional for reopening and keeping our schools open,” and should not be “used as a rationale to keep schools closed.” He added: “Clearly, the ability of this virus to cause significant illness in children is very, very, very, very limited.” However, later in the briefing, Dr. Deborah Birx clarified that the data is incomplete because the U.S. has not been testing enough children to conclude how widespread the virus is among people younger than 18 and whether they are spreading the virus to others. (Washington Post / NPR / Politico / New York Times / CNBC)
3/ The U.S. reported more than 60,000 new COVID-19 cases Tuesday as the total number of confirmed cases crossed 3 million. The 60,021 reported cases set a record for new cases reported in a single day. After the coronavirus was first reported in the U.S. in January, the first million cases were reported over three months. The second million cases were reported over a period of about six weeks. It took less than a month for the case count to rise from 2 million on June 11 to more than 3 million. In the first five days of July, the U.S. has reported 250,000 new cases. (NBC News / Wall Street Journal / CNBC / Politico / Bloomberg)
Trump’s campaign rally in Tulsa “likely contributed” to a dramatic surge in new coronavirus cases, Tulsa City-County Health Department Director Dr. Bruce Dart said. Tulsa County reported nearly 500 confirmed new cases on Monday and Tuesday. (Associated Press / Axios)
Pence touted “early indications” that coronavirus infections are starting to level off in Arizona, Florida, and Texas, which have each seen a surge of new infections in recent weeks. In Arizona and Florida, the seven-day average of tests that were positive has started to level off at about 20% and 17%, respectively. Texas’ testing positivity rate has remained steady at around 14% over the past few weeks. Trump’s health officials have suggested a positivity rate below 10% is desirable. Other public health experts say the goal should be 5% or lower. Pence, however, said the “takeaway for every American” was to “keep doing what you’re doing.” (Politico)
More than a fifth of Americans – about 71.5 million people – live in counties where the new highs in coronavirus cases was reached on Monday. (Washington Post)
4/ Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman will retire from the U.S. Army after more than 21 years of military service over a “campaign of bullying, intimidation, and retaliation” by Trump. Vindman testified under subpoena last fall about his concerns surrounding a call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during the impeachment inquiry. He was up for promotion to colonel, but Trump instead fired Vindman from his White House National Security Council assignment following the testimony. (CNN / NPR / Washington Post)
5/ The Supreme Court upheld the Trump administration’s regulation to allow employers with religious objections to opt out of the Affordable Care Act’s requirement to provide contraceptive care. An estimated 70,000 to 126,000 women could lose contraceptive coverage from their employers. Seventeen states challenged the policy as fundamentally unlawful and it’s rationale as “arbitrary and capricious.” Since 2010, all FDA-approved contraceptives have been included under the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that insurers include “preventive care and screenings” as part of “minimal essential coverage” for Americans. In 2018, however, the Department of Health and Human Services exempted any employer with a religious or moral objection to contraception from the requirement. (ABC News / Washington Post / New York Times / Politico)
Chief Justice John Roberts was briefly hospitalized last month after falling while walking near his home. Roberts, 65, has reported having two previous seizures – one in 1993 and another 2007. A Supreme Court spokeswoman said doctors ruled out a seizure in the latest incident, saying Roberts was dehydrated. (Washington Post / CNN)
poll/ 60% of Americans said they found reports of Russian bounties on American soldiers to be “very” or “somewhat” believable, while 21% said they were not and the rest said they were unsure. 39% said they think Trump knew about Russia’s bounty program before it was reported in the news, while 26% said Trump didn’t know. (Reuters)
poll/ 91% of Americans believe racism and police violence are a problem in the U.S., with 72% deeming it is a serious one. 89% think police violence is a problem and 65% consider it serious. 47% disapprove of Trump’s response to the protests, while 31% approve. (The Guardian)
1/ The Trump administration officially notified the United Nations that it will withdraw from the World Health Organization amid a global pandemic that has infected more than 11.6 million people and killed more than a half a million. In April, Trump announced that the U.S. would freeze funding to the organization pending a review, followed by Trump’s threat in May that the U.S. would be “terminating” its relationship with the WHO over its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The U.S. is required to give a year’s notice in writing and pay its debts to the agency in order to leave. In 2019, the U.S. contributed roughly 15% of the health agency’s budget. (Washington Post / NBC News / New York Times)
2/ Trump pressed schools to physically reopen in the fall despite a surge in COVID-19 cases in parts of the country. During a series of conference calls and roundtable discussions at the White House – billed as a “National Dialogue on Safely Reopening America’s Schools” – Trump argued that keeping children at home longer would be worse than the virus itself, and that the governors, mayors, and other local officials who control the schools “think it’s going to be good for them politically so they keep the schools closed.” Trump added: “We are very much going to put pressure on governors and everybody else to open the schools to get them open.” On Monday night, Trump has made his position clear, tweeting: “SCHOOLS MUST OPEN IN THE FALL!!!” Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, meanwhile, said she was “disappointed frankly in schools and districts that didn’t figure out how to serve students or that just gave up and didn’t try” to reopen in the fall. (New York Times / NPR / Politico / Bloomberg)
3/ Dr. Anthony Fauci called Trump’s recent focus on the coronavirus’s decreasing mortality rate in the U.S. a “false narrative” and that “by getting infected, you’re propagating this pandemic.” Trump, contradicting health experts, has called “99 percent” of coronavirus cases “totally harmless.” The nation’s top infectious disease expert said the lower mortality rate is the result of the country getting better at treating people and that the mean age of those getting infected has dropped by about 15 years. The White House, meanwhile, claimed that the U.S. is the “leader” in the fight against the coronavirus, despite the number of deaths in the U.S. passing 130,000 and cases nearing three million. (Washington Post / The Guardian)
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro tested positive for COVID-19 after downplaying the virus for months. “There’s no problem,” Bolsonaro told reporters. “It’s natural. There’s no dread. It’s life.” (CNN / Washington Post / Bloomberg)
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms tested positive for the coronavirus after displaying no symptoms. (Axios)
The federal government awarded $2 billion to two drugmakers to develop and manufacture a potential vaccine against COVID-19. Novavax received $1.6 billion to expedite clinical studies of its experimental coronavirus vaccine and deliver 100 million doses for use in the U.S. by the beginning of next year. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals received a $450 million federal contract to manufacture thousands of doses of its experimental treatment. (Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / New York Times)
The White House wants Congress to pass another stimulus package before lawmakers leave for the August recess. Trump administration officials want to keep the cost at $1 trillion or less. (Bloomberg)
4/ Companies tied to Trump family members and associates were approved for up to $21 million in loans from the Paycheck Protection Program, which are meant to help small businesses survive the coronavirus pandemic, according to data released by the U.S. Treasury Department and Small Business Administration. Unlike the CARES Act, there is no provision in the PPP that excludes government officials and their family members from receiving bailout funds. The program was designed to allow small businesses — generally, those with fewer than 500 employees — to apply for loans of up to $10 million each. The loans can also be forgiven if they are used to cover payroll expenses, rent, mortgage interest, or utilities. Companies tied to Jared Kushner were approved for up to $6 million. A Dallas megachurch where Mike Pence recently spoke — whose pastor has been a vocal Trump supporter and sits on Trump’s evangelical advisory board — was approved for a forgivable loan worth $2-5 million. The school where Barron Trump is a student was approved for $2-5 million. The attorney who represented Trump in the Mueller investigation, as well as dozens of tenants of Trump’s real estate company, also received money. 22 companies at 40 Wall Street, an office building Trump owns in Lower Manhattan, received a combined total of at least $16.6 million in loans. (ProPublica / Independent / Reuters / Washington Post / Daily Beast)
Billionaires, well-connected D.C. firms, and several major chains received millions of dollars in loans from the PPP. The list includes PF Chang’s and Silver Diner, each of which have private-equity investors and received millions of dollars in loans. It also includes Kanye West’s Yeezy, which made $1.3 billion in 2019, and the Church of Scientology. (Daily Beast / NBC News / Hollywood Reporter / Washington Post)
Notables.
The Republican National Convention in Jacksonville, FL will test attendees for COVID-19 on a daily basis. A spokesperson for the convention said in an email that “everyone attending the convention within the perimeter will be tested and temperature checked each day.” The spokesperson later reiterated that attendees will actually be tested for COVID-19 and not just given a basic health screening before they enter the 15,000-person VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in late August. (CNN)
The Trump administration is “looking at” banning TikTok and other Chinese apps. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Fox News that “the United States will get this one right,” adding that he didn’t want to “get out in front” of Trump, “but it’s something we’re looking at.” Pompeo said Americans should only download the app “if you want your private information in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party.” TikTok is owned by a Beijing-based company, but led by an American CEO and has previously said that U.S. user data is stored in the United States. (CNN / CNBC / NBC News / Axios)
Roger Stone asked Trump grant him a pardon or commute his sentence before he starts a 40-month prison term on July 14. Stone filed an emergency appeal after U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson denied his motion to set a Sept. 3 surrender date. (Bloomberg / Politico)
1/ Trump used the Fourth of July weekend to sow division during a global pandemic that has killed over 130,000 Americans, shirked his responsibility to contain the coronavirus, and promoted an updated version of his “American carnage” vision for the country. In a pair of remarks – at Mount Rushmore on Friday and from the White House on Saturday – Trump depicted the recent protests against racism and police brutality as an “angry mob” looking to “unleash a wave of violent crime in our cities” by “tear[ing] down our statues” in order to “erase our history” and “end America.” Trump, making no mention of the victims of police violence, warned of a “growing danger” to the values of the nation through a “merciless campaign to wipe out our history, defame our heroes, erase our values, and indoctrinate our children.”
“Make no mistake,” Trump told several thousand people mostly without masks, “this left-wing cultural revolution is designed to overthrow the American Revolution.” Trump also claimed that media outlets “slander” him and “falsely and consistently label their opponents as racists.” Trump provided no evidence to support any of his claims. (New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / NPR / CNN / ABC News / Los Angeles Times / New York Times / Axios / Associated Press)
Trump demanded that NASCAR’s only full-time Black driver apologize for an investigation into an noose found in the driver’s garage. In the same tweet, Trump also suggested that NASCAR had made a mistake banning the Confederate flag from all raceways. The FBI found that the noose had been in the garage since last year and Bubba Wallace was therefore not a victim of a hate crime. The White House press secretary, meanwhile, refused to denounce the Confederate flag after Trump’s complaint. (New York Times / CNN / ABC News / Axios)
2/ Dr. Anthony Fauci warned that the country was still “knee-deep in the first wave” of the pandemic, saying that the more than 50,000 new cases a day recorded several times in the past week were “a serious situation that we have to address immediately.” The nation’s top infectious disease expert noted that Europe managed to drive infections down, but the U.S. “never came down to baseline and now are surging back up.” Over the first five days of July, the United States reported its three largest daily case totals with 14 states recording single-day highs as the death toll from the pandemic passed 130,000. Fauci added: “the current state is really not good.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / ABC News)
The seven-day average for new coronavirus cases in the U.S. hit a record high for the 28th day in a row. 13 states reported new highs in their seven-day case averages. Montana, Delaware, and Alaska saw their biggest percentage changes from their previous records. West Virginia also set a record number of daily cases. South Carolina, Texas, Arizona, Nevada, and California all reported record numbers of hospitalizations from the virus. (Washington Post / Texas Tribune)
239 scientists from 32 countries warned that airborne transmission is a significant factor in the coronavirus pandemic. In an open letter to the World Health Organization, the group of scientists outlined the evidence that the virus can spread indoors through aerosols that linger in the air and can be infectious in smaller quantities than previously thought. The WHO, however, has maintained that the coronavirus is spread primarily by large respiratory droplets that fall quickly to the floor. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNBC)
3/ The White House’s new message to Americans is that they need to learn to “live with the virus being a threat.” Trump campaign officials and advisers have suggested that the goal is to convince Americans to accept the escalating death toll and tens of thousands of new cases a day while pushing for schools to reopen and professional sports to return. For nearly six months the administration have offered a series of predictions, from Trump promising that “the problem goes away in April” to predicting “packed churches all over our country” on Easter Sunday to Pence’s claim that “by Memorial Day weekend we will have this coronavirus epidemic behind us” to Jared Kushner’s promise that the country would be “really rocking again” by July, all while highlighting a potential vaccine and an economic recovery. Among the pronouncements that never came to fruition was the White House’s initial message in January that the virus wasn’t a threat at all.[Editor’s note: Let’s not forget Trump’s suggestion that the lungs could be cleaned of coronavirus with disinfectants.] (Washington Post / NBC News)
Chuck Grassley will skip the Republican National Convention, citing coronavirus. (Des Moines Register)
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau turned down a White House invitation to celebrate the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, citing the coronavirus pandemic. (Associated Press)
4/ Trump falsely claimed that 99% of coronavirus cases are “totally harmless.” Trump made the false claim during his Independence Day speech in South Dakota. The number appears to be based on the estimated death rate, which excludes the thousands people who have spent weeks in the hospital or at home with mild to moderate symptoms that still caused debilitating health problems. The 1% death rate also narrowly focuses on the number of people who die compared to the total number of people who were infected, including those who are asymptomatic and don’t experience any illness, and those with mild cases who experience fleeting symptoms. Meanwhile, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, who isn’t an epidemiologist, backed up Trump’s false claim, saying “the risks are extremely low, and the president’s right with that and the facts and statistics back us up there.” He provided no evidence to support the false claim. (The Guardian / New York Times / NBC News / Politico / Axios)
The FDA commissioner declined to defend Trump’s false claim that 99% of COVID-19 cases “are totally harmless.” Stephen Hahn also refused to confirm Trump’s claims that a COVID-19 “solution” would likely be available “long before the end of the year.” (ABC News / NBC News)
5/ At least 40 lobbyists with ties to Trump helped clients secure more than $10 billion in federal coronavirus aid. The lobbyists either worked in the Trump administration, served on his campaign, were part of the inaugural committee or were part of his transition. Many are donors to Trump’s campaigns. (Public Citizen / Associated Press / New York Times)
The Treasury Department and Small Business Administration released a list of businesses that received more than $150,000 as part of the Paycheck Protection Program. Among the recipients were Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao’s family’s business received between $350,000 and $1 million. Chao is the wife of Mitch McConnell. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue’s trucking company was approved for $150,000 to $350,000 in loan money. And, Trump’s business partner in a hotel and residential tower in Waikiki, Hawaii received a loan from the Paycheck Protection Program between $2 million to $5 million. (CNBC / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Daily Beast / New York Times)
6/ Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced that international students pursuing degrees in the United States will have to leave the country if their universities switch to online-only courses for the fall semester. The State Department will not issue visas to students enrolled in online-only programs and Customs and Border Protection will not allow these students to enter the country. Foreign nationals currently enrolled in U.S. educational institutions “may face immigration consequences including, but not limited to, the initiation of removal proceedings” unless part of their course load is taken in-person. The announcement comes as some colleges and universities, including Harvard, have announced that they will hold online-only courses this fall amid the coronavirus pandemic. (Politico / NBC News / CNN / The Hill / Axios)
poll/ 38% of Americans approve of the way Trump has handled the coronavirus pandemic, while 54% disapprove. 52% believe the coronavirus crisis will continue to get worse. 76% fear that current re-openings will increase the number of cases. 84% say they’ve worn a face mask in public. (YouGov)
poll/ 38% of Americans approve of the job Trump is doing as president – three percentage points above his personal low of 35%, which he registered on four separate occasions in 2017. (Gallup)
Notables.
Simon & Schuster will publish Mary Trump’s tell-all book two weeks earlier than expected, citing “high demand and extraordinary interest.” The book, “Too Much and Never Enough, How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man,” portrays Trump as a “damaged man” with “lethal flaws” who “threatens the world’s health, economic security, and social fabric.” (CNN / Politico)
Michael Cohen was seen eating out at a New York City restaurant after the federal Bureau of Prisons released him for “home confinement” due to the coronavirus risk. Cohen was released 10 months into his three-year prison sentence. (New York Post)
Congress adjourned for a two-week recess without addressing the recent spikes in coronavirus cases across the southern and western United States. When they return on July 20, lawmakers will have three weeks to debate and pass a new relief package before they adjourn again through Labor Day. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said the next rescue bill will be the last. Meanwhile, enhanced unemployment benefits are scheduled to end on July 31 and both chambers of Congress remain divided on whether or not to issue additional stimulus checks to Americans. (Washington Post)
At least eight Secret Service agents in Phoenix either tested positive for the coronavirus or were showing symptoms of being infected. Pence was scheduled to visit Phoenix on Tuesday, but instead went on Wednesday so healthy agents could be deployed. (CNN / Washington Post)
Trump Jr.’s girlfriend tested positive for the coronavirus. Kimberly Guilfoyle traveled to South Dakota with Trump Jr. and planned to attend Trump’s Fourth of July fireworks display where Trump was set to speak, but Guilfoyle tested positive before the event. She did not travel on Air Force One and is the only person in her group who tested positive. Guilfoyle is now the third person in possible proximity to Trump to have contracted the virus. (New York Times / ABC News / CNN)
Trump Jr. and Kimberly Guilfoyle were spotted maskless last Saturday at a Hamptons party with 100 other guests. (PageSix)
The Trump campaign “strongly” encourages attendees to wear a mask at Trump’s upcoming rally Saturday in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The campaign will also provide face masks and hand sanitizer for all attendees. (Axios)
1/ The United States set a single-day coronavirus case record for the fifth time in eight days after reporting more than 50,000 new cases on Wednesday – the largest single-day total since the start of the pandemic. “We are not flattening the curve right now,” said Adm. Brett Giroir, the government’s coronavirus testing coordinator. “The curve is still going up.” Dr. Anthony Fauci added: “I think it’s pretty obvious that we are not going in the right direction.” At least 23 states have paused reopening plans ahead of the holiday weekend. (Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / CNN / CNBC)
Coronavirus cases in the U.S. rose by nearly 50% in June, led by states that tried to reopen their economies first. (Washington Post)
Herman Cain was hospitalized with COVID-19. The former 2012 Republican presidential candidate was at Trump’s rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, last month, and was photographed sitting in close proximity with other attendees, none of whom appeared to be wearing masks. At least eight Trump advance team staffers at the Tulsa rally also tested positive for coronavirus. (CNN / CNBC)
More than 40 Bay Area school principals were exposed to coronavirus during in-person school reopening planning meeting. The superintendent insisted the meeting was necessary. (San Francisco Chronicle)
2/ Texas issued a statewide mandate requiring face masks in public in any county with 20 or more positive COVID-19 cases. Gov. Greg Abbott previously opposed attempts by mayors and local officials requiring people wear face masks while in public, but reversed course after the state reported a record of more than 8,000 new cases on Wednesday. Florida, meanwhile, reported 10,109 new cases on Thursday, marking a new single-day record for the state and the 25th consecutive day that Florida has set a record high in its seven-day rolling average. And in California, where hospitalizations are up more than 40% from two weeks ago, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the mandatory closure of bars, indoor restaurants, movie theaters, zoos, and museums in 19 counties where 70% of the state’s population lives. (CNBC / New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
3/ Another 1.427 million Americans filed unemployment claims last week. The U.S. economy gained 4.8 million jobs in the month of June to bring the unemployment rate to 11.1%, down from a peak of 14.7% in April – higher than in any previous period since World War II. It was the second month of gains after a loss of more than 20 million in April. (New York Times / NBC News / CNBC)
The Congressional Budget Office’s 10-year forecast expects the U.S. unemployment rate to stay above its pre-pandemic levels through the end of 2030. The agency said the country’s economic outlook over the coming decade has “deteriorated significantly” since the CBO published its economic projections in January. This recession could also nearly quadruple the federal budget deficit this year, pushing it to $3.7 trillion. (Washington Post / CNN)
U.S. ambassadors to Uruguay, France, Morocco, and Italy sold stock as Trump tried to downplay the coronavirus outbreak in its early stages. Records show that the transactions occured in January and continued throughout February. (CNBC)
4/ A New York appellate court judge ruled that Simon & Schuster can publish Mary Trump’s tell-all book about her uncle, Donald Trump. The decision from Judge Alan Scheinkman reverses a lower court decision that temporarily halted publication of the book, “Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man,” which is scheduled for release at the end of July. In his decision, Judge Scheinkman declined to address the central claim from the Trump administration: that Mary Trump violated a 20-year-old non-disclosure agreement by writing the book. Instead, the judge ruled that Simon & Schuster was not a party to the agreement and therefore could not be bound by it. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News)
The Republican National Convention is paying a former “Celebrity Apprentice” producer who was accused of having “all the dirt” on Trump. From August 2019 through May 2020, the Committee on Arrangements for the 2020 Republican National Convention paid more than $66,000 to the firm run by Chuck Labella for “production consulting services.” (Daily Beast)
5/ The Commerce Department is blocking the release of an investigation’s findings into whether it pressured the head of the NOAA into supporting Trump’s false claim in 2019 that Hurricane Dorian was going to hit Alabama, according to the department’s inspector general. Peggy E. Gustafson sent a memo to Commerce Department Secretary Wilbur Ross claiming that staff in his department had “thwarted” the publication of her report. Gustafson says the department claims portions of her report contain information that cannot be made public, but refuses to indicate which sections. She says the department’s refusal to allow the release of the report “appears to be directly linked to the content of our report and the findings of responsibility of the high-level individuals involved.” (New York Times)
📌 Day 1244: NOAA’s acting administrator “engaged in the misconduct intentionally, knowingly, or in reckless disregard” for the agency’s scientific integrity policy when he released a statement that backed Trump’s false statement about the path of Hurricane Dorian in 2019. Neil Jacobs criticized the National Weather Service forecast office in Birmingham for a tweet that contradicted Trump’s inaccurate tweet that Hurricane Dorian, which was then approaching the East Coast of the U.S., would hit Alabama “harder than anticipated.” No punishments have been proposed, despite the violations. (Washington Post / New York Times)
📌 Day 1110: Officials at NOAA were “sick” and “flabbergasted” about Trump’s inaccurate statements, altered forecast map, and tweets about Hurricane Dorian in September, according to emails released in response to Freedom of Information Act requests. The emails also show that the No. 2 official at the agency claimed that neither he nor the acting administrator approved the unsigned statement that a NOAA spokesperson issued on Sept. 6, which criticized the Birmingham National Weather Service forecast office for a tweet that contradicted Trump’s inaccurate assertion that Alabama “will most likely be hit (much) harder than anticipated” from the Category 5 storm. (BuzzFeed News / Washington Post / NBC News)
1/ The number of confirmed U.S. coronavirus deaths is “a substantial undercount” of the true tally, according to researchers at Yale University. Researchers found that the 781,000 total deaths in the U.S. from March 1 through May 30 were about 19% higher than what would normally be expected. And, the number of excess deaths from any cause were 28% higher than the official tally of U.S. COVID-19 deaths during those months. In 45 states, seven-day averages of new infections are higher than they were a week ago and more than 800,000 new cases were reported in the U.S. in June — led by Florida, Arizona, Texas and California. The World Health Organization, meanwhile, warned that some countries might have to reimplement lockdowns to curb the spread of the coronavirus. (CNBC / CNBC / Washington Post / New York Times)
The Federal Reserve raised concerns in June about a surge in coronavirus infections and how a second wave could disrupt the economic recovery, trigger a spike in unemployment, and prolong the recession. When this Fed meeting concluded on June 10, there were 20,456 new coronavirus cases in the United States. On Tuesday, the U.S. reported 44,474 new cases. (Washington Post)
U.S. companies added fewer jobs than expected in June. Businesses’ payrolls increased by 2.37 million in June, while economists predicted a 2.9 million rise. (Bloomberg)
The Treasury Department lent $700 million in coronavirus stimulus funds to a trucking company that warned in May it was in danger of going out of business. The Treasury – aka U.S. taxpayers – will take a 29.6% equity stake in the company, YRC Worldwide, whose stock had fell 27% this year and was worth $70 million. In 2018, the Justice Department sued YRC for allegedly overcharging the Pentagon millions of dollars for shipping. (CNN / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post)
2/ Trump said he’s “all for masks” and would have “no problem” wearing one in public but thinks coronavirus will “disappear” someday. He then added: “At some point.” While coronavirus cases surge to all-time highs and states reverse reopening plans, Trump told Fox Business that “we are going to be very good with the coronavirus” because “it’s going to sort of just disappear, I hope.” Trump also said he thought he “looked OK” the one time he was seen wearing a face mask and that he thought he resembled the “Lone Ranger.” (CNN / Daily Beast / Associated Press / Washington Post)
3/ The U.S. bought nearly the entire global stock of one of the drugs proven to work against COVID-19, leaving the rest of the world unable to purchase it for at least the next three months. Remdesivir, which has been shown to help people recover faster from COVID-19, is the first drug to be approved by the FDA to treat the disease. The Trump administration bought more than 500,000 doses of remdesivir, which is Gilead’s entire stock for July and 90% of the supply for August and September. (The Guardian)
4/ Trump called reports that Russia offered bounties to Taliban fighters who kill American and coalition forces a “HOAX!” designed to “damage me and the Republican Party.” In a subsequent tweet, Trump repeated his claim that he was never briefed by intelligence officials about the bounty program “because any info that they may have had did not rise to that level.” White House officials, however, were first informed in early 2019 of intelligence reports that Russia was offering bounties to kill U.S. and coalition military personnel. Officials also provided Trump with a written briefing of the finding in late February. Trump has also repeatedly dismissed the credibility of the intelligence and White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany has acknowledged the existence of the intelligence, but said there was “no consensus” and that it hadn’t been completely “verified.” In an additional tweet, Trump claimed that “this is all a made up Fake News Media Hoax started to slander me & the Republican Party.” (The Hill / NPR / Washington Post)
Taliban commanders confirmed that Russia offered financial and material support in exchange for attacking U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Three sources confirmed the practice takes place and that Russian intelligence officials are known to pay. Iran and Pakistan reportedly also fund these activities. The spokesman for former Taliban leader Mullah Omar also said “The Taliban have been paid by Russian intelligence for attacks on U.S. forces—and on ISIS forces—in Afghanistan from 2014 up to the present.” (Business Insider / Daily Beast)
5/ Senate Republicans forced the removal of a provision from the updated National Defense Authorization Act that would have required presidential campaigns to report offers of foreign election help. The Senate is debating the defense authorization legislation on the floor this week. (CNN)
6/ Trump called New York City’s decision to paint “Black Lives Matter” on Fifth Avenue a “symbol of hate” that would “denigrate” the “luxury” street outside Trump Tower and “further antagonize” police. Trump’s tweets were directed at Mayor Bill de Blasio, who order the “Black Lives Matter” tribute be painted in large yellow letters. De Blasio responded to Trump’s tweets, calling them “the definition of racism.” (NPR / Politico / Axios / Washington Post)
The United Nations Human Rights Council debated launching a special investigation of racism in America after the killing of George Floyd. The 47-member council ultimate decided against a U.S.-focused probe and instead requested a report on anti-Black racism worldwide. That the Trump administration quit the council two years ago. (Politico)
7/ Trump threatened to veto a must-pass defense spending bill if it includes an amendment requiring the Pentagon to rename military bases named after prominent Confederate figures. The amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act would change the name of 10 U.S. military bases and require the removal of Confederate likenesses, symbols, and paraphernalia from defense facilities across the country within three years. While most Republican senators said they had no problem with Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s amendment, Trump tweeted that he would veto it “if the Elizabeth ‘Pocahontas’ Warren (of all people!) Amendment, which will lead to the renaming (plus other bad things!) […] is in the Bill!” (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Politico)
8/ A federal judge overturned the Trump administration’s 2019 policy that prohibited immigrants from claiming asylum in the U.S. if they didn’t attempt to first apply for asylum in a country they passed through on the way to the U.S. border. U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly ruled that the so-called “third-country asylum rule” violated the Immigration and Nationality Act, that the administration “unlawfully promulgated” the rule, failed to show it was in the public interest and didn’t abide by the Administrative Procedure Act when adopting the policy. The INA allows anyone who has made it to U.S. soil to apply for asylum, with some exceptions, and the APA requires that Americans be given enough time and opportunity to weigh in on certain rule changes. It’s the second time a lower court has concluded the rule is unlawful. Judge Kelly was appointed to the federal bench by Trump in 2017. (NBC News / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / CNN)
9/ Trump’s reworking of the North American Free Trade Agreement went into effect today. Trump has touted the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement as “the best and most important trade deal ever made by the USA.” The deal, however, is not expected to significantly increase trade within the region. (Politico / New York Times)
10/ Jared Kushner had the Trump reelection campaign’s chief operating officer “reassigned” in an effort to designate blame for the Tulsa rally. Michael Glassner will be replaced with Jeff DeWit, who held the same position in Trump’s 2016 campaign. DeWit will also oversee campaign rally operations. A campaign spokesman said that the change was “not a reaction” to what happened in Tulsa. (Axios / Wall Street Journal / Politico)
Trump’s re-election campaign has spent more than $325,000 in Facebook ads promoting the social media pages of his campaign manager, Brad Parscale. The Trump campaign said that it was testing the use of Parscale’s page to run ads from different accounts. (New York Times)
11/ Trump recently told people that he regrets following some of Jared Kushner’s political advice and will instead stick closer to his own instincts moving forward. (Axios)
poll/ 39% of voters approve of the job Trump is doing as president. 59% disapprove. (Politico)
1/ Dr. Anthony Fauci warned a Senate committee that the U.S. is “not in total control” of the coronavirus and that infections could more than double to 100,000 a day if the country fails to contain the surge. The nation’s top infectious diseases expert said “we’re going in the wrong direction” and the recent sharp rise in cases, largely in the South and the West, “puts the entire country at risk.” Fauci declined to estimate the number of potential deaths, but said “It is going to be very disturbing, I guarantee you that.”
(New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Politico / NBC News / CNN / CNBC)
A new strain of the H1N1 swine flu virus is spreading on pig farms in China and should be “urgently” controlled to avoid another pandemic, according to a new study. The new strain, known as G4 EA H1N1, has been common on China’s pig farms since 2016 and has characteristics of the 2009 H1N1 virus and 1918 pandemic flu. The H1N1 swine flu emerged in Mexico in April 2009 and infected at least 700 million worldwide and 60.8 million people in the U.S. An estimated 151,700 to 575,400 people died from the virus globally. (New York Times / BBC / CNBC)
South Dakota will not require thousands of people who attend a July 3 event at Mount Rushmore with Trump to practice social distancing. Gov. Kristi Noem said “We told those folks that have concerns that they can stay home, but those who want to come and join us, we’ll be giving out free face masks, if they choose to wear one. But we won’t be social distancing.” (Axios / NBC News)
The European Union formally extended a travel ban for U.S. residents, deeming the American response to the coronavirus pandemic insufficient. (New York Times / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
The deadline to apply for the Paycheck Protection Program will end today with more than $130 billion left unused. For many small businesses, the process to receive PPP funding was confusing and some businesses were hesitant to apply as forgiveness guidelines shifted multiple times. (ABC News / Washington Post)
2/ The White House and the National Security Council learned that Russia was offering bounties on U.S. and coalition troops in early 2019 – at least a month before an April 2019 car bomb attack in Afghanistan that killed three U.S. Marines. The intelligence was also included in at least one of Trump’s President’s Daily Brief documents at the time, according to U.S. officials with direct knowledge of the intelligence. John Bolton, Trump’s national security adviser at the time, reportedly told colleagues he briefed Trump on the intelligence in March 2019. (Associated Press / NBC News)
3/ Trump received a second written presidential daily briefing earlier this year that Russia paid bounties for the killing of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. The intelligence was included months ago in Trump’s President’s Daily Brief in late February. One official cited the Feb. 27 briefing document. Trump doesn’t fully or regularly read the President’s Daily Brief, preferring to receive an oral briefing two or three times a week by his intelligence officials. While the White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, confirmed that “The president does read,” she claimed that Trump was not briefed about the bounties in an oral session, saying “He was not personally briefed on the matter. That is all I can share with you today.” McEnany also condemned the New York Times for publishing “unverified” allegations, suggesting that “rogue intelligence officers” were undermining Trump and national security. (New York Times / CNN / Bloomberg / Axios)
Intelligence analysts intercepted electronic data showing large financial transfers from a bank account controlled by Russia’s military intelligence agency to a Taliban-linked account. (New York Times)
4/ Republicans have skipped all but one of the House Intelligence Committee’s meetings since March. Democrats claim Republicans are boycotting the sessions out of partisan spite, while Republicans say they have legitimate concerns about the security of the virtual sessions. The committee has held at least seven bipartisan open- and closed-door sessions since the coronavirus pandemic hit the U.S. in March. (Politico)
5/ A New York judge temporarily blocked the publication of Mary Trump’s book about her uncle, Donald Trump, saying no copies can be distributed until he hears arguments in the case. Robert Trump asked the court to block Mary Trump’s book, “Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man,” saying its publication would violate the nondisclosure agreement she signed. The book is set for release on July 28. (Politico / Washington Post / CNBC)
poll/ 71% of Americans say they would get a coronavirus vaccine, while 27% say they probably or definitely would not. According to researchers at Johns Hopkins University, at least 70% will need immunity to the virus to reach herd immunity. (Washington Post)
poll/ 87% of Americans are dissatisfied with the way things are going in the country, while 12% are satisfied. (Pew Research Center)
1/ Russian intelligence officers offered bounties to Taliban militants to kill U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan over the past year, according to a classified U.S. intelligence assessment. Trump and administration officials were briefed on the Russian operation in recent months, while the U.S. was in the midst of peace negotiations with the Taliban to end the 18-year war in Afghanistan. The White House’s National Security Council also discussed the issue at an interagency meeting in late March. Additionally, U.S. intelligence officials and Special Operations forces in Afghanistan alerted superiors about the covert Russian operation as early as January 2020. U.S. intelligence officials say the bounties are believed to have resulted in the deaths of multiple U.S. troops in the region over the last few years, though it is unclear exactly how many were targeted or killed under the program. The same Russian unit has been linked to assassination attempts and other covert actions in Europe and has offered rewards for successful attacks in the past. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / ABC News / Washington Post / The Guardian)
2/ Trump denied receiving an intelligence briefing on the alleged Russian bounty program, tweeting that “nobody briefed or told me” and that he had “just” heard about it. Trump also claimed that the intelligence community didn’t brief Pence or White House chief of staff Mark Meadows about the Taliban bounty payments because “they did not find this info credible.” White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, meanwhile, claimed that Trump and other top administration officials were not “briefed on the alleged Russian bounty intelligence.” Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe also “confirmed that neither the President nor the Vice President were ever briefed on any intelligence” related to a Russian bounty, and that all news reports “about an alleged briefing are inaccurate.” Trump added that “nobody has been tougher on Russia than the Trump Administration” and called for the New York Times, which broke the story, to “reveal” its sourcing. (Associated Press / Axios / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / NPR)
3/ The White House insisted that Trump still “has not been briefed on the matter” of Russian bounties. Press secretary Kayleigh McEnany suggested that the intelligence was unconfirmed, saying there was “no consensus,” that there were “dissenting opinions,” and that the “veracity of the underlying allegations continue to be evaluated.” As she spoke, however, administration officials were briefing a limited number of House Republicans at the White House on intelligence that Russia offered bounties. (ABC News / Bloomberg / Politico / NPR / CNN)
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany: “I think it’s time that The New York Times and The Washington Post hand back their Pulitzers.” During the briefing, a reporter asked, “If he hasn’t been briefed, how is he certain that Russia didn’t put out this bounty?” McEnany responded, accusing The New York Times of being “absolutely irresponsible” reporting that Trump had, in fact, been briefed. She then called on the Times and Post to turn in their Pulitzers before abruptly ending the briefing. (Mediaite / Washington Post)
The Trump administration is close to finalizing a decision to withdraw more than 4,000 troops from Afghanistan. The move would reduce the number of troops from 8,600 to 4,500. (CNN)
4/ Trump promoted a video on Twitter of a supporter shouting “White power! White power!” from a golf cart bearing “Trump 2020” and “America First” signs. Trump retweeted the racist video – which shows a white man driving past anti-Trump protesters at a Florida retirement community and shouting racist rhetoric – and thanked the “great people of The Villages” in the video. He deleted the tweet more than three hours later. White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere later claimed that Trump “did not hear the one statement made on the video,” adding that all Trump saw “was tremendous enthusiasm from his many supporters.” (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / NPR / Politico / Associated Press / NBC News / Bloomberg / Axios / The Guardian)
5/ Trump retweeted a video of a white man and woman aiming a semiautomatic rifle and a handgun at peaceful black protesters in St. Louis. The couple stood in front of their mansion with guns and repeatedly shouted “Get out! Private property, get out!” at protesters, who were marching to Mayor Lyda Krewson’s home to demand her resignation after she released the names and identifying details of people who support defunding the police. Mark and Patricia McCloskey are personal-injury lawyers who work together in The McCloskey Law Center. They own a million dollar home. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch / New York Times / Bloomberg / The Guardian / Washington Post)
6/ Twitch temporarily suspended Trump’s channel and Reddit banned its biggest community devoted to Trump. Twitch suspended Trump’s campaign channel for “hateful conduct” that was aired on stream, saying the videos ran afoul of its rules against content that “promotes, encourages or facilitates discrimination, denigration, objectification, harassment or violence” based on an individual’s identity. Separately, Reddit banned the subreddit “The_Donald” for consistently breaking its rules, including promoting hate based on “identity or vulnerability,” antagonized other communities, and for failing to meet Reddit’s “most basic expectations.” The_Donald had more than 790,000 users devoted to posting memes, viral videos, and supportive content about Trump. [Editor’s note: Where you at Twitter and Facebook?] (Politico / The Verge / Axios / TechCrunch / New York Times / CNBC / CNN)
7/ The World Health Organization warned that the coronavirus pandemic is “speeding up” and the “worst is yet to come.” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus’ comments come as the global number of coronavirus cases passed 10 million, with more than 500,000 deaths. The CDC’s principal deputy director added that “this is really the beginning” as the United States surpassed 2.5 million confirmed cases. With more than 100,000 confirmed cases, Los Angeles County health officials warned that conditions were deteriorating as data showed an “alarming increases in cases, positivity rates and hospitalization.” Florida reported 5,266 new cases of the coronavirus Monday, bringing its rolling seven-day average to a record high for the 22nd day in a row. South Carolina set a record on its rolling seven-day average for the 21st day in a row. Arizona saw a record high in hospitalizations and its seven-day rolling average for new cases is 12% higher than it was a week ago. In Texas, coronavirus-related hospitalizations reached a record high for the 16th day in a row, while its rolling seven-day average for cases topped 19 days in a row. Texas Medical Center hospitals stopped updating metrics showing hospital capacity or projections of future capacity after their base intensive care capacity had hit 100% for the first time during the pandemic. And, at least 14 states have paused or rolled back their reopening plans to slow the surge of coronavirus cases. Pence, meanwhile, postponed campaign events in Florida and Arizona “out of an abundance of caution” while White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany played down the spike in cases, saying, “We’re aware that there are embers that need to be put out.” (Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg / CNBC / CBS News / Wall Street Journal / NBC News)
Jacksonville will institute a city-wide mask order to stem the spread of coronavirus. The Republican National Committee relocated its August convention to Jacksonville after a battle with North Carolina about restrictions on the event in Charlotte. (Axios / Politico)
The first drug shown to be effective against the coronavirus will cost U.S. hospitals $3,120 for the typical patient with private insurance. Gilead Sciences will charge patients who are covered by government programs like Medicaid will be charged $2,340 for remdesivir. (CBS News / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / New York Times)
The FBI issued a warning about scammers who advertise fraudulent COVID-19 antibody tests as way to obtain personal information that could be used for identity theft or medical insurance fraud. (New York Times)
The Trump campaign removed thousands of “Do Not Sit Here, Please!” stickers from seats hours before Trump’s rally at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. (Washington Post / The Guardian)
8/ The Supreme Court struck down a restrictive abortion law in Louisiana that would have left the state with only one abortion clinic. Chief Justice John Roberts, who joined the court’s liberals in the 5-to-4 decision, said “The Louisiana law imposes a burden on access to abortion just as severe as that imposed by the Texas law, for the same reasons. Therefore Louisiana’s law cannot stand under our precedents.” Roberts’s vote was unexpected because he dissented in the 2016 Texas case, which was essentially identical to the Louisiana case. The Louisiana law required any doctor offering abortion services to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles, which would have left one doctor at a single clinic to provide services for nearly 10,000 women who seek abortions in the state each year. In the past two weeks, Roberts has voted with the court’s liberals on job discrimination against gay and transgender workers, on a program protecting Dreamers, and now on abortion. (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press / ABC News / The Guardian / Axios)
✏️ Notables.
A federal judge ruled that Immigration and Customs Enforcement must release children held in family detention centers by July 17 because of the danger posed by the coronavirus pandemic. The children must be released with their parents or to “available suitable sponsors or other available COVID-free non-congregate settings” with the consent of their parents or guardians. (NBC News / CNN)
A federal judge ordered Roger Stone to report to prison by July 14. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson granted a two-week delay because of the coronavirus pandemic, but not the two months that Stone had requested. (Washington Post)
Iran has issued an arrest warrant for Trump on “murder and terrorism charges” related to the killing of top general Qassem Soleimani in January. Iran also asked Interpol for help detaining Trump and dozens of others involved in the drone strike. (Al Jazeera / CNN / Daily Beast)
Trump visited his private golf course in Virginia Saturday – one day after saying he had canceled a weekend trip to his New Jersey golf club so he could stay in Washington, D.C. to “make sure LAW & ORDER is enforced.” (The Guardian / Daily Beast)
1/ The United States set a daily record for new COVID-19 cases for the third time in three days, passing the 40,000 mark for the first time. Five states set new single-day highs and 11 states set their own records for the average number of new cases reported over the past seven days. (Washington Post / NPR / The Guardian / Wall Street Journal)
Florida reported nearly 9,000 new coronavirus cases in 24 hours, surpassing its previous single-day record of 5,511 reported on Wednesday. The coronavirus has now infected 122,960 people in Florida – with 29,163 new cases over the last seven days – and killed at least 3,327 people. The state’s former leading COVID-19 data scientist, meanwhile, Gov. Ron DeSantis of “cooking the books” in an effort to hide the impact of the pandemic. (Miami Herald / CNBC / Axios / The Guardian / New York Times / Politico)
Texas rolled back reopening plans after reporting 5,996 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, which beat Wednesday’s record of 5,551. Gov. Greg Abbott ordered bars to close and restaurants to scale back capacity to 50%. (Texas Tribune / Washington Post / Associated Press / CNBC / Wall Street Journal)
2/ The White House coronavirus task force held its first briefing in two months, as Pence took a victory lap, saying “We slowed the spread, we flattened the curve, we saved lives.” While Pence acknowledged that cases have been rising “precipitously” in some states, he argued that Americans are seeing “encouraging news” despite cases surging because all 50 states – he claimed – “are opening up safely and responsibly.” Pence insisted “this moment is different” than two months ago, suggesting “We’re in a much better place” because “the volume of new cases coming in is a reflection of a great success in expanding testing across the country.” Pence also defended Trump’s decision to resume holding campaign rallies, claiming “The freedom of speech, the right to peaceably assemble, is enshrined in the constitution of the United States […] Even in a health crisis, the American people don’t forfeit our constitutional rights.” He added: “And we have an election coming up this fall.” (NPR / CNBC / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / The Hill)
Dr. Anthony Fauci warned that the coronavirus outbreaks largely in the South and West could spread across the U.S. The nation’s top infectious diseases expert pleaded for Americans to practice social distancing and mask wearing, saying “You have an individual responsibility to yourself but you have a societal responsibility.” The Trump administration is also weighing testing groups of people together. “Pool testing” could help officials test more people with fewer resources. (New York Times / Washington Post)
3/ The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to invalidate the Affordable Care Act as the U.S. has recorded more than 120,000 deaths from COVID-19, with nearly 2.5 million confirmed cases. In an 82-page brief submitted an hour before the midnight deadline, the Trump administration said that “the entire ACA must fall,” arguing that the individual mandate was rendered unconstitutional after Congress ended the financial penalty for not having health insurance in 2017. If the court agrees, more than 23 million Americans would lose health care coverage. (NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / CNN / NPR / Politico)
4/ Trump canceled his planned trip to his private golf club in Bedminster, N.J. The White House claimed the cancellation “had nothing to do” with a state order mandating a 14-day quarantine for visitors who have been in states with increasing numbers of coronavirus cases. The weather forecast, however, showed that thundershowers are expected throughout the area this weekend. Hours later Trump tweeted that he canceled the trip to stay in Washington “to make sure LAW & ORDER is enforced.” (CNBC / Politico)
5/ The European Union will block most travelers from the United States, Russia, and other countries considered too risky because they have not controlled the coronavirus outbreak. The U.S. banned most European Union travelers in March, but has not eased its restrictions, even though European infections and deaths have dropped. The ban goes into effect on July 1. (New York Times)
poll/ 76% of Americans are concerned about being infected by the coronavirus – up from 69% in early June. 56% of Americans believe the U.S. is reopening the economy too quickly, while 15% say the economy is reopening too slowly, and an additional 29% believe the economy is being reopened at the right pace. (Ipsos / ABC News)
poll/ 89% of Americans who left their home in the last week said they wore a face mask or a face covering, compared to only 11% who said they did not. (ABC News)
poll/ 40% of Americans approve of the job Trump is doing as president, while 58% disapprove – an all-time high. In a hypothetical general election matchup, Biden leads Trump by 8 percentage points – 52% to 44%. (NPR)
poll/ 58% of Americans said racism is “a big problem” in America, while 41% said racism is “somewhat,” a “small problem,” or “not a problem at all.” (Kaiser Family Foundation)
Notables.
The Trump administration does not have the authority to use military funding to pay for construction of a border wall, a federal appeals court ruled. In a 2-1 ruling, the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals said that diverting $2.5 billion Congress had appropriated for the military violated the Constitution and is unlawful. Congress holds the authority to appropriate money. (NBC News / CNN / Los Angeles Times)
The House voted to grant statehood to Washington, D.C. – the first time Congress has approved establishing the nation’s capital as a state. The White House, however, confirmed that it opposes statehood, and Mitch McConnell said he will not bring the legislation to a vote in the Senate. (New York Times / Washington Post)
The head of the White House Council of Economic Advisers will depart at the end of June. Tomas Philipson last appeared publicly at the White House in early June, when Trump boasted about the latest job numbers. (Politico)
The House passed an expansive policing reform bill aimed at combating racial discrimination and excessive use of force in law enforcement. The measure bans police from using chokeholds and no-knock warrants in drug-related cases, while lowering legal standards to pursue criminal and civil penalties for police misconduct. Republicans said the bill is a federal overreach into policing that will never pass the Senate, and the White House has threatened a veto. (New York Times / NPR)
1/ The CDC estimated that the number of Americans infected with the coronavirus could be as high as 23 million — 10 times the 2.3 million currently confirmed cases. CDC Director Robert Redfield said the estimate is based on blood samples collected from across the country for the presence of antibodies. For every confirmed case of COVID-19, 10 more people had antibodies. Redfield added that between 5% and 8% of Americans have been infected to date. Trump, meanwhile, claimed that “It’s going away.” (Axios / NBC News / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / New York Times)
Coronavirus cases are up 30% nationwide compared to the beginning of this month. While the Trump administration repeatedly claimed that case counts are up because the U.S. has increased testing, the assertions are not backed up by the data and the increase in positive cases cannot be attributed to the rise in testing alone. (Axios / ProPublica)
Coronavirus cases are rising in states with relaxed policies on wearing masks. In 16 states that recommend, but do not require, that residents wear masks in public new coronavirus cases have risen by 84% over the last two weeks. In 11 states that mandate wearing masks in public, new cases have fallen by 25% over the last two weeks. (Philadelphia Inquirer)
Texas halted reopening as hospitals were inundated with “an explosion” of new COVID-19 cases and officials warned there might not be enough beds available. Hospitals in Bexar, Dallas, Harris and Travis counties were ordered to stop nonessential procedures to make sure beds are available for coronavirus patients. (NBC News / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNBC / CNN)
2/ Dozens of U.S. Secret Service agents who worked at Trump’s rally in Tulsa were ordered to self-quarantine after two of their colleagues tested positive for the coronavirus. The Secret Service field office in Tulsa arranged a special testing session at a local hospital to determine which agents contracted the virus while working at the rally. The number of Secret Service personnel who have tested positive is still unknown because the agency refuses to divulge that information in order to “protect the privacy of our employees’ health information and for operational security.” A law enforcement official, however, said the number of quarantined agents is on the “low” side of dozens. (CNN / Washington Post)
3/ The federal government sent $1.4 billion in coronavirus stimulus checks to over a million dead people. The finding is part of a review of the federal government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic by the Government Accountability Office. While the government has asked survivors to return the money, it’s not clear they’re required to. (NBC News / Associated Press / Washington Post)
4/ Unemployment claims topped one million for the 14th week in a row after nearly 1.5 million workers filed new claims last week. An additional 728,000 workers filed for benefits from Pandemic Unemployment Assistance. Meanwhile, continuing claims fell below 20 million for the first time in two months. (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / NBC News / CNBC)
5/ The Supreme Court ruled that people seeking asylum from persecution have no right to a federal court hearing. The court’s 7-2 ruling allows the Trump administration to expedite the deportation of thousands of immigrants picked up at or near the border who have claimed to be escaping from persecution and torture in their home countries. A 2004 immigration policy targets any undocumented immigrant picked up within 100 miles of the border and within 14 days of entering the country for quick deportation. The Trump administration has sought to expand a 2004 deportation policy so that undocumented immigrants anywhere in the U.S. can be picked up for any reason and quickly deported up to two years after their arrival. (NPR / ABC News / Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
6/ The Trump administration is discussing ending congressional review of weapons sales to foreign governments, because lawmakers from both parties have held up arms sales to Saudi Arabia over civilian casualties in Yemen. Under the current system, the State Department gives informal notification to relevant foreign policy committees in Congress of proposed arms sale and lawmakers can block sales. (New York Times)
7/ Trump’s nominee to take over the Manhattan federal prosecutors office refused to say whether he would recuse himself from pending investigations involving Trump’s interests and associates if confirmed. Trump nominated Jay Clayton — currently the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission for U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York after Geoffrey Berman was abruptly removed last week. Berman had pursued a number of investigations close to Trump’s inner circle, including Michael Cohen and Rudy Giuliani. Appearing before a House Financial Services subcommittee, Clayton deflected questions about his nomination and the circumstances under which Berman was removed, characterizing the Senate confirmation process as “way down the road.” (Washington Post / Politico)
8/ A New York judge rejected an effort by Trump’s brother to block the publication of his niece Mary Trump’s book, “Too Much and Never Enough.” Queens County Surrogate Court Judge Peter Kelly cited “several improprieties” in Robert Trump’s filing that rendered it “fatally defective.” (The Guardian / Daily Beast / Washington Post)
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~2,370,000; deaths: ~122,000
1/ Coronavirus cases are accelerating across the U.S. and seven states — Arizona, Arkansas, California, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas — are reporting record-high COVID-19 hospitalizations. On Tuesday, more than 800 people died from the virus — the first time U.S. fatalities have increased since June 7 – and more than 35,000 new coronavirus cases were identified across the United States – the highest single-day total since late April and the third-highest total of any day of the pandemic. Case numbers are rising in more than 20 states. New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut will now require visitors from virus hot spots to quarantine for 14 days. Top federal health officials warn that the surge could worsen without new restrictions. Trump’s administration, meanwhile, plans to end support for 13 coronavirus testing sites across the country at the end of the month, including seven in Texas. Four of the seven Texas sites are in Houston and Harris County, which public health experts say could become the area worst hit by COVID-19 in the country. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / New York Times / NBC News / The Hill)
California reported an additional 7,149 COVID-19 cases since Tuesday – a 69% increase in two days. (CNBC)
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said the state is facing a “massive outbreak” in the coronavirus pandemic. For the second straight day, Texas had more than 5,000 new coronavirus cases and more than 4,000 hospital patients with COVID-19. (Houston Chronicle)
Trump plans to ignore New Jersey’s order that requires all visitors from states with high numbers of coronavirus cases to quarantine for 14 days. Trump traveled to Arizona on Tuesday, which has seen a rise in the rate of its COVID-19 cases. Instead, Trump will travel to his golf club in Bedminster, N.J. (CNBC)
Stocks fell on fears that officials would have to reinstate lockdown measures. All three indexes suffered their steepest losses since June 11, with the Dow falling 2.7%, the S&P500 declining 2.6%, and the Nasdaq losing 2.2%. (CNBC / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
The head of the White House Council of Economic Advisers will leave the administration at the end of the month. Tomas Philipson, the acting chairman of the CEA, took over in July 2019 after serving as a member of Trump’s three-person council for almost two years. (Politico)
2/ The Trump administration has considered scaling back the national emergency declared earlier this year to control the coronavirus pandemic. Healthcare leaders said they’re confused by the administration’s unwillingness to publicly commit to an extension of the emergency declarations, one of which is scheduled to expire next month. The declarations have loosened or waived rules and regulations on hospitals and other medical providers to help route needed money to states, allow hospitals to quickly hire more staff, and, in some cases, add beds without going through a lengthy permitting process. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters that Trump is “not looking at lifting the national emergency declarations.” McEnany, however, also claimed that Trump was joking when he said he’d directed aides to slow coronavirus testing. Trump later said he wasn’t joking. [Editor’s note: Who knows even what’s real anymore with these guys.] (Los Angeles Times)
3/ Black Lives Matter protests across the country have not led to an increase in coronavirus cases, according to a new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research. The study looked at protests from more than 300 of the largest American cities and found no evidence that cases of COVID-19 increased in the weeks after the demonstrations. Researchers found that social distancing measures actually went up in the wake of the protests. (CNN)
4/ More than 13,000 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service workers could face extended furloughs starting on August 3 unless the agency receives additional funding from Congress. The fees from visa and citizenship applications and other services have dropped significantly since the coronavirus pandemic began, causing the funding for USCIS operations to fall accordingly. Three-fourths of the USCIS workforce would see their salaries and hours cut for up to 30 days or longer. The agency said it needs an additional $1.2 billion infusion over the rest of the fiscal year, plus a 10% surcharge on application fees, in order to stay afloat. (Washington Post)
5/ A federal appeals court ordered Judge Emmet Sullivan to dismiss the criminal case against Michael Flynn. The former Trump national security adviser pleaded guilty — twice — to lying to the FBI during Robert Mueller’s investigation into the 2016 election, but the U.S. District Court of Appeals in D.C. ruled 2-1 that the DOJ’s decision to abandon the perjury case against Flynn settles the matter. The Justice Department first moved to dismiss the case in May as part of a broader effort by Attorney General William Barr to review and, in some cases, undo several of the rulings from Mueller’s Russia investigation. The panel of judges ruled that they didn’t have enough cause to overturn the Justice Department’s decision to drop the case. It is possible that the case could continue on if other appeals court judges take interest in the matter. If not, the D.C. ruling would exonerate Flynn after he asked to change his plea and claimed he was innocent. (CNN / New York Times / Associated Press / Bloomberg / Axios / ABC News / USA Today / CNBC)
6/ 65 faculty members from Attorney General William Barr’s law school wrote a letter saying Barr has “failed to fulfill his oath of office to ‘support and defend the Constitution of the United States.’” The bipartisan group of law professors and other faculty from George Washington University also wrote that Barr’s actions as AG have “undermined the rule of law, breached constitutional norms, and damaged the integrity and traditional independence of his office and of the Department of Justice.” The letter was posted amid the fallout over Barr’s firing of U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman. (CNN)
Barr has agreed to testify before the House Judiciary Committee for a “general oversight hearing” on July 28 after House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler threatened to issue a subpoena. Democrats have accused Barr of intervening in the cases of Trump associates Roger Stone and Michael Flynn for political purposes, including firing Geoffrey Berman, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York who had been investigating Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani. (Axios)
7/ Senate Democrats blocked Republicans from taking up a police reform bill, calling the legislation “irrevocably flawed” and “partisan.” Democrats want the bill to include bans on chokeholds and “no-knock” search warrants and to address qualified immunity, which shields police officers from lawsuits. (NBC News / Axios)
8/ Trump’s 200th lifetime federal judge was confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate. By comparison, Obama successfully appointed 334 federal judges during his two terms. (CNN / Washington Post / HuffPost)
poll/ 37% of Americans approved of the way Trump has responded to the coronavirus pandemic, while 58% said they disapproved. (Reuters)
poll/ 44% of voters approve of the job Trump is doing as president, while 53% disapprove. (Quinnipiac)
poll/ 50% of Americans say they would vote for Biden over Trump if the election was held today, compared to 36% who say they’d vote for Trump. In 2016, Trump won 46% of the popular vote. (New York Times)
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~2,339,000; deaths: ~122,000; recoveries: ~642,000.
1/ Dr. Anthony Fauci: “None of us have ever been told to slow down on testing — that just is a fact. In fact, we will be doing more testing.” White House officials, however, have defended Trump’s comments that he wanted to slow down testing for the coronavirus, calling them “tongue-in-cheek” and a joke. Fauci told the House committee that the country’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been a “mixed bag,” adding that the increase in cases is “disturbing” and “The next couple of weeks are going to be critical in our ability to address those surges we are seeing in Florida, Texas, Arizona, and other states.” (Politico / Daily Beast / NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times / New York Times / The Hill / Associated Press)
2/ When asked whether he was joking that he asked officials to slow down coronavirus testing, Trump replied: “I don’t kid.” Trump also tweeted that “we did a great job on CoronaVirus” and said “the Fake News refuses to acknowledge this in a positive way.” More than 120,000 Americans have already died as a result of COVID-19, and the total number of confirmed infections nationwide has surged beyond 2.3 million. White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany later told reporters that Trump was making a “serious point, and that’s why he said ‘I don’t kid.’” (CBS News / Politico / Axios)
3/ Dr. Deborah Birx told governors that it was vital to increase coronavirus testing to prevent further community spread. “Hopefully I have left you with the impression that increased testing is good,” Birx said on the call. “We would like to even see it even more. Identifying cases early including your asymptomatic [ones] will really help us protect the elderly and the additional people with comorbidities.” (Daily Beast)
4/ The European Union may block Americans travelers from entering because the United States has failed to control the spread of the coronavirus. European nations are currently negotiating over two potential lists of acceptable visitors based on how countries have managed to control the coronavirus pandemic. The U.S. has, so far, been deemed too risky. A final decision on who can visit is expected early next week, before the bloc reopens on July 1. (New York Times)
5/ Trump threatened that anyone who vandalizes “any monument, statue or other such federal property” would be arrested and face up to 10 years in prison. Trump’s twitter announcement that he “authorized” the government to arrest vandals comes after he complained about an attempt by demonstrators to remove a statue of Andrew Jackson that sits across from the White House. Trump also suggested that the penalties could be applied “retroactively” to anyone who damaged or pulled down monuments in recent weeks, citing the Veteran’s Memorial Preservation Act, “or such other laws that may be pertinent.” Despite Trump’s assertions, the act doesn’t require his authorization. (NPR / CBS News / The Independent)
The Secret Service ordered some members of the White House press corps to immediately leave the premises after protesters attempted to topple a statue of Andrew Jackson in Lafayette Park. Typically in security situations at the White House, the press is locked down inside the complex. Later, the Secret Service issued a statement that said “four members of the media were misdirected” to leave the White House grounds after the clash between police and protesters. (CNN / The Independent)
6/ The House Judiciary Committee will subpoena Attorney General William Barr to testify about the firing of U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman. Chairman Jerry Nadler wants Barr to appear on July 2 to explain why Berman was fired, who had been investigating Rudy Giuliani and other Trump associates. Nadler also asked Berman to testify. Nadler has called on Barr several times in recent weeks to testify before the committee about the Justice Department’s handling of the criminal cases involving former Trump advisers, including Roger Stone and Michael Flynn. (Axios / Politico / NBC News)
7/ The White House admitted that Trump was involved Geoffrey Berman’s firing after Trump initially claimed that he was “not involved” in the process. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Trump was “involved in the sign-off capacity,” describing Berman’s removal as a simple swap that would allow SEC chairman Jay Clayton to take over the job. Clayton has never been a litigator or prosecutor but has expressed interest in the position at the Southern District of New York. McEnany was unable to explain why Berman was dismissed before Clayton was confirmed by the Senate. (CNN)
📌 Day 1250: Attorney General William Barr said Trump fired the federal prosecutor whose office prosecuted several of his associates, including Michael Cohen and Rudy Giuliani.
8/ A former Roger Stone prosecutor will testify that he and his colleagues were repeatedly pressured to cut Stone “a break” because of his relationship with Trump. Career prosecutor Aaron Zelinsky, who withdrew from the Stone case after the Justice Department intervened and recommended a lighter sentence, plans to tell the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that “What I heard – repeatedly – was that Roger Stone was being treated differently from any other defendant because of his relationship to the President. I was also told that the acting U.S. Attorney was giving Stone such unprecedentedly favorable treatment because he was ‘afraid of the President.’” (Axios / Politico / New York Times)
9/ Trump’s family requested a temporary restraining order to block the publication of a tell-all book by Trump’s niece. The filing is against Mary Trump and Simon & Schuster, and seeks to stop publication on the grounds that Mary Trump signed a nondisclosure agreement. (New York Times)
The State Department muted the line of a reporter asking about John Bolton’s book during a briefing highlighting the importance of press freedom. (Politico)
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~2,306,000; deaths: ~121,000; recoveries: ~641,000.
Trump claimed that he told “his people” to “slow the testing down” for the coronavirus, calling testing “a double-edged sword” because the “bad part” is the increase in recorded coronavirus cases. Speaking at a campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Saturday, Trump remarked that “When you do testing to that extent, you’re going to find more people, you’re going to find more cases, so I said to my people, ‘Slow the testing down, please.’” (Washington Post / Axios / BuzzFeed News / Daily Beast)
Trump, Pence, and administration officials all gave conflicting explanations as to what Trump meant when he said he instructed staff to slow down coronavirus testing. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany claimed Trump had not “directed” a coronavirus testing slowdown and that his comment had been made “in jest.” White House trade adviser Peter Navarro claimed that Trump’s comments were clearly “tongue in cheek” and a light moment. Pence, meanwhile, told governors that Trump’s testing comments at the rally were “a passing observation.” Trump, however, wouldn’t directly answer whether he had ordered slowing testing down, saying “If it did slow down, frankly, I think we’re way ahead of ourselves, if you want to know the truth.” Trump also declined to confirm that he was joking about his comment to slow down testing. (Politico / NBC News / Daily Beast / Bloomberg / USA Today / Axios)
Trump referred to the coronavirus in racist terms, calling it both the “Chinese virus” and “Kung Flu” during his rally in Tulsa. In March, CBS News reporter Weijia Jiang, who is Chinese-American, said a White House official referred to the coronavirus as the “Kung Flu” to her face. And then in May, Trump told Jiang to “ask China” about his administration’s efforts to ramp up testing. (BuzzFeed News)
The Trump administration has yet to distribute up to $14 billion in funding authorized by Congress for coronavirus testing and contact tracing. Top Democrats sent a letter to Heath and Human Services secretary Alex Azar demanding to know why the administration has “still failed” to distribute more than $8 billion of the $25 billion Congress set aside in April to expand testing and contact tracing. The letter calls on the White House to “immediately disburse the remainder of the $25 billion in funds to ramp up testing and contact tracing capacity,” including up to $2 billion meant to ensure testing is available to uninsured Americans. (NBC News)
The White House stopped conducting mandatory temperature checks for staffers and visitors entering the grounds. Those who come in close contact with Trump and Pence, however, will still have their temperature checked and be questioned about symptoms. (NBC News)
The World Health Organization said the record number of global coronavirus cases are not the result of more testing. On Sunday, the number of new cases reported to WHO jumped by more than 183,000, “easily” the most in a single day so far, WHO officials said. As of Sunday, the U.S.′ seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases increased more than 24% compared with a week ago, and cases are growing by 5% or more in 25 states across the U.S. (CNBC)
1/ Trump was reportedly “furious” about the “underwhelming” crowd at his rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma. About 6,200 attendees filled the 19,000-person capacity BOK Center, despite Trump’s re-election campaign earlier boasting that nearly one million people had registered for tickets to attend the event. Trump went on to spend nearly two hours airing grievances, falsehoods, and misleading claims, referring to COVID-19 as the “kung flu,” calling racial justice demonstrators “thugs,” attacking efforts to take down Confederate statues as an assault on “our heritage,” and even making up a hypothetical scenario involving a “very tough hombre” who broke into a woman’s home while her husband was away. Trump and Pence also canceled plans at the last minute to speak at an outdoor overflow rally, which was almost entirely empty. (Washington Post / NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post)
Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump “pissed” at campaign manager Brad Parscale over his promise of a much larger crowd at the Tulsa rally, according to a Trump campaign source. In a statement, Parscale, however, blamed the low attendance on “a week’s worth of the fake news media warning people away from the rally because of COVID and protesters”, which he said “coupled with recent images of American cities on fire, had a real impact on people bringing their families and children to the rally.” (CNN / The Guardian)
TikTok users and fans of Korean pop music may have inflated the Trump campaign’s expectations for attendance that led to Saturday’s disappointing turnout. TikTok and K-pop fan accounts claimed to have registered potentially hundreds of thousands of tickets for Trump’s campaign rally as a prank. (New York Times / Associated Press)
2/ Two members of Trump’s campaign team who attended Saturday’s rally have tested positive for the coronavirus. In total, eight members of Trump’s team involved in the Tulsa rally have tested positive. Hours before Trump was expected to arrive in Oklahoma, six campaign staffers tested positive for the coronavirus. Trump was “particularly angry that before he even left DC, aides made public that six members of team in Tulsa tested positive for COVID-19.” (CNBC / CNN / Associated Press / NBC News)
3/ Trump claimed on Twitter that the 2020 election will be “RIGGED” by “FOREIGN COUNTRIES, AND OTHERS”, who he says will print “MILLIONS OF MAIL-IN BALLOTS” to throw off the official vote counts. He added that “IT WILL BE THE SCANDAL OF OUR TIMES!” Trump argued that vote-by-mail isn’t necessary during the coronavirus pandemic because “we voted during World War One and World War Two with no problem.” To successfully forge mail-in ballots, a foreign entity would need to have a list of absentee voters in a state, know who had already voted, and be able to replicate key details like precinct and voter ID numbers and the local races on each ballot. It would have to also match the forged signature on the envelope to the one on file, and then mail them locally to ensure a proper postmark. (Bloomberg / The Independent / Washington Post)
4/ Attorney General William Barr said Trump fired the federal prosecutor whose office prosecuted several of his associates, including Michael Cohen and Rudy Giuliani. Late Friday, Barr announced that Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman had resigned and that Trump planned to nominate the current chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Jay Clayton, for the job. Berman, however, said he had not resigned and intended to stay in the job to ensure the cases continue unimpeded. The day before, supervisors at the Justice Department asked Berman to sign a letter criticizing New York Mayor Bill de Blasio for the city’s enforcement of social distancing rules to block religious gatherings but not protests. Berman refused to sign the letter Thursday, prompting Barr to abruptly announced Berman’s resignation Friday. In a letter released by the Justice Department, Barr told Berman that Trump had fired him and that he would be replaced temporarily with his chief deputy, Audrey Strauss. Barr said he had asked Trump to fire Berman. Trump, however, told reporters that Berman’s ouster was “all up to the attorney general” and that he wasn’t involved in the matter, because “That’s his department, not my department.” [Editor’s note: Including all the links to all the stories over this 48-hour span of news.] (Wall Street Journal / New York Times / New York Times / Associated Press / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / CNN / NBC News / New York Times / Associated Press / Washington Post)
5/ A federal judge ruled that John Bolton can publish his memoir, rejecting the Trump administration’s effort to block the release because of concerns that it contained classified information. U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, however, said the former Trump national security adviser “likely jeopardized national security” and exposed himself to criminal prosecution. Lamberth noted that the book, which is scheduled to be released Tuesday, had already been widely distributed with more than 200,000 copies already shipped for sale, and could easily be distributed further on the internet, even if the court said it could not be. (New York Times / Associated Press / Washington Post / CNN)
Trump claimed that his niece had signed a nondisclosure agreement and is “not allowed” write her tell-all book about Trump and his family. Mary Trump signed a nondisclosure agreement following a 2001 settlement from litigation disputing Fred Trump Sr.‘s estate. Mary Trump’s book reportedly reveals that she was the primary source for The New York Times’ 2018 investigation that found Trump helped “his parents dodge taxes” in the 1990s, including “instances of outright fraud” that allowed him to amass a fortune from them. (Axios / Daily Beast / CNN)
Fox News poll/ 80% of voters have a favorable view of mask-wearers. Separately, 59% said presidential candidates holding large political events and rallies is a bad idea. (Fox News)
Notables.
Trump issued an executive order barring many categories of foreign workers and curbing immigration visas through the end of the year. Administration officials claimed the move will safeguard jobs for unemployed Americans amid the coronavirus pandemic. The measures will apply only to applicants seeking to come to the United States, not workers who already are on U.S. soil. (Washington Post / NPR / Wall Street Journal)
Trump backtracked on his remarks that he’s had second thoughts about his decision to recognize Juan Guaidó as the legitimate leader of Venezuela and that he was open to meeting with dictator Nicolás Maduro. (Washington Post / Axios)
White House adviser Kevin Hassett will leave the administration this summer. Hassett, who returned to the White House as an unpaid volunteer in March, has consistently warned about the economic downsides from the pandemic and has pushed for more spending to combat an unemployment rate that he’s warned could hit 23%. (Axios / Washington Post)
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~2,210,000; deaths: ~119,000; recoveries: ~600,000.
1/ Trump threatened the “protesters, anarchists, agitators, looters or lowlifes” planning to gather at his Saturday rally in Tulsa that they “will not be treated like you have been in New York, Seattle, or Minneapolis.” Trump, who does not control local law enforcement, did not elaborate on what protesters might face, but promised that “It will be a much different scene!” Trump’s campaign and Tulsa officials expect more than 100,000 of his supporters to be in town for the rally. (Bloomberg / Politico / CNBC / The Hill / Axios / New York Times)
2/ The mayor of Tulsa declared a civil emergency, imposing – but later rescinding – a curfew surrounding the arena where Trump will hold his campaign rally. In his executive order establishing a curfew through the weekend, Mayor G.T. Bynum cited the unrest that followed the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis last month. Trump later tweeted that the curfew would not be in place after speaking with the city’s mayor. Separately, the Oklahoma Supreme Court rejected a legal effort to stop Trump’s rally over health concerns. Residents and businesses filed the lawsuit over concerns that Trump’s campaign rally could worsen the coronavirus outbreak in the city. They demanded that the arena adhere to the CDC social distancing guidelines or that the event be canceled or postponed. (Associated Press / Washington Post / New York Times / USA Today)
3/ The Trump campaign hasn’t distributed a “health and safety” plan for preventing the spread of the coronavirus at Trump’s rally in Tulsa on Saturday. A spokesperson for the 19,000-seat BOK Center said the venue requested that the Trump campaign provide them with “a written plan detailing the steps the event will institute for health and safety, including those related to social distancing” so it can share the plan with local health officials. The campaign has not provided the plan, but did previously commit to supplying rally-goers with masks and hand sanitizer. The campaign, however, will not require attendees to wear masks or keep attendees six feet apart or require social distancing. Attendees, however, are required to sign a waiver absolving the campaign and venue of liability if they contract COVID-19.(Washington Post / Business Insider)
Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx both advised against Trump’s Tulsa rally. Trump and his campaign advisers, however, claim attendees “assume a personal risk” and “that is part of life.” (NBC News)
Pence has overstated the amount of coronavirus-related medical supplies distributed by a Trump administration through Project Airbridge. Pence claimed the program had delivered more than 143 million N95 masks, 598 million surgical and procedural masks, 20 million eye and face shields, 265 million gowns and coveralls and 14 billion gloves. According to FEMA, however, through June 18 the program had delivered 1.5 million N95 masks, 113.4 million surgical masks, 2.5 million face shields, 50.9 million gowns, 1.4 million coveralls and 937 million gloves – or about one-thirteenth—of the numbers cited by Pence. (Wall Street Journal)
4/ The White House insisted that COVID-19 is “absolutely … still a priority” for the administration. The White House coronavirus task force last held a public briefing on the virus on April 27 – 53 days ago. And, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday that he hadn’t spoken to Trump in two weeks. (CNBC)
5/ Twitter labeled Trump’s tweet of a manipulated video complaining about “fake news” as fake news. The video fakes a CNN segment that depicts a white toddler running after a black child. The original footage is from a viral 2019 video that showed two toddlers, one black and one white, hugging. In Trump’s version, the video includes ominous background music and a fake CNN chyron that reads: “Terrified toddler runs from racist baby.” A subsequent chyron reads, “Racist baby probably a Trump voter.” Twitter appended a label to the tweet warning of “manipulated media” after finding that it deceptively doctored footage in a way that was “likely to cause harm.” This is the third time Twitter has taken action against one of Trump’s tweets. (Washington Post / NPR / ABC News / The Guardian / Axios / Reuters)
6/ Trump called an increase in mail-in voting the “biggest risk” to his reelection. Despite few documented voter fraud cases in the U.S. — and nothing close to the level that would constitute “rampant” fraud – Trump and his campaign have repeatedly argued that widespread mail-in voting invites fraud and benefits Democrats. The Republican Party is spending tens of millions of dollars on a multi-front legal battle. “If we don’t win those lawsuits,” Trump said, “I think — I think it puts the election at risk.” (Politico / NBC News / Axios)
poll/ 74% of Americans say the country is heading in the wrong direction, including 63% of Republicans. Nearly two-thirds of Americans — including 37% of Republicans — say Trump is making America more divided. 24% of Americans say the country is headed in the right direction, down from 33% a month ago and 42% in March. (Axios / Associated Press)
Notables.
The Air Force inspector general is investigating whether the U.S. military improperly used a reconnaissance drone to monitor protests in Washington and Minneapolis earlier this month. The investigation was launched after lawmakers raised concerns that the use of the military surveillance aircraft may have violated the civil rights of the protesters demonstrating against police killings of Black men in Minneapolis and across the U.S. A spokesperson for the Air Force confirmed that the secretary of the Air Force is “conducting an investigation into the use of Air National Guard RC-26 aircraft to support civil authorities during recent protest activity in U.S. cities,” but declined to answer any other questions about the probe. (New York Times)
The acting senior director for European and Russian Affairs at the National Security Council is stepping down and will return to his previous position at the Pentagon. Tom Williams was Trump’s fourth Russia director at the NSC in three years. His predecessor, Andrew Peek, was placed on administrative leave pending a security review back in January. The other two, Fiona Hill and Tim Morrison, testified as part of the House impeachment inquiry into Trump’s dealings with Ukraine. National security adviser Robert O’Brien says Williams is returning to the Pentagon “after two years of service detailed to the NSC,” which he said is “customary.” (Axios)
Former acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney acknowledged that Trump “didn’t hire very well.” Mulvaney, who served as the top aide to Trump in an acting capacity until March, said “If there was one criticism that I would level against the president, [it] is that he didn’t hire very well. He did not have experience at running government and didn’t know how to put together a team that could work well with him.” (Politico / Washington Post / CNN)
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~2,183,000; deaths: ~119,000; recoveries: ~593,000.
Seventy-seven nations have seen a growth in new coronavirus cases over the past two weeks, while 43 have seen declines.(New York Times)
Florida, Texas and Arizona set records for new COVID-19 cases. The governors, however, are not considering another shutdown. (NBC News)
Some parts of the U.S. are “on the cusp of losing control” of the coronavirus, according to Dr. Scott Gottlieb. (CNBC)
Trump: “I personally think [coronavirus] testing is overrated.” Trump added that “even though I created the greatest testing machine in history,” testing “makes us look bad” because more tests lead to a higher number of confirmed cases. Trump also questioned the use of masks as a means of slowing the spread. (Axios / Wall Street Journal)
The federal government has stockpiled 63 million doses of hydroxychloroquine that it can no longer distribute because the FDA revoked authorization for its use to treat coronavirus. The U.S. started stockpiling the anti-malarial drug in late March after Trump began touting it as a “game-changer” that was a “very powerful” treatment for COVID-19. Now, the FDA says there is “no reason to believe” the drug is effective in treating or protecting against the virus. The national stockpile also includes 2 million doses of chloroquine, a related drug manufactured by Bayer. The stockpile had already distributed 31 million doses of hydroxychloroquine by the time the FDA revoked its authorization. (CNN)
The Trump administration paid $7.3 million for more than 3 million test tubes, but received plastic tubes made for bottling soda. Health officials say the tubes don’t fit the racks used in laboratory analysis of test samples and the company’s process likely contaminated the tubes. The FEMA signed the deal with Fillakit on May 7 – six days after the company was formed by a former telemarketer repeatedly accused of fraudulent practices over the past two decades. If Fillakit fulfills its contractual obligation to provide 4 million tubes, it will receive a total of $10.16 million. (ProPublica)
1/ The Supreme Court ruled that Trump violated federal law when he ended the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in 2017, which has allowed nearly 800,000 young people, known as Dreamers, to avoid deportation and remain in the U.S. The court ruled that while Trump did have the legal authority to end the program, the government failed to provide an adequate justification for ending the federal program. (New York Times / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / Axios / CNN / Washington Post / CNBC / CBS News / Bloomberg / Associated Press)
2/ Trump attacked the Supreme Court, tweeting that its DACA decision was “horrible & politically charged” and complained that it felt like “shotgun blasts into the face.” Trump also questioned whether the Supreme Court “doesn’t like me,” while calling for “NEW JUSTICES” to be appointed. (NBC News / Washington Post)
3/ Trump took credit for popularizing Juneteenth, the commemoration of the end of slavery in the U.S., saying: “I did something good: I made Juneteenth very famous.” Trump also claimed that “nobody had ever heard” of the June 19 celebration before he planned a rally in Tulsa originally scheduled on that day. Trump, confused by the criticism for initially planning to hold a campaign rally on June 19, said a black Secret Service agent eventually told him the meaning of Juneteenth. (Wall Street Journal / Politico / Axios / CNN)
4/ Facebook removed dozens of ads placed by Trump’s reelection campaign that included a symbol used by the Nazis to designate political prisoners in concentration camps. Facebook said the posts violated the social network’s “policy against organized hate.” Eighty-eight ads ran across pages for Trump, Pence, and the official “Team Trump” page on Facebook, targeting all 50 states. Before their removal, the ads had gained more than a million impressions. (Washington Post / NPR / New York Times / CNN)
The Justice Department asked Congress to take up legislation that would remove protections for large tech companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter. The stated goal is to incentivize tech giants to address criminal activity on their platforms, such as child exploitation, terrorism or cyber stalking, while increasing transparency for users whenever a company removes otherwise legal content. In a statement, Attorney General William Barr said the reforms are “targeted at platforms to make certain they are appropriately addressing illegal and exploitive [sic] content while continuing to preserve a vibrant, open and competitive internet.” (Reuters)
5/ The Justice Department asked a federal judge to block publication of John Bolton’s memoir, claiming that it contains classified information. The DOJ also urged the judge to make sure the restraining order it’s seeking prevents Bolton’s publisher, Simon & Schuster, from distributing copies of the book once they receive notice of it. In a court filing, the Trump administration claims that publication and distribution of the book, titled “The Room Where It Happened,” would “damage the national security of the United States.” The latest move is a significant escalation from the DOJ’s original lawsuit alleging that Bolton failed to complete the pre-publication review process he agreed to undergo when he received his security clearance to become Trump’s national security adviser. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN)
Bolton: Trump’s not “fit for office” and doesn’t have “competence to carry out the job.” (ABC News)
6/ Another 1.5 million people applied for unemployment benefits last week. 760,000 more filed new claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, a federal emergency program that extends benefits to self-employed workers, independent contractors, and others who don’t qualify for standard benefits. It’s the 13th straight week that filings topped one million. Previously, the most new claims in a single week had been 695,000 – in 1982. (NBC News / CNBC / Bloomberg / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
Notables.
A senior State Department official is resigning in response to Trump’s handling of racial tensions across the country, saying Trump’s actions “cut sharply against my core values and convictions.” Mary Elizabeth Taylor was unanimously confirmed to her position in October 2018 and is the youngest assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs in history and the first black woman to serve in that post. (Washington Post)
One of the Pentagon’s most prominent and respected policy officials will resign after Trump dropped plans to nominate her for an intelligence post. Kathryn Wheelbarger had been named by the White House on Feb. 13 to a senior intelligence position at the Department of Defense, but the White House instead announced plans last week to nominate Bradley Hansell, a former special assistant to Trump, to the position of deputy under secretary of defense for intelligence. (CNBC)
Trump’s pick to lead the U.S. Agency for Global Media started his tenure by sidelining or firing senior leaders at the agency and the chiefs of all the government-sponsored foreign broadcast networks that his agency oversees. Micahel Pack showed up to work on Wednesday – two weeks after being approved by the Senate – and immediately fired the heads of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, the Office of Cuban Broadcasting, which oversees Radio and Television Martí, and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks, which runs Alhurra and Radio Sawa. The two highest-ranking officials at Voice of America resigned days earlier in anticipation of Pack’s arrival. Pack also dissolved the advisory boards overseeing each of the networks and replaced them with his own aides. Pack gave no reason for his actions other than his own authority to do so. (NPR)
The EPA won’t regulate an additive in rocket fuel known to cause brain damage in infants. The EPA made the decision to reverse an Obama administration limit on perchlorate after a new analysis showed the toxic chemical is too rare in public water supplies to meet the legal test to set a federal limit. [Editor’s note: Seems like the Obama-era rules were working as intended.] (Wall Street Journal)
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~2,158,000; deaths: ~118,000; recoveries: ~584,000.
At least 10 states reported either new single-day highs or set a record for seven-day new case averages of the coronavirus. 21 states are seeing upward trends in newly reported cases from one week to the next, eight states are seeing steady numbers of newly reported cases, and 21 states are seeing a downward trend. (CNN / Washington Post)
Trump’s focus in meetings over the past several weeks has been on economic figures and developing a vaccine – not the increase in coronavirus cases. As one administration official close to the coronavirus task force said: “They just don’t want to deal with the reality of it. They’re in denial.” (CNN)
Pence incorrectly argued that the spike in coronavirus cases is a function of more testing, while dismissing the idea that there’s an emerging second wave of cases in the United States, saying the “panic is overblown.” In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, Pence also argued that the effort to eliminate the disease before a vaccine is ready is not the goal anymore. Rather, the White House measures its success in “fewer than 750 [COVID-19 deaths) a day, a dramatic decline from 2,500 a day a few weeks ago.” [Editor’s note: Pence is correct: We aren’t seeing a second wave (yet); we’re still dealing with the first one.] (Washington Post / Politico)
Dr. Anthony Fauci: “People keep talking about a second wave. We’re still in a first wave.” The top infectious disease expert warned that the rise in coronavirus infections coupled with a relaxed approach to social distancing and mask wearing pose significant hurdles to state and federal efforts to contain the spread. (Wall Street Journal)
Chinese officials raised the country’s emergency warning to its second-highest level in response to a new outbreak of coronavirus in Beijing. More than 60% of the flights into the city have been canceled. Chinese officials described the situation in Beijing as “extremely grave” and said the new outbreak “has truly rung an alarm bell for us.” A party official said Beijing expects to have tested at least 700,000 people by the end of the day, roughly half of whom are workers at Beijing’s food markets, residents, and close contacts. (Associated Press)
Global greenhouse gas emissions are rebounding sharply as countries and states reopen. In early April, fossil fuel emissions worldwide were roughly 17% lower than they were in 2019. As countries ease their lockdowns, emissions habe ticked back up to 5% below the 2019 average. (New York Times)
1/ John Bolton claimed that Trump personally asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to help him win the 2020 presidential election, according to an excerpt of his book, “The Room Where It Happened.” Bolton alleges that Trump “stressed the importance of farmers and increased Chinese purchases of soybeans and wheat in the electoral outcome,” explicitly asking President Xi to increase purchases “to help with the crucial farm-state vote” and “ensure he’d win” the election. The former national security adviser also described several others incidents where Trump expressed willingness to halt criminal investigations “to, in effect, give personal favors to dictators he liked,” and that “the pattern looked like obstruction of justice as a way of life, which we couldn’t accept.” Bolton also writes that he reported his concerns to Attorney General William Barr. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
2/ Trump is considering suing his niece, Mary Trump, to prevent her from publishing her tell-all book about him. After being briefed about the contents of the book, Trump told people close to him that he has his lawyers looking into his options when it comes to legal retribution. It is unclear what kind of response Trump and his legal team will ultimately take, if any. (Daily Beast)
3/ Officials in Tulsa have asked the Trump campaign to cancel his campaign rally on Saturday, calling it “the perfect storm of potential over-the-top disease transmission. It’s a perfect storm that we can’t afford to have.” The 20,000-person indoor event will likely worsen the current spike in coronavirus infections, which its one-day high in new cases on Monday. Officials warn that it could become a “super spreader.” The White House, meanwhile, said supporters “assume a personal risk” when they attend Trump’s rallies. (New York Times / Politico)
A Tulsa judge rejected a request from local residents and business owners to prevent Trump from holding his campaign rally due to fears that it would exacerbate the spread of coronavirus in Oklahoma. The lawsuit filed in the Tulsa County district court sought a temporary injunction against the company that manages the venue in order to “protect against a substantial, imminent, and deadly risk to the community” if the event was to go forward. Judge Rebecca Nightingale denied the request. Tulsa’s Republican mayor also said he would not use his emergency powers to prevent Trump from holding the rally, despite his own reservations about the event. (Washington Post)
poll/ 68% of voters say discrimination against black people in the United States is a serious problem, while 27% say it is not. 57% of voters have a favorable opinion of the Black Lives Matter movement, while 30% have an unfavorable one. (Quinnipiac)
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~2,135,000; deaths: ~117,000; recoveries: ~584,000.
The FDA revoked the emergency use of hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine to treat COVID-19 because it’s “unlikely to produce an antiviral effect,” according to the FDA’s chief scientist. Doctors still have the option to prescribe hydroxychloroquine as an “off label” treatment for coronavirus because the drug is approved for other uses, and clinical trials will also be allowed to continue. (Politico / The Guardian / NBC News / New York Times)
Trump and Pence downplayed the latest spikes in COVID-19 cases and misleadingly attributed the rise in new cases to increases in testing. On a private call with governors, Pence urged them to “make sure and continue to explain to your citizens the magnitude of increase in testing” and said that “in most of the cases where we are seeing some marginal rise in number, that’s more a result of the extraordinary work you’re doing.” In reality, experts have warned that seven-day averages have increased since May 31 in several states with coronavirus outbreaks, and positive cases in at least 14 states have outpaced the average number of tests that have been administered. Trump also downplayed the rise of new cases across the country, suggesting during a White House event for seniors that if the United States “stopped testing right now, we’d have very few cases, if any.” (New York Times / The Independent / The Hill / CNN)
In late July, the Trump administration plans to end the $600 additional weekly unemployment benefit created in response to the nationwide job losses stemming from the coronavirus pandemic. “I mean, we’re paying people not to work. It’s better than their salaries would get,” said National Economic Council Chairman Larry Kudlow. “That might have worked for the first couple of months. It’ll end in late July.” He added that the White House is instead considering a “reform measure” that would provide a smaller incentive for people to return to work, but said it won’t be as substantial. (Politico / HuffPost / Common Dreams)
At least four members of Congress benefited from the Paycheck Protection Program. The bipartisan group of lawmakers acknowledged that businesses either run by their families or employ their spouse as a senior executive benefited from the half-trillion-dollar small-business loan program. (Politico)
Trump’s former chief of staff sold up to $550,000 in securities the same day Trump declared that the “economy is doing fantastically.” Mick Mulvaney, then the acting White House chief of staff and the director of the Office of Management and Budget, sold between $215,000 and $550,000 in holdings in three mutual funds on March 4. (Daily Beast)
Nursing homes and other senior-care facilities represent at least 40% of the overall count of the coronavirus death toll. (Wall Street Journal)
Dr. Anthony Fauci said the public was initially told not to wear masks to stop COVID-19 because of shortages of PPE for doctors. Fauci explained the early advice against masks by saying: “The public-health community — and many people were saying this — were concerned that it was at a time when personal protective equipment, including the N95 masks and the surgical masks, were in very short supply.” (Business Insider / The Street)
😳 Flushing a toilet can generate a cloud of coronavirus aerosol droplets that rise nearly three feet. A new study shows how turbulence from a toilet bowl can create a large plume that is potentially infectious to a bathroom’s next visitor. (New York Times)
1/ Trump signed an executive order incentivizing police reform that includes an exception for chokeholds “if an officer’s life is at risk.” The order does not mandate any immediate action, but does create federal incentives through the Justice Department for local police departments that seek “independent credentialing” to certify higher standards for the use of force and de-escalation training. The executive order falls short of the sweeping policy changes activists have called for following the death of George Floyd. Trump did not address racism directly during the Rose Garden event, but instead claimed that a “very tiny […] a very small percentage” of police officers have killed unarmed black Americans, adding that “nobody wants to get rid of them more than the really good and great police officers.” Trump also claimed that Americans “demand law and order,” saying “Some of them don’t know that that’s what they want but that’s what they want.” Trump added: “Without police, there is chaos.” (Politico / CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / CNBC / CBS News / NPR)
Los Angeles Unified school police will return three grenade launchers, but keep 61 rifles and a Mine Resistant Ambush Protected armored vehicle it received through a federal program that furnishes local law enforcement with surplus equipment. (Los Angeles Times)
2/ The Secret Service admitted that it used pepper spray to clear crowds of peaceful protesters from Lafayette Square so Trump could have his picture taken in front of St. John’s church in Washington, D.C. In a statement, the Secret Service said “one agency employee” used pepper spray, reversing its previous statement on June 5 that “no agency personnel used tear gas or capsicum spray during efforts to secure the area.” The Secret Service claimed that pepper spray was used “in response to an assaultive individual.” (NBC News / Washington Post)
3/ The Supreme Court ruled that the 1964 Civil Rights Act protects gay and transgender employees from workplace discrimination. Trump-appointed Justice Neil Gorsuch joined the court’s four liberal justices and Chief Justice John Roberts in a 6-to-3 majority to extend protections to gay, lesbian and transgender workers under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The Trump administration had urged the court to rule against gay and transgender workers, and previously barred most transgender people from serving in the military. Gorsuch wrote the majority opinion for the court, and Trump, who claimed he read the 119 page decision, called it “very powerful” and said “we live with” it. (New York Times / Politico / NPR / Washington Post / CNN / NBC News)
The Trump administration finalized a regulation that would will remove protections for transgender patients against discrimination by doctors, hospitals, and health insurance companies. The rule change narrows the legal definition of “sex discrimination” as only applying when someone faces discrimination for being female or male, and does not protect people from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. (New York Times / NPR
The Department of Housing and Urban Development will allow single-sex homeless shelters to choose to accommodate only people whose biological sex matches that of those they serve. (Washington Post)
4/ The Trump administration sued former national security adviser John Bolton to stop the publication of his book about his time in the White House, saying it contained classified information and risks “compromising national security by publishing a book containing classified information.” The Justice Department and the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit seeking to delay the publication of Bolton’s book, “The Room Where It Happened,” which alleges that Trump committed “Ukraine-like transgressions” in a number of foreign policy decisions. The lawsuit seeks to order Bolton to both complete the prepublication review process and stop the publication and dissemination of his book “as currently drafted.” The memoir is due to go on sale June 23, and has already been shipped to distribution centers across the country. (Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / Axios / ABC News)
Trump’s niece plans to publish a book in which she claims to be the primary source for a New York Times investigation into Trump’s tax fraud schemes. Mary Trump plans to release the book, “Too Much And Never Enough,” on Aug. 11. In it, she says she was the one who provided the Times with Fred Trump Sr.‘s tax returns and other highly confidential family financial documentation. Mary Trump is the daughter of Trump’s older brother, Fred Trump Jr., who died in 1981. The book also claims that Trump and Fred Trump Sr. contributed to Fred Trump Jr.’s death and neglected him at critical stages of his alcohol addiction. (New York Times / Daily Beast / Business Insider / The Guardian / Washington Post)
📌 Day 621: Trump inherited his family’s wealth through fraud and questionable tax schemes, receiving the equivalent today of at least $413 million from his father’s real estate empire. Trump has repeatedly claimed that “I built what I build myself.” Trump and his siblings used fake corporations to hide financial gifts from his parents, which helped his father claim millions in tax deductions. Trump also helped his parents undervalue their real estate holdings by hundreds of millions of dollars when filing their tax returns. In total, Fred and Mary Trump transferred more than a $1 billion in wealth to their children and paid a total of $52.2 million in taxes (about 5%) instead of the $550+ million they should have owed under the 55% tax rate imposed on gifts and inheritances. Trump also “earned” $200,000 a year in today’s dollars starting at age 3 from his father’s companies. After college, Trump started receiving the equivalent of $1 million a year, which increased to $5 million a year when he was in his 40s and 50s. Trump has refused to release his income tax returns, breaking with decades of practice by past presidents. There is no time limit on civil fines for tax fraud. [Editor’s note: This is a must read. An abstract summary does not suffice.] (New York Times)
poll/ Americans are the unhappiest they’ve been in 50 years, with 14% of Americans saying they’re very happy. Since 1972, no less than 29% of Americans have ever called themselves very happy in that survey. (Associated Press / NBC News)
poll/ American pride fell to its lowest point in two decades. 42% of adults said they are “extremely proud,” 21% said they’re “very proud,” 15% said they are “moderately proud,” 12% “only a little proud,” and 9% “not at all proud.” (Gallup)
poll/ 80% of Americans are worried about a second wave of coronavirus in the U.S. 85% say they are likely to resume social distancing measures if their state experiences a second wave. 79% said they would stop having gatherings with friends and family, 77% would keep their children home from school or child care, 73% would stop going to non-grocery retail stores, and 65% would go back to self-quarantining. (Axios)
Notables.
The U.S. Supreme Court refused to consider the Trump administration’s challenge to a California sanctuary law that limits local police cooperation with federal immigration authorities. The Trump administration wanted the Court to hear its appeal of lower court rulings that upheld the California law, which prohibits police and sheriff’s departments from giving ICE agents advance notice when immigrants are about to be released after serving sentences for local crimes. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals previously ruled that local officials have no duty to help immigration agents enforce federal law. (NBC News / CNN / Washington Post / USA Today / Los Angeles Times)
Trump seemed to struggle to drink from a glass of water and walk down a ramp during a commencement ceremony at West Point Military Academy on Sunday. Video from the event shows Trump attempting to drink a glass of water during his speech, but having trouble lifting the glass to his mouth with one hand, so he used his other hand to push the glass to his lips. After the speech, Trump gingerly walked down the ramp one step at a time. After the videos began circulating online, Trump took to Twitter to defend himself and claimed that the short and shallow ramp was “very long & steep, had no handrail and, most importantly, was very slippery.” He also claimed that he “ran down to level ground” during the last ten feet of the ramp, adding, “Momentum!” There is no evidence that the ramp was slippery and there were no clouds in sight during the ceremony. (New York Times / Politico / Washington Post)
Fox News published digitally altered and misleading photos on stories about Seattle’s Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone. Fox’s coverage spliced a June 10 photo of an armed man at a Seattle protests with a photo from June 10, of a sign reading, “You Are Now Entering Free Cap Hill,” and others photos captured May 30 of a shattered storefront and other unrest downtown. Fox later removed the manipulated images from its website. (Seattle Times / CNN / Washington Post)
Two top officials at Voice of America resigned as Trump appointee prepares to take control of the network and other U.S. federally-funded media operations. (CNN)
NOAA’s acting administrator “engaged in the misconduct intentionally, knowingly, or in reckless disregard” for the agency’s scientific integrity policy when he released a statement that backed Trump’s false statement about the path of Hurricane Dorian in 2019. Neil Jacobs criticized the National Weather Service forecast office in Birmingham for a tweet that contradicted Trump’s inaccurate tweet that Hurricane Dorian, which was then approaching the East Coast of the U.S., would hit Alabama “harder than anticipated.” No punishments have been proposed, despite the violations. (Washington Post / New York Times)
The U.S. dropped to 10th place in the ranking of the world’s most competitive economies. In 2019, the U.S. ranked 3rd. (Bloomberg)
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~2,032,000; deaths: ~115,000; recoveries: ~541,00
COVID-19 hospitalizations surge in some states. The post-Memorial Day outbreaks in states come roughly a month after stay-at-home orders were lifted. (Wall Street Journal)
The rise in coronavirus cases seen in about half a dozen states across the U.S. isn’t the “second wave” — it’s still the first, scientists and infectious disease specialists say. (CNBC)
How 133 Epidemiologists Are Deciding When to Send Their Children to School. For many parents, the most pressing question as the nation emerges from pandemic lockdown is when they can send their children to school, camp or child care. (New York Times)
1/ The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff did not tell the White House that he planned to release a video admitting that it was a mistake for him to appear at Trump’s photo-op outside of St. John’s church last week. Before publishing his pre-recorded apology, during which he declared “I should not have been there,” Gen. Mark Milley contacted other high-ranking military officials and former Joint Chiefs, but not the White House. Separately, Gen. Milley discussed resigning over his participation in the photo-op, speaking “to several of his longstanding mentors to discuss his situation.” In recent days, however, Trump has tried to downplay any tension between himself, Mark Esper, and Milley. “If that’s the way they feel, I think that’s fine,” he said. “I have good relationships with the military. I have rebuilt our military.” (CNN / NBC News)
Defense Secretary Mark Esper ordered a review of the National Guard deployments in support of U.S. law enforcement in response to the nationwide protests over the murder of George Floyd. The review is considered standard procedure after any significant operation, and will specifically focus on the Guard’s work with federal and local police forces as it relates to the training, organizing, and deployment of National Guard units. Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy will lead the review, which is expected to be completed and submitted to Esper by the end of July. A total of roughly 74,000 National Guard members were activated across the U.S., the largest domestic deployment in recent history. (CNN)
2/ The Trump administration plans to reinterpret a Cold War-era arms treaty in order to allow U.S. defense contractors to sell armed drones to governments that been previously barred from buying them. U.S. agencies including the Commerce, Energy, Justice, and Homeland Security departments all approved the new interpretation in May. The change to the 33-year-old Missile Technology Control Regime is scheduled for review by the White House National Security Council at its June 16 meeting, and the State Department expects to approve the first drone sales under the new interpretation this summer. (Reuters)
3/ Trump’s advisers have urged him to fire his campaign manager, arguing Brad Parscale lacks the political instincts needed to lead the team to a second term in the White House. “People within his inner circle continue to question Brad’s ability to bring the campaign down the home stretch because of his inexperience,” one adviser said. “There’s no strategy, there’s no messaging.” (New York Post)
Trump’s reelection campaign is selling “Baby Lives Matter” onesie on its website. They were originally offered in January and remain available for purchase for $18, listed as a “limited edition” item. (CNN)
4/ Trump will accept the Republican nomination in Jacksonville, Florida, and make a speech at the 15,000-person VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena on on Aug. 27. Attendees will not be required to wear masks or practice social distancing. The date of Trump’s speech coincides with the 60th anniversary of “Ax Handle Saturday,” where a white mob organized by the Ku Klux Klan attacked a group of mostly black civil rights protesters for sitting at Jacksonville’s whites-only lunch counters. (New York Times / CNN)
People who attend Trump’s rally next week in Tulsa have to sign a waiver promising that they will not sue if they contract COVID-19 while at the event. Upon registering for the event, participants are met with a waiver before officially signing up that reads: “You are acknowledging that an inherent risk to COVID-19 exists in any public place where people are present. By attending the rally, you and any guests voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to COVID-19 and agree not to hold Donald J. Trump for President, Inc.; BOK Center; ASM Global; or any of their affiliates, directors, officers, employees, agents, contractors, or volunteers liable for any illness or injury.” (Variety / Rolling Stone / New York Times)
poll/ 82% of Americans support banning police from using chokeholds, 83% support banning racial profiling, and 92% support requiring federal police to wear body cameras. 89% of Americans want to require police to give the people they stop their name, badge number and reason for the stop, and 91% support allowing independent investigations of police departments that show patterns of misconduct. 75% of Americans, including 60% of Republicans, support “allowing victims of police misconduct to sue police departments for damages.” (Reuters)
👑 Portrait of a President.
As Public Opinion Shifts on Racism, Trump Digs In. With public opinion shifting quickly on racism in America, and even some of the most cautious leaders and institutions talking openly about discrimination and reconciliation, there is still one glaring outlier: President Trump. (New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post)
Trump’s Aides Are Desperately Trying to Soothe His Anxieties. From the Trump campaign to the federal government, the president’s staff are spending freely to make their boss feel secure again. (The Atlantic)
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~2,014,000; deaths: ~114,000; recoveries: ~534,000
Coronavirus deaths in the U.S. could reach 200,000 by early fall. “Sometime in September, we’re going to cross 200,000, and we still won’t be done,” Dr. Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute said. “This pandemic is going to be with us until next spring or summer when we have a vaccine. This is not faded.” Jha explained that if the current number of coronavirus deaths per day in the U.S. — between 800 and 1,000 — stays the same, roughly 25,000 to 30,000 people will continue to die every month. (NBC News / Today)
Trump’s coronavirus task force told governors they are worried about a spike in infections due to the protests taking place across the country. Deborah Birx, Trump’s coronavirus response coordinator, said the yelling by protesters could potentially negate the health benefits of wearing a mask. Pence added that protest-related infection spikes were “an issue our team is following and there is a concern.” (Daily Beast)
Population-wide face mask use could prevent further COVID-19 outbreaks, according to a British study. The research suggests that lockdowns alone will not stop the resurgence of the coronavirus, but homemade masks can dramatically reduce transmission rates if enough people wear them in public. (Reuters)
Pence tweeted, then deleted, a photo of Trump’s reelection campaign staff not wearing face masks or social distancing. (CNN)
1/ More than 1.5 million Americans filed new unemployment claims last week, adding to the tens of millions of people who have applied for the benefits since the pandemic began. More than 44 million people have applied for unemployment benefits during the pandemic — about 29% of the workforce. Additionally, at least 700,000 gig and formerly self-employed workers filed new claims for benefits through the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program. (CNBC / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / Bloomberg)
Treasury Secretary Mnuchin: “We can’t shut down the economy again.” He added: “I think we’ve learned that if you shut down the economy, you’re going to create more damage.” (CNBC)
2/ The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff apologized for participating in Trump’s photo op at St. John’s Church, saying it “was a mistake that I have learned from.” Gen. Mark Milley walked with Trump across Lafayette Square for a photo after the authorities used tear gas and rubber bullets to clear the area of peaceful protesters. “I should not have been there,” Milley said. “My presence in that moment, and in that environment, created the perception of the military involved in domestic politics.” (CNN / Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / Axios)
The Army’s 3rd Infantry Regiment was issued bayonets in scabbards and live ammunition in case active-duty troops were deployed in the U.S. capital last week. As many as 800 members of the Army’s “Old Guard” were on alert. The “Old Guard” is based at Fort Myer, just out of Washington. (Bloomberg)
3/ Trump threatened to intervene and “take back” Seattle, tweeting that the protesters who have taken over several city blocks were “domestic terrorists” while blaming the city’s “radical left” Democratic leadership for the situation. After more than a week of demonstrations, city leaders closed the Seattle Police Department’s East Precinct and allowed demonstrations to continue without police presence. Since then, protesters proclaimed the area the “Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone,” where the police are forbidden, food is free, and people discuss priorities, and listen to speeches and poetry readings. Documentaries are also screened at night. “This space is now property of the Seattle people,” reads a banner hung from the entrance of the now-empty police station. There have been no incidents of violence or looting. Trump, however, tweeted for Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee to “take back your city NOW,” adding that “if you don’t do it, I will.” He continued: “This is not a game. These ugly Anarchists must be stooped [sic] IMMEDIATELY. MOVE FAST!” Inslee responded, saying he “will not allow… threats of military violence against Washingtonians coming from the White House.” Durkan added: “Make us all safe. Go back to your bunker.” (New York Times / Seattle Times / CNN / KOMO News / Washington Post / Politico / The Hill / The Guardian)
4/ Trump will hold a campaign rally on Juneteenth, a holiday marking the emancipation of slaves, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the site of the 1921 massacre of hundreds of African Americans. The campaign is not expected to implement any social distancing measures or compel attendees to wear masks because Trump has deemed it unnecessary and has made it clear he doesn’t want it to look like he’s speaking in front of a crowd that looks empty. Meanwhile, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany claimed that Juneteenth is a “meaningful day” to Trump. (New York Times / The Guardian / CNN / NBC News)
5/ Trump administration will not disclose the amounts or recipients of $511 billion in taxpayer-backed coronavirus loans, backtracking on an earlier commitment to release individual loan data. “As it relates to the names and amounts of specific PPP loans, we believe that that’s proprietary information, and in many cases for sole proprietors and small businesses, it is confidential information,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said at a hearing before the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. (Washington Post)
6/ The Senate Judiciary Committee voted along party lines to authorize subpoenas targeting former Obama administration officials involved in the counterintelligence investigation into possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. Lindsey Graham now has authority to subpoena documents and more than 50 individuals related to the Russia investigation, including former FBI director James Comey, former CIA director John Brennan and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. (Axios / Politico / Washington Post / Reuters)
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~1,995,000; deaths: ~113,000; recoveries: ~525,000
At least 19 states are seeing a rise in the number of new coronavirus cases and hospitalizations in at least nine states have been on the rise since Memorial Day. Data from states that are reporting some of their highest seven-day averages of new cases also disproves the notion that the country is seeing a spike because of an increase in testing. Meanwhile, 24 states are trending downward and seven states’ trends are holding steady. (CNN / Washington Post / New York Times)
The White House coronavirus task force hasn’t held a daily briefings in more than a month, despite the virus killing up to 1,000 Americans per day. Trump and top White House officials, including Jared Kushner, insist that they “made every decision correctly,” and that the outbreak is under control. “We may have some embers or some ashes or we may have some flames coming,” Trump said last week, “but we’ll put them out. We’ll stomp them out.” The task force has also scaled back its once-daily internal meetings, now meeting twice per week. (Politico)
Data and public health experts contradict Trump’s claim that the spike COVID-19 cases is because the U.S. is doing more testing. Three states with some of the biggest surges in the disease caused by the coronavirus began reopening more than two weeks ago. (NBC News)
Asylum-seeking migrants detained at an Arizona ICE center with one of the highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases say they were forced to clean the facility with inadequate personal protective equipment. The migrants say the facility forced detainees to clean and work in the facility’s kitchen during crowded meal times, clean the trash from the nurses’ office, where sick patients were treated, and one said he was asked to clean the feces-covered cell of a mentally ill detainee without gloves. ICE’s says that as of June 7, 78 detainees have tested positive at the La Palma facility, with 14 cases currently under monitoring and zero deaths. (NBC News)
Republicans have tentatively moved the Republican National Convention to Jacksonville, Fla. The decision to seek an alternative location for the convention’s marquee events stems from Trump’s desire to accept his party’s nomination before an enormous crowd. North Carolina declined to allow a packed arena for the Aug. 24-27 event, as public health officials are urging Americans to avoid big gatherings, wear face coverings, and practice social distancing. (Washington Post)
[Analysis] The Real Economic Catastrophe Hasn’t Hit Yet. Just Wait For August. After a terrifying spring spent in lockdown and a summer of protests in the streets, things are going to get a lot worse in the fall. (BuzzFeed News)
1/ More than 1,250 former Justice Department workers called on the agency’s inspector general to investigate Attorney General William Barr’s role in clearing peaceful demonstrators from Lafayette Square so Trump could walk across the street for a photo op at St. John’s Church. In a letter to Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz, the group said it was “deeply concerned about the Department’s actions, and those of Attorney General William Barr himself, in response to the nationwide lawful gatherings to protest the systemic racism that has plagued this country throughout its history.” The group asked Horowitz to “immediately open and conduct an investigation of the full scope of the Attorney General’s and the DOJ’s role” in that and other events. (Washington Post)
2/ The White House press secretary defended Trump’s baseless tweet that a 75-year-old man injured by police “could be an ANTIFA provocateur,” saying Trump was just raising “questions that need to be asked.” Kayleigh McEnany told “Fox & Friends” that “based on a report that he saw. They’re questions that need to be asked, and every case we can’t jump on one side without looking at all the facts at play.” The conspiracy theory Trump amplified originated on a far-right blog and made its way to Trump via a report on One America News Network, which has a history of conspiracy-focused reporting. (Axios)
3/ The Justice Department’s handling of Michael Flynn’s case was a “gross abuse of prosecutorial power,” according to the court-appointed attorney and former judge tapped to review the criminal case against Flynn. John Gleeson’s 82-page analysis found evidence of misconduct by both the government and Flynn, and urged that the retired three-star general be sentenced for the crime he pleaded guilty to back in 2017. Gleeson rebuked the Justice Department’s request to drop the case, saying the move for dismissal was “corrupt,” “politically motivated,” and that the department “has engaged in highly irregular conduct to benefit a political ally of the President.” Gleeson added: “Everything about this is irregular.” (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
4/ Trump tweeted that he will “not even consider” renaming the 10 Army bases named after Confederate leaders. On Monday, a Pentagon official said that both Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy were “open to a bipartisan discussion on the topic” of removing Confederate names from the bases. Trump, however, shot down any discussions, tweeting, “my Administration will not even consider the renaming of these Magnificent and Fabled Military Installations.” (Axios / New York Times)
5/ Trump’s golf courses in Scotland are expected to receive a tax rebate of nearly £1 million as part of a government bailout package for tourism businesses impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. Trump’s resorts in Aberdeenshire and Turnberry will both receive emergency funding from the Scottish government. Property taxes paid by hospitality, leisure and retail businesses in Scotland will be waived. Trump Turnberry owed £850,766 in property taxes for this year, while Trump Aberdeenshire owed £121,170. Both properties are expected to qualify for 100% relief. Both properties have also been able to avoid paying the main business tax in the UK, known as the corporation tax, because they consistently report such heavy losses due to their debts to Trump himself, which totaled £155 million in 2018. (The Guardian)
6/ The Trump administration plans to push for oil and gas drilling off Florida’s coast after the November election. Interior officials said they expect the plan to come out after the Nov. 3 election, but before Trump’s current term ends in January. (Politico)
7/ The White House told John Bolton that his memoir still contains classified information, claiming it could present a security threat. The book by Trump’s former national security adviser is scheduled for publication in less than two weeks and Trump has repeatedly told advisers he wants to stop the publication of the book. The book’s publisher, however, said copies have already been shipped to warehouses. (New York Times)
poll/ 27% of Americans say they see Trump as a religious person. 55% disagree. 50% of Christians in the U.S. don’t view Trump as religious, while 40% evangelicals say he is. Ideological conservatives (55%) and Republicans (60%) were the only two groups in which a majority of respondents characterized Trump as religious. (Politico)
poll/ 39% of Americans approve of the job Trump is doing as president – the first time his approval rating as dipped below 40% since October. (Gallup)
poll/ Trump trails Biden by 14 points, 55%-41%, among registered voters. The 41% who say they support Trump is the lowest since April 2019. Biden’s 55% support is his highest mark yet. (CNN)
Trump’s campaign demanded that CNN retract and apologize for a poll showing him trailing Joe Biden. After the poll was released, Trump tweeted that he had hired Republican pollster McLaughlin & Associates to “analyze” the poll because “I felt [they] were FAKE based on the incredible enthusiasm we are receiving.” McLaughlin is one of the least accurate pollsters, as measured by FiveThirtyEight. (CNN)
Wave of new polling suggests an erosion of Trump’s support. Joe Biden appears in a stronger position to oust an incumbent president than any challenger since Bill Clinton in the summer of 1992. (New York Times)
Republicans fear Trump’s weakened standing jeopardizes the party in November. A raft of fresh polling nationally and in battleground states shows Trump losing ground to presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden, a precipitous slide that has triggered deep distress within the GOP about the incumbent’s judgment and instincts, as well as fears that voters could sweep the party out of power completely on Election Day. (Washington Post)
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~1,974,000; deaths: ~112,000; recoveries: ~519,000
14 states and Puerto Rico saw their highest-ever seven-day average of new coronavirus cases since the beginning of the pandemic. Infections rates have slowed down in former hot spots like New York and Illinois, but other parts of the country that had previously avoided high numbers of cases — Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Kentucky, New Mexico, North Carolina, Mississippi, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Utah — have all started to see record high case numbers. The latest numbers are believed to stem from the efforts to reopen states across the country, but public health officials say the last two weeks of protests against police brutality will be another variable in how the virus spreads. (Washington Post)
Dr. Anthony Fauci called COVID-19 his “worst nightmare” come to life as the coronavirus continues to rapidly spread across the globe. “In a period of four months, it has devastated the whole world,” Dr. Fauci said. “And it isn’t over yet […] Where is it going to end? We’re still at the beginning of it.” (CNBC / New York Times)
The World Health Organization walked back an earlier assertion that transmission of the coronavirus by people who did not have symptoms was “very rare.” Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, who made the original comment, called it a “misunderstanding” to say asymptomatic transmission was rare globally. (New York Times)
1/ Trump tweeted an unfounded conspiracy theory that the 75-year-old man Buffalo police pushed to the ground and seriously injured during a protest may be an “ANTIFA provocateur,” alleging that the protester was trying to “set up” the police officers who assaulted him. Trump tweeted that Martin Gugino “was pushed away after appearing to scan police communications in order to black out the equipment […] I watched, he fell harder than was pushed. Was aiming scanner. Could be a set up?” The video, however, shows the longtime peace activist holding his phone as he approached two officers outfitted in tactical gear. After a brief interaction, the officers forcefully push Gugino, causing him to fall backward onto the pavement. He is then seen bleeding from his head as officers walk by. Buffalo police initially said Gugino “was injured when he tripped & fell.” (ABC News / Politico / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / NBC News / Axios / Bloomberg)
A number of Republican senators dodged questions about Trump’s suggestion that a 75-year-old man who was seriously injured after being shoved by police officers in Buffalo may have been part of a “set up.” Mitch McConnell refused to say whether Trump’s tweet was appropriate. (CNN / Politico / Washington Post / NBC News)
2/ Attorney General William Barr contradicted Trump’s claim that he was “inspecting” the security bunker beneath the White House. Barr said the Secret Service recommended moving Trump to the bunker on June 1 for his own safety after “three days of extremely violent demonstrations” taking place outside the White House gates. Melania Trump and Barron were also taken to the bunker for their protection. Trump previously asserted that his visit to the bunker was for “inspection.” (CNN / New York Times / Vanity Fair / Axios)
3/ Trump wanted to fire Defense Secretary Mark Esper for not supporting his idea to use active-duty troops to quell protests in Washington, D.C., Minneapolis, and elsewhere following the killing of George Floyd. Advisers and allies reportedly talked him out of it. Esper is Trump’s fourth defense secretary since taking office in January 2017. (Wall Street Journal)
Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy now says he is “open” to renaming 10 military bases and facilities that are named after leaders of the Confederacy after previously rejecting the idea. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper also supports having “a bi-partisan discussion on the topic,” according to a spokesperson. McCarthy’s reversal is due in part to the ongoing protests over the murder of George Floyd, which have “made us start looking more at ourselves and the things that we do and how that is communicated to the force as well as the American public,” said one Army official. In February, the Army declared that it had no plans to rename its facilities, even after the Marine Corps announced that it would ban Confederate flags from its bases. (Politico)
4/ Trump Jr’s hunting trip in Mongolia last year cost American taxpayers nearly $77,000 in Secret Service costs. During the trip, Trump Jr. not only killed an endangered sheep, but secretly met with Mongolian President Khaltmaagiin Battulga. (HuffPost)
poll/ 69% of Americans say the murder of George Floyd represents a broader problem within law enforcement, while 29% say it was an isolated incident. 61% disapprove of the way Trump has handled the protests, while 35% say they approve. (Washington Post)
1/ Trump ordered National Guard troops to begin withdrawing from the streets of Washington, D.C. “now that everything is under perfect control.” Trump warned that the troops “will be going home, but can quickly return, if needed.” The move comes amid a barrage of criticism over his violent response to mostly peaceful protests across the city and his threats to further militarize the government’s response to nationwide demonstrations against police brutality and the murder of George Floyd. (New York Times / Washington Post)
2/ Trump privately demanded that the military deploy 10,000 troops onto U.S. streets during a heated argument with White House officials in the Oval Office last week. Trump reportedly faced opposition from Defense Secretary Mark Esper, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, and AG William Barr. A senior U.S. official said Trump eventually eased his demands after National Guard troops were deployed and Esper recommended that they preposition — but not deploy — active duty soldiers from the 82nd Airborne and other units to the D.C. area. “Having active duty forces available but not in the city was enough for the president for the time,” said the official. (Reuters / CBS News)
Top Pentagon officials ordered the National Guard to use Black Hawk helicopters and combat-style “persistent presence” tactics to disperse protesters in Washington D.C. last week. Army secretary Ryan McCarthy ordered two National Guard helicopters to fly low over groups of protesters and use the downward blast from their rotor blades to force people on the ground to take cover as signs were ripped from the sides of buildings. The pilots from one of the helicopters have been grounded pending the outcome of an inquiry into the incident. Military officials said the Guard used the tactics after the Pentagon threatened to send in active duty rapid-response units from the 82nd Airborne Division if they were unable to handle the situation on their own. (New York Times)
3/ White House officials are debating whether to have Trump address the nation on race and national unity. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson suggested that Trump would address the killing of George Floyd and the tensions his death exposed. “I think you’re going to be hearing from the President this week on this topic in some detail,” Carson said. “And I would ask you maybe to reserve judgment until after that time.” (CNN)
4/ Attorney General William Barr defended his decision to have D.C. police violently clear out a crowd of peaceful protesters from Lafayette Park last week so Trump could have his picture taken in front of a church across the street from the White House. Barr also defended his decision to have police use tear gas and so-called “less lethal” projectiles against the group of peaceful protesters, whom Barr claimed “were not peaceful.” Barr also claimed that no chemical irritants were used to clear the crowd. “Pepper spray is not a chemical irritant,” Barr said. “It’s not chemical.” The CDC specifically classifies pepper spray as a form of tear gas, and a spokesperson for the Park Police later admitted that it was a “mistake” for them to have claimed officers didn’t use tear gas on the scene. (CBS News / Daily Beast)
5/ House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other top Democrats in the House and the Senate proposed a sweeping police reform bill. The bill, called the “Justice in Policing Act,” would ban chokeholds and no-knock warrants in drug cases, while changing the definition of criminal misconduct for police and curtailing “qualified immunity” that shields police officers from being held liable for civil damages for rights violations in civil lawsuits. (NBC News / Politico / Bloomberg / Washington Post)
6/ The U.S. economy entered its first recession in over a decade in February as the coronavirus pandemic triggered the shutdown of businesses across the country, ending the longest American economic expansion on record. (Politico / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / New York Times)
Lockdowns may have prevented about half a billion coronavirus infections in six countries. In the U.S., as many as 60 million coronavirus cases were prevented. (Bloomberg)
7/ Trump will restart his MAGA rallies in the next two weeks despite the coronavirus. Advisers are still determining where the rallies will take place and what safety measures will be implemented. (Politico)
poll/ 80% of Americans say things are out of control in the United States, while 15% say things are under control. 59% say they’re more troubled by Floyd’s death and the actions of police than they are about recent protests or occasional looting, compared to 27% who are more concerned about the protests. (NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
poll/ 38% of Americans approve of the way Trump is handling the presidency, while 57% disapprove – his worst approval rating since January 2019. (CNN)
⚡️ Day 1232
Another 1.8 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, a decline from the previous week’s upwardly revised total of 2.126 million. 623,073 people filed for benefits under the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program. This week marks the first time that weekly jobless claims were under 2 million since the week that ended on March 14. Continuing claims, which indicates how many Americans remain unemployed overall, totaled 21.5 million, an increase of 649,000 from last week. Both numbers are higher than expected, according to projections by economists. (CNBC / Politico)
The Senate Intelligence Committee approved a measure that would require campaigns to report any offers of foreign election interference to federal authorities. The move comes in response to Russia’s attempts to interfere in the 2016 election to help Trump get elected. The committee adopted the measure in a classified session behind closed doors. The measure was added to the Intelligence Authorization Act, which sets policies for the intelligence community. It passed with a vote of 8-7. Susan Collins was the only Republican on the panel to vote in favor of the measure. (CNN)
Trump Has Flooded DC With Law Enforcement Officers Who Won’t Identify Themselves. (Mother Jones)
Law Enforcement Seized Masks Meant To Protect Anti-Racist Protesters From COVID-19. The masks, reading “Stop killing Black people,” were meant to quell the spread of the coronavirus, which has disproportionately affected Black Americans. (HuffPost)
Black Lives Matter sues Trump, Barr for forcibly clearing White House protesters. Civil rights groups filed a lawsuit against President Trump, Attorney General Bill Barr and other federal officials on behalf of Black Lives Matter and other peaceful protesters who were forcibly removed with rubber bullets and chemical irritants before Trump’s photo-op at the historic St. John’s Episcopal Church on Monday. (Axios / BuzzFeed News)
Trump promises Stone won’t serve prison time: ‘He can sleep well at night!’ The president’s social media post represents his latest intervention in Stone’s case and comes after Trump and Attorney General William Barr were widely rebuked by congressional Democrats and career Justice Department officials for involving themselves in the federal law enforcement matter just a few months ago. (Politico)
People are sawing through and climbing over Trump’s border wall. U.S. Customs and Border Protection has asked contractors for help making President Trump’s border wall more difficult to climb over and cut through, an acknowledgment that the design currently being installed along hundreds of miles of the U.S.-Mexico boundary remains vulnerable. (Washington Post)
Trump signed an executive order directing agencies to look for ways to speed up building of highways and other major projects by scaling back environmental reviews, invoking special powers he has under the coronavirus emergency. (Associated Press)
poll/ 81% of Americans feel that discrimination against African-Americans exists today, while 50% say there is a lot of discrimination. 17% percent say there is not much or no discrimination. 52% believe whites have a better chance of getting ahead in life, up 13 points from 2015. (CBS News)
⚡️ Day 1233
Defying mayor, Trump threatens to deploy more federal forces to D.C. Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser has requested Trump “withdraw all extraordinary federal law enforcement and military presence” from the city. (Politico)
D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser renamed a street in front of the White House “Black Lives Matter Plaza” and had the slogan painted on the asphalt in massive yellow letters, a pointed salvo in her escalating dispute with President Trump over control of D.C. streets. (Washington Post / NBC News)
Barr says he didn’t give tactical order to clear protesters. Administration officials have spent much of the week trying to explain how the situation escalated and why smoke bombs, pepper balls and police on horseback were needed to clear the largely peaceful crowd. (Associated Press)
Pentagon Ordered National Guard Helicopters’ Aggressive Response in D.C. The high-profile episode, after days of protests in Washington, was a turning point in the military’s response to unrest in the city. (New York Times)
US Park Police said using “tear gas” in a statement was a “mistake.” The new statement denying use of tear gas in a protest near the White House comes after immense criticism, including from Congress. (Vox / Washington Post)
Esper orders all remaining active-duty troops home from D.C. area. The active-duty troops are heading out and will be gone by Saturday, Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy said. (Politico)
89 former Defense officials: The military must never be used to violate constitutional rights. (Washington Post)
Former White House chief of Staff John Kelly: ‘I agree’ with Jim Mattis that President Donald Trump is “the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people” as nationwide protests have intensified over the death of George Floyd. (CNN)
A ‘misclassification error’ made the May unemployment rate look better than it is. The special note said that if this “misclassification error” had not occurred, the “overall unemployment rate would have been about 3 percentage points higher than reported,” meaning the unemployment rate would be about 16.3 percent for May. But that would still be an improvement from an unemployment rate of about 19.7 percent for April, applying the same standards. (Washington Post)
As Trump Rekindles N.F.L. Fight, Goodell Sides With Players. The president tweeted to say it was disrespectful to kneel during the national anthem, as Colin Kaepernick and other players began doing in 2016 to protest racial injustice. N.F.L. Commissioner Roger Goodell then said the league supported players peacefully protesting. (New York Times)
Security Concerns Give the White House a Fortified New Look. It increasingly resembles a Washington version of the Green Zone that sheltered American and Iraqi officials in Baghdad. (New York Times)
Trump has signed off on a plan to permanently withdraw up to one-third of about 34,500 U.S. troops currently based in Germany. Trump pledged during his last presidential campaign to end U.S. involvement in what he has called America’s “forever wars,” primarily in the Middle East and Afghanistan. He has repeatedly threatened to end or reduce the peacetime defensive deployments of troops in Asia and Europe, charging that those countries were not paying enough for what he has described as U.S. protection. (Washington Post)
poll/ 62% of Americans said they support the protests in response to the death of George Floyd and others in the black community, while 48% oppose supplementing police with active-duty military. (Morning Consult)
👑 Portrait of a President.
James Mattis Denounces President Trump, Describes Him as a Threat to the Constitution. In an extraordinary condemnation, the former defense secretary backs protesters and says the president is trying to turn Americans against one another. (The Atlantic)
Former Joint Chiefs Chairman Condemns Trump’s Threat To Use Military At Protests. In rare public comments, the former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Ret. Gen. Martin Dempsey condemned Trump’s threat to use military force to suppress nationwide protests as “dangerous” and “very troubling.” (NPR)
I Cannot Remain Silent. Our fellow citizens are not the enemy, and must never become so. (The Atlantic)
CIA veterans who monitored crackdowns abroad see troubling parallels in Trump’s handling of protests. Current and former U.S. intelligence officials have expressed dismay at the similarity between events at home and the signs of decline or democratic regression they were trained to detect in other nations. (Washington Post)
With White House effectively a fortress, some see Trump’s strength — but others see weakness. The security perimeter around the White House keeps expanding. Tall black fencing is going up seemingly by the hour. Armed guards and sharpshooters and combat troops are omnipresent. (Washington Post / WSB)
After a botched response to two national crises, Trump’s polls are cratering, and “no one is telling him what he wants to hear,” igniting a new round of grumbling about Kushner. (Vanity Fair)
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~1,848,000; deaths: ~107,000; recoveries: ~464,000
Hydroxychloroquine failed to prevent healthy people exposed to COVID-19 from getting the disease caused by the coronavirus in the first scientifically rigorous study of its potential. Trump has repeatedly promoted the antimalarial drug as a “game changer” and recently said he took it for several days. (Washington Post / Bloomberg)
👑 Portrait of a president.
An oral history of 6:30 to 7:18 p.m. on June 1, 2020. Over the course of 48 minutes, Donald Trump put on a show that may have changed America, yet again. It involved an overture to the nation, a physical attack on Americans, and a Bible. It began suddenly, in the Rose Garden, with a statement about “law and order” and “dangerous thugs.” The president promised justice for the family of George Floyd, whose death in the custody of Minneapolis police last week triggered nationwide protests, looting and violence, and a roiling debate about who we are and what we hope to become. (Washington Post)
How Trump’s idea for a photo op led to havoc in a park. When the history of the Trump presidency is written, the clash with protesters that preceded Trump’s walk across Lafayette Square may be remembered as one of its defining moments. (New York Times)
60 minutes of mayhem: How aggressive politics and policing turned a peaceful protest into a violent confrontation. (CNN)
1/ Defense Secretary Mark Esper said he doesn’t support sending active duty troops into cities to quell protests triggered by the murder of George Floyd, adding that the use of active duty military forces to perform law enforcement responsibilities within the U.S. is “a matter of last resort” and that the National Guard is better-suited for the job. “I don’t think they need to be used […] only in the most urgent and dire situations,” Esper said. “We are not in one of those situations now. I do not support invoking the Insurrection Act.” On Monday, Trump raised the possibility of invoking the 1807 law in a Rose Garden as federal officers used force to clear peaceful protesters from outside the White House. Esper’s statement comes two days after Trump threatened to send U.S. military forces to cities and states that don’t stop the protests. White House officials are reportedly unhappy with Esper’s comments and when asked whether Trump retains confidence in Esper, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said: “As of right now, Secretary Esper is still Secretary Esper, and should the president lose faith, we will all learn about that in the future.” (NBC News / Politico / CNBC / Axios / Bloomberg / ABC News / CNN / Washington Post)
Minnesota officials charged three more former police officers in the death of George Floyd, and upgraded charges against Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer who knelt on Floyd’s neck. (Star Tribune)
At least twice in the past week, senior Trump administration officials in the Defense Department directed service chiefs to keep quiet about the killing of George Floyd. (Washington Post)
The U.S. Air Force’s top enlistee said he’s “outraged” by the death of George Floyd, vowed to do more to fix the racial inequality among ranks and encouraged his fellow airmen to fight for justice and equality, and understanding. (CNN)
U.S. Air Force commander called George Floyd’s death “a national tragedy” and voiced support for the service’s top enlistee, Chief Master Sgt. Kaleth Wright (CNN)
The FBI found “no intelligence indicating antifa involvement/presence” in the violence in D.C. during the George Floyd protests on May 31. The internal FBI situation report was circulated on the same day Trump announced on Twitter that his administration would designate the group of anti-fascist activists as a terrorist organization, even though the U.S. government does not have the authority to apply that designation to a domestic group. Attorney General William Barr also blamed “Antifa and other similar groups” for the violence and declared that “the rioting is domestic terrorism and will be treated accordingly,” despite the assessment to the contrary from his own agents. (The Nation)
2/ Esper claimed he had “no idea” what Trump was planning when he led administration officials from the White House to St. John’s Episcopal Church. “I thought I was going to do two things: to see some damage and to talk to the troops,” Esper said. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army Gen. Mark Milley, was also surprised when Trump led the group to the church for a photo op while holding a Bible. “Their understanding is they were going into Lafayette Park to review the efforts of the troops,” said one defense official. Esper said he was unaware of Trump’s plan to forcefully clear out the crowd of peaceful protesters in the park moments before the group walked through it. (NBC News / Axios)
📌 Day 1230: As he spoke from the Rose Garden, police cleared peaceful protesters outside the White House with tear gas and flash grenades so Trump could pose by a church for photographs to dispel the notion that he was “weak” for hiding in a bunker over the weekend. Following his remarks in the Rose Garden, Trump left the White House and walked through Lafayette Square, where riot police and military police had cleared protesters moments before. Once Trump reached the far side of the square, he raised a bible in front of the church for a photo. Trump’s decision to speak to the nation from the Rose Garden and to then visit the church came together because he was reportedly upset about the news coverage of him retreating to the White House bunker amid the protests. Just before Trump spoke, Attorney General William Barr personallyordered law enforcement officials to clear protesters from Lafayette Square. (New York Times / CNN / ABC News / Vox / Washington Post / YouTube / Religious News Service)
3/ Trump’s reelection campaign demanded that news organizations issue a correction that the U.S. Park Police had used tear gas to disperse demonstrators outside the White House so that Trump could cross the street to pose for photos at a church. The U.S. Park Police released a statement saying they used “pepper balls” and “smoke canisters,” but asserted that “no tear gas was used” in the Lafayette Square incident. According to the CDC, however, “Riot control agents (sometimes referred to as “tear gas”) are chemical compounds that temporarily make people unable to function by causing irritation to the eyes, mouth, throat, lungs, and skin.” And, “several different compounds” fall under this definition, which are all typically referred to as “tear gas” because their most prominent effect is to bring on tears. (Washington Post / Vox)
Mitch McConnell blocked a resolution in the Senate condemning the use of tear gas and rubber bullets against peaceful protesters in order to allow Trump to walk over to St. John’s Church. The resolution was introduced by Chuck Schumer and affirmed that the First Amendment rights of Americans “must be respected,” and that “violence and looting are unlawful, unacceptable and contrary to the purpose of peaceful protests.” McConnell said the resolution doesn’t deal with the issues Americans want addressed, and instead “indulges in the myopic obsession with President Trump that has come to define the Democratic side of the aisle.” McConnell then proposed his own resolution condemning racial injustice and rioting, which Schumer blocked. (Axios)
Police Target Journalists as Trump Blames ‘Lamestream Media’ for Protests. “I’ve really never seen anything like this”: Reporters and news photographers describe being roughed up, arrested and shot with projectiles while covering demonstrations across the country. (New York Times)
4/ Trump denied, then admitted, that he retreated to an underground bunker beneath the White House amid protests outside the executive mansion. Trump claimed that he went to the bunker for an “inspection” – not his own safety – because the Secret Service “said it would be a good time to go down, take a look, because maybe some time you’re going to need it.” Trump added: “I was there for a tiny, short little period of time.” According to arrest records and people familiar with the incident, Trump was rushed to the secure bunker by Secret Service after a group of protesters hopped over a temporary barricade set up near the Treasury Department. Trump also said he’s previously visited the bunker “two and a half times.” (CNN / Politico / The Guardian / New York Times / Washington Post)
📌 Day 1229: On Friday, Trump took shelter inside an underground bunker for nearly an hour as protests continued outside the White House and across Washington, D.C. Trump was abruptly taken by Secret Service agents inside the Presidential Emergency Operations Center, an underground bunker that is used to shelter presidents during threatening situations, like terrorist attacks. Trump and his family have reportedly been “shaken” by the experience and the size of the protests. (Associated Press / New York Times / CBS News)
poll/ 64% of Americans say they are “sympathetic to people who are out protesting right now.” 27% said they weren’t sympathetic, and 9% were unsure. More than 55% of Americans said they disapproved of Trump’s handling of the protests, including 40% who “strongly” disapproved, while one-third said they approved - lower than his overall job approval of 39%. (Reuters)
Notables.
Trump and the Republican National Committee will no longer hold their August convention in Charlotte, N.C. Trump accused Gov. Roy Cooper of forcing the RNC to “seek another State to host the 2020 Republican National Convention” after Cooper rejected the GOP’s request to hold a full-scale convention without proper health protocols in place. (Politico)
Former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein defended his decision to appoint special counsel Robert Mueller after Trump fired FBI director James Comey. Rosenstein is testifying before the Republican-led Senate Judiciary Committee, which is investigating the origins of the Russia investigation amid allegations of misconduct by law enforcement. He defended and explained his decision to appoint Mueller in 2017, and blamed high-level FBI leadership for the “significant errors” that appeared in applications to surveil a former Trump campaign adviser — even though he signed off on one of them. (Axios / Politico / NBC News / ABC News)
The Trump administration threatened to block flights by Chinese airlines from flying to and from the U.S. starting June 16. The Transportation Department said China hasn’t approved requests by U.S. airlines to resume flights after they were suspended amid the pandemic, accusing China of violating an agreement that governs air travel between the two countries. (Wall Street Journal)
The White House released the results of Trump’s annual physical, which says the “president remains healthy.” Trump made an unannounced visit to Walter Reed in November to “begin portions of his routine annual physical exam” that included a “quick exam and labs.” Medical staff at Walter Reed did not get a staff-wide notice about a presidential visit. (ABC News / CNN)
Trump tried to register to vote in Florida using his out-of-state address. Trump’s September 2019 registration application listed his legal residence as 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, the location of the White House. Florida law, however, requires voters to be legal residents of the state. A month later, Trump resubmitted his application to use a Florida address and in March he voted by mail in Florida’s Republican primary. (Washington Post)
Global: Total confirmed cases: ~6,326,000; Total deaths: ~378,000; Total recoveries: ~2,728,000. (Johns Hopkins University)
U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~1,821,000; Total deaths: ~106,000; Total recoveries: ~458,000
Dr. Anthony Fauci has not spoken or met with Trump in two weeks. The last time the two interacted was on May 18, when Trump asked Fauci to provide medical context during a call with U.S. governors. As of Monday, more than 1.7 million Americans have contracted COVID-19 and at least 104,300 have died from it, according to Johns Hopkins University. (CNN)
The Trump administration’s coronavirus testing czar will be “demobilized” from his role at FEMA. Adm. Brett Giroir will stand down from his role in a few weeks. There are no plans to appoint a new “head of efforts” for coronavirus testing. (NPR)
Almost one-third of unemployment benefits owed to Americans who lost their jobs as a result of the coronavirus pandemic haven’t been paid yet. The Treasury disbursed $146 billion in unemployment benefits in the three months through May – short of a total bill that should have reached about $214 billion for the period. (Bloomberg)
1/ Trump threatened to deploy “thousands and thousands of heavily armed soldiers” to end “riots and lawlessness” if states and cities failed to quell the demonstrations sparked by the killing of George Floyd. In a brief Rose Garden speech, Trump declared himself “your president of law and order” and said he would mobilize every available federal force, both “civilian and military,” to “quickly solve the problem” and end the nationwide protests. Trump denounced the violence as “domestic acts of terror” as he ordered governors and mayors to establish “an overwhelming law enforcement presence.” Trump, however, stopped short of invoking the Insurrection Act, which would allow him to deploy active duty U.S. troops to respond to protests in cities across the country. After Trump made the announcement, he left without taking questions from reporters. (New York Times / Politico / Bloomberg / CNBC / CNN / Axios / NBC News / NPR / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Washington Post)
Pentagon officials are reportedly “concerned” about Trump’s threat to use the military to “dominate” protesters. Officials have tried to make the case that the situation does not call for deploying active duty troops unless state governors make a clear argument such forces are needed.(CNN)
Twitter suspended a white nationalist group claiming to belong to an “antifa” organization. The account, linked to the white nationalist group Identity Evropa, was pushing violent rhetoric related to ongoing protests. (NBC News)
Twitter added a warning label to a tweet by Rep. Matt Gaetz that called for members of the radical activist group antifa to be hunted down like “terrorists.” Twitter restricted the tweet for violating its policies against glorifying violence, following a similar action taken against Trump last week. (The Verge / Politico)
Mark Zuckerberg defended his decision to not do anything about Trump’s Facebook posts, saying that he had made a “tough decision” but that it “was pretty thorough.” Zuckerberg tried to justify his position in a question-and-answer session with employees, saying Facebook’s principles and policies around free speech “show that the right action where we are right now is to leave this up.” (New York Times)
2/ As he spoke from the Rose Garden, police cleared peaceful protesters outside the White House with tear gas and flash grenades so Trump could pose by a church for photographs to dispel the notion that he was “weak” for hiding in a bunker over the weekend. Following his remarks in the Rose Garden, Trump left the White House and walked through Lafayette Square, where riot police and military police had cleared protesters moments before. Once Trump reached the far side of the square, he raised a bible in front of the church for a photo. Trump’s decision to speak to the nation from the Rose Garden and to then visit the church came together because he was reportedly upset about the news coverage of him retreating to the White House bunker amid the protests. Just before Trump spoke, Attorney General William Barr personallyordered law enforcement officials to clear protesters from Lafayette Square. (New York Times / CNN / ABC News / Vox / Washington Post / YouTube / Religious News Service)
Trump’s Response to Protests Draws Bipartisan Rebuke in Congress. Speaker Nancy Pelosi called President Trump a “fanner of the flame” of division, as two Republican senators criticized the use of tear gas to clear the way for his photo opportunity. (New York Times)
‘Outraged’: Trump faces condemnation for clearing protesters, threatening military force. Meanwhile, local and state leaders objected to the commander in chief’s push to deploy troops to their communities. (Politico)
[Speech] Biden denounces Trump’s actions against protesters and vows to heal racial wounds. (Washington Post)
[Obama] How to Make this Moment the Turning Point for Real Change. (Medium)
Gregg Popovich: “The System Has to Change.” The legendary San Antonio Spurs coach is past done with Donald Trump’s inability to rise to this moment. (The Nation)
3/ The Episcopal bishop of Washington is “outraged” at Trump for using St. John’s Church as a backdrop to threaten the use of the military against Americans. Right Rev. Mariann Budde said she had not been given any notice that Trump would be visiting the church or “even a courtesy call, that they would be clearing [the area] with tear gas so they could use one of our churches as a prop.” Budde added: “Everything [Trump] has said and done is to inflame violence. We need moral leadership, and he’s done everything to divide us.” (Washington Post)
4/ Trump demanded that New York call up the National Guard to stop the “lowlifes and losers” after businesses were vandalized and looted in New York City on Monday night. In an earlier tweet, Trump complained that Gov. Andrew Cuomo “refuses to accept my offer of a dominating National Guard” before claiming CNN anchor Chris Cuomo’s ratings were down. Trump added: “Act fast! Don’t make the same horrible and deadly mistake you made with the Nursing Homes!!!” (Associated Press / Yahoo News / The Hill)
5/ Trump has made 19,127 false or misleading claims in 1,226 days – 16 claims a day over the course of his presidency. (Washington Post)
poll/ 74% of Americans say the country is on the wrong track while 21% say the country is headed in the right direction. [Editor’s note: No shit.] (Monmouth University Polling)
Global: Total confirmed cases ~6,230,000; Total deaths: ~374,000; Total recoveries: ~2,673,000. (Johns Hopkins University)
U.S.: Total confirmed cases ~1,800,000; Total deaths: ~105,000; Total recoveries: ~445,000
[Promising news] The coronavirus is losing its potency and has become much less lethal, top Italian doctor says. (Reuters)
[Bad news] Florida’s seen a “statistically significant” uptick in the number of pneumonia and influenza deaths. The CDC said it’s likely COVID-19. (Daily Beast)
[Bad news] Public health and government officials warned that the ongoing protests against police brutality could lead to a new wave of coronavirus infections. The new cases could add to the already disproportionate burden the disease has had on African-American and Latino populations. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
[Interesting theory] Coronavirus May Be a Blood Vessel Disease, Which Explains Everything. 40% of deaths from COVID-19 are related to cardiovascular complications, and the disease starts to look like a vascular infection instead of a purely respiratory one. (Elemental)
👑 Portrait of a president.
While Trump shelters in the White House, America cries out for leadership. Under siege in the White House, Trump is aggravating America’s latest racial anguish in a nation now simultaneously beset by violence-wracked cities, a deadly disease, and staggering economic deprivation. (CNN)
As Protests and Violence Spill Over, Trump Shrinks Back. Trump spent Sunday out of sight, berating opponents on Twitter, even as some of his campaign advisers were recommending that he deliver a televised address to the nation. (New York Times)
1/ After a weekend out of sight, Trump emerged from the White House bunker and called America’s governors “weak” and demanded that they “dominate” the protesters, which he labeled “terrorists.” Trump asked “Why aren’t you prosecuting them?” while demanding “retribution.” He warned governors that they’d look like “a bunch of jerks” if they didn’t send the protesters to “jail for long periods of time.” Otherwise, Trump added, “you’re wasting your time.” Trump, who has not formally addressed the nation since the protests began, continued: “you have to use the military […] we have a wonderful military,” adding that they would look like “fools” if they didn’t take control of the situation. Trump also accused Minnesota of becoming “a laughingstock all over the world.” (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Wall Street Journal / CBS News)
Trump blamed the “Lamestream Media” for the protests, calling journalists “truly bad people with a sick agenda” after they were repeatedly targeted by police nationwide last weekend with pepper spray, tear gas, rubber bullets, and excessive use of force. (New York Times)
2/ On Friday, Trump took shelter inside an underground bunker for nearly an hour as protests continued outside the White House and across Washington, D.C. Trump was abruptly taken by Secret Service agents inside the Presidential Emergency Operations Center, an underground bunker that is used to shelter presidents during threatening situations, like terrorist attacks. Trump and his family have reportedly been “shaken” by the experience and the size of the protests. (Associated Press / New York Times / CBS News)
3/ The White House turned off almost all the exterior lights Sunday night as more than 1,000 people gathered to protest outside of its gates. It is unclear why the Trump administration decided to do so, but the White House insisted that there was “nothing new” about the lights-out incident, saying “lights go out at about 11 p.m. almost every night.” In normal times, however, the lights are only ever turned off when a president dies. Trump, meanwhile, from safely inside the White House had nothing to say other than to tweet for mayors and governors to “get tough” and that “The World is watching and laughing at you and Sleepy Joe.” (Vox / The Guardian /New York Magazine / Newsweek / Washington Post / Slate)
4/ Trump tweeted that the U.S. would designate a group of anti-fascism activists as a terror organization, despite lacking the legal authority. Trump, his top officials, Attorney General William Barr, and national security adviser Robert O’Brien have all blamed antifa for the violent protests across the country. Antifa, however, is not an organization and does not have a leader, membership roles or any defined, centralized structure. Further, if antifa were a real organization, current law only permits the State Department to designate foreign organizations as terrorist groups. The U.S. does not have domestic terrorism statute. (Politico / New York Times / CNN)
Trump dismissed advice from numerous advisers both inside and outside the White House urging him to tone down his rhetoric and make a formal address to the nation. (Axios / NBC News)
poll/ 54% of Americans support Twitter’s decision to add a fact-checking label to Trump’s tweets. 26% thought Twitter was wrong, while 20% have no opinion of the move. (Axios)
✏️ Notables.
Trump will postpone next month’s G-7 summit at the White House after German Chancellor Angela Merkel declined his invitation to attend, citing the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Trump responded by telling reporters on Air Force One that he feels the group is “very outdated” and doesn’t properly represent “what’s going on in the world. He said he plans to invite Russia, Australia, South Korea, and India. Russia was ejected from the group — previously the G8 — after its annexation of Crimea in 2014. (Politico / Associated Press / Politico)
The Justice Department urged a federal Appeals Court to dismiss the prosecution of Michael Flynn. A lower-court judge has held up the dismissal, citing the Justice Department’s “unusual” reversal. (Politico)
Transcripts show that Michael Flynn told Russia’s ambassador to Washington in late 2016 to take “reciprocal” actions in response to Obama administration sanctions for election interference, rather than escalating the situation into a “tit for tat.” (Politico)
The top lawyer for the FBI was forced to resign by the Justice Department following criticism by Fox News for his role in the investigation of Michael Flynn. Dana Boente was asked to step down by senior officials at the DOJ. Boente was the one who signed off on a warrant in 2017 authorizing the FBI to conduct surveillance on Flynn. He also signed one of the reauthorizations to surveil Trump campaign associate Carter Page. Several of Trump’s supporters have recently gone on Fox News and other conservative media outlets to criticize Boente’s brief role in the Russia probe. Boente spent nearly 40 years at the FBI as its general counsel and a former acting attorney general. (The Guardian / CNN / Washington Post / NBC News / Associated Press)
Editor’s note. Hello. This is an unfortunate but necessary abridged weekend edition of WTF Just Happened Today?
1/ Police nationwide responded to protests against police violence by deliberately targeting demonstrators, journalists, and bystanders with pepper spray, tear gas, rubber bullets, and excessive use of force. The ongoing protests following the killing of George Floyd by a white police officer – who knelt on Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes – have taken place in at least 75 cities, including at the gates of the White House, in the days since Floyd’s death in Minneapolis. The officer, Derek Chauvin, has since been fired, arrested, and charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter. Since then, police have tear-gassed protesters, drove vehicles through crowds, opened fire with rounds of rubber bullets and pepper balls on journalists and bystanders, pushed over an elderly man with a cane who was walking away, shot a woman in the face with a rubber bullet as she left a grocery store, and shot a photojournalist in the eye with a rubber bullet, who is now permanently blind. Curfews have been enacted in more than two dozen cities, and about 5,000 National Guard troops have been activated in 15 states and the District of Columbia. Organizers have tried to keep the protests focused on police accountability and social justice through chanting and marching, but agitators, posing as peaceful protesters, have exploited the situation by looting stores, setting fire to buildings and police cars, and throwing firecrackers, bottles, bleach, and, reportedly, a molotov cocktail at police. Some advisers, meanwhile, have urged Trump to formally address the nation and call for calm, while others have said he should condemn only the looting or risk losing middle-of-the-road voters in November. The White House, however, declared a lid, which means no one should expect to see or hear from Trump for the rest of the day. (Slate / Nick Waters / Vox / Washington Post / New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / The Week)
2/ Trump reacted to the protests and incidents of vandalism by threatening demonstrators with “vicious dogs” and “ominous weapons.” He previously suggested that looters in Minneapolis would be shot, referred to protesters as “thugs,” and prepared the Pentagon to use military force against American citizens. In a series of Saturday tweets, Trump accused demonstrators who gathered at the White House of being “professionally managed so-called ‘protesters’” and suggested that his supporters should confront them, saying: “Tonight, I understand, is MAGA NIGHT AT THE WHITE HOUSE???” When asked if he was stoking racial divisions by calling for a counter-protest, Trump replied: “No, not at all. MAGA is make America great again. These are people that love our country. I have no idea if they’re going to be here. I was just asking. … By the way, they love African-American people. They love black people. MAGA loves the black people.” (NBC News / Politico / Bloomberg / New York Times / ABC News / CBS News / Washington Post)
3/ Meanwhile, more than 100,000 Americans have lost their lives, and another 40 million their livelihoods, amid the coronavirus pandemic.
👑 Portrait of a President.
Trump confronts a culture war of his own making as election looms. The president and his top allies are trying to fit his election-year interests in black voters into a political career filled with encouragements of police power. (Politico)
Trump Is Terrified of Protest. Violent demonstrations across the United States bring out a particular weakness in the 45th president. (The Atlantic)
In Days of Discord, a President Fans the Flames. Trump has presented himself as someone who seeks conflict, not conciliation, a fighter, not a peacemaker. And he has lived up to his self-image at a perilous time. (New York Times)
America is at low ebb, shaken by multiple blows, and Trump adds to the distress. Trump has spewed division with ill-chosen tweets about looting and “shooting” or “vicious dogs” and overpowering weapons. He has attacked Democratic leaders as their communities burn. He flails rather than leads, his instincts all wrong for what confronts the country. (Washington Post)
Trump has sown hatred of the press for years. Now journalists are under assault from police and protesters alike. But the seeds of that long day were planted years ago: The press has been attacked and disparaged by politicians for decades, whenever they found it served their purposes to slap around the “nattering nabobs of negativism” as Richard Nixon’s vice president, Spiro Agnew, once put it. (Washington Post)
Twitter Had Been Drawing a Line for Months When Trump Crossed It. Inside the company, one faction wanted Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s chief, to take a hard line against the president’s tweets while another urged him to remain hands-off. (New York Times)
Inside Twitter’s Decision to Take Action on Trump’s Tweets. A weeks-old policy about virus misinformation laid the groundwork for the social platform’s steps this past week to push back on the president’s posts. (Wall Street Journal)
👋 If you have a few bucks to spare, join me in supporting the following organizations.
Black Visions Collective — “A political home for black people across Minnesota.” This Minnesota nonprofit is dedicated to creating safe, autonomous black communities. Donate here.
Reclaim the Block — A coalition that demands that Minneapolis divest from policing and invest in long-term alternatives that promote healthier, safer, and more diverse communities. Donate Here
Minnesota Freedom Fund — This nonprofit “pays criminal bail and immigration bond for those who cannot afford to” as they “seek to end discriminatory, coercive, and oppressive jailing.” Donate here.
Global: Total confirmed cases ~5,886,000; Total deaths: ~363,000; Total recoveries: ~2,469,000. (Johns Hopkins University)
U.S.: Total confirmed cases ~1,741,000; Total deaths: ~103,000; Total recoveries: ~400,000
The CDC quietly removed warnings contained in guidance for the reopening of houses of worship that singing in choirs can spread the coronavirus. The agency also added new language about the First Amendment to its guidance on reopening houses of worship. (CNBC / Washington Post)
The Trump administration’s initial distribution of remdesivir went to – in some cases – the wrong hospitals, to hospitals with no ICUs and therefore no eligible patients, and to facilities without the refrigeration needed to store it. Remdesivir is the only approved coronavirus medication. (Washington Post)
Congress and the White House are discussing a $450 “return-to-work bonus.” Republican lawmakers have repeatedly claimed that increased unemployment benefits reward workers for staying home. Their idea is to make returning to work more attractive than remaining on unemployment. (Washington Post)
1/ Trump threatened military violence against U.S. citizens in Minneapolis who were protesting the death of George Floyd, a handcuffed, unarmed black man who was killed while pleading for air as a white police officer kneeled on his neck for several minutes. Trump, who previously called the video of Floyd’s death “shocking,” tweeted that the protesters were “THUGS” and warned that “the Military is with [Gov. Tim Walz] all the way […] Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!” Hours later, the White House reposted Trump’s comment on its official account. Last month, Trump tweeted support for protesters in Minnesota, Michigan, and Virginia to “LIBERATE” themselves and defy coronavirus stay-at-home orders. In 2017, when neo-Nazis marched in Charlottesville, Va., and a counter-protester was killed, Trump responded by saying there were “very fine people” on “both sides” of the issue. (New York Times / Politico / NBC News / Washington Post / CNN)
A former Minneapolis police officer involved in George Floyd’s death has been charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter. The announcement comes days after the release of a video that shows Derek Chauvin’s knee pressed on Floyd’s neck for at least seven minutes. (NPR)
📌 Day 1184: Trump tweeted support for protesters in Minnesota, Michigan, and Virginia to “LIBERATE” themselves by defying stay-at-home orders — all states where protesters have gathered in public this week to demonstrate against stay-at-home orders issued by Democratic governors. Less than 24 hours after unveiling a plan that deferred to governors to determine when they could safely reopen their states, Trump sent a series of tweets calling on people to “LIBERATE MICHIGAN!; LIBERATE MINNESOTA!; LIBERATE VIRGINIA, and save your great 2nd Amendment. It is under siege!” Trump’s tweets were sent moments after a Fox News report about protests in Minnesota and elsewhere. (Bloomberg / Politico / USA Today / ABC News / New York Times)
📌 Day 208: Trump, again, blamed both sides for the Charlottesville violence, asking why the “alt-left” is not being blamed because, he says, they were “very, very violent” when they confronted white nationalist and Nazi groups. He asked if George Washington statues were going to come down next. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / Bloomberg)
2/ Twitter placed a warning on Trump’s tweet that suggested protesters in Minneapolis could be shot by the military, saying it violated the company’s rules against “glorifying violence.” Twitter also flagged the tweet posted by the official White House Twitter account. Trump later tried to clean up and defend his remarks, tweeting: “Looting leads to shooting, and that’s why a man was shot and killed in Minneapolis on Wednesday night […] I don’t want this to happen, and that’s what the expression put out last night means […] It was spoken as a fact, not as a statement. It’s very simple, nobody should have any problem with this other than the haters, and those looking to cause trouble on social media. Honor the memory of George Floyd!” The company left the tweet up, saying “it may be in the public’s interest for the Tweet to remain accessible.” Earlier this week Twitter added a fact-check label to two Trump tweets that made unsubstantiated claims about mail-in voting. Trump responded with an executive order aimed at limiting some legal protections for social media companies from liability for the content posted on their platforms. (New York Times / Axios / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / The Guardian / Bloomberg)
3/ Trump denied knowing the origin of the phrase “when the looting starts, the shooting starts,” saying he’s heard the phrase “for a long time” and that he doesn’t know where it came from or where it originated. The phrase was used by Miami’s police chief, Walter Headley, in 1967, when he addressed his department’s “crackdown on … slum hoodlums,” saying: “There is only one way to handle looters and arsonists during a riot and that is to shoot them on sight. I’ve let the word filter down: When the looting starts the shooting starts.” When a reporter noted it was said by Headley, Trump said he “has also heard from many other places,” adding that he believed the phrase meant that “when there’s looting, people get shot and they die.” The phrase was also used by presidential candidate and segregationist George Wallace in 1968. (CNN / New York Times / NBC News)
4/ A CNN reporter was arrested, handcuffed, and led away by police in Minneapolis while reporting live on-air. CNN reporter Omar Jimenez, an African-American man, was reporting on the protests that followed the death of George Floyd. He was arrested for allegedly not moving after being told by police, though the live footage shows Jimenez talking with police and offering to “move back to where you like.” Jimenez was released about an hour later. (CNN / Bloomberg / Axios / Politico)
5/ Trump announced that he is “terminating” U.S. membership with the World Health Organization as the global coronavirus pandemic continues. Trump accused the WHO of becoming a puppet organization of China, claiming Beijing “has total control […] despite only paying $40 million per year compared to what the United States has been paying, which is approximately $450 million a year.” The move was criticized by public health experts, who said it doesn’t make sense to cut off funding for the group amid the ongoing pandemic. Last month, Trump temporarily froze U.S funding and threatened to permanently cut off funding to the WHO pending a review of its initial response to the coronavirus outbreak. In what was billed by the White House as a news conference, Trump took no questions. Instead, Trump walked away as reporters shouted questions about Floyd, Minnesota, and the coronavirus pandemic. (Politico / CNBC / CNN / NBC News / CBS News / Wall Street Journal / Reuters / The Guardian / Vox)
📌 Day 1216: Trump threatened to permanently cut off funding to the World Health Organization and revoke U.S. membership. Trump sent a letter to the WHO director-general complaining about the “repeated missteps by you and your organization,” and claiming that the WHO “ignored credible reports of the virus” and “repeatedly made claims about the coronavirus that were either grossly inaccurate or misleading.” Trump threatened that the U.S. would permanently end all U.S. financial contributions to the WHO if the organization didn’t “commit to major substantive improvements in the next 30 days.” Trump suspended U.S. funding to the WHO last month. Trump, however, offered no other details about the reforms he was seeking or what specific changes would unlock U.S. funding. Trump tweeted that his letter is “self-explanatory.” Leaders in Europe and Asia, meanwhile, stressed the importance of the WHO’s work, calling on the U.S. to “stop the blame game” because – during the global pandemic – this is “not the time for finger pointing.” (CNN / NBC News / Politico / NPR / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CBS News / Axios)
📌 Day 1182: Trump cutoff U.S. funding to the World Health Organization in response to the agency’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. “We have not been treated properly,” Trump said, deflecting blame for his dismissal of the virus as a threat to Americans and the U.S. economy. The hold will remain for up to 90 days while the Trump administration conducts a funding review. Trump said the U.S. had “a duty to insist on full accountability,” accusing the WHO of “severely mismanaging and covering up” the crisis. Trump also said that “if we cannot trust them,” then the U.S. will be “forced to find other ways to work with other nations to achieve public health goals.” The U.S. is the largest donor to the WHO, and contributes between $400 million and $500 million a year to the organization, which has an annual budget of around $6 billion. (Washington Post / Politico /USA Today / Wall Street Journal / Axios / CNN / NBC News / BBC News)
✏️ Notables.
Roger Stone was ordered to report to prison by June 30. Stone, who is designated to be inmate #19579-104 after a federal judge sentenced him to 40 months in prison for lying to Congress and witness intimidation, will quarantine at a still-unspecified prison for 14 days upon his surrender. (CNN / Politico / Axios)
Trump will eliminate Hong Kong’s favored trade status with the United States as punishment for China placing new national security powers on the independent territory. “They’ve ripped off the United States like no one has ever done before,” Trump said of China, alleging that Beijing had “raided our factories” and “gutted” American industry. By revoking Hong Kong’s preferential treatment, Hong Kong would be subject to the same duties that Trump imposed on more than $350 billion worth of Chinese goods. Those goods – about $4.7 billion worth – are currently exported from Hong Kong without additional duties. (CNBC / CNN / ABC News / New York Times / Politico / Axios / Associated Press)
Republicans gave North Carolina until June 3 to approve their plan to host the Republican National Convention in Charlotte despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. In a letter to Gov. Roy Cooper, the RNC laid out a series of precautions and safety measures it would put in place during the convention. “We still do not have solid guidelines from the State and cannot in good faith, ask thousands of visitors to begin paying deposits and making travel plans without knowing the full commitment of the Governor, elected officials and other stakeholders in supporting the Convention,” the letter reads. The letter does not indicate whether attendees would be required to wear masks or get tested before entering the arena. (Washington Post / New York Times)
A senior Trump administration official misused his office to help get his son-in-law a job at the EPA, investigators said in an Interior Department inspector general report. Assistant Interior Secretary Douglas Domenech reached out to a senior EPA official in person and later by email in 2017 to advocate for the son-in-law when he was seeking a job at the agency. (Associated Press)
The EPA will not formally object to the proposed Pebble Mine in Alaska, where mining could damage the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery. The Army Corps of Engineers will decide this summer whether to grant a federal permit to the Pebble Partnership to move forward with the project. (Washington Post)
1/ 2.1 million more Americans filed for first-time unemployment benefits last week. Nearly 41 million people have filed for unemployment benefits since the coronavirus pandemic started in mid-March — the equivalent of one out of every four American workers. The pandemic has resulted in a national unemployment rate exceeding 14% – the highest rate since the Great Depression. This is the eighth week in a row, however, that new jobless claims have continued to fall from their peak of around 6.9 million. (New York Times / CNBC / Washington Post)
2/ The Trump administration will not release updated economic projections this summer, which are expected to show the country in a severe economic downturn as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. White House officials are supposed to release a federal budget proposal every February, and they usually follow that up with a “mid-session review” in either July or August that includes updated projections on economic trends such as unemployment, inflation, and economic growth. No other administration has failed to provide economic forecasts in its mid-session review since at least the 1970s. “It gets them off the hook for having to say what the economic outlook looks like,” said a former director of the Congressional Budget Office. (Washington Post)
The U.S. economy shrank at an annual rate of 5% in the first quarter – the biggest quarterly decline in more than a decade. (Politico)
Around 110 publicly traded companies each received $4 million or more in emergency aid from the Paycheck Protection Program. Of those subject to taxes, 12 of the companies used offshore accounts to cut their tax bills. These 12 companies also received more than $104 million in loans from U.S. taxpayers, and seven of them paid no U.S. tax at all for the past year. (Reuters)
3/ Trump signed an executive order seeking to limit the legal protections that shield social media companies from liability for the content users post on their platforms. The order seeks to make it easier for federal regulators to argue that companies like Facebook, Google, YouTube, and Twitter are suppressing free speech when they suspend users or delete posts, among other examples. “Big Tech is doing everything in their very considerable power to CENSOR in advance of the 2020 Election,” Trump tweeted late Wednesday after Twitter applied a fact-checking notice to his tweets about voter fraud. Trump, an attempt to portray the order as an attempt to stamp out political bias on social media platforms, announced on Twitter that “This will be a Big Day for social media and FAIRNESS!” The order directs the Commerce Department to petition the Federal Communications Commission to set up a rule-making proceeding to clarify the scope of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The executive order is expected to draw immediate court challenges. (Washington Post / Axios / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Bloomberg / CNN / The Verge / CNBC / ABC News / Politico /Yahoo News)
Twitter continued fact-checking posts even as Trump threatened to limit protections for social media companies. Twitter added fact-checking labels to messages from a spokesman for China’s foreign ministry, who had claimed that the coronavirus outbreak may have begun in the United States and been brought to China by the U.S. military. Twitter also added notices on hundreds of tweets alerting viewers that an image was “manipulated media.” (New York Times)
[ANALYSIS] Trump’s “big action” against social media companies rests on limited legal powers. His administration cannot rewrite the law that protects tech companies from many lawsuits. But a noisy fight with Silicon Valley could rally his base. (Politico)
[EARLIER] A draft of Trump’s executive order targeting social media companies was leaked to the press. The draft specifically targets Facebook, Twitter, and Google, as well as a section of U.S. law that says tech platforms can’t be held legally responsible for what their users post and gives them broad powers to police content on their sites. The draft order asks the FCC to reexamine whether altering or removing user content causes the platforms to forgo those protections afforded to them under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Trump is expected to formally sign the order today after Twitter recently labeled two of his tweets about mail-in voting as “potentially misleading.” (New York Times / CNN / Business Insider / The Independent / Washington Post / Reuters)
4/ Trump singled out a Twitter employee in a tweet complaining that Twitter’s decision to fact check his tweets about mail balloting could “taint” the U.S. election. Trump, in a tweet, shared the Twitter handle of the company’s “Head of Site Integrity,” Yoel Roth, who co-wrote a May 11 blog post explaining how the platform would handled misleading information moving forward. “So ridiculous to see Twitter trying to make the case that Mail-In Ballots are not subject to FRAUD,” Trump tweeted. “How stupid, there are examples, & cases, all over the place. Our election process will become badly tainted & a laughingstock all over the World.” Trump then directed his 80 million Twitter followers to “tell that to your hater.” Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey responded, tweeting “there is someone ultimately accountable for our actions as a company, and that’s me. Please leave our employees out of this.” (Bloomberg / CNBC)
Notables.
The Trump administration will extend the federal deployment of more than 40,000 National Guard troops aiding coronavirus relief efforts, reversing plans to terminate the deployment one day before thousands of Guard members would have qualified for key retirement and education benefits. (Politico)
Trump’s signed coronavirus post card cost the U.S. Postal Service $28 million. The cards cost $4.6 million to print and $28 million overall. (USA Today)
Pence’s chief of staff owns between $506,043 and $1.64 million worth of individual stocks in companies related to the Trump administration’s pandemic response. Marc Short declared at least some of his stock holdings as potential conflicts of interest after he joined Pence’s office last year. He did not, however, divest those holdings. (NPR)
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham urged senior federal judges to step aside so that Republicans can fill the vacancies now. “This is an historic opportunity,” Graham said. “We’ve put over 200 federal judges on the bench. . . . If you can get four more years, I mean, it would change the judiciary for several generations. So if you’re a circuit judge in your mid-60s, late 60s, you can take senior status, now would be a good time to do that, if you want to make sure the judiciary is right of center.” (Washington Post)
The National Security Agency warned that a Russian hacking operation is engaged in an ongoing campaign. The NSA said the hacking activity was tied directly to the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence agency. The security alert describes how the GRU is targeting a vulnerability in unpatched Unix-based operating systems. It does not specify who it has seen targeted. (Reuters / NBC News)
🌍 Global: Total confirmed cases ~5,648,000; Total deaths: ~353,000; Total recoveries: ~2,325,000. (Johns Hopkins University)
🇺🇸 U.S.: Total confirmed cases ~1,695,000; Total deaths: ~100,000; Total recoveries: ~385,000
💰 Markets: Dow 📈; S&P 500 📈; Nasdaq 📈
Coronavirus deaths in the U.S. have passed 100,000. The toll exceeds the number of U.S. military combat fatalities in every conflict since the Korean War. The U.S. has recorded more COVID-19 deaths than any other country in the pandemic, and almost three times as many as the second-ranking country, Britain, which has recorded more than 37,000 deaths. Trump, meanwhile, has encouraged state governors to reopen businesses in order to boost the economy. (New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post / The Guardian / NPR / Politico / CNBC)
Antibody tests used to identify people who have been infected with the coronavirus might be wrong up to half the time. New CDC guidance says the results from antibody test are not accurate enough to be used to make important policy decisions, including “decisions about grouping persons residing in or being admitted to congregate settings, such as schools, dormitories, or correctional facilities.” The guidance also says the results should not be used to make “decisions about returning persons to the workplace.” (CNN)
Dr. Anthony Fauci: Hydroxychloroquine is not an effective treatment for the coronavirus. “The scientific data is really quite evident now about the lack of efficacy,” Fauci said. (Politico)
1/ Twitter added a fact-check label to two of Trump’s tweets, marking them as “potentially misleading.” Trump falsely claimed that mail-in voting leads to widespread voter fraud. In response, Twitter – for the first time – added a banner notification underneath each tweet that reads, “Get the facts about mail-in ballots,” and brings the user to news articles about mail-in voting and Trump’s claims when clicked. Trump’s tweets, according to a spokesperson for Twitter, “contain potentially misleading information about voting processes and have been labeled to provide additional context around mail-in ballots.” There is no evidence that mail-in ballots result in higher rates of voter fraud. (Washington Post / The Verge / NPR)
[OPINION] Twitter must cleanse the Trump stain. Trump is spreading a vile conspiracy theory on the platform. Maybe Twitter should finally hold him to its rules. (New York Times)
[OPINION] Trump’s slanderous attack on Joe Scarborough is incompatible with leadership. Whatever his issues with Scarborough, President Trump’s crazed Twitter rant on this subject was vile and unworthy of his office. (Washington Examiner)
[OPINION] The hidden risk in Donald Trump’s tweets. Again Tuesday, the president of the United States decided to suggest that a TV morning-show host committed murder. (New York Post)
[OPINION] A presidential smear. Trump imitates the Steele dossier in attacks on Joe Scarborough. (Wall Street Journal)
2/ Trump threatened to “close” Twitter and other social media platforms after Twitter labeled two of his tweets about unsubstantiated claims about widespread mail-in voting fraud as “potentially misleading.” Trump tweeted that social media platforms “totally silence conservatives voices” and that he would “strongly regulate, or close them down, before we can ever allow this to happen.” Hours later, Trump continued, singling out Twitter, and claiming that everything “we have being saying about them (and their other compatriots) is correct” and that there will be “Big action to follow.” Trump can’t unilaterally regulate or close public companies, and any effort would likely require action by Congress. (Axios / ABC News / NPR / Associated Press / Business Insider / Politico)
Trump has considered establishing a panel that would look into complaints of bias against conservatives on social media and other online platforms. While plans are still under discussion, they may include establishing a “White House-created commission” that would work in conjunction with the Federal Elections Commission and Federal Communications Commission to examine bias and censorship online. (Wall Street Journal / The Verge)
3/ A conservative organization working to restrict voting in the 2020 election is part of a dark money network that has been helping Trump remake the U.S. federal court system. The Honest Elections Project announced in April that it planned to spend $250,000 on ads warning of the dangers of mail-in voting, accusing Democrats of cheating, and using misleading data to accuse states of having bloated voter rolls while threatening them with lawsuits. HEP has also filed briefs in favor of voting restrictions in several states and is often represented by the same law firm that represents Trump. Despite presenting itself as a distinct entity, HEP is a legal alias for the Judicial Election Project, a conservative group that has played an instrumental role in Trump’s unprecedented effort to reshape the federal judiciary by appointing scores of conservative judges. (The Guardian)
4/ Trump’s press secretary has voted by mail in every Florida election she has participated in since 2010 but insists that mail-in voting is rife with fraud. Kayleigh McEnany defended Trump’s unsubstantiated claims about mail-in voting fraud, saying: “Absentee voting has the word absent in it for a reason. It means you’re absent from the jurisdiction or unable to vote in person. President Trump is against the Democrat plan to politicize the coronavirus and expand mass mail-in voting without a reason, which has a high propensity for voter fraud. This is a simple distinction.” Florida, however, does not have absentee voting. Anyone can vote by mail without a reason. (Tampa Bay Times)
5/ Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Congress that the Trump administration no longer regards Hong Kong as autonomous from mainland China after the Chinese Communist Party unveiled a new security law that will criminalize sedition, foreign influence, and secession in Hong Kong. Pompeo’s pronouncement could trigger sanctions or other punitive measures against Beijing. Revoking Hong Kong’s preferential trade status would also hasten its economic and financial decline. The 1992 Hong Kong Policy Act allowed the U.S. to treat Hong Kong as a separate entity from mainland China and required the State Department to assess its autonomy from China. (Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Washington Post / ABC News / Axios)
✏️ Notables.
White House counsel Pat Cipollone “failed to address” why Trump removed inspectors general for the intelligence community and the State Department. Instead of providing an explanation for the dismissals, Cipollone’s letter to Sen. Chuck Grassley emphasized Trump’s “constitutional right and duty” to remove inspectors general when he “loses confidence” in them. Grassley, responded, saying that there “ought to be a good reason” for the dismissals of State Department IG Steve Linick and Intelligence Community IG Michael Atkinson. “I don’t dispute the president’s authority under the Constitution,” Grassley said in his response, “but without sufficient explanation, it’s fair to question the president’s rationale for removing an inspector general. If the president has a good reason to remove an inspector general, just tell Congress what it is.” (CNN / Washington Post)
The Trump administration is preparing a new sale of precision-guided weapons to Saudi Arabia, similar to the package that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo approved in 2019, which Congress voted to condemn. The proposed sale comes less than two weeks after Trump fired State Department inspector general Steve Linick, who was investigating Pompeo’s decision to invoke emergency authorization to circumvent legislators. (Daily Beast)
The Trump administration is ending sanctions waivers that allow Russian, Chinese, and European companies to work at Iranian nuclear sites. Nonproliferation experts say the waivers reduce Tehran’s incentive to enrich uranium and provide a view into the country’s atomic program. (Washington Post)
Former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein will testify next week as part of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s probe into the origins of the FBI’s Russia investigation. Rosenstein appointed Robert Mueller in May 2017 as special counsel to investigate potential ties between Russia and Trump’s campaign after then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself due to his role as an adviser to the Trump campaign. Rosenstein also signed off on renewing the final application to monitor Carter Page. (Axios / Politico / Associated Press / The Hill)
🌍 Global: Total confirmed cases ~5,551,000; Total deaths: ~349,000; Total recoveries: ~2,270,000. (Johns Hopkins University)
🇺🇸 U.S.: Total confirmed cases ~1,673,000; Total deaths: ~98,700; Total recoveries: ~380,000
💰 Markets: Dow 📈; S&P 500 📈; Nasdaq 📈
Pandemic lockdowns loosen as U.S. deaths near 100,000. (Wall Street Journal)
The U.S. economy is showing signs of recovering from the shock of the coronavirus, yet Americans are still losing jobs by the millions and other figures — consumer confidence, retail sales, steel output, oil drilling — keep sinking in what is a clear sign that the recovery will be arduous and fitful. (Bloomberg)
World Health Organization warns of “immediate second peak” if they let up too soon on measures to halt the outbreak in areas where COVID-19 declining. (NBC News)
Trump questioned the official coronavirus death toll, suggesting the numbers are inflated. (New York Times)
At least half of states are not going to meet White House’s deadline to test every nursing home resident and staff member for the coronavirus within 14-days. Some states said the logistics, costs, and manpower needs are too great, while others say they need another week or so. (Associated Press)
1/ Trump spent Memorial Day weekend mocking female politicians, tweeting about conspiracy theories, and golfing as the U.S. death toll from coronavirus neared 100,000. In a series of tweets and retweets, Trump called Stacey Abrams “Shamu,” mocked Nancy Pelosi’s appearance, and called Hillary Clinton a “skank.” Trump also revived a long-debunked conspiracy theory that MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough killed his intern when he was a member of Congress, and claimed, without evidence, that mail-in voting consistently results in ballot stuffing and voter fraud. Trump spent both Saturday and Sunday golfing at his private club in Virginia. He made no mention of the sacrifice Americans honor on Memorial Day or the lives lost from the virus. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / The Guardian / CNN / Mother Jones / NBC News / New York Daily News / New York Times)
😳 An incalculable loss. America is fast approaching a grim milestone in the coronavirus outbreak — each figure here represents one of the nearly 100,000 lives lost so far. But a count reveals only so much. Memories, gathered from obituaries across the country, help us to reckon with what was lost. (New York Times)
😔 Little sense of shared grief as coronavirus deaths near 100,000. While Americans have shared undeniable hardships since March — including more than 38 million people forced to file for unemployment, and tens of millions more forced to hunker down at home to avoid the contagion — the carnage is hitting them unevenly. (Los Angeles Times)
Twitter refused to delete Trump’s baseless conspiracy theory tweets that Joe Scarborough was allegedly involved in the death of his intern in 2001. In a letter to Jack Dorsey, the widower of Lori Klausutis said Trump had violated Twitter’s terms of service by falsely suggesting that Scarborough murdered his wife. Klausutis died as a result of a heart condition that caused her to collapse at work and hit her head on her desk. Twitter said Trump’s tweets did not violate the company’s terms of service, even though its policies say users “may not engage in the targeted harassment of someone, or incite other people to do so.” (Axios / The Guardian / CNBC / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Washington Post)
2/ The WHO temporarily suspended testing of hydroxychloroquine as a coronavirus treatment in order to review safety concerns about the drug. The suspension comes in response to a global study of 96,000 hospitalized patients across six continents that found patients who took the drug were more likely to die or develop heart irregularities than those who did nothing to treat the virus. Trump, meanwhile, announced that he “just finished” taking a two-week course of hydroxychloroquine. “And by the way, I’m still here.” Trump has repeatedly promoted hydroxychloroquine as a “game changer” and recently claimed he has been taking the drug for weeks as a preventative measure against the virus. (Axios)
3/ Trump suspended all travel to the U.S. from Brazil by non-U.S. citizens. Starting Thursday, all non-U.S. citizens who have been in Brazil in the past 14 days will be denied entry. Brazil has the second largest number of reported coronavirus cases behind the U.S. and has become a hot spot for the virus in the southern hemisphere. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has dismissed the virus as a “little flu” and has pushed to reopen the economy. (Axios)
4/ The Pentagon’s acting inspector general submitted his resignation, more than a month after Trump effectively removed him as chairman of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, which was tasked with overseeing $2 trillion in emergency coronavirus funding. Glenn Fine’s resignation takes effect June 1st. (CNN / New York Times /Washington Post / New York Times)
📌 Day 1174: Trump removed the Pentagon’s acting inspector general, who was tapped to lead the group responsible for preventing “waste, fraud, and abuse” of the $2 trillion coronavirus emergency stimulus package passed last month. A panel of inspectors general had named Glenn Fine to lead the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee. Trump, instead, replaced Fine with EPA’s watchdog, Sean O’Donnell, as the temporary Pentagon watchdog. Because Fine is no longer acting inspector general, he is ineligible to hold the spending watchdog role, since the new law permits only current inspectors general to fill the position. (Politico / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / CNN / Bloomberg)
5/ Trump threatened to move the Republican National Convention out of Charlotte if North Carolina’s Democratic governor doesn’t allow the event to go forward at full capacity. The convention is expected to draw roughly 50,000 people, and the state’s health and human services secretary has said that the GOP should “plan for the worst” because large gatherings will be a “very big challenge” if the number of coronavirus cases in the state continues to increase. Trump, complaining that North Carolina was still in “Shutdown mood,” tweeted that the “many thousands of enthusiastic Republicans” who are planning to head to North Carolina in August “must be immediately given an answer by the Governor as to whether or not the space will be allowed to be fully occupied.” If not, Trump added, “we will be reluctantly forced to find, with all of the jobs and economic development it brings, another Republican National Convention site.” Florida Republicans, meanwhile, said they would “welcome the opportunity to host the Republican National Convention” if Trump decides to pull the event out of Charlotte. (Axios / Tampa Bay Times / Politico / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
6/ Trump’s reelection campaign promoted a top political adviser to deputy campaign manager. Bill Stepien, who previously served as the White House political director and had been advising the reelection effort, will serve under Brad Parscale, who has been campaign manager since 2018. Trump recently “erupted” at Parscale after seeing polling data that showed him trailing Joe Biden in several swing states in the presidential race. (Politico / New York Times)
Trump opts for a 2016 disruption strategy that Democrats say is ill-suited for a pandemic. Trump’s moves in recent days make clear that the president has decided to revive the disruptive themes of his 2016 bid, aimed at branding his opponent as a corrupt member of the Washington establishment and himself as an insurgent problem-solver. (Washington Post)
7/ The Justice Department will not pursue insider trading charges against three senators, but will continue to investigate stock sales before the coronavirus market turmoil by Sen. Richard Burr. Prosecutors will close their investigations into Kelly Loeffler, James Inhofe, and Dianne Feinstein. Burr’s mid-February stock sales, however, have drawn scrutiny from the Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission. FBI agents recently seized his cellphone. (CNBC / Wall Street Journal / New York Times)
1/ Trump demanded that governors reopen houses of worship “right now” and threatened to “override” them if restrictions aren’t lifted “by this weekend.” Trump, however, does not have the authority to override state orders to close churches or limit the size of services. Hours later, the CDC released “interim guidance” for reopening places of worship after Trump deemed all places of worship “essential.” (Bloomberg / Associated Press / Axios / CNBC / NBC News / CNN / Politico / Wall Street Journal)
2/ Dr. Anthony Fauci warned that extended lockdowns could cause “irreparable damage” and have “unintended [health] consequences.” Dr. Fauci said he supported states taking cautious steps to restore normality and lift stay-at-home orders, adding that “Now is the time […] to begin seriously looking at reopening the economy, reopening the country to try and get back to some degree of normal.” Dr. Fauci, however, cautioned states against reducing social distancing measures too quickly, adding they must take “very significant precautions.” (CNBC / Business Insider)
3/ The CDC estimates that roughly a third of coronavirus infections are asymptomatic and around 40% of coronavirus transmission occurs before people feel sick. CDC officials cautioned that those numbers are subject to change as they continue to learn more about the virus, and that the current numbers are only meant for planning and preparation purposes. The CDC also said its “best estimate” is that 0.4% of people who show symptoms and have the virus will die. (CNN)
4/ A study of 96,000 hospitalized coronavirus patients across six continents found those who received hydroxychloroquine had a significantly higher death rate than those who did not receive the drug. Trump has repeatedly promoted the drug as a “game changer,” and recently claimed that he has been taking the drug the last few weeks. The study also found that patients who were given hydroxychloroquine were more likely to develop a type of irregular heart rhythm, or arrhythmia, which can lead to sudden cardiac death. The study represents the largest analysis of the risks and benefits of treating coronavirus patients with antimalarial drugs to date. “It’s one thing not to have benefit, but this shows distinct harm,” said a cardiologist at the Scripps Research Translational Institute. The director of preventative cardiology at Stanford said the study’s findings offer “absolutely no reason for optimism that these drugs might be useful” in treating COVID-19. (Washington Post / The Lancet / Politico)
5/ Trump accused the Michigan Attorney General of “taking out her anger and stupidity” after she called him a “petulant child who refuses to follow the rules.” Michigan’s attorney general had implored Trump to wear a face mask on his visit to a Ford plant, citing a “legal responsibility” under state law, as well as a “social and moral responsibility.” Trump refused, saying “I didn’t want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it.” (The Hill)
6/ Trump hasn’t completed his annual 2020 physical after claiming six months ago that he had started the process. The White House declined to explain why. In November, Trump made an unscheduled visit Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. The White House claimed it was to “begin portions of his routine annual physical exam” that included a “quick exam and labs.” (NBC News)
poll/ 27% of Americans think their state is moving too quickly to reopen, while 21% say their state is moving too slowly, and 51% say their state is moving “about right.” (Kaiser Family Foundation)
poll/ 39% of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, while 60% disapprove. (ABC News)
poll/ 44% of Americans approve of the job Trump is doing as president, while 54% disapprove. Last month, Trump’s approval rating was at 49%. (Fox News)
poll/ 56% of voters say Trump does not care about average Americans, while 42% say he cares. (Quinnipiac)
1/ Another 2.4 million workers filed new unemployment claims last week. Since efforts to the contain coronavirus pandemic nine weeks ago, more than 38.6 million Americans have sought unemployment benefits, leading to levels of unemployment not seen since the Great Depression. An analysis of the coronavirus pandemic’s effects on the labor market estimates that 42% of recent layoffs will result in permanent job loss. (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal /Bloomberg)
The White House’s top economic official expressed uncertainty that America’s economy would quickly rebound from the downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic despite Trump’s confidence. Larry Kudlow said there are some “small glimmers of hope,” but “The numbers coming in are not good. In fact, they are downright bad in most cases.” (Washington Post)
📌 Day 1162: A record 3.28 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week – the largest number of unemployment claims ever recorded for a single week since the government began collecting data in 1967. The number shatters the Great Recession peak of 665,000 claims in March 2009 and the all-time mark of 695,000 in October 1982. As a result, the U.S. unemployment rate has likely already risen to 5.5% from 3.5% in February – a level not seen since 2015. A similarly large number of initial unemployment claims is expected next week when the Labor Department releases its report on claims filed this week. In the prior Labor Department report, for the week ended March 14, initial claims totaled 282,000. (NPR / CNBC / Washington Post / CNN / New York Times / Politico / Bloomberg)
📌 Day 1169: More than 6.6 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week – double the 3.3 million who applied the previous week. About 6% of the U.S. work force filed for jobless benefits in the last two weeks. In March, more than 10 million Americans lost their jobs, erasing nearly all the jobs created in the past five years. Economists say the real number of people out work is probably higher and that as many as 20 million people could be out of work this summer. The Congressional Budget Office, meanwhile, updated its economic projections and expects U.S. unemployment to exceed 10% in the second quarter – eclipsing the peak of the last recession – and gross domestic product to fall by more than 7%, or an annualized 28%. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Bloomberg / New York Times / Politico / CNBC / CNN / CBS News / The Guardian)
📌 Day 1176: Another 6.6 million Americans filed first-time unemployment claims last week — marking the largest and fastest string of job losses since 1948. More than 17 million new claims have been filed over the last three weeks – or about 10% of the U.S. workforce. Economists estimate that the U.S. unemployment rate is now 13% – the worst level of joblessness the nation has seen since the Great Depression. In February, the unemployment rate was 3.5%. The number of jobs lost in the last three weeks now exceeds the 15 million that it took 18 months during the Great Recession, from 2007 to 2009. (CNBC / Associated Press / Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / CNN / Vox / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
📌 Day 1183: More than 5.2 million Americans filing first-time claims for unemployment insurance last week. In the past four weeks, more than 22 million Americans have filed for unemployment aid — wiping out nearly all the job gains since the Great Recession. The U.S. unemployment rate is now over 20% and is expected remain close to 10% through the end of the year. (NPR / Washington Post / CNBC / Associated Press)
📌 Day 1190: More than 26 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits over the last five weeks – wiping out all of the job gains since the Great Recession. More than 4.4 million people filed for unemployment last week – down from more than 5.2 million the week before – which marks the fifth straight week that job losses were measured in the millions. Roughly 22 million jobs were created after the 2008 financial crisis. Economists predict that by summer the unemployment rate will be within range of the 25% peak recorded in 1933 during the Great Depression and that the U.S. GDP will shrink by around 6% this year. (Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Politico / NBC News / CNBC / Reuters / The Guardian)
📌 Day 1197: Another 3.8 million Americans filed for first-time unemployment benefits last week. The number of first-time claims over the past six weeks total 30.3 million people – roughly 18.6% of the entire U.S. labor force – the highest since the Great Depression and far above the 10% peak reached in 2009. Hundreds of thousands of Americans, however, are still waiting to receive unemployment benefits, which means the official unemployment tally is almost certainly an undercount. (CNN / CNBC / Washington Post / NPR / New York Times / New York Times / Bloomberg / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
📌 Day 1204: An additional 3.2 million Americans filed unemployment claims last week, down slightly from 3.8 million the previous week. More than 33.5 million have filed for unemployment over the last seven weeks and the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for the week ending April 25 was 15.5%. Continuing claims – the number of people receiving ongoing benefits – is now at more than 22 million, surpassing the recessionary peak of 6.6 million. (Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Politico / ABC News / NBC News / The Guardian)
📌 Day 1211: Another 2.98 million people filed unemployment claims last week, bringing the two-month total to 36.5 million. While the weekly count of new claims has been declining since late March, it was the eighth-straight week of numbers in the millions. Continuing claims is now at around 22.8 million. A survey by the Federal Reserve found that in households making less than $40,000 a year, nearly 40% of those who were working in February lost their jobs in March or the beginning of April. The jobless rate has more than tripled to 14.7% from 4.4% a month earlier. Trump, meanwhile, said he doesn’t see the U.S. unemployment rate dropping below 10% until September. (NBC News / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / The Guardian / Bloomberg / CNBC)
2/ Mitch McConnell promised House Republicans that enhanced unemployment benefits enacted earlier this spring “will not be in the next bill.” The $600 per week federal unemployment benefit, which adds to the sum individuals normally get from states, will expire at the end of July. House Democrats passed a $3 trillion rescue package last week that would extend the financial backstop through January, but McConnell has questioned the need for more federal spending and has said he is comfortable waiting to see how effective the nearly $3 trillion in previously approved coronavirus spending is before moving forward on the next relief legislation. (Politico / CNBC)
3/ The United States could have prevented about 36,000 deaths if social distancing had been put in place seven days earlier — about 40% of fatalities reported to date. If the U.S. imposed social distancing two weeks earlier, about 83% of the nation’s deaths would have been avoided, according to from Columbia University disease modelers. (New York Times / Washington Post)
4/ Trump warned Americans that “we are not closing our country” again if the U.S. is hit by a second wave of coronavirus infections. “People say that’s a very distinct possibility, it’s standard,” Trump said. “We are going to put out the fires. We’re not going to close the country. We can put out the fires. Whether it is an ember or a flame, we are going to put it out. But we are not closing our country.” (CNBC)
Dr. Anthony Fauci hasn’t given a national television interview or spoken at a coronavirus task force briefing in about two weeks. Fauci’s last nationally televised interview was on May 4. Fauci has been on “modified quarantine” after possibly being exposed to the virus, but he still managed to testify remotely before the Senate last week. He also appeared at Trump’s “Operation Warp Speed” briefing on Friday, but he was conspicuously silent the entire time. (CNN Business)
5/ Trump refused to wear a mask while touring the Ford manufacturing plant in Michigan despite recommendations from federal health officials and an executive order from the state’s governor. Michigan’s attorney general implored Trump to wear a face mask on his tour, citing a “legal responsibility” under state law, as well as a “social and moral responsibility.” Trump claimed “I had one [a mask] on before,” in an area that was not visible to reporters and that it was “not necessary,” but added: “I didn’t want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it.” (CNBC / Washington Post / CNN)
6/ The Trump administration will withdraw from another international major arms control treaty. The Open Skies treaty allows 35 nations, including Russia, to conduct unarmed reconnaissance flights over each other’s territory in order to assure that nations are not preparing for military action. The Trump administration argued that Russia has been violating the agreement by blocking the U.S. from flying surveillance missions. (CNBC / New York Times / Washington Post / CNN)
7/ Michael Cohen was released from prison to serve the remainder of his three-year sentence under home confinement due to the coronavirus in U.S. federal and state prisons. Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to lying to Congress, tax fraud, making false statements to a bank, and two campaign finance charges for facilitating hush money payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal – two women who claimed they had affairs with Trump. (CNN / The Guardian)
8/ The Senate confirmed Rep. John Ratcliffe as the next director of national intelligence in a 49-to-44 vote along party lines. Ratcliffe received more votes against his confirmation than any DNI in the 15-year history of the office. (Washington Post / Politico)
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee advance Trump’s choice to head the Voice of America and other U.S. government-funded international broadcasters. Michael Pack’s whose nonprofit organization is being investigated for possible tax violations. (Associated Press / Washington Post)
9/ The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted to authorize a subpoena targeting Joe Biden’s son, Hunter. The committee authorized Sen. Ron Johnson to subpoena Blue Star Strategies, a public relations firm that did consulting work for Burisma, the Ukrainian energy company where Hunter Biden served on the board. Johnson’s probe claims Blue Star tried to leverage Hunter Biden’s position on the board to influence U.S. State Department matters under the Obama administration. The subpoena is seeking documents from Blue Star Strategies and an interview with CEO Karen Tramontano. Trump has openly encouraged the Senate’s investigation. (Politico)
poll/ 51% of Americans who rely on the White House for coronavirus news believe the pandemic is overblown, 40% say the outbreak has been approached about right, and 8% say the task force has made it a smaller deal than it really is. Meanwhile, Americans who rely mainly on national news outlets, local news outlets, local and state officials, or public health officials and organizations for coronavirus news are more likely to say that the outbreak has been underplayed. (Pew Research Center)
poll/ 65% of Americans think it will take at least six months before things return to “normal” as states reopen. 32% of those surveyed think it will take less than six months. 78% of Democrats and 55% of Republicans feel the same. (NPR)
🌍 Global: Total confirmed cases ~4,966,000; Total deaths: ~326,000; Total recoveries: ~1,875,000. (Johns Hopkins University)
🇺🇸 U.S.: Total confirmed cases ~1,541,000; Total deaths: ~93,100; Total recoveries: ~289,000
💰 Markets: Dow 📈; S&P 500 📈; Nasdaq 📈
More than 100,000 coronavirus cases were reported to the World Health Organization in the last 24 hours – “the most in a single day since the outbreak began.” WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus added: “We still have a long way to go in this pandemic.” (NBC News / CNBC)
All 50 states have now taken steps to reopen. Many began to reopen despite not meeting White House guidelines for progress against the virus, and newly reported cases have been increasing in some states, including Texas and Minnesota, that are moving to ease restrictions. Public health officials, meanwhile, warn that moving too fast could risk more outbreaks. (Wall Street Journal / New York Times)
Black Americans are dying of coronavirus at a rate three times higher than that of white Americans, according to a new report. More than 20,000 African Americans have already died from the virus. (The Guardian)
1/ Trump threatened to “hold up” federal funds for Michigan and Nevada because they are expanding mail-in voting to make it easier to vote during the coronavirus pandemic. Trump, set off by an announcement by Michigan’s secretary of state to send absentee ballot applications to every voter in the state, tweeted that Jocelyn Benson had gone “rogue” and sent absentee ballots “illegally and without authorization […] I will ask to hold up funding to Michigan if they want to go down this Voter Fraud path!” Trump later deleted the tweet but sent a similar one that said “absentee ballot applications” without noting mistake. Trump made a similar threat to Nevada, claiming the state had created “a great Voter Fraud scenario” and adding “If they do, ‘I think’ I can hold up funds to the State.” Nevada is mailing absentee ballots to all registered voters for the state’s June 9 primary — an all-mail election — and Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske, a Republican, has closed nearly all of the state’s in-person polling places for the primary. Both Michigan and Nevada have requested emergency funding from the Election Assistance Commission to prepare for holding an election during a pandemic. (Associated Press / NPR / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / The Guardian / Reuters)
2/ The CDC released its reopening guidance that the White House had shelved. The 60-page document provides detailed guidance for schools, businesses, transit systems, and other industries to safely reopen amid the coronavirus pandemic. CDC officials, meanwhile, say their early efforts to coordinate a response to the COVID-19 pandemic were sidelined by a White House driven by politics rather than science. As one current CDC official said: “We’ve been muzzled. [….] if we would have acted earlier on what we knew and recommended, we would have saved lives and money.” (New York Times / CNN)
📌 Day 1204: The Trump administration refused to issue CDC guidelines drafted to give states and business owners detailed instructions on how to safely reopen amid the coronavirus pandemic, calling the guidance “overly prescriptive.” The 17-page report, titled “Guidance for Implementing the Opening Up America Again Framework,” was researched and written to help from faith leaders, business owners, educators, and state and local officials to provide detailed advice for making site-specific decisions related to reopening schools, restaurants, summer camps, churches, day care centers, and other institutions. It was supposed to be published last Friday, but agency scientists were told the guidance “would never see the light of day,” because the Trump administration had already”made clear that each state should open up in a safe and responsible way based on the data and response efforts in those individual states.” Several states, meanwhile, have already moved ahead with reopening despite not meeting the threshold criteria set by the administration’s previously-issued reopening guidelines, which call for a two-week downward trajectory in cases within a 14-day period. (Associated Press / ABC News / New York Times / Axios / CNN / NBC News)
📌 Day 1208: Emails show that top White House officials buried CDC guidance for reopening communities during the coronavirus pandemic. The document, titled “Guidance for Implementing the Opening Up America Again Framework,” included detailed flow charts aimed at helping business owners, educators, and state and local officials navigate whether to reopen or remain closed. As early as April 10, CDC Director Robert Redfield had emailed the guidance to Trump’s inner circle: Jared Kushner, Kellyanne Conway, Joseph Grogan, assistant to the president for domestic policy, Dr. Deborah Birx, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and other task force members. White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany said that the documents had not been approved by Redfield, but the new emails show that Redfield had cleared the guidance. (Associated Press)
3/ The Supreme Court blocked Congress from seeing secret grand jury material from Robert Mueller’s investigation into the Trump administration and Russian influence in the 2016 presidential election. The court agreed with a request from the Justice Department to put on hold a lower court decision granting the House Judiciary Committee some previously undisclosed material from the investigation. The action increases the chances that the information will remain shielded through the 2020 election. (Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / NBC News / CNN)
📌 Day 1146: A federal appeals court granted House Democrats permission to access grand jury material from Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. The Justice Department must now give lawmakers access to all the report’s blacked-out words, phrases, sentences, paragraphs, and pages, as well as underlying interviews and memos cited in Mueller’s probe. The lawsuit was filed before the start of the impeachment inquiry, but House lawyers told the court that lawmakers are still trying to determine whether Trump lied in his written responses to questions from Mueller’s investigators. The ruling can be appealed to the full court or to the Supreme Court.
📌 Day 1202: The House Judiciary Committee wants to continue investigating Trump for potentially impeachable offenses related to Robert Mueller’s investigation. In a letter to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, the House wrote that “its investigation into President Trump’s misconduct is ongoing” and that material from the grand jury will help it decide whether Trump “committed additional impeachable offenses in obstructing Special Counsel [Robert] Mueller’s investigation and whether to recommend new articles of impeachment.”
📌 Day 1204: The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to temporarily block the release of secret Robert Mueller grand jury evidence. House Democrats have argued that their investigation into possible misconduct by Trump is ongoing, and that the grand jury material will inform its determination of whether Trump obstructed Mueller’s investigation and whether to recommend new articles of impeachment.
📌 Day 1216: The House Judiciary Committee told the Supreme Court they need Robert Mueller’s secret grand jury materials to determine if there is new evidence of impeachable offenses involving Trump, saying Trump “did not cease with the conclusion of the impeachment trial.”
4/ Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declined to be interviewed by the State Department inspector general about the Trump administration’s arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Pompeo instead only provided answers to written questions from Steve Linick, who was fired by Trump last week on Pompeo’s recommendation. Last year, Pompeo declared an “emergency” that allowed the Trump administration to bypass a congressional freeze on $8 billion in arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for their war in Yemen. Today, Pompeo defended his push to have his inspector general fired, telling reporters he “should have done it some time ago,” but refused to explain his reasoning for recommending Trump remove Linick from his job. Prior to being fired, Linick had also recently completed up an investigation into two of Pompeo’s top aides, determining that they had likely failed to report allegations of workplace violence. (New York Times / Politico / CNBC / CNN / NBC News)
📌 Day 1215: Trump fired the State Department inspector general, who had opened an investigation into Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Steve Linick was investigating whether Pompeo made a staffer run personal errands for him, including walking his dog, picking up his dry cleaning, and making dinner reservations for him and his wife. Linick was also investigating Pompeo’s decision to bypass Congress and expedite last year’s $8 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia by declaring an emergency. Pompeo reportedly refused to sit for an interview with Linick as part of the probe. Trump informed Congress of the move in a letter late Friday, saying that he “no longer” had full confidence in Linick. Lawmakers from both parties criticized Linick’s firing, with congressional Democrats launchingan investigation to determine whether was an act of illegal retaliation intended to shield Pompeo from accountability. Pompeo, meanwhile, said he recommended that Linick be fired because the independent watchdog was “undermining” the department. Pomepo would not address specifics, except to say it was not in retaliation, because he did not know beforehand that Linick was investigating allegations that he had an aide run personal errands for him. (Politico / NBC News / CNN / New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post / CNN / CNBC / Washington Post / NBC News / Washington Post / CNN / NBC News)
Democrats are launching an investigation into Trump’s replacement of the Department of Transportation inspector general who was overseeing an ongoing investigation into Transportation Secretary Ellen Chao’s dealings with the state of Kentucky. Trump tapped Howard Elliot to replace Mitch Behm as acting DOT inspector general, making Behm the fifth IG that Trump has ousted in recent months. Behm was overseeing an investigation into whether Chao gave preferential treatment to projects in the state where her husband, Mitch McConnell, serves as U.S. senator. In a letter to Chao and Elliot, lawmakers on the House Oversight and Transportation committees said they are “concerned that Mr. Behm’s removal could be an effort to undermine the progress of this investigation, which we understand is ongoing.” They added: “Any attempt by you or your office to interfere with the Office of Inspector General’s investigation of yourself is illegal and will be thoroughly examined by our Committees.” (Washington Post / Politico / CNN)
5/ Republican political operatives are recruiting “extremely pro-Trump” doctors to go on TV and make the case for reopening the U.S. economy as quickly as possible, according to leaked audio from a May 11 conference call with members of the Trump reelection campaign. The Trump campaign communications director confirmed that the effort to recruit doctors to support reopening the economy without waiting to meet the CDC safety benchmarks. Trump, meanwhile, has ordered his campaign to find a way to get him back on the road and restart rallies to re-energize his base. Trump’s 2020 team is keeping an eye on regional reopenings, where modified campaign activities could soon be permitted. (Associated Press / Politico)
6/ The Trump administration’s purchase of mask-cleaning machines ballooned from $60 million to $600 million after Trump pressured the FDA to waive safety and contracting rules. The machines promised to allow protective masks to be reused up to 20 times, but scientists and nurses say the treated masks begin to degrade after two or three treatments – not 20. The Pentagon put the potential cost to taxpayers at $600 million as a result of awarding the deal without an open bidding process or an actual contract. (NBC News)
7/ The Trump administration awarded a $1.3 billion contract to build 42 miles of border wall to a construction firm backed by Trump. It is the largest border wall contract ever awarded. Trump has repeatedly touted Fisher Sand and Gravel during White House meetings with border officials and military officers. The company’s first and only other federal construction contract was for $400 million and is currently under review by the Defense Department over concerns about undue influence by the White House over the procurement process. The latest contract boasts an average cost of more than $30 million per mile of border wall – more expensive than any of Trump’s other border wall contracts. (Washington Post)
🌍 Global: Total confirmed cases ~4,877,000; Total deaths: ~323,000; Total recoveries: ~1,673,000. (Johns Hopkins University)
🇺🇸 U.S.: Total confirmed cases ~1,524,000; Total deaths: ~92,000; Total recoveries: ~283,000
💰 Markets: Dow 📉; S&P 500 📉; Nasdaq 📉
Trump called the high number of U.S. COVID-19 cases a “badge of honor” because it means the U.S. is testing more people. “Really, it’s a badge of honor,” Trump said. “It’s a great tribute to the testing and all of the work that a lot of professionals have done.” The U.S. death toll stands at roughly 92,000 with more than 1.5 million confirmed cases of coronavirus. (CNN)
The Congressional Budget Office projects GDP dropping 38% in the second quarter as 26 million Americans remain unemployed. (CNBC)
The Federal Reserve chair said the U.S. would have a slow recovery from the “biggest shock that the economy’s had in living memory,” suggesting that a full rebound from the lockdowns could take until the end of 2021. (New York Times)
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said “there is the risk of permanent damage” to the economy if the country remains closed. He said he plans to use all of the $500 billion that Congress provided to help the economy through direct lending. (Bloomberg)
A leaked Pentagon memo warned of “the real possibility of a resurgence” of the coronavirus and that an effective vaccine will not be ready until “at least the summer of 2021,” contradicting Defense Secretary Mark Esper’s vow to deliver a vaccine “at scale” by the end of the year. “We have a long path ahead,” the memo reads, reportedly authored by Esper. “Therefore, we must now re-focus our attention on resuming critical missions, increasing levels of activity, and making necessary preparations should a significant resurgence of COVID-19 occur later this year.” (Task and Purpose / Daily Beast / Military.com / Raw Story)
White House officials, however, predict a swift economic recovery, suggesting that the “reopening” of states will reverse the economic damage caused by the coronavirus. Some economists and Wall Street analysts say the unemployment rate could remain above 10% into 2021 — unseen since the Great Depression — even if lawmakers approve more emergency aid. (Washington Post)
By Wednesday, all 50 states will have begun lifting restrictions put in place to combat the coronavirus outbreak despite daily case rates continue to rise in parts of the country. Only 16 states’ average new daily cases have dropped more than 10%, and as of Tuesday, at least 17 states have recorded a rise in average new daily cases of at least 10%. (CNN / Washington Post)
1/ Trump threatened to permanently cut off funding to the World Health Organization and revoke U.S. membership. Trump sent a letter to the WHO director-general complaining about the “repeated missteps by you and your organization,” and claiming that the WHO “ignored credible reports of the virus” and “repeatedly made claims about the coronavirus that were either grossly inaccurate or misleading.” Trump threatened that the U.S. would permanently end all U.S. financial contributions to the WHO if the organization didn’t “commit to major substantive improvements in the next 30 days.” Trump suspended U.S. funding to the WHO last month. Trump, however, offered no other details about the reforms he was seeking or what specific changes would unlock U.S. funding. Trump tweeted that his letter is “self-explanatory.” Leaders in Europe and Asia, meanwhile, stressed the importance of the WHO’s work, calling on the U.S. to “stop the blame game” because – during the global pandemic – this is “not the time for finger pointing.” (CNN / NBC News / Politico / NPR / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CBS News / Axios)
📌 Day 1182: Trump cutoff U.S. funding to the World Health Organization in response to the agency’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. “We have not been treated properly,” Trump said, deflecting blame for his dismissal of the virus as a threat to Americans and the U.S. economy. The hold will remain for up to 90 days while the Trump administration conducts a funding review. Trump said the U.S. had “a duty to insist on full accountability,” accusing the WHO of “severely mismanaging and covering up” the crisis. Trump also said that “if we cannot trust them,” then the U.S. will be “forced to find other ways to work with other nations to achieve public health goals.” The U.S. is the largest donor to the WHO, and contributes between $400 million and $500 million a year to the organization, which has an annual budget of around $6 billion. (Washington Post / Politico /USA Today / Wall Street Journal / Axios / CNN / NBC News / BBC News)
The Lancet, one of the top peer-reviewed medical journals in the world, rebuked Trump for incorrectly citing its research in a letter threatening to permanently pull U.S. funding to the WHO. The British medical journal refuted Trump’s claim that the global health body “consistently ignored credible reports of the virus spreading in Wuhan in early December 2019 or even earlier, including reports from the Lancet medical journal.” The Lancet called “This statement is factually incorrect,” noting it published “no report in December, 2019, referring to a virus or outbreak in Wuhan or anywhere else in China.” (Politico)
2/ White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said she didn’t know “the exact rationale” behind Trump’s decision to take hydroxychloroquine, but that “the president just wanted to be transparent about his personal health decision that he made in consultation with his doctor.” McEnany noted that “any use of hydroxychloroquine has to be in consultation with your doctor” and requires a prescription. Trump’s admission that he’s been taking hydroxychloroquine for a “couple of weeks” despite testing negative for the coronavirus alarmed health experts, who cautioned that people risk serious heart problems and other complications from the decades-old anti-malaria drug. Trump is part of the cohort most at risk: he has a common heart disease, with a buildup of plaque in his blood vessels, according to records the White House released after his 2018 physical exam. Trump’s physician, meanwhile, said in a statement that it was decided after “numerous discussions” that “the potential benefit from treatment outweighed the relative risks” of hydroxychloroquine. Unlike Trump, Pence said he is not taking hydroxychloroquine. Trump later criticized a hydroxychloroquine study he disagreed with, calling it a “Trump enemy statement.” (Bloomberg / ABC News / Politico / New York Times / Axios / NBC News)
Fox News host Neil Cavuto warned viewers that taking hydroxychloroquine “will kill you. I cannot stress enough.” Speaking immediately after Trump revealed that he has been taking hydroxychloroquine as a preventative measure for the coronavirus, Cavuto said on his show: “The president insisted that [hydroxychloroquine] has enormous benefits for patients either trying to prevent or already have Covid-19. The fact of the matter is, though, when the president said, ‘What have you got to lose?’ the number of studies [show] the population have one thing to lose: their lives.” Trump in turn retweeted half a dozen posts attacking Cavuto, calling him an “idiot,” “foolish,” “gullible,” and “an asshole.” Trump proceed to complain that Fox News “is no longer the same,” and that “You have more anti-Trump people, by far, than ever before. Looking for a new outlet!” (Axios / Politico)
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi warned that Trump shouldn’t be taking hydroxychloroquine because he is “morbidly obese.” “He’s our president, and I would rather he not be taking something that has not been approved by the scientists,” Pelosi said, “especially in his age group, and in his, shall we say, weight group: ‘Morbidly obese,’ they say.” (NBC News / Washington Post / Axios / CBS News)
The FDA softened its earlier advisory against taking hydroxychloroquine, saying it’s “ultimately” a choice between patients and their health-care providers. FDA warned last month that the drug should only be taken in hospitals because of the risk of heart complications. Its effectiveness against the virus is unproven. (CNBC)
3/ The Trump administration will end deployments for more than 40,000 National Guard members currently helping states with coronavirus test and trace programs one day before thousands of members become eligible for key federal benefits, including early retirement and education benefits under the Post-9/11 GI bill. Members will face a “hard stop” on their deployments on June 24. (Politico / The Hill)
4/ The Trump administration signed a $354 million contract to create the nation’s first strategic stockpile of generic medicines and pharmaceutical ingredients needed to treat COVID-19, which are currently made overseas. The goal is to enable the U.S. to manufacture essential drugs at risk of shortage and to create a reserve of active pharmaceutical ingredients in order to reduce the dependence on foreign suppliers. (NBC News / New York Times)
5/ The House Judiciary Committee told the Supreme Court they need Robert Mueller’s secret grand jury materials to determine if there is new evidence of impeachable offenses involving Trump, saying Trump “did not cease with the conclusion of the impeachment trial.” The new filing comes in response to the Justice Department’s request that the Supreme Court put aside a federal appeals court order that Congress had a “compelling need” to view the secret grand jury evidence. The Justice Department, meanwhile, is asking the Supreme Court to block the release, saying it would suffer “irreparable harm” if it had to turn over the records before the justices had decided whether to take up the appeal. (CNN / Washington Post)
6/ Sen. Bob Menendez will introduce a bill that would limit Trump’s ability to fire inspectors general within his administration. The legislation is a response to Trump’s recent firing of State Department inspector general Steve Linick, the fourth IG that Trump has fired in recent months. Menendez says his bill would “prevent a President from carrying out an unjustified—or worse, politically motivated—removal” by giving Congress a “mechanism” to review attempts by a president to remove inspectors general. The bill would only allow a president to remove an IG “for cause,” including for misusing funds, abusing their power, or breaking the law. (The Hill)
7/ The Senate Intelligence Committee approved Rep. John Ratcliffe’s nomination as the nation’s top intelligence official. Trump’s next director of national intelligence was approved in a straight party-line vote, 8 to 7. The nomination must still be confirmed by the Senate. If confirmed, Ratcliffe would take over from acting national intelligence director Richard Grenell. (Politico / Wall Street Journal)
poll/ 73% of Americans are certain that climate change is happening – matching the highest level of acceptance recorded by the survey. 54% said they are “extremely” or “very” certain that climate change is happening while 10% said climate change is not happening, and 6% said they were “extremely” or “very” sure it’s not happening. (New York Times)
🌍 Global: Total confirmed cases ~4,783,000; Total deaths: ~318,000; Total recoveries: ~1,777,000. (Johns Hopkins University)
🇺🇸 U.S.: Total confirmed cases ~1,505,000; Total deaths: ~90,200; Total recoveries: ~283,000
💰 Markets: Dow 📈; S&P 500 📈; Nasdaq 📈
The first coronavirus vaccine to be tested in people appears to stimulate an immune response against the virus. Moderna said the early-stage human trial for a coronavirus vaccine produced COVID-19 antibodies in all 45 participants and the vaccine also produced neutralizing antibodies in at least eight participants. The findings do not prove that the vaccine works. Many vaccines fail to pass muster, even after showing positive signs in early testing. The FDA, however, gave Moderna permission to begin the second stage of testing and the company said a vaccine could be ready for emergency use as early as the fall, if it proves to work safely in subsequent testing. Moderna’s announcement comes days after one of its directors, Moncef Slaoui, stepped down from the board to join Operation Warp Speed, a White House initiative to speed up vaccine development. (New York Times / CNBC / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
FRIDAY: The House approved a rule change to allow lawmakers to vote remotely during the coronavirus pandemic – the most radical change to its rules in generations – allowing its members pass a $3 trillion pandemic relief package to send aid to state and local governments and another round of direct $1,200 payments to taxpayers. Republicans have made clear that the relief package is dead on arrival in the Senate and the bill faces a veto threat from Trump. (Washington Post / New York Times / CNN)
A Sitting President, Riling the Nation During a Crisis. By smearing his opponents, championing conspiracy theories and pursuing vendettas, President Trump has reverted to his darkest political tactics in spite of a pandemic hurting millions of Americans. (New York Times)
We could stop the pandemic by July 4 if the government took these steps. A $74 billion investment in testing, tracing and isolation could rescue the economy — quickly. (Washington Post)
1/ Trump claimed that he’s taking hydroxychloroquine “right now” and that he started taking it “a couple of weeks ago” despite the fact he continues to test negative for the coronavirus. Trump said he consulted with the White House doctor, who recommended he take the unproven treatment for COVID-19 that he has repeatedly promoted. Trump said he hadn’t been exposed, but started taking the drug because “I get a lot of positive calls about it.” Trump said he said he doesn’t know if it works, but claimed “if it doesn’t, you’re not going to get sick and die.” The FDA, however, has warned against hydroxychloroquine’s use for COVID-19 outside of a hospital setting due to a risk of serious heart problems. Trump added: “So far, I seem to be okay.” [Editor’s note: This is breaking news and the blog post will be updated.] (CNBC / Politico / Wall Street Journal / CNN – Daniel Dale / NBC News / Washington Post / The Guardian / CNN)
Clinical trials, academic research, and scientific analysis of hydroxychloroquine indicate that the drug significantly increases the risk of death for certain patients. Evidence showing the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine in treating COVID-19 has also been scant. (Washington Post)
Trump’s campaign team is pursuing scenarios that would allow him to return to in-person rallies. Trump’s last rally was in March. (CNN)
Eric Trump claimed that the coronavirus will “magically” disappear after the November election. He suggested that the virus was a politically expedient Democratic ploy meant to prevent his dad from holding rallies across the country. Eric said his dad’s “greatest tool” is “being able to go into an arena and fill it with 50,000 people every single time,” and suggested that social distancing restrictions and stay-at-home orders were part of a “cognizant strategy” by Democrats to keep Joe Biden competitive in the November election. “You watch, they’ll milk it every single day between now and November 3,” Eric Trump told Fox News. “And guess what, after November 3, coronavirus will magically, all of a sudden, go away and disappear and everybody will be able to reopen.” (Washington Post)
2/ After a former top vaccine official called the federal government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic slow and chaotic, Trump took to Twitter to complain that whistleblowers like Rick Bright are “causing great injustice and harm” to the nation. Bright, the former director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, criticized Trump for failing to have a plan in place to address the coronavirus outbreak and repeated his claim that he was retaliated against after raising concerns about hydroxychloroquine. Trump tweeted that he had never met nor heard of Bright and claimed that the former federal vaccine doctor was a “disgruntled employee.” Bright responded, saying he was not a disgruntled employee but instead “frustrated at a lack of leadership.” (CBS News / Washington Post / The Hill)
📌 Day 1202: The federal scientist involved in developing a coronavirus vaccine filed a whistleblower complaint with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel. Dr. Rick Bright, former director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, alleges that he was removed from his position for pushing back on “efforts to fund potentially dangerous drugs promoted by those with political connections” and that he tried to “prioritize science and safety over political expediency.” In the complaint, Bright charged the Department of Health and Human Services with “an abuse of authority or gross mismanagement,” saying the agency’s chaotic response was the result of “pressure from HHS leadership to ignore scientific merit and expert recommendations and instead to award lucrative contracts based on political connections and cronyism.” Bright was removed from his post on April 20 after having served as BARDA director for nearly four years. He was reassigned to a narrower role at the National Institutes of Health. (NBC News / NPR / CNN / Washington Post / Axios / CBS News)
📌 Day 1210: The top U.S. vaccine doctor who was ousted in April testified that the U.S. could face the “darkest winter in modern history” because the Trump administration was unprepared for the coronavirus. According to Dr. Rick Bright’s prepared testimony, “Our window of opportunity is closing. If we fail to develop a national coordinated response, based in science, I fear the pandemic will get far worse and be prolonged, causing unprecedented illness and fatalities.” Dr. Bright testified that the Department of Health and Human Services “missed early warning signals” in January, February, and March about a potential shortage of medical supplies and “forgot important pages from our pandemic playbook” early on. Dr. Bright filed a whistleblower complaint last week, alleging that he was ousted over his attempts to limit the use of hydroxychloroquine — the unproven drug touted by Trump — to treat the coronavirus. (CNN / Axios / Politico)
White House trade adviser Peter Navarro blamed the CDC for faulty coronavirus testing, saying the agency “really let the country down.” Navarro’s criticism came after CDC director, Robert Redfield, appeared remotely at a Senate committee hearing last week. Redfield detailed the CDC’s efforts to combat the pandemic, saying “We need to rebuild our nation’s public health infrastructure: data and data analytics, public health laboratory resilience and our nation’s public health workforce.” Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar called Navarro’s comments “inaccurate and inappropriate.” (CNN / Washington Post / Politico)
3/ Trump fired the State Department inspector general, who had opened an investigation into Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Steve Linick was investigating whether Pompeo made a staffer run personal errands for him, including walking his dog, picking up his dry cleaning, and making dinner reservations for him and his wife. Linick was also investigating Pompeo’s decision to bypass Congress and expedite last year’s $8 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia by declaring an emergency. Pompeo reportedly refused to sit for an interview with Linick as part of the probe. Trump informed Congress of the move in a letter late Friday, saying that he “no longer” had full confidence in Linick. Lawmakers from both parties criticized Linick’s firing, with congressional Democrats launchingan investigation to determine whether was an act of illegal retaliation intended to shield Pompeo from accountability. Pompeo, meanwhile, said he recommended that Linick be fired because the independent watchdog was “undermining” the department. Pomepo would not address specifics, except to say it was not in retaliation, because he did not know beforehand that Linick was investigating allegations that he had an aide run personal errands for him. (Politico / NBC News / CNN / New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post / CNN / CNBC / Washington Post / NBC News / Washington Post / CNN / NBC News)
4/ A $500 billion Treasury Department fund created by the CARES Act in March to help prop up large segments of the U.S. economy has barely lent any money, according to a Congressional Oversight Commission report. The commission was created by the CARES act to oversee how the taxpayer money is being used. The first report was issued even though it still doesn’t have a chairman. (Washington Post)
Trump will meet with the governor of Kansas at the White House today to discuss how to protect the U.S. food supply and agricultural sector from the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat, also plans to discuss her own strategy for reopening Kansas’s nonessential businesses. The meeting comes a day before Trump is scheduled to leave Washington and visit Michigan for the first time since the pandemic began, where he will participate in a tour of a Ford plant that is manufacturing ventilators. (The Hill)
5/ Cellphone location data suggests that demonstrators at anti-lockdown protests may have spread coronavirus hundreds of miles after returning to all parts of their states. The anonymized location data was captured from opt-in cellphone apps and was used it to track the movements of devices present at protests in late April and early May in Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Colorado, and Florida. (The Guardian)
A report suggesting that the coronavirus was intentionally released from a lab in Wuhan, China was based on probably false evidence. The 30-page report produced by defense contractor Sierra Nevada claims to rely on cell phone location data, social media postings, and commercial satellite imagery to conclude that some kind of “hazardous event” occurred in October 2019 at the Wuhan Institute for Virology, allowing COVID-19 to escape into the world. But the sample size for the cell phone data is too small, there are selfies taken at the conference the report claims was canceled the following month after the “hazardous event,” and additional satellite imagery shows a much more mundane reason for the lack of traffic around the same time as the supposed incident: road construction. The director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies called the report “an illustrated guide on how not to do open source analysis.” (Daily Beast)
6/ Sen. Marco Rubio will temporarily serve as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee after Sen. Richard Burr said he would step aside as chairman while he faces an FBI investigation into his stock trades. (Politico)
7/ Attorney General William Barr dismissed Trump’s attempts to rebrand the Russia investigation as a criminal plot engineered by Barack Obama. Barr said he did not expect the prosecutor he handpicked to review the 2016 FBI investigation into Trump’s campaign would investigate Obama or Joe Biden. Barr said that John Durham was examining some aspects of the case as potential crimes but that he was focused on other people, saying “I don’t expect Mr. Durham’s work will lead to a criminal investigation of either [Obama or Biden].” (CNN / New York Times / Washington Post)
🌍 Global: Total confirmed cases ~4,517,000; Total deaths: ~306,000; Total recoveries: ~1,622,000. (Johns Hopkins University)
🇺🇸 U.S.: Total confirmed cases ~1,432,000; Total deaths: ~87,000; Total recoveries: ~247,000
💰 Markets: Dow 📈; S&P 500 📈; Nasdaq 📈
House Democrats plan to pass a $3 trillion coronavirus rescue plan late Friday. The House was also set to approve Friday a slate of changes enabling lawmakers to operate remotely during the pandemic, including proxy voting. (Wall Street Journal / New York Times / CNBC)
1/ Despite public health experts repeatedly cautioning that developing an effective coronavirus vaccine will take at least a year to a year and a half, Trump claimed that the coronavirus will “go away at some point” and declared – without evidence – that a vaccine would be ready “by the end of the year, maybe before.” Trump named a two-man team to lead his administration’s effort to develop a coronavirus vaccine, saying Operation Warp Speed is currently evaluating 14 vaccine candidate. Trump urged state governments to reopen their economies regardless of whether the timeline was met, suggesting that the lack of a vaccine would not prevent the U.S. from reopening. “I just want to make something clear. It’s very important: Vaccine or no vaccine, we’re back,” Trump said. “We’re starting the process.” Operation Warp Speed consists of Moncef Slaoui, the former head of pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline’s vaccines division, and Gen. Gustave Perna, a four-star U.S. Army general. Slaoui called Trump’s goal of a vaccine by January 2021 a “credible objective,” but acknowledged that “Frankly, 12-18 months is already a very aggressive timeline. I don’t think Dr. Fauci was wrong.” (CNN / Politico / CNBC / NBC News / New York Times)
2/ The CDC issued six, one-page checklists of recommendations to guide schools, businesses, restaurants and bars, child care centers and mass transit systems on how to safely reopen during the coronavirus pandemic. The White House coronavirus task force originally asked the CDC to revise a more extensive set of guidelines – which was about 57 pages – that the agency had prepared more than a month ago, calling it “overly prescriptive.” (Associated Press / Axios / Washington Post / Politico / Vox)
One of the world’s oldest and best-known medical journals urged Americans to elect a president who will support – rather than undermine – public health experts, criticizing Trump’s “inconsistent and incoherent national response” to the coronavirus pandemic. The unsigned editorial from the Lancet accused the Trump administration of relegating the CDC to a “nominal” role that is dangerous for both the U.S. and the world. (NPR / Washington Post)
Mitch McConnell admitted that he was wrong to claim that the Obama administration had not left behind a plan to deal with a pandemic in the U.S. The concession comes days after he falsely accused the Obama administration of failing to leave the Trump administration “any kind of game plan” for something like the coronavirus pandemic. Obama officials had prepared a 69-page document containing hundreds of recommendations for dealing with many of the problems currently plaguing the nation’s coronavirus response — from shortages of personal protective equipment to the need for unified public guidance on the crisis. (CNN / Politico)
3/ Trump called coronavirus testing “frankly overrated,” despite health experts insisting that it is critical to safely reopen businesses. The U.S. has more than 1.4 million confirmed coronavirus cases – the most of any country in the world. “We have more cases than anybody in the world, but why? Because we do more testing,” Trump said. “When you test, you have a case. When you test you find something is wrong with people. If we didn’t do any testing, we would have very few cases.” Meanwhile, Trump praised the coronavirus rapid test used to screen White House staff and visitors, calling it “a great test,” despite a study finding that it may miss up to half of infections detected by other tests on the market.(The Hill / Politico)
4/ Betsy DeVos has directed millions of federal dollars intended for public schools and colleges to private and religious schools. DeVos used $180 million of the $30 billion for education institutions included in the CARES Act to create “microgrants” that parents can use to pay for educational services, including private school tuition. DeVos has used $180 million to encourage states to create “microgrants” that parents of elementary and secondary school students can use to pay for educational services, including private school tuition. She has also directed school districts to share millions of dollars designated for low-income students with wealthy private schools. About $350 million in higher education funding set aside for struggling colleges has instead been directed to small colleges — many of them private, religious or on the margins of higher education — regardless of need. (New York Times)
The ACLU sued Betsy DeVos over new federal guidelines on how campus handle sexual assault allegations, alleging that the Title IX changes would “inflict significant harm” on victims, make it “more difficult for victims of sexual harassment or sexual assault to continue their educations” and “dramatically undermine” their civil rights. (NBC News)
5/ U.S. taxpayers have paid at least $970,000 to the Trump Organization since Trump took office. The payments include more than 1,600 for room rentals at Trump’s hotels and golf clubs, including 950 nights at Bedminster and 530 nights at Mar-a-Lago. Trump has visited his own properties 250 times since taking office. The Secret Service, meanwhile, signed a $179,000 contract to rent golf carts and other vehicles this summer in Bedminster, N.J. (Washington Post)
A company tied to Trump’s campaign manager received nearly $800,000 from the federal coronavirus relief fund for small businesses, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Brad Parscale has been CloudCommerce’s largest beneficial shareholder since 2017. He currently owns 35% of the company. (CBS News)
6/ Trump’s nominee to lead a federal media agency with oversight of Voice of America is under investigation by the District of Columbia’s attorney general. The D.C. attorney general’s office is investigating whether Michael Pack use of funds from his nonprofit, Public Media Lab, was “unlawful and whether he improperly used those funds to benefit himself.” Pack is a conservative filmmaker with ties to Stephen Bannon. (Washington Post)
poll/ 58% of Americans who are going to work fear that they could be exposed to the coronavirus and infect members of their household. Nearly 1 in 3 Americans have continued to leave the house for work at least once a week, and more than one-third of people still going to work said they or a household member has a serious chronic illness. 13% said they lack health insurance themselves. (Washington Post)
Inside Trump’s coronavirus meltdown. What went wrong in the president’s first real crisis — and what does it mean for the US? (Financial Times)
1/ Another 2.98 million people filed unemployment claims last week, bringing the two-month total to 36.5 million. While the weekly count of new claims has been declining since late March, it was the eighth-straight week of numbers in the millions. Continuing claims is now at around 22.8 million. A survey by the Federal Reserve found that in households making less than $40,000 a year, nearly 40% of those who were working in February lost their jobs in March or the beginning of April. The jobless rate has more than tripled to 14.7% from 4.4% a month earlier. Trump, meanwhile, said he doesn’t see the U.S. unemployment rate dropping below 10% until September. (NBC News / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / The Guardian / Bloomberg / CNBC)
📌 Day 1162: A record 3.28 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week – the largest number of unemployment claims ever recorded for a single week since the government began collecting data in 1967. The number shatters the Great Recession peak of 665,000 claims in March 2009 and the all-time mark of 695,000 in October 1982. As a result, the U.S. unemployment rate has likely already risen to 5.5% from 3.5% in February – a level not seen since 2015. A similarly large number of initial unemployment claims is expected next week when the Labor Department releases its report on claims filed this week. In the prior Labor Department report, for the week ended March 14, initial claims totaled 282,000. (NPR / CNBC / Washington Post / CNN / New York Times / Politico / Bloomberg)
📌 Day 1169: More than 6.6 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week – double the 3.3 million who applied the previous week. About 6% of the U.S. work force filed for jobless benefits in the last two weeks. In March, more than 10 million Americans lost their jobs, erasing nearly all the jobs created in the past five years. Economists say the real number of people out work is probably higher and that as many as 20 million people could be out of work this summer. The Congressional Budget Office, meanwhile, updated its economic projections and expects U.S. unemployment to exceed 10% in the second quarter – eclipsing the peak of the last recession – and gross domestic product to fall by more than 7%, or an annualized 28%. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Bloomberg / New York Times / Politico / CNBC / CNN / CBS News / The Guardian)
📌 Day 1176: Another 6.6 million Americans filed first-time unemployment claims last week — marking the largest and fastest string of job losses since 1948. More than 17 million new claims have been filed over the last three weeks – or about 10% of the U.S. workforce. Economists estimate that the U.S. unemployment rate is now 13% – the worst level of joblessness the nation has seen since the Great Depression. In February, the unemployment rate was 3.5%. The number of jobs lost in the last three weeks now exceeds the 15 million that it took 18 months during the Great Recession, from 2007 to 2009. (CNBC / Associated Press / Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / CNN / Vox / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
📌 Day 1183: More than 5.2 million Americans filing first-time claims for unemployment insurance last week. In the past four weeks, more than 22 million Americans have filed for unemployment aid — wiping out nearly all the job gains since the Great Recession. The U.S. unemployment rate is now over 20% and is expected remain close to 10% through the end of the year. (NPR / Washington Post / CNBC / Associated Press)
📌 Day 1190: More than 26 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits over the last five weeks – wiping out all of the job gains since the Great Recession. More than 4.4 million people filed for unemployment last week – down from more than 5.2 million the week before – which marks the fifth straight week that job losses were measured in the millions. Roughly 22 million jobs were created after the 2008 financial crisis. Economists predict that by summer the unemployment rate will be within range of the 25% peak recorded in 1933 during the Great Depression and that the U.S. GDP will shrink by around 6% this year. (Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Politico / NBC News / CNBC / Reuters / The Guardian)
📌 Day 1197: Another 3.8 million Americans filed for first-time unemployment benefits last week. The number of first-time claims over the past six weeks total 30.3 million people – roughly 18.6% of the entire U.S. labor force – the highest since the Great Depression and far above the 10% peak reached in 2009. Hundreds of thousands of Americans, however, are still waiting to receive unemployment benefits, which means the official unemployment tally is almost certainly an undercount. (CNN / CNBC / Washington Post / NPR / New York Times / New York Times / Bloomberg / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
📌 Day 1204: An additional 3.2 million Americans filed unemployment claims last week, down slightly from 3.8 million the previous week. More than 33.5 million have filed for unemployment over the last seven weeks and the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for the week ending April 25 was 15.5%. Continuing claims – the number of people receiving ongoing benefits – is now at more than 22 million, surpassing the recessionary peak of 6.6 million. (Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Politico / ABC News / NBC News / The Guardian)
The White House threatened to veto a $3 trillion pandemic relief bill. White House officials called the legislation a nonstarter and accused Democrats of being “more concerned with delivering on longstanding partisan and ideological wish lists than with enhancing the ability of our nation to deal with the public health and economic challenges we face.” (New York Times)
2/ Trump criticized Dr. Anthony Fauci’s warning about the risks of reopening schools and businesses too soon as “not an acceptable answer,” accusing the nation’s top infectious disease expert of “wanting to play all sides of the equation.” Dr. Fauci told a Senate committee Tuesday that his “concern” is that we’ll see “see little spikes that might turn into outbreaks” if cities and states “prematurely open up without having the capability of being able to respond effectively and efficiently.” Dr. Fauci also told the panel that a vaccine for the coronavirus would not be ready in time for the new school year, warning of the dangers of the virus to children. Trump, however, told reporters he was “surprised by his answer,” adding: “To me it’s not an acceptable answer, especially when it comes to schools.” Past public disagreements between Trump and officials have been followed by an eventual dismissal or resignation. See: Tillerson, Rex; Sessions, Jeff; Bolton, John; Kelly, John. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / ABC News / NPR / NBC News)
📌 Day 1209: Dr. Anthony Fauci warned the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee that reopening the country too soon “could turn the clock back” and lead to “suffering and death that could be avoided.” The nation’s top infectious diseases expert contrasted Trump’s effort to quickly restart the economy, saying “My concern is that we will start to see little spikes that then turn into outbreaks. The consequences could be really serious […] there is no doubt that when you pull back on mitigation, you will see some cases reappear.” Dr. Fauci added that the death toll is “almost certainly” higher than official counts. He also dismissed the notion that a vaccine would be available by the time schools reopen in the fall, calling it “a bit of a bridge too far.” He added: “There’s no guarantee that the vaccine is actually going to be effective.” Dr. Fauci, Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the CDC, and Stephen Hahn, the head of the FDA, all testified by videoconference because they are self-quarantining after possible exposure to COVID-19. (Associated Press / Politico / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Washington Post / CNBC)
The Pentagon fired its lead official responsible for executing the Defense Production Act to increase production of masks and equipment to help fight COVID-19. The decision to fire Jennifer Santos was reportedly made by “the White House and interagency” and not her immediate boss. (Politico / CNN)
3/ The Trump administration plans to extend its coronavirus border restrictions indefinitely. On March 21, the CDC imposed a 30-day restriction on all nonessential travel into the U.S. from Mexico and Canada, which was extended for another 30 days on April 20. Since then, only two migrants have been permitted to remain in the U.S. to pursue asylum. A new order under review would extend the restrictions indefinitely until the director of the CDC decides the coronavirus no longer a threat. (New York Times)
4/ Sen. Richard Burr stepped down as chairman of the Intelligence Committee following an FBI investigation into whether he sold stocks after secret briefings on the threat of the coronavirus pandemic, which led to the seizure of his cellphone by federal agents. Burr has denied he did anything wrong and previously asked the Ethics Committee to review the stock sales. Burr sat on two committees that received briefings on the growing coronavirus epidemic, including one on Jan. 24. On Feb. 13, Burr sold as much as $1.7 million in stock. The decision to execute a search warrant on a sitting member of Congress, which was approved at the highest levels of the Justice Department, requires federal prosecutors and agents to persuade a judge there is probable cause to believe a crime has been committed. (Los Angeles Times / USA Today / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News)
5/ A private jet company founded by a Trump donor received nearly $27 million in government grant as part of the CARES Act. The funding is a grant rather than a loan, and doesn’t need to be repaid. The company also received the largest grant of any private jet company, according to government filings. (CNBC)
6/ A federal appeals court revived a lawsuit accusing Trump of illegally profiting from the presidency, allowing the case to proceed to fact-gathering about Trump’s profits from his luxury Washington hotel. The lawsuit brought by the state of Maryland and the District of Columbia alleges that Trump has violated the emoluments clause of the Constitution by accepting profits through foreign and domestic officials who stay at the Trump International Hotel. The decision by the Richmond, Virginia-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reverses a ruling in favor of Trump last July. (Associated Press / ABC News / Politico / CNN / Reuters / Wall Street Journal / Axios)
7/ The federal judge overseeing the case against Michael Flynn appointed a former federal judge to oppose the Justice Department’s request to dismiss Flynn’s guilty plea and examine whether Flynn may have committed perjury. Flynn pleaded guilty twice to lying to investigators as part of a larger inquiry into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. The judge requested a recommendation on whether Flynn should face a criminal contempt hearing for pleading guilty to a crime of which he now claims to be innocent. (Washington Post / New York Times)
8/ The EPA will not limit a toxic chemical used in rocket fuel that contaminates water and has been linked to fetal and infant brain damage. In 2011, the Obama administration announced that it would regulate perchlorate, reversing a decision by the George W. Bush administration not to control it. The EPA plans to send a federal register notice to the White House in the coming days for review that will declare it is “not in the public interest” to regulate the chemical. (New York Times)
9/ The U.S. Postal Service will review package delivery fees as a top Republican fundraiser and Trump campaign donor is set to takeover as postmaster general. The Postal Service in recent weeks has sought bids from consulting firms to reassess what the agency charges companies to deliver products on their behalf. Deputy Postmaster General Ronald Stroman will leave before new agency head Louis DeJoy takes over, leaving its board of governors without any officials who predate Trump, who has dubbed the U.S. Postal Service “a joke.” (Washington Post)
poll/ 43% of Americans say Trump’s doing a good job of handling the coronavirus outbreak – 5 points lower than three weeks ago and 10 points lower than in March. 38% say they trust Trump to provide accurate information about the coronavirus. Meanwhile, 46% of Americans have a favorable view of Dr. Fauci and 62% say they trust him for information. (CBS News)
We don’t have a president, or a plan. 60 days into the coronavirus crisis, the White House does not have a plan, a framework, a philosophy, or a goal. (Vox)
Trump is resorting to his preferred and battle-tested tactic to fight the biggest threat to his re-election: diversion. The totality of Trump’s display underscored the extent to which the pandemic has worn on the president, who has watched his popularity in key swing states plummet. Just two months ago Trump was reveling in a booming economy and a field of Democratic challengers that appeared in disarray. Now, he faces harsher realities: More than 81,000 dead people and an economy in the deepest contraction in memory. The virus has meanwhile crept into the White House itself, infecting staffers in the Vice President Mike Pence’s office and one of the president’s own valets. (Bloomberg)
Trump Has Lost the Plot. The president is talking about things most Americans can’t comprehend, let alone care about. (The Atlantic)
1/ Trump and the coronavirus task force is pushing the CDC to change its methodology for how they count coronavirus deaths, which could lead to far fewer deaths being counted than originally reported. The Trump administration specifically wants the agency to change how it works with states to count coronavirus-related deaths. Dr. Deborah Birx has reportedly urged CDC officials to exclude from coronavirus death-count reporting for individuals who either did not have confirmed lab results and are presumed positive or who had the virus and may not have died as a direct result of COVID-19. Trump has suggested that coronavirus deaths could have been incorrectly tallied or inflated by current methodology. Dr. Anthony Fauci, however, said the U.S. death toll count is likely higher than is reflected in government data. Meanwhile, researchers have developed a new method to compare and merge coronavirus models into a single “ensemble” projection. The result? 110,000 dead Americans by June 6. Total U.S. deaths currently stand at ~84,000. (Daily Beast / NPR / Washington Post)
Roughly 27 million people have likely have lost job-based health coverage since the coronavirus. About 80% have other options, such as the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program, but the remaining 20% are out of luck because they live in a state that didn’t expand Medicaid or they are ineligible for other kinds of subsidized coverage. (Axios)
Sen. John Cornyn encouraged his Texas constituents to use the Affordable Care Act if they’ve lost their jobs and need health insurance. Cornyn has voted to repeal the ACA more than a dozen times. (HuffPost)
The “rapid” coronavirus test used at the White House missed nearly half of positive cases, according to a New York University analysis. Abbott’s ID NOW missed at least one-third of positive cases detected with a rival test and as much as 48% when using the recommended dry nasal swabs. (Bloomberg)
📌 Day 1197: Trump erupted at his campaign manager after seeing polling data that showed him trailing Joe Biden in several swing states in the presidential race. “I am not fucking losing to Joe Biden,” Trump shouted at Brad Parscale during a conference call with his top political advisers last week after he was told he would have lost the Electoral College if the election had been held earlier this month. At one point, Trump threatened to sue Parscale. Trump’s aides had attempted to highlight the political cost of the coronavirus crisis and the unforced errors by Trump from his freewheeling press briefings after two polls – one from the Republican National Committee and another from the Trump campaign — both showed him trailing Biden in swing states. “I don’t believe the polls,” Trump said. “I believe the people of this country are smart. And I don’t think that they will put a man in who’s incompetent.” Trump also initially resisted the advice to curtail his daily coronavirus briefings, saying people “love” the briefings and think he is “fighting for them.” Trump later defended Parscale, tweeting: “Actually, he is doing a great job. I never shouted at him.” (Associated Press / CNN / Reuters / Washington Post / New York Times)
2/ Jared Kushner refused to rule out that the presidential election could be postponed due to the pandemic despite the opinion of a White House staff member having no bearing on when the election is held. Election Day takes place, by law, the Tuesday after the first Monday in November and neither Trump nor Kushner have the authority to unilaterally postpone the election. Nevertheless, when asked if there was a chance the presidential election could be postponed, Kushner replied: “I’m not sure I can commit one way or the other, but right now that’s the plan.” Kushner later tried to clarify his earlier response, saying “I have not been involved in, nor am I aware of, any discussions about trying to change the date of the presidential election.” Last month, Trump told reporters at a news conference that “The general election will happen on Nov. 3.” Separately, Trump told reporters that “I never thought of changing the date of the election. November 3. Good number.” (Time / New York Times / Washington Post)
3/ The top U.S. vaccine doctor who was ousted in April testified that the U.S. could face the “darkest winter in modern history” because the Trump administration was unprepared for the coronavirus. According to Dr. Rick Bright’s prepared testimony, “Our window of opportunity is closing. If we fail to develop a national coordinated response, based in science, I fear the pandemic will get far worse and be prolonged, causing unprecedented illness and fatalities.” Dr. Bright testified that the Department of Health and Human Services “missed early warning signals” in January, February, and March about a potential shortage of medical supplies and “forgot important pages from our pandemic playbook” early on. Dr. Bright filed a whistleblower complaint last week, alleging that he was ousted over his attempts to limit the use of hydroxychloroquine — the unproven drug touted by Trump — to treat the coronavirus. (CNN / Axios / Politico)
📌 Day 1202: The federal scientist involved in developing a coronavirus vaccine filed a whistleblower complaint with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel. Dr. Rick Bright, former director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, alleges that he was removed from his position for pushing back on “efforts to fund potentially dangerous drugs promoted by those with political connections” and that he tried to “prioritize science and safety over political expediency.” In the complaint, Bright charged the Department of Health and Human Services with “an abuse of authority or gross mismanagement,” saying the agency’s chaotic response was the result of “pressure from HHS leadership to ignore scientific merit and expert recommendations and instead to award lucrative contracts based on political connections and cronyism.” Bright was removed from his post on April 20 after having served as BARDA director for nearly four years. He was reassigned to a narrower role at the National Institutes of Health. (NBC News / NPR / CNN / Washington Post / Axios / CBS News)
4/ Paul Manafort was released from prison to serve the remainder of his sentence from home due to concerns over the coronavirus. Manafort is serving a seven-year term, set to end in November 2024, after pleading guilty to conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and obstruct justice related to his undisclosed lobbying for a pro-Russian politician and political party in Ukraine. (ABC News / Washington Post / NBC News / CBS News / CNBC / The Guardian)
5/ Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell sent Republican senators a list of former senior Obama administration officials who made “unmasking” requests that might have identified Michael Flynn in classified foreign intelligence reports. Unmasking of U.S. identities in intelligence reports is a routine process that occurs thousands of times annually and is requested by senior administration officials to better understand the context of intercepted conversations that are being reviewed. The requests were made and approved through the National Security Agency’s regular process between Trump’s November 2016 election and inauguration in January 2017. (Wall Street Journal / Politico)
The federal judge overseeing the criminal case of Michael Flynn put the Justice Department’s motion to drop the case on hold. Judge Emmet Sullivan said he would set a schedule to accept briefs from outside parties who might have an interest in the case. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico)
6/ The Trump administration’s coronavirus restrictions have granted asylum at the southern border to two people since March 21. In 2018, U.S. immigration courts granted asylum to 13,248 people. Citing the threat to public health from the coronavirus, the Trump administration suspended most due-process rights for migrants while “expelling” more than 20,000 unauthorized border-crossers to Mexico. (Washington Post)
1/ Dr. Anthony Fauci warned the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee that reopening the country too soon “could turn the clock back” and lead to “suffering and death that could be avoided.” The nation’s top infectious diseases expert contrasted Trump’s effort to quickly restart the economy, saying “My concern is that we will start to see little spikes that then turn into outbreaks. The consequences could be really serious […] there is no doubt that when you pull back on mitigation, you will see some cases reappear.” Dr. Fauci added that the death toll is “almost certainly” higher than official counts. He also dismissed the notion that a vaccine would be available by the time schools reopen in the fall, calling it “a bit of a bridge too far.” He added: “There’s no guarantee that the vaccine is actually going to be effective.” Dr. Fauci, Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the CDC, and Stephen Hahn, the head of the FDA, all testified by videoconference because they are self-quarantining after possible exposure to COVID-19. (Associated Press / Politico / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Washington Post / CNBC)
Rand Paul to Dr. Fauci: “I don’t think you’re the end-all” on coronavirus and “I don’t think you’re the one person who gets to make a decision.” Dr. Fauci replied: “I have never made myself out to be the end-all, or the only voice in this. I’m a scientist, a physician and a public health official. I give advice according to the best scientific evidence. … I don’t give advice about economic things. I don’t give advice about anything other than public health.” (Reuters / Axios)
Six takeaways from Anthony Fauci’s and other health officials’ testimony. (Washington Post)
2/ Yesterday: Trump declared that “we have prevailed” over the coronavirus as U.S. deaths from the disease exceeded 80,000. Trump later clarified that he meant the U.S. had “prevailed” only in creating enough testing capacity for Americans, saying “You never prevail when you have 90,000 people, 100,000 people, when you have 80,000 people as of today, when you have the kind of death you are talking about, when you have potentially millions of people throughout the world that are dying. That’s not prevailing.” Behind Trump were a row of American flags and a pair of giant signs reading: “AMERICA LEADS THE WORLD IN TESTING.” (Bloomberg / Politico / NBC News)
An unreleased coronavirus task force report shows coronavirus infection rates are spiking to new highs in several cities and smaller communities across the country, contradicting Trump’s recent claims that “all throughout the country, the numbers are coming down rapidly.” The undisclosed data in the May 7 report shows the 10 areas with the highest rates of infection — which includes Nashville, TN, Des Moines, IA, Amarillo, TX and Central City, KY — recorded surges of 72.4% or greater over a seven-day period when compared to the previous week. Central City saw an increase of 650%. (NBC News)
New York City had four times the number of deaths as expected during its COVID-19 outbreak. Between March 11 and May 2, about 24,000 more people died in the city than researchers would ordinarily expect during that time period, according to a CDC report. While COVID-19 was explicitly tied to 18,879 of the excess deaths through confirmed or probable cases, there were 5,293 excess deaths that may have come from other causes. (Associated Press / Bloomberg)
Mike Pence will be “maintaining distance for the immediate future” from Trump after consulting with the White House medical unit. It is not clear exactly how long Pence plans to stay away from Trump. Pence also said he has been taking extra precautions lately, including by spending time “in a separate room on my own” instead of joining other members of the coronavirus task force in the situation room. (CNN)
3/ Yesterday: Trump ended his press conference after he told an Asian-American journalist to “ask China” about her question and then refused to take a question from another White House reporter. After boasting about his administration’s efforts to ramp up testing, Weijia Jiang, a White House correspondent for CBS News, asked Trump why he sees coronavirus testing as a global competition when more than 80,000 Americans have died. Trump replied “maybe that’s a question you should ask China. Don’t ask me. Ask China that question.” Trump attempted to move on to a question from Kaitlan Collins, a White House correspondent for CNN, but continued to engage with Jiang, calling her question a “nasty question” when she asked “why are you saying that to me specifically?” Trump then denied Collins an opportunity to ask a question before abruptly leaving the Rose Garden altogether. (CNN / Associated Press / Washington Post)
✏️ Senate Republicans break with Trump over “Obamagate.” Trump accused the former president of committing the “biggest political crime in American history.” (Politico)
✏️ Trump promotes conspiracy theory accusing MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough of murder. The president was apparently referring to the 2001 death of congressional staffer Lori Klausutis. (Politico)
4/ Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats unveiled a new $3 trillion coronavirus rescue bill that would direct money to state and local governments, health systems, and other initiatives. The bill would also send a second round of stimulus checks to millions of Americans and include more funding for the Postal Service. The House is expected to vote on the package Friday, while Trump and Senate Republicans object to the proposal. (Washington Post / Politico / ABC News)
5/ The Supreme Court heard the first arguments in a landmark dispute over access to Trump’s financial records and tax returns. The cases involve subpoenas for Trump’s financial records issued by three Democratic-led House committees and Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance to Trump’s banks and accounting firm, Mazars USA, and banks, Deutsche Bank, and Capital One. Lower courts in Washington and New York have upheld the subpoenas. The House argued that records about Trump’s businesses and personal finances could inform future legislation about foreign election interference, presidential disclosures, or money laundering. “We’re asking for temporary presidential immunity,” Jay Sekulow told the Supreme Court, suggesting that Trump could face legal consequences for his personal behavior after leaving office. The court’s ruling is expected by July. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / ABC News / Axios / CNBC / Washington Post / CNN / The Hill / CNN)
6/ Trump’s acting director of national intelligence declassified a list of names of former Obama administration officials who allegedly requested the “unmasking” of Michael Flynn’s identity, an action that identified him in intelligence reports following Trump’s election in 2016. Richard Grenell reportedly does not intend to release the list. The decision to declassify the information came days after the Justice Department moved to drop its criminal case against Flynn. A senior Justice Department official said the department has been reviewing unmasking as part of U.S. attorney John Durham’s review of the activities of investigators in 2016 and 2017 during the Russia probe. (ABC News / Wall Street Journal / CNN)
poll/ 54% of Americans say the Trump administration is doing a poor job preventing the spread of COVID-19, while 44% think the federal government is doing a good job. 52% said they feel the worst is yet to come. 44% said they think worst is behind us. (CNN)
Trump sought a reopening but found the virus in the White House instead. A day after breaking his White House self-isolation for a cross-country trip meant to signal the country’s readiness to restart, Trump received word that one of his Oval Office valets tested positive for the virus. (CNN)
As deaths mount, Trump tries to convince Americans it’s safe to inch back to normal. The administration is struggling to expand the scale of testing to what experts say is necessary to reopen businesses safely, and officials have not announced any national plan for contact tracing. Trump and some of his advisers are prioritizing the psychology of the pandemic as much as, if not more than, plans to combat the virus, some aides and outside advisers said — striving to instill confidence that people can comfortably return to daily life despite the rising death toll. (Washington Post)
The White House race to contain coronavirus in its ranks: “It is scary to go to work.” With two White House staff members testing positive, some officials fear the disease is already spreading rapidly through the West Wing. Over the weekend, three members of the coronavirus task force went into quarantine or partial quarantine or took precautions to work from home more after finding out a top aide to Vice President Pence tested positive for the coronavirus. Trump’s military valet also tested positive. In the Senate, the chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), will go into quarantine in his home state “out of an abundance of caution” after one of his aides tested positive. (New York Times / Washington Post)
1/ Three members of the White House coronavirus task force will self-quarantine after possibly being exposed to the coronavirus. Dr. Anthony Fauci has begun a “modified quarantine” after he had “low risk” contact with a White House aide who tested positive last week for coronavirus. Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control, will also self-quarantine for 14 days. FDA chief Stephen Hahn has been in self-quarantine since Friday. Fauci tested negative for COVID-19 and is “actively monitoring his temperature and other health indicators.” (NBC News / CNN / CNN / Politico / CNN / CBS News)
Multiple members of the Secret Service have tested positive for COVID-19. According to Department of Homeland Security documents, there are at least 11 active cases at the agency, 23 members who have recovered, and an additional 60 employees who are self-quarantining. (Yahoo News)
Trump and Defense Secretary Mark Esper met with World War II veterans without masks. The veterans were not wearing masks. (Washington Post)
Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Robert Redfield will testify before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee over video conference. The White House Office of Legislative Affairs sent a memo to all House and Senate committee staff directors last week that bars all members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force from appearing before a congressional committee without the permission of chief of staff Mark Meadows. (CBS News)
2/ Pence will not self-quarantine after his press secretary tested positive because he “has tested negative every single day.” During an event with GOP members, Trump suggested “the whole concept of tests isn’t great,” but said he was satisfied with the procedures in place to protect him and his top aides. Trump, however, appeared puzzled that the aide, Katie Miller, had contracted the virus “out of the blue” after testing negative several times during routine White House screening program put in place last month. Miller is married to one of Trump’s closest advisers, Stephen Miller, who is not expected to come into the White House for the foreseeable future. Stephen tested negative for the virus on Friday after his wife’s positive diagnosis earlier in the day. (CNN / Bloomberg / Washington Post)
3/ The White House encouraged staffers to come into the office, including the aides who travel with Trump and Pence. All White House staffers, however, received a conflicting memo, which instructed them to “practice maximum telework” and to “work remotely if at all possible.” The memo also told employees to quarantine for 14 days if they leave the Washington region and to report all travel. Trump, meanwhile, expressed concern that aides contracting coronavirus undercut his message that the outbreak was waning and states should begin reopening. Trump also reportedly asked why his valets weren’t ordered to wear masks before this week after one of his personal valets tested positive for the coronavirus. (Washington Post / CNN / New York Times)
White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett acknowledged that working in the White House is risky now that several staff have tested positive for the coronavirus, saying “It’s scary to go to work.” (Politico)
4/ The White House directed most officials – but not Trump – to wear masks at all times inside the building except when sitting at their desks. The memo also directs officials to restrict in-person visits to the White House unless they are necessary. Trump, meanwhile, tweeted that the “coronavirus numbers are looking MUCH better, going down almost everywhere” while accusing Democrats of not opening their states sooner because they are trying to hurt his re-election efforts. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / New York Times)
5/ Emails show that top White House officials buried CDC guidance for reopening communities during the coronavirus pandemic. The document, titled “Guidance for Implementing the Opening Up America Again Framework,” included detailed flow charts aimed at helping business owners, educators, and state and local officials navigate whether to reopen or remain closed. As early as April 10, CDC Director Robert Redfield had emailed the guidance to Trump’s inner circle: Jared Kushner, Kellyanne Conway, Joseph Grogan, assistant to the president for domestic policy, Dr. Deborah Birx, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and other task force members. White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany said that the documents had not been approved by Redfield, but the new emails show that Redfield had cleared the guidance. (Associated Press)
📌 Day 1204: The Trump administration refused to issue CDC guidelines drafted to give states and business owners detailed instructions on how to safely reopen amid the coronavirus pandemic, calling the guidance “overly prescriptive.” The 17-page report, titled “Guidance for Implementing the Opening Up America Again Framework,” was researched and written to help from faith leaders, business owners, educators, and state and local officials to provide detailed advice for making site-specific decisions related to reopening schools, restaurants, summer camps, churches, day care centers, and other institutions. It was supposed to be published last Friday, but agency scientists were told the guidance “would never see the light of day,” because the Trump administration had already”made clear that each state should open up in a safe and responsible way based on the data and response efforts in those individual states.” Several states, meanwhile, have already moved ahead with reopening despite not meeting the threshold criteria set by the administration’s previously-issued reopening guidelines, which call for a two-week downward trajectory in cases within a 14-day period. (Associated Press / ABC News / New York Times / Axios / CNN / NBC News)
✏️The Trump administration cut funding for coronavirus researcher, jeopardizing possible COVID-19 vaccine. An American scientist who collaborates with the Wuhan Institute of Virology had his grant terminated in the wake of unsubstantiated claims that COVID-19 is either manmade or leaked out of a Chinese government lab. (CBS News)
✏️ In the early days of the pandemic, the U.S. government turned down an offer to manufacture millions of N95 masks in America. Even today, production lines that could be making more than 7 million masks a month sit dormant. (Washington Post)
✏️ Whistleblower exposes infighting and animus in Trump’s coronavirus response. The allegations suggest personal clashes influenced how the administration responded to the pandemic. (New York Times)
6/ Obama warned that the Justice Department’s decision to drop its prosecution of Michael Flynn puts “our basic understanding of rule of law is at risk.” In a private call with former members of his administration, Obama said that “There is no precedent that anybody can find for somebody who has been charged with perjury just getting off scot-free,” referring to Attorney General William Barr’s decision to drop charges against Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying in a January 2017 interview with the FBI about his contacts with Russia’s ambassador to Washington during the presidential transition. Obama also called Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic “an absolute chaotic disaster” and “anemic.” (Yahoo News / CNN / Washington Post / New York Times)
More than 1,900 former Justice Department employees called on William Barr to step down as attorney general, asserting in an open letter that he had “once again assaulted the rule of law” by moving to drop the case against Michael Flynn. (Washington Post)
The former acting assistant attorney general for national security accused Attorney General William Barr of twisting her words to suggest that the FBI’s interview with Michael Flynn in 2017 was illegitimate. Mary McCord’s interview with Flynn was used by Barr and the DOJ as evidence that the FBI had no valid counterintelligence reason to interview Flynn. McCord claims her interview with Flynn was “constitutional, lawful and for a legitimate counterintelligence purpose,” but said Barr’s motion to dismiss the charges against Flynn “makes a contorted argument that Mr. Flynn’s false statements and omissions to the F.B.I. were not ‘material’ to any matter under investigation.” McCord added that her interview doesn’t support the DOJ’s conclusion that the interview shouldn’t have taken place, and said it was “disingenuous for the department to twist my words to suggest that it does.” (New York Times / Axios)
Pence: “I’d be happy” to see Flynn back in the government. (Axios)
7/ Trump spent Mother’s Day sending 126 tweets, retweets, and quote-tweets about the Russia investigations by the FBI and the House Intelligence Committee. Falling just 16 short of the single-day posting record he set during his impeachment trial in January, Trump spent much of his holiday bouncing between wishing everyone a “HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY” to railing against Obama, “60 Minutes,” Jimmy Kimmel, and Chuck Todd. The U.S. coronavirus death toll, meanwhile, crossed 80,000. (Axios / Vox / The Guardian / Washington Post)
poll/ 55% of Americans disapprove of protests against restrictions aimed at preventing the spread the coronavirus. 31% approve of the demonstrations. (Associated Press)
In recent weeks Trump attempted to block and downplay the severity of the coronavirus pandemic, urging a return to normalcy and a reopening of the economy. The Trump administration has sidelined or replaced officials not seen as loyal, rebuffed congressional requests for testimony, dismissed statistics and models, praised states for reopening without meeting White House guidelines, and pushed to disband a task force created to combat the virus and communicate about the public health crisis. (Washington Post)
1/ The U.S. unemployment rate jumped to 14.7% — the highest level since the Great Depression and the worst monthly loss on record. The U.S. lost a total of 20.5 million jobs in April, roughly double what the nation experienced during the 2007-09 crisis. The “real” unemployment rate, which includes the underemployed and those who aren’t currently looking for jobs, jumped to 22.8%. In total, the U.S. has lost roughly 21.4 million jobs since the spread of COVID-19. (CNBC / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / NPR / Politico / Associated Press / CNN / The Hill)
The White House is considering pushing the federal tax deadline back again, along with additional measures aimed at providing economic relief for Americans that can be adopted without legislation from Congress. Tax Day has already been pushed to July 15, but could be extended to Sept. 15, or as late as Dec. 15. (NBC News)
How bad is unemployment? “Literally off the charts.” (New York Times)
2/ Pence’s press secretary tested positive for coronavirus — making her the second administration staffer known to have become infected this week. Katie Miller, the wife of White House adviser Stephen Miller, said she tested positive on Friday after testing negative on Thursday. She said she’s asymptomatic. (NPR / NBC News / CNBC / Politico / Bloomberg / CNN)
White House staff will now be tested for the coronavirus on a daily basis. “In addition to social distancing, daily temperature checks and symptom histories, hand sanitizer, and regular deep cleaning of all work spaces,” the deputy White House press secretary said in a statement, “every staff member in close proximity to the president and vice president is being tested daily for COVID-19 as well as any guests.” (New York Times)
3/ A breakdown in communication and coordination within the Trump administration has undermined the distribution of remdesivir, a promising treatment for COVID-19. Gilead Sciences, the company that makes remdesivir, donated hundreds of thousands of doses to the federal government after the FDA authorized it as an emergency treatment for coronavirus patients. More than 32,000 doses of remdesivir, however, were shipped, but many of these doses went to “less impacted counties” instead of the high-priority hospitals where it’s most needed, an administration official said. Administration officials reportedly responded by shifting blame and avoiding responsibility. (Axios)
White House’s pandemic relief effort Project Airbridge is swathed in secrecy and exaggerations. Almost six weeks after its launch, Project Airbridge has completed its 122nd flight, having cost taxpayers at least $91 million. But its impact on the pandemic is unclear and shrouded in secrecy: The White House, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the companies involved have declined to disclose where supplies have been delivered. (Washington Post)
Republicans praise Trump’s pandemic response with Senate majority at risk. Nearly all GOP senators running for reelection have decided there’s little utility in breaking with the president, particularly after seeing some fellow Republicans collapse at the ballot box with such a strategy. And if the economy recovers and the virus dissipates by the fall, Republicans could benefit by sticking with Trump. (Politico)
4/ The Trump administration is moving to expand immigration restrictions, believing that the public is willing to accept new limits on immigration during the pandemic. Trump’s immigration advisers are working on an executive order that would ban the issuance of some new temporary, work-based visas. The order is expected to focus on H-1B visas, designed for highly skilled workers, and H-2B, for seasonal migrant workers, as well as student visas. Though the order hasn’t yet been finalized, administration officials said it could range from suspensions of entire visa categories to the creation of incentives to hire Americans in industries hit by layoffs. (Wall Street Journal)
5/ The Office of Special Counsel found “reasonable grounds” to investigate whether Dr. Rick Bright was retaliated against for questioning Trump administration actions. The office “made a threshold determination” that the Department of Health and Human Services “violated the Whistleblower Protection Act by removing Dr. Bright from his position because he made protected disclosures in the best interest of the American public.” It is up to the Alex Azar, the secretary of health and human services, to decide whether send Dr. Bright back to Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority during the inquiry. (New York Times)
📌 Day 1202: The federal scientist involved in developing a coronavirus vaccine filed a whistleblower complaint with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel. Dr. Rick Bright, former director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, alleges that he was removed from his position for pushing back on “efforts to fund potentially dangerous drugs promoted by those with political connections” and that he tried to “prioritize science and safety over political expediency.” In the complaint, Bright charged the Department of Health and Human Services with “an abuse of authority or gross mismanagement,” saying the agency’s chaotic response was the result of “pressure from HHS leadership to ignore scientific merit and expert recommendations and instead to award lucrative contracts based on political connections and cronyism.” Bright was removed from his post on April 20 after having served as BARDA director for nearly four years. He was reassigned to a narrower role at the National Institutes of Health. (NBC News / NPR / CNN / Washington Post / Axios / CBS News)
📌 Day 1189: The director of the federal agency responsible for developing a coronavirus vaccine was removed after pressing for rigorous vetting of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine to treat the coronavirus, which Trump has repeatedly embraced. Dr. Rick Bright cited “clashes with political leadership” as a reason for his abrupt dismissal as the director of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, as well as his resistance to “efforts to fund potentially dangerous drugs promoted by those with political connections.” Dr. Bright said that science, not “politics and cronyism” must lead the way, adding that he believed he was removed from his post because he insisted that “the billions of dollars allocated by Congress to address the COVID-19 pandemic” be put toward “safe and scientifically vetted solutions, and not in drugs, vaccines and other technologies that lack scientific merit.” He was assigned a narrower job at the National Institutes of Health. (New York Times /New York Times / CNN / STAT News / CNBC / Axios)
6/ Trump signaled uncertainty over the future of FBI Director Christopher Wray a day after the Justice Department decided to drop criminal charges against Michael Flynn. Speaking to Fox News, Trump said “the jury’s still out” on Wray and the bureau’s handling of the Flynn investigation. “It’s disappointing,” Trump said when asked about Wray’s role. “Let’s see what happens with him.” Trump also praised Attorney General William Barr for nullifying the case by Robert Mueller, in which Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in 2017 about his contacts with the Russian ambassador during the 2016 presidential transition. (Washington Post / New York Times / Axios)
Trump and his allies want Flynn to assume a public-facing role during the election campaign. Trump reportedly had made clear that if legal circumstances permitted, he would want Flynn to get “something good” in his political, but it’s unclear if Trump meant a job in the administration, a role for the 2020 campaign, or another position. (Daily Beast)
Flynn’s Path to Freedom Runs Through Judge Who May Say No. While judges typically sign off on such motions, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan could refuse and instead demand answers from the DOJ about who requested the sudden about-face(Bloomberg / Reuters)
[Analysis] Understanding the twists and turns in the Michael Flynn case. (Washington Post)
[Opinion] The Appalling Damage of Dropping the Michael Flynn Case. It embeds into official U.S. policy a shockingly extremist view of law enforcement as the enemy of the American people. (New York Times)
7/ Senate Republicans are preparing for a swift confirmation process if a vacancy on the Supreme Court opens up before the November election. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s recent hospitalization has raised the prospect of another possible vacancy for Trump to fill. GOP senators say they plan to act quickly if an opening presents itself, despite denying Obama the same opportunity at the end of his second term. If there’s a vacancy, “we’re going to fill it,” said Sen. John Barrasso. “If you thought the Kavanaugh hearing was contentious this would probably be that on steroids,” said Sen. John Cornyn. “Nevertheless,” he added, “if the president makes a nomination then it’s our responsibility to take it up.” Mitch McConnell, meanwhile, said in 2016 that during an election year voters should be the ones decide which president should choose the next Supreme Court justice. But McConnell has repeatedly said he plans to fill any vacancy that opens up under Trump. (Politico)
poll/ 64% of Americans say the country now is not worth the risk to human life. 92% of Democrats compared to 35% of Republicans say opening the country is not worth it. (ABC News)
poll/ 55% of Americans said they plan to get vaccinated against COVID-19 if and when a vaccine arrives. 45% said they won’t or they’re not sure they will get vaccinated. (Yahoo News)
1/ An additional 3.2 million Americans filed unemployment claims last week, down slightly from 3.8 million the previous week. More than 33.5 million have filed for unemployment over the last seven weeks and the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for the week ending April 25 was 15.5%. Continuing claims – the number of people receiving ongoing benefits – is now at more than 22 million, surpassing the recessionary peak of 6.6 million. (Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Politico / ABC News / NBC News / The Guardian)
Friday’s job report is expected to be “the single worst jobs report in history.” Forecasters expect the nation’s jobless rate, which was at 4.4% in March, to jump to an annualized unemployment rate of 15% to 20% for the April period. (CBS News)
The Economic Injury Disaster Loan program limited the size of loans it issues without publicly announcing the change. After initially telling businesses that individual disaster loans could be as high as $2 million, SBA has now imposed a $150,000 limit. Additionally, the agency will only accept applications from agricultural businesses “due to limitations in funding availability and the unprecedented submission of applications already received. (Washington Post)
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin responded to Axl Rose calling him an “asshole” on Twitter by tweeting: “What have you done for the country lately?” Mnuchin, however, included the emoji of the Liberian flag, apparently mistaking the it for the American flag. (Politico / The Guardian)
poll/ 77% of laid-off or furloughed workers expect to be rehired by their previous employer once the stay-at-home orders in their area are lifted. Economists, however, predict that 42% of recent layoffs from the pandemic will result in permanent job losses. (Washington Post)
2/ The Trump administration refused to issue CDC guidelines drafted to give states and business owners detailed instructions on how to safely reopen amid the coronavirus pandemic, calling the guidance “overly prescriptive.” The 17-page report, titled “Guidance for Implementing the Opening Up America Again Framework,” was researched and written to help from faith leaders, business owners, educators, and state and local officials to provide detailed advice for making site-specific decisions related to reopening schools, restaurants, summer camps, churches, day care centers, and other institutions. It was supposed to be published last Friday, but agency scientists were told the guidance “would never see the light of day,” because the Trump administration had already”made clear that each state should open up in a safe and responsible way based on the data and response efforts in those individual states.” Several states, meanwhile, have already moved ahead with reopening despite not meeting the threshold criteria set by the administration’s previously-issued reopening guidelines, which call for a two-week downward trajectory in cases within a 14-day period. (Associated Press / ABC News / New York Times / Axios / CNN / NBC News)
More than half of the states that have started to reopen don’t meet the criteria recommended by the White House for resuming business and social activities. The Trump administration’s guidelines are nonbinding, but they recommend that states have a “downward trajectory” of either documented coronavirus cases or new positive test results. Most of the 30 states currently in the process of reopening not only fail to meet those basic criteria, but also have either upward trajectories for case counts, positive tests, or both. Most of the states are reopening with more new cases or a higher share of positive tests than two weeks ago. The guidelines also recommend that states should wait for a decline in the number of patients with coronavirus symptoms and a return to normal hospital capacities before reopening, standards which many states also fail to meet. (New York Times)
States moving forward with reopening are seeing an increase in new coronavirus cases. However, states that expect to keep social distancing restrictions in place have seen drops in the number of new daily cases relative to a month ago. (Washington Post)
3/ One of Trump’s personal valets tested positive for the coronavirus and Trump is reportedly “not happy” about it. The White House said Trump and Pence have since tested negative. (CNN / CNBC / NBC News)
4/ Trump defended his decision not to wear a mask during a tour of a mask production facility, saying “I didn’t need it” and that he had been told it wasn’t necessary. A sign posted at the facility, however, said: “Please wear your mask at all times.” Trump has told advisers that he believes wearing a mask would “send the wrong message,” because doing so would make it seem like he is preoccupied with health instead of reopening the nation’s economy. (NBC News / Associated Press)
5/ Trump contradicted a nurse who said that some parts of the country were experiencing shortages of protective medical gear, calling the supply of PPE “sporadic” but “manageable.” Trump shot back, “Sporadic for you, but not sporadic for a lot of other people,” adding that the country is “now loaded up” with a “tremendous supply to almost all places.” (CNBC / Bloomberg)
6/ A top Republican fundraiser and Trump campaign donor was named to be the head of the U.S. Postal Service. Louis DeJoy currently runs a private logistics and distribution company in North Carolina. He was chosen by the Postal Service’s Board of Governors to replace Postmaster General Megan Brennan, who was appointed in 2015 and is the first woman to hold the position. Since January, DeJoy has donated $360,000 to the Trump’s re-election campaign and roughly $70,000 to the Republican National Committee. (NBC News / Washington Post / Reuters)
7/ The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to temporarily block the release of secret Robert Mueller grand jury evidence. In March, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit cleared the way for Congress to access material from Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. The administration is asking the justices to freeze that opinion. House Democrats have argued that their investigation into possible misconduct by Trump is ongoing, and that the grand jury material will inform its determination of whether Trump obstructed Mueller’s investigation and whether to recommend new articles of impeachment. (Washington Post / CNN / Axios)
8/ The Justice Department dropped its prosecution of Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to FBI agents about his conversations with a Russian diplomat in the weeks before Trump’s inauguration. The Justice Department said in its filing that it made its decision “after a considered review of all the facts and circumstances of this case, including newly discovered and disclosed information.” In particular, the review concluded that the FBI interview in which Flynn lied “was untethered to, and unjustified by, the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation into Mr. Flynn” and “conducted without any legitimate investigative basis.” (Associated Press / CNBC / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Axios)
9/ Trump vetoed legislation that would have limited his ability to wage war against Iran without Congressional approval because he felt it was an “insulting,”“unnecessary and dangerous” prohibition. The legislation was first introduced in response to the U.S. assassination of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani. Trump said in a statement that the bill was “a very insulting resolution,” which “implies that the President’s constitutional authority to use military force is limited to defense of the United States and its forces against imminent attack. That is incorrect.” Congress is not expected to have the votes to override Trump’s veto. (Independent)
🌍 Global: Total confirmed cases ~3,725,000; Total deaths: ~261,000; Total recoveries: ~1,227,000. (Johns Hopkins University)
🇺🇸 U.S.: Total confirmed cases ~1,217,000; Total deaths: ~72,200; Total recoveries: ~190,000
💰 Markets: Dow 📉; S&P 500 📉; Nasdaq 📈
Private payrolls dropped more than 20.2 million jobs in April, according to ADP’s private jobs report. It was the worst monthly job loss in the report’s history. (CNBC / Axios)
Experts warn that Trump’s push to reopen the country risks a “death sentence” for many Americans. Trump has praised governors of states that have started to loosen restrictions on social distancing and business activity, even though he admitted that people will suffer as a result. “Will some people be affected badly? Yes,” Trump said on Tuesday. “But we have to get our country open, and we have to get it open soon.” (The Guardian)
The World Health Organization warned world leaders that there can be “no going back to business as usual” following the coronavirus pandemic. “The only way to control and suppress this virus, this COVID-19, is to actually find [cases], quarantine those contacts, isolate the cases and it will be brought under control,” Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s lead scientist on Covid-19, said during a press conference. (CNBC)
1/ Trump contradicted his plan to shut down the coronavirus task force, vowing that the group would “continue on indefinitely” because of “how popular the task force is.” In a series of tweets, Trump said that the task force will be “very focused” on “SAFETY & OPENING UP OUR COUNTRY AGAIN,” as well as on the development of a coronavirus vaccine. He added that he would be announcing “two or three new members to the task force” soon. Trump’s change of plans come a day after he told reporters during a visit to a mask factory in Phoenix that he would wind down the task force. (Politico / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / The Guardian / Washington Post / New York Times / CNBC)
2/ On the same day Trump praised himself for solving “every problem” and taking care of “all of the things,” members of his own administration privately warned that states were still experiencing shortages of masks, gowns, and other medical gear. A May 1 recording of an interagency conference call between FEMA and HHS officials began with the director of the CDC’s influenza division saying: “The numbers of deaths definitely will be high.” Other officials discussed their ongoing struggle to keep up with requests from governors for more medical equipment and PPE. Meanwhile, Trump was telling the public that the federal government had “loaded up hospitals with things to take care of people” and “We’ve ensured a ventilator for every patient who needs one. The testing and the masks and all of the things, we’ve solved every problem. We solved it quickly.” (Politico)
The governor of Texas: “every scientific and medical report shows” reopening states leads to an increase in coronavirus cases in those states. Gov. Greg Abbott told state lawmakers during a private phone call that “the fact of the matter is pretty much every scientific and medical report shows that whenever you have a reopening […] it actually will lead to an increase and spread.” He added: “The more that you have people out there, the greater the possibility is for transmission. So, the goal never has been to get transmission down to zero. It never can be.” A spokesperson confirmed the audio from the call was authentic. (Daily Beast / Quorum Report / San Antonio Current)
3/ Trump complained to advisers about how coronavirus deaths are calculated, suggesting the real numbers are actually lower. While there is no evidence that the death rate has been exaggerated, and experts believe coronavirus deaths in the U.S. are being undercounted, one senior administration official said he expects Trump to publicly questioning the death toll as it closes in on his prediction that “We’re going to lose anywhere from 75, 80 to 100,000 people.” (Axios)
4/ The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff: “We don’t know” where the coronavirus began, but “the weight of evidence is that it was natural and not man-made” and “that it was probably not intentional[ly]” released from a Chinese lab. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, however, insisted that “there is significant evidence that this came from the laboratory,” but conceded that “We don’t have certainty […] We’re all trying to figure out the right answer.” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. intelligence community, and the “Five Eyes” international intelligence alliance have all said that the coronavirus “was not manmade or genetically modified,” suggesting that it “evolved in nature,” and likely originated in a Chinese wet market as a result of “natural human and animal interaction.” (The Hill / Politico / CNN)
📌 Day 1197: The Trump administration pressured U.S. intelligence agencies to provide evidence supporting White House claims that the coronavirus outbreak originated in state-run laboratory accident in China. Trump – without offering any evidence – said he had reason to believe that the outbreak originated from a lab in China, saying “we should have the answer to that in the not-so-distant future.” The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, however, reported that intelligence agencies concur “with the wide scientific consensus that the COVID-19 virus was not man-made or genetically modified.” The White House, meanwhile, have been exploring retaliatory measures against China, including suing for compensation, which would involve stripping China of “sovereign immunity” or cancelling debt obligations to China. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / CNBC / ABC News / The Guardian / Associated Press / Politico / Axios)
📌 Day 1202: Dr. Anthony Fauci, contradicting both Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, said the best scientific evidence shows that the coronavirus did not originate in a Chinese laboratory. “If you look at the evolution of the virus in bats and what’s out there now,” Fauci said, the scientific evidence “is very, very strongly leaning toward this could not have been artificially or deliberately manipulated.” Fauci added that he doesn’t subscribe to the theory that someone found the virus in the wild, brought it into a lab, and then allowed it to escape and spread to the rest of the world, saying “Everything about the stepwise evolution over time strongly indicates that [this virus] evolved in nature and then jumped species.” (National Geographic)
5/ The Trump administration will urge the Supreme Court to overturn the Affordable Care Act, despite Attorney General William Barr warning Trump officials about the political ramifications of undermining the health care safety net during the coronavirus pandemic. The Trump administration position backs a lawsuit filed by a group of Republican states seeking to invalidate the entire Affordable Care Act after Congress eliminated the tax penalty for not having health insurance. (Politico / CNN)
6/ Betsy DeVos released finalized guidelines for how universities and K-12 schools should handle complaints of sexual assault and misconduct. The new federal rules provide new protections for the accused, including the presumption that they are innocent throughout the disciplinary process and the right to be provided all evidence collected against them. Students can also cross-examine their accusers during live hearings to challenge their credibility. The new regulation also offers a narrow definition of sexual harassment, requiring that it be severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive. (New York Times / NBC News / Politico / Washington Post / CNN / Axios)
7/ Trump ordered Jared Kushner and other aides to move forward with painting his border wall black, which is projected to add at least $500 million in costs. Federal contracting estimates show that costs for a premium “powder coating” could exceed $3 billion. While the White House has not picked a grade of paint, Trump has insisted that the barrier be black to discourage climbers, because of its heat-absorbent properties. Military commanders and border officials, however, consider the black paint unnecessary, costly, and a maintenance burden, which is why they left it out of the original U.S. Customs and Border Protection design specifications. (Washington Post)
1/ Dr. Anthony Fauci, contradicting both Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, said the best scientific evidence shows that the coronavirus did not originate in a Chinese laboratory. “If you look at the evolution of the virus in bats and what’s out there now,” Fauci said, the scientific evidence “is very, very strongly leaning toward this could not have been artificially or deliberately manipulated.” Fauci added that he doesn’t subscribe to the theory that someone found the virus in the wild, brought it into a lab, and then allowed it to escape and spread to the rest of the world, saying “Everything about the stepwise evolution over time strongly indicates that [this virus] evolved in nature and then jumped species.” (National Geographic)
Scientists identified a new strain of the coronavirus that appears to be more contagious than the versions that spread in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. The new strain appeared in February in Europe, migrated to the East Coast of the U.S., and has been the dominant strain across the world since mid-March. The new strain may also make people vulnerable to a second infection after a first bout with the disease. (Los Angeles Times)
2/ Trump blocked Dr. Anthony Fauci from testifying before the House because, he claims, it’s “a setup” with a “bunch of Trump haters.” Trump, however, confirmed that he will allow Dr. Fauci to testify before the Republican-controlled Senate sometime next week. The White House told the House that members of the coronavirus task force won’t be allowed to testify, claiming it would divert resources from the pandemic response. (Politico / The Hill / Axios / NPR / CNBC / Washington Post / CNN)
Trump’s nominee for the newly created “special inspector general for pandemic response” vowed to resist pressure from Trump or administration officials seeking to undermine his independence. Brian Miller is also a member of his White House counsel’s office. His position was created by the $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief law signed on March 27. (Politico / Politico)
3/ Mike Pence said the White House is in “preliminary discussions” to wind down the coronavirus task force, because “of the tremendous progress we’ve made as a country.” The task force could wrap up by early June. A senior White House official said the task force would meet less regularly as the administration focuses on reopening the economy and that the shift is intended to signal that the country is moving into a new phase of the pandemic. Health experts, however, have warned that reopening too soon could lead to more death and economic damage. It’s not clear whether another group would replace the task force. The official added that the change was not intended as a “declaration of victory.” (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Axios / NBC News / Washington Post / Reuters)
Jared Kushner’s coronavirus team relied on inexperienced volunteers from consulting and private equity firms with little expertise in the jobs they were assigned. The volunteer group, composed of about two dozen employees from Boston Consulting Group, Insight, McKinsey and other firms, was tasked with securing protective equipment. Some government officials expressed alarm at the presence of the volunteers, saying that their role in the response is unclear and that they needed guidance on basic questions. (Washington Post / New York Times / CNN)
4/ Trump promised to resume the White House coronavirus briefings, saying “everybody” enjoyed them — including himself. Trump, who ended the daily briefings last week, said “we’ll probably do maybe one a week, sometimes two depending on the news” as he pivots to reopening the economy. Trump added that he enjoys sparring with reporters, but “I was told that some people didn’t like the combative attitude so much.” Trump then congratulated himself, saying: “We set every record with those press conferences. Six million people all the time. You know we had tremendous numbers, literally […] I heard, is this true? It was the highest-rated hour in cable television history. That’s what I heard. I don’t know if that’s true.” (New York Post)
👑 Trump: “The one thing that the pandemic has taught us is that I was right.” In a New York Post interview, Trump said he thinks Americans are “starting to feel good now.” (Vox)
👑 The President Is Unraveling. The country is witnessing the steady, uninterrupted intellectual and psychological decomposition of Trump. (The Atlantic)
5/ Trump said “it’s possible there will be some” deaths as states roll back restrictions aimed at stopping the spread of the coronavirus, acknowledging that it was the choice the country faces to reopen and jumpstart the economy. Trump encouraged Americans to view themselves as “warriors,” saying it’s not realistic to keep up strict social distancing guidelines in the long term. On Monday, Dr. Fauci said that the decision to reopen states amounted to balancing “how many deaths and how much suffering are you willing to accept to get back to what you want to be, some form of normality, sooner rather than later.” When asked what he would say to Americans who have lost a loved one to the coronavirus, Trump replied: “I love you.” (ABC News)
6/ Trump complained that “bailouts” for states are unfair to Republicans because, he said, the states that would benefit most from funding are run by Democrats. Trump suggested that California, Illinois, and New York are in “tremendous debt” because they “have been mismanaged over a long period of time.” All three are currently run by Democratic governors. Trump, however, said “Florida is doing phenomenal, Texas is doing phenomenal, the Midwest is, you know, fantastic — very little debt.” Trump continued, “It’s not fair to the Republicans because all the states that need help — they’re run by Democrats in every case.” (NBC News)
7/ Trump lashed out at a group of Republicans seeking to defeat him in November, tweeting that “They’re all LOSERS.” Trump’s outburst came in response to a new video released by the Lincoln Project, a super PAC launched by disaffected Republicans including George Conway, the husband of White House counselor Kellyanne Conway. The “Mourning in America” video bashes Trump’s coronavirus response efforts, saying he made the U.S. “weaker and sicker and poorer.” Trump later said Kellyanne Conway “must have done a big number on” George, whom he called a “stone-cold loser” with a “Moonface.” (Politico / Axios / Bloomberg / Washington Post)
CNN’s parent company sent a cease-and-desist letter accusing the Trump campaign of misusing the network’s news coverage in a way that is “false, misleading and deceptive.” WarnerMedia claims a new ad from the Trump re-election campaign titled, “American Comeback,” takes a segment about the threat of the coronavirus on CNN out of context. The letter claims the Trump campaign ad “purposely and deceptively edits the clip” to imply that Wolf Blitzer and Dr. Sanjay Gupta were praising Trump’s January travel ban for saving millions of American lives, “when in fact Mr. Blitzer and Dr. Gupta were discussing recently implemented social distancing guidelines and stay-at-home orders issued by state and local governments.” The letter “hereby demands” that the campaign stop airing the ad, which “has been distorted in such a way as to mislead the public.” (CNN / Bloomberg)
8/ The federal scientist involved in developing a coronavirus vaccine filed a whistleblower complaint with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel. Dr. Rick Bright, former director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, alleges that he was removed from his position for pushing back on “efforts to fund potentially dangerous drugs promoted by those with political connections” and that he tried to “prioritize science and safety over political expediency.” In the complaint, Bright charged the Department of Health and Human Services with “an abuse of authority or gross mismanagement,” saying the agency’s chaotic response was the result of “pressure from HHS leadership to ignore scientific merit and expert recommendations and instead to award lucrative contracts based on political connections and cronyism.” Bright was removed from his post on April 20 after having served as BARDA director for nearly four years. He was reassigned to a narrower role at the National Institutes of Health. (NBC News / NPR / CNN / Washington Post / Axios / CBS News)
📌 Day 1189: The director of the federal agency responsible for developing a coronavirus vaccine was removed after pressing for rigorous vetting of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine to treat the coronavirus, which Trump has repeatedly embraced. Dr. Rick Bright cited “clashes with political leadership” as a reason for his abrupt dismissal as the director of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, as well as his resistance to “efforts to fund potentially dangerous drugs promoted by those with political connections.” Dr. Bright said that science, not “politics and cronyism” must lead the way, adding that he believed he was removed from his post because he insisted that “the billions of dollars allocated by Congress to address the COVID-19 pandemic” be put toward “safe and scientifically vetted solutions, and not in drugs, vaccines and other technologies that lack scientific merit.” He was assigned a narrower job at the National Institutes of Health. (New York Times /New York Times / CNN / STAT News / CNBC / Axios)
9/ The House Judiciary Committee wants to continue investigating Trump for potentially impeachable offenses related to Robert Mueller’s investigation. The committee is still trying to obtain grand jury secrets from the Mueller probe, but the Justice Department has blocked the disclosure of the materials because it plans to take the case to the Supreme Court. In a letter to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, the House wrote that “its investigation into President Trump’s misconduct is ongoing” and that material from the grand jury will help it decide whether Trump “committed additional impeachable offenses in obstructing Special Counsel [Robert] Mueller’s investigation and whether to recommend new articles of impeachment.” The letter adds: “The current pandemic notwithstanding, the Committee’s investigation is not ‘dormant.’” The committee is particularly interested in the differences between what the witnesses from the Trump campaign told Mueller’s investigators and what Trump said to Mueller in his written answers, as well as what convicted former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort said about Trump during his secret testimony. (CNN)
poll/ 75% of Americans rated Dr. Fauci’s response to the coronavirus outbreak “excellent,” while 44% said the same of Trump. (Washington Post)
poll/ 32% of Americans believe the reported coronavirus death toll numbers. 44% believe the number of Americans dying from COVID-19 are higher, while 23% say the number is lower. Among Democrats, 63% say the number of reported deaths are higher while 24% of Republicans say the same. (Axios)
1/ The CDC projects that by June 1, the coronavirus death toll in the U.S. will reach about 3,000 daily deaths – nearly double the current number of about 1,750 – and COVID-19 cases will surge to about 200,000 per day – up from about 25,000. The draft report, based on government modeling and put together in chart form by FEMA, predicts a sharp increase in both cases and deaths beginning around May 14. The White House and the CDC, however, disavowed the report, which carries the logo of the CDC and Departments of Health and Human Services and Homeland Security, calling it an “internal CDC document” that had not been presented to Trump’s coronavirus task force. Separately, a coronavirus model frequently cited by the White House is now forecasting that 134,000 people will die of COVID-19 in the U.S. – nearly double its previous prediction. The increases in both models are tied to relaxed social distancing and increased mobility as states, including Florida, Colorado, Indiana, Nebraska and South Carolina, have eased restrictions. (Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / Bloomberg / CNBC / Axios / NPR / The Guardian)
The U.S. reported its deadliest day with 2,909 people dying of COVID-19 in 24 hours. The next highest U.S. daily death toll was 2,471 reported on April 23. (CNBC)
The U.S. recorded an estimated 37,100 excess deaths in March and the first two weeks of April – nearly 13,500 more than are now attributed to COVID-19 for that same period. There were 16,600 estimated excess deaths in the week of April 5 to April 11, compared with 20,500 over the prior five weeks. The nation surpassed 64,000 confirmed coronavirus deaths on Friday. [Editor’s note: Those excess deaths are not necessarily attributable directly to COVID-19, but are deaths above what is historically expected for this period.] (Washington Post)
Mike Pence admitted that he “should have worn a mask” during his visit to the Mayo Clinic last week. During a Fox News town hall, Pence said he “didn’t think it was necessary” at the time, but he decided to wear one “when I visited the ventilator plant in Indiana” two days later. Pence said he thought that since he is constantly tested for the virus, wearing a mask wouldn’t be necessary because the masks are only meant to prevent people who have the virus from spreading it. The reversal comes after Pence faced widespread public backlash for not wearing the mask at the Minnesota-based medical clinic. (Politico / NPR)
2/ Trump revised his estimated coronavirus death toll for the fifth time in two weeks, projecting that “We’re going to lose anywhere from 75, 80 to 100,000 people.” In April, Trump predicted that fatalities from the outbreak could be kept “substantially below the 100,000” mark. A week later, Trump said the overall American death toll would “probably” be as low as 60,000 people. On Wednesday, Trump suggested that the number of fatalities could be as low as 65,000. But on Sunday, Trump conceded, “I used to say 65,000 and now I’m saying 80,000 or 90,000 and it goes up and it goes up rapidly.” While he called it “a horrible thing,” Trump praised his administration’s response to the outbreak, saying it is “one of the reasons we’re successful, if you call losing 80 or 90 thousand people successful.” Trump also said he is “very confident” that there will be a coronavirus vaccine by the end of the year, despite scientists repeatedly warning that a vaccine may take 12-18 months or longer. (New York Times / The Guardian / MSNBC / CNN / The Hill / NBC News / CBS News)
White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow defended his Feb. 25 claim that the U.S. had “contained” the coronavirus “pretty close to airtight,” arguing that his comments were “based on the actual facts” at the time. (Axios)
3/ Trump claimed that he gets treated worse by the press than Abraham Lincoln, who was assassinated in 1865, while sitting in front of the Lincoln Memorial. Trump suggested to Fox News that he is “greeted with a hostile press the likes of which no president has ever seen” other than “that gentleman right up there,” gesturing toward the statue of Lincoln. “They always said nobody got treated worse than Lincoln,” he added. “I believe I am treated worse.” (CNN / Daily Beast)
4/ Trump moved to replace the top watchdog at the Department of Health and Human Services after her office released a report highlighting supply shortages and testing delays at hospitals during the coronavirus pandemic. The White House waited until after business hours to nominate a permanent inspector general to take over for Christi Grimm, the principal deputy inspector general who has run the office since January. Grimm was publicly assailed by Trump at a news briefing three weeks ago. The White House nominated Jason Weida. (Washington Post / New York Times)
5/ Trump is reportedly not happy with FBI director Christopher Wray and wants to replace him, but has deferred to Attorney General William Barr, who is unlikely to remove Wray before the election. (Axios)
6/ A four-page Department of Homeland Security intelligence report claims that the Chinese government “intentionally concealed the severity” and how contagious the coronavirus was from the world in early January in order to stock up on the medical supplies needed to respond to the virus. The report says Chinese leaders attempted to cover their tracks by “denying there were export restrictions and obfuscating and delaying provision of its trade data.” The report also says China refused to inform the World Health Organization that the virus “was a contagion” and says its conclusions are based on the 95% probability that the changes in China’s imports and exports were outside of the normal range. Separately, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that there’s “enormous evidence” to support the theory that the coronavirus originated in the Wuhan Institute of Virology, not a nearby market. No evidence was offered by Pompeo to back up the assertion. While the Wuhan Institute of Virology was studying bat-borne coronaviruses at the time of the first known outbreak nearby, there has been no evidence showing it possessed the previously unknown strain. Trump, meanwhile, promised a “conclusive” report on the Chinese origins of the coronavirus outbreak. (Associated Press / Axios / Bloomberg / The Guardian / NBC News)
🌍 Global: Total confirmed cases ~3,321,000; Total deaths: ~237,000; Total recoveries: ~1,044,000. (Johns Hopkins University)
🇺🇸 U.S.: Total confirmed cases ~1,095,000; Total deaths: ~64,200; Total recoveries: ~160,000
💰 Markets: Dow 📉; S&P 500 📉; Nasdaq 📉
The FDA granted Gilead emergency authorization for remdesivir to treat coronavirus. A federal trial found that patients receiving remdesivir recovered more quickly: in 11 days, versus 15 in a group receiving a placebo. The drug did not significantly reduce fatality rates. (CNBC / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / New York Times)
At least 30 states have started allowing some businesses to operate or announced plans to do so in May. The reopening of America, however, is happening with little consensus on how it should proceed with state and local officials — and, in some cases, business owners — drawing their own conclusions about how to balance medical and economic risks. (Wall Street Journal)
The World Health Organization extended its declaration of a global health emergency. (New York Times)
The coronavirus pandemic is likely to last at least another 18 months and won’t be controlled until about two-thirds of the world’s population is immune, said a report by a team of longstanding pandemic experts. They recommended that the U.S. prepare for a worst-case scenario, including a second big wave of coronavirus infections in the fall and winter. In the best-case scenario, people will continue to die from the virus, they predicted. (CNN / Bloomberg)
1/ Trump is “in no rush” to provide federal assistance to states that are short of money because of the coronavirus. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said states and localities are seeking about $1 trillion in assistance as part of the next stimulus bill. Trump, however, indicated that Democrats would have to make concessions if they want grants for state governments, saying “If they do it, they’re going to have to give us a lot.” (Bloomberg)
2/ Attorney General William Barr said it’s time “to start rolling back” social distancing restrictions in an “orderly and sensible way,” a signal the Justice Department could consider legal action against officials who resist acting. Trump, meanwhile, tweeted support for protesters – some of whom were armed – in Michigan, telling Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to “make a deal” with them. Last month, Trump tweeted to “LIBERATE” Michigan. (Bloomberg / CNN)
3/ The White House is blocking Dr. Anthony Fauci from testifying before the House Appropriations Committee, which is investigating the coronavirus outbreak and response. The Trump administration officials denied the request for Fauci’s testimony at a hearing next week. (Washington Post / Politico)
4/ Mike Pence’s office threatened to retaliate against the journalist who revealed that Pence’s staff aware of the requirement to wear face masks while visiting the Mayo Clinic. Pence was the only one in the room not wearing one during his visit, despite the Minnesota clinic requiring all visitors to wear masks to prevent further spread of the coronavirus. Karen Pence claimed that Pence wasn’t aware of the rule until after the visit, but reporter Steve Herman tweeted that “All of us who traveled with [Pence] were notified by the office of @VP the day before the trip that wearing of masks was required by the @MayoClinic and to prepare accordingly.” Pence’s office contacted Herman, saying he violated the off-the-record terms that had been sent to him and other reporters before the trip and then banned him from traveling on Air Force Two unless Herman apologizes for his tweet. On Thursday, Pence wore a face mask while visiting a General Motors plant that is making ventilators. (Washington Post / New York Times / CNBC / Axios)
📌 Day 1195: Pence toured the Mayo Clinic without a mask despite the medical facility requiring all visitors wear masks to avoid spreading the coronavirus. The clinic tweeted, then deleted the tweet, that Pence’s office was informed of the masking policy prior to his visit. (CNBC / NBC News / The Guardian / New York Times)
5/ Publicly traded companies received more than $1 billion in funds meant for small businesses from the economic stimulus package. Nearly 300 public companies have reported receiving money from the Paycheck Protection Program. (Washington Post)
6/ The Secret Service paid more than $33,000 to rent rooms at Trump’s Washington hotel for 137 nights in a row so it could guard Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin while he stayed in a luxury suite. The Secret Service also rented the room next to Mnuchin’s at taxpayer expense so they could screen Mnuchin’s visitors and deliveries. For that room, the Trump International Hotel charged the Secret Service at the maximum possible rate for federal agencies in 2017: $242 per night. The total bill for both rooms was $33,154. Mnuchin paid for his own room, but his decision to stay at a Trump property produced two revenue streams for Trump’s company. “The Secretary was not aware of what the U.S. Secret Service paid for the adjoining room,” a spokesperson for Mnuchin said. (Washington Post)
7/ White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany held the first daily news briefing in more than a year. “I will never lie to you,” McEnany promised reporters. “You have my word on that.” Fifteen minutes later, she raised the subject of Michael Flynn, which no one had asked about, and offered a false claim that an FBI note “says, quote, we need to get Flynn to lie, quote, and get him fired.” The FBI note, however, is phrased as a question of possible ways of confronting Flynn – not a plan of action: “What’s our goal? Truth/admission or to get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired?” McEnany is Trump’s fourth press secretary. (Washington Post / NPR / CNN / New York Times)
poll/ 43% of Americans hold mostly or very favorable views of Trump, compared to 54% who hold mostly or very unfavorable views of him. In mid-March, Trump’s favorable rating was 49%, the highest at any point since 2015, and the first time that Americans have been more likely to say they have a favorable than the unfavorable view 46%. (Public Religion Research Institute)
🌍 Global: Total confirmed cases ~3,272,000; Total deaths: ~233,000; Total recoveries: ~1,009,000. (Johns Hopkins University)
🇺🇸 U.S.: Total confirmed cases ~1,067,000; Total deaths: ~63,000; Total recoveries: ~126,000
💰 Markets: Dow 📉; S&P 500 📉; Nasdaq 📉
The White House social distancing guidelines will expire today. Trump, rejecting the idea of extended social distancing and mask-wearing as a “new normal” in America “with or without” a vaccine, said “I want to go back to where it was.” He continued: “Look, this thing will pass, and when it passes, that’ll be a great achievement,” despite no vaccine against the virus. “Again this is going away. This is going away. I think we’re gonna come up with vaccines and all, but this is going away. And when it’s gone, we’re going to be doing a lot of things.” (Associated Press)
Trump will travel to Arizona next week – though it’s not clear for what purpose. He said he “hopes” to have rallies again before the November election, citing “a tremendous pent up demand.” Trump also said he was considering making a trip to Ohio. (ABC News)
Trump and Kushner engage in revisionist history in boasting of success over coronavirus. “We did all the right moves,” Trump said. “The federal government rose to the challenge, and this is a great success story,” said Kushner. (New York Times)
Miscalculation at every level left the U.S. unequipped to fight the coronavirus. A shortfall in masks lays bare the blunders by hospitals, manufacturers, and the federal government. The Trump administration further weakened the safety net as it rejiggered the Health and Human Services Department’s main emergency-preparedness agency, prioritized other threats over pandemics, cut out groups such as one that focused on protective gear and removed a small planned budget to buy respirator masks for the national stockpile, according to former officials. (Wall Street Journal)
A tale of two summers: White House diverges from health experts over what’s to come. Trump and his top aides are contending with public health officials who paint a less optimistic picture of a return to life as Americans knew it. (NBC News)
1/ Another 3.8 million Americans filed for first-time unemployment benefits last week. The number of first-time claims over the past six weeks total 30.3 million people – roughly 18.6% of the entire U.S. labor force – the highest since the Great Depression and far above the 10% peak reached in 2009. Hundreds of thousands of Americans, however, are still waiting to receive unemployment benefits, which means the official unemployment tally is almost certainly an undercount. (CNN / CNBC / Washington Post / NPR / New York Times / New York Times / Bloomberg / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
Worst economy in a decade. What’s next? The “worst in our lifetime.” U.S. gross domestic product declined in the first quarter, dragged down by the pandemic’s grip in March. Don’t even ask about this quarter. (New York Times)
The brands that could disappear because of coronavirus. (Washington Post)
2/ Trump claimed he’s done a “spectacular job” handling the coronavirus pandemic, despite more than 60,000 Americans dead, a million infected, and 30 million filing jobless claims. While economists warn of serious long-term damage to the economy, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office he’s anticipating a major rebound in the coming months and a “spectacular” 2021, saying “I think we can actually surpass where we were – I feel it.” He then added: “I think sometimes what I feel is better than what I think, unfortunately or fortunately.” (Associated Press)
3/ Trump erupted at his campaign manager after seeing polling data that showed him trailing Joe Biden in several swing states in the presidential race. “I am not fucking losing to Joe Biden,” Trump shouted at Brad Parscale during a conference call with his top political advisers last week after he was told he would have lost the Electoral College if the election had been held earlier this month. At one point, Trump threatened to sue Parscale. Trump’s aides had attempted to highlight the political cost of the coronavirus crisis and the unforced errors by Trump from his freewheeling press briefings after two polls – one from the Republican National Committee and another from the Trump campaign — both showed him trailing Biden in swing states. “I don’t believe the polls,” Trump said. “I believe the people of this country are smart. And I don’t think that they will put a man in who’s incompetent.” Trump also initially resisted the advice to curtail his daily coronavirus briefings, saying people “love” the briefings and think he is “fighting for them.” Trump later defended Parscale, tweeting: “Actually, he is doing a great job. I never shouted at him.” (Associated Press / CNN / Reuters / Washington Post / New York Times)
Trump encouraged Sean Hannity to threaten the New York Times with legal action for reporting that Hannity had downplayed the threat of the coronavirus. As Trump’s re-election campaign was filing lawsuits against various local and national media outlets, Trump reportedly thought it was a good idea for Hannity to explore legal action against the Times for its critical coverage of how Fox News handled the coronavirus crisis. (Daily Beast)
4/ Trump claimed that China’s handling of the coronavirus is proof that Beijing “will do anything they can” to make him lose his re-election bid in November, adding he believed China wants Joe Biden to win to ease the pressure on U.S.-China trade relations. Trump provided no evidence for why China would deliberately mishandle an outbreak that killed more than 4,600 of its citizens, but said he was considering ways of punishing Beijing. “I can do a lot,” Trump said, without going into detail. He added: “There are many things I can do.” China, meanwhile, rejected Trump’s assertion, saying they had “no interest” in interfering in internal U.S. affairs. (Reuters / The Guardian / Bloomberg)
5/ The Trump administration pressured U.S. intelligence agencies to provide evidence supporting White House claims that the coronavirus outbreak originated in state-run laboratory accident in China. Trump – without offering any evidence – said he had reason to believe that the outbreak originated from a lab in China, saying “we should have the answer to that in the not-so-distant future.” The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, however, reported that intelligence agencies concur “with the wide scientific consensus that the COVID-19 virus was not man-made or genetically modified.” The White House, meanwhile, have been exploring retaliatory measures against China, including suing for compensation, which would involve stripping China of “sovereign immunity” or cancelling debt obligations to China. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / CNBC / ABC News / The Guardian / Associated Press / Politico / Axios)
📌 Day 1196: Trump ordered U.S. intelligence agencies to find out whether China and the World Health Organization initially hid what they knew about the coronavirus pandemic as it emerged. The White House sent a specific “tasking” to the National Security Agency and the Defense Intelligence Agency seeking information about the early days of the outbreak, specifically what the WHO knew about two research labs studying coronaviruses in Wuhan, China. The CIA received similar instructions. “Understanding the origins of the virus is important to help the world respond to this pandemic but also to inform rapid-response efforts to future infectious disease outbreaks,” a White House spokesperson said. (NBC News)
6/ Dr. Anthony Fauci suggested that it would be “doable” to have hundreds of millions of doses of a potential COVID-19 vaccine ready by January “if things fall in the right place.” While the FDA has not approved a vaccine for the coronavirus and vaccine trials are still in the early phase – and U.S. health officials have repeatedly said it would take at least 12 to 18 months to produce a vaccine – Dr. Fauci confirmed that the Trump administration is working to speed development, testing, and review of any potential vaccine. The initiative, called Operation Warp Speed, would involve manufacturers of the best potential vaccine candidates ramping up production “at risk — proactively — start making it, assuming it’s going to work,” Fauci said. “And if it does, then you can scale up and hopefully get to that timeline.” Trump, meanwhile, said “honestly […] I’m really in charge” of “fast track[ing] a vaccine like you’ve never seen before.” Trump added: “I’m not overpromising.” (NPR / CNBC / Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / The Hill)
📌 Day 1196: The Trump administration has been organizing a Manhattan Project-style effort to cut the time needed to develop a coronavirus vaccine, with a goal to have 100 million doses ready by year’s end. Called “Operation Warp Speed,” the program will pull together private pharmaceutical companies, government agencies, and the military to try to cut the development time for a vaccine by eight months. Separately, a group calling themselves Scientists to Stop COVID-19 has acted as the go-between for pharmaceutical companies looking for a link to Trump administration decision makers. The group, comprised of chemical biologists, an immunobiologist, a neurobiologist, a chronobiologist, an oncologist, a gastroenterologist, an epidemiologist and a nuclear scientist, are working as an ad hoc review board for the research on the coronavirus, weeding out flawed studies before they reach policy makers. (Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
How long will a vaccine really take? The truth is that a vaccine probably won’t arrive any time soon. Clinical trials almost never succeed. We’ve never released a coronavirus vaccine for humans before. Our record for developing an entirely new vaccine is at least four years — more time than the public or the economy can tolerate social-distancing orders. (New York Times)
7/ Trump said Michael Flynn is “in the process of being exonerated” and will “come back bigger and better,” after newly unsealed FBI records noted an internal discussion about the FBI’s handling of the case. One of the pages unsealed by a federal judge is a handwritten note about the bureau’s interview with Flynn. “What’s our goal? Truth/Admission or get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired?” Elsewhere, it says, “we have a case on Flynn + Russians.” The single page of handwritten notes is dated Jan. 24, 2017, which was the same day of Flynn’s White House FBI interview. Flynn pleaded guilty in 2017 to charges that he lied to the FBI by falsely denying that he had conversations with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. during the Trump transition. Flynn is now seeking to withdraw his guilty plea. Trump, meanwhile, argued his former national security adviser was victimized by “dirty, filthy cops at the top of the FBI,” saying “Look at what they did to the guy. I mean, he couldn’t have known too much [about] what was happening.” (CBS News / Politico / NBC News / NPR)
8/ Roger Stone is appealing his conviction and three-year prison sentence for seeking to impede congressional and FBI investigations into collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia in 2016. Stone’s lawyers filed the notice in federal court, appealing his prison sentence and a judge’s order denying Stone’s request for a new trial based on Stone’s accusations of jury bias. The FBI reportedly advised Stone’s legal team that they plan to delay his surrender date to begin his prison sentence by at least 30 days because of COVID-19. (Associated Press / Politico / ABC News)
9/ The head of the Trump’s Domestic Policy Council resigned and will leave the administration next month. Joe Grogan is the latest official to depart following the arrival of Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. Grogan was considered an ally of Meadows’ predecessor, Mick Mulvaney. (Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
poll/ 67% of voters approved of states holding elections exclusively using mail-in voting rather than having people go in-person to the polls, while 33% disapprove. (The Hill)
🌍 Global: Total confirmed cases ~3,173,000; Total deaths: ~225,000; Total recoveries: ~960,000. (Johns Hopkins University)
🇺🇸 U.S.: Total confirmed cases ~1,031,000; Total deaths: ~60,200; Total recoveries: ~117,000
💰 Markets: Dow 📈; S&P 500 📈; Nasdaq 📈
U.S. GDP contracted 4.8% in the first quarter – the first negative reading since the first quarter of 2014 and the worst result on record since the Great Recession of 2009. Economists say the first quarter is a precursor to a far grimmer report to come on the April-June period, with business shutdowns and layoffs striking with devastating force. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that economic activity will plunge this quarter at a 40% annual rate. (CNBC / Associated Press / Vox)
Trump said existing coronavirus social distancing guidelines – set to expire with the end of April – will not be extended further. The administration said the existing social distancing recommendations will “be fading out, because now the governors are doing it.” (NPR)
Millions of municipal workers could find themselves out of a job or without pay as cities and states face an urgent financial crisis, according to a new estimate from the National League of Cities. The reductions in staffing could affect education, sanitation, safety and health, and more. (Washington Post)
Several states warned residents who are called back to work that they may be cut off from unemployment benefits if they refuse to return because they don’t feel safe. Concern about exposure to coronavirus is typically not a sufficient enough reason to stay home and continue collecting benefits, according to a recent guidance from the US Department of Labor. (CNN)
1/ Jared Kushner called the coronavirus crisis “a great success story” as the U.S. death toll crossed 60,000, with more than one million COVID-19 cases confirmed. “We’re on the other side of the medical aspect of this,” Kushner claimed in an interview with Fox News without citing evidence. “We’ve achieved all the different milestones that are needed. The federal government rose to the challenge.” Kushner also promised that that much of the country could be “back to normal” by June and for the nation to be “really rocking again” by July. [Editor’s note: Jared Kushner is a shithead.] (Daily Beast / CNN / The Hill / Business Insider)
CDC data suggests that the U.S. coronavirus death toll is far higher than reported. Total deaths in seven states are nearly 50% higher than normal for the five weeks from March 8 through April 11. (New York Times)
Florida officials stopped releasing the list of coronavirus deaths being compiled by Florida’s medical examiners. Earlier this month, the medical examiners’ death count was 10% higher than the figure released by the Florida Department of Health. (Tampa Bay Times)
Trump’s re-election campaign launched a digital ad campaign of Democratic governors praising his response to the coronavirus crisis. This ad splices together statements from New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, and New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham each saying something positive about Trump or the federal government. (CNN)
2/ Dr. Anthony Fauci warned that a second round of the coronavirus is “inevitable.” He added that “we have put into place all of the countermeasures” to address the pandemic, but “If we don’t do that successfully, we could be in for a bad fall and a bad winter.” If states begin lifting restrictions too early, Fauci said the country could see a rebound of the virus that would “get us right back in the same boat that we were a few weeks ago.” (CNN)
The federal government ordered 100,000 new COVID-19 body bags for what officials described as preparations for a “worst possible case national scenario.” The order, costing $5.1 million, was placed April 21 by FEMA. Trump, however, said he expected that the pandemic could cost 60,000 to 70,000 lives in the U.S. (Wall Street Journal / NBC News)
3/ The FDA plans to announce emergency authorization for remdesivir after a federal trial showed the experimental antiviral drug could speed recovery in patients infected with the coronavirus. Dr. Anthony Fauci said the drug had produced a minor improvement in deaths — 11% for the placebo and 8% for remdesivi – and that patients given remdesivir recovered 31% faster than those given a placebo. Dr. Fauci hailed the results as “highly significant” but added that while the result “doesn’t seem like a knockout,” it was a strong “proof of concept.” He cautioned, however, that the results of the study overseen by his agency, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, still needs to be peer reviewed. However, a separate study of remdesivir – released today – concluded that the drug failed to improve patients’ condition or reduce the pathogen’s presence in the bloodstream, compared with placebo. Remdesivir has never been approved as a treatment for any disease. It was developed to fight Ebola, but results from a clinical trial in Africa were disappointing. Nevertheless, the FDA has been in “sustained and ongoing” discussions with Gilead Sciences to make remdesivir available to COVID-19 patients “as quickly as possible, as appropriate.” Note: An emergency authorization by the FDA is not the same as a drug approval by the agency. When the federal government declares a public health emergency, the FDA can approve certain drugs or tests to address the emergency if there are no other alternatives. (New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Reuters / CNBC / STAT News / Axios / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
The Trump administration has been organizing a Manhattan Project-style effort to cut the time needed to develop a coronavirus vaccine, with a goal to have 100 million doses ready by year’s end. Called “Operation Warp Speed,” the program will pull together private pharmaceutical companies, government agencies, and the military to try to cut the development time for a vaccine by eight months. Separately, a group calling themselves Scientists to Stop COVID-19 has acted as the go-between for pharmaceutical companies looking for a link to Trump administration decision makers. The group, comprised of chemical biologists, an immunobiologist, a neurobiologist, a chronobiologist, an oncologist, a gastroenterologist, an epidemiologist and a nuclear scientist, are working as an ad hoc review board for the research on the coronavirus, weeding out flawed studies before they reach policy makers. (Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
4/ Trump – providing no evidence – promised that the U.S. will be able to carry out more than five million coronavirus tests per day “very soon” after a Harvard University study said the U.S. needed to be capable of carrying out at least 5 million tests a day by early June – and 20 million per day by late July – in order to safely reopen the economy. He later claimed that he never said that, blaming it on a “media trap.” Since the beginning of the year, however, the Trump administration has conducted 5.7 million tests in total. And, the largest number of tests conducted by the U.S. in a single day was 314,182. Trump didn’t offer how his administration was going to account for the 1,500% increase in testing, but assured those at the briefing: “If you look at the numbers, it could be that we’re getting very close,” adding “I don’t know that all of that’s even necessary.” Trump also credited expanded testing for the 1 million confirmed cases of coronavirus that the U.S. has reported, saying “It’s a number that in one way sounds bad but in another is an indication our testing is more superior.” On March 6, Trump said that anyone who wanted a coronavirus test could get one. Dr. Fauci, however, said Tuesday that “Hopefully, we should see that as we get towards the end of May, the beginning of June.” (Time / Washington Post / Bloomberg / CNN / CBS News / Vox)
5/ Trump ordered U.S. intelligence agencies to find out whether China and the World Health Organization initially hid what they knew about the coronavirus pandemic as it emerged. The White House sent a specific “tasking” to the National Security Agency and the Defense Intelligence Agency seeking information about the early days of the outbreak, specifically what the WHO knew about two research labs studying coronaviruses in Wuhan, China. The CIA received similar instructions. “Understanding the origins of the virus is important to help the world respond to this pandemic but also to inform rapid-response efforts to future infectious disease outbreaks,” a White House spokesperson said. (NBC News)
A debate over an executive order to boost American production of medical supplies has gripped the White House, as Trump weighs how to confront China over the coronavirus outbreak without exacerbating the economic crisis sparked by the pandemic. (Washington Post)
poll/ 47% of adults in the U.S. said they were “very” or “somewhat” likely to follow recommendations from Trump when it comes to the coronavirus — 15% lower than a month ago. 98% of Americans said they would not try to inject themselves with bleach or other disinfectants if they got the coronavirus. (Reuters)
poll/ 50% of Americans say they or someone in their household has either lost hours or a job due to the coronavirus — up from 18% a month ago. (NPR)
poll/ 85% of Americans said it was a bad idea to have students return to schools without adequate testing, a vaccine or medications to treat coronavirus. Americans also said it was a bad idea to have people return to work (65%), allow large groups of people to attend sporting events (91%), and reopen restaurants (80%). (PBS)
✏️ Notables.
The Senate Intelligence Committee is preparing to hold a confirmation hearing next week for Trump’s nominee for Director of National Intelligence, Rep. John Ratcliffe, when lawmakers return to Washington. Confirming Ratcliffe as the nation’s top intelligence official would send Richard Grenell, the acting director of national intelligence, back to Berlin for his primary job of U.S. ambassador to Germany. (CNN / Politico)
A former economist at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau accused Trump’s appointees of manipulating the bureau’s research to justify reversing payday lending rules. On his final day of work at the nation’s consumer finance watchdog agency, Jonathan Lanning detailed several attempts by his political apointees that he considered legally risky and scientifically indefensible, including pressuring staff economists to water down their findings on payday loans and using statistical gimmicks to downplay the harm consumers would suffer if the payday restrictions were repealed. (New York Times)
Nearly three-dozen unsealed search warrants reveal a web of contacts between Roger Stone, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, and other key figures in the probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election. Weeks after Robert Mueller was appointed special counsel in the Russia investigation, Stone reassured Assange in a Twitter message that if prosecutors came after him, “I will bring down the entire house of cards.” Investigators from Mueller’s investigation also told a judge that Stone orchestrated hundreds of fake Facebook accounts and bloggers to run a political influence scheme on social media in 2016. (CNN / Politico / Associated Press)
🌍 Global: Total confirmed cases ~3,095,000; Total deaths: ~216,000; Total recoveries: ~920,000. (Johns Hopkins University)
🇺🇸 U.S.: Total confirmed cases ~1,005,000; Total deaths: ~58,000; Total recoveries: ~115,000
💰 Markets: Dow 📈; S&P 500 📈; Nasdaq 📈
U.S. reported 1 million confirmed coronavirus cases — nearly a third of the global total. The U.S. also has the world’s highest death toll from the virus, with more than 56,700 deaths reported by Tuesday afternoon — more than one-quarter of the 213,000 deaths confirmed around the world. (CBS News / Wall Street Journal)
The U.S. consumer confidence index plunged to its lowest point since June 2014 – to 86.9, down from 118.8 in March. (CBS News)
Trump is expected to invoke the Defense Production Act to classify meat-processing plants as essential infrastructure that must remain open to head off a disruption to the food supply. The government will provide additional protective gear for employees as well as guidance. (Bloomberg / Washington Post / Politico / New York Times)
Inside Donald Trump and Jared Kushner’s two months of magical thinking. Obsessed with impeachment and their enemies and worried about the stock market, the president and his son-in-law scapegoated HHS Secretary Alex Azar, and treated the coronavirus as mostly a political problem as it moved through the country. (Vanity Fair)
Briefings were “not worth the time,” but Trump couldn’t stay away. Just hours after his own White House officially canceled his planned appearance, the lure of the cameras in the Rose Garden proved too hard to resist. (New York Times)
Trump campaign lashes out over “Don’t defend Trump” memo. A strategy memo on coronavirus distributed by the National Republican Senatorial Committee infuriated Trump aides. (Politico)
1/ Trump announced a new federal coronavirus testing “blueprint” for governors lifting stay-at-home restrictions. Trump billed the plan as a “phased and very safe reopening” of the U.S. over the next few months, despite the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States crossing 1 million. Republican and Democratic governors, meanwhile, warned of financial calamity if Washington doesn’t provide relief. (NBC News / CNN / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
Trump’s guidance puts burden on states to reach COVID-19 testing targets. (The Guardian)
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said states that had poorly managed budgets before coronavirus should not be rescued by the federal government. Mnuchin said he approves of local governments using coronavirus funding to enforce public safety through law enforcement, but not for revenue lost because of the economic shutdown or “states that were mismanaged” before the pandemic hit. Mitch McConnell, meanwhile, said he is open to providing reeling states and cities with relief, but that he will “insist” Congress limit the liabilities of health care workers, business owners, and employees from lawsuits. (Bloomberg / Politico / New York Times)
Mitch McConnell panned Trump’s idea of using a coronavirus stimulus bill to fund major infrastructure investment, saying “We need to keep the White House in the box.” (Axios)
The Federal Reserve plans buy $500 billion in bonds issued by large companies, but won’t require them to limit dividends, executive compensation and stock buybacks, and does not direct the companies to maintain certain employment levels. (Washington Post)
2/ Trump urged governors to “seriously consider” reopening their public schools before the end of the academic year as part of his push to restart the economy. Trump told the governors on a conference call to “maybe get going on it” because “young children have done very well in this disaster that we’ve all gone through” and that “a lot of people are wanting to have school openings.” Dozens of states, however, already have said it would be unsafe for students to return until the summer or fall. (CNN / ABC News)
3/ Attorney General William Barr directed federal prosecutors to look for state and local coronavirus restrictions that go too far or violate constitutional rights. Barr instructed the assistant attorney general in charge of the Civil Rights Division, along with all 93 U.S. attorneys, to be “on the lookout for state and local directives that could be violating the constitutional rights and civil liberties of individual citizens.” Barr warned that many policies “that would be unthinkable in regular times have become commonplace in recent weeks,” and said that although some of the restrictions imposed by state and local governments have been necessary to slow the spread of the virus, “there is no denying that they have imposed tremendous burdens on the daily lives of all Americans.” (NBC News / Washington Post)
4/ Trump takes no responsibility for any increase in the number of people misusing disinfectants, despite suggesting that ingesting disinfectants might serve as a coronavirus treatment. When asked about the increase in people improperly using disinfectants, Trump said he “can’t imagine why” people might think it was a potential treatment for the virus. When asked if he takes responsibility, Trump said: “No, I don’t.” (CNN / Independent)
5/ Pence toured the Mayo Clinic without a mask despite the medical facility requiring all visitors wear masks to avoid spreading the coronavirus. The clinic tweeted, then deleted the tweet, that Pence’s office was informed of the masking policy prior to his visit. (CNBC / NBC News / The Guardian / New York Times)
6/ The House won’t return to Washington next week, abruptly reversing course a day after announcing that it would reconvene next week. The change of course comes after a backlash from members in both parties who warned the move would be unsafe. (Politico / NBC News)
poll/ 66% of Americans say their state’s current restrictions on businesses are appropriate, 17% said they were too restrictive, and 16% said they weren’t restrictive enough. 64% said the current restrictions on the size of public gatherings were appropriate, 14% said they were too restrictive, and 22% said they were not restrictive enough. (Washington Post)
poll/ 89% of Americans are worried about the U.S. economy collapsing during the coronavirus pandemic. 56% of Republicans worry their communities are opening up too soon, while 88% of Democrats feel the same. (Axios)
🌍 Global: Total confirmed cases ~3,020,000; Total deaths: ~210,000; Total recoveries: ~886,000. (Johns Hopkins University)
🇺🇸 U.S.: Total confirmed cases ~980,000; Total deaths: ~56,000; Total recoveries: ~108,000
💰 Markets: Dow 📈; S&P 500 📈; Nasdaq 📈
The World Health Organization warned that there is “no evidence” that people who have had COVID-19 are immune from getting the virus again. The WHO also recommended that countries refrain from issuing “immunity passports” to people who have been infected with the coronavirus. (NPR / CNN / Vox)
The death toll from coronavirus could be 60% higher than reported in official counts. Mortality statistics show 122,000 deaths in excess of normal levels across 14 countries analyzed. In the early weeks of the coronavirus epidemic, the U.S. recorded an estimated 15,400 excess deaths – nearly twice as many as were attributed to COVID-19 at the time. (Financial Times / Washington Post)
U.S. intelligence agencies warned Trump about the coronavirus in more than a dozen classified briefings in January and February. For weeks, the President’s Daily Brief traced the spread of the coronavirus, made clear that China was suppressing information about the transmissibility and death toll, and raised the prospect of political and economic consequences. (Washington Post)
Democrats will push for a vote-by-mail provision in the next coronavirus relief package, according to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Trump, however, opposes the idea and has urged Republicans to fight the effort. (NBC News)
Tyson Foods: “The food supply chain is breaking” and “millions of pounds of meat will disappear” from the national food supply chain as the coronavirus outbreak forces the closure of some of the country’s biggest slaughterhouses, where tens of thousands of animals are processed daily. One commodity broker/livestock analyst suggested that “around May 1, shortages will begin developing at retail meat counters.” (NBC News / Washington Post / Bloomberg / The Guardian)
The White House is finalizing expanded guidelines to allow the phased reopening of the country, including schools and camps, child-care programs, certain workplaces, houses of worship, restaurants and mass transit. (Washington Post)
The Trump administration is prepared to send all 50 states enough tests to screen at least 2% of residents for the coronavirus. A senior administration official claimed that testing 2% of each state’s population was the minimum needed to maintain public health. Trump is scheduled to make the announcement this afternoon in a meeting with retail executives. (Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
Transcripts of Trump’s White House coronavirus briefings reveal a display of presidential hubris and self-pity unlike anything historians say they have seen before. After analyzing than 260,000 words Trump has spoken at the briefings about the virus, the most recurring utterances are self-congratulations, roughly 600 of them, which are predicated on exaggerations and falsehoods. Trump credits others (more than 360 times) for their work, but he also blames others (more than 110 times) for inadequacies the response. Trump’s attempts to display empathy or appeal to national unity (about 160 instances) amount to a quarter of the number of times he complimented himself or a top member of his team. (New York Times)
Trump has spoken for more than 28 hours in the 35 daily coronavirus task force briefings held since March 16 – eating up 60% of the time that officials spoke. Over the past three weeks, the tally comes to more than 13 hours of Trump — including two hours spent on attacks and 45 minutes praising himself and his administration, but just 4½ minutes expressing condolences for coronavirus victims. He spent twice as much time promoting an unproven antimalarial drug that was the object of a Food and Drug Administration warning Friday. Trump also said something false or misleading in nearly a quarter of his prepared comments or answers to questions, the analysis shows. (Washington Post)
The White House claimed Trump works so much that he sometimes skips lunch. Staffers said Trump works around the clock and can make five dozen work-related calls a day during the pandemic, refuting a report that he spends his days obsessing over TV coverage and eating fries. (New York Post)
Trump’s suggestion about injecting disinfectants raises a question about the “very stable genius.” Trump’s self-assessment has been consistent: “I’m, like, a very smart person,” he assured voters in 2016; “A very stable genius,” he said two years later; “I’m not a doctor,” he allowed on Thursday, pointing to his head, “but I’m, like, a person that has a good you-know-what.” But then Trump suggested that an “injection inside” the body with a disinfectant like bleach could help fight the coronavirus. (New York Times)
1/ Trump tweeted that his daily coronavirus briefings were “not worth the time and effort” because – he claims – he’s asked “hostile questions” by the press, who “get record ratings.” After nearly 50 coronavirus press briefings in March and April, Trump’s aides and allies are worried that his appearances are backfiring and damaging his reelection prospects. White House officials also said they are evaluating whether to reduce his participation in news conferences after Trump suggested that people might be able to inject household cleaning products and disinfectants to deter the coronavirus. (NBC News / Politico / The Guardian / Axios)
The White House scheduled, canceled, and then rescheduled Trump’s coronavirus briefing today. White House press secretary Kaleigh McEnany, after announcing the briefing cancellation earlier Monday, tweeted its reinstatement, saying the briefings “may have a different look” this week. (CNN / ABC News / Politico / Axios / The Hill)
Dr. Deborah Birx downplayed Trump’s suggestion that injecting disinfectants and light could work as treatments for coronavirus, arguing the news media should move on from the incident. The White House coronavirus response coordinator said “It bothers me that this is still in the news cycle, because I think we’re missing the bigger pieces of what we need to be doing as an American people to continue to protect one another.” (Politico / The Guardian)
2/ The White House plans to shift its coronavirus messaging toward the economy by highlighting “success stories” of businesses while reducing its public emphasis on health statistics – days after he publicly mused that scientists should explore the injection of disinfectants as a potential virus cure. The coronavirus task force “will continue but take a back seat to the forward-looking, ‘what’s next’ message,” a White House official said. (Axios / Associated Press)
The Small Business Administration’s system to apply for coronavirus relief loans went down four minutes after it opened. Congress allocated an additional $310 billion for Paycheck Protection Program loans last week after the initial allotment of about $350 billion ran out on April 16. (Politico / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
Coronavirus stimulus check recipients will also receive a letter from Trump explaining why they’re getting the money. The one-page letter is signed by Trump and comes in an envelope from the IRS. It reads, in part, “We are fully committed to ensuring that you and your family have the support you need to get through this time,” and includes the exact amount of money the person will receive and how. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, meanwhile, is planning to introduce a provision – called the “No PR Act” – in the next coronavirus package that would stop Trump from putting his name on any additional stimulus checks. (CNN / Politico)
3/ Dr. Deborah Birx: “Social distancing will be with us through the summer.” Although recent trends have given her “great hope” for a slow reopening over the next few months, Birx added that the U.S. needs a “breakthrough” on coronavirus testing to get a more accurate picture of the virus’ spread as more than a dozen states prepare to loosen restrictions on social and business interactions. Dr. Anthony Fauci, meanwhile, said the U.S. should at least double coronavirus testing efforts in the coming weeks before starting to reopen the economy. The U.S. currently goes through anywhere between 1.5 million and 2 million tests per week, but Fauci says “we should probably should get up to twice that as we get into the next several weeks.” He added: “And I think we will.” (Washington Post / NBC News / Vox / Politico / Philadelphia Inquirer)
4/ State Department officials have stripped references to the WHO from coronavirus fact sheets, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has instructed employees to “cut out the middle man” when it comes to public health initiatives the U.S. previously supported through the WHO. The U.S. is also attempting to reroute the WHO funds to nongovernmental organizations involved in public health after Trump announced a 60-day hold on U.S. funds to the WHO. (Washington Post / Bloomberg)
5/ Trump denied that he was going to fire Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar after it was reported that White House officials were discussing possible replacements as frustrations have grown over Azar’s handling of the coronavirus crisis earlier this year, and the uproar following the removal of a top vaccine official in his agency last week. Trump, however, insisted that Azar was “doing an excellent job.” (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal /CNN / Politico / CNN / Politico)
6/ Trump tweeted — and later deleted — a series of attacks against journalists who received awards for their reporting on Russia and the Mueller investigation. He called on all reporters who received “Noble Prizes” – misspelling the word “Nobel” – to return them “so that they can be given to the REAL REPORTERS & JOURNALISTS who got it right.” The Nobel Prize, however, is not awarded for works of journalism. Trump then quickly deleted the tweets and claimed he was only being sarcastic when he posted them. “Does sarcasm ever work?” he tweeted. It is the second time over the last two weeks that Trump has tried to deflect blame for his comments by claiming that he was being sarcastic. (Business Insider / Washington Post / CNBC / Independent)
poll/ 60% of Americans support mail-in voting for the 2020 presidential election, including 46% of Republicans and 73% of Democrats. (Associated Press)
🌍 Global: Total confirmed cases ~2,790,000; Total deaths: ~196,000; Total recoveries: ~781,000. (Johns Hopkins University)
🇺🇸 U.S.: Total confirmed cases ~890,000; Total deaths: ~51,000; Total recoveries: ~97,000
💰 Markets: Dow 📈; S&P 500 📈; Nasdaq 📈
Trump said social distancing guidelines “may” be extended into summer – or later – as states shift gears and plan the reopening of their economies. (CBS News)
Home alone at the White House: A sour president, with TV his constant companion. As his administration grapples with reopening the economy and responding to the coronavirus crisis, Trump worries about his re-election and how the news media is portraying him. (New York Times)
Fifty thousand Americans dead from the coronavirus, and a president who refuses to mourn them. To the extent that Trump discusses those who have died, he does so in self-justifying terms, framing the pandemic as an externally imposed catastrophe that would have been worse without him.(New Yorker)
“This guy hasn’t changed one iota”: Coronavirus or not, it’s the same old Trump. Crises change most presidents. Not this one. (Politico)
1/ The death toll from the coronavirus pandemic surpassed 50,000 in the U.S. – three months after the nation’s first confirmed case. 10 days ago, the number of recorded deaths stood at 25,000. Worldwide, confirmed coronavirus cases exceeded 2.78 million, with more than 195,000 dead. The U.S. accounts for nearly a third of the cases and more than a quarter of the deaths. Experts say a lack of widespread testing and differences in reporting standards could be masking the extent of the virus’s spread. Some states, meanwhile, began reopening and Trump signed stimulus legislation to boost small businesses, hospitals, and testing. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
The House approved a $484 billion coronavirus relief bill by a vote of 388-5-1. The bill is the fourth relief package aimed at addressing the economic impact of the virus. The money will go toward replenishing two small business relief programs, funding hospitals, and expanding testing. The bill now heads to Trump, who has said he will probably sign it into law. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Reuters)
Trump said he would not approve an emergency loan for the U.S. Postal Service if it did not immediately raise its prices for package delivery. “The Post Office is a joke,” Trump told reporters. “The Post Office should raise the price [of package delivery] four times.” (Washington Post)
Trump’s commencement address at West Point will bring back 1,000 cadets who had scattered across the country. The June graduation was initially postponed because of the coronavirus and the cadets were sent home. The White House said Trump left it up to the school to decide whether it was safe to hold a graduation ceremony. Nothing had been decided until last Friday, April 17, when Trump was asked about Pence’s coming trip to the Air Force Academy. Trump told reporters that he would be speaking at the West Point graduation, noting that he hoped the “look” of the ceremony would be “nice and tight” because he did not like the look of a socially distanced graduation. (New York Times)
2/ Health officials, the makers of Lysol and Clorox, doctors, and lawmakers all warned against ingesting household disinfectants and cleaning products after Trump speculated that an “injection” of disinfectants could be a cure for the coronavirus. Trump proposed the idea at the White House briefing on Thursday after Bill Bryan, the head of science at the Department of Homeland Security, presented government research about how sunlight and disinfectants — including bleach and alcohol — can kill the coronavirus on surfaces. Trump then spoke about disinfectants, saying: “I see the disinfectant that knocks it out in a minute, one minute. And is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside or almost a cleaning? As you see, it gets in the lungs, it does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it would be interesting to check that.” Bryan also said that “The virus dies quickest in sunlight,” leaving Trump to wonder aloud whether you could “hit the body with a tremendous” light “inside the body,” because “the whole concept of the light, the way it kills it in one minute, that’s pretty powerful.” Trump, pointing to his head, continued: “I’m not a doctor. But I’m, like, a person that has a good you-know-what.” He added: “So it’d be interesting to check that.” Meanwhile, the White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, suggested that Trump’s comments were taken out of context. (NBC News / New York Times / CNN / Axios / Politico / BBC / USA Today / The Guardian / Bloomberg / New York Times)
Lysol maker warns against internal use of disinfectants after Trump comments. (NBC News / BuzzFeed News)
The EPA: “Never apply the product to yourself or others. Do not ingest disinfectant products.” (NBC News)
3/ Trump claimed he was being “very sarcastic” – “just to see what would happen” – when he proposed that disinfectants, like bleach, could be injected inside people to fight the coronavirus. Trump, during an Oval Office signing for the Paycheck Protection Program, claimed he “was asking a very sarcastic question to the reporters in the room about disinfectant on the inside […] That was done in the form of a sarcastic question to the reporters.” (Washington Post / ABC News / NBC News / PBS / The Hill / Vox)
The leader of an organization called Genesis II Church of Health and Healing told Trump that chlorine dioxide – a lethal industrial bleach – “can rid the body of COVID-19” days before Trump promoted disinfectant as a treatment. In his letter, Mark Grenon, an “archbishop” of Genesis II, told Trump that chlorine dioxide is “a wonderful detox that can kill 99% of the pathogens in the body.” Since the start of the pandemic, Genesis II has been marketing his “miracle mineral solution” as a cure to coronavirus, advising users, including children, to mix three to six drops of bleach in water and drink it. Last week, the Justice Department granted a temporary injunction to halt the sale of industrial bleach products by Genesis II, which was also marketing it as a cure for autism and AIDS. (The Guardian / Reuters)
4/ The FDA warned doctors against prescribing hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine for the treatment of the coronavirus except in hospitals and research studies. The FDA said it was aware of “serious heart problems” associated with the use of the drugs and researchers recently cut a chloroquine study short after patients developed irregular heart beats and nearly two dozen died. Scientists cited a “primary outcome” of death and said the findings should “serve to curb the exuberant use” of the drug. Trump, however, has regularly touted the drugs as a potential “game changer,” saying at one point: “What do you have to lose? I really think they should try it.” (Wall Street Journal / Associated Press / CNBC / Bloomberg / CBS News /Washington Post)
The Energy and Commerce health subcommittee will hold hearings on Rick Bright’s dismissal as the head of an agency helping to develop a coronavirus vaccine. Bright said he was removed after he pressed for rigorous vetting of unproven drugs embraced by Trump. (New York Times)
5/ Trump is reportedly tens of millions of dollars in debt to China. In 2012, Trump’s real estate partner refinanced the Trump Tower in Manhattan for almost $1 billion. The debt includes $211 million from the state-owned Bank of China, which matures in 2022. Trump owns a 30% stake in the property. [Editor’s note: A correction was issued by Politico.] (Politico / The Guardian / Washington Post)
6/ A second U.S. Navy ship has been impacted by a coronavirus outbreak while at sea. The USS Kidd has been hit with an outbreak of at least 18 cases. The USS Theodore Roosevelt, meanwhile, has seen 840 sailors test positive for coronavirus. (CNN)
The Navy’s top officials recommended that Capt. Brett Crozier be restored to command of the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier. Capt. Crozier was removed from command after sending a letter pleading for help to fight the coronavirus on his aircraft carrier. (New York Times / CNN)
Rare thing for WTFJHT to share analysis and opinion articles, but it’s also important to gain perspective by contextualizing the news through a variety of viewpoints. So, here you go.
The risk of a US double-dip depression is real. Reopening states to boost the economy despite the scientific evidence will do more damage than good. (Financial Times)
There’s a growing possibility of a W-shaped economic recovery — and it’s scary. A resurgence of the virus or a spike in defaults and bankruptcies could lead to another painful economic downturn. (Washington Post)
Opening up the economy won’t save the economy. There’s best available evidence casts doubt on the idea that enough customers will return to make it possible for small businesses to stay viable without additional government assistance. (Vox)
Coronavirus will change the world permanently. Here’s how: A crisis on this scale can reorder society in dramatic ways, for better or worse. (Politico)
“Sadness” and disbelief from a world missing American leadership. The coronavirus pandemic is shaking bedrock assumptions about U.S. exceptionalism. This is perhaps the first global crisis in more than a century where no one is even looking for Washington to lead. (New York Times)
1/ More than 26 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits over the last five weeks – wiping out all of the job gains since the Great Recession. More than 4.4 million people filed for unemployment last week – down from more than 5.2 million the week before – which marks the fifth straight week that job losses were measured in the millions. Roughly 22 million jobs were created after the 2008 financial crisis. Economists predict that by summer the unemployment rate will be within range of the 25% peak recorded in 1933 during the Great Depression and that the U.S. GDP will shrink by around 6% this year. (Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Politico / NBC News / CNBC / Reuters / The Guardian)
Battleground states that Trump won in 2016 are seeing higher-than-average layoffs amid the economic fallout from the coronavirus. (Politico)
2/ The House is prepared to pass a bipartisan $484 billion spending package to replenish two small business relief programs, fund hospitals, and expand testing. The measure is expected to be approved and sent to Trump for his signature tonight after the Senate cleared the legislation on Tuesday. [Editor’s note: The House is voting on the legislation as I type this. The blog will be updated upon final approval.] (Washignton Post / CNBC / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / CNN)
The Small Business Administration issued new guidance to make it “unlikely” for publicly traded companies to access coronavirus relief funds. The update comes after large companies tapped the Paycheck Protection Program for hundreds of millions of dollars in loans while thousands of small businesses have yet to receive funding. (CNBC)
The $310 billion in small business loans is likely “already exhausted.” Banking groups say the volume of applications already sent to the Small Business Administration makes it likely that much, if not all, of the new money will go to those already in the queue. Any new applicants would likely miss out on this funding round. (CBS News)
3/ The House established a special committee to investigate the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic and the multi-trillion-dollar government rescue effort. The committee is charged with examining the implementation of the coronavirus relief packages and scrutinizing “preparedness for and response to the coronavirus crisis.” It will have the power to subpoena documents and witnesses. No Republicans voted in favor of the new panel, which passed along party lines, 212 to 182. (New York Times / Washington Post)
4/ A day after praising the decision, Trump denounced Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s decision to allow businesses reopen, saying he “strongly” disagreed with the move. On Tuesday, Trump lauded Kemp’s decision to allow businesses like barbershops and nail salons to reopen and called him a “capable man who knows what he’s doing.” Trump, however, reversed course at his daily coronavirus press briefing on Wednesday, saying “it’s too soon” to reopen and that “I disagree strongly with his decision to open certain facilities.” Trump added that he wants Kemp “to do what he thinks is right. But I disagree with him on what he’s doing.” (NBC News / Washington Post / Politico / New York Times / CBS News / Atlantic Journal-Constitution)
Members of the coronavirus task force sent Dr. Deborah Birx to convince Trump to oppose Kemp’s decision to reopen businesses in his state. At a meeting before Wednesday’s briefing, task force members discussed Kemp’s move to open up many businesses, such as nail salons and bowling alleys. “I cannot defend this publicly,” Dr. Anthony Fauci said to others at the meeting. Dr. Birx then had a private meeting with Trump just prior to the news conference and to convince him to denounce Kemp’s decision. (CNN)
5/ CDC Director Robert Redfield said he was “accurately quoted” in a Washington Post article that the fall and winter would be “more difficult” because influenza and the coronavirus would be circulating at the same time. Trump, however, opened the coronavirus task force briefing by asking Redfield to explain how he was “totally misquoted,” calling the article “fake news,” and claiming that “if [the coronavirus] should come back, you have the flu and the embers of corona, but in my opinion from everything I’ve seen, it can never be like anything like we witnessed right now.” Trump also predicted that the coronavirus may not come back at all, and if it does it will be in “embers” or “pockets.” Dr. Deborah Birx did not directly support Trump’s assertion. Later in the briefing, Dr. Anthony Fauci contradicted Trump, telling reporters that he is “convinced” that “there will be coronavirus in the fall.” (New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post / The Hill/ ABC News)
📌 Day 1188: The director of the CDC warned that a second wave of the coronavirus will likely be worse because it will probably coincide with the start of flu season. “There’s a possibility that the assault of the virus on our nation next winter will actually be even more difficult than the one we just went through,” CDC Director Robert Redfield said. “And when I’ve said this to others, they kind of put their head back, they don’t understand what I mean. We’re going to have the flu epidemic and the coronavirus epidemic at the same time.” (Washington Post)
6/ The Pentagon is planning a multicity tour of the Blue Angels and the Thunderbirds to “champion national unity” amid the coronavirus pandemic. The demonstration squadrons for the Navy and Air Force will fly over some cities in the next several weeks “to thank first responders, essential personnel, and military service members as we collectively battle the spread of COVID-19.” A senior military official clarified that the flyovers would avoid areas where people can congregate. (Washington Post / Axios)
7/ Trump signed an executive order temporarily suspending the issuance of green cards for 60 days. The order effectively restricts entry to people outside the U.S. seeking lawful permanent residency, but includes numerous exemptions, like those for overseas spouses and young children of American citizens. The order does not change the status of immigrants already in the U.S. Trump claimed that the executive order would “protect our great American workers” and “ensure unemployed Americans of all backgrounds will be first in line for jobs as our economy reopens. Crucially it will also preserve our health care resources for American patients.” Trump also indicated that the order could be extended “at the appropriate time.” (New York Times / Bloomberg / NBC News / ABC News / Los Angeles Times)
📌 Day 1188: Trump declared – via tweet – that he will sign an executive order suspending most immigration to the U.S. because of the coronavirus pandemic, claiming the move will “protect the jobs of our GREAT American Citizens” from “the Invisible Enemy.” The announcement comes as Trump has repeatedly claimed that the U.S. is ready to re-open despite the continued spread of the coronavirus and a U.S. death toll in the tens of thousands. A senior administration official added that the move has been “under consideration for a while,” but provided no details about the plan. Trump previously restricted travel from China and Europe to stop the spread of the coronavirus, and most immigration into the country has already been paused, as the government has temporarily stopped processing nonworker visas. The new policy will deny entry for people seeking most types of work visas for 60 days, but exempt people seeking jobs in “food production and directly helping to protect the supply chain,” which could apply to seasonal farmworker visas. (New York Times / Politico / Bloomberg / Washington Post / NBC News / Associated Press / Reuters / CNN / CBS News)
8/ The Supreme Court ruled that the Clean Water Act requires the federal government to regulate some groundwater pollutants that reach oceans, rivers, and streams. The court rejected the Trump administration’s argument that the law did not apply to pollution that traveled through groundwater, saying it would create an “obvious loophole.” (CNBC / CNN / New York Times / Washington Post)
poll/ 70% of Americans believe the country’s top priority should be to “try to slow the spread of coronavirus by keeping people home and social distancing, even if the economy is hurt in the short term.” 30%, meanwhile, think the top national priority should instead be to “try to get the economy going by sending people back to work, even if it means more people might be exposed to coronavirus.” (CBS News / Politico)
poll/ 80% of Americans say strict shelter-in-place measures are worth it in order to protect people and limit the spread of coronavirus. 51% say “the worst is yet to come” when it comes to the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S. (Kaiser Family Foundation)
poll/ 29% of voters under 30 say their lives are worse under Trump’s leadership, 39% say their lives are no different, and 15% say their lives are better. (NPR)
poll/ 23% of Americans say they have a high level of trust in the information Trump provides about the coronavirus. 60% of Americans say Trump isn’t listening to health experts enough. (Associated Press)
The World Health Organization warned that coronavirus remains “extremely dangerous” and “will be with us for a long time.” While social distancing measures put in place in numerous countries to slow the spread of the coronavirus have been successful, current data show “most of the world’s population remains susceptible,” meaning outbreaks can easily “reignite.” (CNBC)
Concerns are growing that any economic recovery this year could be short-lived because of a resurgence of the coronavirus and a spike in bankruptcies and defaults. White House officials have touted the possibility of a V-shaped recovery as soon as this summer, but some economists believe a W-shaped recovery is increasingly likely. (Washington Post)
Health chief’s early missteps set back coronavirus response: Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar waited for weeks to brief Trump on the threat, oversold his agency’s progress in the early days, and didn’t coordinate effectively across the health care divisions under his purview. (Wall Street Journal)
The secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services tapped a former dog breeder with minimal public health experience to lead the agency’s day-to-day response to COVID-19 in the pandemic’s early days. The aide, Brian Harrison, had joined the department after running a dog-breeding business for six years. Some officials in the White House called him “the dog breeder.” (Reuters)
Trump’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis left the U.S. looking like a “third world” country on course for a second Great Depression, one of the world’s leading economists warned. Joseph Stiglitz said millions of people were turning to food banks, turning up for work due to a lack of sick pay, and dying because of health inequalities. (The Guardian)
👑 The Trump administration struggles to meet the moment: The federal response has been too small in scope and short on creative solutions to meet the greatest challenge since World War II. (Politico)
1/ The director of the federal agency responsible for developing a coronavirus vaccine was removed after pressing for rigorous vetting of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine to treat the coronavirus, which Trump has repeatedly embraced. Dr. Rick Bright cited “clashes with political leadership” as a reason for his abrupt dismissal as the director of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, as well as his resistance to “efforts to fund potentially dangerous drugs promoted by those with political connections.” Dr. Bright said that science, not “politics and cronyism” must lead the way, adding that he believed he was removed from his post because he insisted that “the billions of dollars allocated by Congress to address the COVID-19 pandemic” be put toward “safe and scientifically vetted solutions, and not in drugs, vaccines and other technologies that lack scientific merit.” He was assigned a narrower job at the National Institutes of Health. (New York Times /New York Times / CNN / STAT News / CNBC / Axios)
Trump brushed off questions about hydroxychloroquine after weeks of touting the anti-malarial drug as a potential “game changer” against the advice of his own public health officials. On Tuesday, a new government study suggested that the drug didn’t offer any benefit in fighting COVID-19 and that its use was correlated with more deaths. When asked about the study conducted by the Department of Veterans Affairs, Trump responded: “I don’t know of the report. Obviously, there have been some very good reports, and perhaps this one is not a good report. But we’ll be looking at it.” (ABC News / Washington Post)
📌 Day 1188: The malaria drug widely touted by Trump showed no benefit – and more deaths – in a U.S. veterans study. About 28% who were given hydroxychloroquine plus usual care died, versus 11% of those getting routine care alone. About 22% of those getting the drug plus azithromycin died too. (Associated Press)
📌 Day 1188: The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases recommends against using a combination of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin for the treatment of COVID-19 patients because of potential toxicities. Trump, however, has suggested the combination might be helpful. (NPR)
STUDY: Sean Hannity viewers were less likely to adhere to social distancing rules and had higher local rates of infection and death than Tucker Carlson viewers. [Editor’s note: Including this not for the easy dunk, but because it illustrates how your media habits – what and who you watch – affects your worldview and decision-making ability. My recommendation for upping your media literacy is to read broadly, think critically, and maintain a healthy dose of skepticism.] (Vox)
2/ State and local governments are warning of layoffs and pay cuts after getting left out of the latest federal coronavirus relief package. The $2.2 trillion CARES Act passed last month included $150 billion in direct help for state and local governments, but an additional $150 billion in aid did not make it into the latest package, which is expected to pass Congress this week. A Congressional Research Service report last week said that “early evidence suggests that the COVID-19 economic shock will have a notable impact on state and local budgets,” pointing to the “sizable share of economic output” that derives from state and local governments. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, meanwhile, promised a “major package” of aid for state and local government in the next stimulus legislation. Mitch McConnell, however, said Congress should “push the pause button” on future economic relief packages and consider the potential impact on federal debt. McConnell later said he “would certainly be in favor of allowing states to use the bankruptcy route” rather than giving them a federal bailout. Separately, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said “This is a war, and we need to win this war and we need to spend what it takes to win the war.” (NBC News / Bloomberg / Politico / CNBC / Wall Street Journal)
3/ The first U.S. death from the coronavirus happened in early February – nearly three weeks earlier than U.S. health authorities had previously known. Two newly reported deaths in California have challenged the timeline of the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S. Until now, the earliest known fatalities from the virus were believed to have occurred on Feb. 26 near Seattle. But tissue samples taken from two people who died on Feb. 6 and Feb. 17 in Santa Clara County, CA tested positive for COVID-19. It’s still unclear how those two people contracted the virus, but local public health officials say the cases are believed to be community transmissions. (New York Times / Washington Post / Los Angeles Times / San Francisco Chronicle / Wall Street Journal)
Chinese intelligence operatives pushed fake text messages and Facebook posts in March claiming the Trump administration was planning to lock down the entire country in order to prevent looting and rioting related to the coronavirus. One of the messages warned that the Trump administration planned to announce the lockdown “as soon as they have troops in place to help prevent looters and rioters.” The fake messages cited a Department of Homeland Security source who said he “got the call last night” and was told to “pack and be prepared for the call today with his dispatch orders.” The messages became so widespread in mid-March that the White House National Security Council had to make an announcement to clarify that they were “FAKE.” The exact origin of the messages is unclear, but six U.S. officials said American intelligence agencies have assessed that Chinese operatives helped push the messages and texts across the country. (New York Times)
4/ The Trump administration blocked undocumented college students from receiving emergency federal aid assistance for expenses like food, child care, and housing. Congress allocated $6 billion in its economic rescue package to colleges to grant to students to cover expenses related to the coronavirus pandemic. The Education Department, however, issued guidance mandating that the money be given to students who qualify for federal financial aid, meaning U.S. citizens and some legal permanent residents. (Politico / The Hill)
5/ Trump threatened – via Twitter – to “shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats” that “harass” U.S. Navy ships at sea. The threat comes days after the Pentagon claimed 11 Iranian ships took “dangerous and provocative” actions near U.S. Navy and Coast Guard ships while they were conducting training operations in international waters in the Persian Gulf. The Iranian ships reportedly came within 10 yards of the bow of a U.S. Coast Guard ship. Defense Department officials characterized it as more of a warning to Iran than a shift in policy. (CNBC / CBS News / NBC News)
6/ The White House director of social media was promoted to deputy chief of staff for communications. Dan Scavino’s appointment was one of several changes by the new chief of staff, Mark Meadows, the fourth person to hold the job under Trump. (New York Times)
poll/ 72% of Florida voters think social distancing rules should continue into May. 76% say that the state’s economy should only reopen when public health officials deem it safe, compared to 17% who say it should reopen even if public health officials warn against it. (Quinnipiac)
poll/ 61% of Americans support stay-at-home orders and other efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus, saying the restrictions are “about right,” 26% say the restrictions don’t go far enough, and 12% say they go too far. 22% of Republicans say the restrictions go too far, while 5% of Democrats say the same. (Associated Press)
🌍 Global: Total confirmed cases ~2,547,000; Total deaths: ~177,000; Total recoveries: ~680,000. (Johns Hopkins University)
🇺🇸 U.S.: Total confirmed cases ~817,000; Total deaths: ~44,300; Total recoveries: ~75,000
💰 Markets: Dow 📉; S&P 500 📉; Nasdaq 📉
✏️ 28,000 missing deaths: Tracking the true death toll of the coronavirus crisis. (New York Times)
✏️ The malaria drug widely touted by Trump showed no benefit – and more deaths – in a U.S. veterans study. About 28% who were given hydroxychloroquine plus usual care died, versus 11% of those getting routine care alone. About 22% of those getting the drug plus azithromycin died too. (Associated Press)
✏️ The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases recommends against using a combination of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin for the treatment of COVID-19 patients because of potential toxicities. Trump, however, has suggested the combination might be helpful. (NPR)
✏️ Trump faces his next coronavirus test: Trump’s advisers recognize his bumpy rollout of coronavirus testing represents a major vulnerability in an election year. (Politico)
✏️ We are living in a failed state: The coronavirus didn’t break America. It revealed what was already broken. (The Atlantic)
1/ The White House and congressional leaders reached agreement on a $484 billion coronavirus relief package to replenish the depleted small business loan program, and provide funds for hospitals and coronavirus testing. The legislation will increase funding for the Paycheck Protection Program by $310 billion, add $60 billion to a separate small business emergency grant and loan program, direct $75 billion to hospitals, and provide $25 billion for a new coronavirus testing program. The Senate approved the measure. The House, however, is not expected to take action until Thursday morning at the earliest (to allow lawmakers time to return to Washington for a recorded vote), because Republican leaders pushed back on an effort to change the House rules to allow members to vote remotely by proxy. Trump said he would sign it into law. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / CNN / CNBC / Wall Street Journal / Politico)
2/ Trump declared – via tweet – that he will sign an executive order suspending most immigration to the U.S. because of the coronavirus pandemic, claiming the move will “protect the jobs of our GREAT American Citizens” from “the Invisible Enemy.” The announcement comes as Trump has repeatedly claimed that the U.S. is ready to re-open despite the continued spread of the coronavirus and a U.S. death toll in the tens of thousands. A senior administration official added that the move has been “under consideration for a while,” but provided no details about the plan. Trump previously restricted travel from China and Europe to stop the spread of the coronavirus, and most immigration into the country has already been paused, as the government has temporarily stopped processing nonworker visas. The new policy will deny entry for people seeking most types of work visas for 60 days, but exempt people seeking jobs in “food production and directly helping to protect the supply chain,” which could apply to seasonal farmworker visas. (New York Times / Politico / Bloomberg / Washington Post / NBC News / Associated Press / Reuters / CNN / CBS News)
The Trump administration is planning to repeal or suspend federal regulations for small businesses and expand an existing program that requires agencies to revoke two regulations for every new one they issue. While the plan remains in flux, changes could affect environmental policy, labor policy, workplace safety and health care, among other areas. (Washington Post)
3/ The director of the CDC warned that a second wave of the coronavirus will likely be worse because it will probably coincide with the start of flu season. “There’s a possibility that the assault of the virus on our nation next winter will actually be even more difficult than the one we just went through,” CDC Director Robert Redfield said. “And when I’ve said this to others, they kind of put their head back, they don’t understand what I mean. We’re going to have the flu epidemic and the coronavirus epidemic at the same time.” (Washington Post)
The World Health Organization warned that we must “ready ourselves for a new way of living for the foreseeable future” as many countries lift lockdowns and other social distancing measures. (ABC News)
The FDA approved the first at-home coronavirus test. The nasal swab kit is expected to go on sale to consumers in most states, with a doctor’s order, within weeks. (CBS News / New York Times)
4/ Attorney General William Barr said the Justice Department will consider taking legal action against governors who continue to impose strict social distancing rules after coronavirus cases begin to subside. Barr called some current stay-at-home orders “burdens on civil liberties” and if lawsuits were brought, his department would side against the state. Barr’s comments come days after Trump called on states under stay-at home orders – specifically Michigan, Minnesota and Virginia – to be “liberated.” (Bloomberg / NPR / The Guardian)
Several Southern states took steps to reopen businesses despite health officials warning that reopening too early without expansive testing could lead to a surge in new infections. South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee all moved to relax social distancing and stay-at-home orders. (Wall Street Journal)
5/ The Trump Organization asked the Trump administration for rent relief on the Trump International Hotel because of the coronavirus pandemic. The hotel is in a federally owned building on Pennsylvania Avenue. The Trump Organization inquired with the General Services Administration about changing the nearly $268,000 per month lease payments on the 60-year lease the company signed in 2013. (New York Times)
6/ A bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee report reaffirmed the U.S. intelligence community’s conclusions that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election with the goal of putting Trump in the Oval Office. The report rejects Trump’s repeated claims that a “deep state” intelligence community was biased against him and that Kremlin assistance to his campaign was a “hoax,” perpetrated by Democrats. The committee found “specific intelligence reporting to support the assessment that Putin and the Russian Government demonstrated a preference for candidate Trump,” and that Putin “approved and directed” aspects of the interference. (Politico / Axios / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / ABC News)
poll/ 58% of Americans favor vote-by-mail this November because of concerns that the coronavirus may still be a public health threat. 39% do not support vote-by-mail. (NBC News)
Health officials in Milwaukee identified at least seven new cases of coronavirus that appear to be linked to the April 7 election. Six of the cases are in voters and one is a poll worker. Advocates of vote-by-mail say Wisconsin’s experience should be a warning to other states, saying this could be “the tip of the iceberg.” (NBC News / ABC News / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
poll/ 54% of Americans rate Trump’s coronavirus response as poor or not so good. By contrast, 72% of Americans give positive ratings to the governors of their states for the way they have dealt with the crisis. (Washington Post)
🌍 Global: Total confirmed cases ~2,463,000; Total deaths: ~170,000; Total recoveries: ~644,000. (Johns Hopkins University)
🇺🇸 U.S.: Total confirmed cases ~778,000; Total deaths: ~42,000; Total recoveries: ~72,000
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✏️ The World Health Organization warned that “the worst is yet ahead of us” in the coronavirus outbreak, reviving the alarm just as many countries ease restrictive measures aimed at reducing its spread. (NBC News)
✏️ Trump’s plans to reopen the country face major obstacles. The White House sees doors opening for the economy, but health experts see them, at best, ajar. (Politico)
✏️ Coronavirus in America: The year ahead. (New York Times)
👑 Trump, head of government, leans into antigovernment message. With his poll numbers fading after a rally-around-the-leader bump, the president is stoking protests against stay-at-home orders. (New York Times)
1/ U.S. manufacturers shipped just over a billion face masks and more than 25 million protective suits to China in January and February with encouragement from the Trump administration. In those two months, the value of protective items exported from the U.S. to China grew more than 1,000% — from $1.4 million to about $17.6 million. (Washington Post)
The Trump administration doesn’t have a plan to cover coronavirus treatment for the uninsured two weeks after pledging to have a plan. (Politico)
2/ Trump blamed governors for not using coronavirus testing capacity available in their states, saying they’re “complaining” and that “they don’t want to use all of the capacity that we’ve created.” Several Democrat and Republican governors, however, said they face shortages of needed supplies to conduct the tests. Public health experts said widespread testing is a key requirement for safely reopening businesses and returning to something close to normal life, but state health officials and labs have said competition for supplies and questionable results are prolonging the crisis. Trump’s own health experts have also acknowledged shortfalls in testing around the country and state officials. (CNN / Wall Street Journal)
Contamination at CDC facilities used to produce the test kit for detecting the coronavirus exacerbated nationwide delays in testing. (Washington Post)
The federal official overseeing coronavirus testing efforts was forced out of a previous position developing vaccines at Texas A&M University. Assistant Secretary for Health Brett Giroir, an unofficial member of the White House’s coronavirus task force, worked on vaccine projects at the university for eight years and “was told in 2015 he had 30 minutes to resign or he would be fired” from his post at the school. Prior to being fired, Giroir said that his work was so vital that “the fate of 50 million people will rely on us getting this done.” Giroir annual performance evaluation said he was “more interested in promoting yourself” than the health science center where he worked. He also got low marks on being a “team player.” (Washington Post / CNN)
Antibody research indicates coronavirus may be far more widespread than known. Of 3,300 people in California, researchers found that 2.5 to 4.2% of those tested were positive for antibodies – suggesting a far higher past infection rate than the official count. (ABC News)
✏️ Antibody test, seen as key to reopening country, does not yet deliver. The tests, many made in China without FDA approval, are often inaccurate. Some doctors are misusing them. The rollout is nowhere close to the demand. (New York Times)
3/ Trump invoked the Defense Production Act to compel an unnamed company to produce 20 million more coronavirus testing swabs every month. While Trump repeatedly referred to the swabs as “easy” to procure, labs and public health officials warned that swab shortages were hurting efforts to ramp up testing nationwide. (Politico)
4/ The World Health Organization transmitted real-time information about the coronavirus directly to the Trump administration before Trump froze all U.S. funding. The Department of Health and Human Services had 17 staff members from HHS working at the WHO in January, including 16 from the CDC, “working on a variety of programs, including COVID-19 and Ebola.” The reporting contrasts Trump’s accusations that the WHO spent late 2019 “severely mismanaging” the response to the virus and was “covering up” information regarding China’s efforts to contain COVID-19. (Washington Post / Vox / CNN / ProPublica)
5/ The federal government awarded national hotel and restaurant chains millions of dollars in grants before the $349 billion small business program ran out of money. Thousands of traditional small businesses were unable to get funding as a result (including WTF Just Happened Today – chip in here, if you can). In all, more than 70 publicly traded companies reported receiving money from the program. (Washington Post)
The Government Accountability Office plans to have at least 30 CARES Act reviews and audits underway by the end of April. The office is required, under the $2 trillion in coronavirus relief package, to brief Congress every month and issue a bimonthly public report on its findings. (Politico)
6/ Trump proposed reopening America’s gyms after a phone call with the head of the company that owns Equinox and SoulCycle, who also happens to be a Trump supporter. The “Guidelines for Opening Up America Again” included gyms among the businesses that would reopen to the general public during “phase one” of its plan, which struck public health experts as bizarre. (Daily Beast)
The White House ordered federal agencies to prepare for workers to return to their offices. Agencies were told to align their reopening plans with those of the states and municipalities where they’re located. (Bloomberg)
7/ Trump’s campaign is paying Eric Trump’s wife and Trump Jr.’s girlfriend $180,000 a year each through the campaign manager’s private company, Parscale Strategy. Lara Trump and Kimberly Guilfoyle have been surrogates on the stump and taken on broad advisory roles. (HuffPost / New York Times)
8/ Trump wouldn’t say whether or not he plans to pardon Paul Manafort or Roger Stone. Manafort was convicted of bank and tax fraud and admitted to foreign lobbying-related crimes. Stone was convicted of lying to the FBI about his conversations with members of Trump’s 2016 campaign. When asked whether he planned to pardon Stone or Manafort, Trump replied: “You will find out.” Trump also referred to the FBI investigators involved the Russia investigation that ultimately led to Manafort’s and Stone’s convictions as “human scum,” and said Stone was “treated unfairly.” (CNN / The Independent)
Rick Gates asked to serve his 45-day jail sentence from his home because of concerns about the coronavirus. Gates pleaded guilty in February 2018 to one count of conspiracy against the U.S. and one count of making false statements in a federal investigation. The former Trump campaign aide also testified against Manafort. (Politico)
poll/ 58% of American voters say they’re worried the U.S. will move too quickly to relax stay-at-home restrictions. 32% say they’re more concerned that the U.S. will move too slowly to re-open the U.S. economy. (NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
poll/ 60% of Americans oppose the protests encouraged by Trump to “reopen” the country, while 22% say they support the protesters. (Yahoo News)
🌍 Global: Total confirmed cases ~2,215,000; Total deaths: ~151,000; Total recoveries: ~565,000. (Johns Hopkins University)
🇺🇸 U.S.: Total confirmed cases ~684,000; Total deaths: ~35,000; Total recoveries: ~57,100
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✏️ Reported U.S. coronavirus deaths reach record 4,591 in 24 hours – nearly double the prior record. (Wall Street Journal)
✏️ The experimental coronavirus drug remdesivir has showed promise in a Chicago clinical trial. Patients in the trial have reportedly experienced rapid recoveries from fever and respiratory symptoms, with nearly all patients being discharged in less than a week. The University of Chicago Medicine recruited 125 people with COVID-19 into Gilead Sciences’ two Phase 3 clinical trials. Of those people, 113 had severe respiratory symptoms and fever. All the patients have been treated with daily infusions of remdesivir. (STAT News / CNN)
1/ Trump issued broad guidelines for states to consider as they decide whether to relax social distancing measures, but left specific plans to governors days after insisting he had the “total authority” to unilaterally open the country. Trump said the guidance is based on “hard verifiable data” and that “benchmarks must be met at each phase.” The plan, however, is a vague set of recommendations for a three-phased reopening of businesses, schools, and other gathering places that satisfy broad criteria on symptoms, cases, and hospital loads. The guidelines also suggest that states resuming normal life should plan to “independently” secure protective gear and medical equipment. Businesses, meanwhile, are advised to come up with their own protocols for temperature checks, protective gear, sanitation, and testing. And, despite Trump’s goal for a May 1 reopening, the plan does not contain a date for implementation. “You’re going to call your own shots,” Trump told governors on a conference call Thursday before announcing his “Opening Up America Again” plan, which he described as “the next front in our war.” Trump predicted that there are 29 states were “in the ballgame” and would “be able to open relatively soon,” but didn’t name any. (Washington Post / NBC News / Bloomberg / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / Axios)
Testing for the coronavirus would have to be at least doubled or tripled from its current levels to allow for even a partial reopening of America’s economy, public health experts say. Without testing on a massive scale, federal and state officials and businesses lack a clear picture of who has been infected, who can safely return to work, how the virus is spreading, and when stay-at-home orders can be eased. Trump, meanwhile, tweeted that “The States have to step up their TESTING!” after New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo asked for more help from the federal government to produce tests on a larger scale. About 1% of the U.S. has been tested for COVID-19, which remains too small to consider going back to normal routines, Dr. Dan Hanfling said, who worked in the National Healthcare Preparedness Program during the Obama and Trump administrations. “I don’t think we’re near it. I don’t think we’re close.” (NBC News / New York Times)
Epidemiologists warned that an influential COVID-19 model is flawed and shouldn’t be relied on as the basis for government decision making, including on “re-opening America.” The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington projections were used by the Trump administration in developing national guidelines to mitigate the outbreak and have influenced the White House’s thinking on how and when to “re-open” the country. (STAT News)
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott encouraged retailers to start operating next Friday as “retail to go.” State parks will reopen Monday, but visitors will be required to wear face coverings. Restrictions on non-coronavirus-related surgeries and procedures will also be loosened. Michigan, Wisconsin, Idaho and other states are also looking to ease restrictions, despite inadequate testing.
(Washington Post / New York Times)
Dr. Phil downplayed coronavirus on Fox News by exaggerating statistics about car accidents and swimming pool deaths when comparing them to COVID-19 deaths. In the segment before, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top infectious disease expert in the country, urged a cautious approach for states to slowly reopen their economies, saying the coronavirus was like nothing the country had ever seen before. Dr. Phil immediately undercut Dr. Fauci, arguing that states should reopen their economies even if lives might be lost in order to prevent anxiety and depression. “People are dying from the coronavirus,” Dr. Phil said. “I get that.” (HuffPost / Salon / Washington Post)
2/ Trump tweeted support for protesters in Minnesota, Michigan, and Virginia to “LIBERATE” themselves by defying stay-at-home orders — all states where protesters have gathered in public this week to demonstrate against stay-at-home orders issued by Democratic governors. Less than 24 hours after unveiling a plan that deferred to governors to determine when they could safely reopen their states, Trump sent a series of tweets calling on people to “LIBERATE MICHIGAN!; LIBERATE MINNESOTA!; LIBERATE VIRGINIA, and save your great 2nd Amendment. It is under siege!” Trump’s tweets were sent moments after a Fox News report about protests in Minnesota and elsewhere. (Bloomberg / Politico / USA Today / ABC News / New York Times)
3/ Trump’s reelection campaign still plans to hold rallies leading up to November’s election, despite public health experts warning that large gatherings should be put on hold until as late as next year. “We will get back to those rallies, “ Tim Murtaugh said, Trump’s campaign communications director. “Never fear, the president is certain that we’re going to be back out there speaking directly to the American people.” Trump campaign officials have discussed holding rallies in states that are deemed low risk and ways to implement social distancing precautions at future rallies, but it’s not clear what would characterize a state as “low risk.” (ABC News)
4/ Trump’s campaign committee hasn’t paid 14 city governments a combined $1.82 million for public safety costs stemming from his campaign rallies. The campaign said it’s not responsible for reimbursing cities for police and public safety costs associated with its rallies. (The Center for Public Integrity)
5/ Smugglers sawed into new sections of Trump’s border wall 18 times in one month in San Diego area between Sept. 27 and Oct. 27 last year, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection records. The records don’t indicate whether the one-month span is a representative sample of how frequently people are trying to breach Trump’s border barrier. (Washington Post)
The Army Corps of Engineers awarded a politically connected Montana firm $569 million to build “17.17 miles” of the border wall. (Daily Beast)
6/ Michael Cohen will be released from prison due to the coronavirus pandemic. The federal Bureau of Prisons notified Cohen’s attorney that he will be able to serve the remainder of his three-year sentence — which ends in November 2021 — under house arrest instead of in prison. Trump’s former personal attorney will have to undergo a 14-day quarantine in prison before he is released. (CNN / NBC News)
7/ A federal judge denied Roger stone’s request for a new trial, who was convicted last year of witness tampering and lying to Congress about his conversations with members of the Trump 2016 campaign. Stone alleged that the forewoman of the jury engaged in juror misconduct by lying on a questionnaire as the jury was being selected. Judge Amy Berman Jackson’s dismissal of Stone’s retrial request means Stone could begin serving his 40-month prison sentence as soon as two weeks from now. Judge Jackson also lifted the gag order placed on Stone, which prohibited him from discussing Robert Mueller’s cases or his own case on social media (CNBC / CNN / Washington Post / NBC News)
poll/ 65% of Americans say Trump waited too long to take to address the threat of the coronavirus in the U.S. 47% of Republicans say criticizing the Trump administration’s response to the virus is acceptable, while 85% of Democrats feel the same. (Pew Research Center / Axios)
poll/ 31% of Americans believe a return to normalcy will come by June 1 – down from 44% who said the same at the beginning of April. 18% think they’ll return to their regular daily routine by July 1, 26% by the end of summer, and 25% expect to resume their normal life by the end of the year or later. (ABC News)
Global: Total confirmed cases ~2,135,000; Total deaths: ~142,200; Total recoveries: ~541,000. (Johns Hopkins University)
U.S.: Total confirmed cases ~654,300; Total deaths: ~32,200; Total recoveries: ~53,700
Markets: Dow 📈; S&P 500 📈; Nasdaq 📈
More than 9,000 U.S. health care workers have been infected with the coronavirus.
COVID-19 is becoming one of America’s leading cause of death. COVID-19 killed more people from April 6 to April 12 than any other cause of death except heart disease typically does in a normal April week. (Washington Post)
1/ Trump’s new federal guidelines for opening up the country will put the onus on governors to decide how and when to restart their economies. Trump told governors on a conference call that “You’re going to call your own shots. You’re going to be calling the shots. We’ll be standing right alongside of you and we’re going to get our country open and get it working.” He added that “You states with beautifully low numbers, let’s get your states open and get back to work” on May 1. The new guidelines, formally known as Opening Up America Again, are a reversal from three days ago when Trump insisted that “the president of the United States calls the shots” and that he had the “total” authority to decide how and when the country reopen. (Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Axios / Washington Post / NBC News / CNN / Bloomberg)
📌 Day 1181: Trump falsely claimed “I have the ultimate authority” over states to reopen the country once the coronavirus pandemic shows signs of receding, despite governors forging ahead with their own plans. Trump added: “When somebody is the president of the United States, the authority is total and that’s the way it’s got to be. … It’s total. The governors know that.” When asked by reporters what provisions of the Constitution gave him the power to override the states if they wanted to remain closed, Trump responded by saying: “Numerous provisions,” without naming any. “The president of the United States calls the shots. [States] can’t do anything without the approval of the president of the United States.” The Tenth Amendment to the Constitution, meanwhile, states: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” (New York Times / Washington Post / ABC News)
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo tapped McKinsey & Company to develop a science-based, “Trump-proof” economic plan to reopen the region with the goal of thwarting pressure from Trump to move faster. Meanwhile, New York and other East Coast states extended the shutdown of nonessential businesses to May 15.(Reuters / CNBC)
The governors of Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky will coordinate reopening the Midwest regional economy. The governors said they will focus on four factors when determining when best to reopen: sustained rate of new infections and hospitalizations, ability to test and trace, health care capacity to handle resurgence, and best practices for social distancing in the workplace. (CNN)
✏️ The Trump administration invited a bipartisan group of lawmakers to participate in a task force to address when the country should return to normal. (Politico)
✏️ Widespread testing a barrier for reopening country as White House seeks plan. White House aides scramble to ramp up testing in the U.S., but there’s no clear plan yet. (NBC News)
🤦♂️ Dept. of People Are Very Dumb.
A protest movement is taking hold targeting states that have extended social-distancing rules, closed schools, and restricted access to large religious gatherings. Trumpists are urging people to leave their homes to own the libs. (Daily Beast)
Michiganders believe Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer latest stay-at-home order went too far, accusing her of stripping them of their constitutional rights. Online, they pledged to protest, signed petitions calling for her recall and joined Facebook groups dedicated to having the order curtailed. (NBC News)
Large crowds showed up in Michigan’s capital for what organizers are calling “Operation Gridlock.” People — in their cars, on sidewalks, lawns and on the Capitol steps — gathered to protest Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s “Stay Home, Stay Safe” executive order. Organizers of the rally want some of the restrictions eased, and the state economy re-started. Many demonstrators, some waving Trump campaign flags, ignored organizers‘ pleas to stay in their cars and flooded the streets of Lansing, the state capital, with some chanting, “Lock her up!” and “We will not comply!”(WWJ 950 / Politico / Washington Post)
Impatient protesters demanding Gov. Andy Beshear reopen Kentucky disrupted his televised pandemic update, chanting, blowing horns and shouting into a megaphone outside the window of the briefing room and nearly drowning out his comments to Kentuckians. (Courier-Journal)
2/ Trump administration officials warned against cutting funding to the World Health Organization, saying it would erode America’s global standing, threaten U.S. lives, and hurt global efforts to combat the coronavirus pandemic. The internal memo, written by U.S. officials and addressed to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, cautioned that pausing funding to the organization would “impact over $50 million in U.S. assistance planned to help host governments address urgent needs and risks undermining the U.S. narrative of a long-standing health leader, ceding ground to the (People’s Republic of China).” The WHO, meanwhile, responded to Trump’s threat to cutoff U.S. funding and accusation that it was “severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus,” saying “We alerted the world on January the 5th. Systems around the world, including the U.S., began to activate their incident management systems on January the 6th. And […] we’ve produced multiple updates […] on the developing situation — and that is what it was, a developing situation.” (ProPublica / NPR / New York Times)
The White House installed former Trump campaign operative Michael Caputo in the top communications position at the Department of Health and Human Services. The move is seen as an attempt by Trump to assert more control over HHS Secretary Alex Azar, whom the White House believes is behind a series of recent reports that have been critical of Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Caputo is a long-time friend of Roger Stone and a Trump loyalist who recently published a book called, “The Ukraine Hoax,” which claimed there was a conspiracy driving Trump’s impeachment. (Politico)
As the Trump administration discouraged mask use for the public, the National Security Council secured a personal stash of 3,600 masks for White House staff. A senior NSC appealed to Taiwan on March 14 for a donation of hundreds of thousands of surgical masks. At the time, the Trump administration was discouraging Americans from wearing masks, saying that healthy people didn’t need them and that the gear should be saved for medical workers. (Washington Post)
New Chinese export restrictions have stranded face masks, test kits, and other medical equipment for the U.S. in warehouses across China. The policies, instituted this month, have “disrupted established supply chains for medical products just as these products were most needed for the global response to Covid-19,” according to State Department memos. (Wall Street Journal)
The Trump administration awarded a $55 million contract for N95 masks to a bankrupt company with no employees or experience producing medical supplies. (Washington Post / Business Insider)
3/ More than 5.2 million Americans filing first-time claims for unemployment insurance last week. In the past four weeks, more than 22 million Americans have filed for unemployment aid — wiping out nearly all the job gains since the Great Recession. The U.S. unemployment rate is now over 20% and is expected remain close to 10% through the end of the year. (NPR / Washington Post / CNBC / Associated Press)
“Glitches” delay $1,200 stimulus checks from reaching millions of Americans – or the wrong amount was deposited. Several million people who filed their taxes via H&R Block, TurboTax and other services were unable to get paid because the IRS didn’t have their direct deposit information on file. (Washington Post)
The Small Business Administration stopped accepting applications for two programs meant to help small firms survive the coronavirus pandemic after running out of money. Funds for both the $349 billion Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program lapsed in less than two weeks. (Bloomberg / Washington Post / Axios)
4/ Trump threatened to adjourn both chambers of Congress if the Senate doesn’t confirm his nominees for various openings across his administration. Trump warned Congress to “either fulfill its duty and vote on my nominees or it should formally adjourn so I can make recess appointments.” Lawmakers aren’t expected to return to Capitol Hill until May 4, but the House and Senate have both been conducting pro forma sessions while they’re out. Trump called the practice of “leaving town while conducting phony pro forma sessions” a “scam” and a “dereliction of duty.” U.S. presidents have the power under Article II, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution to convene either or both chambers of Congress “on extraordinary occasions” or adjourn them “to such time as he shall think proper.” No president has ever exercised that authority. There are, however, procedural rules in the Senate that would require consent from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in order to allow Trump to go through with the adjournment. (Washington Post / CNBC / Politico / Axios / The Hill)
5/ Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner defied federal social distancing guidelines and traveled to New Jersey with their children to celebrate the first night of Passover. Jared and Ivanka flew with their three children to Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, NJ despite federal guidelines and a stay-at-home order issued on April 1 for the city of Washington. (New York Times)
6/ The EPA will weaken regulations on mercury and other air pollutants released from oil and coal-fired power plants. The rule does not eliminate restrictions on the release of mercury, but will instead create a new method of calculating the costs and benefits of mercury pollution, which will fundamentally undermine the legal underpinnings on controls of mercury and other pollutants. (New York Times / CNN)
poll/ 43% of Americans approve of the job Trump is doing as president – down six percentage points since mid-March. Trump’s average rating since taking office is 40%. (Gallup)
✏️ Harvard researchers: Social distancing may remain in place until 2022. Researchers said social distancing may have to be extended unless a vaccine becomes available or “critical care capacity is increased.” (Bloomberg / NBC News / CNN)
1/ Trump cutoff U.S. funding to the World Health Organization in response to the agency’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. “We have not been treated properly,” Trump said, deflecting blame for his dismissal of the virus as a threat to Americans and the U.S. economy. The hold will remain for up to 90 days while the Trump administration conducts a funding review. Trump said the U.S. had “a duty to insist on full accountability,” accusing the WHO of “severely mismanaging and covering up” the crisis. Trump also said that “if we cannot trust them,” then the U.S. will be “forced to find other ways to work with other nations to achieve public health goals.” The U.S. is the largest donor to the WHO, and contributes between $400 million and $500 million a year to the organization, which has an annual budget of around $6 billion. (Washington Post / Politico /USA Today / Wall Street Journal / Axios / CNN / NBC News / BBC News)
Bill Gates: Trump’s decision to suspend funding to the WHO “during a world health crisis is as dangerous as it sounds.” (Washington Post)
Robert Redfield, director of the CDC, said his agency will continue to work with the WHO to combat the coronavirus pandemic and other infectious diseases, saying the U.S. has a “very productive public health relationship” with the WHO. (Politico / HuffPost)
House Democrats: Trump’s halt on funding to the WHO is illegal and violates the same federal spending laws as the Ukraine aid freeze that prompted his impeachment. (Politico)
2/ The Treasury Department ordered Trump’s name printed on the IRS stimulus checks that are being sent out to tens of millions of Americans. It will be the first time a president’s name will appear on an IRS funding disbursement and likely lead to a delay in issuing the first batch of paper checks. Trump privately asked Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin to let him formally sign the checks, but presidents are not an authorized signer for legal disbursements by the U.S. Treasury. “President Donald J. Trump” will be printed on the fronts of the checks. (Washington Post / CNN / Bloomberg / NBC News)
3/ The Paycheck Protection Program is expected to run out of money today – after 13 days. The $349 billion federal relief program for small businesses was designed to support businesses hit by the pandemic get by with short-term, stopgap loans until the economy reopens. The Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, which was supposed to disperse emergency cash grants within three days, meanwhile, is running weeks behind. (Bloomberg / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
One person is currently overseeing the $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief fund. The new law requires congressional leaders to appoint a five-member panel, but so far only Bharat Ramamurti has been named to the Congressional Oversight Commission. Under the new law, the disbursement of Treasury funds triggers requires the oversight commission to produce its first public report within 30 days. (Bloomberg)
Retail sales fell 8.7% in March from a month earlier – the biggest month-over-month decline since 1992. (Wall Street Journal)
U.S. factory output dropped 5.4% in March – the largest drop since 1946. (Bloomberg)
Homebuilder confidence fell 42 points to a reading of 30 in April, the lowest point since June 2012 and the biggest monthly drop in the index’s 35-year history. (CNBC)
4/ Trump announced the formation of his “Opening the Country” council, which includes dozens of high-profile business and labor leaders, who will advise him on when and how to restart the U.S. economy. Instead of creating a new task force to help revive the nation’s economy, Trump will hold calls with more than 200 business leaders, including chief executives at JPMorgan Chase, Blackstone, Apple, Facebook, the New England Patriots, and the National Basketball Association, among others. “I’m tired of watching baseball games that are 14 years old,” Trump said, adding: “But I haven’t actually had too much time to watch.” Executives, meanwhile, told Trump the availability of coronavirus testing would need to “dramatically increase” before the public would be confident enough to return to work, eat at restaurants or shop in retail establishments. FEMA and the CDC have also put together guidance for state and local governments on how they can ease mitigation efforts, moving from restrictions such as stay-at-home orders in a phased way to support a safe reopening. Trump would not confirm if the people on his list had agreed to serve on his council. Some business leaders have reportedly been hesitant to tie their names and companies to the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic and to a council with no clear roster or mandate. (New York Times / Bloomberg / CNN / NPR / NBC News / Vox / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post)
The number of coronavirus tests analyzed each day in the U.S. has slowed by more than 30% over the past week. Commercial labs say they are sitting with unused testing capacity waiting for samples to arrive. (Politico)
Trump said he will be “authorizing” governors of individual states to reopen their economies. “I will be speaking to all 50 governors very shortly,” Trump said. “And I will then be authorizing each individual governor of each individual state to implement a reopening, very powerful reopening plan of their estate in a time in a manner which is most appropriate.” Trump previously claimed that only he had the “total authority” as president to decide whether states could reopen their economies or if they are to remain under strict social distancing guidelines to prevent the spread of COVID-19. (Axios / NBC News)
5/ Trump wanted to start a White House talk radio show – a daily, two-hour show with an open phone line for people to call and engage one-on-one with him. According to White House officials, Trump did not want to compete with Rush Limbaugh. Instead, Trump opted for daily televised press briefings. (New York Times)
✏️ Our Pandemic Summer: The fight against the coronavirus won’t be over when the U.S. reopens. Here’s how the nation must prepare itself. (The Atlantic)
✏️ Coronavirus distancing may need to continue until 2022, say experts. Scientists say one-time lockdown will not bring pandemic under control. (The Guardian)
1/ YESTERDAY: Trump interrupted the daily coronavirus task force briefing to play a heavily-edited, campaign-style highlight reel of video clips and soundbites praising himself and the steps his administration has taken to combat the virus over the last four months. “Everything we did was right,” Trump said, while calling the New York Times a “fake newspaper.” Trump prefaced the video as his response to a recent report in the Times that revealed he wasted several weeks doing nothing to prevent the spread of the virus throughout the U.S., despite several warnings and calls to action from senior U.S. officials and public health experts. While the video played, Trump grinned and pointed to the screen when he saw clips of himself speaking. At one point Trump paused to boast, “But I guess I’m doing okay because, to the best of my knowledge, I’m the president of the United States, despite the things that are said.” CNN stopped its live coverage of the briefing and accused Trump of playing “a propaganda video at taxpayer expense in the White House briefing room.” The briefing began with Trump turning to Dr. Anthony Fauci and asking him to “say a few words before we go any further.” Fauci offered a not-quite-apology for confirming the report that he and other health experts had made mitigation recommendations to Trump as early as the third weekend of February and said that earlier mitigation “could have saved lives.” (Washington Post / The Hill / The Intercept / The Guardian / Daily Beast)
Reporter to Trump: What did you do for the entire month of February? CBS reporter Paula Reid grilled Trump about the Trump administration’s lack of action for the entire month of February as the coronavirus pandemic was spreading across the U.S. (CNN)
2/ Trump falsely claimed “I have the ultimate authority” over states to reopen the country once the coronavirus pandemic shows signs of receding, despite governors forging ahead with their own plans. Trump added: “When somebody is the president of the United States, the authority is total and that’s the way it’s got to be. … It’s total. The governors know that.” When asked by reporters what provisions of the Constitution gave him the power to override the states if they wanted to remain closed, Trump responded by saying: “Numerous provisions,” without naming any. “The president of the United States calls the shots. [States] can’t do anything without the approval of the president of the United States.” The Tenth Amendment to the Constitution, meanwhile, states: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” (New York Times / Washington Post / ABC News)
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo warned Trump against trying to reopen the state against his wishes, saying it would create “a constitutional crisis like you haven’t seen in decades” and could result in a dramatic increase in coronavirus cases. “The only ways this situation gets worse is if the president creates a constitutional crisis,” Cuomo said. Trump, meanwhile, lashed out at Democratic state governors, suggesting they were “mutineers” after Cuomo said he would refuse any order by the president to reopen the economy too soon. (NBC News / Politico)
3/ Dr. Anthony Fauci: “We’re not there yet” with testing and tracing procedures needed to begin reopening the nation’s economy. Dr. Fauci added that Trump’s May 1 target for restarting the economy is “overly optimistic,” saying that there will be new outbreaks in locations where social distancing has been eased, but public health officials don’t yet have the capabilities to rapidly test, isolate new cases, and track down everyone that an infected person came into contact with. (Associated Press / Reuters)
The 4 plans to end social distancing, explained. The plans all say the U.S. needs more testing. But they differ on how much more. (Vox)
4/ More than 80% of the benefits of a tax change in the coronavirus relief package Congress passed last month will go to those who earn more than $1 million annually. The provision temporarily suspends a limitation on how much owners of businesses formed as “pass-through” entities can deduct against their nonbusiness income, such as capital gains, to reduce their tax liability. The provision was inserted into the legislation by Senate Republicans and will cost taxpayers about $90 billion in 2020. (Washington Post)
5/ The spread of the coronavirus through the food and grocery industry is expected to cause disruptions in production and distribution of certain products as increasing numbers of workers are falling ill with the virus in meat processing plants, warehouses, and grocery stores. Industry leaders say shortages could increase, but insist that people will have enough to eat; they just may not have the usual variety. (New York Times)
6/ The CIA has advised its workforce that taking an anti-malarial drug touted by Trump for the coronavirus has potentially dangerous side effects, including sudden death. A CIA website for employees about the coronavirus addressed the topic on March 27, noting “At this point, the drug is not recommended to be used by patients except by medical professionals prescribing it as part of ongoing investigational studies. There are potentially significant side effects, including sudden cardiac death, associated with hydroxychloroquine and its individual use in patients need to be carefully selected and monitored by a health care professional,” adding in bold type: “Please do not obtain this medication on your own.” (Washington Post)
poll/ 57% of Americans think Trump waited too long to act in response to the coronavirus. 85% of Democrats and 56% of Independents feel that way, while 71% of Republicans say they’re happy with the speed of Trump’s response. 20% of Republicans think Trump should have moved faster. (YouGov)
poll/ 55% of Americans say the U.S. government was not prepared for the coronavirus pandemic. 30% said the government was “not at all prepared,” while 25% said it was “not so prepared.” (Business Insider)
poll/ 49% of voters disapprove of Trump’s handling of the coronavirus, compared to 45% who approve. For the first time, a plurality of voters disapprove of Trump’s COVID-19 response. (Morning Consult)
1/ Trump was warned about the potential for a pandemic in January that could kill up to half a million Americans and cost trillions of dollars in economic losses. In January, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar was notified by Robert Redfield, director of the CDC, about the coronavirus, which was spreading through Wuhan. Azar then notified the White House and sent a report to the National Security Council. Azar first briefed Trump about the threat of the virus on Jan. 18 – while Trump was at Mar-a-Lago. A Jan. 29 memo produced by his trade adviser, Peter Navarro, urged Trump to impose the travel limits, outlining the potential risks of a coronavirus pandemic. Trump, however, told aides that he was unhappy that Navarro had put his warning in writing. On Jan. 30, Azar again briefed Trump, warning that the coronavirus had the potential to become a pandemic. Trump dismissed Azar, saying he was being an alarmist. Trump took his first concrete action at the end of January to limit travel from China. By the third week in February, the administration’s public health experts recommended that Trump should warn Americans of the risks and promote social distancing measures. For three weeks, the White House focused on messaging and predictions of success rather than calling for a shift to mitigation. Trump finally agreed on Mar. 16 to recommend social distancing across the country, but not before the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the U.S. had grown from 15 to 4,226. Since then, half a million Americans have tested positive and more than 23,000 have died. (New York Times / Washington Post)
✏️ The 10 times Trump was warned about coronavirus. (Axios)
✏️ A month after Trump declared a national emergency and promised a mobilization of public and private resources to attack the coronavirus, few of the promises made that day have come to pass. (NPR)
👑 Trump leaves trail of unmet promises in coronavirus response. But bold promises and florid assurances were made, day after day, from the White House and a zigzagging president who minimized the danger for months and systematically exaggerates what Washington is doing about it. (Associated Press)
👑 Inside the denial and dysfunction of Trump’s coronavirus task force. Trump’s plan was “a total, complete, absolute clusterf**k.” (Rolling Stone)
2/ Dr. Fauci confirmed the report that Trump rebuffed social distancing recommendations by public health officials, saying the U.S. could have “obviously” saved more lives if efforts to stop the spread of the coronavirus began earlier. Dr. Fauci said that if things were shut down “right from the very beginning, it may have been a little bit different.” He added that recommendations by the government’s top public health experts to implement social distancing measures faced “a lot of pushback.” (NBC News / CNN / Washington Post / The Guardian)
3/ Trump retweeted a post calling for Dr. Fauci to be fired after the nation’s top infectious disease specialist said more could have been done to prevent the spread of coronavirus. The White House, meanwhile, denied that Trump is considering firing Dr. Fauci, calling Trump’s own retweet – that said “Time to #FireFauci” – just “ridiculous” “media chatter.” Trump, meanwhile, spent the weekend calling people close to him and asking them, “What do you think of Fauci?” (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / CNN / Daily Beast)
4/ Trump declared he has the power to overrule governors and “open up” states and relax social distancing practices to combat the coronavirus, saying he’ll reopen the economy “based on a lot of facts and a lot of instincts.” Trump tweeted that “It is the decision of the President” on whether “to open up the states” after six states in the Northeast, including New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, said they would jointly develop a plan to reopen schools and businesses after the outbreak subsides, while California, Washington, and Oregon said they would create their own framework. Trump has been advocating for reopening the economy by May 1 in recent days, despite several administration officials cautioning that the target date may not be realistic. “I think it’s just too early to be able to tell that we see light at the end of the tunnel,” FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn said. “I think it’s just too early for us to say whether May 1 is that date.” Dr. Fauci, too, said that “It is not going to be a light switch […] Not one size fits all.” Governors and top health experts also raised doubts about Trump’s goal of starting to reopen the U.S. economy next month, warning that moving too quickly and without more reliable testing could lead to a deadly setback. (Bloomberg / NBC News / Washington Post / Vox / Politico / Axios)
✏️ States take unorthodox steps to compete in global market for coronavirus supplies. Help from the federal government is inconsistent, with some governors having luck working with their regional directors from FEMA, others finding an in with Jared Kushner, and some appealing directly to Trump. (Washington Post)
The White House does not have a plan to reopen the economy and allow Americans to safely resume work. Trump and his top aides haven’t settle on the benchmarks they’ll use to decide which parts of the country reopen and when. They are, instead, receiving advice from a number of executives and donors. (Politico)
5/ Jared Kushner’s supply chain task force pushed aside long-established federal emergency management response teams, favored some of the nation’s largest corporations, and ignored smaller producers of goods and services with track records of meeting emergency needs. Pence tapped Kushner and his “innovation team” to help federal agencies expedite the acquisition and distribution of equipment. Instead, “Jared and his friends decided they were going to do their thing,” said a senior government official involved in the response effort. “It cost weeks.” Governors, local officials and veterans of federal emergency response added that Kushner’s team has complicated the national fight against the pandemic. (NBC News)
The names of the businesses that will receive hundreds of billions of dollars in federal coronavirus relief funding may not be disclosed publicly because of the way the relief bill was written. The bill requires the names of some federal aid recipients to be published, but the CARES Act does not compel the Small Business Administration to disclose the identities of the companies that receive money from the $349 billion small business relief package. So far, the SBA has received around 487,000 applications for a total of $125 billion in funding requests. (Washington Post)
The Trump administration wants to cut wages for migrant workers in order to make it easier for the farming industry to cope with the economic impacts of the coronavirus. White House chief of staff Mark Meadows has been working with Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue on a policy that would reduce pay for people who are in the country under the H-2A seasonal guest-worker program. H-2A workers make up about 10 percent of farm laborers in the U.S. One way the Trump administration might accomplish this is to change a specific rule that requires farmers to pay their laborers a comparable rate to local hourly pay laws, a rule which Perdue has said is “kind of pricing ourselves out of business.” (NPR / The Hill)
👑 The Trump administration has no plan for ending the coronavirus crisis, but it does have many task forces. In theory, the task forces are all working toward the same goal of defeating the novel coronavirus and getting the nation back to work, but the reality is a bureaucratic nesting doll of groups with frequently competing aims and agendas. (Washington Post)
6/ Trump threatened to veto the $2 trillion CARES Act if the legislation contained any funding for the U.S. Postal Service. The Postal Service’s financial troubles have worsened as the volume of mail has declined due to the pandemic. Last week, members of Congress were informed that it will “run out of cash” in September without federal assistance, which would impact the 2020 elections as states expand absentee voting and vote-by-mail. Trump, meanwhile, tweeted that “Republicans should fight very hard when it comes to state wide mail-in voting,” saying it “doesn’t work out well for Republicans.” (Washington Post / Politico / Business Insider / Vox)
7/ The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments via teleconference in May – the first time the court will hear cases remotely. The court will hear 10 cases in all between May 4 and May 13, including arguments over subpoenas for Trump’s financial records. (Politico / Associated Press / Axios / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
The Senate will stop confirming Trump’s judicial nominations until the coronavirus pandemic has subsided. A total of 38 lifetime judicial appointments are currently awaiting confirmation hearings in the Senate. Senate Republicans have been confirming Trump’s nominees at a rapid-fire pace, and they plan to resume confirmations as soon as they return to Capitol Hill and resume their regular legislative schedule. “If we’re not there, it’s hard to push them through,” said Senate Majority Whip John Thune. (Politico)
Editor’s note: I’m apparently not very good at following my own publishing schedule. WTF Just Happened Today? was supposed to be off today for Good Friday (and will be Monday, April 13, in observance of Easter), but here we are. As a result, today’s post is short – more of a limited/supplemental edition. And, as a reminder, WTFJHT publishes Monday-Friday, except for federal, market holidays, and some random holidays, including Donald Trump’s birthday. Anyway, have a great, socially distant weekend and remember to wash your damn hands (and to tip your blogger)!
1/ The Trump administration continued to push to reopen much of the country by May 1 despite concerns from health experts and economists of a possible COVID-19 resurgence if Americans return to their normal lives before the coronavirus is under control. At his daily briefing on Thursday, Trump said “Hopefully, we’re going to be opening up — you could call it opening — very, very, very, very soon, I hope.” But on Friday, Trump walked that back, saying “we’re not doing anything until we know this country is going to be healthy,” adding “We’re looking at a date, we hope we’ll be able to fulfill a certain date.” CDC guidance on social distancing is set to expire April 30. Trump added that he was creating a new council of doctors and business leaders devoted to “opening our country,” which will be separate from the Coronavirus Task Force. (Washington Post / CNBC / CBS News / Politico)
CDC Director: ‘Very Aggressive’ Contact Tracing Needed For U.S. To Return To Normal. (NPR)
[Opinion] I’ve read the plans to reopen the economy. They’re scary. “Even if you can imagine the herculean political, social, and economic changes necessary to manage our way through this crisis effectively, there is no normal for the foreseeable future. Until there’s a vaccine, the US either needs economically ruinous levels of social distancing, a digital surveillance state of shocking size and scope, or a mass testing apparatus of even more shocking size and intrusiveness.” (Vox - Ezra Klein)
[Opinion] Getting Down to Planning the Next Year and the Interim New Normal. “Put simply, we won’t be able to get back to even a semi-normal social and economic life until we have a system in place that will prevent us from rapidly falling right back into a cycle of more outbreaks, lockdowns, deaths in the tens of thousands and economic shocks.” (Talking Points Memo – Josh Marshall)
2/ New projections from the departments of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services show a spike in coronavirus infections if shelter in place, school closures, and social distancing orders are lifted after 30 days. The projections, dated April 9, outlined three scenarios: doing nothing to mitigate the spread; a “steady state” where schools remain closed until summer, 25% of Americans work from home, and social distancing continues; and a 30-day shelter in place, on top of those “steady state” restrictions. The report concludes that lifting restrictions after 30 days would result in “a greater rebound peak after the mitigation is relaxed.” Trump, meanwhile, called relaxing the restrictions “without question, it’s the biggest decision I’ve ever had to make.” (New York Times / Bloomberg / Politico)
3/ Defense Secretary Mark Esper said he is open to reinstating Navy captain who was relieved of his post after asking for help dealing with a coronavirus outbreak aboard his ship. Esper said his “inclination is always to support the chain of command,” but that he has “taken nothing off the table” when it comes to the possibility of reinstating Capt. Brett Cozier. Cozier was relieved after a letter he sent to Esper asking for help with the outbreak was leaked to the media. (The Hill)
📌 Day 1174: Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly resigned a day after he ridiculed and then apologized to a captain he had ousted for raising concerns about a coronavirus outbreak on the USS Theodore Roosevelt. Modly, speaking to the ship’s crew over a loudspeaker, called Capt. Brett Crozier “too naive or too stupid to be the commanding officer of a ship like this,” accusing him of a “betrayal of trust.” Capt. Crozier was relieved of command last week by Modly after writing a letter to senior Navy officials outlining the challenges of trying to contain a coronavirus outbreak aboard the ship and requested that sailors be allowed to quarantine on land. Defense Secretary Mark Esper accepted Modly’s resignation and selected Under Secretary of the Army James McPherson to replace Modly as acting Navy secretary. (Washington Post / NBC News / CNN / Wall Street Journal / Axios)
poll/ 52% of Americans under 45 have lost their job, been placed on leave, or had their hours cut. Overall, 33% have already lost their job, been furloughed, or had their hours reduced, with 41% of those already reporting having trouble covering basic costs. (Data For Progress)
Record Bankruptcies Predicted in Next Year as Unemployment Soars. (Bloomberg)
Conservative leaders are concerned that Trump is not addressing the long-term economic impact of the coronavirus. (Axios / Wall Street Journal)
1/ Another 6.6 million Americans filed first-time unemployment claims last week — marking the largest and fastest string of job losses since 1948. More than 17 million new claims have been filed over the last three weeks – or about 10% of the U.S. workforce. Economists estimate that the U.S. unemployment rate is now 13% – the worst level of joblessness the nation has seen since the Great Depression. In February, the unemployment rate was 3.5%. The number of jobs lost in the last three weeks now exceeds the 15 million that it took 18 months during the Great Recession, from 2007 to 2009. (CNBC / Associated Press / Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / CNN / Vox / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
The International Monetary Fund sees the world economy suffering its worst recession since the Great Depression this year. The IMF’s baseline outlook is for a partial recovery in the global economy in 2021 – if the pandemic fades in the second half of this year. (Bloomberg)
2/ The Senate stalled on a proposal to add $250 billion in the small business coronavirus relief fund. Mitch McConnell had sought unanimous consent to approve more funding for the Paycheck Protection Program, but Democrats objected, calling the proposal “a political stunt” since the Paycheck Protection Program hasn’t run out of money, but other programs have. Democrats also said the PPP process needs to be streamlined to make it easier for small businesses to get loans. In turn, Democrats tried to add additional funding for hospitals and state and local governments, which Republicans blocked. The Senate then adjourned until Monday with no deal to deliver coronavirus aid. (Politico / Bloomberg / CNN / CNBC / New York Times / NBC News)
The federal government will end funding for drive-through coronavirus testing sites this Friday. A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services said that “Many of the Community-Based Testing Sites are not closing, but rather transitioning to state-managed sites on or about April 10.” (NPR)
The Federal Reserve will inject an additional $2.3 trillion into the U.S. economy in order to mitigate the financial impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. The new plan would provide loans to business with up to 10,000 employees and less than $2.5 billion in annual revenue in 2019. Principal and interest payments would be deferred for one year. The $2.3 trillion would also include a $500 billion lending program for small businesses and municipal governments, which would begin at $1 million and would be capped at either $25 million or at an amount that “when added to the Eligible Borrower’s existing outstanding and committed but undrawn debt, does not exceed four times the Eligible Borrower’s 2019 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization.” (Wall Street Journal / CNBC)
3/ Trump is preparing a second, smaller coronavirus task force focused on reviving the U.S. economy. The task force would include a mix of people from the private sector as well as top administration officials, including Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, and economic adviser Larry Kudlow. The economic task force would be separate from the main coronavirus task force, led by Pence, and would focus on getting as much of the U.S. economy as possible up and running again by April 30. (Washington Post / Axios / CNN)
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin believes that “if the doctors let us,” the U.S. economy could reopen in May. White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow also said he believes the economy could open sooner, predicting it’s possible “in the next four to eight weeks.” Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, meanwhile, warned against trying to return to normal too quickly. (Politico / CNBC)
4/ Dr. Anthony Fauci said social distancing and behavior changes are “starting to have a real effect” and that the virus death toll may look “more like 60,000 than the 100,000 to 200,000” initially predicted. Trump, meanwhile, said Americans “want to go back” to work because they are going “stir crazy.” CDC Director Robert Redfield separately announced new guidelines that would allow what he called “essential workers” to return to their jobs sooner. (Bloomberg / ABC News)
Attorney General William Barr called the practice of social distancing meant to control the spread of COVID-19 “draconian” and suggested that they should be eased next month. “When this period of time, at the end of April, expires, I think we have to allow people to adapt more than we have, and not just tell people to go home and hide under their bed, but allow them to use other ways — social distancing and other means — to protect themselves,” Barr said. (Washington Post)
South Korea’s CDC warns that the coronavirus may be “reactivating” in people who have been cured of the illness. About 51 patients classified as “cured” in South Korea have tested positive again. A patient is deemed fully recovered when two tests conducted with a 24-hour interval show negative results. (Bloomberg)
5/ The Office of Management and Budget is working on a plan to cut U.S. aid to the World Health Organization, as Trump continues to face questions about his early statements playing down the virus and how unprepared his administration has been. Earlier this week, Trump said he was putting U.S. aid to the WHO “on hold.” (NBC News)
📌 Day 1175: Trump attacked the World Health Organization and threatened to withhold funding because of its handling of the coronavirus outbreak and its criticisms of his own policies. Trump, seeking to blame the WHO for the same missteps and failures his administration made, accused the group of having “called it wrong […] every aspect of it wrong” and being “China-centric.” After saying that the U.S. would “put a hold on money spent to the WHO – We’re going to put a very powerful hold on it,” Trump later denied that he had made those remarks, saying “I’m not saying that I’m going to do it […] I said we’re going to look at it.” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus responded, saying: “If you want to be exploited and if you want to have many more body bags, then you [politicize the virus]. If you don’t want many more body bags, then you refrain from politicizing it.” (New York Times / The Guardian / NPR / CNBC)
6/ Pence blocked public health officials from appearing on CNN until the network agreed to carry the daily White House coronavirus briefings in their entirety. Pence’s office later reversed course, allowing for the booking of CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and Dr. Deborah Birx. CNN and other networks frequently air only the first portion of the daily briefings live – the part that is typically led by Trump – before returning to their news anchors during the second half of the briefing. (CNN / CNBC)
7/ The Trump administration has deported nearly 10,000 migrants since March 21 using emergency coronavirus measures that provide Customs and Border Protection broad authority to bypass immigration laws. The moves have cut the number of detainees held in border stations to fewer than 100 detainees – down from nearly 20,000 at this time last year. (Washington Post)
poll/ 54% of Americans say the federal measures have not gone far enough – up from 45% in late March – 35% say the measures have been appropriate, and 7% say they have gone too far. (Monmouth University Poll)
poll/ 38% of Americans are satisfied that the Trump administration is doing everything it can to stop the coronavirus, while 47% say they are not satisfied. The 9 percentage point spread has more than doubled over the last two weeks. 50% of Americans disapprove of Trump’s coronavirus response, while 42% approve. Among registered voters, 54% disapprove, while 43% approve. (Yahoo News)
1/ Trump attacked the World Health Organization and threatened to withhold funding because of its handling of the coronavirus outbreak and its criticisms of his own policies. Trump, seeking to blame the WHO for the same missteps and failures his administration made, accused the group of having “called it wrong […] every aspect of it wrong” and being “China-centric.” After saying that the U.S. would “put a hold on money spent to the WHO – We’re going to put a very powerful hold on it,” Trump later denied that he had made those remarks, saying “I’m not saying that I’m going to do it […] I said we’re going to look at it.” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus responded, saying: “If you want to be exploited and if you want to have many more body bags, then you [politicize the virus]. If you don’t want many more body bags, then you refrain from politicizing it.” (New York Times / The Guardian / NPR / CNBC)
2/ U.S. intelligence officials warned in November about a contagion sweeping through China’s Wuhan region. The report by the military’s National Center for Medical Intelligence “concluded it could be a cataclysmic event,” which was repeated at briefings through December for policy and decision-makers across the federal government, as well as the National Security Council at the White House. The warning also appeared in the President’s Daily Brief in early January, which would have had to go through weeks of vetting and analysis. (ABC News)
📌 Day 1132: The CDC warned that the spread of the coronavirus in the U.S. appears “inevitable,” saying Americans should “prepare for the expectation that this might be bad.” While public health officials have no idea how severe the spread of the disease in the U.S. would be, they told reporters that “It’s not a question of if this will happen, but when this will happen, and how many people in this country will have severe illnesses.” Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told a Senate committee that “This is an unprecedented, potentially severe health challenge globally.” The World Health Organization, meanwhile, warned that the world is not ready for a major outbreak. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Bloomberg)
📌 Day 1135: A worldwide threats assessment in 2018 and 2017 warned about the increasing risks of a global pandemic that could strain resources and damage the global economy. Intelligence analysts even mentioned a close cousin of the COVID-19 strain of coronavirus by name, saying it had “pandemic potential” if it were “to acquire efficient human-to-human responsibility.” The 2019 worldwide threat assessment reported “that the United States and the world will remain vulnerable to the next flu pandemic or large-scale outbreak of a contagious disease that could lead to massive rates of death and disability, severely affect the world economy, strain international resources, and increase calls on the United States for support.” (NBC News)
📌 Day 1159: U.S. intelligence agencies issued classified warnings in January and February about the global danger posed by the coronavirus. The reports didn’t predict when the virus would hit the U.S. or recommend steps public health officials should take, but it did track the spread of the virus in China and warned that Chinese officials appeared to be minimizing the severity of the outbreak.Trump and lawmakers, however, repeatedly played down the threat and failed to take action that might have slowed the spread of the virus. (Washington Post)
📌 Day 1168: White House economists published a study in September that warned a pandemic could kill a half million Americans and devastate the economy. The study specifically urged Americans not to conflate the risks of a typical flu and a pandemic. (New York Times)
📌 Day 1174: Trump’s economic adviser warned the White House in January that there was “an increasing probability of a full-blown COVID-19 pandemic that could infect as many as 100 million Americans, with a loss of life of as many as 1-2 million souls.” In a pair of memos, Peter Navarro warned that the lack of a vaccine “would leave Americans defenseless in the case of a full-blown coronavirus outbreak on U.S. soil.” In a Jan. 29 memo, Navarro called for “an immediate travel ban on China.” In a second memo on Feb. 23, Navarro urged the Trump administration to immediately begin laying the groundwork for a $3 billion supplemental spending appropriation from Congress. “This is NOT a time for penny-pinching or horse trading on the Hill,” the memo reads. Trump waited several weeks after receiving Navarro’s memos before taking steps to mitigate the spread of the virus, and later claimed that “nobody could have predicted something like this.” (New York Times / Axios / Vox / The Guardian)
3/ The Trump administration is exploring ways to return to “normality” and reopen the U.S. economy as “quickly as possible.” Pence and the coronavirus task force are developing medical guidance and criteria to reopen the country as soon as the start of May. The options being discussed vary in scope, from benchmarks for when states can begin easing restrictions to a nationwide “big bang” that Trump previewed on Fox News. Dr. Anthony Fauci, however, said the first condition is a sustained 14-day drop in the number of cases, normal operations returned to hospitals, and widely available testing. He added that “now is not the time to pull back at all” on social distancing; rather, “it’s the time to intensify.” (CNN / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Politico / CNBC)
The CDC is expected to change its guidelines for self-isolation to make it easier for those who have been exposed to someone with the coronavirus to return to work if they are asymptomatic. Under the new guidance, people who are exposed to someone infected would be allowed back on the job if they are asymptomatic, test their temperature twice a day and wear a face mask. (CBS News / ABC News)
Jared Kushner’s task force want to create a national coronavirus surveillance system to give the government a real-time view of where patients are seeking treatment, for what, and whether hospitals can accommodate them. The proposed national network could help determine which areas of the country can relax social-distancing rules and which should remain vigilant. The prospect of a national database of potentially sensitive health information has prompted concerns about its impact on civil liberties after the coronavirus threat recedes, with some critics comparing it to the Patriot Act enacted after the 9/11 attacks. (Politico)
Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin warned that the Senate coming back in two weeks would be “dangerous and risky.” The Illinois Democrat said some lawmakers “decided they’re not going to get back on an airplane.” (Politico)
Coronavirus unlikely to significantly diminish with warm weather, the National Academies of Sciences reported. (Washington Post)
How will we know when it’s time to reopen the nation? Experts offer four benchmarks that can serve as a guide for cities and states. (New York Times)
Why the U.S. isn’t on track to open up. Labs nationwide are overwhelmed by patient samples amid a shortage of critical supplies. (Politico)
4/ The CDC removed its dosing information for doctors on how to prescribe hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, two drugs recommended by Trump to treat the coronavirus. The original guidance – which was based on unattributed anecdotes rather than peer-reviewed science – was crafted after Trump personally pressed officials to make the malaria drugs more widely available, though the drugs had been untested for COVID-19. CDC website no longer includes that information, but instead says: “There are no drugs or other therapeutics approved by the US Food and Drug Administration to prevent or treat COVID-19.” Some ICU doctors, meanwhile, report that they’ve seen no evidence the drugs are helping their sickest patients. (Reuters / NBC News)
📌 Day 1173: Trump’s trade adviser claimed – despite not being a medical doctor – that there was a “clear therapeutic efficacy” of hydroxychloroquine in treating the coronavirus. Peter Navarro’s claim set off a debate in the Situation Room with Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, who said there was only anecdotal evidence that hydroxychloroquine works against the coronavirus and more data is needed to prove that it’s effective. Navarro, an economist by training, shot back that the information he had collected was “science,” claiming his “qualifications […] is that I’m a social scientist.” Navarro later said Dr. Fauci’s caution about the effectiveness of an anti-malaria drug warrants a “second opinion.” Separately, Trump personally pressed federal health officials in mid-March to make chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine available to treat the coronavirus, though they had been untested for COVID-19. Shortly afterward, the federal government published guidance informing doctors they had the option to prescribe the drugs, with dosing information based on unattributed anecdotes rather than peer-reviewed science. (Axios / CNN / Reuters / New York Times / The Hill / NBC News)
5/ The federal government’s emergency stockpile of personal protective equipment has been depleted, and states will not be receiving any more shipments. The Department of Health and Human Services told the House Oversight and Reform Committee that the Trump administration has made its final shipments of personal protective equipment to states from the Strategic National Stockpile. 90% of the stockpile’s N95 respirators, surgical and face masks, face shields, gowns and gloves have already been distributed to every state. The remaining 10% is reserved for federal workers and will not be distributed to states. (The Hill / Politico)
The federal government has been seizing orders of ventilators, masks, and other protective gear. FEMA has not publicly reported the acquisitions, leaving hospital and clinic officials who’ve had materials seized with no guidance about how or if they will get access to the supplies they ordered. (Los Angeles Times)
White House visitors have been receiving the 15-minute coronavirus test. Every visitor who meets Trump or Pence receives the new tests, even those who feel healthy and are not exhibiting symptoms. A spokesperson for the company that manufactures the tests said they can deliver a positive result within five minutes and a negative result within 13 minutes. The new tests were approved by the FDA under an emergency authorization and company officials have not publicly disclosed their accuracy rates, which are still begin assessed as more people receive them. (Washington Post)
6/ Trump claimed that Ivanka has personally created 15 million jobs since he took office — that’s roughly 10% of all 152 million jobs in the United States. Trump made the false claim during a call about providing financial relief to small businesses. Trump also claimed in November 2019 that Ivanka had “created 14 million jobs” during his tenure in the White House. The U.S. economy, however, has added 6.2 million total jobs between January 2017 and November 2019. (Vox / CNN)
7/ Trump signed an executive order encouraging the U.S. to mine the moon for minerals. According to Trump’s executive order, the U.S. will object to any attempt to use international law to hinder its efforts to mine the moon, Mars, and “other celestial bodies.” [Editor’s note: This really happened.] (The Guardian)
poll/ 55% of Americans say the federal government has done a poor job preventing the spread of the novel coronavirus pandemic in the United States — up nearly 8% since last week. 80% say they think the worst is yet to come, and 55% say Trump could be doing more to slow the spread. 37% say they’re more concerned about the virus than they were a few days ago, while 5% say they’ve become less fearful in recent days. (CNN)
poll/ 85% of voters say they are concerned they or someone they know will be infected with the coronavirus – up 31 percentage points from early March. 70% say that the coronavirus crisis in the U.S. is getting worse, while 20% say it is staying the same and 8% see it getting better. 63% say they expect the coronavirus crisis to be over in a few months, 23% say more than a year, and 10% say a few weeks. (Quinnipiac)
Global: Total confirmed cases ~1,412,000; Total deaths: ~81,100; Total recoveries: ~298,400. (Johns Hopkins University)
U.S.: Total confirmed cases ~386,000; Total deaths: ~12,000; Total recoveries: ~20,200.
Markets: Dow 📉; S&P 500 📉; Nasdaq 📉
An updated model tracking the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S. now predicts that fewer people will die and fewer hospital beds will be needed. The model predicts that 81,766 people will die in the U.S. over the next four months, with just under 141,000 hospital beds being needed. That’s down about 12,000 deaths and 121,000 fewer hospital beds from last week. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said it would be a “false statement” to claim the outbreak is under control, stressing that it could return in force by fall and emerge as a “seasonal, cyclic” threat. (CNN / Politico)
New York suffered its highest single-day death toll. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, meanwhile, said 731 more people died on Monday due to the coronavirus, which brings the total number of deaths in New York to 5,489 — nearly half of all deaths caused by the virus in the U.S. (NPR)
1/ Trump removed the Pentagon’s acting inspector general, who was tapped to lead the group responsible for preventing “waste, fraud, and abuse” of the $2 trillion coronavirus emergency stimulus package passed last month. A panel of inspectors general had named Glenn Fine to lead the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee. Trump, instead, replaced Fine with EPA’s watchdog, Sean O’Donnell, as the temporary Pentagon watchdog. Because Fine is no longer acting inspector general, he is ineligible to hold the spending watchdog role, since the new law permits only current inspectors general to fill the position. (Politico / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / CNN / Bloomberg)
2/ Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly resigned a day after he ridiculed and then apologized to a captain he had ousted for raising concerns about a coronavirus outbreak on the USS Theodore Roosevelt. Modly, speaking to the ship’s crew over a loudspeaker, called Capt. Brett Crozier “too naive or too stupid to be the commanding officer of a ship like this,” accusing him of a “betrayal of trust.” Capt. Crozier was relieved of command last week by Modly after writing a letter to senior Navy officials outlining the challenges of trying to contain a coronavirus outbreak aboard the ship and requested that sailors be allowed to quarantine on land. Defense Secretary Mark Esper accepted Modly’s resignation and selected Under Secretary of the Army James McPherson to replace Modly as acting Navy secretary. (Washington Post / NBC News / CNN / Wall Street Journal / Axios)
3/ Trump’s economic adviser warned the White House in January that there was “an increasing probability of a full-blown COVID-19 pandemic that could infect as many as 100 million Americans, with a loss of life of as many as 1-2 million souls.” In a pair of memos, Peter Navarro warned that the lack of a vaccine “would leave Americans defenseless in the case of a full-blown coronavirus outbreak on U.S. soil.” In a Jan. 29 memo, Navarro called for “an immediate travel ban on China.” In a second memo on Feb. 23, Navarro urged the Trump administration to immediately begin laying the groundwork for a $3 billion supplemental spending appropriation from Congress. “This is NOT a time for penny-pinching or horse trading on the Hill,” the memo reads. Trump waited several weeks after receiving Navarro’s memos before taking steps to mitigate the spread of the virus, and later claimed that “nobody could have predicted something like this.” (New York Times / Axios / Vox / The Guardian)
4/ Trump has a personal financial interest in the company that makes the brand-name version of hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malaria drug Trump has been touting as a “game changer” in the fight against the coronavirus. Trump and his family trusts are all invested in a mutual fund that features Sanofi as its largest holding. Sanofi makes Plaquenil, the brand-name version of hydroxychloroquine. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and other associates of Trump are also invested in the pharmaceutical manufacturer. Trump, meanwhile, has repeatedly ignored the advice of doctors and public health experts, who have warned him against promoting the drug due to the lack of evidence supporting its effectiveness. (Daily Beast / New York Times / The Guardian / Politico / Washington Post)
Sen. David Purdue bought stock in a company that makes personal protective equipment on the same day he received a classified Senate briefing about the spread of the coronavirus in the U.S. Purdue made a series of 112 transactions, 82 of which were made on March 3. Of those, 76 were purchases totaling up to $1.8 million and 34 were stock sales of up to $825,000. A spokesperson for Purdue said he “has always had an outside adviser managing his personal finances, and he is not involved in day-to-day decisions” about his portfolio. Purdue is one of several lawmakers — including his fellow senator from Georgia, Kelly Loeffler, and Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina — who is facing questions about their trading activity in the wake of the outbreak. (Atlanta Journal Constitution / Business Insider / The Hill)
5/ Lawmakers and the White House are considering another financial assistance package to try and contain the economic impacts of the novel coronavirus pandemic. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Congressional leaders are looking into a series of spending increases that would “easily” cost more than $1 trillion. Lawmakers are concerned that the $2.2 trillion aid package passed last month is not enough to prevent lasting damage to the U.S. economy. Trump has also indicated that he would support some of the ideas floated by Democrats, including expanded help for small business owners and new bailout checks for households. Republicans have called for additional corporate aid and more funding to boost the overwhelmed health care system. Separately, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has spoken with congressional leaders about an additional $250 billion to replenish the $349 billion small business loan program. Mitch McConnell said the Senate could approve funding for the program during Thursday’s pro-forma session by voice vote or unanimous consent, which wouldn’t require all members of the chamber to return to Washington. Banks have processed $70 billion in taxpayer-backed loans for 250,000 small businesses since Friday. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNBC / Washington Post / ABC News)
6/ Trump replaced the White House press secretary with his re-election campaign spokeswoman. Stephanie Grisham will leave to become Melania Trump’s chief of staff and spokeswoman after eight months without ever having briefed the press. Kayleigh McEnany has been a vocal defender of Trump on cable television, often making controversial statements like saying in February that “we will not see diseases like the coronavirus come here.” (CNN / New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post / CNBC / Axios / Politico)
Global: Total confirmed cases ~1,331,000; Total deaths: ~74,000; Total recoveries: ~275,900. (Johns Hopkins University)
U.S.: Total confirmed cases ~357,000; Total deaths: ~10,500; Total recoveries: ~19,000.
Markets: The Dow, S&P 500, and the Nasdaq all closed up more than 7%. (Washington Post)
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the state may be starting to reach the apex of its crisis as coronavirus deaths are “effectively flat.” Cuomo extended the state’s “stay at home” order until April 29. (NBC News)
Number of new cases in Germany declines for the fourth consecutive day.
British prime minister Boris Johnson has been moved to intensive care as he battles coronavirus. Johnson was hospitalized yesterday. (Bloomberg)
1/ Trump warned “there will be a lot of death” and this will be “toughest week” as coronavirus infections in the U.S. surpassed 347,000 confirmed cases and
the death toll topped 10,000. Trump, however, said “We have to open our country again. We don’t want to be doing this for months and months and months.” Trump added that he wants “fans back in the arenas” as soon as possible. “We cannot let this continue,” he said. “So at a certain point, some hard decisions are going to have to be made.” (Politico / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
Surgeon General Jerome Adams: “The next week is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment. It’s going to be our 9/11 moment. It’s going to be the hardest moment for many Americans in their entire lives, and we really need to understand that if we want to flatten that curve and get through to the other side, everyone needs to do their part. (Politico / New York Times)
The true coronavirus death toll is likely much higher and the undercount is a result of inconsistent protocols, limited resources and a patchwork of decision making from one state or county to the next. The CDC only counts deaths if the coronavirus is confirmed by a laboratory test, and postmortem testing by medical examiners varies widely across the country. (New York Times / Washington Post)
2/ Trump’s trade adviser claimed – despite not being a medical doctor – that there was a “clear therapeutic efficacy” of hydroxychloroquine in treating the coronavirus. Peter Navarro’s claim set off a debate in the Situation Room with Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, who said there was only anecdotal evidence that hydroxychloroquine works against the coronavirus and more data is needed to prove that it’s effective. Navarro, an economist by training, shot back that the information he had collected was “science,” claiming his “qualifications […] is that I’m a social scientist.” Navarro later said Dr. Fauci’s caution about the effectiveness of an anti-malaria drug warrants a “second opinion.” Separately, Trump personally pressed federal health officials in mid-March to make chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine available to treat the coronavirus, though they had been untested for COVID-19. Shortly afterward, the federal government published guidance informing doctors they had the option to prescribe the drugs, with dosing information based on unattributed anecdotes rather than peer-reviewed science. (Axios / CNN / Reuters / New York Times / The Hill / NBC News)
Without evidence, Trump claimed that hydroxychloroquine is a “great” and “powerful” anti-malaria drug “and there are signs that it works on this, some very strong signs.” It was the second day in a row at a White House briefing that Trump recommended the use of hydroxychloroquine, adding: “But what do I know? I’m not a doctor […] What do you have to lose? What do you have to lose?” Dr. Patrice Harris, president of the American Medical Association, pushed back: “You could lose your life.” (CNN / New York Times / HuffPost)
Dr. Oz, the controversial celebrity doctor, has been advising senior Trump administration officials on coronavirus-related matters. (Daily Beast)
Rudy Giuliani said he has spoken directly to Trump “three or four times” about the potential us of hydroxychloroquine as a coronavirus treatment. “There are obviously other people around him who agree with me,” Giuliani said. (Washington Post)
3/ The Trump administration waited until mid-March to order masks and ventilators for healthcare workers. The Department of Health and Human Services placed its first order for $4.8 million worth of N95 masks on March 12 – more than two months after the Trump administration received its first briefing about the outbreak on January 3. The contracts signed by the federal government with 3M don’t require the company to begin delivering the masks until the end of April – weeks after the Trump administration expects the virus to hit its apex. Three months into the crisis, the national stockpile of masks and ventilators is already nearly depleted and the number of patients is surging. “We basically wasted two months,” said former HHS secretary Kathleen Sebelius. (Associated Press / Vox)
4/ Bank executives personally appealed to Ivanka Trump for higher interest rates for the Paycheck Protection Program, the $349 billion emergency small business program created in the $2.2 trillion coronavirus stimulus bill passed last week. Interest rates were later increased to 1% from 0.5% on the emergency loans after Ivanka relayed to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and other administration officials requests to increase the rates on the forgivable, government-backed loans, and to make a greater effort to encourage community and regional banks to participate. (Bloomberg / The Hill)
Trump plans to nominate White House lawyer Brian Miller to serve as the inspector general overseeing the implementation of the $2 trillion coronavirus law. If confirmed by the Senate, Miller would become Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery for the Department of Treasury, a key post in preventing fraud and abuse in the new program. (Washington Post)
5/ Trump fired the intelligence community inspector general at the center of the Ukraine allegations that led to Trump’s impeachment. Michael Atkinson was fired months after he delivered the whistleblower complaint to Congress about Trump’s phone call with the Ukrainian president, as required by law. Trump called Atkinson a “disgrace” and said he fired him because Atkinson “did a terrible job, absolutely terrible.” Trump added: “He took a fake report and he took it to Congress with an emergency, OK? Not a big Trump fan, that I can tell you.” Atkinson released a statement saying that the reason Trump fired him “derives from my having faithfully discharged my legal obligations as an independent and impartial Inspector General.” (Politico / NPR / New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / CNN / NBC News / Bloomberg / Politico / Vox)
Adam Schiff: Trump is “decapitating the leadership of the intelligence community in the middle of a national crisis. (The Guardian)
Two weeks before he was fired, Atkinson told Chuck Schumer that the past six months had been “a searing time for whistleblowers.” (Politico)
6/ The Supreme Court canceled all oral arguments for the rest of the term due to the coronavirus pandemic. Nine cases were on the schedule for the upcoming two-week session, which begins on April 20, including a challenge to the way the U.S. elects the president. The court also canceled oral arguments for March in light of the first wave of social distancing and stay-at-home orders. The Court was supposed to hear arguments last month over whether House Democrats had the legal authority to subpoena Trump’s financial records. It is unclear what will happen to the March and April cases, but the court said it might hear some of them if “if circumstances permit in light of public health and safety guidance at that time.” (NBC News / Axios)
7/ Trump and some Republican leaders are challenging efforts to make voting easier as the coronavirus pandemic disrupts elections. Trump accused Democratic efforts to expand voting by mail of opening the door to fraud, saying “I think a lot of people cheat with mail-in voting.” The RNC, meanwhile is expected to spend more than $10 million on legal battles related to voting this year in lawsuits in Minnesota, Michigan, Arizona, Florida, New Mexico, and Wisconsin. (Washington Post / Politico / CNN / The Hill)
1/ The CDC recommends all Americans wear simple “non-medical, cloth” masks in public. Trump, however, said “You can do it. You don’t have to do it. I’m choosing not to do it. It’s only a recommendation.” Trump stressed several times that the CDC’s new guidelines are “voluntary” and that he would not be wearing a mask the CDC is now recommending. Trump also underscored that medical masks should be reserved for health care workers and that masks are not a substitute for social distancing. (CNN / NPR)
Dr. Anthony Fauci: “I don’t understand why” all states are not under stay-at-home order. 39 states and Washington, D.C. are currently under stay-at-home orders while 11 other states have not issued stay-at-home orders. Pence, meanwhile, said that Trump has decided he doesn’t want to tell states what to do. “At the president’s direction, the White House coronavirus task force will continue to take the posture that we will defer to state and local health authorities on any measures that they deem appropriate.” (NBC News / Washington Post)
✏️ Americans are underestimating how long coronavirus disruptions will last, public health experts warn. While coronavirus cases are expected to peak in mid-April, quickly reopening businesses or loosening shelter-in-place rules would inevitably lead to a new surge of infections, they said. (Stat News)
✏️ When can America reopen from its coronavirus shutdown? The answer depends how you weigh human health against the economy. (Politico)
2/ Trump signed a Defense Production Act order requiring 3M to prioritize N95 respirator mask orders from the U.S. government, cutting off 3M’s ability to export face masks abroad. White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said the administration was concerned about whether 3M’s production is being delivered to the U.S. 3M Chief Executive Officer Mike Roman, meanwhile, called it “absurd” to suggest that the company isn’t doing all it can to increase availability of masks in the U.S., adding that it has doubled its global production of N95 respirators to more than 1 billion per year or nearly 100 million every month. 3M also said the administration asked it to stop exporting masks to Canada and Latin America, which the company said raises “significant humanitarian implications” and will backfire by causing other countries to retaliate against the U.S. Trade and legal experts agree that new mandates could cause other governments to clamp down on exports of masks, ventilator parts and pharmaceuticals that the U.S. needs. (NPR / Politico / ABC News / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / New York Times)
Trump hasn’t ordered GM to produce ventilators under the Defense Production Act despite saying he would nearly a week ago. (USA Today)
✏️ Federal government spent millions to ramp up mask readiness, but that isn’t helping now. (Washington Post)
✏️ Taxpayers Paid Millions to Design a Low-Cost Ventilator for a Pandemic. Instead, the Company Is Selling Versions of It Overseas. (ProPublica)
3/ The Trump administration changed its description of the Strategic National Stockpile after Jared Kushner suggested that the stockpile wasn’t meant for states to use. “And the notion of the federal stockpile was it’s supposed to be our stockpile,” Kushner said during the White House coronavirus task force press conference. “It’s not supposed to be states’ stockpiles that they then use.” The Department of Health and Human Services website previously described the stockpile as the “nation’s largest supply of life-saving pharmaceuticals and medical supplies for use in a public health emergency severe enough to cause local supplies to run out.” After journalists noted that Kushner’s claim contradicted the program’s description, the website was updated to say “The Strategic National Stockpile’s role is to supplement state and local supplies during public health emergencies. Many states have products stockpiled, as well.” (Politico / Washington Post)
🙇♂️ Portrait of a Son-in-Law.
Kushner Puts Himself in Middle of White House’s Coronavirus Response. Trump’s son-in-law has become a central player in the administration’s effort to curb the pandemic. But critics say he is part of the problem. (New York Times)
Behind the scenes: Kushner takes charge of coronavirus response. Trump’s son-in-law sets up shop at FEMA as his portfolio balloons to include manufacturing, supplies and long-term planning. (Politico)
Inside Jared Kushner and Peter Navarro’s efforts to rescue the White House’s coronavirus response. (CNN)
Jared Kushner’s family business could benefit from a provision in the federal recovery bill that allows owners of apartment buildings to freeze federal mortgage payments on low- and moderate-income properties. Kushner Companies controls thousands of low- and moderate-housing units across the country, some of which are funded through an $800 million federally backed loan the firm received in 2019. (Politico)
4/ The White House is missing 50% of the coronavirus testing data. Dr. Deborah Birx said part of the recent coronavirus stimulus bill requires all data from coronavirus tests be reported to the CDC, but she hasn’t received it yet. “I’m telling you, I’m still missing 50% of the data from reporting,” Dr. Birx said. “I have 660 [thousand] tests reported in. We’ve done 1.3 million. … So, we do need to see – the bill said you need to report. We are still not receiving 100% of the tests.” Birx did note, however, that the number of positive tests “is tracking very closely with a number of cases diagnosed.” (CNN)
✏️ Experts and Trump’s advisers doubt the White House coronavirus task force’s 240,000 coronavirus deaths estimate. The experts said they don’t challenge the numbers’ validity but that they don’t know how the White House arrived at them, because the models have not been released. (Washington Post)
5/ The Trump administration ended a pandemic early-warning program in China two months before the coronavirus started spreading in Wuhan. The PREDICT program identified 1,200 different viruses that had the potential to erupt into pandemics, including more than 160 novel coronaviruses. It also trained and supported staff in 60 foreign laboratories. Field work ceased when the funding for PREDICT ran out in September 2019, and organizations that worked on the program laid off dozens of scientists and analysts. (Los Angeles Times)
Last year: Two Trump administration officials listed the threat of a pandemic as the issue that worried them most. Trump, meanwhile, has repeatedly claimed that “Nobody knew there’d be a pandemic or an epidemic of this proportion.” Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Tim Morrison, then a special assistant to the President and senior director for weapons of mass destruction and biodefense on the National Security Council, made the comments at the BioDefense Summit in April 2019. (CNN)
📌 Day 1159: The Trump administration eliminated a CDC disease expert position in China a few months before the coronavirus pandemic began. The position, known as resident adviser to the U.S. Field Epidemiology Training Program in China, was funded by the CDC and was focused on helping detect disease outbreaks in China. No other foreign disease experts were embedded to lead the program after Dr. Linda Quick had to leave her post in July amid the U.S. trade dispute with China. The post was officially discontinued as of September 2019. The CDC first learned of a “cluster of 27 cases of pneumonia” of unexplained origin in Wuhan, China on Dec. 31. (Reuters)
📌 Day 1162: The Trump administration fired more than two-thirds of the staff working at a key U.S. public health agency operating in China leading up to the coronavirus outbreak. Staff at the CDC’s Beijing office was slashed from roughly 47 people to 14 people since Trump took office. The CDC has worked in China for the last 30 years. The National Science Foundation and the USAID office, which helped China monitor and respond to outbreaks, also shuttered their Beijing offices on Trump’s watch. (Reuters/New York Times)
6/ The Trump administration plans to use the federal stimulus package to pay hospitals to treat uninsured people with the coronavirus. Hospitals would have to agree not to bill the patients or issue unexpected charges. Trump, meanwhile, hinted that he is considering using Medicare and Medicaid to pay for health care for the uninsured after he decided to not reopen the Affordable Care Act’s insurance markets. (Politico)
The 1,000-bed U.S. Navy hospital ship docked in New York City is currently treating 20 patients. The U.S.N.S. Comfort was sent to New York to relieve pressure on hospitals by treating non-coronavirus patients. The Navy hospital ship docked in Los Angeles, has had a total of 15 patients. (New York Times / CNN)
7/ The unemployment rate jumped to 4.4% from 3.5% in March as payrolls decreased by 701,000 from the prior month. The Labor Department data doesn’t reflect the magnitude of jobs being lost due to the coronavirus pandemic and mainly covers the early part of March. The change in unemployment rate is the largest one-month increase in the rate since January 1975. (NBC News / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
The unemployment rate is probably around 13% – higher than at any point since the Great Depression. (New York Times)
The federal government’s $350 billion small business loan program got off to a rocky start as banks tried to figure out how to process applicants based on guidelines the Trump administration published hours earlier. Bank of America said more than 58,000 customers applied for $6 billion in loans. (CNBC / Politico / Wall Street Journal)
8/ Trump’s new chief of staff is privately discussing bringing on a new White House Press Secretary. Mark Meadows is reportedly considering whether to tap Pentagon spokesperson Alyssa Farah or Trump campaign spokesperson Kayleigh McEnany for the position. It is unclear whether Meadows plans to replace Trump’s current press secretary, Stephanie Grisham, or simply bring in someone else to supplement Grisham’s work. (Axios)
poll/ 52% of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, while only 47% approve. 89% said the outbreak has disrupted their daily routine. 84% said they think they will be able to resume their regular routine by the end of the summer. (ABC News)
1/ More than 6.6 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week – double the 3.3 million who applied the previous week. About 6% of the U.S. work force filed for jobless benefits in the last two weeks. In March, more than 10 million Americans lost their jobs, erasing nearly all the jobs created in the past five years. Economists say the real number of people out work is probably higher and that as many as 20 million people could be out of work this summer. The Congressional Budget Office, meanwhile, updated its economic projections and expects U.S. unemployment to exceed 10% in the second quarter – eclipsing the peak of the last recession – and gross domestic product to fall by more than 7%, or an annualized 28%. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Bloomberg / New York Times / Politico / CNBC / CNN / CBS News / The Guardian)
Food banks are reporting unprecedented demand across the U.S. as millions lose jobs with demand for aid increasing eightfold in some areas. (The Guardian)
Mortgage lenders are preparing for the biggest wave of delinquencies in history. As many as 30% of Americans with home loans – about 15 million households – could stop paying if the U.S. economy remains closed through the summer or beyond, according to an estimate by Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Analytics. (Bloomberg)
2/ The coronavirus has infected 1 million people globally in just four months. More than 51,000 people have died and 208,000 recovered. The U.S has the most confirmed cases officially recorded with more than 234,000. Meanwhile, health experts in the U.S. have voiced concerns about the accuracy of coronavirus testing, believing nearly one in three infected with the illness is testing negative. (Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
3/ The Trump administration is expected to urge all Americans to wear cloth masks or other face coverings in public to prevent the spread of the coronavirus – a reversal of its earlier recommendations. “In light of these new data, along with evidence of widespread transmission in communities across the country, CDC recommends the community use of cloth masks as an additional public health measure people can take to prevent the spread of virus to those around them,” according to a copy of the CDC’s guidance sent to the Department of Health and Human Services and the White House coronavirus task force. A White House announcement is expected to come as soon as today. (Washington Post / Bloomberg / New York Times)
4/ Half of the national stockpile of ventilators have been distributed and there are now fewer than 10,000 still available. An estimated 32,000 ventilators may be needed by mid-April, when crisis is expected to peak. Meanwhile, FEMA said most of the 100,000 new ventilators that Trump promised won’t be available until the end of June “at the earliest.” (Wall Street Journal / Politico)
5/ An unclassified Army briefing document on the coronavirus – prepared on Feb. 3 – projected that “between 80,000 and 150,000 could die.” The estimates also correctly stated that asymptomatic people could “easily” transmit the virus, that military forces could be tasked with providing logistics and medical support to civilians, including “provid[ing] PPE (N-95 Face Mask, Eye Protection, and Gloves) to evacuees, staff, and DoD personnel.” On Feb. 24, Trump tweeted, “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA” and two days later, Trump claimed that 15 known cases of coronavirus inside the U.S. “within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, that’s a pretty good job we’ve done.” (Daily Beast)
6/ The Navy relieved the captain who sounded the alarm about an outbreak of COVID-19 aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt. Capt. Brett Crozier urged the Navy to allow him to take the carrier to the port in Guam and offload sailors stricken with COVID-19, saying “decisive action” to remove the “majority of personnel” from the carrier was required to prevent deaths from the coronavirus. At least 114 crewmember have tested positive for the coronavirus. Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly said Crozier was “not working with the chain of command” when he raised the issue. (NBC News / USA Today / Politico / Wall Street Journal)
📌 Day 1167: More than 100 sailors have tested positive for the coronavirus aboard a nuclear aircraft carrier. Capt. Brett Crozier wrote in a memo to the Navy’s Pacific Fleet that “We are not at war. Sailors do not need to die. If we do not act now, we are failing to properly take care of our most trusted asset — our Sailors,” adding that “The spread of the disease is ongoing and accelerating.” The carrier is currently docked in Guam. (San Francisco Chronicle / Politico / New York Times / CNN)
7/ House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced a new select committee with subpoena powers to oversee the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, and its dispersal of funds from the $2.2 trillion relief bill.
Pelosi said the committee would oversee the three bills Congress has already passed, as well as any future legislation related to the pandemic. “Where there’s money, there’s also frequently mischief,” Pelosi said as she announced the creation of the special bipartisan panel. At the daily coronavirus task force briefing Trump said: “Here we go again. … It’s a witch hunt after a witch hunt.” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin added that he viewed the committee as unnecessary. House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, the chamber’s No. 3 Democrat, will lead the panel. (Politico / NBC News / CBS News / Washington Post)
8/ The Trump Organization has explored whether it can delay payments on some of its loans as the coronavirus outbreak has cost the properties more than a million dollars in lost revenue daily. Officials from the Trump Organization have asked Deutsche Bank – Trump’s largest creditor – about the possibility of postponing payments on at least some of its loans. And, while other companies can tap into the $500 billion rescue fund, the economic bailout package specifically barred the president and his family from access to that money. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
9/ The Secret Service signed a $45,000 contract this week to rent a fleet of golf carts in Northern Virginia – home to one of Trump’s golf clubs. According to federal contracting data, the Secret Service said it needs the golf carts to protect a “dignitary” in Sterling, Virginia. The contract was signed on Monday and went into effect on Wednesday, providing the Secret Service with 30 golf carts until the end of September. The contract was described as an “emergency order” and, while it doesn’t mention Trump or his golf club by name, it closely mirrors previous contracts signed for agents accompanying Trump to his golf clubs in New Jersey and Florida. (Washington Post)
10/ Dr. Anthony Fauci has received threats to his personal safety, leading the government to step up his security. The exact nature of the threats and messages sent to Fauci remains unclear, but HHS Secretary Alex Azar has grown concerned about Fauci’s safety. As a result, Azar asked the U.S. Marshals Service to deputize agents at the HHS inspector general’s office to provide protective services for Fauci. (Washington Post / CNN / The Hill / HuffPost / ABC News / NBC News / New York Times)
poll/ 51% of Americans believe the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic will get worse in the next month. 21% expect it to continue as it is now, and 28% think the worst is already behind us. 77% say doctors and nurses don’t have the supplies they’ll need to manage the crisis. 51% say Trump is doing a good job handling the pandemic — down from 53% last week — and 49% say he’s doing a bad job. (CBS News)
The coronavirus outbreak won’t peak in every state at once. Many states will see their individual peaks for resources well after that the April 16 projection. (Axios)
Unemployment: The Department of Labor is expected to report between 4.5 million and 5.5 million new unemployment claims tomorrow. Last week, more than 3 million people filed for unemployment from March 15 to March 21 – the largest single-week increase in American history. (New York Times)
Markets: U.S. stocks fell for the third time in four days. The Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq all closed more than 4% lower. (CNBC / Bloomberg)
1/ The national emergency stockpile of respirator masks, gloves, and other medical supplies is nearly exhausted, despite assurances from the White House that there is availability. “The stockpile was designed to respond to handful of cities. It was never built or designed to fight a 50-state pandemic,” a DHS official said. Trump, meanwhile, has forced states into bidding wars for protective equipment pitting them against each other. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo condemned the federal government for fueling an “eBay”-style bidding war for ventilators, calling it a “bizarre situation” in which every state buys its own ventilators. (Washington Post / Politico / The Guardian)
New York City needs 3.3 million N95 masks, 2.1 million surgical mask, 100,000 isolation gowns, and 400 ventilators by Sunday, Mayor Bill de Blasio said. (CNBC)
FEMA requested 100,000 military-style body bags from the Pentagon for civilian use as the U.S. warns that deaths could soar in the coming weeks from the coronavirus pandemic. (Bloomberg)
Some hospitals have threatened to fire health care workers who publicize their working conditions during the coronavirus pandemic. (Bloomberg)
The coronavirus task force placed a moratorium on the United States Agency for International Development’s overseas shipments of personal protective gear after officials discovered that aid to foreign countries wasn’t being coordinated with U.S. requests for aid from those same countries. Roughly 280 million masks in the U.S. were purchased by foreign buyers on Monday, according to Forbes. Vessel manifests maintained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection show a steady flow of the medical equipment needed to treat the coronavirus being shipped abroad as recently as March 17. FEMA, meanwhile, said the agency “has not actively encouraged or discouraged U.S. companies from exporting overseas,” and has asked USAID to send back its reserves of protective gear stored in warehouses for use in the U.S. (Politico / The Intercept)
Trump is considering whether to recommend Americans wear face covers when out in public, telling reporters that it’s “not a bad idea” to cover your face. “My feeling is, if people want to do it, there’s certainly no harm to it. I would say do it,” Trump said. “But use a scarf if you want, you know? Rather than going out and getting a mask or whatever.” Some members of the coronavirus task force, however, have cautioned against recommending Americans wear masks because it could give them a false sense of protection and prevent them from socially distancing. (CNN / Politico)
📌 Day 1167: The CDC is considering revising federal coronavirus guidelines for the “community-wide use of masks” in public — even if they aren’t exhibiting symptoms. The CDC currently does not recommend wearing masks to prevent the spread of coronavirus, but the idea is under “very active discussion” by the White House’s coronavirus task force. The recommendations under consideration would encourage the public to use of a do-it-yourself cloth mask – not N95 masks, which are in short supply. (Washington Post / Politico / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
2/ The Trump administration will not reopen the Affordable Care Act’s marketplace to allow uninsured Americans to purchase health care coverage during the coronavirus pandemic. Americans who recently lost their jobs will still be able to obtain health insurance – people who lose job-based insurance qualify to enroll, but are required to provide proof that they lost their coverage. A special enrollment period, however, would have made it easier for people to enroll and would have provided an option for people who chose not to buy health insurance this year but want it now. Instead, Trump has promoted short-term health insurance alternatives, which allow enrollment year-round, but the plans offer skimpier coverage and typically exclude insurance protections for preexisting conditions. (Politico / New York Times / NBC News)
3/ Pence blamed the CDC and China for Trump’s delayed response to the coronavirus pandemic, saying “I don’t believe the President has ever belittled the threat of the coronavirus.” Instead, Pence noted that “in mid-January the CDC was still assessing that the risk of the coronavirus to the American people was low” and that “we could’ve been better off if China had been more forthcoming.” A classified intelligence community report concluded that the Chinese government deliberately underreported the total number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the country. Trump, however, has repeatedly downplayed the spread of the coronavirus as “the regular flu” – until yesterday, when he warned of a “painful” and “tough” two-week stretch ahead as he extended nationwide distancing measures that could still mean more than 100,000 and up to 240,000 Americans die from coronavirus. (CNN / Bloomberg)
4/ Trump and Mitch McConnell both claimed that the Senate impeachment trial “diverted the attention of the government” from the coronavirus, despite warnings at the time from public health experts and members of Congress about the spread of the virus. During a press conference, Trump admitted that “I guess [impeachment] probably did” distract him from focusing on his administration’s response to the coronavirus, adding “I mean, I got impeached […] I certainly devoted a little time to thinking about it.” McConnell, meanwhile, said the outbreak “came up while we were tied down on the impeachment trial. And I think it diverted the attention of the government, because everything every day was all about impeachment.” (USA Today / Associated Press / The Hill / Politico)
poll/ 47% of voters feel the Trump administration isn’t doing enough to combat the coronavirus outbreak. (Politico)
poll/ 44% of Americans support Trump’s response to the pandemic. (Associated Press)
✏️ Notables.
White House economists published a study in September that warned a pandemic could kill a half million Americans and devastate the economy. The study specifically urged Americans not to conflate the risks of a typical flu and a pandemic. (New York Times)
Sen. Kelly Loeffler and her husband purchased and sold about $1.4 million in stocks and invested in a company that makes COVID-19 protective garments during the coronavirus market panic. Loeffler’s husband, Jeff Sprecher, is chairman of the New York Stock Exchange. (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution / Daily Beast / Wall Street Journal)
Trump warned that Iran or an Iran-backed militia would “pay a very heavy price” if it carried out a planned “sneak attack” on U.S. troops or assets in Iraq. Trump did not provide specific evidence. (Washington Post / Reuters / Wall Street Journal)
👑 Portrait of a president.
Trump insists on congratulations while America braces for the worst. The President’s bullish, self-congratulatory rhetoric – a staple of a presidency that has divided the nation – is still jarring with the desperate reality of a fast-worsening pandemic that is running out of control. (CNN)
Trump confronts a new reality before an expected wave of death. Under the best-case scenario presented on Tuesday, more Americans will die from the coronavirus in the weeks and months to come than died in the Korean and Vietnam Wars combined. (New York Times)
Journalists challenge Trump’s ‘revisionist history’ regarding coronavirus response. Trump tried to prepare Americans on Tuesday by saying “hard days” lie ahead. “We’re going to go through a very tough two weeks,” he said during a 131-minute WH briefing, the longest of his presidency. “In the seven years I have covered the White House, that is the most stunning briefing I have ever sat through,” CNN’s Jim Acosta said afterward. “To have public health officials come in and try to explain to the American people that they need to come to grips with the fact – or the very strong likelihood – that we’re going to see 100,000 to 200,000 Americans die over the next couple months from the coronavirus.” (CNN)
‘That’s a nasty, snarky question’: Trump’s media assault rages on in midst of coronavirus crisis. Trump’s outbursts may be a sign of a leader cracking under the pressure, if it weren’t for the authoritarian tone. (The Guardian)
Trump’s Breakdown. Old traits — bluster, defiance, implacable self-promotion — that once worked well now threaten to sink a presidency. (Politico)
“The Campaign Panicked”: Inside Trump’s decision to back off of his Easter coronavirus miracle. An impulsive promise led to Fauci pushback. Poll numbers — and a friend in a coma — pushed Trump to reverse course. (Vanity Fair)
1/ More than 2,000 people could die every day from COVID-19 in the U.S. in April and 224,000 hospital beds – 61,000 more than the U.S. has – will be needed around April 15, when the U.S. is estimated to reach “peak resource use,” according to news projections cited by Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator. Assuming social distancing continues through May, the model finds that, by August, around 82,000 people in the U.S. could die from COVID-19. Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Birx estimated that “our real number” of total coronavirus deaths is between 100,000 and 240,000 Americans – lower than the 2.2 millions estimated deaths that would occur if no distancing or mitigating measures were taken. Fauci added: “As sobering as that number is, we should be prepared for it.” Trump, meanwhile, warned of “a very, very painful two weeks” ahead. Trump’s decision to extend social distancing guidelines until April 30 came after officials reviewed 12 different statistical models that all “ended up at the same numbers.” (CNN / New York Times / Axios / Washington Post / Associated Press / Vox / NBC News / Politico)
📈 More than 181,000 confirmed cases in the U.S. and more than 3,600 dead. About 3,300 have died in China, where the outbreak originated. Globally, more than 826,222 confirmed cases and at least 41,261 deaths. (Johns Hopkins University)
📉 Social distancing may be working, according to a database of daily fever readings produced by a medical technology firm that produces internet-connected thermometers. Health department data from New York State and Washington State have buttressed the trend that social distancing is saving lives. (New York Times)
✈️ Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged Americans overseas to return home “immediately” because “We do not know how long the commercial flights in your countries may continue to operate,” and that “We can’t guarantee the U.S. government’s ability to arrange charter flights indefinitely where commercial options no longer exist.” (USA Today)
More than 100 sailors have tested positive for the coronavirus aboard a nuclear aircraft carrier. Capt. Brett Crozier wrote in a memo to the Navy’s Pacific Fleet that “We are not at war. Sailors do not need to die. If we do not act now, we are failing to properly take care of our most trusted asset — our Sailors,” adding that “The spread of the disease is ongoing and accelerating.” The carrier is currently docked in Guam. (San Francisco Chronicle / Politico / New York Times / CNN)
A federal judge called on ICE to release migrants held in family detention centers to reduce the risk of coronavirus outbreaks in confinement and in the surrounding communities. Judge James Boasberg of Washington did not order the release of the roughly 1,350 migrants at three detention centers in Pennsylvania and Texas, but he did order ICE officials to provide a report on their efforts to release them by next week. “Circumstances are changing rapidly,” the judge said, “and if there are cases in these centers or there are other problems that are not compliant, I will revisit.” (Independent)
2/ The CDC is considering revising federal coronavirus guidelines for the “community-wide use of masks” in public — even if they aren’t exhibiting symptoms. The CDC currently does not recommend wearing masks to prevent the spread of coronavirus, but the idea is under “very active discussion” by the White House’s coronavirus task force. The recommendations under consideration would encourage the public to use of a do-it-yourself cloth mask – not N95 masks, which are in short supply. (Washington Post / Politico / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
3/ The Pentagon has not shipped 2,000 ventilators because FEMA and the Department of Health and Human Services have not asked for them or provided a shipping location. Lt. General Giovanni Tuck there are 1,000 ventilators fully ready to be shipped as soon as the Pentagon gets a destination of where to send them. The other 1,000 can also be assembled and shipped within days of getting the order. (CNN)
✏️ Governors plead for medical equipment from federal stockpile plagued by shortages and confusion. (Washington Post)
✏️ New York’s Andrew Cuomo decries ‘eBay’-style bidding war for ventilators. (The Guardian)
✏️ Taxpayers paid $13.8 million to a company to design a low-cost ventilator. Instead, the company is selling it overseas. (ProPublica)
The Trump administration is encouraging the FDA to approve another unproven drug as a possible coronavirus treatment, despite career officials’ concerns about the risks and limited evidence that the drug would work. Most recently, Trump has championed Avigan, a decades-old flu drug, despite global regulators and U.S. researchers expressing concern about the drug’s risks, such as birth defects, and that the Chinese data is insufficient. (Politico)
4/ The Dow and S&P 500 had their worst first-quarter performances ever, losing 23.2 and 20%, respectively. Stocks also snapped the longest-ever bull market in history in March. (CNBC / USA Today / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post)
Economists at the Federal Reserve in St. Louis project that the number of unemployed Americans could reach as high as 47 million – about 32% – as a result of the coronavirus. St. Louis Fed economist Miguel Faria-e-Castro wrote in a research paper last week that this is “a rather unique shock that is unlike any other experienced by the U.S. economy in the last 100 years.” (CNBC)
✏️ Notables.
The Justice Department inspector general found errors in FBI applications to conduct secret surveillance. Inspector General Michael Horowitz reviewed 29 FISA applications — submitted between October 2014 and September 2019 — and found problems with all of them. The office said it found an average of about 20 issues per application, including one application with about 65 issues. (Politico / Associated Press / NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times)
Trump – in a tweet – asked Congress to fund a $2 trillion infrastructure bill to fund construction and repairs of roads, bridges, railroads or other public works projects, because interest rates are close to zero. (Bloomberg)
Trump approved a proposal to delay payment of certain tariffs for 90 days. An executive could is expected as soon as this week and would give the Treasury Department the authority to direct Customs and Border Protection to delay collecting “most-favored nation” tariffs on imports. (Bloomberg)
Rep. Mark Meadows resigned from Congress to serve as Trump’s newest chief of staff. Meadows was tapped for the position on March 6 after announcing in December that he would not seek reelection in North Carolina in 2020. Meadows’ resignation was effective at 5 p.m. ET on Monday and he is scheduled to begin his new position starting today. Meadows will be Trump’s fourth chief of staff, succeeding acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, as well as Reince Priebus and John Kelly. (NBC News)
The Trump administration rolled back fuel efficiency standards for cars and trucks – one of the nation’s most aggressive efforts to combat climate change. The changes will allow vehicles to emit about a billion more tons of carbon dioxide – equivalent to roughly a fifth of annual U.S. emissions – by requiring automakers to increase fuel economyby 1.5% a year, with the goal of achieving an average of 40 miles per gallon by 2026. The current rules mandate annual increases of 5%, reaching an average of 54 mpg by 2025. (Los Angeles Times / NBC News / The Guardian)
1/ The U.S. could see 100,000 to 200,000 coronavirus deaths even “if we do things almost perfectly.” Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House’s coronavirus response coordinator, said “no state, no metro area will be spared from the virus” and the projections by Dr. Anthony Fauci that U.S. deaths could range from 1.6 million to 2.2 million is a worst case scenario if the country did “nothing” to contain the outbreak. Birx added that “we’re not sure all of America is responding in a uniform way.” Dr. Fauci, meanwhile, warned that the COVID-19 outbreak is still on track to overwhelm hospitals and kill tens of thousands of Americans, even with action to slow the spread. (NBC News / TODAY / Bloomberg / ABC News / NPR)
Confirmed cases of COVID-19 rise to more than 755,000 globally; U.S. cases pass 150,000, more than 2,500 dead. (Wall Street Journal)
The FDA issued an emergency use authorization for hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine – malaria drugs championed by Trump – saying there are no available alternatives and the “known and potential” benefits of the product outweigh the risks. There are only a few, small anecdotal studies showing a possible benefit of the drugs to relieve the acute respiratory symptoms of COVID-19. Nevertheless, millions of doses will be distributed to hospitals across the country to try to slow the disease. (Politico / Washington Post / Bloomberg)
FEMA sent refrigerated trucks to New York City to serve as temporary morgues as nearly more than 790 people have died in the city from the coronavirus. (Politico)
2/ Trump raised the idea of issuing an “enforceable” quarantine of New York, New Jersey, and parts of Connecticut only to back away from it hours later. Instead, the CDC issued a travel advisory calling on residents of the tri-state to avoid “non-essential domestic travel” for the next two weeks to help slow the spread of coronavirus. Dr. Fauci later clarified that Trump settled on the advisory after “very intensive discussions” at the White House. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, meanwhile, called the quarantine idea a “declaration of war on states” that would crash financial markets and results in legal challenges, saying “A lockdown is what they did in Wuhan, China, and we’re not in China.” (NBC News / Vox / CNN / New York Times / Wall Street Journal /Bloomberg / CNBC / Axios)
3/ Trump blamed hospitals for the shortage of masks and ventilators, suggesting that hospitals were “hoarding” ventilators and that states were requesting equipment despite not needing it. Trump, noting the sudden increase in need for masks, questioned “How do you go from 10 to 20 [thousand masks per week] to 300,000? Ten [thousand] to 20,000 masks, to 300,000 — even though this is different? Something is going on […] Are they going out the back door?” (Washington Post)
In at least 10 government reports from 2003 to 2015, federal officials predicted the U.S. would experience a shortage of ventilators and other medical supplies if it faced a large-scale infectious disease outbreak. (CNN)
Trump administration officials declined an offer for congressional coronavirus funding on February 5. The officials, including Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, said they “didn’t need emergency funding, that they would be able to handle it within existing appropriations,” Sen. Chris Murphy recalled. Murphy said the funding he and other congressional leaders wanted to allocate in February would have paid for essential preventative measures, including hiring local screening and testing staff, researching a vaccine and treatments, and the stockpiling of needed medical supplies. (Yahoo News)
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said her state is not getting the health and safety equipment needed because contractors are sending their products to the federal government, implying that the order came from the Trump administration. On Friday, Trump said he had instructed Pence not to call governors who have not been “appreciative” enough of his efforts on coronavirus. “If they don’t treat you right, I don’t call,” Trump said, adding: “Don’t call the woman in Michigan.” (WWJ 950 / Crain’s Detroit Business / CNN / Associated Press / USA Today)
4/ The Trump administration donated more than 35,000 pounds of “masks, gowns, gauze, respirators, and other vital materials” to China the same day the World Health Organization warned about “the limited stock of PPE (personal protective equipment).” The first known case of coronavirus case in U.S. was confirmed by the CDC on January 21, 2020. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the donation to China on February 7. (CNN)
5/ Trump bragged about the ratings of his coronavirus task force briefings, tweeting that the rise in ratings is driving the media “CRAZY” while suggesting that the viewership is fueling discussions in the media about ending the practice of broadcasting them live. Trump sent about a half-dozen tweets touting the high television ratings while selectively citing an article that compared them to “The Bachelor” and “Monday Night Football.” News outlets have struggled with how to cover Trump’s coronavirus press briefings live because Trump “has repeatedly delivered information that doctors and public health officials have called ill informed, misleading, or downright wrong.” (Vox / Axios / Vanity Fair / CNN)
6/ Trump extended federal social distancing guidelines until at least April 30 – a reversal from last week when Trump said he planned to relax restrictions by Easter. Trump said all Americans must continue to stay home when possible and avoid gatherings of 10 or more people for at least another month. “By June 1, we will be well on our way to recovery,” Trump said. “We think by June 1, a lot of great things will be happening.” Trump claimed his earlier predictions of an April 12 “reopening” of the country was simply “aspirational” and was not meant to be an actual timeline. Dr. Anthony Fauci called the extension of social distancing guidelines a “wise and prudent decision.” (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / CNBC / Business Insider / CNN / NBC News)
7/ Trump believes the inspector general overseeing the $500 billion relief fund will first need his permission to make reports to Congress. In a signing statement, released hours after Trump signed the bill, Trump suggested he can gag the inspector general and can decide what information the inspector general could share with Congress. (New York Times / CNBC)
8/ The EPA stopped enforcing environmental regulations because of the coronavirus pandemic. The relaxation of environmental rules allow power plants, factories, and other facilities discretion in deciding whether or not they think the coronavirus will prevent them from meeting legal requirements on air and water pollution and hazardous waste management. The EPA will not be fining companies for violating certain requirements during this time. The new directive will remain in place indefinitely. (New York Times / Vox / Business Insider)
9/ The Justice Department is investigating a series of stock transactions made by lawmakers leading up to the coronavirus-related market crash and if the trades were based on confidential briefings they received. The inquiry is still in its early stages and is being conducted in coordination with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The FBI has already reached out to one lawmaker — Sen. Richard Burr — with requests for information about his trades. The investigation hinges on whether lawmakers sought to profit from information they obtained from non-public briefings about the coronavirus pandemic. One of Burr’s attorneys said Burr “welcomes a thorough review of the facts in this matter, which will establish that his actions were appropriate.” (CNN / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
📌Day 1156: At least four senators sold off millions of dollars’ worth of stocks just before the market dropped amid fears of the coronavirus pandemic. Sens. Richard Burr and Kelly Loeffler sold off more than a million dollars each in stocks after attending private, senators-only briefings about the severity of the impending coronavirus crisis. Burr, who serves as the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, had been receiving daily updates from the intelligence community on threats to the U.S., including the coronavirus, before dumped up to $1.56 million on Feb. 13 – days after he wrote an op-ed for Fox News arguing that the U.S. is “better prepared than ever before” when it comes to facing public health threats like COVID-19. Loeffler, who is married to the chairman and CEO of the New York Stock Exchange, and her husband sold up to $3.1 million in jointly owned stocks starting on Jan. 24 – the same day the Senate Health Committee, on which she sits, briefed senators briefing about the coronavirus. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, also a member of the intelligence committee, and her husband sold up to $6 million worth of stock in Jan. and Feb. And, Sen. James Inhofe sold as much as $400,000 in January. Burr said he has asked the Senate Ethics Committee to review his sale. (ProPublica / Daily Beast / NPR / NBC News / Axios / New York Times / Atlanta Journal-Constitution / The Guardian / Washington Post / The Hill / Reuters)
10/ The Department of Defense is isolating some of its senior military commanders, as well as nuclear and special operations forces, in case they’re needed in the event of a sudden security crisis. A U.S. military official at NORAD said they are “isolating specific command personnel involved in critical mission areas” in order to “ensure we remain capable of defending the homeland despite the pandemic.” Defense Secretary Mark Esper has also put a hold on all military movements for 60 days, which impacts some 90,000 troops worldwide. (CNN)
The Pentagon ordered military commanders to plan for an escalation of combat in Iraq. The top U.S. commander in Iraq, however, has warned that a campaign to destroy an Iranian-backed militia group could be bloody and counterproductive and risks war with Iran. (New York Times)
👑 Portrait of a President.
The contrarian coronavirus theory that informed the Trump administration. Trump, who at one point called the coronavirus pandemic an “invisible enemy” and said it made him a “wartime President,” has in recent days questioned its seriousness, tweeting, “WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF.” (New Yorker)
The Lost Month: How a Failure to Test Blinded the U.S. to COVID-19. Aggressive screening might have helped contain the coronavirus in the United States. But technical flaws, regulatory hurdles and lapses in leadership let it spread undetected for weeks. (New York Times)
The missing six weeks: How Trump failed the biggest test of his life. Trump was aware of the danger from the coronavirus – but a lack of leadership has created an emergency of epic proportions. (The Guardian)
As Trump invokes presidential powers to fight the coronavirus, he sows confusion along the way. The unprecedented push as has Trump has ramped up efforts to show he is using some of his broadest powers as commander in chief has also been plagued by growing confusion about how far his authorities actually extend and how much he is willing to use them. (Washington Post)
Trump: I’m doing a great job fighting the coronavirus, and 100,000 of you will die. “Only in the world of Trumpian dumbfuckery could anyone brighter than a toaster oven think 100,000 avoidable deaths is a win.” (Daily Beast)
Fact Check: Donald Trump denied saying what he publicly said last week. (CNN)
1/ The House passed the $2.2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package and Trump signed it into law. The legislation will deliver one-time direct payments of $1,200 to most taxpayers and enhance unemployment benefits. The measure also creates a $500 billion lending program for businesses, cities and states, and a $367 billion fund for small businesses. The package was approved by voice vote after a Republican lawmaker attempted to delay the approval and force lawmakers to return to Washington in order to assemble the 216 members needed for a quorum. Trump attacked Rep. Thomas Massie in a series of tweets, calling him a “third rate grandstander” and suggesting that Republican leaders “throw” him out of the party. The size of the stimulus package, along with Federal Reserve actions, will amount to an injection of about $6 trillion into the economy – or about 30% of annual gross domestic product. “We got hit by the invisible enemy and we got hit hard,” Trump said before signing the bill. “I think we are going to have a tremendous rebound.” (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / CNBC / Vox / CNN / NBC News / The Guardian / ABC News / CBS News / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
Confirmed COVID-19 cases in the U.S. surpassed 100,000 – doubling in just three days. (CNBC)
The World Health Organization enrolled the first patients in test treatments for the coronavirus in Norway and Spain. Health officials are testing four drugs to fight COVID-19, including malaria medications chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, an antiviral compound called Remdesivir, a combination of HIV drugs Lopinavir and Ritonavir, and a combination of those drugs plus interferon-beta. (CNBC)
Doctors in New York will try to treat patients with COVID-19 with plasma infusions from people who have recovered after the Food and Drug Administration approved the experimental use of plasma on an emergency basis to treat coronavirus patients. (New York Times / Washington Post)
Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson tested positive for the coronavirus. Hours later, British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said he had also tested positive for the virus. And then, England’s chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, said he was also experiencing symptoms of a COVID-19 infection. (NBC News / Washington Post)
2/ Trump ordered General Motors to produce 40,000 ventilators under the Defense Production Act hours after criticizing the company on Twitter for not acting quickly enough to produce supplies amid the coronavirus pandemic. Trump said “GM was wasting time. Today’s action will help ensure the quick production of ventilators that will save American lives.” Earlier in the day, Trump tweeted that “General Motors MUST immediately open their stupidly abandoned Lordstown plant in Ohio, or some other plant, and START MAKING VENTILATORS, NOW!!!!!! FORD, GET GOING ON VENTILATORS, FAST!!!!!!” The White House also canceled an announcement planned for next week on a joint venture between General Motors and Ventec Life Systems to build as many as 80,000 ventilators. FEMA said it needed more time to assess whether the estimated cost of more than $1 billion was too expensive. GM and Ventec Life said they were ready to ramp up production, but were waiting on the Trump administration to provide clarity about how many ventilators were needed and who would be paid to build them. (CNBC / Washington Post / New York Times / Axios / Politico / Bloomberg / New York Times / CNN)
Trump to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo: “I don’t believe you need 40,000 or 30,000 ventilators.” Trump, speaking to Sean Hannity on Fox News, was responding to Cuomo’s projections that the state will need up to 30,000 ventilators within the next two weeks to adequately respond to the peak of coronavirus cases that are expected to hit the state. “You go into major hospitals sometimes, and they’ll have two ventilators,” Trump continued. “And now all of a sudden they’re saying, ‘Can we order 30,000 ventilators?’” Trump’s comments come as some New York City hospitals have been forced to start sharing ventilators between as many as four patients at once. As of Friday, 44,635 cases had been confirmed in the state, resulting in 519 deaths. New York state hospitals have 4,000 ventilators in the system. (Politico / New York Times / CBS News / The Guardian)
Trump blamed two Democratic governors for the spread of coronavirus, accusing Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of not doing enough to address the health crisis. “He shouldn’t be relying on the federal government. He’s always complaining,” Trump said of Inslee. “And your governor of Michigan, she’s not stepping up,” Trump said. “I don’t know if she knows what’s going on. All she does is sit there and blame the federal government.” (Washington Post)
Nearly 90% of U.S. mayors said they lack sufficient tests kits, face masks and other protective equipment for their emergency responders and medical workers, while 85% said they do not have enough ventilators for their hospitals. (Washington Post)
Gov. Andrew Cuomo called on Trump to approve the construction of 4,000 additional hospital beds in New York City. Mayor Bill de Blasio, meanwhile, said Trump is “not looking at the facts of this astronomical growth of this crisis… We believe over half the people in this city will ultimately be infected. Over half.” More than 8 million people live in New York City. (Politico / The Guardian / CBS News)
3/ Trump notified U.S. governors that his administration will be issuing new guidelines about “maintaining, increasing or relaxing social distancing and other mitigation measures.” Mike Pence and a small group of public health officials are expected to brief Trump on his options this weekend about whether to extend the White House’s 15-day social distancing guidelines or loosen them for some or all parts of the country. In his letter to governors, Trump said the guidance will contain instructions for classifying certain counties as “high risk, medium risk or low risk,” as well as data that will drive the “next phase” of the government’s response. Trump floated re-opening the country by Easter, saying he’d like to have the “country opened up and just raring to go” by the April 12 holiday. Since then, however, White House officials have backed away from that date. (Politico / NPR / Bloomberg)
Trump said there’s “no way” he’ll cancel the Republican National Convention in August because of the coronavirus. “Somebody was asking today, ‘Will you cancel your convention?’,” Trump told Sean Hannity. “I said no way I’m going to cancel the convention. We’re going to have the convention, it’s going to be incredible.” The GOP convention is scheduled for Aug. 24-27, roughly two months before the November general election. (The Hill)
4/ Jared Kushner’s shadow coronavirus task force appears to be violating both the Presidential Records Act and Federal Advisory Committee Act. Kushner’s task force is using private email accounts and has not complied with requirements to document, preserve and maintain records of “the activities, deliberations, decisions, and policies that reflect the performance of the President’s constitutional, statutory, or other official or ceremonial duties.” (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethic in Washington)
poll/ 93% of Americans say they’re practicing social distancing and staying away from other people during the coronavirus crisis. 91% say they’re staying home as much as possible, while 88% have stopped going to restaurants and bars. 82% are washing their hands more often, 61% say they’ve stocked up on food and supplies, and 53% have canceled travel plans. (Washington Post)
1/ A record 3.28 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week – the largest number of unemployment claims ever recorded for a single week since the government began collecting data in 1967. The number shatters the Great Recession peak of 665,000 claims in March 2009 and the all-time mark of 695,000 in October 1982. As a result, the U.S. unemployment rate has likely already risen to 5.5% from 3.5% in February – a level not seen since 2015. A similarly large number of initial unemployment claims is expected next week when the Labor Department releases its report on claims filed this week. In the prior Labor Department report, for the week ended March 14, initial claims totaled 282,000. (NPR / CNBC / Washington Post / CNN / New York Times / Politico / Bloomberg)
The U.S. leads the world in confirmed coronavirus cases with at least 81,321 people known to have been infected. (New York Times)
Nearly 1.5 million N95 respirator masks are sitting in a U.S. government warehouse in Indiana, but authorities have not shipped them because they are past their expiration date. (Washington Post)
Trump’s cabinet pastor blamed the outbreak on those who have “a proclivity toward lesbianism and homosexuality.” Ralph Drollinger wrote that the U.S. is “experiencing the consequential wrath of God” because the “forsaken,” which includes environmentalists and members of the LGBTQIA+ community, have “given over” to their “degrading passions.” Betsy DeVos, Mike Pompeo, Ben Carson, and Rick Perry all regularly attend Drollinger’s bible study sessions, with Perry describing him as a “brilliant, knowledgeable bible instructor.” (NBC News / Independent)
🔥 Read This: How the pandemic will end. The U.S. may end up with the worst COVID-19 outbreak in the industrialized world. This is how it’s going to play out.(The Atlantic)
2/ U.S. stocks had their best three-day rally since 1931. Over the past three days, the Dow is up more than 20% and has emerged from the bear market it fell into on March 11. The S&P 500 posted its first three-day rally since February, closing up 6.2%. The Nasdaq rose 5.6%. (CNBC / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNN)
3/ The Senate passed an emergency $2.2 trillion relief package to address the economic impacts of the coronavirus. The bill passed unanimously and includes direct payments to individuals making less than $99,000 per year — which could be sent out as early as April 6 — $250 billion to bolster unemployment insurance, $500 billion for hard-hit industries and states, $50 billion for airlines, $350 billion in loans for small businesses that are eligible for loan forgiveness if companies use them to keep workers on payroll, $130 billion in aid to hospitals, and $150 billion to help state and local governments. The bill now heads to the House, where lawmakers are expected to vote on it Friday morning. (Washington Post / New York Times / The Guardian / CNBC / NBC News / CNN)
The Senate will recess after passing the stimulus package and not return until April 20. Senators were scheduled to go on a two-week recess starting on March 31, but will now cancel next week’s scheduled session and leave town for a total of three weeks. (The Hill)
4/ The Trump administration ignored a White House playbook that was created in 2016 to help fight back against a potential pandemic. The National Security Council playbook lays out strategies and recommendations that an administration should take, including moving swiftly to fully detect potential outbreaks, securing supplemental funding and considering invoking the Defense Production Act, and making sure there are sufficient personal protective equipment available for healthcare workers. The NSC created the guide — officially titled the “Playbook for Early Response to High-Consequence Emerging Infectious Disease Threats and Biological Incidents” but known colloquially as “the pandemic playbook” — in 2016 and the Trump administration was briefed on it in 2017, but administration officials ignored it and it never became official policy. (Politico)
Internal CDC emails show how public health officials fumbled communication and underestimated the threat of the coronavirus as it gained a foothold in the United States. (ProPublica)
5/ The Trump administration fired more than two-thirds of the staff working at a key U.S. public health agency operating in China leading up to the coronavirus outbreak. Staff at the CDC’s Beijing office was slashed from roughly 47 people to 14 people since Trump took office. The CDC has worked in China for the last 30 years. The National Science Foundation and the USAID office, which helped China monitor and respond to outbreaks, also shuttered their Beijing offices on Trump’s watch. (Reuters / New York Times)
6/ The Trump administration blocked a joint statement from G-7 countries on the coronavirus by insisting that the U.N. Security Council refer to the pandemic as “the Wuhan virus.” The U.S. repeatedly tried to insert references to “the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Wuhan, Hubei province in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in November 2019” into the joint statement. China, meanwhile, has consistently vetoed those efforts and accused the U.S. of “irresponsible practices” and of “politicizing the outbreak and blaming China.” (NBC News / Washington Post)
7/ The Department of Homeland Security requested that military forces be deployed to the U.S.-Canada border to provide additional security between entry points. There has been no final decision on whether or not to approve the request. Canada, meanwhile, has told the U.S. that it is strongly opposed to the proposal, saying it would damage relations between the two allies. (ABC News / Global News / Politico)
8/ The Justice Department announced narco-terrorism and other criminal charges against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and senior leaders from his government. Charges brought by federal prosecutors in New York’s Southern District, Miami and Washington, DC, allege that the leaders of the Venezuelan regime manage a drug cartel and coordinate with the Colombian rebel group FARC to traffic cocaine to the U.S. Maduro’s government is “plagued by criminality and corruption,” Attorney General William Barr said in announcing the charges. (New York Times / CNN / Miami Herald)
poll/ 33% of Americans said the coronavirus outbreak has caused them or an immediate family member to lose their job. 51% said they’ve had their hours or pay cut. 92% said a recession is likely. (Washington Post)
Editor’s note: The White House coronavirus task force briefing just started and a last-minute dispute over unemployment aid is delaying a Senate vote on the aid package. Per usual, who the f*ck knows what’s going to happen. So instead of waiting indefinitely, here we go instead.
1/ Senators reached an agreement on a $2 trillion stimulus package to combat the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic – the largest relief package in American history. The package will provide direct payments to Americans, $130 billion in funding for hospitals, $350 billion in small business loans, $250 billion in unemployment insurance benefits, and $500 billion in loans for distressed companies. A vote is expected Wednesday afternoon. The House is expected to take it up no sooner than Thursday. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin promised that Trump would “absolutely” sign it if Congress passes it. The package is the third Congress has considered to address the pandemic. Trump previously signed into law a $8.3 billion emergency aid and relief package providing paid leave, free testing and additional aid for families affected by the pandemic. (New York Times / CNN / NBC News / Washington Post / Politico / The Guardian)
⚠️ What’s in the $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus bill: Direct cash payments, expanded unemployment insurance, small business support, assistance for corporations, public health funding, state aid, and more. (CNN / NBC News / CBS News)
💰 Who would get what and when from the $2 trillion stimulus package: Individuals who earn $75,000 or less would get direct payments of $1,200 each, with married couples earning up to $150,000 receiving $2,400. An additional $500 per child will be tacked on to that. Payments would scale down as income rises, phasing out at $99,000 for singles and $198,000 for couples without children. (ABC News / CNBC)
2/ Trump’s businesses are prohibited from receiving loans or investments from Treasury programs under the coronavirus stimulus package. Firms owned by Trump, Pence, members of Congress, or heads of executive departments would all be excluded from receiving that aid under the new stimulus package, including companies controlled by their children, spouses or in-laws. (Bloomberg / CNBC / Washington Post / CBS News / The Guardian)
The Senate’s $2 trillion stimulus package includes a $17 billion federal loan program – aimed at providing assistance to Boeing – for businesses deemed “critical to maintaining national security.” The carve-out is separate from the $58 billion the Senate package is providing in loans for cargo and passenger airlines, as well as the $425 billion in loans it is allocating to help firms, states and cities hurt by the current downturn. (Washington Post / New York Times )
3/ The Trump administration has not released unemployment funds to three states Trump has formally declared coronavirus disaster areas. New York, California, or Washington state all requested access to several aid programs provided under a disaster declaration, including disaster unemployment assistance. A senior administration official said the administration is holding off on approving requests for disaster unemployment assistance because Congress is expected to provide similar protections in the stimulus package. (Politico)
State unemployment websites and systems crashed stemming from a “historic increase” in people applying for unemployment. New York State’s Department of Labor has seen a 1000% increase in claims. (ABC News)
At least 1 million Californians filed unemployment claims this month. The initial claims data has never before surpassed 1 million, and it was 285,000 last week. (CNBC)
😷 COVID-ables.
The global death toll from the new coronavirus surpassed 20,000 and the number of confirmed COVID-19 infections worldwide climbed to more than 454,000. More than 61,000 people have tested positive and more than 800 have died of the disease in the United States. (John Hopkins University)
A drug for malaria that Trump promoted as a treatment for coronavirus is no more effective than conventional care. The report published by the Journal of Zhejiang University in China showed that patients who received Hydroxychloroquine didn’t fight off the new coronavirus more often than those who did not get the medicine. (Bloomberg)
A CDC epidemiologist estimates that the peak of coronavirus-related deaths in the U.S. will peak in three weeks, after which “most of the damage will be done.” (CNN)
New York state has 10 times the COVID-19 cases California has. Why? New York is testing far more people — three times as many as California — and as a result identifying more cases. (San Francisco Chronicle)
Idaho ordered residents to self-isolate and close non-essential businesses for at least 21 days. (NBC News)
About 3,200 NYPD officers have called out sick as 177 uniformed officers and another 34 civilian NYPD employees tested positive for the coronavirus. (Politico)
New York City’s morgues are expected to reach capacity next week. (Politico)
1/ Congressional negotiators signaled that they are nearing a bipartisan agreement on an estimated $2 trillion emergency stimulus package to address economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. Mitch McConnell, Chuck Schumer, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin all said they expected an agreement later Tuesday. The Senate bill would direct payments of $1,200 to most American adults and $500 to most children, create a $500 billion lending program for companies, states, and cities, and extend another $367 billion to help small businesses make payroll. White House officials agreed to allow an independent inspector general, and an oversight board to scrutinize the lending decisions after Trump said he would “be the oversight.” (Politico / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / New York Times)
U.S. stocks rallied on the news, posting one of their best days ever. The S&P 500 rose more than 9%, rebounding from its lowest level since 2016 – and the biggest one-day gain since October 2008. The Dow rose more than 11% – its biggest one-day gain since 1933. The Nasdaq notched gains of just over 8%. (Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNBC / NBC News / CNN / New York Times / Washington Post)
Nancy Pelosi unveiled a $2.5 trillion coronavirus aid package in the House. The “Take Responsibility for Workers and Families Act” would increase the amount of money being offered to individuals from $1,000 to $1,500, and up to $7,500 for a family of five. It also waives $10,000 in federal student loan payments, allocates $150 billion to support hospitals and medical facilities, eliminates cost-sharing for coronavirus treatments and vaccines, provides $500 billion in interest-free loans for small businesses, and much more. (Axios)
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo warned of “troubling and astronomical numbers” in the rate of coronavirus infections that are rising faster than expected. (The Guardian)
New York has 7,000 ventilators but needs 30,000. America’s essential personnel need an estimated 3.5 billion N95 masks. (Axios)
The Trump administration is set to use the Defense Production Act for the first time to procure about 60,000 coronavirus test kits. FEMA’s administrator said the federal government was also inserting “DPA language” into its contract for 500 million masks. Trump, however, said “We didn’t have to exercise or utilize the DPA in any way.” Trump has resisted calls to use the act, saying he is concerned about nationalizing American businesses and that his authorization of the DPA serves as enough “leverage” to compel companies to produce medical supplies without invoking the act to force them to start up production. (Wall Street Journal / CNN)
The White House coronavirus task force urged anyone who leaves New York City to self-quarantine for 14-days in order to stop the spread of COVID-19. (CNBC)
U.S. airlines are drafting plans for a potential voluntary shutdown of virtually all domestic flights. No final decisions have been made by the carriers or the White House. Airlines are also preparing for the possibility that contagion-driven staffing emergencies at air traffic control facilities could make it impossible to continue operating in parts of the country. (Wall Street Journal)
The Trump administration stopped collection on defaulted federal student loans amid the coronavirus pandemic “until further notice.” (Politico)
India’s prime minister ordered all 1.3 billion people in the country to stay inside their homes for three weeks. “There will be a total ban of coming out of your homes,” the prime minister, Narendra Modi, announced. “Every state, every district, every lane, every village will be under lockdown.” (New York Times)
There are at least 52,381 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the United States. At least 680 people have died. (CNN)
2/ Trump’s patience with Dr. Anthony Fauci has reportedly started to wear thin as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has repeatedly corrected Trump’s falsehoods about the spread of the coronavirus. Dr. Fauci and Trump have publicly disagreed on how long it will take for a coronavirus vaccine to become available and whether chloroquine, an anti-malaria drug, could help. In an interview with Science Magazine, Dr. Fauci addressed Trump’s false statements, saying: “I can’t jump in front of the microphone and push him down. OK, he said it. Let’s try and get it corrected for the next time.” Dr. Fauci, the most credible U.S. infectious disease expert on the coronavirus outbreak, has been absent from White House events for three days after contradicting Trump. Meanwhile, Dr. Fauci said: “To my knowledge, I haven’t been fired.” (New York Times / Politico / ABC News / Washington Post / Bloomberg)
3/ Trump said he wants the nation “opened up and just raring to go by Easter” – less than three weeks away – after expressing outrage over having to “close the country” by shutting down businesses and implementing social distancing. Trump predicted that “there will be tremendous death” from shutting down the economy and job losses, suggesting there is “probably” more damage being done to the economy than the threat of the virus spreading further. Trump said that once the 15-day period of social distancing ends next week, “we’ll stay a little bit longer than that” but that he wants the effective shutdown of the country to end “very soon.” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, meanwhile, said that the state is expecting the height of coronavirus infections to come in two to three weeks. Trump’s Surgeon General Jerome Adams also said the pandemic is going to get much worse in the U.S. before it gets better. Trump’s comments also came hours after Mike Pence told conservative leaders that White House aides were discussing ways to encourage businesses to reopen and for healthy Americans to return to work at the end of the current 15-day period. “I think it’s possible, why not?” Trump said with a shrug. Health experts, however, point to overwhelming evidence from around the world that closing businesses and schools and minimizing social contact are crucial for avoiding exponentially mounting infections. Trump – again – compared coronavirus to the seasonal flu and auto accidents, despite warnings from his health advisers, including Dr. Fauci, that such analogies are a “false equivalency.” Nevertheless, Trump said: “The faster we go back, the better it’s going to be.” And, earlier in the day, Trump tweeted that “THE CURE CANNOT BE WORSE (by far) THAN THE PROBLEM!” (Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Politico / CNN / ABC News / NBC News / Bloomberg / Washington Post / Washington Post)
4/ Health officials want Trump to “double down, not lighten up” on social distancing restrictions, contending that the fallout will be worse if the White House eases up now. “Our country wasn’t built to be shut down,” Trump said during a Monday night briefing as the U.S. entered week two of trying to contain the spread of the coronavirus. “America will again and soon be open for business,” Trump said, “a lot sooner than three or four months that somebody was suggesting, a lot sooner.” Public health officials warn, however, that relaxing restrictions now could significantly increase the death toll from the virus. Trump’s comments on re-opening the economy came as the U.S. saw 100-plus fatalities and nearly 10,000 more confirmed coronavirus cases – in a single day. (Politico / New York Times / NBC News)
🔥 U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams: “I want America to understand: This week, it’s going to get bad.” The disease is spreading, he said, because many people are not abiding by guidance to stay at home and practice social distancing. (Washington Post / NBC News / Today)
5/ Trump’s private businesses have shut down six of its top seven revenue-producing clubs and hotels because of restrictions meant to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The closures come as Trump is considering easing restrictions on social distancing. (Washington Post)
poll/ 57% of Americans say the nation’s efforts to combat the coronavirus are going badly, 51% call it a crisis, and 47% see a months-long process before it is contained. 88% trust medical professionals for information about the virus compared to 44% who trust Trump. (CBS News)
poll/ 49% of Americans approve of the job Trump is doing as president – up from 44% earlier this month. (Gallup)
👑 Portrait of a President
Trump confronts a crisis unlike any before. Trump is no stranger to crisis. He has spent a lifetime grappling with bankruptcy, fending off creditors, evading tax collectors, defending lawsuits, deflecting regulators, spinning reporters and dueling with estranged wives, usually coming out ahead, at least as he defines it. But these were crises of his own creation involving human adversaries he knew how to confront. Nothing in his background in business, entertainment or multiple marriages prepared him for the coronavirus pandemic now threatening America’s health and wealth. (New York Times)
Short-term thinking plagues Trump’s coronavirus response. Inside the Trump administration, officials are continuing to sort out which teams are responsible for elements of coronavirus response, part of an ever-shifting patchwork of alliances and strategy, while working to manage the president’s unpredictable requests. Five officials said that Trump had grown appropriately concerned about the coronavirus outbreak after weeks of ignoring or playing down the threat, but that the administration is now rushing to solve issues that could have been addressed months ago, like obtaining the necessary supplies for the nation’s emergency stockpile. (Politico)
Trump’s up-and-down command of a pandemic. All week, Trump reveled in his newfound character — that of a crisis commander steering his skittish nation through battle with what he called an “invisible enemy.” He parried questions, barked orders and stood stoically by as he accepted praise, day after day, from his underlings for his “strong leadership” and “decisive actions.” But on Friday, Trump faltered. He argued based on “just a feeling” that, despite no scientific evidence yet, an anti-malaria drug could cure the coronavirus. He complained that he has not been credited for fixing a nationwide testing system that clearly is still broken. And when asked what message he had for Americans who were scared, he lashed out. (Washington Post)
Trump struggles to adjust to crisis presidency. Now, as the coronavirus crisis threatens his presidency, and upends his campaign for reelection, Trump is rapidly losing patience with the medical professionals who have made the case day after day that the only way to prevent a catastrophic loss of life is to essentially shut down the country — to minimize transmission and “flatten the curve” so hospitals aren’t overwhelmed with critical patients. (Associated Press)
As the crisis escalates, Trump experiments with a pivot. With his “wartime president” posture failing to stop the slide and his presidency in the balance, Trump toys with reopening the economy early. (Vanity Fair)
Trump made 33 false claims about the coronavirus crisis in the first two weeks of March. Trump made 50 false claims from March 2 through March 8, then 21 false claims from March 9 through March 15. Of those 71 false claims, 33 were related to the coronavirus. (CNN)
1/ The World Health Organization: “The pandemic is accelerating.” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of WHO, said “It took 67 days from the first reported case to reach 100,000 cases, 11 days for second 100,000 cases, and just four days for the third 100,000 cases.” More than 34,000 people have contracted the virus in the U.S., and at least 485 people have died. Worldwide, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases is nearing 350,000, with at least 15,000 deaths. (CNBC / CBS News)
2/ The Senate failed to pass the $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus bill for the second day in a row. The procedural vote on the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act failed 49-46 – short of the 60 vote threshold needed to advance the legislation for a final debate. Democrats argued that the bill disproportionately helps companies and needs to include more benefits for families and health care providers. Republicans, meanwhile, insisted that the bill offers financial assistance to the entire economy and needs to be passed before more people lose their jobs. After the vote, Mitch McConnell warned that the Senate might not be able to pass a bill until Friday or Saturday, blaming Democrats for “mindless obstruction.” Nancy Pelosi said the House would unveil its own coronavirus stimulus bill. (Politico / Washington Post / ABC News / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Washington Post / NBC News)
Sen. Rand Paul tested positive for COVID-19, making him the first U.S. senator to contract the virus. He does not have any symptoms and said was not aware of any instance where he had direct contact with an infected person. Earlier this month, Paul was the only senator to vote against a bipartisan deal that would have provided $8 billion in emergency coronavirus funding. (Axios)
Rep. Ben McAdams has been hospitalized for “severe shortness of breath” after testing positive for COVID-19 last week. McAdams symptoms started getting worse on Friday, so he called the medical hotline for the virus and was told to go to the hospital and check in with the isolation unit. “I was admitted and have been receiving oxygen as I struggled to maintain my blood oxygen at appropriate levels,” McAdams said in a statement. “I am now off oxygen and feeling relatively better and expect to be released as soon as the doctor determines it is appropriate.” (NBC News)
The 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games will be postponed. (USA Today)
The United Kingdom issued a three-week national lockdown. All businesses deemed nonessential will close. (NBC News)
3/ The U.S. economy is deteriorating more quickly than anticipated with more than 84 million Americans at home because of shutdowns to combat the coronavirus. The Labor Department is expected to report that roughly 3 million Americans have filed first-time claims for unemployment assistance – more than four times the record high set during the 1982 recession. A JPMorgan Chase economist told clients that the jobless rate could spike to 20% from today’s 3.5%. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard predicted that the U.S. unemployment rate could hit 30% in the second quarter, with a 50% drop in gross domestic product. (Washington Post / Bloomberg / Quartz)
4/ Trump is considering ending “social distancing” guidelines due to concerns about the economic damage from an extended shutdown. Easing guidelines would run counter to recommendations by senior U.S. health officials, who have warned that the U.S. has not yet felt the worst of the pandemic. “WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF,” Trump tweeted late Sunday. “AT THE END OF THE 15 DAY PERIOD, WE WILL MAKE A DECISION AS TO WHICH WAY WE WANT TO GO!” The 15-day period ends on March 30. Administration officials said there is a growing sentiment that the White House went too far in allowing public health experts to set policy to “flatten the curve” that has hurt the economy. Pence, meanwhile, said the CDC will issue guidance allowing people exposed to the coronavirus to return to work sooner by wearing a mask. (Washington Post / New York Times / Axios / Politico / NBC News / Bloomberg / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
5/ The Trump administration is updating guidance on how hospitals should respond if supplies like masks, face shields, and other protective equipment run out. The coronavirus task force has compared the need for ventilators, masks, and other protective equipment against the current supply and has acknowledged that the stockpile is short of what’s needed. Trade data also shows a decline in imports of medical supplies, including testing swabs, protective masks, surgical gowns, and hand sanitizer, from China starting in mid-February. Some emergency rooms, hospitals and clinics have already run out of supplies, while others are rationing personal protective equipment like gloves and masks. Trump, meanwhile, has resisted appeals from state, local officials, and hospital administrators to invoke the Defense Production Act to compel companies to make face masks and other gear to protect health workers. The American Medical Association called the shortages of protective gear for medical professionals treating coronavirus cases “unacceptable.” (Washington Post / Associated Press / NBC News / New York Times)
Trump promoted two unproven drugs to treat coronavirus, which has lead to shortages for lupus and rheumatoid arthritis patients who depend on them to alleviate symptoms of inflammation, including preventing organ damage in lupus patients. (Washington Post)
Governors and mayors in growing uproar over Trump’s lagging coronavirus response. (Washington Post)
The Trump administration is considering a special enrollment period for health coverage under the Affordable Care Act because of the coronavirus crisis. Open enrollment for states that use the federal exchange ended on Dec. 15. A special enrollment period because of coronavirus would be aimed partly at ensuring people don’t put off getting tested or treated because they don’t have health insurance. About 30 million Americans are uninsured. (Wall Street Journal)
6/ U.S. intelligence agencies issued classified warnings in January and February about the global danger posed by the coronavirus. The reports didn’t predict when the virus would hit the U.S. or recommend steps public health officials should take, but it did track the spread of the virus in China and warned that Chinese officials appeared to be minimizing the severity of the outbreak.Trump and lawmakers, however, repeatedly played down the threat and failed to take action that might have slowed the spread of the virus. (Washington Post)
7/ The Trump administration eliminated a CDC disease expert position in China a few months before the coronavirus pandemic began. The position, known as resident adviser to the U.S. Field Epidemiology Training Program in China, was funded by the CDC and was focused on helping detect disease outbreaks in China. No other foreign disease experts were embedded to lead the program after Dr. Linda Quick had to leave her post in July amid the U.S. trade dispute with China. The post was officially discontinued as of September 2019. The CDC first learned of a “cluster of 27 cases of pneumonia” of unexplained origin in Wuhan, China on Dec. 31. (Reuters)
8/ The Justice Department asked Congress to allow chief judges to detain people indefinitely without trial during emergencies. In one request, the DOJ asked Congress to give the attorney general and top judges broad powers that would allow them to pause court proceedings during emergencies or “whenever the district court is fully or partially closed by virtue of any natural disaster, civil disobedience, or other emergency situation.” These new powers would apply to “any statutes or rules of procedure otherwise affecting pre-arrest, post-arrest, pre-trial, trial, and post-trial procedures in criminal and juvenile proceedings and all civil process and proceedings.” The DOJ’s requests are unlikely to make it through a Democratic-led House. (Politico)
poll/ 72% of Americans say their state’s governors have done a good job dealing with the coronavirus outbreak. 50% say Trump has done a good job, while 45% say he’s done bad job. (Monmouth University Polling Institute)
1/ Senate Republican and Democratic negotiators, as well as senior Trump administration officials kicked off talks on a $1 trillion economic stabilization plan – the third stimulus package Congress has considered this month to confront the coronavirus – with the goal of having a deal by the end of the day. Mitch McConnell has promised to pass the new stimulus though the chamber by Monday despite multiple disagreements over the structure of the bill, which was released Thursday. The initial plan would have given many Americans $1,200 in a one-time payment, but those without federal tax liability – i.e. the poorest Americans – would get as little as $600. Trump has also promised that the initial payment would be substantially higher than $1,000. (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times)
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered all nonessential workers across the state to stay home. The executive order takes effect Sunday evening. (CNN / NBC News)
California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered the state’s nearly 40 million residents to stay home. The order takes effect immediately and remains in place “until further notice.” (Politico)
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued a “stay at home” order for the entire state starting Saturday at 5 p.m. through April 7. (Chicago Tribune)
The U.S. and Mexico agreed to temporarily close the border to nonessential travel. Trump said the move was intended to “reduce the incentive for a mass global migration that would badly deplete” health care resources. (The Hill / Politico / CNN)
The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said Americans will likely have to continue practicing social distancing for “at least several weeks.” (NBC News)
Student loan borrowers can suspend their federal student loan payments without penalty for at least 60 days. Additionally, interest will be waived for 60 days, starting retroactively on March 13. (CNN)
The Department of Education will waive standardized tests for K-12 for states affected by the coronavirus. States must apply for the exemption. (NPR)
The Trump administration has held up $40 million in emergency aid Congress approved to help American Indians combat the coronavirus. The initial $8.3 billion coronavirus response package Trump signed into law March 6 allocated $40 million to help support American Indian care providers. (Politico)
Trump canceled plans to host the G7 summit at Camp David and will instead hold the gathering of world leaders as a teleconference. White House officials said holding the summit virtually will allow all countries involved to save money on travel and preparations, while also reducing the risk of further contamination. (CNN / Reuters)
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin pushed Tax Day from April 15 to July 15. “All taxpayers and businesses will have this additional time to file and make payments without interest or penalties,” Mnuchin tweeted, adding that Americans with refunds should “file now to get your money.” (NBC News / CNN)
2/ Trump said he’s put the Defense Production Act into “high gear” two days after saying he’d only use it “in a worst case scenario.” The Korean War-era law allows for a government-mandated increase in supply production in response to the coronavirus pandemic. At a coronavirus task force briefing, Trump claimed “we are literally being besieged” by companies “that want to do the work and help our country,” suggesting that General Motors and Ford Motor Co., among others, had volunteered to produce supplies. (CNN / New York Times / CNBC / Reuters / ABC News)
Trump’s directed state governors to acquire their own medical equipment, but then the federal government outbid them for protective gear for doctors and nurses, as well as respirators. (Bloomberg / Business Insider)
3/ Trump attacked a reporter on live TV who asked what his message would be to Americans who are frightened by the coronavirus pandemic. Trump responded by calling Peter Alexander, an NBC News correspondent, “a terrible reporter. That’s what I say. I think it’s a very nasty question and I think it’s a very bad signal that you’re putting out to the American people.” Moments earlier during the coronavirus task force’s daily briefing, Trump’s director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said any evidence about drug therapies being tested was “anecdotal” and not the product of a “clinical trial.” Trump nevertheless said he felt “good” about the treatments and that the federal government had already ordered “millions of units” of them. Later in the briefing, Mike Pence responded to Alexander’s question, saying, “do not be afraid, be vigilant” and went on to explain that the risk of serious illness for most Americans is low. (NBC News / CNN / The Guardian)
Trump claimed his administration was fully prepared for the coronavirus, but said the “only thing we weren’t prepared for was the media.” Trump said the media “has not treated it fairly” and complained that NBC News “called me racist and other words” after he called for a ban on travel to the U.S. from China. He went on to accuse mainstream media outlets of “siding with China” and parroting the propaganda from the Chinese Communist Party. (Axios)
4/ At least four senators sold off millions of dollars’ worth of stocks just before the market dropped amid fears of the coronavirus pandemic. Sens. Richard Burr and Kelly Loeffler sold off more than a million dollars each in stocks after attending private, senators-only briefings about the severity of the impending coronavirus crisis. Burr, who serves as the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, had been receiving daily updates from the intelligence community on threats to the U.S., including the coronavirus, before dumped up to $1.56 million on Feb. 13 – days after he wrote an op-ed for Fox News arguing that the U.S. is “better prepared than ever before” when it comes to facing public health threats like COVID-19. Loeffler, who is married to the chairman and CEO of the New York Stock Exchange, and her husband sold up to $3.1 million in jointly owned stocks starting on Jan. 24 – the same day the Senate Health Committee, on which she sits, briefed senators briefing about the coronavirus. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, also a member of the intelligence committee, and her husband sold up to $6 million worth of stock in Jan. and Feb. And, Sen. James Inhofe sold as much as $400,000 in January. Burr said he has asked the Senate Ethics Committee to review his sale. (ProPublica / Daily Beast / NPR / NBC News / Axios / New York Times / Atlanta Journal-Constitution / The Guardian / Washington Post / The Hill / Reuters)
📌 Day 1155: The chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee warned constituents three weeks ago to prepare for dire economic and societal effects from the coronavirus. “There’s one thing that I can tell you about this: It is much more aggressive in its transmission than anything that we have seen in recent history,” Sen. Richard Burr said on Feb. 27, according to a secret recording of the remarks. “It is probably more akin to the 1918 pandemic.” On that same day, Trump suggested that the virus is “going to disappear. One day, it’s like a miracle. It will disappear,” before adding, “it could get worse before it gets better. It could maybe go away. We’ll see what happens.” On Feb 13., Burr sold off between $582,029 and $1.56 million of his holdings despite reassuring the public at the time that the government had the coronavirus outbreak under control. A week later, the stock market began a sharp decline and has lost about 30% since. (NPR / Politico / ProPublica)
5/ The Trump administration asked states to hold off on releasing unemployment claims data before the regularly scheduled national report of weekly U.S. jobless claims. Economists at Goldman Sachs, meanwhile, predict that filings for unemployment will show 2.25 million Americans filed for their first week of benefits this week — eight times the number of people who filed last week and the highest level on record. (Wall Street Journal / CNN / Bloomberg / CNN)
Wall Street had its worst week since 2008 with the Dow erasing the so-called “Trump bump” and closing below where it stood the day before Trump was inaugurated. Stocks have collapsed more than 30% in a month, wiping out trillions in value and ending an 11-year long bull market. (New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / CNBC)
6/ A federal judge froze a House lawsuit seeking to enforce a subpoena for six years of Trump’s federal tax records until an appeals court rules on whether Congress, in a separate case related to Trump’s former White House counsel Donald McGahn, can sue to compel executive branch officials to testify. The House sued the administration in July after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin refused to comply with a subpoena for Trump’s business and tax records issued in May. (Washington Post)
poll/ 55% of Americans approve of Trump’s management of the coronavirus crisis, compared to 43% who disapprove. (ABC News)
1/ The chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee warned constituents three weeks ago to prepare for dire economic and societal effects from the coronavirus. “There’s one thing that I can tell you about this: It is much more aggressive in its transmission than anything that we have seen in recent history,” Sen. Richard Burr said on Feb. 27, according to a secret recording of the remarks. “It is probably more akin to the 1918 pandemic.” On that same day, Trump suggested that the virus is “going to disappear. One day, it’s like a miracle. It will disappear,” before adding, “it could get worse before it gets better. It could maybe go away. We’ll see what happens.” On Feb 13., Burr sold off between $582,029 and $1.56 million of his holdings despite reassuring the public at the time that the government had the coronavirus outbreak under control. A week later, the stock market began a sharp decline and has lost about 30% since. (NPR / Politico / ProPublica)
🚨 The Trump administration simulated a series of pandemic outbreaks from China in 2019 and found the U.S. government response was “underfunded, underprepared, and uncoordinated.” The series of exercises resulted in some 110 million sick Americans, leading to 7.7 million hospitalizations, and 586,000 deaths. The draft report, marked “not to be disclosed,” detailed repeated cases of “confusion” during the exercises. (New York Times)
🚨 Trump claimed that “Nobody knew there would be a pandemic or epidemic of this proportion” at the daily Coronavirus Task Force briefing today. “Nobody has ever seen anything like this before.” (Washington Post)
Trump agreed with a reporter from a right-wing outlet who accused “major left wing news media” of “siding with state propaganda” from China for criticizing his use of the term “Chinese virus.” Trump went on to call the Washington Post, New York Times, and Wall Street Journal of being “very dishonest” and siding with Chinese propaganda days after calling news media coverage of the coronavirus pandemic “very fair.” Trump added that he wanted to remove 75% to 80% of the journalists in the briefing room in the name of social distancing. (Politico)
2/ Trump promised that a therapeutic drug would be available “almost immediately” only to be contradicted minutes later by the commissioner of the FDA. The drug, chloroquine, hasn’t yet been approved for treatment of COVID-19, but Trump – for some reason – asserted that it was, and that he wanted to “remove every barrier” to test more drugs and “allow many more Americans to access drugs that have shown really good promise.” FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn, however, cautioned that use of the drug – used to combat malaria – would first need to be part of a controlled trial to find out whether or not it works, and if so, what dose would be safe and effective. Trump, meanwhile, claimed that “it’s not going to kill anybody.” (Bloomberg / The Guardian)
Trump signed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act – a relief package to provide sick leave, unemployment benefits, free coronavirus testing, and food and medical aid to people affected by the pandemic. (NBC News / New York Times)
The White House “temporary paused” congressional testimony for senior officials involved in the coronavirus response. (Politico)
U.S. confirmed cases of the coronavirus crossed 11,500 infections and 150 deaths. The number of confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide passed 242,000. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / ABC News)
California projects 56% of residents – 25.5 million people – will become infected by mid-May. Gov. Gavin Newsom requested that the White House deploy the USNS Mercy Hospital Ship to Los Angeles through September “to help decompress our current health care delivery system.” (ABC News)
Italy’s coronavirus death toll surpassed China’s. Italy has recorded at least 3,405 deaths, while 3,249 people have died in China — a country with a population more than 20 times larger. (NBC News)
3/ Trump directed governors to obtain the medical equipment they need to fight the coronavirus pandemic, saying the federal government is “not a shipping clerk.” Trump said his administration will “help out wherever we can,” but that acquiring supplies “is really for the local governments, governors and people in the state.” Yesterday, Trump signed an executive order to invoke the Defense Production Act, but tweeted that he’d only use it if needed “in a worst case scenario in the future.” Mike Pence, meanwhile, asked for construction companies to donate their N95 protective masks to local hospitals. (Politico / NPR / CBS News)
U.S. hospitals requested $100 billion in direct financial assistance from Congress to respond to the coronavirus pandemic as some hospitals are already running short of supplies for both patients and health care workers. The American Hospital Association warned congressional leaders that “more needs to be urgently done” after two legislative packages, which did not provide direct funding for hospitals, were signed into law. The hospital association also urged Trump to use the Defense Production Act to direct American manufacturers to produce the needed supplies. (NBC News)
The CDC advised health care workers to use bandanas or scarves when face masks are not available. “In settings where face masks are not available, [health-care providers] might use homemade masks (e.g., bandana, scarf) for care of patients with COVID-19 as a last resort,” the CDC said. “Caution should be exercised when considering this option.” (McClatchy DC / Washington Post / CNN)
Trump’s plan to buy 500 million N95 air-filtering face masks could take up to 18 months to be delivered. The government expects the masks to be delivered incrementally.(Bloomberg / Washington Post / Quartz)
Trump suggested that cruise ships could be used as floating hospitals to help relieve stress on the health care system. Carnival Cruise Lines reportedly offered to make some ships available to treat non-COVID-19 patients. “Certainly they have a lot of rooms,” Trump said. “They’re big and have a lot of rooms.” (Bloomberg / USA Today)
A CDC report showed 38% of those sick enough to be hospitalized were younger than 55. In the CDC report, 20% of the hospitalized patients and 12% of the intensive care patients were between the ages of 20 and 44. (Washington Post / New York Times)
Two members of Congress tested positive for the coronavirus. Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart and Ben McAdams revealed their test results on Wednesday, making them the first two members of Congress to contract the virus. Balart said he started noticing symptoms on Saturday after voting on the floor of the House to approve the coronavirus response bill. McAdams said his symptoms also began on Saturday night. Rep. Drew Ferguson has also been advised to self-quarantine until March 27 after a House doctor informed him that he had “contact with a member of Congress on March 13th that has since tested positive for COVID-19.” (Politico / CNN / NBC News)
4/ The State Department warned Americans against all international travel and advised those abroad to return to the U.S. or prepare to shelter in place “for an indefinite timeframe.” The agency raised its travel advisory to Level 4: Do Not Travel – the most serious category. The agency said Americans who traveled abroad may find their travel plans “severely disrupted” and “may be forced to remain outside of the United States.” (Politico / Associated Press / NBC News / Bloomberg / Washington Post)
The Labor Department reported that the initial number of unemployment claims rose to 281,000 last week – a 33% increase from the previous week. It was the largest week-to-week change during – or since – the 2008 financial crisis. More than a million workers are expected to lose their jobs by the end of March. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico)
Bank of America: “We are officially declaring that the economy has fallen into a recession.” Bank of America economist Michelle Meyer wrote a note to investors to notify them that the firm expects the U.S. economy to “collapse” in the second quarter and shrink by 12%. They also expect the unemployment rate to nearly double, with a total of roughly 3.5 million jobs lost by the start of Q3. Meyer said she expects a “very slow return to growth thereafter with the economy feeling somewhat more normal by July.” She added that while the firm believes the decline will be severe, it will also be “fairly short lived.” (CNBC / The Hill)
5/ Senate Republicans introduced a $1 trillion emergency coronavirus stimulus bill, which includes direct cash payments for some Americans. The proposal calls for $1,200 direct payments to individuals making $75,000 or less based on a 2018 tax return, or $2,400 for couples filing jointly, plus $500 per child. The payments would decrease for those making more than $75,000, and is capped at $99,000 per individual or $198,000 for couples. Those diagnosed with COVID-19 or those who suffer “adverse financial consequences” can tap into their 401(k)s and IRAs without a penalty. And, taxpayers get up $300 in charitable deductions for 2020. (NBC News / Washington Post / CNN / The Guardian / New York Times)
6/ The Department of Agriculture is fighting to implement changes to SNAP benefits, despite a federal judge’s ruling that it would be “arbitrary and capricious” to move forward during a global health crisis. The new rules were set to go into effect on April 1, but Judge Beryl Howell ordered a freeze on the changes in a ruling last week. The new rules would eliminate states’ ability to waive work and time requirements for SNAP recipients in areas with high unemployment rates. The changes are expected to kick roughly 700,000 people off the program if enacted. (PBS Newshour)
7/ The acting director of the National Counterterrorism Center was fired by the acting director of national intelligence. (Washington Post)
1/ The Senate approved a coronavirus relief package to provide sick leave, unemployment benefits, free testing, and food and medical aid to people impacted by the pandemic. The bill now goes to Trump, who is expected to sign it. The Senate’s approval of the House-passed coronavirus bill, known as “phase two,” comes as senators are expected to begin negotiations on a $1.3 trillion “phase three” stimulus package. (USA Today / Politico / Washington Post / CNBC / Bloomberg)
Rand Paul delayed the Senate vote on the aid package by forcing a vote on an amendment to “require a social security number for purposes of the child tax credit.” The amendment would also give Trump “the authority to transfer funds as necessary, and to terminate United States military operations and reconstruction activities in Afghanistan.” (NBC News)
2/ Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin warned lawmakers that unemployment could reach as high as 20% if they fail to act on a $1.3 trillion White House stimulus package. The “phase three” stimulus would send two $1,000 checks to Americans and allocate $300 billion to help small businesses avoid layoffs. Unemployment currently stands at 3.5%. In Connecticut, about 30,000 claims for unemployment benefits have been filed since Friday – 10 times the average weekly total. In Ohio more than 48,000 applications over two days have been filed, compared to just under 2,000 for the same period the week before. In New Jersey, 15,000 applications arrived on Monday, causing the state’s website to crash. Pennsylvania experienced more than 50,000 applications on Monday and more than that on Tuesday. The leading labor union for hospitality workers said it expects 80% to 90% of its 300,000 members to be out of work due to the coronavirus outbreak. The U.S. Travel Association projects 4.6 million jobs lost this year in the travel industry, which would push the unemployment rate up to 6.3%. It’s estimated that unemployment hit 25% during the Great Depression and 10% during the Great Recession. An official from the Treasury Department later clarified that the 20% figure was not meant to be a forecast, but simply an illustration of what could happen if lawmakers failed to act. (CNBC / NBC News / Washington Post / Politico / HuffPost / New York Times / Bloomberg)
The IRS closed field offices in Northern California, Seattle, Puerto Rico, and the New York City area. The Social Security Administration closed 1,400 offices. The federal government has 2.1 million employees and is the nation’s largest employer. (Washington Post)
Trump’s federal personnel director quit her post with no notice yesterday, leaving the agency that oversees workplace policy for 2.1 million civil servants with no leader. Office of Personnel Management chief Dale Cabaniss resigned in frustration after just five months on the job due to ongoing tensions with the White House budget office and with John McEntee, a 29-year-old political appointee and Trump loyalist the budget office installed at OPM in the last month. Cabaniss felt she was being micromanaged and that her authority was not respected. Cabaniss’s deputy, Michael Rigas, will take over as acting head of the agency. (Washington Post / Politico)
The U.S. and Canada suspended “all nonessential travel” between the two countries. (CNN / Associated Press)
Germany closed its borders to travelers from other EU countries. (Politico)
3/ The Dow closed below 20,000 points for the first time since February 2017, erasing nearly all of the index’s gains since Trump’s inauguration. The S&P 500 dropped 5.2% and closed nearly 30% below its record high set last month. Trading was also briefly suspended after a “circuit breaker” meant to ensure orderly market behavior halted trading across the U.S. stock exchanges for 15 minutes. It was the fourth time in a week that a circuit breaker was triggered. (CNBC / Politico / CNN / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
The New York Stock Exchange will temporarily close its trading floor and move fully to electronic trading starting March 23 after two people tested positive for coronavirus at entrance screenings. (CNBC)
4/ Trump invoked the Defense Production Act “just in case we need it,” allowing the government to boost manufacturing of masks, ventilators, respirators, and other protective gear for health care workers. Trump also ordered two Navy hospital ships with 1,000 beds each to help with the crisis – one to New York, the other to the West Coast – which he described as “the big white ships with the red cross on the sides.” Trump later clarified on Twitter that while he signed the Korean War-era law, he would only “invoke it in a worst case scenario in the future.” (New York Times / Bloomberg / ABC News)
The Trump administration is considering mobilizing the National Guard and Reserve at the federal level to help combat the coronavirus. At the state level, 18 governors have already activated more than 1,500 guardsmen to assist with the U.S. response to the virus. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, meanwhile, called on Trump to direct the Army Corps of Engineers to retrofit existing buildings to care for COVID-19 patients. (Politico) / Vox / New York Times)
The U.S. and other countries face a shortage of ventilators. U.S. hospitals have roughly 160,000 ventilators and there are another 12,700 in the National Strategic Stockpile. American and European manufacturers, however, say they can’t speed up production to meet global demand. Earlier this week, Trump urged governors to find ways to procure new ventilators, saying “Try getting it yourselves.” (New York Times)
The U.S. Air Force flew 500,000 coronavirus test swabs from Italy to Memphis, Tennessee. (Defense One)
Trump considered issuing an executive order expand the use of experimental drugs against coronavirus over the objections of FDA scientists, who warned it could pose unneeded risks to patients. The order, entitled the Executive Order to Save Lives, would have allowed any drug or therapy with “evidence of safety” to begin Phase 1 testing for patients infected with the COVID-19 coronavirus disease. (Wall Street Journal)
[STUDY] How quickly hospitals can be overwhelmed by coronavirus and why it’s important to “flatten the curve.” In 40% of markets, hospitals would not be able to make enough room for all the coronavirus cases, even if they could empty their beds of other patients. In a best-case scenario, with cases of coronavirus spread out over 18 months, American hospital beds would be about 95% full. (New York Times / ProPublica)
5/ Trump plans to turn back all asylum seekers and other non-U.S. citizens trying to cross the southwestern border illegally. Ports of entry will remain open to U.S. citizens, green card holders, select others with proper documentation, and commercial traffic. But under the new rule, Border Patrol will be under orders to immediately return anyone who tries to cross the southern border between legal ports of entry back to Mexico. Asylum seekers will not be held at any American facility or given due process. (New York Times)
Trump – again – attempted to blame China for the spread of the coronavirus by calling it the “China Virus,” which – aside from being racially offensive and inaccurate – advocacy groups say has put Asian Americans at risk of retaliation. “It’s not racist at all,” Trump told reporters. “No, not at all. It comes from China, that’s why. It comes from China. I want to be accurate.” After the emergence of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), the WHO asked national authorities, scientists, and the media to not name a virus after people, a geographic location, a cultural group or even a species of animal, because that can stigmatize communities. Separately, a Chinese American news reporter said that a White House official referred to coronavirus as the “Kung-Flu” to her face. (Politico / ABC News / Associated Press / Vox / Washington Post)
poll/ 70% of Americans say the coronavirus outbreak poses a major threat to the U.S. economy. 47% say it is a major threat to the overall health of the U.S. population. (Pew Research Center)
poll/ 18% of Americans have experienced layoffs and reduced hours due to the coronavirus pandemic. Of those affected, a quarter of households making less than $50,000 had experienced cut hours or a job loss. (NPR)
poll/ 42% of Americans trust Trump to protect the country from the coronavirus, compared to the CDC (75%), National Institutes of Health (68%), and the World Health Organization (66%). (Axios)
1/ Trump called on Congress “to go big” and approve a $1 trillion stimulus package to address the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic, which includes distributing roughly $250 billion in cash payments to Americans by the end of April. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin added that the plan would also include roughly $50 billion for the airline industry, because “this is worse than 9/11 for the airline industry.” Congress already passed, and Trump signed into law, an $8.3 billion bill that funds vaccine development and provides money to state and local governments. Last week, the House passed a $100 billion bill to expand unemployment insurance, offer paid sick days, and mandate that testing for the virus be free. Trump is expected to sign the package once the Senate passes the bill. Senate Democrats have also proposed a $750 billion plan that includes more emergency aid for hospitals, expanded unemployment insurance, more funds for small business, help with child care, and food assistance for seniors. In 2008, Congress passed a $700 billion package to try and rescue the financial system. Trump, meanwhile, promised that “if we do this right […] we’re going to win” the “war” against the coronavirus. (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / Wall Street Journal / ABC News / CNBC / NBC News)
The federal government postponed the April 15 tax payment deadline for 90 days. The delay is available to people who owe $1 million or less and corporations that owe $10 million or less. (Wall Street Journal)
Researchers concluded that “the only viable strategy at the current time” is to keep social distancing measures in place for at least three months. A report by the COVID-19 Response Team at the Imperial College of London argues that suppression – i.e. “social distancing of the entire population” – would prevent U.S. hospitals from becoming extremely overburdened until a vaccine becomes available in about 18 months. Researchers also outlined mitigation policies, which focus on “slowing but not necessarily stopping epidemic spread” by isolating people suspected of having the virus at home and quarantining their contacts. Mitigation could reduce the demand on the health care system by two-thirds and cut the number of deaths in half if applied for three months. The would still result in hundreds of thousands of deaths and in health systems “overwhelmed many times over.” The group shared their projections with the White House task force about a week ago. [Editor’s note: It’s worth reading both of these articles to fully understand the scenarios and expected outcomes. This is extremely sobering research.] (New York Times / Vox)
2/ Trump claimed he “always viewed” coronavirus as a “pandemic long before it was called a pandemic” despite repeatedly minimizing and mocking concern about the threat it posed to Americans. Since January, Trump has boasted that “we have it totally under control”; that “one day” the coronavirus will “disappear” like a “miracle”; that “it’s going to work out fine” because of the “warm weather” in April; that coronavirus is a “new hoax” by Democrats; and to “Just stay calm. It will go away.” (New York Times / CNBC / Politico)
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio warned New Yorkers to prepare for a “shelter-in-place” order. A decision will be made in the next 48 hours. (CNBC / Politico / NBC News)
The European Union will close its external borders for 30 days. Movement of people within the European Union’s 27 member nations will still be allowed under the restrictions. (CNBC / Politico)
Trump’s press secretary is in self-quarantine. (New York Post)
3/ The U.S. military will provide 5 million respirator masks, 2,000 ventilators, and ready its hospital ships in response to the growing coronavirus crisis. The Pentagon will also open up as many as 16 labs to test civilians and potentially call up more members of the National Guard and Reserve. (Wall Street Journal)
At least 100 people in the U.S. have died from the coronavirus and at least 5,303 confirmed cases. (Washington Post / New York Times)
Dozens of health care workers have fallen ill with COVID-19, and more are quarantined after exposure to the virus. (Washington Post)
One of the nation’s top cancer hospitals has a week’s supply of masks left and at least five employees and three patients have been diagnosed with COVID-19. (BuzzFeed News)
The Department of Veterans Affairs removed its mission statement to serve as a backup health system in times of crisis from its website. The VA’s main three missions are to serve veterans through care, research and training, but a “fourth mission” was added by Congress in 1982: to provide hospital care and medical services to civilians during disasters and emergencies. On Friday, all references to that fourth mission were removed and replaced with information that contains no reference to the mission whatsoever. It is unclear why the page was edited. (Washington Post)
4/ The Justice Department moved to drop charges against two Russian shell companies accused of financing efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. Concord Management and Concord Consulting were indicted by Robert Mueller’s team in 2018 — along with 13 Russians and the Internet Research Agency — for using social media to spread disinformation, exacerbate U.S. social divisions, and sabotage the 2016 election. Prosecutors recommended that the DOJ drop the charges to prevent Concord from accessing and potentially publishing a cache of documents that includes details about the government’s sources and methods for investigation. In a motion filed on Monday, prosecutors said Concorcd is “eager and aggressive in using the judicial system to gather information about how the United States detects and prevents foreign election interference.” Prosecutors are still pursuing charges against the 13 Russians and the Internet Research Agency. (Washington Post / New York Times)
poll/ 18% of Americans reported that they had been laid off or that their work hours had been cut because of the coronavirus pandemic. 56% of Americans considered the coronavirus outbreak a “real threat,” while 38% said it was “blown out of proportion.” (Los Angeles Times)
poll/ 46% of Americans say the federal government is doing enough to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, down from 61% in February. 37% of Americans say they have trust in what Trump says about the crisis, while 60% say they don’t trust what he’s saying. (NPR)
1/ Trump recommended all Americans avoid groups of 10 or more people, stop discretionary travel, avoid bars, restaurants, gyms, and other public places for the next 15 days, saying the coronavirus pandemic “is a bad one, this is a very bad one, this is bad in the sense that it’s so contagious, it’s just so contagious, sort of record-setting type contagion.” Trump also recommended that schools close nationwide and for parents to homeschool their children when possible. Trump, however, said he was not considering a national curfew to mitigate the spread of coronavirus, but that Americans should expect cases to extend into at least July. Trump then proceeded to give his administration’s response to the epidemic a 10 out of 10, saying “I think we’ve done a great job.” There have been more than 4,000 confirmed cases in the U.S. and 71 deaths. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / CNN / NPR / Bloomberg / The Guardian / Bloomberg / NBC News / CNBC)
The CDC recommended canceling all gatherings of 50 or more people for the next eight weeks. (CNN)
San Francisco ordered 7 million residents to “shelter in place” until April 7 to help contain the coronavirus outbreak. Mayor London Breed said the city “will require people to stay home except for essential needs,” adding that places like grocery stores, gas stations, convenience stores, and banks will remain open. The order affects residents of six Bay Area Counties, including San Francisco, Santa Clara, San Mateo, Marin, Contra Costa, and Alameda counties. (KRON 4 / CNBC / Bloomberg)
Governors in 26 states and the District of Columbia announced statewide school closures, impacting nearly 30 million children across the U.S. — more than half of the nation’s school enrollment. (Wall Street Journal / NBC News)
Ohio postponed the state’s primaries until June. Ohio is one of four states with primaries scheduled on Tuesday, along with Arizona, Florida and Illinois. (WBNS 10 / Columbus Dispatch / NBC News / Politico)
Georgia elections officials postponed the state’s March 24 presidential primary until May due to the coronavirus. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution / NBC News)
Most of the 2.1 million federal workers in the U.S. reported to work in person today, despite widespread closures and recommended social distancing. The Trump administration urged agencies in the D.C. area to “offer maximum telework flexibilities” to employees who are eligible for remote work, but the directive was not mandatory and left out most government employees. 15% of federal workers are located in the D.C. area. Mike Pence, meanwhile, sent White House staff an email recommending social distancing and to “avoid physical contact” with their colleagues. (Washington Post / Axios)
2/ The House passed a coronavirus aid package, which directs tens of billions of dollars for paid sick leave, unemployment insurance, free testing, and other resources intended to help stem the crisis and stabilize financial markets. Trump endorsed the legislation on Twitter and Mitch McConnell suggested that it has support in the Senate. (Vox / NBC News / Washington Post)
3/ The Dow dropped nearly 3,000 points – its worst day since the “Black Monday” market crash in 1987 and its third-worst day ever. The S&P 500 fell 12%, wiping out its 2019 gains and is now down almost 30% from its all-time high reached less than a month ago. All U.S. indices are now in a bear market. Trump, meanwhile, acknowledged that the U.S. “may” be heading toward a recession, but promised there would be a “tremendous surge” in the economy as a result of “pent-up demand” and that “the market will take care of itself […] once we get rid of the virus.” (Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNBC / New York Times / Washington Post / CNN)
The Federal Reserve cut interest rates to near zero and offered to buy at least $500 billion in Treasury securities and $200 billion in mortgage-backed securities in order to protect the U.S. economy. The moves represent the most dramatic steps taken by the U.S. central bank since the 2008 financial crisis. (CNBC / Wall Street Journal / Vox / NPR / Bloomberg / Politico / Washington Post)
Trump applauded the Federal Reserve’s move to cut interest rates, saying “It makes me very happy,” adding that “people in the market should be very thrilled.” The last time the Fed cut rates so low was during the global financial crisis just more than a decade ago. (CNN / CNBC)
U.S. airline industry asked more than $50 billion in federal assistance — more than three times the size of the industry’s bailout after the Sept. 11 attacks. The request included $25 billion in grants for passenger carriers, $4 billion in grants for cargo, and $25 billion in loan guarantees. Trump said it’s “not their fault” and that his administration will back airlines “100%” but did not specify if there would be loans or a bailout of the airline industry. (Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / CNN)
4/ Trump offered “large sums” of money to a German company for exclusive access to a COVID-19 vaccine so that it would be available in the U.S. first. Trump offered the CEO of CureVac roughly $1 billion for access to a vaccine “only for the United States” at the White House on March 2. Germany’s Health Ministry confirmed that Trump had made the offer and that Berlin has been offering CureVac financial incentives to remain in Germany. (Welt / New York Times / Politico / Reuters / Vox / Washington Post / The Guardian)
Trump told governors that states should work on getting their own respirators and ventilators, and to not wait for the federal government to provide them. (New York Times)
Trump tested negative for the coronavirus. Meanwhile, the White House started checking the temperatures of anyone in close contact with Trump or Mike Pence. (CNN / Associated Press / Politico / Washington Post)
The first clinical trial of a coronavirus vaccine will begin today. The vaccine will be tested on 45 young, healthy volunteers, who will receive different doses of the experimental vaccine that were co-developed by the the National Institutes of Health and Moderna Inc. Officials said it will take anywhere from a year to 18 months to fully validate any potential vaccine. (Associated Press)
An emergency room doctor at EvergreenHealth in Washington state tested positive for coronavirus and is in critical condition. The hospital at the center of the coronavirus outbreak in King County. (Seattle Times)
The White House announced more coronavirus drive-through and walk-through testing locations will open this week. The sites will be equipped to test 2-4,000 people per day. Priority status will be given to healthcare workers, first responders, people over the age of 65, as well as those with respiratory symptoms and fevers above 99.9 degrees. Adm. Brett Giroir, who is coordinating testing efforts for the Department of Health and Human Services, said the U.S. is currently “going from somewhat manual, relatively slow phases, to a testing regimen that we can test many tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of individuals per week, and maybe even more.” Officials said roughly 2 million tests are expected to be available this week and more than 10 states currently have drive-through testing sites. (NPR)
5/ The Dept. of Health and Human Services was hit with a cyberattack. The activity was a distributed denial of service – not a hack – designed to overload the HHS servers with millions of hits over several hours. The attack reportedly didn’t succeed in significantly slowing the agency’s systems. (Bloomberg / ABC News / Axios)
poll/ 60% of Americans believe the worst is yet to come for the U.S. coronavirus pandemic, 40% say their daily lives will change as a result of the pandemic, and 45% approve of Trump’s handling of the pandemic — almost identical to his 46% overall job performance rating. (NBC News)
✏️ Notables.
Trump is “strongly considering” a full pardon for former national security adviser Michael Flynn. Flynn pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to the FBI about the nature of his conversations with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak prior to Trump’s inauguration. “After destroying his life & the life of his wonderful family (and many others also), the FBI, working in conjunction with the Justice Department, has ‘lost’ the records of General Michael Flynn,” Trump tweeted shortly after the Justice Department initiated a review of the criminal case against Flynn. “How convenient,” he added. “I am strongly considering a Full Pardon!” Flynn is currently attempting to withdraw his guilty plea, claiming that he was the victim of prosecutorial misconduct during his initial trial. (CNBC / Washington Post / New York Times / CNN)
The Supreme Court will delay oral arguments over concerns about the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The court was scheduled to hear a handful of high-profile cases starting next week, including the March 31 argument over Trump’s attempts to keep Congress and a New York prosecutor from seeing his tax returns and other financial documents. The court has not disrupted its own operations since the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918, which resumed a month later. The justices still plan to conduct their regular closed-door conference on Friday, but some of them will likely participate over the phone. The announcement did not say when oral arguments would resume. (NBC News / Politico / Associated Press)
Mitch McConnell has been privately contacting sitting federal judges and urging them to retire so they can be replaced while the Republicans still hold the Senate and the White House. McConnell and other Senate Republicans have contacted an unknown number of Republican-nominated judges who are eligible to retire and reminding them that if they don’t retire soon they may have to wait another eight years before they can leave under another Republican administration. More than 90 Republican-nominated judges are either currently eligible or will become eligible this year to enter “senior status,” which allows their spots on the bench to be filled, even though they’ll still be allowed to hear cases, hire clerks, and receive full pay. (New York Times)
👑 Portrait of a President.
Inside the Trump administration’s troubled coronavirus response: Infighting, missteps and a son-in-law hungry for results. (Washington Post)
Inside Trump’s failed attempt to calm coronavirus fears: In the most scripted of presidential settings, a prime-time televised address to the nation, Trump decided to ad-lib — and his errors triggered a market meltdown, panicked travelers overseas and crystallized for his critics just how dangerously he has fumbled his management of the coronavirus. (Washington Post)
How Trump changed course on coronavirus: In the span of 48 hours, from the moment markets plunged after a confusing and stiff Oval Office address to his national emergency declaration from the Rose Garden, Trump watched his own assessment of the viral outbreak transform in extraordinary fashion, forcing him into a course correction. (Politico)
Inside the fight over Trump’s virus speech: The speech was Trump delivering – one day late – a report he promised to the nation on his virus plan. It came after a rolling, day-long series of meetings at the White House, capped by Trump’s decision to endorse the travel restrictions. But beyond the travel ban, the economic measures he announced – paid family leave and small business loans – were modest and vague. (Bloomberg)
How the White House bungled the coronavirus response: Trump’s own advisers acknowledged to NBC News that the failure to focus on widespread testing was a major misstep. (NBC News)
Trump finds his MAGA movement fracturing over coronavirus. While the MAGA movement is divided over how seriously to take the coronavirus threat or how to tackle it, the message among his supporters is increasingly unanimous: If Trump fails to control the virus, prevent its spread and prove his leadership, much less save the economy, he will lose the election and cripple his movement. (Politico)
The complete list of Trump’s attempts to downplay the coronavirus threat. Trump made his first public comments about the coronavirus on Jan. 22, saying “we have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It’s going to be just fine.” (New York Times)
1/ Trump declared a national emergency – which he described as “two very big words” – to combat the coronavirus pandemic. Trump then shook hands with members of his team. The declaration will “open up access” to $50 billion in emergency funding, lift restrictions on doctors and hospitals to “do as they want,” and waive student loan interest. Trump also announced plans for a large-scale drive-thru protocol for testing for the virus, but said “We don’t want everybody taking this test. It’s totally unnecessary.” Trump then blamed existing rules set by prior administrations for limiting options, saying “I don’t take responsibility at all” for the lack of available testing. The administration expects 1.4 million additional tests to be available next week and five million within a month. When asked about the closure of the White House’s pandemic response team in 2018, Trump called it a “nasty question” and denied firing the team. Trump also announced that the government would buy large quantities of crude oil for the nation’s strategic reserve while oil prices are low. (Politico / NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / CNN / Wall Street Journal / The Guardian)
Trump criticized the CDC for its response to COVID-19 and blamed the Obama administration for the situation. In a pair of tweets, Trump — without evidence — claimed that the CDC knew its testing system for large-scale pandemics was “inadequate” and “did nothing about it.” Trump also called the Obama administration’s response to the Swine flu pandemic a “full scale disaster” and said Obama “made changes that only complicated things further.” (NBC News / New York Times)
The CDC’s worst-case scenario projects that as many as 200,000 to 1.7 million Americans could die from coronavirus. Between 160 million and 214 million people in the U.S. could be infected during the pandemic, which could last months to over a year. And, 2.4 million to 21 million people in the U.S. could require hospitalization. The U.S. has about 925,000 staffed hospital beds. (New York Times / USA Today)
[QUOTABLE] “The federal response has been a fiasco.” – Dr. Ashish Jha of the Harvard Global Health Institute (PBS)
[QUOTABLE] “The system is not really geared to what we need right now. That is a failing. Let’s admit it.” – Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NBC News)
[ANALYSIS] Trump as Bystander. School superintendents, sports commissioners, college presidents, governors, and business owners have taken it upon themselves to shut down much of American life without clear guidance from Trump. (New York Times)
[OPINION] Trump failed the defining test of his presidency. He attempted to calm the nation, provide clarity, and offer a clear plan of action, but accomplished none of those things in his Oval Office address on the coronavirus. (The Atlantic)
2/ The Trump administration blocked states from using Medicaid to expand medical services as part the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. During major disasters, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has traditionally loosened Medicaid rules, allowing states to quickly sign up poor patients for coverage so they can get necessary testing or treatment. Until now, Trump has been reluctant to declare a national emergency, as previous administrations did after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Hurricane Katrina, and the H1N1 flu, because it would contradict with his repeated efforts to downplay the seriousness of the pandemic. (Los Angeles Times)
[REPORT] The White House knew of coronavirus’ “major threat,” but infighting at the Department of Health and Human Services and the need to flatter Trump impeded the response to the coronavirus. (NPR)
[REPORT] A former homeland security adviser repeatedly tried to be patched through to Trump or Mike Pence to warn them how dire the pandemic really is, but was blocked by White House officials. (New York Times)
3/ The FDA granted emergency approval for a new coronavirus test that works about 10 times faster. The test was developed by Roche and is designed to run on the company’s automated machines, which are already installed in more than 100 laboratories across the U.S. It will be available immediately and labs will be able to process as many as 4,000 samples a day. (Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / TechCrunch / New York Times / Washington Post)
Jared Kushner tapped his brother’s wife’s father to crowd-source coronavirus response recommendations from physicians on Facebook. Kurt Kloss sent Kushner 12 recommendations after consulting the Facebook group, EM Docs, which has nearly 22,000 members. (Politico)
The Australian minister for home affairs tested positive for coronavirus days after meeting with Attorney General William Barr, Ivanka Trump, and Kellyanne Conway. (CNN / New York Times)
Miami’s mayor tested positive for COVID-19 four days after attending an event with a Brazilian government official who later tested positive for the virus. Mayor Francis Suarez was one of several politicians, including Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez, Sen. Rick Scott and Trump, who interacted with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and his staff last week. Fabio Wajngarten, press secretary to Bolsonaro, tested positive. (Miami Herald)
A second person who visited Mar-a-Lago last weekend tested positive for coronavirus, according to emails from Republican party officials to other guests who were present. Trump was has been near two people in two days who have since been diagnosed as infected. (Washington Post)
Trump said he will “most likely” get tested for coronavirus after all, but insisted that it was not because of who he’s recently has been in contact with. “I think I will do it anyway,” Trump said. “Fairly soon.” (Washington Post / CNN)
4/ Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House would vote on a multi-billion dollar aid package to address the coronavirus pandemic, which would guarantee sick pay for workers, boost food programs for children, families and seniors, provide free testing, and more. Pelosi implored the Trump administration and congressional Republicans to back the effort and “put families first” after days of negotiations with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin. Trump, however, accused Democrats of “not doing what’s right for the country” because the bill would, among other things, provide paid leave to Americans who can’t work during the pandemic, but not include his demand for a payroll tax cut. Top Republicans haven’t committed their support, saying they want assurances that Trump will support the agreement. (Politico / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / CNN)
The Trump administration plans to move ahead with enacting strict work requirements on people who use food stamps. Starting April 1, people without a disability or children are required to work 20 hours per week to qualify for SNAP. The White House projects 700,000 people would lose SNAP eligibility as a result. (BuzzFeed News)
Notables.
Louisiana postponed its presidential primary, which was originally scheduled for April 4. The election will be delayed until June 20. (Politico / Wall Street Journal)
Los Angeles shut down the nation’s second-largest school system. San Diego Unified School District will also shut down. (Los Angeles Times)
In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo have (so far) resisted closing the school system – the nation’s largest school system. (New York Times)
The acting director of national intelligence ordered a department-wide hiring freeze and review of the agency’s mission and personnel. Some current and former officials questioned why Richard Grenell ordered the large-scale reorganization, which some of his predecessors had considered but set aside, even though his role is temporary. An assistant director of national intelligence said the move was “not an effort to purge,” but simply an attempt to “make sure scarce intelligence community resources are used in the best way possible.” Trump recently tapped Rep. John Ratcliffe to be his fifth DNI, but the Senate has yet to set a date for Ratcliffe’s confirmation hearing. (New York Times)
The U.S. carried out airstrikes against multiple Iranian-backed militia sites in Iraq in response to a rocket attack on a base where coalition forces are located. (CNN)
1/ Trump banned foreign visitors from most of Europe for 30-days in an effort to curb the growing COVID-19 pandemic. Trump blamed European and Chinese travelers for bringing the “foreign virus” to the U.S., while accusing the European Union of “[failing] to take the same precautions” the U.S. had implemented to contain the coronavirus outbreak. The ban, which begins Friday at midnight, does not apply to the United Kingdom or to U.S. citizens, and there are waivers under multiple circumstances. Reading from a prepared script, Trump incorrectly described his own policy, saying that the travel restrictions would impact a “tremendous amount” of trade and cargo. The White House later clarified that the ban would not include cargo. Trump urged Americans to heed the CDC’s guidelines for Americans to protect themselves and others from the spread of the virus – instructions he has repeatedly contradicted, ignored, or downplayed over the last few weeks – and claimed the government was moving “very quickly” to fix a chronic shortage of coronavirus test kits. Trump, however, provided no specifics about how many Americans would be able to be tested, and when and where those tests could occur. (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / CNN / ABC News / The Intercept)
The U.S. did not coordinate or notify the European Union before Trump announced the travel restrictions. The European Union also condemned Trump’s decision to ban travelers from most of Europe visiting the U.S., saying “The coronavirus is a global crisis, not limited to any continent and it requires cooperation rather than unilateral action.” (NBC News / Politico / Reuters / Al Jazeera)
Trump’s European travel restrictions exempt nations where his three golf courses are located. Trump has two properties in the United Kingdom – Trump Turnberry and Trump International Golf Links in Scotland – plus another resort in Doonbeg, Ireland. (Politico / Business Insider)
Trump suggested that it’s a “possibility” he could impose travel restrictions within the U.S. if certain areas get “too hot.” Trump also defended his restrictions on travel from Europe, saying that he didn’t consult with E.U. leaders because he had to “move quickly.” (NBC News / Politico)
2/ The CDC tested 77 total people for coronavirus on Monday and Tuesday. The total number of people tested for the coronavirus in the U.S. by the CDC as of Wednesday morning was 1,784. Meanwhile, 7,617 people have been tested by state laboratories. The U.S. has 1,300 confirmed cases, with 38 deaths. Lawmakers, meanwhile, are “frustrated” with the CDC’s “struggle to give a really strong answer” about why the U.S. hasn’t been able to duplicate the testing being used in other countries like South Korea. (Yahoo News / CNN)
3/ Trump met with a Brazilian official at Mar-a-Lago who later tested positive for coronavirus. Fabio Wajngarten, communications secretary to Jair Bolsonaro, accompanied the Brazilian president on the visit to Florida and dined with Trump and other U.S. official on Saturday. The White House said Trump will not be tested for the coronavirus because “Both the president and vice president had almost no interactions with the individual who tested positive.” Sen. Rick Scott and Sen. Lindsey Graham, however, decided to self-quarantine due to possible contact with Wajngarten. Two days ago, Bolsonaro said the danger posed by coronavirus “is not all the mainstream media makes it out to be.” Trump, meanwhile, told reporters: “Let’s put it this way: I’m not concerned.” (NPR / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / CNN / The Guardian)
A Senate staffer tested positive for COVID-19. Sen. Maria Cantwell’s office announced that the staffer has been placed in isolation and that the office will be closed for the rest of the week to undergo cleaning. The case marks the first known incident of a congressional staffer contracting the virus. (The Hill)
Satellite images show new sections of graveyards in Iran the size of a football field near where coronavirus infections emerged. While Iran’s government has not released an official death toll for Qom, the spiritual center of Iran’s ruling Shiite clerics, Iranian authorities began digging a pair of trenches for victims days after the government disclosed the initial outbreak. Iran’s Health Ministry officially said that 429 people have died from COVID-19 in the country. (Washington Post)
4/ Trump is expected to sign a limited federal disaster declaration to cover small business loans, paychecks for hourly workers, and delay tax bills in an effort to combat the coronavirus pandemic. Trump, however, is reportedly concerned that going further would undermine his narrative that the coronavirus is similar to the seasonal flu and further hurt the markets. (CNN / Politico / Politico)
Mike Pence said people are using “irresponsible rhetoric” to downplay the seriousness of the U.S. coronavirus outbreak. On Monday, Trump said the “fake news media and their partner, the Democrat Party, is doing everything to inflame the coronavirus situation.” (NBC News)
Trump attacked Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi nine hours after calling on lawmakers to “put politics aside [and] stop the partisanship.” (New York Times)
5/ The Trump administration and House Democrats are negotiating a bipartisan deal on an economic coronavirus relief package, which would provide food security assistance, paid sick leave, free coronavirus testing, and unemployment benefits for people affected by the spread of the pandemic. The House hopes to vote on the package Thursday and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he would cancel next week’s recess to advance “bipartisan legislation to continue combating the coronavirus and keep our economy strong.” Trump, however, objected to what he called Democratic “goodies” in the bill – specifically an increase in federal funding for Medicaid and changes to what that White House said could provide money for abortions. Republicans are opposed to the paid sick leave proposal, complaining that Democrats are using the pandemic to accomplish long-held domestic priorities, which McConnell called an “ideological wish list.” (Washington Post / Politico / Bloomberg / New York Times / New York Times / Reuters)
6/ The S&P 500 and Dow both had their worst day since the 1987 Black Monday market crash. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq also joined the Dow in bear market territory — a decline of 20% from the most recent highs. Trading was halted twice after triggering thresholds in premarket trading and immediately after the opening bell. Trump, meanwhile, predicted that the markets are “going to all bounce back and it’s going to bounce back very big.” (Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / CNBC / NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post)
Trump – in an explosive tirade – reportedly pressured Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to encourage the Federal Reserve to do more to stimulate the economy. Trump complained that Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is damaging his presidency and should never have been appointed. Mnuchin encouraged Trump to nominate Powell in 2017. (Washington Post)
The Federal Reserve said it would inject more than $1.5 trillion of temporary liquidity into the financial system. The action is not intended to stimulate the economy, but ensure proper functioning of the market for Treasuries, which influences all other credit markets. (Wall Street Journal / Politico / CNBC)
7/ The Pentagon is waiting on Trump to decide how to respond to an attack in Iraq that killed two U.S. troops. Iranian-backed militia groups fired about 30 rockets in Iraq, with about 12 to 18 hitting a base north of Baghdad. (Washington Post)
Canceled.
Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered Californians to cancel or postpone gatherings of 250 or more people statewide through the end of March. California now has 198 confirmed coronavirus case. (The Mercury News / Los Angeles Times)
Gov. Andrew Cuomo banned gatherings of 500 or more people across New York state. New York now has 328 confirmed cases of the coronavirus. (New York Times / CNBC)
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio declared a state of emergency, saying large venues like Barclays Center and Madison Square Garden will likely be closed for months. (CNBC)
All Broadway theaters in New York City are closed. The Broadway League announced that the ban will be in effect until Sunday, April 12. (Time Out / Variety)
Schools in Ohio are closed for at least three weeks. Gov. Mike DeWine said the “extended spring break” will begin Monday. (Cleveland.com)
Washington State closed all K-12 schools, public and private, in the Seattle metro area until April 24. Across the King, Snohomish, and Pierce counties, nearly 563,600 students attend public or charter schools. Roughly 216,700 of them qualify for subsidized meals. (Seattle Times)
Maryland closed all public schools through March 27 and banned gatherings of more than 250 people. (NBC Washington)
France closed all schools and universities until further notice. (Washington Post)
Disneyland is closed until the end of the month. Its the fourth time in history that Disneyland has fully suspended operations. The park previously closed following the Sept. 11 attacks, the morning after JFK’s assassination, and the Northridge earthquake. (Variety)
The NBA suspended its season “until further notice” after two Utah Jazz players tested positive for the coronavirus. Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell both tested positive. (ESPN / Bleacher Report)
The NCAA canceled the March Madness basketball tournaments. The ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC, Pac-12, American, Atlantic 10, Conference USA, MAC, America East, Big Sky, and WAC also all canceled their conference basketball tournaments. Kansas and Duke banned all athletic travel indefinitely. (CNBC / ESPN / Washington Post)
The NHL suspended its season with 189 games and three and a half weeks remaining in the regular season. (ESPN)
MLS suspended its season for 30 days and the U.S. Soccer Federation canceled scheduled friendlies. (ESPN)
MLB suspended the remainder of spring training. MLB was scheduled to open its season on March 26, with all 30 teams in action. (ESPN)
The PGA Tour will continue to play but fans will not be allowed to attend the events through April 5. (Bleacher Report)
The NFL said it has “no plans to move the start of the league year,” which starts March 18. (ESPN)
1/ The World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic, saying “We are deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity and by the alarming levels of inaction.” The declaration came as the number of known cases surpassed 120,000 worldwide with at least 4,369 deaths, and has spread to more than 100 countries. (Politico / NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times)
MORE:
Trump will address the nation at 9 p.m. ET. Trump said he would be making “both” health and economic related announcements from the Oval Office. (NBC News)
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and other senators plan to ask Trump to issue an emergency declaration for the coronavirus pandemic, which would allow the Federal Emergency Management Agency to use more than $40 billion from the Disaster Relief Fund to assist local state government in their response to the coronavirus. (CNN)
House Democrats plan to vote Thursday on a coronavirus relief package that will include expanded unemployment insurance, paid sick leave, and food security assistance in order to contain economic concerns. The Senate, however, is unlikely to act before next week’s scheduled congressional recess. (Politico / Washington Post)
The CDC Director said U.S. labs don’t have an adequate stock of the supplies needed for coronavirus testing. Robert Redfield said there’s a growing scarcity of “RNA extraction” kits, which are needed to prepare samples for testing. (Politico)
Two Trump allies received coronavirus testing despite showing no symptoms of respiratory illness. The CDC recommended that health care providers prioritize tests for hospitalized patients who are exhibiting coronavirus symptoms and elderly and medically fragile individuals. (Washington Post)
The White House is considering moving all of Europe to a Level 3 travel advisory, which discourages all nonessential travel to those regions. (Washington Post)
2/ A top U.S. health official testified that the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S. is “going to get worse,” saying “we will see more cases, and things will get worse than they are right now.” Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told the House Oversight and Reform Committee that COVID-19 is at least 10 times “more lethal” than the seasonal flu, even if the mortality rate drops below the World Health Organization’s current estimate of 3.4%. (NPR / Politico / CNBC / ABC News)
Up to 150 million Americans are expected to contract the coronavirus, according to Dr. Brian Monahan, the attending physician of Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court. Monahan told Senate staffers during a closed-door meeting that he expects between 70-150 million people in the U.S. — about a third of the country — to contract the coronavirus. Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that up to 70% of the country’s population - some 58 million people - could contract the coronavirus. (Axios / CNBC / Daily Beast / BBC)
Trump held an emergency meeting at the White House with top U.S. health officials. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, chairwoman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, said a hearing on the U.S. coronavirus response had to be cut short as a result and “There seems to be a great deal of confusion and a lack of coordination at the White House.” (CNBC)
3/ Since mid-January, the White House has ordered all meetings discussing coronavirus to be classified. The move restricted staffers, federal health officials, and government experts without security clearances from participating in discussions about the scope of the epidemic, quarantines, and travel restrictions, which potentially delayed the administration’s response to the crisis. The meetings were held at the Department of Health and Human Services in a secure area called a “Sensitive Compartmentalized Information Facility,” which is usually reserved for intelligence and military operations. One administration official suggested that security clearances were required not to protect national security, but to prevent leaks. Another official added: “This came directly from the White House.” (Reuters)
4/ The Trump administration is developing plans for hundreds of thousands of federal workers to work from home to limit exposure to the coronavirus. The Office of Personnel Management called on the heads of government agencies to go over their telecommuting policies with the nearly 2.1 million federal employees under their collective jurisdiction. The Trump administration scaled back working from home in January, but federal agencies are now looking to expand their policies. (Washington Post)
Washington State banned all gatherings of more than 250 people in the Seattle metro area. Gov. Jay Inslee said it is “very likely” the ban could extend beyond March and could be expanded in the days to come. Shortly after the announcement, Seattle Public Schools announced that schools would close for a minimum of two weeks. (Seattle Times / KIRO 7)
San Francisco canceled all public gatherings of 1,000 or more people for at least two weeks. In light of the moratorium, the Chase Center will be empty for Thursday’s Warriors game against the Brooklyn Nets. (San Francisco Chronicle / KTVU)
The NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments will be played with no fans present. The games begin Tuesday night in Dayton, Ohio, and will be played “with only essential staff and limited family attendance.” (USA Today / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
Italy ordered a nationwide closure of all restaurants and bars, as well as most stores. (Wall Street Journal)
A coronavirus conference was canceled because of coronavirus. The Council on Foreign Relations was due to hold a roundtable titled “Doing Business Under Coronavirus” on Friday, but decided to cancel it due to the spread of the virus. (Bloomberg / New York Post)
Harvey Weinstein unfortunately does not have coronavirus but will, however, serve 23 years for sexually assaulting two women. The judge imposed 20 years for a first-degree criminal sex act and three years for third-degree rape, to be served consecutively. (Washington Post / The Guardian)
5/ The Treasury Department is considering extending the April 15 tax deadline in response to the economic disruption caused by the coronavirus. Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee sent a letter to the IRS commissioner asking for an update on the agency’s plans, saying they are “concerned about the ability of the IRS to provide taxpayer assistance and process returns, as well as the ability of taxpayers, free tax preparation sites, and tax professionals to meet the filing deadline.” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he would recommend to Trump that the IRS delay tax payments without penalty or interest for “virtually all Americans other than the superrich.” (Wall Street Journal / New York Times / CNN)
Notables.
The Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to maintain its “Remain in Mexico” policy for asylum seekers despite a lower court saying the policy was at odds with both federal law and international treaties and was causing “extreme and irreversible harm.” The program has forced about 60,000 asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their requests are heard. The order allows the program to continue while lawsuits challenging the legality of the Migrant Protection Protocols program make their way through the federal court system. (Washington Post / New York Times / Associated Press / Axios)
A special interest group paid Trump’s National Doral resort $700,650 for an event in 2017. Less than two weeks after the November meeting, the Trump administration announced its support for a policy the Air Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute had lobbied in favor of. (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington)
The Trump Organization paid bribes, through middlemen, to lower its property tax bills for several Manhattan buildings in the 1980s and 1990s. Two city employees said they personally took bribes to lower the assessment on a Trump property, while three others said they had indirect knowledge of the payments. (ProPublica)
Trump’s moon mission could cost $50 billion. The White House mandated a return to the lunar surface by 2024, but the rocket and spacecraft NASA plans to use to get astronauts to the moon has been plagued by oversight and performance issues. (Washington Post)
1/ Trump – again – downplayed the severity of the coronavirus epidemic, saying “everything is working out” and that “it will go away, just stay calm.” There have been more than 800 cases of coronavirus in the U.S., including 27 deaths. And, despite markets showing continued volatility following Wall Street’s worst day since the 2008 financial crisis, Trump suggested that “The consumer has never been in a better position than they are right now.” (Washington Post / New York Times)
Trump invited a group of Wall Street executives to the White House to discuss the response to COVID-19 after stock market losses. The seven biggest banks in the U.S. were invited, and at least two of them plan to send their CEO to attend the meeting on Wednesday. (CNBC)
2/ Trump pitched Republican lawmakers on a 0% payroll tax rate that would last through the November election as the White House tries to put together an economic stimulus plan to counteract the impact from the coronavirus outbreak. Speaking to reporters afterwards, Trump called the meeting “great” and said there was “tremendous unity” despite the meeting ending without a plan for crafting an economic package. Republican and Democratic senators also expressed reluctance about a payroll tax cut to address the economic impact. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, meanwhile, is working on an economic stimulus package to ensure workers have access to free coronavirus tests and paid sick leave. Payroll taxes are paid by employers and employees to fund Social Security, Medicare, and other government programs. (CNBC / Bloomberg / Washington Post / Politico)
YESTERDAY: Trump promised “very substantial” economic measures to combat the fallout from the coronavirus, including aid for the airline and cruise industries, and expanding loans by the Small Business Administration.(Bloomberg / New York Times / Politico)
ALSO: The White House is considering federal assistance for oil and natural gas producers hit by plummeting oil prices amid the coronavirus outbreak and a price war that broke out between Saudi Arabia and Russia. (Washington Post)
3/ The Trump administration postponed an annual intelligence report – without explanation – that warns that the U.S. remains unprepared for a global pandemic. The office of the Director of National Intelligence was scheduled to deliver the Worldwide Threat Assessment to the House Intelligence Committee on Feb. 12. The hearing, however, has not been rescheduled. Two officials who have read the classified report, said that the warnings are similar to those published in the 2019 report, which states: “The United States will remain vulnerable to the next flu pandemic or large-scale outbreak of a contagious disease that could lead to massive rates of death and disability, severely affect the world economy, strain international resources, and increase calls on the United States for support.” (Time)
The CDC expanded its guidance for people over 60 or who have chronic illnesses to stock up on goods and plan for a lengthy stay at home. The CDC also recommended that travelers with underlying health conditions “avoid non-essential travel.” (CNBC)
📌 Day 1135: A worldwide threats assessment in 2018 and 2017 warned about the increasing risks of a global pandemic that could strain resources and damage the global economy. Intelligence analysts even mentioned a close cousin of the COVID-19 strain of coronavirus by name, saying it had “pandemic potential” if it were “to acquire efficient human-to-human responsibility.” The 2019 worldwide threat assessment reported “that the United States and the world will remain vulnerable to the next flu pandemic or large-scale outbreak of a contagious disease that could lead to massive rates of death and disability, severely affect the world economy, strain international resources, and increase calls on the United States for support.” (NBC News)
4/ Trump’s incoming White House chief of staff quarantined himself after possibly coming in contact with a confirmed carrier of the coronavirus. Rep. Mark Meadows is the fifth Republican lawmaker to self-quarantine himself over fears coronavirus exposure. Sen. Ted Cruz and Reps. Paul Gosar, Doug Collins and Matt Gaetz have also quarantined themselves for 14 days out of caution. Meadows, Cruz, Collins, and Gaetz all interacted with Trump on the day they were exposed. Trump, meanwhile, hasn’t been tested for coronavirus, saying “I don’t think it’s a big deal […] I feel extremely good.” (Washington Post / Bloomberg / Politico / CNN /Axios)
5/ The Trump administration ordered immigration courts to remove all coronavirus posters from courtrooms and waiting areas. After the Miami Herald published news about an Executive Office for Immigration Review email that directed all judges and staff members to remove the posters, a Department of Justice spokesman said that the “the signs shouldn’t have been removed. It’s now being rectified.” The official, however, declined to discuss why the email directive was sent in the first place. (Miami Herald)
The CDC director contradicted Trump’s claim that his border wall will contain the coronavirus. Trump tweeted that his wall is “Going up fast […] We need the Wall more than ever!” Hour later, Robert Redfield, the director of the CDC, said testified to lawmakers that he was unaware that physical barriers along America’s borders would help halt the spread of the coronavirus in the U.S. (Politico)
Trump administration officials discussed shutting down travel from Italy and South Korea as the coronavirus outbreak worsened. Ultimately, officials decided that the virus was spreading too quickly to be contained and it would be hard to justify the diplomatic, logistical, and economic consequences. (Axios)
6/ A federal appeals court granted House Democrats permission to access grand jury material from Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. The Justice Department must now give lawmakers access to all the report’s blacked-out words, phrases, sentences, paragraphs, and pages, as well as underlying interviews and memos cited in Mueller’s probe. The lawsuit was filed before the start of the impeachment inquiry, but House lawyers told the court that lawmakers are still trying to determine whether Trump lied in his written responses to questions from Mueller’s investigators. The ruling can be appealed to the full court or to the Supreme Court. (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Axios)
📌Day 1009: A federal judge directed the Justice Department to hand over Robert Mueller’s secret grand jury evidence to the House Judiciary Committee, which Attorney General William Barr has withheld from lawmakers. U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell rejected the Trump administration’s claim that the impeachment probe is illegitimate, saying the material could help the House Judiciary Committee substantiate “potentially impeachable conduct” by Trump. The materials must be disclosed by Wednesday. (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Politico)
📌 Day 1012: The Trump administration appealed a judge’s ruling requiring the Justice Department to give the House Judiciary Committee grand jury material related to Robert Mueller’s report. Chief Judge Beryl Howell’s ruling granted the Judiciary Committee access to portions of Mueller’s report and underlying grand jury information that were redacted. (Politico / CNBC)
📌 Day 1033: The House is investigating whether Trump lied to Robert Mueller. Former Trump deputy campaign chairman Rick Gates testified in last week’s trial that Roger Stone spoke with Trump in a July 2016 phone call, and that Trump then told Gates that “more information would be coming.” Trump, however, told Mueller in written answers that he did not recall discussing WikiLeaks with Stone. The House Judiciary Committee is seeking grand jury testimony from the redacted version of Mueller’s report into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. House General Counsel Douglas Letter told a federal appeals court that investigators have an “immense” need for the material, because it will help House members answer the question, “Did the president lie? Was the president not truthful in his responses to the Mueller investigation?” (CNN / Washington Post / New York Times / Axios / Associated Press / Politico)
📌 Day 1061: The House told a federal appeals court that it still needs access to Robert Mueller’s confidential grand jury information for use in the impeachment proceedings. The House argued that the grand jury information allegedly contains “certain redacted materials [that] pertain to a Trump Campaign member’s dealings with Ukraine, and bear on whether the President committed impeachable offenses by soliciting Ukrainian interference in the 2020 Presidential election.” (CNN)
7/ Russia is – again – trying to stoke racial tensions as part of its effort to influence November’s presidential election. According to officials briefed on recent intelligence, Russian intelligence services have prodded white nationalists to spread and amplify hate messages while also trying to push black extremist groups toward violence in an effort to foster a sense of chaos in the United States. (New York Times)
Trump’s acting director of national intelligence declined to meet with Congress for a briefing on foreign election threats. Richard Grenell said he was apprehensive about his preparedness to address questions about intelligence assessments that Russia is again interfering in U.S. politics. (Washington Post)
8/ Blackwater founder Erik Prince worked with Project Veritas to recruit former U.S. and British spies to infiltrate Democratic congressional campaigns. Project Veritas is a conservative group that uses hidden cameras and microphones for sting operations on news organizations, Democratic politicians, and liberal advocacy groups. Prince is the brother of Education Secretary Betsy Devos. (New York Times)
1/ Trump had contact with two Republican congressmen before they self-quarantined themselves after learning they had been exposed to someone diagnosed with coronavirus at CPAC. Rep. Matt Gaetz, who attended a party with Trump at Mar-a-Lago this weekend, learned shortly after Air Force One was airborne that he had been in contact with a person at CPAC who has since been diagnosed with coronavirus. Gaetz then sat in a section of the plane by himself. Rep. Doug Collins, who had also been in contact with a person at CPAC with coronavirus, shook hands with Trump during a CDC tour on Friday. Sen. Ted Cruz and Rep. Paul Gosar also announced they would self-quarantine after coming into contact with a person with coronavirus at the CPAC. Gaetz and Gosar both mocked the coronavirus spending package passed last week by the House. Gosar said the money was unnecessary with so few people sick in the U.S. while Gaetz wore a gas mask to the vote. Days later, Gaetz announced that a constituent had died of COVID-19. (New York Times / CNBC / CNN / Axios / CNN / NBC News / The Hill / Washington Post / Washington Post / Gizmodo)
COVID-19 has infected more than 550 people in the U.S., killing more than 20. More than 111,000 people have been infected worldwide, while more than 3,800 have died.
2/ The White House overruled health officials who wanted to warn Americans to avoid commercial airlines because of the coronavirus. The CDC originally submitted a plan that recommended that elderly and medically vulnerable Americans avoid flying as a way of trying to control the outbreak, but the White House ordered the air travel language removed from from the plan. The Trump administration, however, has since issued guidance that certain people should not be traveling and the CDC quietly updated its website to tell older adults to “stay home as much as possible” and avoid crowds. Administration officials pushed back, calling it “complete fiction” and saying “it was never a recommendation to the Task Force.” (Associated Press)
Trump, wearing a “Keep America Great” hat, said he told Mike Pence not to compliment Washington Gov. Jay Inslee because “he is a snake.” Inslee had criticized the administration’s response to the coronavirus outbreak, saying he wanted Trump to stick to the science when discussing the virus. (Seattle Times / Politico / ABC News / Vox)
Trump accused New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo of attempting “political weaponization” of the coronavirus crisis after the Democratic governor declared a state of emergency. (Politico)
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson declined to “preview” the Trump administration’s plan for the docking of the Grand Princess cruise ship, which is carrying at least 21 passengers who contracted coronavirus. During an interview with George Stephanopoulos, the HUD secretary said Pence would implement a plan “within 72 hours.” Stephanopoulos responded: “The ship’s docking tomorrow.” (ABC News / The Hill)
Trump and Mike Pence attempted to reassure donors at Mar-a-Lago that they have everything under control. (CNBC)
Trump’s reelection campaign canceled its bus tour amid concerns about the coronavirus. A campaign spokeswoman initially cited “scheduling conflicts” for the postponement of the three-day bus tour through Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. (New York Times)
3/ The White House and national health agencies have reportedly grown distrustful of one another over the mixed messaging on coronavirus. While Trump has called his administration’s response a “perfectly coordinated and fine tuned plan,” the top infectious disease doctor at the National Institutes of Health and Surgeon General told the public to be prepared for more cases and deaths, warning the elderly and medically vulnerable to avoid large crowds and long trips or cruises. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar also said the Trump administration considers the coronavirus “a very serious public health threat” and that “Nobody is trying to minimize this.” Six minutes later, Trump downplayed the severity of coronavirus, comparing it to the “common Flu,” tweeting: “Think about that!” Meanwhile, during a tour at the CDC, Trump mused that he had a “natural ability” to understand the coronavirus outbreak, saying “People are really surprised I understand this stuff. Every one of these doctors said, ‘How do you know so much about this?’” (CNN / NBC News / New York Times / Bloomberg / Politico / Washington Post)
Quotables:
U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams: “We now are seeing community spread and we’re trying to help people understand how to mitigate the impact of disease spread,”
Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health: “There comes a time, when you have containment which […] you’re trying to find out who’s infected and put them in isolation. And if and when that happens — and I hope it’s if and not when — that you get so many people who are infected that the best thing you need to do is what we call mitigation in addition to containment.”
Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration: “We’re past the point of containment. We have to implement broad mitigation strategies. The next two weeks are really going to change the complexion in this country. We’ll get through this, but it’s going to be a hard period. We’re looking at two months, probably, of difficulty.”
4/ U.S. stocks fell more than 7.5% in the worst day on Wall Street since the financial crisis on fears about the spread of the coronavirus and an oil price war. Stocks fell fast enough to trigger a circuit breaker for the first time in 23 years that halted trading for 15 minutes. The Dow fell 2,000 points, while the S&P 500, already down 12% from its February high, fell more than 7%. (Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNBC / NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post)
Trump blamed Wall Street’s meltdown on the “Fake News Media” and the Democrats for trying to “inflame the CoronaVirus situation.” Trump also tried to cast the decline in oil prices in positive terms, tweeting: “Good for the consumer, gasoline prices coming down!” Trump added: “Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on.” (Washington Post / CNBC)
5/ Trump said he will ask Congress to provide financial relief for workers and businesses hurt by the coronavirus, including a possible payroll tax cut. Trump said he’d announce the “dramatic” details of the proposed relief on Tuesday after meeting with members of the House and Senate. “They will be major,” he said. (NBC News / NPR / USA Today)
6/ Trump replaced Mick Mulvaney with Rep. Mark Meadows as his next White House chief of staff. Trump announced the change on Twitter from Mar-a-Lago. Mulvaney, the acting chief of staff for the last 14 months, will become the U.S. special envoy to Northern Ireland. Meadows will be Trump’s fourth White House chief of staff, following Mulvaney, John Kelly and Reince Priebus. (Associated Press / NPR / CNN / Politico / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / New York Times)
7/ The Taliban reportedly has “no intention” of honoring the U.S.-Taliban peace agreement, according to “persuasive intelligence” gathered by the U.S. Official briefed on the intelligence say the Taliban views the peace process as a way of securing the withdrawal of American “occupiers,” after which it will attack the U.S.-backed government in Afghanistan. Trump also acknowledged that the Taliban could “possibly” overrun the Afghan government after U.S. leaves the region, saying “Countries have to take care of themselves […] You can only hold someone’s hand for so long.” American troops, meanwhile, have started leaving Afghanistan. (NBC News / Associated Press)
8/ An altered video of Joe Biden shared by the White House and retweeted by Trump has been flagged as “manipulated media” by Twitter. It’s the first test of the new policy implemented on March 5 to label tweets that include manipulated content, which includes everything from edited videos to full “deep fakes” of events that never actually happened. The altered video of Biden shows him stumbling through a speech, but cuts off after Biden accidentally says, “Excuse me. We can only reelect Donald Trump.” The video leaves out the rest of the quote: “We can only reelect Donald Trump if in fact we get engaged in this circular firing squad here. It’s gotta be a positive campaign.” (Washington Post / New York Times)
poll/ 54% of Republicans said they had not altered their daily routines because of the coronavirus, compared to about 40% of Democrats. (Reuters)
1/ The Trump administration claimed that the coronavirus outbreak was “contained” even as the number of U.S. cases have surpassed 250 – more than double since Monday – and test kits remain in short supply. Federal officials initially said nearly 1 million tests were expected to be available by the end of this week. While the CDC has refused to share how many people have been tested for COVID-19, a survey of public health agencies in every state could only verify 1,895 Americans who had been tested for the virus. About 10% of them tested positive. In California – population 40 million – has the capacity to test about 7,400 people through the weekend. About 1,250 Californians were possibly exposed to coronavirus on a cruise ship – 21 people have tested positive for coronavirus out of the 46 tested so far – and there are more than 9,000 people in California who recently returned from countries experiencing severe outbreaks. California, however, has only tested 516 people for COVID-19 to date. Nevertheless, Kellyanne Conway told reporters that “It is being contained,” challenging a reporter who suggested it isn’t. “Are you a doctor aware of it not being contained?” Trump’s top economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, echoed Conway, saying the outbreak “looks relatively contained.” (Bloomberg / The Atlantic / Los Angeles Times / Washington Post)
COVID-19 Factoids:
100,000 people have been infected worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University.
15 people in the U.S. have died from coronavirus.
At least 44 people in New York state test positive for coronavirus – up from 23 yesterday. A 5th person tested positive for coronavirus in New York City.
The virus has been reported in 20 new states: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin.
2/ Trump abruptly canceled – then rescheduled – a planned trip to CDC headquarters in Atlanta. Trump said the trip was scrapped because of a suspected coronavirus case at the CDC itself. The White House, however, said the visit was canceled because “the president does not want to interfere with the CDC’s mission to protect the health and welfare of their people and the agency.” The report of an infection at CDC turned out to be negative and the trip was rescheduled. CDC staffers learned about potential coronavirus case at the agency only after Trump mentioned it to reporters. Trump is slated to go to Atlanta after touring tornado damage in Tennessee and before heading to Mar-a-Lago for the weekend. (Politico / New York Times / Associated Press / NBC News)
3/ Trump signed an $8.3 billion emergency funding package to combat the rising number of coronavirus cases in the U.S. The bill provides a total of $7.7 billion in new discretionary spending and authorizes an additional $490 million in mandatory spending through Medicare. “You have to be calm,” Trump said at the White House. “It will go away.” (Bloomberg / Politico / BBC / The Guardian)
4/ White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said the Trump administration is considering “timely and targeted” relief to help workers and businesses economically vulnerable to the outbreak. Kudlow insisted that the U.S. economy is “fundamentally sound,” but Trump administration officials have considered deferring taxes for sectors most affected by the outbreak, including the hospitality, cruise, travel and airline industries. Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly said “what we’re seeing is a drop off in domestic travel […] It has a 9/11-like feel.” More than 1,000 planes have been taken out of service worldwide and airline stocks have fallen 28% since the coronavirus outbreak began. Global airlines stand to lose $113 billion in sales. Meanwhile at a Fox News town hall, Trump said he “likes” that “people are now staying in the United States, spending their money in the US […] They’re sort of enforced doing that.” (Washington Post / Axios / Wall Street Journal / The Hill / CNN / Vox)
The University of Washington moved its 50,000 students to online classes. (New York Times)
5/ The Trump administration plans to collect DNA samples from undocumented immigrants held in U.S. detention facilities. Under the new rule, the Department of Homeland Security can collect DNA samples from non-U.S. citizens who are detained for criminal offenses in federal facilities. The samples would be put into a database operated by the FBI for federal, state, and local authorities to use to identify and locate violent criminals who are in the country illegally. Officials said the collection effort will fully enforce the 2015 DNA Fingerprint Act, which requires taking DNA samples from anyone arrested, facing charges or convicted — and from any non-U.S. citizens “who are detained under the authority of the United States.” The Department of Homeland Security, however, asked for an exemption from the law during the Obama administration, saying it did not have the manpower to gather the samples. (Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / NBC News)
6/ The Trump Organization charged the Secret Service $157,000 more than was previously known and billed taxpayers for rooms at his clubs at much higher rates than the company claimed. Newly obtained documents show Trump’s company charged the Secret Service more than $628,000 since he took office in 2017. The full scope of the Trump Organization’s business relationship with the Trump administration is still unknown because the only publicly available records are mostly from 2017 and 2018 — the rest are still hidden. The new documents show charges for 177 additional nightly room rentals in 2017, 2018, and 2019 at a rate of $396.15 per night per room. They also reveal that Trump charged the Secret Service $17,000 per month to rent a cottage near Trump’s in Bedminster, NJ. There is no requirement that presidents charge the Secret Service for using space on their properties, and most presidents have provided space for free. (Washington Post / Public Citizen)
📌 Day 1114: The Trump Organization charged Trump’s Secret Service rates as high as $650 a night and $17,000 a month for a cottage at his properties to protect him. The disclosures contradict Eric Trump’s own statements that “If my father travels, they stay at our properties for free.” At Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club, the Secret Service was charged the $650 rate dozens of times in 2017, and a different rate – $396.15 – dozens more times in 2018. At the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster, the Secret Service was charged $17,000 a month to use a cottage in 2017. The Trump Organization also billed the government for days when Trump wasn’t there. The full extent of the Secret Service’s payments to Trump’s company is not known. (Washington Post)
7/ House Democrats asked a federal appeals court to reconsider enforcing a congressional subpoena for Trump’s former White House counsel Donald McGahn. Last week, an appeals court panel ruled 2-1 that the House may not ask judges to force the White House to make McGahn available for testimony. Today, House lawyers argued that blocking lawmakers from suing to obtain information from the executive branch would leave Congress with little choice but to “direct its sergeant at arms to arrest current and former high-level executive branch officials for failing to respond to subpoenas.” (Politico / Washington Post)
📌 Day 1135: A federal appeals court ruled that former White House counsel Donald McGahn does not have to comply with a subpoena seeking his testimony. The House wanted McGahn to answer questions related to possible efforts by Trump to obstruct Robert Mueller’s investigation. (Politico / CNBC / New York Times)
8/ The deputy White House communications director resigned. Adam Kennedy will leave his position to go work in the private sector at the end of the month. He was one of the few remaining original Trump White House staffers. (Bloomberg / Politico)
More than a third of all Senate-confirmed civilian positions at the Department of Defense are now vacant or filled by temporary officials – a new high for the Trump administration. (Politico)
1/ The Trump administration won’t meet its promised timeline of having a million coronavirus tests available by the end of the week. Lawmakers said the government is “in the process” of sending test kits out and that people will then need to be trained on how to use them, saying that the process could take days or weeks. Earlier this week, the FDA said the U.S. would have the “capacity” to perform up to 1 million tests by the end of this week, which was backed up by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. Mike Pence also said that 1.5 million tests would be going out. The Senate, meanwhile, passed an $8.3 billion emergency funding bill to fight the coronavirus. The package will be sent to the White House for Trump’s signature after passing the House yesterday. (Bloomberg / Politico / CNBC / CNN)
Patients in 18 states have tested positive or are presumptively positive for coronavirus. Officials in Nevada, New Jersey, Tennessee and Texas said they had identified new cases in the last 24 hours. At least 162 people nationwide have been infected. (The Hill / The Nevada Independent)
COVID-19 cases in New York doubled overnight to 22 state-wide. At least eight of the new cases are connected to a lawyer from Westchester. Two of the new cases are in New York City and one is in Long Island. (CNBC)
2/ A State Department official blamed Russia for “swarms of online, false personas” spreading misinformation about coronavirus on social media, saying the “entire ecosystem of Russian disinformation is at play.” Lea Gabrielle, the coordinator of the government’s Global Engagement Center, testified to Congress that Russian actors using “state proxy websites,” official state-owned media, and fake accounts online were part of an effort to “take advantage of a health crisis, where people are terrified worldwide, to try to advance their priorities.” A Global Engagement Center report last week revealed nearly 2 million tweets over a three-week period that pushed coronavirus-related conspiracies. (Washington Post / Bloomberg)
3/ Trump – on Fox News – contradicted the World Health Organization estimate that the global mortality rate for coronavirus is 3.4%, calling it “a false number.” While the WHO’s estimate is likely to change as more is learned about the virus, Trump said his “hunch” is that the real figure “way under 1%.” The 3.4% figure was reached using the latest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths. Trump also speculated that “thousands or hundreds of thousands” of people might have recovered “by, you know, sitting around and even going to work — some of them go to work but they get better.” (Politico / Business Insider)
4/ The International Criminal Court authorized an investigation into allegations of U.S. war crimes in Afghanistan – days after American officials signed a peace deal with the Taliban. The ICC says it has evidence that proves U.S. forces “committed acts of torture, cruel treatment, outrages upon personal dignity, rape and sexual violence” in Afghanistan in 2003 and 2004, and later at CIA black sites in Poland, Romania and Lithuania. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called the ruling “reckless,” noting that “The United States is not a party to the ICC, and we will take all necessary measures to protect our citizens from this renegade court.” (New York Times / Politico / Associated Press / BBC / Axios / NBC News)
5/ A federal judge criticized Attorney General William Barr’s handling of Robert Mueller’s report, saying that Barr’s public statements about the report were “distorted” and “misleading.” Judge Reggie Walton cited “inconsistencies” between Barr’s statements and the public, partially redacted version of the report, saying Barr’s “lack of candor” called “into question [his] credibility and, in turn, the department’s” assurances to the court. The judge ordered the Justice Department to privately show him the portions of the report that were redacted so he could independently verify whether the Justice Department’s redactions were appropriate. (Washington Post / New York Times)
6/ Attorney General William Barr intervened in an immigration asylum case by narrowing the definition of torture for asylum seekers. Barr used a process known as “certification,” which allows him to overrule decisions made by the Board of Immigration Appeals and set binding precedent, after a Mexican national seeking asylum invoked torture as grounds for staying in the U.S. (Washington Post)
7/ Facebook removed ads run by Trump’s re-election campaign that urged people to “respond now” to an “Official Congressional District Census.” The ads linked to a survey on the Trump campaign’s website before asking them to donate money to the campaign. Facebook said the ads violated its policies to “prevent confusion around the official US census.” (Politico / CNN)
1/ Bipartisan congressional negotiators reached an agreement on a $8.3 billion emergency spending bill to address the coronavirus. The deal – more than triple the size of the Trump administration’s $2.5 billion request – provides more than $3 billion for research and development of vaccines, $2.2 billion for the CDC, $950 million to support state and local health agencies, $836 million for the National Institutes of Health, plus additional spending to address the coronavirus overseas. The bill is expected to be sent to Trump’s desk by the end of the week after passing both the House and Senate. (Washington Post / CNBC / Politico / Wall Street Journal / New York Times)
A 10th person in Washington State died from coronavirus. In total, 28 people in Washington State have been diagnosed. (Seattle Times)
Local health officials in California announced the state’s first COVID-19 death, bringing U.S. fatalities to at least 11. (CNBC)
2/ Trump blamed Obama for making it harder for his administration to respond to the coronavirus outbreak. While it’s not entirely clear what “decision” Trump was referring to, he called it “very detrimental” and claimed that it hampered his ability to enact widespread testing for the virus. Health experts and government officials during Obama’s presidency, however, said they were unaware of any policy or rule that would have affected the way the FDA approves tests related to the current crisis. (New York Times)
3/ A coalition of 19 states are suing to block the Trump administration’s diversion of $3.8 billion from the Pentagon to the border wall. The states – California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin – argue that redirecting money already allocated by lawmakers violates Congress’ appropriation powers. The states also argue that diverting billions from defense programs “will cause damage to their economies, harming their proprietary interests.” (Politico)
4/ The U.S. conducted an airstrike against Taliban fighters in Afghanistan days after signing a historic peace deal. Taliban fighters were reportedly “actively attacking” an Afghan government checkpoint. The drone strike – conducted as a “defensive” measure – came hours after a call between Trump and Taliban chief negotiator Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. After the call, Trump said: “We’ve agreed there’s no violence. We don’t want violence. We’ll see what happens.” (ABC News / CNN / Washington Post / New York Times)
5/ The Justice Department charged a Defense Department contractor with espionage. Mariam Thompson, a linguist who worked for the Pentagon, allegedly shared classified information with a Lebanese national with ties to the terror group Hezbollah. The information included details about intelligence assets working for the U.S. and military personnel. If convicted, Thompson could face life in prison. (ABC News / Politico)
6/ Trump mocked Mike Bloomberg after the former New York mayor ended his presidential campaign, tweeting that “He didn’t have what it takes.” Bloomberg endorsed Joe Biden, saying he got into the race “to defeat Donald Trump” and was “leaving for the same reason.” Trump also accused the Democratic Party of having “crushed” Bernie Sanders, attributing Biden’s win of at least 380 delegates to “a perfect storm.” Trump then called Elizabeth Warren “so selfish” for staying in the race while accusing her of being “the single biggest factor in the election” and “badly” hurting Sanders. (CNBC / Politico / CNN / Washington Post)
The Trump campaign abruptly shifted its attacks from Sanders to Biden as some Trump backers worry Biden could present an obstacle in swing areas. (Politico)
Trump taunted Jeff Sessions on Twitter after his former attorney general was forced into a runoff election for the Alabama GOP Senate nomination. Trump tweeted that “this is what happens to someone” who “doesn’t have the wisdom or courage to stare down & end the phony Russia Witch Hunt.” Sessions faces a March 31 runoff against Tommy Tuberville, a former Auburn football coach. (Politico / Bloomberg / New York Times)
1/ The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the first major abortion case to come before the court since Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch took the bench. The case, June Medical Services v. Russo, challenges a 2014 Louisiana law, known as the “Unsafe Abortion Protection Act,” which requires doctors who provide abortions to obtain admitting privileges from a nearby hospital. When the law was signed, one of the state’s six abortion clinics had a physician who was compliant. Today, Louisiana has three abortion clinics and if the Supreme Court finds the law constitutional, all of three of them would stop offering the procedure. Louisiana’s law is identical to one from Texas that the Supreme Court struck down in 2016 when Justice Anthony Kennedy, who was seen as a swing vote on the issue, was still on the bench. A decision in the case is expected by June. (NBC News / CBS News / CNN / New York Times / Washington Post)
2/ The Trump administration is considering paying hospitals for treating uninsured patients with coronavirus. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is in discussions about using the National Disaster Medical System to reimburse hospitals and medical facilities as concerns rise over the costs of treating some of the 27 million Americans without health coverage. (Wall Street Journal)
Public and private labs say they’re not close to reaching the federal government’s promise to produce one million coronavirus test kits by the end of the week. Dr. Stephen Hahn, the commissioner of the FDA, said that the CDC was working with a private manufacturer to increase the testing capacity of laboratories across the nation. White House officials, however, said that the number of tests actually administered could be considerably lower. (New York Times)
The CDC blocked a top scientist from the FDA from helping coordinate the government’s stalled coronavirus testing last month. The FDA had dispatched Timothy Stenzel to the CDC in an effort to expedite the development of lab tests for coronavirus, but the CDC made him wait overnight before granting him permission to the campus. Stenzel found evidence of lab contamination, which he reported to HHS officials. (Politico)
3/ Trump’s secretary of defense warned commanders not to make any decisions related to the coronavirus that might surprise the White House. Mark Esper issued the directive via a conference call, telling commanders deployed overseas that they must first clear any decisions related to protecting their troops with the White House. (New York Times)
📌 Day 1134: The White House instructed government health officials and scientists to seek approval from Mike Pence’s office before speaking publicly about the coronavirus outbreak. An administrative official said the move isn’t intended to muzzle government scientists and other health experts, but to make sure their efforts are being coordinated. Yesterday, Trump appointed Pence to lead the government’s coronavirus task force, which is nominally led by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. Dr. Deborah Birx, the director of the U.S. effort to combat HIV and AIDS, will serve as the Coronavirus Response Coordinator for the White House and report to Pence, but serve on the task force that Azar chairs. Additionally, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, and Trump’s top economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, will also join the coronavirus task force. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / Politico)
4/ The Federal Reserve made an emergency half-percentage-point rate cut, reflecting concerns about the coronavirus epidemic. It was the first unscheduled rate cut since the 2008 financial crisis. Stocks, meanwhile, fell sharply with the Dow, S&P500, and Nasdaq all pulling back more than 2.5%. Trump, who has no control over monetary policy, criticized the Fed, saying “the rate is too high. It should be eased down so we’re competitive” adding “we should have the low rate. But we have a Fed that doesn’t agree with that. I disagree with them.” (CNN / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / CNBC / New York Times / Washington Post)
5/ The Trump administration added a Trump-focused litmus test that candidates for political appointments must now complete. Candidates applying for a job in the Trump administration will have to explain what part of Trump’s campaign message “most appealed” to them and why. (CNN)
6/ A White House lawyer was named senior director for intelligence on the National Security Council. By promoting Michael Ellis, Trump has installed another loyalist to a key intelligence-related leadership position after appointing Richard Grenell, as acting Director of National Intelligence. (Politico / CNN)
The White House withdrew its nomination for Pentagon comptroller. Trump nominated Elaine McCusker last year, who has been serving as acting comptroller and chief financial officer of the Defense Department. McCusker, however, fought Trump’s decision last year to stall $250 million in Ukraine military aid and emails documenting her objections leaked in January. Trump decision to withdraw McCusker’s nomination comes as he and his allies continue their push to oust members of his administration who have been deemed disloyal. It is unclear if McCusker will continue to serve in her current role now that her nomination has been withdrawn. (Politico / New York Post)
Why I’m not covering Super Tuesday. Many of you have asked why I’m “ignoring” the Democratic primary. I’m not ignoring it, but it’s helpful to explain why the coverage is missing. The answer is pretty simple: WTFJHT covers politics through the lens of the administration, the White House, and the Congress – in that order. Unless events directly intersect with one of those three entities, you can assume they’ll be gently ignored here (plus, major news events like Super Tuesday are better covered via live blogs and network television – two things WTFJHT does not do, or in the case of network television, have). Here’s an example: The wild fires in California won’t be covered by WTFJHT unless Trump comments on them or takes some executive action. However, when Trump calls for Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar to be “impeached” for their “quid pro quo” deal to both drop out and endorse Joe Biden for the Democratic presidential nomination, you can expect to hear about it. That’s right, Trump told a crowd at a rally in North Carolina that it “Sounds like they made a deal” when the “They both supported sleepy Joe.” Trump added: “No good. Quid pro quo. They made a deal. Impeach them. They should be impeached.” (ABC News / International Business Times / Politico)
1/ The Supreme Court agreed to take up a legal challenge to the Affordable Care Act during its next term starting in October. The court, however, did not say when it will hear oral arguments, making it unlikely the justices will rule on the lawsuit before the election. In December, a federal appeals court ruled that the individual mandate is unconstitutional, sending the case back to the trial judge for another look at whether the entire law is invalid or some parts can survive. (NBC News / Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press)
📌 Day 1063: A federal appeals court ruled that the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate is unconstitutional, but did not invalidate the entire law. The court ordered a lower court judge to evaluate whether other provisions of the law can survive without the mandate. (Politico / Axios / New York Times / Washington Post / CNN)
2/ Trump called the coronavirus the Democrats’ “new hoax” and accused them of “politicizing” the deadly virus, which has now spread to China, Japan, South Korea, Iran, Italy and the U.S. Trump also blamed the press for acting hysterically about the virus, downplaying its dangers while he compared it to the flu. Experts say that the coronavirus is significantly more contagious than the flu and a vaccine is at least a year to 18 months away. Trump, however, told a a group of drug company executives at the White House to “get it done” on vaccines and antivirals to combat the coronavirus. Trump also authorized new travel restrictions after confirmation of the first coronavirus death in the U.S., saying there’s “no reason to panic” but additional cases in America were “likely.” (NBC News / Politico / CNN / The Guardian / Bloomberg)
Six people in Washington state have now died from coronavirus. Four people had been residents of a nursing center and two other people not connected to the center have also died in Washington. There are at least 18 confirmed cases of the illness in the state. New cases of the coronavirus were reported in New York, Florida, Illinois, and Rhode Island over the weekend. (Seattle Times / New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Vox / Reuters / Chicago Tribune / Bloomberg)
Researchers say coronavirus may have been spreading in Washington state undetected for six weeks. According to an analysis of the virus’s genetic sequence, samples from two people living in the same county – who didn’t have contact with one another – suggest that the virus spread through other people in the community after the first person was no longer contagious. (New York Times / Washington Post)
A top federal scientist warned that the lab where the government made test kits for the coronavirus was contaminated. The Trump administration has ordered the Department of Health and Human Services to investigate the apparent manufacturing defect at the CDC lab in Atlanta. Mike Pence, meanwhile, said “more than 15,000 testing kits” are in the mail to state and local clinics. (Axios / Politico / CNN)
FEMA is preparing for an “infectious disease emergency declaration” by Trump that would allow the agency to bring in extra funds and personnel to assist with the administration’s coronavirus response. (NBC News)
3/ The U.S. signed a deal with the Taliban to end the war in Afghanistan. The agreement calls for the U.S. to pull all 12,000 troops out of the country within the next 14 months if the Taliban agrees to sever its ties with al Qaeda. The first phase of the withdrawal would bring U.S. troops numbers down to 8,600 within 135 days. In exchange, the Taliban has agreed to engage in talks with the Afghan government and commits not to allow terrorist groups to use Afghan soil to plot attacks against the U.S. or its allies. “Everybody’s tired of war,” Trump said. “It’s been a very long journey. It’s been a hard journey for everybody.” (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / USA Today)
4/ An Interior Department official inserted misleading information about climate change into the agency’s scientific reports, including debunked claims that increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is beneficial. Indur Goklany was promoted in 2017 to the office of the deputy secretary and put in charge of reviewing the agency’s climate policies. Goklany pressured scientists to include misleading claims about climate change into at least nine different reports on environmental studies and impact statements on major watersheds in the American West. The wording, known internally as the “Goks uncertainty language,” inaccurately claimed that there is a lack of consensus among scientists that the earth is warming while pushing misleading interpretations of climate science. (New York Times)
5/ A federal judge ruled that Trump’s decision to appoint Ken Cuccinelli as acting head of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services violated the Federal Vacancies Reform Act. U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss said Cuccinelli was never eligible to become acting USCIS chief, and his appointment violated the FVRA because “he never did and never will serve in a subordinate role — that is, as an ‘assistant’ — to any other USCIS official.” All policies put in place under Cuccinelli are now void, including an order that limited the amount of time asylum-seekers could consult with an attorney before undergoing their initial “credible fear” interview with immigration officers. (Axios / Politico / Washington Post / NBC News / BuzzFeed News)
1/ A federal appeals court blocked Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” immigration policy, which required people applying for asylum at the border to wait in Mexico while their claims for protection were reviewed. The court ruled that the policy “is invalid in its entirety due to its inconsistency with” federal law, and “should be enjoined in its entirety.” Some 59,000 people have been sent back to Mexico since January 2019. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals also issued a separate ruling that upheld a lower court’s block on an administration policy denying asylum to those who crossed the southern border illegally. (Washington Post / New York Times / ABC News / CNN / Reuters)
2/ Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney suggested that Americans ignore the media’s coverage of the coronavirus while acknowledging that the outbreak will likely cause disruptions to everyday life in the U.S., such as school closures and changes to public transportation. Mulvaney claimed that the media ignored the administration’s early efforts, because it was preoccupied with thinking impeachment “would bring down the president.” Mulvaney then suggested that the news media only switched to the coronavirus because “they think this is going to be what brings down” Trump. He then urged Americans to “Turn off your televisions for 24 hours.” (New York Times / CNBC / Washington Post / Bloomberg / The Hill)
Several House Republicans walked out of a closed-door coronavirus briefing with health officials after Democrats criticized the Trump administration’s response to the virus as disorganized and lacking urgency. (Politico)
A worldwide threats assessment in 2018 and 2017 warned about the increasing risks of a global pandemic that could strain resources and damage the global economy. Intelligence analysts even mentioned a close cousin of the COVID-19 strain of coronavirus by name, saying it had “pandemic potential” if it were “to acquire efficient human-to-human responsibility.” The 2019 worldwide threat assessment reported “that the United States and the world will remain vulnerable to the next flu pandemic or large-scale outbreak of a contagious disease that could lead to massive rates of death and disability, severely affect the world economy, strain international resources, and increase calls on the United States for support.” (NBC News)
3/ The Trump administration is considering a tax cut package as part of the White House’s economic response to the coronavirus outbreak after all three major U.S. stock indexes suffered their worst weekly decline since the 2008 financial crisis. For the week, all three indexes fell more than 10%, and since Feb. 19, U.S. stocks have lost nearly $3.6 trillion in value. Trump’s top economic advisor Larry Kudlow suggested that investors shouldn’t “rule out more optimistic options,” saying “Stocks looks pretty cheap to me.” Trump, meanwhile, leaned on the Federal Reserve for help, saying he hopes “the Fed gets involved, and I hope they get involved soon.” Fed Chair Jerome Powell said that the central bank would “act as appropriate” to help the U.S. economy. (Washington Post / CNBC / New York Times / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / CNN)
The Trump administration is considering a 70-year-old war powers law to speed up the manufacturing of medical supplies in a potential coronavirus outbreak. The Defense Production Act, passed by Congress in 1950 during the Korean War, would allow Trump to expedite production of certain products like face masks, gowns, and gloves for national security purposes. (New York Times / NBC News)
4/ Mike Pence will host a $25,000-per-plate fundraiser in Florida. The event, hosted by the Florida Republican congressional delegation, benefits the National Republican Congressional Committee and costs $2,500 to attend, $5,000 for a picture with Pence, and $25,000 to have dinner with him. (Tampa Bay Times / Sarasota Herald-Tribune)
5/ A federal appeals court ruled that former White House counsel Donald McGahn does not have to comply with a subpoena seeking his testimony. The House wanted McGahn to answer questions related to possible efforts by Trump to obstruct Robert Mueller’s investigation. (Politico / CNBC / New York Times)
6/ The House Judiciary committee asked to interview the four career prosecutors who quit Roger Stone’s case after Trump and Attorney General William Barr intervened to demand a lighter jail sentence. Chairman Jerry Nadler also demanded that Barr hand over any messages Trump sent about Stone’s sentencing showing “improper political interference,” calling the recent events “deeply troubling.” (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / Daily Beast)
📌 Day 1118: Three career prosecutors handling the Roger Stone case resigned after the Justice Department said in a new sentencing memo that Stone’s sentence should be “far less” than the seven to nine years that they had recommended. The memo noted that DOJ still wanted Stone to be incarcerated but declined to say for how long. Prosecutors Aaron Zelinsky, Adam Jed, and Jonathan Kravis told the judge they were withdrawing immediately as attorneys. (Washington Post / CNN / Daily Beast / NBC News)
📌 Day 1119: The fourth federal prosecutor resigned from Roger Stone’s case after the Justice Department announced that it planned to reduce its sentencing recommendation. Michael Marando’s departure means the entire prosecutorial team working on the case has resigned in protest over the DOJ’s decision. (Washington Post / NBC News / Associate Press / CNN)
7/ Trump announced that he would nominate Rep. John Ratcliffe as his permanent director of national intelligence. In 2019, Trump attempted to make the lawmaker his spy chief, but backed off after the nomination was met with resistance in Congress, where lawmakers raised questions about Ratcliffe’s credentials and whether he padded his resume. Nevertheless, Trump tweeted today that he was nominating Ratcliffe, calling him “an outstanding man of great talent!” (NBC News / CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
1/ A whistleblower alleges that the Department of Health and Human Services “improperly deployed” more than a dozen workers to coronavirus quarantine locations who were “not properly trained or equipped to operate in a public health emergency situation.” The complaint alleges that the workers, who were not trained in wearing personal protective equipment, had face-to-face contact with repatriated Americans from China and were potentially exposed to coronavirus. The repatriated Americans were quarantined on military bases in California and Texas because they were considered at high risk for contracting the flu-like illness. The workers, however, returned to their normal duties, with some taking commercial flights back to their offices throughout the country. The complaint states that “appropriate steps were not taken to quarantine, monitor, or test [the workers] during their deployment and upon their return home.” (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / New York Times)
2/ The White House instructed government health officials and scientists to seek approval from Mike Pence’s office before speaking publicly about the coronavirus outbreak. An administrative official said the move isn’t intended to muzzle government scientists and other health experts, but to make sure their efforts are being coordinated. Yesterday, Trump appointed Pence to lead the government’s coronavirus task force, which is nominally led by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. Dr. Deborah Birx, the director of the U.S. effort to combat HIV and AIDS, will serve as the Coronavirus Response Coordinator for the White House and report to Pence, but serve on the task force that Azar chairs. Additionally, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, and Trump’s top economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, will also join the coronavirus task force. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / Politico)
The three major U.S. stock indexes entered correction territory, each posting their biggest one-day point drops ever as investors worried the coronavirus may be spreading in the U.S. (Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNBC / New York Times / Washington Post)
3/ The Justice Department established an office to strip naturalized citizens of their rights. The new Denaturalization Section will review cases where individuals are believed to have illegally obtained U.S. citizenship. While denaturalizations can only occur in federal court, some Justice Department lawyers fear denaturalization lawsuits could be used against immigrants who have not committed serious crimes. Immigrant advocates called into question the standards used by the Trump administration to investigate those cases. (New York Times / CNN)
4/ The Trump administration “indefinitely postponed” a sea wall to protect New York City six weeks after Trump mocked the idea. Officials at the Army Corps of Engineers’ New York office refused to comment on whether they believed that Trump had influenced the decision, but in January Trump criticized the proposal to build a barrier to protect the region from flooding, calling it “foolish” and that “it will also look terrible.” Trump advised New Yorkers to get “mops and buckets ready.” While Trump cannot single-handedly cancel a Corps project because the funding is allocated by Congress, projects are determined by Corps officials, the Department of Defense, and the White House Office of Management and Budget. (New York Times)
5/ House Democrats are investigating why Trump told the Department of Veterans Affairs to “corner the market” on a new antidepressant drug that was promoted by a group of unofficial advisers at Mar-a-Lago. The chairmen of the House veterans affairs and oversight committees sent letters asking for emails and financial records from three advisers with no official government roles who act as an informal council and exert influence on the VA. In 2017, the Mar-a-Lago advisers – Ike Perlmutter, Bruce Moskowitz, and Marc Sherman – worked with the VA and Johnson & Johnson on a suicide-prevention awareness campaign. Trump later endorsed the antidepressant drug Spravato, pushing for the VA to “corner the market” on it despite doctors’ concerns about its safety and effectiveness. (ProPublica)
📌 Day 566: Three Mar-a-Lago members with no official government roles act as an informal council, exerting influence at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Freedom of Information Act and interviews with former administration officials show that the “Mar-a-Lago Crowd” speaks with VA officials daily regarding policy and personnel decisions. VA officials have also travelled to Mar-a-Lago at taxpayer expense to hear their views. As one former administration official said: “Everyone has to go down and kiss the ring.” (ProPublica)
poll/ 34% of Americans are confident that their votes in the presidential election will be accurately counted. 45% of American say they are concerned about foreign governments tampering with voting systems or election results. (Associated Press)
1/ Trump’s re-election campaign sued the New York Times for libel over a 2019 opinion article, accusing the newspaper of intentionally publishing a false story about a “quid pro quo” between Russian officials and Trump’s 2016 campaign. The suit alleges that the Times “has engaged in a systematic pattern of bias” against Trump by falsely reporting “as fact a conspiracy with Russia” with the “intentional purpose” of damaging Trump’s chances for reelection. Trump’s campaign argues that the op-ed conclusion “is false” and that the Times published the essay “knowing it would misinform and mislead its own readers.” To win the lawsuit, however, the Trump campaign will have to prove that the Times knew in March 2019 that the op-ed was false because of what was later confirmed in the Mueller report, which was published in April 2019. (CNBC / Reuters / Mediate / New York Times)
2/ Trump appointed Mike Pence to coordinate his administration’s response to the coronavirus, saying his administration has the situation under control and is “ready to adapt” if the disease spreads. Trump maintained that the risk to the U.S. from the deadly coronavirus “remains very low” and that “We’re very, very ready for this.” Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar added that “Our containment strategy has been working.” Trump also said the U.S. is “rapidly developing a vaccine.” The statement was immediately contradicted by Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who said a vaccine won’t be ready for more than a year. Trump also contradicted federal health officials warning that the spread of coronavirus in the U.S. was “inevitable,” saying “I don’t think it’s inevitable.” (New York Times / Politico / NBC News / NPR / CNBC / CNN / Axios / CBS News / The Guardian / Associated Press / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
3/ During the press conference, the CDC confirmed the first possible “community spread” of the coronavirus in Northern California by a patient who did not travel to a foreign country or have contact with another confirmed case. “At this point, the patient’s exposure is unknown,” a CDC statement said. “It’s possible this could be an instance of community spread of COVID-19, which would be the first time this has happened in the United States.” The CDC said the “The case was detected through the U.S. public health system and picked up by astute clinicians.” The individual is a resident of Solano County and is receiving medical care in Sacramento County. (Washington Post / New York Times / CNBC / NBC News)
4/ Trump is reportedly “furious” about the stock market’s slide after health officials warned that the coronavirus is “likely” to continue to spread and that the American public should “prepare for the expectation that this is going to be bad.” Trump has cautioned aides against forecasting the impact of the virus over fears that stocks could fall further. Meanwhile, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow suggested that investor take advantage of the market slump by “buying these dips” because “The virus story is not going to last forever.” A top official at the FDA, however, said that “For all intents and purposes, I think it’s fair to say we are on the cusp of the pandemic.” The FDA is looking for alternative sourcing and manufacturing of medical devices and key drugs given the shutdown in China. Earlier in the day, Trump accused news organizations of “doing everything possible to make the Caronavirus look as bad as possible, including panicking markets,” misspelling the name of the virus. In 2018, the White House eliminated the position on the National Security Council dedicated to coordinating pandemic responses. (Washington Post / CNBC / Bloomberg)
5/ Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called for $8.5 billion in emergency funding to combat the coronavirus – more than three times the $2.5 billion requested by the White House. Schumer’s request includes $1.5 billion for the CDC, $1 billion for vaccine development, the allocation of $3 billion for the Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund, $2 billion for reimbursements to state and local health departments, and $1 billion for the USAID’s Emergency Reserve Fund. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said a $2 billion spending bill was likely insufficient and instead suggested a package of around $4 billion. For comparison, Congress appropriated $5.4 billion for Ebola in 2015 and $7 billion for the H1N1 virus in 2009. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the Trump administration’s $2.5 billion request “meager” and “anemic.” (CBS News / Washington Post / Associated Press / The Hill)
📌 Day 1132: The Trump administration asked Congress to approve $2.5 billion in emergency spending to address the coronavirus. Half of the money is new funding, while the rest will be reallocated from other spending, including $535 million from funds to combat Ebola. More than $1 billion would go toward creating a coronavirus vaccine. Rep. Nita Lowey, the chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee, called the request “woefully insufficient to protect Americans from the deadly coronavirus outbreak,” criticizing the administration for trying to “raid” money from other public health accounts. Separately, Trump’s proposed budget for the fiscal year that begins in October would cut the CDC budget by almost 16%, and the Health and Human Services budget by almost 10%. (Washington Post / Politico / New York Times / CNN / Reuters / NBC News / CNBC)
6/ A federal appeals court ruled that the Trump administration can withhold law enforcement grant money from so-called sanctuary cities and states that don’t cooperate with U.S. immigration enforcement. Seven states and New York City sued the U.S. government after the Justice Department said in 2017 that it would withhold funds from states and municipalities that don’t provide immigration enforcement officials with access to jails or provide notice when an undocumented migrant is scheduled to be released from jail. The ruling by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals means the Trump administration can withhold millions of dollars in federal law enforcement grants. (Associated Press / Axios)
📌 Day 200: Chicago is suing the Trump administration for threatening to withhold public money from so-called sanctuary cities. In July, Jeff Sessions announced that the DOJ will only provide grants to cities that allow the Department of Homeland Security access to local jails and to provide 48 hours’ notice before releasing anyone wanted for immigration violations. Chicago claims that it already complies with the federal law and the new conditions are unconstitutional. (CNN / The Guardian / Associated Press)
📌 Day 300: A federal judge ruled that the Trump administration can’t withhold money from “sanctuary cities” for refusing to cooperate with federal authorities on immigration. Jeff Sessions and the Justice Department have argued that cities should hold foreign detainees until Immigration and Customs Enforcement can pick them up. (The Hill)
7/ Lawmakers criticized the Pentagon’s decision to divert $3.8 billion from the defense budget to pay for Trump’s border wall, saying the move circumvented Congress’ authority and “undercuts any argument about the need for resources within the Department of Defense.” The House Armed Services Committee warned Defense Secretary Mark Esper that “Congress alone has the constitutional authority to determine how the nation spends its defense dollars.” Rep. Mac Thornberry, the committee’s top Republican, said Congress could place greater restrictions on the Pentagon’s ability to move money around to meet military needs in the future. (CNN / Associated Press / New York Times)
8/ Trump said India will purchase $3 billion worth of military equipment from U.S. weapons manufacturers. India is buying 24 SeaHawk helicopters from Lockheed Martin worth $2.6 billion and plans to place another order for six Apache helicopters. Trump also said he and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi “have made tremendous progress on a comprehensive trade agreement,” which could include a free trade agreement. Trump added that he is “optimistic we can reach a deal that will be of great importance to both countries.” (Reuters)
9/ The White House hired a college senior to be one of the top officials in the Presidential Personnel Office. Jason Bacon is 23 years old and is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree at George Washington University. Bacon will be the PPO’s director of operations, where he will oversee paperwork and assist with vetting new White House personnel. (Politico)
10/ The director of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement suppressed guidance from the agency’s engineers when it overhauled a well-drilling safety rule. Scott Angelle instructed an engineer to delete language from decision memos – intended to show how rules develop through a reasoned decision-making process – that would contradict guidance from BSEE engineers. Angelle personally ordered an engineer to strip a note that agency staffers wanted “no change to the testing frequency” of critical safety equipment and that the staff “does not agree with industry” that an industry-crafted protocol for managing well pressure was sufficient in all situations. The original memos also noted that staffers had argued for “no change to the testing frequency” of blowout preventers — mechanical devices that failed on the Deepwater Horizon. (Wall Street Journal)
1/ Trump demanded that Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg recuse themselves from “all Trump, or Trump-related” cases. On Twitter, Trump accused Sotomayor of trying to “shame” other justices into “voting her way” after she issued a dissent last week that the court has been too quick to grant “emergency” relief to the federal government. Sotomayor’s dissent came following the court’s majority allowing the Trump administration to proceed with a plan to deny green cards to immigrants who are deemed likely to become a “public charge.” Trump also tweeted that Sotomayor “never criticized Justice Ginsberg when she called me a ‘faker’” – referring to Ginsberg’s July 2016 criticism that she could not imagine then-candidate Trump as president. (New York Times / Washington Post / NPR / CNN / CNBC / Politico / The Guardian)
Justice Clarence Thomas’s wife is among the network of conservative activists who’ve been compiling lists of disloyal government officials to oust. Ginni Thomas and other conservatives have worked for the past 18 months to provide the White House with memos and suggestions about who to fire and who to replace them with. Trump acknowledged the existence of the lists of government officials he plans to oust and replace with pro-Trump people, saying he wants “people who are good for the country, loyal to the country” working for him. (New York Times / Axios)
2/ Trump suggested that the coronavirus is “going to go away.” Trump attempted to downplay the risk, saying the virus is “very well under control in our country […] We think they’ll be in very good shape very, very soon.” Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, added that “we have contained this” and that “people should be as calm as possible.” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, meanwhile, called Trump “asleep at the wheel” as the virus has spread to Europe and the Middle East. Among White House policy aides, there’s concern that the spread of the coronavirus will slow down both the U.S. and Chinese economies as it hits multiple industries, including manufacturers, airlines, automakers, and tech companies. (Bloomberg / CNN / Politics / CNBC)
Coronavirus has killed roughly 2% of the people who have contracted it so far. For comparison, the mortality rate for the seasonal flu in the U.S. is 0.095%, according to CDC estimates for the 2019-2020 season. Acting homeland security secretary Chad Wolf, however, claimed during a Senate subcommittee budget hearing that the mortality rate for the seasonal flu in the U.S. was about 2%. The 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic, which caused about 50 million deaths worldwide, had a morality rate 2.5%. Meanwhile, Rush Limbaugh, the conservative radio host and recent Trump Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, claimed that the coronavirus outbreak is a “bioweapon” created by China in a laboratory that is being “weaponized” by the media to bring down Trump, asserting that it’s nothing more than a “common cold.” [Editor’s note: Rush Limbaugh is a bum.] (Washington Post / CNBC / HuffPost / The Guardian)
3/ The CDC warned that the spread of the coronavirus in the U.S. appears “inevitable,” saying Americans should “prepare for the expectation that this might be bad.” While public health officials have no idea how severe the spread of the disease in the U.S. would be, they told reporters that “It’s not a question of if this will happen, but when this will happen, and how many people in this country will have severe illnesses.” Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told a Senate committee that “This is an unprecedented, potentially severe health challenge globally.” The World Health Organization, meanwhile, warned that the world is not ready for a major outbreak. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Bloomberg)
4/ The Trump administration asked Congress to approve $2.5 billion in emergency spending to address the coronavirus. Half of the money is new funding, while the rest will be reallocated from other spending, including $535 million from funds to combat Ebola. More than $1 billion would go toward creating a coronavirus vaccine. Rep. Nita Lowey, the chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee, called the request “woefully insufficient to protect Americans from the deadly coronavirus outbreak,” criticizing the administration for trying to “raid” money from other public health accounts. Separately, Trump’s proposed budget for the fiscal year that begins in October would cut the CDC budget by almost 16%, and the Health and Human Services budget by almost 10%. (Washington Post / Politico / New York Times / CNN / Reuters / NBC News / CNBC)
5/ The stock market plunged for a second day in a row on concerns that the coronavirus will upend global economic growth. The declines put the Dow and S&P 500 more than 7% below their record highs from earlier this month, while the Nasdaq is trading 8.2% below its all-time high from mid-February. The 10-year Treasury yield also hit a record low. (CNBC / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
Trump blamed the stock market drop on Bernie Sanders – not the coronavirus outbreak – saying investors are worried that Sanders and other candidates have “a real chance” of winning the presidency. Trump also claimed that the stock market would crash if he loses the 2020 election, saying “if I don’t win you’re going to see a crash like you’ve never seen before.” (Bloomberg / Reuters)
6/ Trump confirmed that he wants “no help from any country” with his re-election bid. Trump, however, declined to say whether he believes Russia is interfering in the 2020 election and issued no warning for Putin not to. Trump instead accused House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff of leaking information that Russia is interfering in the 2020 election to help Trump. (NBC News)
📺 TONIGHT: Democratic Debate #10. The debate starts at 8 p.m. ET. live on CBS, and will also stream on CBSN via Roku, Apple TV, and Amazon Fire TV.
1/ Trump’s national security advisor disputed reports of Russian interference in the 2020 election, saying there’s “no intelligence behind” such claims. Robert O’Brien suggested that the House Intelligence Committee either misheard or misinterpreted part of last week’s briefing, and that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence did not mean to say that it believes the Russians are currently intervening in the election to help Trump. The U.S. intelligence community also clarified that Russia is interfering in the 2020 election and has separately assessed that Russia views Trump as a preferred leader. The intelligence community, however, says it does not have evidence that Russia’s interference is aimed at reelecting Trump. (CBS News / New York Times / CNN)
📌 Day 1127: An intelligence official in charge of election security warned the House Intelligence Committee last week that Russia was interfering in the 2020 campaign to try to get Trump re-elected. Trump’s allies challenged the conclusions by Shelby Pierson during the meeting, arguing that Trump has been tough on Russia and strengthened European security. Trump reportedly “erupted” and “berated” his acting director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire, in the Oval Office following the meeting over what he perceived as disloyalty. Trump also erroneously believed that Pierson had given information exclusively to Rep. Adam Schiff, complaining that Democrats would “weaponize” the disclosure. Yesterday, Trump announced that he was replacing Maguire with Richard Grenell, the ambassador to Germany and a vocal Trump supporter. (Washington Post / New York Times)
📌 Day 1128: Trump dismissed the intelligence community’s assessment that Russia was meddling in the 2020 presidential election, calling it “Hoax number 7!” Trump labeled the intelligence that Russia had “developed a preference” for Trump in 2020 “another misinformation campaign” by Democrats. Shelby Pierson, the intelligence community’s election threats expert, briefed the House Intelligence Committee last week that Russia was determined to interfere in the 2020 primaries and general election. Following the briefing, Trump blamed Joseph Maguire, the acting director of national intelligence, for allowing the information about Russia’s meddling efforts to be included and for not informing him in advance. Trump then announced that he was replacing Maguire with Richard Grenell, the U.S. ambassador to Germany and a Trump supporter. (Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg / CNN)
📌 Day 1128: U.S. intelligence officials briefed Sen. Bernie Sanders about a month ago that Russia was attempting to help his presidential campaign. Trump and lawmakers were also informed about the assistance. It’s not clear what form the Russian assistance has taken, but federal prosecutor previously found that Russia used social media to help Sanders in the 2016 election. “I don’t care, frankly, who Putin wants to be president,” Sanders said in a statement. (Washington Post / New York Times)
2/ Trump accused Adam Schiff — without evidence — of leaking classified information about Russian election interference to the media. “Somebody please tell incompetent (thanks for my high poll numbers) & corrupt politician Adam ‘Shifty’ Schiff to stop leaking Classified information or, even worse, made up information, to the Fake News Media,” Trump tweeted. “Someday he will be caught, & that will be a very unpleasant experience!” Trump was referring to the meeting between an intelligence official in charge of election security and members of the House Intelligence Committee, during which Shelby Pierson told members that Russia has “developed a preference” for Trump and is trying to make sure he is reelected. (Washington Post)
3/ Trump told aides he wants fewer people working in the White House and only loyalists working in certain administration positions. Aides say Trump is convinced that his administration is filled with “snakes” and that he’s on the hunt for the “bad people” inside the White House and government who he’s been “warned about.” This follows reports that Trump’s allies have compiled a list over the last 18 months of government employees they’ve identified as disloyal. Meanwhile, John McEntee, Trump’s former body man who was recently took over the Office of Presidential Personnel and reports directly to Trump, has ordered a freeze on all political appointments across the government. He’s also instructed departments to search for people not loyal to Trump’s agenda so they can be removed. (CNN / New York Times / Axios)
📌 Day 1128: Trump’s new personnel chief told agency officials to identify political appointees across the government who are believed to be anti-Trump. Trump tasked John McEntee with purging the “bad people” and “Deep State,” starting with personnel at the State Department and Department of Defense. McEntee, Trump’s former body man, was fired in 2018 by then-Chief of Staff John Kelly. (Axios / CNN)
4/ Trump’s new acting intelligence director used to work for an Eastern European oligarch who the U.S. accused of corruption. Richard Grenell’s public relations firm was paid to write articles in 2016 defending the Moldovan politician Vladimir Plahotniuc. Grenell did not register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act – the same law that Paul Manafort and Rick Gates were convicted of violating – and never disclosed that he was being paid to write the articles. In January, Plahotniuc was banned from entering the U.S., citing his alleged “corrupt actions” which “undermined the rule of law and severely compromised the independence of democratic institutions in Moldova.” (ProPublica / Washington Post)
5/ Trump called John Bolton a “traitor” and wants to block his book from being published before the November election. Trump has directly weighed in on the White House review of the book, “The Room Where It Happened,” by his former national security adviser, telling aides that everything he said to Bolton about national security is classified. The book was originally slated for publication in March but it has been held up after the National Security Council said the draft manuscript “appears to contain significant amounts of classified information,” some of it top secret. (Washington Post / The Guardian)
Trump’s second national security adviser will publish “Battlegrounds: The Fight to Defend the Free World”, on 28 April. Harper Collins said McMaster’s book would offer a “groundbreaking reassessment of America’s place in the world,” and that the general would write about “his 13 months as national security adviser in the Trump White House”. (The Guardian / Military Times)
6/ Trump joined Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India for a campaign-style rally at a 110,000-seat cricket stadium. “America loves India. America respects India,” Trump said. “And America will always be faithful and loyal friends to the Indian people.” Trump announced that India would buy $3 billion worth of U.S. weapons and military equipment. Trump, however, did not mention that Modi and his Hindu nationalist government revoked the statehood of Kashmir – India’s only Muslim-majority state – or Modi’s fundamental change to India’s citizenship law, which includes religion as a criterion for nationality. (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / Associated Press / NPR)
Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney didn’t travel with Trump to India because he has a cold. Mulvaney also didn’t travel with Trump last week, which aides took as a potential sign he won’t remain in the job for much longer. (CNN)
7/ The Trump administration is privately worried that a coronavirus outbreak in the U.S. could hurt Trump’s 2020 reelection bid by straining the government’s public health response and threatening an economic slowdown. Trump, a self-declared “germophobe,” has publicly downplayed the virus, but privately he rebuked officials at the State Department and Health and Human Services over their decision to fly 14 Americans home who tested positive for the virus and had been quarantined on the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan. (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times)
U.S. stocks fell sharply as the number of coronavirus outbreaks spread to Europe, the Middle East, and elsewhere in Asia. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gave up its gain for 2020, dropping 1,030 points – its biggest point and percentage-point drop since February 2018. The S&P 500 also had its worst day in two years and wiped out its year-to-date gain. (CNBC / Wall Street Journal / New York Times)
The World Health Organization said it isn’t yet clear whether the coronavirus can be stopped from spreading further. (Wall Street Journal)
poll/ 57% of Americans believe Roger Stone should not be pardoned, while 21% say he should be, and 22% say they are unsure. 45% of Republicans support a presidential pardon for Stone. 76% of Democrats say Trump should not pardon Stone. (Axios / YouGov)
1/ Trump dismissed the intelligence community’s assessment that Russia was meddling in the 2020 presidential election, calling it “Hoax number 7!” Trump labeled the intelligence that Russia had “developed a preference” for Trump in 2020 “another misinformation campaign” by Democrats. Shelby Pierson, the intelligence community’s election threats expert, briefed the House Intelligence Committee last week that Russia was determined to interfere in the 2020 primaries and general election. Following the briefing, Trump blamed Joseph Maguire, the acting director of national intelligence, for allowing the information about Russia’s meddling efforts to be included and for not informing him in advance. Trump then announced that he was replacing Maguire with Richard Grenell, the U.S. ambassador to Germany and a Trump supporter. (Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg / CNN)
📌 Day 1127: An intelligence official in charge of election security warned the House Intelligence Committee last week that Russia was interfering in the 2020 campaign to try to get Trump re-elected. Trump’s allies challenged the conclusions by Shelby Pierson during the meeting, arguing that Trump has been tough on Russia and strengthened European security. Trump reportedly “erupted” and “berated” his acting director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire, in the Oval Office following the meeting over what he perceived as disloyalty. Trump also erroneously believed that Pierson had given information exclusively to Rep. Adam Schiff, complaining that Democrats would “weaponize” the disclosure. Yesterday, Trump announced that he was replacing Maguire with Richard Grenell, the ambassador to Germany and a vocal Trump supporter. (Washington Post / New York Times)
A former National Security Council official who helped discredit the Russia probe, is now a senior adviser for the new acting Director of National Intelligence. Kash Patel previously worked as Rep. Devin Nunes’s top staffer on the House Intelligence Committee. He will advise Richard Grenell. (Politico)
2/ U.S. intelligence officials briefed Sen. Bernie Sanders about a month ago that Russia was attempting to help his presidential campaign. Trump and lawmakers were also informed about the assistance. It’s not clear what form the Russian assistance has taken, but federal prosecutor previously found that Russia used social media to help Sanders in the 2016 election. “I don’t care, frankly, who Putin wants to be president,” Sanders said in a statement. (Washington Post / New York Times)
3/ Trump’s new personnel chief told agency officials to identify political appointees across the government who are believed to be anti-Trump. Trump tasked John McEntee with purging the “bad people” and “Deep State,” starting with personnel at the State Department and Department of Defense. McEntee, Trump’s former body man, was fired in 2018 by then-Chief of Staff John Kelly. (Axios / CNN)
4/ Trump – in an all-caps tweet – promised more bailout funding for U.S. farmers if purchases from trade deals with China, Canada and Mexico “kick in.” The Trump administration allocated $16 billion in 2019 and $12 billion in 2018 to help farmers make up for losses due to Trump’s trade war with China. Under the trade deal signed last month, China agreed to import about $40 billion in U.S. agricultural goods in 2020, but a slowing Chinese economy due to coronavirus could make it difficult for China to hit their import goals. Trump tweeted that the bailout funding would be “PAID FOR OUT OF THE MASSIVE TARIFF MONEY COMING INTO THE USA!” (Bloomberg / Washington Post / Politico / Wall Street Journal)
5/ Trump criticized the Academy Awards for naming Parasite this year’s Best Picture, because it’s a South Korean movie. “We got enough problems with South Korea with trade,” Trump said at a reelection rally. “On top of it, they give them the best movie of the year? Was it good? I don’t know.” Parasite was the first non-English film to win the top prize at the Oscars in the award show’s 92-year history. It also won the Oscars for Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best International Feature Film. (BuzzFeed News / Washington Post)
1/ An intelligence official in charge of election security warned the House Intelligence Committee last week that Russia was interfering in the 2020 campaign to try to get Trump re-elected. Trump’s allies challenged the conclusions by Shelby Pierson during the meeting, arguing that Trump has been tough on Russia and strengthened European security. Trump reportedly “erupted” and “berated” his acting director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire, in the Oval Office following the meeting over what he perceived as disloyalty. Trump also erroneously believed that Pierson had given information exclusively to Rep. Adam Schiff, complaining that Democrats would “weaponize” the disclosure. Yesterday, Trump announced that he was replacing Maguire with Richard Grenell, the ambassador to Germany and a vocal Trump supporter. (Washington Post / New York Times)
Trump named Richard Grenell acting director of national intelligence. Grenell, the current ambassador to Germany, has little experience with the intelligence community or running a large bureaucracy, but will now oversee 17 U.S. intelligence agencies. Grenell has also been a Trump confidant and adviser on issues beyond his work in Berlin, and will remain ambassador to Germany while he serves as acting DNI. (New York Times / Washington Post / Axios)
2/ Trump’s reelection campaign and the Republican National Committee will spend more than $10 million to challenge Democratic voting-related lawsuits. The Democratic super PAC, Priorities USA, has filed multiple lawsuits against states they believe are unconstitutionally suppressing participation in elections. The super PAC is challenging state laws that restrict organizers from helping voters submit absentee ballots and make it a misdemeanor to organize vehicles to transport voters to their polling places unless the voters are “physically unable to walk.” RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said the Republican Party will “aggressively defend” its stake in the November elections, accusing Democrats of “trying to rig the game with frivolous lawsuits that do nothing but create electoral chaos, waste taxpayer money, and distract election officials in an attempt to advance the Democrats’ voter suppression myth because they know they can’t beat President Trump at the ballot box.” (Politico / New York Times)
3/ Roger Stone was sentenced to three years and four months in prison for obstructing a congressional investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Stone was convicted in November on seven counts of lying to congressional investigators and tampering with a witness about his efforts to obtain damaging emails related to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign that were stolen by Russian agents. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said Stone had shown “flagrant disrespect” for Congress and the court and that Stone “was not prosecuted for standing up for the president; he was prosecuted for covering up for the president.” (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / NBC News / ABC News / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / Associated Press / CNBC)
4/ Trump said he wouldn’t immediately pardon Stone but would intervene if courts don’t overturn his conviction. Trump said Stone has “a very good chance of exoneration,” because “I personally think he was treated very unfairly.” Trump also accused the forewoman of the jury of being an “anti-Trump activist,” claiming that the trial was “tainted.” One former senior administration said: “It’s not a question of if, it’s when.” Earlier in the day Trump tweeted a clip from Tucker Carlson’s show suggesting that Trump “could end this travesty in an instant with a pardon and there are indications tonight that he will do that.” (Bloomberg / NBC News / Washington Post / Politico / The Guardian)
Trump is assembling a team of advisers to help manage the clemency process as he considers more pardons. The White House is moving to take more direct control over pardons by limiting the Justice Department’s role in the clemency process. Meanwhile, Trump is said to be weighing a flurry of additional pardon announcements. (Washington Post)
5/ Dana Rohrabacher confirmed that he told Julian Assange he would get Trump to pardon him if he turned over information proving that Russia didn’t hack the Democratic National Committee emails. Rohrabacher said his goal was to find proof for the debunked conspiracy theory that WikiLeaks’ source for the emails was former DNC staffer Seth Rich. U.S. intelligence agencies and Robert Mueller’s prosecutors, however, concluded that Russian intelligence agents had hacked the Democratic Party and stolen the emails. Rohrabacher claimed he only wanted “truthful” information from Assange and never suggested that he “lie.” (Yahoo News)
📌 Day 1126: Trump offered to pardon Julian Assange if the WikiLeaks founder agreed to say Russia was not involved in hacking emails from the Democratic National Committee. Assange’s lawyer, Edward Fitzgerald, claimed at a court hearing in London that former Republican congressman Dana Rohrabacher offered Assange the deal in 2017. Fitzgerald said he had a statement from another Assange lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, that shows “Mr. Rohrabacher going to see Mr. Assange and saying, on instructions from the president, he was offering a pardon or some other way out, if Mr. Assange … said Russia had nothing to do with the DNC leaks.” White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham denied the allegation, saying Trump “barely knows Dana Rohrabacher” and has “never spoken to him on this subject or almost any subject.” In Sept. 2017, Rohrabacher said that as part of the deal, Assange would have to hand over a computer drive or other data storage devices that would prove that Russia was not the source of the hacked emails. The White House confirmed that Rohrabacher had called John Kelly, then Trump’s chief of staff, to talk about a possible deal with Assange. Kelly reportedly declined to pass it along to Trump. (The Guardian / Daily Beast / Washington Post / Washington Post / The Verge / CNBC)
6/ Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said the Trump administration is “desperate” and “needs more immigrants” to come in a “legal fashion” for the U.S. economy to continue growing. “We are desperate — desperate — for more people,” Mulvaney told a private group in England. “We are running out of people to fuel the economic growth that we’ve had in our nation over the last four years. We need more immigrants.” Since Trump took office, the State Department has issued 17% fewer immigration visas. (Washington Post)
poll/ 49% of Americans approve of the job Trump is doing as president – up five percentage points since January. 45% of Americans are satisfied with the state of the nation – the highest since 2005. (Gallup)
poll/ 64% of small business owners approve of the way Trump is handling his job as president. [Editor’s note: Now’s a good time to remind the WTFam that this is my full-time job and it’s 100% sustained by your optional contributions. If you find my work valuable, consider supporting me by becoming a member.] (CNBC)
1/ Trump offered to pardon Julian Assange if the WikiLeaks founder agreed to say Russia was not involved in hacking emails from the Democratic National Committee. Assange’s lawyer, Edward Fitzgerald, claimed at a court hearing in London that former Republican congressman Dana Rohrabacher offered Assange the deal in 2017. Fitzgerald said he had a statement from another Assange lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, that shows “Mr. Rohrabacher going to see Mr. Assange and saying, on instructions from the president, he was offering a pardon or some other way out, if Mr. Assange … said Russia had nothing to do with the DNC leaks.” White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham denied the allegation, saying Trump “barely knows Dana Rohrabacher” and has “never spoken to him on this subject or almost any subject.” In Sept. 2017, Rohrabacher said that as part of the deal, Assange would have to hand over a computer drive or other data storage devices that would prove that Russia was not the source of the hacked emails. The White House confirmed that Rohrabacher had called John Kelly, then Trump’s chief of staff, to talk about a possible deal with Assange. Kelly reportedly declined to pass it along to Trump. (The Guardian / Daily Beast / Washington Post / Washington Post / The Verge / CNBC)
📌 Day 554: Accused Russian spy Maria Butina had dinner last year with Dana Rohrabacher, a California Republican congressman on the House Foreign Relations Committee. Two years earlier, Butina arranged a meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia, that included Rohrabacher and her mentor Alexander Torshin, who is one of Putin’s closest allies. Rohrabacher also met Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya during an official trip he made to Moscow in April 2016. Later that summer, Rohrabacher traveled to London to meet with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. WikiLeaks released Hillary Clinton’s hacked emails on July 22, 2016. (ABC News)
2/ Trump retweeted the claim that he was “the victim of a seditious conspiracy out of the” Justice Department and the FBI. Trump, ignoring Barr’s appeal for him to stop tweeting about the Justice Department, demanded “JUSTICE” for himself and future presidents. In a series of tweets, Trump promoted the idea by the president of a right-wing advocacy group that “Barr should clean house” at the Justice Department and that Trump can “appoint a special counsel directly” to investigate the purported conspiracy against him. (New York Times / CNBC)
3/ Attorney General Bill Barr told multiple people that he is considering quitting if Trump doesn’t stop tweeting about the Justice Department. Barr has reportedly been sharing his concerns with people close to Trump in the hopes that the message will get back to Trump to stop publicly musing about the DOJ’s ongoing investigations. Last week, Barr said Trump’s tweets “make it impossible for me to do my job.” (Washington Post / NBC News / Reuters / Associate Press / CNBC)
4/ Senate Republicans are urging Trump to keep Barr in the job, warning any move to fire or force Barr out would be a mistake and that the Senate would be unlikely to confirm a successor “any time soon.” (Politico)
📌 Day 1125: Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham, and Kevin McCarthy issued a statement in support of Barr, saying “Suggestions from outside groups that the Attorney General has fallen short of the responsibilities of his office are unfounded. The Attorney General has shown that he is committed without qualification to securing equal justice under law for all Americans.” Separately, Trump said he had total confidence in Barr. (Axios / Reuters)
5/ Trump asked a top Defense Department official who advised against cutting off U.S. military aid to Ukraine to resign. John Rood, the Pentagon’s Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, was involved in certifying that Ukraine should receive the $250 million in security assistance at the center of Trump’s impeachment inquiry. Rood reportedly warned Defense Secretary Mark Esper against withholding the aid to Ukraine in an e-mail on July 25, hours after Trump’s now-infamous call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. In a letter to Trump, Rood writes that he’ll step down Feb. 28 “as you requested.” (CNN / Bloomberg / New York Times / ABC News)
📺 Democratic presidential debate. Six presidential candidates will face off tonight at 9 p.m. ET from the Paris Theater in Las Vegas. The debate will air live on NBC News and MSNBC. [Editor’s note: Hold on to your butts.]
1/ More than 2,000 former federal prosecutors and Justice Department officials called on Attorney General William Barr to resign, claiming that his handling of Roger Stone’s case “openly and repeatedly flouted” the principle of equal justice when he intervened in Stone’s sentencing recommendation. A national association of federal judges also called an emergency meeting to address the intervention in politically sensitive cases by Trump and Barr after more than 1,100 life-term federal judges said the issue “could not wait.” (USA Today / Washington Post / New York Times / Axios)
Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham, and Kevin McCarthy issued a statement in support of Barr, saying “Suggestions from outside groups that the Attorney General has fallen short of the responsibilities of his office are unfounded. The Attorney General has shown that he is committed without qualification to securing equal justice under law for all Americans.” Separately, Trump said he had total confidence in Barr. (Axios / Reuters)
😳 Fearful of Trump’s Attacks, Justice Dept. Lawyers Worry Barr Will Leave Them Exposed. (New York Times)
😳 Attorney general’s actions spark outrage and unease among US prosecutors. (CNN)
2/ Trump threatened to file retaliatory lawsuits “all over the place” for damages he claims to have incurred as a result of Robert Mueller’s investigation. In a series of tweets, Trump criticized the 22-month-long probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election, saying “Everything having to do with this fraudulent investigation is badly tainted and, in my opinion, should be thrown out.” Trump also accused Mueller of lying to Congress while invoking U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who is scheduled to sentence Roger Stone on Thursday. (Politico)
📌Day 1119: Trump defended Roger Stone in a series of tweets while attacking the federal judge and prosecutors involved in the case. Trump also “congratulated” Attorney General William Barr for “taking charge of the case” – confirming that Barr intervened in Stone’s sentencing recommendation. Trump claimed that Stone was treated “very badly” and suggested that prosecutors “ought to apologize to him.” Trump also implied that U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who is presiding over the case, was biased because of her role in the sentencing of Paul Manafort and dismissal of a lawsuit against Hillary Clinton. Stone is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 20. When asked if he would pardon Stone, Trump replied: “I don’t want to say that yet, but I tell you what, people were hurt viciously and badly by these corrupt people.” (Washington Post / New York Times)
📌 Day 1120: Attorney General Bill Barr said Trump’s “constant background commentary” about the Justice Department “make it impossible for me to do my job” and that “I’m not going to be bullied or influenced by anybody.” Barr’s comments came in response to Trump congratulating Barr for “taking charge” and personally intervening to overruling career prosecutors’ sentencing recommendation for Roger Stone. Barr added, that “I think it’s time to stop the tweeting about Department of Justice criminal cases.” (ABC News / New York Times / Axios / NPR)
📌 Day 1121: Trump declared that he has the “legal right” to ask Attorney General William Barr to intervene in federal criminal cases a day after Barr publicly asked Trump to stop tweeting about the Justice Department, because it “make[s] it impossible for me to do my job.” Trump tweeted Barr’s quote that Trump had never asked him to do anything related to a criminal case and said that “This doesn’t mean that I do not have, as President, the legal right to do so, I do, but I have so far chosen not to!” (New York Times / Washington Post / The Guardian / NBC News / USA Today)
😳 ‘Something has to be done’: Trump’s quest to rewrite history of the Russia probe. (Washington Post)
3/ The federal judge overseeing Roger Stone’s criminal trial refused delay his sentencing despite Trump’s tweet that Stone’s conviction “should be thrown out.” Stone’s defense team also requested a new trial and lobbied to delay the sentencing. Prosecutors originally recommended a seven to nine year sentence in federal prison, but Attorney General William Barr reversed that decision and recommended a reduced sentence, which prompted the entire prosecution team to resign from the case in protest. Judge Amy Berman Jackson also ordered both sides to participate in a hearing after the prosecutors in charge of the case resigned. Trump later told reporters that he thought Stone had been “treated unfairly” but that he had not given any thought to issuing him a pardon. Asked if Stone deserves any prison time, Trump replied: “You’re going to see what happens. You’ll see what happens.” (Associated Press / Washington Post / NBC News / New York Times / CNBC / Politico / The Guardian)
4/ Federal prosecutors are considering additional charges against Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas. The U.S. attorney’s office in the Southern District of New York — which Giuliani led in the 1980s — is considering new charges against Parnas and at least one of his business partners for misleading of investors in their company, Fraud Guarantee. Giuliani was paid $500,000 by Fraud Guarantee in 2018 to advise the company – around the same time that Parnas and Igor Fruman began helping arrange meetings in Ukraine to dig up dirt on Biden. (CNN / Washington Post)
5/ Trump’s top trade adviser has been conducting his own investigation to uncover the identity of the person known as “Anonymous” – the senior Trump administration official who declared that there was a “resistance” within the administration in 2018 and recently published the bestselling book titled A Warning. Peter Navarro has reportedly been compiling a “profile” of the language and phrases used in Anonymous’ book in order to cross-reference them with a list of potential suspects. Separately, Trump administration officials have discussed reassigning deputy national security adviser Victoria Coates from the National Security Council to the Department of Energy after officials in the White House suggested to reporters in recent weeks that Coates was Anonymous. (Daily Beast / Axios / Politico)
📌 Day 595: The White House is in a state of “total meltdown” with Trump “absolutely livid” and reacting to the anonymous op-ed with “volcanic” anger. The op-ed by “a senior official in the Trump administration” who claims to be part of a “resistance” protecting the U.S. from its president, has set off finger-pointing within the West Wing at the highest levels of the administration. Aides and outside allies say “the sleeper cells have awoken” and that “it’s like the horror movies when everyone realizes the call is coming from inside the house.” (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / Talking Points Memo)
📌 Day 1022: A forthcoming book by an anonymous senior Trump administration claims that high-level White House aides were certain that Mike Pence would support using the 25th Amendment to have Trump removed from office. The author of “A Warning” – the same official behind the 2018 op-ed that declared there was a “resistance” within the administration – claimed that White House officials put together a list of Cabinet secretaries who were open to the idea of removing Trump because of mental incapacity and that “there was no doubt in the minds of these senior officials that Pence would support invoking the 25th Amendment if the majority of the Cabinet signed off on it.” Pence, meanwhile, said he never heard about any discussion of using the 25th amendment in the White House. (HuffPost / Politico)
Former national security adviser John Bolton suggested that his forthcoming book contains revelations about Trump’s misconduct that go beyond his pressure campaign in Ukraine. Bolton claimed that the Ukraine revelations were “like the sprinkles on the ice cream sundae in terms of what’s in the book.” He also said the White House was trying to use its powers of classification to prevent the book, The Room Where It Happened, from coming out. “I say things in the manuscript about what he (Trump) said to me,” Bolton added. “I hope they become public someday.” (CNN / New York Times)
The White House memo justifying the assassination of Iranian Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani doesn’t mention an imminent threat, despite it being the Trump administration’s primary rationale for the attack. Instead, the two-page memo justifies the drone strike based on previous attacks and the need to deter Iran from carrying out attacks in the future. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Eliot Engel said the memo “directly contradicts the president’s false assertion that he attacked Iran to prevent an imminent attack against United States personnel and embassies.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Haaretz / CNN / CNBC / Slate)
The Department of Homeland Security waived 10 federal contracting laws to speed up construction of Trump’s border wall, including requirements regarding open competition, justifying selections, and receiving all bonding from a contractor before any work can begin. DHS said waiving the laws would speed up the construction of 177 miles of border wall at sites in California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. (Associated Press)
Native American burial sites have been destroyed by construction crews building the U.S.-Mexico border wall. “Controlled blasting” has taken place at Arizona’s Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, a Unesco-recognized natural reserve, without first consulting the Tohono O’odham Nation. (BBC)
The top intelligence office lawyer who initially blocked the whistleblower complaint about Trump and Ukraine from reaching Congress is resigning. Jason Klitenic, the general counsel for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, will depart early next month. (Politico)
Trump attended Stephen Miller’s wedding, which took place at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. (Politico)
Trump’s campaign manager shared a photo of Air Force One at the Daytona 500 from 2004 and claimed that it was from Trump’s visit on Sunday. Brad Parscale deleted the photo from George W. Bush’s visit to the NASCAR race after users pointed out that the photo was from 2004. (CNN)
Trump pardoned or commuted the sentences of 11 people, including Rod Blagojevich, Bernard Kerik, Michael Milken, and former San Francisco 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo Jr. Blagojevich was convicted of trying to essentially sell Obama’s vacated Senate seat for personal gain. Kerik, the former New York City police commissioner, was convicted of tax fraud and lying to the government. Milken, an investment banker, was known in the 1980s as the “junk bond king” and the face of the insider trading scandals of the 1980s. (New York Times / CNBC / Politico / CNN)
1/ Trump declared that he has the “legal right” to ask Attorney General William Barr to intervene in federal criminal cases a day after Barr publicly asked Trump to stop tweeting about the Justice Department, because it “make[s] it impossible for me to do my job.” Trump tweeted Barr’s quote that Trump had never asked him to do anything related to a criminal case and said that “This doesn’t mean that I do not have, as President, the legal right to do so, I do, but I have so far chosen not to!” (New York Times / Washington Post / The Guardian / NBC News / USA Today)
2/ Barr assigned an outside prosecutor to review the criminal case against Michael Flynn – days after Barr’s Justice Department undercut Roger Stone’s recommended sentence by career prosecutors. Flynn, who served as Trump’s first national security adviser and resigned a month into the new administration, is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty in 2017 to lying to the FBI about a conversation he had with the then-ambassador to Russia, but recently asked to withdraw that plea, further delaying his sentencing. In October, Trump tweeted that Flynn had been the target of a “setup.” (New York Times / NBC News / ABC News / CNN / Axios)
The Army will not investigate Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman. The announcement comes after Trump said the military would “take a look at” whether Vindman should face disciplinary action for the “horrible things” he told House investigators about the phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last July. (Politico)
The Justice Department will not charge former acting FBI director Andrew McCabe with lying to investigators. The DOJ’s letter to McCabe’s attorney ends a months-long inquiry stemming from inaccurate statements McCabe made to FBI investigators about his actions around the time of the 2016 election. The White House was not given advance notice about the decision, which upset Trump. A White House official said Trump “believes very strongly that action should be taken.” (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / Fox News)
3/ Trump admitted that he ordered Rudy Giuliani to go to Ukraine to dig up damaging information about his political opponents after denying it during the impeachment inquiry. When asked during an interview with Geraldo Rivera if he was sorry that he sent Giuliani to Ukraine, Trump replied: “No, not at all. Here’s my choice: I deal with the Comeys of the world, or I deal with Rudy.” Trump went on to defend his decision by claiming that Giuliani is a “crime fighter” and that “other presidents had [lawyers].” (CNN / New York Magazine / Business Insider)
4/ U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson canceled a planned trip to the U.S. after Trump slammed down the phone on the prime minister. Relations broke down in recent weeks following a series of disagreements between the two over Iran, Huawei, and a rejected request by the prime minister to extradite the wife of a U.S. diplomat. Trump’s behavior during the call was described by officials as “apoplectic.” (The Sun / Business Insider)
5/ Trump will be the guest of honor at a reelection fundraiser that costs $580,600 per couple to attend. The fundraiser, taking place miles from Mar-a-Lago, will be the most expensive since Trump took office. Trump has attended at least 48 gatherings with elite Republican donors since October 2017. (Washington Post)
6/ The Trump administration is deploying specially trained tactical units from the southern border to “sanctuary cities” to help carry out an immigrant arrest operation this weekend alongside Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. The officers are being sent to cities including Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Houston, Boston, New Orleans, Detroit, and Newark, N.J. The deployment of the teams will run from February through May, according to an email sent to Customs and Border Protection personnel. (New York Times / Axios)
1/ Attorney General Bill Barr said Trump’s “constant background commentary” about the Justice Department “make it impossible for me to do my job” and that “I’m not going to be bullied or influenced by anybody.” Barr’s comments came in response to Trump congratulating Barr for “taking charge” and personally intervening to overruling career prosecutors’ sentencing recommendation for Roger Stone. Barr added, that “I think it’s time to stop the tweeting about Department of Justice criminal cases.” (ABC News / New York Times / Axios / NPR)
📌 Day 1119: Trump defended Roger Stone in a series of tweets while attacking the federal judge and prosecutors involved in the case. Trump also “congratulated” Attorney General William Barr for “taking charge of the case” – confirming that Barr intervened in Stone’s sentencing recommendation. Trump claimed that Stone was treated “very badly” and suggested that prosecutors “ought to apologize to him.” Trump also implied that U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who is presiding over the case, was biased because of her role in the sentencing of Paul Manafort and dismissal of a lawsuit against Hillary Clinton. Stone is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 20. When asked if he would pardon Stone, Trump replied: “I don’t want to say that yet, but I tell you what, people were hurt viciously and badly by these corrupt people.” (Washington Post / New York Times)
2/ The former U.S. attorney in charge of the Roger Stone prosecution resigned – two days after Trump abruptly withdrew her nomination for a top job at the agency. Jessie Liu, who previously headed the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, oversaw several cases that originated with Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, including prosecutions of Stone and Michael Flynn. (NBC News / CNN)
📌 Day 1119: Trump withdrew Jessie Liu’s nomination to become the Treasury Department’s terrorism and financial crimes undersecretary because of her office’s handling of the Roger Stone and Michael Flynn cases. While head of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, Liu supervised the court proceedings for Trump aides and Mueller defendants, including Rick Gates, Flynn, and Stone. Liu served in the role from September 2017 until Jan. 31, and coinciding with her departure, the U.S. attorney’s office changed its sentencing stances in both Flynn and Stone’s cases. Trump pulled Liu’s nomination two days before her scheduled confirmation hearing. (Axios / Washington Post / NBC News / CNN)
3/ Former White House chief of staff John Kelly called Trump’s request for Ukraine to investigate his political rivals “tantamount to an illegal order,” saying Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman was right to report Trump’s July 25 call with Volodymyr Zelensky. “He did exactly what we teach them to do from cradle to grave,” Kelly said. “He went and told his boss what he just heard.” Kelly said Trump’s decision – to make aid to Ukraine contingent upon Zelensky announcing investigations into his political rivals – “essentially changed” U.S. policy toward Ukraine. Trump, meanwhile, responded by tweeting that Kelly “came in with a bang, went out with a whimper, but like so many X’s, he misses the action & just can’t keep his mouth shut, which he actually has a military and legal obligation to do.” (The Atlantic / Washington Post / New York Times / The Guardian / CNN)
4/ The Senate voted to limit Trump’s ability to order future strikes against Iran without first seeking Congress’s explicit permission. Eight Republicans joined all Democrats in voting 55 to 45 for the measure – short of the two-thirds supermajority needed to override Trump’s promised veto. The war powers resolution would block Trump from engaging in hostilities without consulting Congress except in cases where self-defense is required against a clear, imminent attack. Prior to the vote, Trump warned the Senate not to vote for the measure, tweeting that it would “show weakness” and “sends a very bad signal.” (NPR / New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Bloomberg)
5/ The House of Representatives voted to eliminate the deadline for states to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, which would ban discrimination on the basis of sex and guarantee equality for women under the Constitution. The measure passed the House largely along party lines by a vote of 232-183 with five Republicans voting in support. The amendment, proposed in 1972, originally had a ratification deadline of 1979, but Congress later bumped that to 1982. The deadline was never extended. Three-quarters of the states must ratify a proposed amendment for it to be added to the Constitution. Last month, Virginia became the 38th state to ratify the ERA. Mitch McConnell, however, has said he is “not a supporter” of the measure and is unlikely to take it up in the Senate. (NPR / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / CNN)
6/ The White House plans to take $3.8 billion from the Defense Department to build Trump’s wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. For the second year in a row, Trump will dip into Defense Department funds earmarked for counterdrug activities and military construction for his border wall. The money will be drawn from several accounts intended to build fighter jets, ships, vehicles, and National Guard equipment. (Foreign Policy / Wall Street Journal / Politico / Defense One / Daily Beast)
7/ Trump’s rhetoric has been used by students and school staff members to harass children more than 300 times since the start of 2016, according to a review of 28,000 news stories. At least three-quarters of the attacks were directed at kids who are Hispanic, black or Muslim. Students have also been victimized because they support the president — more than 45 times during the same period. (Washington Post)
8/ Hope Hicks, Sean Spicer, and Reince Priebus will return to the White House. Hicks will report to Jared Kushner and work on Trump’s re-election campaign and other “strategic” matters. Her title will be “counselor to the president.” Priebus and Spicer will join the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships. (New York Times / BBC / Washington Post / ABC News / Salon)
Trump’s former body man recently returned to the West Wing. John McEntee was fired by John Kelly over security clearance issues. (Axios)
1/ Trump defended Roger Stone in a series of tweets while attacking the federal judge and prosecutors involved in the case. Trump also “congratulated” Attorney General William Barr for “taking charge of the case” – confirming that Barr intervened in Stone’s sentencing recommendation. Trump claimed that Stone was treated “very badly” and suggested that prosecutors “ought to apologize to him.” Trump also implied that U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who is presiding over the case, was biased because of her role in the sentencing of Paul Manafort and dismissal of a lawsuit against Hillary Clinton. Stone is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 20. When asked if he would pardon Stone, Trump replied: “I don’t want to say that yet, but I tell you what, people were hurt viciously and badly by these corrupt people.” (Washington Post / New York Times)
The fourth federal prosecutor resigned from Roger Stone’s case after the Justice Department announced that it planned to reduce its sentencing recommendation. Michael Marando’s departure means the entire prosecutorial team working on the case has resigned in protest over the DOJ’s decision. (Washington Post / NBC News / Associate Press / CNN)
A federal judge has denied Stone’s request for a new trial. The denial was decided last week – before the Justice Department’s revised sentencing recommendations. (CNN)
2/ Trump withdrew Jessie Liu’s nomination to become the Treasury Department’s terrorism and financial crimes undersecretary because of her office’s handling of the Roger Stone and Michael Flynn cases. While head of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, Liu supervised the court proceedings for Trump aides and Mueller defendants, including Rick Gates, Flynn, and Stone. Liu served in the role from September 2017 until Jan. 31, and coinciding with her departure, the U.S. attorney’s office changed its sentencing stances in both Flynn and Stone’s cases. Trump pulled Liu’s nomination two days before her scheduled confirmation hearing. (Axios / Washington Post / NBC News /CNN)
3/ Attorney General William Barr will testify to the House Judiciary Committee on March 31. Democrats signaled they plan to question Barr about three topics: overruling prosecutors on Stone’s recommended sentence, the arrangement for Rudy Giuliani to provide information on Ukraine, and the pulled nomination of Jessie Liu. (Politico / CNN)
Lindsey Graham told reporters that the Senate Judiciary Committee would not ask Barr to testify about the Justice Department’s decision to reduce Roger Stone’s sentencing recommendation. “He’ll come in as part of oversight, but we’re not going to call him based on this,” Graham told reporters. (Axios / Politico)
4/ Trump suggested that the military will likely look at disciplinary action against Lt. Col. Alexander S. Vindman after he was ousted from the White House for his testimony during the House impeachment hearings. “That’s going to be up to the military, we’ll have to see, but if you look at what happened, they’re going to certainly, I would imagine, take a look at that,” Trump said. National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien said he decided to remove Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman and his brother Yevgeny from the National Security Council – not Trump. However, Trump admitted the day after Vindman’s dismissal that he was removed because he was “insubordinate” and “reported the contents of my ‘perfect’ phone calls incorrectly.” A U.S. official, however, said that neither the Army nor the Defense Department is investigating Vindman. (Politico / ABC News / New York Times / Axios / Mother Jones)
5/ The House Oversight Committee asked the Secret Service to provide a full accounting of its payments to Trump’s private company after it was revealed that the Secret Service had been charged as much as $650 per night for rooms at Trump clubs. (Washington Post)
1/ Trump’s Justice Department will overrule its own prosecutors and reduce Roger Stone’s sentencing recommendation, calling it “extreme and excessive and disproportionate to Stone’s offenses.” Federal prosecutors initially recommended that Stone serve up to nine years in prison for obstruction of justice, lying to Congress, and witness tampering. The Justice Department’s reversal came hours after Trump tweeted that the recommended sentence was “horrible and very unfair” and a “disgraceful” “miscarriage of justice” that should not be allowed to happen. In the sentencing memo, federal prosecutors said Stone “obstructed Congress’ investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, lied under oath, and tampered with a witness,” and that Stone “displayed contempt for this Court and the rule of law” after he was indicted. (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / NPR / Politico / CNBC / ABC News / Axios / CNN / Reuters)
2/ Three career prosecutors handling the Roger Stone case resigned after the Justice Department said in a new sentencing memo that Stone’s sentence should be “far less” than the seven to nine years that they had recommended. The memo noted that DOJ still wanted Stone to be incarcerated but declined to say for how long. Prosecutors Aaron Zelinsky, Adam Jed, and Jonathan Kravis told the judge they were withdrawing immediately as attorneys. (Washington Post / CNN / Daily Beast / NBC News)
3/ The Office of Management and Budget was fully aware of the Pentagon’s concerns about Trump’s hold on Ukraine funding and attempted to bury them, according to new, unredacted emails. OMB also appears to have mislead the Government Accountability Office about the circumstances surrounding the freeze. Pentagon officials were reportedly so concerned over the hold on aid by OMB that they noted the aid was at “serious risk” of not being used before the last day of the fiscal year and questioned if the move was illegal. (Just Security / CNN)
📌 Day 1092: The Trump administration violated the law when it froze military aid to Ukraine, according to a nonpartisan congressional watchdog. The Government Accountability Office said the White House budget office violated the Impoundment Control Act when it withheld funds that had been appropriated by Congress for a “policy reason.” The Office of Management and Budget claimed it “withheld the funds to ensure that they were not spent ‘in a manner that could conflict with the President’s foreign policy.’” The GAO, however, rejected the argument, saying “Faithful execution of the law does not permit the President to substitute his own policy priorities for those that Congress has enacted into law.” (Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / NBC News / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal)
📌 Day 1112: Trump’s July 18 hold on Ukraine military aid stunned Pentagon officials working to expedite delivery of Javelin anti-tank missiles to Ukraine, according to emails and internal Pentagon documents. In an email to Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, a top Defense official communicated his concern about Trump’s “reported view that the US should cease providing security assistance” to Ukraine and its subsequent impact on national security in hopes that Esper could persuade Trump to drop the hold. (CNN)
4/ Trump’s budget proposal would reduce the number of repayment options for student loan borrowers and get rid of the public service loan forgiveness program. The program allow employees of a non-profit or public institutions to have their federal student loans canceled after making 10 years of on-time payments. Up to a quarter of American workers are estimated to be eligible for the program. (CNBC)
5/ Trump created 1.5 million fewer jobs in his first three years in office than Obama did in his final three. The figures from the Department of Labor show a 19% decline in job creation under Trump. (HuffPost)
6/ Senate Republicans blocked an effort by Democrats to unanimously pass three election security-related bills. The bills required campaigns to alert the FBI and Federal Election Commission about foreign offers of assistance, banned voting machines from being connected to the internet, and provided funding for the Election Assistance Commission. Under the Senate’s rules, any one senator can ask for unanimous consent to pass a bill, but any one senator can object and block their requests. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) opposed each of the requests. [Editor’s note: You can contact Blackburn’s office at (202) 224-3344]. (The Hill)
7/ A whistleblower complaints alleges that the Justice Department denied grants to two nonprofits in favor of less established groups whose applications were not recommended by career DOJ officials. An internal DOJ memo recommended that more than $1 million in anti-human trafficking grants go to the Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Palm Beach and Chicanos Por La Causa of Phoenix. Instead, the grants were awarded to Hookers for Jesus in Nevada and the Lincoln Tubman Foundation in South Carolina despite receiving lower rankings from outside reviewers. The task force said the Lincoln Tubman Foundation’s was still in its “infancy” with “little to no experience.” In 2017, Hookers for Jesus received $300,000 through the federal Victims of Crime Act, but the funding was not renewed in 2018 after the state obtained a program manual that said it was “mandatory” for guests of the shelter to attend and volunteer at a specific church. The training manual also called homosexuality immoral and drug abuse “witchcraft.” (Reuters)
poll/ 66% of voters believe Trump will be reelected in November compared to 28% who believe he’ll lose to a Democrat. 65% of voters say they are optimistic about the 2020 presidential election, while 30% are pessimistic. (Monmouth University Polling Institute)
1/ The Justice Department is reviewing information Rudy Giuliani gathered from Ukrainian sources claiming to have damaging information about the Bidens. Attorney General William Barr acknowledged that the Justice Department had established an “intake process” for evaluating the information, confirming an assertion made by Sen. Lindsey Graham that the department had “created a process that Rudy could give information and they would see if it’s verified.” Barr and other officials suggested that Giuliani was being treated no differently than any tipster. Meanwhile, a Justice Department official said Giuliani had “recently” shared information with federal law enforcement officials through the process. (Washington Post / NPR / New York Times)
2/ Trump recalled Gordon Sondland from his post as the ambassador to the European Union on the same day that Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman was “escorted” out of the White House by security guards. Sondland, a key witnesses in the House impeachment hearings, testified that “we followed the president’s orders” and that “everyone was in the loop.” State Department officials told Sondland that they wanted him to resign, but Sondland declined and said he would have to be fired. In response, State Department officials recalled him. (New York Times)
📌 Day 1114: The White House fired a national security official who testified against Trump during the impeachment inquiry. Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who reported his concerns over Trump’s July 25 telephone call with Ukraine’s leader to NSC officials, was “escorted out of the White House,” his lawyer said. Earlier in the day when asked whether he wanted Vindman to leave, Trump said: “Well, I’m not happy with him.” Trump also suggested that his impeachment should be “expunged […] because it was a hoax.” And, when asked if his Democratic political opponents “should be held accountable,” Trump replied: “You’ll see.” (Bloomberg / Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / Politico / CNN)
3/ Chuck Schumer called on all 74 inspectors general to investigate retaliation against whistleblowers who report presidential misconduct. Schumer requested investigations into “any and all instances of retaliation” against witnesses who have made “protected disclosures of presidential misconduct” after the firing of Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman from the National Security Council. Schumer said the firings were “part of a dangerous, growing pattern of retaliation against those who report wrongdoing only to find themselves targeted by the President and subject to his wrath and vindictiveness.” (Politico / Associated Press / CNN)
A handful of Republican senators tried to stop Trump from firing Gordon Sondland, but Trump did it anyway. The senators were concerned that it would look bad for Trump to fire him, especially since Sondland was already expected to leave after the impeachment trial was over. (New York Times)
Kellyanne Conway suggested that more officials could “maybe” be forced out of their roles. (Politico)
4/ The Trump administration released a $4.8 trillion budget proposal that would cut funding for domestic and safety net programs. The proposal would cut Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, despite Trump’s promises that he would protect both. The proposal would also cut spending for the EPA (26.5%), Health and Human Services (9%), Department of Education (8%), Interior Department (13.4%), and the Housing and Urban Development (15.2%). Meanwhile, spending for the military, national defense, and border enforcement would increase. The Pentagon’s budget would maintain current levels, but calls for a nearly 20% increase for “modernizing the nuclear stockpile.” Even if all the proposed cuts are approved by Congress, the $4.8 trillion budget proposal would fail to eliminate the federal deficit over the next 10 years, according to an internal summary of the plan. White House officials plan to promote the proposal as a way to reduce the deficit by 2035 – missing Trump’s initial promise to eliminate the deficit by 2028. (Washington Post / Associated Press / Axios / New York Times / Politico / Reuters / Vox / Wall Street Journal)
5/ New York state sued the Trump administration for its policy to exclude New Yorkers from enrolling in federal Trusted Traveler programs. The Trump administration “cut off” New Yorkers from joining or renewing their participation in the programs in response to New York’s passage of a law allowing undocumented immigrants to apply for driver’s licenses while limiting immigration authorities from accessing the state’s DMV records. (Reuters)
📌 Day 1113: The Department of Homeland Security temporarily blocked New York state residents from enrolling in the Trusted Traveler Programs, including Global Entry, in retaliation for a state law that limits immigration agents’ access to the state’s driver’s license data. The Trump administration expects to kick “roughly 175,000 New Yorkers” out of the programs by the end of this year. The administration also threatened to take action against other states that push to limit immigration agents’ access to state-level data. (CNN / Washington Post / New York Times)
✏️ Notables.
Trump does not want another summit with Kim Jong Un before the presidential election. North Korea, meanwhile, has recently resumed missile testing. (CNN)
More than 100 U.S. service members have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries following the January 8 Iranian missile attack in Iraq. Trump initially downplayed severity of injuries as just “headaches.” (CNN)
Billionaire conservative casino owner Sheldon Adelson is planning to donate at least $100 million to Trump’s re-election campaign and Republican congressional election efforts in 2020. Adelson and his wife have donated more than $100 million to Super PACs and dark money groups in each of the last two presidential election cycles, and could end up donating more than $200 million in 2020. (The Guardian)
Amazon wants to depose Trump over the Pentagon’s decision to award a $10 billion cloud computing project to Microsoft in October. In a federal court filing, Amazon noted that Trump has a “well-documented personal animus towards” Amazon, its CEO Jeff Bezos, and The Washington Post, which Bezos owns. Amazon said that Trump is the only who can testify about the “totality of his conversations and the overall message he conveyed” about the bidding process. Trump also reportedly told then-Defense Secretary Jim Mattis last year to “screw Amazon” out of the contract. (Associated Press / New York Times / CNBC)
1/ The White House fired a national security official who testified against Trump during the impeachment inquiry. Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who reported his concerns over Trump’s July 25 telephone call with Ukraine’s leader to NSC officials, was “escorted out of the White House,” his lawyer said. Earlier in the day when asked whether he wanted Vindman to leave, Trump said: “Well, I’m not happy with him.” Trump also suggested that his impeachment should be “expunged […] because it was a hoax.” And, when asked if his Democratic political opponents “should be held accountable,” Trump replied: “You’ll see.” (Bloomberg / Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / Politico / CNN)
Sen. Susan Collins said that she disapproves of retribution against anyone who came forward with evidence during the impeachment process. Collins also defended her vote to acquit Trump while acknowledging his conduct was wrong. (Portland Press Herald)
White House aides believe acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney’s job is in doubt. Trump reportedly lost confidence in Mulvaney months ago, but aides argued that a leadership change during impeachment would cause unnecessary chaos. Trump, instead, has frequently ignores Mulvaney’s input and has occasionally opted to do the opposite of whatever he’s suggested. (CNN)
2/ The Trump administration is delaying $30 million in arms transfers to Ukraine. At least six commercial sales of guns and ammunition have faced delays of at least a year and continue to remain frozen. Ukrainian officials said they haven’t been able to get answers from the Trump administration about why the deals haven’t been approved. (BuzzFeed News / The Hill)
3/ A federal appeals court dismissed a lawsuit against Trump for violating the emoluments clause of the Constitution by refusing to allow lawmakers to review and approve his financial interests. The ruling by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia found the members of Congress lacked legal standing to bring suit against Trump for violating the clause, The court did not address the legality of Trump’s business dealings. (NBC News / Politico / CNN)
4/ The Trump Organization charged Trump’s Secret Service rates as high as $650 a night and $17,000 a month for a cottage at his properties to protect him. The disclosures contradict Eric Trump’s own statements that “If my father travels, they stay at our properties for free.” At Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club, the Secret Service was charged the $650 rate dozens of times in 2017, and a different rate – $396.15 – dozens more times in 2018. At the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster, the Secret Service was charged $17,000 a month to use a cottage in 2017. The Trump Organization also billed the government for days when Trump wasn’t there. The full extent of the Secret Service’s payments to Trump’s company is not known. (Washington Post)
5/ The Trump administration purchased access to location data on millions of cellphones in America for use on immigration and border enforcement. Customs and Border Protection uses the information to look for cellphone activity in unusual places, such as stretches of desert near the Mexican border. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has also used the data to identify immigrants who were later arrested. (Wall Street Journal)
6/ The White House announced that the U.S. killed an al-Qaeda leader in Yemen. The U.S. conducted an airstrike last week that killed Qassim al-Rimi, who has been a target of the U.S. since Trump took office. The U.S. previously offered a $10 million reward for information about Rimi. (CNN)
7/ The U.S. economy added 225,000 jobs in January while the unemployment rate ticked up slightly to 3.6%. (CNBC / Washington Post)
Dept. of We’re all F*cked.
Antarctica hit 65 degrees – its warmest temperature ever recorded. In the past 50 years, temperatures in the Antarctic Peninsula have surged 5 degrees and about 87% of the glaciers along the peninsula’s west coast have retreated. (Washington Post / NBC News)
January 2020 was the warmest ever on record in Europe. January was 5.6 degrees above the 1981 to 2010 baseline of “average” January temperatures across the continent, with much of northeastern Europe surpassing the average by nearly 11 degrees. Europe also had its warmest year on record in 2019. (Washington Post / Time)
Bumblebee populations declined by 46% in North America and by 17% across Europe when compared to a base period of 1901 to 1974. The biggest declines were in areas where temperatures spiked beyond the historical range. (New York Times / Science Magazine)
📌 Day 979: A United Nations report warned that ocean warming is accelerating and sea levels are rising “more than twice as fast” than in the 20th century – and faster than previously estimated. While sea levels rose by about a half-inch in total during the 20th century, they are now rising about 0.14 inches per year, driven by the rapid melting of ice in Greenland, Antarctica, and the world’s smaller glaciers. The report predicts that sea levels will “continue to rise” – possibly reaching around 1-2 feet by 2100 – even if countries curb emissions and limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, which was the Paris Agreement’s goal. Temperatures are already 1 degree Celsius above pre-industrial levels However, “if greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase strongly,” then the world could see 3.6 feet in total sea level rise by 2100. The report concludes that the world’s oceans and ice sheets are under such severe stress that hotter ocean temperatures, combined with rising sea levels, threaten to create more destructive tropical cyclones and floods. (NPR / Politico / New York Times / Washington Post)
📌 Day 931: Climate change is putting pressure on the ability of humanity to feed itself, according to a new United Nations report that was prepared by more than 100 experts from 52 countries and, unanimously approved. The report warns that the world’s land and water resources are being exploited at “unprecedented rates” and “the cycle is accelerating.” Climate change has already degraded lands, caused deserts to expand, permafrost to thaw, and made forests more vulnerable to drought, fire, pests and disease. “The stability of food supply is projected to decrease as the magnitude and frequency of extreme weather events that disrupt food chains increases,” the report said. The report offered several proposals for addressing food supplies, including reducing red meat consumption, adopting plant-based diets, and eating more fruits, vegetables and seeds. As a result, the world could reduce carbon pollution up to 15% of current emissions levels by 2050. It would also make people healthier. (New York Times / Associated Press / Nature)
📌 Day 627: A U.N. report on the effects of climate change predicts a strong risk of an environmental crisis much sooner than expected. The report finds that the atmosphere could warm by as much as 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit above preindustrial levels by 2040 if greenhouse gas emissions continue at the current rate, which would cause sea levels to rise, intensify droughts, wildfires, and poverty, and cause a mass die-off of coral reefs. To prevent 2.7 degrees of warming, greenhouse pollution must be reduced by 45% from 2010 levels by 2030, and fully eliminated by 2050. The use of coal as an electricity source would have to drop from nearly 40% today to between 1% and 7% by 2050. Renewable energy would have to increase to about 67%. Trump has mocked the science of human-caused climate change, vowing to increase the burning of coal, and he intends to withdraw from the 2015 Paris agreement. The world is already more than halfway to the 2.7-degree mark and “there is no documented historic precedent” for the scale of changes required, the report said. (New York Times / Washington Post)
📌 Day 676: The National Climate Assessment concludes that global warming is already “transforming where and how we live and presents growing challenges to human health and quality of life, the economy, and the natural systems that support us.” The findings from the landmark scientific report, issued by 13 federal agencies, are at odds with the Trump administration’s environmental deregulation agenda, which Trump claims will lead to economic growth, and its plans to withdraw from the Paris climate accord. The report predicts that the effects of global warming could eliminate as much as 10% of the U.S. economy by the end of the century, and warns that humans must act aggressively now “to avoid substantial damages to the U.S. economy, environment, and human health and well-being over the coming decades.” The first report, released in November 2017, concluded that there is “no convincing alternative explanation” for the changing climate other than “human activities, especially emissions of greenhouse gases.” Trump recently questioned the science of climate change, saying that “I don’t know that it’s man-made” and that the warming trend “could very well go back.” (New York Times / Associated Press / Washington Post / CNN)
📌 Day 685: Global emissions of carbon dioxide have reached the highest levels on record. Global emissions grew 1.6% in 2017 with 2018 expected to increase 2.7%. The U.S. is the world’s second-largest emitter of carbon emissions, but that hasn’t stopped the Trump administration from moving to roll back regulations designed to limit those emissions from vehicle tailpipes and power-plant smokestacks. As United Nations Secretary General António Guterres said this week at the opening of the 24th annual U.N. climate conference: “We are in trouble. We are in deep trouble with climate change.” (Washington Post / New York Times)
1/ Trump celebrated his impeachment acquittal at the White House by denouncing his “vicious as hell” enemies one-by-one before pivoting to thank his allies, praising them as “great warriors.” Trump spent the 62-minute event in the East Room boasting of his acquittal by the Senate, criticizing the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election by Robert Mueller, and blaming “crooked politics,” “dirty cops,” “leakers,” “liars,” and “bad people” for his “very unfair” impeachment. “They’re vicious and mean,” Trump said. “Vicious. These people are vicious. Adam Schiff is a vicious, horrible person. Nancy Pelosi is a horrible person.” And, in a presidential use of profanity on camera, Trump added: “It was all bullshit.” (New York Times / Politico / NBC News)
2/ Earlier in the day, Trump spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast and accused his political opponents of being “very dishonest and corrupt people” who are trying to destroy him and the country. Trump – rejecting the keynote address for Americans to put aside hatred and “love your enemies” – attacked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Mitt Romney, complaining that they used “their faith as justification” for trying to remove him from office. “When they impeach you for nothing, then you’re supposed to like them? It’s not easy, folks. I do my best.” Trump went on to applaud “courageous Republican politicians and leaders” who he said “had the wisdom, fortitude and strength to do what everyone knows was right” throughout the impeachment fight. (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times) / CNN)
3/ Attorney General William Barr issued new restrictions on investigations into politically sensitive individuals or entities, including a requirement that he approve any inquiry into a presidential candidate or campaign. The memo said the Justice Department had a duty to ensure that elections are “free from improper activity or influences” and that investigations, including preliminary ones, into a presidential or vice presidential candidate, their campaigns or staff cannot be opened without the written approval of the attorney general. The new rules were issued on the same day that Trump was acquitted on charges that he had abused his office to push a foreign power to publicly announce investigations into his political rivals. (New York Times / NPR)
4/ The Department of Homeland Security temporarily blocked New York state residents from enrolling in the Trusted Traveler Programs, including Global Entry, in retaliation for a state law that limits immigration agents’ access to the state’s driver’s license data. The Trump administration expects to kick “roughly 175,000 New Yorkers” out of the programs by the end of this year. The administration also threatened to take action against other states that push to limit immigration agents’ access to state-level data. (CNN / Washington Post / New York Times)
5/ The White House threatened to veto a nearly $4.7 billion emergency aid package to Puerto Rico. The aid package passed by the House and includes $3.26 billion in community development block grants, $1.25 billion for repairs to roads, and tens of millions more for schools, energy, and nutrition assistance programs. The Office of Management and Budget called the bill “misguided” and warned that multiple “high-profile cases of corruption have marred distribution of aid already appropriated and have led to ongoing political instability on the island.” The bill is not expected to pass in the Senate in its current form. (Washington Post)
6/ The Interior Department finalized plans to permit drilling, mining, and grazing in areas of southern Utah that were previously protected as two national monuments. Two years ago, Trump dramatically cut the size of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, which contain significant amounts of oil, gas, and coal. (Washington Post / Associated Press)
7/ FBI Director Christopher Wray warned that Russia is still engaged in “information warfare” against the United States heading into the 2020 election. Wray says Russia is still relying on a covert social media disinformation campaign aimed at sowing division and fracturing American public opinion. Wray did conceded, however, that he hasn’t seen “any ongoing efforts to target election infrastructure like we did in 2016,” referring to the theft of DNC and Clinton campaign emails. (Associated Press)
poll/ In hypothetical match-ups, all five of the leading contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination would defeat Trump in 2020. Among registered voters, Trump hypothetically loses to Bloomberg (47% to 40%), Biden (46% to 42%), Sanders (46% to 42%), Warren (43% to 42%), and Buttigieg (42% to 41%). (Morning Consult)
What happened today? The Senate voted to acquit Trump on both articles of impeachment, rejecting the House’s charges that he should be removed from office for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The vote on abuse of power failed 48-52. Sen. Mitt Romney was the lone Republican to vote in favor of the abuse of power charge. The second article, obstruction of Congress, also failed, 47-53 along party-lines. Ahead of the vote, Romney called Trump “guilty of an appalling abuse of public trust […] What the president did was wrong — grievously wrong.” White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham claimed Trump’s acquittal was a “full vindication and exoneration” and that “only the president’s political opponents – all Democrats, and one failed Republican presidential candidate – voted for the manufactured impeachment articles.” The acquittal concludes five months of hearings and investigations into Trump’s withholding of U.S. military aid from Ukraine and pressuring of its leaders to investigate his Democratic rivals. A handful of Senate Republicans — Lamar Alexander, Susan Collins, and Lisa Murkowski — argued that while the House had proven its case and that Trump’s actions were wrong, they ultimately concluded that the charges did not merit removing Trump from office. Collins said she thinks Trump learned a “pretty big lesson” from the impeachment process and said she believes he will be “much more cautious in the future.” Trump, however, has continued to insist that he did nothing wrong and that his call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was a “perfect phone call.” He sent nearly 700 tweets or retweets about impeachment – an average of more than five per day – since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi opened the inquiry in September. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called it “a sad moment for democracy,” but that there’s a “giant asterisk” next to Trump’s acquittal because “he was acquitted without facts, he was acquitted without a fair trial.”
What’s next?Register to vote, mark Tuesday, November 3, 2020, on your calendar, and then go out and make your voice heard.
📖 TRANSCRIPT: Romney’s speech on senate floor. (Politico)
1/ Trump’s July 18 hold on Ukraine military aid stunned Pentagon officials working to expedite delivery of Javelin anti-tank missiles to Ukraine, according to emails and internal Pentagon documents. In an email to Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, a top Defense official communicated his concern about Trump’s “reported view that the US should cease providing security assistance” to Ukraine and its subsequent impact on national security in hopes that Esper could persuade Trump to drop the hold. (CNN)
2/ The White House national security adviser claimed that Trump never sought Ukraine’s help investigating Biden, despite Trump explicitly asking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to “look into” Biden during the July 25 phone call. Robert O’Brien told an audience of ambassadors and reporters at the Meridian International Center that he’s “not aware of any request the president made to investigate the Bidens per se.” (Washington Post)
3/ Trump used his State of the Union address to claim credit for a “great American comeback,” contrasting his successes with the record of his predecessors, which he described three years ago as the “American carnage.” Trump refused to shake Nancy Pelosi’s hand after entering the House chamber. During an 80-minute, hyper-partisan speech, Trump declared that “we have shattered the mentality of American Decline,” using his State of the Union to award conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh with the Presidential Medal of Freedom – the highest honor awarded to U.S. civilians. Limbaugh is a former “birther” conspiracy theorist, accused of making racist, sexist, homophobic, and other offensive comments throughout his 31-year career in talk radio as the host of the “The Rush Limbaugh Show.” Trump also used the speech to engineer a surprise homecoming for a veteran and his family and to award a scholarship to a young girl. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Reuters / Associated Press / CNN / The Atlantic)
FACT CHECK: Trump’s State of the Union address. (NPR)
ANNOTATED: Trump’s 2020 State of the Union address. (Washington Post)
RATINGS: Trump’s address averaged 15.23 million viewers – down about 25% from last year. (Hollywood Reporter / The Wrap)
4/ Speaker Nancy Pelosi ripped up her copy of Trump’s speech after he concluded his annual address to Congress. In a private meeting with Democrats following Trump’s State of the Union address, Pelosi said “He shredded the truth, so I shredded his speech,” adding that “What we heard last night was a disgrace.” Pelosi told her colleagues that Trump “disrespected the chamber he was in […] to use it as a backdrop for a reality show […] to give a speech that had no connection with reality.” She called the speech “a pack of lies.” (Washington Post / Politico / CNN / The Hill)
poll/ 58% of American say they are better off financially than they were a year ago – up from 50% last year. 74% predict they will be better off financially a year from now. (Gallup)
1/ Trump will deliver his State of the Union address tonight at 9 p.m. ET before a joint session of Congress. Trump is expected to talk about the stock market and the economy. It’s not clear if Trump plans to mention the impeachment trial or the upcoming 2020 election. The theme of Trump’s speech will be “the Great American Comeback.” (New York Times / USA Today / Associated Press / CBS News / Washington Post)
CNN anchors were excluded from the annual pre-State of the Union lunch with the president. The White House typically invites anchors from all the major broadcast news networks to a traditional lunch on the day of the SOTU speech, but the Trump administration revoked CNN’s invitations. (CNN)
2/ Results for the Iowa presidential caucuses were delayed after the state Democratic Party said it found “inconsistencies” in the reporting. The Iowa Democratic Party had opted to use an app this year to help calculate and share precinct results, but precinct captains experienced technical difficulties with reporting their results through the app due to a “coding issue in the reporting system.” The Iowa Democratic Party Chair added: “We have every indication that our systems were secure and there was not a cyber security intrusion.” The app was reportedly built in the past two months and not properly tested at a statewide scale. Nevada’s Democratic Party, meanwhile, said it will not use the app for their caucus on Feb. 22. [Editor’s note: Partial results were released as I published this. With 62% of precincts reporting, Buttigieg (26.9%) leads Sanders (25.1%) and Warren (18.3%).] (NBC News / CBS News / CNN / ABC News / NBC News / FiveThirtyEight / New York Times / HuffPost / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / Politico / Bloomberg)
Trump and his adult sons suggested that the Iowa Democratic caucuses were “rigged,” calling them an “unmitigated disaster.” While there has been no evidence to suggest that the caucuses were in fact “rigged,” the confusion stemming from the delay has produced a steady stream of conspiracy theories and wild speculation. (NBC News / MSN News)
3/ The Senate reconvened for floor speeches by members a day before a final vote in Trump’s impeachment trial. Mitch McConnell urged all senators to vote to acquit Trump, arguing that it was House Democrats who abused their power and not Trump. Republican Senator Susan Collins used her speech to announce that she plans to vote to acquit Trump, saying that although his conduct was “wrong,” House impeachment managers failed to show he committed a high crime or misdemeanor warranting removal from office. (CBS News / NBC News / CNN / Washington Post / New York Times)
4/ A new nuclear warhead requested, designed, and produced by the Trump administration has been deployed aboard a nuclear submarine. The Pentagon confirmed the deployment of the new W76-2 warhead – a low-yield variation of the warhead typically used on the Trident missile – aboard the USS Tennessee. (Defense News / CNN / New York Times)
poll/ 49% of Americans approve of the job Trump is doing as president – his highest job approval rating since taking office. 50% of Americans disapprove. (Gallup)
What happened today? House impeachment managers and Trump’s lawyers delivered their closing arguments in the Senate impeachment trial. Adam Schiff, the lead House manager, used his closing arguments to warn Republican senators that “It is midnight in Washington” and that “You can’t trust this president to do the right thing, not for one minute, not for one election, not for the sake of our country, you just can’t. He will not change and you know it. […] A man without character or ethical compass will never find his way.” Schiff added: “History will not be kind to Donald Trump.” Trump’s lawyers, meanwhile, urged senators to “stand firm” and “leave it to the voters.”
What’s next? The trial is adjourned until Wednesday, but senators are now giving speeches on the Senate floor to deliver remarks about whether they are for or against the articles of impeachment. Trump, meanwhile, will deliver his State of the Union Address Tuesday night in the House. The Senate will vote at 4 p.m. Wednesday on the two impeachment charges against Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
⚡️ Impeachment.wtf — The internet’s most comprehensive guide to the impeachment of Donald J. Trump. Maintained by the WTF community. Updated daily.
Sixty-seven senators would be required to convict Trump on the two impeachment articles and remove him from office. Conviction, however, is a mathematical impossibility with more than 34 senators already indicating they intend to acquit Trump. (Politico)
1/ Some Republican senators have acknowledged that Trump’s pressuring of Ukraine for political investigations was inappropriate – or wrong – but they say his actions, even if improper, do not meet the high bar for removing him from office. (New York Times / Washington Post)
2/ Sen. Joe Manchin called on the Senate to consider censuring Trump, saying that doing so “would allow a bipartisan statement condemning his unacceptable behavior in the strongest terms.” The moderate Democrat has prepared a censure resolution, which argues that Trump “used the office of the president of the United States to attempt to compel a foreign nation to interfere with domestic political affairs for his own personal benefit” and that “Trump hindered the thorough investigation of related documents and prohibited Congress and the American people from hearing testimony by first-hand witnesses with direct knowledge of his conduct.” (Washington Post)
3/ The Justice Department admitted that it is withholding 24 emails related to Trump’s involvement in withholding security aid to Ukraine. The emails were sent between June and September 2019. The court filing by the DOJ marks the first official acknowledgement that the emails containing Trump’s thinking regarding the hold on the aid exist, and that Trump was directly involved in asking for the hold as early as June. The Trump administration is still blocking the emails from the public and from Congress. (CNN / Washington Post)
poll/ 46% of voters say Trump should be removed from office as a result of the impeachment trial, versus 49% who say he should remain president. 52% say they believe Trump abused the power of his office by asking a foreign government to investigate a political opponent, compared with 41% who disagree. (NBC News)
Notables.
The Trump administration has been hiring immigration judges who have no experience in immigration law. The experience requirement for immigration judges doesn’t mention immigration law experience, but only that applicants must have seven years of “post-bar experience as a licensed attorney preparing for, participating in, and/or appealing formal hearings or trials.” Of the 28 new immigration judges recently sworn in by the Executive Office for Immigration Review, 17 of them had any immigration law experience. (The Hill)
Officials at NOAA were “sick” and “flabbergasted” about Trump’s inaccurate statements, altered forecast map, and tweets about Hurricane Dorian in September, according to emails released in response to Freedom of Information Act requests. The emails also show that the No. 2 official at the agency claimed that neither he nor the acting administrator approved the unsigned statement that a NOAA spokesperson issued on Sept. 6, which criticized the Birmingham National Weather Service forecast office for a tweet that contradicted Trump’s inaccurate assertion that Alabama “will most likely be hit (much) harder than anticipated” from the Category 5 storm. (BuzzFeed News / Washington Post / NBC News)
The House Oversight Committee threatened Education Secretary Betsy DeVos with a subpoena, saying DeVos’ office “stonewalled and delayed” when the committee tried to confirm a date for her testimony. (Politico)
Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie fired his No. 2 at the VA. James Byrne was on the job less than five months. (Politico)
Trump congratulated the “Great State of Kansas” on Twitter after the Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl. The Chiefs are based in Missouri. Trump quickly deleted the tweet and posted a new one with the correct state. (Sports Illustrated)
What happened today? The Senate voted to block new new witnesses in Trump’s impeachment trial. The 49 to 51 vote ensures the trial will be the first impeachment in U.S. history without witnesses. Two GOP lawmakers — Susan Collins and Mitt Romney — broke ranks and voted with Democrats on the motion to call new witnesses. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the failed motion “a grand tragedy.” Democrats attempted to force four amendments to Mitch McConnell’s organizing resolution, which outlines the rules for the rest of the trial. The Senate, however, voted down all four Democratic amendments to allow for the subpoenaing of documents and witnesses. Earlier in the day, Republicans and Trump’s legal team argued that new witnesses and documents were unnecessary and would only prolong the trial for weeks or months despite a Democratic proposal to limit depositions to one week. Immediately before the vote, House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff warned Republican senators that “The facts will come out.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, meanwhile, called Republican senators who voted against witnesses and documents are “accomplices to the President’s cover-up.”
What’s next? Closing arguments will be held at 11 a.m. Eastern on Monday and last four hours. Senators are also expected to give speeches on the Senate floor on Tuesday – the same day Trump will deliver his State of the Union Address. The Senate will vote at 4 p.m. Wednesday on the two impeachment charges against Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The Senate is virtually certain to acquit Trump.
⚡️ Impeachment.wtf — The internet’s most comprehensive guide to the impeachment of Donald J. Trump. Maintained by the WTF community. Updated daily.
EARLIER: Sen. Lisa Murkowski said she would oppose witnesses. Murkowski in a statement blamed the House for sending articles of impeachment “that are rushed and flawed.” (Politico / Washington Post / CNBC)
LAST NIGHT: Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander said he would vote to dismiss a motion to summon witnesses and call for documents in the Senate impeachment trial. Alexander acknowledged that it was “inappropriate for the president to ask a foreign leader to investigate his political opponent and to withhold United States aid to encourage that investigation,” but says the Constitution doesn’t give the Senate the authority to “remove the president from office and ban him from this year’s ballot simply for actions that are inappropriate.” The announcement means Democrats’ bid to call new witnesses in the trial will likely fall short since Republicans now have the votes to block the motion. (Washington Post / Reuters / The Guardian / NBC News / New York Times / NPR)
Alexander: Convicting Trump would “pour gasoline on cultural fires.” (New York Times)
1/ Trump directed then national security adviser John Bolton in May to help with his efforts to pressure Ukraine for damaging information on Democrats. According to Bolton’s unpublished book, The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir, Trump instructed Bolton during an Oval Office meeting to call Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and encourage him to meet with Rudy Giuliani to discuss the investigations into Trump’s political opponents. Bolton said he never made the call. Two months later, Trump asked Zelensky to investigate his political opponents. The Oval Office meeting was also attended by Giuliani, acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, and White House counsel Pat Cipollone, who is now leading Trump’s impeachment defense. (New York Times)
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declined to dispute Bolton’s allegations. (ABC News)
📌 Day 1103: Trump told former national security adviser John Bolton in August that he wanted to continue freezing $391 million in security assistance to Ukraine until Ukrainian officials helped with investigations into Biden and other Democrats, according to an unpublished manuscript of Bolton’s forthcoming book, “The Room Where It Happened.” Bolton’s account directly contradicts one of Trump’s defense arguments, that there was no quid pro quo when he asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Biden and his son in the July phone call. Bolton’s account was included in drafts of a manuscript he circulated to close associates. A draft was also sent to the White House for a standard review process on Dec. 30 — 12 days after Trump was impeached. The White House ordered Bolton and other key officials with firsthand knowledge of Trump’s dealings not to cooperate with the impeachment inquiry. (New York Times)
📌 Day 1104: John Bolton told Attorney General William Barr last year that he had concerns that Trump was granting personal favors to the autocratic leaders of Turkey and China, according to Bolton’s unpublished manuscript. Barr responded by saying he was also concerned that Trump had “created the appearance that he had undue influence over what would typically be independent inquiries,” pointing to a pair of Justice Department investigations into Chinese telecommunications firm ZTE and Halkbank, Turkey’s second-largest state-owned bank. The former national security adviser submitted his book manuscript nearly a month ago to the White House for review. A Justice Department’s spokeswoman, meanwhile, said “There was no discussion of ‘personal favors’ or ‘undue influence’ on investigations, nor did Attorney General Barr state that the President’s conversations with foreign leaders was improper.” (New York Times)
📌 Day 1105: The White House moved to block publication of former national security adviser John Bolton’s book, claiming it contained “TOP SECRET” and “significant amounts of classified information” that could “cause exceptionally grave harm” to U.S. national security. The letter from the National Security Council’s senior director for records says “the manuscript may not be published or otherwise disclosed without the deletion of this classified information” and that the White House will be in touch with “additional, more detailed guidance regarding next steps” on how to move forward. Bolton’s book, The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir, is currently scheduled for publication on March 17. (CNN / Axios)
2/ Former White House chief of staff John Kelly suggested that Trump’s Senate impeachment trial is “a job only half done” without witness testimonies. Kelly said Bolton was “a copious note taker” and “an honest guy and an honorable guy.” Kelly added that he believed Bolton’s assertion that Trump withheld congressionally approved aid to Ukraine in order to leverage investigations into Biden. (CNN / NJ.com)
3/ Marie Yovanovitch retired from State Department. Yovanovitch is the fourth top State Department official to depart in the wake of the Ukraine impeachment inquiry. The others are former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor, former Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker, and Michael McKinley, the former senior adviser to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. (NPR / CNN / Washington Post)
Notables.
The Trump administration declared the coronavirus a public health emergency in the United States, and announced that people who pose a risk of transmitting the disease will temporarily be suspended from entering the U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said any U.S. citizens who have been in China’s Hubei province within the last 14 days “will be subject to up to 14 days of mandatory quarantine to ensure they’re provided proper medical care and health screening.” (CNBC)
The Trump administration restricted travel for immigrants from six additional countries that officials said failed to meet minimum security standards. Immigrants from Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Eritrea, Nigeria, Sudan, and Tanzania will face new restrictions in obtaining certain visas to come to the United States. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press)
Trump’s border wall will likely require the installation of hundreds of storm gates so it won’t be knocked over during flash floods. The gates must be left open for months every year during “monsoon season” in the desert. (Washington Post)
What happened today? The Senate reconvened for the final day of written questions to House managers and Trump’s defense team in his impeachment trial. Mitch McConnell indicated to Republican senators he believes he has the votes to defeat any Democratic motion that the Senate consider new witnesses. However, three Republican senators — Sens. Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, and Mitt Romney — have indicated they’re open to voting to subpoena former Trump national security adviser John Bolton. Sen. Lamar Alexander has said he hasn’t made up his mind. While attention has focused on the Republicans, three Democrats — Sens. Joe Manchin, Doug Jones, and Kyrsten Sinema — could also break ranks. Manchin has complained about what he has called the “hypocrisy” of both McConnell and Senator Chuck Schumer; Jones, facing a re-election in Alabama, has hinted he might vote to acquit Trump on obstruction of Congress; and, Kyrsten Sinema hasn’t said anything public since the start of the trial other than to say she was taking her obligation seriously. Adam Schiff, the lead House impeachment manager, offered to limit witness depositions to one week after Trump’s defense warned that calling witnesses could delay the trial. Democrats, meanwhile, are attempting to undermine an expected Trump acquittal, saying that Trump cannot be truly exonerated without a fair trial in the Senate. Schumer also suggested that Democrats would use parliamentary procedures to stall a quick acquittal, saying “The minority has rights, and we will exercise those rights.”
What’s next? There will be four hours of debate and then a vote on whether the Senate should seek witnesses and documents. If Democrats fail to convince at least four Republicans to join them in calling for witnesses, the Senate could move to a final vote on acquittal as soon as Friday.
⚡️ Impeachment.wtf — The internet’s most comprehensive guide to the impeachment of Donald J. Trump. Maintained by the WTF community. Updated daily.
Everything you need to know about witnesses and Trump’s trial – including what happens in the event of a tie vote. (NBC News)
1/ Trump’s legal team contradicted Trump’s Justice Department, making the opposite argument in court on the same day. In federal court, a Justice Department attorney argued that a possible remedy for an administration defying congressional subpoenas is impeachment. Meanwhile, during Trump’s Senate impeachment trial, his legal team argued that Trump was lawfully protecting the executive branch in a dispute with Congress over documents and testimony when he ordered his aides to defy subpoenas. House manager Adam Schiff later addressed the contradiction in the Senate, saying: “We’ve been debating whether a president can be impeached for essentially bogus claims of privilege for attempting to use the courts to cover up misconduct. [And] The judge says if the Congress can’t enforce its subpoenas in court, then what remedy is there? And the Justice Department lawyer’s response is impeachment. Impeachment.” Members of the Senate laughed. “You can’t make this up,” Schiff continued. “I mean, what more evidence do we need of the bad faith of this effort to cover up?” (CNN)
2/ Chief Justice John Roberts rejected Sen. Rand Paul’s question, which identified the alleged whistleblower. Roberts told Senators on Tuesday that he would not allow the whistleblower’s name to be mentioned or publicly relay any questions that might unmask the official during the question-and-answer session. Paul then held a news conference in which he read his question, naming the person referred to in conservative media as the possible whistleblower and an acquaintance who works for the House Intelligence Committee. [Editor’s note: Rand Paul is a dipshit.] (Politico / CNN)
3/ John Bolton’s lawyer contends his book does not contain classified material, pushing back against the White House’s assessment while asking for an expedited review of a chapter about Ukraine in case the former national security adviser is called to testify in the Senate impeachment trial. The National Security Council warned Jan. 23 that the manuscript contained “significant amounts” of classified material that could not be disclosed publicly. Bolton’s book, The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir, claims that Trump told him in August that he was tying Ukrainian investigations of his political opponent to continuing foreign aid to that country. (Washington Post)
4/ A new recording shows Lev Parnas, Igor Fruman, and a small group of Republican Party donors meeting with Trump at Mar-a-Lago in April 2018 – ten days before they dined with Trump at his Washington hotel. During the dinner at Trump’s Washington hotel, Parnas told Trump that the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine was agitating against him, prompting Trump to abruptly call for her firing. The Mar-a-Lago event was also attended by former Republican Rep. Pete Sessions, who has been subpoenaed as part of the ongoing criminal investigation involving Parnas and Fruman, and Ronna McDaniel, the Republican National Committee chairwoman. Trump’s has repeatedly claimed that he doesn’t know Parnas or Fruman. (Washington Post / Daily Beast)
📌 Day 1103: A video made public captures Trump saying he wants to “get rid” of the then-U.S. ambassador to Ukraine during an April 2018 meeting that included Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman. The video, recorded on Fruman’s phone, contradicts Trump’s statements that he didn’t know Parnas or Fruman, who both worked with Rudy Giuliani to push for the ousting of Marie Yovanovitch, who was ultimately removed from her post in April 2019. Trump also asked how long Ukraine would be able to resist Russian aggression without U.S. assistance during the dinner. (New York Times / Associated Press / PBS NewsHour / CNN / BuzzFeed News)
5/ The Department of Energy released more than 100 pages of documents related to former Secretary Rick Perry and Ukraine. The documents show the Department of Energy pushing for energy reform and supporting Ukraine’s handling of corruption in May 2019, when Perry led a delegation to meet new Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The new documents, however, don’t cover how Trump had Perry later work with Rudy Giuliani to supplant his work and pursue a different Ukrainian corruption crackdown. (CNN)
poll/ 66% of Democrats report being anxious about the 2020 election, compared with 46% of Republicans. (Associated Press)
Notables.
The Trump administration will allow states to cap Medicaid spending, which covers about 1 in 5 low-income Americans. The new block grant program – now called “Healthy Adult Opportunity” – was rejected by Congress three years ago and will effectively reduce health benefits for millions who gained coverage through the Affordable Care Act. Democrats, health care providers, and consumer groups warned that capping federal funding for adults on Medicaid and giving states more freedom to decide who and what the program covers would jeopardize medical access and care for some of the poorest Americans. (Politico / New York Times / Washington Post)
Trump’s commerce secretary said the Chinese coronavirus “will help to accelerate the return of jobs” to the U.S. and North America. Wilbur Ross said he didn’t want to “talk about a victory lap,” but there are “a confluence of factors that will make it very, very likely more reshoring to the U.S. and some reshoring to Mexico.” Meanwhile, the CDC confirmed the first case of person-to-person transmission of the Wuhan coronavirus in the U.S. (Washington Post / NBC News / Politico)
A section of Trump’s new border wall in California fell over during high winds and landed on a row of trees on the Mexico side of the border. (KYMA / CNN)
The U.S. economy missed Trump’s 3% growth target for the second year in a row. The economy grew by 2.3% last year. Annual growth in 2019 was the slowest it’s been in three years and the drop in business investment deepened amidst ongoing trade tensions. (Reuters / CNBC)
Trump administration is expected to loosen restrictions on the military’s ability to use landmines, which have been banned by more than 160 countries due to their history of killing and wounding civilians. (CNN / The Guardian)
The House approved two measures aimed at reigning in Trump’s war powers following recent aggression between Iran and the U.S. The White House opposed the measures, which limit Trump’s ability to use military force without congressional authorization. (Politico)
Lawyers for a woman who accused Trump of raping her in the 1990s are asking for a DNA sample to determine whether his genetic material is on a dress she wore during the encounter. E. Jean Carroll accused Trump last summer of raping her in a Manhattan luxury department store dressing room in the mid-1990s. Carroll filed a defamation suit against Trump in November after he denied her allegation. (Associated Press)
What happened today? Trump’s impeachment trial moved to written questions. Senate Republicans opened the day with Sens. Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, and Mitt Romney – three Republicans who have hinted they could vote to hear from witnesses – asking Trump’s legal team how they should consider abuse of power if Trump had “had more than one motive for his alleged conduct.” Trump attorney Patrick Philbin argued that if there were a motive “of the public interest, but also some personal interest,” then it “cannot possibly be the basis for an impeachable offense.” Trump’s lawyer Alan Dershowitz also argued that because Trump’s re-election is in the public interest, if Trump “does something that he thinks will help him get elected” – and even if he had political motivations to pressure Ukraine to investigate the Bidens – it “cannot be the kind of quid pro quo that results in impeachment.” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said it was unlikely that Democrats will be able to win over enough Republican votes to call witnesses and documents. Republican leaders, meanwhile, signaled that they were confident that they would be able to block new witnesses and documents and bring the trial to an acquittal verdict as soon as Friday.
What’s next? The Senate will return Thursday for another question-and-answer session, followed by four hours of debate, and then a vote on whether the Senate should seek witnesses and documents. If the Senate defeats that resolution, the trial is likely to head to a quick acquittal.
⚡️ Impeachment.wtf — The internet’s most comprehensive guide to the impeachment of Donald J. Trump. Maintained by the WTF community. Updated daily.
1/ The White House moved to block publication of former national security adviser John Bolton’s book, claiming it contained “TOP SECRET” and “significant amounts of classified information” that could “cause exceptionally grave harm” to U.S. national security. The letter from the National Security Council’s senior director for records says “the manuscript may not be published or otherwise disclosed without the deletion of this classified information” and that the White House will be in touch with “additional, more detailed guidance regarding next steps” on how to move forward. Bolton’s book, The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir, is currently scheduled for publication on March 17. (CNN / Axios)
2/ Trump accused John Bolton of making false allegations, tweeting that he “NEVER” had a conversation with Bolton in August that he wanted to keep aid to Ukraine frozen until the country helped with investigations into Democrats, including Biden. Trump urged Republicans to reject calling witnesses and called Bolton’s unpublished book “nasty & untrue.” Trump also suggested that if Bolton were still in the White House, the U.S. “would be in World War Six by now.” (NBC News / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press)
📌 Day 1103: Trump told former national security adviser John Bolton in August that he wanted to continue freezing $391 million in security assistance to Ukraine until Ukrainian officials helped with investigations into Biden and other Democrats, according to an unpublished manuscript of Bolton’s forthcoming book, “The Room Where It Happened.” Bolton’s account directly contradicts one of Trump’s defense arguments, that there was no quid pro quo when he asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Biden and his son in the July phone call. Bolton’s account was included in drafts of a manuscript he circulated to close associates. A draft was also sent to the White House for a standard review process on Dec. 30 — 12 days after Trump was impeached. The White House ordered Bolton and other key officials with firsthand knowledge of Trump’s dealings not to cooperate with the impeachment inquiry. (New York Times)
3/ The House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman said Bolton told him during a Sept. 23 phone call – shortly after Bolton left his post – to examine the ouster of the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. Rep. Eliot Engel said Bolton “strongly implied that something improper had occurred” related to Marie Yovanovitch’s removal. Engel added: “Trump is wrong that John Bolton didn’t say anything about the Trump-Ukraine scandal at the time the President fired him. He said something to me.” (NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
4/ Rudy Giuliani claimed he “never ever” discussed Ukraine military aid with Trump, directly challenging former national security adviser John Bolton’s claims that Trump tied the hold on military aid to an investigation into Trump’s political rivals. Giuliani called Bolton “a backstabber,” adding that Bolton never told him “’‘I’ve got a problem with what you are doing in Ukraine.’” During congressional testimony, Fiona Hill, a former White House aide, said Bolton complained to colleagues about Giuliani’s work, which he called “a hand grenade that was going to blow everyone up.” (CBS News)
In late 2018, Rudy Giuliani said he delivered a letter to Sen. Lindsey Graham calling for sanctions on a host of Ukrainian government officials. The letters claim that several Ukrainian political figures and businesspeople were part of an alleged “organized crime syndicate” that was “actively involved in the siphoning of funds appropriated by the American government for aid to Ukraine.” (Daily Beast)
5/ Three moderate Senate Democrats are reportedly undecided on whether to vote to remove Trump from office and are “struggling” over the decision. In an interview, Joe Manchin said: “I know it’s hard to believe that. But I really am [undecided]. But I have not made a final decision. Every day, I hear something, I think ‘this is compelling, that’s compelling.’” Doug Jones has said he’s “troubled” that the House didn’t fight harder to hear from administration witnesses. Unlike Manchin and Jones, Kyrsten Sinema has made no comments since the trial began. (Politico)
Manchin said he believes Hunter Biden is a relevant witness in Trump’s Senate impeachment trial. Manchin called it an opportunity for Biden to clear himself. (Axios)
A growing number of GOP senators acknowledge that Trump may have leveraged military aid to Ukraine in exchange for an announcement of investigations that could help him politically, but they say that it’s not impeachable and doesn’t warrant the hearing from new witnesses. (CNN)
6/ Members of Trump’s legal defense team have made thousands of dollars in campaign contributions to GOP senators overseeing the impeachment trial. Ken Starr and Robert Ray gave thousands to Mitch McConnell last year before joining Trump’s team, months before McConnell announced that he would be working in “total coordination with the White House counsel’s office and the people who are representing the president in the well of the Senate” during the impeachment trial. Star gave $2,800 to McConnell in July 2019 and Ray gave the maximum $5,600 to McConnell in September 2019. (Center for Responsive Politics / Slate)
A 501(c)3 charitable organization allied with Trump has been holding cash giveaways in black communities to improve Trump’s image. The cash giveaways are organized by the Urban Revitalization Coalition charity, permitting donors to remain anonymous while making tax-deductible contributions. The group’s “Christmas Extravaganza” event last month featured a $25,000 giveaway and an appearance by Ja’Ron Smith, a deputy assistant to Trump. The coalition also advertised a Martin Luther King Jr. Day event that would honor Trump and Jared Kushner and featured a $30,000 cash giveaway. (Politico)
House Republican leaders are experiencing a fundraising crisis and are worried it could affect their ability to regain a majority in the 2020 election. “They are kicking our ass,” said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy at a private GOP meeting on Tuesday. The DCCC out-raised the NRCC by $40 million in 2019, and individual Democratic candidates are continuing to out fundraising their Republican opponents. Democrats currently hold a 35-seat majority in the House, with five vacancies. (Politico)
Notables.
Trump signed the revised North American trade agreement. The trade deal, now called the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, updates NAFTA, with stronger protections for workers and the digital economy, expanded markets for American farmers, and new rules to encourage auto manufacturing in North America. The USMCA must still be ratified by Canada before it can take effect. Trump excluded Democrats from the signing ceremony despite their role in securing the final version of the deal that passed with overwhelming majorities in both the House and Senate. Trump also joked that he needs senators’ votes for acquittal in the Senate impeachment trial. (New York Times / Bloomberg / CNN / Politico / CBS News)
The Federal Reserve kept its benchmark interest rate steady – the second straight time the Fed made no changes to rates following three consecutive reductions in 2019. (Bloomberg / CNBC)
A total of 50 U.S. service members have now been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury as a result of the Iranian missile strikes earlier this month on Iraqi bases hosting U.S. troops. Last week, the Pentagon listed 34 service members who had been diagnosed with TBI, including concussions. Of the 50 current patients, 31 received treatment in Iraq and have returned to active duty. (NBC News)
House Democrats plan to announce a five-year, $760 billion infrastructure framework for rebuilding the nation’s highways, airports, railways, and more. (New York Times)
What happened today? Trump’s legal team concluded its oral arguments after less than two hours in the chamber with White House counsel Pat Cipollone calling on the Senate to “end the era of impeachment” by declaring Trump not guilty. The White House team reiterated their arguments that the allegations by the House — that Trump abused his power in his dealings with Ukraine and obstructed Congress’ investigation into his actions — don’t rise to the level of impeachable offenses. Trump attorney Jay Sekulow claimed that the revelations from John Bolton’s manuscript – that Trump tied the withholding of military aid to Ukraine to investigations into his political rivals – were “inadmissible” and that “[Impeachment] is not a game of leaks and unsourced manuscripts.” Rep. Adam Schiff, the House’s lead impeachment manager, suggested that Trump’s own lawyers made an “effective” case for why the Senate should call Bolton as a witness. And, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Trump’s lawyers “showed how weak their case was” and that “Their whole argument is diversion.”
What’s next? The Senate will return Wednesday for eight hours of question-and-answers followed by another eight hours on Thursday. A vote on whether to hear witnesses is expected on Friday.
⚡️Impeachment.wtf — The internet’s most comprehensive guide to the impeachment of Donald J. Trump. Maintained by the WTF community. Updated daily.
1/ John Bolton told Attorney General William Barr last year that he had concerns that Trump was granting personal favors to the autocratic leaders of Turkey and China, according to Bolton’s unpublished manuscript. Barr responded by saying he was also concerned that Trump had “created the appearance that he had undue influence over what would typically be independent inquiries,” pointing to a pair of Justice Department investigations into Chinese telecommunications firm ZTE and Halkbank, Turkey’s second-largest state-owned bank. The former national security adviser submitted his book manuscript nearly a month ago to the White House for review. A Justice Department’s spokeswoman, meanwhile, said “There was no discussion of ‘personal favors’ or ‘undue influence’ on investigations, nor did Attorney General Barr state that the President’s conversations with foreign leaders was improper.” (New York Times)
📌 Day 1103: Trump told former national security adviser John Bolton in August that he wanted to continue freezing $391 million in security assistance to Ukraine until Ukrainian officials helped with investigations into Biden and other Democrats, according to an unpublished manuscript of Bolton’s forthcoming book,“The Room Where It Happened.”Bolton’s account directly contradicts one of Trump’s defense arguments, that there was no quid pro quo when he asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Biden and his son in the July phone call. Bolton’s account was included in drafts of a manuscript he circulated to close associates. A draft was also sent to the White House for a standard review process on Dec. 30 — 12 days after Trump was impeached. The White House ordered Bolton and other key officials with firsthand knowledge of Trump’s dealings not to cooperate with the impeachment inquiry. (New York Times)
Former White House chief of staff John Kelly believes John Bolton’s allegation that Trump told the former national security adviser that U.S. security aid to Ukraine was conditioned on an investigation of Trump’s political rivals. (CNN / Politico)
2/ Mitch McConnell told GOP senators a closed-door meeting that he doesn’t have enough votes to block witnesses in Trump’s Senate impeachment trial. After Trump’s defense team wrapped up arguments, Republican Senate leaders pressured the party’s senators to not call for witnesses in Trump’s impeachment trial – i.e. “whipped the vote” – at a private GOP Senate meeting. McConnell had a card with “yes,” “no” and “maybes” marked on it. McConnell said the vote total wasn’t where it needed to be to block witnesses or documents. (Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / NBC News / CNN)
3/ Republican senators have discussed reviewing John Bolton’s unpublished manuscript in a classified setting to “see for ourselves if there is anything significant.” Sen. Lindsey Graham supported the proposal by Sen. James Lankford, tweeting that the move would allow “each senator the opportunity to review the manuscript and make their own determination.” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, however, rejected the idea of reviewing the book behind closed doors, calling it “an absurd proposal.” (CBS News / Bloomberg / New York Times)
poll/ 75% of voters say witnesses should be allowed to testify in Trump’s impeachment trial. 48% say the Senate should not remove Trump from office, while 47% say the Senate should. (Quinnipiac)
Notables.
Trump announced his plan for peace between Israel and the Palestinians, which proposes a redrawn border while discarding the longtime American goal of granting the Palestinians a full-fledged state. Trump called the plan – nearly three years in the making – a “win-win” for both sides. Palestinian leaders rejected the plan before its release. (The Guardian / New York Times / Washington Post)
The State Department blocked NPR’s reporter on Mike Pompeo’s government plane for an upcoming trip to Europe and Central Asia, which includes a stop in Ukraine. Michele Kelemen was removed from the list of reporters allowed to fly with Pompeo days after the secretary shouted and cursed at another NPR reporter for asking pertinent questions about Ukraine. (Politico / CBS News / CNN / New York Times)
The U.S. budget deficit is projected to reach $1.02 trillion in 2020, according to a report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. (Washington Post / Associated Press / CNBC)
What happened Saturday? Trump’s legal team began their opening arguments by seeking to cast doubt on Democrats’ case that Trump tried to pressure Ukraine into investigating Joe Biden. Over the course of a two-hour session, Trump’s lawyer Pat Cipollone and his deputy Michael Purpura argued that Trump had valid reasons for withholding military aid from Ukraine and that House prosecutors overlooked facts, noting that witnesses in the House’s impeachment hearings based their assessments on “presumptions” and “guesswork” rather than knowledge of Trump’s intentions. “We don’t believe that they have come anywhere close to meeting their burden for what they’re asking you to do,” Cipollone said. They also argued that the words Trump spoke on his July 25 call to Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, conveyed no pressure — and that Ukrainians never publicly expressed any. Cipollone added that Democrats are “asking you to tear up all of the ballots all across the country” and “perpetrate the most massive interference in an election in American history.”
What happened today? Trump’s team continued with their opening statements, arguing about the basis of the House’s impeachment inquiry and the Trump’s rights of due process and executive privilege. Trump’s lawyers – ignoring John Bolton’s disclosure that Trump said he wanted to continue a freeze on military aid to Ukraine until officials helped with investigations into Trump’s political rivals – told senators that no evidence existed tying Trump’s decision to withhold security aid from Ukraine to his insistence on the investigations, arguing that Trump did nothing wrong and the impeachment inquiry was illegitimate from the start. Alan Dershowitz claimed that “Nothing in the Bolton revelations, even if true, would rise to the level of an abuse of power, or an impeachable offense.” A handful of Republicans, meanwhile, appeared to be moving closer to joining Democrats in a vote to subpoena Bolton. Pam Bondi, one of Trump’s lawyers, accused Democrats of denying the legitimacy of investigations into the Bidens because the House case depends on the premise that Trump was only interested in the negative political impact on his rival. Jane Raskin, a member of Trump’s defense team, also called Rudy Giuliani a “colorful distraction.”
⚡️Impeachment.wtf– The internet’s most comprehensive guide to the impeachment of Donald J. Trump. Maintained by the WTF community. Updated daily.
1/ Trump told former national security adviser John Bolton in August that he wanted to continue freezing $391 million in security assistance to Ukraine until Ukrainian officials helped with investigations into Biden and other Democrats, according to an unpublished manuscript of Bolton’s forthcoming book, “The Room Where It Happened.” Bolton’s account directly contradicts one of Trump’s defense arguments, that there was no quid pro quo when he asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Biden and his son in the July phone call. Bolton’s account was included in drafts of a manuscript he circulated to close associates. A draft was also sent to the White House for a standard review process on Dec. 30 — 12 days after Trump was impeached. The White House ordered Bolton and other key officials with firsthand knowledge of Trump’s dealings not to cooperate with the impeachment inquiry. (New York Times)
Trump claimed that he “NEVER” told Bolton that military aid to Ukraine was conditioned on investigations into Biden and his son. Trump cited his first face-to-face meeting with Zelensky at the United Nations in September, and asserted that he “released the military aid to Ukraine without any conditions or investigations - and far ahead of schedule.” (Politico / New York Times / CNBC)
Mitch McConnell didn’t know that Trump’s administration had a copy of the Bolton manuscript. McConnell, who has said he’s in “total coordination” with the White House on the impeachment trial, reportedly isn’t happy. (Courier-Journal)
2/ Congressional Democrats called for Bolton to testify in Trump’s impeachment trial following the report that Trump told Bolton last August that he wanted to withhold military aid to Ukraine unless it aided investigations into the Bidens. In a joint statement, the seven House impeachment managers called the report “explosive” and urged Senate Republicans to agree to call Bolton as a witness in Trump’s trial. Bolton has said that he would testify before the Senate if subpoenaed. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tweeted that because of the report that Bolton had firsthand knowledge of Trump’s decision that ran counter to the White House’s account, the “refusal of the Senate to call for him, other relevant witnesses, and documents is now even more indefensible.” (Washington Post / NBC News / Axios / Wall Street Journal)
3/ Senate Republicans have privately discussed a “one-for-one” witness deal. Patrick Toomey has privately spoken with several colleagues – including Mitt Romney – about possibly summoning two witnesses to Trump’s impeachment trial. Romney, Susan Collins, and Lisa Murkowski have previously said they’re open to hearing from Bolton. Following the revelations from Bolton’s unpublished manuscript, Romney and Collins said it’s “increasingly likely” other Republicans will vote to call witnesses. (Washington Post / NBC News / Politico / Bloomberg)
4/ A video made public captures Trump saying he wants to “get rid” of the then-U.S. ambassador to Ukraine during an April 2018 meeting that included Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman. The video, recorded on Fruman’s phone, contradicts Trump’s statements that he didn’t know Parnas or Fruman, who both worked with Rudy Giuliani to push for the ousting of Marie Yovanovitch, who was ultimately removed from her post in April 2019. Trump also asked how long Ukraine would be able to resist Russian aggression without U.S. assistance during the dinner. (New York Times / Associated Press / PBS NewsHour / CNN / BuzzFeed News)
📌 Day 1100: Trump appeared to order two Rudy Giuliani associates to “get rid” of then-US ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch during a dinner in April 2018 at the Trump International Hotel, according to a recording made by Igor Fruman. “Get her out tomorrow. I don’t care. Get her out tomorrow. Take her out. Okay? Do it,” Trump reportedly said of Yovanovitch after being told by Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman that the career foreign service officer was “badmouthing” him in Kiev. Parnas turned over the recording to the House Intelligence Committee. Trump claimed in November that didn’t “know much” about Yovanovitch when he signed off on recalling her from Kiev. Pence defended Trump after the 2018 recording emerged, saying “All of the ambassadors for the United States of America serve at the pleasure of the president of the United States.” (ABC News / New York Times / Daily Beast / Talking Points Memo)
💡 Takeaways from the video of Trump’s private donor dinner. (New York Times)
5/ Trump tweeted that Rep. Adam Schiff has “has not paid the price, yet,” attacking Schiff as “a CORRUPT POLITICIAN, and probably a very sick man.” Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and the lead impeachment manager in the Senate trial, responded by urging Republican senators to find the “moral courage to stand up” to a “wrathful and vindictive president.” (Washington Post / New York Times)
6/ Secretary of State Mike Pompeo abruptly ended an interview with NPR after the reporter asked about the Trump administration’s firing of the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. Immediately after the question on Ukraine, Pompeo glared at Mary Louise Kelly for several seconds before leaving the room. A few moments later, an aide asked Kelly to follow her into Pompeo’s private living room at the State Department without a recorder. Inside the room, Pompeo shouted his displeasure for being questioned about Ukraine, repeatedly used the “f-word,” and challenged Kelly to find Ukraine on an unlabeled map, which she did. Pompeo then said, “People will hear about this.” Pompeo later accused Kelly of lying and being part of an “unhinged” media conspiracy “in a quest to hurt President Trump and this administration.” Email records, however, show Pompeo’s staff was aware that Kelly would ask Pompeo about several topics during the interview – including about Ukraine – and raised no objections. Pompeo never said whether he owed Marie Yovanovitch an apology. (NPR / New York Times / Washington Post / The Guardian)
Trump questioned why NPR exists and appeared to threaten to cut off its federal funding. About 1% of NPR’s annual operating budget consists of “grants from Corporation for Public Broadcasting and federal agencies and departments.” (Mother Jones / The Hill)
Transcript: NPR’s Full Interview With Secretary Of State Mike Pompeo. (NPR)
poll/ 50% of Americans think the Senate should vote to convict and remove Trump, while 44% believe the Senate should not vote to remove Trump from office. (Fox News)
Notables.
The Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to enforce its “public charge” rule, which makes it easier to deny immigrants residency or admission to the country because they have or might use public-assistance programs. (CBS News / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / CNN)
The Trump administration is working to roll back Obama’s efforts to combat racial segregation. Housing secretary Ben Carson has moved to scrap a policy that withholds federal funds from cities if they don’t address segregation, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has proposed cutting back on collecting data that helps track discrimination in the mortgage market. (Politico)
The Veterans of Foreign Wars demanded that Trump apologize for downplaying traumatic brain injuries sustained by U.S. service members in Iraq after Iranian missile strikes on American troops earlier this month. Trump previously said he doesn’t consider potential traumatic brain injuries to be as serious as physical combat wounds, saying some troops “had headaches, and a couple of other things, but I would say, and I can report, it’s not very serious.” (CNN)
Trump’s spiritual adviser called for “all satanic pregnancies to miscarry.” Paula White said she was speaking in metaphor. White recently joined the White House Office of Public Liaison as a religious adviser. (Washington Post)
Obama called Trump a “fascist” in a phone conversation during the 2016 presidential election. The clip of Sen. Tim Kaine recounting the call with Hillary Clinton was caught on camera and appears in an episode of “Hillary,” a four-part documentary series that will be available on Hulu on March 6. (NBC News)
tl;drToday marks the last chance for the Democratic impeachment managers to make their pitch to GOP senators on whether to subpoena new witnesses and documents. Democrats need four Republicans to vote with them in order to call witnesses. Trump’s legal team will also have 24 hours over three days for its opening arguments – starting tomorrow, Monday, and Tuesday. Senators will then get to ask questions. Trump is reportedly “bored” by the impeachment proceedings.
⚡️ Impeachment.wtf – The internet’s most comprehensive guide to the impeachment of Donald J. Trump. Maintained by the WTF community. Updated daily.
1/ House managers used their final day of opening arguments to conclude their presentation on the first article of impeachment, abuse of power. House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff said Trump “did exactly what our framers feared most: He invited foreign interference in our elections and sold out our country’s security for his personal benefit, and betrayed the nation’s trust to a foreign power.” Impeachment manager Jason Crow added that the hold on the aid “wasn’t lifted for any legitimate reason. It was only lifted because President Trump had gotten caught.” Impeachment manager Hakeem Jeffries, using witness testimony from the House proceedings, detailed what he called a “failed” effort to “coverup” Trump’s attempt to “cheat” in the 2020 election. Jeffries said the White House “tried to bury” the summary of Trump’s July 25 call on a secure server because it was politically damaging, adding that the military aid was released only “after the House launched an investigation and after Congress learned about the existence of a whistleblower complaint.”
2/ House managers then moved on to the second article of impeachment, Trump’s alleged obstruction of Congress by directing witnesses not to testify and refusing to allow the release of documents. Impeachment manager Val Demings called Trump’s refusal to cooperate “categorical, indiscriminate and historically unprecedented.” She added that under “Trump’s orders, the Office of the Vice President, the Office of Management and Budget, the Department of State, the Department of Energy, and the Department of Defense all continued to refuse to produce a single document or record in response to 71 specific requests, including five subpoenas.” Further, Demings characterized “Trump’s attacks on whistleblowers and witnesses” who testified the House probe as “witness intimidation.” Impeachment manager Sylvia Garcia added that Trump had “orchestrated a cover-up” in “plain sight” and “should be removed.” Zoe Lofgren, another House impeachment managers, compared Trump to Nixon, saying “Not only did Nixon allow his staff to testify before Congress, he publicly directed them to testify without demanding a subpoena.” And, finally, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler called Trump “a dictator” during his presentation, arguing that Trump is “the first and only president ever to declare himself unaccountable.” In his closing remarks, Schiff warned that a failure to remove Trump for obstructing Congress would inflict “an unending injury to this country” because “the balance of power that our founders set out will never be the same.”
3/ Trump appeared to order two Rudy Giuliani associates to “get rid” of then-US ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch during a dinner in April 2018 at the Trump International Hotel, according to a recording made by Igor Fruman. “Get her out tomorrow. I don’t care. Get her out tomorrow. Take her out. Okay? Do it,” Trump reportedly said of Yovanovitch after being told by Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman that the career foreign service officer was “badmouthing” him in Kiev. Parnas turned over the recording to the House Intelligence Committee. Trump claimed in November that didn’t “know much” about Yovanovitch when he signed off on recalling her from Kiev. Pence defended Trump after the 2018 recording emerged, saying “All of the ambassadors for the United States of America serve at the pleasure of the president of the United States.” (ABC News / New York Times / Daily Beast / Talking Points Memo)
📌 Day 1092: Trump “knew exactly what was going on” in Ukraine, according to Lev Parnas, an associate of Rudy Giuliani. Parnas said Trump was “aware of all my movements. I wouldn’t do anything without the consent of Rudy Giuliani, or the President.” While Parnas never spoke with Trump directly about his efforts to push Ukraine to investigate the Bidens and the 2016 election, he met with Trump on several occasions, and was told by Giuliani that Trump was kept informed about his work. Parnas also said he warned an aide to then-Ukrainian President-elect Volodymyr Zelensky at the direction of Giuliani that the U.S. would halt aid to the country if it didn’t announce investigations that could benefit Trump politically. Parnas also implicated several senior officials in the scheme, including Mike Pence, John Bolton, Devin Nunes, and William Barr. Parnas claimed that Barr “had to have known everything” going on with Ukraine because “Barr was basically on the team.” Parnas also claimed that Pence’s planned trip to attend Zelensky’s inauguration was canceled because the Ukrainians did not agree to the demand for an investigation of the Bidens. (New York Times / NBC News / Politico / CNN / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post)
4/ Trump complained that his impeachment defense “will be forced to start on Saturday,” which he called “Death Valley in T.V.” Saturday’s impeachment session will begin at 10 a.m. and will last for several hours. The White House wanted to present some arguments on Saturday to rebut three days of charges from Democrats and to provide fodder for Sunday shows. Trump’s defense team plans to save the bulk of its arguments for Monday and Tuesday, when viewers will be more tuned in. Trump also complained that it is “wrong” for House managers to use “ALL of their” allotted time for opening arguments. (Reuters / Politico / NBC News)
Witness testimony could hinge on Sen. Lamar Alexander, a retiring Republican senator who said it was “inappropriate” for Trump to ask foreign governments to investigate his political opponents. Three other GOP senators have expressed some level of support for calling witnesses, and if they joined all Democrats, the result would be a 50-50 tie. While Alexander has expressed no indication of how he will vote, both parties see him as a wild card and possible tie-breaker. (Politico)
Sen. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said a so-called witness exchange with Republicans involving Hunter Biden is “off the table.” Schumer also criticized Republicans for not calling witnesses. (Reuters)
5/ Trump tweeted 54 times before noon, criticizing Democrats and the impeachment process. “The Do Nothing Democrats just keep repeating and repeating, over and over again, the same old ‘stuff’ on the Impeachment Hoax,” Trump tweeted at one point. (CNN)
poll/ 47% of Americans say the Senate should remove Trump from office and 49% saying they should not. 44% of Americans approve of Trump’s overall job performance and 51% disapprove. (Washington Post)
poll/ 66% of Americans say the Senate should call new witnesses to testify at the impeachment trial, while 27% say the Senate should not. (ABC News)
Notables.
The Pentagon said 34 U.S. service members were diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries after the Iranian ballistic missile attack in Iraq this month. Trump previously claimed that no U.S. troops were harmed and later downplayed the significance of the brain injuries, saying “I heard that they had headaches.” (CNN / Bloomberg / Politico / Washington Post)
The Trump administration threatened to cut off some federal funds to California unless it drops a state requirement that insurers cover abortion. The administration says the policy violates a federal law banning government entities that receive federal money from the Department of Health and Human Services from discriminating against healthcare organizations because they don’t provide abortion or abortion coverage. HHS is giving California 30 days to comply or face the loss of unspecified funds. (Politico / Wall Street Journal)
Trump’s re-election campaign threatened the nonpartisan presidential debate commission that Trump may not participate if the process is not “fair.” Trump’s campaign manager, Brad Parscale, campaign operating officer, Michael Glassner, complained to Frank Fahrenkopf, the co-chairman of the Commission on Presidential Debates, that the board of directors and moderators were all against the president. Trump privately told advisers that because his television ratings are so high, he can exert more control over the debates. (Washington Post)
Trump’s Senate Impeachment Trial: Senators reconvened in the Capitol for the third day of Trump’s impeachment trial with House impeachment managers making their case to both senators and the American people that Trump abused his power by pressuring Ukraine for his own personal gain while hurting the national interest. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said “The charges set forth in the first article of impeachment are firmly grounded in the Constitution of the United States,” and that “No president has ever used his office to compel a foreign nation to help him cheat in our elections.” House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff added that Trump “is a president who truly feels that he can do whatever he wants.” Schiff concluded the day by urging senators to asked whether they believed that Trump would put the nation’s interests before his own, saying “If you find him guilty, you must find that he should be removed. Because right matters. Because the truth matters. Otherwise, we are lost.” Democrats have used their 24 hours of opening arguments to target a small group of Senate Republicans they hope will cross the aisle and vote with them to issue subpoenas for documents and witnesses. Sens. Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, and Mitt Romney have hinted they could be open to the possibility of calling witnesses. Trump, meanwhile, is reportedly “very pleased” with how the trial is going and is eager to prove “he’s done nothing wrong.” (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Politico / Bloomberg / CNN)
⚡️ Impeachment.wtf – The internet’s most comprehensive guide to the impeachment of Donald J. Trump. Maintained by the WTF community. Updated daily.
Senate Democrats called on the White House to declassify a letter from a national security aide to Mike Pence related to Pence’s Sept. 18 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. House Democrats asked Pence to declassify the letter from Pence aide Jennifer Williams last month. He declined, claiming it “serves no purpose.” Schiff has indicated the letter “corroborates” other testimony in the impeachment inquiry. (Politico)
Senate Democrats believe acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney is the “most important” potential witness in Trump’s trial. A procedural vote on whether to subpoena new witnesses and documents is scheduled for next week. (Politico)
Republican Sen. Richard Burr handed out fidget spinners to his GOP colleagues. (NBC News)
Trump, comparing his impeachment to Clinton’s, said the difference is that “with me, there’s no lying” – and then he made at least 14 false claims related to impeachment and Ukraine. (CNN)
Three House impeachment managers said the American public will view it as a “rigged trial” if the Senate votes to acquit Trump. Democratic Reps. Zoe Lofgren, Sylvia Garcia, and Val Demings also spoke about the need for witnesses in the trial, adding that even an acquittal won’t amount to an exoneration of Trump. (NBC News)
Senators are considering a short, morning-only impeachment trial session on Saturday to hear the beginning of the opening arguments from Trump’s defense counsel and then allowing senators to leave town for the weekend.
The Senate impeachment trial could end by next Thursday or Friday if the White House decides not to use its full 24 hours for opening arguments.
💬 Impeachment Quotables:
Trump floated a “very specific conspiracy theory” that it was Ukraine, not Russia, that hacked the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s campaign in 2016. “This theory was brought to you by the Kremlin.” –House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff
White House lawyers will not include “a refutation of the evidence,” but instead focus on complaints about process and the managers’ motives. –House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler
“No president has abused his power in this way.” –Nadler
Trump’s conduct “puts even Nixon to shame.” –Nadler
“It wasn’t until Biden began beating him in polls that [Trump] called for the investigation,” adding that Trump “had the motive, he had the opportunity and the means to commit this abuse of power.” –Impeachment manager Rep. Sylvia Garcia
“Acquittal will have zero value” for Trump without witnesses. –Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer
Senators who don’t want to hear from witnesses are “afraid of the truth.” –Schumer
Trump wasn’t “bragging” about obstructing Congress when he told reporters “we have all the material. They don’t have the material.” –White House spokesman Hogan Gidley
✏️ Notables.
1/ The Trump administration will strip federal pollution protections for rivers, streams, and wetlands. The new rule, which replaces the Obama administration’s “Waters of the United States” regulation, will remove protections from more than half the nation’s wetlands, as well as hundreds of thousands of small waterways. It also allows landowners and property developers to dump pollutants, such as pesticides and fertilizers directly into many of those waterways — or to destroy or fill in wetlands for construction projects. A government advisory board of scientists, many of whom were appointed by Trump, wrote last month that the new rule “neglects established science.” (New York Times / The Guardian / NPR / Axios)
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin criticized 17-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg, saying that “After she goes and studies economics in college, she can come back and explain [her call for a complete divestment from the fossil fuel industry].” In response, Thunberg said that “it doesn’t take a college degree in economics” to understand ongoing fossil fuel subsidies and our remaining carbon budget “don’t add up.” (CNBC / The Guardian / New York Times / Washington Post)
2/ The Director of National Intelligence failed to turn over a report to Congress on the killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. In December, lawmakers passed the National Defense Authorization Act, which Trump signed into law on Dec. 20. The bill included a provision ordering Joseph Maguire, the acting director of national intelligence, to send the unclassified report identifying those responsible for Khashoggi’s death at a Saudi Arabian consulate in 2018 to four congressional committees: the House Foreign Affairs and Intelligence committees, and the Senate Foreign Relations and Intelligence committees. The legislation set the deadline for the report at 30 days, which passed earlier this week. (BuzzFeed News)
📌 Day 1098: Jeff Bezos had his mobile phone “hacked” in 2018 after receiving a WhatsApp message from the personal account of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. A digital forensic analysis found it “highly probable” that an unsolicited video sent on May 1 by Crown Prince Mohammed infected Bezos’s phone with spyware that enabled surveillance. United Nations human rights experts suggested the hack was an attempt to “influence, if not silence” news coverage of the kingdom by the Washington Post, which Bezos owns. Six months after the hack, Jamal Khashoggi, a columnist for the Washington Post, was murdered after criticizing the Saudi crown prince in his columns. The CIA concluded that MBS had personally ordered the assassination. Weeks after the murder, Bezos received a message from MBS that included a photo of a woman who strongly resembled Lauren Sanchez, who Bezos was having an affair that had not been made public. In Feb. 2019, the National Enquirer obtained and published private text messages and photos from Bezos’s phone showing that he was engaged in an extramarital relationship. The United Nations called on the U.S. and “other relevant authorities” to open an investigation into the hack of Bezos’s phone, citing a pattern of similar surveillance of perceived critics of the Saudi government. Trump and Jared Kushner have maintained close ties with the crown prince despite international outcry over Khashoggi’s death and the assessment by Trump’s own intelligence services that the crown prince was likely involved. (The Guardian / New York Times / TechCrunch / Wall Street Journal /Daily Beast / Washington Post / The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights)
3/ Trump will become the first sitting president to attend and address the anti-abortion March for Life, an annual anti-abortion event in Washington. In 2017, Pence became the first sitting vice president to attend the event, and in 2018, Trump became the first president to address the rally by video. In his speech, Trump vowed that his administration would “always defend the very first right in the Declaration of Independence, and that is the right to life.” (Bloomberg / New York Times / CNN)
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos compared the abortion rights debate to slavery, saying President Abraham Lincoln “contended with the ‘pro-choice’ arguments of his day. They suggested that a state’s ‘choice’ to be slave or to be free had no moral question in it.” (Politico)
4/ Trump said he doesn’t consider concussion symptoms reported by American troops to be “very serious injuries,” suggesting they were just “headaches.” Following the Iranian airstrikes on Al Asad Air Base in Iraq, the Pentagon put a number of service members through medical examinations for possible traumatic brain injuries. (New York Times)
5/ Room rates at the Trump National Doral more than doubled just before the White House announced that Trump would address the Republican National Committee’s winter meeting. The rates raised from from $254 to $539, which is slightly below the maximum per-night rate federal government rules permit for a hotel in South Florida, and is triple the normal “per diem” rate employees are supposed to follow. (HuffPost)
1/ House Democratic managers began formal arguments in Trump’s Senate impeachment trial, presenting the case for convicting Trump and removing him from office on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. During opening arguments, House managers outlined how “Trump solicited foreign inference” to “cheat” by abusing “the powers of his office” and “seeking help from abroad to improve his reelection prospects at home.” And, when Trump “was caught, he used the powers of that office to obstruct the investigation into his own misconduct.” Rep. Adam Schiff, the lead impeachment manager and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, called Trump’s efforts to get a foreign government to announce an investigation into his political rival “a gross abuse of power,” urging Republicans to “protect our democracy” by joining Democrats in voting to remove Trump from office. Throughout the day, Schiff and impeachment managers methodically outlined Trump’s “corrupt scheme and cover-up,” calling on Senators to “decide what kind of democracy […] we ought to be” and what Americans can expect “in the conduct of their president.” Schiff closed the day by rehashing the facts of the case as presented over the last eight hours, urging senators to learn the “full truth” and warning that the “truth is going to come out.” (Associated Press / New York Times / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Politico / Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / CNN / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / Politico / The Guardian)
WHAT’S NEXT: Starting at 1 p.m. on Thursday, the Senate will meet again to hear House managers present their arguments for why Trump should be removed from office. The managers will present their case for about eight hours.
READ: Adam Schiff’s opening argument at Senate impeachment trial. (Politico)
Trump tweeted more than 140 times as House managers presented their case in his impeachment trial, surpassing his mid-December record for the most daily tweets and retweets during his presidency. (Politico)
2/ Trump said he’s open to new witnesses at his impeachment trial, before immediately backtracking. At a news conference in Davos, Trump suggested he’d prefer his impeachment trial to go the “long way” with testimony from a “a lot of people,” including former national security adviser John Bolton, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former Energy Secretary Rick Perry, and his acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney. Trump then dismissed the idea, saying it could never happen because it would create “a national security problem” and that testimony by Bolton in particular could hurt his presidency, because “you don’t want someone testifying who didn’t leave on the best of terms.” The White House instructed many witnesses, including Bolton, not to testify in the House inquiry. (Politico / NPR / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal)
Trump “bragged” about withholding materials from Congress during a news conference at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, saying “we have all the material. They don’t have the material.” One of the articles of impeachment the House approved was obstruction of Congress, based partly on the administration’s refusal to provide documents or allow certain officials to testify. (Rolling Stone / CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / Vox)
Chuck Schumer said an impeachment witness trade is “off the table.” Some Senate Democrats had privately discussed trading the testimony of Hunter Biden for the testimony of John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser. (NBC News / New York Times)
3/ The Office of Management and Budget released 192 pages of documents related to the withholding of Ukraine military aid, “including records that have not been produced to Congress in its impeachment investigation.” The night before Trump’s July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy, emails show that OMB officials shared a “Ukraine Prep Memo” with Michael Duffey, a political appointee who played a role in Trump’s move to freeze the aid. That same evening, it appears the general counsel’s office prepared a footnote for budget officials – a mechanism officials at the budget office used to pause the funding. The documents also detail communications between Duffey and other OMB aides, including Mark Sandy and Paul Denaro, discussing the details on the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative in the emails — dated from early August to Sept. 30. Emails from acting OMB Director Russell Vought are also included. (American Oversight / CNN / Axios / New York Times / NBC News / The Hill)
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will visit Ukraine next week. Pompeo canceled a previously planned trip to Ukraine in early January amid escalating tensions between the U.S. and Iran. During the previous plan, Pompeo was scheduled to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy. (CNBC)
poll/ 68% of Americans think Trump should allow his top administration aides to appear as witnesses at the impeachment trial, while 30% think he shouldn’t allow his aides to appear witnesses. (Associated Press)
poll/ 51% of Americans want the Senate impeachment trial to result in Trump’s removal from office, while 46% say the result should lead to Trump remaining in office. (Pew Research Center)
Notables.
The District of Columbia is suing Trump’s inaugural committee and business, alleging that the committee violated its nonprofit status by spending more than $1 million to book a ballroom at the the Trump International Hotel – over the objections of its event planner – that its staff knew was overpriced. (ABC News / Washington Post)
Jeff Bezos had his mobile phone “hacked” in 2018 after receiving a WhatsApp message from the personal account of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. A digital forensic analysis found it “highly probable” that an unsolicited video sent on May 1 by Crown Prince Mohammed infected Bezos’s phone with spyware that enabled surveillance. United Nations human rights experts suggested the hack was an attempt to “influence, if not silence” news coverage of the kingdom by the Washington Post, which Bezos owns. Six months after the hack, Jamal Khashoggi, a columnist for the Washington Post, was murdered after criticizing the Saudi crown prince in his columns. The CIA concluded that MBS had personally ordered the assassination. Weeks after the murder, Bezos received a message from MBS that included a photo of a woman who strongly resembled Lauren Sanchez, who Bezos was having an affair that had not been made public. In Feb. 2019, the National Enquirer obtained and published private text messages and photos from Bezos’s phone showing that he was engaged in an extramarital relationship. The United Nations called on the U.S. and “other relevant authorities” to open an investigation into the hack of Bezos’s phone, citing a pattern of similar surveillance of perceived critics of the Saudi government. Trump and Jared Kushner have maintained close ties with the crown prince despite international outcry over Khashoggi’s death and the assessment by Trump’s own intelligence services that the crown prince was likely involved. (The Guardian / New York Times / TechCrunch / Wall Street Journal / Daily Beast / Washington Post / The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights)
Trump demanded that Apple unlock iPhones for investigators in criminal cases, complaining that Apple has refused to build a “backdoor” that would give law enforcement access to the devices. Yesterday, the Department of Justice and Attorney General William Barr criticized Apple for a lack of “substantive help” in its investigation of a shooting at a Florida Naval base. In a statement, Apple said it provided information to law enforcement related to the Pensacola case but that it would not build a “backdoor” or specialized software. (CNBC / CNET / USA Today)
Trump claimed that U.S. economic growth would be closer to 4% if it weren’t for the Federal Reserve. Trump called the rate hikes “a big blip that should not have taken place,” and said the stock market would be even higher — “I could see 5,000 to 10,000 points more on the Dow” — if the Fed hadn’t raised rates so quickly before cutting them three times in 2019. (CNBC)
The State Department imposed visa restrictions for pregnant foreign women in an effort to restrict “birth tourism,” in which women travel to the U.S. to give birth so their children can have a U.S. passport. (NBC News / New York Times / Politico / Wall Street Journal)
1/ The first day of Trump’s impeachment trial began with more than 12 hours of contentious debate over the procedural rules that will guide the proceedings as senators repeatedly voted along party lines to reject efforts to subpoena new witnesses. Senate Republicans rejected 11 Democratic amendments to subpoena records from the White House, State Department, Defense Department, and the Office of Management and Budget related to Ukraine, which the White House blocked during the House inquiry. Senate Republicans also blocked amendments to issue subpoenas for testimony from John Bolton, the former national security adviser, Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, Michael Duffey, a White House budget office official, and Robert Blair, a Mulvaney adviser who was involved in the decision to freeze military aid to Ukraine. Even an attempt to make a deal to shorten debate was rejected. At one point, Chief Justice John Roberts admonished the prosecutors and the White House legal team for the quality of their discourse, warning them about using inappropriate language. The Senate adopted Mitch McConnell’s proposed rules for Trump’s impeachment trial after more than 12 hours of debate and discussion over the rules. (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Politico / NBC News / The Guardian / Axios / CNN / CBS News / ABC News)
2/ Mitch McConnell made last-minute, handwritten changes to the proposed impeachment trial rules following criticism from Democrats and key Republicans. McConnell initially circulated the proposed organizing resolution late Monday night, which would have provided House impeachment managers and Trump’s legal team each 24 hours over two days to make their opening arguments. McConnell’s proposal would have also put the decision of whether to admit the House evidence to a Senate vote. Following complaints from lawmakers, however, McConnell revised the resolution, instead giving House prosecutors and White House lawyers each 24 hours over three days to present their opening arguments, as well as a provision to automatically enter evidence collected during the House impeachment inquiry. The change means the trial days, which start at 1 p.m., will likely now conclude daily around 9 p.m. – instead of after midnight. The condensed timeline also raises the prospect that the trial will conclude before Trump’s Feb. 4 State of the Union address. (CNN / NPR / NBC News / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / Associated Press)
3/ Speaker Nancy Pelosi called Mitch McConnell’s proposed rules for the impeachment trial a “sham” that is “deliberately designed to hide the truth,” saying McConnell “has chosen a cover-up” with a “dark of night impeachment trial.” McConnell initially pledged to conform to the same standard the Senate used during Clinton’s 1999 impeachment trial. The impeachment managers, however, said McConnell’s proposal “deviates sharply from the Clinton precedent — and common sense — in an effort to prevent the full truth of the president’s misconduct from coming to light.” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, meanwhile, called the proposal “appalling” and accused McConnell of seeking to turn the trial into “a farce” and a “national disgrace.” (NBC News / Axios / The Hill / Daily Beast / Washington Post / The Guardian)
READ: Pelosi’s statement on McConnell’s resolution (Speaker.gov)
4/ Trump’s defense team and Senate Republican allies plan to block witnesses from testifying in public if Democrats manage to persuade four GOP lawmakers to break ranks. One option being discussed would be to move witnesses testimony, including potential testimony by former national security adviser John Bolton, to a classified setting for national security reasons. Trump has also previously said he would assert executive privilege if Bolton were called to testify, and the White House has indicated that it could appeal to federal courts for an injunction to stop Bolton if he refuses to go along with their instructions. (Washington Post / NBC News)
The White House appointed several prominent House Republicans to advise Trump’s impeachment defense team ahead of the Senate trial, which begins today. Reps. Jim Jordan, John Ratcliffe, Mike Johnson, Mark Meadows, Debbie Lesko, Lee Zeldin, Elise Stefanik, and Doug Collins have been tapped to help Trump with the trial. Republicans in the Senate warned against the appointments, saying that it would cast the Senate trail in a partisan light. (The Hill)
poll/ 57% of Americans say House managers should be able to introduce new evidence in Trump’s Senate impeachment trial. Another 37% say that the managers should be limited to sharing only what was revealed during the initial impeachment inquiry. (Monmouth University Poll)
poll/ 51% of Americans say Trump has encouraged interference in U.S. elections. 41% say the U.S. is not prepared to keep the 2020 election safe and secure from outside interference. (NPR)
poll/ Eighty-two percentage points separated Republicans’ (89%) and Democrats’ (7%) average job approval ratings of Trump in 2019 – the largest degree of political polarization in any presidential year. (Gallup)
Where is Trump? At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, repeatedly calling the impeachment trial a “total hoax” and touting his economic achievements, which what he described as a “blue-collar boom.” Trump called the impeachment trial “disgraceful” before insisting “I’m sure it is going to work out fine.” (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Washington Post)
Notables.
The Trump administration plans to add seven countries to its travel ban list – three years after its original order, which targeted several majority-Muslim nations. A draft being considered would place immigration restrictions on people from Belarus, Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Nigeria, Sudan, and Tanzania, but not necessarily ban all citizens from entering the United States. Some countries could face bans only on some visa categories. (Politico / Wall Street Journal / Reuters)
The Supreme Court declined to expedite a legal challenge that could kill the Affordable Care Act, likely pushing the issue until after the presidential election. A coalition of states and the House of Representatives had asked the court to fast-track their appeal after the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the ACA’s individual mandate is unconstitutional. (Politico / Wall Street Journal / The Hill)
Lev Parnas asked Attorney General William Barr to recuse himself and appoint a special prosecutor to oversee the investigation. Parnas has been charged with federal campaign finance violations in New York and was also part of the team that helped Giuliani pressure Ukraine to investigate Biden. Parnas claimed Barr “had to have known everything” about the effort and that he was “basically on the team,” rendering Barr unable to fairly prosecute the case against Parnas. (NBC News)
Trump – again – threatened to impose tariffs on European automobiles if he can’t strike what he called “a fair deal.” Trump, however, declined to set a public deadline, instead saying “They know what the deadline is.” A previous deadline for auto tariffs lapsed on Nov. 13, 2019. (Wall Street Journal / CNBC)
1/ Trump’s legal team called on the Senate to “swiftly reject” the “flimsy” impeachment charges against Trump and that he “should immediately be acquitted” because of a “rigged process” by House Democrats. In a 110-page brief submitted to the Senate the day before Trump’s trial begins, Trump’s lawyer dismissed the two articles of impeachment – abuse of power and obstruction of Congress – against Trump as a “charade” that is “frivolous and dangerous,” claiming the charges are “constitutionally invalid” and “deficient on their face” because they don’t involve any violations of law. The legal team maintained that Trump did “absolutely nothing wrong” and is the victim of a “brazenly political act by House Democrats.” The brief came after the seven House managers argued that Trump’s behavior amounted to “the Framers’ worst nightmare” and that his actions present a “danger to our democratic processes.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Politico / Associated Press / Bloomberg / Axios / CNN)
👉 The Senate impeachment trial is set to begin tomorrow with Republicans and Democrats setting the rules for the trial. The trial will start Tuesday at 1 p.m. ET, running six days a week, and ending daily between 5 p.m. or 6 p.m. ET. (CNN)
Mitch McConnell is preparing a resolution that would give Trump’s lawyers the option to move to dismiss the impeachment charges. However, Republican Senate leaders – including McConnell – have already said members aren’t interested in a vote to dismiss. (Axios)
READ: The 110-page legal brief outlining Trump’s defense ahead of his impeachment trial in the Senate. (NBC News)
2/ House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff accused the White House of pressuring the NSA and CIA of withholding documents about Ukraine from Congress. “The NSA in particular is withholding what are potentially relevant documents to our oversight responsibilities on Ukraine, but also withholding documents potentially relevant that the senators might want to see during the trial,” Schiff said, adding that there “are signs that the CIA may be on the same tragic course.” An Intelligence Committee official later confirmed that “Both the NSA and CIA initially pledged cooperation, and it appears now that the White House has interceded before production of documents could begin.” (Politico / New York Times / CNN)
3/ House Democrats released a third set of documents from Lev Parnas showing Devin Nunes was involved in efforts to dig up dirt in Ukraine on Biden. The text messages between Parnas and Derek Harvey, an aide to Nunes, indicate Nunes’s office was aware of the months-long effort directed by Trump and Rudy Giuliani to obtain information from Ukrainian prosecutors that would be damaging to Biden. Nunes initially denied knowing Parnas but has since admitted that the two had spoken after phone records showed several calls between the two. The documents also included screenshots of text messages that appear to show Robert Hyde, a Republican congressional candidate in Connecticut, messaging with a number from Belgium, describing the apparent surveillance of former U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch. (Associated Press / Washington Post / CNN)
📌 Day 1091: Rudy Giuliani requested a private meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky – then the president-elect of Ukraine – with Trump’s “knowledge and consent,” according to new documents released by House Democrats. The documents contains several handwritten notes, emails, encrypted messages, and text messages that show how Giuliani associate, Lev Parnas, tried to set up a meeting between Giuliani and Zelensky, as well as efforts to “Get Zelensky to announce that the Biden case will be investigated.” The documents also show that before Marie Yovanovitch, the then-U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, was removed from her post, a Parnas associate now running for Congress sent menacing text messages suggesting that he had Yovanovitch under surveillance in Ukraine. Democrats said the new records “demonstrate that there is more evidence relevant to the president’s scheme” that has “been concealed by the president himself.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / CNN/NBC News / CNBC / Wall Street Journal)
📌 Day 1092: Ukraine opened a criminal investigation into alleged illegal surveillance of former U.S. ambassador Marie Yovanovitch by Parnas. Ukraine’s interior ministry announced the investigation citing the documents released by House Democrats, which included several WhatsApp messages between Parnas and Robert Hyde, a Connecticut Republican who is running for a seat in Congress, that discussed monitoring Yovanovitch’s physical movements and electronic devices. (Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg / Politico / BuzzFeed News)
poll/ 51% of Americans say the Senate should vote to convict Trump and remove him from office, while 45% say the Senate should vote against conviction and removal. 69% say that the trial should include testimony from new witnesses who did not testify in the House impeachment inquiry. (CNN)
Notables.
Trump recounted the minute-by-minute details of the U.S. strike that killed Iranian Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani during remarks to Republican donors at Mar-a-Lago. Trump claimed that Soleimani was “saying bad things about our country” before the strike, which led to his decision to authorize his killing. Trump didn’t, however, describe an “imminent threat” to U.S. interests or four U.S. embassies – the justifications used by administration officials following the attack. Instead, Trump described Soleimani as a “noted terrorist” who was “the father of the roadside bomb” responsible for “every young, beautiful man or woman who you see walking around with no legs, no arms.” (Washington Post / CNN)
The U.S. intelligence community is trying to persuade House and Senate lawmakers to drop the public portion of a briefing on global security threats so agency chiefs aren’t on-camera disagreeing with Trump on Iran, Russia, or North Korea. Last year’s session provoked an angry outburst from Trump. (Politico)
The White House official responsible for Russia and Europe policy was put on indefinite administrative leave pending a “security-related investigation.” Andrew Peek, the third person to occupy the job in the last year, was escorted off the White House grounds on Friday. (Axios / NBC News / CNN / Washington Post)
Trump’s third homeland security and counter-terrorism adviser is expected to be reassigned after about six months in the job. Rear Admiral Peter Brown is likely to take on a new role overseeing Puerto Rico’s recovery from hurricane damage and recent earthquakes. (Bloomberg)
Trump lashed out at Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar after polling showed the public trusts Democrats more than Republicans on health care and drug pricing. During a meeting with his political affairs team, Trump made an impromptu call to Azar, saying he regrets getting involved in that “fucking vaping thing” and that Azar is “not getting it done” and needs to “hurry up” on getting drug prices lowered. (Axios / Politico / Washington Post)
The National Archives blurred signs held by protesters during the 2017 Women’s March that were critical of Trump. The Archives said the decision to obscure the words was “so as not to engage in current political controversy.” The photograph is part of an exhibit celebrating the centennial of women’s suffrage. (Washington Post / New York Times)
Trump made 81 false claims last week and – three years after taking the oath of office – has made 16,241 false or misleading claims. In 2017, Trump made 1,999 false or misleading claims. In 2018, he made 5,689 more, for a total of 7,688. And in 2019, he made 8,155 false claims. (CNN / Washington Post)
👋 Today marks the start of Season Four of the Trump administration. I started this as a personal project to keep track of what was going on while becoming a better consumer of political news. It quickly turned into my full-time job, because, as it turns out, a lot of other people also wanted to be better news consumers. So this is my full-time job and I plan to keep doing this for as long as you keep supporting me. So, if you find my work valuable, please consider becoming a supporting member so I can continue to tell you wtf just happened today. –MATT
1/ Trump added celebrity lawyer Alan Dershowitz and former independent counsel Ken Starr to his Senate impeachment trial defense team. Starr investigated Bill Clinton, and Dershowitz’s past clients include Jeffrey Epstein and O.J. Simpson. The team will be led by White House counsel Pat Cipollone, Trump’s personal lawyer, Jay Sekulow, and Starr’s successor at the Office of Independent Counsel during the Clinton administration, Robert Ray. Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi and Trump’s longtime personal counsel Jane Raskin will also supplement the impeachment team. (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Politico / NBC News / Axios)
2/ Secretary of State Mike Pompeo publicly committed to investigate allegations of surveillance of former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, saying he believed the allegations would “ultimately prove wrong” but that he had an obligation to investigate the matter. Pompeo’s comments came more than 48 hours after evidence emerged that Yovanovitch was under surveillance and possibly threatened by associates of Lev Parnas – and more than 24 hours after Ukraine announced its own investigation into the matter. Pompeo added that “to the best of my recollection” he “had never heard of this at all.” (Associated Press / New York Times / CNN / Bloomberg)
📌 Day 1091: Rudy Giuliani requested a private meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky – then the president-elect of Ukraine – with Trump’s “knowledge and consent,” according to new documents released by House Democrats. The documents contains several handwritten notes, emails, encrypted messages, and text messages that show how Giuliani associate, Lev Parnas, tried to set up a meeting between Giuliani and Zelensky, as well as efforts to “Get Zelensky to announce that the Biden case will be investigated.” The documents also show that before Marie Yovanovitch, the then-U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, was removed from her post, a Parnas associate now running for Congress sent menacing text messages suggesting that he had Yovanovitch under surveillance in Ukraine. Democrats said the new records “demonstrate that there is more evidence relevant to the president’s scheme” that has “been concealed by the president himself.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / CNN/NBC News / CNBC / Wall Street Journal)
📌 Day 1092: Ukraine opened a criminal investigation into alleged illegal surveillance of former U.S. ambassador Marie Yovanovitch by Parnas. Ukraine’s interior ministry announced the investigation citing the documents released by House Democrats, which included several WhatsApp messages between Parnas and Robert Hyde, a Connecticut Republican who is running for a seat in Congress, that discussed monitoring Yovanovitch’s physical movements and electronic devices. (Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg / Politico / BuzzFeed News)
Lev Parnas claimed that Trump ordered the firing of U.S. ambassador to Ukraine “at least four or five times” before her recall was publicly announced in April. Parnas also said Trump once tried to fire Yovanovitch at a dinner in a private area of a Trump hotel. (NBC News)
3/ The Trump administration proposed rolling back school nutrition standards, allowing schools to cut the amount of vegetables and fruits required at lunch and breakfasts while giving them the ability to sell more pizza, burgers, and fries to students. The stricter nutritional standards for school meals were former first lady Michelle Obama’s signature achievement. The proposal was announced on her birthday. (New York Times / Washington Post)
4/ The Trump administration is exploring making changes to an anti-bribery law. Trump has reportedly complained about a 1977 law that makes it illegal for U.S. companies to bribe foreign officials. “It’s just so unfair that American companies aren’t allowed to pay bribes to get business overseas,” Trump said. “We’re going to change that.” (Bloomberg / The Hill)
5/ Eleven U.S. military service members were treated for concussions as a result of the Iranian missile strikes against the Iraqi bases where they were stationed. The report from U.S. Central Command contradicts earlier statements by Trump that there were no American casualties in the Jan. 8 attack. The injured troops were taken to military sites in Germany and Kuwait to undergo screening and treatment. They’re expected to return to Iraq once they are “deemed fit for duty.” (New York Times / NBC News / CNN)
6/ Trump reportedly called his top military officials “losers” and “a bunch of dopes and babies” during a July 2017 meeting at the Pentagon, according to the new book A Very Stable Genius: Donald J. Trump’s Testing of America. Trump told the assembled brass he “wouldn’t go to war with you people” because “You don’t know how to win anymore.” After Trump walked out, then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called Trump a “fucking moron.” (Washington Post / Military Times)
poll/ 83% of black Americans describe Trump as a racist. 65% of African Americans say it’s a “bad time” to be a black person in America. (Washington Post)
1/ The Senate opened the impeachment trial of Trump – the third presidential impeachment trial in history – with the swearing in of senators and the presentation of the two charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Chief Justice John Roberts, who will preside over the trial, administered the oath to “do impartial justice” to all senators in the chamber. The Senate also issued a formal summons for Trump, informing him of the charges and inviting him to respond by Saturday evening. The Senate will now recess the trial until Tuesday, Jan. 21. A two-thirds vote is required to remove Trump from office, meaning 20 Republican senators would need to break ranks. Trump, meanwhile, tweeted: “I JUST GOT IMPEACHED FOR MAKING A PERFECT PHONE CALL!” (New York Times / Politico / Washington Post / CNN / Wall Street Journal / The Guardian)
Chuck Schumer said he will try to force a vote on whether to call witnesses in Trump’s Senate impeachment trial. Democrats want to call acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, former National Security Advisor John Bolton and two other White House officials, and also are seeking documents the White House has withheld. Schumer added that the disclosures by Lev Parnas raised “serious questions.” (Bloomberg)
2/ Trump “knew exactly what was going on” in Ukraine, according to Lev Parnas, an associate of Rudy Giuliani. Parnas said Trump was “aware of all my movements. I wouldn’t do anything without the consent of Rudy Giuliani, or the President.” While Parnas never spoke with Trump directly about his efforts to push Ukraine to investigate the Bidens and the 2016 election, he met with Trump on several occasions, and was told by Giuliani that Trump was kept informed about his work. Parnas also said he warned an aide to then-Ukrainian President-elect Volodymyr Zelensky at the direction of Giuliani that the U.S. would halt aid to the country if it didn’t announce investigations that could benefit Trump politically. Parnas also implicated several senior officials in the scheme, including Mike Pence, John Bolton, Devin Nunes, and William Barr. Parnas claimed that Barr “had to have known everything” going on with Ukraine because “Barr was basically on the team.” Parnas also claimed that Pence’s planned trip to attend Zelensky’s inauguration was canceled because the Ukrainians did not agree to the demand for an investigation of the Bidens. (New York Times / NBC News / Politico / CNN / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post)
Democrats released more evidence obtained from Parnas, including voicemails, photos, and text messages between him and high-level Trump associates, including a top official at the pro-Trump super PAC America First Action. The previously undisclosed documents, released by the House Intelligence Committee, show Parnas directly involved with efforts to get the Ukrainian president to announce investigations related to Biden. (Politico / Washington Post)
Ukraine opened a criminal investigation into alleged illegal surveillance of former U.S. ambassador Marie Yovanovitch by Parnas. Ukraine’s interior ministry announced the investigation citing the documents released by House Democrats, which included several WhatsApp messages between Parnas and Robert Hyde, a Connecticut Republican who is running for a seat in Congress, that discussed monitoring Yovanovitch’s physical movements and electronic devices. (Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg / Politico / BuzzFeed News)
FBI investigators visited both the home and business of Robert Hyde. The visit comes days after the House Intelligence Committee released texts Hyde sent Parnas suggesting he was surveilling then-U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch. (NBC News / CNN)
Trump threatened to withhold more than just military aid from Ukraine if Zelesnky refused to announce investigations into the Bidens. “The message was: It wasn’t just military aid,” Parnas said. “It was all aid.” Parnas also said that Trump’s efforts in Ukraine were “never about corruption,” they were “strictly about Burisma, which included Hunter Biden and Joe Biden.” (MSNBC / NBC News / The Hill)
Takeaways from Parnas’ interview with Rachel Maddow. A day after the House published evidence provided by Parnas for the Senate impeachment trial, Parnas unveiled his take on what has been going on behind the scenes with the White House’s Ukraine policy. (The Hill / Washington Post)
3/ Trump denied knowing Parnas while also dismissing a photo of himself with the Giuliani associate as just one of “thousands” he’s taken with his supporters. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said: “I don’t know him at all, don’t know what he’s about, don’t know where he comes from, know nothing about him.” Trump added: “Perhaps he’s a fine man. Perhaps he’s not.” Trump also claimed he knew nothing about a letter in which Giuliani told Zelensky he was seeking a meeting with the Ukranian president with Trump’s “knowledge and consent.” (Washington Post / Bloomberg)
📌 Day 1091: Rudy Giuliani requested a private meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky – then the president-elect of Ukraine – with Trump’s “knowledge and consent,” according to new documents released by House Democrats. The documents contains several handwritten notes, emails, encrypted messages, and text messages that show how Giuliani associate, Lev Parnas, tried to set up a meeting between Giuliani and Zelensky, as well as efforts to “Get Zelensky to announce that the Biden case will be investigated.” The documents also show that before Marie Yovanovitch, the then-U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, was removed from her post, a Parnas associate now running for Congress sent menacing text messages suggesting that he had Yovanovitch under surveillance in Ukraine. Democrats said the new records “demonstrate that there is more evidence relevant to the president’s scheme” that has “been concealed by the president himself.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / CNN / NBC News / CNBC / Wall Street Journal)
4/ The Trump administration violated the law when it froze military aid to Ukraine, according to a nonpartisan congressional watchdog. The Government Accountability Office said the White House budget office violated the Impoundment Control Act when it withheld funds that had been appropriated by Congress for a “policy reason.” The Office of Management and Budget claimed it “withheld the funds to ensure that they were not spent ‘in a manner that could conflict with the President’s foreign policy.’” The GAO, however, rejected the argument, saying “Faithful execution of the law does not permit the President to substitute his own policy priorities for those that Congress has enacted into law.” (Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / NBC News / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal)
READ: GAO concludes OMB violated law in withholding Ukraine aid. (CNN)
6/ Trump’s 2017 tax cuts are being investigated by the Treasury Department. The Opportunity Zone tax break was meant to help poor communities by encouraging investment in new housing, businesses, and jobs. Instead, money that was eligible for the tax break has been used to fund luxury development projects in wealthy neighborhoods, including projects by friends of Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and members of the Kushner family. (NBC News / New York Times)
1/ The House of Representatives voted to send the Senate two articles of impeachment against Trump, initiating the third presidential impeachment trial in American history. The measure passed 228-to-193 with one Democrat – Collin Peterson of Minnesota – joining every Republican in voting “no.” Speaker Nancy Pelosi also announced the seven House Democrats who will serve as the “managers” in the trial, saying “The emphasis is on making the strongest possible case to protect and defend our Constitution to seek the truth for the American people.” The two articles, charging abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, will be hand-delivered to the Senate with the trial expected to begin on Tuesday. It remains undecided if witnesses will be called to testify. Trump, meanwhile, tweeted that his impeachment is a “Con Job.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / Politico / CNN / CNBC / NBC News)
A step-by-step guide to what happens when the House sends the impeachment articles to the Senate. (CNN / Washington Post)
Who are the impeachment managers prosecuting the case against Trump in the Senate trial? House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler will lead the House team, joined by Jason Crow, Val Demings, Sylvia Garcia, Hakeem Jeffries, and Zoe Lofgren (Washington Post / Politico / NBC News / Bloomberg / CNBC / Wall Street Journal)
2/ Rudy Giuliani requested a private meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky – then the president-elect of Ukraine – with Trump’s “knowledge and consent,” according to new documents released by House Democrats. The documents contains several handwritten notes, emails, encrypted messages, and text messages that show how Giuliani associate, Lev Parnas, tried to set up a meeting between Giuliani and Zelensky, as well as efforts to “Get Zelensky to announce that the Biden case will be investigated.” The documents also show that before Marie Yovanovitch, the then-U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, was removed from her post, a Parnas associate now running for Congress sent menacing text messages suggesting that he had Yovanovitch under surveillance in Ukraine. Democrats said the new records “demonstrate that there is more evidence relevant to the president’s scheme” that has “been concealed by the president himself.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / CNN / NBC News / CNBC / Wall Street Journal)
3/ Four Republicans will vote with Democrats to invoke Congress’ war powers and limit Trump’s ability to conduct further military actions against Iran. Republican Sens. Susan Collins, Todd Young, Mike Lee, and Rand Paul have joined 47 Democrats in support of the resolution, which was introduced the day after the Trump administration carried out the assassination of Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani without seeking Congressional approval. (Washington Post)
Security footage shows that the Ukrainian International Airlines Flight 752 was taken down by two missiles, fired roughly 30 seconds apart. The missiles were launched from an Iranian military base approximately eight miles from where the plane was hit. Flight 752 was one of 19 planes that took off from Tehran in the hours after Iran launched missiles against military bases in Iraq that were housing U.S. troops in retaliation for the U.S. killing of Soleimani. (New York Times)
poll/ 49% of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of the situation with Iran, while 42% approve. 88% of Republicans approve of Trump’s actions, as do 44% of Independents and 10% of Democrats. (NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist)
poll/ 71% of voters support Trump’s decision not to pursue military action against Iran after Tehran targeted two air bases in Iraq housing U.S. troops. 14% disapproved of Trump’s decision, and 15% said they did not know or had no opinion. 58% approved of Trump’s decision to level the new sanctions against Iran, while 22% disapproved. (Politico)
Notables.
Former national security adviser Michael Flynn moved to withdraw his two-year-old guilty plea for lying to the FBI during the Russia probe due to “bad faith” actions by the Justice Department. Flynn asked a judge to withdraw his plea and to delay his sentencing by 30 days. Flynn’s defense team cited his cooperation with the Mueller probe and said the government’s “stunning and vindictive reversal of its earlier representations to this Court are incredible, vindictive, in bad faith, and breach the plea agreement.” (NPR / New York Times / NBC News)
Putin replaced his prime minister and proposed constitutional changes, which would limit the power of a successor after 2024, when Putin is required by law to step down. As head of the State Council, Putin could also remain in control and guide policy after his presidential term expires. (Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / CNBC)
The Trump administration released its hold on $8.2 billion in disaster aid to Puerto Rico. The Department of Housing and Urban Development failed to release the funding in September, saying it needed to ensure financial safeguards were put in place in light of recent political unrest on the island. (Politico)
Trump signed the “phase one” trade deal with China, which includes Chinese commitments to purchase an additional $200 billion worth of American goods and services by 2021. The initial trade agreement also includes new protections for trade secrets and intellectual property. (CNBC / CNN / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / New York Times)
1/ The House will vote on Wednesday to transmit articles of impeachment against Trump to the Senate. “The American people deserve the truth, and the Constitution demands a trial,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement. Before the vote, Pelosi will appoint the team of impeachment managers who will prosecute the trial against Trump. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff and House Judiciary Committee Jerry Nadler are expected to be two of the impeachment managers. Mitch McConnell, meanwhile, said Trump’s impeachment trial will begin next Tuesday – the start of Season Four of the Trump presidency. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / Politico / Reuters / ABC News)
Rudy Giuliani asked Trump if he could join the White House impeachment team. White House counsel Pat Cipollone and outside lawyer Jay Sekulow are expected to lead the Trump’s defense. The White House declined to comment. (HuffPost / CNN)
2/ Senior Senate Republicans rejected Trump’s call to dismiss impeachment charges against him, saying “There is almost no interest” for a motion to dismiss the House charges. Republicans hold a 53-seat majority in the Senate and dismissing the articles of impeachment would require 51 votes. Multiple Republicans, however, have indicated they would oppose a motion to dismiss, arguing that both Trump’s legal team and the House impeachment managers should be able to present their case. (Washington Post / Associated Press / Reuters / The Hill / Politico)
3/ The Russian military hacked into the Ukrainian gas company at the center of the Trump impeachment inquiry. Using similar tactics to those used to obtain emails from Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the DNC, Russian hackers employed phishing emails to steal usernames and passwords from Burisma employees. It is still unclear what the hackers found or what they were looking for, but experts say the timing and scale of the attack suggest that they could be searching for information about the Bidens. The hacking attempts began in early November while reports about the Bidens, Ukraine, and impeachment were leading the news in the U.S. (New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post)
4/ Trump is preparing to divert another $7.2 billion in Pentagon funding to pay for his border wall construction this year — five times the amount that Congress authorized for the project in the 2020 budget. The Pentagon funds – enough to fund about 885 miles of new fencing by 2022 – would come from military construction projects and counter-narcotics programs. The diversion would bring the total amount of federal funding allocated for border fencing to $18.4 billion. (Washington Post)
5/ A former Trump campaign adviser and key witness in the Mueller investigation pleaded guilty to charges of child sex trafficking and possessing child pornography. George Nader admitted in court that he brought an underage boy to the U.S. for sex and that he possessed child pornography that depicted the sexual abuse of toddlers. Both crimes occurred before his time with the 2016 Trump campaign, where he worked as an informal foreign policy adviser and attended high-level meetings. The Justice Department has recommended that he receive the minimum sentence of 10 years in prison. (Courthouse News Service / Washington Post / CNN / Rolling Stone / Yahoo News)
📺 What to watch for during tonight’s Democratic debate. (New York Times / CNN)
1/ Defense Secretary Mark Esper “didn’t see” intelligence backing up Trump’s claim that Iran was planning to strike four U.S. embassies. Trump previously told Fox News that Iranian General Qasem Soleimani was “probably” going to attack “four embassies,” including the “embassy in Baghdad.” While Esper agreed with Trump that additional attacks against U.S. embassies were likely, he said Trump’s comments were not based on any specific evidence. Esper also confirmed that he sent “thousands of American paratroopers to the Middle East to reinforce our embassy in Baghdad and other sites” based on Trump’s evidence-free assertion. (Reuters / NBC News / New York Times / CNN / CNBC)
📌 Day 1086: Trump claimed Iran had targeted four American embassies before he ordered the killing of Soleimani. Yesterday, Trump claimed that Iran was “looking to blow up” the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, but did not mention the three other embassies under “imminent” threat. (Bloomberg / Washington Post)
U.S. Embassy security officials at the State Department were not made aware of any imminent threats to four U.S. embassies, contradicting Trump’s claim that assassinating Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani was an act of self-defense. The State Department sent a global warning before the strike occurred, but no warnings were issued to any individual U.S. embassy and the global warning did not mention any imminent attack. One Senior State Department official said he was “blindsided” when the Trump administration attempted to justify the killing by saying Soleimani was behind an imminent threat to blow us U.S. embassies. (CNN)
2/ Senior administration officials declined to confirm Trump’s assertion that Iran was “looking to blow up” four U.S. embassies. Officials instead suggested that Trump’s “interpretation” of the threat was consistent with overall intelligence that justified the killing of Soleimani. Trump, meanwhile, tweeted that “it doesn’t really matter” whether Soleimani posed an “imminent” threat to the United States. (Washington Post)
3/ Trump authorized the assassination of Soleimani seven months ago. Trump issued a presidential directive in June that the killing of Soleimani was “only on the table if they hit Americans,” referring to Iranian actions in the region. The directive also came with the condition that Trump would have the final say on any specific operation to kill the Iranian general. The Trump administration’s justification for ordering the drone strike, however, was that Soleimani was planning “imminent” attacks on Americans and had to be stopped. (NBC News)
The Trump administration’s shifting explanations for the Soleimani strike. (New York Times)
4/ The Trump administration warned Iraq that it could lose access to its central bank account held at the Federal Reserve Bank if Baghdad kicks out American forces. In response to airstrike that killed Soleimani at Baghdad International Airport, the Iraqi parliament voted to urge Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi to work toward the expulsion of the approximately 5,300 U.S. troops. (Wall Street Journal / CNBC)
📌 Day 1086: Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi told the U.S. to come up with a mechanism for getting U.S. troops out of Iraq. During a phone call with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Mahdi said Iraq rejects all violations of its sovereignty, including the assassination of Soleimani on Iraqi soil by the U.S. and the ballistic missiles fired at Iraqi bases by Iranians in retaliation for Soleimani’s killing. Mahdi asked Pompeo to “send delegates to Iraq to prepare a mechanism to carry out the parliament’s resolution regarding the withdrawal of foreign troops from Iraq,” according to a statement. The U.S. currently has more than 5,000 troops stationed in Iraq. (Associated Press / CNBC / Washington Post)
5/ House Speaker Nancy Pelosi did not rule out the possibility of a House subpoena for testimony from former national security adviser John Bolton, depending on whether the Senate seeks testimony in Trump’s impeachment trial. Pelosi called Trump “too afraid to let any of his top aides testify,” saying he’s been “impeached for life” regardless of “any gamesmanship” by Mitch McConnell, whom she accused of orchestrating a “coverup” of Trump’s behavior. Pelsoi also didn’t rule out the possibility of additional articles of impeachment against Trump in the future, saying “Let’s just see what the Senate does.” (ABC News) / Washington Post / NBC News)
The White House expects some Republican senators to join Democrats in voting to call witnesses in Trump’s impeachment trial. Senior White House officials increasingly believe that at least four Republicans will vote to call witnesses. Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, Mitt Romney, Cory Gardner, Rand Paul, and Lamar Alexander are all considered possibilities. (CBS News)
A Rudy Giuliani associate turned over thousands of pages of documents to House impeachment investigators. Lev Parnas provided investigators with documents, recordings, photos, text messages from his iPhone, a Samsung phon, and his What’s App account. (CNN)
poll/ 66% of Americans would like to see John Bolton testify in the Senate impeachment trial, including 39% of Republicans, 71% of independents, and 91% of Democrats. (Quinnipiac)
poll/ 56% of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of Iran, while 43% approve. 52% of Americans think the airstrike against Soleimani made the United States less safe, while 25% said they felt more safe. (ABC News / CNN)
Notables.
The Department of Homeland Security placed a group of non-violent climate activists on a list of “extremists” alongside white supremacists and mass killers. Members of Climate Direct Action are known for acts of civil disobedience, like closing the valves on oil pipelines in four states. DHS described the group as “suspected environmental rights extremists” and listed them alongside people like Dylann Roof, who killed nine black churchgoers during a 2015 racist attack in Charleston, SC. (The Guardian)
More than a dozen Saudi servicemen training at U.S. military installations will be expelled from the United States after an FBI investigation found connections to extremist rhetoric, possession of child pornography, and a failure to report behavior by the gunman who killed three people last month at a Pensacola, Fla., military base. (CNN / Washington Post / New York Times)
Attorney General William Barr called the December shooting by a Saudi national at the Pensacola Naval Air Station “an act of terrorism” that was “motivated by jihadist ideology.” (CBS News / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / USA Today)
The official White House Twitter account tweeted a picture of snow falling around the White House with the caption, “First snow of the year!” even though it was 70 degrees in Washington, DC. The low was 49 degrees. The photo in the tweet was actually taken on Jan. 7 – the last time it snowed in DC. (Fox News / HuffPost)
1/ Nancy Pelosi will transmit articles of impeachment against Trump to the Senate next week. The trial could begin as soon as next week. The House will also consider a resolution next week to appoint impeachment managers. Trump, meanwhile, said he would “have to” block his former national security adviser John Bolton from testifying in the Senate trial, “for the sake of the office.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / NBC News / CNN / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNBC)
READ: Pelosi’s letter saying she is preparing for a vote next week to send articles of impeachment to Senate. (CNN)
Sen. Susan Collins said she’s been working with “a fairly small group” of Republican senators to ensure witnesses can be called in Trump’s impeachment trial. (NBC News / Bangor Daily News)
2/ The operation that killed Gen. Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad was more ambitious and multifaceted than the Trump administration has disclosed. The U.S. military targeted but failed to kill Abdul Reza Shahlai in Yemen, a senior commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force. A senior official said the two strikes were authorized around the same time and that the U.S. did not disclose the Shahlai mission because it did not go according to plan. Defense and State Department officials claimed the strike against Soleimani saved “dozens” if not “hundreds” of American lives from an imminent threat. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / CNN / ABC News)
Trump claimed Iran had targeted four American embassies before he ordered the killing of Soleimani. Yesterday, Trump claimed that Iran was “looking to blow up” the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, but did not mention the three other embassies under “imminent” threat. (Bloomberg / Washington Post)
3/ The Trump administration announced new economic sanctions on Iran for “destabilizing activities.” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the sanctions would target eight individuals involved in Iran’s construction, manufacturing, textile and mining sectors. The Treasury also designated 17 Iranian metals producers and mining companies, along with entities based in China and the Seychelles, for other penalties. (CNBC / NBC News / CNN / Washington Post / New York Times)
4/ Iran accused western governments of “psychological warfare” for all claiming to have intelligence showing the Boeing jet that crashed near Tehran was shot down. Officials familiar with the intelligence said the aircraft was downed by two Russian-made SA-15 surface-to-air missiles that were detected soon after the Ukrainian jet took off. A spokesperson for the Iranian government, however, denied reports that Iran shot down the airliner, calling it “a big lie.” (Bloomberg / CNN)
5/ Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi told the U.S. to come up with a mechanism for getting U.S. troops out of Iraq. During a phone call with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Mahdi said Iraq rejects all violations of its sovereignty, including the assassination of Soleimani on Iraqi soil by the U.S. and the ballistic missiles fired at Iraqi bases by Iranians in retaliation for Soleimani’s killing. Mahdi asked Pompeo to “send delegates to Iraq to prepare a mechanism to carry out the parliament’s resolution regarding the withdrawal of foreign troops from Iraq,” according to a statement. The U.S. currently has more than 5,000 troops stationed in Iraq. (Associated Press / CNBC / Washington Post)
The State Department said any delegation the U.S. sends to Iraq would not discuss the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country. In a statement, department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said the U.S. presence in Iraq was “appropriate,” but added that there does “need to be a conversation between the U.S. and Iraqi governments not just regarding security, but about our financial, economic, and diplomatic partnership.” (Reuters / New York Times)
6/ A New York judge rejected Trump’s effort to throw out a defamation lawsuit filed against him by E. Jean Carroll, who claims he raped her in a Manhattan department store in the 1990s. Carroll sued Trump in November, claiming he defamed her by saying she lied about the rape and that she was motivated by money and a political agenda to make up the allegation. Trump argued that because he made those statements while in Washington, D.C. – and not in New York – he could not be sued for them in a New York court. Justice Doris Ling-Cohan, however, rejected the argument. (New York Times / Bloomberg / CNBC)
📌 Day 883: Trump rejected an allegation by journalist E. Jean Carroll that he sexually assaulted her in a Manhattan department store dressing room in the 1990s, saying that he has “never met this person in my life.” According to Carroll, she met Trump inside Bergdorf Goodman when he told her he was buying a gift for “a girl” and needed help. While in the lingerie section, Carroll said Trump suggested a lace bodysuit, and encouraged her to try it on. “The moment the dressing-room door is closed, he lunges at me, pushes me against the wall, hitting my head quite badly, and puts his mouth against my lips,” Carroll writes. “He seizes both my arms and pushes me up against the wall a second time, and, as I become aware of how large he is, he holds me against the wall with his shoulder and jams his hand under my coat dress and pulls down my tights.” More than a dozen women have accused Trump of sexual misconduct. Trump, meanwhile, said: “Shame on those who make up false stories of assault to try to get publicity for themselves, or sell a book, or carry out a political agenda.” (New York Magazine / Politico / Daily Beast)
7/ A Justice Department inquiry into Hillary Clinton’s business dealings has effectively ended with no criminal charges. Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions appointed John Huber to look into Republican allegations that donors to the Clinton Foundation had been given special treatment by Clinton when she served as secretary of state. Huber has largely finished and found nothing worth pursuing. (Washington Post / Reuters / CNN)
8/ The Trump administration is preparing to expand its travel ban. Draft documents of the plan – timed to coincide with the third anniversary of Trump’s January 2017 executive order – suggest the administration has been actively preparing media talking points, as well as a draft presidential proclamation. It’s unclear how many countries would be included in the expansion, but the proclamation includes seven slots that contain descriptors for each nation and varied restrictions. (Associated Press / BuzzFeed News)
poll/ 55% of U.S. adults support a full impeachment trial of Trump. 45% said they preferred to let voters decide Trump’s fate in the November election. (LX/Morning Consult)
1/ Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she would send the articles of impeachment to the Senate “when I’m ready – and that will probably be soon.” Pelosi’s comments came after Democrats started pushing to end the holdout, believing that Mitch McConnell will never relent on the rules for the trial. Pelosi, however, reiterated her demand to McConnell that he first detail the rules for a Senate trial so she could choose a team of “impeachment managers,” who will prosecute the House’s abuse of power and obstruction of Congress case, saying “Is that too much to ask?” McConnell, meanwhile, has signed onto a resolution seeking to change the rules of the Senate to dismiss articles of impeachment if they are not transmitted within 25 days of their approval – in this case, Jan. 12. (New York Times / Politico / Axios / CNN / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / NBC News)
McConnell told Republican senators that he expects Pelosi to send the articles of impeachment to the Senate as soon as Friday, setting up an impeachment trial that begins early next week. (Politico)
Trump met privately with McConnell at the White House to discuss the impeachment trial. McConnell’s office has been in discussion with the White House for weeks regarding the trial, working together on various ideas and proposals for how the trial should be set up. “We want this to start as quickly as possible,” said the White House legislative director. “We want the President to be acquitted as quickly as possible.” (CNN)
Trump said he doesn’t plan to block John Bolton from testifying at a Senate impeachment trial, but that he would need to protect his executive privilege. “When we start allowing national security advisers to just go up and say whatever they want to say, we can’t do that,” Trump said. (Bloomberg)
2/ Two Senate Republicans called the Trump administration’s classified briefing on the strike that killed Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani “insulting and demeaning,” and that Trump’s national security team failed to justify claims of an “imminent” attack. Mike Lee called it “worst briefing I’ve had on a military issue” while Rand Paul said “There was no specific information given to us of a specific attack […] I didn’t learn anything in the hearing that I hadn’t seen in a newspaper already.” During the briefing, which was led by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Defense Secretary Mark Esper, and CIA Director Gina Haspel, lawmakers were urged not to question Trump’s war powers and to stand down on attempting to provide a constitutional check to the executive branch. Trump, defending his national security team, told reporters at the White House that he’s “never seen [Mike Lee] like that,” before claiming that “numerous” lawmakers called it “the greatest presentation they’ve ever had.” Mike Pence, meanwhile, claimed that the administration could not provide Congress – in closed-door, classified setting – with the “most compelling” intelligence because doing so “could compromise” sources and methods. (CNN / New York Times / NBC News / ABC News / Politico)
Trump suggested that he ordered the killing of Soleimani to disrupt a previously undisclosed plot to “blow up our embassy” in Baghdad. Trump declined to share details of the alleged plot and instead focused on how the administration had “caught a total monster. We took him out,” referring to Soleimani. (Politico)
3/ The House adopted a war powers resolution that forces Trump to go to Congress for authorization before taking further military action against Iran. The measure directs Trump to “terminate the use of United States Armed Forces” against Iran without congressional authorization under a section of the War Powers Resolution of 1973, except when necessary to “defend against an imminent armed attack.” The Senate is also expected to take up war powers resolutions related to Iran. (New York Times / NBC News / CBS News / Politico / CNN)
4/ U.S. officials have “high confidence” that an Iranian anti-aircraft missile downed a Ukrainian jetliner shortly after takeoff, killing all 176 passengers and crew members on board. One U.S. official said Iran may have shot down the aircraft by mistake. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada had “intelligence from multiple sources” that an Iranian surface-to-air missile brought down the jetliner, adding that “This may well have been unintentional.” The Boeing 737-800 crashed outside Tehran, Iran, shortly after take-off Wednesday morning. Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization said it wouldn’t provide Boeing or the U.S. access to the recovered black box flight recorders. Trump, meanwhile, mused that the plane was flying in a “pretty rough neighborhood” and “Somebody could have made a mistake on the other side.” (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press / Bloomberg / CNBC / CNN / Yahoo News)
WATCH: Video appears to show an Iranian missile hitting a plane near Tehran’s airport – the area where a Ukrainian airliner stopped transmitting its signal before it crashed on Wednesday. (New York Times)
poll/ 52% of American called Trump’s behavior with Iran “reckless.” Separately, 69% agreed that the attack made it more likely Iran would strike American interests in the Middle East, 63% agreed that there would be a terrorist attacks on the American homeland, and 62% agreed that the U.S. and Iran would go to war. (USA Today / CNN)
Notables.
The Trump administration proposed changes to environmental rules that would make it easier to build pipelines, mines, and other industrial projects. The move would narrow the scope of the National Environmental Policy Act, reduce federal oversight, and exempt projects without significant federal funding from environmental reviews. The proposed regulations would also redefine “major federal action” to exclude privately financed projects with minimal government funding or involvement. (Washington Post / NPR / Politico / Associated Press)
China’s chief trade negotiator will travel to the U.S. next week to sign the phase-one trade deal with the U.S. China’s Commerce Ministry confirmed the visit, marking the first official acknowledgment by the Chinese government that they plan to sign the agreement to help ease bilateral tensions between the world’s two largest economies. (Wall Street Journal)
The New York City Bar Association asked Congress to investigate Attorney General William Barr for bias, saying his actions and statements have positioned the Justice Department as “political partisans willing to use the levers of government to empower certain groups over others.” The group said Barr has “disregarded” his fundamental obligations” as a government lawyer to “to act impartially, to avoid even the appearance of partiality and impropriety, and to avoid manifesting bias, prejudice or partisanship in the exercise of official responsibilities.” (Bloomberg)
A federal appeals court lifted an order blocking $3.6 billion in military funds for construction of Trump’s border wall. Last month, a U.S. District Court judge blocked Trump from unilaterally increasing funding for his wall to a level above what he had first requested in his budget. Congress had authorized Trump to spend $1.375 billion for border wall improvements. (Politico)
1/ Iran launched more than a dozen ballistic missiles at two Iraqi military bases housing U.S. troops Tuesday night in retaliation for the assassination of Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani. No U.S. or Iraqi casualties have been reported. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called the strikes a “slap in the face” to the U.S. and not sufficient retaliation for the killing of Soleimani. (Washington Post / NBC News / NPR / New York Times / CNN / ABC News)
Trump met with Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to discuss the Iranian missile attack, tweeting “All is well! […] So far, so good! We have the most powerful and well equipped military anywhere in the world, by far!” (NBC News)
Satellite photos of the Iranian missile strike. (NPR)
2/ The U.S. military had advance warning of Iran’s attack on the two American locations in Iraq. “We had intelligence reports several hours in advance that the Iranians were seeking to strike the bases,” a senior administration official said, giving military commanders time to move U.S. troops into safe, fortified positions. Meanwhile, some Trump administration officials believe that Iran’s missiles intentionally missed areas populated by Americans, suggesting that Iran chose to send a message rather than provoke a substantial U.S. military response. (Washington Post / USA Today / CNN)
3/ Trump said Iran appears “to be standing down” after the missile attack and signaled that no further U.S. military strikes were planned, because “The United States is ready to embrace peace with all who seek it.” Trump, in a nationally televised address from the White House, announced a new round of what he termed “punishing economic sanctions” against Iran, while calling on NATO to become “much more involved in the Middle East process.” Trump also called on world powers to abandon the 2015 Iran nuclear deal so a new pact could be negotiated. (New York Times / NPR / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNN / USA Today / New York Times)
4/ The House will vote Thursday on a resolution to limit Trump’s military options for action against Iran, unless explicitly authorized by Congress. The war powers resolution says that without further congressional approval, Trump would have to end all military action against Iran within 30 days. The House could also consider repealing the 2002 authorization for the use of military force for the Iraq War, as well as blocking funding for military action against Iran not approved by Congress. (New York Times / Bloomberg / CNBC)
The House Foreign Affairs Committee called for Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to testify in a hearing on Iran next week. Members of Congress want to know more about the decision to assassinate Iran’s top military commander. The hearing will take place on Jan. 14 and will include a panel of Iran policy experts. The State Department has not responded to the request or indicated whether Pompeo will agree to testify. (Reuters)
5/ Several Democratic senators want House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to submit the articles of impeachment against Trump to the Senate, saying the party has little to gain from further delay. Pelosi called on McConnell to publish a resolution outlining rules for the impeachment trial before the House sends over the articles. McConnell, however, declined, saying “There will be no haggling” and that the House had no choice but to end “shameless game-playing” and transmit the two articles of impeachment. (Bloomberg / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / Politico / New York Times / Washington Post)
poll/ Across 32 countries surveyed, 64% say they do not have confidence in Trump to do the right thing in world affairs, while 29% express confidence. (Pew Research Center / NPR / Politico)
Notables.
The Trump administration wants to delay disclosing what the Secret Service spends on protection for Trump and his family when they travel until after the 2020 election. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has been negotiating draft legislation with several senators to move the Secret Service back to his department - its historic home. Democrats, however, want the Secret Service to disclose the costs related to Trump’s travel and his adult children within 120 days. Mnuchin, however, wants such disclosures to begin next year. (Washington Post)
New York state’s Court of Appeals will decide whether Trump must face a defamation case by former contestant on “The Apprentice.” Summer Zervos said Trump kissed her against her will at a meeting in 2007 and later groped her at a Beverly Hills hotel. Trump denied the claims, calling Zervos a liar. Trump has argued that he is immune from lawsuits, investigations, and criminal proceedings while he remains in office. (Reuters)
The Trump Organization set a Jan. 23 deadline for bids on the Trump International Hotel in Washington. The company hopes to get more than $500 million for the lease rights to the historic Old Post Office building. (Wall Street Journal)
Trump’s reelection campaign plans to spend $10 million to advertise during the Super Bowl. The campaign has purchased 60 seconds of commercial time during the Feb. 2 game. It is unclear whether the campaign will run a single minute-long ad or split the time between multiple, shorter ads. (Politico)
1/ Mitch McConnell told Republicans he has the votes needed to begin Trump’s impeachment trial without committing to calling new witnesses or admitting new evidence, rebuffing demands from Democrats. McConnell believes he has at least 51 votes from his 53-member Republican conference to start the trial, offering no guarantee that the Senate will issue subpoenas for witnesses and documents beyond what the House’s inquiry gathered. Speaker Nancy Pelosi has withheld the articles of impeachment since the House voted in December to charge Trump with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, in an effort to push Republicans to agree to fair rules for the trial. (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / Politico / NBC News / CNN)
Minority Leader Charles Schumer said Senate Democrats will force votes on witnesses and documents at the start of the impeachment trial, putting Republicans on record about “a fair trial.” (Washington Post / The Hill)
📌 Day 1082: Former national security adviser John Bolton said he is “prepared to testify” in Trump’s impeachment trial if subpoenaed by the Senate. Bolton, who so far has complied with a White House directive to not cooperate in the inquiry, has direct knowledge of Trump’s actions and conversations regarding Ukraine that could fill in blanks in the impeachment case. A Senate subpoena requires at least 51 votes, which means four Republicans would need to vote with Democrats to call a witness. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / NBC News / CNN / ABC News / Axios / Associated Press)
2/ Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Trump’s threat to bomb Iranian cultural sites would constitute a war crime, which the U.S. has no intention of doing so. Trump twice threatened on Twitter he would strike Iranian cultural sites that were “very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture,” warning that Iran “WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD” if it follows through with its threats of retaliation in the wake of Gen. Qasem Soleimani’s assassination. Esper added that the U.S. is “not looking to start a war with Iran, but we are prepared to finish one.” (New York Times / CNN)
📌 Day 1081: Trump threatened – twice – to target Iranian cultural sites if Iran retaliated. Trump tweeted a day earlier that the U.S. was prepared to strike 52 Iranian assets, including some “at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture.” Two senior U.S. officials, meanwhile, described widespread opposition within the administration to targeting cultural sites in Iran. “They’re allowed to kill our people. They’re allowed to torture and maim our people. They’re allowed to use roadside bombs and blow up our people,” Trump said. “And we’re not allowed to touch their cultural site? It doesn’t work that way.” Destroying cultural sites could be considered a war crime under international agreements, such as the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict. (Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Associated Press)
3/ Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called killing Iranian General Qasem Soleimani “the right decision, we got it right,” claiming there was intelligence showing an “imminent attack” on Americans and U.S. interests across the Middle East. Pompeo, however, failed to provide any evidence to show what might have been targeted, or how soon an attack was expected, which is required to legally justify the strike. Senate Democrats, meanwhile, called on Trump to declassify the White House notification to Congress of the drone strike, saying “It is critical that national security matters of such import be shared with the American people in a timely manner.” Pompeo also insisted that any retaliatory measures by U.S. forces against Iran would abide by the laws of war, contradicting Trump’s previous suggestion that he might target Iran’s cultural sites. Later, Trump told reporters he would avoid targeting cultural sites in any future military attacks, walking back his earlier threats. (New York Times / CNN / Wall Street Journal / Politico / Washington Post)
Pompeo ordered U.S. diplomats to limit any contact with Iranian opposition groups, saying meetings with the groups could jeopardize U.S. diplomacy with Iran. (Bloomberg)
4/ Iran is considering 13 scenarios to inflict a “historic nightmare” on the U.S. for killing Soleimani. The Iranian parliament also designated the Pentagon and affiliated companies as terrorists. Iran’s foreign minister, meanwhile, accused the U.S. of engaging in “state terrorism” by assassinating Soleimani. Javad Zarif said Trump’s decision to pull out of the Iran Nuclear Deal and adopt a hardline approach toward Iran has “destroyed stability” in the Middle East, warning that things would get worse if the U.S. doesn’t change its approach. Zarif also said Iran plans to “respond proportionally not disproportionally” and “lawfully, we are not lawless people like President Trump.” (Bloomberg / Reuters / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
5/ The Pentagon mistakenly released a memo that said the U.S. would pull troops out of Iraq. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley told reporters that the letter was a draft and that its release was an “honest mistake.” The document was an unsigned draft memo from the U.S. Command in Baghdad notifying the Iraqi government that the U.S. planned to reposition some of its troops and suggested the removal of troops from the country. When asked about the memo, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said it was “inconsistent of where we are right now.” (Washington Post / CNN / The Guardian / Reuters)
📌 Day 1082: The U.S. military will reposition troops within Iraq in preparation for a possible withdrawal. In a draft letter to Iraqi military officials, U.S. forces will be relocated “to prepare for onward movement” and says that “we respect your sovereign decision to order our departure.” Defense Secretary Mark Esper, meanwhile, said the U.S. has not made any decision to leave Iraq. The letter was released a day after Iraqi lawmakers passed a nonbinding resolution calling for all foreign troops to leave the country. (Washington Post)
Russia offered Iraq an air defense system to “ensure the country’s sovereignty and reliable protection of airspace,” according to the Russian Ministry of Defense. (Al-Masdar News)
The Trump administration has begun drafting sanctions against Iraq after Trump threatened the country with economic penalties if it expelled U.S. troops. Iraq is an ally that the United States has spent almost two decades and hundreds of billions of dollars supporting. (Washington Post / New York Times)
Notables.
A captain at a for-profit immigrant detention center in Nevada is a neo-Nazi. Travis Frey is currently employed at the Nevada Southern Detention Center, which is run by private prison giant CoreCivic and is contracted with ICE. Frey posted at least a dozen times on a neo-Nazi while serving as head of security at a different for-profit ICE detention center in Indianapolis. Using the screen name “In Hoc Signo Vinces,” Frey self-identified as a “fascist” in his profile and started putting out feelers in 2017 in an attempt to establish a white nationalist chapter in Nevada. (Vice)
Mike Pompeo informed Mitch McConnell that he will not run for Senate in Kansas. Senate Republicans believed Pompeo would be the strongest candidate to win the seat being vacated by Pat Roberts, a Republican who is retiring at the end of the year after four terms. The filing deadline for the primary is in June. (New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post)
The Justice Department – in a reversal – no longer supports a lenient sentence for Michael Flynn. Instead, prosecutors recommend that Trump’s former national security adviser be sentenced for up to six months in prison for lying to investigators in the Russia inquiry, saying Flynn failed to accept responsibility for his actions and undermined a separate criminal case. A year ago, the government said Flynn deserved credit for admitting his misconduct and for cooperating with prosecutors in investigating his former business partner. (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / CNN)
1/ Former national security adviser John Bolton said he is “prepared to testify” in Trump’s impeachment trial if subpoenaed by the Senate. Bolton, who so far has complied with a White House directive to not cooperate in the inquiry, has direct knowledge of Trump’s actions and conversations regarding Ukraine that could fill in blanks in the impeachment case. A Senate subpoena requires at least 51 votes, which means four Republicans would need to vote with Democrats to call a witness. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / NBC News / CNN / ABC News / Axios / Associated Press)
Rudy Giuliani also said he is willing testify at the Senate trial, but that he “would do demonstrations. I’d give lectures. I’d give summations.” Giuliani said that while “I don’t know if anybody would have the courage to give me the case,” he would lead Trump’s defense and “prosecute it as a racketeering case, which I kind of invented anyway.” (ABC News / NBC News)
2/ Trump called for a quick end to the impeachment process, tweeting to “get this done.” Trump’s tweet came shortly before Bolton’s announcement. The House passed two articles of impeachment against Trump last month, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has yet to formally transmit the charges to Senate – a requirement before the Senate can hold a trial. Pelosi has been holding the documents as Democrats seek guarantees about the scope of a Senate trial, including witnesses. (ABC News / Washington Post)
Sen. Lindsey Graham suggested that Republicans should change the Senate rules so they can hold a Senate impeachment trial within days if Nancy Pelosi refuses to submit the articles of impeachment against Trump. Graham said he would work with Mitch McConnell on a unilateral Republican move that would allow the Senate to proceed without the articles, which charge Trump with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. A 51-vote majority is required to change the rules for the impeachment trial. (Washington Post / Reuters / NBC News)
3/ Leaked emails from the Pentagon show that Trump personally directed the hold military aide to Ukraine. An Aug. 30 email from Michael Duffey, associate director of national security programs at the Office of Management and Budget to Elaine McCusker, the acting Pentagon comptroller, stating “Clear direction from POTUS to hold” aid from Ukraine. Earlier the same day, Trump met with Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to discuss the hold on $391 million in military assistance for Ukraine. (Just Security / CNN / Talking Points Memo)
4/ The Trump administration is withholding 20 emails between a Mick Mulvaney aide and an Office of Management and Budget official discussing the freeze of military aid to Ukraine. In response to a court-ordered Freedom of Information Act request, the Office of Management and Budget said it would defy the order not turn over any of the 40 pages of emails, suggesting that the disclosure would “inhibit the frank and candid exchange of views that is necessary for effective government decision-making.” The FOIA request sought emails exchanged between Robert Blair, a top aide to Mulvaney, and Michael Duffey, an official at the Office of Management and Budget, who was in charge of handling the process for releasing the security assistance to Ukraine. (New York Times)
Chuck Schumer demanded that the Senate call Mick Mulvaney and White House aide Robert Blair to testify about their roles in blocking aid to Ukraine, as well as insight into the effort by Trump’s national security team to get the hold lifted. Schumer’s comments came after previously undisclosed emails were released. He added: “these new revelations are a game changer.” Mulvaney and Blair, as well as John Bolton, the national security adviser at the time, have been blocked by the White House from testifying despite subpoenas having been issued. Mitch McConnell, meanwhile, has said he does not want any witnesses called. (New York Times)
Mitch McConnell defended his coordination with the White House over the Senate impeachment trial, calling it a “fantasy that the speaker of the House will get to hand design the trial proceedings.” McConnell added: “That’s obviously a non-starter.” (CNN)
Bill Taylor, who led the U.S. embassy in Ukraine and served as a key witness in the House impeachment inquiry, has left his post. Taylor twice testified as part of the House probe into Trump, providing testimony about an alleged quid pro quo with Ukraine. (CNN)
5/ House Democrats will vote this week on a resolution to restrain Trump’s military actions. In a letter to House Democrats, Speaker Nancy Pelosi called Trump’s airstrike “provocative and disproportionate” and that it had “endangered our servicemembers, diplomats and others by risking a serious escalation of tensions with Iran.” The war powers resolution would essentially end additional military operations in Iran unless there is the threat of an imminent attack. Trump, meanwhile, tweeted that this tweets are sufficient “notification to the United States Congress that should Iran strike any U.S. person or target, the United States will quickly & fully strike back, & perhaps in a disproportionate manner.” The resolution is expected to pass the House as early as Wednesday, which would force a vote on the Senate floor soon after. (Politico / Washington Post / CNN / Associated Press)
📌 Day 1081: Trump authorized a drone strike at Baghdad International Airport that killed Iran’s top security and intelligence commander late Thursday.
6/ The Trump administration blocked Iran’s top diplomat from entering the U.S. to address the United Nations Security Council about the assassination of Iran’s top military official in Baghdad. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif reportedly requested a visa a “few weeks ago” to enter the U.S. to attend a Jan. 9 Security Council meeting. A Trump administration official, however, informed U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres today that U.S. would not allow Zarif into the country. (Foreign Policy)
More than 60 Iranians and Iranian-Americans were stopped and held for additional questioning at the U.S.-Canadian border. Some were held for up to 10 hours and asked about their political views and allegiances before being released, while others were denied entry. Customs and Border Protection denied the claims that travelers were stopped or referred to “secondary screening” because of their country of origin. (New York Times / BuzzFeed News)
7/ The U.S. military will reposition troops within Iraq in preparation for a possible withdrawal. In a draft letter to Iraqi military officials, U.S. forces will be relocated “to prepare for onward movement” and says that “we respect your sovereign decision to order our departure.” Defense Secretary Mark Esper, meanwhile, said the U.S. has not made any decision to leave Iraq. The letter was released a day after Iraqi lawmakers passed a nonbinding resolution calling for all foreign troops to leave the country. (Washington Post)
poll/ 29% of Republican voters want Trump Jr. to be the GOP presidential nomination in 2024, while 16% support Ivanka Trump. (Axios / The Guardian)
poll/ 57% of Americans think Trump committed an impeachable offense, and 52% said they think Trump’s actions regarding Ukraine and his refusal to cooperate with the impeachment inquiry are enough evidence to remove him from office. (FiveThirtyEight)
Notables.
A Trump administration plan would no longer require federal agencies to consider the environmental consequences of new infrastructure projects, weakening the 50-year-old National Environmental Policy Act. The proposed changes would also limit the range of projects that require environmental review. (New York Times)
The Trump administration will now deport asylum-seeking Mexican nationals – including families – to Guatemala. The program was implemented in late November and guidance was sent to asylum officials in recent days detailing how Mexicans were now to be included in the process. (BuzzFeed News)
Paul Manafort said he used Sean Hannity to receive backchannel messages from Trump while prosecutors investigated him for financial crimes, according to a 2018 interview summary. Manafort told the Robert Mueller’s office that after FBI agents raided his home in July 2017, he spoke with Hannity, whom he understood to be passing along messages from Trump. (BuzzFeed News / Daily Beast)
Trump asked a New York judge to throw out an advice columnist’s lawsuit accusing him of defamation after he denied her claim that he raped her in a department store dressing room two decades ago. Trump’s lawyer claimed that E. Jean Carroll can’t sue Trump in New York because the statements were made in Washington. Carroll, however, said in an earlier filing that Secret Service agents blocked her attempts to serve the complaint, prompting a judge to rule that she could serve it by mail to the White House. (Bloomberg)
A former Fox News reporter claimed that Trump told her she was “the hottest one at Fox News” and urged her to come to his office “so we can kiss” before he became president. Courtney Friel said Trump called her after she expressed an interest in working on his Miss USA beauty pageant. (New York Daily News / The Guardian / Daily Beast)
Erik Prince, the brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, has been referred to the U.S. Treasury Department for possible sanctions violations related to a trip to Venezuela for a meeting with a top aide of President Nicolas Maduro. (Associated Press)
Trump spent at least 86 days at a golf club in 2019. Since 2017, Trump has spent at least 252 days at a Trump golf club and 333 days at a Trump property as president. By comparison, Obama played 333 rounds of golf during his eight years in office. (CNN)
1/ Trump authorized a drone strike at Baghdad International Airport that killed Iran’s top security and intelligence commander late Thursday. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said the Pentagon had taken “decisive defensive action” and killed Qasem Soleimani, who led the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, because he “was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region.” Soleimani was the architect of nearly every significant operation by Iranian intelligence and military forces over the past two decades.Esper also accused Soleimani of approving the attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad earlier this week. Speaking to reporters while on vacation at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday – hours after the attack on the American Embassy in Baghdad – Trump insisted that he did not want war, saying “I want to have peace. I like peace.” (Washington Post / New York Times / Associated Press / NBC News /
How Trump decided to kill Iran’s Soleimani. (Politico)
How Trump planned the drone strike with a tight circle of aides. (Bloomberg)
Soleimani posted memes antagonizing Trump on social media. (Washington Post)
Killing Soleimani was worse than a crime. (The Atlantic)
After killing Soleimani, Trump confronts a credibility gap: “The administration’s track record doesn’t inspire confidence.” (Vanity Fair)
The dangers posed by the killing of Qassem Suleimani. (New Yorker)
2/ Trump claimed he ordered the killing of Soleimani “to stop a war” – not start one – and that Soleimani’s “reign of terror is over.” In brief remarks from Mar-a-Lago, Trump said Soleimani had been caught “in the act” planning “imminent and sinister attacks on American diplomats and military personnel.” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, meanwhile, argued that the drone strike was a necessary act of self defense. (Associated Press / NBC News / ABC News)
Trump repeatedly claimed in 2011 and 2012 that Obama would start a war with Iran to win reelection. (CNN)
3/ Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, vowed “severe revenge” and “harsh retaliation” in response to the U.S. drone strike that killed Soleimani. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called the killing a “heinous crime” and said his country would “take revenge.” Trump, meanwhile, warned that he was “prepared to take whatever action is necessary” if Iran threatened Americans, despite insisting that he took action to avoid a war with Iran. Trump also defended killing the Iranian general, tweeting he “should have been taken out” years ago and that “Iran never won a war, but never lost a negotiation!” (Associated Press / New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / NBC News)
Security experts warned that Tehran’s retaliation options includes direct attacks on U.S. embassies, military facilities, and bases overseas, and cyberattacks against domestic or allied interests. (Wall Street Journal / The Guardian)
4/ Trump threatened – twice – to target Iranian cultural sites if Iran retaliated. Trump tweeted a day earlier that the U.S. was prepared to strike 52 Iranian assets, including some “at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture.” Two senior U.S. officials, meanwhile, described widespread opposition within the administration to targeting cultural sites in Iran. “They’re allowed to kill our people. They’re allowed to torture and maim our people. They’re allowed to use roadside bombs and blow up our people,” Trump said. “And we’re not allowed to touch their cultural site? It doesn’t work that way.” Destroying cultural sites could be considered a war crime under international agreements, such as the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict. (Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Associated Press)
5/ Trump ordered the strike killing Soleimani without the consultation of Congress. The Trump administration still hasn’t explained the legal justification for the strike, prompting Democrats and some Republican lawmakers to question whether Trump had the authority to order the strike without Congressional approval. Trump, meanwhile, claimed that his tweets are sufficient notice to Congress of any possible U.S. military strike on Iran. Also at question is whether the Trump administration has international legal authority for the strikes. The U.S. is in Iraq with consent from the Iraqi government, but the attack was outside the scope of the U.S. mandate. (Wall Street Journal / CNN / Washington Post)
Israel had advance notice of the U.S. plan to kill Suleimani. (Los Angeles Times)
Trump told Mar-a-Lago associates and club-goers that he was working on a “big” response to the Iranian regime they would hear about very “soon.” Trump started telling people five days before launching the strike that killed Iran’s most important military leader. (Daily Beast)
6/ The Iraqi parliament passed a resolution calling on the Iraqi government to expel U.S. troops from Iraq following the U.S drone attack that killed Soleimani. Iraq’s Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi told lawmakers that the U.S. drone attack was a “political assassination” and that it was “time for American troops to leave” “for the sake of our national sovereignty.” About 5,000 American troops are in Iraq. The Trump administration tried to persuade Iraqi officials to stop the parliamentary vote to force the U.S. military out of Iraq. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, meanwhile, dismissed calls by Mahdi for a timetable for all foreign troops to exit the country. (USA Today / Axios / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
7/ Iran will no longer will comply with limits on uranium enrichment under its 2015 nuclear pact. “Iran’s nuclear program will have no limitations in production, including enrichment capacity,” the Iranian government said in an announcement, signaling the de facto collapse of the landmark agreement. (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
8/ Trump threatened to put sanctions on Iraq “like they’ve never seen before ever” after its parliament passed a resolution calling for the government to expel foreign troops from the country. Trump told reporters that “If they do ask us to leave […] we will charge them sanctions” that will “make Iranian sanctions look somewhat tame.” (CNBC)
9/ The U.S. is sending approximately 3,000 soldiers to the Middle East in response to threats from the Iranian government of a “harsh revenge” for the killing of Soleimani. The additional troops – about 2,800 soldiers – are from the Immediate Response Force of the 82nd Airborne Division in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. (Military.com / NBC News / CNN)
1/ Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney was warned by a senior adviser last summer that he should “expect Congress to become unhinged” if the White House withheld security aid to Ukraine. In a June 27 email, Mulvaney wrote Robert Blair: “Did we ever find out about the money for Ukraine and whether we can hold it back?” Blair replied that it was possible, but to “Expect Congress to become unhinged” if the White House tried to rescind spending passed by the House and Senate. Blair also warned that withholding the aid could add to the narrative that Trump was pro-Russia. Mulvaney’s email came a week after Trump initially asked about holding back the Ukraine assistance and around the same time Rudy Giuliani was pushing Ukraine to conduct internal investigations into Joe Biden and his son. (New York Times / CNN)
2/ Rudy Giuliani held a backchannel call in 2018 as part of a shadow diplomatic effort aimed at removing President Nicolas Maduro from power. Giuliani and then-Rep. Pete Sessions participated in the Sept. 2018 phone call with Maduro to negotiate his exit and reopen Venezuela to business. Giuliani also met then-national security adviser John Bolton around the time of the call to discuss a plan to ease Maduro from power. White House officials said they did not know why Giuliani was involved. (Washington Post / CNN)
3/ Trump’s tariffs backfired and led to job losses and higher prices, according to a Federal Reserve study. While the tariffs did reduce competition for some U.S. industries, the tariffs more than offset the effects of rising costs and retaliatory tariffs, the study found. (MarketWatch)
4/ The White House warned that it would “take action” if North Korea tests another long-range or nuclear missile, according to national security adviser Robert O’Brien. North Korea recently warned that failure to offer a new initiative regarding Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program could result in an unwanted “Christmas gift” from Kim Jong Un. (Reuters)
5/ The Taliban agreed to a temporary ceasefire in Afghanistan in hopes of reaching a peace agreement with the United States, which has demanded a ceasefire before any peace negotiations can begin. Taliban officials did not say when the ceasefire would begin and there has been no immediate response from Washington. (The Guardian)
📌 Day 1047: Trump called for a cease-fire between the Taliban and U.S. forces in Afghanistan during an unannounced Thanksgiving visit with U.S. troops overseas. Trump told troops that the Taliban “wants to make a deal” and that “we’re saying it has to be a cease-fire.” Trump claimed that he has made “tremendous progress” since he abruptly canceled his previous peace talks with the Taliban in September. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, however, indicated that a cease-fire wasn’t in progress or even part of the discussion with U.S. negotiators. Western diplomats and Taliban leaders were also confused by Trump’s remarks, since demanding a cease-fire would constitute a shift in the U.S. position and would require additional concessions from the Taliban. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / NBC News / Associated Press)
6/ Putin thanked Trump for helping to prevent a possible terrorist attack in Russia on New Year’s Eve. American intelligence agencies reportedly provided Russia’s Federal Security Service with information that led to the arrest of two suspects who were allegedly planning to carry out an attack on a crowd in St. Petersburg. Moscow’s version of the readout stated that Trump and Putin “discussed a range of issues of mutual interest” along with continued cooperation combating terrorism. No additional information about the planned attack was made public. This is the second time that Putin has called to thank Trump for helping to prevent an attack in St. Petersburg. (New York Times / Politico / Washington Post / Bloomberg)
poll/ Trump and Barack Obama tied for America’s most admired man in 2019. Both earned 18% of support among Americans as the man “living today in any part of the world” they admired most. It’s Obama’s 12th time in the top spot versus the first for Trump. (Gallup / ABC News / Politico)
Republican Sen. James Lankford doesn’t think Trump “as a person is a role model for a lot of different youth.” Lankford cited Trump’s tweets and “some of the things he says” as reasons why he doesn’t think Trump is someone who young people can look up to. Lankford, however, says he continues to support Trump because of his positions on abortion and religious liberty for Christians. (CBS News)
👋 Programming note: WTF Just Happened Today will be on holiday break Dec. 31st through Jan. 2nd. We’ll return on Jan. 3rd, unless there’s a reason to return sooner. Special note: In the event there is no news between now and then (ha ha ha), WTFJHT won’t waste your time and fill space. Instead, we’ll return Jan. 6th.
1/ Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski said she is “disturbed” by the coordination between Mitch McConnell and the White House for the Senate impeachment trial. Murkowski said McConnell has “confused the process” by declaring that he is acting in “total coordination” with Trump to set the parameters of the trial. “To me,” she continued, “it means that we have to take that step back from being hand in glove with the defense.” Murkowski, a moderate Republican, did not say how she will vote in the upcoming trial. (CNN / New York Times / ABC News / KTUU)
📌 Day 1058: Mitch McConnell: There’s “no chance” that Trump will be removed from office as a result of the impeachment trial in the Senate. McConnell added that it “wouldn’t surprise” him if some Democrats broke ranks to vote in favor of Trump, calling the case “so darn weak.” McConnell and the White House have agreed to coordinate their plans for the trial, which McConnell has said he will end as soon as he has 51 GOP votes in place for a final vote. “We know how it’s going to end.” (NBC News / CNN / Washington Post)
📌 Day 1064: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi won’t commit to sending the articles of impeachment against Trump to the Senate until she sees “the process that is set forth” to ensure a “fair” trial. Democrats have questioned the impartiality of the Senate trial after Mitch McConnell said he’s coordinating with the White House to quickly acquit Trump. Senior Democratic aides suggested it was “very unlikely” that the House will send the articles to the Senate before January, effectively delaying the impeachment trial well into the new year, in order to pressure Republicans to allow new witnesses and evidence in the proceeding. “We cannot name managers until we see what the process is on the Senate side,” Pelosi said. “So far we haven’t seen anything that looks fair to us.” (New York Times / ABC News / Politico / CNN / NBC News / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
2/ Trump retweeted an article that contained the name of the alleged whistleblower at the center of his impeachment. Trump, using his personal Twitter account, retweeted his reelection account, which had posted a link to a Washington Examiner story from Dec. 3 that named the alleged whistleblower in the headline. Several people close to Trump, including Ivanka and White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, cautioned Trump against saying or posting the name in public. (Mediaite / Daily Beast)
3/ 45 immigration judges have left their positions, moved into new roles in the immigration court system, or died over the last year — nearly double the number who departed their posts in 2017 and 2018. Meanwhile, the Justice Department is facing a backlog of more than 1 million cases, pushing many immigration cases years into the future. (CNN)
poll/ 41% of Germans consider Trump more of a threat to world peace than Kim Jong Un, Vladimir Putin, China’s Xi Jinping, or Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Kim came in second with 17%, followed by Putin and Khamenei with 8%, and Xi at 7%. (Axios)
poll/ 55% of Americans support Trump’s conviction by the Senate, while 40%, are opposed. (Yahoo News)
poll/ 49% of Americans approve of the decision to impeach Trump with 42% disapproving, and 9% unsure. (HuffPost)
poll / 49% of Americans said Trump will be remembered as a “poor” or “below average” president. 21% of those polled said Trump would be described as an “outstanding” leader, and another 12% said Trump was an “above average” president. (Newsweek / YouGov)
👋 Programming note: WTF Just Happened Today will be on holiday break Dec. 31st through Jan. 2nd. We’ll return on Jan. 3rd, unless there’s a reason to return sooner (or no reason to return at all).
1/ A White House budget official directed the Defense Department to “hold off” on sending military aid to Ukraine less than two hours after Trump’s July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, according to newly released emails. Roughly 90 minutes after Trump’s call with Zelensky, Michael Duffey, a senior budget official, told Pentagon officials that Trump was personally interested in the Ukraine aid and had ordered the hold himself. Duffey also told the Pentagon to keep the information “closely held to those who need to know to execute the direction” due to “the sensitive nature of the request.” The emails show Trump first became interested in the aid to Ukraine after seeing an article in the Washington Examiner on June 19 titled, “Pentagon to send $250M in weapons to Ukraine,” and that some officials were concerned that withholding the aid could be a violation of the Impoundment Control Act of 1974. Democrats are citing the emails to fuel renewed calls for witnesses to testify in the Senate impeachment trial. (Washington Post / NBC News / New York Times / CNN / Reuters / CBS News)
2/ Mitch McConnell suggested that Republicans had not ruled out hearing witnesses at Trump’s impeachment trial, but wouldn’t agree in advance to the Democrat’s request for witness testimony. In a bid to pressure Senate Republicans to reach an agreement with Chuck Schumer on trial rules, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi hasn’t transmitted the Senate the impeachment articles necessary to begin the trial, saying Democrats need to know “what sort of trial the Senate will conduct.” McConnell, meanwhile, called Pelosi’s position “absurd,” adding that he’s at an “impasse” with Schumer on the rules of the trial. (Reuters / CNN / Washington Post)
The White House is considering making the argument that Trump has not officially been impeached because Pelosi has not transmitted the articles of impeachment to the Senate. Officials plan to use the delay to argue that the Democrats have little faith in their own case for impeachment and are scared to trigger a trial they know they will lose. Officials also say Trump, while “angry” about what he views as an unfair process, is actually in a “very good mood,” and feels confident he can win the messaging war via Twitter. (CBS News)
The House Judiciary Committee said it could draft and recommend “new articles of impeachment” against Trump if additional evidence is revealed by former White House counsel Don McGahn. The committee wants a federal appeals court to order McGahn to testify as it examines potential obstruction of justice by Trump during Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. McGahn’s testimony is “relevant to the Committee’s ongoing investigations into Presidential misconduct and consideration of whether to recommend additional articles of impeachment,” the panel’s lawyers said, arguing that McGahn’s testimony is a “central” part of the impeachment investigation into Trump. Democrats have been trying for months to enforce a subpoena for McGahn to testify as part of the impeachment proceedings in Congress. (Politico / Associated Press / CNBC / Axios / CBS News / NBC News / CNN)
3/ U.S. military and intelligence officials are concerned that North Korea is poised to test an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching American shores in the next few days or weeks. Satellite photos indicate that North Korea has expanded a factory linked to the production of long-range nuclear missiles. Pyongyang, meanwhile, has promised a “Christmas gift” if no progress had been made on lifting sanctions. North Korea suspended its nuclear and long-range missiles tests in 2017 following diplomatic talks and two summit meetings between Kim and Trump. (New York Times / NBC News)
Trump’s former national security adviser suggested that Trump is bluffing about stopping North Korea’s nuclear ambitions. John Bolton said he doesn’t think the administration “really means it” when Trump and top officials vow to stop North Korea from having deliverable nuclear weapons — “or it would be pursuing a different course.” (Axios)
4/ Trump complained that windmills are “very expensive” and claimed they “kill many bald eagles” during a speech to a group of young conservative supporters. “I never understood wind,” Trump told the crowd, claiming that the manufacturing process leads to “Gases […] spewing into the atmosphere. You know we have a world, right? So the world is tiny compared to the universe […] fumes are spewing into the air. […] it’s going into the air. It’s our air, their air, everything – right?” (Mediaite / The Hill / Politico / CNN / The Independent)
📌 Day 905: Trump said he refuses to jeopardize the wealth of the U.S. over climate “dreams” and “windmills” after skipping a G7 session on climate change. The Trump administration has rolled back several U.S. environmental protection policies put in place by the Obama administration, including weakening the Endangered Species Act. (Reuters)
poll/ 52% of voters approve of the House’s vote to impeach Trump, while 43% disapprove, and 5% have no opinion. 85% of Democrats support impeachment, while 12% disapprove. 16% of Republicans are in favor of impeachment, compared with 81% who are not. (Politico/Morning Consult)
Programming note: WTF Just Happened Today will be on holiday break Dec. 24th and 25th (and possibly the 26th), depending on whether North Korea delivers its promised “Christmas gift.”
1/ Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney is expected to leave his position after the Senate impeachment trial. Trump aides have been circulating a list of replacements and trying to nudge Trump to choose Mulvaney’s successor. Rep. Mark Meadows, who announced his retirement this week, is believed to be in the running to replace Mulvaney. Despite holding what has historically been one of the most powerful jobs in the White House, Mulvaney has largely been excluded from major personnel and policy decisions and he no longer holds much control over White House staff. (Politico / Talking Points Memo)
2/ Trump once told White House officials that he believed Ukraine — not Russia — interfered in the 2016 election because “Putin told me.” Trump, following a private meeting with Putin in 2017 at the G20 summit, repeatedly insisted that Ukraine tried to stop him from winning the election and that he believed Putin that Russia had not interfered in the 2016 campaign. As many as 15 former Trump and government officials said they’re confounded by Trump’s fixation on Ukraine despite the intelligence community’s assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 election. This fall, intelligence officials concluded that Russian propagandists spread the Ukraine theory on social media. (Washington Post / CNN / MSNBC)
3/ The federal prosecutor scrutinizing the Russia investigation is examining former CIA director John Brennan’s role surrounding the intelligence community’s assessment that Russian interfered in the 2016 election. U.S. Attorney John Durham requested Brennan’s emails, call logs, and other documents from the CIA, and wants to know what Brennan told other intelligence officials, including James Comey, about the Steele dossier and the relationships between Russia and Trump associates. Durham is also looking into whether Brennan privately contradicted his public statements and his 2017 testimony to Congress about the dossier and the debate within the intelligence community over their conclusions regarding Russian election interference. Attorney General William Barr appointed Durham to re-examine the origins of the FBI’s Russia investigation. (New York Times)
Facebook removed more than 600 accounts tied to the pro-Trump conspiracy website that programmatically created false accounts to spread disinformation. (NBC News)
4/ A prominent evangelical Christian magazine called Trump “a near perfect example of a human being who is morally lost and confused” and that he “should be removed from office.” In an editorial, Christianity Today called Trump’s actions “not only a violation of the Constitution; more importantly, it is profoundly immoral.” Trump responded by lashing out on Twitter, calling it a “far left” magazine that “knows nothing about reading a perfect transcript of a routine phone call and would rather have a Radical Left nonbeliever, who wants to take your religion & your guns, than Donald Trump as your President.” Trump added – without evidence – that “No President has done more for the Evangelical community, and it’s not even close. You’ll not get anything from those Dems on stage.” (Christianity Today / New York Times / Washington Post / Vox / NPR)
5/ House Speaker Nancy Pelosi invited Trump to deliver the State of the Union on Feb. 4 – less than 48 hours after she gaveled in the votes making him the third president to be impeached in United States history. (NBC News / Politico)
6/ The Trump administration threatened to veto the spending legislation that passed the House and Senate Democrats unless Democrats stripped language requiring the prompt release of future military aid for Ukraine. The language was ultimately left out and the White House said Trump would sign the $1.4 trillion package before midnight to avert a shutdown. (Washington Post)
📌 Day 1064: The Senate passed a $1.4 trillion spending package to fund the government through the rest of the fiscal year. The House has already cleared the legislation. Trump needs to sign the bills by Friday to avert a government shutdown, which his advisors have said he will approve. (Wall Street Journal / CNBC / Politico)
poll/ 76% of Americans say the U.S. economy is very or somewhat good – the highest since Feb. 2001 when it was 80%. Among Republicans, 97% feel good about the economy, as do 75% of Independents, and 62% of Democrats. 68% expect the economy to be in good shape a year from now. 9% say the economy is good now but will get worse in 2020. (CNN)
1/ House Speaker Nancy Pelosi won’t commit to sending the articles of impeachment against Trump to the Senate until she sees “the process that is set forth” to ensure a “fair” trial. Democrats have questioned the impartiality of the Senate trial after Mitch McConnell said he’s coordinating with the White House to quickly acquit Trump. Senior Democratic aides suggested it was “very unlikely” that the House will send the articles to the Senate before January, effectively delaying the impeachment trial well into the new year, in order to pressure Republicans to allow new witnesses and evidence in the proceeding. “We cannot name managers until we see what the process is on the Senate side,” Pelosi said. “So far we haven’t seen anything that looks fair to us.” (New York Times / ABC News / Politico / CNN / NBC News / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
2/ Mitch McConnell mocked Pelosi’s threat to withhold the articles of impeachment, criticizing her as “too afraid” to transmit “their shoddy work product.” McConnell then called the impeachment inquiry “the most rushed, least thorough, and most unfair” in modern history. (Politico / CNN)
Putin said Trump was impeached on “trumped-up charges” for reasons “far-fetched” and doesn’t believe the Senate will “vote him out of power.” Putin also likened Trump’s impeachment to the probe into collusion with Russia, which Putin played down as groundless. (Politico / Associated Press)
3/ A top State Department aide told the acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine to step down from his post and leave Kyiv before Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visits in January. Bill Taylor, a key witness in the Trump impeachment inquiry, has not had any direct contact with Pompeo since his testimony before Congress last month and will leave his post on January 2. The timing means that Pompeo will not have to meet, be seen or photographed with Taylor. (CNN)
📌 Day 1062: The top U.S. diplomat for Ukraine will leave his post at the end of the year. Bill Taylor was a key witness in the congressional impeachment inquiry into Trump and described for Congress what he saw as Trump’s efforts to pressure Kyiv to go after political rivals. (New York Times / NBC News)
4/ The House passed the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement – Trump’s replacement for NAFTA. The trade pact now heads to the Senate, which is expected to ratify it next year after Trump’s impeachment trial. Trump is expected to sign the legislation. (Politico / CNBC / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / New York Times)
5/ The Senate passed a $1.4 trillion spending package to fund the government through the rest of the fiscal year. The House has already cleared the legislation. Trump needs to sign the bills by Friday to avert a government shutdown, which his advisors have said he will approve. (Wall Street Journal / CNBC / Politico)
6/ Rep. Mark Meadows will not seek re-election to Congress in 2020. Meadows has been contemplating leaving office for months, but he finalized his decision this week. Meadows is a long-time Trump ally who says he will continue to work with the Trump administration. He is also being considered to join Trump’s impeachment defense team in preparation for the trial in the Senate. (Associated Press / Washington Post / NBC News / Reuters / Axios / The Hill / Bloomberg / Politico / Wall Street Journal)
7/ The Senate confirmed 12 more of Trump’s judicial nominees. The confirmations bring the total number of judicial confirmations for 2019 to 20 circuit judges and 67 district judges. (Politico)
8/ Trump implied that the late Rep. John Dingell is “looking up” from hell while also mocking his widow, Democratic Rep. Debbie Dingell. At a rally in Michigan, Trump said he gave John an “A-plus” funeral and that Debbie, whom he called “a real beauty,” called to thank him, saying “John would be so thrilled. He’s looking down. He’d be so thrilled.” Trump then told the crowd: “Maybe he’s looking up, I don’t know. I don’t know. Maybe. But let’s assume he’s looking down.” Dingell was the longest-serving member of Congress in U.S. history. (NBC News / CNN / Axios / Washington Post / New York Times /Reuters / Bloomberg)
White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham defended Trump’s attack on Rep. John Dingell, saying Trump was a “counter-puncher” who was “under attack.” (ABC News)
1/ The House of Representatives voted to impeach Trump for abusing his power and obstructing congressional investigations, labeling him a threat to national security, recommending his removal from office, and marking him as only the third president in U.S. history to be impeached. After six hours of debate, the chamber passed both articles of impeachment against Trump. Article I, Abuse of Power, was adopted 230-197, with one member voting present and three not voting. Article II, Obstruction of Congress, was adopted 229-198, with one member voting present and three not voting. The Constitution requires the Senate to now hold a trial, where a two-thirds vote would remove Trump from office. The House alleges that Trump tried to leverage a White House meeting and military aid sought by Ukraine to combat Russian military aggression to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to launch an investigation into Joe Biden and his son, as well as a probe of a debunked theory that Kyiv conspired with Democrats to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi opened debate on the articles of impeachment against Trump, declaring that lawmakers are “custodians of the Constitution” and “If we do not act now, we would be derelict in our duty.” She added that Trump’s “reckless actions make impeachment necessary. He gave us no choice.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / CNN / ABC News)
ANALYSIS: The case for and against impeachment. (Washington Post)
Adam Schiff accused Mike Pence of refusing to declassify testimony that is “directly relevant” to the impeachment debate. Schiff sent a letter to Pence arguing that classified witness testimony from Jennifer Williams, Pence’s Russia adviser, “raises profound questions about your knowledge of the President’s scheme to solicit Ukraine’s interference in the 2020 U.S. presidential election.” Williams’ testimony was provided to the Intelligence Committee on Nov. 26 and Schiff asked Pence to declassify it ten days later, but Pence’s office refused. (Washington Post)
2/ Trump sent 45 tweets before noon – hours before the House formally voted to impeach him – calling impeachment “a terrible Thing” and telling his 67 million Twitter followers “Can you believe that I will be impeached today […] I DID NOTHING WRONG!” At one point Trump urged his followers to “Say a PRAYER!” Meanwhile, White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham told reporters that Trump “will be working all day” and that he “could catch some of the proceedings between meetings.” Less than 10 minutes later, Trump tweeted: “SUCH ATROCIOUS LIES BY THE RADICAL LEFT, DO NOTHING DEMOCRATS. THIS IS AN ASSAULT ON AMERICA, AND AN ASSAULT ON THE REPUBLICAN PARTY!!!!” Trump ignored reporters’ questions about impeachment as he left the White House for a campaign rally in Michigan. (NBC News / Associated Press / Politico / The Guardian)
3/ The White House is exploring a way to feature Trump’s top House allies in the Senate impeachment trial. During the trial, only Trump’s defense team and the House Democrats’ impeachment managers will be allowed to debate on the floor. One idea being explored is to have House Republicans present a report on the Ukraine affair. Reps. Jim Jordan, John Ratcliffe, and Mike Johnson met with White House counsel Pat Cipollone yesterday to discuss joining Trump’s Senate defense team. Mark Meadows is also being considered to join the team, but wasn’t present for the meeting. (Politico / CNN)
4/ A group of House Democrats want to hold the articles of impeachment and delay sending them to the Senate to prevent the case against Trump from being discarded. Some legal scholars have suggested that Pelosi could delay sending impeachment articles to the Senate until Mitch McConnell agrees to a fairer process. The trial would effectively be delayed indefinitely and deny Trump his expected acquittal. McConnell has announced that he is coordinating the Senate trial with the White House. (Politico / Washington Post)
5/ The Trump administration is fighting a new package of sanctions on Russia, which is designed to punish Russian individuals and companies over the Kremlin’s targeting of Ukraine, 2016 election interference, its activities in Syria, and its attacks on dissidents. A State Department official sent a 22-page letter to a top Senate chairman, saying the administration “strongly opposes” the bill, because the legislation is unnecessary, would harm America’s European allies, and “risks crippling the global energy, commodities, financial, and other markets.” Sen. Lindsey Graham introduced the bill earlier this year, which passed out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee earlier this week. (Daily Beast)
6/ A New York judge dismissed state mortgage fraud charges against Paul Manafort, ruling that the criminal case amounted to a double-jeopardy violation. Manafort was previously convicted in a pair of federal cases related to Robert Mueller’s investigation of election interference in 2016. The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office brought its case in an effort to ensure that Manafort would remain in custody should Trump pardon him for the federal convictions. (Washington Post / New York Times / ABC News / CNBC / NBC News)
7/ A federal appeals court ruled that the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate is unconstitutional, but did not invalidate the entire law. The court ordered a lower court judge to evaluate whether other provisions of the law can survive without the mandate. (Politico / Axios / New York Times / Washington Post / CNN)
poll/ 50% of active duty military personnel have an unfavorable or very unfavorable view of Trump. 41% said they have a favorable or very favorable view of Trump. Nearly 48% of the troops surveyed said they held an unfavorable view of the way Trump has handled military issues. (Military Times)
poll/ 45% approve of Trump’s job performance – up six percentage points since the impeachment inquiry was launched. (Gallup)
poll/ 47% of Americans say they support impeachment and 47% are opposed. 57% of Americans now think Trump committed an impeachable offense, compared with 56% in mid-November. (FiveThirtyEight / Politico)
poll/ 48% of Americans support Trump’s impeachment and removal from office, while 48% disagree. (NBC News)
1/ Mitch McConnell rejected Democrats requests to have four White House witnesses testify during Trump’s impeachment trial in the Senate. McConnell called the request to have Mick Mulvaney, John Bolton, and two others to testify a “strange request” and said the Senate will not volunteer its time for a “fishing expedition.” McConnell’s remarks came in response to a letter from Chuck Schumer, who outlined several procedural requests that he said would make an impeachment trial more fair. McConnell later said he’s “not an impartial juror […] I’m not impartial about this at all.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / Axios / Bloomberg)
Tuesday: The House Rules Committee will set the terms for the debate on the House floor over the articles of impeachment.
Wednesday: The House is expected to vote to affirm the rules and then vote on the two articles of impeachment in the late afternoon. The House is also expected to vote to empower Nancy Pelosi to name impeachment managers.
Thursday: Your last chance to order gifts that will arrive by Christmas.
2/ Trump denounced what he called a “partisan impeachment crusade,” accusing Democrats of “perversion of justice” for their handling of impeachment. In a six-page letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Trump accused Pelosi of having “cheapened the importance of the very ugly word, impeachment” and that she was “declaring open war on American Democracy” by pursuing his impeachment. He called it an “unprecedented and unconstitutional abuse of power” and a “spiteful” “election-nullification scheme.” Trump also claimed that “more due process was afforded to those accused in the Salem Witch Trials.” Trump later told reporters in the Oval Office that he takes “zero” responsibility for the fact that he is about to be impeached. (NBC News / CNN / New York Times / Axios / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
More than 700 historians and legal scholars published an open letter urging the House to impeach Trump, denouncing his conduct as “a clear and present danger to the Constitution.” (Washington Post)
3/ Rudy Giuliani confirmed that he needed the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine to get “out of the way,” because she “was going to make the investigations difficult for everybody.” Giuliani said he told Trump “a couple of times” that Marie Yovanovitch was impeding efforts that could benefit Trump politically. Trump then put Giuliani in touch with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. On March 28, Giuliani provided Pompeo with a dossier of evidence he had collected on the Bidens and Yovanovitch. Trump fired Yovanovitch in April. (New York Times / New Yorker)
Giuliani backtracked on his Yovanovitch assertion, instead claiming that she “needed to be removed for many reasons.” Giuliani – without evidence – accused Yovanovitch of “OBSTRUCTING JUSTICE” and for having “enabled Ukrainian collusion.” (NBC News)
A Russian disinformation campaign circulated false claims about Yovanovitch that led to her recall from the U.S. embassy in Kyiv. The disinformation campaign purported that Yovanovitch had given a “list of people whom we should not prosecute” to Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Yuriy Lutsenko. The State Department has denied that such a list existed. (Washington Post)
Sen. Lindsey Graham invited Giuliani to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee about his recent trip to Ukraine. Giuliani traveled to Ukraine earlier this month to gather information intended to discredit the House’s impeachment probe. Giuliani was spotted at the White House last week. (Politico)
Russian state media called Trump their “Agent” after Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with Trump in the Oval Office. The network aired a segment called “Puppet Master and ‘Agent,’” which sought to explain “How to Understand Lavrov’s Meeting With Trump.” (Daily Beast)
A convicted Russian agent will become the host of an online video program for Russia’s state owned network RT. Maria Butina was released from a U.S. prison and deported to Russia in October. The U.S. intelligence community has called RT part of Russia’s “state-run propaganda machine.” (CNN)
4/ Giuliani claimed that Trump has been “very supportive” of his continued efforts to dig up dirt on Democrats in Ukraine. Giuliani suggested that Trump is aware of everything he has done in Ukraine, adding: “We’re on the same page.” Giuliani, however, declined to say if Trump directed him to go to Ukraine earlier this month. (CNN)
📌 Day 1049: Rudy Giuliani traveled to Europe to meet with several former Ukrainian prosecutors in an effort to defend Trump against the impeachment inquiry. Giuliani traveled to Budapest to meet with former Ukrainian prosecutor Yuriy Lutsenko, before going to Ukraine to meet with a number of other former prosecutors, including Viktor Shokin and Kostiantyn H. Kulyk. It was Giuliani’s earlier interactions with some of the same Ukrainians that setup the impeachment inquiry in the first place and led to an investigation by federal prosecutors into whether Giuliani violated federal lobbying laws. (New York Times / CNN)
A Giuliani associate will be allowed to remain free on bail despite allegedly concealing a $1 million payment from Russia. Lev Parnas was charged with violating campaign finance laws and has been living under house arrest in Florida since October. Prosecutors said Parnas and Igor Fruman illegally funneled money into a pro-Trump election committee and to other politician. Parnas denied hiding the payment and both have pleaded not guilty. (NBC News / Reuters)
5/ The top U.S. diplomat for Ukraine will leave his post at the end of the year. Bill Taylor was a key witness in the congressional impeachment inquiry into Trump and described for Congress what he saw as Trump’s efforts to pressure Kyiv to go after political rivals. (New York Times / NBC News)
6/ Former Trump campaign aide Rick Gates was sentenced to 45 days in jail – to be served on weekends – and a $20,000 fine for conspiracy against the U.S. and lying to the FBI and Robert Mueller. Gates was also sentenced to three years of probation and 300 hours of community service. Gates cooperated extensively with the government after pleading guilty in February 2018. Federal sentencing guidelines recommend that Gates serve 46 to 57 months in prison. (Washington Post / Politico / CNN / NBC News / Axios / New York Times)
Paul Manafort was hospitalized for a “cardiac event” while serving his seven-year sentence stemming from Robert Mueller’s investigation. Manafort is slated to be released from prison Christmas Day 2024. (ABC News / NBC News)
📌 Day 819: Paul Manafort told Rick Gates to “sit tight” and not plead guilty because Trump is “going to take care of us.” Mueller’s report says “evidence […] indicates that the President intended to encourage Manafort to not cooperate with the government.” Gates ended up cooperating with Mueller.
7/ The House approved a $1.4 trillion spending package to avert a government shutdown and fund the federal government through September. The spending legislation will now move to the Senate, which must act before midnight on Friday, when existing funding for government agencies expires. Trump has not said whether he would support the packages. (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
8/ Trump now claims he doesn’t consider the mass killings of Armenians in 1915 to be a genocide after Turkey’s authoritarian president threatened to close an air base in Turkey that hosts U.S. nuclear warheads. In April, Trump called the genocide where 1.5 million Armenians were killed “one of the worst mass atrocities of the 20th century.” (BBC)
9/ A group of Republican Trump critics launched a super PAC to oppose Trump’s reelection. The Lincoln Project has reportedly raised more than $1 million so far to support their official mission, which is to “Defeat President Trump and Trumpism at the ballot box.” (CNBC / Associated Press)
poll/ 45% of Americans support impeaching Trump and removing him from office – down from 50% in November. 51% say Trump used the presidency improperly in his interactions with the President of Ukraine by attempting to gain political advantage against a possible 2020 rival. (CNN)
poll/ 49% of Americans say Trump should be impeached and removed from office, while 46% say he should not. 49% say Trump improperly pressured Ukraine to investigate former vice president Joe Biden and his son, regardless of whether Trump committed an impeachable offense — 39% say Trump’s actions were not improper. (Washington Post)
poll/ 71% of Americans say Trump should allow his top aides to testify in the Senate trial, including 64% of Republicans, 72% of independents, and 79% of Democrats. 55% say Trump was treated fairly in the House Intelligence and Judiciary Committee hearings that led to the articles of impeachment against him. (ABC News)
1/ The House Judiciary Committee accused Trump of “multiple federal crimes” and argued that Trump “betrayed the nation by abusing his high office.” The 658-page report labels Trump’s behavior “both constitutional and criminal in character” and recommends two articles of impeachment: abuse of power for holding up nearly $400 million worth of security aid and a White House meeting until Ukraine agreed to announce investigations into Biden and 2016 election interference, and obstruction of Congress, saying “Trump’s obstruction of Congress does not befit the leader of a democratic society. It calls to mind the very claims of royal privilege against which our founders rebelled.” The House is expected to vote Wednesday on whether to impeach Trump. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / Politico)
READ: House Judiciary Committee report on impeachment. (Washington Post)
Trump suggested that Nancy Pelosi’s teeth were falling out while she was answering a question about why bribery wasn’t included as one of the articles of impeachment against Trump. (Washington Post)
The House told a federal appeals court that it still needs access to Robert Mueller’s confidential grand jury information for use in the impeachment proceedings. The House argued that the grand jury information allegedly contains “certain redacted materials [that] pertain to a Trump Campaign member’s dealings with Ukraine, and bear on whether the President committed impeachable offenses by soliciting Ukrainian interference in the 2020 Presidential election.” (CNN)
Two more vulnerable House Democrats plan to vote to impeach Trump. In total, 15 Democrats from 31 districts won by Trump in 2016 have publicly pledged to back articles of impeachment. (Politico / Wall Street Journal)
Rep. Jeff Van Drew announced that he is switching parties and will become a Republican after attending a personal meeting with Trump on Friday. Van Drew has long been a vocal opponent of impeaching Trump. Six of his aides announced their resignation from his office following the news. Van Drew helped flip his GOP district in southern New Jersey during the last election. (Politico / CNN)
2/ Sen. Chuck Schumer requested that former national security adviser John Bolton and acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney testify as witnesses in the Senate impeachment trial. In a letter to Mitch McConnell, Schumer outlined a number of procedural demands that Democrats say will make for a fair Senate trial. In addition to Mulvaney and Bolton, Schumer also called for testimony from Robert Blair, one of Mulvaney’s senior aides, and Michael Duffey, a top official from the Office of Management and Budget. Under Schumer’s proposal, the trial proceedings would begin on Jan. 6 and House impeachment managers would begin making their case on Jan. 9. (Washington Post / Politico / NBC News / Axios)
Schumer called it “totally out of line” for McConnell to take cues from the White House for the Senate impeachment trial. McConnell and White House counsel Pat Cipollone have discussed plans to coordinate a strategy for the impeachment trial in the Senate. (CNN)
Sen. Lindsey Graham predicts Trump’s impeachment will “die quickly” in Senate, because he “will do everything I can to make it die quickly.” Graham added: “I’m not trying to pretend to be a fair juror here.” (CNN)
3/ The Trump administration plans to announce the withdrawal of roughly 4,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan. The U.S. currently has between 12,000 and 13,000 troops in Afghanistan and the withdrawal would leave between 8,000 and 9,000 troops in the country. The announcement is expected as early as this week, but officials have refused to say when the withdrawal will begin. (NBC News)
4/ Trump threatened to not participate in the presidential debates. Trump – without evidence – accused the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates of bias, claiming it’s “stacked with Trump Haters & Never Trumpers.” (Wall Street Journal)
poll/ 43% of voters say they approve of the job Trump is doing – his best job approval rating ever – while 52% disapprove. (Quinnipiac)
poll/ 50% of registered voters want Trump impeached and removed from office, 4% want Trump impeached but not removed, and 41% oppose impeaching him altogether. (Fox News)
1/ The House Judiciary Committee voted over Republican objections to advance two articles of impeachment accusing Trump of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. In back-to-back votes, the Democratic-controlled committee adopted each charge against Trump by a margin of 23 to 17. The Judiciary Committee spent two days debating the articles, including a marathon 14-hour hearing yesterday, which Chairman Jerrold Nadler abruptly recessed before midnight without a vote. Deliberations today lasted less than 10 minutes. A full House vote is expected next week, and if either charge is approved, Trump would become the third American president to be impeached. Trump remained defiant on Twitter, insisting he had done “NOTHING wrong” and called Democrats “the Party of lies and deception!” (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNN / CNBC / Politico / NBC News / The Guardian)
Where every House member stands on impeachment. (New York Times)
2/ Mitch McConnell: There’s “no chance” that Trump will be removed from office as a result of the impeachment trial in the Senate. McConnell added that it “wouldn’t surprise” him if some Democrats broke ranks to vote in favor of Trump, calling the case “so darn weak.” McConnell and the White House have agreed to coordinate their plans for the trial, which McConnell has said he will end as soon as he has 51 GOP votes in place for a final vote. “We know how it’s going to end.” (NBC News / CNN / Washington Post)
3/ Rudy Giuliani was seen entering the White House just as the House Judiciary Committee voted to approve articles of impeachment against Trump. Giuliani – unfazed by federal prosecutors probing his business dealings and the Trump impeachment inquiry – has escalated his push for Ukraine to conduct investigations. He recently traveled to Ukraine to interview officials and gather more information and has promised to create a “report” on the findings of his trip. It was not clear if Giuliani was meeting with Trump. (USA Today / New York Daily News / Wall Street Journal)
📌Day 1049: Rudy Giuliani traveled to Europe to meet with several former Ukrainian prosecutors in an effort to defend Trump against the impeachment inquiry. Giuliani traveled to Budapest to meet with former Ukrainian prosecutor Yuriy Lutsenko, before going to Ukraine to meet with a number of other former prosecutors, including Viktor Shokin and Kostiantyn H. Kulyk. It was Giuliani’s earlier interactions with some of the same Ukrainians that setup the impeachment inquiry in the first place and led to an investigation by federal prosecutors into whether Giuliani violated federal lobbying laws. (New York Times / CNN)
📌 Day 1054: Trump said Giuliani wants to testify before impeachment investigators about his recent trip to Ukraine. Trump added that Giuliani will “make a report” of his findings to submit to Barr and Congress. (Politico / Washington Post)
4/ Trump’s senior aides have further restricted the number of administration officials allowed to listen to his phone calls with foreign leaders since his July 25 call with Ukraine’s President was revealed. Transcripts of Trump’s calls with world leaders are also disseminated to a smaller group of people inside the White House than before. (CNN)
5/ More than $20 million of the military aid that was supposed to go to Ukraine still hasn’t reached the country. $20.2 million of the Pentagon’s $250-million portion of the aid is still sitting in U.S. accounts, undermining one of the key GOP arguments against impeachment: that Ukraine eventually received the aid despite the hold placed on it by the Trump administration. Letters from lawmakers to Defense Secretary Mark Esper and other officials asking about the continued delay have gone unanswered. (Los Angeles Times)
6/ The Trump administration released a trove of heavily redacted documents that contain the first communications between government agencies when the military aid to Ukraine was withheld earlier this year. The documents include email conversations between the deputy comptroller at the Department of Defense and White House Office of Management and Budget staff, as well as spreadsheets of financial figures that appear to be related to Ukraine. The documents are so heavily redacted that most of the details about the conversations and exchanges remain unclear. (ABC News / Center for Public Integrity)
7/ Trump agreed to the limited “phase one” deal with China to halt the trade war. Trump said that a 25% tariff he placed on $250 billion of Chinese products will remain in effect, but the 15% tariff he put on $120 billion of products in September will be cut in half – to 7.5%. A round of tariffs scheduled for Sunday would also be canceled. In exchange, China will increase American agricultural purchases by $32 billion over previous levels over the next two years. (Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / CNBC / CNN / New York Times)
8/ A federal judge rejected the Trump administration’s request to delay a lawsuit against Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross for defying congressional subpoenas related to the handling of the 2020 census. Barr and Ross were held in contempt of Congress in July, and the House Oversight Committee filed suit last month to try to force the administration to turn over the subpoenaed records. (The Hill / Politico)
9/ The Supreme Court will hear three separate cases over whether Trump can block the release of his financial records. Two of the cases involve subpoenas issued by House committees seeking financial documents from Trump’s accountants and two banks, Deutsche Bank and Capital One. The court will also decide whether Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars USA, must comply with a grand jury subpoena obtained by the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus Vance, which seeks nearly a decade’s worth of tax returns and other financial documents for an investigation of hush money payments made to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, who claimed they had affairs with Trump. Arguments are scheduled for its March session with a decision expected by the end of June. (CNBC / Washington Post / NBC News / New York Times / CNN)
1/ After more than 14 hours of impeachment debate, the House Judiciary Committee abruptly postponed an expected party line vote on whether to approve articles of impeachment against Trump. The committee will now reconvene Friday at 10 a.m. ET to vote. Lawmakers spent the day debating the articles and multiple proposed Republican amendments intended to gut the impeachment resolution – including an amendment to remove charging Trump with abuse of power – which were all rebuffed in one vote after another. The panel, however, is expected to eventually approve two articles of impeachment against Trump: a charge that Trump abused the powers of his office by pressuring Ukraine to announce investigations into his political rivals while withholding U.S. security aid and a White House meeting; and a charge of obstructing Congress for refusing to cooperate with the impeachment inquiry into his conduct and for failure to respond to congressional subpoenas. Trump would become the fourth president in American history to face impeachment by the House for “high crimes and misdemeanors.” Once the Judiciary votes, the full House is expected to debate and vote on the articles next week with a trial set to begin in the Senate in early 2020 – about 10 months before the next election. (New York Times / Washington Post / New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Politico / Bloomberg / CNN)
2/ Senate Republicans are pushing for a short impeachment trial that would include calling zero witnesses. The plan contradicts Trump’s desire to stage a theatrical trial with public defense of his conduct by calling “a lot of witnesses,” including Joe and Hunter Biden, Nancy Pelosi, and the anonymous whistleblower, whose complaint about Trump’s July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky served as the catalyst for the impeachment inquiry. Mitch McConnell is also expected to hold a final vote to acquit Trump, instead of holding a vote on dismissing the articles of impeachment. (Washington Post / CNN / Bloomberg)
3/ The White House Office of Management and Budget claimed in a new memo that it withheld U.S. military aid to Ukraine as a temporary exploratory measure – not as part of a political effort to override Congress’ appropriation of the money. The OMB memo asserts that the office withheld the aid as a way of studying whether the spending complied with U.S. policy. The new memo says OMB extended the hold on the aid eight times in August and September until finally releasing the aid almost immediately after the last hold on September 10. (Washington Post)
Mike Pence rejected a request from House Democrats to declassify the details of a Sept. 18 call between Pence and Ukrainian President Zelensky. In a letter to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, Pence’s attorney claimed the request was illegitimate and claimed it “serves no purpose” because the impeachment inquiry is already over. (Politico)
4/ A Rudy Giuliani associate received $1 million from a Russian account in September – one month before he was charged with conspiring to funnel foreign money into U.S. elections. Lev Parnas spent most of that money “on personal expenses and to purchase a home,” according to a court filing. The money – deposited into an account in Parnas’ wife’s name – came during the same month that Parnas and his partner Igor Fruman received the first request for documents from the Congressional committees investigating the Trump administration’s actions in Ukraine. Federal prosecutors asked a judge to jail Parnas for understating his income and assets. Prosecutors also said that in the past three years, Parnas had received more than $1.5 million from Ukrainian and Russian sources. (Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
5/ Trump sent more than 100 tweets and retweets insisting that he committed “no crime” and “did nothing wrong,” while calling the impeachment inquiry “Crazy!” Trump also took time to promote Mar-a-Lago opening for the season, proclaiming: “I will be there in two weeks, The Southern White House!” (Politico / NBC News)
Notables.
Congressional negotiators reached a “deal in principle” to approve $1.37 trillion in federal spending for 2020, likely averting a government shutdown next week. The House could vote on the spending bill as soon as Tuesday, with the Senate acting before the end of the week. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Politico)
Trump signed off on the so-called phase-one trade deal with China. The arrangement would cut Trump’s tariffs on $360 billion of Chinese goods by half in exchange for Chinese commitments to purchase more U.S. agricultural goods. The “phase one” deal does not address the major structural changes to China’s economy that Trump has demanded, but will likely avert a new round of tariffs due to take effect on Dec. 15. (Bloomberg / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Washington Post)
The Defense Department’s inspector general will review a $400 million border wall construction contract awarded to a company that members of the Trump administration have publicly and privately endorsed. Fisher Sand & Gravel was awarded the contract despite concerns that the proposal “did not meet the operational requirements of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.” The IG also said he has “concerns about the possibility of inappropriate influence” exerted on the Army Corps of Engineers by members of the Trump administration. (NBC News / Associated Press)
The Senate confirmed Trump’s 50th circuit court nominee despite the pick being rated “not qualified” by the American Bar Association. In three years, Mitch McConnell’s Senate has confirmed two Supreme Court justices, 50 Circuit judges, and 120 District judges. (Politico / The Hill)
The Senate passed a resolution officially recognizing the Armenian genocide. Three previous attempts to pass the measure were blocked by GOP senators at the request of the White House. (NBC News)
The Senate confirmed Trump’s pick to be the next ambassador to Russia. Senators voted 70-22 to confirm John Sullivan, who currently serves as the deputy secretary of State. Sullivan will replace former Ambassador Jon Huntsman, who left the post to run for governor in Utah. (The Hill / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
Four months before Trump Jr. received special treatment from the Mongolian government for a hunting permit, the Mongolian ambassador and foreign minister visited Mar-a-Lago. Trump Jr. received his hunting permit on Sept. 2 to kill a threatened argali sheep – after he left the region following the August hunt. Trump Jr. also met with Mongolia’s president, Khaltmaagiin Battuiga, before the leaving the country. (ProPublica / USA Today)
Trump mocked 16-year-old Greta Thunberg after she won Time magazine’s Person of the Year award. Trump, who was a finalist for the nomination, called her win “ridiculous” and suggested she should “chill” and work on her “Anger Management problem.” Meanwhile, #BeBest began trending on Twitter – a reference to Melanie Trump’s anti-cyberbullying campaign, which encourages people to be kind on social media and speak “with respect and compassion.” (CNN / Washington Post / NBC News / Axios / The Hill)
1/ The Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee about the origins of the FBI’s Russia investigation. Horowitz reaffirmed that the investigation was adequately justified despite “several errors,” which FBI Director Christopher Wray has promised to address. Horowitz also said he met with Attorney General William Barr’s handpicked prosecutor, U.S. Attorney John Durham, last month seeking information related to the opening of the Trump-Russia probe and the surveillance warrants the FBI obtained and renewed on former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. Horowitz said Durham’s information failed to convince him that the FBI’s 2016 investigation into Trump’s campaign was improperly opened. When the report was released, however, Durham issued a public statement saying he didn’t agree with Horowitz’s conclusion. Barr also said he disagreed with Horowitz’s conclusion and accused the FBI of having acted in “bad faith” by pursuing the case. The 434-page report concluded that while there were “serious performance failures,” the FBI had adequate cause to launch the investigation and was not motivated by political bias. (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / Politico / ABC News)
READ: Justice Department inspector general Michael Horowitz’s Senate testimony. (CNN)
2/ Trump called the FBI “scum” at a rally in Pennsylvania, referring to members of the FBI who were involved in the investigation into his 2016 presidential campaign. Trump also reiterated his claim that the investigation into his campaign was launched by biased individuals within the intelligence community who were intent on undermining his presidency — a theory that was debunked by the report from the Trump-appointed DOJ inspector general. (MSNBC / NBC News / Vox / Daily Beast / Mediaite / Haaretz / Business Insider)
3/ The Justice Department inspector general confirmed that he’s still investigating possible illegal leaks by the FBI to Rudy Giuliani in 2016. Days before then-FBI Director James Comey announced he was reopening the criminal probe into Hillary Clinton’s email server, Giuliani claimed he heard about some “pretty big surprises” regarding Clinton that “should turn this thing around.” Inspector General Michael Horowitz told the Senate Judiciary Committee that his team was struggling, however, to prove that they were illegal leaks, because it’s “very hard is to prove the actual substance of the communications between the agents and the reporter, or the individuals, but we can prove the contacts.” (CNN)
4/ A federal judge blocked the Trump administration from using $3.6 billion dollars from the Pentagon to pay for the construction of Trump’s border wall. U.S. District Court Judge David Briones issued a permanent injunction prohibiting the Trump administration from using the funds to pay for the 11 wall projects along the U.S.-Mexico border. (CNN / Washington Post) / NBC News)
5/ Betsy DeVos overruled Education Department officials on student loan forgiveness. After the department’s Borrower Defense Unit reviewed thousands of complaints against now-shuttered for-profit colleges, it recommended that student borrowers be granted full relief from their federal loan debt under a rule called “borrower defense.” Despite the recommendation, DeVos instead unveiled a new plan that would base relief on how much value a defrauded student had obtained from their school by comparing their median earnings to those of other students who attended similar programs at other colleges. (NPR / The Hill)
The University of Phoenix agreed to cancel $141 million in student debt to settle allegations of deceptive advertising. The deal settles a dispute over an ad campaign that suggested the school worked with companies like Microsoft, Twitter, and Adobe to create job opportunities for students. There were, however, no such agreements. (NBC News)
6/ Trump will sign an executive order to interpret Judaism as a nationality – not just a religion – which would allow the government to withhold money from colleges for what he perceives as anti-Semitism on campuses. The order comes in response to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, which aims to “end international support for Israel’s oppression of Palestinians” and boycott Israel for its activities in the West Bank and Gaza. By recognizing Jews as having a collective national origin, Trump’s executive order would trigger a portion of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 that requires educational institutions receiving federal funding to not discriminate based on national origin. Jared Kushner pushed for the executive order. (New York Times / CNN / NBC News / Slate / Jewish Insider)
1/ The House Judiciary Committee introduced two articles of impeachment against Trump, charging him with abuse of power and obstruction of the impeachment inquiry. The articles – written in a nine-page resolution – accuse Trump of having “abused the powers of the presidency by ignoring and injuring national security” to pressure Ukraine to investigate a political rival and that Trump then engaged in “complete defiance of an impeachment inquiry” by directing the White House and other agencies to withhold documents and block officials from cooperating with the inquiry. Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler said Trump betrayed the country and his oath of office, engaged in a “cover up” of his own misconduct, and “ignored and injured the interests of the nation.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Trump tried to “corrupt our upcoming elections” and that he remains a “threat to our democracy and national security.” Trump, meanwhile, insisted that he did “NOTHING” wrong and that impeaching him would be an act of “sheer Political Madness!” The Judiciary panel will take up the articles of impeachment later this week with a full House vote likely next week, setting Trump up to become the third president to be impeached. The impeachment trial will be held in the Senate, where the Republican majority is expected to acquit him. Nadler added: “We must be clear: no one, not even the president, is above the law.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNN / NBC News / The Guardian / ABC News / NPR / Reuters / Associated Press)
💬 Quotables: “Elections are the cornerstone of democracy and are foundational to the rule of law. But the integrity of our next election is at risk from a president who has already sought foreign interference in the 2016 and 2020 elections, and who consistently puts himself above country. That is why we must act now.” –House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler
💬 Quotables: “The argument ‘why don’t you just wait’ amounts to this: ‘Why don’t you just let him cheat in one more election? Why not let him cheat just one more time?’” –House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff
2/ Trump and Mitch McConnell are divided over the Senate impeachment trial. McConnell hopes to end the trial as quickly as possible. Trump, however, wants a spectacle with Hunter Biden, Adam Schiff, and the whistleblower all testifying live – not taped depositions –because he thinks it’s his best chance to hurt Democrats in the election. (CNN)
3/ Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said “politics can and should influence foreign policy.” The comments echo Mulvaney’s October statement that Trump’s quid pro quo exchange with Ukraine was “absolutely appropriate,” that “we do that all the time with foreign policy,” and “everybody” need to “get over it.” His comments came less than an hour after House Judiciary Committee announced two articles of impeachment against Trump related to the Ukraine controversy. (Wall Street Journal / Washington Post)
📌 Day 1001: Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney confirmed that Trump blocked military aid to Ukraine to force Kiev to investigate his political rivals. Mulvaney called the quid pro quo exchange “absolutely appropriate” and that “we do that all the time with foreign policy.” Mulvaney added: “I have news for everybody: Get over it. There’s going to be political influence in foreign policy.” Mulvaney also told reporters the funds were withheld in part because of a request to have Ukraine investigate unfounded allegations that foreign countries assisted Democrats in the 2016 election. Trump has repeatedly denied that there was a quid pro quo arrangement linking his demand for an investigation that could politically benefit him to the release of $391 million in military aid to Ukraine. (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / CNBC)
4/ Attorney General William Barr believes the FBI operated out of “bad faith” and “clearly spied upon” on the Trump campaign when it investigated whether the campaign colluded with Russia. Barr claimed without evidence that the Russia probe was based on a “completely bogus narrative that was largely fanned and hyped by a completely irresponsible press.” Robert Mueller’s prosecutors, however, identified some 272 contacts between the Trump team and Russia-linked operatives, some of which have never been explained. (NBC News)
📌 Day 1054: The Justice Department inspector general’s report concluded that the Russia probe was justified. The 434-page report from Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz found the FBI had an “authorized purpose” when it initiated its investigation into possible coordination between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia, rejecting conservative allegations that top FBI officials were motivated by political bias and illegally spied on Trump advisers. Trump called the evidence in the report “far worse than I ever thought possible” and the FBI’s actions a “disgrace,” because – he claimed – “they fabricated evidence and they lied to the courts.” Horowitz, however, “did not find documentary or testimonial evidence that political bias or improper motivation influenced the decisions,” but noted “serious performance failures” by some FBI officials. (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNN / USA Today / Axios)
5/ Trump attacked FBI Director Christopher Wray for embracing the Justice Department inspector general’s conclusions that the FBI was justified in opening an investigation into Trump’s 2016 campaign. Trump tweeted that Wray “will never be able to fix the FBI” with “that kind of attitude,” adding “I don’t know what report current Director of the FBI Christopher Wray was reading, but it sure wasn’t the one given to me.” Trump appointed Wray in 2017 and White House officials said they don’t believe Trump is ready to fire Wray, because his decision to dismiss James Comey resulted in the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller. (The Guardian / CNN / Bloomberg / Washington Post / Politico / NBC News)
TAKEAWAYS: The inspector general’s report on the Russia investigation. (Politico)
ANALYSIS: The Russia probe conspiracy theories debunked by the DOJ inspector general report. (Politico)
6/ Mexico, Canada and the U.S. all agreed to sign the USMCA trade deal. Democrats endorsed the deal after the White House agreed to strengthen labor, environmental, pharmaceutical, and enforcement provisions. The pact will replace North American Free Trade Agreement when ratified and contains provisions aimed at creating more manufacturing jobs. (Politico / Bloomberg / Associated Press / NPR / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / CNN)
U.S. and Chinese trade negotiators are planning to delay tariffs set to kick in on Dec. 15, as the two continue to discuss Beijing’s commitment to purchasing more U.S. farm products. (Wall Street Journal)
7/ Trump is scheduled to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the White House today. Lavrov’s last meeting with Trump was in 2017, less than 24 hours after Trump fired James Comey. During that meeting, Trump shared classified information with Lavrov. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will also attend today’s meeting. (NPR / NBC News / Axios)
1/ The Justice Department inspector general’s report concluded that the Russia probe was justified. The 434-page report from Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz found the FBI had an “authorized purpose” when it initiated its investigation into possible coordination between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia, rejecting conservative allegations that top FBI officials were motivated by political bias and illegally spied on Trump advisers. Trump called the evidence in the report “far worse than I ever thought possible” and the FBI’s actions a “disgrace,” because – he claimed – “they fabricated evidence and they lied to the courts.” Horowitz, however, “did not find documentary or testimonial evidence that political bias or improper motivation influenced the decisions,” but noted “serious performance failures” by some FBI officials. (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNN / USA Today / Axios)
2/ Attorney General William Barr rejected the conclusion that the FBI’s probe into Russian interference was justified, calling it “an intrusive investigation” into Trump’s campaign that was based “on the thinnest of suspicions that, in my view, were insufficient to justify the steps taken.” Barr added that “the evidence produced by the investigation was consistently exculpatory.” John Durham, the federal prosecutor Barr appointed to run a separate criminal investigation into the origins of the Russia investigation, backed the attorney general’s assessment, saying “we advised the inspector general that we do not agree with some of the report’s conclusions.” FBI Director Chris Wray, meanwhile, called it “important that the Inspector General found that in this particular instance the investigation was opened with appropriate predication and authorization.” (NBC News / ABC News / New York Times)
William Barr approved the public release of additional information about Christopher Steele, the former British spy who compiled a dossier on Trump. Steele was not given any additional details about which information the DOJ plans to release, nor was he told how the information would affect the report’s portrayal of him. Steele spent two days meeting with representatives of the Justice Department in London to voluntarily cooperate with their probe in June this year and followed up with further conversations via Skype.(New York Times / CNN / ABC News)
📌 Day 1050: Attorney General William Barr’s handpicked prosecutor told the Justice Department’s inspector general that he found no evidence that U.S. intelligence agencies had planted spies in the Trump campaign. Barr tasked U.S. Attorney John Durham with investigating the origins of the Mueller probe, as well as Maltese professor Joseph Mifsud, who conservative media outlets allege was a spy planted by the FBI or U.S. intelligence agencies. As part of a separate investigation, Durham was contacted by Michael Horowitz, the DOJ’s inspector general, and asked whether Mifsud, who had early contact with the Trump campaign, was an intelligence asset. Durham informed Horowitz’s office that his investigation had produced no evidence to support the allegation. Horowitz’s report concludes that the FBI had adequate cause to launch its Russia investigation. (Washington Post / CNN / The Hill)
📌 Day 1042: The FBI never placed undercover agents or informants inside Trump’s 2016 campaign, according to a draft of the Justice Department’s inspector general report. Michael Horowitz’s report on the FBI’s handling of the Russia investigation is due on Dec. 9. Trump and his supporters have repeatedly alleged that FBI officials not only spied on the campaign but that Obama had ordered Trump’s phones tapped. The report is also expected to debunk allegations that the FBI relied on information from Christopher Steele’s dossier of damaging, unverified information about Trump to open the investigation. (New York Times)
📌 Day 1037: A report from the Justice Department’s inspector general didn’t find anti-Trump bias at the FBI when it obtained a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant to look into Carter Page, a Trump campaign adviser. According to a draft copy of Michael Horowitz’s report, there were errors and omissions in the documents related to wiretapping Page and that a low-level lawyer altered an email used to seek a renewal of the wiretap. Kevin Clinesmith attached additional material to the bottom of an email from an official at another federal agency, which contained several factual assertions. Horowitz concluded that the altered document did not impact the overall validity of the surveillance application, but referred his findings about Clinesmith to prosecutors for a potential criminal charge. Clinesmith left the Russia investigation in February 2018. Overall, the draft report concludes that the FBI had enough evidence for opening the investigation, that Joseph Mifsud, a Russia-linked professor who told a Trump campaign official that Russia had damaging information on Hillary Clinton in the form of hacked Democratic emails, was not an FBI informant, and that none of the evidence used to open the investigation came from the CIA or dossier of Trump-Russia ties compiled by Christopher Steele. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Washington Post)
3/ The House Judiciary Committee held its last hearing before considering articles of impeachment. Lawyers for Democrats and Republicans presented the case for – and against – impeaching Trump. Democrats described four “critical” findings: 1/ Trump used the power of his office to pressure Ukraine’s newly-elected president to interfere in the 2020 presidential election for his personal and political benefit; 2/ Trump tried to leverage a White House meeting and withheld military aid from Ukraine in exchange for an investigation into Joe and Hunter Biden; 3/ Trump’s conduct undermined the U.S. election process; 4/ Trump directed an effort to obstruct Congress’ impeachment inquiry into his conduct. A lawyer for the Democrats called “Trump’s persistent and continuing effort to coerce a foreign country to help him cheat to win an election is a clear and present danger to our free and fair elections and to our national security.” The Republican counsel, meanwhile, accused Democrats of pursuing an “artificial and arbitrary political deadline” to overturn the 2016 election and impeach Trump’s before the Christmas holiday. The Judiciary Committee is expected to publicly debate and compose final versions of articles of impeachment as soon as Thursday, with a full House vote next week. (Bloomberg / Washington Post / Politico / CNN / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
Attorney General William Barr told Trump that Giuliani has become a liability. Barr also warned that Giuliani was not serving Trump well as his personal attorney. (Washington Post / CNN)
Trump said Giuliani wants to testify before impeachment investigators about his recent trip to Ukraine. Trump added that Giuliani will “make a report” of his findings to submit to Barr and Congress. (Politico / Washington Post)
📌 Day 1049: Rudy Giuliani traveled to Europe to meet with several former Ukrainian prosecutors in an effort to defend Trump against the impeachment inquiry. Giuliani traveled to Budapest to meet with former Ukrainian prosecutor Yuriy Lutsenko, before going to Ukraine to meet with a number of other former prosecutors, including Viktor Shokin and Kostiantyn H. Kulyk. It was Giuliani’s earlier interactions with some of the same Ukrainians that setup the impeachment inquiry in the first place and led to an investigation by federal prosecutors into whether Giuliani violated federal lobbying laws. (New York Times / CNN)
Notables.
The Supreme Court left a Kentucky law in place that requires doctors to perform ultrasounds, show fetal images, and play audio of the fetal heartbeat to women before abortions. The justices did not offer an explanation for their decision to refuse to hear the challenge to a lower court ruling that upheld the Kentucky restrictions. The ACLU argued that the Kentucky statute had no medical basis and was designed only to coerce a woman into opting out of having an abortion. The law will now take effect. (NBC News / Politico / ABC News / Bloomberg)
The U.S. government has taken more than 1,100 children from their parents since the end of Trump’s family separation policy. (The Intercept)
Trump told a Jewish audience that they had “no choice” but to vote for him or else the Democrats will “take 100 percent of your wealth away,” referring to the proposed tax on the richest Americans. Jewish groups denounced Trump’s anti-Semitic tropes, calling the remarks “deeply offensive” and his use of stereotypes “unconscionable.” The Jewish Democratic Council of America said the remarks “only reinforce our belief […] that Donald Trump is the biggest threat to American Jews.” (USA Today / Washington Post / Rolling Stone / Times of Israel)
The U.S. ambassador to Denmark prevented a NATO expert from speaking at an international conference because the expert was critical of Trump. Stanley Sloan was scheduled to give the keynote speech at a conference celebrating the 70th anniversary of NATO, but he was told the day before he was set to leave for Copenhagen that the U.S. embassy had vetoed his participation. As a result, the event was cancelled altogether. (New York Times)
Amazon blamed Trump for exerting “improper pressure” on the Pentagon when it awarded a military cloud computing contract to Microsoft. The company argued that Trump has “made no secret of his personal dislike” for Jeff Bezos and his ownership of the Washington Post. Trump has blamed Bezos for unfavorable coverage of his administration, despite the Post operating with editorial independence. The complaint contends that Trump “used his office” to prevent AWS from winning the contract when he “intervened directly in the very final phases of the two-year procurement process.” (CNBC / Wall Street Journal / Politico / Washington Post)
Trump complained that water conservation laws have resulted in Americans “flushing toilets 10 times, 15 times as opposed to once” and that “they end up using more water.” Trump said the EPA was investigating the “situation.” Use of low-flow toilets started in the 1990s after George HW Bush signed the Energy Policy Act – a 1992 law that required new toilets to have water-saving designs. (The Guardian / New York Times / CNN)
1/ Trump repeatedly used unsecured cellphones to communicate with Rudy Giuliani and others involved in his campaign to pressure Ukraine. Phone records released this week revealed Trump’s extensive unencrypted communications that were vulnerable to monitoring by foreign spies, and his refusal to follow security guidance given to him by his aides. “It happened all the time,” said one former senior aide. Trump is not identified by name in the phone records, but House Intelligence Committee investigators believe he is the person with a blocked number listed as “-1” in the files. (Washington Post / CNN / The Independent)
2/ More than 500 legal scholars signed an open letter asserting that Trump committed “impeachable conduct.” The group noted that Trump’s attempt at affecting the results of the 2020 election was not a matter that could be left to voters at the polls. “Put simply, if a President cheats in his effort at re-election, trusting the democratic process to serve as a check through that election is no remedy at all,” the professors wrote. “That is what impeachment is for.” (Washington Post)
3/ The White House rejected an invitation to participate in Monday’s impeachment hearings before the House Judiciary Committee. In a sharply worded letter, the White House called the process “completely baseless” and “a reckless abuse of power” by the Democrats, who “should end this inquiry now and not waste even more time with additional hearings.” Trump had until 5 p.m. ET to decided whether to have his lawyers participate in the remaining House Judiciary Committee impeachment proceedings. Lawyers for the House Intelligence Committee are expected to present findings on Monday from the 300-page report that concluded Trump put his personal political interest above the national interest. (Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg / NBC News / CNN)
Notables.
More than 100 members of Congress have made 256 visits to Trump properties since he was elected. At least 122 visits were made to attend a political fundraiser or special interest group event. Since the impeachment inquiry was announced, 50 members of Congress have visited a Trump property. (CREW)
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held an off-the-books meeting with group of wealthy conservative donors during the NATO summit in London this week. Pompeo attended a gathering of the Hamilton Society, which was held at the hotel where Pompeo was staying, without alerting members of the press who were traveling with him. Attendees were required to leave their cellphones outside of the meeting to ensure that nothing Pompeo said during the gathering would be recorded. (CNN)
The House voted to restore protections of the Voting Rights Act that were rolled back by a 2013 Supreme Court ruling. The Voting Rights Advancement Act would amend the 1965 bill and restore protections for certain jurisdictions to obtain “pre-clearance” from the federal government before implementing any changes to voting practices. The bill passed 228 to 187, with all but one Republican opposed. (Politico / Associated Press / New York Times / The Hill)
The Senate confirmed eight Trump court picks in three days. Since taking office in January 2017, Trump has had 170 judicial confirmations. (The Hill)
The Senate passed a bill to permanently fund historically black colleges and other minority-serving institutions. The FUTURE Act (Fostering Undergraduate Talent by Unlocking Resources for Education) will provide $255 million annually. Federal funding had expired on October 1. (CNN)
The White House directed a Republican senator to block a bill acknowledging the Armenian genocide for a third time. Sen. Kevin Cramer was asked to prevent lawmakers from passing the bill by unanimous consent, even though he was a co-sponsor of a similar resolution during the last Congress. Cramer said he didn’t think it was “the right time” to pass the bill, which would formally recognize Turkey’s genocide against the Armenian people, because Trump had just returned from a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Cramer also said he does not intend to continue blocking the resolution in the future. (Axios / KTVZ)
1/ Speaker Nancy Pelosi instructed the key chairmen in the House of Representatives to begin drafting impeachment articles against Trump, signaling that the House will likely vote to charge him with high crimes and misdemeanors before Christmas. Pelosi said the facts of Trump’s alleged wrongdoing involving Ukraine “are uncontested” and that “the president leaves us no choice but to act.” By ordering the “chairmen” to draft the charges, Pelosi left open the possibility that the other five committees that have investigated Trump and his administration will be asked to make recommendations about articles of impeachment. Pelosi added that Trump “abused his power for his own personal political benefit” and that his alleged wrongdoing “strikes at the very heart of our Constitution.” (New York Times / Politico / NBC News / ABC News / CNN / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / Bloomberg)
📅 The House Judiciary Committee will hold its next impeachment on Monday at 9 a.m. ET, when the panel will receive presentations from Democratic and GOP counsels to the Intelligence Committee on the evidence collected in the inquiry. (CNN / NBC News)
House Democrats are considering obstruction and bribery articles of impeachment against Trump. Democratic members of the Judiciary Committee and Intelligence Committee believe Trump’s actions vis-a-vis Ukraine meet the definition of bribery. House Democrats have also signaled that they plan to include evidence from Robert Mueller’s investigation as part of the obstruction of justice articles. (Washington Post / CNN)
2/ Trump accused Pelosi of having “a nervous fit” after a reporter asked if she hated Trump. James Rosen, a reporter for a conservative television network, loudly asked Pelosi as she was leaving a news conference: “Do you hate the president?” Pelosi rejected the question, saying: “Don’t mess with me when it comes to words like that.” (The Guardian / Washington Post / Bloomberg / New York Times)
Trump to Democrats: “If you are going to impeach me, do it now.” Trump suggested that he wanted the “Do Nothing Democrats” to move “fast” on impeachment “so we can have a fair trial in the Senate.” (ABC News)
3/ Attorney General William Barr’s handpicked prosecutor told the Justice Department’s inspector general that he found no evidence that U.S. intelligence agencies had planted spies in the Trump campaign. Barr tasked U.S. Attorney John Durham with investigating the origins of the Mueller probe, as well as Maltese professor Joseph Mifsud, who conservative media outlets allege was a spy planted by the FBI or U.S. intelligence agencies. As part of a separate investigation, Durham was contacted by Michael Horowitz, the DOJ’s inspector general, and asked whether Mifsud, who had early contact with the Trump campaign, was an intelligence asset. Durham informed Horowitz’s office that his investigation had produced no evidence to support the allegation. Horowitz’s report concludes that the FBI had adequate cause to launch its Russia investigation. (Washington Post / CNN / The Hill)
📌 Day 1042: The FBI never placed undercover agents or informants inside Trump’s 2016 campaign, according to a draft of the Justice Department’s inspector general report. Michael Horowitz’s report on the FBI’s handling of the Russia investigation is due on Dec. 9. Trump and his supporters have repeatedly alleged that FBI officials not only spied on the campaign but that Obama had ordered Trump’s phones tapped. The report is also expected to debunk allegations that the FBI relied on information from Christopher Steele’s dossier of damaging, unverified information about Trump to open the investigation. (New York Times)
📌 Day 1037: A report from the Justice Department’s inspector general didn’t find anti-Trump bias at the FBI when it obtained a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant to look into Carter Page, a Trump campaign adviser. According to a draft copy of Michael Horowitz’s report, there were errors and omissions in the documents related to wiretapping Page and that a low-level lawyer altered an email used to seek a renewal of the wiretap. Kevin Clinesmith attached additional material to the bottom of an email from an official at another federal agency, which contained several factual assertions. Horowitz concluded that the altered document did not impact the overall validity of the surveillance application, but referred his findings about Clinesmith to prosecutors for a potential criminal charge. Clinesmith left the Russia investigation in February 2018. Overall, the draft report concludes that the FBI had enough evidence for opening the investigation, that Joseph Mifsud, a Russia-linked professor who told a Trump campaign official that Russia had damaging information on Hillary Clinton in the form of hacked Democratic emails, was not an FBI informant, and that none of the evidence used to open the investigation came from the CIA or dossier of Trump-Russia ties compiled by Christopher Steele. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Washington Post)
4/ Trump asked the Supreme Court to block a subpoena from House Democrats for his financial records, arguing that the House exceeded its authority when it ordered Trump’s longtime accounting firm Mazars USA to turn over his personal records. The petition is the second request in the last month concerning a similar subpoena for his financial records. In both cases, Trump sued to stop Mazars USA from complying with subpoenas for records. Federal appeals courts ruled against Trump in both cases. (Politico / Bloomberg / NBC News /CNN / New York Times / Washington Post)
📌 Day 1030: Trump asked the Supreme Court to block a House subpoena for his tax returns for the second day in a row. Yesterday, Trump’s lawyers asked the Supreme Court to reverse a lower-court ruling that allowed the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office to obtain eight years’ worth of Trump’s personal and corporate tax returns from his accountant, Mazars USA, as part of a probe into the payments made to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal. Today, Trump’s lawyers asked the justices to temporarily block a subpoena from the House Oversight Committee compelling Mazars to provide Trump’s tax returns. Mazars has said it will hand over the records if it is required to. (CNBC / Bloomberg / Washington Post)
5/ The former Playboy model who said she had an affair with Trump before he was president sued Fox News for defamation. Karen McDougal alleged that Tucker Carlson falsely accused her of extortion when he said that she “approached Donald Trump and threatened to ruin his career and humiliate his family if he doesn’t give them money.” (New York Times)
6/ North Korea threatened to resume calling Trump a “dotard” if he keeps referring to Kim Jong Un as “rocket man.” The warning came after Trump remarked that Kim “likes sending rockets up, doesn’t he? That’s why I call him rocket man.” (Associated Press)
📌 Day 246: Following Trump’s United Nations speech, North Korea threatened to detonate a hydrogen bomb in the Pacific. Kim Jong Un in a statement called Trump a “mentally deranged U.S. dotard” who would “pay dearly” for his words, and that North Korea would enact the “highest level of hardline countermeasure in history.” The North Korean foreign minister clarified this phrase, suggesting it could refer to an H-bomb. (Financial Times / New York Times)
1/ Trump committed impeachable offenses, according to three constitutional scholars who testified during the House Judiciary Committee’s first impeachment hearing into Trump’s efforts to pressure Ukraine for political gain. Noah Feldman, a professor at Harvard, Michael Gerhardt, a professor at the University of North Carolina, and Pamela Karlan, a Stanford law professor, all agreed that Trump was guilty of “high crimes and misdemeanors” for soliciting foreign assistance and withholding a White House meeting and military assistance from Ukraine as leverage for political favors. Gerhardt added that Trump’s actions toward Ukraine were worse than Richard Nixon’s misconduct during Watergate. Karlan also told lawmakers that Trump’s attempt to “strong arm a foreign leader” would not be considered politics as usual. Feldman, Gerhardt, and Karlan were invited to testify by the Democrats. Republicans also tapped their own law professor, Jonathan Turley, to testify, who suggested that the impeachment case is “slipshod” and premature. Turley also disagreed that Trump conditioning a White House meeting and releasing military aid on whether Ukraine would announce the investigations he wanted amounted to a bribe. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News)
💬 Quotable: “The very idea that a president might seek the aid of a foreign government in his re-election campaign would have horrified” America’s Founding Fathers. –Pamela Karlan
💬 Quotable: “On the basis of the testimony and evidence before the House, President Trump has committed impeachable high crimes and misdemeanors by corruptly abusing the office of the presidency.” –Noah Feldman
💬 Quotable: “The record compiled thus far shows that the president has committed several impeachable offenses, including bribery, abuse of power in soliciting a personal favor from a foreign leader to benefit his political campaign, obstructing Congress and obstructing justice.” –Michael Gerhardt
“Are you ready?” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asked fellow Democrats during a closed-door Capitol meeting before the Judiciary Committee’s proceedings began. While Pelosi didn’t announce a firm decision or timeline for voting on Trump’s impeachment, Democrats responded with a standing ovation, indicating they wanted to continue to press the inquiry. (Washington Post / Associated Press)
Takeaways from the Judiciary Committee’s first impeachment hearing. (Washington Post / CNN)
2/ House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler suggested that Democrats could link Mueller’s findings to the House’s impeachment inquiry. Nadler’s opening statement outlined how Trump met both the Mueller investigation and the Ukraine probe with “obstruction.” Nadler added that “Trump welcomed foreign interference in the 2016 election,” “demanded it for the 2020 election,” and “In both cases, he got caught. And in both cases, he did everything in his power to prevent the American people from learning the truth about his conduct.” (Politico)
A witness in the Mueller investigation was indicted along with seven other people on charges of conspiring to funnel $3.5 million in illegal campaign contributions. George Nader was charged along with a Lebanese businessman named Ahmad “Andy” Khawaja as part of a 53-count indictment for conspiring to secretly direct $3.5 million in campaign contributions to political committees associated with U.S. presidential candidates. Nader served as an adviser to the United Arab Emirates and an intermediary for members of the Trump campaign who wanted to make contacts in the Middle East. (Washington Post)
3/ Trump called the House Intelligence Committee’s impeachment report “a joke” and that “Everybody is saying it.” Trump then cited “reviews” of the report by Fox News’ opinion hosts who he had watched, saying that their takeaway is “a uniform statement pretty much right down the road” that the Democrats’ investigation is “of no merit.” (Politico / ABC News)
The Trump-Ukraine impeachment inquiry report, annotated. The House Intelligence Committee Democrats released a 300-page report outlining their impeachment inquiry into the conduct of Trump. (CNN)
📌 Day 1048: The House Intelligence Committee concluded that Trump tried to “use the powers of his office to solicit foreign interference on his behalf in the 2020 election.” The 300-page impeachment report also asserts that Trump “placed his own personal and political interests” ahead of U.S. national interests, “subverted U.S. foreign policy toward Ukraine and undermined our national security in favor of two politically motivated investigations that would help his presidential re-election campaign.” The report continues that “This continued solicitation of foreign interference in a U.S. election presents a clear and present danger that the president will continue to use the power of his office for his personal political gain.” The Intelligence Committee is expected to approve the report along party lines Tuesday evening, ahead of the first impeachment hearing in the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. (New York Times / Politico / CNN / Bloomberg / NBC News / ABC News / Washington Post)
4/ Rudy Giuliani traveled to Europe to meet with several former Ukrainian prosecutors in an effort to defend Trump against the impeachment inquiry. Giuliani traveled to Budapest to meet with former Ukrainian prosecutor Yuriy Lutsenko, before going to Ukraine to meet with a number of other former prosecutors, including Viktor Shokin and Kostiantyn H. Kulyk. It was Giuliani’s earlier interactions with some of the same Ukrainians that setup the impeachment inquiry in the first place and led to an investigation by federal prosecutors into whether Giuliani violated federal lobbying laws. (New York Times / CNN)
Notables.
The Trump administration approved a plan to end food stamp benefits for about 700,000 Americans. The new regulation will strictly enforcing federal work requirements and makes it harder for states to gain waivers from the requirement. It was the first of three rule changes that are expected to ultimately cut 3 million people from the food stamp rolls. (New York Times / NBC News / Bloomberg)
Attorney General William Barr suggested that “communities” who don’t “respect” the police could lose “the police protection they need,” conflating protests of police misconduct with a disrespect for the police. (Washington Post / New York Times)
The Department of Homeland Security is considering requiring all travelers be photographed entering or leaving the country – including American citizens – as part of an identification system using facial-recognition technology. (ABC News)
Senate Republicans confirmed Sarah Pitlyk to a lifetime seat on the federal judiciary despite her unanimous “not qualified” rating from the American Bar Association. Pitlyk also believes fertility treatment is having “grave effects on society.” (HuffPost / Slate)
The Trump administration is considering deploying an additional 14,000 troops to the Middle East to counter Iran. The additional forces would join the roughly 14,000 U.S. service members sent to the region since May. (Wall Street Journal)
China warned the U.S that passing legislation criticizing the treatment of Uighur Muslims in China would affect negotiations to end the ongoing trade war. The UIGHUR Act of 2019 is currently awaiting approval in the Senate. The bill would require certain U.S. government agencies to report on the treatment of Uighurs at internment and re-education camps in Xinjiang. A spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry told reporters that “any wrong words and deeds” by the U.S. “must pay the due price.” (Reuters)
Trump met privately with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for an unscheduled meeting on the sidelines of the NATO summit in London. They discussed trade, energy, and the importance that both countries fulfill their alliance commitments. The meeting was not open to U.S. media. (Bloomberg)
Trump abruptly canceled a planned news conference to cap NATO’s 70th anniversary meeting after being mocked by other world leaders. A video surfaced of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on a hot mic joking about Trump during a reception at Buckingham Palace. Trump responded by calling Trudeau “two-faced,” before adding, “honestly with Trudeau, he’s a nice guy.” (CNN / CNBC / Washington Post / New York Times / The Guardian / Politico / BuzzFeed News)
Trump made at least 21 false claims during the NATO meetings and turned the public portion of each of the three sessions into his own impromptu press conference. (CNN)
Impeachment: What Happens Next.
The House Judiciary Committee expected to announce a hearing for next week. The Democratic and GOP staff attorneys on the House Intelligence Committee are expected to present the findings of their investigations.
The White House has a Friday deadline to decide about whether to participate in future hearings.
1/ The House Intelligence Committee concluded that Trump tried to “use the powers of his office to solicit foreign interference on his behalf in the 2020 election.” The 300-page impeachment report also asserts that Trump “placed his own personal and political interests” ahead of U.S. national interests, “subverted U.S. foreign policy toward Ukraine and undermined our national security in favor of two politically motivated investigations that would help his presidential re-election campaign.” The report continues that “This continued solicitation of foreign interference in a U.S. election presents a clear and present danger that the president will continue to use the power of his office for his personal political gain.” The Intelligence Committee is expected to approve the report along party lines Tuesday evening, ahead of the first impeachment hearing in the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. (New York Times / Politico / CNN / Bloomberg / NBC News / ABC News / Washington Post)
Trump called the impeachment inquiry “very unpatriotic” during the opening of the NATO leadership summit in London. He also called the inquiry a “performance” and said it was “a bad thing for our country.” (Associated Press)
2/ House Democrats are considering expanding their articles of impeachment to include charges beyond Trump’s alleged abuse of power related to Ukraine. Some members of the Judiciary Committee have discussed drafting articles for obstruction of justice and other “high crimes” outlined in the Mueller report, as well as allegations that Trump has used the presidency to personally enrich himself. Others on the committee support a more narrow approach that focuses solely on Trump’s attempts to pressure Ukraine to launch investigations into his political opponents. (Washington Post)
3/ Ukraine knew about Trump’s hold on military aid in July and attempted to keep the information from going public, according to the former Ukrainian deputy minister of foreign affairs. Olena Zerkal learned about the freeze from an incoming diplomatic cable and informed Ukrainian senior officials, who tried to prevent it from surfacing in order to avoid getting drawn into the impeachment discussion. Zerkal asked for a meeting with a senior aide to Zelensky to discuss it on July 30. The cable had been sent the previous week, but Zerkal could not confirm the precise date it had been transmitted. (New York Times)
4/ Rudy Giuliani repeatedly called the White House the same day that the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine was abruptly recalled, according to phone records released by the House Intelligence Committee. Marie Yovanovitch was recalled from her post in May following claims by Trump’s surrogates that she was undermining his efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate his political rivals. Call records also show that Devin Nunes had multiple contacts in April with Giuliani and Lev Parnas, a Giuliani associate indicted for campaign finance violations. The contacts came as the U.S. envoy worked with Giuliani to persuade Ukraine’s president to commit publicly to investigating Trump’s political opponents. Separately, phone records also show that Giuliani repeatedly called the White House Situation Room’s switchboard and other White House numbers on Aug. 8. Giuliani eventually spoke with someone from Mick Mulvaney’s Office of Management and Budget on Aug. 8 for nearly 13-minutes. The whistleblower complaint was filed on Aug. 12. (NBC News / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / Axios / Daily Beast)
The House Intelligence Committee’s impeachment report accused Trump’s allies of coordinating with a conservative journalist to peddle “false narratives” about Trump’s opponents as part of his multi-pronged pressure campaign on Ukraine. The report indicates that journalist John Solomon’s articles throughout 2019 spread Trump-backed conspiracies about Ukraine. The phone records show multiple communications between Solomon, Giuliani, Parnas, Nunes, and the White House’s budget office. (CNN)
The Justice Department is “likely” to file additional charges in the case against two Giuliani associates indicted for campaign finance crimes. “We think a superseding indictment is likely,” said a prosecutor during a hearing in U.S. District Court in Manhattan in the case of Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, who are accused of violating federal campaign finance laws. An attorney representing Parnas asked that materials seized during his client’s arrest be released to the House committees leading the impeachment inquiry into Trump. Parnas and Fruman have pleaded not guilty. (NBC News / Politico / Bloomberg / CNBC) / ABC News)
5/ An investigation by the Senate Intelligence Committee found no evidence that Ukraine attempted to interfere in the 2016 election. The Republican-led committee was investigating claims by Trump and his allies that Ukraine tried to undermine Trump’s candidacy and boost Hillary Clinton in 2016. Trump has used the claims to defend his demands for political investigations from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. (Politico / CNN)
Notables.
A federal appeals court ruled that Deutsche Bank and Capital One must comply with a congressional subpoena for Trump, his children, and his company’s financial records. In August, a New York district judge declined to block the subpoenas, which were issued by the House Intelligence and Financial Services committees in April as part of an investigation into foreign influence. Trump is expected to appeal the case to the Supreme Court. (New York Times / Reuters / Axios)
Trump said he has “no deadline” to finalize a trade deal with China and would be willing to wait until after the 2020 election to “see whether or not the deal is going to be right.” Stocks in Europe fell and Dow futures lost more than 100 points in response to Trump’s comments. (CNBC / Bloomberg / New York Times / CNN)
The Department of Defense awarded a $400 million contract to build sections of Trump’s border wall in Arizona to a company owned by a Republican donor. Fisher Sand and Gravel’s bid to build 31 miles of new barrier was initially rejected because it didn’t meet the required project standards. However, after CEO Tommy Fisher appeared on Fox News multiple times to promote his company, Trump urged the Army Corps of Engineers to award Fisher the contract. Fisher Sand and Gravel has previously been fined more than $1 million for environmental and tax violations, and the former co-owner of the company was sentenced to 37 months in prison in 2009 after pleading guilty to tax fraud. (Grand Forks Herald / Fox 5 San Diego / Washington Post / The Independent)
1/ The White House will not participate in the Judiciary Committee’s first impeachment hearing on Wednesday. In a letter to Chairman Jerry Nadler, White House counsel Pat Cipollone called the inquiry “baseless” and “partisan,” and that “all” of Trump’s due process rights had been violated by the impeachment inquiry. Cipollone did not rule out the possibility that the White House would participate in future proceedings. The White House has a Friday deadline to decide whether or not Trump will offer a defense as part of the broader impeachment proceedings. (Politico / CNN / NBC News / Washington Post / Reuters / ABC News)
2/ The House Intelligence Committee will circulate its report on Trump’s efforts to pressure Ukraine to launch investigations into his political rivals. Lawmakers will have 24 hours to review the report before a vote on Tuesday over whether to pass the impeachment inquiry over to the Judiciary Committee. The panel is expected to approve the findings on a party-line vote. The Judiciary Committee, which will begin scheduled impeachment hearings on Wednesday, is expected to then draft and vote on articles of impeachment around the second week of December with a full House vote before the Christmas recess. (Politico / NBC News)
3/ House Republicans prepared their own report, which claims Trump did “nothing wrong” and committed “no quid pro quo, bribery, extortion, or abuse of power.” The 123-page rebuttal report claims Trump was acting on “genuine and reasonable” skepticism of Ukraine and had “valid” concerns about corruption – not political self-interest – when he pressured Ukraine to open investigations to benefit his 2020 re-election bid by withholding nearly $400 million in security assistance and a White House meeting. Republicans called the move “entirely prudent.” The report, however, does not acknowledge any wrongdoing surrounding the core allegations in the impeachment inquiry and ignores or downplays testimony from career officials who raised serious questions and concerns about the conduct of Trump and his top aides. (New York Times / CNN / Daily Beast / Axios / Wall Street Journal)
poll/ 53% of Republicans think Trump is a better leader than Lincoln; 47% said Lincoln was a better leader. Overall, 75% of Americans believe Lincoln was a better leader than Trump. (The Hill / Economist/YouGov)
Notables.
The Trump administration released $105 million in military assistance to Lebanon after months of unexplained delays. The Office of Management and Budget has been holding the funds since September despite congressional approval. The White House has not explained the delay. (Associated Press)
The Trump administration’s changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program could cause millions to lose food stamps. Three proposed rule changes to SNAP by the Department of Agriculture would create stricter work requirements for eligibility, cap deductions, and “reform” the way 40 states automatically enroll families. According to a study by the Urban Institute, 3.7 million fewer people would receive SNAP in an average month, 2.2 million households would see their average monthly benefits drop by $127, more than 3 million others would see an average drop of $37 per month, and 982,000 students would lose access to free or reduced lunches. (NBC News)
Trump called for a cease-fire between the Taliban and U.S. forces in Afghanistan during an unannounced Thanksgiving visit with U.S. troops overseas. Trump told troops that the Taliban “wants to make a deal” and that “we’re saying it has to be a cease-fire.” Trump claimed that he has made “tremendous progress” since he abruptly canceled his previous peace talks with the Taliban in September. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, however, indicated that a cease-fire wasn’t in progress or even part of the discussion with U.S. negotiators. Western diplomats and Taliban leaders were also confused by Trump’s remarks, since demanding a cease-fire would constitute a shift in the U.S. position and would require additional concessions from the Taliban. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / NBC News / Associated Press)
The Trump administration indefinitely detained a Palestinian man by citing an obscure provision in the PATRIOT Act. After serving 15 years in federal prison, Adham Amin Hassoun was taken into custody by ICE and detained in New York while he awaited deportation. After no country would accept him, the Trump administration declared Hassoun a threat to national security under section 412 of the PATRIOT Act, which permits indefinite detention of resident aliens on national security grounds. It’s the first time the government has invoked Section 412. (Daily Beast)
The Trump administration moved to reduce its contributions to NATO. Previously, the U.S. provided about 22% of NATO’s direct funding, but the Trump administration plans to now reduce its contribution to about 16%. The U.S. expects other NATO members to make up the shortfall. (CNN)
Trump announced tariffs on steel and aluminum from Brazil and Argentina, accusing the two countries of manipulating their currencies to hurt American farmers. (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
The Trump administration proposed tariffs on roughly $2.4 billion in French products after a five-month investigation that concluded that a French digital services tax discriminated against American Internet companies, like Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon. Robert Lighthizer, Trump’s chief negotiator, proposed “additional duties of up to 100% on certain French products,” including cheese, yogurt, sparkling wine, and makeup. (Bloomberg / Washington Post)
Trump’s 2020 campaign won’t credential reporters from Bloomberg News to cover Trump campaign events after the company said it wouldn’t investigate Democratic 2020 candidates while Mike Bloomberg – the owner – was in the race. (Wall Street Journal / Axios)
1/ Trump was briefed about the whistleblower complaint before lifting the hold on military aid to Ukraine in September. White House lawyers discussed the complaint with Trump in late august – after the inspector general for the intelligence community concluded that the administration needed to send it to Congress – and explained they were trying to determine whether they were legally required to give it to lawmakers. The two lawyers, Pat Cipollone and John Eisenberg, told Trump they would ask the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel to determine whether they had to disclose the complaint. A week later, the OLC concluded that the administration did not have to hand it over. In early September (either Sept. 7 or 9), Trump told Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, that he was not seeking “a quid pro quo” with the Ukrainian government by withholding the aid. Three House committees opened an investigation into Trump’s dealings with Ukraine on Sept. 9, and the administration lifted the freeze on $391 million in security assistance to Ukraine on Sept. 11. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / CNN)
2/ Two officials at the White House Office of Management and Budget resigned over concerns about Trump’s decision to withhold military aid to Ukraine. Career OMB employee Mark Sandy told House investigators during a closed-door interview this month that one of the former OMB officials “expressed some frustrations about not understanding the reason for the hold” before stepping down in September. A second official working in the legal division of OMB also offered a “dissenting opinion” over the legality of the hold before resigning shortly thereafter. Neither official has been identified, and it is unclear how closely their resignations were tied to the hold on U.S. military aid. (Washington Post / New York Times)
3/ Rudy Giuliani was negotiating personal business with Ukraine’s top prosecutor while encouraging the same prosecutor to investigate the Bidens and allegations that Ukraine, not Russia, had interfered in the 2016 election. A February draft retainer called for Yuri Lutsenko to pay at least $200,000 to retain Giuliani Partners, and Joseph diGenova and Victoria Toensing, a husband-and-wife legal team aligned with Trump, to help recover money allegedly stolen from Ukraine. Lutsenko also wanted Giuliani to help him get a meeting with Attorney General William Barr. Lutsenko said Giuliani told him he would have to hire a lobbyist to get the meeting, and that “They even offered me such a company.” Giuliani has repeatedly said he has no business in Ukraine and that none of the deals were finalized. (New York Times / Washington Post)
4/ Trump denied sending Rudy Giuliani to Ukraine to dig up dirt on the Bidens. Giuliani, however, publicly admitted earlier this month that he went to Ukraine on Trump’s behalf to conduct an investigation “concerning 2016 Ukrainian collusion and corruption.” Giuliani also said the investigation was carried out “solely as a defense attorney to defend my client against false charges.” Asked what Giuliani was doing in Ukraine, Trump said “you have to ask that to Rudy.” Meanwhile, Giuliani called Trump to reassure him that he was joking when he told the media that he had an “insurance policy, if thrown under the bus” by Trump. (Bloomberg / Reuters)
5/ The FBI never placed undercover agents or informants inside Trump’s 2016 campaign, according to a draft of the Justice Department’s inspector general report. Michael Horowitz’s report on the FBI’s handling of the Russia investigation is due on Dec. 9. Trump and his supporters have repeatedly alleged that FBI officials not only spied on the campaign but that Obama had ordered Trump’s phones tapped. The report is also expected to debunk allegations that the FBI relied on information from Christopher Steele’s dossier of damaging, unverified information about Trump to open the investigation. (New York Times)
📌 Day 1037: A report from the Justice Department’s inspector general didn’t find anti-Trump bias at the FBI when it obtained a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant to look into Carter Page, a Trump campaign adviser. According to a draft copy of Michael Horowitz’s report, there were errors and omissions in the documents related to wiretapping Page and that a low-level lawyer altered an email used to seek a renewal of the wiretap. Kevin Clinesmith attached additional material to the bottom of an email from an official at another federal agency, which contained several factual assertions. Horowitz concluded that the altered document did not impact the overall validity of the surveillance application, but referred his findings about Clinesmith to prosecutors for a potential criminal charge. Clinesmith left the Russia investigation in February 2018. Overall, the draft report concludes that the FBI had enough evidence for opening the investigation, that Joseph Mifsud, a Russia-linked professor who told a Trump campaign official that Russia had damaging information on Hillary Clinton in the form of hacked Democratic emails, was not an FBI informant, and that none of the evidence used to open the investigation came from the CIA or dossier of Trump-Russia ties compiled by Christopher Steele. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Washington Post)
Michael Flynn’s sentence was postponed until after the release of the inspector general report about the FBI’s Russia investigation. Flynn was scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 18 after pleading guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia’ ambassador to the United States. (Politico / CNN)
6/ The Trump Organization reported conflicting information to New York City property tax officials and a lender who arranged financing for Trump Tower in Manhattan. Documents show Trump’s company reported higher occupancy rates to lenders and lower ones to tax officials over three consecutive years. The discrepancy occurred while the Trump Organization was refinancing a $100 million loan. (ProPublica)
poll/ 47% of adults say Trump should be impeached, while 40% say he shouldn’t be. (Reuters)
1/ The House Judiciary Committee will hold its first hearing next week on the impeachment of Trump. The Dec. 4 hearing on the “constitutional grounds for presidential impeachment” will feature a panel of expert witnesses who will testify “on the application of the constitutional framework of high crimes and misdemeanors to the very serious allegations regarding the conduct of the President.” Chairman Jerry Nadler has invited the White House to also question witnesses. The House Intelligence Committee is expected to release its report summarizing the findings of its investigation to the Judiciary Committee soon after Congress returns from its Thanksgiving recess next week. The report will also detail how the White House refused to cooperate with the inquiry and argue that the refusal may warrant an additional article of impeachment against Trump. (Politico / CNN / New York Times / Bloomberg / Washington Post / Reuters)
2/ A federal judge ruled that the Defense Department and the White House Office of Management and Budget must turn over hundreds of documents related to Trump’s decision to withhold security aid from Ukraine. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ordered OMB and the Defense Department to comply with a Freedom of Information Act request for 211 pages of records containing communications between the Pentagon, the Pentagon’s comptroller, and OMB. The preliminary injunction requires the first half of the documents to be turned over by Dec. 12, and the second half by Dec. 20. (Axios)
3/ The Office of Management and Budget officially started withholding $250 million in Pentagon aid to Ukraine on July 25 – the same day Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke on the phone. According to a summary of OMB documents provided to the House Budget Committee, the hold on the aid was initially placed at the beginning of July. Agencies were notified at a July 18 meeting that it had been frozen at the direction of the White House – a week before the Trump-Zelensky call. (CNN)
📌 Day 994: Trump gave a politically appointed official the authority to withhold nearly $400 million in U.S. military aid to Ukraine after career staff at the Office of Management and Budget questioned the legality of delaying the funds. Trump shifted the authority over the funds to Michael Duffey, who serves as associate director of national security programs at OMB. The aid in question is at the center of the House’s impeachment inquiry, and it was put on hold just days before the July 25 call between Trump and Ukrainian President Zelensky. Duffey was also allowed to oversee the apportionment of funds for other foreign aid and defense accounts. “It is absurd to suggest,” said an OMB spokesperson in a statement, “that the president and his administration officials should not play a leadership role in ensuring taxpayer dollars are well spent.” (Wall Street Journal)
4/ The House Oversight and Reform Committee sued Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross for refusing to comply with subpoenas for documents related to the Trump administration’s efforts to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census. Trump, Barr, and Ross previously asserted that the materials were protected by executive privilege. The 85-page lawsuit comes a day after a federal judge ruled that former White House counsel Don McGahn must testify under subpoena in the ongoing House impeachment inquiry. (Politico / Axios / CNBC)
📌 Day 909: The House voted to hold Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in criminal contempt of Congress for failing to provide documents about the Trump administration’s efforts to add a question on citizenship to the 2020 census. Barr and Ross withheld documents that had been subpoenaed by the Oversight and Reform Committee as part of its probe into the origins of the citizenship question. The Trump administration claimed it needed the citizen question to enforce the Voting Rights Act. In May, however, evidence emerged that the question was intended to specifically give an electoral advantage to Republicans and whites. Ross also previously testified before Congress that he added the question “solely” at the request of the Justice Department. It later came out that he’d asked the department to make the request. While Barr and Ross face up to a year behind bars and a $100,000 fine, it’s unlikely the Justice Department will pursue the case, because Barr is the head of the Justice Department. (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
5/ The Justice Department asked a federal judge to temporary pause a ruling that orders former Trump White House counsel Don McGahn to testify in the House impeachment probe. McGahn and the Justice Department also asked that the order be suspended while the appeal plays out. Meanwhile, a lawyer representing Trump’s former national security adviser, John Bolton, and Bolton’s deputy, Charles Kupperman, said his clients would keep resisting congressional subpoenas, arguing that the decision didn’t apply to their situation. (Politico / CNN / New York Times)
📌 Day 1040: A federal judge ruled that the former White House counsel must testify before impeachment investigators about Trump’s efforts to obstruct the Mueller investigation. U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson found no basis for Trump’s claim that Don McGahn, who spent 30 hours talking to special counsel Robert Mueller’s team, is “absolutely immune from compelled congressional testimony.” The ruling could also have implications for former national security adviser John Bolton and Bolton’s deputy, Charles Kupperman, were ordered not to appear by the White House. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / NPR / Wall Street Journal)
6/ Trump put Jared Kushner in charge of overseeing the construction of his border wall. Kushner, who wants at least 400 miles built before Election Day, has reportedly been trying to convince U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to expedite the process of confiscating private land needed to build sections of the wall. (Washington Post)
7/ The Supreme Court blocked a House subpoena directing Trump’s accounting firm to turn over several years’ worth of financial documents after Trump’s lawyers agreed to an expedited review of a lower-court ruling granting access. The court ordered Trump’s lawyers to file a petition by Dec. 5 explaining why the court should accept the case. If the petition is denied, the lower-court ruling will go into effect and Mazars USA will turn over Trump-related financial documents from 2011 to 2018. If accepted, the case will likely be heard this term, with a decision before the end of June. (Washington Post / Politico / CNN / NBC News / Axios)
8/ The White House deputy chief of staff is stepping down. Daniel Walsh was the chief operations officer for the White House. Walsh was in charge of coordinating foreign trips, making decisions about the use of government resources by White House staff, and overseeing the White House military office. Walsh is leaving the administration to take a job in the private sector. White House officials said they expect to announce Walsh’s replacement in the coming days but did not give a name. (Washington Post)
poll/ 50% of Americans say Trump should be impeached and removed from office, while 43% say he shouldn’t. Trump’s approval rating, meanwhile, has held steady: 42% approve of the job he’s doing and 54% disapprove. (CNN)
poll/ 48% of voters support the impeachment inquiry, while 43% oppose the investigation. 81% of Democrats support the probe, while 81% of Republicans opposed it. (Politico)
🚨 Dept. of We’re all F*cked.
Global temperatures are on pace to rise as much as 3.9 degrees Celsius by the end of the century, according to a new United Nations report on climate change. Global greenhouse gas emissions have grown by 1.5% every year over the last decade. To meet the goals of the 2015 Paris climate accord and stay below 2 degrees Celsius compared with preindustrial levels, emissions must decline by 7.6% every year between 2020 and 2030. The world already has warmed more than 1 degree Celsius. The “findings are bleak” the report concludes and that “deeper and faster cuts are now required.” (New York Times / Washington Post)
📌 Day 979: A United Nations report warned that ocean warming is accelerating and sea levels are rising “more than twice as fast” than in the 20th century – and faster than previously estimated. While sea levels rose by about a half-inch in total during the 20th century, they are now rising about 0.14 inches per year, driven by the rapid melting of ice in Greenland, Antarctica, and the world’s smaller glaciers. The report predicts that sea levels will “continue to rise” – possibly reaching around 1-2 feet by 2100 – even if countries curb emissions and limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, which was the Paris Agreement’s goal. Temperatures are already 1 degree Celsius above pre-industrial levels However, “if greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase strongly,” then the world could see 3.6 feet in total sea level rise by 2100. The report concludes that the world’s oceans and ice sheets are under such severe stress that hotter ocean temperatures, combined with rising sea levels, threaten to create more destructive tropical cyclones and floods. (NPR / Politico / New York Times / Washington Post)
📌 Day 931: Climate change is putting pressure on the ability of humanity to feed itself, according to a new United Nations report that was prepared by more than 100 experts from 52 countries and, unanimously approved. The report warns that the world’s land and water resources are being exploited at “unprecedented rates” and “the cycle is accelerating.” Climate change has already degraded lands, caused deserts to expand, permafrost to thaw, and made forests more vulnerable to drought, fire, pests and disease. “The stability of food supply is projected to decrease as the magnitude and frequency of extreme weather events that disrupt food chains increases,” the report said. The report offered several proposals for addressing food supplies, including reducing red meat consumption, adopting plant-based diets, and eating more fruits, vegetables and seeds. As a result, the world could reduce carbon pollution up to 15% of current emissions levels by 2050. It would also make people healthier. (New York Times / Associated Press / Nature)
📌 Day 627: A U.N. report on the effects of climate change predicts a strong risk of an environmental crisis much sooner than expected. The report finds that the atmosphere could warm by as much as 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit above preindustrial levels by 2040 if greenhouse gas emissions continue at the current rate, which would cause sea levels to rise, intensify droughts, wildfires, and poverty, and cause a mass die-off of coral reefs. To prevent 2.7 degrees of warming, greenhouse pollution must be reduced by 45% from 2010 levels by 2030, and fully eliminated by 2050. The use of coal as an electricity source would have to drop from nearly 40% today to between 1% and 7% by 2050. Renewable energy would have to increase to about 67%. Trump has mocked the science of human-caused climate change, vowing to increase the burning of coal, and he intends to withdraw from the 2015 Paris agreement. The world is already more than halfway to the 2.7-degree mark and “there is no documented historic precedent” for the scale of changes required, the report said. (New York Times / Washington Post)
📌 Day 676: The National Climate Assessment concludes that global warming is already “transforming where and how we live and presents growing challenges to human health and quality of life, the economy, and the natural systems that support us.” The findings from the landmark scientific report, issued by 13 federal agencies, are at odds with the Trump administration’s environmental deregulation agenda, which Trump claims will lead to economic growth, and its plans to withdraw from the Paris climate accord. The report predicts that the effects of global warming could eliminate as much as 10% of the U.S. economy by the end of the century, and warns that humans must act aggressively now “to avoid substantial damages to the U.S. economy, environment, and human health and well-being over the coming decades.” The first report, released in November 2017, concluded that there is “no convincing alternative explanation” for the changing climate other than “human activities, especially emissions of greenhouse gases.” Trump recently questioned the science of climate change, saying that “I don’t know that it’s man-made” and that the warming trend “could very well go back.” (New York Times / Associated Press / Washington Post / CNN)
📌 Day 685: Global emissions of carbon dioxide have reached the highest levels on record. Global emissions grew 1.6% in 2017 with 2018 expected to increase 2.7%. The U.S. is the world’s second-largest emitter of carbon emissions, but that hasn’t stopped the Trump administration from moving to roll back regulations designed to limit those emissions from vehicle tailpipes and power-plant smokestacks. As United Nations Secretary General António Guterres said this week at the opening of the 24th annual U.N. climate conference: “We are in trouble. We are in deep trouble with climate change.” (Washington Post / New York Times)
1/ A federal judge ruled that the former White House counsel must testify before impeachment investigators about Trump’s efforts to obstruct the Mueller investigation. U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson found no basis for Trump’s claim that Don McGahn, who spent 30 hours talking to special counsel Robert Mueller’s team, is “absolutely immune from compelled congressional testimony.” The ruling could also have implications for former national security adviser John Bolton and Bolton’s deputy, Charles Kupperman, were ordered not to appear by the White House. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / NPR / Wall Street Journal)
2/ The White House engaged in an extensive effort to come up with an after-the-fact justification for Trump’s decision to withhold nearly $400 million in military aid from Ukraine. The confidential review by the White House Counsel’s Office into Trump’s decision to hold the military aid revealed hundreds of documents that showed an internal debate over whether the move was legal. Among the documents are emails between acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and White House budget officials from early August – after the hold had already been ordered – attempting to find an explanation for why Trump had blocked the security assistance that Congress had previously approved. The review found that Trump made the decision to hold the aid in July “without an assessment of reasoning or legal justification.” (Washington Post / CNN / New York Times)
3/ The White House arranged a phone call between Rudy Giuliani and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to discuss Giuliani’s packet of unproven allegations about Joe Biden and former American Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch. Emails, released as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, show that Giuliani and Pompeo first spoke on March 26 for five minutes. Giuliani then handed over the packet of material to the State Department on March 28 and spoke with Pompeo again on March 29, this time for four minutes. Giuliani’s office worked with Trump’s then-personal assistant, Madeleine Westerhout, to have the State Department put Giuliani in touch with Pompeo. Yovanovitch was recalled from her post weeks later. (CNN / McClatchy DC / CBS News / American Oversight)
📌 Day 987: Giuliani personally gave Secretary of State Mike Pompeo a file of documents of unproven allegations against Biden on March 28th and claimed that he was told that the State Department would take up an investigation of those claims. State Department Inspector General Steve Linick gave Congress the 79-page packet Wednesday, which included nearly 20 pages of communications between State Department employees working to push back against the “fake narrative” that Giuliani was pushing. Linick told Congress that the department’s office of legal counsel had provided the documents to him in May, which he gave to the FBI. The documents were in Trump Hotel folders and included “interview” notes Giuliani conducted with Viktor Shokin, the former General Prosecutor of Ukraine who was pushed out at the urging of Biden because he didn’t prosecute corruption. (NBC News / CNN)
4/ The Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office issued subpoenas for information about Rudy Giuliani’s consulting firm. The subpoenas listed more than a half dozen potential charges under consideration, including money laundering, obstruction of justice, and campaign finance violations. The subpoenas also seek information on Global Energy Producers, a company co-founded by Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, which paid Giuliani for legal and business advice, as well as material related to two pro-Trump groups, America First Action and America First Policies. The Justice Department charges that Parnas and Fruman disguised the source of a $325,000 donation made in 2018 to America First by giving the money in the name of Global Energy Producers. (Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / CNBC)
5/ Devin Nunes met with the former Ukrainian prosecutor general last year to discuss digging up dirt on Joe Biden. Lev Parnas, a Rudy Giuliani associate, is willing to testify that Nunes met with Victor Shokin in Vienna last December, who was removed from his position in March 2016 over concerns that he was not pursuing corruption cases. Nunes’ aides also reportedly called off a planned trip to Ukraine this year to interview two Ukrainian prosecutors – who claimed to have evidence that could help Trump get reelected – when they realized they would have to report the meetings to Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff. Instead, Nunes’ aides asked Parnas to setup phone and Skype meetings with Ukraine’s chief anti-corruption prosecutor, Nazar Kholodnytsky, and Konstantin Kulik, a deputy in Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s office. Nunes called the claims “demonstrably false and scandalous” in an interview with Breitbart News. Later, on Fox News, Nunes called the reports that he met with Shokin part of a criminal campaign against him by a “totally corrupt” news media. Nunes also threatened to sue news outlets that reported on Parnas’s accusation, claiming they’re “likely conspiring to obstruct justice.” (CNBC / CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News)
Lev Parnas gave audio recordings, videos, and photos of Trump and Giuliani to the House Intelligence Committee. There are no specific details available regarding what is depicted in the tapes and photos. The House committees began reviewing the materials last week. Both Schiff and an attorney for Parnas refused to elaborate on the contents of the materials, but they did confirm that Parnas has been cooperating with House investigators. (ABC News / Rolling Stone)
The House Armed Services Committee chairman said it is “quite likely, without question” that Nunes will face an ethics investigation over allegations that he met with Shokin. (Politico / Washington Post)
6/ Trump ordered Defense Secretary Mark Esper to allow a Navy SEAL accused of war crimes to retire without losing his elite status. During a Pentagon briefing, Trump reportedly gave Esper a direct order to drop disciplinary action against Chief Petty Officer Eddie Gallagher, who was accused of murdering a captive teenage Islamic State fighter with a hunting knife in Iraq, threatening to kill SEALs who reported him, and shooting two civilians from a sniper’s perch in Iraq in 2017. Gallagher was convicted of posing with the corpse of the ISIS fighter. The Navy wanted to oust Gallagher from the commando unit, but Trump’s order means Gallagher will be allowed to retire with his Trident Pin and retain his status as a SEAL. The Navy previously demoted Gallagher from chief petty officer to petty officer first class. Trump then reversed the order earlier this month. Trump’s Sunday order also went against the advice that Esper and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley had provided two days earlier, which was to let the Navy’s internal personnel process play out. (New York Times / Politico / NBC News / Associated Press / CNN)
SUNDAY: Defense Secretary Mark Esper fired the Navy secretary over the handling of a Navy SEAL’s war crimes case. Navy Secretary Richard Spencer was fired after Esper learned that Spencer was privately negotiating a deal with the White House to let Gallagher retire as a Navy SEAL if they didn’t interfere with the Navy’s internal review board. Spencer’s proposal to the White House – which he never shared with Esper – also contradicted his public position on the case. (Washington Post / Axios / Reuters / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
SATURDAY: Navy Secretary Richard Spencer threatened to resign or be fired if Trump meddled in the administrative probe into the SEAL case. Spencer later denied that he had threatened to resign, but said disciplinary plans against Gallagher would proceed because he would need an order “to act” and that he didn’t “interpret (Trump’s tweets) as a formal order.” (New York Times / NBC News / Axios)
Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley raised concerns with the White House after Trump tweeted that “the Navy will NOT be taking away” Gallagher’s Trident Pin. (CNN)
7/ David Pecker spoke with the New York district attorney’s office as part of the investigation into the Trump Organization’s handling of hush money payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal. Pecker, the head of the company that publishes the National Enquirer, could provide key details about agreements that were made with Michael Cohen, who is cooperating with the investigation. Prosecutors are investigating whether any state laws were broken, such as falsified business records relating to the Daniels payment. (CNN)
📌 Day 910: The FBI believed that then-candidate Trump was closely involved in the plan to the hide hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, according to previously redacted federal search warrants made public following the conclusion of the probe into Michael Cohen’s campaign finance crimes. The documents describe a “series of calls, text messages, and emails” between Cohen, Trump, Hope Hicks, Keith Davidson – an attorney for Daniels – Dylan Howard – the National Enquirer editor – and David Pecker, an executive of the company that published the National Enquirer. It’s the first time that the authorities have identified Trump by name regarding his alleged involvement in the scheme. Authorities previously referred to Trump in court filings as “Individual 1.” Last August, Cohen admitted to making $280,000 in illegal payments through a shell company to buy the silence of Daniels and McDougal. In April 2018, Trump claimed that he didn’t know anything about the hush money payment to Daniels. (NBC News / The Guardian / Washington Post / Reuters / CNN / Daily Beast / Wall Street Journal)
📌 Day 811: Federal investigators in New York have “gathered more evidence than previously known” from Trump’s “inner circle” about the hush-money payments made to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, who both claim they had affairs with Trump. Prosecutors interviewed Hope Hicks and Keith Schiller, Trump’s former security chief. Investigators also have a recorded phone conversation between Michael Cohen and a lawyer who represented the two women. Investigators also have calls between Schiller and David Pecker, chief executive of the National Enquirer, which admitted it paid $150,000 to McDougal on Mr. Trump’s behalf to keep her story under wraps. (Wall Street Journal / CNN)
📌 Day 750: American Media entered into a deal with federal prosecutors last year where Pecker and Chief Content Officer Dylan Howard cooperate with authorities, and acknowledge that the Enquirer worked with the Trump campaign to kill stories “about the presidential candidate’s relationships with women”: the former Playboy model Karen McDougal and the porn star Stormy Daniels. (New York Times / Washington Post)
1/ Impeachment Watch: What happens next. The House Intelligence Committee concluded public hearings for the impeachment inquiry into Trump after more than a dozen witnesses testified. With no other witnesses scheduled to testify, the committee and Chair Adam Schiff will now compile and submit a report of its findings to the House Judiciary Committee. The report will be sent to the Judiciary Committee, which will decide whether or not to draft on articles of impeachment. If it drafts articles, the committee would vote on them and send them to the House floor, where Democrats anticipate a vote by Christmas. If the House votes to impeach Trump, the case is sent to the Senate for a trial, which would start in the new year. It would require a two-thirds majority vote in the Senate to remove Trump from office. Senate Republicans and senior White House officials have discussed limiting a Senate impeachment trial to two weeks. Meanwhile, a federal judge is expected to rule on whether former White House counsel Don McGahn is required to obey a Judiciary Committee subpoena to testify in response to an earlier House subpoena in a previous matter. Former National Security Adviser John Bolton declined an invitation to testify and has not been subpoenaed, but said he won’t testify unless compelled by a court. Bolton is awaiting the result of a lawsuit filed by his former deputy, Charles Kupperman, asking a judge to decide whether he should listen to the House or the White House. (Vox / Politico / New York Times)
2/ Trump’s aides have discussed removing some impeachment witnesses from their White House posts ahead of schedule. National Security Council staffers, such as Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman and Tim Morrison, are on loan to the White House from other agencies. Trump has reportedly suggested that Vindman and Taylor could be sent back to their home departments early despite advisers warning him that firing them could be viewed as retaliation. (CNN)
Trump accused Marie Yovanovitch of refusing to hang his photo in the Ukrainian Embassy and saying she “was not an angel.” Without offering any evidence, Trump claimed Yovanovitch –the former U.S. ambassador who Trump ousted in May as his associates began pressuring the new Ukrainian president to investigate Joe Biden – “wouldn’t hang it. It took like a year and a half, two years to get the picture up.” A member of Yovanovitch’s legal team said the embassy hung photos of Trump, Pence, and the secretary of state “as soon as they arrived from Washington, D.C.” (Politico / CBS News)
3/ Trump spent 53 minutes on the phone with “Fox & Friends” accusing an impeachment witness of lying, repeating a debunked conspiracy theory that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 presidential election, and calling the details in the whistleblower complaint “fake.” Trump accused David Holmes, a political counselor to the American ambassador in Ukraine, of fabricating a phone call between Trump and Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, saying “I guarantee you that never took place.” Sondland, however, corroborated Holmes’s account in his own testimony. Trump also accused the Obama administration of spying on his campaign, claiming that “they were spying on my campaign and it went right to the top and everybody knows it and now we’re going to find out” and “they tried to overthrow the presidency.” (New York Times / Axios / HuffPost)
4/ A report from the Justice Department’s inspector general didn’t find anti-Trump bias at the FBI when it obtained a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant to look into Carter Page, a Trump campaign adviser. According to a draft copy of Michael Horowitz’s report, there were errors and omissions in the documents related to wiretapping Page and that a low-level lawyer altered an email used to seek a renewal of the wiretap. Kevin Clinesmith attached additional material to the bottom of an email from an official at another federal agency, which contained several factual assertions. Horowitz concluded that the altered document did not impact the overall validity of the surveillance application, but referred his findings about Clinesmith to prosecutors for a potential criminal charge. Clinesmith left the Russia investigation in February 2018. Overall, the draft report concludes that the FBI had enough evidence for opening the investigation, that Joseph Mifsud, a Russia-linked professor who told a Trump campaign official that Russia had damaging information on Hillary Clinton in the form of hacked Democratic emails, was not an FBI informant, and that none of the evidence used to open the investigation came from the CIA or dossier of Trump-Russia ties compiled by Christopher Steele. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Washington Post)
1/ The former White House adviser on Russia opened her testimony before the impeachment inquiry by accusing Republican lawmakers of weaponizing “falsehoods” with the “fictional narrative” that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 presidential election. Fiona Hill called Rep. Devin Nunes attempts to sow doubt that Russia interfered in the election a myth “perpetrated and propagated by the Russian security services.” She added that it’s “beyond dispute” that “Russia was the foreign power that systematically attacked our democratic institutions” in 2016. Hill and foreign service officer David Holmes appeared together as public impeachment witnesses, testifying about efforts by Gordon Sondland and Rudy Giuliani to convince Ukraine’s president to announce investigations that would benefit Trump politically around the time Trump froze security aid to Ukraine. Hill testified that she warned Sondland at the time that his efforts in Ukraine on behalf of Trump would “blow up.” She added: “And here we are.” (Politico / Washington Post / CNN / Bloomberg / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / NBC News)
MORE:
Hill said Sondland was “involved in a domestic political errand” and that he was “carrying out what he thought he had been instructed to carry out.” (New York Times)
Holmes testified that Russian intelligence was trying to “drive a wedge” between the U.S. and Ukraine to give the Kremlin more influence in the region. Hill added that Russia’s interest “is to delegitimize the president,” and that Russia’s goal in 2016 was to put the next president – Trump or Clinton – “under a cloud.”
Holmes explained that he was able to overhear Trump ask Gordon Sondland about getting Ukraine to launch an investigation, because Trump’s voice was “quite loud” and “quite distinctive.” Holmes said that when Trump came on the line, Sondland “sort of winced” and “held the phone away from his ear.” (CNBC)
2/ The deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia testified that Ukrainian officials asked her staff about the military aid on July 25 – the same day as Trump’s phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Laura Cooper said Ukrainian officials were aware “there was some kind of issue” with the aid on July 25. Cooper testified that the military aid was critically important and that she had no idea why it was held up, despite Congress authorizing the money and the Defense Department having assured that Ukraine had met the qualifications for receiving it in May. Trump, White House officials, and Republican members of Congress, however, have argued that Kiev wasn’t aware of the delay until it was publicly reported in late August, insisting that there could be no wrongdoing if the Ukrainians weren’t aware the aid was being held up. (CNN / Axios / Washington Post / Politico)
3/ White House officials and Senate Republicans agreed that a full trial should be conducted if the House impeaches Trump. The White House reportedly wants Trump’s GOP allies in the Senate to hold a trial, but limit it to about two weeks as a way of showing a commitment to due process. Three Republicans, however, can block any impeachment vote on the Senate floor. Trump, meanwhile, is reportedly “miserable” about the ongoing impeachment inquiry and has pushed to dismiss the proceedings outright. (Politico / Washington Post)
⚡️ Public Impeachment Hearing Recap: More than a dozen witnesses have testified publicly before the House Intelligence Committee. No other witnesses are scheduled to testify and the committee will now write a report documenting its findings. The report will be sent to the Judiciary Committee, which is in charge of drafting and voting on articles of impeachment. A Judiciary Committee vote on impeachment would be followed by a vote in the full House vote to send the matter to the Senate for a trial, where it would require a two-thirds majority vote to remove Trump from office.
Notables.
The Justice Department’s inspector general report about the FBI investigation into Trump’s 2016 campaign ties to Russia will be released next month. The year-and-a-half long investigation examined whether the FBI violated surveillance laws or policies when it obtained a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant to look into Carter Page, a Trump campaign adviser. (Politico / Wall Street Journal)
Rudy Guiliani’s indicted business associate helped Rep. Devin Nunes arrange meetings and calls in Europe in 2018 related to Nunes’ investigative work into the origins of Robert Mueller’s probe. Nunes and three of his aides traveled to Europe from Nov. 30 to Dec. 3, 2018 to attend meetings arranged by Lev Parnas. Nunes is the top Republican on the House committee in charge of the impeachment inquiry, where Parnas has been a recurring figure. (Daily Beast)
Federal prosecutors in New York subpoenaed several Trump fundraisers as part of their investigation into Giuliani and his associates, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman. Prosecutors sent subpoenas to Ballard Partners, a lobbying firm run by Brian Ballard, a top Trump fundraiser. One subpoenas was for communications and documents related to Parnas and Fruman, who were arrested last month on campaign finance charges, Kelly Sadler, a spokeswoman for America First Action, and Giuliani. (CNN)
Trump signed a short-term spending bill to keep the government open through Dec. 20. The stop-gap spending bill came after the Senate passed the legislation on a bipartisan 74-20 vote earlier in the day. (Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / New York Times)
Trump met privately with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg for an undisclosed dinner at the White House in October – the second such meeting between Trump and Zuckerberg in a month. Facebook board member Peter Thiel also attended the dinner. Zuckerberg was in D.C. to testify before Congress about Facebook’s new cryptocurrency. It is unclear what Trump, Zuckerberg, and Thiel discussed or why the dinner was not made public. (NBC News)
A federal judge blocked the scheduled executions of four federal prisoners set to begin next month. In granting the injunction, U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan said that permitting the executions would deprive the inmates of their ability to pursue their legal challenges (Editor’s note: duh). In July, Attorney General William Barr announced that the government would resume executions of death row inmates after nearly two decades. (Politico / New York Times / Washington Post)
Trump overruled a decision by the Navy to strip a Navy SEAL accused of murder of his status as a member of the elite force. Earlier this year, a military court acquitted Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher of the majority of war crimes charges, including charges of murdering a militant captive. He was convicted, however, of posing for a photo with the man’s corpse. Trump recently rolled back other disciplinary actions against Gallagher and two other service members accused of war crimes. (Washington Post / New York Times / CNN)
Trump promised to “release my financial statement” “sometime” before the 2020 election. He called it “my decision” despite facing multiple lawsuits and political demands to release his tax returns and other financial information. (Reuters)
The Secret Service spent more than $250,000 at Trump’s private businesses in the first five months of his presidency – paying Trump’s company an average of nearly $2,000 per day. (Washington Post)
1/ The U.S. ambassador to the European Union testified that he and senior administration officials “followed the president’s orders” to work with Rudy Giuliani to pressure Ukraine into announcing investigations into Joe Biden and the discredited conspiracy theory that the country helped Democrats in the 2016 election. Gordon Sondland testified that he, Energy Secretary Rick Perry, and special envoy Kurt Volker coordinated with Giuliani at the “at the express direction of the president of the United States” to pressure Ukraine into launching the investigations. Sondland also said he directly communicated the “quid pro quo” arrangement to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Additionally, Sondland provided House impeachment investigators with emails and texts showing that acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Perry, and others were all aware that Trump conditioned a White House meeting for Zelensky on his willingness to launch the investigations. “They knew what we were doing and why,” Sondland said. “Everyone was in the loop. It was no secret.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Bloomberg / CNN
💬 Quotables: Gordon Sondland.
“Again, everyone was in the loop.”
“Was there a quid pro quo? … YES.”
“… we knew these investigations were important to the president.”
2/ Sondland testified that he told Pence before his Sept. 1 meeting with Zelensky that he “had concerns that the delay in aid had become tied to the issue of investigations.” Sondland said Pence “nodded” in response, but didn’t ask what investigations he was referring to. When Zelensky raised the issue of security aid, Pence said he would speak to Trump about it. Pence’s chief of staff, Marc Short, later claimed Pence “never had a conversation with Gordon Sondland about investigating the Bidens, Burisma, or the conditional release of financial aid to Ukraine based upon potential investigations.” (CNN / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
3/ Sondland testified that he kept Secretary of State Michael Pompeo informed of the key developments in the campaign to pressure Zelensky into appeasing Trump and announcing investigations. Sondland and Pompeo discussed drafting a statement in mid-August regarding Zelensky’s public commitment to investigate Biden, which they hoped would persuade Trump to grant Zelensky an Oval Office meeting and “break the logjam” on providing the security funds. Pompeo expressed approval of the plan. Trump, however, canceled his trip to Poland. (New York Times / Bloomberg)
4/ The FBI asked to interview the CIA whistleblower over concerns with the Justice Department declining to investigate the complaint after a criminal referral was sent from the inspector general of the Intelligence Community. In late September, the Justice Department confirmed that the assistant attorney general – a Trump appointee – had reviewed the whistleblower’s complaint and determined there was no violation of campaign finance laws by Trump when he asked Zelensky to open an investigation into the gas company that once paid Hunter Biden to serve on its board. FBI counterintelligence officials were particularly concerned about the claims that Rudy Giuliani, Igor Fruman, and Lev Parnas may have been manipulated by Russian interests. The whistleblower has not yet agreed to an interview. (Yahoo News / NBC News / CNN)
5/ Trump described Sondland’s testimony as “fantastic” and said it proves he “did absolutely nothing wrong.” Trump also attempted to distance his relationship with Sondland, saying “I don’t know him very well. I have not spoken to him much.” Last month, Trump called Sondland – who contributed $1 million to Trump’s inaugural committee – “a really good man and great American.” Two weeks ago, Trump claimed to “hardly know the gentleman.” (Washington Post / Politico / NBC News)
What’s happening now: Laura Cooper, a deputy assistant defense secretary, and David Hale, the under secretary of state for political affairs, are testifying to the House Intelligence Committee. Information about their testimony will be included in tomorrow’s edition.
Notables.
The Trump administration distributed talking points to discredit Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who testified that he had registered complaints about Trump’s call with the Ukraine president. White House aide Julia Hahn sent two emails to Trump surrogates questioning Vindman’s credibility and claiming Trump did “nothing wrong.” The Army, meanwhile, has increased their protection around Vindman and his family following the threats. (Daily Beast / ABC News / Reuters)
In 2017, Nikki Haley lost her password for a classified communication system, so she used a system meant for unclassified material to send “confidential” information. (Daily Beast)
The DemDebate starts tonight at 9 p.m. ET and will stream on MSNBC and the Washington Post. The Democrats who qualified based on polling and fundraising are: Joe Biden, Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Tulsi Gabbard, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders, Tom Steyer, Elizabeth Warren, and Andrew Yang. Rachel Maddow, Andrea Mitchell, Ashley Parker, and Kristen Welker will become the third ever all-female moderator lineup.
1/ Two national security officials testified publicly that Trump’s July 25 call with the Ukrainian president was “improper,” “unusual,” and overtly political. Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the top Ukraine specialist on the National Security Council, and Jennifer Williams, an adviser to Mike Pence on Russia and Europe, both listened in on Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in which Trump ignored official talking points about fighting corruption to instead “demand” an investigation tied to Joe Biden. Vindman told the House Intelligence Committee that “What I heard was inappropriate and I reported it […] out of a sense of duty,” because “the connection to investigate a political opponent was inappropriate and improper.” Vindman also testified that he interpreted Trump’s request that Zelensky open investigations as a demand, saying “the power disparity between the two leaders – my impression was that in order to get the White House meeting, President Zelensky would have to deliver these investigations.” In her opening statement, Williams said she found the call “unusual” because it “involved discussion of what appeared to be a domestic political matter.” Vindman and Williams are the first White House officials to testify in public as part of the impeachment inquiry. (Politico / Wall Street Journal / The Guardian / Washington Post / CNN / Bloomberg)
Who testified today: National Security Council staffer Lt. Col. Alex Vindman, Jennifer Williams, an aide to Vice President Mike Pence, former NSC staffer Tim Morrison, and former special envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker.
Who testifies on Wednesday: Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, Laura Cooper, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russian, Ukrainian, and Eurasian Affairs, and David Hale, the undersecretary of state for political affairs.
Who testifies on Thursday: Fiona Hill, the former NSC senior director for Europe and Russia, and David Holmes, U.S. Embassy in Ukraine official.
2/ The former special envoy to Ukraine testified that he didn’t realize the push for a probe into a Ukrainian gas company was connected to Joe Biden and his son. Kurt Volker attempted to reconcile his previous closed-door testimony, which conflicted with subsequent witness testimony, saying “I have learned many things that I did not know at the time of the events in question.” Specifically, Volker said he “did not know of any linkage between the hold on security assistance and Ukraine pursuing investigations” while he was working with Rudy Giuliani and a Zelensky aide to pressure Ukraine into launching an investigation into Burisma, the gas company that employed Hunter Biden. Volker said that “In retrospect, I should have seen that connection differently,” and that he now understands an investigation into Burisma was intended as an investigation into the Bidens. Volker called the allegation that Biden acted corruptly with Ukraine while he was vice president a “conspiracy theory” that is “self-serving and not credible.” Separately, Fiona Hill, then the senior director for Europe and Russia at the National Security Council, and Vindman, previously testified that John Bolton, then the national security adviser, abruptly ended a July 10 meeting when Gordon Sondland, the ambassador to the European Union, brought up the investigations. Volker never mentioned the exchange in his original testimony, but told lawmakers today that “as I remember,” Sondland made a comment about investigations into Trump’s political rivals, which “all of us thought it was inappropriate.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / The Guardian / CNN / New York Times / Politico / Vox)
3/ Tim Morrison testified that he was “not concerned that anything illegal was discussed” during Trump’s July 25 call with Zelensky, but worried it would cause a political storm if the transcript became public. Morrison, the former senior director for Europe and Ukraine at the National Security Council, told the committee that “I feared at the time of the call on July 25 how its disclosure would play in Washington’s climate.” He continued: “My fears have been realized.” Morrison also said Sondland told him that “the Ukrainians would have to have the prosecutor general make a statement” about investigations as a “condition” for receiving security aid. When asked if he agreed that pressuring “a foreign government to investigate a domestic political rival [was] inappropriate,” Morrison replied: “It is not what we recommend the president discuss.” (Politico / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / CNN / New York Times)
Morrison approached White House lawyers after Trump’s July 25 call about restricting access to the rough transcript, because he feared that a leak of the conversation could be politically damaging. Morrison spoke to the top lawyer on the White House National Security Council, John Eisenberg, and his deputy, Michael Ellis, about closely guarding the transcript, but said it was a mistake that it wound up on the highly secure server. The whistleblower complaint references an effort within the White House to “lock down” access to the transcript of the call shortly after it ended. (Wall Street Journal)
👀 Impeachables.
A counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine testified that the Ukrainians “gradually came to understand that they were being asked to do something in exchange” for a White House meeting or military aid. David Holmes overheard a call between Trump and Gordon Sondland, in which Sondland assured Trump that Zelensky “will do anything you ask him to,” including conduct the investigation that Trump wanted. (Washington Post)
Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman privately met with Rudy Giuliani and Trump at the White House last December. Parnas confided to two acquaintances after the meeting that “the big guy” (aka Trump) tasked him and Fruman with “a secret mission” to pressure the Ukrainian government to investigate Biden and his son. Trump publicly stated that he did not know Parnas and Fruman when the two men were arrested at Dulles International Airport last month and charged with conspiring to violate campaign finance laws that prohibit foreign nationals from contributing to U.S. campaigns. (CNN)
An executive at Ukraine’s state-owned gas company is scheduled to meet voluntarily with the Justice Department as part of an ongoing probe into the business dealings of Giuliani, and his two associates Parnas and Igor Fruman. Federal prosecutors in New York are investigating Giuliani and whether he failed to register as a foreign agent. (Associated Press)
John Bolton met privately with Trump in August as part of an effort to release the $391 million in security assistance to Ukraine. Trump’s national security adviser attempted to convince Trump that it was in the United States’ best interest to unfreeze the funds so Ukraine could defend itself against Russia. (New York Times)
More than $35 million of the roughly $400 million in aid to Ukraine has not been released. The defense funding for Ukraine remains in U.S. accounts, according to a Pentagon spending document. (Los Angeles Times)
poll/ 65% of Americans said the impeachment hearings won’t change their position on impeachment. 30%, meanwhile, said it’s possible. (NPR)
poll/ 48% of voters support the impeachment inquiry into Trump, while 50% oppose. (Politico)
✏️ Notables.
A New York state judge denied Trump’s request to throw out a defamation lawsuit by former “Apprentice” contestant Summer Zervos. Trump’s legal team argued that a stay is necessary to prevent “irreparable harm” “given the novel and important Constitutional issues involved.” Zervos was among the more than 10 women who came forward during the 2016 presidential campaign and accused Trump of sexual assault and misconduct. Trump called Zervos and the other women “liars,” prompting Zervos to file a defamation lawsuit in 2017. (CNN)
The Supreme Court temporarily blocked a ruling requiring Trump’s accounting firm from turning over his tax returns to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. Trump’s attorneys petitioned the justices last week in a separate case involving his tax returns, seeking to overturn the ruling of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals requiring Trump’s accountants to provide his returns to the Manhattan district attorney. (CNBC / CNN)
The U.S. broke off talks with South Korea over the cost of the military alliance. Trump demanded that South Korea pay nearly $5 billion to station 28,500 U.S. troops in the country – a fivefold increase in funding. The top U.S. negotiator, James DeHart, cut negotiations short, blaming South Korea for making proposals that “were not responsive to our request for fair and equitable burden sharing.” South Korea responded by agreeing to a bilateral defense agreement with China. (Washington Post / Telegraph / Reuters)
Trump’s decision to withdraw troops from northern Syria allowed the Islamic State to strengthen its position, the Pentagon’s inspector general said in a new report. The withdrawal combined with Turkey’s subsequent assault on Kurdish forces, allowed ISIS to “reconstitute capabilities and resources within Syria and strengthen its ability to plan attacks abroad.” (Politico)
The House passed a short-term spending resolution to keep the government funded through Dec. 20. Mitch McConnell said the Senate will pass a stopgap measure and the Trump administration said it supports the continuing resolution. Government funding runs out after Nov. 21. (Politico / Wall Street Journal / New York Times)
1/ The House is investigating whether Trump lied to Robert Mueller. Former Trump deputy campaign chairman Rick Gates testified in last week’s trial that Roger Stone spoke with Trump in a July 2016 phone call, and that Trump then told Gates that “more information would be coming.” Trump, however, told Mueller in written answers that he did not recall discussing WikiLeaks with Stone. The House Judiciary Committee is seeking grand jury testimony from the redacted version of Mueller’s report into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. House General Counsel Douglas Letter told a federal appeals court that investigators have an “immense” need for the material, because it will help House members answer the question, “Did the president lie? Was the president not truthful in his responses to the Mueller investigation?” (CNN / Washington Post / New York Times / Axios / Associated Press / Politico)
📌 Day 678: Trump told Robert Mueller that Roger Stone did not tell him about WikiLeaks and that he was not told about the 2016 Trump Tower meeting between Trump Jr., campaign officials, and a Russian lawyer promising dirt on Hillary Clinton. Trump added a caveat that his responses were to the best of his recollection. For comparison, Trump also does not “remember much” from the meeting with George Papadopoulos, where Papadopoulos offered to arrange a meeting with Putin. Trump, however, has previously claimed to have “one of the great memories of all time,” using it as justification for not using notes during his meeting with Kim Jong Un, and blaming Sgt. La David Johnson’s widow when he stumbled over the solider’s name during a condolence call. (CNN)
📌 Day 664: Roger Stone claimed multiple times during the 2016 presidential race that he was in communication with Trump and his campaign. Stone and Trump spoke weekly, which is now being scrutinized by Robert Mueller. Stone repeatedly said during the campaign that he had communicated with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange through a “backchannel,” “intermediary” or “mutual acquaintance.” Mueller’s office is also exploring whether Stone tried to intimidate and discredit a witness who is contradicting his version of events about his contacts with WikiLeaks. (CNN / Wall Street Journal)
2/ A U.S. official from the embassy in Kiev confirmed that Trump asked if Ukraine was going to move forward with “the investigations.” David Holmes testified privately that he was at the restaurant in Kiev with Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, when he overheard Trump ask if Ukraine’s president was “going to do the investigation?” Sondland told Trump that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “loves your ass,” would conduct the investigation, and would do “anything you ask him to.” (New York Times / CNN)
📌 Day 1028: The top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine testified that Trump asked about “the investigations” during a call with the U.S. ambassador to the European Union on July 26 – the day after Trump pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Biden and his son while he was holding U.S. military aid from Ukraine. Bill Taylor told the House Intelligence Committee that a member of his staff overheard Trump mention “the investigations” to Sondland, and that “Sondland told President Trump that the Ukrainians were ready to move forward.” Taylor called Trump’s decision to withhold “security assistance in exchange for help” with investigations to benefit his personal political interests both “alarming” and “crazy,” because Ukraine is a “strategic partner” and supporting them against Russian aggression is “clearly in our national interest.” Taylor also testified that “Trump cares more about the investigations of Biden” than Ukraine. The staffer who heard the conversation, David Holmes, will testify behind closed doors Friday in the House’s impeachment probe. (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / NBC News)
📌 Day 1029: A second U.S. official overheard the July 26 phone call between Trump and the ambassador to the European Union discussing the need for Ukrainian “investigations.” Suriya Jayanti, a U.S. foreign service officer based in Kiev, was sitting at the table in a Ukraine restaurant when Sondland called Trump to tell him that “the Ukrainians were ready to move forward” on the investigations. Yesterday, Bill Taylor, the acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, testified that one of his staffers, David Holmes, could hear Trump on the phone asking Sondland about “the investigations.” Trump, meanwhile, claimed he doesn’t recall the July 26 conversation – “not even a little bit.” (Associated Press)
3/ A former top White House national security aide told impeachment investigators that Gordon Sondland was acting at Trump’s behest and spoke to a top Ukrainian official about exchanging military aid for political investigations. Tim Morrison testified that between July 16 and Sept. 11, Sondland had spoken to Trump about half a dozen times, and Sondland’s “mandate from the president was to go make deals.” Trump has claimed he doesn’t know Sondland well. (Washington Post / Politico)
4/ A top national security aide to Mike Pence told House impeachment investigators that Trump’s efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate his political opponents were “unusual and inappropriate,” and “shed some light on possible other motivations” for Trump’s order to freeze military aid to the U.S. ally. Jennifer Williams also told investigators that she took notes while she listened in on Trump’s July 25 phone call with Zelensky from the White House Situation Room and that she viewed Trump’s requests for investigations to be for his “personal political agenda.” Trump later tweeted that Williams – “whoever that is” – is a “Never Trumper.” (Politico / CNN / Politico)
U.S. State Department officials were informed that Zelensky felt pressure from the Trump administration to investigate Joe Biden before the July phone call. In early May, officials at the U.S. Embassy in Kiev were told Zelensky was seeking advice on how to navigate the situation as Trump and his associates were pressing him to take action that could affect the 2020 U.S. presidential race. (Associated Press)
5/ Trump ignored Pentagon advice and pardoned three service members convicted or accused of war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq. Trump ordered the full pardon of Clint Lorance, who was serving a 19-year sentence for the murder of two civilians, and Maj. Mathew Golsteyn, who was facing murder charges for killing an unarmed Afghan he believed was a Taliban bomb maker. Trump also reversed the demotion of Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher, who was acquitted of murder charges but convicted of a lesser offense. Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy argued that the pardons would undermine the military code of justice and serve as a bad example to other troops in the field. (CNN / Washington Post / New York Times / ABC News)
6/ Trump delayed his ban on flavored e-cigarettes following pushback from his political advisers and lobbyists over concerns of political fallout among voters. In early November, Trump refused to sign the one-page “decision memo” to move forward with the ban intended to curb teenage vaping after advisers warned that it could hurt the economy and lead to job losses. (Washington Post / New York Times)
7/ Trump had a “very good” and “cordial” meeting with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell about the economy, who he previously called a “bonehead,” a “terrible communicator” and an “enemy.” Trump claimed they discussed interest rate policy, among other things. Trump has repeatedly attacked the Fed, arguing that the economy and stock market would be performing better if rates were lower or even negative. The Federal Reserve, however, issued a statement saying Powell told Trump that the Fed will set interest rates “based solely on careful, objective and non-political analysis.” (Washington Post / CBS News)
8/ Trump made an unscheduled visit Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to “begin portions of his routine annual physical exam” that included a “quick exam and labs,” according to the White House. The two-hour appointment wasn’t on Trump’s weekend public schedule and medical staff at Walter Reed didn’t receive a staff-wide notice about the presidential visit. (Associated Press / Politico / CNN / New York Times)
poll/ 70% of Americans believe Trump asking the Ukrainian president to investigate his political rivals was wrong. 51% believe Trump’s actions were both wrong and he should be impeached and removed from office. (ABC News)
1/ The former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine testified that Trump’s comment to the Ukraine president – that she was “bad news” and is “going to go through some things” – “sounded like a threat.” Marie Yovanovitch, testifying before the House Intelligence Committee, said she was “shocked, absolutely shocked, and devastated” when she read the rough transcript released by the White House of Trump’s July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Yovanovitch also testified that Trump and Rudy Giuliani ran “the smear campaign against” her in tandem with corrupt Ukrainians, which undermined U.S. national security and emboldened Russia. Yovanovitch said Giuliani’s “campaign of disinformation” was influenced by “individuals with questionable motives,” who believed their “political and financial ambitions would be stymied by our anti-corruption policy in Ukraine.” Yovanovitch was recalled from her posting on April 24 – three days after Trump’s first call with Zelensky – while in the middle of hosting an event honoring an anti-corruption activist in Ukraine. Yovanovitch also criticized Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for the State Department’s failed efforts to publicly support her after Trump removed her as ambassador. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / Wall Street Journal / CNN / NBC News)
Who is Marie Yovanovitch? The ousted ambassador to Ukraine recounted how she became the target of a smear campaign by President Trump’s personal lawyer and the right-wing media. (New York Times)
2/ Trump attacked Yovanovitch on Twitter as she was testifying about how she felt threatened by his comments. Trump tweeted that “Everywhere Marie Yovanovitch went turned bad,” claiming that Zelensky had “spoke unfavorably about her.” Trump also called it his “absolute right to appoint ambassadors,” justifying his decision to recall Yovanovitch three months before the end of the normal three-year diplomatic tenure. When asked by House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff to respond to Trump’s tweets, Yovanovitch called it “very intimidating […] the effect is to be intimidating.” Schiff agreed that “it’s designed to intimidate” and that “we saw today witness intimidation in real time by the president of the United States.” Schiff added: “Some of us here take witness intimidation very, very seriously.” House Democrats, meanwhile, suggested that Trump’s decision to attack Yovanovitch mid-hearing is another example of witness intimidation, which could be added as another article of impeachment. Trump later defended his tweets, saying “You know what? I have the right to speak.” And, when asked whether he believed his words could be intimidating, Trump replied: “I don’t think so at all.” (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Politico / Wall Street Journal / ABC News)
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused Trump of committing “bribery” for withholding military aid from Ukraine while seeking a commitment to publicly investigate his political rivals. “The devastating testimony corroborated evidence of bribery uncovered in the inquiry and that the president abused power and violated his oath by threatening to withhold military aid and a White House meeting in exchange for an investigation into a political rival,” Pelosi told reporters. Bribery is specifically identified in the Constitution as an impeachable offense. (Politico / NBC News / CNN / Washington Post / New York Times)
Devin Nunes called Yovanovitch’s dispute over her early recall from Ukraine a “human resources” issue. (Washington Post / Politico)
A career Office of Management and Budget official plans to testify in the impeachment inquiry if subpoenaed. Mark Sandy would be the first OMB official to testify as part of the inquiry, defying Trump’s order that administration officials not participate in the House investigation. The OMB acting director and two other political appointees at the agency previously defied congressional subpoenas to appear. (Washington Post / CNN)
3/ The White House released the rough transcript of Trump’s first call with Zelensky and it does not match the White House readout from April 21. In the readout provided to reporters shortly after the call took place, the White House said Trump promised to work with Zelensky to “root out corruption.” The subject, however, was not mentioned in the transcript released today. The transcript instead shows Trump congratulating Zelensky on his election, promising a White House visit, and recounting how Ukraine was “very well represented” when he owned the Miss Universe franchise. Trump would later ask Zelensky during the July 25 call to publicly announce investigations into Trump’s political rivals. Trump’s first call with Zelensky was marked “Unclassified” and “for official use only.” The second call was classified as “Secret.” The White House, meanwhile, blamed the discrepancy between the official readout and the transcript on National Security Council Ukraine Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman. (New York Times / CNN / Washington Post / Daily Beast)
Read: The White House transcript of Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Zelensky. (CNN)
4/ Federal prosecutors in New York are investigating Rudy Giuliani for possible campaign finance violations and a failure to register as a foreign agent. Investigators want to know if Giuliani stood to personally profit from a Ukrainian natural-gas business pushed by his two associates, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, who also helped him push for investigations into Joe Biden and alleged interference by Ukraine in the 2016 U.S. election. The company by Parnas and Fruman pitched plans for a Poland-to-Ukraine pipeline carrying U.S. natural gas in meetings with Ukrainian officials and energy executives this year, claiming the project had the support of the Trump administration. (Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
5/ Roger Stone was found guilty on all seven counts of lying to Congress about his contacts with WikiLeaks, witness tampering, and obstructing the investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. Minutes after the verdict, Trump tweeted that the outcome was unfair despite his administration’s Justice Department leading the prosecution. Stone is the sixth Trump associate to be convicted on charges stemming from Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian activity in the 2016 election. He faces a maximum penalty of 50 years in prison – 20 years for witness tampering, and five years for each of the six other counts. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / Wall Street Journal / CNN)
Trump met with Attorney General William Barr and White House counsel Pat Cipollone to discuss the DOJ inspector general’s probe into the origins of the Mueller investigation. Inspector General Michael Horowitz has been examining applications submitted by the FBI in 2016 and 2017 seeking permission to surveil Trump’s then-campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page. Barr said Wednesday that the report is “imminent.” (CNN)
6/ Trump asked the Supreme Court to block a House subpoena for his tax returns for the second day in a row. Yesterday, Trump’s lawyers asked the Supreme Court to reverse a lower-court ruling that allowed the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office to obtain eight years’ worth of Trump’s personal and corporate tax returns from his accountant, Mazars USA, as part of a probe into the payments made to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal. Today, Trump’s lawyers asked the justices to temporarily block a subpoena from the House Oversight Committee compelling Mazars to provide Trump’s tax returns. Mazars has said it will hand over the records if it is required to. (CNBC / Bloomberg / Washington Post)
1/ A federal appeals court ruled that Trump’s accounting firm must comply with a congressional subpoena for eight years of Trump’s tax returns. The U.S. Court of Appeals in D.C. voted 8-3 to reject Trump’s arguments that Congress didn’t have the authority to request his business records because the House Oversight and Reform Committee only needed them to determine whether Trump broke existing laws – not whether to enact a new law. The House committee subpoenaed Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars USA, in March demanding a broad set of Trump’s financial records. (Reuters / NPR / Washington Post / New York Times / Politico)
2/ Trump asked the Supreme Court to block Mazars USA from turning over eight years of his tax returns to Manhattan prosecutors, who are investigating hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal. Trump has argued he has “temporary presidential immunity” not just from prosecution, but also from investigation while in office. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post)
📌 Day 1019: Trump’s accounting firm must turn over eight years of his personal and corporate tax returns to Manhattan prosecutors. A three-judge panel of the Second Circuit Court Appeals unanimously ruled that Trump is not immune from investigative steps taken by state prosecutors. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance subpoenaed the documents from Mazars USA as part of an investigation into the pre-election payoffs to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal. Trump then sued the DA’s office to block the subpoena, arguing that as president he is immune not only from prosecution but from investigations. A district judge dismissed the argument in October, which Trump then appealed. Today, the appeals court said because Trump’s accounting firm – not Trump himself – was subpoenaed for the documents, it didn’t matter whether presidents have immunity. Trump’s lawyer, Jay Sekulow, said Trump would ask the Supreme Court to overturn the ruling. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / CNN / NBC News / Associated Press / BuzzFeed News / CNBC)
📌Day 970: The Manhattan District Attorney subpoenaed eight years of Trump’s “personal and corporate tax returns” as part of its investigation into hush money payments made to Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election. Trump and his company reimbursed Michael Cohen for the $130,000 Cohen he paid Stormy Daniels just before the election to buy her silence about an affair she had with Trump. Cyrus Vance’s office is exploring whether the reimbursements violated New York state laws and whether the Trump Organization falsely accounted for the reimbursements as a legal expense. The subpoena was served last month to Mazars USA, which prepares Trump’s tax returns. (New York Times / NBC News / CNBC / Axios)
3/ A second U.S. official overheard the July 26 phone call between Trump and the ambassador to the European Union discussing the need for Ukrainian “investigations.” Suriya Jayanti, a U.S. foreign service officer based in Kiev, was sitting at the table in a Ukraine restaurant when Sondland called Trump to tell him that “the Ukrainians were ready to move forward” on the investigations. Yesterday, Bill Taylor, the acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, testified that one of his staffers, David Holmes, could hear Trump on the phone asking Sondland about “the investigations.” Trump, meanwhile, claimed he doesn’t recall the July 26 conversation – “not even a little bit.” (Associated Press)
📌 Day 1028: The top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine testified that Trump asked about “the investigations” during a call with the U.S. ambassador to the European Union on July 26 – the day after Trump pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Biden and his son while he was holding U.S. military aid from Ukraine. Bill Taylor told the House Intelligence Committee that a member of his staff overheard Trump mention “the investigations” to Sondland, and that “Sondland told President Trump that the Ukrainians were ready to move forward.” Taylor called Trump’s decision to withhold “security assistance in exchange for help” with investigations to benefit his personal political interests both “alarming” and “crazy,” because Ukraine is a “strategic partner” and supporting them against Russian aggression is “clearly in our national interest.” Taylor also testified that “Trump cares more about the investigations of Biden” than Ukraine. The staffer who heard the conversation, David Holmes, will testify behind closed doors Friday in the House’s impeachment probe. (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / NBC News)
4/ The Trump International Hotel in Washington’s sales pitch to investors suggests that new owners could “capitalize on government related business.” The Trump Organization has claimed that its refusal to solicit foreign business has cost it more than $9 million, though they project hotel to have operating revenues of $67.7 million next year – a 65% jump from 2018 to 2020. The hotel is also subject to multiple lawsuits accusing Trump of violating the emoluments clause by using the property to profit off his presidency. The company hopes to sell the hotel for more than $500 million. (CNN)
📌 Day 967: A federal appeals court revived a previously-dismissed lawsuit that accused Trump of violating the Constitution’s emoluments clause. The lawsuit claimed that Trump’s “vast, complicated and secret” business arrangements violate the Emoluments Clause, which bars presidents from accepting gifts from foreign governments without the permission of Congress. The case was originally dismissed by a lower-level federal judge in December 2017. Earlier this year, Trump won a separate emoluments suit by the Democratic attorneys general of Maryland and the District of Columbia when the case was dismissed by another federal appeals court’s. (Bloomberg / Washington Post / Politico / CNN / Axios)
5/ Trump suggested classifying all migrants who enter the U.S. without permission as “enemy combatants” and sending them to Guantanamo Bay, according to a forthcoming book by an anonymous senior Trump administration official. Trump proposed changing the classification as a way of deterring them from coming to the U.S. The book says Trump’s idea was quickly and quietly opposed “Before the president could make a public case for the concept.” (The Guardian)
6/ Lindsey Graham blocked a resolution in the Senate that would have formally recognized the Armenian genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Empire hours after meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Turkey does not recognize the killing of 1.5 million Armenians. The resolution passed the House in a 405-11 vote. Graham claimed the bill was an attempt to “sugarcoat history or try to rewrite it.” (The Hill / Fox News / BBC)
7/ Trump made 67 false claims last week – 27 of them related to Democrats’ impeachment inquiry. (CNN)
poll/ 47% of Americans believe it’s difficult to identify true and factual information, compared with 31% who find it easy to do so. 50% of WTFJHT readers love WTFJHT 100% of the time. (Associated Press)
tl;drThe first public hearings in the Trump impeachment inquiry started today as the House Intelligence Committee heard testimony from Bill Taylor, the top diplomat in Ukraine, and George Kent, a senior State Department official. Taylor, in closed-door testimony, previously linked Trump to the quid pro quo at the heart of the impeachment probe. Kent previously told investigators that he was uneasy with attempts by Rudy Giuliani to influence Ukraine policy and smear the now-ousted U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch.
1/ The top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine testified that Trump asked about “the investigations” during a call with the U.S. ambassador to the European Union on July 26 – the day after Trump pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Biden and his son while he was holding U.S. military aid from Ukraine. Bill Taylor told the House Intelligence Committee that a member of his staff overheard Trump mention “the investigations” to Sondland, and that “Sondland told President Trump that the Ukrainians were ready to move forward.” Taylor called Trump’s decision to withhold “security assistance in exchange for help” with investigations to benefit his personal political interests both “alarming” and “crazy,” because Ukraine is a “strategic partner” and supporting them against Russian aggression is “clearly in our national interest.” Taylor also testified that “Trump cares more about the investigations of Biden” than Ukraine. The staffer who heard the conversation, David Holmes, will testify behind closed doors Friday in the House’s impeachment probe. (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / NBC News)
2/ George Kent testified that Rudy Giuliani conducted a “campaign to smear” the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine by leading an effort to “gin up politically motivated investigations.” Kent testified that Giuliani, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman tried oust Marie Yovanovitch, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, by “peddling false information” and that he “became alarmed” during the late spring and summer of 2019 as those efforts “bore fruit.” Kent also said that by mid-August, Giuliani’s efforts to pressure Zelensky to open investigations into Trump’s rivals were “infecting” the Trump administration’s relationship with Ukraine.” Kent – a career State Department foreign service officer – also rejected the notion that Joe Biden improperly interfered in Ukrainian domestic politics for the benefit of his son’s company. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Politico)
3/ Adam Schiff referenced Mick Mulvaney’s “get over it” admission of a quid pro quo during his opening statement. The House Intelligence chairman opened the hearing by laying out what he called a “simple” and “terrible” case that would show “impeachable conduct” by Trump, asking “must we simply ‘get over it?’” Last month during a White House briefing, Mulvaney told “everybody” to “get over it” while confirming that Trump blocked military aid to Ukraine to force Kiev to investigate his political rivals. Mulvaney called the quid pro quo exchange “absolutely appropriate” and that “we do that all the time with foreign policy.” (New York Times / Bloomberg / Politico)
4/ Devin Nunes accused career diplomats testifying of working against Trump as part of a “politicized bureaucracy.” During his opening statement, Nunes also called the hearings a continuation of the “Russia hoax” that were one-sided and unfair to Republicans. Nunes claimed – without evidence – that the witnesses had been chosen after a “closed-door audition process in a cult-like atmosphere” and they had been convinced, “wittingly or unwittingly,” to be part of what he called a “televised theatrical performance, staged by the Democrats.” (Politico / New York Times)
5/ Former Ukraine Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch is scheduled to testify before the same committee on Friday. David Holmes, an official working at the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine, and Mark Sandy, an official working in the Office of Management and Budget are also scheduled for closed-door depositions this week. The House Intelligence Committee also announced eight witnesses for public appearances next week: On Tuesday, Jennifer Williams, a national security aide to Pence, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a top Ukraine aide on the NSC, Kurt Volker, the former U.S. special envoy for Ukraine negotiations, and Timothy Morrison, a Europe and Russia aide on the NSC, will testify. On Wednesday, Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, Laura Cooper, a senior Pentagon official who handles Russia and Ukraine matters, and David Hale, the under secretary of state for political affairs, will testify. And, on Thursday, Fiona Hill, the former Russia chief on the NSC, is expected to testify. (Politico / Axios)
😳 Impeachables.
Trump attacked House Democrats on Twitter hours before the first public impeachment hearings were set to commence, complaining that Democrats have “stacked the deck” against him and accusing House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff of being a “corrupt politician.” White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham, meanwhile, called the impeachment hearing “not only boring” but also “a colossal waste of taxpayer time & money” in a tweet. Trump later told reporters that he was “too busy” to watch the impeachment hearings. (Politico / Washington Post / NBC News)
Rudy Giuliani wrote an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal arguing that Trump’s July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wasn’t an impeachable offense. Giuliani argued that the focus of the call was only “Ukrainian corruption broadly” and that only a fraction of the call was spent asking Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden and his son. “Out of a five-page transcript,” Giuliani wrote, “Mr. Trump spent only six lines on Joe Biden.” (Wall Street Journal / HuffPost)
Republicans want to distance Trump from his association with Giuliani as one of their defensive strategies in the House impeachment inquiry. “So the point is,” said a Republican on one of the impeachment committees, “as long as [Giuliani] is a step removed, [Trump]’s in good shape.” (Axios)
Trump’s senior advisers have been trying to convince him not to fire acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney. Trump, who has been threatening to fire Mulvaney for weeks, was especially upset by Mulvaney’s Oct. 17 press conference, during which Mulvaney admitted that U.S. military aid to Ukraine was withheld as a way to pressure Zelensky to launch investigations that could benefit Trump politically. (Washington Post)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Trump at the White House. It is the first time Erdogan has visited the U.S. since Turkey attacked U.S.-allied Kurdish forces in northern Syria following Trump’s abrupt withdrawal of U.S. troops from the region. Trump and Erdogan are expected to discuss how to maintain the tentative ceasefire that exists in Syria, as well as the fate of the Islamic State fighters who remain detained in that country. (NPR / Associated Press / NBC News / CNN)
Erdogan threatened purchase Russian military fighter jets ahead of his White House meeting with Trump. Turkey, a NATO ally, discussed purchasing the fighter jets Putin two weeks ago in Sochi. The Trump administration previously banned the sale of U.S.-made F-35 jets to Turkey in response to Erdogan’s purchase of a Russian missile defense system. (NBC News)
Jared Kushner wants to set up webcams along the U.S.-Mexico border so people can livestream the construction of Trump’s border wall. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and senior U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials object to the plan because it will make contractor’s “proprietary” construction techniques visible to their competitors. Officials were also concerned that the cameras would show U.S. work crews violating Mexican sovereignty if they stray south of the border to maneuver vehicles and equipment. (Washington Post)
poll/ 81% of voters say there’s little or no chance they’ll change their minds about impeachment after the public hearings. 50% of voters support the impeachment inquiry, compared with 41% who oppose it. (Politico)
7:54 a.m. – Sondland called U.S. special envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker, who was in Ukraine having lunch with Andriy Yermak, a senior aide to Zelensky.
8:36 a.m. – Volker sent a text message to Yermak to say he “Heard from White House,” and “Assuming President [Zelensky] convinces trump he will investigate / ‘get to the bottom of what happened’ in 2016, we will nail down date for visit to Washington. Good luck!”
9:03 a.m. – Trump and Zelensky spoke with Zelensky promising Trump that “all the investigations will be done openly and candidly.” Trump replied “Good […] I will tell Rudy and Attorney General Barr to call […] Whenever you would like to come to the White House feel free to call.” The call ended about 9:30 a.m.
10:15 a.m. – Yermak texted Volker to say the call “went well” and that Zelensky had picked three dates in September “for the White House visit.” Volker then updated Sondland to say he “think[s] everything in place.”
July 26
Sondland traveled to Ukraine and during a TV interview linked to the Ukrainian government said he spoke with Trump “just a few minutes before he placed the call” with Zelensky. Sondland called it “a nothing call.”
Acting Ukraine ambassador Bill Taylor and Volker met with Zelensky, who said “he was happy with the call but did not elaborate.”
Sondland called Trump to tell him about the meetings in Kiev. A member of Taylor’s staff heard Trump on the phone asking Sondland about “the investigations.” The staffer, David Holmes, asked Sondlan what Trump thought about the meeting. Sondland, according to Taylor’s testimony, said that “Trump cares more about the investigations of Biden, which Giuliani was pressing for.”
1/ Trump considered firing the intelligence community’s inspector general for reporting the whistleblower’s complaint to Congress after concluding it was credible. Trump reportedly doesn’t understand why Michael Atkinson shared the complaint, which outlined how Trump pressured Ukraine to investigate Trump’s political rivals as he was withholding military aid from the country. Trump believes Atkinson, whom he appointed in 2017, has been disloyal. Trump publicly criticized James Comey, the former FBI director, and Jeff Sessions, the former attorney general, before he dismissed them for perceived disloyalty. (New York Times)
2/ House Republicans plan to argue that “the President’s state of mind” made it impossible for Trump to have committed an impeachable offense during his July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, according to an 18-page staff memo outlining their strategic approach to the House impeachment inquiry. The memo highlights “four key pieces of evidence” to defend against impeachment: the lack of conditionality on the July 25 call; that Zelensky said there was no pressure from Trump; Ukraine didn’t know about the freeze on U.S. military aid; and that the aid was released without investigation into the Bidens. (Axios)
3/ Mick Mulvaney withdrew his request to join a federal lawsuit seeking a decision on whether top Trump officials can be compelled to testify in the House impeachment inquiry. Mulvaney’s legal team first notified the court that he planned to file his own lawsuit seeking court guidance on how to respond to a subpoena for his testimony. Mulvaney’s lawyers later said in a court filing that “after further consideration,” the acting White House chief of staff will instead obey the White House instruction to refuse to cooperate with the House of Representatives. (Reuters / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post)
👀 Impeachment Watch FYI.
The first public presidential impeachment hearing will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday before the House Intelligence Committee.
Bill Taylor, the Trump administration’s top diplomat in Ukraine, and George Kent, deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs will testify.
Former Ukraine Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch is scheduled to testify before the same committee on Friday.
4/ Roger Stone first told one of Trump’s top aides as early as spring 2016 that WikiLeaks would release materials that could damage Hillary Clinton – and that the campaign viewed the materials as “a gift.” Rick Gates, who served as Trump’s deputy campaign manager, also testified that he was with Trump in July 2016 when he received a phone call from Stone. After Trump hung up, he told Gates that more information would be coming – in reference to additional email releases that would hurt Democrats. Gates also said his boss, Paul Manafort, told him to stay in touch with Stone about WikiLeaks and that Trump would need to be updated on WikiLeaks’ plans to release Democratic campaign emails — which authorities concluded were hacked by Russia. (Wall Street Journal / Politico / Washington Post)
5/ The Supreme Court heard arguments over whether the Trump administration can shut down the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. At question is whether Trump improperly tried to end DACA by calling it illegal without considering how it would affect immigrants. Lower courts ruled that the administration’s decision was “arbitrary and capricious” in violation of law. The court’s Republican-appointed justices, however, seemed to agree that the Trump administration had the authority to cancel DACA, which would affect the roughly 800,000 “dreamers” brought to the U.S. as undocumented children. On Twitter, Trump – without evidence – called DACA recipients “very tough, hardened criminals,” adding that he would be open to making a deal with Democrats. DACA provides enrollees a chance to work legally in the U.S. as long as they follow the rules and have a clean record. More than 90% of DACA recipients are employed and 45% are in school. (New York Times / Washington Post / ABC News / NBC News)
Nearly 70,000 migrant children were held in U.S. government custody this year — up 42% in fiscal year 2019 from 2018. The U.S. government also separated 69,550 migrant children from their parents over the past year – more than any other country according to United Nations researchers. (Associated Press)
6/ The Trump administration is preparing to restrict the amount of scientific and medical research the EPA can use to inform public health regulations. A new draft of the Strengthening Transparency in Regulatory Science proposal would also require scientists to disclose all raw data, including confidential medical records, before the EPA could consider the conclusions of an academic study. The new proposal would also apply retroactively to all current public health regulations. (New York Times)
7/ Trump’s economic advisers are exploring a “tax cut 2.0” – a proposed 15% tax rate for the middle class. While any new plan is unlikely to pass Congress before the 2020 election, the proposal would provide Trump with a simple tax message for the campaign focused on the middle class. Tax cuts for individuals and families from the 2017 tax law will expire in a few years, but the reductions for businesses are permanent. (Washington Post)
🐊 Dept. of Swamp Things.
Former national security adviser John Bolton suggested that Trump’s foreign policy is motivated by financial interests. During a private speech, Bolton said he believes there is a business relationship dictating Trump’s position on Turkey because none of his advisers are aligned with him on the issue. The Trump Organization owns a property in Istanbul and Ivanka Trump attended the opening with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2012. Bolton left the administration on Sept. 10. Erdogan is set to visit the White House this week. (NBC News)
At least eight former White House, transition team, and Trump campaign officials were hired as contractors by Health and Human Services and paid hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. The Trump allies were hired as contractors to provide “strategic communications” support, charging up to $380 per hour. (Politico)
Trump claimed Ivanka Trump personally created 14 million new jobs – and then repeated the claim twice more. The entire U.S. economy has created fewer than 6 million new jobs since Trump took office. (New York Magazine)
A senior Trump administration official embellished her resume with misleading claims and even created a fake Time magazine cover with her face on it. State Department official Mina Chang claimed to be a Harvard Business School “alumna” who ran a nonprofit that worked in 40 countries. (NBC News)
Trump’s senior policy adviser promoted story ideas about white nationalism, “white genocide,” xenophobic conspiracy theories, and eugenics-era immigration laws to Breitbart News in the run-up to the 2016 election, according to a review more than 900 previously private emails Stephen Miller sent Breitbart editors from March 4, 2015, to June 27, 2016. Miller would later help architect Trump’s immigration policies, including setting arrest quotas for undocumented immigrants, an executive order banning immigration from five Muslim-majority countries, and a policy of family separation. (Southern Poverty Law Center / Mother Jones)
1/ A senior defense official told House impeachment investigators that Trump directed the mid-July freeze in military aid to Ukraine through the Office of Management and Budget. Laura Cooper, deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia, said she attended a meeting on July 23, where “this issue” of Trump’s “concerns about Ukraine and Ukraine security assistance” were shared by acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney. Cooper also told House impeachment investigators that she discussed the frozen aid with Kurt Volker, the then-U.S. special envoy to Ukraine, on Aug. 20. Volker told her that he was attempting to lift the hold on the aid by having the Ukrainians publicly launch investigations being sought by Trump. Trump, meanwhile, accused House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff of doctoring the transcripts from closed-door depositions conducted by House investigators. (Washington Post / CNN / NBC News / Politico)
Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman will be removed from his post at the White House National Security Council after testifying that “there was no doubt” that Trump was seeking investigations into political rivals. National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien said Vindman and several dozen other policy roles will be removed as a part of the White House’s “streamlining” efforts. (Talking Points Memo / Politico)
2/ The State Department had released some military aid to Ukraine days before Trump announced that he authorized the funds. In a classified memorandum to Mike Pompeo, State Department lawyers said they had determined that Trump and the White House Office of Management and Budget had no legal ground to freeze the money to Ukraine. On Sept. 11, Trump claimed that he had released $141 million in funds, but the process was started by at least Sept. 7, and that the State Department’s Legislative Affairs office told congressional appropriators on Sept. 9 that there was no hold on the money. Then-National Security Advisor John Bolton had also told the State Department on Sept. 9 that the funding could go through. (Bloomberg / Axios)
3/ A Rudy Giuliani associate told the incoming Ukraine administration in May that unless they investigated the Bidens, the U.S. would freeze aid and Mike Pence would not attend Volodymyr Zelensky’s swearing-in ceremony. Lev Parnas claimed that he traveled to Ukraine in May with his business partner, Igor Fruman, to pressure the Zelensky administration at Giuliani’s direction. While no one disputes that the meeting occurred, Fruman disagrees that the intention was to present an ultimatum to Ukraine’s new leadership. The meeting, however, occurred after Giuliani had canceled his planned trip to Kiev with the intention of urging Zelensky to pursue the investigations. Giuliani claimed at the time that he canceled his trip at the last minute because he was being “set up.” (New York Times)
📌 Day 1023: Two Rudy Giuliani associates urged Ukraine’s prior president to announce investigations into Biden and 2016 election interference in exchange for a state visit to Washington. Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman urged then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko during a late February meeting in Kiev. (Wall Street Journal / Washington Post)
📌 Day 841: Rudy Giuliani is encouraging Ukraine to pursue an investigation into Joe Biden’s son and his involvement in a gas company owned by a Ukrainian oligarch. Trump’s personal lawyer is meeting with the incoming government in Kiev to press them to try to discredit Mueller’s investigation and undermine the case against Paul Manafort. “We’re not meddling in an election,” Giuliani said. “We’re meddling in an investigation, which we have a right to do.” (New York Times / NBC News)
4/ Mick Mulvaney asked to join a federal lawsuit over whether Congress can compel senior Trump advisers to testify as part of the House impeachment inquiry. One of Trump’s former top national security advisers, Charles Kupperman, filed the suit last month, saying that he faces conflicting orders from Congress and the White House regarding his obligation to participate in the inquiry. Mulvaney’s attorneys said the acting White House chief of staff faces the same dilemma, which is why he skipped his scheduled deposition last week and claimed that he was protected by “absolute immunity.” (Washington Post / Politico / New York Times)
John Bolton filed a motion to keep Mick Mulvaney from joining a separation-of-powers lawsuit filed against Trump and the House leadership. The former national security adviser’s lawyers argued that Mulvaney should not be allowed to join the lawsuit as a plaintiff because Mulvaney is considered a key player in the effort to get the Ukrainian government to pursue investigations into Trump’s political opponents. Bolton previously said he’s willing to testify in the impeachment inquiry if the judge rules in favor of the House. (New York Times / Washington Post)
5/ Two supporters of Energy Secretary Rick Perry secured an energy and gas contract from Ukraine after Perry recommended one to be Zelensky’s energy adviser. Perry attended Zelensky’s inauguration in May, where he gave Zelensky a list of possible Ukrainian energy secretaries, which included longtime Perry supporter Michael Bleyzer. A week later, Bleyzer and his partner, Alex Cranberg, submitted a bid for a 50-year drilling contract in Ukraine, which was awarded to the two about a month after Perry’s visit. The recommendation was made as Zelensky was attempting to secure the nearly $400 million in U.S. military aid. (Associated Press)
6/ A federal judge dismissed Trump’s lawsuit to block New York from providing his state tax returns to the House Ways and Means Committee. Trump’s lawyers argued that New York officials were “co-conspirators” with Democrats in Washington when the state enacted a financial disclosure law that makes tax records available to certain congressional committees. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols ruled that his court in Washington was not the proper jurisdiction to sue New York officials and that Trump could continue his fight by filing the lawsuit in New York. (CNN / NBC News / Bloomberg / CNBC)
📌 Day 900: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill allowing congressional committees to access Trump’s New York state tax returns. The bill requires state tax officials to release the state returns for any “specified and legitimate legislative purpose” on the request of the House Ways and Means Committee, the Senate Finance Committee, or the Joint Committee on Taxation. Trump’s personal lawyer, Jay Sekulow, called the bill “more presidential harassment.” The House Ways and Means Committee has unsuccessfully tried to access six years of Trump’s personal and business tax returns. The House sued the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service last week to try to force them to release the returns. (New York Times / NBC News)
📌 Day 915: Trump sued the House Ways and Means Committee and the New York state officials to block his state tax returns from being turned over to the committee. In May, New York passed a bill that allowed the Ways and Means Committee chairman to obtainTrump’s state tax returns. The lawsuit seeks an injunction to would block the application of the new state law. (CNBC / Wall Street Journal / CNN)
7/ Former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley claimed that two senior Trump advisers approached her about helping them “save the country” by undermining Trump, according to her new memoir, “With All Due Respect.” Haley said that former secretary of state Rex Tillerson and former White House chief of staff John Kelly tried to recruit her to ignore Trump and help them work around him. She refused. “Kelly and Tillerson confided in me that when they resisted the president,” Haley writes, “they weren’t being insubordinate, they were trying to save the country.” (Washington Post / CBS News / ABC News / NPR / CNBC)
1/ The top Ukraine expert at the National Security Council testified that “there was no doubt” that Trump was seeking investigations into political rivals, according to a transcript of Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman’s deposition. Within an hour after Trump’s July 25 phone call with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, Vindman told White House lawyers that Trump had made a “troubling and disturbing” request for an investigation. Vindman also testified that “there was no ambiguity” that Gordon Sondland, the ambassador to the European Union, told him the idea of tethering a White House meeting to the Ukrainians investigating the Bidens “had been coordinated with White House Chief of Staff Mr. Mick Mulvaney.” (Washington Post / New York Times / Axios / Politico)
Read: Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman’s testimony. (New York Times)
2/ Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney refused to comply with a subpoena. Mulvaney informed investigators “one minute” before his scheduled deposition that he would not appear, citing “absolute immunity.” During an Oct. 17 press conference, Mulvaney admitted that Trump froze military aid to Ukraine to pressure the country to open a political investigation. Mulvaney is the highest-ranking White House official to be subpoenaed for testimony as part of the impeachment inquiry. (Axios / Politico / CNN / Reuters / Associated Press / The Hill / ABC News / NBC News / Washington Post)
3/ A State Department official testified that Trump wanted the Ukraine president “to go to microphone and say investigations, Biden, and Clinton.” Deputy Assistant Secretary George Kent’s assessment came from a summary of a conversation that Trump had with Gordon Sondland. (Axios / Washington Post)
Ukraine planned to publicly announce investigations into Trump’s political in an interview on Sept. 13. However, two days before the scheduled interview, the Trump administration released the assistance after news of the hold on military aid had leaked. Zelensky’s office then canceled the interview. (New York Times)
Two Rudy Giuliani associates urged Ukraine’s prior president to announce investigations into Biden and 2016 election interference in exchange for a state visit to Washington. Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman urged then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko during a late February meeting in Kiev. (Wall Street Journal / Washington Post)
4/ A former National Security Council official testified that there was a “good chance” Russia had compromising materials on Trump during the 2016 election, according to closed-door testimony made public by House impeachment investigators. Fiona Hill, who served until July as the White House’s top expert on Russia and Europe, also told lawmakers that she was “shocked” when she read the transcript of Trump’s call with Zelensky. Hill also testified that then national security adviser John Bolton “repeatedly” told staff “that nobody should be talking to Rudolph W. Giuliani, on our team or anybody else should be.” (Washington Post / Politico / CNN)
John Bolton reportedly knows about “many relevant meetings and conversations” regarding the Trump administration’s campaign against Ukraine. The former national security adviser didn’t appear for his deposition scheduled on Thursday, because he and his former deputy, Charles Kupperman, are asking for a court ruling on competing demands by the executive branch and the legislative branch. (New York Times)
5/ Republicans intend to subpoena the whistleblower to testify in the House’s impeachment investigation. Democrats, however, have rejected the idea citing safety concerns. They also hold veto power over any GOP subpoena requests for witness testimony. The whistleblower’s attorney, meanwhile, issued a cease and desist letter to the White House due to Trump’s “rhetoric and activity that places” the whistleblower “in physical danger.” Trump has repeatedly attacked the credibility of the whistleblower, demanded to “meet his accuser,” and called for the identity of the whistleblower to be revealed publicly. (The Hill / CNN)
Ivanka Trump called the identity of the whistleblower “not particularly relevant” compared to the “motivation behind all of this.” (Associated Press)
Trump Jr. worried about “all the sacrifices we’d have to make to help my father succeed” after visiting Arlington National Cemetery the day before Donald Trump’s inauguration. Trump Jr. wrote in his new book that his family had already suffered because they had to “voluntarily giving up a huge chunk of our business and all international deals to avoid the appearance that we were ‘profiting off the office.’” (Washington Post)
6/ House Democrats established three parameters for their public impeachment hearings, which begin next week. Investigators will follow “three interrelated lines of inquiry” to determine if Trump asked a foreign leader to initiate investigations to benefit his personal political interests, used the power of the Office of the President to apply pressure on Ukraine, and whether the Trump administration tried to conceal information from Congress about Trump’s actions and conduct. (Politico)
7/ Trump is “not concerned” about the impeachment inquiry. He called it a “hoax” because “I never even heard of these people. I have no idea who they are.” (Reuters)
Notables.
Trump will not impose new tariffs on European cars next week. Trump previously argued that imports of European autos pose a national security threat to the U.S. (Sueddeutsche Zeitung / CNBC)
The EPA’s chief of staff refused to disclose to the EPA inspector general how he obtained an advance copy of a witness’s testimony. The agency’s independent watchdog is investigating Ryan Jackson’s efforts to influence a scientist ahead of her congressional testimony. (Washington Post)
Trump wants attend Russia’s military parade celebration in May, but his only hesitation is that the parade falls during the “middle of political season.” (Politico / Reuters)
Senior Trump administration officials considered resigning en masse last year in a “midnight self-massacre” over concerns about Trump’s “misguided impulses.” In the new book, “A Warning” by “a senior Trump administration official,” officials ultimately rejected the idea because they believed it would further destabilize the government. (Washington Post / New York Times)
1/ Trump asked Attorney General William Barr to hold a press conference and say that he didn’t break the law during his July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Barr, however, declined. Trump’s request was made around Sept. 25 – shortly after the Trump administration released a summary of the July 25 call. Trump denied he asked Barr “to hold a news conference,” instead saying people “MADE UP the story” and that “the Justice Department already ruled that the call was good.” (Washington Post / New York Times / CNN)
2/ Former national security adviser John Bolton is willing to defy the White House and testify in the House impeachment inquiry. Bolton, however, skipped his scheduled deposition today, wanting a federal court to first rule on a lawsuit between the Trump administration and Congress. House impeachment investigators intend to continue their inquiry without delay and plan to use Bolton’s refusal to testify as evidence of Trump’s attempt to obstruct Congress. (Washington Post / Politico / NBC News)
A national security aide to Mike Pence testified behind closed doors in the ongoing House impeachment inquiry into Trump. Jennifer Williams is the first person from Pence’s office to testify and is one of a handful of U.S. officials who listened in on Trump’s July 25 call with Zelensky in which Trump asked the Ukrainian leader to open an investigation into Joe Biden and his son Hunter. The White House tried to prevent Williams from attending the deposition. (Washington Post / NPR / New York Times)
A State Department official told House investigators that he kept notes of the White House’s attempted quid pro quo with Ukraine. George Kent said he witnessed an “effort to initiate politically motivated prosecutions that were injurious to the rule of law.” Kent also accused Rudy Giuliani of conducting a “campaign of lies” about the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, that led to her early recall from Kiev. (NBC News / Politico / NPR)
A senior National Security Council official who attended meetings at the center of the congressional impeachment inquiry will leave his post this week. Earl Matthews traveled with John Bolton to Ukraine in August and Poland in September, sitting in on meetings with Zelensky and senior American officials, including Bill Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, and senior NSC Russia expert Tim Morrison. (Politico)
3/ The Government Accountability Office is reviewing the Trump administration’s hold on security assistance to Ukraine to see if the freeze violated appropriations law. At a Senate Budget Committee hearing last week, Sen. Chris Van Hollen asked the U.S. comptroller general if the administration’s failure to formally inform Congress about the hold ran afoul of legal notification requirements. The money was released in mid-September after bipartisan pressure on Capitol Hill, but lawmakers and aides never received a clear answer about the reason for the hold. (Wall Street Journal)
Intelligence officials want CIA director Gina Haspel to protect the whistleblower from Trump. Haspel has avoided making any statements about the whistleblower or the complaint. U.S. intelligence officials, meanwhile, say that while they have taken steps to protect the identity of the whistleblower, neither Haspel nor Joseph Maguire, the director of national intelligence, have urged Trump behind the scenes to stop trying to out the whistleblower’s identity. (NBC News)
4/ The $500,000 Rudy Giuliani was paid to investigate Trump’s political rivals came from a Long Island attorney investing in Fraud Guarantee, a company owned by a Ukrainian-American businessman. Charles Gucciardo, a Republican donor and Trump supporter, gave the money to Lev Parnas as part of a deal that would make Gucciardo an investor in Parnas’ company, Fraud Guarantee, which does not appear to have any customers. Gucciardo paid Giuliani $250,000 in September and October 2018 on behalf of Fraud Guarantee. Giuliani is currently under federal investigation for possible foreign lobbying violations, and Parnas has been indicted for alleged campaign finance and foreign money-laundering violations. (New York Times / Reuters)
📌 Day 999: Rudy Giuliani was paid $500,000 to consult for a company co-founded by the Ukrainian-American businessman arrested last week on campaign finance charges. Lev Parnas’ company – Fraud Guarantee (!) – engaged Giuliani Partners around August 2018 to consult on technologies and provide legal advice on regulatory issues. Giuliani said the money came in two payments made within weeks of each other, but that he couldn’t remember the dates. He also said most of the work he did for Fraud Guarantee was completed in 2018, but that he has been doing follow-up work for more than a year. Federal prosecutors have been “examining Giuliani’s interactions” with Parnas and Igor Fruman, who was also indicted on campaign finance charges, since at least early 2019. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan are also investigating whether Giuliani broke lobbying laws in his efforts to undermine the American ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, who was recalled on Trump’s orders in May. Giuliani also denied that he was planning to visit Dmitry Firtash, a Ukrainian oligarch who is currently wanted on corruption charges in the U.S., during a trip to Vienna he planned last week. (Reuters / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / USA Today / NBC News / Axios / ABC News)
📌 Day 1013: An indicted associate of Rudy Giuliani can be questioned under oath about financial transfers he made to Republican political campaigns. Lev Parnas’ defense attorney previously argued that some of the evidence gathered in the campaign finance investigation could be subject to executive privilege. Parnas owes a family trust more than $500,000, which alleges that Parnas transferred the money to his corporate accounts, to the Trump PAC America First Action, to the National Republican Congressional Committee, and to Pete Sessions for Congress – defrauding the family trust in the process. (CNN)
5/ Trump must personally pay $2 million in damages for unlawfully coordinating with the Trump Foundation charity to further his 2016 presidential campaign. A New York state judge found that “Trump breached his fiduciary duty to the Foundation” by “allowing his campaign to orchestrate” a televised fundraiser for the foundation in January 2016, and then allowing the campaign to direct the distribution of the money raised from that event “to further Mr. Trump’s political campaign.” The settlement included an admission of misconduct, including that he used the foundation to settle the legal obligations of his companies, including Mar-A-Lago and the Trump National Golf Club in New York. (New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
6/ A forthcoming book by an anonymous senior Trump administration claims that high-level White House aides were certain that Mike Pence would support using the 25th Amendment to have Trump removed from office. The author of “A Warning” – the same official behind the 2018 op-ed that declared there was a “resistance” within the administration – claimed that White House officials put together a list of Cabinet secretaries who were open to the idea of removing Trump because of mental incapacity and that “there was no doubt in the minds of these senior officials that Pence would support invoking the 25th Amendment if the majority of the Cabinet signed off on it.” Pence, meanwhile, said he never heard about any discussion of using the 25th amendment in the White House. (HuffPost / Politico)
📌 Day 1019: The Justice Department is trying to “intimidate and expose” the anonymous author of “A Warning”– the same senior Trump administration official behind a 2018 op-ed who claimed cabinet members discussed removing Trump from office early in his presidency “given the instability many witnessed.” The DOJ claimed that the author may be violating “one or more nondisclosure agreements” by writing the book, which is set to come out on November 19. (CNN / New York Times)
7/ Trump and “The Apprentice” creator have discussed shooting “The Apprentice: White House” after Trump leaves office. Trump and Mark Burnett reportedly still keep in touch by phone with Trump confiding to close associates that he misses his job as a reality-TV host. (Daily Beast)
1/ The top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine told House impeachment investigators that it was his “clear understanding” that military aid would not be sent to Ukraine until the country pursued investigations that could benefit Trump, according to a transcript of his testimony made public. Bill Taylor said he “sat in astonishment” during a July 18 call after a White House Office of Management and Budget official said that Trump had ordered a hold on military assistance to Ukraine. Taylor detailed how U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland had told him that Trump was “adamant” that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky publicly announce the Biden and 2016 investigations. Taylor also testified that Rudy Giuliani was the “originator” of the idea to have Zelensky make the statement. (NBC News / CNN / Associated Press / Washington Post / New York Times/ Politico)
Trump promised “unwavering support” for Kiev in a May 29 letter congratulating Ukraine’s newly elected president. The letter also includes an invitation to the White House, held up as a sign of the United States’ enduring “commitment” to Ukraine. The letter was sent before the U.S. withheld nearly $400 million in U.S. military aid to Ukraine. (Daily Beast)
The State Department’s third-ranking official testified behind closed-doors before House impeachment investigators. David Hale told Congress that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was reluctant to defend his then-Ukraine ambassador Marie Yovanovitch because it would hurt efforts to get Ukraine military aid. Hale is the first administration official to appear as scheduled this week. (CNN / Washington Post / New York Times)
House impeachment investigators dropped their subpoena to compel a former National Security Council official to testify before Congress. Charles Kupperman served as a deputy to former national security adviser John Bolton. Kupperman was subpoenaed in late October, but he did not appear for testimony because he wanted to wait for the courts to rule on whether he had to comply after Trump directed him to not appear citing immunity. (Talking Points Memo / The Hill)
Analysis: Four takeaways from Bill Taylor’s full transcript. (Washington Post)
Read: The full transcript of top diplomat Bill Taylor’s impeachment testimony. (NBC News)
2/ The House will begin holding public impeachment hearings next week. Bill Taylor, the top diplomat in Ukraine, and George Kent, a deputy assistant secretary of State, will appear on Nov. 13. Marie Yovanovitch, who was pushed out as the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine after a smear campaign backed by Trump, will testify two days later, on Nov. 15. Both hearings are scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. ET. (Politico / CNN / NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times)
The White House added two staffers to help coordinate a “proactive impeachment messaging” response to the House inquiry. Trump is temporarily bringing in former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi and ex-Treasury spokesman Tony Sayegh. (NBC News / New York Times)
3/ Senate Republicans are discussing whether to use the impeachment inquiry to scrutinize Joe Biden and his son. Some of Trump’s allies want to call Biden and Hunter to testify as witnesses in the inquiry to counter the Democrats’ scrutiny of Trump. Rand Paul and John Kennedy raised the idea at a private lunch last week to summon Hunter Biden to testify. Paul reiterated that call publicly at a rally in Kentucky earlier this week. (Washington Post)
Mitch McConnell said the Senate would acquit Trump if an impeachment trial were held today. McConnell also warned that the longer the impeachment process takes, the longer presidential candidates who are also senators would have to spend on the Senate floor instead of on the campaign trail. McConnell has yet to speak with Sen. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer about how the Senate would handle an impeachment trial, but he said they would likely model the trial off the Clinton impeachment. (Politico)
Lindsey Graham is refusing to read any of the transcripts released this week as part of the House impeachment inquiry despite demanding that they be made public. Graham said he has “written the whole [impeachment] process off” as “a bunch of B.S.” Graham also downplayed Gordon Sondland’s revised testimony, during which Sondland acknowledged that he told a Ukrainian official that the release of U.S. military aid to Ukraine would “likely not occur” unless Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky publicly announced an investigation into Joe Biden and his son. Last month, however, Graham said, “If you could show me that, you know, Trump actually was engaging in a quid pro quo, outside the phone call, that would be very disturbing.” Yesterday, Graham reiterated his blanket defense of Trump, adding: “I don’t think the president did anything wrong.” (Axios / WKYC)
4/ A federal judge overturned the Trump administration’s “conscience” rule that would have made it easier for doctors and other health care workers to refuse care on religious or moral grounds. The judge ruled that the Department of Health and Human Services exceeded its authority, “acted arbitrarily and capriciously” in promoting it, and that the agency’s “stated justification for undertaking rule making in the first place — a purported ‘significant increase’ in civilian complaints relating to the conscience provisions — was factually untrue.” Under the rule, health care providers that forced workers to perform work, such as abortions, despite their objections would have been subject to having their federal funding withdrawn. (NPR / New York Times / Washington Post)
5/ Roger Stone lied to Congress about his efforts to contact WikiLeaks during the 2016 campaign because “the truth looked bad for Donald Trump,” a federal prosecutor said in his opening statement at Stone’s trial. Prosecutor Aaron Zelinsky said the case wasn’t about who hacked the Democratic National Committee, or who communicated with Russians, but “about Roger Stone’s false testimony to the House Intelligence Committee in an attempt to obstruct the investigation and to tamper with evidence.” (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News)
6/ Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erodğan will visit the White House next week. The visit comes about a month after Trump withdrew U.S. forces from northern Syria, allowing Turkish forces to attack Kurdish forces – a U.S. ally in the fight against ISIS. (Bloomberg / Axios)
poll/ 56% of voters expect Trump to be reelected next year, including 85% of Republicans, 51% of independents, and 35% of Democrats. (Politico)
A panel of Pennsylvania voters from swing districts said they’d still vote for Trump even “if he shot someone on 5th avenue,” because “you’d have to know why he shot him.” (Mediate)
1/ A key witness in the impeachment inquiry acknowledged that there was a quid pro quo linking U.S. aid to Ukraine with an investigation into Trump’s political rival. In revised testimony, Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, said he told Andriy Yermak, a Ukrainian national security adviser, that Ukraine “would likely not” receive military aid until it publicly committed to investigating the 2016 election and Joe Biden. Sondland told Congress that his memory was “refreshed” after reviewing the opening statements by Bill Taylor, the acting ambassador to Ukraine, and Tim Morrison, a former adviser to Trump on Russian and European affairs. Sondland’s addendum also recounted a Sept. 1 meeting in Warsaw where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky raised his concerns to Mike Pence about the suspension of military aid. Sondland said he believed that withholding the $391 million in security assistance was “ill-advised,” but claimed he didn’t know “when, why or by whom the aid was suspended.” The revelation comes after House committees leading the impeachment inquiry released transcripts of witness testimony by Sondland and Kurt Volker, the former special envoy to Ukraine. (Politico / NBC News / New York Times / CNN / Washington Post)
Analysis: Five takeaways from the Gordon Sondland and Kurt Volker testimonies. (Washington Post)
Excerpts: Sondland’s and Volker’s testimonies. (New York Times)
READ: U.S. Ambassador to the European Union House testimony on Ukraine investigation. (CNN)
READ: Former U.S. special envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker’s House testimony on Ukraine investigations. (CNN)
2/ House Democrats requested that Trump’s acting White House chief of staff appear for a deposition in the impeachment probe. Mick Mulvaney is unlikely to comply with the request, however, as the White House has directed senior officials to not participate in the impeachment investigation. Lawmakers leading the inquiry believe Mulvaney “may have been directly involved in an effort orchestrated” by Trump and Rudy Giuliani to withhold a “White House meeting and nearly $400 million in security assistance” in order to pressure Ukraine to pursue investigations that would benefit “Trump’s personal political interests, and jeopardized our national security.” (CNBC / Politico / ABC News / New York Times)
A senior adviser to Mike Pence will likely comply with a request to testify. Jennifer Williams was listening to the phone call on July 25 in which Trump asked for a “favor” of his newly-elected Ukrainian counterpart, President Volodymyr Zelensky. Williams would be the first person on Pence’s national security team to appear. (CNN)
3/ An associate of Rudy Giuliani will cooperate with a subpoena issued by House investigators as part of the impeachment inquiry into Trump. Lev Parnas, who helped Giuliani dig up dirt on Joe Biden and his son Hunter at Trump’s request, initially ignored the House Intelligence Committee’s request for documents last month, but now intends to comply with the subpoena. The change in strategy reportedly occurred when Trump denied knowing Parnas after he was arrested. Parnas was also charged last month with campaign finance violations. (Reuters / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times)
4/ Phone records show that Trump made at least six phone calls to a woman who says he sexually assaulted her at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Summer Zervos, a former candidate on “The Apprentice,” claims that Trump forced himself on her with unwanted kissing and groping while she visited him for lunch in his hotel room on Dec. 21, 2007. Trump’s Verizon cellphone bills over a three-month period in 2007 and 2008 shows that Trump called Zervos on the day that his private calendar said he was staying at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Trump called Zervos and other women who have accused him of sexual misconduct of being “liars,” prompting Zervos to sue him for defamation. That hotel stay is a key part of the defamation lawsuit against Trump in New York State Supreme Court. (Washington Post)
📌 Day 468: A former contestant on “The Apprentice” is suing Trump for defamation after he called her a liar for accusing him of sexual assault. Summer Zervos was among the more than 10 women who came forward during the 2016 presidential campaign and accused Trump of sexual assault and misconduct. He denied all of their claims. (New York Times)
📌 Day 784: A New York appellate court ruled that a former contestant on The Apprentice can proceed with her defamation lawsuit against Trump. Summer Zervos is one of about a dozen women who accused Trump of sexual misconduct before the 2016 election. Trump called Zervos and the other women “liars,” prompting Zervos to file a lawsuit in 2017. The New York State Appellate Division’s First Department turned down Trump’s argument that the case should be delayed until he is out of office because, as a sitting president, he was immune from a lawsuit brought in state court. The decision means Trump may have to sit for a sworn deposition. (ABC News / Washington Post / Politico)
5/ Roger Stone’s trial began today. Stone faces charges related to his alleged efforts to exploit the hacked Hillary Clinton emails for his own political gain. Stone is accused of lying to lawmakers about WikiLeaks, tampering with witnesses, and obstructing a House Intelligence Committee probe into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia to tip the 2016 election. The indictment says a senior Trump campaign official “was directed” to contact Stone after WikiLeaks released hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee in July 2016 to find out about additional releases and “what other damaging information” WikiLeaks had “regarding the Clinton campaign.” The indictment does not name the official or say who directed the outreach to Stone. Jury selection began with an observer being taken out of the courtroom on a stretcher after appearing to have a seizure, followed by Stone leaving due to what he said was food poisoning. (Associated Press / NBC News)
poll/ 62% of Trump supporters say there is nothing Trump could do that would cause him to lose their support. Among those who disapprove of the job Trump is doing, 70% say there’s nothing the president could do to gain their support. (Monmouth University)
1/ Interview notes from Robert Mueller’s special counsel investigation were released after CNN and BuzzFeed News sued the government to see all the work that Mueller’s team kept secret. In response to a court order, the Justice Department released the first installment of documents, known as 302s, which memorialize interviews conducted by the office with witnesses and include hundreds of pages of FBI interview summaries. Per the judge’s order, the Justice Department will continue to release new tranches of Mueller’s investigative notes every month for at least the next eight years. (CNN / BuzzFeed News)
⚡️ Takeaways from the memos:
Paul Manafort pushed the unproven theory that Ukrainians might have been responsible for hacking the Democratic National Committee at least five months before the 2016 election. Deputy campaign manager Rick Gates told Robert Mueller’s office in an April 2018 interview that Manafort had shared his theory that Ukraine, not Russia, was responsible for hacking the DNC with him and other campaign aides shortly after the stolen emails were published in June 2016. Gates said Manafort’s theory echoed one that had been pushed by Konstantin Kilimnik, a Ukrainian businessman that Mueller’s office said had ties to Russian intelligence. Three years later, Trump brought up the same conspiracy theory during his July 2019 call with the Ukrainian president when he asked for a “favor,” which is now at the heart of Democrats’ impeachment inquiry. (BuzzFeed News / New York Times / Washington Post)
Michael Cohen “had to keep Trump out of the messaging related to Russia” in preparation for his testimony to Congress under oath and that the false testimony was “not his idea.” Cohen later pleaded guilty in 2018 to lying to Congress about when discussions related to the Trump Tower Moscow deal had ended.
Rick Gates said the campaign was “very happy” when a foreign government helped release the hacked DNC emails. After the hacked DNC emails, Trump told Gates that “more leaks were coming.” (BuzzFeed News)
READ: Interview notes from Robert Mueller’s special counsel investigation. (CNN / DocumentCloud)
2/ The former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine told House impeachment investigators that she felt “threatened” by Trump and his suggestion to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during the July 25 phone call that she would be “going to go through some things.” Marie Yovanovitch, who was abruptly recalled by Trump in May, told investigators that Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman were working with Rudy Giuliani to smear her and had orchestrated her removal as ambassador to Kiev. The revelation comes after House Democrats released the first two interview transcripts with Yovanovitch and Michael McKinley, a former senior State Department adviser. McKinley described to investigators how he pressed top State Department officials to publicly support Yovanovitch, but that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo denied the request because he did not want to “draw undue attention” to Yovanovitch. (New York Times / BuzzFeed News / Politico / CNN / ABC News)
Excerpts and analysis from the first two impeachment inquiry transcripts. (New York Times)
3/ Four White House officials scheduled to give depositions today as part of the House’s impeachment inquiry refused to show up and testify. National Security Council attorneys John Eisenberg and Michael Ellis, along with Robert Blair, assistant to the president, and Brian McCormick, an associate director at the Office of Management and Budget, did not comply with congressional subpoenas for their testimony. Eisenberg claimed executive privilege, while Blair, Ellis, and McCormick didn’t appear because they weren’t able to have a Trump administration attorney present. Two other officials from the OMB, Michael Duffey and Russell Vought, also plan to skip their depositions later this week. Energy Secretary Rick Perry is scheduled to appear for a closed-door deposition on Wednesday, but will not be participating either. (CNN / Politico / ABC News / Reuters)
One of Mick Mulvaney’s top allies is attempting to rally other administration officials to collectively defy Congressional subpoenas from Democrats involved in the House impeachment inquiry. Russel Vought, who leads the Office of Management and Budget, and two of his subordinates are attempting to demonstrate their loyalty to Trump while also creating a firewall around Trump’s alleged use of foreign aid to obtain political favors from a U.S. ally. The OMB is at the center of the impeachment inquiry because Democrats want information about why the office effectively froze U.S. military aid to Ukraine even though Congress had already appropriated for that country. (Washington Post)
The whistleblower’s attorney offered to answer written questions under oath and with penalty of perjury. Mark Zaid said his client was willing to respond in writing “in a bipartisan manner” so long as questions “cannot seek identifying info, regarding which we will not provide, or otherwise be inappropriate.” Trump, however, rejected the offer, tweeting that “Written answers not acceptable!” and that the whistleblower “must be brought forward to testify.” (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico)
4/ Trump’s accounting firm must turn over eight years of his personal and corporate tax returns to Manhattan prosecutors. A three-judge panel of the Second Circuit Court Appeals unanimously ruled that Trump is not immune from investigative steps taken by state prosecutors. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance subpoenaed the documents from Mazars USA as part of an investigation into the pre-election payoffs to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal. Trump then sued the DA’s office to block the subpoena, arguing that as president he is immune not only from prosecution but from investigations. A district judge dismissed the argument in October, which Trump then appealed. Today, the appeals court said because Trump’s accounting firm – not Trump himself – was subpoenaed for the documents, it didn’t matter whether presidents have immunity. Trump’s lawyer, Jay Sekulow, said Trump would ask the Supreme Court to overturn the ruling. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / CNN / NBC News / Associated Press / BuzzFeed News / CNBC)
5/ The Trump administration formally notified the United Nations that the U.S. is withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement. The withdrawal will not be finalized until a day after the presidential election in November 2020. The U.S. is now the only country to withdraw from the pact between nearly 200 countries. The U.S. is the world’s second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases. (NPR / The Guardian / Politico / New York Times / Washington Post)
poll/ 64% of Americans say their financial situation has not gotten better under Trump, while 35% say they’re better off. (Financial Times)
poll/ 53% of Americans disapprove of the job Trump is doing as president, while 45% approve, and 2% are not sure. (NBC News)
poll/ 49% of voters want Trump impeached and removed from office, 4% say he should be impeached but not removed, and 41% oppose impeaching Trump. (Fox News)
Trump called the Fox News poll “fake” and “lousy,” claiming that he has “the real polls,” and that the “people don’t want anything to do with impeachment. It’s a phony scam. It’s a hoax.” (Rolling Stone)
Notables.
Trump attacked California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Twitter and blamed him for the wildfires in the state. Trump tweeted that Newsom has “done a terrible job of forest management.” Of the 33 million acres of forest in California, 57% is controlled by the federal government. (Los Angeles Times)
The Justice Department is trying to “intimidate and expose” the anonymous author of “A Warning” – the same senior Trump administration official behind a 2018 op-ed who claimed cabinet members discussed removing Trump from office early in his presidency “given the instability many witnessed.” The DOJ claimed that the author may be violating “one or more nondisclosure agreements” by writing the book, which is set to come out on November 19. (CNN / New York Times)
E. Jean Carroll filed a defamation lawsuit against Trump, saying he lied when he denied her claims that he had raped her in the dressing room of an upscale department store in the 1990s. After the writer and advice columnist came forward with the allegation in June, Trump denied raping Carroll, said he had “never met that person in my life,” and accused her of “totally lying” because she was “not my type.” (New York Times / Politico / CNN / BuzzFeed News)
Children were encouraged to help “Build the Wall” at a White House Halloween party. Officials had been instructed to put together kid-friendly displays for trick-or-treaters that were supposed to be interactive and inspiring. Instead, the mural featured red paper bricks, each bearing the name of a child, with large letters on the display spelling out “Build the Wall” and signs alongside the wall that read “America First.” (Yahoo News)
Smugglers have repeatedly cut through new sections of Trump’s border wall, opening gaps large enough for people to pass through. Trump has repeatedly called his $10 billion wall “virtually impenetrable” and likened the structure to a “Rolls-Royce” that border crossers cannot get over, under or through. (Washington Post)
Trump would not commit to keeping the federal government open past a November 21 funding deadline, raising the possibility of a government shutdown as House Democrats expand their impeachment inquiry. Congress passed a short-term spending bill in September and would need to pass 12 appropriations bills to keep all federal agencies funded. (Washington Post)
1/ A senior White House lawyer instructed the national security official who heard Trump’s July 25 conversation with the Ukraine president to keep his concerns secret. Following the call, in which Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for a “favor” to investigate the Bidens, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman went to John Eisenberg to register his concerns about the call, who recorded Vindman’s complaints in notes on a yellow legal pad. Eisenberg also restricted access to the rough transcript of the call by moving it into the NSC’s top-secret codeword system. Eisenberg then directed Vindman to not discuss his concerns with anyone after the White House learned on July 29 that a CIA employee had anonymously filed a whistleblower complaint about the call. Vindman also testified that he conferred with his deputy Michael Ellis at the time about how to handle the conversation because it was clearly “sensitive.” (Washington Post / Politico)
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she expects the impeachment inquiry to begin public hearings this month. (Bloomberg)
2/ Trump wants to host a live “fireside chat” and read the White House’s version of the transcript from his July 25 call with Zelensky. Trump said he would broadcast the reading on television in order to prove that he did nothing wrong and that the substance of the call was not cause for alarm. “At some point, I’m going to sit down, perhaps as a fireside chat on live television,” Trump said in an interview, “and I will read the transcript of the call, because people have to hear it. When you read it, it’s a straight call.” (Washington Examiner / The Hill / Fox News / Reuters)
3/ Democratic leaders directing the impeachment investigation see the Trump administration’s stonewalling as obstruction of Congress. Trump and the administration have tried to stop subpoenaed witnesses from testifying, blocked the executive branch from turning over documents, attacked witnesses as “Never Trumpers,” badgered the anonymous whistleblower, and have tried to publicly discredit the investigation as a “scam” overseen by “a totally compromised kangaroo court.” Democrats argue that the efforts infringed on the separation of powers and undermines congressional oversight duties as laid out in the Constitution. (Washington Post)
4/ A judge is expected to reconsider whether an associate of Rudy Giuliani should remain on house arrest while awaiting trial for charges of illegally funneling money into a pro-Trump election committee and to other politicians. Igor Fruman’s attorney is scheduled to appear before U.S. District Judge Paul Oetken in Manhattan to argue that Fruman should not be subject to house arrest or electronic GPS monitoring as conditions of his bail, calling the restrictions “onerous.” Fruman was arrested at the airport while attempting to leave the country with his alleged co-conspirator, Lev Parnas, but Fruman’s attorney argues that Fruman does not pose a flight risk because he has already paid his $1 million bond and agreed to have his travel restricted. (Reuters)
5/ Trump declined to defend acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney. When asked if he is happy with the job Mulvaney is doing, Trump replied: “Happy? I don’t want to comment on it.” (Washington Examiner)
📌 Day 1001: Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney confirmed that Trump blocked military aid to Ukraine to force Kiev to investigate his political rivals. Mulvaney called the quid pro quo exchange “absolutely appropriate” and that “we do that all the time with foreign policy.” Mulvaney added: “I have news for everybody: Get over it. There’s going to be political influence in foreign policy.” Mulvaney also told reporters the funds were withheld in part because of a request to have Ukraine investigate unfounded allegations that foreign countries assisted Democrats in the 2016 election. Trump has repeatedly denied that there was a quid pro quo arrangement linking his demand for an investigation that could politically benefit him to the release of $391 million in military aid to Ukraine. (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / CNBC)
6/ Trump nominated Chad Wolf to be the acting Homeland Security Secretary. Wolf served as the chief of staff to former Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. Kevin McAleenan, who most recently served as acting secretary, submitted his resignation letter to in early October and said he would leave by the end of the month. (Wall Street Journal)
7/ Trump’s personal pastor joined the Trump administration in an official capacity. Paula White is a Florida-based televangelist and a controversial figure even among evangelical Christians, but she will now be in charge of overseeing a White House division that conducts outreach to key parts of the president’s base. White’s work in the Public Liaison Office will include advising the administration’s Faith and Opportunity Initiative, which Trump established last year to give religious groups more of a voice in government programs involving religious liberty and fighting poverty. (New York Times)
8/ The White House is discussing a second round of tax cuts to announce during the 2020 presidential campaign. Larry Kudlow, Trump’s top economic aide, said the plan will be released next year to help Republicans run on the message of a strong economy and contrast their Democratic rivals, who are proposing tax increases to pay for expanded government services. (Bloomberg)
9/ The number of non-farm jobs rose by 128,000 in October, despite the loss of 42,000 motor vehicle and parts industry jobs. The growth of new jobs last month exceeded the 75,000 estimate by Dow Jones economists. The lost of 42,000 jobs was also less than the 50,000 or more that many economists had anticipated. The unemployment rate rose to 3.6%, but is still at its lowest rate in 50 years. (CNBC / New York Times)
10/ Trump changed his state of residence from New York to Florida, declaring that Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach was his permanent residence. Melania Trump also changed her residence to Palm Beach. Trump confirmed the decision on Twitter, saying “I have been treated very badly by the political leaders of both the city and state,” and that moving to Florida would be “best for all concerned.” (New York Times / Washington Post)
poll/ 49% of Americans agree that Trump should be impeached and removed from office, while 47% disagree. 82% of Democrats support removing Trump from office, while 13% are opposed. 18% of Republicans think he should be removed, while 82% say he should not be. (Washington Post-ABC News)
1/ The House approved a resolution to formally authorize and set ground rules for its impeachment inquiry into Trump. The resolution passed 232-196 almost entirely along party lines and outlines how the House will make the investigation more public, authorizes the House Intelligence Committee to release transcripts from past interviews, and gives Republicans the right to call witnesses, though those requests are subject to approval by Democrats. Before the vote, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said “Today, we are further down the path of our inquiry,” calling it a “sad day,” because “nobody comes to Congress to impeach a president.” Minutes after the vote, the White House press secretary denounced the resolution as “a sham impeachment” and “a blatantly partisan attempt to destroy the president.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / Politico / CNN / ABC News)
Two Democrats voted against the impeachment inquiry resolution. Reps. Jeff Van Drew and Collin Peterson both voted “nay” on the resolution. (CNN)
What is impeachment and how does it work? 10 facts to know. (NBC News)
The full Trump-Ukraine timeline. The House is engaged in a formal impeachment inquiry of Trump. It’s focused on his efforts to secure specific investigations in Ukraine that carried political benefits for him — with indications that there might have been an explicit or implicit quid pro quo involved. (Washington Post)
⚡️ Impeachment.wtf – The historian’s guide to the Trump impeachment inquiry. Maintained by the community. Updated daily.
2/ Trump’s former top National Security Council advisor on Russia and Europe corroborated testimony by the acting ambassador to Ukraine that Trump tried to withhold military assistance until Ukraine committed to investigating Trump’s political rivals. Tim Morrison told impeachment investigators today that he spoke to Bill Taylor at least twice in early September. One call was about Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, who told the Ukrainians that no U.S. aid would be released until they announced an investigation into Burisma, the Ukrainian energy company that had hired Joe Biden’s son Hunter. Morrison also spoke with Taylor on Sept. 7 to share his “sinking feeling” about a conversation between Trump and Sondland, during which Trump demanded that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky publicly announce investigations and a debunked conspiracy theory about the 2016 election. Morrison, however, told impeachment investigators he “was not concerned that anything illegal was discussed,” but he did see the episode as problematic for U.S. foreign policy. Morrison’s testimony comes a day after he announced his resignation. (Washington Post / Politico / New York Times / NPR / CNN / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press / NBC News / Daily Beast)
📌 Day 1006: The top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine told House impeachment investigators that Trump held up security aid and refused a White House meeting with Ukraine’s president until he agreed to investigate Tump’s political rivals. Bill Taylor said he was told that “everything” Ukraine wanted — a one-on-one meeting between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and nearly $400 million in security aid — was dependent on publicly announcing an investigation into Burisma, the company that hired Joe Biden’s son Hunter, and Ukraine’s alleged involvement in the 2016 election. Taylor provided an “excruciatingly detailed” opening statement that described “how pervasive the [quid pro quo] efforts were” by Trump and his allies, which they have denied. People in the closed-door deposition described Taylor’s testimony as a “very direct line” between American foreign policy and Trump’s own political goals. (Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
📌 Day 1008: Trump’s top envoy to Ukraine testified that the U.S. ambassador to the E.U. not only knew of a quid pro quo, but had also communicated the threat to Ukraine. William Taylor said he understood that on Sept. 1st, Gordon Sondland warned Andrey Yermak, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s aide, that security assistance “would not come” unless Zelensky committed to pursuing the investigation into Burisma, the energy company where Joe Biden’s son held a board seat. On Sept. 9th, Sondland texted Taylor to say there was “no quid pro quos” of any kind authorized by Trump. Sondland’s attorney added that his client “does not recall” such a conversation. By Taylor’s account, however, Sondland already knew the terms of the quid pro quo and had relayed them to Zelensky’s aide a week earlier. (Washington Post / Politico)
📌 Day 1009: A top adviser on Trump’s National Security Council is expected to corroborate testimony that Trump pushed for Ukraine to publicly announce investigations into Joe Biden and his son, using the military aid as leverage. Tim Morrison’s testimony is expected to be significant because he was named 15 times during Bill Taylor’s deposition, which Democrats view as damning for Trump. Morrison was also listening in on the July 25th call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Morrison is also expected to say that he didn’t see anything wrong with what the Trump administration did with regard to Ukraine. Morrison would also be the first currently serving White House official to testify. (CNN)
3/ The deputy White House counsel moved the transcript of Trump’s July 25 call with Zelensky to the highly classified server after Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman raised concerns about Trump’s behavior. Vindman, the top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council, had listened in on the call when Trump asked Zelensky to “do us a favor” by pursuing an investigation into Biden and the debunked conspiracy theory that a Democratic National Committee server was transported to Ukraine after it was hacked in 2016. After the call was over, Vindman, an ethics attorney on the National Security Council, and a deputy legal adviser to the National Security Council met with John Eisenberg to raise concerns about the conversation. Eisenberg then ordered the transcript of the call moved to the NSC Intelligence Collaboration Environment, which is normally reserved for code-word-level intelligence programs, to ensure that people who were not assigned to handle Ukraine policy could not read the transcript. Vindman also told House impeachment investigators that the White House transcript of the July call omitted crucial words and phrases, including Trump’s assertion that there were recordings of Biden discussing Ukraine corruption and a mention by Zelensky about Burisma. Vindman was also given a hard copy of the rough transcript to make written edits, which he then gave to his boss, Tim Morrison. (Washington Post / New York Times)
4/ Two separate federal judges in Washington will consider whether to force two witnesses close to Trump to testify in the House’s impeachment inquiry. The first hearing centers on former White House counsel Don McGahn’s refusal to testify this spring in the House Judiciary Committee’s criminal probe into whether Trump obstructed justice by attempting to impede the Russia investigation. The White House blocked McGahn’s testimony, claiming he was “absolutely immune from compelled congressional testimony.” The second hearing involves former National Security official Charles Kupperman, who did not appear for his subpoenaed testimony on Monday. Last week, Charles Kupperman filed a lawsuit to resolve conflicting orders from Congress and the White House about his participation in the impeachment investigation. (CNN / Politico / Washington Post / Washington Post)
poll/ 61% of Americans say Trump has little or no respect for the country’s democratic institutions and traditions. 42% of Americans approve of Trump’s job performance. (Associated Press)
poll/ 54% of Americans say the Trump administration’s policies have made the United States less respected around the world, while 28% say the policies have made the U.S. more respected. (Washington Post)
Notables.
Rudy Giuliani needed an Apple Genius to unlock his iPhone after he was named Trump’s cybersecurity adviser in 2017. Giuliani was locked out of his iPhone because he had forgotten the passcode and entered the wrong one at least 10 times. (NBC News)
The EPA will weaken regulation that limits heavy metals like arsenic, lead and mercury from coal-fired power plants. The new rules are expected to go into effect in November. (New York Times)
The American Bar Association deemed Trump’s new judicial nominee “not qualified” for a spot on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. The ABA found Lawrence VanDyke to be “arrogant, lazy, an ideologue, and lacking in knowledge of the day-to-day practice.” When asked during his Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing about his past positions on issues such as gun control, environmental protections, abortion, and LGBTQ rights, he started to cry. (Washington Post)
The Senate passed four spending bills to fund operations at the Agriculture, Transportation and Interior departments. Current government funding lasts through Nov. 21 and the majority of government spending is locked in a dispute over how to pay for Trump’s border wall. (Politico)
1/ Two career diplomats testified before House impeachment investigators behind closed doors that Trump and Rudy Giuliani’s view of Ukraine were out of step with other White House and State Department officials. Catherine Croft told lawmakers, who worked as an adviser to Kurt Volker, explained that “throughout” her time in the Trump administration she heard Trump “describe Ukraine as a corrupt country,” both “directly and indirectly.” Christopher Anderson, who served as assistant to Volker, told lawmakers that in a June 13th meeting, John Bolton had supported “increased senior White House engagement” with Ukraine, but was concerned that Giuliani “was a key voice with the president on Ukraine.” Anderson also testified that his attempts as a Foreign Service officer to show support for Ukraine were quashed by the White House. (Washington Post / CNN / Politico / ABC News / New York Times)
📝 READ: Christopher Anderson’s written testimony. (NPR)
📝 READ: Ukraine Specialist Catherine Croft’s written testimony. (NPR)
2/ House impeachment investigators asked former National Security Advisor John Bolton to testify on Nov. 7th after Anderson and Croft testified that Bolton was concerned about America’s stance toward Ukraine. Fiona Hill testified earlier this month that Bolton was so disturbed by efforts to get Ukraine to investigate Trump’s political opponents that he called it a “drug deal,” and that Bolton had told her to report the situation to John Eisenberg, the top lawyer for the National Security Council. Eisenberg and Michael Ellis, another lawyer for the NSC, are scheduled testify next Monday. (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / CNBC / Bloomberg)
3/ The National Security Council’s top Ukraine expert testified that a Devin Nunes associate “misrepresented” himself to Trump as the NSC’s Ukraine expert. Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman told lawmakers that Kashyap Patel circumvented NSC process to provide Trump with disinformation that Ukraine was corrupt and had interfered in the 2016 election on behalf of Democrats. Vindman was also told not to attend a meeting following Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s inauguration, because Trump’s advisers worried his perspective might confuse Trump. Patel is a longtime Nunes staffer who joined the White House in February. He has no Ukraine experience or expertise. (Politico)
📌 Day 1007: House impeachment investigators are scrutinizing a National Security Council aide suspected of operating a second Ukraine backchannel. Fiona Hill, the National Security Council’s former senior director for Eurasian and Russian affairs, testified last week that she believed Kashyap Patel was improperly getting involved in Ukraine policy by sending information about Ukraine to Trump that could warp American policy. Senior White House officials reportedly grew concerned when Patel became so involved in the issue that at one point Trump wanted to discuss the documents with him, referring to Patel as one of his top Ukraine policy specialists. Patel is assigned to work on counterterrorism issues, not Ukraine policy, and was part of the Republican effort to undermine the Russia investigation. (New York Times / Politico)
📌 Day 923: A former congressional staffer who tried to discredit Robert Mueller’s investigation has been promoted on the National Security Council staff. Kash Patel spearheaded the efforts with Devin Nunes to call the court-approved surveillance of former Trump adviser Carter Page into question. Now, Patel has been promoted to a leadership position focused on counterterrorism at the NSC’s Directorate of International Organizations and Alliances. (Daily Beast)
4/ A former Republican congressman turned lobbyist repeatedly attempted to get the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine fired for her association with Democrats. Robert Livingston told Croft on multiple occasions that Marie Yovanovitch, the American ambassador to Ukraine, was an “Obama holdover” “associated with George Soros” who “should be fired.” Croft testified that she “documented” multiple appeals by Livingston to oust Yovanovitch while she was working at the National Security Council from mid-2017 to mid-2018. Croft also said she informed Fiona Hill, then the senior director for Europe and Russia on the council, and George Kent, a Ukraine expert at the State Department, about the efforts at the time. (New York Times / Bloomberg)
5/ Trump’s pick for ambassador to Russia told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that it would not be “in accord with our values” for a president to ask a foreign government to investigate a political rival. Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan also agreed that Yovanovitch had “served capably and admirably” and that he believed Rudy Giuliani was “seeking to smear” Yovanovitch. Sullivan said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told him “the president had lost confidence with [Yovanovitch]” and that he was the one who informed Yovanovitch that she was being recalled early from her post as the ambassador to Ukraine. (Politico / Washington Post)
6/ Attorneys for the anonymous whistleblower at the center of the Trump impeachment inquiry have received multiple death threats. At least one of the death threats led to an investigation by law enforcement. None of the threats, however, have been deemed credible. (Wall Street Journal)
7/ Bill Taylor is willing to return to Capitol Hill to testify publicly in the impeachment probe. Taylor documented how he believed the White House had linked Ukraine announcing an investigation that could help Trump to the U.S. releasing security aide and setting up a one-on-one meeting between Trump and Zelensky. (CNN)
📌 Day 1006: The top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine told House impeachment investigators that Trump held up security aid and refused a White House meeting with Ukraine’s president until he agreed to investigate Tump’s political rivals. Bill Taylor said he was told that “everything” Ukraine wanted — a one-on-one meeting between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and nearly $400 million in security aid — was dependent on publicly announcing an investigation into Burisma, the company that hired Joe Biden’s son Hunter, and Ukraine’s alleged involvement in the 2016 election. Taylor provided an “excruciatingly detailed” opening statement that described “how pervasive the [quid pro quo] efforts were” by Trump and his allies, which they have denied. People in the closed-door deposition described Taylor’s testimony as a “very direct line” between American foreign policy and Trump’s own political goals. (Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
📌 Day 1008: Trump’s top envoy to Ukraine testified that the U.S. ambassador to the E.U. not only knew of a quid pro quo, but had also communicated the threat to Ukraine. William Taylor said he understood that on Sept. 1st, Gordon Sondland warned Andrey Yermak, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s aide, that security assistance “would not come” unless Zelensky committed to pursuing the investigation into Burisma, the energy company where Joe Biden’s son held a board seat. On Sept. 9th, Sondland texted Taylor to say there was “no quid pro quos” of any kind authorized by Trump. Sondland’s attorney added that his client “does not recall” such a conversation. By Taylor’s account, however, Sondland already knew the terms of the quid pro quo and had relayed them to Zelensky’s aide a week earlier. (Washington Post / Politico)
Notables.
Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney didn’t know about the raid to assassinate Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi until after the raid was already underway. The White House chief of staff is typically central to any major action by a president, taking charge of coordinating logistics, public statements, and notifying congressional leaders and allies. Rather than sitting alongside Trump in the Situation Room as the raid unfolded, Mulvaney was at home in South Carolina when Trump tweeted that “Something very big has just happened!” Mulvaney was briefed on the raid later that night. (NBC News)
Trump tweeted that “American troops” have “terminated” ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s “likely” replacement. The White House and the national security council did not say whether it is accurate that “American troops” were responsible for the death of Abu Hasan al-Muhajir. (CNN)
The Senate rejected an effort to roll back a Trump administration rule that allowed states to ignore parts of the Affordable Care Act. The resolution would have overturned a Trump administration rule that made it easier for states to opt-out of certain ACA requirements and prioritize cheaper “junk plans” than ones offered under the ACA. (The Hill)
Georgia will cancel about 315,000 voter registrations ahead of the 2020 presidential and the state’s Senate election, where both Senate seats are up for grabs. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office will send notices to inactive voters who and give them 30 days to return the notice if they don’t want their voter registrations canceled. The number of potential cancellations constitutes roughly 4% of Georgians on the voter rolls. (NBC News)
Russian groups spent more than $87,000 on Facebook ads to test new disinformation tactics in parts of Africa. The three Russian-backed influence networks were linked to Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Russian oligarch was indicted by the United States and accused of interfering in the 2016 presidential election. Facebook said it removed the networks. (New York Times)
The Federal Reserve reduced interest rates by a quarter-percentage point – the third time this year – but signaled that it will weigh incoming data before adjusting rates again. (Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / New York Times)
Trump made 96 false claims last week – including 53 last Monday alone. (CNN)
1/ House Democrats released their impeachment resolution, which outlines the next steps by the six committees that are pursuing investigations of the Trump administration. The resolution doesn’t limit the scope of their ongoing probes and does not set a timeline for potential articles of impeachment. Under the proposed rules, the House Intelligence Committee will take the lead on planning public hearings as the inquiry advances and establish rules for Republicans to hear testimony from certain witnesses, but that those requests will be declined or approved by Adam Schiff. The House plans to vote on the resolution Thursday. (New York Times / The Guardian / Bloomberg)
2/ The top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council registered objections on two separate occasions regarding Trump’s handling of Ukraine. Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman told impeachment investigators during a closed-door deposition that he heard Trump asked Ukrainian President Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden and his son as a “favor” after Zelensky brought up the defense cooperation between the U.S. and Ukraine. Vindman said he was so “concerned by the call” and that Trump’s request could be seen as “a partisan play” that could “undermine U.S. national security” that he reported it to the NSC’s lead counsel out of a “sense of duty.” Vindman is the first White House official to testify who listened in on the July 25th phone call between Trump and Zelensky, and reportedly told impeachment investigators that he took notes during the call and made recommendations to the White House to correct the memo summarizing the conversation. They weren’t used. Vindman said the White House transcript left out Zelensky saying the word “Burisma” — the name of the energy company that Hunter Biden had worked for – as well as Trump saying there were recordings of Biden. (New York Times / New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / CNN / NPR / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / The Guardian / NBC News)
READ: White House Ukraine expert’s opening statement, which says he reported concerns about Trump-Zelensky call. (CNN / New York Times)
Who is Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman? A Ukrainian refugee who became a soldier, scholar, and official at the White House. (New York Times / CNN)
3/ Vindman’s sworn statement contradicted Gordon Sondland’s testimony, who told House investigators that no one had raised concerns about Trump’s actions. Vindman testified that he confronted Sondland, ambassador to the European Union, after Sondland, Kurt Volker, Energy Secretary Rick Perry, and then-national security adviser John Bolton met with senior Ukrainian officials at the White House about “Ukraine delivering specific investigations in order to secure the meeting with the president.” Vindman testified that he told Sondland “that his statements were inappropriate, that the request to investigate Biden and his son had nothing to do with national security, and that such investigations were not something the NSC was going to get involved in or push.” Rep. Joaquin Castro, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, accused Sondland of perjuring himself during his closed-door testimony to impeachment investigators earlier this month. Vindman’s testimony also appears to contradict Perry’s denials that he ever heard the Bidens discussed in relation to U.S. requests that Ukraine investigate corruption. (Washington Post / The Guardian / New York Times / The Hill / Politico)
Acting House Oversight Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney called Vindman’s deposition “extremely, extremely, extremely disturbing.” (NBC News)
4/ Trump’s allies accused Vindman of being loyal to Ukraine because he was born there. Vindman came to the United States at age 3, was awarded a Purple Heart after being wounded in Iraq, and now serves as a top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council. Fox News host Laura Ingraham and her guests, however, suggested that Vindman had engaged in “espionage” on behalf of Ukraine against the U.S. Rudy Giuliani, meanwhile, accused Vindman of being a “Never Trumper,” tweeting that the colonel “has reportedly been advising two gov’s.” Republicans, however, joined Democrats in defending Vindman, calling the attacks “despicable,” “absurd, disgusting, and way off the mark.” (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / Politico)
5/ The White House has not made a decision on whether to make the details of Mike Pence’s call with President Zelensky public – three weeks after Pence said he had “no objection” to releasing a reconstructed transcript of the call. White House officials have debated whether releasing the call details will help or hurt their attempts to push back against accusations that Trump made U.S. military aid to Ukraine contingent on the country launching an investigation into his political opponents. (NBC News)
6/ A top aide to Rep. Devin Nunes has been trying to unmask the anonymous whistleblower at the heart of the House’s impeachment inquiry by releasing information about him to conservative journalists and politicians. Derek Harvey has provided notes to House Republicans identifying the whistleblower’s name ahead of the depositions of Trump appointees and administration employees in the impeachment inquiry. His goal is to get the name of the whistleblower into the records of the proceedings, which could then be made public. Harvey was also “passing notes [to GOP lawmakers] the entire time” during ex-NSC Russia staffer Fiona Hill’s testimony. (Daily Beast / Washington Post)
7/ The House Judiciary Committee argued that it has an “urgent” need for access to Robert Mueller’s grand jury secrets. The Trump administration appealed an earlier decision to grant the House access to the details, and is asking the courts to stop the handover of grand jury transcripts. The House argues it wants to see the details both for its Ukraine impeachment investigation and in examining whether Trump attempted to obstruct the Russia investigation. (CNN)
📌 Day 1009: A federal judge directed the Justice Department to hand over Robert Mueller’s secret grand jury evidence to the House Judiciary Committee, which Attorney General William Barr has withheld from lawmakers. U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell rejected the Trump administration’s claim that the impeachment probe is illegitimate, saying the material could help the House Judiciary Committee substantiate “potentially impeachable conduct” by Trump. The materials must be disclosed by Wednesday. (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Politico)
📌 Day 1012: The Trump administration appealed a judge’s ruling requiring the Justice Department to give the House Judiciary Committee grand jury material related to Robert Mueller’s report. Chief Judge Beryl Howell’s ruling granted the Judiciary Committee access to portions of Mueller’s report and underlying grand jury information that were redacted. (Politico / CNBC)
poll/ 78% of Fox News viewers say they agree that the impeachment inquiry is like a “lynching.” Overall, 66% of registered voters believe the White House should comply with House subpoenas demanding testimony and documents, while 26% disagreed, and 8% were undecided. (USA Today)
Notables.
General Motors, Fiat Chrysler, and Toyota have sided with the Trump administration in its escalating battle with California over fuel economy standards for automobiles. The decision to intervene on behalf of the Trump administration puts them at odds with their leading competitors, including Honda and Ford, who reached a deal this year to follow California’s stricter rules for emissions instead of the much weaker federal auto emissions standards set by the Trump administration. The auto industry has “historically taken the position that fuel economy is the sole purview of the federal government,” said the CEO of the automakers association. (New York Times)
An indicted associate of Rudy Giuliani can be questioned under oath about financial transfers he made to Republican political campaigns. Lev Parnas’ defense attorney previously argued that some of the evidence gathered in the campaign finance investigation could be subject to executive privilege. Parnas owes a family trust more than $500,000, which alleges that Parnas transferred the money to his corporate accounts, to the Trump PAC America First Action, to the National Republican Congressional Committee, and to Pete Sessions for Congress – defrauding the family trust in the process. (CNN)
Attorney General William Barr issued two decisions limiting immigrants’ options to fight deportation. The decisions removes paths for legal immigration status people with old criminal convictions or multiple drinking and driving convictions. (NBC News)
The United States will not admit any refugees in October. Travel for refugees who were told they could come to the U.S. was postponed through October 21st, and then later to October 28th. The moratorium now runs through November 5th. About 500 flights have been cancelled this month at the expense of federal taxpayers. (CNN)
A federal judge temporarily blocked a restrictive Alabama law that prohibits almost all abortions and makes performing the procedure a felony, punishable by up to 99 years in prison. The only exception allowed is for pregnancies that pose a “serious health risk” for women. U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson granted a preliminary injunction, saying the law violated precedent set by the U.S. Supreme Court that determines the right to an abortion before a fetus reaches viability, and that the measure also violated the Constitution and would leave many patients in the state without options. (Politico / Wall Street Journal)
1/ The House of Representatives will vote on the Trump impeachment inquiry. The resolution “affirms the ongoing, existing investigation,” “establishes the procedure for hearings,” and “ensure transparency and provide a clear path forward,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi said. It will mark the first floor vote on impeachment since Democrats formally launched their inquiry. Representative Jim McGovern, chairman of the House Rules Committee, will introduce the resolution on Tuesday with a full House vote scheduled for Thursday. Pelosi added: “We are taking this step to eliminate any doubt as to whether the Trump administration may withhold documents, prevent witness testimony, disregard duly authorized subpoenas, or continue obstructing the House of Representatives.” (New York Times / Politico / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / Bloomberg)
2/ A former deputy national security adviser and one of Trump’s “closest confidential” advisers defied a congressional subpoena and failed to appear for a scheduled closed-door deposition before House impeachment investigators. Charles Kupperman filed a lawsuit seeking guidance from a federal judge about whether he should listen to the executive branch, which has invoked “constitutional immunity,” or to Congress. “Given the issue of separation of powers in this matter, it would be reasonable and appropriate to expect that all parties would want judicial clarity,” Kupperman said. Since there has not yet been a ruling, Kupperman declined to appear. Leaders of three House committees said his lawsuit is “lacking in legal merit and apparently coordinated with the White House,” and failure to appear for his deposition “will constitute evidence that may be used against him in a contempt proceeding.” Kupperman listened in to the July 25th call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. (New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / CNN / NPR)
Tim Morrison, the National Security Council’s Europe and Eurasia director, still plans to appear if subpoenaed. (Washington Post / CBS News)
📌 Day 1009: A top adviser on Trump’s National Security Council is expected to corroborate testimony that Trump pushed for Ukraine to publicly announce investigations into Joe Biden and his son, using the military aid as leverage. Tim Morrison’s testimony is expected to be significant because he was named 15 times during Bill Taylor’s deposition, which Democrats view as damning for Trump. Morrison was also listening in on the July 25th call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Morrison is also expected to say that he didn’t see anything wrong with what the Trump administration did with regard to Ukraine. Morrison would also be the first currently serving White House official to testify. (CNN)
3/ The White House knew as early as mid-May — earlier than previously known — that Rudy Giuliani and the ambassador to the European Union were pressuring the new Ukrainian president. Fiona Hill, Trump’s former top Russia adviser, was told in a White House meeting the week of May 20th about a campaign by Giuliani, two of Giuliani’s associates, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, and Gordon Sondland to pressure President Zelensky with unsolicited advice on who should be elevated to influential posts within his new administration. Sondland had no official role overseeing Ukraine, and Giuliani isn’t a government employee. (NBC News)
📌 Day 999: The White House’s former top Russia adviser told impeachment investigators that Rudy Giuliani ran a shadow foreign policy in Ukraine that circumvented U.S. officials and career diplomats in order to personally benefit Trump. Fiona Hill, who served as the senior official for Russia and Europe on the National Security Council, testified for about nine hours before three House panels regarding a July 10th meeting she attended with senior Ukrainian officials, then-National Security Adviser John Bolton, and other U.S. officials in which the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, who was working with Giuliani, raised the issue to press Ukraine to investigate Democrats, Joe Biden, and his son. Hill said she confronted Sondland about Giuliani’s actions, which were not coordinated with officials responsible for U.S. foreign policy. Hill resigned days before Trump’s July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Associated Press / The Guardian / NBC News / Vox / NPR)
📌 Day 1000: A former top White House foreign policy adviser told House impeachment investigators that she viewed Sondland as a national security risk because he was so unprepared for his job. Fiona Hill did not accuse Sondland of acting maliciously or intentionally putting the country at risk, but described him as and Trump donor-turned-ambassador. (New York Times)
📌 Day 1007: House impeachment investigators are scrutinizing a National Security Council aide suspected of operating a second Ukraine backchannel. Fiona Hill, the National Security Council’s former senior director for Eurasian and Russian affairs, testified last week that she believed Kashyap Patel was improperly getting involved in Ukraine policy by sending information about Ukraine to Trump that could warp American policy. Senior White House officials reportedly grew concerned when Patel became so involved in the issue that at one point Trump wanted to discuss the documents with him, referring to Patel as one of his top Ukraine policy specialists. Patel is assigned to work on counterterrorism issues, not Ukraine policy, and was part of the Republican effort to undermine the Russia investigation. (New York Times / Politico)
4/ A senior State Department official testified that he appealed to leadership for a public show of support for the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine when she was targeted in a smear campaign by Trump and Rudy Giuliani. Philip Reeker, the acting assistant secretary for Europe, said he pushed State Department leadership to make a statement of support for Marie Yovanovitch to counter Giuliani’s push to get her recalled. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, however, wouldn’t back the ambassador to Ukraine. Reeker also testified that he did not find out the Trump administration’s efforts to push Ukraine into publicly announcing investigations into Joe Biden and the 2016 election until the whistleblower complaint was made public. (CNN / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / Washington Post)
5/ The Trump administration appealed a judge’s ruling requiring the Justice Department to give the House Judiciary Committee grand jury material related to Robert Mueller’s report. Chief Judge Beryl Howell’s ruling granted the Judiciary Committee access to portions of Mueller’s report and underlying grand jury information that were redacted. (Politico / CNBC)
📌 Day 1009: A federal judge directed the Justice Department to hand over Robert Mueller’s secret grand jury evidence to the House Judiciary Committee, which Attorney General William Barr has withheld from lawmakers. U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell rejected the Trump administration’s claim that the impeachment probe is illegitimate, saying the material could help the House Judiciary Committee substantiate “potentially impeachable conduct” by Trump. The materials must be disclosed by Wednesday. (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Politico)
6/ Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi died after detonating a suicide vest during a raid by U.S. special forces in northwestern Syria. Hours later, Islamic State spokesman Abu al-Hassan al-Muhajir, described as al-Baghdadi’s right-hand man, was killed in a separate raid by Kurdish-led and U.S. forces in northern Syria. Trump described al-Baghdadi’s death as a man “running into a dead-end tunnel, whimpering, screaming and crying all the way,” who “died like a dog” and a “coward.” al-Baghdadi was one of the most wanted suspected terrorists in the world, with a $25 million bounty issued by the U.S. for his capture. (New York Times / CNN / Associated Press / Reuters / Washington Post)
Trump did not give House Speaker Nancy Pelosi or Congress advance notice of the raid that killed Baghdadi. Trump, instead, informed Russia about the operation before telling congressional leadership. Trump said he knew about plans for the top-secret mission for three days, but claimed that he kept Congress in the dark because he worried they would leak the information to the public and put the lives of American forces at risk. (USA TODAY / Washington Post / ABC News / Associated Press)
Trump knew the CIA and Special Operations commandos were zeroing in on the location of Baghdadi when he ordered American troops to withdraw from northern Syria earlier this month. Trump’s abrupt withdrawal order disrupted the planning and forced Pentagon officials to speed up the plan for the risky night raid before their ability to control troops, spies, and reconnaissance aircraft disappeared with the pullout. (New York Times)
The Trump administration banned all flights to Cuba – other than those to Havana. The ban goes into effect on Dec. 10th. (NBC News)
The White House explored cutting off taxpayer funding for charter schools affiliated with a political opponent of Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The debate over funding for the schools came a few weeks ahead of Erdogan’s first visit to the U.S. in May 2017. (Bloomberg)
Trump directed Defense Secretary James Mattis during summer 2018 to “screw Amazon” out of the opportunity to bid on a $10 billion contract to provide cloud computing services to the Pentagon. The contract was awarded to Microsoft last week. (CNN / CNBC / The Verge / New York Times)
A company tied to Trump’s brother received a $33 million contract from the U.S. Marshals Service earlier this year. The contract to provide security for federal courthouses and cellblocks went to CertiPath that has been owned in part by a firm linked to Robert S. Trump since 2013. (Washington Post)
1/ A federal judge directed the Justice Department to hand over Robert Mueller’s secret grand jury evidence to the House Judiciary Committee, which Attorney General William Barr has withheld from lawmakers. U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell rejected the Trump administration’s claim that the impeachment probe is illegitimate, saying the material could help the House Judiciary Committee substantiate “potentially impeachable conduct” by Trump. The materials must be disclosed by Wednesday. (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Politico)
Attorney General William Barr’s review of the origins of the Russia probe is now considered a criminal investigation. Barr tapped Connecticut U.S. Attorney John Durham in May to review the FBI’s investigation and look at whether the U.S. government’s “intelligence collection activities” in the probe of possible coordination between Trump’s campaign and Russia were “lawful and appropriate.” The shift gives Durham the power to issue subpoenas for witness testimony and documents, to convene a grand jury, and to file criminal charges. Trump has repeatedly attacked the Russia investigation, portraying it as a hoax and illegal operation conducted by an illegitimate special counsel. (New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post / Reuters)
A Russian agent and gun rights activist was released from federal prison and is expected to be immediately deported to Russia after serving her 18-month sentence. Maria Butina pleaded guilty last year to conspiring with a senior Russian official to act as an agent of a foreign government without registering with the U.S. Justice Department after she tried to infiltrate conservative political groups and the National Rifle Association to promote Russian interests during the 2016 presidential campaign. Butina intends to return to her hometown in Siberia. (Politico / NPR / Washington Post / CNN)
2/ A top adviser on Trump’s National Security Council is expected to corroborate testimony that Trump pushed for Ukraine to publicly announce investigations into Joe Biden and his son, using the military aid as leverage. Tim Morrison’s testimony is expected to be significant because he was named 15 times during Bill Taylor’s deposition, which Democrats view as damning for Trump. Morrison was also listening in on the July 25th call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Morrison is also expected to say that he didn’t see anything wrong with what the Trump administration did with regard to Ukraine. Morrison would also be the first currently serving White House official to testify. (CNN)
3/ Lawyers for former national security adviser John Bolton have discussed a possible deposition with the House committees leading the impeachment inquiry. Bolton was reportedly so disturbed by efforts to get Ukraine to investigate Trump’s political opponents that he called it a “drug deal,” calling Rudy Giuliani a “hand grenade.” Fiona Hill, Trump’s former top Russia adviser, told lawmakers last week that she saw “wrongdoing” and that Bolton encouraged her to report her concerns to the National Security Council’s attorney. (CNN / CNBC)
4/ The House Intelligence Committee issued subpoenas to three of Trump’s top officials. Acting budget director Russ Vought, Michael Duffey, a senior official in the Office of Management and Budget, and T. Ulrich Brechbuhl, counsel at the State Department, all previously declined requests by investigators to testify voluntarily. (Politico / Washington Post / Bloomberg)
Federal prosecutors in New York subpoenaed the brother of one of the indicted associates of Rudy Giuliani. Since the October 9th arrests of Igor Fruman and his associate Lev Parnas, federal agents visited the New York home of Steven Fruman and served him with a subpoena from Manhattan federal prosecutors. (CNN)
5/ The Trump administration attempted to persuade a Pentagon official to not cooperate with the House’s impeachment inquiry. The day before Laura Cooper was scheduled to give voluntary, private testimony, she received a letter warning her that the White House had ordered executive branch officials not to give documents or testimony to Congress “under these circumstances.” Cooper nevertheless provided testimony to Congress about what she knew about Trump’s attempts to pressure Ukraine into investigating his political rivals. (New York Times / Politico)
Lindsey Graham introduced a resolution condemning how House Democrats have conducted the impeachment investigation into Trump. The measure calls on House Democrats to hold a formal vote to open an impeachment inquiry to give the “same rights to Trump as Clinton and Nixon” had during their investigations. House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff said they will eventually release the transcripts of the closed-door proceedings and hold public testimonies. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has said that such a vote, however, is unnecessary under House rules. (USA Today)
6/ The White House is looking for a communications specialist to lead impeachment messaging efforts. Two people are currently under consideration for the job: Tony Sayegh, a former top Treasury aide, and Pam Bondi, the former Florida Attorney General. Sayegh was previously a candidate to become White House communications director after Hope Hicks left the White House last year. (Politico / CNN)
poll/ 49% of Americans think Trump should be impeached and removed from office, while 49% percent are against it. Nine in 10 Republicans and Republican-leaning independents are against impeachment and 89% of Democrats and Democratic-leaners are in favor of impeachment. (NBC News / SurveyMonkey)
Notables.
A federal judge held Education Secretary Betsy DeVos in contempt for violating an order to stop collecting loans from former students at a defunct for-profit college. Judge Sallie Kim of the U.S. District Court in San Francisco fined the Education Department $100,000 for violating a preliminary injunction against collecting loans from former students at Corinthian College. Money from the fine will be used to compensate the 16,000 people harmed by the Department of Education’s actions, which includes garnishing former students’ paychecks and seizing their tax returns. The Trump administration was forced to admit earlier this year that it erroneously collected loans from thousands of former Corinthian students despite being ordered to stop doing so. (Washington Post / Politico)
The U.S. federal budget deficit jumped 26% to nearly $1 trillion in 2019. The $984 billion deficit is the highest level in seven years, and is projected to top $1 trillion in 2020. (New York Times / Washington Post)
Trump has asked the full DC Circuit Court of Appeals to rehear his attempt to stop a subpoena of his accounting firm Mazars USA. Trump previously lost his attempt to stop the House subpoena for eight years of documents held by Mazars. (CNN)
The Trump Organization is exploring selling the lease to the Trump International Hotel in Washington. The company leases the building, the Old Post Office Pavilion, from the federal government’s General Services Administration. The hotel could fetch more than $520 million. (Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / Washington Post / New York Times)
Rudy Giuliani butt-dialed a reporter and can be heard discussing overseas dealings and saying “The problem is we need some money” to an unidentified man during the three minute call. The Oct. 16th call came in at 11:07 p.m. and went to voicemail; the reporter was asleep. Trump, meanwhile, defended Giuliani, calling his personal attorney a “great gentleman” and a “great crime fighter.”(NBC News / Politico)
1/ House Democrats could take the impeachment inquiry public as soon as mid-November. Moving the largely closed-door investigation toward the public spotlight comes as the Trump administration has tried to block witnesses and withhold documents while his allies have cast the inquiry as a smear campaign against Trump. Yesterday, House Republicans delayed proceedings for more than five hours when about two dozen of them entered and refused to leave a secure room where Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary Laura Cooper was set to testify about what happened to the military aid Trump ordered withheld from Ukraine. (Washington Post / Bloomberg)
2/ The White House’s trade representative withdrew Ukraine’s trade privileges as Trump was withholding $391 million in military aid and security assistance. In late August, Robert Lighthizer pulled Ukraine’s trade privileges from a global trade program after John Bolton, then-national security adviser, warned him that Trump would probably oppose anything that benefited Kiev. (Washington Post)
The White House trade adviser declined to say whether investigating the Bidens came up during trade talks with China. Peter Navarro said answering the question would “violate a principle here” and “I’m not going to talk about that stuff.” (CNN)
3/ Trump’s top envoy to Ukraine testified that the U.S. ambassador to the E.U. not only knew of a quid pro quo, but had also communicated the threat to Ukraine. William Taylor said he understood that on Sept. 1st, Gordon Sondland warned Andrey Yermak, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s aide, that security assistance “would not come” unless Zelensky committed to pursuing the investigation into Burisma, the energy company where Joe Biden’s son held a board seat. On Sept. 9th, Sondland texted Taylor to say there was “no quid pro quos” of any kind authorized by Trump. Sondland’s attorney added that his client “does not recall” such a conversation. By Taylor’s account, however, Sondland already knew the terms of the quid pro quo and had relayed them to Zelensky’s aide a week earlier. (Washington Post / Politico)
4/ Zelensky was concerned about pressure from the Trump administration to investigate Biden before before his July 25th call with Trump. Zelensky met with a small group of advisers on May 7th for a meeting that was supposed to be about Ukraine’s energy needs. Instead, the group spent three hours talking about how they were going to handle the calls for investigations coming from Trump and Giuliani, as well as how to avoid getting wrapped up in the U.S. election process. The meeting occurred before Zelensky was inaugurated, roughly two weeks after Trump called to congratulate him the night he won the April 21st election in Ukraine. (Associated Press / Axios)
5/ An inspector general report revealed that a Veterans Affairs office designed to protect whistleblowers instead stifled claims and retaliated against employees. The VA’s Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection – created by Trump in 2017 – had “significant deficiencies,” according to the report, including poor leadership, skimpy training of its investigators, a misunderstanding of its mission and a failure to discipline misconduct. (Wall Street Journal / Washington Post)
6/ The White House said Trump would veto a bill requiring federal election campaigns to report “illicit offers” of campaign assistance from foreign governments and their agents. Earlier in the day, the House approved legislation to better protect the country’s elections from foreign interference. Meanwhile, Senate Republicans blocked three other election security bills. (Law and Crime / CBS News / The Hill)
The Department of Homeland Security warned that “Russian influence actors almost certainly will continue to target” the U.S. in 2020 election. The DHS Cyber Mission Center called the election a “key opportunity” to “advance Russian interests.” (Yahoo News)
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said his intelligence services told William Barr that they played no role in the events leading to the Russia investigation, contradicting an unsubstantiated theory pushed by Trump and his allies that the Mueller probe was launched with the help of a Western intelligence asset working with the Obama administration to spy on the Trump campaign. “Our intelligence is completely unrelated to the so-called Russiagate and that has been made clear,” Conte told reporters. Prior to the briefing, Conte spent hours explaining Italy’s discussions with Barr to Italy’s parliamentary intelligence committee. Barr met twice with Italy’s intelligence agencies after asking them to clarify their role in a 2016 meeting between George Papadopoulos and a Maltese professor named Joseph Mifsud, who told Papadopoulos that Russia had obtained damaging information about Hillary Clinton in the form of “thousands of emails.” (New York Times)
Notables.
Trump plans to order all federal agencies not to renew their subscriptions to the New York Times and the Washington Post. White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham claimed that “not renewing subscriptions across all federal agencies will be a significant cost saving – hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars will be saved.” (Wall Street Journal / Axios)
📌 Day 1006: The White House confirmed that it will cancel its subscriptions to the New York Times and the Washington Post. Trump appeared on Fox News’ “Hannity,” calling the Times “a fake newspaper” and saying that “we don’t even want it in the White House anymore.” Trump added: “We’re going to probably terminate that and the Washington Post. They’re fake.” (Politico)
Trump bragged that he’s building a wall along Colorado’s border with Mexico. Colorado does not share a border with Mexico. Trump told a crowd in Pittsburgh that the wall will be “a big one that really works — you can’t get over, you can’t get under.” Later, Trump tried to claim that he was only joking about building a wall in Colorado. (CNN)
A senior student-loan official resigned and called for canceling most of the nation’s outstanding student debt. Arthur Wayne Johnson, appointed by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, called the student loan system “fundamentally broken.” (Wall Street Journal / Washington Post)
The National Archives is investigating Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross’ use of private email for official business. Ross sent or received official correspondence about discussions with the European Commission for Trade, a U.S. ambassador’s meeting with German car manufacturers, a dinner with the ambassador of Japan, an event related to billionaire businessman Bill Koch, and meeting requests from a far-right Internet troll. The nonprofit watchdog Democracy Forward obtained the emails through a Freedom of Information Act request and is asking the government for a direct search of Ross’s personal email. (Politico / Washington Post)
Trump wants to nominate Ken Cuccinelli to be his next Homeland Security secretary, but doesn’t think Republican senators will support the nomination. Cuccinelli, the former attorney general of Virginia and an immigration hardliner, has made enemies within the GOP after leading a group that raised money to primary incumbent Republican senators, including Mitch McConnell. Cuccinelli has also supported some of Trump’s harshest immigration policies, including the new “public charge” rules, which would make it harder for immigrants to obtain legal permanent residency by denying green cards to people who use or are likely to use government benefits. (NPR)
The White House press secretary agreed with Trump that those “against” him are “human scum.” Stephanie Grisham appeared on Fox & Friends to defend Trump, who had tweeted earlier in the day that “The Never Trumper Republicans […] are human scum” and “worse and more dangerous for our Country than the Do Nothing Democrats.” (Daily Beast)
Rudy Giuliani is looking for a defense attorney. Last week, Giuliani parted way with his previous lawyer, John Sale, saying, it would be “silly to have a lawyer when I don’t need one.” (CNN)
1/ Ukraine knew that Trump had frozen $391 million in security assistance by early August. The disclosure that the Ukrainians knew of the freeze by early August corroborates the claim made by the CIA whistleblower complaint. Trump and his allies have repeatedly claimed there could not have been any quid pro quo because the Ukrainians didn’t know the assistance had been blocked. The Ukrainians, however, were advised by the first week of August to address it with Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff. At the same time, Rudy Giuliani, Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, and Kurt Volker, then the State Department’s special envoy to Ukraine, were pressing Zelensky to make a public commitment to the investigations for Trump’s political benefit. (New York Times)
2/ The Trump administration repeatedly tried to cut foreign aid programs tasked with combating corruption in Ukraine, according White House budget documents. In 2019, the administration tried, but failed, to cut $30 million in aid directed to Ukraine down to $13 million under a program called International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement. In the 2020 budget request, the administration again tried to cut the program’s spending on Ukraine down to $13 million. “I don’t care about politics, but I do care about corruption. And this whole thing is about corruption,” Trump told reporters earlier this month.” This whole thing — this whole thing is about corruption.” Trump, Mulvaney, and other administration officials have insisted that their goal in delaying the military aid package to Ukraine was to ensure corruption was addressed in that country — not to produce political benefit to Trump. (Washington Post)
3/ Roughly 30 House Republicans forced entry into a closed-door deposition and refused to leave the Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility – a secure House Intelligence Committee space. The GOP lawmakers, who do not sit on the three committees leading the impeachment inquiry, demanded that they be allowed to see the closed-door proceedings. After five hours, the Republicans left and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Laura Cooper began her testimony. (Politico / CNN / Axios / Wall Street Journal)
4/ House impeachment investigators are scrutinizing a National Security Council aide suspected of operating a second Ukraine backchannel. Fiona Hill, the National Security Council’s former senior director for Eurasian and Russian affairs, testified last week that she believed Kashyap Patel was improperly getting involved in Ukraine policy by sending information about Ukraine to Trump that could warp American policy. Senior White House officials reportedly grew concerned when Patel became so involved in the issue that at one point Trump wanted to discuss the documents with him, referring to Patel as one of his top Ukraine policy specialists. Patel is assigned to work on counterterrorism issues, not Ukraine policy, and was part of the Republican effort to undermine the Russia investigation. (New York Times / Politico)
5/ A federal judge ordered the State Department to release Ukraine-related records within 30 days, including the communication records between Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Giuliani. (CNN)
6/ Two of Rudy Giuliani’s associates pleaded not guilty to charges of illegally funneling foreign donations to U.S. political candidates. Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman face charges of conspiring to violate the ban on foreign donations and contributions related to federal and state elections, and with making false statements and falsifying records. A defense lawyer for Parnas told the judge that some of the evidence gathered in the campaign finance investigation could be subject to executive privilege. Edward MacMahon Jr. said the potential for the White House to invoke executive privilege stemmed from the fact that Parnas had used Giuliani as his own lawyer at the same time Giuliani was working as Trump’s lawyer. (NPR / New York Times)
Federal prosecutors flagged Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman and their possible ties to a Ukrainian gas tycoon fighting extradition. Parnas had been working as an interpreter for the lawyers of Dmytro Firtash, who was charged with bribery in Chicago in 2013, since late July. At the same time, Parnas and Fruman were assisting Giuliani’s hunt for damaging information about Democrats in Ukraine. Firtash – at Parnas’s recommendation – hired Victoria Toensing and Joseph diGenova, two conservative attorneys who frequently appear on Fox News to defend Trump. They have also served as informal advisers to Trump’s legal team, including Giuliani. (Washington Post)
7/ Trump’s lawyer argued that Trump is immune from prosecution while in office – even if he shot someone. William Consovoy, Trump’s lawyer, made the claim while arguing before a federal appeals court in their suit against Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance, who has subpoenaed for three years’ worth of financial records from the Trump Organization and for Trump-related business records, including his personal tax record from the accounting firm Mazars USA. Consovoy argued that while in office, Trump “enjoys absolute immunity from criminal process of any kind,” but conceded that “once a president is removed from office” he could then be subject to a criminal investigation. Judges on the three-member panel expressed skepticism about the argument, with Judge Denny Chin asking whether “nothing could be done” while Trump remains in office, to which Consovoy replied: “That is correct.” As a candidate in 2016, Trump claimed he could “stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody” and not “lose any voters.” (Vox / Politico / NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times)
poll/ 55% of voters support the impeachment inquiry, while 43% disapprove. (Quinnipiac)
poll/ 45% of independents support impeachment, while 32% said they oppose it. (Reuters)
Notables.
Russia and Turkey reached a deal to push Kurdish fighters out of northeastern Syria, allowing Russian ally Bashar al-Assad to regain control over more of the country’s territory. Under the agreement, Russia and the Syrian government will remove Kurdish militias from the border that extends from the Euphrates River to Iraq. Once completed, Turkey and Russia will control territory formerly held by Kurdish forces, who were allied with the U.S. before Trump ordered an abrupt withdrawal of U.S. forces from the region. (Washington Post / Al Jazeera)
Turkey halted its incursion into Kurdish-run Syria hours after reaching a deal with the Russian government to retake territory from the Kurds. “At this stage,” the Turkish defense ministry said in a statement, “there is no further need to conduct a new operation outside the present operation area.” The Kurds previously agreed to completely withdraw from a central stretch of the Syrian border with Turkey and allow Russian and Syrian government troops inside their area of control. (New York Times / Reuters)
Trump will lift sanctions on Turkey, saying that the Turkish government promised to abide to a “permanent” cease-fire along the border with Syria. Trump called the agreement a “breakthrough” and that sanctions would be lifted “unless something happens that we’re not happy with.” (ABC News / Washington Post)
Trump’s G7 and trade adviser is leaving the White House for a job in the private sector. Kelly Ann Shaw announced that she will be leaving her posts as deputy assistant to the president for international economic affairs and deputy director of the National Economic Council. Shaw played a key role in leading the U.S. through the G7 and G20 and was part of the team advising Trump during trade talks between the U.S. and China. “It just felt like the right time to go for me,” Shaw said. “I am ready for my next and new adventure.” Shaw will leave her post on Friday. (Reuters)
1/ The top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine told House impeachment investigators that Trump held up security aid and refused a White House meeting with Ukraine’s president until he agreed to investigate Tump’s political rivals. Bill Taylor said he was told that “everything” Ukraine wanted — a one-on-one meeting between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and nearly $400 million in security aid — was dependent on publicly announcing an investigation into Burisma, the company that hired Joe Biden’s son Hunter, and Ukraine’s alleged involvement in the 2016 election. Taylor provided an “excruciatingly detailed” opening statement that described “how pervasive the [quid pro quo] efforts were” by Trump and his allies, which they have denied. People in the closed-door deposition described Taylor’s testimony as a “very direct line” between American foreign policy and Trump’s own political goals. (Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
READ: Opening statement of Ambassador William B. Taylor (Washington Post)
2/ Trump’s effort to pressure Ukraine came as he was being urged to adopt a hostile view of that country by Putin and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who reinforced Trump’s perception of Ukraine as corrupt. Trump met with Orban on May 13th – and 10 days before a key meeting on Ukraine – over the objections of his national security team, who believed that Orban – an autocratic leader who has been ostracized by many of his peers in Europe – did not deserve the honor of an Oval Office visit. Trump then met on May 23rd with Rick Perry, Kurt Volker, and Gordon Sondland, who had returned from Zelensky’s inauguration. They assured Trump that Zelensky was a reformer who deserved American support. Trump, however, claimed that Ukrainians were “terrible people” who “tried to take me down” during the 2016 presidential election. (New York Times / Washington Post)
📌 Day 845: Trump praised Hungary’s authoritarian prime minister Victor Orbán and called him “highly respected.” “Probably like me a little bit controversial, but that’s okay,” Trump said, because “you’ve done a good job and you’ve kept your country safe.” (Axios)
📌 Day 1000: Mick Mulvaney put Gordon Sondland, Kurt Volker, and Energy Secretary Rick Perry in charge of managing the U.S.-Ukraine relationship instead of diplomats at the National Security Council and the State Department. The State Department’s Ukraine expert, George Kent, testified during a closed-door hearing before the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs, and Oversight committees that Mulvaney was responsible for stripping control of the country’s relationship with Ukraine from those who had the most expertise. Kent also told lawmakers that he had been told by a supervisor to lie low after he raised complaints about Rudy Giuliani’s efforts to undermine U.S. foreign policy in Ukraine. Current and former officials said Mulvaney met frequently with Sondland and that details of their discussions were kept from then-National Security Adviser John Bolton and other officials who were raising internal concerns about the hidden Ukraine agenda. Mulvaney was also the one who, at Trump’s direction, placed a hold on nearly $400 million in aid to Ukraine leading up to Trump’s July 25 phone call to pressure Zelensky to pursue Giuliani’s agenda against the Bidens. (Washington Post / CNN)
3/ Trump compared the House impeachment inquiry to a “lynching.” Trump has previously called the investigation a “coup,” a “witch hunt” and a “fraud.” (The Guardian / NBC News / ABC News / Washington Post)
4/ Trump lectured reporters for more than 70 minutes during a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, during which he made at least 20 false or misleading statements. Trump lied about the number of times Obama unsuccessfully attempted to call Kim Jong Un, crowd sizes at his rallies, his position on the Iraq War, and the ongoing impeachment. He also claimed that he was personally responsible for the capture of Islamic State soldiers, complained that people were criticizing him for receiving “emoluments” from foreign governments, and insinuated that Adam Schiff gave information to the whistleblower, who raised concerns about his administration’s actions toward Ukraine. Trump’s press secretary, Stephanie Grisham, later tweeted: “I hope we see honest reporting from today’s mtg.” (CNN / Washington Post)
poll/ 50% of Americans say Trump should be impeached and removed from office. Overall, 41% approve of Trump’s handling of the presidency while 57% disapprove. (CNN)
Notables.
Trump privately floated the idea of replacing Mick Mulvaney with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin or Kellyanne Conway. Trump has also tested the idea of replacing Mulvaney with Chris Liddell, a deputy chief of staff at the White House. For almost a year, Mulvaney has served as Trump’s “acting” chief of staff because Trump has withheld the permanent title from him. (Bloomberg)
The Pentagon began drafting plans for an abrupt withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan in case Trump orders an immediate withdrawal, like he did in Syria. The contingency plan includes the possibility that Trump orders all U.S. troops out of Afghanistan within weeks. (NBC News)
Mitch McConnell will introduce his own resolution urging Trump to end the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria. Senate Republicans last week rejected a House resolution condemning Trump’s move, saying they should do something more substantial. (Politico)
More than a million children disappeared from Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program between December 2017 and June 2019. Some state and federal officials claim the 3% drop in enrolled children is a success story, arguing that more Americans are getting coverage from employers. State officials, however, have increased paperwork requirements. (New York Times)
The White House confirmed that it will cancel its subscriptions to the New York Times and the Washington Post. Trump appeared on Fox News’ “Hannity,” calling the Times “a fake newspaper” and saying that “we don’t even want it in the White House anymore.” Trump added: “We’re going to probably terminate that and the Washington Post. They’re fake.” (Politico)
The anonymous senior Trump administration official behind a 2018 New York Times op-ed that declared there was a “resistance” within the administration is writing a book. The book – “A Warning” – will be published Nov. 19th and will list the author as “Anonymous.” (New York Times / Washington Post / ABC News)
1/ Mick Mulvaney – again – tried to deny his public assertion of a quid pro quo in which the Trump administration held up an aid package to Ukraine because Trump wanted an investigation that could politically benefit him. During an appearance on Fox News Sunday, Mulvaney insisted that he “didn’t speak clearly maybe on Thursday” and that there couldn’t have been a quid pro quo, because “the aid flowed.” Mulvaney also claimed that the administration only held up military aid to Ukraine because of the country’s corruption and because other countries weren’t giving more aid as well. On Thursday, however, Mulvaney told reporters to “Get over it,” calling quid pro quo “absolutely appropriate” and that “we do that all the time with foreign policy.” Mulvaney also claimed at the press conference last week that the Trump administration withheld military aid in part to secure cooperation with a Justice Department investigation into the origins of Robert Mueller’s Russia probe. (Washington Post / New York Times / Daily Beast)
Trump’s allies are assembling a list of possible Mulvaney replacements. Among those said to be on the list are former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, and veteran political operative Wayne Berman. (Bloomberg)
📌 Day 1002: Mick Mulvaney tried to walk-back his claim that Trump’s decision to withhold nearly $400 million in military aid to Ukraine was in exchange for an investigation of the hacked Democratic National Committee server. Trump has repeatedly claimed his decision to hold up the aid was due to concerns about corruption in Ukraine and that European nations weren’t doing enough to help Ukraine. Trump was reportedly “not happy” with Mulvaney’s press briefing, in which his acting chief of staff said “We do that all the time with foreign policy” and that every one should “Get over it,” because “There’s going to be political influence in foreign policy.” Mulvaney later issued a statement, which was first reviewed by Trump, saying that “There was absolutely no quid pro quo between Ukrainian military aid and any investigation into the 2016 election.” When Trump was asked to clarify Mulvaney’s statement, Trump responded: “I think he clarified it.” Meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called Mulvaney’s comments a “confession.” (Wall Street Journal / New York Times / CNN)
📌 Day 1001: Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney confirmed that Trump blocked military aid to Ukraine to force Kiev to investigate his political rivals. Mulvaney called the quid pro quo exchange “absolutely appropriate” and that “we do that all the time with foreign policy.” Mulvaney added: “I have news for everybody: Get over it. There’s going to be political influence in foreign policy.” Mulvaney also told reporters the funds were withheld in part because of a request to have Ukraine investigate unfounded allegations that foreign countries assisted Democrats in the 2016 election. Trump has repeatedly denied that there was a quid pro quo arrangement linking his demand for an investigation that could politically benefit him to the release of $391 million in military aid to Ukraine. (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / CNBC)
2/ Rudy Giuliani asked the State Department and the White House to grant a visa to the former Ukrainian official who Joe Biden had pushed to have removed when he was vice president. Career diplomat George Kent told congressional investigators in his closed-door testimony that around January 2019 Giuliani requested a visa for Viktor Shokin, who had been pushed out as Ukraine’s top prosecutor in 2016 over concerns that he was not pursuing corruption cases. Giuliani, however, previously said he wanted to interview Shokin in person because the Ukrainian promised to reveal dirt on Democrats. (CNN)
📌 Day 987: Giuliani personally gave Secretary of State Mike Pompeo a file of documents of unproven allegations against Biden on March 28th and claimed that he was told that the State Department would take up an investigation of those claims. State Department Inspector General Steve Linick gave Congress the 79-page packet Wednesday, which included nearly 20 pages of communications between State Department employees working to push back against the “fake narrative” that Giuliani was pushing. Linick told Congress that the department’s office of legal counsel had provided the documents to him in May, which he gave to the FBI. The documents were in Trump Hotel folders and included “interview” notes Giuliani conducted with Viktor Shokin, the former General Prosecutor of Ukraine who was pushed out at the urging of Biden because he didn’t prosecute corruption. (NBC News / CNN)
3/ The Justice Department confirmed that Trump Jr. and former White House counsel Don McGahn were never called to testify in front of a grand jury as part of Robert Mueller’s investigation. Chief Judge Beryl Howell of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. said it was perplexing why Trump Jr. and McGahn were never subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury. “The reason is not that the individuals were insignificant to the investigation,” Judge Howell wrote, “To the contrary, both of the non-testifying individuals named in paragraph four figured in key events examined in the Mueller Report.” (Politico)
Instagram profiles originating in Russia since the beginning of the year have been building a network of accounts designed to look like political groups in swing states. The profiles are linked to the Internet Research Agency, the Kremlin-backed troll group indicted by the U.S. for its alleged interference in the 2016 US presidential election. (CNN)
4/ Trump won’t host next year’s G7 summit at his Trump National Doral Resort after all. Instead, Trump said his administration “will begin the search for another site, including the possibility of Camp David, immediately.” Trump abandoned his plan to host the summit at his private golf club after the decision alienated Republicans and became part of the impeachment inquiry. During calls with conservative allies over the weekend, Trump was told that Republicans are struggling to defend him. (Washington Post / Associated Press / Daily Beast / NBC News / CNN / New York Times / Politico)
Trump claimed he’s the victim of the “phony emoluments clause,” as he defended his previous decision to host next year’s G7 summit at his Doral resort in Miami. (Politico / New York Times)
5/ Trump insisted that he’s “trying to get out of wars,” but that “we may have to get in wars, too.” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, meanwhile, said “We prefer peace to war,” but Trump is prepared to use military force if “needed.” The confusing and conflicting statements come as Trump weighs a Pentagon plan to keep a small contingent of American troops in eastern Syria to combat the Islamic State, and block the advance of Syrian government and Russian forces into the region’s oil fields. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said that nearly all of the troops ordered to leave northeastern Syria will move to western Iraq and conduct operations against the Islamic State extremist group from there. (Politico / CNBC / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
6/ Trump’s top two picks to fill the Homeland Security Secretary job aren’t eligible under federal law. Ken Cuccinelli, head of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and Mark Morgan, the lead at Customs and Border Protection are Trump’s two favorites for the job, but both men are serving on an acting basis and have not been confirmed by the Senate for a permanent role. The federal statute that governs vacancies states that acting officials in cabinet-level positions must either be next in line for a position or hold a Senate-confirmed position. (Politico / Wall Street Journal)
7/ The first House Republican expressed openness to voting to impeach Trump on Friday. On Saturday, however, Rep. Francis Rooney announced his retirement. (Politico / Washington Post)
poll/ 51% of Americans support Trump’s impeachment and removal from office – up from 47% in September before the impeachment inquiry was announced. (Public Religion Research Institute)
1/ Mick Mulvaney tried to walk-back his claim that Trump’s decision to withhold nearly $400 million in military aid to Ukraine was in exchange for an investigation of the hacked Democratic National Committee server. Trump has repeatedly claimed his decision to hold up the aid was due to concerns about corruption in Ukraine and that European nations weren’t doing enough to help Ukraine. Trump was reportedly “not happy” with Mulvaney’s press briefing, in which his acting chief of staff said “We do that all the time with foreign policy” and that every one should “Get over it,” because “There’s going to be political influence in foreign policy.” Mulvaney later issued a statement, which was first reviewed by Trump, saying that “There was absolutely no quid pro quo between Ukrainian military aid and any investigation into the 2016 election.” When Trump was asked to clarify Mulvaney’s statement, Trump responded: “I think he clarified it.” Meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called Mulvaney’s comments a “confession.” (Wall Street Journal / New York Times / CNN)
📌 Day 1001: Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney confirmed that Trump blocked military aid to Ukraine to force Kiev to investigate his political rivals. Mulvaney called the quid pro quo exchange “absolutely appropriate” and that “we do that all the time with foreign policy.” Mulvaney added: “I have news for everybody: Get over it. There’s going to be political influence in foreign policy.” Mulvaney also told reporters the funds were withheld in part because of a request to have Ukraine investigate unfounded allegations that foreign countries assisted Democrats in the 2016 election. Trump has repeatedly denied that there was a quid pro quo arrangement linking his demand for an investigation that could politically benefit him to the release of $391 million in military aid to Ukraine. (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / CNBC)
2/ Associates of an indicted Ukrainian oligarch tried to dig up dirt on Joe Biden in exchange for Rudy Giuliani helping the oligarch avoid extradition to the U.S. Dmitry Firtash changed lawyers in July to Joe diGenova and Victoria Toensing, who were supporters of Trump and associates of Giuliani. They hired Lev Parnas, also a Giuliani associate, as a translator. Parnas was arrested last week along with several associates and accused of conspiring to violate campaign finance laws. The Justice Department has described Firtash as an associate of “Russian organized crime.” (Bloomberg)
A career diplomat told congressional investigators he was ignored when he raised concerns in January 2015 about Hunter Biden working for a Ukrainian natural gas company that he believed could look like a conflict of interest. George Kent, a deputy assistant secretary of state, testified that he had concerns that Ukrainian officials would view Hunter Biden as a conduit for currying influence with Joe Biden. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
3/ Rick Perry won’t comply with a subpoena from the Intelligence, Oversight and Foreign Relations committees, saying he would defer to Energy Department counsel, which said it was “unable to comply” with the subpoena for documents. (CNBC / Politico / CNN)
Trump will nominate Deputy Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette to replace Rick Perry, who will leave at the end of the year. (Washington Post)
4/ The Trump administration imposed new tariffs on a record $7.5 billion worth of goods from the European Union, including Airbus, French wine, and Scottish whisky. The tariffs went into effect just after midnight after talks between U.S. and European trade negotiators failed to reach a deal. Civilian aircraft will now cost 10% more when imported to the U.S., while the cost of wine, olives, certain cheeses, butter, and other consumer goods will also rise. (CBS News / MarketWatch / CNBC)
Trump’s top economic adviser warned Trump that continued escalation of the U.S.-China trade war could hurt the economy and his chances for re-election. Trump instead the Federal Reserve should share blame for any economic downturn, and that it should be doing more to stimulate growth. (Wall Street Journal)
5/ The Kurds say Turkey is violating the ceasefire brokered by the U.S. in northeastern Syria. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said Turkish shelling and artillery fire has continued despite Pence’s announcement that he and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had brokered a five-day ceasefire in the region. (CNN / Associated Press)
Mitch McConnell called Trump’s withdrawal of U.S. troops from northern Syria a “grave strategic mistake,” but never mentions Trump by name. (Washington Post)
6/ House Democrats are preparing a resolution to condemn Trump’s decision to select the Trump National Doral Miami for the next G7 summit, calling the selection inconsistent with the emoluments clause of the Constitution. (CNBC)
1/ Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney confirmed that Trump blocked military aid to Ukraine to force Kiev to investigate his political rivals. Mulvaney called the quid pro quo exchange “absolutely appropriate” and that “we do that all the time with foreign policy.” Mulvaney added: “I have news for everybody: Get over it. There’s going to be political influence in foreign policy.” Mulvaney also told reporters the funds were withheld in part because of a request to have Ukraine investigate unfounded allegations that foreign countries assisted Democrats in the 2016 election. Trump has repeatedly denied that there was a quid pro quo arrangement linking his demand for an investigation that could politically benefit him to the release of $391 million in military aid to Ukraine. (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / CNBC)
📌 Day 978: Trump admitted that he withheld military aid from Ukraine, but blamed it on the United Nations for not contributing more to the Eastern European nation, naming Germany and France among the countries that should “put up money.” Trump also suggested he did nothing wrong, because “As far as withholding funds, those funds were paid. They were fully paid.” Trump told reporters that in addition to Mulvaney, he also told Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to hold the funds to encourage other nations to pay, but claimed, “there was no quid pro quo. There was no pressure applied, nothing.” Trump added that despite trailing the leading Democratic candidates in most polls, “I’m leading in the polls and they have no idea how to stop me. The only way they can try is through impeachment.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / CNN / Reuters)
📌 Day 977: Trump admitted that he discussed getting dirt on Joe Biden with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and that he is withholding the whistleblower complaint from Congress. Trump pressed Zelensky to dig up potentially damaging information against Biden during a July 25th phone call, baselessly accusing the former vice president of corruption related to his son Hunter’s business dealings in Ukraine and whether they affected his diplomatic efforts. Trump said that “it doesn’t matter” what he discussed with Zelensky and that while the he would “love” to release a transcript of the call, “you have to be a little bit shy about doing it.” Trump’s phone call with Zelensky occurred while Ukraine was awaiting $250 million in security aid, raising the possibility Trump was attempting a quid pro quo arrangement. The phone call led to the whistleblower complaint from within the intelligence community due to a “promise” that Trump made to Ukraine. Trump eventually agreed to release the money after coming under bipartisan pressure from Congress and immediately before the existence of the whistleblower complaint was revealed. (New York Times / Washington Post / Axios / Bloomberg / CNN)
2/ The U.S. ambassador to the European Union told House impeachment investigators that Trump delegated American foreign policy on Ukraine to Rudy Giuliani. Gordon Sondland said he and other officials were “disappointed” by Trump’s directive for U.S. diplomats to work with Giuliani on matters related to Ukraine. Sondland testified that he contacted Giuliani at Trump’s direction after a May 23rd meeting at the White House and that Giuliani told him Trump wanted Ukraine’s new government to investigate both the 2016 election and a natural gas firm tied to Hunter Biden. (Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / CNN / NBC News / The Guardian)
Sondland met privately with Ukrainian officials inside the White House, where he explicitly mentioned the Ukrainian gas company linked to Hunter Biden during negotiations over granting Ukrainian President Zelensky an audience with Trump. Sondland’s meeting just outside the Situation Room took place minutes after a larger West Wing meeting that included then-National Security Adviser John Bolton, who had been noncommittal about scheduling a meeting between Trump and Zelensky. Sondland directly contradicted Bolton during the larger meeting by telling the Ukrainians that Trump was in fact committed to meeting with Zelensky, but on the condition he open a corruption investigation. Bolton abruptly ended the meeting, but Sondland invited the Ukrainian officials to continue the conversation separately in a private room in the White House basement, where Sondland was overheard discussing Burisma Holdings and Hunter Biden. (NBC News)
Five more Trump administration officials are scheduled to be deposed next week as part of the impeachment inquiry: Kathryn Wheelbarger, acting assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, Philip Reeker, acting assistant secretary of European and Eurasian affairs, Alexander Vindman, director of European affairs at the National Security Council, Timothy Morrison, Russia adviser at the National Security Council, and Suriya Jayanti, a foreign service officer in Kiev. (NBC News)
3/ Rick Perry spoke with Giuliani at Trump’s direction earlier this year about Ukraine. Perry said he called Giuliani to get a better understanding of Trump’s concerns about alleged Ukrainian corruption. Perry said that while Giuliani didn’t make any explicit demands during the May call, Giuliani did blame Ukraine for the Steele dossier, claimed that Ukraine had Hillary Clinton’s email server, and accused Ukraine of helping send Paul Manafort to prison. Mulvaney confirmed that Trump asked Perry to work with Giuliani on policies related to Ukraine. (Wall Street Journal / CNN / MarketWatch)
Rick Perry informed Trump that he plans to resign. Perry had been expected to resign by the end of the year. (New York Times / ABC News)
📌 Day 993: Trump ordered Energy Secretary Rick Perry and two top State Department officials to deal directly with Giuliani when setting up a May 23 meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Trump. Trump said that if Zelensky wanted to meet with him, they should circumvent official diplomatic channels and go strictly through Giuliani. Giuliani’s role in setting up Trump’s meeting with Zelensky was more direct than what was disclosed last week by one of the meeting’s participants in his statement to the House. (CNN)
📌 Day 991: Trump blamed Energy Secretary Rick Perry for his call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. He told House Republicans that he made the call to Zelensky at the urging of Perry, claiming that he never wanted to make the call in the first place and that “the only reason I made the call was because Rick asked me to.” Until now, Trump has repeatedly referred to his call with Zelensky as a “perfect phone call” and has insisted that he did nothing wrong. (Axios)
4/ The U.S. and Turkey agreed to a five-day ceasefire in Syria to allow Kurdish troops to withdraw. Trump sent Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to the Turkish capital to broker the deal with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. (Politico / The Guardian / CNN / Washington Post)
Erdogan tossed Trump’s letter in the trash. In the letter dated October 9th and sent after U.S. troops were pulled out of Syria, Trump urged Erdogan not to launch a military offensive against Kurdish-led forces in northern Syria, saying: “Don’t be a tough guy. Don’t be a fool!” (BBC)
Mitch McConnell said he wants the Senate to pass an “even stronger” resolution condemning Trump’s decision to pull troops from Syria than the one that passed by the House. (CNN)
5/ Trump decided that the U.S. will host next year’s G-7 summit at the Trump National Doral Miami Golf Club. The decision was announced by acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, who said Trump “has made it clear since he’s been here that he hasn’t profited since he’s been here.” (Washington Post / New York Times / NPR / Politico / CNN / Axios)
poll/ 54% of Americans support the House’s decision to open impeachment inquiry, while 44% disapprove. (Pew Research Center)
1/ The White House is conducting its own investigation into why a rough transcript of Trump’s July 25 call with Ukrainian President Zelensky was placed into a secret server for secure storage. Trump’s advisers and White House lawyers began the fact-finding review to find out why deputy White House counsel, John Eisenberg, placed the rough transcript of the call in a computer system typically reserved for the country’s most closely guarded secrets. Eisenberg has said he limited access to the transcript over concerns about leaks. It is unclear who asked for or initiated the review, though acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney has encouraged it and his aids are helping with it. Some officials fear the review is intended to assign blame for the impeachment inquiry. (New York Times)
2/ Mick Mulvaney put Gordon Sondland, Kurt Volker, and Energy Secretary Rick Perry in charge of managing the U.S.-Ukraine relationship instead of diplomats at the National Security Council and the State Department. The State Department’s Ukraine expert, George Kent, testified during a closed-door hearing before the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs, and Oversight committees that Mulvaney was responsible for stripping control of the country’s relationship with Ukraine from those who had the most expertise. Kent also told lawmakers that he had been told by a supervisor to lie low after he raised complaints about Rudy Giuliani’s efforts to undermine U.S. foreign policy in Ukraine. Current and former officials said Mulvaney met frequently with Sondland and that details of their discussions were kept from then-National Security Adviser John Bolton and other officials who were raising internal concerns about the hidden Ukraine agenda. Mulvaney was also the one who, at Trump’s direction, placed a hold on nearly $400 million in aid to Ukraine leading up to Trump’s July 25 phone call to pressure Zelensky to pursue Giuliani’s agenda against the Bidens. (Washington Post / CNN)
A former top White House foreign policy adviser told House impeachment investigators that she viewed Sondland as a national security risk because he was so unprepared for his job. Fiona Hill did not accuse Sondland of acting maliciously or intentionally putting the country at risk, but described him as and Trump donor-turned-ambassador. (New York Times)
Michael McKinley, who resigned as a senior adviser to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, testified that he quit because career diplomats had been sidelined on Ukraine. During his closed-door deposition to the House Intelligence Committee, McKinley testified about how experts had been sidelined as Trump pursued his own agenda on Ukraine. McKinley also testified that he repeatedly asked Pompeo for a show of support for the Marie Yovanovitch after she was abruptly removed from her post following a monthslong push by Trump to get rid of her on the basis of “unfounded and false claims by people with clearly questionable motives.” Pompeo was silent. (New York Times / CNN)
House Democrats requested that Acting U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor appear for a deposition in the investigation into Trump’s alleged misconduct involving Ukraine. (NBC News)
3/ The federal investigation into Giuliani’s business dealings with two men indicted last week on campaign finance charges in Ukraine includes a counterintelligence probe, suggesting that FBI and criminal prosecutors in Manhattan are looking at a broader set of issues. The counterintelligence probe relates to whether a foreign influence operation was trying to take advantage of Giuliani’s business ties in Ukraine and with wealthy foreigners to make inroads with the White House. New York attorney Kenneth McCallion said he was approached by federal investigators earlier this year about Giuliani’s connections to Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, the two men indicted last week on campaign finance violation charges. McCallion said he was approached this spring about Giuliani’s business dealings again by FBI counterintelligence agents. (USA Today / CNN)
A Giuliani business associated was arrested and charged with participating in a scheme to use foreign money to build political support for a recreational marijuana business. David Correia is the fourth defendant arrested in a campaign finance case involving Giuliani. The business relationship between Giuliani and Correia, Lev Parnas, and Igor Fruman is the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation being conducted by federal authorities in New York. (ABC News / New York 4 / Washington Post)
A grand jury issued a subpoena seeking documents from former Rep. Pete Sessions about his dealings with Giuliani. The subpoena seeks documents related to Giuliani’s business dealings with Ukraine, his involvement in efforts to remove the U.S. ambassador in Kiev, and any interactions between Sessions, Giuliani and the four Giuliani associates who were indicted last week on campaign finance and conspiracy accounts. (Wall Street Journal / Washington Post)
Giuliani privately urged Trump in 2017 to extradite a Turkish cleric living in exile in the U.S., a top priority of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Before he would go on to become Trump’s personal attorney, Giuliani repeatedly told Trump that the U.S. should eject Fethullah Gulen from the country. Gulen is a permanent U.S. resident who lives in Pennsylvania, and Turkey has demanded that the U.S. turn him over to Turkey to face charges of plotting a 2016 coup attempt against Erdogan. Gulen denies any involvement in the coup attempt. (Washington Post)
4/ The House voted to condemn Trump’s withdrawal of American forces from northern Syria. The nonbinding resolution passed 354 to 60 – shortly before a bipartisan group of congressional leaders were scheduled to meet with Trump to discuss the incursion, and hours before Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo were to travel to Turkey to call for a cease-fire. Trump, meanwhile, attempted to distance himself from the ongoing conflict “between Turkey and Syria” and his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from the region, saying that Turkey and the Kurds are fighting “over land that has nothing to do with us.” (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / CNN)
Democratic leaders walked out of a White House meeting with Trump after he had a “meltdown” and called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “third-grade politician.” The White House called the meeting to discuss Trump’s decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria, which came shortly after House Democrats and Republicans voted to oppose his action and urge the administration to contain the fallout from Turkey’s incursion into Syria. (NBC News / Wall Street Journal / New York Times)
Trump sent a letter to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last week urging him to make a deal with the Kurds, saying: “Don’t be a tough guy. Don’t be a fool!” Trump also warned Erdogan not to “let the world down” by invading northern Syria. The letter was sent on October 9th – three days after the two had spoken by phone and the same day the Turkish incursion into Syria began. (CNN / Vox / CNBC / New York Times / NBC News)
Turkey dismissed a U.S. call for an immediate ceasefire in northeast Syria. (Wall Street Journal)
5/ Trump vetoed a bill that would have ended his national emergency declaration at the southern U.S. border. The veto, which was expected, sends the bill back to Congress, where it is unlikely to meet the two-thirds majority needed to override Trump’s veto. Trump vetoed a nearly identical version of the bill seven months ago. (New York Times / Reuters)
6/ The Trump administration has hired a lobbyist for every 14 political appointments made. The 281 lobbyists working in the administration is four times more than the Obama administration had six years into office. And former lobbyists serving Trump are often involved in regulating the industries they worked for. (ProPublica)
7/ Trump’s businesses reported some expenses, profits, and occupancy figures for two Manhattan buildings to make them appear more profitable to the lender — and less profitable to the tax authorities. (ProPublica)
poll/ 52% of Americans say Trump should be impeached and removed from office, while 46% say he should not be. (Gallup)
1/ The White House’s former top Russia adviser told impeachment investigators that Rudy Giuliani ran a shadow foreign policy in Ukraine that circumvented U.S. officials and career diplomats in order to personally benefit Trump. Fiona Hill, who served as the senior official for Russia and Europe on the National Security Council, testified for about nine hours before three House panels regarding a July 10th meeting she attended with senior Ukrainian officials, then-National Security Adviser John Bolton, and other U.S. officials in which the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, who was working with Giuliani, raised the issue to press Ukraine to investigate Democrats, Joe Biden, and his son. Hill said she confronted Sondland about Giuliani’s actions, which were not coordinated with officials responsible for U.S. foreign policy. Hill resigned days before Trump’s July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Associated Press / The Guardian / NBC News / Vox / NPR)
House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff indicated that the whistleblower at the heart of the impeachment inquiry might not testify over concerns about their safety. Schiff, however, said the whistleblower’s testimony might not be needed given that a rough transcript of the call with Trump asking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for a “favor” is already public. (Politico)
House impeachment investigators questioned a senior State Department official in charge of Ukraine policy about his knowledge of the Ukraine scandal. George Kent was questioned behind closed doors despite being directed by the State Department not to do so. Earlier this year, Kent raised concerns to colleagues about the pressure being directed at Ukraine by Trump and Giuliani to pursue investigations into Trump’s political rivals. (New York Times)
A former State Department adviser who resigned last week is scheduled to testify Wednesday before the congressional committees leading the House impeachment investigation. Michael McKinley will meet with the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs, and Oversight Committees conducting the impeachment inquiry into Trump. (CNN)
2/ John Bolton was so alarmed by Giuliani’s politically motivated activities to get the Ukrainians to investigate Trump’s political opponents that he called it a “drug deal.” Hill testified that Bolton told her to report the situation to the top lawyer at the National Security Council, John Eisenberg, about the effort by Sondland, Giuliani, and Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, to extract damaging information about Democrats from Ukraine on Trump’s behalf. Hill testified that she met with Eisenberg briefly on July 10th, and that she had a longer meeting with Eisenberg on July 11th. Bolton referred to Giuliani as a “hand grenade who’s going to blow everybody up.” Trump fired Bolton in September. (New York Times / NBC News / Politico)
3/ The former U.S. ambassador to the European Union intends to tell Congress that Trump personally assured him that there was no quid pro quo relationship between military aid for Ukraine and Trump’s request that the Ukrainians open investigations including into Joe Biden and his son. Sondland plans to tell lawmakers he doesn’t know why U.S. military aid to Ukraine was held up, nor who ordered it, and that he has no knowledge of whether Trump was telling him the truth, and that he relied on Trump’s assurances when he told a State Department colleague that there were “no quid pro quo’s of any kind” linking U.S. security assistance to Ukrainian investigations. Sondland is scheduled to appear for a closed-door deposition today. He was originally supposed to testify October 8th, but the Trump administration initially blocked him from appearing. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Vox)
4/ Rudy Giuliani was paid $500,000 to consult for a company co-founded by the Ukrainian-American businessman arrested last week on campaign finance charges. Lev Parnas’ company – Fraud Guarantee (!) – engaged Giuliani Partners around August 2018 to consult on technologies and provide legal advice on regulatory issues. Giuliani said the money came in two payments made within weeks of each other, but that he couldn’t remember the dates. He also said most of the work he did for Fraud Guarantee was completed in 2018, but that he has been doing follow-up work for more than a year. Federal prosecutors have been “examining Giuliani’s interactions” with Parnas and Igor Fruman, who was also indicted on campaign finance charges, since at least early 2019. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan are also investigating whether Giuliani broke lobbying laws in his efforts to undermine the American ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, who was recalled on Trump’s orders in May. Giuliani also denied that he was planning to visit Dmitry Firtash, a Ukrainian oligarch who is currently wanted on corruption charges in the U.S., during a trip to Vienna he planned last week. (Reuters / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / USA Today / NBC News / Axios / ABC News)
📌 Day 995: Giuliani’s business relationship with the two men accused of running an illegal campaign finance scheme is the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation. The investigation by federal authorities in New York became public after Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman were arrested while attempting to flee the U.S. yesterday and named as witnesses in the House’s impeachment inquiry into Trump. Parnas has also been working for the legal team of Dmytro Firtash, a Ukrainian oligarch who’s currently facing bribery charges in the U.S. Both Parnas and Fruman had worked in an unspecified capacity for Firtash before Parnas joined the Ukrainian’s legal team. (ABC News / New York Times / Vanity Fair / Reuters)
📌 Day 994:Two men who worked with Giuliani to find damaging information about Biden and his son have been charged with conspiring to violate campaign finance laws that prohibit foreign nationals from contributing to U.S. campaigns. Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman are two key subjects in the House’s impeachment inquiry. They were indicted and accused of making “secret agreements” to hide the fact that they were laundering foreign money into U.S. campaigns through a range of corporate identities by using “straw donors” to make the contributions. The indictment alleges that on one occasion, they lobbied a then-sitting member of Congress at the request of “one or more Ukrainian officials.” (BuzzFeed News / Washington Post / ABC News / New York Times / Reuters / Associated Press / NBC News)
5/ Giuliani won’t comply with a congressional subpoena for documents related to the impeachment investigation. He called the impeachment inquiry an “abomination” and dared House Democrats to take him to court, saying “if they enforce it, then we will see what happens.” Giuliani’s lawyer, Jon Sale, sent a letter to Congress, saying Giuliani wouldn’t comply with the subpoena because it was “overbroad, unduly burdensome and seeks documents beyond the scope of legitimate inquiry.” Sale, however, is no longer representing Giuliani, because, according to Giuliani, it would be “silly to have a lawyer when I don’t need one.” (ABC News / Wall Street Journal / New York Daily News)
Trump told reporters that he doesn’t know if Giuliani is still his attorney. Trump, however, praised Giuliani, saying: “He’s a very good attorney, and he has been my attorney.” (Washington Post)
6/ Pence said he would not comply with a request from House impeachment investigators for documents related to Trump’s July 25th call with Zelensky. Pence’s lawyer accused the committees of requesting material that is “clearly not vice-presidential records.” The House investigators had asked for documents to be produced by October 15th. (New York Times / NBC News)
The Office of Management and Budget won’t comply with a congressional subpoena over documents about withholding military aid to Ukraine. The House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs, and Oversight committees asked the budget office on October 7th to provide the documents by Tuesday. The official also indicated that acting budget director Russell Vought won’t comply with the committees’ request to testify on October 25th. (CNN / Bloomberg)
7/ Trump authorized “powerful” sanctions against Turkey for its invasion into northeast Syria and called on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to implement an immediate ceasefire. The executive order also stated that the Commerce Department would suspend negotiations on an unknown trade deal worth $100 billion. (Politico / Axios / Washington Post / CNN / NBC News)
📌 Day 991: Trump announced that he plans to withdraw U.S. troops from northeastern Syria and allow the Turkish military to launch an attack against Kurdish militias in the area. Trump made the decision Sunday evening during a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Early Monday morning, the 50–100 special forces troops currently operating in northeastern Syria received an urgent, unexpected alert ordering them to pull back from their posts in preparation for “departing the field.” The move surprised not just U.S. Kurdish partners in the fight against ISIS in northeastern Syria, but also senior officials at the Pentagon, State Department, and White House, as well as U.S. lawmakers from both parties. U.S. allies in the Middle East and Europe were also unaware of Trump’s decision until after he agreed to pull the troops out during his call with Erdogan. On Twitter, Trump warned Turkey not to do “anything that I, in my great and unmatched wisdom, consider to be off limits,” during any military incursion against the Kurds or he will “totally destroy and obliterate the Economy of Turkey (I’ve done before!).” (New York Times / NBC News / USA Today / Associated Press / NPR / CBS News / The Independent)
8/ Trump faces bipartisan criticism for his decision to order a withdrawal of U.S. forces from northern Syria. Lawmakers in both chambers plan to put forward a joint resolution urging Trump to undo his decision and “to do everything he can to protect the Kurds, to do everything that we must do to prevent ISIS terrorists from escaping, and make sure that Turkey respects existing agreements related to Syria and with the United States.” (Washington Post)
Trump defended his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria, saying he’d rather “let Syria and Assad protect the Kurds and fight Turkey for their own land.” Trump added: “I hope they all do great.” Officials said Trump was “doubling down” and “undeterred” despite pushback from congressional Republicans. (Washington Post / Axios)
More:
Behind the scenes of the Trump bluff that kicked off Turkey’s invasion. (Axios
U.S. Forces Leave ‘High Value’ ISIS Detainees Behind in Retreat From Syria
(New York Times)
Syrian troops enter towns in northeast as Erdogan warns of wider offensive. (Washington Post)
Military leader of Syrian Kurds tells US ‘you are leaving us to be slaughtered’ (CNN)
Pullback Leaves Green Berets Feeling ‘Ashamed,’ and Kurdish Allies Describing ‘Betrayal’ (New York Times)
Russia patrolling between Turkish and Syrian forces after U.S. troops withdraw. (Washington Post)
poll/ 46% of voters say Trump should be impeached and removed from office, while 48% say he should not be impeached and removed. 51% call the impeachment inquiry a legitimate investigation, while 43% call it a political witch hunt. 59% disapprove of the way Trump is responding to the inquiry, while 32% approve of the way he’s responding. (Quinnipiac)
poll/ The majority of likely Democratic primary voters in early voting states believe that Trump should be impeached and put in jail. 53% of respondents in Iowa, 50% in New Hampshire, and 54% in South Carolina agreed with the statement: “Some members of Congress have stated that President Trump should not only be impeached, but also imprisoned.” (Axios)
Notables.
Trump – again – repeated his assertion that because he is president, he cannot be investigated by any prosecutor. Trump’s personal attorneys made the argument in a filing with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in New York, seeking to overturn a lower court’s dismissal of a suit Trump filed in an effort to block Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. from obtaining his tax returns. (Washington Post
Trump wanted to release his taxes in 2013 as part of a presidential bid to show how smart he was for paying so little in taxes. Trump, however, changed his mind after an adviser convinced him not to release his taxes. Since then, Trump has spent years claiming he can’t release them because he’s under audit by the IRS. (CNN)
Deutsche Bank told a federal appeals court that it does not have Trump’s personal tax returns. Trump sued the bank to block it from complying with congressional committees subpoenas for his financial records, his companies, and his family. For nearly two decades, the German bank was the only mainstream financial institution consistently willing to lend to Trump. (New York Times)
Attorney General William Barr privately met with Rupert Murdoch days before Shepard Smith abruptly left Fox News. Smith’s departure followed attacks by Trump on Twitter in recent weeks and months. (New York Times / Politico)
China wants to continue negotiating the details of Trump’s “phase one” trade deal before Xi Jinping will agree to sign it. China also wants Trump to cancel a planned tariff hike in December, as well as a scheduled hike for this week. (Bloomberg)
A fake video depicting Trump shooting, stabbing, and assaulting members of the news media and his political opponents was played at a conference for his supporters at Trump National Doral Miami. The organizer of the event said that the video was part of a “meme exhibit.” (New York Times)
The acting secretary of homeland security resigned. Kevin McAleenan – who spent his six-month tenure after Kirstjen Nielsen resigned in April trying to curb asylum seekers at the southwestern border – is the fourth person to serve in that post since the Trump presidency began. Trump said McAleenan resigned so he can “spend more time with his family and go to the private sector.” McAleenan complained last week about the “tone, the message, the public face and approach” of Trump’s immigration policy. Trump said he plans to name a new acting DHS secretary this week. (New York Times / CNN / Washington Post / Bloomberg / NBC News / PBS)
The Trump administration proposed allowing logging on more than half of the largest intact temperate rainforest in North America. Trump instructed federal officials to reverse long-standing limits on tree cutting in Alaska’s 16.7 million-acre Tongass National Forest on the grounds that it would boost the local economy. About 40% of wild salmon along the West Coast spawn in the Tongass. (Washington Post)
Manufacturing output in the U.S. shrank over two consecutive quarters, slipping into a recession. Numbers from the Federal Reserve match up with a separate index drawn from purchasing managers, which shows September’s contraction in manufacturing was the steepest since June 2009, with production, inventories, and new orders all falling. Manufacturing employment has also stalled after adding nearly half a million jobs during the previous two years. Layoff announcements have also surged this year, especially in battleground states such as Pennsylvania and Michigan, and Friday’s jobs report showed a slight drop in total factory jobs. (Los Angeles Times)
Ronan Farrow claims in his forthcoming book that American Media, Inc. and the National Enquirer shredded sensitive Trump-related documents held in a top-secret safe right before Trump was elected in 2016. The book claims then-Editor-in-Chief of the National Enquirer Dylan Howard ordered a staff member to “get everything out of the safe” and said “we need to get a shredder down there.” The order came the same day a reporter from the Wall Street Journal asked for a comment for a story about how AMI paid $150,000 to former Playboy model Karen McDougal to keep her story about having an affair with Trump quiet before the election. (Politico)
Trump has made 13,435 false or misleading claims over 993 days. Check the WTFJHT archive for all of them. (Washington Post)
1/ Trump lost his appeal to stop a House subpoena requiring him to turn over his tax documents to investigators. The 2-1 ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals in D.C. upheld a lower court ruling that required Trump’s longtime accountant Mazars USA to turn over eight years of Trump’s personal tax returns. The judges ruled that the courts “lack the power to invalidate a duly authorized congressional subpoena merely because it might have been ‘better [if]…the full House’ had specifically authorized or issued it.” Courts, the ruling continues, don’t get a say in how each chamber conducts itself unless Congress “adopts a rule that offends the Constitution.” The case is the first major dispute between Trump and the House to have reached the appeals court level – one level below the Supreme Court. (New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / Politico / BuzzFeed News / CNN / CNBC / Axios / Bloomberg)
2/ A federal judge blocked the Trump administration from enforcing the “public charge” rule, which would’ve made it easier to reject green card and visa applications from immigrants whom the government determines are or might become a financial “burden” on U.S. taxpayers. U.S. District Court Judge George Daniels in Manhattan issued a nationwide preliminary injunction against the rule days before it was set to take effect on Oct. 15. Daniels said the government failed to explain why it was changing the definition of a “public charge” or why the change was needed. Daniels said the rule is “simply a new agency policy of exclusion in search of a justification,” calling it “repugnant to the American Dream.” (New York Times / The Hill / NPR / CBS News)
3/ A federal judge ruled that Trump’s national emergency declaration to fund construction of his border wall is unlawful. U.S. District Court Judge David Briones in Texas agreed with the complainants, who argued that the declaration doesn’t qualify as an “emergency” under the definition in the National Emergencies Act. They also argued that Trump overstepped his authority by issuing the declaration in order to gain access to additional funding for the wall from the military, even though his administration already received $1.375 billion in funding from Congress. Briones asked complainants to propose the scope for a preliminary injunction against the declaration. (CNN / New York Post / The Hill)
4/ Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch told lawmakers that Trump personally pressured the State Department to have her ousted from her position. Yovanovitch defied Trump’s ban on cooperating with the House impeachment inquiry and spoke to Congress during a closed-door deposition. She said she was “abruptly” recalled in May and told the president had lost confidence in her. Yovanovitch said she’d done nothing to deserve her dismissal and that she was confused when Trump “chose to remove an ambassador based, as best as I can tell, on unfounded and false claims by people with clearly questionable motives,” referring to Giuliani and a group of former Ukrainian officials who saw her as a political and financial threat to their interests. (Associated Press / Washington Post / New York Times)
More whistleblowers have come forward to speak with House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry. Two congressional sources say these new whistleblowers were emboldened by the actions of the original intelligence community whistleblower who raised concerns about Trump’s dealings regarding Ukraine. Congressional investigators are currently vetting the new whistleblowers’ credibility. No information is currently available about the departments or areas of government from which these new whistleblowers originated or what they’ve said. (Daily Beast)
At least four national security officials raised alarms about Ukraine policy before and after Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Zelensky. The nature and timing of the previously undisclosed discussions with National Security Council legal adviser John Eisenberg indicate that officials were delivering warnings through official White House channels earlier than previously understood. (Washington Post)
The White House accidentally sent Democrats a list of talking points related to Yovanovitch’s deposition, the second time in a month that Trump administration officials have accidentally sent Ukraine-related talking points to Democrats. (The Hill / The Week)
5/ Giuliani’s business relationship with the two men accused of running an illegal campaign finance scheme is the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation. The investigation by federal authorities in New York became public after Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman were arrested while attempting to flee the U.S. yesterday and named as witnesses in the House’s impeachment inquiry into Trump. Parnas has also been working for the legal team of Dmytro Firtash, a Ukrainian oligarch who’s currently facing bribery charges in the U.S. Both Parnas and Fruman had worked in an unspecified capacity for Firtash before Parnas joined the Ukrainian’s legal team. (ABC News / New York Times / Vanity Fair / Reuters)
📌 Day 994:Two men who worked with Giuliani to find damaging information about Biden and his son have been charged with conspiring to violate campaign finance laws that prohibit foreign nationals from contributing to U.S. campaigns. Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman are two key subjects in the House’s impeachment inquiry. They were indicted and accused of making “secret agreements” to hide the fact that they were laundering foreign money into U.S. campaigns through a range of corporate identities by using “straw donors” to make the contributions. The indictment alleges that on one occasion, they lobbied a then-sitting member of Congress at the request of “one or more Ukrainian officials.” (BuzzFeed News / Washington Post / ABC News / New York Times / Reuters / Associated Press / NBC News)
6/ Turkey accidentally attacked a contingent of U.S. Special Forces in northern Syria during its ongoing bombing campaign against U.S.-allied Kurdish militias in the region. U.S. troops operating in the majority-Kurdish city of Kobani were bombarded by Turkish artillery fire. The Turkish Defense Ministry denied that its military intentionally targeted U.S. forces. A senior Pentagon official later confirmed the incident, saying Turkish forces should have precise knowledge of American positions. No injuries have been reported. (Newsweek / Washington Post / Yahoo! News)
7/ Trump is sending thousands of U.S. troops to protect Saudi Arabia’s oil fields days after withdrawing U.S. troops and allowing Turkey to attack U.S.-allied Kurdish forces. The U.S., European, and Saudi Arabian governments blame Iran for a September attack on Saudi oil facilities, but Tehran insists they had nothing to do with it. Defense Secretary Mark Esper announced the deployment of 3,000 service members, two fighter squadrons, one air expeditionary wing, two Patriot Missile batteries, and one THAD missile defense system to protect the facilities. While plans for the deployment were first announced in Sept. shortly after the attack, they included “modest” reinforcements rather than the “thousands” announced today. (NBC News)
Notables.
Trump’s former top aide on Russia and Europe will give testimony about Giuliani and E.U. ambassador Gordon Sondland next week. Fiona Hill will testify about how Giuliani and Sondland circumvented the National Security Council and standard White House protocols in order to pursue a shadow policy on Ukraine. The Trump administration is expected to attempt to prevent her from testifying, a key test for whether congressional committees pursuing an impeachment inquiry can obtain testimony from other former officials who have left the administration. (NBC News)
A senior adviser to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo resigned amid rising dissatisfaction and plummeting morale inside the State Department over Pompeo’s failure to support personnel who have become ensnared in the Ukraine controversy. McKinley was closely involved in the Trump administration’s policy on Venezuela, Mexico, Southeast Asia, and Afghanistan. (Washington Post)
Shepard Smith announced that he is stepping down as lead news anchor and leaving Fox News. Smith seems to have signed a non-compete agreement. “Under our agreement, I won’t be reporting elsewhere, at least in the near feature,” he said. (CNN Business / New York Times)
Trump said the U.S. has come to a “very substantial phase one deal” with China. “Phase two will start almost immediately” after the first phase is signed, Trump said while standing alongside Chinese Vice Premier Liu He in the Oval Office. (CNBC)
1/ Two men who worked with Giuliani to find damaging information about Biden and his son have been charged with conspiring to violate campaign finance laws that prohibit foreign nationals from contributing to U.S. campaigns. Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman are two key subjects in the House’s impeachment inquiry. They were indicted and accused of making “secret agreements” to hide the fact that they were laundering foreign money into U.S. campaigns through a range of corporate identities by using “straw donors” to make the contributions. Parnas and Fruman allegedly used the agreements to hide their scheme from candidates and federal regulators. The indictment alleges that on one occasion, they lobbied a then-sitting member of Congress at the request of “one or more Ukrainian officials.” (BuzzFeed News / Washington Post / ABC News / New York Times / Reuters / Associated Press / NBC News)
Parnas and Fruman spent lavishly as they dug for dirt on Biden. BuzzFeed News obtained unprecedented access to scores of bank records from private business accounts controlled by Lev Parnas and his partner Igor Fruman as they carried out a campaign now at the center of the first presidential impeachment inquiry in a generation. (BuzzFeed News)
2/ Trump and Giuliani pressured then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson during a meeting in 2017 to persuade the DOJ to drop a criminal case against one of Giuliani’s clients. The client was an Iranian-Turkish gold trader named Reza Zarrab, who was facing federal prosecution in New York on charges of evading U.S. sanctions against Iran’s nuclear program. Zarrab also had ties to top Turkish government officials. Tillerson refused to help Trump and Giuliani make the case go away, arguing that doing so would be illegal and constitute interference in an ongoing investigation. Tillerson told then-White House Chief of Staff John Kelly about the incident during a conversation in the hallway after the meeting ended, emphasizing that following through with Trump’s request would be a crime. “Suppose I did talk to Trump about it,” Giuliani said after initially denying that he ever raised Zarrab’s case with Trump. “So what?” Giuliani was not Trump’s personal lawyer at the time Trump made the request. (Bloomberg / CNN / Esquire / Vanity Fair)
Lindsey Graham fell for a prank phone call in August from Russian pranksters posing as the Turkish defense minister. Alexey Stolyarov and Vladimir Kuznetsov are Russian comedians with suspected ties to Kremlin intelligence services who go by the stage names “Lexus and Vovan.” During the call, Graham labeled the Kurds a “threat” to Turkey, contradicting public statements he’s made in the wake of Turkey’s invasion of Kurdish strongholds in northeastern Syria. Graham also mentioned Trump’s personal interest in a “Turkish bank case” during the call, an apparent reference to the DOJ’s case against Giuliani’s client Reza Zarrab. (Politico)
3/ Trump gave a politically appointed official the authority to withhold nearly $400 million in U.S. military aid to Ukraine after career staff at the Office of Management and Budget questioned the legality of delaying the funds. Trump shifted the authority over the funds to Michael Duffey, who serves as associate director of national security programs at OMB. The aid in question is at the center of the House’s impeachment inquiry, and it was put on hold just days before the July 25 call between Trump and Ukrainian President Zelensky. Duffey was also allowed to oversee the apportionment of funds for other foreign aid and defense accounts. “It is absurd to suggest,” said an OMB spokesperson in a statement, “that the president and his administration officials should not play a leadership role in ensuring taxpayer dollars are well spent.” (Wall Street Journal)
Zelensky said for the first time that Ukraine will “happily” investigate the conspiracy theory pushed by Trump that it was Ukrainians, not Russians, who interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. He also encouraged U.S. and Ukrainian prosecutors to discuss investigating Biden’s son, despite the lack of any evidence of criminal wrongdoing by Biden or his son. (ABC News / Associated Press)
4/ Rick Perry was subpoenaed by the House as part of the impeachment inquiry into Trump. The three House committees conducting the inquiry gave Perry until Oct. 18 to turn over “key documents” related to Trump’s Ukraine dealings. The committees want him to turn over a series of documents related to Perry’s knowledge of Trump’s July 25 call with Zelensky, which Perry reportedly encouraged Trump to make. The House also wants to know whether Perry tried to press the Ukrainian government to make changes to the advisory board of its state-owned oil and gas company Naftogaz. (The Guardian / Fox News / Politico / Washington Post)
5/ Trump said he “does not endorse” Turkey’s military offensive in Syria, despite giving Turkey the green light to launch the attack and withdrawing U.S. forces from the region. Trump released a statement and claimed that he “does not endorse this attack and has made it clear to Turkey that this operation is a bad idea.” He also called on Turkey to make sure “all ISIS fighters being held captive remain in prison and that ISIS does not reconstitute in any way, shape, or form.” Trump again defended his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from the region by saying the Kurds “didn’t help us in the Second World War; they didn’t help us with Normandy.” He added: “With all of that being said, we like the Kurds.” (The Independent / Business Insider)
The Kurdish death toll from the ongoing Turkish air and ground assault in northeastern Syria now includes at least 23 dead, including one infant, and 70 wounded. The Turkish Defense Ministry said Turkish forces had conducted 181 airstrikes as of Thursday morning. Turkish-backed Syrian Arab rebel fighters said they had taken at least one formerly Kurdish-held village that lies just yards from the border. (New York Times)
Notables.
Deutsche Bank doesn’t have Trump’s tax returns. Democrats in the House subpoenaed the bank for tax returns and financial records related to Trump, his children, and their various Trump business entities. But a federal appeals court said the bank doesn’t have them after reviewing an unredacted letter filed by the bank. A new ruling from the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York denied a request to unseal the letter, but commented on the redactions. “That letter reports that the only tax returns [the bank] has for individuals or entities named in the subpoenas are not those of the President,” Judge Jon Newman wrote. (Wall Street Journal)
Trump is reportedly calling Mitch McConnell up to three times per day in order to make sure he can maintain the loyalty of the GOP as he faces an impeachment inquiry from House Democrats. (CNN)
Trump lashed out at Fox News over a recent poll showing that 51% of respondents want him impeached and removed from office. “From the day I announced I was running for President,” Trump tweeted, “I have NEVER had a good @FoxNews Poll.” Trump added: “Oh well, I’m President!” (The Independent / NBC News / The Hill)
1/ Turkey launched a bombing campaign against U.S.-allied Kurdish forces in northeastern Syria following Trump’s decision to abruptly withdraw U.S. forces from the region. The attacks are aimed at crushing Kurdish militias, which have been fighting for their independence from Turkey. The Turkish bombing campaign, which is being conducted in coordination with the Syrian National Army, immediately drew criticism and calls for restraint from European leaders. Kurdish-led forces in the area have been key U.S. allies in the fight against ISIS, but Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says his military is targeting both Kurdish fighters and ISIS extremists. “The Turkish Armed Forces,” Erdogan tweeted, “together with the Syrian National Army, just launched #OperationPeaceSpring against PKK/YPG and Daesh [Isis] terrorists in northern Syria.” (New York Times / Associated Press / NPR / The Guardian)
A Kurdish commander says the militia will attack Turkish forces if they enter northeastern Syria. “We have been at war for seven years,” he said, “so we can continue the war for seven more years.” The threat of armed resistance from the militia, a force trained and armed by the United States, raises the risks for Turkey as it weighs sending troops into Syria, and for the United States, which could find itself on the sidelines of a new front in Syria’s war — this time between two of its allies. (New York Times)
2/ Trump invited Erdogan to visit the White House a day after giving Turkey the green light to attack the Kurds. Trump defended his decision on Twitter and insisted that “in no way have we abandoned the Kurds,” whom he described as “special people and wonderful fighters.” Trump also brought up the trade relationship between the U.S. and Turkey. “So many people conveniently forget,” he tweeted, “that Turkey is a big trading partner of the United States, in fact they make the structural steel frame for our F-35 Fighter Jet.” Trump said Erdogan will visit the White House on Nov. 13. (Bloomberg / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / MarketWatch / Washington Post / MSNBC)
Lindsey Graham: “Nobody besides Trump believes the president’s claim that the U.S. is not abandoning the Kurds.” Graham said Trump’s decision on Syria represents the biggest mistake of his presidency. He also said Trump is putting his presidency at risk by going against the advice of his national security team. “If I hear the president say one more time, ‘I made a campaign promise to get out of Syria,’ I’m going to throw up,” Graham said. (Axios)
Trump’s decision to pull U.S. troops out of Syria shortly after his phone call with Erdogan is raising alarm bells from policymakers and government ethics watchdog groups who see Trump’s extensive business interests as potential conflicts of interest. Trump and his family have longstanding business ties in and with Turkey, including the Trump Towers Istanbul. (NBC News)
3/ Trump ordered Energy Secretary Rick Perry and two top State Department officials to deal directly with Giuliani when setting up a May 23 meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Trump. Trump said that if Zelensky wanted to meet with him, they should circumvent official diplomatic channels and go strictly through Giuliani. Giuliani’s role in setting up Trump’s meeting with Zelensky was more direct than what was disclosed last week by one of the meeting’s participants in his statement to the House. (CNN)
Read the whistleblower’s memo about Trump’s Ukraine call, as described to CBS News. The memo, dated July 26, is based on a conversation the whistleblower had with an unnamed White House official who listened to the call. (CBS News)
4/ American diplomats who pushed for the restoration of U.S. security aid to Ukraine were told by the White House to downplay the release of the money once it was finally approved. “Keep moving, people, nothing to see here,” wrote the acting deputy assistant secretary overseeing issues in Europe and Eurasia in a Sept. 12 email. The previously unreported internal State Department emails reveal that diplomats were frustrated with the unexpected freeze on funding that had already been approved by Congress. (New York Times)
5/ A new book by journalists Barry Levine and Monique El-Faizy reveals another 43 allegations of inappropriate behavior by Trump, including 26 previously unreported allegations of unwanted sexual contact. The book, “All the President’s Women: Donald Trump and the Making of a Predator,” includes an allegation by Karen Johnson that Trump committed what amounts to an attack on her at a New Year’s Eve party in the early 2000s. Johnson says she was on her way to the bathroom when she was “grabbed and pulled behind a tapestry, and it was him.” Johnson says Trump grabbed her, pulled her close to him, “and he just kissed me.” (VICE / Esquire)
✏️ Notables.
Trump accused the mayor of Minneapolis of trying to “stifle free speech” and announced that the Trump campaign will not be paying $530,000 in security fees associated with a Trump campaign rally scheduled for later this week. In a letter, the Trump campaign accused the city of trying to pass on the city’s public safety bill. The campaign also threatened “court action” if the Target Center doesn’t let Trump use the arena for the upcoming rally. The campaign said the Secret Service is “solely responsible” for security at Trump’s rallies. (Washington Post / WUSA 9)
Trump’s tariffs have cost U.S. companies roughly $34 billion, not including the 15% tax on $112 billion worth of Chinese imports that went into effect on Sept. 1. U.S. tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods are scheduled to rise to 30% from 25% starting next week. (Axios)
The Trump campaign has spent $718,000 on impeachment-related Facebook ads. The House and Senate Republican committees are also putting the majority of their digital ad dollars behind impeachment. (Axios)
1/ A new bipartisan Senate report found that Russian actors were directed by the Kremlin to help Trump win the 2016 presidential election. The Senate Intelligence Committee released the 85-page report, which is the second volume of the committee’s investigation into election interference by Moscow. The report concludes that Russia deliberately singled out African Americans and the black community as prominent targets of its disinformation and social disruption campaign. “By far,” the panel concluded, “race and related issues were the preferred target of the information warfare campaign designed to divide the country in 2016.” The report’s findings mirror those of former special counsel Robert Mueller’s own report from earlier this year, which also found that the Kremlin directed Russian actors to help Trump win in 2016. The Senate report also includes recommendations for Congress: it urges lawmakers to pass new legislation to increase the transparency of political advertisements on social media and calls on Congress to examine “whether any existing laws may hinder cooperation and whether information sharing should be formalized” between U.S. counter-interference efforts. (The Hill / Daily Beast / NBC News / The Independent / Reuters / Washington Post / Politico)
The Kremlin’s best-known propaganda arm increased its social media activity in the wake of the 2016 election, adding to concerns about foreign meddling in the current 2020 campaign. Activity by the St. Petersburg-based Internet Research Agency “increased, rather than decreased, after Election Day 2016,” the report concluded. (Reuters)
Russia’s propaganda campaigns focused heavily on race relations in the U.S., report finds. Using Facebook pages, Instagram content, and Twitter posts, Russian information operatives working for the Internet Research Agency had an “overwhelming operational emphasis on race… no single group of Americans was targeted… more than African Americans.” (NPR)
Senate report says Russian trolls tried to stoke racial divisions long after the 2016 election by exploiting the debate over Colin Kaepernick’s decision to kneel in protest against police brutality. Russia’s online disinformation campaign extended well beyond 2016 and focused heavily on the NFL kneeling controversy as part of a broader effort to stoke racial tensions. (Business Insider)
Read the full report from the Select Senate Intelligence Committee. “Russian active measures campaigns and interference in the 2016 U.S. election. Volume 2: Russia’s use of social media, with additional views.” (U.S. Senate)
2/ The Trump administration ordered the U.S. ambassador to the European Union not to appear before House lawmakers for a planned deposition as part of the impeachment inquiry. Lawmakers want information about Ambassador Gordon Sondland’s activities related to Trump’s efforts to pressure Ukraine into investigating Joe Biden and his son. Sondland said he was willing and happy to testify, but he did not appear as scheduled this morning after he was ordered not to by the State Department. Sondland’s attorney said that, as a State Department employee, Sondland had no choice but to comply with the order. House Intelligence Chair Adam Schiff called the White House’s move to block Sondland from testifying “further acts of obstruction of a coequal branch of government.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Politico / CNBC)
Sondland called Trump before telling the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine that there had been “no quid pro quo” regarding the administration’s attempts to pressure Ukraine into investigating Biden and his son. Sondland spoke to Trump directly by phone on Sept. 9 before responding to acting Ukraine Ambassador Bill Taylor’s text that it would be “crazy” to condition U.S. military aid to Ukraine on the country helping to investigate Trump’s political rivals. (NBC News)
3/ The White House announced it will not cooperate with the House impeachment inquiry, calling it an illegitimate and partisan effort “to overturn the results of the 2016 election.” White House counsel Pat Cipollone sent an eight-page letter to House Democratic leaders, declaring the impeachment inquiry a violation of historical precedent. The letter says the inquiry represents such an egregious violation of Trump’s due process rights that neither Trump nor the executive branch will willingly participate by providing testimony or documents going forward. The letter was sent hours after the State Department blocked Gordon Sondland from appearing at a deposition in front of House Democrats, and it sets the stage for a constitutional crisis between the legislative and executive branches of the U.S. government. (New York Times / Washington Post / Reuters / NBC News / Associated Press)
4/ House Democrats plan to subpoena Sondland in order to compel him to testify and provide emails and text messages from one of his personal devices. The device and the corresponding documents and texts have already been turned over to the State Department, which has refused to release them to the three committees leading the impeachment inquiry. Trump said on Twitter that he “would love to send Ambassador Sondland, a really good man and great American, to testify,” but Trump won’t let him because he “would be testifying before a totally compromised kangaroo court, where Republican’s [sic] rights have been taken away, and true facts are not allowed out for the public to see.” (Washington Post)
5/ A White House aide who listened in on Trump’s July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the call as “crazy,” “frightening,” and “completely lacking in substance related to national security,” according to a memo written by the whistleblower at the center of the Trump-Ukraine scandal. The memo was written a day after the call took place, and it says the official who listened to the call was “visibly shaken by what had transpired.” The memo also says White House attorneys were already trying to figure out how to deal with documentation from the call, because they knew “the president had clearly committed a criminal act by urging a foreign power to investigate a U.S. person for the purposes of advancing his own re-election bid.” (New York Times / ABC News)
6/ Turkey’s vice president said his country would “not react to threats,” as it prepares to attack U.S.-allied Kurdish fighters in northeastern Syria. The statement comes a day after Trump warned Turkey via Twitter that he would “totally destroy and obliterate” Turkey’s economy if Turkish forces do anything that Trump “considers to be off limits” during the attack on the Kurds. “When it comes to the security of Turkey,” Vice President Fuat Oktay said in a speech, “as always, our president emphasized Turkey will determine its own path.” Erdogan and other Turkish officials have suggested for days that the military incursion could begin at any moment, and troop convoys have already started staging at the Syrian border. (Washington Post)
What does Turkey want? “Our aim is, I underline it, to shower east of the Euphrates with peace,” Erdogan declared. His advisor Ibrahim Kalin was more specific on Twitter: “The safe zone plan has two purposes, to secure our borders by eliminating terror elements and to ensure the safe return of refugees.” Turkey is facing growing domestic pressure to deal with the millions of Syrian refugees in the country. Though they were initially welcomed, public sentiment has begun to turn against them. (Foreign Policy)
📌 Day 725:Trump threatened to “devastate Turkey economically if they hit Kurds” following the U.S. troop withdrawal in Syria. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu blasted Trump’s “threatening language” saying that his country was “not going to be scared or frightened off,” adding: “You will not get anywhere by threatening Turkey’s economy.” (CNBC / Washington Post / New York Times)
poll/ A majority of Americans support House Democrats’ decision to launch an impeachment inquiry against Trump. Nearly half of all adults also say the House should take the additional step of recommending that Trump be removed from office. (Washington Post / Schar School)
poll/ A majority of Americans say the allegations that Trump asked a foreign leader to investigate his 2020 rival Joe Biden are serious and need to be fully investigated. They also believe Trump hasn’t been honest and truthful about his actions, but are divided mostly along partisan lines when it comes to removing Trump from office: 43% supporting his removal given what they know today, while 49% oppose it. (NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
Notables.
The Trump Organization is refusing pay a legal bill after it lost a lengthy court battle with the Scottish government. A Scottish court ruled earlier this year that the Trump Organization must pay the Scottish government’s legal costs after Trump attempted and failed to block the construction of an 11-turbine wind farm in Aberdeen Bay. Scottish government officials say the Trump Organization has refused to accept the bill, which amounts to tens of thousands of pounds. (The Guardian)
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is facing possible sanctions or contempt of court over her decision to continue collecting payments on the debt of former students at bankrupt Corinthian Colleges Inc. Under DeVos, the agency has already seized tax refunds and wages from at least 1,808 students. “I’m not sure if this is contempt or sanctions,” U.S. Magistrate Judge Sallie Kim told Department of Education lawyers at a hearing on Monday. “At best it is gross negligence, at worst it’s an intentional flouting of my order.” (Bloomberg)
The Treasury Department is considering rolling back a tax rule aimed at preventing American companies from moving money offshore to avoid paying taxes. The Treasury could narrow regulations aimed at preventing U.S. firms from lowering their U.S. tax bills by borrowing from an offshore branch of the company. The department is also contemplating repealing them entirely to replace them with something more business-friendly. The move could make it easier for companies to use accounting tactics to minimize their U.S. earnings and inflate their foreign profits, which are frequently taxed at rates lower than the current 21% domestic corporate levy. (Bloomberg)
1/ Trump announced that he plans to withdraw U.S. troops from northeastern Syria and allow the Turkish military to launch an attack against Kurdish militias in the area. Trump made the decision Sunday evening during a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Early Monday morning, the 50–100 special forces troops currently operating in northeastern Syria received an urgent, unexpected alert ordering them to pull back from their posts in preparation for “departing the field.” The move surprised not just U.S. Kurdish partners in the fight against ISIS in northeastern Syria, but also senior officials at the Pentagon, State Department, and White House, as well as U.S. lawmakers from both parties. U.S. allies in the Middle East and Europe were also unaware of Trump’s decision until after he agreed to pull the troops out during his call with Erdogan. On Twitter, Trump warned Turkey not to do “anything that I, in my great and unmatched wisdom, consider to be off limits,” during any military incursion against the Kurds or he will “totally destroy and obliterate the Economy of Turkey (I’ve done before!).” (New York Times / NBC News / USA Today / Associated Press / NPR / CBS News / The Independent)
Turkey has worked with the U.S. in its fight against ISIS forces near Turkey’s border with Syria amidst Syria’s ongoing civil war, but Kurdish soldiers have also been working with American forces in the northeastern part of Syria. Turkey and the Kurds are enemies and the Kurdish forces are in the process of fighting for their independence from Turkey. Erdogan is set to meet with Trump in Washington, D.C. in the next few weeks and has expressed displeasure with the support the U.S. has given to the Kurds. (Politico / The Intercept / Esquire)
2/ Leaders from both parties publicly criticized Trump for breaking promises the U.S. made to the Kurds by pulling U.S. troops out of the region. Lindsey Graham said the decision was “devastating for the good guys” and warned that “to abandon our Kurdish allies and turn Syria over to Russia, Iran, & Turkey will put every radical Islamist on steroids.” Mitch McConnell cautioned that a “precipitous withdrawal of US forces from Syria would only benefit Russia, Iran, and the Assad regime.” In response, Trump defended himself at a press conference where he said he was merely fulfilling a campaign promise by withdrawing U.S. forces, reminding reporters that he “got elected on that.” He added that the U.S. is “not a police force,” and reiterated that he “fully understand[s] both sides but I promised to bring our troops home.” (Washington Post / Axios / Fox News / Politico / Al Jazeera English / The Intercept / Associated Press / NPR)
Fox News host blasts Trump’s move: Are you kidding me? Fox News host Brian Kilmeade slams President Trump’s decision to withdraw troops from Northern Syria. (CNN)
3/ Another whistleblower has come forward regarding Trump’s dealings with Ukraine. Attorneys representing the first whistleblower say “multiple” whistleblowers have come forward and that they are now representing at least one other whistleblower. “I can confirm that my firm and my team represent multiple whistleblowers in connection to the underlying August 12, 2019, disclosure to the Intelligence Community Inspector General,” Andrew Bakaj said in a tweet. The second whistleblower is also someone who works in the intelligence community and has already spoken to the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community Michael Atkinson, but they have not yet filed a complaint. The newest whistleblower has “first-hand knowledge” that supports the allegations outlined in the original complaint, according to Mark Zaid, another member of the original whistleblower’s legal team. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Politico / New York Times / The Guardian / NBC News)
‘We absolutely could not do that’: When seeking foreign help was out of the question. Trump insists he and AG Barr did nothing wrong by seeking damaging information about Biden and his son from Ukraine, Australia, Italy, Britain, or China. But for every other White House in the modern era, the idea of enlisting help from foreign powers for political advantage has been seen as unwise and politically dangerous, if not unprincipled. (New York Times)
Trump orders cut to national security staff after whistleblower complaint. The White House wants to make the council leaner under its incoming leader. The cuts come after the whistleblower’s report on Trump’s call with Ukraine. (Bloomberg)
4/ The House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight committees subpoenaed the Department of Defense and the White House Office of Management and Budget for documents related to Trump’s efforts to get Ukraine to investigate Biden and his son. The committees want to know whether Trump froze U.S. military aid to Ukraine in order to pressure its government to investigate Biden and his son over unsubstantiated corruption allegations. The agencies are required to turn over the documents by Oct. 15. (New York Times / Yahoo! News / Reuters / Axios)
5/ Trump blamed Energy Secretary Rick Perry for his call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. He told House Republicans that he made the call to Zelensky at the urging of Perry, claiming that he never wanted to make the call in the first place and that “the only reason I made the call was because Rick asked me to.” Until now, Trump has repeatedly referred to his call with Zelensky as a “perfect phone call” and has insisted that he did nothing wrong. (Axios)
Former Trump officials and lobbyists dined with the Zelensky campaign at one of Trump’s hotels months before the July 25 phone call. Zelensky’s closest advisors were attempting to establish contact with political power players in D.C., including former senior administration officials. One of the meetings took place at the Trump International Hotel on April 16, where former Trump campaign advisor and former HHS representative Mike Rubino and State Department employee Matt Mowers met for dinner with representatives from Zelensky’s campaign. A little-known U.S.-based attorney named Marcus Cohen helped coordinate these private gatherings. (CNBC)
A top advisor to Zelensky said he spent weeks attempting to reassure American officials that the U.S. had no enemies among the Ukrainian leadership, even before he learned of the decision to suspend U.S. military aid to Ukraine. Andriy Yermak said in an interview that U.S. political leaders peddled ill-informed accounts about the situation in Ukraine. And although he stressed that he did not believe these false narratives ever threatened U.S.-Ukrainian relations, Yermak said he believes they may have given Trump cover for suspending the aid. (Los Angeles Times)
6/ A federal judge rejected an argument from Trump’s legal team that sitting presidents are immune from criminal investigations, allowing the Manhattan district attorney’s office to subpoena eight years of Trump’s personal and corporate tax returns. In a 75-page ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Victor Marrero called Trump’s argument “repugnant to the nation’s governmental structure and constitutional values,” and said that a president’s families and businesses are not above the law. In response, Trump’s lawyers filed an emergency notice of appeal in the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, which granted Trump a temporary administrative stay pending an expedited review of the case by a panel of the 2nd circuit. (Bloomberg / Yahoo! Finance / WNYC / Washington Post)
1/ Text messages reveal how two U.S. ambassadors coordinated with Rudy Giuliani and a top aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to leverage a potential White House meeting between Trump and Zelensky into persuading Kiev to publicly commit to investigating Joe Biden. The House Intelligence Committee released the documents and text messages provided by Kurt Volker, a former special envoy to Ukraine, which show Volker and U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland repeatedly stressing that a White House meeting depended on getting the Ukrainians to agree to the exact language that Zelensky would use in announcing an investigation. In August, Volker proposed to Sondland that they have Zelensky cite “alleged involvement of some Ukrainian politicians” in interference in U.S. elections when announcing an investigation. Democrats say the texts are clear evidence that Trump conditioned normal bilateral relations with Ukraine on that country first agreeing “to launch politically motivated investigations.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Reuters / USA Today)
Volker told congressional investigators that Giuliani demanded Ukraine specifically commit to investigate involvement in the 2016 election and the firm tied to Joe Biden’s son. Volker said Giuliani rejected a draft statement by Ukraine in which the country committed to fighting corruption generally. Instead, Giuliani said the Ukraine statement “should include specific reference to ‘Burisma’ and ‘2016.’” (New York Times)
Volker: Trump told him he was “skeptical” of Ukraine’s leadership because the country “tried to take me down,” a reference to the unproven allegations that Ukraine was involved in the 2016 election meddling. In Volker’s statement, which he delivered during closed-door testimony, he said that Trump believed “Ukraine was a corrupt country, full of ‘terrible people.’” Volker, the former special envoy to Ukraine, also told Congress “at no time” did he take part in an effort to investigate Biden. (CNN / BuzzFeed News)
Trump said the Democrats “unfortunately have the votes” to impeach him in the House, but predicted the he would “win” in a trial in the Republican-led Senate. Trump, however, insisted he had said nothing inappropriate during the July call in which he pressed Zelensky to investigate Biden and his son Hunter Biden. (Washington Post)
READ the text messages between U.S. diplomats and Ukrainians released by House Democrats. (CNN / New York Times)
2/ The CIA’s general counsel made a criminal referral to the Justice Department about the whistleblower’s allegations that Trump abused his office weeks before the complaint became public. Courtney Simmons Elwood first learned about the matter because the whistleblower, a CIA officer, passed his concerns about Trump on to her through a colleague. In a Aug. 14 conference call, Elwood told John Eisenberg, the top legal adviser to the White House National Security Council and the chief of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, John Demers, that the allegations merited examination by the Department of Justice. Attorney General William Barr was made aware of the call with Elwood and Eisenberg. Later, Justice Department officials said they didn’t consider the conversation a formal criminal referral because it was not in written form. The Justice Department later declined to open an investigation. (NBC News)
📌 Day 980: The whistleblower is a C.I.A. officer who was detailed in the White House at one point. The man has since returned to the C.I.A., but his complaint suggests he was an analyst by training with an understanding of Ukrainian politics. The C.I.A. officer did not work on the communications team that handles calls with foreign leaders, but learned about Trump’s conduct “in the course of official interagency business.” (New York Times)
📌 Day 981: The White House and the Justice Department learned about the whistleblower complaint against Trump before the formal complaint was passed from the intelligence community. The whistleblower, reportedly a CIA officer, lodged the formal complaint with the inspector general for the intelligence community on Aug. 12th. The whistleblower also shared information about potential abuse of power and a White House cover-up with the CIA’s top lawyer, Courtney Simmons Elwood, through an anonymous process. Elwood, following policy, told White House and Justice Department officials on Aug. 14th that she received anonymous information detailing concerns about a call between Trump and a foreign leader. The following day, John Demers, the head of the Justice Department’s national security division, went to the White House to review a rough transcript of the call. Demers alerted the deputy attorney general, Jeffrey Rosen, and Brian Benczkowski, the head of the department’s criminal division, to discuss how to handle the information. The Justice Department then blocked sending the whistleblower complaint to Congress. The inspector general presented the matter to the acting director of national intelligence on Aug. 26th. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
3/ The Treasury Department’s inspector general is investigating how the department handled requests for Trump’s tax returns, which Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has refused to turn over. Acting Inspector General Rich Delmar said he will investigate who was consulted and how the department came to reject Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal’s demands for the records. Neil’s committee received information from a federal employee at the end of July alleging that there was “possible misconduct” and “inappropriate efforts to influence” the presidential audit program. (New York Times / Politico / CNN)
📌 Day 985: The House Ways and Means chairman is consulting lawyers about allegations regarding “possible misconduct” and “inappropriate efforts to influence” the Internal Revenue Service’s auditing of Trump’s taxes. Chairman Richard Neal told reporters that a decision on releasing the complaint depends on the advice he receives from lawyers for the House of Representatives. (CNN / Bloomberg)
📌 Day 987: An Internal Revenue Service official filed a whistleblower complaint that he was told at least one Treasury Department political appointee attempted to improperly interfere with the annual audit of either Trump’s or Pence’s tax returns. The whistleblower, a career official at the IRS, confirmed that he filed a formal complaint and sent it to the tax committee chairs in both houses of Congress and to the Treasury Department Inspector General for Tax Administration on July 29th. The existence of the complaint was revealed in a court filing months ago, but little about it has become public. (Washington Post)
4/ Trump blocked Sen. Ron Johnson in August from telling Ukraine’s president that U.S. aid was on its way. Johnson raised the issue with Trump in a phone call on Aug. 31, shortly before the senator was due to meet with Zelensky. In the call, Trump rejected the notion that he directed aides to make the nearly $400 million military aid to Ukraine contingent on Kiev investigating the 2016 presidential election and Biden. Johnson said he learned of a potential quid pro quo from Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union. Trump ordered the hold on the military aid a week before his July 25 call with Zelensky. (Wall Street Journal / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
5/ Ukraine’s prosecutor general’s office is now reviewing a criminal case involving the owner of a natural gas company that employed Biden’s son. Prosecutor General Ruslan Ryaboshapka said he intended to review 15 cases in all, including investigations of wealthy Ukrainians, like the owner of the natural gas company Burisma Holdings, where Hunter Biden served on the board until earlier this year. Ryaboshapka said the decision to review the closed cases came after he took office in August – after a July 25 phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The Ryaboshapka didn’t say how long the audit would last, but at a news conference in Kiev he said “the key words were not Biden and not Burisma.” (Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / CNN)
6/ House Democrats subpoenaed the White House for documents about Trump’s efforts to pressure Ukrainian officials to target his political rivals. The subpoena was sent to acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney by three Democratic committee chairmen, who now has a two-week deadline of Oct. 18 to comply with the document demand. “Your failure or refusal to comply with the subpoena, including at the direction or behest of the President or others at the White House, shall constitute evidence of obstruction of the House’s impeachment inquiry and may be used as an adverse inference against you and the President,” wrote chairmen Elijah Cummings, Adam Schiff, and Eliot Engel. (New York Times / Politico / Washington Post / CNN / Associated Press / Axios)
7/ House Democrats demanded that Pence turn over documents as part of their impeachment investigation into Trump and his call with the Ukrainian president. A letter from the chairmen of the House committees on Foreign Affairs, Intelligence, and Oversight requested all of Pence’s records related to Trump’s calls with Zelensky, his communications about the calls with federal agencies, and Trump’s decision to cancel Pence’s trip to Zelensky’s inauguration in May. Pence has until Oct. 15th to comply. (CNN / The Guardian / CNBC)
8/ The White House plans to reject Democrats’ request for documents as part of the impeachment inquiry, arguing that until there is a formal vote by the House to begin impeachment proceedings, Congress doesn’t have the right to the information. (NBC News)
9/ Energy Secretary Rick Perry will step down from his post by the end of the year, pledging to cooperate with lawmakers investigating a whistleblower’s allegations about Trump’s communications with Zelensky. Perry met with Zelensky at least three times while in office. Perry is expected to return to the private sector once he resigns in November. He is among the longest-serving members of Trump’s Cabinet. (Politico / Washington Post / CNN)
10/ The Pentagon’s chief legal officer ordered Defense Department agencies to identify, preserve, and collect all documents related to the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which included the $250 million in military aid to Ukraine that the Trump Administration froze in June. (CNN)
11/ Attorney General William Barr and the Justice Department have intervened in lawsuits where Trump has personally sued those investigating him. The department recently took Trump’s side in a federal lawsuit against the Manhattan district attorney attempting to block a subpoena for Trump’s tax returns. In other cases, the Justice Department supported Trump’s attempt to block a House Oversight Committee subpoena to his accountants, Mazars USA, seeking his tax returns, and subpoenas to two of Trump’s banks, Deutsche Bank and Capital One, seeking documents related to his loans. (Washington Post)
12/ The Supreme Court agreed to review a restrictive Louisiana abortion law that requires doctors to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles. The Louisiana law, enacted in 2014, would leave the state with only one doctor eligible to perform abortions. The requirement is similar to a Texas law the Supreme Court struck down in 2016, finding it posed an undue burden on a woman’s constitutional right to access an abortion. A decision is expected in the summer of 2020. (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Politico / NBC News)
13/ Iranian hackers targeted Trump’s re-election campaign. Earlier in the day, Microsoft said that hackers, with backing from Iran’s government, had attempted to identify, attack, and breach 241 email accounts associated with current and former U.S. government officials, journalists, prominent Iranians outside Iran, and one U.S. presidential campaign. Microsoft said it had seen “significant cyber activity” from a group it believes “originates from Iran and is linked to the Iranian government,” who made more than 2,700 attempts to identify e-mail addresses between August and September. (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News)
1/ Trump urged China to investigate Joe Biden and his son despite already facing impeachment for using the office of the presidency to press Ukraine to investigate a political rival. Trump said he hadn’t directly asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to investigate the Bidens, but it’s “certainly something we could start thinking about.” Trump, Pence, and Attorney General William Barr have now solicited help from Ukraine, Australia, Italy, Britain, and China for assistance in discrediting Trump’s political opponents. Trump also doubled down on pressuring the Ukrainian president, saying that “if it were me, I would recommend that [Ukraine] start an investigation into the Bidens.” Trump’s efforts to persuade Ukraine to investigate Biden in a July phone call set off the impeachment inquiry by House Democrats, who are looking at whether Trump abused the power of his office for political gain. (New York Times / The Guardian / Wall Street Journal / CNN / NBC News / Axios / CNBC / Associated Press / Washington Post)
House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff: Trump’s call for China to investigate the Bidens is “repugnant” and “ought to be condemned by every member” of Congress. (Axios)
Ukraine’s former President said Biden never asked him to open or close any criminal cases. Petro Poroshenko refuted Trump’s claims that Biden abused his power to pressure Kiev to dismiss a federal prosecutor who was investigating a natural gas company of which Biden’s son was a board member. “The former vice president, at least in personal conversations, didn’t raise any requests to open or close any concrete cases,” Poroshenko said. (Bloomberg / The Hill)
Pence claimed that he did not discuss Biden during a September meeting with the Ukrainian President. Pence instead suggested that the unfounded allegations against Biden and his son should be investigated. (Reuters / CNN)
📌 Day 986: Trump repeatedly involved Pence in his efforts to pressure the Ukraine president at a time when Volodymyr Zelensky was seeking recognition and support from Washington. In May, Trump instructed Pence not to attend Zelensky’s inauguration, and, months later, Trump had Pence tell Zelensky that U.S. aid was being withheld while demanding for an investigation Biden and his son. Officials close to Pence insist that he wasn’t aware of Trump’s efforts to press Zelensky for damaging information. One of Pence’s top advisers, however, was on the July 25th call and should have had access to the transcript within hours. (Washington Post)
📌 Day 986: Trump called Boris Johnson to ask for help discrediting the Mueller investigation. On July 26th – two days after the prime minister took office and one day after Trump spoke to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky – Trump called Johnson to ask for help gathering evidence to undermine the investigation into his campaign’s links to Russia. Attorney General William Barr arrived in London days after Trump’s call with Johnson and told British officials that he believed that information from British agencies led to the Mueller investigation. (The Times / Daily Beast)
📌 Day 986: Attorney General William Barr traveled to Italy to meet with Italian secret service agents and listen to a taped deposition by the professor who promised George Papadopoulos he could deliver Russian “dirt” on Hillary Clinton. Joseph Mifsud applied for police protection in Italy after leaving Link University, where he worked. He gave a taped deposition to explain why people might want to harm him. Since the completion of Mueller’s probe in March 2019, Barr and U.S. Attorney John Durham of Connecticut have worked to undermine the Mueller investigation and investigate the investigators behind it. (Daily Beast)
📌 Day 984: Trump pressured Australia’s prime minister to help Barr gather information for a Justice Department investigation into the origins of the Mueller investigation. Trump initiated the discussion – with Barr’s knowledge and at his suggestion – in recent weeks with Prime Minister Scott Morrison explicitly for the purpose of requesting Australia’s help in the Justice Department review that Trump believes will show that the Mueller investigation had corrupt and partisan origins. Similar to the call with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, the discussion with Morrison shows Trump using high-level diplomacy to advance his personal political interests. The White House restricted access of the transcript to a small group of Trump’s aides. (New York Times / CNN / NBC News / ABC News / Associated Press)
2/ Trump brought up both Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren during a phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping on June 18th. The White House record of the call was moved to the highly secured electronic system used to also store the phone call with Ukraine’s President. In that call, Trump also told Xi he would remain quiet about the Hong Kong protests as trade talks progressed. (CNN)
3/ House investigators questioned the State Department’s former special envoy for Ukraine behind closed doors about his interactions with the Ukrainians and Rudy Giuliani. The whistleblower’s complaint alleged that Kurt Volker went to Kiev to advise the Ukrainians on how to “navigate” Trump’s demands and put Giuliani in touch with Zelensky aides. The House Intelligence, Oversight and Foreign Affairs committees wanted to know what Volker knew – and when – about Giuliani’s work in Ukraine, Trump’s decision to withhold $391 million in security assistance while pressing for investigations into political rivals, and the Trump administration’s decision to recall the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. Volker shared a September 9th text exchange with Congress in which Bill Taylor, the top American diplomat in Ukraine, alluded to Trump’s decision to freeze a military aid package to the country. Taylor told Gordon Sondland, the United States ambassador to the European Union and Volker: “I think it’s crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign.” Volker resigned last week and has not been accused of taking part in Trump’s efforts to pressure Ukraine. (New York Times / ABC News / NBC News)
Trump dismissed the ambassador to Ukraine after complaints from Giuliani and allies outside the administration. Marie Yovanovitch was recalled in the spring for allegedly undermining and obstructing Trump’s efforts to persuade Kiev to investigate Biden. (Wall Street Journal)
4/ Two of Trump’s top envoys to Ukraine drafted a statement in August that would have committed Ukraine to investigating Hunter Biden. The statement, drafted by Gordon Sondland and Kurt Volker, would have also committed the Ukrainian government to look into what Trump and Giuliani believe was interference by Ukrainians in the 2016 election to benefit Hillary Clinton. The statement was written with the awareness of a top aide to the Ukrainian president, as well as Giuliani, but it’s unclear if it was delivered to Zelensky. (New York Times)
5/ Giuliani personally gave Secretary of State Mike Pompeo a file of documents of unproven allegations against Biden on March 28th and claimed that he was told that the State Department would take up an investigation of those claims. State Department Inspector General Steve Linick gave Congress the 79-page packet Wednesday, which included nearly 20 pages of communications between State Department employees working to push back against the “fake narrative” that Giuliani was pushing. Linick told Congress that the department’s office of legal counsel had provided the documents to him in May, which he gave to the FBI. The documents were in Trump Hotel folders and included “interview” notes Giuliani conducted with Viktor Shokin, the former General Prosecutor of Ukraine who was pushed out at the urging of Biden because he didn’t prosecute corruption. (NBC News / CNN)
6/ Giuliani was told that Ukrainian claims about the Bidens’ alleged misconduct were not credible. Volker told House investigators that he tried to caution Guiliani that his sources were unreliable and that he should be careful with believing stories by Shokin, Ukraine’s former top prosecutor. Trump and Giuliani contend that, as vice president, Biden pushed for the firing Shokin as part of a corrupt plot to stop investigations into a Ukrainian natural gas company that employed Biden’s son Hunter. (Washington Post)
7/ Giuliani consulted with Paul Manafort through the federal prisoner’s lawyer about Ukraine. Giuliani was seeking information about a so-called “black ledger” to support his theory that the real story of 2016 was not Russian interference to elect Trump, but Ukrainian efforts to support Hillary Clinton. (Washington Post)
📌 Day 83: $1.2 million in payments from a pro-Russian political party have been linked to Paul Manafort’s firm in the US. A handwritten ledger surfaced in Ukraine last August with dollar amounts and dates listed next to the name of Manafort, who was then Donald Trump’s campaign chairman. Manafort originally said the transactions in the ledger were fabricated. Now, he says the transactions corroborated are legal. A Ukrainian lawmaker said $750,000 received by Manafort was part of a money-laundering effort. (Associated Press)
📌 Day 256: Paul Manafort attempted to leverage his role on Trump’s campaign team to curry favor with a Russian oligarch close to Putin during the campaign. Emails turned over to investigators show how the former campaign chair tried to please Oleg Vladimirovich Deripaska, one of Russia’s richest men. Manafort was ousted from the Trump campaign after Manafort’s name was listed in a secret ledger of cash payments from a pro-Russian party in Ukraine that detailed his failed venture with Deripaska. At the time, Manafort was in debt to shell companies connected to pro-Russian interests in Ukraine for some $16 million. (The Atlantic)
📌 Day 978: Ukraine will likely pursue the cases that Trump pressured Zelensky to look into. Valentin Nalyvaichenko, the former head of Ukraine’s domestic intelligence agency and a member of Ukraine’s parliament, said the country will pursue an investigation related to Burisma gas company’s alleged multimillion-dollar corruption deals, but not because of Trump’s pressure. Rather, Ukraine wants to know whether the founder, Ukraine’s ex-minister of natural resources, had paid to quash earlier investigations into the way he acquired gas licenses. Nalyvaichenko said Ukraine should also be interested in an investigation into the “black ledger” that recorded slush-fund payments to Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign manager. (Daily Beast)
8/ An Internal Revenue Service official filed a whistleblower complaint that he was told at least one Treasury Department political appointee attempted to improperly interfere with the annual audit of either Trump’s or Pence’s tax returns. The whistleblower, a career official at the IRS, confirmed that he filed a formal complaint and sent it to the tax committee chairs in both houses of Congress and to the Treasury Department Inspector General for Tax Administration on July 29th. The existence of the complaint was revealed in a court filing months ago, but little about it has become public. (Washington Post)
poll/ 45% of Americans support a vote by the House of Representatives to impeach Trump. Similarly, 44% said the Senate should convict Trump and remove him from office. (USA Today)
Notables.
Trump told aides last year he wanted U.S. forces with bayonets to block people from crossing into the United States across the Mexico border. He also suggested the excavation of a border trench, or moat, that could be stocked with dangerous reptiles. The New York Times reported on Trump’s proposal for a moat filled with snakes and alligators, along with his suggestion that U.S. forces could open fire on migrants as they attempted to enter the country, which Trump denied on Twitter yesterday. The Washington Post independently confirmed that the president did, in fact, say those things during border security meetings, including when he demanded the wholesale closure of the Mexico border and appeared prepared to enforce the decree with violence. (Washington Post)
The U.S. announced new tariffs on European goods in retaliation for illegal airplane subsidies from the European Union. The goods include 10% tariffs on Airbus planes and 25% duties on French wine, Scotch and Irish whiskies, and cheese from across the continent. The announcement came after the World Trade Organization gave Washington a green light to impose tariffs on $7.5 billion worth of EU goods annually, a move that threatens to set off a tit-for-tat trade war between the U.S. and the EU. The tariffs are set to go into effect on Oct. 18. (Reuters)
1/ The House threatened to subpoena the White House if it doesn’t comply with its request for documents related to Trump’s attempts to get Ukraine to investigate Biden and his son. House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings notified committee members that the subpoena will be issued Friday, citing the White House’s “flagrant disregard” of previous requests for documents. Cummings said the committee has “tried several times to obtain voluntary compliance with our requests for documents” over the last several weeks, but the White House hasn’t responded. Separately, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff said that any efforts by Trump and his administration to stonewall or interfere with their investigation “will be considered as evidence of obstruction of justice.” Schiff joined Speaker Nancy Pelosi in condemning Trump’s tweets and his demand to “meet” the whistleblower, calling it “a blatant effort to intimidate witnesses” and “an incitement of violence.” Later in the day, Trump argued that whistleblowers should only be protected if they’re “legitimate.” (New York Times / ABC News / Axios / Associated Press / CNBC)
Read Cummings’ full memo to the House Oversight and Reform Committee (New York Times)
2/ Trump complained that House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry is “BULLSHIT” that’s “wasting everyone’s time.” Trump also called Adam Schiff a “low life,” and a “dishonest guy” who “couldn’t carry” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s “blank strap” – an apparent reference to a “jock strap.” Trump also blamed the impeachment inquiry for declines in the stock market and suggested staffers were inappropriately listening in on his phone calls. Trump’s tweets came after he suggested that the impeachment inquiry amounted to an attempted coup. At a joint news conference later in the day with Finland’s president, Trump attacked reporters who asked about the impeachment inquiry, calling it a hoax and a fraud, but said he would cooperate with the inquiry, claiming: “I always cooperate.” (NBC NewsReuters / Washington Post / Talking Points Memo)
3/ Trump repeatedly involved Pence in his efforts to pressure the Ukraine president at a time when Volodymyr Zelensky was seeking recognition and support from Washington. In May, Trump instructed Pence not to attend Zelensky’s inauguration, and, months later, Trump had Pence tell Zelensky that U.S. aid was being withheld while demanding for an investigation Biden and his son. Officials close to Pence insist that he wasn’t aware of Trump’s efforts to press Zelensky for damaging information. One of Pence’s top advisers, however, was on the July 25th call and should have had access to the transcript within hours. (Washington Post)
4/ The whistleblower first contacted the House Intelligence Committee for guidance before sending the complaint to the Trump administration. Adam Schiff learned about the outlines of the whistleblower’s concerns that Trump had abused his power days before the whistleblower filed the complaint. Schiff’s office denied seeing the complaint in advance, but it also explains how Schiff knew to press for the complaint when the Trump administration initially blocked lawmakers from seeing it. Trump – without evidence – claimed that Schiff “probably helped write” the whistleblower complaint, calling Schiff “a shifty dishonest guy” and the complaint “a scam.” An attorney representing the whistleblower said that no one from House Intelligence Committee helped the whistleblower write their complaint. (New York Times / CNN)
📌 Day 970: The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee accused the acting director of national intelligence of withholding a whistleblower complaint in order to protect a “higher authority” official. Adam Schiff said Joseph Maguire, the acting DNI, consulted the Justice Department about the whistleblower complaint prior to his decision to withhold the complaint – a departure from standard practice. Schiff added that the Committee “can only conclude, based on this remarkable confluence of factors, that the serious misconduct at issue involves the President of the United States and/or other senior White House or Administration officials.” (Business Insider / CBS News)
📌 Day 972: The acting director of national intelligence refused testify before Congress or hand over a whistleblower complaint to lawmakers. The complaint was submitted on Aug. 12 by a member of the intelligence community involving conduct by someone “outside the intelligence community” who does not involve intelligence activity under the supervision of Joseph Maguire, the acting director of national intelligence. Maguire had told Adam Schiff, the House Intelligence Committee chairman, that he would not provide the complaint “because he is being instructed not to” by “a higher authority” who is “above” the cabinet-level position of the director of national intelligence. (New York Times)
📌 Day 973: The whistleblower complaint by an intelligence officer was triggered by a “promise” Trump made to a foreign leader and involves a series of actions that goes beyond any single discussion. The formal complaint was filed with Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson, who “determined that this complaint is both credible and urgent.” The acting director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire, however, has refused to turn it over to Congress. While it’s unclear to whom Trump was speaking at the time, White House records show Trump spoke to or interacted with Putin, Kim Jong Un, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, and the Emir of Qatar in the five weeks prior to the complaint being filed on August 12th. Trump, meanwhile, denied that he made any “promise” to a foreign leader, calling the formal complaint “Presidential Harassment!” and rhetorically asking if there is “anybody dumb enough to believe that [he] would say something inappropriate with a foreign leader.” (Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / ABC News / NBC News)
5/ Trump threatened to personally sue people involved in Mueller’s investigation into Russian inference in the 2016 election. While Trump did not name names, he said “I probably will be bringing litigation against a lot of people having to do with the corrupt investigation into the 2016 election. And I have every right to.” Guiliani, meanwhile, texted a reporter to say they plan to sue “The swamp. Trump v The Swamp.” When asked how he plans to sue “The Swamp,” Guiliani replied: “In federal court.” (Reuters / Vanity Fair / The Guardian)
6/ Mike Pompeo admitted that he was on the July 25th call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky when Trump asked Zelensky to have Ukraine investigate Joe Biden and his son. “I was on the phone call,” Pompeo said during a news conference in Rome with Italy’s foreign minister. Pompeo’s admission was the first time he confirmed that he was on the call — after previously evading questions about what he knew about the conversation and news reports that revealed he was on the call. (CNN / New York Times)
Attorney General William Barr traveled to Italy to meet with Italian secret service agents and listen to a taped deposition by the professor who promised George Papadopoulos he could deliver Russian “dirt” on Hillary Clinton. Joseph Mifsud applied for police protection in Italy after leaving Link University, where he worked. He gave a taped deposition to explain why people might want to harm him. Since the completion of Mueller’s probe in March 2019, Barr and U.S. Attorney John Durham of Connecticut have worked to undermine the Mueller investigation and investigate the investigators behind it. (Daily Beast)
📌 Day 984: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was among the administration officials who listened in on the July 25th phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Pompeo said that he hadn’t yet read the whistleblower’s complaint, but claimed that actions by State Department officials had been “entirely appropriate and consistent” with the Trump’s administration efforts to improve relations with Ukraine. Three House committees subpoenaed Pompeo on Friday for documents related to the inquiry. (Wall Street Journal / NBC News / The Guardian)
📌 Day 985: Attorney General William Barr and Mike Pompeo personally participated in contacts between Trump and at least four foreign leaders. The goal those contacts was to produce stories that could damage Joe Biden or undermine the U.S. intelligence community’s 2017 assessment that Russia meddled in the 2016 election. (The Guardian / Reuters / Business Insider)
7/ Trump called Boris Johnson to ask for help discrediting the Mueller investigation. On July 26th – two days after the prime minister took office and one day after Trump spoke to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky – Trump called Johnson to ask for help gathering evidence to undermine the investigation into his campaign’s links to Russia. Attorney General William Barr arrived in London days after Trump’s call with Johnson and told British officials that he believed that information from British agencies led to the Mueller investigation. (The Times / The Daily Beast)
📌 Day 984: Trump pressured Australia’s prime minister to help Barr gather information for a Justice Department investigation into the origins of the Mueller investigation. Trump initiated the discussion – with Barr’s knowledge and at his suggestion – in recent weeks with Prime Minister Scott Morrison explicitly for the purpose of requesting Australia’s help in the Justice Department review that Trump believes will show that the Mueller investigation had corrupt and partisan origins. Similar to the call with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, the discussion with Morrison shows Trump using high-level diplomacy to advance his personal political interests. The White House restricted access of the transcript to a small group of Trump’s aides. (New York Times / CNN / NBC News / ABC News / Associated Press)
📌 Day 348: A drunk George Papadopoulos bragged about the political dirt Russia had on Hillary Clinton to Australia’s top diplomat at a London bar in May 2016. Australian officials passed the information about Papadopoulos to their American counterparts two months later, when leaked Democratic emails began appearing online. The FBI opened its counterintelligence investigation in July 2016 into Russia’s attempts to disrupt the election following the revelation that the Trump campaign had information about the DNC’s hacked emails Trump and his advisers have dismissed Papadopoulos’ campaign role as just a “coffee boy.” (New York Times)
8/ The Justice Department told the White House that they must preserve all notes regarding Trump’s meetings and phone calls with foreign leaders. In a two-page filing, the Justice Department told a judge in Washington that the Trump administration and executive office of the president “voluntarily agree […] to preserve the material at issue pending” litigation. The question of preserving the information arose in federal court following government transparency and historical archivist groups’ emergency request to maintain the notes from the Trump-Volodymyr Zelensky July 25th call, as well as other Trump discussions with world leaders. (CNN / Washington Post)
poll/ 46% of voters said Congress should begin impeachment proceedings to remove Trump from office, compared to 43% who said they should not. 56% of voters disapprove of Trump’s job performance. (Politico)
poll/ 40% of Republicans believe that Trump mentioned the possibility of an investigation into Biden during his call with the Ukraine president even though Trump acknowledged that he had. (Monmouth University Poll / USA Today)
Notables.
The House Oversight Committee is investigating whether groups — including at least one foreign government — tried to curry favor with Trump by booking rooms at his hotels but never using them, and whether Trump broke the law by accepting money from U.S. or foreign governments at his properties. The investigation began after the committee received information that a trade association and a foreign government booked a large quantity of rooms but used only a fraction of them. (Politico)
Eric and Donald Trump Jr. have sold off $110 million of Trump’s real estate holdings since he took office. The Trump children have used the money to pay down an estimated $60 million in debt since the inauguration. (Forbes)
Trump’s agriculture secretary said that he doesn’t know if the family dairy farm can survive. Sonny Perdue told reporters during a stop at the World Dairy Expo in Madison, WI that “In America, the big get bigger and the small go out. I don’t think in America we, for any small business, we have a guaranteed income or guaranteed profitability.” Wisconsin has lost 551 dairy farms in 2019 after losing 638 in 2018, and 465 in 2017. (Associated Press)
A federal judge in California blocked a state law that required presidential candidates to release their income tax returns before appearing on the state’s primary ballot. The judge said the law presents a “troubling minefield” and would set a dangerous precedent and become a slippery slope for other kinds of disclosures. (CNN)
Senate Democrats asked the IRS to consider stripping the National Rifle Association of its tax-exempt status after a months-long investigation that found that the NRA worked closely with Russian nationals who wanted access to the American political system. (NBC News)
1/ Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told House Democrats that the five State Department officials scheduled depositions before the committees conducting the impeachment inquiry would not appear. Pompeo characterized efforts to depose officials as “an attempt to intimidate, bully, and treat improperly, the distinguished professionals of the Department of State.” Chairmen of the Foreign Affairs, Intelligence and Oversight committees responded to Pompeo, saying that “any effort to intimidate witnesses or prevent them from talking with Congress – including State Department employees – is illegal and will constitute evidence of obstruction of the impeachment inquiry.” Four of the five officials scheduled to be deposed over the next two weeks – Ambassador Marie “Masha” Yovanovitch, Ambassador Kurt Volker, Counselor T. Ulrich Brechbuhl and Ambassador Gordon Sondland – were mentioned in the whistleblower complaint. (Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / Politico / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Axios)
Kurt Volker confirmed that he’ll testify in private on Thursday in front of three House committees as part of their impeachment investigation. Volker resigned last week as U.S. special representative to Ukraine after he was named in a whistleblower’s complaint. (Bloomberg)
2/ The State Department’s inspector general is expected to give an “urgent” briefing on Ukraine to several House and Senate committees tomorrow regarding documents obtained from the Office of the Legal Adviser concerning the State Department and Ukraine. The briefing, expected to be conducted by Steve Linick, will be held in a secure location on Capitol Hill during a congressional recess, suggesting that it’s connected to the whistleblower complaint. [Editor’s note: This was late breaking news. More tomorrow!] (ABC News)
3/ Trump asked why he was not “entitled to interview” the whistleblower despite laws designed to protect the confidentiality of whistleblowers – a day after Trump said the White House was trying to find out the person’s identity. The whistleblower said he heard of the July 25 call with Ukraine’s president from multiple White House officials with direct knowledge of it, who said Trump was pressuring the Ukrainian leader to advance his own political interests, and that White House officials acted to conceal evidence of the president’s actions. In a tweet, Trump asked: “Why aren’t we entitled to interview & learn everything about the Whistleblower, and also the person who gave all of the false information to him.” The tweet prompted Michael Atkinson, the Trump-appointed intelligence community inspector general, to clarify that there is no requirement in federal law that a whistleblower possess first-hand knowledge of alleged misconduct. Atkinson added that he determined the whistleblower “had official and authorized access to the information and sources referenced in the complainant’s letter and classified appendix, including direct knowledge of certain alleged conduct, and that the complainant has subject matter expertise related to much of the material information provided.” The whistleblower is expected to testify before the House Intelligence Committee as soon as early next week. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
Trump’s first homeland security adviser said he repeatedly warned Trump that the theory that Ukraine – not Russia – intervened in the 2016 election and did so on behalf of the Democrats was “completely debunked.” Thomas Bossert said he was “deeply disturbed” that Trump nonetheless tried to get Ukraine’s president to produce damaging information about Democrats. (New York Times)
Attorney General William Barr and Mike Pompeo personally participated in contacts between Trump and at least four foreign leaders. The goal those contacts was to produce stories that could damage Joe Biden or undermine the U.S. intelligence community’s 2017 assessment that Russia meddled in the 2016 election. (The Guardian / Reuters / Business Insider)
4/ The White House upgraded the security of the National Security Council’s top-secret codeword system in the spring of 2018 to prevent leaks. The changes included a new log of who accessed documents in the NSC’s system. The White House began using the codeword system to restrict the number of officials who had access to transcripts following leaks in 2017. (Politico)
5/ Lawyers for the House of Representatives believe that Trump lied to Robert Mueller about his knowledge of his campaign’s contacts with WikiLeaks, citing the grand jury redactions in the Mueller report. The attorneys made the suggestion in a court filing as part of the Judiciary Committee’s attempts to obtain the grand jury materials. The filing says the materials not only reveal Trump’s motives for obstructing Mueller’s probe, but “they also could reveal that Trump was aware of his campaign’s contacts with WikiLeaks.” To back up their claims, the legal team cited a passage in Mueller’s report about Paul Manafort’s testimony where he “recalled” Trump asking to be kept “updated” about WikiLeaks’ disclosures of DNC emails. (Politico)
A federal judge ordered the Justice Department to produce 500 pages of memos documenting what witnesses told Mueller’s office and the FBI during their investigation. The Justice Department is required to produce their first set of documents by November 1. (CNN)
6/ Rudy Giuliani hired a former Watergate prosecutor to represent him in the House Intelligence Committee’s impeachment investigation. Giuliani tapped Jon Sale after the committee issued a subpoena on Monday demanding details about Guiliani’s interactions with Trump administration officials. Giuliani will continue to represent Trump. (Politico / Axios)
Trump’s trade adviser told Fox Business that the House impeachment inquiry is an “attempted coup d’etat” and likened House Democrats to Stalin’s secret police. Peter Navarro also suggested that House Democrats could be “more dangerous” than China, Russia, or Iran. Yesterday, Navarro said that House Democrats “declared war on this president.” (The Hill / CNBC)
poll/ 54% of voters say the House should cancel its current two-week recess and begin impeachment proceedings immediately, while 46% disagree. (The Hill)
poll/ 45% of voters believe Trump should be impeached – up 8 points since last week – while 41% believe he shouldn’t be impeached and 15% said they don’t know. (Reuters/Ipsos)
poll/ 44% of Americans feel that Trump should be impeached and forced to leave office, while 52% disagree with this course of action. Trump’s overall job rating stands at 41% approve while 53% disapprove – similar to his 40% to 53% rating in August. (Monmouth University Polling Institute)
Notables.
In March, Trump ordered advisers to price out the cost of fortifying his border wall with a water-filled trench stocked with snakes or alligators, and electrified with spikes on top that could pierce human flesh. During the Oval Office meeting, Trump also suggested that they shoot migrants in the legs to slow them down. He was advised that that was illegal. Trump then ordered advisers to shut down the entire 2,000-mile border with Mexico by noon the next day. “You are making me look like an idiot!” Trump shouted at officials in the room. (New York Times)
U.S. manufacturing activity declined for the second straight month, falling to the lowest level in the Institute for Supply Management index since June 2009. (CNBC / Wall Street Journal)
Trump attacked the Federal Reserve for the slowdown in manufacturing, claiming the central bank is “pathetic” and doesn’t have a “clue.” (Politico / Bloomberg / CNBC)
The House Ways and Means chairman is consulting lawyers about allegations regarding “possible misconduct” and “inappropriate efforts to influence” the Internal Revenue Service’s auditing of Trump’s taxes. Chairman Richard Neal told reporters that a decision on releasing the complaint depends on the advice he receives from lawyers for the House of Representatives. (CNN / Bloomberg)
A federal appeals court on ruled in favor of the Federal Communications Commission and upheld its repeal net neutrality protections. The new guidelines would allow broadband providers to block or slow internet traffic or offer priority service where companies could pay for their content to reach internet users at faster speeds. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
1/ Trump called the whistleblower “a fraud,” suggested that House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff be arrested for “Treason,” and warned of a “civil war-like fracture” in America if he’s removed from office. Trump accused Schiff of “illegally” misrepresenting him during acting director of national intelligence Joseph Maguire’s testimony last week, saying “It bore NO relationship to what I said on the call. Arrest for Treason?” Trump also called for Schiff to be “questioned at the highest level for Fraud & Treason.” In a series of tweets, Trump retweeted a conservative evangelical pastor’s warning that a “civil war-like fracture” in America would happen “If the Democrats are successful in removing the President from office (which they will never be), it will cause a Civil War like fracture in this Nation from which our Country will never heal.” (New York Times / Washington Post / CNBC / The Guardian / Reuters / Associated Press / USA Today / CNN)
2/ The House Intelligence Committee subpoenaed Rudy Giuliani for Ukraine-related documents as part of their impeachment inquiry. In a letter to Giuliani, the heads of three House committees asked for information going back to January 2017 related to efforts to get Ukraine’s government to investigate the Biden family, noting “a growing public record” of information appearing “to have pressed the Ukrainian government to pursue two politically-motivated investigations.” House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel, and House Committee on Oversight and Reform Chairman Elijah Cummings also said they are investigating “credible allegations” that Giuliani “acted as an agent of the president in a scheme to advance his personal political interests by abusing the power of the office of the president.” The chairmen gave Giuliani until Oct. 15th to comply. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / CNBC)
Giuliani canceled his scheduled paid appearance at a Kremlin-backed conference in Armenia next week, which Putin and other top Russian officials are expected to attend. (Washington Post)
3/ Attorney General William Barr privately met overseas with foreign intelligence officials seeking help in a Justice Department investigation that Trump hopes will discredit U.S. intelligence related to Russian interference in the 2016 election. Barr previously met with British intelligence officials, and last week traveled to Italy to ask the Italians to assist John Durham, the U.S. attorney in Connecticut, who is tasked with reviewing CIA and FBI activities in 2016. It was not Barr’s first trip to Italy to meet intelligence officials. (Washington Post)
4/ Trump pressured Australia’s prime minister to help Barr gather information for a Justice Department investigation into the origins of the Mueller investigation. Trump initiated the discussion – with Barr’s knowledge and at his suggestion – in recent weeks with Prime Minister Scott Morrison explicitly for the purpose of requesting Australia’s help in the Justice Department review that Trump believes will show that the Mueller investigation had corrupt and partisan origins. Similar to the call with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, the discussion with Morrison shows Trump using high-level diplomacy to advance his personal political interests. The White House restricted access of the transcript to a small group of Trump’s aides. (New York Times / CNN / NBC News / ABC News / Associated Press)
📌 Day 348: A drunk George Papadopoulos bragged about the political dirt Russia had on Hillary Clinton to Australia’s top diplomat at a London bar in May 2016. Australian officials passed the information about Papadopoulos to their American counterparts two months later, when leaked Democratic emails began appearing online. The FBI opened its counterintelligence investigation in July 2016 into Russia’s attempts to disrupt the election following the revelation that the Trump campaign had information about the DNC’s hacked emails Trump and his advisers have dismissed Papadopoulos’ campaign role as just a “coffee boy.” (New York Times)
5/ The White House restricted access to Trump’s calls with Putin and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. With Putin, access to the transcript of at least one of Trump’s conversations were restricted, though it’s not clear if aides placed the Russian phone calls in the same highly secured electronic system that held the phone call with Ukraine’s president. There were no transcripts made of the phone conversations between Trump and the Saudi king or crown prince, which came as the White House was confronting the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The CIA concluded that bin Salman personally ordered Khashoggi’s assassination. (CNN / Wall Street Journal)
6/ The attorney for the intelligence community whistleblower said he has “serious concerns” that Trump’s comments could put his client “in harm’s way.” On Sunday, Trump claimed that he “deserves to meet my accuser,” who he referred to as a “so-called ‘Whistleblower’” that had “represented a perfect conversation with a foreign leader in a totally inaccurate and fraudulent way.” And, earlier today, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that “we’re trying to find out” the identity of the whistleblower. In a letter to Joseph Maguire, the acting director of national intelligence, Andrew Bakaj, the whistleblower’s lead attorney, said Trump’s call for “the person who gave the whistleblower the information” to be publicly identified “have heightened our concerns that our client’s identity will be disclosed publicly and that, as a result, our client will be put in harm’s way.” Bakaj also wrote that “certain individuals” had issued a $50,000 bounty for anyone with information relating to the whistleblower’s identity. (NBC News / New York Times / Axios / CNN / USA Today / Axios)
The whistleblower agreed to testify before the House Intelligence Committee. Adam Schiff added that his committee is currently “taking all the precautions we can to make sure that we do so – we allow that testimony to go forward in a way that protects the whistleblower’s identity.” Mark Zaid, the attorney for the anonymous whistleblower, said “protecting whistleblower’s identity is paramount” and that “discussions continue to occur to coordinate & finalize logistics but no date/time has yet been set.” (CNN)
7/ Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was among the administration officials who listened in on the July 25th phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Pompeo said that he hadn’t yet read the whistleblower’s complaint, but claimed that actions by State Department officials had been “entirely appropriate and consistent” with the Trump’s administration efforts to improve relations with Ukraine. Three House committees subpoenaed Pompeo on Friday for documents related to the inquiry. (Wall Street Journal / NBC News / The Guardian)
📌 Day 981: The House foreign affairs, intelligence and oversight committees subpoenaed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for documents related to Trump’s interactions with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. The subpoena demands that Pompeo provide documents by Oct. 4th and was accompanied by a plan to also depose five State Department officials, including Ambassador Kurt Volker and Marie Yovanovitch. Volker reportedly arranged for Rudy Giuliani to meet with high-level Ukrainian officials, and Yovanovitch was removed as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine by Trump. In a joint letter to Pompeo, the chairmen of the three committees said a “failure or refusal to comply with the subpoena shall constitute evidence of obstruction of the House’s impeachment inquiry.” (Politico / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News)
Zelensky said Kiev was unlikely to publish its version of a transcript from the July 25th with Trump. The White House published its summary of the call last week, but Zelensky said he felt it would be wrong to share the Ukrainian summary or transcript of the call. “There are certain nuances and things which I think it would be incorrect, even, to publish,” Zelensky said. When asked whether Kiev would open an investigation into the claims against Biden and his son, Zelensky said Ukraine would not act solely at the behest of other nations. “We can’t be commanded to do anything,” he said. “We are an independent country.” (Reuters)
8/ Trump told two senior Russian officials in a 2017 Oval Office meeting that he wasn’t concerned about Moscow’s interference in the 2016 election, because the U.S. did the same in other countries. A memorandum summarizing the meeting was limited to select officials with the highest security clearances in an attempt to keep Trump’s comments from being disclosed publicly. (Washington Post)
The Kremlin claimed that transcripts between Trump and Putin can only be published by mutual agreement, because there “is a certain diplomatic practice” and the “diplomatic practice doesn’t envisage such publications.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Russia would be prepared to discuss the issue with Washington “If we receive some signals from the U.S., we will consider it.” (Associated Press / Reuters)
📌 Day 111: Trump met with Putin’s top diplomats at the White House. The talks came one day after Trump fired the FBI Director, who was overseeing an investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election. Sergey Lavrov met with Rex Tillerson earlier in the day and sarcastically acknowledged the dismissal of James Comey by saying “Was he fired? You’re kidding. You’re kidding.” The Kremlin said Trump’s firing of Comey will have no effect on bilateral relations between the two countries. Trump also met with Sergey Kislyak, a key figure in the Flynn investigation. (Associated Press / Reuters / Washington Post / NPR)
9/ The State Department’s special envoy to Ukraine resigned. Kurt Volker tendered his resignation to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday – hours after three House committees announced that he was among the State Department officials who would be compelled to testify. The committees are expected to examine Volker’s role in facilitating contacts between Rudy Giuliani and Ukrainian officials on Trump’s behalf this past summer. The unidentified intelligence official who filed the whistleblower complaint that brought the president’s actions to light identified Volker as one of the officials trying to “contain the damage” by advising Ukrainians how to navigate Mr. Giuliani’s campaign. The whistleblower also said Volker was one of the officials trying to “contain the damage” to U.S. national security from Giuliani’s foreign policy efforts. Volker plans to appear at his deposition next Thursday in front of the Intelligence, Oversight and Reform and Foreign Affairs committees. (The State Press / New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / CNN)
Trump and other aides are frustrated with Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney for not having a strategy for defending and explaining the whistleblower complaint or the summary of Trump’s July 25 call with Ukraine’s leader. (CNN)
10/ Mitch McConnell said the Senate would have “no choice” but to put Trump on trial and vote on removing him from office if the House votes to pass articles of impeachment, addressing doubts he may circumvent Senate procedures. The Republican-held Senate, however, is unlikely to vote to convict Trump and remove him from office. The Constitution gives the Senate the power to try the president if he is impeached by the House, but it does not set a timetable for the process. (CNBC / Axios / Wall Street Journal / Yahoo News / Reuters)
poll/ 55% of Americans approve of the impeachment inquiry into Trump, while 45% disapprove. 87% of Democrats approve of the inquiry, while 23% of Republicans feel the same. (CBS News)
poll/ 47% of voters think Trump should be impeached and removed from office, while 47% disagree. (Quinnipiac)
poll/ 47% of Americans support impeaching Trump and removing him from office, while 45% disagree. (CNN)
1/ The White House and the Justice Department learned about the whistleblower complaint against Trump before the formal complaint was passed from the intelligence community. The whistleblower, reportedly a CIA officer, lodged the formal complaint with the inspector general for the intelligence community on Aug. 12th. The whistleblower also shared information about potential abuse of power and a White House cover-up with the CIA’s top lawyer, Courtney Simmons Elwood, through an anonymous process. Elwood, following policy, told White House and Justice Department officials on Aug. 14th that she received anonymous information detailing concerns about a call between Trump and a foreign leader. The following day, John Demers, the head of the Justice Department’s national security division, went to the White House to review a rough transcript of the call. Demers alerted the deputy attorney general, Jeffrey Rosen, and Brian Benczkowski, the head of the department’s criminal division, to discuss how to handle the information. The Justice Department then blocked sending the whistleblower complaint to Congress. The inspector general presented the matter to the acting director of national intelligence on Aug. 26th. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
More than 300 former U.S. national security and foreign policy officials signed a statement warning that Trump’s actions regarding Ukraine represent a “profound national security concern.” The letter also calls for an impeachment inquiry by Congress to determine “the facts.” Many of the signers are former Obama officials. But the list includes others who served as career officials in both Democratic and Republican administrations. Former officials from the intelligence community, the Defense Department, the National Security Council and the Department of Homeland Security also signed the statement. (Washington Post)
A Kremlin spokesperson said Russia hopes the U.S. doesn’t release the transcripts of Trump’s conversations with Vladimir Putin like it did with the Ukrainian president’s calls. “We would like to hope that things won’t come to such situations in our bilateral relations, which already have plenty of quite serious problems,” said Dmitry Peskov. He called the move to release the information “a rather unusual practice,” and said that as a rule, “materials from conversations on the level of the head of state are considered secret or top secret.” (Bloomberg / NBC News)
2/ National Security Council attorneys directed the White House to move the Ukraine transcript to a highly classified system. The whistleblower said that moving the record of the call was unusual, because it was “used to store and handle classified information of an especially sensitive level” and evidence that “White House officials understood the gravity of what had transpired” during the conversation. According to the whistleblower, “one White House official described this act as an abuse of this electronic system because the call did not contain anything remotely sensitive from a national security perspective.” The White House, meanwhile, claimed that because the transcript was already classified, there was nothing wrong with moving it to a highly classified system that contained intelligence secrets and military plans. (CNN / Associated Press)
The effort to conceal Trump’s call with the Ukrainian president was part of a broader attempt to prevent information about Trump’s calls with foreign leaders from becoming public. At one point in 2018, Defense Department officials were asked to send back transcripts of calls to the White House after Trump aides grew worried they could be disclosed. The number of aides allowed to listen on secure “drop” lines were also cut. (Washington Post / New York Times)
3/ The House foreign affairs, intelligence and oversight committees subpoenaed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for documents related to Trump’s interactions with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. The subpoena demands that Pompeo provide documents by Oct. 4th and was accompanied by a plan to also depose five State Department officials, including Ambassador Kurt Volker and Marie Yovanovitch. Volker reportedly arranged for Rudy Giuliani to meet with high-level Ukrainian officials, and Yovanovitch was removed as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine by Trump. In a joint letter to Pompeo, the chairmen of the three committees said a “failure or refusal to comply with the subpoena shall constitute evidence of obstruction of the House’s impeachment inquiry.” (Politico / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News)
4/ Two House committees requested information from the White House justifying why nearly $400 million in military aid to Ukraine was suspended as Trump was pressing the country to investigate Joe Biden. In a letter sent by the House Appropriations Committee and the House Budget Committee to acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and acting Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, lawmakers said they were concerned that actions by the OMB to withhold military aid for Ukraine were “an abuse of the authority provided to the president to apportion appropriations.” (Wall Street Journal)
5/ The House Intelligence Committee will continue working through a scheduled two-week congressional recess that ends Oct. 15th. The Intelligence Committee expects to have a hearing as soon as next Friday. (Politico / CNN)
poll/ Support for impeachment among Democrats jumped up 13 percentage points – from 66% to 79% – since the last poll. The general public is now evenly split between the 43% who think Congress should begin the impeachment process and 43% who don’t. 13% of voters remain undecided. (Politico / Morning Consult)
Gov. Phil Scott of Vermont on Thursday became the first Republican governor to endorse the impeachment inquiry against Trump. Scott did not say he believed Trump should be impeached or removed from office. But he did say Congress should examine the full whistleblower report, and that it was appropriate for the House to proceed with the impeachment inquiry. (New York Times)
Notables.
New York prosecutors temporarily agreed to not enforce a subpoena for eight years of Trump’s tax returns. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance agreed to wait to enforce the subpoena until Oct. 7th – two business days after a judge rules on Trump’s challenge to the subpoena. (Politico / Wall Street Journal / Reuters / CNN / CNBC)
A federal judge blocked the Trump administration from expanding family detention. In August, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services issued new rules attempting terminate the Flores Settlement Agreenment and lift the 20-day limit for holding children in detention. (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times)
The House voted to overturn Trump’s national emergency declaration to fund his border wall. The resolution, which passed also passed the Senate, now heads to the White House, where Trump is expected to veto it. (Washington Post)
A Washington, D.C. police union rented the Trump International Hotel for its annual holiday party. The Fraternal Order of Police lodge for the District – an umbrella group for D.C. police unions – said they looked at other venues but Trump’s hotel gave them the best rate. (Washington Post)
The National Rifle Association acted as a “foreign asset” for Russia leading up to the 2016 election and may have violated numerous tax laws by ignoring the rules associated with nonprofit tax status, according to a new report by Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee. The NRA paid for lodging and travel of Russian nationals throughout 2015 and 2016, and underwrote political access for Russian nationals Maria Butina and Alexander Torshin more than previously known. (NPR / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
1/ The whistleblower complaint accused Trump of “abus[ing] his office for personal gain” by “[soliciting] interference” from Ukraine in the 2020 election and that the White House took steps to cover it up. Multiple White House officials were reportedly “deeply disturbed” by Trump’s July 25th phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and tried to “lock down” all records of the call. The complaint notes that White House lawyers were “already in discussion” about “how to treat the call because of the likelihood, in the officials’ retelling, that they had witnessed the president abuse his office for personal gain.” White House lawyers “directed” officials to “remove the electronic transcript from the computer system” for Cabinet-level officials and instead put them on a computer system “used to store and handle classified information of an especially sensitive nature” that is managed by the National Security Council Directorate for Intelligence Programs. According to White House officials who informed the whistleblower, this was “not the first time” a transcript was put on the computer system reserved for code-word-level intelligence information due to concerns about politics, rather than national security. The whistleblower also described Rudy Giuliani as a “central figure in this effort,” which includes attempts at “pressuring a foreign country to investigate the President’s main domestic political rivals.” The complaint adds: “Attorney General William Barr appears to be involved as well.” (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Politico / NBC News / Bloomberg / Associated Press)
The whistleblower complaint was declassified and released to the public. The full version of the complaint was released to Congress yesterday. The complaint was filed on Aug. 12. The House voted 421-0 to release the complaint. Two House members voted present and 10 did not vote. (NBC News / Market Watch / New York Times / The Independent / Reuters / New York Times)
2/ The acting Director of National Intelligence defended his decision not to immediately share the whistleblower complaint with Congress. Joseph Maguire told members of the House Intelligence Committee that he asked White House lawyers about the “urgent” whistleblower complaint involving Trump, saying it “seemed prudent” since conversations with foreign leaders are typically subject to executive privilege. Michael Atkinson, the inspector general for the intelligence community and a Trump-appointee, deemed the complaint “urgent” and credible. Maguire, however, consulted with the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, which determined that the complaint did not meet the legal definition of “urgent” because it did not involve a member of the intelligence community and therefore fell outside his jurisdiction. Maguire also dodged questions about whether he spoke with Trump about the complaint, saying “My conversations with the president, because I’m the director of national intelligence, are privileged.” (Politico / CNN / Washington Post / NBC News / New York Times)
3/ Trump accused the whistleblower of being “close to a spy” and threatened that “in the old days” spies were dealt with “a little differently than we do now,” while labeling the complaint an act of “treason.” Speaking at a private event in New York, Trump repeatedly referred to the whistleblower and condemned the news media reporting on the complaint as “crooked” “scum.” Trump also sent three dozen tweets and retweets defending himself over a two-hour period Thursday morning, warning Americans that the stock markets would crash if congressional Democrats impeach him and claiming that “OUR COUNTRY IS AT STAKE!” (New York Times / Los Angeles Times / NBC News / Politico)
4/ The whistleblower is a C.I.A. officer who was detailed in the White House at one point. The man has since returned to the C.I.A., but his complaint suggests he was an analyst by training with an understanding of Ukrainian politics. The C.I.A. officer did not work on the communications team that handles calls with foreign leaders, but learned about Trump’s conduct “in the course of official interagency business.” (New York Times)
5/ The whistleblower agreed to testify about the complaint to Congress, but only if Maguire gives the whistleblower’s attorney the proper clearances to accompany their client. “This is a reasonable request that the Committee strongly supports and expects your office to fulfill immediately,” Adam Schiff wrote in a letter to Maguire. (CNN)
Seven days: Inside Trump’s frenetic response to the whistleblower complaint and the battle over impeachment. The helter-skelter way the administration handled the aftermath of the whistleblower complaint could be a harbinger of the coming impeachment fight, with the White House scrambling to respond to a mercurial and frustrated president, who is increasingly sidelining his aides and making decisions based on gut instinct. (Washington Post)
6/ Zelensky told Trump during the July phone call that he had stayed at Trump Tower in New York. “Actually, last time I traveled to the United States, I stayed in New York near Central Park, and I stayed at the Trump Tower,” Zelensky told Trump, according to a rough transcript of the July 25 call. It’s the first known example of a foreign leader trying to influence Trump by spending money at his properties and telling him about it. Other Ukrainian officials have also patronized Trump properties: A top Zelensky aide met Rudy Giuliani at Trump’s D.C. hotel in July. A lobbyist who registered as an agent of Zelensky’s with the U.S. government hosted a $1,900 event at the D.C. hotel in April. (Washington Post)
7/ Trump’s part-time envoy for Ukraine set up an introduction between Giuliani and Zelensky so they could talk about having Ukraine investigate Joe Biden and his son. Ambassador Kurt Volker, who also worked at a lobbying firm that continued to represent the Government of Ukraine for almost two years after he started as special envoy, contacted Giuliani and put him “in direct contact” with Andriy Yermak, a top adviser to Zelensky. The two eventually met face-to-face in Spain. Giuliani said he never received a security clearance to meet with Yermak in Spain. (NBC News)
A former Ukrainian prosecutor who investigated the gas company tied to Hunter Biden said that there was no evidence the former vice president’s son engaged in illegal activity. “From the perspective of Ukrainian legislation, he did not violate anything,” Yuriy Lutsenko said. (Washington Post / NBC News)
8/ A majority of the 435 members of the House of Representatives support impeachment proceedings against Trump. 218 lawmakers — 217 Democrats and Rep. Justin Amash — have indicated their support for some form of impeachment action. (NBC News / Washington Post / Politico)
poll/ 43% of voters support beginning impeachment proceedings to remove Trump from office – up 7 points since last week. Among those voters who support impeachment now, 59% said Trump committed an impeachable offense. (Morning Consult)
Notables.
Trump cut the American refugee program by almost half. The administration will accept 18,000 refugees over the next 12 months – down from the current limit of 30,000. Obama allowed 110,000 in 2016. (New York Times)
The U.S. population of immigrants declined more than 70% in 2018 – or by about 200,000 people from the year before. (New York Times)
EPA notified California that the state is “failing to meet its obligations” to protect the environment. EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler cited multiple instances of California failing to meet federal water-quality standards, attributing this to “the growing homelessness crisis developing in major California cities […] and the impact of this crisis on the environment.” (Washington Post)
1/ Trump urged President Volodymyr Zelensky to “do us a favor” and “look into” potential corruption by Joe Biden’s son, according to the White House readout of the July 25th call. Trump told Zelensky he’d have Attorney General William Barr and Rudy Guiliani contact him and help Ukraine “figure it out” and “get to the bottom of it.” Trump, before asking Ukraine to investigate Biden’s son, reminded Zelensky that the U.S. sends security aid to Ukraine. Trump also asked Zelensky to investigate Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election as it related to Ukraine, as well as to investigate whether he could locate a hacked Democratic National Committee computer server that contained some of Hillary Clinton’s emails. (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / NBC News / Politico / NPR / CNN / ABC News / CNBC / HuffPost)
The director of national intelligence and the inspector general for the intelligence community each referred the complaint for a possible criminal investigation into Trump’s actions after the whistleblower complaint raising concerns about Trump’s call with Zelensky.
The intelligence community’s inspector general told the Director of National Intelligence that Trump’s comments could be viewed as soliciting a foreign campaign contribution in violation of federal campaign finance laws despite there being no explicit reference to the $391 million in foreign aid that Trump directed Mick Mulvaney to block days before the call took place.
The Justice Department, however, concluded that it “could not make out a criminal campaign finance violation” based on the summary of the call. Officials, however, didn’t take into consideration that Trump was withholding aid to Ukraine at the time.
The document, which the White House and Trump refer to as a transcript, isn’t verbatim – it’s a “memorandum of telephone conversation” based off the “notes and recollections” of Situation Room and National Security Council officials.
Trump, meanwhile, accused Democrats and reporters of pursuing a “hoax” against him. Trump insisted that “we want transparency” while calling the impeachment inquiry “a joke.” (New York Times)
Read the “transcript” of Trump’s call with Zelensky. (PDF)
Five key takeaways from the transcript. (BuzzFeed News)
What we know and don’t know about Trump and Ukraine. (New York Times)
Trump said the transcript released today was from the second call he had with Zelensky and that he would release the first phone call. Trump said Pence also has had “one or two” conversations related to the matter, and that his administration should release information about those calls, too. “They were perfect,” Trump said. “They were all perfect.” (CNN / Washington Post)
2/ The White House released the whistleblower complaint against Trump to the House and the Senate intelligence committees, according to Richard Burr and Devin Nunes. The acting director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire, until now had blocked Congress from seeing the complaint. Separately, White House officials are working with intelligence officials on a deal to allow the whistleblower to speak with congressional investigators. (CNN / Business Insider / New York Times / CBS News / Politico / NBC News)
3/ The acting Director of National Intelligence threatened to resign if he was not allowed to testify freely before Congress on Thursday about the whistleblower complaint regarding Trump’s conduct according to current and former U.S. officials familiar with the matter. Joseph Maguire warned the White House that he was not willing to withhold information from Congress, forcing the White House to make a legal decision on whether it was going to assert executive privilege over the whistleblower complaint. McGuire later denied reports that he threatened to resign, saying that “at no time have I considered resigning my position since assuming this role on Aug. 16, 2019.” The White House also disputed the account. (Washington Post / CNBC)
4/ The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee called on Attorney General William Barr to recuse himself from overseeing any Justice Department’s involvement from any Ukraine-related investigations. “The President dragged the Attorney General into this mess,” Jerry Nadler tweeted. “At a minimum, AG Barr must recuse himself until we get to the bottom of this matter.” (The Hill / Reuters / The Week)
5/ The House passed a resolution formally condemning Trump for initially refusing to share the whistleblower complaint. The nonbinding resolution criticizes the “unprecedented and highly inappropriate efforts” to question the whistleblower’s credibility. The vote was 421 to 0 with two lawmakers voting present. More than 200 members of the Democratic caucus — nearly enough to form a majority of the House — had embraced impeachment proceedings. (Washington Post / Politico / CNN)
6/ Trump called Nancy Pelosi shortly after she announced the start of a formal impeachment proceeding to see if they could “figure this out.” Pelosi replied: “Tell your people to obey the law.” Trump also told Pelosi that he wasn’t responsible for the whistleblower complaint being withheld from Congress. (Business Insider / Mediate / Washington Examiner / The Week / Newsweek)
How impeachment works: Congress can remove presidents before their term is up if lawmakers vote that they committed “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” The House Judiciary Committee – or a special panel – investigates and determines whether to recommended articles of impeachment to the full House. The House then votes on articles of impeachment and if a majority vote to impeach, the president is then impeached – the equivalent of being indicted. The Senate will then hold a trial, which is overseen by the chief justice of the Supreme Court. Lawmakers from the House are prosecutors, the president has defense lawyers, and the Senate serves as the jury. If at least two-thirds of the senators find the president guilty, he is removed, and the vice president takes over as president. There is no appeal. (New York Times)
7/ The White House accidentally emailed House Democrats a list of proposed talking points intended for Trump allies about how to spin Trump’s July phone call with Zelensky. The White House then emailed Democrats a follow-up email recalling the message. (CNN / Washington Post)
8/ Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the U.N. General Assembly today in New York. The pre-planned meeting with Zelensky comes less than 24 hours after Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the House would begin a formal impeachment inquiry. Senior White House officials said Trump is planning to congratulate Zelensky on his latest election win and his “energy and success” so far when it comes to fighting corruption in Ukraine. Trump is also expected to bring up “his concerns about what he sees as some predatory Chinese economic activity in Ukraine.” (Axios / Washington Post / The Guardian / USA Today / CNBC)
poll/ Support for impeachment is at 36% – down one percentage point from last week. 49% of respondents say Congress should not begin impeachment proceedings against Trump, also down a point from last week. (Politico)
🚨 Dept. of We’re all F*cked.
A United Nations report warned that ocean warming is accelerating and sea levels are rising “more than twice as fast” than in the 20th century – and faster than previously estimated. While sea levels rose by about a half-inch in total during the 20th century, they are now rising about 0.14 inches per year, driven by the rapid melting of ice in Greenland, Antarctica, and the world’s smaller glaciers. The report predicts that sea levels will “continue to rise” – possibly reaching around 1-2 feet by 2100 – even if countries curb emissions and limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, which was the Paris Agreement’s goal. Temperatures are already 1 degree Celsius above pre-industrial levels However, “if greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase strongly,” then the world could see 3.6 feet in total sea level rise by 2100. The report concludes that the world’s oceans and ice sheets are under such severe stress that hotter ocean temperatures, combined with rising sea levels, threaten to create more destructive tropical cyclones and floods. (NPR / Politico / New York Times / Washington Post)
📌 Day 931: Climate change is putting pressure on the ability of humanity to feed itself, according to a new United Nations report that was prepared by more than 100 experts from 52 countries and, unanimously approved. The report warns that the world’s land and water resources are being exploited at “unprecedented rates” and “the cycle is accelerating.” Climate change has already degraded lands, caused deserts to expand, permafrost to thaw, and made forests more vulnerable to drought, fire, pests and disease. “The stability of food supply is projected to decrease as the magnitude and frequency of extreme weather events that disrupt food chains increases,” the report said. The report offered several proposals for addressing food supplies, including reducing red meat consumption, adopting plant-based diets, and eating more fruits, vegetables and seeds. As a result, the world could reduce carbon pollution up to 15% of current emissions levels by 2050. It would also make people healthier. (New York Times / Associated Press / Nature)
📌Day 627: A U.N. report on the effects of climate change predicts a strong risk of an environmental crisis much sooner than expected. The report finds that the atmosphere could warm by as much as 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit above preindustrial levels by 2040 if greenhouse gas emissions continue at the current rate, which would cause sea levels to rise, intensify droughts, wildfires, and poverty, and cause a mass die-off of coral reefs. To prevent 2.7 degrees of warming, greenhouse pollution must be reduced by 45% from 2010 levels by 2030, and fully eliminated by 2050. The use of coal as an electricity source would have to drop from nearly 40% today to between 1% and 7% by 2050. Renewable energy would have to increase to about 67%. Trump has mocked the science of human-caused climate change, vowing to increase the burning of coal, and he intends to withdraw from the 2015 Paris agreement. The world is already more than halfway to the 2.7-degree mark and “there is no documented historic precedent” for the scale of changes required, the report said. (New York Times / Washington Post)
📌Day 676: The National Climate Assessment concludes that global warming is already “transforming where and how we live and presents growing challenges to human health and quality of life, the economy, and the natural systems that support us.” The findings from the landmark scientific report, issued by 13 federal agencies, are at odds with the Trump administration’s environmental deregulation agenda, which Trump claims will lead to economic growth, and its plans to withdraw from the Paris climate accord. The report predicts that the effects of global warming could eliminate as much as 10% of the U.S. economy by the end of the century, and warns that humans must act aggressively now “to avoid substantial damages to the U.S. economy, environment, and human health and well-being over the coming decades.” The first report, released in November 2017, concluded that there is “no convincing alternative explanation” for the changing climate other than “human activities, especially emissions of greenhouse gases.” Trump recently questioned the science of climate change, saying that “I don’t know that it’s man-made” and that the warming trend “could very well go back.” (New York Times / Associated Press / Washington Post / CNN)
📌 Day 685: Global emissions of carbon dioxide have reached the highest levels on record. Global emissions grew 1.6% in 2017 with 2018 expected to increase 2.7%. The U.S. is the world’s second-largest emitter of carbon emissions, but that hasn’t stopped the Trump administration from moving to roll back regulations designed to limit those emissions from vehicle tailpipes and power-plant smokestacks. As United Nations Secretary General António Guterres said this week at the opening of the 24th annual U.N. climate conference: “We are in trouble. We are in deep trouble with climate change.” (Washington Post / New York Times)
Notables.
The Senate voted – again – to block Trump’s national emergency declaration to divert $3.6 billion from military construction projects to build his proposed border wall. The Senate voted 54-41 – short of the two-thirds majority needed to overcome the Trump’s likely veto. (Bloomberg / CNBC)
The Trump administration signed a deal with Honduras to force immigrants to first seek asylum there before coming to America, regardless of whether they’re seeking help from the U.S. under international torture agreements or the asylum system. The agreement is similar to the one made with El Salvador and Guatemala. (Vox)
A Trump administration proposal could end free school lunches for about 500,000 children. The change would limit the number of people who qualify for food stamps, cutting an estimated 3 million people from the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program. (Washington Post)
Trump’s Turnberry resort is the only hotel named by Glasgow Prestwick Airport in promotional material distributed to U.S. military aircrews. The Scottish Government-owned airport handed out the document at “closed” meetings with U.S. Armed Forces personnel, emphasizing the “five star” status of Trump’s property, noting how it has been “newly refurbished.” (The Scotsman)
1/ House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced a formal impeachment inquiry into Trump. Pelosi told House Democrats in a closed door meeting she will support a formal impeachment inquiry, believing that Trump pressuring the president of Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden’s son and his administration’s subsequent refusal to share the whistleblower report with Congress has left the House with no alternative but to move forward with an inquiry. “It would be my intention with the consent of this caucus … to proceed with an impeachment inquiry,” Pelosi said. “He is asking a foreign government to help him in his campaign, that is a betrayal of his oath of office.” As of Tuesday afternoon, at least 166 Democrats supported some type of impeachment action — more than two-thirds of the 235-member caucus. Pelosi and top Democrats have privately discussed the creation of a special select committee – similar the one created in 1973 to investigate the Watergate scandal – to conduct the impeachment inquiry, rather than leaving the task with the House Judiciary Committee. Democrats are also discussing a resolution condemning Trump’s interaction with his Ukrainian counterpart to put lawmakers on the record. Trump, meanwhile, called the allegations a “witch hunt” and said impeachment will be “a positive for me in the election.” (NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Bloomberg / Politico / The Guardian / The Hill)
Who supports an impeachment inquiry against Trump? (New York Times)
2/ Trump ordered Mick Mulvaney to withhold more than $391 million in military aid from Ukraine days before he pressured the Ukrainian president to investigate Joe Biden’s son. Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, passed the order through the budget office to the Pentagon and the State Department during an interagency meeting in mid-July, explaining that Trump had “concerns” about whether or not the aid was necessary. White House officials were ordered to tell lawmakers that the delays in funding were part of an “interagency process,” but were instructed to give them no additional information. Trump – despite confirming that he did indeed discuss Biden with Ukraine’s president – denied that he withheld aid from Ukraine in an attempt to press President Volodymyr Zelensky to dig up dirt on Biden, saying “No, I didn’t — I didn’t do it.” Trump also argued that releasing the transcript of the phone call public would set a bad precedent. (Washington Post / New York Times / ABC News / CNN / Associated Press / Reuters)
3/ Trump admitted that he withheld military aid from Ukraine, but blamed it on the United Nations for not contributing more to the Eastern European nation, naming Germany and France among the countries that should “put up money.” Trump also suggested he did nothing wrong, because “As far as withholding funds, those funds were paid. They were fully paid.” Trump told reporters that in addition to Mulvaney, he also told Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to hold the funds to encourage other nations to pay, but claimed, “there was no quid pro quo. There was no pressure applied, nothing.” Trump added that despite trailing the leading Democratic candidates in most polls, “I’m leading in the polls and they have no idea how to stop me. The only way they can try is through impeachment.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / CNN / Reuters)
4/ Trump authorized the release of the “complete, fully declassified and unredacted” transcript of the July phone call he had with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in which he allegedly brought up investigating Biden and his son. Trump insisted that the call was “totally appropriate” and pledged to release the full text on Wednesday. (NBC News / Washington Post) / New York Times / Reuters)
5/ The whistleblower has requested to speak to both the House and Senate Intelligence Committees. Adam Schiff said the whistleblower’s lawyer informed him the official “has requested guidance” from the acting Director of National Intelligence on his appearance, with potential testimony taking place “as soon as this week.” The Senate, meanwhile, opened its own inquiry and is seeking to interview the whistleblower who filed the initial complaint with the intelligence community’s inspector general. It was not immediately clear whether the White House will agree to let the official be questioned. (Axios / Politico / Yahoo! News)
6/ The Senate unanimously passed a resolution calling for the whistleblower’s complaint to be transmitted to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees. The GOP-controlled Senate approved the nonbinding but symbolic resolution put forward by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer calling on the Trump administration to immediately provide the two intelligence committees with a copy of the whistleblower complaint involving Trump. (Axios / Washington Post / New York Times)
7/ Ukraine will likely pursue the cases that Trump pressured Zelensky to look into. Valentin Nalyvaichenko, the former head of Ukraine’s domestic intelligence agency and a member of Ukraine’s parliament, said the country will pursue an investigation related to Burisma gas company’s alleged multimillion-dollar corruption deals, but not because of Trump’s pressure. Rather, Ukraine wants to know whether the founder, Ukraine’s ex-minister of natural resources, had paid to quash earlier investigations into the way he acquired gas licenses. Nalyvaichenko said Ukraine should also be interested in an investigation into the “black ledger” that recorded slush-fund payments to Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign manager. (Daily Beast)
Notables.
Federal prosecutors in New York rejected Trump’s claim that he has “sweeping immunity” from a criminal probe while he is in office. Trump made the claim in an attempt to block a subpoena for his tax returns, which is part of an investigation into hush-money payments made during the 2016 presidential campaign to two women who say they had affairs with Trump. Prosecutors argued in a court filing that Trump is “seeking to invent and enforce a new presidential ‘tax return privilege,’ on the theory that disclosing information in a tax return will necessarily reveal information that will somehow impede the functioning of a President.” They added that Trump’s claim is rendered moot by the fact that “every President since Jimmy Carter has voluntarily released his tax returns before or upon taking office,” and doing so has never prevented anyone from fulfilling his obligations as president. (Politico / Associated Press)
Trump is “telling people he’s mad” about how Jared Kushner’s push for criminal justice reform has turned out. Sources say Trump is “furious at Jared” because Jared has been telling him that criminal justice reform will result in more felons voting for Trump. But Trump no longer sees it as a viable issue heading into 2020. “He’s really mad that he did it,” said one source. “He’s saying that he’s furious at Jared because Jared is telling him he’s going to get all these votes of all these felons.” (Politico)
The Trump administration threatened to withhold federal highway funding from California over its “failure” to submit a complete report on its implementation of the Clean Air Act. The move is part of the ongoing feud between the state government and the White House. EPA chief Andrew Wheeler sent a letter to state lawmakers, which states that California “has the worst air quality in the United States” and had “failed to carry out its most basic tasks.” The letter says California’s failure to address the backlog of about 130 incomplete or inactive plans may lead to penalties, including the withholding of federal highway funding. (Sacramento Bee / KTLA / New York Times / Washington Post)
Trump used his address before the United Nations General Assembly to denounce “globalists” and “socialists” while promoting his “America First” approach. “The future does not belong to globalists,” Trump said. “The future belongs to patriots.” (CBS News / Washington Post / Axios)
1/ Trump admitted that he discussed getting dirt on Joe Biden with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and that he is withholding the whistleblower complaint from Congress. Trump pressed Zelensky to dig up potentially damaging information against Biden during a July 25th phone call, baselessly accusing the former vice president of corruption related to his son Hunter’s business dealings in Ukraine and whether they affected his diplomatic efforts. Trump said that “it doesn’t matter” what he discussed with Zelensky and that while the he would “love” to release a transcript of the call, “you have to be a little bit shy about doing it.” Trump’s phone call with Zelensky occurred while Ukraine was awaiting $250 million in security aid, raising the possibility Trump was attempting a quid pro quo arrangement. The phone call led to the whistleblower complaint from within the intelligence community due to a “promise” that Trump made to Ukraine. Trump eventually agreed to release the money after coming under bipartisan pressure from Congress and immediately before the existence of the whistleblower complaint was revealed. (New York Times / Washington Post / Axios / Bloomberg / CNN)
💡 TL;DR
What is going with Trump, Biden, and Ukraine: Trump pressured Ukraine’s government, both directly and indirectly, to investigate Biden’s son and potentially did so using military aid as a means of leverage. (BuzzFeed News / Wall Street Journal / New York Times)
🚨 TRUTH CHECK:
Did Joe Biden do anything wrong? The issue is whether Biden used his position as vice president to help a Ukrainian energy company that was paying Hunter Biden by pushing for the ouster of a Ukrainian prosecutor. The prosecutor’s office had oversight of investigations into the oligarch who owned the company. As reported on May 1, 2019, no evidence has surfaced that the former vice president intentionally tried to help his son by pressing for the prosecutor’s dismissal. (New York Times)
Did Hunter Biden do anything wrong? Hunter Biden has not been accused of legal wrongdoing related to his work for Burisma, which paid him as much as $50,000 per month in some months for his service on the board of the directors. But he has been criticized by government watchdog groups in the United States and Ukraine for what they characterize as the perception of a conflict of interest, and trading on his family name by allowing it to be used to burnish the reputations of Burisma and Mr. Zlochevsky. (New York Times)
May 16, 2019: Ukraine’s prosecutor general said that he had no evidence of wrongdoing by Joe Biden or his son. Yuriy Lutsenko, the current prosecutor general, said that neither Hunter Biden nor Burisma Group, one of the country’s biggest private gas companies, were the focus of an investigation. (Bloomberg)
2/ Trump insisted that he did “absolutely nothing wrong” and denied that he had withheld security aid from Ukraine in an effort to pressure its president to investigate Biden’s family. Trump repeated his debunked corruption claims against Biden and accused the media of being “crooked as hell” for not reporting the false accusations as fact. Trump added that “If a Republican ever said what Joe Biden said, they’d be getting the electric chair probably right now.” Earlier, Trump defended his “perfect” conversation with the Ukrainian President about investigating Biden’s family, saying there was “no quid pro quo, there was nothing.” Trump previously suggested that he had withheld military aid from Ukraine because he wanted to “make sure that country is honest” and “If you don’t talk about corruption, why would you give money to a country that you think is corrupt?” (Washington Post / The Guardian / NBC News / New York Times)
3/ Rudy Giuliani “can’t say for 100%” that Trump didn’t threaten to cut off aid to Ukraine over an investigation into discredited allegations against Biden and his son. Trump asked Zelensky “about eight times” in the call to work with Giuliani to investigate the former vice president’s son Hunter over his past role with a Ukraine-based natural gas company. Throughout the spring and summer, Giuliani pressed the Ukrainian government behind the scenes to renew an investigation into Hunter Biden, gathering information about Biden and briefing Trump on his findings. (Bloomberg / NBC News / CNBC / Washington Post)
📌 Day 974: Trump pressured the leader of Ukraine eight times to investigate Joe Biden’s son. Trump used a July 25th phone call with Volodymyr Zelensky to repeatedly pressure the recently elected leader to work with Rudy Giuliani on an investigation that Trump believed would deliver political dirt against Biden. Trump told Zelensky that Ukraine could improve its reputation and “interaction” with the United States by investigating a Ukrainian gas company with ties to Biden’s son Hunter, who served on the board of directors. In June and August, Giuliani met with top Ukrainian officials about the prospect of an investigation. Toward the end of August, the White House considered blocking $250 million to support Ukraine’s military in its war against Russian-backed separatists. On Sept. 12, however, that funding was released. Separately, lawmakers have been investigating whether Trump or Giuliani tried to pressure the Ukrainian government to pursue probes in an effort to benefit Trump’s re-election bid. (Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / New York Times / Daily Beast / CNN)
4/ The White House is considering whether to release the transcript of Trump’s call with the Ukrainian President. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, however, said that releasing the transcript would set a “terrible precedent” and be “highly inappropriate,” because Trump said “he said nothing inappropriate.” (CNN / Talking Points Memo / HuffPost / The Hill)
5/ Speaker Nancy Pelosi warned that Trump’s “grave new chapter of lawlessness” will “take us into a whole new stage of investigation” if acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire fails to deliver the whistleblower complaint when he testifies in front of the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff said the House may have now have “crossed the Rubicon” when it comes to impeachment. Schiff added that “There is no privilege that covers corruption. No privilege to engage in underhanded discussions,” and that the “only remedy” to such behavior is impeachment. (New York Times / NBC News / CNN / Axios)
The House Intelligence, Oversight and Foreign Affairs committees threatened to subpoena Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for documents related to allegations that Trump and Rudy Giuliani pressured the Ukrainian government to investigate Joe Biden. (Axios)
poll/ 69% of voters say they don’t like Trump personally regardless of their feelings about his policies. 50% say they dislike him personally and dislike his policies, while another 19% say that they dislike him but approve of his policies. (NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
Notables.
Trump’s Twitter attacks on the Federal Reserve have had a “statistically significant and negative effect” on the markets, according to a new study. Trump’s tweets have knocked 10 basis points off the expected fed funds futures contract – or about .30 basis points per tweet. (Bloomberg)
A New York judge ordered Trump to “appear for a videotaped deposition” under oath for a civil suit involving his security guards. A group of protesters allege that they were assaulted by Trump’s security guards outside Trump Tower during a 2015 protest over the then-candidate’s comments about Mexican immigrants. (NBC News)
White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said that she is unlikely to conduct a White House press briefing anytime soon. Grisham suggested that reporters’ criticisms of Trump’s previous press secretaries, Sean Spicer and Sarah Huckabee Sanders, played a role in Trump’s decision to discontinue the briefings. (Politico)
The Republican National Committee paid more than $160,000 to a law firm that is defending Corey Lewandowski. The payment was made a month before Trump’s former campaign manager testified in front of the House Judiciary Committee. (CNBC)
Conservative leaders are circulating new polling data that suggests a ban on vaping would turn voters against Trump in the 2020 election. The number of adults who vape living in key battleground states vastly outweighs the margins by which Trump won in those states, and conservative leaders are worried that a ban may cost Trump the election. (Axios)
1/ Trump pressured the leader of Ukraine eight times to investigate Joe Biden’s son. Trump used a July 25th phone call with Volodymyr Zelensky to repeatedly pressure the recently elected leader to work with Rudy Giuliani on an investigation that Trump believed would deliver political dirt against Biden. Trump told Zelensky that Ukraine could improve its reputation and “interaction” with the United States by investigating a Ukrainian gas company with ties to Biden’s son Hunter, who served on the board of directors. In June and August, Giuliani met with top Ukrainian officials about the prospect of an investigation. Toward the end of August, the White House considered blocking $250 million to support Ukraine’s military in its war against Russian-backed separatists. On Sept. 12, however, that funding was released. Separately, lawmakers have been investigating whether Trump or Giuliani tried to pressure the Ukrainian government to pursue probes in an effort to benefit Trump’s re-election bid. (Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / New York Times / Daily Beast / CNN)
📌 Day 841: Rudy Giuliani is encouraging Ukraine to pursue an investigation into Joe Biden’s son and his involvement in a gas company owned by a Ukrainian oligarch. Trump’s personal lawyer is meeting with the incoming government in Kiev to press them to try to discredit Mueller’s investigation and undermine the case against Paul Manafort. “We’re not meddling in an election,” Giuliani said. “We’re meddling in an investigation, which we have a right to do.” (New York Times / NBC News)
📌 Day 945: Rudy Giuliani confirmed that the State Department helped him press the Ukrainian government to probe Joe Biden and the Democratic National Committee. Giuliani has wanted Ukrainian officials to look into Biden’s effort to crack down on corruption in Ukraine and his son Hunter Biden’s involvement in a natural gas company there. Giuliani also wanted to know if Ukrainian officials and the DNC worked together to harm Trump’s 2016 campaign by releasing damaging information about Paul Manafort. (NBC News)
📌 Day 952: Trump is considering a plan to block more than $250 million in foreign aid to Ukraine. Since 2014, the U.S. has provided Ukraine with more than $1 billion in security assistance to bolster the country’s military, which faces an ongoing conflict with separatists that the Pentagon believes are backed by Moscow. (CNN / Politico)
📌 Day 964: Three House committees are investigating reported efforts by Trump and Rudy Giuliani “to pressure the government of Ukraine to assist” Trump’s re-election campaign. The Democratic chairman of the House Intelligence, Oversight and Foreign Affairs committees wrote to the White House and State Department seeking records related to what they described as efforts to “manipulate the Ukrainian justice system.” (Reuters / CNBC)
2/ The whistleblower complaint about Trump made by an intelligence official involves Ukraine. In late July – two and a half weeks before the complaint was filed – Trump told Ukraine’s new president that he could improve Ukraine’s reputation and its “interaction” with the United States by investigating “corruption.” The complaint involved communications with a foreign leader and a “promise” that Trump made. (New York Times / Washington Post)
📌 Day 973: The whistleblower complaint by an intelligence officer was triggered by a “promise” Trump made to a foreign leader and involves a series of actions that goes beyond any single discussion. The formal complaint was filed with Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson, who “determined that this complaint is both credible and urgent.” The acting director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire, however, has refused to turn it over to Congress. While it’s unclear to whom Trump was speaking at the time, White House records show Trump spoke to or interacted with Putin, Kim Jong Un, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, and the Emir of Qatar in the five weeks prior to the complaint being filed on August 12th. Trump, meanwhile, denied that he made any “promise” to a foreign leader, calling the formal complaint “Presidential Harassment!” and rhetorically asking if there is “anybody dumb enough to believe that [he] would say something inappropriate with a foreign leader.” (Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / ABC News / NBC News)
3/ Rudy Giuliani denied asking Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden immediately before admitting that he actually had. In an interview on CNN, Chris Cuomo asked Giuliani if he had pressed Ukrainian officials to pursue investigations into Biden’s son. “No, actually I didn’t. I asked Ukraine to investigate the allegations that there was interference in the election of 2016 by the Ukrainians for the benefit of Hillary Clinton,” Giuliani said. “You never asked anything about Hunter Biden? You never asked anything about Joe Biden and the prosecutor?” Cuomo asked again. Giuliani replied that the “only thing” he asked was how the prosecutor got dismissed. “So you did ask Ukraine to look into Joe Biden,” Cuomo said. “Of course I did,” Giuliani said. (CNN / Washington Post)
4/ Trump dismissed the whistleblower complaint involving his conversations with Ukraine as a “ridiculous,” “partisan” attack. He then admitted that he didn’t know the identity of the whistleblower, but called a “political hack job” anyway. Trump then added that “It doesn’t matter what I discussed [with Ukraine’s president], but I’ll tell you this, somebody ought to look into Joe Biden’s statement.” Trump also defended his July conversation with Volodymyr Zelensky as “totally appropriate” while characterizing the conversation as “beautiful.” (Associated Press / Bloomberg / New York Times / ABC News / Wall Street Journal)
Hillary Clinton accused Trump of asking “a foreign power to help him win an election. Again,” referring to Trump’s call during the 2016 race for Russia to look into Clinton’s deleted emails. (CNN / The Guardian)
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi endorsed changing federal law so sitting presidents can be indicted. “I do think that we will have to pass some laws that will have clarity for future presidents. [A] president should be indicted, if he’s committed a wrongdoing — any president. There is nothing anyplace that says the president should not be indicted,” Pelosi said. (NPR / Politico)
5/ California and 22 other states filed a lawsuit to stop the Trump administration from blocking California’s authority to set emission standards for cars and trucks. Earlier this week, Trump revoked California’s authority, contending that the waiver was improperly granted because greenhouse gases don’t cause specific local or regional problems linked to traditional pollutants, like soot and smog. (New York Times / CNN / Associated Press / The Guardian / Wall Street Journal)
📌 Day 971: The Trump administration will revoke California’s right to set stricter air pollution standards for cars and light trucks than those required by the federal government. In July, California reached an agreement with Ford, Honda, Volkswagen and BMW to support the state’s right to set its own fuel efficiency standards and to voluntarily produce cars averaging nearly 50 mpg by model year 2026. The rollback of California’s waiver will also affect 13 other states and the District of Columbia, which follow California’s emissions regulations. Last summer, the EPA proposed weakening fuel economy standards put in place by the Obama administration by freezing standards at roughly 37 mpg from 2020 to 2026. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said the state intends to strike back with a lawsuit, which is expected to go to the Supreme Court. (Los Angeles Times / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times)
6/ Trump imposed terror-related sanctions on Iran’s central bank and sovereign wealth fund following the attacks on Saudi oil facilities, which the U.S. has blamed on Iran. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the new sanctions would cut off the last source of funds for Iran. (Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
7/ Trump suggested that he could end the Afghanistan war “very quickly” but it’d require killing “tens of millions” of people. Trump made a similar claimed in July, saying he could win nearly 19-year war “in a week,” but didn’t want to go that route, because “I just don’t want to kill 10 million people.” (Washington Post)
📌 Day 914: Trump claimed that he could easily “wipe” Afghanistan “off the face of the earth,” but doesn’t “want to go that route” because he’d have to “kill 10 million people.” (Daily Beast/Vox)
8/ The Trump administration signed an asylum agreement with El Salvador. The deal could force Central American migrants who pass through El Salvador to first seek asylum there or be sent back to the country once they reach the U.S. (Associated Press / Washington Post / Axios)
1/ The whistleblower complaint by an intelligence officer was triggered by a “promise” Trump made to a foreign leader and involves a series of actions that goes beyond any single discussion. The formal complaint was filed with Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson, who “determined that this complaint is both credible and urgent.” The acting director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire, however, has refused to turn it over to Congress. While it’s unclear to whom Trump was speaking at the time, White House records show Trump spoke to or interacted with Putin, Kim Jong Un, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, and the Emir of Qatar in the five weeks prior to the complaint being filed on August 12th. Trump, meanwhile, denied that he made any “promise” to a foreign leader, calling the formal complaint “Presidential Harassment!” and rhetorically asking if there is “anybody dumb enough to believe that [he] would say something inappropriate with a foreign leader.” (Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / ABC News / NBC News)
📌 Day 970: The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee accused the acting director of national intelligence of withholding a whistleblower complaint in order to protect a “higher authority” official. Adam Schiff said Joseph Maguire, the acting DNI, consulted the Justice Department about the whistleblower complaint prior to his decision to withhold the complaint – a departure from standard practice. Schiff added that the Committee “can only conclude, based on this remarkable confluence of factors, that the serious misconduct at issue involves the President of the United States and/or other senior White House or Administration officials.” (Business Insider / CBS News)
📌 Day 972: The acting director of national intelligence refused testify before Congress or hand over a whistleblower complaint to lawmakers. The complaint was submitted on Aug. 12 by a member of the intelligence community involving conduct by someone “outside the intelligence community” who does not involve intelligence activity under the supervision of Joseph Maguire, the acting director of national intelligence. Maguire had told Adam Schiff, the House Intelligence Committee chairman, that he would not provide the complaint “because he is being instructed not to” by “a higher authority” who is “above” the cabinet-level position of the director of national intelligence. (New York Times)
2/ The White House and the Justice Department both advised the director of national intelligence that the whistleblower complaint is outside intelligence activities. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence told lawmakers on September 13th that the complaint “involves confidential and potentially privileged communications by persons outside the Intelligence Community.” ODNI also noted that the agency would work toward “protecting Executive Branch confidentiality interests.” (CNN)
3/ House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff threatened to sue the Trump administration over its refusal to turn over the whistleblower complaint that involves Trump’s interactions with a foreign leader. Schiff accused the White House and Justice Department of “trying to manipulate the system” to prevent the acting director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire, from sharing the complaint with Congress. Schiff issued a subpoena for the complaint last week, which Maguire has refused to turn over. (Politico / Washington Post / Reuters / NBC News / )
4/ Trump sued his accounting firm and the New York district attorney to block eight years of his personal and corporate tax returns from being sent to state prosecutors. Trump’s lawyers argued that he cannot be criminally investigated while in office, because the Constitution effectively makes sitting presidents immune from all criminal inquiries until they leave the White House. Cyrus Vance’s office issued a subpoena last month to Trump’s accounting firm Mazars USA, which said in a statement this week that it “will respect the legal process and fully comply with its legal obligations.” Vance’s office is investigating the hush money payments made during the 2016 election to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, both of whom have alleged affairs with Trump, which he has denied. (NBC News / CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / CNBC / Axios)
📌 Day 970: The Manhattan District Attorney subpoenaed eight years of Trump’s “personal and corporate tax returns” as part of its investigation into hush money payments made to Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election. Trump and his company reimbursed Michael Cohen for the $130,000 Cohen he paid Stormy Daniels just before the election to buy her silence about an affair she had with Trump. Cyrus Vance’s office is exploring whether the reimbursements violated New York state laws and whether the Trump Organization falsely accounted for the reimbursements as a legal expense. The subpoena was served last month to Mazars USA, which prepares Trump’s tax returns. (New York Times / NBC News / CNBC / Axios)
📌 Day 925: State prosecutors in New York subpoenaed the Trump Organization for documents related to its role in hush money payments made to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal. The investigation is examining whether senior executives filed false business records related to the $130,000 payment Michael Cohen made to Daniels, as well as the arrangement between Cohen and the National Enquirer to pay off McDougal. Falsifying business records would constitute a state crime. The Manhattan district attorney separately subpoenaed American Media Inc., which publishes the National Enquirer. (New York Times)
5/ A federal judge temporarily blocked a California law requiring presidential candidates to release their tax returns in order to appear on the primary ballot. U.S. District Judge Morrison England Jr. said he’d issue a final ruling in the coming days but took the unusual step of issuing a temporary injunction, saying there would be “irreparable harm without temporary relief” for Trump and other candidates. (Los Angeles Times / ABC News / Politico / Axios)
6/ Mitch McConnell will now back a measure to provide states with an additional $250 million in election security funding. McConnell and Senate Republicans have repeatedly blocked Democratic efforts to bring election security legislation to the floor, including a measures that would have authorized funding to update voting equipment. (Washington Post / Politico)
poll/ The latest Fox News poll shows Trump losing to every Democratic frontrunner including Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Kamala Harris. 52% of voters said they would support Biden if the 2020 election were held today to 38% who said they’d support Trump. 48% would support Sanders, 46% would support Warren, and 42% would support Harris, while 40% would support Trump. (Fox News / Newsweek)
1/ Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused Iran of having carried out an “act of war” with strikes on oil facilities in Saudi Arabia. Trump, however, pushed back against American military response in the Middle East, saying wars are “very easy to start,” but that “there are many options. There’s the ultimate option and there are options a lot less than that.” U.S. military leaders have, however, presented Trump with a range of options for a retaliatory strike against Iran, including a cyber attack or a strike on Iranian oil facilities. Another option includes a strike by Saudi Arabia, with the U.S. providing intelligence, targeting information, and surveillance capabilities, but the U.S. refraining from actually firing any weapons. Other options include strikes on missile launch sites, bases, or other assets of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. There are currently no indications that any U.S. military action is imminent. Pompeo was scheduled to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to discuss the attack and “coordinate efforts to counter Iranian aggression in the region.” (New York Times / CNN / NBC News / NBC News)
2/ Trump directed Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin “to substantially increase” U.S. sanctions on Iran. Trump’s comment came after Iranian news agencies reported that Iran had warned the U.S. that it would retaliate against any attacks. Trump later told reporters that his administration will “be adding some very significant sanctions” on Iran within the next two days and that he’s got time to devise a “dastardly” response to the attacks on Saudi oil facilities. (Washington Post / Politico / NBC News / Bloomberg)
3/ The White House fired the Department of Homeland Security’s general counsel. John Mitnick will be replaced by Joe Maher, principal deputy general counsel. Mitnick’s job was to push back against policies that could put Homeland Security in a legally dubious position, such as the time the White House proposed releasing migrants into sanctuary cities to send a message to Democrats who opposed his immigration agenda. Mitnick was fired in part due to his opposition to Stephen Miller and his immigration policies. (New York Times / CNN)
4/ The acting director of national intelligence refused testify before Congress or hand over a whistleblower complaint to lawmakers. The complaint was submitted on Aug. 12 by a member of the intelligence community involving conduct by someone “outside the intelligence community” who does not involve intelligence activity under the supervision of Joseph Maguire, the acting director of national intelligence. Maguire had told Adam Schiff, the House Intelligence Committee chairman, that he would not provide the complaint “because he is being instructed not to” by “a higher authority” who is “above” the cabinet-level position of the director of national intelligence. (New York Times)
📌 Day 970: The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee accused the acting director of national intelligence of withholding a whistleblower complaint in order to protect a “higher authority” official. Adam Schiff said Joseph Maguire, the acting DNI, consulted the Justice Department about the whistleblower complaint prior to his decision to withhold the complaint – a departure from standard practice. Schiff added that the Committee “can only conclude, based on this remarkable confluence of factors, that the serious misconduct at issue involves the President of the United States and/or other senior White House or Administration officials.” (Business Insider / CBS News)
5/ Trump picked the State Department’s top hostage negotiator to be his fourth national security advisor. Robert C. O’Brien will replace John Bolton and has no known experience managing an organization the size of the National Security Council. By Trump’s recounting, O’Brien won him over in part by praising him in the job interview and in tweets. Trump also dispatched O’Brien to help free rapper A$AP Rocky from Swedish prison earlier this year. (New York Times / CNN / Politico / Bloomberg / Washington Post / CNBC)
6/ The Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a quarter percentage point – the second time since July. Officials also left the door open for another rate cut this year if the economy continues to weaken. Major U.S. stock exchanges dropped after the decision was announced. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has been publicly pressured by Trump to reduce rates to “ZERO or less.” The Federal Open Market Committee again cited “the implications of global developments for the economic outlook as well as muted inflation pressures” as the primary rationale for the cut. (Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / NBC News / CNN / CNBC)
7/ Trump criticized Powell and the Fed for having “no ‘guts,’” saying they “Fail[ed] Again.” Trump has previously called the Fed policymakers “boneheads” for not lowering rates to help boost economic growth. At one point he asked whether Fed Chair Jerome Powell or China’s president was “our bigger enemy.” (Bloomberg)
8/ The military has spent nearly $200,000 at Trump’s Turberry golf resort in Scotland since 2017. The spending paid for the equivalent of hundreds of nights of rooms over approximately three dozen separate stays since August 2017. The Air Force also confirmed last week that its crews had stayed up to 40 times at Trump’s property since 2015. (Politico)
📌 Day 963: An Air National Guard crew stayed at Trump’s Turnberry golf resort in Scotland in March. The Air Force plane stopped at a nearby airport to refuel both en route to the Middle East and back, with the crew staying at the resort, which lost $4.5 million in 2017, but revenue went up $3 million in 2018. The Air Force confirmed that crew members stayed at Turnberry, but said “it did not appear” that they stayed at the hotel on the way back. There are more than two dozen hotels, guesthouses and inns a few miles from the Prestwick airport with most of them much less expensive than the $380/night advertised rate at Trump Turnberry. The fuel would have also been cheaper if purchased at a U.S. military base. (Politico / New York Times)
📌 Day 967: The Air Force sent crews to Trump’s Turnberry resort in Scotland on 40 different occasions since 2015. That number is much higher than previously known, and it represents the preliminary results of an Air Force review launched last week after news reports about the Air Force sending crews to Trump’s properties. The preliminary tally does not indicate how many of the stays at Trump properties occurred since Trump became president, but the Air Force significantly increased the number of stops in Scotland under Trump after signing a deal with the Prestwick Airport at the end of the Obama administration. (Politico)
📌 Day 971: Some Air Force crews that stayed at Trump’s Turnberry resort in Scotland stayed for multiple nights and were given gifts during their stays. The resort gave high-ranking officers “Pride Pins,” which are reserved for VIP members. Low-ranking airmen received other gifts and welcome packages, including Scottish shortbread and other treats. Instead of being restricted to single-night refueling stops, Air Force crews sometimes stayed for multiple nights while the weather cleared up or their planes were repaired. (Politico)
poll/ 56% of Democratic primary voters say they prefer a candidate who proposes “larger scale policies that cost more and might be harder to pass into law, but could bring major change” on issues like climate change, health care and economic opportunity. (NBC News / Wall Street Journal / Politico)
Notables.
The Trump administration claimed that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is unconstitutional because Congress limited presidential power to remove the agency’s director before their five-year term expires. The CFPB was given stronger enforcement powers over the financial industry to help prevent another economic meltdown like the mortgage-lending crisis that began in 2007. Two federal appeals courts have also upheld the CFPB’s structure, which is intended to insulate the director from political interference. (Wall Street Journal)
The Trump administration proposed a new rule that would allow pork slaughterhouses to use fewer line inspectors from the Department of Agriculture and to run slaughter lines without any speed limit. The rule allows factory workers, instead of USDA inspectors, to remove unsuitable carcasses and trim defects in plants that are subject to the new inspection system. USDA inspectors will still examine the carcasses, but they will be stationed farther down the lines. The new rule is intended to modernize the inspection system, but consumer advocates say it will make food less safe and increase the risks to workers. (NBC News)
House Joint Economic Committee estimated that gun violence costs the U.S. $229 billion a year, according to a new report using data from the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence and the Centers for Disease Control. Lost income, employer costs, police and criminal justice responses, and health care treatment account for the biggest costs to the economy. (CNBC)
Attorney General William Barr is sharing a proposal on expanding background checks with senators. Lawmakers, however, don’t know where Trump stands on potential new firearms restrictions. (Bloomberg)
Mike Pence canceled a trip to meet with the leader of the Solomon Islands after the island government cut ties with Taiwan and switched its allegiance to China. The meeting was supposed to be an opportunity for the U.S. to discuss development partnerships with the Solomon Islands, and it was supposed to take place on the sidelines of or shortly after the upcoming U.N. General Assembly meeting. The Solomon Islands is the sixth country to switch its allegiance from Taiwan to China since 2016. (Reuters)
1/ The Trump administration will revoke California’s right to set stricter air pollution standards for cars and light trucks than those required by the federal government. In July, California reached an agreement with Ford, Honda, Volkswagen and BMW to support the state’s right to set its own fuel efficiency standards and to voluntarily produce cars averaging nearly 50 mpg by model year 2026. The rollback of California’s waiver will also affect 13 other states and the District of Columbia, which follow California’s emissions regulations. Last summer, the EPA proposed weakening fuel economy standards put in place by the Obama administration by freezing standards at roughly 37 mpg from 2020 to 2026. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said the state intends to strike back with a lawsuit, which is expected to go to the Supreme Court. (Los Angeles Times / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times)
📌 Day 560: The Trump administration plans to roll back Obama-era fuel efficiency and emissions standards on new cars. Under the Obama administration, the EPA and the Transportation Department set requirements for new cars to average at least 35 mpg by 2020 and to continue improving efficiency up to 50 mpg by 2025. The policy was intended to combat global warming. Trump’s plan would freeze the fuel economy standards after 2021 at about 37 mpg and would revoke a waiver granted to California and 13 other states to set more aggressive tailpipe pollution standards. (Los Angeles Times / New York Times / ABC News / Washington Post)
📌 Day 943: The White House is attempting to block additional states from joining a pact with California and four automakers to oppose Trump’s rollback of auto emissions standards. Toyota, Fiat, Chrysler, and General Motors were summoned to the White House last month and pressed by an adviser to stand by Trump’s rollbacks. Meanwhile, Mercedez-Benz is preparing to join the agreement, which has reportedly “enraged” Trump. The five automakers account for more than 40% of all cars sold in the United States. (New York Times)
📌 Day 960: The Justice Department opened an antitrust investigation into four automakers who rejected the Trump administration’s relaxed air pollution and mileage regulations. Ford Motor Company, Volkswagen of America, Honda, and BMW instead struck a deal with California to reduce automobile emissions. Automakers have urged the administration not to drastically roll back Obama-era emissions levels, arguing that one national standard would be better than one weaker standard for most of the country and one tougher standard for California, plus the 13 other states that follow California’s lead. Those 14 states account for about 40% of the U.S. population. The Justice Department is investigating whether the deal could potentially limit consumer choice. (New York Times / Bloomberg / CNN)
2/ Trump ordered two former White House aides not to testify at a House Judiciary Committee hearing about Trump’s possible obstruction of justice. The White House asserted immunity for Rob Porter and Rick Dearborn, who were subpoenaed to appear in front of the committee today. Trump also ordered his former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, not to answer questions about anything that happened after Trump was elected and to not provide any information beyond what is already in the Muller report. (CNN / Reuters / New York Times)
3/ Corey Lewandowski refused to answer dozens of questions about potential obstruction of justice during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on “Presidential Obstruction of Justice and Abuse of Power.” Lewandowski did confirm that Trump asked him to pressure Attorney General Jeff Sessions to limit the scope of the Russia investigation, but he claimed he was never asked to do anything illegal. As the hearing started, Lewandowski demanded that Democrats read him the section of the Mueller report they were referring to. Democrats then gave Lewandowski a copy, who proceeded to read directly from the report. Republicans, meanwhile, forced a series of procedural votes. (Associated Press / Politico / New York Times / NBC News)
4/ Trump administration officials suggested charging immigrants $975 to appeal an immigration judge’s deportation ruling and $895 to request the Board of Immigration Appeals reconsider a case, according to a draft Department of Justice regulation. The current fee to apply for each of these requests is $110. (BuzzFeed News)
5/ Construction of Trump’s border fence could damage or destroy up to 22 archaeological sites within Arizona’s Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. The administration plans to convert an existing five-foot-high vehicle barrier to a 30-foot steel structure that could cause irreparable harm to the unexcavated remnants of Sonoran Desert people. (Washington Post)
6/ Some Air Force crews that stayed at Trump’s Turnberry resort in Scotland stayed for multiple nights and were given gifts during their stays. The resort gave high-ranking officers “Pride Pins,” which are reserved for VIP members. Low-ranking airmen received other gifts and welcome packages, including Scottish shortbread and other treats. Instead of being restricted to single-night refueling stops, Air Force crews sometimes stayed for multiple nights while the weather cleared up or their planes were repaired. (Politico)
7/ Trump wants to put a proponent of torture in charge of U.S. human rights policy. Marshall Billingslea, who currently serves as assistant Treasury secretary for terrorist financing, was involved in Bush-era torture as a senior Pentagon official. During this tenure, Billingslea advocated for the use of torture techniques against the advice of top military lawyers, dismissed protests against the use of torture by the Army’s Judge Advocate General, and advocated for Donald Rumsfeld to approve more torture tactics than Rumsfeld had already approved. If confirmed, Billingslea would become the top U.S. executive branch official directly responsible for human rights policy: undersecretary of State for civilian security, democracy and human rights. (Politico Magazine)
1/ The Manhattan District Attorney subpoenaed eight years of Trump’s “personal and corporate tax returns” as part of its investigation into hush money payments made to Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election. Trump and his company reimbursed Michael Cohen for the $130,000 Cohen he paid Stormy Daniels just before the election to buy her silence about an affair she had with Trump. Cyrus Vance’s office is exploring whether the reimbursements violated New York state laws and whether the Trump Organization falsely accounted for the reimbursements as a legal expense. The subpoena was served last month to Mazars USA, which prepares Trump’s tax returns. (New York Times / NBC News / CNBC / Axios)
📌 Day 925: State prosecutors in New York subpoenaed the Trump Organization for documents related to its role in hush money payments made to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal. The investigation is examining whether senior executives filed false business records related to the $130,000 payment Michael Cohen made to Daniels, as well as the arrangement between Cohen and the National Enquirer to pay off McDougal. Falsifying business records would constitute a state crime. The Manhattan district attorney separately subpoenaed American Media Inc., which publishes the National Enquirer. (New York Times)
2/ The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee accused the acting director of national intelligence of withholding a whistleblower complaint in order to protect a “higher authority” official. Adam Schiff said Joseph Maguire, the acting DNI, consulted the Justice Department about the whistleblower complaint prior to his decision to withhold the complaint – a departure from standard practice. Schiff added that the Committee “can only conclude, based on this remarkable confluence of factors, that the serious misconduct at issue involves the President of the United States and/or other senior White House or Administration officials.” (Business Insider / CBS News)
3/ A previously unreported story about Brett Kavanaugh in college echoes Deborah Ramirez’s allegation that he pulled down his pants at a party and thrust his penis at her, prompting her to swat it away and inadvertently touch it. Former Yale classmate Max Stier told senators and the FBI last year about a separate episode where Kavanaugh had his pants down at a dorm party while his friends pushed his penis into the hand of a female student. The FBI failed to investigate the incident Stier described. During his Senate testimony, Kavanaugh said that if the incident had occurred, it would have been “the talk of campus.” Senate investigators at the time also concluded that Ramirez’s account lacked corroboration. However, at least seven people corroborated the incident before Kavanaugh became a federal judge, including two classmates who heard about it days after the party occurred. Ramirez’s lawyers also gave the FBI a list of at least 25 people who may have had corroborating evidence. The bureau declined to interview any of them. (New York Times)
📌 Day 613: A second woman publicly accused Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault when they were both freshmen at Yale during the 1983-84 academic school year. Deborah Ramirez said Kavanaugh exposed himself and shoved his penis in her face without her consent at a dorm party. Kavanaugh’s roommate at the time said he “cannot imagine [Ramirez] making this up” and that Kavanaugh was “frequently, incoherently drunk.” After learning of Ramirez’s allegation last week, Senate Republicans called for the Senate Judiciary Committee to accelerate its confirmation vote. (New Yorker)
📌 Day 615: Kavanaugh’s second accuser is willing to testify publicly before the Senate Judiciary Committee, her attorney said. Deborah Ramirez’s lawyer expressed concern about her testifying before the FBI is able to conduct an investigation into her claims, saying “we can’t even talk to the Senate Judiciary Committee about what that would look like” because “they certainly haven’t invited her” to testify. Senate Republicans blew off a scheduled phone call yesterday to discuss Ramirez’s claims that Kavanaugh exposed himself to her when they were in college. (Axios / The Hill / CNN / Good Morning America)
📌 Day 622: The FBI has not contacted at least 40 potential corroborators or character witnesses about the allegations made against Kavanaugh by Ford and Deborah Ramirez. Two sources, however, say more interviews are happening with a focus on Kavanaugh’s high school friends who are listed as attending a July 1, 1982, party. (NBC News / CNN)
4/ A Democratic senator told FBI Director Christopher Wray last fall of the sexual misconduct allegation against Kavanaugh by Max Stier. In a letter to Wray, Sen. Christopher Coons said “several individuals,” including Stier, contacted his office wanting to share information with federal authorities about Kavanaugh, but said they had “difficulty reaching anyone who will collect their information.” The FBI supplemental background investigation into Kavanaugh did not include Stier’s allegation. (Washington Post / Los Angeles Times / Axios)
5/ Several Democratic presidential candidates called for Kavanaugh to be impeached after new information about Ramirez’s allegations of sexual misconduct became public. Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, and Julián Castro called for Kavanaugh to be impeached after the authors of a new book wrote that they had found new corroboration for accusations that Kavanaugh exposed himself to Ramirez, a classmate at Yale. (New York Times / CBS News / NBC News / Washington Post)
How impeaching a Supreme Court justice works: The House is responsible for voting on impeachment. Its members decide by a majority vote. The Senate then holds a trial for the underlying misconduct. A conviction requires two-thirds of the Senate, or 67 votes. If there is a conviction, the Senate would remove the individual from office. (Washington Post)
6/ Trump tweeted that Kavanaugh should “start suing people” or the Department of Justice “should come to his rescue.” Trump also accused news outlets of trying to “scare [Kavanaugh] into turning Liberal!” and that he should sue people for “liable” – misspelling the word “libel.” (Politico / CNBC)
Trump called on the House Judiciary Committee to investigate Obama’s book deal and Netflix show. Trump complained about the time and money spent on the Mueller report and the investigations into him and his businesses, and said, “I have a better idea. Look at the Obama Book Deal, or the ridiculous Netflix deal.” Barack and Michelle Obama have reportedly signed a “high 8-figure” deal with Netflix and a joint book deal reported worth $65 million. (Vice)
7/ The House Judiciary Committee is negotiating to secure Jeff Sessions’ testimony as part of its impeachment investigation of Trump. Democrats on the committee hope Sessions’ appearance will help bolster the inquiry, especially since Sessions has had a turbulent relationship with Trump. An attorney for Sessions said the former attorney general will not agree to testify unless he is subpoenaed. (Washington Post)
8/ Trump threatened military action in response to an attack on Saudi Arabian oil facilities. Trump said the U.S. is “locked and loaded” and ready to respond, but was waiting to consult with Saudi officials before taking any action. Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for the attack. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, however, blamed Iran, calling the incident “an unprecedented attack on the world’s energy supply.” He insisted that there was “no evidence the attacks came from Yemen.” A senior Trump administration official said Iran launched nearly a dozen cruise missiles and over 20 drones from its territory in the attack on a Saudi oil facility. In response to the attack, Saudi Arabia cut its daily oil output in half. Trump responded by saying, “We don’t need Middle Eastern Oil & Gas,” but said the U.S. “will help our allies!” (New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / ABC News / Politico / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press / Reuters)
1/ A federal appeals court revived a previously-dismissed lawsuit that accused Trump of violating the Constitution’s emoluments clause. The lawsuit claimed that Trump’s “vast, complicated and secret” business arrangements violate the Emoluments Clause, which bars presidents from accepting gifts from foreign governments without the permission of Congress. The case was originally dismissed by a lower-level federal judge in December 2017. Earlier this year, Trump won a separate emoluments suit by the Democratic attorneys general of Maryland and the District of Columbia when the case was dismissed by another federal appeals court’s. (Bloomberg / Washington Post / Politico / CNN / Axios)
📌 Day 902: A federal appeals court dismissed an emoluments lawsuit against Trump. The judges rejected the premise of the case that the Trump International Hotel – blocks from the White House – had violated the domestic and foreign emoluments clauses of the Constitution by accepting money from state and foreign governments at Trump’s hotel in downtown Washington. While Trump stepped back from day-to-day management of the businesses, he still maintains ownership. “Even if government officials were patronizing the hotel to curry the president’s favor,” the court said, “there is no reason to conclude that they would cease doing so were the president enjoined from receiving income from the hotel. After all, the hotel would still be publicly associated with the president, would still bear his name, and would still financially benefit members of his family.” All three judges on the panel were appointed by Republican presidents. (NPR / New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / CNBC)
📌 Day 144: In a separate case, the Justice Department argued that Trump can accept payments from foreign governments while he is in office. Advocates from the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington brought the suit against Trump in January, asserting that because Trump-owned buildings take in rent, room rentals and other payments from foreign governments he breached the emoluments clause. (Washington Post / Politico / The Hill)
2/ Trump plans to pay for his border wall using funds from more than four dozen Air Force construction projects poses a variety national security risks, according to a report composed by the Air Force. Some of the affected Air Force projects include money for a project to build facilities to store more than $1 billion in munitions at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, replacing a boiler at a base in Alaska, “whose failure is ‘imminent’” and could result in the evacuation of the base, a new entry-control point at the Incirlik Air Base in Turkey to protect troops, and construction in support of the European Defense Initiative, a program to boost U.S. military presence and discourage Russian aggression. (NBC News / Axios)
📌 Day 959: The Pentagon will divert funding from military construction projects in 23 states, three territories, and 19 countries to pay for Trump’s border wall. Among the projects being defunded to pay for Trump’s border wall, include nine schools for military children on bases in the U.S. and abroad, a daycare center at Joint Base Andrews, Hurricane Maria recovery projects at military installations in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, construction projects in Europe designed to help allies deter Russia. In total, $3.6 billion will be taken from 127 projects to fund 11 border barrier projects in Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. (New York Times / Washington Post / Reuters)
📌 Day 957: The Trump administration will divert $3.6 billion this week from 127 military construction projects to build to build 175 miles of Trump’s border wall. Trump declared a national emergency in February to draw funding from federal accounts to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said about half of the funding will come from military construction projects outside the United States and half will come from projects within the country. (Politico / Washington Post)
3/ The Air Force sent crews to Trump’s Turnberry resort in Scotland on 40 different occasions since 2015. That number is much higher than previously known, and it represents the preliminary results of an Air Force review launched last week after news reports about the Air Force sending crews to Trump’s properties. The preliminary tally does not indicate how many of the stays at Trump properties occurred since Trump became president, but the Air Force significantly increased the number of stops in Scotland under Trump after signing a deal with the Prestwick Airport at the end of the Obama administration. (Politico)
4/ Trump is not planning to name Mike Pompeo as national security adviser while also keeping him as Secretary of State. Trump confirmed that he spoke to Pompeo about the idea, but said that Pompeo “likes the idea of having somebody in there with him, and I do, too.” Trump said he has 15 other candidates in mind to replace John Bolton, who Trump fired as national security adviser earlier this week. (Politico)
5/ The U.S. is preparing to send 150 troops to patrol northeastern Syria. Trump announced a withdrawal of U.S. forces from Syria last December, but the new troop deployment is part of an expanding series of military and diplomatic steps the U.S. has taken in recent weeks to defuse tensions with Turkey, which opposes U.S. support for the Syrian Kurdish fighters. The U.S. currently has around 1,000 troops in Syria. (New York Times / The Hill)
6/ Ivanka Trump told a crowd of high-end donors that she got her moral compass from her father after being asked to name the personality traits she inherited from her parents. Ivanka said that Melania gave her an example of how to be a powerful, successful woman. (Politico)
7/ Trump complained that energy efficient light bulbs make him “always look orange.” Trump also complained that energy-efficient light bulbs are “many times more expensive than that old incandescent bulb.” (CNN / Mediaite)
📌 Day 958: The Trump administration relaxed requirements for energy efficient light bulbs that Congress passed in 2007. The Energy Department’s filing in the Federal Register will now prevent new efficiency standards for inefficient incandescent and halogen bulbs from going into effect on Jan. 1st. (New York Times)
poll/ 38% of Americans say climate change is a “crisis” – up from 23% five years ago. Another 38% say climate change is a “major problem.” (Washington Post)
📺 Dept. of Dem Debates:
Trump gave a bizarre speech during the Democratic debate. Trump talked about fake tax cuts while Democrats debated how to pay for their ambitious policies. (Vox / Politico)
Andrew Yang announced a $120,000 giveaway during last night’s Democratic primary debate. Yang said his campaign plans to randomly select 10 families and give them a total of $120,000 over the next year as part of a pilot program for his universal basic income plan. (Politico)
Biden incorrectly claimed that the Obama administration didn’t separate families at the border. The Obama administration did not separate families as a matter of policy, as the Trump administration did as part of its “zero tolerance” border policy in 2018, but separations occurred on a case-by-case basis for parents being prosecuted on more serious charges than illegally crossing the border or in cases when an adult was suspected of not being a child’s parent. (CNN / The Hill)
Biden tried to clarify his record on Iraq War during Democratic debate. Biden is still struggling to explain his vote for the war and when his feelings about intervention evolved. (NPR)
Beto O’Rourke: “Hell, yes, we’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47.” O’Rourke said that as president, he would prioritize mandatory buybacks of assault-style weapons. (NPR / CNN)
Fact-checking Democratic candidates on the issues at the ABC News debate in Houston. (ABC News)
Bernie Sanders said his administration will “cancel all student debt in this country.” Sanders also pledged that under his administration every teacher in America will make at least $60,000 a year. (ABC7)
1/ The Trump administration repealed Obama’s landmark clean water protections that had placed limits on polluting chemicals that could be used near streams, wetlands, and other bodies of water. The Obama-era Waters of the United States rule was designed to limit pollution in about 60% of the nation’s bodies of water, protecting sources of drinking water for about one-third of the U.S., and extended existing federal authority to limit pollution in large bodies of water. The EPA plans to also establish a stricter legal definition of what qualifies as “waters of the United States” under the Clean Water Act before the end of the year. The existing rules would be replaced with a much narrower definition of the types of tributaries, streams, and wetlands that are subject to protections. (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / CBS News)
2/ The Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration can continue to deny most Central American migrants from seeking asylum in the U.S. while a legal battle over the issue plays out in the lower courts. The Court issued a brief, unsigned order that says the administration can enforce new rules that generally refuse asylum applications from migrants who failed to apply for it in another country after leaving home but before arriving at the southern border. For instance, migrants from Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador cannot seek asylum in the U.S. if they didn’t first ask for it in Mexico. A separate lawsuit to overturn the new rules is still working its way through the lower courts. (New York Times / NBC News / Reuters / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post)
3/ The CEOs of 145 companies called on the Senate to pass “common-sense gun laws,” stating that it is “simply unacceptable” to do nothing about gun violence in America. The letter urges the Republican-controlled Senate to enact bills already introduced in the House that would require background checks for all firearm sales and stronger “red flag” laws, which could prevent shootings in cases where family members or law enforcement report concerns about someone who may be at risk of harming themselves or others. (NPR / New York Times)
4/ The Trump administration discussed offering China a limited trade agreement that would delay or roll back some U.S. tariffs increases set to take effect in October and December in exchange for Chinese commitments on intellectual property and agricultural purchases. Several of Trump’s top economic officials are reportedly trying to resurrect the deal they were previously negotiating with China that officials said was “90 percent” done. A senior White House official, however, said the U.S. is “absolutely not” considering an interim trade deal with China. (Bloomberg / Politico / CNBC)
5/ The FBI and other federal agencies accused Israel of placing cell phone surveillance devices near the White House within the past two years. The devices were likely intended to spy on Trump, according to senior U.S. officials, but it is unclear whether the attempts were successful. When Trump administration officials heard about the surveillance devices, however, they didn’t rebuke Israel, which is usually the case when incidents of foreign spying are discovered on U.S. soil. A spokesperson for the Israeli Embassy called the claims “absolute nonsense,” and insisted that “Israel doesn’t conduct espionage operations in the United States, period.” (Politico)
6/ The U.S. deficit surpassed $1 trillion in the first 11 months of the fiscal year – up 19% from a year ago and exceeding $1 trillion for the first time since 2012. The government said it expects to borrow more than $1 trillion for the second year in a row in 2019. (Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
7/ The Justice Department recommended indicting former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe over his alleged “lack of candor” during an internal watchdog probe in 2017. McCabe authorized the FBI to investigate possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia to influence the 2016 election. The grand jury hearing the case was recalled this week after going months without meeting but left without revealing any immediate signs of an indictment. (Washington Post / NBC News / Politico / CNN / New York Times)
8/ The House Judiciary Committee approved a resolution defining the rules for its impeachment investigation into Trump. The measure also triggers a House rule that gives Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler the ability to deem committee hearings as impeachment hearings, allowing staffers to question witnesses for an hour at the end of every hearing, gives Trump’s lawyers the ability to respond in writing to public testimony, and allows the committee to collect information in secret “executive sessions.” The Judiciary Committee believes it has identified five areas of potential obstruction in Robert Mueller’s probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election, in addition to the hush-money payments to two women who claimed to have had affairs with Trump, and allegations that Trump has used his public office to benefit his private business. The resolution passed along party lines, 24-17. (New York Times / NBC News / Politico / CNN / Washington Post / Reuters)
1/ Trump ordered Mick Mulvaney to have NOAA repudiate a tweet by weather forecasters that contradicted his statement that Hurricane Dorian posed a significant threat to Alabama. Mulvaney then called Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to tell him to have the forecasters disavow their position that Alabama was not at risk. Ross, in turn, threatened to fire top employees at NOAA if the situation was not addressed. Trump, meanwhile, denied ordering Mulvaney to direct Ross to pressure NOAA to rebuke scientists who contradicted his hurricane claim, saying “I never did that — I never did that,” dismissing the situation as “a hoax by the fake news media.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico)
2/ The House Committee on Science, Space and Technology opened an investigation into Ross pressuring the acting administrator of NOAA into supporting Trump’s false claim about Hurricane Dorian. The committee also demanded documents and information related to the unsigned statement that NOAA issued that was perceived as rebuking its own scientists for contradicting Trump’s claim that Dorian would hit Alabama “harder than anticipated.” (New York Times)
📌 Day 963: Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross threatened to fire NOAA employees after the agency’s Birmingham office contradicted Trump’s claim that Alabama would be hit “harder than anticipated” by Hurricane Dorian. Ross directed Neil Jacobs, the acting administrator of NOAA, to fix the agency’s perceived contradiction of the president. Jacobs initially objected to the demand, but was told by Ross that the political staff at NOAA would be fired if the situation was not resolved. NOAA then sided with Trump over its own scientists, stating that Alabama was in fact threatened by the storm at the time of Trump’s tweet that Alabama would “most likely be hit (much) harder than anticipated.” NOAA is a division of the Commerce Department. (New York Times / Washington Post)
3/ The Trump administration will not grant temporary protected status to Bahamians displaced by Hurricane Dorian. Temporary protected status would have let Bahamians work and live in the U.S. until it is deemed safe to return home. (NBC News)
4/ Trump’s trade war with China has reduced U.S. employment by 300,000 jobs through a combination of eliminated jobs by companies struggling with tariffs and jobs that would have been created but weren’t because of reduced economic activity. Moody’s Analytics forecasts that the job toll from the trade war will hit about 450,000 by the end of the year, if there are no changes in policy. (Yahoo Finance)
5/ Trump called on the “boneheads” at the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates to “ZERO, or less” and again blamed the Fed for a slowing U.S. economy. Trump also called on the Fed to “start to refinance our debt” despite there being no modern precedent for the refinancing of federal debt. The U.S. is currently $22.5 trillion in debt, $16.7 trillion of which is owed by the public. The federal debt burden has grown by 13% – $2.6 trillion – under Trump, due in part to the 2017 tax cut Trump pushed through Congress. (CNBC / Washington Post / Politico)
6/ Trump tweeted “never forget” to mark the 18th anniversary of the Sept. 11th terror attacks, but after first attacking the “Amazon Washington Post/ABC” over an unfavorable poll, which he called a “phony suppression poll.” Trump also tweeted about the Federal Reserve and pressuring it to lower interest rates, congratulating Republicans in a North Carolina special election, and ranting about China and his trade war. (HuffPost)
📌 Day 964: 60% of Americans expect a recession in the next year. Trump’s economic approval rating declined from 51% in July to 46% in September, with 47% disapproving. (Washington Post)
📌 Day 964: 38% of Americans approve of the job Trump is doing as president – down from a career-high 44% in July. 56% disapprove of the way Trump is handling his job as president. (ABC News)
Notables.
Three of former national security adviser John Bolton’s top aides submitted their resignations. Trump said Bolton was fired while Bolton said he resigned. (Reuters)
The Trump administration plans to ban the sale of non-tobacco-flavored electronic cigarettes following an outbreak of a vaping-related lung disease that has sickened 450 people and resulted in at least six deaths. (Politico / New York Times / CNBC / NBC News)
Republicans in Iowa and New Hampshire have promised not to cancel their caucus and primary for 2020 even as GOP leaders in other states have canceled party elections to help clear the way for Trump’s reelection. GOP officials in New Hampshire said that “under no circumstances” will they ever cancel the state’s primary election, “whether there’s token opposition or a serious contest.” Iowa Republicans said it was “never even up for discussion.” (Associated Press)
Trump posted a photo of a “Trump 2024” campaign sign on Twitter and Instagram, joking once again that he is interested in serving more than two terms. Trump has made the joke in various forms on several different occasions, including earlier this year when he suggested that he would be president forever. (Newsweek / Fox News / Washington Post / HuffPost)
1/ Trump announced that he fired his national security adviser, who insists that he resigned. John Bolton, disputing Trump’s version of events, tweeted that “I offered to resign last night and President Trump said, ‘Let’s talk about it tomorrow.’” Trump, meanwhile, tweeted that “I informed John Bolton last night that his services are no longer needed at the White House.” Trump added that he “disagreed strongly with many of [Bolton’s] suggestions.” The two have had a series of disagreements during Bolton’s tenure, including how to handle sensitive foreign policy matters involving North Korea, Afghanistan, and Iran. Trump did not name Bolton’s successor but said he plans to name a replacement “next week.” Bolton was Trump’s third national security adviser. (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / CNN / ABC News / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / Associated Press / BBC / Axios)
2/ Trump called his second national security adviser and told him that he missed him. In phone calls with retired Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, Trump has solicited advice on national security challenges, including asking McMaster whom he should nominate for Secretary of Defense. McMaster was also fired by Trump on Twitter. (NBC News)
📌 Day 421: Trump plans to remove national security adviser H.R. McMaster and is currently considering potential replacements. Trump plans to take his time with the transition in order to avoid humiliating McMaster and ensure he has a strong replacement. Other Trump officials, like Ben Carson and Mick Mulvaney, are also rumored to be on the chopping block. “There will always be change,” Trump said. “I think you want to see change. I want to also see different ideas.” Sarah Huckabee Sanders, meanwhile, disputed the story that Trump had decided to fire McMaster, tweeting: “Just spoke to @POTUS and Gen. H.R. McMaster — contrary to reports they have a good working relationship and there are no changes at the NSC.” (Washington Post / New York Times)
📌 Day 428: Trump will replace H. R. McMaster with John Bolton as his national security adviser. Bolton is a Fox News commentator and a former United States ambassador to the United Nations. McMaster had reportedly been discussing his departure with Trump for several weeks. “The two have been discussing this for some time. The timeline was expedited as they both felt it was important to have the new team in place, instead of constant speculation,” a White House official said. “This was not related to any one moment or incident, rather it was the result of ongoing conversations between the two.” McMaster, a three-star Army general, also announced that he would retire from the military. Bolton will be Trump’s third national security adviser in 14 months. Bolton was also passed over for a State Department job last year, because Trump didn’t like his mustache. (New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / CNN)
3/ The purported high-level CIA source extracted from Russia in 2017 is currently living in Washington under his real name and under government protection. The CIA’s Russian informant was active in the agency’s conclusion that Putin ordered and orchestrated the campaign to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. The CIA then exfiltrated one of its top spies from Russia after officials became concerned he was in danger of being caught after Trump “mishandled” classified material. While NBC News is withholding the man’s name and other key details at the request of U.S. officials, he fits the profile of the person who may have had access to information about Putin’s activities, and who would have been recruitable by American intelligence officials. The NBC correspondent went to the man’s house, rang the doorbell, and five minutes later two men in an SUV came up the street and parked immediately adjacent to the correspondent’s car. (NBC News)
📌 Day 963: In 2017, the U.S. extracted one of its highest-level covert spies from inside the Russian government. The previously undisclosed secret mission was driven, in part, after Trump shared classified information with the Russian foreign minister and Russian ambassador in a May 2017 Oval Office meeting. (CNN)
📌 Day 111: Trump met with Putin’s top diplomats at the White House. The talks came one day after Trump fired the FBI Director, who was overseeing an investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election. Sergey Lavrov met with Rex Tillerson earlier in the day and sarcastically acknowledged the dismissal of James Comey by saying “Was he fired? You’re kidding. You’re kidding.” The Kremlin said Trump’s firing of Comey will have no effect on bilateral relations between the two countries. Trump also met with Sergey Kislyak, a key figure in the Flynn investigation. (Associated Press / Reuters / Washington Post / NPR)
4/ Trump has repeatedly expressed skepticism about using foreign intelligence from covert sources, saying he doubts the credibility of the information they provide. Multiple senior officials who served under Trump, said he privately complained that foreign spies can damage relations with their host countries and undermine his personal relationships with their leaders. (CNN)
5/ Trump claimed he’ll release an “extremely complete” report of his financial records in order to dispel the notion that he’s profiting off of his administration. In response to questions from reporters about several instances of U.S. Air Force personnel staying at his Turnberry resort in Scotland, Trump said it was unfair to suggest that he played any part in the arrangement because he owns so many different properties. He offered no specifics about the report, nor did he give a timeline of when he plans to release it. (Politico)
6/ Trump played a direct role in setting up the arrangement between his golf resort in Scotland and officials at Glasgow Prestwick Airport with the goal of increasing private and commercial air traffic to the region. During Trump’s presidential run, the Pentagon began using the airport to refuel Air Force flights, giving the local airport the job of finding accommodations for flight crews who had to remain overnight. Yesterday, Trump said that the deal had “NOTHING TO DO WITH ME,” but documents show both Trump and the Trump Organization were directly involved in crafting the partnership. The Trump Organization worked to get Trump’s resort on the list of hotels that Prestwick would routinely send aircrews to, even though Turnberry is 20 miles from the airport – farther away than many other hotels and with higher advertised prices. (New York Times)
📌 Day 963: An Air National Guard crew stayed at Trump’s Turnberry golf resort in Scotland in March. The Air Force plane stopped at a nearby airport to refuel both en route to the Middle East and back, with the crew staying at the resort, which lost $4.5 million in 2017, but revenue went up $3 million in 2018. The Air Force confirmed that crew members stayed at Turnberry, but said “it did not appear” that they stayed at the hotel on the way back. There are more than two dozen hotels, guesthouses and inns a few miles from the Prestwick airport with most of them much less expensive than the $380/night advertised rate at Trump Turnberry. The fuel would have also been cheaper if purchased at a U.S. military base. (Politico / New York Times)
📌 Day 963: Trump denied being involved in the stays at Turnberry by Air Force crews, tweeting that “I know nothing,” but that “they have good taste!” Air Force crews will typically stop at U.S. military bases in Europe to refuel, where it’s cheaper to do so. Trump added: “NOTHING TO DO WITH ME.” (Politico)
poll/ 60% of Americans expect a recession in the next year. Trump’s economic approval rating declined from 51% in July to 46% in September, with 47% disapproving. (Washington Post)
poll/ 38% of Americans approve of the job Trump is doing as president – down from a career-high 44% in July. 56% disapprove of the way Trump is handling his job as president. (ABC News)
poll/ 60% of American say Trump does not deserve to be reelected. (CNN)
Notables.
More Americans lack health insurance for the first time since the Affordable Care Act passed in 2010. About 27.5 million people, or 8.5% of the population, lacked health insurance for all of 2018, up from 7.9% the year before. (New York Times)
The Trump administration promoted an immigration judge that threatened a 2-year-old Guatemalan boy with an attack dog if he didn’t stay quiet in court. “I have a very big dog in my office,” Judge V. Stuart Couch told the boy, “and if you don’t be quiet, he will come out and bite you!” In August, the Trump administration promoted Couch and five other judges to the Justice Department’s Board of Immigration Appeals, which often has the final say over whether immigrants are deported. (Mother Jones)
Trump ordered White House officials to crackdown on homelessness in California. Trump has repeatedly attacked Democratic politicians in California over the state’s homelessness issue, which he’s called a “disgrace to our country.” The Trump administration, however, may have exacerbated the problem by tightening immigrants’ eligibility for federal assistance. (Washington Post)
A federal judge set Michael Flynn’s sentencing for Dec. 18th. Flynn pleaded guilty on Dec. 1, 2017, to lying to the FBI about contacts with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. (Washington Post)
Three House committees are investigating reported efforts by Trump and Rudy Giuliani “to pressure the government of Ukraine to assist” Trump’s re-election campaign. The Democratic chairman of the House Intelligence, Oversight and Foreign Affairs committees wrote to the White House and State Department seeking records related to what they described as efforts to “manipulate the Ukrainian justice system.” (Reuters / CNBC)
1/ An Air National Guard crew stayed at Trump’s Turnberry golf resort in Scotland in March. The Air Force plane stopped at a nearby airport to refuel both en route to the Middle East and back, with the crew staying at the resort, which lost $4.5 million in 2017, but revenue went up $3 million in 2018. The Air Force confirmed that crew members stayed at Turnberry, but said “it did not appear” that they stayed at the hotel on the way back. There are more than two dozen hotels, guesthouses and inns a few miles from the Prestwick airport with most of them much less expensive than the $380/night advertised rate at Trump Turnberry. The fuel would have also been cheaper if purchased at a U.S. military base. (Politico / New York Times)
2/ Trump denied being involved in the stays at Turnberry by Air Force crews, tweeting that “I know nothing,” but that “they have good taste!” Air Force crews will typically stop at U.S. military bases in Europe to refuel, where it’s cheaper to do so. Trump added: “NOTHING TO DO WITH ME.” (Politico)
The Air Force ordered a review of how it chooses hotels after military personnel stayed at Trump properties on multiple occasions. In one case, air crews were found to have occasionally stayed at Trump’s Turnberry resort in Scotland while refueling at Prestwick Airport, a nearby commercial airport. Another time, the Maine Air National Guard also landed at Prestwick on its way back from Qatar and stayed at Turnberry. An Air Force spokesperson said the branch is reviewing “all associated guidance” related to personnel lodging because “lodging at higher-end accommodations, even if within government rates, might be allowable but not advisable.” (Politico)
3/ In 2017, the U.S. extracted one of its highest-level covert spies from inside the Russian government. The previously undisclosed secret mission was driven, in part, after Trump shared classified information with the Russian foreign minister and Russian ambassador in a May 2017 Oval Office meeting. (CNN / New York Times / Washington Post)
📌 Day 111: Trump met with Putin’s top diplomats at the White House. The talks came one day after Trump fired the FBI Director, who was overseeing an investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election. Sergey Lavrov met with Rex Tillerson earlier in the day and sarcastically acknowledged the dismissal of James Comey by saying “Was he fired? You’re kidding. You’re kidding.” The Kremlin said Trump’s firing of Comey will have no effect on bilateral relations between the two countries. Trump also met with Sergey Kislyak, a key figure in the Flynn investigation. (Associated Press / Reuters / Washington Post / NPR)
📌 Day 112: The White House was misled about the role of the Russian photographer and were surprised to see photos posted online showing Trump not only with Sergey Lavrov but also smiling and shaking hands with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Russian officials described the person as Lavrov’s official photographer without disclosing that he also worked for Tass, a Russian state-owned news agency. (Washington Post)
📌 Day 118: Putin offers to provide Congress with the transcript to prove Trump didn’t pass Russia secrets, turning up the pressure on the White House to provide its own transcript of the meeting. Putin said Russia could hand over a transcript of Trump’s meeting with Lavrov, if the Trump administration deemed it appropriate. (Reuters / New York Times / CNN / Washington Post)
4/ Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross threatened to fire NOAA employees after the agency’s Birmingham office contradicted Trump’s claim that Alabama would be hit “harder than anticipated” by Hurricane Dorian. Ross directed Neil Jacobs, the acting administrator of NOAA, to fix the agency’s perceived contradiction of the president. Jacobs initially objected to the demand, but was told by Ross that the political staff at NOAA would be fired if the situation was not resolved. NOAA then sided with Trump over its own scientists, stating that Alabama was in fact threatened by the storm at the time of Trump’s tweet that Alabama would “most likely be hit (much) harder than anticipated.” NOAA is a division of the Commerce Department. (New York Times / Washington Post)
NOAA officials warned staff not to contradict Trump. The warning came nearly a week before the NOAA publicly backed Trump over its own scientists. After Trump claimed Alabama “would most likely be hit (much) harder than anticipated” by Hurricane Dorian, NOAA staff were told to “only stick with official National Hurricane Center forecasts if questions arise from some national level social media posts which hit the news this afternoon.” They were also told not to “provide any opinion” on the matter. The order was understood internally as a reference to Trump and his false statements about Dorian. (Washington Post)
NOAA’s acting chief scientist is investigating whether the agency’s response to Trump’s Hurricane Dorian tweets constituted a violation of policies and ethics. The director of the National Weather Service, meanwhile, broke with NOAA leadership, calling the agency’s response “political” and a “danger to public health and safety.” (Washington Post)
5/ Trump dismissed the idea of allowing Bahamians into the United States on humanitarian grounds following the destruction of Hurricane Dorian. Hours earlier, the acting Customs and Border Protection chief suggested that the idea was worth considering. Trump said that those struggling in devastated areas of the Bahamas should go to the “large sections” of their country that were not hit, because he’s concerned that “bad people” could exploit the U.S. refugee process. (NBC News / Washington Post)
6/ The House Judiciary Committee will vote this week to define its ongoing “impeachment investigation.” The vote would detail the parameters of its investigation and formalize procedures for an impeachment inquiry. Democrats say the move will allow the panel to work faster and potentially acquire more information about possible obstruction of justice and abuses of power by Trump. The resolution will also mark the first recorded vote related to impeachment by lawmakers, even though the committee has already informed federal courts and the public that it is currently in the midst of a full-scale impeachment inquiry. (New York Times) / Politico)
7/ Trump called off a secret meeting with Afghan and Taliban leaders at Camp David to negotiate a peace deal to end the 18-year-long war. Trump called off the meeting after the Taliban admitted to a suicide car bomb attack at a checkpoint near the American Embassy in Kabul that killed an American soldier and 11 others. The secret peace talks were slated to happen two days before the 18th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. (New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post / CNN / Bloomberg / New York Times)
8/ Michael Flynn refused to cooperate with the House Intelligence Committee’s subpoena for testimony and documents as part of its Russia investigation. The committee is now demanding that Flynn appear on September 25th and provide documents by September 18th. (Politico / CNN)
poll/ 58% of Americans have confidence that stricter gun laws would reduce mass shootings, while 41% remain skeptical. 76% think improved mental health monitoring and treatment would reduce mass shootings. 89% support background checks for gun purchases, including for sales at gun shows. 86% support “red flag” laws that allow police to take firearms away from people found by a judge to be a danger to themselves or others. (ABC News / Washington Post)
1/ The Trump administration is considering a drastic reduction in refugee admissions for next year. One plan would zero out the refugee program altogether, while another would cut refugee admissions by half or more, to 10,000 to 15,000 people. Senior officials plan to discuss what Trump should set the refugee admissions at for the coming year in a meeting next week. (New York Times)
📌 Day 911: The Trump administration is considering admitting zero refugees next year. The idea was floated during a recent meeting with officials from the Department of Homeland Security, State Department, and the Pentagon. Homeland Security officials at the meeting suggested making the level anywhere from 3,000 to 10,000. The Trump administration cut refugee admissions from 110,000 in fiscal year 2017 to 30,000 in 2018. (Politico / CNN)
📌 Day 944: The Trump administration is considering a plan to allow states and cities the ability to deny entry to refugees approved for resettlement in the United States. According to the draft order, “the federal government will resettle refugees only where both the relevant state and local governments have consented to participate” in the program. If a jurisdiction does not agree, the federal government will find another location. Trump, meanwhile, is debating whether to decrease refugee admissions starting on Oct. 1. In fiscal year 2016, the limit was 85,000 refugees; in fiscal year 2019, the number was 30,000. (NBC News)
2/ Four states are planning to cancel their Republican presidential primaries and caucuses. Republican parties in South Carolina, Nevada, Arizona, and Kansas are expected to complete the cancellation of their primaries at meetings this weekend. It is not unprecedented for state Republicans or Democrats to decide not to hold a presidential primary when an incumbent is running uncontested to save party money at the state level. Trump’s challengers, however, say the moves are undemocratic and represent the latest illustration of Trump’s takeover of the entire Republican Party. (Politico / CNN)
3/ Trump called a Fox News correspondent to the Oval Office to insist that he wasn’t wrong when he claimed Hurricane Dorian could have hit Alabama. “He stressed to me that forecasts for Dorian last week had Alabama in the warning cone,” said Fox News senior White House correspondent John Roberts. “He insisted that it is unfair to say Alabama was never threatened by the storm” and suggested that Trump was “just looking for acknowledgment that he was not wrong for saying that at some point” about Alabama being at risk. Trump later complained on Twitter that the media has not apologized to him for “four days of corrupt reporting” about his false claim that Alabama was among a handful of states that “will most likely be hit (much) harder than anticipated.” Trump attempted to prove that his original claims about Alabama were accurate this week by showing a doctored and outdated hurricane map that had been altered with a black Sharpie to include Alabama in the storm’s track forecast cone. (CNN / Politico / Washington Post)
A White House official said Trump was the one who drew on a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration map with a sharpie to make it look like Dorian was poised to strike Alabama. “No one else writes like that on a map with a black Sharpie,” said the official. (Washington Post / Politico / Talking Points Memo)
4/ The Justice Department opened an antitrust investigation into four automakers who rejected the Trump administration’s relaxed air pollution and mileage regulations. Ford Motor Company, Volkswagen of America, Honda, and BMW instead struck a deal with California to reduce automobile emissions. Automakers have urged the administration not to drastically roll back Obama-era emissions levels, arguing that one national standard would be better than one weaker standard for most of the country and one tougher standard for California, plus the 13 other states that follow California’s lead. Those 14 states account for about 40% of the U.S. population. The Justice Department is investigating whether the deal could potentially limit consumer choice. (New York Times / Bloomberg / CNN)
5/ The U.S. added 130,000 jobs in August – about 25,000 of which were temporary 2020 Census workers – signaling a slowdown in the pace of job growth. Economists had predicted 160,000 job gains in August. Job gains for the two previous months were also revised downward by 20,000. The unemployment rate remained at 3.7%. (Washington Post / Los Angeles Times / NPR / New York Times / Associated Press / CNBC)
6/ Congressional investigators identified possible failures in Deutsche Bank AG’s money laundering controls in its dealings with Russian oligarchs. Investigators discovered the potential failures after going through a series of transactions, emails, and other documents turned over to Congress by the bank. The inquiry found instances where bank staff flagged concerns about new Russian clients and transactions but were ignored by managers. Congress is also looking into whether the bank allowed entities to funnel illegal funds into the United States as a correspondent bank by processing transactions for others. (Reuters / The Hill)
1/ The Pentagon will divert funding from military construction projects in 23 states, three territories, and 19 countries to pay for Trump’s border wall. Among the projects being defunded to pay for Trump’s border wall, include nine schools for military children on bases in the U.S. and abroad, a daycare center at Joint Base Andrews, Hurricane Maria recovery projects at military installations in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, construction projects in Europe designed to help allies deter Russia. In total, $3.6 billion will be taken from 127 projects to fund 11 border barrier projects in Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. (New York Times / Washington Post / Reuters)
📌 Day 957: The Trump administration will divert $3.6 billion this week from 127 military construction projects to build to build 175 miles of Trump’s border wall. Trump declared a national emergency in February to draw funding from federal accounts to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said about half of the funding will come from military construction projects outside the United States and half will come from projects within the country. (Politico / Washington Post)
2/ A federal judge ruled that 11 parents who were deported from the U.S. without their children will be allowed to return to the country. San Diego District Court Judge Dana Sabraw ruled that the Trump administration illegally prevented the parents from pursuing their asylum cases. In some cases, the judge found that agents coerced the parents into dropping their claims and accepting deportation by having them sign documents they didn’t understand or lying and telling the parents that the asylum laws had changed. Sabraw refused to allow seven other parents listed in the original request to return to the U.S. (The Hill)
3/ A district court judge in Virginia ruled that the federal government’s database of “known or suspected terrorists” violates the rights of American citizens who are on the watchlist. Judge Anthony Trenga said “the currently existing procedural safeguards are not sufficient” to address the risk of incorrectly depriving U.S. citizens of their freedom to travel or protect their reputation. The database is a major tool of the FBI and Department of Homeland Security, and the ruling calls the constitutionality of the watchlist into question. As of 2017, roughly 2.1 million people were on the watchlist. (New York Times)
4/ The U.S. and China will resume trade talks aimed at ending the trade war. Chinese Vice Premier Liu He agreed to visit Washington in “early October” with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. Stocks rose following the news that talks would resume. (Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / New York Times)
5/ Trump’s Middle East peace negotiator will leave the administration. Jason Greenblatt didn’t say when his resignation would take effect, but the departure leaves the Israel-Palestinian peace effort – team led by Jared Kushner – without its chief architect. Trump has called it the “ultimate deal,” but the plan has been repeatedly delayed with Palestinian leaders rejecting it sight unseen. Trump officials, however, claimed that “The vision is now complete and will be released when appropriate,” but that the plan will not be released before Israel’s Sept. 17 election. (Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg)
1/ Trump displayed a doctored National Weather Service map to “prove” that Alabama would, in fact, be affected by Hurricane Dorian. The storm’s projected path on the map was extended to include Alabama with a black marker in an apparent attempted to retroactively justify Trump’s incorrect tweet over the weekend warning that Alabama could be affected. “This is original path that we thought – and everybody thought that this was about a 95 percent probably,” Trump said. When asked whether the chart had been drawn on, Trump said: “I don’t know; I don’t know.” By law, knowingly issuing a false weather report is a violation of the law subject to imprisonment and or fine. (Washington Post / NPR / ABC News / The Guardian)
📌 Day 957: Trump refused to retract his claim that Hurricane Dorian was poised to hit Alabama, even though the National Weather Service said he was wrong. The NWS office in Birmingham rejected Trump’s assertion that Alabama was in the storm’s path, tweeting: “We repeat, no impacts from Hurricane Dorian will be felt across Alabama.” Trump, meanwhile, explained that it’s “Always good to be prepared!” (CNN / New York Times / The Hill / Yahoo! News)
2/ The Trump administration relaxed requirements for energy efficient light bulbs that Congress passed in 2007. The Energy Department’s filing in the Federal Register will now prevent new efficiency standards for inefficient incandescent and halogen bulbs from going into effect on Jan. 1st. (New York Times)
3/ The FBI is tracking people protesting U.S. immigration policy at the border and monitoring their social media. The FBI office in Phoenix sent an “external intelligence note” to other law enforcement and government agencies saying these groups are “increasingly arming themselves and using lethal force to further their goals.” Almost all of the evidence cited in the report involved nonviolent protest activity. Civil rights advocates say that the government is classifying legitimate protests and legally protected speech as violent extremism or domestic terrorism. (Yahoo News)
4/ Mitch McConnell reiterated that he is open to bringing gun legislation to the floor of the Senate – but only if Trump supports it. Democrats are urging McConnell to bring the House’s universal background checks bill to the Senate floor. McConnell said he would be happy to put the bill on the floor if Trump “is in favor of a number of things that he has discussed openly and publicly, and I know that if we pass it it’ll become law.” (Politico)
Trump said he hopes will Congress would reach an agreement on gun reform “soon,” but didn’t endorse the House-passed bill that would mandate universal background checks for all gun sales. (Politico)
San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors labeled the NRA a terrorist organization, saying the organization intentional “spreads propaganda that misinforms and aims to deceive the public about the dangers of gun violence.” The NRA called the resolution a “ludicrous stunt.” (KTVU)
5/ A former top Trump official at the Interior Department who oversaw oil and gas drilling on federal lands joined an oil and gas company less than a week after resigning from Interior. Joe Balash served as assistant secretary for land and minerals management for nearly two years, where he worked to open up the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to development and expand drilling on the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska to the west of the refuge. Now, Balash will be working for Oil Search, a Papua New Guinea-based oil company that is currently developing one of Alaska’s largest oil prospects in years on state lands that are nearby — but not inside — those same federal reserves. (Washington Post)
6/ The House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed the Department of Homeland Security over Trump’s alleged offer to pardon officials who break the law while carrying out his immigration agenda. Trump has denied making the offer while his allies claimed the closed-door comment was a joke. (Politico)
📌 Day 951: Trump promised to pardon any official who breaks the law in order to get his border wall built by the 2020 election. Trump also directed officials to “take the land” necessary and “get it done” by eminent domain along the U.S.-Mexico border, ignore environmental regulations, and quickly approve billions of dollars’ worth of construction contracts to fast-track his signature 2016 presidential campaign promise. “Don’t worry, I’ll pardon you,” Trump reportedly told aides. (Washington Post / New York Times / CNBC / CNN / The Independent)
7/ A federal judge blocked the White House’s decision to revoke a Playboy reporter’s press pass over a showdown in the Rose Garden with former Trump aide Sebastian Gorka. U.S. District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras granted a preliminary injunction to restore Brian Karem’s “hard pass,” because reporters weren’t given a clear set of rules governing press conduct at events like the one in question in the Rose Garden. Despite objections from the White House press secretary that reporters are required to adhere to general standards of “professionalism” and “decorum,” Contreras said that “without any contextual guideposts, ‘professionalism,’ standing alone, remains too murky to provide fair notice here.” (Politico / Washington Post)
poll/ 62% of voters said they’re somewhat or very concerned that there will be a recession in the next six months. 57% said they would blame Trump should America enter recession by the end of the year. (Newsweek / Harvard CAPS/Harris)
1/ The House Judiciary Committee is preparing to investigate Trump’s alleged involvement in the 2016 hush-money payments to Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels. The committee plans to hold hearings and call witnesses involved in the scheme as soon as October, but say there is already enough evidence to name Trump as a co-conspirator. Michael Cohen previously pleaded guilty to two campaign finance crimes related to the hush-money payments. The renewed inquiry will serve as another aspect of the House’s consideration of whether or not to draft articles of impeachment against Trump. (Washington Post)
2/ Trump “suggested” that Pence stay at his Irish golf club and hotel during a taxpayer-funded trip, despite the meetings taking place more than 150 miles away. Pence is traveling with his wife, sister, and mother, and was originally scheduled to end his trip at Trump’s golf club in Doonbeg. Pence will now fly back and forth from Doonbeg to Dublin for his meetings – more than an hour flight each way. Both Pence and an aide defended the arrangement, claiming that the Trump International Golf Links & Hotel was “the one facility” in Ireland that could accommodate the delegation traveling with Pence. Since 2017, Pence’s political group has spent about $224,000 at Trump properties. (NBC News / Daily Beast / Associated Press / New York Times / CNN /Washington Post)
3/ A company that Trump’s campaign manager owns received more than $900,000 in business from a pro-Trump super PAC. Brad Parscale created Red State Data and Digital to act as a “firewall company” that allowed it to continue working with the America First super PAC during the midterm elections without violating election rules that prohibit coordination between a campaign and a super PAC. Red State was founded on March 2, 2018 – days after it was announced that Parscale would become Trump’s 2020 campaign manager. (CNN / ABC News)
4/ A group of Trump’s allies is trying to raise at least $2 million to investigate reporters and editors Trump doesn’t like. In a fundraising pitch, the group claims it will provide damaging information about reporters and editors to “friendly media outlets,” such as Breitbart, as well as traditional media when possible. GOP consultant Arthur Schwartz will be involved with the fundraising effort, along with several others associated with the “loose network” of operatives identified by the New York Times last week. The prospectus for the project says it is “targeting the people producing the news.” (Axios)
5/ The Trump administration will divert $3.6 billion this week from 127 military construction projects to build to build 175 miles of Trump’s border wall. Trump declared a national emergency in February to draw funding from federal accounts to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said about half of the funding will come from military construction projects outside the United States and half will come from projects within the country. (Politico / Washington Post)
📌 Day 757: Trump declared a national emergency at the border to circumvent Congress and fund his border wall with money lawmakers refused to give him, saying “I didn’t need to do this,” but “I just want to get it done faster, that’s all.” In a Rose Garden news conference, Trump said he would sign the declaration to divert $3.6 billion from military construction projects to his border wall and then use presidential budgetary discretion to redirect $2.5 billion from counternarcotics programs and another $600 million from a Treasury Department asset forfeiture fund. Between the $1.375 billion authorized for fencing in a spending package passed by Congress, and the roughly $6.5 billion in funding from executive action, Trump is will have about $8 billion to construct or repair as many as 234 miles of a border barrier – significantly more than the $5.7 billion that Congress refused to give him. Following the news conference, Trump signed the spending legislation. (New York Times / The Guardian / Politico / Washington Post / NBC News / ABC News)
6/ Trump tweeted a detailed aerial photo of an Iranian launchpad from that appears to have come from a classified intelligence briefing. The photo shows the aftermath of an accident at Iran’s Imam Khomeini Space Center. Some experts suspect that the image in Trump’s tweet might have come from a drone or a spy plane, confirming that the U.S. is violating Iran’s airspace to spy on the missile program. Amateur satellite trackers, however, say image was taken by one of the United States’ most secretive surveillance satellites, USA 224. The capabilities of USA 224 are so closely guarded that people have been sent to prison for leaking photos from them. Trump denied responsibility for the extensive damage to the launchpad and defended his decision to tweet the photo, saying: “We had a photo and I released it, which I have the absolute right to do.” (Washington Post / NPR / Los Angeles Times / CNBC)
Notables.
Trump is “not sure that (he’s) ever even heard of a Category 5” hurricane. Four such storms – including Hurricane Dorian – having threatened the U.S. since he took office. (CNN)
London Mayor Sadiq Khan mocked Trump for “dealing with a hurricane out on the golf course.” Trump cancelled his trip to Poland to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the start of World War II to instead concentrate on Hurricane Dorian. Instead, he played golf at his private club in Virginia. (Politico)
Trump refused to retract his claim that Hurricane Dorian was poised to hit Alabama, even though the National Weather Service said he was wrong. The NWS office in Birmingham rejected Trump’s assertion that Alabama was in the storm’s path, tweeting: “We repeat, no impacts from Hurricane Dorian will be felt across Alabama.” Trump, meanwhile, explained that it’s “Always good to be prepared!” (CNN / New York Times / The Hill / Yahoo! News)
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos scaled back an Obama-era federal student loan forgiveness policy for borrowers who claim they were misled or deceived by their colleges. The new rules will make it more difficult for federal student loan borrowers to cancel their debt on the grounds that their college defrauded them. (Politico)
U.S. manufacturing contracted for the first time since 2016, heightening fears that the trade war with China could bring on a recession. The Institute for Supply Management’s purchasing managers index fell to 49.1 in August. Figures below 50 indicate the manufacturing economy is generally shrinking. (Bloomberg / New York Times)
1/ Trump’s longtime personal assistant was fired after bragging to reporters that she had a better relationship with Trump than Ivanka or Tiffany Trump – his own daughters. Madeleine Westerhout also told reporters that Trump did not like being in pictures with Tiffany because he thought she was overweight. Westerhout comments happened at an off-the-record dinner with reporters in Bedminster, N.J. (Politico / New York Times / CNN)
2/ Trump formally established the U.S. military’s Space Command, which will be responsible for protecting American interests in what he called “the next war-fighting domain.” Space Command will consist 287 personnel, but could draw troops from other branches of the military, as well as from Trump’s proposed Space Force, the sixth branch of the military that is currently waiting to be approved by Congress. Space Command’s location has yet to be determined, but the Pentagon is currently considering six locations at bases in Colorado, Alabama and California. (Politico / Washington Post / CNN / New York Times)
3/ The Federal Election Commission no longer has enough commissioners to legally meet after the vice chairman resigned earlier this week. With Matthew Petersen gone, the FEC will be down to three members and won’t have a quorum. The agency is supposed to serve as the watchdog over how money is raised and spent in American elections. (NPR / New York Times / USA Today)
4/ Trump canceled his planned trip to Poland to monitor Hurricane Dorian, which is threatening to strike Florida near Mar-a-Lago. The storm is projected to make landfall as a Category 4 hurricane on Monday, with Melbourne as the most likely landing spot – about 115 miles north of where Trump’s ocean-front hotel is situated. Mar-a-Lago remains in the “cone of uncertainty.” Trump had been set to travel to Poland to participate in a World War II commemoration ceremony. Pence will make the trip instead. (NBC News / Tampa Bay Times / Washington Post / CNN)
1/ The EPA plans to roll back regulation of methane emissions – a major contributor to climate change – by eliminating the federal requirements that oil and gas companies install technology to monitor and limit leaks from wells, tanks, and pipeline networks. Trump administration officials suggested that because the oil and gas industry can’t profit from leaks, they already have an economic incentive to limit their methane emissions. Several of the world’s largest fossil fuel companies, however, opposed the rollback and urged the Trump administration to leave the current standards in place. (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / The Guardian / NBC News)
2/ The Trump administration started denying applications by immigrant families for permission to extend their stay in the for medical care not available in their home countries. Letters issued by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to those applying for medical relief that agency offices “no longer consider deferred action requests,” except for members of the military, and their stay has been rescinded. They have 33 days to leave the country, retroactive to any requests filed on or before Aug. 7th. The policy has not been publicly announced. (NBC News / ABC News)
3/ The Justice Department inspector general found that James Comey violated FBI policies for sharing memos that detailed his interactions with Trump. Comey won’t be charged. The inspector general determined that the memos were official records, which describe how Trump pressed Comey for loyalty and asked him to stop an investigation into Michael Flynn. (Washington Post / NPR / USA Today / Wall Street Journal)
📌 Day 104: Comey helped release details of his meetings with Trump. Comey acknowledged that he shared copies of his memos documenting his Trump meetings with a “close friend” — a professor at Columbia Law School — who could share the information with reporters. (Washington Post)
📌 Day 456: The Justice Department sent partially redacted copies of James Comey’s memos – 15 pages in total – to Congress, which leaked to the public within hours. The memos cover the first three months of the Trump administration. Following the release, Trump tweeted that the memos “show clearly that there was NO COLLUSION and NO OBSTRUCTION.” (Associated Press / New York Times / Washington Post)
4/ The House Judiciary Committee will investigate Trump’s proposal to hold the 2020 G7 meeting at his Trump National Doral Miami golf resort, calling the move “only the latest in a troubling pattern of corruption and self-dealing” by Trump. Jerrold Nadler said that requiring foreign leaders to pay to stay at a Trump-owned property would be a direct violation of the Constitution’s emoluments clause. (NBC News / Politico / Washington Post)
📌 Day 949: Trump floated the idea of holding the next G7 summit at his “magnificent” Doral golf resort in Miami. Trump said that while he hasn’t made a final decision, “it’s right next to the airport and it’s a great place,” and that his staff had determined that — of all the resorts in America — Trump’s club was the best suited to host the international meeting. Trump also defended the possibility of hosting the summit at his golf club, claiming “I’m not going to make any money. I don’t want to make money. I don’t care about making money.” The U.S. is next to host the G7 in 2020. Trump also refused to say whether he would invite Russia to the meeting, but said he thought it would be “advantageous” if they attended. Russia was kicked out over its illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / CNBC / CNN)
5/ Trump attacked Puerto Rico as it braces for Hurricane Dorian. He called the island “one of the most corrupt places on earth” and San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz “incompetent.” Trump then proclaimed himself “the best thing that’s ever happened to Puerto Rico.” (ABC News / CNBC / Washington Post)
6/ Trump complained that Fox News “isn’t working for us anymore” because the network is not sufficiently loyal to him. Trump urged his followers to “start looking for a new News Outlet” as an alternative to Fox. Several Fox News personalities, however, pushed back, saying: “Fox News isn’t supposed to work for you,” and “We don’t work for you.” (Politico / CNN / Daily Beast)
7/ MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell retracted his claim Russian oligarchs had co-signed Trump’s Deutsche Bank loans. O’Donnell said that statements from a single source weren’t ready to be reported, because he did not go through the network’s “rigorous verification and standards process” before repeating it, and that “had it gone through that process, I would not have been permitted to report it.” (Politico / NBC News)
8/ Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner discussed the possibility of replacing Pence with Nikki Haley on the 2020 Republican ticket. Haley, meanwhile, tweeted out a denial of the “false rumors” — which hadn’t leaked beyond the White House — that she wanted to join Trump on the 2020 ticket. (Raw Story / Political Wire)
9/ Trump aides admitted that he lied about the “high-level” trade talks with Chinese officials in order to boost markets. Aides privately conceded that the calls didn’t happen the way Trump said they did, and because Trump wanted to project optimism, he conflated comments from China’s vice premier with direct communications from the Chinese. (CNN)
10/ Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin floated the idea of offering bonds with maturities of 50 to 100 years. Mnuchin said the idea was under “very serious consideration” after a meeting with White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow earlier this month when the yield curve briefly inverted. (Bloomberg)
11/ Trump is considering a plan to block more than $250 million in foreign aid to Ukraine. Since 2014, the U.S. has provided Ukraine with more than $1 billion in security assistance to bolster the country’s military, which faces an ongoing conflict with separatists that the Pentagon believes are backed by Moscow. (CNN / Politico)
12/ Former Secretary of Defense James Mattis said he had “no choice but to leave” the Trump administration after Trump announced plans to withdraw the U.S. military from Syria. Mattis has given a series of interviews and public statements in recent weeks indirectly criticizing Trump, but he has refused to directly address Trump’s character and fitness for office, citing a “duty of silence” to the administration. “When you leave an administration over clear policy differences,” Mattis said, “you need to give the people who are still there as much opportunity as possible to defend the country.” (CNN)
13/ Trump made 48 false claims between Tuesday and Sunday last week. He has averaged 7.7 false claims per day since July 8. (CNN)
14/ A press secretary for Trump’s reelection campaign disputed that Trump frequently lies. Kayleigh McEnany said “No, I don’t think the President has lied,” and then accused some news networks of “lying to the American people.” McEnany also dismissed Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. (CNN)
1/ Deutsche Bank told a federal appeals court that it has some Trump-related tax returns. In a letter to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, Deutsche wrote that it “has in its possession tax returns (in either draft or as-filed form) responsive to the Subpoenas” from the House Financial Services and Intelligence committees seeking financial records for Trump, Trump Jr., Eric Trump, Ivanka Trump, the Trump Organization, and other Trump-family-controlled entities. Deutsche redacted the names of individuals from the public filing due to privacy concerns about its relationship with clients and wouldn’t publicly confirm whether it specifically had Trump’s tax returns, but added it also has tax records “related to parties not named in the subpoenas but who may constitute ‘immediate family’” of individuals named in the document request. The disclosure was made by Deutsche after appellate judges had asked if the bank actually had the records. Capital One, which was also subpoenaed by the House committees in April, said it “does not possess any tax returns responsive to the Capital One subpoena.” Trump is currently suing to prevent Deutsche Bank and other banks from complying with the subpoenas. Deutsche Bank has been Trump’s primary lender for years when other banks wouldn’t lend to the Trump Organization. (Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / Reuters / Politico / Bloomberg / Associated Press)
📌 Day 320: Robert Mueller issued a subpoena for the banking records of people affiliated with Trump. The move forced Deutsche Bank – Trump’s biggest lender – to turn over documents related to certain credit transactions and the $300 million Trump owes the lender. Legal experts said it showed Mueller was “following the money” in search of links between the campaign and the Kremlin since Deutsche Bank may have sold some of Trump’s mortgage or loans to Russian-owned banks, which could potentially give Russia leverage over Trump. Jay Sekulow, one of Trump’s personal lawyers, denied that a subpoena had been issued. Since 1998, Deutsche has helped loan at least $2.5 billion to companies affiliated with Trump, which he used to build or purchase highest-profile projects in Washington, New York, Chicago and Florida. (The Guardian / Bloomberg / Reuters / Wall Street Journal)
📌 Day 356: The Trump administration waived fines for Deutsche Bank and four other multinational banks convicted of manipulating global interest rates. Trump owes Deutsche at least $130 million in loans that were originally worth $300 million. The German bank was also fined $425 million by New York State for laundering $10 billion out of Russia. (International Business Times / USA Today)
📌 Day 526: Justice Anthony Kennedy’s son, Justin, worked at Deutsche Bank for more than a decade, helping loan Trump more than $1 billion at a time when other banks wouldn’t. Since 1998, Deutsche has helped loan Trump at least $2.5 billion, of which at least $130 million is still owed to the bank. In 2017, Deutsche Bank AG agreed to pay $425 million to New York’s banking regulator over a money laundering scheme that helped Russian investors move $10 billion out of Russia. Trump later waived the fines for the bank after Robert Mueller issued a subpoena to Deutsche for the banking records of people affiliated with him. Following Trump’s first address to Congress in February 2017, he stopped to tell Justice Kennedy: “Say hello to your boy. Special guy.” (New York Times)
📌 Day 789: Deutsche Bank loaned more than $2 billion to Trump over nearly two decades during his time as a real estate developer at a time when other banks wouldn’t lend to him. The bank repeatedly loaned money to Trump despite multiple business-related “red flags,” including instances where Trump exaggerated his wealth by an extra $2 billion in order to secure additional loans from the bank. In 2010, Trump returned to Deutsche Bank for $100 million loan, even though it had concluded at the time that Trump had overvalued some of his real estate assets by up to 70%. (New York Times / New York Times / CNBC)
📌 Day 817: House Democrats subpoenaed Deutsche Bank for Trump’s personal and financial records. Democrats also subpoenaed JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Citigroup for documents related to possible Russian money laundering. Maxine Waters said Trump’s “potential use of the U.S. financial system for illicit purposes is a very serious concern” and that the House Intelligence and Financial Services committees will “follow the facts wherever they may lead us.” Deutsche Bank reportedly requested a so-called “friendly subpoena” from the committees before it would comply with their request. The Trump Organization, meanwhile, said it was looking at options to block Deutsche Bank from complying with the subpoena. (New York Times / CNN / Politico / Reuters / Washington Post)
📌 Day 831: Trump, his family, and the Trump Organization are suing Deutsche Bank and Capital One to block their compliance with subpoenas from House Democrats seeking his financial records. Trump’s attorneys argue that the subpoenas serve “no legitimate or lawful purpose” and were issued to harass Trump and “rummage through every aspect of his personal finances, his businesses, and the private information of the President and his family.” House Democrats called it a “meritless lawsuit” that was “only designed to put off meaningful accountability as long as possible” in order to “obstruct Congress’s constitutional oversight authority.” The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Trump, Trump Jr., Eric Trump, Ivanka Trump, and the Trump Organization. Deutsche Bank and Capital One intend to begin providing documents to the House on May 6th, absent court intervention. (New York Times / Politico / Axios / CNBC / CNN)
📌 Day 851: Deutsche Bank staff identified multiple suspicious transactions made in 2016 and 2017 by legal entities controlled by Trump and Jared Kushner. A group of anti-money-laundering specialists at Deutsche Bank recommended that the bank report the transactions to a federal financial-crimes watchdog. But executives at the bank, from which Trump has borrowed billions of dollars, rejected the advice of their staff and chose not to file the reports with the government. The nature of the transactions in question is still unclear, but at least some of them involved money flowing back and forth between overseas entities or individuals, something the bank employees flagged as suspicious. Deutsche Bank has denied the report that its executives ignored the recommendations of its own anti-money-laundering specialists. (New York Times / Reuters / Reuters)
🚨 RUMOR MILL: MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell said that a “single source close to Deutsche Bank” said Trump had Russian oligarchs co-sign his loan documents. O’Donnell added that his source said Trump would not have been able to obtain his loans with Deutsche without the co-signers, which described as “Russian billionaires close to Vladimir Putin.” (Washington Examiner / Business Insider / Twitter)
Trump’s personal attorney threatened NBCUniversal and Lawrence O’Donnell with a defamation suit for reporting that “Russian oligarchs” co-signed loans to Trump. Charles Harder demanded that O’Donnell and NBCU “immediately and prominently retract, correct and apologize for the aforementioned false and defamatory statements.” (Hollywood Reporter)
2/ Trump promised to pardon any official who breaks the law in order to get his border wall built by the 2020 election. Trump also directed officials to “take the land” necessary and “get it done” by eminent domain along the U.S.-Mexico border, ignore environmental regulations, and quickly approve billions of dollars’ worth of construction contracts to fast-track his signature 2016 presidential campaign promise. “Don’t worry, I’ll pardon you,” Trump reportedly told aides. (Washington Post / New York Times / CNBC / CNN / The Independent)
3/ Children born to some U.S. military members and government employees working overseas will no longer automatically be considered United States citizens, according to policy alert issued by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The Trump administration rescinded previous guidance that children of U.S. service members and government officials abroad are considered “residing in the United States” and automatically given citizenship under a section of the Immigration and Nationality Act. The new policy, however, states that “these children will no longer be considered to have acquired citizenship automatically.” The new policy will go into effect on Oct. 29th. (Task and Purpose / The Hill / Axios / Daily Beast)
4/ Trump instructed his Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to exempt Alaska’s 16.7 million-acre Tongass National Forest from logging restrictions put in place nearly two decades ago. The move would open up more than half of the world’s largest intact temperate rainforest to potential logging, energy, and mining projects. It would also undercut a policy put in place by the Clinton administration known as the “roadless rule.” Forest Service officials had planned to phase out old-growth logging in the Tongass within a decade. (Washington Post / The Hill / Slate)
5/ Trump said he backs Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro in the struggle to contain the man-made fires in the Amazon rainforest. Bolsonaro is “working very hard on the Amazon fires,” Trump tweeted, “and in all respects doing a great job for the people of Brazil - Not easy. He and his country have the full and complete support of the USA!” Bolsonaro played a key role in pushing for the deforestation which directly contributed to the fires. He recently rejected $20 million in international aid to help fight the fires, before deciding on Tuesday to accept all foreign aid from organizations or countries — as long as Brazil can decide how to use the assistance. (Politico / New York Times / MSNBC / CBS News)
poll/ 56% of voters disapprove of the way Trump is handling his job as president. If the 2020 presidential election were held today, 54% of voters said they’d vote for Joe Biden, while 38% would vote for Trump. (Quinnipiac)
poll/ 37% of Americans say the economy is declining, compared with 31% who continue to see improvement. (Bloomberg / Quinnipiac)
poll/ 81% of voters say the fundamental values of the United States are being tested in the 2020 election, including 87% of Democrats, 81% of Republicans, and 78% of independents. 58% added that the 2020 election will be the most important of their lifetimes. 6%, however, said the 2020 election is not at all important compared to other elections. 38% of Americans said they would have little or no confidence that the election had been conducted in a “fair-and-square way” if their candidate loses. (USA Today / Suffolk University)
1/ The Trump administration is pulling $155 million from FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund to temporarily pay for court hearing locations for asylum-seekers along the southern border who have been forced to wait in Mexico. The Department of Homeland Security will also lose $116 million previously allocated for Coast Guard operations, aviation security, and more in order to fund nearly 6,800 more beds for immigrant detainees. Combined with existing space, the funding would allow ICE to detain nearly 50,000 immigrants at one time. The Trump administrations sent the allocation changes to Congress as a notification rather than a request. Puerto Rico is currently under a hurricane watch, which Trump complained about as “yet another big storm” before overstating how much money Congress allocated for recovery in the wake of Hurricane Maria in 2017. (NBC News / Washington Post / CNN / BuzzFeed News)
2/ The attorneys general for 19 states and the District of Columbia sued the Trump administration to block a new rule to indefinitely detain migrant families who cross the border illegally. The new rule would terminate the Flores agreement, which puts a 20-day limit on how long children can be held in immigration detention. (Reuters)
📌 Day 924: The Trump administration will terminate the 20-day cap for detaining migrant children and allow the government to indefinitely detain migrant families who cross the border illegally. The new regulation, announced by acting Department of Homeland Security chief Kevin McAleenan, requires approval from a federal judge before it can go into effect and could be in defiance of the 2015 Flores agreement, which limited the time families could be detained to 20 days. Trump and Republicans have repeatedly blamed the 20-day rule for encouraging migrants to arrive at the border with their children expecting to be released. Administration officials claim the new rule will serve as a deterrent against migrant families. The Trump administration proposed a similar rule in September 2018 that would have allowed the government to detain migrant children for longer periods of time, so long as they were treated with “dignity, respect and special concern for their particular vulnerability as minors.” (ABC News / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / New York Times)
3/ Homeland Security plans to launch a program aimed at protecting voter registration databases and systems from ransomware attacks ahead of the 2020 presidential election. The systems are used to validate the eligibility of voters before they cast ballots. They were compromised in 2016 by Russian hackers collecting voter information. Intelligence officials say that in 2020, however, foreign hackers will not only target the databases, but could also attempt to manipulate, disrupt, or destroy the data altogether. A senior U.S. official says the systems are classified as “high risk.” (Reuters)
4/ Attorney General William Barr booked Trump’s D.C. hotel for a 200-person holiday party in December. Trump’s hotel will likely earn more than $30,000 in revenue from the event. Justice Department attorneys, meanwhile, are currently defending Trump’s business in court, arguing that he has not violated the emoluments clause of the Constitution. (Washington Post)
5/ Trump blamed “Radical Left Democrats” for spreading a “false and nasty rumor” about a bedbug infestation at the Trump National Doral Miami golf resort. “No bedbugs at Doral,” Trump tweeted, referring to a lawsuit over bedbugs that the resort settled in 2017. The hashtag “#TrumpBedBugs” was trending on Twitter yesterday after Trump floated the idea of hosting next year’s G7 meeting at the hotel. (Washington Post / Politico)
2017: Trump Doral settles lawsuit over biting bedbugs. (Miami Herald)
Trump called Baltimore “rat and rodent infested” four months after he tried ending the primary funding source for the city’s public housing rat-elimination program. The Community Development Block Grant program funded $22 million worth of improvements in Baltimore last year and ensures “decent affordable housing,” after-school programs to low-income children, and assistance on closing costs to purchase homes. (Baltimore Sun)
📌 Day 921: Trump called Elijah Cummings a “brutal bully” and his Baltimore-based district a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess” that “is considered the worst run and most dangerous anywhere in the United States. No human being would want to live there.” Trump also called Cummings, a black civil rights icon, a “racist.” Trump’s tweets appeared to be in response to a Fox & Friends segment on the same topic that ran earlier in the day, which included images of rundown and neglected apartment buildings in Baltimore. As chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, Cummings has initiated most of the investigations into the Trump administration. Last week, Cummings was authorized to subpoena work-related text and emails by White House officials, including Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner. Trump called Cummings’ “radical ‘oversight’ […] a joke!” (Baltimore Sun / New York Times / Washington Post / Washington Post / The Hill)
6/ Trump said he refuses to jeopardize the wealth of the U.S. over climate “dreams” and “windmills” after skipping a G7 session on climate change. The Trump administration has rolled back several U.S. environmental protection policies put in place by the Obama administration, including weakening the Endangered Species Act. (Reuters)
7/ Farmers are losing patience with Trump’s trade war with China and a growing number suggest it will not take much more to lose their vote. “We’re not starting to do great again,” said the president of the Minnesota Corn Growers Association. “Things are going downhill and downhill quickly.” American agricultural exports to China were $24 billion in 2014, but fell to $9.1 billion last year. Exports of farm products to China fell by another $1.3 billion in the first half of this year. Farm bankruptcy filings this year through June are up 13% from 2018 and loan delinquency rates are also on the rise. (New York Times)
China’s foreign ministry said it hopes the U.S. can create the conditions for additional trade talks between the world’s two largest economies. The ministry also reiterated that it had no knowledge of any recent phone call between the U.S. and China, as members of the Trump administration claimed. (Reuters)
poll/ Trump’s net approval rating has dropped in every key battleground state since January 2017. (Axios / Morning Consult)
1/ Trump was the only world leader to skip a session devoted to climate change at the G7 summit, citing scheduled meetings with Germany and India. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, however, both attended the climate change meeting. When asked whether he had attended the climate session, Trump replied: “We’re having it in a little while.” (The Guardian / USA Today / CNN / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post)
📌 Day 931: Climate change is putting pressure on the ability of humanity to feed itself, according to a new United Nations report that was prepared by more than 100 experts from 52 countries and, unanimously approved. The report warns that the world’s land and water resources are being exploited at “unprecedented rates” and “the cycle is accelerating.” Climate change has already degraded lands, caused deserts to expand, permafrost to thaw, and made forests more vulnerable to drought, fire, pests and disease. “The stability of food supply is projected to decrease as the magnitude and frequency of extreme weather events that disrupt food chains increases,” the report said. The report offered several proposals for addressing food supplies, including reducing red meat consumption, adopting plant-based diets, and eating more fruits, vegetables and seeds. As a result, the world could reduce carbon pollution up to 15% of current emissions levels by 2050. It would also make people healthier. (New York Times / Associated Press / Nature)
📌Day 627: A U.N. report on the effects of climate change predicts a strong risk of an environmental crisis much sooner than expected. The report finds that the atmosphere could warm by as much as 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit above preindustrial levels by 2040 if greenhouse gas emissions continue at the current rate, which would cause sea levels to rise, intensify droughts, wildfires, and poverty, and cause a mass die-off of coral reefs. To prevent 2.7 degrees of warming, greenhouse pollution must be reduced by 45% from 2010 levels by 2030, and fully eliminated by 2050. The use of coal as an electricity source would have to drop from nearly 40% today to between 1% and 7% by 2050. Renewable energy would have to increase to about 67%. Trump has mocked the science of human-caused climate change, vowing to increase the burning of coal, and he intends to withdraw from the 2015 Paris agreement. The world is already more than halfway to the 2.7-degree mark and “there is no documented historic precedent” for the scale of changes required, the report said. (New York Times / Washington Post)
📌Day 676: The National Climate Assessment concludes that global warming is already “transforming where and how we live and presents growing challenges to human health and quality of life, the economy, and the natural systems that support us.” The findings from the landmark scientific report, issued by 13 federal agencies, are at odds with the Trump administration’s environmental deregulation agenda, which Trump claims will lead to economic growth, and its plans to withdraw from the Paris climate accord. The report predicts that the effects of global warming could eliminate as much as 10% of the U.S. economy by the end of the century, and warns that humans must act aggressively now “to avoid substantial damages to the U.S. economy, environment, and human health and well-being over the coming decades.” The first report, released in November 2017, concluded that there is “no convincing alternative explanation” for the changing climate other than “human activities, especially emissions of greenhouse gases.” Trump recently questioned the science of climate change, saying that “I don’t know that it’s man-made” and that the warming trend “could very well go back.” (New York Times / Associated Press / Washington Post / CNN)
📌 Day 685: Global emissions of carbon dioxide have reached the highest levels on record. Global emissions grew 1.6% in 2017 with 2018 expected to increase 2.7%. The U.S. is the world’s second-largest emitter of carbon emissions, but that hasn’t stopped the Trump administration from moving to roll back regulations designed to limit those emissions from vehicle tailpipes and power-plant smokestacks. As United Nations Secretary General António Guterres said this week at the opening of the 24th annual U.N. climate conference: “We are in trouble. We are in deep trouble with climate change.” (Washington Post / New York Times
2/ Trump floated the idea of holding the next G7 summit at his “magnificent” Doral golf resort in Miami. Trump said that while he hasn’t made a final decision, “it’s right next to the airport and it’s a great place,” and that his staff had determined that — of all the resorts in America — Trump’s club was the best suited to host the international meeting. Trump also defended the possibility of hosting the summit at his golf club, claiming “I’m not going to make any money. I don’t want to make money. I don’t care about making money.” The U.S. is next to host the G7 in 2020. Trump also refused to say whether he would invite Russia to the meeting, but said he thought it would be “advantageous” if they attended. Russia was kicked out over its illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / CNBC / CNN)
Trump told the G7 that Obama was “outsmarted” and embarrassed by Putin when Russia illegally seized Crimea from Ukraine. (Politico)
📌 Revenue at the Trump National Doral has declined since 2015. The resort’s net operating income fell by 69% from 2015 to 2017. (Washington Post)
3/ The Trump’s hotels and resorts could save millions of dollars on outstanding loans if the Federal Reserve lowered interest rates as Trump has demanded. For every quarter-point reduction, Trump could save as much as $850,000 in annual interest rate payments. If the Fed dropped rates a full percentage point, which Trump has repeatedly urged Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell to do, the Trump Organization could save more than $3 million annually. (Washington Post / Bloomberg)
📌 Day 942: Trump urged the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates by a full percentage point. The Fed cut rates last month for the first time in a decade, signaling it might further cut rates amid slowing global growth and uncertainty over Trump’s trade war with China. Trump chastised the central bank’s chairman, Jerome Powell, for a “horrendous lack of vision” and claimed that the U.S. economy “is very strong.” (Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post)
📌 Day 946: Trump called the Federal Reserve chairman an “enemy” of the United States after Jerome Powell said Trump’s trade war is a “complex, turbulent” situation. Powell, whom Trump picked for the role, suggested the trade wars were contributing to a possible global slowdown and that the central bank was facing a “new challenge” as a result. Trump, meanwhile, tweeted that the Fed “did NOTHING” and questioned who “our bigger enemy” is: Powell or China’s President Xi Jinping. Trump also tweeted that he’ll continue to “work ‘brilliantly.’” [Editor’s note: It’s unclear why Trump quoted the word brilliantly in his tweet.] (Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / The Guardian / CNBC)
📌 Day 937: Trump, meanwhile, called Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell “clueless” and blamed him for the “CRAZY INVERTED YIELD CURVE!” Trump, deflecting criticism that his trade war with China is hurting the economic outlook, claimed that “China is not our problem” and that “we are winning, big time.” Yesterday, Trump delayed imposing tariffs on some Chinese imports until December “just in case” there would be a negative impact on shoppers during the holidays. (CNBC / Bloomberg)
4/ Trump claimed that “China called last night” to resume trade talks because “They have been hurt very badly” by the trade war. Chinese officials, however, said they were “not aware” of any phone calls with Trump and that China was willing to resolve the trade dispute through “calm” negotiations and opposed further escalation of the conflict. Trump replied: “Sorry, it’s the way I negotiate.” (Politico / Reuters / Bloomberg / Associated Press / CNBC / Washington Post)
5/ Trump has repeatedly suggested dropping nuclear bombs on hurricanes to stop them from hitting the U.S. during meetings with senior Homeland Security and national security officials. “Why don’t we nuke them?” Trump reportedly asked at one hurricane briefing at the White House. Government scientists have repeatedly said the idea will not work. A source in the room said “You could hear a gnat fart in that meeting. People were astonished. After the meeting ended, we thought, ‘What the f—? What do we do with this?’” Trump later denied the report, tweeting in third person that “President Trump […] never said this” and called the story “ridiculous.” (Axios / CNN)
Notables.
The Trump administration won’t say when the first mile of Trump’s new border wall will be built. More than 60 miles of existing barriers and fences have been replaced with a new wall, but to date not a single mile of wall has been built where no barrier previously existed. (Axios)
A network of conservative operatives and White House allies are attempting to discredit news organizations that Trump doesn’t like by publishing damaging information about journalists who work for them. The group compiles dossiers of embarrassing social media posts and other public statements made by journalists who work at large news organizations, including CNN, Washington Post, and New York Times. The research also reportedly extends to the family members of journalists, liberal activists, and other political opponents of Trump. (New York Times)
The House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed former White House staff secretary Rob Porter for public testimony. Porter was a key witness in Mueller’s investigation into possible obstruction of justice by Trump and will now testify publicly about Trump’s efforts to impede the Russia investigation. Porter is the third former Trump adviser to receive a subpoena in the last month. The committee is currently weighing whether to recommend articles of impeachment against Trump. Porter resigned last year amid allegations that he abused his ex-wives. (Politico / New York Times / NBC News / Reuters)
Trump claimed that Melania Trump has “gotten to know” North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and that she agrees that Kim “is a man with a country that has tremendous potential.” Melania Trump has never met Kim, which the White House later confirmed. (Politico / Washington Post)
1/ Trump called the Federal Reserve chairman an “enemy” of the United States after Jerome Powell said Trump’s trade war is a “complex, turbulent” situation. Powell, whom Trump picked for the role, suggested the trade wars were contributing to a possible global slowdown and that the central bank was facing a “new challenge” as a result. Trump, meanwhile, tweeted that the Fed “did NOTHING” and questioned who “our bigger enemy” is: Powell or China’s President Xi Jinping. Trump also tweeted that he’ll continue to “work ‘brilliantly.’” [Editor’s note: It’s unclear why Trump quoted the word brilliantly in his tweet.] (Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / The Guardian / CNBC)
2/ China will retaliate with tariffs on $75 billion more of U.S. goods in two batches effective Sept. 1st and Dec. 15th, which match with 10% tariff the Trump administration said would go into effect on $300 billion worth of imports from China. Beijing will also impose 25% tariffs on U.S. cars and a 5% on auto parts and components, which will go into effect on Dec. 15th. China paused the tariffs in April. (ABC News / Bloomberg / CNBC / Axios)
3/ Trump “hereby ordered” U.S. companies via Twitter to leave China “immediately” after Beijing said it would impose tariffs on $75 billion worth of additional U.S. products. In a series of tweets, Trump demanded that U.S. companies “start looking for an alternative to China, including bringing our companies HOME and making your products in the USA,” because “Our Country has lost, stupidly, Trillions of Dollars with China over many years.” Trump also “ordered” the United States Postal Service and private American companies like FedEx, Amazon, and UPS to search packages from China for Fentanyl and refuse delivery. The White House does not have the authority to force companies to follow these “orders.” Trump also promised to escalate the trade war, saying he would be “responding to China’s Tariffs this afternoon” because “This is a GREAT opportunity for the United States.” (Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press / Bloomberg)
4/ The Dow dropped more than 600 points after Trump ordered U.S. manufacturers to find alternatives to China. The spread between the 10-year Treasury yield and the 2-year Treasury yield also inverted following Trump’s tweets. A yield curve inversion is considered one of the most reliable leading indicators that recession is coming. (CNN / CNBC / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / New York Times)
Trump joked that the stock market dropped because Rep. Seth Moulton dropped out of the presidential race. Moulton, meanwhile, reacted to Trump’s tweet, saying “I’m glad he thinks I have more influence on the Dow than he does.” (The Hill / Politico / New York Times)
5/ Trump tweeted that he’ll raise tariffs on $250 billion in Chinese goods from 25% to 30% on Oct. 1. Trump also announced that the 10% tariffs on $300 billion in Chinese goods set to go into effect on Sept. 1st would be raised to 15%. Trump capped off his tweetstorm with: “Thank you for your attention to this matter!” (CNBC / Politico / Bloomberg / Axios / New York Times)
Notables.
The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to allow private companies to fire workers based only on their sexual orientation. An amicus brief filed by the Justice Department weighed in on two cases involving gay workers and what is meant by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bans discrimination “because of sex.” The administration argued that Title VII’s ban on sex discrimination only prohibits unequal treatment between “biological sexes.” (BuzzFeed News)
The Trump administration promoted six judges to the immigration appeals court who all have high rates of denying immigrants’ asylum claims. All six were named by Attorney General William Barr. The immigration appeals court is responsible for setting binding policy for deportation cases. (San Francisco Chronicle)
Trump claimed that 94% of Republicans approve of the way he is handling his job. Trump’s job approval among Republicans in recent nationally representative polls, however, found that his approval stands at 84% (Monmouth University), 79% (AP-NORC), and 88% (Fox News). (Washington Post)
1/ The economy added 501,000 fewer jobs since 2018 than previously reported, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics revision. Trump’s tax cuts resulted in fewer restaurants, hotels, retailers and professional business services jobs than it initially reported. Trump, meanwhile, recently exaggerated that “We’ve created over 6 million new jobs since the election.” Since Trump took office, however, the country has added about 5.7 million jobs. (MarketWatch / New York Times / Washington Post)
The U.S. manufacturing contracted for the first time since September 2009. The purchasing managers’ index was 49.9 in August. Any reading below 50 signals a contraction. (CNBC)
2/ Trump dropped his plan to eliminate more than $4 billion in foreign aid funding without congressional approval. The Trump administration wanted to decrease what it called wasteful spending by making foreign aid conditional on support of U.S. policies. Trump’s decision to forgo a “rescission” comes after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and several Republican lawmakers warned that the move would be detrimental to national security. Acting budget director, Russ Vought, and acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, however, both pushed Trump to pursue the plan. (Politico / CNN)
📌 Day 575: The White House budget office is attempting to cancel about $3 billion in foreign aid using an obscure budget rule to freeze the State Department’s international assistance budget. (Politico)
📌 Day 937: The Trump administration will shield funding for Ivanka Trump and Pence’s programs as the White House looks to cancel billions of dollars in unspent funding already approved by Congress. The White House is expected to propose returning billions of dollars of unspent foreign aid funds to the Treasury in a process known as rescission. The Office of Management and Budget, however, has already ruled out canceling funds for Ivanka’s Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative, Pence’s programs for Christians, Yazidis and other religious minorities in the Middle East, and some global health programs. Republicans and Democrats say the review undermines Congress’s authority to appropriate funds. (Washington Post)
3/ Trump said he’s considering ending birthright citizenship in the U.S. for children of non-citizens and people who came to the U.S. illegally. Trump called it “frankly ridiculous” that someone can “have a baby on our land, you walk over the border, have a baby — congratulations, the baby is now a U.S. citizen.” The Constitution’s 14th Amendment, however, guarantees citizenship to “all persons born or naturalized in the United States,” which has been interpreted by the courts to grant citizenship to people born in the United States, regardless of the citizenship of their parents. (Reuters)
4/ The Justice Department sent all immigration court employees an article posted from a white nationalist website that “directly attacks sitting immigration judges with racial and ethnically tinged slurs.” The Justice Department recently moved to decertify the immigration judges union. (BuzzFeed News)
📌 Day 936: The Justice Department moved to decertify the union representing hundreds of U.S. immigration judges. The DOJ filed a petition asking the Federal Labor Relations Authority to review the certification of the National Association of Immigration Judges and determine whether it should be revoked “because the bargaining unit members are management officials under the statutory definition.” The NAIJ represents some 440 immigration judges across the country. (NPR)
5/ Rudy Giuliani confirmed that the State Department helped him press the Ukrainian government to probe Joe Biden and the Democratic National Committee. Giuliani has wanted Ukrainian officials to look into Biden’s effort to crack down on corruption in Ukraine and his son Hunter Biden’s involvement in a natural gas company there. Giuliani also wanted to know if Ukrainian officials and the DNC worked together to harm Trump’s 2016 campaign by releasing damaging information about Paul Manafort. (NBC News)
6/ Sarah Huckabee Sanders will join Fox News as a contributor and will make her debut on “Fox & Friends” on Sept. 6th. Sanders left the White House in June and is the third former top White House communications official to join Fox after exiting the Trump administration. (CNN / Variety / Axios / CNBC)
7/ A top aide at the Department of Homeland Security resigned amid frustrations between the White House and DHS leadership. Andrew Meehan was a top aide and spokesman to acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan. (Axios / The Hill)
8/ Trump wanted to award himself a Medal of Honor, but his aides talked him out of it. “Nothing like the Medal of Honor,” Trump said to the 75th annual national convention of American Veterans. “I wanted one, but they told me I don’t qualify […] I said, ‘Can I give it to myself anyway?’ They said, ‘I don’t think that’s a good idea.’” Trump never served in the military and received five draft deferments, including four for college and one for bone spurs in his foot. (Politico)
poll/ 62% of Americans disapprove of the job Trump is doing as president; 36% of Americans approve of the way Trump his handling his job. Trump’s approval rating has never dipped below 32% or risen above 42% since he took office. (Associated Press)
1/ The Trump administration will terminate the 20-day cap for detaining migrant children and allow the government to indefinitely detain migrant families who cross the border illegally. The new regulation, announced by acting Department of Homeland Security chief Kevin McAleenan, requires approval from a federal judge before it can go into effect and could be in defiance of the 2015 Flores agreement, which limited the time families could be detained to 20 days. Trump and Republicans have repeatedly blamed the 20-day rule for encouraging migrants to arrive at the border with their children expecting to be released. Administration officials claim the new rule will serve as a deterrent against migrant families. The Trump administration proposed a similar rule in September 2018 that would have allowed the government to detain migrant children for longer periods of time, so long as they were treated with “dignity, respect and special concern for their particular vulnerability as minors.” (ABC News / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / New York Times)
2/ The Trump administration is considering a plan to allow states and cities the ability to deny entry to refugees approved for resettlement in the United States. According to the draft order, “the federal government will resettle refugees only where both the relevant state and local governments have consented to participate” in the program. If a jurisdiction does not agree, the federal government will find another location. Trump, meanwhile, is debating whether to decrease refugee admissions starting on Oct. 1. In fiscal year 2016, the limit was 85,000 refugees; in fiscal year 2019, the number was 30,000. (NBC News)
3/ Trump accused Jewish Democrats of “show[ing] either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty,” repeating an anti-Semitic trope that Jews have a “dual loyalty” and are more devoted to Israel than they are to their own countries. Trump’s comments came in response to a question about Rep. Ilhan Omar’s suggestion that the U.S. should reconsider how much foreign aid it pays to Israel. Trump also tweet-quoted a conservative radio host and known conspiracy theorist, who praised Trump as “the greatest President for Jews,” that Israelis “love him like he is the second coming of God,” and that Trump is “the King of Israel.” (NBC News / New York Times / Associated Press / Washington Post / The Guardian)
4/ The federal budget deficit is growing faster than expected and the Congressional Budget Office forecasts the deficit will expand by about $800 billion more than previously expected over 10 years. The U.S. was already expected to hit about $1 trillion in annual deficits next year, but the shortfall will expand by $1.9 trillion in new spending over the next decade because of a budget deal to avoid the spending cliff and an emergency spending package for the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border. It would be the first time the deficit exceeded the $1 trillion mark since 2012, when the economy was recovering from the financial crisis. By 2029, the national debt will reach its highest level as a share of the economy since the end of World War II. (Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / New York Times)
5/ Trump is no longer considering “a tax cut now,” because – he claimed – “we don’t need it. We have a strong economy.” Yesterday, Trump confirmed that he is considering “various tax reductions,” including a payroll tax cut, to stimulate a weakening American economy. Meanwhile, acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney promised top GOP donors that if an election-year recession hits, it would be “moderate and short.” (Wall Street Journal / Politico)
6/ Trump cancelled his trip to Denmark because the Danish prime minister would not sell him Greenland and had “no interest in discussing the purchase of Greenland.” Trump accused Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen of making “nasty” comments and that “she blew me off” and made “not a nice statement” about his interest in purchasing Greenland. Frederiksen called Trump’s idea of selling Greenland “absurd.” (NPR / BBC / New York Times / New York Times / NBC News / NBC News /Washington Post / Washington Post)
poll/ 65% of Americans say current economic conditions are good – down five percentage points since May. The drop is the first significant decline in public perception about the economy during Trump’s presidency. (CNN)
1/ Trump confirmed that he is considering “various tax reductions,” including a payroll tax cut, to stimulate a weakening American economy. The White House previously disputed that a payroll tax was under consideration. Trump said he’d “been thinking about payroll taxes for a long time,” and that “it’s not being done because of recession.” Trump added that he’s thinking about reducing capital gains taxes, which would largely benefit wealthy investors. (Washington Post / New York Times)
2/ Kellyanne Conway insisted that “the fundamentals of our economy are very strong,” despite a majority of economists expecting a downturn to hit by 2021 at the latest. The White House, meanwhile, is discussing ways to stimulate an economy that Trump claimed was “very strong.” (Associated Press / New York Times)
U.S. Steel plans to lay off 200 workers at its facility in Michigan due to “current market conditions.” Since Trump announced the tariffs in March 2018, U.S. Steel has lost about 70 percent of its market value, or $5.7 billion. (Crain’s Detroit / CNBC / Reuters)
3/ Trump appeared to withdraw his support for additional background checks and gun legislation after speaking with NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre. LaPierre reportedly told Trump that expanded background checks wouldn’t sit well with his supporters. In the wake of the recent back-to-back mass shootings in Ohio and Texas, Trump said “I think background checks are important. I don’t want to put guns into the hands of mentally unstable people or people with rage or hate.” Now, Trump says he is “very concerned” about the Second Amendment and claims “people don’t realize we have very strong background checks right now.” (New York Times / Washington Post)
4/ The U.S. won’t vaccinate migrant families and has no plans to do so ahead of this year’s flu season. At least three children held in detention centers at the Mexican border have died from the flu. The U.S. had previously gone almost a decade without any children dying while under U.S. immigration custody. (CNBC)
5/ New York, Connecticut and Vermont sued to block Trump’s public charge rule, which would limit pathways to citizenship for some legal immigrants. Under the new rule, immigrants enrolled in publicly funded programs, like food stamps and public health insurance, and seeking to change their legal immigration status can be deemed “public charge.” Once labeled a “public charge,” immigrants would be denied green cards, visas and other forms of legal immigration status. (NBC News)
6/ Trump is expected to name John Sullivan to be the next ambassador to Russia, replacing Jon Huntsman Jr. Sullivan is currently the deputy secretary of state and has limited diplomatic experience dealing with Moscow. (New York Times)
7/ The White House is attempting to block additional states from joining a pact with California and four automakers to oppose Trump’s rollback of auto emissions standards. Toyota, Fiat, Chrysler, and General Motors were summoned to the White House last month and pressed by an adviser to stand by Trump’s rollbacks. Meanwhile, Mercedez-Benz is preparing to join the agreement, which has reportedly “enraged” Trump. The five automakers account for more than 40% of all cars sold in the United States. (New York Times)
8/ Trump tweeted a doctored photo showing a Trump Tower in Greenland, apparently making light of his idea to buy the world’s largest island. The photo shows a golden-clad Trump Tower looming over a small village in Greenland with the caption, “I promise not to do this to Greenland!” (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
9/ Trump inflated the value and profitability of his Scotland golf courses by $165 million. Trump claimed in his 2018 U.S. filing that his Turnberry and Aberdeen resorts were each worth more than $50 million. The balance sheets filed with the United Kingdom, however, show that two golf courses combined debt exceeded their assets by 47.9 million British pounds ― the equivalent of $64.8 million. Trump’s 2018 “public financial disclosure” filed with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics also claimed the two resorts earned “income” of $23.8 million. The filings with the U.K. Companies House office in Edinburgh, however, showed the resorts had lost 4.6 million pounds ― equal to $6.3 million. Knowingly providing false or incomplete information on that form is a violation of the Ethics in Government Act punishable by up to a year in jail. (HuffPost)
1/ Trump claimed – without evidence – that Google “manipulated” votes in the 2016 election after a Fox Business segment aired Senate Judiciary Committee testimony in June of a psychologist claiming that “biased search results generated by Google’s search algorithm likely impacted undecided voters in a way that gave at least 2.6 million votes to Hillary Clinton (whom I supported).” The authors of the study looked at search results for 95 people over the 25 days preceding the election and evaluated the first page for bias. They did not describe their process, provided no data on the searches, or discuss how Google personalizes search results on past searches, preferences, and location. Trump’s tweet also appears to refer to documents leaked to conservative group Project Veritas. The documents, however, do not contain outright allegation of vote manipulation or attempts to bias the election. (CNBC / Washington Post / TechCrunch)
2/ The Federal Election Commission chairwoman called Trump’s repeated allegations of voter fraud in the 2016 election unsubstantiated and “damaging to our democracy” because they “undermines people’s faith” in the election system. Ellen Weintraub’s comment came after Trump asserted at a rally in New Hampshire that voter fraud is the reason he lost the state’s four electoral votes in the previous election. “There is no evidence of rampant voter fraud in 2016,” Weintraub added, “or really in any previous election.” (Politico / CNN / Axios)
3/ Trump falsely claimed that he has the authority to make decisions about which TV networks can host the presidential debates during the general election. While complaining that Democrats had barred Fox News from hosting or televising the 2020 Democratic primary debates, Trump warned that he could do the same to Fox News in the general election if the polls about his reelection chances coming out of the network don’t change for the better. “My worst polls have always been from Fox,” Trump said. “And I think Fox is making a big mistake, because, you know, I’m the one that calls the shots on that — on the really big debates.” (Politico)
Trump is “not happy” with Fox News after a recent poll by the network showed him losing head-to-head matchups with four of the top Democratic candidates. Trump said he didn’t “believe” the poll. (Politico)
4/ Thousands of union workers at a Shell plant in Pennsylvania were ordered to attend a Trump speech last week or lose some of their weekly pay. The rules given to workers stated that attendance was “not mandatory,” but only those who arrived at 7 a.m., swiped in with their work IDs, and stood for hours waiting to hear Trump speak would be paid for their time. “NO SCAN, NO PAY,” said the memo, which also prohibited the workers from doing “anything viewed as resistance” during the event. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette / NBC News / New York Times / Yahoo News)
5/ Trump and two of his senior economic advisers dismissed concerns of a recession. Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, and White House trade director Peter Navarro appeared on all five morning talk shows this weekend, arguing that Trump’s tax cuts and trade war with China aren’t harming Americans. The economy flashed some warning signs of a recession last week with the stock markets plunging as the yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell below that of the two-year Treasury note, which is considered one of the most reliable leading indicators of recession. Consumer confidence has also dropped 6.4% since July. Trump, meanwhile, told reporters: “I don’t see a recession.” (New York Times / Associated Press / Washington Post / ABC News)
6/ Trump urged the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates by a full percentage point. The Fed cut rates last month for the first time in a decade, signaling it might further cut rates amid slowing global growth and uncertainty over Trump’s trade war with China. Trump chastised the central bank’s chairman, Jerome Powell, for a “horrendous lack of vision” and claimed that the U.S. economy “is very strong.” (Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post)
7/ White House officials are discussing a temporary payroll tax cut to reverse a weakening economy and encourage consumer spending. Payroll tax cuts usually add to the deficit and – depending on how they’re designed – take billions of dollars out of Social Security and Medicare. (Washington Post)
8/ Planned Parenthood pulled out of the federal family planning program rather than comply with a new Trump administration rule that restricts clinics from referring patients for abortions. Forgoing Title X federal funding could affect more than 1.5 million low-income women who rely on Planned Parenthood for services like birth control, pregnancy tests, and sexually transmitted disease screening. Planned Parenthood serves about 40% of the four million patients under Title X. (New York Times / Politico / Wall Street Journal)
9/ Trump wants to set up a naval blockade along the Venezuelan coastline to prevent goods from coming in and out of the country. Trump suggested the blockade to national security officials as recently as a few weeks ago, and has been raising the idea periodically for the last year and a half. Senior Pentagon officials believe a naval blockade is impractical, has no legal basis, and would drain additional resources from a U.S. Navy that is already stretched in their attempts to counter China and Iran. “He literally just said we should get the ships out there and do a naval embargo,” said one source who heard Trump’s suggestion. (Axios)
10/ Trump still wants to buy Greenland. He confirmed that he asked his administration to explore the possibility of purchasing the island from Denmark, even though officials in Greenland have repeatedly said they’re not for sale. Trump, however, called it “essentially […] a large real estate deal.” (NBC News / Washington Post)
1/ The impact of Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which Trump called “the biggest reform of all time” to the tax code, has not generated an increase in overall economic growth, business investment, or worker pay. Half of corporate chief financial officers expect the economy to shrink by the second quarter of 2020 with two-thirds expecting a recession by the end of next year. Despite an uptick in the second quarter of 2018, growth declined the following two quarters to end up at 2.9% for the year – falling short of the promised 3% growth. (CNBC)
2/ Trump claimed that Americans – “whether you love me or hate me” – have “no choice” but to vote for him in 2020, because the stock market will collapse otherwise. Trump also baselessly accused the media of “doing everything they can to crash the economy because they think that will be bad for me and my re-election.” Trump, meanwhile, recently attacked the Federal Reserve, forced Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to label China a “currency manipulator,” and delayed tariffs on Chinese imports over concerns they could depress holiday sales. (New York Times / Washington Post)
3/ Trump body shamed one of his supporters at a campaign rally, saying “That guy has got a serious weight problem. Go home, get some exercise!” Frank Dawson, who was wearing a “Trump 2020” shirt, was standing near a group of protesters holding two banners. Trump later called from Air Force One, and left a voice mail message for Dawson, but did not apologize for the insult. (Washington Post / New York Times / Daily Beast)
4/ The House Republican strategy on gun violence is to describe mass shootings as “violence from the left” while downplaying white nationalism, according to a talking points memo recently circulated. According to the Anti-Defamation League, 73% of extremist-related murders are committed by right-wing fanatics and white supremacists. No extremist-related murder in the United States last year was carried out by “the left.” (Tampa Bay Times
5/ The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rolled back a nationwide injunction that blocked the Trump administration from denying most asylum claims at the U.S.-Mexico border. The decision will now effectively block most Central Americans who cross into the U.S. – legally or illegally – in New Mexico or Texas from seeking asylum while allowing those who cross the border into California or Arizona to claim asylum. (ABC News / Axios)
6/ Trump and his national security advisers are considering a deal with the Taliban for a withdrawal of most U.S. forces from Afghanistan. In exchange, the Taliban would agree to renounce al-Qaeda and to prevent it from activities such as fundraising, recruiting, training and operational planning in areas under Taliban control. An initial withdrawal would include roughly 5,000 of the 14,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan and end America’s longest military engagement abroad. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
7/ Greenland to Trump: “We’re not for sale.” (Reuters)
1/ The House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski to testify publicly about potential obstruction of justice by Trump. The committee also issued a subpoena to former White House deputy chief of staff for policy Rick Dearborn. House Judiciary chair Jerrold Nadler said the two former Trump aides will testify publicly on Sept. 17th and expects their testimony “will help the Committee determine whether to recommend articles of impeachment against the President or other Article 1 remedies.” The Mueller report said Trump asked Lewandowski to convince then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions to un-recuse himself from the investigation into Russian election interference, and publicly say Trump had not done anything wrong. (Politico / NBC News / New York Times / Axios)
2/ Trump thinks Lewandowski would be a “fantastic” senator if he ran in New Hampshire. Lewandowski has been reportedly considering a Senate run and is expected to make an appearance at a Trump rally in the state on Thursday. The House Judiciary Committee subpoena came hours after Trump told a local radio station that Lewandowski would make a “great senator,” who would be “hard to beat” if he ran against Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / Politico)
3/ White House officials want to invoke executive privilege to limit or block Lewandowski’s testimony despite Lewandowski never working in the administration. The White House previously invoked executive privilege to block Don McGahn, Hope Hicks, and Annie Donaldson – who all held titles in the West Wing – from complying with similar congressional subpoenas. Lewandowski, however, has only informally advised Trump since his work on the 2016 campaign ended. (CNN)
4/ A federal judge rejected the House Judiciary Committee’s attempt to link Robert Mueller’s grand jury evidence with compelling Don McGahn to testify. The committee contends that the two lawsuits will expedite its decision whether to recommend articles of impeachment against Trump. House General Counsel Douglas Letter argued that the two cases should be paired in front of the judge, because both seek evidence for a potential impeachment and are based on the same set of facts. D.C. federal District Court Chief Judge Beryl Howell ruled that connections between the two suits are “too superficial.” (Politico)
5/ Trump retweeted a criminologist who argued that there is no evidence that the United States is experiencing an “epidemic” of mass shootings. At least four people have been killed in a mass shooting, on average, every 47 days since June 17, 2015. (Washington Post)
6/ Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blocked Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib from visiting Israel after Trump lobbied Israeli leaders to block them from entering the country. Trump tweeted that allowing Omar and Tlaib to enter Israel “would show great weakness,” because they’re “a disgrace.” Omar and Tlaib have been critical of Israel and outspoken about their support for Palestinians and the boycott-Israel movement. Under Israeli law, supporters of the movement can be denied entry. (NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times / Haaretz / Politico / BBC)
Notables.
The Trump administration wants to redirect money from Homeland Security accounts to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Last year, the Trump administration redirected $200 million from various Homeland Security accounts – including the Coast Guard and TSA –into ICE. Nearly $10 million was also diverted from FEMA at the start of hurricane season. Congressional appropriators are reviewing the request. (Politico)
A correctional officer drove a truck into ICE protesters outside a private prison. Some were treated at a hospital, though none were severely injured. The officer was wearing a badge and a uniform and police officers at the protest did not intervene. The driver eventually walked into the prison after guards pepper-sprayed the protesters. (Washington Post)
Trump administration asked Congress to reauthorize a law that lets the National Security Agency gain access to the logs of Americans’ phone and text records. While the program is set to expire in December, the Trump administration is pushing to make gaining access to the logs of Americans’ domestic communications permanently within the legal authority of the NSA. The program was indefinitely shut down after technical issues repeatedly caused the NSA to collect more records than it had legal authority to gather. (New York Times)
In 2017, Fox Business host David Asman advised then-Treasury Department spokesman Tony Sayegh about how the administration should pursue tax cuts. Four days later, Asman emailed Sayegh to tell him that a significant portion of a Fox Business show would focus on the administration’s tax policies. “You’ll like it,” Asman said. “Awesome David,” Sayegh wrote back. “You’re the man.” Sayegh is a former Fox News contributor. (Hollywood Reporter)
Trump floated the idea of buying Greenland to aides in meetings, at dinners, and in passing conversations. Trump has reportedly asked advisers whether the U.S. could acquire Greenland, which is a self-ruling part of the Kingdom of Denmark. (Wall Street Journal)
1/ The Trump administration formally proposed regulation allowing some businesses to discriminate against workers on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, and LGBTQ status by citing religious objections. The rule would apply to any organizations with federal contracts, including corporations, schools, and societies, provided they claim a “religious purpose,” but that “this need not be the contractor’s only purpose.” (BuzzFeed News)
2/ Planned Parenthood will withdraw from the nation’s family planning program because of new Trump administration rules that block Title X funds for organizations that provide or refer patients for abortion. Federal funding for abortion is already prohibited in most cases. The new rules, however, target any group involved in providing or counseling patients about abortions, blocking them from receiving Title X funding to pay for other services, such as contraception and health screenings. Planned Parenthood asked for a stay against the new rules. (NPR)
A Congressional Republican defended banning all abortion with no exceptions for rape or incest. Steve King also argued that if it were not for rape or incest, there wouldn’t “be any population of the world left.” [Editor’s note: Go fuck yourself Steve King.] (Des Moines Register / New York Times / Washington Post / Axios)
3/ Trump claimed – without evidence – that being president will personally cost him $5 billion dollars due to the lawyers defending him in various lawsuits. (NBC News)
The Secret Service stayed at a Trump hotel in Vancouver while protecting Trump Jr. on a hunting trip to Canada in August 2017. They spent $5,700. The Secret Service also spent $20,000 at the same hotel in February 2017 when Trump Jr., Eric Trump and Tiffany Trump attended the hotel’s grand opening. Congress hasn’t launched a formal investigation into federal spending at Trump properties, but the House Oversight Committee has focused on the emoluments clause of the Constitution, which forbids presidents from accepting gifts from foreign officials. (Politico)
4/ The Trump administration will shield funding for Ivanka Trump and Pence’s programs as the White House looks to cancel billions of dollars in unspent funding already approved by Congress. The White House is expected to propose returning billions of dollars of unspent foreign aid funds to the Treasury in a process known as rescission. The Office of Management and Budget, however, has already ruled out canceling funds for Ivanka’s Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative, Pence’s programs for Christians, Yazidis and other religious minorities in the Middle East, and some global health programs. Republicans and Democrats say the review undermines Congress’s authority to appropriate funds. (Washington Post)
5/ The Dow posted its largest decline of the year. The Dow dropped 800 points, or about 3.05%, while the S&P 500 fell 85.72 points, or 2.93%. For the first time since the the Great Recession, the yields on 2-year U.S. bonds eclipsed those of 10-year bonds. The yield curve inversion is considered one of the most reliable leading indicators of a recession in the U.S. It has preceded every economic decline in the past 60 years with a recession occurring, on average, 22 months following an inversion. (Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / CNBC / New York Times / Washington Post / NPR)
👀 Recession watch: What is an “inverted yield curve” and why does it matter? (Washington Post)
6/ Trump, meanwhile, called Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell “clueless” and blamed him for the “CRAZY INVERTED YIELD CURVE!” Trump, deflecting criticism that his trade war with China is hurting the economic outlook, claimed that “China is not our problem” and that “we are winning, big time.” Yesterday, Trump delayed imposing tariffs on some Chinese imports until December “just in case” there would be a negative impact on shoppers during the holidays. (CNBC / Bloomberg)
A recession next year could hurt Trump’s attempt to win a second term and raises the potential for the 2020 election to look more like 2008 when a cratering economy dominated the political debate. (Politico)
1/ Trump delayed imposing tariffs on some Chinese imports until December. Trump told reporters that he delayed tariffs “for the Christmas season” on cellphones, laptop computers, video game consoles, and certain types of footwear and clothing “just in case” there would be a negative impact on shoppers during the holidays. The 10% tariff on $300 billion worth of Chinese imports will be delayed until Dec. 15, instead of taking effect on Sept. 1 as Trump originally announced. The U.S. Trade Representative office said certain products will also be taken off the list based on “health, safety, national security and other factors.” Markets rallied on the news. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / CNBC / Axios)
2/ Trump’s tax cuts, reduced regulation, and tariffs have been ineffective at drawing factory investment and jobs from abroad. Instead, Trump’s trade policies have pushed factory activity to low-cost Asian countries, like Vietnam. Foreign and domestic business investment briefly accelerated after Trump signed a $1.5 trillion tax-cut package in late 2017, but then slowed. In Trump’s first two years in office, companies announced plans to relocate about 145,000 factory jobs to the U.S. However, more than half of those jobs were announced in 2017 – before Trump’s tax cuts took effect. (New York Times)
3/ Trump tried to take credit for the construction of Shell’s petrochemicals complex in western Pennsylvania, which will turn the natural gas deposits into plastics. “This would have never happened without me and us,” Trump told a crowd of thousands of workers. Shell, however, announced its plans to build the complex in 2012, when Obama was in office. (Associated Press)
4/ A coalition of 22 states and seven cities sued to block the Trump administration from easing restrictions on coal-burning power plants, saying the EPA had no basis for weakening the Clean Power Plan that set national limits on carbon dioxide pollution from power plants. The lawsuit argues that the Affordable Clean Energy rule ignores the EPA’s responsibility to set limits on greenhouse gases and that the new rule would extend the life of dirty and aging coal-burning plants, increasing pollution instead of curbing it. (New York Times)
📌 Day 931: Climate change is putting pressure on the ability of humanity to feed itself, according to a new United Nations report that was prepared by more than 100 experts from 52 countries and, unanimously approved. The report warns that the world’s land and water resources are being exploited at “unprecedented rates” and “the cycle is accelerating.” Climate change has already degraded lands, caused deserts to expand, permafrost to thaw, and made forests more vulnerable to drought, fire, pests and disease. “The stability of food supply is projected to decrease as the magnitude and frequency of extreme weather events that disrupt food chains increases,” the report said. The report offered several proposals for addressing food supplies, including reducing red meat consumption, adopting plant-based diets, and eating more fruits, vegetables and seeds. As a result, the world could reduce carbon pollution up to 15% of current emissions levels by 2050. It would also make people healthier. (New York Times / Associated Press / Nature)
📌Day 627: A U.N. report on the effects of climate change predicts a strong risk of an environmental crisis much sooner than expected. The report finds that the atmosphere could warm by as much as 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit above preindustrial levels by 2040 if greenhouse gas emissions continue at the current rate, which would cause sea levels to rise, intensify droughts, wildfires, and poverty, and cause a mass die-off of coral reefs. To prevent 2.7 degrees of warming, greenhouse pollution must be reduced by 45% from 2010 levels by 2030, and fully eliminated by 2050. The use of coal as an electricity source would have to drop from nearly 40% today to between 1% and 7% by 2050. Renewable energy would have to increase to about 67%. Trump has mocked the science of human-caused climate change, vowing to increase the burning of coal, and he intends to withdraw from the 2015 Paris agreement. The world is already more than halfway to the 2.7-degree mark and “there is no documented historic precedent” for the scale of changes required, the report said. (New York Times / Washington Post)
📌Day 676: The National Climate Assessment concludes that global warming is already “transforming where and how we live and presents growing challenges to human health and quality of life, the economy, and the natural systems that support us.” The findings from the landmark scientific report, issued by 13 federal agencies, are at odds with the Trump administration’s environmental deregulation agenda, which Trump claims will lead to economic growth, and its plans to withdraw from the Paris climate accord. The report predicts that the effects of global warming could eliminate as much as 10% of the U.S. economy by the end of the century, and warns that humans must act aggressively now “to avoid substantial damages to the U.S. economy, environment, and human health and well-being over the coming decades.” The first report, released in November 2017, concluded that there is “no convincing alternative explanation” for the changing climate other than “human activities, especially emissions of greenhouse gases.” Trump recently questioned the science of climate change, saying that “I don’t know that it’s man-made” and that the warming trend “could very well go back.” (New York Times / Associated Press / Washington Post / CNN)
📌 Day 685: Global emissions of carbon dioxide have reached the highest levels on record. Global emissions grew 1.6% in 2017 with 2018 expected to increase 2.7%. The U.S. is the world’s second-largest emitter of carbon emissions, but that hasn’t stopped the Trump administration from moving to roll back regulations designed to limit those emissions from vehicle tailpipes and power-plant smokestacks. As United Nations Secretary General António Guterres said this week at the opening of the 24th annual U.N. climate conference: “We are in trouble. We are in deep trouble with climate change.” (Washington Post / New York Times)
5/ The Justice Department moved to decertify the union representing hundreds of U.S. immigration judges. The DOJ filed a petition asking the Federal Labor Relations Authority to review the certification of the National Association of Immigration Judges and determine whether it should be revoked “because the bargaining unit members are management officials under the statutory definition.” The NAIJ represents some 440 immigration judges across the country. (NPR)
6/ The acting director of Citizenship and Immigration Services suggested that only immigrants who can “stand on their own two feet” are welcome in the United States. Ken Cuccinelli’s comment came after being asked if the words of the poem displayed on the Statue of Liberty’s pedestal still remain “part of the American ethos.” Cuccinelli replied: “They certainly are. Give me your tired and your poor — who can stand on their own two feet and who will not become a public charge.” The Trump administration announced a “public charge” regulation yesterday, allowing federal officials to deny green cards to legal immigrants who have received certain public benefits or who are deemed likely to do so in the future. (Politico / CNN / NPR)
📌 Day 935: The Trump administration made it harder for legal immigrants who rely on government benefit programs to obtain permanent legal status as part of a new policy aimed at reducing legal immigration and cutting down the number of poor immigrants. The new regulation makes it easier for federal officials to deny green cards and visa applications to legal immigrants who have received public benefits, such as Medicaid, food stamps, or housing vouchers, have low incomes, or little education, deeming them more likely to need government assistance in the future. Wealth, education, age and English-language skills will take on greater importance for obtaining a green card, as the change seeks to redefine what it means to be a “public charge.” (CNN / NBC News / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times)
poll/ 72% of Americans say there should be a path to legal status for undocumented immigrants. Only a quarter of respondents said there should be a national law enforcement effort to deport all undocumented immigrants. 54% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents agree that there should be a legal way for undocumented immigrants to remain in the country, but that number is down 5% since March 2017. (Pew Research Center)
1/ The Trump administration made it harder for legal immigrants who rely on government benefit programs to obtain permanent legal status as part of a new policy aimed at reducing legal immigration and cutting down the number of poor immigrants. The new regulation makes it easier for federal officials to deny green cards and visa applications to legal immigrants who have received public benefits, such as Medicaid, food stamps, or housing vouchers, have low incomes, or little education, deeming them more likely to need government assistance in the future. Wealth, education, age and English-language skills will take on greater importance for obtaining a green card, as the change seeks to redefine what it means to be a “public charge.” (CNN / NBC News / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times)
2/ The White House has ordered ICE officials to conduct more “workplace enforcement operations” this year. After the recent raids in Mississippi led to the arrest of at least 680 undocumented workers, ICE field offices across the country were told to identify at least two locations in their respective regions as potential targets for additional raids. (CNN)
“If you’re a good worker, papers don’t matter”: How a Trump construction crew has relied on immigrants without legal status. For nearly two decades, the Trump Organization has relied on a roving crew of Latin American employees at the company’s winery and its golf courses from New York to Florida. (Washington Post)
3/ The Trump administration weakened the Endangered Species Act, allowing the government to put an economic cost on saving a species. The changes will also make it harder to consider the effects of climate change on wildlife. Critics argue that the change will accelerate the extinction for some plants and animals and clear the way for new mining, oil and gas drilling, and development in areas where protected species live. (New York Times / Associated Press / NBC News / Washington Post)
The EPA dropped salmon protections after Trump met with with Alaska’s governor. EPA scientists were planning to oppose a controversial Alaska mining project on environmental grounds that could devastate one of the most important wild salmon fisheries. In 2014, the project was halted because an EPA study found that it would cause “complete loss of fish habitat due to elimination, dewatering, and fragmentation of streams, wetlands, and other aquatic resources” in some areas of Bristol Bay. (CNN)
4/ Attorney General William Barr and several members of Congress called for an investigation following the apparent suicide of billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, who faced federal sex trafficking charges before his death this weekend. Barr said Epstein’s death while in federal custody “raises serious questions that must be answered.” The FBI and the Justice Department inspector general both opened investigations. Epstein had been briefly placed on suicide watch leading up to his death, but was taken off six days later. Epstein had reportedly been alone in his cell and was not monitored by guards, who were supposed to check on him every 30 minutes. (NBC News / The Hill / CNN / CBS News / New York Times)
In the wake of Epstein’s death, Trump retweeted several unsubstantiated conspiracy theories suggesting that the Clintons were involved in his death. (Business Insider / NBC News / Politico / Axios)
The day before Epstein’s death, thousands of pages of court documents related to his activities were unsealed and released. The documents detail how hundreds of girls and young women were allegedly trafficked for sex to a range of wealthy business, political and world leaders by Epstein and his madam, Ghislaine Maxwell. (New York Magazine / Miami Herald)
Barr accused the Manhattan federal prison of “serious irregularities” and a “failure to adequately secure” Epstein. Barr did not provide details about the irregularities, but questioned why Epstein had been taken off suicide watch and left in a cell alone without supervision. Epstein was found hanging in his cell over the weekend. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / CNBC / Wall Street Journal)
5/ Trump told advisers that he thinks Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should bar Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib from entering Israel because the two congresswomen support a boycott of Israel over the country’s continued occupation of Palestine. Israel passed a law in 2017 that requires the interior minister to block foreign nationals from entering Israel if they have supported boycotting the Jewish state. Trump’s reaction came days after the House passed a resolution condemning the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, which Omar and Tlaib supported. (Axios)
6/ The U.S. fiscal deficit has already exceeded last year’s total. The deficit grew to $866.8 billion in the first 10 months of the fiscal year, up 27% from the same period a year earlier. At this point last year, the deficit was $684 billion. (Bloomberg)
7/ U.S. intelligence officials believe Russia tested a new type of nuclear-propelled cruise missile following an explosion that killed at least seven people, including scientists, and released radiation off the coast of northern Russia last week. Russian officials said “a small nuclear reactor had exploded during an experiment.” (New York Times)
8/ Trump has made 12,019 false or misleading claims over 928 days and is averaging about 13 false or misleading claims a day. (Washington Post)
1/ The House Judiciary Committee is officially conducting an impeachment inquiry into Trump and will decide by the end of the year whether to refer articles of impeachment to the House floor. In a July court filing to get the full, unredacted Mueller report, the Judiciary Committee argued that it needed the information because it “is conducting an investigation to determine whether to recommend articles of impeachment.” Today, chairman Jerry Nadler clarified that “This is formal impeachment proceedings.” That timeline would put an impeachment battle in the middle of the Democratic presidential primary contests. (Washington Post / Politico)
2/ The El Paso shooter that killed 22 people told police that his target was “Mexicans” and confessed that “I’m the shooter” when he was arrested. Patrick Crusius also said he had used an AK-47-style rifle and brought multiple magazines with him to carry out the killings. Authorities believe Crusius was the author of a “manifesto” posted online shortly before the attack, saying he wanted to stop the “Hispanic invasion of Texas.” (New York Times / Washington Post)
3/ The Trumps posed for a photo with an orphaned two-month-old, whose parents were shot dead in El Paso. Melania Trump smiled broadly and held the baby, while Donald flashed a thumbs-up and grinned. The picture was circulated by Melania Trump and not the family. White House aides had not allowed journalists into the hospital during the visit, saying it was “not a photo op.” (The Guardian / Yahoo)
4/ The State Department suspended a foreign affairs official in the energy bureau after his ties to a white nationalist group were revealed. The State Department refused to name the official, but the Southern Poverty Law Center identified him as Matthew Gebert. The SPLC published a report on Wednesday that Gebert hosted white nationalists at his home and published white nationalist propaganda online using a pseudonym. (Reuters)
📌 Day 930: A U.S. State Department official oversaw a Washington, D.C.-area chapter of a white nationalist organization, hosted white nationalists at his home, and published white nationalist propaganda online. Matthew Gebert works as a foreign affairs officer assigned to the Bureau of Energy Resources. (Southern Poverty Law Center)
5/ The White House has prepared an executive order that would give the FCC oversight over tech companies and how they monitor and manage their social networks. “Protecting Americans from Online Censorship” tasks the FCC with developing new regulations to clarify how and when the law protects social networks when they remove or suppress content on their platforms. The draft order also calls for the Federal Trade Commission to take those new policies into account when investigating or filing lawsuits against technology companies. (CNN / TechCrunch)
📌 Day 931: The White House is preparing an executive order to address allegations of anti-conservative bias by social media companies. While the contents of the order remain unknown, last month Trump said he would be exploring “all regulatory and legislative solutions” to deal with the supposed issue. (Politico)
6/ Trump walked back his statement that he was “strongly considering” commuting the 14-year sentence of the former Illinois governor who was convicted of essentially trying to sell Obama’s vacant Senate seat for personal gain. A day after musing about commuting Rod Blagojevich’s sentence, Trump was having second thoughts in response to pushback from conservatives and Illinois Republicans. Now, Trump says White House staff are merely “continuing the review of this matter.” (New York Times)
7/ The DOJ official responsible for the Trump administration’s failed attempt to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census is leaving the Justice Department. John Gore, who served as the principal deputy assistant attorney general for the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, said he wants to spend time with his family while “discerning next steps.” Gore is currently facing allegations that he provided false testimony and concealed evidence as part of the lawsuits over the citizenship question. (NPR)
📌 Day 813: The House Oversight Committee threatened to hold a Justice Department official in contempt after refusing to comply with a subpoena for testimony and documents related to the citizenship question on the 2020 Census. Committee Chair Elijah Cummings said in a letter to AG William Barr that the committee would hold his principal deputy assistant AG, John Gore, in contempt of Congress if Barr didn’t make him available to answer questions about Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross’s decision to add the question to the census. Gore was slated to testify on Thursday but he did not appear. The committee voted 23-14 earlier this month to compel Gore to testify and for the Trump administration to provide additional documents pertaining to the citizenship question. (NBC News)
📌 Day 825: The Justice Department refused to comply with a congressional subpoena for a Trump administration official to testify about the addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 Census. The House Oversight and Reform Committee is investigating the addition of the citizenship question despite evidence that it could lead to millions of people being undercounted. John Gore’s refusal to appear before the committee is at the direction of Attorney General William Barr. Gore is the principal deputy assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s civil rights division. (CNN / Washington Post)
1/ White House officials refused requests by the Department of Homeland Security for more than a year to make combating domestic terror a greater priority. While the National Strategy for Counterterrorism, issued last fall, stated that “Radical Islamist terrorists remain the primary transnational terrorist threat to the United States and its vital national interests,” it included one paragraph about domestic terrorism and made no mention of white supremacists. FBI Director Christopher Wray testified in July that there have been almost as many domestic terror arrests in the last nine months – about 100 – as there have been arrests connected to international terror. Wray also noted that most of the domestic terrorism cases were motivated by white supremacist violence. (CNN)
📌 Day 803: The Department of Homeland Security quietly disbanded its domestic terrorism unit last year, saying that the threat of “homegrown violent extremism and domestic terrorism,” including the threat from white supremacists, has been “significantly reduced.” The branch of analysts in DHS’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis were reassigned to new positions. (Daily Beast)
📌 Day 854: The FBI has seen a significant rise in white supremacist domestic terrorism in recent months. No specific numbers were provided, but an FBI official said the cases generally include suspects involved in violence related to anti-government views, racial or religious bias, environmental extremism and abortion-related views. (CNN)
📌 Day 915: The FBI recorded about 90 domestic terrorism arrests in the past nine months and about 100 international terrorism arrests. Most of the domestic terrorism cases involved a racial motive believed to be spurred by white supremacy. (Washington Post)
📌 Day 928: FBI Director Christopher Wray ordered the agency to conduct a new threat assessment in order to identify and stop potential future mass shootings. A command group in Washington, D.C. will oversee the effort, during which FBI field offices will actively work to identify threats that are similar to the attacks last week at a food festival and over the weekend in Texas and Ohio. In recent congressional testimony, senior FBI officials said they were conducting about 850 domestic terrorism investigations — down from a year earlier, when there were roughly 1,000. (CNN / Washington Post)
📌 Day 930: The FBI warned that fringe conspiracy theories are a new domestic terrorist threat. The document specifically mentions QAnon, a network that believes in a deep state conspiracy against Trump, and Pizzagate, the theory that a pedophile ring involving Clinton associates was being run out of the basement of a Washington, D.C., pizza restaurant, which doesn’t have a basement. (Yahoo News)
2/ Twitter suspended Mitch McConnell’s account after the campaign tweeted a profanity-laced video of protesters outside his home. According to Twitter spokesperson, Team Mitch “was temporarily locked out of their account for a Tweet that violated our violent threats policy, specifically threats involving physical safety.” McConnell’s campaign manager, however, called Twitter’s action part of a “problem with the speech police in America today” and that “Twitter will allow the words of ‘Massacre Mitch’ to trend nationally on their platform but locks our account for posting actual threats against us.” Following the shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, the hashtag “Massacre Mitch” trended on Twitter, in reference to two gun control bills that McConnell has refused to bring to a vote. (Courier-Journal / Axios)
The National Republican Senatorial Committee stopped advertising on Twitter after the social media platform temporarily locked McConnell’s account for violating the company’s “violent threats policy.” The NRSC claimed Twitter’s “hostile actions” were “outrageous” and said the committee would “not tolerate” or “spend our resources on a platform that silences conservatives.” (Politico)
The White House is preparing an executive order to address allegations of anti-conservative bias by social media companies. While the contents of the order remain unknown, last month Trump said he would be exploring “all regulatory and legislative solutions” to deal with the supposed issue. (Politico)
3/ The NRA warned Trump against endorsing extensive background checks for gun sales, saying the legislation would not be popular among his supporters. Before visiting Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Trump claimed there “was great appetite for background checks,” which the NRA opposes. About 9 in 10 Americans support background checks for all gun purchases, including more than 8 in 10 Republicans, Democrats, and independents. (Washington Post)
4/ McConnell promised that expanding background checks for all gun purchasers would “front and center” in the coming Senate debate on how to respond to gun violence. McConnell previously said he will not bring any gun control legislation to the floor without widespread Republican support. McConnell, however, rejected Democrats’ calls to cancel the August recess and address the issue immediately, saying the proposals needed “discussions” before they were brought to the floor. (New York Times / NBC News / Politico)
5/ Wall Street banks turned over documents related to Russians who may have had dealings with Trump, his family or the Trump Organization. Bank of America, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank AG, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo all turned over documents to the House Financial Services Committee and the House Intelligence Committee. Separately, Deutsche Bank has turned over emails, loan agreements and other documents related to the Trump Organization to the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James. (Wall Street Journal)
6/ Andrew McCabe filed a lawsuit against the FBI and the Justice Department alleging that he was illegally demoted and fired in retaliation for not being sufficiently loyal to Trump. The former FBI deputy director alleged that Trump “purposefully and intentionally” pushed the Justice Department to fire him as part of an “unconstitutional plan” to discredit and remove Justice Department and FBI employees who were “deemed to be his partisan opponents.” McCabe authorized the counterintelligence investigation into Trump’s ties to Russia and obstruction of justice after Trump fired James Comey. McCabe was also the subject of a Justice Department inspector general report that accused him of violating bureau policy when he authorized the disclosure of information to the press and then misleading investigators about what he had done. McCabe’s termination occurred less than two days before he was to retire and become eligible for full pension benefits. (NBC News / Politico / New York Times / Washington Post)
7/ ICE raided seven poultry processing plants in Mississippi and arrested at least 680 people in “what is believed to be the largest single-state immigration enforcement operation in our nation’s history,” according to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi. Roughly 600 ICE agents fanned out across plants in Bay Springs, Carthage, Canton, Morton, Pelahatchie and Sebastapol, surrounding the perimeters to prevent workers from fleeing. ICE Acting Director Matt Albence said the arrests were part of a year-long investigation. (KTVU / NBC News / Associated Press / The Hill / BuzzFeed News)
8/ An Iraqi man from Detroit died after the Trump administration deported him back to Iraq and was unable to get access to the insulin he needed to treat his diabetes in Baghdad. Jimmy Aldaoud was an Iraqi national, who was born in Greece and came to the U.S. as a young child. He never lived in Iraq and did not speak Arabic. (Politico)
9/ The deputy director of national intelligence resigned and will step down on Aug. 15 – the same day her boss, Dan Coats, is scheduled to leave. Sue Gordon was in line to replace Coats in an acting capacity until the Senate confirmed Trump’s nominee for a permanent replacement. Several Trump allies outside the White House saw Gordon as too close to former CIA Director John Brennan, who has publicly criticized Trump’s leadership. (Bloomberg / Politico / CNN / NBC News)
📌 Day 925: The White House will block the nation’s No. 2 intelligence official from taking over as acting director of national intelligence when Dan Coats steps down. A federal statute requires that if the director of national intelligence role becomes vacant, the deputy director — currently Sue Gordon — will serve as acting director. The White House, however, can choose who to appoint as acting deputy if the No. 2 position is vacant, raising the question of whether Gordon will be ousted as part of a leadership shuffle. The White House, meanwhile, has asked the national intelligence office for a list of all its employees at the federal government’s top pay scale who have worked there for 90 days or more. While it’s unclear what the White House will do with the list, many of the people on it may be eligible to temporarily takeover as acting director of national intelligence. (New York Times / Daily Beast)
The assistant secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere resigned, leaving a vacancy at the top diplomatic office in charge of Trump’s efforts to deal with immigration from Mexico and Central America. The position is also in charge of building stronger relationships between the U.S. and South America. Kimberly Breier has held the position since October. She referred questions about her departure to the State Department press office, which refused to comment. (Washington Post)
10/ Climate change is putting pressure on the ability of humanity to feed itself, according to a new United Nations report that was prepared by more than 100 experts from 52 countries and, unanimously approved. The report warns that the world’s land and water resources are being exploited at “unprecedented rates” and “the cycle is accelerating.” Climate change has already degraded lands, caused deserts to expand, permafrost to thaw, and made forests more vulnerable to drought, fire, pests and disease. “The stability of food supply is projected to decrease as the magnitude and frequency of extreme weather events that disrupt food chains increases,” the report said. The report offered several proposals for addressing food supplies, including reducing red meat consumption, adopting plant-based diets, and eating more fruits, vegetables and seeds. As a result, the world could reduce carbon pollution up to 15% of current emissions levels by 2050. It would also make people healthier. (New York Times / Associated Press / Nature)
📌 Day 627: A U.N. report on the effects of climate change predicts a strong risk of an environmental crisis much sooner than expected. The report finds that the atmosphere could warm by as much as 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit above preindustrial levels by 2040 if greenhouse gas emissions continue at the current rate, which would cause sea levels to rise, intensify droughts, wildfires, and poverty, and cause a mass die-off of coral reefs. To prevent 2.7 degrees of warming, greenhouse pollution must be reduced by 45% from 2010 levels by 2030, and fully eliminated by 2050. The use of coal as an electricity source would have to drop from nearly 40% today to between 1% and 7% by 2050. Renewable energy would have to increase to about 67%. Trump has mocked the science of human-caused climate change, vowing to increase the burning of coal, and he intends to withdraw from the 2015 Paris agreement. The world is already more than halfway to the 2.7-degree mark and “there is no documented historic precedent” for the scale of changes required, the report said. (New York Times / Washington Post)
📌 Day 676: The National Climate Assessment concludes that global warming is already “transforming where and how we live and presents growing challenges to human health and quality of life, the economy, and the natural systems that support us.” The findings from the landmark scientific report, issued by 13 federal agencies, are at odds with the Trump administration’s environmental deregulation agenda, which Trump claims will lead to economic growth, and its plans to withdraw from the Paris climate accord. The report predicts that the effects of global warming could eliminate as much as 10% of the U.S. economy by the end of the century, and warns that humans must act aggressively now “to avoid substantial damages to the U.S. economy, environment, and human health and well-being over the coming decades.” The first report, released in November 2017, concluded that there is “no convincing alternative explanation” for the changing climate other than “human activities, especially emissions of greenhouse gases.” Trump recently questioned the science of climate change, saying that “I don’t know that it’s man-made” and that the warming trend “could very well go back.” (New York Times / Associated Press / Washington Post / CNN)
📌 Day 685: Global emissions of carbon dioxide have reached the highest levels on record. Global emissions grew 1.6% in 2017 with 2018 expected to increase 2.7%. The U.S. is the world’s second-largest emitter of carbon emissions, but that hasn’t stopped the Trump administration from moving to roll back regulations designed to limit those emissions from vehicle tailpipes and power-plant smokestacks. As United Nations Secretary General António Guterres said this week at the opening of the 24th annual U.N. climate conference: “We are in trouble. We are in deep trouble with climate change.” (Washington Post / New York Times)
📌 Day 740: Trump dismissed climate change as a hoax, calling for “global warming” to “come back fast” as a dangerous deep freeze hits the Midwest where a polar vortex is expected to drop temperatures to negative 30F with the wind chill driving temperatures as low as negative 50F or 60F — the lowest in more than two decades. Roughly 83 million Americans – about 25% of the U.S. population – will experience temperatures below zero this week. Weather and climate are two different things: Weather is what you experience in the moment, while climate is the broader trend. Trump’s tweet, asking “What the hell is going on with Global Waming?” – misspelling “warming” – suggests he doesn’t understand the difference between climate and weather. In 2017, Trump also tweeted that the U.S. could use some “good old Global Warming” while most of the Northeast was experiencing record-breaking cold weather. (Chicago Tribune / Vox / CNN)
📌 Day 678: Trump – again – dismissed his own government’s report on the devastating impacts of climate change and global warming, saying he doesn’t see climate change as a man-made issue and that he doesn’t believe the scientific consensus. “One of the problems that a lot of people like myself,” Trump said, “we have very high levels of intelligence but we’re not necessarily such believers.” He continued: “You look at our air and our water, and it’s right now at a record clean.” (Washington Post)
📌 Day 886: The Trump administration stopped promoting dozens of taxpayer-funded studies about the impacts of climate change. The studies include a discovery that rice loses vitamins in a carbon-rich environment, a finding that climate change would exacerbate allergy seasons, and a warning to farmers about an expected reduction in the quality of important grasses used to feed and raise cattle. All of the studies were peer-reviewed and cleared through the Agricultural Research Service. (Politico)
📌 Day 733: 73% of Americans believe that climate change is real– a jump of 10 percentage points from 2015, and three points since last March. 72% also said that global warming is personally important to them. (New York Times)
1/ The House Judiciary Committee sued to force former White House counsel Donald McGahn to testify before Congress. The Judiciary Committee claimed that McGahn is “the most important witness, other than the president,” in their investigation into possible obstruction of justice by Trump. They asked a federal judge to strike down the Trump administration’s claim that McGahn and other aides are “absolutely immune” from the committee’s subpoenas. McGahn spent more than 30 hours with Robert Mueller’s investigators and his name appears more than 500 times in the redacted version of Mueller’s report. (New York Times / NBC News / ABC News)
📌 Day 838: The White House invoked executive privilege and ordered former counsel Donald McGahn not to comply with a congressional subpoena for documents related to Robert Mueller’s investigation. In a letter to the House Judiciary Committee, White House counsel Pat Cipollone argued that “McGahn does not have the legal right to disclose these documents to third parties” and asked that the committee instead direct the request to the White House, “because they implicate significant Executive Branch confidentiality interests and executive privilege.” Trump has also promised to assert executive privilege to block McGahn’s testimony to the committee later this month. McGahn spent more than 30 hours speaking to Mueller’s investigators, outlining two episodes where Trump asked him to have Mueller fired, and later asking McGahn to deny news reports about that conversation. McGahn rebuffed both requests. (CNBC / ABC News / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / New York Times)
📌 Day 844: The White House asked Don McGahn to declare that Trump never obstructed justice. Two requests by presidential advisers show how far the White House has gone to try to push back on accusations that the president obstructed justice. McGahn initially entertained the request. “We did not perceive it as any kind of threat or something sinister,” McGahn’s attorney said in a statement. “It was a request, professionally and cordially made.” (New York Times)
📌 Day 851: Trump instructed former White House counsel Don McGahn to defy a congressional subpoena and skip a House Judiciary Committee hearing scheduled for Tuesday. The committee subpoenaed McGahn to appear to answer questions about Trump’s attempts to obstruct justice during the Russia investigation, but the White House presented McGahn with a 15-page legal opinion from the Justice Department that states, “Congress may not constitutionally compel the president’s senior advisers to testify about their official duties.” The current White House counsel sent a letter to the committee explaining that Trump instructed McGahn not to appear due to the “constitutional immunity” outlined in the DOJ legal opinion, “and in order to protect the prerogatives of the office of the presidency.” (New York Times / ABC News / Washington Post)
📌 Day 852: Former White House counsel Don McGahn failed to appear at hearing in front of the House Judiciary Committee, following Trump’s instructions to ignore the congressional subpoena. “Our subpoenas are not optional,” Committee chair Jerry Nadler said after McGahn failed to show up. Nadler also warned that “one way or another,” the panel will hear from McGahn, even if that means holding McGahn in contempt of Congress for failing to appear. “This committee,” he said, “will have no choice but to enforce the subpoena against him.” (Associated Press)
📌 Day 872: Jerry Nadler agreed to delay a vote to hold Barr and McGahn in contempt of Congress after reaching the deal with the Department of Justice for evidence from the Mueller report. The House will still proceed with a vote to authorize the House Judiciary Committee to take Barr to federal court to fully enforce its subpoena, but will not formally vote to hold Barr in contempt. “If the Department proceeds in good faith and we are able to obtain everything that we need, then there will be no need to take further steps,” Nadler said. “If important information is held back, then we will have no choice but to enforce our subpoena in court and consider other remedies.” (ABC News / NBC News / NPR)
2/ Trump visited both Dayton, Ohio and El Paso, Texas, but remained largely out of public view. In Dayton, protesters waved signs and chanted to “Dump Trump” and to “Do Something!” because “Thoughts and prayers don’t stop bullets.” Before leaving Washington, Trump said he “would like to stay out of the political fray” during the trip, dismissing suggestions that his rhetoric on race and immigration is to blame for a rise in hate-inspired violence, saying: “I think my rhetoric brings people together.” Hours earlier, Trump attacked Beto O’Rourke by telling the Democratic presidential candidate to “be quiet,” and mocked him for having a “phony name to indicate Hispanic heritage” (a reference to his discredited claim that O’Rourke had changed his first name to appeal to Hispanic voters). Trump also quoted conservative news reporting that “the Dayton, Ohio, shooter had a history of supporting political figures like Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and ANTIFA” – a radical leftist group. After visiting Dayton, Trump attacked Mayor Nan Whaley, calling her a supporter of Bernie Sanders and of antifa and that she “totally misrepresent[ed] what took place inside of the hospital.” during his visit. Whaley said she told Trump during his visit that Dayton is “really looking forward to some action” on gun control. Journalists weren’t allowed to accompany Trump at hospital in Dayton, but Trump’s social media director, Dan Scavino, claimed that Trump was “treated like a Rock Star inside the hospital.” (Washington Post / New York Times / ABC News / Bloomberg / BBC)
3/ Congressional Republicans are “confident Congress will be able to find common ground” on legislation to help law enforcement take guns from those who pose an imminent danger. The so-called “red flag” laws allow police to temporarily confiscate firearms from a person deemed by a judge as posing a risk of violence. While Republicans in Congress are focused passing “red flag” legislation, Trump claimed – without evidence – that there was a “great appetite” for reforming background checks among lawmakers. Trump also claimed there is no “political appetite” for legislation to ban assault weapons, but suggested he’d bring lawmakers back from their August recess if Republicans and Democrats can “get close” on a gun reform proposal. Meanwhile, more than 200 Democratic lawmakers urged Mitch McConnell to call a vote on House-passed legislation aimed at strengthening background checks for gun purchases. (New York Times / Politico / CNBC / NPR / The Hill)
The Trump administration has eased more than half a dozen restrictions that expanded access to guns by lifting some bans and limiting the names in the national database used to keep firearms away from dangerous people. Trump claimed his administration has done “much more than most” to curb mass shootings in the United States. (Politico)
Texas passed new firearm laws that will make it easier to have guns on school grounds and loosened restrictions on how many armed school marshals a school district can appoint, allows for licensed handgun owners to legally carry weapons in churches, among others. The laws were passed before attack in El Paso and are set to go into effect on September 1st. (CNN)
4/ The owner of the online message board 8chan was called to testify before Congress after the website was linked to the terrorist attack in El Paso. The House Homeland Security Committee demanded that 8chan owner Jim Watkins testify about site’s efforts to address “the proliferation of extremist content, including white supremacist content.” Committee chair Bennie Thompson and the ranking Republican Mike Rogers sent a letter to Watkins, an American citizen living in the Philippines, noting that the El Paso massacre was “at least the third act of supremacist violence linked to your website this year.” (Reuters)
Trump’s campaign promoted a video that included two clearly visible signs promoting a QAnon conspiracy theory. The signs appear in a close-up shot of a “Women for Trump” video published online by the Trump campaign in late July. It is unclear whether the ad was being broadcast on TV or just online. A warm-up speaker at one of Trump’s rallies last week, for example, recited a popular QAnon slogan during his speech. The Women for Trump video appears to have been removed from YouTube. (Daily Beast)
The FBI warned that fringe conspiracy theories are a new domestic terrorist threat. The document specifically mentions QAnon, a network that believes in a deep state conspiracy against Trump, and Pizzagate, the theory that a pedophile ring involving Clinton associates was being run out of the basement of a Washington, D.C., pizza restaurant, which doesn’t have a basement. (Yahoo News)
5/ A U.S. State Department official oversaw a Washington, D.C.-area chapter of a white nationalist organization, hosted white nationalists at his home, and published white nationalist propaganda online. Matthew Gebert works as a foreign affairs officer assigned to the Bureau of Energy Resources. (Southern Poverty Law Center)
Tucker Carlson claimed that white supremacy “is a hoax, just like the Russia hoax.” The Fox News host called white supremacy a “conspiracy theory used to divide the country and keep a hold on power.” (Washington Post)
Notables.
Rep. Joaquin Castro tweeted a list of names of constituents in his Texas congressional district who have maxed out their contributions to the Trump campaign. Joaquin is the twin brother of 2020 presidential candidate Julián Castro. All of the information in Castro’s tweet, including the occupations of the donors, is public information. (Politico / Washington Post)
Kim Jong Un supervised a live-fire demonstration of newly developed short-range ballistic missiles in an attempt to send a warning to the United States and South Korea. North Korea has conducted four rounds of weapons demonstrations in two weeks, all of which come during a stalemate in nuclear negotiations between Trump and Kim. Trump has repeatedly dismissed the significance of the tests, which experts say has given North Korea more room to develop its capabilities to strike South Korea and the U.S. ahead of negotiations. Meanwhile, the U.S. and its allies have been conducting military drills of their own, and negotiations are set to resume when those drills end later this month. (Associated Press)
Trump lied 56 times last week – down from 78 false claims the week prior and 61 false claims the week before that. (CNN)
1/ Trump attacked Obama after the former president called on Americans to “soundly reject language coming out of the mouths of any of our leaders that feeds a climate of fear and hatred or normalizes racist sentiments.” Tweeting paraphrased quotes from Fox News hosts, Trump rhetorically asked: “‘Did George Bush ever condemn President Obama after Sandy Hook. President Obama had 32 mass shootings during his reign. Not many people said Obama is out of Control.’” Trump also claimed (again) that he is “the least racist person” in the world. Obama did not mention Trump in his comments. (Politico)
2/ The Trump campaign paid for more than 2,000 Facebook ads this year that included the word “invasion” in relation to immigration. The campaign has spent roughly $1.25 million on Facebook ads about immigration since late March. The campaign spent nearly $5.6 million on Facebook ads overall during that same period. “We have an INVASION!” many of the ads say in large letters. “It’s CRITICAL that we STOP THE INVASION.” While there is no evidence that Trump’s campaign messaging influenced the shooter in the white supremacist terrorist attack that left 22 people dead and dozens injured in El Paso, the shooter declared in his manifesto that “this attack is a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas.” (Media Matters / New York Times / The Guardian / USA Today / VICE News)
📌 Day 651: Trump suggested that he might invoke a state of national emergency in order to justify using the military to arrest and detain migrants and refugees at the southern border. When asked what role active duty military personnel would play, since U.S. law prohibits the U.S. Army from being used to enforce domestic law, Trump said “Well it depends, it depends.” He continued: “National emergency covers a lot of territory. They can’t invade our country. You look at that it almost looks like an invasion. It’s almost does look like an invasion.” (ABC News)
📌 Day 788: Mick Mulvaney: Trump “is not a white supremacist.” The acting chief of staff went on to say it was “absurd” to draw a connection between Trump’s statements about immigration and the acts of a shooter who embraced both white nationalism and Trump. Last week Trump called undocumented immigrants coming to U.S. an “invasion” as he vetoed a congressional resolution that would block his declaration of a national emergency at the U.S. border with Mexico. (Washington Post / CNN)
📌 Day 928: Trump dismissed accusations that his own racist and anti-immigrant rhetoric has stoked racial hatred and helped to provoke would-be mass shooters. Instead, Trump tweeted – without evidence – that the news media is contributing “greatly to the anger and rage that has built up over many years.” The manifesto of the shooter in Texas, however, echoes the same kind of anti-immigrant language that Trump has used at his rallies over the years, specifically stating that “this attack is a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas.” Portions of the 2,300-word essay, titled “The Inconvenient Truth,” closely mirror Trump’s rhetoric demonizing undocumented immigrants as “thugs” and “animals,” and decrying Latino immigration as “an invasion of our country.” (Reuters / New York Times / Washington Post)
3/ The FBI opened a domestic terrorism investigation into the Gilroy Garlic Festival shooting that left three people dead and 13 wounded after officials discovered the gunman had a list of other potential targets. The FBI special agent in charge said they also “uncovered evidence that the shooter was exploring violent ideologies.” (Los Angeles Times / San Francisco Chronicle)
4/ Mitch McConnell complained that protesters outside his home were making “serious calls to violence” over his refusal to allow the Senate to consider bills passed by the House to strengthen background checks for gun sales. The protest followed the mass shootings over the weekend in El Paso and Dayton, Ohio, that left 31 people dead. Louisville metro police confirmed that the group outside McConnell’s residence were “protesting peacefully.” McConnell’s campaign, however, characterized the group of 20 to 30 people as “an angry left-wing mob” making threats and shouting profanities. (Washington Post / New York Post)
📌 Day 407: Mitch McConnell said the Senate will skip debate on gun legislation and instead turn to a banking bill next week, reflecting the reality that negotiators have not settled on legislation that can pass the House and Senate. (CNN)
📌 Day 928: Democrats called on Mitch McConnell to cancel the Senate’s August recess so they can take up gun control legislation. The bill would create new background check requirements for gun transfers between unlicensed individuals. It passed the House in February 240-190. (NBC News)
5/ McConnell’s campaign tweeted a photo of mock tombstones with the names of his political opponents, Democratic initiates, and nominees he’s blocked, with the caption: “The Grim Reaper of Socialism.” The photo shows five gravestones flanked by two “Team Mitch” signs. One tombstones reads “R.I.P Amy McGrath, November 3rd, 2020,” a reference to his Democratic opponent in the 2020 Kentucky Senate race and the date of the general election. Others include a Judge Merrick Garland tombstone, the Green New Deal, “Socialism,” and Alison Lundergan Grimes, the 2014 Democratic challenger who McConnell defeated that year.(Politico / Washington Post)
6/ Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez confronted McConnell about a photo of seven high school men in “Team Mitch” shirts “groping & choking” a cardboard cutout of her. The photo, which has since been deleted, was posted to Instagram with the caption: “break me off a piece of that.” Ocasio-Cortez retweeted the photo to McConnell, asking to clarify if McConnell was “paying for young men to practice groping & choking members of Congress w/ your payroll, or is this just the standard culture of #TeamMitch?” The McConnell campaign said that it “in no way condones” the photo and that “these young men are not campaign staff, they are high schoolers.” While the photo was taken during a “non-school” event, some of the men were in a photo shared by the McConnell campaign’s Instagram account, holding large posters of Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh. The McConnell campaign then attacked “the far-left and the media” for writing about the incident and using the image to “demonize, stereotype, and publicly castigate every young person who dares to get involved with Republican politics.” (NBC News / Washington Post / Daily Beast)
Notables.
A federal judge signaled that he is willing to consider removing the redactions in Robert Mueller’s report. The case includes a pair of consolidated lawsuits filed against the Justice Department under the Freedom of Information Act. District Judge Reggie Walton appeared to side several times with attorneys for BuzzFeed and the nonprofit Electronic Privacy Information Center during oral arguments, saying “That’s what open government is about.” Walton has the power to rule on the redactions, but he also has the power to review the unredacted report to see if the exemptions claimed by the DOJ to block the release of the full report align with what is permitted under the law. (Politico)
Trump and the Republican National Committee filed a pair of lawsuits challenging a new law in California requiring presidential candidates to release five years of tax returns in order to be placed on the state primary ballot in 2020. The RNC called the law a “naked political attack against the sitting president of the United States.” Trump’s lawyer William Consovoy argued that the new law adds an “unconstitutional qualification” to the set of qualifications for the presidency as defined in the Constitution and violates the First Amendment. The Constitution requires that you be a natural born citizen, at least 35 or older, and be a U.S. resident for at least 14 years. (New York Times / CNN / Axios)
The U.S. Ambassador to Russia submitted his resignation and plans to move back home to Utah. Jon Huntsman resignation is effective October 3rd and there is speculation that he is planning to run for governor of Utah. (Salt Lake Tribune / CNN)
Trump – without evidence – accused Google of “very illegal” acts to subvert his 2016 presidential campaign and that he’ll be watching the company “very closely” ahead of the 2020 election. Trump’s tweets came after a former Google engineer appeared on “Fox & Friends.” A Google spokesperson described the employee, who was fired from in June 2018, as a “disgruntled former employee.” (Reuters / Politico)
1/ Trump “condemn[ed] racism, bigotry and white supremacy” following two mass shootings in El Paso, TX and Dayton, OH over the weekend that left 31 people dead. Trump, who spent the weekend at his golf resort in Bedminster, N.J., stopped short of endorsing new gun control measures, and instead parroted Republican talking points about the “perils” of mental illness, violence in the media, and violent video games for fostering white nationalism and hatred. In El Paso, the shooter published a four-page “manifesto” on the online message board 8chan about 20 minutes before the attack, saying he wanted to stop the “Hispanic invasion of Texas.” Trump failed to acknowledge his repeated use of the word “invasion” to describe asylum seekers and immigrants at the southern border. Trump also cited the threat of “racist hate” with no acknowledgment that his own anti-immigrant rhetoric. Reading from a teleprompter at the White House, Trump also incorrectly referred to Toledo, Ohio instead of Dayton, Ohio as the location of one of the killings. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Associated Press / The Hill)
Dayton, Ohio: 9 people were killed and 27 others injured. The shooter used an assault-style rifle with high capacity magazines, wore body armor and a mask. He did not have a police record. (CBS News / Washington Post / Associated Press)
El Paso, Texas: 22 people were killed and 26 others injured. The shooter used an assault-style rifle. (CNN / New York Times / NBC News)
2/ Hours earlier, Trump called for “strong background checks” and suggested “marrying this legislation with desperately needed immigration reform.” Trump made a similar call to improve background checks after a shooting last year in Florida. Trump, however, threatened to veto a gun control bill that passed the House with bipartisan support in February that would require universal background checks. The bill has not been considered by the Senate, which is on recess until September. (CNN / New York Times)
3/ Trump dismissed accusations that his own racist and anti-immigrant rhetoric has stoked racial hatred and helped to provoke would-be mass shooters. Instead, Trump tweeted – without evidence – that the news media is contributing “greatly to the anger and rage that has built up over many years.” The manifesto of the shooter in Texas, however, echoes the same kind of anti-immigrant language that Trump has used at his rallies over the years, specifically stating that “this attack is a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas.” Portions of the 2,300-word essay, titled “The Inconvenient Truth,” closely mirror Trump’s rhetoric demonizing undocumented immigrants as “thugs” and “animals,” and decrying Latino immigration as “an invasion of our country.” (Reuters / New York Times / Washington Post)
A Republican lawmaker in Nebraska accused Trump and the GOP of “enabling white supremacy.” John McCollister said that while he is “not suggesting that all Republicans are white supremacists,” nor that the average Republican voter is a racist, “the Republican Party is COMPLICIT to obvious racist and immoral activity inside our party.” McCollister continued by directly calling out Trump, who has downplayed the threat of white supremacy and white nationalism: “We have a Republican president who continually stokes racist fears in his base,” McCollister tweeted. “He calls certain countries ‘sh*tholes,’ tells women of color to ‘go back’ to where they came from and lies more than he tells the truth.” (Washington Post)
4/ Democrats called on Mitch McConnell to cancel the Senate’s August recess so they can take up gun control legislation. The bill would create new background check requirements for gun transfers between unlicensed individuals. It passed the House in February 240-190. (NBC News)
McConnell tripped on his patio and fractured his shoulder. The 77-year-old is recovering at his home in Kentucky. He is running for a seventh term in the Senate next year. (Politico / Washington Post)
5/ FBI Director Christopher Wray ordered the agency to conduct a new threat assessment in order to identify and stop potential future mass shootings. A command group in Washington, D.C. will oversee the effort, during which FBI field offices will actively work to identify threats that are similar to the attacks last week at a food festival and over the weekend in Texas and Ohio. In recent congressional testimony, senior FBI officials said they were conducting about 850 domestic terrorism investigations — down from a year earlier, when there were roughly 1,000. (CNN / Washington Post)
Notables.
July was the hottest month that humans have ever recorded since record-keeping began more than a century ago, slightly eclipsing the previous record-holder, July 2016. The past five years have been the hottest on record. The 10 hottest years have all occurred in the past two decades. This year is on track to be in the top five hottest ever. (New York Times / Washington Post)
Wall Street suffered its worst day of 2019 as China answered Trump’s threat to add 10% tariffs on another $300 billion in Chinese imports by allowing its currency to slide to an 11-year low against the dollar. Trump accused China of manipulating its currency. The Dow, S&P, and Nasdaq fell 2.9%, 3%, and 3.5%, respectively. (CNBC / Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
The Treasury Department designated China as currency manipulator, a move that no White House had exercised since the Clinton administration. (CNBC)
The Trump “superfan” who sent homemade pipe bombs to Obama, Hillary Clinton, and other Democrats was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Prosecutors had called for a life sentence for Cesar Sayoc, while his defense lawyers pushed for a 10-year sentence, saying that at the time of his arrest, Sayoc was allegedly suffering from an untreated mental illness, compounded by excessive steroid use, and that he had become increasingly obsessive, isolated and paranoid. (Washington Post / New York Times)
1/ Trump dropped his plan to nominate John Ratcliffe as director of national intelligence, “rather than going through months of slander and libel.” Ratcliffe withdrew from consideration following bipartisan questions about his qualifications, pushback over whether he had exaggerated his résumé that required his aids to walk back his claim that as a federal prosecutor he had won convictions in terrorism cases, and former intelligence officials expressing concern that he might politicize the job. Trump claimed that Ratcliffe, who will remain in Congress, “is being treated very unfairly by the LameStream media.” Ratcliffe was Trump’s pick to succeed Dan Coats, who is stepping down as director of national intelligence on Aug. 15. (New York Times / CNN / CNBC / NBC News / Washington Post)
2/ The White House will block the nation’s No. 2 intelligence official from taking over as acting director of national intelligence when Dan Coats steps down. A federal statute requires that if the director of national intelligence role becomes vacant, the deputy director — currently Sue Gordon — will serve as acting director. The White House, however, can choose who to appoint as acting deputy if the No. 2 position is vacant, raising the question of whether Gordon will be ousted as part of a leadership shuffle. The White House, meanwhile, has asked the national intelligence office for a list of all its employees at the federal government’s top pay scale who have worked there for 90 days or more. While it’s unclear what the White House will do with the list, many of the people on it may be eligible to temporarily takeover as acting director of national intelligence. (New York Times / Daily Beast)
3/ State prosecutors in New York subpoenaed the Trump Organization for documents related to its role in hush money payments made to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal. The investigation is examining whether senior executives filed false business records related to the $130,000 payment Michael Cohen made to Daniels, as well as the arrangement between Cohen and the National Enquirer to pay off McDougal. Falsifying business records would constitute a state crime. The Manhattan district attorney separately subpoenaed American Media Inc., which publishes the National Enquirer. (New York Times)
4/ China threatened to retaliate against Trump’s latest round of tariffs on another $300 billion worth of Chinese goods. Trump’s latest round of tariffs would effectively extend punitive duties to everything the U.S. imports from China. A Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman said that if the new tariffs go into effect, “China will have to take necessary countermeasures to resolutely defend its core interests.” (Associated Press)
5/ The U.S. will test a new weapons systems in the coming weeks that would have been prohibited under the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces treaty that Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev signed in 1987. The current Pentagon budget includes $48 million for research on potential military responses to the Russian violations of the INF treaty. The options do not include a nuclear missile. Separately, the U.S. military is conducting wide-area surveillance tests across six midwest states using up to 25 unmanned solar-powered, high-altitude experimental balloons intended to “provide a persistent surveillance system to locate and deter narcotic trafficking and homeland security threats.” (Associated Press / The Guardian)
6/ Trump signed an executive order imposing sanctions on Russia for its use of chemical weapons in the 2018 attack on Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter. The Trump administration already imposed an initial round of sanctions last year, in accordance with a 1991 law. The same law requires that the administration impose a second round of sanctions if Trump cannot determine that the state in question has stopped using chemical weapons, which U.S. intelligence agencies have been unable to do. Russia continues to deny their involvement in the attack on Skripal and his daughter. (Politico / New York Times)
📌 Day 594: Putin claimed he doesn’t know the two suspects behind the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter. Putin’s foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov, said the names of the suspects “do not mean anything to me.” (Associated Press)
📌 Day 735: The Trump administration hasn’t imposed required sanctions on Moscow nearly three months after determining that Russia had violated the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act in connection with the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal. (NBC News)
7/ Trump contradicted his own intelligence advisers and Robert Mueller that Russia is already interfering in the 2020 presidential election, asking reporters: “You don’t really believe this. Do you believe this?” FBI Director Christopher Wray told the Senate Judiciary Committee on July 23 that “The Russians are absolutely intent on trying to interfere with our elections.” When asked if he raised the issue of ongoing Russian political interference during a call with Putin this week, Trump replied: “We didn’t talk about that.” (NBC News / USA Today)
1/ Trump unexpectedly announced that he will impose a new 10% tariff on an additional $300 billion worth of Chinese imports – effectively taxing every product that Americans buy from China – after China failed to begin buying more American agricultural products as they had promised. The new tariffs would go into effect on Sept. 1st and would be in addition to the 25% tariff that has already been imposed on $250 billion of imports. The announcement came a day after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer wrapped up talks in Shanghai on a comprehensive trade deal. The negotiations reportedly ended early and without a deal. A new meeting is set up for September. (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / CNN / Associated Press)
Trump’s former chief economic adviser said the trade war with China is backfiring and having a “dramatic impact” on the U.S. economy. Gary Cohn served as director of the National Economic Council in the Trump administration from January 2017 to April 2018, resigning after Trump decided to impose import tariffs on steel and aluminium. (BBC / CNBC)
2/ The Senate passed a two-year bipartisan budget deal that raises spending $320 billion over current levels and lifts the debt ceiling until after the 2020 election. The legislation now goes to Trump, who is expected to sign it despite complaints from conservatives that it would fuel the nation’s debt. Under the Trump administration, the annual federal deficit is set to reach $1 trillion a year. (Politico / Associated Press / CNBC / Axios / Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
3/ The Inspector General of the Intelligence Community won’t investigate how the White House handled the security clearances for Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump, and other officials unless Trump asks him. Michael Atkinson declined the request to investigate the security clearance process by four top Senate Democrats, saying “The authority over access to classified information ultimately rests with the President of the United States.” In response, the senators wrote a letter to Trump, asking him to order the investigation. The White House did not respond to a request for comment and has previously declined to comment on the security clearances. (NBC News)
4/ Justice Department won’t prosecute James Comey over the leak of his memos that the FBI later determined contained classified information. The inspector general’s office had referred Comey for prosecution. After Trump fired Comey, the former FBI Director asked a friend to leak the memos, which detailed his conversations with Trump about the FBI’s probe of Russian election interference. The Justice Department prosecutors declined to prosecute Comey, because they didn’t believe there was evidence to show Comey knew and intended to violate laws regarding the handling of classified information. (NBC News / CNN)
5/ The White House instructed Trump’s newly appointed Secretary of Defense to reexamine the military’s $10 billion cloud computing contract because of concerns it would be awarded to Amazon. The Pentagon planned to award the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure contract to either Amazon or Microsoft this month. Mark Esper, who assumed his post on July 23rd, is now reviewing accusations of unfairness that pre-dates Trump’s involvement, including allegations by rival companies that the competition unfairly favored Amazon because of perceived conflicts of interest. Despite a court ruling that the competition was fair, Trump asked officials to review the contracting process after companies competing against Amazon lodged “tremendous complaints.” Trump has often made false and misleading attacks against Amazon and the Washington Post, conflating the two as the “Amazon Washington Post” because they’re both owned by Jeff Bezos. (Washington Post / Politico / CNBC)
6/ Trump ordered the military to punish the prosecutors who tried the case of a Navy SEAL charged and acquitted of war crimes in the death of a captured ISIS fighter in Iraq. Trump complained that the prosecutors who tried the case against Eddie Gallagher “were ridiculously given a Navy Achievement Medal” and demanded that the military “immediately withdraw and rescind the awards.” (New York Times / Washington Post)
7/ More than half of House Democrats support launching impeachment proceedings against Trump with 118 out of 235 members now supporting the effort. Speaker Nancy Pelosi has argued that impeachment would alienate too many voters. (Politico / New York Times / BuzzFeed News)
1/ The Trump administration separated more than 900 migrant children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border after a judge ordered the government to stop the practice in June 2018 except in cases where a parent is unfit or presents a danger to the child. One man lost his daughter because a Border Patrol agent claimed he had failed to change the girl’s diaper and another had his child taken from him because of a property damage conviction allegedly worth $5. Another man who has a speech impediment had his 4-year-old son taken from him because he couldn’t clearly answer Border Patrol agent’s questions. Attorneys for the ACLU asked a federal judge to block the Trump administration from continuing to separate migrant children from their parents. (Washington Post / CNN / NBC News)
📌 Day 524: A federal judge ordered the federal government to reunite migrant families separated under the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy and to end most family separations. U.S. District Court Judge Dana Sabraw issued a nationwide injunction requiring that all children under the age of five be reunited with their parents within 14 days and that older children be reunited within 30 days, and temporarily stopping the practice of separating children from their parents. The judge also ordered that all children who have been separated be allowed to talk to their parents within 10 days. (Politico / New York Times / CNN / Washington Post)
2/ The Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point – the first rate cut in more than a decade. The move is meant to protect the U.S. economy against the effects of an economic slowdown in China and Europe and the uncertainty from Trump’s trade war. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the rate cut was a precautionary, “midcycle adjustment” to provide “insurance” against “downside risks.” Trump, who has called in recent months for the Fed to cut interest rates by a full percentage point, tweeted that the interest rate cut was “not enough” and that Powell had “let us down” “as usual.”(New York Times / Politico / CNBC / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / Washington Post)
💡What the interest rate cut means for you. (New York Times)
3/ Two of Mitch McConnell’s former staffers lobbied Congress and the Treasury Department on the development of a $200 million investment in a Kentucky aluminum mill backed by a Russian aluminum company. Rusal could only make the investment after winning sanctions relief from the Treasury Department initially imposed in April 2018 on Rusal and other companies owned by Oleg Deripaska, a Russian oligarch and Putin ally. (Politico)
📌 Day 739: The Trump administration lifted sanctions against three companies owned by Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. The Treasury Department originally sanctioned Deripaska, six other oligarchs, and their companies in April in response to Russia’s “malign activity” around the world. The sanctions against Deripaska himself will remain in effect, but his companies launched a lobbying campaign to argue that the sanctions against aluminum giant Rusal would disrupt the aluminum market and damage U.S. companies. (Reuters / New York Times / Fox News / Bloomberg)
📌 Day 818: An aluminum company partially owned by a Russian oligarch plans to invest around $200 million to build a new plant in Mitch McConnell’s home state. McConnell was among the advocates for lifting U.S. sanctions on Rusal, the aluminum company Oleg Deripaska partially owns. (Newsweek)
📌Day 917: Following Robert Mueller’s testimony and warnings about Russia’s continued attempts to interfere in U.S. elections, Senate Republicans blocked two election security bills and a cybersecurity measure. Democrats attempted to pass two bills by unanimous consent on Wednesday that would require campaigns to notify the FBI and the FEC if they receive offers of assistance from foreign governments. The other bill would let the Senate Sergeant at Arms offer voluntary cyber assistance for the personal devices and accounts of lawmakers and their staff. Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith blocked all three of the bills without giving any reason for her objections or indicating whether she blocked the bills on behalf of herself or the GOP caucus. Mueller testified yesterday that “The Russian government’s effort to interfere in our election is among the most serious” and that “it wasn’t a single attempt. They’re doing it as we sit here. And they expect to do it during the next campaign.” (The Hill / CNN)
📌 Day 922: Mitch McConnell defended his decision to block an election security bill in a speech on the Senate floor, accusing his critics of engaging in “modern-day McCarthyism” to “smear” his record. McConnell and Senate Republicans blocked Democratic attempts to bring up several bipartisan election security bills for votes, including legislation to require a paper trail for ballots and the disclosure for online political ads. MSNBC host Joe Scarborough dubbed McConnell “Moscow Mitch” for the move with opinion columnist Dana Milbank labeling McConnell a “Russian asset.” McConnell has blamed Democrats for politicizing election security. Following McConnell’s speech, the hashtag #MoscowMitchMcTreason began trending on Twitter. (KTLA / Washington Post / New York Times / The Hill)
4/ A former congressional staffer who tried to discredit Robert Mueller’s investigation has been promoted on the National Security Council staff. Kash Patel spearheaded the efforts with Devin Nunes to call the court-approved surveillance of former Trump adviser Carter Page into question. Now, Patel has been promoted to a leadership position focused on counterterrorism at the NSC’s Directorate of International Organizations and Alliances. (Daily Beast)
5/ A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit by the Democratic National Committee against Trump’s presidential campaign related to Russian hacking of Democratic party computers and the release of material stolen by the hackers. The ruling terminated the DNC’s claims against the Trump campaign, individual members of the campaign, including Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner, WikiLeaks and Julian Assange. (CNBC)
6/ Osama bin Laden’s son is reportedly dead. U.S. officials did not provide details of where or when Hamza bin Laden died, or the role the U.S. played in his death. (NBC News / New York Times)
7/ The Trump administration imposed sanctions on Iran’s top diplomat, following Tehran’s recent missile-test launch, seizure of a British oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, and the downing of a U.S. military drone. The sanctions against Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif were delayed after State Department officials argued that would close the door to diplomacy. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
🐊 Swamp things.
A church in Baltimore kicked Ben Carson off of their property after the Housing and Urban Development secretary attempted to hold a press conference without first asking for permission. HUD officials moved the news conference to an adjacent alley, where Carson compared Baltimore to a patient with cancer and that the “cancer is going to have a devastating effect” that “we can’t sweep them under the rug.” Carson, who was in Baltimore to talk about opportunity zones and federal programs, said the Morning Star Baptist Church of Christ kicked him off because of “animosity.” (Baltimore Sun / CBS Baltimore / CNN)
The Department of Justice is investigating whether former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke used personal email accounts for official government business. The investigation is part of a larger probe into Zinke, who has been criticized for mixing his personal, political, and official business while in Trump’s cabinet. Zinke resigned in 2018 following scrutiny of his participation in a land deal with the chairman of Halliburton. (Politico)
A Democratic senator temporarily blocked a Trump nominee from serving as the top lawyer for the Interior over concerns that Daniel Jorjani possibly lied to lawmakers during his confirmation hearing about his role in reviewing public information requests submitted to the agency. (The Hill / HuffPost)
The Senate Armed Services Committee advanced Air Force Gen. John Hyten to be the next vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, despite allegations of sexual assault by a former subordinate. (Politico)
Energy Secretary Rick Perry contradicted Trump on climate change, saying “The climate is changing. Are we part of the reason? Yeah, it is.” Trump has repeatedly expressed skepticism about the role humans play in climate change. (CNBC)
Trump sent the U.S. special presidential envoy for hostage affairs to Sweden to monitor the court proceedings for rapper A$AP Rocky. The Harlem rapper is accused of beating a 19-year-old man in Stockholm on June 30th. He pleaded not guilty to the charges. Robert O’Brien’s job is to advise the government on hostage issues. (The Independent)
📺 Tonight’s debate will start at 8 p.m. ET and end around 10:30 p.m. ET. Watch on CNN.
1/ Mitch McConnell defended his decision to block an election security bill in a speech on the Senate floor, accusing his critics of engaging in “modern-day McCarthyism” to “smear” his record. McConnell and Senate Republicans blocked Democratic attempts to bring up several bipartisan election security bills for votes, including legislation to require a paper trail for ballots and the disclosure for online political ads. MSNBC host Joe Scarborough dubbed McConnell “Moscow Mitch” for the move with opinion columnist Dana Milbank labeling McConnell a “Russian asset.” McConnell has blamed Democrats for politicizing election security. Following McConnell’s speech, the hashtag #MoscowMitchMcTreason began trending on Twitter. (KTLA / Washington Post / New York Times / The Hill)
Trump defended McConnell and accused the Washington Post of being a “Russian asset.” McConnell “is a man that knows less about Russia and Russian influence than even Donald Trump, and I know nothing,” Trump said. (Washington Post)
📌 Day 917: Following Robert Mueller’s testimony and warnings about Russia’s continued attempts to interfere in U.S. elections, Senate Republicans blocked two election security bills and a cybersecurity measure. Democrats attempted to pass two bills by unanimous consent on Wednesday that would require campaigns to notify the FBI and the FEC if they receive offers of assistance from foreign governments. The other bill would let the Senate Sergeant at Arms offer voluntary cyber assistance for the personal devices and accounts of lawmakers and their staff. Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith blocked all three of the bills without giving any reason for her objections or indicating whether she blocked the bills on behalf of herself or the GOP caucus. Mueller testified yesterday that “The Russian government’s effort to interfere in our election is among the most serious” and that “it wasn’t a single attempt. They’re doing it as we sit here. And they expect to do it during the next campaign.” (The Hill / CNN)
2/ Trump’s pick for director of national intelligence promoted the now-debunked conspiracy theory of an anti-Trump “secret society” operating within the FBI. John Ratcliffe claimed that the text messages between Lisa Page and Peter Strzok before the 2016 election were proof that the FBI was working against Trump, which fell apart when the exchange became public. Ratcliffe also misrepresented his role in an anti-terrorism case, claiming he had been appointed as a “special prosecutor” in 2008 to secure convictions for funneling money to Hamas, which is a designated terrorist organization. Court records and lawyers involved in the case suggest he had no direct role in the prosecution. (Daily Beast / ABC News)
3/ One of Trump’s billionaire friends tried to buy the only U.S. manufacturer of large nuclear reactors while he was lobbying Trump to become a special envoy and promote his company’s nuclear work in Saudi Arabia, according to a new congressional report. Thomas Barrack failed in both efforts, but his attempts raised “serious questions about whether the White House is willing to place the potential profits of the President’s friends above the national security of the American people and the universal objective of preventing the spread of nuclear weapons.” The report shows Barrack negotiated with Trump and other White House officials to seek “powerful positions” like special Middle East envoy while he was also attempting to purchase Westinghouse Electric Company, the sole American manufacturer of large-scale nuclear reactors — partly with capital from Saudi Arabia or its close ally, the United Arab Emirates. (The Guardian / New York Times)
4/ Barrack also provided a draft of Trump’s energy speeches in 2016 to senior officials from the United Arab Emirates for edits, according to emails and text messages uncovered by a House Oversight Committee investigation. Two weeks before Trump was scheduled to give the speech, Barrack provided a former business associate inside the UAE with an advance copy of the speech, which the associate then shared with UAE and Saudi government officials. Later, Barrack arranged for the edits requested by the UAE officials to be added to the speech with the help of Paul Manafort. “This is the most likely final version of the speech. It has the language you want,” Manafort confirmed in an email to Barrack on the day of the speech. (ABC News)
5/ The Senate failed to override Trump’s veto of three resolutions to block arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The resolutions were passed by Congress with bipartisan support in June, but the three votes to override Trump’s vetoes failed, 45-40, 45-39 and 46-41. A two-thirds vote was needed in each case. (Politico / CBS News / CNN)
6/ White House adviser Stephen Miller wants to use Border Patrol agents as asylum screeners in order to reduce asylum approvals. Miller believes Border Patrol agents would be tougher critics of asylum seekers and is interested in the rate of approval for migrants interviewed by Border Patrol agents versus asylum officers. On average, asylum officers approve about 90% of “credible fear” screenings – the first thing migrants must do when seeking asylum is to convince officers that they have a credible fear for their safety in their home country. (NBC News)
7/ California now requires all presidential candidates to submit five years of income tax filings in order to be on the state’s presidential primary ballot. Trump will be ineligible for California’s primary ballot next year unless he discloses his tax returns. (Los Angeles Times / New York Times)
8/ More than half of the Trump administration’s trade-war aid for farmers went to just one-tenth of the recipients in the program. The Trump administration announced a $16 billion round of trade aid for farmers this year as the trade dispute with China continues. (Bloomberg)
9/ For the fourth consecutive day, Trump attacked Elijah Cummings and asserted – without evidence – that black Baltimoreans “really appreciate what I’m doing.” Trump added that “Cummings should take his oversight committee and start doing oversight on Baltimore.” Hours later, Trump marked the 400th anniversary of the birth of democracy in America in a speech at the Jamestown Settlement Museum. Virginia’s African-American state lawmakers boycotted the speech, calling Trump an “emblem of hate” and accused those who chose to attend and remain silent of being complicit in Trump’s racism. During his speech, Trump made no reference to his attacks on Cummings and his majority black, Baltimore-based district, which Trump previously called “rat and rodent infested” where “no human being would want to live,” nor mentioned the four congresswomen of color he recently told to “go back” to where they came from. Instead, Trump highlighted that this year is also the 400th anniversary of the first slaves brought to America. (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / USA Today)
📺 The second set of Democratic presidential debates are tonight and tomorrow. They begin at 8 p.m. ET and are expected to last at least two hours. Here’s the NPR guide to how to watch and what they’re watching for, the CNN guide, and the New York Times guide. Go nuts.
1/ Trump called Elijah Cummings a “brutal bully” and his Baltimore-based district a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess” that “is considered the worst run and most dangerous anywhere in the United States. No human being would want to live there.” Trump also called Cummings, a black civil rights icon, a “racist.” Trump’s tweets appeared to be in response to a Fox & Friends segment on the same topic that ran earlier in the day, which included images of rundown and neglected apartment buildings in Baltimore. As chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, Cummings has initiated most of the investigations into the Trump administration. Last week, Cummings was authorized to subpoena work-related text and emails by White House officials, including Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner. Trump called Cummings’ “radical ‘oversight’ […] a joke!” (Baltimore Sun / New York Times / Washington Post / Washington Post / The Hill)
Trump denied being a racist, saying that “there is nothing racist in stating plainly what most people already know, that Elijah Cummings has done a terrible job for the people of his district.” Trump added: “Dems always play the race card when they are unable to win with facts.” (BBC)
The Baltimore Sun responded to Trump: “Better to have a few rats than to be one.” The editorial accused Trump of deploying “the most emotional and bigoted of arguments” against a Democratic African American congressman from a majority-black district. (Baltimore Sun / Washington Post)
Four years ago, Trump criticized Obama for not doing enough to address problems in Baltimore. Trump claimed at the time that “I would fix it fast!” (Washington Post)
Trump attacked Rev. Al Sharpton, calling him “a con man” who “Hates Whites & Cops!” Sharpton had tweeted a photo of himself at an airport with the caption: “headed to Baltimore.” (New York Times)
📌 Day 917: The House Oversight and Reform Committee authorized subpoenas for senior White House aides official work communications sent via personal email and cellphone. The White House refused to turn over the messages voluntarily earlier this month. Democrats have raised questions about whether Jared Kushner’s WhatsApp communications with foreign officials, Ivanka Trump’s use of a private email account to conduct official business, and Stephen Bannon’s use of a personal mobile device for White House business violated the Presidential Records Act. (Politico / Washington Post / Axios)
2/ Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney defended Trump’s attacks, saying that some people will be offended by anything Trump says and that he was “fighting back” against “illegitimate attacks about the border.” Mulvaney argued that Trump’s use of “infested” to attack Cummings had “nothing to do with race.” Trump, however, has repeatedly used “infested” to attack places in which the majority are people of color. Trump previously told Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley to “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came,” suggested that John Lewis’ district was “in horrible shape and falling apart (not to mention crime infested),” referred to Africa as “Ebola-infested,” and called California a “ridiculous, crime infested & breeding concept.” (Politico / Axios / Washington Post / Mediate)
📌 Day 907: Trump told four liberal congresswomen of color to “go back” and “fix” their “broken and crime infested” countries. All four are American citizens and born in the United States, except for one, who became a refugee at age 10 when a civil war devastated Somalia. While he did not mention them by name, Trump’s tweets were directed at the members of the so-called “squad,” who were elected to Congress in 2018: Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and Ayanna Pressley. Republicans remained largely silent after Trump’s attack. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, meanwhile, called the tweets “xenophobic” and accused Trump of reaffirming his plan to make “America white again.” (New York Times / Associated Press / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Yahoo News / CNN)
3/ Jared Kushner owns more than a dozen apartment complexes in Baltimore that have been cited for hundreds of code violations and provide substandard housing to lower-income tenants. Since 2013, Kushner Cos. has owned nearly 9,000 rental units across 17 complexes that generate at least $90 million in annual revenue. In 2017, Baltimore County officials revealed that apartments owned by Kushner Cos. were responsible for more than 200 code violations – all accrued in the span of the calendar year – and repairs were made only after the county threatened fines. (Washington Post / Baltimore Sun / New York Times)
Trump’s eateries in New York were recently fined by health inspectors for “evidence of mice or live mice” in and around the kitchen and other “critical” violations. (New York Daily News)
House Republicans scheduled their yearly policy retreat at a downtown Baltimore hotel in September despite Trump calling Baltimore a “very dangerous & filthy place.” Trump is expected to speak at the retreat. (Washington Post)
4/ Dan Coates will step down as director of national intelligence next month. Coates frequently pushed back against Trump on foreign policy issues, including on Russia and North Korea. Trump said he would nominate John Ratcliffe to replace Coates, who will officially leave his post on Aug. 15th. It’s unclear whether Ratcliffe will be confirmed by the Senate, since he has no background in intelligence. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr “cautioned the president’s advisers that he considered Mr. Ratcliffe too political for the post.” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, meanwhile, warned that it’d be a “big mistake” for Senate Republicans to “elevate such a partisan player to a position that requires intelligence expertise and non-partisanship.” Trump was, reportedly, “thrilled by Ratcliffe’s admonishment of former special counsel Robert Mueller in last week’s House Judiciary Committee hearing.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Reuters / NBC News / USA Today / NPR / Axios / Politico / CNN / New York Times)
5/ The Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration can use $2.5 billion in Pentagon money to expand the border wall with Mexico. In a 5-to-4 ruling, the court lifted a lower court order that blocked the four contracts the Trump administration had awarded using Defense Department money. Funding for the projects had been frozen by lower courts while a lawsuit over the money proceeded. (New York Times / Politico / Associated Press / Washington Post)
6/ The Trump administration didn’t include analysis that more than 500,000 children would lose eligibility for free school meals under a proposed change to the food stamp program. When the Department of Agriculture proposed last week to end food stamp benefits for 3.1 million people by changing eligibility and automatic enrollment, the agency did not include its own estimate that more than 500,000 children would also lose eligibility for free school meals. Currently, children whose families receive food stamps are automatically enrolled in a federal program that offers free breakfast and lunch at school. The two programs are automatically linked to reduce paperwork to ensure that children receive all of the food assistance they qualify for. (NBC News)
📌 Day 915: The Trump administration proposed ending food stamp benefits for 3.1 million people by tightening eligibility and automatic enrollment. The current rule allows residents in 43 states to be automatically eligible for food stamps through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) if they receive benefits from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. The new rule would require people who receive TANF benefits to pass a review of their income and assets to determine whether they are eligible to receive food from SNAP. Removing 3.1 million people from SNAP would save the federal government about $2.5 billion a year. About 40 million low-income people received SNAP benefits in 2018. (Reuters / Bloomberg / CNN / Washington Post)
7/ More than 100 Democrats in the House have called for impeachment proceedings against Trump to begin. A total of 107 House Democrats have publicly supported the move, including 12 since Mueller’s testimony last week. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler said Trump “richly deserves impeachment,” but that it was too soon to begin the process despite Trump having “violated the law six ways from Sunday.” (NBC News / Politico / New York Times / Axios)
poll/ 47% of American said Mueller’s testimony made no difference in their views about impeaching Trump. Among Democrats, 48% said they are more likely to support impeachment that could ultimately lead to Trump’s removal from office. 3% of Republicans said they were more likely to support impeachment. 71% of Americans said that they had either read, seen or heard about Mueller’s testimony last week. (ABC News)
1/ The House Judiciary Committee said it would petition a federal judge to unseal Robert Mueller’s secret grand jury evidence. Chairman Jerry Nadler argued that it’s essential that Congress “have access to all the relevant facts” – including witness testimony – in order to fully investigate potential abuses of power by Trump and his inner circle before deciding whether to recommend articles of impeachment. The petition does not seek the public release of the grand jury evidence. The committee will also continue its investigation during the House’s six-week summer recess and is working to obtain testimony from former White House counsel Don McGahn. Nadler said he is going to court today and again next week to file a lawsuit to force McGahn to testify. (New York Times / Politico / Washington Post)
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House will make a decision regarding impeachment in a “timely fashion,” denying that she is trying to “run out the clock” on the issue. Pelosi’s comment came shortly before Nadler said the House Judiciary Committee had already “in effect” been conducting an impeachment inquiry. (NBC News)
2/ Russia targeted the election systems in all 50 states in 2016, the Senate Intelligence Committee’s new report on election interference concluded. Officials believe that Russians probably “scanned” systems in every state for “election-related web pages, voter ID information, election system software, and election service companies.” The investigation found that Russia’s interference began as early as 2014 and continued into at least 2017, but there was no evidence that votes were changed or that any voting machines were compromised. (New York Times / Washington Post)
📌 Day 917: The Senate Intelligence Committee found that “the Russian government directed extensive activity, beginning in at least 2014 and carrying into at least 2017, against U.S. election infrastructure at the state and local level,” according to the committee’s report on Russian interference. The report recommends that Congress provide additional funding for states to secure elections once the $380 million appropriated in 2018 is spent. (NPR / Bloomberg / Axios / The Hill)
3/ Active duty military personnel are stationed within feet of migrant adults and children inside Border Patrol facilities. The proximity could lead to violations of the 140-year-old federal law that prohibits active duty troops and military personnel from coming into direct contact with migrants or from being used as law enforcement. Soldiers stand on elevated platforms throughout large rooms inside the facilities where detained migrants are held. Troops were originally assigned to the facilities to conduct periodic welfare checks of the migrants detained inside, but officials say that arrangement has evolved into a continual presence watching over them. (NBC News)
4/ Several U.S. Marines were arrested at Camp Pendleton and charged with human smuggling and other offenses for allegedly transporting undocumented migrants along the U.S.-Mexico border. The migrants in question told border agents they had agreed to pay the Marines $8,000 to take them north of the border to Los Angeles and eventually to New Jersey. The Marines could face charges in military or federal court. None of the Marines in question had served in support of the Southwest Border Support mission. (NBC San Diego)
5/ The U.S. government will pay between $15 and $150 per acre to American farmers hurt by Trump’s trade war with China. The latest aid package will cost $16 billion, with farmers in the South expected to see higher rates than those in the Midwest. The assistance will be distributed beginning in mid-to-late August, and payment will be disbursed based on their geographic location instead of the crops they produce. (Reuters)
6/ The Justice Department approved the merger of T-Mobile and Sprint after the two companies agreed to create a new wireless carrier by selling assets to satellite-TV provider Dish. The attorneys general for 13 states are trying to block the $26 billion merger with an antitrust lawsuit, arguing the deal could leave consumers with higher cellphone bills. T-Mobile and Sprint are the third- and fourth-largest wireless companies in the U.S. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
📌 Day 749: T-Mobile executives involved in the company’s merger with Sprint last year have booked more than 52 nights at Trump’s D.C. hotel since then. Newly obtained records from the hotel show T-Mobile executives booked more nights than previously reported, sometimes staying in rooms that cost up to $2,246 per night. Trump still owns the hotel, despite turning day-to-day control over to his sons Eric and Don Jr. (Washington Post)
📌 Day 775: T-Mobile spent $195,000 at Trump’s Washington hotel after the announcement of its merger with its Sprint last April. Before news of the deal broke on April 29, 2018, only two top officials from T-Mobile had ever stayed at Trump’s hotel. (Washington Post / Reuters)
7/ U.S. economic growth didn’t hit Trump’s 2018 target of 3%, according to revised government data that showed a slower pace of expansion in the final quarter than previously estimated. Trump called the report “not bad.” Gross domestic product was up 2.5% in the fourth quarter of 2018 from a year earlier, but down from a recent estimate of 3%. (Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / CNBC / New York Times)
8/ Trump attacked Fox News after the network’s pollsters showed him losing a handful of hypothetical matchups against 2020 Democratic candidates. Trump claimed that Fox News had been “Proud Warriors!” during the 2016 campaign but the “new Fox Polls” are “so different from what they used to be.” The national survey said Trump would lose to Biden by 10 percentage points and to Bernie Sanders by 6 points. It also showed him beating Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris by 1 point. The poll’s margin of error is 3 percentage points. (Politico)
1/ Following Robert Mueller’s testimony and warnings about Russia’s continued attempts to interfere in U.S. elections, Senate Republicans blocked two election security bills and a cybersecurity measure. Democrats attempted to pass two bills by unanimous consent on Wednesday that would require campaigns to notify the FBI and the FEC if they receive offers of assistance from foreign governments. The other bill would let the Senate Sergeant at Arms offer voluntary cyber assistance for the personal devices and accounts of lawmakers and their staff. Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith blocked all three of the bills without giving any reason for her objections or indicating whether she blocked the bills on behalf of herself or the GOP caucus. Mueller testified yesterday that “The Russian government’s effort to interfere in our election is among the most serious” and that “it wasn’t a single attempt. They’re doing it as we sit here. And they expect to do it during the next campaign.” (The Hill / CNN)
2/ Mitch McConnell blocked the two election security measures on Thursday, arguing that Democrats are trying to give themselves a “political benefit.” McConnell called the House-passed legislation “so partisan it received just one Republican vote over in the House,” adding that the election security legislation is being pushed by the same Democrats who pushed the “conspiracy theory” of Trump and Russia. (The Hill / CNN)
3/ The Senate Intelligence Committee found that “the Russian government directed extensive activity, beginning in at least 2014 and carrying into at least 2017, against U.S. election infrastructure at the state and local level,” according to the committee’s report on Russian interference. The report recommends that Congress provide additional funding for states to secure elections once the $380 million appropriated in 2018 is spent. (NPR / Bloomberg / Axios / The Hill)
4/ The House Oversight and Reform Committee authorized subpoenas for senior White House aides official work communications sent via personal email and cellphone. The White House refused to turn over the messages voluntarily earlier this month. Democrats have raised questions about whether Jared Kushner’s WhatsApp communications with foreign officials, Ivanka Trump’s use of a private email account to conduct official business, and Stephen Bannon’s use of a personal mobile device for White House business violated the Presidential Records Act. (Politico / Washington Post / Axios)
5/ The Trump administration threatened a travel ban against Guatemala unless the nation agrees to the safe third country deal, which would require migrants from El Salvador and Honduras to seek asylum there, instead of in the United States. Guatemala backed out on the immigration deal earlier this month when Guatemala’s high court blocked its government from signing the deal. The White House is looking at the authority already granted to the executive branch to suspend classes of people it considers detrimental to national interests. (NPR / Wall Street Journal)
6/ The Justice Department will resume executing prisoners awaiting the death penalty for the first time in 16 years. Attorney General William Barr directed the Bureau of Prisons set execution dates for five men on federal death row who have exhausted their legal appeals. Their executions are to be carried out in December and January. (Washington Post / New York Times / ABC News / CNN)
7/ The House passed the budget deal to raise the U.S. debt ceiling and set budget levels for two years. The legislation raises spending by $320 billion above limits set in a 2011 budget law and suspends the debt ceiling until the end of July 2021. 65 Republicans joined the Democrats in the 284-149 vote. 132 Republicans voted against the bill, despite Trump’s endorsement. The House vote sends the measure to the Senate, which is expected to pass it in the coming days and send it to Trump’s desk. Trump is expected to sign it. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / CNBC)
8/ Trump, his company, and three of his children must face part of a lawsuit alleging they used their family name to scam people into joining a multilevel marketing scheme. A federal judge said the Trumps and their investors in a Trump-endorsed company called American Communications Network could be liable for claims of fraud, false advertising, and unfair competition. The suit claims the Trumps received millions of dollars in secret payments from 2005 to 2015 in exchange for endorsing ACN and then conned people into believing that Trump thought their investments would pay off, when the Trumps’ real goal was simply to enrich themselves. (Reuters / Bloomberg)
9/ Trump’s pick for assistant treasury secretary for public affairs repeatedly suggested Obama was secretly a Muslim who was sympathetic to America’s enemies. Monica Crowley made the comments online between 2009 and 2015. Trump originally tapped Crowley in December 2016 to be the senior director of strategic communications for the National Security Council before she withdrew herself from consideration after it was reported that she plagiarized portions of her 2012 book and portions of her 2000 Ph.D. thesis. (CNN)
10/ Trump appeared in front of a fake presidential seal that had been edited to look like the Russian coat of arms. The doctored seal swapped out the traditional bald eagle clutching arrows in its talons for a two-headed bald eagle clutching golf clubs. The two-headed eagle seal is similar to the coat of arms Russia has been using since 1993 and the preeminent symbol of the Russian empire dating back to the 1600s and beyond. Additionally, instead of “e pluribus unum,” the scroll above the eagle appears to say “45 es un titere,” which roughly translates from Spanish to mean “45 is a puppet.” (The Guardian / Esquire / USA Today / CNN)
Mueller testified before the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees in seven hours of back-to-back hearings about his report on the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible obstruction of justice by Trump. Mueller agreed that Trump’s conduct was problematic, that the investigation did not exonerate Trump, and that Trump did not cooperate fully with the investigation. Mueller did not to go beyond the findings in his 448-page final report and declined repeatedly to offer his opinion on questions or even to read directly from the document.
1/ Mueller: Trump “was not exculpated for the acts that he allegedly committed,” adding that Trump could potentially be indicted after he leaves office. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler asked Mueller if Trump was “correct” that the report “found that there was no obstruction and that it completely and totally exonerated him.” Mueller replied: “That is not what the report said.” Mueller confirmed that Trump had engaged in 10 instances of obstruction of justice, which Attorney General William Barr decided not to file charges for. Mueller also confirmed that Trump refused to sit for an interview. [Editor’s note: I had to look up what “exculpated” means, because I’m not a lawyer. You’re probably not a lawyer either, so here’s what it means: to “show or declare that (someone) is not guilty of wrongdoing.” Curiouser and curiouser…] (The Guardian / NBC News / CBS News / Daily Beast / Axios / CNBC)
2/ During his House Intelligence Committee testimony, Mueller initially suggested he didn’t indict Trump because of a Justice Department policy. Mueller later clarified that because the policy prohibits the indictment of a sitting president, he “did not reach a determination as to whether the president committed a crime.” Mueller’s response, however, contradicted Barr’s claim that the OLC guidelines played no part in Mueller’s approach. Mueller also refuted Trump’s claim that the report proved “no collusion,” saying: “We did not address ‘collusion,’ which is not a legal term.” (Politico)
3/ Mueller condemned Trump’s tweets about WikiLeaks’ stolen emails during the 2016 campaign, calling it “problematic” and “an understatement.” Mueller, who earlier said Russia had launched a “sweeping and systematic” attack on American democracy, called Trump Jr.’s Twitter exchange with WikiLeaks “disturbing” and that they were subject to investigation. Meanwhile, House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff asked Mueller: “Your investigation is not a witch hunt, is it?” Mueller responded: “It is not a witch hunt.” Rep. Jackie Spierer asked Mueller if Russia helping Trump was a hoax. Mueller replied: “It was not a hoax.” (CNN / NBC News)
4/ Mueller declined, deflected, or deferred nearly 200 questions, speaking only about what his report said regarding Trump, Russian interference, or obstruction of justice. Some of his responses: “I’m not going to speak to that,” “I’m not going to get into that,” “I can’t get into that,” “I can’t say,” “outside my purview,” “I’m not certain I agree with your characterization,” “I don’t subscribe necessarily to the way you analyze it,” and “I’m not going to discuss that.” Mueller also referred lawmakers to his report at least 40 times. (NBC News / CNN / ABC News / Washington Post)
5/ Before Mueller’s testimony began, Trump accused Democrats of trying to “illegally fabricate a crime” and pin it on a “very innocent President,” calling Mueller’s investigation “an illegal and treasonous attack on our Country,” questioning Mueller’s impartiality and calling him “an Embarrassment to our Country!,” adding “NO COLLUSION, NO OBSTRUCTION!” Throughout the hearing, Trump tweeted quotes from Fox News and his supporters, despite claiming earlier this week that he wouldn’t watch Mueller’s testimony. Trump also complained about a request by Mueller to have his aide, Aaron Zebley, testify with him as a witness before the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees, declaring that “This was specifically NOT agreed to, and I would NEVER have agreed to it.” The Judiciary Committee denied the request, but allowed Zebley to appear with Mueller if the former special counsel require assistance during the hearings. (New York Times / NBC News / Mother Jones / Politico)
6/ Trump, meanwhile, claimed that Article II of the Constitution gives him “the right to do whatever I want as president.” Article II grants the president “executive power.” The comment came while addressing a crowd of teenagers and young adults at the Turning Point USA Teen Student Action Summit in Washington. Last month, Trump cited Article 2 as the reason why presidents can’t be charged with obstruction of justice. Trump also bemoaned the duration and cost of Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. (Washington Post / Talking Points Memo)
poll/ 37% of voters say they believe Mueller’s investigation was carried out very or somewhat fairly, compared with 42% who say the probe was conducted “not too fairly” or “not fairly at all.” (Politico / Morning Consult)
Notables.
House Democrats are prepared to pass a measure intended to improve their case for access to Trump’s financial information. The proposal would declare that any committee subpoenas related to Trump, his family, current and former White House officials and the Trump Organization are presumed to have the approval of the full House of Representatives. (Politico)
A former business partner of Michael Flynn was convicted on a pair of foreign-agent felony charges related to work the two men did for Turkish interests during Trump’s presidential campaign. Bijan Rafiekian faces up to 15 years in prison for acting as an unregistered foreign agent in the U.S., and conspiracy to violate that law as well as to submit false statements to the Justice Department in a foreign-agent filing. (Politico)
The Justice Department will not bring criminal charges against Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross following the House vote to hold them in contempt. The Justice Department was never expected to prosecute its own leader and another cabinet official. (Politico)
The House Oversight and Reform Committee scheduled a vote to hold Kellyanne Conway in contempt of Congress after she failed to comply with a subpoena to testify about her repeated Hatch Act violations. The panel will vote on Thursday. (The Hill)
The Freedom Caucus formally urged Trump to reject the bipartisan spending deal and agreement to raise the debt ceiling. The conservative group cited concerns about the impact the deal will have on the national debt as the main reason for their opposition. “Our country is undeniably headed down a path of fiscal insolvency and rapidly approaching $23 trillion in debt,” the group said in a statement. “All sides should go back to the drawing board and work around the clock, canceling recess if necessary, on a responsible budget agreement that serves American taxpayers better—not a $323 billion spending frenzy with no serious offsets.” (The Hill)
The EPA will allow the expanded use of a pesticide it considers to be toxic to bees. The announcement comes after the Trump Administration said it was suspending data collection on bee populations. (KSHB)
Afghanistan asked the United States to clarify Trump’s claim that he would “wipe [Afghanistan] off the face of the Earth” if he wanted to win the war in the country. (CNN)
North Korea launched two unidentifiable objects that traveled 267 miles into the Sea of Japan, according to South Korea. U.S. officials confirmed that North Korea had launched at least one projectile, describing it as a short range missile. (ABC News)
Trump vetoed Congress’s attempt to block arms sales to Saudi Arabia, worth more than $8 billion. Earlier this month, bipartisan majorities in the House and Senate voted to block the arms deals in an effort to punish the kingdom over weapons being used against civilians in Yemen’s civil war and the killing of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi. (Washington Post)
1/ Trump sued the House Ways and Means Committee and the New York state officials to block his state tax returns from being turned over to the committee. In May, New York passed a bill that allowed the Ways and Means Committee chairman to obtainTrump’s state tax returns. The lawsuit seeks an injunction to would block the application of the new state law. (CNBC / Wall Street Journal / CNN)
📌 Day 900: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill allowing congressional committees to access Trump’s New York state tax returns. The bill requires state tax officials to release the state returns for any “specified and legitimate legislative purpose” on the request of the House Ways and Means Committee, the Senate Finance Committee, or the Joint Committee on Taxation. Trump’s personal lawyer, Jay Sekulow, called the bill “more presidential harassment.” The House Ways and Means Committee has unsuccessfully tried to access six years of Trump’s personal and business tax returns. The House sued the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service last week to try to force them to release the returns. (New York Times / NBC News)
2/ The Trump administration proposed ending food stamp benefits for 3.1 million people by tightening eligibility and automatic enrollment. The current rule allows residents in 43 states to be automatically eligible for food stamps through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) if they receive benefits from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. The new rule would require people who receive TANF benefits to pass a review of their income and assets to determine whether they are eligible to receive food from SNAP. Removing 3.1 million people from SNAP would save the federal government about $2.5 billion a year. About 40 million low-income people received SNAP benefits in 2018. (Reuters / Bloomberg / CNN / Washington Post)
3/ Trump is on track to add another $1 trillion dollars to the national deficit this year after endorsing the two-year bipartisan budget deal that will raise spending limits by $320 billion and allow the government to keep borrowing money. Republicans say the deal will add too much to the debt while some Democrats are upset that Trump is not prevented from using money from military programs to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. (Politico / New York Times / Washington Post)
Trump’s rhetorical appeals to white working-class voters during the 2016 campaign have not been matched with legislative accomplishments aimed at their economic interests. Since becoming president, Trump has signed taxes that benefitted companies and the wealthy, rolled back regulations on corporations, and appointed administration officials and judges from the conservative movement. (New York Times)
4/ More than 180 human rights groups and 22 senators demanded that the Trump administration’s new Commission on Unalienable Rights be abolished. Letters to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accuse the 10-member commission of being overseen by clergy and scholars “known for extreme positions opposing LGBTQI and reproductive rights,” including some who they say have defended “indefensible human rights violations.” Pompeo launched the commission earlier this month to, he claimed, “provide fresh thinking” about returning the government’s focus to promoting “natural law and natural rights.” (NBC News)
5/ Robert Mueller will have one of his aides sit alongside him during his House Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday. Aaron Zebley will not be under oath or allowed to answer lawmakers’ questions directly, but he can privately consult with Mueller if the former special counsel needs assistance or guidance about how to respond during the hearing. It’s unclear if Mueller made a similar request to the House Intelligence Committee. (New York Times / ABC News / Washington Post)
Jerry Nadler called Trump’s Justice Department “incredibly arrogant” after instructing Mueller to limit the scope of his congressional testimony. The House Judiciary Committee chairman added that “It’s a part of the ongoing cover-up by the administration to keep information away from the American people.” Mueller will appear before the House Judiciary Committee at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday for about three hours and will then appear before the House Intelligence Committee at noon for about two hours. (Politico / Washington Post)
Trump said he might watch a “little bit” of Mueller’s public testimony this week. (NBC News)
poll/ 18% of Republicans said they planned to watch Mueller’s testimony, 60% said they would not watch, with the rest unsure. 31% of Republicans considered it “very” or “somewhat” important that Mueller was scheduled to testify this week. (Reuters)
Notables.
FBI Director Christopher Wray said Russia is “absolutely intent” on interfering in the 2020 presidential election despite sanctions and other efforts. “My view is until they stop they haven’t been deterred enough,” Wray told Lindsey Graham during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. Graham had asked Wray if “they’re still at” despite “all the sanctions, all the talk.” (Reuters)
Trump met with Devin Nunes to discuss possible replacements for Director of National Intelligence Dan Coates. Some intelligence officials believe Trump is considering Nunes for an intelligence post. Coates’ job security has been up in the air since he contradicted Trump in statements he made about North Korea, Iran, and Syria. (Politico)
The Senate confirmed Mark Esper as defense secretary. The Pentagon has been without a permanent leader since Jim Mattis resigned last year over policy disagreements with Trump. (Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
Trump threatened Guatemala with tariffs and other retaliation for backing away from a planned “safe third country” agreement with the U.S., which would have required Central American migrants traveling into Guatemala to claim asylum there instead of elsewhere. Trump warned that his administration would explore imposing a “ban,” tariffs, remittance fees or some combination of all three. (Politico / Washington Post)
Trump’s nominee to be ambassador to the United Nations spent the equivalent of seven months of her 20-month tenure as ambassador to Canada in places where she had homes. Kelly Craft came under fire for her absences from the embassy in Ottawa after Federal Aviation Administration records showed her family plane had made weekly roundtrips to the United States. (Politico)
The Senate passed a bill to make the 9/11 victims compensation fund permanent. The bill now heads to Trump’s desk, where he is expected to sign it. The bill was passed with the support of more than two-thirds of the House and Senate, meaning Congress could override a veto if Trump objected. (ABC News / NBC News)
The FBI recorded about 90 domestic terrorism arrests in the past nine months and about 100 international terrorism arrests. Most of the domestic terrorism cases involved a racial motive believed to be spurred by white supremacy. (Washington Post)
The lawyers for the “MAGA Bomber” claimed his client was manipulated by Fox News, Trump’s tweets, and Facebook. Cesar Sayoc previously pleaded guilty to mailing 16 pipe bombs to Trump’s political opponents, news outlets, and other public figures in October. Sayoc watched “Fox News religiously at the gym” and planned his “workout to coincide with Fox and Friends and his evenings to dovetail with Hannity.” Sayoc’s attorneys added that “a rational observer may have brushed off Trump’s tweets as hyperbole, but Mr. Sayoc took them to heart.” (Daily Beast / Washington Post / HuffPost)
1/ The Trump administration plans to use a fast-track deportation process to bypass immigration judges in order to quickly deport undocumented immigrants who have illegally entered the U.S. within the past two years. Previously, the policy for “expedited removal” had been limited to migrants caught within 100 miles of the U.S. border who had been in the country for less than two weeks. The Department of Homeland Security defended the shift, saying the new plan will ease the backlogged immigration courts by allowing ICE to deport unauthorized immigrants without placing them in “timeconsuming removal proceedings.” Expedited removals will take effect immediately. (Washington Post / CBS News / New York Times)
Trump wants to meet with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer “ASAP” to discuss conditions at the U.S.-Mexico border after Schumer took a tour of migrant detention facilities and called them “inhumane.” (Washington Post)
2/ House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler said there is “very substantial evidence” in Robert Mueller’s report that Trump is “guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors.” House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff added that it was “clear” that the Justice Department feels bound by an Office of Legal Counsel opinion that prevents indicting a sitting president, alleging that Trump “is an essentially unindicted co-conspirator.” The House Judiciary Committee would be in charge of leading impeachment proceedings if the House decided to move forward with articles of impeachment. Mueller is scheduled to testify on July 24th in front of both the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees in back-to-back public hearings, where he will answer questions about the contents of his report and his 22-month-long investigation. (CNN / Politico / Washington Post)
3/ Trump doesn’t think Mueller should be allowed to testify before Congress about his ties to Russia and possible obstruction of justice. Trump tweeted that “Mueller should not be given another bite at the apple,” because “in the end it will be bad for him.” Trump also complained that the “phony Democrats” in Congress “have done nothing but waste time on this ridiculous Witch Hunt,” and again called for investigations into Hillary Clinton instead of himself and his campaign. (Washington Post / The Independent / Politico)
Inside the preparations for Mueller’s testimony. (Politico)
19 questions for Mueller ahead of his congressional testimony. (New York Times)
4/ Mueller will offer his entire 448-page report as his official statement when he testifies Wednesday before the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees. Justice Department officials have reportedly told Mueller that the department expects him to limit his congressional testimony to the public findings in his report, arguing that anything outside the report is covered by “presidential privilege” that hasn’t been waived. Mueller will have a brief opening statement, which hasn’t been seen by the Justice Department. (NBC News / Politico / CNN)
5/ Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee have paid more than $600,000 in legal fees to the law firm that represents Hope Hicks. The House Judiciary Committee is reexamining the truthfulness of Hicks’s mid-June testimony after unsealed court documents revealed that she was in close contact with Michael Cohen as he was negotiating a hush money payment with Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet about an alleged affair with Trump. (CNN)
📌 Day 911: The House Judiciary Committee asked Hope Hicks to clarify her congressional testimony after newly unsealed documents showed “apparent inconsistencies.” The documents reveal that Hicks spoke on the phone with Trump and Michael Cohen about Stormy Daniels and the Trump campaign’s attempt to stop Daniels from going public with the allegations about an affair with Trump. Hicks originally stated that she “had no knowledge of Stormy Daniels other than to say she was going to be mentioned in the story.” Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler said the new documents “raises substantial questions about the accuracy” of Hicks’ original statements. (CNN / NBC News / Politico / Vox)
6/ A federal judge blocked congressional subpoenas for Trump Organization financial records in a lawsuit over whether Trump is violating the emoluments clause of the Constitution. Democrats sent 37 subpoenas earlier this month seeking financial information about Mar-a-Lago, the Trump International Hotel, Trump Tower and other Trump properties. The subpoenas had a due date of July 29th. Judge Emmet Sullivan made the decision after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said it should hear the case. (CNN)
The Trump National Doral is one of the finalists to host the G7 summit next year. (Axios)
poll/ 59% of Americans disagree with Trump that the four Democratic congresswomen of color should “go back” to their countries, while 40% agree with Trump’s comment. (CBS News)
poll/ 52% of Americans disapprove of the job Trump is doing as president; 44% approve. (NPR)
poll/ 54% of voters in 11 southern states either “strongly approve” or “somewhat approve” of the way Trump’s handling his job – up from 52% approval from September of last year. (NBC News)
study/ 45% of the Fortune 500 companies in the U.S. were founded by immigrants and their children. The same study also found that that number is growing, despite claims that immigration leads to lower wages and fewer jobs for American citizens. The Fortune 500 companies examined in the study brought in a combined $1.6 trillion in annual revenue last year, and employed 13.5 million people. On average, the companies founded by immigrants also employed 11% more people than the Fortune 500 companies with non-immigrant founders. (Axios)
Notables.
The White House and congressional negotiators reached a two-year budget deal that would raise the spending cap by $320 billion and suspend the debt ceiling until after the next presidential election. The House must approve the agreement before members leave July 26th for a six-week recess. The Senate, meanwhile, can put vote on it next week. The measure will also need Trump’s signature and he didn’t explicitly say he’ll sign it, but called it a “real compromise.” (Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / Politico)
Trump “offered to personally vouch” for rapper A$AP Rocky’s bail. Trump tweeted that during “a very good call” with Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, he “assured him that A$AP was not a flight risk.” The artist has been in custody since early this month over an alleged fight. Trump became involved after Kim Kardashian West contacted Jared Kushner. (Associated Press)
A Republican political organization in Illinois posted and then deleted a movie-style poster depicting the four congresswomen of color who have been attacked by Trump as “The Jihad Squad.” The poster included the slogan, “Political Jihad Is Their Game,” and depicted Rep. Ayanna Pressley aiming a gun with a smile on her face. (Chicago Tribune / NBC News)
A Louisiana police officer posted on Facebook that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez “needs a round.” Charlie Rispoli was replying to a post by a satirical website with the headline “Ocasio-Cortez on the Budget: ‘We Pay Soldiers Too Much.’” Officials in the city where the officer works condemned his comment, but said they weren’t sure it constituted a threat. (New York Times)
Stephen Miller defended Trump’s tweets and campaign rally where the crowd chanted “send her back.” Miller called labeling Trump’s behavior “racist” a tactic “deployed by the left” used to “silence and punish and suppress people they disagree with.” (Washington Post / USA Today)
Trump claimed that he could easily “wipe” Afghanistan “off the face of the earth,” but doesn’t “want to go that route” because he’d have to “kill 10 million people.” (Daily Beast / Vox)
1/ The Trump administration is considering admitting zero refugees next year. The idea was floated during a recent meeting with officials from the Department of Homeland Security, State Department, and the Pentagon. Homeland Security officials at the meeting suggested making the level anywhere from 3,000 to 10,000. The Trump administration cut refugee admissions from 110,000 in fiscal year 2017 to 30,000 in 2018. (Politico / CNN)
Border protection officers detained three children, who are U.S. citizens, at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago. The children had arrived in the U.S. after a trip to Mexico with a relative when they were detained. Customs and Border Protection confirmed that the three girls were detained because the adult they were traveling with was “deemed inadmissible.” The children were eventually released to their mother’s custody after an official from the Mexican consulate secured an agreement that their mother could come pick them up without being taken into custody herself. (Chicago Tribune)
2/ The Trump administration is planning to update the naturalization test to become a U.S. citizen. Last year, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services naturalized more than 750,000 people and the average pass rate on the test was 90%. Since becoming president, Trump has cut the number of refugees admitted to the U.S., banned immigrants based on their nationality in a handful of majority-Muslim countries, made it more difficult to qualify for asylum, and proposed a visa system overhaul that would prioritize immigrants with advanced degrees, English-language skills and money. (Washington Post)
3/ The House Judiciary Committee asked Hope Hicks to clarify her congressional testimony after newly unsealed documents showed “apparent inconsistencies.” The documents reveal that Hicks spoke on the phone with Trump and Michael Cohen about Stormy Daniels and the Trump campaign’s attempt to stop Daniels from going public with the allegations about an affair with Trump. Hicks originally stated that she “had no knowledge of Stormy Daniels other than to say she was going to be mentioned in the story.” Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler said the new documents “raises substantial questions about the accuracy” of Hicks’ original statements. (CNN / NBC News / Politico / Vox)
An attorney for Hope Hicks called reports that Hicks participated in discussions to pay Stormy Daniels “simply wrong.” Robert Trout said that “Hicks stands by her truthful testimony that she first became aware of this issue in early November 2016, as the result of press inquiries.” (Washington Post)
4/ The House Intelligence and Judiciary Committees intend to press Robert Mueller to tell a “much clearer narrative” about “the gravity of the president’s misconduct.” Mueller is expected to appear publicly Wednesday for three hours before the Judiciary Committee followed by two hours before the House Intelligence Committee. Staffers said Mueller’s report “lays out the dots” but “they don’t connect any of the dots, at least through the most significant instances that we’re so interested in.” Lawmakers will focus on five different instances they think would incur criminal charges for obstruction of justice: Trump’s attempts to have former White House counsel Don McGahn fire Mueller; Trump directing McGahn to deny that he had been ordered to fire Mueller; Trump directing to Cory Lewandowski to deliver a message to then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions to limit the investigation by excluding Trump and only focusing on future elections; Trump directing Lewandowski to tell Sessions he would be fired if he didn’t meet with Lewandowski; and witness tampering regarding Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen. Democrats also plan to press Mueller on the contacts with Russia and WikiLeaks detailed in the report. (NBC News / CBS News / CNN)
The House Oversight Committee asked federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York if the Justice Department’s memo against indicting a sitting president played a role in their decision not to criminally charge Trump over hush money payments to women accusing Trump of extramarital affairs. The 2000 memo by the Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel was a key factor in Mueller’s decision to refrain from considering whether to charge Trump with obstruction of justice. (Politico)
The Trump administration asserted executive privilege to block the House and Senate intelligence committees from accessing classified documents from Mueller’s investigation. Congressional investigators believe Mueller’s team was given access to a range of materials that could include intercepts, secretive source interviews, and material shared by the spy agencies of other foreign governments. Justice Department officials, meanwhile, argued that the documents are covered by the privilege initially asserted in response to a subpoena from the House Judiciary Committee for all of Mueller’s records. (ABC News)
5/ Trump plans to name the son of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia as his next secretary of labor. Eugene Scalia is a longtime labor attorney and a former top lawyer for the Labor Department under George W. Bush. Scalia spent most of his career defending Walmart and other large companies against labor unions and tougher labor protection laws. (New York Times / Politico / NBC News)
6/ Researchers correlated Trump’s election with worsening cardiovascular health, sleep problems, anxiety, and stress. The study, using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, also found 3.2% to 3.6% more premature births were reported among Latina women following Trump’s election. (Washington Post / CNN)
poll/ Mitch McConnell is the most unpopular senator. McConnell has a 50% disapproval rating. He is trailed by Susan Collins with 48%, followed by Bob Menendez and Joe Manchin at a 42% disapproval rating. (The Hill / Morning Consult)
1/ The FBI believed that then-candidate Trump was closely involved in the plan to the hide hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, according to previously redacted federal search warrants made public following the conclusion of the probe into Michael Cohen’s campaign finance crimes. The documents describe a “series of calls, text messages, and emails” between Cohen, Trump, Hope Hicks, Keith Davidson – an attorney for Daniels – Dylan Howard – the National Enquirer editor – and David Pecker, an executive of the company that published the National Enquirer. It’s the first time that the authorities have identified Trump by name regarding his alleged involvement in the scheme. Authorities previously referred to Trump in court filings as “Individual 1.” Last August, Cohen admitted to making $280,000 in illegal payments through a shell company to buy the silence of Daniels and McDougal. In April 2018, Trump claimed that he didn’t know anything about the hush money payment to Daniels. (NBC News / The Guardian / Washington Post / Reuters / CNN / Daily Beast / Wall Street Journal)
Federal prosecutors signaled that it’s unlikely they would file additional charges in the hush-money investigation, saying they had “effectively concluded” their inquiry. (New York Times)
2/ Trump continued his racist call for a congresswoman to “go back” to Somalia during a campaign rally last night while the crowd chanted “send her back.” Rep. Ilhan Omar is a U.S. citizen and Somalian refugee, and is one of four congresswomen of color Trump attacked on Twitter over the weekend, telling them to “go back” to their countries. The other three were born in the United States. “If they don’t love it,” Trump told the crowd, “tell them to leave it.” Trump paused to allow the “send her back” chant and did nothing to discourage the crowd. The Equal Opportunity Employment Commission includes “Go back to where you came from” as one of its examples of potentially unlawful harassment based on national origin. Trump spent more time during the rally attacking Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, and Ayanna Pressley than he did discussing his 2020 presidential campaign. (Politico / NBC News / Reuters / BuzzFeed News / New York Times)
House Democrats warned that Omar’s “life is in imminent danger” following the chants to “send her back.” Senior Democrats are now calling for authorities to evaluate security for Omar, as well as the three other lawmakers Trump has recently attacked. (Politico)
Trump claimed he was “not happy” with the “send her back” chant that broke out during his re-election rally. Trump argued that he tried to cut off the chant by “speaking very quickly,” which is contradicted by video of the event. (New York Times)
The chairman of House Republicans’ campaign arm said “there’s no place for that kind of talk,” referring to the “send her back!” chant. Representative Tom Emmer, however, also claimed that “there’s not a racist bone in the president’s body.” (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times)
3/ Iran seized a foreign oil tanker carrying 1 million liters of “smuggled fuel” near a small island in the Strait of Hormuz, according to Iranian state TV. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps ambushed the tanker, which appears to be a United Arab Emirates-based tanker that disappeared off trackers in Iranian territorial waters over the weekend. (CNN / Associated Press / CNBC)
4/ The Navy “destroyed” an Iranian drone that came within 1,000 yards of the U.S.S. Boxer and ignored “multiple calls to stand down” hours after Iran’s Revolutionary Guard seized a foreign tanker it accused of smuggling oil. Trump said the drone was “threatening the safety of the ship and the ship’s crew” in the Strait of Hormuz and was “immediately destroyed.“Four weeks ago, Iran shot down a U.S. surveillance drone flying over international airspace the same area. (New York Times / CNN / NBC News / Reuters / CNBC / The Guardian / Politico)
The Trump administration is preparing to send hundred of troops to Saudi Arabia as a show of force against Iran. Five hundred troops are expected to be deployed to the Prince Sultan Air Base east of Riyadh. A small number of troops are already on site at the base to begin initial preparations for the deployment of a Patriot missile defense battery, as well as runway and airfield improvements. (CNN)
poll/ Two-thirds of Americans support statehood for Puerto Rico. 66% of respondents said they support adding Puerto Rico as the 51st state, which is consistent with polling dating back to the 1960s. Support is highest among Democrats, young voters, and non-white voters. (Politico)
Notables.
Trump asked for information about the Pentagon’s cloud-computing contract that will likely be awarded to either Amazon or Microsoft. Republican lawmakers have pressured the White House to intervene in the project, and one person familiar with the process said that it sounded as if Trump was thinking about canceling the contract, worth as much as $10 billion over ten years. “I never had something where more people are complaining,” Trump said. “We’re getting tremendous complaints from other companies.” (Bloomberg / CNBC)
The Pentagon authorized an additional deployment of 1,100 active-duty troops and 1,000 Texas National Guard soldiers to the U.S.-Mexico border. They will join some 2,500 active-duty and 2,000 National Guard troops already there, for a force of more than 6,600 at the border. (Politico)
The House voted to block the sale of billions of dollars of arms to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirate, undoing Trump’s attempt to use emergency powers to sidestep Congress and push through 22 deals worth more than $8 billion. (Washington Post / New York Times)
William Barr gave $51,000 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee in the months leading up to his Senate confirmation hearings for attorney general. Barr’s contributions took place over a 5-month period from October 2018 to February 2019. In the past Barr gave occasionally: once in 2009 and 2011, twice in 2014, once in 2015, and another in 2016. (Quartz)
The Agriculture Department blocked the release of a plan on how to respond to climate change that was finalized in the early days of the Trump administration. Top officials decided not to release the multiyear plan that outlined how the department should help agriculture understand, adapt to and minimize the effects of climate change. Instead, staff members were told to keep it for internal use only. (Politico)
The EPA announced that it would not ban a pesticide associated with developmental disabilities and other health problems in children, claiming that the science was unsettled. The Obama administration banned chlorpyrifos in 2015 after scientific studies produced by the EPA showed the pesticide had the potential to damage brain development in children. (New York Times)
The House passed a bill to gradually increase the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025. The federal minimum wage has not been raised since 2009. The measure is not expected to advance in the GOP-led Senate. (CNN / NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times)
Trump directed his administration to have rapper A$AP Rocky freed from custody in Sweden after Kim Kardashian West contacted Jared Kushner. Rocky turned himself into Swedish police after he was wanted for questioning about a street fight in Stockholm. (TMZ / Axios)
1/ The House voted to hold Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in criminal contempt of Congress for failing to provide documents about the Trump administration’s efforts to add a question on citizenship to the 2020 census. Barr and Ross withheld documents that had been subpoenaed by the Oversight and Reform Committee as part of its probe into the origins of the citizenship question. The Trump administration claimed it needed the citizen question to enforce the Voting Rights Act. In May, however, evidence emerged that the question was intended to specifically give an electoral advantage to Republicans and whites. Ross also previously testified before Congress that he added the question “solely” at the request of the Justice Department. It later came out that he’d asked the department to make the request. While Barr and Ross face up to a year behind bars and a $100,000 fine, it’s unlikely the Justice Department will pursue the case, because Barr is the head of the Justice Department. (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
2/ The House voted to table a resolution to impeach Trump, put forth by Rep. Al Green, who used a procedural mechanism that required action within two days. Green previously forced two votes on advancing articles of impeachment against Trump in 2017 and 2018, when Republicans controlled the House. (NBC News / Politico / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
READ: The full text of the House impeachment resolution against Trump. (NBC News)
3/ Former Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa said his country was aware that WikiLeaks cofounder Julian Assange was interfering in the 2016 presidential election from inside Ecuador’s embassy in London. “WikiLeaks’ justification was that they were providing truthful information. Sure, but (it) was just about Hillary Clinton. Not about Trump. So, they were not saying all the truth. And not saying all the truth is called manipulation.” Surveillance reports describe how Assange transformed the embassy into a command center to release a series of damaging disclosures intended to undermine Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential election. The reports describe how Assange met with Russians and hackers, as well as computer hardware to facilitate data transfers from Russian operatives. “We did notice that he was interfering in the elections,” Correa said, “and we do not allow that because we have principles, very clear values, as we would not like anyone to interfere in our elections.” (CNN / CNN)
4/ A November 1992 tape shows Trump and Jeffrey Epstein at Mar-a-Lago laughing, pointing, and discussing young women dancing at a party. Trump is seen gesturing to a woman and appears to say to Epstein, “Look at her, back there. … She’s hot.” Epstein smiled and nodded. The party took place the same year that Trump a private party with Epstein and more than two dozen “calendar girls,” who were flown in to provide them with entertainment. (New York Times / NBC News)
📌 Day 902: Trump and Epstein were once the only attendees at a party with roughly two dozen women at Mar-a-Lago. 28 women were flown in for a “calendar girl” competition that was organized at Trump’s request. (New York Times)
📌 Day 901: In 2002, Trump told New York Magazine that Epstein was “a terrific guy,” who “likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.” Today, however, Trump told reporters that the two “had a falling out” about 15 years ago and that he “was not a fan of his, that I can tell you.” (Washington Post / Associated Press / Miami Herald / CNN / Washington Post)
5/ Trump said he’s “not unhappy” with the reaction to his racist comments that four congresswomen of color should “go back” where “they came” from. “The only thing they have, that they can do is, now, play the race card,” Trump said. “Which they’ve always done.” Yesterday, the House voted on a resolution condemning Trump’s rhetoric as “racist comments that have legitimized increased fear and hatred of new Americans and people of color.” (Daily Mail)
poll/ 59% of Americans called Trump’s tweets targeting the four congresswomen “un-American,” with 68% calling Trump’s tweets offensive. 57% of Republicans, however, said they agreed with Trump’s tweet that the congresswomen should to go back to their “original” countries. (USA Today)
poll/ Support for Trump among Republicans rose by five percentage points following Trump’s racist tweets and comments that the four congresswomen of color should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.” Trump’s approval rating among Republicans now stands at 72%. (Reuters)
poll/ 51% of voters supported the deportation raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, compared with 35% of voters who oppose those efforts. (Politico)
Notables.
Rand Paul blocked an attempt to pass an extension of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. Paul objected to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s attempt tried to bring the House-passed bill to a vote, pointing to the growing debt and arguing that any new spending should be offset by cuts to other spending. The Senate, however, is still expected to pass the bill before leaving for their summer recess on August 2nd. (The Hill)
The White House Office of Management and Budget projected that the federal deficit would surpass $1 trillion this year. It’s the first time the U.S. deficit has exceeded the $1 trillion level since the 4-year period following the Great Recession. (Axios)
Federal prosecutors in New York ended their investigation into the Trump Organization’s role in hush money payments made to protect Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign. A federal judge ordered prosecutors to release additional information connected to their related probe of Michael Cohen. Last August, Cohen admitted to making the illegal payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, at Trump’s behest to silence them ahead of the election. (CNN / Politico / NBC News)
Rand Paul asked to be the administration’s chief diplomatic emissary to Iran. Trump approved of Paul sitting down with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif in an attempt to restart negotiations with Iran. Some administration officials are concerned that Paul’s intervention threatens to undermine Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Tehran. (Politico)
1/ Republicans temporarily blocked a resolution denouncing Trump’s racists tweets that four congresswomen of color should “go back” where “they came” from as “racist comments.” In a floor speech, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged Democrats and Republicans to “join us in condemning the president’s racist tweets” and that the “comments from the White House” are “disgraceful” and “disgusting” and that “these comments are racist.” Republican Rep. Doug Collins interjected and asked Pelosi to “rephrase” her statement, which was then ruled as out of order under House rules that lawmakers may not make disparaging remarks about the president on the floor of the House. Following a two-hour long delay, the House voted along party lines to allow Pelosi to refer to Trump’s tweets as racist, overriding House rules and GOP objections. That final vote on the resolution condemning Trump’s rhetoric as “racist comments that have legitimized increased fear and hatred of new Americans and people of color” passed largely along party lines, 240-187. (Politico / NBC News / New York Times / CNN / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
2/ Trump – again – denied that his racist tweets were racist, urging House Republicans to “not show ‘weakness’” and reject the condemnation resolution. Trump called the resolution a “con game” and claimed that his tweets “were NOT Racist,” because “I don’t have a Racist bone in my body!” Trump then accused the four Democratic congresswomen – Ayanna Pressley, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar – of “spewing some of the most vile, hateful, and disgusting things ever said by a politician in the House or Senate.” (New York Times / Washington Post / The Guardian / Politico)
3/ Kellyanne Conway responded a White House reporter’s question about Trump’s racist tweets with “What’s your ethnicity?” Andrew Feinberg had asked Conway which countries Trump was referring to when he suggested that Ayanna Pressley, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar should “go back” to where they came from. All four congresswomen are U.S. citizens. (Daily Beast / NBC News)
Kellyanne Conway’s husband wrote an opinion piece saying “Trump is a racist president.” (Washington Post)
4/ The Justice Department will not bring federal civil rights charges against the New York Police Department officer accused of fatally choking Eric Garner. Attorney General William Barr made the decision not to bring charges due to concerns that prosecutors could not successfully prove the officer acted willfully following a dispute between a Justice Department team from New York and the Civil Rights Division in Washington. Daniel Pantaleo will never face criminal prosecution for Garner’s death, despite bystanders filming the arrest as Garner gasped: “I can’t breathe.” (New York Times / CNN / Politico)
5/ The Trump administration will begin enforcing a new regulation that taxpayer-funded family planning clinics must stop referring women for abortions – effective immediately. Health and Human Services formally notified the clinics that it will begin enforcing the new rule on Monday, in addition to a requirement that clinics maintain separate finances from facilities that provide abortions. A separate requirement that both kinds of facilities cannot be under the same roof is scheduled to take effect next year. (CBS News / Associated Press)
Notables
A federal judge banned Roger Stone from social media after ruling that he violated a previous gag order that banned him from discussing his case in the media or public. “What am I supposed to do with you?” U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson asked rhetorically. In February, Stone posted a photo of Jackson with crosshairs from a gun. (NBC News / CNBC / CNN / Washington Post)
Trump’s former campaign communications chief hired numerous prostitutes and visited “hand job” massage parlors as recently as a few months ago. Jason Miller made the admission while testifying on in Washington D.C. in connection to his lawsuit against Gizmodo, accusing the media company of defaming him with a story citing an allegation he slipped an “abortion pill” to a stripper he impregnated. (Mediate)
The House Oversight Committee is expanding an investigation into the use of personal email by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. Chairman Elijah Cummings said the move came after “disturbing new revelations” released by the Education Department’s inspector general in May about DeVos’ use of personal email while on the job. (Politico)
Trump named healthcare economist Tomas Philipson as the acting chair of his Council of Economic Advisers. Philipson was already a member of the council, and teaches the economics of healthcare at the University of Chicago. He also served as a top economist at the FDA and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Philipson replaced White House economist Kevin Hassett, who announced his departure on Twitter last month. (NPR)
The revenue from Trump’s tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods is not enough to cover the cost of the bailout for farmers, nor will it be enough to compensate all of the other industries hurt by the ongoing trade war. The tariffs will have brought in $20.8 billion as of Wednesday, but Trump has already committed to paying $28 billion to the farmers hurt by the trade war. The government hasn’t provided similar bailouts to other businesses or industries that have lost contracts and revenue as a result of Chinese retaliation. (New York Times)
The Department of Agriculture will relocate 547 employees from the Economic Research Service and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture to an office building in Kansas City. Employees called the move an effort to “eviscerate” the agency and “silence” researchers doing work that runs counter to the administration’s goals. The Trump administration claimed the move would save taxpayers money by bringing researchers closer to the farmers they serve. (NBC News)
The Interior Department will relocate 81% of its headquarters staff to west of the Rockies by 2020. Trump hasn’t nominated a permanent director for Bureau of Land Management after more than two-and-a-half years in office. (Washington Post)
Rep. Al Green plans to file articles of impeachment against Trump tonight, forcing a floor vote before the House departs for its August recess. Democrats have viewed Robert Mueller’s appearance on Capitol Hill as a potential inflection point to begin impeachment proceedings. Green’s move, however, will force House Democrats to take a position sooner than expected. Green has forced two votes on impeachment in the past, one in 2017 and one in 2018, while Republicans controlled the House. (Washington Post / Politico)
1/ Trump told four liberal congresswomen of color to “go back” and “fix” their “broken and crime infested” countries. All four are American citizens and born in the United States, except for one, who became a refugee at age 10 when a civil war devastated Somalia. While he did not mention them by name, Trump’s tweets were directed at the members of the so-called “squad,” who were elected to Congress in 2018: Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and Ayanna Pressley. Republicans remained largely silent after Trump’s attack. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, meanwhile, called the tweets “xenophobic” and accused Trump of reaffirming his plan to make “America white again.” (New York Times / Associated Press / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Yahoo News / CNN)
2/ Trump denied that his racist tweets were racist, insisting that “If you’re not happy here, then you can leave.” Earlier, Trump accused the four congresswomen of “spewing” “racist hatred” and that “many people” agree with his view that they “hate our country.” (CNN / The Guardian / BuzzFeed News / New York Times / Washington Post)
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he doesn’t believe Trump’s racist tweets were racist. “I understand what the President’s comment is,” Mnuchin said. “ I’m not concerned about the President’s comment.” (CNN)
3/ The four congresswomen condemned Trump’s racist tweets, calling them “the agenda of white nationalists” and “a continuation of his racist and xenophobic playbook.” During a press conference, Rep. Pressley responded to Trump’s comments, saying: “Our squad is big. Our squad includes any person committed to building a more equitable and just world, and that is the work that we want to get back to and given the size of this squad and this great nation, we cannot, we will not be silenced.” Trump – again – attacked the four congresswomen in a series of tweets, saying, “IF YOU ARE NOT HAPPY HERE, YOU CAN LEAVE.” (Washington Post / CNN / CNN / CBS News)
4/ House Democrats are drafting a resolution to condemn Trump’s racist tweets. Pelosi said Trump “went beyond his own low standards using disgraceful language” and implored House Republicans to vote with Democrats to condemn Trump’s language. (Politico)
5/ Trump’s threats of mass ICE raids and deportations failed to materialize on Sunday, marking the second time Trump has threatened large-scale ICE enforcement actions that never came to fruition. ICE would not confirm any arrests. Trump, however, claimed that “The ICE raids were very successful — people came into our country illegally, illegally. Many, many were taken out on Sunday, you just didn’t know about it.” (NPR / Washington Post / Politico)
Mike Pence visited two detention facilities in Texas, including a Border Patrol station where hundreds of men were crowded in sweltering cages without cots. Agents wore face masks while Pence described the facility as smelling “horrendous” and called the experience “tough stuff.” A group of detained men chanted: “No shower, no shower!” (Chicago Tribune / NBC News / The Guardian / CNN)
6/ The Trump administration moved to end asylum protections for most Central American migrants. The new rule would require asylum-seeking immigrants who pass through a third country on their way to the U.S. to first apply for refugee status in that country rather than at the U.S. border. The rule is expected to go into effect on Tuesday, and would also apply to children who have crossed the border by themselves. The only exceptions are for people who were trafficked, people who pass through a country that isn’t a party to one of the major international refugee treaties, and people who sought asylum in a country on the way to the U.S. but were denied. (NPR / Associated Press)
7/ Trump is considering firing Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross after the attempt to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census failed. Trump has expressed frustration with Ross in the past over failed trade negotiations, but Ross’ personal friendship with Trump has saved him. Ross may still be in the clear now that Labor Secretary Alex Acosta resigned last week, but some White House officials expect Ross to be gone as soon as this summer. Trump is reportedly making calls to allies outside the White House and musing about replacing Ross. (CNBC / NBC News)
8/ At Trump’s request, Kellyanne Conway will ignore a House Oversight Committee subpoena and refuse to testify about a government watchdog’s findings that she violated the Hatch Act, which bars federal employees from engaging in politics during work. (Washington Post / Politico)
1/ At least 18 babies under the age of two – “including nine infants under the age of one” – were separated from their parents at the border and “kept apart for 20 days to half a year,” according to a report by the House Oversight Committee. The report provides new information about at least 2,648 children who were separated from their parents. Some were kept at Border Patrol facilities longer than the 72-hour limit and many were shuffled around to multiple government facilities. In some cases, parents were not sent to federal criminal custody as intended under the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” border policy, while others were taken into custody at first “and then returned within a day or two likely because prosecutors declined to prosecute their cases or because they were sentenced to time served for the misdemeanor of illegal entry.” (CNN)
Border Patrol agents at the U.S.-Mexico border are circulating unofficial commemorative coins mocking the task of caring for migrant children. On the front, the coin declares “KEEP THE CARAVANS COMING.” The coin’s reverse side features the Border Patrol logo and three illustrations: a Border Patrol agent bottle-feeding an infant; an agent fingerprinting a teen boy; and a U.S. Border Patrol van. The text reads: “FEEDING ** PROCESSING ** HOSPITAL ** TRANSPORT.” (ProPublica)
2/ Robert Mueller’s Capitol Hill testimony will be delayed one week under a tentative arrangement with the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees. Mueller’s testimony was postponed to give lawmakers more time to question him about his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible obstruction of justice by Trump. Mueller was initially scheduled to appear on July 17 before both the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees in back-to-back sessions where 22 members from each committee would get to question the special counsel. Members of the Judiciary Committee, however, were concerned that two hours would be insufficient time to discuss the 10 areas of potential obstruction of justice by Trump identified in the Mueller report. (Politico / CNN / Washington Post)
3/ Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta will resign amid controversy about a plea deal he brokered for sex offender Jeffrey Epstein while serving as a U.S. attorney in Florida more than a decade ago. Trump called Acosta “a great Labor secretary not a good one” and “a tremendous talent.” Epstein was arrested over the weekend and charged in the Southern District of New York with sex trafficking dozens of girls. (New York Times / NBC News / Politico / CNBC)
4/ California lawmakers passed legislation mandating all presidential and state gubernatorial candidates release their tax information in order to appear on the state’s ballot. The bill passed with a 57-17 vote, and requires candidates to share their income tax returns from the last five taxable years with the California state government. The legislation also includes an “urgency clause,” which allows it to take effect immediately and will force the candidates currently running for president in 2020, including Trump, to comply with the law. (ABC 7 News / The Hill)
5/ Trump told confidants he wants to remove Dan Coats as director of national intelligence. Trump has also been floating potential replacements since at least February. (Axios)
6/ The U.S. has gone seven months without a permanent defense chief – the longest stretch in Pentagon history. There is also no confirmed deputy secretary of defense, and several other significant civilian and military positions at the Pentagon remain in limbo — more than at any other time in recent history. (Associated Press)
7/ The House voted 251-170 to restrain Trump’s ability to strike Iran without first getting Congress’s approval. Last month, Trump said he believed he did not need congressional approval to strike Iran and was reportedly on the brink of a retaliatory missile strike before abruptly reversing course minutes before launch. Republican leaders in the House and Senate have argued that the language would send a bad message to Tehran and would complicate Trump’s ability to manage tensions. (New York Times / Washington Post)
8/ Trump attacked Paul Ryan in response to criticism from the former House speaker. On Thursday, Trump claimed that Ryan “was not a talent,” “wasn’t a leader,” and was a “lame duck for a long time as Speaker.” Trump’s comments follow the release of excerpts from a new book in which Ryan said Trump “didn’t know anything about government” and that “We’ve gotten so numbed by it all. Not in government, but where we live our lives, we have a responsibility to try and rebuild. Don’t call a woman a ‘horse face.’ Don’t cheat on your wife. Don’t cheat on anything. Be a good person. Set a good example.” Trump continued the attack on Friday, saying that “The only success Paul Ryan had was the time that he was with me. He was a baby. He didn’t know what the hell he was doing.” (Politico / NBC News / Axios)
1/ The Trump administration is scheduled to begin coordinated raids to arrest at least 2,000 immigrants who have been ordered deported. The raids – scheduled to begin on Sunday after initially being postponed in part to resistance at Immigration and Customs Enforcement – will be conducted by ICE agents over multiple days. The raids are expected to include “collateral” deportations, where ICE agents might detain any immigrants present when the raid occurs. Agents have expressed unease about arresting babies and young children, noting that the raids could have limited success since word has already spread among immigrant communities about how to avoid arrest. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Associated Press)
📌Day 886: Trump delayed planned nationwide ICE raids for two weeks to see if Congress can “work out a solution.” Immigration agents had planned to sweep and deport people living the U.S. illegally in 10 major cities beginning Sunday. Hours after defending the plan, Trump delayed the raids on Saturday. Earlier in the week, Trump threatened to arrest and deport “millions of illegal aliens” next week. ICE leaders expressed concerns that officers’ safety would be in jeopardy because too many details about the raids had been made public. (Associated Press / New York Times / CNN / Politico / ABC News)
📌 Day 894: Trump threatened to increase ICE raids and deportations of undocumented immigrants after the Fourth of July holiday, saying “they’re going to be gone, they’re going back to their countries. They go back home.” Trump praised the Mexican government for taking steps to curb the flow of migrants reaching the U.S. border, claiming, “It was because of tariffs that they’re doing it, but the point is they’re doing a great job.” Trump then reiterated his threat to deport all undocumented immigrants, “because that’s what we do.” Trump delayed planned nationwide ICE raids last month for two weeks to see if Congress can “work out a solution.” (NBC News)
The House Oversight and Reform Committee requested business information from the companies managing detention centers at the southern border. The committee asked for an accounting of the hundreds of millions of dollars in government contracts the Trump administration gave out. (NBC News)
2/ Trump will abandon his effort to add a citizenship question on the 2020 census. Instead, Trump will take executive action instructing the Commerce Department to obtain citizenship data “through other means,” including existing federal records. The administration is already printing census forms without the citizenship question after the Supreme Court ruled last month that the justification by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross for adding the question was inadequate and “contrived.” Trump acknowledged last week that the proposed citizenship question was part of a longterm Republican plan to use congressional redistricting to tilt power in their favor. “Number one, you need it for Congress – you need it for Congress for districting,” Trump said. “You need it for appropriations – where are the funds going?” (ABC News / Politico / NBC News / New York Times / The Guardian / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / NPR / CNN / Associated Press)
📌Day 889: The Supreme Court blocked the citizenship question from being added to the 2020 census. The court found that while the Department of Commerce had a right to reinstate the question, the administration provided a “contrived” justification for doing so. The Trump administration claimed the citizenship question was necessary to better comply with federal voting rights law, while critics argued it is an attempt to intimidate immigrant households. The Department of Commerce will now have to justify the addition of the question, which raises the question of whether the Trump administration will have enough time or the ability to add it before the forms have to be printed. The administration previously told the court that the questionnaire needed to be printed by the end of June. The Census Bureau found the question would reduce the response rate –especially in immigrant communities – and result in an estimated 6.5 million people not being counted. (CNN / NBC News / New York Times / NPR / Washington Post)
3/ Trump hosted a “social media summit” at the White House for his political allies, including a conspiracy theorist, a meme creator, and a plagiarist. Some Republican lawmakers and GOP campaign strategists were also invited. Facebook, Google, and Twitter, however, were reportedly excluded from the summit, which focused on allegations of social media bias against conservatives. Trump accused the tech companies of exhibiting “terrible bias” and silencing his supporters. Ironically, Twitter experienced an outage during the summit. Prior to the outage, attendees had been tweeting selfies. (NPR / Washington Post / CNN / Politico)
4/ The House Judiciary Committee authorized 12 subpoenas targeting Trump administration officials, including Trump family members and Jared Kushner. The committee also approved a separate group of subpoenas seeking information about the Trump administration’s practice of separating children from their families at the border. Democratic leaders in the House also scheduled a full vote to hold Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in contempt of Congress for their refusal to turn over documents related to the citizenship question. (New York Times / Politico / Washington Post / CNN / NBC News / USA Today)
📌 Day 901: The subpoena targets include Jared Kushner, Jeff Sessions, Rod Rosenstein, Michael Flynn, John Kelly and Corey Lewandowski, as well as Dylan Howard and David Pecker, two executives at American Media, Inc., and Keith Davidson, an attorney who previously represented Stormy Daniels. Republicans called the subpoenas as an effort to “relitigate” the Mueller investigation. (Politico)
5/ A senior military officer accused Trump’s nominee for the next vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of sexual misconduct. The officer says Gen. John Hyten subjected her to a series of unwanted sexual advances, including kissing, hugging, and rubbing up against her while she was one of his aides in 2017. She also said Hyten tried to derail her military career after she rejected his advances. (Associated Press)
6/ The Trump Organization cancelled a planned event with a Miami-area strip club at Trump’s Doral golf resort, because the charity associated with the event dropped out after seeing the press coverage that golfers could pay for a dancer to serve as their “caddy girl” while they played golf. “Now that the charity has removed its affiliation,” a Trump Organization spokesperson said, “the event will no longer be taking place at our property and all amounts paid will be refunded.” (Washington Post)
📌Day 902: Trump’s golf club will host a tournament put on by a Miami-area strip club, allowing golfers to pay for a dancer to serve as their “caddy girl” while they play golf. The Trump Organization confirmed the event and said it was for a “worthwhile cause” — a Miami children’s charity. Trump still owns Doral and the Trump name and family crest were featured prominently in the strip club’s advertising. Participation in the event ranges from $450 for a single player to $1,800 for a group of four with VIP upgrades available. (Washington Post / CNN)
7/ The Trump administration withdrew a proposal to lower prescription drug prices, which would have ended the practice of drugmakers giving rebates to insurance middlemen in government programs, like Medicare. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, who backed the plan, clashed with senior White House advisers, who had sought to delay or water down the proposal. Separately, a federal judge threw out a rule earlier this week that would have required pharmaceutical companies to list the price of their drugs in TV advertisements. (Axios / CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
1/ Migrant children at an overcrowded detention facility in Arizona reported being sexually assaulted and retaliated against by agents for protesting, according to dozens of first-hand accounts collected by government case managers. An officer put his hands inside the bra of a 15-year-old from Honduras, pulled down her underwear and groped her as part of a “routine” pat down in front of other immigrants and officers. Guards removed sleeping mats from the cells of children who complained about the taste of the water and food. The reports also describes unsanitary and overcrowded conditions similar to detention facilities in Texas. (NBC News)
2/ Immigration and Customs Enforcement started using three new for-profit immigration detention centers, despite instructions from Congress to reduce the number of people in detention. The agency is now detaining migrants at a Mississippi prison operated by CoreCivic, a jail run by LaSalle Corrections, and the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center, run by GEO Group in Basile. A spokesman for ICE confirmed that all three facilities started housing immigrant detainees at the end of last month. (Mother Jones)
3/ A federal appeals court dismissed an emoluments lawsuit against Trump. The judges rejected the premise of the case that the Trump International Hotel – blocks from the White House – had violated the domestic and foreign emoluments clauses of the Constitution by accepting money from state and foreign governments at Trump’s hotel in downtown Washington. While Trump stepped back from day-to-day management of the businesses, he still maintains ownership. “Even if government officials were patronizing the hotel to curry the president’s favor,” the court said, “there is no reason to conclude that they would cease doing so were the president enjoined from receiving income from the hotel. After all, the hotel would still be publicly associated with the president, would still bear his name, and would still financially benefit members of his family.” All three judges on the panel were appointed by Republican presidents. (NPR / New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / CNBC)
📌 Day 887: A federal judge ruled that the Democrats’ emoluments lawsuit against Trump can proceed. District Judge Emmet Sullivan said discovery could begin Friday, and Democrats are expected seek financial information, interviews and other records from Trump and the Trump Organization. The Trump administration can still try to delay or block Democrats from issuing subpoenas by appealing directly to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to intervene. (Washington Post)
📌 Day 810: The Department of Justice recently adopted a narrow interpretation of the emoluments clause, which would exempt Trump’s hotels from a ban on foreign payments or gifts. DOJ filings since June 2017 reveal a new interpretation that allows federal officials “to accept unlimited amounts of money from foreign governments, as long as the money comes through commercial transactions with an entity owned by the federal official.” (The Guardian)
4/ Trump’s golf club will host a tournament put on by a Miami-area strip club, allowing golfers to pay for a dancer to serve as their “caddy girl” while they play golf. The Trump Organization confirmed the event and said it was for a “worthwhile cause” — a Miami children’s charity. Trump still owns Doral and the Trump name and family crest were featured prominently in the strip club’s advertising. Participation in the event ranges from $450 for a single player to $1,800 for a group of four with VIP upgrades available. (Washington Post / CNN)
5/ Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta defended his handling of a 2008 plea deal with billionaire Jeffrey Epstein amid criticism that the deal he brokered was too lenient for the sex offender. Epstein was indicted on Monday by the U.S. attorney in Manhattan on child sex trafficking charges. Trump encouraged Acosta to hold a news conference to defend himself, which was seen as a test for whether Acosta would keep his job. “[Trump] has very publicly made clear that I’ve got his support,” Acosta said, adding that “Times have changed, and coverage of this case has certainly changed,” and that “the facts are being overlooked.” (Politico / NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post)
Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney privately urged Trump to dismiss Acosta. Mulvaney told Trump that the information surrounding the 2008 agreement Acosta struck with Epstein would hurt the administration. (Politico)
Trump and Epstein were once the only attendees at a party with roughly two dozen women at Mar-a-Lago. 28 women were flown in for a “calendar girl” competition that was organized at Trump’s request. (New York Times)
Acosta attempted to cut to the 2020 budget for combating child labor, forced labor, and human trafficking from $68 million to $18.5 million. The International Labor Affairs Bureau helps fund programs in countries through civil society organizations and other non-governmental groups to address the root of child labor and trafficking, as well as maintaining a list of products and source countries that the office has reason to believe use child and forced labor. (Daily Beast)
6/ The Justice Department is attempting to discourage two of Robert Mueller’s deputies from testifying before Congress. Lawmakers previously reached an agreement with the DOJ to have the two former prosecutors answer questions behind closed doors next week, but the DOJ told the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees last week that it was opposed to the testimony and instructed both men not to appear. It is unclear whether the DOJ’s intervention will impact the prosecutors’ appearances, but the move suggests that the previous agreement between Congress and the Justice Department may be in jeopardy. (New York Times)
7/ Trump’s $1.7 million military-style July Fourth parade bankrupted the Washington, D.C. security fund used to pay for extra security and anti-terrorism measures in the nation’s capital. D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser estimated that the fund will be running a $6 million deficit by Sept. 30, noting that the account was never reimbursed for $7.3 million in expenses from Trump’s 2017 inauguration. (Washington Post / NBC News)
8/ Trump reportedly asked aides to find a way to weaken the U.S. dollar in an effort to boost the economy ahead of the 2020 presidential election. Trump has grown concerned that the strengthening dollar is a threat to his economic agenda, which he expects to carry him to a second term. Trump asked about the dollar in job interviews with both Judy Shelton and Christopher Waller last week, who he selected for seats on the Federal Reserve’s board. (Bloomberg / CNBC)
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled that an interest rate cut will likely happen this month, because Trump’s trade war “continue[s] to weigh on the U.S. economic outlook.” Trump has repeatedly attacked the Fed, blaming Powell for hurting the economy by keeping interest rates too high and threatening to try to remove Powell if the situation doesn’t change. Powell, meanwhile, told lawmakers that the U.S. economy is doing “reasonably well,” but business investment has “slowed notably” due to uncertainty around trade and global growth. (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News)
The White House plans to send the North American Free Trade Agreement replacement to Congress after Sept. 1, setting up a vote on Trump’s United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement by the end of the year. The Office of U.S. Trade Representative and the White House, however, disagree over how aggressively to push the deal through Congress. (CNBC)
9/ A State Department intelligence official resigned in protest after the White House blocked portions of his written congressional testimony on climate change and its threat to national security. Rod Schoonover spoke before the House Intelligence Committee in June that climate change is a “possibly catastrophic” threat to national security, but the White House would not let him submit evidence and data supporting his assessments. (Wall Street Journal / Washington Post)
📌 Day 872: The White House blocked a State Department intelligence agency from submitting written testimony that human-caused climate change is “possibly catastrophic” to national security. The written testimony by the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research for a House Intelligence Committee hearing outlined that “absent extensive mitigating factors or events, we see few plausible future scenarios where significant — possibly catastrophic — harm does not arise from the compounded effects of climate change.” Officials from the White House’s Office of Legislative Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, and National Security Council all objected to parts of the testimony because it did not align with the Trump administration’s official stance. The analyst, Rod Schoonover, was ultimately allowed to speak before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, but the White House refused to approve Schoonover’s written testimony for entry into the permanent Congressional Record. (Washington Post / New York Times)
1/ A federal judge rejected a Trump administration request to assign a new legal team to a lawsuit that blocked the addition of the citizenship question to the 2020 census. U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman called the request “patently deficient” and that the U.S. had provided “no reasons, let alone ‘satisfactory reasons,’ for the substitution of counsel.” The Justice Department had announced its intention earlier this week to swap out the legal team on the case, but didn’t explain why. (Bloomberg / Washington Post)
📌 Day 900: Trump is “very seriously” considering an executive order to get the citizenship question on the 2020 census despite statements last week from both his Department of Justice and his secretary of commerce that the administration was printing the census without the question. The Justice Department also assigned a new team of attorneys to defend Trump’s attempts to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census following the Supreme Court’s ruling that effectively blocked the question. A statement released by the DOJ gave no clear reason for the change to the legal team, but experts say the team is likely to face questions on multiple fronts after the Trump administration spent the last 15 months giving conflicting explanations about why the question should be added. Trump also recently ordered officials to keep pursuing the addition of the question, even if it means delaying the constitutionally mandated decennial survey. (New York Times / Politico / Washington Post / CNN / ABC News / Axios)
2/ House Democrats plan to move forward with criminal contempt proceedings against Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross for defying congressional subpoenas related to the addition of a citizenship question on the 2020 Census. The move is a largely symbolic one, unlikely to lead to many tangible consequences. The DOJ will most likely refuse to charge Barr or any other cabinet secretary with a crime, and has even urged officials not to comply with the House Oversight and Reform Committee’s subpoenas. (Politico)
3/ Democrats in Congress called on Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta to resign over a controversial plea deal he brokered as a U.S. attorney that gave a lenient sentence to Jeffrey Epstein, who served 13 months for sexually abusing dozens of young women and underage girls. Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer said Acosta “must step down” because “he engaged in an unconscionable agreement” with Epstein that was “known” by Trump at the time. Acosta defended his 2007 decision, tweeting that he supports the “horrific” new charges and was “pleased” that prosecutors in New York are “moving forward with a case based on new evidence.” (New York Times / Politico / USA Today / CNBC / CNN / Washington Post)
📌 [BACKGROUND]: Federal prosecutors charged Epstein on Monday with sex trafficking, alleging that the billionaire financier had abused dozens of young girls at his Manhattan and Palm Beach, Fla., homes and enlisted his victims to bring him others. The indictment deals an implicit rebuke to the plea agreement, which was overseen by Acosta, then the U.S. attorney in Miami and now Trump’s labor secretary. Lewd photos of girls were discovered in a safe inside the Epstein’s Manhattan mansion the day he was arrested, deepening questions about why federal prosecutors in Miami had cut a deal that shielded him from federal prosecution in 2008. (Washington Post / New York Times / New York Times)
4/ Trump said he felt “very badly” for Acosta while praising him as “excellent” and “very good” at his job. Trump added that he would be looking “very closely” at the circumstances surrounding the plea deal, but has no immediate plan to force out or fire Acosta, two White House officials said. In 2002, Trump told New York Magazine that Epstein was “a terrific guy,” who “likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.” Today, however, Trump told reporters that the two “had a falling out” about 15 years ago and that he “was not a fan of his, that I can tell you.” (Washington Post / Associated Press / Miami Herald / CNN / Washington Post)
Attorney General William Barr won’t recuse himself from involvement in the new charges filed against alleged sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein by federal prosecutors. Epstein previously hired lawyers from the law firm Kirkland & Ellis LLP, where Barr served as counsel to the law firm before becoming attorney general. Barr, however, has recused himself from any review of the Justice Department’s deal with Epstein more than a decade ago letting Epstein avoid prosecution on federal sex-trafficking offenses in Florida in exchange for pleading guilty to two charges of soliciting a prostitute. (Bloomberg)
5/ The House Judiciary Committee will vote to authorize subpoenas for 12 of Robert Mueller’s witnesses. The subpoena targets include Jared Kushner, Jeff Sessions, Rod Rosenstein, Michael Flynn, John Kelly and Corey Lewandowski, as well as Dylan Howard and David Pecker, two executives at American Media, Inc., and Keith Davidson, an attorney who previously represented Stormy Daniels. Republicans called the subpoenas an effort to “relitigate” the Mueller investigation. (Politico)
Michael Flynn will not testify against his former business partner, because prosecutors no longer believe his version of events. Flynn previously admitted that he lied on foreign lobbying disclosure forms, but now is blaming his former lawyers and accusing them of filing inaccurate forms without his knowledge. (Washington Post / New York Times)
The White House blocked a witness in the Mueller investigation from answering 212 questions about potential obstruction of justice by Trump. Annie Donaldson is the former chief of staff to ex-White House counsel Donald McGahn, and her contemporaneous notes are cited 65 times in the Mueller report. Trump administration lawyers, however, blocked her from going into detail about her documented exchanges between Trump and McGahn. (Washington Post)
The former British spy behind the Trump “dossier” was interviewed for 16 hours by the Justice Department’s inspector general. During the 2016 election, Christopher Steele was hired by the opposition research firm Fusion GPS to research Trump’s Russia ties. (Politico)
Felix Sater testified before the House Intelligence Committee today. The former Trump business associate and chief negotiator for the defunct Trump Tower Moscow project has rescheduled his appearance several times since he was first slated to appear in March. (Politico)
6/ Trump said the U.S. will “no longer deal with” a British ambassador who called him “inept” and said his administration was “dysfunctional,” in leaked cables. Trump attacked Sir Kim Darroch for the second day in a row, threatening to cut ties altogether over the leaked memos, which described Trump as “radiating insecurity.” Trump tweeted that Darroch “is not liked or well thought of within the U.S. We will no longer deal with him.” He then attacked Prime Minister Theresa May for making a “mess” over Brexit. Weeks ago Trump praised her for having done a “very good job.” (The Guardian / Washington Post)
7/ Secretary of State Mike Pompeo unveiled a panel aimed at providing him with “an informed review of the role of human rights in American foreign policy.” During remarks to the State Department, Pompeo said “words like ‘rights’ can be used by good or evil,” and complained that some have “hijacked” the rhetoric of human rights and used it for “dubious or malignant purposes.” While Pompeo offered little detail as to what the panel will actually do, emphasizing its focus on outlining principles instead of directing policy, he said he hoped the panel would facilitate “one of the most profound reexaminations of the unalienable rights in the world since the 1948 universal declaration.” (Politico)
8/ Mitch McConnell’s great-great-grandfathers owned at least 14 slaves in the 1800s. McConnell, meanwhile, recently said he opposed paying government reparations to the descendants of American slaves “for something that happened 150 years ago, when none of us currently living are responsible.” McConnell added: “We’ve tried to deal with our original sin of slavery by fighting a civil war, by passing landmark civil rights legislation. We’ve elected an African American president.” (NBC News)
Amy McGrath, a retired Marine lieutenant colonel and combat pilot announced she would challenge McConnell for his seat in 2020. (New York Times)
9/ Trump violated the First Amendment by blocking people on Twitter who criticized or mocked him, a federal appeals court ruled. The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled unanimously that because Trump uses Twitter to conduct government business, he cannot exclude some Americans from reading his posts. The case was brought against Trump, Dan Scavino, and Sarah Huckabee Sanders by a group of Twitter users who say they were blocked by Trump. Public officials who use social media for official government business, the court said, are prohibited from excluding people “from an otherwise open online dialogue because they expressed views with which the official disagrees.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico)
1/ New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill allowing congressional committees to access Trump’s New York state tax returns. The bill requires state tax officials to release the state returns for any “specified and legitimate legislative purpose” on the request of the House Ways and Means Committee, the Senate Finance Committee, or the Joint Committee on Taxation. Trump’s personal lawyer, Jay Sekulow, called the bill “more presidential harassment.” The House Ways and Means Committee has unsuccessfully tried to access six years of Trump’s personal and business tax returns. The House sued the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service last week to try to force them to release the returns. (New York Times / NBC News)
📌 Day 894: House Democrats sued for Trump’s tax returns, challenging the administration’s refusal to comply with a subpoena for the records. The Ways and Means Committee accused the Trump administration of “an extraordinary attack on the authority of Congress to obtain information needed to conduct oversight,” naming the Treasury Department, IRS, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, and IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig in the suit. The Trump administration has argued that Congress’s power to access the returns is limited to information that would serve “legitimate” legislative purposes. (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / ABC News)
📌 Day 809: New York lawmakers will introduce a bill this week to permit the Department of Taxation and Finance to release state tax returns requested by a congressional committee. Under the new proposal, the release of tax information would only happen after efforts to obtain federal tax information through the Treasury Department had failed. The move comes as the Trump administration has signaled that it will resist the House Ways and Means Committee request to turn over six years of Trump’s federal business and personal tax returns by April 10th. Mick Mulvaney, meanwhile, promised that Democrats will “never” see Trump’s tax returns. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Politico)
📌 Day 804: House Democrats formally requested six years of Trump’s personal and business tax returns from the IRS. In a letter to the IRS, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee cited a little known provision in the IRS tax code that grants tax-writing committees in Congress the power to request tax information on any individual. Chairman Richard Neal requested Trump’s personal tax returns from 2013 to 2018, giving the agency until April 10 to comply. Trump claimed his returns are being audited by the IRS and that he would “not be inclined to” turn anything over to Congress. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin previously told the Ways and Means committee that he would protect Trump’s privacy if members of Congress requested his tax returns. (CNN / New York Times / NBC News / Bloomberg / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
2/ Congressional Democrats issued three-dozen subpoenas to the Trump Organization and other Trump businesses tied to a lawsuit accusing Trump of profiting from foreign governments in violation of the Constitution. The Justice Department is asking an appeals court to prevent the subpoenas from going forward. (CNN)
📌 Day 887: A federal judge ruled that the Democrats’ emoluments lawsuit against Trump can proceed. District Judge Emmet Sullivan said discovery could begin Friday, and Democrats are expected seek financial information, interviews and other records from Trump and the Trump Organization. The Trump administration can still try to delay or block Democrats from issuing subpoenas by appealing directly to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to intervene. (Washington Post)
3/ Trump is “very seriously” considering an executive order to get the citizenship question on the 2020 census despite statements last week from both his Department of Justice and his secretary of commerce that the administration was printing the census without the question. The Justice Department also assigned a new team of attorneys to defend Trump’s attempts to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census following the Supreme Court’s ruling that effectively blocked the question. A statement released by the DOJ gave no clear reason for the change to the legal team, but experts say the team is likely to face questions on multiple fronts after the Trump administration spent the last 15 months giving conflicting explanations about why the question should be added. Trump also recently ordered officials to keep pursuing the addition of the question, even if it means delaying the constitutionally mandated decennial survey. (New York Times / Politico / Washington Post / CNN / ABC News / Axios)
Previously: A day after pledging that the 2020 census would not ask respondents about their citizenship, Justice Department officials reversed course and said they were looking for a way to restore the question on orders from Trump. (New York Times / Washington Post)
Previously: Government lawyers scrambled to find a legal path to add a controversial citizenship question to the 2020 Census, despite their conclusions in recent days that no such avenue exists. (Washington Post)
Previously: The Trump administration confirmed that it will press forward with efforts to add a citizenship question to next year’s census, with Trump saying he’s exploring the possibility of reviving the question via executive order and government lawyers telling a federal judge that they’ve “been asked to reevaluate all available options.” (Politico)
4/ Attorney General William Barr believes there’s a “pathway” to legally add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. Barr said he believed the Supreme Court’s ruling against the administration was “wrong” and that there is “an opportunity potentially to cure the lack of clarity that was the problem and we might as well take a shot at doing that.” Barr would not detail the administration’s plans, but said the Trump administration will take action in the coming days that he believes will allow the government to ask the controversial question. (Post and Courier / Associated Press / Talking Points Memo)
5/ ICE officials used facial recognition software to analyze state driver’s license photo databases without motorists’ permission. ICE requested to comb through repositories of license photos in at least three states that offer licenses to undocumented immigrants. At least two of the states — Vermont and Utah — complied with the requests. In Washington state, agents authorized administrative subpoenas of the Department of Licensing to conduct a facial recognition scan of all photos of license applicants, but it’s unclear whether state officials carried out the searches. (Washington Post / New York Times)
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said immigration authorities are ready to identify, detain and deport approximately one million undocumented immigrants with pending removal orders. (CBS News)
The Trump administration plans to replace in-court interpreters at initial immigration court hearings with videos informing asylum seekers and other immigrants facing deportation of their rights. (San Francisco Chronicle)
6/ Trump said he wants members of the press to “go in and see” inside the “beautifully run” migrant detention centers. “I’m going to start showing some of these detention centers … to the press,” Trump said. “We’re going to send people in. We’re going to have some of the press go in.” Trump’s comments come days after several Democratic members of Congress toured two facilities in Texas, where they found migrants and their children are being forced to live in squalid conditions while detained near the southwestern border. (CNN / USA Today)
📌 Day 895: A report from the Department of Homeland Security’s independent watchdog found the squalid conditions at migrant detention camps were more widespread than initially revealed. The report describes standing-room-only cells, children without access to showers or hot meals, and detainees desperately begging to be released. Inspectors visited five facilities in June, where they found many migrants are given only wet wipes to clean themselves and bologna sandwiches to eat, leading to additional health problems. Children at two of the camps were not given hot meals until inspectors arrived. Overcrowding was so severe that migrants were banging on cell walls and pressing notes up against the windows begging for help. (New York Times / Reuters)
7/ The White House correspondent for Breitbart has joined the Trump administration. Michelle Moons will work in the office of Domestic Policy Council. (CNN)
poll/ 44% of Americans approve of Trump’s job performance – up 5 percentage points from April and the highest point of his presidency – while 53% disapprove. (ABC News / Washington Post)
1/ A report from the Department of Homeland Security’s independent watchdog found the squalid conditions at migrant detention camps were more widespread than initially revealed. The report describes standing-room-only cells, children without access to showers or hot meals, and detainees desperately begging to be released. Inspectors visited five facilities in June, where they found many migrants are given only wet wipes to clean themselves and bologna sandwiches to eat, leading to additional health problems. Children at two of the camps were not given hot meals until inspectors arrived. Overcrowding was so severe that migrants were banging on cell walls and pressing notes up against the windows begging for help. (New York Times / Reuters)
2/ A federal judge blocked Attorney General William Barr’s order to indefinitely detain immigrants seeking asylum and deny them bail if they crossed into the U.S. border without permission. The order requires immigration judges to conduct hearings for asylum applicants to ask for release on bail within seven days if they have shown a “credible fear” of returning to their country of origin. (Bloomberg / New York Times)
3/ Trump claimed that he is “absolutely moving forward” with including the citizenship question on the 2020 census, contradicting both the Justice Department and the Commerce secretary, and calling the news reports “FAKE!” Yesterday, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said the Census Bureau was in the process of printing the census form without the citizenship question following the Supreme Court’s decision to effectively block the question from being added to the questionnaire. (New York Times / CNBC / The Hill)
4/ The National Parks Service is diverting $2.5 million meant to improve parks in order to cover costs associated with Trump’s Fourth of July event on the National Mall. Trump officials have consistently refused to disclose how much taxpayers will have to pay for the “Salute to America” event. The diverted park fees make up just a fraction of the extra costs the government will have to pay as a result of the event, which will include tanks, military flyovers, Air Force One, and an extended pyrotechnics display. (Washington Post)
5/ Trump defended the cost of his “Salute to America” event, saying it will be “very little compared to what it is worth” because it will be “the show of a lifetime.” Military chiefs, meanwhile, are concerned about the politicization of the event – They’ve been asked to stand with Trump during the event. (Politico / Washington Post / CNN)
6/ Trump will hold a campaign rally in North Carolina on the same day Robert Mueller is scheduled to testify publicly to Congress. Trump’s campaign announced that he will be returning to Greenville, N.C. on July 17 to offer counter-programming to Mueller’s highly anticipated public testimony about his report on Russian election interference in 2016 and possible obstruction of justice by Trump. The Trump campaign’s chief operating officer said the rally will be an opportunity to highlight “the successes of the Trump presidency.” (Washington Post)
📌 Day 888: Robert Mueller agreed to testify before the House Intelligence and Judiciary Committees in back-to-back public hearings on July 17th about his investigation into Russia’s election interference and possible obstruction of justice by Trump. The announcement came after the two panels issued a subpoena compelling Mueller’s testimony. Mueller previously said he did not want to testify and his report should serve as his testimony. Members of Mueller’s team will also participate in a closed-door session with lawmakers. (NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / ABC News / CNN)
poll/ 41% approve the job Trump is doing as president while 54% disapprove. 29% strongly approve with 44% who strongly disapprove. (Gallup)
1/ House Democrats sued for Trump’s tax returns, challenging the administration’s refusal to comply with a subpoena for the records. The Ways and Means Committee accused the Trump administration of “an extraordinary attack on the authority of Congress to obtain information needed to conduct oversight,” naming the Treasury Department, IRS, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, and IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig in the suit. The Trump administration has argued that Congress’s power to access the returns is limited to information that would serve “legitimate” legislative purposes. (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / ABC News)
📌 Day 876: The Justice Department supported Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s refusal to turn over Trump’s tax returns to the House Ways and Means Committee. The Office of Legal Counsel released its legal rationale for refusing to provide Trump’s tax returns to Congress, saying the request was designed to make the returns public, which “is not a legitimate legislative purpose.” (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
📌 Day 873: The House authorized committee chairs to sue the Trump administration in federal court to enforce a series of subpoenas. The House Judiciary Committee can now begin legal proceedings to enforce the panel’s subpoenas for Mueller’s evidence and force former White House Counsel Donald McGahn to cooperate with the panels’ probe into whether Trump obstructed justice. The move also empowers other committee chairmen to seek enforcement of their own subpoenas for testimony and documents, such as Trump’s tax returns. The measure, however, stopped short of a criminal contempt citation for Attorney General William Barr and McGahn. (Politico / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
📌 Day 841: The House Ways and Mean Committee subpoenaed Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin over Trump’s tax returns. IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig was also subpoenaed. Chairman Richard Neal gave Mnuchin and Rettig until until May 17 to turn over six years of Trump’s returns, and is expected to go to court to enforce his request if the Trump administration continues to argue that the committee does not have a legitimate legislative purpose that warrants compliance. Earlier this week, Mnuchin rejected Neal’s request for the returns. Trump previously vowed to fight all subpoenas from House Democrats. Subpoenas are now pending from the Ways and Means, Judiciary, Oversight and Reform, Financial Services, and the Intelligence Committees. (CNBC / New York Times / Politico / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
2/ The Trump administration dropped its plans to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census after the Supreme Court effectively blocked the addition of the question, calling the rationale for the question “contrived.” After the ruling was announced last week, Trump said he was considering delaying the census until the question could be added. The process of preparing a new justification, however, was expected to take months and delay the process of printing hundreds of millions of forms. (Washington Post / Politico / CNN / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / CNBC)
📌 Day 889: The Supreme Court blocked the citizenship question from being added to the 2020 census. The court found that while the Department of Commerce had a right to reinstate the question, the administration provided a “contrived” justification for doing so. The Trump administration claimed the citizenship question was necessary to better comply with federal voting rights law, while critics argued it is an attempt to intimidate immigrant households. The Department of Commerce will now have to justify the addition of the question, which raises the question of whether the Trump administration will have enough time or the ability to add it before the forms have to be printed. The administration previously told the court that the questionnaire needed to be printed by the end of June. The Census Bureau found the question would reduce the response rate –especially in immigrant communities – and result in an estimated 6.5 million people not being counted. (CNN / NBC News / New York Times / NPR / Washington Post)
The Trump administration missed its own July 1st deadline to print the 2020 census. The materials have yet to be officially approved by the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, which is headed by acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney. (NPR / Daily Beast / New York Magazine)
3/ The Department of Homeland Security sent out fines for nearly $500,000 to some immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally for “failing to depart the U.S. as previously agreed.” ICE said the Immigration and Nationality Act grants the agency the right to impose “civil fines on aliens who have been ordered removed or granted voluntary departure and fail to depart the United States” of no more than $500 for each day the person is in violation of the section. Immigration lawyers say they’ve never heard of it used this way. (NPR)
4/ Trump threatened to increase ICE raids and deportations of undocumented immigrants after the Fourth of July holiday, saying “they’re going to be gone, they’re going back to their countries. They go back home.” Trump praised the Mexican government for taking steps to curb the flow of migrants reaching the U.S. border, claiming, “It was because of tariffs that they’re doing it, but the point is they’re doing a great job.” Trump then reiterated his threat to deport all undocumented immigrants, “because that’s what we do.” Trump delayed planned nationwide ICE raids last month for two weeks to see if Congress can “work out a solution.” (NBC News)
📌 Day 886: Trump delayed planned nationwide ICE raids for two weeks to see if Congress can “work out a solution.” Immigration agents had planned to sweep and deport people living the U.S. illegally in 10 major cities beginning Sunday. Hours after defending the plan, Trump delayed the raids on Saturday.Earlier in the week, Trump threatened to arrest and deport “millions of illegal aliens” next week. ICE leaders expressed concerns that officers’ safety would be in jeopardy because too many details about the raids had been made public. (Associated Press / New York Times / CNN / Politico / ABC News)
Rep. Joaquin Castro snuck a hidden camera into a migrant detention facility and tweeted out photos and videos, saying Americans “must see what is being carried out in their name.” The tweets show several women in the custody of Customs and Border Patrol sitting on the floor with blankets at a facility in El Paso. The facility in question housed “women from Cuba, some grandmothers, crammed into a prison-like cell with one toilet, but no running water to drink from or wash their hands with. Concrete floors, cinder-block walls, steel toilets.” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also visited the facility, where she said officers were keeping women in cells with no running water, and had “told them to drink out of the toilets.” (The Hill / The Guardian / NBC News / BuzzFeed News / Washington Post)
5/ Tanks for Trump’s Fourth of July “Salute to America” arrived in Washington. At least two Bradley and two Abrams tanks were purportedly en route to the National Mall. Trump also requested that the chiefs for the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines stand next to him during the celebration. (NBC News / New York Times / Associated Press)
The White House is distributing tickets for Trump’s “Salute to America” to major Republican donors and political appointees. (HuffPost / Washington Post)
The 20-foot-tall balloon depicting Trump as a baby in diapers will fly on the National Mall during Trump’s “Salute to America” event. (Politico / CNN)
6/ Ivanka Trump was an unofficial stand-in for diplomats and government officials at meetings with world leaders at the G-20 summit, in South Korea, and at the demilitarized zone last week. Ivanka called the experience “surreal.” (Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / NBC News)
poll/ Americans’ pride in the U.S. hit an all-time low. 45% say they are “extremely proud” to be Americans. In 2018, 47% felt “extremely proud.” (Gallup / Axios / CNN)
1/ A federal judge ordered Customs and Border Patrol to let health experts into detention facilities holding migrant children in order to assess the children’s needs and ensure the facilities are “safe and sanitary.” The order includes all CBP facilities in the El Paso and Rio Grande Valley sectors. U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee made the ruling despite requests from Attorney General William Barr and others that the court “set a schedule for briefing these issues that provides defendants with a full and fair opportunity to respond to the allegations that plaintiffs have lodged against them.” Last week, lawyers asked Judge Gee to hold the Trump administration in contempt and to order immediate improvements at the facilities. (CNN / The Hill)
Roughly 9,500 current and former Border Patrol agents are part of a secret Facebook group that jokes about migrant deaths, discusses throwing burritos at Latino members of Congress, and posts illustration depicting Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez engaged in oral sex with a detained migrant, among other things. The group was created in August 2016 and is called “I’m 10-15” – the Border Patrol code for “aliens in custody.” (ProPublica)
2/ Inspectors warned Homeland Security in May that conditions at an El Paso migrant detention facility were so bad that border agents were arming themselves against possible riots. According to a report by the Homeland Security Inspector General’s office, there were only four showers available for the 756 immigrants, more than half of the immigrants were being held outside, and there were five times as many people being held in cells beyond the maximum capacity allowed. One cell was so overcrowded that the men inside could not lie down to sleep, and temperatures in the cells were often higher than 80 degrees. “With limited access to showers and clean clothing,” the report said, “detainees were wearing soiled clothing for days or weeks.” Acting DHS Secretary Kevin McAleenan, meanwhile, claimed that reports of poor conditions at the facility were “unsubstantiated.” (NBC News)
3/ A federal judge blocked Trump from using $2.5 billion in military funding to build a wall at the southern border. The permanent injunction halts border wall construction at different sites in New Mexico, California, Arizona and Texas. Trump declared a national emergency earlier this year in order to divert roughly $6 billion in Defense Department funds toward border wall construction, arguing that the use of the military funds was lawful under the scope of the national emergency, because the need for funding was “unforeseen.” (NPR / The Hill / Mother Jones)
4/ A new study correlates Trump’s rise in popularity during the 2016 campaign with social media activity by the Russian trolls and bots of the Internet Research Agency. While the study does not prove that Russian interference swung the election, researchers at the University of Tennessee found that for every 25,000 re-tweets by accounts connected to the IRA, Trump’s poll numbers jumped 1%. [Editor’s note: Correlation does not always mean causation.] (NBC News / Axios)
A Trump campaign consultant anonymously runs multiple fake Russian-style disinformation presidential campaign websites. Patrick Mauldin, who makes videos and other digital content for Trump’s re-election campaign, calls the sites a political parody built and paid for “BY AN American citizen FOR American citizens.” Mauldin, who also runs a Republican political consulting firm, claimed that the sites are not the work of any campaign or political action committee. Mauldin has set up fake campaign websites for “Uncle Joe” Biden, “Millionaire Bernie” Sanders, “Elizabeth Warren for Chief,” and “Kamala Harris for Arresting the People.” (New York Times)
5/ Trump Jr. shared – then deleted – a tweet questioning if Kamala Harris was black enough to discuss the black American experience. Harris is the biracial daughter of a Jamaican father and Indian mother and during the Demcratic debate, Trump Jr. shared a tweet that falsely claimed that Harris was “not an American Black,” because “She comes from Jamaican Slave Owners.” Spokesman Andy Surabian said “that folks were misconstruing the intent of [Trump Jr.’s] tweet.” (New York Times)
6/ Trump became the first sitting U.S. president to set foot in North Korea. Trump spent 53 minutes privately talking with Kim Jong Un at the demilitarized zone. The two agreed to set up teams to “work out some details” and resume negotiations to eliminate North Korea’s nuclear arsenal. (Washington Post / NBC News / Associated Press / New York Times)
7/ Iran exceeded the maximum amount of low enriched uranium allowed under the 2015 nuclear deal. Iran’s stockpile of about 660 pounds of low enriched uranium does not give the country enough material to produce a nuclear weapon. (New York Times / Axios)
8/ The House Ethics Committee is investigating Rep. Matt Gaetz for threatening to release embarrassing personal information about Michael Cohen on the eve of Cohen’s testimony to the House Oversight Committee. (Politico)
9/ Trump requested tanks as a prop for his planned “Salute to America” Fourth of July address to the nation. Trump also requested an F-35 stealth fighter and Marine Helicopter Squadron One in addition to the planned flyover by other military aircraft, including Air Force One. (Washington Post)
poll/ 47% of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of the economy, while 51% disapprove. 26% said Trump’s tariffs have helped the economy, down from 40% in August 2018. (AP-NORC)
1/ The House passed a $4.6 billion emergency spending bill for the humanitarian crisis on the U.S.-Mexico border. The 305-to-102 vote sends the legislation, passed by the Senate earlier in the week, to Trump, who is expected to sign it. Speaker Nancy Pelosi tried to add additional protections for unaccompanied minors and restrictions on the administration’s use of funds to the bill, but was forced to accept the less restrictive Senate bill after the White House made clear it opposed the changes, and Mitch McConnell said he would not take them up. “We will reluctantly pass the Senate bill,” Pelosi said in a letter to Democratic lawmakers. (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / Reuters)
The Department of Homeland Security projects arrests along the Mexico border to fall 25% this month. Acting DHS Secretary Kevin McAleenan attributed the drop to Mexico cracking down on Central American migrants and the expansion of a program that requires asylum seekers to remain in Mexico for their immigration court hearings. (Washington Post / CNN)
The acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement will shift roles to take over as acting chief of Customs and Border Protection. Mark Morgan previously served at the CBP as chief of Border Patrol, before being named acting head of ICE in May. (The Hill)
2/ The Supreme Court will hear arguments over whether the Trump administration illegally tried to end DACA, which shields about 700,000 young, undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children from deportation and allows them to receive work permits. Trump tried to end the program in 2017, calling it an unconstitutional use of executive power by Obama. Lower courts have said the Trump administration’s explanation isn’t adequate. The Supreme Court will likely render its verdict next June, in the thick of the 2020 presidential campaign. (New York Times / CNN / Washington Post / CNBC / Bloomberg / ABC News / NBC News)
📌 Day 229: Trump rescinded DACA and called on Congress to replace the policy before it expires on March 5, 2018. The Department of Homeland Security will no longer accept new applications for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which has provided renewable, two-year work permits to nearly 800,000 dreamers. Jeff Sessions formally announced the shift of responsibility, saying DACA “was implemented unilaterally, to great controversy and legal concern.” He called the Obama-era policy an “open-ended circumvention of immigration laws” and an unconstitutional use of executive authority. “The executive branch through DACA deliberately sought to achieve what the legislative branch specifically refused to authorize on multiple occasions.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico)
3/ Trump suggested he’ll delay the 2020 Census – “no matter how long” – until the citizenship question can be added. The Supreme Court blocked the Trump administration’s plan to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census, calling the justification “contrived.” Trump tweeted that the court’s decision was “totally ridiculous,” saying he’s “asked the lawyers if they can delay the Census” until the question can be added. (Washington Post / CNN / NBC News)
📌 Day 889: The Supreme Court blocked the citizenship question from being added to the 2020 census. The court found that while the Department of Commerce had a right to reinstate the question, the administration provided a “contrived” justification for doing so. The Trump administration claimed the citizenship question was necessary to better comply with federal voting rights law, while critics argued it is an attempt to intimidate immigrant households. The Department of Commerce will now have to justify the addition of the question, which raises the question of whether the Trump administration will have enough time or the ability to add it before the forms have to be printed. The administration previously told the court that the questionnaire needed to be printed by the end of June. The Census Bureau found the question would reduce the response rate –especially in immigrant communities – and result in an estimated 6.5 million people not being counted. (CNN / NBC News / New York Times / NPR / Washington Post)
4/ Trump jokingly told Putin “don’t meddle in the election” while touting his “very, very good relationship” with the Russian leader at the G20 Summit. Trump then pointed at another Russian official and repeated: “Don’t meddle in the election.” Trump’s meeting with Putin was their first since last year’s summit in Helsinki, when Trump took Putin’s side over his own U.S. intelligence agencies on the question of Russian interference in the 2016 election. Trump has been increasingly pressured to publicly criticize Putin ahead of the 2020 election. (NBC News / New York Times / Politico / Wall Street Journal)
Trump joked with Putin that they should “get rid” of journalists after quipping about election interference. “Fake news is a great term, isn’t it? You don’t have this problem in Russia but we do.” Putin responded in English: “We also have. It’s the same.” (The Guardian)
Jimmy Carter suggested that Trump is an illegitimate president who only won the 2016 election because “Russians interfered on his behalf.” Carter said Trump should “condemn” the Kremlin’s interference since the American intelligence community concluded Russia had meddled in the election. “I think a full investigation would show that Trump didn’t actually win the election in 2016. He lost the election, and he was put into office because the Russians interfered on his behalf.” (NBC News / Politico / CNN)
📌 Day 543: Trump rejected the consensus of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election, saying he doesn’t “see any reason why” Russia would have interfered, and that Putin “was extremely strong and powerful” in denying it during their summit in Helsinki. Trump’s refusal to condemn Moscow clashed with the conclusions of U.S. intelligence agencies, and comes days after the Justice Department indicted 12 Russian intelligence agents for hacking the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in an attempt to help Trump. Putin confirmed the he wanted Trump to win the election. Prior to the summit, Trump blamed “U.S. foolishness and stupidity” for poor Russian relations. The Russian foreign ministry responded to Trump’s tweet with “We agree.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Reuters/Politico)
📌 Day 544: Trump backtracked and tried to spin his Helsinki summit comments. Reading from prepared remarks, Trump claimed he misspoke yesterday and meant to say “I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be Russia” that interfered in the election. Trump also said “I accept” the intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia meddled in the 2016 election, but it “could be other people also.” Trump asserted that “Russia’s actions had no impact at all” on the election outcome. During yesterday’s news conference, Trump said he doesn’t “see any reason” why Russia would have meddled during the last election. Prior to that, Trump blamed the U.S. for acting with “foolishness and stupidity” toward Russia in the past. Trump also rejected the consensus of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election. Instead, Trump said he believed Putin’s denial. (Bloomberg / CNBC / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Washington Post)
📌 Day 552: The White House deleted a key exchange between a reporter and Putin from the official transcript and video of Trump’s recent summit with Putin in Helsinki. During the press conference in Helsinki, a Reuters reporter asks Putin, “Did you want President Trump to win the election and did you direct any of your officials to help him do that?” Putin then responds, “Yes, I did. Yes, I did. Because he talked about bringing the U.S.-Russia relationship back to normal.” The White House omitted the first part of the question, leaving only the second part in the official transcript and video. The Russian government removed the entire exchange from their official record. [Editor’s note: Apparently this was due to the audio feed switching between only the right channel and both channels. Regardless, it’s unclear why the feed switched. White House transcripts are considered the official record of the president’s comments.](The Atlantic / MSNBC / HuffPost)
✏️ Notables.
The Supreme Court rejected Alabama’s request to revive the state’s ban on the most common second-trimester abortion procedure. The decision means the procedure will remain available to women seeking reproductive health services in that state. The Alabama law was blocked by lower courts, but would have affected 99% of abortions performed in the state after 15 weeks. (Politico / ABC News / New York Times / Reuters)
In closed-door testimony with the House Foreign Affairs Committee, former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson detailed how Jared Kushner bypassed the State Department to meet with foreign officials. Kushner privately talked with Saudi and Emirati leaders about their secret plans to impose a blockade on Qatar, leaving Tillerson and other senior national security officials — including Jim Mattis, then the defense secretary — in the dark. (Washington Post / Politico / Axios / New York Times)
The White House is developing a plan to cut capital gains taxes, which would benefit the wealthy. The White House is considering revamping capital gains taxes by executive order as a way to bypass Congress. (Bloomberg)
Senators blocked an effort to restrict Trump’s ability to go to war with Iran. The proposal would have block Trump from using funding to carry out military action without congressional authorization. (The Hill)
🎤 Debatables.
Last night was the second of two back-to-back Democratic presidential primary debates. Here’s how some of the major outlets covered it:
Biden Comes Under Attack From All Sides in Democratic Debate. Senator Kamala Harris confronted the former vice president in a searing moment over racial equality, and others attacked him on policy and generational divide. (New York Times)
Marianne Williamson’s “girlfriend” call to New Zealand and her other best moments in the debates. And by best, we mean all of them. (Vox)
6 Takeaways From Night 2 of the Democratic Debate. Kamala Harris stood out from the 10-person crowd several times during the NBC debate. Her exchange with Joe Biden, who is leading in the polls, put him on the defensive. (New York Times)
For Biden and Harris, busing and integration became a flashpoint on the debate stage. Harris forcefully slammed Biden’s history of working with segregationists and opposing school busing (NBC News)
Andrew Yang says microphone was ‘not on’ at times during Democratic debate. Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang claimed his microphone was “not on” a few times when he attempted to jump in during Thursday night’s Democratic debate in Miami. (The Hill)
Candidates slam Trump at Democratic debate, but fight over racial issues, health care. The faceoff featuring 10 candidates included an intense racial moment between Biden and Harris over busing and segregation. (NBC News)
1/ The Supreme Court blocked the citizenship question from being added to the 2020 census. The court found that while the Department of Commerce had a right to reinstate the question, the administration provided a “contrived” justification for doing so. The Trump administration claimed the citizenship question was necessary to better comply with federal voting rights law, while critics argued it is an attempt to intimidate immigrant households. The Department of Commerce will now have to justify the addition of the question, which raises the question of whether the Trump administration will have enough time or the ability to add it before the forms have to be printed. The administration previously told the court that the questionnaire needed to be printed by the end of June. The Census Bureau found the question would reduce the response rate –especially in immigrant communities – and result in an estimated 6.5 million people not being counted. (CNN / NBC News / New York Times / NPR / Washington Post)
2/ The Supreme Court ruled that federal courts cannot block partisan gerrymandering in a 5-4 decision that fell along partisan lines. Chief Justice John Roberts rejected two constitutional challenges to partisan district mapmaking – one brought by Democrats in North Carolina and another by Republicans in Maryland – writing that “partisan gerrymandering claims present political questions beyond the reach of the federal courts.” Districts are drawn nationwide every 10 years, and the next redistricting is scheduled to take place following the 2020 census, which also triggers reapportionment of U.S. House seats among states. Because of the 2010 midterm elections, the Republican party controls most statehouses across the country and, by extension, jurisdiction over the redistricting process. Dissenting Justice Elena Kagan called the decision “tragically wrong.” (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / Politico / NPR / CNN / Bloomberg / USA Today / CNBC / Associated Press / The Guardian / Wall Street Journal)
3/ Trump marked his arrival in Japan for the G20 Summit by lashing out at U.S. allies. He complained that if the U.S. were attacked, Japan would simply “watch it on a Sony television” instead of coming to America’s defense. He called Germany a security freeloader, and complained about India’s new tariffs on U.S. goods. Trump is scheduled to meet with the leaders of all three countries on Friday. Trump did not, however, have anything negative to say about the fourth world leader on his meeting schedule for Friday: Putin. (New York Times)
Trump demanded that India withdraw its latest tariff hike on 28 U.S. products. India imposed tariffs in response to Trump’s decision to remove key trade privileges for New Delhi. Trump called the tariffs “unacceptable,” and tweeted that he’s looking forward to “to speaking with Prime Minister Modi about the fact that India, for years having put very high tariffs against the United States, just recently increased the tariffs even further.” Trump is expected to meet with Modi at this week’s G20 Summit in Japan. (CNBC)
4/ Trump told reporters that what he says to Putin in private is “none of your business,” when asked what the two world leaders will discuss behind closed doors at the G20 Summit. Trump is scheduled to meet with Putin after House Democrats hear from the White House records chief about allegations that Trump tried to hide documents detailing his previous private conversations with Putin. (Politico / CBS News)
5/ Two women corroborated E. Jean Carroll’s allegation that Trump sexually assaulted her in the 1990s. Carroll privately confided in Carol Martin and Lisa Birnbach after the alleged attack. Both came forward to talk about the advice they gave Carroll at the time. Neither of the women had been publicly identified until now, and it was the first time since the alleged assault that they had discussed the incident together. Trump denied Carroll’s allegation and said she is “totally lying” and that he wouldn’t have assaulted her because “she’s not my type.” (New York Times)
6/ The Trump International Hotel in Washington charged the Secret Service more than $200,000 in taxpayer money. The agency paid $33,638 for unspecified charges over two days in June, which coincided with Trump’s first re-election campaign fundraiser. The Secret Service was also billed for $14,900 for two days in June 2017 and another for $11,475 for two days the next month. (NBC News)
Debatables.
Last night was the first of two back-to-back Democratic presidential primary debates, featuring 10 candidates and 5 moderators. The debate centered around a handful of major topics, including healthcare, guns, immigration, climate change, Iran, and others. Trump was absent from most of the discussion, with candidates opting instead to talk more about their respective policies and positions than Trump’s presidency. The second debate begins tonight at 9 p.m. ET and will feature another 10 candidates. Instead of giving you a breakdown of last night’s entire two-hour ordeal, here’s how some of the major outlets are covering it:
Fact-checking the first night of the first Democratic presidential debate. (CNN)
Fact-checking the claims that hold up and the ones that don’t. (NBC News)
5 takeaways from the first Democratic debate. (NPR)
7 takeaways from the first Democratic debate. (Politico)
Recap: Democrats Diverge on economy and immigration in first debate. (New York Times)
Recap: Democrats clash on healthcare, border in scrappy first U.S. presidential debate. (Reuters)
Analysis: Who won the first debate? Experts on the Left and Right weigh in. (New York Times)
Analysis: Debate shows how leftward it has moved. (Los Angeles Times)
Transcript: The first Democratic debate night transcript, annotated. (Washington Post)
FTW: Jay Inslee called Trump the greatest threat facing the U.S. (Axios)
Hot take: Trump’s reaction to the first 2020 Democratic presidential debate: “BORING!” (NBC News)
1/ Robert Mueller agreed to testify before the House Intelligence and Judiciary Committees in back-to-back public hearings on July 17th about his investigation into Russia’s election interference and possible obstruction of justice by Trump. The announcement came after the two panels issued a subpoena compelling Mueller’s testimony. Mueller previously said he did not want to testify and his report should serve as his testimony. Members of Mueller’s team will also participate in a closed-door session with lawmakers. (NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / ABC News / CNN)
2/ Trump attacked Mueller and – without evidence – accused him of committing a crime after House Democrats announced that Mueller would testify publicly next month. Trump claimed that Mueller “terminated” FBI communications by deleting text messages exchanged by two former FBI officials, Peter Strzok and Lisa Page. “And that’s illegal,” Trump tweeted. “That’s a crime.” Trump was referring to a report by the Justice Department inspector general that said it could not recover texts from the phones assigned to Strzok and Page, because by the time investigators requested the devices, they had been reset for other officials to use. Trump referred to Strzok and Page as “pathetic lovers” for having had an affair. (Washington Post / New York Times / Reuters)
3/ The House Oversight Committee authorized a subpoena for Kellyanne Conway after she failed to show for a hearing about her alleged violations of the Hatch Act, a law that limits federal employees’ political activity. Special counsel Henry Kerner said Conway should be fired for blatantly and repeatedly violating the Hatch Act. The White House, meanwhile, blocked Conway from testifying about the allegations. Chairman Elijah Cummings warned that the committee would vote to hold Conway in contempt if she ignores the subpoena. (Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / Reuters / Politico / Axios)
4/ The House approved a $4.5 billion aid package for the southwestern border. The 230-195 vote was mostly along party lines, with all but four Democrats supporting bill. Even if the two chambers are able to reach an agreement, it’s unclear if Trump will sign it into law. Democrats will now have to begin negotiations with Senate GOP leaders in order to get the aid package signed into law before the weeklong recess. (Politico / NBC News)
5/ Trump complained that congressional Democrats “won’t do anything at all about border security” hours after the House passed the aid package to address the humanitarian crisis at the southern border. (Politico)
6/ The Senate passed a $4.6 billion emergency spending bill for the southern border, rejecting the House legislation that attempted to set rules on how Trump could use the money. The Senate legislation allocates about $1.3 billion to improve border facilities and $2.9 billion for the care of migrant children. The measure would prohibit Homeland Security from adding more beds at detention centers or migrant processing facilities. House and Senate leaders must now decide whether to reconcile their conflicting proposals or head into a week-long July Fourth recess without addressing the growing humanitarian crisis. (New York Times / Politico / Associated Press / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
✏️ Notables.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the U.S. is “about 90% of the way there” on a trade deal with China. Mnuchin expects Trump and President Xi to make progress during the upcoming G20 Summit, but did not provide any details about what the remaining 10% of an agreement might look like. Trump, meanwhile, warned of a “Plan B with China” to raise tariffs on the remaining $300 billion of Chinese imports. (CNBC / Bloomberg)
Trump’s diplomatic protocol chief has been suspended indefinitely ahead of the G20 Summit in Japan. Sean Lawler is being investigated by the State Department inspector general over accusations that Lawler intimidated his staff and carried a whip in the office. The protocol chief assists the president during overseas trips and during visits from foreign leaders by making introductions and briefing the president on customs and protocol. Mary-Kate Fisher will take over as acting protocol chief. (CNN / Bloomberg)
The EPA air chief resigned amid scrutiny over possible violations of federal ethics rules. Bill Wehrum helped reverse Obama-era rules aimed at cutting pollutants before joining the Trump administration. The Energy and Commerce Committee has been investigating Wehrum’s compliance with Trump’s ethics pledge, which requires political appointees to recuse themselves from specific matters involving their former employers and clients for two years. (Washington Post)
The White House will host “digital leaders” for a Social Media Summit next month following Trump’s accusations that Google, Facebook and Twitter are biased against him and other conservatives. Earlier in the day, Trump suggested that “we should be suing Google and Facebook,” adding “perhaps we will.” (Politico / Axios)
The Justice Department sued former Trump senior White House advisor Omarosa Manigault Newman for allegedly failing to file a financial disclosure report after she was fired in late 2017. Manigault Newman said she couldn’t file the report because the White House never returned her personal files after she left. (CNBC / CNN / Politico)
NEW! 🤷♂️ Dept. of I Really Don’t Care, Do U?I’m burnt out. You’re burnt out. The news sucks. We’re all suffering from disaster fatigue. So let’s start a collaborative, curated thread for the strange-but-true political things that aren’t really news, but seem to make the news anyway. Add your oddities to the forum post so we can cut the crap and get back to focusing on the things that matter.
1/ Trump – again – denied the rape allegations against him by E. Jean Carroll, claiming she is “totally lying” and “not my type.” Carroll accused Trump of pushing her up against a dressing room wall and raping her in a department store in 1995 or 1996. Trump accused Carroll of making up the story, because “I know nothing about this woman. I know nothing about her. She is — it’s just a terrible thing that people can make statements like that.” Carroll is the 16th woman to have publicly accused Trump of sexual assault or misconduct — all of which he has denied. (The Hill / New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / Axios)
📌 Day 883: Trump rejected an allegation by journalist E. Jean Carroll that he sexually assaulted her in a Manhattan department store dressing room in the 1990s, saying that he has “never met this person in my life.” According to Carroll, she met Trump inside Bergdorf Goodman when he told her he was buying a gift for “a girl” and needed help. While in the lingerie section, Carroll said Trump suggested a lace bodysuit, and encouraged her to try it on. “The moment the dressing-room door is closed, he lunges at me, pushes me against the wall, hitting my head quite badly, and puts his mouth against my lips,” Carroll writes. “He seizes both my arms and pushes me up against the wall a second time, and, as I become aware of how large he is, he holds me against the wall with his shoulder and jams his hand under my coat dress and pulls down my tights.” More than a dozen women have accused Trump of sexual misconduct. Trump, meanwhile, said: “Shame on those who make up false stories of assault to try to get publicity for themselves, or sell a book, or carry out a political agenda.” (New York Magazine / Politico / Daily Beast)
2/ The New York Post’s former top editor deleted a story about E. Jean Carroll’s rape allegations against Trump. Col Allan, a Trump supporter and top Rupert Murdoch lieutenant, ordered the story to be scrubbed from the website on Friday, as well a wire story by the Associated Press. Allan returned to the paper in early 2019, reportedly in an effort to make the paper even more friendly to Trump. (CNN / New York Daily News)
3/ Congress is trying to pass a $4.5 billion in emergency humanitarian aid to the southwestern border while putting restrictions on Trump’s immigration policies. In the Senate, Republicans and Democrats approved a $4.6 billion border aid package last week that contained some limitations to prevent the administration from using the resources for enforcement. The House bill allocates $4.5 billion, but goes further in placing restrictions on the money. Democrats in the House, however, are still concerned that any money they approve will be directed by the Trump administration to advance Trump’s immigration policies. The Trump administration, meanwhile, threatened to veto the House measure, claiming it “does not provide adequate funding to meet the current crisis” and “contains partisan provisions designed to hamstring the administration’s border enforcement efforts.” (New York Times / Reuters)
Here’s what’s different between the House and Senate bills. (New York Times)
4/ Customs and Border Protection returned more than 100 children back to a troubled Border Patrol station that independent monitors called conditions “unconscionable.” Officials said the children were returned to the Clint, Tex. station due to a lack of bed space in U.S. shelters designed for children. Lawyers who visited recently the Clint station said hundreds of minor detainees had been housed for weeks without access to showers, clean clothing, or sufficient food. (Washington Post / CNN)
Health and Human Services said it will run out of money in July for sheltering migrant children. HHS Secretary Alex Azar said a situation to a government shutdown would result if the program isn’t funded, with workers and companies caring for the children without pay. (Bloomberg)
Border Patrol is rejecting donations of toys, soap, toothbrushes, diapers and medicine for children held in “horrendous,” overcrowded facilities. Under the Antideficiency Act, the government can’t spend any money or accept any donations other than what Congress has allocated to it. (Texas Tribune / Washington Post / Slate)
📌 Day 886: The Trump administration moved most of the children from a remote Border Patrol station in Texas following reports that more than 300 children were detained there with inadequate food, water and sanitation. (Associated Press / New York Times)
📌 Day 834: John Kelly joined the board of a company that operates the largest facility for unaccompanied migrant children. Caliburn International is the parent company of Comprehensive Health Services, which operates Homestead and three other shelters for unaccompanied migrant children in Texas. Prior to joining the Trump administration, Kelly had been on the board of advisors of DC Capital Partners, an investment firm that now owns Caliburn. (CBS News)
5/ The Customs and Border Protection agency’s acting commissioner will resign in the coming weeks amid an increase in the number of undocumented migrants crossing the border and the fight over how to address it. John Sanders assumed the role after Kevin McAleenan replaced Kirstjen Nielsen as homeland security secretary this spring. (New York Times / CNN / Reuters)
6/ Trump declined to say if he has confidence in FBI Director Christopher Wray. When asked about his level of confidence in Wray, Trump replied: “Well, we’ll see how it turns out.” Trump added that he disagrees with the FBI director, who previously said he does not believe the bureau “spied” on Trump’s 2016 campaign. (The Hill / CNN / Axios)
📌Day 811: Barr told Congress that the government was “spying” on Trump’s campaign during the 2016 election, but provided no evidence. During a hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee, Barr said that while he’s not launching an investigation of the FBI or suggesting there is an “endemic” problem at the FBI, he does “think there was a failure among a group of leaders at the upper echelons.” Barr went on to say that he wanted to understand if there was “unauthorized surveillance” of political figures and whether law enforcement officials had proper legal justification for the “genesis” of the counterintelligence investigation. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / NBC News / CNN / Bloomberg / Axios)
📌 Day 838: FBI Director Christopher Wray said he would not call the 2016 investigation into Trump’s campaign advisers “spying.” When asked during a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing if he had “any evidence that any illegal surveillance” into the Trump 2016 campaign occurred, Wray told lawmakers that “I don’t think I personally have any evidence of that sort.” Wray’s comments are in contrast to those made by Attorney General William Barr at a Senate hearing on April 10th, where he claimed that “spying did occur, yes,” calling it “a big deal.” The Justice Department inspector general is expected to issue a report in the next month or two about the origins of the FBI investigation into the Trump campaign. Wray asked lawmakers to wait for the report. (Washington Post / NBC News / CNN)
7/ Trump is privately considering withdrawing from a defense treaty with Japan. Trump claimed the pact is too one-sided, because it guarantees U.S. aid if Japan is ever attacked, but doesn’t require Japan’s military to do the same for America. The treaty was signed more than 60 years ago and constitutes the foundation of the post-war alliance between the two countries after World War II. (Bloomberg)
8/ Iran called Trump’s White House “mentally retarded” and promised that Iran wouldn’t be intimidated by new, “fruitless sanctions.” Iran’s Foreign Ministry also said Trump’s leadership would lead to “the permanent closure of the road of diplomacy” between the two countries and that Iran would take new steps to reduce its commitments under the nuclear deal with world powers on July 7th. Trump meanwhile, threatened that any attack by Iran would be answered with “great and overwhelming force” and in some cases, “overwhelming will mean obliteration.” (New York Times / Politico / Bloomberg / NBC News / The Independent / Washington Post)
9/ Trump claimed he has the authority to initiate a military strike against Iran without congressional approval, but said he likes “the idea of keeping Congress abreast.” Speaker Nancy Pelosi asserted that Trump would need congressional approval for any “hostilities” against Iran. Jim Inhofe, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, however, believes that Trump’s authority to take military action against Iran falls within his executive power, but outside the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force. (The Hill / CNN)
poll/ 65% of voters support Trump’s decision to call off the planned military strike against Iran. 14% opposed the decision. Only 36% of voters support U.S. military actions against Iran in response to the downed surveillance drone. 42% oppose military action against Iran, while 22% say they have no opinion. (Politico)
🐊 Dept. of Swamp Things.
Melania Trump’s communications director will be the next White House press secretary, replacing Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who is leaving at the end of the month. Stephanie Grisham will also take over the role of communications director, which has been vacant since the departure of Bill Shine in March. (NBC News / Axios / New York Times / Politico / Washington Post)
The Commerce Department ordered a former official not to answer questions from the House Oversight and Reform Committee about the Trump administration’s decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census. Commerce Department lawyers instructed Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross’ senior adviser and counsel, James Uthmeier, not to answer the committee’s questions about his contacts with the White House or his conversations with Ross regarding the citizenship question. (Washington Post / Politico)
The House Oversight and Reform Committee called on the House to hold Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in contempt for defying congressional subpoenas related to whether the administration was seeking to discriminate against certain groups by adding a citizenship question to the 2020 Census. (Reuters)
Trump has been frequently snapping at Mick Mulvaney and expressing more frustration with him than usual, revealing a slow deterioration of their relationship. Trump has recently asked people what kind of leadership and value they think Mulvaney is adding. Trump, however, is unlikely to replace his acting chief of staff – his third chief of staff in less than two-and-a-half years – anytime soon. (Politico)
The Treasury Department’s inspector general will open an investigation into why Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin delayed the new $20 bill featuring Harriet Tubman. The Trump administration has denied that it delayed the release of the bill. Trump, however, has publicly lamented the idea of replacing Andrew Jackson. (New York Times / Washington Post)
The White House directed Kellyanne Conway to reject a request to testify before the House Oversight Committee about her repeated violations of the Hatch Act, a federal ethics law that bars government officials from engaging in political activities at work. (New York Times / Washington Post)
A federal judge ruled that the Democrats’ emoluments lawsuit against Trump can proceed. District Judge Emmet Sullivan said discovery could begin Friday, and Democrats are expected seek financial information, interviews and other records from Trump and the Trump Organization. The Trump administration can still try to delay or block Democrats from issuing subpoenas by appealing directly to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to intervene. (Washington Post)
1/ Trump signed an executive order imposing new, “hard-hitting” sanctions on Iran in response to the downing of an unmanned U.S. drone last week. The new sanctions will deny Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and eight Iranian military commanders access to “key financial resources and support.” Trump also warned that U.S. “restraint” has limits. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / CNBC)
Trump approved an offensive cyberstrike that disabled Iranian computer systems used to control rocket and missile launches. U.S. Cyber Command launched the cyberstrikes against the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps last week. (Washington Post)
2/ Trump delayed planned nationwide ICE raids for two weeks to see if Congress can “work out a solution.” Immigration agents had planned to sweep and deport people living the U.S. illegally in 10 major cities beginning Sunday. Hours after defending the plan, Trump delayed the raids on Saturday. Earlier in the week, Trump threatened to arrest and deport “millions of illegal aliens” next week. ICE leaders expressed concerns that officers’ safety would be in jeopardy because too many details about the raids had been made public. (Associated Press / New York Times / CNN / Politico / ABC News)
The Trump administration moved most of the children from a remote Border Patrol station in Texas following reports that more than 300 children were detained there with inadequate food, water and sanitation. (Associated Press / New York Times)
3/ The Trump administration stopped promoting dozens of taxpayer-funded studies about the impacts of climate change. The studies include a discovery that rice loses vitamins in a carbon-rich environment, a finding that climate change would exacerbate allergy seasons, and a warning to farmers about an expected reduction in the quality of important grasses used to feed and raise cattle. All of the studies were peer-reviewed and cleared through the Agricultural Research Service. (Politico)
More than 70 medical and public health groups warned that climate change is “a health emergency.” The health organizations’ policy recommendations are at odds with Trump’s approach. (Associated Press)
Pence refused to say whether climate change was a legitimate threat to the U.S. Instead, Pence said that the Trump administration would “always follow the science” on the issue. (Axios / The Hill)
4/ Nearly 100 internal Trump transition team vetting documents were leaked, revealing a wide range of “red flags” about several officials who went on to secure high-ranking positions in the Trump administration. (Axios / Business Insider / Daily Beast)
Former EPA administrator Scott Pruitt had a section in his vetting form titled: “allegations of coziness with big energy companies.”
Former Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price had sections in his dossier flagging “criticisms of management ability” and “Dysfunction And Division Has Haunted Price’s Leadership Of The House Budget Committee.”
Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney had several “red flags,” including his assessment that Trump “is not a very good person.”
The Trump transition team was so worried about Rudy Giuliani being chosen as secretary of state that they created a separate 25-page document titled “Rudy Giuliani Business Ties Research Dossier” with many accounts of his “foreign entanglements.”
The transition team was worried that Gen. David Petraeus “Is Opposed to Torture.”
Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had ties to Russia.
Kris Kobach, who was once in the running for homeland security secretary, had “white supremacy” as one of his vulnerabilities.
Nikki Haley, who would go on to be U.N. ambassador, was flagged for saying that Trump is everything “we teach our kids not to do in kindergarten.”
Notables.
The White House is expected to block a former White House deputy counsel from answering House Judiciary Committee’s written questions. Annie Donaldson was the top deputy to former White House Counsel Don McGahn, who, according to Robert Mueller, was directed by Trump on several occasions to fire the special counsel. (Politico)
Trump nominated Mark Esper to be the next defense secretary following the abrupt resignation of acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan. Esper is currently the secretary of the Army and former West Point classmate of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. (New York Times / Politico)
Fox News host Jeanine Pirro lobbied for a top Justice Department job under Jeff Sessions, which Trump considered. Sessions, however, blocked the appointment and then Pirro attacked Sessions on her show for recusing himself from the Russia investigation, calling him the most “dangerous person” in the U.S. (Washington Post / Talking Points Memo)
Trump said appointing Sessions as his first attorney general was his “biggest mistake” and that he’d like a “do over” on the decision. (Reuters)
White House officials have refused to tell House Democrats what happened to the interpreter notes from Trump’s private meeting with Putin. The House Oversight Committee argues that the notes are federal records that must be preserved under record-keeping laws. The White House, however, won’t say whether Trump destroyed or in any way altered the interpreter notes. (Washington Post)
The House Oversight Committee will vote to subpoena Kellyanne Conway related to her violations of the Hatch Act if she does not voluntarily appear at the committee’s hearing. The Hatch Act prohibits federal employees from engaging in political activities in their official capacity, and the civil service watchdog known as the Office of Special Counsel determined earlier this month that Conway violated the act by “disparaging Democratic presidential candidates while speaking in an official capacity during television interviews and on social media.” Conway claimed that House Democrats are seeking her testimony in retaliation for successfully managing Trump’s 2016 campaign. [Breaking News: The White House moved to block Conway from testifying to Congress about alleged violations of the Hatch Act.] (Axios / Washington Post)
1/ Trump authorized a retaliatory military strike on Iran but called it off 10 minutes before because the response would not have been “proportionate.” The planned attack, ordered after Iranian forces shot down a Navy drone over the Strait of Hormuz, would have involved airstrikes and killed approximately 150 people. Officials said Trump had initially approved the attacks. Earlier, Trump tweeted that he was “cocked and loaded” for a strike, but later disputed that, claiming “nothing was green lighted.” (New York Times / New York Times / ABC News / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / Los Angeles Times / Bloomberg)
Putin said he’s open for a meeting with Trump, but that a U.S. military conflict with Iran would be a “catastrophe.” Putin added that he believed Iran was complying with its commitments to the Iran nuclear deal. Hours later, Trump tweeted that he was in “no hurry” to confront Iran and called off the planned airstrike. (Associated Press / ABC News)
The White House did not notify House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Trump’s plans to strike Iran. Pelosi is second in line to the presidency. (Washington Post)
Fox & Friends called Trump’s decision to abandon airstrikes against Iran a “weakness, and weakness begets more attacks.” Hosts Brian Kilmeade insisted that “North Korea’s watching. Turkey’s watching. Russia’s watching. China…” (Daily Beast)
Iran received a message from Trump via Oman warning that an attack on Iran was imminent. Iranian officials said Trump claimed he was “against any war with Iran and wanted to talk to Tehran about various issues.” They also said Trump “gave a short period of time to get our response but Iran’s immediate response was that it is up to Supreme Leader.” Another official said they would deliver Trump’s message to the Ayatollah, “however, we told the Omani official that any attack against Iran will have regional and international consequences.” (Reuters)
2/ Trump directed ICE to conduct a mass roundup of migrant families that have received deportation orders. The Sunday raids – dubbed the “family op” – will take place in as many as 10 cities and could target about 2,000 immigrants facing deportation orders. (Washington Post / NBC News)
ICE has deported more immigrants during the first eight months of this fiscal year than any full fiscal year of Trump’s presidency, but he has yet to match Obama’s early deportation numbers. ICE deportations fell to 226,119 in fiscal 2017 and then rose to more than 250,000 in fiscal 2018 before the Trump administration hit a high of 282,242 as of June this fiscal year. (Axios)
A legal team interviewed 60 children at a migrant detention facility near El Paso, TX and were told stories of neglect and mistreatment at the hands of the U.S. government. The lawyers warned that kids are forced to take care of other kids. There is also inadequate food, water, and sanitation for the 250 infants, children, and teens currently detained at the Border Patrol station. (Associated Press / NBC News)
3/ Trump threatened a Time magazine reporter with prison after a photographer tried to take a photo of the letter sent to him by Kim Jong Un. Trump showed four reporters the letter he said was “written by Kim Jong Un” and then he asked to go off-the-record. Later in the interview, the subject turned to Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 campaign, and instead of answering the question, Trump lashed out about the photographer’s attempt to take a shot of the letter from Kim. “Well, you can go to prison, instead, because if you use, if you use the photograph you took of the letter that I gave you…” (Time / CNN / Washington Post / Daily Beast)
4/ Trump rejected an allegation by journalist E. Jean Carroll that he sexually assaulted her in a Manhattan department store dressing room in the 1990s, saying that he has “never met this person in my life.” According to Carroll, she met Trump inside Bergdorf Goodman when he told her he was buying a gift for “a girl” and needed help. While in the lingerie section, Carroll said Trump suggested a lace bodysuit, and encouraged her to try it on. “The moment the dressing-room door is closed, he lunges at me, pushes me against the wall, hitting my head quite badly, and puts his mouth against my lips,” Carroll writes. “He seizes both my arms and pushes me up against the wall a second time, and, as I become aware of how large he is, he holds me against the wall with his shoulder and jams his hand under my coat dress and pulls down my tights.” More than a dozen women have accused Trump of sexual misconduct. Trump, meanwhile, said: “Shame on those who make up false stories of assault to try to get publicity for themselves, or sell a book, or carry out a political agenda.” (New York Magazine / Politico / Daily Beast)
5/ The House Intelligence Committee issued a subpoena to Felix Sater after he failed to show up for a voluntary interview. The Russia-born business executive worked with Michael Cohen to build a Trump Tower in Moscow before the 2016 election. Trump never disclosed the ongoing Trump Tower Moscow negotiations while he was running for president and repeatedly claimed that he has “nothing to do with Russia.” Sater said he was feeling ill and slept through his alarm. (Politico / NBC News / Reuters / The Hill)
YESTERDAY: Sater said he “will answer every question without exception” and planned to discuss previously undisclosed details about his efforts to get a Trump tower built in Moscow. (Washington Post)
Federal prosecutors alleged that Roger Stone violated his gag order with recent social media posts. Stone was banned by Judge Amy Berman Jackson from making public statements about his case in February, after he posted on Instagram a photo of the judge with crosshairs behind her head. (CNN)
1/ Trump warned that Iran “made a very big mistake” after its military claimed responsibility for shooting down an American drone in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard claimed the drone “violated” Iranian airspace, while U.S. military claimed the unmanned aircraft was taken down in “an unprovoked attack on a U.S. surveillance asset” over international airspace. Trump called the action “a new fly in the ointment” and a “very foolish move,” saying the “this country will not stand for it, that I can tell you.” Trump added that it also could have been a “mistake” by someone “loose and stupid.” A top Iranian commander, meanwhile, warned that Iran was “fully ready for war.” And, when asked whether the U.S. would attack Iran, Trump responded: “You’ll soon find out.” (ABC News / Associated Press / New York Times / Politico / The Guardian / NBC News / CNN / CNBC)
2/ The Senate voted to block the sale of $8.1 billion in munitions to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. In back-to-back votes, the Senate passed three measures to block Trump from using his emergency authority to complete the arms sales, but fell short of the support needed to overcome a pledged veto. Trump is expected to veto the Senate’s resolutions. (New York Times / Politico / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post)
3/ A federal appeals court ruled that the Trump administration’s family planning “gag rule” can immediately take effect nationwide. The ruling lifts national injunctions ordered by lower federal courts in Oregon and Washington state, as well as a statewide injunction in California, allowing the Trump administration to strip federal Title X funding from any clinic that provides abortions or abortion referrals. Planned Parenthood faces a cut of $60 million in Title X funds. (Washington Post / Politico)
4/ A watchdog group filed a complaint claiming Ivanka Trump violated the Hatch Act, which bars federal employees from engaging in elections in their official capacity. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington cited a tweet from Ivanka Trump two days before Trump’s 2020 campaign launch that included the campaign slogan “Make America Great Again” and stated “the best is yet to come.” (The Guardian / The Hill)
5/ Felix Sater will testify before the House Intelligence Committee tomorrow about his experience working on the proposed Trump Tower Moscow. The closed-door interview is part of House Democrats’ investigation into Trump’s plans to expand his business operations in Russia during the 2016 election. Sater is a U.S. citizen who worked on two separate efforts to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. He was originally scheduled to testify in March, but his appearance was postponed. (Washington Post)
6/ Deutsche Bank is being investigated by federal authorities over questions of whether it complied with anti-money-laundering laws. Investigators will review the bank’s handling of suspicious activity reports about potentially problematic transactions, including some linked to Jared Kushner. The criminal investigation is one part of several separate but overlapping government probes into financial corruption and the flow of illicit funds through the U.S. financial system. Several other banks are also under investigation. (New York Times)
7/ Three more senators received a classified Pentagon briefing about a series of reported Navy encounters with UFOs. A growing number of members from key oversight committees have requested similar briefings. Sen. Mark Warner was one of the latest three to be briefed on what Warner’s spokesperson referred to as an “unidentified aerial phenomenon.” The briefing comes several days after Trump claimed he had also been briefed on the reports. “People are saying they’re seeing UFOs. Do I believe it? Not particularly.” (Politico / ABC News)
1/ The EPA rolled back Obama’s Clean Power Plan, allowing states to set their own carbon emissions standards for coal-fired power plants and limits the agency’s authority to set national restrictions on carbon emissions in the future. Andrew Wheeler, the EPA administrator, insisted that the new plan will reduce carbon emissions in the power sector 34% below 2005 levels – roughly equal to the goals of the Clean Power Plan. Experts, however, say the U.S. power sector needs to cut its emissions 74% over 2005 levels by 2030 to keep global temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels. As of last year, the power sector had cut its greenhouse gas emissions 27% compared with 2005. The EPA also said the new rules could result in 1,400 more premature deaths by 2030 than the Obama-era plan. (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Axios)
2/ Hope Hicks refused to answer questions during a closed-door hearing before the House Judiciary Committee as part of their ongoing investigation into whether Trump obstructed justice. While the White House did not formally assert executive privilege to block Hicks from answering questions, White House Counsel Pat Cipollone’s said Hicks was “absolutely immune” from discussing her tenure in the Trump administration. Hicks, however, is a private citizen. Hicks also wouldn’t answer questions as basic as where she sat in the West Wing or whether she told the truth to Mueller. Meanwhile on Twitter, Trump accused Democrats of putting Hicks “through hell” and seeking a “Do Over” of the Mueller investigation. The Judiciary Committee said it will release a full transcript of the interview within 48 hours. (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / Daily Beast /CNN)
Earlier Today: House Democrats will question former White House communications director Hope Hicks during a closed-door session of the Judiciary Committee. Lawmakers intend to ask Hicks about five specific incidents of possible obstruction of justice outlined in the Mueller report. White House counsel Pat Cipollone claimed in a letter that Hicks is “absolutely immune” from answering any questions about her time working for the White House and for the Trump transition team. The committee also plans to ask Hicks about the hush money payments that Trump made to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal. (Politico / Washington Post)
3/ Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is privately claiming that Iran has ties to Al Qaeda in order to justify invoking the 2001 war authorization and allow the Trump administration to go to war with Iran. The 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force permits the U.S. to wage war on Al Qaeda and its allies. While Pompeo claimed Trump “does not want war,” Trump ordered 2,500 additional troops to the region recently. On Monday, the Pentagon said it would send an additional 1,000 troops to the Middle East. (New York Times / Washington Post)
Senator Tom Cotton wants to launch a “retaliatory strike” on Iran for the two recent tanker attacks in the Gulf of Oman. “Whatever Iran thinks they can do to the United States or our security partners in the region we can do tenfold to them,” Cotton said. “One hundredfold to them.” (Politico)
Tucker Carlson has privately advised Trump against taking military action against Iran. The Fox News host compared Pompeo’s “misplaced certainty” that Iran attacked the tankers to former Secretary of State Colin Powell’s now-discredited claim that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. (Daily Beast)
poll/ 67% of Democrats want lawmakers to begin impeachment proceedings against Trump – up from 59% in April. (Politico)
Notables.
A U.N. investigator called for further investigation into Saudi officials, including Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, regarding the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. U.N. Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard released a 101-page report detailing her months-long investigation into Khashoggi’s death, providing new details which Callamard says place the blame for the murder beyond just the 11 Saudi agents who are currently on trial. Callamard said Khashoggi’s death amounted to an extrajudicial killing, possibly involving torture, for which the Saudi kingdom is responsible. (Washington Post / CNN / The Guardian / Wall Street Journal)
Trump vowed to cure cancer and ends AIDS if he’s elected to a second term. Trump promised to “come up with the cures to many, many problems, to many, many diseases” as he officially kicked off his 2020 campaign in Orlando. (CBS News)
Trump Jr. mocked Joe Biden for saying he wants to cure cancer. Junior’s remarks came shortly before his father made the same promise to the same audience. (Washington Post)
Trump took credit for passing a veteran’s health care bill that was signed into law by Obama in 2014. The Veterans Choice program allows veterans to see doctors outside the government-run VA system at taxpayer expense. (The Hill / Associated Press)
Trump refused to apologize for the full-page ad he ran in 1989 calling for the execution of the Central Park Five who were exonerated in 2002 after Matias Reyes confessed to raping the woman, which was backed up by DNA evidence. Trump suggested the men might still be guilty, because “they admitted their guilt.” “You have people on both sides of that,” Trump added. A new Netflix series has renewed scrutiny surrounding the Central Park Jogger case. (NBC News / ABC News / Washington Post / USA Today)
Sarah Huckabee Sanders is “extremely serious” about running for governor of Arkansas. Sanders is preparing to leave her current role as White House press secretary at the end of the month and has been privately considering a gubernatorial run for months. (Politico)
Today marks 100 days without an on-camera White House press briefing. The previous record was 42 days. (CNN)
1/ Trump threatened to arrest and deport “millions of illegal aliens” next week. The action is not for people who have been in the country long term, but focused on recent arrivals who skipped court dates. There are an estimated 12 million immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally. Of those, a senior administration official estimated that over “1 million” undocumented immigrants “have been issued final deportation orders by federal judges yet remain at large in the country.” A senior administration official said the department is still in the planning phase. (Washington Post / Politico / ABC News / CNN / NPR / Reuters)
📌 Day 868: Mexico proposed sending about 6,000 National Guard troops to the country’s border with Guatemala to help stem migration as part of a deal to avoid Trump’s tariffs. Mexico and Guatemala also agreed to consider significant changes in asylum laws in the region, allowing the U.S. to reject requests for protection from many people fleeing persecution. The arrangement being discussed would require migrants to seek asylum in the first safe country they enter. Trump threatened to charge a 5% tariff on all Mexican goods starting Monday unless the country reduces the flow of migrants streaming to the U.S. border. The U.S., however, is considering delaying the tariffs as talks continue and Mexican negotiators have made clear that they will pull their offers if Trump imposes the tariffs. (Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg / Politico)
📌 Day 872: Trump backed off his threat to impose tariffs on all Mexican goods, tweeting that the U.S. reached an agreement with Mexico to reduce the number of migrants at the southern border. According to a joint statement, Mexico agreed to “take unprecedented steps to increase enforcement to curb irregular migration,” including the deployment of thousands of national guard troops to its border with Guatemala to stop migrants from reaching the U.S. Mexico also agreed to an expansion of a Trump administration program to host more migrants seeking asylum while their court proceedings are in progress in the U.S. (New York Times / Washington Post)
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez accused Trump administration of running “concentration camps” at the U.S.-Mexico border. Republicans, meanwhile, accused Ocasio-Cortez of demeaning Jews exterminated in the Holocaust. Experts on concentration camps, however, say that “things can be concentration camps without being Dachau or Auschwitz.” (Washington Post / Esquire / The Hill)
2/ Trump’s nominee for defense secretary “decided not to go forward with his confirmation process so that he can devote more time to his family.” An FBI background check revealed that Patrick Shanahan’s ex-wife had accused him of punching her in the stomach after she was arrested and charged for punching him in the face, and in a separate incident, his son hit his mother with a baseball bat. Shanahan’s nomination process had been delayed by an unusually lengthy FBI background check. Trump named Mark Esper, the secretary of the Army, to take over as acting secretary of defense. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNBC / USA Today / Reuters)
3/ Trump’s nominee to be ambassador to the United Nations was frequently missing from her post while the U.S. Ambassador to Canada. FAA records show that a private jet registered to Kelly Craft’s husband and used by the ambassador made 128 flights between the U.S. and Canada during a 15-month span of her tenure in Ottawa – the equivalent of a round trip once a week. (Politico)
4/ Attorney General William Barr’s top deputy intervened in Paul Manafort’s prison designation. The former Trump campaign manager was expected to be transferred to Rikers Island this month to await trial on a separate state case. Instead, Jeffrey Rosen informed prosecutors that Manafort will await trial at a federal lockup in Manhattan or at the Pennsylvania federal prison where he is serving a seven-and-a-half-year sentence. (New York Times / NBC News)
5/ The White House explored demoting Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell in February, shortly after Trump talked about firing him. When asked if Trump still wants to demote Powell, he told reporters: “Let’s see what he does.” The comment comes a day before the Fed was set to announce its next decision on interest rates. (Bloomberg / CNBC)
6/ Trump accused Fox News anchor Bret Baier of pushing “fake news.” Baier cited Fox’s own polling results that showed Joe Biden leading the 2020 presidential field in several battleground states. (Daily Beast)
7/ The EPA will allow states to use a pesticide that is harmful to bees. The use of Sulfoxaflor was temporarily banned in 2015. (The Hill)
Not a lot cooking today, so we’re going to skip the Notables!
1/ The Supreme Court ruled that criminal defendants may be prosecuted for the same offenses in both federal and state court without running afoul of the Constitution’s double jeopardy clause. The ruling could impact Trump’s pardon power – which extends only to federal crimes – by leaving people he pardons subject to state prosecutions. Paul Manafort, for example, is facing charges in New York similar to the federal charges for which he has been tried. A presidential pardon could free Manafort from federal prison, but it would not protect him from being prosecuted in New York. (New York Times / NBC News / CNN / USA Today)
2/ U.S. Cyber Command hacked and deployed malware inside Russia’s power grid that could be used for surveillance or attack – without Trump’s knowledge. Pentagon and intelligence officials reportedly did not brief Trump due to concerns that he might countermand it or discuss it with foreign officials. The actions were taken under a new set of legal authorities granted to U.S. Cyber Command by Congress last year, which allows the routine use of “clandestine military activity” in cyberspace without requiring presidential approval in order to “deter, safeguard or defend against attacks or malicious cyberactivities against the United States.” Officials at the National Security Council declined to comment about how deep into the Russian grid the U.S. had accessed, but said they had no national security concerns about the details of reporting about the targeting of the Russian grid. (New York Times)
📌 Day 571: Trump signed defense legislation named after John McCain but didn’t mention the Senator’s name during the ceremony. Trump praised the U.S. military and took credit for the $716 billion defense bill, which represents a $16 billion increase in authorized funding for the Pentagon over the current year. The bill is formally named the “John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act For Fiscal Year 2019.” (Bloomberg / Washington Post)
3/ Trump accused The New York Times of committing a “virtual act of treason” for reporting that the U.S. had increased its cyberattacks on Russia, which were meant to deter future cyber activity by Moscow. In a separate tweet, Trump claimed that the story was “NOT TRUE!” and characterized the journalists as “true cowards.” The New York Times responded to Trump’s tweet, calling the accusation “dangerous” and noting that the paper reached out to the administration for comment on the story, but Trump’s own officials said they had “no concerns” about the story. (Associated Press / NBC News / The Hill)
The Kremlin warned of a possible cyberwar with the U.S. for hacking into Russia’s electric power grid. (New York Times)
4/ Trump’s re-election campaign fired several pollsters after leaked internal polling showed he trailed Joe Biden in 11 battleground states. Trump denied the existence of any negative polling last week, calling them “fake polls” and claiming “we are winning in every single state that we’ve polled.” The campaign fired Brett Lloyd, Mike Baselice and Adam Geller. Lloyd is the head of the Polling Company, a firm started by Kellyanne Conway in 1995. (CNN / Politico / New York Times / NBC News / Bloomberg / ABC News)
poll/ 27% of Americans say there’s enough evidence to begin impeachment hearings now — up 10 points from last month. 24% think Congress should continue investigating to see if there’s enough evidence to hold impeachment hearings in the future, while 48% believe that Congress should not hold impeachment hearings and that Trump should finish out his term as president. (NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
poll/ 50% of Americans believe the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia — up six points over the last three months — compared to 44% who do not believe there was coordination. (Fox News)
poll/ 50% of Americans say enforcement of immigration laws has “gone too far.” 24% say actions haven’t gone far enough. (Bloomberg)
Notables.
Trump suggested his supporters might “demand that I stay longer” than two terms as president. “At the end of 6 years,” Trump tweeted, “after America has been made GREAT again and I leave the beautiful White House (do you think the people would demand that I stay longer? KEEP AMERICA GREAT), both of these horrible papers will quickly go out of business & be forever gone!” The 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution limits the presidency to two terms. In April, Trump told a crowd that he might remain in office “at least for 10 or 14 years.” And, last year Trump joked about doing away with term limits entirely, praising Xi Jinping for doing so in China. (Washington Post / The Independent)
The Supreme Court ruled that the legislative districts in Virginia that it previously said were racially gerrymandered have to remain in their redrawn form. The Republican-led Virginia House of Delegates attempted to challenge a lower court opinion that struck several district maps as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. The justices found that House Republicans did not have legal standing to challenge the decision. (NPR / Washington Post / CNN / The Hill)
Congressional leaders from both parties will meet this week in an attempt to reach a deal to avoid tens of billions of dollars in automatic spending cuts this fall. Neither side says they are close to reaching an agreement at the moment, and Republicans have acknowledged that they’re even having trouble finding a common position with the White House. At stake is $125 billion in automatic, mandatory spending cuts to the Pentagon and domestic spending unless a deal is reached to increase those limits. (Politico)
The State Department will cut off all foreign aid to Guatemala, Honduras or El Salvador until the countries take “concrete actions to reduce the number of illegal migrants coming to the U.S. border.” (Axios)
Iran will surpass the uranium-stockpile limit set by its nuclear deal in the next 10 days, unless it received assurances that Europe will combat economic sanctions imposed by Trump. The U.S. withdrew from the landmark 2015 nuclear deal. (Associated Press / New York Times)
Trump will send an additional 1,000 troops to the Middle East in response to “hostile behavior by Iranian forces and their proxy groups” that threaten U.S. “personnel and interests.” (Axios / CNN)
Trump directed all agencies to cut their advisory boards by “at least” one third. Agencies have until Sept. 30 to “evaluate the need” for each of their current advisory committees and reduce them by one-third. (The Hill)
1/ Trump backtracked on his willingness to accept help from foreign governments, saying “of course” he would “absolutely” report an encounter to the FBI. Trump, however, added that he’d alert the FBI only after reviewing the material first, “because if you don’t look at it, you won’t know it’s bad.” (New York Times / Politico)
📌 Day 875: Trump admitted that he’d “want to hear” from foreign governments with damaging information about his political opponents. Trump claimed “there isn’t anything wrong with listening” to a foreign government if they contacted him and said “we have information on your opponent.” Trump also rejected the notion that accepting damaging information from a foreign government would constitute election interference, saying “It’s not an interference, they have information – I think I’d take it.” FBI Director Christopher Wray during congressional testimony last month told lawmakers that “the FBI would want to know about” any foreign election meddling. Trump, however, said he might alert the FBI “if I thought there was something wrong,” but then said “The FBI director is wrong, because frankly it doesn’t happen like that in life.” (ABC News / Associated Press / NBC News / New York Times / Bloomberg)
2/ Mitch McConnell downplayed Trump’s willingness to accept foreign dirt on political opponents and not report it to the FBI in 2020. McConnell said Democrats keep bringing up the 2016 presidential election because they “can’t let it go,” and accused Democrats of trying to “harass” Trump. Lindsey Graham, meanwhile, said taking help from foreign agents would be “probably not a good idea.” John Cornyn added: “I’d rather just have Americans participate in American elections.” (Politico / CNN)
3/ Senate Republicans blocked a bill requiring campaigns to tell the FBI about any offers of foreign assistance they receive. Marsha Blackburn called the legislation’s reporting requirements “overbroad,” and complained that it would require campaigns to worry about disclosures at “so many different levels.” Mark Warner said Blackburn’s assessment of the bill was “not accurate,” and “The only thing that would have to be reported is if the agent of a foreign government or national offered that something that was already prohibited.” (Axios)
4/ The head of the Federal Election Commission reiterated that foreign assistance is illegal in U.S. elections. “I would not have thought that I needed to say this,” Ellen Weintraub tweeted. “Let me make something 100 percent clear to the American public and anyone running for public office: It is illegal for any person to solicit, accept, or receive anything of value from a foreign national in connection with a U.S. election.” (Politico / The Hill)
5/ Democratic presidential candidates will participate in two debates, split into two groups of 10 on June 26 and 27 in Miami. On night one, Cory Booker, Julián Castro, Bill de Blasio, John Delaney, Tulsi Gabbard, Jay Inslee, Amy Klobuchar, Beto O’Rourke, Tim Ryan, and Elizabeth Warren. On night two, Michael Bennet, Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris, John Hickenlooper, Bernie Sanders, Eric Swalwell, Marianne Williamson, and Andrew Yang. The debates will air on NBC and be moderated by the NBC anchors Savannah Guthrie, Lester Holt and Chuck Todd, the Telemundo anchor José Díaz-Balart, and the MSNBC commentator Rachel Maddow. (New York Times / NBC News)
6/ The Justice Department supported Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s refusal to turn over Trump’s tax returns to the House Ways and Means Committee. The Office of Legal Counsel released its legal rationale for refusing to provide Trump’s tax returns to Congress, saying the request was designed to make the returns public, which “is not a legitimate legislative purpose.” (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
📌 Day 841: The House Ways and Mean Committee subpoenaed Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin over Trump’s tax returns. IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig was also subpoenaed. Chairman Richard Neal gave Mnuchin and Rettig until until May 17 to turn over six years of Trump’s returns, and is expected to go to court to enforce his request if the Trump administration continues to argue that the committee does not have a legitimate legislative purpose that warrants compliance. Earlier this week, Mnuchin rejected Neal’s request for the returns. Trump previously vowed to fight all subpoenas from House Democrats. Subpoenas are now pending from the Ways and Means, Judiciary, Oversight and Reform, Financial Services, and the Intelligence Committees. (CNBC / New York Times / Politico / Washington Post /Wall Street Journal)
Notables.
The owner of one of the Japanese oil tankers that was attacked in the Straight of Hormuz says the U.S. is wrong about the attack, contradicting the claims made — without evidence — by Trump and Mike Pompeo. The U.S. military released a video and claimed that it shows Iranian boats retrieving an unexploded mine from the oil tanker, but the owner of the tanker says his sailors saw “flying objects” just before it was hit. Yutaka Katada called the reports claiming the tanker was hit by a mine “false” and denied any possibility of a mine or torpedo attack because “the impact was well above the water.” Trump blamed Iran for the attack, describing the country is a “nation of terror.” (CBS News / New York Times / Washington Post / Daily Beast / NBC News / NPR / The Guardian / Associated Press)
Trump doesn’t plan to fire Kellyanne Conway for her repeated violations of the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees from engaging in political activity in their official roles. “It looks to me like they’re trying to take away her right of free speech,” Trump said, “and that’s just not fair.” A report submitted to Trump by the Office of Special Counsel found that Conway violated the Hatch Act on multiple occasions by “disparaging Democratic presidential candidates while speaking in her official capacity during television interviews and on social media.” (Washington Post / CNN)
The Trump administration and Congress owe Washington, D.C. more than $7 million in expenses from Trump’s 2017 inauguration. The total cost of the four days of events, parade, and gathering of roughly 600,000 people on the Mall, was $27.3 million. Congress appropriated roughly $20 million for Trump’s inauguration. (Washington Post)
Ivanka Trump made $4 million from her investment in the Trump International Hotel last year. (Bloomberg)
D.C. residents filed a petition to revoke the Trump International Hotel’s liquor license. D.C. law states that license applicants must be of “good character and generally fit for the responsibilities of licensure.” (Washington Post)
A physicist appointed by the White House to counter the federal government’s own climate science consulted a group that disavows manmade climate change. William Happer reached out to the Heartland Institute to discuss his arguments in a paper attempting to knock down the contributions of fossil fuel emissions in climate disruption. Happer is now a member of Trump’s National Security Council. (Associated Press / The Guardian)
The Trump administration cannot block pregnant, undocumented teenagers held in government custody from getting abortions, a federal appeals court ruled. The court concluded that they were “rejecting the government’s position that its denial of abortion access can be squared with Supreme Court precedent.” (CNN / BuzzFeed News)
ICE placed 5,200 adult immigrants in quarantine after being exposed to mumps or chicken pox while in custody. About 4,200 have been exposed to mumps, 800 exposed to chicken pox, and 100 have been exposed to both. (CNN)
Trump declined to endorse Mike Pence for president in 2024, instead said he would give it “strong consideration.” (USA Today / Politico)
Trump compared Melania Trump to Jackie Kennedy Onassis, saying “we have our own Jackie O. It’s called Melania…we’ll call it Melania T.” Trump made the comparison while defending his decision to paint the new Air Force One red, white and blue, replacing the baby blue color scheme picked by Kennedy Onassis in the 1960s. (Politico / Talking Points Memo / The Hill / The Cut)
1/ Trump admitted that he’d “want to hear” from foreign governments with damaging information about his political opponents. Trump claimed “there isn’t anything wrong with listening” to a foreign government if they contacted him and said “we have information on your opponent.” Trump also rejected the notion that accepting damaging information from a foreign government would constitute election interference, saying “It’s not an interference, they have information – I think I’d take it.” FBI Director Christopher Wray during congressional testimony last month told lawmakers that “the FBI would want to know about” any foreign election meddling. Trump, however, said he might alert the FBI “if I thought there was something wrong,” but then said “The FBI director is wrong, because frankly it doesn’t happen like that in life.” (ABC News / Associated Press / NBC News / New York Times / Bloomberg)
Putin: Relations between Moscow and Washington “are going downhill, they are getting worse and worse.” (Reuters)
2/ Nancy Pelosi: “Everybody in the country should be totally appalled” by Trump’s comments and that he “gave us evidence once again he does not know right from wrong.” Pelosi added that Trump is giving Russia “the green light” to again interfere in the presidential election. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, meanwhile, called Trump’s remarks “disgraceful” and “shocking,” saying that “it’s as if the president had learned absolutely nothing in the past two years” from Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. (Washington Post / Associated Press / ABC News / CNBC / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
More than a dozen 2020 Democratic presidential candidates rebuked Trump after he admitted he would consider taking information on his political opponents from a foreign government. Many renewed calls for impeachment while also voicing new concerns about the security of American elections. (Washington Post)
3/ Trump tried to defend and recast his comments about accepting information about his rivals from foreign governments, tweeting that he talks to foreign leaders every day and asking: “Should I immediately call the FBI about these calls and meetings? How ridiculous!” Trump then argued that his comments were taken out of context, claiming that his “full answer is rarely played by the Fake News Media” and that “They purposely leave out the part that matters.” He did not offer evidence to support the claim. (Politico / HuffPost)
4/ The Justice Department plans to interview senior CIA officials about the origins of its Russia investigation and their conclusion that Putin ordered an influence campaign that “aspired to help” Trump and hurt Hillary Clinton. Attorney General William Barr previously said he wanted to review why the FBI opened the counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign in order to determine whether law enforcement officials abused their power. (New York Times)
6/ A federal watchdog agency recommended that Kellyanne Conway “immediately” be “removed from service,” citing repeated violations of the Hatch Act, which bans federal employees from political activity. The Office of Special Counsel – unrelated to Mueller’s office – said Conway has been a “repeat offender” by “disparaging Democratic presidential candidates while speaking in her official capacity during television interviews and on social media.” The decision to remove Conway is up to Trump. (Washington Post / Politico / ABC News / New York Times / Axios / Reuters / Associated Press / The Hill / The Guardian)
7/ The House Intelligence Committee issued subpoenas to Michael Flynn and Rick Gates. The committee is demanding that Flynn and Gates provide documents by June 26 and testify before the committee on July 10. Committee Chairman Adam Schiff said the committee issued the subpoenas after both “refused to fully cooperate with Congress.” Flynn and Gates both pleaded guilty and cooperated in Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. (New York Times / CNN / Politico / Reuters)
Trump approves of Flynn’s new lawyer, saying his former national security adviser “has not retained a good lawyer, he has retained a GREAT LAWYER.” Sidney Powell previously accused the FBI of spying on Flynn as part of a “setup,” arguing that Flynn should withdraw his guilty plea and that his case should be dismissed. (Politico)
Notables.
Trump Jr. indicated that he plans to campaign against Justin Amash, the only Republican congressman who has called for Trump’s impeachment. (CNBC / Washington Post)
Two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman were attacked as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was meeting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran. The attack comes a month after four tankers were damaged in the same area. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, meanwhile, said intelligence showed that Iran was responsible for attacks on two oil tankers. While Pompeo didn’t present any evidence, he called the sabotage against the tankers the latest in a series of “unprovoked attacks [that] present a clear threat to international peace and security.” (Associated Press / Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg)
Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney used his position to push for the nomination of a federal judge over the objection of White House lawyers. Mulvaney repeatedly pushed Don McGahn to nominate Halil Suleyman Ozerden to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Mulvaney was a groomsman at Ozerden’s wedding in 2003. (Politico)
Trump still owes hundreds of thousands of dollars in security fees to at least ten U.S. cities. The Trump campaign has failed to reimburse the cities for public-safety costs associated with his presidential and campaign rallies. The total bill currently sits at $841,219 and includes invoices that date back to before Trump was elected in 2016. (Center for Public Integrity / The Hill / NBC News)
Trump revealed images of Air Force One’s proposed redesign, which features a color scheme similar to his own private jet. The two new planes will cost $3.9 billion, but won’t be ready for takeoff until 2024. (ABC News / Washington Post)
1/ Trump asserted executive privilege over subpoenaed documents about the administration’s decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census. The move, on the advice of the Justice Department, was meant to undercut a vote later in the day by the House Oversight Committee to hold Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in contempt for refusing to turn over the materials. Hours later the committee voted 24-15 to advance the contempt measures against Barr and Ross. The full House will need to hold a floor vote in order to to file a lawsuit to enforce the committee’s subpoenas. (Washington Post / NBC News / Politico / New York Times / Axios / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal)
2/ Trump Jr. said he’s “not at all worried” about perjury charges over suspicions he previously lied to Congress. “There was nothing to change,” Trump Jr. said following his closed-door meeting with the Senate Intelligence Committee today. In February, Michael Cohen testified that he briefed Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump about negotiations regarding the Trump Tower Moscow project. Cohen also told Congress that he believed he heard Trump Jr. talking with his father about the Trump Tower meeting between him, Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort, and a Russian lawyer promising damaging information on Hillary Clinton. (CNN / Washington Post / Politico / Talking Points Memo)
Michael Flynn’s new attorney is one of the earliest and fiercest critics of the Justice Department and the FBI’s investigation into a potential conspiracy between Trump’s campaign and Russia. Sidney Powell, a former Justice Department attorney, claimed that Flynn was spied on as part of a “set-up” by the FBI and that his case should be “dismissed.” Flynn pleaded guilty last year to lying to the FBI and agreed to cooperate with Mueller’s investigation. (The Hill / Politico / CNN)
The House Intelligence Committee chairman threatened to subpoena FBI Director Christopher Wray for information related to the counterintelligence investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Adam Schiff said he has been unable to get information on the status or findings of the counterintelligence probe. (The Hill / Associated Press / Politico / CNN)
3/ Hope Hicks agreed to testify before the House Judiciary Committee next Wednesday. Hicks will be the first former Trump aide to go before the committee investigating whether Trump tried to obstruct a probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Her testimony will be behind closed doors but a transcript will be released to the public. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
4/ Kamala Harris – if elected – said her Justice Department “would have no choice” but to prosecute Trump after his term in office. “There has to be accountability,” Harris added. “Everyone should be held accountable, and the president is not above the law.” (NPR / Axios)
poll/ 69% of voters said a sitting president should be subject to criminal charges, while 24% said a president should be charged with crimes after they leave office. 52% of Republicans, 83% of Democrats, and 68% of independent voters all support charging a sitting president. 55% of voters say Robert Mueller’s report did not clear Trump of wrongdoing. (Quinnipiac)
Notables.
Trump publicly came out against the use of CIA informants to spy on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, saying it would not happen on his watch. Trump’s comments came a day after reports that Kim’s half-brother, who was killed at the Kuala Lumpur airport in 2017, was a CIA source. “I saw the information about the CIA, with respect to his brother, or half-brother,” Trump told reporters. “And I would tell [Kim Jong Un] that would not happen under my auspices, that’s for sure. I wouldn’t let that happen under my auspices.” (Reuters)
Trump held up a document and claimed it was a “secret” deal with Mexico to avoid further tariffs. Mexican officials had already revealed most of it. Photographs of the document show language about “a regional approach to burden-sharing in relation to the processing of refugee status claims to migrants.” The document also refers to a window of “45 days,” and says Mexico has committed to examining and changing its laws in order to implement the agreement. Mexico’s Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said the Friday agreement with the U.S. gave Mexico 45 days to prove that it could diminish migration without agreeing to a “safe third country” deal, in which Central American migrants would be held in Mexico while their claims are processed. (Washington Post / Reuters / The Guardian)
Trump – without evidence – claimed he is “winning in every single state that we polled.” Trump, however, was recently briefed on a 17-state poll by his campaign that showed him trailing Biden in many of the states he needs to win in 2020. He then instructed aides to deny the results of the campaign’s internal polling. “We have great internal polling,” Trump added. (Washington Post)
Mitch McConnell dismissed reports that his wife, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, helped steer federal funding to his home state of Kentucky. When asked about the allegations of special treatment, McConnell joked that he was disappointed that Chao wasn’t able to steer enough funds his way. “You know, I was complaining to her just last night: 169 projects, and Kentucky got only five,” McConnell said. “I hope we’ll do a lot better next year.” (Washington Post)
The U.S. budget deficit widened to $738.6 billion – a $206 billion increase from a year earlier. (Bloomberg)
At least 22 foreign governments have spent money at Trump Organization properties. According to news accounts and other public records, at least nine foreign governments were involved in hosting events at a Trump property, at least nine foreign governments rented or purchased property in buildings or communities owned by Trump businesses, representatives of at least five foreign governments have stayed at a Trump property, and at least eight foreign governments or their representatives attended parties or gatherings at Trump properties. (NBC News)
1/ The White House will review and decide what evidence from Robert Mueller’s report the House Judiciary Committee gets to see. The Trump administration will work with the Justice Department and is expected to assert executive privilege to limit the documents the committee has access to. (Daily Beast)
📌 Day 872: The Justice Department agreed to provide Congress with “key evidence” collected by Robert Mueller related to obstruction of justice and abuse of power by Trump. House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler said “Mueller’s most important files” will be available to all committee members, allowing “us to perform our constitutional duties and decide how to respond to the allegations laid out against the President by the Special Counsel.” The House Judiciary Committee, however, moved no closer to securing testimony from Mueller or other figures, such as former White House counsel Donald McGahn, who has declined to testify, citing Trump administration lawyers. (New York Times / CNN / Washington Post)
2/ The House authorized committee chairs to sue the Trump administration in federal court to enforce a series of subpoenas. The House Judiciary Committee can now begin legal proceedings to enforce the panel’s subpoenas for Mueller’s evidence and force former White House Counsel Donald McGahn to cooperate with the panels’ probe into whether Trump obstructed justice. The move also empowers other committee chairmen to seek enforcement of their own subpoenas for testimony and documents, such as Trump’s tax returns. The measure, however, stopped short of a criminal contempt citation for Attorney General William Barr and McGahn. (Politico / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
The Justice Department advised Trump to invoke executive privilege to block House Democrats’ access to documents about efforts to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd threatened the blanket assertion of privilege if the House Oversight and Reform Committee proceeds with a scheduled vote on Wednesday to hold Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in contempt of Congress. (Politico)
3/ Trump Jr. will be interviewed by Senate Intelligence Committee behind closed doors on Wednesday. The Republican-led committee subpoenaed Trump Jr. last month, angering Trump and his allies. Trump Jr. will testify for two-to-four hours on a half dozen topics, including the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting and the Trump Tower Moscow project. (CNN)
📌 Day 840: Mick Mulvaney criticized Republicans for not informing him that Trump Jr. would be subpoenaed by the Senate Intelligence Committee as part of its ongoing probe into Russian interference in the 2016 campaign. The acting White House chief of staff called it “bad form” to “not at least get a heads-up” from the Republican-led committee. Senator Richard Blumenthal said that “If [Trump Jr.] fails to comply with a lawful subpoena, he has no privilege, prison is the only answer.” Trump Jr. is expected to assert his Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination in order to resist testifying about his contacts with Russia. (Washington Post / Politico / CNN / The Hill / Reuters)
📌 Day 839: The Senate Intelligence Committee subpoenaed Trump Jr. to answer questions about his previous testimony related to the Russia investigation. Trump Jr. testified before the committee in September 2017 that he was only “peripherally aware” of the proposed plans to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. Michael Cohen, however, told a House committee earlier this year that he had met with both Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump “approximately 10” times to brief them about the Trump Tower plan. The Republican-led committee wants Trump Jr. to answer questions about his claim to have limited knowledge of the plan. (Axios / CNBC / New York Times)
📌 Day 680: Trump Jr.‘s testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee conflicts with Michael Cohen’s version of events regarding negotiations of a prospective Trump Tower in Moscow. In Cohen’s version, he says the discussions with at least one Russian government official continued through June 2016. Trump Jr. testified in September 2017 that talks surrounding a Trump Tower in Moscow concluded without result “at the end” of 2014 and “certainly not [20]16. There was never a definitive end to it. It just died of deal fatigue.” Trump Jr. told the Senate committee that he “wasn’t involved,” knew “very little,” and was only “peripherally aware” of the deal other than a letter of intent was signed by Trump. He also said he didn’t know that Cohen had sent an email to Putin’s aide, Dmitry Peskov. In Cohen’s guilty plea, he said he briefed Trump’s family members about the continued negotiations. (NPR / USA Today)
4/ Speaker Nancy Pelosi said impeachment is “not off the table,” but that the Democratic caucus is “not even close” to moving forward with impeaching Trump. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, meanwhile, has twice urged Pelosi in private to open a formal impeachment inquiry. (CNN / Axios / Politico)
Rep. Justin Amash stepped down from the right-wing House Freedom Caucus, which he co-founded, less than a month after becoming the first Republican to admit that Trump committed impeachable offenses. Amash said he “didn’t want to be a further distraction for the group” after tweeting that Mueller’s report contained “multiple examples” of Trump committing obstruction of justice. Trump called Amash “a loser for a long time.” Amash is now facing a primary challenge from a Trump supporter. (CNN / Fox News / Politico / Axios / Washington Post)
poll/ 70% of American voters say the economy is “excellent” or “good,” but only 41% of voters say Trump deserves credit for it. Another 27% said Trump does not deserve credit and 28% say the economy is “not so good” or “poor.” (Quinnipiac)
Notables.
Trump ordered his aides to lie about the results of his campaign’s internal polling efforts in key battleground states. After he was briefed on the results of a 17-state poll conducted by his campaign pollster, Tony Fabrizio, Trump told aides to publicly deny that he was trailing Joe Biden in states like Texas, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. When details about the polls leaked, he also told aides to say publicly that other polling data showed him doing well. (New York Times / The Week)
The Trump campaign is considering putting resources into Oregon – a state where Hillary Clinton beat Trump by 11 percentage points in 2016. (CNN)
Three Republican former heads of the EPA accused the agency’s current leadership of taking a “catastrophic” approach to climate change by “undermining [the] science.” (ABC News)
Mike Pence confirmed that American embassies were banned from flying the pride flag on their embassy flagpoles, calling it “the right decision.” Pence added that “when it comes to the American flagpole, and American embassies and capitals around the world, one American flag flies.” (Washington Post / USA Today / NBC News)
Trump’s former Chief of Staff Reince Preibus joined the Navy. Preibus was sworn in as an entry-level officer by Pence during a commissioning ceremony. (Washington Post)
Trump appears to be having second thoughts about his next secretary of defense. Last week, Trump asked several confidants about alternative candidates for nominee Patrick Shanahan. (NBC News)
Trump distinguished between himself and Richard Nixon about the possibility of impeachment. “He left. I don’t leave,” Trump said. “A big difference.” (Politico)
1/ The Justice Department agreed to provide Congress with “key evidence” collected by Robert Mueller related to obstruction of justice and abuse of power by Trump. House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler said “Mueller’s most important files” will be available to all committee members, allowing “us to perform our constitutional duties and decide how to respond to the allegations laid out against the President by the Special Counsel.” The House Judiciary Committee, however, moved no closer to securing testimony from Mueller or other figures, such as former White House counsel Donald McGahn, who has declined to testify, citing Trump administration lawyers. (New York Times / CNN / Washington Post)
2/ Jerry Nadler agreed to delay a vote to hold Barr and McGahn in contempt of Congress after reaching the deal with the Department of Justice for evidence from the Mueller report. The House will still proceed with a vote to authorize the House Judiciary Committee to take Barr to federal court to fully enforce its subpoena, but will not formally vote to hold Barr in contempt. “If the Department proceeds in good faith and we are able to obtain everything that we need, then there will be no need to take further steps,” Nadler said. “If important information is held back, then we will have no choice but to enforce our subpoena in court and consider other remedies.” (ABC News / NBC News / NPR)
3/ Trump backed off his threat to impose tariffs on all Mexican goods, tweeting that the U.S. reached an agreement with Mexico to reduce the number of migrants at the southern border. According to a joint statement, Mexico agreed to “take unprecedented steps to increase enforcement to curb irregular migration,” including the deployment of thousands of national guard troops to its border with Guatemala to stop migrants from reaching the U.S. Mexico also agreed to an expansion of a Trump administration program to host more migrants seeking asylum while their court proceedings are in progress in the U.S. (New York Times / Washington Post)
READ: The United States-Mexico Joint Declaration released by the State Department. (New York Times)
4/ Mexico had already agreed to deploy its National Guard several months ago. The Mexican government agreed to the “deployment of its National Guard throughout Mexico, giving priority to its southern border” during secret talks with Kirstjen Nielsen back in March. And, the agreement to host asylum seekers in Mexico while their cases proceed in the U.S. was reached in December. Trump, however, tweeted on Saturday that he was “very excited about the new deal with Mexico.” (New York Times / Reuters)
5/ Trump claimed there are “some things….. …..not mentioned” in the deal with Mexico, promising they’ll be revealed “in the not too distant future.” Mexico’s Foreign Affairs Minister Marcelo Ebrard, however, contradicted Trump’s claim that a “fully signed and documented” agreement would be revealed soon, saying there were no undisclosed parts of the U.S.-Mexico deal. Trump also claimed that Mexico agreed to “immediately begin buying large quantities of agricultural product from our great patriot farmers.” There is no evidence, however, that an agreement on agricultural trade was agreed to and three Mexican officials have denied that it exists. (Politico / Associated Press / ABC News / New York Times / CNN / Bloomberg / Business Insider)
6/ The White House blocked a State Department intelligence agency from submitting written testimony that human-caused climate change is “possibly catastrophic” to national security. The written testimony by the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research for a House Intelligence Committee hearing outlined that “absent extensive mitigating factors or events, we see few plausible future scenarios where significant — possibly catastrophic — harm does not arise from the compounded effects of climate change.” Officials from the White House’s Office of Legislative Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, and National Security Council all objected to parts of the testimony because it did not align with the Trump administration’s official stance. The analyst, Rod Schoonover, was ultimately allowed to speak before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, but the White House refused to approve Schoonover’s written testimony for entry into the permanent Congressional Record. (Washington Post / New York Times)
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo suggested that people deal with climate change by “mov[ing] to different places.” Pomeo claimed that the climate “always changes,” and so “societies reorganize” and “we will figure out responses to this that address these issues in important and fundamental ways.” (Talking Points Memo)
Notables.
Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao set up a special liaison to deal with grant applications from her husband Mitch McConnell’s state of Kentucky. The deal allowed at least $78 million for preferred projects to go through while McConnell campaigned for reelection. Chao personally asked Todd Inman to serve as intermediary and help advise McConnell and local officials on specific grants that McConnell designated. One grant for a highway improvement project in a McConnell political stronghold had already been rejected on two separate occasions. (Politico)
A real estate company part-owned by Jared Kushner received $90 million in foreign funding since 2017. Kushner failed to list the company, Cadre, on his first ethics disclosure, but later adding the company and calling it an inadvertent omission. (The Guardian)
A bipartisan group of Senators is attempting to block Trump’s sale of arms to Saudi Arabia. Senators are using a provision in the Foreign Assistance Act to request a report from the Trump administration on Saudi Arabia’s human rights record, which could trigger a vote to halt the billions of dollars in arms sales that Mike Pompeo is pushing for despite opposition from Congress. (Politico / NBC News / The Hill)
The Trump administration rejected requests from U.S. embassies to fly the rainbow pride flag on embassy flagpoles during Pride Month. An advisory cable last year directed diplomats to obtain top-level approval from the State Department’s Office of Management to fly a rainbow flag. Requests by U.S. embassies in Israel, Germany, Brazil and Latvia to fly the pride flag on their flagpoles have been denied. (NBC News / Washington Post)
The symbolic oak tree Emmanuel Macron gave to Trump last year has died. Macron tweeted at the time that the sapling would be “a reminder … of these ties that bind us” and the “tenacity of the friendship” of the two nations. (The Guardian)
Trump has made at least 10,796 false or misleading claims since taking office. Trump has averaged about 12 false claims a day. (Washington Post)
1/ The Justice and Commerce departments rejected subpoenas by House Democrats demanding more documents about the addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 Census. Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd sent a letter to House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings, claiming the documents are protected by attorney-client privilege and therefore cannot be disclosed. Boyd wrote that the committee’s “insistence that the department immediately turn over these documents … is improper,” and added that the Justice Department has already handed over tens of thousands of documents. (Politico)
2/ Elijah Cummings indicated that he plans to move forward with contempt votes for Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in response to the Justice and Commerce departments’ refusal to turn over documents. “We gave Attorney General Barr and Secretary Ross every opportunity to produce the documents the Committee needs for our investigation,” Cummings said in a statement, “but rather than cooperate, they have decided that they would rather be held in contempt of Congress.” The panel is scheduled to vote next week to hold Barr and Ross in contempt of Congress, the same week the House will vote to hold Barr in contempt for failing to provide the full, unredacted Mueller report and underlying evidence to Congress. (The Hill)
3/ The world’s largest automakers warned Trump that his plan to weaken tailpipe pollution standards is a threat to their profits and will produce “untenable” instability in the manufacturing sector. In a letter signed by 17 companies including Ford, General Motors, Toyota, and Volvo, the companies urged Trump not to roll back the policy. Trump’s new rule would all but eliminate the Obama-era auto pollution regulations and effectively freeze miles-per-gallon standards at 37 mpg for cars, instead of the original goal of reaching 54.5 mpg by 2025. The automakers warned Trump that “an extended period of litigation and instability” would follow if his plans are implemented. (New York Times / NPR)
4/ Government prosecutors released the audio recording of a 2017 voicemail from Trump’s then-personal lawyer asking Michael Flynn’s attorney for “some kind of heads up” about his cooperation with investigators. Mueller’s team has described John Dowd’s call to Rob Kelner as a “potential” effort to hinder the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. The transcript of Dowd’s call with Kelner was included in the Mueller report, but the audio remained secret until Thursday. Prosecutors turned it over after an order from a federal judge, who is weighing how to sentence Flynn for making false statements to FBI agents about his contacts with the Russian ambassador to the United States. (ABC News / New York Times)
Russia tried to set up a video teleconference between Trump and Putin on the day after Trump’s inauguration. While the U.S. and Russian officials have never confirmed that a conversation took place on Jan. 21, 2017, the White House, however, provided a readout of a “congratulatory call” from Putin that happened on Jan. 28th. The call lasted about one hour and the two discussed Syria and fighting Islamic terrorism, among other topics. (Politico)
5/ U.S. and Russian warships almost collided in the Pacific, coming somewhere between 50 feet and 165 feet of each other. Each side blamed the other, alleging that their ships were forced to perform emergency maneuvers to avoid a collision. (CNN)
6/ The economy added 75,000 jobs in May while the unemployment rate stayed steady at 3.6% – the lowest level in almost 50 years. March’s job count was revised lower from 189,000 to 153,000 and the April number was lowered to 224,000 from 263,000. (CNBC / NBC News / New York Times)
7/ Trump called Nancy Pelosi a “nasty, vindictive, horrible person” in response to the House speaker telling lawmakers she’d rather see “him in prison” than impeached. Trump also called Charles Schumer a “jerk” and Mueller a “fool.” (Politico / Washington Post)
poll/ 77% of Americans want the Supreme Court to uphold Roe v. Wade. Within that group, 26% say they would like to see it remain in place, but with more restrictions added; 21% want to see Roe expanded to establish the right to abortion under any circumstance; 16% want to keep it the way it is; and 14% want to see some of the restrictions allowed under Roe reduced. 13% overall say it should be overturned. (NPR)
1/ Mexico proposed sending about 6,000 National Guard troops to the country’s border with Guatemala to help stem migration as part of a deal to avoid Trump’s tariffs. Mexico and Guatemala also agreed to consider significant changes in asylum laws in the region, allowing the U.S. to reject requests for protection from many people fleeing persecution. The arrangement being discussed would require migrants to seek asylum in the first safe country they enter. Trump threatened to charge a 5% tariff on all Mexican goods starting Monday unless the country reduces the flow of migrants streaming to the U.S. border. The U.S., however, is considering delaying the tariffs as talks continue and Mexican negotiators have made clear that they will pull their offers if Trump imposes the tariffs. (Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg / Politico)
Earlier in the day, Trump declared that “not nearly enough” progress has been made in the negotiations with Mexico. Trump warned that “if no agreement is reached, Tariffs at the 5% level will begin on Monday, with monthly increases as per schedule.” Trump indicated that he won’t be satisfied with anything less than direct evidence that Mexico has completely stopped the flow of migration through its country. (New York Times / Politico)
2/ Trump threatened to impose tariffs on “at least” another $300 billion worth of Chinese goods, but said he thinks China and Mexico both want to make deals. “Our talks with China, a lot of interesting things are happening,” Trump told reporters. “We’ll see what happens… I could go up another at least $300 billion and I’ll do that at the right time.” No face-to-face meetings between Trump and Chinese officials have been held since May 10, when Trump announced a 25% increase in tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods. (Reuters)
3/ The military will spend a month painting a mile-long section of the U.S.-Mexico border wall to improve its “aesthetic appearance.” An unspecific number of service members were instructed to paint barriers in the California border town of Calexico for a total of 30 days. Sen. Dick Durbin called the task a “disgraceful misuse” of taxpayer money. (CBS News)
4/ Nancy Pelosi told senior Democrats she’d like to see Trump “in prison” while discussing with Rep. Jerry Nadler whether to launch impeachment proceedings against Trump. Nadler pressed Pelosi to start the proceedings, but Pelosi refused and said: “I don’t want to see him impeached. I want to see him in prison.” Pelosi said she prefers voters to remove Trump via the ballot box and then have him prosecuted for his crimes. Elizabeth Warren, meanwhile, said Trump “would be carried out in handcuffs” if he were anybody else. (Politico / Washington Post / NBC News)
5/ Jerry Nadler told Democratic leaders that he will issue a subpoena within the next two weeks for Robert Mueller to testify before the House Judiciary Committee if they’re unable to reach an agreement to secure his voluntary public testimony. Mueller is currently only willing to answer questions in private, which is a nonstarter for most House Democrats. (Politico)
Trump said Mueller made “such a fool” out of himself when he delivered his public statement about the Russia investigation last week. (Fox News)
6/ House Democrats plan to grant committees the authority to enforce subpoenas for documents and witness testimony that the Trump administration has tried to block. Committee chairs will be able to sue the Trump administration and hold officials in contempt of Congress. Democrats said the reason for the change is to prevent contempt citations from dominating the House’s floor time. (CNN / Politico)
7/ Michael Flynn fired his legal team. The former Trump national security adviser awaits sentencing for lying to the FBI about his conversations with a top Russian official. (Politico)
8/ Trump’s empty cabinet positions have been vacant more than four times as many days as any other president since Ronald Reagan at this point in their presidencies. (Axios)
1/ Trump said he believes climate change “goes both ways,” claimed the U.S. has one of “the cleanest climates,” and blamed China, India, and Russia for polluting the environment. Trump’s comments came after a 90-minute meeting with Prince Charles on the subject. While Trump remains unconvinced that the climate is warming, he said he agrees with Charles that he wants the U.S. to have “good climate, as opposed to a disaster.” The United States is the world’s second-largest emitter of carbon dioxide emissions, which rose an estimated 3.4% in 2018. (BBC / The Guardian / Washington Post)
2/ Trump claimed that he is “making up” for not serving in the Vietnam War by proposing to increase the Pentagon’s budget to around $750 billion in 2020. Despite avoiding service through student deferments and a medical disqualification for bone spurs, Trump claimed he “would have not have minded that at all. I would have been honored” to serve. (Washington Post)
Trump erroneously claimed that he reinstituted a ban on most transgender people from serving in the military because some of them take prescription medicine. Trump said that when “you’re in the military, you’re not allowed to take any drugs.” The military, however, doesn’t prohibit service members from taking prescription medicines. (Bloomberg / Washington Post)
3/ A bipartisan group of senators will try to block the Trump administration’s use of emergency authority to sell arms to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Senators will try to force 22 votes aimed at rebuking the Trump administration’s May decision to invoke an emergency provision in the Arms Export Control Act in order to push through $8 billion worth of arms sales to the Saudis, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan. Congress had been blocking the sale since last year. (Associated Press / Politico / USA Today / New York Times)
4/ The House passed the DREAM and Promise Act of 2019, which would give millions of young undocumented immigrants a pathway to citizenship. The measure passed with a vote of 327 to 187, and it now heads to the Senate, where it is unlikely to be considered. The White House has also threatened to veto the measure if it makes it to Trump’s desk. Seven Republicans voted in favor of the measure, and no Democrats voted against it. (CBS News / New York Times / Washington Post)
5/ A 40-year-old migrant woman died while in U.S. Border Patrol custody – the second migrant woman to die within a 36-hour period. Border Patrol agents detained the woman in Eagle Pass, Texas on Monday and she collapsed minutes later. She was transported to a hospital, where she died shortly after arriving. On Saturday, a 25-year-old transgender asylum seeker from El Salvador died at a hospital in El Paso, Texas. (The Guardian)
6/ Border Patrol agents are boarding buses and trains across the northern U.S. with increasing frequency to ask passengers about their citizenship status, often nowhere near the U.S. border. Newly obtained emails show a Border Patrol official in Maine told agents “Happy hunting!” as they prepared to begin boarding buses. The searches can happen as often as three times per day at some bus stations, even at those with no direct routes to or from the border, causing bus delays and missed connections. (NBC News)
7/ The Trump administration canceled English classes, recreational programs, and legal aid for unaccompanied minors in federal migrant shelters. The Office of Refugee Resettlement discontinued funding for the programs, calling them “not directly necessary for the protection of life and safety, including education services, legal services, and recreation.” (Washington Post / ABC News)
poll/ 54% of Americans say they think Trump will win the 2020 election, compared to 41% who feel he will lose. In December, 51% said they thought Trump would lose his bid for re-election. (CNN)
poll/ 68% of American believe “made-up news” is a “very big problem” in the U.S. By comparison, 46% called climate change a “very big problem,” 40% said the same about racism, and 34% said the same about terrorism. (Pew Research Center / Nieman Lab / Axios)
Notables.
House Democrats rejected calls to preemptively cancel a House vote to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt, but said they are willing to reopen negotiations with the DOJ over Mueller’s full, un-redacted report. Rep. Jerry Nadler said he was willing to try to find a compromise, but only “without conditions” from the Justice Department. “We urge you not to make the mistake of breaking off accommodations again,” Nadler warned last night. “We are here and ready to negotiate as early as tomorrow morning.” (New York Times / House Judiciary Committee)
A federal judge said the Justice Department does not have to turn over the transcripts of Michael Flynn’s calls with then-Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak as part of Flynn’s sentencing. The DOJ originally failed to turn over the transcripts, saying they did not have any additional documents to share with the court that could help at sentencing. The judge said “the government is not required to file any additional materials or information on the public docket.” (CNN)
The Russian trolling effort on Twitter during the 2016 campaign was larger, more coordinated, and more effective than previously known. The operation by the Internet Research Agency amounted to “a vast, coordinated campaign that was incredibly successful at pushing out and amplifying its messages,” according to the cybersecurity firm Symantec. Some of the trolls used their fake accounts to make money on the side, with one potentially generating nearly $1 million. (Politico / NBC News)
The Trump administration sharply reduced federal spending on medical research that uses tissue from aborted fetuses. The move overrides the advice of scientists, who say the tissue is crucial for studies that benefit millions of patients and have led to life-saving advances, including the development of vaccines for rubella and rabies and drugs to treat the HIV virus. The decision fullfills a top goal by anti-abortion groups that have lobbied hard for it. (New York Times / ABC News)
1/ The White House directed Hope Hicks not to cooperate with a House Judiciary Committee subpoena for documents related to her White House service. The White House also instructed Annie Donaldson, the former deputy White House counsel, not to turn over the documents. Rep. Jerrold Nadler said the documents are no longer covered by executive privilege “if they ever were” and that the White House’s move was “part of President Trump’s continued obstruction of Congress.” Hicks, however, said she will hand over documents related to Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. (CNN / Washington Post / CNBC / NBC News / Politico)
2/ The Justice Department agreed to reopen negotiations with the House Judiciary Committee for Robert Mueller’s full, unredacted report if the House removes its threat to hold Attorney General Bill Barr in contempt next week. In a letter to committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, the Department said it would only “resume negotiations” if the committee reversed its previous recommendation that Barr be held in contempt. The committee subpoenaed for Mueller’s report and the underlying material in April. When Barr didn’t comply, they held a committee contempt vote. (Talking Points Memo / Axios / Washington Post)
3/ Trump vowed to move forward with imposing tariffs on Mexican imports next week, warning Republican senators they would be “foolish” to try and stop him. Any vote to disapprove the tariffs would likely face a presidential veto. The 5% tariffs on all Mexican goods, rising to 25% over time, are intended to force Mexico to stop the Central American migrants from seeking entry into the U.S. (New York Times)
Trump’s tariffs on China, Mexico, Europe and other governments would nullify the gains from his $1.5 trillion tax cut for low- and middle-income earners, according to two new analyses. (New York Times)
4/ Republican senators warned Trump that they were prepared to block his effort to impose tariffs on Mexican imports. Senators told the White House and Justice Department there could be a disapproval vote if Trump moves forward and they may have enough support to override a veto. After a closed-door meeting with White House officials, Mitch McConnell told reporters that “there is not much support in my conference for tariffs, that’s for sure.” Republican senators are worried that the tariffs on all imported goods from Mexico will impact the economy and their home states. (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico)
Earlier in the day: Congressional Republicans are discussing whether or not they may have to vote to block Trump’s latest proposed tariffs against Mexico. The vote would be the most dramatic defiance of Trump by the GOP since he took office, and could also block millions of dollars in funding for Trump’s border wall, since Trump’s plan to impose tariffs on Mexico relies on his national emergency declaration. Congress has the right to override the national emergency determination by passing a resolution of disapproval. (Washington Post)
5/ The owners of the former Trump Panama hotel accused the Trump Organization of evading taxes and creating a “false light” around one of the hotel’s finances. The accusations, made in a legal filing in Manhattan federal court, claimed that Trump’s family cheated a foreign government and that the Trump Organization “made fraudulent and false claims to the Panamanian tax authorities” in order to “cover up its unlawful activities.” The Trump Organization called the claims “completely false.” (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News)
Notables.
The House passed the $19.1 billion disaster aid package after Republicans blocked the bill on three separate occasions. The vote was 354-58, sending the measure to Trump’s desk, where he is expected to sign it. Once the bill is signed into law, funding will be released to communities recovering from hurricanes, wildfires, tornadoes, floods, and other recent disasters. (Politico)
Dozens of migrant children spent up to 39 hours in a van while waiting to be reunited with their parents. What was supposed to be a 30-minute ride to reunite with their parents at an ICE facility in Texas in July, turned into a two-night ordeal in the back of a van for the children, all of whom are between 5 and 12 years old. Most spent at least 23 hours in the vans. Emails between employees of the nonprofit government contractor responsible for transporting the children reveal frustrations with the lack of preparation by ICE and senior leadership at the Department of Health and Human Services. (NBC News)
The Trump campaign spends $37,500 a month for office space in Trump Tower that “four or five” campaign staffers work at. The cost per-square-foot is nearly triple what the Republican National Committee pays at a newly opened office in northern Virginia it shares with the campaign. (HuffPost)
Paul Manafort will be transferred to the Rikers Island and most likely be held in isolation while facing state fraud charges. Manafort is serving a seven-and-a-half-year federal prison sentence after being convicted of bank fraud, tax and conspiracy last year. (New York Times / Fox News)
The Trump administration twice authorized U.S. companies to share sensitive nuclear power information with Saudi Arabia after the assassination of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi by the Saudi government. In all, the Department of Energy has approved the transfer of nuclear information from U.S. companies to Saudi Arabia seven times under Trump. (Reuters / The Guardian / Axios)
The Trump administration banned U.S. cruise ships from visiting Cuba as part of an effort to roll back the Obama-era efforts to restore relations between the United States and Cuba. (Associated Press)
The EPA blamed the media for the public’s concerns about climate change. Andrew Wheeler argued that the press is doing a “disservice to the public” and needs to help “fix” the “perception” that the environment is getting worse. (Talking Points Memo)
1/ Before even landing in England for his first official state visit to the U.K., Trump tweeted that the mayor of London was a “stone cold loser” for being “foolishly ‘nasty’” to him. Sadiq Khan wrote an op-ed prior to the visit, calling Trump “one of the most egregious examples of a growing global threat” and suggested that the state visit be rescinded because Trump’s views are “incompatible with British values.” After landing, Trump met with Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace and later tweeted that the trip was “going really well.” (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Politico / NBC News / The Guardian)
Ahead of his three-day state visit, Trump suggested that the U.K. should “walk away” from Brexit talks if the European Union does not give it what it wants. Trump criticized the $50 billion bill the U.K. must pay as part of the Brexit deal, saying he “wouldn’t pay” it because “it’s a tremendous number.” Trump later called on the U.K. to throw off the “shackles” of EU and strike a free-trade deal with the U.S. (Vox / CNN / Bloomberg)
2/ Trump called for a boycott of AT&T in order to force “big changes” at CNN, which is owned by the telecommunications giant. Trump tweeted for AT&T “do something” about CNN, because the network “is the primary source of news available from the U.S.” in the U.K. and – he claims – its coverage of his administration is “unfair.” (Axios / CNBC / Politico / Washington Post)
3/ The House Judiciary Committee announced a “series of hearings” related to Robert Mueller’s report, “Presidential Obstruction and Other Crimes.” The first hearing is scheduled for June 10th and will focus on Trump’s “most overt acts of obstruction” with John Dean, a key figure in the Watergate scandal, as one of the witnesses. Mueller – for now – is not scheduled to appear. (New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post / The Hill / CNBC / Politico)
Research study: Russian Twitter trolls attempted to fuel the anti-vaccination debate in the U.S. According to the study from George Washington University, “sophisticated” bots, mimicking previous Russian troll efforts, shared opinions from both sides of the anti-vaxxer debate. (CBS News)
4/ The Justice Department refused to turn over transcripts of recorded conversations between Michael Flynn and Russian officials, including those with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, despite a court order. The transcripts between Flynn and Kislyak were obtained from an FBI wiretap and are expected to show that in December 2016 they talked about sanctions that the Obama administration had just imposed on Russia. Prosecutors also failed to release unredacted portions of the Mueller report related to Flynn that the judge ordered to be made public. The Justice Department, however, did release transcripts of a voice mail from Trump’s attorney John Dowd to Flynn’s attorney, Rob Kelner, about Flynn’s discussions with Mueller just before Flynn pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate in Mueller’s investigation. (Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / Axios)
Jared Kushner doesn’t know if he’d call the FBI if he received an email like the one before the Trump Tower meeting, which had the subject line: “Re: Russia - Clinton - private and confidential.” (Axios / Washington Post)
5/ A witness in Mueller’s investigation was charged with transporting child pornography last year. George Nader operated as a liaison between Trump’s supporters, Middle East leaders, and Russians interested in making contact with the incoming administration in early 2017. Nader helped arrange the Seychelles meeting in January 2017 between Erik Prince and a Russian official close to Putin. Nader was arrested today at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. (Washington Post)
📌 Day 441: A cooperating witness in Robert Mueller’s investigation may have information linking the United Arab Emirates to Russia. George Nader has received at least partial immunity for his cooperation. Nader’s international connections helped him arrange several meetings that have drawn the attention of the special counsel, including a meeting in the Seychelles between Kirill Dmitriev, the manager of a state-run Russian investment fund, and a Trump adviser days before Trump took office. (New York Times)
📌 Day 483: Mueller’s team is examining a series of meetings that took place in the Seychelles, which have been characterized as an attempt by the U.S. to set up a backchannel with Russia. A Russian plane, owned by Andrei Skoch, a Russian billionaire and deputy in the Russian State Duma, the country’s legislative body, flew into the Seychelles a day prior to the 2017 meeting. (NJ.com)
poll/ 41% of Americans feel Trump should be impeached and removed from office compared to 54% who are against impeachment. Trump’s approval rating, meanwhile, stands at 43% with 52% disapproving of the President. (CNN)
Notables.
The House Oversight and Reform Committee is moving to hold Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in contempt for refusing to comply with a subpoena for information about efforts to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. Chairman Elijah Cummings said he would consider postponing the contempt votes if Barr and Ross turn over the requested documents by Thursday. (Politico)
A new State Department policy requires visa applicants submit information about any social media accounts used in the past five years. Account information could provide the government with access to photos, locations, dates of birth, and other personal data commonly shared on social media. (New York Times)
Trump’s economic advisor will depart the White House “shortly.” Kevin Hassett denied that his pending departure was not related to Trump’s tariff threats on China and Mexico. Hassett, however, said that the chance of Trump hitting the 3% growth target this year is less certain due to the trade war and a ballooning budget deficit. He will leave at the end of this month. (Politico / CNBC / Bloomberg / Reuters)
Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao has “repeatedly used her connections and celebrity status in China to boost the profile” of her family’s shipping company, Foremost Group, which benefits from industrial policies in China. Chao has no official affiliation or stake in her family’s company, but she and her husband, Mitch McConnell, have received millions of dollars in gifts from her father, who ran the company until last year. (New York Times)
The Trump administration considered imposing tariffs on imports from Australia last week, but decided against the move after opposition from military and State Department officials. Some of Trump’s top advisers urged him to impose the tariffs in response to a surge of Australian aluminum coming into American markets over the last year. But DOD and State Department officials warned that the move would alienate a top ally. (New York Times)
The Pentagon told the White House to stop politicizing the military after the Trump administration ordered the Navy to hide the USS John S. McCain during Trump’s visit to Japan. The Navy confirmed that the White House made the request “to minimize the visibility of” the ship. (Associated Press / NBC News)
1/ Trump threatened to impose a 5% tariff on all Mexican goods unless the country stops all “illegal migrants coming through Mexico,” linking his immigration policy to trade. The tariffs would begin on June 10th and “gradually increase” to 10% on July 1st, followed by an additional 5% each month for the next three months. Tariffs would remain at 25% “if the crisis persists.” The National Foreign Trade Council called the move “a colossal blunder,” as U.S. companies pay the import penalties and pass some costs along to consumers. The White House defended the legality of the move, saying Trump was acting under the powers granted to him by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which gives the president broad power to take action to address any “unusual or extraordinary threat.” (Washington Post / New York Times / The Guardian / Reuters)
2/ Republicans warned Trump that imposing tariffs on all Mexican imports could upend the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement and undermine the economy. Senate Finance Chairman Chuck Grassley called the move “a misuse of presidential tariff authority and contrary to congressional intent,” adding that implementing the tariffs would “seriously jeopardize passage” of the USMCA. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, meanwhile, blamed Congress for refusing to deal with problems at the border, saying if they “were stepping up and doing more the president wouldn’t have to continue to look for ways to stop this problem on his own.” (Politico / Washington Post)
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and business groups are considering suing the White House over Trump’s new tariffs on Mexico. The tariff threat was reportedly “hurried out the door” in order to appease Trump, who did not consult business groups or federal agencies in advance. A 5% tariff on imported goods from Mexico would result in a potential tax increase on American businesses and consumers by about $17 billion. That would eclipse $86 billion if the tariffs reach Trump’s cap of 25%. (CNBC / NBC News / U.S. Chamber of Commerce)
3/ Trump’s Treasury secretary and top trade advisor both opposed the plan to impose tariffs on Mexico. Steve Mnuchin and Robert Lighthizer have stressed the importance of enacting USMCA, meant to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement, and argued that the tariffs could derail ratification of the deal in Congress. “Lighthizer is not happy,” an unnamed administration official said. The tariff strategy was spearheaded by White House adviser Stephen Miller, an immigration hawk, after Trump was “riled up” by conservative radio commentary about the recent surge in border crossings. (Wall Street Journal / CNBC)
4/ The Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General found “dangerous overcrowding” and unsanitary conditions at a Border Patrol processing facility following an unannounced inspection. The IG found “standing room only conditions” at the El Paso Del Norte Processing Center with “approximately 750 and 900 detainees.” The facility has a maximum capacity of 125 migrants. (CNN)
About half of the nearly 2,000 unaccompanied migrant children held in overcrowded Border Patrol facilities have been there beyond the legally allowed time limits. Federal law and court orders require that children in Border Patrol custody be transferred within 72 hours after being apprehended. Some unaccompanied children are spending more than a week in Border Patrol stations and processing centers and children 12 or younger have been in custody for an average of six days. (Washington Post)
5/ Trump is considering a proposal to enact restrictions on asylum claims that would deny Central American migrants from entering the U.S. The draft proposal would prevent migrants from seeking asylum if they lived in another country after leaving their home country and coming to the U.S., which would impact thousand of migrants who have been waiting on the other side of the border after traveling through Mexico. (Politico)
6/ Attorney General William Barr disagreed with Robert Mueller’s “legal analysis,” saying it “did not reflect the views” of the Justice Department, which is why he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein “applied what we thought was the right law” instead. In Barr’s written testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, however, he wrote that “we accepted the Special Counsel’s legal framework for purposes of our analysis and evaluated the evidence as presented by the Special Counsel in reaching our conclusion.” Barr also said he was surprised that Mueller “did not reach a conclusion” as to whether Trump had obstructed justice, despite Mueller stating in his report and at yesterday’s press conference that “charging the president with a crime was […] not an option we could consider,” because Justice Department policy prohibits the indictment of a sitting president. Mueller also noted yesterday that the Constitution “requires a process other than the criminal justice system to formally accuse a sitting president of wrongdoing.” Barr went on to claim that Mueller’s report shows “no evidence of a conspiracy […and…] this whole idea that the Trump was in cahoots with the Russians is bogus.” (CBS News / Talking Points Memo / New York Magazine)
A federal grand jury used in the Mueller investigation remains interested in Roger Stone after Andrew Miller, who worked for Stone in 2016, testified last week. (CNN)
7/ House Republicans blocked the $19.1 billion disaster aid package for a third time. The long-delayed bill, which has Trump’s support, was blocked by Tennessee Rep. John Rose. Rose called the legislation “another act of irresponsible big government.” (Washington Post)
8/ North Korea executed its former top nuclear envoy to the U.S. and four other foreign ministry officials by firing squad after negotiations stalled between Kim Jong Un and Trump. The February summit collapsed after Trump called off the talks. Kim Hyok Chol, who led the working-level negotiations, was executed in March along with four other officials. (Reuters / Bloomberg / NBC News)
1/ Trump tweeted that Russia helped “me to get elected” – his first acknowledgement that Russia worked to get him elected in 2016. Trump later retracted the statement, telling reporters that, “No, Russia did not help me get elected. […] I got me elected.” Trump has previously denied that Russia interfered in the election, rejecting the conclusions by American intelligence agencies and federal prosecutors that Russia worked to help him defeat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election campaign. (New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / The Guardian / CNN)
📌 Day 819: The Trump campaign “expected it would benefit” from information released by Russia, but “the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.” The report continues: “The investigation established that the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome.” Putin’s “preference was for candidate Trump to win.”
2/ Trump attacked Robert Mueller, characterizing him as “totally conflicted” and “true never-Trumper,” suggesting that if the former special counsel had any evidence, he would have brought charges. Trump insisted that Mueller’s comments yesterday “essentially” said “‘You’re innocent.’ There was no crime, there was no charge because he had no information.” Trump also referred to a “business dispute” with Mueller, but didn’t elaborate. Bill O’Reilly, however, said Trump called him last night to complain that “Mueller didn’t like him because he turned him down to be the head of the FBI after he fired Comey” and that Trump once refused to refund his country club membership deposit. “Mueller wanted $15,000 back and Trump said no,” O’Reilly said. Mueller denied the incident. Trump went on to baselessly claim that Mueller “loves Comey,” and “whether it’s love or a deep like, he was conflicted.” (ABC News / NBC News / Mediate)
📌 Day 860: Robert Mueller declined to clear Trump of obstruction of justice and suggested that only Congress can “formally accuse a sitting president of wrongdoing” in his first public remarks about his two-year-long investigation of Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election. The special counsel noted that “charging the president with a crime was […] not an option we could consider,” because Justice Department policy prohibits the indictment of a sitting president. Mueller emphasized that if his office “had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so.” Mueller concluded his remarks by reiterating his report’s conclusion that “There were multiple, systematic efforts to interfere in our election. And that allegation deserves the attention of every American.” (Washington Post / New York Times / ABC News / Associated Press / CNN / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / NPR)
3/ Attorney General William Barr thinks Mueller should have reached a decision on whether Trump obstructed justice, despite Justice Department guidelines saying a sitting president cannot be indicted. Barr suggested that Mueller “could’ve reached a decision as to whether there was criminal activity.” Mueller, however, said that because “It would be unfair to potentially accuse somebody of a crime when there can be no court resolution of the actual charge,” it was “not an option we could consider.” (The Hill)
Key U.S. intelligence partners, including the United Kingdom and Australia, are concerned with Barr’s politically-charged Justice Department review of how the Russia investigation began. Trump gave Barr the authority to declassify and study the pre-election Obama-era intelligence related to the investigation. Partners are concerned that Barr could potentially reveal intelligence shared with the U.S. and, in the process, damage their other relationships with foreign partners. (CNN)
4/ At least 49 Democrats and one Republican support starting an impeachment inquiry against Trump. Democratic leaders also say Mueller’s remarks yesterday reiterate the importance of having him testify before Congress. Mueller has indicated that he is reluctant to testify and that he wouldn’t say anything beyond what his office wrote in report, calling his report “my testimony.” (New York Times / NBC News)
5/ The Trump administration deliberately concealed evidence about the decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census. The origins of the plan were discovered on hard drives in Thomas Hofeller’s home, who died last summer. The files show that Hofeller concluded that adding a citizenship question to the 2020 Census “would clearly be a disadvantage to the Democrats” and “advantageous to Republicans and Non-Hispanic Whites” in redistricting. He pushed the idea to the Trump administration in 2017, which then intentionally obscured Hofeller’s role in court proceedings. The government has maintained that adding the question was intended to improve enforcement of the Voting Rights Act. The Supreme Court will decide the case by the term’s end next month on whether the citizenship question can be added to the 2020 Census. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / Reuters)
Notables.
The White House wanted the USS John S. McCain “out of sight” during Trump’s visit to Japan. A Navy official confirmed that someone in the White House asked to move the destroyer while Trump was in the area. A tarp was also hung over McCain’s name, and sailors were given the day off. A spokesperson for the Pentagon said Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan didn’t know about the White House’s request. (Wall Street Journal / NBC News / The Hill / Washington Post / New York Times)
Trump said whoever directed the Navy to obscure the warship USS John S. McCain was “well-meaning,” adding that he didn’t know about and “was not involved” in the effort to the hide the Navy destroyer. “I would not have done that.” (Washington Post / New York Times / Associated Press)
Several service members aboard the USS Wasp wore “Make Aircrew Great Again” patches. The Navy is reviewing whether the Trump-themed patches violated Navy rules. (CNN)
A federal judge rejected the Trump administration’s request to begin construction on a border wall with Mexico while it appeals a ruling that found funding for the wall was not authorized by Congress. U.S. District Court Judge Haywood Gilliam said the government was unlikely to prevail on the merits of its appeal, failing to justify a stay of a preliminary injunction issued last week. (Reuters)
Federal prosecutors subpoenaed Mar-a-Lago for records related to Republican Party donor Li “Cindy” Yang and several of her associates and companies. The former owner of a Florida spa is involved in a prostitution investigation and allegedly sold access to Trump and his associates at Mar-a-Lago events. (Miami Herald / Vanity Fair)
China accused the U.S. of engaging in “economic terrorism” and said the ongoing trade war has “brought huge damage to the economy of other countries and the US itself.” Yesterday, Chinese state media issued a similar warning to Washington: “Don’t say we didn’t warn you.” The statements come as China’s top economic planning agency said it would be willing to reduce exports of rare earth minerals to the U.S., which are an important part of high-tech manufacturing. (CNN)
The U.S. has slipped into third place when it comes to the most competitive economies. While the U.S. is still on top when it comes to economic performance, the boost in confidence from Trump’s tax cuts has faded while higher fuel prices and weaker high-tech exports have reduced competitiveness. (CNBC)
Trump might meet with two pro-Brexit politicians when he visits the U.K. next week. Trump said he considers Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage to be “very good guys” and “very interesting people.” (Politico / Bloomberg)
The Department of Energy referred to fossil fuel as “molecules of U.S. freedom” in a press release touting exports of natural gas. (ABC News)
1/ Robert Mueller declined to clear Trump of obstruction of justice and suggested that only Congress can “formally accuse a sitting president of wrongdoing” in his first public remarks about his two-year-long investigation of Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election. The special counsel noted that “charging the president with a crime was […] not an option we could consider,” because Justice Department policy prohibits the indictment of a sitting president. Mueller emphasized that if his office “had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so.” Mueller concluded his remarks by reiterating his report’s conclusion that “There were multiple, systematic efforts to interfere in our election. And that allegation deserves the attention of every American.” (Washington Post / New York Times / ABC News / Associated Press / CNN / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / NPR)
Read the transcript of Mueller’s statement. (NPR / Politico)
What the Mueller report actually said: “The Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election in sweeping and systematic fashion,” Mueller wrote. This help “favored presidential candidate Donald J. Trump and disparaged presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.” The Trump campaign “expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts,” and it “welcomed” this help. Today, Mueller said “We chose those words carefully, and the work speaks for itself.” (The Atlantic)
📌 Day 819: Attorney General William Barr repeatedly insisted that Robert Mueller “found no evidence” that the Trump campaign conspired with Russia to interfere in the 2016 presidential election and that Russian efforts to interfere “did not have the cooperation of President Trump or the Trump campaign.” Barr also claimed Mueller’s report did not find “collusion” between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. Further, Barr said that even if the Trump campaign had colluded with WikiLeaks, that was not a crime. Mueller identified “numerous” Trump campaign-Russia contacts, but the report says there was “insufficient evidence” to establish a criminal conspiracy between Trump or his campaign aides and their contacts with Russians. The report outlines how Trump was elected with Russia’s help and when a federal inquiry was started to investigate the effort, Trump took multiple steps to stop or undermine it. Barr said Mueller examined 10 “episodes” where Trump may have obstructed justice, but that he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein “disagreed with some of the special counsel’s legal theories and felt that some of the episodes did not amount to obstruction.” According to Barr, Trump acted out of “noncorrupt motives” because he was frustrated by Mueller’s investigation, as well as media coverage that he felt was hurting his administration. (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / NBC News / CNN / The Guardian / Bloomberg)
📌 Day 837: More than 370 former federal prosecutors asserted that Trump would have been charged with obstruction of justice if he was not president. Robert Mueller declined to exonerate Trump in his report, citing a Justice Department legal opinion that a sitting president cannot be indicted. The former career government employees who worked in Republican and Democratic administrations signed on to a statement saying, “Each of us believes that the conduct of President Trump described in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report would, in the case of any other person not covered by the Office of Legal Counsel policy against indicting a sitting President, result in multiple felony charges for obstruction of justice.” (Washington Post)
2/ Trump responded to Mueller’s statement: “The case is closed!” Trump’s tweet that “nothing changes from the Mueller Report” came minutes after Mueller reiterated his position that “if we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so.” Sarah Huckabee Sanders added that despite longstanding Justice Department policy barring the prosecution of a sitting president for a federal crime, Mueller’s “report was clear — there was no collusion, no conspiracy — and the Department of Justice confirmed there was no obstruction.” She added that the administration was “prepared” for an impeachment fight. (CNBC)
3/ At least 10 Democratic presidential candidates have now endorsed impeachment proceedings against Trump following Mueller’s news conference. Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Seth Moulton, Eric Swalwell, Julián Castro, Beto O’Rourke, and Wayne Messam all support impeachment proceedings. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, however, held firm on her belief that impeaching Trump isn’t a worthwhile effort without uncovering new evidence “to make such a compelling case, such an ironclad case, that even the Republican Senate — which at the time seems to be not an objective jury — will be convinced of the path that we have to take as a country.” (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times)
Mueller’s message to Pelosi is that it is the constitutional duty of Congress to begin an investigation and consider impeaching Trump. Mueller’s statement today underscored the special counsel’s office “was bound” by department policy not to indict the president—or even accuse him. (Slate)
4/ Mueller resigned from the Department of Justice to “return to private life” and is “formally closing the special counsel’s office” now that the “investigation is complete.” He said he hoped this would be his last public comment on the subject and suggested that if he were compelled to testify before Congress, he would not speak “beyond what is already public” in his 448-page report because “the report is my testimony.” Mueller added: “I am making that decision myself. Nobody has told me whether I can or should testify or speak further about this matter.” (Politico / Daily Beast / NPR / NBC News / CNBC)
Andrew Miller will testify Friday before Mueller’s grand jury. The former aide to Roger Stone agreed to testify after fighting a subpoena for 10 months. He faced jail time for contempt if he continued to refuse to testify. (Washington Post / ABC News)
The Justice Department agreed to make Mueller investigation-related court activity public. While unsealing the records will not reveal the details of the filings, but instead provide an overview of how, when and for what Mueller was going to the federal court to gather evidence. (CNN)
Notables.
Mitch McConnell would try to fill an opening on the Supreme Court if there were a vacancy next year. In contrast, McConnell refused to confirm Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland, after the death of Antonin Scalia during the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election. McConnell claimed that voters had a right to decide whether a Democrat or Republican should fill the open seat on the Court. When asked what his position would be when it came to filling a potentially vacant seat next year, however, McConnell smiled and said: “Oh, we’d fill it.” (Washington Post / CNN / New York Times / Politico / NPR / NBC News)
U.S. intelligence said Russia is secretly conducting low-yield nuclear tests to upgrade its nuclear arsenal and has failed to observe its commitments to the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. (Wall Street Journal)
The Pentagon hasn’t held an on-camera press briefing with any department spokesperson in a year. “We’re talking about some sort of strike on another country and nobody knows why,” said one Pentagon reporter. A spokesperson for the Defense Department pushed back against the claim, saying, “It depends what your definition of a briefing is.” (Politico)
The director of the HHS refugee office will leave the Trump administration next week. Scott Lloyd ran the refugee office for most of 2017 and 2018 as HHS was taking custody of thousands of migrant children separated from their families. (Politico)
The vast majority of money from Trump’s bailout for farmers will likely to go to the largest farms – not the small mom-and-pop farms. Farms with annual revenues of several million dollars are likely to see the most bailout money, which are already major beneficiaries of federal crop support programs. Findings from the Environmental Working Group suggest that “the biggest payments will go to the wealthiest farmers, who need them the least.” (Los Angeles Times)
Trump’s tax cuts have had “a relatively small (if any) first-year effect on the economy” and they are failing to pay for themselves, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. Despite claims that the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act would add “rocket fuel” to the U.S. economy, the CRS found the law was mostly beneficial to investors. Wages are only growing at 2 percent, companies are seeing a bigger increase in earnings than employees, and “ordinary workers had very little growth in wage rates.” (The Independent / Washington Post / Congressional Research Service)
1/ Robert Mueller reportedly drafted a three-count obstruction of justice indictment against Trump before deciding to shelve it. In his new book, Siege: Trump Under Fire, Michael Wolff writes that his findings on the Mueller investigation are “based on internal documents given to me by sources close to the Office of the Special Counsel.” According to Wolff, the first count charged Trump with influencing, obstructing or impeding a pending proceeding before a department or agency of the U.S. The second count charged Trump with tampering with a witness, victim or informant, and the third count charged Trump with retaliating against a witness, victim or informant. While the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel says a sitting president cannot be indicted, Wolff obtained a draft memorandum by Mueller’s team opposing an expected motion to dismiss the indictment. The special counsel’s office denied the claim, saying “The documents that you’ve described do not exist.” (The Guardian / NBC News)
Michael Flynn’s case could prompt the release of some redacted portions of the Mueller report this week. Judge Emmet Sullivan set a Friday deadline for the Justice Department to make unredacted parts of the report that pertain to Flynn public, as well as transcripts of Flynn’s calls with former Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak, and of a voicemail during which someone connected to Trump referenced Flynn’s cooperation. (CNN)
2/ A congressional Republican accused Attorney General Bill Barr of intentionally misrepresenting the Mueller report to further Trump’s “false narrative” about the investigation. In a 25-post tweetstorm, Rep. Justin Amash alleged that Barr’s March 24th letter summarizing Mueller’s principal conclusions “selectively quotes and summarizes points in Mueller’s report in misleading ways” and as a result “the public and Congress were misled.” (Politico / Washington Post / Axios)
📌 Day 851: Michigan Rep. Justin Amash became the first Republican lawmaker to publicly conclude that Trump has committed “impeachable conduct” as president, and that Trump’s conduct meets the “threshold for impeachment.” In a Twitter thread, Amash said he believes “few members of Congress even read” Mueller’s final report, and said the report establishes “multiple examples” of Trump committing obstruction of justice. Amash also accused Attorney General William Barr of intentionally misleading the public. “Contrary to Barr’s portrayal,” Amash wrote, “Mueller’s report reveals that President Trump engaged in specific actions and a pattern of behavior that meet the threshold for impeachment.” (CNN / Washington Post)
Republican senators vowed to quash impeachment against Trump if the House passes articles. Mitch McConnell is required to act on articles of impeachment, but has broad authority to set the parameters of a trial. (The Hill)
3/ The top Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee accused Trump of giving Barr “the right to selectively declassify certain information for purposes of political gain.” Sen. Mark Warner asked that the leaders of the nation’s spy agencies contact lawmakers if Barr’s investigation threatens their work. Last week, Trump gave Barr the power to release classified information related the origins of the FBI’s Russia investigation. Trump directed the intelligence community to “quickly and fully cooperate.” (Associated Press / Washington Post)
📌 Day 855: Trump gave Attorney General William Barr “full and complete authority” to unilaterally declassify government secrets and ordered U.S. intelligence agencies to cooperate with Barr’s audit of the Russia investigation. Trump wants Barr to investigate the origins of the Russia investigation and the tactics used by investigators. Trump issued the order just hours after accusing the people who led the investigation of committing treason. Barr has personally met with the heads of U.S. intelligence agencies to discuss his review of the probe. Barr has also said that he believes the Trump campaign was “spied” on. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / CNN)
4/ Trump denied that North Korea fired any ballistic missiles or violated the United Nations Security Council resolutions, siding with Kim Jong Un over his national security adviser and Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe. Trump said that while “North Korea fired off some small weapons, which disturbed some of my people,” he was not “personally” bothered by the missile tests this month. “My people think it could have been a violation,” Trump said. “I view it differently.” Trump’s comments contradicted John Bolton, who had said there was “no doubt” that North Korea had violated the Security Council resolutions by firing short-range ballistic missiles. In response, North Korea called Bolton a “war monger,” a “war maniac,” and a “human defect,” who has a “different mental structure from ordinary people.” Trump praised Kim as a “very smart man.” (Washington Post / New York Times / Associated Press / NBC News)
📌 Day 841: North Korea’s three new missiles have “Russian technology fingerprints all over” them, military experts said. The missiles reportedly bear a resemblance to the Russian-designed Iskander – a short-range, nuclear-capable ballistic missile that has been in the Russian arsenal for more than a decade. (Associated Press)
Trump called Joe Biden a “fool of low I.Q.” for calling Kim a dictator and a tyrant. “Kim Jong Un made a statement that Joe Biden is a low IQ individual,” Trump said. “He probably is based on his record. I think I agree with him on that.” Trump and Kim “agree in their assessment” of Biden, Sarah Huckabee Sanders said. (ABC News / The Hill / New York Times)
5/ Trump claimed a national security “emergency” in order to authorize a multibillion-dollar sale of arms to Saudi Arabia, which bypassed congressional review. The decision to sell over $8 billion worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Jordan drew condemnation from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, who had been blocking the sales of offensive military equipment to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for months. Iran views Saudi Arabia as its main rival. Trump added: “I don’t think Iran wants to fight, and I certainly don’t think they want to fight with us.” (NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times / Reuters)
Trump denied that the U.S. is “looking for regime change” in Iran, saying “we’re looking for no nuclear weapons.” Last Friday, Trump ordered “a small number of troops” — about 1,500 — as well as fighter jets to the region. (Washington Post)
Iran said it sees no prospect for negotiations with the U.S. a day after Trump said it would be “very smart” of Iran to make a deal regarding its nuclear program. (Reuters)
Mike Pence told a group of West Point graduates that it is a “virtual certainty” that they will see combat. “You will lead soldiers in combat,” Pence told the 980 graduating cadets. “It will happen. Some of you may even be called upon to serve in this hemisphere.” (CBS News)
6/ A federal judge temporarily blocked Trump from diverting $1 billion in Defense Department funds to build parts of his U.S.-Mexico border wall. Trump made an emergency declaration earlier this year to circumvent Congress and reallocate funding from the Defense Department to begin work on the wall. In a 56-page ruling, Judge Haywood Gilliam said Trump couldn’t use the funds without congressional approval. The ruling, however, does not prevent the Trump administration from using funds from other sources to build walls or fencing. (The Hill / NPR / CNN)
A group that raised more than $20 million in donations on GoFundMe claimed it started building its own border wall on private property. The half-mile stretch of private wall will connect two 21-mile sections of existing fencing. (CNN)
Notables.
House Republicans blocked an attempt to pass a bipartisan disaster aid package for a second time. The move delays $19 billion in emergency relief for states hit by hurricanes, wildfires and flooding. Republicans complained that the bill ignores Trump’s request for funding for operations along the U.S.-Mexico border. (Politico / Washington Post / Reuters)
Trump’s lawyers reached an agreement with the House Intelligence and Financial Services committees to not enforce the subpoenas to Deutsche Bank and Capital One for Trump’s financial records for now. In April, Trump sued Deutsche Bank and Capital One to prevent them from supplying information to congressional investigators. According to the filing, “the parties have reached an agreement regarding compliance with and enforcement of the subpoenas during the pendency of Plaintiffs’ appeal.” (USA Today / CNN / Bloomberg)
A $1 million donation to Trump’s inaugural committee is being scrutinized by federal prosecutors in New York who are investigating the committee’s finances. Real estate mogul Franklin Haney made the donation seeking regulatory approval and financial support from the government for his bid to acquire the Bellefonte Nuclear Power Plant in Alabama. (Associated Press)
Trump’s transportation secretary still owns shares in a company more than a year after promising to divest them. Elaine Chao owns nearly $400,000 of stock in Vulcan Materials Co., a major supplier of materials for road pavement and other construction projects. Chao promised to sell her shares for a cash payout more than a year ago. (Wall Street Journal / The Hill)
A Trump HUD official said she may have broken a federal law meant to prevent officials from politicizing their government positions, but even if she did, “I honestly don’t care anymore.” (HuffPost)
1/ Trump gave Attorney General William Barr “full and complete authority” to unilaterally declassify government secrets and ordered U.S. intelligence agencies to cooperate with Barr’s audit of the Russia investigation. Trump wants Barr to investigate the origins of the Russia investigation and the tactics used by investigators. Trump issued the order just hours after accusing the people who led the investigation of committing treason. Barr has personally met with the heads of U.S. intelligence agencies to discuss his review of the probe. Barr has also said that he believes the Trump campaign was “spied” on. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / CNN)
2/ The Trump administration is preparing to bypass Congress to sell billions of dollars worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The munitions sales are currently on hold by Congress, but Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other political appointees in the White House are urging Trump to invoke an emergency provision that would allow him to prevent Congress from blocking the $7 billion sale of precision-guided missiles and combat aircraft to the Saudis and Emiratis. (New York Times / Washington Post / The Independent)
3/ Trump has personally and repeatedly urged the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to award a border wall contract to a specific construction firm in North Dakota run by a GOP donor and frequent Fox News guest. Trump has pushed for Fisher Industries to receive the multi-billion-dollar border wall contract on phone calls, at White House meetings, and during conversations on Air Force One, which has alarmed military commanders and DHS officials. The company’s CEO, Tommy Fisher, is a frequent guest on conservative talk shows and radio stations, and has courted Washington officials directly by arranging meetings at congressional offices and inviting officials to review border wall prototypes. (Washington Post)
4/ The Trump administration formally proposed revisions to Obama-era healthcare and civil rights protections for transgender people. The proposal would eliminate “gender identity” as one of the protected categories in healthcare decisions and push government policy toward only recognizing characteristics of sex at birth as the basis. The 2016 rule prevented discrimination in healthcare decisions on the basis of gender identity in “any health program or activity” that receives federal funding. (New York Times)
5/ The bipartisan $19.1 billion disaster relief package is being held up by one House Republican who voted to block the legislation. Rep. Chip Roy of Texas said he was objecting to the bill, which has Trump’s support, because it would add to the national debt and because it leaves out an additional $4.4 billion for federal operations along the southern border. (Washington Post)
Notables.
The U.S. will send 1,500 additional troops and a dozen fighter jets to the Middle East in the coming weeks. Trump publicly blamed Iran and its proxies for recent attacks on oil tankers near the UAE and a rocket attack in Iraq. (Associated Press)
Trump tweeted a doctored video of Nancy Pelosi which was deliberately edited to make her appear as if she was drunk and slurring her words. “PELOSI STAMMERS THROUGH NEWS CONFERENCE,” Trump tweeted alongside the video. (NBC News / CBS News / Washington Post / The Guardian)
Trump called on his aides one-by-one during a press conference and asked them to confirm that he “couldn’t have been more calm” during an infrastructure meeting with Democrats on Wednesday. “Kellyanne, what was my temperament yesterday?” Trump asked Conway. “Very calm, no temper tantrum,” Conway responded. “I told the facts for this crowd, they published that you were fuming, termper tantrum, rage. That was just a lie. You were very calm.” Trump then went down the line and asked every aid in the room to attest to his temperament during the meeting. (ABC News)
Republican candidates and campaign committees have spent more than $4 million at Trump hotels, golf courses, and vineyards since Trump took office. More than three dozen members of Congress have held fundraisers or stayed the night at Trump properties. More than a quarter of the money spent has come from Trump’s own campaign, which has funneled $1.5 million into his businesses over the same period of time. The Republican National Committee has spent more than $1.1 million at Trump’s properties in both Washington and Florida. (The Hill)
The attorney for accused war criminal Eddie Gallagher also works for the Trump Organization. Trump has indicated that he plans to pardon Gallagher, who is accused of killing civilians in Iraq and premeditated murder for the stabbing death of an injured person in Iraq. (CNN)
1/ The Senate passed a $19.1 billion bipartisan disaster relief spending bill that does not include the $4.5 billion in funding for Trump’s border wall. After months of negotiation, the bill passed with a vote of 85-8 just a few hours after both sides reached an agreement. The bill provides roughly $900 million for Puerto Rico, and includes a provision that would require the Trump administration to release another $9 billion in aid, which had previously been withheld from the U.S. territory. The House will vote on the bill when it returns from recess and the bill will be sent to Trump’s desk. “I totally support it,” Trump said. (CNN / BuzzFeed News / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / NBC News)
A federal district judge heard arguments in a lawsuit brought by the House of Representatives against Trump’s national emergency declaration. The suit argues that Trump’s national emergency declaration to fund the construction of his border wall is unconstitutional and violates the separation of power between the branches of government. During the nearly three-hour hearing Judge Trevor McFadden appeared skeptical about involving the judiciary in a dispute between the administration and Democrats in the House. (CNN)
2/ Trump announced a $16 billion aid package for farmers hurt by his ongoing trade war with China. The bailout is the second deal aimed at limiting the losses of American farmers as a result of China’s retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods. Farmers will be able to apply for direct payments for crops that are impacted by the tariffs. The USDA will also buy surplus products like milk and meat to distribute to food banks around the U.S. and provide $14.5 billion in direct payments based on the estimated impact to each country. It will also spend $1.4 billion to purchase goods and another $100 million to develop other markets for U.S. goods. (Bloomberg / ABC News)
China says trade talks with the U.S. won’t continue until the U.S. addresses its “wrong actions.” China’s Commerce Ministry didn’t mention any specific U.S. actions, but Ministry of Commerce spokesperson Gao Feng said that “if the U.S. would like to keep on negotiating it should, with sincerity, adjust its wrong actions. Only then can talks continue.” (CNBC)
3/ A ten-year-old girl died in September 2018 while in the care of the Office of Refugee Resettlement. She was the first of six migrant children that have died while detained by U.S. authorities. Rep. Joaquin Castro accused the Trump administration of concealing the girl’s death from the public. “I have not seen any indication that the Trump administration disclosed the death of this young girl to the public or even to Congress,” Castro said. “And if that’s the case, they covered up her death for eight months, even though we were actively asking the question about whether any child had died or been seriously injured.” (CBS News)
Republicans on a House committee voted to strike Rep. Lauren Underwood’s comments from the record after she suggested the deaths of migrant children at the U.S.-Mexico border were intentional. “With five kids that have died,” Underwood said, “the evidence is really clear that this is intentional, it’s a policy choice being made on purpose by this administration and it’s cruel and inhumane.” (NBC News / The Hill)
4/ The Chairman and CEO of Federal Savings Bank was indicted for trying to give $16 million in home loans to Paul Manafort in exchange for a top position in the Trump administration. Stephen Calk allegedly approved millions of dollars in high-risk loans in the hopes that he would be appointed as Secretary of the Army or another high-level position of similar stature in Trump’s incoming cabinet. Manafort needed the loans to avoid foreclosure and, while the loans were pending, Calk gave him a list of positions he wanted. The list included two top spots at the U.S. Treasury, followed by Secretary of Commerce, Secretary of Defense, as well as 19 high-level ambassadorships. (NBC News / New York Times)
5/ The Department of Justice indicted WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange on 17 additional counts of violating the Espionage Act by publishing classified diplomatic cables in 2010 that revealed war crimes committed by U.S. and NATO forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. Assange faces up to 175 years in prison if he is convicted of all the charges. The Espionage Act is typically reserved for government officials or employees who leak classified information, and has never been used to charge someone who merely publishes the information. (The Guardian / New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post / Politico)
Notables.
The Department of Defense is considering a request from the U.S. military to deploy an additional 5,000 troops to the Middle East as the White House continues to threaten Iran. It is unclear whether any specific request will eventually be presented to the White House, and the U.S. has not publicly shown any evidence or specific intelligence about what the supposed threat from Iran actually is. (Reuters)
The FBI has seen a significant rise in white supremacist domestic terrorism in recent months. No specific numbers were provided, but an FBI official said the cases generally include suspects involved in violence related to anti-government views, racial or religious bias, environmental extremism and abortion-related views. (CNN)
Distorted videos of Nancy Pelosi that are altered to make her sound drunk are circulating on social media. The video of Pelosi’s onstage speech Wednesday, when she said Trump’s refusal to cooperate with congressional investigations was tantamount to a “cover-up;” was edited to make her voice sound garbled and warped. (Washington Post)
A federal appeals court in Washington said it will quickly review Trump’s request to block a congressional subpoena seeking financial records from his accounting firm. The brief ruling means the firm will not give Trump’s business records to the House while the case is still pending. (Washington Post)
Wells Fargo and TD Bank have already turned over documents to Congress related to their financial dealings with Trump. Wells Fargo gave the House Financial Services Committee a few thousand documents, and TD Bank turned over a handful of documents. No other information about the documents or what the committee has learned from them has been released. (NBC News)
1/ Nancy Pelosi said the Democratic leadership believes that Trump is “engaged in a cover-up” after meeting with congressional committee leaders. “We believe that the president of the United States is engaged in a cover-up,” Pelosi told reporters. “A cover-up. And that was the nature of the meeting.” Trump responded to Pelosi’s comments by storming out of an infrastructure meeting with senior Democrats after only three minutes, before heading to the Rose Garden to host a surprise press conference. “I don’t do cover-ups,” Trump said before declaring that he would refuse to work with Democrats until they stop investigating him. “I want to do infrastructure,” he continued. “I want to do it more than you want to do it. I’d be really good at that - that’s what I do. But you know what? You can’t do it under these circumstances. So get these phony investigations over with.” (New York Times / NBC News / Axios / Reuters / CNBC / ABC News)
Analysis: The various cover-ups of Donald ‘I don’t do cover-ups’ Trump. “I don’t do cover-ups,” he said. “You people” — the media — “know that probably better than anybody.” (Washington Post)
‘I pray for the president,’ Pelosi says after Trump cuts short infrastructure meeting, blasts Democrats. “In an orchestrated – almost to an ‘oh, poor baby’ point of view – he came into the room and said that I said that he was engaged in a cover-up and he couldn’t possibly engage in a conversation on infrastructure as long as we are investigating him,” Pelosi said. (Boston Globe / The Hill)
Trump rails about impeachment, says Democrats are fishing. Trump claimed that his approval rating “would be at 65%” if there were no investigations. (NBC News)
2/ The House Intelligence Committee reached a last-minute deal with the Justice Department over the redacted material in the Mueller report and announced that it will not enforce the subpoena against Attorney General William Barr. The DOJ agreed to turn over the material and the underlying information in Mueller’s report, but committee chairman Adam Schiff said the subpoena “will remain in effect and will be enforced should the Department fail to comply with the full document request.” Schiff said he expects the DOJ to finish turning over the 12 categories of counterintelligence and foreign intelligence material from Mueller’s report “by the end of next week.” In a letter sent to Schiff on Tuesday, Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd warned that “the Department will not likely be able to continue to work with the Committee to accommodate its interest in these materials” if the committee takes “the precipitous and unnecessary action of recommending a contempt finding or other enforcement action against the attorney general.” (Washington Post / New York Times)
3/ The IRS must honor congressional requests for Trump’s tax returns unless Trump invokes executive privilege to protect them, according to a confidential draft legal memo written by IRS staffers. The memo undercuts Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin’s argument that the White House doesn’t have to comply with Congress’ requests because they lack any “legitimate legislative purpose.” Mnuchin said he came to that conclusion after consulting with attorneys from the Treasury Department, the IRS, and the Justice Department, but the memo says the Treasury Secretary does not have the authority to deny requests for taxpayer returns made by tax-writing committees in Congress. (Washington Post / New York Times)
New York lawmakers passed a pair of bills that would allow Congress to obtain Trump’s state tax returns. Tax officials will now be authorized to hand over Trump’s state returns to any one of three congressional committees. (New York Times / CNN)
4/ Judge Edgardo Ramos ruled at a U.S. District Court hearing in New York that Congress has the legal authority to demand the Trump Organization’s financial records from Deutsche Bank AG and Capital One Financial Corp. Lawyers for Trump, his three older children, and the Trump Organization argued that the subpoenas should be quashed. The ruling clears the way for the banks to comply with subpoenas issued to them last month by two congressional committees, and comes just two days after a different federal judge in Washington, D.C. said Trump’s accounting firm has to comply with a congressional subpoena for Trump’s personal financial records. (Reuters / CNBC)
poll/ 70% of Americans say they have confidence in the condition of the U.S. economy and their own financial situation. 41% of those who said the economy was in good shape also credited Trump’s policies as the reason why the economy is doing well, up from 32% at the beginning of 2018. 41% of Americans approve of the job Trump is doing as president. (ABC News)
Notables.
Michael Cohen communicated more than 1,000 times over the course of eight months with the CEO of a U.S. money-management firm with ties to a Russian oligarch, according to a warrant filed on Aug. 7, 2017. The exchanges between Cohen and Andrew Intrater of Columbus Nova LLC began the day Trump was elected, and Mueller’s team was investigating whether payments to Cohen from Columbus Nova were connected to a plan to give Michael Flynn a proposal to lift sanctions against Russia. No charges were filed related to that particular inquiry. (Bloomberg)
Rex Tillerson met with members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee for more than six hours in a private, closed-door session, during which he talked about his time serving under Trump, the frictions between himself and Jared Kushner, and his attempts to tackle issues like Russian interference in the 2016 election. (Daily Beast)
Trump’s golf trips have cost taxpayers at least $102 million in extra travel and security expenses. Trump’s trips to Florida cost $81 million, his trips to New Jersey cost $17 million, his two days in Scotland last summer cost at least $3 million, and another $1 million went toward a trip to his resort in Los Angeles. (HuffPost / New York Magazine)
Steve Mnuchin says the Harriet Tubman redesign of the $20 bill will no longer be unveiled in 2020. The unveiling had been scheduled to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote. Mnuchin says the design process has been delayed, and no new imagery will be unveiled until 2028. (CNBC)
Mick Mulvaney is looking to install one of his political allies as the new head of the White House Office of Legislative Affairs. Mulvaney has signaled that he wants someone who worked with him at the Office of Management and Budget to replace the outgoing current head, Shahira Knight. Having someone he trusts as the new head of the team would allow him to be directly involved with negotiating and passing critical pieces of legislation during the remainder of Trump’s term. (CNBC)
Senator Mike Lee of Utah says the U.S. census should include questions about criminal records in order to help policymakers get former convicts back into the workforce. Lee suggested the idea at a hearing about the Census’s impact on the economy. (Reuters)
U.S. Customs and Border Protection only installed 1.7 miles of fencing with the $1.57 billion that Congress appropriated last year for Trump’s border wall with Mexico. The administration recently updated a federal judge on the status of its border wall efforts, and “based on that updated information,” the court filing reads, “it appears that CBP has now constructed 1.7 miles of fencing with its fiscal year 2018 funding.” (Bloomberg)
Michael Avenatti was charged with extorting Nike and stealing $300,000 from his former client, Stormy Daniels. Federal prosecutors in New York charged him with fraud and aggravated identity theft involving Daniels and a book deal, and with attempting to extort more than $20 million from the sportswear giant, Nike. Avenatti has denied the allegations. (Southern District of New York / Associated Press / Reuters / CNN / CNBC)
1/ Former White House counsel Don McGahn failed to appear at hearing in front of the House Judiciary Committee, following Trump’s instructions to ignore the congressional subpoena. “Our subpoenas are not optional,” Committee chair Jerry Nadler said after McGahn failed to show up. Nadler also warned that “one way or another,” the panel will hear from McGahn, even if that means holding McGahn in contempt of Congress for failing to appear. “This committee,” he said, “will have no choice but to enforce the subpoena against him.” (Associated Press)
2/ A federal judge ruled that Trump’s accounting firm must turn over his financial records to Congress. Judge Amit Mehta ruled that the accounting firm, Mazars, must comply with the subpoena issued by the House Oversight Committee. Trump had sued to quash the subpoena, arguing that Congress had no legitimate legislative reason to request the documents, but Judge Mehta said that they do. “It is simply not fathomable,” Mehta wrote, “that a Constitution that grants Congress the power to remove a President for reasons including criminal behavior would deny Congress the power to investigate him for unlawful conduct — past or present — even without formally opening an impeachment inquiry.” Trump has vowed to appeal Mehta’s ruling. (NPR / Washington Post / The Guardian / New York Times / CNN)
3/ Michael Cohen told lawmakers earlier this year that one of Trump’s personal attorneys told him to lie to Congress about the Trump Tower Moscow deal and suggested he might be pardoned if he helped “shut down” the Russia investigation. Cohen claimed that Jay Sekulow asked him to tell Congress that the Trump Tower Moscow negotiations ended on Jan. 31, 2016 — nearly six months before they actually ended — according to transcripts from Cohen’s two private interviews with lawmakers, which were released yesterday. Cohen also said Sekulow told him that Trump was considering pardons for Cohen and others who “shut down, you know, this investigation.” (Politico / Washington Post)
4/ ‘Fox & Friends’ host Pete Hegseth has been privately lobbying Trump for months to convince him to pardon convicted and accused war criminals. Hegseth has repeatedly lobbied Trump since as early as January and pressed him in multiple private conversations to support pardons for, among others, accused war criminal and former Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher. Gallagher will stand trial on May 28 for allegedly shooting civilians, including a school-aged girl, and knifing a captured ISIS fighter to death while the fighter was receiving medical treatment in 2007 at a facility in Iraq. (Daily Beast / New York Times / USA Today)
poll/ 40% of rural Americans struggle with routine medical bills, food expenses, and housing costs. 49% say they could not afford to pay an unexpected $1,000 expense of any type. (NPR)
Notables.
Kris Kobach has a list of 10 demands that he wants met if Trump asks him to be the next “immigration czar.” Among Kobach’s demands: 24-hour access to a government jet, an office in the West Wing, guaranteed weekends off, and an assurance that he will be appointed as the next Secretary of Homeland Security by November. He also wants to be the main television spokesperson for Trump’s immigration policies, plus guarantees that all other cabinet secretaries would defer to him on immigration issues. (New York Times)
Trump is expected to choose Ken Cuccinelli to coordinate the administration’s immigration policy. The job’s duties and title are still being decided, but Cuccinelli, an immigration hard-liner, is expected to work through the Department of Homeland Security. (New York Times)
Russian documents reveal desire to sow racial discord — and violence — in the U.S. The revelations come as U.S. intelligence agencies have warned of probable Russian meddling in the 2020 election. (NBC News)
Several members of Nancy Pelosi’s leadership team pressed her to begin an impeachment inquiry against Trump. At least five members of Pelosi’s leadership team pressed her during a closed-door leadership meeting to allow the House Judiciary Committee to start an impeachment inquiry, all of whom Pelosi rebuffed. (Washington Post / Politico / NBC News)
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos used personal emails for her government work in “limited” cases. An internal Education Department watchdog says DeVos sometimes uses personal email accounts for government business and does not always save the messages properly. (CNBC)
1/ Deutsche Bank staff identified multiple suspicious transactions made in 2016 and 2017 by legal entities controlled by Trump and Jared Kushner. A group of anti-money-laundering specialists at Deutsche Bank recommended that the bank report the transactions to a federal financial-crimes watchdog. But executives at the bank, from which Trump has borrowed billions of dollars, rejected the advice of their staff and chose not to file the reports with the government. The nature of the transactions in question is still unclear, but at least some of them involved money flowing back and forth between overseas entities or individuals, something the bank employees flagged as suspicious. Deutsche Bank has denied the report that its executives ignored the recommendations of its own anti-money-laundering specialists. (New York Times / Reuters / Reuters)
2/ Trump instructed former White House counsel Don McGahn to defy a congressional subpoena and skip a House Judiciary Committee hearing scheduled for Tuesday. The committee subpoenaed McGahn to appear to answer questions about Trump’s attempts to obstruct justice during the Russia investigation, but the White House presented McGahn with a 15-page legal opinion from the Justice Department that states, “Congress may not constitutionally compel the president’s senior advisers to testify about their official duties.” The current White House counsel sent a letter to the committee explaining that Trump instructed McGahn not to appear due to the “constitutional immunity” outlined in the DOJ legal opinion, “and in order to protect the prerogatives of the office of the presidency.” (New York Times / ABC News / Washington Post)
3/ Federal prosecutors in New York are examining tens of thousands of documents related to Trump’s inauguration. Prosecutors are moving on to the next stage of the investigation, now that Trump’s inaugural committee has finished handing over a cache of documents, records, and communications related to the financing, vendors, and donors for the inauguration. Authorities are investigating whether any of the record-setting $107 million in donations was misspent, was used to benefit particular individuals, or came from foreign donors in violation of campaign finance laws that prohibit foreign donations to U.S. campaigns. (CNN)
One of the biggest backers of Trump’s push to protect American steel is a Canadian billionaire. Barry Zekelman, whose business is mostly in the United States, funded his own advertising campaign to build public support for his efforts to protect makers of steel tubes in the United States. And Zekelman Industries made political donations in the United States — skirting or possibly violating a ban on contributions by foreigners — including $1.75 million last year to a group supporting Trump. (New York Times)
4/ Michigan Rep. Justin Amash became the first Republican lawmaker to publicly conclude that Trump has committed “impeachable conduct” as president, and that Trump’s conduct meets the “threshold for impeachment.” In a Twitter thread, Amash said he believes “few members of Congress even read” Mueller’s final report, and said the report establishes “multiple examples” of Trump committing obstruction of justice. Amash also accused Attorney General William Barr of intentionally misleading the public. “Contrary to Barr’s portrayal,” Amash wrote, “Mueller’s report reveals that President Trump engaged in specific actions and a pattern of behavior that meet the threshold for impeachment.” (CNN / Washington Post)
Trump allies are mobilizing against Amash’s impeachment revolt. Republicans are moving fast to squelch Justin Amash’s rebellion against Trump before his conclusion that Trump “engaged in impeachable conduct” — the first by a GOP lawmaker — can gather momentum. (CNN)
Romney: GOP congressman’s call for impeachment ‘a courageous statement’. But he says he has not reached the same conclusion as Justin Amash. (Politico)
Notables.
Trump warned Iran not to threaten the U.S. or the country will face its “official end.” Iran’s foreign minister quickly responded in kind on Twitter with his own message: #NeverThreatenAnIranian. (Associated Press)
The White House announced the first part of its Middle East peace proposal, which officials are calling an economic “workshop” that is meant to encourage investment in the West Bank, Gaza, and the region. The effort is being headed by Jared Kushner and White House Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt. The idea is to secure financial commitments from wealthy Persian Gulf states as well as donors in Europe and Asia to induce the Palestinians and their allies to make political concessions to resolve the decades-old conflict with Israel. (CNN / New York Times)
Trump appeared to confirm that the U.S. conducted a cyberattack against a Russian entity during last year’s midterm elections. Trump was asked about a report that he personally approved a cyberattack against Russia, during which the U.S. military blocked access to the Russian troll farm known as the Internet Research Agency. “I would rather not say that,” Trump said, “but you can believe that the whole thing happened, and it happened during my administration.” When asked why he didn’t want to talk about it, Trump said it was because “they don’t like me to talk, intelligence says, ‘please don’t talk intelligence.’” (CNN)
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a bid to give businesses broader rights to donate money to political candidates. The Court, without comment, refused to question a Massachusetts law that bars for-profit corporations from making campaign donations. (Bloomberg)
The U.S. Supreme Court deferred acting on state efforts to put more restrictions on abortion, issuing a list of orders without mentioning two pending Indiana appeals. In one, the state is seeking to bar abortions motivated by the risk of a genetic disorder and require clinics to bury or cremate fetal remains. In the other, Indiana aims to reinstate a requirement that an ultrasound be performed at least 18 hours before an abortion. (Bloomberg)
Google suspended all business with Huawei that requires the transfer of hardware, software and technical services except those publicly available via open source licensing after the Trump administration added the Chinese technology giant to a trade blacklist. The blacklist comes with restrictions that will make it extremely difficult for the company to do business with U.S. counterparts. (Reuters / The Independent)
The EPA plans to adopt a new method for projecting the future health risks of air pollution, which experts say has never been peer-reviewed and is not scientifically sound. The change would immediately lower an estimate from last year by the Trump administration that projected as many as 1,400 additional premature deaths per year from a proposed new rule on emissions from coal plants, making it easier to defend Trump’s replacement for Obama’s signature climate change measure, the Clean Power Plan. (New York Times)
1/ Michael Flynn told Robert Mueller that people tied to Trump and a person “connected to” Congress tried to obstruct the Russia investigation. Flynn said he received communications from Trump associates that could have affected the ex-national security adviser’s “willingness to cooperate.” Flynn not only told investigators about these communications, but provided Mueller’s office with a voicemail of one instance. Flynn pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI in December 2017. (NBC News / CNN / CNBC / Axios) / Politico)
2/ A judge ordered public release of what Flynn said in call to the Russian ambassador. The order calls for a public transcript of the call by the former national security adviser that was a critical avenue in the Mueller probe. (Washington Post)
Democrats want a review of Russian investments in Kentucky. A Russian aluminum company recently came out from under United States sanctions. Now it’s planning to invest $200 million in Kentucky, and maybe more in other states. (New York Times)
Panhandle county that backed Trump among Russian hacking victims. Washington County was one two counties successfully hacked by Russians seeking voter information files. (Politico)
Judge confirms Trump associate gave feds Osama bin Laden’s number. Felix Sater, who became an FBI informant after pleading guilty in a 1998 fraud scheme, later helped drive talks for a potential Trump Tower Moscow. (Politico)
3/ Trump wants his border barrier to be painted black with spikes. He has other ideas, too. Pointed tops. Fewer gates. Resistance to climbing. Trump’s frequently changing design requests have frustrated Homeland Security officials and military engineers. (Washington Post)
4/ Trump’s pick for ICE director: I can tell which migrant children will become gang members by looking into their eyes. “I’ve looked at them and I’ve looked at their eyes, Tucker — and I’ve said that is a soon-to-be MS-13 gang member. It’s unequivocal.” (Politico)
5/ Trump delayed auto tariffs while pressing for a deal with Japan and Europe. Trump stepped back from opening another front in a global trade war by delaying tariffs on automobiles until later this year. (New York Times)
6/ Trump’s tariffs are equivalent to one of the largest tax increases in decades. An analysis of data from the Treasury Department ranks the combined $72 billion in revenue from all the president’s tariffs as one of the biggest tax increases since 1993. (CNBC)
7/ Trump reports making at least $434 million in 2018, according to his annual financial disclosure released by the White House. (CNN)
1/ The U.S. military will build six tent cities near border for migrants. The tents will likely not be on military bases, and ICE — not the military — will be responsible for migrant detention and custodial support. (NBC News)
2/ Trump’s immigration plan will emphasizes immigrants’ skills over their family ties. The plan will significantly scale back family-based immigration and increase the educational and skills requirements to move to the United States. (New York Times / NPR)
3/ Trump, frustrated by advisers, is not convinced the time is right to attack Iran. “They are getting way out ahead of themselves, and Trump is annoyed,” one official said of aides pushing for aggressive action. (Washington Post)
Trump told his Pentagon chief he does not want a war with Iran. Trump’s statement came during a briefing on the rising tensions with Tehran, and officials said he was firm in saying he did not want a military clash. (New York Times)
4/ The Missouri Senate passed a bill to ban abortions at 8 weeks. Senators approved the legislation 24-10 and now needs at least one more vote of approval in the GOP-led House before it can go to Republican Gov. Mike Parson, who voiced support for the bill. (Associated Press)
Alabama governor signs near-total abortion ban aimed squarely at Roe v. Wade, but the Supreme Court may prefer to chip away at abortion rights rather than overrule Roe outright. The new law is the most restrictive anti-abortion measure passed in the U.S. since Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973. The controversial abortion bill could punish doctors who perform abortions with life in prison. (New York Times / CBS News) / CNN)
5/ Trump moved to ban foreign telecom gear as part of an ongoing battle with China. American officials have long warned that they would stop sharing intelligence if allies installed Chinese technology on their 5G networks. (New York Times)
6/ Farmer who voted for Trump says he’ll “never vote for him again” as family is set to lose $150,000 in China trade war. “This is survival at this point. I mean, for a lot of operations it is a survival thing,” Iowa farmer Robert Ewoldt said. (Newsweek)
7/ Company owned by Brazilian crooks received $62 million in Trump bailout cash meant for struggling U.S. farmers. The Trump administration has forked over more than $62 million — taxpayer cash that was supposed to be earmarked for struggling American farmers — to a massive meatpacking company owned by a couple of… (New York Daily News)
8/ Trump pardoned his billionaire friend Conrad Black, who wrote a book about him. Black was convicted in 2007 on fraud charges, including alleged embezzlement, and obstruction of justice. (Washington Post / Reuters)
9/ Attorney General William Barr denied he is blocking Robert Mueller’s testimony before Congress. “It’s Bob’s call whether he wants to testify,” Barr said. (Wall Street Journal)
10/ Ted Cruz warned that Trump’s “Space Force” is needed to prevent space pirates. “Pirates threaten the open seas, and the same is possible in space,” Cruz said. (The Hill)
11/ Scott Pruitt spent nearly $124,000 on “excessive airfare” and the EPA watchdog suggests agency recover the $124,000 in travel expenses. A new Office of Inspector General report suggests there was not “sufficient justification to support security concerns requiring the use of first- and business-class travel.” (Washington Post / NBC News / CNN)
12/ Trump’s prized Doral resort is in steep decline, according to company documents, showing his business problems are mounting. Eric Trump said the resort was “on fire,” but the company later said profitability was down 69%. (Washington Post)
Trump’s Mar-a-Lago took a financial hit last year. “The Art of the Deal” continues to make money, but Trump’s dozen-plus other books brought in next to nothing — $201 or less. (Politico)
Trump’s wealth in the spotlight with new disclosure forms. America is about to get a tantalizing look into the hidden fortune on which Donald Trump made his name but is at the root of some of the most mysterious unresolved questions about his presidency. (CNN)
Televangelist Jim Bakker Show Peddles $45 Coin to Pray for President Donald Trump in SpectacularGrift. For just $45, you can pray for the president with this coin that’s sold by a guy who says God told him you need the coin. (esquire.com)
poll/ Voters still see Trump as a successful businessman. The president maintains a positive image despite recent negative reports about his tax filings. (Politico)
poll/ 77% of Americans don’t think Trump’s term should be extended two years. 7% of respondents said that if Trump loses the 2020 election, he should ignore the results and stay in office. (University of Virginia Center for Politics)
1/ The White House rejected Congress’ demands for records and staff testimony, saying the investigations amount to an “unauthorized do-over” of the Mueller investigation. The letter also rejected the committee’s standing to investigate Trump for possible obstruction of justice. “Unfortunately, it appears that you have already decided to press ahead with a duplicative investigation,” White House counsel Pat Cipollone wrote. (NBC News / Washington Post)
House Democrats are planning a marathon public reading of the Mueller report. The reading of all 448 pages of the redacted report, starting at noon Thursday, will take an estimated 12 to 14 hours. (Washington Post)
2/ A federal judge grilled Trump’s legal team as Democrats fight for access to Trump’s financial records. Amit Mehta, a U.S. District Court judge in Washington, raised pointed doubts Tuesday about arguments by Trump’s legal team that a Democratic effort to subpoena Trump’s financial records was an invalid exercise of congressional power. An early court test for Trump’s vow to stonewall all subpoenas could be the start of a long fight over congressional oversight. (Politico / New York Times)
3/ All non-essential staff are being evacuated from the U.S. Embassy in Iraq as the U.S. continues to threaten Iran. The embassy says the State Department has ordered all non-essential, non-emergency government staff to leave the country right away amid escalating tensions with Tehran. (Associated Press)
Skeptical U.S. allies are resisting Trump’s new claims of threats from Iran. The Trump administration is laying the groundwork for major military action against Iran, but it may have a hard time rallying domestic and international support. (New York Times)
The German government has expressed concern about the tensions in the Middle East between the U.S. and Iran, warning of a military escalation and saying it supports all measures for a peaceful solution. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer said on Wednesday that, “obviously, we are watching the increasing tensions in the region with big concern and welcome any measure that is aimed at a peaceful solution.” (Associated Press)
4/ Jared Kushner struggled to answer GOP senators’ questions on his immigration plan. In a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill, Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser tried to pitch his plan to overhaul legal immigration but failed to win over Republicans, according to GOP officials. (Washington Post)
5/ Gov. Ron DeSantis: Russians hacked voting databases in two Florida counties. The GOP governor said the incidents took place in 2016 and no election results were compromised. (NBC News / Associated Press)
6/ The White House will not sign on to an international agreement to combat online extremism. The agreement was brokered between French and New Zealand officials and top social media companies. The U.S. did not agree to sign the agreement due to concerns that the pact clashes with constitutional protections for free speech. (Washington Post)
7/ Trump’s tariffs, once seen as leverage, may be here to stay. Trump’s latest trade measures have left the United States with the highest tariff rate among the most developed countries, outranking Canada, Germany, Russia and even China. (New York Times)
GOP senators raise alarms, criticize Trump as U.S.-China trade war heats up. They say tariffs are hurting their rural constituents, and they’re considering options to aid farmers. (Washington Post)
8/ Alabama passed a near-total abortion ban with no exceptions for cases that involve rape or incest. The legislation is the most restrictive anti-abortion measure passed since Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973. (CBS News)
9/ Trump Tower is now one of the least-desirable luxury buildings in New York City. Most condo owners who sold the property since 2016 have recorded a loss. “No one wants in that building,” said one former owner. (Bloomberg)
1/ The White House reviewed military plans to attack Iran, in echoes of the Iraq War. The plans call for up to 120,000 American troops but not a land invasion of Iran. They were updated at the request of John Bolton, Trump’s national security adviser, who has been calling for the U.S. to go to war with Iran for nearly two decades. (New York Times)
2/ Attorney General William Barr instructed the U.S. Attorney in Connecticut to review the origins of the Russia investigation. The prosecutor has conducted other sensitive investigations into conduct by national security officials, including the C.I.A.’s torture of detainees. (New York Times)
3/ Global stocks fell in response to China’s retaliation against U.S. tariffs, stoking economic anxiety. Stocks around the world fell sharply on Monday as the trade war between the world’s two biggest economies showed little sign of ending soon. Signs of economic anxiety also appeared in other financial markets. (New York Times)
4/ The U.S. is preparing to slap tariffs on all remaining Chinese imports, which could add levies on roughly $300 billion in additional goods. Days after both countries raised hopes of a deal, Trump and Xi instead escalated their tariff war. (Washington Post)
GOP’s farm belt Senators back Trump as China takes aim at U.S. agriculture. Republican lawmakers in the farm belt are standing with President Donald Trump in the wake of an escalating trade war with China, which retaliated on Monday with more tariffs on agricultural goods. (CNBC)
5/ The House Intelligence Committee is investigating claims of obstruction of justice against Trump’s lawyers. The Committee has opened an inquiry into Michael Cohen’s claims that lawyers for Trump and his family helped shape false testimony. (New York Times)
6/ Trump Jr. struck a deal with the Senate Intelligence Committee to come to Capitol Hill in mid-June to answer the committee’s questions for 2–4 hours. The agreed-upon topics for questioning include the Trump Tower Moscow development, but no other details about the compromise are currently available. (Axios)
Trump Jr.’s no-shows led to him being subpoenaed by the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the Committee’s Republican chairman Senator Richard Burr. Allies of Mr. Trump have mounted a campaign to quash the subpoena from the Committee, putting intense pressure on Burr. (New York Times)
7/ Trump said he would agree not to use stolen material as part of his 2020 presidential campaign. Trump said he would stay away from information stolen by foreign adversaries in his re-election bid, his first public commitment to doing so. (NBC News)
8/ Trump praised Hungary’s authoritarian prime minister Victor Orbán and called him “highly respected.” “Probably like me a little bit controversial, but that’s okay,” Trump said, because “you’ve done a good job and you’ve kept your country safe.” (Axios)
9/ Before Trump’s purge at the Department of Homeland Security, some top DHS officials challenged his plan to carry out mass family arrests. Kirstjen Nielsen and Ronald Vitiello were ousted after halting an operation that would have targeted thousands of parents and children in 10 cities for arrest and deportation. (Washington Post)
10/ Exclusive photos reveal children sleeping on the ground at a Border Patrol station in Texas. Photos obtained by CNN show migrants at the Border Patrol station in McAllen, Texas over the weekend, many of whom are children, sleeping on the ground on rocks and covered by Mylar blankets. A baby bottle filled with milk can be seen in one photo next to a child sleeping outside on dirt, and in another, a woman is seen sitting on rocks leaning against a wall clutching a child. (CNN)
1/ The White House asked Don McGahn to declare that Trump never obstructed justice. Two requests by presidential advisers show how far the White House has gone to try to push back on accusations that the president obstructed justice. McGahn initially entertained the request. “We did not perceive it as any kind of threat or something sinister,” McGahn’s attorney said in a statement. “It was a request, professionally and cordially made.” (New York Times)
2/ Leaked letters reveal the details of NRA Chief Wayne LaPierre’s alleged spending. National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre billed the group’s ad agency $39,000 for one day of shopping at a Beverly Hills clothing boutique, $18,300 for a car and driver in Europe, and had the agency cover $13,800 in rent for a summer intern, according to newly revealed NRA internal documents. (Wall Street Journal)
3/ The White House decried the investigations by House Democrats and complained that they are not following “rules and norms.” The White House on Sunday decried Democratic-led congressional investigations, saying Democrats are refusing to abide by “rules and norms” that govern oversight authority as they issue subpoenas for documents the Trump administration refuses to hand over. (CNN)
Suddenly, conservative lawyers are condemning Trump for abuses of power. Prominent Republican lawyers are pushing back against Trump’s defiance of subpoenas and expansive claims of executive privilege and immunity from prosecution. (Los Angeles Times)
4/ China is raising tariffs on $60 billion of U.S. goods starting on June 1. The move to impose steeper tariffs on U.S. goods comes in response to Trump’s decision to hike tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods. Trump’s trade approach is also under attack back in the U.S. as China readies retaliation and the markets prepare for a big sell-off. (CNBC / Washington Post)
Trump disputes impact of tariffs on American consumers, but warns China not to retaliate. The president accused Beijing of backing out of a “great deal” last week. (Politico)
5/ Trump aide Larry Kudlow acknowledged that U.S. consumers will be the ones who pay for Trump’s tariffs, not China. “Both sides will suffer on this,” Kudlow said. Trump’s decision to renew his trade war with China could inflict lasting damage on the American economy, but the ultimate impact depends on how far the president takes the fight. (NBC News / New York Times)
6/ Nadler is under pressure from calls for “inherent contempt.” The House Judiciary Committee chairman faces pressure to get tougher with the Trump administration and start threatening fines or jail time as punishment for noncompliance. (Politico)
Schiff: Campaigns shouldn’t be allowed to get foreign help. The California Democrat responds to Rudy Giuliani’s proposed (and then scrapped) Ukraine trip. (Politico)
Schiff: Trump’s additional obstruction of Congress “does add weight to impeachment”. “He certainly seems to be trying, and maybe this is his perverse way of dividing us more.” (Axios)
Schiff: Robert Mueller “is going to testify.” On “This Week,” Rep. Adam Schiff and Sen. Rand Paul weighed in on the Democratic-led congressional investigations into the president. (ABC News)
7/ The Pentagon will pull money from its ballistic missile and surveillance plane programs in order to fund Trump’s border wall. The Defense Department, under Trump, intends to reprogram $2.5 billion that was originally designated by Congress for other projects. (Washington Post)
Is there a connection between undocumented immigrants and crime?. It’s a widely held perception, but a new analysis finds no evidence to support it. (New York Times)
8/ Omarosa wants to join a lawsuit alleging that women were underpaid by the Trump campaign. A former campaign staffer who accused Trump of sexual misconduct and pay discrimination filed a motion Monday asking for a judge to allow others, including Omarosa, to join her initial lawsuit filed in February. (Washington Post)
1/ The House Ways and Mean Committee subpoenaed Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin over Trump’s tax returns. IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig was also subpoenaed. Chairman Richard Neal gave Mnuchin and Rettig until until May 17 to turn over six years of Trump’s returns, and is expected to go to court to enforce his request if the Trump administration continues to argue that the committee does not have a legitimate legislative purpose that warrants compliance. Earlier this week, Mnuchin rejected Neal’s request for the returns. Trump previously vowed to fight all subpoenas from House Democrats. Subpoenas are now pending from the Ways and Means, Judiciary, Oversight and Reform, Financial Services, and the Intelligence Committees. (CNBC / New York Times / Politico / Washington Post) / Wall Street Journal)
2/ The House Judiciary Committee introduced the “No President Is Above the Law Act” that would “pause the statute of limitations for any federal offense committed by a sitting president.” The move is an attempt to get around a Justice Department ruling that a sitting president cannot be indicted or criminally prosecuted. Robert Mueller laid out extensive evidence of possible obstruction by Trump, but declined to exonerate Trump in his report, citing a Justice Department legal opinion that a sitting president cannot be indicted. (Axios)
3/ Robert Mueller won’t testify in front of the House Judiciary Committee next week, but “he will come at some point,” committee chairman Jerrold Nadler told reporters. The committee is still negotiating with the Justice Department for Mueller’s appearance. “If it’s necessary,” Nadler said, “we will subpoena him and he will come.” Mueller was tentatively scheduled to appear May 15th. (The Hill / Reuters)
4/ Trump escalated his trade war with China, raising tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods and moving ahead to tax nearly all of China’s imports. Trump said the move is meant to punish China for attempting to “renegotiate” a trade deal between the two countries. At one point, Trump mentioned that he received a “beautiful letter” from Chinese President Xi Jinping, who wanted to speak with him on the phone, but later said he would be more than happy to keep hitting China with tariffs. “I have no idea what’s going to happen,” Trump said, tweeting later that there is “no need to rush” on to securing a trade deal with China. (New York Times / NPR / Washington Post / Bloomberg)
Notables.
Maria Butina denied that she tried to infiltrate U.S. conservative groups in order to promote Russian interests. She claimed she was “building peace.” Butina pleaded guilty to conspiring to serve as a foreign agent inside the United States. (NPR)
The House passed a $19.1 billion disaster relief package for farmers and communities hit by hurricanes, wildfires, floods and other natural disasters, including Puerto Rico. Trump urged House Republicans late Thursday night to vote down the bill. Instead, 30 Republicans voted in support of the bill, and the measure passed 257-150. (New York Times / Washington Post)
North Korea’s three new missiles have “Russian technology fingerprints all over” them, military experts said. The missiles reportedly bear a resemblance to the Russian-designed Iskander – a short-range, nuclear-capable ballistic missile that has been in the Russian arsenal for more than a decade. (Associated Press)
A commander in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard rejected Trump’s invitation to sit down for talks with the U.S. Trump said he would not rule out military action against Iran, but “would like to see them call me” first. Gen. Yadollah Javani responded that “there will be no negotiations with America,” claiming that the U.S. wouldn’t dare take military action against Iran. (Associated Press / Reuters)
The Pentagon will shift $1.5 billion in funds to help pay for construction of 80 miles of wall at the U.S.-Mexican border. The funds were originally targeted for support of the Afghan security forces and other projects, and follows the Pentagon’s decision in March to transfer $1 billion from Army personnel budget accounts to support wall construction. (Associated Press)
The Department of Housing and Urban Development confirmed the Trump administration’s plan to evict undocumented immigrants from public housing could displace more than 55,000 children. The proposed rule would make it harder for undocumented immigrants to access public housing, in order to “make certain our scarce public resources help those who are legally entitled to it,” according to HUD Secretary Ben Carson. The agency’s own analysis found that half of the people currently living in households facing eviction and homelessness under the new rule are children who are legally qualified for aid. (Washington Post)
Rudy Giuliani is encouraging Ukraine to pursue an investigation into Joe Biden’s son and his involvement in a gas company owned by a Ukrainian oligarch. Trump’s personal lawyer is meeting with the incoming government in Kiev to press them to try to discredit Mueller’s investigation and undermine the case against Paul Manafort. “We’re not meddling in an election,” Giuliani said. “We’re meddling in an investigation, which we have a right to do.” (New York Times / NBC News)
1/ Mick Mulvaney criticized Republicans for not informing him that Trump Jr. would be subpoenaed by the Senate Intelligence Committee as part of its ongoing probe into Russian interference in the 2016 campaign. The acting White House chief of staff called it “bad form” to “not at least get a heads-up” from the Republican-led committee. Senator Richard Blumenthal said that “If [Trump Jr.] fails to comply with a lawful subpoena, he has no privilege, prison is the only answer.” Trump Jr. is expected to assert his Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination in order to resist testifying about his contacts with Russia. (Washington Post / Politico / CNN / The Hill / Reuters)
📌 Day 839: The Senate Intelligence Committee subpoenaed Trump Jr. to answer questions about his previous testimony related to the Russia investigation. Trump Jr. testified before the committee in September 2017 that he was only “peripherally aware” of the proposed plans to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. Michael Cohen, however, told a House committee earlier this year that he had met with both Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump “approximately 10” times to brief them about the Trump Tower plan. The Republican-led committee wants Trump Jr. to answer questions about his claim to have limited knowledge of the plan. (Axios / CNBC / New York Times)
2/ House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff issued a subpoena to the Justice Department for “counterintelligence and foreign intelligence” from Robert Mueller’s investigation. Schiff said his committee had “no choice” but to serve the subpoena after the Justice Department “repeatedly failed to respond, refused to schedule any testimony, and provided no documents responsive to our legitimate and duly authorized oversight activities.” Schiff gave Attorney General William Barr a deadline of May 15 to hand over the evidence. (Politico / CNN)
3/ House Speaker Nancy Pelosi agreed with Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler that the U.S. is in a “constitutional crisis” over the Trump administration’s refusal to comply with congressional oversight, telling reporters: “The administration has decided they are not going to honor their oath of office.” The House Judiciary Committee voted yesterday to recommend the House hold Barr in contempt of Congress for refusing to turn over an unredacted version of Mueller’s report. Pelosi said she would bring the contempt citation to the floor for a vote of the full House “when we are ready.” (New York Times / Axios)
Former national security adviser H.R. McMaster accused his former White House colleagues of being “a danger to the Constitution” because they’re either trying to push their own agenda or see themselves as rescuing the country from Trump. (Politico)
poll/ 45% of Americans support impeaching Trump – up 5 percentage points since mid-April. 42% said Trump should not be impeached and the rest said they had no opinion. (Reuters)
Notables.
The White House implemented new rules that could reduce the number of journalists that hold “hard” passes, which allow them to enter the White House grounds without seeking daily permission. Journalists will be required to enter the White House grounds at least 50% of the time in the 180 days before renewal. If they fall short of this, they must apply each time they want access. (Washington Post)
North Korea fired two short-range missiles – the second weapons launch in five days. They flew 43 to 125 miles before landing in the sea. (Associated Press / New York Times)
The U.S. seized a North Korean ship used to sell coal in violation of American law and international sanctions hours after North Korea launched a pair of short-range missiles. (New York Times / Washington Post)
Trump picked acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan to take over as secretary of defense following the resignation of Jim Mattis. The nomination of the former longtime executive at Boeing had been held up by an inspector general’s probe into whether he acted improperly in favor of Boeing, a major Pentagon contractor. He was recently cleared of wrongdoing, but still needs Senate confirmation. (CNBC / Politico / Bloomberg / NBC News / Washington Post)
Trump joked about shooting migrants at the border during a rally in Florida. Trump was complaining that “border security people” are prohibited from shooting migrants approaching the border when he asked, “How do you stop these people?” One of his supporters shouted: “Shoot them!” Trump paused, laughed, and responded that “Only in the Panhandle you can get away with that statement. Only in the panhandle.” (USA Today / Washington Post / CNN)
1/ Trump asserted executive privilege over Robert Mueller’s full, unredacted report. Yesterday, Attorney General William Barr and the Justice Department advised Trump to make a “protective assertion of executive privilege” in response to Democratic plans to hold Barr in contempt of Congress over his refusal to turn over Mueller’s report or underlying materials to Congress. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler said Trump’s “decision [to assert privilege] represents a clear escalation in the Trump administration’s blanket defiance of Congress’s constitutionally mandated duties.” The move will not have a direct impact on possible testimony from Mueller, but it could limit the scope of what he can say by putting some subjects off limits. (ABC News / New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / CNN)
📌 Day 838: The White House invoked executive privilege and ordered former counsel Donald McGahn not to comply with a congressional subpoena for documents related to Robert Mueller’s investigation. In a letter to the House Judiciary Committee, White House counsel Pat Cipollone argued that “McGahn does not have the legal right to disclose these documents to third parties” and asked that the committee instead direct the request to the White House, “because they implicate significant Executive Branch confidentiality interests and executive privilege.” Trump has also promised to assert executive privilege to block McGahn’s testimony to the committee later this month. McGahn spent more than 30 hours speaking to Mueller’s investigators, outlining two episodes where Trump asked him to have Mueller fired, and later asking McGahn to deny news reports about that conversation. McGahn rebuffed both requests. (CNBC / ABC News / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / New York Times)
2/ The House Judiciary Committee voted to hold Barr in contempt of Congress for refusing to turn over the full, unredacted Mueller report. “We are in a constitutional crisis,“Nadler said after the vote. “We are now in it.” However, Nadler added, impeachment “may not be the best answer.” The vote on contempt now heads to the full House. It is not immediately clear when that vote will be scheduled. If the full House follows the committee’s recommendation, it would be the second time in American history that a sitting attorney general would be held in contempt of Congress. (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / CNBC / Reuters)
3/ The Senate Intelligence Committee subpoenaed Trump Jr. to answer questions about his previous testimony related to the Russia investigation. Trump Jr. testified before the committee in September 2017 that he was only “peripherally aware” of the proposed plans to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. Michael Cohen, however, told a House committee earlier this year that he had met with both Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump “approximately 10” times to brief them about the Trump Tower plan. The Republican-led committee wants Trump Jr. to answer questions about his claim to have limited knowledge of the plan. (Axios / CNBC / New York Times)
📌 Day 680: Trump Jr.‘s testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee conflicts with Michael Cohen’s version of events regarding negotiations of a prospective Trump Tower in Moscow. In Cohen’s version, he says the discussions with at least one Russian government official continued through June 2016. Trump Jr. testified in September 2017 that talks surrounding a Trump Tower in Moscow concluded without result “at the end” of 2014 and “certainly not [20]16. There was never a definitive end to it. It just died of deal fatigue.” Trump Jr. told the Senate committee that he “wasn’t involved,” knew “very little,” and was only “peripherally aware” of the deal other than a letter of intent was signed by Trump. He also said he didn’t know that Cohen had sent an email to Putin’s aide, Dmitry Peskov. In Cohen’s guilty plea, he said he briefed Trump’s family members about the continued negotiations. (NPR / USA Today)
📌 Day 699: Newly obtained document show Trump signed a letter of intent to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, contradicting Rudy Giuliani’s claim that the document was never signed. The signed letter is dated Oct. 28, 2015. Trump Jr. testified on Sept. 7, 2017 that his father had signed a letter of intent for the Moscow project, which Michael Cohen worked on, but he knew “very little” about it. Cohen also told congressional committees investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election that Trump had signed the letter. On Sunday, Giuliani claimed: “It was a real estate project. There was a letter of intent to go forward, but no one signed it.” During the 2016 campaign, Trump did not disclose that the Trump Organization explored the business deal with Russia. Instead, he repeatedly claimed he had “nothing to do with Russia.” (CNN)
4/ Mueller tried to block the release of James Comey’s contemporaneous memos over concerns that Trump and other witnesses could change their stories after reading them. The Justice Department asked a federal judge to keep the memos under seal around the same time Mueller’s team was negotiating with Trump over a potential presidential interview. Mueller’s team said it was worried that “the recollections of one witness, if disclosed to another potential witness, have the potential to [influence], advertently or inadvertently, the recollections of that witness.” (CNN)
5/ Trump lost $1.17 billion between 1985 and 1994 — more than “nearly any other individual American taxpayer” during that period – according to 10 years of Trump’s newly obtained tax information. Trump lost so much money during the decade in question that he was able to avoid paying any income taxes for eight of those ten years. Two years after The Art of the Deal was published, Trump reported larger financial losses than all but three other individual American taxpayers. Trump’s businesses lost more than $250 million in 1990 and 1991, which were more than twice as much as the nearest taxpayers. Trump defended his “tax shelter” tactics on Twitter, calling it a “sport” to “show losses for tax purposes. […] Additionally, the very old information put out is a highly inaccurate Fake News hit job!” (New York Times / CNBC)
5 Takeaways From 10 Years of Trump Tax Figures. A decade of the Trump’s tax returns reveal $1.17 billion in business losses. Here’s what else the numbers show. (New York Times)
Democrats appear headed straight to court for Trump’s tax returns. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Monday shot down the House Ways and Means Committee’s request for six years’ worth of Trump’s personal returns. (Politico)
📌 Day 54: Trump wrote off $100 million in business losses to reduce his federal taxes in 2005. Trump paid $38 million in federal income taxes on reported income of $150 million, an effective tax rate of 25%. By claiming losses from previous years, Trump was able to save tens of millions of dollars in taxes that he otherwise might have owed. (New York Times)
📌 Day 621: Trump inherited his family’s wealth through fraud and questionable tax schemes, receiving the equivalent today of at least $413 million from his father’s real estate empire. Trump has repeatedly claimed that “I built what I build myself.” Trump and his siblings used fake corporations to hide financial gifts from his parents, which helped his father claim millions in tax deductions. Trump also helped his parents undervalue their real estate holdings by hundreds of millions of dollars when filing their tax returns. In total, Fred and Mary Trump transferred more than a $1 billion in wealth to their children and paid a total of $52.2 million in taxes (about 5%) instead of the $550+ million they should have owed under the 55% tax rate imposed on gifts and inheritances. Trump also “earned” $200,000 a year in today’s dollars starting at age 3 from his father’s companies. After college, Trump started receiving the equivalent of $1 million a year, which increased to $5 million a year when he was in his 40s and 50s. Trump has refused to release his income tax returns, breaking with decades of practice by past presidents. There is no time limit on civil fines for tax fraud. [Editor’s note: This is a must read. An abstract summary does not suffice.] (New York Times)
6/ The New York state Senate passed a bill that would allow Trump’s state tax returns to be turned over to congressional committees. The bill would permit the state Department of Taxation and Finance commissioner to release any state tax return requested by the leaders of the House Ways and Means Committee, the Senate Finance Committee or the Joint Committee on Taxation for any “specific and legitimate legislative purpose.” The bill still needs to be approved by the State Assembly and signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. (NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times)
poll/ 29% of voters approve of the way Barr handled the release of the Mueller reports. 35% said Barr has mostly worked to protect Trump while 32% said Barr has mostly tried to inform the American people. 32% were undecided. (Politico)
Notables.
Michael Cohen helped bury embarrassing photos of Jerry Falwell Jr. shortly before Falwell endorsed Trump in 2016. The Falwells wanted to prevent “a bunch of photographs, personal photographs” from becoming public, Cohen said during a recorded phone call with actor Tom Arnold. “I actually have one of the photos,” Cohen claimed. “It’s terrible.” An anonymous attorney for Falwell Jr. denied Cohen’s claims and insisted that “there are no compromising or embarrassing photos of Falwell, period!” (Reuters / Washington Post)
The Florida Bar will investigate U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz’s menacing tweet at Michael Cohen. The case against the Florida Republican stems from a tweet he directed toward Cohen on the eve of Cohen’s testimony before a House committee, saying: “Do your wife & father-in-law know about your girlfriends? Maybe tonight would be a good time for that chat. I wonder if she’ll remain faithful when you’re in prison. She’s about to learn a lot…” (Tampa Bay Times)
The House Oversight Committee threatened to withhold the salaries of employees at the Department of the Interior who prevent lawmakers from interviewing agency employees about whether Secretary David Bernhardt complied with recordkeeping laws. Committee chair Elijah Cummings issued a statement notifying the department that there would be no money available to pay the salaries of any “federal officer or employee who prevents another federal officer or employee from communicating directly with any member, committee, or subcommittee of Congress.” (Politico)
Trump’s foreign policy officials exaggerated the military threat from Iran in order to justify the deployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group and an Air Force bomber task force to the Gulf. National Security Adviser John Bolton said that the movement was in response to “a number of troubling and escalatory indications and warnings.” But multiple sources say Bolton and other administration officials were “overreacting” to the threat. (Daily Beast)
Iran will stop complying with the Iranian nuclear deal and threatened to resume enrichment of uranium in 60 days if European nations fail to negotiate new terms for the 2015 nuclear deal, which limited Iran’s capacity to produce nuclear fuel for 15 years. Despite the opposition from European allies, Trump withdrew entirely from the 2015 agreement. (New York Times / Associated Press / Reuters)
🎉Celebrate Small Victories: We deserve better. [Editor’s note: Super excited to announce that I’ve teamed up with Alison Diviney to share her Small Victories with the WTF community.]
1/ The White House invoked executive privilege and ordered former counsel Donald McGahn not to comply with a congressional subpoena for documents related to Robert Mueller’s investigation. In a letter to the House Judiciary Committee, White House counsel Pat Cipollone argued that “McGahn does not have the legal right to disclose these documents to third parties” and asked that the committee instead direct the request to the White House, “because they implicate significant Executive Branch confidentiality interests and executive privilege.” Trump has also promised to assert executive privilege to block McGahn’s testimony to the committee later this month. McGahn spent more than 30 hours speaking to Mueller’s investigators, outlining two episodes where Trump asked him to have Mueller fired, and later asking McGahn to deny news reports about that conversation. McGahn rebuffed both requests. (CNBC / ABC News / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / New York Times)
📌 Day 819: After Trump fired James Comey, he attempted to have his White House counsel fire Mueller a month later. Trump twice told Donald McGahn to call Rosenstein and order him to fire Mueller, saying: “Mueller has to go” for alleged “conflicts that precluded him from serving as special counsel.” McGahn refused, saying he did not want to repeat the “Saturday Night Massacre.” McGahn then called Reince Priebus, then the White House chief of staff, and told him Trump had asked him to “do crazy shit.” Trump later pressured McGahn to deny that he tried to fire Mueller.
📌 Day 820: Trump claimed that statements about him “by certain people” in Mueller’s “crazy” report are “total bullshit,” made by people trying to make themselves look good and harm him. Close White House advisers said Trump’s rage was aimed at former White House counsel Don McGahn, who blocked several attempts by Trump to interfere in Mueller’s investigation. Trump continued tweeting: “This was an Illegally Started Hoax that never should have happened, a…” He never finish the statement. (Politico / Bloomberg / Washington Post / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
2/ FBI Director Christopher Wray said he would not call the 2016 investigation into Trump’s campaign advisers “spying.” When asked during a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing if he had “any evidence that any illegal surveillance” into the Trump 2016 campaign occurred, Wray told lawmakers that “I don’t think I personally have any evidence of that sort.” Wray’s comments are in contrast to those made by Attorney General William Barr at a Senate hearing on April 10th, where he claimed that “spying did occur, yes,” calling it “a big deal.” The Justice Department inspector general is expected to issue a report in the next month or two about the origins of the FBI investigation into the Trump campaign. Wray asked lawmakers to wait for the report. (Washington Post / NBC News / CNN)
📌 Day 811: Barr told Congress that the government was “spying” on Trump’s campaign during the 2016 election, but provided no evidence. During a hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee, Barr said that while he’s not launching an investigation of the FBI or suggesting there is an “endemic” problem at the FBI, he does “think there was a failure among a group of leaders at the upper echelons.” Barr went on to say that he wanted to understand if there was “unauthorized surveillance” of political figures and whether law enforcement officials had proper legal justification for the “genesis” of the counterintelligence investigation. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / NBC News / CNN / Bloomberg / Axios)
3/ Mitch McConnell called the investigations into Trump and his 2016 campaign “case closed,” despite Trump repeatedly rebuffing Democrats’ requests for documents and witnesses in their multiple investigations. McConnell accused Democrats of continuing to re-litigate the presidential election, calling it a “Groundhog Day spectacle.” Charles Schumer called McConnell’s speech “an astounding bit of whitewashing — not unexpected but entirely unconvincing.” McConnell also tried to blame Obama for failing to warn Americans about Russia’s election interference ahead of the 2016 election, mocking Democrats for “abruptly awakening to the dangers of Russian aggression.” McConnell, however, scuttled Obama’s plans in 2016 and “dramatically watered down” a bipartisan warning to states by citing “skepticism that the underlying intelligence truly supported the White House’s claims.” McConnell added that he was concerned Obama was playing partisan politics. (Washington Post / Vox)
Notables.
Trump pardoned a former U.S. soldier who was convicted of murdering an Iraqi prisoner. Former Army 1st Lt. Michael Behenna was convicted of unpremeditated murder in a combat zone and sentenced to 25 years in prison before his sentence was reduced to 15 years. He was paroled in 2014. Behenna admitted during his trial that instead of taking a prisoner home as ordered, Behenna took him to a railroad culvert, made him strip, questioned him at gunpoint, and then shot him because Behenna thought he might try to take his gun. Trump issued a full pardon and grant of clemency. (ABC News)
China will not take part in three-way nuclear talks with the U.S. and Russia, according to a spokesperson for the Chinese government. Trump said on Friday that he had spoken with Putin and the Chinese government about a possible three-way deal. The Chinese government, however, publicly denied that it was interested in any such deal. (CNN)
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp will sign the state’s “fetal heartbeat bill” today. Georgia’s so-called “heartbeat bill” will become one the most restrictive anti-abortion access laws in the country. (CBS News)
Trump’s inaugural committee official disputes the White House account that she was forced out because she had profited from her role in helping organize inaugural events. Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, a former adviser to Melania Trump, claimed she was “thrown under the bus.” Wolkoff has been cooperating with federal prosecutors in Manhattan who are investigating the committee’s spending and fundraising. (New York Times)
New York State lawmakers plan to advance a bill this week to allow congressional committees to see Trump’s New York State returns. The State Senate reportedly has enough votes to pass the bill, which would allow the New York Department of Taxation and Finance to release any state tax return requested by one of three congressional committees for any “specific and legitimate legislative purpose.” (New York Times)
1/ More than 370 former federal prosecutors asserted that Trump would have been charged with obstruction of justice if he was not president. Robert Mueller declined to exonerate Trump in his report, citing a Justice Department legal opinion that a sitting president cannot be indicted. The former career government employees who worked in Republican and Democratic administrations signed on to a statement saying, “Each of us believes that the conduct of President Trump described in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report would, in the case of any other person not covered by the Office of Legal Counsel policy against indicting a sitting President, result in multiple felony charges for obstruction of justice.” (Washington Post)
[READ] The statement by former federal prosecutors. (Medium)
📌 Day 819: Mueller’s office chose not to charge Trump with obstruction out of “fairness concerns,” because “we recognized that a federal criminal accusation against a sitting President would place burdens on the President’s capacity to govern and potentially preempt constitutional process for addressing presidential misconduct.” According to the report, Mueller considered Trump’s written answers “inadequate,” but knew a subpoena would impose “substantial delay” and they believed they had “sufficient evidence to understand relevant events and to make certain assessments without the President’s testimony.” Trump stated more than 30 times in his written answers that he “does not ‘recall’ or ‘remember’ or have an ‘independent recollection’” of information investigators asked about. Mueller, citing numerous legal constraints in his report, declined to exonerate Trump, writing: “If we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the president clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state. Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, however, we are unable to reach that judgment.” (NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / Wall Street Journal)
2/ Trump: “Bob Mueller should not testify.” On Friday, Trump said he’d leave the decision on whether Mueller should testify “up to our attorney general,” William Barr, who had earlier last week said he had no objection to Mueller testifying. Trump’s reversal came hours after the House Judiciary Committee formally invited Mueller to testify on May 15th. The date has not yet been confirmed. (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico)
3/ Nancy Pelosi warned that Trump might not voluntarily give up power in 2020 if he isn’t defeated by a margin so “big” he cannot challenge the legitimacy of a Democratic victory. Pelosi, recalling her thinking in the run-up to the 2018 elections, said “If we win by four seats, by a thousand votes each, he’s not going to respect the election. [Trump] would poison the public mind.” Since winning the 2016 presidential election, Trump has repeatedly made unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud, convened a commission to study the alleged fraud, and recently warned Republican lawmakers to be more “paranoid” about how votes are counted in 2020. And, in 2016, Trump refused to say he would accept the outcome of the election if Hillary Clinton won, saying: “I will keep you in suspense.” (New York Times / CNN)
📌 Day 4: Without evidence, Trump tells lawmakers 3 million to 5 million illegal ballots cost him the popular vote. Days after being sworn in, President Trump insisted to congressional leaders invited to a reception at the White House that he would have won the popular vote had it not been for millions of illegal votes, according to people familiar with the meeting. Trump has repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that widespread voter fraud caused him to lose the popular vote to Hillary Clinton, even while he clinched the presidency with an electoral college victory. (Washington Post)
📌 Day 112: Trump launched a commission to investigate voter fraud. The effort will be spearheaded by Mike Pence and will look into allegations of improper voting and fraudulent voter registration in states and across the nation. Trump is expected to sign the executive order today. (Associated Press / ABC News / CNN)
📌 Day 350: Trump dissolved his voter fraud commission. He blamed states for refusing to comply with the panel’s requests for voter information, including birth dates and partial Social Security numbers. The commission was set up in May to investigate Trump’s unfounded claims that massive voter fraud had cost him the popular vote. (CNN)
📌 Day 564: Documents from Trump’s voter fraud commission “do not contain evidence of widespread voter fraud,” according to Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap, one of the panel’s 11 members. After reading through more than 8,000 pages of documents, Dunlap said he believed that the goal of the commission “wasn’t just a matter of investigating President Trump’s claims that 3 to 5 million people voted illegally” but that it “seems to have been to validate those claims.” The panel was disbanded in January, and the White House claimed at the time that despite “substantial evidence of voter fraud,” the commission was shut down due to legal challenges from states. The panel never presented any findings or evidence of widespread voter fraud. Kris Kobach, the commission’s vice chair, however, said at the time that the panel was shut down because “some people on the left were getting uncomfortable about how much we were finding out.” (Washington Post)
4/ Trump claimed that two years of his term were “stollen” as a result of Mueller’s investigation and suggested that his first term should be extended by two years. Trump retweeted conservative pundit Jerry Falwell Jr., who wrote: “I now support reparations — Trump should have 2 yrs added to his 1st term as pay back for time stolen by this corrupt failed coup.” Trump, echoing Falwell’s statements, tweeted that the Democrats “have stollen [sic] two years of my (our) Presidency (Collusion Delusion) that we will never be able to get back.” Trump later corrected his spelling, claiming that two years of his presidency had been “stolen.” (Politico / CNN / Washington Post)
5/ The House Judiciary Committee took its first formal step toward holding Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress for missing today’s deadline to produce Mueller’s unredacted report and the underlying evidence. Barr also skipped a hearing before the committee last week. The committee will vote at 10 a.m. on Wednesday whether to hold Barr in contempt. Hours after the committee announced the vote, the Justice Department offered to meet Wednesday afternoon to discuss an “acceptable accommodation” that would potentially give more lawmakers access to a less-redacted version of the report, in addition to “possible disclosure of certain materials” cited in Mueller’s report. (CNN / Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / Reuters)
6/ Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin rejected House Democrats’ request for six years of Trump’s tax returns, claiming the request “lacks a legitimate legislative purpose.” It’s the third time Mnuchin has missed a congressional deadline to turn over the documents. Mnuchin previously called the request “unprecedented,” and argued that it raised “serious constitutional issues” that could have consequences for taxpayer privacy. The power for lawmakers to seek individual tax returns was explicitly written into law in 1924. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / CNN / Politico)
The New York attorney general filed a lawsuit against the Treasury Department and IRS for failing to respond to a Freedom of Information Act request within the mandated time limit. In July 2018, the Treasury and the IRS released new guidance eliminating some donor disclosure requirements for non-501(c)(3) tax-exempt groups. In October, the New York and New Jersey attorneys general filed a FOIA request for information about the origins and development of the guidance. The New York and New Jersey attorneys general are asking the court to order the Treasury and the IRS to disclose all records that are relevant to the FOIA requests. (The Hill / Daily Beast / Law and Crime)
poll/ 60% of Americans say Trump has not been honest and truthful when it comes to Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference with the 2016 presidential election. 37% say he has been honest and truthful. 42% say what they’ve read, heard or seen about Mueller’s report doesn’t clear Trump of wrongdoing, compared with 29% who say it does clear him, and another 29% who say they’re unsure. (NBC News)
Notables.
Michael Cohen reported to federal prison to begin his three-year prison sentence for tax evasion and campaign finance violations. Cohen said “There still remains much to be told and I look forward to the day where I can share the truth.” (Associated Press / New York Times)
The Trump administration deployed an aircraft carrier strike group and a bomber task force to the Middle East as a show of force against Iran. U.S. officials said the deployment is a response to “clear indications” that Iran and its proxies are planning an attack against U.S. forces. National Security Adviser John Bolton said the U.S. is “not seeking war with the Iranian regime, but we are fully prepared to respond to any attack, whether by proxy, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or regular Iranian forces.” Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo provided no details or proof of Iran’s actions or intentions, but Pompeo said the move was “something we’ve been working on for a little while.” (ABC News / Associated Press)
Trump named the former head of the Border Patrol as the new director of ICE. Mark Morgan is a former FBI agent who served as head of the Border Patrol during the final months of the Obama administration. Morgan supports Trump’s call for a border wall, Trump’s decision to declare a national emergency to secure funding for the wall, and the administration’s proposal to take migrants caught crossing the border and drop them off in sanctuary cities. Morgan’s appointment will require confirmation from the Senate. (NPR)
Trump threatened to increase tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese from 10% to 25%. The Trump administration accused China of “reneging” on its agreed to trade commitments and the tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods starting Friday. (Washington Post / New York Times / Axios / Wall Street Journal)
North Korea fired several short-range ballistic missiles. South Korea expressed concern that the launches were a violation of an inter-Korean agreement to cease all hostile acts. The missile test was North Korea’s first since 2017. (Politico / CNN / New York Times)
1/ Trump discussed the “Russian Hoax” with Putin and both agreed that “there was no collusion” between Moscow and Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Robert Mueller’s report, however, detailed how the Russian government interfered in the 2016 race in “sweeping and systematic fashion” in order to help Trump win. Trump added that he “didn’t discuss” election meddling with Putin or warn him not to meddle in the next U.S. election. Sarah Huckabee Sanders claimed that she was “pretty sure both leaders were very well aware of (the Mueller report’s finding) long before this call took place,” because it was “something we’ve said for the better part of two and a half years.” The hour-long discussion about Mueller’s report, trade, nuclear arms control, Ukraine, North Korea, and Venezuela was their first conversation since the release of Mueller’s report. (NBC News / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / CNN / Politico / Washington Post)
2/ House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler set a Monday deadline for Attorney General William Barr to grant access to the underlying evidence in Mueller’s report. If Barr fails to comply with Nadler’s final “counter offer,” the “committee will move to contempt proceedings and seek further legal recourse.” Nadler told Barr that the committee was “willing to prioritize a specific, defined set of underlying investigative and evidentiary materials for immediate production,” specifically citing witness interviews and the contemporaneous notes that were cited in Mueller’s report. The Justice Department said earlier this week it would not comply with Nadler’s subpoena for the unredacted Mueller report, underlying evidence, or grand jury information. (Politico / CNN / ABC News)
3/ Trump probably won’t allow former White House counsel Don McGahn to testify to Congress because McGahn was already interviewed by Mueller’s team. “I would say it’s done,” Trump told Fox News. “I’ve had him testifying already for 30 hours.” Trump said he is concerned that allowing McGahn to testify would open the doors for Congress to call other members of his administration to appear before committees. (Reuters)
4/ The Trump administration rolled back safety rules for offshore drilling operations that were put in place after the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The change is meant to ease drilling restrictions in places like the Gulf, even though oil production reached a record 1.9 million barrels per day at the end of 2018. It also reduces the required frequency of safety tests for key equipment, such as blowout preventers, a last-ditch safety measure against massive spills and “gushers.” The new rule will take effect in 60 days. (Politico)
Notables.
The U.S. added 263,000 new jobs in April. The unemployment rate fell to 3.6% from 3.8% – the lowest since December 1969. (CNBC)
The California state Senate voted 27-10 to prevent candidates from appearing on the ballot unless they have publicly released five years of their tax returns. California will also be one of the first states to hold primary elections for the 2020 race. If the bill becomes law and Trump does not release his tax returns, he may not be on the California primary ballot. (The Hill)
Michael Cohen heads to prison on Monday to begin serving his three-year sentence for tax evasion, lying to Congress, and campaign finance crimes. (NBC News)
John Kelly joined the board of a company that operates the largest facility for unaccompanied migrant children. Caliburn International is the parent company of Comprehensive Health Services, which operates Homestead and three other shelters for unaccompanied migrant children in Texas. Prior to joining the Trump administration, Kelly had been on the board of advisors of DC Capital Partners, an investment firm that now owns Caliburn. (CBS News)
1/ Nancy Pelosi accused Attorney General William Barr of “not telling the truth to the Congress of the United States — that’s a crime.” At a House Appropriations Committee hearing on April 9th, Charlie Crist asked Barr if Robert Mueller’s team believed he had failed to adequately represent their findings in his four-page memo. Barr responded that he was not aware of any concerns from Mueller’s team. On April 10th at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, Sen. Chris Van Hollen asked Barr if Mueller supported his finding that there was not sufficient evidence to conclude that Trump had obstructed justice. Barr responded: “I don’t know.” Mueller, however, had written Barr two weeks earlier, on March 27th, complaining that the attorney general’s memo “did not fully capture the context, nature and substance” of his work. “He lied to Congress,” Pelosi said. “Nobody is above the law. Not the president of the United States, and not the attorney general.” The Justice Department called Pelosi’s words “reckless, irresponsible and false.” (Associated Press / Politico / CNBC / Washington Post / Washington Post / Vox)
📌 Day 832: Robert Mueller twice objected to Attorney General William Barr’s four-page summary to Congress, saying the memo “did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this office’s work and conclusions.” Barr’s summary claimed that the Mueller investigation “did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government” and that Mueller “did not draw a conclusion — one way or the other —as to whether the examined conduct constituted obstruction.” Mueller, however, sent a letter to Barr on March 27th – three days after Barr issued his summary – citing “public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation” that “threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the department appointed the special counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations.” Mueller asked the Justice Department to release the 448-page report’s introductions and executive summaries, making some initial suggested redactions that Mueller believed would “alleviate the misunderstandings that have arisen and would answer congressional and public questions about the nature and outcome of our investigation.” Mueller’s office first informed the Justice Department of their concerns on March 25th, the day after Barr released his summary clearing Trump of obstruction of justice. On April 9, Barr testified to Congress that Mueller declined an opportunity to review his summary of “principal conclusions.” Barr also previously testified that he did not know if Mueller supported his conclusion on the question of possible obstruction. (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / New York Times / Politico / CNN / The Guardian)
2/ House Democrats threatened to hold Barr in contempt of Congress after he refused to appear at a House Judiciary Committee hearing and ignored a subpoena deadline to hand over Mueller’s full report and evidence. Barr is boycotting the hearing over the ground rules for his testimony, which allots time for attorneys from the Democratic and Republican sides of the panel to question him. Jerry Nadler said he would give Barr “one or two more days” to produce the full Mueller report before initiating contempt proceedings. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / Axios / Reuters)
The House Judiciary Committee mocked Barr with a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken and an empty chair. (CNN)
3/ The White House accused Mueller’s team of failing “to act as prosecutors and only as prosecutors.” In an April 19th letter to Barr, White House lawyer Emmet Flood wrote that Mueller needed to “either ask the grand jury to return an indictment or decline to charge the case,” despite Justice Department guidelines saying that a sitting president cannot be charged. Flood also claimed that Trump’s decision allowing advisers to cooperate with Mueller’s probe does not extend to congressional oversight investigations, and that Trump has the right to instruct advisers not to testify. (CNN / Reuters)
poll/ 56% of Americans saying Trump is doing a good job on the economy – a new high on his economic approval rating. (CNN)
Notables.
The Trump administration had “no way to link” thousands of separated migrant parents and children, according to newly obtained emails from ICE and Health and Human Services officials. Officials resorted to using a spreadsheet and manually reviewing all of the records associated with the nearly 3,000 families that were separated at the border. On the same day a Health and Human Services official told ICE officials they had “no way to link” separated families, DHS issued a fact sheet claiming that the “United States government knows the location of all children in its custody and is working to reunite them with their families.” The fact sheet also asserted that DHS had “a process established to ensure that family members know the location of their children,” which included “a central database which HHS and DHS can access and update.” At the time, no such database existed. (NBC News)
The Trump administration formally filed a request to strike down the entire Affordable Care Act, arguing in a federal appeals court filing that the legislation was unconstitutional. 21 million Americans and millions more who benefit from the law’s protections for people with pre-existing conditions, and required coverage for pregnancy, prescription drugs, and mental health. (New York Times)
The Trump administration tried to remove references to climate change from an international statement on Arctic policy. The administration objected “to any mention of climate change whatsoever” in a nonbinding declaration of goals and principles among the eight Arctic nations. (Washington Post)
The House passed the Climate Action Now Act, which would require Trump to develop a plan for the U.S. to meet the Paris agreement goals to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions economy-wide. The act would also block federal funds from being used to advance the formal U.S. withdrawal from the 2015 climate accord. Mitch McConnell said the Senate will not take up the legislation, dismissing the bill as “political theater” by Democrats. (Reuters)
Trump won’t nominate Stephen Moore for a seat on the Federal Reserve board. The news came hours after Moore said he was “all in” for the job. Trump withdrew Moore from consideration after Republican lawmakers criticized Moore’s past comments about women, including that they should not earn more than men. (New York Times / Reuters / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNN)
At least seven foreign governments were allowed to rent condominiums in Trump World Tower in 2017 without approval from Congress. The 1982 Foreign Missions Act requires foreign governments to get State Department clearance for any purchase, lease, sale, or other use of a property in the U.S., and the emoluments clause bans U.S. officials from accepting gifts or payments from foreign governments without congressional consent. (Reuters)
1/ Robert Mueller twice objected to Attorney General William Barr’s four-page summary to Congress, saying the memo “did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this office’s work and conclusions.” Barr’s summary claimed that the Mueller investigation “did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government” and that Mueller “did not draw a conclusion — one way or the other —as to whether the examined conduct constituted obstruction.” Mueller, however, sent a letter to Barr on March 27th – three days after Barr issued his summary – citing “public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation” that “threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the department appointed the special counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations.” Mueller asked the Justice Department to release the 448-page report’s introductions and executive summaries, making some initial suggested redactions that Mueller believed would “alleviate the misunderstandings that have arisen and would answer congressional and public questions about the nature and outcome of our investigation.” Mueller’s office first informed the Justice Department of their concerns on March 25th, the day after Barr released his summary clearing Trump of obstruction of justice. On April 9, Barr testified to Congress that Mueller declined an opportunity to review his summary of “principal conclusions.” Barr also previously testified that he did not know if Mueller supported his conclusion on the question of possible obstruction. (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / New York Times / Politico / CNN / The Guardian)
2/ Barr testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, answering questions about Mueller’s report for the first time since publicly releasing a redacted version of the report. Barr blamed the media for “reading too much” into his initial summary. He insisted that he did not misrepresent Mueller’s report and downplayed the significance of Mueller’s multiple complaints that the summary did not capture the report’s full context. Barr called Mueller’s complaint letter “a bit snitty” and questioned why Mueller’s team investigated instances of potential obstruction of justice if he knew he couldn’t charge Trump with a crime under Justice Department restrictions. Barr, however, admitted that he had not reviewed all of the evidence before declaring it “not sufficient to establish that the president committed an obstruction of justice offense.” Barr also claimed that Trump had “fully cooperated” with the investigation and that Trump’s multiple attempts to remove Mueller for alleged “conflicts” were not the same as firing the special counsel and did not constitute obstruction of justice. Democrats, meanwhile, accused Barr of “purposely misleading” Congress and the public about Mueller’s report. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / NBC News / CNN / Axios)
Adam Schiff called on Barr to resign. The House Intelligence chairman argued that Barr “willingly misled the Congress” during his testimony on April 9 when Barr said he wasn’t aware of reports that several people on Mueller’s team were frustrated with Barr’s summary of the findings in the Mueller report. (CNN / Daily Beast / The Hill)
Barr falsely claimed that the Trump was never briefed by the FBI about the threat posed by Russia during the 2016 campaign, saying “I can’t fathom why it did not happen.” Sen. John Cornyn then accused Obama of failing to stop the Russian threat, claiming the Justice Department and FBI “decided to place their bets on Hillary Clinton and focus their efforts on investigating the Trump campaign.” Following a break, Barr walked back his claim, saying “a security briefing that generally discusses general threats, apparently was given to the campaign in August.” (Talking Points Memo / Axios)
📌 Day 333: The FBI warned Trump in 2016 that Russia would try to infiltrate his campaign. Both Trump and Hillary Clinton received counterintelligence briefings by senior FBI officials, which advised them to alert the FBI to any “suspicious overtures to their campaigns.” Trump was “briefed and warned” at the session about potential espionage threats from Russia. (NBC News)
[OPINION] James Comey on Trump influencing Barr: “He has eaten your soul.” (New York Times)
3/ The House Judiciary Committee is discussing whether to hold Barr in contempt of Congress if he skips tomorrow’s scheduled hearing or ignores their subpoena for Mueller’s full report. The committee voted to allow staff lawyers to question Barr at Thursday’s hearing. Barr has said he will not appear under that format. Barr has until the end of the day to hand over the full Mueller report. He is not expected to comply. [Breaking news… Barr declined to testify before the House Judiciary Committee tomorrow, according to a committee aide. The decision comes after Democrats on the committee demanded that Barr face questions from the committee’s lawyers.] (Washington Post / Politico / CNN)
4/ Mueller is reportedly willing to testify before the House Judiciary Committee, but the Department of Justice has “been reluctant to confirm a date.” It’s unclear whether Mueller’s testimony about his investigation into Russian election interference and attempts by Trump to obstruct the probe would take place in public or behind closed doors. Chairman Jerry Nadler asked the Justice Department that Mueller appear for questioning no later than May 23rd. (Reuters / Daily Beast)
5/ The White House rejected the House Oversight Committee’s request for documents related to the security clearance process. The committee request came following accusations that the Trump administration granted security clearances to more than two dozen officials over the objections of career officials. Chairman Elijah Cummings called the move “the latest example of the president’s widespread and growing obstruction of Congress.” (Politico / Washington Post)
📌 Day 802: Senior Trump administration officials overturned and granted at least 25 security clearances – including two current senior White House officials – to people who were initially denied by career employees for “serious disqualifying issues” in their backgrounds. Tricia Newbold, a whistleblower working in the White House Personnel Security Office, told the House Oversight and Reform Committee that she warned her superiors that clearances “were not always adjudicated in the best interest of national security.” Oversight Committee chairman Elijah Cummings said he was prepared to authorize subpoenas to compel the White House to comply with an investigation into whether national secrets were at risk. Newbold claims she was retaliated against for declining to issue security clearances, including being suspended without pay for 14 days. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / Associated Press / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
📌 Day 805: Jared Kushner was among one of the 25 White House officials whose security clearance was initially denied but later overturned. A whistleblower in the White House’s personnel security office said she and another career employee determined that Kushner had too many “significant disqualifying factors” to receive a clearance. (Washington Post)
poll/ 43% of Americans approve of the job Trump is doing as president – his highest approval level since April 2017. 52% disapprove. (CNN)
poll/ 46% of voters say that Trump’s Twitter use hurts his reelection campaign while 22% say it helps his reelection efforts. 60% say Trump’s use of Twitter is “a bad thing” compared to 19% who say it is “a good thing.” (Politico)
Notables.
A federal judge ruled that Congressional Democrats can move forward with their lawsuit against Trump alleging that his private businesses represent unconstitutional gifts or payments from foreign governments. Judge Emmet Sullivan allowed the emoluments case to move forward, refusing a request from the White House to dismiss the case under Trump’s narrow definition of the word “emoluments.” The case alleges that, without seeking approval from Congress, Trump received payments from foreign governments for hotel rooms and events, plus licensing fees for his show “The Apprentice” and intellectual property rights from China. (Washington Post)
A bill authorizing the release of state tax returns to Congress is expected to be taken up on the floor of the New York State Senate next week. If passed, it would allow the tax commissioner to hand over any New York tax returns at the request of the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee, the Senate Finance Committee or the Joint Committee on Taxation. (CNN)
The White House asked Congress for $4.5 billion in emergency aid to address migrants crossing the southern border. Trump is seeking $3.3 billion in humanitarian assistance and $1.1 billion for border operations. (Politico / Washington Post)
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was sentenced to 50 weeks in a British prison for jumping bail and taking refuge in Ecuador’s Embassy in London seven years ago. (New York Times / Washington Post)
The Alabama House passed a bill that would criminalize abortion. If signed into law, doctors would face felony jail time up to 99 years if convicted of performing an abortion at any stage of a pregnancy, unless a woman’s life is threatened. The legislation is part of an anti-abortion strategy to challenge Roe v. Wade. (NPR / CNN)
After the firefighters union endorsed Joe Biden, Trump fired off 59 retweets in 20 minutes from users claiming that firefighters do not support Biden. Trump called the International Association of Fire Fighters a “dues sucking union.” (NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post)
1/ The Justice Department and the House Judiciary Committee are at an impasse over Attorney General William Barr’s scheduled testimony. Barr is set to testify about his handling of the conclusions reached by Robert Mueller on Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee and Thursday before the House Judiciary committee. The House hearing, however, is now in doubt over a dispute about who would question Barr. Democrats want part of the questioning be conducted by the panel’s Democratic and Republican staff attorneys. Justice Department officials have threatened to cancel Barr’s appearance over the proposed format. House Democratic staffers, meanwhile, have threatened to subpoena the attorney general if he refuses to appear. House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler added that the Justice Department seemed to be “very afraid” to have Barr answer questions from committee staff attorneys. (Washington Post / Politico / CNN / Axios)
Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee members called on the Justice Department’s inspector general to investigate Barr’s handling of the Mueller report. Democrats accused Barr of misleading the public with his four-page summary of Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 election before releasing the full report. “It is unclear what statute, regulation, or policy led the Attorney General to interject his own conclusion that the President’s conduct did not amount to obstruction of justice,” the Democratic senators wrote. (Politico)
Justice Department prosecutors are trying to block Roger Stone from reviewing unredacted portions of Mueller’s report before his November trial. Stone’s lawyers want review pertinent sections of the report about Stone, as well as internal memos from the special counsel’s office. Sections in Mueller’s report were blacked-out because they could cause “harm to an ongoing matter.” (CNN)
Prosecutors subpoenaed Randy Credico to testify against Stone. Credico is expected to highlight Stone’s efforts to connect with WikiLeaks during the 2016 election about Hillary Clinton’s emails, as well as Stone’s alleged attempts to intimidate Credico into repeating his version of events. (Politico)
A federal appeals court rejected a request to reexamine the constitutionality of Mueller’s appointment. Andrew Miller’s attorneys tried to stop a subpoena compelling Miller to testify before a federal grand jury about Roger Stone by citing alleged flaws in Mueller’s appointment. (Politico)
2/ Trump mocked national security officials preparing for Russian interference in the 2020 election. Trump suggested that “China is the only game in town” and predicted that “other countries” would try to emulate Russia’s efforts. In several meetings, Trump repeatedly told advisers that Russia didn’t change a single vote in 2016 – even though his advisers never suggested that Russia did. He called Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election a “goddamn hoax” and insisted that his campaign was not “hacked.” Trump’s reported lack of focus on election security has made it difficult for national security officials to implement a comprehensive approach to preserving the integrity of the electoral process. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer blamed the Trump administration for “not forcefully and adequately responding to the attack on our democracy” that Mueller describes in his report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. (Washington Post / Politico)
📌 Day 825: Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney instructed aides not to mention Russian election interference in the 2020 election in front of Trump, calling it not “a great subject” that should be kept below his level.” Mulvaney reportedly “made it clear” to aides that Trump still compares discussions about Russian election meddling with “questions about the legitimacy of his victory.” (New York Times)
📌 Day 827: FBI Director Christopher Wray: Russia “poses a very significant counterintelligence threat.” Earlier this week Jared Kushner downplayed Russian interference, suggesting that the Mueller investigation was more harmful to the U.S. It was also reported this week that senior White House staff have felt “it wasn’t a good idea to bring up issues related to Russia in front of the President.” (CNN)
3/ The House Intelligence Committee will make a criminal referral to the Justice Department about potential false testimony by Erik Prince. Chairman Adam Schiff said “the evidence strongly suggests that [Prince] misled our committee” about a meeting in the Seychelles islands nine days before Trump took office between Prince and a Russian financier close to Putin. Prince told the committee that it was a chance meeting, but the Mueller report revealed communications showing that it was planned. Prince is the founder of private military contractor Blackwater, the brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, and a Trump ally. (Washington Post / Axios)
📌 Day 442: Robert Mueller has evidence that questions Erik Prince’s congressional testimony about a chance meeting last year in the Seychelles with Kirill Dmitriev, the manager of a state-run Russian investment fund close to Putin. George Nader, a cooperating witness with limited immunity, told investigators that he facilitated and personally attended a meeting between Prince and Dmitriev days before Trump was inaugurated. The goal of the meeting was to discuss foreign policy and to establish a line of communication between the Russian government and the incoming Trump administration. Prince told the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in November that “I didn’t fly there to meet any Russian guy,” and the meeting with Dmitriev was unexpected. Prince founded the private military contractor Blackwater USA and is the brother of Betsy DeVos, who serves as Trump’s secretary of education. As of late March, Mueller’s team has not asked Prince to appear before the grand jury. (ABC News)
📌 Day 483: Mueller’s team is examining a series of meetings that took place in the Seychelles, which have been characterized as an attempt by the U.S. to set up a backchannel with Russia. A Russian plane, owned by Andrei Skoch, a Russian billionaire and deputy in the Russian State Duma, the country’s legislative body, flew into the Seychelles a day prior to the 2017 meeting. (NJ.com)
4/ Trump, his family, and the Trump Organization are suing Deutsche Bank and Capital One to block their compliance with subpoenas from House Democrats seeking his financial records. Trump’s attorneys argue that the subpoenas serve “no legitimate or lawful purpose” and were issued to harass Trump and “rummage through every aspect of his personal finances, his businesses, and the private information of the President and his family.” House Democrats called it a “meritless lawsuit” that was “only designed to put off meaningful accountability as long as possible” in order to “obstruct Congress’s constitutional oversight authority.” The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Trump, Trump Jr., Eric Trump, Ivanka Trump, and the Trump Organization. Deutsche Bank and Capital One intend to begin providing documents to the House on May 6th, absent court intervention. (New York Times / Politico / Axios / CNBC / CNN)
📌 Day 817: House Democrats subpoenaed Deutsche Bank for Trump’s personal and financial records. Democrats also subpoenaed JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Citigroup for documents related to possible Russian money laundering. Maxine Waters said Trump’s “potential use of the U.S. financial system for illicit purposes is a very serious concern” and that the House Intelligence and Financial Services committees will “follow the facts wherever they may lead us.” Deutsche Bank reportedly requested a so-called “friendly subpoena” from the committees before it would comply with their request. The Trump Organization, meanwhile, said it was looking at options to block Deutsche Bank from complying with the subpoena. (New York Times / CNN / Politico / Reuters / Washington Post)
📌 Day 825: Deutsche Bank is providing financial records to New York state’s attorney general following a subpoena for documents related to loans made to Trump and the Trump Organization. The bank is turning over emails and loan documents related to the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC, the Trump National Doral Miami, the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago, and the unsuccessful effort to buy the Buffalo Bills. The New York attorney general’s office opened the investigation following Michael Cohen’s testimony to Congress that Trump had inflated his assets. (CNN)
5/ Trump ordered new restrictions on asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border. In a memo sent to Kevin McAleenan, the acting secretary of homeland security, and Barr, Trump ordered the development of new regulations to ban asylum seekers from obtaining work permits who crossed the border illegally, impose application fees for asylum seekers, limit access to additional relief, and more. There are more than 800,000 asylum cases pending, with an average wait time of almost two years. Trump ordered that the courts to settle all current asylum claims within 180 days. (Washington Post / CNN / NBC News / New York Times / Politico)
Notables.
The Trump administration wants to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a foreign terrorist organization. The White House directed national security and diplomatic officials to find ways to sanction the group after Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi urged Trump in a private meeting to brand the movement a terrorist organization. The designation would result in wide-ranging political and economic sanctions against the group, as well as travel restrictions on companies and individuals who interact with them. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump is consulting with his national security team and that the designation is “working its way through the internal process.” (New York Times)
Trump’s 2020 campaign manager gave a paid speech to a room full of Romanian politicians last month. Brad Parscale’s appearance doesn’t break any laws as long as he doesn’t do any lobbying in the U.S. on behalf of foreign clients without registering. Parscale charges $15,000 to $25,000 in speaker fees and promotes his insider’s knowledge as Trump’s 2016 digital media director. (Washington Post)
🎉 Good News from the Resistance: The importance of following Obama on Twitter. [Editor’s note: Super excited to announce that I’ve teamed up with Marla Felcher to share her Good News from the Resistance blog with the WTF community… because we could all use some good news right now.]
1/ Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein resigned, effective May 11th. In his resignation letter to Trump, Rosenstein writes “I am grateful to you for the opportunity to serve; for the courtesy and humor you often display in our personal conversations.” Rosenstein’s successor, Jeffrey Rosen, currently the No. 2 official at the Transportation Department, is awaiting a confirmation vote by the Senate. Rosenstein appointed Robert Mueller to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. [Breaking news… stay tuned for updates] (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / CNN / NPR)
📌 Day 110: Trump fired James Comey on the recommendation of Jeff Sessions. In a letter dated Tuesday to Comey, Trump concurred “with the judgment of the Department of Justice that [Comey is not] able to effectively lead the bureau.” Earlier today, the FBI notified Congress that Comey misstated key findings involving the Clinton email investigation during testimony, saying that only a “small number” of emails had been forwarded to disgraced congressman Anthony Weiner, not the “hundreds and thousands” he’d claimed in his testimony. The move sweeps away the man who is responsible for the investigation into whether members of Trump’s campaign team colluded with Russia in its interference in last year’s election. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein laid out the reasons for Comey’s firing, arguing that the handling of his investigation into Clinton’s private server, his decision not to recommend charges be filed, and the news conference he held to explain his reasoning were the cause of his dismissal. Democrats reacted with shock and alarm, accusing Trump of ousting the FBI director to escape scrutiny over his campaign’s Russia ties. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer urged deputy Rosenstein to appoint a special prosecutor for the federal probe into the Trump campaign’s ties with Russian officials — warning that failing to do so will lead the public to “rightly suspect” that Comey’s surprise firing “was part of a cover-up.” (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / CNN / Politico)
📌 Day 118: Rod Rosenstein appointed former FBI Director Bob Mueller to oversee the investigation of Russian interference in election. Mueller will take command of the prosecutors and FBI agents who are working on the far reachingRussia investigation. Trump said that he expects the probe will find no collusion between his 2016 White House campaign and foreign countries, calling the Russia inquiry a “taxpayer-funded charade.” (NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post / Politico)
📌 Day 610: Rod Rosenstein raised the idea of wearing a wire last year to secretly record Trump in the White House and expose the chaos in the administration, according to memos written by Andrew McCabe, then the acting FBI director. Rosenstein also discussed recruiting Jeff Sessions and John Kelly, then the secretary of homeland security, to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove Trump from office. Rosenstein called the report “inaccurate and factually incorrect,” adding: “Based on my personal dealings with the president, there is no basis to invoke the 25th Amendment.” At least one person who was present for the discussions said Rosenstein was joking. (New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Associated Press)
📌 Day 827: Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein defended his handling of the Russia investigation, attacked the media for how it was covered and blamed the Obama administration for not revealing “the full story” about Russia’s efforts. Speaking at the Public Servants Dinner of the Armenian Bar Association, Rosenstein recalled how he had promised to “do it right” during his Senate confirmation hearing and “take it to the appropriate conclusion,” while attacking what he called “mercenary critics,” politicians and the news media. Rosenstein, however, also warned that hacking and social media manipulation are “only the tip of the iceberg” when it comes to Russian efforts to influence American elections. (NBC News / Washington Post / Politico / CNN)
2/ Jerry Nadler threatened to subpoena Attorney General William Barr if he refuses to testify about the Mueller report before the House Judiciary Committee this week. Barr disagrees with the committee’s proposed format and has threatened to skip the hearing if Democrats don’t change the terms of his appearance, which Nadler said the committee has no plans to do. If Barr doesn’t appear, “we will have to subpoena him, and we will have to use whatever means we can to enforce the subpoena.” (New York Times / CNN / Politico)
3/ Trump accused the New York attorney general’s office of “illegally” investigating the NRA after it opened an investigation into potential financial and disclosure misconduct by the gun rights group. The probe was launched after NRA President Oliver North accused Wayne LaPierre, chief executive officer, of financial misconduct, including the improper use of $200,000 of NRA funds to purchase clothing from an NRA vendor. Trump encouraged the NRA to “get its act together quickly” because it’s a “very important organization” that is “under siege” by Democrats. (CNN / Wall Street Journal / The Guardian)
4/ A pair of legal watchdog organizations are suing the FEC for failing to act on complaints that claim the NRA illegally coordinated with the Trump campaign and other Republican candidates in recent elections. The gun-control group Giffords, along with the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center Action, allege that the FEC missed a 120-day deadline to act on four complaints brought by the groups, which claim that the NRA skirted contribution limits to provide unfair advantages to Trump and other GOP candidates. (CNN / ABC News)
5/ A gunman yelling anti-Semitic slurs armed with a semiautomatic rifle opened fire on a synagogue in California, killing one person and injuring three. The shooting is being investigated as a possible homicide, hate crime and federal civil rights violation. John Earnest reportedly posted a manifesto full of anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim views and claiming responsibility before the shooting on the online message board 8chan. Trump offered his condolences to members of the synagogue, saying Americans “forcefully condemn the evil of anti-Semitism and hate.” (Los Angeles Times / NPR / New York Times / Washington Post)
📌 Day 803: The Department of Homeland Security quietly disbanded its domestic terrorism unit last year, saying that the threat of “homegrown violent extremism and domestic terrorism,” including the threat from white supremacists, has been “significantly reduced.” The branch of analysts in DHS’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis were reassigned to new positions. (Daily Beast)
📌 Day 827: Trump defended his 2017 comment that there were “very fine people on both sides” of the white supremacist protests in Charlottesville, in which an avowed neo-Nazi rammed his car into a group of protesters, killing a woman and injuring dozens of others. At the time, Trump condemned what happened “on many sides,” arguing there were “very fine people on both sides” of the incident. Now, nearly two years later, Trump stands by his statement, claiming that he answered questions about the incident in Charlottesville “perfectly.” Trump’s comments came a day after Joe Biden launched his presidential campaign with a video comparing the violence and racism displayed in Charlottesville to Trump’s response. The “Unite the Right” rally was organized by self-proclaimed white nationalist Richard Spencer. (Washington Post / Politico / CBS News / Bloomberg / CNN)
poll/ 55% of Americans say they “definitely would not” vote for Trump in the 2020 election, while 28% definitely would and another 14% would consider him for a second term. Trump won 46.1% of the popular vote compared to Hillary Clinton’s 48.2% in 2016. 75% of Americans, and 85% of registered voters, say they’re certain to vote in the 2020 election. (ABC News)
poll/ 42% of voters say Trump’s handling of the economy makes them more likely to vote for him in 2020, while 32% say it makes them less likely to support him. (Washington Post)
poll/ 43% of Americans say they have either benefited a great deal or some from recent growth in the U.S. economy. 54%, however, say they have either not been helped much or not at all from the nation’s growing economy. (Monmouth)
Notables.
Steven Mnuchin: Trade talks between the United States and China are “getting to the final laps.” Mnuchin is traveling to China today with Trump’s top trade negotiator, Robert Lighthizer, to try to resolve the remaining disagreements between the two countries. Chinese officials are expected to come to the U.S. on May 8 to hammer out the final details and possibly conclude the negotiations. (New York Times)
Mitch McConnell signed a T-shirt joking about the death of former Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland. The T-shirt shows Garland’s face surrounded by the dates 3/16/16 and 1/3/17, with the caption “gone but not forgotten.” (Daily Beast)
The White House is reviewing past writings by Trump’s potential nominee to the Federal Reserve Board. Stephen Moore wrote a column for the National Review in 2014, saying women earning more than men “could be disruptive to family stability.” (New York Times)
Trump has made more than 10,000 false or misleading statements since taking office. Trump reached 5,000 claims on day 601 of his presidency, but he reached the 10,000 mark just 226 days later. Trump averaged nearly 23 false or misleading claims per day during that seven-month period. As of April 27, the tally stood at 10,111 false or misleading claims in just 828 days. (Washington Post)
1/ Trump defended his 2017 comment that there were “very fine people on both sides” of the white supremacist protests in Charlottesville, in which an avowed neo-Nazi rammed his car into a group of protesters, killing a woman and injuring dozens of others. At the time, Trump condemned what happened “on many sides,” arguing there were “very fine people on both sides” of the incident. Now, nearly two years later, Trump stands by his statement, claiming that he answered questions about the incident in Charlottesville “perfectly.” Trump’s comments came a day after Joe Biden launched his presidential campaign with a video comparing the violence and racism displayed in Charlottesville to Trump’s response. The “Unite the Right” rally was organized by self-proclaimed white nationalist Richard Spencer. (Washington Post / Politico / CBS News / Bloomberg / CNN)
[ANALYSIS] Trump tried to re-write his own history on Charlottesville and “both sides.” But some Trump supporters — and now Trump himself — have argued that he was taken out of context. They say he wasn’t referring to neo-Nazis, white supremacists and white nationalists when he referred to “very fine people” on both sides, but rather some other people who shared their cause of saving a statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee. (Washington Post)
Trumps advisers: Biden poses the biggest threat to Trump’s re-election. (Politico)
A Fox News reporter called out two of his colleagues for sounding “like a White Supremacist chat room” when they attempted to defend Trump’s “both sides” comment about white supremacists in Charlottesville. (Daily Beast)
2/ Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein defended his handling of the Russia investigation, attacked the media for how it was covered and blamed the Obama administration for not revealing “the full story” about Russia’s efforts. Speaking at the Public Servants Dinner of the Armenian Bar Association, Rosenstein recalled how he had promised to “do it right” during his Senate confirmation hearing and “take it to the appropriate conclusion,” while attacking what he called “mercenary critics,” politicians and the news media. Rosenstein, however, also warned that hacking and social media manipulation are “only the tip of the iceberg” when it comes to Russian efforts to influence American elections. (NBC News / Washington Post / Politico / CNN)
FBI Director Christopher Wray: Russia “poses a very significant counterintelligence threat.” Earlier this week Jared Kushner downplayed Russian interference, suggesting that the Mueller investigation was more harmful to the U.S. It was also reported this week that senior White House staff have felt “it wasn’t a good idea to bring up issues related to Russia in front of the President.” (CNN)
3/ Trump called the Russia investigation “an attempted overthrow of the United States government,” claiming “this was a coup.” In an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, Trump complained that Mueller and his team had gone “hog wild to find something about the administration which obviously wasn’t there” and had spent the last two years “ruining [the] lives” of people associated with his 2016 campaign. Trump called the special counsel investigation “far bigger than Watergate” and “possibly the biggest scandal in political history,” characterizing the investigation as a “one-sided witch hunt” by “angry Democrats” who are “very serious Trump haters.” He warned that some people involved in the investigation should be “very nervous.” (Politico / CNN / Vox)
4/ Russian agent Maria Butina was sentenced to 18-months in prison for conspiring to act as a foreign agent. Butina pleaded guilty to conspiring with then-Russian Central Bank official Alexander Torshin to gain access to the National Rifle Association and other groups since 2015. The Justice Department recommended an 18-month sentence, citing “substantial assistance” that Butina provided to investigators. She will be deported to Russia after her prison term ends. (Daily Beast / New York Times / Washington Post / BuzzFeed News)
poll/ 56% of Americans oppose starting impeachment proceedings against Trump following Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. 37% support starting the process. Among Democrats, 62% support Congress beginning impeachment proceedings, while 87% of Republicans are opposed. (Washington Post)
Notables.
A federal judge ordered the Trump administration identify all of the migrant children separated from their parents at the border. The judge gave the administration six months to figure it out. (NPR)
The Pentagon is preparing to expand the military’s involvement in Trump’s operation along the southern border by changing rules that prevent troops from interacting with migrants entering the U.S. The Department of Homeland Security requested that the Defense Department provide military lawyers, cooks and drivers to assist with handling migrants along the southern border. (Washington Post)
Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly threatened to jail White House officials who refuse to comply with oversight or testimony requests from congressional committees. Connolly sits on the House Oversight Committee, and warned that the committee would use “any and all power in our command” to ensure compliance with its requests and subpoenas, “whether that’s a contempt citation, whether that’s going to court and getting that citation enforced, whether it’s fines, whether it’s possible incarceration.” (CNN)
The White House is calling on key Republicans in Congress to raise the debt ceiling in order to avoid a budget impasse that could damage the economy later in the year. (Washington Post)
Trump denied that the U.S. paid North Korea in exchange for the return of Otto Warmbier, disputing the report that he approved a $2 million payment to Pyongyang. North Korea sent the Treasury Department a bill for $2 million, which remained unpaid through 2017. It’s unclear whether Trump ever paid the invoice. (Reuters)
Trump now says children “have to get their shots” because “vaccinations are so important.” In 2015, Trump erroneously linked autism to vaccines, and during the presidential transition in 2017, Trump asked Robert Kennedy Jr. to lead a commission on “vaccination safety and scientific integrity.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced this week that measles cases had surpassed the highest number on record since the disease was declared eliminated nationwide in 2000. (NBC News / CNN)
1/ The White House rejected a House Oversight Committee request for Stephen Miller to testify about his role in Trump’s immigration policies, including a plan to bus migrants to “sanctuary cities.” White House counsel Pat Cipollone said blocking Miller from appearing before the committee follows “long-standing precedent” established by previous administrations. Cipollone said Cabinet secretaries and other executive branch officials would instead provide “reasonable accommodation” for requests and questions from the committee on immigration policy issues. (CNN / Politico / ABC News)
2/ House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler suggested fining officials personally for noncompliance with congressional subpoenas. In order to do so, the House would need to vote on a new rule to allow it to fine people outside the court system. The House could also vote to hold officials in contempt or sue to enforce the subpoena in court, which could take months or years. This week alone the White House directed a former personnel security official to not appear at a scheduled House Oversight Committee deposition, blocked former White House counsel Donald McGahn from testifying to the House Judiciary Committee, and the Justice Department ignored a subpoena from the Oversight Committee for testimony about the addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 Census. The Treasury Department also ignored the House’s deadline to turn Trump’s tax returns over to the Ways and Means Committee, and Trump sued to block a subpoena of his accounting firm. (Bloomberg / CNN / Washington Post / New York Times / Axios)
3/ Trump claimed he never told Donald McGahn to fire Robert Mueller weeks after he was appointed in 2017, “even though I had the legal right to do so.” The statement runs counter to Mueller’s report, which detailed “McGahn’s clear recollection” of two phone calls in June 2017, where Trump “directed [McGahn] to call” Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and have Mueller “removed” because he “has to go.” Trump also urged McGahn to dispute media reports that he had attempted to fire Mueller. (NBC News / Reuters)
4/ Trump’s re-election campaign refused to rule out using hacked information. The Democratic National Committee and the party’s 2020 candidates, meanwhile, have pledged not to use illegally obtained information to their advantage. Mueller’s report outlined how the Russian government interfered in the 2016 race in “sweeping and systematic fashion” in order to help Trump win, and that the Trump team expected to “benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts.” (NBC News)
Notables.
Trump tried multiple times to get Jeff Sessions to “unrecuse” himself and re-open an investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, according to the Mueller report. No evidence has emerged showing that Sessions ever acted on any of Trump’s requests to have Clinton’s case reopened. The first instance was in mid-2017 when Trump called Sessions at home and asked him to unrecuse himself from “all of it” and go after Clinton. The second instance was after a cabinet meeting in December 2017. Trump pulled Sessions aside and said, “I don’t know if you could unrecuse yourself. You’d be a hero. Not telling you to do anything.” (New York Times)
Joe Biden is officially running for president. Biden made the announcement in a video posted online, in which he criticizes Trump’s handling of the white nationalist attack in Charlottesville, VA and warns that “We are in the battle for the soul of this nation.” He is currently leading in the polls among Democratic primary voters. (NBC News / CBS News / CNN / New York Times / Washington Post)
Trump agreed to pay North Korea $2 million for Otto Warmbier, the college student who was a prisoner in Pyongyang. Before releasing the comatose Warmbier in 2017, North Korea insisted that the U.S. sign a pledge to pay the bill. The bill was sent to the Treasury Department, but it’s unclear whether the Trump administration ever paid the bill. In September 2018, Trump claimed his administration paid “nothing” to get “hostages” out of North Korea. (Washington Post / CNN)
Sarah Huckabee Sanders held her first press briefing in 46 days. It was for children, mostly off the record, and lasted about 28 minutes. Since Nov. 1st, Sanders has held three briefings. (Bloomberg / Washington Post)
1/ Trump: “We’re fighting all the subpoenas” by House Democrats. “Subpoenas are ridiculous,” Trump said, claiming “I have been the most transparent president and administration in the history of our country by far.” House Democratic leaders have issued dozens of requests for information or cooperation from Trump, his administration and his associates. Trump has blocked his administration from cooperating with requests for his tax returns, information about White House security clearances, the 2020 census, and more. (CNBC / Politico / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
2/ Trump will oppose requests for current and former White House aides to testify to Congress, saying there is “no reason to go any further, and especially in Congress where it’s very partisan – obviously very partisan.” White House lawyers plan to assert executive privilege over testimony by Trump administration witnesses called by the House to try and block their congressional testimony. Trump confusingly tweeted “I didn’t call [the reporter at] the Washington Post, he called me (Returned his call)!” (Washington Post)
Trump’s recent tweets and public statements are potentially exposing him to new charges of witness intimidation, obstruction of justice and impeding a congressional investigation, according to Democrats and legal experts. (Politico)
3/ The White House is trying to block a subpoena by the House Judiciary Committee to former White House counsel Don McGahn for testimony about the Mueller report. McGahn was mentioned more than 150 times in Mueller’s report, telling investigators about how Trump pressured him to have Mueller fired and then urged McGahn to publicly deny the episode. The subpoena set a May 7th deadline for documents and a May 21st deadline for McGahn to testify before the committee. Jerry Nadler called the White House’s effort to block the subpoena “one more act of obstruction by an administration desperate to prevent the public from talking about the president’s behavior.” Trump has reportedly told advisers that McGahn was disloyal to him, in part because of McGahn’s notes from meetings were cited in Mueller’s report. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / New York Times)
4/ The Justice Department refused to comply with a congressional subpoena for a Trump administration official to testify about the addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 Census. The House Oversight and Reform Committee is investigating the addition of the citizenship question despite evidence that it could lead to millions of people being undercounted. John Gore’s refusal to appear before the committee is at the direction of Attorney General William Barr. Gore is the principal deputy assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s civil rights division. (CNN / Washington Post)
Trump defended the addition of the citizenship question on the 2020 census, saying “the American people deserve to know who is in this country.” The Commerce Department, however, has repeatedly claimed the question would be added as part of an effort to better protect voting rights. (Politico)
5/ Trump, claiming he “DID NOTHING WRONG,” plans to “head to the U.S. Supreme Court” if Democrats “ever tried to Impeach.” The Supreme Court, however, ruled unanimously in 1993 that authority for impeachment resides in Congress and “nowhere else.” According to the Constitution, the House “shall have the sole Power of Impeachment” and the Senate “shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments.” (Bloomberg / Politico / Washington Post)
Notables.
Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney instructed aides not to mention Russian election interference in the 2020 election in front of Trump, calling it not “a great subject” that should be kept below his level.” Mulvaney reportedly “made it clear” to aides that Trump still compares discussions about Russian election meddling with “questions about the legitimacy of his victory.” (New York Times)
Mulvaney claimed he doesn’t remember telling staffers not to mention election security to Trump. “I don’t recall anything along those lines happening in any meeting,” Mulvaney said in a statement. (Politico)
The Justice Department contradicted Jared Kushner’s characterization that Russia’s influence campaign in the U.S. was limited to “buying some Facebook ads and trying to sow dissent.” The filing describes how the actions of Russian spy Maria Butina contained all the markings of a sophisticated intelligence operation. The filing also argues that it doesn’t take a master spy for such an operation to have a significant impact. (Politico)
Deutsche Bank is providing financial records to New York state’s attorney general following a subpoena for documents related to loans made to Trump and the Trump Organization. The bank is turning over emails and loan documents related to the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC, the Trump National Doral Miami, the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago, and the unsuccessful effort to buy the Buffalo Bills. The New York attorney general’s office opened the investigation following Michael Cohen’s testimony to Congress that Trump had inflated his assets. (CNN)
Cohen claimed he wasn’t actually guilty of some crimes he pleaded guilty to, saying “there is no tax evasion […] it’s a lie.” Cohen pleaded guilty to five counts of evading personal income taxes and one count of understating his debt and expenses in an application for a home-equity line of credit. Cohen begins a three-year prison term on May 6th. (Wall Street Journal)
Trump contradicted the Defense Department, claiming that Mexican troops “probably” drew guns on U.S. soldiers at the border as a “diversionary tactic for drug smugglers.” The U.S. military, however, said the incident “was an honest mistake by the Mexican soldiers,” because U.S. soldiers “were south of the border fence,” but “north of the actual border.” (Washington Post)
Twitter suspended more than 5,000 pro-Trump bot accounts for “platform manipulation.” The accounts were connected to a network that is focused on denouncing the Mueller report as a “hoax.” They were also connected to other accounts that have been used to spread pro-Saudi messaging on the platform. An investigation into the network is ongoing but it’s still unclear who is behind the campaign. (Ars Technica)
Trump accused Twitter of deliberately tampering with his followers during a private meeting with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. According to a person with direct knowledge of the conversation, Dorsey explained that follower counts fluctuate as the company enforced policies and removed fraudulent spam accounts. (Washington Post)
1/ The White House instructed a former security clearance official not to comply with a subpoena to testify before the House Oversight Committee. Carl Kline, former White House personnel security director, was responsible for the Trump administration’s security clearance process. He oversaw the approval of at least 25 people for security clearances despite serious concerns raised during the vetting process. Trump’s deputy counsel argued in a letter that the subpoena by the committee “unconstitutionally encroaches on fundamental executive branch interests.” Kline’s attorney, meanwhile, said Kline is being forced to choose between “two masters from two equal branches of government,” and that Kline intends to “follow the instructions of the one that employs him.” (CNN / Axios / Daily Beast)
2/ The House Oversight Committee moved to hold the former White House personnel security director in contempt of Congress for failing to appear at a hearing investigating lapses in White House security clearance procedures. Kline is accused of overriding career national security officials to approve security clearances for officials whose applications were initially denied. Elijah Cummings, chairman of the committee, said “The White House and Mr. Kline now stand in open defiance of a duly authorized congressional subpoena with no assertion of any privilege of any kind by President Trump.” (Politico / Washington Post)
3/ The Treasury Department missed the House Ways and Means Committee deadline to turn over six years of Trump’s personal and business tax returns. Earlier in the day, the White House indicated that Trump was “not inclined” to hand over his tax returns and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the administration will make a “final decision” by May 6 on whether to turn over Trump’s tax returns. Earlier this month, Mnuchin said “the Treasury Department will not be able to complete its review” by the deadline, due to the “unprecedented nature of this request.” (CNN / Wall Street Journal / Politico / HuffPost / Reuters)
📌 Day 784: Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin suggested that he would protect Trump’s privacy if House Democrats request Trump’s tax returns, saying: “We will examine the request and we will follow the law … and we will protect the president as we would protect any taxpayer” regarding their right to privacy. Mnuchin said he “can’t speculate” on how the administration will respond to demands for Trump’s tax returns until it sees the request. House Democrats are preparing to ask the IRS for 10 years of Trump’s personal tax returns under under a 1924 provision that requires the Treasury secretary to “furnish” any individual’s tax return information to the House and Senate tax-writing committees. (Associated Press / ABC News / Politico / CNN)
📌 Day 806: Trump’s lawyers asked the IRS chief counsel’s office to reject House Democrats’ request for six years of Trump’s personal and business tax returns, saying “it would set a dangerous precedent.” Trump’s lawyers sent a letter to the IRS counsel’s office responsible for responding to the request, calling the request a “gross abuse of power” and that Democrats do not have a “legitimate committee purpose” for obtaining the tax returns. An administration official also said Trump is willing to fight the House Ways and Means Committee request to the Supreme Court. (Wall Street Journal / CNN / Washington Post)
📌 Day 812: The Treasure Department missed the deadline set by Democrats to hand over Trump’s tax returns. In a letter to the House Ways and Means Committee, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he has “serious issues” with the request for six years of Trump’s personal and some business returns. Mnuchin added that he was consulting with the Justice Department as to the “constitutional scope” and “legitimacy of the asserted legislative purpose” of the request. Hours earlier, Trump flatly rejected the request for his tax returns, telling reporters: “I won’t do it.” The issue could ultimately be decided by the Supreme Court. (Politico / Vox / Washington Post / New York Times)
4/ Jared Kushner claimed – without evidence – that Robert Mueller’s investigation was “way more harmful” than Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election. Kushner claimed Mueller’s investigation had a “much harsher impact on our democracy” on the U.S. than “a couple Facebook ads” intended “to sow discontent.” Mueller’s report concluded that the Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election “in sweeping and systematic fashion,” intended to favor Trump and disparage Hillary Clinton. Kushner called the idea that the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government “nonsense.” Mueller, however, “identified numerous links between the Russian government and the Trump Campaign.” (Bloomberg / Politico / CNN / Washington Post / Axios)
The Democratic National Committee pledged not to use hacked emails or stolen data in the 2020 presidential election. Chairman Tom Perez challenged the RNC to make the same commitment. (Politico)
Paul Manafort is now in federal prison, serving his 7.5 year sentence at a minimum-security facility outside Scranton, Pennsylvania. (NBC News)
5/ The Supreme Court’s conservative majority signaled it would allow the Trump administration to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. The census hasn’t asked a citizenship question since 1950 and lower courts have blocked the question, ruling that the Trump administration violated federal law and the U.S. Constitution by seeking to include it on the census form. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh, however, directed most of their questions during arguments to the lawyers challenging the decision to ask about citizenship. Courts have found that several states could lose seats in the House, as well as federal money. (New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Reuters)
poll/ 39% of voters approve of the job Trump is doing as president – down from 44% last week and ties Trump’s lowest-ever approval. (Politico)
Notables.
The Interior Department’s Inspector General opened an investigation into whether six of Trump’s appointees violated federal ethics rules. The inspector general’s office opened the investigation following a complaint that the appointees discussed policy matters with their former employers or clients. (Washington Post)
Oil prices jumped to a six-month high after the White House decided not to renew waivers for countries to buy Iranian oil despite U.S. sanctions. China, India, Turkey, and other countries who import Iranian oil will now face sanctions if they continue to purchase oil from Iran, OPEC’s fourth-largest producer, after the waivers are lifted on May 1st. (Bloomberg / Business Insider)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to name a new settlement in the Golan Heights after Trump. Netanyahu said there was a “need to express our appreciation” to Trump for officially recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over the illegally occupied territory last month. (Politico)
Joe Biden announced he’ll announce his plans to run for president in 2020. Biden will officially enter the race on Thursday with an online video, followed by a campaign event in Pittsburgh on Monday. (CNN)
Trump spent the last 24-hours tweeting or retweeting more than 50 times. Trump demanded an apology from The New York Times, complained he doesn’t get enough credit for the economy, claimed Twitter discriminates against him, and attacked the “Radical Left Democrats.” He offered no evidence to substantiate his various claims. (Politico)
Trump ordered administration officials to boycott the annual White House Correspondents Association dinner. Trump’s reversal of previous White House guidance allowing aides to attend Saturday’s event came after his Twitter temper tantrum. (Politico)
1/ Trump and the Trump Organization sued Democratic House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings to block a subpoena seeking information about his finances. The committee subpoenaed Mazars USA, Trump’s longtime accountant, for 10 years’ worth of Trump’s financial records after the firm requested a so-called “friendly subpoena.” Trump’s lawyers complained that Democrats have “declared all-out political war” against him, with subpoenas as their “weapon of choice.” (CNBC / Politico / Washington Post / CNN) / Axios)
2/ Rudy Giuliani defended the 2016 Trump Tower meeting with Russians offering dirt on Hillary Clinton, saying “there’s nothing wrong with taking information from Russians.” When asked whether it’s “okay” to use information stolen by a foreign adversary in service of a presidential candidacy, Giuliani said “it depends on the stolen material.” He then added that Russia “shouldn’t have stolen it, but the American people were just given more information.” (Daily Beast / New York Times / CNN / Washington Post)
3/ The House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed former White House counsel Don McGahn as part of its investigation into obstruction of justice. The subpoena demands that McGahn testify before the committee on May 21st and provide documents on three-dozen topics by May 7th. The committee previously served the Justice Department with a subpoena for the full Mueller report and underlying evidence, demanding the documents by May 1st. (CNN / CNBC)
4/ The Trump campaign hired a new in-house attorney for 2020, shifting its business from McGahn’s law firm, Jones Day, that represented Trump since his run for president. McGahn told Robert Mueller’s investigators that Trump directed him to call Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and tell him to fire Mueller. McGahn refused. “Why in the world would you want to put your enemy on the payroll?” one adviser close to the White House said. “They do not want to reward [McGahn’s] firm.” (Politico / Washington Post)
📌 Day 820: Trump claimed that statements about him “by certain people” in Mueller’s “crazy” report are “total bullshit,” made by people trying to make themselves look good and harm him. Close White House advisers said Trump’s rage was aimed at former White House counsel Don McGahn, who blocked several attempts by Trump to interfere in Mueller’s investigation. Trump continued tweeting: “This was an Illegally Started Hoax that never should have happened, a…” He never finish the statement. (Politico / Bloomberg / Washington Post / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
5/ Trump claimed that “nobody disobeys my orders.” Mueller’s report, however, repeatedly depicts Trump’s multiple “efforts to influence the investigation were mostly unsuccessful, but that is largely because the persons who surrounded the President declined to carry out orders or accede to his requests.” (CNN)
📌 Day 820: Eight key figures resisted Trump at critical moments: Jeff Sessions refused to unrecuse himself after Trump repeatedly bullied him privately and publicly. White House counsel Don McGahn refused to fire Mueller. Rick Dearborn, who worked for Sessions in the Senate, refused to relay Trump’s message for Sessions to limit Mueller’s jurisdiction to future election interference, rather than look backward on the 2016 election. Staff Secretary Rob Porter refused Trump’s request to call Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand in an attempt “to find someone to end the Russia investigation or fire the Special Counsel.” Chris Christie refused to “call [James] Comey and tell him that the President ‘really like[s] him. Tell him he’s part of the team.’” Rod Rosenstein refused to put out a statement saying it was his idea to fire Comey. K.T. McFarland refused to “draft an internal email that would confirm that the President did not direct [Michael] Flynn to call the Russian Ambassador about sanctions.” Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats wouldn’t put out a statement saying no link existed between Trump and Russia. (Washington Post)
6/ Trump also claimed that Democrats “can’t impeach” him, because “only high crimes and misdemeanors can lead to impeachment” and that “there were no crimes by me.” Mueller’s investigators found that there was “insufficient evidence” to establish a criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and their contacts with Russians. Mueller also examined 10 “episodes” where Trump may have obstructed justice, but that Attorney General William Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein “disagreed with some of Mueller’s legal theories and felt that some of the episodes did not amount to obstruction.” Mueller found, in part, that those attempts were unsuccessful, because Trump’s subordinates refused to carry out his orders. (CNBC)
📌 Day 819: Mueller’s office chose not to charge Trump with obstruction out of “fairness concerns,” because “we recognized that a federal criminal accusation against a sitting President would place burdens on the President’s capacity to govern and potentially preempt constitutional process for addressing presidential misconduct.” According to the report, Mueller considered Trump’s written answers “inadequate,” but knew a subpoena would impose “substantial delay” and they believed they had “sufficient evidence to understand relevant events and to make certain assessments without the President’s testimony.” Trump stated more than 30 times in his written answers that he “does not ‘recall’ or ‘remember’ or have an ‘independent recollection’” of information investigators asked about. Mueller, citing numerous legal constraints in his report, declined to exonerate Trump, writing: “If we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the president clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state. Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, however, we are unable to reach that judgment.” (NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / Wall Street Journal)
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: “It is clear that [Trump] has, at a minimum, engaged in highly unethical and unscrupulous behavior which does not bring honor to the office he holds.” Pelosi, however, noted that “it is … important to know that the facts regarding holding the president accountable can be gained outside of impeachment hearings.” (Politico / Associated Press / Washington Post)
poll/ 37% of Americans approved of Trump’s job performance – down 3 percentage points to the lowest level of the year following the release of Mueller’s report detailing Russian interference in the presidential election. 50% agreed that “Trump or someone from his campaign worked with Russia to influence the 2016 election,” and 58% agreed that Trump “tried to stop investigations into Russian influence on his administration.” 40% said they thought Trump should be impeached, while 42% said he should not. (Reuters)
Notables.
The Supreme Court will decide whether federal anti-discrimination laws protect on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, agreeing to take up three cases involving sexual orientation in the workplace. The set of cases include a transgender funeral home director who won her case after being fired; a gay skydiving instructor who successfully challenged his dismissal; and a social worker who was unable to convince a court that he was unlawfully terminated because of his sexual orientation. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 forbids workplace discrimination on the basis of sex. It does not explicitly apply to LGBT individuals. The cases are expected to be argued in the fall. (Washington Post / Politico / New York Times / NBC News)
The State Department will end waivers for countries importing Iranian oil as part of an effort to cut off of Iranian oil exports. China, India and Turkey are among Iran’s top customers. The Trump administration said it was working with top oil exporters Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to ensure the oil market was “adequately supplied.” The United States decided to leave the Iran nuclear deal about a year ago. (Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / Reuters)
The FBI arrested the leader of a militia group accused of illegally stopping migrants after they crossed the southern U.S. border. Larry Hopkins is the leader of the United Constitutional Patriots. He was arrested in New Mexico on federal charges of being a felon in possession of firearms and ammunition. (Reuters / Vox)
Herman Cain withdrew himself from consideration for the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors. Cain ended his campaign after allegations surfaced that he sexually harassed several women while he was running Godfather’s Pizza in the 1990s, and that he had an extramarital affair. Cain denied the allegations, and Trump called them an “unfair witch hunt.” Trump announced Cain’s decision to withdraw, calling him “a truly wonderful man.” (NBC News / Axios / Washington Post / CNBC)
Stephen Moore wrote in March 2002 that there should be “no more women refs, no women announcers, no women beer venders, no women anything” at men’s college basketball games. Moore is one of Trump’s picks to serve on the Federal Reserve Board. (CNN)
Sears named Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in a lawsuit against the company’s former CEO. The lawsuit alleges that Mnuchin assisted Edward Lampert in stripping the retailer of more than $2 billion in assets. (Politico)
Trump’s tariffs raised the cost of washing machines by about $86 per unit last year and clothes dryers by $92, according to research from the University of Chicago and the Federal Reserve. The tariffs created roughly 1,800 new U.S. manufacturing jobs, but each new job cost about $817,000. (New York Times)
Trump exaggerated that the Sri Lanka terror attacks “killed at least 138 million people and badly injured 600 more.” The population of Sri Lanka is around 22 million. Trump later deleted the incorrect tweet. Explosions at churches and hotels in Sri Lanka killed 290 people and injured more than 500. (Washington Post)
1/ The House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed the Justice Department for access to Robert Mueller’s full report, including grand jury testimony and other material not made public. “My committee needs and is entitled to the full version of the report and the underlying evidence consistent with past practice,” Chairman Jerry Nadler said in a statement. He added that the redactions in Mueller’s report “appear to be significant.” Nadler gave the Justice Department a May 1st deadline to provide the report and “all documents obtained and investigative materials created by the Special Counsel’s Office.” Attorney General William Barr will testify to the House Judiciary Committee on May 2nd. (NPR / Bloomberg / NBC News / New York Times / Politico / The Guardian)
2/ The White House called the House Democrat subpoena for the unredacted version of Mueller’s report “more political grandstanding.” Meanwhile, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, accused Democrats of issuing a “wildly overbroad” subpoena to Barr. (Washington Post)
3/ The House Judiciary Committee asked the Justice Department to allow Mueller to testify next month. Nadler said he wants Mueller to testify “no later than May 23.” Barr said he has no objection to Mueller testifying before Congress. (Politico / CNBC)
4/ Trump claimed that statements about him “by certain people” in Mueller’s “crazy” report are “total bullshit,” made by people trying to make themselves look good and harm him. Close White House advisers said Trump’s rage was aimed at former White House counsel Don McGahn, who blocked several attempts by Trump to interfere in Mueller’s investigation. Trump continued tweeting: “This was an Illegally Started Hoax that never should have happened, a…” He never finish the statement. (Politico / Bloomberg / Washington Post / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
5/ Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov claimed the Mueller report contains “no evidence substantiated by any facts” that Russia interfered in the 2016 election and that Moscow rejects any such accusations. Peskov also claimed that Putin has repeatedly denied any interference “because there was none.” Mueller’s report, however, documents multiple efforts by the Russians to meddle in the election. (Politico / NBC News)
6/ A militia group in New Mexico has been detaining groups of migrant families at gunpoint and then handing them over to Border Patrol. Several videos taken at the border appeared to a group of men from the United Constitutional Patriots approaching migrants, ordering them to sit down, and calling federal agents on them. At one point, they misrepresented themselves by saying they were “border patrol” as they approached. The ACLU called the group “an armed fascist militia organization” made up of “vigilantes” trying to “kidnap and detain people seeking asylum” by making illegal arrests. (New York Times / The Guardian)
👀 Portrait mode.
A collection of in-depth reporting on the Mueller report with all the context you need to understand wtf just happened. If you don’t know where to start with the Mueller report, start here.
The White House emerged from more than 400 pages of Mueller’s report to a hotbed of conflict infused by a culture of dishonesty — defined by a president who lies to the public and his own staff, then tries to get his aides to lie for him. Trump repeatedly threatened to fire lieutenants who did not carry out his wishes while they repeatedly threatened to resign rather than cross lines of propriety or law. (New York Times)
The portrait painted by Mueller is one in which, again and again, Russian officials and business executives offered assistance to Trump and the people around him. The campaign was intrigued by the Russian overtures, which came at the same time that the Russian government was seeking to tilt the outcome of the race in Trump’s favor. (Washington Post)
The most concrete takeaway from the Mueller report is its damning portrait of the Trump White House as a place of chaos, intrigue and deception, where aides routinely disregard the wishes of a president with little regard for the traditional boundaries of his office. (Politico)
Mueller’s report documented Trump’s obsession with an investigation he believed could ruin him, eagerness to test the limits of the law to stop it, and willingness to mislead the nation to cover his actions. The report shows Trump’s attempts to conceal his behavior and suppress the probe, showing that his actions and words left some top administration officials and White House attorneys deeply alarmed, adding to drama and deception in the West Wing. (Bloomberg)
Mueller’s report is of a presidency plagued by paranoia, insecurity and scheming — and of an inner circle gripped by fear of Trump’s spasms. Again and again, Trump frantically pressured his aides to lie to the public, deny true news stories and fabricate a false record. (Washington Post)
The Mueller report showed Trump unwilling to take on tough tasks, deal with personnel moves, follow-through to execute his decisions, and an indifference to fact. (Wall Street Journal)
Trump evaded criminal charges, but Mueller’s report is an indictment of his campaign and his presidency. The report details how Trump and his allies solicited, encouraged, accepted and benefited from Russian assistance, and then lays out evidence that Trump may have obstructed justice through what Mueller described as a “pattern of conduct” that included firing James Comey, trying to remove Mueller, publicly praising and condemning witnesses, and seeking to limit the scope of the probe. The report also made clear why Mueller didn’t pursue charges and why contacts with Russians by the Trump campaign didn’t amount to a criminal conspiracy. (NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
👑 Portrait of a President: An on-going list of various articles and essays to make sense of Trump. Curated by the WTFJHT community!
🔦 What we’ve learned from the Mueller report.
Clarifying news and events that emerged from the Mueller report.
Putin convened a meeting with Russian oligarchs after Trump was elected, encouraging them to make contact with the Trump transition team and establish backchannel communications. U.S. sanctions against Russia was one of the main issues at hand for Putin and his gathering of oligarchs. The Mueller report didn’t establish a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia, but it did reveal how important it was to Putin to set up a line of communication, and how receptive members of the Trump’s inner circle were to Putin’s overtures. (Politico)
Eight key figures resisted Trump at critical moments: Jeff Sessions refused to unrecuse himself after Trump repeatedly bullied him privately and publicly. White House counsel Don McGahn refused to fire Mueller. Rick Dearborn, who worked for Sessions in the Senate, refused to relay Trump’s message for Sessions to limit Mueller’s jurisdiction to future election interference, rather than look backward on the 2016 election. Staff Secretary Rob Porter refused Trump’s request to call Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand in an attempt “to find someone to end the Russia investigation or fire the Special Counsel.” Chris Christie refused to “call [James] Comey and tell him that the President ‘really like[s] him. Tell him he’s part of the team.’” Rod Rosenstein refused to put out a statement saying it was his idea to fire Comey. K.T. McFarland refused to “draft an internal email that would confirm that the President did not direct [Michael] Flynn to call the Russian Ambassador about sanctions.” Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats wouldn’t put out a statement saying no link existed between Trump and Russia. (Washington Post)
Sarah Huckabee Sanders told Mueller’s investigators that she lied to the American public that “countless” FBI agents told her they were thankful that Trump fired James Comey. Sanders, who made similar claims on multiple occasions, told Mueller’s office that she simply made “a slip of the tongue” and the claim was made “in the heat of the moment,” and that it “was not founded on anything.” When asked about it , Sanders tried to avoid admitting that she lied saying, “I’m sorry that I wasn’t a robot like the Democrat Party.” (CBS News / CNN / NBC News / Daily Beast / The Guardian / Politico)
Erik Prince, brother of Betsy DeVos, helped finance the effort to obtain Hillary Clinton’s deleted emails in 2016. After Trump privately asked Michael Flynn and other campaign officials to obtain the deleted emails, Flynn reached out to Barbara Ledeen, a onetime GOP staffer on Capitol Hill, for help. In September 2016, Ledeen claimed to have actually received “a trove of emails” that belonged to Clinton, but wanted to authenticate the. Prince then “provided funding to hire a tech advisor to ascertain the authenticity of the emails.” (CNN)
Russian hackers were able to breach “at least one” Florida county government through a spearphishing campaign. While Mueller’s team “did not independent verify that belief,” DHS and the FBI were already investigating the intrusions. (Politico)
💡 Analysis and commentary.
Some of the more interesting and relevant analysis to emerge following the release of the Mueller report. What are you seeing that should be included?
7 times the Mueller report caught Sean Spicer and Sarah Sanders lying to press. From Comey to Trump Tower, the report documents — without even trying — how easily Trump’s press secretaries lie for him. (Vox)
The Mueller report, explained. What the special counsel’s 448-page report reveals — and conceals. (Vox)
How Barr’s letter compares to the findings in the Mueller report. Here’s a look at what the letter Barr sent to Congress last month said vs. what the redacted version of the full report says. (New York Times / Washington Post)
Nearly two-thirds of the section on Russian hacking is blacked out. Those redactions raise a series of fresh questions about the conduct of Trump and his aides. Roughly 10% of the Mueller report is blacked out with redactions. (The Guardian / New York Times)
The Mueller report confirms that Trump runs the government like a criminal enterprise. (New York Magazine)
Don McGahn may have single-handedly saved Trump’s presidency by refusing to fire Mueller. (CNN)
1/ Attorney General William Barr repeatedly insisted that Robert Mueller “found no evidence” that the Trump campaign conspired with Russia to interfere in the 2016 presidential election and that Russian efforts to interfere “did not have the cooperation of President Trump or the Trump campaign.” Barr also claimed Mueller’s report did not find “collusion” between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. Further, Barr said that even if the Trump campaign had colluded with WikiLeaks, that was not a crime. Mueller identified “numerous” Trump campaign-Russia contacts, but the report says there was “insufficient evidence” to establish a criminal conspiracy between Trump or his campaign aides and their contacts with Russians. The report outlines how Trump was elected with Russia’s help and when a federal inquiry was started to investigate the effort, Trump took multiple steps to stop or undermine it. Barr said Mueller examined 10 “episodes” where Trump may have obstructed justice, but that he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein “disagreed with some of the special counsel’s legal theories and felt that some of the episodes did not amount to obstruction.” According to Barr, Trump acted out of “noncorrupt motives” because he was frustrated by Mueller’s investigation, as well as media coverage that he felt was hurting his administration. (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / NBC News / CNN / The Guardian / Bloomberg)
📌 Day 700: Trump’s pick for attorney general criticized Mueller’s obstruction of justice investigation in an unsolicited memo he sent to the Justice Department in June . William Barr said “Mueller’s obstruction theory is fatally misconceived,” claiming that Trump’s interactions with James Comey would not constitute obstruction of justice, because Trump was using his “complete authority to start or stop a law enforcement proceeding.” If confirmed as attorney general, Barr would oversee Mueller’s work. (Wall Street Journal / New York Times / CNN / The Guardian / Washington Post)
[BEFORE REPORT]: Mueller’s report will reportedly be “lightly redacted” and is expected to reveal details about Trump’s actions in office that came under scrutiny. According to an outline the Justice Department used to brief the White House with, Mueller did not come to a conclusion on the question of obstruction of justice because he couldn’t determine Trump’s intent behind his actions. Separately, the Justice Department will let a “limited number” of lawmakers review Mueller’s report “without certain redactions, including removing the redaction of information related to the charges set forth in the indictment in this case.” (Washington Post)
2/ Mueller’s office chose not to charge Trump with obstruction out of “fairness concerns,” because “we recognized that a federal criminal accusation against a sitting President would place burdens on the President’s capacity to govern and potentially preempt constitutional process for addressing presidential misconduct.” According to the report, Mueller considered Trump’s written answers “inadequate,” but knew a subpoena would impose “substantial delay” and they believed they had “sufficient evidence to understand relevant events and to make certain assessments without the President’s testimony.” Trump stated more than 30 times in his written answers that he “does not ‘recall’ or ‘remember’ or have an ‘independent recollection’” of information investigators asked about. Mueller, citing numerous legal constraints in his report, declined to exonerate Trump, writing: “If we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the president clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state. Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, however, we are unable to reach that judgment.” (NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / Wall Street Journal)
“GAME OVER,” Trump tweeted immediately after Barr’s press conference. Trump spent the morning tweeting about “Crooked, Dirty Cops and DNC/The Democrats” and complaining of “PRESIDENTIAL HARASSMENT.” (NBC News)
📌 Day 666: Trump said he answered Robert Mueller’s written questions himself “very easily,” but he hasn’t submitted them because “you have to always be careful when you answer questions with people that probably have bad intentions.” Rudy Giuliani said there are at least two dozen questions that relate to activities and episodes from before Trump’s election. Trump spent more than five hours in meeting over three days this week with his attorneys working out written answers for Mueller about alleged collusion between his campaign and Russia during the 2016 presidential election. Despite telling reporters that “the questions were very routinely answered by me,” Trump’s temper boiled during all three meetings. Seemingly out of nowhere, Trump targeted Mueller on Twitter yesterday, calling the special counsel team “thugs” and the investigation a “witch hunt.” (Associated Press / Reuters / CNN / Washington Post / The Guardian)
📌 Day 670: Trump submitted his written answers to Robert Mueller’s questions “regarding the Russia-related topics of the inquiry,” according to Trump’s attorney, Jay Sekulow. Mueller has not ruled out trying to compel Trump to sit for an interview after reviewing the written answers. (Bloomberg/ CNBC / New York Times / Associated Press)
3/ The Justice Department briefed White House lawyers about the conclusions made in Mueller’s report before it was released, which aided Trump’s legal team in rebutting the report’s findings. Barr initially refused to answer whether the Justice Department had given the White House a preview of Mueller’s findings. Later, Barr confirmed that he gave Trump’s lawyers access to Mueller’s report “earlier this week” – before it was to be sent to Congress and made public – and that Trump’s lawyers did not ask for any redactions. (New York Times / Associated Press)
4/ House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler accused Barr of “waging a media campaign on behalf of President Trump.” Nadler charged that Barr was attempting to “bake in the narrative to the benefit of the White House” and to protect Trump by holding a news conference about Mueller’s report hours before it was made public. Yesterday, Nadler and other House committee chairs issued a joint statement urging Barr to cancel the news conference and “let the full report speak for itself.” The House Judiciary Committee plans to review the redacted report, and then ask Mueller and his team to testify before Congress. (Washington Post / ABC News / Politico)
🔍 Mueller Report Key Findings (so far):
A high-level overview of what’s been learned from the Mueller report. All summaries are sourced from the live blogs linked to below or directly cited inline (or both).
Mueller’s obstruction of justice investigation was influenced by a Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel opinion that says a sitting president cannot be indicted. Mueller’s report says the team was “determined not to apply an approach that could potentially result in a judgment that the President committed crimes.”
Trump engaged in “multiple acts” to influence on law enforcement investigations, but that his efforts were “mostly unsuccessful” because his aides refused to carry out his orders.
Trump urged campaign aides to find Hillary Clinton’s private emails. After Trump publicly asking Russia to find Clinton’s emails in July 2016, Trump then privately “asked individuals affiliated with his campaign to find the deleted Clinton emails.” Michael Flynn told Mueller that Trump “made this request repeatedly,” and Flynn “contacted multiple people in an effort to obtain the emails,” including Peter Smith, a longtime Republican operative, and Barbara Ledeen, who worked for Chuck Grassley on the Senate Judiciary Committee at the time. (Washington Post)
The Trump campaign “expected it would benefit” from information released by Russia, but “the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.” The report continues: “The investigation established that the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome.” Putin’s “preference was for candidate Trump to win.”
When Trump learned of Mueller’s appointment as special counsel, he said: “Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my presidency. I’m fucked.” Trump then repeatedly berated then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions for his recusal from the Russia probe, saying Sessions had let him down. “How could you let this happen, Jeff?” Trump demanded.
After Trump fired James Comey, he attempted to have his White House counsel fire Mueller a month later. Trump twice told Donald McGahn to call Rosenstein and order him to fire Mueller, saying: “Mueller has to go” for alleged “conflicts that precluded him from serving as special counsel.” McGahn refused, saying he did not want to repeat the “Saturday Night Massacre.” McGahn then called Reince Priebus, then the White House chief of staff, and told him Trump had asked him to “do crazy shit.” Trump later pressured McGahn to deny that he tried to fire Mueller.
“Substantial evidence” corroborates Comey’s recollection that Trump pressured him to let Flynn off easy. “I hope you can let this go,” Trump allegedly told Comey. “While the president has publicly denied these details, other Administration officials who were present have confirmed Comey’s account of how he ended up in a one-on-one meeting with the president,” the report says. “And the president acknowledged to Priebus and McGahn that he in fact spoke to Comey about Flynn in their one-on-one meeting.”
Trump weighed installing Rachel Brand, then the Department of Justice’s number three official, “to end the Russia investigation or fire the special counsel.” Trump asked Staff Secretary Rob Porter what he thought of Brand and if she “was good, tough and ‘on the team.’”
Paul Manafort told Rick Gates to “sit tight” and not plead guilty because Trump is “going to take care of us.” Mueller’s report says “evidence […] indicates that the President intended to encourage Manafort to not cooperate with the government.” Gates ended up cooperating with Mueller.
Trump’s personal attorney directed Cohen “stay on message and not contradict the President” regarding testimony about the Trump Tower Moscow project that continued behind January 2016. Trump’s personal lawyer told Cohen that he “was protected, which he wouldn’t be if he ‘went rogue.’”
Mueller declined to prosecute “several” people connected to the Trump campaign who lied to the special counsel’s office or to Congress about their contact with Russians and on other matters, including Trump Jr. and Sessions.
Federal prosecutors are pursuing 14 other investigations that were referred by Mueller. Two were disclosed in the redacted report: potential wire fraud and federal employment law violations involving Michael Cohen, and charges against Gregory Craig, the former White House counsel under Obama, who was accused of lying to investigators and concealing work for a pro-Russian government in Ukraine. The other 12 referrals were redacted because the details could harm continuing investigations.
Mueller left the door open to the possibility that after Trump leaves office, prosecutors could re-examine the evidence which could “potentially result in a judgment that the president committed crimes.” Trump’s lawyers have argued that it was impossible for Trump to illegally obstruct the Russia investigation, because he has full authority over federal law enforcement as head of the executive branch. “The conclusion that Congress may apply the obstruction laws to the president’s corrupt exercise of the powers of office accords with our constitutional system of checks and balances and the principle that no person is above the law,” Mueller’s team wrote. (New York Times)
House Democrats subpoenaed nine banks as part of an investigation into Trump’s financial and potential money laundering tied to Russia: JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Capital One, Deutsche Bank, Royal Bank of Canada, and Toronto-Dominion Bank. Investigators on the House Financial Services Committee and House Intelligence Committee have focused their early efforts on Deutsche Bank, which has said it in engaged “in a productive dialogue” with the committees. (Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
North Korea said continued nuclear talks would be “lousy” if Mike Pompeo remains involved, demanding that the Secretary of State be replaced by someone who is “more careful.” A North Korean foreign ministry official said last week that Pompeo “spouted reckless remarks, hurting the dignity of our supreme leadership” after he agreed with the characterization of Kim Jong-un as a tyrant. That same official warned on Thursday that if Pompeo remains involved, “the talks will become entangled.” (BBC)
North Korea said it test-fired a new type of “tactical guided weapon.” There was no evidence the test involved a nuclear detonation or an intercontinental ballistic missile. (New York Times)
1/ Attorney General William Barr directed immigration judges to deny some asylum seekers the opportunity to post bail after being detained. Previously, migrants who established “a credible fear of persecution or torture” in their home country were eligible to seek release on bond. Now they could end up being jailed indefinitely while they wait months or years for their claims to be processed. The Department of Homeland Security will have the discretion to decide whether to release immigrants who initially crossed the border illegally, but later claimed asylum. The order will go into effect in 90 days. (New York Times / CNN / Washington Post / NBC News / Politico / ABC News)
2/ Trump vetoed a bipartisan resolution to end American military involvement in the Saudi-led campaign in Yemen. Earlier this month, Congress voted to invoke the War Powers Resolution to try to stop U.S. involvement in the foreign conflict. Trump called it “an unnecessary, dangerous attempt to weaken my constitutional authorities.” The veto – the second of Trump’s presidency – comes a month after he vetoed a resolution to reverse his national emergency declaration aimed at securing funding for a border wall. (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / Axios / Reuters / Associated Press)
3/ Trump’s attorneys and the White House plan to resist congressional requests for information about security clearances approvals, Trump’s meetings with foreign leaders, and other topics the administration deems subject to executive privilege. While House Democrats say they’ll continue to issue subpoenas, they also said they have little confidence that Barr will enforce contempt actions if their demands are ignored. Congressional subpoenas — and any criminal contempt proceedings — expire at the end of a congressional session. (Washington Post)
4/ Barr and Rod Rosenstein will hold a press conference to discuss the Robert Mueller report at 9:30 am ET Thursday. It’s not clear if the news conference will occur before or after the release of the redacted, 400-page report. [Story is developing…] (CNBC / Washington Post / Politico / New York Times / USA Today)
poll/ 58% of Americans think Trump obstructed the investigation into whether his campaign had any connection to Russia, while 40% don’t think he attempted to obstruct justice. 35% of Americans, meanwhile, think that Trump did something illegal related to Russia, and another 34% think Trump’s done something unethical. (Associated Press)
poll/ 30% of Americans accept Trump’s claim that Barr’s 4-page summary Robert Mueller’s report is a “total exoneration.” 45%, meanwhile, said they believe the Mueller report is inconclusive. 51% believe that Trump administration officials will get away with corruption or unethical behavior. (Politico)
poll/ 38% of voters believe the allegation that Trump’s 2016 campaign was spied on. 28% said they don’t believe the campaign was spied on and 35% said they don’t know or have no opinion about it. (Politico)
poll/ 40% of Americans approve of the job Trump is doing as president. 54% disapprove. (Monmouth University)
Notables.
An aluminum company partially owned by a Russian oligarch plans to invest around $200 million to build a new plant in Mitch McConnell’s home state. McConnell was among the advocates for lifting U.S. sanctions on Rusal, the aluminum company Oleg Deripaska partially owns. (Newsweek)
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin plans to a hire Fox News commentator as his top spokeswoman. Trump planned to appoint Monica Crowley to the National Security Council, but she withdrew from consideration in January 2017 after it was reported that she plagiarized portions of her 2012 book and portions of her 2000 Ph.D. thesis. (Bloomberg)
Ivanka Trump said her father asked her if she wanted the World Bank job, but she passed on the offer because she was “happy with the work” she’s currently doing. Trump previously said he considered naming Ivanka to head the World Bank because “she’s very good with numbers,” but ultimately didn’t because people would have complained about “nepotism.” (Associated Press)
The Trump administration will allow lawsuits in U.S. courts against foreign companies that use properties confiscated by Cuba during Fidel Castro’s revolution six decades ago. The European Union urged the administration not to move forward with the new policy, threatening lawsuits against the U.S. at the World Trade Organization, as well as European courts imposing economic penalties against U.S. companies. (Reuters / ABC News / Wall Street Journal / New York Times)
The Pentagon has not held an on-camera press briefing in more than 300 days. The Department of Defense manages nearly $700 billion. (Time)
1/ House Democrats subpoenaed Deutsche Bank for Trump’s personal and financial records. Democrats also subpoenaed JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Citigroup for documents related to possible Russian money laundering. Maxine Waters said Trump’s “potential use of the U.S. financial system for illicit purposes is a very serious concern” and that the House Intelligence and Financial Services committees will “follow the facts wherever they may lead us.” Deutsche Bank reportedly requested a so-called “friendly subpoena” from the committees before it would comply with their request. The Trump Organization, meanwhile, said it was looking at options to block Deutsche Bank from complying with the subpoena. (New York Times / CNN / Politico / Reuters / Washington Post)
📌 Day 320: Robert Mueller issued a subpoena for the banking records of people affiliated with Trump. The move forced Deutsche Bank – Trump’s biggest lender – to turn over documents related to certain credit transactions and the $300 million Trump owes the lender. Legal experts said it showed Mueller was “following the money” in search of links between the campaign and the Kremlin since Deutsche Bank may have sold some of Trump’s mortgage or loans to Russian-owned banks, which could potentially give Russia leverage over Trump. Jay Sekulow, one of Trump’s personal lawyers, denied that a subpoena had been issued. Since 1998, Deutsche has helped loan at least $2.5 billion to companies affiliated with Trump, which he used to build or purchase highest-profile projects in Washington, New York, Chicago and Florida. (The Guardian / Bloomberg / Reuters / Wall Street Journal)
📌 Day 356: The Trump administration waived fines for Deutsche Bank and four other multinational banks convicted of manipulating global interest rates. Trump owes Deutsche at least $130 million in loans that were originally worth $300 million. The German bank was alsofined$425 million by New York State for laundering $10 billion out of Russia. (International Business Times / USA Today)
📌 Day 746: Deutsche Bank refused to give Trump a loan during his 2016 presidential campaign. Trump was funding his campaign and expanding his business group’s collection of properties at the same time. The Trump Organization specifically wanted a loan against a Miami property to fund work on the Turnberry golf course in Scotland. A 2018 financial disclosure, Trump owed at least $130 million to Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas, a unit of the German bank. The decision came down to senior bank officials worrying about what would happen if Trump won the election and then defaulted on the loan. Deutsche Bank would then have to choose between not collecting on the debt or seizing the assets of the president of the United States. (New York Times / CNBC)
📌 Day 789: Deutsche Bank loaned more than $2 billion to Trump over nearly two decades during his time as a real estate developer at a time when other banks wouldn’t lend to him. The bank repeatedly loaned money to Trump despite multiple business-related “red flags,” including instances where Trump exaggerated his wealth by an extra $2 billion in order to secure additional loans from the bank. In 2010, Trump returned to Deutsche Bank for $100 million loan, even though it had concluded at the time that Trump had overvalued some of his real estate assets by up to 70%. (New York Times / New York Times / CNBC)
2/ White House officials who cooperated with Robert Mueller at the direction of Trump’s legal team are worried the redacted report will expose them as the source of damaging information about Trump. In particular, current and former staffers are concerned how Trump will react to information shared with Mueller, leading to “breakdown-level anxiety” among those who cooperated with the investigation. Officials and their lawyers have asked the Justice Department whether the names of those who cooperated with Mueller’s team will be redacted, or if the public report will make it obvious who shared certain details. (NBC News)
Trump renewed his call for the Justice Department to “INVESTIGATE THE INVESTIGATORS!” days before the public release of Mueller’s report. Trump claimed without evidence that “Crooked Hillary, the DNC, [and] Dirty Cops” are the ones guilty of collusion and obstruction of justice. (Politico)
The Department of Justice declined to unseal records related to Paul Manafort’s case due to “ongoing investigations.” The U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia argued in a court filing that, “although the Special Counsel has concluded his work, he has also referred a number of matters to other offices.” (Washington Post / Axios)
3/ The House Judiciary Committee requested information about Trump’s reported offer to pardon the Customs and Border Protection Commissioner if he was sent to jail for blocking asylum seekers from entering the U.S. Kevin McAleenan has since been named the acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security following the forced resignation of Kirstjen Nielsen. The deadline to turn over a list of employees who attended Trump’s meeting with Border Patrol agents, and documents and communications related to Nielsen’s meeting with Trump “on or about March 21, 2019 to discuss reinstating the zero-tolerance policy and closing the US-Mexico border at El Paso, Texas” is April 30. (CNN)
📌 Day 813: Trump promised to pardon the Customs and Border Protection Commissioner if he were sent to jail for blocking asylum seekers from entering the U.S. in defiance of U.S. law. Two days later, Trump promoted Kevin McAleenan to acting secretary of homeland security after pressuring Nielsen to submit her resignation. Nielsen previously refused to close the border, telling Trump it was illegal. A few days prior to the encounter with McAleenan, Trump backtracked from his thread to close the border, saying he was issuing a “one-year warning” for Mexico to halt illegal immigration and drug trafficking. (New York Times / CNN)
4/ Trump ordered thousands of additional troops to the southwest border. According to a document drafted by Defense Department officials, between 9,000 to 10,000 more forces would be deployed to the border over the next few months. A Pentagon spokesperson, however, put the number at about 3,000 additional forces. There are roughly 2,800 active duty forces currently supporting the border mission. The orders were drafted days after Nielsen’s forced resignation. (Newsweek)
5/ The Trump administration will resume its “Remain in Mexico” policy, forcing asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their cases are processed in the U.S. On Friday, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court’s ruling, which blocked the policy. The DHS spokesperson said the agency would resume the practice in ports of entry in California and Texas, including those in Calexico, San Diego and El Paso. (CBS News / Los Angeles Times)
Notables.
The White House rejected a House Judiciary request for documents detailing discussions with the Justice Department about the AT&T-Time Warner merger. In the late summer of 2017, Trump ordered Gary Cohn to pressure the Justice Department to block AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner, which owns CNN. The next day Trump declared the proposed merger “not good for the country.” White House counsel Pat Cipollone cited executive privilege for the White House denying the document request, claiming any talks were “protected communications.” (Politico)
Trump offered Paris unsolicited advice for putting out the fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral, tweeting that “perhaps flying water tankers could be used to put it out. Must act quickly!” France’s civil defense agency tweeted back: “The dumping of water by aircraft on this kind of building could, actually, cause the complete collapse of the structure.” A French fire chief described Trump’s advice as “risible.” (Los Angeles Times / The Guardian / CNBC)
Trump also offered unsolicited business advice to Boeing, tweeting that the airplane maker should “REBRAND” the 737 MAX “with a new name.” Trump added: “But again, what the hell do I know?” (USA Today / Daily Beast)
Trump called Bernie Sanders’s Fox News town hall “so weird” and noted that anchor Bret Baier, who has been critical of Trump in the past, was “so smiley and nice” to Sanders. (Vox / Washington Post / Politico)
Trump claimed he “has always liked” Jimmy Carter, despite previously calling him “the worst President in the history of the United States!” in 2013, 2014, and 2016. (Washington Post)
1/ Attorney General William Barr will release a redacted version of Robert Mueller’s report to both Congress and the public on Thursday morning. The redactions will cover four categories: secret grand jury details, classified national security and intelligence specifics, material related to ongoing investigations and sections that could defame “peripheral” third parties wrapped up in Mueller’s probe. The release comes days after Barr told Congress he believed “spying” on the Trump campaign occurred during the 2016 election. Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee have already authorized the use of a subpoena to compel the Justice Department for the full report without redactions if they do not receive it this week. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Politico / NBC News)
An insiders’ guide to the Mueller Report: How experts and political operatives will read the report. (Politico)
2/ The House intelligence committee demanded that Mueller “must” brief them and provide “all materials, regardless of form and classification, obtained or produced” during his 2-year investigation. Chairman Adam Schiff and Ranking Member Devin Nunes requested that Mueller and other senior members of his team brief the committee, in a letter sent March 27th to Barr, FBI Director Chris Wray, and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. Nunes has previously dismissed the Mueller report as a “partisan document” that he has no interest in reading. (Daily Beast / Axios / Politico)
3/ Trump’s attorneys threatened legal action if an accounting firm complied with a subpoena from the House Oversight and Reform Committee to turn over 10 years of Trump’s financial records. Last month, the committee requested that Mazars USA turn over Trump’s personal and business finances. In response, Mazars asked for a subpoena before they would comply. (Politico)
4/ Sarah Sanders claimed that members of Congress aren’t “smart enough” to understand Trump’s tax returns. Earlier this month, the House Ways and Means Committee formally requested Trump’s tax returns from the IRS, setting a hard deadline of April 23 to comply. (CNN / Washington Post)
There are 10 accountants in this Congress, including two senators and eight House members. Three Democratic members of Congress are also trained as certified public accountants. (CNN)
5/ The White House is considering travel restrictions for nationals of countries with high rates of overstaying visas as part of a broader push to curb immigration. The effort would target nationals primarily from the African nations of Nigeria, Chad, Eritrea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, telling the countries’ governments that if overstay rates don’t reverse, then future visas could be shorter or harder to get. (Wall Street Journal / Politico)
6/ Trump reportedly revived the rejected proposal to send undocumented immigrants into “sanctuary cities” in order to distract from the Mueller report, according to people close to him. After members of his administration dismissed the idea of sending migrants to sanctuary cities, Trump tweeted that he was still considering the plan. Further, Trump has reportedly been “purposefully escalating his language” to rile up his base of supporters and anger political rivals, despite previously claiming that Barr’s four-page summary of the Mueller report proved there was “No Collusion, No Obstruction, Complete and Total EXONERATION.” (New York Times)
Three Democratic House committee chairmen: The Trump administration lacks the legal authority to send undocumented migrants to sanctuary cities. They’re calling for documents related to the plan’s consideration by early May. (NBC News)
Trump appeared to confirm that a proposal to send immigrants to “Sanctuary Cities and States” was in the works, “subject” to the Department of Homeland Security. (Politico)
House Democrats want Stephen Miller to testify about his role in the plan to release undocumented immigrants into “sanctuary cities,” because he “seems to be the boss of everybody on immigration” (Washington Post)
7/ Trump tweeted a video of the World Trade Center towers burning interspersed with remarks Rep. Ilhan Omar made about civil rights and Muslims in America. “WE WILL NEVER FORGET!” Trump captioned the video. During a speech at an event hosted by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Omar said Muslims have “lived with the discomfort of being a second-class citizen” since the Sept. 11 attacks, because “some people did something and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties.” The Minnesota Democrat is one of the first Muslim women elected to Congress. (New York Times / Washington Post)
8/ Omar said she’s “experienced an increase in direct threats on my life” since Trump tweeted footage of Sept. 11 accusing her of downplaying the terror attacks. “This is endangering lives,” Omar said, charging Trump with encouraging right-wing extremism. “It has to stop.” Sarah Sanders, meanwhile, said “it’s a good thing the president is calling her out” for her “absolutely abhorrent” comments she made at the event. (CNN / The Guardian / Washington Post / CBS News / ABC News)
9/ Nancy Pelosi demanded that Trump delete “his disrespectful and dangerous video” of Omar, claiming his “hateful and inflammatory rhetoric creates real danger.” Pelosi added that the U.S. Capitol Police and the House sergeant-at-arms “are conducting a security assessment to safeguard” Omar. “They will continue to monitor and address the threats she faces.” (New York Times / Politico / Axios)
10/ Trump continued his attacks on Omar on Monday, baselessly claiming that she was “out of control” when she made her alleged “antisemitic, anti-Israel and ungrateful US HATE statements.” Trump also criticized Pelosi for coming to Omar’s defense, saying she has “lost all control of Congress.” Trump flew to Minneapolis to attend an event bordering Omar’s congressional district. (Politico / The Guardian)
poll/ 17% of Americans believed their taxes would go down as a result of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. 40% said they saw no change from the tax bill, while 32% said the bill drove their taxes up. (Politico)
Notables.
The Interior Department’s inspector general opened an investigation into ethics complaints against the agency’s new secretary. David Bernhardt, a former lobbyist for the oil and agribusiness industries, has faced multiple allegations of ethics violations since joining the Trump administration as the Interior Department’s deputy secretary in 2017. (New York Times)
Trump’s reelection campaign raised more than $30 million in the first quarter of 2019, bringing Trump’s total war chest to just over $40.8 million. The amount is unprecedented for an incumbent president this early into the campaign, and edges out the two top Democratic challengers. The GOP, meanwhile, matched Trump’s fundraising abilities by bringing in $45.8 million in the first quarter, the party’s best non-election year total. Trump’s reelection campaign has set a total fundraising goal of $1 billion for 2020. (Associated Press / NBC News / New York Times / CNN / Axios)
Former Massachusetts governor Bill Weld announced that he will challenge Trump for the 2020 Republican presidential nomination. Weld said he will not run as an Independent if he does not win the Republican nomination. (CNN / Washington Post)
Pete Buttigieg announced his presidential bid. If elected, Buttigieg, a 37-year-old Rhodes scholar and veteran of the war in Afghanistan, would be the youngest president ever and the first who is openly gay. “It’s time to walk away from the politics of the past and toward something totally different,” Buttigieg told a crowd at a rally, adding: “Change is coming, ready or not.” (New York Times / Washington Post)
Trump will award Tiger Woods the Presidential Medal of Freedom, tweeting that he’s awarding Woods the honor “because of his incredible Success and Comeback in Sports (Golf) and, more importantly, LIFE.” Since 2019, a series of women have said they had affairs with Woods while he was married. (People / Bloomberg / CNN / NBC News)
Sarah Huckabee Sanders claimed Trump was joking during the 2016 campaign when he said he loved WikiLeaks. “Look, clearly the president was making a joke during the 2016 campaign,” Sanders told Fox News. “Certainly we take this serious.” After Julian Assange was arrested last week, Trump claimed that “I know nothing about WikiLeaks,” despite mentioning WikiLeaks multiple times on the campaign trail and once exclaiming, “I love WikiLeaks” at a campaign event in October 2016. (NBC News)
1/ Trump pressured Kirstjen Nielsen into busing detained immigrants to “sanctuary cities” located in the congressional districts of Democratic members of Congress. The plan was first raised in a Nov. 16, 2018, email asking whether members of a migrant caravan could be arrested when they reached the border and then transported “to small- and mid-sized sanctuary cities” where local officials have refused to cooperate with ICE. The White House claimed that the proposal would free up ICE detention space, as well as send a message to Democrats. One top official responded to the plan by pointing out budgetary and liability concerns, as well as the “PR risks.” The White House called the proposal a “nonstory” and said “this was just a suggestion that was floated and rejected, which ended any further discussion.” (Washington Post / CNN / New York Times)
2/ Trump – contradicting his own administration – confirmed that he is “giving strong consideration” to releasing detained undocumented immigrants in Democratic “sanctuary cities,” suggesting that it should make liberals “very happy” because of their immigration policies. Trump’s tweets come after both the White House and Department of Homeland Security said they rejected the plan when it was floated in November and again in February, because it’d be “so illegal.” The new push comes as Trump has empowered senior adviser Stephen Miller to lead the administration’s immigration policy. Miller reportedly wants to create tent cities at the border to house migrants and detain migrant children beyond the current 20-day limit imposed by a federal judge. The goal is to force migrant parents to choose between splitting from their children or remaining together indefinitely in detention while awaiting court proceedings. (New York Times / CNN / Washington Post / NBC News / Politico / Wall Street Journal / ABC News)
3/ Trump promised to pardon the Customs and Border Protection Commissioner if he were sent to jail for blocking asylum seekers from entering the U.S. in defiance of U.S. law. Two days later, Trump promoted Kevin McAleenan to acting secretary of homeland security after pressuring Nielsen to submit her resignation. Nielsen previously refused to close the border, telling Trump it was illegal. A few days prior to the encounter with McAleenan, Trump backtracked from his thread to close the border, saying he was issuing a “one-year warning” for Mexico to halt illegal immigration and drug trafficking. (New York Times / CNN)
4/ Trump’s top advisers discussed whether the military could be used to build tent city detention camps for migrants at the border. Also discussed was whether the military could legally run the camps, since U.S. law prohibits the military from directly interacting with migrants. Trump complained that the laws are “horrible laws that the Democrats won’t change.” (NBC News)
5/ The Justice Department is reviving a Bush-era regulation allowing appellate immigration judges to issue binding rulings on the entire immigration system while only a minority of appeals judges participate. Currently, the appeals board can declare a binding precedent only if a majority of all permanent sitting judges vote to do so. Immigration advocates and attorneys say the new regulations will be used to reshape immigration law to fit Trump’s political goals. The Trump administration claims the move is to help fix an immigration court system plagued with delays. Attorney General William Barr has sent the proposed regulation to the White House for review. (San Francisco Chronicle)
poll/ 55% of Georgia voters say that they have an unfavorable view of Trump, compared to 39% who had a favorable view, and 4% who were undecided. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
poll/ 51% of Americans disapprove of Trump’s job performance, while 45% approve – up from 39% since last month. (Gallup / Washington Post)
Notables.
Rod Rosenstein defended the Justice Department’s handling of Robert Mueller’s report, saying Barr is “being as forthcoming as he can” about the redaction process. Barr has come under criticism for his four-page summary of the principal conclusions he issued less than two days after Mueller handed over his nearly 400-page report. (Wall Street Journal / CNBC)
The House Oversight Committee threatened to hold a Justice Department official in contempt after refusing to comply with a subpoena for testimony and documents related to the citizenship question on the 2020 Census. Committee Chair Elijah Cummings said in a letter to AG William Barr that the committee would hold his principal deputy assistant AG, John Gore, in contempt of Congress if Barr didn’t make him available to answer questions about Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross’s decision to add the question to the census. Gore was slated to testify on Thursday but he did not appear. The committee voted 23-14 earlier this month to compel Gore to testify and for the Trump administration to provide additional documents pertaining to the citizenship question. (NBC News)
The House Oversight Committee will issue a “friendly subpoena” to the accounting firm that prepared several years’ worth of Trump’s financial statements. Mazars USA had requested a subpoena from the committee before it would provide records. (CNN)
Trump withdrew his nomination for the next U.S. diplomat for South Asia. Trump nominated Defense Intelligence Agency official Robert Williams five months ago to fill the post, which has been empty since Trump took office. The White house did not say why it decided to withdraw Williams’ nomination. (Reuters)
The former White House aide who mocked John McCain as “dying anyway” is joining a pro-Trump PAC. Kelly Sadler was let go after saying McCain’s opposition to Gina Haspel being nominated as CIA director didn’t matter because he was “dying anyway.” Sadler starts Monday and is “really excited” to join America First Action. (CNN)
Trump confirmed that he considered naming Ivanka Trump to head the World Bank because “she’s very good with numbers.” Trump said he didn’t nominate Ivanka because people would have complained about “nepotism, when it would’ve had nothing to do with nepotism.” (The Atlantic / The Guardian / Bloomberg / Washington Post)
1/ British authorities arrested WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and charged by the U.S. with conspiracy to hack a classified Defense Department computer. The U.S. is seeking Assange’s extradition over allegations that he agreed to help former military analyst Chelsea Manning crack a password on a Defense Department computer, resulting in what the Justice Department called “one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of the United States.” Assange is facing up to five years in prison. He had been living in the Ecuadoran Embassy in London for the past 2,487 days. During the 2016 presidential campaign, WikiLeaks released thousands of emails stolen from the Democratic National Committee and from Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta. U.S. intelligence officials concluded the hacks were orchestrated by the Russian government. The conspiracy charge against Assange, however, is not related to Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s election influence. (New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / The Guardian / NPR)
2/ Trump claimed that “I know nothing about WikiLeaks” despite declaring in October 2016 that “I love WikiLeaks.” During the 2016 campaign, then-candidate Trump praised WikiLeaks more than 140 times for leaking DNC and Clinton campaign emails. At one point during the campaign, Trump publicly encouraged the Russians “to find the 30,000 emails (from Hillary Clinton’s server) that are missing.” Following Assange’s arrest, Trump told reporters: WikiLeaks is “not my thing.” (CNN / Politico)
2016: Trump praised WikiLeaks for publishing Clinton’s hacked emails. “I love WikiLeaks,” Trump told rally-goers in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., prompting a prolonged “Lock her up!” chant. (The Hill)
3/ The Treasury Department missed the deadline set by Democrats to hand over Trump’s tax returns. In a letter to the House Ways and Means Committee, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he has “serious issues” with the request for six years of Trump’s personal and some business returns. Mnuchin added that he was consulting with the Justice Department as to the “constitutional scope” and “legitimacy of the asserted legislative purpose” of the request. Hours earlier, Trump flatly rejected the request for his tax returns, telling reporters: “I won’t do it.” The issue could ultimately be decided by the Supreme Court. (Politico / Vox / Washington Post / New York Times)
What we might learn from Trump’s tax returns. (New York Times)
4/ Trump’s sister retired as a federal judge to end an investigation into whether she violated judicial rules by participating in fraudulent tax schemes with her siblings. Complaints against Judge Maryanne Trump Barry were filed last October after an investigation found that she benefited financially from many of her tax schemes while she was also in a position to influence that actions taken by her family. Barry, who hasn’t heard a case in more than two years, was listed as an inactive senior judge, but filed retirement papers ten days after a federal court said the the complaints against her were “receiving the full attention” of a judicial complaint council. Retired judges are not subject to the rules of judicial conduct. (New York Times)
📌 Day 621: Trump inherited his family’s wealth through fraud and questionable tax schemes, receiving the equivalent today of at least $413 million from his father’s real estate empire. Trump has repeatedly claimed that “I built what I build myself.” Trump and his siblings used fake corporations to hide financial gifts from his parents, which helped his father claim millions in tax deductions. Trump also helped his parents undervalue their real estate holdings by hundreds of millions of dollars when filing their tax returns. In total, Fred and Mary Trump transferred more than a $1 billion in wealth to their children and paid a total of $52.2 million in taxes (about 5%) instead of the $550+ million they should have owed under the 55% tax rate imposed on gifts and inheritances. Trump also “earned” $200,000 a year in today’s dollars starting at age 3 from his father’s companies. After college, Trump started receiving the equivalent of $1 million a year, which increased to $5 million a year when he was in his 40s and 50s. Trump has refused to release his income tax returns, breaking with decades of practice by past presidents. There is no time limit on civil fines for tax fraud. [Editor’s note: This is a must read. An abstract summary does not suffice.] (New York Times)
poll/ Trump tweeted a screenshot from Lou Dobbs’s Fox Business falsely claiming his approval rating was at 55%. The actual polling numbers from Georgetown’s Institute of Politics and Public Service found that 43% of voters approve of Trump. Fox Business later issued an on-air correction. (Georgetown / New York Magazine / Axios / Vox / Politico / Washington Post)
Notables.
A former Obama counsel was charged with lying to the Justice Department and concealing information about work he did in 2012 with Paul Manafort for Ukraine. Gregory Craig’s former firm, Skadden Arps Slate Meagher and Flom, paid $4.6 million in January to avoid prosecution and agreed to retroactively register as a lobbyist for a foreign government. (Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg / Politico / CNN)
Michael Avenatti was indicted on 36 counts of fraud, perjury, failure to pay taxes, embezzlement and other financial crimes. Avenatti faces a potential 335 years in prison for an alleged scheme to defraud five clients since 2015. (Los Angeles Times / CNN / Associated Press)
Trump signed two executive orders to speed up construction of oil and gas pipelines. One order directs the EPA to make it more difficult for states to invoke provisions in the Clean Water Act to slow pipeline construction. The other order transfers authority for approving the construction of international pipelines from the secretary of state to the president. (New York Times)
The Senate confirmed a former oil and agribusiness lobbyist to lead the Interior Department. David Bernhardt previously served as the acting secretary, helping craft Trump’s policies for expanding drilling and mining along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. (Politico / New York Times)
1/ Attorney General William Barr assembled a team to examine the origins of the counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign’s possible ties to Russia. Barr is pursuing allegations by Republican lawmakers of anti-Trump bias at the Justice Department and FBI. Robert Mueller took over the counterintelligence investigation when he was appointed special counsel. Separately, the Justice Department’s inspector general is reviewing whether the FBI and federal prosecutors abused their authority when obtaining FISA warrants to surveil Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. (Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
2/ Barr told Congress that the government was “spying” on Trump’s campaign during the 2016 election, but provided no evidence. During a hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee, Barr said that while he’s not launching an investigation of the FBI or suggesting there is an “endemic” problem at the FBI, he does “think there was a failure among a group of leaders at the upper echelons.” Barr went on to say that he wanted to understand if there was “unauthorized surveillance” of political figures and whether law enforcement officials had proper legal justification for the “genesis” of the counterintelligence investigation. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / NBC News / CNN / Bloomberg / Axios)
3/ Trump claimed the Russia investigation was “an attempted coup” to remove him from office. Trump accused Mueller’s probe of being “started illegally” and that “every single thing about it” was “crooked.” Trump went on to say that “as far as I’m concerned, I don’t care about the Mueller report,” claiming that “I’ve been totally exonerated.” (NBC News / Washington Post / Politico)
4/ The FBI discussed the possibility that Trump fired FBI Director James Comey “at the behest of” the Russian government in May 2017. James Baker, a former top lawyer of the FBI, testified to the House Oversight and Judiciary committees in October 2018 about the discussions he had with Andrew McCabe, FBI counterintelligence official Bill Priestap, and national security official Carl Ghattas about the possibility that Trump was “following directions” and “executing [the] will” of the Russian Government. (Politico)
5/ Trump repeated his refusal to release his tax returns, saying “I won’t do it.” Trump said he would “love” to release his tax returns, but claimed that “people don’t care” about seeing them, and that he won’t do so “while I’m under audit.” House Democrats asked the IRS for six years of Trump’s tax returns, citing a tax code provision that requires the Treasury Department to hand over the documents. The deadline to comply with the request is today. (CNN / CNBC / Reuters / USA Today / Wall Street Journal)
The IRS commissioner said there is “no rule that would prohibit the release of a tax return because it’s under audit.” Charles Rettig’s comment came during his confirmation at a House Appropriations Subcommittee hearing. (Axios)
poll/ 51% of voters support House Democrats’ efforts to obtain Trump’s tax returns, including 46% of independents. (Morning Consult)
📌 Day 775: 64% of American think Trump should publicly release his tax returns, while 29% believe he should not. (Quinnipiac)
Notables.
Federal investigators in New York have “gathered more evidence than previously known” from Trump’s “inner circle” about the hush-money payments made to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, who both claim they had affairs with Trump. Prosecutors interviewed Hope Hicks and Keith Schiller, Trump’s former security chief. Investigators also have a recorded phone conversation between Michael Cohen and a lawyer who represented the two women. Investigators also have calls between Schiller and David Pecker, chief executive of the National Enquirer, which admitted it paid $150,000 to McDougal on Mr. Trump’s behalf to keep her story under wraps. (Wall Street Journal / CNN)
The Pentagon awarded $976 million in contracts to build Trump’s wall along the southern border. The Department of Defense awarded the contracts via the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and listed the completion date for the projects as October 2020. One contract worth $789 million was awarded to a company in Texas to build “30-foot bollard fencing and a five-foot anti-climb plate” in Santa Teresa, New Mexico along the El Paso sector of the border. The other contract is worth $187 million and went to a Montana-based company for “18-foot bollard fencing and a five-foot anti-climb plate” in Yuma, Arizona. (CNN)
The White House is considering the former head of an anti-immigration group to lead Citizenship and Immigration Services. Julie Kirchner previously led the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which pushed for lower levels of immigration. (Politico)
The House voted to revive net neutrality regulations, which bans broadband providers from blocking or throttling internet traffic. The legislation will likely fail in the GOP-controlled Senate. (Politico / The Hill)
1/ Trump recently put Stephen Miller “in charge” of the administration’s immigration policy “and he’s executing his plan” to clean house at the Department of Homeland Security. “There is a near-systematic purge happening,” one official said. Miller has been arguing to bring in more like-minded hardline immigration reform advocates, with the senior White House adviser reportedly calling federal departments and agencies to demand that they do more to stop the flow of immigrants. (Wall Street Journal / Politico / CNN)
2/ A senior White House official: DHS is not doing enough to crack down on immigration and more people could be forced out soon. Sources close to Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen say Trump and Miller have called for changes at DHS that are legally questionable, which would make them operationally ineffective. Several DHS officials who will likely be forced out soon, include Claire Grady, DHS’ acting No. 2 official, Lee Francis Cissna, head of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, Kathy Nuebel Kovarik, one of Cissna’s top deputies, and John Mitnick, the department’s general counsel. (Reuters / Axios / New York Times)
3/ Congressional Republicans urged Trump not to fire any more top immigration officials. Senator Chuck Grassley said he was “very, very concerned” about reports that Cissna could be dismissed. Grassley said he texted Mick Mulvaney, acting White House chief of staff, to express his concerns about removing Cissna, but Mulvaney “didn’t seem to know who I was talking about.” After Trump forced Nielsen’s resignation, pulled his Immigration and Customs Enforcement nominee, removed his Secret Service director and threatened more firings, Senator John Cornyn called the situation “a mess.” Cornyn added that he has no idea what Miller’s “agenda” is for determining immigration policy because he isn’t Senate-confirmed and doesn’t talk with members of Congress. (Washington Post / Politico)
4/ The Trump administration plans to put Customs and Border Protection agents in charge of interviewing asylum-seekers. Miller has argued that the move will mean fewer migrants will pass the initial screening, known as a credible fear interview. Currently, asylum-seekers are interviewed by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services asylum officers. (NBC News)
5/ Trump denied that he’s planning to resume separating migrant families at the U.S.-Mexico border, despite pushing Nielsen to reinstitute a “zero-tolerance” immigration policy for months. Trump instead lied and blamed Obama for instituting the child separation policy and for building “cages.” Obama had guidelines that prioritized the deportation of gang members, national security risks, and felons, while Trump’s policy systematically separated families, even if they came in at a legal port of entry and were legal asylum seekers. (CNN / ABC News / Washington Post / Los Angeles Times)
📌 Day 809: Nielsen reportedly resisted Trump’s pressure to reinstate large-scale family separation at the border since January. Nielsen told Trump that federal court orders prohibited the Department of Homeland Security from reinstating the policy. Trump reportedly wanted families separated even if they came through a legal port of entry and were legal asylum seekers. Trump also wanted families separated if they were apprehended within the U.S. McAleenan has not ruled out family separation as an option. Separately, Trump was reportedly “ranting and raving, saying border security was his issue” two weeks ago. He then ordered Nielsen and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to shut down the port of El Paso the next day, Friday, March 22, at noon. Nielsen proposed an alternative plan that would slow down entries at legal ports, to which Trump responded: “I don’t care.” (NBC News / CNN)
6/ Attorney General William Barr will deliver Robert Mueller’s report to Congress and the public “within a week,” but that it would be redacted in order to protect ongoing investigations and individuals who have not been charged. Barr said he’d color-code redacted information into the 4 categories so the public will know why the material is being hidden. When asked during a House Appropriations Committee hearing whether he had briefed the White House on the report, Barr declined to answer: “I’ve said what I’m going to say about the report today.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Axios / Reuters / Daily Beast)
Barr: Mueller turned down an offer to review the four-page summary of the report before it was released to the public last month. Barr said Mueller declined to review it in advance. (Politico)
The FBI confirmed that James Comey was a witness in the Mueller investigation. Specifically, the FBI was interested in the contemporaneous notes Comey took during his meetings with Trump. The FBI confirmed in a court filing that it was concerned that revealing any details about Comey’s meeting memos might allow other people who knew about those conversations to “try to hide or fabricate information.” (Axios / USA Today)
Notables.
Treasury Department lawyers consulted with the White House about the potential release of Trump’s tax returns before House Democrats formally requested the records. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin claimed “that the communication between our legal department and the White House general counsel was informational.” (Washington Post)
The Department of Justice recently adopted a narrow interpretation of the emoluments clause, which would exempt Trump’s hotels from a ban on foreign payments or gifts. DOJ filings since June 2017 reveal a new interpretation that allows federal officials “to accept unlimited amounts of money from foreign governments, as long as the money comes through commercial transactions with an entity owned by the federal official.” (The Guardian)
House Republicans are warning drug companies against complying with a House Oversight Committee investigation into prescription drug pricing. Letters to a dozen CEOs of major drug companies warned that any information they provide to the committee could be leaked to the public and hurt their stock prices. (BuzzFeed News)
Devin Nunes sued a newspaper chain for $150 million over an article he called a “character assassination.” The article in the Fresno Bee, which covers Nunes’ congressional district, describes a cruise in the San Francisco Bay that was hosted by a winery he partly owns. The cruise included drugs and prostitution. Last month, Nunes sued Twitter and two parody accounts for $250 million over mean tweets. (New York Times)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that Trump designated the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps as a foreign terrorist organization at his request. “Thank you for responding to another of my important requests,” Netanyahu tweeted, “which serves the interests of our countries and countries of the region.” (Los Angeles Times)
Congressional Democrats and Republicans are moving to prevent the IRS from creating a free electronic tax filing system. The makers of TurboTax and H&R Block spent $6.6 million in lobbying to block the IRS from ever developing its own online tax filing system. (ProPublica)
1/ Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen resigned after meeting with Trump to plan “a way forward” at the U.S.-Mexico border. Nielsen’s resignation came two days after she traveled to the border with Trump, and three days after Trump withdrew his nomination of Ronald Vitiello to be the director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, because he wanted to “go in a tougher direction.” In her resignation letter, Nielsen said it was the “right time for me to step aside.” She will be replaced by U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan, who will take over as acting DHS Secretary until Trump appoints a permanent replacement. (New York Times / Washington Post / ABC News / Associated Press / CNN / Politico / NBC News) / Axios)
Government officials said at least two more top Homeland Security officials are expected to be forced out soon: L. Francis Cissna, the head of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, and John Mitnick, the department’s general counsel. (New York Times)
2/ Nielsen reportedly resisted Trump’s pressure to reinstate large-scale family separation at the border since January. Nielsen told Trump that federal court orders prohibited the Department of Homeland Security from reinstating the policy. Trump reportedly wanted families separated even if they came through a legal port of entry and were legal asylum seekers. Trump also wanted families separated if they were apprehended within the U.S. McAleenan has not ruled out family separation as an option. Separately, Trump was reportedly “ranting and raving, saying border security was his issue” two weeks ago. He then ordered Nielsen and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to shut down the port of El Paso the next day, Friday, March 22, at noon. Nielsen proposed an alternative plan that would slow down entries at legal ports, to which Trump responded: “I don’t care.” (NBC News / CNN)
The Trump administration expects it to take two years to identify thousands of families separated at the border. Several factors complicate the process of reunification because all the children of separated families have already been released from government custody, Customs and Border Protection didn’t start tracking separated families as a searchable data set in its records before April 19, 2018, and there are nearly 50,000 case files. (CNN)
3/ A federal judge blocked the Trump administration from requiring asylum seekers to remain in Mexico while they wait for an immigration court to hear their cases. The preliminary injunction is nationwide and will go into effect on April 12th. Migrants named in the lawsuit will be allowed into the U.S. to pursue asylum. Nielsen ordered that the policy be expanded last week. (Associated Press / Reuters / CNN / Washington Post)
4/ Trump instructed his acting chief of staff to fire his Secret Service director. Mick Mulvaney instructed USSS Director Randolph “Tex” Alles 10 days ago to come up with an exit plan to leave on his own timeline. Five days ago, Trump said he “could not be happier with Secret Service” following an incident at Mar-a-Lago, where a Chinese woman illegally entered the club carrying Chinese passports and a flash drive containing malware. James Murray, a career USSS official, will replace Alles. (CNN / NBC News / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / CNBC / Wall Street Journal)
5/ The woman who breached security at Mar-a-Lago had multiple electronic devices in her hotel room, including a signal detector to detect hidden cameras, another cell phone, nine USB drives, five SIM cards, and several credit cards in her name. The malware found on Yujing Zhang’s thumb drive began to install onto an agent’s computer, who described it as “very out of the ordinary” when conducting a criminal analysis. The FBI has been investigating Zhang as part of a Chinese espionage effort. Prosecutors urged the judge to keep her in custody, saying she’s a flight risk with no ties to the U.S. (Bloomberg / CNN / Axios)
📌 Day 803: A Chinese woman was charged with making false statements to the Secret Service after entering Mar-a-Lago with a thumb drive that contained “malicious software.” Yujing Zhang was on the property on while Trump was playing golf at the Trump International course. Zhang told a receptionist she was there to attend an event (which did not exist), presenting documentation written in Chinese she claimed was her invitation to the event. After Secret Service agents were notified, Zhang claimed she was there to “go to the pool.” Zhang was carrying two Republic of China passports, four cellphones, a laptop, a hard drive, and a thumb drive with malware on it. (CNBC / Washington Post / WPTV)
6/ New York lawmakers will introduce a bill this week to permit the Department of Taxation and Finance to release state tax returns requested by a congressional committee. Under the new proposal, the release of tax information would only happen after efforts to obtain federal tax information through the Treasury Department had failed. The move comes as the Trump administration has signaled that it will resist the House Ways and Means Committee request to turn over six years of Trump’s federal business and personal tax returns by April 10th. Mick Mulvaney, meanwhile, promised that Democrats will “never” see Trump’s tax returns. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Politico)
poll/ 17% of Americans believe their taxes will go down as a result of the 2017 Republican tax cut. 28% believe they’ll pay more, 27% expect to pay about the same, and 28% don’t know enough to say. 33% of Republicans believe they’re getting a tax cut, while 10% of independents and 7% of Democrats do. (CNBC)
Notables.
Trump designated Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a foreign terrorist organization in an effort to increase economic and political pressure on the Islamic regime in Tehran. It’s the first time the U.S. has declared a part of a foreign government to be a terrorist organization. (NPR / New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
A New York man threatened to kill Rep. Ilhan Omar because of her Muslim faith. Patrick Carlineo Jr. called Omar’s Washington office and accused her of being “a (expletive) terrorist. I’ll put a bullet in her (expletive) skull.” Carlineo was arrested and charged with threatening to assault and murder Omar. (CNN / Washington Post)
Trump mocked Omar hours after police charged a man for threatening to assault and murder her. Speaking to the Republican Jewish Coalition, Trump ran through a list of Republican lawmakers supportive of Israel, adding: “Special thanks to Representative Omar of Minnesota. Oh, I forgot. She doesn’t like Israel. I forgot. I’m so sorry.” (Bloomberg / Vox)
Devin Nunes plans to send eight criminal referrals to Attorney General William Barr this week. Nunes did not reveal who he is planning to refer, but he did say that five of the referrals are related to lying to Congress, misleading Congress, and leaking classified information. Nunes said the remaining three referrals are related to allegations of lying to the court that approves surveillance warrants, manipulating intelligence, and a “global leak referral,” which is not aimed at any single person. (CNN)
The Trump administration canceled a deal between Major League Baseball and the Cuban Baseball Federation that would have allowed Cuban players to sign with U.S. teams without needing to defect. Administration officials suggested that the Obama-era decision, which deemed Cuba’s baseball league to be separate from the Cuban government, would subject the players to “human trafficking” by the Cuban government, making them “pawns of the Cuba dictatorship.” (Washington Post / Reuters / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
1/ Trump asked Mitch McConnell to prioritize confirming the chief counsel of the IRS earlier this year. White House aides reportedly insisted that the confirmation of Michael Desmond was more important than the 2017 tax cuts and the nomination of William Barr as attorney general. Trump told McConnell on February 5th that he was worried Desmond would withdraw his nomination if the Senate didn’t act soon. Desmond was confirmed two weeks later. (New York Times)
2/ Trump’s lawyers asked the IRS chief counsel’s office to reject House Democrats’ request for six years of Trump’s personal and business tax returns, saying “it would set a dangerous precedent.” Trump’s lawyers sent a letter to the IRS counsel’s office responsible for responding to the request, calling the request a “gross abuse of power” and that Democrats do not have a “legitimate committee purpose” for obtaining the tax returns. An administration official also said Trump is willing to fight the House Ways and Means Committee request to the Supreme Court. (Wall Street Journal / CNN / Washington Post)
Trump suggested that the Justice Department could become involved in blocking the release of his tax returns to Democrats. Sarah Sanders added that Trump would not release his tax returns because they were under audit, a claim the White House has not allowed to be independently verified. Michael Cohen, however, told a congressional committee earlier this year that Trump’s taxes were never under audit and that he simply didn’t want scrutiny over his financial dealings. (Washington Post)
3/ Michael Cohen offered Democrats access to 14 million files that could have “significant value” to congressional investigators. Cohen is asking that they persuade the Southern District of New York to reduce or delay his 3-year prison sentence to allow him to review the files he was “only recently able to access” on a hard drive. A 12-page memo by Cohen’s legal team outlines evidence they describe as “Trump’s involvement in a conspiracy to collude with Russian government intervention in his favor during the 2016 presidential campaign” and “other felony crimes committed by Trump before and after he became president.” The memo also claims that Trump “encouraged Cohen to lie and say all Moscow Tower project contacts ended as of January 31, 2016 using ‘code’ language — telling Cohen during various conversations that there was ‘no collusion, no Russian contacts, nothing about Russia’ after the start of the campaign.’” (CNN / New York Times / BuzzFeed News / Axios / CBS News)
📌 Day 729: Trump personally directed Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about his plans to build a Trump Tower in Moscow in order to obscure his involvement in the deal. Cohen and Trump had at least 10 face-to-face meetings about the deal during the campaign. Cohen acknowledged to Robert Mueller’s team that he had given false testimony to the Senate and House intelligence committees that the Moscow tower negotiations ended in January 2016 were an attempt to “minimize links between the Moscow Project” and Trump “in hopes of limiting the ongoing Russia investigations.” Trump also approved a plan by Cohen to visit Russia during the presidential campaign and meet with Putin in order to kick off the negotiations for the Moscow project. “Make it happen,” Trump told Cohen. Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr. both regularly received “very detailed updates” about the project from Cohen. The revelation marks the first time Trump is known to have directly – and explicitly – ordered one of his subordinates to lie about his dealings with Russia. (BuzzFeed News)
4/ Barr was invited to meet justice department officials the same day he submitted his unsolicited memo criticizing Robert Mueller’s investigation into obstruction of justice by Trump. Three weeks later, Barr met the officials for lunch and was then nominated to serve as Trump’s attorney general about six months later. The meeting was arranged by Steve Engel, the head of the Office of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice. Barr concluded there was “not sufficient” evidence in Mueller’s report to establish that Trump had committed obstruction of justice after consulting with Engel and Rod Rosenstein. (The Guardian)
Notables.
Trump withdrew his nominee to lead ICE, saying he wants to go in a “tougher direction.” Stephen Miller urged Trump to ditch Ron Vitiello because Vitiello was not fully in favor of closing the southern border. (Associated Press / CNN / Washington Post)
Motel 6 agreed to pay $12 million to settle a lawsuit after giving information about 80,000 guests to ICE without warrants. Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson said the shared information led to targeted investigations of guests with Latino-sounding names. (NPR)
A third federal judge ruled against the Trump administration’s addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 Census. The ruling, like two earlier ones, will likely be appealed to the Supreme Court. (Washington Post / NPR)
New Mexico became the 14th state to pledge its electoral votes to the winner of the popular vote in future presidential elections. The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact now represents 189 electoral votes. The states, however, will not adopt the new vote allocations until their combined electoral votes equal 270. (CNN)
1/ Robert Mueller’s investigators gathered “alarming and significant” evidence of obstruction by Trump that was “much more acute than [Attorney General William] Barr suggested” in his four-page letter to Congress. Members of the special counsel team told associates they believe their findings are potentially more damaging for Trump than Barr explained, and are frustrated that Barr did not adequately portray their work. The team had also prepared summaries for different sections of their 400-page report, which Barr did not use. Lawyers and FBI agents on Mueller’s team reportedly could not reach an agreement about whether Trump’s conduct amounted to obstruction of justice, but Barr, after consulting with Rod Rosenstein, went ahead and cleared Trump. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / Bloomberg)
The House Judiciary Committee called on Barr to release Mueller’s summaries that were prepared as part of the Trump-Russia report. “If these recent reports are accurate … then those summaries should be publicly released as soon as possible,” chairman Jerry Nadler said. Nadler also called on Barr to produce “all communications” about the Mueller report between the special counsel’s office and the Justice Department. (Reuters)
2/ The Department of Justice defended Barr’s handling of Mueller’s 400-page report on possible obstruction and Russian interference, saying they didn’t disclose the full report because “every page” contained protected grand jury information and it “therefore could not be publicly released.” A full report is expected to be released by mid-April after “appropriate redactions.” (Politico / Wall Street Journal / CNN)
Rand Paul blocked a resolution calling for Mueller’s report to be released publicly. It was the fifth time that Republicans blocked the resolution, which unanimously passed in the House last month. (Axios)
3/ Trump accused the New York Times of being a “Fake News paper” with no “legitimate sources” after it reported that Mueller’s team believes that the report is more damaging than Barr has indicated. “In fact, they probably had no sources at all!” The Times story was corroborated by the Washington Post and NBC News. (Axios / Daily Beast)
4/ The House voted to end American involvement in the Yemen war and cut off support for the Saudi-led coalition. The bill now heads to Trump, who is expected to veto it – his second veto as president – and Congress lacks the votes to override him. The White House claimed the resolution raises “serious constitutional concerns.” It’s the first time Congress has invoked the War Powers Resolution to try and stop a foreign conflict. (Associated Press / New York Times / Politico / CNBC / The Guardian)
5/ The House approved legislation reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act with new provisions to prohibit gun sales to convicted domestic abusers and stalkers. The National Rifle Association opposed the bill and said it’d be “scoring” how lawmakers vote on the bill to measure future ratings and endorsements in elections. (NPR / New York Times / Washington Post / CNN)
Notables.
Trump backed down from his threat to close the southern border. Instead, he gave Mexico a “one-year warning” and threatened to impose car tariffs before closing the border “if the drugs don’t stop.” (Politico / NBC News / Washington Post / CNN / Bloomberg)
Jared Kushner was among one of the 25 White House officials whose security clearance was initially denied but later overturned. A whistleblower in the White House’s personnel security office said she and another career employee determined that Kushner had too many “significant disqualifying factors” to receive a clearance. (Washington Post)
Trump intends to nominate Herman Cain for a seat on the Federal Reserve Board. Cain ran for the 2012 GOP president nomination, but dropped out after sexual harassment allegations. Cain also co-founded a pro-Trump super-political action committee, America Fighting Back PAC, which claims that “America is under attack” and “we must protect Donald Trump and his agenda from impeachment.” (Axios / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
Trump’s nominee to lead the Interior Department continued lobbying clients for several months after vowing to end his lobbying activities. In November 2016, David Bernhardt filed a legal notice formally ending his status as a lobbyist, but continued his work until as late as April 2017. (New York Times)
FBI Director Christopher Wray said that white supremacy is a “persistent” and “pervasive” threat to the U.S. After the New Zealand mosque massacre last month, Trump said he didn’t consider white nationalism to be a rising global threat. (CNN)
1/ House Democrats formally requested six years of Trump’s personal and business tax returns from the IRS. In a letter to the IRS, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee cited a little known provision in the IRS tax code that grants tax-writing committees in Congress the power to request tax information on any individual. Chairman Richard Neal requested Trump’s personal tax returns from 2013 to 2018, giving the agency until April 10 to comply. Trump claimed his returns are being audited by the IRS and that he would “not be inclined to” turn anything over to Congress. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin previously told the Ways and Means committee that he would protect Trump’s privacy if members of Congress requested his tax returns. (CNN / New York Times / NBC News / Bloomberg / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
📌 Day 784: Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin suggested that he would protect Trump’s privacy if House Democrats request Trump’s tax returns, saying: “We will examine the request and we will follow the law … and we will protect the president as we would protect any taxpayer” regarding their right to privacy. Mnuchin said he “can’t speculate” on how the administration will respond to demands for Trump’s tax returns until it sees the request. House Democrats are preparing to ask the IRS for 10 years of Trump’s personal tax returns under under a 1924 provision that requires the Treasury secretary to “furnish” any individual’s tax return information to the House and Senate tax-writing committees. (Associated Press / ABC News / Politico / CNN)
2/ Trump’s accounting firm wants to be subpoenaed before it will comply with a request for 10 years of Trump’s financial records by the House Oversight and Reform Committee. Elijah Cummings said Mazars USA “told us that they will provide the information pretty much when they have a subpoena. And we’ll get them a subpoena.” (Politico)
3/ The House Judiciary Committee authorized the use of subpoenas to force the Justice Department to give Congress a full copy of Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, as well as all of the underlying evidence. Chairman Jerry Nadler said he would not immediately issue the subpoena, but will first negotiate with Attorney General William Barr for the full report and documents. Barr promised to give Congress a redacted version of Mueller’s findings by mid-April. Democrats, however, have said that redactions are unacceptable, “because it is our job, not the Attorney General’s, to determine whether or not President Trump has abused his office.” The committee also voted to subpoena five former White House officials it believes may have documents relevant to Mueller’s probe. (New York Times / Washington Post / NPR / Axios / NBC News / The Guardian)
Adam Schiff suggested that it is “inevitable” that Mueller will testify before Congress. The House Intelligence chairman added that his committee has “a statutory requirement that the Intelligence Community, FBI, brief us on any significant counterintelligence or intelligence activity. And it’s hard to imagine something that rises more to that level than this investigation.” (Bloomberg)
More than half of the House Judiciary Committee’s 81 targets in its obstruction of justice and corruption investigation have declined to produce documents. The deadline to produce documents was March 18th. (Politico)
4/ Trump backed-off his enthusiasm for releasing Mueller’s report publicly after initially claiming that it “wouldn’t bother me at all” if the report was made public. Trump went on to single out congressional Democrats who are trying to obtain Mueller’s report, tweeting that “There is no amount of testimony or document production that can satisfy Jerry Nadler or Shifty Adam Schiff. It is now time to focus exclusively on properly running our great Country!” Sarah Sanders echoed Trump, calling Democrats “sore losers” who “will never be satisfied.” (Politico / CNN)
5/ The House Intelligence Committee asked an organizer of Trump’s inaugural committee to provide documents about how the fund raised and spent $107 million. Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, a former adviser to Melania Trump, served as a producer and a vendor for the inauguration. In February, federal prosecutors issued a subpoena to the inaugural committee for documents about donors, finances and activities. Prosecutors have been investigating whether foreigners illegally funneled donations through Trump’s inaugural committee and a pro-Trump super PAC in hopes of buying influence over American policy. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Talking Points Memo)
📌 Day 750: Trump’s inauguration committee overpaid to use event spaces at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., despite internal objections at the Trump Organization that the rates were too high. The committee was charged a rate of $175,000 per day. An event planner, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, suggested that an appropriate rate would be closer to $85,000 per day. Tax law prohibits nonprofits from paying inflated prices to entities that are owned by people who also control the nonprofit. (ProPublica)
📌 Day 392: Trump’s inaugural committee paid nearly $26 million to an event planning firm started by Melania’s adviser and longtime friend Stephanie Winston Wolkoff. The firm was created in December 2016 – 45 days before the inauguration. Trump’s inauguration committee raised $107 million and paid to WIS Media Partners $25.8 million. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
At least 14 major contributors to Trump’s inaugural committee were later nominated to become ambassadors despite not having diplomatic experience. They donated an average slightly over $350,000 apiece. (NBC News)
6/ The House condemned Trump’s support for a lawsuit seeking to eliminate the Affordable Care Act. In a non-binding resolution that passed 240 to 186, the House called the Justice Department’s advocacy for abolishing the ACA “an unacceptable assault” on Americans’ health care. (Washington Post / CNBC / Politico)
Trump claimed that he was “never planning a vote prior to the 2020 Election” on a replacement to the Affordable Care Act, despite last week saying that the effort was already “moving forward.” Mitch McConnell told Trump this week he would not bring up a vote on the ACA in the Senate. (Politico)
poll/ 59% of voters have little or no trust in Trump to protect or improve the health care system. 58% of voters also have little or no trust in Republicans to improve health care. 53% of voters, however, have “a lot” or “some” trust in Democrats improve the health care system. (Morning Consult)
Notables.
Mitch McConnell triggered the “nuclear option” to unilaterally reduce debate time on most of Trump’s nominees. Under the new rule, debate time on the Senate floor for lower-level administration nominees will be cut to two hours from 30 hours. Democrats charged McConnell with hypocrisy, citing his refusal to hold a hearing for Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland and the numerous other lower court nominees he blocked in the final two years of Obama’s presidency. (Bloomberg / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times)
Wilbur Ross declined a second invitation to testify about Trump’s budget request, claiming his scheduled appearance before a House Appropriations subcommittee would be a distraction from the budget discussion. Separately, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee voted to subpoena documents related to Ross’ decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census. (Politico / Reuters)
A group of states are suing the Trump administration over changes it made to school lunch nutrition standards, arguing that the changes go against nutrition requirements put in place by Congress. (ABC News)
⚠️ Editor’s note: Some might be wondering why I’m not covering Joe Biden’s attempt at addressing allegations by four women that he touched them in inappropriate ways, and his claim that he will be “more mindful and respectful of people’s personal space.” This is a serious topic and Biden’s non-apology and pinky-promise is predictably weak. However, this story falls outside the scope and mandate of this publication, which is to log the daily shock and awe of the current administration. I generally only cover the people and events outside of that charge when they intersect with the administration in some substantial way (Trump, for example, making fun of Biden for the allegations does not meet the definition of “substantial,” FYI). -MATT
1/ Trump abandoned his plans to dismantle the Affordable Care Act a week after announcing that his administration agreed with a judge’s ruling that the entire health care law should be eliminated. In a string of morning tweets, Trump promised that the “vote will be taken right after” the 2020 election “when Republicans hold the Senate and win back the House.” Last week, after directing the Justice Department to support a full dismantling of the ACA on constitutional grounds, Trump urged Republicans to come up with a “spectacular” replacement to the ACA. He called the unwritten Republican proposal “truly great HealthCare that will work for America,” while promising to unveil the plan “at the appropriate time.” He offered no details about when that might be. Mitch McConnell, meanwhile, said he had “a good conversation” with Trump and “made it clear to him we were not going to be doing [health care] in the Senate.” (Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / CNN / NBC News)
📌 Day 796: The Trump administration supports a federal appeals court ruling that the entire Affordable Care Act should be invalidated and thrown out. In a reversal, the Justice Department now says it agrees with the ruling of a federal judge in Texas that declared the ACA unconstitutional on the basis of a 2017 change in federal tax law that eliminated the penalty on uninsured people. Previously, the administration had pushed to remove the protections for people with pre-existing conditions. More than 20 million Americans are covered through the ACA’s Medicaid expansion and its insurance exchanges. Trump, meanwhile,tweetedthat “The Republican Party will become ‘The Party of Healthcare!’” (CNN / NPR / Politico / Washington Post / Vox / Axios / Mother Jones / New York Times)
2/ Trump walked back his threat to close the southwestern border over the increasing number of asylum seekers crossing into the US, saying “we’re going to see what happens over the next few days.” He added that “If we don’t make a deal with Congress, the border’s going to be closed […] 100 percent.” Last week, Trump threatened that he “will be CLOSING….the Border, or large sections of the Border, next week.” While Trump’s top economic advisors have briefed him on the consequences of shutting down the border, he told reporters that “security is more important to me than trade.” McConnell also cautioned that closing the border would be ill-advised and “have potentially catastrophic economic impact on our country, and I would hope we would not be doing that sort of thing.” (Washington Post / Politico / Reuters/ NBC News / CNN / USA Today / ABC News)
3/ Trump blamed Puerto Rico for being “a mess” and called its politicians “incompetent or corrupt” after the Senate blocked billions of dollars in disaster aid for states and territories devastated by natural disasters in recent months. Senators took test votes on two competing measures: Republicans rejected a recovery bill passed by the House, citing Trump’s opposition to the bill’s Puerto Rico funding. Democrats, meanwhile, rejected the GOP legislation, arguing that the proposed $600 million in nutritional assistance for Puerto Rico was not enough. Trump has been pressuring Democrats to support a disaster relief measure that does not include the money they want for Puerto Rico. (New York Times / ABC News)
A White House spokesman twice referred to Puerto Rico as “that country” while defending Trump’s attacks on the leaders of the U.S. territory. Hogan Gidley later clarified his statement, saying that calling Puerto Rico a country was a “slip of the tongue.” (Politico / Washington Post)
poll/ 48% of American describe Trump as “aggressive” and 38% describe him as “mean.” Trump scored high for being “insincere,” “confident” and “creepy.” On the attributes of being “sexy,” “impartial,” “handsome” and “physically fit,” Trump scored between 0 and 4%. (New York Times)
Notables.
The House Oversight and Reform Committee voted to subpoena the former White House personnel security director accused of overturning security clearances after a whistleblower complained that the Trump administration ignored national security concerns to approve clearances for 25 individuals whose applications were initially denied. Carl Kline will now be forced testify before the panel about his role in approving security clearances. (Washington Post / Politico)
The House Oversight Committee also voted to subpoena Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross for records related to the Commerce Department’s decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. Ross testified before the committee in March, denying the citizenship question was intended to influence the allocation of congressional seats across the country. (Axios / Politico)
A Chinese woman was charged with making false statements to the Secret Service after entering Mar-a-Lago with a thumb drive that contained “malicious software.” Yujing Zhang was on the property on while Trump was playing golf at the Trump International course. Zhang told a receptionist she was there to attend an event (which did not exist), presenting documentation written in Chinese she claimed was her invitation to the event. After Secret Service agents were notified, Zhang claimed she was there to “go to the pool.” Zhang was carrying two Republic of China passports, four cellphones, a laptop, a hard drive, and a thumb drive with malware on it. (CNBC / Washington Post / WPTV)
The Department of Homeland Security quietly disbanded its domestic terrorism unit last year, saying that the threat of “homegrown violent extremism and domestic terrorism,” including the threat from white supremacists, has been “significantly reduced.” The branch of analysts in DHS’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis were reassigned to new positions. (Daily Beast)
Trump claimed for the third time that his father was born in Germany. Fred Trump was born in New York City, in the United States of America. Not Germany. (The Guardian / Washington Post)
1/ Senior Trump administration officials overturned and granted at least 25 security clearances – including two current senior White House officials – to people who were initially denied by career employees for “serious disqualifying issues” in their backgrounds. Tricia Newbold, a whistleblower working in the White House Personnel Security Office, told the House Oversight and Reform Committee that she warned her superiors that clearances “were not always adjudicated in the best interest of national security.” Oversight Committee chairman Elijah Cummings said he was prepared to authorize subpoenas to compel the White House to comply with an investigation into whether national secrets were at risk. Newbold claims she was retaliated against for declining to issue security clearances, including being suspended without pay for 14 days. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / Associated Press / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
2/ The House Judiciary Committee plans to vote to authorize subpoenas to obtain Robert Mueller’s full report. Attorney General William Barr pledged to release a redacted version of the report by mid-April. Chairman Jerry Nadler, however, wants the “full and complete report,” which spans nearly 400 pages, as well as underlying evidence. (Washington Post / CNN)
3/ Trump called the 2020 census “meaningless” if it doesn’t include a citizenship question that two federal judges have already ruled against. The Supreme Court is expected to rule on whether Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross’ decision to add the citizenship question violated federal law by June. (Washington Post / Politico / Reuters)
4/ Trump plans to cut hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign assistance programs for Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. Democrats called the move “short-sighted and flawed,” “reckless,” and “counterproductive” to reducing the flow of migrants to the U.S. border. The move affects nearly $500 million in 2018 funds earmarked for Central America but has not yet been spent. (Politico / NBC News / Washington Post)
Trump is considering bringing on a “immigration czar” to coordinate policies across various federal agencies. Trump is reportedly considering former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach and former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. (Associated Press)
5/ The White House reiterated Trump’s threat to close the U.S. border with Mexico, despite warnings that the move would do little to slow migrants trying to enter the U.S. “It certainly isn’t a bluff,” Kellyanne Conway said. “You can take the president seriously.” Mexico is America’s third-largest trading partner and closing the border would cause immediate economic damage. (Washington Post / NBC News)
📌 Day 799: Trump repeated his threat to close the U.S.-Mexico border as early as “next week” if the Mexican government doesn’t “immediately” stop all undocumented migrants crossing into the U.S., saying he’s “not playing games.” Trump has repeatedly threatened to close the border, but he’s never attached a specific timetable. (CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / ABC News / Vox)
Nearly half of all imported U.S. vegetables and 40% of imported fruit are grown in Mexico. American would run out of avocados in three weeks if imports from Mexico were stopped. (NBC News)
“Fox and Friends” described Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras as “3 Mexican Countries” while discussing the Trump administration’s decision to cut aid to the so-called Northern Triangle. (Mother Jones)
poll/ 29% of Americans believe Trump has been cleared of wrongdoing, based on what they have heard about Attorney General William Barr summary of Robert Mueller’s report. 40% do not believe he has been cleared and 31% are not sure if he’s has been cleared. (NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
poll/ 38% believe no additional investigation is needed after Mueller delivered his report to Barr – down two percentage points from before Mueller delivered his report on the Russia investigation. (Lawfare)
Notables.
Trump is reportedly telling people he is “saving” Judge Amy Barrett for Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat. Barrett’s past academic writings suggest an openness to overturning Roe v. Wade. (Axios)
The White House claimed that Republicans are “working on a plan” to replace the Affordable Care Act. Senate Republicans were caught off guard last week by Trump’s declaration that the Republican Party “will soon be known as the party of health care.” Before his inauguration in 2017, Trump claimed his plan for replacing most of the ACA was nearly finished. (Washington Post)
White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney guaranteed that Americans would not lose their health insurance coverage if the Affordable Care Act was declared unconstitutional. Mulvaney promised that a replacement plan for the ACA would include protections more than 60 million Americans with pre-existing conditions. (USA Today)
More than 750,000 people would likely lose their food stamps under a new proposal by the Trump administration to encourage able-bodied adults to get a job. The administration wants to stop food stamps after three months for able-bodied adults without dependents who don’t work, volunteer or get job training for at least 20 hours a week. (NPR)
A federal judge declared that Trump’s order to open oil and gas drilling in the Arctic and Atlantic oceans is illegal. The decision puts 128 million acres of federal waters off limits to energy exploration. (Washington Post)
A Connecticut woman accused Joe Biden of inappropriately touching her at a political fundraiser in 2009. The accusation comes three days after a former Nevada state lawmaker accused Biden of an “awkward kiss” at a campaign rally when she was the state’s Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor in 2014. (Politico / New York Times / Hartford Courant)
A group of Senate Democrats will introduce a constitutional amendment to abolish the Electoral College this week. A constitutional amendment can be proposed by a two-thirds supermajority in both the House (~290 votes) and Senate (67 votes) and requires ratification by 38 states. (NBC News / Politico / Daily Beast)
Trump has made at least 9,451 false or misleading claims since taking office. Trump is making roughly 22 false or misleading claims a day – up from his average of nearly 5.9 false or misleading claims a day during his first year in office. (Washington Post)
1/ The Justice Department plans to release a redacted copy of Robert Mueller’s report “by mid-April, if not sooner,” according to Attorney General William Barr. In a letter to the chairmen of the House and Senate judiciary committees, Barr noted that the report is “nearly 400 pages long” and the Justice Department needs to redact sensitive portions of it, including secret grand jury testimony, classified materials and information about other ongoing federal investigations. Barr added that the White House would not see the report before he sent it to Congress. Barr offered to testify after the report is released, suggesting May 1 for the Senate committee and May 2 for the House committee. (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / CNN) / Reuters)
2/ Trump repeated his threat to close the U.S.-Mexico border as early as “next week” if the Mexican government doesn’t “immediately” stop all undocumented migrants crossing into the U.S., saying he’s “not playing games.” Trump has repeatedly threatened to close the border, but he’s never attached a specific timetable. (CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / ABC News / Vox)
3/ A federal judge blocked a Trump administration rule allowing millions of Americans to buy health insurance that doesn’t conform to Affordable Care Act coverage requirements, calling it “clearly an end-run around the ACA.” The rule would make it easier for small businesses to offer health insurance plans outside the ACA, which would be both less expensive and provide fewer health protections. (Politico / Washington Post / CNN)
poll/ 75% of Americans think Mueller’s full report should be made public, including 54% of Republicans. 66% said they want Mueller to testify before Congress with 64% wanting Barr to testify. (NPR)
Notables.
Trump held his first 2020 campaign rally since Mueller wrapped up his investigation into Russian interference into the 2016 election, which he claimed to be his “complete and total exoneration.” “After three years of lies and smears and slander, the Russia hoax is finally dead,” Trump told the crowd. “The collusion delusion is over.” Trump also used his time on stage to attack House Intelligence Committee chair Adam Schiff, who has led the charge to investigate Trump’s dealings with Russia and continues to insist that he has seen clear evidence of collusion. “Little pencil-neck Adam Schiff,” Trump said at the rally. “He’s got the smallest, thinnest neck I’ve ever seen.” Trump also called for retribution against “All of the Democrat politicians. The media bosses. Bad people. The crooked journalists,” and everyone else who “paid for, promoted, and perpetuated the single greatest hoax in the history of politics, they have to be — I’m sorry — they have to be accountable,” Trump said. The crowd responded with chants of “Lock them up!” (New York Times / NBC News / Politico / Mediaite)
Mike Pompeo met with Saudi Prince Khalid bin Salman, who lied to senators about his role in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. According to the CIA assessment of Khashoggi’s murder, Khalid bin Salman encouraged Khashoggi to visit the embassy to retrieve required documents for his marriage. (Washington Examiner / Talking Points Memo / Washington Post)
Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans are planning to change Senate rules in order to speed up the confirmation of most of Trump’s nominees. A Senate resolution, approved by the Senate Rules Committee in February, would cut the time allotted for floor debate on from 30 hours to two hours for all nominations except for Cabinet choices, nominees for the Supreme Court and appellate courts and some independent boards. (Washington Post / Politico)
A Trump appointee directed millions of dollars in government contracts to Republican communications consultants during her time as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Some of the deals Seema Verma managed were approved over the objections of agency staffers, who were concerned that she was spending federal funding on GOP consultants to amplify coverage of her own work. (Politico)
Trump’s nominee to serve as third in command at the Justice Department has withdrawn herself from consideration, following opposition from conservative senators who had concerns that U.S. Attorney Jessie Liu would not be strong enough in opposing abortion rights. Barr reportedly got into a “shouting match” with Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee, a key leader opposing Liu’s bid. (NPR / CNN / The Hill)
Linda McMahon will resign as the head of the Small Business Administration to chair the pro-Trump super PAC America First Action. The former chief executive of World Wrestling Entertainment had rumored to replace Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. (Politico / New York Times)
Trump claimed he had “overridden” proposed cuts and “authorized a funding of the Special Olympics” after Betsy DeVos spent three days defending her plan to eliminate funding for the program. The White House can make budget recommendations to Congress, but can’t actually implement cuts. (Reuters / CNN / CNBC)
1/ Robert Mueller’s report is more than 300 pages long and contains “lots and lots of footnotes,” raising questions about how Attorney General Bill Barr was able to release his four-page summary of “principal conclusions” two days after Mueller turned it in. Democrats have demanded that Barr make the full report and “all of the underlying evidence” public. Nancy Pelosi called Barr’s summary “condescending” and “arrogant.” The Justice Department, meanwhile, has said it will release a version of the Mueller report in “weeks not months,” but sensitive information will not be included. (New York Times / Politico / Wall Street Journal / Associated Press / Axios / CNN / NBC News)
2/ Barr is expected to miss the House Democrats’ April 2nd deadline for him to turn in the full Mueller report to Congress. Democrats are expected to subpoena the Justice Department for the full report if Barr misses the deadline. Barr also suggested that it will likely take weeks to redact the report. House Judiciary Committee chairman, Jerry Nadler, said Barr “wouldn’t commit” to releasing the report to Congress without redactions, but did agree to testify to the committee “reasonably soon.” (Washington Post / Bloomberg / The Guardian)
3/ Trump and Republicans in Congress are calling Adam Schiff to resign after Mueller’s report did not conclude that the Trump campaign conspired with Russia to influence the 2016 election. Trump accused Schiff of having “spent two years knowingly and unlawfully lying and leaking” and should therefore “be forced to resign from Congress!” Schiff insists that “undoubtedly there was collusion” and vowed that the House Intelligence Committee will continue to look into the counterintelligence aspects of Mueller’s investigation. (Politico / Reuters / CNN / NBC News)
Trump accused two former FBI employees of having “committed treason” for investigating possible Russian links to his campaign during the 2016 campaign. Peter Strzok was fired from the FBI after officials discovered he had been sharing anti-Trump texts with Lisa Page, an FBI lawyer and former member of the Mueller investigation, who he was having an affair with. Trump also promised to release the FISA warrants and related documents used by the FBI to investigate his campaign in full and unredacted in order to “get to the bottom” of how the Russia collusion narrative began. (Bloomberg / Axios / Fox News)
A federal judge has ordered that the Justice Department and FBI turnover James Comey’s memos in full. Many of the memos have been released publicly, but some parts remain redacted. Earlier this month, the Justice Department argued that release of other information in the Comey memos could hurt the then-ongoing Mueller investigation. (CNN)
Jared Kushner met privately with the Senate Intelligence Committee, which wanted to re-interview witnesses central to the Russia investigation. (CNBC / CNN)
Russian agent Maria Butina will be sentenced on April 26. Butina pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to act as a Russian agent without registering with the Justice Department. She faces a maximum of five years in prison but could receive zero to six months because of a plea deal. (NPR)
4/ Trump frequently exaggerated his net worth and hid his debts to lenders and investors, sometimes sending official-looking documents called “Statements of Financial Condition.” Investigators on Capitol Hill and in New York are attempting to determine if Trump’s inflated numbers ever crossed over into fraud. (Washington Post)
5/ The Department of Homeland Security will ask Congress for the authority to deport unaccompanied migrant children more quickly. Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen will also propose holding families seeking asylum in detention until their cases are decided and allow immigrants to apply for asylum from their home countries. (NBC News)
Trump – again – threatened to close the U.S.-Mexico border because he says Mexico and several Central American countries are not doing enough to stem the flow of migrants coming to the United States. Trump singled out Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador in particular for having “taken our money for years” but not doing anything about migration. Trump continued that “Mexico is doing NOTHING to help stop the flow of illegal immigrants to our Country.” (Politico / Washington Post)
poll/ 56% of American say Trump has done too little to distance himself from white nationalist groups. 28% of Americans called Trump even-tempered and 36% called Trump trustworthy. (Pew Research Center)
Notables.
The Supreme Court declined to block the Trump administration from enforcing its ban on bump stocks, which enable semi-automatic weapons to fire like machine guns. The regulation went into effect on Tuesday and bans the sale or possession of the devices. (Associated Press / New York Times / Reuters)
The National Rifle Association is opposing an expansion of the Violence Against Women Act, which seeks to block people who have committed domestic abuse from obtaining firearms. (Daily Beast)
Puerto Rico’s governor called Trump a “bully” over the White House’s efforts to limit disaster relief aid needed to repair the damages brought by Hurricane Maria in late 2017. Trump, meanwhile, claimed that no other “living human being” has taken better care of Puerto Rico than him.(CNN / Bloomberg / Politico)
The Trump administration approved six secret authorizations to sell nuclear power technology and assistance to Saudi Arabia. The White House has been pursuing a deal that involves sharing U.S. nuclear power technology with the Saudis and building two nuclear power plants in the country. Russia, South Korea, the United States, and other countries are all competing on the deal, and Saudi Arabia is expected to announce the winners later this week. (Reuters / CNBC)
Trump says the FBI and Department of Justice will review the “outrageous” decision by prosecutors in Chicago to drop all charges against actor Jussie Smollett, calling the decision “an embarrassment to our Nation!” The DOJ declined to comment, and Smollett’s attorney said “we have nothing to be concerned about” when it comes to the federal probe. (NBC News)
Trump’s nominee for a seat on the Federal Reserve owes more than $75,000 in taxes and other penalties. Stephen Moore referred questions about the tax debt to his wife (Bloomberg)
Trump is expected to pick a Fox News contributor to be the new State Department spokesperson. Morgan Ortagus is under consideration to replace Heather Nauert, a former Fox News anchor. (NBC News / CNN)
Twitter is considering labeling Trump’s tweets that violate its rules – but won’t delete them because – they claim – they’re in the public interest. (CNN / Washignton Post)
1/ Trump pledged to have a plan “far better than Obamacare” if the Supreme Court strikes down the entire Affordable Care Act, saying “I understand health care now.” Trump did not provided details about what health care plan would replace the ACA, but reiterated his baseless claim that the Republican Party will now be the “party of great health care.” A district judge in Texas ruled that the entire law was unconstitutional after Trump’s tax law eliminated the Affordable Care Act’s individual insurance mandate penalty. Yesterday, the Justice Department took the position that the entire ACA should be overturned. The ACA insurance exchanges and Medicaid expansion provide health care coverage from more than 20 million people. (Politico / CBS News / New York Times / NBC News)
What happens if the Affordable Care Act is overturned? 21 million people could lose their health insurance and 12 million adults could lose Medicaid coverage. (New York Times)
2/ House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy told Trump he disagrees with the administration’s attempt to get the entire Affordable Care Act thrown out in court. McCarthy reportedly told Trump that the decision made no sense without a plan in place to replace the ACA heading in the 2020 elections. Republican officials are privately blaming Mick Mulvaney, domestic policy chief Joe Grogan, and acting director of the Office of Management and Budget Russ Vought for engineering Trump’s new position. (Axios / Washington Post)
The Trump administration’s move to invalidate the Affordable Care Act came despite the opposition from the heads of the Justice Department and Health and Human Services Department. Alex Azar argued against backing the lawsuit seeking the full repeal of the health care law, citing the lack of a Republican alternative. William Barr, meanwhile, opposed the plan based on skepticism among conservative lawyers about the wisdom of seeking to overturn the law. (Politico)
3/ Betsy DeVos defended her proposal to eliminate $17.6 million in federal funding for the Special Olympics, calling it a “difficult decisions” because she thinks “that the Special Olympics is an awesome organization,” but “the federal government cannot fund every worthy program, particularly ones that enjoy robust support from private donations.” About 272,000 children would be affected from the funding cut to the Special Olympics. Overall, DeVos’ proposed budget would eliminate 29 programs covering arts, civics and literacy for an annual savings of $6.7 billion – or about a 12% cut to the Education Department’s budget. Meanwhile, DeVos has proposed creating a $5 billion federal voucher system for private schools. It was the third year in a row that DeVos called for eliminating funding for Special Olympic events at schools. Devos blamed the media and some members of Congress for “falsehoods and fully misrepresenting the facts.” (Detroit Free Press / NBC News / CNN / Wall Street Journal / Politico / Washington Post)
The chairman of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that determines Department of Education funding levels rejected DeVos’ proposed cuts to the Special Olympics. Sen. Roy Blunt said “Our Department of Education appropriations bill will not cut funding for the program.” (The Hill)
Trump’s last five trips to Mar-a-Lago would cover the proposed Special Olympics cuts. Trump’s trips to his private club in Florida cost taxpayers about $3.4 million. (Washington Post)
poll/ 48% of Americans still believe Trump conspired with Russia to influence the 2016 election, despite the summary of Mueller’s findings suggesting no evidence of a conspiracy. (Reuters)
poll/ 56% of Americans don’t believe that Trump and his campaign have been exonerated of collusion. 77% of Republicans say Trump has been exonerated, 80% of Democrats and 58% of Independents say he has not. (CNN)
poll/ 47% of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of the economy while 43% disapprove. (CNBC)
Notables.
Robert Mueller’s grand jury is “continuing robustly” despite the end of his investigation, indicating that the ongoing cases Mueller handed off could still result in further indictments. Two former federal prosecutors said the grand jury activity may indicate that the office is pursuing matters spun off from the Mueller probe. (Politico / Bloomberg / CNBC / CNN)
Mitch McConnell blocked a second resolution in the Senate calling for Mueller’s report to be made public. Senate Judiciary Chair Diane Feinstein attempted to get unanimous consent to pass a Senate version of a non-binding resolution that passed in the House with a vote of 420-0. McConnell objected to her request and said that Attorney General William Barr is still working with Mueller to determine which parts of the report – if any – should be made public. (The Hill / Axios)
McConnell supports a Republican effort to investigate alleged political bias against Trump at the Justice Department and the FBI, spearheaded by Lindsey Graham. “I think it’s not inappropriate for the chairman of the Judiciary with jurisdiction over the Justice Department to investigate possible misbehavior,” McConnell said. (Politico / Reuters)
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff doubled down on his claims that he has seen evidence that Trump colluded with Russia. “Undoubtedly there is collusion. We will continue to investigate the counterintelligence issues. That is, is the president or people around him compromised in any way by a hostile foreign power? . . . It doesn’t appear that was any part of Mueller’s report.” House Democrats gave William Barr until April 2 to deliver a copy of the Mueller report to Congress. (Washington Post)
The House Judiciary Committee unanimously approved legislation directing the Justice Department to give Congress all records on FBI obstruction of justice or counterintelligence probes against Trump. The full House now has the opportunity to vote on the measure. Approval would give Barr 14 days to comply with the demand for all records and communications, as well any discussions within the Justice Department about recording Trump or seeking to replace him by invoking the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. (Politico / Reuters)
The House Oversight and Reform Committee requested 10 years of Trump’s financial records from an accounting firm that prepared several years of financial statements for Trump. The request comes after testimony from Michael Cohen, who raised questions about whether Trump inflated or deflated the value of his financial assets during the course of past business transactions. (Politico / CNBC / Daily Beast)
Seven former senior Trump aides may have violated federal law by failing to disclose their future employment on financial reports. High-level staffers are required to disclose their future employment to identify potential conflicts of interest between their White House positions and new employers. (Politico)
1/ The Trump administration supports a federal appeals court ruling that the entire Affordable Care Act should be invalidated and thrown out. In a reversal, the Justice Department now says it agrees with the ruling of a federal judge in Texas that declared the ACA unconstitutional on the basis of a 2017 change in federal tax law that eliminated the penalty on uninsured people. Previously, the administration had pushed to remove the protections for people with pre-existing conditions. More than 20 million Americans are covered through the ACA’s Medicaid expansion and its insurance exchanges. Trump, meanwhile, tweeted that “The Republican Party will become ‘The Party of Healthcare!’” (CNN / NPR / Politico / Washington Post / Vox / Axios / Mother Jones / New York Times)
2/ The House failed to overturn Trump’s veto of legislation blocking his national emergency declaration at the border. House Democrats needed roughly 50 Republican defections to override the veto with two-thirds of the House. Fourteen Republicans crossed party lines. The failed effort leaves Trump’s emergency declaration at the southwestern border intact despite bipartisan passage of a resolution to terminate the emergency declaration, which Trump declared after Congress rejected his request for $5.7 billion to build the wall. (ABC News / New York Times / Politico / Washington Post)
3/ The Department of Defense transferred $1 billion for new border barrier construction along the U.S.-Mexico border. Up to $1 billion will go toward the construction of 57 miles of 18-foot-high “pedestrian fencing,” improving roads, and lighting for the southern border. An additional $1.5 billion is expected to be shifted for wall funding in the near future. Trump’s emergency declaration seeks to divert $3.6 billion from military construction to fund a border wall. Last week, the Pentagon gave Congress a list of $12.8 billion in approved construction projects that could be redirected to fund a border wall. (CNN / Reuters / Wall Street Journal / NPR)
4/ Six Democratic House committee chairs requested that Attorney General William Barr submit Robert Mueller’s full report to Congress by April 2. Lawmakers say Barr’s summary of the report “is not sufficient for Congress,” calling on Barr to turn over the underlying evidence and documents by the same day. Democrats said that providing the report “in complete and unredacted form” would be consistent with DOJ policies and precedent. (NBC News)
Barr plans to issue a public version of Mueller’s report within “weeks, not months.” A Justice Department official said there is no plan to share an advanced copy of the report with the White House. (Reuters)
5/ The FBI will brief lawmakers on the counterintelligence findings from Mueller’s investigation. The FBI opened a counterintelligence investigation into Trump, but Barr’s summary report of Mueller’s findings didn’t include any information about whether or not investigators found that Trump or anyone around him might be compromised or influenced by Russia. Officials expect the FBI to brief leaders from the House and Senate, as well as the chairs and ranking members of the intelligence committees in a closed session. (NBC News)
📌Day 725: The FBI opened a counterintelligence investigation into whether Trump had been working on behalf of Russia after he fired Comey in May 2017. Law enforcement officials became concerned that if Trump had fired Comey to stop the Russia investigation, his behavior would have constituted a threat to national security. Counterintelligence agents were also investigating why Trump was acting in ways that seemed to benefit Russia. No evidence has publicly emerged – yet – that Trump was secretly taking direction from Russian government officials. Sarah Huckabee Sanders called the report “absurd” and claimed that, compared to Obama, “Trump has actually been tough on Russia.” (New York Times / CNN)
poll/ 42% of voters approve of Trump’s job performance following the release of a summary Mueller’s findings – unchanged from the week before. 55% disapprove. 52% believe Russia has compromising information on Trump. (Morning Consult)
poll/ 84% of voters want Mueller’s report to be made public, including 75% of Republicans. 55% of voters say Mueller conducted a “fair” investigation. (Quinnipiac)
Notables.
Mike Pence talked Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats out of resigning at the end of last year over his frustrations with Trump. Pence stepped in after Trump’s decision to withdraw all U.S. troops from Syria, convincing him to stay until at least this summer. Trump has also pushed Coats to find evidence that Obama wiretapped him, demanded that Coats publicly criticize the U.S. intelligence community as biased, and accused Coats of being behind leaks of classified information. (NBC News)
Trump’s nominee to lead the Interior Department blocked a report on the effect of pesticides on endangered species. The report found that two pesticides, malathion and chlorpyrifos, were so toxic that they “jeopardize the continued existence” of more than 1,200 endangered birds, fish and other animals and plants. At the time, David Bernhardt, a former lobbyist and oil-industry lawyer, was the deputy secretary of the interior. He is now Trump’s nominee to lead the Interior Department. (New York Times)
George Papadopoulos has formally applied for a pardon from Trump. The former Trump campaign adviser served a 12-day prison sentence after being charged by Mueller for lying to the FBI. (Reuters)
Trump asked his top aides for ways to limit federal funding for Puerto Rico. Trump has also privately suggested that he will not approve any additional help for Puerto Rico beyond the food-stamp money. (Washington Post)
1/ Attorney General William Barr concluded that Robert Mueller’s investigation found no evidence that the Trump campaign “conspired or coordinated” with Russia during the 2016 election. Barr submitted a four-page summary of Mueller’s key findings to Congress for review, noting that Mueller didn’t find conspiracy “despite multiple offers from Russia-affiliated individuals to assist the Trump campaign.” While Mueller’s team drew no conclusions about whether Trump obstructed justice, Barr and Rod Rosenstein independently concluded that the evidence was “not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offense.” Democrats are calling for full report to be made public and are questioning Barr’s conclusions. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / The Guardian / CNBC / NPR / Reuters / Bloomberg / Associated Press)
🔍 ANALYSIS: The question unanswered by Mueller’s report: Why did Putin risk interfering in the 2016 election as he did. (The Atlantic)
🔍 ANALYSIS: The six unanswered questions from Barr’s summary of the Mueller report. The attorney general offered his “principal conclusions,” but left some questions abut the special counsel’s investigation unresolved. (Vox)
🔍 ANALYSIS: 4 key takeaways from the Mueller report summary. (Washington Post)
🔍 ANALYSIS: What to make of Bill Barr’s letter: Mueller did not find that Trump obstructed his investigation, but he also made a point of not reaching the conclusion that Trump didn’t obstruct the investigation. (Lawfare)
🔍 ANALYSIS: Legal experts question Barr’s rationale for exonerating Trump. Barr noted that Mueller didn’t conclude that Trump committed obstruction of justice but that Mueller also said that he wasn’t exonerating Trump either. (Washington Post)
🔍 ANALYSIS: Why Trump isn’t being charged with obstruction of justice. Mueller laid out the facts of Trump’s actions with regard to the investigation and Barr and Rosenstein used those facts to draw a conclusion about whether Trump would meet the requirements to be charged with obstruction. (Vox)
🔍 ANALYSIS: Impeachment just became less likely. (NPR)
🔍 ANALYSIS: The key findings of the Mueller report. (The Guardian)
📌 Day 700: Trump’s pick for attorney general criticized Mueller’s obstruction of justice investigation in an unsolicited memo he sent to the Justice Department in June. William Barr said “Mueller’s obstruction theory is fatally misconceived,” claiming that Trump’s interactions with James Comey would not constitute obstruction of justice, because Trump was using his “complete authority to start or stop a law enforcement proceeding.” If confirmed as attorney general, Barr would oversee Mueller’s work. (Wall Street Journal / New York Times / CNN / The Guardian / Washington Post)
2/ Trump declared that Mueller’s report was “a complete and total exoneration” despite Mueller saying the investigation “does not exonerate him.” Mueller’s report states that “The investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities” and it “does not conclude that the President committed a crime.” Trump complained that “It’s a shame that our country has had to go through this […] that your president has had to go through this.” Trump added that Mueller’s investigation was “an illegal takedown that failed” and “hopefully somebody’s going to look at the other side,” implying that the appointment of the special counsel investigation may now be subject to scrutiny. (Politico / CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / Reuters / Associated Press)
3/ Mueller told the Justice Department three weeks ago that he wouldn’t reach a conclusion on whether Trump obstructed justice. In Barr’s summary to Congress, he concluded that the Justice Department couldn’t make a prosecutable case against Trump for obstruction. Mueller’s report, however, “did not draw a conclusion – one way or another – as to whether the examined conduct constituted obstruction.” The conclusion was reportedly “unexpected” and not what Barr had anticipated. (CNN)
Mueller’s office deliberated with Justice Department officials about issuing a subpoena for Trump to be interviewed, but ultimately decided that a subpoena could not be pursued based on the evidence and merits of the issues. Current department policy also dictates that a sitting president cannot be indicted. (CNN)
The White House rejected a request from Congressional Democrats for documents related to Trump’s phone calls and meetings with Putin. Investigators argue that Trump has attempted to “conceal the details of his communications with President Putin,” which are a threat to national security and present concerns because Trump may have been manipulated by Russia. (ABC News)
4/ House Democrats want to see the full Mueller report and are calling on Barr to appear before the House Judiciary Committee to answer questions. “It is unacceptable,” said Chairman Jerry Nadler,” that after Special Counsel Mueller spent 22 months meticulously uncovering this evidence, Attorney General Barr made a decision not to charge the President in under 48 hours.” Nadler called on Barr to “release the report and the underlying evidence in full,” and to appear before the committee “without delay.” Nadler has contacted the Department of Justice to set a date for Barr to testify and fill in the blanks he left in his summary of the Mueller report. (CNBC / NBC News / CBS News)
5/ Trump said it “wouldn’t bother me at all” for Mueller’s report to be released in full, but left it “up to the attorney general.” Trump added that Mueller had acted honorably despite previously describing the special counsel as “conflicted,” “disgraced” and a “liar.” Trump later blamed “treasonous” people, who are guilty of “evil things” for the Russia investigation. He did not name his critics, but said he’s “been looking at them for a long time,” adding: “you know who they are.” (ABC News / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Politico)
6/ Trump’s attorney doesn’t want Trump’s “confidential” written answers to Mueller to be released, citing executive privilege. Jay Sekulow called such a move “very inappropriate,” adding that “as a lawyer, you don’t waive privileges and you don’t waive investigative detail absent either a court order or an agreement between the parties.” Nadler, meanwhile, warned Trump against attempting to assert executive privilege to block the release of portions of the Mueller report. “As we learned from the Nixon tapes case, executive privilege cannot be used to hide wrongdoing.” (CNN / NBC News)
7/ Mitch McConnell blocked a non-binding resolution to make Mueller’s full report public. The resolution was passed unanimously in the House, but McConnel cited national security concerns for his decision to block the resolution in the Senate. (CNN / Axios)
8/ Russia says the Mueller report “has proved what we in Russia knew long ago: there was no conspiracy between Trump or any member of his team and the Kremlin.” Konstantin Kosachev, the chair of the Federation Council’s committee on foreign affairs, blamed U.S. media bias and anti-Russian sentiment for the investigation, adding that they expect the U.S. to increase pressure on Russia. Dmitri Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, called Barr’s summary “recognition that there wasn’t any collusion.” (The Guardian / New York Times)
Notables.
Prosecutors suggest that Paul Manafort may be trying to get $1 million out of his $11 million forfeiture to the federal government. A shell company named formed as Mueller was investigating Manafort in August 2017 claimed that it deserves $1 million from Manafort’s forfeiture. (CNN)
The Supreme Court will not hear an appeal from an unidentified foreign government-owned company resisting a Mueller subpoena. The justices left intact a federal appeals court ruling that said the company had to comply with the subpoena. The company faces fines that have increased by $50,000 a day and may have grown to well more than $2 million. (Bloomberg / Washington Post / CNN)
Michael Avenatti was arrested on charges of trying to extort up to $25 million from Nike by threatening to reveal negative publicity. The former lawyer for Stormy Daniels was also charged in a separate federal case of embezzling a client’s money “in order to pay his own expense and debts,” and of “defrauding a bank in Mississippi.” (CNBC / Politico / The Guardian / CNN)
Trump signed a proclamation formally recognizing Israel’s authority over the long-disputed Golan Heights. Earlier in the day, Hamas, the armed group that rules Gaza, fired a rocket that destroyed a house in a village north of Tel Aviv. (New York Times / Reuters)
The State and Treasury departments sanctioned 14 individuals and 17 entities linked to Iran’s organization for defense, innovation and research. Senior administration officials suggested that SPND could provide cover for them to continue missile-related activity. (CNN)
Mitch McConnell will put the Green New Deal to a vote, forcing Democrats on the record to paint them as socialists who are out of touch with American values. (New York Times)
1/ Robert Mueller submitted his full report on Trump and Russia to the attorney general. The Justice Department notified Congress that it had received Mueller’s report, but did not describe its contents. William Barr is expected to summarize the findings for lawmakers in the coming days, deciding how much of the report to share with Congress. White House lawyers are prepared to argue some material is protected by executive privilege, especially if the report discusses whether Trump’s interactions with his aides or legal advisers are evidence of obstruction of justice. Mueller’s work has led to criminal charges against 34 people, including six former Trump associates and advisers. Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, Michael Flynn, Michael Cohen, and George Papadopoulos all pleaded guilty. Roger Stone was indicted in January and accused of lying to Congress, but has pleaded not guilty. More than 24 people charged by Mueller are Russians. No Americans charged by Mueller have been accused of conspiring with Russia to interfere in the election. No further indictments are expected. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / Politico / Bloomberg / USA Today / CNBC)
2/ Barr notified lawmakers that he intends to provide information about the “principal conclusions” of Mueller’s report “as soon as this weekend.” Barr promised to bring as much transparency as possible to Mueller’s findings but stressed that Justice Department policy prevents officials from disclosing information about investigations that didn’t result in criminal charges. That means part of Mueller’s probe as it relates to Trump may not be revealed any time soon. (CNBC / Wall Street Journal)
3/ Trump warned that “people will not stand for it” if Robert Mueller’s report makes him look bad. Trump – again – complained that “a deputy, that didn’t get any votes, appoints a man that didn’t get any votes,” referring to Rod Rosenstein’s appointment of Mueller. Trump also bemoaned that Mueller was “best friend” with James Comey, who succeeded Mueller as FBI director, despite there being no evidence that the two are close friends. (The Guardian / Associated Press)
📌 Day 790: Trump called Mueller’s report illegitimate because he was never elected and complained to reporters that he now has to deal with “somebody writing a report” despite having “won one of the greatest elections of all time.” Trump went on to refer to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein as just “a deputy” who was “appointed,” who then “appoint[ed] another man to write a report,” rhetorically asking somebody to “explain that, because my voters don’t get it, and I don’t get it.” Trump nominated Rosenstein, who was confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate in a 94-6 vote. (Talking Points Memo / Roll Call)
In June, Rosenstein sent a 12-page letter to Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley outlining a potential road map on what to expect from Mueller. Rosenstein made it clear that he believes the Justice Department will not include disparaging or incriminating information about anybody who has not been charged with a crime. Translation: Don’t expect a criticism of Trump or any associates if they have not been charged with crimes. (ABC News)
The lead federal prosecutor in New York supervising Michael Cohen’s case is leaving his job in April. (Politico)
4/ The Democratic chairs of the six House committees will direct the Justice Department, FBI, and White House Counsel’s Office to preserve records provided to Mueller. The effort will ensure that agencies comply with the Presidential Records Act and the Federal Records Act to retain correspondence, memos, reports and other material should the committees request them. House Democrats have also discussed issuing subpoenas for the information if the White House refuses to cooperate. (Washington Post)
5/ Trump called for his attorney general to “do what’s fair” and open investigations into Hillary Clinton, Comey, James Clapper, and John Brennan. Providing no evidence to support his claims, Trump asserted that he’s been treated “very unfairly” by Mueller’s team, while “nobody does anything” about all the “stone cold crimes” committed by former Obama officials. Trump also accused Comey, Clapper, and Brennan of telling “absolute lies” to Congress. Trump went on to call it an “interesting question” as to whether he thought Attorney General William Barr should look into his accusations. (Politico / Fox Business)
6/ Trump cancelled sanctions aimed at North Korea a day after they were imposed by his own Treasury Department. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump removed the sanctions because he “likes” North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. Yesterday, the Treasury Department announced new sanctions against two Chinese shipping companies for their alleged role in evading U.N. sanctions against North Korea. A former director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control at the Treasury called it “utterly shocking” that Trump would “actively undercut his own sanctions agency for the benefit of North Korea.” Trump announced his decision via tweet. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / CNBC / Bloomberg / CNN)
Notables.
The commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps warned that sending troops to the U.S.-Mexico border and funding transfers under Trump’s emergency declaration has posed “unacceptable risk to Marine Corps combat readiness and solvency.” Marine Corps Gen. Robert Neller wrote two internal memos that said the “unplanned/unbudgeted” deployment order by Trump last fall along the southwest border, along with shifts in other funds to support border security operations, have forced him to cancel or reduce other military training in at least five countries and delay urgent base repairs. (Los Angeles Times)
The deputy director of the National Economic Council is planning to leave the White House in the coming weeks as the Trump administration continues its high-stakes talks with China. Clete Willems is expected to leave his position in April due to the strain that frequent travel has placed on his young and growing family, according to people familiar with his plans to leave. A replacement to fill the top White House trade position is still in the works, but nothing has been finalized. (CNBC)
Trump blamed Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell for the economy’s failure to exceed 4% economic growth last year. (Politico)
Trump will nominate his former campaign adviser Stephen Moore to the Federal Reserve. Moore was the founder of the conservative Club for Growth and helped write Trump’s signature tax plan. Moore is also a close friend of Trump’s economic adviser Larry Kudlow, served as an adviser on Trump’s campaign, and helped draft Trump’s economic agenda early on. (Bloomberg / CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / Reuters)
1/ Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump used WhatsApp and personal email accounts to conduct official government business, according to Elijah Cummings, chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee. In a letter, Cummings accused the White House of “obstructing the committee’s investigation into allegations of violations of federal records laws” and potential breaches of national security. He said he’d give the White House a final chance to “voluntarily” comply with his investigation into the use of private email accounts by Kushner, Ivanka, and other White House officials before resorting to “alternative means” to obtain the information requested. Kushner’s lawyer told the committee in December that his client had used WhatsApp for official business, but that he was not in violation of the Presidential Records Act because he took screenshots of his communications and forwarded them to his White House email account or to the National Security Council. CNN and the Wall Street Journal previously reported that Kushner had communicated with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman using WhatsApp. The panel also obtained documents showing that former deputy national security adviser K.T. McFarland and Steve Bannon conducted official business using personal accounts. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Bloomberg / Politico)
Seven members of Trump’s team have used unofficial personal email accounts for official government business: Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump, Stephen Miller, Gary Cohn, Stephen Bannon, K.T. McFarland and Reince Priebus. (Washington Post)
2/ The former owner of a Florida spa involved in a prostitution investigation claimed she didn’t sell access to Trump. Cindy Yang says the allegations that she is a Chinese agent are false, and that she believes she is being persecuted because of her ethnicity and political party. “I’m Chinese. I’m Republican,” she said. “That’s the reason the Democrats want to check me.” She also said that she hasn’t had any contact with members of the Chinese government since she moved to the United States 20 years ago. (NBC News)
3/ Trump wants Patriots owner Robert Kraft at the White House celebrating the team’s Super Bowl victory despite Kraft’s recent arrest on charges of soliciting prostitution at a Florida massage parlor. White House aides are worried that it could turn a photo op into an embarrassing media spectacle. (Politico / New York Times)
4/ Trump charged his own reelection campaign $1.3 million for rent, food, lodging and other expenses at Trump-owned properties since taking office. Federal regulations allow candidates to put campaign money into their own businesses only if they pay going rates. (Forbes)
5/ Trump signed an executive order that would deny colleges some federal research and education grants if they failed to comply with free speech standards outlined by the administration. Trump cited complaints by conservatives who allege their views are suppressed on campuses, and that speakers are sometimes assaulted or silenced when protesters threaten violence. Earlier this month, Trump said he would issue an executive order “requiring colleges and universities to support free speech if they want federal research dollars.” Details about the policy and how it would work remain unclear. The White House says Trump will sign the order and make a statement about “improving free inquiry, transparency and accountability on campus” this afternoon. (Politico / ABC News / CNN / Washington Post)
poll/ 36% of American support impeaching Trump – down 7 percentage points since December. Support had been as high as 47% last fall. (CNN)
poll/ 78% of Republicans who watch Fox News say Trump is the most successful president in history, compared to 49% of Republicans who do not watch Fox News. 79% of Republican Fox News viewers said they believe the FBI and U.S. intelligence agencies were trying to sabotage Trump, compared to 49% of non-Fox News viewing Republicans. (Daily Beast)
Notables.
There is no longer a single Republican in the House that is considered a supporter of abortion rights, following the retirements of Charlie Dent and Rodney Frelinghuysen. In the Senate, only Republicans Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins remain as supporters of abortion rights. (Wall Street Journal)
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol has reportedly released hundreds of migrants from detention facilities along the southern border in Texas due to severe overcrowding. At least 250 migrants were released on Tuesday and Wednesday. Officials say the releases are necessary due to the recent influx of migrants from Central America. Immigrant advocates said the releases are meant to sow confusion at the border to help make the case for Trump’s national emergency declaration. (Los Angeles Times / The Hill)
The Florida man who sent pipe bombs to Trump’s political enemies pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court. Cesar Sayoc’s change-of-plea hearing was made public last week after a conference call between prosecutors, a judge, and Sayoc’s attorneys. By pleading guilty, Sayoc will avoid his trial, which was scheduled for July. Sayoc has been held without bail since he was arrested in late October outside of a South Florida auto parts store. Sayoc faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison. (Reuters / Bloomberg / Politico / NBC News / CBS News)
Trump announced that ISIS would be “gone by tonight,” presenting two maps showing before-and-after photos of the Islamic State territory that he said proved that he’s had done more to eradicate the extremists than Obama had. (ABC News / New York Times)
The Department of Defense Inspector General is investigating the acting Secretary of Defense over reported bias for Boeing. A spokesperson for the IG’s office said they have “decided to investigate complaints we recently received that Acting Secretary Patrick Shanahan allegedly took actions to promote his former employer, Boeing, and disparage its competitors, allegedly in violation of ethics rules.” Shanahan said during his testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee that he supported an investigation into the issue, so the IG’s office “informed him that we have initiated this investigation.” (Politico)
In a shift in decades-long American policy, Trump announced that “it is time” for the U.S. to “fully recognize Israel’s sovereignty” over the Golan Heights, one of the world’s most disputed territories. The international community has never recognized Israel’s sovereignty over the territory that it captured in 1967. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
📓 Mueller Watch: Your guide to the conclusion of the Mueller probe. (NBC News / Politico / USA Today)
1/ Trump called Mueller’s report illegitimate because he was never elected and complained to reporters that he now has to deal with “somebody writing a report” despite having “won one of the greatest elections of all time.” Trump went on to refer to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein as just “a deputy” who was “appointed,” who then “appoint[ed] another man to write a report,” rhetorically asking somebody to “explain that, because my voters don’t get it, and I don’t get it.” Trump nominated Rosenstein, who was confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate in a 94-6 vote. (Talking Points Memo / Roll Call)
2/ Trump then called for Robert Mueller’s report to be made public, saying “Let it come out, let people see it […] we’ll see what happens.” He added: “I don’t mind” if it’s made public and “I look forward to seeing the report.” The decision to make Mueller’s report public will be left to Attorney General William Barr, and Trump said he has “no idea” when the report will be released. (Reuters / Politico / Bloomberg)
3/ Robert Mueller’s team told a federal judge that they’re very busy this week because they “face the press of other work” and would like a deadline extension to respond to a request to unseal records in Paul Manafort’s criminal case. The special counsel asked the court to give them until April 1 to respond to the request from the Washington Post, which petitioned the court to unseal the Manafort documents related to his breach of plea proceedings, citing “the profound public interest in these proceedings.” Mueller’s report is expected any day now. (Washington Post / CNN)
Here’s what we already know about the Mueller report: The investigation has revealed a range of events related to Russian interference and the 2016 election. Six people connected to Trump have been charged and five have been convicted or pleaded guilty. (New York Times)
4/ Hope Hicks plans to turn over documents to the House Judiciary Committee as part of its investigation into potential obstruction of justice. Rep. Jerry Nadler said the former White House communications director and long-time confidante of Trump will hand over documents from “any personal or work diary, journal or other book containing notes, a record or a description of daily events” about Trump, the Trump campaign, the Trump Organization and the executive office of the President. (CNN)
Michael Flynn’s company submitted several thousand pages of documents to the House Judiciary Committee as part of the panel’s investigation of alleged obstruction of justice and other actions by Trump. (Politico)
The chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee accused the Trump administration of engaging in “an unprecedented level of stonewalling.” Elijah Cummings said the White House has refused to cooperate with repeated requests from the committee. (Newsweek)
📌 Day 798: The Trump administration ignored the House Judiciary request for documents. House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler had set a Monday deadline asking for documents related the firing of James Comey, internal discussions about the decision of Jeff Sessions to recuse himself from the Russia probe, details about any talks to dismiss, as well as records about payments Trump made as part of a hush-money scheme to keep his alleged extramarital affairs from going public. (CNN / Politico)
5/ Trump’s $1.5 trillion tax cut will not result in the promised 3% annual growth rate. The White House conceded that the American economy would need additional labor regulation rollbacks, a $1 trillion infrastructure plan, and another round of tax cuts in order to produce the promised 3% average growth rate for the next decade. White House forecasters say that without those additional steps, the growth rate would slow to about 2% a year in 2026 when many of the 2017 tax cuts expire. (New York Times)
poll/ 62% of Americans have confidence in the fairness of Mueller’s investigation – with 33% very confident. 37%, however, are not very or not at all confident in a fair investigation. 63% are concerned about the Trump campaign’s possible ties to Russia. (Associated Press)
poll/ 48% of Americans approve of Mueller’s handling of the investigation into Russian interference in the presidential election in 2016, while 37% disapprove. 56% say they consider Russia’s efforts to influence the election a serious matter that should be fully investigated, while 38% consider an effort to discredit Trump’s presidency. (CNN)
Notables.
Trump designated Brazil as a “major non-NATO ally” after meeting with the country’s new far-right president and said he would be open to granting Brazil full NATO membership, even though Brazil doesn’t qualify to join the alliance. Trump also remarked that he was “very proud to hear the president use the term ‘fake news’.” (Associated Press / Reuters)
Trump Jr. thinks Brexit would have been on had Theresa May followed his father’s advice. It is unclear what expertise Trump Jr. has in British or European politics. (NPR / New York Times)
Trump said he plans to leave the tariffs on Chinese goods in place for a “substantial period of time” until he’s certain that “China lives by the deal.” Trump has levied tariffs on $250 billion of Chinese goods – about half the value of Chinese exports to the U.S. Beijing has retaliated with tariffs on $110 billion of U.S. goods – about 90% of U.S. exports to China. (Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
The Trump administration wants to use $359 million from an unrelated bank settlement to fund the border wall. French bank Societe Generale agreed to pay the U.S government $1.3 billion after admitting that it violated U.S. sanctions on Cuba and Iran for years. It’s unclear if the White House can use the money for the wall. (CNBC)
A federal judge ruled that Trump’s ban on transgender people in the military can not go into effect yet, and that the 2017 court order blocking the ban remains in place. The White House released a memo last week saying that it planned to implement the ban in April because “there is no longer any impediment” to doing so. (BuzzFeed News)
A federal judge temporarily blocked oil and gas drilling on 300,000 acres of federal land in Wyoming, ruling that the Trump administration “did not sufficiently consider climate change” in its assessments of whether to lease federal land for individual projects. (Washington Post / Axios /Reuters)
Trump plans to nominate former Delta Air Lines pilot and executive Stephen Dickson to lead the FAA. If confirmed, Dickson will become the first permanent FAA administrator since Obama-appointee Michael Huerta resigned in 2018. (NPR)
18 states have considered legislation that would require presidential and vice presidential candidates to release their tax returns to appear on the ballot during a primary or general election. Many of the legislatures considering the bills are controlled by Democrats. (Washington Post)
A panel of federal appeals court judges challenged the legal basis for a lawsuit alleging that Trump’s profits from the Trump International Hotel violate the Constitution’s emoluments clauses. Trump has retained ownership of the hotel while serving as president, which has become a favored lodging and event space for foreign- and state-governments. (New York Times / Reuters)
Kellyanne Conway defended Trump’s attacks on her husband after Trump called George Conway “Mr. Kellyanne Conway,” a “whack job,” “a stone cold LOSER,” and a “husband from hell!” George Conway responded: “You. Are. Nuts.” Kellyanne, meanwhile, asked: “You think [Trump] should just take that sitting down?” (Politico / NBC News / CNBC / ABC News)
1/ Robert Mueller obtained warrants to search Michael Cohen’s emails and cell phones in July, August and November 2017, according to the unsealed search warrant applications. One warrant allowed Mueller’s office to search Cohen’s emails dating to June 2015 when Cohen still worked for the Trump Organization. In particular, Mueller sought records of any “funds of benefits received by or offered” to Cohen “on behalf of, any foreign government,” as well as evidence of efforts “to conduct activities on behalf of, for the benefit of, or at the direction of any foreign government.” In February 2018, Mueller’s office began referring parts of its Cohen investigation to federal prosecutors in New York, including relevant emails from its warrants. Investigators used the search warrants as the basis for an April 2018 raid of Cohen’s office, home, safety deposit box and a hotel room where he had been staying. Cohen ultimately pleaded guilty to tax fraud, bank fraud, campaign finance violations and lying to Congress. Mueller was was appointed special counsel in May 2017. (New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / Politico / CNN / NBC News)
The prosecutor who handled Michael Flynn’s guilty plea has left the special counsel’s office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Zainab Ahmad is the third senior member of Mueller’s team confirmed to leave the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts but hasn’t yet been sentenced. (Politico)
Rod Rosenstein will stay at the Justice Department “a little longer” despite previously announced that he would leave in mid-March. (NBC News)
2/ Deutsche Bank loaned more than $2 billion to Trump over nearly two decades during his time as a real estate developer at a time when other banks wouldn’t lend to him. The bank repeatedly loaned money to Trump despite multiple business-related “red flags,” including instances where Trump exaggerated his wealth by an extra $2 billion in order to secure additional loans from the bank. In 2010, Trump returned to Deutsche Bank for $100 million loan, even though it had concluded at the time that Trump had overvalued some of his real estate assets by up to 70%. (New York Times / New York Times / CNBC)
3/ The Supreme Court ruled that the government can detain immigrants indefinitely with past criminal records, even if they were previously released from criminal custody. The ruling provides Trump more authority to arrest, detain and deport immigrants convicted of crimes. (Reuters / Associated Press / Politico / CNN)
4/ The House Judiciary Committee said it received “tens of thousands” of requested documents related to its investigation into whether Trump abused his power, obstructed justice or engaged in public corruption. The committee requested documents from 81 individuals, government agencies and others, including Trump family members, current and former business employees, Republican campaign staffers and former White House aides, the FBI, White House and WikiLeaks. The committee has received eight responses as of Tuesday morning, and the majority of the 8,195 pages of material the committee received was provided by Steve Bannon, who handed over 2,688 pages; Trump confidant Thomas Barrack, who supplied 3,349 pages; and the National Rifle Association, which turned over 1,466 pages, the Republicans said. (Washington Post / Politico / Reuters)
5/ The Trump administration, however, ignored the House Judiciary request for documents. House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler had set a Monday deadline asking for documents related the firing of James Comey, internal discussions about the decision of Jeff Sessions to recuse himself from the Russia probe, details about any talks to dismiss, as well as records about payments Trump made as part of a hush-money scheme to keep his alleged extramarital affairs from going public. (CNN / Politico)
poll/ 71% of Americans say the economy is in good shape –the best rating during Trump’s presidency by two points. (CNN)
✏️ Notables.
The Trump administration proposed placing a cap on federal student loan borrowing as a way curbing student loan debt, which has reached nearly $1.5 trillion. The plan is to prevent borrowers from taking out too many federal loans to the point where the debt becomes unmanageable, which the government argues will reduce college tuition rates. The president of the nonprofit Institute for College Access and Success said the there’s “no evidence” that the availability of federal loans has led to higher college costs. (NBC News)
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos proposed ending a loan forgiveness program for public service workers and eliminating subsidized loans for low-income students. DeVos also proposed a 12% decrease in funding for her department for fiscal 2020. (CNN)
The Trump administration won’t give the public more time to weigh in on its proposed rule restricting the Clean Water Act. [Editor’s note: I don’t have an account to this site, so I can’t read the whole article, but it felt necessary to flag] (Greenwire)
Paul Ryan will join the board of the Fox Corporation – the parent company of Fox News. (CNBC / CNN)
Elizabeth Warren called for eliminating the Electoral College as part of an effort to expand voting rights, because “every vote matters.”Separately, Colorado and 11 other states and the District of Columbia pledged to give their electoral votes to whichever candidate wins the national popular vote. (Politico / New York Times / Washington Post)
Congressional Democrats asked the FBI to investigate the owner of the Florida massage parlor who allegedly sold access to Trump. Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer called on federal agents to investigate “public reports about alleged activities by Ms. Li ‘Cindy’ Yang and her apparent relationship with the president.” The letter also called on the FBI to investigate whether another company started by Yang that “may be selling access to the president and members of his family to clients from China.” Yang’s attorney says she denies the allegations against her. (ABC News / Reuters)
A federal appeals court will hear arguments in a case challenging Trump’s ownership of a luxury hotel down the street from the White House. The case represents the highest-level hearing yet for a lawsuit that claims Trump’s vast holdings are a conflict of interest between his businesses and his duties as president. The suit accuses Trump of violating the emoluments clause in the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits the president from receiving “any present, emolument, office or title of any kind whatever from any king, prince or foreign state” or any U.S. state while in office. (NBC News)
💬 Dept. of Interpersonal Communication.
Trump: “I was never a fan of John McCain and I never will be.” McCain died last August after a battle with brain cancer. (NBC News / USA Today / ABC News)
Trump called Kellyanne Conway’s husband “a total loser!” after George Conway suggested on Twitter that Trump is not mentally fit to serve as president. (Washington Post / NBC News)
Devin Nunes is suing Twitter and two parody accounts for $250 million over mean tweets. Nunes claims one Twitter account pretending to be his mom and another pretending to be a dairy cow in Iowa made fun of him and accused him of crimes, something Nunes says “no human being should ever have to bear and suffer in their whole life.” (New York Times / Politico / USA Today / CBS News)
1/ Trump attacked the late John McCain on Twitter for his involvement in sharing the dossier allegedly linking Trump to the Russian government. After the 2016 election, McCain turned the Steele dossier over to the FBI, which Trump called “unfortunately a very dark stain against John McCain.” Trump incorrectly claimed that McCain had “sent the Fake Dossier to the FBI and Media hoping to have it printed BEFORE the Election.” He continued to complain about that longtime Republican lawmaker, who died last year, “had far worse ‘stains’” than the dossier, “including thumbs down on repeal and replace after years of campaigning to repeal and replace!” Trump’s statements about McCain were actually quotes from Ken Starr, who recently appeared on Fox News. (CNBC / Washington Post / New York Times)
Meghan McCain accused Trump of leading a “pathetic life” by obsessing over her father, who died almost seven months ago. McCain continued: “Your life is spent on your weekends not with your family, not with your friends, but obsessing, obsessing over great men you could never live up to.” (Washington Post / Politico)
Christopher Steele admitted that he used internet searches and unverified information to support some details he had gathered about a web company mentioned in the dossier. (CNN)
2/ Trump accused “the fake news media” of attempting to blame him for the mass shooting at two mosques in New Zealand, calling it “So Ridiculous!” In a manifesto, the alleged gunman called Trump “a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose,” and referred to immigrants as “invaders within our lands.” Trump told reporters he doesn’t believe white nationalism is a rising threat around the world, suggesting “it’s a small group of people that have very, very serious problems, I guess.” (Politico / Washington Post)
3/ Mick Mulvaney: Trump “is not a white supremacist.” The acting chief of staff went on to say it was “absurd” to draw a connection between Trump’s statements about immigration and the acts of a shooter who embraced both white nationalism and Trump. Last week Trump called undocumented immigrants coming to U.S. an “invasion” as he vetoed a congressional resolution that would block his declaration of a national emergency at the U.S. border with Mexico. (Washington Post / CNN)
The House Judiciary Committee plans to host a hearing on the rise of white nationalism in the U.S. and the hate crime and hate speech surrounding the movement. (Daily Beast)
4/ Trump called for Fox News to bring back Jeanine Pirro after she was suspended for questioning a Muslim lawmaker’s loyalty to the United States during an on-air monologue. Pirro asked if Representative Ilhan Omar’s “adherence to this Islamic doctrine indicative of her adherence to Shariah law, which in itself is antithetical to the United States Constitution?” Fox News said Pirro’s remarks “do not reflect those of the network and we have addressed the matter with her directly.” Trump claimed “The Radical Left Democrats, working closely with their beloved partner, the Fake News Media, is using every trick in the book to SILENCE a majority of our Country.” Trump also tweeted his support for Tucker Carlson, who has also recently faced criticism for a series of racist, xenophobic, sexist, and other comments. “Stay true,” Trump tweeted, “to the people that got you there. Keep fighting for Tucker, and fight hard for @JudgeJeanine.” (CNN / Politico / New York Times)
5/ Federal authorities raided the office of Elliot Broidy last summer in order to obtain documents related to the fundraiser’s dealings with foreign officials and Trump administration associates. Federal agents searched Broidy’s office for documents related to China, Saudi Arabia, and a Miami Beach club promoter related to conspiracy, money laundering, and crimes associated with illegal lobbying on behalf of foreign officials. The sealed warrant revealed government investigators took a similar approach to searching Michael Cohen’s office. Broidy served as a Trump campaign fundraiser and was the national deputy finance chair of the Republican National Committee until he resigned in April 2018, after it was revealed he had secretly paid off a former Playboy model in exchange for her silence about their affair. (ProPublica / Daily Beast)
📌 Day 578: The Justice Department is investigating whether Elliott Broidy tried to sell his influence with the Trump administration. The longtime Republican fundraiser resigned from his RNC position in April after it was reported that he paid a former Playboy model $1.6 million in exchange for her silence about a sexual affair. Michael Cohen arranged the settlement. (Washington Post)
📌 GOP fundraiser Broidy under investigation for alleged effort to sell government influence, people familiar with probe say. (Washington Post)
📌 Ex-Fugees member Pras Michel denies wrongdoing in alleged effort to stop Malaysian corruption probe. (Washington Post)
6/ Trump claimed he encouraged House Republicans to vote in favor of a resolution calling on the Justice Department to make Robert Mueller’s final report public. Earlier in the day, however, Trump tweeted that the special counsel “should never have been appointed” and that “there should be no Mueller Report.” The House approved the resolution last week 420-0 to demand that Attorney General William Barr release Mueller’s entire report and make it available to Congress. The resolution was blocked by Republicans in the Senate. (Politico)
poll/ 52% of Americans have little or no trust in Trump’s denials that his 2016 campaign colluded with Russia. 28%, meanwhile, say they have a lot of trust in Robert Mueller’s investigation to be fair and accurate. 50% agree that Trump is the victim of a “witch hunt” while 47% disagree. (USA Today)
Notables.
The U.S. military now plans to keep nearly 1,000 forces in Syria. Three months ago, Trump ordered a complete withdrawal. (Wall Street Journal)
Kirsten Gillibrand formally launched her presidential bid, announcing she will deliver her speech next week in front of Trump International Hotel in New York City. (Reuters)
Trump pulled Rudy Giuliani from doing TV interviews after the lawyer claimed the Trump Tower Moscow talks may have lasted up until November 2016. The Sunday, January 20th appearance was Giuliani’s last – other than a March 8 comment, where he said Paul Manafort’s short jail sentence was fair. (Axios)
Ben Carson’s daily schedule from 2017 shows that the HUD secretary met with his staff once a week and left work before 2 p.m. on most Fridays to fly to his Florida mansion. (NBC News)
Trump tweeted that he wanted the General Motors Ohio plant to be “opened or sold to a company who will open it up fast!” In November, G.M. announced that it would idle five factories in North America and cut roughly 14,000 jobs to trim costs. Trump’s tweets were an attempt to pressure G.M. and the United Automobile Workers union to begin negotiations on an agreement that would put the plant back to work. Trump added that the president of U.A.W. “ought to get his act together and produce.” (New York Times)
Kellyanne Conway’s husband believes that Trump’s mental condition is deteriorating. Kellyanne disagrees. George Conway tweeted last week that “whether or not impeachment is in order, a serious inquiry needs to be made about this man’s condition of mind.” He continued through the weekend by tweeting screenshots from American Psychiatric Association’s “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,” highlighting pages that include diagnostic criteria for “narcissistic personality disorder” and “antisocial personality disorder.” Kellyanne told reporters that she does not share George’s concerns. (CNN / Washington Post)
1/ Trump warned that his “tough” supporters – the police, military and “Bikers for Trump” – could turn violent against Democrats and things could get “very bad, very bad” if they feel either they or Trump have been wronged by the political process. Trump made the comments in an interview with Breitbart in which he argued that the left “plays it cuter and tougher. Like with all the nonsense that they do in Congress.” Trump tweeted out a link promoting the interview Thursday night, raising concerns by several Democrats and political commentators that the comments amounted to a threat of violence. (ABC News / CNN / Washington Post / The Hill / Toronto Star / New York Magazine)
2/ Trump later deleted the tweet to his Breitbart interview that he posted as news was breaking about two mosque shootings in New Zealand, which left 49 people dead. In a manifesto posted online before the shooting, the suspected gunman praised Trump as a “a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose.” The White House did not explain why Trump deleted the tweet, but called the shooting a “vicious act of hate.” Trump called it a “horrible massacre,” but doesn’t think white nationalism is on the rise, saying “I think it’s a small group of people that have very, very serious problems.” (USA Today / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Reuters / Business Insider / Daily Beast)
Remington can now be sued for marketing the semiautomatic rifle used in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. The 4-3 decision, which reversed a lower court’s ruling, will permit a lawsuit on behalf of the parents and relatives of the victims to proceed against the gun manufacturer of the AR-15-style rifle used to kill 20 young children and six adults in 2012. (Axios / Vice News)
3/ Trump insisted that “there should be no Mueller report” a day after House unanimously voted to make the report public. Trump called Mueller’s probe “an illegal and conflicted investigation in search of a crime,” complaining that the probe was only started as an excuse for Democrats losing the 2016 election. (Politico / CNBC)
Robert Mueller’s office said that Rick Gates “continues to cooperate with respect to several ongoing investigations” and isn’t ready to be sentenced. Mueller and Gates’ attorney asks a federal judge for 60 more days before providing the next update on Gates’ status. In February 2018, Gates struck a deal with prosecutors, pleading guilty to two criminal counts including conspiracy and lying to FBI agents. (CNN / CNBC / Reuters)
4/ Lindsey Graham blocked a non-binding resolution calling for Mueller’s report to be made public after the House unanimously voted in support of the measure. Chuck Schumer asked for unanimous consent for the resolution in the Senate. Graham asked that the resolution include a provision calling on the Justice Department to appoint a special counsel to investigate the handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email use and the Carter Page Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act applications. Schumer declined to include the proposed amendment, saying he was “deeply disappointed” in Graham for “blocking this very simple, non-controversial resolution.” Under Senate rules, any senator can try to pass or set up a vote on a bill, resolution or nomination. But, in turn, any one senator can block their request. (USA Today / The Hill / Washington Post)
5/ Trump issued the first veto of his presidency, rejecting a congressional resolution overturning his national emergency declaration at the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump called the resolution “dangerous” and “reckless” a day after 12 Republicans joined Senate Democrats to rebuke his decision to declare a national emergency last month in order to redirect funds to build a wall on the southern border. Trump’s veto sends the resolution back to the House, which isn’t expected to have the two-thirds of the chamber’s support needed to override the veto. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / Bloomberg / NBC News)
6/ The Trump administration is considering sending a volunteer force to the southern border. Trump has been “casting about” for novel ways to direct additional resources to the border to stop people from crossing illegally. One DHS official said the move “makes eminent sense for a hurricane,” but not for border security. “All of this is just to buttress the administration’s claim that there’s an emergency,” they added. (Politico)
poll/ 21% of taxpayers expect to pay less income tax this year under the GOP Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. 29%, however, said they would pay more, and 27% said there would be no impact, with 24% unsure what they’ll pay. (Reuters)
Notables.
North Korea threatened to suspend denuclearization negotiations with the Trump administration and resume its nuclear and missile testing programs because Trump’s national security adviser and Secretary of State had created an “atmosphere of hostility and mistrust.” Kim Jong-un’s Vice Foreign Minister said Kim’s personal relationship with Trump was “still good and the chemistry is mysteriously wonderful,” but members of Trump’s team had spoiled the two leaders’ negotiations in Hanoi, Vietnam last month. As a result, North Korea said it might end its self-imposed moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile tests. Choe Son-hui said the decision to end the moratorium is up to Kim, and that “he will make his decision in a short period of time.” (New York Times / NBC News)
Foreign countries are turning to lobbying firms to try and curry favor with Trump and influence U.S. policy. Some of the countries employing lobbying firms are U.S. allies, while others include countries with deeply stained human rights records such as Zimbabwe, Kosovo, Georgia, Turkey and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Foreign countries have turned to lobbying firms in the past, but the number of countries with ties to the Trump campaign has gone up sharply. The lobbyists with Trump ties have also been charging exorbitant fees in exchange for representing companies that need help overseas, such as Chinese telecom giant ZTE. (Politico)
The Trump administration is planning to expand rules that would disqualify more visa applicants living abroad, as well as those in the U.S. the administration believes are using too many public services. (ABC News)
Trump administration reduced the fines for nursing homes found to have endangered or injured residents. The average fine dropped from $41,260 to $28,405. (NPR)
1/ The Senate voted to overturn Trump’s national emergency declaration at the southern border, setting up Trump to issue the first veto of his presidency. The resolution passed 59-41 – with 12 Republicans joining every Democrat. The measure, which already passed the House, now heads to Trump, who has promised to veto the legislation and effectively kill it. Lawmakers don’t have enough votes to override a veto. Ahead of the vote, Trump warned Republicans that “a vote for today’s resolution by Republican Senators is a vote for Nancy Pelosi, Crime, and the Open Border Democrats!” After the vote, Trump tweeted: “VETO!” (New York Times/ CNBC / Washington Post / Politico / Associated Press / CNN / Reuters / NBC News)
📌 Day 757: Trump declared a national emergency at the border to circumvent Congress and fund his border wall with money lawmakers refused to give him, saying “I didn’t need to do this,” but “I just want to get it done faster, that’s all.” In a Rose Garden news conference, Trump said he would sign the declaration to divert $3.6 billion from military construction projects to his border wall and then use presidential budgetary discretion to redirect $2.5 billion from counternarcotics programs and another $600 million from a Treasury Department asset forfeiture fund. Between the $1.375 billion authorized for fencing in a spending package passed by Congress, and the roughly $6.5 billion in funding from executive action, Trump is will have about $8 billion to construct or repair as many as 234 miles of a border barrier – significantly more than the $5.7 billion that Congress refused to give him. Following the news conference, Trump signed the spending legislation. (New York Times / The Guardian / Politico / Washington Post / NBC News / ABC News)
2/ The House voted 420-0 for the public release of Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and whether Trump obstructed justice when he fired then-director of the FBI James Comey. While the resolution is non-binding and the House cannot force the Justice Department to take an action, the move is an attempt to “send a clear signal both to the American people and the Department of Justice” that lawmakers expect to see the full account of Mueller’s work. The resolution will also put pressure on Attorney General William Barr, who did not commit to making Mueller’s findings public during his Senate confirmation hearings. The Senate, however, is unlikely to take up a similar measure. (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Politico / NBC News)
Roger Stone’s trial is set for Nov. 5. Judge Amy Berman Jackson said she expects the trial will last “at least” two weeks. Jackson didn’t address the re-release of a book Stone published in 2017, which could have been considered a violation of his partial gag order. The judge said she was taking it “under advisement.” (CNBC / NBC News)
One of Mueller’s top prosecutors will be leaving in the next week or so. Andrew Weissmann was the architect of the case against Paul Manafort. Separately, Mueller’s top FBI investigator, David Archey, has also left the team. The departures are the strongest sign yet that Mueller and his team have all but concluded their work. (NPR / NBC News)
3/ Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin suggested that he would protect Trump’s privacy if House Democrats request Trump’s tax returns, saying: “We will examine the request and we will follow the law … and we will protect the president as we would protect any taxpayer” regarding their right to privacy. Mnuchin said he “can’t speculate” on how the administration will respond to demands for Trump’s tax returns until it sees the request. House Democrats are preparing to ask the IRS for 10 years of Trump’s personal tax returns under under a 1924 provision that requires the Treasury secretary to “furnish” any individual’s tax return information to the House and Senate tax-writing committees. (Associated Press / ABC News / Politico / CNN)
A casino magnate forced to sell his 12% stake met with Treasury Department officials as they were writing regulations that could help him defer and reduce his taxes. Steve Wynn generated $2.1 billion last March when he was forced to sell his stake in Wynn Resorts Ltd. and resign from the Republican National Committee after sexual-misconduct allegations. Wynn attended the meeting in the Treasury building with Daniel Kowalski, a counselor to Mnuchin, who stopped by the meeting to greet Wynn. (Wall Street Journal)
Mnuchin’s Hollywood ties are raising conflict of interest concerns as he leads trade talks with China. While Mnuchin divested from his Hollywood film-financing firm after joining the Trump administration, he’s been personally pushing Beijing to give the American film industry greater access to its markets. (New York Times)
4/ Federal prosecutors requested documents about Michael Cohen’s alleged “back channel” discussion with Rudy Giuliani about the possibility of a pardon. Cohen’s attorney spoke with Giuliani roughly a dozen times and, in one email, referred to their conversations as a “back channel of communication.” During one of their discussions, Cohen’s attorney allegedly asked whether Trump would put a pardon for Cohen “on the table.” Giuliani told Cohen’s attorney that Trump was unwilling to discuss pardons at that time. The request from federal prosecutors is part of an investigation into whether the alleged back-channel discussions amount to “possible violations of federal criminal law.” Giuliani insists that he and Cohen’s attorney only talked about how Trump “was very mad at [Cohen]” and the fact that the investigation into Cohen had been assigned to the Southern District of New York. (New York Times)
5/ A New York appellate court ruled that a former contestant on The Apprentice can proceed with her defamation lawsuit against Trump. Summer Zervos is one of about a dozen women who accused Trump of sexual misconduct before the 2016 election. Trump called Zervos and the other women “liars,” prompting Zervos to file a lawsuit in 2017. The New York State Appellate Division’s First Department turned down Trump’s argument that the case should be delayed until he is out of office because, as a sitting president, he was immune from a lawsuit brought in state court. The decision means Trump may have to sit for a sworn deposition. (ABC News / Washington Post / Politico)
📌 Day 468: A former contestant on “The Apprentice” is suing Trump for defamation after he called her a liar for accusing him of sexual assault. Summer Zervos was among the more than 10 women who came forward during the 2016 presidential campaign and accused Trump of sexual assault and misconduct. He denied all of their claims. (New York Times)
poll/ 51% of Florida voters say they definitely won’t vote for Trump in 2020. 31% say they definitely would vote for Trump, and 14% say they would consider voting for him. Overall, Florida voters give Trump a 40% favorability rating. (Quinnipiac)
Notables.
The Senate voted 54-46 to end U.S. support for the Saudi-led war against Yemen. The move is largely seen as a rebuke of the Trump administration’s continued support for the Saudi monarchy in the wake of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. The U.S. has been supplying money and weapons to the Saudis in support of the kingdom’s relentless bombing campaign against Houthi rebels in Yemen since the war began in 2015, which has led to widespread humanitarian and health crises in the region. The resolution to end U.S. support for the war must now be taken up in the House, where members passed a nearly identical resolution earlier this year. If Trump vetoes the resolution, however, neither chamber is expected to have the votes required to override the veto. (Washington Post)
Beto O’Rourke announced that he will run for president. In a video, O’Rourke said, “This is going to be a positive campaign that seeks to bring out the very best from every single one of us, that seeks to unite a very divided country.” (Politico)
Adam Schiff suggested that Russians may have laundered money through the Trump Organization. While House Intelligence Committee is investigating the matter, Schiff said the committee is primarily concerned with whether or not Trump is “compromised by a foreign power.” (Newsweek)
The Pentagon instituted its new transgender policy that limits the military service of transgender persons to their birth gender. Transgender service members currently serving will only be allowed to continue to serve if they adhere to the dress and grooming standards of their biological gender, and if they are unwilling to do so, they could be discharged. The policy will be implemented on April 12. (ABC News)
1/ Paul Manafort was sentenced to a total of 7.5 years in prison after receiving an additional 43 months on federal conspiracy charges at his sentencing hearing in Washington, D.C. Judge Amy Berman Jackson sentenced Manafort to 60 months in prison on the first of two criminal conspiracy counts – 30 of those months will be served concurrently with Manafort’s prior sentence in a separate case. Jackson also sentenced Manafort to 13 months of consecutive prison time on his second criminal count, for a total of 43 additional months in prison to the 47 months he was sentenced to last week in Virginia. Jackson accused Manafort of spending a “significant portion of his career gaming the system” before sentencing him to what is now the longest sentence for anyone ensnared in Mueller’s nearly two-year-old probe. (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / CNBC / NBC News / CNN / Reuters / Wall Street Journal)
📌 Day 778: Paul Manafort was sentenced to less than four years in jail in the first of two cases against him. Manafort’s 47 months in prison for bank and tax fraud was far lighter than the 19- to 24-year prison term recommended under federal sentencing guidelines. Manafort was ordered to pay a $50,000 fine and restitution of just over $24 million. Judge T. S. Ellis said he thought the sentencing recommendation was “excessive,” adding that he believed Manafort “lived an otherwise blameless life.” It’s the longest sentence to date for a Trump associate caught up in Robert Mueller’s investigation. Manafort will also be sentenced next week on separate charges that he served as an unregistered foreign agent, laundered money and tampered with a witness. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / CNN / NPR / ABC News / CNBC)
2/ New York prosecutors indicted Manafort with 16 counts related to mortgage fraud, conspiracy and falsifying business records shortly after he was sentenced for federal crimes. The new state charges against Manafort allege a scheme of falsifying business records to obtain millions of dollars in loans. Trump has not explicitly ruled out pardoning Manafort, but he can only issue pardons for federal crimes. He does not have the power to pardon state charges. (New York Times / CNBC / CNN / NBC News)
📌 Day 781: Trump will “make his decision” on whether to pardon Paul Manafort “when he’s ready,” Sarah Huckabee Sanders said. In November, Trump said that a pardon for Manafort “was never discussed,” but added that he “wouldn’t take it off the table,” rhetorically asking: “Why would I take it off the table?” The comment from Sanders came during the first official White House press briefing in six weeks. (CNBC)
3/ Rep. Jerry Nadler said former acting attorney general Matthew Whitaker “did not deny that the president called him to discuss the Michael Cohen case and personnel decisions in the Southern District” during a closed-doors meeting with the leaders of the House Judiciary Committee. During a hearing last month, Whitaker either refused to detail the conversations he had with Trump or gave answers that, in Nadler’s estimation, strained credulity. Nadler added that “Whitaker was directly involved in conversations about whether to fire one or more U.S. attorneys” and whether the Southern District of New York “went too far in pursuing the campaign finance case” involving Trump. (Washington Post / CNN / The Hill / Talking Points Memo)
4/ Michael Cohen’s attorney attempted to clarify Cohen’s testimony that he never asked Trump for a pardon. The letter sent to Congress from Lanny Davis said that even though Cohen’s statements were true, they “could have been clearer regarding the time frames.” The letter continues: “At no time did Mr. Cohen personally ask President Trump for a pardon or did the President offer Mr. Cohen the same.” (CNN)
5/ Rudy Giuliani reassured Cohen in an April 2018 email that Cohen could “sleep well tonight” because he had “friends in high places.” While the email does not specifically mention a pardon, Cohen said it corroborates his claim that a pardon was dangled before he decided to cooperate with federal prosecutors. (CNN)
6/ Trump grounded all Boeing 737 Max 8 and Max 9 planes after the second fatal crash in five months. Trump’s announcement followed Canada joining some 42 others countries in grounding the jets. Yesterday, the FAA said it had seen “no systemic performance issue” that would prompt it to halt flights of the jet. Planes currently in the air will fly to their destinations and “be grounded until further notice.” The order will ground more than 70 aircrafts. (USA Today / Politico / The Guardian / New York Times / Washington Post)
poll/ 52% of voters are opposed to Trump’s declaration of a national emergency at the southern border – up 1 percentage point from last month. (Politico)
Notables.
Michael Flynn has completed his cooperation agreement with the special counsel’s Russia investigation, according to Robert Mueller. Flynn’s lawyers, however, asked for a 90-day delay in sentencing because “there may be additional cooperation” with another federal probe: his former business partner’s upcoming trial in Alexandria, Va. Flynn is expected to testify in the mid-July trial against Bijan Rafiekian, who faces charges of conspiracy and acting as an unregistered foreign government agent for Turkey. (Politico / Associated Press / Reuters / CNN)
The Justice Department is investigating whether a $100,000 donation to the Trump Victory committee originated from a fugitive Malaysian businessman alleged to be at the center of a global financial scandal. It is a federal offense for foreign individuals or companies to make direct or indirect donations to U.S. politicians or fundraising committees. (Wall Street Journal)
Wilbur Ross will face the House Oversight Committee on Thursday to answer questions about his decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. Last March, Ross told the House Ways and Means Committee that the question was added after he received a request from the Department of Justice in December 2017 that claimed the data was needed to properly enforce civil rights laws. Documents released as a part of a multi-state lawsuit show that Ross wanted to add the question much earlier. (NBC News)
The Mercers once donated money to a conservative group that promoted “cultural events for English-speaking peoples.” The family spent more than $15 million backing Trump during the 2016 presidential election, and spent millions more to fund Cambridge Analytica, which did work for the Trump campaign. (CNBC)
Trump – without evidence – accused media outlets of doctoring photographs to suggest that Melania Trump employs a body double when she has to appear with Trump at public events. (The Hill)
1/ The New York attorney general’s office opened an investigation into three Trump Organization loans from Deutsche Bank, as well as Trump’s failed attempt to buy the Buffalo Bills. New York AG Letitia James issued subpoenas to Deutsche Bank and Investors Bank for loan applications, mortgages, lines of credit and other financing transactions in connection with the Trump International Hotel in Washington, the Trump National Doral outside Miami, and the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago, as well as the unsuccessful purchase of the NFL team in 2014. The new inquiry was prompted by Michael Cohen’s congressional testimony, who suggested that Trump had inflated his assets in financial statements and provided documents to back up his claims. The inquiry is a civil investigation, not a criminal one. (New York Times / Washington Post / Reuters / Bloomberg / ABC News / NBC News)
One of Trump’s closest political advisers: “We’re not ready” for more investigations. David Bossie served as Trump’s deputy campaign manager and has been counseling both the White House and congressional Republicans. (ABC News)
2/ The attorney who negotiated the hush-money payments on behalf of Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal believes Trump could still be in legal danger for his alleged role in directing the efforts to buy their silence. Keith Davidson cited language used by prosecutors in Cohen’s indictment, which alleged that Cohen was part of a criminal conspiracy, and said, “by definition, a conspiracy must involve more than one person – so who else could it be?” Davidson says he sat down with investigators for the special counsel for more than 15 hours, during which it “became clear” to him that prosecutors believe the hush-money payments were part of an effort to save Trump’s presidential campaign, which would constitute a violation of campaign finance laws. (ABC News)
3/ Adam Schiff: Trump should be indicted when he leaves office for the crimes Michael Cohen was convicted of committing on his behalf. The chairman of the House intelligence committee said there’s already sufficient evidence to support an indictment of Trump even before the conclusion of Robert Mueller’s investigation, and that the Justice Department policy against indicting a siting president was “wrong.” (NPR / Washington Post)
There might be a second Mueller report. Since Mueller’s appointment, he’s been conducting a counterintelligence investigation, while “also” assessing whether any crimes were committed. Unlike a criminal report, a Mueller counterintelligence report must be shared with Congress. Both the House and Senate intelligence committees are legally entitled to be given reports – in writing – of significant intelligence and counterintelligence activities or failures. (Daily Beast)
Mueller’s team is funded through the end of September 2019, indicating that the probe has the funding to keep it going for months if need be. (Reuters)
Paul Manafort will face his second court sentencing on Wednesday. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson could sentence Manafort for up to 10 years in prison for violating a foreign lobbying law and witness tampering, and whether she orders the sentences to be served concurrently or one after the other. Separately, Mueller’s prosecutors are scheduled to update another federal judge about the status of Mike Flynn’s cooperation and whether his sentencing can proceed. (Wall Street Journal)
4/ Trump complained that planes are becoming “far too complex to fly” after the crash of a Boeing 737 Max 8 in Ethiopia that killed all 157 people on board. While European Union, China, the United Kingdom, Australia, Indonesia and other countries have already banned the plane, the FAA said it does not see a reason to ground the fleet in the United States. Trump continued: “I don’t want Albert Einstein to be my pilot. I want great flying professionals that are allowed to easily and quickly take control of a plane!” (Politico / CNBC / New York Times / Bloomberg)
5/ House Democrats introduced an immigration proposal that would provide as many as 2.5 million immigrants a path to citizenship. The Dream and Promise Act of 2019 would cover young undocumented immigrants under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program as well as those with temporary immigration protections. If passed, HR 6 would represent the most generous immigration bill since the Reagan “amnesty” of 1986. While the legislation will likely pass the House, it faces significant hurdles from the GOP-controlled Senate and from Trump. (Vox / NBC News / Washington Post / Think Progress)
In a Breitbart News interview, Trump said his administration is thinking “very seriously” about designating Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. Trump’s comments come after his declaration of a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border last month. [Editor’s Note: I’m not linking to the Breitbart propaganda article, because it’s just that. You can Google for it if you’re so inclined.] (Washington Post / Raw Story)
6/ U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services plans to close all 21 international field offices, which could slow the processing of family visa applications, foreign adoptions and citizenship petitions from members of the military. Agency staffers said closing overseas offices will make it more difficult to apply to immigrate from abroad. (Washington Post / Politico / New York Times)
Notables.
The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Ohio can cut state funding to Planned Parenthood because the organization performs abortions. Four of the 11 Circuit judges who sided with Ohio were appointed by Trump. (Politico / Reuters)
The U.S. will remove all remaining diplomatic personnel from the embassy in Venezuela this week. The State Department said the decision “reflects the deteriorating situation in Venezuela,” and that “the presence of U.S. diplomatic staff at the embassy has become a constraint on U.S. policy.” They gave no additional details about the withdrawal from Caracas or the specific day on which it would occur. Venezuela is currently experiencing a five-day-long power outage. (Reuters / ABC News / Associated Press)
Mike Pompeo accused Cuba and Russia of propping up Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro. Pompeo’s statements came after the Treasury Department imposed new sanctions on a Russia-based bank that it accused of helping Maduro’s government circumvent earlier American financial penalties. (New York Times)
The director of the National Cancer Institute will take over as acting commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration when Dr. Scott Gottlieb steps down at the end of the month. Dr. Norman Sharpless has been the director of the National Cancer Institute since 2017. (Politico / New York Times)
Nancy Pelosi revoked Pence’s office in the House. Republicans gave Pence a first-floor office in the U.S. Capitol shortly after Trump was inaugurated in 2017. (NPR)
The Navy and its contractors and subcontractors are “under cyber siege” by Chinese hackers and others, according to an internal Navy review. The 57-page document reports that hackers are exploiting critical weaknesses that threaten the U.S.‘s standing as the world’s top military power. (Wall Street Journal)
1/ Trump proposed a $4.75 trillion budget, dubbed the “Budget for a Better America.” Trump requested an additional $8.6 billion for his border wall, and proposed increasing military spending by 5% to $750 billion while cutting funding for domestic discretionary spending $597 billion to $543 billion – a 9% cut in 2020. The budget calls for a 23% cut in State Department funding, a 15% cut in spending by the USDA, and a 31% cut in the budget for the EPA. The budget for Homeland Security would increase by 7.4%. The budget forecasts a $1.1 trillion deficit in 2019, 2020, and 2021, and a $1 trillion deficit in 2022 with the national debt ballooning to more than $31 trillion in the next decade by 2029. It currently stands at more than $22 trillion. Trump’s acting budget chief called the budget a “return to fiscal sanity.” (CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / The Guardian / Reuters / NPR / Wall Street Journal / CNBC)
Trump’s budget projects that the economy will continue to grow at a 3% rate or higher over the next five years – higher than independent outside projections. (CNBC)
2/ Trump claimed that “the Democrats hate Jewish people” during a fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago. He said he didn’t understand how anyone could vote for a Democrat and that they’ve become the “anti-Jewish party.” Trump also speculated that he would be at 98% in the polls if he were to run to become the prime minister of Israel. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, meanwhile, refused to say whether Trump believes Democrats hate Jewish people, saying “I think you should ask Democrats.” (Axios / The Hill)
A Trump 2020 campaign adviser dismissed a question about diversity within the administration by asking “How many black people were in Abraham Lincoln’s West Wing?” Katrina Pierson added: “I’m not going to participate in the attempt to make this all about race. It’s ridiculous.” (The Hill)
Trump tried to persuade Republican donors not a trust a video where he called the CEO of Apple “Tim Apple.” Trump told the donors that he actually said “Tim Cook Apple” really fast, but the “Cook” part of the sentence was soft. Later, Trump claimed he intentionally said “Tim/Apple” instead of Tim Cook and Apple “as an easy way to save time and words.” Tim Cook changed his Twitter profile to “Tim Apple.” (Axios / ABC News / Politico)
3/ The former owner of a massage parlor tied to a prostitution ring sold Chinese executives access to Trump through her consulting firm, GY US Investments LLC. Li Yang’s website claims its “activities for clients” have included “the opportunity to interact with the president, the [American] Minister of Commerce and other political figures.” In particular, Yang arranged for a larger group of Chinese business people to attend a paid fundraiser for Trump in New York City at the end of 2017. Yang personally gave $5,400 to Trump’s campaign and $23,500 to the Trump Victory political action committee 11 days prior to the Dec. 2, 2017 event. Foreign visitors may attend fundraisers as long as they don’t pay their own entry. GY US also claimed it has “arranged taking photos with the President” at Mar-a-Lago and suggested that could set up a “White House and Capitol Hill Dinner.” Since 2017, Yang and her relatives have donated more than $42,000 to a Trump political action committee and more than $16,000 to Trump’s campaign. (Mother Jones / Miami Herald / CNN / USA Today)
Yang also serves as an officer of two groups tied to the Chinese government. She founded a non-profit in Miami that promotes “economic and cultural exchange” between China and the U.S. in coordination with “senior…Chinese leaders” in the United States. Yang has been offering to sell access to the Trump family, the White House, and various GOP power brokers. (Mother Jones)
4/ Nancy Pelosi on impeaching Trump: “He’s just not worth it.” The Speaker of the House called Trump unfit to be president – “ethically,” “intellectually” and “curiosity-wise” — but she is “not for impeachment. […] Impeachment is so divisive to the country that unless there’s something so compelling and overwhelming and bipartisan, I don’t think we should go down that path, because it divides the country. And he’s just not worth it. (Washington Post)
Notables.
Trump will “make his decision” on whether to pardon Paul Manafort “when he’s ready,” Sarah Huckabee Sanders said. In November, Trump said that a pardon for Manafort “was never discussed,” but added that he “wouldn’t take it off the table,” rhetorically asking: “Why would I take it off the table?” The comment from Sanders came during the first official White House press briefing in six weeks. (CNBC)
The White House rejected a House Oversight Committee request to interview former deputy counsel Stefan Passantino, who represented Trump to federal ethics officials looking into hush money payments made to Stormy Daniels in 2016. (Axios)
House Intelligence chairman Adam Schiff said Robert Mueller was making a “mistake” by not demanding that Trump testify as part of his investigation, “because probably the best way to get the truth would be to put the president under oath.” (Washington Post)
Schiff claimed Erik Prince lied during testimony about a 2016 meeting with foreign nationals at Trump Tower. Prince is the former head of Blackwater, the brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, and an informal adviser to the 2016 Trump campaign. He told Al Jazeera’s Mehdi Hasan that he informed the House Intelligence Committee during his testimony in November 2017 about a meeting at Trump Tower with Trump Jr., UAE emissary George Nader, and Israeli social media manipulation specialist Joel Zamel — but none of that is in the transcript from his testimony. (Axios / Al Jazeera)
New video footage from the Venezuelan border shows an anti-government protester setting fire to a convoy of humanitarian aid last month, despite claims by Mike Pence and the State Department that President Nicolas Maduro had ordered the trucks burned. The Colombian government released partial footage from the incident and attempted to blame Maduro, but newly released footage revealed that a member of the opposition threw a Molotov cocktail at the convoy, triggering the blaze. (New York Times)
Milwaukee will host the 2020 Democratic National Convention – a key Midwestern battleground state that Democrats lost for the first time in three decades in 2016. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / New York Times)
Betsy DeVos illegally delayed implementing a rule that required states to address racial disparities in special education programs. DeVos put off implementing the regulation for two years, which will now take effect immediately after a judge ruled that the was delay “arbitrary and capricious.” (New York Times)
🏌️♂️ Trump was named the winner of his own golf club-championship despite not playing in the tournament. A man named Ted Virtue initially won the 2018 Trump International club championship title. Trump, however, challenged Virtue to a nine-hole winner-takes-the-title challenge. Trump won, then offered to be co-champions with Virtue. (Golf)
1/ Trump claimed that Michael Cohen “directly” asked him for a pardon, was told “NO,” and then lied about it last week during his House Oversight and Reform Committee testimony. During the testimony, Cohen stated he had “never asked for, nor would I accept, a pardon from Mr. Trump.” Cohen’s current lawyer, Lanny Davis, acknowledged that Cohen’s previous lawyer discussed the possibilities of a pardon with Rudy Giuliani after the FBI searched Cohen’s home and office in April 2018. Davis said that Cohen was open to the “dangled” possibility of a pardon in implicit statements by Trump’s team. Cohen replied to Trump in a tweet of his own, calling the assertion “another set of lies.” (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / USA Today)
Bad lawyer and fraudster Michael Cohen said under sworn testimony that he never asked for a Pardon. His lawyers totally contradicted him. He lied! Additionally, he directly asked me for a pardon. I said NO. He lied again! He also badly wanted to work at the White House. He lied!
Just another set of lies by @POTUS@realdonaldtrump. Mr. President...let me remind you that today is #InternationalWomensDay. You may want use today to apologize for your own #lies and #DirtyDeeds to women like Karen McDougal and Stephanie Clifford.
2/ Trump’s inauguration fund took in tens of thousands of dollars from shell companies owned by foreign contributors and others with foreign ties. The three shell companies each gave $25,000 to the fund, and at least one contribution was made by a foreign national who is reportedly ineligible to make political donations under U.S. election law. One of the donations was made through a Delaware shell company on behalf of a wealthy Indian financier. Another was made by a shell company formed in Georgia on behalf of a lobbyist with ties to the Taiwanese government, and a New York-based shell company formed by an Israeli real estate developer made the third $25,000 donation. (The Guardian)
3/ Paul Manafort was sentenced to less than four years in jail in the first of two cases against him. Manafort’s 47 months in prison for bank and tax fraud was far lighter than the 19- to 24-year prison term recommended under federal sentencing guidelines. Manafort was ordered to pay a $50,000 fine and restitution of just over $24 million. Judge T. S. Ellis said he thought the sentencing recommendation was “excessive,” adding that he believed Manafort “lived an otherwise blameless life.” It’s the longest sentence to date for a Trump associate caught up in Robert Mueller’s investigation. Manafort will also be sentenced next week on separate charges that he served as an unregistered foreign agent, laundered money and tampered with a witness. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / CNN / NPR / ABC News / CNBC)
Trump twisted Judge T. S. Ellis’s remarks made while sentencing Manafort to falsely claim “there was no collusion with Russia.” Judge Ellis said that Manafort was “not before this court for anything having to do with collusion with the Russian government to influence this election,” because Manafort was not charged with or convicted of any crimes of collusion. Trump said that he was “very honored” by Judge Ellis’s statement and that he feels “very badly” for Manafort after receiving his lenient sentence. (New York Times / Daily Beast)
4/ Trump watched the Super Bowl with the woman who founded the spa where Patriots owner Robert Kraft was caught soliciting prostitution from trafficked women. Her Facebook profile reveals photos of herself standing with Trump, Eric and Trump Jr., Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Sen. Rick Scott, Sarah Palin, and others. Cindy Yang, who sold the spa around 2013, has also visited Trump’s White House and is a member of Mar-a-Lago. A day after Kraft was charged, Trump expressed shock at the news, saying Kraft “proclaimed his innocence totally, but I was very surprised to see it.” (Miami Herald / Mother Jones)
Notables.
The House passed a sweeping voting rights, campaign-finance and ethics reform package. The legislation includes expansion of early voting, redistricting reform, making Election Day a federal holiday, automatic voter registration and stricter disclosure rules. The legislation would also require presidential and vice presidential candidates to publicly disclose 10 years of tax returns. Mitch McConnell does not plan to give the bill a vote in the Senate. (Politico / NPR)
The White House communications director resigned to join Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign. Bill Shine, a former top executive at Fox News before he resigned amid sexual harassment scandals there in 2017, joined the White House in July 2018 and is the sixth person to fill the role. (CNN / CNBC / NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post)
A White House source leaked documents related to Jared and Ivanka’s security clearance to the House Oversight Committee. The Trump administration refused to provide documents on the process for granting security clearances after the committee requested them, so a source inside the White House leaked them to the committee. One of the documents also includes details about why Jared’s security clearance was changed to “interim” in September 2017. (Axios)
Former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning was sent to jail for refusing to testify about WikiLeaks, the website she shared classified documents with in 2010. (Washington Post)
Elizabeth Warren announced a regulatory plan aimed at breaking up Amazon, Google, Apple, and Facebook. The far-reaching proposal would split up Amazon and Whole Foods, and Google and DoubleClick, as well as Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp. (CNN / New York Times)
The U.S. economy added 20,000 jobs — fewer than expected — last month. Unemployment fell to 3.8% from January’s 4%. (NPR)
Immigration and Customs Enforcement is detaining more than 50,000 people it claims are undocumented immigrants – an all-time record. ICE has detained approximately 2,000 people since Jan. 30, and is another 2,000 people shy of the 52,000-person daily detentions ICE is asking Congress to fund in its next budget. (Daily Beast)
1/ Michael Cohen asked one of his attorneys last summer to raise the possibility of a pardon with Rudy Giuliani after the FBI raids on his home and offices. It was previously reported that Cohen’s then-attorney Stephen Ryan discussed the possibility of a pardon with Giuliani. However, Cohen testified before the House Oversight Committee last week that “I have never asked for, nor would I accept, a pardon from Mr. Trump.” Cohen’s current attorney Lanny Davis says Cohen stands by his testimony because he made the statements after he withdrew from a Joint Defense Agreement with Trump and many of Trump’s advisers. (Wall Street Journal / ABC News / Associated Press)
📌 Day 775: Michael Cohen’s attorney raised the possibility of a pardon with Trump’s attorneys after the FBI raided Cohen’s properties in April. The House Judiciary Committee is currently investigating those conversations between Cohen’s attorney, Stephen Ryan, and Trump’s attorneys, Jay Sekulow, Rudy Giuliani and Joanna Hendon. Trump’s attorneys dismissed the idea at the time, but Giuliani left the possibility open that Trump could grant Cohen a pardon in the future. There is no indication that Cohen personally asked for a pardon, or that he was aware of any discussions on the subject. (Wall Street Journal/CNBC/Washington Post)
📌 Day 683: Cohen believed Trump would offer him a pardon if he stayed on message during conversations with federal prosecutors. That was before Cohen implicated Trump under oath in the illegal hush-money scheme with Stormy Daniels, which could be used as part of Mueller’s obstruction of justice probe in determining whether Trump tried to illegally influence a witness in the investigation. (CNN)
2/ Giuliani said attorneys for several people facing scrutiny from the Justice Department’s investigations into the Trump campaign and administration have reached out to him about presidential pardons for their clients. Giuliani refused to say which attorneys or which clients have contacted him about possible pardons. Giuliani claims he told them all that Trump would not consider granting pardons until long after the investigations are over. “I always gave one answer, and they always left disappointed,” Mr. Giuliani said. (New York Times)
3/ Cohen sued the Trump Organization, saying the company refused to pay $1.9 million in legal fees he’s incurred. The Trump Organization promised in July 2017 to pay Cohen’s legal bills while he was still employed by Trump, but stopped in June 2018 after Cohen began cooperating with federal prosecutors. (Bloomberg / New York Times / NBC News / CNN / Axios)
📌 Day 516: Michael Cohen has signaled that he is “willing to give” investigators information on Trump in order to alleviate pressure on himself and his family. Cohen has hired New York lawyer Guy Petrillo to represent him in the federal investigation into his business dealings and wants Trump to pay his legal fees. (CNN / Wall Street Journal)
📌 Day 466: The Trump campaign spent nearly $228,000 to pay for part of Michael Cohen’s legal fees. Federal Election Commission records show three “legal consulting” payments made from the Trump campaign to a firm representing Cohen between October 2017 and January 2018. Cohen did not have a formal role in the Trump campaign and it’s illegal to spend campaign funds for personal use. (ABC News)
📌 Day 459: Trump rejected speculation that Michael Cohen will flip, tweeting that he has “always liked and respected” his attorney. He added that “Most people will flip if the Government lets them out of trouble, even if it means lying or making up stories. Sorry, I don’t see Michael doing that despite the horrible Witch Hunt and the dishonest media!” In a flurry of weekend tweets, Trump called New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman a “third rate reporter” and a Clinton “flunkie” following her report that Cohen could end up cooperating with federal officials as legal fees and possible criminal charges pile up. (Washington Post)
4/ Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen defended the Trump administration practice of separating migrant children from their families at the border. More than 2,700 children were separated from their parents and detained by Customs and Border Protection last year – some parents were deported without their children. In testimony before the House Homeland Security Committee, Nielsen insisted that there is a “real, serious and sustained crisis at our borders” and urged Congress to confront what she called a “humanitarian catastrophe” by changing laws to crack down on illegal border crossings. Immigration advocates have challenged the characterization that there’s a national security crisis at the border. (New York Times / Associated Press / Vox / CNN / CBS News)
The Trump administration deported 471 parents who were separated from their children. At least some of those parents were deported “without being given the opportunity to elect or waive reunification.” (CNN)
5/ John Kelly called Trump’s border wall a “waste of money,” and that the migrants who cross into the U.S. illegally are “overwhelmingly not criminals.” Kelly said that the 18 months as the chief of staff were his “least” favorite job, but the most important one, because Trump “went from a guy who didn’t know how the system works” to one “who understands how it works.” (Politico / New York Times)
Notables.
Jared Kushner held U.S. embassy officials in Riyadh out of meetings with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and King Salman. Lawmakers said they were concerned that they did not have knowledge of what was discussed between Kushner, MBS and King Salman, following the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. (Daily Beast)
Mitch McConnell won’t bring an electoral reform bill to the Senate floor for a vote, calling it “offensive to average voters.” The bill contains reforms to automatic voter registration, early voting, endorsement of D.C. statehood and independent oversight of House redistricting. It is slated to pass the House this week. (Politico)
A federal judge ruled that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross acted in “bad faith,” broke several laws and violated the constitution when he added a citizenship question to the 2020 Census. The Supreme Court will review a related, narrower decision starting on April 23. (Washington Post)
Leaked documents show the U.S. government maintains a secret database of activists, journalists, and social media influencers with ties to the 2018 migrant caravan. In certain cases, Customs and Border Patrol officials placed alerts on their passports to flag them for screening at the border. Some of the people being tracked have a large “X” over their photo, indicating whether they have been arrested, interviewed, or had their documents revoked by officials. Some agents even created dossiers on each listed person. Two of the dossiers were labeled with the names of journalists, who were also listed as targets for secondary screenings at the border. “We are a criminal investigation agency, we’re not an intelligence agency,” a Homeland Security source explained. “We can’t create dossiers on people and they’re creating dossiers. This is an abuse of the Border Search Authority.” (NBC San Diego)
📌Day 776: ICE has been keeping tabs on a series of left-leaning and “anti-Trump protests” in New York City. The agency tracked protests that promoted immigrants’ rights and those that opposed Trump’s deportation policies, plus one protest against the NRA and one that was organized by a sitting member of Congress. (The Nation)
🍿👀 Crime Time TV:
Paul Manafort will face the first of two sentencing hearings today more than a year after Mueller secured an 18-count indictment against the former lobbyist on charges related to tax and bank fraud. Manafort faces between 19 and 25 years in prison as well as millions of dollars in fines and restitution for the crimes. He is expected to receive the harshest punishment of the half-dozen former Trump associates who have been prosecuted by the special counsel. Manafort’s future is now in the hands of U.S. District Court Judge T.S. Ellis. (ABC News / New York Times / CNN)
1/ Trump pressured John Kelly and White House counsel Don McGahn to give Ivanka a security clearance against their recommendations. While Trump does have the legal authority to grant clearances to anyone he wants, those decisions are typically left to the White House personnel security office, which raised concerns. Trump wanted Kelly and McGahn to make the final decision so it wouldn’t look like he had a hand in the process. After both of them refused, Trump granted the clearance anyway. (CNN)
📌 Day 770: Trump ordered John Kelly to grant Jared Kushner a top-secret security clearance last year and overrule concerns by intelligence officials and Donald McGahn, the White House’s top lawyer. Both Kelly and McGahn wrote contemporaneous internal memos outlining Trump’s “order” to give Kushner the clearance. In January, Trump said he had no role in Kushner receiving his clearance. (New York Times)
2/ On 11 different occasions while in office Trump issued personal checks to Michael Cohen meant as reimbursement for the hush money payments Cohen made to Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election. The dates on the checks show Trump was simultaneously managing affairs of state while also repaying his former personal attorney for keeping Trump’s personal secrets hidden from the public. Of the eight checks now available, seven were for $35,000 and another was for $70,000. Six were signed by Trump and the other two were signed by Trump Jr. and Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s chief financial officer. (New York Times)
📌 Day 769: During public testimony before the House Oversight Committee, Michael Cohen accused Trump of “criminal conduct” while in office, including the fact that Trump knew ahead of time about WikiLeaks’ plan to release DNC emails that were intended to damage Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. Cohen testified that Trump “asked me to pay off an adult film star with whom he had an affair” with $130,000 of his own money weeks before the 2016 election “to avoid any money being traced back to him that could negatively impact his campaign.” Cohen also described his relationship with Trump: “He is a racist. He is a conman. He is a cheat.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Reuters / Vox / Wall Street Journal / Politico)
Michael Cohen provided documents to the House Intelligence Committee showing edits to the 2017 false written statement he delivered to Congress about the Trump Organization’s continued pursuit of the Trump Tower Moscow project during the 2016 campaign. It was Cohen’s fourth appearance before Congress since last week. (CNN / ABC News / Washington Post)
3/ Trump intends to nominate Jessie Liu to be the associate attorney general. Liu is the current U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, which has taken the lead on handling Mueller’s criminal case against Roger Stone, and convened a grand jury to investigate whether former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe should face criminal charges for lying to investigators about his interactions with reporters. By moving Liu out of that job, Trump can now nominate somebody to oversee some of the prosecutions brought by Mueller. Liu also served on Trump’s transition team at the Justice Department. She acknowledged that her 2017 in-person interview with Trump before he nominated her to be U.S. attorney was “unusual,” since U.S. attorneys don’t normally meet with the president as part of the interview process. (Wall Street Journal / Reuters / Politico / Washington Post / NBC News)
The Senate confirmed a judge to a lifetime appointment who once interned at the Alliance Defending Freedom, which is designated as an anti-LGBTQ hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. (Washington Post)
The Senate confirmed a judge who supported a lawsuit challenging the Affordable Care Act. (Politico)
Mitch McConnell is again preparing to use the “nuclear option” to change Senate rules and allow a simple majority to confirm conservative judges to lifetime appointments. The Senate is on track to confirm Trump’s 34th Circuit Court judge. (Politico)
The Mueller report no one’s talking about: Justice Department rules require an accounting of any time supervisors told the special counsel “no” during his work. (Politico)
4/ The U.S. trade deficit on goods ballooned to $891.3 billion in 2018 – the highest ever – driven in part by Trump’s $1.5 trillion tax cut. Since Trump imposed tariffs on steel, aluminum and other Chinese goods, the trade deficit grew by 12.5% from 2017, or nearly $70 billion dollars. Trump’s trade war with China and others has cost the U.S. at least $19.2 billion, with Americans paying at least $12.3 billion to the U.S. government in tariffs while losing $6.9 billion in income due to trade-war-related market disruptions. (New York Times / Washington Post / Quartz)
poll/ 40% of Florida voters believe Trump should be reelected, while 53% are opposed to a second term. Trump has a 43% approval rating in Florida with 52% viewing him unfavorably — and 46% very unfavorably. (Bendixen and Amandi International / Politico)
Notables.
New commercial imagery and analysis reveal that North Korea has started a “rapid rebuilding” of its long-range ballistic missile site at the Sohae Launch Facility. The site is North Korea’s only operational space launch facility, and uses similar technology to what is used to launch intercontinental ballistic missiles. The renewed activity was observed just two days after the latest summit in Hanoi, Vietnam between Trump and Kim Jong-Un, and “may indicate North Korean plans to demonstrate resolve in the face of U.S. rejection of North Korea’s demands at the summit to lift five U.N. Security Council sanctions enacted in 2016-2017,” according to a project sponsored by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. (NBC News / New York Times)
Trump canceled the requirement that U.S. intelligence officials publicly report the numbers of people killed in drone strikes and other attacks on terrorist targets outside of war zones. The Obama-era rule was part of an accountability effort to minimize civilian deaths from drone strikes. (Bloomberg / NBC News)
ICE has been keeping tabs on a series of left-leaning and “anti-Trump protests” in New York City. The agency tracked protests that promoted immigrants’ rights and those that opposed Trump’s deportation policies, plus one protest against the NRA and one that was organized by a sitting member of Congress. (The Nation)
The Democratic National Committee will not allow Fox News to broadcast any of its 2020 presidential primary debates. DNC Chairman Tom Perez cited the New Yorker story this week that detailed how Fox has promoted Trump’s agenda, suggesting that the network had become a “propaganda” vehicle for Trump. (NPR / Washington Post)
1/ Trump accused House Democratic leaders of going “stone cold CRAZY” by opening an oversight investigation into his administration and allies, arguing that the lawmakers are needlessly harassing 81 “innocent people” and groups with demands for documents. Trump claimed the Democrats are conducting a “big, fat, fishing expedition” which amounts to “PRESIDENTIAL HARASSMENT!” (Politico / Washington Post)
House Democrats plan to request 10 years of Trump’s tax returns in the coming weeks. The House Ways and Means Committee is using a 1924 law that gives the chairmen tax-writing committees the ability to demand the tax returns of White House officials. Trump has said he won’t allow Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to turn over his personal tax records. The 1924 law, however, doesn’t give Mnuchin the ability to deny a congressional request, as the law says he “shall” turn over the records. (Washington Post)
House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff hired a former assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York to lead the committee’s investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia. Daniel Goldman has experience fighting Russian organized crime, and has served as the district’s deputy chief of the organized crime unit and oversaw prosecutions into traditional organized crime, international organized crime and white collar crime. (Axios / New Yorker)
House Democrats introduced a bill to protect White House whistleblowers subject to nondisclosure agreements. The legislation “clarifies that any non-disclosure agreements signed by White House employees do not cover actions protected by federal whistleblower law, and ensures that those in the Administration with knowledge of wrongdoing will not be afraid to speak the truth.” (The Hill)
Senate Republicans rejected calls to investigate whether Trump committed crimes over a scheme to pay off women alleging extramarital affairs. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which investigated Hillary Clinton’s email controversy in the last Congress, wants to wait until Mueller finishes his investigation first. (CNN)
2/ New York State regulators issued a subpoena to the Trump Organization’s insurance broker. The request comes days after Michael Cohen testified that the Trump Organization inflated the value of its assets to insurance companies. The New York regulators are requesting copies of the insurance policies issued by Aon brokerage to Trump and the Trump Organization, as well as applications and financial statements used to secure the policies. The Trump Organization is now facing scrutiny from federal prosecutors, congressional Democrats, and insurance regulators. (New York Times)
3/ The White House rejected a House Oversight Committee request for documents about Jared Kushner’s security clearance and the White House’s process for granting security clearances to personnel. White House Counsel Pat Cipollone called it an “overly intrusive document requests.” Separately, Trump suggested that the White House will refuse to comply with requests for documents from the House Judiciary Committee. (Axios / Politico / Washington Post / CNBC)
📌 Day 770: Trump ordered John Kelly to grant Jared Kushner a top-secret security clearance last year and overrule concerns by intelligence officials and Donald McGahn, the White House’s top lawyer. Both Kelly and McGahn wrote contemporaneous internal memos outlining Trump’s “order” to give Kushner the clearance. In January, Trump said he had no role in Kushner receiving his clearance. (New York Times)
4/ Former White House attorney Ty Cobb called Robert Mueller “an American hero” and that he disagreed with Trump’s view that the investigation is a politically motivated “witch hunt.” Cobb added that he believes Mueller’s final report will spare Trump from any serious political harm, and that the investigation will continue into 2020. “[I]t’s never going to be over,” Cobb said. “I mean, this is going to go through 2020. And if the president is reelected, it’ll go beyond that.” Cobb said the Trump legal team’s confrontational approach to the Mueller probe “wouldn’t have been” his strategy, adding that he doesn’t “feel the same way about Mueller.” (ABC News / NBC News)
5/ Attorney General William Barr will not recuse himself from overseeing Mueller’s investigation into the Trump campaign. Last year as a lawyer in private practice, Barr sent the Justice Department an unsolicited 19-page memo that criticized Mueller’s investigation into possible obstruction and collusion by Trump as “fatally misconceived.” (CNBC / Politico / Reuters)
Matthew Whitaker, the former acting attorney general, resigned from the Justice Department over the weekend. Whitaker served from Nov. 7 until he was replaced on Feb. 14 when Barr was sworn in. (Los Angeles Times)
6/ Robert Mueller notified a federal judge about Roger Stone’s Instagram post that could be a violation of the judge’s gag order. Mueller did not take a position on the post when notifying Judge Amy Berman of Stone’s social media post suggesting that he’d been “framed” by the special counsel and ahead of the re-release of a book he co-wrote that explores the “myth of Russian collusion.” If Jackson finds that Stone violated his gag order, she could have him jailed without bail pending his trial on charges of lying to Congress, witness tampering and obstructing justice. (CNBC / Politico)
Two websites used by Stone to raise funds for his criminal case legal defense have been deleted. (CNBC)
7/ Michael Cohen’s attorney raised the possibility of a pardon with Trump’s attorneys after the FBI raided Cohen’s properties in April. The House Judiciary Committee is currently investigating those conversations between Cohen’s attorney, Stephen Ryan, and Trump’s attorneys, Jay Sekulow, Rudy Giuliani and Joanna Hendon. Trump’s attorneys dismissed the idea at the time, but Giuliani left the possibility open that Trump could grant Cohen a pardon in the future. There is no indication that Cohen personally asked for a pardon, or that he was aware of any discussions on the subject. (Wall Street Journal / CNBC / Washington Post)
poll/ 64% of Americans believe that Trump committed crimes before he was elected. 45% believe that Trump has committed crimes while in office. And, 50% say they believe Cohen more than Trump. (Quinnipiac)
poll/ 64% of American think Trump should publicly release his tax returns, while 29% believe he should not. (Quinnipiac)
Notables.
T-Mobile spent $195,000 at Trump’s Washington hotel after the announcement of its merger with its Sprint last April. Before news of the deal broke on April 29, 2018, only two top officials from T-Mobile had ever stayed at Trump’s hotel. (Washington Post / Reuters)
Trump accused India of unfairly shutting out American businesses and announced plans to end special trade treatment for the country. Trump sent a letter to Congress and signaled his intent to remove India from a program that gives developing nations easier access to U.S. markets. The Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program lowers U.S. duties on exports from 121 countries. India was the biggest beneficiary of the program in 2017, with exemptions on $5.6 billion worth of goods. (CNN)
Trump agrees “100%” with keeping a military presence in Syria two months after declaring all U.S. troops are leaving the country. U.S.-backed forces in Syria, however, are holding more than 2,000 suspected Islamic State fighters – at least double previous estimates. (NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
Donor records reveal that Trump or Ivanka have donated to six of the declared or potential 2020 Democratic presidential candidates, including Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, and Kirsten Gillibrand. Harris received money from Trump six years ago, Jared and Ivanka held a fundraiser for Booker, and Gillibrand accepted Trump family donations three times over a seven-year period. Trump gave Harris two donations worth a total of $6,000 in 2011 and 2013, when she was already a rising star in the Democratic Party as California’s attorney general. The donations were among several contributions Trump gave to attorneys general who were investigating Trump University or had investigated it in the past. (Politico)
Bernie Sanders will “run and serve as a member of the Democratic Party.” Sanders has also filed paperwork for reelection to the Senate in 2024 as an independent. (Politico)
Michael Bloomberg will not run for president in 2020. Bloomberg is expected to still be involved in the 2020 general election, organizing and funding opposition to Trump. (New York Times)
FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb resigned, effective in about a month. Gottlieb is credited with leading the FDA’s charge against underaged vaping. (Politico / CNBC / Washington Post)
1/ The House Judiciary Committee launched a broad investigation into possible obstruction of justice, corruption and abuse of power by Trump and his administration. Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler sent letters demanding documents from more than 80 family members, business associates, political confidants, and entities tied to Trump, including the Trump Organization, the Trump campaign, the Trump Foundation, the presidential inaugural committee, the White House, Trump Jr., Eric Trump, Jared Kushner, Hope Hicks, Steve Bannon, Sean Spicer, the National Rifle Association, and others. The Judiciary Committee has jurisdiction over impeachment, and any hearings that explore whether Trump committed “high crimes and misdemeanors” would take place before the panel. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / Wall Street Journal / ABC News / CNN / NBC News / Daily Beast)
House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff says there is “direct evidence” of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians. Schiff said the evidence can be found “in the emails from the Russians through their intermediary offering dirt on Hillary Clinton as part of what is described in writing as the Russian government effort to help elect Donald Trump.” Schiff says the Russians offered dirt on Clinton and that “[t]here is an acceptance of that offer in writing from the president’s son, Don Jr., and there is overt acts and furtherance of that.” (Fox News / CBS News)
The ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee said lawmakers found “enormous amounts of evidence” that Trump colluded with the Russians during the 2016 campaign. Sen. Mark Warner said there is “no one that could factually say there’s not plenty of evidence of collaboration or communications between Trump Organization and Russians.” (Politico / Fox News)
The House Ways and Means Committee is expected to request Trump’s personal tax returns. Democrats say they are prepared to “take all necessary steps,” including litigation, in order to obtain them. (NBC News)
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said the hush money payments made by Michael Cohen to women on behalf of Trump “aren’t impeachable” offenses. McCarthy downplayed the significance of the payments and referred to the campaign finance violations as mere fines. “I watched — this is a — if it’s a finance campaign, those are fines,” McCarthy said. “Those aren’t impeachable in the process.” He added that other politicians have done “this exact same thing in the past.” (ABC News / NBC News)
2/ Mitch McConnell expects the resolution to overturn Trump’s emergency declaration to pass in the Republican-led Senate – but not survive a veto by Trump – after Rand Paul became the fourth Republican to announce he would vote for the disapproval resolution. “We may want more money for border security,” Paul said, “but Congress didn’t authorize it. If we take away those checks and balances, it’s a dangerous thing.” Trump promised to veto the resolution if it reaches his desk, which would be the first veto of his presidency. Neither the House nor the Senate have the votes needed to override a presidential veto. (Politico / Axios / CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / USA Today)
3/ Trump ordered Gary Cohn to pressure the Justice Department to block AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner, which owns CNN, a few months before the Justice Department eventually filed suit to stop the merger in the summer of 2017. The next day Trump declared the proposed merger “not good for the country.” Trump called Cohn, then the director of the National Economic Council, into the Oval Office along with John Kelly and said to Kelly: “I’ve been telling Cohn to get this lawsuit filed and nothing’s happened! I’ve mentioned it fifty times. And nothing’s happened. I want to make sure it’s filed. I want that deal blocked!” (New Yorker)
Roger Ailes reportedly informed the Trump campaign in advance about questions Megyn Kelly would ask during the first Republican Presidential debate in 2015, according to a pair of Fox insiders and a source close to Trump. During the debate in Cleveland, Kelly asked Trump started to ask the question: “You’ve called women you don’t like ‘fat pigs,’ ‘dogs,’ ‘slobs,’ and ‘disgusting animals.’” Trump interrupted her question with the quip: “Only Rosie O’Donnell!” A former Trump campaign aide said that a Fox contact gave Trump advance notice of a different debate question, which asked if candidates would support the Republican nominee, regardless of who won. (New Yorker)
4/ A coalition of 21 states filed suit to block the Trump administration’s changes to the Title X family planning program, which would shift tens of millions of dollars from Planned Parenthood toward faith-based pregnancy clinics. The new rule that would affect more than 4 million low-income women who receive services including cancer screenings and pregnancy tests through the Department of Health and Human Services program. (Washington Post)
poll/ 41% of voters say they would vote to re-elect Trump in 2020 while 48% say they would probably vote for the Democratic candidate. 58% don’t think Trump’s been honest and truthful regarding the Russia probe, and 60% disapprove of his recent national emergency declaration to build a border wall. (NBC News)
Notables.
Roger Stone suggested he has been “framed” by Robert Mueller in an Instagram post, possibly violating the gag order barring him from criticizing the prosecutors in the criminal case against him. Stone published the post less than 48 hours after Judge Amy Berman Jackson ordered his lawyers to explain why they didn’t tell her about the planned publication of a book by Stone that could violate her gag order on him. On Feb. 15, Stone said on Instagram that his book, “The Myth of Russian Collusion: The Inside Story of How Trump Really Won,” would be published March 1. Digital versions of the book have been on sale since Feb. 19, however. (CNBC / Washington Post)
Trump blamed Michael Cohen’s congressional testimony for the reason that negotiations with North Korea collapsed. At the time, Trump said he walked away from the summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un because of a disagreement about economic sanctions on North Korea. (Washington Post)
North Korean hackers continued to attack the computer networks of more than 100 companies in the U.S. and ally nations while Trump was meeting with Kim Jong-un last week. The attacks began in 2017 when Trump mocked Kim as “rocket man” in a speech at the United Nations. (New York Times)
Trump has made 9,014 false or misleading statements over the last 773 days. Trump averaged nearly 5.9 false or misleading claims per day during his first year in office, and he hit nearly 16.5 per day in his second year. In 2019, he’s averaging nearly 22 per day. (Washington Post)
1/ Otto Warmbier’s family blamed Kim Jong Un for the death of their son a day after Trump said he took Kim “at his word” that the North Korean dictator was not responsible. Fred and Cindy Warmbier called Kim the leader of an “evil regime” that is “responsible for unimaginable cruelty and inhumanity” that resulted in Warmbier death in 2017. Warmbier was arrested for taking a propaganda banner from a hotel in Pyongyang in January 2016 and was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor. He was released in a coma after 17 months and died days later. (NBC News / CNN / Washington Post)
The North Korean delegation to the Trump-Kim summit disputed Trump’s claim that Kim demanded that the U.S. lift all sanctions in order for North Korea to move forward with denuclearization. “Basically,” Trump said yesterday, “they wanted the sanctions lifted in their entirety, and we couldn’t do that. We had to walk away from that.” Hours later, two top officials from the North Korean delegation told reporters Kim had only asked for partial sanctions relief in exchange for shutting down their main nuclear complex. An anonymous senior U.S. official acknowledged that Kim only wanted the U.N. Security Council to lift the sanctions imposed since March 2016, and did not include sanctions from the previous decade. (Associated Press)
The U.S. military will end its annual, large-scale joint exercises conducted with South Korea in an effort to ease tensions with North Korea. The exercises will be replaced with smaller, mission-specific training. (NBC News)
2/ Michael Cohen and Felix Sater will both testify before the House Intelligence Committee on March 14 to testify about Trump’s effort to build a skyscraper in Russia. Cohen interviewed with the House Intelligence Committee for more than seven hours yesterday. Sater is a Russian-born Trump Organization executive who worked on the Trump Tower Moscow project with Cohen. (CNN / Associated Press)
Trump attacked Cohen’s credibility and accused him of perjury. Trump tweeted that his former personal attorney’s proposed “Book is exact opposite of his fake testimony, which now is a lie!” Trump also referenced a description of Cohen’s book as a “love letter to Trump.” (Washington Post)
Who is Felix Sater and what’s his role in Michael Cohen’s plea deal? (CBS News)
3/ Robert Mueller is expected to need five to eight days for Roger Stone’s trial for lying to Congress and obstruction of justice. The anticipated trial length does not account for any witnesses that Stone’s lawyers plan to call in his defense. (Politico)
poll/ A majority of Americans favor government action to help reduce the cost of prescription medication in the U.S. 86% of respondents support having Medicare negotiate directly with drug companies to get lower prices, something Medicare is currently barred from doing. 80% believe drug company profits are a major factor in the high price of prescription drugs, and 65% support tying the price that Medicare pays for medication to the prices paid by the health services of other countries. (Kaiser Family Foundation / NPR)
Notables.
More than 1,000 TSA employees have not received all of the back-pay they are owed for work during the shutdown, which lasted from December 22 until January 25. (CNN)
Trump reiterated his plans to veto the House-passed resolution that would end his national emergency declaration. “We’ll be fine,” Trump told Sean Hannity. When Hannity suggested that Trump would veto the resolution and that Congress would not be able to overturn the veto, Trump said, “Yeah.” The Senate is required to vote on the House-passed measure within 18 days of its passage, and only four GOP senators need to vote with the Democrats in order for it to pass. Three Republicans have already indicated that they will back the resolution. (NBC News)
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol data show more undocumented immigrants are choosing to cross the border illegally instead of waiting in line to claim asylum at legal U.S. ports of entry as a result of the Trump administration’s policies at the southern border. As CBP has cracked down on the number of migrants who can be processed at ports of entry, the number of migrants caught crossing illegally has gone up by 10 percent over the same period since last year. (NBC News)
Three high-profile immigrant rights organizations sent a joint letter to DHS accusing ICE of detaining an “alarming” number of infants at a Texas detention center without providing the legally-required level of care. The letter claims that at least nine infants younger than a year old are being held in ICE custody at the South Texas Family Residential Center. One of the infants is alleged to have been detained for more than 20 days. The letter also expressed “grave concern” about the lack of specialized medical care available to families who are being held at the facility. (Newsweek)
Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee announced that he is running for president, centering his campaign around climate change, calling it “the most urgent challenge of our time.” (NBC News / CNN / Politico)
1/ Trump and Kim Jong-Un abruptly ended their summit in Vietnam after negotiations over North Korea’s nuclear disarmament collapsed. The two leaders were unable to agree on steps toward denuclearization or any measures to ease tensions between North and South Korea. Trump said the main issue was the sanctions, which Kim wanted Trump to remove entirely. “We had some options,” Trump said, “but at this time we decided not to do any of the options.” He added, “Sometimes you have to walk, and this was just one of those times.” (Politico / New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post)
Trump defended North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un over the death of Otto Warmbier because Kim told “me he didn’t know about it, and I take him at his word.” (CNN / Politico / Washington Post)
2/ Trump ordered John Kelly to grant Jared Kushner a top-secret security clearance last year and overrule concerns by intelligence officials and Donald McGahn, the White House’s top lawyer. Both Kelly and McGahn wrote contemporaneous internal memos outlining Trump’s “order” to give Kushner the clearance. In January, Trump said he had no role in Kushner receiving his clearance. (New York Times)
3/ The D.C. attorney general’s office subpoenaed Trump’s inaugural committee for documents related to how the fund raised $107 million and whether the fund’s spending was “wasteful, mismanaged” or “improperly provided private benefit.” The subpoena requested records of all payments from or on behalf of the committee to the Trump Organization, including any relating to the Trump International Hotel in Washington. The committee paid the hotel $1.5 million. It’s the third request to the committee for documents – the first two were made by federal prosecutors in Manhattan and by New Jersey’s attorney general. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
4/ The House Intelligence Committee intends to call the Trump Organization’s Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg to testify. Michael Cohen repeatedly cited Weisselberg’s firsthand knowledge of alleged financial irregularities during his public testimony before the House Oversight Committee yesterday. Weisselberg was granted limited immunity by New York prosecutors to provide information in their case involving Cohen’s hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal. Weisselberg does not have an ongoing cooperation agreement with prosecutors. (Daily Beast / NBC News / Washington Post)
5/ The House Oversight Committee will seek to interview Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, and Weisselberg. Michael Cohen indicated to Congress that all three were involved in hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels, and that Trump Jr. and Weisselberg signed one of the $35,000 checks reimbursing him for the payment. Cohen also said that he briefed Trump Jr. and Ivanka about Trump Tower Moscow approximately 10 times, though Trump Jr. testified to the Senate Intelligence Committee in 2017 that he was only “peripherally aware” of the project. (Politico / Wall Street Journal / Axios)
6/ Robert Mueller corrected part of a previous allegation that Paul Manafort lied about his contacts with his Russian business associate, Konstantin Kilimnik. Mueller cited new evidence obtained less than two weeks ago from Trump’s former deputy campaign manager, Rick Gates, which appears to suggest that Mueller made a mistake with one of his accusations against Manafort. Mueller’s recently revised court filing says the revision should not change the ruling by Judge Amy Berman Jackson that Manafort lied about his interactions with Kilimnik because they have presented enough additional evidence to support the underlying allegation. (New York Times)
The foreign-linked mystery company fighting Mueller to avoid handing over records has racked up $2.25 million in fines. Lawyers for the mystery firm have argued that because the company is entirely owned by a foreign government it should not be subject to subpoena in a U.S. criminal investigation. (Politico)
Notables.
Roger Stone disputed Michael Cohen’s claims that Stone and Trump discussed WikiLeaks’ forthcoming DNC email dump in July 2016, saying “Mr. Cohen’s statement is not true.” Stone’s “statement” on Cohen’s testimony, which came in the form of a single text message sent to BuzzFeed News, did not indicate which part of Cohen’s testimony was false. Stone is currently under a gag order not to publicly comment on his case or Robert Mueller’s investigation, including any “participants” in his case or the investigation. (BuzzFeed News)
GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz says he “personally apologized” to Michael Cohen after he publicly threatened to reveal information about Cohen’s alleged “girlfriends” in a tweet sent shortly before Cohen’s testimony. “I’ve personally apologized to @MichaelCohen212 4 referencing his private family in the public square,” Gaetz tweeted. “Regardless of disagreements, family members should be off-limits from attacks … Let’s leave the Cohen family alone.” The Florida Bar Association is currently investigating Gaetz’s original threat as a possible violation of its rules of professionalism. (NBC News / Daily Beast)
The Pentagon offered to remove all U.S. troops from Afghanistan within three to five years as part of peace negotiations that could lead to a government in Kabul that shares power with the Taliban. (New York Times)
The Senate confirmed Andrew Wheeler as administrator of the EPA in a 52 to 47 vote mostly along party lines. Sen. Susan Collins was the only Republican to vote against him. Republicans have praised Wheeler for his deregulatory agenda, which includes weakening regulations for reducing emissions from power plants and cars, while also proposing to make new coal-fired power plants easier to approve. Wheeler has acknowledged that climate change is real, but doesn’t consider it a priority at EPA. (New York Times / Washington Post / Axios / Politico)
Overview: During public testimony before the House Oversight Committee, Michael Cohen accused Trump of “criminal conduct” while in office, including the fact that Trump knew ahead of time about WikiLeaks’ plan to release DNC emails that were intended to damage Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. Cohen testified that Trump “asked me to pay off an adult film star with whom he had an affair” with $130,000 of his own money weeks before the 2016 election “to avoid any money being traced back to him that could negatively impact his campaign.” Cohen also described his relationship with Trump: “He is a racist. He is a conman. He is a cheat.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Reuters / Vox / Wall Street Journal / Politico)
📚 READ: Cohen’s opening statement to Congress (CNN)
📝 ANNOTATED: Cohen’s opening statement about Trump (Washington Post)
📄 KEY EXCERPTS: From Cohen’s testimony on the “truth about Trump.” (The Guardian)
⚡️ Key Moments:
This is a work in progress. Check back for updates. If a blurb isn’t directly sourced, please see the live blog links above.
1/ Cohen said Trump knew that Roger Stone was communicating with WikiLeaks during the 2016 election and had advance knowledge that WikiLeaks planned to publish the hacked Democratic National Committee emails intended to damage Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. In his prepared written testimony, Cohen alleged that, in July 2016, he witnessed Trump taking a phone call from Roger Stone, who was on speakerphone. During the call, Stone told Trump that “he had just gotten off the phone with [WikiLeaks founder] Julian Assange and that …within a couple of days, there would be a massive dump of emails that would damage Hillary Clinton’s campaign.” Stone pushed back against Cohen’s claim, saying in a text message to BuzzFeed News: “Mr. Cohen’s statement is not true.” Stone, however, is under a gag order not to publicly comment on his case, Mueller’s investigation, or any “participants” in his case or the investigation. (Washington Post / CNN / BuzzFeed News)
📌 Day 678: Trump told Robert Mueller that Roger Stone did not tell him about WikiLeaks and that he was not told about the 2016 Trump Tower meeting between Trump Jr., campaign officials, and a Russian lawyer promising dirt on Hillary Clinton. Trump added a caveat that his responses were to the best of his recollection. For comparison, Trump also does not “remember much” from the meeting with George Papadopoulos, where Papadopoulos offered to arrange a meeting with Putin. Trump, however, has previously claimed to have “one of the great memories of all time,” using it as justification for not using notes during his meeting with Kim Jong Un, and blaming Sgt. La David Johnson’s widow when he stumbled over the solider’s name during a condolence call. (CNN)
[Perspective] Why it Matters if Trump Knew About Stone’s Contacts with WikiLeaks. It matters because WikiLeaks has a long and documented history of engaging in activities damaging to U.S. national security. (Lawfare)
2/ Cohen said he doesn’t “know of direct evidence” that “Trump or his campaign colluded with Russia” during the 2016 election, “but I have my suspicions.” Cohen said that he was in the room with Trump, “probably in early June 2016,” when Trump Jr. “came into the room and walked behind his father’s desk,” leaned over “to his father and speaking in a low voice, which I could clearly hear, and saying: ‘The meeting is all set.’ I remember Mr. Trump saying, ‘Ok good…let me know.’” Cohen added that “Trump had frequently told me and others that his son Don Jr. had the worst judgment of anyone in the world.” (Daily Beast)
📌 Day 172: Donald Trump Jr. met with a Kremlin-connected Russian lawyer to acquire damaging information about Hillary Clinton in June 2016 at Trump Tower in New York City. On Saturday, Trump Jr. said the meeting was about the issue of US adoptions of Russian children and not the campaign. However, in March, Trump Jr. said he never met with any Russians while working in a campaign capacity. The meeting – attended by Trump Jr., Paul Manafort, and Jared Kushner – was disclosed when Kushner filed a revised form in order to obtain a security clearance. Manafort also recently disclosed the meeting, and Trump Jr.’s role in organizing it, to congressional investigators looking into his foreign contacts. (New York Times / Washington Post)
📌 Day 544: Michael Cohen says Trump knew in advance about Trump Jr.’s meeting at Trump Tower in June 2016 with a Russian lawyer promising dirt on Hillary Clinton. Cohen doesn’t have evidence to back up his claim, but he is reportedly willing to make the assertion as part of his testimony to Robert Mueller. Cohen claims that he, along with several others, were in the room when Trump Jr. told Trump about the Russian’s offer. According to Cohen, Trump approved the meeting with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya. Cohen’s claim contradicts Trump, Trump Jr., their lawyers, and administration officials who have repeatedly said Trump didn’t know about the meeting until he was asked about it in July 2017. Trump’s response at the time was: “No. That I didn’t know. Until a couple of days ago, when I heard about this. No I didn’t know about that.” A few days later, Trump was again asked whether he knew about the meeting. His response: “No, I didn’t know anything about the meeting…. must have been a very unimportant meeting, because I never even heard about it … nobody told me.”(CNN / NBC News / Washington Post)
📌 Day 554: Trump tweeted that he “did NOT know” in advance about Trump Jr.’s Trump Tower meeting , disputing Michael Cohen’s assertion that he did and accusing him of “trying to make up stories.” Cohen said he’s willing to testify that then-candidate Trump knew in advance about the 2016 meeting in Trump Tower. In July 2017, it was reported that Trump personally dictated Trump Jr.‘s statement about the latter’s meeting with the Russian lawyer, claiming they had “primarily discussed a program about the adoption of Russian children.” (Washington Post / CNN)
3/ Cohen suggested that federal prosecutors in New York are investigating an unspecified crime involving Trump that has not been made public yet. Cohen said he has “been asked by them not to discuss, and not to talk about these issues.” Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York recently issued a request for documents related to donations and spending by Trump’s inaugural committee. Cohen also said prosecutors in New York are investigating conversations that Trump or his advisers had with Cohen after his hotel room was raided by the FBI in April 2018. (Washington Post / Associated Press)
4/ Cohen provided a copy of a $35,000 check that was personally signed by Trump in 2017 to reimburse him for paying off Stormy Daniels, who had alleged having an affair with Trump. Cohen also submitted copies of additional $35,000 checks that Trump Jr. and the COO of the Trump Organization made “to reimburse me for the hush money payments.” Cohen said that Trump directed him to lie about the hush payments to Stormy Daniels by telling Congress that Trump had no knowledge of payments. Trump was president when this happened. (Washington Post / Axios / The Guardian)
5/ Cohen: “I’ve never been to Prague. I’ve never been to the Czech Republic.”
📌 Day 707: Michael Cohen’s cell phone was briefly activated near Prague around time of the Russia meeting described in the Steele dossier, which purports that Cohen and one or more Kremlin officials met in or around the Czech capital to plot ways to limit discovery of the close “liaison” between the Trump campaign and Russia. Additionally, around the same period of late August or early September 2016, electronic eavesdropping by an Eastern European intelligence agency picked up Russians remarking that Cohen was in Prague. The cell phone and eavesdropping evidence was shared with Robert Mueller. (McClatchy DC)
📌Day 450: Robert Mueller has evidence that Michael Cohen made a secret trip to Prague during the 2016 presidential campaign, entering through Germany in “August or early September.” Confirmation of the trip corroborates part of the Christopher Steele dossier that Cohen met with an ally of Putin. Cohen has denied that he has ever been in Prague and that he colluded with Russia during the campaign. (McClatchy DC)
6/ In October 2016, Cohen said he received a call from Hope Hicks asking for help dealing with the “Access Hollywood” tape, where Trump had bragged about kissing, groping and trying to have sex with women, saying he’d “grab them by the p—y. You can do anything,” because “when you’re a star, they let you do it.” Hicks told Cohen: “We want you to just spin this.” (Washington Post)
7/ Cohen claimed that Trump asked him to threaten people “probably” 500 different people and entities over a decade.
The Florida Bar has opened an investigation into whether Rep. Matt Gaetz violated professional conduct rules by threatening Michael Cohen ahead of Cohen’s congressional testimony. Yesterday, Gatez threatened Cohen with revealing Cohen’s “girlfriends” over his testimony, adding that “maybe tonight would be a good time for that chat.” (Daily Beast)
8/ Cohen said he never saw proof that Trump’s tax returns were being audited, which was Trump’s reasoning for not releasing his tax filings during the 2016 campaign. Cohen said he presumed that Trump did not want to release his tax returns because he “didn’t want an entire group of think tanks, who are tax experts, to run through his returns and start ripping it to pieces” out of fear that he would then “end up in an audit and he’ll ultimately have taxable consequences, penalties, and so on.” (NBC News / The Guardian)
✏️ Notables.
The House Oversight Committee wants to depose both Trump’s long-time tax lawyer and the former deputy White House Counsel in charge of compliance and ethics. The panel wants to ask about Trump’s legally mandated financial ethics disclosures for the payments made before the 2016 presidential election by Cohen to buy the silence of women who claimed they had affairs with Trump. (Reuters)
Trump met with Kim Jong-Un in Vietnam for the first day of his second summit with the North Korean dictator. Trump called Kim a “great leader” and promised to help North Korea to become a “great economic power.” At a dinner between the two men, Trump said he believes the summit will “lead to a wonderful, really a wonderful situation long term.” (Daily Beast / Associated Press / Washington Post)
The White House banned four U.S. journalists from covering Trump’s dinner with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un after they shouted questions earlier in the day. Reporters from the Associated Press, Bloomberg News, the Los Angeles Times and Reuters were excluded because of what White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said were “sensitivities over shouted questions in the previous sprays.” (Washington Post / Politico)
The House passed legislation mandating federal criminal background checks on all gun sales – the most significant gun control measure in more than two decades. The Senate, however, is unlikely to take up the measure and, even if it does, Trump has already said he would veto it because they impose unreasonable requirements on gun owners. (Politico / NPR / BuzzFeed News)
Former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker has agreed to return to Congress and meet with lawmakers behind closed doors to “clarify” parts of his previous public testimony, during which he claimed he never made “any promises or commitments concerning the special counsel’s investigation or any other investigation” to Trump. The House Judiciary Committee, however, believes it has evidence that Trump asked Whitaker while he was acting AG whether he could install a Trump ally to oversee the investigation into Michael Cohen. (Wall Street Journal)
Pence’s new chief of staff disparaged people with HIV and AIDS in an early ’90s college newspaper column, claiming that the transmission of the disease was largely the result of “repugnant” homosexual intercourse. The column was published in The Spectator, a conservative student newspaper that Marc Short started as an undergraduate in 1989. Short served as an editor for the publication until he graduated in 1992. (Daily Beast)
68% of Americans say they want the Robert Mueller report to be made public, while 10% say it shouldn’t be made public, and 22% are undecided. (Politico)
1/ The House passed a resolution to block and overturn Trump’s unilateral national emergency declaration to get the border wall money that Congress denied him. “The President’s act is lawless,” Nancy Pelosi said. “It does violence to our Constitution and therefore to our democracy. His declaration strikes at the heart of our Founders’ concept of America, which demands separation of powers.” The House voted 245-182, mostly along party lines, with 13 Republicans defecting to side with Democrats. The Senate now has 18 days to bring it to the floor for a vote, where it’s also expected to pass. Four Republican votes are needed to ensure passage if all Senate Democrats vote for the disapproval resolution, and three Republican senators — Sens. Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and Thom Tillis — have already signaled they will support the measure. Congress has never tried to cancel a national emergency declared by a president, and Trump has vowed to veto any measure that blocks funding for his border wall. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / ABC News / Washington Post / Reuters / Politico / Los Angeles Times)
2/ Paul Manafort’s attorneys asked for leniency as he faces the possibility of spending the rest of his life in prison. In a court filing, Manafort’s attorneys described the 69-year-old as a man who has been “personally, professionally, and financially” broken by Robert Mueller’s investigation, and as someone who deserves a sentence “significantly” below the statutory maximum of 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy charges. Manafort’s lawyers also wrote that because “this case is not about murder, drug cartels, organized crime, the Madoff Ponzi scheme or the collapse of Enron,” the former Trump campaign chairman shouldn’t be sentenced too harshly. Two federal judges will sentence Manafort on two separate occasions over the next month for criminal charges that include tax and bank fraud, witness tampering, and working as an unregistered lobbyist for a foreign government. (Politico / NPR / The Guardian / Salon)
Manafort gave alleged Russian spy Konstantin Kilimnik 75 pages of recent, “very detailed” campaign polling data on August 2, 2016, which “would have been relevant to a meeting they were having within the [Trump] campaign,” redacted court filings by Manafort’s lawyers suggest. In an email, Manafort ordered Rick Gates to print out the data so he could share it with Kilimnik. Gates previously testified that Manafort walked Kilimnik through the data at the August 2 meeting. (Emptywheel / Daily Beast)
3/ The House Judiciary Committee believes it has evidence that Trump asked then-Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker if an ally could take over the investigation of Michael Cohen and the Trump Organization in the Southern District of New York. The committee is looking into whether Whitaker may have perjured himself when he testified to Congress that he never made “any promises or commitments concerning the special counsel’s investigation or any other investigation” to Trump, who wanted Manhattan U.S. attorney Geoffrey Berman to take charge of the investigations. Berman – a former Rudy Giuliani law partner who donated to the Trump campaign in 2016 and was interviewed for the U.S. attorney job by Trump – recused himself from involvement in the matter last year. (Wall Street Journal)
4/ A federal appeals court rejected claims that Mueller’s appointment was unconstitutional. Andrew Miller, a Roger Stone associate, will now have to testify to a grand jury in Mueller’s investigation or go to jail after the appeals court said that Mueller was legally appointed by Rod Rosenstein as special counsel in May 2017. (Politico / CNN)
A House Democrat filed legislation that would require Mueller’s Russia report to be made public and give Congress access to the investigation’s underlying evidence. (Reuters)
5/ Cohen is expected to publicly accuse and present documents that implicate Trump of “criminal conduct” while in office during public testimony before the House Oversight Committee tomorrow. Cohen will reportedly provide lawmakers with information about Trump’s financial statements, including documentation of his reimbursement for the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels. Cohen plans to share who signed the $35,000 monthly checks he received as reimbursement for his hush-money payments to Daniels. Cohen is also expected to detail how long Trump remained involved in discussions regarding a plan to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, as well as to detail his “behind-the-scenes” experience of working for Trump for over a decade. Cohen testified behind closed doors before the Senate Intelligence Committee today, where he apologized for the lies he told during his 2017 testimony. (CNN / Axios / Daily Beast / NBC News / Politico / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Reuters)
A Trump ally and sitting U.S. congressman threatened Cohen with exposing his “girlfriends” on the eve of his public House Oversight Committee testimony. “Do your wife and father-in-law know about your girlfriends,” Rep. Matt Gaetz tweeted. “Maybe tonight would be a good time for that chat.” Gaetz said he was “challenging the veracity and character of a witness,” and not trying to intimidate a witness. He added: “This is what it looks like to compete in the marketplace of ideas.” (Daily Beast / Axios / VICE News)
Cohen has been disbarred in New York. Cohen’s guilty pleas on charges of tax evasion, excessive campaign contributions, and lying to Congress ensured he would be disbarred. (ABC News)
Notables.
A House committee voted to subpoena Trump administration officials over family separations at the southern border. The resolution will force Trump officials to turn over documents linked to the separation of thousands of migrant children and parents. (Associated Press / Politico)
Thousands of unaccompanied migrant kids suffered sexual abuse while in custody of the U.S. government over the past 4 years. From October 2014 to July 2018, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement received 4,556 complaints, and the Department of Justice received 1,303 complaints, including 178 allegations of sexual abuse by adult staff. (Axios / CNN)
Trump announced that American citizen Danny Burch has been freed after spending 18 months in captivity in Yemen. The State Department suggested that Burch was freed as a result of a rescue operation in concert with the United Arab Emirates. Burch lived in Yemen for years working for an oil company and was kidnapped in Sept. 2017 while taking his sons to a local sports club. (NBC News)
A federal judge approved a move by the Trump administration to ban “bump stocks” for firearms, which allow semi-automatic weapons to be converted to automatic weapons. Opponents say the government does not have the legal authority to enforce the ban. The new rule is set to take effect on Mar. 26, when bump stock owners will be required to turn in or destroy their bump stock attachments. Trump promised to ban bump stocks in the wake of a mass shooting at a music festival in Las Vegas that left 58 people dead in Oct. 2017. (Reuters)
U.S. Cyber Command “basically took the IRA offline” during the 2018 midterms. The Internet Research Agency, a Russian troll factory in St. Petersburg and underwritten by an oligarch close to Putin, was part of the cyber campaign to “influence” the 2016 election and undermine faith in U.S. democracy. (Washington Post)
1/ Paul Manafort “repeatedly and brazenly” broke the law and the “crimes he engaged in while on bail were not minor; they went to the heart of the criminal justice system,” according Robert Mueller’s 800-page court filing. Manafort’s sentence should reflect the “gravity of his conduct,” prosecutors wrote in the unsealed filing, which includes a note from Mueller indicating that federal sentencing guidelines suggest Manafort should receive a sentence of 17 to 22 years in prison. Mueller also said Manafort engaged in a “bold” string of criminal actions and an extensive pattern of deceit that “remarkably went unabated even after indictment.” (CNBC / Washington Post / Associated Press / Axios / ABC News / CNN)
🚨 Must Read: Court records reveal a Mueller report right in plain view. (Associated Press)
☑️ Where does the Mueller investigation stand? Here’s what could happen next. (Wall Street Journal)
2/ Trump asked his outside legal team to stay on after the Mueller probe ends to help with the Southern District of New York investigation, which Trump’s close allies consider a far graver threat than Mueller. Trump Jr., meanwhile, dismissed both the Mueller investigation and the Southern District of New York probe, claiming that Trump, the Trump Organization, and the Trump family “don’t appear all that worried, because we know there’s nothing there.” Separately, the Trump Organization asked the House Judiciary Committee to stop its investigations related to the company, claiming a conflict of interest because the panel hired a lawyer whose firm once represented Trump’s company. (Daily Beast / Fox News / Washington Post)
House Democrats are planning to investigate Trump’s personal finances to discover why Deutsche Bank was willing to lend to the Trump Organization when other banks wouldn’t, and whether Russia was involved. (Politico)
The House Intelligence Committee will subpoena the special counsel’s final report and compel Mueller to testify if the full report is not given to Congress. During his confirmation hearing last month, William Barr said he would “provide as much transparency as I can consistent with the law” when it comes to releasing the Mueller report. “We will obviously subpoena the report,” Adam Schiff said. “We will bring Bob Mueller in to testify before Congress; we will take it to court if necessary. And in the end, I think the (Justice) Department understands they’re going to have to make this public.” (ABC News / Reuters / Politico / Washington Post)
Michael Cohen will be questioned by the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday. Cohen will not be questioned about Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election or about possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia, but he is expected to be questioned about Trump’s “debts and payments relating to efforts to influence the 2016 election” and his “compliance with campaign finance laws.” (Washington Post / NBC News)
3/ A bipartisan group of 58 former national security officials will issue a joint statement denouncing Trump’s national emergency declaration. “There is no factual basis” for Trump to proclaim a national emergency in order to build his border wall, the statement says. The statement comes a day before the House is expected to vote on a measure to block Trump’s declaration. Trump, meanwhile, warned Republican senators to not “get led down the path of weak and ineffective Border Security.” (Washington Post / Politico / New York Times)
Ex-GOP lawmakers urge Republicans to block Trump’s emergency declaration (The Hill)
New Mexico governor says she withdrew border troops because there was no ‘real emergency’ (The Hill)
4/ The White House will select a group of federal scientists to challenge the scientific consensus that greenhouse gas emissions and burning of fossil fuels are driving global warming. The panel is an initiative of the National Security Council and will not be subject to the same level of public disclosure as formal advisory committees, which are required to meet in public, are subject to public records requests, and require representative membership. (Washington Post)
5/ Trump delayed his own deadline to increase tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods, citing “substantial progress” in talks between the two countries. The increase from 10% to 25% on $200 billion of Chinese goods was scheduled to take effect at 12:01 a.m. EST on March 2nd. The two sides have not signed an official agreement and the White House has not released details on any agreements, but Trump suggested the possibility of a “signing summit” with Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago. (New York Times / ABC News / Politico / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
6/ Trump expects a “very tremendous summit” with Kim Jong-un later this week, but would be “happy” if North Korea maintains a moratorium on nuclear bombs and ballistic missiles that has been in place since November 2017. Trump added that he is in “no rush” to see North Korea denuclearize. (Washington Post / The Guardian / New York Times)
7/ A former Trump campaign staffer is suing Trump of forcibly kissing her on the mouth prior to an August 2016 rally in Florida. Alva Johnson alleges that Trump grabbed her hand and forcibly kissed her without her consent inside an RV, which she described as “super-creepy and inappropriate.” Sarah Sanders, meanwhile, dismissed the allegation, saying: “This never happened.” (Washington Post / Politico / CNN)
Notables.
Russian state television aired a list of U.S. military facilities that Moscow would target in the event of a nuclear war and noted that Russia is developing hypersonic missiles that would be able to hit those targets in less than five minutes. The targets include the Pentagon and the presidential retreat at Camp David, Maryland. The unusually aggressive broadcast comes just days after Putin said Russia was ready for a “Cuban Missile”-style standoff with the United States if Washington deploys intermediate-range nuclear missiles in western Europe. (Reuters)
The Taliban and American diplomats are scheduled to begin the highest-level negotiations yet to end the 18-year war in Afghanistan. The talks will be held in Doha, Qatar, and will focus on working out the details of an agreement both sides said they reached in principle last month, which includes the Taliban agreeing to keep Afghan territory from becoming a haven for terrorists if the U.S. moves toward a withdrawal of American forces from the country. (New York Times)
New Defense Department security measures could put the accuracy of the 2020 census “at risk.” The new guidance will now count deployed troops as residents of the military installations where they’re usually stationed, instead of using the addresses provided when they enlisted. 15% of all overseas service members, with most stationed abroad, and the 2020 census will direct hundreds of billions of federal tax dollars to local communities over the next decade. (NPR)
The average tax refund this year is down 17% with the typical refund totaling $2,703, compared to $3,256 during the same period last year. (Politico)
Most economists expect the U.S. to enter a recession by the end of 2021. 10% believe a recession began this year, while 42% project one next year, and 25% expect a contraction starting in 2021. (Bloomberg)
Trump accused Spike Lee of a “racist hit” against him for urging people to vote in the 2020 elections. Lee’s comments to “mobilize” and “be on the right side of history” came during his Oscar acceptance speech for the best adapted screenplay for “BlacKkKlansman,” a movie about an African American detective in the Colorado Springs Police Department who infiltrates the Ku Klux Klan in the 1970s. (Washington Post / NBC News)
GOP donors are worried that Trump doesn’t have a strategy to win reelection. In particular, donors are concerned how Trump intends to win in Rust Belt states that swung to Democrats in the midterms. (Politico)
Trump will host a Fourth of July “salute to America” at the Lincoln Memorial, which will include a “major fireworks display, entertainment and an address by your favorite President, me!” (New York Times)
1/ Robert Mueller’s sentencing memorandum is due to today before midnight in the prosecution of Paul Manafort. In filings like these, prosecutors typically outline all of the defendant’s crimes, convictions, and their cooperation, which could also shed more light on how Manafort fits into Mueller’s larger Russian investigation. [Editor’s note: I’ve basically been waiting all day for this to drop. I’ll update the blog when this is filed to reflect the latest.] (CNN / Associated Press)
2/ Mueller is not expected deliver a final report to the attorney general next week after all. It was previously reported that William Barr was preparing to announce the completion of the investigation into any links between Trump and Russia as soon as next week. Separately, the chairs of six House committees wrote Barr a letter suggesting that withholding evidence uncovered by Mueller could be the means for a “cover-up.” 34 individuals and three companies so far have pleaded guilty, been indicted or been swept up in the inquiry. (CNBC / CNN / Reuters)
Sarah Sanders is confident that Mueller’s report will not show collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign, claiming that Trump had no reason to collude because he was an “infinitely better” candidate. (Washington Post)
Michael Cohen provided federal prosecutors in Manhattan with information about possible irregularities within the Trump Organization, as well as about donations to the Trump inaugural committee. Prosecutors questioned Cohen about Imaad Zuberi, a California venture capitalist and political fund-raiser, who contributed $900,000 to Trump’s committee. (New York Times)
3/ New York state prosecutors are prepared to charge Paul Manafort if Trump issues a presidential pardon for his federal crimes. Manafort could be charged with state offenses without triggering double jeopardy protections, including evasion of New York taxes and violations of state laws requiring companies to keep accurate books and records. Manafort was convicted of eight felonies and pleaded guilty to two more. He is scheduled to be sentenced next month for those federal crimes. Robert Mueller recommended that Manafort serve up to 24 years – essentially a life sentence for the 69-year-old. (Bloomberg / New York Times)
4/ The Trump administration issued a new rule blocking taxpayer-funded family planning clinics from referring women for abortions. The rule prohibits organizations like Planned Parenthood that provide abortions or abortion referrals from participating in the $286 million federal family planning program. Some of that funding will redirected toward religiously-based, anti-abortion groups. (Politico / NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post)
Notables.
The U.S. will leave 200 troops in Syria even after the so-called pullout announced by Trump in December. Trump has reportedly backed away from a complete U.S withdrawal from Syria, and will instead leave the “small peacekeeping force” in place for a period of time after the majority of forces have left the country. The decision to leave 200 troops in place came after Trump spoke with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, who convinced Trump to “continue coordinating on the creation of a potential safe zone” in Syria. (Reuters)
The Department of Agriculture has paid $7.7 billion to help farmers impacted by Trump’s trade war with China. In total, Trump has pledged a $12 billion relief package to offset the losses from retaliatory tariffs imposed by Beijing in response to Trump’s tariffs on Chinese goods. (NBC News)
Trump is the only 2020 presidential candidate who won’t promise not to knowingly use hacked materials that are published during the election cycle. Every other 2020 candidate who has either announced or is in the exploratory phase has pledged not to knowingly use or reference stolen or hacked material that appears online on the grounds that it may have been obtained illegally. (Daily Beast)
The New Jersey state Senate passed a bill that would keep presidential candidates off the state’s 2020 ballot unless they release their tax returns. Candidates for president and vice president would be required to publicly release five of their most recent tax returns at least 50 days before the general election in 2020. (The Hill)
North Carolina’s election boards ordered a new election for the state’s 9th Congressional District after officials said corruption surrounding absentee ballots tainted the results of the 2018 midterm election. The bipartisan board voted 5-0 to hold a new election after Republican candidate Mark Harris was confronted by days of evidence that one of his campaign’s operatives orchestrated a ballot fraud scheme, leading Harris to call for a new vote. The race is the last unsettled 2018 congressional contest in the country. (Reuters)
1/ House Democrats will file a resolution rejecting Trump’s national emergency declaration. Nancy Pelosi said the House will move “swiftly” to pass the disapproval resolution, which is the first formal step in countering Trump’s effort to go around Congress and build his border wall. While the effort is almost certain to fall short due to the threat of a Trump veto, voting will put some Republicans from swing districts and states on the record. (Washington Post / The Guardian / Politico)
2/ A federal judge banned Roger Stone from speaking publicly about his case after he published an Instagram post with what appeared to be the crosshairs of a gun drawn behind her head. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson banned Stone from issuing statements on the radio, press releases, blogs, media interviews, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Snapchat posts. Jackson also banned Stone’s spokespersons, family members or his “many volunteers” from issuing statements on his behalf. Stone claimed he was “heartfully sorry” and that he was “having trouble putting the food on the table and making rent,” and that he needed to be able to make money as a commentator. Stone’s pre-trial consulting income was $47,000 a month. (NBC News / CNN / Washignton Post)
3/ The White House is forcing interns to sign non-disclosure agreements and warning them that a breach of the NDA could result in legal and financial consequences. Interns were also told that they would not receive a copy of the NDA. The Trump intern orientation process calls this “ethics training.” (Daily Beast)
A former Trump staffer filed a class action lawsuit against the Trump campaign alleging that the non-disclosure and non-disparagement agreements are invalid. The claims brought by Jessica Denson are the broadest attack on Trump’s campaign practices to date, which include having staffers, volunteers, and contractors sign agreements that prohibit them from ever publicly criticizing Trump, his company, or his family, and bars them from disclosing private or confidential information about all three. Denson’s lawyers believe thousands of campaign staffers, volunteers, and contractors signed NDAs and could be covered by the case. If the agreements they signed are eventually thrown out in court, they would all be free to discuss their time working for the campaign and to criticize Trump without fear of financial penalties or legal retribution. (BuzzFeed News)
Notables.
Michael Cohen has agreed to testify publicly before Congress next week about his work as Trump’s longtime fixer, lawyer, and confidant. Lawmakers have said they will limit the scope of their questions out of deference to Robert Mueller’s ongoing investigation. Cohen will appear Wednesday before the House Oversight and Reform Committee, where he’ll be given an opportunity to explain the work he did for Trump, including the illegal plan during the 2016 campaign to pay off two women who claimed to have had affairs with Trump. (New York Times / CNN)
Paul Manafort will be sentenced on March 8th in Virginia after being convicted last summer on eight felony counts of bank and tax fraud. Manafort will be sentenced in a related case in Washington, D.C. five days later. (Politico / CNBC / Reuters)
Senate investigators want to question a Moscow-based American businessman with deep ties to Trump after witnesses told lawmakers that the man could provide information about Trump’s commercial and personal activities in Russia dating all the way back to the 1990s. The Senate Intelligence Committee has been interested in speaking with David Geovanis for several months. Geovanis helped organize a 1996 trip to Moscow for Trump while he was in the early stages of pursuing what would become his long-held goal of building a Trump Tower in Russia’s capital city. Years later, Geovanis worked for Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. (CNN)
White House officials, as well as several Republican and Democratic lawmakers, are concerned that Trump will soon replace Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats. Trump spent the holiday weekend at Mar-a-Lago venting about Coats’ testimony before Congress last month, where Coats publicly contradicted Trump about the chances North Korea agreeing to give up its nuclear weapons. (CNN / Washington Post)
1/ The Justice Department will potentially announce the completion of Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation as early as next week. When that happens, Attorney General Bill Barr will likely submit a summary of Mueller’s confidential report to Congress. Mueller is required to submit a “confidential” report to the attorney general, which is not required to be shared with Congress or the public. Barr suggested during his confirmation hearing last month that the report might not become public, and has made clear that the Justice Department generally guards against publicizing “derogatory” information about uncharged individuals. Trump, meanwhile, will travel overseas next week for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and Justice officials don’t want to interfere with the White House’s diplomatic efforts. Trump said “totally up to Bill Barr” as to whether Mueller’s report comes out while he is overseas. (CNN / NBC News / Washington Post)
The FBI developed a backup plan to protect evidence in its Russia investigation after James Comey was fired in the event that other senior officials were also dismissed. (Associated Press)
Trump intends to nominate Jeffrey Rosen as deputy attorney general. Rosen is currently the deputy transportation secretary and will replace Rod Rosenstein, who is expected to leave his post in mid-March. (Politico / CBS News)
Michael Cohen’s three-year prison stay has been delayed for two months because of a “serious surgical procedure” that requires extensive physical therapy. Cohen will now report to prison on May 6th instead of March 6th. (Bloomberg / CNN)
2/ Democratic 2020 candidates are already facing a coordinated barrage of social media disinformation attacks, with signs that foreign state actors are driving some of the activity. Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and Beto O’Rourke have been the main targets of attacks, which have been focused on undermining their nascent candidacies through the dissemination of memes, hashtags, misinformation and distortions of their positions. (Politico)
3/ Democrats in the House and Senate believe a senior Department of Education official tried to oust the department’s independent watchdog because she pushed back against an attempt by the department to intervene in an investigation into Betsy DeVos. Lawmakers on four committees overseeing the DOE say the attempt to remove Sandra Bruce as acting inspector general was related to the probe of DeVos’ decision to reinstate an accreditor that had its certification revoked by the Obama administration. (NBC News)
4/ CNN hired a longtime Republican operative as a political editor responsible with shaping the network’s 2020 campaign coverage. Sarah Isgur was critical of Trump during the 2016 campaign, but later “kowtowed to Trump” and pledged loyalty to his agenda as a condition of getting the job as the Department of Justice’s main spokesperson under then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Isgur has no journalism experience, and while it’s common for departing administration officials to join cable news networks as analysts or contributors, it is less common for them to oversee news coverage. (Vox / Politico)
😂 CNN reports that CNN’s hiring of an ex-Sessions spokeswoman to guide political coverage stirs controversy and concerns among CNN employees. (CNN)
5/ Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas called on the Court to reexamine a landmark 1964 case that makes it difficult for public officials to win libel suits. Justice Thomas said New York Times v. Sullivan has no basis in the Constitution as the founders understood it, and that the First Amendment does nothing to prevent states from protecting the reputations of their citizens and leaders as they see fit. Thomas’ opinion comes in the wake of complaints by Trump that libel laws make it too difficult for public figures to win libel suits. (New York Times)
6/ Trump – angered by a New York Times report that he tried to influence and undermine the investigations surrounding him – attacked the New York Times as the “true ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE” in the same week he called for “retribution” against NBC for satirizing him on “Saturday Night Live.” (New York Times)
Notables.
Putin said he would respond to any deployment of new intermediate-range missiles placed in Europe by targeting the U.S. with Russia’s own new field weapons that could reach U.S. decision-making centers. During his annual address to parliament, Putin said the U.S. has the right to think they can place missiles anywhere they want, “but can they count?” he asked. “I’m sure they can. Let them count the speed and the range of the weapons systems we are developing.” Putin added that Russia is not looking for confrontation and would not take the first steps toward deploying missiles in the wake of Trump’s decision to pull out of a landmark Cold War-era arms treaty. (CNBC / NBC News / Daily Beast)
Trump is moving forward with plans to use his national emergency declaration to divert federal funds from other programs in order to build his border wall, despite multiple lawsuits challenging his authority to do so. The White House plans to start with funds from the Defense Department’s drug interdiction program and the Treasury Department’s civil asset forfeiture fund before moving on to siphon funds from military construction projects. Trump is currently preparing for the possibility that a federal court will issue an injunction and prevent him from accessing the military construction funding. (CNN)
The Transportation Department will cancel $929 million in federal funds for a California high-speed rail project and is “actively exploring every legal option” to claw back the $2.5 billion the state has already received. California Governor Gavin Newsom linked the Trump administration action to California leading 15 other states in challenging Trump’s “farcical” national emergency to obtain funds for his border wall. (New York Times / Reuters)
The Office of Government Ethics refused to certify a financial disclosure report from Wilbur Ross, saying the commerce secretary violated his ethics agreement by inaccurately reporting stock holdings in his 2018 financial disclosure form. (Washington Post / CNBC)
The White House is assembling a panel to assess whether climate change poses a national security threat. Trump dismissed a government report finding that global warming poses a major threat to the U.S. economy, saying, “I don’t see it.” (Washington Post)
1/ Trump asked acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker if a Trump-appointed attorney could lead the Southern District of New York’s investigation into Michael Cohen’s hush money payments during the 2016 election. Whitaker couldn’t put Geoffrey Berman, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York and a Trump ally, in charge, because Berman had already recused himself from the investigation, which led to Trump complaining about Whitaker’s inability to pull the strings necessary at the Justice Department to make his legal problems go away. There is no evidence that Whitaker took any direct steps to intervene in the Manhattan investigation, but Whitaker privately told associates that part of his role at the Justice Department was to “jump on a grenade” for Trump. Earlier this month Whitaker testified to the House Judiciary Committee that Trump had never pressured him to intervene in an investigation, which is now under scrutiny by House Democrats for possible perjury. [Editor’s note: This is a must read] (New York Times)
Trump denied the report that he asked Whitaker to put an ally in charge of the investigation into pre-election hush payments to women who claimed to have had affairs with him. Trump then praised Whitaker, who was replaced by William Barr last week, saying “I think he’s done a great job” and “should be given a lot of thanks by the nation.” (Politico / The Hill)
Rep. Jerrold Nadler, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, asked Whitaker to clarify his recent testimony, saying Whitaker “refused to offer clear responses regarding your communications with the White House.” (Politico)
Michael Cohen plans to describe his “personal, front-line experiences of memories, and incidents, and conduct, and comments that Donald Trump said over that 10-year time period behind closed doors,” which his lawyer described as “chilling.” Cohen has pledged to appear before closed sessions of the House and Senate intelligence committees and in a public session of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee before he reports for a federal prison sentence on March 6. (ABC News)
Trump has publicly criticized the Russia investigation nearly 1,200 times. (New York Times)
2/ Former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe briefed congressional leaders in 2017 about the counterintelligence investigation he opened into Trump and that “no one objected,” including Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan. McCabe ordered the obstruction of justice and counterintelligence investigations after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey in May of 2017, which made McCabe acting director of the bureau at the time. The FBI wanted to know whether Trump had been working on behalf of Russia against American interests. “The purpose of the briefing was to let our congressional leadership know exactly what we’d been doing,” McCabe said, and that nobody raised concerns, “not on legal grounds, not on constitutional grounds, and not based on the facts.” Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein also attended the meeting, which is when the appointment of a special counsel to oversee the Russia investigation was first announced. Eight days after Comey was fired, Rosenstein appointed special counsel Robert Mueller. (NBC News / CNBC / Politico / Daily Beast / The Atlantic / CBS News)
WATCH: The full Andrew McCabe interview. (CBS News)
McCabe: Trump is unwilling to accept intelligence on North Korea given to him by U.S. officials, telling them, “I don’t care, I believe Putin.” Trump said he didn’t believe that North Korea has missiles capable of reaching the U.S. mainland because Putin told him the missiles didn’t exist. (The Hill / 60 Minutes)
“I don’t care. I believe Putin,” Pres Trump allegedly said, rejecting U.S. intelligence regarding North Korean intercontinental ballistic missile capability. McCabe says he heard this from an FBI official who was at the meeting with POTUS. https://t.co/9zmoxrYNjmpic.twitter.com/lo0g9VOMAG
3/ Trump accused McCabe and Rosenstein of “illegal and treasonous” actions. In a tweet, Trump said McCabe and Rosenstein “look like they were planning a very illegal act, and got caught” in response to McCabe’s interview on 60 Minutes. McCabe and Rosenstein had discussed “counting votes” among Cabinet members to see who would consider invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from power. “There is a lot of explaining to do to the millions of people who had just elected a president who they really like and who has done a great job for them with the Military, Vets, Economy and so much more,” Trump continued. “This was the illegal and treasonous ‘insurance policy’ in full action!” (Daily Beast / Washington Post)
Trump circulated a call by Rush Limbaugh to imprison the people investigating him and his administration, including Robert Mueller. Trump quoted Limbaugh in a tweet, writing, “These guys, the investigators, ought to be in jail. What they have done, working with the Obama intelligence agencies, is simply unprecedented.” He continued: “This is one of the greatest political hoaxes ever perpetrated on the people of this Country, and Mueller is a coverup.” Later, Trump added his own condemnation of Mueller and his team, calling the investigation “totally conflicted, illegal and rigged!” (Daily Beast)
House Intelligence Chair Adam Schiff said there is “evidence in plain sight” of collusion between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia. Schiff rejected the conclusions of Senate Intelligence Chair Richard Burr, who said no such evidence exists. “You can see evidence in plain sight on the issue of collusion, pretty compelling evidence,” Schiff said. “There is a difference between seeing evidence of collusion and being able to prove a criminal conspiracy beyond a reasonable doubt.” (Politico)
4/ Rosenstein will resign as deputy attorney general and leave the Justice Department in March. Incoming Attorney General William Barr is expected to name Rosenstein’s successor as early as this week. Justice Department officials say Rosenstein’s departure has nothing to do with McCabe’s recent interview on 60 Minutes. It is unclear what this means for Mueller’s investigation, which will likely be handed off to Barr. (CBS News / CNN / Reuters / Washington Post)
Barr’s son-in-law, Tyler McGaughey, will be leaving his job at the Justice Department and will join the White House counsel’s office, where he’ll “advise the president, the executive office, and White House staff on legal issues concerning the president and the presidency.” (Vanity Fair / CNN)
5/ Michael Flynn and several other Trump administration appointees ignored repeated legal and ethical warnings as they promoted the sale of nuclear power plants to Saudi Arabia. The 24-page report from the House Oversight and Reform Committee outlined actions by the Trump administration to have American companies build dozens of nuclear power plants across Saudi Arabia, potentially at the risk of spreading nuclear weapons technology. The report said the unnamed whistleblowers inside the White House came forward because they were worried by the continued effort to sell the power plants. House Democrats said the White House was still considering the proposal as recently as last week. The Oversight Committee said it would continue to investigate the matter and make new requests for documents from the White House and cabinet agencies “to determine whether the actions being pursued by the Trump administration are in the national security interests of the United States, or rather, serve those who stand to gain financially.” (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / Reuters / NBC News)
6/ California, New York, and 14 other states joined a lawsuit to challenge Trump’s plan to use a national emergency declaration to funnel billions of dollars into his border wall. The suit was filed in Federal District Court in San Francisco, and claims that Trump does not have the authority to redirect funds from other projects to pay for his border wall over the objections of Congress, which controls government spending. Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai’i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, and Virginia also joined the lawsuit. Several nonprofit organizations have also announced plans to sue. (New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post)
poll/ 61% of Americans disapprove of Trump’s decision to declare a national emergency to build his border wall along the southern border. 94% of Democrats and 63% of independents disapprove, while 12% of Republicans feel the same. Nearly 60% of Americans also don’t believe there is an emergency at the southern border. (NPR-PBS NewsHour-Marist)
Notables.
Robert Mueller recommended that Paul Manafort spend 19-24 years in prison and pay up to $52 million in fines and forfeitures. Trump’s former campaign chairman was convicted in August on eight felony counts including tax and bank fraud. Mueller added that “the government does not take a position as to the specific sentence to be imposed here,” but he did remind the court about Manafort’s long career of criminal activity. “Manafort acted for more than a decade as if he were above the law,” Mueller said, “and deprived the federal government and various financial institutions of millions of dollars.” (CNBC / BuzzFeed News / Bloomberg / Politico)
Roger Stone was ordered to appear in court after posting a photo of the judge in his case with what appeared to be crosshairs near her head days after the judge imposed a gag order on him. The photo of Judge Amy Berman Jackson was posted alongside a caption that referred to her as “an Obama appointed judge who dismissed the Benghazi charges against Hillary Clinton and incarcerated Paul Manafort prior to his conviction for any crime.” The post also mentioned the “Deep State” and featured a plea to help Stone “fight for my life” by donating to his legal defense fund. Stone later deleted the post and issued an apology. (Rolling Stone / The Guardian / Washington Post / NBC News) / NPR)
Former Maine Gov. Paul LePage and his staff bought more than 40 rooms in Trump’s D.C. hotel for $22,000 over a two-year period, which coincided with trips to meet with Trump or members of his inner circle, as well as visits to White House events and Congressional meetings. LePage and his staff also spent hundreds of dollars on expensive steaks and other luxury menu items at the restaurants in Trump’s hotel. (Portland Press Herald)
Bernie Sanders announced that he is running for president again in 2020. Polls show the 77-year-old independent senator from Vermont ahead of the rest of the pack, trailing only Joe Biden in the 2020 field. (CNN / NBC News / New York Times)
Trump’s pick to serve as ambassador to the United Nations withdrew from consideration. Heather Nauert had a nanny who was in the United States legally but did not have the proper work visa. (New York Times)
Trump’s former legislative affairs director will now serve as Pence’s chief of staff. Marc Short will fill the role that was left vacant by Nick Ayers when he resigned earlier this year. (New York Times / CNBC)
Trump will sign a directive to establish a Space Force, but instead of being a new branch of the military dedicated to space, it will instead remain part of the Air Force. It will be structured similarly to how the Marine Corps falls under the Department of the Navy. (Politico)
1/ Trump declared a national emergency at the border to circumvent Congress and fund his border wall with money lawmakers refused to give him, saying “I didn’t need to do this,” but “I just want to get it done faster, that’s all.” In a Rose Garden news conference, Trump said he would sign the declaration to divert $3.6 billion from military construction projects to his border wall and then use presidential budgetary discretion to redirect $2.5 billion from counternarcotics programs and another $600 million from a Treasury Department asset forfeiture fund. Between the $1.375 billion authorized for fencing in a spending package passed by Congress, and the roughly $6.5 billion in funding from executive action, Trump is will have about $8 billion to construct or repair as many as 234 miles of a border barrier – significantly more than the $5.7 billion that Congress refused to give him. Following the news conference, Trump signed the spending legislation. (New York Times / The Guardian / Politico / Washington Post / NBC News / ABC News)
Capitol Police pushed and physically blocked reporters from talking with Senators headed to vote on the spending package last night, despite some lawmakers willing to engage with the press. (Roll Call)
The White House announced the national emergency by tweet using the iPhone Notes app. (BuzzFeed News)
Trump’s national emergency press conference, annotated. (Washington Post)
Trump’s bizarre, rambling national emergency announcement distracted from what the president actually did. (The Atlantic)
In November 2014, Trump called taking executive action on immigration dangerous, unconstitutional, and impeachable. (CNN)
2/ The Justice Department warned the White House that a national emergency declaration is nearly certain to be blocked by the courts, which would prevent the immediate implementation of Trump’s plan to circumvent Congress and build the wall using his executives powers. (ABC News)
The ACLU plans to file suit challenging Trump’s national emergency declaration, arguing his attempt to evade congressional funding restrictions is “patently illegal.” (Axios)
3/ House Democrats plan to pass a joint resolution disapproving of Trump’s emergency declaration, which would force Senate Republicans to take a public position. By law, if one chamber passes a resolution, the other one must bring it up for a vote within 18 days. While Republicans hold a 53-to-47 advantage, the resolution would only need a simple majority to pass. A White House aide indicated that Trump would “absolutely veto” any congressional efforts to interfere with his plan to declare a national emergency to secure funding for his border wall. (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / Politico)
4/ The Supreme Court agreed to decide whether the Trump administration can add a question about citizenship to the 2020 Census. A federal judge last month stopped the Commerce Department from adding the question, questioning the motives of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who claimed he ordered the question to be added in response to a December 2017 request from the Justice Department, which said that data about citizenship would help it enforce the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Judge Jesse Furman of the United States District Court in Manhattan issued an opinion saying that “promoting enforcement” of the Voting Rights Act “was not his real reason for the decision.” The court is scheduled to hear arguments in April so that it can issue a decision before census forms are printed in June. (Washington Post / New York Times)
5/ Robert Mueller’s team interviewed Sarah Huckabee Sanders in early fall of 2018 – around the time that Trump’s former Chief of Staff John Kelly was questioned by Mueller’s team. (CNN / CNBC)
Maria Butina, a self-confessed Russian agent, “manipulated” a Russian spy agency when arranging the NRA’s trip to Moscow, according to her boyfriend, Paul Erickson. In a Nov. 25, 2015, email sent to then-incoming NRA President Pete Brownell, Erickson wrote that “most of the FSB agents ‘assigned’ to her want to marry her,” which is how she arranged a tour of a Russian arms factory for the NRA delegation. (Daily Beast)
A federal judge has placed a gag order on Roger Stone and attorneys involved in his criminal case, ordering the Trump associate to “refrain from making statements to the media or in public settings that pose a substantial likelihood of material prejudice to this case.” (Politico / CNN)
Notables.
Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro’s foreign minister met secretly with the U.S. special envoy in New York, even while the Trump administration continues to publicly back an attempt to overthrow the Maduro government. While in New York, the foreign minister urged Elliot Abrams to come to Venezuela “privately, publicly or secretly.” U.S. officials have said they are willing to meet with officials from the current Venezuelan administration, “including Maduro himself, to discuss their exit plans.” (Associated Press / Politico)
The top American general in the Middle East disagreed with Trump’s decision to pull troops out of Syria, and warned that the terror group was far from defeated. (CNN)
Pro-Israel lobbyists and donors spent more than $22 million on lobbying and campaign contributions during the last election cycle. Those same groups have spent hundreds of millions of dollars through a variety of channels in order to influence American politics and elections in recent decades. The Guardian investigation found that the pro-Israel lobby is “highly active and spends heavily to influence US policy,” but not as heavily as some U.S. business sectors. “I haven’t observed many other countries that have a comparable level of activity, at least in domestic lobbying data,” said a senior researcher at the Center for Responsive Politics. The Guardian started examining the data after Muslim Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar claimed pro-Israel lobby money influenced U.S. policy. (The Guardian)
Trump claimed that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe nominated him for a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to broker peace between North and South Korea. The Japanese have not announced Trump’s nomination for a Nobel Peace Prize. (Politico / Washington Post)
At least 10 Trump judicial nominees in the past year have refused to endorse Brown v. Board of Education, the 1954 ruling that abolished school segregation. (Mother Jones)
1/ Trump will declare a national emergency to bypass Congress and build his border wall after signing the spending legislation to prevent another government shutdown. The border security compromise provides $1.375 billion for 55 miles of steel-post fencing – basically the same deal Trump rejected in December – instead of the $5.7 billion he demanded for more than 200 miles of steel or concrete wall. The emergency declaration would allow Trump to redirect funds from other parts of the government without congressional approval. The Senate advanced the spending package in an 81-16 vote. The House is expected to approve the package later tonight. (Washington Post / New York Times / CNBC / CNN / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
2/ A federal judge ruled that Paul Manafort violated the terms of his cooperation deal by repeatedly lying to Robert Mueller and a grand jury about “his interactions and communications with [Konstantin] Kilimnik,” a longtime aide who the FBI assessed to have ties to Russian intelligence. Judge Amy Berman Jackson found that Manafort also intentionally lied about $125,000 he received for legal bills and about another unnamed Justice Department criminal investigation. Manafort will not be able to retract his guilty plea, but he will still be required to hold up his end of the plea deal. The ruling does free Mueller’s office from having to comply with the obligations in Manafort’s cooperation agreement, notably offering Manafort a reduced sentence for his cooperation. The breach of the cooperation deal after his guilty plea could add years to Manafort’s prison sentence, having been convicted last year of eight felonies, including tax and bank fraud. Manafort later pleaded guilty to two additional conspiracy counts. (CNN / Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / Vox / Wall Street Journal)
3/ The Senate confirmed William Barr as attorney general, putting him in command of the Justice Department and its ongoing investigation into links between Russia’s interference in the 2016 election and the Trump campaign. Last year, Barr sent a 19-page, unsolicited memo to the Justice Department and Trump’s lawyers, arguing that Trump has the power to “start or stop a law enforcement proceeding,” and therefore he could prevent Mueller from investigating whether Trump committed obstruction of justice when he pressured James Comey to drop an investigation into Michael Flynn. Barr previously served as George H.W. Bush’s attorney general in the 1990s. (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
4/ The former deputy F.B.I. director said Justice Department officials discussed recruiting cabinet members to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove Trump from office after Trump fired Comey – his former boss – in May 2017. Andrew McCabe ordered the team investigating Russia’s election interference to look into whether Trump had obstructed justice by firing Comey, and examine whether Trump had been working on behalf of Russia against American interests. McCabe’s order came two days after Comey was fired in order “to put the Russia case on absolutely solid ground, in an indelible fashion” so the investigation “could not be closed or vanish in the night without a trace”. McCabe was fired last March and stripped of his pension days before his planned retirement, because he “lacked candor.” (CBS News / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / New York Times)
📌 Day 110: Trump fired James Comey on the recommendation of Jeff Sessions. In a letter dated Tuesday to Comey, Trump concurred “with the judgment of the Department of Justice that [Comey is not] able to effectively lead the bureau.” Earlier, the FBI notified Congress that Comey misstated key findings involving the Clinton email investigation during testimony, saying that only a “small number” of emails had been forwarded to disgraced congressman Anthony Weiner, not the “hundreds and thousands” he’d claimed in his testimony. The move sweeps away the man who is responsible for the investigation into whether members of Trump’s campaign team colluded with Russia in its interference in last year’s election. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein laid out the reasons for Comey’s firing, arguing that the handling of his investigation into Clinton’s private server, his decision not to recommend charges be filed, and the news conference he held to explain his reasoning were the cause of his dismissal. Democrats reacted with shock and alarm, accusing Trump of ousting the FBI director to escape scrutiny over his campaign’s Russia ties. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer urged deputy Rosenstein to appoint a special prosecutor for the federal probe into the Trump campaign’s ties with Russian officials — warning that failing to do so will lead the public to “rightly suspect” that Comey’s surprise firing “was part of a cover-up.” (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / CNN / Politico)
📌 Day 610: Rod Rosenstein raised the idea of wearing a wire last year to secretly record Trump in the White House and expose the chaos in the administration, according to memos written by Andrew McCabe, then the acting FBI director. Rosenstein also discussed recruiting Jeff Sessions and John Kelly, then the secretary of homeland security, to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove Trump from office. Rosenstein called the report “inaccurate and factually incorrect,” adding: “Based on my personal dealings with the president, there is no basis to invoke the 25th Amendment.” At least one person who was present for the discussions said Rosenstein was joking. (New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Associated Press)
📌 Day 725: The FBI opened a counterintelligence investigation into whether Trump had been working on behalf of Russia after he fired Comey in May 2017. Law enforcement officials became concerned that if Trump had fired Comey to stop the Russia investigation, his behavior would have constituted a threat to national security. Counterintelligence agents were also investigating why Trump was acting in ways that seemed to benefit Russia. No evidence has publicly emerged – yet – that Trump was secretly taking direction from Russian government officials. Sarah Huckabee Sanders called the report “absurd” and claimed that, compared to Obama, “Trump has actually been tough on Russia.” (New York Times / CNN)
Notables.
Trump is dramatically downsizing two teams of federal officials tasked with fighting election interference by foreign countries. The task forces are part of the Cyber Security and Infrastructure Agency and were assembled in response to Russian interference in the 2016 election. One of the task forces is half the size it was a few months ago, and there are no indications that senior political leadership plans to rebuild it. The other task force was reduced significantly after the 2018 midterms, before its staff could produce a full assessment of what happened during the election. DHS sources say “2020 is going to be the perfect storm.” (Daily Beast)
The House voted to stop U.S. funding for Saudi Arabia’s war on Yemen. The move is seen as an attempt to limit presidential war powers and highlight Congress’ anger of Trump’s refusal to condemn Saudi Arabia in the wake of Jamal Khashoggi’s murder inside the Saudi consulate in Turkey. The vote was 248 to 177 in favor of stopping aid and condemning the Saudi campaign, which has killed thousands of civilians and caused a massive famine and an historic cholera outbreak. (New York Times)
Trump is accelerating a secret U.S. program to sabotage Iran’s missiles and rockets in an attempt to cripple Iran’s military and isolate its economy. The program has never been publicly acknowledged by U.S. officials, which involves slipping faulty parts and materials into Iran’s aerospace supply chains. It was started under the Bush administration and was active early in the Obama administration, but it was winding down by 2017 when Mike Pompeo took over as CIA director and started ramping things up again. (New York Times)
A White House security specialist wants official whistleblower protections from the federal government after she raised concerns about “unwarranted security clearances” for top administration officials like Jared Kushner. Tricia Newbold requested whistleblower protections less than two weeks after she was suspended without pay by her supervisor, Carl Kline. Newbold says Kline “repeatedly mishandled security files and has approved unwarranted security clearances,” one of which was Jared Kushner’s. Kline overruled Newbold’s concerns and approved top-secret security clearance for Kushner and at least 30 White House officials. (NBC News)
Trump is in “very good health overall,” according to results from his physical examination. Last year, then-physician Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson declared Trump in “excellent health,” joking that Trump “might live to be 200 years old” if he made improvements to his diet. Trump gained four pounds since last year, putting his body mass index at 30.4, which makes him clinically obese. (CNN)
1/ Trump intends to sign the bipartisan border security deal and avoid another partial government shutdown. Trump said he was “not happy” with the deal and suggested that he’d find “other methods” for financing his border wall without congressional approval by “moving things around” in the budget from “far less important areas.” The agreement includes $1.375 billion for 55 miles of physical border barriers – short of the $5.7 billion Trump wanted for his wall – and is less than the $1.6 billion included in a Senate package last year. Republicans and administration officials, meanwhile, have signaled that Trump will sign the measure and then immediately use his executive authority to redirect federal money to fund the additional border barriers. The agreement must be signed into law in both chambers of Congress and signed by Trump before the end of the week in order to avoid another shutdown. (CNN / Bloomberg / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Washington Post / CNBC)
2/ Paul Manafort and Rick Gates met with a Russian political operative in August 2016. Prosecutors believe that Manafort and Konstantin Kilimnik may have exchanged key information relevant to Russia and Trump’s presidential bid, including a proposed resolution to the conflict over Ukraine and Manafort sharing internal polling data from Trump’s presidential campaign to the Russian associate. (Washington Post)
📌 Day 753: Robert Mueller’s lead prosecutors disclosed that the special counsel is continuing to pursue collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia based on the conversations between Paul Manafort and Konstantin Kilimnik, who allegedly is linked to Russian intelligence. Prosecutors have been focused on discussions the two had about a “peace plan” to end the conflict following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea in 2014. The two repeatedly communicated about the plan for Ukraine starting in early August 2016, while Manafort was still running Trump’s campaign, and continuing into 2018 – months after Manafort had been charged by Mueller’s office related to his work in the country. (New York Times)
📌 Day 750: Mueller’s team accused Paul Manafort of lying to them about “an extremely sensitive issue” in hopes of increasing “his chances for a pardon.” Prosecutors allege that Manafort worked on Ukrainian political matters from August 2016 to December 2018 – after his first indictment by the special counsel in 2017 – and that he tried to avoid providing information that could be damaging to Konstantin Kilimnik, a Manafort business partner in Ukraine. Prosecutors believe Kilimnik is connected with Russian intelligence. Kilimnik also attended Trump’s inauguration. (Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / CNN)
📌 Day 727: Konstantin Kilimnik “appears to be at the heart of pieces of Mueller’s investigation” into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Kilimnik is a Russian tied to Moscow’s intelligence services and is connected to Manafort. Prosecutors filed a 31-page affidavit from an FBI agent, and another 406 blacked-out exhibits, after a federal judge ordered them to lay out the “factual and evidentiary basis” for their claims that Manafort repeatedly lied after his plea deal and as a result had breached his cooperation agreement. (CNN / Washington Post)
📌 Day 719: Paul Manafort gave 2016 polling data to a former employee with ties to Russian intelligence services. The exchange was inadvertently revealed when Manafort’s lawyers failed to fully redact Manafort’s interview with Robert Mueller in a court filing. Manafort’s attorneys meant for Mueller’s line of questioning to remain private, but the text in question was easily readable when opened with a word processor. (Washington Post / CNBC / Daily Beast)
3/ House Democrats plan to launch their own probe into Trump’s connections to Russia. Using their new subpoena power, Democrats plan to focus on potential money laundering by using the multiple committees they control to host hearings and public sessions that could stretch into 2020. Democratic members of Congress plan to interview new witnesses and go back to previous witnesses, who they believe “stonewalled” committees under the Republican majority. The House Intelligence Committee will lead the effort, with the House Financial Services Committee focusing on money laundering, and the House Foreign Affairs Committee looking into possible Russian connections. (Axios)
The Justice Department is investigating the leak Michael Cohen’s personal bank records, which includes numerous payments to Cohen’s shell company, Essential Consultants LLC, from a company linked to a Russian oligarch. Essential is what Cohen used to make hush money payments to Stormy Daniels to silence her allegations of an affair with Trump. (CNN)
4/ A Manafort-linked super PAC failed to report a $1 million contribution it received just before the 2016 election. The Federal Election Commission has asked the Rebuilding America Now PAC for more information about the contribution, which was disclosed in an amended filing two years after the fact. Mueller, meanwhile, is reportedly investigating whether Rebuilding America Now illegally received foreign funds. (Talking Points Memo)
poll/ 33% of voters support shutting down the government again over Trump’s demand for a border wall while 60% of voters oppose another shutdown. 52% of voters would blame Trump and the Republicans for another shutdown, while 37% say they would blame Democrats. Voters remains split when it comes to building a border wall along the southern border, with 47% in favor and 47% opposed. (Politico)
poll/ Trump’s approval rating jumped seven percentage points to 44% approval after the 35-day shutdown ended. The approval rating is one percentage point shy of his personal best. (Gallup)
Notables.
The national debt topped $22 trillion for the first time in U.S. history. The Treasury Department shows that the total outstanding public debt is at $22.01 trillion — up from $19.95 trillion when Trump first took office – and the debt has accelerated since the passage of Trump’s $1.5 trillion tax cut in December 2017 and the increase in military spending. (Associated Press / USA Today / CNBC)
A record 7 million Americans are 90 days or more behind on their car payments – more than 1 million higher than the peak in 2010 following the worst downturn since the Great Depression. Economists warn that this is a red flag, saying car loans are typically the first payment people make because it’s how they get to work, and that as car loan delinquencies rise, it is usually a sign of significant duress among low-income and working-class Americans. (Washington Post / CNBC)
The FEMA administrator resigned. Brock Long was the subject of a Homeland Security investigation last year into his use of government vehicles to travel between Washington and his home in North Carolina. (NPR / Washington Post / CNN)
The Senate passed a public lands conservation bill, designating more than one million acres of wilderness and hundreds of miles of wild rivers for environmental protection and reauthorizing a federal program to pay for conservation measures. The Trump administration, however, has worked to strip away protections on public lands, shrinking national monuments, and opening up large swaths of land up for oil, gas and mining leases. (New York Times / The Guardian / Washington Post)
Trump called for the Tennessee Valley Authority to keep an aging coal plant open that buys coal from a company chaired by a leading donor to Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. (Washington Post)
Trump installed a $50,000 room-sized “golf simulator” at the White House, allowing him to play virtual rounds by hitting a ball into a large video screen. It replaced an older, less sophisticated simulator that Obama had installed. (Washington Post)
Trump complained that getting a dog would make him feel “a little phony.” The Trumps are the only modern first family to not have a pet of any kind. (ABC News)
1/ Negotiators in the House and Senate reached an agreement “in principle” to avoid another partial government shutdown. Details of the agreement have not been released, but the tentative deal includes $1.375 billion for 55 miles of fences along the border, but does not include the $5.7 billion Trump wanted for more than 200 miles of border walls. The border security spending agreement would also provide an additional $1.7 billion for other Homeland Security priorities, like new technology and more customs officers. To avoid another shutdown by the end of the week, the deal needs to be written into final legislation, passed by both the House and Senate, and signed into law by Trump. It’s unclear if Trump will accept the deal. (New York Times / CNN / Washington Post / Politico / NBC News / ABC News / NPR)
2/ Trump is “not happy” with the tentative bipartisan border security deal, adding that “it’s not doing the trick.” Trump did not commit to signing the spending measure if Congress passes it, but he did say: “I don’t think you’re going to see another shutdown.” Trump also didn’t rule out declaring a national emergency to secure wall funds. “I’m considering everything.” (CNBC / New York Times / Politico / Wall Street Journal / Reuters / Bloomberg)
3/ The White House is working on a plan to redirect federal dollars to fund Trump’s border wall without invoking a national emergency. The current plan is to take money from two Army Corps of Engineers’ flood control projects in Northern California, draw from disaster relief funds intended for California and Puerto Rico, and tap Department of Defense funds. A former staff director for the House Appropriations Committee said the plan “will create a firestorm.” (Politico)
The Trump administration is still separating families when they cross the U.S.-Mexico border unlawfully, despite ending the policy last summer. (The Guardian)
4/ Senate Republicans are “livid” with Trump’s refusal to issue a report determining who is responsible for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. The deadline was Friday for the White House to officially detail the role Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman played in the Khashoggi murder. On Friday, the Trump administration said it reserved the right to decline lawmakers’ demand under the Magnitsky Act that Trump determine who is responsible for Khashoggi’s murder inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. Mike Pompeo also denied that the Trump administration is protecting Mohammed, saying “America is not covering up for a murder.” The CIA, however, has concluded that the crown prince personally ordered Khashoggi’s killing. (Politico / ABC News / CNN)
5/ The Senate Intelligence Committee found “no direct evidence” of a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia. “We were never going to find a contract signed in blood saying, ‘Hey Vlad, we’re going to collude,’” one Democratic aide said. Democratic Senate investigators said that the more than 100 contacts between Trump’s associates and various Russians show that the campaign was willing to accept help from a foreign adversary. Senate investigators also said they have uncovered facts yet to be made public. (NBC News)
Trump’s former attorney, John Dowd, claimed he knows more than Mueller about the Russia investigation because of the joint-defense agreements with witnesses in the probe. “I know exactly what [Mueller] has,” Dowd said. “I know exactly what every witness said, what every document said. I know exactly what he asked. And I know what the conclusion or the result is,” he said. (ABC News / Talking Points Memo)
6/ The House Judiciary Committee hired two “special oversight counsels” tasked with reviewing allegations against Trump that could be at the heart of an impeachment case. Norm Eisen and Barry Berke are two elite white collar litigators and prominent legal critics of Trump will consult on matters “related to the Department of Justice, including the Department’s review of Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation,” would include alleged ethics violations, corruption, and possible obstruction of justice. The committee’s chairman, Jerrold Nadler, has not committed to opening a formal impeachment inquiry, but the hires signal that he does not intend to wait for Mueller to finish his work to begin reviewing the issues. (New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post)
poll/ 56% of Americans say they trust Mueller’s version of the facts than Trump’s. 57% also believe that Mueller is mainly interested in “finding out the truth” than trying to “hurt Trump politically.” (Washington Post)
Notables.
Mitch McConnell said the Senate would vote on the “Green New Deal,” which could put Democrats on the record backing a plan that Republicans have derided as a “socialist fantasy.” The deal has no chance of passing the Senate, where it will need 51 votes. Republicans hold 53 seats. (Politico / CNBC / The Hill)
Michael Cohen postponed his planned appearance before the Senate Intelligence Committee because of “post-surgery medical needs” stemming from his recent shoulder surgery. Cohen is is due to begin serving a three-year prison sentence on March 6 for lying to Congress, campaign finance violations and financial crimes. It’s the third time Cohen’s testimony has been rescheduled. (Politico / CNBC)
Companies are spending the corporate windfall from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on stock buybacks instead of wage increases and employee bonuses. Corporations spent $770 billion on buybacks in 2018, which is expected to increase to around $940 billion this year when after-tax profits are included. Other portions from the tax cut savings went to dividends or debt reduction. (Center for Public Integrity / NBC News)
A small company in Switzerland is being investigated by Robert Mueller’s team for its connection to a now-defunct Israeli social media manipulation company called Psy Group, which created a plan to help Trump win in 2016. Former employees of Psy Group were interviewed by Mueller’s team in 2017 about the company’s business and ownership structure. Psy Group’s business structure was very complicated and included offshore entities registered in the Virgin Islands. It also included a chain of entities in Zurich known as Salix Services AG. Financial documents appear to show that Salix is connected to at least one of the companies that owned Psy Group. One question at the heart of Mueller’s interest in Salix and Psy Group involves a $2 million payment from international business and influence-peddler George Nader to former Psy Group owner Joel Zamel. Investigators want to know why Nadler paid Zamel after the 2016 election and where the money went after that. (Daily Beast)
A federal agency that acts as a personnel court for federal workers has only one person to hear cases and he leaves at the end of February. Two of the board’s three seats have been vacant for the entire Trump administration. Justice Department attorneys said the agency could be operating illegally if the board has no members. (Washington Post)
The acting chief of the Interior Department is weakening environmental protections for a fish in California, which would free up river water for farmers who are his former clients. David Bernhardt disproportionately benefit one of his former clients. (New York Times)
A former White House aide is suing Trump after Trump’s campaign organization filed an arbitration against Cliff Sims claiming he violated an NDA he signed during the 2016 presidential race by writing the tell-all book, “Team of Vipers.” Sims alleges that Trump is using his campaign organization as an “illegitimate cutout” to penalize Sims for writing the book. The suit also claims that Trump has been selective when it comes to enforcing NDAs against former staffers by going after people like Omarosa and Sims, but not Sean Spicer or Corey Lewandowski for their tell-all books. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / USA Today)
A BBC cameraman was “violently pushed and shoved” by a Trump supporter at Trump’s rally in El Paso. A man in a MAGA hat started screaming “Fuck the media! Fuck the media!” after attempting to knock BBC cameraman Ron Skeans off balance while he was filming Trump’s speech. The man was restrained and removed by security. Skeans said he is fine. (The Guardian / New York Times / CNN)
1/ Negotiations to avoid another partial government shutdown fell apart on Sunday. Democrats are demanding a limit on the number of arrests of undocumented immigrants already in the U.S. by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, as well as a cap the number of beds in ICE detention centers to force the Trump administration to focus on detaining undocumented immigrants with criminal records instead of using indiscriminate deportation raids in local communities without valid reason. To avoid another partial shutdown – set to begin Saturday – the House and Senate must pass identical spending bills that Trump would then need to sign into law by Friday night. The 17 House and Senate negotiators had hoped to reach a deal by Monday to give lawmakers enough time to approve the deal in both chambers before the deadline. The only things being discussed at the moment are a temporary Homeland Security spending bill or a possible national emergency declaration by Trump. (Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Reuters / The Guardian)
California’s governor is pulling the National Guard troops back from the southern border. Gov. Gavin Newsom will order the removal of roughly 360 California National Guard members from the state’s border with Mexico, and instead directing them to focus on drug trafficking and wildfire prevention. (Los Angeles Times / New York Times / CBS News)
2/ Mick Mulvaney “absolutely cannot” rule out the possibility of another partial government shutdown if Congress doesn’t include funding for a border wall. The acting White House chief of staff blamed the uncertainty on Democrats and that “You cannot take a shutdown off the table, and you cannot take $5.7 billion off the table.” (NBC News)
3/ Trump spent about 50% of his time last week in unstructured “Executive Time,” as more of his personal schedules leaked. Hours earlier, Mick Mulvaney said he expected to catch whoever leaked Trump’s personal schedule to the media and “have a resolution on that this week.” Trump responded to his leaked schedules by tweeted that “When the term Executive Time is used. I am generally working, not relaxing.” Trump is believed to use his executive time watching TV, tweeting, calling friends, and reading newspapers. Trump added: “I probably work more hours than almost any past President.” (Axios / USA Today)
4/ The average tax refund is down about 8% under the first full year of the Republican-led overhaul of the tax code. The White House promised a $4,000 “raise” under the Trump tax plan, but refunds have averaged $1,865 compared to $2,035 for tax year 2017. (NBC News / CNN)
5/ Robert Mueller’s lead prosecutors disclosed that the special counsel is continuing to pursue collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia based on the conversations between Paul Manafort and Konstantin Kilimnik, who allegedly is linked to Russian intelligence. Prosecutors have been focused on discussions the two had about a “peace plan” to end the conflict following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea in 2014. The two repeatedly communicated about the plan for Ukraine starting in early August 2016, while Manafort was still running Trump’s campaign, and continuing into 2018 – months after Manafort had been charged by Mueller’s office related to his work in the country. (New York Times)
poll/ 34% of Americans believe it’s always or sometimes acceptable for a white person to wear blackface as a Halloween costume, compared to 53% who believe it’s rarely or never acceptable. 50% of Republicans, however, say it’s always or sometimes acceptable to wear blackface as part of a costume. (Pew Research Center)
👑 Presidential News and Notes.
Amy Klobuchar announced that she will run for president in 2020. The three-term Minnesota Democrat announced her campaign with a call to rebuild American with a “sense of community.” (Politico / CNN / New York Times / Washington Post)
Elizabeth Warren announced she will run for president in 2020, calling for “fundamental change” because wealthy power brokers “have been waging class warfare against hardworking people for decades” and that Trump is “just the latest and most extreme symptom of what’s gone wrong in America.” (New York Times / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
Trump mocked Warren – again – calling her by the slur “Pocahontas” and saying he’d “see you on the campaign TRAIL,” which is interpreted as a reference to the Trail of Tears where Native Americans were forcibly relocated to reservations in the southeastern U.S. in the 1800s. Trump Jr. called the “TRAIL” tweet “savage.” (New York Times / USA Today / ABC News)
Warren suggested that Trump “may not even be a free person” by the 2020 election, noting the number of investigations into the president. (CNN / New York Times)
Kamala Harris called for the legalization of marijuana at a federal level, saying “I think it gives a lot of people joy. And we need more joy.” Harris also said she smoked weed in college “and I inhaled.” (Politico)
A Democratic party strategist called Joe Biden a “weaker candidate than Hillary.” (McClatchy DC)
Trump will hold a rally in El Paso tonight at the same time as Beto O’Rourke. Trump will speak at a Make America Great Again rally at the El Paso County Coliseum at 7 p.m. Mountain time, while O’Rourke and his supporters will meet at Bowie High School at 5 p.m., and then march to Chalio Acosta Sports Center. He will also begin speaking at 7 p.m. (New York Times)
✏️ Notables.
The brother of Jeff Bezos’ mistress leaked the text messages to the National Enquirer. AMI has previously refused to identify the source of the texts, but a lawyer for the company hinted that Michael Sanchez was behind the leak. Elkan Abramowitz also said the exposé of Bezos’ extramarital affair was not “inspired by the White House, inspired by Saudi Arabia or inspired by The Washington Post,” and insisted that neither the kingdom nor Trump leaked the messages. Abramowitz denied Bezos’ allegations that the parent company of the National Enquirer attempted to extort and blackmail CEO, saying it “absolutely is not extortion and not blackmail.” (Daily Beast / Politico / ABC News)
The publisher of the National Enquirer asked the Justice Department last year if it should register as a foreign agent after it sought financial backing from Saudi investors and produced a magazine celebrating the country’s new crown prince. American Media previously went to the Saudis to finance a failed effort to acquire Time magazine, Sports Illustrated, Fortune and Money. (Wall Street Journal)
Trump is expected to sign an executive order launching the American Artificial Intelligence initiative to bolster American leadership in the field. (CNN)
Trump’s personal physician declared that the president is in “very good health” and should remain so “for the remainder of his presidency and beyond.” Last year, Trump’s then-physician noted the president’s “excellent health” and “incredible genes,” joking that Trump “might live to be 200 years old” if he improved his diet. (New York Times / CNN)
1/ The acting attorney general told the House Judiciary Committee that he has not spoken to Trump about Robert Mueller’s investigation. Matthew Whitaker testified that while he had “not interfered in any way” with the special counsel investigation, he wouldn’t discuss his “private conversations” with Trump. Meanwhile, Doug Collins, the ranking Republican on the committee, accused Democrats of engaging in “political theater” and a “character assassination” against both Whitaker and Trump. (New York Times / CNN / Wall Street Journal / Politico / Bloomberg)
After being asked if he had ever been asked to approve any moves by Mueller’s team, Whitaker told Chairman Jerry Nadler “I see that your five minutes is up.” Whitaker didn’t answer the question directly, but added: “I’m here voluntarily. I agreed to five-minute rounds.” (Daily Beast)
2/ Mueller’s team accused Paul Manafort of lying to them about “an extremely sensitive issue” in hopes of increasing “his chances for a pardon.” Prosecutors allege that Manafort worked on Ukrainian political matters from August 2016 to December 2018 – after his first indictment by the special counsel in 2017 – and that he tried to avoid providing information that could be damaging to Konstantin Kilimnik, a Manafort business partner in Ukraine. Prosecutors believe Kilimnik is connected with Russian intelligence. Kilimnik also attended Trump’s inauguration. (Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / CNN)
A federal judge ordered the Justice Department to release redacted versions of its Michael Cohen search warrant and other documents related to the FBI’s April 2018 raid. (Politico)
3/ Rod Rosenstein privately complained that Trump ordered him to write the memo justifying the firing of James Comey. Rosenstein made the remarks in a private meeting at the Justice Department on May 12, 2017, according to Andrew McCabe, who also said that Rosenstein believed the White House used him as a scapegoat for Comey’s dismissal. At the time, Sean Spicer denied that Trump had directed Rosenstein to write a justification for firing Comey, saying: “It was all [Rosenstein].” (The Guardian)
4/ Ivanka Trump has “zero concerns” about any of her “loved ones” being caught up in Mueller’s Russia investigation. She also insisted that the Trump Tower project in Russia – pursued during the 2016 campaign – is overblown and “there’s nothing there.” (Politico / Washington Post)
Notables.
Trump has appointed at least eight people to senior posts in his administration who are either current or former members at Mar-a-Lago. Becoming a member of one of Trump’s clubs can cost $100,000 or more in initiation fees, plus thousands more each year in dues. (USA Today)
The Supreme Court blocked a Louisiana law that could have left the state with only one doctor eligible in a single clinic authorized to provide abortions. The vote was 5 to 4, with Chief Justice John Roberts joining the court’s four liberals. Only Brett Kavanaugh published a dissent. (New York Times / Washington Post)
House and Senate negotiators are close to a possible border security agreement that would fund new technology, additional border patrol agents, and fencing in certain areas along the southern border. The agreement could offer Trump between $1.3 billion and around $2 billion in funding for border security, but there is no mention of funding for a wall. Trump has told allies he would grudgingly accept a figure of around $2 billion. (New York Times / Washington Examiner)
Trump’s inauguration committee overpaid to use event spaces at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., despite internal objections at the Trump Organization that the rates were too high. The committee was charged a rate of $175,000 per day. An event planner, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, suggested that an appropriate rate would be closer to $85,000 per day. Tax law prohibits nonprofits from paying inflated prices to entities that are owned by people who also control the nonprofit. (ProPublica)
The Showdown: 🤜 Bezos vs A.M.I. 🤛
I’d rather not be talking about dick pics, but this is such a weird story that reaches back into the Trump administration in unexpected ways. So I guess I’ll include. Happy Friday…
Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com, accused National Enquirer’s publisher of “extortion and blackmail” for threatening to release embarrassing photos of him. In a blog post, Bezos laid out a theory that covers international politics, White House politics, nude photos, and text messages. Trump is longtime friends with American Media’s chief executive, David Pecker. Trump has repeatedly tweeted about the “Amazon Washington Post,” because of Bezos’ ownership of the paper and what Trump claims is unfair coverage.
Bezos launched an investigation to determine how the Enquirer obtained his personal text messages for the initial article it published about the affair.
Gavin de Becker, the Amazon chief’s personal security consultant, confirmed that his probe was looking at Michael Sanchez, the brother of Bezos mistress Lauren Sanchez, who is also a personal and business associate of Roger Stone, Carter Page, and Scottie Nell Hughes. “Michael Sanchez has been among the people we’ve been speaking with and looking at,” De Becker said, but added that “strong leads point to political motives.” (Daily Beast / Washington Post)
Sanchez offered several of theories to explain how the texts between Bezos and his sister made it to the Enquirer. He suggested that foreign governments were spying on Bezos, or that the “deep state” – specifically the National Security Agency – may have been responsible for obtaining text messages from Bezos’ phone. (Washington Post / Daily Beast)
American Media demanded that Bezos call off his investigators, instructing Bezos to state publicly that he had “no knowledge or basis for suggesting that [American Media’s] coverage was politically motivated or influenced by political forces.” The tabloid threatened to keep his photos on hand and publish them in the future “if we ever deviate from [the] lie.”
Bezos suggested that the Washington Post’s reporting about the murder of Jamal Khashoggi may have made him a target of Pecker, saying “It’s unavoidable that certain powerful people who experience Washington Post news coverage will wrongly conclude I am their enemy.” The CIA concluded that the murder was likely ordered by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. (The Guardian)
A.M.I. engaged in talks with Saudi financiers to help shore up its debt-laden business last year. (Wall Street Journal)
American Media entered into a deal with federal prosecutors last year where Pecker and Chief Content Officer Dylan Howard cooperate with authorities, and acknowledge that the Enquirer worked with the Trump campaign to kill stories “about the presidential candidate’s relationships with women”: the former Playboy model Karen McDougal and the porn star Stormy Daniels. (New York Times / Washington Post)
The agreement stipulated that A.M.I, “shall commit no crimes whatsoever” for three years, and that if it did, “A.M.I. shall thereafter be subject to prosecution for any federal criminal violation of which this office has knowledge.” (New York Times / Bloomberg)
American Media said it “believes fervently that it acted lawfully in the reporting of the story of Mr. Bezos” and that it was acting in “good-faith negotiations to resolve all matters with him.” (Wall Street Journal)
Federal prosecutors are reviewing the National Enquirer’s handling of its story about Bezos to determine if the company violated the cooperation agreement. (Bloomberg)
1/ The Senate Judiciary Committee voted along party lines to approve William Barr’s nomination to become attorney general and succeed Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker. All 12 Republicans on the panel voted for Barr, while all 10 Democrats voted against him. Democrats cited an unsolicited memo Barr wrote last year to Rod Rosenstein objecting to the obstruction of justice aspect of the Mueller probe was “fatally misconceived” and that “Mueller should not be permitted to demand that the President submit to interrogation about alleged obstruction.” Barr also argued that Trump firing James Comey, and before that asking Comey to stop the investigation into Michael Flynn were within his powers as head of the executive branch. A final vote on Barr’s nomination in the full Senate is expected next week. (ABC News / CNN / Reuters / NPR)
2/ Whitaker won’t testify before the House Judiciary Committee unless he receives a written assurance that he won’t be served with a subpoena. Whitaker’s threat came after the committee voted to give Chairman Jerry Nadler the authority to subpoena Whitaker for testimony if he didn’t appear or answer questions at Friday’s planned oversight hearing. Democrats have until 6 p.m. today to respond. (CNN / Washington Post / Axios / Globe and Mail / New York Times)
3/ The Ways and Means Subcommittee on Oversight met to examine the process for obtaining Trump’s tax returns. One law they’re looking at from 1924 allows the chairman of the tax-writing subcommittee to privately review anyone’s tax returns. Once they secure the documents, the committee would need a majority vote in order to release them to the public. (ABC News)
4/ Trump complained about the wave of oversight investigations into his administration launched by the new Democratic majority in the House, claiming that he’s being subjected to “unlimited presidential harassment” that “Never happened before!” to previous presidents. Trump tweeted that there was “no reason” for the House Intelligence Committee to open an investigation into whether his decision-making as president is motivated by financial gain, while calling Adam Schiff a “political hack.” (Politico / NBC News / New York Times)
Trump is reportedly “furious” at Schiff for trying to hire White House employees to help with the House Intelligence Committee’s oversight of the president. Schiff has already hired one former career official at the National Security Council, Abigail Grace, who left the White House last year. A second career employee detailed to the Trump White House is also considering joining the staff. Trump called the committee “nuts” and “a continuation of Witch Hunt!” (Bloomberg / CNN)
The Republican Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee said that “based on the evidence to date” the committee could not definitively say there was collusion between Trump and the Russians. Burr was Trump’s national security adviser during the campaign. (CBS News / Politico)
📌Day 748: The House Intelligence Committee voted to send more than 50 witness interview transcripts from its Russia investigation to Robert Mueller, who could use them to then prosecute potential perjury or obstruction of justice by Trump associates. Among the transcripts are testimonies by Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner. Mueller has already prosecuted Michael Flynn for lying to both the House and Senate intelligence panels about the failed Trump Tower Moscow project. Mueller has also charged Roger Stone with lying to the House Intelligence Committee. (Politico / ABC News)
📌 Day 748: The House Intelligence Committee will also “investigate any credible allegation” into whether Trump’s financial interests are driving his decision-making process. Chairman Adam Schiff announced that the committee would look “beyond Russia” and will examine “whether any foreign actor has sought to compromise or holds leverage, financial or otherwise, over Donald Trump, his family, his business, or his associates.” (CNN)
poll/ 87% of Americans say Robert Mueller’s investigators should produce a full, public report on their findings. 48% believe that Trump’s campaign colluded with the Russian government to help get him elected. (CNN)
poll/ 40% of voters approved of the job Trump is doing as president – a record low. 55% disapprove. (Morning Consult)
Notables.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ed Markey released an outline for the “Green New Deal,” which would set a “10-year national mobilization” to shift away from fossil fuels by “upgrading all existing buildings” in the country for energy efficiency, work with farmers “to eliminate pollution and greenhouse gas emissions,” and overhaul the transportation systems to reduce emissions, as well as develop national health care coverage, add job guarantees, and more. The resolution is not likely to go before the House for a vote, and there’s little chance of a Green New Deal getting a vote in the Republican-controlled Senate. Parts of the plan, however, could be turned into legislation to address climate change. (NPR / Politico / New York Times)
The Southern District of New York is still investigating Michael Cohen, acknowledging in a court filing that “aspects” of the investigation involving Cohen “remain ongoing.” Judge William Pauley partially unsealed documents pertaining to the April 9, 2018, raid of Cohen’s home, office and hotel room. Pauley said there are other subjects of the ongoing investigation beyond Cohen. (CNN)
The boyfriend of Russian spy Maria Butina was indicted by a federal grand jury for wire fraud and money laundering. Paul Erickson was arrested and pled “not guilty” to charges that allege he used a chain of assisted living homes, called Compass Care, to run a criminal scheme from 1996 to 2018. He also allegedly defrauded his investors using a company called Investing with Dignity and claiming to be “in the business of developing a wheelchair that allowed people to go to the bathroom without being lifted out of the wheelchair.” The indictment also alleges that Erickson fraudulently claimed to be building homes in the Bakken oil fields of North Dakota. His case is separate from the case against Butina in Washington, D.C. (Daily Beast)
Trump will not meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping before a March 1 deadline to achieve a trade deal. (Reuters)
The U.S. military will pull all American forces out of Syria by the end of April, despite the Trump administration having no plan to protect its Kurdish partners when they leave. (Wall Street Journal)
The Trump administration plans to roll back Obama-era restrictions on payday lenders and vehicle title loans. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau wants to get rid of a rule that requires payday lenders and others who provide “Certain High-Cost Installment Loans” to try and find out if borrowers can afford to pay back the loans before making them. The rollback happened just after Trump replaced the previous CFPB director with Mick Mulvaney, who now serves as acting White House Chief of Staff. (NBC News / Politico)
New rules by the Trump administration will make it easier for U.S. weapons manufacturers to export semi-automatic weapons, flamethrowers, and some grenades overseas. Manufacturers will no longer need to obtain licenses from the State Department in order to sell certain weapons to foreign countries. Instead, they’ll only need to get a no-fee license from the Commerce Department. (NBC News)
T-Mobile executives involved in the company’s merger with Sprint last year have booked more than 52 nights at Trump’s D.C. hotel since then. Newly obtained records from the hotel show T-Mobile executives booked more nights than previously reported, sometimes staying in rooms that cost up to $2,246 per night. Trump still owns the hotel, despite turning day-to-day control over to his sons Eric and Don Jr. (Washington Post)
Trump appealed to religious leaders with anti-abortion comments during the national prayer breakfast, saying “All children, born and unborn, are made in the holy image of God,” and that “Every life is sacred, and every soul is a precious gift from heaven.” (Washington Post / ABC News)
A former Fox News reporter is expected to be appointed to lead the State Department’s efforts to counter foreign propaganda and disinformation. Lea Gabrielle was the general assignment reporter for “Shepard Smith Reporting.” She is expected to be officially named the special envoy and coordinator of the Global Engagement Center this week. (CNN)
1/ Nancy Pelosi declared that House Democrats would not be intimidated by Trump’s “all-out threat” during his State of the Union to stop investigating his administration. Pelosi called it Democrats’ “congressional responsibility” to investigate Trump, “and if we didn’t do it, we would be delinquent in that.” During his address, Trump claimed that “If there is going to be peace and legislation, there cannot be war and investigation.” He added: “It just doesn’t work that way!” Pelosi called Trump’s rhetoric a false choice. (New York Times)
🔥 State of the Union Hot Takes.
Trump gave his second State of the Union speech last night. He started by calling for unity and bipartisanship, before launching into attacks on Robert Mueller’s investigation, calls for Congress to fund his border wall, and plans to enact a new ban on abortion. Democrats responded by calling the speech “sickening,” “shameful,” and “inappropriate.” Sen. Mazie Hirono simply replied, “WTF.” Republicans, meanwhile, erupted into chants of “USA! USA! USA!” during the speech and largely curbed whatever criticisms they had in once it was over. (Politico)
The audience for the SOTU address was deeply Republican, the most partisan audience since 2001. The slant in the audience led to largely positive reviews from those who watched – about 6 in 10 viewers had a positive reaction to the speech. The positive remarks were cut down party and demographic lines. (CNN)
On Trump’s big applause line, the sound of silence was stunning (NBC News)
Trump presented a false choice between investigations and prosperity, warning House Democrats that “If there is going to be peace and legislation, there cannot be war and investigation. … We must choose between greatness or gridlock, results or resistance, vision or vengeance, incredible progress or pointless destruction.” (Washington Post)
“They know it’s his party”: Despite tensions with Trump, GOP lawmakers roar with approval for their president (Washington Post)
Why Trump’s zigzagging speech made perfect sense (Politico)
Trump Asks for Unity, but Presses Hard Line on Immigration (New York Times)
State of the Union Fact Check: What Trump Got Right and Wrong (New York Times)
In dissonant State of the Union speech, Trump seeks unity while depicting ruin (Washington Post)
2/ The House Intelligence Committee voted to send more than 50 witness interview transcripts from its Russia investigation to Robert Mueller, who could use them to then prosecute potential perjury or obstruction of justice by Trump associates. Among the transcripts are testimonies by Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner. Mueller has already prosecuted Michael Flynn for lying to both the House and Senate intelligence panels about the failed Trump Tower Moscow project. Mueller has also charged Roger Stone with lying to the House Intelligence Committee. (Politico / ABC News)
Mueller referred to “uncharged individuals” in recent court filings aimed at restricting some evidence from defendants in Russia. Legal analysts believe the language indicates federal prosecutors are investigating additional subjects linked to the Russian troll farm and the Paul Manafort cases and more people could be indicted as part of the special counsel investigation. (The Hill)
3/ The House Intelligence Committee will also “investigate any credible allegation” into whether Trump’s financial interests are driving his decision-making process. Chairman Adam Schiff announced that the committee would look “beyond Russia” and will examine “whether any foreign actor has sought to compromise or holds leverage, financial or otherwise, over Donald Trump, his family, his business, or his associates.” (CNN)
4/ Michael Cohen’s testimony before the House Intelligence Committee has been delayed “in the interests of the investigation.” It’s the second time Cohen’s planned testimony has been rescheduled. Cohen canceled his scheduled appearance before Oversight and Government Reform citing threats Trump made to his family. The Senate Intelligence Committee has also issued Cohen a subpoena to compel his testimony on Feb. 12, while the House Oversight Committee is still negotiating about a public appearance before that panel. (Washington Post / Politico / CNN)
5/ Global temperatures in 2018 were the fourth warmest on record, according to scientists at NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The 2018 average global temperature was 1.5F warmer than average, placing it behind 2016, 2017 and 2015. Collectively, the last five years have been the five warmest years since modern measurements began. “We’re no longer talking about a situation where global warming is something in the future. It’s here. It’s now.” (New York Times / The Guardian / Politico)
Climate change and natural disasters killed at least 247 people and cost the U.S. an estimated $91 billion in 2018. Since 1980, the U.S. has experienced 241 weather and climate disasters where the overall damage reached or exceeded $1 billion. (Washington Post)
📌 Day 733: 73% of Americans believe that climate change is real– a jump of 10 percentage points from 2015, and three points since last March. 72% also said that global warming is personally important to them. (New York Times)
📌 Day 685: Global emissions of carbon dioxide have reached the highest levels on record. Global emissions grew 1.6% in 2017 with 2018 expected to increase 2.7%. The U.S. is the world’s second-largest emitter of carbon emissions, but that hasn’t stopped the Trump administration from moving to roll back regulations designed to limit those emissions from vehicle tailpipes and power-plant smokestacks. As United Nations Secretary General António Guterres said this week at the opening of the 24th annual U.N. climate conference: “We are in trouble. We are in deep trouble with climate change.” (Washington Post / New York Times)
📌 Day 676: The National Climate Assessment concludes that global warming is already “transforming where and how we live and presents growing challenges to human health and quality of life, the economy, and the natural systems that support us.” The findings from the landmark scientific report, issued by 13 federal agencies, are at odds with the Trump administration’s environmental deregulation agenda, which Trump claims will lead to economic growth, and its plans to withdraw from the Paris climate accord. The report predicts that the effects of global warming could eliminate as much as 10% of the U.S. economy by the end of the century, and warns that humans must act aggressively now “to avoid substantial damages to the U.S. economy, environment, and human health and well-being over the coming decades.” The first report, released in November 2017, concluded that there is “no convincing alternative explanation” for the changing climate other than “human activities, especially emissions of greenhouse gases.” Trump recently questioned the science of climate change, saying that “I don’t know that it’s man-made” and that the warming trend “could very well go back.” (New York Times / Associated Press / Washington Post / CNN)
📌 Day 627: A U.N. report on the effects of climate change predicts a strong risk of an environmental crisis much sooner than expected. The report finds that the atmosphere could warm by as much as 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit above preindustrial levels by 2040 if greenhouse gas emissions continue at the current rate, which would cause sea levels to rise, intensify droughts, wildfires, and poverty, and cause a mass die-off of coral reefs. To prevent 2.7 degrees of warming, greenhouse pollution must be reduced by 45% from 2010 levels by 2030, and fully eliminated by 2050. The use of coal as an electricity source would have to drop from nearly 40% today to between 1% and 7% by 2050. Renewable energy would have to increase to about 67%. Trump has mocked the science of human-caused climate change, vowing to increase the burning of coal, and he intends to withdraw from the 2015 Paris agreement. The world is already more than halfway to the 2.7-degree mark and “there is no documented historic precedent” for the scale of changes required, the report said. (New York Times / Washington Post)
Notables.
Trump has attended 17 intelligence briefings over the last 85 days and does not regularly read the Presidential Daily Brief prepared for him. From Nov. 7, 2018 to Feb. 1, 2019, Trump announced his decision to withdraw U.S. forces from Syria and quit a nuclear arms treaty with Russia. (NBC News)
Russia is developing new hypersonic missiles that travel at more than five times the speed of sound and will be “invincible” in response to Trump’s decision to pull out of the nuclear arms treaty. The new hypersonic missile is expected to be ready by 2021. (New York Times / NPR)
During a private lunch with TV news anchors, Trump attacked prominent Democrats, calling Joe Biden “dumb,” Chuck Schumer a “nasty son of a bitch,” and saying that Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam “choked like a dog” when he tried to explain the racist photo in his medical school yearbook. Trump also repeated his slur against Elizabeth Warren: “I hope I haven’t wounded Pocahontas too badly,” Trump said. “I’d like to run against her.” (New York Times)
Trump nominated a critic of the World Bank to be the next president of the World Bank. David Malpass, the Treasury under secretary for international affairs, has made past statements critical of the World Bank and multilateral institutions broadly. In 2007, Malpass wrote that the U.S. economy was “sturdy and will grow solidly in coming months, and perhaps years.” Malpass worked at Bear Stearns as its chief economist at the time. (ABC News / NPR)
Archival footage shows Trump meeting with officials in Russia in the 1990s to discuss a potential building project in Russia. The video was allegedly aired by Russian state TV in 1995, and shows Trump meeting with members of the former mayor of Moscow’s administration. “He had contacts,” former mayor Yury Luzhkov said, “on matters related to the construction of the Okhotny Ryad underground mall on Manezh Square.” The video was apparently discovered by someone who had been “going through the Russian TV archives.” Trump has said on multiple occasions that “I have nothing to do with Russia. I don’t have any jobs in Russia. I’m all over the world but we’re not involved in Russia.” (The Independent)
Trump wanted $20 million up front for the right to use the Trump name on a Moscow development in 2006. Trump was willing to accept a $4 million upfront branding fee and a cut of profits in his 2015 and 2016 efforts to build a Moscow tower. (Bloomberg)
1/ Federal prosecutors in New York requested interviews with Trump Organization executives. New York federal prosecutors are running at least two investigations into Trump-related entities: the first centers on Cohen’s possible campaign-finance violations for the hush-money payments made or organized to silence women who claimed affairs with Trump. The second concerns the Trump inaugural committee. (CNN)
2/ Trump’s inaugural committee was ordered to turn over documents related to donations and spending following a subpoena by the Southern District of New York. Federal prosecutors are seeking all information about donors, vendors, contractors, bank accounts, and foreign contributors related to the inaugural committee, which raised a record $107 million – more than twice the amount raised to fund Obama’s 2009 inaugural. Federal prosecutors are also seeking documents related to a Los Angeles venture capitalist, Imaad Zuberi, who gave $900,000 to the committee through his private-equity firm, Avenue Ventures, and once registered as a foreign agent working on behalf of the Sri Lankan government. The subpoena suggests that SDNY prosecutors are investigating crimes related to conspiracy to defraud the U.S., mail fraud, false statements, wire fraud, and money laundering. The investigation is being led by the public corruption unit of the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office, and grew out of the probe into Michael Cohen’s business dealings. Cohen has since pleaded guilty to eight charges and has been sentenced to three years in prison. (Washington Post / ABC News / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
3/ Sarah Huckabee Sanders claimed the Trump inaugural committee subpoena “has nothing to do with the White House,” as she deferred questions to the committee, which is a separate entity from the White House. Sanders also dismissed the notion that Trump is a common factor in his inner circle’s legal issues, arguing instead that “the common thread is a hysteria over the fact that this president became president.” (Politico)
4/ SDNY prosecutors have been interviewing witnesses about foreign money flowing to three lobbying firms recruited by Paul Manafort to improve the image of the Russia-aligned president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, seven years ago. Mercury Public Affairs, the Podesta Group and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom are being scrutinized for representing foreign governments without registering as foreign agents. The case was originally referred by Mueller’s investigation. (New York Times)
Manafort will be sentenced on March 13th on the two charges he pleaded guilty to: conspiracy and witness tampering. (CNN)
5/ Trump and Jared Kushner met with contractors at the White House to discuss building the border wall last week, despite senior Senate Republicans and members of GOP leadership raising concerns about Trump bypassing Congress and using an emergency declaration to build his wall. “Listen closely to the State of the Union,” Trump said when asked if he was ready to announce a national emergency. (CNN)
👑 State of the Union: A Reader’s Guide.
Trump will deliver his second State of the Union address at 9 p.m. Eastern Time tonight. Here’s what you need to know:
Trump will deliver his address in the wake of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. Democrats have taken the House, funding for the border wall is still off the table, Trump continues to be hounded by the Robert Mueller investigation, and his approval rating remains around 40%. (CNN)
The theme of Trump’s address is expected to be “Choosing Greatness” where he’ll announce a plan to stop transmission of H.I.V. by 2030, make the case for an immigration “crisis,” appeal to Republicans on abortion, justify reducing troop levels in Syria and Afghanistan, and more. (New York Times)
Trump is expected to call for bipartisan cooperation amid a Congress divided over his demand for border wall funding, which has resulted in a 35-day partial government shutdown. (Washington Post)
6 things to watch for: wall demands, Democrats, Pelosi, guests, Kavanaugh, and unexpected events. (Washington Post)
5 things to know about the economy before Trump’s State of the Union: the GOP tax cut benefits were a mirage, the stock market has been unstable in recent months, Trump’s trade wars have hurt nearly every sector of the economy, and more. (Vox)
✏️Notables.
The commander of U.S. Central Command “was not consulted” prior to Trump’s announcement to withdraw troops from Syria. Gen. Joseph Votel oversees military operations in the Middle East and said that the fight against the terror group is “not over” and warned ISIS could regroup after US troops leave. (CNN)
Trump’s four trips to Mar-a-Lago in March and February 2017 cost the government nearly $14 million. The government also paid roughly $600,000 to Trump’s Palm Beach property. (ABC News)
The Trump Organization has fired at least 18 undocumented workers from five golf courses following reports about the clubs employing workers without legal status. (Washington Post)
A bipartisan group of Senators are trying to limit Trump’s existing authority to impose tariffs unilaterally on national security grounds. The bill would require congressional approval to impose trade restrictions for national security reasons. (CNN)
The Treasury Department plans to drag the expected Democratic request for Trump’s tax returns into a series of legal arguments. The Internal Revenue Code gives the three congressional committees responsible for taxes the ability to request the returns of any individual or business, but a related section within the Code says leaking tax information is a felony, punishable by up to five years in prison. (Politico)
1/ Trump said he doesn’t “have to agree” with his intelligence chiefs on worldwide threats. Trump, agitated after intelligence officials contradicted him several times during congressional testimony last week, said he wants “them to give me their opinion,” but not to share them publicly with Congress. Trump later called the intelligence officials naive and suggested they might need to go back to “school.” Senior intelligence analysts who prepare Trump’s briefs and the briefers themselves say Trump displays “willful ignorance” when presented with analysis, and that the use of visual aids, confining briefings to two or three sentences, and repeating his name and title as frequently as possible all fail to keep his attention. Two intelligence officers say they have been warned to avoid giving Trump intelligence assessments that contradict stances he has taken in public. (CBS News / Time)
2/ Trump won’t commit to making Robert Mueller’s final report public, and that he doesn’t know if he wants the report made public at all, saying “it depends” on “what it’s going to say.” Trump did say that while he believes it’s time to “get rid of the Russia witch hunt,” he would leave the decision “totally up to the attorney general.” William Barr, Trump’s nominee for attorney general, said during his confirmation hearing that the public might see a summary report from the attorney general on Mueller’s conclusions and not the full special counsel’s report. (NBC News / New York Times / ABC News)
3/ Trump claimed to have “set the table beautifully” for his next fight with Democrats over his border wall, indicating that he will declare a national emergency on Feb. 15th, to secure funding for a wall. Mitch McConnell, meanwhile, privately advised Trump about the consequences of declaring a national emergency to build his border wall. (The Guardian / Washington Post)
The Trump administration said that reuniting thousands of separated migrant children may not be “within the realm of the possible.” Health and Human Services officials said they don’t know the exact number of children taken from their parents and that finding them would be too much of a “burden.” (NBC News / HuffPost)
4/ Trump spent about nearly 60% of his time in unstructured “Executive Time.” According to a leaked copy of his private schedule for the past three months, Trump usually spends the first five hours of the day in the White House residence watching TV and reading the news, and then calling advisers to discuss what he’s seen and read. Trump’s first meeting of the day usually starts around 11:30am. Trump has spent almost 300 hours in executive time and 77 hours in scheduled meetings since the midterms. (Axios / NBC News / The Guardian)
For the first time in 69 days, Trump had a chance to play a round of golf. He was joined by Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus. (Yahoo Sports)
5/ The White House claimed that Trump’s tan is the result of “good genes” and not due to a spray-tan booth or the use of a tanning bed. According to three people who have spent time in the White House residence, there is no bed or booth in the residence, the East Wing, or on Air Force One. Two senior White House officials also insisted that no such devices exists. (New York Times)
Trump’s annual physical exam is next week. Last year, Trump’s physician described the president as being in “excellent health” despite revealing that he was borderline obese and has a common form of heart disease. (CNN)
6/ Deutsche Bank refused to give Trump a loan during his 2016 presidential campaign. Trump was funding his campaign and expanding his business group’s collection of properties at the same time. The Trump Organization specifically wanted a loan against a Miami property to fund work on the Turnberry golf course in Scotland. A 2018 financial disclosure, Trump owed at least $130 million to Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas, a unit of the German bank. The decision came down to senior bank officials worrying about what would happen if Trump won the election and then defaulted on the loan. Deutsche Bank would then have to choose between not collecting on the debt or seizing the assets of the president of the United States. (New York Times / CNBC)
Maryland prosecutors have subpoenaed financial documents from Trump’s golf courses in Scotland. The document request is part of an investigation into whether Trump has violated the Emoluments Clause of the U.S. Constitution by profiting from his businesses, including Trump Turnberry and Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. (Times of London / The Hill / Business Insider)
In late 2016, Deutsche Bank tried to shed a $600 million loan to VTB Group, a large Russian state-owned bank. The bank sold $300 million of the loan to another Russian financial institution, Alfa Bank, in December 2016. (Wall Street Journal)
European lawmakers will probe Deutsche Bank’s possible involvement with money laundering by Danske Bank. (Politico)
A Russian-born lobbyist at the Trump Tower meeting in June 2016 received half a million dollars in payments before and after the meeting. The large cash deposits to Rinat Akhmetshin were deemed suspicious transactions by bank investigators. (BuzzFeed News)
poll/ 38% of American want Trump to be re-elected in 2020, compared to 57% who say it is time for someone new in the Oval Office. (Monmouth University)
Notables.
Trump plans to keep U.S. troops in Iraq to monitor and pressure Iran. The U.S. has been quietly negotiating with Iraq for weeks to move hundreds of troops stationed in Syria to bases in Iraq so they can continue to attack ISIS strongholds from there. Iraqi President Barham Salih said Trump did not ask for permission to station more U.S. troops in his country to watch Iran. Iraq and Iran are allies. (New York Times / Reuters / CBC News)
Pentagon will deploy approximately 3,750 additional troops to the Southern border to install wire barriers and monitor crossings. The new deployment will bring the number of active-duty troops there to around 6,000. The additional troops will be deployed for 90 days. (NPR / CNN / Reuters)
Trump is expected to announce new uniformed leaders for the Army, Navy and Marine Corps. Trump also will formally nominate a chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. (Wall Street Journal)
Trump nominated a former oil lobbyist to head the Interior Department. David Bernhardt is current deputy chief of the Interior Department and would succeed Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, who resigned amid multiple scandals and ethics investigations. (New York Times / Politico)
Putin ordered Russia’s military to develop new medium-range missiles in response to the U.S. leaving a key Cold War nuclear arms treaty. (ABC News)
Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler appointed several climate change deniers to its Science Advisory Board. Wheeler also appointed a scientist who argues for easing radiation regulations to lead the agency’s radiation advisory committee. (Associated Press / CNN)
1/ In a wide-ranging interview in the Oval Office, Trump called negotiating with Congress over his border wall “a waste of time” (again), brushed off the Russia investigation and claimed that Rod Rosenstein told him he was not a target in the probe, dismissed the importance of the proposed Trump Tower his team was trying to build in Moscow during the 2016 campaign, denied he ever spoke with Roger Stone about WikiLeaks and the stolen Democratic emails, and insisted that he played no role in Jared Kushner receiving a security clearance despite concerns by both the FBI and CIA. The interview was arranged after Trump reached out to A. G. Sulzberger, the publisher of The New York Times, inviting him for an off-the-record dinner. Sulzberger initially declined, saying he would prefer an on-the-record interview that included two of his reporters. Trump agreed. During the interview, Trump told the Times “I love this job,” but also complained that he’s “lost massive amounts of money” since becoming president. He called the job of being president “one of the great losers of all time. You know, fortunately, I don’t need money. This is one of the great losers of all time.” [Editor’s note: Just read the interview. Podcast and excerpt links below.] (New York Times)
🎧 LISTEN: Trump spoke with the New York Times about the Russia investigation, the government shutdown, and his plans for border security. Trump also spoke about the role of a free press. (New York Times)
✏️ EXCERPTS: Trump’s Oval Office interview with two White House correspondents, Peter Baker and Maggie Haberman. (New York Times)
✏️ EXCERPTS: Trump about his “anti-press rhetoric.” (New York Times)
2/ Trump took credit for popularizing the term “fake news,” calling the news media “important” and “beautiful,” but also “so bad” and “unfair.” He called himself “a victim” of unfair coverage. (New York Times)
3/ Trump claimed that the Trump Tower Moscow development was “not important” and he was “not even sure they had a site.” Hundreds of pages of business documents, emails, text messages, and architectural plans, however, show that the Trump Organization proposed building the skyscraper on an industrial complex near the Moscow River. Earlier this month, Rudy Giuliani also claimed that “No plans were ever made. There were no drafts. Nothing in the file.” (BuzzFeed News)
📌 Day 734: Rudy Giuliani claimed that “no plans were ever made” for Trump Tower Moscow, despite hundreds of pages of business documents, emails, text messages, and architectural plans proving otherwise. For instance, by September 2015, an architect had completed plans for a 100 story high tower, and when Trump signed a finalized letter of intent on Oct. 28 2015, the tower would have “approximately 250 first class, luxury residential condominiums” and “approximately 15 floors” and contain “not fewer than 150 hotel rooms.” The Trump team also considered an option to open “The Spa By Ivanka Trump,” as well as giving a “$50 million penthouse to Putin.” Trump’s lawyer characterized this by saying “the proposal was in the earliest stage” and later adding “There were no drafts. Nothing in the file.” (BuzzFeed News)
4/ Trump Jr.’s mysterious phone calls ahead of the 2016 Trump Tower meeting were not with his father, according to new evidence obtained by the Senate Intelligence Committee. The same day Trump Jr. spoke on the phone with Russian pop star Emin Agalarov, whose father set up the June 2016 meeting with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya at Trump Tower, he also talked to two business associates who used blocked numbers – Brian France, the chief executive of Nascar, and the investor Howard Lorber, who has made significant investments in Russia. Lorber also traveled to Moscow in 1996 with Trump as they considered building a Trump Tower there. A spokesman for Lorber said the real estate developer “does not recall conversations with Donald Trump Jr. in the summer of 2016,” and that Lorber never discussed “any Russian matters” with Trump Jr. (CNN / ABC News / New York Times / Washington Post)
5/ The U.S. will withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. Russia has been violating the 1987 arms control treaty for more than five years, and the U.S. gave Russia 60 days to return to compliance in December. The treaty prohibits the U.S. and Russia from possessing any land-based cruise missiles with a range of 310 to 3,410 miles. (NBC News / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post)
6/ Trump said he thinks “there’s a good chance we will have to” declare a national emergency to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump has repeatedly suggested that he would declare a national emergency, which would likely be challenged in court, when the three-week continuing resolution ends on Feb. 15 – unless Congress strikes a deal to his liking. (Politico)
7/ About 3,500 additional active duty troops will deploy to the southern border, joining the 2,300 troops already there. The troops are expected to deploy in mid-February, and will build and reinforce about 160 miles of concertina wire. The Pentagon initially did not reveal the size of the increase during a hearing before the House Armed Services Committee. (CNN / ABC News)
✏️ Notables.
Trump’s reelection campaign spent $23 million in the last three months of 2018 driven by rallies and advertising – four times what it spent in previous quarters in 2018. (Politico)
Billionaire Republican benefactors Sheldon and Miriam Adelson donated $500,000 to a legal defense fund set up to help pay the legal costs for Trump aides involved in the Mueller investigation. Each Adelson gave $250,000 to the fund on Oct. 1, 2018, during the height of the midterm elections. The Adelsons were also the largest contributors to GOP political campaigns and committees, making more than $100 million in donations to Republican candidates. (Politico)
A pair of Democratic House lawmakers called on Mick Mulvaney to revoke Jared Kushner’s security clearance. Kushner’s clearance was initially rejected by career security specialists after his background check revealed potential avenues for foreign influence, but the rejections were overridden by a Trump-appointed supervisor. Kushner is just one of at least 30 cases in which the supervisor overruled career security experts and approved clearances for Trump administration officials. (The Hill)
Foxconn will now move forward with the construction of its Wisconsin facility after a conversation with Trump. Earlier this week, Foxconn said the company would offer mostly researcher and engineering jobs in Wisconsin – not the blue collar manufacturing jobs that were originally promised and promoted by Trump. (Politico / Wall Street Journal / CNBC / Washington Post / New York Times)
Trump will spend the weekend at Mar-a-Lago after complaining for two months about being cooped up in the White House. Trump is expected to dine at the owner’s table on the patio and spend the afternoon at Trump International Golf Club, about a 15-minute motorcade drive away. (New York Times)
🗳So Presidential.
An occasional section of news and notes about the 2020 race.
Cory Booker announced his bid for the presidency in 2020. The New Jersey senator made the announcement in a video posted to his social media account, laying out his vision for a country that will “channel our common pain back into our common purpose.” (NBC News / New York Times / CNN / NPR / NJ.com / ABC News / Washington Post)
Kellyanne Conway suggested that Booker is sexist because he’s running against Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand, and Tulsi Gabbard. “If he were a Republican running against them,” Conway said, “they immediately would call him a sexist for running against these women in the Democratic field.” (Politico)
Elizabeth Warren apologized to the Cherokee Nation for taking a DNA test to prove her Native American ancestry. (New York Times)
Howard Schultz faced protests in his hometown of Seattle before his planned event to promote the book and his possible candidacy. (My Northwest / New York Times)
1/ Trump called any bipartisan committee plan to avoid a government shutdown a “waste of time” if it doesn’t include a border wall. In a barrage of tweets, Trump reiterated his demands for a wall and called the debate between fencing and a wall “political games,” and insisting that “A WALL is a WALL!” He repeated his threat to declare a national emergency and transfer billions of dollars in previously allocated funds to build the wall, saying that “if there’s no wall, it doesn’t work.” (CBS News / Bloomberg / Politico) / Washignton Post)
Trump blamed his inability to secure the funding for his wall on Paul Ryan, saying that Ryan promised him “in the strongest of terms” that if he signed the omnibus bill last year, then Ryan and congressional Republicans would get him the money for his border wall. “And then he went lame duck,” Trump said, referring to Ryan’s decision to retire. (CNN / Daily Caller)
2/ Pelosi to Trump: “There’s not going to be any wall money in the legislation.” Her comments came after Democrats detailed their border security proposal during a conference committee meeting that would provide no funds for a border wall, though it would add billions for technology and personnel. The border security measure totals nearly $22 billion for customs, border patrol, and immigration agents, includes increases in spending for scanners at ports of entry, humanitarian aid for detained migrants, and adds new aircraft to police the U.S.-Mexico border. The proposal would freeze the number of border patrol agents as well as block any future wall construction in wildlife refuges along the border. Pelosi called Trump’s suggestion of trading temporary protection for DACA recipients for a permanent border wall a “non-starter.” (NBC News)
3/ The White House is reportedly still working out the details for a potential national emergency declaration to secure Trump’s border wall if Congress doesn’t strike a deal before government funding runs out on Feb. 15th. A national emergency would enable Trump to take existing funds appropriated by Congress and use them for other purposes. The goal is to have a declaration ready to go if Trump decides to move on it, rather than scrambling to draw one up at the last minute. Trump has called the odds of a congressional deal “less than 50-50.” (Politico / The Guardian)
4/ Trump pinky-promised that he won’t intervene with the Justice Department’s decision-making process about whether to release Robert Mueller’s report on possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 election. “They’ll have to make their decision within the Justice Department,” Trump said, insisting that he hasn’t spoken with acting AG Matthew Whitaker about the inquiry. Trump cautioned, however, that he “could’ve gotten involved in this. I could’ve terminated everything. I could’ve ended everything.” (New York Times / Politico)
Mueller signaled to Roger Stone’s defense lawyers that prosecutors could use Stone’s bank records and years of personal communication as evidence in the case against him. Legal analysts believe that Mueller’s listing of bank records as evidence suggests there will be additional charges against Stone. Mueller said his team seized “voluminous and complex” material from Stone last week, including “multiple hard drives containing several terabytes of information.” (The Guardian / NBC News / Bloomberg)
poll/ 62% of Americans believe that Trump knew that people like Roger Stone, Michael Cohen, Paul Manafort or others tried to conceal information from federal investigators. 50% believe that Trump personally asked people around him to provide misleading information about his businesses or Russian interference. (Monmouth University)
Notables.
Federal immigration officials at a Texas detention facility are force-feeding six immigrants using nasal feeding tubes. ICE says 11 detainees at an El Paso facility have been on a hunger strike, some for more than a month. Nearly 30 detainees from India and Cuba have also refused to eat. The men stopped eating to protest the constant verbal abuse and threats of deportation from guards, as well as the lengthy lockups while waiting for their legal proceedings. The men who are being subjected to the nasal feeding tubes have been experiencing constant nose bleeds and are vomiting multiple times per day. (Associated Press / The Guardian)
The Senate rebuked Trump’s rationale for withdrawing U.S. troops from Syria and Afghanistan, voting to declare that ISIS still poses a serious threat to the U.S. The 68-to-23 vote – backed by nearly every Senate Republican – is nonbinding and doesn’t prevent Trump from pursuing his plans, but it puts congressional Republicans on the record as being at odds with Trump’s Middle East policy. (New York Times / Washington Post)
A White House security specialist was suspended less than a week after it was reported that Jared Kushner’s top-secret security clearance was approved over career staff objections. Tricia Newbold was suspended without pay for failure to supervise, failure to follow instructions and defiance of authority. She had filed an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint against supervisor Carl Kline three months ago for moving security files to a location that were too high and out of her reach. (NBC News)
Nikki Haley is charging $200,000 to give speeches. The former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. also requires the use of a private jet to get to her speaking engagements. (CNBC)
The Treasury Department pushed back against claims that Steve Mnuchin had a conflict of interest when he decided to lift sanctions against a Russian oligarch’s businesses. The letter claimed that Mnuchin didn’t sell his stake in RPDE (RatPac-Dune Entertainment) to Len Blavatnik, a Ukrainian-born oligarch, and that there was “no business conversations whatsoever” between Mnuchin and Blavatnik related to the Treasury Department’s decision to lift the sanctions. (ABC News)
The Bureau of Land Management will move forward with the sale of oil and gas leases near Chaco Culture National Historical Park and other sacred Native American sites. BLM officials have faced criticism for pushing ahead with the drilling permit reviews and energy lease preparations despite the government shutdown. (Associated Press)
Mitch McConnell called a bill to make Election Day a federal holiday a “power grab” by Democrats that would “victimize” taxpayers by making it easier to vote. The bill would also prohibit the purging of voter rolls and would require presidential and vice-presidential candidates to release their tax returns, require states to form independent redistricting commissions, and create a matching system for small-dollar donations to congressional candidates. [Editor’s note: 🙄](Washington Post)
1/ Trump attacked the U.S. intelligence community, claiming they’re being “extremely passive and naive” and suggesting his intel chiefs need to “go back to school” because “they are wrong!” The outburst comes a day after senior American intelligence officials briefed Congress on their 2019 worldwide threat assessment, directly contradicted Trump on several of his foreign policy priorities, including Iran, North Korea, Syria, and ISIS. Trump, however, made no mention of Russia, which Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats said was likely to target the 2020 elections. (Politico / New York Times / Reuters / CNN)
2/ Trump met Putin at the G20 summit in November without a U.S. translator, notetaker, or staff member present. Melania Trump, however, was there, as well as Putin’s own translator. The White House had previously said meeting was one of several “informal” talks, but didn’t disclose that Trump did not have any official members of his team present. The Russian government said Trump and Putin spoke for roughly 15 minutes about various foreign policy issues, including an incident in the Azov Sea and the war in Syria. (Financial Times / Vox)
📌 Day 725: Trump concealed details about his conversations with Putin from administration officials. On at least one occasion in 2017, Trump confiscated the notes from his interpreter and told the interpreter not to discuss the details of his Putin conversation with other administration officials. As a result, there is no record of Trump’s face-to-face interactions with Putin at five locations from the past two years. U.S. officials only learned about Trump’s actions when a White House adviser and a senior State Department official requested additional information about the meeting beyond what Rex Tillerson had provided. (Washington Post)
3/ Trump Jr. met with a firm that gamed out how a foreign government could meddle in the U.S. political process. After Trump became the Republican nominee, Trump Jr. met with Wikistrat founder Joel Zamel to discuss simulations the firm conducted in 2015 about how illicit efforts could shape American politics. In April 2016, Rick Gates reviewed a plan by a company called Psy Group, which Zamel reportedly owns. The plan echoed both the real election interference by Russia as well as the scenario Wikistrat had gamed out. It’s unclear if the Psy Group plans ever went forward, with some former employees saying Gates never pursued the campaign, while others said part of the plan was carried out. Wikistrat has been questioned by Robert Mueller’s team. (Daily Beast)
4/ Russians leaked more than 1,000 files Robert Mueller’s office shared confidentially with indicted Russian hackers in an attempt to discredit the investigation into interference in the 2016 election. According to Mueller’s court filing, the names and structure of folders containing the leaked files matched those used by the special counsel’s office when it shared the data with Concord Management. The files appeared to have been uploaded to a filesharing site, which confirmed to the FBI that the account was registered in Russia. A pro-Russian Twitter account used the information as part of a disinformation campaign. (The Guardian / NBC News / CNN)
5/ The NRA claimed “they played no official role” in a December 2015 trip to Moscow to meet with Russian nationals despite internal NRA emails and photos showing that the organization was significantly involved in the planning. Emails show that alleged Russian agent Maria Butina helped make travel arrangements for the NRA delegation, as well as organizing the meetings with senior Kremlin officials. One email suggested that the NRA would pay for travel expenses and provide “gifts” to their Russian hosts. In another, Butina told the delegation she’d meet them at the airport with “a big red sign saying Welcome NRA.” The NRA met with Butina and her Russian handler, Alexander Torshin, who was Deputy Governor of the Russian Central Bank at the time and later sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury, Dmitry Rogozin, then-Russian Deputy Prime Minister who was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in 2014, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, a member of Putin’s inner circle. (ABC News)
6/ Democrats in Congress raised ethical concerns that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin decision to lift sanctions on a Russian oligarch was a conflict of interest. The Treasury Department repeatedly postponed implementing sanctions against Oleg Deripaska’s companies, and later lifted them entirely after striking a deal to restructure the companies. Len Blavatnik is a major investor in Deripaska’s aluminum company, Rusal, as well as a major Republican National Committee donor, where Mnuchin served as finance chairman for Trump’s 2016 campaign. (New York Times)
poll/ 31% of voters support shutting the government down again over funding for Trump’s border wall, while 58% oppose another government shutdown generally. If the government shuts down again, a combined 54% would blame Trump and Republicans, while 33% would blame congressional Democrats. (Politico-Morning Consult)
poll/ 37% of the 2020 electorate will be made up of Millennials and Generation Z. By comparison, Baby Boomers and older generations – those who will be ages 56 and older next year – are also expected to account for 37% of the electorate. Generation X, who will be ages 39 to 55 next year, are expected to make up 25% of the electorate. (Pew Research Center)
Notables.
The Pentagon is preparing to send “several thousand” additional troops to the southern border at the request of the Department of Homeland Security. DHS officials asked for more troops to help put up concertina wire and conduct border surveillance operations. Roughly 2,300 active-duty troops are currently deployed to the southern border – down from 5,900 in November. An additional 2,200 National Guard troops are also currently deployed to the border. (Politico)
Democrats and Republicans will meet on an exclusive committee for the first time today to begin negotiations over border security funding. The committee has less than three weeks to strike a deal before parts of the government are shut down again. The group has jurisdiction over the language of a bill that would fund DHS, but some Republicans have suggested the group should expand the negotiations to include immigration policy more broadly. (ABC News)
A group of House lawmakers introduced a bipartisan bill to withhold pay from the president, vice president and members of Congress during government shutdowns. The Solidarity in Salary Act of 2019 aims to “prevent and limit the duration of future shutdowns and ensure that lawmakers feel the harm they cause federal employees when they fail to fund the government.” (The Hill)
The Trump Organization will start using E-Verify after it was reported that its golf club in New York employed undocumented immigrants for years. During the 2016 campaign, Trump claimed he used E-Verify across his properties. E-Verify is a federal program to check whether new hires are legally eligible to work in the U.S. (Washington Post)
Sarah Huckabee Sanders: God “wanted Donald Trump to become president, and that’s why he’s there.” (CNN)
1/ Trump dismissed climate change as a hoax, calling for “global warming” to “come back fast” as a dangerous deep freeze hits the Midwest where a polar vortex is expected to drop temperatures to negative 30F with the wind chill driving temperatures as low as negative 50F or 60F — the lowest in more than two decades. Roughly 83 million Americans – about 25% of the U.S. population – will experience temperatures below zero this week. Weather and climate are two different things: Weather is what you experience in the moment, while climate is the broader trend. Trump’s tweet, asking “What the hell is going on with Global Waming?” – misspelling “warming” – suggests he doesn’t understand the difference between climate and weather. In 2017, Trump also tweeted that the U.S. could use some “good old Global Warming” while most of the Northeast was experiencing record-breaking cold weather. (Chicago Tribune / Vox / CNN)
📌 Day 733: 73% of Americans believe that climate change is real– a jump of 10 percentage points from 2015, and three points since last March. 72% also said that global warming is personally important to them. (New York Times)
📌 Day 685: Global emissions of carbon dioxide have reached the highest levels on record. Global emissions grew 1.6% in 2017 with 2018 expected to increase 2.7%. The U.S. is the world’s second-largest emitter of carbon emissions, but that hasn’t stopped the Trump administration from moving to roll back regulations designed to limit those emissions from vehicle tailpipes and power-plant smokestacks. As United Nations Secretary General António Guterres said this week at the opening of the 24th annual U.N. climate conference: “We are in trouble. We are in deep trouble with climate change.” (Washington Post / New York Times)
📌 Day 676: The National Climate Assessment concludes that global warming is already “transforming where and how we live and presents growing challenges to human health and quality of life, the economy, and the natural systems that support us.” The findings from the landmark scientific report, issued by 13 federal agencies, are at odds with the Trump administration’s environmental deregulation agenda, which Trump claims will lead to economic growth, and its plans to withdraw from the Paris climate accord. The report predicts that the effects of global warming could eliminate as much as 10% of the U.S. economy by the end of the century, and warns that humans must act aggressively now “to avoid substantial damages to the U.S. economy, environment, and human health and well-being over the coming decades.” The first report, released in November 2017, concluded that there is “no convincing alternative explanation” for the changing climate other than “human activities, especially emissions of greenhouse gases.” Trump recently questioned the science of climate change, saying that “I don’t know that it’s man-made” and that the warming trend “could very well go back.” (New York Times / Associated Press / Washington Post / CNN)
📌 Day 627: A U.N. report on the effects of climate change predicts a strong risk of an environmental crisis much sooner than expected. The report finds that the atmosphere could warm by as much as 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit above preindustrial levels by 2040 if greenhouse gas emissions continue at the current rate, which would cause sea levels to rise, intensify droughts, wildfires, and poverty, and cause a mass die-off of coral reefs. To prevent 2.7 degrees of warming, greenhouse pollution must be reduced by 45% from 2010 levels by 2030, and fully eliminated by 2050. The use of coal as an electricity source would have to drop from nearly 40% today to between 1% and 7% by 2050. Renewable energy would have to increase to about 67%. Trump has mocked the science of human-caused climate change, vowing to increase the burning of coal, and he intends to withdraw from the 2015 Paris agreement. The world is already more than halfway to the 2.7-degree mark and “there is no documented historic precedent” for the scale of changes required, the report said. (New York Times / Washington Post)
2/ U.S. intelligence chiefs contradicted Trump’s claims about North Korea, Iran, and ISIS. Trump previously claimed that “We have won against ISIS” as justification for withdrawing 2,000 troops from Syria, he pledged that North Korea is on the path to fully denuclearize, and withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal, claiming the country posed a nuclear threat. The Worldwide Threat Assessment, released by Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, however, outlines that North Korea is “unlikely to give up” its nuclear stockpiles because Kim Jong-un sees them as “critical to regime survival,” and that Iran is not “currently undertaking the key nuclear weapons-development activity” needed to make a bomb. Coats also said that ISIS “very likely will continue to pursue external attacks from Iraq and Syria against regional and Western adversaries, including the United States.” The report also concluded that China is positioned to conduct cyberattacks against American infrastructure and that “Moscow is now staging cyberattack assets to allow it to disrupt or damage U.S. civilian and military infrastructure during a crisis.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / CNN / The Guardian)
Russia, China, and Iran are “probably already are looking to the 2020 U.S. elections as an opportunity to advance their interests,” according the Worldwide Threat Assessment report. Dan Coats warned that these countries “will use online influence operations to try to weaken democratic institutions, undermine U.S. alliances and partnerships and shape policy outcomes in the United States and elsewhere.” (Politico)
Russia offered North Korea a nuclear power plant after negotiations with the Trump administration to denuclearize stalled. The plan called for Moscow to operate the plant and transfer all waste back to Russia, reducing the risk that North Korea could use the power plant to build nuclear weapons. (Washington Post)
3/ Roger Stone pleaded not guilty to witness tampering, obstruction of justice and lying to Congress. Stone’s indictment alleges that he was the conduit between the Trump campaign and WikiLeaks, which published Democratic National Committee emails in the summer of 2016, and that “a senior Trump campaign official was directed to contact Stone about any additional releases and what other damaging information Organization 1 had regarding the Clinton campaign.” Robert Mueller has previously accused 12 Russian intelligence officers of hacking those emails, and the U.S. intelligence community consensus is that those Russians “relayed material it acquired from the DNC and senior Democratic officials to WikiLeaks.” (NPR / Washington Post / CNBC / ABC News / New York Times / Reuters)
Mueller and the Justice Department are considering another indictment of Stone or have plans to charge others, according to the defense attorney for Andrew Miller, who’s fighting a subpoena from Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Mueller is seeking information Miller has about Stone’s communications regarding WikiLeaks and Russian hackers around the time they disseminated damaging hacked Democratic emails. The development came shortly after acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker claimed that Mueller’s investigation was “close to being completed.” (CNN)
4/ The Senate Judiciary Committee delayed a vote on William Barr’s nomination for attorney general as Democrats raised concerns about whether he would allow Mueller to finish his probe and publish his report. Barr has repeatedly refused to provide a firm guarantee that he will release the report to Congress and the public. The committee postponed its vote on Barr until its next meeting. (Washington Post / Politico)
A bipartisan pair of Senators introduced legislation that would require Mueller to provide a summary of his findings to Congress and the public. The new legislation from Richard Blumenthal and Chuck Grassley would remove the decision to make the report public from the attorney general, who now decides what happens once Mueller submits his findings. (CNN)
poll/ 32% of Republican and Republican-leaning voters would like the GOP to nominate “someone other” than Trump in 2020. 65% want the GOP nominate Trump. (Washington Post)
Notables.
John Bolton disclosed what appeared to be a confidential note to send 5,000 U.S. troops to Colombia as tensions rise in Venezuela. The national security adviser had written the note on a yellow legal pad, which he held against his chest with the notes facing out during a White House briefing while announcing new sanctions against Venezuela’s national oil industry. When asked about the note, the White House replied: “All options are on the table.” The Defense Department said it hasn’t received any orders to this effect. (Washington Post)
The Trump administration has started making a new, low-yield nuclear weapon that the Department of Energy claims is designed to counter Russia. The W76-2 is believed to be about half as powerful as the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The report claims that smaller nuclear warheads will help balance the threat from Russian forces. (NPR)
Three Republican Senators introduced a plan to repeal the federal estate tax. Fewer than 2,000 of the wealthiest Americans are expected to pay the tax annually. (Washington Post)
More than a million federal contractors aren’t guaranteed back pay after working during the shutdown. The contractors who clean, guard, cook and do other jobs at federal workplaces are also among the lowest-paid laborers in the government economy, generally earning between $450 and $650 a week. (Washington Post)
Trump’s re-election campaign plans to sue former White House staffer Cliff Sims for violating his non-disclosure agreement in his new tell-all book about his experience in the White House. Trump distanced himself from Sims, calling the former aide “a mess” and just “a low level staffer that I hardly knew.” In Sims’ book, “Team of Vipers,” he writes that “it’s impossible to deny how absolutely out of control the White House staff — again, myself included — was at times.” Trump is reportedly “very pissed off” and “really hopping mad” at Sims. (Washington Examiner / Politico / Washington Post)
1/ The partial shutdown – the longest in U.S. history – ended Friday with Trump agreeing to temporarily reopen the government without money for his wall. Trump, however, is threatening to shut down the government again in less than three weeks if Congress can’t reach a deal to fund the wall, because he doesn’t believe negotiators will strike a deal he could accept. According to acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, Trump will secure border “with or without Congress.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
2/ The shutdown cost the economy $11 billion, with an estimated $3 billion in economic activity permanently lost. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected economic growth will slow this year to 2.3%, compared with the 3.1% rate last year, as the benefits of the new tax law begin to fade. Separately, the National Association of Business Economics found that the $1.5 trillion cut tax package has had no major impact on businesses’ capital investment or hiring plans. (CNBC / Reuters / Washington Post)
3/ Nancy Pelosi invited Trump to give the State of the Union on February 5. Pelosi previously rescinded Trump’s invitation to give the address until after the shutdown ended. (Washington Post / Politico / CNBC)
4/ Trump’s golf course in New York relied on a dozen undocumented workers while Trump was demanding border wall funding during the shutdown. They were fired midway through the government shutdown. The firings at the New York golf club follow a report from last year about an undocumented worker at Trump’s Bedminster golf club in New Jersey. After that story, the company fired the undocumented workers. Trump still owns his businesses, but has given day-to-day control to Trump Jr. and Eric Trump. (Washington Post / NBC News)
📌 Day 686: An undocumented immigrant has worked as a maid at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J., since 2013 using fake documents to secure employment. After Trump became president, one of her managers told her to get both a new green card and new Social Security card because there were problems with her current ones. When she told the manager that she did not know how to obtain new forgeries, her manager suggested she speak with a maintenance employee to acquire new documents. Her manager lent her the money to replace the one that had “expired.” (New York Times)
📌 Day 714: Trump’s Bedminster golf club shielded at least one undocumented immigrant from a list of workers vetted by the Secret Service during the 2016 campaign. Emma Torres told a human resources employee that she did not have legal status. The woman replied: “‘It’s O.K. No problem.’ She scratched me off the list.” Torres later made sandwiches for Secret Service agents when they began visiting the property. (New York Times)
poll/ 48% of Americans say they have no confidence “at all” in Trump. 64% also have no confidence in Trump to make the right decisions for the future of the country. (ABC News)
poll/ 63% of Americans believe the country is “off on the wrong track” while to 28% believe it’s “headed in the right direction.” 50% blame Trump for the shutdown. (NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
poll/ 60% of Americans say House Democrats should use their authority to obtain and publicly release Trump’s tax returns. 46% say Democrats will go too far in investigating Trump, while 34% think they’ll handle it about right, with 17% thinking Democrats will not go far enough. (ABC News)
poll/ 57% of Americans support congressional Democrats investigating whether or not Trump’s 2016 campaign colluded with Russia, 61% support investigating financial ties between Trump and foreign governments, and 59% support investigating Trump’s relationship and communications with Putin. (Washington Post)
poll/ 35% approve of Trump’s handling of foreign policy, while 63% disapprove. 76% of Republicans approve of his foreign policy, while just 8% of Democrats do. (Associated Press)
✏️ Notables.
The Trump administration lifted sanctions against three companies owned by Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. The Treasury Department originally sanctioned Deripaska, six other oligarchs, and their companies in April in response to Russia’s “malign activity” around the world. The sanctions against Deripaska himself will remain in effect, but his companies launched a lobbying campaign to argue that the sanctions against aluminum giant Rusal would disrupt the aluminum market and damage U.S. companies. (Reuters / New York Times / Fox News / Bloomberg)
Roger Stone didn’t rule out cooperating with Robert Mueller, despite repeatedly pledging his loyalty to Trump. Stone said he’d “have to determine after my attorneys have some discussion” about cooperating with Mueller. He added: “If there’s wrongdoing by other people in the campaign that I know about, which I know of none, but if there is I would certainly testify honestly.” (ABC News / Reuters / Wall Street Journal)
Jerome Corsi, a longtime friend and associate of Stone, said the indictment against Stone is “accurate” and that he will be “happy” to “affirm that if asked to in court.” Corsi was identified as “Person 1” in the 24-page federal indictment filed by Mueller against Stone. (CNN / Politico)
Trump and Jared Kushner thought firing Michael Flynn would end the “Russia thing,” according to Chris Christie’s forthcoming book, “Let Me Finish.” Christie recalled that Trump told him “this Russia thing is all over now, because I fired Flynn.” Trump went on to explain that “Flynn met with the Russians. That was the problem. I fired Flynn. It’s over.” Kushner added: “That’s right, firing Flynn ends the whole Russia thing.” (New York Times)
Trump endorsed states pushing legislation to allow Bible literacy classes in public schools, calling it a “great” idea. (Politico / Washington Post)
American and Taliban officials have agreed in principle on a framework for a peace deal in Afghanistan. The framework includes a guarantee that the Taliban will prevent Afghan territory from being used by terrorists in exchange for a ceasefire and Taliban talks with the Afghan government. (New York Times)
The Justice Department accused Huawei of violating U.S. sanctions on Iran and of stealing trade secrets from T-Mobile. Federal prosecutors also filed paperwork to formerly requesting the extradition of Huawei’s CFO from Canada. (Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / CNBC)
The Trump administration sanctioned Venezuela’s state-owned energy company PDVSA. John Bolton said the actions will block $7 billion in assets and cost the country $11 billion in lost exports during the next year. The sanctions come after Trump last week declared the U.S. would no longer recognize President Nicolás Maduro government, proclaiming opposition leader Juan Guaidó as the rightful “interim president” of Venezuela. (Politico / CNBC / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Washignton Post)
🧐 So Presidential.
Hillary Clinton isn’t “closing the doors to the idea of running in 2020.” In October, Clinton said she wasn’t planning on running, but has reportedly told people “as recently as this week” that she would “like to be president.” (The Hill)
Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz tweeted that he is “seriously thinking of running for president” as an independent. The billionaire’s announcement was mocked by people pointing out that there were better ways of helping the country with his money than by jumping in the race and helping Trump win re-election. Trump tweeted that Schultz “doesn’t have the ‘guts’ to be president.” (CBS News / Daily Beast / Politico)
Michael Bloomberg warned that there “is no way an independent” presidential candidate “can win” and would only ensure Trump’s reelection. The former New York City mayor is weighing a bid for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in 2020. (Politico)
Kamala Harris formally launched her Democratic bid for president, promising to be a fighter “for the people” and to unify a country divided along social, cultural and political lines, saying we’re at “an inflection point” in history. She called on Americans to “speak truth about what’s happening” in the Trump era. (Los Angeles Times / CNN / New York Times / Washington Post)
1/ Roger Stone was arrested on seven counts of obstruction, lying to Congress and witness tampering as part of Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the election. Between June and July of 2016, Stone told a “senior Trump Campaign official” that he had information that WikiLeaks would release documents that would hurt the Clinton campaign. On July 22, 2016, WikiLeaks released its first batch of Democratic emails. After that the “senior Trump Campaign official was directed to contact Stone about any additional releases and what other damaging information” that WikiLeaks had about the Clinton campaign. Then, in October of 2016, a “high-ranking Trump Campaign official” asked Stone about “future releases by” WikiLeaks. Stone replied that WikiLeaks would release “a load every week going forward.” In total, Stone interacted with at least four people close to the Trump campaign about WikiLeaks. The indictment also accused Stone of attempting to intimidate Randy Credico, who was in contact with Julian Assange in 2016. Separately, FBI agents were seen carrying hard drives and other evidence from Stone’s apartment in New York City. (Washington Post / New York Times / CNBC / The Guardian / Politico / CNN / NBC News / Washington Post / Department of Justice)
Stone was released on $250,000 bond, denied working with Russia, and declared he would not “bear false witness” by testifying against Trump. (CBS News)
Everyone who’s been charged in investigations related to the 2016 election and how they’re connected to Trump. (New York Times)
4 takeaways from the Stone indictment, including repeated references to the Trump campaign’s contacts about WikiLeaks and a possible reference to Trump. (Washington Post)
3 takeaways from the Stone indictment: WikiLeaks, dog threats, and Godfather references. (Vox)
What we learned from Stone’s indictment. The longtime adviser to Trump said he had been falsely accused and “will plead not guilty.” He also called the investigation by the special counsel “politically motivated.” (New York Times)
2/ Steve Bannon is the unidentified “high-ranking Trump campaign official” in Mueller’s indictment. Bannon has also spoken with Mueller’s team and the Senate Intelligence Committee about the exchange. The indictment said the campaign official (Bannon) reached out to Stone in October 2016 – a month before Trump was elected – “about the status of future releases by Organization 1,” which refers to WikiLeaks and Julian Assange. (CNBC / Bloomberg)
3/ Sarah Huckabee Sanders claimed Stone’s arrest “has nothing to do with the president and certainly nothing to do with the White House.” Trump, meanwhile, tweeted: “Greatest Witch Hunt in the History of our Country! NO COLLUSION!” (The Hill)
4/ Trump agreed to reopen the government for three weeks without border wall funding, bringing an end to the 35-day shutdown – the longest ever – which 800,000 federal workers without pay. Negotiations over a border security package will continue until Feb. 15. Speaking from the Rose Garden, Trump said he was “very proud” to end the shutdown after previously claiming that he’d be “proud to shut down the government” if his demand for $5 billion in border wall funding wasn’t met. Trump threatened that there could be another government shutdown or he could declare a national emergency if a “fair deal” doesn’t emerge, saying “I have a very powerful alternative, but I didn’t want to use it at this time.” Federal workers will receive their backpay “very quickly, or as soon as possible.” After the announcement, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Trump’s State of the Union would not be held next Tuesday as originally scheduled. (Politico / The Guardian / New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / NBC News)
The Senate passed the bill by voice vote and sent it to the House. The bill could be on Trump’s desk by the end of the day. (Washington Post)
The shutdown caused flight delays at airports in New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Orlando and Atlanta, due to staffing shortages at air traffic control centers. Three unions for air traffic control workers issued a statement yesterday urging Congress and the White House to fund the government due to “unprecedented” risks to the air safety environment. (CNN / The Guardian / New York Times / NPR / CNBC / NBC New York)
At least 14,000 unpaid IRS workers did not show up for work this week despite the Trump administration ordering more than 30,000 employees back to work, unpaid, to prepare for tax season. (Washington Post)
How Trump could use a national emergency to get his border wall. Beyond the legal questions around what Trump can do and how he can do it, there’s no new emergency at the border. (Vox)
poll/ 55% of Americans disapprove of Trump’s job performance, while 39% approve. (FiveThirtyEight)
poll/ 53% of Americans blame Trump and Republicans for the government shutdown. More than 1 in 5 Americans say they have been inconvenienced by the shutdown. (Washington Post)
poll/ 45% of Florida voters say Trump should be re-elected in 2020 with 46% saying he should be replaced. (Mason-Dixon Polling and Strategy)
poll/ 38% of voters gave Trump a failing grade for his first two years as president. 10% gave Trump a D, 13% gave him a C, and 17% each gave him a B or an A. Trump, meanwhile, gave himself an A+. (Politico)
Notables.
A Trump appointee approved Jared Kushner’s top secret security clearance application after it was initially rejected by two career White House security specialists. Kushner’s background check included concerns about potential foreign influence over him. The supervisor, Carl Kline, also overruled the recommendations of career security specialists and approved top secret security clearances for at least 30 incoming Trump officials, despite unfavorable information. (NBC News)
The United Nations humans rights office will investigate the killing of Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Turkey. Agnès Callamard will “review and evaluate, from a human rights perspective, the circumstances surrounding the killing of Khashoggi” and “will assess the steps taken by governments to address and respond to the killing, and the nature and extent of states’ and individuals’ responsibilities for the killing.” (New York Times)
EPA civil penalties for polluters under the Trump administration have fallen to the lowest average level since 1994. Civil fines have averaged more than $500 million a year, when adjusted for inflation, over the past two decades. Last year’s total was 85% below that amount – or about $72 million. (Washington Post)
Mueller’s office suggested that Paul Manafort should not get credit for his cooperation when he’s sentenced next month. Mueller’s prosecutors said Manafort told “multiple discernible lies” that were not “mere memory lapses.” At the hearing, Judge Amy Berman Jackson ordered lawyers to appear Feb. 4 for a closed hearing on whether Manafort breached his plea deal by lying to investigators. (NBC News / Reuters / ABC News / Washington Post)
1/ The Senate failed to advance a pair of competing proposals to reopen the government and end the partial shutdown, which is now in its 34th day. The first vote was on a Republican-backed proposal to allocate $5.7 billion for Trump’s border wall. The second vote was on a Democratic-backed proposal to temporarily reopen the shuttered government agencies without providing any money for a wall. Both measures fell short of the 60 votes needed to advance. The two votes were the first the Senate has taken to reopen the government since the shutdown began on Dec. 22. (Politico / CNN / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / ABC News)
2/ House Democrats are preparing a funding proposal that is expected to include at least $5 billion for border protection efforts, but won’t include new money for Trump’s border wall. The money would go to the Department of Homeland Security and be used for new technology and more law enforcement agents. (Politico / Vox)
Trump is pushing for a “large down payment” on his border wall in exchange for a potential deal to reopen the government for three weeks. Trump suggested that he’d back a deal by Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer “if they come to a reasonable agreement.” He then added: “I have other alternatives.” [This story is developing…] (CNBC) / NBC News)
3/ The White House is preparing a draft proclamation for Trump to declare a national emergency at the border. They’ve identified more than $7 billion in potential funds for his border wall by pulling $681 million from the treasury forfeiture funds, $3.6 billion in military construction, $3 billion in Pentagon civil works funds, and $200 million in Department of Homeland Security funds. Trump’s advisers are divided on the issue. (CNN)
4/ Trump won’t deliver his State of the Union address during the shutdown after all, capitulating to Nancy Pelosi, who vowed not to pass a “concurrent resolution authorizing the president’s State of the Union address in the House chamber until government has opened.” The White House was reportedly caught off-guard by Pelosi’s statement, leaving officials scrambling for a response. Officials also worried that a campaign-style rally wouldn’t be formal enough for the traditional speech, and that Trump is prone to veer off message during a rally. The other reason: TV networks might not carry the rally live. Trump instead tweeted that he will wait until the shutdown is over because nowhere could compete with the “history and tradition” of the House chamber. Fox News host Laura Ingraham, meanwhile, called Trump’s decision to concede to Pelosi was a “bad decision.” (CNN / The Guardian / New York Times / CBS News)
5/ Trump’s commerce secretary doesn’t “really quite understand why” unpaid federal workers are going to food banks when they could take out low-interest loans from banks and credit unions to cover their bills. The suggestion by Wilbur Ross comes as roughly 800,000 unpaid federal workers are about to miss their second paycheck due to the shutdown. Chuck Schumer called Ross’ comments “unreal” while Pelosi characterized them as a “let-them-eat-cake attitude.” (CNBC / Politico / CNN / Washington Post)
Air traffic controllers’ union: “We cannot even calculate the level of risk currently at play, nor predict the point at which the entire system will break.” Union leaders said staffing at air traffic control facilities was at a “30-year low” as employees continue to callout. Airlines also warned that passengers will soon face worse delays and more canceled flights if the partial federal government shutdown drags on further. (The Guardian) / Wall Street Journal)
John Kelly and four other former Homeland Security secretaries called on Trump to end the shutdown on national security grounds. Kelly, along with Tom Ridge, Michael Chertoff, Janet Napolitano, and Jeh Johnson sent a joint letter to Trump calling on him “to restore the funding necessary to ensure our homeland remains safe and that the Department’s critical national security functions continue without compromise.” (Daily Beast)
The White House economist said the U.S. economy will grow “very close to zero” if the shutdown persists through March. Economists at J.P. Morgan said the government shutdown is beginning to take its toll on the U.S. economy, as they cut their first quarter growth estimate to 1.75%. (Wall Street Journal / CNBC)
6/ The Senate Intelligence Committee issued a subpoena for Michael Cohen to testify in mid-February after he delayed his public testimony before the House Oversight Committee over alleged “ongoing threats against his family from President Trump” and members of his legal team. Cohen’s lawyer, Lanny Davis, said his client will “he will honor the subpoena.” It is not clear if the House Oversight and Intelligence committees will also issue subpoenas for Cohen, who is expected to begin serving a three-year prison term in early March. Trump weighed in on Twitter, calling Cohen a “bad lawyer.” (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / CNN / Politico / Wall Street Journal)
Paul Manafort’s lawyers argued that special counsel prosecutors wrongly twisted memory lapses and misstatements by Manafort into deliberate lies about his interactions with Russian citizen Konstantin Kilimnik, who received the polling data in 2016 as Trump was closing in on the Republican presidential nomination. (New York Times)
poll/ 50% of Americans believe Robert Mueller’s investigation is justified. 45% believe it is politically motivated. In November, 46% of Americans thought the investigation was justified and 51% believed it was politically motivated. (CNN)
poll/ 60% of Americans blame Trump for the shutdown. 65% of Americans, including 86% of Democrats, 69% of independents and 33% of Republicans, call the shutdown a major problem. (Associated Press)
Notables.
The Trump administration hasn’t imposed required sanctions on Moscow nearly three months after determining that Russia had violated the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act in connection with the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal. (NBC News)
Russia warned the U.S. against launching a military intervention in Venezuela after Juan Guaido declared himself interim president in a coup d’etat and Trump threatened to use the “full weight” of U.S. economic and diplomatic power to stabilize the country. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said a U.S. military intervention in Venezuela “would be a catastrophic scenario that would shake the foundations of the development model which we see in Latin America.” (NBC News)
Elizabeth Warren plans to propose a “wealth tax” on Americans with more than $50 million in assets. The tax is projected to apply to less than 0.1% of households and would raise approximately $2.75 trillion over 10 years. (Washington Post / CNBC)
The U.S. and China are still “miles and miles” apart on a trade deal with “lots and lots of issues.” The Dow and S&P 500 traded lower after Wilbur Ross’ remarks. (Bloomberg / CNBC)
1/ Rudy Giuliani claimed that “no plans were ever made” for Trump Tower Moscow, despite hundreds of pages of business documents, emails, text messages, and architectural plans proving otherwise. For instance, by September 2015, an architect had completed plans for a 100 story high tower, and when Trump signed a finalized letter of intent on Oct. 28 2015, the tower would have “approximately 250 first class, luxury residential condominiums” and “approximately 15 floors” and contain “not fewer than 150 hotel rooms.” The Trump team also considered an option to open “The Spa By Ivanka Trump,” as well as giving a “$50 million penthouse to Putin.” Trump’s lawyer characterized this by saying “the proposal was in the earliest stage” and later adding “There were no drafts. Nothing in the file.” (BuzzFeed News)
2/ Trump was reportedly “apoplectic” and “furious” with Giuliani after his lawyer claimed that he had been involved in discussions to build a Trump Tower in Moscow through the end of the 2016 campaign. Giuliani’s statement contradicted Trump’s own public statements about the project. Trump has been “screaming” and is “so mad at Rudy,” because he felt that Giuliani had “changed the headlines” for the worse and had obscured what he believed was a public relations victory when Robert Mueller’s office disputed portions of a report that Trump directed Michael Cohen to lie to Congress. Trump is also being encouraged by Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner – among others – to fire Giuliani before it’s too late. Giuliani blamed journalists for his gaffs, saying they’ve taken his hypothetical arguments literally, adding that Trump is “not pissed. He just wants it clarified.” Giuliani also admitted this week that he is worried that his legacy would be that “he lied for Trump” and has told people privately that he “hates the job.” (Politico / Vanity Fair / Associated Press)
3/ Michael Cohen indefinitely postponed his plan to testify before Congress over concerns of “ongoing threats” to his family from Trump and Giuliani. Trump dismissed Cohen’s allegation, saying Cohen has “only been threatened by the truth.” Cohen was scheduled to testify before the House Oversight Committee on Feb. 7. (CNBC / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Politico / Axios / The Hill)
4/ Trump told Nancy Pelosi he plans to deliver his State of the Union address in the House chamber as scheduled, rejecting her suggestion that he delay it or submit it in writing because of the government shutdown, which has now entered its 33rd day. In a letter to Pelosi, Trump dismissed the concerns about security due to the shutdown, saying “It would be so very sad for our Country if the State of the Union were not delivered on time, on schedule, and very importantly, on location!” The House and Senate, however, must first pass a concurrent resolution for a joint session of Congress for Trump to address lawmakers on Jan. 29th. (New York Times / NBC News / Politico / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
5/ Pelosi responded by blocking Trump from delivering the State of the Union from the House chamber, saying she would not pass a resolution authorizing him to give the speech inside the chamber until the government is reopened. Trump said he was “not surprised” by Pelosi’s decision, unrelatedly claiming that Democrats have “become radicalized.” (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / Wall Street Journal)
6/ The State Department canceled a conference on border security because of the ongoing government shutdown over border security. The conference was supposed to take place next month, but it has been postponed “due to uncertainty associated with the continuing partial U.S. federal government shutdown,” according to a letter sent to at least 55 U.S. embassies and missions across the globe. (CNN)
Hundreds of IRS employees were told to skip work during the shutdown due to financial hardship, despite the Trump administration ordering at least 30,000 IRS workers back to their offices. (Washington Post)
The shutdown has impeded FBI efforts to crack down on child trafficking, violent crime, and terrorism due to funding freezes. (New York Times)
Mick Mulvaney asked agency leaders for a list of the programs that would be jeopardized if the shutdown continues into March or April. (Washington Post)
poll/ 54% blame Trump and the GOP for the shutdown, while 35% blame the Democrats in Congress. (Politico)
poll/ 70% of Americans don’t think the border wall is worth a government shutdown and think the shutdown is having a negative impact on the country. 65% of Republicans think Trump should refuse to sign a budget unless it includes funding for the wall, while 69% of Democrats think party leaders should continue to refuse Trump’s demands to fund the wall. (ABC News)
poll/ 34% of Americans approve of Trump’s job performance – down from 42% a month earlier. (Associated Press)
poll/ 56% of voters support the single-payer health insurance plan known as Medicare for All, while 42% oppose it. (The Hill)
Notables.
The House Oversight Committee is launching an investigation into how Jared Kushner got a security clearance, despite concerns that he had been targeted for manipulation by foreign governments. (NBC News)
Robert Mueller’s team is interested in the Trump campaign’s relationship with the NRA during the 2016 campaign. Mueller wants to know more about how and when Trump and his campaign first established a relationship with the NRA, and how Trump ended up as a speaker at the organization’s annual meeting in 2015. The NRA is under scrutiny from lawmakers for its spending in support of Trump in 2016 and its ties to Russian nationals. (CNN)
Trump recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as the interim president of Venezuela. U.S. officials urged Nicolas Maduro to peacefully give up power. Instead, Maduro gave U.S. diplomats 72 hours to leave. Maduro succeeded socialist Hugo Chávez, who died in 2013. (Bloomberg / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times)
1/ The Supreme Court granted the Trump administration’s request to enforce its ban on transgender people serving in the military while the legal challenges continue in the lower courts. The vote was 5 to 4, with the court’s five conservative members in the majority and its four liberal members in dissent. More than 15,000 transgender Americans are currently serving in the U.S. military and that more than 134,000 are veterans. (New York Times / ABC News / Washington Post)
2/ Rudy Giuliani walked back his comments about Trump’s involvement in the Trump Tower Moscow project, calling the statements “hypothetical” and “not based on conversations” he had with Trump. Giuliani originally said that negotiations over the project continued up until the day Trump won, and that Trump remembered having “fleeting conversations” about the deal after the Trump Organization signed a letter of intent. At question is whether or not Trump was engaged in ongoing negotiations with an American adversary while seeking the presidency and advocating that Obama lift sanctions against Russia. (New York Times / ABC News)
📌 Day 732: Trump was involved in negotiations to build a Trump Tower in Moscow throughout the entire 2016 presidential campaign – several months longer than any administration official or Trump associate has previously admitted. Rudy Giuliani said conversations between Trump and Michael Cohen about building a Trump Tower in Moscow “went on throughout 2016 […] probably up to, could be up to as far as October, November.” Giuliani later clarified, quoting Trump that the discussions were “going on from the day I announced to the day I won.” The new timetable means that Trump, who repeatedly claimed during the campaign that he had “no business” in Russia, was in fact seeking a deal in Russia when he said in July 2016 that he had “nothing to do with Russia.” The timeline also conflicts with Cohen’s 2017 testimony that the Moscow project ended in January 2016 – before the Republican primaries began. Cohen later pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about the deal, saying efforts continued through June 2016 before it fell apart – a month after Trump had secured the Republican Party’s presidential nomination. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Politico / CNN / Bloomberg)
3/ Giuliani also claimed that it didn’t matter if Trump engaged in conversations with Russia about the Moscow deal, because it’s not a crime. He went on to say that “there are no tapes, there are no texts, there is no corroboration,” because he’s personally “been through all the tapes, I have been through all the texts, I have been through all the e-mails, and I knew none existed.” A few moments later, Giuliani tried to clarify: “I shouldn’t have said tapes.” Moments after that, Giuliani added: “Well, I have listened to tapes.” Giuliani also tried to revise his previous statement that Trump told him the Trump Tower Moscow “discussions were going on from the day I announced to the day I won,” saying simply: “He didn’t have the conversations.” [Editor’s note: This is a wild interview. Worth the read.] (New Yorker)
Trump’s aides have grown “exasperated” by Giuliani’s public statements, expressing concern that he’s incorrectly representing the Trump Tower project in Moscow and angering Mueller. (New York Times)
4/ Trump Jr. blamed Michael Cohen for the Trump Tower Moscow project, claiming the family “[doesn’t] know anything about it.” Trump Jr. also claimed that there was never a deal, contradicting the fact that Trump signed a letter of intent in October 2015 and the team of developers were revealed in 2017. (Axios)
📌Day 221. Four months into the presidential campaign, Trump signed a “letter of intent” to pursue building a Trump Tower in Moscow. The involvement of then-candidate Trump in a proposed Russian development deal contradicts his repeated claims that his business had “no relationship to Russia whatsoever.” The Trump Organization signed a non-binding letter of intent in October 2015. (ABC News)
poll/ 73% of Americans believe that climate change is real – a jump of 10 percentage points from 2015, and three points since last March. 72% also said that global warming is personally important to them. (New York Times)
📌 Day 685: Global emissions of carbon dioxide have reached the highest levels on record. Global emissions grew 1.6% in 2017 with 2018 expected to increase 2.7%. The U.S. is the world’s second-largest emitter of carbon emissions, but that hasn’t stopped the Trump administration from moving to roll back regulations designed to limit those emissions from vehicle tailpipes and power-plant smokestacks. As United Nations Secretary General António Guterres said this week at the opening of the 24th annual U.N. climate conference: “We are in trouble. We are in deep trouble with climate change.” (Washington Post / New York Times)
📌 Day 676: The National Climate Assessment concludes that global warming is already “transforming where and how we live and presents growing challenges to human health and quality of life, the economy, and the natural systems that support us.” The findings from the landmark scientificreport, issued by 13 federal agencies, are at odds with the Trump administration’s environmental deregulation agenda, which Trump claims will lead to economic growth, and its plans to withdraw from the Paris climate accord. The report predicts that the effects of global warming could eliminate as much as 10% of the U.S. economy by the end of the century, and warns that humans must act aggressively now “to avoid substantial damages to the U.S. economy, environment, and human health and well-being over the coming decades.” The first report, released in November 2017, concluded that there is “no convincing alternative explanation” for the changing climate other than “human activities, especially emissions of greenhouse gases.” Trump recently questioned the science of climate change, saying that “I don’t know that it’s man-made” and that the warming trend “could very well go back.” (New York Times / Associated Press / Washington Post / CNN)
📌 Day 627: A U.N. report on the effects of climate change predicts a strong risk of an environmental crisis much sooner than expected. The report finds that the atmosphere could warm by as much as 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit above preindustrial levels by 2040 if greenhouse gas emissions continue at the current rate, which would cause sea levels to rise, intensify droughts, wildfires, and poverty, and cause a mass die-off of coral reefs. To prevent 2.7 degrees of warming, greenhouse pollution must be reduced by 45% from 2010 levels by 2030, and fully eliminated by 2050. The use of coal as an electricity source would have to drop from nearly 40% today to between 1% and 7% by 2050. Renewable energy would have to increase to about 67%. Trump has mocked the science of human-caused climate change, vowing to increase the burning of coal, and he intends to withdraw from the 2015 Paris agreement. The world is already more than halfway to the 2.7-degree mark and “there is no documented historic precedent” for the scale of changes required, the report said. (New York Times / Washington Post)
Notables.
The White House has not held an on-camera press briefing in more than 35 days – a new record for the Trump administration. Sarah Huckabee Sanders has also surpassed the all-time record for time with no on-camera briefings since they began during the Clinton administration. (ABC News)
Trump directed Sanders “not to bother” with press briefings because “certain members of the press” cover her “rudely” and “inaccurately.” (Axios / Politico)
Mitch McConnell will introduce two bills to end the government shutdown on Thursday. One bill follows Trump’s plan to trade protections for DACA recipients for $5.7 billion in wall funding, which Democrats have already rejected. The other would extend funding for closed agencies through Feb. 8. (ABC News / New York Times)
The Supreme Court took no action on the Trump administration’s request to review the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Trump wanted the Supreme Court to take up the case to determine if he had the authority to end the program that has protected nearly 700,000 people brought to the country as children, known as “dreamers.” (Washington Post / New York Times)
A U.S. banker with ties to the Kremlin tried to schedule a meeting with Trump nine days after he won the presidency in the hopes of securing a role in the Trump administration. A producer from “The Apprentice” contacted one of Trump’s closest advisers to set up a meeting with Robert Foresman, who is now chairman of the Swiss bank UBS’s investment arm. Foresman lived in Moscow for years and led a $3 billion Russian investment firm and was touted as someone with connections to Putin’s inner circle. Foresman did not end up getting a seat in Trump’s administration, but did secure a sit-down meeting with Tom Barrack, then-chair of Trump’s $100 million inaugural fund. (ABC News)
A Russian singer linked to the Trump Tower meeting canceled an upcoming tour of North America over concerns about Mueller’s Russia probe. Emin Agalarov is said to have helped to arrange the 2016 Trump Tower meeting between Trump Jr. and Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya during the campaign. Agalarov’s attorney confirmed that the cancellation is “most definitely” linked to Mueller’s probe, saying “we don’t want him to be subpoenaed or held under a material witness warrant or anything else.” (NBC News)
The Supreme Court will allow a mysterious foreign-owned company file sealed court documents in an investigation that is believed to be led by Mueller. The court did not rule on the merits of the company’s argument. (CNBC)
The top diplomat in charge of European affairs at the State Department resigned, citing personal and professional reasons. A. Wess Mitchell’s last day as assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs is Feb. 15. (Washington Post)
Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts have been posting altered photos that make him look thinner and his hands bigger. At least three different photos appear to have been doctored to make Trump look more fit. Trump’s hair and shoulders have been touched up, as well as his fingers, which were made slightly longer. (Gizmodo)
Trump is preparing two different State of the Union speeches – one to be delivered to Congress in the House chamber where he’s been disinvited by Nancy Pelosi, and another for a political rally outside of Washington, D.C. (ABC News / Washington Post)
1/ The special counsel’s office issued a rare statement disputing aspects of the BuzzFeed report that Trump directed Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about Trump’s involvement in a real-estate deal with Russia during the 2016 campaign. A statement from Peter Carr, a spokesman for Mueller, called the report’s “description of specific statements to the Special Counsel’s Office” and the “characterization of documents and testimony obtained by this office” as it related to Cohen’s Congressional testimony “not accurate.” In response, BuzzFeed News Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith tweeted: “We stand by our reporting and the sources who informed it, and we urge the Special Counsel to make clear what he’s disputing.” BuzzFeed’s story cited two anonymous law-enforcement sources. According to different anonymous people who claim to be familiar with the matter, “Mueller’s denial […] aims to make clear that none of those statement in the story are accurate.” And, another anonymous person claiming to be familiar with Cohen’s testimony to Mueller’s prosecutors said: “Cohen did not state that the president had pressured him to lie to Congress.” The statement from the special counsel’s office came nearly a day after the story was published. (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / The Guardian / Politico / CNN / Vox)
Trump thanked Robert Mueller for the statement, tweeting that he “appreciate[s] the special counsel coming out with a statement last night” about what he called “a total phony story.” (Reuters / Axios / USA Today)
BuzzFeed insisted that their reporting is “solid” and “accurate.” BuzzFeed’s Anthony Cormier said “I’m solid. My sources are solid. This reporting is accurate,” adding that he has received “further confirmation” that the report is accurate. “I have further confirmation that this is right. We’re being told to stand our ground. … Our reporting is going to be borne to be accurate and we’re 100 percent behind it.” (The Hill)
2/ Trump was involved in negotiations to build a Trump Tower in Moscow throughout the entire 2016 presidential campaign – several months longer than any administration official or Trump associate has previously admitted. Rudy Giuliani said conversations between Trump and Michael Cohen about building a Trump Tower in Moscow “went on throughout 2016 […] probably up to, could be up to as far as October, November.” Giuliani later clarified, quoting Trump that the discussions were “going on from the day I announced to the day I won.” The new timetable means that Trump, who repeatedly claimed during the campaign that he had “no business” in Russia, was in fact seeking a deal in Russia when he said in July 2016 that he had “nothing to do with Russia.” The timeline also conflicts with Cohen’s 2017 testimony that the Moscow project ended in January 2016 – before the Republican primaries began. Cohen later pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about the deal, saying efforts continued through June 2016 before it fell apart – a month after Trump had secured the Republican Party’s presidential nomination. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Politico / CNN / Bloomberg)
Giuliani suggested that Trump may have spoken to Cohen before he gave false testimony to Congress about the Trump Tower Moscow discussions. Giuliani claimed it would have been “perfectly normal” for Trump to discuss the testimony with Cohen, but added “So what if he talked to him?” (The Guardian)
3/ Trump offered Democrats a limited three-year renewal of DACA and Temporary Protected Status protections in exchange for $5.7 billion in funding for his border wall. The proposal to end the government shutdown – now in its 31st day – was immediately rejected by Democrats and mocked by conservatives as “amnesty.” Trump canceled DACA in 2017 and has moved to end TPS as well. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / The Guardian / CNN / CNBC)
10% of TSA employees called out with “unscheduled absences” on Sunday, with many employees citing “financial limitations” preventing them from working. (CNN)
The FDA has called back about 100 furloughed investigators and 35 supervisors for domestic food surveillance inspections. The FDA’s Scott Gottlieb said the agency is “targeting the riskiest products to make sure that Americans remain protected” during the shutdown. (Bloomberg)
4/ Trump lied 8,158 times since taking office two years ago. Trump averaged nearly 5.9 false or misleading claims a day in his first year in office, and hit nearly 16.5 a day in his second year – almost triple the pace. (Washington Post)
Notables.
Researchers discovered as many as 20 undisclosed ballistic missile sites in North Korea. The Kim regime has never admitted the existence of the bases. (NBC News)
Kamala Harris announced she is running for president in 2020. The California senator joins a Democratic field that includes Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Kirsten Gillibrand, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro, and former Maryland Rep. John Delaney. Sens. Bernie Sanders and Cory Booker, former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke, and Joe Biden are all expected to announce their bids in the coming weeks. (Bloomberg / Reuters / Wall Street Journal)
The Senate Intelligence Committee subpoenaed Jerome Corsi, seeking both an interview and documents from the Roger Stone associate. (The Hill)
The Trump administration’s deal to lift sanctions against a Russian oligarch contains provisions that will allow Oleg Deripaska to wipe out of hundreds of millions of dollars in debt while leaving him and his allies with majority ownership of his company. (New York Times)
The House Intelligence Committee and Financial Services Committee are discussing how to investigate Trump’s business ties to Deutsche Bank. Trump owes the bank at least $130 million according to a 2017 financial disclosure. (Reuters)
Senate Republicans threatened to use the “nuclear option” to quickly confirm Trump’s nominees, which an emphasis on confirming judges to lifetime appointments. (Politico)
Trump honored Martin Luther King, Jr. with a two-minute visit to the memorial in Washington. He laid a wreath at the base of a sculpture of King and thanked reporters for being there. (Politico)
⚠️ Programming note: According to my publishing schedule, I wasn’t supposed to publish today. However, a lot happened since Friday and I wanted to make sure we captured the big updates. Oh well! Here’s your “limited” WTFJHT!
1/ Trump personally directed Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about his plans to build a Trump Tower in Moscow in order to obscure his involvement in the deal. Cohen and Trump had at least 10 face-to-face meetings about the deal during the campaign. Cohen acknowledged to Robert Mueller’s team that he had given false testimony to the Senate and House intelligence committees that the Moscow tower negotiations ended in January 2016 were an attempt to “minimize links between the Moscow Project” and Trump “in hopes of limiting the ongoing Russia investigations.” Trump also approved a plan by Cohen to visit Russia during the presidential campaign and meet with Putin in order to kick off the negotiations for the Moscow project. “Make it happen,” Trump told Cohen. Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr. both regularly received “very detailed updates” about the project from Cohen. The revelation marks the first time Trump is known to have directly – and explicitly – ordered one of his subordinates to lie about his dealings with Russia. (BuzzFeed News)
Court records, sentencing memos, hearings, and charging documents line up with BuzzFeed’s reporting. Here are the relevant sections of court filings and how they match the BuzzFeed report. (CNN)
2/ Democrats in Congress vowed to investigate the report that Trump personally directed Cohen to lie to Congress, which could leave the president open to accusations of suborning perjury and obstruction of justice. House Intelligence Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff said “we will do what’s necessary to find out if it’s true” and that allegations that Trump “may have suborned perjury before our committee in an effort to curtail the investigation and cover up his business dealings with Russia is among the most serious to date.” Rep. Jerry Nadler, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, tweeted that the panel’s “job is to get to the bottom of it, and we will do that work,” adding: “We know that the President has engaged in a long pattern of obstruction.” (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / CNN / The Guardian / NBC News)
[Opinion] This charge is different. An explosive report that Trump directed Michael Cohen to lie to Congress provides a straightforwardly impeachable offense. (The Atlantic)
[Opinion] This may be the smoking gun in the Russia investigation. Why, if there was nothing worrisome or untoward about Trump’s dealings with Russia, would he instruct Cohen to lie to about the depth and breadth of the conversations between the Trumps and the Russians regarding a potential construction project in Moscow? (CNN)
[Opinion] Impeach Donald Trump. Starting the process will rein in a president who is undermining American ideals—and bring the debate about his fitness for office into Congress, where it belongs. (The Atlantic)
3/ Trump’s nominee for attorney general testified this week that it would be a crime if “the president tried to coach somebody not to testify, or testify falsely.” William Barr described such conduct as “classic” obstruction of justice. (Washington Post)
The wife of acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker sent an email to a reporter saying Mueller’s investigation is “wrapping up.” Marci Whitaker was responding to an article in Slate that criticized her husband and argued that the Senate should not confirm him as the next attorney general. She objected to the reporter’s suggestion that Whitaker should recuse himself from the Mueller investigation. Marci Whitaker added that the government shutdown is affecting her family’s ability to earn a living. (Slate / CNN)
Trump was reportedly “startled” and “caught off guard” that Barr has a warm relationship with Mueller. Trump complained to aides that he didn’t realize Barr and Mueller have worked together for 30 years. (CNN)
4/ Trump accused Cohen of “lying to reduce his jail time” following the report that he directed his former lawyer to lie to Congress. Separately, Rudy Giuliani issued a statement that “Any suggestion— from any source— that the President counseled Michael Cohen to lie is categorically false.” (CNBC / Axios / Associated Press)
Kevin Corke, @FoxNews “Don’t forget, Michael Cohen has already been convicted of perjury and fraud, and as recently as this week, the Wall Street Journal has suggested that he may have stolen tens of thousands of dollars....” Lying to reduce his jail time! Watch father-in-law!
Cohen arrived at his Manhattan apartment with his arm in a sling and a black eye. Trump’s former lawyer right hand had a small bandage – like the kind used to cover a small wound by an IV – and a red identification bracelet. Cohen’s legal and communications advisor, Lanny Davis said Cohen was in the hospital for a pre-scheduled shoulder surgery. (The Daily Mail)
poll/ 37% of Americans approve of the job Trump is doing as Season Three begins; 59% disapprove. 47% think Trump be an unsuccessful president compared to 29% who think he will be successful in the long run. (Pew Research Center)
Notables.
Nancy Pelosi postponed her official trip to Europe and Afghanistan due to security concerns after Trump divulged the itinerary. Trump grounded Pelosi’s military flight after speaker of the House requested that Trump postpone his State of the Union address in light of the partial government shutdown. Pelosi is second in line to the presidency. (New York Times)
Melania Trump flew to Florida on an Air Force jet hours after Trump postponed Pelosi’s use a military plane. (CNBC)
Mitch McConnell blocked another bill to reopen the government, marking the third time he has knocked down House-passed government funding bills. McConnell gave no explanation for the move, but he has said over the last few weeks that he will not bring government funding bills to a vote unless the bill is the result of negotiations between Trump and the Democrats. (The Hill)
The Justice Department is hiring a pair of attorneys to handle border wall litigation in South Texas. The attorneys likely will deal with eminent domain property seizures for properties in the path of planned wall construction. (Politico)
The Trump administration considered speeding up the deportation of migrant children by denying them asylum hearings after separating them from their parents, according to a 2017 draft memo. In June, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said the administration did “not have a policy of separating families at the border” – they were just enforcing the law. Sen. Jeff Merkley asked the FBI to open a perjury investigation into Nielsen. (NBC News / ABC News / CNN)
Trump will meet with Kim Jong Un in late February. It’ll be the second time Trump has met with the North Korean leader about eliminating its nuclear arsenal. (New York Times / Washington Post)
The White House canceled its delegation’s planned trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “Out of consideration for the 800,000 great American workers not receiving pay,” Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement, “and to ensure his team can assist as needed, President Trump has canceled his Delegation’s trip to the World Economic Forum.” Trump recently canceled his own trip to Davos, but cabinet members and others from his delegation were also scheduled to meet at the annual economic conference. (CNN)
Pence called criticism of his wife’s decision to teach at an anti-LGBT Christian school “deeply offensive.” In the employment application, Immanuel Christian School requires applicants to agree that marriage can be only between a man and a woman. The school also requires a a parent agreement, allowing the school to deny admission or kick out students who engages in activities that conflict with a “biblical lifestyle,” such as “condoning sexual immorality, homosexual activity or bi-sexual activity.” (Washington Post)
1/ Rudy Giuliani claimed that “I never said there was no collusion” between the Trump campaign and Russia. In a remarkable interview with CNN’s Chris Cuomo on Wednesday night, Giuliani argued that he had only ever said Trump himself had not colluded with Russia during the 2016 election, leaving open the possibility that campaign aides could have colluded. “There is not a single bit of evidence the president of the United States committed the only crime you can commit here, conspired with the Russians to hack the DNC.” Trump has tweeted at least 13 times directly saying there was no collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. (CNN / The Guardian / Washington Post)
2/ Hours later Giuliani backtracked his “no collusion” claim, saying he has “no knowledge of any collusion by any of the thousands of people who worked on the campaign.” Giuliani’s statement added: “There was no collusion by President Trump in any way, shape or form.” (New York Times / Washington Post)
A woman from Belarus claiming to have recordings that showed contacts between Trump campaign officials and Russians was detained at a Moscow airport on prostitution allegations. Anastasia Vashukevich was deported from Thailand earlier in the day after spending nine months in prison on charges of conspiracy and soliciting prostitution. (Washington Post)
3/ Trump directed Michael Cohen to hire a company to rig CNBC and Drudge Report online polls in his favor. Cohen then stiffed John Gauger, who owns RedFinch Solutions. Gauger went to Trump Tower in early 2015 to collect the $50,000 he was owed for the work, but instead Cohen apparently gave him a blue Walmart bag containing between $12,000 and $13,000 in cash and a boxing glove that Cohen said had been worn by a Brazilian mixed-martial arts fighter. Cohen disputed that he handed over a bag of cash, but confirmed that he had hired RedFinch Solutions, adding in a tweet that “what I did was at the direction of and for the sole benefit of @realDonaldTrump @POTUS.” Gauger said he never received the rest of what he was owed. However, in early 2017 Cohen received a $50,000 reimbursement from Trump and his company for the RedFinch work. (Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News)
Cohen also hired RedFinch Solutions to promote him as a “sex symbol” on Twitter. The @womenforcohen account was created in May 2016 and run by a female friend of Gauger. (Wall Street Journal / The Guardian)
4/ The Trump administration separated thousands more migrant children from their parents at the U.S. border than previously reported and whether they have been reunified is unknown, according to a report released by the inspector general for the Department of Health and Human Services. Before the administration officially implemented its zero-tolerance policy in the spring of 2018 that forcibly separated more nearly 3,000 children, the staff at the Department of Health and Human Services had noted a “sharp increase” in the number of children separated from a parent or guardian, according to the report. (Politico / The Guardian / NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times)
5/ Trump postponed Nancy Pelosi’s planned trip to Belgium, Egypt and Afghanistan in retaliation for her suggesting he delay his State of the Union address. He called it a “public relations event.” Military transport is typically provided to the House speaker for foreign trips. Trump instead called on Pelosi to remain in Washington during the shutdown, but she is welcome to make the trips on commercial flights. (NBC News / Politico / New York Times)
The White House is discussing whether Mitch McConnell could invite Trump to deliver the State of the Union address in the Senate chamber. (CBS News)
The State Department is calling back its furloughed diplomats after finding enough money to cover payroll for two weeks. The 8,000 employees will still have to wait to get their back pay. (Washington Post)
poll/ 39% approve the job Trump is doing as president – down from 42% approval since last month. Since December, Trump’s approval is down 18 percentage points among suburban men, down 13 points among white evangelicals, down 10 points among Republicans, and down 8 points among white men without a college degree. (NPR)
poll/ 57% of voters said they would “definitely” vote against Trump in 2020, 30% said they plan to vote for Trump, and an additional 13% said they had no idea who they’ll vote for. (PBS)
Notables.
Betsy DeVos is recovering in a wheelchair after breaking her pelvis and hip socket in a bicycling accident. She described the recovery as “very painful.” (Politico)
The Trump Organization requested and received at least 192 visas for foreign workers in 2018, according to Department of Labor data – the highest for the company going back to at least 2008. (Talking Points Memo)
The Trump administration called extending disaster funding for Puerto Rico’s food stamp program “excessive and unnecessary” after the House passed a measure that would have provided the island with $600 million in disaster relief funding. (BuzzFeed News)
More than 130 Republicans joined House Democrats in opposing a Treasury Department plan to lift sanctions against companies controlled by a Putin ally. Senate Republicans narrowly blocked a similar measure yesterday. Oleg Deripaska is a Russian oligarch with ties to Paul Manafort. (Washington Post)
1/ The government shutdown is causing more economic damage than previously estimated and could push the U.S. economy into a contraction. White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett called “the damage” to the economy “a little bit worse” than anticipated, because they miscalculated the rate of damage by failing to account for government contractors. Meanwhile, the White House revised estimates from the Council of Economic Advisers, which shows that the shutdown – now in its 26th day – reduces quarterly economic growth by 0.13 percentage points for every week that it lasts. By comparison, last year’s economic growth for the first quarter totaled 2.2% (New York Times / CNN / NPR)
A bipartisan group of senators plan to send Trump a letter pressing him to reopen the government in return for their commitment to work with him on a border security package. While more than a dozen senators in both parties are expected to sign on, the key Republicans aren’t signing on. (Politico)
2/ The Trump administration continues to force thousands of federal workers back to work without pay by designating their jobs as essential or exempting them from the furlough. The IRS, for example, will officially be recalling 36,000 workers – more than half the IRS workforce – to process tax returns and refunds despite the shutdown. (CNN)
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association said that flying is “less safe today than it was a month ago” due to the partial government shutdown. The FAA is trying to recall thousands of workers who had been furloughed that they deem essential to deal with safety concerns. (The Hill)
Federal workers lose more than $200 million in combined unpaid wages for every workday the the government remains shutdown. A typical federal worker has missed $5,000 in wages since the shutdown began. (New York Times)
3/ Nancy Pelosi told Trump to reschedule his State of the Union address – or just submit it in writing – while the government remains partially closed. Pelosi cited “security concerns” related to the shutdown’s effect on the Secret Service. White House officials, meanwhile, are urging Republican senators to not sign a bipartisan letter calling for an end of the government shutdown. Trump is scheduled to deliver his State of the Union address on Jan. 29th, which is an opportunity for him to make his case for border wall funding in a prime-time televised address. (Politico / ABC News / Washington Post / CNBC)
4/ ISIS claimed responsibility for an explosion that killed at least two U.S. troops in northern Syria. The attack comes weeks after Trump claimed the U.S. had “defeated ISIS in Syria” and announced he would pull out all 2,000 American forces, which triggered the resignation of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. An hour after the US-led coalition confirmed that American troops had been killed in an explosion, Pence declared that “the caliphate has crumbled and ISIS has been defeated.” He made no mention of the attack and did not offer condolences in his remarks at the Global Chiefs of Mission conference. (Reuters / NBC News / CNN)
5/ Nine T-Mobile executives booked rooms at Trump’s hotel in D.C. a day after the company announced a merger that required Trump’s approval. Staffers at the Trump International Hotel were handed a list of incoming “VIP Arrivals” last April following the announcement of a $26 billion deal with Sprint, which would more than double T-Mobile’s value and significantly increase its share of the cellphone market. T-Mobile executives have repeatedly returned to Trump’s hotel since, with one T-Mobile executive racking up 10 visits to the hotel between April and July. (Washington Post)
6/ The General Services Administration inspector general report said the agency “ignored” concerns that Trump’s lease of the Trump International Hotel violated the Constitution’s emoluments clause when it allowed Trump to keep the lease after he took office. The hotel is housed in the Old Post Office Building – a government-owned building. The report does not recommend that Trump’s lease be canceled. (Washington Post)/ NPR)
poll/ 36% of voters support Trump declaring a national emergency to re-allocate money to pay for his border wall, while 51% oppose an emergency declaration. (Politico)
Notables.
Trump’s pick to replace Scott Pruitt as head of the EPA will face questions from lawmakers during his confirmation hearing. Andrew Wheeler has been serving as the acting EPA administrator since Pruitt stepped down in July amid numerous ethics investigations. Democrats are expected to ask Wheeler about his connections to coal companies that he represented as a lobbyist, of which Wheeler says he is “not at all ashamed.” (ABC News)
Karen Pence, wife of Mike Pence, started teaching art at a school that discriminates against LGBTQ kids, saying it will refuse admission to students who participate in or condone homosexual activity. The employment application for Immanuel Christian School in Northern Virginia also requires that job candidates sign a pledge not to engage in homosexual activity or violate the “unique roles of male and female.” (HuffPost / Politico)
A Belarusian woman who claimed to have 16 hours of audio recordings linking Russia to Trump’s election will be deported after spending nearly a year behind bars in Thailand. Anastasia Vashukevich pleaded guilty to charges of solicitation and conspiracy in the Pattaya Provincial Court. Vashukevich requested asylum in the U.S. in exchange for her recordings, which she claimed contained evidence that could help shed light on Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. The audio evidence that Vashukevich claimed to have has never materialized. (New York Times)
Trump called a New York Times reporter and defended Russia against claims of election interference the day after he met privately with Putin in July 2017. Trump insisted that the call remain off the record while arguing that the Russians had been falsely accused of interfering in the 2016 election. Trump and Putin have met five times in private and the U.S. has no records or notes from any of their conversations. (New York Times)
Senate Republicans blocked a Democratic effort to enforce sanctions against Russian companies controlled by a Putin ally, despite a group of 11 GOP senators joining Democrats in the vote. The vote fell three votes shy of the 60-vote threshold, ensuring that the sanctions on the companies tied to Oleg Deripaska, including the world’s second-largest aluminum company, Rusal, will be lifted as part of a deal negotiated by the Treasury Department. (New York Times / CNN / The Hill)
Paul Manafort worked with unknown intermediaries to get people appointed in the Trump administration in January 2017. The former Trump campaign chairman continued speaking with the unidentified group of people through February 2018 – months after Manafort was indicted by Mueller’s prosectors. (Politico)
Konstantin Kilimnik “appears to be at the heart of pieces of Mueller’s investigation” into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Kilimnik is a Russian tied to Moscow’s intelligence services and is connected to Manafort. Prosecutors filed a 31-page affidavit from an FBI agent, and another 406 blacked-out exhibits, after a federal judge ordered them to lay out the “factual and evidentiary basis” for their claims that Manafort repeatedly lied after his plea deal and as a result had breached his cooperation agreement. (CNN / Washington Post)
Rick Gates told Mueller about the Trump campaign’s dealings with Psy Group, which plotted “social media manipulation” during the 2016 campaign. The former Trump campaign aide had requested proposals from Psy Group to help Trump during the campaign, which included creating fake social media accounts to engage voters and Republican campaign delegates. It’s unclear if the campaigns were ever carried out for Trump. (Daily Beast)
The U.S. rejected a Russian offer to save the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty, saying “we see no indication that Russia would choose compliance.” The U.S. and its NATO allies want Russia to destroy its 9M729 nuclear-capable cruise missile system. Without a deal, a U.S. withdrawal over six months will start from Feb. 2. (Reuters)
1/ Trump discussed withdrawing the U.S. from NATO with senior administration officials several times in 2018, saying he didn’t see the point of the military alliance, which has been in place since 1949. National security officials believe that Russia is focused on undermining the alliance so Putin could have the freedom to behave as he wishes. (New York Times)
2/ Trump’s legal team refused requests by Robert Mueller’s team for an in-person follow-up session with Trump. The request was made after Trump submitted written answers to a limited number of questions from Mueller’s office focusing on the period before Trump was in office. The two sides are reportedly at an impasse, with no meaningful discussion in roughly five weeks. (CNN)
3/ Michael Cohen’s testimony before the House Oversight Committee next month is expected to be heavily restricted to avoid interfering with Mueller’s Russia investigation. Cohen is scheduled to speak in a public hearing on Feb. 7 and won’t be able to talk about topics that he has discussed with Mueller and may also be limited in what he can say about the on-going Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office investigation. A person close to Cohen said “he’s going to tell the story of what it’s like to work for a madman, and why he did it for so long,” adding that Cohen is “going to say things that will give you chills.” (Wall Street Journal)
Rick Gates is still cooperating with federal prosecutors on “several ongoing investigations.” In a status report filed by Mueller, the special counsel and the Gates defense team are asking a federal judge to – again – delay Gates’ sentencing. (The Hill / Bloomberg)
Mueller has subpoenaed at least three new witnesses associated with Jerome Corsi, a Roger Stone associate. (ABC News)
4/ Mueller and federal prosecutors in Manhattan are looking at a meeting involving Devin Nunes, Michael Flynn, and dozens of foreign officials at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. two days before Trump’s inauguration. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan are looking into whether the Trump inaugural committee misspent funds and if donors tried to buy influence in the White House. Mueller is also looking at the meeting as part of his investigation into whether foreigners contributed money to the Trump inaugural fund and PAC through American intermediaries. (Daily Beast)
Trump’s inaugural committee spent more than $1.5 million at the Trump International Hotel for the 2017 swearing-in ceremony. The expenses included $10,000 on makeup, $30,000 in per diem payments for contract staffers, $130,000 on customized seat cushions, and $2.7 million on a Broadway-style rendition of Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York.” In the 72 days leading up to the inauguration, the committee spent a total of about $100 million. Inaugural committees are required to document every donation with the Federal Election Commission and those donations are now facing legal scrutiny over who funded them. (New York Times / ABC News)
📌 Day 694: Federal prosecutors are investigating whether Trump’s inaugural committee and a pro-Trump super PAC received illegal donations from individuals from Middle Eastern nations who were hoping to buy influence over U.S. policy. The inquiry focuses on whether people from Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates used straw donors to disguise their donations to the two Trump funds. Foreign contributions to federal campaigns, political action committees, and inaugural funds are illegal. The inaugural committee was headed by Thomas Barrack, and Paul Manafort, who was Trump’s campaign chairman at the time, believed that Barrack could help raise funds for the super PAC, Rebuilding America Now, which could collect unlimited amounts of money. Barrack said that Manafort viewed the super PAC as an arm of the campaign, despite laws meant to prevent coordination. The committee raised $23 million on Trump’s behalf. (New York Times)
📌 Day 693: Federal prosecutors in Manhattan are investigating whether Trump’s 2017 inaugural committee misspent the $107 million it raised and whether some of the donors gave money in exchange for access to the incoming Trump administration, policy concessions, or to influence administration positions. The committee said in its tax documents that it spent $77 million on conferences, conventions and meetings, $4 million on ticketing, $9 million on travel, $4.5 million on salaries and wages, and other expenses. Nearly a quarter of the money was paid to a firm led by a friend of Melania Trump that was formed 45 days before the inauguration. (Wall Street Journal)
📌 Day 389: Trump’s inaugural committee won’t reveal what it’s doing with tens of millions of dollars it pledged to charity last year. The committee raised about $107 million, but only spent about half of it. The rest, it said, would go to charity. (Daily Beast)
📌 Day 392: Trump’s inaugural committee paid nearly $26 million to an event planning firm started by Melania’s adviser and longtime friend Stephanie Winston Wolkoff. The firm was created in December 2016 – 45 days before the inauguration. Trump’s inauguration committee raised $107 million and paid to WIS Media Partners $25.8 million. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
📌 Day 404: Melania Trump parted ways with her senior adviser and friend, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, after news surfaced that Wolkoff’s firm had received $26 million to plan Trump’s inauguration and surrounding events in January 2017. Wolkoff was terminated last week because the Trumps were unhappy with the news reports about the contract. (New York Times)
poll/ 59% of voters support raising the top marginal tax rate to 70%, proposed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. 62% of women, 55% of men, 71% of Democrats, and 45% of Republicans support the idea. (The Hill)
⚠️ Trump’s Attorney General nominee William Barr faced questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee during his confirmation hearing. Here’s a few notes from day one of his two-day hearing:
Pledged to allow Mueller to finish his investigation, adding that he wouldn’t fire Mueller without cause while vowing that he “will not be bullied” by Trump.
Would not commit to recusing himself from overseeing Mueller, while defending his unsolicited memo criticizing Mueller’s examination of whether Trump obstructed justice. He called the memo “entirely proper” and said that instead of following the advice of the Justice Department’s ethics office, the decision would be his own.
Suggested that Mueller’s final report may not be made public, saying but attorney general will produce his own report to Congress based Mueller’s “confidential” findings. Barr said intends to be as transparent as possible, but that he would not let the White House edit or change it, as Rudy Giuliani has suggested.
Views Mueller as a fair-minded investigator. “I don’t believe Mr. Mueller would be involved in a witch hunt,” he said.
Can “conceive of situations” in which a journalist could be held in contempt when asked if the Justice Department will jail reporters for “doing their jobs.”
Wouldn’t direct federal prosecutors to target marijuana sales in states that have legalized the drug, breaking with Jeff Sessions’s stance.
A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to remove a citizenship question from the 2020 census. The case is likely headed to the Supreme Court. Critics accused the Trump administration of trying to turn the census into a tool to advance Republican political fortunes by to reapportioning seats in the House of Representatives in 2021, which could affect Congress, the Electoral College, and thousands of state and local political districts. (NPR / CNN / Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
Trump ordered thousands of furloughed federal employees back to work without pay to limit the impact of the shutdown that’s now entered its 25th day. (Bloomberg)
House Republican leaders stripped Rep. Steve King of his seats on the Judiciary and Agricultural Committees after he rhetorically questioned how “white nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?” King was denounced by a number of prominent republicans, including Mitch McConnell, who suggested that King find “another line of work.” King has refused to resign, instead criticizing House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, saying, “Leader McCarthy’s decision to remove me from committees is a political decision that ignores the truth.” (New York Times / Politico / Washington Post / The Guardian / CNN)
Meanwhile, NBC News initially advised staffers not to refer to King’s comments about white supremacy as “racist.” Later, the NBC standards department revised their guidance, saying it is fair to describe King’s racists remarks as racist. (HuffPost)
Mitch McConnell blocked a House-passed package to reopen the federal government for a second time. One bill would fund the Department of Homeland Security through Feb. 8, while the other would fund the rest of the impacted departments and agencies through Sept. 30. (The Hill)
House Democrats turned down an invitation to have lunch with Trump at the White House, saying the meeting would be little more than a photo op benefiting Trump. (Washington Post)
More than 40,000 immigration court hearings have been canceled due to the shutdown. The Pentagon has directed additional funds to extend troop deployment at the U.S.-Mexico border. (CNBC)
A federal judge refused to force the government to pay federal employees who are working without pay during the partial government shutdown, rejecting arguments from labor unions that unpaid work violates labor laws and the Constitution. (Washington Post)
The Trump administration doubled the estimated cost of the government shutdown to a 0.1 percentage point subtraction in growth every week. If the shutdown lasts through January, it could subtract a half a percentage point from the gross domestic product. (CNBC)
Rand Paul will travel to Canada for a hernia surgery. While Shouldice Hernia Hospital is privately owned — like most Canadian hospitals — it receives a majority of its funding from the Ontario government. Paul once called the idea of a national public health care system “slavery.” (USA Today)
Ivanka Trump will help select the next head of the World Bank. She will not be a candidate herself, but she will assist Steve Mnuchin and Mick Mulvaney in choosing a successor to Jim Yong Kim, who abruptly announced his resignation last week, three years before his term was set to expire. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Politico)
Trump served “great” “American fast food paid for by me” to Clemson University’s football team. The menu consisted of more than 300 burgers from “McDonald’s, Wendy’s and Burger King’s with some pizza,” Trump told reporters. Trump spent less than $3,000 on feeding the team and, according to Sarah Huckabee Sanders, he paid “for the event to be catered with some of everyone’s favorite fast foods” because “Democrats refuse to negotiate on border security [and] much of the residence staff at the White House is furloughed.” (NBC News / CNN / The Guardian / Washington Post)
1/ The FBI opened a counterintelligence investigation into whether Trump had been working on behalf of Russia after he fired Comey in May 2017. Law enforcement officials became concerned that if Trump had fired Comey to stop the Russia investigation, his behavior would have constituted a threat to national security. Counterintelligence agents were also investigating why Trump was acting in ways that seemed to benefit Russia. No evidence has publicly emerged – yet – that Trump was secretly taking direction from Russian government officials. Sarah Huckabee Sanders called the report “absurd” and claimed that, compared to Obama, “Trump has actually been tough on Russia.” (New York Times / CNN)
[Opinion] What if the obstruction was the collusion? “We might be in a position to revisit the relationship between the ‘collusion’ and obstruction components of the Mueller investigation. Specifically, I now believe they are far more integrated with one another than I previously understood.” (Lawfare)
2/ Trump concealed details about his conversations with Putin from administration officials. On at least one occasion in 2017, Trump confiscated the notes from his interpreter and told the interpreter not to discuss the details of his Putin conversation with other administration officials. As a result, there is no record of Trump’s face-to-face interactions with Putin at five locations from the past two years. U.S. officials only learned about Trump’s actions when a White House adviser and a senior State Department official requested additional information about the meeting beyond what Rex Tillerson had provided. (Washington Post)
Lawyers for the House Intelligence and Foreign Affairs committees are discussing subpoenaing the interpreters who were present when Trump spoke privately with Putin. Lawyers are not actively drafting subpoenas, but instead reviewing the best way forward and deciding which committee would submit a request, should they decide to make it. (ABC News)
3/ Fox News asked Trump if he is a Russian agent – he refused to directly answer. Instead, he called the question from Jeanine Pirro “the most insulting thing I’ve ever been asked.” When asked about concealing the details of his private meetings with Putin, Trump replied: “We had a great conversation.” Later, Trump said he “never worked for Russia” and called the report that the FBI opened a counterintelligence investigation “a whole big fat hoax” while labeling the FBI officials “known scoundrels” and “dirty cops.” (New York Times / CNBC / Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Washington Post)
4/ Trump’s nominee for attorney general said that “it is vitally important” that Robert Mueller be allowed to complete his Russia investigation. “On my watch, Bob will be allowed to complete his work,” William Barr will tell senators at his confirmation hearing, and that Congress and the public should “be informed of the results of the special counsel’s work.” Barr added that his “goal will be to provide as much transparency as I can consistent with the law.” (Associated Press / CNN / New York Times / The Guardian)
The Supreme Court rejected a challenge to the appointment of Matt Whitaker as acting attorney general. Opponents argued that Whitaker was not constitutionally appointed for the position because he had not been subject to Senate confirmation, and that Trump did not have the legal authority to appoint Whitaker. (NBC News / Washington Post / CNBC)
5/ The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs signed off on a plan by Alexander Torshin and Maria Butina to infiltrate the NRA and the American conservative movement. A U.S. intelligence report says Torshin, a Russian central bank official, courted NRA leaders for years and briefed the Kremlin on his efforts, recommending that they participate in the project. The report notes that the Kremlin was fine with Torshin and Butina’s courtship of the NRA because those relationships would be valuable if a Republican was elected president in 2016. (Daily Beast)
6/ Trump rejected Lindsey Graham’s proposal to reopen the government as the shutdown entered its 24th day. Graham proposed that Trump agree to reopen the government for about three weeks, and if no deal were made in that time, Trump could then declare a national emergency to obtain funding for a border wall without congressional action. Last week, Trump floated the ideal of declaring a national emergency to direct the military to start construction of the wall, but today he claimed “I’m not looking to call a national emergency. This is so simple you shouldn’t have to.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico)
Trump is “not going to budge even 1 inch” on the shutdown, according to a person close to Trump. Democrats, meanwhile, are unlikely to give ground to Trump as the record-setting partial government shutdown drags on. (CNN / CNBC)
Trump to Mick Mulvaney: “You just fucked it all up, Mick.” Trump cut off and lashed out at his acting chief of staff after he attempted to negotiate with Democrats for more than $1.3 billion in border wall funding. (Axios / CNN)
Despite the shutdown, the Trump administration is continuing work on opening up more Arctic lands in Alaska to oil drilling. The Bureau of Land Management has moved ahead with a series of public meetings to expand oil development in the 22-million-acre National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. (NPR)
poll/ 53% of Americans blame Trump and the Republicans for the shutdown. 42% say they support a wall – up from 34% last January – while 54% oppose the idea – down from 63% a year ago. (Washington Post / ABC News)
Six surveys taken since the partial government closure began tell a consistent story that more than half of Americans believe Trump and his party are responsible for the shutdown. (Bloomberg)
poll/ 63% of voters support the Democrat’s plan to reopen parts of the government that don’t involve border security. Every party, gender, education, age and racial group supports the plan except Republicans, who are opposed 52 - 39%. (Quinnipiac)
poll/ 69% of Americans do not want Trump to designate the border a national emergency site. 31% of respondents said they wanted such a declaration. (The Hill)
poll/ 37% of Americans approve of the job Trump is doing as president while 57% disapprove. 52% say the current situation at the border between the U.S. and Mexico is not a crisis. (CNN)
Notables.
Trump sold about $35 million worth of real estate in 2018 while serving as president. Although he offloaded the daily management of his assets to his sons, he maintained ownership of his businesses. More than half of the $35 million came from a single real estate deal involving a federally subsidized housing complex in Brooklyn, which Trump and his business partners offloaded for roughly $900 million. Trump held a 4% stake in the property and pulled in $20 million after subtracting the $370 million in debt owed on housing complex. (Forbes)
A federal judge in California blocked Trump administration rules that would allow more employers to avoid providing women with no-cost birth control in 13 states and the District of Columbia. Judge Haywood Gilliam issued a preliminary injunction to prevent the rules from taking effect as scheduled today. The injunction limited the scope of the ruling to the plaintiffs, preventing the rules from going into effect nationwide. (Associated Press)
Trump’s nominee to replace Brett Kavanaugh on the federal bench questioned whether victims of date rape were partly responsible if they’d been drinking. Neomi Rao currently serves as Trump’s deregulatory czar as administrator of the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. (Mother Jones)
Trump threatened to “devastate Turkey economically if they hit Kurds” following the U.S. troop withdrawal in Syria. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu blasted Trump’s “threatening language” saying that his country was “not going to be scared or frightened off,” adding: “You will not get anywhere by threatening Turkey’s economy.” (CNBC / Washington Post / New York Times)
Trump’s National Security Council asked the Pentagon to provide the White House with military options to strike Iran last year. The request, made at National Security Advisor John Bolton’s direction, alarmed Pentagon and State Department officials, including then-Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. The Pentagon offered some general options, including a cross-border airstrike on an Iranian military facility that would have been mostly symbolic. (Wall Street Journal / New York Times / CNBC)
1/ The government shutdown entered day 21 as Congress left for the weekend following another round of stalled negotiations to end the shutdown – ensuring that the partial government shutdown will become the longest in history. The House and Senate, however, both passed a measure to ensure that federal workers who are furloughed receive back pay once the government reopens, which now goes to Trump for his signature. The House also passed another bill to reopen more government departments, but is likely DOA in the Senate because of a veto threat from Trump. The second-longest shutdown stretched for 21 days from December 1995 until January 1996, due to a dispute between Bill Clinton and the Republican-led Congress at the time. (CNN / Politico / Washington Post / Associated Press)
2/ An estimated 800,000 federal employees missed their first paycheck due to the shutdown. In particular, more than 24,000 FAA employees, including air traffic controllers, are working without pay, since their positions are considered vital for “life and safety,” and more than 17,000 other have been furloughed – told to stop doing their jobs. (NBC News / CNN / Washington Post / New York Times)
Federal crop payments have stopped flowing to farmers, who say they cannot get federally-backed operating loans to buy seed for their spring planting, or feed for their livestock because of the shutdown. Farmers also can’t look up government data about beef prices or soybean yields to make decisions about planting and selling their goods. Some farmers have said the loss of loans, payments and other services has pushed them to a breaking point. (New York Times)
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has curtailed inspections due to the shutdown, while the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry has suspended health exposure assessments. Cash assistance to buy groceries are funded through February. (The Guardian)
White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett compared the shutdown to getting a free “vacation” for furloughed workers and that they might be “better off” after they return to work. (Politico)
3/ The Trump administration is laying the groundwork to declare a national emergency and possibly using a portion of the Army’s $13.9 billion disaster fund to pay for his border wall. The money is meant to fund civil works projects, including repairing storm-damaged areas of Puerto Rico through 2020. Jared Kushner, meanwhile, has urged Trump to try to find other approaches than declaring a national emergency, but said an emergency should be invoked only if it creates a clear path for the White House to build the wall. Democrats are exploring both legislative and legal options to challenge a possible national emergency declaration. (NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / The Guardian)
UPDATE**: Trump said he is not looking to declare a national emergency “right now” for his border wall**, a day after suggesting he would “probably” do so. Trump instead urged “Congress to do its job” and vote, again, on funding for the wall. Yesterday, Trump claimed his lawyers had told him that a national emergency declaration – allowing him to bypass Democrats in Congress – would hold up to legal scrutiny “100%.” (Washington Post / The Guardian)
4/ Trump falsely denied that he ever promised that Mexico would “write out a check” for his border wall, except he did: at least 212 times during the campaign and more since taking office. In a March 2016 memo, Trump outlined that Mexico would “make a one-time payment of $5-10 billion” for the wall. Trump has more recently resorted to a baseless claim that Mexico will now indirectly pay for the wall through the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which has not been ratified by Congress, and contains no provisions earmarking money for the wall. (Washington Post / New York Times)
poll/ 74% of Americans call the shutdown “embarrassing,” with 72% saying the shutdown is going to hurt the country. (NPR)
poll/ 51% of adults believe Trump “deserves most of the blame” for the shutdown. (Reuters)
poll/ 39% of Americans favor building a wall, while 59.1% oppose it. Among Republicans, 74.1% favor a wall, while 85.4% of Democrats oppose it. (Washington Post)
✏️Notables.
The U.S. began withdrawing some equipment – but not troops – from Syria. Military officials have refused to provide details about specific timetables or movements, but a spokesperson said “the process of our deliberate withdrawal from Syria” has begun. He continued: “Out of concern for operational security, we will not discuss specific timelines, locations or troops movement.” The number of troops or vehicles that have been withdrawn also remains unknown at this time. (Associated Press / ABC News / New York Times)
The United States approved thousands of child bride requests over the past decade. From 2007 through 2017, there were 5,556 approvals for those seeking to bring minor spouses or fiancees, and 2,926 approvals by minors seeking to bring in older spouses. The Immigration and Nationality Act does not set minimum age requirements, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services goes by whether the marriage is legal in the home country. (Associated Press)
Rudy Giuliani thinks Trump’s legal team should be allowed to “correct” Robert Mueller’s final report before Congress or the American people get the chance to read it. Giuliani went on to call it “a matter of fairness,” because the special counsel “could be wrong.” (The Hill)
Steve King doesn’t understand why the phrases “white nationalist” and “white supremacist” have “become offensive.” The nine-term Iowa Republican and Trump ally declared himself an “American nationalist” in a statement while defending his support of “western civilization’s values.” (New York Times / Politico / The Guardian)
1/ Mitch McConnell blocked two bills that would have ended the government shutdown. The bills had passed the House. McConnell said he will not consider any shutdown-related bills he doesn’t believe Trump would sign. He added: “Political stunts are not going to get us anywhere.” (CNN / The Hill)
2/ The Pentagon has begun preparing options for building a wall along the southern border in the event Trump declares a national emergency. If an agreement can’t be reached, said Trump, “probably I will do it – I would almost say definitely. We have plenty of funds if there’s a national emergency.” (USA Today / Reuters / Washington Post)
3/ Michael Cohen agreed to publicly testify in front of the House Oversight Committee before he goes to prison next month. Trump’s former personal attorney said he appreciates the opportunity “to give a full and credible account” of the time he worked for Trump. Cohen will also answer questions from lawmakers about the Russia investigation during a closed-door session. (Washington Post / NBC News / New York Times / ABC News / CNN / The Hill)
4/ Robert Mueller requested information last year from a Trump campaign pollster and colleague of Paul Manafort. Tony Fabrizio was interviewed by Mueller’s team in February 2018; the meeting went unreported until now. The interview is significant in light of recent revelations that Mueller has been investigating Manafort’s sharing of polling data with an associate tied to Russian intelligence. (CNN)
📌 Day 719: Paul Manafort gave 2016 polling data to a former employee with ties to Russian intelligence services. The exchange was inadvertently revealed when Manafort’s lawyers failed to fully redact Manafort’s interview with Robert Mueller in a court filing. Manafort’s attorneys meant for Mueller’s line of questioning to remain private, but the text in question was easily readable when opened with a word processor. (Washington Post / CNBC / Daily Beast)
Notables.
Scientists say the oceans are warming at a much faster rate than previously thought. A new study published in Science found the oceans are heating up 40% faster than estimates a U.N. panel published five years ago. The rising temperatures are killing off marine wildlife, and rising sea levels are making hurricanes more destructive. (New York Times)
Steven Mnuchin delivered a classified briefing to Congress on his decision to lift sanctions on companies linked to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. The briefing came after the chairs of seven House committees sent a letter to the Treasury Secretary and former Trump campaign finance chair demanding to know more about the decision. (NBC News)
Trump canceled a trip to Davos for the World Economic Forum, blaming “the Democrats [sic] intransigence on Border Security and the great importance of Safety for our Nation.” (New York Times)
1/ Trump abruptly walked out of a closed-door meeting with congressional leaders, who were at the White House to discuss the partial government shutdown. He reportedly left after Nancy Pelosi reiterated she wouldn’t fund his border wall. In a tweet, Trump called the meeting “a total waste of time,” writing: “I asked what is going to happen in 30 days if I quickly open things up, are you going to approve Border Security which includes a Wall or Steel Barrier? Nancy said, NO. I said bye-bye, nothing else works!” (NBC News / BBC / CNN)
Trump once again warned he might declare a national emergency in order to bypass Congress to build his border wall. “I have the absolute right to do national emergency if I want,” Trump said when asked what he would do if he is unable to reach a deal with Democrats. (New York Times)
2/ The Supreme Court refused to intervene in a case believed to involve Robert Mueller and an unidentified foreign-owned company. According to court filings, Mueller subpoenaed “Company A,” but the company insists it has immunity and that complying with the subpoena would violate the laws of its home country. The court offered no explanation as to why it declined to intervene in the case. The company is believed to be a foreign financial institution. (Politico / Washington Post)
3/ A law firm that has represented both Russian interests and the Republican National Committee is involved in the subpoena case presumed to be between Mueller and “Company A.” Alston & Bird previous represented Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, as well as the RNC in its efforts to obtain some of Hillary Clinton’s emails. It is unclear whether the firm is currently representing “Company A,” the country that owns “Company A,” or the regulators of that country. (CNBC / CNN)
4/ Seven House committees called on Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to explain why the United States decided to ease sanctions on companies linked to Oleg Deripaska, including an aluminum manufacturing giant. Mnuchin has argued the move keeps Deripaska on a blacklist of sanctioned oligarchs, but Democrats say the deal allows Deripaska to maintain “significant ownership” of one of the companies. (Associated Press / Washington Post)
Notables.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein will leave the Justice Department in the coming weeks. He will likely remain on the job until Mueller completes his investigation or after a new attorney general is confirmed. There has been no indication that Rosenstein is being forced out by the Trump administration. (ABC News / NBC News / Reuters / CNN)
The Food & Drug Administration suspended routine inspections of the U.S. food supply because of the partial government shutdown. “It’s not business as usual,” said FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, “and we are not doing all the things we would do under normal circumstances. There are important things we are not doing.” (NBC News / Washington Post)
TSA officers have started quitting their jobs after being forced to work without pay during the shutdown. The loss of workers “will create a massive security risk for American travelers,” said Hydrick Thomas, head of the American Federation of Government Employees’ TSA Council. (Daily Beast)
Roughly $5 million from Trump’s farm bailout program will go to a Brazilian-owned meatpacking company. JBS is one of the largest meatpacking companies in the world and has roughly 73,000 employees and 44 plants in the U.S., but JBS is owned by a company based in San Paulo, Brazil. (Washington Post / The Hill)
1/ Most major TV networks will broadcast Trump’s national address tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern, during which he will discuss the ongoing partial government shutdown and the southern U.S. border. ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, CNN, Fox News, and Fox Business have all confirmed they will air Trump’s remarks. A response from Congressional Democrats will follow. Trump has made 1,130 false statements about immigration since taking office. (Politico / NBC News)
Trump’s aides have been laying the rhetorical foundation for Trump to declare a national emergency at the southern border, which would allow him to circumvent some Congressional approval for his long-promised border wall. (Washington Post)
2/ Paul Manafort gave 2016 polling data to a former employee with ties to Russian intelligence services. The exchange was inadvertently revealed when Manafort’s lawyers failed to fully redact Manafort’s interview with Robert Mueller in a court filing. Manafort’s attorneys meant for Mueller’s line of questioning to remain private, but the text in question was easily readable when opened with a word processor. (Washington Post / CNBC / Daily Beast)
3/ Natalia Veselnitskaya worked secretly with the Russia prosecutor general to draft the Russian response to a U.S. money-laundering case. Veselnitskaya is the Russian lawyer who met with top Trump campaign officials at Trump Tower in 2016. The case in question isn’t directly related to the Trump Tower meeting and instead involves a scheme to launder dirty money through New York real-estate purchases. The indictment says Veselnitskaya covertly drafted an “intentionally misleading” response, which constitutes obstruction of justice. (New York Times)
Notables.
U.S. carbon emissions increased by 3.4% in 2018, the largest jump in eight years. While more coal plants are shutting down, demand for electricity is on the rise—and the Trump administration continues to roll back environmental regulations meant to speed the growth of renewable energy. (The Guardian / New York Times)
The Trump administration quietly downgraded the diplomatic status of the European Union’s delegation last year without formally announcing the decision or informing the E.U. about the change. The classification was temporarily reversed after Brussels scheduled a meeting with the administration to discuss the move. (New York Times)
The Justice Department is attempting to delay the testimony of Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker until next month, after a permanent replacement has been chosen. Justice Department officials cited the ongoing government shutdown and Whitaker’s busy schedule as reasons why his testimony to the House Judiciary Committee should be delayed. (Politico)
1/ The White House will order the IRS to pay out income-tax refunds, despite 90 percent of its workforce not working. A little over 10 percent of IRS employees are still on the clock through the partial government shutdown attempting to implement the sweeping Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. The effort adds to bureaucratic backlog as the shutdown drags into its 17th day. (ABC News / New York Times)
Senate Democrats are considering blocking all future legislation in order to maintain focus on the shutdown. Chuck Schumer told the Democratic caucus he will only focus on bills that would reopen the government. (CNN)
2/ The Department of Agriculture wouldn’t say for how long it will continue to pay out food stamps during the shutdown to the nearly 39 million people who depend on the service each month. Senior officials said the program, also known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), has enough funding to cover the rest of January—but not enough for February. Congress has never let SNAP funding run out. (Politico / Washington Post)
3/ Trump’s latest offer to end the shutdown includes a demand for $5.7 billion in funding “for construction of a steel barrier for the Southwest border,” plus another $800 million to address “urgent humanitarian needs” related to unaccompanied minors arriving at the border. The White House refused to detail how the requested funding would be spent or why the amount is larger than what the administration requested a few months ago. Members of Congress made no progress in negotiations over the weekend. (Washington Post)
Jimmy Carter became the latest former president to deny telling Trump he regrets not building a wall along the southern U.S. border. “I have not discussed the border wall with President Trump and do not support him on the issue,” Carter said. (The Hill)
4/ Trump wants to deliver a prime-time address Tuesday night to discuss the government shutdown and what he calls “the Humanitarian and National Security crisis on our Southern Border.” All major networks—ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC—confirmed they had received requests to air the broadcast during the 9 p.m. Eastern slot, but producers have not yet decided whether or not they will do so. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News)
5/ The president of the World Bank resigned and will leave his post at the end of the month, three years before his term was set to end. Jim Yong Kim was nominated in 2012 by President Obama, and his early departure grants Trump the power to nominate a successor. Kim gave no reason for his sudden resignation. The CEO of the Bank will take over on an interim basis. (NBC News)
Notables.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg missed oral arguments at the Supreme Court for the first time in more than 25 years as she recovered from surgery. It is not clear when she will return to the bench, but a spokesperson said Ginsburg, 85, continues to work from home as she recuperates. Doctors removed two cancerous growths from her lungs on December 21. (Associated Press)
Former GOP Sen. Jon Kyl became the second person to turn down Trump’s offer to replace Jim Mattis as Secretary of Defense. Ret. Gen. Jack Keane also turned Trump down shortly after Mattis resigned late last month. (Politico)
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will travel to several Middle Eastern nations to reassure America’s allies in the midst of a flurry of contradictions and confusion regarding Trump’s plan to pull U.S. forces out of Syria and Afghanistan. (ABC News)
1/ House Democrats approved a series of spending bills to reopen the federal government without Trump’s border wall money, but the legislative spending package is expected to be dead on arrival in the Senate where Mitch McConnell has vowed to not “waste its time” with proposals that Trump will veto. Congressional Republicans called the effort pointless political theater. (CNN / CNBC / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / USA Today)
2/ Trump is reportedly considering declaring a national emergency in order to use $4 billion in Department of Defense funds to build his wall. The move would sidestep Congress if he doesn’t get money for his border wall. During his press conference, Trump acknowledged that he was considering using national emergency powers to get the wall built “for the security of our country.” He likened it to “the military version of eminent domain,” which is not a real thing. [This story is developing…] (ABC News / Washington Post / NBC News)
3/ Trump threatened to keep the government partially shutdown for “months or even years” following what Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi described as a “lengthy” and “sometimes contentious” meeting at the White House. Trump, however, characterized it as a “very, very productive meeting,” during a Rose Garden press conference. “I think we’ve come a long way” as he defended the shutdown, adding: “I’m very proud of doing what I’m doing. I don’t call it a shutdown. I call it doing what you have to do.” The shutdown, which entered its 14th day, has left about 800,000 workers without pay, limited several federal agencies, and slowed the court system. (New York Times / Washington Post)
4/ Hundreds of senior Trump administration officials are scheduled to receive a $10,000 raise tomorrow as some 800,000 federal employees are currently unpaid due to the partial government shutdown. (Washington Post / CNN)
5/ Shortly after being sworn in, freshman Michigan Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib told supporters: “We’re gonna go in there and we’re going to impeach the motherfucker.” House Democratic leaders immediately tried to quell the impeachment talk, saying they should wait for Robert Mueller to file a report on his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign. Republicans, meanwhile, seized on the comments, saying it’s proof that Democrats are playing politics rather than pursuing oversight. Trump responded to Tlaib’s call for impeachment, saying: “You can’t impeach somebody who’s doing a great job.” (Politico / The Guardian / CNN / CNBC / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
Robert Mueller’s federal grand jury has been extended by six months. (CNN)
Notables.
House Democrats unveiled an ethics reform package that would put new checks on the White House and require Trump to release his tax returns. The legislation is unlikely to be approved by the GOP-held Senate. (Politico / Vox)
A watchdog group accused Ivanka Trump of violating a conflict of interest law by participating in the implementation of “opportunity zones,” a program that gives tax breaks for investing in economically distressed communities. (CNN)
U.S. employers added 312,000 jobs in December. The unemployment rate went up to 3.9 percent, and the average hourly pay rose by 3.2 percent from a year ago and 0.4 percent since the previous month. The slight uptick in the unemployment rate is seen as an increase in job seekers, a positive signal. (Associated Press / CNBC)
Trump blamed the recent stock market sell-off on the fact that the Democrats took control of the House. In October, Trump blamed Democrats for market turbulence. He has also blamed the Federal Reserve or a “glitch” for recent troubles with the stock market, while claiming credit when stocks are up. (CNBC)
A bipartisan pair of Senate lawmakers proposed legislation forcing the Trump administration to take a stronger stance against China. The proposed measure would establish an Office of Critical Technologies & Security at the White House to coordinate efforts and develop strategies to combat state-sponsored technology theft. (Politico)
House Democrats filed a motion to intervene in a federal court case in Texas that poses a threat to the Affordable Care Act. A Texas judge ruled last month that the ACA is unconstitutional without the individual mandate, which Congress effectively eliminated by reducing the penalty to $0, which started this year. Since the Trump administration is not defending the ACA, a coalition of Democratic states is appealing the judge’s ruling. The move to intervene is largely symbolic, however, and critics say lawmakers would be better off simply passing new legislation to address the issues in the lawsuit. (CNN)
The American man held on espionage charges in Moscow also has British, Canadian and Irish citizenship. Russia arrested Paul Whelan on Dec. 28th, and charged him with espionage. [Editor’s note: Not in itself very newsworthy, but I wanted to pin this in the event Whelan turns out to be a player.] (Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
A federal appeals court sided with the Trump administration on a policy of restricting military service by transgender people. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit overturned a decision by a federal judge in Washington D.C. that blocked the policy, saying it probably violates the constitutional rights of transgender recruits and service members. (The Guardian / HuffPost)
1/ Trump and congressional leaders failed to resolve the partial government shutdown that’s now stretched into its 13th day. The meeting was billed as a a “border security briefing,” but turned into Trump asking Department of Homeland Security officials to “make a plea” for his $5 billion border wall with Trump rejecting an offer from Democrats to reopen the government, because he “would look foolish if I did that.” Nancy Pelosi, meanwhile, reaffirmed her refusal to accommodate Trump’s border wall demand, saying: “How many more times can we say no? Nothing for the wall.” Sen. Lindsay Graham, meanwhile, has been pressuring Trump to hold firm as well. “If he gives in now, that’s the end of 2019 in terms of him being an effective president,” Graham said. “That’s the probably the end of his presidency.” (The Guardian / New York Times / CNN / NBC News)
Mitch McConnell: The Senate will not consider the House Democrat bills to end the government shutdown if they don’t include Trump’s demand for a $5 billion border wall. “The Senate will not waste its time considering a Democratic bill which cannot pass this chamber and which the president will not sign.” (Reuters)
Trump falsely accused Democrats of shutting down the government in order to take the presidency in 2020. He went on to praise “all of the achievements of ‘Trump.’” (Politico)
Trump put a large “Game of Thrones” poster of himself on the table in front of him during a cabinet meeting with the words “SANCTIONS ARE COMING NOVEMBER 4” across the middle. Nobody in the meeting talked about the poster and the White House did not respond to questions about it. (New York Times / Washington Post)
Trump issued an executive order freezing federal workers’ pay for 2019, after initially announcing a 2.1% across-the-board pay raise that was set to take effect in January. (CNN)
2/ The House of Representatives elected Rep. Nancy Pelosi as speaker for a second time. The 116th Congress convened with Democrats taking control of the House and Republicans maintaining control of the Senate. (Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Washington Post)
The congressional freshman class of 2019 is the most racially diverse and most female group of representatives ever elected to the House, and includes the first Native American congresswomen, the first Muslim congresswomen, and the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. (CNN / New York Times)
3/ Pelosi suggested it’s an “open discussion” whether Trump can be indicted by Robert Mueller while still in office, challenging the Department of Justice’s guidelines that a sitting president cannot be indicted. The incoming speaker also added that “everything indicates” that Trump “can be indicted after he is no longer president of the United States.” Pelosi’s statements make her the highest ranking politician to suggest that Trump can be indicted while still in office. (NBC News / Axios / Politico / USA Today)
The Incoming House Judiciary Chairman plans to re-introduce legislation to protect Robert Mueller. The legislation would provide recourse for Mueller and future special counsels to challenge any firings in the court system. (CNN)
4/ Democrats plan to ask for 10 years of tax returns for presidential candidates in their first piece of legislation in 2019. Vice presidents would also be required to turn over the last decade of their tax returns. The documents would then be posted on the FEC’s website for the public to view. The legislation, however, is not expected to pass the Republican-controlled Senate or signed into law by Trump. (CNN)
5/ Russia charged an American with espionage. Paul Whelan faces 20 years in Russia if convicted. Russia’s Interfax news agency said Whelan was arrested on Dec. 28 “while on a spy mission.” Another Russian news outlet, Rosbalt, claimed that Whelan, a former U.S. marine now detained in Moscow by Russia’s Federal Security Service, was arrested minutes after receiving a USB drive that contained the names of people employed at a top secret state organization. Whelan’s arrest comes weeks after Russian gun rights activist Maria Butina pleaded guilty to conspiring to act as an agent for the Kremlin from 2015 until her arrest in July. She agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors. (The Guardian / Washington Post / New York Times / USA Today / NPR / CNN)
Notables.
The confirmation of 70 of Trump’s judicial nominees remains in flux after Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer failed to reach an agreement on how to move the nominations forward. The pending nominations will now be sent back to the White House to be re-nominated. The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to hold an extra-long session at some point in the next few weeks to consider all the remaining nominees who were awaiting a vote on the Senate floor or waiting for a committee vote. (Politico)
Trump’s Bedminster golf club shielded at least one undocumented immigrant from a list of workers vetted by the Secret Service during the 2016 campaign. Emma Torres told a human resources employee that she did not have legal status. The woman replied: “‘It’s O.K. No problem.’ She scratched me off the list.” Torres later made sandwiches for Secret Service agents when they began visiting the property. (New York Times)
The Trump administration is considering a rollback of anti-discrimination rules. The rollback would dilute federal rules against discrimination in education, housing and more. (Washington Post)
The Justice Department is examining whether Ryan Zinke lied to the Interior agency’s inspector general investigators – a potential criminal violation. (Washington Post)
The national debt is $2 trillion higher since Trump took office. At the end of 2018, the debt stood at $21.974 trillion. (CNN)
1/ As the shutdown stretches into its 12th day – and a day before Democrats take control of the house – Trump invited congressional leaders to the White House for a briefing on border security. It’s the first time Trump has sat down with top congressional leaders of both parties since the shutdown started. Homeland Security officials will brief the top two leaders of each party from both the Senate and the House. “Border Security and the Wall ‘thing’ and Shutdown,” Trump tweeted, “is not where Nancy Pelosi wanted to start her tenure as Speaker! Let’s make a deal?” (Washington Post / The Guardian / New York Times / Politico)
A federal employees union filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, because the partial government shutdown is illegally forcing more than 400,000 “essential” or “excepted” federal employees to work without pay. (CNN / Washington Post)
2/ House Democrats plan to vote on a bipartisan package of six Senate spending bills to reopen the government, as well as a stopgap measure to reopen the Department of Homeland Security at its current funding levels until February 8. The temporary funding measure would include the current $1.3 billion in border security money, which can be used for fencing and repairs of the current barriers. The move, however, lacks support from Senate Republicans and Trump. (CNN / NBC News)
Trump tried to convince people on Twitter that the Obamas had a 10-foot wall built around their family home in D.C. as a way of justifying why the U.S. should build a wall along the southern border with Mexico. Trump tweeted: “I agree, totally necessary for their safety and security. The U.S. needs the same thing, slightly larger version!” According to a neighbor (and all of the available photos of the residence), “There’s a fence that goes along the front of the house, but it’s the same as the other neighbors have.” Another neighbor said the house is “100 percent visible from the street.” (Washington Post / Rolling Stone)
John Kelly: Trump abandoned the idea of “a solid concrete wall early on in the administration.” The outgoing chief of staff added that “the president still says ‘wall,’” but he often means a “‘barrier’ or ‘fencing,’ now he’s tended toward steel slats.” Trump responded to Kelly’s comments on Twitter, saying that the idea of an all-concrete border “WAS NEVER ABANDONED,” asserting that the Border Patrol experts “prefer a Wall that is see through.” (Los Angeles Times / New York Times)
3/ A former Russian intelligence officer pressured Paul Manafort to pay back around $19 million he owed a Russian oligarch while he was running Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Victor Boyarkin said Manafort “owed us a lot of money. And he was offering ways to pay it back.” Less than two weeks before Trump accepted the Republican nomination, Manafort tried to offer “private briefings” about the presidential race to Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska to “get whole.” Manafort sent the messages through his former business associate Konstantin Kilimnik. Both Boyarkin and Deripaska have been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department. Boyarkin also said he was approached by Robert Mueller’s office, which is investigating ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, but he allegedly told investigators “to go dig a ditch.” (Time / CNN)
📌 Day 245: Writing through an intermediary, Paul Manafort offered to give private briefings to a Russian billionaire during the 2016 campaign. Oleg Deripaska is an aluminum magnate and former business associate of Manafort’s with close ties to the Kremlin. It is unclear if Deripaska received or acted on the offer. (Washington Post)
5/ Trump gave the military four months to “slowly” remove the 2,000 U.S. troops currently stationed in Syria. Two weeks ago Trump ordered the military to pull out in 30 days. Trump went on to complain about the lack fanfare over his decision to pull the troops out of Syria, tweeting that “If anybody but Donald Trump did what I did in Syria […] they would be a national hero.” He added that he is “just doing what I said I was going to do” during his presidential campaign. (New York Times / CNN)
6/ Border Patrol agents fired tear gas at a group of 150 people in Mexico who were attempting to cross the border. CPB claimed that agents were not directly targeting the people who were attempting to cross the fence, but rather aiming upwind at another group of migrants who were allegedly throwing rocks at them. CPB detained 25 people, including two teenagers. This is the second known occasion during which U.S. agents used gas as a deterrent or dispersal tactic against migrants. A similar incident occurred in November 2018, into which Mexico later called on the U.S. to launch an investigation. (Reuters / Associated Press)
📌 Day 676: U.S. border agents fired tear gas on migrants protesting near the U.S.-Mexico border after some of them attempted to cross using a train border crossing. The fumes were carried by the breeze toward unarmed families hundreds of feet away. Mexico’s Interior Ministry said around 500 migrants were involved in the march for faster processing of asylum claims for Central American migrants, but it was a smaller group of migrants who broke away and tried the train crossing. The border was shut down in both directions for several hours. (Associated Press / New York Times / CNN)
Trump blamed Democrats for the two Guatemalan children who died while in U.S. Border Patrol custody, claiming the deaths are “strictly the fault of the Democrats and their pathetic immigration policies.” (Politico)
Notables.
New Jersey prosecutors have evidence that supervisors at Trump’s Bedminster golf club may have committed federal immigration crimes. The FBI and Mueller have been involved in the in the inquiry. (New York Daily News)
Trump attacked retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal, saying he “got fired like a dog” and that McChrystal is a “big, dumb mouth.” Prior to Trump’s comments, McChrystal said Trump is immoral, dishonest, and “I don’t think he tells the truth.” McChrystal was relieved of his command in 2010 by then-President Obama after he made controversial comments about the Obama administration in a Rolling Stone article. (ABC News)
Mitt Romney savaged Trump’s leadership, saying he “has not risen to the mantle” of his office and his “words and actions have caused dismay around the world,” in a Washington Post op-ed. Trump responded by tweeting: “I won big, and he didn’t. He should be happy for all Republicans. Be a TEAM player & WIN!” (Washington Post / Politico / NBC News / CNN / The Guardian)
Trump averaged 15 false claims a day in 2018. When 2018 began, Trump had made 1,989 false and misleading claims. By the end of the year, Trump had accumulated more than 7,600 untruths during his presidency – or about 5,611 false or misleading claims in 2018 alone. (Washington Post)
Trump wished “the haters” and “the fake news media” a happy new year, urging them to “calm down and enjoy the ride.” Trump’s all-caps tweet went on to say that 2019 would be a “fantastic” year for anyone “not suffering from Trump derangement syndrome.” (CBS News / NBC News)
Editor’s note: It’s nice to be back after a weird, quasi-break. I’ll be honest, I kinda tuned everything out and mostly took a news sabbatical – highly recommended! – aside from anxiously refreshing Twitter multiple times a day. I’ve included whatever worthwhile updates from the past five days or so in today’s post. ALSO: Not that it was ever in doubt, but I’m happy to announce that WTF Just Happened Today: Season 3, Episodes 731 to 1096 begins January 20th (here’s a link to Season 1 and Season 2). I’m looking forward to sharing my 2019 plan with y’all, which includes more ways for members to get involved and become the media. Shoutout to the members who make this whole thing possible with their generous contributions. If you’d like to invest in the continued production of WTFJHT, consider becoming a member today.
1/ On the seventh day of a partial government shutdown, Trump threatened to “close the Southern Border entirely” until he gets the $5 billion in funding for his border wall. Trump also threatened to cut off aid to Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, because – he claims – migrants from those country have been “taking advantage of U.S. for years” as they flee persecution and seek asylum in the U.S. Confusingly, Trump called “closing the Southern Border a ‘profit making operation.’” The shutdown will to continue into 2019 after the House and Senate adjourned on Thursday without taking any action to end the shutdown, leaving the border wall impasse to House Democrats as they assume the majority next week. (ABC News / The Guardian / Washington Post / New York Times)
2/ The Trump administration tweeted advice to furloughed federal workers about how to offer to do chores and other maintenance projects in exchange for rent payments. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management also suggested that the nearly 800,000 workers who have either been furloughed or asked to work without pay to “please consult with your personal attorney” for any required legal advice during the partial government shutdown. (Daily Beast)
3/ The EPA proposed a plan to make it easier for coal-fired power plants to release mercury and other pollutants linked to developmental disorders and respiratory illnesses into the atmosphere. After nearly a decade of restrictions, the plan represents a major shift in the way the federal government calculates the costs and benefits of air pollutants and would weaken the ability of the EPA to impose new regulations in the future by giving less weight to the potential health gains of curbing pollutants. (New York Times / Washington Post / Reuters)
4/ An indicted Russian organization in a court filing referred to a “nude selfie” obtained by Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Mueller has collected nearly four million pages of material from the email and social media accounts in the case against the Internet Research Agency, an alleged Russian state-controlled troll farm. The IRA’s lawyer, Eric Dubelier, questioned how there could be any national security concerns related to a nude selfie. Dubelier also represents Concord Management and Consulting LLC, which prosecutors alleged is controlled by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a businessman close to Putin with key ties to Russia’s military and political establishment. Prigozhin is also known as “Putin’s Chef.” Dubelier did not provide information about who is depicted in the photo, but asked the court to lift a protective order that bans him from sending the millions of pages of pre-trial discovery to Russia. (Daily Beast / CNN / HuffPost / Law & Crime)
1/ Trump’s shutdown entered its sixth day with negotiations between Democrats, Republicans, and the White House at a standstill. The Senate is scheduled to be in session today, but there are no votes for a spending bill scheduled since an agreement between Democrats and Trump hasn’t been reached over Trump’s demand for $5 billion in border wall funding. The impasse has left about 420,000 federal workers working without pay and another 380,000 furloughed. Trump told reporters that he’ll do “whatever it takes” to fund the wall he once claimed Mexico would pay for. (ABC News / New York Times)
2/ Trump made up alternative facts to claim “most of the people not getting paid” during the government shutdown are Democrats, contrasting his Christmas claimed that “many of those workers” had told him to continue to shut down the government “until you get the funding for the wall.” (Washington Post / NBC News / CNBC / Bloomberg)
3/ Trump’s lawyers asked to delay the emoluments case against him until the shutdown ends. Justice Department attorneys representing Trump asked a federal appeals court to indefinitely postpone all filings in the lawsuit alleging that Trump is illegally profiting from foreign officials’ use of the Trump International Hotel in Washington. (Politico)
4/ Trump tweeted a video revealing a covert U.S. Navy SEAL team deployed in Iraq, which violated combat operational security by posting the faces and location of the special operations unit. Trump’s trip to Iraq, his first to a war zone as president, was supposed to be a secret for security reasons, but a Twitter user in Germany posted that he had tracked an aircraft that could be Air Force One, while a British-based Flickr user later posted a photo of the plane flying through clear skies over Yorkshire. The clandestine trip came a week after Trump ordered the Pentagon to withdraw roughly 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria and about 7,000 from Afghanistan over the next few month, which prompted the resignation of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. (Newsweek / New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / CNN / NBC News)
5/ Trump lied to troops in Iraq that he had secured a “more than 10 percent” pay raise for them. Trump authorized a raise that amounts to 2.6% earlier this year. Military members have seen a pay raise in each of the last 10 years, ranging from 1% to 3.9%. (Washington Post / CNN / HuffPost)
6/ The acting attorney general claimed he was an Academic All-American while playing football at the University of Iowa. He wasn’t. The College Sports Information Directors of America said the group has no record that Matthew Whitaker was ever an Academic All-American. To be considered an Academic All-American, a student-athlete must have at least a 3.3 cumulative GPA and be an integral part of the team. (Wall Street Journal)
7/ Michael Cohen’s cell phone was briefly activated near Prague around time of the Russia meeting described in the Steele dossier, which purports that Cohen and one or more Kremlin officials met in or around the Czech capital to plot ways to limit discovery of the close “liaison” between the Trump campaign and Russia. Additionally, around the same period of late August or early September 2016, electronic eavesdropping by an Eastern European intelligence agency picked up Russians remarking that Cohen was in Prague. The cell phone and eavesdropping evidence was shared with Robert Mueller. (McClatchy DC)
📌Day 224: Trump’s lawyer “vehemently” denied working with Russia to disrupt the election. Michael Cohen gave Congress a point-by-point rebuttal of the 35-page dossier compiled by retired British spy Christopher Steele, which alleges he has deep ties to Russian officials. Cohen denied the dossier’s claims, including that he had secret meetings in Prague with a Russian official last summer. (New York Times)
📌Day 450: Robert Mueller has evidence that Michael Cohen made a secret trip to Prague during the 2016 presidential campaign, entering through Germany in “August or early September.” Confirmation of the trip corroborates part of the Christopher Steele dossier that Cohen met with an ally of Putin. Cohen has denied that he has ever been in Prague and that he colluded with Russia during the campaign. (McClatchy DC)
8/ Rudy Giuliani said negotiations with Mueller are “still open” on whether the special counsel will further question Trump, including the scope of the questions, if they take place. (Daily Beast)
poll/ 47% of Americans hold Trump responsible for the shutdown, while 33% blame Democrats in Congress. 35% of those surveyed said they backed including money for the wall in a congressional spending bill. 25% said they supported Trump shutting down the government over the matter. (Reuters)
1/ Trump’s partial government shutdown entered its fifth day as the White House and lawmakers remain at odds over Trump’s demand for $5 billion in border wall funding. “I can’t tell you when the government is going to be open,” Trump said in the Oval Office after a Christmas call with U.S. troops. “I can tell you it’s not going to be open until we have a wall, a fence, whatever they would like to call it.” About 25% of the federal government has been shutdown, with an estimated 400,000 federal employees working without pay with 350,000 furloughed. Democrats will take control of the House on Jan. 3 and are expected to pass a bill to fund the government without additional wall funding. This is the third shutdown of 2018, with Mick Mulvaney, acting chief of staff and director of the Office of Management and Budget, predicting that “it’s very possible” the shutdown will extend into the new year. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNN / The Guardian)
2/ An 8-year-old boy from Guatemala died in U.S. Customs and Border Protection custody – the second death of an immigrant child in the agency’s care this month. The boy showed “signs of potential illness” on Monday and was taken to a hospital in New Mexico where hospital staffers diagnosed the child “with a common cold, and when evaluated for release, hospital staff found a fever.” The boy was readmitted to hospital where he died later that evening after suffering nausea and vomiting. (Associated Press / The Guardian / Politico / Washington Post)
3/ The daughters of a foot doctor said their late father diagnosed Trump with bone spurs to help him avoid the Vietnam War as a “favor” to his father Fred Trump. Dr. Larry Braunstein rented his office in Jamaica, Queens, from Fred Trump in the 1960s. (New York Times)
Notables.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg was discharged from the hospital and is recuperating at home after having two cancerous nodules removed from her left lung. (CNN)
Trump asked a 7-year-old if she was “still a believer” in Santa Claus. (ABC News)
The U.S. envoy to the global coalition fighting the Islamic State resigned in protest of Trump’s decision to abruptly withdraw U.S. troops from Syria. Brett McGurk described Trump’s decision as a “shock.” (Associated Press / New York Times / Washington Post)
Trump has at least twice in the past few weeks lashed out to his acting attorney general, complaining that the prosecutors Matt Whitaker oversees filed charges that made him look bad. (CNN)
1/ Major parts of the federal government are shut down after Trump tanked a bipartisan spending bill because it didn’t include money for his border wall. Agencies in charge of federal parks, law enforcement, taxes and transportation ran out of money Friday night. Nearly 400,000 federal workers won’t work or get paid until a deal can be reached. Several services will be also unavailable, and the impacts will get worse the longer the shutdown lasts. (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico)
Mick Mulvaney: It is “very possible” the partial government shutdown will continue into next year and into the new Congress. (CNN / New York Times / Washington Post)
NORAD confirmed its Santa Tracker will remain operational despite the partial government shutdown. The National Christmas Tree, however, may stay dark during the shutdown. (NPR / HuffPost)
2/ Trump complained that he is “all alone (poor me)” in the White House as the government entered its third day of a partial shutdown and the markets continued to tank. Trump canceled his planned vacation to Florida as 800,000 federal employees remain without pay. He spent the morning tweeting his grievances. (CNBC / New York Times / The Hill)
3/ Trump discussed firing Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell several times over the past few days following the latest interest-rate hike and recent stock market losses that put the market on track for its worst year since 2008. Trump told advisers he thinks Powell will “turn me into Hoover,” a reference to the Great Depression-era president Herbert Hoover. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin tweeted a statement from Trump: “I totally disagree with Fed policy . . . but I never suggested firing Chairman Jay Powell, nor do I believe I have the right to do so.” Experts say Trump most likely does not have the authority to remove Powell. (Bloomberg / Washington Post / CNN / New York Times)
4/ The incoming acting chief of staff said Trump “now realizes” he “does not have the authority to fire” the Federal Reserve chairman. Mick Mulvaney claimed that “it’s not at all unusual for a president to complain about the actions of the Federal Reserve chairman.” However, Trump broke a 25-year tradition of presidents refraining from making public comments on Fed interest rate moves to preserve its independence. (USA Today / NBC News / ABC News)
5/ Markets dropped after Mnuchin unexpectedly called the CEOs of the six largest U.S. banks to ensure that their operations were running smoothly, and that they had “ample liquidity available for lending.” Treasury did not say what motivated Mnuchin’s statement, though it comes amid a government shutdown and following the Dow suffering its worst week since 2008. The CEOs who spoke with Mnuchin said they were “totally baffled” by the session, finding the encounter puzzling and unnecessary. (CNN / New York Times / Politico /
6/ Trump attacked the Federal Reserve, tweeting that “the only problem” the economy has “is the Fed” and suggesting that “they don’t have a feel for the Market.” Both major stock indexes fell in the worst day of Christmas Eve trading ever following Trump’s tweets. (CNBC / Bloomberg / NBC News)
7/ Trump directed Mike Pompeo to fire Jim Mattis after the defense secretary had already resigned. Trump tweeted that Mattis was retiring “with distinction” at the end of February, but after reading the general’s resignation letter, Trump announced that he was removing Mattis from his post by Jan. 1 – two months before the defense secretary had planned to depart. Trump appointed Patrick Shanahan – Mattis’s deputy and a former Boeing executive – to serve as the acting defense secretary, calling him “very talented” and adding that “he will be great!” Shanahan will take over the government’s largest and most complex agency with no military or foreign policy experience. (Washington Post / New York Times / CNN)
1/ A partial shutdown is assured after House lawmakers left the Capitol for the night without passing a budget agreement. Funding for several key government agencies will lapse at midnight. Despite the Senate narrowly passing a procedural vote to begin debate on the House funding bill. That vote passed 48-47, with Mike Pence breaking the tie. Senators have also been told to go home. They were told they will have at least 24 hours notice before any vote. If the government shuts down, the Treasury and the departments of Agriculture, Homeland Security, Interior, State, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, Commerce, and Justice will close, more than 420,000 people will work without pay, and another 380,000 workers will be furloughed. (Washington Post / New York Times / Associated Press / CNBC / NBC News / Politico / Reuters / Wall Street Journal)
Senators being told to head home for the night, and that they won't be called back unless there's an honest-to-goodness deal... and with 24 hour notice.
Two Dem senators tell me they’ve been told no more votes tonight, and that they will get 24 hours notice before the next vote in the Senate. So that’s it. Shutdown.
2/ The House of Representatives passed a stopgap measure funding measure that includes $5.7 billion in border wall funding after Trump threatened to veto the Senate-passed stopgap spending bill. The bill passed on a near-party-line vote of 217 to 185. Democrats, however, have the Senate votes to block any bill that includes funding for Trump’s wall, while Trump says he’ll veto any bill that doesn’t. (NBC News / Washington Post)
3/ Trump warned of a “shutdown today” that will last “a very long time” if his wall isn’t funded. Trump tried to blame it on a “Democrat Shutdown” despite last week taking responsibility about how he would be “proud to shut down the government.” Trump also urged McConnell to change Senate rules so Republican could “use the Nuclear Option and get it done!” Trump warned that “If the Dems vote no, there will be a shutdown that will last for a very long time.” (The Guardian / NBC News / The Hill / Reuters / Washington Post / New York Times)
McConnell and Senate Republicans rejected Trump’s demand to eliminate the filibuster, signaling that the Senate does not have enough votes to change the rules to pass Trump’s border wall funding with a simple majority. Republicans have a 51-49 majority in the Senate, but Democrats can block the House bill with a filibuster and other procedural moves, which require 60 votes to overcome. (The Hill / Politico)
Trump compared his border wall to the invention of “the wheel,” saying “there is nothing better” because – he claims – he understands “technology on a Border” “better than anyone.” He then compared his wall to Israel’s wall with Gaza to defend against Democrats “trying to belittle the concept of a Wall, calling it old fashioned.” (The Independent)
Federal agencies are preparing to furlough 380,000 workers. (Wall Street Journal)
Trump canceled his two-week-plus Mar-a-Lago holiday vacation as a government shutdown nears. White House aides, however, were notified that Trump may depart for Florida on Saturday at noon. (Politico)
Government shutdown 101: What is it, will it happen and who’s to blame? (The Guardian / Vox)
4/ The Supreme Court rejected the Trump administration’s request to automatically reject asylum bids by immigrants who illegally cross the U.S-Mexico border. Federal immigration law says people may apply for asylum “whether or not at a designated port of arrival” and “irrespective of such alien’s status.” The Trump policy would require all asylum claims to be made at official ports of entry. (Bloomberg / Washington Post / The Guardian)
poll/ 58% of Americans believe Trump tried to obstruct the investigation into his campaign’s ties to Russia. 38% believe Trump did something illegal, 34% believe he did something unethical, but not illegal, and 25% Americans believe Trump did nothing wrong. (Associated Press)
Notables.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg underwent surgery to remove two cancerous nodules from her left lung. After the surgery, her thoracic surgeon said the nodules were malignant and that “there was no evidence of any remaining disease” and “scans performed before surgery indicated no evidence of disease elsewhere in the body.” (New York Times / CNN)
A U.S. intelligence report concludes that Russia, China, and Iran “conducted influence activities and messaging campaigns” targeting the midterm elections. Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence, said they did not compromise the voting systems, however. (New York Times)
Republican megadonor Robert Mercer has retreated from financially backing Trump’s agenda. The Mercers gave just over $25 million to conservative causes in 2016. This year the family gave $6.4 million to Republicans – the lowest amount since 2012. (CNBC)
Trump is already souring on Mick Mulvaney over a two-year-old video where Mulvaney calls Trump “a terrible human being.” Mulvaney hasn’t started as acting White House chief of staff yet. Trump was reportedly “furious” when he heard about the footage. In a separate interview from 2015, Mulvaney called Trump’s view on a border wall “simplistic,” absurd and almost childish.” (Axios / CNN)
Trump complained to aides that it’s unfair he is being blamed for the market’s downturn and concerns of an economic slowdown. Trump has repeatedly pointed to market gains as proof that his economic policies are working and that the country is thriving under his leadership. Unless an end-of-year rally emerges, 2018 will be the worst year for U.S. stocks since 2008 and the S&P 500 on track for its worst December since the Great Depression. (Washington Post)
The Dow had its worst week since the financial crisis in 2008 – down nearly 7%. The Nasdaq closed in a bear market and the S&P 500 was on the brink of one itself – down nearly 18% from its record earlier this year. (CNBC)
One Republican close to the White House described Trump as in “a tailspin,” acting “totally irrationally,” and “flipping out” over criticisms from conservatives calling him a “gutless president,” and questioning whether he would ever build a wall. (Washington Post)
1/ “At this moment,” Trump won’t sign the Senate-passed funding measure that would avoid a partial government shutdown if it doesn’t include his border wall money, Sarah Huckabee Sanders said. Paul Ryan added that Trump has “concerns for border security.” Trump previously told Democrats he would be “proud” to shut down the government if they refused to give him $5 billion for his border wall. Democrats held firm and GOP leaders were forced to instead pursue a short-term spending bill that would avoid a shutdown, which the Senate unanimously passed Wednesday night to fund federal agencies through February 8th. The Senate-passed bill does not include funding for Trump’s wall. Hours after the Senate passed its bill, House Republicans revolted over concerns that they were punting the border wall fight to next year, when Democrats take control of the House. Trump’s opposition dramatically increases the chances of a government shutdown starting Friday night. (Politico / CNN / Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / NBC News)
A Florida man started a GoFundMe campaign to raise money to pay for Trump’s border wall. The campaign has raised over $5.5 million in the three days since it started, with an overall goal of $1 billion. Brian Kolfage believes that if the 63 million Americans who voted for Trump donated $80 each, they would be able to raise the $5 billion Trump is asking Congress for. (Politico)
Fox & Friends called Trump’s defeat on border wall funding “a stunning turn of events.” (Daily Beast)
2/ Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker declined to recuse himself from the Russia investigation despite a Justice Department ethics official advising him to step aside out of an “abundance of caution.” The ethics official said that while a recusal was “a close call,” there was no actual legal conflict of interest that would require Whitaker to recuse himself. Members of Congress are concerned about Whitaker’s previous criticism of Robert Mueller’s investigation. (CNN / ABC News / Politico)
3/ Trump’s pick for attorney general criticized Mueller’s obstruction of justice investigation in an unsolicited memo he sent to the Justice Department in June. William Barr said “Mueller’s obstruction theory is fatally misconceived,” claiming that Trump’s interactions with James Comey would not constitute obstruction of justice, because Trump was using his “complete authority to start or stop a law enforcement proceeding.” If confirmed as attorney general, Barr would oversee Mueller’s work. (Wall Street Journal / New York Times / CNN / The Guardian / Washington Post)
Rod Rosenstein: Barr’s “memo had no impact on our investigation.” The deputy attorney general added that the memo “reflects Mr. Barr’s personal opinion,” and that “lots of people offer opinions” but they “don’t influence our own decision making.” (Politico)
4/ The House Intelligence Committee voted to send the transcript of its 2017 interview with Roger Stone to Mueller, suggesting that the special counsel is close to charging Stone with a crime. It’s the first time Mueller has formally asked the committee to hand over material gathered related to the Russia investigation. Stone’s relationship with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and whether he played a role in the release of stolen DNC emails has been a focus of the special counsel’s investigation for months. (Washington Post / CNN / Politico)
5/ Trump’s 2016 campaign and his 2020 reelection campaign used a shell company to buy ads in alleged illegal coordination with the NRA. FCC records show that the Trump campaign’s ad disclosures include signatures and names of individuals working for National Media, despite no mention of National Media, or it’s known affiliates Red Eagle Media Group and American Media & Advocacy Group, on any FCC or Federal Election Commission disclosures. The ad buyers’ names are also included in ad documents for the NRA and America First, but with the buyers’ affiliation listed as National Media or one of its affiliates. Rebuilding America Now, a super PAC supporting Trump, was also named in a recent Mueller court filing regarding a $125,000 wire transfer to Paul Manafort — a payment Manafort lied to federal investigators about. (Center for Responsive Politics)
📌 Day 686: Trump and the NRA used the same consultants to execute complimentary TV advertising strategies during the 2016 presidential election. The NRA used a media strategy firm called Red Eagle Media, while the Trump campaign purchased ads through a firm called American Media & Advocacy Group, which were aimed at the same demographic as the NRA spots. Both firms are affiliated with the conservative media-consulting firm National Media Research, Planning and Placement, with both the NRA’s and the Trump campaign’s ad buys were also authorized by the same person at National Media. The arrangement is likely a violation of campaign finance laws. (Mother Jones)
Treasury Department officials exchanged messages using unsecured Gmail accounts set up by their Russian counterparts during the 2016 election. [Editor’s note: I don’t even know where to begin with summarizing this, but it’s important. You should read it and send me a three to four sentence summary to update this entry with.] (BuzzFeed News)
poll/ 78% of Americans say the country has become more divided since Trump took office. 11% think it’s more united. (USA Today)
Notables.
The Trump administration will force some asylum-seekers to remain in Mexico while they wait for their claims to be processed. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen announced the decision, saying “catch and release will be replaced with ‘catch and return.’” Mexico previously refused to accept the return of migrants who aren’t Mexican. (Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / ABC News / Politico)
Trump signed an $867 billion farm bill to provides aid to U.S. farmers hurt by his administration’s trade war with China. Trump shared a video of him reenacting the “Green Acres” theme song from the 2005 Emmy Awards to hype up the farm bill. (Washington Post / The Hill)
The Trump administration will tighten work requirements for Americans who receive federal food assistance. The proposed rule would strip states’ ability to issue waivers unless a city or county has an unemployment rate of 7% or higher. SNAP serves roughly 40 million Americans. (The Guardian / ABC News / Washington Post)
The Justice Department indicted two Chinese hackers on charges of participating in a global hacking campaign to steal technology company secrets and intellectual property from at least 45 U.S. companies and government agencies, as well as the personal data of more than 100,000 members of the U.S. Navy. (CNBC / New York Times / Washington Post)
Putin praised Trump’s decision to withdraw U.S. forces from Syria, calling it “correct.” Trump, meanwhile, defended his surprise decision, despite mounting criticism from lawmakers in both parties, saying the U.S. doesn’t “want to be the Policeman of the Middle East.” (ABC News / Politico / New York Times / Washington Post)
James Mattis resigned. The announcement comes a day after Trump’s plans to withdraw troops from Syria became public. The Defense Secretary said his views aren’t “aligned” with Trump’s. Mattis will retire at the end of February. (CNN / NPR / CNBC / Washington Post / New York Times)
Trump is considering plans for a significant drawdown of American troops in Afghanistan, similar to his unexpected withdrawal of U.S. forces from Syria that surprised the Pentagon. There are currently more than 14,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan. (Wall Street Journal / CNN)
North Korea won’t give up its nuclear weapons program until it gets security assurances from the United States. Pyongyang demanded that the U.S. remove what it called a nuclear threat against North Korea before any denuclearization takes place. (Associated Press)
Mick Mulvaney will take a more hands-off approach to the chief of staff job than John Kelly. While Kelly tried to bring some semblance of discipline to the West Wing, Mulvaney says he won’t try to tame Trump. (Politico)
1/ Newly obtained document show Trump signed a letter of intent to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, contradicting Rudy Giuliani’s claim that the document was never signed. The signed letter is dated Oct. 28, 2015. Trump Jr. testified on Sept. 7, 2017 that his father had signed a letter of intent for the Moscow project, which Michael Cohen worked on, but he knew “very little” about it. Cohen also told congressional committees investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election that Trump had signed the letter. On Sunday, Giuliani claimed: “It was a real estate project. There was a letter of intent to go forward, but no one signed it.” During the 2016 campaign, Trump did not disclose that the Trump Organization explored the business deal with Russia. Instead, he repeatedly claimed he had “nothing to do with Russia.” Read the signed letter of intent. (CNN)
📌Day 680: Trump Jr.‘s testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee conflicts with Michael Cohen’s version of events regarding negotiations of a prospective Trump Tower in Moscow. In Cohen’s version, he says the discussions with at least one Russian government official continued through June 2016. Trump Jr. testified in September 2017 that talks surrounding a Trump Tower in Moscow concluded without result “at the end” of 2014 and “certainly not [20]16. There was never a definitive end to it. It just died of deal fatigue.” Trump Jr. told the Senate committee that he “wasn’t involved,” knew “very little,” and was only “peripherally aware” of the deal other than a letter of intent was signed by Trump. He also said he didn’t know that Cohen had sent an email to Putin’s aide, Dmitry Peskov. In Cohen’s guilty plea, he said he briefed Trump’s family members about the continued negotiations. (NPR / USA Today)
2/ Giuliani conceded that “of course” Trump signed the “bullshit” letter of intent to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. “I don’t think I said nobody signed it,” Giuliani claimed, despite telling CNN on Sunday that “no one signed” the letter. The deal would have given Trump’s company $4 million upfront, plus a percentage on all sales, as well as marketing and design oversight. The hotel would have also named the spa after Ivanka Trump. (New York Daily News)
3/ Mitch McConnell introduced a stopgap spending bill to keep the government running into February, which does not include the money Trump wants for his border wall. Both chambers are expected to pass the measure by Friday’s midnight deadline, and avoid a partial shutdown. The White House has not publicly confirmed Trump will sign the measure. (Politico / The Guardian / Washington Post / CNN / New York Times / NBC News)
4/ Trump ordered a “full” and “rapid” withdrawal of all 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria within 30 days, according to a U.S. defense official. Pentagon officials tried to talk Trump out of the decision, arguing that the move would betray Kurdish allies who have fought alongside American troops in Syria, but “the president said ‘Everybody out,’” a senior administration official said. In announcing the decision, Trump tweeted: “We have defeated ISIS in Syria.” However, in August the Pentagon estimated that there were still as many as 14,500 ISIS fighters still in Syria. (New York Times / Daily Beast / The Guardian / CNN / Politico / Washington Post)
poll/ 52% of Americans say they are against the country becoming more politically correct and are upset that there are too many things they can’t say anymore. Overall, 55% of Millennials ages 18-29 favor political correctness, while a majority of everybody older than 30 is against political correctness. 76% of Republicans are against the country becoming more politically correct compared to 55% of Democrats. (NPR)
Notables.
The Trump administration will lift sanctions on three Russian corporations controlled in part by Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, a billionaire who once loaned Paul Manafort $10 million. Deripaska agreed to cut his ownership stake in each company below 50%. In April, the U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on Deripaska, Rusal, En+ Group Plc, and JSC EuroSibEnergo, citing “malign activities” by Russia. (Bloomberg / Reuters)
The Justice Department ordered an unnamed foreign company to comply with Robert Mueller’s grand jury subpoena to turn over information about its commercial activities as part of a secret court case. Very little is known about the details of the case, but the company fighting the subpoena has been identified as a foreign government-owned company tied to Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Court officials have taken drastic steps to ensure the identity of the company remains unknown. The case, referred to in public dockets as 18-3071 with the title Sealed v Sealed, began in August. (CNN / Politico / The Guardian / Vox)
A document that is sealed from public view was placed in a New York federal court vault related to the criminal case against Michael Cohen. The filing came a week after Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison for his guilty pleas in cases brought separately by federal prosecutors in New York and by Mueller. (CNBC)
Michael Cohen dropped a pair of libel suits against BuzzFeed and Fusion GPS over the publication of the Steele dossier, which detailed alleged ties between Trump and Russia. (Politico)
A federal judge tossed a defamation lawsuit against BuzzFeed over publication of the Steele dossier. Aleksej Gubarev, a CEO named in the dossier, alleged that the statements in dossier about him were “false” and that BuzzFeed “never contacted” him to confirm the allegations. U.S. District Judge Ursula Ungaro ruled that BuzzFeed was covered by the “fair report privilege” because the site published the dossier in its entirety without editorializing its presentation. (Hollywood Reporter / Daily Beast)
A federal judge dismissed Trump administration policies that turned away asylum seekers who claimed to suffer domestic violence or gang violence. Judge Emmet Sullivan of the U.S. District Court in Washington ruled that policies ordered by Jeff Sessions were “arbitrary, capricious and in violation of the immigration laws.” (Politico / NBC News)
The Senate passed a bipartisan criminal justice reform bill. The First Step Act would expand job training and other anti-recidivism programs, modify sentencing and mandatory minimum laws, and expand early-release programs. Trump has said he plans to sign it into law. (New York Times / Politico)
The United States was added to list of most dangerous countries for journalists for the first time. At least 63 professional journalists were killed doing their jobs in 2018 – a 15% increase over last year. (NBC News)
1/ Trump will close his foundation and give away its remaining $1.7 million in assets amid a lawsuit accusing the Trump, Ivanka, Eric, and Trump Jr. of illegally using the foundation for personal and political gain. New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood accused the foundation of “a shocking pattern of illegality,” which included “unlawful coordination with the Trump presidential campaign” that was “willful and repeated.” Trump used the charity’s money to pay legal settlements for his private business, to purchase a $10,000 portrait of Trump that was displayed at one of his golf clubs, and to make a prohibited political donation. The attorney general’s office is seeking for the Trump Foundation to pay $2.8 million in restitution. (Bloomberg / Washington Post / New York Times)
2/ Michael Flynn agreed to delay his sentencing after U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan told Trump’s former national security adviser “you sold your country out,” and because of that, “I cannot assure you, if you proceed today, you will not receive a sentence of incarceration.” Robert Mueller recommended that Flynn serve no jail time for his crimes because of the “substantial help” he provided to the special counsel and other investigations. Flynn was supposed to be sentenced today for lying to the FBI and acting as an unregistered agent for Turkey. The judge also asked the special counsel’s office whether Flynn could be charged with “treason” after he acted as “an unregistered agent of a foreign country, while serving as the national security adviser to the president of the United States.” Flynn’s sentencing has been delayed until March 13th and will allow him to continue cooperating with the Russia investigation. Sullivan’s last words to the court were: “Happy holidays.” (New York Times / CNN / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / BuzzFeed News)
Mueller released a memo from 2017 that summarizes Michael Flynn’s contemporaneous interview with the FBI. The interview was the catalyst that led to the high-profile case against Trump’s former national security adviser and felon. According to the memo, Flynn lied during the interview about his contact with then-Russian ambassador to the U.S., Sergey Kislyak during the 2016 presidential transition period. The memo includes clear examples of Flynn lying and claiming that he never made any policy requests of Russia as FBI agents prod him to provide fuller descriptions of his calls. (CNN)
Flynn Intel Group co-founder Bijan Rafiekian, also known as Bijan Kian, pleaded not guilty after being charged with conspiracy and acting as an agent of a foreign government. (CNN)
3/ Hours earlier, Trump wished Flynn – a confessed felon – “good luck” ahead of his sentencing hearing. “Will be interesting to see what he has to say,” Trump tweeted, “despite tremendous pressure being put on him, about Russian Collusion in our great and, obviously, highly successful political campaign.” Flynn will be the highest-ranking Trump administration aide to be sentenced as part of Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. (New York Times / CNBC)
Giuliani: Trump is negotiating with Mueller over whether or not to provide more written answers to the special counsel’s questions. “We might agree,” Giuliani said. If they do agree, he continued, Trump might provide “a few more answers. … Or we might not.” (Axios)
Giuliani: Trump discussed a proposed Trump Tower in Moscow with Michael Cohen later than previously known. Trump previously claimed that discussions about the project ended in January 2016, but Giuliani indicated that the conversations could have been in June or July of 2016. (CNN)
4/ The Russian disinformation campaign also targeted Mueller by falsely claiming that he was corrupt and that Russian interference in the 2016 election was just conspiracy theories. Russian operatives went after Mueller and his team via fake social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms. They also claimed that Mueller had a history of working with “radical Islamic groups.” (Washington Post)
📌Day 697: The Russian disinformation and influence campaign during the 2016 presidential election was more far-reaching than originally understood, according to the findings of two independent groups of researchers tasked by the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee. The report found that “active and ongoing interference operations remain on several platforms,” including one campaign to support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and influence opinions on the Syrian Civil War. The Internet Research Agency created social media accounts under fake names and spread its messages across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Reddit, Tumblr, Pinterest, Vine and Google+, and other platforms. As attention was focused on Facebook and Twitter in 2017, the Russians shifted much of their activity to Instagram. The Internet Research Agency is owned by Yevgeny Prigozhin, an ally of Putin’s. Prigozhin and a dozen Internet Research Agency employees were indicted last February as part of Robert Mueller’s investigation. In particular, the campaigns urged the African-American community “to boycott the election and focus on other issues instead,” while messaging to conservative and right-wing voters “patriotic and anti-immigrant slogans” designed to “elicit outrage […] about liberal appeasement of ‘others’ at the expense of U.S. citizens, and [to] encourage them to vote for Trump.” The report concludes: “What is clear is that all of the messaging clearly sought to benefit the Republican Party — and specifically Donald Trump.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / Bloomberg)
5/ Roger Stone admitted to spreading lies via InfoWars and will be required to make a public apology in order to avoid paying fines in a now-settled defamation lawsuit against him. Stone will be forced to run apology ads in national newspapers and post on social media apologizing for defaming a Chinese businessman who is a vocal critic of Beijing. The settlement also requires Stone to publish a retraction of all the lies he posted on social media. If Stone refuses to apologize, he will be forced to pay $100 million in damages to Guo Wengui. In a text message, Stone said his behavior was “irresponsible” and said that “I am solely responsible for fulfilling the terms of the settlement.” (Wall Street Journal)
Stone took a lie detector test in an attempt to prove he did not conspire with Russia during Trump’s 2016 campaign. The results were “inconclusive.” (WSVN 7)
6/ Trump may back down on his demand for $5 billion from Congress for a wall on the border with Mexico in the year-end spending bill, easing concerns of a Christmas government shutdown that would begin at midnight Friday. “We have other ways that we can get to that $5 billion that we’ll work with Congress,” Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, adding that the Trump administration could support $1.6 billion in border security funding proposed by Senate Democrats, as long as it can “couple that with other funding resources” to get to $5 billion. The $1.6 billion offered by Democrats prohibits the money to be used on a wall. Mitch McConnell, however, proposed an appropriations bill that would allocate the $1.6 billion for border security, plus about $1 billion for Trump to spend as he saw fit on immigration, which a Senate Democratic aide described as a $1 billion “slush fund.” (New York Times / CNBC / Politico / Washington Post)
Notables.
Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign will merge with the Republican National Committee into a single entity under the banner of “Trump Victory.” The two teams will also share office space. The goal of the merger is to create a single, streamlined organization that will combine field and fundraising programs. Formally tying Trump’s reelection campaign to the RNC will make it harder for primary challenge. (Politico)
The Trump administration announced a second and final round of roughly $4.9 billion in direct trade aide payments to farmers and ranchers who have been hurt by Trump’s trade wars with various countries around the globe, including China. The effort is the latest attempt by Trump to ease the burden placed on U.S. farmers and ranchers who have been hurt by retaliatory tariffs as a result of Trump’s trade ongoing disputes. The latest round of payments brings the total direct payment spending to nearly $9.6 billion. (Politico)
The Trump administration banned bump stocks, which allow semi-automatic weapons to fire rapidly like automatic firearms. (Associated Press / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
A federal school safety report downplayed the role of guns in school violence and instead focused on rescinding Obama-era disciplinary policies, improving mental health services, and training school personnel in the use of firearms. The commission on school safety consists of four cabinet officials and is led by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. (New York Times)
Trump ordered the creation of “Space Command” to “integrate space capabilities across all branches of the military.” The move is a precursor to the creation of a Space Force, a proposed sixth branch of the military. (CNN / NPR)
Ethics complaints against Brett Kavanaugh were dismissed because they were filed under a federal law that does not apply to Supreme Court justices. (ABC News)
The chance of recession in the next 12 months rose to 23% – the highest level of the Trump presidency. (CNBC)
1/ The Russian disinformation and influence campaign during the 2016 presidential election was more far-reaching than originally understood, according to the findings of two independent groups of researchers tasked by the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee. The report found that “active and ongoing interference operations remain on several platforms,” including one campaign to support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and influence opinions on the Syrian Civil War. The Internet Research Agency created social media accounts under fake names and spread its messages across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Reddit, Tumblr, Pinterest, Vine and Google+, and other platforms. As attention was focused on Facebook and Twitter in 2017, the Russians shifted much of their activity to Instagram. The Internet Research Agency is owned by Yevgeny Prigozhin, an ally of Putin’s. Prigozhin and a dozen Internet Research Agency employees were indicted last February as part of Robert Mueller’s investigation. In particular, the campaigns urged the African-American community “to boycott the election and focus on other issues instead,” while messaging to conservative and right-wing voters “patriotic and anti-immigrant slogans” designed to “elicit outrage […] about liberal appeasement of ‘others’ at the expense of U.S. citizens, and [to] encourage them to vote for Trump.” The report concludes: “What is clear is that all of the messaging clearly sought to benefit the Republican Party — and specifically Donald Trump.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / Bloomberg)
Rep. Adam Schiff wants to subpoena Trump’s records with Deutsche Bank because he believes they could expose “a form of compromise” with Russia. Deutsche Bank has a long relationship with Trump, as well as Russia. “Well,” Schiff said, “the concern about Deutsche Bank is that they have a history of laundering Russian money. And this, apparently, was the one bank that was willing to do business with the Trump Organization.” He added: “If this is a form of compromise, it needs to be exposed.” Schiff is the likely incoming chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. (NBC News)
2/ Rudy Giuliani suggested that Mueller’s investigation is “done” and all that’s left is to investigate are “parking tickets and jaywalking.” However, when asked if Roger Stone ever gave Trump a “heads-up” about the WikiLeaks publication of emails concerning Hillary Clinton and the DNC, Giuliani responded: “No, he didn’t, no.” After a moment of silence, Giuliani softened his response: “I don’t believe so. But again, if Roger Stone gave anybody a heads-up about WikiLeaks’ leaks, that’s not a crime. It would be like giving him a heads-up that the Times is going to print something. One the — the crime, this is why this thing is so weird, strange. The crime is conspiracy to hack; collusion is not a crime; it doesn’t exist.” (ABC News)
A guide to the 17 known Trump-Russia investigations. Two years after Trump won the presidency, nearly every organization he has led in the past decade is under investigation and there are known cooperators in almost every single one of the open cases, from Michael Cohen to National Enquirer chief David Pecker to former Paul Manafort aides Sam Patten and Rick Gates. (WIRED / Washington Post / Axios)
3/ Two former business associates of Michael Flynn were arrested and charged with conspiring to “covertly and unlawfully” influence U.S. politicians on behalf of Turkey. Bijan Rafiekian, who also goes by the name Bijan Kian, was the vice-chairman of the Flynn Intel Group and worked with Flynn to have cleric Fethullah Gülen extradited from the U.S. to Turkey. Ekim Alptekin was charged with failing to register as a foreign agent and making false statements to the FBI. Mueller referred the Turkey case to prosecutors in Northern Virginia earlier this year. (The Guardian / Associated Press / New York Times / Washington Post)
👀 Shutdown watch: Trump doesn’t plan to support a one- or two-week funding extension to avert a partial government shutdown over the holidays. Trump continues to demand $5 billion to build his border wall. Democrats, meanwhile, insist on spending no more than $1.37 billion on border fencing. Last week Trump said he would be “proud” to shut the government if it will force them to give in to his demands. The House is out of session until Wednesday and a shutdown will occur if nothing is passed by the end of Friday. (Bloomberg)
poll/ 62% of Americans say Trump isn’t telling the truth about the Russia investigation. 43% approve of the job Trump is doing as president compared with 54% who disapprove. (NBC News)
Notables.
A federal judge in Texas struck down the entire Affordable Care Act on the grounds that “the individual mandate is unconstitutional” and the rest of the law cannot stand without it in a case brought by 20 Republican state attorneys general. Legal experts say the ruling won’t immediately affect Americans’ health coverage, and a group of states led by California is already vowing to appeal. (New York Times / CNN / Washington Post / ABC News)
The Justice Department asked a federal appeals court to throw out a lawsuit accusing Trump of violating the anti-corruption provisions in the U.S. Constitution after the trial judge ruled the case could proceed. The lawsuit accuses Trump of illegally benefiting from his family’s business and seeks to define the meaning of emoluments. (Reuters / New York Times)
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke submitted his resignation and will depart the Trump administration at the end of the year. Zinke is currently facing multiple ethics investigations into his travel, political activity and potential conflicts of interest. (CNN / Bloomberg / Washington Post)
Ben Carson’s top deputy at HUD resigned. Pam Patenaude ran operations at the agency. (NBC News)
Trump named Mick Mulvaney as acting White House chief of staff, ending a public week-long search for his third chief of staff in two years. Mulvaney is currently the director of the Office of Management and Budget. (Washington Post)
Shortly before the 2016 presidential election, Mulvaney called Trump “a terrible human being.” In the video, Mulvaney says he’s supporting Trump “as enthusiastically as I can given the fact I think he’s a terrible human being.” (The Guardian)
1/ Federal prosecutors are investigating whether Trump’s inaugural committee and a pro-Trump super PAC received illegal donations from individuals from Middle Eastern nations who were hoping to buy influence over U.S. policy. The inquiry focuses on whether people from Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates used straw donors to disguise their donations to the two Trump funds. Foreign contributions to federal campaigns, political action committees, and inaugural funds are illegal. The inaugural committee was headed by Thomas Barrack, and Paul Manafort, who was Trump’s campaign chairman at the time, believed that Barrack could help raise funds for the super PAC, Rebuilding America Now, which could collect unlimited amounts of money. Barrack said that Manafort viewed the super PAC as an arm of the campaign, despite laws meant to prevent coordination. The committee raised $23 million on Trump’s behalf. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
📌 Day 693: Federal prosecutors in Manhattan are investigating whether Trump’s 2017 inaugural committee misspent the $107 million it raised and whether some of the donors gave money in exchange for access to the incoming Trump administration, policy concessions, or to influence administration positions. The committee said in its tax documents that it spent $77 million on conferences, conventions and meetings, $4 million on ticketing, $9 million on travel, $4.5 million on salaries and wages, and other expenses. Nearly a quarter of the money was paid to a firm led by a friend of Melania Trump that was formed 45 days before the inauguration. (Wall Street Journal)
📌 Day 389: Trump’s inaugural committee won’t reveal what it’s doing with tens of millions of dollars it pledged to charity last year. The committee raised about $107 million, but only spent about half of it. The rest, it said, would go to charity. (Daily Beast)
📌 Day 392: Trump’s inaugural committee paid nearly $26 million to an event planning firm started by Melania’s adviser and longtime friend Stephanie Winston Wolkoff. The firm was created in December 2016 – 45 days before the inauguration. Trump’s inauguration committee raised $107 million and paid to WIS Media Partners $25.8 million. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
📌 Day 404: Melania Trump parted ways with her senior adviser and friend, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, after news surfaced that Wolkoff’s firm had received $26 million to plan Trump’s inauguration and surrounding events in January 2017. Wolkoff was terminated last week because the Trumps were unhappy with the news reports about the contract. (New York Times)
2/ Sarah Huckabee Sanders claimed that Trump had nothing to do with his inaugural committee’s spending. “The biggest thing the president did, his engagement in the inauguration, was to come here and raise his hand and take the oath of office,” Sanders said. (Politico)
3/ Ivanka Trump negotiated the prices that Trump’s inauguration committee paid the Trump Organization for rooms, meals, and event space at the Trump International Hotel in Washington. A top inaugural planner emailed Ivanka and others at the company to “express my concern” that the hotel was overcharging for its event spaces and asking what would happen “when this is audited.” It could violate tax law if the hotel charged more than the going rate for the event spaces. (ProPublica)
4/ Michael Cohen says “of course” Trump knew it was wrong to make the hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, because Trump “was very concerned about how this would affect the election.” Cohen admitted that he “knew what I was doing was wrong,” adding that the whole purpose was to “help [Trump] and his campaign.” Cohen also noted that “nothing at the Trump Organization was ever done unless it was run through Mr. Trump. He directed me to make the payments, he directed me to become involved in these matters.” (ABC News / CNN / New York Times)
📌Day 441: Trump denied knowing about the $130,000 payment his lawyer made to Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election to buy her silence. Trump said he didn’t know where Michael Cohen got the money from and he declined to say if he ever set up a fund for Cohen to cover expenses like that. “You’ll have to ask Michael Cohen. Michael is my attorney. You’ll have to ask Michael,” Trump said. Daniels’ attorney, Michael Avenatti, tweeted: “We very much look forward to testing the truthfulness of Mr. Trump’s feigned lack of knowledge concerning the $130k payment as stated on Air Force One. As history teaches us, it is one thing to deceive the press and quite another to do so under oath.” (USA Today / Bloomberg / New York Times / Washington Post)
📌Day 471: Trump knew about the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels several months before he denied any knowledge of it to reporters aboard Air Force One in April. While it’s not clear when Trump learned of the payment, which Michael Cohen made in October 2016, Trump did know that Cohen had succeeded in keeping the allegations from becoming public when he denied it. Last week, Giuliani said Cohen was reimbursed between $460,000 and $470,000 for various payments. Cohen was mainly reimbursed through payments of $35,000 per month – or about $420,000 over 12 months – from Trump’s personal trust. (New York Times)
5/ Rudy Giuliani contends that the hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal are overblown, because “nobody got killed, nobody got robbed […] This was not a big crime.” Trump continues to insist that he is innocent of any crimes because he never explicitly asked for Cohen or AMI to violate campaign finance law. (Daily Beast)
6/ Paul Manafort advised the White House about how to undermine and discredit Robert Mueller’s investigation in the spring and summer of 2017. Manafort urged Trump to attack the FBI, Hillary Clinton and the Steele dossier, and to allege without evidence that the Ukrainian government had colluded with the Democratic National Committee to try to help Clinton win the 2016 presidential election. “After signing the plea agreement, Manafort stated he had no direct or indirect communications with anyone in the administration while they were in the administration,” Mueller said in a court filing, “and that he never asked anyone to try and communicate a message to anyone in the administration on any subject.” (Vox)
7/ Mueller rejected Michael Flynn’s suggestion that he was tricked into lying to FBI agents about his communications with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. “The interview was voluntary, and lacked any indicia of coercion,” Mueller’s team wrote in new court documents, referring to the Jan. 24, 2017 interview at the White House four days after Trump’s inauguration. Neither Flynn nor his lawyers have explained why he lied. (New York Times / USA Today / NBC News / Washington Post)
Notables.
A 7-year-old girl from Guatemala died of dehydration and shock while detained by U.S. Border Patrol after crossing into the U.S. illegally with her father. The girl was taken into custody and separated from her father on Dec. 6 around 10 p.m. More than eight hours later, the girl began having seizures around 6:25 a.m. the next morning. (Washington Post)
The White House deflected blame for the death of the 7-year-old girl who died in Border Patrol custody, calling it a “tragic situation” that was “100 percent preventable” if Congress would Congress “disincentivize” migrants from making long treks to the southern U.S. border. (Washington Post)
The 7-year-old migrant who died in U.S. custody didn’t receive medical care for more than 90 minutes after her father reported that she was sick. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen called the death of the girl “a very sad example of the dangers of this journey.” (Bloomberg)
Betsy DeVos will cancel $150 million in federal student loan debt for for 15,000 borrowers after losing a court battle. The move comes two months after a federal judge ordered the immediate implementation of the “borrower defense” rule, which was designed to help students cheated by for-profit colleges get relief on their education debt. (Politico / CNN)
Chris Christie told Trump he doesn’t want to be considered for the chief of staff job. (Axios)
George Papadopoulos is considering a run for Congress. The former Trump campaign foreign policy aide just spent 12 days in prison after pleading guilty to making false statements to the FBI about contacts with a professor, Joseph Mifsud, who claimed to know that Russia had thousands of emails connected to Hillary Clinton. (Politico)
Reince Priebus is joining the Navy on a recommendation from Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. A Navy review board “professionally recommended” the former Trump chief of staff to join the service. (Washington Post)
1/ Maria Butina pleaded guilty to conspiring to act as a foreign agent of the Kremlin and influence U.S. politics from 2015 until her arrest in July. Butina tried to establish “unofficial lines of communication” with influential Americans in the NRA and in the Republican Party “under direction of” a former Russian senator and deputy governor of Russia’s central bank, who matches the description of sanctioned Russian central banker Alexander Torshin. Butina is also expected to provide evidence against Paul Erickson, who helped her with what she called her “Diplomacy Project.” Butina faces up to five years in prison but is expected to only serve six months based on “the sentencing guidelines cited as part of the plea agreement.” (Washington Post / CNN / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Politico) / NBC News)
2/ Trump claimed he “never directed Michael Cohen to break the law” and said he isn’t responsible for any crimes because he acted on the “advice of counsel” and his former lawyer is “supposed to know the law.” Trump also questioned whether any campaign finance violations even occurred, saying “Cohen was guilty on many charges unrelated to me […] which were not criminal and of which he probably was not guilty even on a civil basis.” Trump suggested that Cohen pleaded guilty to the charges in order to “embarrass” him and to get a reduced prison term. Cohen pleaded guilty in August to violating campaign finance law when he made hush money payments ahead of the 2016 election to Stormy Daniels and arranged a similar pay-off to Karen McDougal at the direction of then-candidate Trump, which were intended to sway the election. (New York Times / Washington Post / The Guardian / Politico / CNN / NBC News)
🚨 CONFIRMED: Trump was the “other member of the campaign” in the room when Cohen and National Enquirer publisher David Pecker discussed ways Pecker could “help deal with negative stories about that presidential candidate’s relationships with women.” In August 2015, Trump and Cohen met with Pecker in his Trump Tower office and asked how he could help the campaign. Pecker offered to use the National Enquirer to buy the silence of women if they tried to publicize alleged sexual encounters with Trump. (Wall Street Journal / NBC News)
⏮ At the time, Hope Hicks claimed the Trump campaign had “no knowledge of any of this,” adding that Karen McDougal’s claim that she had an affair with Trump was “totally untrue.” The National Enquirer’s parent company said that “AMI has not paid people to kill damaging stories about Mr. Trump.” (Wall Street Journal)
3/ Two Michael Flynn associates said he discussed a deal with Sergey Kislyak during the campaign about how Trump and Russia could work together if Trump won. According to Flynn’s associates, the bargain he discussed with Russia’s then-ambassador to the U.S. was that Moscow would cooperate with the Trump administration to resolve the Syrian conflict and in exchange the U.S. would end or ease sanctions imposed on Russia for its annexation of Crimea and military intervention in Ukraine. In mid-August 2016, Trump and Flynn received a briefing that noted the intelligence community had reached the preliminary conclusion that Moscow was behind the hacks of Democratic targets and the public disclosure of the stolen material. Flynn’s “series of contacts” with Kislyak continued despite knowing Moscow was behind the efforts to subvert the U.S. election. (Mother Jones)
Trump claimed that Robert Mueller’s prosecutors gave Michael Flynn “a great deal because they were embarrassed by the way he was treated.” Mueller recommended Flynn serve no jail time due to his “substantial assistance” in the ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election after the former national security adviser pleaded guilty to lying about his contacts with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. last December. (The Hill)
📌 The Re-Up: Day 25: Michael Flynn resigned as National Security Adviser after it was revealed that he had misled Pence and other top White House officials about his conversations with the Russian ambassador to the United States. Flynn served in the job for less than a month. (New York Times)
📌 Day 26: Trump knew Flynn misled officials on Russia calls for “weeks,” the White House says. The comment contrasts the impression Trump gave aboard Air Force One that he was not familiar with a report that revealed Flynn had not told the truth about the calls. White House counsel Don McGahn told Trump in a January briefing that Flynn had discussed U.S. sanctions with Russia. (Washington Post)
📌 Day 22: Flynn discussed sanctions with Russian ambassador, despite denials. Flynn’s communications with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak were interpreted by some senior U.S. officials as an inappropriate and potentially illegal signal to the Kremlin that it could expect a reprieve from sanctions that were being imposed by the Obama administration in late December to punish Russia for its alleged interference in the 2016 election. (Washington Post)
4/ Federal prosecutors in Manhattan are investigating whether Trump’s 2017 inaugural committee misspent the $107 million it raised and whether some of the donors gave money in exchange for access to the incoming Trump administration, policy concessions, or to influence administration positions. The committee said in its tax documents that it spent $77 million on conferences, conventions and meetings, $4 million on ticketing, $9 million on travel, $4.5 million on salaries and wages, and other expenses. Nearly a quarter of the money was paid to a firm led by a friend of Melania Trump that was formed 45 days before the inauguration. (Wall Street Journal)
📌 Day 389: Trump’s inaugural committee won’t reveal what it’s doing with tens of millions of dollars it pledged to charity last year. The committee raised about $107 million, but only spent about half of it. The rest, it said, would go to charity. (Daily Beast)
📌 Day 392: Trump’s inaugural committee paid nearly $26 million to an event planning firm started by Melania’s adviser and longtime friend Stephanie Winston Wolkoff. The firm was created in December 2016 – 45 days before the inauguration. Trump’s inauguration committee raised $107 million and paid to WIS Media Partners $25.8 million. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
📌 Day 404: Melania Trump parted ways with her senior adviser and friend, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, after news surfaced that Wolkoff’s firm had received $26 million to plan Trump’s inauguration and surrounding events in January 2017. Wolkoff was terminated last week because the Trumps were unhappy with the news reports about the contract. (New York Times)
5/ The Senate passed a resolution condemning Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, delivering a political rebuke of Trump’s refusal to condemn Mohammed for the killing of Khashoggi. Last week Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis briefed senators in a classified session, claiming there is no “direct reporting” linking the crown prince to Khashoggi’s death despite a CIA assessment reporting that Mohammed was likely responsible for the murder. The Senate also overwhelming approved a resolution to end U.S. participation in the Saudi-led war effort in Yemen. (Washington Post / CNN / New York Times / Bloomberg / ABC News)
6/ Trump canceled the White House holiday party for members of the media, ending the decades-long tradition as his contentious relationship with the media continues to escalate. There was no announcement from the White House stating that the event was canceled. (Fox News)
poll/ 48% of Americans have confidence in the Democrats in Congress to deal with the major issues facing the country today, compared with 39% who said they have confidence in Trump, and 9% who say they don’t trust either. (CNN)
Notables.
Republican Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma bought tens of thousands of dollars in stock in a top defense contractor days before he began pushing for an unprecedented $750 billion defense spending bill. When asked about his purchases, Inhofe had his financial adviser cancel the transactions, dump the stock, and avoid defense and aerospace purchases in the future. (Daily Beast)
Trump removed Rep. Mark Meadows from consideration to be chief of staff. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump needs the House Freedom Caucus chairman in Congress. (Politico)
Jared Kushner met with Trump about the chief of staff job. Trump told reporters that he is down to five finalists. (HuffPost)
Jose Canseco volunteered to be Trump’s “Chief if Staff,” tweeting at the president that he is “worried about [Trump] looking more like a Twinkie everyday” and promising to “buff you up daily workouts” if he is given the job. (ESPN)
Using backwards math, Trump claimed that the “money we save” from the new trade deal with Mexico and Canada would mean “MEXICO IS PAYING FOR THE WALL!” Chuck Schumer told the Senate that if Mexico is funding the wall, then Congress doesn’t need to spend any money on it. (Washington Post)
Trump will spend 16 days at Mar-a-Lago over the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. The upcoming visit is longer than last year’s 12-day visit. (Palm Beach Post)
1/ Michael Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison for tax evasion, violating campaign finance laws, lying to banks and to Congress. Cohen apologized for his conduct, admitting that he had arranged the payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal “for the principal purpose of influencing the election” for president in 2016, and took “full responsibility” for covering up the “dirty deeds” out of “blind loyalty” to Trump. Cohen pleaded guilty in two separate cases: One brought by Robert Mueller over his lies to Congress. The other was brought by the southern district of New York over tax and bank fraud, and campaign finance violations. Cohen blamed Trump for his “path of darkness.” In addition to the prison time, Cohen will forfeit $500,000 in assets and pay $1.393 million in restitution. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Politico / The Guardian / NBC News / CBS News / ABC News)
Sean Hannity deleted past tweets that tied him to Cohen hours before Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison. Hannity reportedly deleted over 270 tweets, with five of them directly referencing his relationship with Cohen. Hannity deleted several April 16 tweets discussing Cohen following the revelation that Cohen represented him, Trump, and former Republican National Committee Deputy Finance Chair Elliott Broidy in legal matters. “Michael Cohen has never represented me in any matter. I never retained him, received an invoice, or paid legal fees. I have occasionally had brief discussions with him about legal questions about which I wanted his input and perspective,” Hannity tweeted in the now-deleted tweet. (Newsweek / Daily Beast)
Trump blamed Cohen for the crimes stemming from paying Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, arguing that it was his “lawyer’s liability if he made a mistake, not me.” Cohen said he arranged the payments at Trump’s behest. (Bloomberg)
Stormy Daniels was ordered to pay Trump nearly $293,000 for his attorneys’ fees and another $1,000 in sanctions after her defamation suit against him was dismissed. Earlier this year Daniels filed a defamation lawsuit, claiming Trump acted with “actual malice” and “reckless disregard for the truth” when he mocked her claim that she was threatened by an unknown man to keep silent about her alleged 2006 sexual encounter with Trump. (Associated Press / The Guardian / ABC News)
2/ National Enquirer’s parent company admitted that it paid Karen McDougal $150,000 in an attempt to influence the 2016 election as part of a non-prosecution cooperation agreement that American Media Inc. entered into with the Southern District of New York. David Pecker, a Trump ally and CEO of AMI, met with Cohen “and at least one other member of the campaign” in August of 2015, offering “to help deal with negative stories about that presidential candidate’s relationships with women by, among other things, assisting the campaign in identifying such stories so they could be purchased and their publication avoided.” AMI confessed to the tabloid practice of “catch and kill,” paying McDougal for the rights to her story about an alleged affair with Trump and then never publishing it. (Bloomberg / Talking Points Memo / CNN / New York Times)
🚨The “one other member of the campaign” was Trump. In August 2015, Trump met with Pecker in his Trump Tower office and asked how he could help the campaign. Pecker offered to use the National Enquirer to buy the silence of women if they tried to publicize alleged sexual encounters with Trump. (Wall Street Journal)
⏪Four days before the 2016 election, Hope Hicks claimed the Trump campaign had “no knowledge of any of this,” adding that McDougal’s claim that she had an affair with Trump was “totally untrue.” In a statement at the time, the company said that “AMI has not paid people to kill damaging stories about Mr. Trump.” (Wall Street Journal)
📌Day 581. David Pecker was granted immunity by federal prosecutors for providing information about Cohen and Trump in their criminal investigation into hush-money payments made to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal during the 2016 presidential campaign. In exchange for immunity, the CEO of American Media, Inc., which publishes the National Enquirer, met with prosecutors and shared details about payments Cohen arranged to Daniels and McDougal, including Trump’s knowledge of the deals. Dylan Howard, AMI’s chief content officer, is also cooperating with federal prosecutors. Together, Pecker and Howard corroborate Cohen’s account implicating Trump in a federal crime (campaign-finance violations). Cohen’s lawyer Lanny Davis says there are more revelations to come. And, one person close to Cohen claims Cohen wants to tell Mueller that Trump discussed the release of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta’s e-mails during the weekend when the Access Hollywood “grab ‘em by the pussy” tape dominated the news cycle. Late last night, Trump tweeted: “NO COLLUSION - RIGGED WITCH HUNT!” It’s unclear what prompted the tweet. (Wall Street Journal / Vanity Fair / NBC News / New York Times)
📌 Day 581: The National Enquirer kept a safe with documents about hush money payments and damaging stories it killed as part of its relationship with Trump. Pecker and the company’s chief content officer, Dylan Howard, removed them from the safe in the weeks before Trump’s inauguration and it’s unclear if the documents were destroyed or simply were moved to a new location. (Associated Press)
📌 Day 547: Michael Cohen recorded a conversation with Trump two months before the presidential election in which they discussed payments to Karen McDougal, the former Playboy model who had an affair with Trump. In the September 2016 conversation at Trump Tower, Cohen told Trump that American Media Inc., the publisher of the National Enquirer, had bought the rights to McDougal’s story about her affair with Trump for for $150,000 in August 2016. Cohen suggested that they acquire the rights to McDougal’s story themselves and Trump asked how to proceed and whether he should write a check. The FBI seized the recording during the raid on Cohen’s office. Rudy Giuliani confirmed that Trump had discussed the payments with Cohen on the tape, but said the payment was ultimately never made. Prosecutors want to know if Cohen’s efforts to limit negative stories about Trump during the campaign violated federal campaign finance laws. When informed about the recording today, Trump responded: “I can’t believe Michael would do this to me.” (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / CNN)
📌 Day 162: “Morning Joe” hosts claimed that Trump tried to blackmail them with a National Enquirer hit-piece. Joe Scarborough recounted a story where “three people at the very top of the administration” called and texted him to say the National Enquirer was going to run a negative story about him and Mika Brzezinski. “If you call the president up, and you apologize for your coverage,” the officials said, “then [Trump] will pick up the phone and basically spike this story.” In a Washington Post op-ed by Scarborough and Brzezinski today, the couple said that during the campaign, Trump called Mika “neurotic” and promised to personally attack them after the campaign ended. Trump is friends with David Pecker, the publisher of the National Enquirer. (CNN / Washington Post)
Watched low rated @Morning_Joe for first time in long time. FAKE NEWS. He called me to stop a National Enquirer article. I said no! Bad show
3/ Michael Flynn asked to be spared jail time because of his “extensive cooperation” with Mueller. Flynn pleaded guilty last December to lying to the FBI during its counterintelligence investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. He blamed the FBI agents for tricking him into lying by not warning him “that it was a crime to lie during an FBI interview.” Flynn asked to receive a year of probation and 200 hours of community service in light of his cooperation, long service in the U.S. military, and his lack of a criminal record. Mueller’s office similarly recommended little to no jail time last week because he had provided “substantial assistance” in the investigation that “likely affected the decisions of related firsthand witnesses to be forthcoming.” (Politico / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / NBC News)
Everyone who’s been charged as part of the Mueller investigation. The special counsel has issued more than 100 criminal counts against 33 people and three companies. (New York Times)
4/ The incoming New York attorney general plans to launch a wide-ranging investigation into Trump, his family, and “anyone” in his orbit who may have violated the law. Letitia James plans to investigate any potential illegalities involving Trump’s real estate holdings in New York, the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting, government subsidies Trump has received, whether he used his businesses to violate the emoluments clause, and the Trump Foundation. (NBC News)
Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump are poised to benefit financially from the Opportunity Zone tax break they pushed Trump to pass. Opportunity Zones provide tax breaks to developers who invest in depressed American communities. Watchdog investigators say the pair are navigating an ethical minefield after becoming two of Trump’s closest advisers without divesting from their real estate investments. The couple owns stakes in at least 13 properties held by Kushner’s family firm that could now qualify for tax breaks because they are in Opportunity Zones in New Jersey, New York, and Maryland. (Associated Press)
Rudy Giuliani continues to seek lucrative security consulting contracts with foreign governments while representing Trump as part of his work for Giuliani Security and Safety. Giuliani is not a government employee and is not subject to government ethics rules. His security consulting contracts include clauses stipulating that he will not lobby on behalf of clients before the U.S. government. (New York Times)
The targets of U.S. sanctions are trying to hire lobbyists with connections to Trump in order to help them reduce or get out of those sanctions entirely. Some of the biggest payments to Washington’s influence industry have gone to lobbyists, lawyers, and consultants with connections to Trump or his administration, a notion that reeks of the pay-to-play corruption often seen in the politics of many African, Asian, Middle Eastern, and former Soviet nations. “People overseas often want to hear that you know so-and-so, and can make a call to solve their problem,” said a leading Washington sanctions lawyer. The trend has been encouraged by Trump administration officials who project Trump’s willingness to make deals around sanctions and tariff exemptions. (New York Times)
5/ Trump claimed he is not concerned about impeachment a day after it was reported that he sees impeachment as a “real possibility.” He then defended the payments he directed Cohen to make to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, saying “It’s hard to impeach somebody who hasn’t done anything wrong and who’s created the greatest economy in the history of our country.” Trump added: “I’m not concerned, no. I think that the people would revolt if that happened.” (Reuters)
Notables.
The next chief of staff needs to win the approval of Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. The two have their sights set on Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin, who they see as extremely loyal. Mnuchin, however, remains uninterested in the position. “There was no Plan B” after Nick Ayers refused to take the job, Steve Bannon said. Trump, meanwhile, claimed that 10 to 12 people who want the chief of staff job “badly,” but the understanding is that Trump has essentially been “just calling around to friends” to try and fill the position. (Reuters / Politico / Washington Post)
Trump doubled down on his decision to stand by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman despite his own CIA’s assessment that MBS ordered the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. “He’s the leader of Saudi Arabia,” Trump said during an interview. “They’ve been a very good ally.” Trump continued to defend MBS by reiterating that the “crown prince vehemently denies” any involvement in Khashoggi’s death. (Reuters)
The Trump administration decided that Vietnamese migrants who arrived before the establishment of diplomatic ties between the U.S. and Vietnam are all eligible for deportation. The White House reinterpreted a 2008 agreement that specifically bars the deportation of Vietnamese people who arrived in the U.S. before July 12, 1995. (The Atlantic)
The Senate passed legislation to reverse a Trump administration policy limiting donor disclosure requirements for political nonprofits. The resolution blocks the recent Treasury Department change to IRS forms allowing political nonprofits to avoid listing some donors. The rule, however, is unlikely to survive the GOP-led House, which must vote on the resolution before the end of the year. (Politico / Washington Post)
The House passed an $867 billion farm bill to address a wide range of areas including farming, nutrition, conservation, trade, energy and forestry. The bill, which passed both the House and Senate with bipartisan support, heads to Trump’s desk for his signature. (The Hill / Los Angeles Times / CNN)
Despite no evidence linking terror attacks in the U.S. to illegal immigration, Trump used the attack in France to again argue for more funding for his border wall. “Another very bad terror attack in France,” Trump tweeted. “We are going to strengthen our borders even more. Chuck and Nancy must give us the votes to get additional Border Security!” (ABC News / Politico / Washington Post)
1/ Trump claimed he’d be “proud to shut down the government” if his demand for $5 billion in border wall funding isn’t met. In an extended, heated, and televised exchange with Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, Trump declared that “I will be the one to shut it down. I’m not going to blame you for it. I am proud to shut down the government for border security. […] I will take the mantle […] for shutting down the government.” Schumer and Pelosi said they made two offers to Trump at the current level of $1.375 billion. Prior to the meeting, Trump falsely tweeted that a substantial part of his “Great Wall” had already been built and then threatened that “if the Democrats do not give us the votes to secure our Country, the Military will build the remaining sections of the Wall.” Schumer accused Trump of throwing a “temper tantrum” with the meeting ending with no resolution, increasing the chances of a partial government shutdown at the end of next week. (Washington Post / Axios / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNBC)
After the meeting, Pelosi questioned Trump’s manhood and called the border wall a matter of masculine pride. Trump “must have said the word ‘wall’ 30 times,” the House minority leader said. “It’s like a manhood thing with him — as if manhood can be associated with him,” she added. “This wall thing.” (Politico / Washington Post)
5 takeaways from Trump’s meeting with Pelosi and Schumer. (New York Times)
Annotated: Trump’s squabble with Pelosi and Schumer. (Washington Post)
Trump gives the Democrats the best soundbite they could possibly hope for: "Yes, if we don't get what we want...I will shut down the government. ... I will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down. I'm not going to blame you for it." pic.twitter.com/e4xbjlMvwj
2/ The Trump administration plans to unveil sweeping changes to federal clean water rules that would weaken protections for millions of acres of wetlands and thousands of miles of streams against pesticide runoff and other pollutants. The proposed reforms would strip away standards that were put in place during the George H.W. Bush administration despite Trump’s repeated commitment to “crystal-clean water.” Current rules restricts farmers from using land near streams and wetlands for certain kinds of plowing and planting, and also requires permits from the EPA to use some pesticides and fertilizers. Trump’s new plan would lift those restrictions. (New York Times / The Guardian / Wall Street Journal)
3/ John Kelly will remain as chief of staff through at least Jan. 2 to ensure “a very peaceful and pragmatic transition,” Kellyanne Conway said. Trump previously announced that Kelly would exit by the end of the year. (Washington Post)
After Nick Ayers declined the chief of staff job, Trump asks “why wouldn’t someone want one of the truly great and meaningful jobs in Washington.” Trump later claimed that “a lot of friends of mine want it,” and “we’re in no rush.” (Politico / New York Times / USA Today)
Trump’s mood after Ayers’ declined the job: “super pissed” and humiliated. Trump has also become increasingly concerned about what his administration is up against come January, when Democrats are expected to exercise their oversight powers on the Trump administration. (CNN)
4/ Trump sees impeachment as a “real possibility” after prosecutors in New York linked him to campaign finance violations for directing the payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal. The legal troubles have unnerved some of his fellow Republicans with one official calling last week’s court filings a “reality tremor.” (CNN / Associated Press / Axios)
More Mueller developments are coming this week in the Manafort, Cohen and Flynn cases. (CNBC)
5/ Trump continues to reject the assessment U.S. spy agencies lay out for him in daily briefings on world events. In particular, Trump has dismissed the intelligence community’s assessments about Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, North Korea’s willingness to abandon its nuclear weapons program, Iran’s nuclear and regional ambitions, the existence of climate change, and the role of the Saudi crown prince in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. (Washington Post)
poll/ 57% of Americans think Trump should compromise on his border wall to prevent a government shutdown. 69% do not consider building a border wall to be an immediate priority for the next Congress. (NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist)
poll/ 29% of Americans approve of the way Trump is handling the Russia investigation. 54%, meanwhile, think the things Trump has said publicly about the investigation have been false. (CNN)
Notables.
The Senate will vote on a criminal justice bill before the end of the year. The legislation would reduce the three-strike mandatory life sentence to 25 years for drug offenses, and give judges the power to bypass the minimum sentences for certain offenders. It would also mark of Trump’s first bipartisan legislative achievements of his presidency. (CNBC / Bloomberg / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
For months the Trump administration hid a report that showed Wells Fargo charged college students fees that were several times larger than the average fees of its competitors. The report was produced by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau under its former top student loan official, Seth Frotman, who resigned in protest in August. Wells Fargo collected more than half of all the fees paid by students despite handling about a quarter of the accounts. (Politico)
China agreed to reduce tariffs on U.S. autos to 15% – down from 40% currently. The Trump administration, meanwhile, plans to condemn China’s trade, cyber, and economic policies. The Justice Department is also expected to announce the indictments of several hackers suspected of working for the Chinese government. (Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / New York Times)
The incoming House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman plans to investigate Jared Kushner’s ties to Mohammed bin Salman as part of a review of U.S. policy towards Saudi Arabia. (CNN)
Putin claimed “nobody” at Russia’s spy agencies “knows anything about” Maria Butina, who agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy and cooperate with federal, state and local authorities in any ongoing investigations. (CNBC / ABC News)
1/ An alleged Russian spy appears to have reached a plea deal with federal prosecutors involving accusations that she was working as an agent for the Kremlin in the U.S. Maria Butina is accused of working with a Russian banking official to develop relationships with American politicians through the National Rifle Association in an effort to advance Russian interests. Butina previously pleaded not guilty to conspiracy and acting as an agent of a foreign government, but attorneys and prosecutors filed a request for a “change of plea” hearing since “the parties have resolved this matter.” Butina’s case was brought by federal prosecutors in D.C. – not by Robert Mueller. (CNN / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / New York Times)
Relevant: The NRA spent $30 million to support Trump in the 2016 election, and the two groups used the same consultants to execute complementary TV advertising strategies during the campaign. The FBI is also investigating whether a Russian banker – Alexander Torshin – illegally funneled money to the NRA in order to help Trump win the presidency.
📌 The Re-up: Day 543. The Justice Department charged a Russian national and accused her of acting as a Russian agent “for the purpose of advancing the interests of the Russian federation.” Maria Butina tried to infiltrate the NRA and “create a back-channel line of communication” back to the Kremlin. Charging documents say Butina was directed by a “high-level official in the Russian government,” who has been previously identified as Alexander Torshin, a senior official at the Russian central bank, who is also a longtime associate of the NRA. The charges were filed under seal the day after 12 Russian intelligence officers were indicted by the Justice Department for hacking Democratic computers. They were unsealed following Trump’s press conference with Putin where he said he saw no reason the Russian leader would try to influence the presidential election. (Bloomberg / The Guardian / New York Times)
📌 Day 564. Maria Butina, the alleged Russian spy, socialized with a former Trump campaign aide weeks before the 2016 election. At the time, J.D. Gordon planned to join Trump’s transition team, but ultimately never did. From March 2016 until August 2016, Gordon was the point person for an advisory group on foreign policy and national security for the Trump campaign. Paul Erickson, a GOP operative with whom Butina was in a romantic relationship, told her that Gordon was “playing a crucial role in the Trump transition effort and would be an excellent addition to any of the U.S./Russia friendship dinners” that might be held. (Washington Post / New York Times)
📌 Day 545. The Justice Department added a second charge against Russian national Maria Butina of acting as an unregistered foreign agent of the Kremlin since at least 2015. Butina was charged on Monday with conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government. Butina was arrested on Sunday because she appeared to have plans to flee the U.S. (Politico / Washington Post)
2/ Jerome Corsi sued Mueller, the Justice Department, the National Security Agency, the FBI and the CIA for $350 million, claiming his Fourth Amendment rights were violated, and that Mueller leaked his grand jury testimony and blackmailed him to lie as part of a “legal coup d’etat” against Trump. The conspiracy theorist and Roger Stone associate is asking for $100 million in actual damages and $250 million in punitive damages as compensation for injury to his reputation. The suit also accuses the CIA, FBI, and NSA of placing Corsi under illegal surveillance “at the direction of Mueller and his partisan Democrat, leftist, and ethically and legally conflicted prosecutorial staff.” Corsi is suspected of being the go-between for Stone and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. (Politico / NBC News)
📌 Day 667. Jerome Corsi emailed Roger Stone two months before WikiLeaks released emails stolen from the Clinton campaign, saying “Word is (Julian Assange) plans 2 more dumps…Impact planned to be very damaging.” On July 25, 2016, Stone emailed Corsi, directing him to “Get to (Assange) [a]t Ecuadorian Embassy in London and get the pending (WikiLeaks) emails.” Corsi passed the directive along to conservative author Ted Malloch. Eight days later, Corsi emailed Stone saying that WikiLeaks had information that would be damaging to Clinton’s campaign and planned to release it in October. (NBC News)
3/ At least 16 Trump associates interacted with Russian nationals during the campaign and transition period, according to public records and interviews. After taking office, Trump and senior officials repeatedly lied about the campaign’s contact with Russians, with Trump at one point claiming: “No. Nobody that I know of. I have nothing to do with Russia. To the best of my knowledge, no person that I deal with does.” Hope Hicks, then Trump’s spokeswoman, also lied, saying: “It never happened. There was no communication between the campaign and any foreign entity during the campaign.” The contacts and communications occurred amidst “sustained efforts by the Russian government to interfere with the U.S. presidential election,” according to Mueller’s latest filing. The list of associates communicating with Russians includes Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, Michael Flynn, Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, George Papadopoulos, Carter Page, Jeff Sessions, JD Gordon, Roger Stone, Michael Caputo, Erik Prince, Avi Berkowitz, Michael Cohen, Ivanka Trump, and Felix Sater. (CNN / Washington Post)
4/ Trump tweeted there is no “smocking gun” tying his campaign to Russia, misspelling “smoking gun” twice in the same tweet. Trump suggested that the payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal were not illegal campaign contributions, as federal prosecutors claim, but instead a “simple private transaction” that are only being scrutinized because investigators have not been able to find evidence of collusion between his 2016 campaign and Russia. “No Smocking Gun…No Collusion.” (Washington Post)
The incoming chair of the House judiciary committee: Trump is “at the center of a massive fraud” against the American people. Jerrold Nadler said Trump committed impeachable offenses if it is proven that he ordered the illegal payments to Daniels and McDougal to keep quiet about alleged sexual encounters. (The Guardian)
Notables.
Trump told James Mattis to submit a $750 billion defense budget proposal for the 2020 fiscal year. Trump previously called for a reduction in defense spending, but now he appears to have reversed course. Mattis and other top military leaders have been fighting to preserve the current $733 billion proposal, and Trump has called for a top line of $716 billion and even $700 billion as recently as October. (Politico)
Trump’s preferred choice to replace John Kelly turned down the chief of staff role. Nick Ayers currently serves as Pence’s chief of staff, and said that he is instead leaving the administration entirely at the end of the year to spend more time with his family in Georgia. Trump didn’t appear to have an obvious second choice lined up, but some believe he is eyeing North Carolina Republican Mark Meadows, who serves as the chairman of the far-right House Freedom Caucus. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is also under consideration. (New York Times / The Guardian / Axios / CNBC)
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan have shifted their focus from Michael Cohen’s crimes to the role of Trump Organization executives in those crimes. Cohen pleaded guilty in August to campaign finance violations and other crimes and has assisted prosecutors in their investigation. Cohen told prosecutors that the Trump Organization’s CFO was involved in discussions about hush money payments made to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougall, on which prosecutors are now focusing. Now, prosecutors have renewed their requests for documents and other materials related to those payments. (New York Times)
The Supreme Court declined to review whether states can cut off public funding for Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers from their Medicaid programs. (Politico / CNN / Washington Post)
Jamal Khashoggi’s last words: “I can’t breathe.” The translated transcript notes the sounds of Khashoggi’s body being dismembered by a saw. (CNN)
Jared Kushner offered Prince Mohammed bin Salman advice about how to weather the storm after Khashoggi was killed, urging the prince to resolve his conflicts around the region and avoid further embarrassments. (New York Times)
1/ Paul Manafort told “multiple,” “discernible lies” to the FBI and the special counsel’s office concerning five different matters after agreeing to cooperate with prosecutors. Federal prosecutors accused Manafort of lying about his “contact with administration officials” and his interactions with Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian tied to Moscow’s intelligence services. Manafort met with Kilimnik twice during the campaign. Robert Mueller’s team said Manafort made multiple false statements that were “not instances of mere memory lapses” over the course of 12 meetings with the FBI and the special counsel after signing a plea agreement in September. (NBC News / New York Times / The Guardian / Washington Post / CNN)
2/ Federal Prosecutors with the Southern District of New York said that while Michael Cohen gave federal investigators “relevant and useful” information, he still deserves a “substantial” prison term of about four years for his “extensive” criminal conduct. Prosecutors said Cohen “repeatedly used his power and influence for deceptive ends” and “repeatedly declined to provide full information about the scope of any additional criminal conduct in which he may have engaged or had knowledge.” Mueller also revealed that Cohen told them that a well-connected Russian national offered Cohen “political synergy” with the Trump campaign in November 2015. The person claimed to be a “trusted person” in the Russian Federation offering the campaign “synergy on a government level.” Federal prosecutors also implicated Trump in the illegal payments that violated campaign finance laws to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, saying Cohen “acted in coordination and at the direction of Individual-1,” who we know as the person currently serving as president of the United States. (Washington Post / NBC News / New York Times / The Guardian / ABC News / CNN / Bloomberg)
5 takeaways from the Cohen and Manafort filings. (Washington Post)
Mueller’s indictments so far: At least 33 people and three companies have been charged so far as a result of the special counsel’s investigation into 2016 election tampering. (Politico)
A political consultant is challenging federal law barring foreign involvement in U.S. elections, saying the provision is unconstitutional because Congress can’t regulate the role played by non-citizens in state and local elections. Legal scholars say the appeal represents a serious challenge to the statute, which could undermine the law at center of the Mueller probe. (Politico)
3/ Mueller cited Trump’s time in the White House as relevant to the investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, saying Cohen provided valuable information “concerning his contacts with persons connected to the White House during the 2017–2018 time period.” Following Mueller’s memos, Trump inexplicably tweeted: “Totally clears the President. Thank you!” While Trump did not explain his comment, federal prosecutors did say in the court filing that Cohen committed campaign finance crimes “in coordination with and at the direction of” Trump. [See item #2] (NBC News)
4/ Hours before Mueller filed his memos, Trump kicked off the day by attacking the investigation in a series of angry, error-laden tweets alleging that Mueller is biased, full of “Conflicts of Interest,” and is best friends with “Leakin’ Lyin’ James Comey.” The eight-tweet tirade did not include any supporting evidence. (NBC News / Daily Beast / The Guardian)
Rex Tillerson: Trump is “undisciplined,” “doesn’t read briefing reports,” and repeatedly tries to do illegal things. “So often, the president would say, ‘Here’s what I want to do, and here’s how I want to do it,’” Tillerson said, “and I would have to say to him, ‘Mr. President, I understand what you want to do, but you can’t do it that way. It violates the law.’” Trump responded by calling Tillerson “dumb as a rock” and “lazy as hell.” Tillerson previously called Trump a “moron.” (Washington Post / NBC News / Politico)
5/ Trump also claimed that his lawyers are preparing a “major Counter Report” to rebut Mueller’s findings in the investigation into possible coordination between Russia and Trump’s 2016 campaign. According to Trump, his lawyers have already completed 87 pages, adding, “obviously cannot complete until we the see the final Witch Hunt report.” Trump’s statement contradicts Rudy Giuliani, who said he hasn’t had time to consider drafting a response plan, let alone work on a “counter report.” Giuliani added that he spent the summer answering Mueller’s questions, describing the process as “a nightmare” that took “about three weeks to do what would normally take two days.” (Washington Post / The Atlantic)
6/ CNN received a bomb threat and had to be evacuated as Trump attacked the media on Twitter as “the enemy of the people.” Trump’s all-caps “FAKE NEWS - THE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!” tweet was sent at 10:07 pm. A short time later, Don Lemon abruptly went to commercial break as CNN’s New York studio was evacuated because of a bomb threat. The New York Police Department said the threat was not substantiated. Trump appears to be responding to a report that the White House does not have a plan for how to respond to the Mueller report. (Vox / CNN)
7/ John Kelly is expected to resign immediately as chief of staff in the coming days. Kelly and Trump have reached an impasse and neither sees the situation as tenable as the two have also stopped speaking entirely in recent days. Nick Ayers, who currently serves as Pence’s chief of staff, is seen as a leading candidate to replace Kelly. (CNN / Reuters / Bloomberg / Washington Post / Politico)
Mueller’s team interviewed Kelly in recent months about potential obstruction of justice. The questions centered on Trump’s attempt to fire Mueller in June 2017. (CNN)
poll/ 71% of Republicans believe Mueller’s investigation is a “witch hunt,” while 82% of Democrats and 55% of independents see the investigation as “fair.” Overall, 54% of Americans believe the Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign is fair. (NPR)
Notables.
George Papadopoulos was released from prison after serving 12 whole days for lying to investigators about his contact with individuals tied to Russia during the 2016 campaign. Papadopoulos will have 12 months of supervised release, serve 200 hours of community service, and pay a $9,500 fine. (CNN)
James Comey met behind closed doors with the House Judiciary and Oversight committees. Lawmakers are expected to question Comey on a range of topics, including his memos about interactions with Trump, the details of his firing, the origins of the FBI’s Russia probe, and whether bias contributed to the decisions to focus on Trump and to conduct surveillance on Carter Page. (Washington Post)
Trump named William Barr as his next attorney general. If confirmed by the Senate, Barr will take over from Matthew Whitaker, who has served in an acting capacity since Jeff Sessions was forced out. (The Guardian / New York Times / Washington Post)
Trump named Army Gen. Mark Milley as his nominee to be the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Milley will replace current chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford, who still almost 10 months left in his term. (Politico)
The Justice Department hasn’t filed required paperwork stating when Jeff Sessions left office. Federal law requires the vacancy and any acting appointment to be reported “immediately” to the Government Accountability Office. This reporting is important because Matthew Whitaker, acting attorney general, can only serve for 210 days. (BuzzFeed News)
Trump nominated former Fox News anchor Heather Nauert as the next ambassador to the United Nations. Nauert currently serves as the State Department spokeswoman. Her post as UN ambassador will be downgraded from its current cabinet-level status. (Bloomberg / New York Times / The Guardian)
The Trump administration finalized a rollback of school lunch regulations, relaxing restrictions on products allowed. The changes will impact 99,000 schools and institutions that feed 30 million children every year. (ABC News)
1/ Congress passed a two-week spending bill to extend the government’s funding through Dec. 21 and avoid a partial shutdown. Lawmakers face an impasse over whether to meet Trump’s demand for $5 billion to build a wall along the border with Mexico, which Democrats have resisted. Trump has threatened to force a partial government shutdown if Congress does not give him his wall money. (Wall Street Journal / Reuters / Washington Post)
2/ A bipartisan group of senators are trying to punish Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi while also curtailing U.S. involvement in the Saudi-led war in Yemen, and suspending arms sales to the Kingdom. Trump, meanwhile, has downplayed assertions that Prince Mohammed was responsible for Khashoggi’s murder at the Saudi consulate. (Bloomberg / Reuters / CNN)
3/ Trump blamed Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation for his low approval rating, claiming that “without the phony Russia Witch Hunt […] my approval rating would be at 75% rather than the 50% just reported by Rasmussen.” Trump’s average approval rating is 43.3%, according to Real Clear Politics. And, according to FiveThirtyEight, Trump’s approval rating is 42.1%. (Politico)
A Trump campaign adviser was questioned about his relationship with a Kremlin-controlled broadcaster, which U.S. intelligence authorities have called Russia’s principal propaganda arm. Mueller’s investigators have questioned Ted Malloch about his appearances on RT. (The Guardian)
4/ Trump and the NRA used the same consultants to execute complimentary TV advertising strategies during the 2016 presidential election. The NRA used a media strategy firm called Red Eagle Media, while the Trump campaign purchased ads through a firm called American Media & Advocacy Group, which were aimed at the same demographic as the NRA spots. Both firms are affiliated with the conservative media-consulting firm National Media Research, Planning and Placement, with both the NRA’s and the Trump campaign’s ad buys were also authorized by the same person at National Media. The arrangement is likely a violation of campaign finance laws. (Mother Jones)
poll/ 67% of voters are concerned about the recent climate change report that concludes that global warming is already “transforming where and how we live.” 58% agree with the scientific consensus that climate change is being caused by human activity. (Politico)
📌 The Re-up: Day 685. Global emissions of carbon dioxide have reached the highest levels on record. Global emissions grew 1.6% in 2017 with 2018 expected to increase 2.7%. The U.S. is the world’s second-largest emitter of carbon emissions, but that hasn’t stopped the Trump administration from moving to roll back regulations designed to limit those emissions from vehicle tailpipes and power-plant smokestacks. As United Nations Secretary General António Guterres said this week at the opening of the 24th annual U.N. climate conference: “We are in trouble. We are in deep trouble with climate change.” (Washington Post / New York Times)
📌 Day 678. Trump – again – dismissed his own government’s report on the devastating impacts of climate change and global warming, saying he doesn’t see climate change as a man-made issue and that he doesn’t believe the scientific consensus. “One of the problems that a lot of people like myself,” Trump said, “we have very high levels of intelligence but we’re not necessarily such believers.” He continued: “You look at our air and our water, and it’s right now at a record clean.” (Washington Post)
📌Day 676. The National Climate Assessment concludes that global warming is already “transforming where and how we live and presents growing challenges to human health and quality of life, the economy, and the natural systems that support us.” The findings from the landmark scientific report, issued by 13 federal agencies, are at odds with the Trump administration’s environmental deregulation agenda, which Trump claims will lead to economic growth, and its plans to withdraw from the Paris climate accord. The report predicts that the effects of global warming could eliminate as much as 10% of the U.S. economy by the end of the century, and warns that humans must act aggressively now “to avoid substantial damages to the U.S. economy, environment, and human health and well-being over the coming decades.” The first report, released in November 2017, concluded that there is “no convincing alternative explanation” for the changing climate other than “human activities, especially emissions of greenhouse gases.” Trump recently questioned the science of climate change, saying that “I don’t know that it’s man-made” and that the warming trend “could very well go back.” (New York Times / Associated Press / Washington Post / CNN)
📌Day 627. A U.N. report on the effects of climate change predicts a strong risk of an environmental crisis much sooner than expected. The report finds that the atmosphere could warm by as much as 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit above preindustrial levels by 2040 if greenhouse gas emissions continue at the current rate, which would cause sea levels to rise, intensify droughts, wildfires, and poverty, and cause a mass die-off of coral reefs. To prevent 2.7 degrees of warming, greenhouse pollution must be reduced by 45% from 2010 levels by 2030, and fully eliminated by 2050. The use of coal as an electricity source would have to drop from nearly 40% today to between 1% and 7% by 2050. Renewable energy would have to increase to about 67%. Trump has mocked the science of human-caused climate change, vowing to increase the burning of coal, and he intends to withdraw from the 2015 Paris agreement. The world is already more than halfway to the 2.7-degree mark and “there is no documented historic precedent” for the scale of changes required, the report said. (New York Times / Washington Post)
Notables.
The Trump administration proposed loosening rules on carbon emissions for new coal power plants. Under the existing Obama-era rule, new coal plants would have to burn some natural gas, which emits less carbon, or install carbon capture equipment. The proposal would allow new coal plants to emit up to 1,900 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt-hour of electricity, up from 1,400 pounds now. (Reuters)
The Trump administration moved forward with plans to ease restrictions on oil and natural gas drilling that were put in place to protect a bird that is close to endangerment. The greater sage grouse is a chickenlike bird that roams across nearly 11 million acres in 10 oil-rich Western states. Trump’s plan would limit the grouse’s protected habitat to 1.8 million acres. (Associated Press / New York Times)
Canada arrested Huawei’s chief financial officer on a U.S. request for extradition the same day Trump and President Xi Jinping agreed to a 90-day pause in raising tariffs to allow for trade negotiations. Meng Wanzhou was arrested for allegedly shipping U.S.-origin products to Iran and other countries in violation of U.S. export and sanctions laws. (Bloomberg / CNBC / Wall Street Journal)
The Dow dropped nearly 800 points before rebounding over concerns that trade talks between the U.S. and China could collapse and result in trade war escalation. Trump took to Twitter to express optimism about the state of trade negotiations, claiming that China is sending “very strong signals.” (ABC News / New York Times / CNBC / Washington Post)
Former attorney general William Barr is Trump’s leading candidate to replace Jeff Sessions. Barr served as attorney general from 1991 to 1993 under then-President George H.W. Bush. (Washington Post / Reuters)
An undocumented immigrant has worked as a maid at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J., since 2013 using fake documents to secure employment. After Trump became president, one of her managers told her to get both a new green card and new Social Security card because there were problems with her current ones. When she told the manager that she did not know how to obtain new forgeries, her manager suggested she speak with a maintenance employee to acquire new documents. Her manager lent her the money to replace the one that had “expired.” (New York Times)
Pat Cipollone will start as the new White House counsel on Monday after a nearly two-month delay since his appointment. Trump appointed Cipollone in October as Don McGahn’s replacement. Cipollone will start his new job just as House Democrats are preparing to assume their new committee chairmanship roles in January. (Politico)
Democrats plan to send Mueller the transcripts of testimony by some of Trump’s closest associates when they take control of the House next month. Democrats want Mueller to review the transcripts for evidence and possible falsehoods. The list of testimony transcripts includes Jared Kushner, Trump Jr., Roger Stone, Corey Lewandowski, Hope Hicks, Keith Schiller, and others. (Reuters)
The Supreme Court is hearing a case with implications on Trump’s pardon power. At stake is whether to overturn the “separate sovereigns” doctrine, which lets a state and the U.S. government press separate prosecutions involving the same conduct. Eliminating the doctrine would mean that a presidential pardon could block some state charges as well. However, the Supreme Court appeared unlikely to change its existing rules. For Paul Manafort, a presidential pardon could keep him out of federal prison, but it would not free him from being prosecuted on similar state charges. Trump hasn’t ruled out a pardon for Manafort. (Bloomberg / NBC News)
1/ Robert Mueller’s office recommended that Michael Flynn serve no jail time because he provided “substantial assistance” with the Russian probe. A court filing submitted by the special counsel’s office says Flynn provided “firsthand information about the content and context of interactions between the transition team and Russian government officials.” Flynn gave 19 interviews to Mueller’s team and other investigators and, as a result, Mueller asked a federal judge not to sentence Flynn to prison. Flynn also provided details about other criminal investigations, but those details were heavily redacted from the court filing in order to keep information about ongoing probes secret. The redactions suggest there is more to come in the probe into Russian election interference. (Reuters / New York Times / CNN / Axios / NBC News / Washington Post / CNBC)
Mueller’s team also disclosed details about Flynn’s efforts to cover up his ties to Turkey while he was Trump’s national security adviser. A central part of Flynn’s involvement with the Turkish government was his attempts to kidnap a Turkish cleric living in Pennsylvania and return him to Turkey to face punishment for allegedly orchestrating a failed coup attempt against Turkish President Erdogan. Flynn’s decision to hide the fact that he was working for Turkey “impeded the ability of the public to learn about the Republic of Turkey’s efforts to influence public opinion about the failed coup, including its efforts to effectuate the removal of a person legally residing in the United States.” (NBC News)
Prosecutors in Manhattan are ramping up their investigation into foreign lobbying by two firms that did work for Paul Manafort. Mueller referred the case to authorities because it fell outside his mandate of determining whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia. (Associated Press)
2/ Global emissions of carbon dioxide have reached the highest levels on record. Global emissions grew 1.6% in 2017 with 2018 expected to increase 2.7%. The U.S. is the world’s second-largest emitter of carbon emissions, but that hasn’t stopped the Trump administration from moving to roll back regulations designed to limit those emissions from vehicle tailpipes and power-plant smokestacks. As United Nations Secretary General António Guterres said this week at the opening of the 24th annual U.N. climate conference: “We are in trouble. We are in deep trouble with climate change.” (Washington Post / New York Times)
📌 The Re-up: Day 678. Trump – again – dismissed his own government’s report on the devastating impacts of climate change and global warming, saying he doesn’t see climate change as a man-made issue and that he doesn’t believe the scientific consensus. “One of the problems that a lot of people like myself,” Trump said, “we have very high levels of intelligence but we’re not necessarily such believers.” He continued: “You look at our air and our water, and it’s right now at a record clean.” (Washington Post)
📌Day 676. The National Climate Assessment concludes that global warming is already “transforming where and how we live and presents growing challenges to human health and quality of life, the economy, and the natural systems that support us.” The findings from the landmark scientific report, issued by 13 federal agencies, are at odds with the Trump administration’s environmental deregulation agenda, which Trump claims will lead to economic growth, and its plans to withdraw from the Paris climate accord. The report predicts that the effects of global warming could eliminate as much as 10% of the U.S. economy by the end of the century, and warns that humans must act aggressively now “to avoid substantial damages to the U.S. economy, environment, and human health and well-being over the coming decades.” The first report, released in November 2017, concluded that there is “no convincing alternative explanation” for the changing climate other than “human activities, especially emissions of greenhouse gases.” Trump recently questioned the science of climate change, saying that “I don’t know that it’s man-made” and that the warming trend “could very well go back.” (New York Times / Associated Press / Washington Post / CNN)
📌Day 627. A U.N. report on the effects of climate change predicts a strong risk of an environmental crisis much sooner than expected. The report finds that the atmosphere could warm by as much as 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit above preindustrial levels by 2040 if greenhouse gas emissions continue at the current rate, which would cause sea levels to rise, intensify droughts, wildfires, and poverty, and cause a mass die-off of coral reefs. To prevent 2.7 degrees of warming, greenhouse pollution must be reduced by 45% from 2010 levels by 2030, and fully eliminated by 2050. The use of coal as an electricity source would have to drop from nearly 40% today to between 1% and 7% by 2050. Renewable energy would have to increase to about 67%. Trump has mocked the science of human-caused climate change, vowing to increase the burning of coal, and he intends to withdraw from the 2015 Paris agreement. The world is already more than halfway to the 2.7-degree mark and “there is no documented historic precedent” for the scale of changes required, the report said. (New York Times / Washington Post)
3/ Trump joined the three living former presidents and first ladies for the funeral of former president George H.W. Bush. Trump shook hands with the Obamas but didn’t seem to acknowledge the Clintons or Carters. Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, stared straight ahead. Fox News anchor Chris Wallace noted that “a chill had descended” on the front row when Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrived. Despite earning about 80% of the evangelical vote in 2016’s presidential election, the Trumps did not participate in the Apostles’ Creed or sing the hymns during the funeral. (BuzzFeed News / The Hill / Newsweek)
4/ Trump traveled 250 yards in a limo as part of an eight-vehicle motorcade to visit with George W. Bush for 23 minutes across the street. The weather was overcast and cold, but there was no rain. The cost of the trip is unknown. (Washington Post)
Notables.
New satellite images reveal North Korea has expanded a key long-range missile base. Despite five months of denuclearization, the Yeongjeo-dong missile base and a previously unreported site remain active and have been continuously upgraded. (CNN)
Istanbul’s chief prosecutor filed warrants for the arrest Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s top aide and the deputy head of its foreign intelligence on suspicion of planning the killing of Jamal Khashoggi. (Reuters)
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo were accused of misleading senators on the murder of Khashoggi. Last week, Pompeo said there was no definitive proof that the crown prince was responsible for Khashoggi’s murder, while Mattis said that there was “no smoking gun.” The CIA, however, determined with “high confidence” that the crown prince ordered the killing. (Politico)
Saudi-funded lobbyists booked 500 nights at Trump’s D.C. hotel shortly after his 2016 election, sending military veterans to Washington and have them lobby against a law the Saudis opposed. The lobbyists spent more $270,000 on six groups of visiting veterans at the Trump hotel, which Trump still owns. (Washington Post)
A Democratic member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee called for an emergency hearing to examine allegations of election fraud in North Carolina’s 9th District. Last week the North Carolina State Board of Elections and Ethics voted against certifying Republican Mark Harris’ 905 vote win over Democrat Dan McCready in the state’s 9th Congressional District. State election officials are now investigating charges that a political operative working for the Harris campaign oversaw workers illegally collect mail-in absentee ballots from voters. (Washington Post / CNN)
Giuliani tried to blame his typo on Twitter “invading my text with a disgusting anti-President message” after he accidentally created a link to G-20.In in one of his tweets. A Twitter user noticed that the domain was unclaimed, so they bought it and created a website with the simple message: “Donald J. Trump is a traitor to our country,” allowing anyone who clicked on the link in Giuliani’s tweet to view the website. Giuliani suggested that the incident was proof that Twitter employees are “committed cardcarrying anti-Trumpers.” Giuliani ended his tweet with a call for “FAIRNESS PLEASE.” (New York Times)
Jeff Sessions might be done with politics, saying he doesn’t miss being a senator and won’t be deciding anytime soon about running. [Editor’s note: Good riddance.] (Politico)
Trump isn’t worried about the national debt, because “I won’t be here” when America has to pay its creditors back. The U.S. owes roughly $21 trillion in debt, but Trump has repeatedly shrugged those financial obligations off during meetings about the national debt. “Yeah,” Trump told his aides, “but I won’t be here.” (Daily Beast)
1/ The National Republican Congressional Committee suffered a major hack during the 2018 election, exposing thousands of emails to an “unknown entity.” Four senior NRCC aides had their email accounts surveilled for months by a suspected “foreign agent” and despite learning about the hack in April, the NRCC didn’t tell GOP leadership about it until yesterday after a Politico inquiry. The NRCC said it withheld the information from party leaders so they conduct their own investigation. (Politico / Washington Post / CNN)
2/ A bipartisan group of senators accused the Saudi crown prince of complicity in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi following a closed-door briefing with CIA director Gina Haspel. Lawmakers said evidence presented by the CIA overwhelmingly pointed to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s involvement in the assassination, but they were divided about what steps to take next. (Washington Post / New York Times / Axios / ABC News / The Guardian)
3/ Robert Mueller’s prosecutors recently told defense lawyers they are “tying up loose ends” in their investigation. The special counsel is planning to file sentencing memos this week about Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, and Michael Cohen. In the Manafort case, Mueller could file his memo under seal in order to avoid disclosing additional crimes his office believes Manafort committed when he lied to prosecutors and broke his cooperation deal. (Yahoo News / CNN / CNBC)
4/ Mueller is expected to make a sentencing recommendation for Michael Flynn today. The memo should describe the crimes the former national security adviser committed that led to his guilty plea after 24 days on the job and how he has helped the Russia probe. Flynn pleaded guilty in December 2017 to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia. He will be sentenced by a federal judge on Dec. 18. Flynn’s sentencing was delayed four times after Mueller said he needed more time “due to the status of the investigation.” (Reuters / CNN / ABC News / The Guardian)
📌 The Re-Up: Day 25. Michael Flynn resigned as National Security Adviser after it was revealed that he had misled Pence and other top White House officials about his conversations with the Russian ambassador to the United States. Flynn served in the job for less than a month. (New York Times)
📌 Day 26. Trump knew Flynn misled officials on Russia calls for “weeks,” the White House says. The comment contrasts the impression Trump gave aboard Air Force One that he was not familiar with a report that revealed Flynn had not told the truth about the calls. White House counsel Don McGahn told Trump in a January briefing that Flynn had discussed U.S. sanctions with Russia. (Washington Post)
📌 Day 22. Flynn discussed sanctions with Russian ambassador, despite denials. Flynn’s communications with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak were interpreted by some senior U.S. officials as an inappropriate and potentially illegal signal to the Kremlin that it could expect a reprieve from sanctions that were being imposed by the Obama administration in late December to punish Russia for its alleged interference in the 2016 election. (Washington Post)
5/ Maryland and the District of Columbia issued subpoenas for Trump’s financial records related to his D.C. hotel as part of an ongoing lawsuit alleging that the president’s business violated the Constitution’s ban on gifts or payments from foreign governments. The Trump hotel is the Old Post Office building, which is leased from the federal government. The lease says that no elected official may hold that lease. The attorneys general in Maryland and Washington plan to serve as many as 20 companies and government agencies with subpoenas. (Washington Post / Associated Press / NPR / Politico)
6/ Paul Manafort tried to get Ecuador to hand over Julian Assange in exchange for debt relief from the U.S. Manafort originally flew to Ecuador in May 2017 to convince then-incoming President Lenín Moreno to let him broker an energy deal between China and Ecuador. But the talks shifted to Ecuador’s desire to rid itself of Assange, who has been staying the Ecuadorean embassy in London since 2012. Manafort suggested that he could negotiate a deal to handover Assange, which fell apart once it became clear that Manafort was a major target of Mueller’s Russia investigation. There is no evidence that Trump was aware of or involved in Manafort’s dealings with Ecuador. (New York Times)
Roger Stone invoked the Fifth Amendment as he declined to share documents and testimony with the Senate Judiciary Committee. Stone is under scrutiny Mueller’s probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election over allegations that he had advanced knowledge of WikiLeaks’ dump of Clinton campaign emails. (Politico)
Notables.
The White House wants to end federal subsidies and tax credits for electric cars and renewable energy sources. Larry Kudlow, Trump’s economic adviser, predicted that the subsidies would be gone within the next few years. “It’s just all going to end in the near future,” Kudlow said. “I don’t know whether it will end in 2020 or 2021.” (Reuters)
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen expects to keep her job thanks to her “tough” response to the caravan of Central American migrants headed toward the U.S. that Trump turned into a midterm campaign issue. (Politico)
Michael Avenatti will not run for president in 2020 after all. “After consultation with my family and at their request, I have decided not to seek the Presidency of the United States in 2020,” Avenatti said. “I will continue to represent Stormy Daniels and others against Donald Trump and his cronies and will not rest until Trump is removed from office, and our republic and its values are restored.” (Law & Crime)
Trump’s use of Air Force One to campaign for Republican candidates during the midterms cost taxpayers about $17 million. Presidents using Air Force One for campaign purposes are supposed to pay for a portion of the operating cost from their political party or reelection campaign. Instead, the Trump campaign reimbursed the Treasury roughly $112,000 for air travel. (Quartz)
Trump complained about the cost of an “uncontrollable” arms race with Russia and China, despite previously bragging about his increase in military spending. (Associated Press)
Mike Pompeo said the U.S. would suspend its obligations to the 1987 Treaty on Intermediate-range Nuclear Force in 60 days unless Russia returns to compliance. If Russia fails to meet the deadline, the U.S. would be free to develop and test new ground-based missiles, Pompeo said. (Wall Street Journal)
Trump declared himself a “Tariff Man” and threatened to hit China with more tariffs if a trade deal with Beijing falls apart. (CNBC / The Guardian)
1/ Trump called for a “full and complete” sentence for Michael Cohen after his former lawyer asked to not be sent to prison. Cohen’s lawyers argued that his cooperation with Robert Mueller warranted a sentence of “time-served.” Cohen was also in “close and regular contact” with White House staff and Trump’s legal team while preparing his statement to Congress about Trump’s efforts to build a Trump Tower in Moscow during the 2016 campaign. In seeking leniency, Cohen’s attorneys claim his false statement to Congress was based on Trump and his team’s attempts to paint interactions with Russian representatives “as having effectively terminated before the Iowa caucuses of February 1, 2016.” Cohen’s attorneys, however, say he had a “lengthy substantive conversation with the personal assistant to a Kremlin official following his outreach in January 2016, engaged in additional communications concerning the project as late as June 2016, and kept [Trump] apprised of these communications.” Cohen is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 12 after pleading guilty to tax evasion, making false statements to a bank, campaign finance violations, and lying to Congress. Trump tweeted that all of those charges were “unrelated to Trump.” (Reuters /Politico / Washington Post / Bloomberg)
Cohen believed Trump would offer him a pardon if he stayed on message during conversations with federal prosecutors. That was before Cohen implicated Trump under oath in the illegal hush-money scheme with Stormy Daniels, which could be used as part of Mueller’s obstruction of justice probe in determining whether Trump tried to illegally influence a witness in the investigation. (CNN)
Trump’s lawyers want Stormy Daniels to pay their $340,000 legal bill they claim they earned after successfully defending Trump against her frivolous defamation claim. (Associated Press)
2/ Trump praised Roger Stone for not cooperating with Mueller, tweeting that it’s “nice to know that some people still have ‘guts!’” Stone said Sunday that there’s “no circumstance in which I would testify against the president.” Stone has denied multiple times that he knew WikiLeaks was going to release hacked emails from Hillary Clinton’s campaign. (Politico / Axios)
3/ Kellyanne Conway’s husband accused Trump of witness tampering after Trump praised Stone for vowing to never testify against him. “Witness tampering: File under ‘18 U.S.C. §§ 1503, 1512,’” George Conway wrote, listing the federal criminal statute about “tampering with a witness, victim, or an informant.” (New York Post)
4/ The top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee said the committee has made “a number of referrals” to Mueller’s office for prosecution. Sen. Mark Warner added that while he doesn’t know whether Cohen was instructed to lie to Congress, Cohen’s plea contradicts Trump’s multiple denials during the campaign that he did not have any business links to Russia. Warner called it a “very relevant question that the American people need an answer to.” (CBS News)
The incoming chairman of the House Judiciary Committee: Cohen’s cooperation is proof that Russia had “leverage” over Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign. “The fact that he was lying to the American people about doing business in Russia and the Kremlin knew he was lying gave the Kremlin a hold over him,” Rep. Jerry Nadler said. “One question we have now is, does the Kremlin still have a hold over him because of other lies that they know about?”(NBC News)
The leading Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee: Cohen’s cooperations confirms that “the president and his business are compromised.” According to Rep. Adam Schiff, “there is now testimony, there is now a witness, who confirms that in the same way Michael Flynn was compromised, that the president and his business are compromised.” Cohen admitted to misleading investigators about the Trump Organization’s efforts to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. “[W]hat the president was saying,” Schiff added, “what Michael Cohen was saying and others were saying about when this business deal ended was not true. And what’s more, the Russians knew it wasn’t true.” He continued: “It means that the president, whether he won or lost, was hoping to make money from Russia, was seeking at the same time to enlist the support of the Kremlin to make that money.” (ABC News)
James Comey agreed to testify to Congress about the FBI’s investigations during the 2016 campaign as long as lawmakers release the full transcript of his testimony within 24 hours. Comey and his attorney filed a legal challenge last week to the Republican-led effort to compel him to testify. His attorney argued that the legal action was “to prevent the Joint Committee from using the pretext of a closed interview to peddle a distorted, partisan political narrative about the Clinton and Russian investigations through selective leaks.” As part of the deal, Comey will be free to make all or part of his testimony available to the public. (NBC News / Reuters / ABC News / New York Times)
5/ The CIA has “medium-to-high confidence” that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman “personally targeted” Jamal Khashoggi and “probably ordered his death.” Prince Mohammed sent at least 11 messages to his closest adviser, Saud al-Qahtani, who supervised the 15-man team that killed Khashoggi, in the hours before and after the journalist’s death in October. The leak of the intelligence report has infuriated Gina Haspel, the CIA director. In August 2017, Prince Mohammed told associates that if he couldn’t persuade Khashoggi to return to Saudi Arabia, then “we could possibly lure him outside Saudi Arabia and make arrangements,” according to the CIA assessment. (Wall Street Journal / New York Times)
poll/ 46% of voters approve of Trump’s job performance – up from his October numbers, when 44% approved of the job Trump was doing as president. 54% don’t approve. (The Hill)
Notables.
Trump intends to formally notify Canada and Mexico of his intention to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement in six months in order to force Congress to pass his new trade deal. Trump is using the threat of disrupting the entire North American economy to get the deal passed. (Politico)
The U.S. and China agreed to hold off on new tariffs. Trump agreed to postpone a plan to raise tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods, while the Chinese agreed to an unspecified increase in their purchases of American industrial, energy and agricultural products. Trump and President Xi Jinping, however, remain far apart on basic trade policy issues and neither show signs of backing down on their demands. (New York Times)
All of the world leaders at the G20 Summit in Argentina — except for Trump — released a joint statement reaffirming their commitment to fighting climate change. The U.S. did join a separate portion of the communique that focused on energy and the role it plays in shaping the future of the planet. (Axios)
The House and Senate plan to vote this week to push the government shutdown deadline back two weeks and delay a fight over Trump’s border wall until right before Christmas. Congress has until Friday to approve a funding extension before funding for the federal government runs out. (Politico / CNBC / CNN / Washington Post)
Trump and Putin had an “informal” meeting at the G20 Summit. “As is typical at multilateral events,” said Sarah Huckabee Sanders, “President Trump and the First Lady had a number of informal conversations with world leaders at the dinner last night, including President Putin.” Trump previously canceled a formal meeting with Putin over Russia’s recent seizure of Ukrainian ships and the detention of their crews. “I answered his questions about the incident in the Black Sea,” said Putin. “He has his position. I have my own. We stayed in our own positions.” (The Hill / Fox News)
1/ Trump Jr.‘s testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee conflicts with Michael Cohen’s version of events regarding negotiations of a prospective Trump Tower in Moscow. In Cohen’s version, he says the discussions with at least one Russian government official continued through June 2016. Trump Jr. testified in September 2017 that talks surrounding a Trump Tower in Moscow concluded without result “at the end” of 2014 and “certainly not [20]16. There was never a definitive end to it. It just died of deal fatigue.” Trump Jr. told the Senate committee that he “wasn’t involved,” knew “very little,” and was only “peripherally aware” of the deal other than a letter of intent was signed by Trump. He also said he didn’t know that Cohen had sent an email to Putin’s aide, Dmitry Peskov. In Cohen’s guilty plea, he said he briefed Trump’s family members about the continued negotiations. (NPR / USA Today)
📌 The Re-up: Day 223. The Senate Intelligence Committee wants Michael Cohen to testify as part of its investigation into Russia’s meddling. Cohen has been in the spotlight this week following new revelations about his outreach to Russian officials for help with a proposal for a Trump Tower in Moscow. Trump Jr. and Paul Manafort are also likely to appear for closed-door interviews. Trump Jr. agreed to testify privately before the Senate judiciary committee in the “next few weeks.” (Politico)
📌 Day 229. The House and Senate intelligence committees are expected to conduct closed-door interviews with Michael Cohen, Paul Manafort and Trump Jr. in the coming weeks now that Congress has returned from the August recess. The two panels could possibly hold public hearings this fall. In addition, Trump Jr. is set to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The three committees are competing for information and witnesses with little coordination between them and Mueller’s investigation, leading to conflicts over how they can share information. (Politico / CNN)
📌 Day 230. Trump Jr. will meet with the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday to discuss the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russia. It’s the first time someone from Trump’s inner circle will speak with the committee members about the campaign’s alleged attempts to engage with Kremlin surrogates. Committee members still hope to interview Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner about the meeting they held at Trump Tower with the Russian lawyer claiming to have damaging information about Hillary Clinton. Kushner and Manafort have already spoken to the Senate Intelligence Committee. (Washington Post)
📌 Day 482. Trump Jr. told the Senate Judiciary Committee he never mentioned the Trump Tower meeting to his father or the offer of compromising information about Hillary Clinton. He also said he couldn’t “recall” if he discussed the Russia investigation with his father. Trump Jr. told the committee he didn’t think there was anything wrong with meeting a Russian lawyer at Trump Tower ahead of the 2016 presidential election, saying “I didn’t think that listening to someone with information relevant to the fitness and character of a presidential candidate would be an issue, no.” (Associated Press)
2/ The Trump Organization wanted to give Putin a $50 million penthouse in the proposed Trump Tower Moscow as the company continued to negotiate the real estate development during the 2016 campaign. Michael Cohen discussed the idea with Dmitry Peskov, who serves as Putin’s press secretary, hoping that giving the penthouse to Putin would encourage other wealthy buyers to purchase their own. The plan fizzled when the project failed to materialize, and it is not clear whether Trump knew about the plan to give the penthouse to Putin. (BuzzFeed News / CNN)
The House Intelligence Committee wants to investigate the Trump Organization’s plan to give Putin a $50 million penthouse when Democrats take control of the committee in the new year. (BuzzFeed News / The Guardian / Politico)
3/ Ivanka and Trump Jr. are both under increased scrutiny for their roles in the proposed Moscow project. Trump Jr. and Ivanka were involved in the project at some point before Jan. 2016, but it is still unclear how deeply they were involved or how long they worked on the project after that. It is also unclear whether or not they worked with Michael Cohen on the deal. (CNN / Yahoo News)
4/ Investigators have publicly cast Trump as a central figure in Robert Mueller’s investigation into whether the Trump campaign conspired with the Russian government during the 2016 campaign. Trump even has his own legal code name: “Individual 1.” Documents reveal that investigators have evidence that Trump was in close contact with his most trusted aides and advisers as they dealt with both Russia and WikiLeaks, as well as evidence that they tried to cover their tracks. (Washington Post)
“Trump was totally caught off guard by the Cohen plea,” according to a former White House staffer. “The Cohen news is very bad,” and the Trump team is worried that Mueller may have laid a perjury trap. A person close to the president described the White House as “an untethered situation.” (Vanity Fair)
5/ Mueller is also bearing down on Roger Stone and his relationship with WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange. Mueller is focusing on Stone’s role as a potential go-between for the Trump campaign and WikiLeaks, which published thousands of DNC emails that were stolen by Russian intelligence officers. Mueller’s team has evidence that Stone may have known in advance about the release of the emails, and investigators may also be looking into potential witness intimidation by Stone. (Wall Street Journal)
6/ Mueller’s office is considering retrying Paul Manafort and bringing new criminal charges, contending that he obstructed justice and committed additional federal crimes since entering a plea agreement with the special counsel in September. Prosecutors will file a more detailed explanation of what they believe Manafort lied about to investigators on Dec. 7. Manafort will be sentenced in March 2019 after he pleaded guilty to two charges of conspiracy and witness tampering. Manafort is currently in jail in Alexandria, Virginia. (Politico / CNN / CNBC / ABC News)
James Comey asked a U.S. court to block a subpoena from House Republicans for his testimony, saying he wants to testify in public rather than behind closed doors. (Bloomberg)
Notables.
The acting attorney general championed a patent firm in 2014 while fielding fraud complaints about it. Matthew Whitaker was an advisory board member of World Patent Marketing, which the FTC sanctioned in 2017 and described as an “invention promotion scheme” that was “bilking millions of dollars from consumers.” (Washington Post / Bloomberg)
Ryan Zinke responded to criticism about his various ethical scandals by calling a Democratic lawmaker a drunk, accusing Rep. Raúl Grijalva of using “$50,000 in tax dollars as hush money to cover up his drunken and hostile behavior.” Grijalva had called on Zinke to resign. (Politico)
The number of children who were uninsured in the U.S. in Trump’s first year in office rose for the first time in nearly a decade. 276,000 more children were without health insurance due to GOP-led efforts to curb Medicaid expansion. (ABC News)
Six Trump administration officials violated the Hatch Act for tweeting support for Republicans or Trump on their government Twitter accounts, according to the Office of Special Counsel, which declined to take disciplinary action. (NBC News)
Roughly two million federal workers were warned that it may be illegal for them to discuss impeaching or resisting Trump, according to a memo distributed by the Office of Special Counsel. (New York Times)
The Trump administration approved five requests from companies to conduct seismic tests off the Atlantic shore that could kill tens of thousands of dolphins, whales, and other marine animals. Seismic testing maps the ocean floor and estimates the location of oil and gas. (Washington Post)
The U.S., Canada, and Mexico signed a new North American trade pact, ending 15 months of contentious talks between three countries. The agreement faces uncertain prospects in Congress next year, where Democrats will control the House. (Politico / Reuters / Washington Post)
1/ Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to making false statements to Congress, admitting that he continued to engage in negotiations to build a Trump Tower in Moscow well into the 2016 presidential campaign. Cohen previously said talks regarding the Moscow project stalled in January 2016, when in fact negotiations continued through June with Cohen traveling to Russia for meetings on the project. Cohen also told Congress that when the project allegedly stalled, he emailed Dmitry Peskov, a top aide to Putin, seeking help, but claimed he never received a response. That was also false. Cohen and Peskov discussed the project for 20 minutes by phone. Prosecutors also said that Cohen continued to have contact in 2016 with Felix Sater, a Russian developer assisting with the project. Cohen briefed Trump on the status of the project more than three times. In July 2016, Trump tweeted: “For the record, I have ZERO investments in Russia.” And, in January 2017, Trump told reporters that he had no deals in Russia because he had “stayed away.” In exchange for pleading guilty and continuing to cooperate with Robert Mueller, he hopes to receive a lighter sentence. It’s Cohen’s second guilty plea in four months. (Washington Post / New York Times / NPR / ABC News / Politico / CNN / NBC News)
📌 The Re-up: Day 221. Trump’s company was pursuing a plan to develop a Trump Tower in Moscow while he was running for president. Discussions about the Moscow project began in September 2015 until it was abandoned just before the presidential primaries began in January 2016, emails show. The details of the deal had not previously been disclosed. The Trump Organization has turned over the emails to the House Intelligence Committee, pointing to the likelihood of additional contacts between Russia and Trump associates during the campaign. (Washington Post)
📌 Day 221. Trump’s business associate promised that Putin would help Trump win the presidency if he built a Trump Tower in Moscow. “I will get Putin on this program and we will get Donald elected,” Felix Sater, a Russian immigrant, wrote to Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, in 2015. “Our boy can become president of the USA and we can engineer it,” Sater wrote in an email. “I will get all of Putins team to buy in on this, I will manage this process.” At the time, Sater was a broker for the Trump Organization and was paid to deliver real estate deals. (New York Times)
📌 Day 221. Trump discussed a proposal to build a Trump Tower in Moscow with his company’s lawyer three times. The project was abandoned in January 2016 “from solely a business standpoint” and had nothing to do with Trump’s campaign his attorney Michael Cohen told the House intelligence committee. “I made the decision to terminate further work on the proposal,” Cohen said. “The Trump Tower Moscow proposal was not related in any way to Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign.” (Bloomberg)
📌 Day 221. Trump’s attorney sent an email to Putin’s personal spokesman to ask for help advancing a stalled Trump Tower project in Moscow. Michael Cohen sent the email in January 2016 to Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin’s top press aide, at the recommendation of Felix Sater, a Russian-American businessman who was serving as a broker on the deal. “I respectfully request someone, preferably you, contact me so that I might discuss the specifics as well as arranging meetings with the appropriate individuals,” Cohen wrote. “I thank you in advance for your assistance and look forward to hearing from you soon.” The email marks the most direct documented interaction of a top Trump aide and a senior member of Putin’s government. (Washington Post)
📌 Day 221. Four months into the presidential campaign, Trump signed a “letter of intent” to pursue building a Trump Tower in Moscow. The involvement of then-candidate Trump in a proposed Russian development deal contradicts his repeated claims that his business had “no relationship to Russia whatsoever.” The Trump Organization signed a non-binding letter of intent in October 2015. (ABC News)
📌 Day 222. Michael Cohen said he didn’t inform Trump that he had sent the email to Putin’s top press official asking for “assistance” in arranging a licensing deal for a Trump Tower in Moscow. The Trump Organization attorney sent the email in January 2016 to Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin’s top press aide, at the recommendation of Felix Sater, a Russian-American businessman who was serving as a broker on the deal. Cohen said he never heard back from Peskov and the project never got off the ground. (Wall Street Journal / Politico)
📌 Day 223. The Kremlin confirmed that Trump’s personal lawyer reached out during the 2016 presidential campaign requesting assistance on a stalled Trump Tower real estate project in Moscow. Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said they received Michael Cohen’s email, but the Kremlin didn’t reply. Peskov said that he had seen the email but that it was not given to Putin. (Associated Press / Washington Post)
📌 Day 278. Trump’s personal lawyer met with the House Intelligence Committee today. Michael Cohen emailed Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, during the presidential campaign seeking help getting a Trump Tower built in Moscow. Peskov said he never responded to the email. (NBC News)
Cohen is the 33rd person Robert Mueller has charged. (FiveThirtyEight)
2/ Trump called Cohen a “weak” and “not a very smart person” for cooperating with Mueller, saying his former lawyer is “lying […] to get a reduced sentence.” For the fourth straight morning, Trump attacked Mueller’s investigation, musing whether it will “just go on forever.” When asked why Trump ever hired Cohen, the president replied: “A long time ago he did me a favor.” (Politico / Washington Post / CNBC)
Trump: Rosenstein belongs in jail, because “he should have never picked a special counsel.” Trump declined to say whether he would fire Rosenstein. (Politico)
3/ Trump’s written responses to Mueller about building a Trump Tower in Moscow during the campaign reportedly align with what Cohen said in court, according to Trump’s lawyers. Rudy Giuliani attempted to explain why Trump would call Cohen a liar if they had the same understanding of the facts, saying: “Cohen has just told us he’s a liar. Given the fact that he’s a liar, I can’t tell you what he’s lying about.” (New York Times)
4/ Trump abruptly canceled a planned meeting with Putin shortly after Cohen pleaded guilty in federal court to lying to Congress about his efforts to develop a Trump Tower in Moscow during the 2016 presidential campaign. He cited Moscow’s seizure of Ukrainian assets and personnel for the cancellation. (NBC News / Politico / New York Times / Washington Post)
5/ Trump made several calls from a blocked number in the middle of the night to Roger Stone during the 2016 campaign. The call logs were turned over to Mueller and draw a direct line between Stone and Trump, which has rattled Trump’s legal team and showed how closely the special counsel is scrutinizing their relationship. (Washington Post)
Notables.
The Department of Veterans Affairs told congressional staffers that it will not reimburse veterans who were paid less than they were owed as a result of delayed or deferred GI Bill payments. VA officials promised the opposite earlier this month. The VA said it can’t make the payments it owes without auditing its previous education claims because that would delay future payments. (NBC News)
The Senate Judiciary Committee cancelled a hearing on judicial nominees as Jeff Flake’s demand for a bill to protect Mueller continues. Flake is holding firm to his vow to vote against judicial nominees on the floor and in committee unless Mitch McConnell schedules a vote on the bipartisan special counsel legislation. (Politico)
More than 4 in 10 companies plan to raise prices to offset the higher cost of production due to Trump’s trade war. About 1 in 10 companies said the tariffs would encourage them to move more jobs offshore. (CNBC)
Federal agents raided the Chicago City Hall office of Trump’s former tax lawyer. It’s not yet clear whether the search has anything to do with Trump, but Ed Burke did work for Trump for more than a decade, obtaining $14 million in property tax relief for the Chicago Trump Tower. (Chicago Sun-Times / Fortune / Vox / Washington Examiner / The Hill)
1/ Trump told Robert Mueller that Roger Stone did not tell him about WikiLeaks and that he was not told about the 2016 Trump Tower meeting between Trump Jr., campaign officials, and a Russian lawyer promising dirt on Hillary Clinton. Trump added a caveat that his responses were to the best of his recollection. For comparison, Trump also does not “remember much” from the meeting with George Papadopoulos, where Papadopoulos offered to arrange a meeting with Putin. Trump, however, has previously claimed to have “one of the great memories of all time,” using it as justification for not using notes during his meeting with Kim Jong Un, and blaming Sgt. La David Johnson’s widow when he stumbled over the solider’s name during a condolence call. (CNN)
2/ Paul Manafort’s attorney repeatedly briefed Trump’s legal team about their discussions with Mueller after Manafort signed a cooperation agreement with the special counsel two months ago. The briefings made tensions worse between Manafort and the special counsel after prosecutors learned about them. While Manafort’s attorney’s discussions with Trump’s lawyers didn’t violate any laws, they did contribute to Manafort’s deteriorating relationship with Mueller. (New York Times)
Trump claimed he has never discussed a pardon for Manafort, but it’s “not off the table.” In August, Trump said he “would consider” pardoning Manafort, because he “feels bad.” (New York Post / CNN)
3/ Senate Republicans blocked a vote on a bill to protect Mueller, despite a threat from Jeff Flake to withhold support for all of Trump’s judicial nominees unless Mitch McConnell allows for a vote on the protection bill. The Republican-led Senate Judiciary Committee passed the bill on a bipartisan basis, 14-7, this spring, but McConnell has argued that it’s not necessary, because he doesn’t believe Trump wants to fire Mueller. (NBC News / CNN / Politico)
Trump feels no urgency to nominate a new attorney general. Republicans have asked Trump move quickly to nominate a successor to Jeff Sessions. Trump, however, is content with Matthew Whitaker as acting head of the Justice Department, who currently oversees Mueller’s Russia investigation. Whitaker can stay in the job for 210 days from Sessions’ resignation or longer if a replacement is in the confirmation process. (Bloomberg)
4/ Trump – again – dismissed his own government’s report on the devastating impacts of climate change and global warming, saying he doesn’t see climate change as a man-made issue and that he doesn’t believe the scientific consensus. “One of the problems that a lot of people like myself,” Trump said, “we have very high levels of intelligence but we’re not necessarily such believers.” He continued: “You look at our air and our water, and it’s right now at a record clean.” (Washington Post)
📌 The Re-up: Day 676. The National Climate Assessment concludes that global warming is already “transforming where and how we live and presents growing challenges to human health and quality of life, the economy, and the natural systems that support us.” The findings from the landmark scientific report, issued by 13 federal agencies, are at odds with the Trump administration’s environmental deregulation agenda, which Trump claims will lead to economic growth, and its plans to withdraw from the Paris climate accord. The report predicts that the effects of global warming could eliminate as much as 10% of the U.S. economy by the end of the century, and warns that humans must act aggressively now “to avoid substantial damages to the U.S. economy, environment, and human health and well-being over the coming decades.” The first report, released in November 2017, concluded that there is “no convincing alternative explanation” for the changing climate other than “human activities, especially emissions of greenhouse gases.” Trump recently questioned the science of climate change, saying that “I don’t know that it’s man-made” and that the warming trend “could very well go back.” (New York Times / Associated Press/ Washington Post / CNN)
📌 The Re-up: Day 627. A U.N. report on the effects of climate change predicts a strong risk of an environmental crisis much sooner than expected. The report finds that the atmosphere could warm by as much as 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit above preindustrial levels by 2040 if greenhouse gas emissions continue at the current rate, which would cause sea levels to rise, intensify droughts, wildfires, and poverty, and cause a mass die-off of coral reefs. To prevent 2.7 degrees of warming, greenhouse pollution must be reduced by 45% from 2010 levels by 2030, and fully eliminated by 2050. The use of coal as an electricity source would have to drop from nearly 40% today to between 1% and 7% by 2050. Renewable energy would have to increase to about 67%. Trump has mocked the science of human-caused climate change, vowing to increase the burning of coal, and he intends to withdraw from the 2015 Paris agreement. The world is already more than halfway to the 2.7-degree mark and “there is no documented historic precedent” for the scale of changes required, the report said. (New York Times / Washington Post)
The acting EPA chief credits Trump for a 2.5% decline in carbon emissions from 2016 to 2017. Trump took office in January 2017. Andrew Wheeler also noted “a 14% reduction in CO2 emissions in the United States since 2005,” which includes the Obama administration’s implementation of strict environmental policies, which the EPA and Trump administration have tried to reverse, change, or eliminate. Wheeler also said he has not finished reading the report. (CNN)
Notables.
The Trump administration waived FBI fingerprint checks for caregivers and mental health workers in charge of thousands of teens at a migrant detention camp. None of the 2,100 staffers working at a tent city holding camp with more than 2,300 migrant teenagers have gone through the rigorous FBI fingerprint background check process. “Instead,” reads an HHS memo, the camp is “using checks conducted by a private contractor that has access to less comprehensive data, thereby heightening the risk that an individual with a criminal history could have direct access to children.” The federal government is also allowing the facility to forgo mental health care requirements that mandate at least one mental health clinician for every 12 children. Instead, the camp has one for every 100 kids. (Associated Press)
Trump blamed the Federal Reserve for the GM plant closures and layoffs, as well as the recent declines in the stock market. Trump said he is “not even a little bit happy” with Jerome “Jay” Powell, who Trump picked to head the central bank. “So far,” Trump said, “I’m not even a little bit happy with my selection of Jay. Not even a little bit. And I’m not blaming anybody, but I’m just telling you I think that the Fed is way off-base with what they’re doing.” He continued: “I’m doing deals, and I’m not being accommodated by the Fed. They’re making a mistake because I have a gut, and my gut tells me more sometimes than anybody else’s brain can ever tell me.” (Washington Post)
The Senate advanced a bipartisan bid to pull U.S. support for the Saudi Arabia-led forces in Yemen. The measure passed 63-37, signaling a rebuke to Trump and a reversal for the Senate, which rejected the same measure nine months ago. 19 senators switched their votes from the March vote following an “inadequate” briefing by Defense Secretary James Mattis and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo about Yemen, Saudi Arabia, and the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Pompeo repeated the Trump administration’s claim that there was no “direct reporting” connecting Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman to Kahshoggi’s murder. The Trump administration had been urging senators against withdrawing military support for the war in Yemen. (NBC News / Politico / New York Times)
Trump threatened to cancel his upcoming summit with Vladimir Putin over Russia’s recent maritime skirmish with Ukraine. Trump said he is waiting for a full report on the incident, during which Putin captured three Ukrainian ships and their crews in the Black Sea on Sunday, before making a final decision on whether he will cancel the planned summit in Argentina this week. The report “will be very determinative,” Trump said. “Maybe I won’t have the meeting. Maybe I won’t even have the meeting.” Russia said that it still expects the meeting to go ahead as planned. (Washington Post / Associated Press)
Contributions to the NRA went down by $55 million in 2017, according to the gun-rights group’s latest tax records. The NRA reported $98 million in contributions in 2017, down from almost $125 million in 2016. In addition to the drop in contributions, membership dues were also down by roughly $35 million. (Daily Beast)
Trump – again – threatened that he would “totally be willing” to shut down the government if he doesn’t get the $5 billion for his wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. Democratic leaders will only approve $1.6 billion for for border security measures. “I will tell you, politically speaking, that issue is a total winner,” Trump said, citing U.S. border agents firing tear gas on migrants protesting near the border as evidence of support for more security. Trump also said the $5 billion would only be for a physical barrier and that “the number is larger for border security.” (Politico / CNN)
1/ Paul Manafort violated his cooperation agreement with Robert Mueller by repeatedly lying to federal investigators, according to a court filing by the special counsel’s office. Prosecutors claim Manafort’s “crimes and lies” about “a variety of subject matters” relieve them of any promises made to Manafort as part of the plea agreement. Manafort cannot withdraw his guilty plea and without a deal, he now faces at least a decade in prison after pleading guilty in September to conspiring to defraud the U.S. and conspiring to obstruct justice. In August, a federal court jury in Alexandria, Va., convicted the former Trump campaign chairman on eight felony counts and deadlocked on 10 others. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / ABC News / CNN)
2/ Manafort allegedly held secret talks with Julian Assange inside the Ecuadoran embassy in London. Manafort met with the WikiLeaks founder around March 2016 – about the same time he joined Trump’s presidential campaign. Several months later, WikiLeaks published the Democratic emails stolen by Russia. Manafort also met with Assange in 2013 and 2015. It’s unclear why Manafort met with Assange or what they discussed. Manafort and WikiLeak both denied that Manafort had met with Assange. [Editor’s Note: Something about this story doesn’t smell right.] (The Guardian / CNBC)
Jerome Corsi emailed Roger Stone two months before WikiLeaks released emails stolen from the Clinton campaign, saying “Word is (Julian Assange) plans 2 more dumps…Impact planned to be very damaging.” On July 25, 2016, Stone emailed Corsi, directing him to “Get to (Assange) [a]t Ecuadorian Embassy in London and get the pending (WikiLeaks) emails.” Corsi passed the directive along to conservative author Ted Malloch. Eight days later, Corsi emailed Stone saying that WikiLeaks had information that would be damaging to Clinton’s campaign and planned to release it in October. (NBC News)
Corsi claimed he received “limited immunity” from Mueller in order to talk about a “cover story” he crafted for Stone to help explain Stone’s Aug. 21, 2016, tweet saying it would “soon be [the] Podesta’s time in the barrel.” Corsi also claimed he has a joint defense agreement with Trump. (Daily Caller / Slate)
Corsi rejected a deal offered by Mueller to plead guilty to one count of perjury, saying: “They want me to say I willfully lied. I’m not going to agree that I lied. I did not. I will not lie to save my life. I’d rather sit in prison and rot for as long as these thugs want me to.” Corsi, who is associated with Roger Stone, said he was offered a deal on one count of perjury. (The Guardian)
Mueller’s team has been investigating a meeting between Manafort and Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno in Quito in 2017. They’re specifically asking if WikiLeaks or Julian Assange were discussed in the meeting. (CNN)
A federal judge appeared reluctant to unseal a criminal complaint against Assange due to the government’s “compelling interest” in keeping the records under wraps until he is arrested. (CNN)
3/ Trump attacked Mueller after Manafort was accused of lying. Trump called the special counsel a “conflicted prosecutor gone rogue” and claimed Mueller is doing “TREMENDOUS damage” to the criminal justice system. Trump also accused the special counsel team of forcing witnesses to lie. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, meanwhile, said she was not aware of any discussions about a potential presidential pardon for Manafort. (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg)
4/ The Senate could vote on a bill to protect Mueller. Jeff Flake has said he will oppose all of Trump’s judicial nominees until there is a vote on a bill to codify some protections for special counsel investigations. Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn said Republicans are willing to hold a vote “if that’s what it’s going to take” to get more of Trump’s nominations through the Judiciary Committee. (Roll Call / Politico)
Notables.
Trump threatened to cut subsidies for GM after the company said it was planning to cut up to 14,800 jobs and end production at several North American factories. (Wall Street Journal / CNBC / Bloomberg)
Fox News coordinated its interview questions before on-air interviews with Scott Pruitt. In one instance, the EPA approved part of the show’s script. (Daily Beast / Slate / ThinkProgress)
The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee said “it’s awfully tough” for Ivanka Trump to comply with government email rules. Bob Goodlatte suggested that Ivanka’s use of a personal email account to conduct government business was “very different” from the private email server Hillary Clinton used during her time as secretary of State. (Politico)
House Republicans are meeting with Trump today in an attempt to avoid a government shutdown on Dec. 7. Republican leaders promised Trump that they would fight to secure more funding for his border wall after the midterms. Democrats, however, say Trump’s $5 billion price tag is too high. Senate GOP leaders have discussed the possibility of spreading the $5 billion out over two years. Trump hasn’t ruled the idea out, but it’s not clear whether Democrats will concede. (Politico)
House Republicans released a 297-page tax plan they hope to pass during the lame-duck session. The bill would impact Americans’ retirement savings, multiple business tax breaks, and would redesign the IRS. The House Republicans could vote on the proposal as early as this week. (Politico / CNBC / Reuters)
The White House is preventing the CIA director from briefing the Senate on the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. Gina Haspel won’t take part in a Senate briefing by Mike Pompeo and James Mattis on U.S. relations with Saudi Arabia behind closed doors on Wednesday. (The Guardian)
1/ The National Climate Assessment concludes that global warming is already “transforming where and how we live and presents growing challenges to human health and quality of life, the economy, and the natural systems that support us.” The findings from the landmark scientific report, issued by 13 federal agencies, are at odds with the Trump administration’s environmental deregulation agenda, which Trump claims will lead to economic growth, and its plans to withdraw from the Paris climate accord. The report predicts that the effects of global warming could eliminate as much as 10% of the U.S. economy by the end of the century, and warns that humans must act aggressively now “to avoid substantial damages to the U.S. economy, environment, and human health and well-being over the coming decades.” The first report, released in November 2017, concluded that there is “no convincing alternative explanation” for the changing climate other than “human activities, especially emissions of greenhouse gases.” Trump recently questioned the science of climate change, saying that “I don’t know that it’s man-made” and that the warming trend “could very well go back.” (New York Times / Associated Press / Washington Post / CNN)
📌 The Re-up: Day 627. A U.N. report on the effects of climate change predicts a strong risk of an environmental crisis much sooner than expected. The report finds that the atmosphere could warm by as much as 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit above preindustrial levels by 2040 if greenhouse gas emissions continue at the current rate, which would cause sea levels to rise, intensify droughts, wildfires, and poverty, and cause a mass die-off of coral reefs. To prevent 2.7 degrees of warming, greenhouse pollution must be reduced by 45% from 2010 levels by 2030, and fully eliminated by 2050. The use of coal as an electricity source would have to drop from nearly 40% today to between 1% and 7% by 2050. Renewable energy would have to increase to about 67%. Trump has mocked the science of human-caused climate change, vowing to increase the burning of coal, and he intends to withdraw from the 2015 Paris agreement. The world is already more than halfway to the 2.7-degree mark and “there is no documented historic precedent” for the scale of changes required, the report said. (New York Times / Washington Post)
Trump: “I don’t believe” the climate report. (Axios)
2/ The Trump administration claimed it reached a deal with Mexico’s incoming government to hold asylum seekers in Mexico while their claims are processed through U.S. courts. The incoming Mexican government, however, denied that it reached an agreement with the Trump administration, known as Remain in Mexico, and insisted that talks of a deal were premature. (Washington Post / The Guardian / USA Today / NBC News)
3/ U.S. border agents fired tear gas on migrants protesting near the U.S.-Mexico border after some of them attempted to cross using a train border crossing. The fumes were carried by the breeze toward unarmed families hundreds of feet away. Mexico’s Interior Ministry said around 500 migrants were involved in the march for faster processing of asylum claims for Central American migrants, but it was a smaller group of migrants who broke away and tried the train crossing. The border was shut down in both directions for several hours. (Associated Press / New York Times / CNN)
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis declined last month to approve a Department of Homeland Security request to use military force to protect border agents on the southwest border. DHS instead went over Mattis’ head and asked John Kelly to get approval for the use of lethal military force. Kelly is not in the military chain of command. (Daily Beast)
4/ A judge denied Trump’s request to throw out a lawsuit alleging he used the Trump Foundation for personal and political purposes. The suit alleges that Trump, along with Ivanka and Trump Jr., engaged in “extensive unlawful political coordination with the Trump presidential campaign, repeated and willful self-dealing transactions to benefit Mr. Trump’s personal and business interests, and violations of basic legal obligations for nonprofit foundations.” A lawyer for the Trump Foundation tried to have the case thrown out, arguing that a sitting president can’t be sued and that the Trump family didn’t knowingly do anything wrong. He claimed the suit was an act of political bias. (NBC News / Reuters / NBC News / CNN)
poll/ 59% of Americans disapprove of the way Trump is handling race relations. 35% approve. (Quinnipiac)
poll/ 60% of American disapprove of the job Trump is doing as president. 38% approve. (Gallup)
Notables.
Jared Kushner directed the Department of Defense and State to inflate the value of the arms deal between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia from around $14.5 billion to $110 billion. (ABC News)
Trump launched 238 drone strikes during his first two years in office on Yemen, Pakistan, and Somalia. In 2009 and 2010, “Drone President” Obama launched 186 drone strikes on Yemen, Somalia, and Pakistan. Once in office, Trump relaxed the burden of proof requirements for targets put in place by the Obama administration, which counterterrorism experts say explains the increase in strikes. (Daily Beast)
The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to take up three cases challenging Trump’s decision to ban transgender people from serving in the military. The move is an attempt to bypass federal appeals courts and bring the case directly to the high court for a decision. District courts across the country have so far prevented the policy from going into effect, and the D.C. Circuit is scheduled to hear arguments in early December. (CNN / Reuters / Washington Post / New York Times / BuzzFeed News)
Jerome Corsi rejected a deal from Robert Mueller to plead guilty to one count of perjury. He claimed he was forgetful when investigators asked him whether he knew beforehand that WikiLeaks was going to publish emails stolen from Democratic computers during the campaign. He said he did not want to plead guilty to intentionally lying. (Washington Post / New York Times)
George Papadopoulos was ordered to start his 14-day prison sentence today for lying to federal investigators in the Russia probe, Papdopoulos has asked to delay the start of his sentence while a constitutional challenge to the special counsel’s investigation of Russian election interference remains unresolved. (CNN / New York Times / Washington Post)
The head of Russian military intelligence died “after a long and serious illness.” In March, the Trump administration sanctioned Igor Korobov, citing the GRU’s involvement “in interfering in the 2016 U.S. election through cyber-enabled activities.” (Meduza / The Guardian)
The Office of Special Counsel is looking into whether acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker violated the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees from accepting political contributions. According to the Office of Special Counsel guidance, “penalties for Hatch Act violations range from reprimand or suspension to removal and debarment from federal employment and may include a civil fine.” The office has no connection to the Robert Mueller investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election. (CNN)
The White House deputy communications chief will continue to receive payments from his $8.4 million Fox News severance package over the next two years while being paid by the White House at the same time. Bill Shine’s financial disclosure form shows he will also receive a bonus and stock options package worth about $3.5 million this year and again in 2019. Shine was accused in multiple lawsuits of enabling and helping to cover up alleged sexual harassment by Fox News executives. (Hollywood Reporter / Daily Beast / USA Today / Associated Press)
1/ The White House authorized U.S. military troops deployed at the Mexican border to use lethal force and conduct law-enforcement operations. John Kelly’s “Cabinet order” expanded the authority of troops at the border to include “a show or use of force (including lethal force, where necessary), crowd control, temporary detention, and cursory search” in order to protect border agents. The order could conflict with the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits the military from acting as law enforcement on U.S. soil. (Military Times / Axios)
2/ The White House attacked “activist judges” for temporarily blocking Trump’s attempt to refuse asylum to migrants who cross the border illegally. Trump also blamed Monday’s ruling against his administration on an “Obama judge,” who wrote that Trump’s “rule barring asylum for immigrants who enter the country” outside a port of entry “irreconcilably conflicts” with federal immigration laws and “the expressed intent of Congress.” Chief Justice John Roberts pushed back on Trump’s characterization, saying the U.S. doesn’t have “Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges,” adding that an “independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for.” (NBC News / Washington Post / Associated Press)
3/ The House Intelligence Committee’s incoming Democratic majority is looking to hire money-laundering and forensic accounting experts for the purposes of examining unanswered financial questions about Trump and Russia. (Daily Beast)
4/ The bipartisan leaders of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee demanded that Trump say whether Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the killing of Jamal Khashoggi. Republican Sen. Bob Corker and Democrat Bob Menendez specifically asked whether the administration believed that bin Salman was involved in the murder. Under the Magnitsky Act, Trump can be required to determine whether a global leader was responsible for human rights violations. (Politico)
poll/ 15% of Americans say they are “looking forward” to talking about politics at Thanksgiving, 40% “hope to avoid” politics and 45% don’t really care. (CBS News)
Notables.
A federal judge blocked a Mississippi state law that banned most abortions after 15 weeks, ruling that it “unequivocally” violated women’s constitutional rights. Judge Carlton Reeves wrote that “the fact that men, myself included, are determining how women may choose to manage their reproductive health is a sad irony not lost on the court.” (Reuters / CNN/ NPR)
A federal judge in Detroit declared that a law banning female genital mutilation is unconstitutional. He dismissed charges against two doctors and six others accused of subjecting at girls to the cutting procedure, writing that “as despicable as this practice may be,” Congress did not have the authority to pass the law that criminalizes female genital mutilation, and that it’s a matter for the states to regulate. (USA Today / Reuters)
Both parties have reached an impasse as a partial government shut down looms two weeks away. Trump wants Republicans to secure at least $5 billion to pay for his border wall, which is much more than Democrats are willing to give. (Politico)
U.S. farmers are having trouble selling massive stores of grain that would usually be sold to Chinese buyers. As the trade dispute with China continues, farmers across the country are either letting their crops rot or plowing them under instead of harvesting as they wait and hope for better prices next year. (Reuters)
Robert Mueller still wants to question Trump about his actions in the White House, in addition to the written answers Trump submitted in response to questions about Russian interference in the 2016 election. Rudy Giuliani signaled that the Trump team would fight any questions they believe violate executive privilege – especially if they relate to potential obstruction of justice. (Politico / CNN)
Mueller asked a federal judge to order George Papadopoulos to start serving time in prison on Monday as scheduled. Papadopoulos asked to delay his two-week prison sentence while a constitutional challenge to the special counsel’s appointment in a separate case in Washington is resolved. Mueller’s team responded that Papadopoulos waived his rights to appeal when he pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. (Washington Post)
📌 The Re-up: Thanksgiving Day Edition.
A few stories worth your attention that were drowned out by the daily shock and awe. But that’s not all – these topics also make for great turkey talk. You can thank me later.
Trump inherited his family’s wealth through fraud and questionable tax schemes, receiving the equivalent today of at least $413 million from his father’s real estate empire. Trump has repeatedly claimed that “I built what I built myself.” Trump and his siblings used fake corporations to hide financial gifts from their parents, which helped Fred Trump claim millions in tax deductions. Trump also helped his parents undervalue their real estate holdings by hundreds of millions of dollars when filing their tax returns. In total, Fred and Mary Trump transferred more than $1 billion in wealth to their children and paid a total of $52.2 million in taxes (about 5%) instead of the $550+ million they should have owed under the 55% tax rate imposed on gifts and inheritances. Trump also “earned” $200,000 a year in today’s dollars from his father’s companies starting at age 3. After college, Trump started receiving the equivalent of $1 million a year, which increased to $5 million a year when he was in his 40s and 50s. Trump has refused to release his income tax returns, breaking with decades of practice by past presidents. There is no time limit on civil fines for tax fraud. [Editor’s note: This is a must read. An abstract summary does not suffice.] (New York Times)
A U.N. report on the effects of climate change predicts a strong risk of an environmental crisis much sooner than expected. The report finds that the atmosphere could warm by as much as 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit above preindustrial levels by 2040 if greenhouse gas emissions continue at the current rate, which would cause sea levels to rise, intensify droughts, wildfires, and poverty, and cause a mass die-off of coral reefs. To prevent 2.7 degrees of warming, greenhouse pollution must be reduced by 45% from 2010 levels by 2030, and fully eliminated by 2050. The use of coal as an electricity source would have to drop from nearly 40% today to between 1% and 7% by 2050. Renewable energy would have to increase to about 67%. Trump has mocked the science of human-caused climate change, vowing to increase the burning of coal, and he intends to withdraw from the 2015 Paris agreement. The world is already more than halfway to the 2.7-degree mark and “there is no documented historic precedent” for the scale of changes required, the report said. (New York Times / Washington Post)
Trump won’t take action against Saudi Arabia or Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the death of Jamal Khashoggi, issuing an exclamation-point laden statement that defended the Kingdom and effectively closed the door on the issue. Trump questioned the CIA’s assessment that Mohammed ordered Khashoggi’s assassination, saying: “It could very well be that the crown prince had knowledge of this tragic event — maybe he did and maybe he didn’t!” Regardless, Trump said, the U.S. “intends to remain a steadfast partner of Saudi Arabia” despite calling the “crime” against Khashoggi “terrible” and “one that our country does not condone.” The statement was subtitled “America First!” (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / NPR / NBC News)
The Trump administration plans to redefine the legal definition of gender as strictly biological, unchangeable, and determined by the genitals that a person is born with. The effort by the Department of Health and Human Services would establish a legal definition of sex under Title IX, effectively narrowing the definition of gender and deny federal recognition and civil rights protections to transgender Americans. (New York Times)
Ivanka Trump repeatedly used a private email account to conduct government business in 2017. A White House review found her personal email use included exchanges with cabinet secretaries and forwards of her schedule to her assistant, with hundreds of messages being in violation of federal records rules. Ivanka claimed she didn’t know the rules about using a personal email account for government business. [Obligatory editor’s note: But her emails.] (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News)
Programming note: WTF Just Happened Today will not publish Thursday or Friday. For the latest, check the Current Status – a news tool I built so you always know what the fuck just happened today in politics. Have a safe and happy holiday. I’ll see you Monday.
1/ Trump won’t take action against Saudi Arabia or Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the death of Jamal Khashoggi, issuing an exclamation-point laden statement that defended the Kingdom and effectively closed the door on the issue. Trump questioned the CIA’s assessment that Mohammed ordered Khashoggi’s assassination, saying: “It could very well be that the crown prince had knowledge of this tragic event — maybe he did and maybe he didn’t!” Regardless, Trump said, the U.S. “intends to remain a steadfast partner of Saudi Arabia” despite calling the “crime” against Khashoggi “terrible” and “one that our country does not condone.” The statement was subtitled “America First!” (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / NPR / NBC News)
READ: Trump’s statement on the Saudi crown prince and the killing of Jamal Khashoggi. (White House)
2/ Ivanka Trump repeatedly used a private email account to conduct government business in 2017. A White House review found her personal email use included exchanges with cabinet secretaries and forwards of her schedule to her assistant, with hundreds of messages being in violation of federal records rules. Ivanka claimed she didn’t know the rules about using a personal email account for government business. (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News)
Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee plan to investigate Ivanka’s use of a personal email account to determine whether she violated federal law. (The Hill / Washington Post)
3/ A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from refusing asylum to immigrants crossing the U.S. border illegally. U.S. District Court Judge Jon Tigar rejected Trump’s Nov. 9 proclamation that said anyone who failed to cross into the U.S. at a designated port of entry would not be granted asylum. “Whatever the scope of the President’s authority,” Judge Tigar wrote, “he may not rewrite the immigration laws to impose a condition that Congress has expressly forbidden.” The ruling will remain in effect for one month barring any further appeals. (Associated Press / CNN / NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times)
4/ Trump submitted his written answers to Robert Mueller’s questions “regarding the Russia-related topics of the inquiry,” according to Trump’s attorney, Jay Sekulow. Mueller has not ruled out trying to compel Trump to sit for an interview after reviewing the written answers. (Bloomberg / CNBC / New York Times / Associated Press)
poll/ 70% of Americans think Trump should allow the Russia investigation to continue. 52% of Americans think Congress should pass legislation to protect Mueller from being fired, while 67% of Republicans disagree. 51% of Americans think the Russia investigation is politically motivated. (CBS News)
Notables.
Trump wanted to order the Justice Department in April to prosecute Hillary Clinton and James Comey. The White House counsel at the time, Don McGahn, pushed back, saying Trump had no authority to order a prosecution, and that while he could request an investigation, that could prompt accusations of abuse of power. (New York Times)
The acting attorney general received more than $1.2 million as the leader of a charity that reported having no other employees. Matthew Whitaker worked for a charity called the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust for three years, starting in 2014. (Washington Post)
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer requested that the Justice Department inspector general investigate communications between Whitaker and the White House beginning in 2017, when Whitaker was appointed chief of staff to then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions. (ABC News / Politico)
The FBI now classifies the far-right organization known as the Proud Boys as an extremist group. The group has be designated as an “extremist group with ties to white nationalism,” according to documents produced by Washington state law enforcement. The document also warns that the Proud Boys are “actively recruiting in the Pacific north-west” and that they have “contributed to the recent escalation of violence at political rallies held on college campuses, and in cities like Charlottesville, Virginia, Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington.” (The Guardian)
1/ The CIA concluded that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi, contradicting the Saudi government’s claims that he was not involved in the killing. The evidence included an intercept showing a member of the 15-person team calling an aide to Prince Mohammed and saying “tell your boss” that the mission was accomplished. Trump called Saudi Arabia a “truly spectacular ally,” telling senior White House officials that he wants Prince Mohammed to remain in power as a check on Iran. Trump also claimed that the CIA “haven’t assessed anything yet,” but “as of this moment we were told that [Prince Mohammed] did not play a role.” (Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / Politico)
Trump won’t listen to what he called the “suffering tape” of Khashoggi’s murder inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. Trump also maintained that the crown prince told him “maybe five different times” and “as recently as a few days ago” that he had nothing to do with the killing. (Washington Post)
The White House official responsible for U.S. policy toward Saudi Arabia resigned. Kirsten Fontenrose had pushed for tough sanctions against the Saudi government in the response to the killing of Khashoggi. (New York Times)
2/ Trump probably won’t sit down for an in-person interview with Robert Mueller, saying “we’ve wasted enough time on this witch hunt and the answer is, probably, we’re finished.” Trump also claimed he didn’t know that his Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker opposed the Mueller investigation, but said Whitaker is “right” about his criticism of the special counsel’s investigation. The two have had multiple conversations about the probe over the last year. (Fox News / New York Times / NBC News)
Kellyanne Conway said Trump is “not afraid” to sit down with Mueller, because “it just doesn’t seem necessary.” (The Hill)
3/ Trump won’t stop Whitaker from curtailing Mueller’s investigation into possible collusion by Trump campaign officials with Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Trump said he would “not get involved” if Whitaker moved to restrict it. (Bloomberg / Reuters)
4/ A group of Senate Democrats are suing to block Whitaker from serving as acting attorney general, saying the appointment is unconstitutional. They’re asking a federal judge to remove him because the appointment violates the Constitution since Whitaker has not been confirmed by the Senate. Adam Schiff added that not only is Whitaker’s appointment “flawed,” but “that he was chosen for the purpose of interfering with the Mueller investigation. He auditioned for the part by going on TV and saying he could hobble the investigation.” (Associated Press / Daily Beast / The Guardian)
5/ Trump called the incoming House Intelligence Committee chairman “little Adam Schitt” after the administration spent a week complaining about the need for decorum as part of its tiff with CNN and Jim Acosta, whose press credentials Trump revoked earlier this month. The White House did not comment on whether Trump misspelled Schiff’s name intentionally. Melania Trump’s office, who has spearheaded anti-cyberbullying efforts through her “Be Best” initiative, also did not comment. (Vox / CNN / Politico)
6/ After first threatening to suspend Acosta’s press pass again after the current restraining order expires, the White House reversed course and “fully restored” Acosta’s credentials. On Friday, Judge Timothy J. Kelly ruled that Acosta’s right to due process had been violated when the White House suspended his pass. After the ruling, the White House sent Acosta a formal letter outlining a “preliminary decision” to again suspend his pass once the temporary order expires, citing a “fail[ure] to abide” by “basic, widely understood practices” when asking follow-up questions and not giving up the microphone right away. CNN and Acosta asked a federal judge for an emergency hearing to allow the judge to enter a more permanent preliminary injunction. The White House instead told CNN they would restore Acosta’s press credentials as long as he follows new rules at presidential news conferences, which include asking just one question at a time and “physically surrendering the microphone.” (Washington Post / NBC News / Axios / CNN)
Notables.
Trump criticized the retired Navy SEAL who led the raid on Osama bin Laden, saying that he should’ve caught bin Laden sooner. Adm. Bill McRaven called Trump’s attack on the news media “the greatest threat to democracy in my lifetime.” Trump responded by calling the now-retired four-star admiral a “Hillary Clinton fan” and scoffing that it would “have been nice if we got Osama Bin Laden a lot sooner.” (Fox News / NBC News / CNN)
Trump revived his threat to shut down the federal government next month if Congress fails to give him the $20 billion needed to build his border wall. Trump asked lawmakers for $5 billion for new wall construction in fiscal 2019, which Democrats opposed. The Senate compromised with $1.6 billion for the wall. (Washington Post)
The 5,800 troops Trump sent to the Southwest border will start coming home just as some members of the refugee caravan arrive at the border. All the troops should be home by Christmas. (Politico)
Trump claimed Finland’s president told him they rarely have forest fires because they “spend a lot of time raking.” Finnish President Sauli Niinistö said he never discussed that with Trump. During his visit to California, Trump declined to blame the deadliest and most devastating wildfire in the state’s history on climate change, instead declaring: “I have a strong opinion: I want great climate.” (Politico / CNN / Associated Press / The Guardian)
1/ Trump said he answered Robert Mueller’s written questions himself “very easily,” but he hasn’t submitted them because “you have to always be careful when you answer questions with people that probably have bad intentions.” Rudy Giuliani said there are at least two dozen questions that relate to activities and episodes from before Trump’s election. Trump spent more than five hours in meeting over three days this week with his attorneys working out written answers for Mueller about alleged collusion between his campaign and Russia during the 2016 presidential election. Despite telling reporters that “the questions were very routinely answered by me,” Trump’s temper boiled during all three meetings. Seemingly out of nowhere, Trump targeted Mueller on Twitter yesterday, calling the special counsel team “thugs” and the investigation a “witch hunt.” (Associated Press / Reuters / CNN / Washington Post / The Guardian)
Senate Republicans are urging Trump to quickly nominate a permanent attorney general to end bipartisan concern over the future of the special counsel. The challenge, apparently, is persuading Trump to trust the traditional choices he doesn’t have a personal relationship with, like former attorney general Bill Barr or former deputy attorney general Mark Filip. (Politico)
Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker assured Lindsey Graham that he won’t end Mueller’s investigation, despite previously publicly disparaging the special counsel. (Bloomberg)
Dick Cheney’s former top national security aide has come under scrutiny from Mueller. The special counsel has been looking into the communications and political dealings of John Hannah, the former Cheney adviser who later worked on Trump’s State Department transition team, including his interactions with Lebanese-American businessman and fixer George Nader, who brokered meetings between foreign dignitaries and the Trump campaign, as well as Joel Zamel, social media “guru” with deep ties to Israeli intelligence. (Daily Beast)
George Papadopoulos asked a federal judge to keep him out of prison until a constitutional challenge to Mueller’s investigation is resolved. The former Trump campaign adviser pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and is scheduled to serve a 14-day sentence starting on Nov. 26. (Washington Post)
2/ The Justice Department inadvertently revealed that it secretly filed criminal charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. The disclosure came in an unrelated court filing where prosecutors inadvertently pasted text from a similar court filing into the wrong document. The filing abruptly switched on the second page to discussing someone named “Assange,” who had been charged under seal that was the subject of significant publicity, lived abroad, and would need to be extradited. It’s unclear what Assange, who’s been living in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London since 2012, has been charged with, but the charges likely center around the publication of emails from Democrats during the 2016 presidential campaign, and may involve the Espionage Act, which criminalizes the disclosure of national defense-related information. “The court filing was made in error,” said a spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s office in Virginia. “That was not the intended name for this filing.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / The Guardian)
3/ A federal judge ruled in favor of CNN and Jim Acosta, ordering the White House to temporarily restore the press credentials that Trump had taken away last week. The suit alleges that CNN and Acosta’s First and Fifth Amendment rights were violated by last week’s suspension of his press pass. The White House said it would follow the court order and “temporarily reinstate the reporter’s hard pass,” as well as “develop rules and processes to ensure fair and orderly press conferences in the future.” The judge, Timothy J. Kelly of Federal District Court in Washington, ruled that the Trump administration had most likely violated Acosta’s due process rights, but declined to weigh in on the First Amendment issues cited by CNN. “We want total freedom of the press,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. If journalists don’t “behave,” Trump said, “we’ll end up back in court and we’ll win.” Trump added: “We have to practice decorum.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / CNN / The Hill)
Notables.
Florida election officials ordered a hand recount of ballots in the U.S. Senate race between Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson and Governor Rick Scott. A machine count showed the two candidates divided by a margin of less than 0.25 percent. Meanwhile, the race between Republican Ron DeSantis and Tallahassee mayor Andrew Gillum is down to an 0.41 percent lead for DeSantis. (Reuters)
Chuck Grassley will move from the Senate Judiciary Committee to the Finance Committee next year. Lindsey Graham is in line to replace him as chairman of the Judiciary. (Politico)
Besty DeVos has received around-the-clock security from U.S. Marshals since she was confirmed, which could cost taxpayers $19.8 million through Sept. 2019. Jeff Sessions first approved the protection on Feb. 13, 2017. No other cabinet member receives an armed detail. (NBC News)
The Pentagon failed its first-ever comprehensive audit. The audit found U.S. Defense Department accounting discrepancies that could take years to resolve. Some 1,200 auditors examined financial accounting on a wide range of spending, including on weapons systems, military personnel, and property. “We failed the audit, but we never expected to pass it,” said Deputy Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan. “It was an audit on a $2.7 trillion dollar organization, so the fact that we did the audit is substantial,” he added. (Reuters)
North Korea announced a “successful” and “highly significant” test of an “ultramodern tactical weapon.” It didn’t appear to be a test of a nuclear device or a long-range missile with the potential to target the U.S. (ABC News / Associated Press)
A Mississippi Senator said she thinks it’s a “great idea” to make it harder for “liberal folks” to vote. Last week, Cindy Hyde-Smith “joked” that if she was invited “to a public hanging, I’d be on the front row.” She has refused to apologize for her “public lynching” comment, and claims her voter suppression comment was the result of “selectively edit[ing].” (Washington Post)
The Supreme Court will hear arguments over whether Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross can be compelled to testify in a case regarding the addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 census. The addition of the question has been challenged in six lawsuits around the country. (Washington Post)
Another Trump adviser is writing a tell-all book about his time in the White House. The book by Cliff Sims, who joined the West Wing staff on Day One as a special assistant to the president, is set to be published in January. (Politico)
Trump offered to nominate Mira Ricardel as ambassador to Estonia after Melania forced the deputy national security adviser out of the White House. Ricardel turned down the posting, but has since been offered nearly a dozen jobs from which to choose. (Bloomberg)
Trump plans to nominate acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler as the permanent head of the environmental agency. Wheeler previously represented coal and energy-industry interests as a lobbyist. (USA Today / New York Times)
Trump honored a campaign donor with the Presidential Medal of Freedom – the nation’s highest civilian commendation. Miriam Adelson and her husband, Sheldon Adelson, a Las Vegas casino magnate and one of the nation’s most powerful Republican donors, gave Trump’s presidential campaign $30 million in the final months of the 2016 race. They also donated $100 million to the Republican Party during this past election cycle. (NBC News / New York Times)
Trump has been asking aides and advisers whether they think Pence is loyal. While Trump hasn’t suggested dropping Pence from the 2020 ticket, outside Trump advisers have suggested that Pence may have used up his usefulness. Others believe that asking about Pence’s loyalty is a proxy for asking about whether Nick Ayers is trustworthy, who Trump has considered replacing John Kelly with. (New York Times)
1/ Trump made up an accusation that Robert Mueller was “horribly threatening” witnesses to force them to cooperate in the Russia probe. The renewed attack on the special counsel comes one day after Mitch McConnell blocked an effort to protect Mueller’s work. Trump called Mueller’s investigation “A TOTAL WITCH HUNT LIKE NO OTHER IN AMERICAN HISTORY!” and “a total mess” that has “gone absolutely nuts.” Trump also defended his administration, saying it “is running very smoothly” and not “in chaos” or having a “meltdown,” but rather the U.S. under his presidency has become “the envy of the world.” He provided no evidence to support his claim. (New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post / Bloomberg / HuffPost)
Mueller’s team is investigating witness tampering by Roger Stone. Mueller is exploring whether Stone tried to intimidate and discredit a witness who contradicted his story about his contacts with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange during the 2016 presidential campaign. (Wall Street Journal)
In a two-paragraph legal filing, Mueller said former Trump campaign aide Rick Gates is cooperating with prosecutors on “several ongoing investigations,” and it’s not appropriate to start his sentencing process. (Bloomberg)
Text messages show Stone discussed WikiLeaks with a friend six days before it began releasing the Clinton campaign’s hacked emails. The text messages appear to show Randy Credico providing regular updates to Stone on WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s plans to release the hacked emails. In the exchange, Credico tells Stone on Oct. 1, 2016, that “Hillary’s campaign will die this week” because of “big news Wednesday.” Nothing about Clinton was released that Wednesday, but two days later, on Oct. 7, WikiLeaks dropped its first dump of emails stolen from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta. (NBC News)
2/ A federal judge denied a Russian firm’s motion to dismiss charges filed by Mueller’s team. The special counsel has accused Concord Management and Consulting of funding a propaganda operation to sway the 2016 presidential election in Trump’s favor. Concord was charged with conspiring to defraud the U.S. government by hiding its election-related activities and failing to register as a foreign agent trying to influence the U.S. political process. Concord is controlled by Russian businessman Evgeny Prigozhin, a Russian oligarch with close ties to Putin. (Reuters / Politico / CNN)
3/ Saudi Arabia’s public prosecutor is seeking the death penalty for five people involved in the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Another six suspects have been indicted. Saudi officials denied that King Salman or his son Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had any knowledge of the operation. (New York Times / CNN / Washington Post)
4/ The Trump administration sanctioned 17 Saudis accused of involvement in the killing of Khashoggi. Neither the U.S. nor Saudi’s implicated Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whom Turkey has indirectly accused of ordering Khashoggi’s death. (New York Times / Washington Post)
5/ The White House asked the Justice Department and FBI for ways to legally extradite an enemy of Turkish President Recep Erdogan in order to placate Turkey over the murder of Khashoggi. Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen has lived in self-imposed exile in the U.S. for almost two decades. Erdogan accused Gulen of being behind a failed coup against his government in 2016. (NBC News)
6/ A federal judge ruled that Florida voters have until Saturday to correct their rejected mail-in and provisional ballots, saying the state’s law requiring signatures on ballots to match those on file is being applied unconstitutionally. More than 4,000 ballots across 45 counties in Florida were not counted because of inconsistent signatures. In 22 other counties, the number is unknown. In the Senate race, Gov. Rick Scott (R) leads Sen. Bill Nelson (D) by fewer than 13,000 votes. In the gubernatorial race, Rep. Ron DeSantis (R) leads Andrew Gillum (D) by nearly 34,000 votes. (Washington Post / ABC News / BuzzFeed News)
7/ The same judge denied a request to extend the deadline for elections officials to complete a machine recount despite Palm Beach County’s election supervisor saying they would not meet the deadline. Judge Mark Walker of the U.S. District Court in Tallahassee called Florida “the laughingstock of the world election after election and we chose not to fix this.” Counties that do not complete the machine recount in time will revert to the unofficial results tabulated on Saturday. Races that remain within one quarter of one percentage point after the deadline will proceed to a manual recount, and will have until Sunday at noon to review ballots. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Reuters)
8/ Palm Beach County missed the deadline for recounting votes in the state’s Senate, governor’s and agriculture-commissioner races. Counting machines overheated and stopped working at least twice this week. Florida will now manually recount the results in the U.S. Senate race, where about 12,600 votes separated Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson from Republican Rick Scott, the state’s governor. (Washington Post / ABC News)
Notables.
Trump will meet with Kim Jong Un for a second summit. The condition of the meeting does not include a requirement that North Korea provide a complete list of its nuclear weapons and missile sites. (NBC News)
Stormy Daniels attorney Michael Avenatti was arrested for felony domestic violence. Officers in West Los Angeles took an incident report involving an allegation of domestic violence from an unidentified victim. Avenatti denied ever being “physically abusive,” and called the felony allegation against him “completely bogus.” (Politico / CNBC / BuzzFeed News)
A federal judge will rule on restoring Jim Acosta’s press pass on Friday, postponing a decision on granting CNN’s request for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction. (Politico / ABC News / CNN)
Trump nominated a handbag designer to be the next ambassador to South Africa. Lana Marks is a member of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort. Marks has no prior diplomatic experience. (Reuters / CNN / HuffPost)
A man started shouting “Heil Hitler, Heil Trump” during intermission at a performance of “Fiddler on the Roof.” The play is based on Yiddish stories and tells the tale of a Jewish family in Russia during the early 1900s. (Baltimore Sun / Talking Points Memo)
A 10-year-old Muslim girl found notes in her elementary school cubby that said “You’re a terrorist” and “I will kill you.” (CNN)
Hate crimes in America rose 17% last year – the third consecutive year that such crimes increased. (Washington Post)
1/ The White House argued that Trump has “broad discretion to regulate access to the White House for journalists” in response to a lawsuit by CNN over the suspension of Jim Acosta’s press pass. The lawsuit alleges that the ban violates CNN and Acosta’s First and Fifth Amendment rights and they’re asking for a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction that would restore his access right away. Almost every major news organizations has sided with CNN. (CNN)
Fox News supports CNN’s lawsuit against the Trump administration. “Secret Service passes for White House journalists should never be weaponized,” Fox News President Jay Wallace said in a statement. “While we don’t condone the growing antagonistic tone by both the President and the press at recent media avails, we do support a free press, access and open exchanges for the American people.” (Axios / Politico)
First Amendment lawyers say courts have a history of defending access for journalists, and the White House’s shifting justifications for revoking Acosta’s press pass won’t help it in the coming legal fight. (Politico)
2/ The Justice Department defended the legality of Trump’s appointment of Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general, arguing that the appointment is consistent with the Constitution, federal statutes and past precedent in a 20-page memorandum opinion. The memo’s disclosure comes a day after Maryland asked a Federal District Court judge to issue an injunction and declare that Rod Rosenstein the acting attorney general. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN)
The incoming ranking members of several House committees opened an investigation into Whitaker’s involvement in World Patent Marketing, which was charged last year by the Federal Trade Commission with promoting an “invention-promotion scam.” Whitaker was on the advisory board for World Patent Marketing. (Politico / House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform)
Whitaker walked away from a taxpayer-subsidized apartment-rehabilitation project in Iowa after years of cost overruns, delays and other problems. The city of Des Moines pulled an affordable housing loan that Whitaker’s company had been awarded, and another lender began foreclosure proceedings after Whitaker defaulted on a separate loan for nearly $700,000. (Associated Press)
Whitaker praised Trump in his first public speech as acting attorney general, telling an audience that “under President Trump their 401(k)s are doing pretty good right now.” (CNN)
3/ Sen. Lindsay Graham said he supports a bill to protect Robert Mueller’s investigation from any politically motivated firings. Graham also said that he would urge Mitch McConnell to allow a vote on the bill. “I would certainly vote for it,” Graham said. “I don’t see any movement to get rid of Mueller. But it probably would be good to have this legislation in place just for the future.” Chuck Grassley, meanwhile, said he supports the bill, but he won’t lobby McConnell to allow the measure to move forward. (Reuters)
4/ Jeff Flake threatened to vote against Trump’s judicial nominees if legislation to protect Mueller does not receive a Senate floor vote. Flake said he will not vote to confirm nominees on the Senate floor or advance them in the Senate Judiciary Committee after Chris Coons unsuccessfully attempted to force a Senate vote on the special counsel legislation. Mitch McConnell objected to the request for a vote from Flake. (CNN / Axios)
5/ Roger Stone claimed multiple times during the 2016 presidential race that he was in communication with Trump and his campaign. Stone and Trump spoke weekly, which is now being scrutinized by Robert Mueller. Stone repeatedly said during the campaign that he had communicated with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange through a “backchannel,” “intermediary” or “mutual acquaintance.” Mueller’s office is also exploring whether Stone tried to intimidate and discredit a witness who is contradicting his version of events about his contacts with WikiLeaks. (CNN / Wall Street Journal)
poll/ 37% of voters want to see Trump reelected, compared to 58% of voters who want someone new in the Oval Office come January 2021. Trump’s overall job rating stands at 43% approve and 49% disapprove. (Monmouth University Poll)
poll/ 53% of Americans said the midterm election results were a rejection of Republican policies. 62% said it would be good for the country to have Democrats in charge of the House. (CNN)
Notables.
Trump endorsed a bipartisan House bill that would reform the federal prison system and ease some mandatory minimum sentences. (New York Times / Reuters / Washington Post)
Rep. Elijah Cummings says one of his first priorities when Congress returns will be to investigate why the Trump administration decided to add a question about citizenship to the 2020 census. “There are certain things that mandate that we look at immediately. One of them is the census, because that’s right around the corner,” Cummings said. Last month, Cummings asked for an official probe into why the Commerce Department added the question to the census, which critics say could serve to depress responses to the census from immigrants, many of whom live in Democratic-leaning communities. (Reuters)
Lawyers suing Trump over his decision to end special protections shielding certain immigrants from deportation are seeking unaired footage from “The Apprentice” to allege the move was racially motivated. Lawyers for Civil Rights has issued subpoenas to MGM Holdings and Trump Productions for any footage in which Trump “uses racial and/or ethnic slurs.” (NBC News)
Trump criticized British Prime Minister Theresa May when she called Air Force One for not doing enough to contain Iran after the U.S reimposed sanctions. Trump questioned May’s approach to Brexit, and complained that U.S. trade deals with European nations were not fair. (Washington Post)
Betsy DeVos plans to overhaul how colleges and universities handle allegations of sexual assault and harassment. The new rules, set for release before Thanksgiving, will bolster the rights of the accused, including the ability to cross-examine their accusers. The rules will also reduce liability for universities, tighten the definition of sexual harassment, and allow schools to use a higher standard in evaluating claims of sexual harassment and assault. (Washington Post)
Florida Gov. Rick Scott will recuse himself from certifying his own election. Scott led Bill Nelson by fewer than 13,000 votes in unofficial results before the recount started. (CNN)
Without evidence, Trump accused people, who “have absolutely no right to vote,” of changing their clothes and returning to cast additional ballots in disguise. “Sometimes they go to their car, put on a different hat, put on a different shirt, come in and vote again,” Trump explained while calling for more voter ID laws. Then, Trump suggested that “if you buy a box of cereal — you have a voter ID.” (Daily Caller)
1/ CNN sued Trump and several White House aides asking the court to restore Jim Acosta’s access to the White House. Trump suspended Acosta’s press pass last week after a confrontation during a press conference. The suit alleges that Acosta’s and CNN’s First and Fifth Amendment rights are being violated by the White House’s ban. “This is not a step we have taken lightly. But the White House action is unprecedented,” CNN president Jeff Zucker said. Sanders responded by saying that CNN is “grandstanding” by suing. She added that the administration will “vigorously defend” itself. (CNN / Washington Post / New York Times)
The White House changed its justification for revoking Acosta’s press pass. Acosta was initially accused of putting his hands on an intern, but now Sarah Huckabee Sanders suggests that the decision to revoke Acosta’s access was because he refused to yield the microphone. (Washington Post)
2/ Maryland asked a federal judge to declare Rod Rosenstein the acting attorney general instead of Matthew Whitaker, arguing that the selection of Jeff Sessions’ former chief of staff violated federal law and exceeded the appointment authority outlined in the Constitution. Trump installed Whitaker as acting attorney general last week after ordering Sessions to resign from the post. (NBC News / Reuters)
Whitaker will consult with Justice Department ethics officials about possible recusal from overseeing Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Whitaker has faced pressure from Democrats to step aside from overseeing the special counsel investigation, due to critical comments he made about the investigation before joining the Justice Department last year. (CBS News)
3/ Trump is considering replacing John Kelly and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. Kelly has had repeated disputes with Melania Trump over staffing issues and travel requests, and clashed with national security adviser John Bolton and his deputy, Mira Ricardel, deputy national security adviser. Nick Ayers, currently Mike Pence’s chief of staff, is among those being considered for the job. Trump has told advisers that he wants to replace Nielsen, who is a close ally of Kelly. Forcing Nielsen out could result in Kelly quitting. Ricardel is also expected to be fired. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
Melania Trump called for Ricardel to be fired. “It is the position of the Office of the First Lady that she no longer deserves the honor of serving in this White House,” a spokeswoman said in a statement. Ricardel reportedly clashed with members of Melania’s staff over seating on a plane during her recent trip to Africa.(Washington Post) / The Guardian)
Trump is considering the former ICE director for Homeland Security secretary. Thomas Homan once recommended charging so-called sanctuary city politicians “with crimes” and defended separating children from their parents at the border. (Politico)
4/ A Roger Stone associate expects to be indicted by Robert Mueller soon. Jerome Corsi is one of more than a dozen people associated with Roger Stone who have been questioned by Mueller’s investigators. Corsi said he doesn’t know what he’ll be charged with other than the special counsel indicating that he will be charged in the coming days. Corsi has been cooperating with the Mueller investigation since receiving a subpoena in late August. (Associated Press / ABC News / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
Mueller is seeking information about Nigel Farage and whether Russia attempted to influence the June 2016 vote to leave the European Union,, according to Corsi. Farage was behind Britain’s vote to leave the European Union. (The Guardian)
Notables.
A federal judge delayed certification of Georgia’s election results, ordering the state to first review all provisional ballots. Unofficial returns show that Brian Kemp, the Republican nominee in the governor’s race, holds a lead of about 58,000 votes. He can afford to lose only 21,000 votes before facing a runoff election against the Democratic candidate, Stacey Abrams. About 21,190 provisional ballots were cast in Georgia. (New York Times / NBC News)
Kyrsten Sinema defeated her Republican opponent in the race for a Senate seat in Arizona, giving Democrats their first elected senator in Arizona in 30 years. Sinema, a Democrat, will replace Republican Sen. Jeff Flake and become the first woman to represent Arizona in the Senate. (Axios / USA Today / The Guardian / New York Times / NBC News)
Betsy DeVos was sued for failing to cancel student debt owed to for-profit colleges that have been shut down. The lawsuit comes a month after a federal judge ruled that the regulation should immediately go into effect. The judge called the delays “arbitrary and capricious.” (CNN)
The Trump administration closed an office that kept track of released Guantánamo inmates and has lost track of several of them, including one who has returned to a terrorist-held part of Syria. (McClatchy DC)
Trump mocked the French for needing the U.S. to rescue them from the Germans in both world wars. The tweet comes after Trump joined world leaders commemorating the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I where French President Emmanuel Macron publicly criticized Trump’s idea of “nationalism.” (Bloomberg)
Trump blamed the Secret Service for his canceled visit to a World War I cemetery in France, claiming that he suggested driving after it was deemed unsafe to take a helicopter. “By the way,” Trump tweeted, “when the helicopter couldn’t fly to the first cemetery in France because of almost zero visibility, I suggested driving. Secret Service said NO.” (ABC News / USA Today)
1/ Trump called for Florida to suspend its legally required recount and declare the Republican candidates for Senate and governor the winners of their respective races. Without evidence, Trump claimed that “many ballots are missing or forged,” and that “an honest vote count is no longer possible – ballots massively infected. Must go with Election Night!” In the governor’s race, unofficial results showed Ron DeSantis leading Democratic mayor, Andrew Gillum, by 0.41%, and in the Senate race, Republican governor Rick Scott leads incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson by 0.14%. Florida’s 67 counties are required to complete their recounts by Thursday. (ABC News / The Guardian / Washington Post / NBC News / CNBC)
The Florida Election should be called in favor of Rick Scott and Ron DeSantis in that large numbers of new ballots showed up out of nowhere, and many ballots are missing or forged. An honest vote count is no longer possible-ballots massively infected. Must go with Election Night!
The election overseer for Palm Beach County in Florida says there is no way the machine recount will be finished by Thursday’s deadline. “It’s impossible,” said the supervisor of elections. Both parties seem to agree that completing the recount in time to meet the deadline is not going to happen. Palm Beach County GOP Chairman Michael Barnett said the inability to meet the deadline was “good news for Republicans because our candidates are ahead.” (CNN)
Stacey Abrams filed a new lawsuit in federal court asking a judge to delay Georgia’s vote certifications by one day to give officials time to count any votes that were wrongly rejected. If the suit is successful, officials would have until Wednesday to restore at least 1,095 votes that weren’t counted. Neither campaign can agree on how many votes remain to be counted. (ABC News)
2/ Without evidence, Rick Scott accused Bill Nelson of trying to “commit fraud to try to win this election.” State elections and law enforcement officials say there is no evidence suggesting Scott’s allegations are true. Florida’s Senate race is one of three statewide contests headed to an automatic recount after the unofficial deadline for counties to report results passed. (The Guardian / CNN / Politico)
Gillum withdrew his concession to Republican former Rep. Ron DeSantis in the Florida governor’s race. (CNN)
Nelson called on Scott to recuse himself from “any role” in the recount that will determine the winner of their race. The recount is overseen by Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner, a Republican who was appointed to his position in 2012 by Scott. (NBC News)
Scott has filed at least five lawsuits against county election officials alleging that some ballots were counted after the Saturday noon deadline and requesting that voting tabulation equipment be impounded after the machine recount is completed. (CNN)
An ethics complaint asserts that Scott broke state law when he held a press conference in front of the governor’s mansion on Nov. 8 to claim that he would not “sit idly by while unethical liberals try to steal” his Senate race. A group of Florida voters and organizations have also filed a lawsuit that alleges Scott has abused his power as governor for threatening to not count legal votes. (Politico / BuzzFeed News)
3/ Trump properties received at least $3.2 million during midterms from campaigns and PACS. The Republican National Committee spent at least $1.2 million at Trump properties while the Trump campaign has spent more than $950,000 at the properties since the start of 2017. (CNN)
4/ A year before Jamal Khashoggi was killed, Saudi intelligence officials close to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman discussed using private companies to assassinate enemies of the kingdom. Saudi officials have claimed that Khashoggi’s death was a rogue killing ordered by an official who has since been fired. Turkish officials say Mohammad al-Otaibi, Saudi Arabia’s consul general in Istanbul at the time, as an accessory to the killing of Khashoggi has been established through his early denials and refusal to give investigators access to the consulate after Khashoggi’s disappearance. Otaibi was not among the Saudis arrested or fired. (New York Times / Washington Post)
Canadian intelligence has heard the audio recordings of the killing of the Khashoggi. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country had shared the audio recordings with a number of countries, including the U.S., France, Germany and Saudi Arabia. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirmed that his country’s intelligence services have listened to the recordings. (NBC News / NPR / BBC)
5/ North Korea has continued its ballistic missile program at 16 hidden bases identified in new satellite images. The existence of the ballistic missile bases contradicts Trump’s assertion that North Korea was “no longer a nuclear threat” following his June summit with dictator Kim Jong Un. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Washington Post)
6/ Michael Cohen and his criminal defense lawyer, Guy Petrillo, met Robert Mueller’s investigators. Cohen’s meeting with Mueller’s team is the latest in a series of sitdowns since pleading guilty in August to federal criminal charges, including campaign contribution violations related to payments to two women at Trump’s behest. Cohen has participated in multiple interview sessions totaling more than 40 hours with investigators from Mueller’s office and federal prosecutors in New York City. (ABC News / CNBC)
poll/ 61% of Democrats see Republicans as “racist/bigoted/sexist.” 31% of Republicans say they view Democrats the same way. (Axios)
Notables.
Trump doesn’t want to give any more federal relief funding to Puerto Rico, because he thinks the island’s government is using the relief money to pay off its debt. It’s not. (Axios)
Trump blamed California’s wildfires on “poor” forest management despite nearly 60% of California’s forests being under federal management. He also threatened to cut off federal funding due to “gross mismanagement.” (ABC News / NBC News)
Democrats in the House have at least 85 different topics for potential subpoena and investigation, including Trump’s taxes, his role in payments to two women who alleged that they had affairs with him, his family business, and his targeting of the press. One senior Democratic source said the Democrats are preparing a “subpoena cannon.” New York Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler added that if Trump is found to have violated campaign finance laws with hush payments, it “might very well be an impeachable offense.” (Axios / ABC News / The Guardian / CNN)
Trump blamed the stock market downturn on the prospect of “Presidential Harassment by the Dems.” (Washington Post)
Half of the Republicans who wrote the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act are no longer in Congress. Of the 24 Republican tax-cut authors, four lost their seats in the midterms, three retired, three ran for another office, and two left mid-term. (Yahoo News)
1/ Trump was involved in “nearly every step” of the hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal and he may have violated federal campaign-finance laws in the process. David Pecker, chief executive of American Media Inc., offered to use the National Enquirer to buy their silence, eventually paying McDougal $150,000 after Trump asked Pecker to kill her story. As a presidential candidate, Trump “directed deals in phone calls and meetings” related to the two women with Michael Cohen, who pleaded guilty in August to campaign-finance violations. Cohen also admitted that he arranged payments to Daniels and McDougal at the direction of “a candidate for federal office” with the intention of influencing the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. (Wall Street Journal)
2/ Trump claimed that he did not discuss Robert Mueller’s Russia probe with Matthew Whitaker before appointing him acting attorney general. Trump defended Whitaker, calling him a “highly respected man,” but also said “I don’t know Matt Whitaker.” Trump has been in more than a dozen meetings with Whitaker in the Oval Office. (Washington Post / Politico / CNBC / NBC News)
Whitaker previously served on the advisory board of a company that “bilked thousands of consumers out of millions of dollars.” World Patent Marketing was fined nearly $26 million after the FTC accused it of scamming customers. The FBI is conducting a criminal investigation and Whitaker has “unquestionably recused from any investigation or prosecution of World Patent Marketing.” (New York Times / Washington Post / ABC News / Wall Street Journal)
Trump called George Conway “Mr. Kellyanne Conway” after he wrote an op-ed arguing that Trump’s appointment of Whitaker is unconstitutional because he wasn’t confirmed by the Senate. George is the husband of White House counselor Kellyanne Conway. (ABC News)
3/ A federal appellate court panel ordered Mueller to explain how the firing of Jeff Sessions could influence the case between the special counsel and Andrew Miller, the former Roger Stone aide who is challenging Mueller’s appointment on constitutional grounds. The judges will likely ask for supplemental briefing to address the legal issues tied to the handover from Rod Rosenstein to Whitaker. (Politico)
Mueller’s team is “not getting what they want” from Paul Manafort, despite a cooperation agreement that requires participation in “interviews, briefings, producing documents, [and] testifying in other matters.” (ABC News)
4/ Trump signed a presidential proclamation blocking migrants who cross into the U.S. illegally from seeking asylum. The proclamation is aimed primarily at several thousand migrants traveling north through Mexico in caravans. The new rules will change longstanding asylum laws that allow people who are fleeing persecution and violence in their home countries to seek protection in the U.S. and prevent people from seeking that protection if they don’t enter the country at an official port of entry. (New York Times / Politico / ABC News)
5/ Before resigning, Jeff Sessions signed a memorandum limiting the use of consent decrees between Justice Department officials and local police departments. Consent decrees allow federal law enforcement officials to use court-enforced agreements to overhaul local police departments accused of civil rights abuses and violations. Sessions added three new requirements for the agreements: top political appointees must sign off on the deals, department lawyers must show evidence of additional violations beyond unconstitutional behavior, and the deals must have a sunset date. (New York Times)
6/ Trump threatened to revoke more press passes, saying he doesn’t know how long Jim Acosta’s credentials will be suspended, “but it could be others also.” Trump went on to attack April Ryan from American Urban Radio Networks, calling her a “loser” who “doesn’t know what the hell she is doing,” and then bashed CNN reporter Abby Phillip for asking Trump if he wants Whitaker to “rein in Mueller.” Trump replied: “What a stupid question that is. What a stupid question […] you ask a lot of stupid questions.” (CNN / Politico / The Hill)
Notables.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg is “up and working” after being released from the hospital. (The Hill / Reuters)
Trump is telling people he wants to replace Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross by the end of the year. Trump is considering former wrestling executive Linda McMahon, as well as Ray Washburne, who he appointed as head of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation as possible replacements. (CNBC)
Trump said he has no plans to fire Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. Earlier this week, Trump said he would be “looking at different people for different positions” after the midterms, mentioning Zinke in particular. (Politico)
Zinke is exploring potential roles at Fox News, the energy industry, and other business sectors as it becomes increasingly likely that he will leave his role as Secretary of the Interior as ethics investigations into his behavior in office continue to mount. (Politico)
The Pentagon’s No. 3 official resigned. John Gibson, the Department of Defense’s chief management officer, submitted his resignation on Monday and will leave Nov. 30. Gibson served in the role for less than nine months. (The Hill)
A federal judge blocked construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, saying the Trump administration “simply discarded” and ignored “inconvenient facts” about how the project would impact climate change. Two days after taking office, Trump signed an executive order approving the project that had been blocked by Obama because of environmental concerns. (New York Times / Washington Post)
1/ Robert Mueller’s team has begun writing its final report. Trump and his lawyers, meanwhile, have been reviewing his written answers to questions from the special counsel. Mueller is required to produce a “confidential report” at the end of his investigation, which includes “the prosecution or declination decisions reached by the Special Counsel.” With Jeff Sessions being replaced with Matt Whitaker, who has been openly critical of Mueller, it is not clear whether the report will release it at all, or in what form. (CNN)
Trump’s lawyer Jay Sekulow claimed there will be “no effect day-to-day” on Mueller’s investigation. Whitaker has taken responsibility for supervising Mueller’s probe even though he has written critically about the special counsel’s work and publicly criticized it. (Bloomberg)
Whitaker will not recuse himself from overseeing Mueller’s probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election. It’s also unlikely that Whitaker would approve any subpoena of Trump as part of the investigation. (Washington Post)
Kellyanne Conway’s husband argued that Trump’s pick of Whitaker was unconstitutional and that he should to be subject to Senate confirmation before serving. (New York Times / Washington Post)
Trump is considering former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi to replace Sessions. (CNN / CNBC)
Progressive groups are calling for nationwide protests today at 5 p.m. local time to demand protection for Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling and possible collusion with the Trump campaign. The protests will be held under the banner, “Nobody is Above the Law,” and will be led by the activist group MoveOn. The protests were triggered by Trump’s decision to fire Jeff Sessions and replace him with Matthew Whitaker, who will now have authority over the Russia investigation. Sessions recused himself after he was first appointed in 2016, giving Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein oversight of the probe. Whitaker has publicly called for Mueller’s probe to be reigned in. (Reuters)
2/ Trump hasn’t decided whether he’ll answer any of Mueller’s questions, according to Rudy Giuliani. If Trump declines to answer the questions, Mueller would be forced to make a decision about whether to subpoena the sitting president and force a historic legal fight. (Politico)
3/ Trump suspended the White House press credentials of CNN’s Jim Acosta after a heated exchange at a press conference yesterday. Acosta refused to give up the microphone and challenged Trump on his characterization that the Central American migrant caravan was “an invasion.” Acosta was later refused access when he tried to re-enter the White House and was asked to hand over his “hard pass,” which gives journalists access to the premises. Sarah Huckabee Sanders falsely claimed that Acosta had placed “his hands on a young woman” who was responsible for giving the microphone to reporters asking questions. (New York Times / Washington Post)
4/ Sanders tweeted a doctored video to support her accusation that Acosta was aggressive toward a White House aide. While the edited video makes it look like Acosta swiftly chopped down on the arm of the aide, the original video shows Acosta’s arm move only as a response to the aide grabbing for the microphone. In the original video, Acosta says, “Pardon me, ma’am,” when she grabs for the mic. Acosta’s statement is not included in the video Sanders shared. The White House Correspondents’ Association called the White House’s reaction “out of line to the purported offense” and urged that Acosta’s press pass be restored. Trump called Acosta a “a rude, terrible person.” The video was posted by the editor-at-large for fake news site Infowars. (Washington Post / NBC News / HuffPost)
5/ A federal appeals court ruled that the Trump administration can’t end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The ruling from a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with a federal district judge’s decision in January that Trump lacked the authority to eliminate the program. (Reuters / USA Today / CNN)
6/ A gunman killed a dozen people inside a crowded country-music bar in Southern California while firing seemingly at random. The gunman was identified as Ian David Long, a 28-year-old Marine veteran who earlier this year was cleared by a mental-health specialist after an encounter with police. He was found dead inside after apparently killing himself. (Washington Post / NBC News / The Guardian)
Notables.
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg fell and fractured three ribs. She was admitted to the hospital for treatment and observation. (CNBC / CNN / New York Times / NPR)
Christine Blasey Ford continues to be the “target of constant harassment and death threats” after accusing Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault when the two were in high school. Ford has moved four times, hire a private security detail, and hasn’t been able to return to her job as a professor at Palo Alto University. (NPR)
Brian Kemp, the Republican candidate for Georgia governor, resigned as secretary of state to begin his transition to governor despite the race being too close to call. Kemp holds a narrowing 50.3% to 48.7% lead over his opponent Stacey Abrams. In his role as secretary of state, Kemp oversaw Georgia’s elections – an inherent conflict of interest. (ABC News / Axios / CNN / NBC News)
The EPA removed more than 80 climate change websites. Since April 2017, the EPA’s climate change site said it was being updated to reflect the views of the Trump administration. In October 2018, the EPA removed the “updating” mention as well as links to the outgoing Obama administration’s climate change website archive. (Mashable)
The Trump administration issued a pair of federal rules that allow some employers to deny insurance coverage for contraception to their employees on religious or moral grounds. The rules provide exceptions to the Affordable Care Act that requires employers to provide essential health benefits at no charge to consumers, including birth control. (Washington Post)
1/ Democrats won back the House for the first time in eight years, picking up at least 27 seats to give the party a check on Trump and the GOP’s economic policy. “Tomorrow will be a new day in America,” Nancy Pelosi said in a victory speech. “Today is more than about Democrats and Republicans. It’s about restoring the Constitution’s checks and balances to the Trump administration.” Some key races are still too close to call as of Wednesday morning. (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / CNBC)
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, the pro-Russia Republican incumbent, lost to Democrat Harley Rouda in California’s 48th House district. (Daily Beast / New York Times)
The Nevada brothel owner who died last month won in the race for Nevada’s 36th Assembly District. County officials will appoint a Republican to take his place in the seat. (NBC News)
Trump described the midterm election as “great” for Republicans, but vowed to turn the tables on Democrats who investigate him and his administration. “If the Democrats think they are going to waste Taxpayer Money investigating us at the House level, then we will likewise be forced to consider investigating them for all of the leaks of Classified Information, and much else, at the Senate level. Two can play that game!” Trump tweeted. Mitch McConnell cautioned Democrats against engaging in “presidential harassment.” (Washington Post)
If the Democrats think they are going to waste Taxpayer Money investigating us at the House level, then we will likewise be forced to consider investigating them for all of the leaks of Classified Information, and much else, at the Senate level. Two can play that game!
2/ Republicans increased their majority in the Senate, building on their one-seat majority in the chamber by winning Democratic seats in Indiana, North Dakota and Missouri. (New York Times / The Guardian / Washington Post)
Ted Cruz narrowly defeated Beto O’Rourke. With 99% of precincts reporting, Cruz had 50.9%, or 4,228,832 votes, and O’Rourke had 48.3%, or 4,015,082 votes. (New York Times / Politico)
The Florida Senate race between Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson and Republican Gov. Rick Scott is headed to a recount. The two candidates are separated by fewer than 35,000 votes, with Scott holding the slim lead. (Politico)
Montana Democratic Sen. Jon Tester is the apparent winner in his bid for re-election to a third term. Tester voted no on Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court. (CNBC)
Mitt Romney won a U.S. Senate seat in Utah. (NBC News)
3/ Democrats flipped at least 7 governorships. The race remained too close to call in Georgia, where Democrat Stacey Abrams was running to become the first African American female governor. Democrats flipped the governorships in Wisconsin, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Illinois, Nevada and New Mexico. (Washington Post)
Stacey Abrams, the Democratic candidate for Georgia governor, refused to concede the race and said she was prepared to face Brian Kemp in a runoff. With 100% of precincts reporting, Kemp had 50.4%, or 1,971,884 votes, and Abrams has 48.7 percent, or 1,907,302 votes. Under Georgia law, if no candidate wins more than 50% of the vote, then the top two vote getters advance to a runoff election. Kemp, who oversees elections as secretary of state, has until Nov. 20 to officially certify the election. A candidate cannot officially request a recount until the certification. Abrams is seeking to become the first African-American woman elected governor in U.S. history. He campaign said they believed thousands of absentee and mail-in ballots are still coming in. (NBC News)
Under Kemp, Georgia purged more than 1.5 million voters from the rolls – 10.6% of voters – from 2016 to 2018. The state shut down 214 polling places, mostly minority and poor neighborhoods, and from 2013 to 2016, the state blocked the registration of nearly 35,000 Georgians, including newly naturalized citizens. (The Atlantic)
Kemp’s voter card said “invalid” when he tried to vote. He had to go back and get another card after unsuccessfully trying to vote. (WSBTV / The Hill)
The first openly gay man was elected governor in Colorado. Jared Polis will also be the state’s first Jewish governor. (BuzzFeed News / Vice News)
Democrat Laura Kelly defeated Kris Kobach in the race to be the next governor of Kansas. Kobach was the vice-chair of Trump’s now-disbanded commission on voter fraud. (Talking Points Memo)
4/ At least 111 women were elected to office, including the first Native American and first Muslim women. At least 96 women were elected – surpassing the current record of 84 – with 40 women of color headed to the House. Maine and South Dakota also elected their first female governors. The GOP elected several women, with Marsha Blackburn becoming Tennessee’s first female senator. In New York, Democratic Socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez became the youngest woman ever elected to Congress at age 29, followed shortly by Iowa Democrat Abby Finkenauer. (Politico / Bloomberg / Axios)
A list of of firsts for women: The next Congress will include the first Muslim women, the first Native American women, and the youngest woman ever elected to that body. (NPR)
Democrats Sharice Davids and Deb Haaland became the first Native American women elected to Congress. (CNN)
Sharice Davids is the first openly LGBTQ Kansan elected to Congress. (NBC News)
Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar are the first muslim women elected to Congress. (BuzzFeed News / CNN)
Ocasio-Cortez is youngest woman elected to Congress. (CNN)
The Kentucky county clerk who defied the Supreme Court and was jailed in 2015 for her refusal to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples lost her re-election for Rowan County clerk. Kim Davis lost by fewer than 700 votes among nearly 7,800 cast. (New York Times / The Hill)
The GOP congressman, who once lamented that he could no longer call women “sluts,” lost to a woman. Jason Lewis lost his seat to Democrat Angie Craig. (CNN)
5/ Florida voters reinstated voting rights for an estimated 1.5 million former felons. Amendment 4 automatically reinstates voting rights for people with felony convictions upon completion of their sentences, including prison, parole and probation. Excluded are those convicted of murder or a felony sexual offense. (CNBC)
6/ Jeff Sessions resigned at Trump’s request. Matthew Whitaker – Sessions’s chief of staff – will take over as acting attorney general and assume oversight of Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, and possible collusion by Trump’s campaign. Rod Rosenstein was overseeing the probe because Sessions had recused himself from any involvement with the special counsel. A DOJ spokesperson indicated that Whitaker would take over “all matters under the purview of the Department of Justice” – including the Mueller probe. Trump has repeatedly attacked Sessions for recusing himself from oversight of the probe in 2017 after it was revealed that he had met more than once with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. during the 2016 campaign despite saying he had not met with any Russians during his confirmation hearing. Mueller, meanwhile, has been looking into Trump’s previous statements about wanting to fire Sessions or force his resignation to determine whether those acts are part of a pattern of attempted obstruction of justice. Whitaker by law can serve as acting attorney general for a maximum of 210 days. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / CNBC / Wall Street Journal)
....We thank Attorney General Jeff Sessions for his service, and wish him well! A permanent replacement will be nominated at a later date.
In a 2017 opinion piece, Whitaker called for Mueller to “limit the scope of his investigation.” Whitaker also previously discussed how a Sessions replacement could reduce Mueller’s budget “so low that his investigation grinds to almost a halt.” (Washington Post)
The incoming Democrat set to take control of the House Judiciary Committee pledged to scrutinize Sessions’s firing and the promotion of his chief of staff to acting attorney general. (Mother Jones)
7/ House Democrats are prepared to open multiple investigations of Trump when they take control in January. The House Judiciary Committee is expected to focus on health care, beginning with an investigation of Sessions’s refusal to defend the Affordable Care Act against a lawsuit from Republican-led states. The House Intelligence Committee is expected to revisit Russian election meddling. The Education and Workforce Committee will likely examine Betsy DeVos’s efforts to relax regulations for for-profit colleges and limit student loan forgiveness, and the Ways and Means Committee could use a 1924 law to request Trump’s tax returns and then make them public with a simple majority vote. (Washington Post / Politico)
Trump said he would take a “warlike posture” to any attempts by Democrats to investigate his administration. “They can play that game, but we can play it better, because we have a thing called the United States Senate.” Sarah Huckabee Sanders also warned that Democrats shouldn’t “waste time” investigating Trump, urging them to not “be the party of resist and obstruct” but rather work with Trump to “solve some of the big problems that we’ve been leading on over the last two years.” Trump promised to make “beautiful” deals with Democrats. (Washington Post / Politico / New York Times / Daily Beast / ABC News)
8/ Trump Jr. told friends he expects to be indicted by Mueller soon. One former West Wing official who testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee, said “I’m very worried about Don Jr.,” fearing that Mueller could demonstrate that Trump Jr. perjured himself after he testified that he never told his father beforehand about the June 2016 Trump Tower with Russian officials promising “dirt” on Hillary Clinton. Mueller is expected to submit his final report to the Justice Department in the coming months. John Kelly and former White House counsel McGahn urged Trump to wait until Mueller issues his report to fire Sessions. (New York Magazine / Politico / Vanity Fair)
9/ Two more associates of Roger Stone testified before Mueller’s grand jury. Mueller is aggressively pursuing the question of whether the longtime adviser to Trump had advance knowledge of WikiLeaks’s plans to release hacked Democratic emails. At least nine Stone associates have been contacted by prosecutors so far. (Washington Post)
🔥 Hot Takes and 📊 Exit Polls.
Suburbs defect as Trump’s base holds. The divergent outcomes in the House and Senate exposed an ever-deepening gulf separating rural communities from America’s cities and suburbs. (New York Times)
The 2018 midterm elections were a referendum on Trump. Two-thirds of voters said the president was a factor in how they voted. (Washington Post)
Checks and balances are coming. Trump will face new levels of scrutiny from Congress, but despite Democratic gains he looks in a strong position for 2020. (The Guardian)
Health care trumps the economy. 41% of voters cited health care as their most important issue, while 23% named immigration, and 21% named the economy – the only time in at least a decade that it hasn’t topped the list. (NBC News)
Historically high turnout and young voter surge for Democrats. 60% of white men voted for the Republican party while white women were split between the two parties. (The Guardian)
Trump a major factor in 2018 midterm election voting. 44% of midterm voters approve of Trump’s job performance. (CBS News)
41% approve of Robert Mueller’s handling of the Russian investigation into interference in the 2016 election. 46% disapprove. 41% think the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election is mostly while 54% think it’s politically motivated. (NBC News)
Notables.
Trump will meet with Putin this weekend in Paris. The French had asked the Americans and Russians not to hold the meeting for fear that it would overshadow an event to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I. (New York Times)
Trump is expected to sign an executive order to revamp the U.S. asylum system this week. According to the directive, asylum seekers will be required to go to a port of entry to make a claim. Current U.S. law requires “any alien who is physically present” in the country to apply for asylum within a year of arriving. (Wall Street Journal)
1/ More than 36 million people voted early this year, almost 10 million more people than during the 2014 midterms. Some experts believe early voting could surpass 40 million people by the time all the ballots are counted. (Politico)
2/ Trump and Jeff Sessions issued baseless warnings about the threat of voter fraud in the midterm elections. There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the U.S. (Washington Post)
3/ Facebook suspended 115 accounts believed to be engaged in “coordinated inauthentic behavior.” Law enforcement believes the accounts may be linked to foreign entities. Almost all the Facebook pages appear to be in French or Russian. (USA Today / Politico)
Notables.
U.S. military personnel will not be “involved in the actual mission of denying people entry to the United States” at the southern border, according to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “There is no plan for US military forces to be involved in the actual mission of denying people entry to the United States,” Gen. Joseph Dunford said. “There is no plan for soldiers to come in contact with immigrants or to reinforce Department of Homeland Security as they’re conducting their mission.” (CNN)
The White House asked the Supreme Court to rule on the future of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program before three pending cases at the federal appellate level complete the normal appeals process. DACA is currently accepting renewals but not new applicants. If the program ends, about 700,000 protected individuals could be deported. (NPR)
Motel 6 will pay up to $7.6 million to Hispanic guests after regularly providing guest lists to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Motel 6 also agreed to a two-year consent decree barring it from sharing guest data with immigration authorities absent warrants, subpoenas, or threats of serious crime or harm as part of its preliminary settlement with eight Hispanic plaintiffs. (Reuters)
Cesar Sayoc is scheduled to appear in court in New York today to face charges that he mailed pipe bombs. Prosecutors will ask the judge to hold Sayoc without bail because he is considered dangerous to the public. Sayoc faces nearly 50 years in prison if he is convicted of the five federal charges filed against him in New York. (Associated Press)
Trump: “I would like to have a much softer tone,” but “I have no choice.” Trump blamed the current vitriol in political discourse on the election season, then at a rally later Monday called the Democratic candidate for Ohio governor, a “bad person,” revived his “Pocahontas” insult for Elizabeth Warren, attacked the news media, demanded that security remove protesters, and criticized Dianne Feinstein’s role in Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing. (Reuters)
Today in one sentence: Democrats are expected to take control of the House of Representatives but fall short in the Senate; national polls show that 55% of voters prefer Democratic control of the House; some polls, however, show the Democratic edge shrinking; at least 31 million people have voted early nationwide; and U.S. intelligence officials have seen no evidence of any attempts to tamper with the midterm election systems.
🗳 Dept. of Midterms 2018.
With one day to go, I’ll be keeping this space updated throughout the midterms with the latest polls and live blogs.
Election Day misinformation. What to look for. (New York Times)
The Latest.
The Georgia secretary of state and Republican candidate for governor accused Democrats of allegedly trying to hack the state’s voter registration system. Brian Kemp, who is in a tight race with Stacey Abrams, alleged that the state Democratic Party made a “failed attempt to hack the state’s voter registration system” and announced that his office was opening an investigation. Kemp said his office also alerted the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI, but he offered no evidence to back up his allegation. Democrats called it a “political stunt” days before the election. (New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post)
U.S. intelligence officials have seen no evidence of attempts to tamper with the voting systems or election infrastructure. (NBC News)
This year’s early voting numbers in at least 12 states have already surpassed those from the 2014 midterm election. First-time voters have cast 5% or more of the early vote in 10 states. (CNN)
At least 31 million people have voted early nationwide. At this point in the 2014 midterms, 19 million voted early. (CNN)
Early voter turnout in Texas surpassed the entire turnout in the 2014 midterm election. Over 4.5 million people in Texas cast in-person ballots in this year’s early voting period and more than 360,000 people have cast mail-in ballots in 30 counties alone. (Texas Tribune)
Georgia and Texas voting machines have inexplicably deleted some people’s votes for Democratic candidates or switched them to Republican votes. Experts blamed the errors on outdated software and old machines. (Politico)
The nonpartisan Cook Political Report shifted nine House races toward Democrats. (The Hill)
55% of voters prefer Democratic control of the House while 42% want Republicans to stay in power. (CNN)
50% of likely voters say they prefer a Democratic-controlled Congress, while 43% want Republicans in charge – down from Democrats’ 9-point advantage in October. (NBC News)
43% of registered voters would vote for the Democratic congressional candidate in their district on a generic congressional ballot compared with 40% who would vote for the Republican candidate. (Politico)
Trump’s approval rating stands at 39%, with 55% disapproving – slightly worse than in early October, when 41% approved of his performance and 52% disapproved. (CNN)
Notables.
The Trump administration expects a number of Cabinet secretaries and top White House aides to be fired or actively pushed out after the midterms. Jeff Sessions, Rod Rosenstein, Sarah Sanders, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross all face uncertain futures. (Washington Post)
Financial penalties against banks and big companies have declined sharply during the first 20 months of the Trump presidency. There has been a 62% drop in penalties imposed by the S.E.C. and a 72% decline in corporate penalties from the Justice Department’s criminal prosecutions compared to the Obama administration. (New York Times)
U.S. businesses paid $4.4 billion in tariffs in September – up more than 50% from a year ago. The increase was driven by $1.4 billion in Trump administration tariffs on Chinese imports and foreign steel and aluminum. (CNBC)
NBC aired the racist anti-immigration political ad approved by Trump. After airing the ad, both NBC and Fox News pulled it. CNN, however, rejected the ad outright, saying “that this ad is racist.” (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN)
A Navy reconnaissance plane in international airspace over the Black Sea was intercepted by a Russian fighter jet in an unsafe manner. (CNN)
Trump’s deployment of troops to the U.S.-Mexico border is estimated to cost $220 million by year-end. A Pentagon risk assessment found that the caravan did not pose a threat to the United States. (CNBC / Washington Post)
About “200 unregulated armed militia members [are] currently operating along the southwest border,” according to a planning document for Army commanders leading the 5,200 troops Trump deployed at the border. The groups “operate under the guise of citizen patrols supporting” border officials. (Newsweek / HuffPost)
A group of Idaho teachers dressed up as a wall with the phrase “Make America Great Again” on it for Halloween. The district Superintendent called the costumes “clearly insensitive and inappropriate.” (CNN)
Trump’s name was invoked in direct connection with 17 cases of criminal violent acts, threats of violence, or allegations of assault. Nearly all of the cases – 16 out of 17 – include court documents and direct evidence of someone echoing presidential rhetoric, not protesting it. The suspects and perpetrators in the 17 cases are mostly white men, while the victims represent a variety of minority groups, including African-Americans, Latinos, Muslims, and gay men. (ABC News)
Trump dismissed his administration’s National Climate Assessment. Trump didn’t read the report, but said he believes climate change will “probably” change back. (Axois)
1/ Trump once told Michael Cohen that he thinks black people are “too stupid” to vote for him and suggested that all countries run by blacks are “shitholes.” Cohen also claimed that Trump remarked that “only the blacks could live like this” as they drove through a “rougher” Chicago neighborhood in the early 2000s. (Vanity Fair)
2/ The Trump administration will reimpose all U.S. sanctions on Iran that had been lifted as part of the 2015 nuclear agreement. The sanctions will take effect on Monday, but eight “jurisdictions” will be granted six-month waivers, Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, said. Shortly after the announcement, Trump tweeted a poster of himself with the words “Sanctions Are Coming” with the font from the popular HBO show, Game of Thrones. (Associated Press / New York Times / CNN / Axios)
HBO: We “would prefer our trademark not be misappropriated for political purposes.” HBO’s official Twitter account followed up soon after, asking, “How do you say trademark misuse in Dothraki?” (CNBC / Los Angeles Times)
3/ The FBI recovered a suspicious package addressed to billionaire Tom Steyer resembling those allegedly sent by Cesar Sayoc. Steyer is a Democrat known for his ads calling for the impeachment of Trump. (CNN / Reuters)
4/ The Nigerian Army used Trump’s speech to justify fatally shooting rock-throwing protesters. The Nigerian army posted a video of Trump’s anti-migrant speech from Thursday in which he said rocks would be considered firearms if thrown toward the American military at the border. The army has been accused of killing 45 protesters. (New York Times / BuzzFeed News)
5/ Trump walked back his threat that troops could shoot at migrants approaching the border if they threw rocks. “I didn’t say shoot,” Trump claimed. “I didn’t say shoot,” Trump claimed. “But if they do [throw rocks at troops] they’re gonna be arrested for a long time.” (CNN / USA Today / Bloomberg)
6/ Trump blamed journalists for “creating violence” in the country. His comment comes a week after more than a dozen attempted pipe bombs were sent to Trump’s critics and a gunman opened fire at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, killing 11. Sarah Huckabee Sanders tried to clarify Trump’s remarks: “No, the president is not placing blame” that the news media was at fault for the attempted pipe bomb attacks. “I mean, that is outrageous than anybody other than the individual who carried out the crime would hold that responsibility.” (NBC News / Washington Examiner)
poll/ 49% say the way Trump speaks encourages political violence, while 19% see him as discouraging it. 29% say he’s neither encouraging nor discouraging violence. (ABC News)
Notables.
A federal judge denied Trump’s request to stay a lawsuit alleging he is in violation of the Constitution’s emoluments clause and ordered evidence-gathering to begin. Maryland and Washington attorneys general want to know how much money Trump’s hotel in Washington receives from foreign governments and how profits flow to his trust. (New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg)
Top Democrats are promising investigations, not impeachment proceedings, if they win back control of the House next week. Nancy Pelosi and her lieutenants say they’re more interested in exercising the broad oversight powers of the majority party instead of focusing on trying to impeach Trump. They plan to use subpoenas and public hearings to drag senior administration officials and force them to testify about alleged wrongdoings in front of the public eye. (NPR)
U.S. intelligence agencies and the Pentagon are prepared to launch a cyber attack against Russia if the country is caught interfering in the 2018 midterm elections. The effort is one of the first major cyber battle plans organized under the new government policy that allows offensive cyber operations to be worked out in advance among key agencies. (Center for Public Integrity)
The U.S. economy added 250,000 jobs in October. Wages grew by 3.1% since last year – the largest annual jump in nine and a half years not adjusted for inflation. The unemployment rate stayed at 3.7% – the lowest it has been since December 1969. Average hourly earnings went up by 5 cents an hour over the last month, with an 83-cent increase year-over-year. (CNN Business / CNBC / Reuters)
Former CIA Director John Brennan endorsed Texas senate candidate Beto O’Rourke over Ted Cruz. “I believe Beto O’Rourke is the type of individual Texans need in the U.S. Senate to represent their best interests,” Brennan tweeted. The statement marks the first time Brennan has endorsed a candidate in a midterm election. (NBC News)
Trump’s racist ad campaign that accuses Democrats of opening U.S. borders to let in undocumented immigrants who kill police officers narrowly avoids violating campaign finance laws. The ad fails to mention who paid for it, but campaign finance experts say Trump may have found a loophole in the laws by limiting the distribution of the video to social media. (ABC News)
The cop killer from Trump’s immigration ad entered the country while George W. Bush was president and released by Joe Arpaio “for reasons unknown.” The racist video falsely accusing Democrats of allowing Luis Bracamontes who murdered two police officers into the country. Arpaio was pardoned last year by Trump. (Sacramento Bee / HuffPost / Washington Post)
1/ Roger Stone was in communication with Steve Bannon about upcoming WikiLeaks disclosures during the 2016 presidential race. After WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange publicly claimed to have hacked emails from Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, Bannon emailed Stone on Oct. 4: “What was that this morning???” Stone responded that Assange feared for his personal safety, but would be releasing “a load every week going forward.” Last week, Robert Mueller’s team interviewed Bannon for a third time, including about his communications with Stone. (New York Times / CNN / Washington Post)
Earlier this week Stone claimed he never discussed WikiLeaks with anybody from the Trump campaign. “There are no such communications,” Stone said, “and if Bannon says there are, he would be dissembling.” (Washington Post)
📖Read the emails between the Trump campaign and Roger Stone. (New York Times)
Jerome Corsi met with Mueller’s investigators and is scheduled to appear before the federal grand jury probing Russia interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election on Friday. Corsi is one of at least 11 individuals associated with Stone who have been contacted by the special counsel. (ABC News)
2/ Trump tweeted a racist video falsely accusing Democrats of allowing a man who murdered two police officers into the country. The ad shows Luis Bracamontes, a Mexican man who had previously been deported but returned to the U.S. and killed two California sheriff’s deputies, in court with text overlays that say he “killed our people!” and that “Democrats let him into our country” and “Democrats let him stay.” It’s followed by footage of people who appear to be part of a migrant caravan pushing down gates with text then asks: “Who else would Democrats let in?” The ad offers no evidence for claims that Democrats let Bracamontes, who was deported twice, into the country. (ABC News / CNN / The Guardian)
3/ Before Saudi Arabia acknowledged that Jamal Khashoggi’s death was a “terrible mistake” and a “terrible tragedy,” the crown prince claimed that Khashoggi was a dangerous Islamist. In a phone call with both Jared Kushner and national security adviser John Bolton, Prince Mohammed bin Salman argued that Khashoggi was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. Mohammed is expected to retain power despite an international consensus that he’s responsible for the killing. (Washington Post / New York Times)
4/ Trump’s deployment of an additional 5,200 troops to the southern border could cost as much as a million dollars per day. Troops are expected to be stationed at the border for 45 days. (Newsweek)
5/ Without evidence, Trump claimed that he “wouldn’t be surprised” if George Soros is funding the caravan of Central American migrants moving toward the U.S. Republican congressmen, cable-news personalities, and Trump Jr. have been pushing the idea that Soros, a wealthy, liberal Jewish donor, was funding the caravan. (The Hill / Washington Post)
🎉 Base motivations: Trump claimed that he will take executive action next week to end what he calls an “abuse” of the asylum system, saying that “massive tent cities” could be erected at the southern border to hold people who cross into the country illegally in detention indefinitely. Trump also said that soldiers at the border may shoot at migrants who commit violence. (Bloomberg / Washington Post)
6/ Trump: “I always want to tell the truth. When I can, I tell the truth.” Trump has made more than 5,000 false or misleading statements during his nearly two years in office. During the same interview, Trump claimed he is “pretty good at estimating crowd sizes,” which is how he knows the group of migrants traveling north through Central America is “a lot bigger than people would think.” (ABC News)
Trump suggested that he might invoke a state of national emergency in order to justify using the military to arrest and detain migrants and refugees at the southern border. When asked what role active duty military personnel would play, since U.S. law prohibits the U.S. Army from being used to enforce domestic law, Trump said “Well it depends, it depends.” He continued: “National emergency covers a lot of territory. They can’t invade our country. You look at that it almost looks like an invasion. It’s almost does look like an invasion.” (ABC News)
7/ Trump claimed that calling the press the “enemy of the people” is his only way to fight back “when people write stories about me that are so wrong.” He said he thinks he’s “doing a service” by attacking the press, and that he wouldn’t have been elected if he hadn’t done it during the 2016 campaign. “If they would write accurately about me,” he continued, “I would be the nicest president you’ve ever seen. It would be much easier.” (Axios)
poll/ 56% of voters said Trump has done more to divide the country than unite it. 64% said the media have done more to divide the country. (Politico)
poll/ 47% of American believe that Russia will try to influence the midterm elections. 48% believe Russians would try to help Republicans, while 15% say Russia would try to help Democrats. (Politico)
Notables.
Federal judges ordered Ohio to allow voters who had been purged for not voting over a six-year period to participate in the midterm elections. The state sent confirmation notices to voters that they’d be removed from county voter rolls after not voting in three federal elections. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel said the state “did not adequately advise registrants of the consequences of failure to respond.” (NBC News)
National Security Adviser John Bolton called Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua a “Troika of Tyranny,” declaring Jair Bolsonaro’s recent election in Brazil a “positive sign” for Latin America. Bolsonaro has made numerous homophobic and sexist remarks, and supports military rule. (Axios)
Trump’s top economic adviser opposes the federal minimum wage, arguing that it’s a “terrible idea” and that raising it would “damage” small businesses by forcing their payroll to increase. Larry Kudlow also said that he would oppose any attempt to work with Democrats in Congress to raise the federal minimum wage should they take back the House or Senate in the 2018 midterm elections. (Washington Post)
The EPA approved the use of a weedkiller prone to drifting and damaging nearby crops and wild vegetation. Farmers started using dicamba because glyphosate, their previous favorite weedkiller, isn’t working as well anymore. (NPR)
Trump said he had a “long and very good conversation” with Chinese President Xi Jinping, claiming trade “discussions are moving along nicely.” (Wall Street Journal / Politico)
Trump wants to offer a former Fox News anchor the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations job. Heather Nauert, currently the State Department spokeswoman, would take over from Nikki Haley, who announced last month that she would step down at the end of the year. (CNN / ABC News)
1/ The suspect in the shooting that left 11 people dead at a Pittsburgh synagogue was charged in a 44-count indictment with murder, hate crimes and other offenses that could bring the death penalty. Robert Bowers entered the Tree of Life synagogue armed armed with Glock .357 handguns and a Colt AR-15 rifle, and told police he was there to “kill Jews.” (Washington Post / Associated Press)
2/ Pipe bomb suspect Cesar Sayoc “conducted a domestic terror attack,” according to federal prosecutors. Sayoc researched the addresses of his targets online and had photos of them on his cellphone. Sayoc allegedly intended to “maximize harm” to his 15 targets. Justice Department prosecutors said Sayoc began planning the “domestic terror attack” in July while living in his van, which was covered with photos praising Trump. (NBC News / ABC News)
3/ The Trump administration doesn’t plan to renew the anti-domestic terror program, which funds the development of new approaches to prevent terrorism before it begins. The Department of Homeland Security said it has no plans to continue the program past the end of its funding in July 2019 and has told grant recipients that the funding was a “one-time” opportunity. (NBC News)
4/ Jamal Khashoggi was strangled and dismembered as soon as he entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul as part of a premeditated plan to kill the Saudi journalist and dispose of his body, according Turkey’s public prosecutor. The statement from Irfan Fidan is the first official description by a Turkish official about Khashoggi’s death and follows two days of meetings with Saudi Arabia’s top prosecutor, Saud al-Mojeb. A senior Turkish official said Mojeb did not give Fidan the location of Khashoggi’s body or the identity of the “local collaborator” who helped dispose of the Khashoggi’s remains. The Saudis have shifted their story about Khashoggi’s fate, initially denying any knowledge, then suggesting that “rogue” killers were responsible for Khashoggi’s death, before acknowledging that Khashoggi was killed in a premeditated murder. (CNN / Bloomberg / Washington Post / Associated Press)
A group of Republican senators want to stop to talks on selling U.S. nuclear power equipment to Saudi Arabia in response to the Khashoggi killing. (Bloomberg)
5/ Trump may deploy 10,000 to 15,000 military personnel to the border with Mexico in response to the caravan of Central American migrants. The deployment would double the number of active-duty troops operating there, and be roughly equivalent to the size of the U.S. military’s presence in Afghanistan, and three times the size of the presence in Iraq. Yesterday, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said that the military was deploying 5,239 troops to support the Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection, in addition to the 2,092 members of the National Guard already there. (Washington Post / Politico)
6/ Trump blamed former White House Counsel Don McGahn for Robert Mueller’s appointment. Trump surprised McGahn in August by tweeting McGahn’s planned departure on Twitter, since McGahn had not discussed his plans with Trump directly. McGahn has also cooperated with Mueller’s probe, participating in several interviews spanning 30 hours. (CNN)
The Senate Intelligence Committee is investigating Steve Bannon’s activities during the 2016 presidential campaign, looking into what Bannon might know about any contacts between Russia and George Papadopoulos and Carter Page. (Reuters)
poll/ 31% of voters ages 18 to 34 say they will definitely vote this month, 26% say they’ll probably vote, and 19% say they will probably or definitely not vote this year. (NBC News/GenForward)
Notables.
Facebook approved fake political ads by reporters posing as all 100 U.S. Senators. Facebook added a “Paid for by” transparency disclosure to the political ads to indicate to users who paid for the ads that show up in their news feeds. The “Paid for by” feature is easily manipulated, however, allowing anyone to lie about who is paying for a political ad, or to pose as someone paying for the ad. (Vice News)
Trump attacked Paul Ryan for saying Trump “obviously” can’t end birthright citizenship with an executive order. “Paul Ryan should be focusing on holding the Majority rather than giving his opinions on Birthright Citizenship, something he knows nothing about!” (New York Times / Washington Post)
A 20-year-old pro-Trump media personality and disgraced hedge fund prodigy named Jacob Wohl and a Republican lobbyist named Jack Burkman were involved in the plot to smear Robert Mueller with false sexual assault allegations. Wohl allegedly created a fake company called Surefire Intelligence and attempted to pay women to make false allegations against the special counsel. The case has been referred to the FBI for further investigation. (Vox / The Atlantic / GQ)
1/ Trump traveled to Pittsburgh to offer condolences to the families of the 11 victims of the mass shooting at Tree of Life synagogue hours after the first funerals were held. Pittsburgh mayor Bill Peduto explicitly asked Trump not to visit and did not appear with Trump. Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, and Pat Toomey also all declined to appear with Trump. More than 1,000 people declared Trump “unwelcome in our city and in our country.” Earlier, Trump said: “I really look forward to going. I would have done it even sooner, but I didn’t want to disrupt any more than they already had disruption.” (CNN / NPR / Washington Post)
Robert Bowers complained about immigrant “invaders” six days before the shooting. There is no invasion, but right-wing media has been heavily using the word “invasion” in relation to the Central American migrant caravan this month. (CNN)
Shep Smith breaks with Fox News on the migrant caravan: “There is no invasion. No one is coming to get you. There is nothing at all to worry about.” The migrants are “more than two months away — if any of them actually come here,” Smith added.(HuffPost)
The Kansas man convicted of a 2016 plot to massacre Somali Muslim refugees asked for a more lenient sentence, arguing that Trump’s rhetoric should be taken into account as the “backdrop” for the case. (Washington Post)
Pence hosted an election event with a so-called “Christian rabbi.” Instead of opening up with prayers for the 11 Jews shot dead, Loren Jacobs praised Jesus Christ and then offered prayers for four Republican candidates. (Yahoo News)
2/ In an attempt to energize his base before the midterm elections, Trump claimed he can defy the constitution and end birthright citizenship via executive order. Trump said he discussed the idea with the White House counsel and that “it’s in the process, it will happen, with an executive order.” (Axios / Politico)
3/ The consensus among legal scholars is that Trump cannot end birthright citizenship by executive order. To end the constitutional right to citizenship for babies born in the U.S. to non-citizen, Trump would have to find a way around the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which states: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” Amendments to the Constitution cannot be overridden by presidential action. (New York Times / Associated Press / Washington Post)
Paul Ryan: “Obviously” Trump cannot end birthright citizenship by executive order. It would involve a “very, very lengthy” constitutional process to change the 14th Amendment, which was adopted in 1868 to protect citizenship rights for freed slaves. (CNN)
The American Civil Liberties Union called Trump’s plan “blatantly unconstitutional.” (Twitter)
Lindsey Graham said he will introduce legislation to support Trump’s plan to limit birthright citizenship. (Reuters)
4/ Trump falsely claimed that America is the “only country in the world with birthright.” At least 30 countries worldwide offer it, including Canada and Mexico. (Daily Beast / Axios)
poll/ 40% of voters under 30 said they will definitely vote this year. In 2014, 26% said they would definitely vote. Trump holds a 26% approval rating among those age 18 to 29. (Washington Post)
Voting machines in five Texas counties have been changing ballots. The state blamed voters for the error, saying they were using the selection wheel before the screen finished rendering. (Washington Post)
Notables.
Robert Mueller asked the FBI to investigate a claim by a woman who was offered money to make up sexual harassment claims against him. The scheme was brought to the special counsel’s attention by journalists who were told about it by a woman alleging that she had been offered roughly $20,000 by a GOP activist named Jack Burkman “to make accusations of sexual misconduct and workplace harassment against Robert Mueller.” (The Atlantic)
The Interior Department’s Inspector General referred Ryan Zinke to the Justice Department for further investigation. Justice Department prosecutors will now explore whether a criminal investigation is warranted. An agency’s inspector general only refers cases to the Justice Department when it has determined that there could be potential criminal violations. (Washington Post)
Trump wants Stormy Daniels to pay $342,000 for his attorney fees after defeating her defamation lawsuit. U.S. District Judge S. James Otero threw out the lawsuit earlier this month over a tweet by Trump in which he accused Clifford of “a total con job.” The judge awarded Trump “reasonable” attorneys’ fees. (Bloomberg)
The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to delay a trial over adding a citizenship question to the 2020 Census. (Washington Post)
Fewer than 1,000 U.S. defense jobs would be created as a result of Trump’s $110 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia, despite Trump’s claims that the deal would create “500,000 jobs.” One forecast shows the potential for up to 10,000 new jobs in Saudi Arabia. (Reuters)
Trump called Florida’s Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum a “thief” who runs a corrupt city. Trump provided no evidence to support that claim, or his claim that Gillum was under investigation by the FBI. The Tallahassee city government, where Gillum is mayor, is currently being investigated, but there is no evidence that Gillum is personally under scrutiny, nor has he been charged with any wrongdoing. (NBC News)
The U.S. is preparing additional tariffs on all remaining Chinese imports if Trump and Xi Jinping fail to “make great deal with China” and reconcile the ongoing trade dispute. Trump added that “it has to be great because they’ve drained our country.” (Bloomberg / CNBC) / Reuters)
Trump: “If you want your stocks to go down, I strongly suggest voting Democrat.” (CNBC)
1/ A man armed with a semiautomatic assault-style rifle shot and killed 11 people during Shabbat services at a Pittsburgh synagogue in the deadliest attack on Jews in the history of the United States. Robert Bowers was charged with 29 counts of federal crimes of violence and firearms offenses. He also faces state charges, including 11 counts of homicide. Bowers told police during the shootout: “I just want to kill Jews.” (Washington Post / The Guardian / CNN)
2/ Trump: “If there was an armed guard inside the temple, they would have been able to stop him.” Trump added that the shooting “has little to do” with gun laws, but, “if they had protection inside, the results would have been far better.” (CNN / New York Times / ABC News)
Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto: Armed guards are not the answer. “We should try to stop irrational behavior from happening at the forefront,” Peduto said. “And not try to create laws around irrational behavior to continue.” He added: “I don’t think that the answer to this problem is solved by having our synagogues, mosques and churches filled with armed guards or schools filled with armed guards.” (NBC News)
3/ The former president of the Pittsburgh synagogue labeled Trump the “purveyor of hate speech” and said he would not be welcome in the city. Lynette Lederman’s comments followed an open letter signed by a coalition of local Jewish leaders that states: “President Trump, you are not welcome in Pittsburgh until you fully denounce white nationalism.” More than 30,000 people have signed the open letter. (The Guardian / Washington Post)
4/ Trump will visit Pennsylvania to commemorate the the victims of the mass shooting at Tree of Life Synagogue despite Pittsburgh’s mayor requesting that the trip be postponed until after the funerals are held. (NPR / Washington Post / New York Times)
5/ Trump called for unity but blamed the media for the “anger and outrage” in the country, accusing the press of being “the true Enemy of the People” for what he called “fraudulent” reporting regarding the wave of pipe bombs sent to prominent Democrats and the gunman who massacred Jewish worshipers at a Pittsburgh synagogue. The media is “doing everything in their power to blame Republicans, Conservatives and me for the division and hatred that has been going on for so long in our Country,” Trump wrote in a separate tweet, claiming “it is their Fake & Dishonest reporting which is causing problems far greater than they understand!” Sarah Sanders also accused the media of blaming Trump for the pipe bombs and synagogue shooting. (Washington Post / Politico)
There is great anger in our Country caused in part by inaccurate, and even fraudulent, reporting of the news. The Fake News Media, the true Enemy of the People, must stop the open & obvious hostility & report the news accurately & fairly. That will do much to put out the flame...
6/ A third suspicious package was mailed to CNN. The package was intercepted at a post office in Atlanta, where the network is headquartered, and was “similar in appearance to” the ones addressed to John Brennan and James Clapper. (NBC News / The Guardian / CNN)
poll/ 54% of Americans believe that Trump’s decisions and behavior as president have encouraged white supremacist groups. 69% say they would like Trump’s speech and behavior to be more consistent with his predecessors, or that he has damaged the dignity of the office. (Public Religion Research Institute)
poll/ 58% of Americans disapprove of the job Trump is doing as president. 40% approve. (Gallup)
poll/ 55% of Americans are either not confident that the country’s election systems are secure. 45% of Americans say they are somewhat confident that the election systems are secure. (Pew Research Center)
Notables.
The U.S. military will deploy more than 5,000 troops to the southwest border in anticipation of the arrival of the caravan of migrants currently in Mexico. Trump tweeted: “This is an invasion of our Country and our Military is waiting for you!” (Wall Street Journal / ABC News / Washington Post / Politico)
A new lawsuit accuses Trump, Trump Organization, Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, and Eric Trump of using the Trump name to encourage vulnerable people to invest in sham business opportunities. The 160-page complaint alleges that Trump and his family received payments from three business entities in exchange for promoting get-rich-quick schemes that harmed investors as legitimate opportunities. (New York Times)
Former President Jimmy Carter called on Brian Kemp to resign as Georgia’s Secretary of State in order to avoid damaging public confidence in the outcome of his contested race against Democrat Stacey Abrams. Stepping aside, Carter wrote a letter to Kemp, “would be a sign that you recognize the importance of this key democratic principle and want to ensure the confidence of our citizens in the outcome.” (NBC News)
Sarah Huckabee Sanders falsely claimed that Trump won the presidential election by an “overwhelming majority” of 63 million votes. Trump lost the popular vote by almost 3 million votes: 65.8 million Americans voted for Hillary Clinton. (The Hill)
Trump’s private schedules show he has up to nine hours a day of unstructured “executive time.” Official meetings, policy briefings and public appearances consumed barely more than three hours of his day. (Politico)
1/ Trump is considering an executive order to close the southern border to Central Americans and deny them the opportunity to seek asylum, similar to 2017’s “travel ban.” The proposed order has not been finalized, but would put in place new rules that would disqualify migrants from claiming asylum who cross the border in between ports of entry. Current U.S. law allows foreign nationals fleeing persecution to apply for asylum once they reach American soil. (San Francisco Chronicle / ABC News / New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
📌 The Re-Up: Day 8. Trump executive order suspends admission of all refugees for 120 days while a new system is put in place to tighten vetting for those from predominantly Muslim countries and give preference to religious minorities. Trump said that the goal is to screen out “radical Islamic terrorists” and that priority for admission would be given to Christians. (Washington Post)
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis approved a request from the Department of Homeland Security to provide additional U.S. troops on the U.S.-Mexcio border. The Pentagon sent about 2,000 troops to the border earlier this year. (Wall Street Journal)
2/ FBI agents arrested Cesar Sayoc Jr., a registered Republican voter, in connection with the 13 suspected mail bombs sent to Obama, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, George Soros, Cory Booker, John Brennan, Robert De Niro and other critics of Trump. Agents also seized his white van, which had most of its windows covered in pro-Trump stickers, including Trump standing on a tank in front of fireworks and an American flag, crosshairs over the faces of Clinton, Michael Moore and Obama, and a “CNN Sucks” sticker. Authorities said they were looking at “right-wing paraphernalia” found at the scene. In 2002, Sayoc was arrested for allegedly making a threat to throw, place, project or discharge a destructive device. (CNBC / Miami Herald / NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post / The Guardian / Wall Street Journal)
Jeff Sessions: “I don’t know” why the Sayoc targeted Democrats, adding that it “appears to be partisan but that will be determined by the facts as the case goes forward.” Sayoc was charged with five counts, including illegal mailing of explosives and making threats against former presidents. (CNN / Reuters / Associated Press)
Two more suspicious packages, addressed to Sen. Cory Booker and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, were intercepted. Booker’s package was addressed to his office in Camden, NJ, while Clapper’s was addressed to CNN’s New York offices. Law enforcement officials are treating the bombs as a matter of domestic terrorism. (CNN / CNBC / NBC News)
3/ Trump tweets that ‘this “Bomb” stuff’ is hurting Republicans in the midterms because the “news [is] not talking [about] politics.” Trump’s allies have suggested – without evidence – that the packages are the work of liberals to undercut Republicans ahead of the November election. A few hours after his tweet, Trump said these “terrorizing acts are despicable” and “the bottom line is that Americans must unify.” (New York Times / Washington Post / The Guardian)
Republicans are doing so well in early voting, and at the polls, and now this “Bomb” stuff happens and the momentum greatly slows - news not talking politics. Very unfortunate, what is going on. Republicans, go out and vote!
4/ FBI Director Chris Wray: “These are not hoax devices.” Wray confirmed that 13 improvised explosive devices were sent, each with roughly 6 inches of PVC pipe, a small clock, wiring, and potential explosive material. (CNN / Talking Points Memo)
Notables.
George Papadopoulos is considering withdrawing from a cooperation agreement he entered into with Robert Mueller. The former Trump-campaign adviser said he believes he has been “set up” by the government and that his plea deal was the result of inadequate counsel. Papadopoulos pleaded guilty last year to lying to the FBI about his conversations with a foreign professor. (Politico)
Papadopoulos requested immunity to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee. Legal experts believe the former Trump-campaign adviser is worried that his testimony could implicate him in a crime. (The Atlantic)
Trump spent $10,000 in charity money on a portrait of himself because no one else wanted it. During a 2014 auction benefiting the Unicorn Foundation at his Mar-a-Lago country club in Florida, Trump opened the bidding on the portrait with a $10,000 bid. Nobody else bid. Trump billed the Donald J. Trump Foundation for the cost. (New York Post)
The Trump administration admitted that it failed to account for at least 14 migrant children who were separated from their families at the southern border. The Department of Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement told a federal court that it separated 2,668 children from their parents instead of 2,654. The latest HHS filing said it “recently completed another review of case management records to ensure that its characterization of certain children in ORR care remain accurate.” (The Hill / Politico)
National security adviser John Bolton said Putin has been invited to visit Washington, D.C., early next year. It would be Putin’s first visit to the White House since September 2005. (Politico)
Trump complained that Twitter reduced his follower count, accusing the company of “total bias.” Trump did not provide evidence to support his claim, but added that “a few weeks ago [Twitter] was a Rocket Ship, now it is a Blimp!” (Politico)
1/ Trump dismissed a report that Chinese and Russian spies were eavesdropping on his cellphone conversations, calling the report “boring” and “soooo wrong!” Trump’s aides have repeatedly warned him that his calls from his personal iPhone are not secure and that Chinese and Russian spies are listening, but Trump refuses to give up his iPhone. U.S. officials said they have been concerned for months that Trump discusses sensitive information on an unsecured cellphone with informal advisers, including Sean Hannity of Fox News. “I only use Government Phones,” Trump tweeted in response to the reports, “and have only one seldom used government cell phone.” (New York Times / NBC News)
A very big part of the Anger we see today in our society is caused by the purposely false and inaccurate reporting of the Mainstream Media that I refer to as Fake News. It has gotten so bad and hateful that it is beyond description. Mainstream Media must clean up its act, FAST!
The New York Times has a new Fake Story that now the Russians and Chinese (glad they finally added China) are listening to all of my calls on cellphones. Except that I rarely use a cellphone, & when I do it’s government authorized. I like Hard Lines. Just more made up Fake News!
📌 Chinese and Russian spies are routinely eavesdropping on Trump’s cellphone calls, despite aides repeatedly warning him that his personal iPhone is not secure. (Day 643)
China suggested that Trump exchange his iPhone for a cellphone made by Chinese manufacturer Huawei, “if they are really concerned about security issues.” (Talking Points Memo)
Trump’s tweet claiming that he only uses his government phones was sent from an iPhone. Trump has two iPhones: one for Twitter and other basic web apps, and one for making phone calls. (Yahoo News)
2/ At least 10 pipe bombs have been sent to high-profile Democrats and critics of Trump: George Soros, Obama, Biden, Hillary Clinton, Eric Holder, John Brennan, Maxine Waters, and Robert De Niro. All of the 10 packages that have been discovered had the return address for Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Democratic congresswoman from Florida. None of the packages exploded. (Reuters / Washington Post / New York Times)
Two suspicious packages addressed to Joe Biden were intercepted at post offices in Delaware. Law enforcement officials are trying to track down the package, which has been deemed suspicious because one of them was misaddressed and shipped to the return address, just like some of the other packages. (CNN / The Hill)
Two suspicious packages were intercepted on their way to Maxine Waters. (Reuters)
Another suspicious package was sent to a restaurant owned by Robert De Niro. The device arrived at the Tribeca Grill in Manhattan early Thursday morning. (BBC)
The explosive device sent to CNN’s offices in New York included an ISIS flag meme that has been circulating in right-wing online circles since 2014. The image features a black flag with the Arabic symbols replaced by the silhouettes of three women and an inscription in the middle that reads, “Get ‘Er Done,” which is comedian Larry the Cable Guy’s catchphrase. (NBC News)
3/ Trump blamed the “Mainstream Media” and “Fake News” for the “anger” in the U.S. a day after CNN and Democrats were the targets of explosive devices. “A very big part of the Anger we see today in our society is caused by the purposely false and inaccurate reporting of the Mainstream Media that I refer to as Fake News,” Trump tweeted. “It has gotten so bad and hateful that it is beyond description. Mainstream Media must clean up its act, FAST!” (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN)
Lou Dobbs: suspicious packages mailed to Democrats and CNN are “fake news.” He called them “fake bombs” in a tweet, which he later deleted. (CNN)
Newt Gingrich: The media has “earned” the label “the enemy of the people.” (Axios)
4/ Saudi Arabia’s public prosecutor claimed that Jamal Khashoggi’s murder was now “premeditated.” Saudi officials have shifted the official story of his disappearance, saying that Khashoggi left the consulate alive, that he might have been the target of “rogue” agents, and that he had been killed accidentally in fistfight. (New York Times / Washington Post)
The Saudi intelligence chief blamed for the murder of Khashoggi met with Michael Flynn and members of the transition team shortly before Trump’s inauguration. Gen. Ahmed Al-Assiri and the team discussed a strategy for eroding and ending the current Iranian regime. The January meetings have also come under scrutiny by Robert Mueller’s office as part of his probe. (Daily Beast)
5/ Text messages show that Roger Stone tried to get a presidential pardon for Julian Assange. In January, Stone texted Randy Credico that he is “working with others to get JA a blanket pardon. It’s very real and very possible. Don’t fuck it up.” Stone claims that Credico was his back channel to WikiLeaks during the 2016 campaign, a claim Credico denies. (Mother Jones)
Mueller’s team is investigating whether Jerome Corsi knew stolen emails would be leaked and passed information about them to Roger Stone. Mueller has obtained communications suggesting that Corsi might have had advance knowledge that the emails of Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman had been stolen and handed to WikiLeaks. (NBC News)
Notables.
Trump is preparing to order at least 800 Army troops to the southern border to help border patrol authorities stop a caravan of migrants from Central America moving through Mexico toward the U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis is expected to sign deployment orders as soon as today. (CNN / NBC News / New York Times)
Chuck Grassley referred Michael Avenatti and his client Julie Swetnick to the Justice Department for criminal investigation, alleging that they made “materially false” statements to the Senate Judiciary Committee about Brett Kavanaugh. (CNBC / Politico / Axios / Washington Post)
Trump plans to propose changes to how Medicare pays for certain drugs. The move is meant to address the issue of “foreign freeloaders,” who he says drive up the cost of healthcare in the U.S. (Politico)
A former GOP congressional candidate in Wisconsin was arrested for “trying to buy radioactive material with the intent to kill someone.” Jeremy Ryan, who ran against Paul Ryan in 2014, was arrested for allegedly attempting to buy a “lethal dose of a radioactive substance” online between March and October 2018 and is facing up to life in prison if convicted. (Daily Beast / WKOW)
1/ The Secret Service intercepted packages containing “potential explosive devices” addressed to Obama and Hillary Clinton, similar to the one found at the home of George Soros on Monday. All three devices are of similar pipe-bomb-style construction. The Secret Service said “the packages were immediately identified during routine mail screening procedures as potential explosive devices and were appropriately handled as such.” Contrary to reports, a suspicious package was not sent to the White House. (New York Times / Washington Post / ABC News / NBC News / CNBC / Associated Press)
📌 The Re-up: Day 642. An explosive device was found in a mailbox outside a home of billionaire George Soros in Westchester County, New York. The bomb was “proactively detonated” by the bomb squad. The case has been turned over to the FBI. (The Hill / New York Times)
2/ A similar device was sent to CNN’s headquarter in New York, addressed to former CIA Director John Brennan. The package contained a white powder. Brennan doesn’t work for CNN, but is a national security and intelligence analyst for NBC News and MSNBC. CNN’s New York bureau in the Time Warner Center was evacuated. (NBC News / CNN / Washington Post)
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio called the live explosive package sent to the Time Warner Center in New York City an “act of terror.” (CNBC)
A package addressed to Rep. Maxine Waters was intercepted at a Congressional mail facility. (New York Times)
Suspicious packages were found outside the San Diego Union-Tribune. The building and nearby businesses were briefly evacuated. The boxes were filled with everyday items that included children’s books and a football. (San Diego Union-Tribune)
3/ The return address on the packages addressed to Soros, CNN, Obama, and the Clintons listed Rep Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who currently serves as a representative for Florida’s 23rd congressional district and is the former chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee. Wasserman Schultz’s office was also evacuated after a suspicious package was discovered. It was misaddressed to Eric Holder and returned to Wasserman Schultz’s office, because that was the return address on the package. (CBS New York / Miami Herald / CNN)
4/ Trump and the White House condemned the “attempted violent attacks,” calling them “despicable acts.” He added that “threats of political violence of any kind have no place in the United States of America.” In a statement, Sarah Huckabee Sanders denounced the “terrorizing acts” against Obama, the Clintons and “other public figures.” Pence tweeted that the “attempted attacks” are “cowardly” and “despicable.” Trump retweeted Pence’s statement, adding: “I agree wholeheartedly!” (Politico / Associated Press / The Hill / CNBC)
Pro-Trump groups called the bomb threats merely a “false flag” operation and a convenient political stunt set up by Democrats two weeks before Election Day. (Daily Beast)
5/ Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman called the killing of Jamal Khashoggi a “heinous crime that cannot be justified.” He maintained his innocence, however, calling Khashoggi’s murder “really painful to all Saudis” and to “every human being in the world.” He accused unidentified critics of trying to use the case to “drive a wedge” between Saudi Arabia and Turkey. (Politico / New York Times / Washington Post)
6/ Trump called the murder of Jamal Khashoggi “a total fiasco,” saying Saudi Arabia should never have thought about killing Khashoggi in the first place because “everything else they did was bad too.” (Associated Press)
7/ Chinese and Russian spies are routinely eavesdropping on Trump’s cellphone calls, despite aides repeatedly warning him that his personal iPhone is not secure. Trump has two official iPhones that have been secured by the National Security Agency, but he uses a personal iPhone because it can store contacts on it. As a presidential candidate, Trump regularly attacked Hillary Clinton for her use of an unsecured email server while she was secretary state. (New York Times)
poll/ 56% of Americans think Trump has been too soft on Saudi Arabia in response to the killing of Khashoggi. 78% of Democrats, 55% of independents, and 37% of Republicans said Trump’s response to the killing was “not tough enough.” 56% of Republicans think Trump’s response is “about right.” (Axios/SurveyMonkey)
poll/ 35% of voters said Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation made them more likely to vote for a Democratic congressional candidate, compared to 27% who said it made them more likely to vote for a Republican congressional candidate, and 37% of voters said the confirmation wouldn’t affect their vote. (USA Today)
Notables.
Jeff Flake said he didn’t believe Brett Kavanaugh, but voted for him anyway. Asked on “The View” if he believed if Christine Blasey Ford was telling the truth during her testimony, Flake responded: “I don’t know. I don’t know if I believed him either.” (HuffPost)
The acting EPA administrator told the oil and gas industry that the “new EPA” is “removing regulatory barriers and leveling the playing field for American companies.” Andrew Wheeler, who replaced Scott Pruitt, said that the EPA has initiated 28 “major deregulatory actions” and is developing 49 more. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
The EPA said small amounts of a herbicide found in breakfast cereals is not a health risk. The World Health Organization, however, listed glyphosate as a “probable carcinogen” in 2015. (ABC News)
Yesterday, Pence said it’s “inconceivable that there are not people of Middle Eastern descent” in the caravan. Pence did not offer evidence to support Trump’s claim that people from the Middle East were traveling with the caravan. (The Hill)
Trump admitted that there is “no proof” of “Middle Easterners” in the caravan of Central American migrants traveling through Mexico toward the U.S. border. He said he has “very good information” that “there could very well be” people from the Middle East in the caravan. (ABC News)
A federal court ruled that part of Trump’s executive order to end federal grant funding for sanctuary cities is unconstitutional. The ruling follows a U.S. appeals court decision in August that also found Trump’s executive order unconstitutional. (The Hill)
China plans to wean off U.S. soybeans in response to a soybean shortage stemming from the ongoing trade dispute between the two countries. China is the biggest buyer of soybeans in the world and uses them as a source of protein for its livestock. More than a third of China’s soybeans currently come from the United States. (CNN)
A federal court blocked Georgia from throwing out absentee ballots and applications because of signature mismatches. Voters who had their absentee ballots rejected can now contest the state’s initial determination and confirm their identity. (USA Today)
Trump is expected to sign opioids legislation into law. More than 72,000 Americans died of drug-overdose deaths in 2017 – up nearly 7% from 2016. (CNN)
Congress postponed a closed-door interview with Rod Rosenstein, saying the time allotted for the session was too short. The House Judiciary and Oversight committees will be rescheduled and could become a public hearing rather than a closed-door interview. (Reuters)
Trump directly accused Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell of endangering the U.S. economy by raising interest rates. “Every time we do something great, he raises the interest rates,” Trump said, adding that Powell “almost looks like he’s happy raising interest rates.” (Wall Street Journal / CNBC)
The S&P 500 and Dow erased all of their gains for 2018. The Dow has dropped 7.1% in October and the S&P 500 has pulled back 8.9%. The Nasdaq, meanwhile, has dropped 11.7%. (Bloomberg / CNBC)
1/ Trump called the Saudi operation to kill Jamal Khashoggi one of “worst cover-ups in the history of cover-ups,” saying “they had a very bad original concept.” He added that “somebody really messed up,” but he would “leave it up to Congress” to punish Saudi Arabia. (New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press / Reuters / The Hill)
The U.S. will revoke the visas of some of the Saudi officials allegedly responsible for Khashoggi’s death. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the U.S. intends to hold people accountable for the “horrific” act of killing Khashoggi. [Editor’s note: This story is developing…] (Politico / Bloomberg / Washington Post)
2/ The Saudi cover story fell apart because the Khashoggi “body double” wore the wrong shoes. Video footage shows a man exiting the Saudi consulate in Istanbul Oct. 2 wearing a fake beard and glasses, as well as the pants, shirt and jacket that Khashoggi was seen wearing when he entered the building earlier in the day. “It was a flawed body double, so it never became an official part of the Saudi government’s narrative,” a diplomat said. (CNBC / Washington Post)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan: The killing of Khashoggi was a “planned” and “brutal” murder. Erdogan called on Saudi Arabia to extradite 18 suspects to Turkey to face justice for the crime. (Washington Post / New York Times)
Saudi Arabia’s crown prince received a standing ovation after making an unannounced appearance at a global investment conference. Mohammed bin Salman is suspected of playing a role in the killing of Jamal Khashoggi. (New York Times)
3/ Khashoggi’s cut-up and disfigured remains were found in the garden of the Saudi consul general’s home in Istanbul. The account contradicts Saudi officials, who said the body was rolled up in a carpet and handed over to a local operative to dispose of the evidence. (Sky News / New York Post)
📌 The Re-up: Day 637. A frequent companion of Saudi Arabia’s crown prince entered the country’s consulate in Istanbul hours before Khashoggi arrived. Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb was also seen outside the Saudi consul general’s home, leaving a Turkish hotel with a large suitcase, and leaving Istanbul — all in the same day. (New York Times)
4/ Trump: “I’m a nationalist.” Speaking at a rally in Texas in support of Ted Cruz’s reelection campaign, Trump defined “a globalist [as] a person that wants the globe to do well,” adding that they’re “frankly not caring about the country so much.” The comment marked the first time Trump associated himself with the political ideology. (CNN / Politico / Bloomberg)
Trump on Ted Cruz: “He’s not Lyin’ Ted anymore. He’s beautiful Ted.” Trump previously mocked the appearance of Cruz’s wife, linked Cruz’s father to the assassination of John F. Kennedy, called Cruz “Lyin’ Ted”, called him “unhinged,” “a little bit of a maniac,” and “a totally unstable individual.” (HuffPost / New York Times)
Trump vowed to send as many troops as necessary to the U.S.-Mexican border to block the caravan of Central American migrants, calling them “an assault on our country.” (USA Today)
Trump falsely accused Puerto Rico of using federal hurricane relief funds to pay off the island’s debt. Puerto Rico is slated to receive $82 billion in federal relief as it rebuilds from Hurricane Maria. (Politico / Associated Press / Washington Post)
5/ Putin wants to hold direct discussions with Trump, suggesting they meet in Paris next month, where they’ll both be to mark the 100th anniversary of the armistice that ended World War I. National Security Advisor John Bolton held firm that the U.S. would withdraw from the 31-year-old Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. (CNBC / Washington Post / Reuters / CNN)
Trump vowed to outspend Russia and China in building up its nuclear arsenal “until they come to their senses.” Trump added: “We have more money than anybody else, by far.” (Bloomberg / CNN)
Pence declined to rule out the idea of deploying a nuclear weapons in space, saying “what we want to do is continue to advance the principle that peace comes through strength.” In August, Trump announced a plan to create the “Space Force” – the sixth branch of the military – by 2020. (Reuters / Washington Post)
6/ Trump on protections for transgender people: “I’m protecting everybody. I want to protect our country.” (Reuters)
📌 The Re-up: Day 641. The Trump administration plans to redefine the legal definition of gender as strictly biological, unchangeable, and determined by the genitals that a person is born with. The effort by the Department of Health and Human Services would establish a legal definition of sex under Title IX, effectively narrowing the definition of gender and deny federal recognition and civil rights protections to transgender Americans. (New York Times)
Notables.
Brett Kavanaugh once lobbied in support of a judge who is now reviewing more than a dozen ethics complaints filed against him. Kavanaugh worked on the judicial campaign to secure a lifetime appointment for Timothy Tymkovich while he was a senior staff member for George W. Bush. (The Guardian)
An explosive device was found in a mailbox outside a home of billionaire George Soros in Westchester County, New York. The bomb was “proactively detonated” by the bomb squad. The case has been turned over to the FBI. (The Hill / New York Times)
The U.S. Cyber Command took its first countermeasure against Russian operatives to stop them from interfering in the upcoming midterm elections. The campaign attempts to deter Russian operatives from spreading disinformation by telling them that American agents know who they are and what they’re doing. (New York Times)
Republicans voters have outpaced Democratic voters in early voting in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Montana, Tennessee and Texas. Republicans typically dominate early voting by absentee ballots, while Democrats tend to have the advantage with in-person early voting. (NBC News)
Wilbur Ross won’t have to answer questions about his decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census. Several states and civil rights groups are suing to stop the administration from adding the question to the form. The Supreme Court refused to consider one of the challenges, making it unlikely that Ross will have to be deposed in the case. (Washington Post)
A white woman demanded to see the passports of a family speaking Spanish at a Virginia restaurant, yelling at them to “Go back to your fucking country. You do not fucking come over here and freeload on America.” (Washington Post)
The Florida man arrested for groping a woman on a flight defended himself by claiming Trump said “it’s OK to grab women by their private parts.” Bruce Michael Alexander was charged with abusive sexual contact and faces a maximum penalty of two years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. (NBC News)
The FBI has not been able to locate any photos of Robert Mueller and James Comey “hugging and kissing each other,” according to a Freedom of Information Act request. Last month, Trump claimed to have “100 pictures of [Mueller] and Comey hugging and kissing each other. You know, he’s Comey’s best friend.” (BuzzFeed News)
1/ Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister denied that Mohammed bin Salman ordered Jamal Khashoggi’s killing, calling it a “rogue operation” by individuals who “made a mistake.” Adel al-Jubeir denied that the crown prince had any prior knowledge of the operation and said that the agents involved “weren’t people closely tied” to him. (Washington Post)
2/ Surveillance video: A Saudi agent walked out of the Saudi consulate in Istanbul wearing Khashoggi’s clothes, a fake beard, and glasses in order to create a misleading trail of evidence. The man in the video, identified as Mustafa al-Madani, was part of the 15-man team that flew to Istanbul to confront Khashoggi. He was seen leaving the consulate through the back door and later at the Blue Mosque. Several members of the team have ties to the crown prince. (CNN / New York Times / Washington Post)
3/ Jared Kushner said the White House is still “fact-finding” about the circumstances of Khashoggi’s death, declining to say whether he believes Saudi Arabia’s explanation that Khashoggi accidentally died during a fistfight inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. “Once we have all the facts, we’ll make an assessment.” (New York Times / Washington Post)
Steven Mnuchin met with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman despite announcing that he was withdrawing from a conference in Saudi Arabia this week. (Washington Post)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel vowed to halt all German arms exports to Saudi Arabia, calling what happened to Khashoggi a “monstrosity.” (Reuters)
4/ The Trump administration plans to redefine the legal definition of gender as strictly biological, unchangeable, and determined by the genitals that a person is born with. The effort by the Department of Health and Human Services would establish a legal definition of sex under Title IX, effectively narrowing the definition of gender and deny federal recognition and civil rights protections to transgender Americans. (New York Times)
The Education Department is expected to narrow the definition of sexual assault that schools are required to consider, providing more rights to those accused of assault. (Wall Street Journal)
5/ Robert Mueller’s team continues to pursue conflicting accounts about Roger Stone’s communication with WikiLeaks. During the presidential campaign, Stone claimed he was in touch with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, predicting that WikiLeaks would release information related to Hillary Clinton. Stone suggested that his friend Randy Credico “was my principal source regarding the allegedly hacked emails published by WikiLeaks.” Credico has denied the claim, telling Mueller’s grand jury that Stone told him during the 2016 campaign that he had a secret back channel to WikiLeaks. Investigators are also looking into whether Stone shared information that he believed was from WikiLeaks with members of Trump’s presidential campaign. (Washington Post / CNN)
poll/ 47% of Americans approve of the job Trump is doing – an all-time high. (CNBC)
poll/ Democrats hold a 9-point lead among likely voters over Republicans in congressional preference. 50% of likely voters prefer Democrat to control Congress after the November elections, versus 41% who want Republicans to stay in charge — up 1 point from Democrats’ lead in the September. (NBC News)
Notables.
Trump claimed that Republicans are planning “very major tax cut” for the middle class before the midterms. Congress, however, is out of session until after November’s midterm elections. Last week, the Treasury Department announced that the government ended the 2018 fiscal year with a $779 billion deficit. (Reuters / Washington Post / Axios)
The Missouri Republican Party sent mailers to 10,000 voters with false information about when absentee ballots are due. The mailers, sent to likely Republican voters, encouraged voters to return their mail-in ballots “today.” Mail-in ballots for the state aren’t due until Wednesday, Oct. 31. (Kansas City Star)
Trump is preparing to call the midterm elections “illegitimate” if Democrats take control of the House or Senate, according to Carl Bernstein. “Trump is already talking about how to throw legal challenges into the courts, sow confusion, declare a victory actually, and say that the election’s been illegitimate.” (Washington Examiner)
Trump tweets about non-existent voter fraud, warning people to “cheat at your own peril. Violators will be subject to maximum penalties, both civil and criminal!” (CNN)
The EPA will withdraw an Obama-era proposal aimed at regulating how waste from uranium milling is disposed in order to reduce the spread of radon. Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said the now-scrapped proposal “would have imposed significant burdens on uranium miners.” (The Hill)
Trump blamed Mexico and Democrats for the so-called caravan of migrants heading to the southern U.S. border, threatening to cut off or reduce aid to Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador as citizens flee gang violence and poverty. Trump also attempted to stoke fear about the caravan, claiming that it now includes “unknown Middle Easterners.” (Politico / The Hill / New York Times)
Mikhail Gorbachev: The U.S. withdrawing from the nuclear disarmament treaty with Russia is not the work of “a great mind.” Trump said the U.S. would withdraw from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty because Russia has violated the agreement. (New York Times / Reuters / Politico)
1/ The Justice Department charged a Russian national with conspiracy for her role in an “information warfare” campaign designed to interfere with the midterm elections. Elena Khusyaynova managed the finances of an operation the Justice Department identified as “Project Lakhta,” which was designed “to sow discord in the U.S. political system” and interfere in the 2016 and 2018 elections. The operation was “a Russian umbrella effort funded by Russian oligarch Yevgeniy Viktorovich Prigozhin and two companies he controls, Concord Management and Consulting LLC, and Concord Catering,” the Justice Department said, which pushed arguments and misinformation online about immigration, the Confederate flag, gun control, the NFL national anthem protests, among other things. Prigozhin, known as “Putin’s chef,” and 12 other Russians were indicted by Robert Mueller in February on charges of interfering in the 2016 presidential election. (Washington Post / Bloomberg / New York Times / Wall Street Journal) / NBC News)
2/ Top U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies warned that they’re concerned about “ongoing campaigns” by Russia, China and Iran to interfere with the midterm elections and 2020 race. The joint statement by the Justice Department, FBI, Homeland Security Department and Office of the Director of National Intelligence said there is no “evidence of a compromise or disruption of infrastructure that would enable adversaries to prevent voting, change vote counts or disrupt our ability to tally votes in the midterm elections.” (Bloomberg / Washington Post)
Georgia is using amateur handwriting analysis to reject would-be voters if their signatures looks different from the signature on their voter-registration card. (Slate)
In July 2017, Georgia purged 107,000 people from the voter rolls for not voting in prior elections. In total, the Georgia removed more than half a million people — 8% of Georgia’s registered voters — from the voter rolls. (American Public Media)
A radio ad in support of an Arkansas Republican claims that white Democrats want to go back to “lynching black folk again.” Rep. French Hill disavowed of the ad, which was paid for by the Black Americans for the President’s Agenda political action committee. (NBC News)
3/ Saudi Arabia acknowledge that Jamal Khashogg is dead, claiming it was “a fistfight that led to his death” at the consulate in Istanbul. Saudi Arabia detained 18 people in connection with Khashoggi’s death. King Salman removed Saud al-Qahtani, an adviser to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and deputy intelligence chief Gen. Ahmed al-Assiri. (New York Times / BBC / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
4/ Republicans and conservative commentators are attempting to smear Khashoggi in order to protect Trump from criticism for his handling of the journalist’s murder by Saudi Arabia. House Republicans allied with Trump have been privately sharing articles from right-wing outlets disparaging Khashoggi. Conservative commentators, meanwhile, have been making insinuations about Khashoggi’s background, saying he was “tied to the Muslim Brotherhood,” was a “longtime friend” of terrorists, and “not a good guy.” Trump said sanctions “could be considered,” but claimed $450 billion in investments are at stake. (Washington Post) / Bloomberg)
Steven Mnuchin will take part in an anti-terror finance meeting in Saudi Arabia next week. Yesterday, the treasury secretary announced that he would not attend the Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh – a separate event. The event Mnuchin plans to attend will include participation by Saudi security services who are under investigation in Khashoggi’s death. (Washington Post)
5/ Trump praised Rep. Greg Gianforte for body-slamming a reporter. Gianforte pleaded guilty last year to misdemeanor assault charges related to the incident. “Any guy that can do a body slam,” Trump said to during a rally in Missoula. “He’s my kind of guy.” (Associated Press / The Guardian / New York Times / Axios)
poll/ 49% of Trump voters believe men face either “a great deal” or “a fair amount” of discrimination in America today – more than LGBTQ people (41%), African-Americans (38%), or women (30%). (NBC News)
poll/ 25% of Americans believe Brett Kavanaugh told the entire truth during his Senate Judiciary Committee testimony. 43% disapprove of Kavanaugh’s confirmation while 35% approve. (Associated Press)
🤔 A group of witches plan to place a hex on Kavanaugh this weekend. The event is sold out. (The Guardian)
Notables.
Rod Rosenstein will sit for a transcribed interview with leaders of the House Judiciary and Oversight committees Oct. 24. The interview will be conducted under oath, but Rosenstein will not be legally compelled to answer any questions. (Politico / Roll Call / CNN)
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke tried to skirt or change department policies in order to justify taxpayer-funded trips with his wife, according to a report by the Interior’s inspector general. The Interior spent $25,000 to send a security detail with Ryan and Lola Zinke when they traveled on vacation in Turkey last year. (Politico / Washington Post)
A top official at the Department of Housing and Urban Development resigned after being reassigned as acting inspector general at the Interior Department. HUD Assistant Secretary Suzanne Tufts is a GOP operative with no experiencing investigating allegations of unethical behavior. (Politico)
Paul Manafort was rolled into court for a hearing about his sentencing date in a wheelchair. He was also missing his right shoe. (NBC News / ABC News)
The U.S. suspended another military exercise with South Korea in an effort to aid negotiations with North Korea regarding its nuclear program. (Bloomberg)
The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to throw out a lawsuit filed accusing the government of ignoring climate change. The suit was filed in 2015 by a group of young people who said the government violated their right to “a climate system capable of sustaining human life.” (Reuters / NBC News)
Trump plans to tell Russia the U.S. will exit the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. The U.S. argues that Russia is in violation of the treaty for deploying nuclear weapons to intimidate former Soviet states and that the treaty constrains the United States from deploying weapons to counter the intermediate-range weapons that China has deployed. (New York Times)
1/ Trump: It “certainly looks” as if Jamal Khashoggi is dead. Trump said there would be “very severe” consequences if the Saudis killed him, but that it was still “a little bit early” to draw conclusions about who ordered the killing. (Associated Press / New York Times / Washington Post)
Republican lawmakers are threatening to sanction and end arms sales to the Saudis, despite Trump’s objection to canceling a $110 billion arms deal. He claims the deal would create 500,000 U.S. jobs. Additionally, a bipartisan group of senators have invoked the 2016 Magnitsky Act, giving the administration 120 days to respond to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about potential sanctions against officials responsible for human rights violations. (Bloomberg)
2/ U.S. intelligence agencies are confident that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was involved in the disappearance and murder of Khashoggi. While spy agencies haven’t been able to collect direct evidence about whether Mohammed ordered the killing of Khashoggi or if his intention was to have Khashoggi captured and taken back to Saudi Arabia, circumstantial evidence points to the prince’s involvement. (New York Times)
3/ Mike Pompeo said the U.S. will give Saudi Arabia “a few more days” to investigate the death of Khashoggi while the Saudi royal family looks for an explanation that doesn’t implicate Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Pompeo said the Saudis could be trusted to “conduct a complete, thorough investigation,” because they “made a personal commitment to me, and the Crown Prince also made a personal commitment to the president.” Asked if his administration was trying to give the Saudis room to come up with an explanation absolving Mohammed, Trump said: “I’m not giving cover at all. They are an ally.” (NBC News / Washington Post / Politico / CNN)
The U.S. received $100 million from Saudi Arabia the same day Mike Pompeo arrived in Riyadh to discuss Khashoggi’s disappearance. Saudi Arabia publicly pledged the payment to support U.S. stabilization efforts in northeastern Syria in August, but the timing of the transfer raised questions about a potential payoff as Riyadh tries to manage the fallout over Khashoggi’s disappearance. (Washington Post)
4/ Saudi Arabia might blame a high-ranking intelligence adviser for the killing of Khashoggi. Blaming Gen. Ahmed al-Assiri, an advisor to the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, would provide the crown prince with plausible explanation for the killing. (New York Times)
A frequent companion of Saudi Arabia’s crown prince entered the country’s consulate in Istanbul hours before Khashoggi arrived. Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb was also seen outside the Saudi consul general’s home, leaving a Turkish hotel with a large suitcase, and leaving Istanbul — all in the same day. (New York Times)
One of the 15 suspects in the alleged murder of Khashoggi died in a “suspicious traffic accident.” Mashal Saad al-Bostani was a member of the Saudi Royal Air Force and one of the 15 suspects who landed in Istanbul on Oct. 2 – the day that Khashoggi disappeared – and left the same day after visiting the Saudi consulate. (Yeni Safak / Business Insider / New York Post)
At least nine of 15 suspects identified by Turkish authorities worked for the Saudi security services, military or other government ministries. (New York Times)
5/ Aras Agalarov formed a U.S. shell company a month before the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between Trump Jr. and Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Kremlin-linked Russian attorney offering damaging information about Hillary Clinton. The Russian billionaire moved almost $20 million to a U.S. bank account 11 days after the meeting using a company he formed anonymously with the help of an accountant who has had clients accused of money laundering and embezzlement. (The Guardian)
📌 The Re-up: Day 601. Federal investigators are looking into a series of suspicious financial transactions involving people who attended the 2016 Trump Tower meeting. The transfers reveal how Aras Agalarov, a Russian billionaire with strong ties to Trump and Putin, used overseas accounts to distribute money through a web of banks to himself, his son, and at least two people who attended the meeting. Investigators are focusing on two bursts of activity: one occurring shortly before the Trump Tower meeting and one immediately after the 2016 election. (BuzzFeed News / The Hill)
Notables.
Trump threatened to deploy the military to the U.S.-Mexico border and upend the reworked trade deal with Mexico and Canada if Central American countries don’t stop a convoy of Honduran migrants making its way toward the U.S. Trump also threatened to “CLOSE OUR SOUTHERN BORDER!”(Bloomberg / The Guardian / Washington Post)
John Kelly and national security adviser John Bolton got into a shouting match in the West Wing after Trump sided with Bolton over deploying the military to the border. (CNN / Bloomberg)
Don McGahn is out as White House counsel. McGahn planned to leave the White House this fall, but his exit was expedited after Trump announced Patrick Cipollone as his successor. Cippolone served as a Justice Department lawyer under the George H.W. Bush administration. (CNN / New York Times)
Robert Mueller is pushing Paul Manafort to provide information about Roger Stone, who may have communicated with Julian Assange or WikiLeaks about releasing hacked emails from Hillary Clinton’s campaign. Manafort agreed to cooperate with the special counsel as part of pleading guilty to two counts of conspiracy. He is also awaiting sentencing on 18 counts of financial crimes. (ABC News)
Trump’s lawyers called a sexual assault lawsuit by a former “The Apprentice” contestant “meritless” and “politically-motivated.” Summer Zervos alleges that Trump groped and kissed her without her consent in 2007. (ABC News)
Trump was more involved in stopping a long-term plan to move the FBI to the D.C. than previously known. Prior to the election, Trump wanted to move the FBI headquarters moving out of Washington, D.C. so he could acquire the land and redevelop the property. After being sworn in, he became ineligible to obtain the property and moved to block competitors from acquiring the land. The Trump International Hotel is located a block away from the current FBI headquarters. (CNN / NPR)
The Trump Organization sued the estate of a man who died in a Trump Tower apartment fire for $90,000 in unpaid maintenance fees. (NBC News)
1/ Robert Mueller is expected to issue findings after the midterm elections on whether Trump’s 2016 campaign colluded with Russia and if Trump obstructed justice during the probe. Rod Rosenstein has indicated that he wants Mueller’s probe to conclude as soon as possible. The findings may not be made public since Mueller can only present the findings to Rosenstein, who can then decide what is shared with Congress and what is publicly released. Trump, meanwhile, has signaled that he may replace Jeff Sessions and there are rumors that Rosenstein could resign or also be fired by Trump after the election. (Bloomberg)
📌 The Re-up: Day 613. Rod Rosenstein did not resign, but “offered to resign” in discussions with John Kelly. Rosenstein and Trump will meet on Thursday to discuss the deputy attorney general’s future at the Justice Department. Rosenstein went to the White House this morning for a meeting where he “expect[ed] to be fired.” The news follows reports that Rosenstein discussed the idea of wearing a wire last year to secretly record Trump in order to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove the President from office. Rosenstein has been overseeing Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether any Trump associates conspired with those efforts. Noel Francisco, the solicitor general, would take on oversight of Mueller’s investigation and could fire or limit the investigation. (Axios / New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / CNN / Wall Street Journal / CNBC)
2/ Rosenstein defended Mueller’s investigation as “appropriate and independent,” contrasting Trump’s description of the probe as a “witch hunt” and “rigged.” Rosenstein added that the investigation has revealed a widespread effort by Russians to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. (Wall Street Journal)
3/ A senior Treasury Department employee was charged with leaking confidential government reports about suspicious financial transactions related to Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, the Russian embassy and accused Russian agent Maria Butina. Natalie Mayflower Sours Edwards disclosed suspicious activity reports related to Mueller’s investigation of possible collusion between Trump’s 2016 election campaign and Russia. SARs are submitted by banks to alert law enforcement to potentially illegal transactions. (Reuters / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post)
📌 The Re-Up: Day 601. Federal investigators are looking into a series of suspicious financial transactions involving people who attended the 2016 Trump Tower meeting. The transfers reveal how Aras Agalarov, a Russian billionaire with strong ties to Trump and Putin, used overseas accounts to distribute money through a web of banks to himself, his son, and at least two people who attended the meeting. Investigators are focusing on two bursts of activity: one occurring shortly before the Trump Tower meeting and one immediately after the 2016 election. (BuzzFeed News / The Hill)
A federal judge rejected Paul Manafort’s request to wear a suit to his sentencing hearing, because the former Trump campaign chairman is now a convicted felon who has lost the right to wear street clothing in all his court proceedings. (Politico)
4/ Trump asked Turkey for audio and video recordings related to missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi – “if it exists.” Turkish officials claim they have audio recordings that prove Khashoggi was beaten, drugged, killed and beheaded in the Saudis’ Istanbul consulate. Saudi officials have denied any knowledge of what happened to Khashoggi. Before leaving Riyadh, Mike Pompeo said the Saudis didn’t want to discuss “any of the facts” in Khashoggi disappearance. (Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / CBS News)
Saudi Arabia promised the Trump administration $100 million to help efforts to stabilize areas in Syria this summer — the money was deposited the same day that Mike Pompeo landed in Riyadh for meetings with the kingdom’s leaders about Khashoggi. (New York Times)
Pompeo said Saudi officials pledged to hold any wrongdoers accountable, but suggested that any possible U.S. response would be weighed against its “important relations” with the kingdom. Paul Ryan, meanwhile, called Khashoggi’s disappearance “really disturbing” and that the episode “could be a real setback” for Saudi Arabia, but predicted that a great deal of the kingdom’s relationship with the U.S. “will persist no matter what.” (Washington Post)
Notables.
Trump won’t accept blame if Republicans lose control of the House in the midterms. “No, I think I’m helping people,” Trump said regarding his campaigning and endorsements of Republican candidates. “I don’t believe anybody’s ever had this kind of an impact,” despite supporters telling him “‘I will never ever go and vote in the midterms because you’re not running and I don’t think you like Congress.’” Earlier this month, Trump urged supporters to vote, telling the crowd, “Pretend I’m on the ballot.” (Associated Press / Washington Post)
A Jefferson County senior center ordered 40 African-American senior citizens to get off a bus taking them to vote. Jefferson County’s administrator said the county government considered the event a “political activity,” which isn’t allowed during county-sponsored events. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution / The Hill)
Mitch McConnell said Republicans could try again to repeal the Affordable Care Act if they win enough seats in the midterm elections. He called the failed 2017 effort to repeal the healthcare law a “disappointment.” (Reuters)
A federal judge ordered the immediate implementation of an Obama-era rule designed to help students defrauded by for-profit colleges have their federal student loans forgiven. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos initially delayed the rules in 2017 while the Education Department worked on its own set of regulations, which a different federal court called “arbitrary and capricious” and ordered the department to reverse. (CNN / Wall Street Journal)
Trump accused Michael Cohen of lying under oath and giving “totally false” testimony in his August plea deal to campaign finance violations. Cohen alleged that he coordinated with Trump on a hush-money scheme to silence Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal. Trump characterized Cohen as just “a PR person who did small legal work” for him, who only struck a deal to “achieve a lighter sentence.” (NBC News)
Cohen met with state and federal law enforcement officials investigating Trump’s family business and charitable organization. The group included the federal prosecutors from the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, who charged Cohen in August, and officials from the New York Attorney General’s office. (CNN)
Trump will withdraw from a 144-year-old postal treaty that allowed Chinese companies to ship small packages to the U.S. at a discounted rate. The White House claimed the treaty gives countries like China and Singapore an unfair advantage by flooding U.S. markets with cheaper e-commerce packages. (New York Times / Politico)
Trump will ask each of his Cabinet secretaries to cut 5% of their respective budgets. On Monday, the Treasury Department reported a $779 billion budget deficit for fiscal year 2018 — a six-year high and a 17% jump from the prior period. (CNBC / Bloomberg / Reuters)
Trump claimed he has a “natural instinct for science” when it comes to climate change. Trump’s scientific description of climate change was that it “goes back and forth, back and forth.” (Politico)
1/ Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman will support a “thorough, transparent, and timely investigation” into the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi. Trump, meanwhile, tweeted that Bin Salman “totally denied any knowledge of what took place in their Turkish Consulate.” Trump sent Pompeo to Saudi Arabia as the kingdom was preparing to acknowledge that Khashoggi died at the consulate as a result of an interrogation that went wrong. (Politico / Reuters / New York Times)
Just spoke with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia who totally denied any knowledge of what took place in their Turkish Consulate. He was with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo...
...during the call, and told me that he has already started, and will rapidly expand, a full and complete investigation into this matter. Answers will be forthcoming shortly.
2/ Trump said that Saudi Arabia being blamed for the disappearance Khashoggi is “another case of “guilty until proven innocent.” Trump has vowed “severe punishment” if the Saudis killed Khashoggi, but he’s also speculated that “rogue killers” could be responsible. Trump added: “We just went through that with Justice Kavanaugh and he was innocent all the way as far as I’m concerned.” (Associated Press / Wall Street Journal)
The Trump administration needs Saudi Arabia’s help to implement new sanctions against Iran on Nov. 4. The Saudis could see a significant increase in oil revenues as Congress considers economic or military sanctions against the kingdom for its role in Khashoggi’s death. Sanctioning the Saudis would undercut the Iran policy and send the price of gasoline and heating oil significantly higher. (New York Times)
3/ The body of Jamal Khashoggi was cut into pieces after he was killed two weeks ago at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, according to a Turkish official. Saudi Arabia has insisted that Khashoggi left the building alive, but police searching the Saudi Consulate found evidence that Khashoggi was killed there. An autopsy specialist carrying a bone saw was among 15 Saudi operatives who flew in and out of Istanbul the day Khashoggi disappeared. (CNN / New York Times / Associated Press)
Four of the suspects in the disappearance of Khashoggi are linked to the Saudi crown prince’s security detail. A fifth is a forensic doctor who holds senior positions in the Saudi Interior Ministry. (New York Times)
4/ Jared Kushner is “deeply involved” in the White House response to Khashoggi’s disappearance and has been working closely with Mike Pompeo and national security adviser John Bolton. Kushner also has a close relationship with Prince bin Salman and has been lobbying Saudi Arabia to participate in the Khashoggi investigation. (Yahoo News)
5/ A federal judge dismissed Stormy Daniels’ libel lawsuit against Trump, saying Trump’s tweet that she had lied about being threatened to keep quiet about their alleged relationship was “rhetorical hyperbole” and is protected by the First Amendment. Daniels was ordered to pay Trump’s legal fees for the case. (Washington Post / Politico)
6/ Trump celebrated the dismissal of Stormy Daniels’ defamation suit by calling her “Horseface” and threatening to “go after” her and “her 3rd rate lawyer.” Daniels’ attorney, Michael Avenatti, responded by calling Trump a “disgusting misogynist” and a “liar” who has dishonored his family and country. (New York Times / Washington Post / ABC News / The Hill)
“Federal Judge throws out Stormy Danials lawsuit versus Trump. Trump is entitled to full legal fees.” @FoxNews Great, now I can go after Horseface and her 3rd rate lawyer in the Great State of Texas. She will confirm the letter she signed! She knows nothing about me, a total con!
7/ Trump called Elizabeth Warren a “phony” and a “fraud” while referring to her as “Pocahontas (the bad version)” a day after she publicly released the results of a DNA test intended to prove her Native American ancestry. The DNA test concluded that there was “strong evidence” that Warren had a Native American in her family tree dating back six to 10 generations, making her between 1/64th and 1/1,024 Native American. The Cherokee Nation, meanwhile, criticized Warren’s use of a DNA test as “inappropriate.” (The Guardian / Politico / Washington Post / HuffPost / The Hill)
Pocahontas (the bad version), sometimes referred to as Elizabeth Warren, is getting slammed. She took a bogus DNA test and it showed that she may be 1/1024, far less than the average American. Now Cherokee Nation denies her, “DNA test is useless.” Even they don’t want her. Phony!
8/ Mitch McConnell called the rising federal deficits “not a Republican problem” and instead blamed Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. In December 2017, Republicans passed a tax cut. which is projected to add more than $1 trillion to the debt over a decade. (Bloomberg / The Hill / Washington Post)
Trump escalated his criticism of the Federal Reserve, calling the central bank his “biggest threat” because it is raising interest rates “too fast.” (Politico)
poll/ Ted Cruz leads his Democratic challenger, Rep. Beto O’Rourke, 52% to 45% among likely voters. 9% of likely Texas voters say there’s a chance they could change their mind before Election Day. (CNN)
Notables.
Jim Mattis: Trump told me he supports me “100 percent.” Trump called to give Mattis the assurance after he mentioned during an interview on “60 Minutes” that his Secretary of Defense might be leaving. (NBC News / Associated Press)
A coalition of free-press advocates are suing Trump, seeking an order directing the president not to use his office to exact reprisals against the press – the kind of behavior those courts have found unlawful. (Politico)
Mitch McConnell ruled out a vote on Trump’s NAFTA replacement before 2019, setting up a potential fight with Democrats next year if they win the House in midterm elections on Nov. 6. (Bloomberg / CNBC)
Trump threatened to cancel aid to Honduras “if the large Caravan of people heading to the U.S. is not stopped.” A group of hundreds of Honduran migrants are fleeing poverty and gang violence in Honduras. (Politico)
The White House is replacing the Interior Department’s inspector general, according to an internal Housing and Urban Development email regarding the staffing change. The acting inspector general at the Interior Department will oversee four ongoing investigations into Secretary Ryan Zinke’s conduct. Acting inspectors general do not need Senate confirmation. (NBC News / Washington Post)
Trump’s reelection campaign has raised at least $106 million. Between the RNC, Trump’s campaign committee, and joint fundraising committees, they’ve raised more than $337 million with at least $88 million of it in cash. (Washington Post)
The Trump campaign has more than doubled its election-related spending over the last three months. The campaign spent $7.7 million between July and the end of September – up from the $3.6 million it spent during the previous three months. The Trump campaign and the RNC have raised more than $18 million in the last quarter alone. (New York Times)
1/ Trump suggested that “rogue killers” may be responsible for the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi because King Salman “firmly denied any knowledge” of what happened. “It sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers,” Trump said. “Who knows?” During an interview with “60 Minutes,” Trump said that even though the Saudis denied involvement in Khashoggi’s disappearance, it was still possible that they were responsible. “We’re going to get to the bottom of it, and there will be severe punishment.” (New York Times / Politico / CBS News)
2/ The Saudis are preparing to admit that Khashoggi’s death was the result of an interrogation gone wrong. Previously, Saudi authorities had maintained Khashoggi left the consulate the same afternoon of his visit, but provided no evidence to support the claim. Multiple sources said the Saudis are discussing a plan to admit that Khashoggi was killed after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, but that the operation was carried out without clearance in an effort to absolve Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of responsibility by giving him plausible deniability to say he didn’t order the killing and didn’t know about it.(CNN) / NBC News)
3/ Jared Kushner appears to have paid almost no federal income taxes from 2009 to 2016. Kushner used a tax-minimizing loophole that kept his tax bill low by reporting real estate losses based on “significant depreciation,” according confidential financial documents. Nothing in the documents indicate that Kushner broke the law. Despite Kushner Companies being profitable, Kushner has been losing money for years as far as the IRS is concerned, because the losses were driven by depreciation. Real estate investors deduct a portion of the cost of their buildings from their taxable income every year. (New York Times)
📌 The Re-up:Trump inherited his family’s wealth through fraud and questionable tax schemes, receiving the equivalent today of at least $413 million from his father’s real estate empire. Trump has repeatedly claimed that “I built what I built myself.” Trump and his siblings used fake corporations to hide financial gifts from their parents, which helped Fred Trump claim millions in tax deductions. Trump also helped his parents undervalue their real estate holdings by hundreds of millions of dollars when filing their tax returns. In total, Fred and Mary Trump transferred more than $1 billion in wealth to their children and paid a total of $52.2 million in taxes (about 5%) instead of the $550+ million they should have owed under the 55% tax rate imposed on gifts and inheritances. Trump also “earned” $200,000 a year in today’s dollars from his father’s companies starting at age 3. After college, Trump started receiving the equivalent of $1 million a year, which increased to $5 million a year when he was in his 40s and 50s. Trump has refused to release his income tax returns, breaking with decades of practice by past presidents. There is no time limit on civil fines for tax fraud. [Editor’s note: This is a must read. An abstract summary does not suffice.] (New York Times)
4/ Sen. Elizabeth Warren released the results of a DNA test that provides “strong evidence” of Native American ancestry dating back six to 10 generations. Warren has been mocked by Trump and other Republicans for claiming she has Native American blood. (Boston Globe / NPR / Washington Post)
5/ Trump denied offering Warren $1 million to take a test proving her Native American heritage. “Who cares?” Trump said when asked about Warren’s DNA test. “I didn’t say that. You better read it again.” At a rally in July, Trump said: “And we will say, ‘I will give you a million dollars, paid for by Trump, to your favorite charity if you take the test and it shows you’re an Indian … we’ll see what she does. I have a feeling she will say no but we will hold it for the debates.” (Washington Post / CNN / The Hill)
poll/ 41% approve of the job Trump is doing – up from 36% in late August. 54% disapprove of his work in office. (ABC News)
poll/ 46% of Americans think Trump will win a second term while and 47% say he won’t. In March, 54% of adults said they thought Trump would lose his bid for a second term. (CNN)
poll/ 77% of registered voters say they are certain to vote in the midterm elections next month or have already voted. 54% of voters say they prefer the next Congress to be in Democratic hands as a way of providing a check on Trump – from 60 percent in August. (Washington Post)
Notables.
Trump said it doesn’t matter whether Christine Blasey Ford was telling the truth, “because we won. It doesn’t matter.” Ford testified that Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were in high school during the 1980s, telling the Senate Judiciary Committee that she thought she would “accidentally be killed” by Kavanaugh. (CBS News / CNN / NBC News / The Hill)
A Trump campaign donor and Mar-a-Lago member gave $150,000 to help current and former Trump aides caught up in Robert Mueller’s Russia probe. (Politico)
A top National Security Council aide is leaving the White House after roughly five months on the job. Fred Fleitz served as John Bolton’s chief of staff. (The Hill / CNN)
Trump suggested that Defense Secretary James Mattis could be one of the next administration officials to leave. “At some point,” Trump said, “everybody leaves.” (CBS News)
The federal budget deficit grew to $779 billion in Trump’s first full fiscal year as president – the highest level in six years. The deficit rose nearly 17% year over year, from $666 billion in 2017, and is on pace to top $1 trillion a year before the next presidential election. (CNBC / Bloomberg / New York Times)
Trump said that Sears had been mismanaged for years before it declared bankruptcy. Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin was a member of Sears’s board from 2005 until December 2016. (Bloomberg)
A Republican lawmaker took a student’s cell phone from him while he was being asked about voter suppression in the state. The student asked Sen. David Perdue: “Hey, so, uh, how can you endorse a candidate — “ before Perdue snatched the cell phone from his hands. Perdue eventually gave the phone back to the student and walked away without answering the question. (Washington Post)
The Department of Homeland Security said there’s been an increasing number of attempted cyber attacks on U.S. election databases ahead of next month’s midterms. The federal government does not know who is behind the attacks. (NBC News)
Trump hung a fictional painting in the White House that shows him seated at a table with past Republican presidents. Rep. Darrel Issa gave the painting to Trump, which is called “The Republican Club” by Andy Thomas. (Daily Beast)
1/ The Trump administration is considering new rules to separate parents and children at the U.S.-Mexico border. One option is for the government to detain asylum-seeking families together for up to 20 days, then give parents a choice to stay in family detention together or allow children to be taken to a government shelter so relatives or guardians can seek custody. Some inside the White House and Department of Homeland Security are concerned about the “optics” of the so-called “binary choice” option. (Washington Post)
2/ Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross discussed adding a citizenship question to the U.S. census with Steve Bannon and Kris Kobach despite previously saying he hadn’t spoken with anyone at the White House about the addition. Ross original claimed that a citizenship question would allow the government to better enforce the Voting Rights Act, which is meant to protect voters from discriminatory policies. However, emails reveal that Ross was instead concerned that not adding a citizenship question “leads to the problem that aliens who do not actually ‘reside’ in the United States are still counted for congressional apportionment purposes.” (Washington Post)
3/ Wilbur Ross shifted his explanation for adding a citizenship question to the 2020 census, saying he now recalls discussing it with Steve Bannon. Ross faces a court order to provide a deposition to the plaintiffs in a lawsuit seeking to remove the question from the census. (New York Times / NPR / Politico)
4/ Trump could fire Jeff Sessions and then replace him with a temporary attorney general who would then reduce Robert Mueller’s budget “so low that his investigation grinds to almost a halt.” Matthew Whitaker made the comments in July 2017. Trump is considering as many as five candidates to replace Sessions if he leaves as attorney general, including Whitaker. Trump declined to deny that he is considering replacing Sessions with Whitaker, but he has talked with Whitaker about replacing Sessions in the past. (Washington Post)
5/ Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a Hatch Act complaint against Sarah Huckabee Sanders for using her official government Twitter account to tweet a photo of herself with Kanye West, who was wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat in the Oval Office. The Hatch Act prohibits any executive branch employee from “us[ing] his official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with or affecting the result of an election.” (The Hill / CREW)
poll/ 51% of Americans disapprove of Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court – and 53% favor further investigation by Congress that could lead to efforts to remove him from office. 58% of women and 47% of men support an investigation. (ABC News / Washington Post)
Notables.
The Turkish government told U.S. officials that they have audio and video recordings that prove Jamal Khashoggi was tortured and killed inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. The recordings show that Khashoggi was detained inside the consulate by a Saudi security team before being killed and dismembered. “You can hear his voice and the voices of men speaking Arabic” on the audio recording, one person with knowledge of the recording said. “You can hear how he was interrogated, tortured and then murdered.” (Washington Post)
Trump on Khashoggi: “It’s in Turkey, and it’s not a citizen, as I understand it.” Trump later added: “Again, this took place in Turkey, and to the best of our knowledge, Khashoggi is not a United States citizen. Is that right?” (Washington Post)
Two Arizona Republicans tried to make a donation to a Democratic congressman as members of the Communist Party in an attempt to link him to the far left. Two men walked into first-term Democrat Tom O’Halleran with a jar of $39.68 and insisted that the Northern Arizona University Community Party wanted them to get a receipt for the donation. When O’Halleran’s finance director drove to the local Republican field office to return the money, one of the men appeared from inside the offices and was identified as the man who tried to donate the money. (The Guardian)
Senate Democrats agreed to confirm 15 lifetime federal judges in exchange for the ability to go into recess through the midterms, allowing Democrats to campaign. (Politico)
Georgia sued for placing 53,000 voter applications – 70% by African-Americans – on hold weeks before November’s midterm election. The lawsuit charges that the “exact match” method that Secretary of State Brian Kemp uses to verify new voter registrations is discriminatory. (NBC News)
Melania Trump said she has “more important things to think about” than her husband’s alleged affairs, adding that the allegations are “not concern and focus of mine” because she’s “a mother and a first lady.” (ABC News / CNN / The Guardian)
Trump made 129 false claims last week – his second-most-dishonest week as president. (Toronto Star)
1/ U.S. intelligence intercepts indicate that the crown prince of Saudi Arabia ordered an operation to coax Jamal Khashoggi back to the kingdom in order to capture him. Khashoggi, a prominent critic of Mohammed bin Salman and the Saudi government, disappeared last week after he entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. A bipartisan group on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee invoked the Magnitsky Act to force the Trump administration to investigate the disappearance of Khashoggi, which requires the administration to respond within 120 days of potential sanctions against officials responsible for human rights violations. Trump said he is reluctant to cut off arms sales to Saudi Arabia, believing it “would be hurting” the U.S. economy. (Washington Post / Politico / CNN / Bloomberg)
2/ Trump pledged to “weed out” individuals inside his administration who he doesn’t like or trust. When asked if that included Jeff Sessions, Trump replied that he is focused on the midterm elections. Melania Trump, meanwhile, said Trump has people working in his administration she doesn’t trust and it is hard for the president to govern when “you always need to watch your back.” Melania added that she is “the most bullied person on the world.” #BeBest (Politico / ABC News / CNN / Washington Post)
3/ Trump spoke with Jeff Sessions’ own chief of staff about replacing him as attorney general. It is not clear whether Trump wanted Matthew Whitaker to take over on an interim basis or to be nominated in a more permanent capacity. White House officials say they expect both Sessions and Rosenstein to remain in their positions at least until after the midterms. (Washington Post)
4/ Trump is considering as many as five candidates to replace Jeff Sessions if he leaves as attorney general. The candidates include Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, Transportation Department general counsel Steven Bradbury, former Attorney General Bill Barr, Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan and Janice Rogers Brown, a retired appeals court judge from the District of Columbia Circuit. Sessions isn’t currently planning to leave, but has privately said he expects to be asked to resign. (Wall Street Journal)
5/ Georgia’s Secretary of State is holding more than 53,000 voter registration applications – nearly 70% from black voters – due to the state’s “exact match” law, which requires that information on the application must match information on file with the Georgia Department of Driver Services or the Social Security Administration. Brian Kemp’s office has cancelled over 1.4 million voter registrations since 2012 and nearly 670,000 registrations in 2017 alone. (Associated Press)
poll/ 35% of young Americans ages 18-29 say they are absolutely certain to vote in the midterms, while 81% of seniors 65+ say they’re certain to vote. 69% of Americans say their feelings about the state of the country are primarily negative. (The Atlantic / Public Religion Research Institute)
Notables.
Trump’s legal team is preparing written answers to questions provided by Robert Mueller related to the investigation into collusion between the Trump campaign and Russians. The two sides have still not agreed on whether Trump will be interviewed in person regarding obstruction of justice related to the firing of FBI Director James Comey. (CNN)
The judge in one of Paul Manafort’s criminal cases wants to move ahead with sentencing and whether Mueller’s prosecutors will retry him on deadlocked counts. Manafort’s plea deal, however, deferred sentencing until after his cooperation with Mueller’s team concluded. It also pushed off the decision to retry him on 10 of the 18 counts that Virginia jurors couldn’t agree on. Judge T.S. Ellis called the timeline in Manafort’s plea deal “highly unusual,” saying it didn’t adhere to the usual schedule in his court. A hearing is set for next week. (Associated Press / NBC News)
Trump accused Hillary Clinton of colluding with Russia during the 2016 election campaign. “There was collusion between Hillary, the Democrats and Russia,” Trump claimed during a campaign rally in Erie, Pennsylvania. His supporters chanted “lock her up.” (NBC News)
Andrew McCabe says the FBI is stalling publication of his book, “The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump.” The former deputy director of the FBI said he has been singled out for what he calls “irregular unfair treatment.” McCabe was fired in March for what the Justice Department called a lack of candor following an inspector general report accusing him of misleading investigators. He has denied any wrongdoing. (ABC News / NBC News)
Michael Cohen changed his party registration from Republican to Democrat. Trump’s former attorney pleaded guilty in August to eight criminal counts of tax fraud, making false statements to a bank and campaign finance violations. He implicated Trump by suggesting that the violations were at his direction. (Axios)
Trump blamed the stock market correction on the “out of control” Federal Reserve, criticizing chairman Jerome Powell for “going loco.” Trump said he won’t fire Powell, but is “just disappointed.” Presidents for more than two decades had avoided publicly criticizing the Fed’s interest-rate policies as a way of demonstrating respect for the institution’s independence. The Dow traded 200 points lower, bringing its two-day losses to more than 1,000 points (Bloomberg / CNBC)
Instead of discussing prison reform, Kanye West plunged into a 10-minute rant in the Oval Office, referring to himself as “a crazy motherfucker” akin to “tasting a fine wine” with “complex notes” for supporting Trump, complimented the president for making him “a Superman cape” by way of the red “Make America Great Again” hat, pitched the president on replacing Air Force One with a hydrogen-powered “iPlane 1” that he’d like Apple to design, and repeatedly complimented Trump, saying the president “is on his hero’s journey right now.” After West finished his soliloquy, Trump said: “That was quite something.” (Reuters / NPR / Rolling Stone / BuzzFeed News)
1/ Trump claimed the Democratic Party’s push for “Medicare for All” would “eviscerate” and “gut Medicare with their planned government takeover of American health care,” in a rare presidential op-ed published by USA Today. The op-ed included numerous debunked claims and factual inaccuracies while simultaneously linking to information that directly refuted his claims. Trump suggested that “Medicare would be forced to die” under the plan, devastating the health care industry, and “inevitably lead[ing] to the massive rationing of health care.” Medicare provides health care to Americans older than 65 and those with disabilities. (CNN / NBC News)
The Trump administration plans to take down healthcare.gov for maintenance during the sign-up period for the Affordable Care Act. The administration did the same thing last year and drew criticism for it, but officials say the maintenance periods are routine and intended to occur during the slowest periods. (The Hill)
2/ Trump said he will speak to Saudi officials about the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, saying he was “concerned.” While the Saudi government claims that Khashoggi left the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul after his visit last week, top Turkish security officials concluded that Khashoggi was assassinated in the consulate on orders from the highest levels of the Saudi royal court. Khashoggi, a Saudi citizen living in exile in the United States, was a vocal critic of Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Fifteen Saudi agents had arrived on two charter flights the day Khashoggi disappeared and all 15 left just a few hours later. The Trump administration has been largely silent in part because Saudi Arabia is a close American ally and Trump has repeatedly expressed his enthusiasm for Mohammed bin Salman. (New York Times / Politico)
3/ State court judges may be able to grant custody of migrant children to American families without notifying their parents, according to a report drawing on hundreds of court documents, immigration records and interviews in the U.S. and Central America. More than 300 parents were deported to Central America without their children this summer, many of whom allege they were ordered to sign a waiver they didn’t understand, which affected their rights to reunify with their children. (Associated Press)
4/ Melania Trump: Women “need to have really hard evidence” before saying they’re victims of sexual assault. “I do stand with women,” the first lady said, “but we need to show the evidence. You cannot just say to somebody, ‘I was sexually assaulted,’ or, ‘You did that to me,’ because sometimes the media goes too far, and the way they portray some stories it’s, it’s not correct, it’s not right.” During the 2016 presidential campaign, at least 13 women accused Donald Trump of sexual harassment or sexual assault. (CNN)
FBI Director Christopher Wray told the Senate that the White House limited the Brett Kavanaugh investigation. The FBI’s “supplemental update to the previous background investigation was limited in scope and that … is consistent with the standard process for such investigations going back a long ways,” Wray said. (Politico)
Chief Justice John G. Roberts referred more than a dozen judicial misconduct complaints filed recently against Kavanaugh to a federal appeals court in Colorado. The 10th Circuit will likely dismiss the complaints now that Kavanaugh has joined the Supreme Court. (Washington Post)
poll/ 46% of voters believe the Senate “made the wrong decision” in confirming Brett Kavanaugh, while 40% said it was the right decision. Among Democrats, 78% say the Senate made the wrong decision compared to 73% of Republicans who support the decision. Following the nomination, 77% of Democrats say they are “very motivated” to turn out and vote in the midterms. 68% of Republicans say they’re “very motivated.” (Politico)
Democratic voter turnout in this year’s House primaries increased in each of the 19 competitive, comparable House districts compared to 2014, and doubled in more than two thirds of them. (Axios)
poll/ 55**% of Americans think Trump is just venting when he calls the press “enemies of the people.”** 45% said they believe he is being serious. (Los Angeles Times)
✏️ Notables.
The Trump campaign argued that it can’t be held legally responsible for the WikiLeaks publication of DNC emails because the First Amendment protects the campaign’s “right to disclose information – even stolen information.” The lawsuit, filed by two Democratic donors and a former employee of the Democratic National Committee, alleges that the Trump campaign and Roger Stone coordinated release and exploitation of the hacked emails with Russia and WikiLeaks, thereby violating the plaintiffs’ privacy. (The Atlantic)
The Republican operative who tried to obtain Hillary Clinton’s emails had established a relationship with Michael Flynn as early as 2015, according to emails and interviews. Peter Smith told associates during the presidential campaign that he was using Flynn’s connections to help him on the email project. (Wall Street Journal)
A Roger Stone aide says he feels “great” about taking his case to the Supreme Court now that Kavanaugh is on the bench. Andrew Miller, who worked for Stone and was subpoenaed to testify before Robert Mueller’s grand jury, is challenging the constitutionality of the special counsel’s probe. He filed a suit to invalidate Mueller’s authority to act as a prosecutor. A federal judge ruled against him and held him in contempt, so he appealed the ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. (CNN)
A federal judge sentenced Richard Pinedo to six months in prison and six months of home confinement after he pleaded guilty to a felony identity fraud tied to Russian trolls. It’s the most severe penalty handed down yet in Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling. (Politico)
The infamous Russian troll factory was set on fire by an unknown suspect wielding a Molotov cocktail. The troll farm, run by Yevgeny Prigozhin, known as Putin’s “cook,” rebranded itself as a media company last year with 16 news websites generating more than 30 million pageviews every month. (Moscow Times)
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy will introduce legislation this week to fully fund Trump’s $23.4 billion border wall. The bill is currently in draft form, but is expected to be released within the next few days. The House would not be able to consider the bill until after the midterm elections. (CNN)
Trump said the Federal Reserve “has gone crazy” for raising interest rates. The comment comes after the Dow plunged more than 800 points – the worst drop since February. The tech sector, in particular, had its worst day in seven years. The Fed has raised interest rates three times this year and one more is expected before year-end. (Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNBC)
📌 The Re-Up.
A few stories worth your attention that were drowned out by the daily shock and awe. Updated occasionally.
Day 621: Trump inherited his family’s wealth through fraud and questionable tax schemes, receiving the equivalent today of at least $413 million from his father’s real estate empire. Trump has repeatedly claimed that “I built what I built myself.” Trump and his siblings used fake corporations to hide financial gifts from their parents, which helped Fred Trump claim millions in tax deductions. Trump also helped his parents undervalue their real estate holdings by hundreds of millions of dollars when filing their tax returns. In total, Fred and Mary Trump transferred more than $1 billion in wealth to their children and paid a total of $52.2 million in taxes (about 5%) instead of the $550+ million they should have owed under the 55% tax rate imposed on gifts and inheritances. Trump also “earned” $200,000 a year in today’s dollars from his father’s companies starting at age 3. After college, Trump started receiving the equivalent of $1 million a year, which increased to $5 million a year when he was in his 40s and 50s. Trump has refused to release his income tax returns, breaking with decades of practice by past presidents. There is no time limit on civil fines for tax fraud. [Editor’s note: This is a must read. An abstract summary does not suffice.] (New York Times)
Day 627: A U.N. report on the effects of climate change predicts a strong risk of an environmental crisis much sooner than expected. The report finds that the atmosphere could warm by as much as 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit above preindustrial levels by 2040 if greenhouse gas emissions continue at the current rate, which would cause sea levels to rise, intensify droughts, wildfires, and poverty, and cause a mass die-off of coral reefs. To prevent 2.7 degrees of warming, greenhouse pollution must be reduced by 45% from 2010 levels by 2030, and fully eliminated by 2050. The use of coal as an electricity source would have to drop from nearly 40% today to between 1% and 7% by 2050. Renewable energy would have to increase to about 67%. Trump has mocked the science of human-caused climate change, vowing to increase the burning of coal, and he intends to withdraw from the 2015 Paris agreement. The world is already more than halfway to the 2.7-degree mark and “there is no documented historic precedent” for the scale of changes required, the report said. (New York Times / Washington Post)
🗳 Register to vote:
If you’re not sure if you’re registered, check your registration status on vote.org.
If you haven’t registered, use vote.org, TurboVote, or pick up a registration form at your local post office or library.
Check your voter registration deadlinehere or here.
⚠️ Why I’m not covering Hurricane Michael. The scope of what WTF Just Happened Today covers is defined like a set of concentric circles. I start with Trump at the center, expanding outward to include news about his administration followed by the judicial and legislative branches of government. I’ll cover natural disasters, like hurricanes and wildfires, as they become intertwined with Trump and his administration (i.e. their response). Breaking news moves fast and rather than regurgitating outdated reporting once a day here, it’s better to get your information from the local news outlets reporting from the ground about their communities.
1/ Rick Gates requested proposals in 2016 from an Israeli company to create fake online identities and use social media to manipulate and influence the election. Gates joined the Trump campaign along with Paul Manafort. Both have been indicted on multiple charges of financial fraud and tax evasion. One proposal from the company, known as Psy-Group, called for the creation of fake online personas to target and persuade 5,000 delegates to the 2016 Republican National Convention by attacking Ted Cruz. Another called for opposition research and “complementary intelligence activities” aimed at Clinton and her close allies. There is no evidence that the Trump campaign acted on the proposals, but Psy-Group owner Joel Zamel did meet with Trump Jr. in August 2016. (New York Times)
2/ Nikki Haley resigned as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and will leave at the end of the year. Trump said that Haley informed him about six months ago that she would “take a break” at the end of her first two years. Haley said she doesn’t plan to run for president against Trump in 2020 and will support Trump’s re-election. Trump plans to name a successor in two to three weeks (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / Axios / NBC News / CNN)
After announcing her resignation, Haley called Jared Kushner a “hidden genius that no one understands.” She added: “We’re a better country because [Jared and Ivanka Trump are] in this administration.” (The Hill / Axios)
👋 Who The Fuck Has Left The Trump Administration. A timeline of all the departures so far… (WTFJHT Community Forum)
3/ Trump said he thought there was no one “more competent in the world” than Ivanka Trump for the U.N. ambassador job. While he thinks his daughter would make for an “incredible” ambassador, he also acknowledged that he “would be accused of nepotism.” (NBC News / Axios)
Senior White House officials have talked with Dina Powell about replacing Haley as U.N. ambassador. Powell is a Goldman Sachs executive and Trump’s former deputy national security advisor. (CNBC)
poll/ 54% of likely voters say they support the Democrat in their district while 41% back the Republican in a generic ballot. 62% of Democrats say they’re enthusiastic to vote while 52% of Republicans are excited to vote. (CNN)
poll/ 34% of young people ages 18-24 say they are “extremely likely” to vote in the midterm elections – up from 19.9% of 18-to-29 year olds who voted in 2014’s midterms. 45% want to vote for a Democratic candidate in 2018 while 26% plan to support a Republican. (Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement)
✏️ Notables.
The acting EPA administration repeatedly engaged with racist and conspiratorial content on Facebook and Twitter over the past five years. Andrew Wheeler brushed off his interactions, saying he doesn’t remember “liking” or retweeting the inflammatory content. (HuffPost)
The Trump administration will remove a federal ban on the summer sales of high-ethanol gasoline blends. The policy change would allow year-round sales of gasoline blends with up to 15% ethanol – 5% higher than typical blends. The EPA currently bans high-ethanol blends during the summer because they contribute to smog on hot days. The move is seen as a reward to Sen. Chuck Grassley, who chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee and presided over Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court. (CBS News)
Trump apologized “on behalf of our nation” to Kavanaugh “for the terrible pain and suffering” that he and his family endured during the confirmation process. Trump claimed that Kavanaugh was “proven innocent” and said that the confirmation process was based on “lies and deception.” (NBC News / ABC News)
More than a thousand noncitizens may have been registered to vote in California due to a processing error. The California Department of Motor Vehicles admitted that a mistake had caused as many as 1,500 noncitizens to be registered to vote in the state. A Canadian citizen and legal permanent resident of the U.S. first brought attention to the mistake after he received a letter in the mail telling him he was registered to vote. (ABC News / Los Angeles Times)
Trump’s trade war with China has cost Ford $1 billion. The automaker may have to cut production of some models and potentially eliminate some U.S. jobs as a result. (NBC News)
Kanye West will visit the White House to discuss job opportunities for former convicts with Trump and Jared Kushner. West also hopes to discuss increasing manufacturing jobs in the Chicago area. (New York Times / Reuters)
📌 Re-upping.
A few stories worth your attention that were drowned out by the daily shock and awe. Updated occasionally.
Day 621: Trump inherited his family’s wealth through fraud and questionable tax schemes, receiving the equivalent today of at least $413 million from his father’s real estate empire. Trump has repeatedly claimed that “I built what I built myself.” Trump and his siblings used fake corporations to hide financial gifts from their parents, which helped Fred Trump claim millions in tax deductions. Trump also helped his parents undervalue their real estate holdings by hundreds of millions of dollars when filing their tax returns. In total, Fred and Mary Trump transferred more than $1 billion in wealth to their children and paid a total of $52.2 million in taxes (about 5%) instead of the $550+ million they should have owed under the 55% tax rate imposed on gifts and inheritances. Trump also “earned” $200,000 a year in today’s dollars from his father’s companies starting at age 3. After college, Trump started receiving the equivalent of $1 million a year, which increased to $5 million a year when he was in his 40s and 50s. Trump has refused to release his income tax returns, breaking with decades of practice by past presidents. There is no time limit on civil fines for tax fraud. [Editor’s note: This is a must read. An abstract summary does not suffice.] (New York Times)
Day 627: A U.N. report on the effects of climate change predicts a strong risk of an environmental crisis much sooner than expected. The report finds that the atmosphere could warm by as much as 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit above preindustrial levels by 2040 if greenhouse gas emissions continue at the current rate, which would cause sea levels to rise, intensify droughts, wildfires, and poverty, and cause a mass die-off of coral reefs. To prevent 2.7 degrees of warming, greenhouse pollution must be reduced by 45% from 2010 levels by 2030, and fully eliminated by 2050. The use of coal as an electricity source would have to drop from nearly 40% today to between 1% and 7% by 2050. Renewable energy would have to increase to about 67%. Trump has mocked the science of human-caused climate change, vowing to increase the burning of coal, and he intends to withdraw from the 2015 Paris agreement. The world is already more than halfway to the 2.7-degree mark and “there is no documented historic precedent” for the scale of changes required, the report said. (New York Times / Washington Post)
🗳 Register to vote:
If you’re not sure if you’re registered, check your registration status on vote.org.
If you haven’t registered, use vote.org, TurboVote, or pick up a registration form at your local post office or library.
Check your voter registration deadlinehere or here.
1/ The Senate confirmed Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court in a 50-48 vote. Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski voted “present,” although she said she opposed the nomination. Joe Manchin was the lone “yes” vote from the Democrats. Kavanaugh is the first justice nominated by a president who lost the popular vote, confirmed by senators representing less than half of the country, while also having his nomination opposed by a majority of the country. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / The Guardian / NPR)
Chief Justice John Roberts has already received more than a dozen judicial misconduct complaints against Kavanaugh. Roberts has chosen not to refer the complaints to a judicial panel for investigation. (Washington Post)
The campaign to impeach Justice Kavanaugh has begun. A petition to impeach Kavanaugh gathered more than 125,000 signatures, but while it takes majority of the House to impeach a federal official, removing them requires a two-thirds supermajority of the Senate – or 67 votes. (Newsweek / NBC News)
2/ Trump called the allegations against Kavanaugh “a hoax that was set up by the Democrats.” He said talk of impeaching Kavanaugh was “an insult to the American public.” (The Hill / Washington Post)
Mitch McConnell called for an investigation into the leak of Christine Blasey Ford’s letter to Diane Feinstein, which alleges that Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her while the two were in high school. (Politico)
John Kelly formed a working group to prepare for the possibility of investigations if Democrats win the House. “Subpoenas flowing into a White House create paralysis,” said Neil Eggleston, Obama’s White House counsel. “The whole system stops while everyone tries to comply with subpoenas and prepare to testify.” (Axios)
Susan Rice said she’ll decide after the midterm elections on whether to run and try to unseat Susan Collins in 2020, who was the deciding vote to confirm Kavanaugh. Rice was Obama’s national security adviser. (ABC News / Washington Post)
Ford has not been able to return to her home due to constant threats, according to her attorneys. “They are not living at home […] The threats have been unending, it’s deplorable.” Ford “still believes [coming forward] was the right thing to do.” (HuffPost)
3/ Trump won’t fire Rod Rosenstein after all, saying they have a “very good relationship.” Trump and Rosenstein met following reports that Rosenstein wanted to wiretap the president and using the 25th Amendment to remove him from office. Rosenstein oversees the Russia probe led by Robert Mueller, whose work Trump has labeled a “witch hunt.” (New York Times / CNN / Washington Post / Politico)
4/ A U.N. report on the effects of climate change predicts a strong risk of an environmental crises much sooner than expected. The report finds that the atmosphere could warm by as much as 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit above preindustrial levels by 2040 if greenhouse gas emissions continue at the current rate, which would cause sea-levels to rise, intensify droughts, wildfires, and poverty, and cause a mass die-off of coral reefs. To prevent 2.7 degrees of warming, greenhouse pollution must be reduced by 45% from 2010 levels by 2030, and fully eliminated by 2050. The use of coal as an electricity source would have to drop from nearly 40% today to between 1 and 7% by 2050. Renewable energy would have to increase to about 67%. Trump has mocked the science of human-caused climate change, vowing to increase the burning of coal and intends to withdraw from the 2015 Paris agreement. The world is already more than halfway to the 2.7-degree mark and “there is no documented historic precedent” for the scale of changes required, the report said. (New York Times / Washington Post)
poll/ 51% of Americans oppose Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court with 41% supporting it. Among Democrats, 91% opposed his nomination, while 89% of Republicans support it. (CNN)
Notables.
North Korea will allow inspectors to visit a nuclear testing site that Kim Jong Un says he destroyed, according to Mike Pompeo. North Korea has not yet agreed to provide a full inventory of their nuclear arsenal, a move widely seen as the first step toward denuclearization. Additionally, South Korea said Trump and Kim agreed to a second summit. (New York Times)
A Republican operative raised at least $100,000 in an effort to obtain Hillary Clinton’s stolen emails just weeks before the 2016 election. In an email, Peter W. Smith sent wire instructions to “fund the Washington Scholarship Fund for the Russian students” with the donations days after WikiLeaks and DCLeaks began releasing emails damaging to Clinton’s campaign. Robert Mueller’s office has been investigating Smith’s activities. He killed himself in May 2017 – 10 days after describing his efforts to a reporter. (Wall Street Journal)
Federal officials froze all of Oleg Deripaska’s U.S.-based assets, including his mansions in Washington, D.C. and New York City. Deripaska is close with Putin and is allegedly involved in murder, money-laundering, bribery and racketeering. (New York Post)
Fox News hired Hope Hicks as Chief Communications Officer. After she left the White House in February, former Fox News executive Bill Shine took over as deputy chief of staff for communications. (Fox News / CNBC / Variety)
🇷🇺 What We Learned Last Week in the Russia Probe: GOP operative and anti-Trumper, Cheri Jacobus, said the investigation of an email hacking/catfishing scheme that targeted her has been forwarded to Robert Mueller; Russia’s Deputy Attorney General, who allegedly directed the foreign operations of Natalia Veselnitskaya, died last week in a mysterious helicopter crash in Russia; the pilot of the helicopter had two bullet wounds; the Russian sovereign wealth fund leader with whom Erik Prince met in the Seychelles, Kirill Dmitriev, “reached out to at least three additional individuals in close contact with the Trump transition team” in the days before Trump’s inauguration; GOP operative Peter Smith, who killed himself in an alleged suicide, solicited and raised at least $100k in his search for Clinton’s emails; Randy Credico told the Senate Intelligence Committee he would plead the 5th in response to a subpoena; Reddit’s CEO admitted that “suspicious” Russian accounts have been active within the past month on the platform; Russian state TV and Russian trolls supported Kavanaugh and condemned what they call “malignant feminism”; Representative Eric Swalwell wrote an op-ed for the Fresno Bee accusing Devin Nunes of burying evidence on Russian meddling to protect Trump and endorsing his opponent, Andrew Janz; a coalition of voting rights activists announced they are filing a federal lawsuit against Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp for “using a racially-biased methodology” to remove roughly 700,000 voters from the state’s voter rolls; and California’s Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill on Friday banning companies from secretly using automated social media accounts to sell products or influence elections. (WTF Just Happened Today)
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1/ The Senate voted 51-49 to advance Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination. Republican Lisa Murkowski voted not to advance the nomination. She called the cloture vote “a mistake,” saying Kavanaugh is “not the best man for the court at this time.” Flake told reporters he would support Kavanaugh on the final vote, “unless something big changes.” A final floor vote is expected to take place on Saturday. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
2/ Susan Collins will support Kavanaugh’s nomination, effectively ensuring enough votes for his confirmation. During a lengthy speech, Collins said the confirmation process has “been in steady decline for more than 30 years,” with Kavanaugh’s nomination hitting “rock bottom.” She said it’s her “fervent hope” that Kavanaugh will “work to lessen the divisions in the Supreme Court.” Collins added that “the MeToo movement is real,” that “it matters,” is “needed and it is long overdue,” but that Christine Blasey Ford’s “allegations fail to meet the more-likely-than-not standard” and “I do not believe that these charges can fairly prevent Judge Kavanaugh from serving on the court.” (CNBC / NBC News / Associated Press / Washington Post)
A group of Mainers have raised more than $2 million for Collins’ future Democratic opponent. (Crowdpac)
3/ Joe Manchin will also vote “yes” on Kavanaugh’s nomination, announcing his decision immediately after Collins. Manchin is a Democrat up for re-election in a red state. Machin said he had “reservations about this vote given the serious accusations against Judge Kavanaugh and the temperament he displayed in the hearing,” but “found Judge Kavanaugh to be a qualified jurist who will follow the Constitution and determine cases based on the legal findings before him.” (Axios / The Hill)
4/ Kavanaugh said that he “might have been too emotional” during his Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last week, arguing that he will be an “independent, impartial judge” in an op-ed he wrote for the Wall Street Journal. (Wall Street Journal)
The American Bar Association is re-evaluating Kavanaugh’s “well-qualified” rating. In a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee, the ABA referred to “new information of a material nature regarding temperament” stemming from Kavanaugh’s hearing. (Business Insider)
5/ Trump mocked former Senator Al Franken for folding “like a wet rag” and resigning following multiple allegations of sexual misconduct last year. (New York Times)
Notables.
The unemployment rate fell to 3.7%, the lowest level since December 1969. The Labor Department reported 134,000 new jobs in September, down from 270,000 in August. (CNBC / Politico / New York Times)
The U.S. trade deficit widened to 6.4% to a six-month high of $53.2 billion in August despite the White House slapping China with $200 billion worth of tariffs. (CNBC)
The Trump administration plans to pay Mexico $20 million to deport migrants from their country in order to prevent them from reaching the U.S. (ABC News)
1/ The White House is “fully confident” that Brett Kavanaugh will be confirmed by the Senate after receiving the FBI report. The White House said it found no evidence in the FBI report corroborating Christine Blasey Ford’s allegations of sexual assault against Kavanaugh. Mitch McConnell scheduled a procedural vote for Friday. If the motion passes, senators will have 30 hours to debate Kavanaugh’s confirmation before making the final decision. (Washington Post / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
More than 1,700 law professors signed onto a letter opposing Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court. The letter to the Senate says “the unprecedented and unfathomable demeanor of Judge Kavanaugh” during his hearing last week displayed a lack of judicial restraint and should disqualify him from serving on the nation’s highest court. (Politico / Washington Post)
A group of 100,000 Christian churches called for Kavanaugh’s nomination to be withdrawn, saying he “exhibited extreme partisan bias and disrespect towards certain members of the committee and thereby demonstrated that he possesses neither the temperament nor the character essential for a member of the highest court in our nation.” The National Council of Churches represents 45 million churchgoers in the U.S. (Fortune)
Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens doesn’t think Kavanaugh belongs on the Supreme Court, saying his performance during the Senate confirmation hearing suggests he lacks the temperament for the job. (Palm Beach Post)
A former Kavanaugh classmate at Yale said the Supreme Court nominee lied under oath about his drinking and the meaning of his yearbook entries. “Brett Kavanaugh stood up under oath and lied about his drinking and about the meaning of words in his yearbook,” writes James Roche. “He did so baldly, without hesitation or reservation.” Roche said there is “zero chance” that Deborah Ramirez made up her accusation that Kavanaugh exposed himself to her at a party. He also said Kavanaugh lied about never blacking out from drinking, and about the definition of the word “boofing.” (CNN)
2/ Sens. Susan Collins and Jeff Flake called the FBI report “reassuring” and “thorough,” adding that they see “no additional corroborating information” to back up Ford’s allegations. Democrats called the report “incomplete,” saying the FBI – at the White House’s direction – limited the investigation to protect Kavanaugh. The two Republican senators said they are still undecided about how to vote, but a “yes” vote from both would secure Kavanaugh’s seat on the Supreme Court. (NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post / ABC News)
48 Senators publicly support Kavanaugh’s nomination – all Republicans. There are three undecided Republicans – Collins, Flake, and Lisa Murkowski – and one undecided Democrat – Joe Manchin. Kavanaugh needs to pick up at least two of those four votes to advance. Heidi Heitkamp said she will vote “no” on Kavanaugh’s nomination. (Politico / Reuters / CNN)
3/ There is a single copy of the FBI’s findings available to Senators to review in a vault in the Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility. The report cannot leave the room, senators can’t bring their phones into the SCIF, and if they take notes, the notes must be left in the room when they leave. All 100 senators, four majority committee staffers, four minority committee staffers, and one committee clerk are cleared to view the report. Sen. Dick Durbin called the process “bizarre,” although it’s a standard process for FBI background reports. This FBI report will likely never be made public. (CNN / MSNBC / Business Insider)
Sen. Robert Menendez called the FBI investigation a “bullshit investigation.” The New Jersey senator added that “you don’t get corroboration if you don’t talk to corroborating witnesses at the end of the day, and obviously that didn’t happen here.” (NJ.com)
Notables.
A federal judge blocked the Trump administration from ending Temporary Protective Status for more than 300,000 immigrants from El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Sudan. The judge ruled that those TPS recipients and their children would “indisputably” face “irreparable harm and great hardship” if they were to lose protected status. (Politico / New York Times / CNN / NBC News)
Pence accused China of “meddling in America’s democracy” because “China wants a different American President.” Pence claimed that China is engaging in “a comprehensive and coordinated campaign to undermine support for the president” by using “covert actors, front groups, and propaganda outlets to shift Americans’ perception of Chinese policies.” (NBC News / Reuters / Politico)
The U.S. Navy wants to put on a global show of force in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait to warn China that the U.S. is prepared to deter and counter their military actions. One official described it as “just an idea.” (CNN)
The Justice Department indicted seven Russian military intelligence officials for trying to hack anti-doping agencies in the U.S., Canada and Europe. The agencies exposed Russia’s state-sponsored doping scheme that resulted in the country’s athletes being banned from the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil and the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea. (New York Times / CNBC / CNN / Reuters)
A Russian official linked to the lawyer who met senior Trump campaign officials at Trump Tower in 2016 died in a helicopter crash outside of Moscow. Russian Deputy Attorney General Saak Albertovich Karapetyan was linked to Natalia Veselnitskaya in a Swiss court case earlier this year for running a foreign recruitment operation that involved bribery, corruption, and double agents. It’s unclear why Karapetyan and two others took off after nightfall in adverse conditions. (Daily Beast)
Robert Mueller’s team gained possession of radio interviews between Roger Stone and radio host Randy Credico, who Stone claimed was his back channel to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. The radio interviews took place between August 2016 and April 2017 on local New York station WBAI. Credico has denied Stone’s claim that he was the intermediary between Stone and Assange. Mueller is investigating Stone’s possible involvement in Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. (CNN)
1/ The FBI hasn’t interviewed Brett Kavanaugh or Christine Blasey Ford because it doesn’t have authority from the White House, despite Trump’s comment Monday that “the FBI should interview anybody that they want, within reason.” The White House has indicated to the FBI that testimony from Kavanaugh and Ford is sufficient. (Bloomberg)
Senate Democrats suggested that previous FBI background checks on Kavanaugh included evidence of inappropriate behavior. Eight of the 10 Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee asked Sen. Chuck Grassley to correct his previous statement that “nowhere in any of these six FBI reports … was there ever a whiff of ANY issue … related in any way to inappropriate sexual behavior or alcohol abuse.” The Democrats said the information is “not accurate.” (Washington Post)
2/ The FBI is expected to wrap up its investigation into sexual assault allegations against Kavanaugh today. Ford has not been interviewed by the FBI. Her attorneys have demanded that the FBI interview her and other witnesses to the alleged incidents. Agents completed a first batch of interviews of four individuals closest to the alleged events, including Mark Judge, and are now interviewing Tim Gaudette, a Georgetown Preparatory School classmate of Kavanaugh who lived in the home where the July 1 party marked on Kavanaugh’s 1982 calendar was held. Another friend from Kavanaugh’s high school days, Chris Garrett, has also completed an FBI interview. Mitch McConnell plans to vote later this week and has vowed that “only senators will be allowed to look at” the FBI’s final report. (Politico / Washington Post)
McConnell rejected a request to have the FBI brief all senators on its report on sexual assault allegations against Kavanaugh, saying “I believe it would be used to further delay this nomination. Republican Senator John Kennedy called for McConnell to either make the FBI’s report public or release an independent synopsis of its findings. (The Hill / Reuters)
If the FBI report reaches the Senate by Wednesday, McConnell will file cloture today on the Kavanaugh nomination. The cloture vote would happen on Friday and, if successful, a final vote on Kavanaugh could take place Saturday night at the earliest. (Politico)
3/ The FBI has not contacted at least 40 potential corroborators or character witnesses about the allegations made against Kavanaugh by Ford and Deborah Ramirez. Two sources, however, say more interviews are happening with a focus on Kavanaugh’s high school friends who are listed as attending a July 1, 1982, party. (NBC News / CNN)
Kavanaugh wrote a letter to his Georgetown Prep friends in 1983 and recommended that one of them “warn the neighbors that we’re loud, obnoxious drunks with prolific pukers among us.” Kavanaugh and his seven friends were staying in Ocean City, Maryland, for “Beach Week.” (New York Times)
Two of Kavanaugh’s former law school classmates are withdrawing their support for him because of “the nature” of his recent testimony. And, three of Kavanaugh’s former clerks who previously supported him told the Senate Judiciary Committee they want to clarify that they are “deeply troubled” by the sexual assault allegations against him. (HuffPost)
Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee released an explicit statement about Julie Swetnick’s sex life by Dennis Ketterer, who said he was involved in a relationship with Swetnick in 1993. Swetnick alleges that Kavanaugh was at a house party in 1982 where she was gang raped. In his statement, Ketterer said Swetnick told him that she enjoyed group sex and had first engaged in it during high school. Ketterer said the remark “derailed” their relationship. (Washington Post)
4/ At a Mississippi rally Trump repeatedly mocked Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault, for not remembering certain details when she was questioned by the Senate Judiciary Committee about the incident. “How did you get home?” Trump asked the crowd. “I don’t remember. How’d you get there? I don’t remember. Where is the place? I don’t remember. How many years ago was it? I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know. What neighborhood was it in? I don’t know. Where’s the house? I don’t know. Upstairs, downstairs, where was it? I don’t know.” (New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post)
Jeff Flake called Trump’s ridiculing of Ford “appalling,” saying “there’s no time and no place for remarks like that.” Susan Collins added that “the president’s comments were just plain wrong.” (Washington Post / NBC News)
poll/ 41% of Americans oppose Kavanaugh’s nomination, 33% support it, and 26% don’t have an opinion. (Reuters)
poll/ 45% of Americans believe Ford is telling the truth compared to 33% who believe Kavanaugh. (NPR)
poll/ 56% of Republicans would still consider voting for a candidate accused of sexual harassment as long as they agreed with them on the issues. 81% of Democrats would “definitely not” vote for a candidate accused of sexual harassment. (NBC News)
Notables.
The International Court of Justice ruled that sanctions against Iran by the U.S. violated the friendship treaty that was signed by both countries in 1955. The United Nations’ highest court ordered the U.S. to ease sanctions on Iran and to not tamper with humanitarian aid efforts by using sanctions, which are due to increase significantly next month. (Politico)
In response, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the U.S. would cancel the treaty. (New York Times)
Two prosecutors with expertise in money laundering cases left Robert Mueller’s team and returned to their previous positions. Mueller’s team is now down to 13 staffers. (ABC News / Politico)
Rod Rosenstein will meet with the House Judiciary and Oversight committees on October 11 for a joint panel about reports that he proposed to secretly record Trump early last year. (Politico)
A man was arrested in Logan, Utah, as part of the investigation into envelopes filled with ricin that were sent to the Pentagon and Trump. (Salt Lake Tribune)
The White House called the article by The New York Times on Trump’s exploitive use of tax schemes and fraud during the 1990s a “misleading attack” on the president’s family. Sarah Huckabee Sanders then touted Trump’s economic accomplishments. Trump received the equivalent today of at least $413 million from his father, helped his parents dodge taxes by setting up a “sham corporation” to take improper tax deductions, and helped undervalue their real estate holdings. (Politico)
New York City “is looking to recoup” any taxes that Trump should have paid for money he received from his father. Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city and state would work together on an investigation. (Bloomberg)
The EPA excluded its top science officials when it rewrote its rules about what kind of scientific studies could be used to protect public health. The proposed rule would allow the EPA to only consider studies where the underlying data is publicly available and can be reproduced by other researchers, which would exclude studies that include proprietary information or confidential information about patients participating in private-sector research. (Washington Post)
1/ Trump inherited his family’s wealth through fraud and questionable tax schemes, receiving the equivalent today of at least $413 million from his father’s real estate empire. Trump has repeatedly claimed that “I built what I build myself.” Trump and his siblings used fake corporations to hide financial gifts from his parents, which helped his father claim millions in tax deductions. Trump also helped his parents undervalue their real estate holdings by hundreds of millions of dollars when filing their tax returns. In total, Fred and Mary Trump transferred more than a $1 billion in wealth to their children and paid a total of $52.2 million in taxes (about 5%) instead of the $550+ million they should have owed under the 55% tax rate imposed on gifts and inheritances. Trump also “earned” $200,000 a year in today’s dollars starting at age 3 from his father’s companies. After college, Trump started receiving the equivalent of $1 million a year, which increased to $5 million a year when he was in his 40s and 50s. Trump has refused to release his income tax returns, breaking with decades of practice by past presidents. There is no time limit on civil fines for tax fraud. [Editor’s note: This is a must read. An abstract summary does not suffice.] (New York Times)
11 takeaways from the investigation into Trump’s wealth. (New York Times)
A federal judge ruled that a group of nearly 200 Democratic senators and representatives have the legal standing to sue Trump to prove he violated the U.S. Constitution’s emoluments clause by doing business with foreign governments while in office. (Washington Post / USA Today)
2/ The New York State Tax officials are investigating the allegations that Trump and his family committed “instances of outright fraud” in order to transfer millions of dollars. “The Tax Department is reviewing the allegations in the NYT article and is vigorously pursuing all appropriate avenues of investigation,” a spokesman from New York State Department of Taxation and Finance said. (CNBC)
3/ Paul Manafort met with Robert Mueller’s office as part of his cooperation agreement. Following his guilty plea last month to conspiracy against the U.S. and conspiring to obstruct justice, Manafort is required to cooperate “fully, truthfully, completely, and forthrightly … in any and all matters as to which the government deems the cooperation relevant.” (Politico)
4/ The intermediary between Roger Stone and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange told Senate Intelligence Committee that he will plead the Fifth Amendment in response to its subpoena for testimony and documents. Randy Credico spent more than two hours last month testifying before Robert Mueller’s grand jury about stolen Democratic emails. Stone, a longtime Trump adviser, said Credico was his intermediary to Assange and WikiLeaks. (Politico)
5/ Trump directed an effort to prevent Stormy Daniels from publishing a description of her alleged sexual encounter with him. In February, Trump instructed his then-lawyer Michael Cohen to seek a restraining order against Daniels through a confidential arbitration proceeding and to coordinate the legal response with his son, Eric Trump. Direct involvement by Trump and his son suggests that Trump’s ties to his company continued into 2018, contradicting public statements made at the time by the Trump Organization, the White House, and Michael Cohen. (Wall Street Journal)
6/ The Trump administration is denying visas to the unmarried same-sex partners of foreign diplomats and foreign staff working at the United Nations, making marriage a requirement for foreign couples to remain in the U.S. together. Diplomats with same-sex partners will have until the end of December to get married, or their partners will be sent home in January. Couples could be exposed to prosecution if they return to a country that criminalizes homosexuality or same-sex marriages. 12% of U.N. members states allow same-sex marriage. (Foreign Policy / USA Today / CNN / HuffPost)
poll/ 49% of voters support the Democratic candidate in their local race for the U.S. House of Representatives while 42% support the Republican candidate. Overall, 50% of voters want Democrats to control the U.S. Senate. 53% of Americans disapprove of the job Trump is doing. (Quinnipiac)
poll/ In the South, 48% of voters support the Republican congressional candidate over the Democratic candidate. 43% support the Democratic candidate. 52% of Southern voters approve the job Trump is doing, compared with 49% who disapprove. (NBC News)
bonus/ Trump: “THE ONLY REASON TO VOTE FOR A DEMOCRAT IS IF YOU’RE TIRED OF WINNING!” Trump issued the all-caps message shortly before departing for an event in Philadelphia. (The Hill)
THE ONLY REASON TO VOTE FOR A DEMOCRAT IS IF YOU’RE TIRED OF WINNING!
The White House corrected the official transcript from Trump’s press conference in the Rose Garden to include his insult of a female reporter. The transcript initially showed Trump telling Cecilia Vega that she wasn’t “thanking” him for calling on her. In reality, Trump told Vega that she was “not thinking. You never do.” (Politico / CNN)
The EPA proposed relaxing radiation exposure guidelines, saying it could have a “positive effect on human health.” (Associated Press)
The Department of Homeland Security couldn’t track separated families because a central database never existed., according to a report by the department’s Office of Inspector General. Instead, “a manually-compiled spreadsheet” was maintained by Health and Human Services, Customs and Border Protection, and ICE personnel where they sent information about migrant children in emails as Microsoft Word attachments. (New York Times)
The Pentagon received two pieces of mail that tested positive for ricin, a highly toxic compound that causes nausea, vomiting and internal bleeding of the stomach and intestines, followed by failure of the liver, spleen and kidneys, and death by collapse of the circulatory system. The two envelopes were addressed to Secretary of Defense James Mattis and to the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral John Richardson. All mail delivered to the Pentagon was put into quarantine. (CNN)
The U.S. accused Russia of developing a banned cruise missile system that could allow Russia to launch a nuclear strike capable of hitting Europe or Alaska. The U.S. ambassador to NATO said Washington is committed to a diplomatic solution but would consider a military strike if Russian continues development of the medium-range system. (Reuters)
👨⚖️ Dept. of Kavanaugh.
Christine Blasey Ford’s attorneys demanded that the FBI interview her and act on investigative leads they have provided for the inquiry into allegations against Brett Kavanaugh. The FBI has not returned calls from Ford’s lawyers and she’s not included in its current list of potential witnesses to interview. “It is inconceivable that the FBI could conduct a thorough investigation of Dr. Ford’s allegations without interviewing her, Judge Kavanaugh, or the witnesses we have identified in our letters to you,” attorneys Debra Katz and Michael Bromwich wrote to FBI officials. (NBC News / Politico)
Mitch McConnell: “We’ll be voting this week.” The Senate Majority Leader said “the time for endless delay and obstruction has come to a close.” The FBI’s investigation could be wrapped up as soon as Wednesday. (The Hill) / Wall Street Journal)
Text messages between Brett Kavanaugh and a former classmate at Yale shows Kavanaugh and his team were working behind the scenes to refute Deborah Ramirez’s allegations against him before they were made public. Kerry Berchem tried to get the text messages to the FBI so they can be reviewed as part of the new investigation, but has yet to be contacted by the FBI. The texts suggest that Kavanaugh was personally communicating with former classmates about the allegations before they were made public in a New Yorker article. (NBC News)
Julie Swetnick, speaking publicly for the first time, said she was raped at a party that Kavanaugh and Mark Judge attended, but “cannot specifically say that he was one of the ones who assaulted me.” Swetnick said Kavanaugh “was very aggressive — very sloppy drunk, very mean drunk. I saw him — go up to girls and paw on them, try to, you know, get a little too handsy, touching them in private parts. I saw him try to shift clothing.” (NBC News)
Republican Sen. Susan Collins called on the FBI to investigate Julie Swetnick’s allegations against Kavanaugh as part of its probe. “Senator Collins was encouraged by the president’s statements that he would give the FBI agents the latitude they need to do their work,” said a spokesperson for Sen. Collins. “It makes sense to start with the four named witnesses from the hearing and then the FBI can follow any leads that it believes need to be pursued, as Senators Flake, Murkowski, and Collins indicated at the time this agreement was made.” (Portland Press Herald)
As an undergraduate at Yale in 1985, Kavanaugh was involved in an altercation at a local bar and was accused of throwing ice at another patron. The incident led the New Haven Police Department to question Kavanaugh and four other men. Kavanaugh was not arrested in connection with the incident. (New York Times)
Two ethics complaints have been filed against Kavanaugh in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Court on which he sits. One complaint charges that Kavanaugh’s attacks on his accusers in written testimony submitted to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Sept. 26 “demonstrate his lack of fitness to be a judge.” The other complaint involves allegations made by Kavanaugh during his initial confirmation hearing. The complaints are being administered by Merrick Garland. (Law and Crime)
Trump lamented that it’s a “scary time for young men in America” while he was defended Kavanaugh. Trump told reporters that “it’s a very scary situation where you’re guilty until proven innocent.” (The Hill / ABC News)
1/ The U.S., Mexico, and Canada reached a deal to revise the North American Free Trade Agreement, which will be known as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Trump called the agreement “historic news,” “an extraordinary agreement,” and “a new dawn,” claiming that it “solves the many deficiencies and mistakes in NAFTA” and that it’s “the most important” trade deal ever agreed to by the U.S. The new trade deal leaves much of the old NAFTA deal intact. Congressional approval, however, is uncertain if Democrats retake control of the House since Congress won’t vote to ratify the agreement until 2019. The deal was reached with Canada shortly before a midnight Sunday deadline imposed by the Trump administration. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNBC / Politico / BBC)
2/ Trump said he supports a “very comprehensive” but “quick” FBI investigation into the allegations against Brett Kavanaugh as long as it’s “within reason,” because “we don’t want to go on a witch hunt, do we?” Trump, the White House, and Senate Republicans initially asked the bureau to limit interviews to four people: Mark Judge and P.J. Smyth, high school friends of Kavanaugh’s; Leland Keyser, a high school friend of Christine Blasey Ford; and Deborah Ramirez, another of the accusers. The White House, however, has reportedly authorized the FBI to expand its investigation, which Trump wants completed by the end of the week. In a letter to the White House and FBI, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee listed more than two dozen people they wanted interviewed as part of the investigation. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / The Guardian)
3/ Sens. Jeff Flake and Chris Coons said that if the FBI investigation finds Kavanaugh lied to the Senate Judiciary Committee then his nomination would likely not move forward. During an interview, Flake and Coons were asked, “If Kavanaugh is shown to have lied to the committee, nomination’s over?” Flake responded, “Oh yes.” Coons added: “I would think so.” (CNN / Washington Post)
One of Kavanaugh’s Yale classmates issued a statement saying the Supreme Court nominee was not truthful about his drinking during his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Chad Ludington claimed Kavanaugh made a “blatant mischaracterization” about his drinking while in college. (CNN / New York Times)
4/ Trump called the FBI investigation a “blessing in disguise,” because “the FBI has a chance reveal a lot of different things,” including who leaked the papers. Trump suggested it was Sen. Dianne Feinstein “because certainly her body language was not exactly very good when they asked her that question.” The reporter at The Intercept who first broke the story about Ford’s allegations tweeted: “Feinstein’s staff did not leak the letter to The Intercept.” (NBC News / Axios)
poll/ 48% of American voters say Kavanaugh should not be confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court, while 42% say he should be confirmed. 48% of voters believe Ford while 41% believe Kavanaugh. (Quinnipiac)
Notables.
Hundreds of migrant children were moved from shelters in various states into a tent city in West Texas. The children were loaded onto buses in the middle of the night and moved from private shelters or foster homes to a camp in Tornillo, Texas. (New York Times)
Devin Nunes’ family dairy farm in California was actually secretly relocated to Iowa more than a decade ago and relies heavily on the work of undocumented immigrants. Nunes is the head of the House Intelligence Committee. (Esquire)
Secretary of Defense James Mattis canceled his trip to China for an annual security meeting after China refused a request by an American warship to make a port visit to Hong Kong in October. (CNBC / New York Times)
Trump to a female reporter: “You’re not thinking. You never do.” He then refused to let Cecilia Vega, ABC News, ask a question about the FBI investigation into Kavanaugh. During the press conference, Trump claimed the news media has treated him “unbelievably unfairly,” saying “they’re worse now than ever. They’re loco.” (Washington Post / Politico)
1/ The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 11-10 to approve the Kavanaugh nomination, sending it to the full Senate for consideration. Jeff Flake asked that the full Senate “delay the floor vote […] in order to let the FBI continue to do an investigation,” suggesting that he would not vote for Kavanaugh on the Senate floor without an investigation. He suggested that there were other Republicans who felt the same. Chairman Chuck Grassley abruptly adjourned the committee citing the “two-hour rule” despite confusion by senators about what they had voted for, including Dianne Feinstein, who asked: “What?” (New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post)
Dianne Feinstein described Kavanaugh’s testimony as “aggressive and belligerent,” adding that she’s “never seen a nominee for any position behave in that manner.” (CNBC)
Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee plan to investigate Kavanaugh if they retake the House majority in November. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) would become chair of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet, which has the authority to subpoena witnesses and documents related to Kavanaugh. (HuffPost)
Leaked emails show a Republican aide declined to take phone calls from Deborah Ramirez and her legal team, who alleges that Kavanaugh exposed himself to her during a party in college. Republicans on the Judiciary Committee claimed that they had “made eight requests” for evidence from Ramirez only to be “stonewalled” by her attorneys. Mike Davis, the senior Republican committee staffer, demanded that Ramirez produce evidence in written form before any conversation about her testifying would be allowed to proceed. (New Yorker)
2/ Trump agreed to order the FBI to investigate the allegations against Kavanaugh. “I’ve ordered the FBI to conduct a supplemental investigation to update Judge Kavanaugh’s file,” Trump said in a statement released by Sarah Huckabee Sanders. “As the Senate has requested, this update must be limited in scope and completed in less than one week.” (CNN / Reuters / Axios)
Statement from President @realDonaldTrump: “I’ve ordered the FBI to conduct a supplemental investigation to update Judge Kavanaugh’s file. As the Senate has requested, this update must be limited in scope and completed in less than one week.”
3/ Mark Judge said he will cooperate with an FBI investigation. Judge is Kavanaugh’s high school friend, who Ford alleges was in the room during the assault. Judge previously told the Senate Judiciary Committee that he didn’t want to testify in public. (Associated Press)
4/ The Senate will take a procedural vote on Saturday to keep the nomination on track pending the outcome of the investigation. (Washington Post)
🔥 Earlier Today.
Trump told senators “to do what they think is right” regarding Kavanaugh’s Senate confirmation vote. “I’m going to let them handle that.” He added that he is “totally reliant” on Senate leaders to determine whether or not to have the FBI investigate the allegations against Kavanaugh. “I don’t know if this is going to continue onward or if we’re going to get a vote.” He called Christine Blasey Ford a “compelling” and “very credible witness.” (Daily Beast / BuzzFeed News / Axios / CBS Philly / CNBC)
Senate Republican leaders agreed to delay Kavanaugh’s confirmation vote one week to allow for a “supplemental” FBI background investigation into sexual assault allegations. Mitch McConnell formally asked the White House to instruct the FBI to do a supplemental background check. Trump is the only person who can direct the FBI to do the additional background investigation of Kavanaugh. (Bloomberg / Politico / CNN / NBC News)
Lisa Murkowski said she supported Flake’s call for a delay and an FBI investigation. Republicans hold a 51-49 majority in the Senate, making it difficult for Mitch McConnell to push ahead with two defecting Republican senators. (Washington Post / Politico / Talking Points Memo)
The American Bar Association called on the Senate to postpone a vote on Kavanaugh’s confirmation until the FBI can complete an investigation into Ford’s allegations of sexual assault. “The basic principles that underscore the Senate’s constitutional duty of advice and consent on federal judicial nominees require nothing less than a careful examination of the accusations and facts by the FBI,” the ABA wrote in a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee. The ABA previously gave Kavanaugh its highest rating of unanimously “well-qualified” for the Supreme Court. (CNN / CBS News / New York Times / Washington Post)
The Jesuit Review rescinded its endorsement of Kavanaugh and called for his nomination to be withdrawn, stating that it “is no longer in the best interests of the country.” Kavanaugh repeatedly referenced the Jesuit education he received at Georgetown Prep in yesterday’s hearings. (America: The Jesuit Review of Faith and Culture)
The dean of Yale Law School called on the Senate to postpone Kavanaugh’s confirmation vote until the allegations against him can be investigated. In a statement, Dean Heather Gerken said: “I join the American Bar Association in calling for additional investigation” and that “proceeding with the confirmation process without further investigation is not in the best interest of the Court or our profession.” Yale Law School is Kavanaugh’s alma mater. (BuzzFeed News)
Senators Joe Donnelly and Jon Tester, two red-state Democrats, said they would vote against Kavanaugh’s Senate confirmation. Donnelly, Joe Manchin, and Heidi Heitkamp were the three Democrats to support Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation. Heitkamp’s stance on Kavanaugh remains unclear. (Washington Post / CNN/ Reuters)
The White House can’t say “for certain” that they have enough Senate votes to confirm Kavanaugh. “We’re getting there,” Raj Shah said. Republicans Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, as well as Democrat Joe Manchin, have not yet said how they will vote on the Supreme Court nominee’s confirmation. (Politico)
✏️ Notables.
Trump signed an $854 billion spending bill to keep the federal government open through Dec. 7, averting a government shutdown before the November midterm elections. (Associated Press)
Election machines used in more than half of U.S. states are vulnerable to a cyberattack, which was disclosed more than a decade ago. A company spokeswoman said it stopped manufacturing the systems in 2008. (Wall Street Journal)
The House voted to permanently extend the tax cuts for individuals and unincorporated businesses from Trump’s 2017 tax law. The legislation passed on a vote of 220-191. Three Democrats voted for the legislation and ten Republicans voted against it. (The Hill / Politico)
A Trump Victory Committee donor claimed to be “actively involved” in the presidential campaign and offered to brief a high-ranking Russian official in the final months of the campaign. A series of emails reveal that Simon Kukes, a Russian-born American businessman, requested a face-to-face meeting with Vyacheslav Pavlovsky, vice president of the state-owned Russian Railways. (NBC News)
The House Judiciary Committee issued a subpoena for former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe’s memos, as well as “all documents supporting” claims the FBI made in its application to conduct surveillance on former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. (Washington Post)
A cooperating witness in Robert Mueller’s probe said he “lives in a constant state of fear” after providing testimony that led to Russian nationals being indicted. Richard Pinedo pleaded guilty to charges of identity fraud in February for his role in unwittingly selling bank accounts to Russians. (ABC News)
The House Intelligence Committee voted to release the transcripts of interviews it conducted as part of its Russia investigation. The 53 transcripts could be released as soon as next week, provided the intelligence community doesn’t take issue with releasing the information. (Washington Post / Reuters)
Farmers said aid from the Trump administration won’t cover the lost sales due to tariffs. U.S. farm income is expected to drop 13% this year, to $66 billion, despite the USDA saying it would pay farmers nearly $5 billion to offset losses from global trade disputes. (Wall Street Journal)
The EPA will combine the Office of the Science Advisor with the agency’s research office in order to “reduce redundancies.” (CNN)
The Trump administration predicts the earth’s temperature will rise by 7 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century. Instead of using the analysis to fight climate change, the administration argued that the fate of the planet is already sealed. (Washington Post)
1/ Christine Blasey Ford testified that she is “100%” certain that Brett Kavanaugh was her attacker, and that she believed he “was going to rape me” and “was going to accidentally kill me.” Ford began her testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee by telling senators: “I am here today not because I want to be. I am terrified.” (Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / CNN)
Ford’s testimony in one sentence: Ford broke her silence after 36 years; described how she was “100%” sure that it was Kavanaugh and Mark Judge who locked her in a bedroom before Kavanaugh “got on top” of her; called it her “civic duty” to come forward despite feeling “terrified”; and described the “uproarious laughter” that Kavanaugh and Judge had at her expense.
2/ In a fiery 45-minute opening statement to the committee, Kavanaugh called the confirmation process “a national disgrace” and said that the sexual assault allegations against him are part of “a calculated and orchestrated political hit.” Kavanaugh claimed that his family and his “name have been totally and permanently destroyed” by this process, but he “will not be intimidated into withdrawing.” Kavanaugh said he prepared his remarks himself. (Politico / Washington Post)
Kavanaugh’s testimony in one sentence: Kavanaugh was combative with Democrats, refused to answer questions directly; claimed he’d “do whatever the committee wants” regarding an FBI investigation, but rolled his eyes and stayed quiet for a long time when asked if an investigation was a good idea; denied ever blacking out from drinking; denied every being alone in a room with Ford and his friend Mark Judge; and called Swetnick’s allegations “a joke” and “a farce.”
3/ Trump called the accusations against Kavanaugh “all false,” but that he could “always be convinced” and “could be persuaded” otherwise” because “it’s possible [Ford’s testimony] will be convincing.” Some Republicans are hoping the White House pulls Kavanaugh’s nomination, calling today a “total disaster.” Trump, however, said he would only withdraw Kavanaugh’s nomination “if I thought he was guilty of something” and that the “false” allegations of sexual misconduct against him “impact my opinion” of Kavanaugh. Trump was reportedly “riveted” watching Kavanaugh’s opening statement, telling people in his inner circle,“this is why I nominated him.” (NPR / NBC News / New York Times / Bloomberg / Politico / Washington Post)
4/ Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee interviewed two men who claim they, not Brett Kavanaugh, were the ones who assaulted Ford. The two suggested that Ford’s allegations against Kavanaugh may have been a case of mistaken identity – a conspiracy floated last week by conservative legal commentator Ed Whelan, a longtime friend of Kavanaugh’s. Neither man intends to come forward publicly. (Washington Post / The Hill / NY Post / BuzzFeed News)
5/ Sen. Susan Collins questioned why the Senate Judiciary Committee has not subpoenaed Mark Judge, a close friend of Kavanaugh’s and an alleged witness to the incidents described by Ford and Julie Swetnick. The Republican senator told colleagues in a private meeting that she was troubled by the latest accusations by Swetnick, who said that she witnessed Kavanaugh and Judge try to get teenage girls “inebriated and disoriented so they could then be ‘gang raped.’” Collins is a key swing vote and joins GOP Senators Jeff Flake and Lisa Murkowski, who have expressed reservations about Kavanaugh’s nomination. Kavanaugh can’t lose more than one GOP senator if all Democrats vote against his nomination. (CNN / New York Times)
Mark Judge’s book validates Ford’s timeline of the alleged assault by Kavanaugh. “I did see Mark Judge once at the Potomac Village Safeway after the time of the attack,” Ford testified, adding that if she knew when Judge worked there she could provide more information about when the attack occurred. In Judge’s book, he described working at a grocery store the summer before senior year for a few weeks. He mentions someone named “Bart O’Kavanaugh,” who vomited in a car after a party. Ford said she saw Judge at Safeway “six to eight weeks” after the alleged assault. (Washington Post)
6/ An anonymous fourth accuser alleged that Brett Kavanaugh physically assaulted a woman in the D.C. area in 1998 while he was drunk. The sender of the anonymous letter described an incident between her daughter, Kavanaugh, and several friends in which “they were all shocked when Brett Kavanaugh, shoved her friend up against the wall very aggressively and sexually” as they were leaving a bar. The author of the letter said there were “at least four witnesses including my daughter.” (NBC News)
7/ Four Republican governors called for the Senate to delay the Kavanaugh vote and take its time to examine the sexual assault allegations against the nominee. The four are Larry Hogan of Maryland, Charlie Baker of Massachusetts, John Kasich of Ohio, and Phil Scott of Vermont. (Politico)
Notables.
The House Intelligence Committee will vote on Friday to release dozens of interview transcripts from its now-defunct Russia investigation. The transcripts are from interviews that were conducted between June 2017 and March 2018, and will include testimony from Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, Hope Hicks, Roger Stone, and other people who have been close to Trump. The committee is expected to refer the transcripts to the intelligence community for assessment and redaction, which could lead to a rolling release schedule that continues through October. Republicans have called for the documents to be released before the November election. (Politico / Reuters)
Trump postponed his meeting with Rod Rosenstein this week in order to not distract from the Kavanaugh congressional hearings. Trump and Rosenstein will meet next week meeting to discuss the deputy attorney general’s future at the Justice Department. (CNBC / New York Times)
House Democrats are preparing to force a vote on a plan to Robert Mueller’s investigation from interference by Trump. The proposal would force Republicans to go on the record and decide whether to consider the Mueller-protection proposal or sideline it. (Politico)
Trump claimed that he declined a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ahead of a self-imposed Oct. 1 deadline to strike a new NAFTA deal between the U.S., Mexico and Canada. Canada’s government said it never requested a meeting. (CNBC)
Trump held a solo press conference on Wednesday, his fourth since taking office. During the rambling 81-minute news event, Trump discussed everything from his plans for Rod Rosenstein, to trade relations between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, to the allegations against Kavanaugh, which he called a “big, fat con job,” and more. (Washington Post / New York Times / Mother Jones)
1/ In a sworn declaration, a third accuser said that between 1981 and 1983 she witnessed efforts by Brett Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge to get girls “inebriated and disorientated” so they could be “gang raped” in side rooms at house parties by a “train” of boys who were lined up and waiting for their “turn” inside the room. Julie Swetnick swore that Kavanaugh and Judge would “‘spike’ the ‘punch’ at house parties” with “drugs and/or grain alcohol,” and that she witnessed Kavanaugh “being overly aggressive with girls,” not taking “No” for an answer, and being “verbally abusive towards girls by making crude sexual comments” intended to demean them. In her declaration, Swetnick describes an incident in 1982 in which she alleges she was the victim of a “gang rape” Kavanaugh was present for. “During the incident, I was incapacitated without my consent and unable to fight off the boys raping me,” Swetnick says. “I believe I was drugged using Quaaludes or something similar placed in what I was drinking.” Kavanaugh’s first accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, said Judge was present when Kavanaugh allegedly sexually assaulted her 36 years ago. All 10 Democrats on the Judiciary Committee called for Trump to “immediately withdraw the nomination or order an FBI investigation into all the allegations.” (New York Times / CNBC / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Yahoo News / ABC News)
Read the sworn declaration by Kavanaugh accuser Julie Swetnick: “In approximately 1982, I became the victim of one of those “gang” or “train” rapes where Mark Judge and Brett Kavanaugh were present.” (NBC News)
Below is my correspondence to Mr. Davis of moments ago, together with a sworn declaration from my client. We demand an immediate FBI investigation into the allegations. Under no circumstances should Brett Kavanaugh be confirmed absent a full and complete investigation. pic.twitter.com/QHbHBbbfbE
2/ Kavanaugh dismissed Swetnick’s allegations as “ridiculous and from the Twilight Zone,” claiming he is the victim of “grotesque and obvious character assassination.” “I don’t know who this is and this never happened,” Kavanaugh said. In prepared testimony ahead of Thursday’s Senate hearing, Kavanaugh admits that he was “not perfect” in high school and “in retrospect, I said and did things in high school that make me cringe now.” Kavanaugh denied Ford’s allegation “immediately, unequivocally, and categorically.” (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico)
Full transcript: Brett Kavanaugh’s opening statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee. (Politico)
3/ Trump attacked Michael Avenatti as a “third rate lawyer” who is “making false accusations” because he’s “looking for attention.” Avenatti also represents Stormy Daniels, who was paid by Trump’s personal attorney to remain quiet about an affair she allegedly had with Trump a decade ago. Trump capped off the tweet by calling Avenatti “a total low-life!” Avenatti responded by calling Trump a “habitual liar and complete narcissist” and a “disgrace as a president.” (The Hill)
Avenatti is a third rate lawyer who is good at making false accusations, like he did on me and like he is now doing on Judge Brett Kavanaugh. He is just looking for attention and doesn’t want people to look at his past record and relationships - a total low-life!
“False accusations?” Like those crimes your fixer Cohen pled to? You are an habitual liar and complete narcissist who also is a disgrace as a president and an embarrassment to our nation. You are so inept that your “best and brightest” are Cohen and Giuliani. Let’s go.
4/ Kavanaugh’s second accuser is willing to testify publicly before the Senate Judiciary Committee, her attorney said. Deborah Ramirez’s lawyer expressed concern about her testifying before the FBI is able to conduct an investigation into her claims, saying “we can’t even talk to the Senate Judiciary Committee about what that would look like” because “they certainly haven’t invited her” to testify. Senate Republicans blew off a scheduled phone call yesterday to discuss Ramirez’s claims that Kavanaugh exposed himself to her when they were in college. (Axios / The Hill / CNN / Good Morning America)
5/ Republican senators on the Judiciary Committee selected Arizona prosecutor Rachel Mitchell to question Kavanaugh and Ford. Mitchell is chief of the special victims division of the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, where she has worked for 26 years. Dr. Ford will testify under oath on Thursday, and Kavanaugh will testify separately later in the day. (Washington Post / New York Times)
Senate Democrats have had no contact with Christine Blasey Ford ahead of her Senate Judiciary Committee testimony on Thursday. Ford’s attorneys have been in contact with aides from both parties, but there has been no coordination between Ford’s camp and Democratic senators on the Judiciary Committee. (Politico)
Ford’s attorneys have sworn and signed declarations from four people she told about her claims of sexual assault by Kavanaugh dating back to 2012. The documents were sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee. (USA Today)
Jeff Flake said he does not believe that Kavanaugh is a “serial sexual predator,” but called on the Senate Judiciary Committee to have an open mind because both Kavanaugh and Ford are “human beings.” (USA Today / Politico)
6/ A Democratic senator is seeking an injunction to stop a full Senate vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination, citing “unprecedented obstruction of the Senate’s advice and consent obligation” by the White House and Mitch McConnell. Jeff Merkley argued the handling of Kavanaugh’s nomination is “an assault on the separation of powers” and violates the Constitution because the White House has interfered with the Senate’s responsibility by blocking access to documents and labeling some “committee confidential.” Merkley’s filing is unlikely to succeed in stopping the vote. (Politico / The Hill)
Chuck Grassley has scheduled a committee vote on the nomination for Friday and Mitch McConnell is planning to keep the Senate in session this weekend so he can begin the process of bringing Kavanaugh’s nomination up for a final vote early next week. Senate Democrats accused Grassley and McConnell of pre-judging Ford’s testimony before they heard it. (Politico)
Sen. Dianne Feinstein accused Kavanaugh of misleading the Senate about his handling of grand jury secrets during his time working for Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr in the late nineties. Feinstein charges that by directing officials to speak to reporters during the Bill Clinton investigation, Kavanaugh may have violated grand jury secrecy laws, even though he told Sens. Feinstein and Whitehouse during his testimony earlier this month that he never broke those rules. (Politico / The Hill)
poll/ 59% of Americans oppose Kavanaugh’s confirmation if Ford’s claims are true, while 29% said they would support his confirmation either way. Among Democratic men, 54% believe Ford. 57% of Republican women believe Kavanaugh. (NPR / Marist / PBS NewsHour)
poll/ 49% of Americans ages 15-34 say they are anxious about the midterm elections, 36% say they feel helpless, and 24% say they are proud. Overall, 64% of young Americans say they’re interested in the upcoming elections. (Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research)
Notables
Trump told advisers he is open to keeping Rod Rosenstein as deputy attorney general and that he wants to hear directly from Rosenstein about reports that he discussed secretly recording the president and recruiting cabinet members to remove him from office. (Wall Street Journal)
Rudy Giuliani posed for pictures with a Canadian white nationalist mayoral candidate. Faith Goldy is a far-right YouTuber running for mayor in Toronto. She posted photos with Giuliani to her Instagram on Tuesday and tweeted about the encounter: “Just like Giuliani cleaned up the streets of NYC, our tough on crime playbook is going to run illegal guns & gangs right out of Toronto!” (Daily Beast)
Former national security adviser H. R. McMaster called it “wholly appropriate” for Gary Cohn to remove documents from Trump’s desk. Cohn removed a letter from Trump’s desk that would have pulled the U.S. out of a trade agreement with South Korea. (Washington Examiner)
The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency spent $150,000 on government vehicles for personal use to travel to his home in North Carolina and drive him and his family around Hawaii. Kirstjen Nielsen ordered Brock Long to repay the government “as appropriate.” (Wall Street Journal)
Sen. Orrin Hatch weighed in on a Supreme Court case that could prevent state and federal courts from prosecuting someone for the same crime. Hatch filed a brief on Sept. 11 in which he says the doctrine should be overturned. Overturning the dual-sovereignty doctrine established in Gamble v. United States would theoretically allow Trump to pardon people like Manafort for his federal crimes and simultaneously protect him from actions at the state level. (The Atlantic)
The EPA placed the head of the Office of Children’s Health Protection on administrative leave. The children’s health office is tasked with regulations and programs that account for the vulnerabilities of children, babies and fetuses. An EPA spokesman declined to give a reason for the action. (New York Times)
Trump backed down from his threat to shut down the government if Congress didn’t appropriate money for his border wall, saying “we’re going to keep the government open.” Trump previously called the bipartisan spending bill “ridiculous.” (Washington Post)
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said he’s hearing a “rising chorus of concerns” from businesses about Trump’s trade war with China. On Monday, Trump’s 10% tariffs on about $200 billion of imports from China took effect. In retaliation, China instituted tariffs on U.S. goods worth $60 billion. (CNBC)
Trump accused China of interfering in the midterm elections, telling the United Nations Security Council that “they do not want me or us to win, because I am the first president to ever challenge China on trade.” (New York Times)
Note: My browser crashed before I could save my last WTFJHT update. I’m not even sure what I lost. So instead of pulling my hair out, we’re just going to end here. For the latest, visit Current Status.
🗳 Register to Vote. Yesterday was National Voter Registration Day and thanks to Trump’s helpful tweet “REMEMBER THE MIDTERMS!”, here’s your WTF reminder to register to vote today.
If you’re not sure if you’re registered, check your registration status on vote.org.
If you haven’t registered, use vote.org, TurboVote, or pick up a registration form at your local post office or library.
1/ Brett Kavanaugh’s high school yearbook page lists him as the treasurer of the “100 Kegs or Bust’ club” and a “Renate Alumnius” – a reference to Renate Schroeder, then a student at a nearby Catholic girls’ school. “Renate” appears at least 14 times in Georgetown Preparatory School’s 1983 yearbook, including on individuals’ pages and in a group photo of nine football players. Two of Kavanaugh’s classmates say the Renate mentions were football players’ boasting about their supposed sexual conquests with girls. (New York Times / CNN / Washington Post)
2/ Kavanaugh claimed he “never sexually assaulted anyone” in high school because he was a virgin at the time and “did not have sexual intercourse, or anything close to sexual intercourse, in high school or many years thereafter.” Kavanaugh appeared on Fox News with his wife at his side to fight the “smears” against him and declare: “I’m not going anywhere.” (New York Times / ABC News / USA Today / NBC News / Washington Post)
3/ Trump accused Democrats of playing “a con game” and using “false acquisitions” to derail Kavanaugh’s nomination. Trump also dismissed the allegation of Deborah Ramirez – the second woman to accuse Kavanaugh of wrongdoing – saying “she was totally inebriated” and “all messed up” when Kavanaugh allegedly exposed himself at a dorm party and “thrust his penis in her face and caused her to touch it.” Trump later deleted his misspelled tweet and corrected himself to say Democrats are using “an array of False Accusations the likes of which have never been seen before.” Trump called Kavanaugh “a wonderful man,” and urged voters to “REMEMBER THE MIDTERMS!” (Politico / New York Times / CNBC / CNN)
4/ A third woman is expected to publicly accuse Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct in the next 48 hours, according to Michael Avenatti, the woman’s attorney. Avenatti is currently representing multiple clients and “at least one” is prepared to come forward “relating to what she witnessed and experienced concerning Brett Kavanaugh and Mark Judge, and ultimately we’re going to let the American public decide who’s telling the truth.” (The Guardian / CNN)
Lisa Murkowski: “It’s not about whether or not Judge Kavanaugh is qualified. It is about whether or not a woman who has been a victim at some point in her life is to be believed.” Murkowski is a key Republican swing vote and one of two Republican women in the Senate who supports abortion rights. (New York Times)
5/ The Senate Judiciary Committee will vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court at 9:30 a.m. on Friday. Senate Republicans have also hired a female attorney to question Christine Blasey Ford at Thursday’s hearing on a sexual assault allegation against Kavanaugh, but are declining to release her name. (Politico)
6/ Trump bragged that his “administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country” at the United Nations General Assembly – world leaders laughed at him. “I didn’t expect that reaction,” Trump continued, acknowledging the laughter, “but that’s okay.” (Politico / ABC News / Washington Post)
"In less than two years, my administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country," Pres. Trump says at #UNGA.
Ted Cruz was heckled out of a restaurant in D.C. by protesters. A video posted to Twitter shows activists chanting “We believe survivors!” and demanding to know Cruz’s stance on Kavanaugh’s confirmation. Cruz told the crowd: “God bless you.” (Daily Beast / CNN)
Ted Cruz was spotted looking at a photo of Rep. Beto O’Rourke, his Democratic opponent in the race for a U.S. Senate seat. O’Rourke is within four percentage points of Cruz. (Politico / Vice News)
A Justice Department spokesperson drafted a statement in the voice of Jeff Sessions to announce Rosenstein’s departure as Deputy Attorney General. The statement does not include the word “resignation.” Part of the statement reads: “Rod Rosenstein has served the Department of Justice with dedication and skill for 28 years. His contributions are many and significant. We all appreciate his service and wish him well.” The White House received the statement yesterday. (Axios)
The White House’s deputy press secretary plans to leave after Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings. Raj Shah has been leading the communications efforts in support of the confirmation process since Kavanaugh’s nomination in July. (Yahoo News)
Mike Pence spoke at a conference hosted by a group designated as an “anti-LGBT hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center. He is the first vice president to address the Values Voter Summit, and last year Trump became the first sitting president to do so. (NBC News)
1/ A second woman publicly accused Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault when they were both freshmen at Yale during the 1983-84 academic school year. Deborah Ramirez said Kavanaugh exposed himself and shoved his penis in her face without her consent at a dorm party. Kavanaugh’s roommate at the time said he “cannot imagine [Ramirez] making this up” and that Kavanaugh was “frequently, incoherently drunk.” After learning of Ramirez’s allegation last week, Senate Republicans called for the Senate Judiciary Committee to accelerate its confirmation vote. (New Yorker)
Michael Avenatti tweeted that he represents “a woman with credible information” about Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge, who Christine Blasey Ford alleges was in the room at the time of Kavanaugh’s alleged assault. Avenatti said he has “significant evidence” that Kavanaugh and Judge “would participate in the targeting of women with alcohol/drugs.” (Axios / Politico)
Sen. Dianne Feinstein called for the Senate Judiciary Committee to delay the Kavanaugh nomination. In her letter, Feinstein asked “that the newest allegations of sexual misconduct be referred to the FBI for investigation, and that you join our request for the White House to direct the FBI to investigate the allegations of Ford as well as these new claims.” (Washington Post)
2/ Kavanaugh and the White House denied Ramirez’s allegation, calling it “a smear, plain and simple.” Kavanaugh told the Senate Judiciary Committee that he “will not be intimidated into withdrawing” his nomination because of “false and uncorroborated” allegations against him. Ford told lawmakers that “fear will not hold me back from testifying” against Kavanaugh. Meanwhile, Mitch McConnell took to the Senate floor to declare that the Senate will move forward with a vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination, accusing Democrats of running “a smear campaign” to derail the confirmation. (CNN / ABC News / Politico / Reuters / New York Times)
3/ Christine Blasey Ford agreed to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Blasey will appear Thursday before a committee of 21 senators for questioning, but no decision has been reached about whether Republicans would use staff attorneys to question Ford about her claim. All the Republicans on the panel are men. (New York Times / Politico)
Sen. Lindsey Graham: Ford’s testimony won’t change my vote. Graham said he wasn’t prepared to “ruin this guy’s life based on an accusation.” (Politico)
Kavanaugh will turn over calendars from the summer of 1982 to the Senate Judiciary Committee that don’t list a party matching Christine Blasey Ford’s account. Kavanaugh’s team acknowledged that he could have attended a party he did not list. (New York Times)
4/ Trump called the allegations against Kavanaugh “totally political” and said he believes Kavanaugh “all the way.” Trump defended his nominee as “a fine man, with an unblemished past,” despite at least two women accusing Kavanaugh of sexual assault. (Politico / CNN / ABC News)
Mitch McConnell called Trump on Friday to say his tweets about Kavanaugh weren’t helpful. Trump said that if Ford’s attack “was as bad as she says,” then she would have filed charges immediately. (CNN)
Ben Carson claimed that socialists plotting to take over America are responsible for the recent allegations of sexual assault against Kavanaugh. The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development said the allegations “make perfectly good sense” because “going all the way back to the Fabians” there have been “people who’ve wanted to fundamentally change this country.” Now that they see their chance to control the courts slipping away, they “are like wet hornets, just completely lost control off the deep end.” The Fabian Society, a British socialist organization, was founded in the 19th century. It is no longer has an active chapter in the U.S. (CNBC)
5/ Rod Rosenstein did not resign, but “offered to resign” in discussions with John Kelly. Rosenstein and Trump will meet on Thursday to discuss the deputy attorney general’s future at the Justice Department. Rosenstein went to the White House this morning for a meeting where he “expect[ed] to be fired.” The news follows reports that Rosenstein discussed the idea of wearing a wire last year to secretly record Trump in order to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove the President from office. Rosenstein has been overseeing Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether any Trump associates conspired with those efforts. Noel Francisco, the solicitor general, would take on oversight of Mueller’s investigation and could fire or limit the investigation. (Axios / New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / CNN / Wall Street Journal / CNBC)
On Friday, Trump promised to get rid of the “lingering stench” at the Justice Department and FBI following reports that Rod Rosenstein discussed secretly recording Trump last year. “You’ve seen what happened in the FBI and the Department of Justice. The bad ones, they’re all gone. They’re all gone,” Trump said at a political rally in Missouri. “But there is a lingering stench and we’re going to get rid of that, too.” Trump did not explicitly mention Rosenstein in his comments. (Associated Press)
Trump wanted to fire Rosenstein in order to take Brett Kavanaugh out of the news cycle, according to a source familiar with Trump’s thinking. “The strategy was to try and do something really big.” Trump’s allies, meanwhile, have been urging him to pull Kavanaugh’s nomination in order to save Republicans’ electoral chances in the midterms. (Vanity Fair)
poll/ 52% of voters prefer that Democrats control Congress following the midterm elections, 40% want Republicans to control Congress, and 8% are not sure. (NBC News)
Notables.
Rob Goldstone said he believes the Trump Tower meeting could have been a set-up by Russian intelligence. Goldstone said Trump Jr. was willing to accept “opposition research” he believed was coming from the Russian government. (NBC News)
Roger Stone attempted to contact WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange following the Democratic National Committee email leaks. Stone emailed Jerome Corsi nine days after the first batch of emails were published to suggest that Ted “Malloch should see Assange.” Malloch is a London-based conservative author. (ABC News)
The White House is considering an executive order instructing federal antitrust and law enforcement agencies to open probes into Google, Facebook, and other social media companies. Trump has complained that “Social Media is totally discriminating against Republican/Conservative voices.” (Bloomberg)
A new Trump administration rule would make it more difficult for immigrants to obtain green cards if they legally use public benefits, like food stamps or Medicaid. Millions of immigrants who rely on public assistance for food and shelter could be forced to choose between accepting financial help or obtaining a green card to legally live and work in the U.S. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News)
1/ Trump questioned Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s credibility and contended that if the alleged attack “was as bad as she says, charges would have been immediately filed,” adding: “Why didn’t someone call the FBI 36 years ago?” Trump also challenged Dr. Ford to produce law enforcement reports “so that we can learn date, time, and place!” of the attack. Trump added Brett Kavanaugh is “a fine man, with an impeccable reputation, who is under assault by radical left wing politicians.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / NBC News / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
Judge Brett Kavanaugh is a fine man, with an impeccable reputation, who is under assault by radical left wing politicians who don’t want to know the answers, they just want to destroy and delay. Facts don’t matter. I go through this with them every single day in D.C.
I have no doubt that, if the attack on Dr. Ford was as bad as she says, charges would have been immediately filed with local Law Enforcement Authorities by either her or her loving parents. I ask that she bring those filings forward so that we can learn date, time, and place!
Susan Collins said she was “appalled” by Trump’s tweets criticizing Dr. Ford for not coming forward sooner with her allegations against Brett Kavanaugh. The Maine senator is a key swing vote in the larger Senate vote for Kavanaugh’s confirmation. (Press Herald)
White House officials: “You have no idea” how hard it’s been to keep Trump from attacking Dr. Ford. A few hours before Trump’s tweets, a White House official said: “Hopefully he can keep it together until Monday. That’s only, like, another 48 hours right?” (Axios)
2/ The Senate Judiciary Committee agreed to meet some but not all of Dr. Ford’s conditions in order for her to testify next week about her allegation of sexual assault in the 1980s by Brett Kavanaugh. Republicans have not agreed with Ford’s lawyers that she should only be questioned by lawmakers – not an outside counsel – at Wednesday’s proposed hearing. (Politico / USA Today / CNN)
Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s attorney says her appearance at a hearing on Monday is “not possible” but she could testify later in the week. Ford’s lawyer sent a request to top Senate Judiciary Committee staffers asking to set up a call with them to “discuss the conditions under which [Ford] would be prepared to testify next week.” Ford has been receiving death threats and has been forced to move out of her home. “She wishes to testify,” her attorney wrote to the committee, “provided that we can agree on terms that are fair and which ensure her safety. A hearing on Monday is not possible and the committee’s insistence that it occur then is arbitrary in any event.” Kavanaugh also sent a letter to the committee, saying that he will attend the hearing on Monday “so that I can clear my name.” (Washington Post / NBC News / New York Times)
Sen. Diane Feinstein’s office has received threats of bodily and sexual harm against her and her staff as a result of her involvement submitting the allegations against Kavanaugh to the FBI. Some of the threats name specific employees. Feinstein is the second woman senator, after Sen. Susan Collins, whose office has reported receiving such threats. “My office has received some pretty ugly voicemails, threats, terrible things said to my staff,” Collins said on Wednesday. (McClatchy DC)
3/ Mitch McConnell predicts that “in the very near future, Judge Kavanaugh will be on the U.S. Supreme Court” despite Ford not yet testifying. The Senate Majority Leader said “We’re going to plow right through it and do our job.” (Washington Post / ABC News / CNN)
4/ Rod Rosenstein raised the idea of wearing a wire last year to secretly record Trump in the White House and expose the chaos in the administration, according to memos written by Andrew McCabe, then the acting FBI director. Rosenstein also discussed recruiting Jeff Sessions and John Kelly, then the secretary of homeland security, to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove Trump from office. Rosenstein called the report “inaccurate and factually incorrect,” adding: “Based on my personal dealings with the president, there is no basis to invoke the 25th Amendment.” At least one person who was present for the discussions said Rosenstein was joking. (New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Associated Press)
5/ Trump reversed his demand to immediately declassify documents related to the Russia investigation, including the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court application to wiretap Carter Page. Less than a week later, Trump tweeted that the Justice Department inspector general would instead review the documents, adding that he “can always declassify if it proves necessary.” Trump said that while DOJ officials told him the “declassification” of documents “may have a perceived negative impact on the Russia probe,” he received calls from “key Allies,” who asked him not to release the documents. (Washington Post / New York Times / CNN)
6/ Robert Mueller is investigating $3.3 million in bank transactions between two of the men who orchestrated the Trump Tower meeting. On June 3, 2016, the money was moved from Aras Agalarov, a billionaire real estate developer close to both Putin and Trump, to Irakly “Ike” Kaveladze, a longtime Agalarov employee who was once investigated for money laundering – the same day that Trump Jr. received an email from Rob Goldstone offering dirt on Hillary Clinton as part of the Russian government’s “support for Mr. Trump.” In that email, Goldstone told Trump Jr. he was writing on behalf of a mutual friend, Emin Agalarov – Aras’ son. The Trump Tower meeting occurred six days later. (BuzzFeed News)
Another Roger Stone associate met with Mueller’s federal grand jury. Jerome Corsi is one of at least 11 individuals associated with Stone who have been contacted by the special counsel. His name has surfaced in connection with WikiLeaks. (ABC News)
Russian diplomats tried to help Julian Assange escape the U.K. The plan called for the WikiLeaks founder to be smuggled out of Ecuador’s London embassy in a diplomatic vehicle and transported to another country – possibly Russia, where he wouldn’t be extradited to the U.S. (The Guardian)
Notables.
John Dowd, who at the time was heading Trump’s legal team, help pay legal fees for Paul Manafort and Richard Gates. He initially tried to divert money from the White House legal defense fund, but Trump’s advisers objected over concerns it could appear aimed at stopping the two former aides from cooperating with investigators. (Wall Street Journal)
Federal immigration officers from July to September arrested 41 undocumented immigrants who came forward to care for undocumented children held in U.S. custody. An ICE official confirmed that the move to fully vet those who step up to care for undocumented children has served as another opportunity to track down and arrest more undocumented immigrants. (CNN)
The Trump administration imposed sanctions against the Chinese military for purchasing fighter jets and missile systems from Russia. The purchases breach U.S. sanctions designed to punish Moscow for interfering in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The Chinese government has demanded that the sanctions be withdrawn. (Reuters)
Top Democrats promised to investigate Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s business dealings, travels, political activities and industry relations if the party wins back the House in the midterms. “Zinke is one the most ethically challenged members of the Cabinet and maybe one of the most ethically challenged secretaries of the Interior we’ve had in living memory,” said Rep. Gerry Connolly. Connolly said there is “rich material here to look into his behavior and his fitness for continued service in the office.” (Politico)
The U.S. and Mexico are prepared to move ahead on a new trade agreement without Canada, according to a Trump economic adviser. There is a little more than a week to go before a U.S.-imposed Oct. 1 deadline to publish the updated NAFTA deal, and the U.S. and Canada have still not agreed on terms. (Reuters / CNBC)
1/ Dr. Christine Blasey Ford is “prepared to testify next week” as long as senators offer “terms that are fair and which ensure her safety.” In an email sent to committee staff members, Ford’s attorney reiterated that it is their “strong preference” that the FBI conduct “a full investigation” before her testimony. (New York Times)
2/ Senate Republicans plan to move forward with Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation despite sexual assault allegations by Ford. Trump, in defending Kavanaugh, said it was “very hard for me to imagine anything happened” with Ford because Kavanaugh “is such an outstanding man.” Sen. Chuck Grassley said a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing would begin at 10 a.m. Monday, and gave Ford a deadline of 10 a.m. Friday to submit prepared remarks if she plans to testify. While Ford has not officially declined the committee’s invitation, her attorney has asked for a “full, nonpartisan investigation.” (Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / New York Times)
3/ Trump insists there is no role for the FBI in investigating Ford’s claim. Trump said that investigating Ford’s accusation that Brett Kavanaugh covered her mouth while trying to strip her bathing suit off during a high school party in the 1980s “is not really their thing.” Former government officials, however, have come forward to contradict Trump’s claim that the FBI cannot investigate the allegations against Kavanaugh. While Republican leaders in the Senate have echoed Trump’s claim, several officials involved in nomination and background check processes say it’s actually common. (Politico / NBC News)
4/ Sen. Dean Heller called the sexual assault allegation against Kavanaugh a “little hiccup” and that he hopes “all senators” will address the accusations “in good faith” so they can “get through this” and “off to the races.” The Nevada Republican went on to call Trump “a great leader” despite saying he was “99 percent against Trump” in October 2016. Heller is considered the most vulnerable Senate Republican seeking reelection this year. (Washington Post / The Hill / New York Times)
5/ A former classmate of Ford walked back her claims that she knew about Brett Kavanaugh’s alleged assault at the time it happened. “That it happened or not, I have no idea,” said Cristina Miranda King. “I can’t say that it did or didn’t.” In a now-deleted Facebook post, King previously said: “The incident DID happen, many of us heard about it in school.” (NPR)
6/ Senator Claire McCaskill will vote against Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court, but not because of the allegations against him. McCaskill cited Kavanaugh’s “positions on several key issues, most importantly the avalanche of dark, anonymous money that is crushing our democracy,” as the reason for her “no” vote. McCaskill says Kavanaugh “revealed his bias against limits on campaign donations” and that she is “uncomfortable about his view on Presidential power,” as well as his “position that corporations are people.” The Missouri Democrat is running for re-election this year in a state Trump won in 2016. Republicans hold a 51-49 majority in the Senate and could still confirm Kavanaugh’s appointment even if all Democrats oppose his nomination. (NPR / Politico / CNN)
7/ Michael Cohen met with Robert Mueller’s team multiple times over the last month for interview sessions lasting several hours. The special counsel has focused on Trump’s dealings with Russia, including the investigation into collusion with Russia by the Trump campaign to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. Mueller’s team is also interested in knowing whether Trump discussed the possibility of a pardon with Cohen, who is voluntarily participating in the meetings without any guarantee of leniency from prosecutors. (ABC News)
poll/ 38% of voters say they oppose Kavanaugh’s nomination to serve on the Supreme Court compared to 34% who support his nomination. (NBC News)
Notables.
Trump told Spain’s Foreign Minister to “build a wall across the Sahara” in order to curb migration from Africa. When Spanish diplomats pointed out that the Sahara stretched for 3,000 miles, Trump responded by saying: “The Sahara border can’t be bigger than our border with Mexico.” The US/Mexico border is roughly 2,000 miles long. (The Guardian / Bloomberg / CNN)
The Department of Health and Human Services wants to reallocate $266 million in funds to pay for housing for detained immigrant children. Funds would be diverted from National Cancer Institute, the Ryan White HIV/AIDS program, Head Start, the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and other refugee support programs. (Yahoo News)
Jeff Sessions announced new limits on the ability of immigration judges to dismiss deportation cases, saying judges “have no inherent authority to terminate removal proceedings even though a particular case may pose sympathetic circumstances.” (Reuters)
The U.S. says it is ready to resume talks with North Korea after Kim Jong Un pledged on Wednesday to dismantle key missile facilities and suggested that he would close the Yongbyon nuclear complex. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo invited North Korea’s foreign minister to meet in New York next week to discuss the possibility of North Korea denuclearizing by January 2021. (Reuters)
Florida gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis (R) is dealing with his campaign’s fifth race-related controversy after newly unearthed tweets showed one of his campaign allies using a racial slur to describe Barack Obama. “FUCK THE MUSLIM N—–,” wrote Steven Alembik, who has donated more than $20,000 to DeSantis’ campaign. A DeSantis campaign spokesperson said that they “adamantly denounce this sort of disgusting rhetoric.” (The Hill / Politico)
Trump has named retiring Rep. Darrell Issa to head the U.S. Trade and Development Agency. Issa is the former House Oversight Committee chairman, and has been in Congress for nine terms. He built a name for himself by clashing with the Obama administration for years and by accusing top officials at the IRS of targeting conservative groups for political purposes. (Politico)
A Pennsylvania state representative introduced a bill to ban public school teachers from discussing politics in the classroom. Will Tallman said his bill would stop teachers from discussing “legislation, regulations, executive orders or court cases involving any level or branch of government.” (Morning Call)
🇷🇺🇷🇺🇷🇺
The Russia story so far: What we know and what it means. (New York Times)
1/ The Trump administration is unable to account for nearly 1,500 additional migrant children who were placed with sponsors after leaving federal shelters. The revelation comes months after a similar admission in April concerning an initial 1,475 children. Since 2016, HHS officials have called sponsors to check on migrant children 30 days after placements. The department has said it is not legally responsible for children after they are released from government custody. (New York Times)
2/ Dr. Christine Blasey Ford wants the FBI to investigate her allegations against Brett Kavanaugh before senators hold a hearing. Ford has not yet confirmed whether she will attend a public hearing on Monday. (Washington Post / New York Times)
Ford’s letter to the FBI says she has “been the target of vicious harassment and even death threats” and has been forced to leave her home. (CNN / Washington Post)
Kavanaugh in 2015: “What happens at Georgetown Prep, stays at Georgetown Prep.” Kavanaugh made the remarks during a speech he gave at Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law. (Politico)
One of Ford’s former classmates wrote a Facebook post saying she remembers hearing about the alleged assault by Kavanaugh. Cristina Miranda King says she has no first-hand information to corroborate Ford’s claims. “I did not know her personally but I remember her,” King wrote. “This incident did happen.” King has since taken down her post. (NBC News / Law & Crime)
3/ Sen. Chuck Grassley canceled a meeting at which members of the Senate Judiciary Committee were expected to vote to advance Kavanaugh’s confirmation. The meeting was originally scheduled for Thursday morning. A new date has not yet been announced. (CNBC / Time)
4/ The FBI and DOJ are expected to defy Trump’s order to declassify and release unredacted versions of Carter Page’s FISA warrant and text messages sent by James Comey and other agency officials. The agencies are expected to submit their documents and propose redactions to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which will package the materials and send them to the White House for approval and release. Doing so would put the agencies in direct conflict with Trump, who has the power to declassify the materials on his own. (Bloomberg / Daily Beast)
Trump said exposing potential corruption in the Russian investigation could become one of the “crowning achievements” of his presidency and called the investigation “a cancer in our country.” (The Hill)
5/ A new federal court ruling requires political nonprofits to disclose many of their political donors. The Supreme Court refused to intervene and grant an emergency request to stay a ruling by a federal judge in the District of Columbia. The judge threw out a decades-old FEC regulation allowing nonprofits to keep their donors hidden unless the donations were earmarked for specific purposes. (Washington Post / NPR)
poll/ A growing number of Americans don’t want Kavanaugh to be appointed to the Supreme Court. Thirty-six percent of adults surveyed said they oppose Trump’s nominee — up six points from a similar poll conducted last month. Thirty-one percent said they were in favor of Kavanaugh’s appointment. (Reuters/Ipsos)
Notables.
Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao flew on Federal Aviation Administration planes instead of commercial flights on seven occasions in 2017, costing taxpayers almost $100,000. Newly released records show that one set of flights to and around Europe by Chao and her staff cost an estimated $68,892. (Politico)
A senior FEMA official has been suspended without pay in relation to a DHS inspector general investigation into improper use of government vehicles by FEMA administrator Brock Long. John Vetch was informed of his suspension last Friday, just as FEMA was coordinating the response to Hurricane Florence. (Politico)
Trump again lashed out at Jeff Sessions. He criticized the Attorney General on a wide range of issues, including immigration and Sessions’ 2017 decision to recuse himself from the Russia investigation. “I don’t have an Attorney General,” Trump said. “It’s very sad.” (The Hill)
Kim Jong-un told South Korean president Moon Jae-in he would commit to taking concrete steps toward denuclearization but stopped short of promising to completely relinquish his nuclear weapons. Kim’s offer includes a promise to “permanently dismantle” facilities central to fuel production for North Korea’s nuclear arsenal. (New York Times)
In a new book, Stormy Daniels writes that Trump didn’t “even want to be president.” And, yes, as per The Guardian, the tell-all memoir has Daniels writing in “sometimes excruciating detail about the president’s genitals.” We’ll save most of the salacious descriptions for the book and leave you only with Daniels’ evocation of “the mushroom character in Mario Kart.” (Daily Beast / The Guardian)
1/ Trump ordered the declassification of the FISA application targeting Carter Page and the release of James Comey’s text messages related to the Russia investigation. Trump also called for the release of a senior Justice official’s notes from the investigation, as well as unredacted text messages from Andrew McCabe, Peter Strzok, and former FBI lawyer Lisa Page. (Politico / CNN)
2/ The Trump administration plans to cap the number of refugees allowed into the United States next year at 30,000, the lowest ceiling since the refugee program was created in 1980. The new low represents a reduction of one-third, from 45,000. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo defended the move, arguing the ceiling should not be the “sole barometer” by which one measures the country’s humanitarianism. (New York Times / Politico)
3/ Trump says he feels “terribly” for Brett Kavanaugh and that Kavanaugh is “not a man who deserves this,” in reference to upcoming Senate testimony from Christine Blasey Ford, who says Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when the two were in high school. Trump called Kavanaugh “a great gentleman” and expressed concern for Kavanaugh’s wife and daughters. (Washington Post)
4/ After slapping 10-percent tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods, Trump threatened to impose tariffs on virtually all remaining Chinese imports. “We don’t want to do it,” Trump said, “but we probably — we’ll have no choice.” The threat came after China responded to the latest escalation of the ongoing trade war by imposing tariffs on $60 billion of U.S. goods. (South China Morning Post)
Notables.
The Senate passed a short-term spending bill to keep the government open through Dec. 7 and delay a fight over Trump’s border wall. The bill was attached to a larger budget package that includes full-year 2019 funding for the Pentagon, as well as the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education. The House is expected to take up the bill next week. (Washington Post / The Hill)
Mueller’s plea deal with Paul Manafort took unusual steps to prevent Trump from pardoning his former campaign chairman. The deal contains language that would discourage Trump from pardoning Manafort and limit the impact of a pardon if Trump decides to do so anyway. (Politico / NY Post)
Ted Cruz leads Beto O’Rourke by nine points among likely voters, 54–45. One percent of those polled were undecided. (Texas Tribune / Quinnipiac)
1/ The author of the letter accusing Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct came forward to tell her story. Christine Blasey Ford is a 51-year-old research psychologist in northern California who alleges Kavanaugh and a friend sexually assaulted her in the early 1980s. “I thought he might inadvertently kill me,” Ford said. “He was trying to attack me and remove my clothing.” Ford said she felt a “civic responsibility” to speak out about the Supreme Court nominee. (Washington Post / CBS News)
Kavanaugh says he is willing to answer questions under oath about Ford’s allegations. Both Kavanaugh and Ford have said they would be willing to testify to Congress about the alleged incident. (CNN)
Trump has told allies he believes there is a “conspiracy” by Democrats to derail Kavanaugh’s nomination process. A senior White House aide says things are still “full steam ahead” for Kavanaugh. (Daily Beast)
2/ Sen. Jeff Flake wants to delay the vote on Kavanaugh’s confirmation until Ford has a chance to testify in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Flake is part of the GOP’s one-vote majority on the committee. “For me,” Flake said, “we can’t vote until we hear more.” (CBS News / Politico)
3/ Trump’s tax cuts have resulted in the repatriation of only 3.5 percent of the cash he predicted they would bring back to the United States. By ending the practice of taxing U.S. companies when they brought home foreign profits, Trump said, “Over $4 [trillion], but close to $5 trillion, will be brought back into our country.” The latest analysis shows $143 billion has been repatriated. Two-thirds of the profits are from two companies: networking giant Cisco Systems and a drug company called Gilead Sciences. (Daily Beast / Wall Street Journal)
4/ Ted Cruz’s Senatorial campaign sent out hundreds of thousands of donation mailers disguised as official court summonses. The outside of the envelopes read “SUMMONS ENCLOSED—OPEN IMMEDIATELY” and include a return address of “official county summons.” The mailers are legal as long as they contain a clear disclaimer indicating who paid for the communication. (Newsweek)
Notables.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has nearly doubled the number of promotion opportunities for top U.S. diplomats in an attempt to ease relations with the State Department workforce. State employees felt alienated under former Secretary Rex Tillerson’s leadership. (Reuters)
Michael Bloomberg is considering a 2020 presidential run as a Democrat. Bloomberg has aligned himself with Democrats in the midterm election and has committed to spend $80 million to help Democrats retake control of the House. (New York Times)
1/ Paul Manafort pleaded guilty to financial crimes, violating foreign lobbying laws, and attempting to obstruct justice. He agreed to fully cooperate with Robert Mueller, though the details surrounding what kind of information Manafort agreed to provide the special counsel remain unclear. Manafort also agreed to forfeit multiple properties and bank accounts, participate in interviews, provide documents, and testify to the grand jury. Analysts noted the plea deal is “pardon proof” and that the $47 million forfeiture pays for the entire Mueller investigation. (ABC News / NBC News / Washington Post / emptywheel)
2/ Jared Kushner defended the eviction of the Palestine Liberation Organization from its Washington offices by insisting that punishing Palestinians would not affect the chances of a peace agreement between Israel and Palestine. “There were too many false realities that were created — that people worship — that I think needed to be changed,” Kushner said during an interview. “All we’re doing is dealing with things as we see them and not being scared out of doing the right thing.” (New York Times)
3/ Details emerged about the secret letter concerning Brett Kavanaugh’s alleged high-school sexual misconduct, and Republicans released a letter defending his character. The defense letter—sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee—was signed by 65 women who knew Kavanaugh in high school; it argues he always “treated women with respect.” Kavanaugh has denied the allegations. (New York Times / Associated Press)
4/ Retired Adm. Bill McRaven resigned from the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Board, days after criticizing Trump for revoking John Brennan’s security clearance. McRaven led the Osama bin Laden raid in 2011. In a Washington Post op-ed last month, he wrote he would “consider it an honor” if Trump would revoke his security clearance, too, so he could add his name “to the list of men and women who have spoken up” against the Trump presidency. (ABC News)
Notables.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo defeated Cynthia Nixon and clinched the Democratic gubernatorial nomination by a 30-point margin. Cuomo spent nearly $25 million to defeat Nixon in the primary. (New York Times)
New York voters voted against six of the eight incumbent Democratic state senators. The incumbents outspent their challengers several times over during the race. (New York Times)
Bob Woodward says he’ll release audio tapes of his White House interviews if asked by his sources. Woodward says he has “boxes of recordings and documents” demonstrating the thoroughness of his sourcing. (The Hill)
1/ Sen. Dianne Feinstein referred a letter to the FBI containing information about possible sexual misconduct between Brett Kavanaugh and a woman when the two were in high school. The letter is said to be from one of Feinstein’s California constituents. Feinstein did not show the letter to any of her Democratic colleagues on the Senate Judiciary Committee. (Newsweek / The Intercept / NPR / BuzzFeed News)
Sen. Cory Booker released another batch of confidential documents related to Kavanaugh. The 28 new documents are from Kavanaugh’s time in the Bush White House and show his involvement in judicial nominations. (NBC News / Politico)
The Senate Judiciary Committee delayed Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation vote until next week. (Washington Post)
2/ The Trump administration quietly redirected $200 million from various DHS programs to ICE accounts despite repeated congressional warnings of ICE’s “lack of fiscal discipline” and “unsustainable” spending habits. Of the $200 million, $93 million will go toward immigrant detention and $107 million will go toward deportation expenses. The news comes a day after a financial document showed the administration diverted $10 million from FEMA to ICE in June. (CNN / NBC News)
3/ Meanwhile, the number of unaccompanied minors detained at the southern border has risen to a record high. Since last summer, the administration has increased by more than five-fold the number of children detained at federally contracted shelters dedicated to migrant children. This month, there were more than 12,800 children in custody, compared to 2,400 in May 2017. (New York Times)
4/ The DHS inspector general is investigating whether FEMA administrator Brock Long misused government vehicles during his commutes from Washington to North Carolina. The IG’s office, which became interested in the case after one of Long’s vehicles was involved in an accident, is looking into whether he misused government resources and personnel during his regular six-hour trips home. (Politico)
5/ Trump accused Democrats of inflating Hurricane Maria’s death toll in Puerto Rico. “3000 people did not die in the two hurricanes that hit Puerto Rico,” Trump tweeted. “When I left the Island, AFTER the storm had hit, they had anywhere from 6 to 18 deaths.” He claimed Democrats added anyone who died for any reason to the list of hurricane-related deaths. He added: “I love Puerto Rico!” (New York Times / CNN / CNBC)
Notables.
Trump has made 5,000 false or misleading claims during his time in office. His 5,000th claim came yesterday in the form of a tweet about Robert Mueller: “Russian ‘collusion’ was just an excuse by the Democrats for having lost the Election!” (Washington Post)
An audio recording revealed the NRA gave Montana Sen. Jon Tester’s opponent advance notice that it would be funding efforts to help defeat Tester in the midterms. The move could represent a violation of campaign finance laws, which legally bar the NRA from coordinating its ad buys with a federal campaign. (Daily Beast)
Negotiators from the House and Senate have agreed to a plan that would avoid another government shutdown as long as both sides sign it before the Sept. 30 deadline. Under the agreement, federal funding would be extended through Dec. 7. (NPR)
A report from the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center found that a second round of GOP tax cuts would add $3.8 trillion to the federal deficit over the next two decades. The bill, which the House Ways and Means Committee approved Thursday, would reduce federal revenue by $631 billion over the next year and by another $3.15 trillion by the year 2038. (The Hill)
1/ Trump signed an executive order authorizing sanctions against foreign countries, companies, and individuals interfering with U.S. elections, as determined by U.S. intelligence agencies. The order tasks a range of agencies—including the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the CIA, the NSA, and the Department of Homeland Security—with evaluating potential cases of election meddling and requires any federal agency aware of interference to submit this information to the Director of National Intelligence. (Reuters / CNBC / The Hill)
Three-quarters of the secret money spent in recent elections came from just 15 groups. An analysis by the campaign-finance reform group Issue One found that many of these same 15 groups remain big players in the 2018 midterm elections, although the sources of their money remain mostly hidden from the public. (USA Today)
2/ The Department of Homeland Security diverted nearly $10 million from FEMA to help ICE pay for detention and removal operations. A newly released budget document shows DHS transferred the funds—at the beginning of hurricane season—from FEMA’s operations and support budget to ICE accounts to pay for detention camps and other expenses. FEMA said the money was not meant for disaster relief. A spokesperson for DHS called reporting on the budget document “a sorry attempt to push a false agenda.” (New York Times / Axios / Maddow Blog / ABC News)
3/ Trump called San Juan’s mayor “totally incompetent” in response to her critique of Trump, who had recently boasted of federal responses to the hurricanes that ravaged Texas, Florida, and Puerto Rico last year. Carmen Yulín Cruz had taken issue with him calling the response to Hurricane Maria “an unsung success.” Trump also called Puerto Rico “an inaccessible island with very poor electricity.” (ABC News)
4/ Federal investigators are looking into a series of suspicious financial transactions involving people who attended the 2016 Trump Tower meeting. The transfers reveal how Aras Agalarov, a Russian billionaire with strong ties to Trump and Putin, used overseas accounts to distribute money through a web of banks to himself, his son, and at least two people who attended the meeting. Investigators are focusing on two bursts of activity: one occurring shortly before the Trump Tower meeting and one immediately after the 2016 election. (BuzzFeed News / The Hill)
5/ Scott Pruitt is in talks to consult for a Kentucky coal-mining tycoon, months after resigning as head of the Environmental Protection Agency. Pruitt met with Alliance Resource Partners CEO Joseph W. Craft at least seven times in the first 14 months of his tenure as EPA chief. Under an ethics pledge, Pruitt is barred from directly lobbying the EPA for five years—but not from working as a private consultant who advises on matters related to the EPA or works to change regulatory policy at the state level. (New York Times)
Notables.
Manafort is in talks with Mueller’s office about a possible plea deal just days before his second trial begins. The negotiations are not guaranteed to result in a deal. Meanwhile, prosecutors submitted a list of evidence they want to present at trial, including memos showing the depth of Manfort’s relationships with his Ukrainian employers. (Washington Post / CNN)
The Trump administration is making it harder for Christian refugees to enter the United States. Despite Trump’s promise to help vulnerable Christians around the world, many groups remain in legal limbo. The number of Christian refugees allowed to enter the United States has dropped by more than 40 percent over the last year. (NBC News)
A GOP Congressman from New Jersey suggested being raised in an orphanage would be a better option than growing up with LGBTQ parents. Rep. Chris Smith made the remarks in May when addressing a group of students at a high school. (Asbury Park Press)
Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine announced he will vote against Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation. “After this intensive process,” King said, “I have determined that I cannot support this nomination.” (Politico)
1/ Trump began the 17th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks by tweeting a defense of himself in the Russia investigation while also attacking the FBI. In a string of tweets that appeared to quote from a segment on Fox News, Trump blamed FBI agents Peter Strzok and Lisa Page for employing a “media leak strategy” to undermine his administration. He then blamed the FBI and Justice Department for doing “NOTHING” about it. Almost two hours later, Trump tweeted: “17 years since September 11th!” (NBC News / Washington Post / CNN)
A history of Trump’s comments about 9/11. For instance, in November 2015 he claimed, without evidence, that “thousands and thousands” of Muslims in New Jersey had celebrated the news of the attacks. (HuffPost)
Trump bragged that one of his buildings was now the tallest in downtown Manhattan hours after the World Trade Center collapsed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. “40 Wall Street actually was the second-tallest building in downtown Manhattan, and it was actually, before the World Trade Center, was the tallest,” Trump said during a telephone interview on the afternoon of Sept. 11 with local New Jersey television station WWOR. “And then, when they built the World Trade Center, it became known as the second-tallest. And now it’s the tallest.” (Washington Post / HuffPost)
Trump pumped both fists after deplaning Air Force One in Pennsylvania, where Trump paid tribute to victims of crashed Flight 93. (CNN / CNBC / The Independent)
2/ The Trump administration plans to make it easier for energy companies to release methane into the atmosphere. The EPA plans to weaken an Obama-era requirement that companies monitor and repair methane leaks, while the Interior Department wants to repeal a restriction on intentional venting and burning of methane by drilling operations. Methane is among the most potent greenhouse gases and is roughly 25 times more effective than carbon dioxide when it comes to trapping heat in the atmosphere. (New York Times)
The United Nations Secretary-General: “We face a direct existential threat” because “climate change is moving faster than we are.” António Guterres urged world leaders to combat “the defining issue of our time.” (Common Dreams)
3/ The number of White House aides Trump trusts is “much smaller” following allegations that there is a “resistance” inside the Trump administration trying to subvert his agenda. Trump Jr. said he believes the New York Times op-ed authored by an anonymous senior administration official was written by a “low-level person,” and that the Justice Department should investigate the author. He called the op-ed “pretty disgusting” and “sad.” (Politico / ABC News / Washington Post)
4/ Trump said his administration is “totally prepared” for Hurricane Florence, which he described as “tremendously big and tremendously wet” with “tremendous amounts of water.” Trump called the federal government’s “incredibly successful” response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico a year ago “one of the best jobs that’s ever been done.” Nearly 3,000 people died. Meanwhile, the general who oversaw the military response to Hurricane Katrina, said “I will not bet any money that we are prepared.” (Roll Call / ABC News / The Hill)
poll/ 36% approve of the way Trump is handling his job, down from 42% in August. Trump’s approval with independents went from 47% last month to 31% now. (CNN)
Notables.
Officials consider Russia to be the main suspect behind the mysterious “attacks” on U.S. personnel in Cuba and China. The U.S. believes sophisticated microwaves or other electromagnetic weapons were used against government employees, which led to brain injuries. There is not enough conclusive evidence, however, for the U.S. to officially blame Moscow for the alleged attacks. (NBC News)
Trump has canceled a planned trip to Ireland in November due to “scheduling reasons.” However, immediately after Trump’s visit was announced, the leader of Ireland’s Green Party called on the Irish people to “show their disgust and rejection of the Trump administration’s policies by turning out […] in large-scale mass protest around the country.” (CNBC)
The Trump administration is considering sanctions against senior Chinese officials and companies over Beijing’s detention of hundreds of thousands of Muslims in large internment camps. It would be the first time the Trump administration has taken action against China over human rights issues. (New York Times)
Two political action committees based in Maine raised over a million dollars for Sen. Susan Collins nonexistent opponent if she votes to confirm Brett Kavanaugh. Collins’ Democratic opponent raised $2.3 million during Maine’s most recent Senate campaign. (Daily Beast)
The Trump administration is expected to close the Palestine Liberation Organization’s office in Washington. Senior Palestinian officials strongly condemned the decision and described it as a “reckless escalation.” (Wall Street Journal)
Trump told Gary Cohn to “just run the presses” and “print money” in order to lower the national debt, according Bob Woodward’s new book, Fear: Trump in the White House. The federal deficit, meanwhile, grew $222 billion – or 32% – in the first 11 months of the fiscal 2018 year to $895 billion, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The CBO now estimates that the deficit will approach $1 trillion by the end of this fiscal year. An earlier analysis projected that deficits wouldn’t reach $1 trillion until 2020. (CNBC / The Hill / Axios)
1/ The Trump campaign team was “fully aware” of George Papadopoulos’ efforts to set up a Trump-Putin meeting. “I actively sought to leverage my contacts with the professor to host this meeting,” Papadopoulos said. “The campaign was fully aware what I was doing” and Trump was “open to this idea,” but deferred to Jeff Sessions, who was “quite enthusiastic.” (ABC News / NBC News)
2/ Trump is expected to declassify documents about the government’s surveillance of Trump campaign adviser Carter Page and the investigative actions taken by Justice Department lawyer Bruce Ohr. Republicans on the House Intelligence and Judiciary committees allege that Ohr was an improper intermediary between the Justice Department, Christopher Steele, and Fusion GPS — the opposition research firm that created the Trump-Russia dossier. (Axios)
3/ Trump won’t enforce the $130,000 hush-money nondisclosure agreement between Stormy Daniels and Michael Cohen, claiming he has “never taken the position that he was a party” to the NDA because he never signed the agreement. Trump’s attorney, Charles Harder, called for Daniels to “immediately dismiss” Trump from her defamation lawsuit. (ABC News / CNN / New York Daily News)
Michael Cohen agreed to tear up the nondisclosure agreement barring Stormy Daniels from discussing her alleged affair with Trump and requested that she pay back the $130,000 she received. Michael Avenatti, who represents Daniels, called it a “legal stunt” in order to avoid Trump being deposed in the case. (CNN / ABC News)
Michael Cohen is back to playing games and trying to protect Donald Trump. He is now pulling a legal stunt to try and “fix it” so that we can’t depose Trump and present evidence to the American people about what happened. He is not a hero nor a patriot. He deserves what he gets.
Stormy Daniels said she “vigorously opposes” Trump and Cohen’s offer to not enforce her nondisclosure agreement, claiming their “sudden desire to escape” the agreement is a signal that they have been “shamelessly deceiving this Court and the American public for more than six months.” (Daily Beast / Courthouse News)
4/ The Trump administration discussed plans for a coup in Venezuela last year with rebels who were rebuffed by the Obama administration. The secret meetings involved a Venezuelan military commander who is on the American government’s own sanctions list of corrupt officials in Venezuela. The U.S. eventually decided not to help the rebels, and the coup plans stalled. (New York Times)
5/ Jeff Sessions defended the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy as “perfectly legitimate, moral and decent.” He also argued that in order to deter a large number of migrants, the U.S. need to adopt a tougher stance on immigration, saying: “The world will know what our rules are, and great numbers will no longer undertake a dangerous journey.” Sessions plans to increase the number of immigration judges by 50% by the end of the year. (NBC News / Politico)
poll/ 38% of Americans approve of the job Trump is doing as president – down three percentage points since August. 60% say Trump is not honest, 55% say he doesn’t care about Americans, 55% also say he is not fit to serve as president, and 42% say Trump is not intelligent. (Quinnipiac)
Notables.
Federal prosecutors admitted that they wrongly accused Maria Butina of trading sex for influence with high-level Republicans on behalf of the Russian government. Butina is a Russian citizen who is currently in custody and facing charges of conspiracy and illegally acting as a foreign agent. Prosecutors acknowledged in court filings that they were “mistaken” in their interpretation of what were apparently joke text messages between Butina and a friend. (New York Times)
The Trump administration is expanding U.S. drone strikes in Africa. President Obama curtailed the program toward the end of his term after a series of highly publicized civilian deaths resulted from the strikes. (New York Times)
John Bolton will threaten the International Criminal Court with sanctions and other penalties if it proceeds with an investigation into alleged war crimes committed by Americans in Afghanistan. “The United States will use any means necessary to protect our citizens and those of our allies from unjust prosecution by this illegitimate court,” reads a draft of Bolton’s upcoming speech. The Trump administration is also expected to announce the closure of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) office in Washington due to concerns over Palestinian attempts to convince the ICC to launch an investigation of Israel. (NBC News / Washington Post / CBS News)
Omarosa Manigault Newman released a recording of Trump discussing Hillary Clinton and the Russia investigation. In the October 2017 meeting with the White House communications and press teams, Trump claimed that the “real Russia story is Hillary and collusion.” He alleged that the Clinton campaign paid $9 million for an unidentified “phony report.” Manigault Newman added that Trump frequently crashed meetings at the White House, “rambling from topic to topic,” because he got bored “very often.” (NBC News / The Hill / Daily Beast)
The White House changed its phone policy in a move believed to be in direct response to Manigault Newman’s recordings. Staffers will now have to put their White House-issued devices in their offices or in lockers with their personal phones near the West Wing entrances before being buzzed into the Situation Room. (CNN)
Pence said he would take a lie-detector test “in a heartbeat” in order to prove that he wasn’t the anonymous author of the New York Times op-ed. He also said he is “more than willing” to sit down for an interview with Robert Mueller’s team as part of their investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. (Washington Post / The Hill)
Trump promised to “write the real book” about his administration, calling Bob Woodward’s new book a “joke.” Trump claimed that Fear: Trump in the White House is “fiction” because it uses “now disproven unnamed and anonymous sources.” (Politico)
1/ Trump called on Jeff Sessions and the Justice Department to investigate and uncover the author of the anonymous op-ed that described an effort by members of the administration to subvert his agenda. “Jeff should be investigating who the author of that piece was because I really believe it’s national security,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. He added that he’s also “looking at” possible legal action against The New York Times, though he did not elaborate. (ABC News / NBC News / CNBC / CNN / New York Times)
2/ Trump tried to refute the quotes in Bob Woodword’s new book, claiming “I don’t talk the way I am quoted” in Fear: Trump in the White House. “The Woodward book is a scam,” Trump tweeted at 5:30am, claiming the “quotes are made up” because “I would not have been elected President” if they were true. Trump also denied that he called Sessions “mentally retarded” or a “dumb Southerner,” as the book reports. However, Trump is on record calling somebody “retarded” on a Howard Stern episode in 2004, and a former deputy editor at the New York Post said Trump once described his in-laws as “an entourage of dumb Southerners.” (New York Times / Washington Post)
3/ Trump will not answer Robert Mueller’s questions about obstruction of justice, according to Rudy Giuliani. “That’s a no-go. That is not going to happen,” Trump’s lawyer said. “There will be no questions at all on obstruction,” whether in person or in writing. (Associated Press)
4/ Hours later Giuliani walked back the comments, saying the possibility of answering questions about obstruction of justice are “not ruled in or out.” One person with direct knowledge of Trump’s legal strategy said that “there is no strategy” aside from PR tactics of threatening Mueller. If negotiations break down, Mueller could be forced to subpoena Trump to testify. Giuliani previously said they would fight any subpoena up to the Supreme Court, which has never definitively ruled on the question of whether a president can be forced to testify. (NBC News / Axios / Reuters)
5/ Elizabeth Warren called on White House officials to invoke the 25th Amendment and begin the process of removing Trump from office. “If senior administration officials think the President of the United States is not able to do his job,” Warren said, “then they should invoke the 25th Amendment.” Warren’s comments come a day after an op-ed by an anonymous senior administration official who attacked Trump’s “amorality” and “anti-democratic” policies, saying staff is “thwarting” Trump’s “misguided impulses” and “worst inclinations.” (CNN)
6/ Trump told his supporters it’ll be “your fault” if he gets impeached. During a rally in Montana, Trump told supporters that they “aren’t just voting for a candidate, you are voting for which party controls Congress.” He then brought up “the impeachment word” and said “you didn’t go out to vote – that’s the only way it could happen.” (CNN)
7/ Obama called Trump a “threat to democracy” and accused him and his Republican supporters of practicing “politics of fear and resentment” during a speech at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He added that the “resistance” within the administration is not the right way to stop the “crazy stuff” coming out of the White House. He blamed Republicans in Congress for being “utterly unwilling to find the backbone to safeguard the institutions that make our democracy work” and that Republicans “who know better are still bending over backwards” to protect Trump. “This is not normal,” Obama continued. “How hard can that be, saying that Nazis are bad?” (NBC News / New York Times / Politico)
Trump on Obama’s critical speech: “I fell asleep.” (Politico)
Notables.
George Papadopoulos was sentenced to 14 days in jail, having pled guilty in October 2017 to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russians. In asking for leniency, Papadopoulos said he made “a terrible mistake, for which I have paid a terrible price, and am deeply ashamed,” and that he was motivated to lie to the FBI try to “create distance between the issue, myself, and the president.” Papadopoulos was the first campaign adviser to be arrested in connection with Mueller’s investigation into Russian influence in the 2016 election. He was also ordered to pay a $9,500 fine and perform community service. His attorney said Trump “hindered this investigation more than George Papadopoulos ever did.” (Bloomberg / Washington Post / CNN / New York Times)
Papadopoulos “can’t guarantee” that he didn’t tell anyone on the Trump campaign that Russia had damaging emails about Hillary Clinton. “I might have,” Papadopoulos said, “but I have no recollection of doing so.” (CNN)
A former Roger Stone associate and longtime Trump ally appeared before Mueller’s federal grand jury. Randy Credico is one of at least 10 people associated with Stone who have been contacted by the special counsel. (ABC News)
Trump “most likely” won’t “shut down government over border security” after all. Trump has gone back and forth about the possibility of a government shutdown, and recently said he’d prefer to wait until after the midterms because “we need Republicans elected in the midterms. We are getting the wall done.” (NBC News / Politico)
1/ Brett Kavanaugh challenged whether Roe v. Wade was “the settled law of the land” in a leaked 2003 email he wrote while serving in the George W. Bush White House. A lawyer for Bush deemed the email “committee confidential” when turning it over to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which meant it could not be made public or discussed by Democrats during Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings this week. In the email, Kavanaugh wrote: “I am not sure that all legal scholars refer to Roe v. Wade as the settled law of the land at the Supreme Court level since Court can always overrule its precedent, and three current Justices on the Court would do so.” Following the publication of the Kavanaugh email, two Democratic senators unilaterally released several other “committee confidential” emails. (New York Times / Washington Post)
Did Kavanaugh mislead the Senate on spying and abortion? (New York Times)
2/ Senator Cory Booker released 12 pages of confidential Kavanaugh emails on racial profiling, affirmative action, and other racial issues. Booker acknowledged that he would be “knowingly violating the rules” for releasing the “committee confidential” emails, adding: “And I understand that the penalty comes with potential ousting from the Senate […] I openly invite and accept the consequences … the emails being withheld from the public have nothing to do with national security.” Booker then invited Republican Sen. John Cornyn to “bring the charges.” (The Guardian / ABC News / CNN / The Hill)
Democratic Sen Cory Booker says he will knowingly release confidential documents related to Brett Kavanaugh: “I am going to release the emails about racial profiling and I will understand that the penalty comes with potential ousting from the Senate” https://t.co/w6FoAXdN1xpic.twitter.com/BWp67vIM4d
Separately, Senator Mazie Hirono published a “committee confidential” email about policies for Native Hawaiians. The leak was aimed at Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, who guards the interests of Native Alaskans. In that email, Kavanaugh questioned whether Native Hawaiians should be protected like Indian tribes. (CNBC)
The records that Booker and Hirono published had already been cleared for public release, according to Democratic and Republican aides on the Senate Judiciary Committee. (Washington Post)
READ: The Kavanaugh emails released by Cory Booker. (DocumentCloud)
3/ Kavanaugh refused to answer a yes or no question about whether he had discussed Robert Mueller’s investigation with one of Trump’s attorneys. During a tense exchange, Sen. Kamala Harris asked Kavanaugh whether he had spoken with anyone at Kasowitz Benson & Torres, a law firm founded by Trump’s personal attorney Marc Kasowitz. Kavanaugh dodged the question, responding: “Is there a person you’re talking about?” Harris responded: “I think you are thinking of someone, and you don’t want to tell us.” A Democratic aide said that some in the party “have reason to believe that a conversation happened and are continuing to pursue it.” (Politico / CNN / The Hill)
Marc Kasowitz: “There have been no discussions regarding Robert Mueller’s investigation between Judge Kavanaugh and anyone at our firm.” Sen. Kamala Harris responded to Kasowitz’s statement, saying his denial wasn’t “under oath.” (CNBC)
Just asked Kamala Harris about Kasowitz denial that no one at firm talked to Kavanaugh about Mueller probe.
“They’re not under oath,” she told me.
So she doesn’t believe them?
“The question was asked under oath” and he didn’t answer, she says as elevator doors close
4/ The White House is in a state of “total meltdown” with Trump “absolutely livid” and reacting to the anonymous op-ed with “volcanic” anger. The op-ed by “a senior official in the Trump administration” who claims to be part of a “resistance” protecting the U.S. from its president, has set off finger-pointing within the West Wing at the highest levels of the administration. Aides and outside allies say “the sleeper cells have awoken” and that “it’s like the horror movies when everyone realizes the call is coming from inside the house.” (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times / Talking Points Memo)
Mike Pence and Mike Pompeo both denied authoring the anonymous op-ed published yesterday in the New York Times. “The Vice President puts his name on his Op-Eds,” Pence’s spokesperson said on Twitter. “It is sad that you have someone who would make that choice,” said Pompeo. “I come from a place where if you’re not in a position to execute the commander’s intent, you have a singular option, that is to leave.” Social media speculation that Pence wrote the op-ed comes from the use of word “lodestar” in the piece, a word that Pence has used multiple times over the course of more than a decade. (Washington Post / HuffPost)
Notables.
The Trump administration rejected an intelligence report last year showing refugees are not a significant security threat to the U.S. Hardliners inside the White House then issued their own report earlier this year that misstated the evidence and inflated the threat posed by those who were born outside the country. (NBC News)
The Trump administration plans to ignore a court ruling in order to detain immigrant children with their parents indefinitely. The proposed changes by the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services would end the Flores Settlement Agreement, a federal consent decree that banned indefinite detention 20 years ago. (NBC News / Washington Post)
A government photographer edited photos of Trump’s inauguration to make the crowd look bigger than it was after Trump intervened. The photographer cropped out the empty space “where the crowd ended” after Trump requested a new set of pictures on the first day of his presidency. The details were not included in the final report of the Interior Department inspector general’s office on its inquiry into the situation. (The Guardian)
1/ A senior Trump administration official published an anonymous essay in the New York Times claiming cabinet members discussed removing Trump from office early in his presidency “given the instability many witnessed.” The official criticized Trump’s “amorality” and reckless decision-making, saying “there is a quiet resistance within the administration of people choosing to put country first” and that “Americans should know that there are adults in the room” who “fully recognize what is happening. And we are trying to do what’s right even when Donald Trump won’t.” (New York Times / CNN)
2/ Trump called the unsigned op-ed a “disgrace” and “gutless.” Trump attacked the New York Times for publishing an essay by an unnamed administration official who claims the president’s advisers deliberately try to block Trump’s misguided impulses. The anonymous official wrote that Trump’s “impulses are generally anti-trade and anti-democratic.” At a White House event, Trump brought up the op-ed, saying “This is what we have to deal with” and that “they don’t like Donald Trump and I don’t like them.” He later demanded that “the Times must, for National Security purposes, turn him/her over to government at once!” (CNN / Associated Press / New York Times)
Does the so-called “Senior Administration Official” really exist, or is it just the Failing New York Times with another phony source? If the GUTLESS anonymous person does indeed exist, the Times must, for National Security purposes, turn him/her over to government at once!
3/ Sarah Huckabee Sanders called the author of the “resistance” op-ed a “coward” who should “do the right thing and resign.” Sanders accused the author of choosing to “deceive” Trump by remaining in the administration and called on the Times to “issue an apology” for publishing the “pathetic, reckless, and selfish op-ed.” (Associated Press / ABC News)
4/ Trump is “in the worst mood of his presidency” and frequently calls confidants to “vent about his selection of [Jeff] Sessions and [FBI Director Christopher] Wray.” Trump is criticizing Wray and painting him as another Justice Department official who refuses to protect his interests and is possibly out to undermine his presidency. (NBC News)
5/ Trump suggested that protesting should be illegal after Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing was disrupted by protesters. Trump called it “embarrassing for the country to allow protesters. You don’t even know what side the protesters are on.” (Washington Post)
6/ Trump called for NBC to lose its broadcast license, tweeting “I have long criticized NBC and their journalistic standards-worse than even CNN. Look at their license?” The FCC lacks legal authority to revoke broadcast licenses over news content. (Politico)
7/ Robert Mueller’s office agreed to accept some written answers from Trump, according to a letter from the special counsel’s office to Trump’s lawyers. The questions would focus on whether his campaign coordinated with Russia to influence the 2016 election. Mueller still intends to interview Trump in person about questions relating to obstruction of justice at a later date. Editor’s note: I added this at the last minute yesterday, but wanted to include more information today. (New York Times / NPR / Washington Post)
Robert Mueller subpoenaed a conspiracy theorist linked to both Roger Stone and Alex Jones. Jerome Corsi is expected to testify on Friday before Mueller’s grand jury about his discussions with Stone, who has been a subject of Mueller’s investigation for seemingly predicting that WikiLeaks would publish material damaging to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. (New York Times)
8/ North Carolina’s unconstitutionally gerrymandered congressional maps will be used in the November midterm elections. A federal court concluded that there is “insufficient time” to redraw the maps before the election, even though the same panel of federal judges ruled in August that the maps favored Republicans and were unconstitutional. (Politico / CNN)
forecast/ Democrats have a 77% chance of retaking control of the House. Republicans, meanwhile, have a 22% chance of maintaining control. (FiveThirtyEight)
poll/ 37% of voters approve of the way Trump is handling his job. 59% disapprove. (Kaiser Family Foundation)
poll/ 36% of registered voters approve of the way Trump is handling his job as president. 60% disapprove. (Washington Post)
poll/ Trump’s job approval fell 5 percentage points to 36% from August to September. Republicans’ approval fell from 83% in August to 76% in September. Overall, 56% of the public disapprove of the job Trump is doing, up three points from August. (IBD/TIPP)
Notables.
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen called out Putin for interfering in the 2016 election, saying it was a “direct attack” on U.S. democracy. (CNN)
The U.K. charged two officers in Russia’s military intelligence with attempted murder for poisoning a former Russian spy in England in March. Prosecutors did not request the extradition of the men from Russia, which does not send its nationals abroad for prosecution. (New York Times)
Putin claimed he doesn’t know the two suspects behind the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter. Putin’s foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov, said the names of the suspects “do not mean anything to me.” (Associated Press)
The White House is discussing possible replacements for Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. The news follows reports from Bob Woodward’s new book, which claims that Mattis said Trump “acted like – and had the understanding of – ‘a fifth- or sixth-grader.’” (Washington Post)
The EPA failed to justify increased spending on Scott Pruitt’s 24-hour security detail, according to the EPA’s inspector general. Pruitt’s security costs grew by almost $2 million, from $1.6 million to $3.5 million in just 11 months. (ABC News)
Trump on a possible government shutdown: “If it happens, it happens.” Congress is facing a Sept. 30th deadline to pass spending bills to keep the government open. (Associated Press)
*Note: I’ll do a full roundup of the Kavanaugh hearings later this week when we have more perspective on what’s happened. *
1/ Bob Woodward’s book describes Trump as an “emotionally overwrought, mercurial and unpredictable leader,” his presidency as “an administrative coup d’etat,” and the executive branch as having a “nervous breakdown” where senior aides hide official papers from Trump’s desk so he won’t sign them, all in order “to protect the country.” In one instance, Gary Cohn, Trump’s former top economic adviser, “stole a letter off Trump’s desk” that the president wanted to sign that would have withdrawn the U.S. from a trade agreement with South Korea. In another instance, Trump ordered Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to assassinate Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, saying: “Let’s fucking kill him! Let’s go in. Let’s kill the fucking lot of them.” Mattis told Trump he would get right on it, but immediately told an aide, “We’re not going to do any of that. We’re going to be much more measured.” John Dowd told Trump he’d be wearing an “orange jump suit” if he sat for an interview with Robert Mueller. And Woodward also reports that John Kelly once called Trump an “idiot,” and told colleagues that the president was “unhinged,” that “he’s gone off the rails. We’re in Crazytown. I don’t even know why any of us are here. This is the worst job I’ve ever had.” Fear: Trump in the White House will be released on September 11th. (Washington Post / CNN)
SWAMP SPEAK:
Trump called his condemnation of white supremacists and neo-Nazis following the deadly 2017 Charlottesville rally “the biggest fucking mistake I’ve made.” Trump was sharply criticized for initially saying that “both sides” were to blame for the violence. Trump bowed to pressure and gave a second speech in which he called racism “evil” and condemned hate groups. He told aides that it was the “worst speech I’ve ever given.” (The Hill)
Trump described Jeff Sessions as a “traitor” and as a “mentally retarded” “dumb Southerner” to aides, according to Woodward’s book. (ABC News)
Rudy Giuliani to critical Trump advisers: “Why don’t they go get another job? That’s the kind of disloyalty that leads to you leaving, not staying and undermining the president.” (CNBC)
👑 Portrait of a President: An ongoing collection of articles curated by the WTFJHT family that illuminate the Trump presidency.
2/ The White House called Woodward’s book about Trump “nothing more than fabricated stories, many by former disgruntled employees, told to make the President look bad.” John Kelly issued a statement denying that “I ever called the President an idiot.” (CNBC / Wall Street Journal)
Trump complained to confidants that he didn’t get to speak with Woodward before the book went to print. People close to Trump have speculated that part of the reason an interview never happened was because of a policy instituted by John Kelly after the publication of Michael Wolff’s tell-all book, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, which portrayed Trump as an ill-equipped leader who refused to read even one-page briefing papers. However, Trump called Woodward in early August, after the manuscript had been completed, to say he wanted to participate. Trump’s last interview with Woodward was in 2016, where Trump said: “Real power is, I don’t even want to use the word, fear.” (CNN / Washington Post)
Trump: Woodward has “a lot of credibility problems.” (Daily Caller)
3/ Trump attacked Jeff Sessions and the Justice Department on Twitter in connection with the indictments of two GOP congressmen on corruption charges, saying the charges could hurt the Republican Party in the midterm elections. “Two easy wins now in doubt because there is not enough time,” Trump tweeted. “Good job Jeff…” Last month, Duncan Hunter (R-CA) was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges that he and his wife used more than $250,000 in campaign funds to pay for personal expenses. Chris Collins (R-NY) was indicted on charges of insider trading. Trump called them “two very popular Republican Congressmen.” (Washington Post / New York Times / CNN)
Two long running, Obama era, investigations of two very popular Republican Congressmen were brought to a well publicized charge, just ahead of the Mid-Terms, by the Jeff Sessions Justice Department. Two easy wins now in doubt because there is not enough time. Good job Jeff......
....The Democrats, none of whom voted for Jeff Sessions, must love him now. Same thing with Lyin’ James Comey. The Dems all hated him, wanted him out, thought he was disgusting - UNTIL I FIRED HIM! Immediately he became a wonderful man, a saint like figure in fact. Really sick!
4/ Robert Mueller will accept some written answers from Trump about whether his campaign conspired with Russia to interfere in U.S. elections interference, according to a letter from the special counsel’s office to Trump’s lawyers. Mueller’s investigation will also continue despite Giuliani’s claims that the probe should have ended on Sept. 1, based on an informal Justice Department guideline that encourages investigators to avoid affecting elections. The midterm elections will be held on Nov. 6. (New York Times / Bloomberg)
5/ Giuliani: The White House will likely attempt to block a full public release of Mueller’s final report on his Russia investigation. Giuliani once again described the special counsel’s investigation as a “witch hunt,” and said that the White House would “object to the public disclosure of information that might be covered by executive privilege.” When asked whether the White House would raise objections to the publication of the full report, Giuliani said, “I’m sure we will,” and noted that Trump would be the one who “would make the final call.” (HuffPost / New Yorker)
6/ 42,000 pages of documents related to Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, were released hours before Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings were set to begin. The Trump administration claimed executive privilege and withheld some 100,000 documents related to Kavanaugh’s time in the George W. Bush administration. Before serving in the Bush administration, Kavanaugh was a key deputy to Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr and supported tough questioning of President Clinton about his encounters with Monica Lewinsky. Later, in 2009, Kavanaugh wrote an article for the Minnesota Law Review that claimed any civil and criminal investigations of a president should take place only once the president is out of office, because they are “time-consuming and distracting.” (ABC News / New York Times)
7/ Before Kavanaugh’s hearing began, Democrats pushed to adjourn and protesters repeatedly interrupted the Senate Judiciary Committee proceedings. Chuck Grassley’s opening remarks were delayed for nearly 90-minutes as Democratic senators interrupted the chairman over the last-minute document dump. “The committee received just last night, less than 15 hours ago, 42,000 pages of documents that we have not had an opportunity to read, review or analyze,” Sen. Kamala Harris said moments after the hearing opened. “We cannot possibly move forward with this hearing.” Democrats are expected to press Kavanaugh on his positions on Roe v. Wade, the scope of executive power, health care, gun control, and same-sex marriage. Kavanaugh is not expected to offer any commitment to recuse himself from cases involving investigations of Trump, including a possible constitutional fight over a subpoena of the president. (NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post / ABC News)
poll/ 37% of voters say the Senate should vote to confirm Kavanaugh with 29% saying the Senate shouldn’t vote, and 34% are undecided. Among Republican voters, 67% support confirming Kavanaugh while 53% of Democrats say the Senate shouldn’t confirm him. (Politico)
poll/ 63% of Americans think Trump and the Republican Party are out of touch with most people in the U.S. By comparison, 51% think the Democratic Party is out of touch. (Washington Post)
poll/ Democratic House candidates lead their Republican opponents nationally by 52-38% among registered voters. 60% of voters say they’d rather see the next Congress controlled by the Democrats. (ABC News)
Notables.
Trump kicked off Labor Day by attacking a top union leader. Trump tweeted that AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka “represented his union poorly on television this weekend.” Trump added: “It is easy to see why unions are doing so poorly. A Dem!” The attack came after Trumka appeared on Fox News and criticized Trump’s attempts to overhaul NAFTA, arguing that the agreement should include Canada. “The things that he’s done to hurt workers outpace what he’s done to help workers,” Trumka said. (ABC News)
The Trump administration is rolling back worker safety regulations affecting underground mine safety inspections, offshore oil rigs, and line speeds in meat processing plants, among other things. Under Obama, workplace inspections at mines had to occur before workers started their shifts, but the Trump administration said it would allow inspections to begin while miners were already working. The Interior Department is seeking to roll back regulations for offshore oil rigs that were put in place after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, rescinding the rule that inspections of blowout preventers must only be conducted by government-approved third parties. And the Agricultural Department is considering lifting line speed requirements in hog processing plants. (Politico)
Republicans are considering dropping an effort to push a second phase of tax cuts that includes a $10,000 annual cap on state and local tax deductions. Party leaders are concerned that the effort may antagonize voters in hotly contested congressional districts. (Bloomberg)
The Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago is being sued by the Illinois attorney general for multiple violations of clean water laws and for endangering fish and other aquatic life in the Chicago River. The tower, one of the city’s largest users of river water for its cooling systems, is accused of failing to meet several special-permit requirements that are intended to limit the number of fish pinned against intake screens or killed by sudden pressure and temperature changes. Building managers also failed to renew its permit and have been operating the cooling system without it for almost a year. “Trump Tower continues to take millions of gallons of water from the Chicago River every day without a permit and without any regard to how it may be impacting the river’s ecosystem,” Attorney General Lisa Madigan said in a statement. “I filed my lawsuit to make sure Trump Tower cannot continue violating the law.” (Chicago Tribune)
The Kremlin dismissed Trump’s warning to the Syrian government not to attack a rebel-held stronghold in Idlib province. Trump warned Bashar al-Assad and his allies in Iran and Russia on Monday not to “recklessly attack” Syria’s northwestern province, saying that hundreds of thousands of people could be killed. The Kremlin responded by claiming that the province was a “nest of terrorism” and saying that the presence of militants in Idlib was undermining the Syrian peace process. Russian forces resumed air strikes against insurgents in Idlib on Tuesday after a hiatus that lasted a few weeks. (Reuters / CNN)
Former Senator Jon Kyl will fill John McCain’s seat. Kyl served three terms in the Senate and was the second-ranking Senate Republican when he left office in 2013. (New York Times)
Nike made Colin Kaepernick the face of its 30th anniversary “Just Do It” campaign, which features a black-and-white close up of the former NFL quarterback with the quote: “Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything.” No team has signed Kaepernick since he stirred a national debate by taking a knee during the national anthem in protest of police brutality and racial inequality. In 2017, Trump told supporters he wanted to see an NFL owner “get that son of a bitch off the field right now” and fire any player who refuses to stand during the national anthem. (BuzzFeed News / The Guardian)
Omarosa recorded nearly every conversation she had while working in the White House, including conversations she had with “all of the Trumps.” She did so using her personal cellphone, which was almost always on record mode. She carried two phones with her — her personal phone and a government-issued phone — and often put conversations she had on her work phone on speaker, allowing her to record the audio with her personal phone. (Axios)
David Hogg, a Parkland school shooting survivor, helped to raise nearly $10,000 to pin a 2016 tweet from Trump attacking Sen. Ted Cruz on a billboard in Texas. In the tweet, Trump asks: “Why would the people of Texas support Ted Cruz when he has accomplished absolutely nothing for them.” (Axios)
1/ Canada: “We’re not there yet” on a NAFTA deal. The Trump administration had given Canada a Friday deadline to join a preliminary, new trade agreement between the U.S. and Mexico. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he would only sign a “good” NAFTA deal, while Canada’s top trade negotiator added: “We’re looking for a good deal, not just any deal. We will only agree to a deal that is a good deal for Canada.” A spokesperson from the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office described the negotiations as “ongoing,” while the Trump administration told Congress that it intends to keep Canada in the pact. (New York Times / Politico / Bloomberg / CNBC)
2/ Trump is unwilling to make any concessions to Canada at all on NAFTA, and said trade negotiations would be done “totally on our terms”. The remark was told to Bloomberg reporters off the record, but then reported by the Toronto Star. At the time, Trump said he couldn’t admit this publicly because “it’s going to be so insulting they’re not going to be able to make a deal.” He suggested he was forcing Canadian leaders into submission by repeatedly threatening to impose tariffs. Trump followed up by lashing out on Twitter, saying he was “BLATANTLY VIOLATED” due to the leaking of his “OFF THE RECORD COMMENTS” about Canada. He then confirmed the remarks by adding “At least Canada knows where I stand!” (Toronto Star / Politico / Washington Post)
Wow, I made OFF THE RECORD COMMENTS to Bloomberg concerning Canada, and this powerful understanding was BLATANTLY VIOLATED. Oh well, just more dishonest reporting. I am used to it. At least Canada knows where I stand!
3/ Robert Mueller’s investigation is pushing up against the “60-day rule,” an unofficial Department of Justice policy that suggests that investigators not take any actions within two months of an election in order to avoid influencing the outcome. Rudy Giuliani previously said that if the special counsel’s investigation is not completed by September, then there would be a “very, very serious violation of Justice Department rules,” because Mueller “shouldn’t be conducting one of these investigations in the 60-day period.” The cutoff, however, is not a hard and fast rule and, according to the Justice Department’s inspector general, it’s “not written or described in any Department policy or regulation.” Some of the evidence we’ve yet to see: Trump’s tax returns and bank records; Trump Organization records; other Michael Cohen recordings; cellphone records related to the Trump Tower meeting. (Politico / Axios)
Giuliani and Trump’s legal team are crafting a “counter-report” to question whether the “initiation of the [Mueller] investigation was … legitimate or not”. One section of the report will allege “possible conflicts” of interest by federal law enforcement authorities, while the other section will respond to allegations of collusion and obstruction of justice. (Daily Beast / CNN)
Democrats are trying to bring Trump’s tax returns into public view following tax fraud charges against both Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen. Trump was the first major party candidate in four decades to refuse to disclose his tax returns. (ABC News)
4/ Trump threatened to “get involved” in the Justice Department and “get in there” if the FBI doesn’t “start doing their job and doing it right”. Trump again accused top officials at the FBI and Justice Department of being biased against Republicans. “Our Justice Department and our FBI - at the top of each, because inside they have incredible people - but our Justice Department and our FBI have to start doing their job and doing it right and doing it now,” Trump told the crowd. “I wanted to stay out, but at some point if it doesn’t straighten out properly … I will get involved and I’ll get in there if I have to.” (Reuters)
5/ A former associate of Paul Manafort and a Cambridge Analytica employee struck a plea deal and agreed to cooperate with Mueller’s office. Sam Patten pleaded guilty to failing to register as a foreign lobbyist while working on behalf of a Ukrainian political party and to lying to a Senate committee investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election. Patten was a business partner of Konstantin Kilimnik, who was indicted along with Manafort on witness tampering charges. In previous court documents, Mueller’s team said they believe Kilimnik was a Russian intelligence operative in 2016, when he was communicating with Manafort and Rick Gates as they worked for Trump’s presidential campaign. (Politico / Bloomberg / Washington Post / Vox)
Patten funneled $50,000 from a Ukrainian oligarch to Trump’s Presidential Inauguration Committee using a “straw purchaser” in order to secure four tickets to the inauguration: The tickets were used by Patten, Kilimnik, the oligarch and another Ukrainian. (The Guardian / NBC News / Washington Post)
Two prosecutors left Mueller’s team. The departures of Ryan Dickey and Brian Richardson did not have to do with any allegations of wrongdoing or political bias. (CNBC / CNN)
6/ A senior Justice Department lawyer said Christopher Steele told him two years ago that Russian intelligence believed “they had Trump over a barrel,” according to multiple people familiar with the previously unreported details. Bruce Ohr, who testified behind closed doors this week to the House Judiciary and Oversight committees, also said Trump campaign aide Carter Page had met with more-senior Russian officials than previously acknowledged. Ohr’s meeting with Steele occurred on July 30, 2016, and the FBI opened its counterintelligence investigation the next day, but for entirely different reasons: the report that Russian hackers had penetrated Democratic email accounts, and George Papadopoulos’ contacts with Russians who said they had “dirt” on Hillary Clinton in the form of emails. Earlier this month, Trump proposed stripping Ohr of his security clearance and has asked “how the hell” he remains employed. (Associated Press / CNN)
House Democrats accused Republicans of misusing “sensitive” documents during their closed-door interview with Bruce Ohr. Reps. Jerrold Nadler and Elijah Cummings say Republican lawmakers “never introduced these documents into the official record, never marked them as exhibits, never explained how they obtained them, and never provided copies to Democratic staff participating in the interview.” (Politico)
7/ Trump is considering Washington litigator Pat Cipollone as a replacement for White House counsel Don McGahn. Trump interviewed Cipollone earlier this week. Cipollone is a former Justice Department attorney who practices commercial litigation. (Reuters / CNN / Washington Post)
poll/ 60% of Americans disapprove of Trump’s job performance. 36% approve, which matches his all-time low, and makes Trump’s average approval rating lower than any president since the 1940s. 49% say Congress should begin impeachment proceedings, while 46% say Congress should not. And 53% believe Trump has tried to interfere with Robert Mueller’s investigation in a way that amounts to obstruction of justice. 63% support Mueller’s investigation. (ABC News / Washington Post)
1/ The Trump administration has been denying passports to U.S. citizens and accusing hundreds of Latinos along the southern border of using fake birth certificates to obtain citizenship. The State Department said it “has not changed policy or practice regarding the adjudication of passport applications,” but news reports suggest a dramatic shift in both immigration enforcement and the way passports are issued. Some passport applicants with U.S. birth certificates are being imprisoned at immigration detention centers and entered into deportation proceedings, while others have had their passports revoked when trying to reenter the United States. (Washington Post / CNN)
2/ Trump said Jeff Sessions’s job is safe at least until the midterm elections in November. Meanwhile, Trump has been lobbying “any senator who will listen” to him about firing and replacing Sessions. It’s unclear if the Senate would be able to confirm a replacement for Sessions due to its legislative schedule, which includes a government funding package and the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. (Bloomberg / Politico / CNBC)
3/ George Papadopoulos accepted a plea deal from Robert Mueller and pled guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts during the campaign with a professor who had “substantial connections to Russian government officials.” Papadopoulos was strongly considering backing away from the deal earlier this month, but decided to accept the deal and cooperate with Mueller’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election. (ABC News)
Roger Stone expects Robert Mueller to indict him, claiming that Mueller’s team wants “to frame me for some nonexistent crime to silence me and pressure me to testify against the president.” There are questions about Stone’s interactions with WikiLeaks and the hacker Guccifer 2.0 during the 2016 election campaign. U.S. officials have said that WikiLeaks was acting as an agent of Russia, and Mueller has labeled Guccifer 2.0 a Russian intelligence front. (NBC News)
4/ Trump accused NBC of “fudging” his May 2017 interview where he admitted that the decision to fire James Comey was related to the Russia investigation. Comey was the FBI director at the time and was in charge of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. During the NBC interview, Trump admitted that he had “this Russia thing” in mind when he decided to fire Comey. On Thursday, Trump accused NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt on Twitter of “fudging my tape on Russia,” but provided no evidence to support the accusation. (Reuters)
Trump appeared to admit via tweet that he tried to fire Robert Mueller. “I am very excited about the person who will be taking the place of Don McGahn as White House Councel! [sic]” Trump tweeted. “I liked Don, but he was NOT responsible for me not firing Bob Mueller or Jeff Sessions. So much Fake Reporting and Fake News!” Trump has denied that he has tried to fire Mueller in the past, calling the claims “Fake News, folks. Fake News.” (Washington Post)
I am very excited about the person who will be taking the place of Don McGahn as White House Counsel! I liked Don, but he was NOT responsible for me not firing Bob Mueller or Jeff Sessions. So much Fake Reporting and Fake News!
Trump teased that he was “very excited” to name Don McGahn’s replacement, but isn’t ready to share the new White House counsel’s name. (Associated Press)
Trump also lashed out at top NBC and CNN executives on Twitter and called on AT&T to fire CNN chief Jeff Zucker. “The hatred and extreme bias of me by @CNN has clouded their thinking and made them unable to function,” Trump tweeted. “But actually, as I have always said, this has been going on for a long time. Little Jeff Z has done a terrible job, his ratings suck, & AT&T should fire him to save credibility!” He also predicted that NBC News chairman Andrew Lackey will be fired. “What’s going on at @CNN,” Trump tweeted, “is happening, to different degrees, at other networks - with @NBCNews being the worst. The good news is that Andy Lack(y) is about to be fired(?) for incompetence, and much worse. When Lester Holt got caught fudging my tape on Russia, they were hurt badly!” (Politico)
The hatred and extreme bias of me by @CNN has clouded their thinking and made them unable to function. But actually, as I have always said, this has been going on for a long time. Little Jeff Z has done a terrible job, his ratings suck, & AT&T should fire him to save credibility!
What’s going on at @CNN is happening, to different degrees, at other networks - with @NBCNews being the worst. The good news is that Andy Lack(y) is about to be fired(?) for incompetence, and much worse. When Lester Holt got caught fudging my tape on Russia, they were hurt badly!
5/ Trump called on the U.S. Supreme Court chief justice to tell the head of the FISA Court to question FBI and Justice Department officials about the use of the Steele dossier in the Russia probe. “This is a fraud on the court,” Trump tweeted. “The Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court is in charge of the FISA court. He should direct the Presiding Judge, Rosemary Collier [sic], to hold a hearing, haul all of these people from the DOJ & FBI in there, & if she finds there were crimes committed, and there were, there should be a criminal referral by her.” Judge Rosemary Collyer presides over the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Court, which oversees electronic surveillance and search warrant requests from federal authorities. (Reuters)
6/ In 2016, Trump and Michael Cohen tried to buy all the damaging information that the National Enquirer and American Media Inc. had about Trump, dating all the way back to the 1980s. The plan was never finalized, but Trump and Cohen appear to mention it during a recorded conversation between the two that was released by Cohen’s attorney last month. “It’s all the stuff — all the stuff, because you never know,” Cohen says on the tape. American Media Inc. chairman and CEO David Pecker has reportedly been cooperating with the special counsel’s investigators for months. (Axios / New York Times)
Notables.
Trump wants to move ahead with imposing tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese imports next week. China threatened to retaliate with duties on $60 billion of U.S. goods. The U.S. has so far imposed levies on $50 billion in Chinese goods, with Beijing retaliating in kind. Stocks fell when the news was released. (Bloomberg)
Trump threatened to pull out of the World Trade Organization “if they don’t shape up” and treat the U.S. better. Trump has long criticized the organization, saying earlier this year that the U.S. has been “treated very badly” by the group, describing it as an “unfair situation.” (Bloomberg / CNBC)
Trump canceled pay raises for almost 2 million civilian federal employees in order to “put our Nation on a fiscally sustainable course.” The 2.1% across-the-board pay increase was scheduled to take effect in January. In contrast to civilian employees, troops are due for a 2.6% pay increase next year, their biggest pay raise since 2009. (CNBC / Axios / Associated Press / Politico)
White House ethics lawyer Stefan Passatino is leaving the Trump administration. Passatino helped several White House officials grapple with a string of ethics violations and controversies, including Kellyanne Conway’s March 2017 violation of government ethics laws when she told people to “go buy Ivanka’s stuff.” (NBC News)
Trump blamed China for derailing the rapprochement process between the U.S. and North Korea, suggesting that China is putting “tremendous pressure” on Pyongyang as a result of the ongoing trade disputes between the two economic superpowers. Trump issued four tweets – what he called a White House statement – saying that he “feels strongly that North Korea is under tremendous pressure from China because of our major trade disputes with the Chinese Government.” During the same tweetstorm, Trump said his relationship with Kim Jong Un was “a very good and warm one,” and referred to the Chinese leader as “China’s great President Xi Jinping.” (NPR)
The Justice Department sided with a group of Asian-Americans rejected by Harvard, who say the university has systematically discriminated against them by artificially capping the number of qualified Asian-Americans from attending the school to advance less qualified students of other races. In July, the Education and Justice Departments said that the Trump administration was abandoning Obama-era policies that called on universities to consider race as a factor when trying to diversify their campuses. (New York Times / Politico / Associated Press)
A California man threatened to shoot Boston Globe employees in the head for their editorial response to Trump’s attacks on the news media. According to a phone recording, Robert Chain called the paper and said: “You’re the enemy of the people, and we’re going to kill every fucking one of you.” The FBI arrested Chain on Thursday in California. He owned several guns and had recently purchased a small-caliber rifle. (New York Times / Associated Press / Justice Department)
1/ White House counsel Don McGahn will step down after the midterms or after Brett Kavanaugh is confirmed to the Supreme Court. McGahn was the top lawyer for the Trump campaign and has repeatedly considered resigning as White House counsel. He’s played the role of peacemaker between the White House and Robert Mueller’s team, as well as acting as Trump’s liaison to the Justice Department and Congress. Trump surprised McGahn with his Twitter announcement, since McGahn had not discussed his plans directly with Trump. McGahn’s successor will likely be Emmet Flood, an attorney who advised the Clinton administration during his impeachment hearings and served as White House counsel under George W. Bush. McGahn has said privately that after he steps down he plans to continue assisting Trump throughout his reelection campaign. Trump asked former White House Staff Secretary Rob Porter “several times” last year if he would take McGahn’s position. Porter reportedly told him that he didn’t feel “he was qualified for the role.” Republicans see McGahn as a stable force and accessible official, and were dismayed by Trump’s announcement. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley said he hopes “it’s not true” that McGahn is leaving and urged Trump to not “let that happen.” (Axios / New York Times / Washington Post)
2/ Betsy DeVos is preparing new education policies that narrow the definition of campus sexual harassment, strengthening the rights of students accused of assault, harassment or rape, while reducing the school’s liability. The proposed rules would hold schools accountable only for formal complaints filed with “an official who has the authority to institute corrective measures” regarding conduct that occurred on campuses. The new rules would also establish a higher legal standard to determine whether schools improperly addressed complaints. (New York Times)
3/ Trump accused China of hacking Hillary Clinton’s emails during the 2016 presidential campaign. “Hillary Clinton’s Emails, many of which are Classified Information, got hacked by China,” Trump tweeted. “Next move better be by the FBI & DOJ or, after all of their other missteps (Comey, McCabe, Strzok, Page, Ohr, FISA, Dirty Dossier etc.), their credibility will be forever gone!” In an earlier tweet, Trump joked that Russia might be the culprit: “China hacked Hillary Clinton’s private Email Server. Are they sure it wasn’t Russia (just kidding!)? What are the odds that the FBI and DOJ are right on top of this? Actually, a very big story. Much classified information!” Trump offered no evidence to support his claims. (Reuters)
The FBI refuted Trump’s claim that China hacked Clinton’s emails, saying “the FBI has not found any evidence that (Clinton) servers were compromised.” (NBC News)
4/ Trump said his administration “did a fantastic job in Puerto Rico” despite the official death toll rising to 2,975. Last year, Trump awarded himself a “10 out of 10” on disaster recovery efforts during an Oval Office meeting with Puerto Rico’s governor. (CNN)
5/ NATO is considering naming its new headquarters after the late Sen. John McCain, who made frequent visits to NATO member countries throughout his political career. McCain also criticized Russia’s efforts to undermine the alliance, and voiced disappointment with Trump’s handling of the U.S. relationship with NATO partners. (CNBC)
6/ Leaders from Japan and North Korea met in Vietnam last month without informing the United States. Japan decided not to tell the U.S. about the meeting because of growing concerns that it can’t rely on the Trump administration to lobby on its behalf about key domestic issues in North Korea, such as the abduction of Japanese citizens. The decision to keep the U.S. out of the loop about the meeting reportedly caused “irritation” among U.S. officials. (The Telegraph)
7/ Giuliani was paid to lobby the Romanian president on behalf of a global consulting firm, but the position he was paid to take contradicted the U.S. government’s official position. Giuliani was being paid by Freeh Group International Solutions when he sent a letter to President Klaus Iohannis last week criticizing the “excesses” of Romania’s National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA), contradicting the U.S. State Department’s support for the Romanian agency. Although Giuliani did not claim to represent the views of the Trump administration, Giuliani did not disclose in the letter that he was acting on behalf of another client. (Politico)
8/ Leaked emails reveal that a former Homeland Security policy analyst who resigned last week has ties to white nationalists. The emails show that Ian M. Smith had previously been in contact with a group that included known white nationalists as they planned some of their events. One email was addressed to, among other people, prominent white nationalist leader Richard Spencer. Another email includes Jared Taylor, founder of the white nationalist publication American Renaissance. “I no longer work at DHS as of last week,” Smith said when contacted via email, “and didn’t attend any of the events you’ve mentioned.” (The Atlantic)
9/ A second Trump Organization employee discussed a potential immunity deal with federal prosecutors. The employee ultimately did not receive immunity and was not called to testify before the grand jury. Allen Weisselberg was granted immunity for providing information about Michael Cohen. (CNN)
poll/ 55% of voters under 30 say they plan to vote in the midterm elections, about 25% are unsure if they’ll vote, and 19% say they will probably not vote. 60% of millennials have an unfavorable impression of the Republican Party. 27% say they approve of the job Trump is doing. 44% of millennial voters have a favorable view of the Democratic Party. (NBC News / Vox)
poll/ 63% of voters think Trump should voluntarily agree to an interview with Robert Mueller. 55% say they believe Mueller’s investigation will be fair and accurate, compared to only 35% who say they believe Trump’s denials of collusion with Russia during his campaign. (The Hill)
Dept. of Primaries
Rep. Martha McSally easily defeated former Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Kelli Ward in the Arizona Republican primary election. With 58 percent of precincts reporting, McSally received 51.4 percent of the vote (196,452 votes), while Ward received 28.6 percent (109,105 votes), and Arpaio only managed to secure 20 percent (76,517 votes). (NBC News)
A Trump-backed Republican and a Bernie Sanders-backed Democrat won their respective gubernatorial primaries in Florida. Rep. Ron DeSantis won the Republican nomination, while Andrew Gillum, currently the mayor of Tallahassee, will be the Democratic nominee. (Washington Post / Vox / New York Times)
DeSantis warned Florida voters not to “monkey this up” by electing his Democratic opponent. If elected, Andrew Gillum would be the state’s first African American governor. (NBC News / Washington Post / CNN)
1/ North Carolina’s congressional district maps were unconstitutionally gerrymandered in favor of Republicans and new maps may have to be drawn before the midterm elections, a panel of three federal judges ruled. The judges acknowledged that primary elections have already occurred but said they were reluctant to allow voting to take place in districts that have twice been found to violate constitutional standards. North Carolina legislators are likely to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case. (Washington Post / CNN)
2/ Trump accused Google of being “RIGGED” against him because the “search results for ‘Trump News’” show mostly “BAD” coverage about him from the “Fake News Media.” Trump charged that Google was limiting “fair media” coverage about him and “suppressing voices of Conservatives and hiding information and news that is good,” declaring it a “very serious situation” and promising that it “will be addressed!” Larry Kudlow, the director of the National Economic Council, said the Trump administration is “taking a look” at whether Google should be regulated. (New York Times / Reuters / Axios / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
Google search results for “Trump News” shows only the viewing/reporting of Fake News Media. In other words, they have it RIGGED, for me & others, so that almost all stories & news is BAD. Fake CNN is prominent. Republican/Conservative & Fair Media is shut out. Illegal? 96% of....
....results on “Trump News” are from National Left-Wing Media, very dangerous. Google & others are suppressing voices of Conservatives and hiding information and news that is good. They are controlling what we can & cannot see. This is a very serious situation-will be addressed!
Google Responds: “Search is not used to set a political agenda and we don’t bias our results toward any political ideology. Every year, we issue hundreds of improvements to our algorithms to ensure they surface high-quality content in response to users’ queries. We continually work to improve Google Search and we never rank search results to manipulate political sentiment.” (CNBC)
Trump’s Twitter tirade followed a Lou Dobbs segment that aired Monday night, in which the Fox Business host discussed an article titled “96 Percent of Google Search Results for ‘Trump’ News Are from Liberal Media Outlets.” The article’s author admitted that the data was “not scientific.” (Axios / CNN)
3/ The USDA will pay $4.7 billion to farmers hurt by retaliatory tariffs from China stemming from Trump’s trade war. The initial payment is part of some $12 billion in aid Trump promised to farmers in July. Starting Sept. 4, the USDA’s Farm Service Agency will provide payments to corn, cotton, dairy, hog, sorghum, soybean and wheat farmers. Soybean farmers will receive $3.7 billion, pork producers will get $290 million, and cotton farmers will receive $277 million. A separate program will be used to buy $1.2 billion in products unfairly targeted by “unjustified retaliation,” according to the USDA. (NPR / USA Today / ABC News / Wall Street Journal)
4/ Trump urged evangelical ministers to campaign for Republicans from the pulpit, warning them that they’re “one election away from losing everything” if Republicans don’t retain control of Congress. Trump threatened that Democrats “will overturn everything that we’ve done and they’ll do it quickly and violently. And violently. There’s violence.” Trump also repeated his debunked claim that he had gotten “rid of” a law prohibiting churches and charitable organizations from endorsing political candidates. The law remains on the books, after efforts to kill it in Congress last year failed. (New York Times / NBC News)
5/ Trump was involved in the decision to cancel a decade-long plan to move the FBI to a new consolidated headquarters in the Maryland or Virginia suburbs, a Government Services Administration inspector general report says. The current FBI headquarters sits across the street from the Trump International Hotel. Last year, the Trump administration announced it would not relocate the FBI to the suburbs and would redevelop the current site instead. The inspector general concluded that “GSA did not include all of the costs in its Revised FBI Headquarters Plan” and the rebuilding proposal selected by the FBI would cost more, rather than less, than the plan to move the FBI to the suburbs. The inspector general also noted that GSA employees were instructed “not to disclose any statements made by the president” as part of its review of the matter, citing executive privilege. (CBS News / CNN / Wall Street Journal / Roll Call / Washington Post)
poll/ 64% of Americans believe Michael Cohen’s claim that Trump ordered him to make illegal payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal to keep them quiet. 44% believe Congress should start impeachment proceedings. (Axios)
Notables.
New York City’s Department of Buildings cited Kushner Companies for 42 violations and $210,000 in fines for submitting false permit information at 17 buildings in an attempt to remove rent-regulated tenants. The company claims that the violations were “paperwork errors” and will have the opportunity to contest the citations. Tenant activists also issued a report that suggests an investment group led by Michael Cohen falsified construction permits by claiming that three buildings in Manhattan were vacant or had no rent-controlled tenants, when in fact they did. (New York Times)
In June, Trump told Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe: “I remember Pearl Harbor.” He then proceeded to condemn Japan’s economic policies, bringing up the U.S. trade deficit with the country. (Washington Post)
Paul Manafort’s defense team met with prosecutors before he was convicted last week to discuss a second set of charges against him, but they were unable to reach a deal. The discussions over the second set of charges stalled over issues raised by Robert Mueller, although the specific issues in question remain unclear. The point of the talks was to prevent a second, related trial for Manafort, which is scheduled for Sept. 17. Prosecutors and defense attorneys have been arguing over how to describe the second case to the jury, as well as which pieces of evidence can be presented during the trial. (Wall Street Journal)
Lanny Davis says he was an anonymous source for a CNN story published in July that claimed his client, Michael Cohen, privately said that Trump knew in advance about the infamous Trump Tower meeting between Trump Jr. and Russians. The story said Cohen claimed to have personally witnessed Trump Jr. informing his father about the June 2016 meeting. Davis admitted that he served as an anonymous source for multiple news outlets seeking to confirm the story after CNN published it. Now, Davis says he is not certain that the claim is accurate and he regrets his role as anonymous source and his subsequent denial of his involvement in the reporting. Other news outlets that originally confirmed CNN’s reporting have since retracted their own stories, but CNN has not. “We stand by our story,” CNN said in a statement, “and are confident in our reporting of it.” (BuzzFeed News / The Intercept)
Trump privately revived the idea of firing Jeff Sessions earlier this month. Trump’s attorneys believe they have persuaded him — for now — not to fire Sessions while Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign is ongoing. (Washington Post)
Trump belatedly issued a proclamation of praise for Sen. John McCain and ordered the American flag to be flown at half-staff following bipartisan criticism and public pressure. Trump had ordered the flag back to full staff two days after McCain’s death, sparking outrage from both lawmakers and members of the public, including many in his own party. (New York Times / NBC News)
Republican Sen. James Inhofe said John McCain was “partially to blame” for the controversy over the lowering of the White House flag to honor of his death. Inhofe said McCain was to blame “because he is very outspoken” and “he disagreed with the President.” (CNN)
1/ The U.S. and Mexico reached an agreement to end the North American Free Trade Agreement and replace it with the United States-Mexico Trade Agreement. Trump called the new name for the trade deal “elegant,” because the NAFTA name had “a bad connotation” and was a job-killing “disaster” for the U.S. The preliminary agreement excludes Canada, as Trump has repeatedly criticized the country’s trade practices. Canadian leaders have insisted they will not sign a deal that does not work in their favor. The preliminary deal will last for 16 years and be reviewed every six years. (New York Times / Reuters / Associated Press / CNBC)
2/ A former doorman at Trump World Tower is now free to discuss “information regarding Donald Trump’s illegitimate child” – the one he fathered with an ex-housekeeper in the late 1980s. Dino Sajudin entered into a “source agreement” with American Media Inc., which publishes the National Enquirer, on Nov. 15, 2015, but he was “recently” released from the contract, according to his attorney. In April, Sajudin said he had previously been “instructed not to criticize President Trump’s former housekeeper due to a prior relationship she had with President Trump which produced a child.” At the time, AMI called Sajudin’s story “not credible.” (CNN / New Yorker / Source PDF)
3/ Trump refused to approve a White House statement honoring John McCain’s military service, which called McCain a “hero.” Sarah Huckabee Sanders, John Kelly, and other White House staffers advocated for a statement lauding McCain’s career, but Trump told them he wanted to tweet instead. Shortly after McCain’s death was announced, Trump tweeted: “My deepest sympathies and respect go out to the family of Senator John McCain. Our hearts and prayers are with you!” Trump is not invited to the late senator’s funeral. (Washington Post)
4/ A federal judge struck down most of Trump’s executive orders limiting the power of federal employee unions. In May, Trump signed three executive orders which made it easier for managers to fire under-performing federal employees and limited the issues that could be bargained over in union negotiations. In her decision, the judge wrote that the president cannot “eviscerate the right to bargain collectively as envisioned” in the federal labor-management relations statute. She added: “The collective bargaining process is not a cutthroat death match.” (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times)
5/ Trump added a blue stripe to the American flag during a flag-coloring session at a children’s hospital in Ohio. The stripes on the U.S. flag are red and white; the blue is the background to flag’s stars. Editor’s note: 🇷🇺 or 🇫🇷*?* (The Independent / Yahoo News)
The opioid crisis is one of our top priorities at HHS, with a drumbeat of action on the full range of efforts where we can assist local communities. Today, I joined @POTUS & @FLOTUS in Ohio to learn how states and communities are responding to the challenge of opioid addiction. pic.twitter.com/NwxSoeNznA
poll/ Trump’s approval rating stands at 44% with 52% of Americans disapproving. The research firm that conducted the survey called Trump’s approval rating “remarkably stable” despite Paul Manafort’s conviction and Michael Cohen now cooperating with federal prosecutors after his guilty plea. (NBC News)
poll/ 60% of voters think it would be inappropriate for Trump to pardon Paul Manafort. 11% say a pardon would be appropriate. (Politico)
Trump’s advisers expect him to use his unilateral authority to pardon Manafort, although they agree with his lawyers that he shouldn’t. (Politico)
poll/ Ted Cruz leads Beto O’Rourke by one percentage point in their Texas Senate race. Cruz leads O’Rourke 38 to 37%. (The Hill)
Notables.
The federal official in charge of protecting student borrowers from predatory lending practices resigned, saying the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the White House have “ turned its back on young people and their financial futures.” (NPR / Associated Press)
Gun control, teacher and civil rights groups are threatening to sue the Department of Education if it moves forward with its proposal to allow states to spend federal funds on guns for school personnel. (NBC News)
The Democratic National Committee voted to limit the influence of “superdelegates” at the party’s 2020 convention. The DNC met this past weekend in Chicago. (CNN)
A government watchdog group has found a discrepancy between Trump’s financial disclosures and the payments he made to Michael Cohen. Trump’s financial disclosure form states that he “fully reimbursed” Cohen between $100,001 and $250,000 in 2017, but court documents filed by federal prosecutors state that Cohen received $420,000 from the Trump Organization over the course of that year. “It is quite notable,” said Scott Amey, general counsel of the nonpartisan Project on Government Oversight. “This may constitute a false statement by the president. If they were paying him $420 [thousand] they should have put the whole amount in there.” (CNBC)
A House Intelligence Committee member wants Trump Jr. to testify again in light of Trump being implicated by Michael Cohen in a hush money scheme. (CNN)
Stormy Daniels says she would “happily” testify before Congress about the $130,000 hush money payment she received from Trump in 2016 via Michael Cohen. “If Donald Trump has done things he shouldn’t have during his campaign, he should be impeached,” Daniels told the Daily Mirror. She added: “I’ll happily testify under oath and prove my story is true.” (The Hill / Daily Mirror)
Trump met with a QAnon conspiracy theorist in the Oval Office last week, according to photos posted on the man’s Twitter account. Michael Lebron, known as Lionel in online circles, is described on his own websites as “an avowed conspiracy analyst.” Photos posted to Lionel’s Twitter account show him with Trump in the Oval Office and touring the White House. “There are simply no words to explicate the profound and ineffable honor of meeting @realDonaldTrump in the tabernacle of liberty, the Oval Office,” Lionel tweeted. “@LynnShawProd and I so appreciate @POTUS’ kindness and courtesy. #MAGA.” (CNN / Daily Beast / GQ)
1/ The chief financial officer at the Trump Organization was given immunity by federal prosecutors in New York as part of their criminal investigation into hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal during the 2016 presidential campaign. Allen Weisselberg, who is identified in court filings as “Executive-1,” helped authorize $420,000 in reimbursements to Michael Cohen and was granted immunity last month in exchange for his grand jury testimony about his role in the payments. According to prosecutors, Cohen – then Trump’s attorney – sent an invoice to Weisselberg in January 2017 for “Payment for services rendered for the month of January and February, 2017,” which reflected Cohen’s $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels in October 2016, as well as an additional $50,000 for “tech services.” Weisselberg directed another Trump Organization executive to “pay from the Trust” and to “post to legal expenses.” Executives at the Trump Organization “‘grossed up’ for tax purposes” the reimbursement, doubling the invoice to $360,000, adding a $60,000 bonus. After he was elected, Trump handed over control of his financial assets and business interests to Eric Trump, Trump Jr., and Weisselberg. (Wall Street Journal / NBC News / Washington Post)
2/ The Manhattan district attorney’s office is considering criminal charges against the Trump Organization and two senior company officials in connection with Cohen’s hush-money payment to Stormy Daniels. The state’s investigation would focus on whether the Trump Organization violated state tax law for listing Cohen’s reimbursement as a legal expense. Federal prosecutors have said the payments were based on “sham” legal invoices in connection with a nonexistent retainer agreement, and that Cohen did no legal work in connection with the matter. The New York State attorney general’s office is seeking a referral from the state Department of Taxation and Finance, which is needed to conduct the inquiry and to prosecute any violations of state tax law. Trump does not have the power to pardon people and corporate entities convicted of state crimes. (New York Times / Los Angeles Times / CNN)
Spiro Agnew’s lawyer: Trump should resign from office to keep federal prosecutors from prosecuting his family. “We already have everybody, you know,” Martin London said. “The rats are leaving the ship. He’s lost [Richard] Gates, [George] Papadopoulos, [Michael] Cohen, [Michael] Flynn, now [David] Pecker. He’ll probably lose others from the Trump Organization.” (The Hill)
New York prosecutors may now pose a more immediate threat to Trump than Robert Mueller does. The offer of immunity to the Trump Organization’s chief financial officer is reminiscent to process law enforcement used to take down organized-crime. (The Atlantic)
3/ After Jeff Sessions said he would not be influenced by politics, Trump tweeted that Sessions must “look into all of the corruption on the ‘other side,’” adding: “Come on Jeff, you can do it, the country is waiting!” On Thursday, Trump criticized Sessions in a Fox News interview for failing to control the Justice Department, after which Sessions said the Department of Justice “will not be improperly influenced by political considerations.” Trump mocked Sessions’ response, tweeting, “Jeff, this is GREAT, what everyone wants.” In particular, Trump wants Sessions to investigate “deleted Emails, Comey lies and leaks, Mueller conflicts, McCabe, Strzok, Page, Ohr, FISA abuse, Christopher Steele and his phony and corrupt Dossier, the Clinton Foundation, illegal surveillance of Trump Campaign, Russian collusion by Dems - and so much more.” Nearly all which Sessions has recused himself from. (Associated Press / New York Times)
“Department of Justice will not be improperly influenced by political considerations.” Jeff, this is GREAT, what everyone wants, so look into all of the corruption on the “other side” including deleted Emails, Comey lies & leaks, Mueller conflicts, McCabe, Strzok, Page, Ohr......
....FISA abuse, Christopher Steele & his phony and corrupt Dossier, the Clinton Foundation, illegal surveillance of Trump Campaign, Russian collusion by Dems - and so much more. Open up the papers & documents without redaction? Come on Jeff, you can do it, the country is waiting!
Ex-NSA contractor to spend 63 months in jail over “classified” information. Gee, this is “small potatoes” compared to what Hillary Clinton did! So unfair Jeff, Double Standard.
“Moves are being made” to remove Sessions after the midterm elections, according to Sen. Bob Corker. “It’s apparent that after the midterms, [Trump] will make a change and choose someone to do what he wants done.” (Politico)
4/ CIA informants close to the Kremlin have largely gone silent ahead of November’s midterms, leaving the spy agency in the dark about what Putin’s plans for the upcoming elections. Officials said the expulsion of American intelligence officers from Moscow and the outing of an FBI informant has had a chilling effect on intelligence collection. Putin has also said he is intent on killing spies, like the poisoning in March in Britain of a former Russian intelligence. Earlier this year, Devin Nunes, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, demanded that the full House and Senate Intelligence Committees be given access to documents about the FBI informant’s role in the Trump campaign. Trump and the White House encouraged the FBI to make the classified information available. (New York Times)
poll/ 35% of Americans think Trump’s tariffs will leave them worse off financially, while 19% expect improvement. 40% expect the tariffs to help the economy, while 44% expect them to hurt, and 16% expect them to make no difference. 38% of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of the presidency. (Associated Press)
Notables.
Trump canceled Mike Pompeo’s planned trip to North Korea citing a lack of “progress” on denuclearization. Trump blamed the canceled meeting to China, which he said was not “helping with the process of denuclearization as they once were.” (New York Times / CNBC / Washington Post)
Trump told the Italian prime minister that he is ready to help fund the country’s public debt next year by buying Italian government bonds. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte told officials about Trump’s offer after attending a meeting in Washington about three weeks ago. Conte didn’t give any additional details about the plan or say whether he believes it would work. (Il Corriere della Sera / Reuters / NBC News / Bloomberg)
Blackwater founder Erik Prince is still trying to convince Trump to let him privatize the war in Afghanistan. Prince hasn’t spoken with Trump recently, but he has been making the rounds in the media and talking up his plan to replace U.S. and coalition forces with private contractors. Very few defense officials think Prince’s plan will work, but some are concerned that Trump might entertain the idea. Prince is the brother of Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. (The Hill)
The former Air Force contractor who leaked a top-secret government report in 2017 on Russian hacking efforts was sentenced to five years and three months in federal prison. Reality Winner pleaded guilty in June, and is the first person to be sentenced under the Espionage Act since Trump became president. She received the longest sentence ever imposed by a federal court for the unauthorized released of classified information to the media. Trump tweeted about Winner’s sentence, comparing her actions to Hillary Clinton’s. (New York Times / Gizmodo / Time)
John McCain will end medical treatment for his brain cancer. McCain, 81, was first diagnosed with glioblastoma in the summer of 2017. (New York Times / Politico / CNBC)
1/ Trump “would consider” pardoning Paul Manafort, according to Fox News host Ainsley Earhardt, who interviewed Trump. “I think he feels bad for Manafort,” Earhardt said. “They were friends.” Manafort was convicted on eight counts bank and tax fraud. While the White House maintains that Trump is not currently looking to pardon Manafort, Rudy Giuliani said Trump asked his lawyers several weeks ago for their advice on the possibility of pardoning Manafort and former aides under investigation. Trump’s personal lawyers cautioned him against considering pardons until Robert Mueller’s probe concludes to see if the special counsel’s report accuses the president of trying to block the federal probe of his campaign’s contacts with Russians. Giuliani said Trump agreed with their advice. (Reuters / Washington Post / New York Times / Mediaite / Politico)
Top Republicans in the Senate are warning Trump that it would be a mistake to pardon Manafort. “It would be an enormous mistake and misuse of his power to pardon,” said Sen. Susan Collins. The second-ranking Republican senator, GOP Whip John Cornyn also said that a pardon “would be a mistake.” Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker said that a pardon “would be very damaging to the presidency and to his position as president.” (The Hill)
One holdout juror prevented Manafort from being convicted on all 18 counts, according to one of the jurors. Paula Duncan, who identifies as a Trump supporter, said the single holdout juror could not come to a guilty verdict on 10 of the charges, leading the judge to declare a mistrial on those 10 counts. (Fox News / The Hill / Newsweek)
👮 Everyone who’s been charged as a result of the Mueller investigation. Between the Trump campaign and Russian officials, Mueller has issued more than 100 criminal counts against 32 people and three companies. (New York Times)
2/ Trump complained that “flipping” and cooperating with prosecutors is “not fair” and should “almost be outlawed” during an interview with Fox News. “It’s called flipping and it almost ought to be illegal.” Trump continued: “It almost ought to be outlawed. It’s not fair.” Trump also attacked Jeff Sessions, questioning his character for recusing himself in the Russia investigation, and asking “What kind of man is this?” and that the “only reason I gave him the job” was because he felt “loyalty” to Sessions for signing on to the campaign. “I put in an attorney general who never took control of the Justice Department.” (CNN / Wall Street Journal)
Jeff Sessions pushed back against Trump’s latest criticism, saying the Department of Justice would not be “improperly influenced by political considerations.” Sessions said in his statement: “I took control of the Department of Justice the day I was sworn in, which is why we have had unprecedented success at effectuating the President’s agenda—one that protects the safety and security and rights of the American people, reduces violent crime, enforces our immigration laws, promotes economic growth, and advances religious liberty.” (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / CNBC / New York Times)
Chuck Grassley and Lindsey Graham signaled that Trump could fire Jeff Sessions and the Senate’s schedule might have an opening for confirming a new attorney general after the midterms, but possibly even earlier. Firing Sessions would open the way for firing Mueller or limiting his probe since a new attorney general would not be subject to Sessions’ recusal and would be able to control the investigation. (Bloomberg / Vox)
3/ David Pecker was granted immunity by federal prosecutors for providing information about Cohen and Trump in their criminal investigation into hush-money payments made to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal during the 2016 presidential campaign. In exchange for immunity, the CEO of American Media, Inc., which publishes the National Enquirer, met with prosecutors and shared details about payments Cohen arranged to Daniels and McDougal, including Trump’s knowledge of the deals. Dylan Howard, AMI’s chief content officer, is also cooperating with federal prosecutors. Together, Pecker and Howard corroborate Cohen’s account implicating Trump in a federal crime (campaign-finance violations). Cohen’s lawyer Lanny Davis says there are more revelations to come. And, one person close to Cohen claims Cohen wants to tell Mueller that Trump discussed the release of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta’s e-mails during the weekend when the Access Hollywood “grab ‘em by the pussy” tape dominated the news cycle. Late last night, Trump tweeted: “NO COLLUSION - RIGGED WITCH HUNT!” It’s unclear what prompted the tweet. (Wall Street Journal / Vanity Fair / NBC News / New York Times)
4/ The National Enquirer kept a safe with documents about hush money payments and damaging stories it killed as part of its relationship with Trump. Pecker and the company’s chief content officer, Dylan Howard, removed them from the safe in the weeks before Trump’s inauguration and it’s unclear if the documents were destroyed or simply were moved to a new location. (Associated Press)
5/ Trump warned the stock market would crash and that “everybody would be very poor” if he’s impeached. He added that “I don’t know how you can impeach somebody who has done a great job.” (CNN / Fox News / ABC News)
poll/ 59% of registered voters approve of Mueller’s investigation – an 11 percentage point jump since July. 37% disapprove of Muller’s investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, and possible obstruction of justice charges against Trump and members of his administration. (The Hill / Fox News)
poll/ Democrat Beto O’Rourke trails Republican Ted Cruz by 4 percentage points. 45% of registered voters support O’Rourke while 49% support Cruz. (NBC News)
Notables.
Betsy DeVos is considering a plan to allow school districts to use federal funding to buy guns for teachers. The plan, if enacted, would be unprecedented and would reverse a longstanding position that federal funding should not be used to outfit schools with weapons. Congress passed a $50 million-a-year school safety bill in March that specifically prohibited using the money to buy firearms, but DeVos is apparently looking to a program in federal education law that doesn’t mention a specific prohibition on purchasing weapons with federal education funding. (New York Times)
Trump’s latest round of tariffs kicked in today, which were followed immediately by retaliatory tariffs from China. The U.S. imposed 25% tariffs on another $16 billion in Chinese goods, affecting 279 Chinese products. China immediately responded with 25% tariffs of their own on an equal amount of American goods, such as chemical products and diesel fuel. Both countries have now imposed tariffs on $50 billion worth of each other’s goods — and more tariffs are reportedly on the way. (CNN)
The White House blocked a Senate Rules Committee vote on a bipartisan bill to protect elections from cyber threats. The Secure Elections Act would have changed how states protect their voting systems by giving state election officials security clearances, establishing a channel for sharing information about security with the Department of Homeland Security and other states, and ensuring audits are conducted after federal elections. The vote was unexpectedly canceled yesterday with the Trump administration saying it would not support legislation “that moves power or funding from the states to Washington for the planning and operation of elections.” (Yahoo News / Reuters / Vox / CNN)
After claiming that it experienced an attack on its voter database, the DNC now says the apparent phishing attempts were a “test.” In a statement, the DNC claimed that it believes the phishing attempt was part of an unauthorized test of its VoteBuilder system by a third party. “We, along with the partners who reported the site,” the DNC statement reads, “now believe it was built by a third party as part of a simulated phishing test on VoteBuilder.” The statement continues: “The test, which mimicked several attributes of actual attacks on the Democratic party’s voter file, was not authorized by the DNC, VoteBuilder nor any of our vendors.” (ABC News)
Trump asked Sec. of State Mike Pompeo to study the “seizing land from white farmers” and the “large scale killing of farmers” in South Africa. The BBC found in November that there was “no reliable data to suggest farmers were at greater risk of being murdered than the average South African.” South Africa responded and accused Trump of seeking to sow division in the country. The redistribution of land in South Africa was a fundamental principle of the African National Congress after the fall of apartheid. (BBC / Reuters)
1/ Michael Cohen has “knowledge” implicating Trump in a “criminal conspiracy” to hack the Democratic emails during the 2016 election, according to Cohen’s attorney. Lanny Davis also said Cohen’s knowledge reached beyond “the obvious possibility of a conspiracy to collude” and that Cohen is willing to share “all that he knows” with Robert Mueller’s team. (Washington Post / NBC News / Los Angeles Times / Politico)
Cohen’s lawyer said his client would never accept pardon from “corrupt” Trump because he “is not interested in being dirtied” or bailed out like Trump’s “political cronies.” (NPR / Politico / Washington Post)
Cohen’s attorney called for Congress to open an investigation into whether Trump directed Cohen to commit a crime. “There is most certainly enough evidence now” for Congress to open a probe, Lanny Davis said. (Bloomberg)
Democrats, meanwhile, have drafted contingency plans should Mueller be fired or Trump tries to end the Russia investigation by firing Rod Rosenstein or pardoning key witnesses. (NBC News)
2/ Trump’s real estate company approved $420,000 in “election-related” expenses to Michael Cohen for his effort to silence Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal during the presidential campaign. The documents show an unnamed Trump Organization executive instructing an employee to describe the payments to Cohen as legal expenses “for services rendered for the year 2017.” Prosecutors say “the invoices were a sham,” and Cohen’s own disclosures filed with the Office of Government Ethics report that he had incurred “election-related” expenses in 2016 just before the election, and that Trump fully reimbursed him in 2017. Cohen’s reimbursements included the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels, other fees and taxes, and a $60,000 bonus. (Washington Post)
What Michael Cohen’s plea and Paul Manafort’s conviction mean for Trump the Mueller investigation. (Lawfare)
Michael Cohen deleted a 2015 tweet mocking Hillary Clinton about going to prison. The now-deleted tweet read: “@HillaryClinton when you go to prison for defrauding America and perjury, your room and board will be free!” A cached version can still be found here. (The Hill / Washington Post)
3/ Cohen coordinated with the CEO of the National Enquirer’s publisher, American Media Inc., to pay off Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal. David Pecker, known as “Chairman-1” in Cohen’s court filings, “agreed to keep COHEN apprised of any such negative stories” that would have been harmful to “Individual-l” regarding “relationships with women.” The documents indicate that AMI and Cohen “worked together to keep an individual from publicly disclosing” negative information about “Individual-1.” AMI paid Karen McDougal $150,000 in 2016 for her rights to her story about an affair she had with Trump. They didn’t publish her story – the practice is known as “catch and kill.” The court filings also show that AMI tried to “catch and kill” Stormy Daniels’ story in October 2016 when her agent contacted the National Enquirer about going public with her allegations of an affair with Trump. Pecker contacted Cohen, and Cohen negotiated with Daniels’ attorney to “purchase [her] silence” for $130,000. Cohen failed to execute the agreement, prompting Pecker to contact Cohen 14 days before the election to tell him the deal needed to be completed “or it could look awfully bad for everyone,” according to court filings. The next day, Cohen used $131,000 from a “fraudulently obtained” home equity loan and deposited it in a bank account he had opened in the name of Essential Consultants LLC. While Pecker and AMI are not directly named in the court filings, they describe “Corporation-1” as “a media company that owns, among other things, a popular tabloid magazine.” (Daily Beast / CNN)
🔎 In Cohen’s plea agreement, Trump is not mentioned by name, but referred to as “Individual-1.” Cohen’s charging document identifies Cohen as the personal attorney “to Individual-1, who at that point had become the President of the United States.” (ABC News / CBS News / New York Times)
4/ Cohen paid an unnamed tech company $50,000 “in connection with” Trump’s campaign. Cohen reported the $50,000 expense to the Trump Organization in January 2017, but provided no paperwork. Instead, he provided a handwritten sum at the top of a bank document. Cohen did not have an official role with the Trump campaign’s digital operation, nor did he ever have a formal staff position on the campaign itself. The Trump Organization later characterized the $50,000 as a “payment for tech services.” (CNBC)
5/ Trump denied that he directed Cohen to buy the silence of Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal. Several weeks ago, Cohen released an audio tape of him discussing one of the hush payments with Trump, contradicting the president’s current version of events. On the tape, Trump suggests to “pay with cash,” as Cohen says, “No, no, no, no, no.” In an interview Wednesday on Fox News, Trump said he learned about the payments to the women “later on” and underscored that Cohen was reimbursed from his personal funds and not his 2016 campaign fund. (Wall Street Journal / Daily Beast)
Sarah Huckabee Sanders maintains that Trump “did nothing wrong” and called a question about whether Trump lied to the American people “a ridiculous accusation.” (CNN)
6/ In a pair of tweets, Trump attacked Michael Cohen and then praised Paul Manafort for refusing to “break” or “make up stories in order to get a ‘deal’.” Manafort was convicted of tax and financial fraud yesterday. Cohen, meanwhile, pleaded guilty yesterday to eight criminal charges of tax evasion, bank fraud, and campaign finance violations, and told prosecutors he acted at the direction of Trump. Without offering any evidence, Trump claimed that the campaign finance violations were “not a crime.” At the same time, Trump said he had “such respect” and feels “very badly” for Manafort, calling him a “brave man!” for not cooperating with federal authorities. Trump capped off his Twitter tirade by taking a shot at Cohen: “If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you don’t retain the services of Michael Cohen!” (New York Times / NBC News / Reuters / CNBC)
If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I would strongly suggest that you don’t retain the services of Michael Cohen!
I feel very badly for Paul Manafort and his wonderful family. “Justice” took a 12 year old tax case, among other things, applied tremendous pressure on him and, unlike Michael Cohen, he refused to “break” - make up stories in order to get a “deal.” Such respect for a brave man!
Trump didn’t mention Paul Manafort or Michael Cohen once during his rally in West Virginia last night. Instead, Trump egged on his supporters in the Charleston crowd as they chanted “drain the swamp” and “lock her up.” He also reminded the crowd how smart they are. “We’re the smart ones,” Trump said at the rally. “Remember, I say it all the time: you hear, ‘the elite,’ you’re smarter than they are, you have more money than they do…let them have the word elite. You’re the super-elite.” Trump also spent a few minutes going after Mueller and calling his investigation a witch hunt. (NY Daily News)
7/ New York state subpoenaed Michael Cohen for information about the Trump Foundation. The New York State Attorney General alleges that Trump illegally tapped his Trump Foundation to settle legal disputes, help his campaign for president, and pay for personal and business expenses, which included spending $10,000 on a 6-foot portrait of himself. (Associated Press)
8/ The Democratic National Committee contacted the FBI after detecting an unsuccessful attempt to hack into its voter database. A cloud service provider and a security research firm alerted the DNC to a fake login page that had been created to gather usernames and passwords that would allow access to the party’s database. The fraudulent page was designed to trick people into entering their login details for access to a service called Votebuilder, which hosts the database. (CNN / Wall Street Journal / New York Times)
Facebook says it has identified multiple new misinformation campaigns aimed at misleading people. The company removed 652 fake accounts, pages, and groups. Facebook says the campaigns originated in Iran and Russia and targeted people in Latin America, Britain, and the Middle East. (New York Times)
poll/ 61% of adults considered the record-breaking number of female candidates for Congress to be a good thing, with 5% of those surveyed calling it a bad thing. (Politico)
poll/ In a hypothetical 2020 match-up, Trump trails both Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders by 12 percentage points each. Trump also trails Elizabeth Warren by 4 percentage points. (Politico)
Notables.
Rep. Duncan Hunter and his wife were indicted for improperly using hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign funds to pay for personal expenses, like family vacations and dental work. The California GOP congressman is also accused of filing false campaign reports and wire fraud. Hunter was one of the first lawmakers to endorse Trump’s 2016 campaign. (Politico / CNN / New York Times)
The first two Congressmen to endorse Trump for president have been indicted, and the next three have also had significant issues of their own. (HuffPost)
Trump and his Trump Tower security force must face claims from a group of human rights activists who say they were attacked by Trump’s guards in 2015 while protesting Trump’s remarks about the Black Lives Matter movement and Mexican immigrants. A New York State judge denied Trump’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit. A jury will now be asked to determine the extent to which the guards were directly ordered to attack the protesters by Trump and whether he personally “authorized and condoned” the attack. (Bloomberg)
Steven Tyler sent Trump a cease-and-desist letter for playing Aerosmith without permission at his political rallies. Tyler’s attorney contends that playing an Aerosmith song in a public arena gives the false impression that Tyler is endorsing Trump’s presidency. (Variety / Rolling Stone)
1/ Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations for paying Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal to secure their silence “at the direction of the candidate” for the “purpose of influencing the election” for president in 2016. Cohen used a home-equity line of credit to finance the $130,000 payment to Daniels in October 2016 – one month before the 2016 election – and submitted invoices to Trump’s company in order to obtain reimbursement for the unlawful campaign contributions. Two months before the election, Cohen recorded a conversation with Trump in which they discussed a $150,000 payment to Karen McDougal. Rudy Giuliani later confirmed that Trump had discussed the payments with Cohen. While the plea agreement does not require Cohen to cooperate with federal prosecutors in Manhattan, it also doesn’t preclude him from cooperating in the future with Robert Mueller’s investigation. In total, Cohen pleaded guilty to eight violations: five counts of tax evasion, one count of making a false statement to a bank, and two campaign finance violations for making an unlawful corporate campaign contribution and for making an excessive campaign contribution. He faces between four and five years in jail. Cohen is the fifth Trump associate to have pleaded guilty or been charged since Trump took office. (Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Politico / Associated Press / Reuters)
~~Michael Cohen entered into a plea agreement with federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York in connection with the investigation into bank fraud, tax fraud and campaign finance violations. While Cohen is not expected to cooperate with the government, any cooperation agreement would likely extend to Robert Mueller’s investigation.~~ (NBC News / ABC News / CNN / CNBC / Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
2/ Paul Manafort was convicted on eight counts of tax and bank fraud, but the federal jury remained deadlocked on the 10 others charges. Manafort faces the possibility of spending his life in prison, unless Trump intervenes with a pardon. Five of the guilty verdicts were for filing false tax documents; the other three involved bank fraud and foreign bank account registration. The jury returned the decision after deliberating for four days. Manafort is also expected to stand trial next month on a separate set of federal charges in Washington. (New York Times / Associated Press / Politico / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / NBC News)
All the crimes Paul Manafort was convicted of. The first group of charges deals with money Manafort made lobbying for Ukrainian politicians. The second group of charges is about what Manafort allegedly did once he lost his Ukrainian income after the country’s president was deposed. (Vox)
~~The jury in Paul Manafort’s trial is having trouble reaching consensus on at least one count and asked the judge for instructions about how to proceed. Manafort faces 18 charges total, including five counts of filing false tax returns, four counts of failing to disclose his offshore bank accounts and nine counts of bank fraud. If convicted on all counts, he could spend the rest of his life in prison.~~ (Reuters / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times)
3/ The Trump administration revealed the details of its new pollution rules for coal-burning power plants, which would replace the Obama-era Clean Power Plan with the Affordable Clean Energy rule. The plan would give states authority to determine how to restrict carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming, as well as relaxing pollution rules for power plants that need upgrades. The technical analysis that accompanies the proposal says that “implementing the proposed rule is expected to increase emissions of carbon dioxide and the level of emissions of certain pollutants in the atmosphere that adversely affect human health,” leading to between 470 and 1,400 premature deaths annually by 2030. (New York Times / NBC News / NPR / Politico)
4/ Russian hackers have been targeting conservative American think tanks critical of Trump’s interactions with Putin. Microsoft also identified attempts by the Kremlin-linked hacking group Fancy Bear to infiltrate U.S. candidates, campaigns, and political groups by using malicious websites that mimicked the login pages of the United States Senate to try to trick people into handing over their passwords. Microsoft says it has no evidence that the group was successful, but it remains “concerned that these latest attempts pose security threats to a broadening array of groups connected with both American political parties in the run-up to the 2018 elections.” (New York Times / Politico)
Notables.
Mick Mulvaney is trying to use his influence to protect a South Carolina company from the negative effects of Trump’s trade policies. Mulvaney is a former South Carolina congressman and has been making personal pleas to administration officials to protect Element Electronics, a TV assembly plant in his old district. The company has said that it will have to cease operations because of Trump’s tariffs on Chinese goods. (McClatchy DC)
Christopher Steel won his libel case in the U.S. against three Russian oligarchs who sued him over allegations made in his dossier about the Trump campaign and its links with Moscow. The judge concluded that the dossier was covered by the first amendment, ruling that the oligarchs had failed to prove that Steele knew that some information in the dossier was inaccurate and acted “with reckless disregard as to its falsity.” (The Guardian)
Trump denied reports that he is considering restricting President Obama’s access to intelligence briefings, saying the move is something he “never discussed or thought of.” Reports claimed that then-national security adviser H.R. McMaster had previously talked Trump out of the idea, which some in the White House were pushing last year following Trump’s false claim that Obama wiretapped Trump Tower during the 2016 campaign. (Washington Post)
Trump threatened to revoke the security clearance of another former U.S. intelligence official. Trump accused former CIA and FBI official Philip Mudd of becoming “totally unglued and weird” during a recent CNN appearance, asserting that “Mudd is in no mental condition to have such a Clearance. Should be REVOKED?” (Washington Post)
Trump’s top economic adviser invited a white nationalist to his birthday party a day after a White House speechwriter was fired for speaking at a conference alongside Peter Brimelow in 2016. Larry Kudlow claimed that Brimelow’s views on immigration and race are “a side of Peter that I don’t know, and I totally, utterly disagree with that point of view and have my whole life. I’m a civil rights Republican.” (Washington Post)
1/ White House counsel Don McGahn has cooperated extensively with Robert Mueller’s obstruction of justice investigation and Trump’s lawyers don’t know what he’s told the special counsel. McGahn has given investigators at least three voluntary interviews lasting a total of 30 hours over the last nine months. McGahn was present for Trump’s comments and actions during the firing of James Comey and attempts to fire Mueller, and has provided Trump’s lawyers with a limited accounting of what he told investigators. Trump tweeted that he “allowed” McGahn to “fully cooperate” with Mueller’s investigation into obstruction of justice. Last fall, Mueller’s office asked to interview McGahn, which Trump and his lawyers encouraged. McGahn decided to fully cooperate with Mueller on suspicion that Trump was intent on letting him take the fall for any obstruction of justice-related decisions by claiming that he was only following legal advice from counsel. McGahn’s cooperation is also meant to protect himself from becoming the next John Dean, the White House counsel for Nixon, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obstruct justice. Trump and McGahn have a strained relationship and rarely speak one on one. Trump questions McGahn’s loyalty while McGahn calls Trump “King Kong.” In response to the report, Trump tweeted that McGahn “must be a John Dean type ‘RAT’ […] I have nothing to hide……” (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Politico)
I allowed White House Counsel Don McGahn, and all other requested members of the White House Staff, to fully cooperate with the Special Counsel. In addition we readily gave over one million pages of documents. Most transparent in history. No Collusion, No Obstruction. Witch Hunt!
The failing @nytimes wrote a Fake piece today implying that because White House Councel Don McGahn was giving hours of testimony to the Special Councel, he must be a John Dean type “RAT.” But I allowed him and all others to testify - I didn’t have to. I have nothing to hide......
Trump’s lawyers don’t know just how much Don McGahn has told Mueller’s investigators, reigniting a debate about whether Trump was given bad advice by his former lawyers John Dowd and Ty Cobb to allow full cooperation with Mueller’s team, including by waiving attorney-client privilege. Dowd and Cobb believed that cooperation would help prove that Trump had done nothing wrong and would quickly end to the investigation. While Trump had approved the cooperation, he didn’t know the conversations stretched for 30 hours or that his legal team didn’t conduct a full debriefing with McGahn after the fact. (New York Times / CNN)
John Dean: “I think Trump has got a real problem here. And I’m not sure how he’s going to handle it.” Dean cooperated with prosecutors during the Watergate investigation after serving as White House counsel for Nixon. (CNN)
2/ Trump attacked Mueller’s probe, calling the special counsel “disgraced and discredited,” and his investigators “thugs.” Trump, in a series of tweets, accused the special counsel of “looking to impact” the midterm elections, referring to the investigation as a “witch hunt” and called Mueller’s team of prosecutors “a National Disgrace!” (Washington Post / ABC News / Politico)
Disgraced and discredited Bob Mueller and his whole group of Angry Democrat Thugs spent over 30 hours with the White House Councel, only with my approval, for purposes of transparency. Anybody needing that much time when they know there is no Russian Collusion is just someone....
....looking for trouble. They are enjoying ruining people’s lives and REFUSE to look at the real corruption on the Democrat side - the lies, the firings, the deleted Emails and soooo much more! Mueller’s Angry Dems are looking to impact the election. They are a National Disgrace!
Where’s the Collusion? They made up a phony crime called Collusion, and when there was no Collusion they say there was Obstruction (of a phony crime that never existed). If you FIGHT BACK or say anything bad about the Rigged Witch Hunt, they scream Obstruction!
3/ Giuliani claimed that “truth isn’t truth” while explaining why Trump shouldn’t testify in Mueller’s investigation. Giuliani argued that Mueller could be trying to trap Trump into telling a lie in order to indict him for perjury. “When you tell me that, you know, he should testify because he’s going to tell the truth and he shouldn’t worry,” Giuliani told Chuck Todd, “well that’s so silly because it’s somebody’s version of the truth. Not the truth.” When Todd pushed back and said “Truth is truth,” Giuliani responded by declaring, “No, no, it isn’t truth. Truth isn’t truth.” Giuliani has previously said Mueller’s investigation “may have a different version of the truth than we do.” (Politico / NBC News)
4/ Trump said he’s concerned about potential perjury charges that could be brought against him if he were to sit down with Mueller. “Even if I am telling the truth, that makes me a liar,” Trump said. Trump did not comment on whether he would agree to an interview with Mueller. (Reuters)
5/ Michael Cohen is under investigation for more than $20 million in bank and tax fraud related to loans obtained by taxi businesses that Cohen and his family own. Investigators are also looking into whether Cohen violated campaign finance by paying Karen McDougal $150,000 and Stormy Daniels $130,000 in exchange for their silence about their affairs with Trump. Prosecutors are considering filing charges by the end of this month. (New York Times / Associated Press / CNN)
6/ Cohen’s attorney has been talking to John Dean, the former White House counsel who was a witness to Nixon’s crimes. Cohen has signaled that he might cooperate with Mueller’s investigation. “I certainly don’t want to raise expectations that Mr. Cohen has anything like the level of deep involvement and detailed knowledge that John Dean had in the Nixon White House as a witness to Nixon’s crimes,” Cohen’s attorney said, “but I did see some similarities and wanted to learn from what John went through.” (Politico)
7/ In a 1998 memo, Brett Kavanaugh outlined 10 explicit questions that he wanted Ken Starr to asked Bill Clinton about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky. Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court said at the time that he was “strongly opposed” to giving Clinton a “break.” Among the questions Kavanaugh wanted Starr to ask were “If Monica Lewinsky says that you inserted a cigar into her vagina while you were in the Oval Office area, would she be lying?” and “If Monica Lewinsky says that on several occasions you had her give her [sic] oral sex, made her stop, and then ejaculated into the sink in the bathroom off [sic] the Oval Office, would she be lying?” (Washington Post)
poll/ 58% of Americans don’t believe that Trump has hired “the best people.” 67% of Republicans say that Trump has hired the best people compared with 93% of Democrats who say that Trump has not hire the best people. (Monmouth University Polling Institute)
Notables.
One of Trump’s speechwriters was fired for speaking at a conference attended by white nationalists. Darren Beattie was fired after a media inquiry about his speech at the 2016 H.L. Mencken Club conference, where he spoke on a panel alongside white nationalist Peter Brimelow. (Washington Post)
The Justice Department is investigating whether Elliott Broidy tried to sell his influence with the Trump administration. The longtime Republican fundraiser resigned from his RNC position in April after it was reported that he paid a former Playboy model $1.6 million in exchange for her silence about a sexual affair. Michael Cohen arranged the settlement. (Washington Post)
Former CIA Director John Brennan said he is considering legal action against Trump after his security clearance was revoked. Trump tweeted that he’d welcome a lawsuit from Brennan (Politico / Washington Post)
More than 175 former State Department and Pentagon officials signed a statement of opposition to Trump’s decision to revoke Brennan’s security clearance. The statement reads that they believe that “the country will be weakened if there is a political litmus test applied” before expert former officials are allowed to voice their views. (Reuters)
Mueller recommended that George Papadopoulos be sentenced up to six months in prison for lying to federal agents. Papadopoulos pleaded guilty in October and is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 7. (Reuters)
Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee are questioning whether John Bolton’s ties to Russia were properly vetted before he joined the White House this year. The national security adviser worked with a Russian woman who was charged last month for failing to register as an agent of a foreign power in the U.S. (Politico)
Mick Mulvaney suggested that Trump’s military parade was canceled for reasons other than the $92 million cost of the event, but would not specify other “contributing factors.” (Politico)
The Trump administration plans to propose an overhaul of climate change regulations next week that would allow individual states to decide how – or whether – to curb carbon dioxide emissions from coal plants. (New York Times)
Scott Pruitt called the White House once from his $43,000 soundproof phone booth. The phone call lasted five minutes. (Washington Post)
A Georgia state lawmaker said he doesn’t have an issue with Trump using the n-word in the past, arguing that holding a president accountable for mistakes made before entering office would “set a bad precedent.” (CNN)
1/ Advisers are worried that Trump will back Erik Prince’s plan to privatize the war in Afghanistan with Blackwater security contractors. Trump’s national security team are concerned that his impatience will cause him to seriously consider proposals like Prince’s or abruptly order a complete U.S. withdrawal. Prince hasn’t spoken directly to Trump about the plan, but plans to launch an aggressive media “air campaign” in coming days. Prince’s sister is Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. (NBC News)
2/ Trump canceled his military parade and blamed “the local politicians who run Washington, D.C. (poorly)” for inflating the cost. “When asked to give us a price for holding a great celebratory military parade,” Trump tweeted, “they wanted a number so ridiculously high that I cancelled it. Never let someone hold you up!” The Pentagon postponed Trump’s parade to 2019 yesterday – before Trump “decided” to cancel it via tweet this morning – as the costs ballooned from an estimated $12 million to $92 million. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser called Trump’s parade a “sad” plan. (New York Times / Politico / Washington Post)
The local politicians who run Washington, D.C. (poorly) know a windfall when they see it. When asked to give us a price for holding a great celebratory military parade, they wanted a number so ridiculously high that I cancelled it. Never let someone hold you up! I will instead...
....attend the big parade already scheduled at Andrews Air Force Base on a different date, & go to the Paris parade, celebrating the end of the War, on November 11th. Maybe we will do something next year in D.C. when the cost comes WAY DOWN. Now we can buy some more jet fighters!
3/ Trump plans to revoke more security clearances from officials who have been critical of him or played a role in Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. Over the past 19 months, Trump has fired or threatened nearly a dozen current and former officials associated with the probe, which he calls a “rigged witch hunt.” According to his aides, Trump believes he came out looking strong after he revoked former CIA Director John Brennan’s security clearance, adding that Trump shows visible disdain for Brennan when he sees him on TV. (Washington Post)
4/ Trump called a career Justice Department official “a disgrace” and threatened to revoke his security clearance “very soon.” Bruce Ohr has no involvement in Mueller’s investigation, but conspiracy theorists claim he helped start the investigation into Russian election interference. (New York Times / Washington Post)
A dozen former top intelligence officials accused Trump of “attempt[ing] to stifle free speech” and criticized him for revoking John Brennan’s security clearance. “We feel compelled to respond in the wake of the ill-considered and unprecedented remarks and actions by the White House,” reads the letter from the officials, who served both Democratic and Republican presidents. Trump told reporters he’s gotten a “tremendous response” since revoking Brennan’s clearance. (Politico / Los Angeles Times)
5/ Trump called Paul Manafort a “very good person” as jurors deliberate charges of tax and bank fraud against his former campaign chairman. Trump criticized the trial as “a very sad day for our country,” but declined to say whether he would pardon Manafort if convicted. (Bloomberg / Politico / Washington Post)
The judge presiding over Paul Manafort’s criminal trial has received threats about the case is now under U.S. Marshal protection. Judge T.S. Ellis said he won’t release the names and addresses of the 12 jurors deliberating Manafort’s fate because he is worried about their “peace and safety.” (CNBC)
6/ A judge in New York ruled that a confidentiality agreement between the Trump campaign and a former staffer is limited in scope, which could impact other non-disclosure agreements signed by former Trump staffers. Due to the wording of the agreement, only disputes over the agreement itself and some other prohibited behaviors were subject to arbitration. A former campaign staffer filed a complaint last November alleging that she was subjected to “harassment and sexual discrimination” while working on Trump’s 2016 campaign. Lawyers for the Trump campaign tried to force the case into private arbitration based on the agreement. (Yahoo News / The Hill)
poll/ 57% of Americans think Trump is too friendly with Russia. Overall, 41% consider Russia an enemy of the U.S. (CNN)
Notables.
The State Department will not spend some $230 million that had been planned for Syria stabilization projects and instead shift that money to other areas. (Associated Press)
The White House budget office is attempting to cancel about $3 billion in foreign aid using an obscure budget rule to freeze the State Department’s international assistance budget. (Politico)
A federal judge ruled that a Trump official must sit for a deposition in a lawsuit challenging the administration’s decision to add a question about citizenship to the 2020 census. New York and 16 other states filed a lawsuit in April challenging the constitutionality of the question, arguing it will lead to skewed numbers. (The Hill)
A federal appeals court ordered the Trump administration to immediately implement the Chemical Disaster Rule, saying the EPA did not have the authority to delay the Obama-era chemical safety rule for 20 months. (Reuters)
Trump asked the SEC to consider scaling back how often public companies must report earnings to investors from a quarterly basis to twice a year. Trump tweeted that he consulted “some of the world’s top business leaders” on steps to create jobs and make business “even better.” He said one told him to “stop quarterly reporting and go to a six month system.” (Wall Street Journal / Reuters / New York Times / Washington Post)
1/ Rudy Giuliani said Trump’s legal team is prepared to fight a subpoena all the way to the Supreme Court. “We would move to quash the subpoena,” Giuliani said, “and we’re pretty much finished with our memorandum opposing a subpoena.” Giuliani added that Trump’s legal team is ready to “argue it before the Supreme Court, if it ever got there.” Trump’s lawyers plan to argue that a sitting president cannot be indicted by citing Article II of the Constitution and a 2000 memo from the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel following Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky. (Washington Post / Business Insider)
2/ Robert Mueller doesn’t have to shut down his investigation before the midterms despite claims by Trump’s lawyers that he faces a September 1st deadline, according to current and former U.S. officials. Giuliani, meanwhile, said that if Mueller “doesn’t get it done in the next two or three weeks we will just unload on him like a ton of bricks.” (Bloomberg)
Jurors began deliberations in Paul Manafort’s trial, who is charged with 18 counts of bank and tax fraud. The prosecution called 27 witnesses and presented 388 documents. The defense rested without calling any witnesses. (New York Times / Politico / CNN)
3/ Trump admitted that he revoked John Brennan’s security clearance because of his role in the Russia investigation. “I call it the rigged witch hunt, [it] is a sham,” Trump said. “And these people led it. So I think it’s something that had to be done.” Brennan called Trump’s claims of “no collusion” with Russia to influence the 2016 election “hogwash” and that Trump “clearly has become more desperate to protect himself and those close to him, which is why he made the politically motivated decision to revoke my security clearance in an attempt to scare into silence others who might dare to challenge him.” (ABC News / New York Times)
The retired commander of the U.S. Joint Special Operations Command who oversaw the 2011 Navy SEAL raid in Pakistan that killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden: “I would consider it an honor if you would revoke my security clearance as well, so I can add my name to the list of men and women who have spoken up against your presidency.” (Washington Post)
Trump has fired or threatened most senior officials related to the Russia investigation. Sally Yates was fired for refusing to defend Trump’s travel ban and her security clearance threatened. Trump has repeatedly threatened to fire Jeff Sessions and Rod Rosenstein. James Comey, Andrew McCabe, and Peter Strzok were fired and their security clearances threatened. Trump has twice threatened to fire Robert Mueller. James Clapper and Susan Rice’s security clearances were threatened and John Brennan’s security clearance was revoked. (Washington Post)
4/ Trump defended his trade policies and claimed that his steel tariffs will save the U.S. steel industry because the United States was “built on Tariffs, and Tariffs are now leading us to great new Trade Deals.” He said steel prices in the short term will be “a little more expensive,” but claimed they will eventually drop. He also said competition will be “internal, like it used to be in the old days when we actually had steel, and U.S. Steel was our greatest company.” (Wall Street Journal / Yahoo News / New York Times)
Our Country was built on Tariffs, and Tariffs are now leading us to great new Trade Deals - as opposed to the horrible and unfair Trade Deals that I inherited as your President. Other Countries should not be allowed to come in and steal the wealth of our great U.S.A. No longer!
poll/ 37% of Americans say they’d like to see the Senate confirm Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination. The public’s support is lower than nearly every nominee from the last four administrations. 40% say the Senate should not vote to confirm Kavanaugh, while 22% have no opinion. (CNN)
Forecast/ Democrats have a 75.4% of winning the House in the midterms while Republicans have a 24.6% chances of retaining control. (FiveThirtyEight)
Notables.
Trump’s military parade is now estimated to cost $92 million – $80 million more than original $12 million estimate. (CNBC)
China and the U.S. will restart trade talks later this month, but expectations are low as Trump’s economic adviser Larry Kudlow dismissed the talks as “second-level.” (Politico)
The Senate confirmed the 25th and 26th appellate court judges during Trump’s tenure – setting a record for the most confirmed during a president’s first two years in office. (Washington Post)
Omarosa Manigault Newman released a tape of campaign official Lara Trump offering her a $15,000-a-month job after she was fired from the administration. The job offer required her to sign a nondisclosure agreement, which she said she did not accept. (NBC News / Washington Post)
More than 300 newspapers nationwide published editorials pushing back against Trump’s attacks on the news media, saying “this dirty war on the free press must end.” Predictably, Trump tweeted that the newspapers were “in collusion” to publish “FAKE NEWS, pushing a political agenda or just plain trying to hurt people.” (ABC News / Washington Post / New York Times)
The Senate unanimously passed a resolution affirming that “the press is not the enemy of the people.” Trump tweeted that “THE FAKE NEWS MEDIA IS THE OPPOSITION PARTY.” (CBS News)
1/ Trump revoked former CIA director John Brennan’s security clearance, citing what he called Brennan’s “erratic conduct and behavior.” Brennan has been one of Trump’s most prominent critics. Last month, the White House threatened to revoke the clearances for Brennan, Susan Rice, and James Clapper. Trump is also reviewing James Comey’s security clearance. Revoking their access to classified information could impact their ability to work as consultants, lobbyists and advisers in Washington. (Washington Post / New York Times / CNBC)
John Brennan: Trump is “trying to get back at me” for criticism of his conduct and actions. (CNBC)
2/ The FBI has investigated several cyberattacks over the past year targeted at the Democratic opponent of Rep. Dana Rohrabacher. The 15-term incumbent is widely seen as the most pro-Russia and pro-Putin member of Congress, who has voted against Russian sanctions and was warned by the FBI that Moscow was trying to recruit him as an asset. Last month, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats said the warning lights for future cyberattacks aimed at the U.S. were “blinking red” and last week Sen. Bill Nelson said that Russian hackers had “penetrated” county voting systems in Florida. (Rolling Stone)
3/ The Treasury Department has delayed turning over financial records related to the Russia probe and has refused to provide an expert to make sense of the money trail. Some of the department’s personnel have questioned whether the Treasury is intentionally impeding the investigation. At one point, the Treasury went at least four months before responding to a Senate Intelligence Committee request for sensitive financial documents. (BuzzFeed News)
4/ The Treasury Department retweeted-and-then-deleted a Trump tweet celebrating Republican midterm chances this fall, which experts say was a potential violation of federal campaign law. The department’s official Twitter account shared a tweet from Trump touting an upcoming “Red Wave.” The Hatch Act bans federal employees from engaging in political activity while on duty or serving in an official capacity. (The Hill / CNBC)
5/ Sarah Huckabee Sanders apologized for claiming that Trump has created three times as many jobs for black people as Obama did during his tenure. Sanders claimed that Obama created 195,000 jobs for black people during his eight years in office, while “Trump in his first year and a half has already tripled what President Obama did in eight years.” The statement was false, as black employment between January 2009 and January 2017 increased by 3 million jobs. Since then, black employment has increased by about 700,000 jobs. (Washington Post / NBC News / CNBC)
poll/ 51% of Republicans say the news media is the enemy of the people and not an important part of democracy. Overall, 65% of Americans say the news media is an important part of democracy and not the enemy of the people. (Quinnipiac)
poll/ In nationwide generic Congressional ballot, Democrats lead Republicans 52% to 41% – up three percentage points since June. (CNN)
poll/ 75% of Republicans and 72% of Democrats said they are “very motivated” to vote in the midterms. The difference between the two is within the poll’s margin of error. 41.9% of eligible voters turned out in the 2014 midterms. (Politico)
Notables.
Omarosa claimed Betsy DeVos said black students who booed her 2017 commencement speech lack the “capacity to understand” what she’s trying to accomplish, “meaning, all those black students were too stupid to understand her agenda.” She also goes after DeVos for being “woefully inadequate and not equipped for her job” in her book, “Unhinged.” (Politico)
Roger Stone posted a Nazi Space Force meme on his Instagram before deleting it after public outcry. “I love this,” Stone wrote in his original post. “Proud to be in this crew — but the only lies being told are by liberal scumbags.” The caption in the photo read: “In space no one can hear you lie.” Stone said he didn’t notice the swastikas in the photo. (Washington Post)
One of James Mattis’ most senior civilian advisers is under investigation for allegedly retaliating against staff members after she used some of them to run personal errands and conduct personal business. Dana White, the Pentagon’s chief spokeswoman, has been under investigation for several weeks and is alleged to have misused support staff by asking them to, among other things, fetch her laundry, go to the pharmacy for her, and take care of her mortgage paperwork. She is also alleged to have inappropriately transferred and reassigned personnel after they filed complaints about her. (CNN)
1/ Omarosa released audio of Trump campaign aides discussing how to handle the potential release of a tape where Trump used the “n-word.” Trump claims he never said the word, tweeting that “I don’t have that word in my vocabulary and never have” and that Omarosa “made it up.” The audio appears to corroborate Omarosa’s claims that Trump aides were aware of the recording and talked about how to handle it. Trump tweeted that, according to “The Apprentice” producer Mark Burnett, the long-rumored tape of him using a racial slur doesn’t exist. (CBS News)
.@MarkBurnettTV called to say that there are NO TAPES of the Apprentice where I used such a terrible and disgusting word as attributed by Wacky and Deranged Omarosa. I don’t have that word in my vocabulary, and never have. She made it up. Look at her MANY recent quotes saying....
2/ Trump called Omarosa “that dog” and a “crazed, crying lowlife” after she released a recording of his campaign aides in October 2016 discussing how to handle a tape on which Trump is said to have used the n-word. In recent weeks, Trump has attacked several African-Americans, calling Don Lemon “the dumbest man on television,” questioning the intelligence of LeBron James, repeated said Maxine Waters has a “low I.Q.,” among others. (New York Times / Washington Post)
When you give a crazed, crying lowlife a break, and give her a job at the White House, I guess it just didn’t work out. Good work by General Kelly for quickly firing that dog!
3/ Sarah Huckabee Sanders can’t “guarantee” that Trump hasn’t been recorded using the n-word. Sanders also insisted Trump was not using racially coded language when he disparaged Omarosa, who is African-American, as a “dog.” (ABC News / CNN / Washington Post)
4/ Trump called Trump Jr. “a fuckup” after he released his emails about the 2016 Trump Tower meeting with a Russian lawyer, according to Omarosa’s forthcoming book. The book says Trump erupted in anger after Omarosa mentioned that Trump Jr. had released screenshots of his email exchanges with Rob Goldstone on Twitter. “He is such a fuckup,” Omarosa claims Trump said. “He screwed up again, but this time, he’s screwing us all, big-time!” (New York Daily News)
5/ The Trump campaign filed an arbitration action against Omarosa, alleging that her tell-all book broke a 2016 confidentiality agreement. Manigault Newman’s book, “Unhinged,” portrays Trump as bigoted and racist and questions his mental capacity. Hours after the campaign filed the arbitration action, Manigault Newman declared: “I will not be silenced,” “[I] will not be intimidated,” and “I’m not going to be bullied by Donald Trump.” The Trump campaign hired attorney Charles Harder in its arbitration fight. Harder is best known for representing wrestler Hulk Hogan in his sex tape lawsuit against now-defunct gossip site Gawker. (Politico / Associated Press / Washington Post / CNBC)
White House officials were asked to sign non-disclosure agreements that prevents them from writing tell-all books once they leave the Trump administration. The clause was embedded in the White House’s two-page non-disclosure agreement that prohibits top aides from disclosing confidential information in the form of books without Trump’s permission. If aides violate those terms, the non-disclosure agreement stipulates that they would be required to forfeit any royalties or earnings to the U.S. government. (Politico)
6/ Paul Manfort sent recommendations for senior White House positions to Jared Kushner in late 2016. Manafort sent Kushner a recommendation to appoint the chair of the Federal Savings Bank, Stephen Calk, as Secretary of the Army around the same time that Manafort received the first part of what would be $16 million in loans from Calk’s bank. He also suggests two other appointees: Pat Sink and Vernon Parker. “The 3 indivituals (sic) are people who I believe advance DT agenda,” Manfort wrote in an email to Kushner. “They will be totally reliable and responsive to the Trump White House.” That same day, Kushner responded: “On it!” (Politico / Bloomberg)
7/ Manafort’s lawyers declined to call any witnesses to defend him against charges of bank and tax fraud, resting their defense without presenting their own evidence. Manafort is letting the case go to the jury because he and his lawyers “do not believe that the government has met its burden of proof.” (New York Times / ABC News)
poll/ 66% of Americans think Robert Mueller should try to complete his investigation before the midterm elections. 70% believe Trump should testify under oath in Mueller’s investigation and 34% approve of Trump’s handling of the Russia investigation, compared to 55% who disapprove. 56% say Trump has interfered with the investigation. (CNN)
poll/ 31% of Americans like Trump as a person; 51% dislike him. (Quinnipiac)
1/ The FBI fired Peter Strzok for violating bureau policies. Strzok is the FBI senior counterintelligence agent who sent text messages critical of Trump to a former FBI lawyer, Lisa Page. Strzok helped lead the bureau’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election until officials discovered his text messages. FBI Deputy Director David Bowdich ordered Strzok fired even though the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility concluded he should be suspended for 60 days and demoted. (New York Times / Washington Post)
Agent Peter Strzok was just fired from the FBI - finally. The list of bad players in the FBI & DOJ gets longer & longer. Based on the fact that Strzok was in charge of the Witch Hunt, will it be dropped? It is a total Hoax. No Collusion, No Obstruction - I just fight back!
Just fired Agent Strzok, formerly of the FBI, was in charge of the Crooked Hillary Clinton sham investigation. It was a total fraud on the American public and should be properly redone!
2/ A federal judge appointed by Trump ruled that Robert Mueller’s investigation is constitutional and legitimate, rejecting an effort by a Russian company to invalidate the ongoing investigation. Concord Management is accused of financing a massive political influence operation in the U.S. The ruling marks the fourth time a federal judge has ruled that the Mueller investigation is constitutional. (Politico / Axios)
Rudy Giuliani: “I think he will give us a decision this week on our counterproposal.” Trump’s legal team sent Mueller a counteroffer last week, proposing terms for a possible presidential interview. (Politico)
3/ Omarosa Manigault Newman secretly taped John Kelly firing her in December in the Situation Room, as well as a phone call she had with Trump after she was fired. On the recording, Kelly suggests that she could be facing “pretty significant legal issues” and that he wants to “see this be a friendly departure” so it doesn’t “develop into something that, that’ll make it ugly for you.” On the second recording, Trump asks: “Omarosa what’s going on? I just saw on the news that you’re thinking about leaving?” He added: “Nobody even told me about it… I didn’t know that. Goddamn it. I don’t love you leaving at all.” Trump called Omarosa “wacky” and “vicious,” and claimed that Kelly called her a “loser” and “nothing but problems” in a series of tweets following the release of the tapes. (NBC News / New York Times / ABC News / Washington Post)
Wacky Omarosa, who got fired 3 times on the Apprentice, now got fired for the last time. She never made it, never will. She begged me for a job, tears in her eyes, I said Ok. People in the White House hated her. She was vicious, but not smart. I would rarely see her but heard....
...really bad things. Nasty to people & would constantly miss meetings & work. When Gen. Kelly came on board he told me she was a loser & nothing but problems. I told him to try working it out, if possible, because she only said GREAT things about me - until she got fired!
While I know it’s “not presidential” to take on a lowlife like Omarosa, and while I would rather not be doing so, this is a modern day form of communication and I know the Fake News Media will be working overtime to make even Wacky Omarosa look legitimate as possible. Sorry!
Omarosa claimed she has tapes of private phone calls with Ivanka and Jared Kushner, too. The former White House aide says the two offered emotional support after she was fired. (Politico)
4/ The White House is looking into legal options to stop Omarosa from releasing more tapes and to punish her for recording her conversation with John Kelly. The Situation Room is supposed to be free of personal electronic devices and former national security officials said it was not clear is she had broken any laws. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that, if true, it “shows a blatant disregard for our national security.” (ABC News / New York Times)
A few months into his presidency, Trump required his senior staff to sign nondisclosure agreements. Donald McGahn, the White House counsel, drew up the document barring White House officials from publicly disclosing what they heard and saw at work. He privately told staff that the agreement could not ultimately be enforced. Trump tweeted that “Wacky Omarosa already has a fully signed Non-Disclosure Agreement!” (New York Times)
Wacky Omarosa already has a fully signed Non-Disclosure Agreement!
5/ The government rested its case in the tax and bank fraud trial of Paul Manafort. Robert Mueller’s prosecutors called 27 witnesses over 10 days. Manafort’s defense will now have the opportunity, if it chooses, to present witnesses. (USA Today)
Stephen Miller’s uncle wrote an op-ed calling his nephew an “immigration hypocrite.” David Glosser wrote: “If my nephew’s ideas on immigration had been in force a century ago, our family would have been wiped out.” (Politico)
Kellyanne Conway said “none of us would be” at the White House if Trump was a racist. When asked to name an African-American in a prominent White House role, Conway couldn’t. (ABC News / CNN)
Trump signed defense legislation named after John McCain but didn’t mention the Senator’s name during the ceremony. Trump praised the U.S. military and took credit for the $716 billion defense bill, which represents a $16 billion increase in authorized funding for the Pentagon over the current year. The bill is formally named the “John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act For Fiscal Year 2019.” (Bloomberg / Washington Post)
The White House is proposing to rollback a law designed to protect military personnel from getting cheated by shady lending and financial practices. The administration is also wants to curtail enforcement of the Military Loan Act, which protects service members from predatory loans. Critics say the changes would leave service members vulnerable to getting ripped off by car dealers, among others. (NPR)
White House staffers receive discounts on Trump-branded merchandise sold at his Bedminster golf club. The discounts range from 15% off of any merchandise sold in the store, to 70% off of clearance items. One ethics expert called the discounts “absolutely wrong.” (Politico)
White House counsel Don McGahn exempted its new communications director from ethics rules, saying it was in the “public interest” for Bill Shine to have meetings with their former colleagues at Fox News. (Daily Beast)
The interior secretary blamed environmentalists for California’s wildfires and claimed – contrary to scientific research – that climate change had “nothing to do” with the fires. Instead, Ryan Zinke said the fires were exacerbated by limits on logging. (The Guardian)
1/ Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing is set to begin September 4th and should last three to four days, according Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley. The Supreme Court nominee’s hearing aligns with Mitch McConnell’s plan to get Kavanaugh on the bench before the midterm elections. (Axios / Politico)
Brett Kavanaugh urged Ken Starr not to pursue a criminal indictment of Bill Clinton until after he left office. Judge Kavanaugh delivered a private memorandum on Christmas Eve in 1998 which correctly predicted that the Senate would fail to convict the president for the “high crimes and misdemeanors.” (New York Times)
2/ A federal judge held a Roger Stone associate in contempt for refusing to testify before Robert Mueller’s grand jury hearing. Andrew Miller lost an attempt earlier this month to block a subpoena to testify before the grand jury. Miller worked for Stone during the 2016 presidential campaign, and is one of at least a half-dozen of Stone’s associates to be called to testify. (Washington Post)
Kristin Davis will testify before a grand jury in Robert Mueller’s investigation today. The “Manhattan Madam” met with Mueller’s team last week for a voluntary interview. She has ties to Trump’s former political adviser Roger Stone, who is under suspicion in the Russia investigation. (CNN / Politico)
3/ The federal judge overseeing the Paul Manafort trial granted Robert Mueller’s team a request to seal the transcript of a private discussion in front of his bench after prosecutors argued that they needed to protect an “ongoing investigation.” Defense attorney Kevin Downing had asked Rick Gates, “Were you interviewed on several occasions about your time at the Trump campaign?” Prosecutors objected, arguing that they needed to protect the secrecy of their investigation and limit the “disclosure of new information,” suggesting that Gates may also be helping Mueller in the Russia investigation. The judge, T. S. Ellis III, ruled in their favor. (New York Times / CNN)
4/ Eleven newly released top-secret cables show interrogators waterboarded prisoners in Thailand while it was overseen by Gina Haspel, who is now CIA director. The cables describe the waterboarding of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, the suspected mastermind behind the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole. As al-Nashiri cried and pleaded that he was trying to recall more information, the “water treatment was applied” in order to make him “suffer the consequences of his deception.” While she was trying to win confirmation for CIA director, Haspel claimed the techniques worked, but said their use “should not have been undertaken.” (New York Times)
5/ Omarosa: Trump is a “racist” who frequently used the n-word and there are tapes to prove it. In her new book, the former White House aide said Trump can be heard using the racial slur during the making of his reality TV show, Celebrity Apprentice. “My certainty about the N-word tape,” Omarosa writes, “and his frequent uses of that word were the top of a high mountain of truly appalling things I’d experienced with him, during the last two years in particular.” Omarosa also said she refused a $15,000-a-month offer from Trump’s campaign to stay silent after being fired from her job by John Kelly last December. (The Guardian / New York Times / Washington Post)
Omarosa said she walked in on Trump eat paper in the Oval Office after a meeting with Michael Cohen. “I saw him put a note in his mouth,” Omarosa claims, suggesting that “it must have been something very, very sensitive,” since Trump is “ever the germaphobe.” (Talking Points Memo)
6/ Senior national security officials tried to prevent Trump from upending a policy agreement between NATO allies last month by pushing the alliance’s ambassadors to complete the joint communiqué before the forum began. The plan worked, to some degree, even though Trump questioned a major pillar of the defense alliance by questioning whether an attack on one NATO ally was an attack on them all. (New York Times)
7/ Trump doubled tariffs on steel and aluminum from Turkey, tweeting the announcement from his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. The Treasury Department sanctioned two Turkish officials last week after the country refused to release American pastor Andrew Brunson, who faces charges in Turkey of attempting to overthrow the government and espionage. Turkey’s currency fell by more than 14% and hit a record low against the U.S. dollar. All three major U.S. indexes also closed lower. (Washington Post / New York Times / CNBC)
I have just authorized a doubling of Tariffs on Steel and Aluminum with respect to Turkey as their currency, the Turkish Lira, slides rapidly downward against our very strong Dollar! Aluminum will now be 20% and Steel 50%. Our relations with Turkey are not good at this time!
8/ Trump Jr. shared a doctored image making Trump’s Gallup presidential approval rating look 10 points higher than it actually is. Trump’s actual approval was 40%, compared with Obama’s 45% at the same point in his presidency. Trump Jr. called the inflated 50% approval rating “amazing” and said “I guess there is a magic wand to make things happen and @realdonaldtrump seems to have it.” (Washington Post)
poll/ More Americans believe Stormy Daniels than Trump. 34% believe Daniels, 30% believe Trump, and 30% don’t believe either one. (The Hill)
Notables.
Betsy DeVos moved to rescind an Obama-era “gainful employment” regulation meant to hold for-profit colleges accountable and protect students from overwhelming debt and poor job prospects. The 2014 rule required for-profit colleges to publish information on how much student debt graduates took on and how much they were earning after leaving school. If the average debt-to-income ratio did not meet government standards, the school’s federal funding would be revoked. (CNN / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times)
Michael Avenatti: “I’m exploring a run for the presidency of the United States.” Avenatti made the statement while in Iowa, where he said he wanted to “listen to people and learn about some issues that are facing the citizens of Iowa and do my homework.” (Des Moines Register / New York Times)
Trump attacked NFL players for protesting during the national anthem at preseason games, accusing them of being “unable to define” their “outrage” and suggesting that the athletes should instead “be happy, be cool!” (Politico / Washington Post)
The Russian Embassy mocked Trump’s Space Force, tweeting “Good Morning, Space Forces!” along with a graphic of a rocket being launched and features the Russian flag. Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign asked supporters to vote on one of six logos that could be displayed on future Space Force merchandise, including one the resembles the NASA logo. (Politico)
1/ Mike Pence detailed Trump’s proposal to create a “Space Force” as the sixth branch of the U.S. military by 2020. Pence said the creation of the Space Force, the first new branch of the military since 1947, represented a response to new and emerging threats. The new branch would require a significant reorganization of the Department of Defense and how it handles space operations. Pence said that the U.S. must not only increase its involvement in space-related affairs, but that “we must have American dominance in space.” After the announcement, Trump tweeted: “Space Force all the way!” (Washington Post / USA Today / Fox News / Associated Press / ABC News)
2/ Russia threatened to cut off a supply of rocket engines crucial to the U.S. space program in response to new sanctions stemming from the poisoning of Sergei Skripal in March. The U.S. announced new sanctions against Russia after determining that Moscow used a nerve agent against the former MI6 spy and his daughter. (Daily Beast / Times of London)
3/ Devin Nunes was caught on a secret recording explaining that the effort to impeach Rod Rosenstein had stalled because it would delay the Senate’s confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. “So if we actually vote to impeach, OK,” Nunes said, “what that does is that triggers the Senate then has to take it up.” He continued: “The Senate would have to drop everything they’re doing … and start with impeachment on Rosenstein. And then take the risk of not getting Kavanaugh confirmed.” Nunes reiterated his belief that Rosenstein should be impeached, but said that “the question is the timing of it right before the election.” He also warned that “if Sessions won’t unrecuse and Mueller won’t clear the president, we’re the only ones” protecting Trump from the Mueller investigation. (MSNBC / Los Angeles Times / CNN)
The first batch of documents from Brett Kavanaugh’s time serving in George W. Bush’s White House were released. The Bush team provided the Senate Judiciary Committee with 5,700 pages. The Committee expects to release more than 125,000 pages total over the next “several days.” Democrats said Bush’s lawyer selectively released documents on an expedited basis without oversight from the National Archives and Records Administration. (CNN / Associated Press)
4/ A federal judge threatened to hold Jeff Sessions in contempt after learning that the Trump administration had put two asylum seekers on a plane to El Salvador and deported them while their appeal was underway. U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan blocked the administration from deporting the two plaintiffs, ordered the government to “turn the plane around,” and called the entire situation “outrageous.” (CNN / Washington Post)
poll/ The majority of Americans believe tuition-free college (66%) and a $15-an-hour minimum wage (65%) would be “very effective” or “somewhat effective” solutions to social barriers. A combined 55 percent said a government-run health care system would be a very or somewhat effective policy. (The Intercept)
—
Notables.
The Trump administration cut staff for the watchdog tasked with identifying looming financial risks. Forty staff members from the Office of Financial Research will lose their jobs as part of a broader reorganization of the agency, which was created in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. (Reuters)
A federal appeals court ordered the Trump administration to revoke the approval of a widely used pesticide that can harm the brains of children, saying Scott Pruitt’s EPA had endangered public health by keeping chlorpyrifos on the market. The former EPA chief had reversed an Obama-era effort to ban chlorpyrifos. (Associated Press / Los Angeles Times)
Melania Trump’s parents were sworn in as U.S. citizens. Amalija and Viktor Knavs used family sponsorship to obtain their green cards, which is sometimes called “chain migration.” In January, Trump proposed ending most family-based immigration and replacing it with a skills-based system. (Associated Press / New York Times)
Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on Canadian newsprint is starting to hurt local news publications across the country. At the Gazette in Janesville, Wis., for example, the newsprint tariffs have increased annual printing costs by $740,000. (New York Times)
News organizations are starting to employ security details and guards while covering Trump’s rallies as Trump continues to ramp up his attacks on the media, even in the wake of the shooting at the Capital Gazette newsroom. (Politico)
Kris Kobach’s lead over Gov. Jeff Colyer in the Kansas Republican primary was cut in half after election officials discovered an an error in transmitting votes from Thomas County. Kobach, a Trump ally, originally had a 191-vote advantage over incumbent Colyer. Kobach’s lead was reduced to 91 votes after the adjustment. (CBS News / Washington Post)
📰 Paul Manafort’s Trial: A daily recap. Instead of writing summary recaps of the trial, I’m going to provide a few daily links to the live coverage. At the conclusion of the trial, I’ll write a proper abstract.
1/ Trump’s legal team rejected Robert Mueller’s request for a voluntary presidential interview, saying questions about possible obstruction of justice are legally inappropriate. Trump’s lawyers instead offered an “avenue” of a narrower set of questions that they’d accept. Both Rudy Giuliani and Jay Sekulow declined to describe the details of their counteroffer other than “it is a good faith attempt to reach an agreement.” According to Giuliani, it’s ultimately “his decision” – Trump’s – as to whether or not to grant Mueller an interview. Giuliani added that “this should be over by September 1,” because “we do not want to run into the November elections.” (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Politico / ABC News)
Why Trump really wants his Mueller interview. The president, who’s pushing his lawyers to let him meet with the special counsel, has a long history of dealing with investigators directly. (Politico)
2/ Omarosa Manigault-Newman secretly recorded conversations with Trump in the West Wing on her smartphone. The former Apprentice star has played the recordings for people, who describe them as inoffensive. (Daily Beast)
3/ The Trump administration will sanction Russia for its use of a chemical weapon against a former Russian spy living in England. Sergei Skripal and his daughter were poisoned with a rare and toxic nerve agent on March 4th. British authorities accused Russia of being behind the attempt, a charge Moscow has denied. The new sanctions are expected to go into effect on Aug. 22. (NBC / New York Times)
4/ Putin lobbied Trump on nuclear arms control, banning weapons in space, and several other issues during their private two-hour meeting in Helsinki last month, according to a leaked Russian document. Putin shared the document of proposed topics for negotiation with Trump during their two-hour conversation, which Trump’s top advisers were not privy to at the time. Among the priorities, Putin wanted to extend an Obama-era nuclear-reduction treaty to ensure the “non-placement of weapons in space,” which would hamper Trump’s ability of establishing a Space Force. (Politico)
Rand Paul delivered a letter from Trump to Putin during his trip to Moscow earlier this week. Paul said he was “honored” to share the letter from Trump, which “emphasized the importance of further engagement in various areas including countering terrorism, enhancing legislative dialogue and resuming cultural exchange.” Rand also said members of the Russian Federation agreed to visit Washington at his invitation despite the White House recently announcing that Trump would delay any meeting with Putin until the Russia investigation concludes. (NBC News)
Russians have “penetrated” some of Florida’s election systems ahead of the 2018 midterms, according to Sen. Bill Nelson, “and they now have free rein to move about.” Florida’s primary is Aug. 28. (Tampa Bay Times)
5/ China announced 25% tariffs on $16 billion worth of U.S. goods, including large passenger cars and motorcycles, various fuels, and fiber optic cables. China is targeting 333 goods in total, including coal, grease, Vaseline, asphalt and plastic products, and recyclables. The latest round of Chinese tariffs are a direct response to the $16 billion worth of Chinese goods that will be hit with tariffs by the U.S. starting on Aug. 23. (CNBC)
6/ Three Mar-a-Lago members with no official government roles act as an informal council, exerting influence at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Freedom of Information Act and interviews with former administration officials show that the “Mar-a-Lago Crowd” speaks with VA officials daily regarding policy and personnel decisions. VA officials have also travelled to Mar-a-Lago at taxpayer expense to hear their views. As one former administration official said: “Everyone has to go down and kiss the ring.” (ProPublica)
poll/ 55% of voters say race relations have gotten worse under Trump. 51% of white voters, 59% of African-American voters, and 60% of Hispanics all say race relations have gotten worse since Trump took office. 35% of Republicans, meanwhile, say race relations have improved. (Politico)
Notables.
GOP Rep. Chris Collins was charged with insider trading by the Justice Department. Collins turned himself in to the FBI on Wednesday and was charged in a case related to Innate Immunotherapeutics, an Australian biotech company where Collins served on the board. Prosecutors say Collins provided his son with nonpublic information about drug trial results in order to help him “make timely trades in Innate stock and tip others.” A grand jury indictment also charges Collins’ son, Cameron, as well as Cameron’s father-in-law-to-be. (NBC News / CNBC / CNN)
The Congressional Budget Office expects the federal debt to surpass an unprecedented 200% of gross domestic product by 2048, according to its long-term report on “alternative scenarios” stemming from the GOP tax cuts. (The Hill)
An ICE cargo van transporting eight mothers separated from their children crashed into a pickup truck on July 18th. ICE denied the crash happened for nearly three weeks and ignored requests for information. (Texas Observer)
Trump praised his “fantastic!” and “great relationship” with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. A Justice Department spokeswoman described it a “productive working relationship.” Trump has publicly considered firing Rosenstein, who is currently overseeing the Mueller investigation. (Wall Street Journal)
📰 Paul Manafort’s Trial: A daily recap. Instead of writing summary recaps of the trial, I’m going to provide a few daily links to the live coverage. At the conclusion of the trial, I’ll write a proper abstract.
1/ Rudy Giuliani to Robert Mueller: “We have a real reluctance about allowing any questions about obstruction” of justice. Trump’s lead attorney plans to largely rebuff Mueller’s latest offer for an in-person interview with Trump, which included questions about obstruction of justice. Instead of simply rejecting Mueller’s request out of hand, Giuliani expects to continue negotiating with Mueller since “the president still hasn’t made a decision and we’re not going to make a final decision just yet.” (Washington Post)
2/ Federal prosecutors in New York are investigating Michael Cohen for tax fraud and whether income from his taxi-medallion business was underreported in federal tax returns. Cohen’s bank loans are also being scrutinized by prosecutors to see if Cohen made misrepresentations or false statements on loan applications. (Wall Street Journal)
3/ The Trump administration wants to make it harder for legal immigrants to become U.S. citizens. Trump’s proposal would prevent legal immigrants from obtaining citizenship or green cards if they’ve ever used social programs like the Affordable Care Act, children’s health insurance, or food stamps. The proposal is the brainchild of Stephen Miller and would not require congressional approval. If enacted, it would represent the biggest change to the U.S. legal immigration system in decades, and more than 20 million immigrants could be affected. (NBC News)
4/ Brett Kavanaugh argued that it’s a “traditional exercise of power by Presidents” to ignore laws they view as unconstitutional. “If the President has a constitutional objection to a statutory mandate or prohibition, the President may decline to follow the law unless and until a final Court order dictates otherwise,” Kavanaugh wrote in an August 13, 2013, opinion. Trump’s Supreme Court nominee made the 2013 assertion while defending George W. Bush’s use of signing statements to ignore laws passed by Congress. Kavanaugh served as White House staff secretary and had a role in coordinating Bush’s statements accompanying legislation he signed into law. (CNN)
poll/ 43% of Republicans think Trump “should have the authority to close news outlets engaged in bad behavior.” 36%, however, disagreed with the statement. 48% said they believed “the news media is the enemy of the American people” with 79% saying they believe “the mainstream media treats President Trump unfairly.” (Daily Beast)
Notables.
Jared Kushner used to delete “critical” stories about his friends and real estate peers while he was in charge of the New York Observer. Kushner would sidestep editors and instead order web developers to remove the stories directly from the Observer’s website. (BuzzFeed News / New York Magazine)
Voters will cast ballots in five states today — Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Washington, and Ohio. Here’s what to watch for. (NBC News / New York Times)
Wilbur Ross has been accused of stealing as much as $120 million from former business partners. A lawsuit by David Storper alleges that Ross stole his interests in a private equity fund, transferred them to himself, then tried to cover it up with bogus paperwork. (Forbes)
The EPA will allow manufacturers to use asbestos to create new products. The agency will no longer consider the effect or presence of substances in the air, ground, or water in its risk assessments when assessing new products. Asbestos-related deaths total nearly 40,000 annually. (Architects Newspaper)
The Mendocino Complex fire is now the largest wildfire in California history, and stretches across more than 283,000 acres. So far, firefighters have only been able to contain 30% of the fire. Trump, meanwhile, blamed the fires on “bad environmental laws which aren’t allowing massive amount of readily available water to be properly utilized,” complaining that the water needed is being “diverted into the Pacific Ocean.” Cal Fire refuted Trump’s claim, saying “We have plenty of water to fight these fires … The current weather is causing more severe and destructive fires.” (Los Angeles Times / ABC 7 News)
📰 Paul Manafort’s Trial: A daily recap. Instead of writing summary recaps of the trial, I’m going to provide a few daily links to the live coverage. At the conclusion of the trial, I’ll write a proper abstract.
1/ Trump admitted that the 2016 Trump Tower meeting between top campaign aides and a Russian lawyer was to get dirt on Hillary Clinton. “This was a meeting to get information on an opponent, totally legal and done all the time in politics - and it went nowhere. I did not know about it!” Trump’s tweet contradicted Trump Jr.’s original statement about the meeting – which was dictated by Trump – that the meeting was to discuss the adoption of Russian children. (New York Times / New Yorker / NBC News / NPR)
Fake News reporting, a complete fabrication, that I am concerned about the meeting my wonderful son, Donald, had in Trump Tower. This was a meeting to get information on an opponent, totally legal and done all the time in politics - and it went nowhere. I did not know about it!
2/ Trump told confidants that he is worried about how the Robert Mueller probe could impact Trump Jr.’s life. Mueller is investigating Trump Jr.‘s role in organizing the June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower with Russians promising dirt on Hillary Clinton. One adviser said Trump doesn’t believe his son intentionally broke the law, but that Trump Jr. may have inadvertently wandered into legal jeopardy. Trump tweeted that his concern about Trump Jr.’s potential legal exposure from the meeting was “Fake News reporting” and “a complete fabrication.” (Washington Post / ABC News)
Senate Judiciary Committee Chuck Grassley this week said that if Trump Jr. “misled the committee, he’s lying to Congress. That’s a crime. And that’d be up to the prosecutors, not me.” (CNN)
Why this weekend’s Trump Tower tweet matters. The tweet comes at a time when Trump is increasingly anxious about Robert Mueller’s investigation and how it may impact him and his family. (CNN / Washington Post)
Hope Hicks was spotted boarding Air Force Once ahead of Trump’s departure for a campaign rally in Ohio. The former White House communications director resigned from her role in February, a day after testifying before the House Intelligence Committee and saying she told white lies on the job. (The Hill / CNN)
3/ Trump has raised more than $200,000 for his Patriot Legal Expense Fund Trust, but hasn’t spent any money on legal services. The fund was launched in late February 2018 to pay for legal expenses incurred by White House officials and allies caught up in Robert Mueller’s investigation. Through June, the only expenditures have been to an insurance provider and an accounting firm, totaling less than $50,000. (Daily Beast / ABC News)
4/ Documents from Trump’s voter fraud commission “do not contain evidence of widespread voter fraud,” according to Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap, one of the panel’s 11 members. After reading through more than 8,000 pages of documents, Dunlap said he believed that the goal of the commission “wasn’t just a matter of investigating President Trump’s claims that 3 to 5 million people voted illegally” but that it “seems to have been to validate those claims.” The panel was disbanded in January, and the White House claimed at the time that despite “substantial evidence of voter fraud,” the commission was shut down due to legal challenges from states. The panel never presented any findings or evidence of widespread voter fraud. Kris Kobach, the commission’s vice chair, however, said at the time that the panel was shut down because “some people on the left were getting uncomfortable about how much we were finding out.” (Washington Post)
A district judge has struck down a Federal Election Commission rule that allowed for anonymous donations to “dark money” groups. Judge Beryl Howell ruled that the FEC regulation allowing for those donors to remain anonymous fell below the standard that Congress meant to set when it passed laws on disclosing the sources of political donations. (Politico)
Marco Rubio said he’d consider altering bipartisan legislation to automatically sanction Russia for any future election meddling in order to get the DETER Act passed. The measure would bar foreign governments from buying ads to influence U.S. elections and would give the director of national intelligence the ability to deploy “national security tools,” such as sanctions. (Politico)
Trump tweeted that Kris Kobach has his “full and total Endorsement!” for governor of Kansas, despite warnings from aides that it would alienate Republicans loyal to incumbent Gov. Jeff Colyer. Kobach is an advocate of stricter voter identification laws in his state, including a requirement that new voters provide proof of citizenship when they register, which a federal judge recently struck down. (Associated Press / NPR / Politico)
Kris Kobach, a strong and early supporter of mine, is running for Governor of the Great State of Kansas. He is a fantastic guy who loves his State and our Country - he will be a GREAT Governor and has my full & total Endorsement! Strong on Crime, Border & Military. VOTE TUESDAY!
5/ Trump signed an executive order to reimpose several sanctions against Iran. Three months after unilaterally pulling the U.S. out of the “horrible, one-sided” Iran nuclear deal, Trump said today’s move is meant to exert “maximum economic pressure” on Iran. Trump also warned all other countries “to make clear that the Iranian regime faces a choice: either change its threatening, destabilizing behavior and reintegrate with the global economy, or continue down a path of economic isolation.” (Associated Press)
6/ Two of the largest American steel companies, both of which have deep ties to the Trump administration, successfully objected to hundreds of tariff exemption requests by American companies that buy foreign steel. Nucor and United States Steel objected to 1,600 exemption requests filed with the Commerce Department over the last several months, arguing that companies should not be exempt from the tariffs because the imported products are readily available from American steel manufacturers. The Trump administration established a process for companies to request “exclusions” from the metal tariffs, but the Commerce Department also allowed American companies to challenge exclusion requests. Not a single exclusion challenge by the two companies has failed to date. (New York Times)
7/ A federal judge ruled on Friday that the Trump administration must fully restore the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, setting a 20-day deadline for the administration to do so. DC District Judge John Bates said the Trump administration failed to justify its proposal to end DACA and that its rationale for dropping the program was inadequate. Jeff Sessions said in a statement that the Justice Department will “take every lawful measure” to defend the decision to terminate the Obama-era program. (NPR / Washington Times / CNN / Politico)
Notables.
Trump blamed Gov. Jerry Brown and “bad environmental laws” for California’s catastrophic wildfires. In a tweet, Trump claimed that “vast amounts of water,” which “can be used for fires,” are “foolishly being diverted into the Pacific Ocean.” Firefighters have not raised concerns about the availability of water. (Politico)
Maria Butina, the alleged Russian spy, socialized with a former Trump campaign aide weeks before the 2016 election. At the time, J.D. Gordon planned to join Trump’s transition team, but ultimately never did. From March 2016 until August 2016, Gordon was the point person for an advisory group on foreign policy and national security for the Trump campaign. Paul Erickson, a GOP operative with whom Butina was in a romantic relationship, told her that Gordon was “playing a crucial role in the Trump transition effort and would be an excellent addition to any of the U.S./Russia friendship dinners” that might be held. (Washington Post / New York Times)
Rand Paul invited Russian lawmakers to Washington after meeting Russian members of parliament in Moscow. Paul is also expected to meet with Russian deputy foreign minister Sergey Ryabkov and State Duma Foreign Affairs committee head Leonid Slutsky during his visit. (CNN)
The Russian Foreign Ministry tapped Steve Segal to help improve “relations between Russia and the United States in the humanitarian field, including cooperation in culture, arts, public and youth exchanges.” (New York Times)
Kristin Davis, the “Manhattan Madam,” is scheduled to testify before Robert Mueller’s grand jury in Washington this week. Last week an investigator on Mueller’s team questioned Davis, an associate of former Trump adviser Roger Stone, about Russian collusion. (NBC News)
The DNC warned Democrats running in November’s midterms not to use devices made by Chinese manufacturers ZTE and Huawei. Top officials from the CIA, NSA, FBI and the Defense Intelligence Agency all testified in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee in February that the Chinese smartphone makers posed a security threat to American customers. (CNN)
Apple removed five of Infowars’ six podcasts from its iTunes directory for violating its hate speech guidelines. A few hours later, Spotify, Facebook, and YouTube also removed Alex Jones’ conspiratorial content. (BuzzFeed News / The Guardian)
The Newseum stopped selling the “You Are Very Fake News” T-shirts from its store. The online store is still selling “Make America Great Again” hats. (Politico)
A Trump supporter threatened “to shoot” CNN reporters Brian Stelter and Don Lemon during an on-air call with C-SPAN. The caller, identified as “Don from State College, Pennsylvania,” accused Stelter and Lemon of “calling Trump supporters all racists.” (HuffPost / The Hill)
Threats against reporters on the rise. We decided to broadcast one of those threats on today's @ReliableSources, so everyone can hear it for themselves. pic.twitter.com/kJxGWKOrWI
Instead of writing summary recaps of the trial, I’m going to provide a few daily links to the live coverage.
Day Five.
🚨 Rick Gates testified that he and Paul Manafort committed crimes together and held 15 foreign bank accounts that were not disclosed to the federal government, which were not submitted “at Mr. Manafort’s direction.” Gates admitted to a wide variety of crimes, including bank fraud, tax fraud, money laundering, lying to federal authorities, lying in a court deposition and stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from Manafort’s accounts by falsely claiming expenses. (New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post)
Rick Gates to take the stand. Gates is considered the star witness for the prosecution against Manafort. (Politico)
Manafort’s defense team attempts mission impossible. His legal team is mounting a case to exonerate him in Virginia — an uphill battle, experienced attorneys say. (Politico)
Trial resumes with more testimony from Manafort’s former accountant; Manafort’s lawyer implies Rick Gates embezzled “millions” (CNN)
Day Four.
Prosecution dives into alleged tax, bank fraud. (CNN)
Manafort Trial Turns to Tax Returns Mueller Says Are Phony. (Bloomberg)
Judge Ellis Loses Patience with Mueller Prosecutors and Ends Court Early Over Screw-Up. (Law and Crime)
Accountant concedes possible wrongdoing, Manafort’s double life. ‘They never told us about any income deposited in foreign accounts,’ Manafort’s accountant told jurors. (Politico)
Day Three.
Prosecution has “every intention” of calling Richard Gates as witness. (Washington Post)
Manafort’s trial turns to accountants and tax preparers. (CNN)
Judge says showing jury flashy suits could “besmirch the defendant.” (NBC News)
Day Two.
Prosecution Cites Lavish Spending by Paul Manafort in His Fraud Trial. (New York Times)
A fake bill, a banned word, and a Rick Gates surprise. (Politico)
Executive at ‘most expensive store’ testifies that Manafort paid for suits via wire transfers. (Washington Post)
Day One.
Jury selection, first witness called and a $15,000 ostrich jacket. (Washington Post)
Manafort’s defense team opened by blaming Rick Gates. (New York Times)
Prosecutors accused Manafort of being a “shrewd” liar who lived an “extravagant lifestyle” fueled by “secret income” that he earned from lobbying work in Ukraine. (CNN)
1/ Trump’s national security team said Russia is behind “pervasive” and “ongoing” attempts to interfere in upcoming U.S. elections. “The threat is real. It is continuing,” said Dan Coats, Director of National Intelligence. Hours later, Trump defended his “great meeting with Putin,” saying “the Russian hoax” is getting in the way of improved relations with the world’s second-ranked nuclear power. (Reuters / CNBC / CNN)
The Treasury Department sanctioned a Russian bank, two North Korean entities and one North Korean citizen for facilitating “illegal financial activity.” The Russian-registered AgrosoyuzCommercial Bank was sanctioned for doing business with a North Korean who was the “Moscow-based chief representative of Foreign Trade Bank, North Korea’s primary foreign exchange bank.” (CNBC)
2/ The NRA is in financial jeopardy and may “be unable to exist … or pursue its advocacy mission.” Since May, the gun group has been suing New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the state’s financial regulators, claiming the state of New York subjected it to a “blacklisting campaign” that resulted in “tens of millions of dollars in damages” from the loss of insurance coverage it needs in order to “maintain its physical premises, convene off-site meetings and events, operate educational programs,” and “hold rallies, conventions, and assemblies.” The association overspent by almost $46 million in 2016. (Rolling Stone)
✊ The “National March on the NRA” rally will begin at noon on Saturday in front of the association’s Virginia headquarters. It is expected to last three hours. (National March on NRA)
3/ China will impose retaliatory tariffs on $60 billion worth of U.S. imports if Trump goes ahead with his latest threat to increase tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods. The Trump administration imposed 25% duties on $34 billion of Chinese goods on July 6, which prompted Beijing to retaliate with similar charges on the same amount of U.S. products. A senior administration official said there was “zero” engagement between the Trump administration and China. Another official said there has been “one call in the past few days,” and that it resolved nothing. (Associated Press / Politico / Washington Post / CNBC)
4/ A Trump donor agreed to pay Michael Cohen $10 million if he could secure a $5 billion loan from the federal government for a nuclear power plant in Alabama. The loan application by Franklin Haney’s company is still pending at the Energy Department. The agreement, which is no longer in effect, was made shortly before Cohen’s home, office and hotel room were raided by federal agents on April 9. Haney donated $1 million to the Trump inaugural fund through a corporate entity. Nuclear Development LLC and Franklin L. Haney Co., have spent nearly $1.1 million since the end of 2016 lobbying the federal government and Congress on issues related to nuclear power. (Wall Street Journal / CNBC)
5/ The judge overseeing the reunification of the 2,551 migrant children separated from their parents called the Trump administration’s lack of a plan “unacceptable at this point.” 572 children remain in government custody and the parents of 410 children are currently outside the U.S. They’ve likely been deported. (NBC News)
6/ Revenue at the Trump International Hotel in Manhattan was up 13% in the first three months of 2018 thanks to “a last-minute visit” by the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. The Crown Prince, however, didn’t stay at the hotel, because the suites weren’t big enough to accommodate his family. However, “due to our close industry relationships,” the hotel’s general manager wrote, “we were able to accommodate many of the accompanying travelers.” (Washington Post)
Notables.
The National Archives won’t be able to provide all of the 900,000 documents on Brett Kavanaugh requested by the Senate until the end of October. Senate Republicans say they’re still on track to hold September confirmation hearings. (Washington Post)
Robert Mueller’s team interviewed Kristin Davis, the woman famously known as the “Manhattan Madam,” about her ties to longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone. (CNN)
Mike Pompeo said North Korea’s continued production of fuel for nuclear weapons was “inconsistent” with its “commitment to denuclearize.” U.S. spy satellites had detected renewed activity at the North Korean factory that produced the country’s first intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the United States. (Reuters)
Trump denied that he left Queen Elizabeth II waiting. Instead he blamed the Queen for being late, saying that he arrived “a little early” and was waiting because “Hey, it’s the queen, right?” The truth is, the 92-year-old monarch was waiting for about 15 minutes before Trump and Melania arrived. Trump called the reports “fake, fake disgusting news.” (Washington Post)
Melania Trump’s top policy aide left the White House after six months on the job. Reagan Hedlund helped Melania launch the “Be Best” anti-bullying initiative. (Politico)
Steve Bannon accused the Koch brothers of running “a conscious scam” and a “con job.” Trump’s former chief strategist went on to call Paul Ryan a “lame duck” who “should be removed” as Speaker. (The Hill)
Trump Jr. falsely claimed that the Democratic Party looks “awfully similar” to the Nazi party in the 1930s, saying that “when you actually look at that platform versus the platform of the modern left, you say wait a minute, those two are really heavily aligned.” (CNN)
The Newseum is selling “Fake News” t-shirts and “Make America Great Again” hats. The interactive museum in Washington, D.C. is dedicated to educating citizens about the free press and recording important moments in news history. (Poynter / CBS)
Dept. of Paul Manafort’s Trial.
Instead of writing summary recaps of the trial, I’m going to provide a few daily links to the live coverage.
Day Four.
Prosecution dives into alleged tax, bank fraud. (CNN)
Manafort Trial Turns to Tax Returns Mueller Says Are Phony. (Bloomberg)
Judge Ellis Loses Patience with Mueller Prosecutors and Ends Court Early Over Screw-Up. (Law and Crime)
Accountant concedes possible wrongdoing, Manafort’s double life.
‘They never told us about any income deposited in foreign accounts,’ Manafort’s accountant told jurors. (Politico)
Day Three.
Prosecution has “every intention” of calling Richard Gates as witness. (Washington Post)
Manafort’s trial turns to accountants and tax preparers. (CNN)
Judge says showing jury flashy suits could “besmirch the defendant.” (NBC News)
Day Two.
Prosecution Cites Lavish Spending by Paul Manafort in His Fraud Trial. (New York Times)
A fake bill, a banned word, and a Rick Gates surprise. (Politico)
Executive at ‘most expensive store’ testifies that Manafort paid for suits via wire transfers. (Washington Post)
Day One.
Jury selection, first witness called and a $15,000 ostrich jacket. (Washington Post)
Manafort’s defense team opened by blaming Rick Gates. (New York Times)
Prosecutors accused Manafort of being a “shrewd” liar who lived an “extravagant lifestyle” fueled by “secret income” that he earned from lobbying work in Ukraine. (CNN)
1/ Robert Mueller offered to reduce the number of obstruction of justice-related questions his team would ask Trump during a sit-down interview. Mueller’s team would also allow some answers to be provided in written form. Negotiations over a potential presidential interview have been ongoing since March, and Mueller still plans to press Trump on topics related to obstruction, including questions about the firing of then-FBI Director James Comey. In response to the proposal Mueller sent Monday, Rudy Giuliani told reporters that it’s time for the special counsel to “put up or shut up.” (Washington Post / ABC News / CNN)
Robert Mueller has requested an interview with the Russian pop star who helped set up the 2016 Trump Tower meeting. Emin Agalarov’s lawyer said the “conversations are ongoing” but that it’s “unclear how this will play out.” Agalarov’s father, Aras Agalarov, is a billionaire with ties to Putin; he partnered with the Trump Organization to bring the 2013 Miss Universe pageant to Moscow. (NBC News)
A federal judge ruled that a former Roger Stone aide must testify before Robert Mueller’s grand jury. Andrew Miller tried to challenge the legitimacy of Mueller’s appointment in an effort to block subpoenas from the special counsel related to the ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. (Washington Post / Politico)
2/ Trump told his advisers in recent days that he is eager to meet with Mueller and has urged his lawyers to reach an agreement on a sit-down interview with the special counsel, despite their warnings that he should not answer the Mueller team’s questions. (New York Times)
3/ Hours after his lawyers updated him on the Mueller investigation, Trump called on Jeff Sessions to end the special counsel’s investigation into Russian election interference. On Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning, Trump’s lawyers updated him on the latest developments, including Mueller’s proposal to limit obstruction-related questions. Shortly thereafter, Trump tweeted that Sessions should end the Mueller investigation “right now,” calling it a “terrible situation” and a “disgrace to USA!” (CNN)
4/ The Trump administration plans to roll back Obama-era fuel efficiency and emissions standards on new cars. Under the Obama administration, the EPA and the Transportation Department set requirements for new cars to average at least 35 mpg by 2020 and to continue improving efficiency up to 50 mpg by 2025. The policy was intended to combat global warming. Trump’s plan would freeze the fuel economy standards after 2021 at about 37 mpg and would revoke a waiver granted to California and 13 other states to set more aggressive tailpipe pollution standards. (Los Angeles Times / New York Times / ABC News / Washington Post)
5/ The Senate Intelligence Committee unanimously approved the release of documents related to the arrest and prosecution of alleged Russian agent Maria Butina. The documents contain records of the committee’s interviews with Butina, who is accused of working as an unregistered Russian agent while attending American University in Washington from 2015 to 2017. (Politico)
A bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation to “impose crushing sanctions” on Russia meant to stop Putin from “meddling in the U.S. electoral process.” The measure also would impose new sanctions on oligarchs who aid corrupt activities on Putin’s behalf, and require the State Department to determine whether Russia should be designated as a state sponsor of terrorism. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham called it a “sanctions bill from hell.” (Bloomberg / Reuters)
Two senators say Trump “hasn’t been paying attention” to Russia’s threat to the 2018 elections. Republican senator James Lankford contended that nearly every senator has been a target of Russian hackers, calling it a “pretty regular thing around here.” (CNN)
6/ A Russian spy worked for the Secret Service at the U.S. embassy in Moscow for more than a decade. She was having regular, unauthorized meetings with members of the FSB, Russia’s security agency, and is believed to have had full access to the agency’s intranet and email systems. The Secret Service waited months to let her go and didn’t launch a full inquiry after the State Department’s Regional Security Office flagged the suspected spy in January 2017. (The Guardian)
Notables.
The Senate voted to increase the military’s 2019 budget to $716 billion – an $82 billion increase from last year. The 9.3% increase is one of the largest in modern U.S. history, second only to the 23% increase in 2003 during the build-up to the Iraq War. (Washington Post)
Ivanka Trump called her father’s “zero tolerance” policy of separating families at the U.S.-Mexico border “a low point” for her. Ivanka, who remained publicly silent on the topic in June when Jeff Sessions announced the policy, claimed she was “very vehemently against family separation.” (CNN)
A new lawsuit filed against the Trump administration charges that Trump’s efforts to “let Obamacare implode” were unconstitutional. The complaint argues that Trump has “waged a relentless effort to use executive action alone to undermine and, ultimately, eliminate the law,” and is in violation of Article II of the U.S. Constitution, which requires the president to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed.” (NBC News)
Trump said he’s looking forward to a second meeting with Kim Jong Un. In a late-night tweet, Trump thanked Kim for returning the remains of more than 50 U.S. service members, ending with “Also, thank you for your nice letter - I look forward to seeing you soon!” (Washington Post)
Trump tweeted support for a Republican Congressman who is not on the ballot. The tweet supporting Steve Stivers’ reelection has since been deleted. (Politico)
Sarah Huckabee Sanders declined to say the press isn’t “the enemy of the people,” a phrase Trump has repeatedly used to attack the media. Instead, Sanders rattled off a list of somewhat unrelated grievances about how her life and the president’s life have been affected by media coverage, which she characterized as “personal attacks” intended “to incite anger.” Earlier in the day, Ivanka Trump said she didn’t share her father’s belief that the media is the “enemy of the people.” (HuffPost / Washington Post)
Dept. of Paul Manafort’s Trial.
Instead of writing summary recaps of the trial, I’m going to provide a few daily links to the live coverage.
Day Three.
Prosecution has “every intention” of calling Richard Gates as witness. (Washington Post)
Manafort’s trial turns to accountants and tax preparers. (CNN)
Judge says showing jury flashy suits could “besmirch the defendant.” (NBC News)
Day Two.
Prosecution Cites Lavish Spending by Paul Manafort in His Fraud Trial. (New York Times)
A fake bill, a banned word, and a Rick Gates surprise. (Politico)
Executive at ‘most expensive store’ testifies that Manafort paid for suits via wire transfers. (Washington Post)
Day One.
Jury selection, first witness called and a $15,000 ostrich jacket. (Washington Post)
Manafort’s defense team opened by blaming Rick Gates. (New York Times)
Prosecutors accused Manafort of being a “shrewd” liar who lived an “extravagant lifestyle” fueled by “secret income” that he earned from lobbying work in Ukraine. (CNN)
1/ Trump urged Jeff Sessions to end the Mueller investigation and “stop this Rigged Witch Hunt right now.” In a morning tweetstorm, Trump called Mueller’s probe “a terrible situation” that should be stopped “before it continues to stain our country any further.” Rod Rosenstein has been overseeing the probe since Sessions recused himself last March – before Mueller was appointed. Trump has said he would have never hired Sessions had he known he would recuse himself from the Russia investigation. Mueller, meanwhile, has been scrutinizing Trump’s tweets and statements about Sessions and James Comey as potential evidence in an obstruction of justice case. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Trump’s lawyers claimed that the message was not a formal order, but rather just the President of United States expressing his opinion. (New York Times / CNBC / CNN / Washington Post)
..This is a terrible situation and Attorney General Jeff Sessions should stop this Rigged Witch Hunt right now, before it continues to stain our country any further. Bob Mueller is totally conflicted, and his 17 Angry Democrats that are doing his dirty work are a disgrace to USA!
Trump tweets that the prosecution of Paul Manafort is “a hoax.” Meanwhile, the federal jury in Virginia is hearing evidence in Manafort’s trial on tax evasion and fraud charges. (Washington Post)
Paul Manafort worked for Ronald Reagan, Bob Dole and many other highly prominent and respected political leaders. He worked for me for a very short time. Why didn’t government tell me that he was under investigation. These old charges have nothing to do with Collusion - a Hoax!
Russian Collusion with the Trump Campaign, one of the most successful in history, is a TOTAL HOAX. The Democrats paid for the phony and discredited Dossier which was, along with Comey, McCabe, Strzok and his lover, the lovely Lisa Page, used to begin the Witch Hunt. Disgraceful!
2/ Mueller offered to reduce the number of questions in exchange for an interview with Trump. Trump has continued say he’d willing to speak with Mueller, but his lawyers keep moving the goal posts. [This story is developing…] (Washington Post)
2/ Robert Mueller has referred three investigations into possible illicit foreign lobbying to New York prosecutors handling the Michael Cohen case. All three cases are linked to Paul Manafort, who brought other Washington lobbyists and lawyers into his work on behalf of Ukrainian politicians. The cases are examining whether those lobbyists also failed to register as foreign agents and how they were paid. None of the three men involved in the cases has been charged with a crime, but Mueller’s team has subpoenaed or requested documents from all three of their firms. (CNN / New York Times)
3/ The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Trump’s executive order to withhold federal funding from “sanctuary cities” was unconstitutional. The case now heads back to the District Court for hearings on whether there is enough evidence to support a nationwide ban on the order to withhold funding from cities that limit cooperation with immigration authorities. (Associated Press / Politico)
4/ The Trump administration is considering reducing the number of refugees admitted into the U.S. by 40%. The proposal calls for no more than 25,000 refugee resettlements next year, which would mark the lowest number of refugees admitted to the country since the program started in 1980. (New York Times)
poll/ 44% of Americans said they’d vote for Joe Biden in the 2020 election compared to 37% who said they’d vote for Trump. 80% of Democrats would choose Biden while 78% of Republicans would choose to reelect Trump. (Politico)
poll/ An average of 7% of Democrats approve of Trump’s job performance, compared with an average of 84% of Republicans who approve. The 77-percentage-point gap makes Trump’s job approval by party the most polarized performance dating back to Eisenhower. (Pew Research Center)
Dept. of Paul Manafort’s Trial.
Instead of writing summary recaps of the trial, I’m going to provide 2-3 daily links to the coverage. At the conclusion of the trial, I’ll write one summary. Sound good?
Day One.
Jury selection, first witness called and a $15,000 ostrich jacket. (Washington Post)
Prosecutors accused Manafort of being a “shrewd” liar who lived an “extravagant lifestyle” fueled by “secret income” that he earned from lobbying work in Ukraine. (CNN)
Day Two.
Manafort’s defense team opened by blaming Rick Gates. (New York Times)
A fake bill, a banned word, and a Rick Gates surprise. (Politico)
Executive at ‘most expensive store’ testifies that Manafort paid for suits via wire transfers. (Washington Post)
Notables.
Mike Pence vowed to protect the midterm elections from foreign interference. According to Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, existing Homeland Security resources and budget will be used to set up a national cyber risk management center that will work with financial firms, energy companies and telecommunications providers to conduct security weakness assessments. (Reuters)
Senate Republicans rejected a bid to spend an extra $250 million on election security for the 2018 midterms. The 50 to 47 vote fell far short of the 60 votes needed despite intelligence officials warning that foreign governments will try to interfere in the election. (Washington Post)
A scammer called a U.S. senator and pretended to represent a Latvian official in an attempt to get information about U.S. sanctions on Russia. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen was contacted by “Arturs Vaiders,” who claimed to be working for the Latvian foreign ministry and needed to discuss the “prolongation of anti-Russian sanctions” and “general security with Kaspersky laboratory case.” Shaheen contacted the Latvian government to confirm the caller’s credentials, but the embassy responded that the outreach attempt was fake. (Daily Beast)
The Trump administration issued new insurance rules that encourage more Americans to buy inexpensive health plans originally designed for short-term use. These short-term plans don’t have to cover pre-existing conditions, and they circumvent some of the Affordable Care Act’s coverage requirements and consumer protections. (Washington Post)
The Treasury Department imposed sanctions on two Turkish officials over the detention of an American pastor who was arrested in October 2016 on accusations of spying and attempting to overthrow the Turkish government. (Bloomberg / CNBC)
While defending stricter voter ID laws, Trump claimed you need photo identification to buy groceries at supermarkets. “if you go out and you want to buy groceries, you need a picture on a card, you need ID,” he said. “You go out and you want to buy anything, you need ID and you need your picture.” The White House did not respond to questions about when the president last bought groceries himself. (Associated Press)
Trump has made 4,229 false or misleading statements in the first 558 days of his administration — an average of 7.6 claims per day. In the last two months alone, Trump added 978 claims to the tally. During his first 100 days, Trump clocked in at an average of 4.9 claims per day. (Washington Post)
1/ Facebook identified a coordinated political influence campaign involving 32 “inauthentic” pages and profiles engaging in divisive messaging ahead of the midterm elections. While the social media company said it couldn’t directly link the activity to Russia, company officials told Capitol Hill that Russia was possibly involved. “It’s clear that whoever set up these accounts went to much greater lengths to obscure their true identities than the Russian-based Internet Research Agency (IRA) has in the past,” Facebook wrote. The company removed 32 pages and accounts. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
2/ Trump repeated Rudy Giuliani’s defense that “Collusion is not a crime, but that doesn’t matter because there was No Collusion.” For months, Trump has repeatedly denied that there was collusion between his campaign and Russia. In December, Trump said that “collusion is not a crime,” but legal experts believe that anyone found collaborating with Russia could be charged with other crimes, such as conspiracy, fraud and computer hacking. (CNN / Politico)
Collusion is not a crime, but that doesn’t matter because there was No Collusion (except by Crooked Hillary and the Democrats)!
3/ [Developing] Paul Manafort’s tax and bank fraud trial started today. The trial is the first in connection with Robert Mueller’s ongoing investigation into possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign. Collusion and Russia, however, are not likely to come up during the trial. Mueller is expected to focus on Manafort’s business dealings and his lobbying work on behalf of the pro-Kremlin Ukrainian government. It is unclear whether Manafort will take the stand at any point during the trial. The jury was selected and sworn in. The prosecution’s opening statements began with “Paul Manafort lied.” (Politico / NPR / ABC News / Reuters)
Paul Manafort dropped his civil lawsuit appeal against Robert Mueller. Manafort filed a lawsuit in January challenging Mueller’s broad authority. The lawsuit was dismissed by a federal judge in April. (CNN)
4/ John Kelly agreed to remain as chief of staff through Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign, quieting at least for the moment speculation that he would leave the White House sometime this summer. Trump, however, has recently expanded his shortlist for potential Kelly replacements, which includes Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, Freedom Caucus Chairman Rep. Mark Meadows, budget director Mick Mulvaney, and Nick Ayers, chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence. Kelly marked his first anniversary as chief of staff on Monday. (Wall Street Journal / CNBC / Washington Post)
5/ Trump continued his tiff with A.G. Sulzberger, publisher of the New York Times, tweeting that the media was “totally unhinged” and “crazy.” The two held an off-the-record meeting to discuss Trump’s “deeply troubling anti-press rhetoric,” but Trump broke their agreement by tweeting about the meeting, prompting the newspaper publisher to release his own account of the talk. (Politico)
The Fake News Media is going CRAZY! They are totally unhinged and in many ways, after witnessing first hand the damage they do to so many innocent and decent people, I enjoy watching. In 7 years, when I am no longer in office, their ratings will dry up and they will be gone!
6/ Trump lashed out at the Koch brothers, calling them “globalists” who “have become a total joke in real Republican circles.” Trump’s Twitter tirade was in response to Charles Koch’s criticism that the “divisiveness of this White House is causing long-term damage.” Trump called their political network, which plans to spend as much as $400 million on policy issues and political campaigns during the 2018 cycle, “highly overrated.” (Washington Post / Bloomberg / CNN)
The globalist Koch Brothers, who have become a total joke in real Republican circles, are against Strong Borders and Powerful Trade. I never sought their support because I don’t need their money or bad ideas. They love my Tax & Regulation Cuts, Judicial picks & more. I made.....
....them richer. Their network is highly overrated, I have beaten them at every turn. They want to protect their companies outside the U.S. from being taxed, I’m for America First & the American Worker - a puppet for no one. Two nice guys with bad ideas. Make America Great Again!
Tom Steyer plans to spend at least $110 million in 2018 building out his two political organizations, NextGen America and Need to Impeach. (Politico)
poll/ 63% of Americans under 34 years old say that voting in the 2018 midterms will allow their generation to effect change, while 36% think voting won’t really affect what the government does. Likely young voters are more likely to be excited to vote for a candidate who cares about issues that affect them (77%), is a woman (46%), looks like the people they represent (43%), is a teacher (40%), is black (38%) or is a member of the LGBT community (26%). (MTV/AP-NORC)
Notables.
Russia’s top diplomat claimed his country has access to insider information about U.S. military plans. Sergey Lavrov said Moscow would be “provided with information about the schemes harbored by the militaries of both the U.S. and other Western countries against the Russian Federation.” (Newsweek)
A federal judge ordered the government to transfer all but the most troubled migrant children from an immigration detention facility that allegedly forced children to take psychotropic drugs regardless of their conditions and without their parents’ consent. U.S. District Court Judge Dolly Gee found the conditions at the Shiloh Treatment Center in Texas to be in violation of a 1997 settlement known as Flores v. Reno, which requires officials to place detained minors “in the least restrictive setting appropriate to (each Class Member’s) age and special needs.” (NBC News)
Senate Democrats asked the National Archives to provide Congress with all of Brett Kavanaugh’s records from his tenure in the George W. Bush White House. Democrats accused Republicans of concealing a significant portion of Kavanaugh’s White House tenure that could provide insight into how the nominee advised Bush on contentious issues that occurred during that administration. (Washington Post)
The U.S. and China are trying to restart trade talks in hopes of averting a trade war. Another $16 billion in tariffs on Chinese imports kick in as soon as Wednesday. (Bloomberg)
North Korea is building at least one and possibly two liquid-fueled ICBMs at the same factory that produced the country’s first intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the United States. (Washington Post)
1/ Rudy Giuliani: “Collusion is not a crime.” Trump’s lawyer told Fox and Friends “I don’t even know if that’s a crime, colluding about Russians,” and that he’s been “looking in the federal code trying to find collusion as a crime.” Giuliani asserted that “the hacking is the crime. The president didn’t hack. He didn’t pay them for hacking,” suggesting that Trump would have had to pay for Russia to interfere on his behalf. Trump has argued for more than a year that there was “no collusion” – not that collusion wasn’t a crime. On Sunday, Trump tweeted that “There is No Collusion!” and that “the Witch Hunt is an illegal Scam!” (The Hill / Washington Post / CNN)
There is No Collusion! The Robert Mueller Rigged Witch Hunt, headed now by 17 (increased from 13, including an Obama White House lawyer) Angry Democrats, was started by a fraudulent Dossier, paid for by Crooked Hillary and the DNC. Therefore, the Witch Hunt is an illegal Scam!
Trump didn’t tell the truth about the Russia investigation 7 times in 1 tweet. Despite the tweet’s brevity, there are at least seven examples of exaggerations, mischaracterizations and outright falsehoods contained in it. (CNN)
2/ Trump claimed that Robert Mueller’s investigation has multiple “conflicts of interest,” including a “very nasty and contentious business relationship” between the two men. Giuliani said the dispute remains unresolved “even to this day,” but refused to detail the alleged conflict. Last year, White House advisers said Mueller had a dispute over membership fees at Trump National Golf Club in Northern Virginia in 2011. Trump tried to fire Mueller in June 2017 over alleged conflicts of interest. (The Hill / CNN / Washington Post)
Is Robert Mueller ever going to release his conflicts of interest with respect to President Trump, including the fact that we had a very nasty & contentious business relationship, I turned him down to head the FBI (one day before appointment as S.C.) & Comey is his close friend..
....Also, why is Mueller only appointing Angry Dems, some of whom have worked for Crooked Hillary, others, including himself, have worked for Obama....And why isn’t Mueller looking at all of the criminal activity & real Russian Collusion on the Democrats side-Podesta, Dossier?
Why Giuliani’s “collusion isn’t a crime” statement doesn’t matter for Mueller’s probe. While Giuliani is technically correct that there is no charge called “collusion,” Mueller has a number of possible criminal statutes, including conspiracy, obstruction of justice and making false statements, that he could cite to charge such collusive conduct or a cover-up thereof. (CNBC)
GOP Rep. Darrell Issa: “Nobody is going to be surprised” if Trump lied about Russia. “If he’s proven to have not told the whole truth about the fact that campaigns look for dirt, and if someone offers it, you listen to them, nobody’s going to be surprised,” Issa said. “Businessmen listen to almost everyone who might be helpful.” (Mediate / Think Progress)
Trump and his legal team have cut ties to Michael Cohen for “violat[ing] the attorney-client privilege, publicly and privately.” Giuliani confirmed the two sides have ended their joint defense agreement to share information. (Politico / ABC News)
Giuliani called Cohen a “pathological manipulator” and “a liar” following reports that Cohen is prepared to allege Trump knew about the 2016 Trump Tower meeting. Last week, Trump claimed that he had no prior knowledge of the meeting with a Russian lawyer, which Trump Jr. had attended in the hope of collecting negative information about Hillary Clinton. (Wall Street Journal)
Robert Mueller’s office said Paul Manafort earned $60 million from his work as a political consultant in Ukraine. The indictment against Manafort says $75 million flowed through offshore accounts controlled by Manafort and his former business partner Rick Gates. (CNN)
3/ Trump accused journalists of being “driven insane by their Trump Derangement Syndrome” and suggested that they are endangering American lives by revealing “internal deliberations of our government.” He charged that journalists were “very unpatriotic!” for their negative media coverage of his administration. In a tweetstorm, Trump singled out the New York Times and the Washington Post after A. G. Sulzberger – publisher of the Times – released a statement about an off-the-record meeting between the two. Sulzberger disclosed the details of the meeting after Trump “put the meeting on the record” when he tweeted about his “very good and interesting meeting” with Sulzberger. Trump claimed the two discussed “the vast amounts of Fake News being put out by the media and how that Fake News has morphed into phrase, ‘Enemy of the People.’ Sad!” (Washington Post / The Hill / New York Times)
Had a very good and interesting meeting at the White House with A.G. Sulzberger, Publisher of the New York Times. Spent much time talking about the vast amounts of Fake News being put out by the media & how that Fake News has morphed into phrase, “Enemy of the People.” Sad!
Statement of A. G. Sulzberger, Publisher, The New York Times, in Response to President Trump’s Tweet About Their Meeting (New York Times Communications)
Trump has repeatedly tried to punish journalists for how they ask him questions, directing White House staff to ban reporters from covering official events or to revoke their press credentials. (Washington Post)
4/ Trump threatened to shut down the federal government if Democrats don’t agree to sweeping changes to U.S. immigration laws and appropriate money to build his proposed border wall. “I would be willing to ‘shut down’ government if the Democrats do not give us the votes for Border Security, which includes the Wall!” Trump tweeted on Sunday. “Must get rid of Lottery, Catch and Release etc. and finally go to system of Immigration based on MERIT! We need great people coming into our Country!” Trump faced immediate words of caution from top Republican lawmakers, including the head of the National Republican Congressional Committee and the chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. (Washington Post / New York Times)
4 reasons Republicans should worry about Trump’s government shutdown threat: Republicans control all levers of government; it’s a distraction from the economy; a shutdown would occur 36 days before the midterm elections; and Trump is an unreliable negotiator. (CNN)
I would be willing to “shut down” government if the Democrats do not give us the votes for Border Security, which includes the Wall! Must get rid of Lottery, Catch & Release etc. and finally go to system of Immigration based on MERIT! We need great people coming into our Country!
5/ Top Koch officials criticized the Republican Party and the Trump administration for their “divisiveness” and “tremendous lack of leadership,” saying “this White House is causing long-term damage.” Charles Koch said he “regrets” supporting some Republicans who “say they’re going to be for these principles that we espoused and then they aren’t,” adding that the network will be “much stricter” with their financial support in the future. The Koch network still plans to spend as much as $400 million on policy issues and political campaigns during the 2018 cycle. (Washington Post / NBC News / CNN)
The Koch’s political network said it cannot support the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in North Dakota, citing Kevin Cramer’s “inconsistency” on key issues important to Americans for Prosperity, such as trade and spending. (ABC News / Washington Post)
Steve Bannon accused the Koch network of undermining Trump’s presidency ahead of the midterms, demanding that they “shut up and get with the program.” (Politico)
Notables.
The government has been secretly monitoring U.S. citizens when they fly since at least 2010 as part of a secret TSA program called “Quiet Skies.” The program targets travelers who “are not under investigation by any agency and are not in the Terrorist Screening Data Base,” but all U.S. citizens who enter the country are automatically screened for potential inclusion in the program. (Vox / Washington Post)
A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to provide detailed information by Wednesday about the location of “missing parents” the government deemed “ineligible” for reunification. As of Friday, 650 of the 2,551 migrant children separated from their families at the border remain separated because their parents have been deemed ineligible. (NBC News)
A group of 36 people representing all five of the Muslim-majority countries affected by the current travel ban are suing the Trump administration in the first lawsuit since the ban was upheld by the Supreme Court in June. The suit names Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and other government agencies as the defendants. While the suit doesn’t challenge the constitutionality of the ban, it instead asks the administration to explain how it grants waivers under the ban. (Vox)
Trump said he’s be willing to meet with Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani hours after Iran said “there will definitely not be the possibility of dialogue and engagement.” Rouhani said “the United States has shown that it is totally unreliable.” (New York Times)
Brett Kavanaugh sided with Trump Entertainment Resorts in a 2012 case that stopped a unionization drive at one of its casinos. Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court voted to ignore an order from the National Labor Relations Board that would have required the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City to bargain with the United Auto Workers. (Bloomberg)
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said she hopes to stay on the Supreme Court until the age of 90 or “about at least five more years.” (CNN)
Jeff Sessions announced that the Department of Justice is creating a “religious liberty task force” to “ensure all Justice Department components are upholding” Trump’s executive order to respect and protect religious liberty and political speech. (The Hill)
The Trump administration is considering a $100 billion tax cut to the wealthy by allowing Americans to account for inflation in determining capital gains tax liabilities. The move would bypass Congress and instead require Steven Mnuchin and the Treasury Department to change the definition of “cost” for calculating capital gains to adjust the initial value of an asset for inflation when it sells. (New York Times)
Corporate executives have been receiving “eye-popping” payouts since Trump’s new tax law went into effect and slashed the corporate tax rates to 21%. Since the tax cuts were enacted, companies have announced more than $600 billion in buybacks – doubled from the same period a year ago. (Politico)
The Treasury Department is considering lifting sanctions on a Russian company founded by one of Putin’s closest allies. Rusal’s former owner, oligarch Oleg Deripaska, was sanctioned this year by the U.S. in an attempt to punish the Kremlin for interfering in the 2016 election. Rusal was also sanctioned in April because of its ties to Deripaska. (CNN)
Trump’s golf resort in Scotland “partially destroyed” protected sand dunes. Scottish Natural Heritage acknowledged that serious damage has been done to the site, which is of special scientific interest. Locals say Trump failed to honor promises to protect the site and that the development did not justify destroying the delicate ecosystem. (The Guardian)
Trump’s Sunday Media Tweetstorm.
Had a very good and interesting meeting at the White House with A.G. Sulzberger, Publisher of the New York Times. Spent much time talking about the vast amounts of Fake News being put out by the media & how that Fake News has morphed into phrase, “Enemy of the People.” Sad!
When the media - driven insane by their Trump Derangement Syndrome - reveals internal deliberations of our government, it truly puts the lives of many, not just journalists, at risk! Very unpatriotic! Freedom of the press also comes with a responsibility to report the news...
...accurately. 90% of media coverage of my Administration is negative, despite the tremendously positive results we are achieving, it’s no surprise that confidence in the media is at an all time low! I will not allow our great country to be sold out by anti-Trump haters in the...
1/ Michael Cohen says Trump knew in advance about Trump Jr.’s meeting at Trump Tower in June 2016 with a Russian lawyer promising dirt on Hillary Clinton. Cohen doesn’t have evidence to back up his claim, but he is reportedly willing to make the assertion as part of his testimony to Robert Mueller. Cohen claims that he, along with several others, were in the room when Trump Jr. told Trump about the Russian’s offer. According to Cohen, Trump approved the meeting with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya. Cohen’s claim contradicts Trump, Trump Jr., their lawyers, and administration officials who have repeatedly said Trump didn’t know about the meeting until he was asked about it in July 2017. Trump’s response at the time was: “No. That I didn’t know. Until a couple of days ago, when I heard about this. No I didn’t know about that.” A few days later, Trump was again asked whether he knew about the meeting. His response: “No, I didn’t know anything about the meeting…. must have been a very unimportant meeting, because I never even heard about it … nobody told me.”(CNN / NBC News / Washington Post)
19 times Trump and his allies denied he knew of the 2016 Trump Tower meeting. If true, Cohen’s claim would contradict repeated denials from Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and lawyers for both, as well as other administration officials, who maintain that Trump learned about the meeting in 2017. (CNN)
Michael Cohen: “I’m not going to be a punching bag anymore.” Cohen’s actions appear to be driven by his outrage over Trump’s indifference, his feelings of betrayal, and the personal and financial weight of the criminal case being assembled by federal prosecutors. (Washington Post)
2/ Trump tweeted that he “did NOT know” in advance about Trump Jr.’s Trump Tower meeting, disputing Michael Cohen’s assertion that he did and accusing him of “trying to make up stories.” Cohen said he’s willing to testify that then-candidate Trump knew in advance about the 2016 meeting in Trump Tower. In July 2017, it was reported that Trump personally dictated Trump Jr.‘s statement about the latter’s meeting with the Russian lawyer, claiming they had “primarily discussed a program about the adoption of Russian children.” (Washington Post / CNN)
.....I did NOT know of the meeting with my son, Don jr. Sounds to me like someone is trying to make up stories in order to get himself out of an unrelated jam (Taxi cabs maybe?). He even retained Bill and Crooked Hillary’s lawyer. Gee, I wonder if they helped him make the choice!
Natalia Veselnitskaya served as a ghostwriter for top Russian government lawyers and received assistance from senior Interior Ministry personnel. In the U.S., Veselnitskaya tried to overturn the Magnitsky Act, but denied acting on behalf of Russian officials and told Congress that she operates “independently of any government bodies.” (Associated Press)
3/ Russians unsuccessfully hacked Sen. Claire McCaskill as she began her 2018 re-election campaign, making her the first known target of the Kremlin’s 2018 election interference campaign. There is no evidence that the attempt to penetrate her campaign or staff systems was successful. (Daily Beast / NPR)
4/ Accused Russian spy Maria Butina had dinner last year with Dana Rohrabacher, a California Republican congressman on the House Foreign Relations Committee. Two years earlier, Butina arranged a meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia, that included Rohrabacher and her mentor Alexander Torshin, who is one of Putin’s closest allies. Rohrabacher also met Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya during an official trip he made to Moscow in April 2016. Later that summer, Rohrabacher traveled to London to meet with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. WikiLeaks released Hillary Clinton’s hacked emails on July 22, 2016. (ABC News)
5/ Nineteen months into the Trump presidency, there is no single person or agency in charge of combatting foreign election interference. This afternoon Trump presided over the first National Security Council meeting devoted to defending American democracy from foreign manipulation. Trump has called Russian election interference a hoax and its investigation a witch hunt. (NBC News)
6/ Putin invited Trump to Moscow days after the White House postponed its plans to host the Russian president. Sarah Sanders said Trump is “open to visiting Moscow” and that “Trump looks forward to having President Putin to Washington after the first of the year.” Putin said he was ready to meet either in Washington or Moscow. (New York Times / CNN / Reuters)
Notables.
The acting EPA administrator reversed Scott Pruitt’s final policy decision to grant a loophole to pollution-emitting trucks. Andrew Wheeler formally vacated the agency’s decision not to impose a pollution cap on “glider” trucks — vehicles with older and less efficient engines installed. (New York Times)
The arrest of Stormy Daniels was planned months in advance, according to documents released by a whistleblower from the City of Columbus, who sent the Fayette Advocate emails and news clippings discussing Daniels’ scheduled appearance, as well as pictures of her with Trump and videos of her dancing. The documents also included a map of the club where she was scheduled to perform. (Newsweek / Fayette Advocate)
Trump administration issued 38 permits allowing 33 hunters to import lion trophies into the U.S. from two African nations. More than half of the individuals issued trophy hunting permits have been donors to the GOP or Trump. (HuffPost / The Hill / NPR / Friends of Animals)
Trump used a taxpayer-funded trip to campaign for Republican congressional candidates in Illinois. He didn’t name the candidates, but three Republicans were with him: Mike Bost, Rodney Davis and John Shimkus. (Washington Post)
Trump again attacked NATO and Germany and complained about the news coverage of his recent trip to Europe. He told the crowd he was tough on Russia. “One thing I know about NATO, for sure,” Trump said, “is that it’s better for Europe than it is for us.” (Independent)
Trump Jr. falsely claimed that quarterly gross domestic product never passed 2% growth under Obama. It did. 15 times. (The Hill)
1/ House Freedom Caucus leaders Jim Jordan and Mark Meadows introduced articles of impeachment against Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. “The DOJ is keeping information from Congress. Enough is enough,” Jordan said in a statement. “It’s time to hold Mr. Rosenstein accountable for blocking Congress’s constitutional oversight role.” The resolution is unlikely to pass, as top GOP lawmakers have not signed on to the effort, but it represents the strongest step that conservative allies of Trump have taken so far in their feud with Rosenstein and the Justice Department. (Politico / CNN / Washington Post)
Jim Jordan plans to run for speaker of the House of Representatives “to bring real changes to Congress.” Jordan vowed to fully repeal the Affordable Care Act, build a wall along the southern border, make the 2017 tax cuts permanent and cut federal spending to avoid large deficits if he becomes speaker. At least four Ohio State wrestlers have accused him of knowing about sexual abuse by a team doctor while he was an assistant wrestling coach at the university three decades ago. (CNN / Washington Post)
2/ Paul Ryan rejected the efforts by House conservatives to impeach Rosenstein, saying “I don’t think we should be cavalier with this process or with this term.” 11 of the 236 Republicans in the House accused Rosenstein of withholding documents and being insufficiently transparent in his handling of the Russia probe led by Robert Mueller. Ryan added that the House Republicans document request doesn’t rise to the level of “high crimes and misdemeanors” that warrant impeachment under the Constitution. (Associated Press / Vox / Washington Post / Politico)
3/ Robert Mueller is scrutinizing Trump’s tweets and negative statements about Jeff Sessions and James Comey as part of his obstruction of justice investigation. Mueller is trying to determine whether Trump’s statements and actions constitute attempts to obstruct the investigation via witness intimidation and pressuring senior law enforcement officials to impede the inquiry. Mueller also reportedly wants to question Trump about his tweets. (New York Times)
4/ A federal grand jury subpoenaed the CFO of the Trump Organization to testify as a witness in the ongoing probe into Michael Cohen’s business practices. Allen Weisselberg’s name was mentioned on the recently released audio recording of one of Cohen’s conversations with Trump from September 2016, during which the two discussed buying the rights to Karen McDougal’s story about her alleged affair with Trump. Weisselberg is a long-time financial gatekeeper for Trump, and has been working for the Trump Organization since at least the 1980s. (Wall Street Journal / CNBC / Law and Crime)
The government seized more than 100 recordings from Michael Cohen. They include conversations Cohen had with reporters and others who were discussing matters related to Trump and his businesses. Cohen made some of the recordings with an iPhone, without telling anyone he was taping them. Most of the recordings involve conversations between Cohen and reporters who asked him about Trump during and after the 2016 election. (Washington Post / The Hill)
5/ The lawyer Trump Jr. met with at Trump Tower during the campaign had worked more closely with Russian government officials than she previously let on. Natalia Veselnitskaya, who previously denied acting as a representative of Russian authorities, served as a ghostwriter for top Russian government lawyers and received assistance from senior Interior Ministry personnel. [This story is developing…] (Associated Press)
6/ The Trump administration failed to document consent in most cases where migrants were deported without their children. The new information contradicts repeated claims by the White House that migrant parents gave consent to leaving their children behind. This has been a key talking point for Trump administration officials who have defended the separations and deportations. (Politico)
7/ A multi-state lawsuit challenging the inclusion of a citizenship question on the 2020 census will be allowed to move forward in court. The suit, brought by more than two dozen states and cities and other groups, is the largest of six lawsuits arguing against the new citizenship question. In his opinion, U.S. District Court Judge Jesse Furman said the plaintiffs “plausibly allege that Secretary Ross’s decision to reinstate the citizenship question was motivated at least in part by discriminatory animus and will result in a discriminatory effect.” (NPR)
poll/ Trump’s job approval rating is below 40 percent in three politically important Midwest states: Michigan (36%), Wisconsin (36%), and Minnesota (38%). (NBC News/Marist)
Notables.
Mike Pompeo refused to provide details about what Trump discussed with Putin last week. The Secretary of State took exception to questions by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about Trump’s private one-on-one with Putin, but claimed he is “very confident that I received a comprehensive debriefing from President Trump.” (New York Times / Washington Post)
Newly disclosed emails reveal Michigan Republicans planning to gerrymander district maps to their party’s advantage, while celebrating the plight of their Democratic opponents. A federal lawsuit unearthed records that show Republicans intent on drawing boundaries that would explicitly help their party, including by packing African-Americans into a metropolitan Detroit House district. “Perfect. It’s giving the finger to Sandy Levin,” one of the Republicans wrote. “I love it.” (New York Times)
Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos proposed rolling back Obama-era loan forgiveness rules for students who were defrauded by for-profit colleges. The proposal would require that in order to receive loan forgiveness student borrowers prove that they have fallen into hopeless financial straits or prove that their college knowingly deceived them. The proposal is set to go into effect a year from now. (New York Times)
Someone untied Betsy DeVos’ 163-foot yacht and set it adrift on Lake Erie. The captain of the Seaquest called the police to report that the yacht had been untied and set adrift. By the time the police arrived, the $40-million yacht had hit a dock, causing large scratches and scrapes that are estimated to cost between $5,000 and $10,000 to repair. The yacht is one of ten boats owned by the DeVos family. (Detroit News / Toledo Blade)
The man who used a pickax to vandalize Trump’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame this week was bailed out of jail by the man who vandalized Trump’s star in 2016. Austin Clay was booked on suspicion of felony vandalism and held on $20,000 bail for the incident, but he was bailed out shortly after his arrest by James Otis, who pleaded no contest to felony vandalism charges in 2017 for a similar incident. (The Hill)
The White House banned network pool reporter Kaitlan Collins from the Rose Garden because of the questions she asked Trump during a photo op. In a statement, Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed the dis-invitation, claiming that Collins “shouted questions and refused to leave despite repeatedly being asked to do so.” Sanders continued: “To be clear, we support a free press and ask that everyone be respectful of the presidency and guests at the White House.” (CNN)
Coca-Cola Company announced that it will raise prices in response to the financial strain caused by Trump’s tariffs. Coca-Cola’s CEO said they are increasing prices due to the rising costs of delivery and metal prices after the U.S. imposed $50 billion in duties on Chinese products earlier this year. (The Hill)
The White House corrected the official transcript of Trump’s press conference with Putin in Helsinki to include a previously omitted question about whether Putin wanted Trump to win in 2016. Ten days after the press conference, the transcript has been updated to include the full question. (The Hill / CNN)
Meta: Trump used Twitter to accuse Twitter of “shadow banning” Republican voices after the social platform fixed an issue related to improving “conversation health,” which limited the reach of “troll-like behaviors.” The president vowed to spend his time to “look into” the matter he called a “discriminatory and illegal practice.” Twitter responded: “We do not ‘shadowban.’” (CNBC / Vice News)
1/ A federal judge ruled for a second time that Trump must face a lawsuit accusing him of improperly profiting from his Washington hotel. U.S. District Judge Peter Messitte denied the dismissal request. The attorneys general of Maryland and the District of Columbia claim that Trump is violating the U.S. Constitution’s foreign emoluments clause by taking payments from foreign governments at the Trump International Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue in downtown Washington. Trump faces a separate emoluments case in Washington, filed by about 200 Congressional Democrats. The administration argued last month that this case should also be dismissed. (Bloomberg / Washington Post)
2/ Michael Cohen’s lawyer leaked one of the recordings of his conversations with Trump. Trump is heard discussing how he and Cohen would buy the rights to former Playboy model Karen McDougal’s story about her alleged affair with Trump. The recording confirms that Trump had knowledge about the proposal to buy McDougal’s story and suppress it. On the tape, Cohen tells Trump “I need to open up a company for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend David,” a reference to David Pecker, the head of American Media, which publishes the National Enquirer and had paid McDougal $150,000 for the rights to her story. Trump then asked, “What do we got to pay for this? One-fifty?” Cohen confirms the amount and says it’s for “all the stuff.” Trump muses that “maybe he gets hit by a truck.” (CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / Politico)
The Trump-Michael Cohen tape transcript, annotated. Trump and Michael Cohen reportedly discussed paying for the rights to Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal’s story of an alleged affair with Trump. The story at the time belonged to the publisher of the National Enquirer, American Media Inc., and the tape provides the first evidence that Trump spoke with Cohen about purchasing the rights to women’s stories – apparently to silence them – before the 2016 election. (Washington Post)
Cohen created a shell company in September 2016 to buy the rights to Karen McDougal’s story about having an affair with Trump. Cohen created Resolution Consultants on Sept. 30, 2016, and then dissolved it on Oct. 17, 2016 – the same day he created Essential Consultants LLC, which he used pay Stormy Daniels $130,000. (Wall Street Journal)
Federal investigators are scrutinizing Cohen’s relationship with David Pecker, head of American Media, which publishes the National Enquirer. The Justice Department is examining whether American Media acted more like an extension of Trump and his campaign in their coordination to keep Karen McDougal’s account of her affair with Trump under wraps ahead of the 2016 presidential election. (Wall Street Journal)
3/ Trump tweets that it is “so sad” Cohen recorded their private conversations and suggested that the audio had been doctored to exclude the “positive things” that he was “presumably” saying. “What kind of a lawyer would tape a client?” Trump asked. “I hear there are other clients and many reporters that are taped - can this be so? Too bad!” It is unclear what other recordings Trump was referring to. Cohen has previously represented Fox News host Sean Hannity and former Republican National Committee deputy finance chair Elliott Broidy. Cohen’s lawyer confirmed that “there are certainly more tapes” of his interactions with Trump. (Politico / CNN)
What kind of a lawyer would tape a client? So sad! Is this a first, never heard of it before? Why was the tape so abruptly terminated (cut) while I was presumably saying positive things? I hear there are other clients and many reporters that are taped - can this be so? Too bad!
4/ The White House deleted a key exchange between a reporter and Putin from the official transcript and video of Trump’s recent summit with Putin in Helsinki. During the press conference in Helsinki, a Reuters reporter asks Putin, “Did you want President Trump to win the election and did you direct any of your officials to help him do that?” Putin then responds, “Yes, I did. Yes, I did. Because he talked about bringing the U.S.-Russia relationship back to normal.” The White House omitted the first part of the question, leaving only the second part in the official transcript and video. The Russian government removed the entire exchange from their official record. [Editor’s note: Apparently this was due to the audio feed switching between only the right channel and both channels. Regardless, it’s unclear why the feed switched. White House transcripts are considered the official record of the president’s comments.] (The Atlantic / MSNBC / HuffPost)
The White House will no longer publish public summaries of Trump’s phone calls with world leaders. It’s unclear if the change will be temporary or permanent. Trump has had at least two calls with foreign leaders in the last two weeks — one with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu — but he has declined to elaborate on what was said. (CNN)
5/ Trump erupted at his staff because Melania Trump’s television on Air Force One was tuned to CNN during his recent trip overseas. Trump’s standing rule is that all TVs on Air Force One should be tuned to Fox News whenever he’s on board. The incident reportedly caused “a bit of a stir” for breaking Trump’s programming rule. A spokeswoman for Melania said the first lady will watch “any channel she wants.” (New York Times / CNN)
6/ Newly disclosed government emails reveal that the Trump administration began a hard push to include a citizenship question in the 2020 census within months of Trump taking office. Steve Bannon began prodding Wilbur Ross as early as May 2017 to “talk to someone about the census.” A month later Ross started demanding that a citizenship question be added. The emails cast doubt on the administration’s initial explanation that the Justice Department requested a citizenship question to comply with the 1965 Voting Rights Act. (New York Times)
7/ Trump called the FCC “disgraceful” for raising “serious concerns” about the proposed $3.9 billion merger between Sinclair and Tribune Media. Trump called it “so sad and unfair” that the FCC didn’t approve the merger that, he says, would provide a “conservative voice for and of the People.” The merger would have created a conservative TV network that would have reached approximately 70% of U.S. households. FCC chair Ajit Pai, a Republican appointed by Trump, found Sinclair had engaged in a “lack of candor” in an attempt to skirt restrictions on media ownership. Sinclair divested key stations to allies of Sinclair, which “would allow Sinclair to control those stations in practice, even if not in name.” (Washington Post / CNN Money)
So sad and unfair that the FCC wouldn’t approve the Sinclair Broadcast merger with Tribune. This would have been a great and much needed Conservative voice for and of the People. Liberal Fake News NBC and Comcast gets approved, much bigger, but not Sinclair. Disgraceful!
poll/ 64% of Americans don’t think Trump has been tough enough on Russia. 47% of Republicans and 82% of Democrats surveyed also said Trump hasn’t been tough enough on Russia. (NPR)
poll/ Voters are divided on whether the Senate should confirm Trump’s nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. 40% say the Senate should confirm the nomination and 41% say the Senate should not confirm the nomination. (Quinnipiac)
Notables.
The Trump administration will resume risk adjustment payments to health insurers that enroll higher-risk people. The administration suspended the program, which pays billions of dollars to insurers to stabilize health insurance markets under the Affordable Care Act, less than three weeks ago. (New York Times)
Two Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee want to examine whether NRA officials knew about Russia’s attempts to contribute money to the Trump campaign through the gun rights group. The request from Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Sheldon Whitehouse come after federal authorities indicted Maria Butina last week for allegedly acting as a Kremlin agent. (The Hill)
Trump’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was vandalized. It’s at least the second time the star has been physically destroyed. (Politico)
Trump wants to put 25% tariffs on nearly $200 billion in foreign-made cars later this year. His senior economic advisers have warned him that the move could damage the economy, but he’s told advisers and Republicans to simply trust his business acumen. (Washington Post)
The U.S. and E.U. agreed to work on lowering tariffs with the Europeans agreeing to lower industrial tariffs and import more U.S. soybeans. Trump called the development a “new phase” in the relationship. (CNBC / New York Times)
Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee: “I think that Donald Trump has too much power and I think Congress needs to reassert their authority.” Rep. Jeb Hensarling disagrees with Trump’s plan to provide $12 billion in bailout relief to farmers and ranchers, saying “We have a policy now that is taxing the American consumer and then bailing out U.S. farmers with welfare.” (CNBC)
Trump’s nominee for chief counsel of the Internal Revenue Service advised the Trump Organication on a tax question several years ago. Michael Desmond counseled the Trump Organization sometime between 2008 and 2011 on “a discrete reporting matter for a subsidiary company that was resolved with no tax impact.” (Bloomberg)
Trump wants to delay his planned follow-up meeting with Putin until after the Robert Mueller investigation concludes. Yesterday, the Kremlin said it wanted the “dust to settle” on a follow-up meeting given the current “atmosphere” in Washington. (New York Times / Washington Post)
1/ The Trump administration will provide over $12 billion in emergency aid to farmers hurt by retaliatory tariffs from China and other countries in Trump’s escalating trade war. The aid package, expected to go into effect by Labor Day, provides assistance to soybean farmers, dairy farmers, pork producers, and others. Hours before the announcement, Trump tweeted that “Tariffs are the greatest!” (Washington Post / Politico / Associated Press)
Tariffs are the greatest! Either a country which has treated the United States unfairly on Trade negotiates a fair deal, or it gets hit with Tariffs. It’s as simple as that - and everybody’s talking! Remember, we are the “piggy bank” that’s being robbed. All will be Great!
How to tell if the trade war starts to hurt the economy. Early indicators include executive surveys and futures markets. If you want a dashboard for evidence of economic damage from the trade war, here’s what should be on it. (New York Times)
Trump urged farmers to “be a little patient” with his trade policies, urging people not to believe the news, because “what you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening.” (Washington Post)
2/ The Trump administration deported as many as 463 parents without their children, who were taken from them at the border. Those parents may not be eligible to be reunited with their children. The report to U.S. District Court Judge Dana Sabraw said the 463 cases do not represent the final tally of migrant parents who have been deported while their children remain inside U.S. detention centers. (Washington Post / NBC News)
3/ Trump claimed in a tweet that he is “concerned” Russia “will be pushing very hard for the Democrats” in the midterm elections, because “no President has been tougher on Russia than me.” Last week, Trump cast doubt on the U.S. intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia tried to help him get elected. Trump also told reporters “no,” he doesn’t believe Russia was still a threat. Trump capped his tweet off with “They definitely don’t want Trump!” He offered no evidence to support his claims. (Reuters / The Hill / Washington Post)
I’m very concerned that Russia will be fighting very hard to have an impact on the upcoming Election. Based on the fact that no President has been tougher on Russia than me, they will be pushing very hard for the Democrats. They definitely don’t want Trump!
Russian hackers broke into “hundreds” of secure networks owned by U.S. electric utilities, where they could have caused blackouts, according to the Department of Homeland Security. (Wall Street Journal)
4/ Trump would agree to an interview with Robert Mueller as long as there were no questions about obstruction of justice, according to Rudy Giuliani. The only questions Trump would be willing to answer, according to Giuliani, are about potential collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign. Mueller has not responded to Giuliani’s proposal. (Bloomberg)
Fake news host Alex Jones threatened that Robert Mueller is “going to get it, or I’m going to die trying, bitch” during an episode on Infowars. “It’s going to happen, we’re going to walk out in the square, politically, at high noon, and he’s going to find out whether he makes a move man, make the move first, and then it’s going to happen,” Jones said, miming a pistol with his hand. (The Hill)
Facebook said Alex Jones’ rant doesn’t violate its community guidelines. The show was live-streamed on Jones’ personal, verified Facebook page, which has nearly 1.7 million likes. Jones accused Mueller of participating in child rape and pantomimed shooting the special counsel. (BuzzFeed News)
✌️ How to delete Facebook. First, download your archive by going to “Settings,” click “Download a copy of your Facebook data” at the bottom of General Account Settings, and then click “Start My Archive.” When you’re ready to delete your account, click this link, which will take you to the account deletion page. Once you delete your account, it cannot be recovered. (The Verge)
5/ Two top Trump donors paid Rick Gates more than $300,000 for help navigating the new administration. Tom Barrack, a friend and business associate of Trump’s, paid the former Trump campaign aid $180,000 over nine months, while Elliott Broidy, a top donor for Trump, paid Gates at least $125,000 over five months. In the final months of 2017, Michael Cohen arranged a $1.6 million payment to silence a former Playboy model who became pregnant during an affair with Broidy. Gates also received nearly $37,000 from the Trump campaign leading up to the election for “strategic consulting,” despite been a volunteer. The campaign later claimed the payment was reimbursement for “travel, meals and other appropriate expenses.” Gates pleaded guilty in February to financial fraud and lying to investigators, and is cooperating with Robert Mueller’s investigation. (New York Times)
Robert Mueller plans to call witnesses from the IRS, FBI and the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network in Paul Manafort’s trial. The trial on bank and tax fraud begins July 31st. (Politico)
6/ Richard Burr: There were “sound reasons” for the FISA court to approve surveillance on Carter Page. The Senate Intelligence Committee chairman’s comments put him at odds with House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, who spearheaded the memo on FISA abuses. (CNN)
The Kremlin wants to “let the dust settle” before accepting Trump’s invitation to hold a summit with Putin in Washington later this year. (Reuters)
poll/ 47% of Americans have an unfavorable view of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, while 44% have a favorable view. 72% of Republicans view ICE favorably, while 72% of Democrats view ICE unfavorably. (Pew)
poll/ 71% of voters believe Roe v. Wade should not be overturned, while 23% say the ruling should be reversed – the highest level of support for the decision in the poll’s history, which dates back to 2005. 88% of Democrats, 76% of independents and 52% of Republicans support the ruling. (NBC News)
poll/ 51% of Americans believe that Russia has compromising information on Trump. 35% of voters don’t believe Moscow has compromising information on the president. Among Republicans, 70% don’t believe there is compromising information. 52% of voters say Trump’s summit with Putin in Helsinki was a failure for the U.S., with 73% saying it was a success for Russia. (Quinnipiac)
poll/ 58% of voters disapprove of the job Trump is doing with 38% of voters approving. 82% of Republicans and 72% of white evangelical Christians approve. (Quinnipiac)
Notables.
High school students broke out into a “lock her up” chant while Jeff Sessions was addressing a student leadership summit. The top law enforcement officer in the country stopped, chuckled, and repeated the words “lock her up.” (CNN)
A federal appeals court upheld the right to openly carry a gun in public for self-defense – the sixth U.S. circuit court to interpret the Second Amendment this way. (Reuters)
An unofficial shortlist of possible replacements for Sarah Huckabee Sanders is starting to emerge, although she says she has no plans to step down. At the top of the list is former Fox News host Heather Nauert, who is the current State Department spokeswoman. (Politico)
Paul Ryan on Trump’s threat to revoke security clearances of former top officials who have criticized him: He’s just “trolling people.” (Washington Post)
Ivanka Trump will close her fashion brand due to frustration with restrictions required to avoid conflicts of interest while she is serving in the White House. (Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / New York Times)
States purged almost 16 million voters from the rolls between 2014 and 2016 – four million more voters than removed from 2006 to 2008. (Brennan Center for Justice / ABC News)
1/ The Justice Department released a previously classified application to wiretap Carter Page, which shows that “the FBI believes Page has been the subject of targeted recruitment by the Russian government” to “undermine and influence the outcome of the 2016 U.S. presidential election.” According to the October 2016 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act application, the FBI believed “the Russian government’s efforts are being coordinated with Page and perhaps other individuals associated” with the Trump campaign to establish “relationships with Russian government officials, including Russian intelligence officers.” The application says that Page “has been collaborating and conspiring with the Russian government.” (New York Times / Washington Post / ABC News)
Looking more & more like the Trump Campaign for President was illegally being spied upon (surveillance) for the political gain of Crooked Hillary Clinton and the DNC. Ask her how that worked out - she did better with Crazy Bernie. Republicans must get tough now. An illegal Scam!
2/ Trump – providing no evidence – claimed the released documents prove the Justice Department and FBI “misled the Court” as a “pretext to SPY on the Trump Team.” Trump, dismissing the claims in the FISA application, charged that it shows his campaign “was illegally being spied upon (surveillance) for the political gain of Crooked Hillary Clinton and the DNC.” (New York Times)
“It was classified to cover up misconduct by the FBI and the Justice Department in misleading the Court by using this Dossier in a dishonest way to gain a warrant to target the Trump Team. This is a Clinton Campaign document. It was a fraud and a hoax designed to target Trump....
....and the DOJ, FBI and Obama Gang need to be held to account. Source #1 was the major source. Avoided talking about it being the Clinton campaign behind it. Misled the Court to provide a pretext to SPY on the Trump Team. Not about Carter Page..was all about getting Trump.....
.....”Carter Page wasn’t a spy, wasn’t an agent of the Russians - he would have cooperated with the FBI. It was a fraud and a hoax designed to target Trump.” Tom Fitton @JudicialWatch A disgrace to America. They should drop the discredited Mueller Witch Hunt now!
3/ Trump tweeted that Russia’s interference in the 2016 election was “all a big hoax,” again reversing his position on whether he believes the U.S. intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia interfered in the election. Instead, Trump deflected and placed blame on Obama, asking: “Why didn’t he do something about it? Why didn’t he tell our campaign?” Answering his own questions, Trump posited that it was because Obama “thought Crooked Hillary was going to win!!!” (Washington Post)
4/ Trump renewed his call to end the Robert Mueller investigation, tweet-claiming that it’s “totally conflicted and discredited.” Trump cited the release of the FISA application to wiretap Carter Page, who was under suspicion by the FBI of being a Russian agent, as evidence that the investigation is both “a fraud and a hoax.” (Politico / Washington Post)
“It was classified to cover up misconduct by the FBI and the Justice Department in misleading the Court by using this Dossier in a dishonest way to gain a warrant to target the Trump Team. This is a Clinton Campaign document. It was a fraud and a hoax designed to target Trump....
So we now find out that it was indeed the unverified and Fake Dirty Dossier, that was paid for by Crooked Hillary Clinton and the DNC, that was knowingly & falsely submitted to FISA and which was responsible for starting the totally conflicted and discredited Mueller Witch Hunt!
5/ Carter Page acknowledged working as “an informal adviser to the staff of the Kremlin” in a 2013 letter. On Sunday, Page said “there may have been a loose conversation” with Russian officials,” but dismissed allegations that he was a Russian agent as “spin,” a “ridiculous smear campaign” and “literally a complete joke.” (Politico)
6/ A federal judge granted immunity to five witnesses expected to testify in the Paul Manafort trial. Judge T. S. Ellis approved Robert Mueller’s request and ordered that the names of the five prospective witnesses be made public, as well as the names of all 30 prospective witnesses for the trial. The trial was delayed until July 31. (ABC News / CNBC / CNN / Washington Post)
7/ Russia’s foreign minister told Mike Pompeo that the charges against Maria Butina were “fabricated” and she should be released. Butina was charged in federal court last week of acting as a Russian agent “for the purpose of advancing the interests of the Russian federation.” Butina told the Senate Intelligence Committee in April that she received financial support from Konstantin Nikolaev, a Russian billionaire “with deep ties to the Russian Presidential Administration.” While Nikolaev has never met Trump, his son, who is studying in the U.S., volunteered for Trump’s 2016 campaign and was spotted at the Trump International Hotel in Washington during the inauguration. (New York Times / Washington Post)
The Senate Intelligence Committee last year requested details on any financial transactions by Maria Butina and Alexander Torshin that banks deemed to be “suspicious” or “derogatory.” (BuzzFeed News)
8/ In an all-caps tweet, Trump threatened Iran with “CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED.” The tweet was in response to a speech by President Hassan Rouhani, who warned the U.S. that any conflict with Iran would result in the “mother of all wars.” Trump responded, informing Rouhani to “NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN” and to “BE CAUTIOUS!” (New York Times)
To Iranian President Rouhani: NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE. WE ARE NO LONGER A COUNTRY THAT WILL STAND FOR YOUR DEMENTED WORDS OF VIOLENCE & DEATH. BE CAUTIOUS!
poll/ 50% of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of his meeting with Putin, while 33% approve. (Washington Post)
poll/ 52% of voters disapprove of Trump while 45% approve. Among Republican voters, 88% approve of Trump – the highest of his presidency. (NBC News)
poll/ 56% of voters disapprove of Trump’s doubting the U.S. intelligence community’s conclusions that Russia tried to influence the 2016 election. 29% approve. (ABC News)
Notables.
Trump suggested that Michael Cohen could face consequences for recording a discussion they had two months before the 2016 election about paying a former Playboy model who said she had an affair with Trump. Trump tweeted that it’s “inconceivable that a lawyer would tape a client,” calling it both “totally unheard of and perhaps illegal.” New York state law allows one party to a conversation to tape it without the other knowing. Trump added: “The good news is that your favorite president did nothing wrong!”(New York Times)
Trump’s lawyers waived his attorney-client privilege regarding the taped conversation he had with Michael Cohen in September 2016, in which they discussed payments to an ex-Playboy model. (CNN)
At least 12 audio tapes from Cohen were released to federal prosecutors. The tapes were seized by the FBI in the raids on Cohen’s home and office in April. The Justice Department is considering whether the payments to Karen McDougal violated federal campaign finance laws. (The Guardian / Politico / The Hill)
Robert Mueller wants to subpoena Kristin Davis, the former prostitution mogul who went to prison after being linked to former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer. When Davis ran for New York governor in 2010, her campaign manager was Andrew Miller, who was subpoenaed by Mueller a month ago. Roger Stone worked for her campaign pro bono. Miller is also a former Stone aide. (TMZ / New York Times)
Brett Kavanaugh suggested several years ago that the unanimous SCOTUS decision that forced Richard Nixon to turn over the Watergate tapes may have been wrongly decided. In a 1999 transcript, Kavanaugh asked, “Should U.S. v. Nixon be overruled on the ground that the case was a nonjusticiable intrabranch dispute? Maybe so.” He also said, “Nixon took away the power of the president to control information in the executive branch by holding that the courts had power and jurisdiction to order the president to disclose information in response to a subpoena sought by a subordinate executive branch official.” (Associated Press)
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke dismissed the benefits of national monuments, instead focusing on the value of logging, ranching and energy development that could be unlocked if their designations were changed. In April, President Trump signed an executive order instructing Zinke to review 27 national monuments established over a period of 21 years. (Washington Post)
John Kelly signed off on an effort to remove three officials loyal to Scott Pruitt after the EPA secretary resigned earlier this month. The White House removed the trio, in what one administration official described as a “purge.” (Daily Beast)
Trump has complained privately about the lack of progress on North Korea, despite publicly declaring that the country is no longer a nuclear threat and that the crisis had been “largely solved.” North Koreans have canceled meetings, asked for more money, failed to maintain communication, and haven’t demolished a missile-engine testing facility that Trump promised would be destroyed. (Washington Post)
Trump is considering revoking the security clearances of James Comey, former CIA Director John Brennan, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and other Obama-era national security officials who have criticized him. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump believed that the former officials “politicized” their positions by accusing him of inappropriate contact with Russia. (Bloomberg / Politico)
1/ Michael Cohen recorded a conversation with Trump two months before the presidential election in which they discussed payments to Karen McDougal, the former Playboy model who had an affair with Trump. In the September 2016 conversation at Trump Tower, Cohen told Trump that American Media Inc., the publisher of the National Enquirer, had bought the rights to McDougal’s story about her affair with Trump for for $150,000 in August 2016. Cohen suggested that they acquire the rights to McDougal’s story themselves and Trump asked how to proceed and whether he should write a check. The FBI seized the recording during the raid on Cohen’s office. Rudy Giuliani confirmed that Trump had discussed the payments with Cohen on the tape, but said the payment was ultimately never made. Prosecutors want to know if Cohen’s efforts to limit negative stories about Trump during the campaign violated federal campaign finance laws. When informed about the recording today, Trump responded: “I can’t believe Michael would do this to me.” (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / CNN)
⏪ WTF REWIND:
Four days before the 2016 election, it was first reported that the company that owns the National Enquirer had paid McDougal $150,000 for her story about a Trump affair a decade ago, but then didn’t publish the story – effectively silencing McDougal for the remainder of the campaign. At the time, Hope Hicks said of the agreement, “We have no knowledge of any of this,” adding that McDougal’s claim that she had an affair with Trump was “totally untrue.” (Wall Street Journal)
2/ The FBI reopened the Hillary Clinton email investigation 11 days before the election because they were focused on investigating the Trump campaign’s connections to Russia, according to the report of the Justice Department’s inspector general. In late September 2016, FBI agents learned about a new batch of Clinton emails from the laptop of former congressman Anthony Weiner, who was under investigation for sexting a minor and was married at the time to Clinton aide Huma Abedin. The bureau was evidently overwhelmed with the urgency of the Trump-Russia investigation so that management lapses and communication breakdowns caused a monthlong delay in looking into the new Clinton emails. Nine days after announcing he was reopening the probe, James Comey said the FBI found nothing in the new emails to change the original July decision against bringing charges. (The Intercept)
3/ The Justice Department will alert American companies, private organizations, and individuals when they are being targeted by foreign actors attempting to affect elections or the political process. “Exposing schemes to the public is an important way to neutralize them,” Rod Rosenstein said. “The American people have a right to know if foreign governments are targeting them with propaganda.” (Washington Post / USA Today)
4/ The Trump administration has reunited 364 of the 2,500+ children who were separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. The administration has a week left before the court-imposed deadline to reunite the families. Of the 1,607 parents eligible for reunification, 719 have received final orders of deportation, meaning they could be deported as soon as they are reunited with their children. (NBC News)
Notables.
Trump: “I’m ready to go to $500” billion in tariffs on Chinese goods. “I’m not doing this for politics, I’m doing this to do the right thing for our country,” Trump claimed. “We have been ripped off by China for a long time.” So far, the U.S. has imposed tariffs on $34 billion worth of Chinese products, to which China has responded with tariffs of their own. (CNBC)
Republican lawmakers backed down from reinstating sanctions on Chinese telecom firm ZTE, allowing Trump’s personal favor to Chinese President Xi Jinping to remain in place. ZTE was found guilty in 2016 of violating American sanctions on Iran and North Korea. (Bloomberg / Reuters / New York Times)
The Department of Defense estimated that between 5,000 to 7,000 service members could march in Trump’s military parade, scheduled for Saturday, November 10. (ABC News)
Starting August 1, Americans can legally download plans for 3-D printable guns. These “ghost guns” don’t have serial numbers and are untraceable. (CNN)
A Russian company cited a decision by Trump’s Supreme Court nominee arguing that the charges against the firm should be thrown out. The ruling by Brett Kavanaugh prohibited foreigners from contributing to candidates or political parties, but it did not rule out donations or expenditures on independent advocacy campaigns. Concord Management and Consulting is one of 16 Russian individuals or companies indicted by Robert Mueller. It is charged with paying $1.25 million a month to the Internet Research Agency to interfere with the 2016 election. (Washington Post)
Mitch McConnell threatened to delay Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation vote until just before the midterms to keep vulnerable red-state Democrats off the campaign trail if Democrats keep pushing for access to related documents. (Politico)
Scott Pruitt’s staff tried to protect him from formaldehyde exposure while he was suppressing the release of a report on the health dangers from the same chemical. Staff at the EPA arranged for Pruitt’s new office desk to be aired out in a warehouse so he wouldn’t have to breathe in any of the carcinogenic chemical. (Politico)
Week in Review:
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein revealed indictments against 12 Russians for the hacks of the Democratic National Committee, and we learned that Russian hackers went after Hillary Clinton’s private office for the first time on the very day Trump said, “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing.” At the NATO summit in Brussels, Trump attacked a close European ally—Germany—and generally questioned the value of the alliance. Next, he visited the United Kingdom and trashed Prime Minister Theresa May. Then, in Helsinki, he met with Vladimir Putin privately for two hours, with no U.S. officials present other than a translator. After this suspicious meeting, he sang the Russian strongman’s praises at a news conference at which he said he viewed Putin’s denials on a par with the unanimous and unchallenged conclusions of America’s intelligence agencies. (Politico)
1/ Two weeks before his inauguration, Trump was briefed that Putin had personally ordered the cyberattacks to influence the 2016 election. The intelligence briefing included texts and emails from Russian military officers, as well as evidence from a source close to Putin, who had described how the Kremlin executed the hacking and disinformation campaign. After flip-flopping on whether he believed Putin’s denial that Russia interfered in the election, Trump indirectly blamed Putin for meddling, “because he’s in charge of the country.” (New York Times)
A Senate Republican blocked passage of a non-binding, bipartisan resolution backing the U.S. intelligence community’s assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election. Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn called the resolution “purely a symbolic act,” sinking the effort to pass the resolution by unanimous consent. (The Hill / CNN)
2/ Trump now “disagrees” with Putin’s “incredible offer” to allow Moscow to interrogate 11 Americans in exchange for access to the 12 Russian military intelligence officers indicted for their role in trying to sabotage the 2016 election, according to Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Yesterday, the White House said Trump was entertaining Putin’s proposal to swap officials for questioning, calling it “an interesting idea,” which prompted a backlash from both Republicans and Democrats. It took Trump three days to come this conclusion. (Washington Post / New York Times / Reuters)
The Senate unanimously approved a non-binding, bipartisan resolution warning Trump not to honor Putin’s request to let the Russian government question American diplomats and other officials. (Axios / The Hill)
3/ Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. claimed Trump and Putin had reached several “important verbal agreements” on issues in the Middle East and nuclear proliferation. Senior U.S. military leaders, however, have little to no information about what the two leaders discussed or agreed to. (Washington Post / The Guardian)
4/ Trump invited Putin to visit the White House this fall for a second summit despite his advisers struggling to ascertain what Trump and Putin agreed to. Earlier in the day, Trump tweeted that he is already looking “forward to our second meeting so we can start implementing some of the many things discussed.” Sarah Huckabee Sanders then tweeted that Trump had asked National Security Adviser John Bolton to invite Putin, adding, the “discussions are already underway.” (New York Times / Bloomberg / Associated Press)
The Summit with Russia was a great success, except with the real enemy of the people, the Fake News Media. I look forward to our second meeting so that we can start implementing some of the many things discussed, including stopping terrorism, security for Israel, nuclear........
....proliferation, cyber attacks, trade, Ukraine, Middle East peace, North Korea and more. There are many answers, some easy and some hard, to these problems...but they can ALL be solved!
In Helsinki, @POTUS agreed to ongoing working level dialogue between the two security council staffs. President Trump asked @Ambjohnbolton to invite President Putin to Washington in the fall and those discussions are already underway.
— Kayleigh McEnany 45 Archived (@PressSec45) July 19, 2018
5/ Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee blocked an attempt to subpoena the interpreter who sat in on Trump’s one-on-one meeting with Putin. Chairman Devin Nunes ruled that Adam Schiff’s motion was out of order. (Politico / ABC News / The Hill)
6/ FBI Director Christopher Wray: Russia is the “most aggressive actor” in election interference and is “very active” at “sowing discord and divisiveness in this country.” Wray added: “My view has not changed, which is that Russia attempted to interfere with the last election and that it continues to engage in malign influence operations to this day.” (CNN / NBC News / The Hill)
Sean Spicer contradicted Trump’s claim that the Robert Mueller investigation is a witch hunt, saying that “I see no evidence that it is” and that “I think it’s very important to be clear that Russia meddled in our election and there’s no evidence of collusion.” (NBC News)
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen claimed she hasn’t “seen evidence” that Russia tried to swing the 2016 election in Trump’s favor. DHS later clarified her comments, saying she “agrees with” the U.S. intelligence agencies’ conclusions that Russia tampered with the election. (HuffPost)
“I haven’t seen any evidence that the attempts to interfere in our election infrastructure was to favor Trump,” DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen says, contradicting U.S. intelligence findings #tictocnewspic.twitter.com/wlgl3MOzms
7/ New York State is investigating whether the Trump Foundation violated state tax laws. The investigation by the Department of Taxation and Finance will focus on some of the same issues as the New York attorney general’s lawsuit: campaign finance violations, self-dealing, and illegal coordination with the Trump campaign. If the investigation finds possible criminal activity, it could refer the findings to the state attorney general or to a district attorney. Trump’s tax returns could possibly be revealed as part of a criminal investigation. (New York Times / Reuters)
poll/ 79% of Republicans approve of the way Trump handled his press conference with Putin while 7% of Democrats of approve. Overall, 40% of Americans approve of Trump’s performance. (Axios)
poll/ 70% of Americans believe the U.S. intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia interfered in the 2016 elections. And 61% are very or somewhat concerned about Russia interfering in the 2018 elections. (CBS News)
Notables.
Robert Mueller released an itemized list of more than 500 pieces of evidence prosecutors are considering using against Paul Manafort, who has been charged with a number of financial crimes, including bank fraud and money laundering. Prosecutors are using the items to demonstrate expensive purchases Manafort made with money he attempted to hide from U.S. authorities after working for pro-Russia political parties in Ukraine. (Politico / The Hill)
The Interior Department’s internal watchdog is investigating whether Ryan Zinke violated conflict of interest laws for his role in a real estate deal with Halliburton chairman David Lesar. (Reuters / Politico)
The Trump administration plans to strip the Endangered Species Act of provisions that extend protections to species in decline regardless of whether they are listed as endangered or threatened. (Washington Post)
The White House withdrew the nomination of Ryan Bounds to serve on the 9th Circuit appeals court after Republicans realized they didn’t have the votes needed. As an undergraduate at Stanford, Bounds ridiculed multiculturalism and groups concerned with racial issues. (Politico / Washington Post)
Trump criticized the Federal Reserve for raising interest rates, saying he was “not thrilled” by the rate hikes, which he argues will put the U.S. at a “disadvantage” and implied that the moves could hurt his efforts to increase economic growth. (CNBC / New York Times)
Devin Nunes spent nearly $15,000 in political donations on Boston Celtics tickets, winery tours, and trips to Las Vegas. All charges were listed as fundraising expenses. (McClatchy DC)
1/ Trump said “no,” he does not believe Russia is still targeting the U.S. with efforts to undermine American democracy, contradicting his director of national intelligence. Last week, Dan Coats said that “the digital infrastructure that serves this country is literally under attack.” And, in particular, Russia is the “most aggressive foreign actor, no question. And they continue their efforts to undermine our democracy.” Coats described Russia as one of the “worst offenders.” Sarah Sanders said the Russian “threat still exists” and that Trump was saying “no” to answering more questions. Intelligence officials in the U.S. and U.K. also believe Russia is planning to ramp up digital operations targeting western countries now that the World Cup and the Trump-Putin Helsinki summit have ended. (Reuters / CNN / New York Times / Los Angeles Times)
Trump claimed he told Putin “we can’t have meddling” when they met and that he believes it’s “true” that Russia tampered with the 2016 presidential election and that he “would” hold Putin personally responsible for future interference. [Editor’s note: I bet.] (CBS News)
2/ Trump defended his summit with Putin, tweeting that “people at the higher ends of intelligence loved my press conference performance in Helsinki.” The claim comes less than 24 hours after Trump attempted to backtrack and spin his statements that he mispoke and meant to say “I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be Russia” that interfered in the election. Trump promised “big results” and “many positive things.” (Washington Post / New York Times)
So many people at the higher ends of intelligence loved my press conference performance in Helsinki. Putin and I discussed many important subjects at our earlier meeting. We got along well which truly bothered many haters who wanted to see a boxing match. Big results will come!
Trump crossed out a line about bringing those responsible for election hacking to justice in his statement correcting his remarks during his press conference with Putin. Trump prepared four pages of handwritten notes for his meeting with congressional leaders yesterday, part of which read “I have on numerous occasions noted our intelligence findings that Russians attempted to interfere in our elections. A̶n̶y̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶i̶n̶v̶o̶l̶v̶e̶d̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶m̶e̶d̶d̶l̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶j̶u̶s̶t̶i̶c̶e̶.” Trump used a black marker to cross out the part about bringing the hackers to justice. (Washington Post)
European newspapers described Trump as “weak,” a “poodle,” and a “stooge” following his summit with Putin. (ABC News)
Putin also claimed he misspoke about his claim that Hillary Clinton’s campaign had received $400 million in donations from investors accused of tax evasion in Russia. According to the Russian government, Putin “meant” to say that U.S.-born investor William Browder had donated $400,000 to Clinton’s campaign, which also appears to be inflated. (The Intercept)
3/ The woman charged with secretly acting as a Russian intelligence official offered “sex in exchange” for influence at “a special interest organization” the FBI referred to as a “gun rights organization.” Prosecutors argue that Butina “engaged in a yearslong conspiracy to work covertly in the U.S. as an undeclared agent of the Russian federation to advance the interests of her home country.” Her actions are believed to have been directed by Alexander Torshin, one of Putin’s closest allies, who the U.S. sanctioned in April. Butina and Torshin were also frequent attendees at NRA conventions. Butina is believed to have “cohabited and been involved in a personal relationship” with an unnamed U.S. person for the purpose of developing an influence operation. Her partner is believed to be Paul Erickson, a conservative activist and NRA member from South Dakota. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / ABC News / Washington Post)
A federal magistrate judge ordered that Maria Butina must be jailed ahead of her trial after prosecutors argued she was “an extreme risk of flight” and should be held without bond during her appearance in federal court. Prosecutors said she was ready to move out out of the country, had her boxes packed, terminated her lease, and wired money from her bank account back to Russia. (NPR / New York Times)
The Justice Department added a second charge against Russian national Maria Butina of acting as an unregistered foreign agent of the Kremlin since at least 2015. Butina was charged on Monday with conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government. Butina was arrested on Sunday because she appeared to have plans to flee the U.S. (Politico / Washington Post)
4/ Democrats want the interpreter from Trump’s private meeting with Putin to testify before Congress. “I’m calling for a hearing with the U.S. interpreter who was present during President Trump’s meeting with Putin to uncover what they discussed privately,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen tweeted. Rep. Joe Kennedy echoed Shaheen’s calls: “And that was only what we saw on live TV. @realDonaldTrump’s translator should come before Congress and testify as to what was said privately immediately.” (CNN / HuffPost)
5/ Trump questioned why NATO should come to the defense of smaller alliance members like Montenegro if it came under attack. “Montenegro is a tiny country with very strong people,” Trump said when asked whether the U.S. would come to the country’s defense. “They’re very aggressive people. They may get aggressive, and congratulations you’re in World War III.” The only time NATO invoked Article Five – an “armed attack” on one member “shall be considered an attack against them all” – was after the U.S. was attacked on 9/11. (NBC News / CNN / Washington Post)
poll/ 71% of Republicans approve of Trump’s handling of Russia following his Helsinki summit with Putin, compared to 14% of Democrats. Overall, 55% of voters disapproved of Trump’s handling of relations with Russia while 37% approved. (Reuters)
poll/ 68% of Americans consider Russia either unfriendly or an enemy of the U.S., a 9% increase from last year (59%). (NBC News / SurveyMonkey)
poll/ 54% of voters from 48 Republican-held congressional districts said Republicans are “more corrupt” than Democrats, compared with 46% who said Democrats are “more corrupt.” (Politico)
poll/ 41% of adults overall think the Senate should confirm Trump’s Supreme Court pick while 36% opposed it. 71% of Republicans, meanwhile, support the confirmation compared to 17% of Democrats. (Politico)
poll/ 28% of young adults ages 18 to 34 say they are “absolutely certain” that they’ll vote in midterms, compared to 74% of seniors. (Vox)
Notables.
The Democratic National Committee has been trying and failing for months to notify Jared Kushner that it is suing him and others for allegedly colluding with the Russians to meddle in the 2016 election. The Secret Service has turned away DNC lawyers. (Bloomberg / Talking Points Memo)
A federal judge denied Paul Manafort’s request to suppress evidence seized by the FBI from his home as part of Robert Mueller’s ongoing Russia probe. Manafort’s lawyers claimed the search warrant was overly broad and unconstitutional. (Reuters)
Lawyers for a former Roger Stone associate and at least five prosecutors from Mueller’s office spent almost 90 minutes in a sealed court proceeding. It is not clear what Wednesday’s closed-door proceeding were about, but Andrew Miller’s attorneys have been fighting a grand jury subpoena. (Talking Points Memo / CNN)
Trump loyalists at the Department of Veterans Affairs are trying to purge or reassign staff perceived to be disloyal to Trump ahead of the confirmation of Robert Wilkie. More than a dozen career civil servants have been moved from the leadership group at VA headquarters and reassigned to lower-visibility roles. (Washington Post)
Two American conservatives helped launch the Macedonia pro-Trump “fake news” websites sites in 2016 that used spammy misinformation techniques go viral on social media. (BuzzFeed News)
Cambridge Analytica’s Facebook data set was accessed from Russia. Cambridge Analytica had gathered data on tens of millions of Americans. (CNN Money)
Eric and Trump Jr. cost taxpayers nearly $250,000 in Secret Service protection for two business trips. In February 2017, the two traveled together to Dubai to open a golf club under the Trump brand. Eric also traveled to the Dominican Republic in February 2017 to potentially relaunch a Trump resort. (Politico)
Trump’s military parade will cost nearly as much as the “tremendously expensive” canceled military exercises with South Korea that Trump once said cost “a fortune.” The parade is expected to cost approximately $12 million. (CNN)
Until today, the “daily” White House press briefing has been held only three times in the past 30 days: on June 18, June 25, and July 2. (CNN Money)
1/ Trump backtracked and tried to spin his Helsinki summit comments. Reading from prepared remarks, Trump claimed he misspoke yesterday and meant to say “I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be Russia” that interfered in the election. Trump also said “I accept” the intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia meddled in the 2016 election, but it “could be other people also.” Trump asserted that “Russia’s actions had no impact at all” on the election outcome. During yesterday’s news conference, Trump said he doesn’t “see any reason” why Russia would have meddled during the last election. Prior to that, Trump blamed the U.S. for acting with “foolishness and stupidity” toward Russia in the past. Trump also rejected the consensus of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election. Instead, Trump said he believed Putin’s denial. (Bloomberg / CNBC / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Washington Post)
The top voting machine maker admitted to installing remote-access software on election-management systems from 2000 to 2006 it sold in the U.S. In a letter sent to Sen. Ron Wyden in April 2018, Election Systems and Software admitted that it had “provided pcAnywhere remote connection software … to a small number of customers between 2000 and 2006.” The statement contradicts previous claims by the company in February that “none of the employees, … including long-tenured employees, has any knowledge that our voting systems have ever been sold with remote-access software.” (Motherboard)
2/ Trump tweeted that his meeting with Putin was “even better” than his “great meeting with NATO” allies while blaming the media for being “rude” and “going Crazy!” (Washington Post / Bloomberg / Reuters)
I had a great meeting with NATO. They have paid $33 Billion more and will pay hundreds of Billions of Dollars more in the future, only because of me. NATO was weak, but now it is strong again (bad for Russia). The media only says I was rude to leaders, never mentions the money!
While I had a great meeting with NATO, raising vast amounts of money, I had an even better meeting with Vladimir Putin of Russia. Sadly, it is not being reported that way - the Fake News is going Crazy!
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer called on Republicans to “immediately” convene a public hearing and “demand testimony” from Trump’s national security team “to assess what President Trump might have committed to President Putin in secret.” (CNN / The Hill)
Mitch McConnell suggested the Senate might move forward on new sanctions against Russia following Trump’s meeting with Putin. (Politico)
Paul Ryan would consider additional sanctions on Russia, saying that “Russia is a menacing government that does not share our interests and it does not share our values.” (Reuters)
A Southeast Ohio county GOP chairman resigned in protest over Trump’s meeting and press conference with Putin. Chris Gagin announced his resignation on Twitter: “I remain a proud conservative and Republican, but I resigned today as Belmont Co Ohio GOP Chairman. I did so as a matter of conscience, and my sense of duty.” (Newsweek)
Protests erupted outside the White House as Trump returned from Helsinki, with dozens of demonstrators chanting “Traitor! Traitor!” until late into the night. The impromptu protest was dubbed #OccupyLafayettePark, and some protesters say they plan to remain outside the White House until Trump resigns. (The Hill)
3/ Obama on Trump: “Those in power seek to undermine every institution or norm that gives democracy meaning.” Obama, delivering the 2018 Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture in Johannesburg, warned that “strongman politics are ascending suddenly, whereby elections, some pretense of democracy, are maintained, the form of it.” He added that these are “strange and uncertain” times. (ABC News / The Hill)
4/ The U.S. Treasury will no longer require nonprofits like the NRA, Koch network’s Americans for Prosperity, and Planned Parenthood to identify their financial donors to the IRS. Super PACS and other 501(c)(4) organizations will no longer have to provide the IRS with the names of donors who give them $5,000 or more. Critics said the measure increases the likelihood of illegal donations of “dark money” from both domestic and foreign contributors. (Reuters / New York Times / CNN)
5/ Robert Mueller requested immunity for five potential witnesses in Paul Manafort’s trial on charges of bank fraud, conspiracy to commit bank fraud, and tax crimes that is due to begin July 25 in Alexandria, Virginia. Mueller didn’t identify the witnesses, but said the five would invoke their constitutional right against self-incrimination and remain silent unless Judge T.S. Ellis III grants them immunity. (CNBC / Bloomberg / Washington Post)
[Speculation] Several legal experts think Manafort could be cutting a plea deal after the judge overseeing the federal court case delayed a hearing to discuss postponing the trial and moving the venue. According to court documents, no party had submitted a request for such a delay. (Law and Crime / Politico)
Notables.
The 20-foot-tall inflatable “Trump Baby” blimp is coming to America for a nationwide tour starting in August. (NBC News)
Trump plans to give Air Force One a “red, white, and blue” makeover after negotiating a $3.9 billion “fixed price contract” with Boeing for the planes. The current baby blue color scheme dates back to John F. Kennedy. (CBS News)
The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem will cost almost 100 times more than Trump claimed in March. “They put an order in front of my desk last week for $1 billion,” Trump claimed at the time, “We’re actually doing it for about $250,000, so check that out.” But a Maryland construction firm has now been awarded a $21.2 million contract to design and build “compound security upgrades” at the embassy. (Newsweek)
The federal government spent more than $65,000 at Trump’s Turnberry golf club and resort in Scotland during his visit to the UK. (The Scotsman)
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said there’s “a rising chorus of concern” from business over Trump’s tariffs and that “countries that have gone in a more protectionist direction have done worse.” (CNBC)
The White House’s mid-year budget projections see the federal deficit crossing $1 trillion in 2019. Previous estimates from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office forecasted the deficit to near $1 trillion in 2019, but not pass it until 2020. (The Hill)
1/ Trump rejected the consensus of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election, saying he doesn’t “see any reason why” Russia would have interfered, and that Putin “was extremely strong and powerful” in denying it during their summit in Helsinki. Trump’s refusal to condemn Moscow clashed with the conclusions of U.S. intelligence agencies, and comes days after the Justice Department indicted 12 Russian intelligence agents for hacking the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in an attempt to help Trump. Putin confirmed the he wanted Trump to win the election. Prior to the summit, Trump blamed “U.S. foolishness and stupidity” for poor Russian relations. The Russian foreign ministry responded to Trump’s tweet with “We agree.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Reuters / Politico)
Our relationship with Russia has NEVER been worse thanks to many years of U.S. foolishness and stupidity and now, the Rigged Witch Hunt!
Trump said he never thought of asking Putin to extradite the 12 Russian intelligence agents charged with hacking Democratic emails. Instead, he blamed blaming Democrats for “bad defenses” and for getting hacked during the 2016 campaign. (Washington Post)
Shortly before the summit with Putin began, Trump removed a senior official who is hawkish on Russia and supportive of NATO from his National Security Council. The circumstances surrounding retired Army Col. Richard Hooker’s departure from the NSC on June 29 remain in dispute. It’s not clear whether he was fired or whether his term was simply over. (Daily Beast)
Hannity will interview Trump following his summit with Putin, and their discussion will air Monday night of Fox News. Trump will also sit down with Tucker Carlson, which will air on his show Tuesday night. (The Hill / Fox News)
WTF Rewind:
2/ Dan Coats: “We have been clear in our assessments of Russian meddling in the 2016 election,” saying the intelligence community “will continue to provide unvarnished and objective intelligence in support of our national security.” The comment from the director of national intelligence came following Trump’s refusal to back the U.S. intelligence community’s assessment that Russia meddled in the U.S. 2016 election. Aboard Air Force One, Trump tweeted that he had confidence in his own intelligence officials, saying “I have GREAT confidence in MY intelligence people,” but “the world’s two largest nuclear powers, we must get along!” (Axios / CNN)
As I said today and many times before, “I have GREAT confidence in MY intelligence people.” However, I also recognize that in order to build a brighter future, we cannot exclusively focus on the past – as the world’s two largest nuclear powers, we must get along! #HELSINKI2018
3/ GOP senators called the Trump-Putin press conference “tragic,” “bizarre,” “flat-out wrong,” “shameful” and a “missed opportunity” to hold Russia accountable for 2016 election meddling. Jeff Flake tweeted: “I never thought I would see the day when our American President would stand on the stage with the Russian President and place blame on the United States for Russian aggression.” Lindsey Graham tweeted that Trump’s response “will be seen by Russia as a sign of weakness and create far more problems than it solves.” Ben Sasse added that “the United States is not to blame […] When the President plays these moral equivalence games, he gives Putin a propaganda win he desperately needs.” And, John McCain called Trump’s appearance “tragic” and “one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory.” (CNN / ABC News / Politico)
Paul Ryan: “Russia is not our ally” and the U.S. must be “focused on holding Russia accountable.” (The Guardian)
Mitch McConnell: “The Russians are not our friends. And I entirely believe the assessment of our intelligence community.” (The Hill)
Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer called Trump’s comments “thoughtless, dangerous, and weak.” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, meanwhile, called on Americans to “vote out the sell-outs” in the GOP and asserted that “the Russians have something on the president.” (Associated Press / Reuters / The Hill)
Former U.S. intelligence chiefs condemned Trump’s comments during his news conference with Putin. Former C.I.A. director John Brennan called Trump’s performance “nothing short of treasonous.” (CNN)
4/ Trump called Robert Mueller’s probe “ridiculous” and “a disaster for our country” during his press conference with Putin. “Getting along with Russia is a good thing, not a bad thing,” Trump said. “I think the world wants to see us get along.” Prior to meeting with Putin, Trump called Mueller’s probe a “rigged witch hunt.” On Friday, Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence, said that “the warning lights are blinking red again” from cyberattacks by Russia and other nations” and that “the digital infrastructure that serves this country is literally under attack.” White House National Security Adviser John Bolton added that he finds it “hard to believe” Putin didn’t know about top Russian intelligence officials’ efforts to interfere in the 2016 election. (NBC News / New York Times / ABC News)
Mueller has charged 32 people, including 26 Russians, since his May 2017 appointment. It’s unlikely that 25 of the Russians will be arrested anytime soon. (Washington Post)
Twitter suspended Guccifer 2.0 and DCLeaks – two accounts that Robert Mueller has linked to a Russian intelligence operation to disrupt the 2016 U.S. presidential election. (Washington Post)
Maryland’s voter registration system runs on software owned by a Russian-financed firm. There is no evidence there has been any breach or fraud in voter registration or voting, but state officials are concerned about the Russian connection to sensitive systems. (WBAL)
5/ The Justice Department charged a Russian national and accused her of acting as a Russian agent “for the purpose of advancing the interests of the Russian federation.” Maria Butina tried to infiltrate the NRA and “create a back-channel line of communication” back to the Kremlin. Charging documents say Butina was directed by a “high-level official in the Russian government,” who has been previously identified as Alexander Torshin, a senior official at the Russian central bank, who is also a longtime associate of the NRA. The charges were filed under seal the day after 12 Russian intelligence officers were indicted by the Justice Department for hacking Democratic computers. They were unsealed following Trump’s press conference with Putin where he said he saw no reason the Russian leader would try to influence the presidential election. (Bloomberg / The Guardian / New York Times)
Department of Justice: Russian National Charged in Conspiracy to Act as an Agent of the Russian Federation Within the United States. (Justice.gov)
6/ Trump: “I think the European Union is a foe.” Days before his meeting with Putin, Trump capped off a contentious NATO summit in the U.K. by naming the European Union when asked to identify his “biggest foe globally right now.” Speaking at his golf course in Turnberry, Scotland, Trump added: “Well, I think we have a lot of foes. I think the European Union is a foe, what they do to us in trade. Now, you wouldn’t think of the European Union, but they’re a foe.” (CBS News / CNN)
Trump fist-bumped Recep Erdogan and said he “does things the right way.” The Turkish president is a strongman, purging his critics while consolidating power. (CBS News / Vice News)
7/ A federal judge temporarily halted deportations of families who were recently reunited after being separated by the Trump administration. The ACLU asked that deportations be stalled for at least a week after the families were reunified, to allow time to ensure no family was being improperly deported. (The Guardian / Washington Post)
poll/ 52% of Fox News viewers agree that immigrants are an important part of our American identity, compared to 78% of CNN viewers and 73% of ABC, CBS, and NBC viewers. Overall, 69% of Americans agree that immigrants are an important part of American identity. (NPR)
Notables.
Rep. Trey Gowdy ruled out the possibility of impeaching Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, citing a lack of support for his ouster. “Impeach him for what?” Gowdy said. “I’m not convinced there is a movement,” he added. (The Hill / Politico)
China filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization over Trump’s plan for tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods. China says the tariffs are illegal attempts at protectionism. (USA Today / NPR)
Trump told his top diplomats to initiate direct talks with the Taliban in the hope of jump-starting negotiations to end the ongoing 17-year war in Afghanistan. The Taliban has long said that they will only discuss peace with the U.S. government, but the U.S. has, until now, mostly insisted that the Afghan government take part in the negotiations. (New York Times)
Jared Kushner’s family firm emptied or sold more than 250 rent-stabilized apartments over the last three years as the Kushner Companies converted one of its buildings into luxury condominiums. The sales from those apartments inside one of the Kushner Cos.’ largest residential buildings in New York totaled more than $55 million, an average of $1.2 million per apartment. (Associated Press)
The FCC has “serious concerns” about Sinclair Broadcast Group’s acquisition of Tribune Media. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said the $3.9 billion deal, which would consolidate nearly three-quarters of U.S. households, will now go through a lengthy administrative process often viewed as a deal-killer. (Politico)
In the six months following the passage of Trump’s Tax Cut and Jobs Act, worker pay has fallen while businesses have spent roughly $700 billion to repurchase their own stock. When inflation is accounted for, the reduction in worker pay is even steeper. The drop has affected 80 percent of industries and two-thirds of metro areas. (CBS Money Watch)
Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign has spent nearly $1.2 million on legal fees this year, including $340,000 in the last three months. (BuzzFeed News)
Trump has already raised more than $88 million for his reelection campaign over the last year and a half. The sum gives him a substantial head start when compared to prospective Democratic challengers in the 2020 election. (New York Times)
1/ Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced that a grand jury returned indictments against 12 Russian intelligence officials on charges of hacking into the DNC, DCCC, and state election offices to steal and release documents in an attempt to influence the 2016 presidential election. The defendants worked for the Russian intelligence service known as the GRU. They used a tactic called “spearphishing” to trick users into revealing their account information. They used keystroke loggers and other malicious software to obtain account information and access sensitive U.S. computer systems and email accounts, which they later released to the public. (Washington Post / New York Times / Daily Beast / BuzzFeed News / USA Today / Law & Crime / ABC News / Politico)
Read the full, searchable text of the indictment. (DocumentCloud)
Pages 2-3: “Beginning in or around June 2016, the Conspirators staged and released tens of thousands of the stolen emails and documents. They did so using fictitious online personas, including ‘DCLeaks’ and ‘Guccifer 2.0.’”
Page 6: “The object of the conspiracy was to hack into the computers of U.S. persons and entities involved in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, steal documents from those computers, and stage releases of the stolen documents to interfere with the 2016 U.S. presidential election.”
Page 8: “Beginning in or around March 2016, the Conspirators, in addition to their spearphishing efforts, researched the DCCC and DNC computer networks to identify technical specifications and vulnerabilities.”
Page 16: “The Conspirators, posing as Guccifer 2.0, also communicated with U.S. persons about the release of stolen documents. On or about August 15, 2016, the Conspirators, posing as Guccifer 2.0, wrote to a person who was in regular contact with senior members of the presidential campaign of Donald J. Trump.”
Page 21: “Although the Conspirators caused transactions to be conducted in a variety of currencies, including U.S. dollars, they principally used bitcoin when purchasing servers, registering domains, and otherwise making payments in furtherance of hacking activity.”
Page 25: Two of the defendants “knowingly and intentionally” conspired to “hack into the computers of U.S. persons and entities responsible for the administration of 2016 U.S. elections, such as state boards of elections, secretaries of state, and U.S. companies that supplied software and other technology related to the administration of U.S. elections.”
Page 26: “In or around July 2016, KOVALEV and his co-conspirators hacked the website of a state board of elections (‘SBOE 1’) and stole information related to approximately 500,000 voters, including names, addresses, partial social security numbers, dates of birth, and driver’s license numbers.”
Russian hackers went after Hillary Clinton’s servers for the first time on the same day Trump said, “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing.” (New York Times)
2/ Top Democrats are calling on Trump to cancel his planned one-on-one meeting with Putin next week in the wake of the indictments against 12 Russian intelligence officials. “President Trump should cancel his meeting with Vladimir Putin until Russia takes demonstrable and transparent steps to prove that they won’t interfere in future elections,” said Chuck Schumer. Mark Warner, Jack Reed, Dina Titus and others called on Trump to cancel the July 16 summit. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi did not echo their calls for cancellation, and instead called on Trump to “demand and secure a real, concrete and comprehensive agreement that the Russians will cease their ongoing attacks on our democracy.” (NBC News / The Hill)
Russians tried to hack Clinton’s emails on the same day Trump publicly asked them to. “Russia, if you are listening,” Trump said on July 27, 2016, “I hope you are able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by the press.” One portion of the indictment notes that “on or about July 27, 2016, the Conspirators attempted after hours to spearphish for the first time email accounts . . . used by Clinton’s personal office. At or around the same time, they also targeted seventy-six email addresses at the domain for the Clinton Campaign.” (The Hill / Vox)
3/ Trump said he won’t rule out ceasing NATO military exercises in the Baltic States if Putin requests it during their upcoming meeting in Helsinki. Joint exercises involving 17 nations, including hundreds of U.S. troops and several warships, are currently underway in the Black Sea. If Trump chooses to pull the U.S. out of the military exercises, NATO allies could still conduct them on their own, but they would likely be forced to carry them out under a different banner since the U.S. can veto labeling them as NATO exercises. (CNN)
4/ The White House ordered the FBI to give lawmakers more access to classified information about the informant used in 2016 to investigate possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. The director of national intelligence and the director of the FBI have tried to keep access to the classified documents tightly limited, but the files will now be made available to all members of the Senate and House Intelligence Committees. (New York Times)
5/ Trump said he told British Prime Minister Theresa May how to negotiate the U.K.’s exit from the E.U. but she went “the opposite way.” Trump also blamed London Mayor Sadiq Khan for spiraling crime and for not standing up to terrorists, insisted that former UK foreign secretary Boris Johnson would make “a great Prime Minister,” and accused EU leaders of destroying its culture and identity by letting in millions of migrants. Trump also said he felt “unwelcome” in London, referring to anti-Trump protesters that have flooded the streets of the capital during his visit. Later, during a joint press conference with Theresa May, Trump dismissed his interview with The Sun as “fake news.” (The Sun / Fox News / ABC News / NBC News)
Trump’s comments on European immigration mirror white nationalist rhetoric. That argument — that immigration changes existing “culture” for the worse — is a staple of white nationalist rhetoric in the United States. (Washington Post)
6/ The Trump administration argued in federal court that it has the right to hold detainees at Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba for up to 100 years — without charging them with a crime. The administration argued that as long as operations continue against Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan, the U.S. retains the right to hold detainees at GTMO indefinitely. When the judge asked the Justice Department’s attorney if the government thought the war could last 100 years, Ronald Wiltsie said, “Yes, we could hold them for 100 years if the conflict lasts 100 years.” There are still 26 prisoners who remain in GTMO without charge or trial, including the eight men represented in court on Wednesday, all of whom have been held at the facility for between 10 and 16 years. (The Intercept)
Notables.
A federal auditor for the Department of Health and Human Services released a report urging the agency to recover at least $341,000 spent by its former secretary Tom Price on 20 trips that did not comply with federal requirements. Price was forced out last year following media reports of his extravagant use of private and military aircraft, and has voluntarily repaid about $60,000 to the government. (Politico / New York Times)
Trump’s pick to be the No. 2 official at NASA is a long-time Senate aide with little-to-no experience in space operations or technology. James Morhard, who currently serves as the Senate’s deputy sergeant at arms, was chosen by Trump for the role of deputy administrator at NASA. (The Hill / Washington Post)
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced that he will sell all of the remaining stock he holds after he received a letter from the government’s top ethics watchdog warning of “potential for a serious criminal violation.” The letter also faulted Ross for shorting certain positions that “appear to have been an ineffective attempt to remedy your actual or apparent failure to timely divest assets per your ethics agreement.” (NPR)
Jared Kushner doesn’t have the security clearance required to review some of the government’s most sensitive secrets. Kushner had nearly unfettered access to highly classified intelligence until May while he awaited the results of his background check. Now, he has “top secret” clearance, but that doesn’t allow him to see some of the nation’s most classified intelligence, known as “sensitive compartmental information,” or SCI. (Washington Post)
1/ FBI agent Peter Strzok rejected accusations that he let his personal political views bias his actions in the Hillary Clinton email and Russia investigations during a joint House Judiciary and Oversight Committee hearing. Strzok labeled the Republican attacks against him “another victory notch in Putin’s belt and another milestone in our enemies’ campaign to tear America apart.” Republicans threatened Strzok with contempt after the committee devolved into partisan, chaotic arguments about what questions he could answer about the ongoing Russia investigation. Strzok has come under scrutiny after the Justice Department’s inspector general discovered text messages critical of Trump that he exchanged during the 2016 campaign with Lisa Page, a senior FBI lawyer he was having an affair with. Republicans and Trump charge that Strzok’s text messages undermine the integrity of Robert Mueller’s investigation. Strzok was immediately removed from Mueller’s probe when the text messages came to light. Page declined to comply with a subpoena from Republican lawmakers to appear for an interview on July 11. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / NBC News / CNBC)
READ: Peter Strzok’s statement before Congress. (Politico)
2/ Trump threatened NATO allies with “grave consequences” if they don’t boost their military spending by January, warning alliance members that otherwise the U.S. could “go our own way.” Trump arrived late, hijacked a meeting in progress, and delivered what one official called a “prolonged rant.” He then praised the alliance as a “fine-tuned machine.” (Politico)
3/ Trump reaffirmed his support for NATO, calling his threat to withdraw from the alliance “unnecessary” after he pressured members to increase their defense budgets “like they never have before.” He offered no specifics, and some leaders rejected his claim. Trump called himself a “very stable genius” and said he deserved “total credit” for pushing allies to increase their military spending by more than previously agreed to while also warning members that the U.S. “would go it alone” if countries did not meet the 2% target by January. In 2014, NATO members committed to each spend 2% of GDP on defense by 2024. French president Emmanuel Macron said that “Trump never at any moment, either in public or in private, threatened to withdraw from NATO.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / NBC News)
4/ NATO allies dispute Trump’s claim that they pledged to “substantially” raise their defense budgets, saying they simply reaffirmed their commitment to a 2014 deal to reach the 2% of GDP target by 2024. (BBC)
5/ The Trump administration reunited 57 of the 103 children under age 5 who were “eligible” to be reunited with their families. The remaining 46 children were “ineligible” for reunification because their parents failed background checks or had criminal records, or because of logistical issues, like having already been deported. (New York Times / Politico)
6/ Thousands of asylum seekers will be turned away before they have an opportunity to plead their case in court under a new Trump administration policy. The new guidance instructs officers to reject asylum claims based on fears of gang and domestic violence. Officers will also consider whether an asylum seeker crossed the border illegally and take that into consideration when weighing their claim. The new guidance also applies to refugees. (CNN)
7/ Brett Kavanaugh racked up tens of thousands of dollars in credit card debt from buying baseball tickets over the last decade. At times, Trump’s Supreme Court nominee reported liabilities may have even exceeded the value of his cash and investment accounts. Kavanaugh’s debts reached between $60,000 and $200,000 in 2016, but the loans were either paid off or fell below the reporting requirements by the following year. (Washington Post)
Kavanaugh on abortion: In a recent speech, he described Roe v. Wade as part of the “tide of freewheeling judicial creation of unenumerated rights.” (Daily Beast)
Notables.
Bill Shine’s wife mocked victims of sexual harassment in the military and pushed conspiracy theories about vaccines on her radio show between 2008 and 2009. Darla Shine, the wife of Trump’s deputy chief of staff for communications, declared herself a “sexist” and said women serving with men in the military should expect to be sexually harassed. Her husband was ousted from Fox News for mishandling reports of sexual harassment at the network. (CNN / Mediaite / HuffPost)
Trump’s top economic adviser will be named the White House’s legislative affairs director. Shahira Knight will replace Marc Short when he steps down later this month to join a D.C. consulting firm and teach at UVA. (Politico)
Stormy Daniels was arrested during a performance at an Ohio strip club and charged with three misdemeanor sex offenses for touching three undercover police officers. The charges were later dismissed. Daniels’ attorney called the charges a politically motivated setup. (CNN)
Robert Mueller asked a federal court in Virginia for 100 blank subpoenas in the case against Paul Manafort. The subpoenas would require the recipients to testify in federal court on July 25 – the day Manafort’s trial is set to begin. Mueller asked for 150 blank subpoenas about a month ago. (The Hill)
Trump called recognizing Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea “an interesting question.” Congress, however, has legislated that it is U.S. policy “to never recognize the illegal annexation of Crimea by the Government of the Russian Federation.” Trump will meet with Putin on July 16. (Bloomberg)
1/ Trump accused Germany of being “totally controlled” and “a captive of Russia” because it pays “billions and billions of dollars a year” to Russia for energy. Germany doesn’t meet its NATO spending commitments, but has started construction on a second natural gas pipeline to Russia. Germany argues that it has increased its contributions to NATO and plans to spend even more on the alliance in the coming years. A few hours later, Trump told reporters that the United States has a “tremendous relationship” with Germany. (Washington Post / NBC News / Politico)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel rejected Trump’s accusation, saying “I have witnessed” Soviet occupation. (Politico / CNN)
This is the Russian pipeline to Germany that Trump is mad about: an 800-mile-long, planned pipeline beneath the Baltic Sea. The project would roughly double Russia’s gas export volume via the Baltic route. (Washington Post)
2/ Trump wants NATO allies to double their military-spending target to 4% of gross domestic product despite allies not meeting the current 2% target. The 29 members – including the U.S. – agreed to a joint summit declaration to move toward the 2% target by 2024. The U.S. contributes 3.5% of its GDP. (Wall Street Journal)
NATO Summit Live Updates: Trump Pushes Allies to Increase Spending. (New York Times)
3/ The Senate approved a non-binding motion in support of NATO. The symbolic 97-2 vote expresses the Senate’s support for NATO and calls on negotiators to reaffirm the U.S. commitment to it. (The Hill / Axios)
4/ The Trump administration plans to hit China with roughly $200 billion in additional tariffs. Beijing’s Commerce Ministry said it was “shocked” by the U.S. action and that China “has no choice but to take necessary countermeasures.” Days ago the U.S. imposed 25% tariffs on Chinese goods worth $34 billion, which Beijing immediately responded to with its own tariffs on $34 billion in U.S. goods. The latest tariffs will undergo a two-month review process, with hearings on Aug. 20-23. (CNBC / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / CNN / Politico)
The Senate voted to give Congress a role in overseeing Trump’s tariff decisions when imposed in the name of national security. The 88-11 vote in favor is non-binding and part of an effort by members of Congress who are concerned that trade disputes with China, western European nations, and Canada could damage the U.S. economy by harming U.S. employers and raising prices for consumers. (Reuters / Washington Post)
5/ The Department of Justice admitted that it may have mistakenly separated a family of U.S. citizens for as long as a year “because the parent’s location has been unknown.” (The Guardian)
U.S. government officials told four immigrant women that they would have to pay for DNA tests in order to be reunited with their children. The tests are part of the Trump administration’s latest effort to reunite families that it had separated at the U.S. southern border. The tests are being administered by a private contractor on behalf of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which the Department of Health and Human Services has refused to name – a possible violation of federal law. (Daily Beast)
Some children have been unable to recognize their mothers when reunited with their families. Other children who had been potty-trained before being separated have regressed back to diapers. (New York Times)
From the moment it went online in 2014, the web portal designed to keep track of unaccompanied children and process their release has experienced major technological problems. Among the issues users have encountered are a limited number of total concurrent users, lost saved data, poor searchability, and significant manual work for minor updates and patches. That same system is now being used as a key part of the Office of Refugee Resettlement’s efforts to track the thousands of migrant children who were separated from their parents at the border under the Trump administration’s “no tolerance policy.” (Reuters)
6/ Rod Rosenstein asked federal prosecutors to help review the government documents related to Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing. Rosenstein’s email to the nation’s 93 United States attorneys included the sentence: “We need your help in connection with President Trump’s nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to serve on the Supreme Court.” Former law enforcement officials described Rosenstein’s request as “flat-out wrong.” Mitch McConnell privately expressed concerns that Kavanaugh’s years of public service might be used against him in his Senate confirmation hearings. (New York Times)
poll/ 54% of voters think the government should keep ICE, 25% believe ICE should be abolished, and 21% are undecided. (Politico)
Notables.
Paul Manafort will be moved from the jail where he says he’s being treated like a “VIP” with access to a phone, computer, private bathroom and shower, and does not have to wear a uniform. Manafort filed to delay his July 25 trial, claiming that his incarceration at Virginia’s Northern Neck Regional Jail left him without adequate time to prepare for trial, but resisted being moved to the Alexandria Detention Center. (Washington Post / The Hill)
The Senate confirmed Brian Benczkowski to lead the Justice Department’s Criminal Division despite concerns about his ties to a Russian bank run by oligarchs with close ties to Putin, which was also referenced in the Steele dossier. The 51-48 vote ended an 18-month delay in which the criminal division operated without a permanent leader. (NPR / Washington Post / CNN)
Trump pardoned the two Oregon cattle ranchers who were sentenced to five years in prison for committing arson on federal land — punishments which led to the armed occupation of a wildlife refuge by the Bundy family in 2016. The pardons were the result of a months-long campaign by agricultural groups like the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association, and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. The White House issued a statement claiming that the Obama administration had been “overzealous” in its pursuit of the cattle ranchers. “This was unjust,” said Sarah Huckabee Sanders. (New York Times)
Pfizer said it would delay drug price increases for no more than six months after speaking with Trump. The conversation came after Trump tweeted that Pfizer and other U.S. drug manufacturers “should be ashamed” for raising prices on some of their medications. (Reuters)
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s visit to Pyongyang last week went “as badly as it could have gone.” North Korea accused the U.S. of a “gangster-like mindset” following the denuclearization negotiations. Pompeo described the talks as “productive.” (CNN)
1/ Trump nominated federal appeals court judge Brett Kavanaugh to succeed Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court. Kavanaugh served under Kenneth Starr, the independent counsel who investigated Bill Clinton. Kavanaugh also worked on the 2000 Florida recount litigation that ended in a Supreme Court decision that handed George W. Bush the presidency. “What matters is not a judge’s personal views,” Trump said, “but whether they can set aside those views to do what the law and the Constitution require. I am pleased to say I have found, without doubt, such a person.” Trump called Kavanaugh a judge with “impeccable credentials,” and said he is “considered a judge’s judge.” (New York Times / NBC News / Politico / Washington Post)
Brett Kavanaugh’s track record. A sampling of Kavanaugh’s most important decisions and past statements about policy issues. (Politico)
Where Brett Kavanaugh might fit on the Supreme Court. According to at least one measure, Kavanaugh may be less conservative than Neil Gorsuch. (New York Times)
Brett Kavanaugh, explained. He’s a veteran of every conservative fight from the Clinton impeachment to the fight against Obamacare. (Vox)
Who is Brett Kavanaugh? Bio, facts, background and political views. (Politico)
2/ Chuck Schumer: “I will oppose [Brett Kavanaugh] with everything I’ve got.” The Senate minority leader said Kavanaugh’s potential opposition to Roe v. Wade and the Affordable Care Act is “far against what the American people want. When they learn this, they’re going to oppose the nominee.” (Washington Post)
Republicans control a 51-49 majority in the Senate, and Democrats need at least two GOP lawmakers – plus every Democrat – in order to block Kavanaugh’s confirmation. With Sen. John McCain undergoing cancer treatment, the Republican majority is trimmed to 50-49. However, several Democratic senators are up for reelection in states where Trump won in 2016. Three Democratic senators (Joe Manchin, Heidi Heitkamp, and Joe Donnelly) broke with the party last year to confirm Justice Neil Gorsuch. (Politico)
If the Supreme Court reverses Roe v. Wade, 22 states will likely ban abortions. Reversing the case wouldn’t automatically make abortion illegal; instead, the decision about abortion legality would be returned to the states. Four states — Louisiana, Mississippi and North and South Dakota — have “trigger laws,” which would immediately make abortion illegal if and when the Supreme Court were to overturn Roe v. Wade. (NPR)
Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins signaled their comfort with Kavanaugh. Murkowski said “there were some who have been on the list that I would have had a very, very difficult time supporting.” Collins touted Kavanaugh’s experience, saying: “It will be very difficult for anyone to argue that he’s not qualified for the job.” (Politico)
3/ A federal judge rejected Trump’s request to allow long-term detention of children who entered the U.S. illegally with their parents. A 1997 consent decree limits the time children can be held in immigration detention to no more than 20 days. Judge Dolly M. Gee called the legal reasoning behind Trump’s attempt to get out from under the legal agreement “tortured,” and said it was “a cynical attempt” to shift immigration policy. Trump responded to the ruling: “I have a solution: Tell people not to come to our county illegally. That’s the solution.” (Politico / New York Times / Reuters)
The ACLU accused the Trump administration of unnecessarily delaying the reunification of immigrant children and parents by DNA testing every family, which violates their privacy and civil liberties, slows down the reunifications, and is not required either by law or by current circumstances. (Talking Points Memo)
The Pentagon said it would not pay for housing some 32,000 immigrants detained due to the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy. The Defense Department “is not going to have any involvement, any interaction with the children or the families.” Instead, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services would be responsible for their care. (Foreign Policy)
A federal judge ordered the U.S. government reunite 63 children under the age of five or face penalties, but didn’t specific what penalties could be applied. “These are firm deadlines,” the judge said. “They are not aspirational goals.” (Reuters)
4/ A senior European Union official told Trump that “US doesn’t have and won’t have a better ally than EU.” European Council President Donald Tusk’s comment came shortly before Trump tweeted that American military spending on NATO was “very unfair!” Tusk added that “it is always worth knowing who is your strategic friend and who is your strategic problem.” (Associated Press / New York Times)
Dear @realDonaldTrump. US doesn’t have and won’t have a better ally than EU. We spend on defense much more than Russia and as much as China. I hope you have no doubt this is an investment in our security, which cannot be said with confidence about Russian & Chinese spending :-)
5/ Trump said his sit-down with Putin will probably be easier than his meeting with NATO allies. “I have NATO. I have the UK, which is in somewhat turmoil. And I have Putin. Frankly, Putin may be the easiest of them all,” Trump said. “Who would think?” He added that he sees Putin as a “competitor.” (Politico / CNN / Axios)
Green Day’s “American Idiot” is topping the UK charts in time for Trump’s visit on Thursday. (Slate / HuffPost)
6/ During their trip to Moscow last week, an all-Republican delegation of U.S. lawmakers met with at least two Russian individuals who are currently sanctioned by the United States. Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama spoke with Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, who has been sanctioned since 2014 for Russia’s “illegitimate and unlawful” activities in Ukraine. The group also heard from Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Konstantin Kosachev, who complained about the latest round of U.S. sanctions against Russian individuals. Kosachev was sanctioned in April over Russia’s alleged meddling in the 2016 election and other “malign activity.” (BuzzFeed News)
Two Republican senators are downplaying Russian election interference after their July 4th trip to Moscow. Sen. Ron Johnson suggested that Congress went too far in punishing Russia for meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, calling the meddling “unacceptable,” but “not the greatest threat to our democracy” and that “we’ve blown it way out of proportion.” Rep. Kay Granger, meanwhile, said she met with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and said the U.S. and Russia “can be competitors without being adversaries.” (Roll Call / Law and Crime)
One Republican told Russian government officials to “stop screwing with our election.” Sen. John Kennedy said he warned Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that Congress will “double down on sanctions … if you screw with the elections this fall.” (CNN)
poll/ Democrats face long odds to take back the Senate with three Democratic senators poised to lose their seats to Republicans. Heidi Heitkamp in North Dakota, Bill Nelson in Florida and Joe Donnelly in Indiana are all behind in the polls. To win the Senate, Democrats need to keep all 10 seats they’re defending in states that Trump won in 2016 – plus pick up two more seats. (Axios) / SurveyMonkey)
Notables.
Rudy Giuliani continues to work on behalf of foreign clients both personally and through his law firm while serving as Trump’s personal attorney. Giuliani said in recent interviews that he is working with clients in Brazil and Colombia, among other countries, in addition to giving paid speeches for an Iranian dissident group. Giuliani has never registered with the Justice Department on behalf of his overseas clients, saying that it’s not necessary because he does not directly lobby the U.S. government and he doesn’t charge Trump for his services. (Washington Post)
A federal judge delayed the sentencing of Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty in December to making false statements to Robert Mueller’s investigators. Flynn could be sentenced by late October. (NPR / NBC News / Los Angeles Times)
A federal judge ordered that Paul Manafort be moved to a detention center in Alexandria, Virginia, “to ensure that the defendant has access to his counsel and can adequately prepare his defense.” (Politico / Washington Post)
The EPA sent a proposed rule to relax carbon dioxide emissions standards for power plants to the White House Office of Management and Budget for review. The rule would replace the Clean Power Plan, an important part of Obama’s climate change agenda to reduce carbon emissions by 32% from America’s energy sector by 2030, with a more industry-friendly alternative. (The Hill)
1/ Trump says he is “very close to making a decision” on his Supreme Court nominee. Aides, however, have prepped rollouts for multiple Supreme Court nominees knowing that Trump could change his mind at the last minute. Trump has narrowed his list down to two potential nominees: Brett Kavanaugh and Thomas Hardiman. The White House expects to hit the ground running once Trump makes his 9 p.m. announcement – a time he selected for maximum TV exposure. “I have long heard that the most important decision a U.S. President can make is the selection of a Supreme Court Justice,” Trump tweeted. As he boarded Air Force One after a weekend of golfing at his private club in Bedminster, N.J., Trump said: “You can’t go wrong.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico)
I have long heard that the most important decision a U.S. President can make is the selection of a Supreme Court Justice - Will be announced tonight at 9:00 P.M.
Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s prospects are slipping over confirmation concerns. Trump said he would settle on a nominee by noon Monday, but aides said they were unsure as recently as Sunday night where he would land. (Wall Street Journal)
Trump has been lobbied in the final hours of his selection process by both supporters and opponents of the Supreme Court candidates. Trump has also been working the phones seeking input about Brett Kavanaugh and Thomas Hardiman. (New York Times)
Mitch McConnell told Trump that Judges Raymond Kethledge and Thomas Hardiman present the fewest obvious obstacles to being confirmed to replace Justice Anthony M. Kennedy on the Supreme Court. (New York Times)
2/ The Trump administration will miss a court-ordered deadline to reunite immigrant children under age 5 who were separated from their parents at the U.S. border. About half of the children under 5 years old will be reunited by Tuesday’s court-ordered deadline. The administration doesn’t know when the rest will be reunified. The federal judge who set the deadline said he was “very encouraged” by the administration’s progress. (Reuters / CNN / Los Angeles Times)
A one-year-old child who was separated from his father at the southern U.S. border appeared in immigration court. The child is one of several toddlers who have had to appear in court without their parents present. (Associated Press / NPR)
Five pregnant women in immigration detention said they were denied adequate medical care while they were obviously miscarrying. ICE and Customs and Border Protection guards were either unwilling or unable to respond to medical emergencies. (BuzzFeed News)
3/ Trump lashed out at NATO on Twitter two days before the alliance’s summit, saying NATO members “must do much more” and up their defense spending contributions. “The United States is spending far more on NATO than any other Country. This is not fair, nor is it acceptable.” (Axios / Politico)
The United States is spending far more on NATO than any other Country. This is not fair, nor is it acceptable. While these countries have been increasing their contributions since I took office, they must do much more. Germany is at 1%, the U.S. is at 4%, and NATO benefits.......
...Europe far more than it does the U.S. By some accounts, the U.S. is paying for 90% of NATO, with many countries nowhere close to their 2% commitment. On top of this the European Union has a Trade Surplus of $151 Million with the U.S., with big Trade Barriers on U.S. goods. NO!
4/ The U.S. opposed a United Nations resolution encouraging breast-feeding, siding with manufacturers of infant formula and stunning public health officials and foreign diplomats in the process this past spring. American officials wanted to soften the resolution by removing language that called on governments to “protect, promote and support breast-feeding.” When the effort failed, the United States threatened to withdraw military aid and hit Ecuador and other countries with punitive trade measures if they didn’t drop support for the resolution. The U.S., however, backed off when Russia introduced the resolution. (New York Times)
Trump defended the report that the U.S. tried to undermine the World Health Organization resolution in support of breastfeeding, saying “the U.S. strongly supports breast feeding but we don’t believe women should be denied access to formula.” The U.S. wanted the resolution to remove language calling on governments to “protect, promote and support breast-feeding.” (BBC)
5/ Rudy Giuliani appeared to confirm that Trump asked then-FBI director James Comey to drop the probe into former national security adviser Michael Flynn. Trump has previously denied saying to Comey “I hope you can let this go.” “He didn’t direct [Comey] to do that,” Giuliani said. “What he said was, can you, can you …” Giuliani continued: “He said a lot of other things, some of which has turned out to be untrue. The reality is, as a prosecutor, I was told that many times, ‘can you give the man a break,’ either by his lawyers, by his relatives, by his friends. You take that into consideration. But you know that doesn’t determine not going forward with it.” (CNN / ABC News)
6/ Giuliani: Michael Cohen “should cooperate” with prosecutors as long as he tells the truth. Giuliani repeatedly downplayed the possibility that Cohen could provide damaging information to prosecutors. “As long as he tells the truth, we’re home free.” Two people familiar with Cohen’s thinking say he has already “hit the reset button” and will continue to speak the “real truth.” (NPR / CNN)
Why does Michael Cohen keep publicly hinting that he’ll flip on Trump? There have been some reports that Cohen wants Trump to pay his legal fees. (Vox)
7/ Giuliani: Trump is close to refusing to sit down for an interview with Robert Mueller. On Friday, Giuliani set new conditions for an interview with the special counsel, saying Mueller needs to prove – before Trump would agree to sit for an interview – that Trump committed a crime and that his testimony is essential to completing the investigation. Giuliani also claimed that the Mueller investigation was the “most corrupt I’ve ever seen.” He called prosecutors working on the investigation “very, very severe partisans working on an investigation that should have been done by people who are politically neutral.” (The Guardian / New York Times)
poll/ 65% of women said they disapproved of Trump’s job as president, while 32% said they approved. 54% of men say they approved of Trump, while only 45% said they disapproved. (Washington Post)
Notables.
Protesters chased Mitch McConnell through a restaurant parking lot, calling him “turtle head,” and asking “Where are the babies, Mitch?” – a reference to the infant migrant children who were separated from their families at the southern U.S. border. (Washington Post)
Steve Bannon was called a “piece of trash” by a woman at a bookstore in Richmond, Virginia. The owner of Black Swan Books called the police after the woman refused to leave. (CNN)
Stephen Miller threw away $80 of takeout sushi after a bartender raised both middle fingers and cursed at him while he was picking up takeout in his DC neighborhood. (Washington Post)
The Trump administration is freezing billions of dollars in payments to Affordable Care Act insurers. The so-called risk adjustment payments are meant to protect insurers from incurring big losses from many unexpected high-cost patients. (Politico)
White House communications director Bill Shine will attend Trump’s meeting with Putin in Helsinki on July 16. The West Wing delegation also includes John Kelly, deputy chief of staff Zach Fuentes, national security adviser John Bolton, Stephen Miller, social media director Dan Scavino, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Melania Trump, and other high-level staffers and their aides. (Politico)
Trump: “I have confidence” that Kim Jong Un will honor our “contract” and handshake agreement to denuclearize, but China may be working against it. (CNBC)
Trump’s tariffs on Chinese goods don’t apply to Ivanka Trump’s foreign-made products for her fashion line. The goods to be levied with tariffs were apparently chosen based on what would disrupt the U.S. economy the least and have the least impact on consumers. (HuffPost / Fortune)
Members of Trump’s Florida clubs appear to have been invited to tour Air Force One. Two separate tours were scheduled at the Atlantic Aviation FBO at Palm Beach International on Feb. 18, 2017. Those attending would have paid Trump’s exclusive clubs thousands of dollars annually. (BuzzFeed News)
Trump’s personal driver for more than 25 years sued the Trump Organization for more than $200,000 in unpaid overtime wages over the past six years. Noel Cintron received two raises in 15 years, but had to give up his Trump Organization health insurance in order to get a $7,000 pay increase. (Bloomberg / Washington Post)
The EPA granted “super polluting freight trucks” a loophole in the final hours of Scott Pruitt’s tenure as administrator. The move by the EPA will allow a significant increase in the production of a diesel freight truck that produces as much as 55 times the air pollution of trucks with modern emissions controls. (New York Times)
1/ Trump mocked the #MeToo movement in a speech in Montana on Thursday, repeatedly attacked Elizabeth Warren over her heritage, suggested Maxine Waters had an I.Q. in the “mid-60s,” derided both John McCain and George H.W. Bush, and vouched for Putin. “You know what? Putin’s fine,” Trump told the crowd, referring to his upcoming meeting with the Russian leader. “He’s fine. We’re all fine. We’re people. Will I be prepared? Totally prepared. I’ve been preparing for this stuff my whole life.” (New York Times / CNN / Washington Post)
Trump challenged Sen. Elizabeth Warren to take a DNA test to prove that she has Native American ancestors, reviving his “Pocahontas” nickname for the Massachusetts Democrat, who has claimed Native American ancestry. Trump taunted Warren with an imaginary presidential debate, telling the crowd that he would toss her a DNA kit, “but we have to do it gently because we’re in the #MeToo generation, so we have to be very gentle.” He made a throwing motion and said: “We will very gently take that kit, and we will slowly toss it, hoping it doesn’t hit her and injure her arm.” (NBC News)
The 11 most dangerous things Donald Trump said in his Montana speech. (CNN)
2/ The U.S. and China each levied $34 billion in tariffs on each other’s exports as Trump’s trade war with China officially began today at 12:01 a.m. China’s Ministry of Commerce accused the U.S. of “typical trade bullying” for having “launched the biggest trade war in economic history so far.” Trump has threatened to target another $400 billion in Chinese products with tariffs if Beijing retaliates further. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Politico)
Russia imposed tariffs on U.S. goods in response to Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs. Russia’s economic development minister said that additional tariffs, ranging from 25% to 40%, have been applied to some U.S. construction equipment, oil and gas equipment, metal processing instruments, drilling equipment, and optical fiber. (The Independent)
3/ The U.S. Army started discharging some immigrant recruits who were promised a path to citizenship in exchange for enlisting. Some were labeled a security risk and discharged because they have relatives abroad. Others have been told they are being discharged because the Department of Defense had not completed their background checks. The number of soldiers who have been discharged is unclear, but immigration attorneys say they know of more than 40. It’s also unclear whether there have been policy changes in any of the military branches. (Associated Press)
The Trump administration created a task force to revoke the citizenship of some naturalized immigrants and then eventually deport them. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ new task force and will identify what it calls bad naturalization cases to refer to the Justice Department for denaturalization proceedings. The purported targets are people who had already been rejected by the U.S., but then created a new identity in order to gain citizenship afterward. (WNYC / CNN)
Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club applied for permission to hire 61 foreign workers to serve as waiters and cooks. The Florida resort requested H-2B visas, which are for temporary non-agricultural workers. In order to obtain H-2Bs, employers must prove that there are not enough US workers who are “able, willing, qualified, and available” to do the temporary work. (Washington Post / CNN / ABC News)
4/ The Trump administration requested more time to reunite families it separated at the border. The Justice Department said it has dedicated “immense” resources to reunifying families. A federal court ordered the administration to return all children under 5 to their parents by July 10, and all others by July 26. (Los Angeles Times / Washington Post / ABC News)
5/ Many of the records linking separated children to their parents have either disappeared or been destroyed, leaving the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Homeland Security scrambling to identify connections between family members. DNA testing is now being used on children and parents in an attempt to reunite migrant families separated at the US border. (New York Times / CNN)
poll/ 47% of voters overall prefer to vote for a Democrat over a Republican for the House in the midterms. 37% of voters prefer a Republican. (Washington Post)
59% of Democrats say the midterms are extremely important, compared with 46% of Republicans.
55% disapprove of the job Trump is doing, compared to 43% who approve. 54% of men approve; 32% of women approve.
69% of Americans oppose the policy that separates immigrant children from their parents, compared with 29% who support the policy.
52% agree with Trump that America’s long-term trading partners have taken advantage of this country. Only 41% of Americans, however, approve of Trump’s handling of trade issues.
Notables.
Michael Cohen doesn’t expect Trump to offer him a presidential pardon. “I brought up the pardon, and he said, ‘I don’t think so. I just don’t think so,’” said one friend of Cohen’s. “[Cohen’s] certain in his mind that he has been dismissed.” Cohen has not been charged with a crime, but is under criminal investigation in New York. (CNN)
Peter Strzok will testify before the House Judiciary Committee next week. The FBI agent was the subject of criticism in the Department of Justice inspector general’s report on the handling of the Clinton probe. Strzok has been criticized for sending text messages critical of Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign. (CBS News)
Paul Manafort spends “at least 23 hours per day” in solitary confinement while he waits for his July 25 trial because “the facility cannot otherwise guarantee his safety.” (Axios / New York Daily News)
A fourth Ohio State wrestler said Rep. Jim Jordan knew about sexual abuse when he was an assistant coach, because he took part in locker-room conversations where athletes discussed the abuse. (NBC News)
Trump on Jim Jordan: “I don’t believe [the accusations] at all; I believe him. Jim Jordan is one of the most outstanding people I’ve met since I’ve been in Washington. I believe him 100 percent. No question in my mind. I believe Jim Jordan 100 percent. He’s an outstanding man.” (Washington Post)
Mike Pompeo brought Kim Jong-un an Elton John CD with the song “Rocket Man” on it. Trump called Kim “little rocket man” following a series of nuclear tests and missile launches by North Korea last year. (Chosun Ilbo / NBC News)
The unemployment rate ticked up to 4% after falling to 3.8% in May. The Labor Department reported 213,000 new jobs in June, down from 244,000 in May. (Politico)
London’s mayor gave activists permission to launch the “Trump Baby” blimp when Trump visits the U.K. starting on July 13. The blimp will be allowed to fly for two hours at a maximum height of about 100 feet from Parliament Square Garden. (NPR)
Trump will almost entirely avoid London – and the planned protests against him – during his four-day visit to the UK next week. (The Guardian)
1/ Scott Pruitt resigned from the EPA following months of controversies regarding his spending, ethics and management at the agency. Andrew Wheeler will take over as acting administrator. In his resignation letter, Pruitt blamed “unrelenting attacks” on himself and his family. (New York Times / Washington Post / The Hill / Vox)
I have accepted the resignation of Scott Pruitt as the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Within the Agency Scott has done an outstanding job, and I will always be thankful to him for this. The Senate confirmed Deputy at EPA, Andrew Wheeler, will on Monday assume duties as the acting Administrator of the EPA. I have no doubt that Andy will continue on with our great and lasting EPA agenda. We have made tremendous progress and the future of the EPA is very bright! –TRUMP
I have accepted the resignation of Scott Pruitt as the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Within the Agency Scott has done an outstanding job, and I will always be thankful to him for this. The Senate confirmed Deputy at EPA, Andrew Wheeler, will...
...on Monday assume duties as the acting Administrator of the EPA. I have no doubt that Andy will continue on with our great and lasting EPA agenda. We have made tremendous progress and the future of the EPA is very bright!
One of Scott Pruitt’s aides was fired last summer for questioning the practice of retroactively deleting meetings from the official calendar. Madeline Morris was Pruitt’s senior scheduler and was fired after she raised objections about the deletions, which she believed were illegal. (New York Times)
How Andrew Wheeler differs from Scott Pruitt. Wheeler is viewed as a Washington insider who avoids the limelight and has spent years effectively navigating the rules. Wheeler is also a veteran coal lobbyist for Murray Energy, whose chief executive, Robert Murray, has been a supporter and adviser of Trump’s. (New York Times)
2/ Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer urged Trump to nominate federal Judge Merrick Garland to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy in a private phone call last week. Garland, Obama’s nominee to the Supreme Court, was blocked by Senate Republicans in 2016. The conversation lasted less than five minutes. (Washington Post)
3/ Trump narrowed his Supreme Court shortlist to Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett and Raymond Kethledge and will announce his nominee on Monday, July 9, at 8 pm Eastern time. Aides, however, said they wouldn’t be surprised if Trump announced his nominee ahead of the scheduled prime-time event. (ABC News / Axios / Vox)
Trump wants the whole package in a Supreme Court nominee, with the search process playing out like a political campaign as he considers a candidate’s appearance as well as the look and feel of his or her family. (Politico)
4/ Trump asked his advisers last August why the U.S. couldn’t invade Venezuela. Trump’s aides, including then-national security adviser H. R. McMaster and then-secretary of state Rex Tillerson, warned against an invasion. One official said Trump was simply thinking “out loud.” Trump, however, raised the issue three more times last year, including in September at a private dinner with the leaders from four Latin American countries during the U.N. General Assembly. Despite being briefed not to raise the possibility of an invasion at the dinner, the first thing Trump said was: “My staff told me not to say this.” (Associated Press / CNN)
5/ Trump hired former Fox News executive Bill Shine to lead his communications team. Shine was forced to resign from Fox News in May 2017 over his mishandling of sexual harassment claims at the company. Shine will take over for Hope Hicks, who left in March. (Politico / CNBC / BuzzFeed News)
6/ Trump’s first tariffs will hit $34 billion of Chinese imports starting tomorrow. China accused the United States of “opening fire” on the world with the tariffs and vowed to respond the moment the duties on Chinese goods kick in. (Washington Post / Reuters)
Mexico imposed the second part of their $3 billion retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods in response to Trump’s duties on Mexican steel and aluminum exports to the United States. (Politico)
7/ The owner of a Chinese factory says it has been hired to make flags for Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign. The factory has reportedly made flags for the campaigns of both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in 2016. “We also make flags for Trump for 2020,” the factory owner said. “It seems like he has another campaign going on in 2020. Isn’t that right?” It is unclear whether the official Trump reelection organization is the one who ordered the flags. (The Hill / Business Insider)
Notables.
Robert Mueller is utilizing additional career Justice Department prosecutors, in a sign that he may soon hand off parts of his investigation. (Bloomberg / Axios)
Trump said he would decide by July 4th if he would sit down for an interview with Robert Mueller’s team. Rudy Giuliani said there was “no decision” to announce. (CBS News)
Michael Cohen dropped the reference “personal attorney to President Donald J. Trump” from his social media accounts. His bio is now blank on Twitter with an image of an American flag. (CNN)
A federal judge rejected a Trump administration request to block three California sanctuary laws, allowing the state to counter Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration by limiting the kinds of immigration-related information state and local law enforcement can share with federal officials. (Politico / Associated Press)
Trump lied when he tweeted that Obama granted citizenship to 2,500 Iranians in an attempt to sweeten the Iran nuclear deal. Trump provided no evidence to support his tweet, but three senior Obama administration officials who were involved in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action negotiations pushed back on the claim, which seems to have originated with a hard-line cleric in Iran’s parliament. (Washington Post)
Trump’s co-author for The Art of the Deal tweeted that Trump “is incapable of reading a book, much less writing one.” The Twitter criticism came after Trump bragged about “my ability to write” and having “many best selling books.” (HuffPost)
Wondering what happened to Day 531? WTF Just Happened Today publishes Monday-Friday, except on market holidays.
1/ The Trump administration will rescind Obama-era guidelines that encourage college admissions to consider race as a factor in order to diversify their student bodies. Trump administration officials contend the current policies “mislead schools to believe that legal forms of affirmative action are simpler to achieve than the law allows.” The reversal would restore George W. Bush’s policy that “strongly encourages the use of race-neutral methods” for student admissions. Jeff Sessions said Justice Department prosecutors will investigate and sue universities over discriminatory admissions policies. Schools that don’t follow the new policy could also lose federal funding. (Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Reuters)
2/ Leaked copies of Michael Cohen’s shredded documents were reconstructed by the FBI and appear to confirm Cohen’s $62,500 payment to a former Playboy model on behalf of Republican fundraiser Elliot Broidy. The documents were seized during a raid by the FBI on Cohen’s home and office in April and include handwritten notes about a taxi business, as well as insurance papers, correspondence from a woman described as a “vexatious litigant,” who claims she is under government surveillance, and other documents that prosecutors already had in their possession. (BuzzFeed News)
READ: Michael Cohen’s Reconstructed Shredded Documents. (DocumentCloud)
3/ Scott Pruitt and his aides kept “secret” calendars and schedules to hide controversial meetings and calls with industry representatives. Staffers routinely met in Pruitt’s office to “scrub” records from Pruitt’s calendar because they might “look bad.” “We would have meetings [about] what we were going to take off on the official schedule,” said Pruitt’s former deputy chief of staff Kevin Chmielewski. “We had at one point three different schedules. One of them was one that no one else saw except three or four of us. It was a secret … and they would decide what to nix from the public calendar.” (CNN)
4/ Two of Pruitt’s top aides told congressional investigators that he leveraged his position for personal benefit and ignored warnings about potential ethical issues. The staffers testified to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee last week, sharing details about Pruitt’s spending and management decisions, his efforts to secure a six-figure job for his wife at a conservative political group, enlisting aides to perform personal tasks, and seeking high-end travel despite objections and warnings from staffers. (Washington Post)
5/ Scott Pruitt asked Trump this spring to fire Jeff Sessions and let him run the Department of Justice. Advisers shot down Pruitt’s proposal to temporarily replace Sessions for 210 days under the Vacancies Reform Act, saying he would return to Oklahoma afterward to run for office. (CNN)
6/ ICE agents are forcing parents to choose between leaving the country with their children — or leaving the country without them. The new instructions from the Trump administration to agents don’t allow parents separated under the “zero tolerance” policy to reunite with their children while they await a decision on asylum – effectively preventing them from making an asylum claim. (NBC News)
7/ A federal judge ordered the U.S. government to stop the blanket arrests of asylum seekers and immediately release or grant hearings to more than 1,000 asylum seekers who have been jailed without individualized case reviews. (Washington Post)
The White House used its official Twitter account to attack two Democratic senators who oppose Trump’s immigration agenda, equating their criticisms of Immigration and Customs Enforcement with support for criminals. (New York Times)
8/ Trump threatened several NATO allies in June that they increase defense spending and meet their security obligation or face consequences. Trump hinted that one consequence could be an adjustment to the United States’ military presence around the world. In his letter to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Trump warned that it would “become increasingly difficult to justify to American citizens why some countries do not share NATO’s collective security burden while American soldiers continue to sacrifice their lives overseas or come home gravely wounded.” (New York Times)
NATO allies defend military spending amid Trump criticism. NATO officials are concerned that trans-Atlantic divisions over trade tariffs and the U.S. pullout from the Paris global climate agreement and the Iran nuclear deal could undermine alliance unity. (Washington Post)
9/ Trump ordered American flags to be lowered to half-staff to honor the victims of last week’s shooting at the Capital Gazette newsroom, after initially denying the request last week. Annapolis mayor, Gavin Buckley, submitted the flag request through Maryland representatives in Congress and was told Monday that it had been denied. (New York Times)
poll/ 49% of voters say Trump is racist while 47% say he is not racist. 44% say the main motive for Trump’s immigration policies are “racist beliefs.” (Quinnipiac)
poll/ 58% of Americans disapprove of the way Trump has handled immigration, frequently describing the practice of separating children from their parents as “sad,” “terrible,” “bad,” and “wrong.” (Quinnipiac)
poll/ 64% of voters want Trump’s Supreme Court nominee to “limit the amount of money corporations and unions can spend on political campaigns.” The Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision allowed businesses to spend unlimited money on political campaigns. (Daily Beast / Ipsos)
poll/ 62% of Americans say they want the Republican-led Senate to vote on Trump’s Supreme Court nominee before the November midterm elections. 33% said the Senate should wait until after the elections. 66% of Democrats and 60% of Republicans said Trump’s nominee would be an important factor in their vote in the midterms. (NBC News)
Notables.
Rep. Jim Jordan was accused of failing to stop sexual abuse by the team doctor when he was the Ohio State wrestling coach. Republican congressman from Ohio was the assistant wrestling coach at the university from 1986 to 1994 and has repeatedly said he didn’t know about the abuse until former students began speaking out this spring. (NBC News)
Wilbur Ross shorted two more stocks – five in total – during his time as Commerce secretary. Ross maintains that made the trades to avoid the impression that his financial holdings were a conflict of interest. (CNBC)
Trump, again, criticized Harley-Davidson for moving some operations overseas in response to retaliatory EU tariffs against U.S. goods. Trump tweeted that he’s talking with other motorcycle companies about moving them to the U.S. (CNBC)
The top aide to Rod Rosenstein will leave the Justice Department for a job in the private sector. The DOJ’s previous third-in-command, Rachel Brand, resigned earlier this year. TALK: Who else has left the Trump administration. (NPR)
A federal judge set a pre-sentencing hearing for Michael Flynn. Trump’s former national security adviser will head to court next Tuesday. Flynn pleaded guilty last December to one felony count of making false statements to the FBI. (Politico)
The Senate Intelligence Committee backed the intelligence community’s assessment that Putin was trying to help Trump when Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election, breaking with their House Republican counterparts. (Politico / CNN)
Trump plans to meet one-on-one with Putin during their July 16 summit in Helsinki, Finland. Some US officials expressed concern that without aides present, the meeting will be without an official record — making it difficult to determine whether they reached any agreements. (CNN)
1/ Michael Cohen will “put family and country first,” saying his “first loyalty” isn’t to Trump. “I will not be a punching bag as part of anyone’s defense strategy,” Cohen said. “I am not a villain of this story, and I will not allow others to try to depict me that way.” Cohen, signaling his willingness to cooperate with Robert Mueller and federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York, said his decision to cooperate will not be based on loyalty to Trump, but rather his attorney’s legal advice. Guy Petrillo, who is expected to take over as Cohen’s lead counsel this week, once led the criminal division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan, which is the office currently investigating Cohen. (ABC News / Washington Post)
Paul Manafort’s personal assistant gave the FBI access to his storage locker in Virginia. The judge rejected Manafort’s argument that Robert Mueller had been improperly appointed and lacked authority to prosecute him. (Reuters)
Konstantin Kilimnik helped strategize Paul Manafort’s lobbying to clients in Russia and Ukraine. Robert Mueller’s team has alleged that Kilimnik’s ties to Russian intelligence remained active through the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign, which Kilimnik has denied. Among Manafort’s clients was Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska and other wealthy Russians with close ties to Putin. (Associated Press)
Robert Mueller’s team has likely already gained access to the NRA’s tax filings and so-called “dark money” donors list, who financed $21 million of the group’s $30 million-plus pro-Trump spending. The NRA’s nonprofit status allowed it to hide those donors’ names from the public, but not the IRS. Mueller’s team is reportedly looking into NRA donors with links to Russia and whether they used the organization to illegally funnel foreign money to Trump’s campaign. (McClatchy DC)
2/ Susan Collins will not support a Supreme Court nominee who has displayed “hostility” toward Roe v. Wade. “A candidate for this important position who would overturn Roe v. Wade would not be acceptable to me,” Collins said, “because that would indicate an activist agenda that I don’t want to see a judge have.” Collins said she views Roe v. Wade as a precedent that should not be overturned. Trump, meanwhile, will not ask possible nominees for Justice Anthony Kennedy’s seat whether they would overturn Roe v. Wade. (New York Times / ABC News / Reuters)
Trump wants to replace Justice Kennedy with someone who has a portfolio of academic writing — but he doesn’t want to read any of it himself. Trump also said it’s essential that his nominee be “not weak” and that they “interpret the Constitution the way the framers meant it to be.” (Washington Post)
Trump will temporarily reorganize his White House staff to focus on confirming a Supreme Court nominee. Don McGahn, the White House counsel, will lead the process with Raj Shah, deputy press secretary, focusing on coordinating Trump’s message. (New York Times)
3/ North Korea has increased its production of enriched uranium for nuclear weapons in recent months, leading U.S. intelligence officials to conclude that North Korea does not intend to surrender its nuclear stockpile and that it is trying to conceal the number of weapons and production facilities it has. Satellite imagery also shows that North Korea is finalizing the expansion of a ballistic missile manufacturing site; the expansion started after Kim Jong-un’s summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in but before he met Trump. (NBC News / Washington Post / CNN)
Trump’s national security adviser believes North Korea could dismantle all of its nuclear weapons “in a year,” despite signs of increased nuclear fuel production. John Bolton’s timeline is at odds with what Secretary of State Mike Pompeo outlined to Congress recently. Pompeo said North Korean denuclearization could happen within two and a half years – or around the time Trump’s first term ends. (New York Times / Reuters)
Trump may hold a second summit with Kim Jong-un in New York in September, when world leaders are in town for the U.N. General Assembly. (Axios)
4/ The Trump administration drafted a bill that would abandon America’s commitment to the World Trade Organization. The bill, called the “United States Fair and Reciprocal Tariff Act,” is affectionately referred to as the FART Act on Twitter and would allow Trump to unilaterally raise tariffs without congressional consent. The source described the bill as “insane.” (Axios / Business Insider / The Guardian)
Trump’s commerce secretary said Trump won’t change his trade policy even if the stock market keeps falling. “There’s no bright line level of the stock market that’s going to change policy,” Wilbur Ross said. Stocks slipped lower during the first trading day of the third quarter with markets concerned about Trump’s tariffs. (CNBC)
5/ Trump said he’s not happy with the revised NAFTA deal with Canada and Mexico and he won’t sign it until after the midterm elections. “NAFTA, I could sign it tomorrow, but I’m not happy with it,” Trump said. “I want to make it more fair, okay? I want to wait until after the election.” (Washington Post)
6/ Canada imposed new tariffs on $12.5 billion worth of American exports and goods. The new tariffs are meant to be a proportional response to Trump’s recent steel and aluminum tariffs. Some U.S. products, mostly steel and iron, will face 25% tariffs, and other imports, like ketchup, pizza, and dishwasher detergent, will face a 10% tariff. (CNN Money / Associated Press)
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce will launch a campaign to oppose Trump’s trade tariff policies. The business lobbying giant is using a state-by-state analysis to argue that Trump is risking a global trade war that will affect the wallets of U.S. consumers. (Reuters)
7/ Trump tried to pretend that he never urged House Republicans to vote for an immigration bill — even though he tweeted that exact thing just three days earlier. On Saturday, Trump tweeted: “I never pushed the Republicans in the House to vote for the Immigration Bill, either GOODLATTE 1 or 2, because it could never have gotten enough Democrats as long as there is the 60 vote threshold.” From Wednesday: “HOUSE REPUBLICANS SHOULD PASS THE STRONG BUT FAIR IMMIGRATION BILL, KNOWN AS GOODLATTE II, IN THEIR AFTERNOON VOTE TODAY, EVEN THOUGH THE DEMS WON’T LET IT PASS IN THE SENATE.” (Politico / Slate)
HOUSE REPUBLICANS SHOULD PASS THE STRONG BUT FAIR IMMIGRATION BILL, KNOWN AS GOODLATTE II, IN THEIR AFTERNOON VOTE TODAY, EVEN THOUGH THE DEMS WON’T LET IT PASS IN THE SENATE. PASSAGE WILL SHOW THAT WE WANT STRONG BORDERS & SECURITY WHILE THE DEMS WANT OPEN BORDERS = CRIME. WIN!
I never pushed the Republicans in the House to vote for the Immigration Bill, either GOODLATTE 1 or 2, because it could never have gotten enough Democrats as long as there is the 60 vote threshold. I released many prior to the vote knowing we need more Republicans to win in Nov.
poll/ 63% of voters overall support the Supreme Court’s decision on Roe v. Wade. Among Republicans, 58% disagree with the Supreme Court’s decision. (Quinnipiac)
poll/ 47% of U.S. adults say they are “extremely proud” to be American – the lowest share since Gallup started asking that question nearly two decades ago. In particular, 32% of Democrats say they are “extremely proud” to be American — down from 56% in 2013. 74% of Republicans, meanwhile, say they’re extremely proud to be Americans – up from 71% in 2013. (Gallup)
Notables.
Senior Border Patrol official Ronald D. Vitiello will replace Thomas D. Homan and serve as the new acting director of ICE. Vitiello currently serves as acting deputy commissioner of Customs and Border Protection; he previously served as the chief of the Border Patrol. Homan retired last month after serving as the acting head of ICE. The Senate must now approve a full-time director for ICE, and Vitiello is considered the leading candidate. (New York Times)
The White House is walking back Trump’s call for Saudi Arabia to “increase oil production, maybe up to 2,000,000 barrels” per day, to make up for decreases in production by Iran and Venezuela. Trump claimed that he had spoken to Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz and that Salman had agreed to Trump’s request. The White House later issued a statement saying that, while Saudi Arabia has the capacity to increase production if necessary, the Saudis will use it “prudently” and only “if and when necessary to ensure market balance and stability, and in coordination with its producer partners, to respond to any eventuality.” (HuffPost)
A podcast host tricked Trump into calling him from Air Force One by telling the White House switchboard operator that he had Sen. Bob Menendez on the line for him. The radio shock jock claimed to represent the Democratic senator from New Jersey and said he had an urgent legislative matter to discuss. The result was a six-minute phone conversation between Stuttering John and the President of the United States aboard Air Force One, during which they talked about immigration and the Supreme Court. The White House has since launched an internal investigation into how the comedian was able to get through to Trump so easily. (New York Times / Stuttering John Podcast / The Hill)
1/ Trump has been privately telling top White House officials that he wants the US to withdraw from the World Trade Organization. “He’s [threatened to withdraw] 100 times,” a person who’s discussed the subject with Trump. “It would totally [screw] us as a country.” Trump’s economic advisers have pushed back when he raises the idea of withdrawing from the WTO. which regulates international trade. (Axios / CNN)
2/ The Trump administration ran a family separation “pilot program” months before the announcement of the “zero tolerance” policy. At least 1,768 children were separated from their parents between October 2016 and February 2018; it is not known how many of these separations took place after Trump took office because the Department of Homeland Security will not release month-by-month figures. An additional 2,342 children have been separated since May 5, bringing the total number of separated kids to more than 4,100. (NBC News)
3/ The Department of Justice is drafting a plan to overhaul the U.S. asylum policy, which would prevent people from getting asylum if they entered the country illegally. It would also make it extremely difficult for Central Americans to qualify for asylum, and would codify an opinion written by Jeff Sessions that restricts asylum for victims of domestic abuse and gang violence. (Vox)
The UN migration agency voted down Trump’s candidate to lead the International Organization for Migration, which is responsible for coordinating assistance to migrants worldwide. (CNN)
Pence told the leaders of three Central American countries that “this exodus must end” and to respect U.S. borders. “Our nation needs your nations to do more,” Pence added. (NBC News)
4/ Justice Anthony Kennedy’s son, Justin, worked at Deutsche Bank for more than a decade, helping loan Trump more than $1 billion at a time when other banks wouldn’t. Since 1998, Deutsche has helped loan Trump at least $2.5 billion, of which at least $130 million is still owed to the bank. In 2017, Deutsche Bank AG agreed to pay $425 million to New York’s banking regulator over a money laundering scheme that helped Russian investors move $10 billion out of Russia. Trump later waived the fines for the bank after Robert Mueller issued a subpoena to Deutsche for the banking records of people affiliated with him. Following Trump’s first address to Congress in February 2017, he stopped to tell Justice Kennedy: “Say hello to your boy. Special guy.” (New York Times)
poll/ 67% of Americans do not want the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade. 53% of Republicans want to see Roe v. Wade overturned, while 81% of Democrats and 73% of independents do not. (Kaiser Family Foundation / Vox)
The Iowa Supreme Court ruled that a law requiring a 72-hour waiting period for women seeking an abortion was an unconstitutional burden. “Autonomy and dominion over one’s body go to the very heart of what it means to be free,” the justices wrote. “At stake in this case is the right to shape, for oneself, without unwarranted governmental intrusion, one’s own identity, destiny, and place in the world. Nothing could be more fundamental to the notion of liberty.” (Associated Press)
Notables.
Rep. Maxine Waters cancelled multiple events after receiving what she described as a “very serious death threat” against her. Waters was scheduled to speak Friday at the conference of the National Organization of Black Elected Legislative Women in Birmingham and another event in Texas. Last week Waters encouraged protesters to confront Trump officials in public. (Washington Post / CNN)
George Papadopoulos will be sentenced by a federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 7. Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and has agreed to cooperate with Robert Mueller’s investigation. (NBC News)
Trump wants to make a deal with Putin on Syria that would allow the US to “get out ASAP.” Trump’s plan would let the Russians help Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad take back a region where the US-led coalition is experiencing increased opposition from “an unidentified hostile force” despite a previous ceasefire. (CNN)
Trump’s chief economic adviser lied on Fox Business that the federal budget deficit was “coming down rapidly,” contradicting all available data. The deficit from January through April was $161 billion, up from $135 billion at the same point last year. The deficit in fiscal year 2017 was $665 billion. In fiscal year 2016, the deficit was $587 billion. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projects that the deficit will climb to $1 trillion annually by 2020. There is no publicly available data to justify Larry Kudlow’s claim. (Washington Post)
1/ Paul Manafort owed $10 million to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, who was sanctioned by the U.S. in April 2018. The unsealed search warrant application from July 2017 shows that Deripaska financially backed Manafort’s consulting work in Ukraine when it started in 2005-06. Robert Mueller also indicted Konstantin Kilimnik, a political operative who served as an intermediary between Manafort and Deripaska, as well as allegedly having ties to Russian spy agencies. The search warrant also confirmed that Mueller has been investigating Manafort’s role in the June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower between Trump Jr. and a Russian lawyer. (Reuters)
Several billionaires with Kremlin ties attended exclusive, invitation-only receptions during Trump’s inauguration festivities – events typically reserved for top donors and close political allies. Robert Mueller’s team has expressed interest in the Russian guests who had no obvious place in Trump’s diplomatic orbit (ABC News)
2/ Trump and Putin will meet on July 16 in Helsinki to discuss a “range of national security issues,” as well as “further development of Russian-American relations.” Before the summit meeting was announced, Trump reported via Twitter that “Russia continues to say they had nothing to do with Meddling in our Election!” He added: “Why isn’t Hillary/Russia being looked at?” The Helsinki talks will follow a NATO meeting in Brussels on July 11 and 12. Trump told leaders at the recent G7 summit in Canada that “NATO is as bad as NAFTA,” stoking fears that Trump plans to undercut the alliance’s values and commitments. (New York Times / Washington Post / Axios)
Russia continues to say they had nothing to do with Meddling in our Election! Where is the DNC Server, and why didn’t Shady James Comey and the now disgraced FBI agents take and closely examine it? Why isn’t Hillary/Russia being looked at? So many questions, so much corruption!
Mike Pompeo: Trump will warn Putin that it is “completely unacceptable” to interfere in U.S. elections. “I’m confident that when the president meets with Vladimir Putin he will make clear that meddling in our elections is completely unacceptable,” the secretary of state said. (Politico)
3/ Immigrant children as young as three are being ordered to appear in court for their own deportation hearings without legal representation. The children are being served with notices to appear in court, but they are not entitled to an attorney. Instead, they are given a list of legal services organizations that might help them. Requiring unaccompanied minors to go through deportation alone is not new, but the number of children who are affected by this process has gone up during the Trump presidency. (Texas Tribune)
4/ Federal officials have launched two reviews into Trump’s handling of families at the border. The Government Accountability Office and the Health and Human Services inspector general both launched reviews. The GAO will audit the systems and processes used to track families as they were separated, while the HHS inspector general announced that it will review the safety and health protections in the agency’s shelters for migrant children. (Politico)
5/ The Pentagon said the Department of Homeland Security requested that it help “house and care for an alien family population of up to 12,000 people.” The Pentagon has been asked to “identify any available facilities that could be used for that purpose,” and “identify available DoD land and construct semi-separate, soft-sided camp facilities capable of sheltering up to 4,000 people, at three separate locations.” (CNN)
6/ Trump is considering Utah Senator Mike Lee to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court. Lee has publicly denounced Roe v. Wade. Mitch McConnell said Senate Republicans plan to hold a confirmation vote before November’s midterms, when the party is at risk of losing its 51-to-49 majority. (Bloomberg / Washington Post)
Who’s on Trump’s short list to replace Supreme Court Justice Kennedy? Trump will replace Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy with one of 25 people from a previously released list. “We have to pick one that’s going to be there for 40 years, 45 years,” Trump said. (Politico / NBC News)
The fate of the Supreme Court could hinge on Republican Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski. Republicans control the Senate by one seat and with Arizona Senator John McCain’s absence the two moderate Republicans hold enormous sway over Trump’s Supreme Court pick. (Politico)
poll/ 54% of Republicans think it’s “very likely” that social media platforms intentionally censor political views they consider “objectionable.” 64% of those surveyed believe tech companies support liberal views over conservative ones. (Axios)
Notables.
A former aide to Roger Stone was subpoenaed to appear before the grand jury in Robert Mueller’s investigation and to hand over documents. Andrew Miller worked for Stone during the campaign and plans to argue that Mueller’s appointment “was unconstitutional.” (New York Times)
The House passed a resolution demanding that the Justice Department turn over documents related to the Russia investigation, potentially setting up Rod Rosenstein for impeachment if he doesn’t comply within seven days. During a separate House Judiciary Committee meeting, Republicans accused Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray of withholding details about surveillance tactics during the Russia investigation. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News)
A former ICE spokesman turned whistleblower was interrupted at his home by Homeland Security officials during a television interview. James Schwab was explaining why he quit in March following pressure from the Trump administration “to flat-out lie” when DHS unexpectedly interrupted the interview. (CBS News)
Lawmakers introduced a bipartisan bill to make Puerto Rico the nation’s 51st state by 2021. The Puerto Rico Admission Act of 2018 was authored by Puerto Rico’s resident commissioner, Jennifer González-Colón, a Republican nonvoting member of Congress. The bill is cosponsored by 22 Republicans and 14 Democrats, and calls for the creation of a task force of nine members of Congress to look into the changes necessary to incorporate Puerto Rico as a state. (NBC News)
Trump’s pick to run the IRS owns properties at the Trump International Hotel Waikiki and Tower in Hawaii. Chuck Rettig had previously disclosed his 50% stake in a pair of Honolulu rental units, but he did not specify their location. Rettig is scheduled to testify in front of the Senate Finance Committee today, where his ownership of the Trump-branded hotel properties is expected to come up during questioning. (Politico)
Nearly 600 protesters were arrested by Capitol Police for unlawfully demonstrating against Trump’s immigration policies inside the Hart Senate Office Building. Chanting “WE CARE” and “ABOLISH ICE,” the protesters demanded that Congress end Trump’s policies that criminalize and detain undocumented immigrants and separate detained families. (ABC News)
Two days ago, former Breitbart writer Milo Yiannopoulos encouraged “vigilante squads to start gunning journalists down on sight.” Today, at least five people were killed and several others “gravely injured” in a shooting at the Capital Gazette newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland. (The Observer / Capital Gazette / New York Times / Baltimore Sun)
1/ Justice Anthony Kennedy will retire from the Supreme Court at the end of July, giving Trump a second chance to fundamentally shift the court to the right for decades by creating a five-member conservative majority. Kennedy was the court’s leading champion of gay rights, who also joined the court’s liberals in cases on abortion, affirmative action and the death penalty. Kennedy’s decision to retire will impact the midterm elections, as Democrats and Republicans seek control of the Senate, which confirms Supreme Court justices. Senate Democrats currently lack the number of votes needed to deny the seat to Trump’s nominee. (CNBC / Washington Post / New York Times)
What Kennedy’s departure from the Supreme Court will mean for abortion, gay rights, and more. Kennedy has been the swing vote on many of the Court’s most ideologically charged decisions. (Vox)
Mitch McConnell promised a Senate vote on a new Supreme Court nominee by the fall. Trump added that the search for Kennedy’s successor will begin “immediately.” (The Hill / New York Times)
Charles Schumer called McConnell’s determination to vote a Supreme Court nominee before the November midterm elections the “height of hypocrisy” for Republicans. McConnell kept Justice Antonin Scalia’s seat vacant for more than a year after he died, arguing that voters should weigh in during the 2016 presidential election on the ideological balance of the high court. (The Hill)
2/ The House rejected the latest Republican immigration bill in a 301 to 121 vote despite a last-minute tweet, all caps tweet of support from Trump. Lawmakers will now leave for their 10-day Fourth of July recess with no resolution on the fate of the Dreamers, who were brought to the country illegally as children. (CNBC / New York Times / Washington Post)
HOUSE REPUBLICANS SHOULD PASS THE STRONG BUT FAIR IMMIGRATION BILL, KNOWN AS GOODLATTE II, IN THEIR AFTERNOON VOTE TODAY, EVEN THOUGH THE DEMS WON’T LET IT PASS IN THE SENATE. PASSAGE WILL SHOW THAT WE WANT STRONG BORDERS & SECURITY WHILE THE DEMS WANT OPEN BORDERS = CRIME. WIN!
3/ A federal judge ordered the federal government to reunite migrant families separated under the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy and to end most family separations. U.S. District Court Judge Dana Sabraw issued a nationwide injunction requiring that all children under the age of five be reunited with their parents within 14 days and that older children be reunited within 30 days, and temporarily stopping the practice of separating children from their parents. The judge also ordered that all children who have been separated be allowed to talk to their parents within 10 days. (Politico / New York Times / CNN / Washington Post)
Melania Trump will visit more immigration holding centers this week. [Editor’s note: I really don’t care, do u?] (Politico)
4/ Jeff Sessions called the outrage over separating migrant children from their families a “radicalized” issue championed by the “lunatic fringe” living in “gated communities.” Sessions was speaking to the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation in Los Angeles where he suggested that those those who condemn the division of families who cross the border illegally are hypocrites. “These same people live in gated communities, many of them, and are featured at events where you have to have an ID to even come in and hear them speak,” Sessions said, “They like a little security around themselves, and if you try to scale the fence, believe me, they’ll be even too happy to have you arrested and separated from your children.” (Washington Post / New York Daily News)
AG Sessions on immigration: "The rhetoric we hear from the other side on this issue—as on so many others—has become radicalized. We hear views on television today that are on the lunatic fringe, frankly. And what is perhaps more galling is the hypocrisy." pic.twitter.com/wspedYyhvr
5/ The Supreme Court ruled that non-union public-sector workers cannot be required to pay union fees despite being represented by the union in collective bargaining negotiations. A 1977 decision made the distinction that forcing nonmembers to pay for a union’s political activities violated the First Amendment, but that it was constitutional to require nonmembers to help pay for the union’s collective bargaining efforts. More than one-third of public employees are unionized, and public-sector unions stand to lose tens of millions of dollars as a result of the ruling. (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / NBC News)
6/ A former Fox News executive is expected to be the next White House communications director. Bill Shine was forced out as Fox News co-president for how he handled sexual harassment claims at the network. Shine is good friends with Sean Hannity. (CNN / Washington Post / New York Times)
7/ Trump will meet Putin in the next few weeks, according to national security adviser John Bolton. The meeting is expected to take place in mid-July, when Trump will be in Europe for a previously scheduled NATO summit in Brussels on July 11-12. America’s European allies are worried that Trump’s meeting with Putin will undermine the NATO summit in the same way Trump clashed with allies at the G7 summit and then praised dictator Kim Jong-un. Asked why the meeting was taking place, Bolton replied: “I’d like to hear someone say this is a bad idea.” (New York Times / CNN / Axios / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
8/ First-time candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defeated 10-term incumbent Joe Crowley in the Democratic primary for New York’s 14th Congressional District on Tuesday. Ocasio-Cortez’s grassroots victory is being called one of the most shocking political upsets of the year, marking the first time in 14 years that a member of Crowley’s own party attempted to unseat him. Crowley outspent Ocasio-Cortez by a 10-to-1 margin. (CNN / Vox)
Top takeaways from Tuesday’s primaries. (Politico)
Former NAACP chief Ben Jealous won Maryland’s Democratic primary for governor and will now take on Republican Gov. Larry Hogan in the November election. Jealous promised to deliver a progressive agenda that includes free college, legal marijuana and a $15-an-hour minimum wage. (Baltimore Sun)
poll/ 37% of voters support the GOP tax overhaul – down from 44% in April. 55% of voters say they have not noticed an increase in their paychecks as a result of the law. (Politico)
poll/ 74% of voters support Trump’s decision to reverse his administration’s own policy of separating children from their family when they’re caught crossing the border illegally. 44% approve of the way Trump is handling immigration, compared to 48% who disapprove. (Politico)
poll/ 92% of Republicans believe the news media frequently and intentionally reports false or misleading stories. Overall, 65% of Americans think fake news is reported because “people have an agenda,” 30% believe it’s due to laziness or “poor fact-checking,” and 3% think fake news is reported by accident. (Axios)
Notables.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders will receive temporary Secret Service protection for an unspecified period of time. The protective detail comes days after Sanders was asked to leave the Red Hen restaurant in Lexington, VA, over her role in the Trump administration. (CNN)
Conservatives unsuccessfully lobbied Scott Pruitt last year to remove a career staffer in hopes of derailing the 13-agency National Climate Assessment, which concluded that human activity is “extremely likely” to be driving climate change. Conservatives wanted Pruitt to “recall and replace” the staffer, who worked for the committee overseeing the congressionally mandated report. (Politico)
The man charged with murder of a woman at last year’s “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, now faces federal hate crime charges. The Department of Justice indicted James Alex Fields Jr. with a hate crime resulting in death, 29 charges for hate crimes involving an attempt to kill dozens of people, and one charge of “racially motivated violent interference” with a federally protected activity. (Associated Press / Vox / New York Times)
Trump’s voter fraud commission was ordered to hand over documents demanded by Democrats by July 18. The now-defunct Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity was set up after Trump’s inauguration in order to investigate his unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2016 election. It was dissolved after some states refused to hand over voter information. (The Hill)
North Korea continues to make upgrades to its nuclear reactor “at a rapid pace,” despite pledging to denuclearize. Satellite imagery shows infrastructure improvements to the site, including the cooling system for the plutonium production reactor. (The Guardian)
Trump made 103 false statements last week, setting a new one-week record for his presidency. His previous record for false claims in a week was 60, which he set in early March. By some counts, that brings Trump’s total to 1,829 false claims in the first 521 days of his presidency, an average of 3.5 per day. Other counts put the number of false or misleading statements above 3,000. (Toronto Star)
1/ The Supreme Court upheld the third iteration of Trump’s travel ban in a 5-4 ruling along ideological lines. The ban was issued last fall and prevented travelers from eight counties – including six majority-Muslim countries – from entering the U.S. Several states challenged the ban, claiming the order constituted a “Muslim ban,” violated Trump’s executive authority and the Constitution, and harmed U.S. citizens and educational institutions. Trump seemed surprised by the decision, tweeting “SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS TRUMP TRAVEL BAN. Wow!” (CNN / Washington Post / New York Times / CNBC)
2/ The Supreme Court ruled that “crisis pregnancy centers” don’t have to provide women with information about the availability of abortions. California required that centers post notices about state-offered abortion, contraception and prenatal services available to low-income women, and to provide phone numbers for more information. The National Institute of Family and Life Advocates argued that the law violated their right to free speech by forcing them to convey messages at odds with their beliefs. The Supreme Court agreed in a 5-4 vote. “Crisis pregnancy centers” are essentially anti-abortion facilities that seek to prevent abortions that are often located next to or across the street from a traditional, full-service women’s reproductive health center. (Washington Post / New York Times / NPR)
3/ Robert Mueller’s team plans to produce conclusions and possible indictments related to the Trump-Russia investigation by fall. Mueller and investigators will then determine whether there is sufficient evidence to conclude that Trump attempted to obstruct justice. At least 13 people associated with Trump’s presidential campaign had suspicious contacts with Russians. (Bloomberg)
Michael Cohen wants to prevent prosecutors from reviewing 12,000 files from the more than four million seized by authorities as part of their criminal investigation. Cohen claims the documents either are covered by attorney-client privilege or are part of legal work being done in preparation for litigation. (Reuters)
A federal judge refused to dismiss charges brought against Paul Manafort by Robert Mueller. Manafort’s lawyers tried to discredit Mueller’s probe by accusing Rod Rosenstein of violating Justice Department rules governing the appointment of special counsels. (Associated Press / Reuters / Politico)
4/ Seventeen states sued the Trump administration to force officials to reunite migrant families who have been separated at the U.S.-Mexico border. The Health and Human Services Secretary, however, said the Trump administration will not reunite any children with parents held in detention facilities unless current federal law changes or their parents drop their asylum claims and agree to be deported. (Reuters / NBC News / Los Angeles Times)
5/ Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Oath, Snap and Twitter met with the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security to discuss the upcoming midterm elections in an effort to ensure there is not a repeat of Russian interference. The eight tech companies shared details about disinformation campaigns they were witnessing on their platforms. However, neither the FBI nor the DHS provided the tech companies with information about specific threats, prompting frustration from Silicon Valley that intelligence officials weren’t preparing them for the midterm elections. (New York Times / Washington Post)
Reality Winner was sentenced to 63 months in prison for leaking to the media a classified report about Russian interference in the 2016 election. The report described hacks by the GRU against local election officials and a company that sold voter registration-related software. (New York Times)
poll/ 55% of Americans see U.S. democracy as “weak” and 68% believe it’s “getting weaker.” 50% say America is in “real danger of becoming a nondemocratic, authoritarian country.” (Democracy Project)
Notables.
Sean Spicer seeks “Common Ground” in his new talk show, where he plans to interview notable guests in an informal setting. The pilot shoots in July. “In this current environment,” Spicer said, “I think it’s important to have a platform where we can have civil, respectful, and informative discussions on the issues of the day.” (New York Times)
Trump threatened a “big tax” on Harley-Davidson, “like never before,” for planning to relocate some of its production overseas in response to retaliatory tariffs it faces in the escalating trade dispute between the US and the European Union. Trump accused the company of using tariffs “as an excuse” and that moving its motorcycle production overseas “will be the beginning of the end.” (ABC News / The Guardian)
Federal debt is expected to exceed the size of the economy within a decade due to recent changes to tax and spending laws. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said “the prospect of large and growing debt poses substantial risks” that include an increasing likelihood of a fiscal crisis. (Politico / Los Angeles Times)
The United Nations estimates 18.25 million Americans are living in “extreme poverty.” The Trump administration called the estimate “exaggerated” and that only 250,000 Americans live in extreme poverty. (Washington Post)
Fox News suspended Trump’s former deputy campaign manager for telling a black Democratic strategist “You’re out of your cotton-picking mind” during a segment on Fox & Friends Weekend. David Bossie has been suspended for two weeks. (Daily Beast)
A Chicago bar banned Make America Great Again hats in an effort to maintain “a classy environment.” Since the announcement, the bar has not had to enforce the rule. (NBC Chicago)
1/ Trump: “We must immediately” send immigrants who illegally enter the U.S. “back from where they came” with “no Judges or Court Cases.” Trump likened immigrants and asylum seekers to intruders trying to “break into” the country, saying “we cannot allow all of these people to invade our Country. When somebody comes in, we must immediately, with no Judges or Court Cases, bring them back from where they came.” (Reuters / Washington Post / New York Times)
We cannot allow all of these people to invade our Country. When somebody comes in, we must immediately, with no Judges or Court Cases, bring them back from where they came. Our system is a mockery to good immigration policy and Law and Order. Most children come without parents...
....Our Immigration policy, laughed at all over the world, is very unfair to all of those people who have gone through the system legally and are waiting on line for years! Immigration must be based on merit - we need people who will help to Make America Great Again!
2/ Sarah Huckabee Sanders claimed that “just because you don’t see a judge doesn’t mean you don’t receive due process,” as she defended Trump’s statement that people who illegally cross the border should be removed “with no Judges or Court Cases.” Trump tweeted that “hiring manythousands [sic] of judges, and going through a long and complicated legal process, is not the way to go - will always be disfunctional [sic]. People must simply be stopped at the Border and told they cannot come into the U.S. illegally.” (The Hill / ABC News)
Hiring manythousands of judges, and going through a long and complicated legal process, is not the way to go - will always be disfunctional. People must simply be stopped at the Border and told they cannot come into the U.S. illegally. Children brought back to their country......
....If this is done, illegal immigration will be stopped in it’s tracks - and at very little, by comparison, cost. This is the only real answer - and we must continue to BUILD THE WALL!
3/ The commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection will stop referring immigrants with children to the Justice Department for prosecution until CBP and the DOJ can “agree on a policy that would allow parents to be prosecuted without separating them from their children.” Sarah Huckabee Sanders said there was no change to the administration’s “zero tolerance” policy and that “we’re not changing the policy. We’re simply out of resources.” Jeff Sessions, meanwhile, told a group of school resources offers in Reno, Nevada that “we’re going to continue to prosecute those adults who enter here illegally. We’re going to do everything in our power, however, to avoid separating families. All federal agencies are working hard to accomplish this goal.” (New York Times / CNN)
The Department of Homeland Security said it’s reunited 522 children with parents. 2,053 separated children remain in the care of the Department of Health and Human Services. The government “knows the location of all children in its custody and is working to reunite them with their families,” according to a DHS fact sheet. (Reuters / New York Times)
Jeff Sessions warned activists against “obstructing” ICE or Border Patrol, saying “free speech, assembly, and protest are and will be protected,” but other crimes will not be tolerated.” Activists online have threatened to dox ICE employees and publicly shame those who work for the agency. (Politico)
4/ Sarah Huckabee Sanders was kicked out of a Virginia restaurant because she publicly defends the Trump administration’s “inhumane and unethical” policies. The Red Hen’s owner, though “not a huge fan of confrontation,” said, “This feels like the moment in our democracy when people have to make uncomfortable actions and decisions to uphold their morals.” The owner’s actions “say far more about her than about me,” Sanders tweeted. Trump criticized the restaurant on Twitter, saying that “the Red Hen Restaurant should focus more on cleaning its filthy canopies, doors and windows (badly needs a paint job) rather than refusing to serve a fine person.” He then offered his personal advice to those dining out: “I always had a rule, if a restaurant is dirty on the outside, it is dirty on the inside!” (The Guardian / New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press)
Last night I was told by the owner of Red Hen in Lexington, VA to leave because I work for @POTUS and I politely left. Her actions say far more about her than about me. I always do my best to treat people, including those I disagree with, respectfully and will continue to do so
— Kayleigh McEnany 45 Archived (@PressSec45) June 23, 2018
The Red Hen Restaurant should focus more on cleaning its filthy canopies, doors and windows (badly needs a paint job) rather than refusing to serve a fine person like Sarah Huckabee Sanders. I always had a rule, if a restaurant is dirty on the outside, it is dirty on the inside!
5/ Trump ally and Blackwater founder Erik Prince provided Robert Mueller with “total access to his phone and computer.” Mueller’s team has been scrutinizing allegations that Prince tried to establish a backchannel between the Trump administration and the Kremlin during a January 2017 meeting in the Seychelles. In April 2017, it was reported that the United Arab Emirates had arranged the meeting between Prince and a Russian close to Putin. The two-day meeting took place about nine days before Trump’s inauguration. Last week, Prince said he had “spoken voluntarily to Congress” and has “cooperated with the special counsel.” (ABC News)
6/ Trump plans to block Chinese companies from investing in U.S. technology firms and on the technologies that can be sold to China. The Dow dropped more than 300 points in response to the aggressive restrictions favored by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and White House trade adviser Peter Navarro over the more conservative approach favored by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. On Sunday, Trump warned America’s trade partners to remove trade barriers and tariffs or face the consequences. (Wall Street Journal / Politico / CNBC / MarketWatch)
The United States is insisting that all countries that have placed artificial Trade Barriers and Tariffs on goods going into their country, remove those Barriers & Tariffs or be met with more than Reciprocity by the U.S.A. Trade must be fair and no longer a one way street!
Harley-Davidson will shift some production of motorcycles for European customers out of the U.S. to avoid E.U. retaliatory tariffs, saying it stood to lose as much as $100 million a year. (CNN Money)
poll/ 51% of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of the economy. 54% believe the economy is in good or excellent condition. (CNBC)
The bond market’s yield curve is warning of a possible recession. Wall Street is watching the gap between two-year and 10-year interest rates shrink. When long-term interest rates will fall below short-term rates, the yield curve has “inverted” and it’s “a powerful signal of recessions.” Curve inversions have “correctly signaled all nine recessions since 1955. (New York Times)
poll/ Trump’s job approval ratings fell to 41%, down four percentage points from his personal best of a 45% approval from a week ago. (Gallup / The Hill)
Notables.
Trump has sidelined James Mattis and is no longer listening to or including his defense secretary on several major foreign policy issues. Trump is relying on his own instincts or those of National Security Adviser John Bolton or Secretary of State Mike Pompeo over Mattis’s advice. “They don’t really see eye to eye,” said a former senior White House official. (NBC News)
Scott Pruitt considered hiring a friend of the lobbyist couple that owned the condominium he was renting in D.C. for $50 a night, according to previously undisclosed emails. The records also show communications about the lobbyist’s client’s interests, suggesting a closer relationship between Pruitt and the agency than previously acknowledged. (New York Times)
Pruitt is facing another probe from the Office of Special Counsel into claims that he retaliated against a handful of EPA employees who pushed back against his spending and management. At least six current and former agency officials were fired or reassigned for questioning Pruitt’s need for 24-hour security protection, as well as for questioning his spending practices. The OSC probe is the latest in the list of roughly two dozen other inquiries into Pruitt’s actions as head of the EPA. (Politico)
The Supreme Court granted an appeal for a florist who refused to sell flowers to a gay couple, sending the case back to the Washington state courts “for further consideration in light” of the June 4th decision in favor of a Colorado baker who refused to make a cake for a gay wedding. (NBC News)
The Supreme Court mostly upheld congressional and state legislative districts in Texas that trial courts previously ruled discriminatory. The Supreme Court also declined to rule on North Carolina redistricting plan that a lower court had found overly favored Republicans (New York Times / Washington Post)
The FBI turned over to House Republicans classified documents related to the Russia investigation, including the details about the FBI’s justification to obtain a court-authorized warrant to spy on a former Trump campaign aide in October 2016. Lawmakers had threatened to hold Justice Department officials in contempt of Congress or impeach them if they didn’t comply with the document request. (Politico / Associated Press)
Robert Mueller wants George Papadopoulos to be sentenced in September on the false-statement felony charge he pleaded guilty to last fall. Papadopoulos could be the second defendant sentenced in the investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. (Politico)
Trump called Rep. Maxine Waters “an extraordinarily low IQ person” after the California Democrat called on her supporters to confront Trump officials in public spaces like restaurants to protest the administration’s policies. (ABC News / Washington Times / CNN)
1/ Paul Ryan abruptly delayed a vote on a “compromise” immigration package until next week, as Republicans search for a way to get 218 votes to pass the measure. The bill would provide $25 billion for Trump’s border wall, offer a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, and keep migrant families together in detention centers. It was the second time the bill has been delayed this week. (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times)
2/ Trump told Republicans to “stop wasting their time on Immigration” until after the midterms, predicting that more Republicans will be elected to Congress, and accusing Democrats of creating “phony stories of sadness and grief” on the border. Three days ago, Trump tweeted that “now is the best opportunity ever for Congress to change the ridiculous and obsolete laws on immigration.” Trump’s comments came shortly after Republican House leaders postponed a vote on a broad immigration bill. (NBC News / Washington Post)
Republicans should stop wasting their time on Immigration until after we elect more Senators and Congressmen/women in November. Dems are just playing games, have no intention of doing anything to solves this decades old problem. We can pass great legislation after the Red Wave!
We must maintain a Strong Southern Border. We cannot allow our Country to be overrun by illegal immigrants as the Democrats tell their phony stories of sadness and grief, hoping it will help them in the elections. Obama and others had the same pictures, and did nothing about it!
3/ Trump autographed photos of Americans who were killed by undocumented immigrants. Trump autographed 11 photos, which were held up by family members during a White House event. (CNBC)
4/ About 500 of the more than 2,300 children who were separated from their parents have been reunited. The Department of Homeland Security said it has stopped referring members of detained families to the Department of Justice for prosecution. (ABC News)
5/ The Pentagon will house up to 20,000 unaccompanied migrant children at military bases “for occupancy as early as July through December 31, 2018.” The Navy is also preparing plans to construct “temporary and austere” tent cities to house 25,000 migrants at abandoned airfields in Florida and Alabama. The proposed plans also call for camps near San Francisco and at Camp Pendleton along the Southern California coast that would hold as many as 47,000 people each. (New York Times / Washington Post / Time)
6/ The National Enquirer regularly sent Michael Cohen copies of stories related to Trump in advance of publication during the 2016 presidential campaign. The company denied the practice, but three sources say it continued even after Trump took office. If “it was a story specifically about Trump,” one person said, “then it was sent over to Michael, and as long as there were no objections from him, the story could be published.” Cohen’s efforts to limit negative stories about Trump during the campaign has prosecutors looking into whether he broke campaign finance laws. (Washington Post)
Comedian Tom Arnold after meeting with Michael Cohen: “This dude has all the tapes – this dude has everything” and they are teaming up to “take down” Trump. Arnold met with Cohen as part of a show he is working on for Vice, in which he searches for incriminating videos of the president. (NBC News / The Hill)
Robert Mueller’s team is worried about whether “widespread media attention” has biased potential jurors for Paul Manafort’s upcoming criminal trial. (Politico)
poll/ 41% of Americans approve of the way Robert Mueller is handling the Russia investigation, down from 48% in March. 55% of Americans, however, believe Mueller’s investigation is a serious matter that he should continue to investigate. 35% think the investigation is an effort to discredit Trump’s presidency. (CNN)
poll/ 42% of Americans say Trump should be impeached and removed from office. The public support is on par with a March 1974 poll that found 43% of Americans supported impeaching Richard Nixon – five months before he resigned. Trump’s approval rating stands at 39%. (CNN)
Notables.
Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski was dropped by his speakers bureau following his “womp womp” comment about a 10-year-old girl with Down syndrome who had been separated from her parents at the border. (CNN)
The House passed a package of bills to address the opioid epidemic, which killed 42,000 people in 2016. (NBC News)
The New York Police Department was sued for refusing to disclose information about Trump’s handgun licenses after a Freedom of Information Law request. Trump Jr. and Eric Trump also have guns. (New York Post)
The Supreme Court ruled that the government generally needs a warrant to obtain cellphone location data used to track the past location of criminal suspects. (Reuters / Washington Post / New York Times)
The Treasury Department changed a Nevada county’s zoning designation after lobbying by Nevada Republicans and a GOP donor. (Washington Post)
Trump tweeted another tariff threat targeting automobile imports from Europe. Trump’s threat to impose a 20% tariff on autos comes in response to Europe imposing tariffs on $3.2 billion in U.S. goods. (CNBC / Washington Post)
The EPA claims Scott Pruitt has sent one email during his first 10 months in office, according to a Freedom of Information Act request by the Sierra Club. (Politico)
1/ Melania Trump made an unannounced trip to the southern border to visit a detention center for immigrant children wearing a jacket that says “I really don’t care, do u?” Melania was seen wearing the $39 jacket from Zara as she boarded her plane from Andrews Air Force Base where the temperature was 80 degrees, but was changed her outfit before she disembarked in McAllen, Texas. Her spokeswoman responded to questions about the jacket with: “It’s a jacket.” Donald Trump, meanwhile, tweeted that Melania’s jacket “refers to the Fake News Media.” (CNN / New York Times / Variety / Daily Mail)
"As the temperature climbed to 80 degrees at Joint Base Andrews near Washington, Mrs. Trump boarded her plane wearing an olive green coat that read, in white capital letters, “I really don’t care. Do U?” @katierogershttps://t.co/Rd7zeok6xK
FLOTUS spox confirms Mrs. Trump wore a jacket to visit border kids that reads: "I really don't care. Do you?" Spox says: "It's a jacket. There was no hidden message. After today's important visit to Texas, I hope the media isn't going to choose to focus on her wardrobe." pic.twitter.com/Bp4Z8n455G
“I REALLY DON’T CARE, DO U?” written on the back of Melania’s jacket, refers to the Fake News Media. Melania has learned how dishonest they are, and she truly no longer cares!
2/ The Trump administration has not provided a plan to reunite at least 2,300 undocumented children with their families. The executive order Trump signed yesterday temporarily stopped his policy of separating children from their parents at the border, but does not address the uniting of families already separated. Instead, existing policies put the onus on parents to find their children in Department of Health and Human Services custody. In a letter to Trump, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said: “It seems that the administration lacks a plan, intention, and a sense of urgency to begin reuniting these children.” (CNN / Politico / Los Angeles Times)
Ivanka Trump thanked her dad for ending his family separation policy while calling on Congress to “find a lasting solution that is consistent with our shared values.” (HuffPost)
Thank you @POTUS for taking critical action ending family separation at our border. Congress must now act + find a lasting solution that is consistent with our shared values;the same values that so many come here seeking as they endeavor to create a better life for their families
3/ Immigrants as young as 14 years old who are being housed at a detention center in Virginia say they were beaten while in handcuffs, stripped nude, and placed in cold solitary confinement cells for extended periods of time. The abuse claims are detailed in federal court filings, which include allegations from multiple detainees that guards stripped them of their clothes, strapped them to chairs, and placed bags over their heads. (Associated Press)
Hundreds of separated children have been sent to New York even after Trump signed an executive order ending his administration’s policy of separating parents and children who have illegally crossed the border. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Cayuga Centers in East Harlem is currently caring for 239 children separated from their parents at the border. The center has cared for 350 children in total over the last two months. Cayuga Centers has $76 million in contracts with the federal government to care for immigrant children. (New York Times / New York Daily News)
4/ Border Patrol will stop sending parents illegally crossing into the U.S. with children to federal courthouses for prosecution because ICE lacks the detention capacity needed. Solo adults who cross illegally will continue to face misdemeanor charges under the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy. (Washington Post)
The Defense Department sent 21 military lawyers to Arizona, Texas and New Mexico to help prosecute illegal immigration cases. Lawyers will be given basic training in immigration law and federal criminal procedure in order to help the current federal prosecutors. (NBC News)
The Defense Department will house up to 20,000 unaccompanied migrant children on military bases starting “as early as July through December 31, 2018.” (Washington Post)
5/ Trump questioned the “purpose” of two House immigration bills that he previously said he supported “1,000 percent.” Trump tweeted that both bills don’t matter, because they will likely fail in the Senate where Republicans hold 51 seats, but need 60 votes. Hours later, the House voted down its conservative immigration bill and then postponed a vote on a Republican compromise measure. Trump repeated his call to eliminate the filibuster, telling Republicans that “it is killing you!” and that Senate Democrats “are only looking to obstruct,” because they think it “is good for them” in the midterm elections. (CNBC / NBC News / Politico)
What is the purpose of the House doing good immigration bills when you need 9 votes by Democrats in the Senate, and the Dems are only looking to Obstruct (which they feel is good for them in the Mid-Terms). Republicans must get rid of the stupid Filibuster Rule-it is killing you!
After Trump ended his administration’s practice of separating immigrant children from their parents, he says that “we’re sending them the hell back” and that “the border is going to be just as tough as it has been.” (ABC News)
6/ Trump accused Democratic leaders via Twitter of being unwilling to negotiate a “real deal” on immigration. Last year, Trump appeared to have reached a deal with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer that would have addressed the “Dreamers’” situation. The White House later backed off, saying they wanted to take a hard-line position on immigration. Trump also tweeted that “we should be changing our laws, building the Wall, hire Border Agents and Ice and not let people come into our country.” (Washington Post / New York Times)
We shouldn’t be hiring judges by the thousands, as our ridiculous immigration laws demand, we should be changing our laws, building the Wall, hire Border Agents and Ice and not let people come into our country based on the legal phrase they are told to say as their password.
The Border has been a big mess and problem for many years. At some point Schumer and Pelosi, who are weak on Crime and Border security, will be forced to do a real deal, so easy, that solves this long time problem. Schumer used to want Border security - now he’ll take Crime!
poll/ 57% of Texas voters oppose the practice of separating children from their parents at the border. 28% support the practice. (Texas Tribune)
poll/ More Democrats and independents now say immigration is the most important issue facing the country. 18% of Democrats and 11% of independents say immigration is their highest priority, up 10 and 4 percentage points since last week, respectively. (Axios)
Notables.
Trump will meet with Putin next month in Vienna, either before the NATO summit in Brussels on July 11 or after Trump’s visit to the U.K. on July 13. Both the White House and the Kremlin declined to comment, but Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, will visit Moscow next week. (Bloomberg / New York Times)
A federal judge denied Paul Manafort’s request to suppress evidence seized from a storage unit by Robert Mueller’s investigators. Manafort argued that the evidence was improperly seized after an FBI agent convinced one of Manafort’s employees to open the storage unit, instead of asking Manafort for permission or seeking a warrant. Judge Amy Berman Jackson rejected that argument, saying, “Law enforcement agents do not need a warrant to enter a location if they have voluntary consent.” (Reuters)
The Trump Organization and Kushner Companies dropped plans for a joint oceanfront hotel at the Jersey Shore, terminating an arrangement where the Trumps would manage a hotel the Kushners were building. (New York Times)
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said he was unaware of any steps taken by North Korea towards denuclearization since Trump’s summit with Kim Jong Un, who pledged to dismantle one of his missile installations. (Reuters / The Guardian)
The “Unite the Right” organizer received initial approval to hold a “white civil rights” rally on the National Mall on August 12. The National Park Service approved Jason Kessler’s request but has not issued a permit, yet. The “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville last year led to violence as white nationalist marchers clashed with counter-protesters. (Washington Post)
Scott Pruitt spent more than $4.6 million in taxpayer money on security, including $2,749.62 on “tactical pants” and “tactical polos.” The amount represents a $1.1 million increase in Pruitt’s total security costs disclosures from last month. Pruitt’s security expenditures also include $80,000 on radios, $700 on shoulder holsters for the radios, a kit to break down doors, and more. (The Intercept)
The White House plans to merge the Education and Labor Departments. The new, combined agency will be announced as part of a broader government reorganization plan. Congress would likely have to approve the merger, but it remains unclear whether lawmakers would be in favor of such a major reorganization of the government so close to the midterm elections. (Politico / Reuters / Wall Street Journal)
The Supreme Court rules that states can charge people to pay sales tax when they make online purchases, overruling a pair of decades-old decisions that if a business was shipping to a state where the business didn’t have a physical presence, the business didn’t have to collect sales tax for the state. (Associated Press)
1/ Trump signed an executive order to reverse his administration’s policy of separating families at the border. Trump said that while the order “will solve that problem” of children being separated from their parents, it wouldn’t end his administration’s “zero tolerance” policy of prosecuting everyone caught attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally. The plan potentially violates a 1997 consent decree that prohibits the federal government from keeping children in immigration detention for more than 20 days. (New York Times / Politico / Washington Post / NBC News)
2/ Separating migrant children from their parents costs the Trump administration more than keeping them with their parents. The “tent cities” to house children cost $775 per person per night, compared with $256 per person per night to hold the children in a permanent housing facility. To house children with their family costs $298 per person per night. The increased cost is due to additional security, air conditioning, medical workers, and other government contractors to staff the tent cities. (NBC News)
Babies and young children separated from their families at the border are being sent to “tender age” shelters in South Texas. Doctors and lawyers who visited the shelters described the facilities as clean and safe, but that the kids were hysterical, crying and acting out. (Associated Press)
Corey Lewandowski replied “womp womp” to mention of a 10-year-old girl with Down syndrome being separated from her parents by the Trump administration’s immigration policy. Trump’s former campaign manager later clarified his remark, saying he simply “mocked a liberal who attempted to politicize children as opposed to discussing the real issue which is fixing a broken immigration system.” (Politico)
Kirstjen Nielsen was heckled by protesters who chanted “Shame!” and “End family separation!” while she was having dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Washington, D.C. Diners at the restaurant applauded the protesters. The Homeland Security secretary paid her check and was escorted out of the restaurant by Secret Service agents after 15 minutes of chanting. (Washington Post / Politico)
3/ Michael Cohen resigned from his post as the deputy finance chair of the Republican National Committee’s Finance Committee. Cohen cited the ongoing special counsel investigation as one reason for his departure. (ABC News / Politico)
4/ Federal prosecutors subpoenaed the publisher of the National Enquirer as part of their Michael Cohen investigation. Investigators requested information regarding American Media Inc.’s August 2016 payment to former Playboy model Karen McDougal for the rights to her story alleging an affair with Trump. Prosecutors want to know if Cohen coordinated with American Media to pay McDougal and whether the payment violated campaign finance laws. (Wall Street Journal)
5/ Michael Bloomberg will spend $80 million to support Democratic congressional candidates in the 2018 midterms in order to flip the House of Representatives. (New York Times)
poll/ 51% of Americans say they are “more enthusiastic about voting than usual” in the midterm elections. In particular, 68% of voters are focused on which party controls Congress. 60% of voters say they consider their midterm vote either a vote either for Trump (26%) or against him (34%). (Pew Research Center)
Notables.
The Senate rejected a White House plan to cut $15 billion in previously approved spending from the budget. The House had approved the rescissions package earlier this month, but the measure failed after two Republicans joined all Democrats in voting no. (Washington Post / CNN)
A lobbyist for the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska visited Julian Assange nine times at the Ecuadorian embassy in London last year. Adam Waldman had more meetings with Assange in 2017 than almost anyone else. Deripaska is currently subject to U.S. sanctions. (The Guardian)
The Trump administration released its report on toxic water contamination, months after White House officials said they feared the findings would spark a “public relations nightmare.” (Politico)
Trump rescinded Obama’s rules meant to protect the Great Lakes and the oceans bordering the U.S. The order encourages more drilling and other industrial uses of the oceans and Great Lakes. (The Hill)
1/ Michael Cohen has signaled that he is “willing to give” investigators information on Trump in order to alleviate pressure on himself and his family. Cohen has hired New York lawyer Guy Petrillo to represent him in the federal investigation into his business dealings and wants Trump to pay his legal fees. (CNN / Wall Street Journal)
2/ Trump accused Democrats of wanting “illegal immigrants … to pour into and infest our country.” Trump also rejected a proposal by Senator Ted Cruz to end family separations, calling the plan to hire thousands of new immigration judges “crazy” and suggesting the judges could be corrupt. Trump argued that undocumented immigrants could “game the system” by taking counsel from immigration lawyers and reading statements prepared for them. (CNN / BuzzFeed News / New York Times / Washington Post)
Democrats are the problem. They don’t care about crime and want illegal immigrants, no matter how bad they may be, to pour into and infest our Country, like MS-13. They can’t win on their terrible policies, so they view them as potential voters!
3/ The Trump administration has lost track of nearly 6,000 unaccompanied migrant children – thousands more than the Department of Health and Human Services had previously acknowledged. HHS placed more than 42,497 unaccompanied children with sponsors in fiscal year 2017. Officials tasked with reaching out to sponsors and children to check on their well-being said 14% of calls were not returned – meaning the Trump administration has lost track of 5,949 children. (McClatchy DC)
4/ More than 600 members of Jeff Sessions’ church filed a formal complaint accusing him of “child abuse,” “immorality,” and “racial discrimination” for his “zero-tolerance” immigration policy that has led to children getting separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. (ABC News)
A bipartisan group of former U.S. attorneys called on Jeff Sessions to end the policy of separating families at the border. “Like a majority of Americans,” they wrote, “we are appalled that your Zero Tolerance policy has resulted in the unnecessary trauma and suffering of innocent children.” (Medium)
5/ Trump threatened to shut down the government in September if Congress doesn’t provide $25 billion for his border wall. Senators are currently willing to send Trump $1.6 billion this fall. If Trump follows through with his threat, a government shutdown would happen weeks before the midterm elections. (Politico)
Trump Jr. has withdrawn from a fundraiser for George P. Bush because of criticism from the Bush family over immigration policy. Yesterday, Jeb Bush tweeted: “Children shouldn’t be used as a negotiating tool. @realDonaldTrump should end this heartless policy and Congress should get an immigration deal done that provides for asylum reform, border security and a path to citizenship for Dreamers.” (CNN)
6/ The U.S. backed out of the United Nations Human Rights Council. Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, called the council “a cesspool of political bias” that is a “hypocritical and self-serving organization that makes a mockery of human rights” and “is not worthy of its name.” The withdrawal comes a day after the U.N.‘s human rights chief called Trump’s policy of separating children from parents crossing the southern border illegally “unconscionable.” (Bloomberg / Politico / Reuters / ABC News / Washington Post / CNN)
7/ Trump threatened China with another $200 billion in tariffs if Beijing refuses to narrow the trade deficit, which he says has put the U.S. “at a permanent and unfair disadvantage.” China’s Commerce Ministry accused Trump of initiating a trade war. In total, the Trump administration has threatened to impose tariffs on as much as $450 billion worth of goods. The U.S. imported $505 billion in goods from China last year. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNBC)
The Dow fell nearly 300 points after Trump asked for $200 billion worth of additional tariffs on Chinese goods. The index erased all of its gains for the year and was on pace to post a six-day losing streak, its longest since March 2017. (CNBC)
Notables.
The Trump administration rolled back consumer protections mandated by the Affordable Care Act that health plans provide certain “essential health benefits” like mental health care, emergency services, maternity and newborn care and prescription drugs. The new rule will make it easier for small businesses to set up health insurance plans that are cheaper, but offer fewer benefits. (New York Times)
Former CIA engineer Joshua Schulte was indicted on charges that he was responsible for providing classified documents to Wikileaks. Schulte faces a grand jury indictment for handing over a massive trove of U.S. government hacking tools known as “Vault 7” to Wikileaks, the details of which were published by the organization in March 2017. Schulte was already facing child pornography charges in New York. (Politico)
A foundation established by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and run by his wife is spearheading a real-estate deal backed by the chairman of the oil giant Halliburton, which stands to benefit directly from any decision by the Interior Department to open public lands for oil exploration. Zinke and his wife also own the property next door to the proposed resort. (Politico)
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross shorted stock in a Kremlin-linked shipping firm after learning that journalists were investigating his offshore investments in Navigator Holdings. (Forbes / New York Times)
The Trump administration intentionally nominated a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director who might not be confirmed by the Senate, which would allow Mick Mulvaney to stay at the bureau for as long as two more years. (Wall Street Journal)
The Senate passed a defense budget bill to reinstate penalties against Chinese telecom giant ZTE. The vote is a rebuke of Trump’s attempt to make a deal with ZTE. (ABC News)
Erik Prince has “spoken voluntarily to Congress” and has “cooperated with the special counsel” as part of the ongoing investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia during the 2016 election. Prince reportedly met with Trump Jr., George Nader, and Israeli social media specialist Joel Zamel at a secret meeting in the Seychelles during the campaign. He also met with Russian sovereign wealth fund manager Kirill Dmitriev during the transition period to set up a backchannel between the Trump administration and Russia. (Daily Beast)
Rudy Giuliani said he was just posturing when he called on Trump to suspend Robert Mueller’s investigation. “That’s what I’m supposed to do,” Giuliani said. “What am I supposed to say? (Politico)
Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign manager called on Trump to fire Jeff Sessions and end Robert Mueller’s investigation. “Time to fire Sessions,” Brad Parscale said in his tweet. “End the Mueller investigation You can’t obstruct something that was phony against you The IG report gives @realDonaldTrump the truth to end it all.” (Politico / Washington Post)
John Kelly has given up hope of trying to control Trump and has resigned himself to the possibility of Trump being impeached. The two are reportedly “barely tolerating one another.” (Politico / Vox)
1/ Hundreds of children separated from their parents are living inside cages in an old warehouse in south Texas while they wait to be turned over to shelters funded by the Department of Health and Human Services. The cages were described as the the type you’d see at a batting cage or a dog kennel. More than 1,100 people are being held inside the facility, which is divided into separate wings for unaccompanied children, solo adults, and mothers and fathers with children. (Associated Press / NBC News)
Ann Coulter called the children crying at the border after being separated from parents “child actors.” Trump Jr., meanwhile, liked a Breitbart tweet that quoted Coulter, who said the separated children had been “coached” by liberals and “given scripts to read.” (The Hill / Newsweek)
Audio from inside a U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility captures a Border Patrol agent joking above crying children: “Well, we have an orchestra here. What’s missing is a conductor.” (ProPublica)
2/ Lawmakers from both parties demanded that Trump stop his policy of separating children from their parents at the border. Republican lawmakers, Laura Bush, a conservative newspaper, and a former Trump adviser joined with Democrats in condemning the policy that has removed nearly 2,000 children from their parents over the last six weeks. Melania Trump, meanwhile, placed the blame on “both sides,” saying that she “hates to see children separated from their families and hopes both sides of the aisle can finally come together.” (New York Times)
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he will not deploy National Guard troops from his state to the U.S.-Mexico border, citing the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy as justification for the move. (The Hill)
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker canceled the deployment of the state’s National Guard troops to the border, “because the federal government’s current actions are resulting in the inhumane treatment of children.” (WGBH)
Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper signed an executive order barring state resources from being used for the purpose of separating children from their families for violating federal immigration law. (ABC News)
All four living former first ladies condemn Trump’s border policy. (NBC News)
Jeb Bush called on Trump to end the “heartless policy” of separating parents and children who cross the U.S. border illegally, saying “children shouldn’t be used as a negotiating tool.” (Politico)
3/ The White House continued to falsely blame Democrats for the Trump administration’s policy of separating migrant children from their families. The separations stem from Jeff Sessions’ “zero-tolerance” policy announced last month. Via tweet, Trump blamed Democrats for being “weak and ineffective with Border Security and Crime” while urging them to agree to immigration legislation and to fund his border wall. Trump added that “the United States will not be a migrant camp… not on my watch.” (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News)
The Democrats should get together with their Republican counterparts and work something out on Border Security & Safety. Don’t wait until after the election because you are going to lose!
Why don’t the Democrats give us the votes to fix the world’s worst immigration laws? Where is the outcry for the killings and crime being caused by gangs and thugs, including MS-13, coming into our country illegally?
It is the Democrats fault for being weak and ineffective with Boarder Security and Crime. Tell them to start thinking about the people devastated by Crime coming from illegal immigration. Change the laws!
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen defended the Trump administration’s immigration policy, saying “we will not apologize for the job we do or for the job law enforcement does for doing the job that the American people expect us to do.” Nielsen added: “Illegal actions have and must have consequences. No more free passes, no more get out of jail free cards.” (CNN)
4/ The United Nations’ top human rights official called for the U.S. to immediately stop separating children from their families at the border. Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein condemned the practice as “government-sanctioned child abuse,” saying “the thought that any state would seek to deter parents by inflicting such abuse on children is unconscionable.” Nikki Haley, U.S. ambassador to the U.N., called al-Hussein’s statement hypocritical, saying that “neither the United Nations nor anyone else will dictate how the United States upholds its borders.” (New York Times / The Hill)
5/ Trump warned that the U.S. must avoid Europe’s immigration problems, falsely claiming that “crime in Germany is way up.” The opposite, however, is true. Germany’s crime rate has fallen to its lowest level since 1992. (New York Times / Vox)
The people of Germany are turning against their leadership as migration is rocking the already tenuous Berlin coalition. Crime in Germany is way up. Big mistake made all over Europe in allowing millions of people in who have so strongly and violently changed their culture!
6/ The Trump administration thought its zero-tolerance policy would deter immigrants from trying to enter the country illegally. Instead, internal Department of Homeland Security documents show a 5% uptick in the number of people caught crossing the border illegally since April, when Jeff Sessions’ policy was announced. (CNN)
7/ White House policy adviser Stephen Miller said the Trump administration is planning additional immigration crackdowns before the midterm elections. Miller and officials from the Justice Department, Department of Labor, Department of Homeland Security, and the Office of Management and Budget have been meeting for months to find ways to use executive authority and rule changes to strengthen hard-line U.S. immigration policies. (Politico)
8/ Peter Strzok said he would be willing to testify without immunity and without invoking the 5th Amendment before the House Judiciary Committee and any other congressional committee. Strzok was removed from Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election for sending anti-Trump texts. Strzok’s lawyer said: “He thinks that his position, character and actions have all been misrepresented and caricatured, and he wants an opportunity to remedy that.” Trump, meanwhile, tweeted that Strzok was a “sick loser.” (Washington Post / CNN)
Why was the FBI’s sick loser, Peter Strzok, working on the totally discredited Mueller team of 13 Angry & Conflicted Democrats, when Strzok was giving Crooked Hillary a free pass yet telling his lover, lawyer Lisa Page, that “we’ll stop” Trump from becoming President? Witch Hunt!
“The highest level of bias I’ve ever witnessed in any law enforcement officer.” Trey Gowdy on the FBI’s own, Peter Strzok. Also remember that they all worked for Slippery James Comey and that Comey is best friends with Robert Mueller. A really sick deal, isn’t it?
9/ Roger Stone met during the 2016 campaign with a Russian national who wanted Trump to pay $2 million for the political dirt on Hillary Clinton. Stone failed to disclose the May 2016 meeting with Henry Greenberg, who also goes by the name Henry Oknyansky, to congressional investigators. The meeting was set up by Trump campaign aide Michael Caputo. Stone rejected the offer, and soon after Caputo texted Stone asking if anything interesting came of the meeting. Stone replied: “waste of time.” Both Stone and Caputo did not disclose the Greenberg meeting during testimony before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Caputo said he failed to disclose the encounter because he had “simply forgotten” about the meeting. Mueller is now investigating the previously undisclosed meeting. (Washington Post / NBC News)
Roger Stone is “not concerned” that he failed to tell Congress about his 2016 meeting with a Russian national offering dirt on Hillary Clinton. “I just didn’t remember. 2016 was a pretty busy year,” Stone said. “I don’t think a failure of memory constitutes a perjury.” (ABC News)
poll/ 56% of Americans oppose the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy of separating undocumented children from their parents. 27% of respondents, meanwhile, said they agreed with the policy. (Daily Beast)
poll/ 54% of Americans believe it’s unlikely that Trump’s sit-down with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un will lead Pyongyang to give up its nuclear arms. 42%, however, believe the meeting lessened the chance of war. (ABC News)
poll/ 57% of Americans approve of how Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau is handling Trump’s personal attack and trade dispute. 37% approve of how Trump is handling the situation. (Globalnews.ca)
poll/ 45% of Americans approve of Trump’s job performance, his highest approval rating since shortly after he took office. 50% disapprove. (Gallup / The Hill)
Notables.
The Supreme Court declined to decide two challenges to partisan gerrymandering, allowing controversial district maps to stand and be used in the midterm elections. The justices sidestepped the question of whether the the maps are legal. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN)
The Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to overturn a nationwide injunction that blocks the government from punishing sanctuary cities for declining to help the federal government enforce immigration laws. (NBC News)
FBI Director Christopher Wray stands by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, saying “I do not believe Special Counsel Mueller is on a witch hunt.” (Bloomberg)
Trump signed a space policy directive making it easier for commercial companies to operate in space. The directive also asks NASA to establish new guidelines to avoid the creation of new space debris. (Politico)
Trump directed the Department of Defense and the Pentagon to establish a Space Force as the sixth branch of the Armed Forces, saying: “We are going to have the Air Force and we’re going to have the Space Force, separate but equal. It is going to be something, so important.” (The Verge / CNBC)
The Trump Tower in Chicago has never followed EPA rules for documenting how its use of the Chicago River for cooling water impacts fish. The Trump International Hotel and Tower is one of the largest users of Chicago River water for its cooling systems and is the only one that has failed to comply with the fish-protecting regulations. (Chicago Tribune)
Steve Bannon said Trump has never lied to the American people, because he “speaks in a particular vernacular that connects to people in this country.” In reality, Trump has made more than 3,000 false or misleading claims since taking office. (ABC News / PolitiFact)
1/ A federal judge revoked Paul Manafort’s bail and sent him to jail while he awaits trial after Robert Mueller accused Trump’s former campaign chief of witness tampering. “I cannot turn a blind eye to this,” Judge Amy Berman Jackson said. Manafort had posted a $10 million bond to remain at home while awaiting his September trial on charges that include money laundering and false statements. He will now remain in pretrial detention until his trial. (New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post)
2/ Rudy Giuliani on Mueller’s investigation: “When the whole thing is over, things might get cleaned up with some presidential pardons.” The comment came shortly after Manafort was sent to jail and his bail revoked following an attempt to tamper with two witnesses in the Russia investigation. Giuliani claimed he had seen no evidence to warrant Manafort being sent to jail. (New York Daily News / Axios)
3/ Giuliani called on Jeff Sessions and Rod Rosenstein to “redeem themselves” by suspending the Robert Mueller investigation today. Giuliani also called for Peter Strzok to be put in jail over a series of text messages he exchanged with fellow FBI agent Lisa Page during the 2016 election campaign. “Mueller should be suspended and honest people should be brought in, impartial people to investigate these people like Strzok,” Giuliani said. “Strzok should be in jail by the end of next week.” (Politico)
4/ A federal judge refused to grant Michael Cohen a restraining order against Michael Avenatti to stop him from speaking to the media about the Stormy Daniels case. Cohen argued that Avenatti’s “publicity tour” of more that 100 television interviews since March is unethical, and harms Cohen’s ability to have a fair trial by turning the case into a “media circus.” U.S. District Judge James Otero said Cohen had not shown he would suffer “immediate, irreparable injury.” (Politico / CNN / Reuters)
5/ Federal prosecutors have pieced together 16 pages of shredded documents seized from Michael Cohen and recovered 731 pages of encrypted text messages during the FBI’s April raids of his home, office, and hotel room. Cohen has argued that most of the material is subject to attorney-client privilege. (New York Daily News / Business Insider / BuzzFeed News)
Michael Cohen has told family and friends that he is willing to cooperate with federal investigators. The treatment from Trump and Rudy Giuliani has left Cohen feeling isolated, angry, and more open to cooperating. Cohen has not met with prosecutors to discuss any potential deal and is currently looking for a new legal team. (CNN)
Federal prosecutors are investigating whether Cohen violated federal disclosure laws as part of his consulting deals, including whether he lobbied for domestic or foreign clients without properly registering. (Wall Street Journal)
6/ Trump “certainly wouldn’t sign” the Republican immigration proposal that would protect young undocumented migrants and end the policy of separating families at the southern border. Paul Ryan plans to bring up two immigration measures for a vote next week: a hard-line conservative bill, which will likely fail, and “a very good compromise” bill. Trump said he “wouldn’t sign the more moderate one.” The White House, meanwhile, tried to walk back the comments, saying Trump “misunderstood the question.” (Reuters / New York Times / The Guardian / Washington Post / The Hill)
7/ Homeland Security has separated at least 2,000 children from parents at the border since the Justice Department implemented its “zero tolerance” policy. Under its new policy, the Justice Department charges every adult caught crossing the border illegally with federal crimes and separates them from their children, as opposed to referring those with children to immigration courts. (Associated Press / CNN)
8/ The Trump administration announced a 25% tariff on $50 billion worth of Chinese imports as Trump vowed to respond to what he called China’s unfair trade practices. China retaliated with $50 billion worth of tariffs with “equal scale, equal intensity” on U.S. imports, calling Trump “fickle” and “provoking a trade war.” The Dow fell 250 points in response to rising trade tensions. (Associated Press / Bloomberg / CNBC)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel hinted of an escalation in the trade dispute between the U.S. and the European Union. Merkel warned that Europe’s strategic interests are tied to the future of the car industry shortly after Trump cited national security concerns as a reason to place tariffs on German cars. “We should think about the strategic significance of the auto industry for the European Union,” Merkel said, “so we can prepare an exchange with the U.S.” (Reuters)
9/ Trump held an interview with “Fox and Friends” on the White House lawn after musing on Twitter that “maybe I’ll have to make an unannounced trip down to see them” and live-tweeting segments from the show. Trump called James Comey a criminal, said the FBI is a “den of thieves,” blamed Democrats for the separation of families at the US border, said it’s “great to give” Kim Jong-un credibility, and again blamed Obama for Russia’s annexation of Crimea. (New York Times / CNN / Vox / The Hill)
Wow, the highest rated (by far) morning show, @foxandfriends, is on the Front Lawn of the White House. Maybe I’ll have to take an unannounced trip down to see them?
Trump called a CBS News reporter “so obnoxious” and told her to be “quiet at least five times.” CBS correspondent Weijia Jiang tried to ask Trump “why he declared the nuclear threat from North Korea was already ‘over.’” (The Hill)
Trump said he wants “my people” to “sit up at attention” like the North Koreans do when Kim Jong Un speaks. When asked by reporters to clarify what he meant by “my people,” he replied: “You don’t understand sarcasm.” (The Hill / CNN)
Notables.
EPA senior staffers said they frequently felt pressured by Scott Pruitt to help in personal matters and obtain special favors for his family. The officials said Pruitt “had a clear sense of entitlement.” (New York Times)
Trump took credit for winning the bid to host the 2026 World Cup with Canada and Mexico. “Thank you for all of the compliments on getting the World Cup to come to the U.S.A., Mexico and Canada,” Trump tweeted. “I worked hard on this, along with a Great Team of talented people.” (Politico)
The Trump administration is expected to withdraw from the UN Human Rights Council due to “chronic anti-Israel bias.” (Reuters)
A U.S. District Court judge ruled that a Russian company is not entitled to review grand jury materials. Concord Management and Consulting LLC has been charged with meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. (Reuters)
Trump’s 2020 re-election is working with a company run by former Cambridge Analytica officials. At least four former Cambridge Analytica employees are affiliated with Data Propria, which specializes in voter and consumer targeting similar to Cambridge Analytica. (Associated Press)
1/ The New York State attorney general sued Trump and his three eldest children for “persistent illegal conduct” at the Donald J. Trump Foundation. The lawsuit alleges that Trump repeatedly misused the nonprofit, violating campaign finance laws, engaging in self-dealing to decorate one of his golf clubs, and illegally coordinating with his presidential campaign to stage a multimillion-dollar giveaway during a 2016 campaign event. The state asked to dissolve the foundation and distribute its remaining $1 million in assets to other charities, and force Trump to pay at least $2.8 million in restitution and penalties. Trump attacked the lawsuit on Twitter, calling it an attempt by the “sleazy New York Democrats” to damage him. He vowed not to settle the case. (New York Times / Washington Post)
The sleazy New York Democrats, and their now disgraced (and run out of town) A.G. Eric Schneiderman, are doing everything they can to sue me on a foundation that took in $18,800,000 and gave out to charity more money than it took in, $19,200,000. I won’t settle this case!...
....Schneiderman, who ran the Clinton campaign in New York, never had the guts to bring this ridiculous case, which lingered in their office for almost 2 years. Now he resigned his office in disgrace, and his disciples brought it when we would not settle.
2/ The Inspector General Report: James Comey “deviated” from FBI and Justice Department procedures while investigating Hillary Clinton and her use of a private email server. The report concluded that Comey’s decisions were not “the result of political bias,” but that his “decisions negatively impacted the perception of the FBI and the department as fair administrators of justice.” Trump has argued that FBI agents tried to rig the Clinton investigation to help her win the presidency. The report also concludes that the text messages exchanged by FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page did not improperly affect the investigation, but “the conduct by these employees cast a cloud over the entire FBI investigation.” (Bloomberg / New York Times)
Comey Responds: I was wrong, but disagree with some of the conclusions. (New York Times)
I respect the DOJ IG office, which is why I urged them to do this review. The conclusions are reasonable, even though I disagree with some. People of good faith can see an unprecedented situation differently. I pray no Director faces it again. Thanks to IG’s people for hard work.
Comey used a personal Gmail account to conduct official FBI business while serving as the agency’s director, which was “inconsistent” with a policy by the Justice Department. (CNBC)
3/ Sarah Huckabee Sanders and deputy press secretary Raj Shah are planning to leave the White House,according to a CBS News report. Sanders plans to leave by the end of the year, while Shah hasn’t settled on an exact date. Sanders denied the report, tweeting: “Does @CBSNews know something I don’t about my plans and my future? I was at my daughter’s year-end Kindergarten event and they ran a story about my ‘plans to leave the WH’ without even talking to me. I love my job and am honored to work for @POTUS.” (CBS News)
The White House sent out a flyer asking if conservatives are “interested in a job at the White House.” The email, advertising a job fair, promises “representatives from across the Trump administration will be there to meet job seekers of every experience level.” (Politico)
Marc Short, the White House’s top liaison to Capitol Hill, will leave his job this summer citing “diminishing returns” of pushing Trump’s agenda. (Wall Street Journal)
4/ Jeff Sessions cited the Bible in his defense of the Trump administration’s policy of separating undocumented immigrant children from their families. Sessions invoked the Apostle Paul for his “clear and wise command” to say people should “obey the laws of the government because God has ordained the government for his purposes.” Sarah Huckabee Sanders also defended separating parents from their children, saying it’s “very biblical to enforce the law.” She then proceeded to blame on Democrats for refusing to “close the immigration loophole.” (NBC News / Talking Points Memo / Axios / CNBC)
5/ White House Counsel Don McGahn recused his entire staff from Robert Mueller’s investigation last summer because many staffers “had been significant participants” in the firings of Michael Flynn and James Comey. Former White House lawyer Ty Cobb said McGahn’s recusal was a key reason why he was hired last summer to manage Trump’s response to the Russia investigation. (Politico)
Trump Jr. told the hosts of “Fox and Friends” that “it would be stupid” of Trump to agree to an interview with Robert Mueller. “I don’t think any proper lawyer would say, ‘Hey, you should go do it,’ because it’s not about collusion anymore,” Trump Jr. said. “It’s about, ‘Can we get him to say something that may be interpreted as somewhat off or inaccurate, and after 50,000 questions, maybe you make a mistake, and that’s how we get you, and that’s ridiculous.” (Politico)
6/ The White House launched a campaign to discredit Michael Cohen as speculation that he is preparing to flip on Trump continues to mount. The plan involves discrediting Cohen by arguing that whatever compromising information he shares with prosecutors about Trump is a lie meant to please Mueller in order to save his own skin. The plan includes everything from Trump’s tweets, to comments from Alan Dershowitz, to front-page stories in the National Enquirer, all apparently intended to cast doubt on Cohen’s credibility and motives. (Washington Post)
Michael Cohen believes Trump and his allies are turning against him and that he feels increasingly isolated. (CBS News)
Notables.
John Kelly revoked Rudy Giuliani’s son’s West Wing access after Trump ordered Andrew Giuliani be promoted to special assistant to the president. (Axios)
The New York Court Appeals denied Trump’s motion to dismiss Summer Zervos’ defamation lawsuit against him. This is the third time Trump has tried and failed to get the case tossed or delayed. (ABC News / Vox)
The Justice Department will not stop the AT&T-Time Warner merger, clearing the way for the deal to be completed as soon as Friday. (CNBC / Reuters)
Trump told G7 leaders that Crimea is Russian because everyone who lives there speaks Russian. In 2014, Russia invaded and annexed Crimea from Ukraine, leading to international condemnation and sanctions, and directly leading to Russia being kicked out of the then-G8. (BuzzFeed News)
Mike Pompeo said sanctions on North Korea will remain until the country has completely denuclearized. The statement contradicts North Korean state media reports that Kim and Trump agreed to a plan of “step-by-step and simultaneous action” to achieve peace and denuclearization on the Korean peninsula. (Reuters)
Representative Darrell Issa is a candidate to run the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The California Republican would replace Mick Mulvaney, the agency’s interim leader. (Bloomberg)
The Supreme Court struck down Minnesota’s law barring voters from wearing political badges, buttons and other insignia inside a polling place. The court’s 7-2 decision said Minnesota’s interpretation of the word “political” was too broad. (NPR)
A construction company owned by the Chinese government was hired to work on the Trump golf club development in Dubai. China State Construction Engineering Corp. received a $19.6 million contract from DAMAC Properties, a Trump Organization partner. (McClatchy DC)
1/ Michael Cohen is expected to cooperate with federal prosecutors in the criminal investigation into his business dealings as the law firm handling his case is not expected to represent him moving forward. No replacement counsel has been named at this time. Cohen has until Friday to complete a review of over 3.7 million documents seized in the April 9 raids of his New York properties and law office. (ABC News / Wall Street Journal / CNBC)
2/ A State Department appointee has been compiling a list of career diplomats who are loyal to Trump. Mari Stull, better known as the wine blogger “Vino Vixen,” has been reviewing social media posts from State Department staffers and UN workers for signs of deviating political views. Stull was appointed two months ago by the Trump administration. (Foreign Policy)
3/ Trump Twitter declared there is “no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea” a day after meeting with Kim Jong Un. Trump said that “everybody can now feel much safer than the day I took office,” and claimed his meeting with Kim was an “interesting and very positive experience.” He urged Americans to “sleep well tonight!” (CNN / Washington Post)
Just landed - a long trip, but everybody can now feel much safer than the day I took office. There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea. Meeting with Kim Jong Un was an interesting and very positive experience. North Korea has great potential for the future!
Before taking office people were assuming that we were going to War with North Korea. President Obama said that North Korea was our biggest and most dangerous problem. No longer - sleep well tonight!
4/ Rod Rosenstein plans to call on the House general counsel to investigate the conduct of House Intelligence Committee staff. Committee staffers claimed Rosenstein threatened to “subpoena” emails, phone records and other documents during a tense meeting earlier this year, which one aide described as a “personal attack.” The Justice Department disputes the account, saying Rosenstein “was making the point – after being threatened with contempt” by House Republicans that “he would have the right to defend himself, including requesting production of relevant emails and text messages and calling them as witnesses to demonstrate that their allegations are false.” (CNN)
5/ Former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe is suing the Justice Department and the FBI. His lawyers claim McCabe has been denied access to materials related to his firing that he needs to defend himself in connection with allegations of misconduct. McCabe was fired from the FBI in March, less than two days shy of his retirement date. (Politico / CNN)
6/ Robert Mueller revealed new evidence that Paul Manafort directed an unregistered lobbying campaign in the U.S. on behalf of Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych. Mueller’s team released two memos from 2013 that detail Manafort’s involvement in influencing debate in Congress and the press about the imprisonment of Yanukovych’s main political rival, Yulia Tymoshenko. (Politico)
Mueller filed a request for 150 blank subpoenas in the Eastern District of Virginia, where Paul Manafort lives. The two-page filing says each subpoena recipient must appear in the Alexandria, Va., courthouse on July 25 to testify in the case. The 150 blank subpoenas represent 75 total possible witnesses. (Washington Examiner)
7/ Mueller’s office claimed that Russian intelligence agencies are trying to meddle in the 2018 U.S. midterm elections. Prosecutors are trying to block foreign intelligence agencies and defendants from seeing evidence in the investigation of interference in the 2016 election, lest this “result in the release of information that would assist foreign intelligence services” and others in future operations against the U.S. Last February, Mueller obtained a grand jury indictment of three Russian companies and 13 Russian individuals on charges they sought to influence the 2016 presidential race. The only defendant in that case is the Russian firm Concord Management and Consulting, which is controlled by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Russian businessman known as Putin’s chef. The pretrial process entitles a defendant the material assembled during the investigation. (Politico)
poll/ 36% of voters overall have an unfavorable view of Robert Mueller’s probe, while 32% of voters hold a favorable view, and 32% don’t have an opinion. Mueller’s unfavorable numbers have hit highs among Republicans (53%), Democrats (24%), and independents (33%) from this time last year. (Politico)
poll/ 43% of Ohio voters approve of the job Trump is doing while 54% disapprove. In the 2016 election, 51% of Ohio voters voted for Trump, while 43% voted for Clinton. (Quinnipiac)
Notables.
The Federal Reserve will raise interest rates today to 2% – the highest level since the 2008 financial crisis. The rate increase will be the second one this year, and the seventh since the end of the Great Recession. (New York Times)
ZTE lost nearly $3 billion in market value after lawmakers restored penalties on the telecom and smartphone maker for violating American sanctions on Iran and North Korea. Last week, the Trump administration made a deal to save the firm. (New York Times)
Scott Pruitt had an EPA aide contact Republican donors in order to get his wife a job. Marlyn Pruitt eventually worked “temporarily as an independent contractor” for the Judicial Crisis Network, a conservative political group which was one of Pruitt’s Oklahoma-based PACs. JCN said it was pleased with Marlyn’s work. (Washington Post)
The House will vote next week on two competing immigration bills after Republican moderates fell two votes short of forcing a vote on bipartisan measures aimed at directly helping young immigrants brought to the country illegally as children. (New York Times / Washington Post)
1/ The Justice Department argued that Trump could continue to profit from foreign governments visiting his hotel in Washington, D.C., if he didn’t explicitly provide something in return. A federal judge criticized the argument that Trump’s financial interest in the Trump International Hotel in D.C. is constitutional. The lawsuit, brought by the District of Columbia and the state of Maryland, claims that Trump’s profits from the hotel violate the Emoluments Clause, which prohibits government employees from receiving financial benefits outside of their official salary. The judge promised to decide by the end of the July whether to allow the case to proceed to the next stage. (New York Times / BuzzFeed News / CNN)
2/ Michael Cohen told friends he believes he will soon be indicted and arrested as part of Robert Mueller’s investigation into possible collusion between the Trump’s campaign and Russia. Investigators are probing Cohen for bank fraud, wire fraud and campaign finance violations. (NY Daily News)
Michael Avenatti claimed that the Russian government is trying to plant false stories about him in the press. Avenatti said people in the Russian government claimed that he traveled to Moscow and had questionable encounters with women there, and that he previously represented Russian and Ukrainian legal interests before the U.S. government. “I’ve never been to Moscow in my life,” Avenatti said. “I’ve never traveled to Russia in my life.” (Daily Beast)
3/ Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump earned at least $82 million in outside income while serving as Trump’s advisers during 2017. Kushner reported more than $5 million in income from a Kushner Companies apartment complex in Plainsboro, N.J. (Washington Post)
4/ Ivanka Trump personally made $3.9 million last year from her stake in the Trump International Hotel. She made an additional $5 million from businesses connected to her personal brand, as well as roughly $2 million in 2017 in pay and severance from the Trump Payroll Corp. Her reported income in 2017 was up “substantially” from spring 2017, when she reported about $2.4 million in income from the hotel since it opened in September 2016. (Politico)
5/ Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee want to interview Ivanka Trump as part of the investigation into Russian election interference. The committee wants to interview Ivanka about “two separate national security questions.” Sen. Ron Wyden said investigators should ask about her role in connecting a Russian weightlifter, Dmitry Klokov, with Michael Cohen. Klokov offered to connect her father to Putin in order to facilitate building a Trump Tower in Moscow1. The other issue Wyden said investigators should ask about is China’s decision to grant Ivanka trademarks around the same time her father promised to help Chinese telecom manufacturer ZTE stay in business. (BuzzFeed News)
6/ The Senate blocked Trump’s deal with Chinese telecom giant ZTE. The Senate’s move comes less than a week after Trump struck a deal with ZTE that would keep the company in business with U.S. companies and markets2. The ZTE deal would have forced the company to pay $1 billion in penalties, reorganize itself, and insert U.S. compliance officers into the company in exchange for access to U.S. consumers. ZTE is considered by the U.S. intelligence community to be a mechanism for espionage by selling phones that can be tracked and enabled to steal intellectual property. (NBC News)
7/ Trumps said Justin Trudeau’s comment that Canada “will not be pushed around” will end up costing Canadians “a lot of money.” Trump added that Trudeau “probably didn’t know that Air Force One has about 20 televisions,” in reference to Trudeau’s comment after the G7 meeting that the aluminum and steel tariffs imposed by the U.S. on Canada on national security grounds were insulting. Trump added the Trudeau “learned” his lesson for criticizing him. (CNBC / Globe and Mail)
White House trade adviser Peter Navarro apologized for his “special place in hell” comments directed at Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau. (Reuters)
8/ A federal judge ordered Robert Mueller to identify all the key figures referred to but not named in an indictment accusing Paul Manafort of acting as an unregistered foreign agent of Ukraine and of laundering millions of dollars. Mueller’s team has until Friday to turn over the names to Manafort’s lawyers. (Politico / CNBC / Washington Post / Bloomberg)
Paul Manafort will be arraigned on Friday for witness tampering charges lodged by Robert Mueller. It’s the third superseding indictment by Mueller against Manafort and the arraignment coincides with Manafort’s previously scheduled hearing on whether his $10 million bail should be revoked due to witness tampering accusations. (Reuters)
🇰🇵🇺🇸 Dept. of USA vs DPRK.
Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed a joint statement agreeing to pursue the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. In the agreement, Kim vows to give up his nuclear weapons program in exchange for U.S. security guarantees, but fell short of outlining concrete measures. (NBC News)
Trump believes Kim Jong Un will give up his nuclear weapons because they have a “terrific relationship” and he’s “developed a very special bond” with the North Korean leader. Trump said Kim “reaffirmed” his commitment to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and that “we’re ready to write a new chapter between our nations.” (Washington Post / New York Times)
Trump agreed to suspend regular military exercises with South Korea as part of his concessions to Kim Jong Un, contradicting Defense Secretary Jim Mattis’s campaign to make U.S. troops more combat-ready. Trump described the decision as “very expensive” but also “very provocative.” Trump’s decision caused consternation among some military experts, who believe the troops provide security for South Korea and Japan. Trump used the term “war games,” a phrase preferred by Pyongyang, which characterizes them as rehearsals for an invasion. (New York Times / Politico / Associated Press)
Trump claimed that Kim Jong Un “loves his people” and the imprisoned North Koreans are “going to be one of the great winners” of the denuclearization talks. Trump said life is “rough” in North Korea, but that “it’s rough in a lot of places, by the way, not just there.” Human Rights Watch describes North Korea as “one of the most repressive authoritarian states in the world.” (Washington Post / CBS News / CNN)
Trump didn’t use notes for his meeting with Kim Jong Un because he has “one of the great memories of all time.” Trump characterized his meeting with Kim as a “great conversation.” (The Hill)
Trump pitched Kim Jong Un that North Korea “could have the best hotels in the world.” Trump showed Kim a “tape that was done on the highest level of future development.” (ABC News)
The White House restricted press access to parts of Trump’s summit with Kim Jong Un. The Associated Press, Reuters and Bloomberg were kept out of the pool, as were the representatives for radio and the foreign press corps. (Associated Press)
The White House made a Hollywood-style movie trailer to depict a story about “two men, two leaders and one destiny.” The short video shows images of warplanes and artillery with a narrator suggesting that “a new world can begin today, one of friendship, respect and goodwill.” Some journalists assumed they were watching a propaganda films by Pyongyang. (Associated Press / Washington Post)
Read the full text of the joint statement signed by Trump and Kim. (Politico)
Trump’s economic adviser suffered a heart attack. Larry Kudlow is currently being treated at Walter Reed Medical Center in Maryland. A White House spokesperson said Kudlow is “doing well” after suffering a “very mild heart attack.” (Politico / Bloomberg / CNBC)
The Department of Justice will likely issue a public report next month on foreign efforts to interfere in U.S. elections and how to combat them. Jeff Sessions convened a cyber-digital task force in February, after facing criticism from Democrats that not enough was being done to address future foreign interference. (The Hill)
A federal judge ruled that AT&T can move forward with its $85 billion acquisition of Time Warner. AT&T has agreed not to complete the acquisition for six days to allow time for an appeal from the Justice Department. (CNN)
Ted Cruz defended the Trump administration’s policy of separating families at the border, saying it can be avoided if people stop crossing the border illegally. The separation happens regardless of whether a migrant is seeking asylum. (The Hill)
The Trump administration is looking to build tent cities to shelter the growing number of migrant children being held in detention. The Department of Health and Human Services is considering building a tent city to hold between 1,000 and 5,000 children at Fort Bliss, an Army base near El Paso. (McClatchy DC)
Day 503: Obsessed. Ivanka Trump connected Michael Cohen with a Russian who offered to introduce Trump to Putin during the campaign in 2015 in order to facilitate a 100-story Trump Tower in Moscow. ↩
Day 480: A fucked-up feedback loop. Trump instructed the Commerce Department to help ZTE – the world’s fourth-largest maker of cellphones – get “back into business” after the Chinese company was penalized for violating U.S. sanctions against North Korea and Iran. ↩
1/ Trump refused to endorse the G7 statement, threatened to impose tariffs on foreign auto imports, and accused Justin Trudeau of being “meek,” “very dishonest and weak” after Canada’s prime minister pledged to retaliate against U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum products. In a pair of tweets aboard Air Force One, Trump said he believes that countries are ripping off the U.S. through high tariffs and threatened to stop all trade with any country that did not lower or eliminate tariffs. The pair of tweets came hours after Trump and European leaders had agreed on a joint communiqué, which included a pledge to engage in “free, fair, and mutually beneficial trade and investment.” (Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / NBC News)
PM Justin Trudeau of Canada acted so meek and mild during our @G7 meetings only to give a news conference after I left saying that, “US Tariffs were kind of insulting” and he “will not be pushed around.” Very dishonest & weak. Our Tariffs are in response to his of 270% on dairy!
Based on Justin’s false statements at his news conference, and the fact that Canada is charging massive Tariffs to our U.S. farmers, workers and companies, I have instructed our U.S. Reps not to endorse the Communique as we look at Tariffs on automobiles flooding the U.S. Market!
Trump delivered “a long, frank rant” to trade allies at the G7 that the United States has been treated unfairly by its trading partners. (Reuters)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she found the G-7 summit with U.S. President Donald Trump a "sobering" and "depressing" experience and adds that European leaders won't be "taken advantage of" on trade https://t.co/O2uYHz3raVpic.twitter.com/6aZ9usXKcE
German chancellor Angela Merkel said Europe will implement counter-measures against U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum. Merkel characterized Trump’s Twitter withdrawal as “sobering and a bit depressing.” (Reuters)
In April, Trump told French president Emmanuel Macron that the European Union is “worse than China.” In their bilateral meeting in the White House’s Cabinet Room, Macron said to Trump, “Let’s work together, we both have a China problem.” Trump “then went on a rant about Germany and cars.” (Axios)
France: Trump’s “incoherence and inconsistency” would not upend international cooperation, said a statement released by French president Macron’s office. It added that partnerships “cannot depend on fits of anger or little words. Let us be serious and worthy of our people.” (Politico)
2/ Trump’s economic adviser accused Justin Trudeau of “betrayal” for making Trump look weak before his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un. Trudeau promised to “move forward with retaliatory measures” in response to Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada, the European Union and Mexico. Trudeau called the tariffs “kind of insulting” and saying that Canadians “are nice” but “we will not be pushed around.” Larry Kudlow said Trudeau “stabbed us in the back,” and that Trump “is not going to let a Canadian prime minister push him around. He is not going to permit any show of weakness on a trip to negotiate with North Korea.” Kudlow went on to call Trudeau “amateurish” and “sophomoric.” (New York Times / Reuters / CNN)
Trump’s “bully” attack on Trudeau outrages Canadians. “It was extremely undiplomatic and antagonistic,” Frank McKenna, a former Canadian ambassador to the United States, said. “It was disrespectful and ill informed.” (New York Times / Washington Post)
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is “unconcerned” about the diplomatic crisis caused by Trump’s insults directed at the Canadian prime minister, saying “there are always irritants in relationships.” (Washington Post)
3/ White House trade adviser Peter Navarro: “There’s a special place in hell” for Trudeau and world leaders who double cross Trump. “And that’s what bad-faith Justin Trudeau did with that stunt press conference.” When asked whether the president agreed, Navarro said the sentiment came “right from Air Force One.” (Politico)
Putin: Criticism of Russia’s “so-called destabilizing efforts” in the West is “unfounded,” and that “this creative babbling” by world leaders has so far “led to nothing.” Putin said he’d welcome a meeting with Trump. (Politico)
4/ Jeff Sessions ordered immigration judges to stop granting asylum to most victims of domestic abuse and gang violence. The move effectively blocks tens of thousands of people – women in particular – from seeking refuge in America. Sessions ruled that a 2014 Board of Immigration Appeals decision protecting women from Central America from domestic violence was wrongly decided, saying victims of “private” crimes like domestic violence do not qualify for asylum. Immigration courts are housed under the Justice Department – not the judiciary branch – which means Sessions has the authority to refer cases to himself and overturn earlier decisions. (New York Times / Los Angeles Times / CNN)
5/ Trump will leave the North Korea summit a day early because nuclear negotiations have moved “more quickly than expected.” The White House said Trump and Kim Jong Un will hold a one-on-one meeting, accompanied only by translators, followed by a “working lunch” with an expanded group of officials. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo lowered expectations, saying the summit might yield little in the way of concrete success. (Associated Press / Politico)
🔮 Live Updates: Trump will meet Kim Jong Un at 9 a.m. on Tuesday — 9 p.m. Eastern on Monday in the first-ever meeting between leaders of their two countries. (New York Times / CNN)
Trump will not bring up human rights issues at the North Korea summit. Kim Jong Un’s country has committed “unspeakable atrocities” on a scale reminiscent of Nazi Germany, according to a 2014 United Nations investigation. (NBC News)
Trump is willing to consider establishing official relations with North Korea and eventually opening an embassy in Pyongyang. “It would all depend what he gets in return,” said a source close to the White House. “Denuclearization would have to be happening.” (Axios)
Sean Hannity will host Trump’s first sit-down TV interview following his summit with North Korea. Hannity is already in Singapore. (Axios)
poll/ 26% of voters think Trump will demand too much to secure a deal with North Korea. 31% believe Trump will secure a deal that is either fair or better for the U.S. (NBC News)
✏️ Notables.
A federal judge ruled that the Trump and Michael Cohen legal teams cannot secretly object to documents protected by the attorney-client privilege, which were seized from Cohen during a series of raids by the authorities in April. Judge Kimba Wood ruled that the legal teams had to publicly submit their objections to the special master “except for those portions that divulge ‘the substance of the contested documents.’” (New York Times)
The millionaire businessman who bankrolled the Brexit campaign “met Russian officials multiple times before Brexit vote.” Arron Banks gave about $16 million to the campaign, becoming the biggest donor in UK history. (The Guardian)
Several prominent Russians, including some in Putin’s inner circle, met with NRA officials during the 2016 U.S. election campaign. The contacts have emerged as the Justice Department investigates whether Russian banker and lifetime NRA member Alexander Torshin illegally channeled money through the gun rights group to help Trump’s 2016 presidential bid. (McClatchy DC)
The Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on five Russian entities and three individuals, saying they worked with Moscow’s intelligence service on ways to conduct cyber attacks against the U.S. and its allies. (Reuters / CNN)
The Supreme Court upheld Ohio’s method of purging voters from its voting rolls. The court ruled that a state may kick people off the rolls if they don’t vote in a few elections and fail to respond to notices from election officials. The vote was 5 to 4, with the more conservative justices in the majority. (Washington Post / New York Times)
The FCC’s repeal of net neutrality rules took effect today. The rules prohibited internet providers such as AT&T, Charter, Comcast and Verizon from charging more for certain content and required providers to treat all web traffic equally. (New York Times)
A federal judge is set to rule on Tuesday on whether AT&T can buy Time Warner for $85 billion, which was announced in October 2016. AT&T is the country’s second-largest wireless network and would gain content trove from Time Warner, which includes HBO and CNN. The Justice Department, which filed the lawsuit, argued that the consolidation could harm its rivals. (Washington Post)
Comcast plans to make an all-cash offer for Twenty-First Century Fox if AT&T’s bid for Time Warner is approved. Comcast is preparing to raise $60 billion in a deal for Fox while simultaneously pursuing a $31 billion offer for the 61% of Sky that Fox doesn’t already own. (CNBC)
Betsy DeVos reinstated a for-profit college accreditor a month after an Education Department report said the organization failed to meet federal standards. The Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools failed to meet 57 of the 93 criteria that accreditors are required to meet under federal law. (Politico)
Nearly 1,800 immigrant families were separated at the U.S.-Mexico border from October 2016 through February of this year. (Reuters)
Trump routinely rips up papers that need to be preserved. He does it so much that some aides are specifically tasked with taping the papers back together. (Politico / New York Post)
Several West Wing aides, including John Kelly, are said to be eyeing the exits as Trump has grown more emboldened to act on instinct alone. Kelly told visiting senators last week that the White House was “a miserable place to work.” (New York Times)
1/ Robert Mueller filed witness tampering criminal charges against Paul Manafort and Russian national Konstantin Kilimnik. The superseding indictment charges the two men with obstructing justice, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and witness tampering. Kilimnik was indicted as part of the existing money laundering case against Manafort, who is also accused of illegal foreign lobbying and lying to federal officials. It’s the first time Kilimnik was named, who was referred to as “Person A” and described as having links to Russian spy agencies in previous court filings. (CNBC / Bloomberg / New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Reuters)
2/ A former Senate Intelligence Committee aide was arrested and charged with lying to the FBI about contacts with three reporters as part of an investigation into leaks of classified information. James Wolfe repeatedly denied contacts with the reporters despite having been in a three-year relationship with New York Times reporter Ali Watkins. The Justice Department seized Watkins’ phone and email records, which news media advocates consider to be an intrusion of First Amendment freedoms. (New York Times / NPR / NBC News)
3/ Trump called on the G7 to reinstate Russia after it was kicked out for annexing Crimea four years ago, putting him at odds with world leaders who have insisted that Moscow remain ostracized. “Russia should be in this meeting,” Trump said. “Why are we having a meeting without Russia being in the meeting? … Whether you like it or not, and it may not be politically correct, but we have a world to run.” Trump also threatened to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement, and is now engaged in a series of trade wars with numerous countries in Europe, North America and Asia. Trump will leave the G7 summit early. (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico)
4/ The Trump administration will not defend the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate from a legal challenge to its constitutionality brought by Texas and 19 other states. The Justice Department said the ACA provision requiring most Americans to buy health insurance has become unconstitutional. The Supreme Court upheld the individual mandate in 2012 as the government’s power to tax. The Justice Department argues that since Congress repealed the tax last year, the mandate and the law’s consumer protections are no longer justified. California and 15 other states have filed a brief defending the law and its consumer protections. (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / Axios)
5/ Stormy Daniels’ former attorney filed a defamation claim against her and Michael Avenatti. Keith Davidson’s lawsuit against Daniels and Avenatti is in response to Daniels’ accusation that he colluded with Michael Cohen to help Trump. Davidson filed a separate claim against Cohen for allegedly illegally recording their phone calls. (CNN)
6/ Rudy Giuliani claimed Melania Trump “believes her husband, and she knows it’s untrue [that Trump had an affair with Stormy Daniels].” Melania’s office responded: “I don’t believe Mrs. Trump has ever discussed her thoughts on anything with Mr. Giuliani.” (ABC News / New York Times)
Robert Mueller sees Giuliani as more of a spokesman than a lawyer with legal authority due to his haphazard approach to making demands and then changing what he wants. (Bloomberg)
poll/ 48% of voters favor the Democratic candidate in their congressional district while 39% favor the Republican. The 9-point lead is up from a 5-point edge Democrats held in March (46-41%). (Fox News)
poll/ 67% of voters say the country would be better off if more women were elected to political office. 24% of voters disagree. 87% of Democrats and 49% of Republicans say the country would be better off with more women in office. (NBC News)
Notables.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement is temporarily sending about 1,600 detainees to five federal prisons while they await civil immigration court hearings. It’s the first large-scale use of federal prisons to hold detainees. (Reuters)
Trump said he is considering posthumously pardoning boxer Muhammad Ali, who was convicted in 1967 after refusing military service in Vietnam. Ali’s attorney called it “unnecessary.” Ali is one of 3,000 individuals Trump is considering pardoning. (CNN)
Trump wants to ask NFL players and other athletes who kneel during the National Anthem to recommend people they think he should pardon due to unfair treatment by the justice system. (CNN)
Trump said he likely will support a congressional effort to end the federal ban on marijuana, putting him at odds with Jeff Sessions on the issue. (Los Angeles Times)
Scott Pruitt had aides frequently fetch him protein bars, sweets, cookies, and Greek yogurt. Pruitt would often direct an aide to brew him pour-over coffee. (Daily Beast)
After both the Warriors and the Cavaliers said they don’t want to be invited to the White House after the NBA finals, Trump says the Warriors and the Cavaliers won’t be invited to the White House. (CNBC)
Mitt Romney predicted that Trump will win reelection in 2020, citing an improving economy and the likelihood that Democrats will choose an outside-the-mainstream candidate. (Politico)
1/ Rudy Giuliani to Stormy Daniels: “I don’t respect a porn star the way I respect a career woman or a woman of substance.” He added that being a porn star “entitles you to no degree of giving your credibility any weight.” Daniels’ attorney, Michael Avenatti, called Giuliani an “absolute, disgusting pig” and demanded Trump fire him “immediately.” He added that “it doesn’t matter what a woman’s profession is. It has nothing to do with their credibility or whether they should be respected.” Giuliani defended his statement, saying: “I don’t have to undermine her credibility. She’s done it by lying.” (NBC News / ABC News / CNN)
Trump has appeared in three softcore porn videos. (CNN)
2/ The Justice Department will brief lawmakers next week about the FBI’s use of an informant in connection with its investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. The new offer is a concession to Republican demands for more information about the probe. The Justice Department and FBI “are prepared to brief members on certain questions specifically raised by the speaker and other members” and allow lawmakers “to review certain supporting documents that were made available during the prior briefing.” Democrats are concerned that the briefings could allow Trump’s legal team access to sensitive details of the investigation. (Washington Post / CNBC)
Paul Ryan insisted that there was “no evidence of collusion” between Trump’s campaign and Russia, but that there is “more digging to do.” (Associated Press)
The classified briefing comes a day after Paul Ryan disputed Trump’s assertion that FBI “spies” had infiltrated his campaign, saying evidence suggested the Bureau had acted appropriately. (Wall Street Journal)
Officials from the Justice Department and the FBI will brief the Republican and Democratic “Gang of Eight” leaders from the House and Senate and the intelligence committees. The documents won’t be shared with other lawmakers. (Bloomberg)
3/ Adam Schiff called on Republicans to release the House Intelligence Committee interview transcripts related to the Russia investigation, saying they could shed “additional light on the issues of collusion and obstruction of justice.” Schiff said some witnesses “may have testified untruthfully” and that Robert Mueller and his team “should consider whether perjury charges are warranted.” (NBC News)
4/ Sean Hannity suggested that witnesses in Robert Mueller’s probe “follow Hillary Clinton’s lead” by destroying their personal phones before handing them over to prosecutors. Hannity told witnesses to “delete all your emails and then acid-wash your emails and hard drives on the phones, then take your phones and bash them with a hammer to little itsy bitsy pieces.” Hand them over to Mueller, Hannity continued, “and say, Hillary Rodham Clinton, this is equal justice under the law.” Hannity later insisted that he was kidding. (The Hill / Business Insider)
George Papadopoulos’ Russian contact called him “unprofessional” and “unprepared,” adding that “we did not close the door to the guy, but we did not take it seriously.” (CNN)
5/ Colin Kaepernick’s lawyers plan to subpoena Trump and Pence as part of his collusion case against the NFL in an attempt to gain information about Trump’s political involvement with NFL owners. One of Kaepernick’s attorneys recently claimed that an unnamed NFL owner admitted under oath during a deposition that he decided not to offer Kaepernick a contract after Trump called for the firing of players who refused to stand for the national anthem. (Yahoo! Sports / USA Today / Axios)
6/ France and Germany won’t sign the joint G7 statement without major concessions from the U.S. on tariffs, the Iran nuclear deal, and the Paris climate accord. The joint statement details a range of policy issues that all leaders of the G7 group agree on. French president Emmanuel Macron urged the other members of the G7 to stand up to the U.S. over Trump’s decision to impose steel and aluminum tariffs against the European Union, Canada, and Mexico. The G7 summit is scheduled for June 8-9 in Quebec. (Bloomberg / Politico)
A White House analysis concluded that Trump’s tariffs will hurt economic growth. Top White House officials, however, insist that Trump’s trade approach will be “massively good for the U.S. economy.” (New York Times)
U.S. renewable energy companies shelved more than $2.5 billion in renewable energy projects following Trump’s tariff on imported solar panels. (Reuters)
7/ Trump complained to aides about having to spend two days in Canada for the G7 summit, saying the Friday trip is a distraction from his upcoming meeting with North Korea. White House staff has discussed sending Pence to Canada instead of Trump. (Washington Post)
8/ Trump’s new national security adviser has not had a Cabinet-level National Security Council meeting on North Korea in his two months on the job. In April, Trump blamed John Bolton for derailing the upcoming summit with North Korea after Bolton said the U.S. would make no concessions unless North Korea denuclearized. Trump instead has driven the preparation for the summit almost exclusively on his own, consulting with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. (Politico)
poll/ 48% of voters say they’re more likely to back a congressional candidate who promises to serve as a check on Trump. 53% say they’re less likely to vote for a candidate who supports Trump on most issues. (NBC News)
🐊 Dept. of Swamp Things.
Mick Mulvaney fired all 25 members of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s advisory board days after some of the members criticized his leadership as acting director of the watchdog agency. The CFPB plans to revamp the Consumer Advisory Board in the fall by hiring all new members. “The outspoken members of the Consumer Advisory Board seem more concerned about protecting their taxpayer funded junkets to Washington, D.C., and being wined and dined by the Bureau than protecting consumers,” said a spokesperson for the agency. (Washington Post)
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross says the U.S. has signed a deal with Chinese telecom giant ZTE to end the crippling sanctions against the company. The deal includes a $1 billion penalty against ZTE and requires that U.S.-chosen compliance officers be placed inside the company. ZTE will also be required to change its board of directors and executive team within 30 days. (CNBC)
The Trump administration will scale back how the federal government evaluates hundreds of potentially toxic chemicals. Instead of assessing the risk of potential chemical exposure in the air, ground or water, the EPA will focus on possible harm caused by direct contact. (New York Times)
A U.S. district judge ordered the EPA to provide documents used by Scott Pruitt to claim that human behavior is not a “primary contributor” to climate change. (Scientific American / The Hill)
The White House asked Scott Pruitt to stop visiting a West Wing restaurant. Pruitt has complained that EPA doesn’t have a cafeteria of its own or private dining quarters. (Politico)
Pruitt had his 24/7 security detail pick up his dry cleaning and help him find his favorite moisturizing lotion. The protective detail cost taxpayers nearly $3.5 million during Pruitt’s first year on the job. (Washington Post)
1/ Stormy Daniels filed a new lawsuit against her former attorney and Michael Cohen, saying the two men “colluded” and “acted in concert” to “manipulate” her in order to benefit Trump. The lawsuit alleges that as a part of the effort to deny Trump’s affair with Daniels, her former attorney, Keith Davidson, and Cohen “hatched a plan to have Ms. Clifford appear on Mr. Sean Hannity’s program to falsely deny the accuracy of the In Touch article” in January. In Touch magazine published excerpts from its 2011 interview with Daniels in which she said she had an affair with Trump starting in 2006. It was revealed in April that Cohen also represents Hannity. Daniels’ current attorney, Michael Avenatti, called the private messages evidence that “prior denials by Mr. Trump and Mr. Cohen relating to what Mr. Trump knew, and about the honesty of my client, were absolute lies,” adding that “there was a significant cover-up here as part of an attempt to deceive the American people and Mrs. Trump and we intend on getting to the bottom of it.” (New York Times / NBC News / CNN)
2/ Ivanka Trump connected Michael Cohen with a Russian who offered to introduce Trump to Putin during the campaign in 2015 in order to facilitate a 100-story Trump Tower in Moscow. Mueller’s team and congressional investigators have reviewed emails and questioned witnesses about the interaction. There is no evidence that Ivanka’s contact with former Olympic weightlifter Dmitry Klokov was illegal or election related. (BuzzFeed News)
3/ Robert Mueller requested that witnesses turn in their personal phones so investigators can inspect their encrypted messages on WhatsApp, Confide, Signal and Dust. The revelation comes as the special counsel filed a claim that Paul Manafort tampered with witnesses through the same types of programs. (CNBC)
4/ Giuliani claimed Mueller’s team is “trying very, very hard to frame [Trump] to get him in trouble when he hasn’t done anything wrong.” He added that Mueller’s team “can’t emotionally come to grips with the fact that this whole thing with Russian collusion didn’t happen. They are trying to invent theories of obstruction of justice.” Giuliani also reiterated the claim that Trump has the power to pardon himself, but won’t do so because “he’s innocent” and “he hasn’t done anything wrong.” (Associated Press)
5/ Paul Ryan agreed that there is “no evidence” to support claims that the FBI spied on Trump’s 2016 campaign for political purposes by using a confidential informant to contact members of the campaign while investigating its ties to Russia. Ryan added that Trump should not try to pardon himself, saying, “I don’t know the technical answer to that question, but I think obviously the answer is he shouldn’t. And no one is above the law.” (New York Times / Politico)
Notables.
The Justice Department’s internal watchdog has concluded that James Comey defied authority while FBI director and was “insubordinate” at times. (ABC News)
Mexico imposed new tariffs on roughly $3 billion worth of American pork, steel, cheese, and other goods in response to Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs, complicating efforts to renegotiate NAFTA with Mexico and Canada. Trump’s chief economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, said the president’s “preference now, and he asked me to convey this, is to actually negotiate with Mexico and Canada separately.” (New York Times)
Facebook has had data-sharing agreements with at least four Chinese electronics companies since 2010, including Huawei, which has close ties to the Chinese government and was flagged by U.S. intelligence agencies as a national security threat. The partnerships with Huawei, Lenovo, Oppo and TCL are all still active, but Facebook says it plans to wind down the deal with Huawei by the end of the week. (New York Times)
More than 118,000 California primary voters were left off the voter rolls due to a random printing error. Those voters can still cast provisional ballots, but the process of counting and verifying a large number of provisional ballots could delay the vote tally in some local races. “We apologize for the inconvenience and concern this has caused,” said the Los Angeles County Clerk in a statement. “Voters should be assured their vote will be counted.” (CNN / Politico)
Trump commuted Alice Marie Johnson’s life sentence for a nonviolent drug crime after meeting with Kim Kardashian last week to discuss the case. A White House official said Trump is “obsessed” with his power to pardon people, describing pardons as Trump’s new “favorite thing” to talk about. The administration has prepared the pardoning paperwork for at least 30 people. (Washington Post / CNN / Associated Press)
Scott Pruitt’s top aide resigned from the EPA shortly after portions of her House Oversight Committee testimony were made public in which she says regularly did personal tasks for Pruitt. Millan Hupp for Pruitt in Oklahoma before joining him in Washington. (The Atlantic)
Jeff Sessions defended the Trump administration policy of separating migrant children from their families when they arrive at the southern U.S. border. “If people don’t want to be separated from their children, they should not bring them with them,” Sessions said. “We’ve got to get this message out. You’re not given immunity.” (Washington Post)
The Trump communications aide who mocked John McCain’s deteriorating health has left the White House. The White House said Kelly Sadler is “no longer employed within the executive office of the president,” but two people familiar with Sadler’s departure said she was not fired because of her comments about McCain. Instead, they suggested that Sadler was pushed out for accusing her boss, White House strategic communications director Mercedes Schlapp, of leaking her McCain comments to the press. (New York Times / CNN)
1/ Trump blamed Jeff Sessions for the ongoing Russia investigation into possible collusion, lamented asking Sessions to lead the Justice Department, and suggested that the probe would have been shut down by now if Sessions had not recused himself. In a tweet, Trump said the “Russian Witch Hunt Hoax continues, all because Jeff Sessions didn’t tell me he was going to recuse himself.” (Washington Post / Reuters / Politico)
The Russian Witch Hunt Hoax continues, all because Jeff Sessions didn’t tell me he was going to recuse himself...I would have quickly picked someone else. So much time and money wasted, so many lives ruined...and Sessions knew better than most that there was No Collusion!
Trump demanded to know “what is taking so long” in the release of the Justice Department inspector general’s report into the FBI’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server. He complained about “numerous delays” and said he hopes it’s not being “made weaker.” (Politico / The Guardian / Washington Post)
What is taking so long with the Inspector General’s Report on Crooked Hillary and Slippery James Comey. Numerous delays. Hope Report is not being changed and made weaker! There are so many horrible things to tell, the public has the right to know. Transparency!
George Papadopoulos’ wife asked Trump to pardon her husband, who pleaded guilty last year to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russians. (The Hill)
The Trump administration ended its effort to appoint the Justice Department’s No. 3 official after at least two potential candidates said they weren’t interested in the position. The associate attorney general position would be responsible for overseeing the Mueller probe if Rod Rosenstein were to depart. (Wall Street Journal)
2/ Robert Mueller’s team accused Paul Manafort of felony witness tampering in his federal tax and money laundering case. Prosecutors say Manafort attempted to contact witnesses by phone through an intermediary and through an encrypted messaging program in order to “suborn perjury,” otherwise known as trying to convince someone to lie under oath. (New York Times / Reuters / The Atlantic)
3/ A federal judge scheduled a hearing for June 15 on whether to revoke bail for Manafort for allegedly trying to tamper with potential witnesses while on a $10 million pretrial release. Judge Amy Berman is expected to rule on whether Manafort will have to go to jail pending his trial or whether the terms of his bail are further restricted. (NBC News / CNBC)
4/ Putin claimed that he and Trump have a close working relationship and “regularly talk over the phone.” When asked why there has not been a bilateral summit between Putin and the Trump administration, he said “this is the result of the ongoing acute political struggle in the United States.” Putin continued: “Indeed, Donald Trump and I have, firstly, met more than once at various international venues and secondly, we regularly talk over the phone.” (Axios / Kremlin Presidential Executive Office)
5/ Mitch McConnell canceled most of the Senate’s August recess due to “the historic obstruction by Senate Democrats of the president’s nominees, and the goal of passing appropriations bills prior to the end of the fiscal year.” The move will keep Democrats up for re-election off the campaign trail while pushing through confirmations for as many of Trump’s judicial and executive branch nominees as possible. (CNBC / Axios / Politico)
6/ A New York state judge has ruled that Trump can be deposed in a defamation lawsuit brought last year by Summer Zervos, the former contestant on “The Apprentice” who accused Trump of kissing and groping her. The judge set a Jan. 31, 2019, deadline for discovery in the lawsuit and ordered both parties to submit to depositions. Zervos sued Trump for defamation after he called her accusations “100% false” and began calling her “phony people coming up with phony allegations.” (Politico / BuzzFeed News / The Hill)
7/ Trump canceled the Philadelphia Eagles planned White House visit to celebrate their Super Bowl championship less than 24 hours before the players were expected to arrive. Several Eagles players said they would skip the ceremony. Trump had “insist[ed] that they proudly stand for the National Anthem, hand on heart.” (Philly.com / Washington Post)
The Philadelphia Eagles Football Team was invited to the White House. Unfortunately, only a small number of players decided to come, and we canceled the event. Staying in the Locker Room for the playing of our National Anthem is as disrespectful to our country as kneeling. Sorry!
LeBron James said neither the Cleveland Cavaliers nor the Golden State Warriors want an invite to the White House. “I know no matter who wins this series, no one wants an invite anyway. It won’t be Cleveland or Golden State going.” Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr added that “it will be nice when things get back to normal in three years.” LeBron called Trump a “bum” last year after Trump disinvited Stephen Curry and the Warriors from the White House. (CBS Boston / The Hill)
8/ Betsy DeVos told lawmakers that the White House’s school safety commission will not examine the role of guns in school violence, saying “that is not part of the commission’s charge, per se.” Trump established the Federal Commission on School Safety in the wake of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. to “study and make recommendations” on a variety of topics, including age restrictions for certain gun purchases.” (Associated Press / Politico / The Hill)
.@SenatorLeahy: "Will your commission look at the role of fire arms as it relates to gun violence in our schools?"@BetsyDeVosED: “That is not part of the commission’s charge, per sey.”
Sen. Leahy: "I see…So, you're studying gun violence but not considering the role of guns." pic.twitter.com/vKMnMaduuf
poll/ Overall 68% of Americans feel worn out by the news these days. 62% of those who follow the news most of the time report feeling fatigued by the news, while 78% of those who follow the news less often report being worn out. 34% say they follow the news only when something important is happening. (Pew Research Center)
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Notables.
Hundreds of migrant children have spent more than the legal maximum of 72 hours in custody at U.S. border stations. Border agents and child welfare workers are running out of space to keep the children who have been separated from their parents at the border under the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy. (NBC News)
The Justice Department will appeal a ruling that Trump can’t block people on Twitter based on their political views. The seven original plaintiffs in the suit against Trump have had their accounts unblocked, but the DOJ will still contest the ruling in federal appeals court. (Reuters)
David Koch will retire from Koch Industries and other Koch-affiliated groups due to health reasons. Koch was diagnosed with prostate cancer more than two decades ago. (CNBC / New York Times)
Scott Pruitt had an EPA aide arrange a meeting for his wife about becoming a Chick-fil-A franchisee. Pruitt’s wife “started, but did not complete, the Chick-fil-A franchisee application,” a company representative said. (Washington Post)
Melania Trump made her first public appearance since surgery for a kidney ailment in mid-May. (ABC News)
Sarah Huckabee Sanders called herself “an honest person” while refusing to correct her August 2017 statement that Trump wasn’t involved in drafting a misleading statement about Trump Jr.’s meeting with a Russian lawyer at Trump Tower. (Politico / CNN)
1/ Trump tweeted that Robert Mueller’s appointment is “totally UNCONSTITUTIONAL!” and asserted that he has the “absolute right to PARDON myself.” Trump, however, said he would “play the game” because he has “done nothing wrong.” Over the weekend, Giuliani said Trump “probably” has the power to pardon himself, but that it would be “unthinkable” for him to do so and would “lead to probably an immediate impeachment.” He added that Trump “has no need to do that. He didn’t do anything wrong.” (New York Times / CNBC / CNN / Washington Post)
As has been stated by numerous legal scholars, I have the absolute right to PARDON myself, but why would I do that when I have done nothing wrong? In the meantime, the never ending Witch Hunt, led by 13 very Angry and Conflicted Democrats (& others) continues into the mid-terms!
The appointment of the Special Counsel is totally UNCONSTITUTIONAL! Despite that, we play the game because I, unlike the Democrats, have done nothing wrong!
2/ Trump’s lawyers sent a 20-page letter to Mueller’s office asserting that Trump cannot be compelled to testify. The letter also argues that it’s impossible for Trump to obstruct justice in the Russia investigation because the U.S. Constitution empowers the president to, “if he wished, terminate the inquiry, or even exercise his power to pardon.” Giuliani responded to news of the leaked letter, saying that “if Mueller tries to subpoena us, we’re going to court” and that “our recollection keeps changing” about the 2016 Trump Tower meeting and that “this is the reason you don’t let this president testify in the special counsel’s Russia investigation.” The letter confirms that Trump dictated a “short but accurate” statement issued by Trump Jr. about his 2016 Trump Tower meeting with a Russian lawyer who an intermediary claimed had “dirt” on Hillary Clinton. (New York Times / ABC News)
There was No Collusion with Russia (except by the Democrats). When will this very expensive Witch Hunt Hoax ever end? So bad for our Country. Is the Special Counsel/Justice Department leaking my lawyers letters to the Fake News Media? Should be looking at Dems corruption instead?
Asked about shifting explanations for statement on Trump Tower meeting, Rudy Giuliani tells @GStephanopoulos:
"This is the reason you don't let the president testify. Our recollection keeps changing, or we're not even asked a question and somebody makes an assumption." pic.twitter.com/3czEBygCWa
Annotated: The Trump Lawyers’ Confidential Memo to Mueller. (New York Times)
3/ Sarah Huckabee Sanders refused to answers about her August 2017 claim that Trump “certainly didn’t dictate” the Trump Tower statement. At the time, Sanders said Trump only “weighed in” on Trump Jr.‘s statement about the Russia meeting, saying “the statement that Don Jr. issued is true, there’s no inaccuracy in the statement.” (The Hill)
Day 194: Dictated. Trump personally dictated Trump Jr.’s statement about his meeting with the Russian lawyer, saying they had “primarily discussed a program about the adoption of Russian children” when they met in June 2016. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump only “weighed in” on Trump Jr.’s statement about the Russia meeting. (What The Fuck Just Happened Today)
4/ Giuliani bragged that Trump could shoot James Comey in the Oval Office and still wouldn’t be indicted for it. “In no case can he be subpoenaed or indicted,” Giuliani said. “I don’t know how you can indict while he’s in office. No matter what it is.” Giuliani claimed that the only way Trump could be indicted is if he is impeached first. “If he shot James Comey, he’d be impeached the next day,” Giuliani said. “Impeach him, and then you can do whatever you want to do to him.” (HuffPost / The Hill)
5/ The White House ordered Cabinet members to publicly support Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate deal last year. Emails reveal that the White House told all of Trump’s top secretaries to “prep statements of support for the decision being announced,” saying there were “no exceptions.” (The Hill / E&E News)
Notables.
Trump’s phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron on trade and immigration was described as “terrible” after Macron candidly criticized Trump’s policies. (CNN)
The White House is “very concerned” about Trump’s base showing up for the midterm elections in November, according to Rick Santorum. (Washington Examiner)
The Koch brothers unveiled a multiyear, multimillion-dollar campaign to oppose Trump’s tariffs on imported steel and aluminum. (CNBC)
Scott Pruitt tasked an EPA aide with finding a discount on a used “Trump Home Luxury Plush Euro Pillow Top” mattress for personal use from the Trump International Hotel in Washington. (Washington Post / New York Times)
The Pentagon’s inspector general is investigating Ronny Jackson, Trump’s one-time personal White House physician whose nomination as Veterans Affairs secretary was withdrawn amid allegations of misconduct and poor administration of the White House medical office. (CNN / CBS News)
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Colorado baker who refused to create a wedding cake for a gay couple based on his Christian beliefs. The justices, in a 7-2 decision, said the Colorado Civil Rights Commission showed hostility toward religion when it found that baker Jack Phillips violated the state’s anti-discrimination law. The state law bars businesses from refusing service based on race, sex, marital status or sexual orientation. (Reuters)
Melania Trump will skip the G7 summit in Quebec and does not plan to attend the planned June 12 summit in Singapore with North Korea. Melania has not been seen in public since May 10. (Reuters / ABC News)
Trump to Kim Kardashian: You and Kanye West are boosting my popularity with African-Americans. Trump’s approval among African-Americans is up from 12% in April to 18% in May. (Bloomberg)
1/ The European Union opened a case at the World Trade Organization in response to Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs. The EU is also expected to announce retaliatory tariffs against the U.S. on products such as Levi’s jeans, bourbon whiskey, cranberries, and peanut butter. “The European Union is not at war with anyone,” said the EU high representative on foreign policy. “We don’t want to be; for us this is out of the question … The European Union is a peace project, including on trade.” (The Guardian)
Trump’s tariffs on US allies will shrink the savings Americans gained from tax cuts. “Combined with additional tariffs on Chinese imports and retaliatory steps taken by U.S. allies, economists across the political spectrum agree these levies will have a negative impact.” (CNBC)
2/ Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau refused to attend a meeting with Trump to discuss the renegotiation of NAFTA because Mike Pence told him the meeting would only happen if Trudeau agreed to include a five-year sunset clause into the deal. Trudeau said it was a “totally unacceptable” precondition. “I had to highlight there was no possibility of any Canadian prime minister signing a NAFTA deal that included a five-year sunset clause and obviously the visit didn’t happen,” Trudeau said. (Tampa Bay Times)
3/ American employers added 223,000 jobs in May, bringing the national unemployment rate to an 18-year low of 3.8 percent. Average hourly pay rose by 2.7 percent compared to last year, but pay rates remain below typical levels when the unemployment rate is this low. Some economists are concerned that Trump’s aggressive actions on international trade could disrupt the recent economic progress, but most employers have not suspended hiring yet. (Associated Press / CNN Money)
4/ Trump broke with decades of protocol by publicly commenting on the jobs report data 69 minutes before they were released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Treasury yields shot up just seconds after Trump tweeted that he was “looking forward to seeing the employment numbers at 8:30 this morning.” Ari Fleischer, former press secretary to George W. Bush, said Trump’s tweet was “certainly a no-no. The advance info is sacrosanct – not to be shared.” Labor Department rules state that executive branch employees are barred from publicly commenting on jobs reports until “at least one hour” after its official release. (Washington Post / Politico / ABC News)
5/ The Pentagon says 499 civilians were killed and 169 were injured in U.S. military operations during Trump’s first year in office. The report also says that “more than 450 reports of civilian casualties from 2017 remained to be assessed,” which suggests those numbers may be low. The report includes both air strikes and ground combat operations. There were also 11,585 more drone strikes in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan last year than there were in 2016. (CNN)
6/ Jared Kushner’s close friend Andrew Gerson has come under scrutiny from Robert Mueller’s team. Mueller is interested in Gerson’s supposed knowledge of meetings in January 2017 between Trump associates and foreign officials in the Seychelles. Gerson was in the Seychelles around the same time that Erik Prince secretly met with Russian and UAE officials, including Crown Prince Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan of Abu Dhabi, also known as MBZ. Gerson met with MBZ and Lebanese-American businessman George Nader, who organized the meeting with Erik Prince. (NBC News / Daily Beast)
7/ Trump announced that the June 12 nuclear summit with North Korea is now back on, less than a week after he canceled it via letter to Kim Jong Un. “We’re over that,” Trump told reporters, “totally over that, and now we’re going to deal and we’re really going to start a process.” (New York Times / CNN / ABC News)
8/ Trump made 3,251 false or misleading statements during his first 497 days in office — an average of more than 6.5 false or misleading claims per day. During his first 100 days, Trump made an average of 4.9 claims a day. His average for May 2018 was about eight per day, including a record 35 false or misleading claims in a single day at his rally in Nashville on May 29. (Washington Post)
Notables
Prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in D.C. recently interviewed James Comey as part of a probe into whether Andrew McCabe broke the law by lying to federal agents. The decision to interview Comey suggests prosecutors are seriously considering whether to charge McCabe with a crime. The Inspector General accused McCabe of lying to investigators on four occasions about authorizing a disclosure to the media. McCabe was under oath for three of those instances. (Washington Post)
Scott Pruitt spent $1,560 on twelve custom fountain pens from a D.C. jewelry store called The Tiny Jewel Box. The exchange reveals that Pruitt’s top aides were the ones signing off on such lavish purchases, contradicting Pruitt’s previous claims. (Washington Post)
A federal study found signs of sophisticated cellphone surveillance devices operating near the White House and other sensitive locations in the D.C. area last year. Authorities aren’t sure who the culprit is or where it came from, but the breach is virtually unstoppable. (Washington Post)
The price tag for the Mueller investigation so far is about $16.7 million, while the security and travel costs for Trump’s visits to Mar-a-Lago have cost $17 million. (Washington Post)
Trump called for Samantha Bee to lose her job over her comments about Ivanka Trump. Trump claimed there was a “total double standard” when it comes to the reaction to Bee’s comments versus the reaction to Roseanne Barr’s racist tweet. “Why aren’t they firing no talent Samantha Bee for the horrible language used on her low ratings show?” Trump tweeted. “A total double standard but that’s O.K., we are Winning, and will be doing so for a long time to come!” (ABC News / CNN / Washington Post)
After receiving a full pardon from Trump for violating campaign finance laws, Dinesh D’Souza said his pardon is proof that Trump wants him to have “a bigger voice than ever” in the conservative movement. D’Souza on Fox and Friends: “The president said, ’Dinesh, you have been a great voice for freedom. And he said that ‘I got to tell you man-to-man, you’ve been screwed.’” (The Hill)
An independent candidate for Virginia’s 10th Congressional District named Nathan Larson admitted he’s a pedophile. Larson ran multiple online forums for pedophiles and misogynists, including incels. Larson has also bragged online about raping his ex-wife and wanting to have sex with their 3-year-old daughter. (HuffPost)
At least eight white nationalists are running in 2018 for federal and state offices across the country. Many of them are running openly on messages of hate, including one who is preaching Holocaust denial and wants to make Chicago’s neighborhoods 90 percent white. (NBC San Diego)
1/ Former acting FBI director Andrew McCabe wrote a confidential memo about a May 2017 conversation he had with Rod Rosenstein regarding the firing of James Comey. The memo says Trump originally asked Rosenstein to reference Russia in the public memo used to justify firing Comey. McCabe thought that seemed like evidence that Comey’s firing was actually about the Russia investigation and that Rosenstein was helping to provide a cover story by writing about the Clinton investigation. (New York Times)
2/ Trump repeatedly pressured Jeff Sessions to reclaim control over the Russia investigation on at least four separate occasions. Three of those occasions were in-person, and the fourth was over the phone. The constant pressure made several other officials uncomfortable at the time, because they felt it was improper and could present its own legal and political problems. Two sources familiar with the conversations said Trump never directly ordered Sessions to reinsert himself into the investigation, but would instead ask Sessions whether he had “thought about” stepping back in. (Axios)
Trump once again claimed that he did not fire James Comey because of the Russia investigation, despite his earlier admissions that the investigation was at least part of his decision-making. “Not that it matters,” Trump tweeted, “but I never fired James Comey because of Russia! The Corrupt Mainstream Media loves to keep pushing that narrative, but they know it is not true!” (The Hill)
3/ The White House announced a new 10% tariff on metal imports from the European Union, Canada, and Mexico, which supply nearly half of all U.S. metal imports. The steel and aluminum tariffs will go into effect at midnight on Thursday. The European Union immediately announced that it would impose countermeasures against the U.S. as a response. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNBC)
4/ Trump is preparing to block German luxury carmakers from the United States. Trump told French president Emmanuel Macron last month that he planned to stop Mercedes-Benz from driving down Fifth Avenue in New York. No further details are currently available about the specific policies Trump might pursue in order to effectively prevent German automakers from selling in the U.S. (NBC News / WirtschaftsWoche)
5/ Trump offered a full pardon to conservative pundit Dinesh D’Souza for violating campaign finance laws. D’Souza illegally used straw donors to funnel additional money into the campaign of a GOP Senate candidate in 2012, and pleaded guilty to the charges in 2014. He was sentenced to five years of probation and a $30,000 fine. “Will be giving a Full Pardon to Dinesh D’Souza today,” Trump tweeted. “He was treated very unfairly by our government!” (Washington Post)
6/ Trump is also considering pardoning Martha Stewart commuting the sentence of former Democratic Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Trump brought up the commutation and additional pardon while talking to reporters on Air Force One, shortly after he announced D’Souza’s pardon via Twitter. Blagojevich began a 14-year prison sentence for corruption in 2012 and was scheduled to get out in 2024. Stewart was convicted in 2004 of obstruction of justice and lying to the government about her insider trading. Blagojevich is a former contestant on “The Apprentice,” and Trump said Stewart “used to be one of my biggest fans.” (Associated Press)
President Trump keeps pardoning his political friends. Beyond breaking the seal on the pardon power much earlier in his presidency, publicly teasing them before carrying through, and so far using them for very political ends, Trump’s pardons are also different because they have occurred one at a time. (CNN)
7/ Audio recordings of Michael Cohen making legal threats to a reporter have been released to the public for the first time. The recording features Cohen threatening a then-Daily Beast reporter with legal action in 2015 over an article the reporter wrote about one of Cohen’s clients at the time. “Mark my words,” Cohen warns, “I will make sure that you and I meet one day while we’re in the courthouse, and I will take you for every penny you still don’t have.” Cohen continues: “And I will come after the Daily Beast and everybody else that you possibly know.” (NPR)
The FBI is reconstructing shredded documents seized last month in the raids on Michael Cohen’s apartment, office, and hotel room. A small amount of shredded materials were seized, and agents are currently working to piece together the contents of at least one paper shredder that was recovered during the raid. (The Hill)
8/ The largest federal employees union in the country is suing Trump to block an executive order that severely restricts the time employees are allowed to spend on union activities while on the clock. The suit, filed by the American Federation of Government Employees, claims the president’s order violates the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and goes beyond the constitutional powers of the executive branch. (Washington Post)
9/ The White House is not cooperating with the Government Accountability Office, the government’s chief watchdog. The GAO’s general counsel sent a letter to White House counsel Don McGahn earlier this month and said attorneys for the White House and the National Security Council “will not respond to inquiries or otherwise engage with GAO staff during the course of our reviews.” The GAO says it has inquired about vacancies at the inspector general’s office, the president’s security and travel costs, and the NSC’s conflict-prevention efforts abroad, but staff have “either refused to have any discussion … or not responded at all.” (Politico)
Notables.
Mike Pompeo’s meeting with a high-ranking North Korean official ended two hours earlier than planned because the talks “went well” and “made progress,” according to a U.S. official. (Associated Press)
The White House once cited the FBI’s informant in Trump’s campaign in order to help advance Trump’s trade agenda with China. A White House press release from August 14, 2017 features Stefan Halper as a prominent voice of support for Trump’s call to investigate allegations that China was stealing U.S. intellectual property. (Politico)
Newly-released voter registration data from California show the Republican party trailing behind both Democrats and “no party preference” voters. The California Republican Party has effectively been relegated to third-party status, falling behind independent voters by at least 73,000, leaving them with only 25.1 percent of registered California voters. (Politico)
The White House has been sending its talking points about the Iran deal to foreign policy heavyweights on both sides of the aisle, including former Obama administration officials and advisers for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. White House communications aide Kelly Sadler forgot to BCC recipients of an email blast about Trump’s Iran strategy, revealing the uncharacteristically inclusive email list and confusing frequent critics of the administration. (Politico)
Samantha Bee apologized for calling Ivanka Trump a “feckless cunt” during a segment on her show about immigration issues. Bee was referring to a photo Ivanka posted that depicts her holding her child amidst a flurry of news stories about migrant children being separated from their mothers at the southern border. (New York Times / Daily Beast)
Joy Reid’s blog published a Photoshopped image of John McCain as the Virginia Tech shooter in October 2007. The post is one of several archived items from Reid’s now-defunct website that have continued to resurface in recent months. (BuzzFeed News)
1/ Robert Mueller is investigating Trump’s request to Jeff Sessions that he reverse his decision to recuse himself from the Russia investigation in March 2017. Trump berated Sessions in public and in private over his decision to step away, but Sessions refused Trump’s request. Mueller is investigating the previously unreported confrontation as part of the ongoing obstruction of justice probe. Mueller’s interest in Sessions suggests the investigation may be even more broad than Trump’s interactions with and subsequent firing of James Comey. (New York Times / Washington Post)
Trump again expresses regret for choosing Jeff Sessions as attorney general. Trump said Wednesday that he wishes he had picked someone else to be attorney general. (Washington Post)
2/ Federal prosecutors investigating Michael Cohen are set to receive 1 million files from three of Cohen’s cell phones that were seized last month in raids on his apartment, office, and hotel room. A court filing submitted by special master Barbara Jones on Tuesday says investigators for the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York have already received nearly 300,000 pieces of potential evidence from the raids. So far, only 252 seized items have been flagged by Cohen’s or Trump’s attorneys as privileged materials. An additional 292,006 items were turned over to prosecutors on May 23. (Washington Post)
3/ A federal judge in Manhattan ordered Michael Cohen’s lawyers to complete their review of the huge trove of seized documents and data within two weeks. Judge Kimba Wood warned that she would allow the government to take control of the review process if Cohen’s attorney’s don’t meet her June 15 deadline. The purpose of the review is to determine whether any of the materials seized by the FBI last month should be protected under attorney-client privilege. (New York Times / Washington Post)
4/ The Senate Intelligence Committee wants to interview Roger Stone. The committee also wants Stone’s attorneys to hand over certain electronic communications. The email from the committee to Stone’s lawyers includes a list of search terms it wants his attorneys to use to identify which communications to hand over. Stone says he hopes the interview with the committee will be public, and that he has “already begun to think about what to wear.” (Daily Beast)
5/ Trump bragged about a classified battle between U.S. forces and Russian mercenaries in Syria while speaking to donors at a closed-door fundraiser. Trump said he was amazed by the actions of American F-18 pilots, suggested that the strikes lasted “10 minutes,” and claimed they killed up to 300 Russians. The details of the battle remain classified. (Politico)
6/ The Trump administration will impose restrictions on Chinese visas as part of its attempt to counter alleged theft of U.S. intellectual property by Beijing. Under the new policy, U.S. consular officers may limit how long the visas will be valid, instead of simply issuing them for the maximum possible length. Chinese graduate students studying robotics, aviation, and other high-tech fields will be limited to one-year visas. Chinese citizens seeking visas will require clearance from multiple U.S. agencies in order to work as researchers or managers at certain companies. The restrictions are set to go into effect on June 11. (Associated Press)
7/ A new U.S. intelligence assessment concludes that North Korea does not intend to give up its nuclear arsenal any time soon. The CIA analysis is consistent with expert opinion on the subject, but it conflicts with Trump’s recent claims that Kim intends to give up his nuclear stockpile in the near future. The assessment does note, however, that Kim Jong Un might open up a burger joint inside North Korea as a display of good will. (NBC News)
8/ Senior House Republican Trey Gowdy said the “FBI did exactly what my fellow citizens would want them to do when they got the information they got” from an informant inside Trump’s 2016 campaign. Gowdy attended last week’s highly classified Justice Department briefing about the FBI informant who approached multiple members of Trump’s foreign policy team, including Carter Page and George Papadopoulos. Contrary to Trump and Giuliani’s “spygate” conspiracy claims, Gowdy said the effort to place an informant inside the campaign had “nothing to do with Donald Trump.” (Politico / Daily Beast / Washington Post)
9/ Trump accused Democrats of siding with MS-13 gang members over the American people during a rally in Nashville. “They don’t want the wall, they want open borders,” Trump said. “They’re more interested in taking care of criminals than they are in taking care of you.” Trump also reiterated his claim that immigrants who commit crimes are “animals,” turning it into a chant for the crowd: “What was the name?” Trump called to the crowd. “Animals!” they shouted back. Trump also called Marsha Blackburn’s Democratic opponent Phil Bredesen “an absolute, total tool” of Chuck Schumer, and referred to the House Democratic leader as “the MS-13 lover Nancy Pelosi.” (New York Times)
10/ Federal bank regulators announced a plan to considerably weaken the Volcker Rule, which was put in place after the financial crisis to prevent risky trading. The rule also dictates that banks can’t be the ones to make the rules about what constitutes a risky trade. The revisions make it so banks no longer have to prove that each trade serves a clear purpose — that it’s not just a speculative bet. (New York Times)
Notables.
Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens resigned after a series of personal and political scandals. He gave a brief but defiant statement at the governor’s office on Tuesday: “I am not perfect, but I have not broken any laws,” he said. Greiten’s resignation will go into effect on Friday at 5 p.m. (Washington Post)
Kim Kardashian will meet with Trump at the White House and ask him to pardon a woman serving a life sentence without parole for a first-time drug offense. The meeting is the result of months of back-channel talks between Kardashian and Jared Kushner. (Vanity Fair)
The Russian journalist who was believed to have been killed yesterday in Kiev showed up at a press conference today, very much alive. Arkady Babchenko apologized to friends and family who believed he was dead. “I’m still alive,” he said. Babchenko’s death was faked as part of a sting operation by the Ukrainian Security Service. (NPR / Associated Press)
Ivanka Trump abruptly left a conference call about an upcoming fitness event after reporters asked her about her company’s trademarks in China. A White House official previously said Ivanka would take a few questions before leaving for a meeting, but reporters started asking questions about the trademarks, which she refused to answer. Ivanka was gone by the time they got around to questions about her father’s fitness regime. (New York Times / CBS News)
Paul Manafort’s friends launched a legal defense fund to help Manafort fight the charges brought against him by the special counsel. In an email announcement, fund organizers wrote, “The Defense Fund is urging anyone who values civil liberties and wishes to show the ‘Deep State’ that they cannot exert their will on ordinary citizens, to join them in supporting the Manafort family as they grapple against the Special Counsel to clear their name.” (NPR / BuzzFeed News)
Trump complained that Bob Iger, the CEO of Disney, apologized to Valerie Jarret for Roseanne’s racist tweets but hasn’t apologized to Trump for all the mean jokes people have made about him on Disney-owned networks. During a press conference, Sarah Huckabee Sanders went through a laundry list of things Trumps feels warrant an apology from Iger. (Boston Globe / Salon)
1/ The U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement lost track of nearly 1,500 unaccompanied immigrant children between October and December of 2017. The acting assistant secretary of the Administration of Children and Families, Steven Wagner, claimed during testimony in April that the agency was not legally responsible for the 1,475 missing children. “I understand that it has been [the Department of Health and Human Service’s] long-standing interpretation of the law that ORR is not legally responsible for children after they are released from ORR care,” Wagner said. The children are not lost, said Deputy HHS Secretary Eric Hargan, their sponsors “simply did not respond or could not be reached when this voluntary call was made.” The comments come as the Trump administration have been defending the policy of separating immigrant children from their families as part of increased border enforcement efforts at the U.S.-Mexico border. (CNN / Reuters / NPR)
How federal authorities track undocumented minors. “My experience both in the Obama administration and under prior administrations, both Republican and Democratic,” said former head of the Office of Refugee Resettlement under Obama, Bob Carey, “was that the law was not interpreted in the same way. And children were not being separated from their parents unless there was a very strong body of evidence that indicated that they were not their parents.” (NPR)
ACLU: Border patrol beat, kicked and threatened migrant children with sexual abuse during Obama administration. Migrant children under the care of United States Customs and Border Protection were allegedly beaten, threatened with sexual violence and repeatedly assaulted while in custody between 2009 and 2014, according to a report from the ACLU. (Newsweek)
2/ The White House said it “continues to actively prepare” for the proposed-but-canceled summit between Trump and Kim Jong Un in Singapore on June 12. White House officials have been characterizing the cancellation letter Trump sent to Kim as a negotiating tactic, one that is purportedly designed to bring the North back to the table. (Associated Press)
A nuclear weapons expert says North Korean disarmament could take up to 15 years to complete. Former director of the Los Alamos weapons laboratory in New Mexico, Siegfried S. Hecker, is warning that North Korea’s sprawling atomic complex could take 15 years to dismantle, and argues that the best the United States can hope for is a phased denuclearization that goes after the most dangerous parts of the North’s program first. (New York Times)
We have put a great team together for our talks with North Korea. Meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit, and more. Kim Young Chol, the Vice Chairman of North Korea, heading now to New York. Solid response to my letter, thank you!
3/ A top North Korean official is headed to New York to discuss the possibility of reviving the canceled nuclear summit with Kim Jong Un. Kim Yong Chol is a vice chairman of the North Korean ruling party’s central committee on inter-Korean relations, and is expected to meet with Mike Pompeo this week to try and dispel skepticism and develop a joint agenda that would put the June 12 nuclear summit back on the table. (Associated Press / New York Times / ABC News)
4/ Rep. Thomas Garrett of Virginia announced that he is an alcoholic and will not seek reelection in November. Unnamed former staffers recently accused Garrett and his wife of mistreating them and making them into their personal servants while they worked for Garrett’s office. Garrett insists his departure from politics was spurred solely by his addiction. Garrett will be the 48th Republican to retire or refuse to seek reelection to the House this year. (Washington Post)
5/ Rep. Ryan Costello of Pennsylvania will not seek reelection in November, because “all I do is answer questions about Donald Trump.” Costello, a Republican from Pennsylvania’s 6th congressional district, originally announced in March that he would not be running for Congress again this year. “No matter what I say or do,” Costello said recently, “I feel all I do is answer questions about Donald Trump rather than health insurance or tax policy.” Costello also cited the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision to redraw the his district as a major factor in his decision not to run again. (CNN / The Hill)
6/ Trump will impose investment restrictions against China, file litigation against China at the World Trade Organization, and impose tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods by the end of June. The trade dispute between Trump and China had become somewhat muted in recent weeks, and Washington and Beijing announced a tentative solution to their dispute just days ago. Trump’s decision, however, contradicts that truce and is seen as an escalation in an ongoing tit-for-tat between the two largest economies in the world. (Politico / CNBC)
7/ China awarded Ivanka Trump’s company seven new trademarks just days before her father vowed to find a way to save the Chinese telecom giant ZTE, even though the company violated U.S. sanctions against countries like Iran and North Korea. The trademarks span a wide range of businesses, including books, housewares, and cushions. Ivanka Trump already held more than a dozen trademarks in China, as well as multiple pending trademark applications. Her father holds more than 100 trademarks in China. (New York Times / The Guardian)
8/ More than 60 House Democrats are calling for an ethics probe into the “extremely short time frame” between Trump’s pledge to save ZTE and a $500 million loan made by the Chinese government to an Indonesian theme park that includes Trump Organization properties. Trump vowed to save ZTE just three days after China approved the massive loan to the theme park, which will include a Trump-branded hotel and golf course, as well as residences and shops. Democrats sent a letter to the U.S. Office of Government Ethics calling for an investigation into the timing of Trump’s statements. “We believe that these events raise several potential constitutional and ethical violations,” the letter reads. Rep. David Cicilline of Rhode Island tweeted out the full text of the letter on Sunday. (Newsweek)
9/ Trump claimed that Robert Mueller’s team will meddle in the 2018 midterm elections in favor of Democrats. “The 13 Angry Democrats (plus people who worked 8 years for Obama) working on the rigged Russia Witch Hunt,” Trump tweeted, “will be MEDDLING with the mid-term elections, especially now that Republicans (stay tough!) are taking the lead in Polls. There was no Collusion, except by the Democrats!” (CNN / Washington Post)
10/ Giuliani admitted that Trump’s “Spygate” conspiracy theory is part of a public relations campaign aimed at discrediting the Mueller investigation in the eyes of the public. Dana Bash pressed Giuliani to acknowledge that he and Trump were using a “very specific, very political strategy to undermine [the Mueller] investigation” and using political tactics to shape public opinion. “It is for public opinion,” Giuliani admitted, “because eventually the decision here is going to be impeach or not impeach.” He continued: “Members of Congress, Democrats and Republicans, are going to be informed a lot by their constituents. And so our jury is — as it should be — is the American people.” (New York Magazine / The Guardian / CNN)
poll/ Roughly 4 out of 5 gun owners and non-gun owners in the U.S. support the following gun control measures: universal background checks, stronger accountability for missing guns, a safety test for concealed carry permits, improved mental health reporting, preventing people with temporary domestic violence restraining orders from obtaining guns, and a civil process that allows families to petition the court to remove a firearm from someone deemed to be at serious risk of harming themselves or others. (Reuters)
poll/ Twenty-two percent of Republicans think Trump provides somewhat or very little moral leadership. Fifty-nine percent of Americans believe that, and 60% of Independents and 91% of Democrats feel the same way. (CNN)
Notables.
Former President George H.W. Bush was taken to a hospital in Maine on Sunday after he experienced low blood pressure and fatigue. Bush will likely remain in the hospital for observation over the next few days. “The former president is awake and alert, and not in any discomfort,” a family spokesperson wrote on Twitter. (Reuters)
Rudy Giuliani was booed at Yankee Stadium when the announcer wished him a happy 74th birthday over the loudspeaker. (NY Daily News)
The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear a challenge to Arkansas’ restrictive abortion law. The law requires providers of medication-based abortions, which use pills to induce abortions in the first nine weeks of pregnancy, to have contracts with doctors who have admitting privileges at a hospital in the state. (New York Times)
The Supreme Court ruled that in general, police must get a warrant in order to search someone’s driveway. The Court ruled that Officer David Rhodes violated the law when he entered the property of a Virginia motorcyclist without a warrant or an invitation. (New York Times / Collins v. Virginia)
The Trump administration refused to acknowledge the conclusions of the scientific community when it comes to dealing with climate change. An internal White House memo revealed the only three options the administration is considering when it comes to dealing with federal climate science reports. They are: (1) consider “debating” the established climate science; (2) cast doubt on scientists’ conclusions; and (3) simply ignore those conclusions. (The Guardian)
A new Harvard study estimates at least 4,645 people died as a result of Hurricane Maria. The official U.S. government death toll still only lists 64 people. (Washington Post)
Roseanne Barr tweeted that former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett was a cross between Planet of the Apes and the Muslim Brotherhood. Barr later apologized on Twitter, but ABC still cancelled the show “Roseanne” hours after the racist tweet and her subsequent apology. (Snopes / NPR / New York Times / ABC News)
A GOP Congresswoman from Tennessee said pornography was a “big part” of the reason for the recent spike in school shootings. Rep. Diane Black: “It’s available on the shelf when you walk in the grocery store. Yeah, you have to reach up to get it, but there’s pornography there,” she said. “All of this is available without parental guidance. I think that is a big part of the root cause.” (HuffPost)
1/ Mitch McConnell said he supports the Mueller investigation and that nothing in Thursday’s secret briefing on the Russia probe changed his mind. “The two investigations going on that I think will give us the answers to the questions that you raise — the [inspector general] investigation in the Justice Department and the Mueller investigation,” McConnell said. “I support both of them, and I don’t really have anything to add to this subject based upon the Gang of Eight briefing that we had today, which was classified.” (NPR / NBC News)
After a closed-door briefing with top Justice Department officials, Congressional Democrats said there is “no evidence” that the FBI placed a spy in the Trump campaign. “Nothing we heard today has changed our view that there is no evidence to support any allegation that the FBI or any intelligence agency placed a spy in the Trump campaign or otherwise failed to follow appropriate procedures and protocols,” said Adam Schiff. (The Hill)
Lindsey Graham: “A confidential informant is not a spy.” Graham undercut Trump during an interview and issued a subtly strong rebuke of Trump’s evidence-free claim that the FBI was “spying” on his presidential campaign. (Washington Post)
2/ The head of the national Border Patrol union called Trump’s decision to deploy the National Guard to the U.S.-Mexico border “a colossal waste of resources.” Roughly 1,600 National Guard troops were deployed to the border in April. “We have seen no benefit,” said union president Brandon Judd. Another 750 troops may soon be added to fill support roles and the total deployment could reach nearly 4,000 troops, according to Army Lt. Col. Jamie Davis. (Los Angeles Times)
3/ Trump wanted to call off the North Korean summit before Kim Jong Un could beat him to the punch. “There was no hint of this yesterday,” said a person briefed on the summit preparations. Defense Secretary James Mattis was not involved in the discussions on Wednesday about canceling the meeting, but Trump said he called Mattis about it Thursday morning. The decision happened so quickly that the White House was unable to give congressional leaders and key allies advance notice, and the letter to Kim was sent out while more than two dozen foreign journalists and several U.S. citizens were still inside North Korea covering the demolition of a nuclear test site. (NBC News / Politico)
A day after he bailed on a summit with North Korea’s leader, Trump is now saying that the meeting could still take place after all. “We’ll see what happens. We are talking to them now,” Trump said. “They very much want to do it. We’d like to do it.” He added: “It could even be the 12th.” (Washington Post)
Trump’s cancellation of the summit with Kim raises fears of renewed tensions and destabilization between the two countries. Trump left the door open for the summit to be rescheduled, but senior White House aides said rescheduling the meeting was highly unlikely, at least not any time soon. (Washington Post)
‘A lot of dial tones’: The inside story of how Trump’s North Korea summit fell apart. “Trump has a morbid fear of being humiliated and shamed,” said Tony Schwartz, who co-authored “The Art of the Deal” with Trump. “This is showing who’s the biggest and the strongest, so he is exquisitely sensitive to the possibility that he would end up looking weak and small. There is nothing more unacceptable to Trump than that.” (Washington Post)
4/ Mueller’s team has been investigating Roger Stone’s finances as part of the probe into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians during the 2016 election. Mueller has questioned Stone’s associates about his finances, including his tax returns. Stone claims he has not been contacted by the special counsel’s office, and that he played no role in colluding with Russia. (CNN)
5/ Roger Stone tried to get damaging information on Hillary Clinton from Julian Assange during the 2016 campaign. Emails revealed that Stone used a mutual acquaintance as an intermediary between himself and Assange in order to ask Assange for any emails related to Clinton’s role in disrupting a purported peace deal in Libya while she was serving as secretary of state in 2011. Stone testified last year that he had only “wanted confirmation” that Assange had information about Clinton in his possession. (Wall Street Journal / CNN)
Assange’s refuge inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London is “in jeopardy.” Sources say his current situation is “unusually bad” and that Assange could leave the embassy “any day now,” either because he will be forced out or made to feel so restricted that he might just choose to leave on his own. (CNN)
6/ A Russian billionaire with ties to the Kremlin met with Michael Cohen at Trump Tower 11 days before Trump’s inauguration. Viktor Vekselberg met with Cohen to discuss their mutual desire to improve Russia’s relationship with the U.S. under the incoming Trump administration, according to Andrew Intrater. Intrater is an American businessman who invests money on behalf of Vekselberg and was present at the meeting in question. A few days after Trump’s inauguration, Intrater’s private equity firm, Columbus Nova, signed a $1 million consulting contract with Cohen. (New York Times)
7/ The Trump administration told lawmakers that it has reached a deal to keep Chinese telecom giant ZTE alive. The deal would allow ZTE to pay a fine as punishment for violating international sanctions against Iran and North Korea. ZTE would also have to make changes to its management team, hire American compliance officers and place them at the firm. In exchange, ZTE would be again able to do business with American companies. The deal is expected to face considerable resistance from Congress. (New York Times)
8/ Someone has been circulating letters to dozens of wealthy entrepreneurs in China and offering access to the Trump administration in exchange for a $100,000 contribution to Trump’s reelection campaign. Republican Party officials say they had nothing to do with the letter, which is one of at least three such offers that have been circulated in the past week. The letter promises a handshake and a one-on-one photo with the president in exchange for $100,000 donation — a “VVIP” trip “to be remembered for a lifetime.” (Washington Post)
9/ Internal documents from inside a shadowy Israeli firm reveal details of a plot to discredit Obama officials involved in the Iran deal and, ultimately, the deal itself. Black Cube operatives befriended architects of the deal and their associates and tried to obtain evidence of improper behavior, including financial or sexual impropriety. Black Cube has two arms, one for corporate clients and one for government and political actors, and is the same Israeli private intelligence and investigation firm hired by Harvey Weinstein to intimidate and disparage his accusers. The plan to sabotage the Iran deal is the first public example of the firm’s attempts to meddle in U.S. politics. (NBC News)
NOTABLES.
The suspect in the shooting that injured three people at an Indiana middle school is now in custody. At least three people, including a teacher and a student, were injured in the shooting. (CNN)
A group of Republican lawmakers and advocacy groups plan to release a new proposal in yet another attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it with a different plan. The replacement plan is aimed at giving individual states more control over healthcare policy and is the product of eight months of behind-the-scenes planning by a coalition of conservative organizations. (Wall Street Journal / MarketWatch)
Harvey Weinstein turned himself in to police and was arrested by the NYPD on charges of rape, criminal sex acts, and other lower level sex abuse and sexual misconduct charges. The charges stem from his 2004 encounters with actress Lucia Evans and another woman who has not been identified or spoken publicly. Evans confirmed that she was pressing charges. “At a certain point,” Evans said, “you have to think about the greater good of humanity, of womankind.” (NBC News / CBS News / CNN)
Former staffers for Republican Congressman Tom Garrett say Garrett and his wife made them their personal servants, often ordering them to pick up groceries, clothes, and even dog poop — all during work hours. Garrett and his wife are both known to have explosive tempers, and the aides say they were afraid that Garrett might prevent them from advancing in their careers if they refused his or his wife’s orders. (Politico)
Trump nominated immigration hard-liner Ronald Mortensen to become the next assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration. Mortensen has been highly critical of the DACA program. Among other things, Mortensen has claimed that “Illegal aliens commit felonies in order to get jobs,” that “illegal immigration and high levels of identity theft go hand-in-hand,” and that “children are prime targets” of identity theft committed by undocumented immigrants. (CNN)
The Republican nominee for a US House seat in Illinois is a 9/11 truther who once claimed that Beyonce had ties to the Illuminati. Bill Fawell, who is running against incumbent Democrat Cheri Bustos in Illinois’ 17th District, won an uncontested primary in March. Fawell said Jay-Z “has a long history of serving up the godless Illuminati” and shared a YouTube video that claimed Beyonce’s halftime performance at the Super Bowl used Illuminati symbolism. (CNN)
Montana Democrats called for a Congressional ethics probe of Rep. Greg Gianforte to determine whether he “violated House Ethics Rules by making false statements to the police and the public” regarding Gianforte’s assault of a reporter and other actions last year. (CNN)
A turf war between Jared Kushner and Jeff Sessions drove the director of the federal prison system to resign. Mark Inch told Rod Rosenstein that he was tired of administration officials flouting “departmental norms,” and complained that Sessions had excluded him from major staffing, budget, and policy decisions. Inch also felt excluded by Kushner when it came to drafting prison reform legislation. (New York Times)
🙃 WTF, right?
Don’t forget: We’re off next Monday for Memorial Day. We’ll pick things back up again on Tuesday.
Editor’s note: This post originally stated that Vekselberg met with Cohen 11 days before Trump’s election. Vekselberg actually met with Cohen 11 days before Trump’s inauguration.
1/ Trump canceled the planned nuclear summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and accused North Korea of “tremendous anger and open hostility.” In a letter to Kim, Trump wrote: “Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, I feel it is inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting.” Trump was apparently referring to North Korea’s recent statement, in which it called Mike Pence a “political dummy.” Most of the letter uses seemingly friendly language, but Trump also appeared to include a veiled threat that the U.S. might someday use its nuclear weapons against North Korea, if necessary: “You talk about your nuclear capabilities,” Trump wrote, “but ours are so massive and powerful that I pray to God they will never have to be used.” (CNBC / NPR)
President Trump cancels historic meeting with North Korean leader due to "tremendous anger and open hostility" in recent statement by North Korea.
The letter Trump sent to Kim Jong Un canceling the summit, annotated. (Washington Post)
Trump dictated ‘every word’ of the letter canceling North Korea summit. (The Hill)
North Korea demolished its nuclear test site just hours before Trump announced that he was canceling the proposed nuclear summit. North Korea officially closed down the site with a series of explosions that caused landslides near the tunnel entrances to the facility. The closure of the site is not irreversible, and several follow-up measures would be required in order to ensure the facility meets Trump’s demands for true denuclearization. Kim also did not invite international nuclear weapons inspectors to the demolition. (Associated Press)
2/ Trump says the U.S. military “is ready if necessary” to respond to any provocation by North Korea after Trump cancelled the proposed North Korean nuclear summit. “I’ve spoken to General Mattis and the Joint Chiefs of Staff,” Trump said during a press conference, “and our military, which is by far the most powerful anywhere in the world that has been greatly enhanced recently, as you all know, is ready if necessary.” Trump also said he consulted with Japan and South Korea which, according to Trump, are prepared to respond in the event that Kim Jong Un commits any “foolish or reckless acts” in response to Trump calling off the summit. (NBC News)
South Korean President Moon Jae-In said he was “very perplexed” by Trump’s decision to cancel the summit. Moon called the cancellation “very regrettable.” He continued: “Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the establishment of permanent peace are historic tasks that can neither be abandoned nor delayed.” (NPR / Yonhap)
The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 250 points after Trump called off the North Korean nuclear summit. The S&P 500 fell 0.9 percent as a continued drop in oil prices and bond yields dragged down energy and financials stocks, respectively. (CNBC)
The commemorative North Korea summit coins are now being sold at a discount. The White House Gift Shop put its commemorative coins on sale for $19.95 — down from $24.95 — after Trump announced he was canceling the proposed summit. (Daily Beast)
3/ Trump said migrant children entering the country at the southern border are “not innocent,” and warned that letting them in exposes the nation to increased gang crime. “They look so innocent,” Trump said at a roundtable meeting at the Morrelly Homeland Security Center. He added: “They’re not innocent.” (Washington Post)
4/ Trump insisted that he will not sign any immigration bill that emerges from Congress unless it includes “a real wall” on the southern border. Trump was responding to an ongoing effort in the House to force a vote on certain bills aimed at protecting young undocumented immigrants from deportation. Factions of the House GOP are at odds over certain provisions in the various bills under consideration, including whether or not to provide permanent legal status for “Dreamers” under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. (Washington Post)
House Republicans holds last-ditch immigration talks as internal showdown looms. House GOP leaders have temporarily halted an internal rebellion to force votes next month on protecting young undocumented immigrants from deportation while they negotiate with the GOP renegades to find a different path forward. (Washington Post)
The House broke for an 11-day recess as majority Republicans remain deadlocked over proposed legislation to protect “Dreamers” from deportation. So far, 23 House Republicans have signed a petition to force a debate and votes on a series of immigration bills as soon as next month. (Reuters)
5/ Trump called for sweeping changes to the U.S. immigration legal process and questioned why immigrants should go through the legal system at all. “Other countries have what’s called security people,” Trump said. “People who stand there and say you can’t come in. We have thousands of judges and they need thousands of more judges. The whole system is corrupt.” Trump also suggested eliminating courts and judges from the immigration process: “Whoever heard of a system where you put people through trials? Where do these judges come from?” He continued: “So it’s ridiculous, we’re going to change the system. We have no choice for the good of our country.” (CNN)
6/ Trump said athletes who refuse to stand for the national anthem shouldn’t be allowed to play and suggested that maybe they “shouldn’t be in the country.” Trump said he doesn’t like the provision in the NFL’s new policy that allows players to remain in the locker room while the anthem is played. “I don’t think people should be staying in locker rooms,” Trump said, “but still I think it’s good. You have to stand, proudly, for the national anthem or you shouldn’t be playing, you shouldn’t be there, maybe you shouldn’t be in the country.” (Washington Post / NPR / Fox News)
7/ The FBI seized control of a key server in Russia’s global botnet of 500,000 hacked routers. One of the goals of the operation was to use the information from the seized server to build a comprehensive list of victims in order to short-circuit the Kremlin’s ability to reinfect targets. The FBI went after a complicated malware program called “VPN Filter” that has been linked to the Russian hacking group responsible for the breach of the DNC and the Clinton campaign during the 2016 election. (Daily Beast)
8/ Trump signed the largest rollback of federal banking regulations since the 2008 financial crisis. The legislation exempts scores of banks from strict federal regulations put in place under the Dodd-Frank Act. The bill eases restrictions on all but the largest banks and raises the standard by which banks are designated too important to fail by $250 billion, up from $50 billion. It also eases the reporting requirements for mortgage loan data for the overwhelming majority of banks. The bill was co-authored by three Senate Democrats and passed the Senate in March before clearing the House on Tuesday. (The Hill / CNN / Chicago Tribune / CNBC)
Notables.
An ally of Vladimir Putin suggested that the meeting in the Seychelles with Blackwater founder Erik Prince was more than a simple chance encounter “over a beer,” as Prince told Congress. Kirill Dmitriev, a Russian fund manager who was present at the January 2017 meeting, said he had wanted to meet with Prince in order to improve relations between the U.S and Russia. (ABC News)
Jared Kushner spent nearly seven hours with Mueller’s team in April for his second interview with the special counsel. Both times, Kushner met with investigators as a witness, not a target, of the investigation. The most recent interview focused on the 2016 campaign, the transition, the firing of James Comey, and other topics. Kushner’s financial dealings and family business were not discussed. (ABC News)
GOP Rep. Tom Garrett may not run for reelection in November. Garrett abruptly split with his chief of staff on Tuesday and has been unable to raise as much money as his Democratic opponent in Virginia’s 5th congressional district. (Politico)
Newly obtained documents and interviews provide the first public on-the-ground accounting of a battle between American forces and around 500 pro-Syrian government forces and Russian mercenaries. The incident was one of the single-bloodiest battles the American military has faced in Syria since deploying to the country to fight the Islamic State. (New York Times)
Democrats will be allowed to join Republicans at today’s White House briefing on the secret FBI source who aided Mueller’s Russia probe. After a day of negotiations, the White House reversed its earlier decision to only invite Republican lawmakers the briefing. (Washington Post)
Trump is considering imposing new tariffs on imported cars. Trump told Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to consider an investigation into additional protections for domestic automakers, saying American auto workers have “waited long enough.” (NPR)
Trump’s ban on global abortion funding has led to more abortions. Healthcare workers in Kenya say Trump’s “Mexico City” policy of cutting abortion funding has left thousands of women in Kenya without access to contraception, forcing many to rely on risky, backstreet abortions as a form of birth control. (CNN)
1/ Michael Cohen’s business partner took a plea deal that requires him to cooperate with the government as a potential witness in state and federal investigations. Evgeny Freidman is a Russian immigrant known as the “Taxi King,” and he specifically agreed to assist government prosecutors in state or federal investigations, according to a person briefed on the matter. Freidman was disbarred earlier this month, has been accused of failing to pay $5 million in taxes, and is facing multiple counts of criminal tax fraud and one of grand larceny. Freidman’s cooperation is seen as potential leverage to pressure Cohen into working with Mueller’s team on the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 elections. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / CNBC / Vox)
Cohen distances himself from business associate who struck plea deal. (The Hill)
Who is Evgeny Freidman? Michael Cohen’s “Taxi King” business partner may be key to Russia investigation. (Newsweek)
2/ Cohen received a secret payment of at least $400,000 to arrange talks between Trump and the president of Ukraine. The payment was arranged by intermediaries acting on behalf of Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko. The meetings occurred at the White House last June. Cohen has denied the allegation. There is no indication that Trump was aware of the payment. (BBC)
3/ Robert Mueller asked the courts to begin the sentencing process for former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos. Mueller asked the judge to order a standard investigative report and to begin moving forward with sentencing process. The judge will ultimately decide what Papadopoulos’ sentence will be. Papadopoulos has been cooperating with the special counsel for months, but the move suggests that his cooperation may no longer be necessary. (CNN)
4/ A federal district court judge ruled that Trump can’t block people on Twitter over their political views. Judge Buchwald of the Southern District of New York said Trump’s Twitter account is a public forum and blocking people based on their political opinions amounts to viewpoint discrimination and a violation of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. (The Hill)
5/ Trump said he constantly bashes the press in order to “demean” and “discredit” journalists so the public won’t believe “negative stories” about him. Lesley Stahl says she asked Trump, “Why are you doing it over and over?” She continued: “And he said: ‘You know why I do it? I do it to discredit you all and demean you all so that when you write negative stories about me no one will believe you.’” (Yahoo! Finance)
6/ The White House did not invite Democrats to a private briefing on the FBI informant involved in the investigation into the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russians during and after the 2016 election. Two senior House Republicans were invited to the briefing, which was coordinated by John Kelly and will be held on Thursday. Democrats are demanding that Democratic lawmakers be included in the briefing. Sarah Huckabee-Sanders said Democrats weren’t invited because they didn’t specifically ask for details about the informant. (Politico)
Donald Trump turned a rumor into a full-blown government conspiracy in just 5 days. Trump went from having heard a rumor about the FBI’s use of a confidential source to claiming that it was an intentional and political attempt to install a “spy” within his ranks on behalf of Obama’s Justice Department. (Politico)
7/ John Kelly signed off on a plan to fire a handful of mid-level and junior aides after Trump demanded changes to the White House communications team in order to limit the leaks coming out of his administration. The plan would remove some of the department’s low-level employees, while keeping high-level staffers such as Sarah Huckabee-Sanders and other officials on board. (Politico)
8/ Jared Kushner’s prison reform plan passedin the House of Representatives with bipartisan support. The “First Step Act,” which has Trump’s support, passed with a 360-59 vote. The bill would provide training programs for prisoners and would be the first major bipartisan success for the Trump administration. Mitch McConnell, however, has indicated that he is unlikely to bring up the bill in the Senate unless Republicans can find a way to resolve their differences. (Politico)
Congress’s prison reform bill, explained: The First Step Act has Trump’s support — but faces some Democratic opposition. (Vox)
Is the “First Step Act” real reform? The bill addresses the dire need for rehabilitative services in the federal prison system, proves there is strong bipartisan support for at least modest criminal justice reform and underscores a strategic debate that has split the Democratic Party. (The Marshall Project)
9/ Scott Pruitt spent at least $9,600 on decorations and furniture for his personal office. Pruitt bought Smithsonian artwork, a refurbished desk, and other framed items. He paid the Smithsonian Institution $1,950 in labor and delivery charges to rent out three art pieces for his executive suite, and spent more than $2,500 on frames for various items, including a photo of himself with Trump and an American flag. The internal document with the list of expenditures also confirmed earlier reports that Pruitt spent $2,963 on a standing “captain’s” desk and $2,075 on a different desk. (The Hill)
poll/ A majority of Americans — 59% — don’t think Mueller’s investigation into Russia and the 2016 presidential campaign has uncovered evidence of any crimes, even though the special counsel has already secured five guilty pleas and issued 17 criminal indictments. (Vox / Navigator Research)
poll/ Thirty-six percent of voters say they would vote for Trump over a generic Democratic candidate in 2020. Forty-four percent would choose the generic Democrat, and 20 percent of voters remain undecided. (Politico)
Notables.
Jared Kushner received his security clearance after a year of background checks conducted by the FBI. (New York Times / CNN)
NFL teams will be fined if players kneel during the national anthem. Players will be allowed to remain in the locker room during the anthem, but their teams will be fined by the NFL if they go out and kneel on the field. (New York Times)
Mike Pompeo says the U.S. will fight back against what he called “continued efforts” by Russia to interfere in the 2018 midterm elections. Pompeo did not provide any details as to what the “appropriate measures” would entail, but he said the U.S. has so far been unable to establish “effective deterrence” to halt Russia’s efforts. (Associated Press)
Senate negotiators have released legislation to overhaul policies for handling sexual harassment complaints in Congress. The deal includes requirements that lawmakers be held personally liable for some financial settlements, and requires lawmakers to repay any awards and settlements stemming from acts of harassment that they personally commit. (NPR)
New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal says he is ready to fill the prosecutorial void left in the wake of Eric Schneiderman’s sudden resignation earlier this month. Grewal has jurisdiction over 20 Trump properties. (Politico)
A sinkhole appeared on the White House lawn near the office of White House deputy press secretary Hogan Gridley. (CBS News)
Michael Avenatti’s law firm was hit with a $10-million judgment in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. (Los Angeles Times)
Trump offered his support to Tomi Lahren after someone threw a drink at the Fox News pundit while she was eating at a restaurant in Minneapolis over the weekend. (Washington Post)
Stacey Abrams won the Democratic nomination to become the next governor of Georgia, making her the first African American woman to be a major party nominee in the state. (New York Times)
1/ Trump uses White House cellphones that lack the proper security features required to protect his communications, thus leaving him open to potential hacking or surveillance. Trump uses at least two different iPhones — one for calls and one for Twitter and news — and has resisted staff efforts to beef up phone security. Aides have urged Trump to swap out his Twitter phone on a monthly basis, but Trump argues the disruption is “too inconvenient.” Trump has gone as long as five months without a Twitter-phone security check-up. (Politico)
Trump is essentially doing the same thing he demanded Hillary Clinton be locked up for doing. Trump’s actions are identical to Clinton’s, but Trump’s situation is an easier target for foreign hackers, especially since Trump is particularly vulnerable to espionage and blackmail due to his concealed business interests and alleged adultery. (New York Magazine)
Trump’s communication security practices illustrate the clear double standard between Hillary Clinton’s emails and his own cell phones. Whether or not convenience was actually Clinton’s reasoning for the use of her private server is a fair question, but there are still clear parallels between what Trump attacked Clinton for and what he’s doing now. (Washington Post)
The White House pushed back on the report that Trump’s cell phones are not secure: “The White House is confident in the security protocols in place for the President’s use of communications devices,” a senior White House official said. (ABC News)
2/ White House employees who draft tweets for Trump intentionally incorporate poor grammar and spelling errors to mimic their boss. Overuse of exclamation points, random capitalization of words, and use of fragmented sentences are all elements of a process intended to make the tweets appear genuine. (Boston Globe)
3/ The EPA barred the Associated Press and CNN from a national summit on harmful water contaminants convened by Scott Pruitt. One AP reporter was grabbed by the shoulders and forcibly removed from the building after asking to speak to a public affairs representative. “This was simply an issue of the room reaching capacity,” said EPA spokesperson Jahan Wilcox. Wilcox later announced the afternoon session would be open to all press. (Associated Press / NBC News / Axios / CNBC)
4/ The Interior Department plans to reverse a 2015 ban prohibiting hunters on some public lands in Alaska from using cruel hunting techniques, including the use of spotlights to shoot mother black bears and cubs during hibernation, the hunting of black bears with dogs, the killing of wolves and pups in their dens, and the use of motor boats to kill swimming caribou. The Interior Department will accept public comments on the proposed rule changes for the next 60 days. (NBC News)
5/ The Government Accountability Office approved a proposal to cut more than $7 billion in unused funding from the Children’s Health Insurance Program. The GAO report approved the vast majority of the Trump administration’s $15.3 billion plan to reduce government spending. The plan will likely avoid filibuster in the Senate and is expected to pass with a simple majority vote. The House version of the bill has been drafted and is expected to head to the floor in June. (Politico)
6/ Elliot Broidy’s company received its largest U.S. government payout while Broidy was selling access to Trump to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. In 2017, in addition to securing nearly $1 billion in contracts from Saudi Arabia and the UAE (in exchange for lobbying against Qatar), Broidy and George Nader locked down more than $4 million in contracts from the Department of Defense. The most Circinus LCC had received in defense contracts prior to Broidy’s lobbying work in Washington, D.C. was $7,501. (Daily Beast)
More evidence that Broidy may Have been covering for Trump in that Playmate affair. (New York Magazine)
7/ A bipartisan group of lawmakers say they will try to stop Trump from reducing penalties against ZTE, the Chinese telecom giant. “We will begin working on veto-proof congressional action,” Marco Rubio tweeted. Dick Durbin said lawmakers are considering several options and plan to act “soon.” (Reuters)
Here is #ZTE timeline: Violated U.S. sanction laws & got caught lying & covering up. Paid $1billion fine & agreed to discipline employees. But then lied again & instead of discipline gave those employees bonuses. Now we are offering same deal of fine & employee discipline?
China has already reduced its import tariff on passenger cars from 25% to 15% following a truce between Trump and Chinese officials. The move opens up a market that has been a major target of the United States in its ongoing trade battle with the world’s second-largest economy. (Bloomberg)
How China acquires ‘the crown jewels’ of U.S. technology: The U.S. frequently fails to police foreign deals over the cutting-edge software that powers the military and American economic strength. (Politico)
8/ James Clapper said the FBI did not spy on the Trump campaign at any point. “They were not,” Clapper told The View. “They were spying — a term I don’t particularly like — on what the Russians were doing.” (Politico / The Hill)
James Clapper: Trump tweets are a ‘disturbing assault’ on the Justice Department’s independence. (CNN)
9/ Harley-Davidson took a tax cut, closed a factory in Kansas City, and rewarded its shareholders with a $700-million stock buyback plan. Following the windfall of the federal tax bill, the company laid off 800 workers, moved its factory to Pennsylvania, and announced a dividend increase and stock buyback plan for 15 million of its shares. (Vox)
An increase in gas prices easily outpaces the benefits of the tax bill for lower-income Americans. It’s not yet clear whether — or how much — this is a function of the Iran deal as opposed to the normal increases typically seen during the summer months. (Washington Post)
Gas prices reach $5 per gallon in Manhattan. One gas station in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood listed its gasoline for $4.999 per gallon. (The Hill)
Notables.
The Supreme Court ruled in a 5–4 decision that private-sector workers may not band together to challenge violations of federal labor laws. In the majority opinion, Justice Neil Gorsuch argued the 1925 Federal Arbitration Act trumps the National Labor Relations Act. As such, employees who sign agreements to arbitrate claims must waive their rights to join a class action lawsuit and instead go through arbitration on an individual basis. (NPR / Politico)
Purdue Pharma hired Giuliani in the mid-2000s to head off a federal investigation into its marketing of OxyContin, which has been at the center of the national opioid crisis. Purdue turned OxyContin into a multibillion-dollar drug after its launch in 1996 and undertook an unprecedented marketing campaign to pitch the painkiller to doctors. (The Guardian)
Bob Corker turned down an offer to become the next U.S. ambassador to Australia. “I had a number of conversations with both President Trump and [Mike] Pompeo,” Corker said. “At the end of the day though … it just felt like it wasn’t the right step.” (The Tennessean)
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen pushed back on the intelligence community’s assessment that Vladimir Putin intervened in the 2016 presidential elections in an attempt to help Trump and hurt Clinton. “I don’t believe that I have seen that conclusion … that the specific intent was to help President Trump win,” Nielsen said. (CNN)
Senior GOP lawmakers are questioning Paul Ryan’s ability to lead the party through the 2018 midterm elections. While Ryan continues to insist he is not planning on stepping down as Speaker, many Republicans — including moderates — have become increasingly willing to defy Ryan, whom they view as a lame-duck leader of the party. (Politico)
1/ Trump demanded that the Justice Department investigate whether the FBI “infiltrated or surveilled” his presidential campaign under Obama’s orders. After accusing the FBI on Friday of sending a “spy” to infiltrate his campaign, Trump tweeted Sunday afternoon: “I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes, and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!” The FBI opened its counterintelligence investigation into Russia’s efforts to influence the 2016 campaign on July 31, 2016. They sent an informant, a retired American professor, to talk to George Papadopoulos, Carter Page, and Sam Clovis after receiving evidence that the pair had contacts linked to Russia during the campaign. (New York Times / Washington Post)
Reports are there was indeed at least one FBI representative implanted, for political purposes, into my campaign for president. It took place very early on, and long before the phony Russia Hoax became a “hot” Fake News story. If true - all time biggest political scandal!
I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes - and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!
2/ The Justice Department asked the inspector general to review the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation of the 2016 Trump campaign hours after Trump demanded that the agency investigate whether his campaign was “infiltrated” by the FBI. Rod Rosenstein said in a statement: “If anyone did infiltrate or surveil participants in a presidential campaign for inappropriate purposes, we need to know about it and take appropriate action.” The suspected informant is Stefan Halper, an American who was a foreign policy scholar at the University of Cambridge until 2015. (Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
3/ Rod Rosenstein, FBI Director Christopher Wray and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats met with Trump at the White House. The meeting comes a day after Trump tweeted that he would “demand” the Justice Department investigate whether his campaign was improperly “infiltrated or surveilled” for political purposes. Rosenstein agreed that John Kelly would set up a meeting where congressional leaders can review “highly classified and other information they have requested” related to the Russia probe. (ABC News / CBS News / CNN / Bloomberg)
4/ Rudy Giuliani: Robert Mueller will end his investigation into possible obstruction of justice by Sept. 1 if Trump agrees to sit down with investigators for an interview. A source familiar with the probe called the deadline “entirely made-up” and “another apparent effort to pressure the special counsel to hasten the end of his work.” Giuliani added that questions about the FBI informant who approached campaign aides in 2016 need “to be cleared up before we even approach the idea of doing an interview” because Trump could be “walking into a trap.” (New York Times / Reuters / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
5/ Three months before the 2016 election, Trump Jr. met with representatives of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates who offered to help the Trump campaign, proposing a multimillion-dollar social media manipulation campaign. The group comprised Joel Zamel, an Israeli specialist in social media manipulation; George Nader, an emissary for two wealthy Arab princes; and Erik Prince, the former head of Blackwater and brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. Following the meeting, Nader became a close ally of Trump campaign advisers. While it’s illegal for foreign governments or individuals to be involved in American elections, two people familiar with the meetings said Trump campaign officials weren’t bothered by the idea of cooperation with foreigners. (New York Times)
6/ Robert Mueller expanded his probe into Joel Zamel’s role. Mueller has issued a subpoena for documents related to Zamel’s work, but not for Zamel himself. Zamel previously met with Mueller’s team to discuss his relationship with George Nader, who paid Zamel $2 million shortly after Trump was elected. The payment has been described as unrelated to the campaign. (Wall Street Journal)
Notables.
Incoming NRA president Oliver North blamed school shootings on “youngsters who are steeped in a culture of violence” and young boys who have “been on Ritalin” since early childhood. “They’ve been drugged in many cases,” North said. North, who is best known for his role in the Iran-Contra “guns for drugs” scandal, told Fox News, “You are not going to fix it by taking away the rights of law-abiding citizens.” (Washington Post)
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick blamed school shootings on violent video games, removing religion from schools, abortion, broken families, too many entrances to schools, unarmed teachers, and irresponsible gun owners. Patrick did not blame guns for school shootings. (CNN)
Trump signed a bill that will undo efforts by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to discourage discrimination in auto lending. CFPB acting Director Mick Mulvaney called the guidelines “misguided” while praising the rollback. (Politico)
A border patrol agent detained two U.S. citizens after overhearing them speaking Spanish at a gas station in Montana last week. (Slate)
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the US will aim to “crush” Iran with economic and military pressure if it doesn’t change its behavior in the Middle East. Pompeo demanded that Iran halt all uranium enrichment, stop its ballistic-missile program and give nuclear inspectors access to the entire country. (Bloomberg / CNN)
The Trump administration suspended its plan to impose tariffs on China. Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, said: “We’re putting the trade war on hold.” (New York Times)
The RNC paid roughly half a million dollars to a law firm representing former White House communications director Hope Hicks and others involved in the Russia probe. Trout Cacheris & Janis received $451,780 from the RNC after Hicks hired the firm’s founder as her personal attorney in September. The money used to pay the firm was originally meant to be used for election recounts and other legal matters, but RNC officials concluded that the money could be used to pay for the president’s legal fees. (Washington Post)
1/ The Trump administration will withhold federal funding for family planning clinics that provide abortions or refer patients to places that perform them in a change to how Title X family planning funds are awarded. The rule will resurrect a Reagan-era policy that requires abortion services to have “separate personnel” and require a “bright line” of “physical separation” from other family planning services. Title X serves about 4 million women a year and costs taxpayers about $260 million. (New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press)
2/ Trump tweets: The Justice Department put “an embedded informant” inside his campaign in order to “spy” on him in an effort to “frame” him “for crimes he didn’t commit.” Giuliani tried to clarify Trump’s tweets, saying the president doesn’t “know for sure” if there was an FBI informant in his campaign. He added that Trump’s legal team was told “off the record” that there was not one informant but two informants. Trump tweeted that if the reports are true, then it would be the “all time biggest political scandal!” He called the allegations “really bad stuff!” (NBC News / Washington Post)
Wow, word seems to be coming out that the Obama FBI “SPIED ON THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN WITH AN EMBEDDED INFORMANT.” Andrew McCarthy says, “There’s probably no doubt that they had at least one confidential informant in the campaign.” If so, this is bigger than Watergate!
“Apparently the DOJ put a Spy in the Trump Campaign. This has never been done before and by any means necessary, they are out to frame Donald Trump for crimes he didn’t commit.” David Asman @LouDobbs@GreggJarrett Really bad stuff!
Reports are there was indeed at least one FBI representative implanted, for political purposes, into my campaign for president. It took place very early on, and long before the phony Russia Hoax became a “hot” Fake News story. If true - all time biggest political scandal!
3/ Trump Jr. called a blocked number before and after the June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower. On June 6, Trump Jr. was in contact with a blocked number for three to four minutes. Immediately after ending that call, Trump Jr. called Emin Agalarov, the pop star son of Russian oligarch Aras Agalarov. Two hours after the Trump Tower meeting occurred on June 9th, Trump Jr. placed another call to a blocked number that lasted three minutes. Then-candidate Trump spent that day at Trump Tower, where the private residence has a blocked number, and held no public events. (CNN / Washington Post)
4/ Rudy Giuliani: A president can commit obstruction of justice, contradicting Trump’s now-former lawyer John Dowd, who said that “the president cannot obstruct justice because he is the chief law enforcement officer.” According to Giuliani, Mueller’s appointment was “really about the firing of Comey,” which wouldn’t count as obstruction – regardless of Trump’s reason for doing so – because Comey was “replaced by somebody else on an acting position immediately.” (CNBC / Washington Post)
Avenatti to Giuliani: “Please retire. Today.” You’re becoming an “embarrassment.” (The Hill)
Dear Dazed Rudy: Please retire. Today. You had a good run for many years. But you are distracting from that and quickly becoming an embarrassment. A never ending joke. Don’t let this serve as your legacy. The time has come.
— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) May 18, 2018
5/ Giuliani said Robert Mueller agreed to limit the scope of a potential interview with Trump to two topics instead of five. Mueller, according to Giuliani, is not interested in Michael Cohen or his business dealings. “The main focus we want is Russia,” Giuliani said, adding: “The President would testify tomorrow if it was about the truth. The truth is he had nothing to do with Russia. The President is not going to lie.” (CNN / Associated Press)
Mueller subpoenaed another Roger Stone assistant. John Kakanis has worked as a driver, accountant, and operative for Stone was questioned by the FBI on the topics of possible Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, the WikiLeaks website, its founder Julian Assange, and the hacker or hackers who call themselves Guccifer 2.0. (Reuters)
6/ Summer School: Trump’s lawyers are planning a series of summer prep sessions to get the president ready for a possible sit-down interview with Mueller. The planning meetings will be held during off-hours at the White House and will mirror his 2016 debate preparation, where aides briefed Trump in short sessions over many weeks. (Politico)
7/ Michael Cohen’s suspicious activity reports (SARs) aren’t missing – the Treasury Department has restricted access to them. Earlier this week, a law enforcement official admitted to leaking some of Cohen’s banking records over concerns they had been removed from a Treasury Department database as part of a cover-up. The official could only access one SAR related to Cohen, but knew that two more should have been available. The Treasury Department also restricted some law enforcement agencies from accessing the database despite memorandums of understanding that allow agencies, including the DEA, the FBI, and the IRS, to access the information. (BuzzFeed News)
🤔 Let’s work together to answer your vexing questions about the curious case of Cohen’s SARs, where Avenatti got his information, and whether Mueller may already have Coehn’s reports. (WTF Community Center)
8/ At least 10 people were killed and 10 more wounded in a shooting at a high school in Santa Fe, Texas. Trump offered his “support to everyone affected” and said mass shootings have been “going on too long in our country.” Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, called for legislative action, saying that by failing to act, “we are failing our children.” And, in an open letter to Trump and federal lawmakers, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo wrote: “You were elected to lead – do something.” (New York Times / CNN / The Hill / ABC News)
An armed man ranting “anti-Trump” rhetoric opened fire on police officers at the Trump National Doral Miami Golf Club in South Florida before he was wounded and apprehended. (New York Times / Sun Sentinel)
Notables.
Trump personally asked the postmaster general to double the rate the Postal Service charges Amazon.com. Megan Brennan has resisted, explaining multiple times that the rates are bound by contracts and must be reviewed by a regulatory commission. Brennan also told Trump that the Amazon relationship is beneficial for the Postal Service. (Washington Post)
Senate Democrats called for a multi-agency inspector general investigation into the Trump administration’s failure to implement mandated sanctions against Russia. In a letter addressed to the inspectors general of the State Department, Treasury Department and Intelligence Community, Democratic lawmakers said the administration has not complied with the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act. (Daily Beast)
Cambridge Analytica and SCL Group filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Emerdata, a company that was registered in August with Jennifer and Rebekah Mercer on the board, is footing the legal bills for the two companies. (BuzzFeed News / CNN)
Trump tapped Robert Wilkie as next Veterans Affairs secretary after conduct issues sank Ronny Jackson’s nomination. Wilkie has been leading the VA in an acting capacity since March. (Politico)
The White House is considering shrinking its communications team in part to reduce the number of leaks. While most staffers are not expected to be fired outright, there’s a sense that a few staffers will pay a price for the leaked comment about John McCain’s brain cancer – even if there’s no evidence they were involved in the leak. (Politico / CNN)
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross tried to demonstrate how benign the effects of a 25% levy on steel imports and 10% tariff on aluminum would be by holding up a can of Campbell’s Soup. Today, Campbell said it expects profits to decline by 5% to 6% this year – worse than earlier projections of between 1% and 3%. (CNBC)
The House failed to pass the Republican-written farm bill. The measure died in a 198 to 213 vote that saw 30 House Republicans join 183 Democrats in voting against the legislation. The House Freedom Caucus wanted assurances that the House would vote on a tough immigration plan in exchange for their votes, which they didn’t receive. (CNBC / Washington Post)
1/ Trump marked Robert Mueller’s one-year anniversary as special counsel by offering “congratulations” to America on “the greatest Witch Hunt in American History.” Trump charged that the FBI had “SPIED” on his campaign with an “EMBEDDED INFORMANT,” which makes the Russia investigation “bigger than Watergate!” Trump claimed he’s had the “most successful first 17 month Administration in U.S. history,” overcome a “disgusting, illegal and unwarranted Witch Hunt,” and noted there is “still No Collusion and No Obstruction.” He added that “the only Collusion was that done by Democrats who were unable to win an Election despite the spending of far more money!” (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / NBC News)
Congratulations America, we are now into the second year of the greatest Witch Hunt in American History...and there is still No Collusion and No Obstruction. The only Collusion was that done by Democrats who were unable to win an Election despite the spending of far more money!
Despite the disgusting, illegal and unwarranted Witch Hunt, we have had the most successful first 17 month Administration in U.S. history - by far! Sorry to the Fake News Media and “Haters,” but that’s the way it is!
The Secret Origins of the Trump Investigation. Days after the F.B.I. closed its investigation into Hillary Clinton in 2016, agents began scrutinizing the presidential campaign of her Republican rival, Donald J. Trump. (New York Times)
Inside year one of the Mueller investigation. As the Mueller probe hits its one-year anniversary, the special counsel’s team has brought charges against 22 people and companies, notched five guilty pleas and seen one person sentenced. While a number of those charges were related to Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election, so far none of them has extended to potential collusion between the Russian government and Trump associates. (CNN)
Is Trump’s rhetoric about an informant in his campaign warranted? On the first anniversary of the appointment of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III to take over the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign and any overlap with Donald Trump’s campaign, now-President Trump used his preferred political superlatives to disparage that inquiry on Twitter. (Washington Post)
✨ Last Year Today: Rod Rosenstein appointed former FBI Director Bob Mueller to oversee the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. (WTF Just Happened Today)
2/ Mueller’s office filed under seal an unredacted memorandum that outlines the scope of his probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. The filing was made as part of Mueller’s criminal case against Paul Manafort, and was requested by the judge overseeing the case. (Reuters)
Manafort’s former son-in-law cut a plea deal with the Justice Department, requiring him cooperate with other criminal probes. Jeffrey Yohai, a former business partner of Manafort, divorced Manafort’s daughter last August. (Reuters)
Mueller’s team is examining a series of meetings that took place in the Seychelles, which have been characterized as an attempt by the U.S. to set up a backchannel with Russia. A Russian plane, owned by Andrei Skoch, a Russian billionaire and deputy in the Russian State Duma, the country’s legislative body, flew into the Seychelles a day prior to the 2017 meeting. (NJ.com)
3/ Trump referred to some undocumented immigrants as “animals,” saying “these aren’t people. These are animals.” Trump also suggested that the mayor of Oakland, California, should be charged with obstruction of justice for warning her constituents about ICE raids in February. “You talk about obstruction of justice,” said Trump. “I would recommend that you look into obstruction of justice for the mayor of Oakland.” (New York Times / Washington Post)
Kellyanne Conway: Trump is owed an apology from those who criticized him for calling undocumented immigrants “animals,” because he was referring to gang members. (The Hill)
Others who rushed to judgment to get the President rather than to get the story owe @POTUS - and the grieving loved ones who have lost family members to gang violence - an apology. https://t.co/vLU4SgKpux
4/ Michael Avenatti: Two more women claim they have agreements with either Trump or Michael Cohen to stay quiet about an affair with the president. Avenatti said he is in talks with the two women, but has not confirmed the allegations and is working to substantiate their claims. (The Hill)
A New York appeals court rejected Trump’s request to stay proceedings in a defamation suit filed by a former contestant on “The Apprentice” who claimed he sexually harassed her. (Washington Post)
5/ The unnamed law enforcement official who leaked confidential financial records about Michael Cohen and his shell company last week did so because the official was worried that information was being withheld from law enforcement. Two suspicious activity reports filed by Cohen’s bank were missing from the database managed by the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. “I have never seen something pulled off the system,” the official said. “That system is a safeguard for the bank. It’s a stockpile of information. When something’s not there that should be, I immediately became concerned.” The official continued: “That’s why I came forward.” (New Yorker)
6/ Michael Cohen solicited a payment of at least $1 million from the Qatari government in late 2016. Cohen offered to provide access and advice about the then-incoming Trump administration in exchange. Qatar declined the offer, which came following a Dec. 12, 2016, meeting at Trump Tower between Qatar’s foreign minister and Michael Flynn. Cohen didn’t attend the meeting, but did speak separately to Ahmed al-Rumaihi, who was head of the Qatari sovereign wealth fund at the time. (Washington Post / Reuters)
Jared Kushner’s family company is close to a deal with the Qatar government to bailout the family’s financially troubled tower in New York City. The building generates about half its annual mortgage payment, and 30% of the 41-story tower is vacant. (New York Times)
7/ The Cambridge Analytica whistleblower testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee that the data company offered services intended to discourage voting and suppress voter turnout. Christopher Wylie didn’t provide specifics about the services offered by Cambridge Analytica, but he did allege that African-American communities were particular targets of the company’s “voter disengagement tactics.” He also said that political action committees requested such voter suppression services from Cambridge Analytica. (CNN)
Paul Ryan postponed a congressional briefing on election security. Democrats pressed GOP leadership to make the briefing classified so that officials could go into sufficient detail about the scope of the threat and the Trump administration’s efforts to protect digital election systems from hackers. (The Hill)
poll/ 13% of Americans consider Trump honest and trustworthy – down 3 points since February 2017. (The Hill)
Notables.
The Senate confirmed Gina Haspel as the next CIA director, approving her nomination in a 54 to 45 vote despite bipartisan concerns about her role in the agency’s detention and interrogation programs. (Washington Post / New York Times)
North Korea called the South Korean government “ignorant and incompetent” and threatened to break off peace talks with the South if they don’t halt U.S.-South Korean air combat drills. (Reuters)
Scott Pruitt hired a white-collar defense lawyer to help him navigate a dozen federal investigations into his activity and behavior as EPA administrator. (Politico)
Trump blamed Democrats for immigration laws that force federal immigration agents to break up families, saying “we have to break up families. The Democrats gave us that law. It’s a horrible thing, we have to break up families. That Democrats gave us that law and they don’t want to do anything about it.” (CNN)
The White House canceled its daily communications morning meeting in response to the leak of a joke about John McCain being close to death. (New York Times)
A Republican lawmaker suggested that rocks falling in the ocean are causing sea levels to rise. Representative Mo Brooks from Alabama: “Every time you have that soil or rock or whatever it is that is deposited into the seas, that forces the sea levels to rise, because now you have less space in those oceans, because the bottom is moving up.” (Science)
1/ Trump “fully reimbursed” Michael Cohen between $100,001 and $250,000 in 2017 for an unspecified payment to a third party in 2016, according to Trump’s financial disclosure report. The disclosure corroborates Rudy Giuliani’s claim that Trump personally reimbursed Cohen between $460,000 or $470,000 for “incidental expenses” that he had incurred on Trump’s behalf. Trump reported assets of at least $1.4 billion and income of at least $593.3 million for the 2016 calendar year and the early months of 2017. Trump owes at least $310 million to various financial institutions, including $130 million to Deutsche Bank. (CNBC / New York Times)
2/ The Senate Intelligence Committee endorsed the U.S. intelligence community’s assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election in order to help Trump and hurt Hillary Clinton. The Senate committee’s bipartisan conclusion contradicts Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee, who dispute the intelligence community’s findings that Putin was trying to help Trump. “We see no reason to dispute the conclusions,” the Senate committee’s chairman, Richard Burr, said. “There is no doubt that Russia undertook an unprecedented effort to interfere with our 2016 elections.” (Washington Post / Politico / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
3/ Senate Judiciary Democrats say the evidence is clear that the Trump campaign “was willing to accept Russia’s assistance.” The committee’s preliminary findings on the Trump Tower meeting also suggest they found “evidence of multiple contacts” between the Trump campaign and Russia, including “offers of assistance and purported overtures from Vladimir Putin.” The committee also found that Trump Jr. and the White House misled the public about the June 9, 2016, meeting with Russians at Trump Tower, and that Trump Jr., Paul Manafort, and Jared Kushner were frustrated “that more damaging information was not produced” at the meeting. (Feinstein / Senate.gov)
Senate Judiciary Democrats: "In its investigation so far, the Committee has found evidence of multiple contacts between the Trump campaign and Russian government officials or their intermediaries, including offers of assistance and purported overtures from Vladimir Putin." pic.twitter.com/fXPsBjzypl
Senate Judiciary Dem statement on transcripts released today: “[T]he Committee has found evidence of multiple contacts between the Trump campaign and Russian government officials or their intermediaries, including offers of assistance and purported overtures from Vladimir Putin" pic.twitter.com/G1Q11AsZSi
The Senate Judiciary Committee released more than 2,500 pages of testimony related to their investigation into the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, Paul Manafort and the Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, a self-described Kremlin informant. Trump Jr. was promised damaging information about Hillary Clinton, but testimony largely confirms that Veselnitskaya did not provide dirt that could be used in the campaign. (New York Times / Washington Post)
Trump Jr. testified that his father signed a letter of intent to build a Trump Tower in Moscow in 2015. (Senate Judiciary Committee)
7 things we learned from the Trump Tower meeting testimony. (Washington Post)
4/ Trump Jr. told the Senate Judiciary Committee he never mentioned the Trump Tower meeting to his father or the offer of compromising information about Hillary Clinton. He also said he couldn’t “recall” if he discussed the Russia investigation with his father. Trump Jr. told the committee he didn’t think there was anything wrong with meeting a Russian lawyer at Trump Tower ahead of the 2016 presidential election, saying “I didn’t think that listening to someone with information relevant to the fitness and character of a presidential candidate would be an issue, no.” (Associated Press)
5/ Former secretary of state Rex Tillerson warned of a “growing crisis in ethics and integrity” among U.S. leaders during a commencement address at the Virginia Military Institute. Tillerson did not mention Trump by name, but insisted that “a common set of facts” are essential to maintaining a free society. (Politico)
6/ Robert Mueller issued two subpoenas to Roger Stone’s social media consultant. Mueller has been probing whether anyone associated with the Trump campaign may have helped WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange or the Russians with the release of the hacked DNC emails. In particular, Mueller wants to know if Stone had advance knowledge of the hacked emails. Mueller has also been requesting interviews with former employees and friends of Stone in recent weeks, asking them about Stone’s ties to Russia and Assange. (Reuters / Bloomberg)
7/ Mueller’s team told Trump’s attorneys they can’t indict a president, according to Rudy Giuliani. “All they get to do is write a report,” Giuliani said. “They can’t indict. At least they acknowledged that to us after some battling, they acknowledged that to us.” Mueller’s conclusion is likely based on Justice Department guidelines and is not an assessment of the evidence the special counsel has compiled. (CNN)
8/ The White House brushed aside North Korea’s threat to cancel the summit meeting between Trump and Kim Jong Un, saying that “this is something that we fully expected,” and Trump remains “hopeful” that the June 12 meeting will happen. “We’ll see what happens,” Trump told reporters, adding that he will insist on North Korean “denuclearization” as a condition of talks. North Korea said Kim could withdraw from the meeting over Trump’s demand that it unilaterally abandon its nuclear arsenal. (New York Times / USA Today)
poll/ 50% of voters have either “a lot” or “some” confidence in Trump’s ability to handle North Korea. 32% of voters think Trump should meet with Kim Jong Un only if North Korea makes concessions on its nuclear weapons program beforehand, while 47% say Trump should meet with Kim regardless. (Politico)
✏️ Notables.
The top lawyer for the Swiss drugmaker Novartis resigned in connection with the $1.2 million deal he co-signed with Michael Cohen, calling the deal a mistake. “Although the contract was legally in order,” Felix Ehrat said, “it was an error.” He continued: “As a co-signatory with our former CEO, I take personal responsibility to bring the public debate on this matter to an end.” (Reuters)
The FBI and Justice Department are investigating Cambridge Analytica and are looking to question former employees and banks that did business with the data firm. Few details about the investigation are available as investigators work to get an overview of the company and its business dealings. (New York Times)
Trump demanded that Congress make progress on the southern border wall and crack down on sanctuary cities during an event outside the Capitol honoring police officers. He also called for an end to so-called “catch and release” immigration laws. Trump reiterated his calls for the border wall during a private lunch with Senate Republicans. (The Hill)
Democrats flipped another seat in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, bringing the total number of state legislative flips to 41 since Trump’s inauguration. (Daily Beast)
The Senate has voted to save net neutrality by rolling back the FCC’s Restoring Internet Freedom Order. The House, however, does not intend to take similar action. (NPR / The Verge)
Scott Pruitt said that one of his top aides helped him search for housing last year, but said she had done so “on personal time” and he did not pay her for the help. Democratic senators say the help constitutes a gift, which would be a violation of federal law. (Washington Post)
1/ Gina Haspel said that “with the benefit of hindsight” torture was a bad idea and “not one the CIA should have undertaken,” in a letter to Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee. The committee will vote on her nomination on Wednesday. She appeared to have secured enough votes to be confirmed as the next CIA director after Warner signaled his support for Haspel. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN)
2/ The Trump administration eliminated the White House’s top cybersecurity policy role. In an email to National Security Council staff, John Bolton, Trump’s new national security adviser, said the decision is part of an effort to “streamline authority” for the senior directors who lead most NSC teams. (Politico)
3/ A federal judge rejected Paul Manafort’s request to dismiss criminal charges brought by Robert Mueller. Manafort claimed that Mueller’s charges of money laundering and failing to register as a foreign agent for a Ukrainian political party had exceeded his prosecutorial powers. Manafort has also filed a motion to dismiss another criminal case involving tax and bank-fraud charges. (Reuters / Politico)
4/ Michael Cohen claimed in a January 2017 interview that the Trump Organization had no recent relationship or business dealings with Russia. Cohen, however, sent emails during Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign seeking the assistance of the Kremlin in an effort to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. Trump launched his presidential campaign on June 16, 2015. The Moscow project was dropped in January 2016. (CNN)
5/ Obama’s ethics chief accused Trump of violating the emoluments clause for a Trump-branded golf course and hotel in Indonesia partially funded by the Chinese government. Norm Eisen tweeted: “See you in court Mr. Trump.” Adam Schiff also said he believes Trump is in “violation of the emoluments clause” after he said he wants to help Chinese telecommunications company ZTE get “back into business.” Earlier this year the U.S. Commerce Department prohibited U.S. companies from selling to ZTE because the firm violated American sanctions on Iran. (The Hill / New York Times / South China Morning Post)
Rep. Adam Schiff on President Trump's attempt at a deal with Chinese company ZTE: "I certainly view this as a violation of the Emoluments Clause, yes" https://t.co/AvakVRNzYdpic.twitter.com/eMAfNLjzFv
— CNN This Morning with Kasie Hunt (@CNNThisMorning) May 15, 2018
6/ A Qatari investor confirmed that he attended meetings at Trump Tower in December 2016 with Trump transition officials. Ahmed Al-Rumaihi’s statement comes after Michael Avenatti tweeted: “Why was Ahmed Al-Rumaihi meeting with Michael Cohen and Michael Flynn in December 2016 and why did Mr. Al-Rumaihi later brag about bribing administration officials according to a sworn declaration filed in court?” Al-Rumaihi said he attended multiple meetings on December 12th, including one with Michael Cohen, but “did not participate in any meetings with Michael Flynn.” (CNN)
7/ North Korea threatened to cancel the summit between Trump and Kim Jong Un, citing joint U.S.-South Korean military drills as a “provocation” and a preparation for an invasion. North Korea also cancelled scheduled talks with South Korea today. (Axios / CNBC / New York Times / Yonhap)
8/ The Trump administration is preparing to shelter migrant children on military bases as part of its effort to split up families who cross the border illegally. The Department of Health and Human Services plans to visit four military installations in Texas and Arkansas in the next two weeks to evaluate their suitability for child shelters. (Washington Post)
poll/ 52% of Americans disapprove of Trump’s job performance, which Trump called his “best poll numbers in a year.” 44% approve of his job performance, which is his highest point in 14 months. Trump added: “The People truly get it!” (The Hill / Fox News)
Can you believe that with all of the made up, unsourced stories I get from the Fake News Media, together with the $10,000,000 Russian Witch Hunt (there is no Collusion), I now have my best Poll Numbers in a year. Much of the Media may be corrupt, but the People truly get it!
Michael Avenatti threatened to sue the Daily Caller for libel after the site published an article that claimed “Avenatti’s past is littered with lawsuits, jilted business partners and bankruptcy filings.” Avenatti fired back: “Just like there is nothing wrong with calling out unethical attorneys, there is nothing wrong with calling out unethical journalists.” (Washington Post)
The White House blamed Hamas propaganda for the death of more than 50 Palestinians near the Gaza border. “Hamas is intentionally and cynically provoking this response” of Palestinians protesting the opening of the new American embassy in Jerusalem, White House spokesperson Raj Shah said, adding that the clashes were “a gruesome and unfortunate propaganda attempt” by the Hamas leadership. (HuffPost)
The U.S. blocked a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for an investigation into the 58 Palestinians killed by Israeli troops during protests along the Gaza border. (Axios / The Hill)
A Ukrainian politician involved in the controversial plan to resolve Ukraine’s conflict with Russian-backed rebels has been called to testify before a grand jury as part of the special counsel’s investigation. Andrii Artemenko did not give any details about his upcoming grand jury appearance, but he said he assumes he will be asked about his communications with Michael Cohen from early 2017. Artemenko said he plans to cooperate with the subpoena and appear in person. (Politico)
California and 18 other states filed papers to block the Trump administration from changing the requirements for Title X, which provides family planning services for more than four million uninsured and under-insured people. The Trump administration action threatens funding for birth control, sexually transmitted disease testing, breast and cervical cancer screenings, and infertility treatment. (Los Angeles Times)
Seven Republican governors signed onto a letter in support of Trump’s nomination to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his “unprecedented victory for global peace and security” in negotiations with North Korea. (The Hill)
1/ Trump and Sean Hannity often speak by phone several times a day, and the two speak most weeknights after Hannity’s show on Fox News is over. Current and former White House officials say the conversations help Trump “decompress” at the end of the day since “he doesn’t live with his wife.” One former White House official called the talks with Hannity “a fucked-up feedback loop” that puts Trump “in a weird headspace.” Hannity is one of a few dozen callers who have been cleared to use Trump’s official White House phone line. (New York Magazine)
2/ The White House declined to apologize for Kelly Sadler’s “joke” that John McCain’s opinion “doesn’t matter, because he’s dying anyway.” Instead, Sarah Huckabee Sanders said it was “selfish” for her staff to use the “inappropriate” comment as justification for leaking it to the press. “I am sure this conversation is going to leak, too. And that’s just disgusting.” (ABC News / New York Times / Axios)
3/ A Trump administration official proposed collecting and analyzing the communications of White House staff in order to identify leakers last year. Ezra Cohen-Watnick wanted to implement the “insider threat” detection program in order to find leakers or those disloyal to Trump. Cohen-Watnick worked as the senior director for intelligence on the National Security Council at the time. One current White House official said, “To cover my tracks [when leaking], I usually pay attention to other staffers’ idioms and use that in my background quotes. That throws the scent off me.” (Daily Beast / Axios)
4/ A former senior Trump campaign and transition aide is helping a Russian oligarch’s company shed US sanctions. Bryan Lanza is lobbying on behalf of the chairman of EN+ Group, an energy and aluminum firm controlled by Oleg Deripaska, who was the target of US sanctions imposed last month. The company wants to reduce Deripaska’s ownership in the company enough to be freed from US sanctions. (CNN)
5/ A Russian company indicted by Robert Mueller accused the special counsel of inventing a “make-believe crime” in order “to justify his own existence.” Concord Management is challenging the legal basis of Mueller’s charge that the company funded Moscow’s effort to disrupt the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Concord is one of three Russian businesses and 13 Russian individuals indicted in February for funding for a Russian troll farm that directed a social media campaign aimed at sowing discord among Americans and at favoring Trump over Hillary Clinton. Concord is owned by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a wealthy businessman who is known as Putin’s chef. (New York Times / Politico)
6/ Trump’s first campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, is going to work for Mike Pence’s political action committee. Trump asked Lewandowski to join Pence’s Great America Committee PAC, which is aimed at helping the Trump re-election effort as well as enhancing Pence’s profile with both Republicans and Trump’s base. Some Republicans, however, see Pence’s moves as an attempt to take control over the party and separate Trump from his base. (NBC News / New York Times)
7/ Betsy DeVos scaled back the Education Department team responsible for investigating for-profit colleges accused of widespread fraud. The rollback “effectively killed investigations” into for-profit colleges where DeVos’ top hires previously worked. (New York Times)
✏️ Notables.
At least 43 Palestinians were killed in Gaza as protests broke out over the US relocating its Embassy to Jerusalem – making it the deadliest day there since the 2014 Gaza war. (CNN / New York Times)
Trump is required to disclose all liabilities that exceeded $10,000 at any time during calendar year 2017, even if he repaid them later that year, under the Ethics in Government Act. This includes his debt to Michael Cohen for the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels and any others he may have left out on the financial disclosure report he filed on June 14, 2017. (USA Today)
Scott Pruitt and the White House blocked the publication of a federal health study on a nationwide water-contamination crisis, because it would cause a “public relations nightmare.” The draft study remains unpublished three months later, and the Department of Health and Human Services says it has no scheduled date to release for public comment the study on a class of toxic chemicals that have contaminated water supplies. (Politico)
Melania Trump underwent kidney surgery for a “benign kidney condition” and is reportedly recovering without trouble at a military hospital outside the capital. (New York Times)
In December 2016, members of the Trump transition team met with a Qatari diplomat who was recently accused in a lawsuit of attempting to bribe Trump officials. Michael Avenatti shared photos of Michael Cohen and Michael Flynn meeting with a person who appears to be Ahmed Al-Rumaihi, the man in charge of a division of Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund. The meeting was previously unreported. Rapper and actor Ice Cube, along with his business partner Jeff Kwatinetz, recently filed a $1.2 billion lawsuit alleging that Al-Rumaihi and other Qatari officials tried to buy access to people connected to Trump. (Mother Jones)
Top Republican donors have withheld their support for Senate and House Republicans over frustration with the new tax law. While the corporate tax rate was slashed from 35% to 21%, hedge funds are largely taxed at the top individual rate, which dropped from 39.6% to 37%. (CNN)
National security adviser John Bolton doubled down on Trump’s threat that European countries could be sanctioned by the US if they continue to be involved with Iran. (Politico)
Trump instructed the Commerce Department to help ZTE – the world’s fourth-largest maker of cellphones – get “back into business” after the Chinese company was penalized for violating U.S. sanctions against North Korea and Iran. Trump said he was working with President Xi to end a ban on export privileges, because “too many jobs in China lost.” (NPR)
1/ In 2014, the FBI warned that Viktor Vekselberg might be acting on behalf of Russia’s intelligence services, saying a foundation he controlled “may be a means for the Russian government to access our nation’s sensitive or classified research, development facilities and dual-use technologies with military and commercial applications.” Earlier this week Michael Avenatti released a dossier that claims Columbus Nova, a Vekselberg company, made more than eight payments to Essential Consultants, totaling more than $1 million in payments between 2016 and 2017. Essential Consultants is owned by Michael Cohen, who is Trump’s personal lawyer. Avenatti suggested that the Columbus Nova funds could have been used to reimburse Cohen for the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels in exchange for her silence about her alleged affair with Trump. (NPR)
🚨 That Michael Cohen x Russia x Stormy Daniels thing: What we know so far. (WTF Just Happened Today)
2/ AT&T paid Michael Cohen $600,000 to provide advice about the company’s proposed merger with Time Warner, which required the approval from antitrust regulators. Trump had voiced opposition to the $85 billion merger on the campaign trail, and his administration ultimately opposed the deal. In a memo to employees, AT&T’s CEO said they made a “big mistake” hiring Cohen for advice on working with the Trump administration. (Washington Post / Reuters)
3/ A non-partisan Washington ethics group wants Congress and the Justice Department to investigate whether Michael Cohen should have registered as a lobbyist and disclosed his work with foreign clients. (ABC News)
4/ Robert Mueller’s team is investigating several Trump inauguration donors, including Andrew Intrater and Leonard Blavatnik, a dual U.S. and British citizen with business ties to Russia. Intrater is the CEO of Columbus Nova, a U.S.-based affiliate of the the Renova Group, which is controlled by Viktor Vekselberg. In particular, Intrater made a $250,000 donation to the Trump inauguration committee in early January 2017, and later made two more donations: a $35,000 to the Trump Victory fundraising committee and $29,600 to the Republican National Committee. Blavatnik gave $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund through his company, Access Industries. Mueller’s team also questioned Thomas Barrack, a longtime Trump friend and confidant who oversaw the $107 million inaugural fundraising effort. (ABC News)
5/ Congress is considering a “Plan B” to protect Mueller’s work if Trump fires the special counsel or Rod Rosenstein, who oversees the probe. The discussions “involve assuring the evidence is preserved and reports are done if the special counsel is fired or other political interference is undertaken by the president,” Senator Richard Blumenthal said. Mitch McConnell refused to bring a Senate Judiciary Committee bill up for a floor vote last month, and House Republicans have refused to consider any legislation to protect the Mueller probe. (NBC News)
6/ Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen drafted a resignation letter and nearly quit after Trump berated her for more than 30 minutes in front of his entire Cabinet. Trump singled Nielsen out for what he called her failure to secure the nation’s borders after illegal crossings along the Mexico border topped 50,000 for the second consecutive month. Sarah Huckabee Sanders described Trump’s tirade as his commitment “to fixing our broken immigration system and our porous borders.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico)
7/ A White House official mocked John McCain’s brain cancer diagnosis, saying his opposition to Trump’s nominee for CIA director “doesn’t matter, he’s dying anyway.” The White House didn’t deny special assistant Kelly Sadler’s comment about McCain’s opposition to Gina Haspel. Meghan McCain called on the Trump administration to fire Sadler, saying “I don’t understand what kind of environment you’re working in when that would be acceptable and then you can come to work the next day and still have a job.” (The Hill / CNN)
poll/ 44.7% of independent voters in Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin believe Robert Mueller is more honest and trustworthy than Trump – up 4 points since February. Overall, 37.8% of voters in the four swing states say Trump is more honest and trustworthy, while 37.3% say Mueller is. (Axios / Firehouse Strategies)
Notables.
John Kelly claims he’s never seriously considered leaving his job as Trump’s chief of staff. Kelly suggested that he is in lock-step with Trump and has a close relationship. “In retrospect, I wish I had been here from day one,” Kelly said. “I think in some cases in terms of staffing or serving the president that first six months was pretty chaotic and there were people some people hired that maybe shouldn’t have.” (NPR)
Kelly said undocumented immigrants coming to the U.S. “don’t integrate well [because] they don’t have skills” to assimilate into “our modern society.” Kelly previously criticized undocumented immigrants as being “too afraid” or “too lazy” to sign up for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. (CNN)
Trump’s new national security adviser disbanded the global health security team a day after the World Health Organization declared a new Ebola outbreak in the Congo. John Bolton’s restructuring of the team, intended to “streamline” the National Security Council and “combine a handful of offices with similar mission sets,” caused Tim Ziemer, head of global health security and biodefense, to resign. Ziemer was responsible for leading the U.S. response to global pandemic diseases. Nobody is taking over his role. (Washington Post / The Atlantic / HuffPost)
1/ Mike Pence: It’s time for Robert Mueller to “wrap it up” because it’s “been about a year since this investigation began.” He added that the Trump administration has “fully cooperated” with the probe, which Trump has frequently referred to as a “witch hunt.” (Washington Post / Associated Press / CNN)
2/ Rudy Giuliani: Trump “wasn’t aware” that Michael Cohen pitched his access to the President to potential clients following the 2016 election in order to land consulting deals. “I talked to the President only one time about this and that was the first day it came out and he wasn’t aware of that situation,” Giuliani said. AT&T and Novartis were among the companies that hired Cohen’s consulting firm, Essential Consultants, for “insights” about how the Trump administration would approach certain policy matters. (CNN)
3/ The Russia-linked company that hired Michael Cohen registered a number of alt-right websites during the 2016 elections. Columbus Nova is listed as the registrant behind a handful of website domains named after the alt-right movement, including Alt-right.co, Alternate-right.com, Alternate-rt.com, Alt-rite.com, and others. The brother of Andrew Intrater, Columbus Nova’s U.S. CEO, is named in the registration databases for the websites. Columbus Nova said Frederick Intrater was not acting on behalf of the company, even though he had used his work email address and listed the organization. Columbus Nova gave $500,000 to Cohen in the first half of 2017. (Washington Post)
🚨 That Michael Cohen x Russia x Stormy Daniels thing: What we know so far. (WTF Just Happened Today)
4/ Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee released 3,500 Facebook ads purchased by a Russian troll farm from mid-2015 to mid-2017. The ads, from the Kremlin-linked Internet Research Agency, reached at least 146 million people on Facebook and Instagram, spreading inflammatory and divisive messages on immigration, race, gun control, Islam, LGBT-centric topics, and more, in an attempt to polarize Americans. Facebook’s targeting tools allowed the Russian agents to deliver their disinformation to groups of users according to their location, age, gender, and interests. (NBC News / USA Today / Washington Post)
“They sought to harness Americans’ very real frustrations and anger over sensitive political matters in order to influence American thinking, voting and behavior,” Rep. Adam B. Schiff said in a statement. “The only way we can begin to inoculate ourselves against a future attack is to see first-hand the types of messages, themes and imagery the Russians used to divide us.”
How to see if you “liked” a Facebook page that was operated by Russian trolls: Go to this Facebook page. Facebook will list the page and the date that you either liked or followed it.
5/ National security adviser John Bolton wants to eliminate the top White House cybersecurity job. Bolton and his team are leading an effort to abolish the role of special assistant to the president and cybersecurity coordinator. The coordinator leads a team of National Security Council staffers who deal with federal cyber strategy on everything from encryption policies to election security to digital warfare. (Politico)
6/ John McCain gave the Steele dossier to then-FBI director James Comey. “I agreed to receive a copy of what is now referred to as ‘the dossier,’” McCain writes in his new book. “I reviewed its contents. The allegations were disturbing, but I had no idea which if any were true. I could not independently verify any of it, and so I did what any American who cares about our nation’s security should have done.” McCain concludes: “I did what duty demanded I do.” (Daily Beast)
7/ Trump’s pick to lead the CIA, Gina Haspel, claimed during her Senate confirmation hearing that the CIA “never did” interrogations “historically.” The claim is demonstrably false, but CIA spokesman Dean Boyd came to Haspel’s defense, saying Haspel meant that the CIA “did not have … a detention and interrogation program” before 9/11. Senators were visibly frustrated with Haspel’s refusal to answer questions about whether she believes torture is immoral. McCain called on the Senate to reject Haspel’s nomination, citing her refusal to acknowledge “torture’s immorality.” (Newsweek / CNN)
Dick Cheney called on the CIA to restart its controversial “enhanced” interrogation program used during the George W. Bush administration. The Senate outlawed the use of torture and other brutal interrogation techniques like waterboarding and “rectal feeding” in 2015. (The Hill)
A Fox News military commentator argued that torture is good because “it worked on John [McCain]. That’s why they call him ‘Songbird John.’” There is no evidence McCain gave up accurate information while being tortured in North Vietnam. (Daily Beast)
8/ Trump will meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on June 12 in Singapore. The summit will be the first face-to-face meeting between a sitting American president and the North Korean leader. (New York Times / CNN)
The president praised Mr. Kim and said he was “nice in letting [the U.S. hostages] go before the meeting.” Last year Mr. Trump and Mr. Kim threatened nuclear war against each other’s countries.
The Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer of New York, said he could not understand the praise Mr. Kim was receiving from Mr. Trump and others for releasing the three prisoners. (New York Times)
The highly anticipated meeting between Kim Jong Un and myself will take place in Singapore on June 12th. We will both try to make it a very special moment for World Peace!
Trump welcomed three Americans who had been held prisoner in North Korea back home and thanked North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for their release. Kim Hak-song, Kim Dong-chul and Kim Sang-duk were granted amnesty by Kim after being accused of crimes against the regime. (Reuters / NBC News)
poll/ 77% of Americans approve of Trump’s decision to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Overall, 53% approve of Trump’s handling of North Korea, and 35% disapprove. (CNN)
poll/ 61% of Republicans believe the FBI and Justice Department are trying to frame Trump. 7% of Democrats believe Trump is facing a biased FBI. (The Hill)
Notables.
Five senior Islamic State officials were captured in a three-month, cross-border operation carried out by Iraqi and American intelligence. (New York Times)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Europe can no longer count on the U.S. for military protection and must “take its destiny into its own hands” following the U.S. withdrawal from the Iran nuclear accord. (Bloomberg)
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley encouraged Supreme Court justices to immediately step down if they’re considering retirement so Republicans can push through a nominee before the midterm elections. “If you’re thinking about quitting this year,” Grassley said, “do it yesterday.” (Politico)
Rudy Giuliani resigned from his law firm in order to concentrate on his legal work for Trump. In a statement, Giuliani said “a permanent resignation” would be in the best interest of the country due to “the pressing demands of the Mueller investigation.” (CNN)
Giuliani’s law firm disputes that Michael Cohen’s $130,000 hush money payment to Stormy Daniels was just business as usual. A spokeswoman for Greenberg Traurig said: “Speaking for ourselves, we would not condone payments of the nature alleged to have been made or otherwise without the knowledge and direction of a client.” (New York Times / Washington Post)
1/ A report from the Senate Intelligence Committee concludes that Russia conducted an “unprecedented, coordinated cyber campaign” in order to undermine confidence in U.S. voting systems starting as early as 2014 and continuing through Election Day 2016. Senators report that the Russians targeted at least 18 states looking for vulnerabilities, and in six states they tried to gain access to voting websites. In “a small number of states” they actually breached election computer defenses. The committee said it found no evidence that vote tallies or voter registration information were changed, but that Russian hackers were “in a position to, at a minimum, alter or delete voter registration data.” (New York Times / The Hill)
[PDF] Russian Targeting of Election Infrastructure During the 2016 Election: Summary of Initial Findings and Recommendations. (Senator Burr)
2/ Top White House officials withheld information sought by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, siding with senior FBI and national intelligence officials that the information could endanger a top-secret intelligence source. The Justice Department, however, invited Devin Nunes and Trey Gowdy for a classified briefing about their document request related to the Russia investigation after Nunes publicly suggested that he may try to hold Jeff Sessions in contempt for refusing to comply. Some administration officials worry that Trump will change his mind and support Nunes’ argument that “Congress has a right and a duty to get this information.” (Washington Post / CNN)
3/ One of the women who accused Trump of sexual assault won her uncontested primary bid for a seat in the Ohio state House of Representatives. Rachel Crooks accused Trump of kissing her without her consent in 2005 and went public with her claims in 2016. She is now the Democratic nominee for a seat in the Ohio state legislature. (CNN) / Washington Post)
Don Blankenship lost in the West Virginia Republican U.S. Senate primary on Tuesday following the coordinated effort by Mitch McConnell and Republican leaders to sink his bid. Blankenship called himself “Trumpier Than Trump.” (New York Times)
4/ Trump mused about taking away press credentials from media outlets over “negative” coverage of him. “Why do we work so hard in working with the media when it is corrupt?” Trump tweeted. “Take away credentials?” Trump was apparently responding to a segment on Fox and Friends, which cited a study from the Media Research Center – a right-wing media watchdog. The study says 91% of network news stories about him are negative. (The Independent / The Hill / Politico / Washington Post)
The Fake News is working overtime. Just reported that, despite the tremendous success we are having with the economy & all things else, 91% of the Network News about me is negative (Fake). Why do we work so hard in working with the media when it is corrupt? Take away credentials?
5/ Robert Mueller’s team interviewed Blackwater founder Erik Prince, who attended a meeting with the head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund in the Seychelles Islands on Jan. 11, 2017. The meeting is understood to have been an effort to establish a back channel between the incoming Trump administration and the Kremlin. (Daily Beast)
poll/ 47% of registered voters say they would support the Democratic candidate in their district on a generic congressional ballot, compared to 44% who would back the Republican. 31% say the country would be better off with Democrats in control of Congress while 30% say the country would be better of with the GOP in charge. (CNN)
Notables.
Senate Democrats filed a petition to force a net neutrality vote by June 12th. All 49 Senate Democrats and one Republican have pledged to support the pro-net neutrality bill. The prolonged absence of John McCain gives proponents a 50-49 vote edge in the Senate. However, the measure is unlikely to pass the Republican-controlled House or survive a veto by Trump. (Ars Technica / Reuters / The Verge)
Trump’s nominee to the lead the CIA defended the agency’s use of torture of terrorism suspects, but said she “would not restart, under any circumstances, an interrogation program at CIA.” During her confirmation hearing, Gina Haspel refused to definitively tell the Senate Intelligence Committee whether she believed it was wrong to waterboard terror suspects. (New York Times / Washington Post)
North Korea handed over three American prisoners to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and they are now on the way home from Pyongyang. Trump plans to greet the three men when they arrive at Andrews Air Force Base. North Korean state media said the men were detained for either subversion or committing “hostile acts” against the government. (CNBC / Reuters)
The White House requested $7 billion in funding cuts to the Children’s Health Insurance Program as part of a $15 billion rescissions package sent to Congress. (CNN)
A group of Republicans are trying to force a vote to save the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in defiance of Paul Ryan. House GOP moderates filed a discharge petition that would trigger a series of votes on four immigration bills if 218 members sign on. They need every Democrat to support the petition and 20 Republicans to break ranks to trigger the votes. (Politico / CNN)
Trump: “Everyone thinks” I deserve the Nobel Prize for improving relations with North Korea. Trump was asked by a reporter whether he deserved the honor, to which he replied: “Everyone thinks so, but I would never say it.” (CNN)
Dept. of that Michael Cohen x Russia x Stormy Daniels thing.
Let’s try to untangle the latest news surrounding Michael Cohen, Russian oligarchs, and Stormy Daniels…
Michael Avenatti released an “executive summary” yesterday of material he says connects Trump’s payment to Stormy Daniels to a Russian oligarch. Avenatti represents Daniels in her lawsuit against Trump and Michael Cohen. (NPR)
The Avenatti dossier claims that a company connected to Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg made eight payments to Essential Consultants, one of Cohen’s shell companies, between January 2017 and August 2017. Avenatti suggested that the funds from Columbus Nova may have been used to reimburse Cohen for the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels in exchange for her silence about her alleged affair with Trump. (Daily Beast)
Essential Consultants received more than $1 million from Vekselberg’s Columbus Nova. Cohen’s company, Essential Consultants, was incorporated on October 17, 2016 – 10 days after the Access Hollywood tape went public and a weeks before the election – and is the same shell company used to pay Stormy Daniels on October 27th. More than $4.4 million flowed through Essential Consultants beginning just before the 2016 election and continued until January 2018. (New York Times)
Robert Mueller’s investigators questioned Vekselberg about a $500,000 payment from Columbus Nova to Essential Consultants that was made shortly after the 2016 election. Vekselberg was placed on a list of sanctioned Russians for election interference and other activities last month by the Trump administration. The purpose of the payments and the nature of the business relationship between Vekselberg and Cohen is still unclear. (CNN)
AT&T paid Essential Consultants $200,000 in four separate installments for “insights” on the Trump administration between October 2017 and January 2018. Net neutrality was repealed in December 2017. Two of those payments came before the Justice Department filed a November 20th antitrust lawsuit to block AT&T’s $85 billion deal for Time Warner. Two payments came after that. (CNBC / Politico / The Atlantic)
Drug giant Novartis paid Essential Consultants $1.2 million for health care policy consulting work that Cohen was “unable” to do. Novartis signed a one-year contract with Cohen’s shell company for $100,000 per month in February 2017 – days after Trump’s inauguration – for advice on “how the Trump administration might approach certain U.S. health-care policy matters, including the Affordable Care Act.” But a month after signing the deal, Novartis executives “determined that Michael Cohen and Essentials Consultants would be unable to provide the services that Novartis had anticipated” following their first meeting with Cohen. “Cohen promised access to not just Trump, but also the circle around him,” a Novartis employee said. “It was almost as if we were hiring him as a lobbyist.” (CNBC / Bloomberg / STAT News)
Mueller’s investigators questioned Novartis last year about its relationship with Cohen and Essential Consultants. “Novartis cooperated fully with the Special Counsel’s office and provided all the information requested,” a Novartis spokeswoman said in a statement. (Politico)
Korean Aerospace Industries confirmed that it paid $150,000 to Essential Consultants. The company is in contention for a multibillion joint U.S. contract with Lockheed Martin for jet trainers. (Washington Post)
The Treasury Department’s inspector general is investigating whether Essential Consultants banking information was leaked. Banks are required to file a Suspicious Activity Report on any unusual transactions over $10,000, which experts say could be the source of the information that Avenatti released yesterday. Rich Delmar, counsel to the inspector general, said that the office is “inquiring into allegations” that Suspicious Activity Reports on Cohen’s banking transactions were “improperly disseminated.” (Washington Post)
1/ Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Iran nuclear deal, reinstating all sanctions it had waived and imposing additional economic penalties. Trump’s aides persuaded him twice last year not to withdraw. Trump called the accord “a horrible one-sided deal that should have never, ever been made,” adding that the 2015 pact was “a great embarrassment.” Following Trump’s announcement, Britain, France and Germany issued a joint statement expressing “regret and concern” while pledging their “continuing commitment” to the terms of the agreement. (New York Times / Washington Post)
2/ Trump is frustrated with Rudy Giuliani’s inability to handle the Stormy Daniels situation and is concerned that Giuliani’s media appearances are raising more questions than they are answering. Some aides say they expect Trump to fire Giuliani if he is unable to turn things around. Trump recently told a confidant that perhaps Giuliani should “be benched” from TV appearances temporarily if he can’t stay on message. Giuliani, however, said that Trump “is encouraging me to do more of them. I try to keep them under control,” adding that Trump is “very comfortable” with the strategy. (Politico / Associated Press / The Hill)
3/ Robert Mueller rejected Trump’s request to answer questions from investigators in writing. Trump’s legal team had been pushing for Mueller to allow him to submit written answers, because they’re afraid that Trump might lie to or mislead investigators during an in-person interview. Giuliani said he would fight a potential subpoena for Trump to testify in front of a grand jury, but has stopped short of saying that Trump would ignore a subpoena from the special counsel. (CBS News)
4/ Trump’s lawyers hope to decide by May 17 whether he will testify. May 17 is the one-year anniversary of the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller. Trump’s lawyers contend that testifying would be a distraction from his work as president. However, in an informal, four-hour practice session, Trump was only able to walk through two questions. “Anyone can see he has great difficulty staying on a subject,” one person familiar with the legal team’s deliberations said. (Wall Street Journal)
5/ The shell company Michael Cohen used to pay Stormy Daniels received more than $1 million in payments from an American company linked to a Russian oligarch and Fortune 500 companies with business before the Trump administration. At least $4.4 million flowed through the shell company Cohen used, Essential Consultants, starting shortly before Trump was elected president and continuing to this January. Essential Consultants received about $500,000 from Columbus Nova, an investment firm in New York whose biggest client is a company controlled by Viktor Vekselberg, the Russian oligarch. (New York Times)
AT&T confirmed it paid Cohen for “insights” about the Trump administration. According to Stormy Daniels’ lawyer, Michael Avenatti, AT&T made four payments to Cohen’s company totaling $200,000 in late 2017 and into early 2018. (CNBC)
6/ Mueller’s investigators questioned a Russian oligarch about $500,000 in payments made to Michael Cohen after the election. Michael Avenatti, the lawyer for Stormy Daniels, alleges that Cohen received about $500,000 from Viktor Vekselberg, a Russian oligarch close to Vladimir Putin who was placed on a list of sanctioned Russians related to election interference. According to a dossier published by Avenatti, “Vekselberg and his cousin Mr. Andrew Intrater routed eight payments to Mr. Cohen through a company named Columbus Nova LLC beginning in January 2017 and continuing until at least August 2017.” Vekselberg is also one of two Russian oligarchs the FBI stopped earlier this year after their private jets landed in New York-area airports. (CNN / Daily Beast / NBC News)
Michael Cohen put up his Manhattan apartment as collateral for millions of dollars in loans to his taxi business. Businesses owned by Cohen and his wife owe as much as $12.8 million as of March. (Bloomberg)
Alex van der Zwaan turned himself in after being sentenced for lying to investigators as part of Robert Mueller’s investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. van der Zwaan is the first person sentenced to prison as part of Mueller’s investigation and will serve a 30-day sentence. (Politico)
7/ Senior White House staff are urging Trump to fire EPA chief Scott Pruitt, who is currently the subject of 11 federal investigations. Some Republicans are also calling for Pruitt’s resignation. Trump has championed Pruitt up to this point, but support from the president appears to be waning as Pruitt’s legal and ethical issues continue to pile up. (New York Times)
Internal EPA documents show Pruitt held private, high-level meetings at the Trump International Hotel in Washington with industry lobbyists on at least four occasions. (NBC News)
poll/ 63% of Americans believe that the US should not withdraw from the Iran nuclear accord, compared to 29% who believe the US should withdraw. (CNN)
poll/ 60% of voters oppose the Interior Department’s plan to expand oil and gas drilling off coastal states. 70% of respondents supported states’ rights to request a drilling exemption through a waiver. (The Hill)
poll/ 53% of Americans think Robert Mueller’s investigation is politically motivated, while 44% think the Russia investigation is justified. 73% think Trump should cooperate and be interviewed by Mueller. (CBS News)
poll/ Trump’s job approval rating hits 40%. 85% of Republicans approve of the job Trump is doing, while 89% of Democrats and 55% of independents disapprove. (CBS News)
Notables.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman resigned after four women accused him of physically assaulting them. The women claim that he frequently hit them after drinking, often in bed and never with their consent. Two of the women say Schneiderman threatened to kill them if they broke up with him. Schneiderman resigned three hours after the allegations were made public. Schneiderman positioned himself as a public champion of women’s rights and an outspoken figure in the #MeToo movement. (The New Yorker / New York Times)
Fair-housing advocates sued HUD Secretary Ben Carson for suspending Obama-era fair-housing rules, which required every community receiving HUD funding to assess local segregation patterns, diagnose the barriers to fair housing and develop a plan to correct them. (Washington Post)
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo flew to North Korea to prepare for Trump’s summit with Kim Jong Un. “The location is picked, the time and date, everything is picked and we look forward to having a great success,” Trump said of the upcoming summit. It’s Pompeo’s second trip to North Korea in recent months. (CNN / Politico)
Oliver North was named the National Rifle Association’s new president. North worked for Reagan’s National Security Council and was convicted as part of a scheme to sell weapons to Iran and use the proceeds to fund the rebel Contras in Nicaragua. (Politico)
Melania Trump’s “Be Best” campaign plagiarized a document from the Obama administration. Aside from the introductory page, the entire “Talking With Kids About Being Online” booklet is virtually identical to the “Net Cetera,” a booklet published by the FTC under Obama. (The Guardian)
Melania’s office blamed “opposition media” for “lob[bing] baseless accusations” that her “Be Best” pamphlet plagiarized an FTC pamphlet, saying Melania received a “standing ovation” for her “strong speech.” (Daily Beast)
1/ Trump plans to ask Congress to cut $7 billion from the Children’s Health Insurance Program. $5 billion would come from the Children’s Health Insurance Fund, which reimburses states for certain expenses, and $2 billion would come from the Child Enrollment Contingency Fund, meant to ensure states have access to funds if there is a higher-than-expected enrollment. In total, Trump wants Congress to strip more than $15 billion in previously approved spending from more than 30 different programs. The White House insists that the CHIP cuts would not affect access to health care. (Washington Post)
2/ The Trump administration will refer every person caught crossing the border illegally for federal prosecution, separating parents from their children, instead of keeping them in detention together. “If you are smuggling a child then we will prosecute you, and that child will be separated from you as required by law,” Jeff Sessions said. “If you don’t like that, then don’t smuggle children over our border.” Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen signed a memo Friday that directs the department to refer all suspected border-crossers to the Justice Department for prosecution under a federal statute that prohibits illegal entry. (Politico / NBC News / CNN)
3/ Trump: There is no obstruction of justice, “it’s called Fighting Back.” Trump attacked Robert Mueller’s team, tweeting that “The Russia Witch Hunt is rapidly losing credibility.” He added: “The 13 Angry Democrats in charge of the Russian Witch Hunt are starting to find out that there is a Court System in place that actually protects people from injustice…and just wait ’till the Courts get to see your unrevealed Conflicts of Interest!” (NPR / NBC News / The Hill / CNN)
Is this Phony Witch Hunt going to go on even longer so it wrongfully impacts the Mid-Term Elections, which is what the Democrats always intended? Republicans better get tough and smart before it is too late!
The Russia Witch Hunt is rapidly losing credibility. House Intelligence Committee found No Collusion, Coordination or anything else with Russia. So now the Probe says OK, what else is there? How about Obstruction for a made up, phony crime.There is no O, it’s called Fighting Back
The 13 Angry Democrats in charge of the Russian Witch Hunt are starting to find out that there is a Court System in place that actually protects people from injustice...and just wait ‘till the Courts get to see your unrevealed Conflicts of Interest!
4/ Robert Mueller interviewed Tom Barrack, one of Trump’s closest friends and confidants. The special counsel interviewed Barrack as part of the investigation into possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia in the 2016 election campaign and afterwards. The questioning focused on Paul Manafort and Rick Gates, financial issues related to the campaign, the transition and Trump’s inauguration in January 2017. The interview was “months ago.” (Associated Press)
Former Trump campaign aide Michael Caputo said Robert Mueller’s team seemed to already know the answers to the questions they asked him during his interview with the special counsel last week. “Every question they asked me,” Caputo said, “they already had the answers to.” (The Hill)
Roger Stone said he hasn’t been contacted by Robert Mueller or his team despite reported scrutiny by investigators over his contact with WikiLeaks and meetings with Rick Gates during the 2016 campaign. (CNN)
5/ Former prosecutors expect Robert Mueller’s investigation to either wrap up before or “go dark” for November’s midterm elections, which are six months away. While Mueller doesn’t face a legal deadline, the fall midterms are a political one and the special counsel wouldn’t want to sway voters’ decisions. (Wall Street Journal)
6/ Trump’s midterm strategy: Raise the possibility of impeachment to caution Republicans against letting the House and Senate fall into Democratic control. “We have to keep the House because if we listen to Maxine Waters, she’s going around saying, ‘We will impeach him,’” Trump said at a recent rally in Michigan. “We gotta go out and we gotta fight like hell and we gotta win the House and we gotta win the Senate.” A person who worked on strategy with Trump’s team said the midterms pose more risk to Trump than his outstanding legal issues, including Robert Mueller’s investigation. “It’s always been about a potential impeachment.” (Politico)
7/ House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes threatened to hold Jeff Sessions in contempt of Congress for failing to hand over classified materials related to the Russia investigation. On Friday, the Justice Department informed Nunes that providing the information on a “specific individual” could harm national security. Nunes has previously threatened on several occasions to hold Justice Department officials in contempt of Congress for failing to turn over documents, only to not read the materials once they were made available to him. (CNN)
8/ Gina Haspel offered to withdraw her nomination to become the next CIA director after White House officials raised concerns that her role in the torture of suspected terrorists at a CIA black site in Thailand could derail her Senate confirmation hearing. Haspel oversaw a secret CIA detention facility in Thailand in late 2001, where at least one al-Qaeda suspect was waterboarded. Three years later she was involved in the destruction of almost 100 videotapes of the interrogations. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Marc Short, the White House’s director of legislative affairs, met with Haspel and pushed for her to remain as the nominee. Trump tweeted his support for Haspel, while preemptively blaming Democrats if her nomination fails, saying “Democrats want [her] OUT because she is too tough on terror.” (Washington Post / NBC News)
My highly respected nominee for CIA Director, Gina Haspel, has come under fire because she was too tough on Terrorists. Think of that, in these very dangerous times, we have the most qualified person, a woman, who Democrats want OUT because she is too tough on terror. Win Gina!
National security officials and some Republicans are preparing contingency plans in case Gina Haspel’s nomination to lead the CIA fails. One plan calls for preparing Susan Gordon, the deputy director of national intelligence, to potentially take Haspel’s place. (CNN)
9/ Trump knew about the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels several months before he denied any knowledge of it to reporters aboard Air Force One in April. While it’s not clear when Trump learned of the payment, which Michael Cohen made in October 2016, Trump did know that Cohen had succeeded in keeping the allegations from becoming public when he denied it. Last week, Giuliani said Cohen was reimbursed between $460,000 and $470,000 for various payments. Cohen was mainly reimbursed through payments of $35,000 per month – or about $420,000 over 12 months – from Trump’s personal trust. (New York Times)
10/ Trump’s aides hired an Israeli spy firm to find incriminating material on diplomats in the Obama administration who helped negotiate the Iran nuclear deal. People inside the Trump administration reached out to investigators at an Israeli private intelligence agency last May to “get dirt” on Ben Rhodes, one of Obama’s top national security advisers, and Colin Kahl, deputy assistant to Obama. The move was part of an elaborate scheme to discredit the Iran deal. (The Guardian)
Trump will announce whether he will withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal tomorrow. Trump called the accord a “disaster” and vowed to kill it during the 2016 presidential campaign. (New York Times)
The United States does not need John Kerry’s possibly illegal Shadow Diplomacy on the very badly negotiated Iran Deal. He was the one that created this MESS in the first place!
poll/ 57% of Americans hold a favorable view of Melania Trump – up from 47% in January. (CNN)
poll/ 41% of Americans approve of Trump’s job as president – 53% disapprove. (CNN)
Dept. of Things Rudy Giuliani Said Lately.
If Trump agrees to an interview with Robert Mueller, he could invoke his 5th Amendment right to protect against self-incrimination by refusing to respond to some questions. (Los Angeles Times / New York Times)
Trump is under no obligation to obey a subpoena, saying “we don’t have to comply” with one. “They don’t have a case on collusion, they don’t have obstruction … He’s the president of the United States. We can assert privilege other presidents [have].” (Politico / ABC News)
Giuliani is “focused on the law more than the facts right now,” when it comes to Trump’s legal situation. “Well, I have just on been on board couple of weeks,” Giuliani said. He continued: “The whole situation of the $130,000 doesn’t require an analysis of the facts because it wasn’t intended as a campaign contribution. It was intended as a personal, embarrassing, harassing claim.” (CNN)
“People don’t go away for $130,000,” Giuliani said, calling the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels “a nuisance payment” rather than “a settlement” and that “People don’t go away for $130,000.” (ABC News)
It’s possible that Michael Cohen paid off other women for Trump, Giuliani said. “I have no knowledge of that, but I would think if it was necessary, yes.” Public records showed Cohen “gained access to as much as $774,000 … during the 2016 presidential campaign as he sought to fix problems for his boss.” (Washington Post / The Guardian / Wall Street Journal)
Trump is “committed to” regime change in Iran, saying it’s “the only way to peace in the Middle East” and “more important than an Israeli-Palestinian deal.” (Politico)
Notables.
Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee plan to release a trove of 3,000 Russian-linked Facebook ads later this week. The release of the ads would offer a broad picture of how the social network was used by the pro-Russian Internet Research Agency during and after the 2016 presidential election. (Wall Street Journal)
Melania Trump revealed her formal platform: “Be Best.” The program will focus on well-being, fighting opioid abuse, and positivity on social media. The program will encourage children to “be best” in their emotional, social, and physical health. (CNN)
John McCain told friends that he does not want Trump to attend his funeral and would like Mike Pence to come instead. During the 2016 presidential primary, Trump said McCain was considered a war hero only “because he was captured” during the Vietnam War and that he prefers military figures weren’t taken prisoner by the enemy. (New York Times / NBC News)
The Affordable Care Act calorie count rule went to into effect today, which requires restaurants with 20 or more locations to list calories on all menus and provide on-site additional nutritional information, such as fat and sodium levels. (Politico)
Connecticut voted to pool their electoral college votes for the presidential candidate who wins the popular vote. If Democratic governor Dannel Malloy signs the legislation into law, as expected, Connecticut will be the 12th jurisdiction – 11 states and the District of Columbia – to enter the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. (The Guardian)
Trump urged voters in West Virginia to vote against Don Blankenship in the Republican Senate primary. A Blankenship win would hurt the party’s chances of defeating Democratic Senator Joe Manchin in November. Blankenship “can’t win the General Election in your State…No way!,” Trump tweeted. “Remember Alabama.” (Politico / New York Times)
1/ A federal judge criticized Robert Mueller’s criminal case in Virginia against Paul Manafort, and questioned whether Mueller exceeded his prosecutorial powers. U.S. District Judge T. S. Ellis said he believes that Mueller’s motivation is to oust Trump from office, adding that “we don’t want anyone in this country with unfettered power.” Ellis also charged that lawyers from the special counsel’s office “don’t really care about Mr. Manafort’s bank fraud,” but rather “getting information Mr. Manafort can give you that would reflect on Mr. Trump and lead to his prosecution or impeachment.” (Reuters / Washington Post / CNN / ABC News)
2/ Rudy Giuliani insisted Thursday night that Trump only recently found out that he had reimbursed Michael Cohen for the $130,000 paid to Stormy Daniels days before the 2016 election in return for a nondisclosure agreement. Giuliani said he shared details of the payment with Trump about a week ago, and that Trump didn’t realize he had paid Cohen back, responding: “Oh my goodness, I guess that’s what it was for.” (NBC News)
3/ Giuliani released a statement to “clarify views” about his remarks regarding Trump Friday afternoon, walking back his previous comments about the $130,000 hush money payment to Stormy Daniels as well as about Trump’s reason for firing James Comey. Giuliani maintained that the payment to Daniels doesn’t constitute a violation of campaign finance laws, because “it would have been done in any event, whether he was a candidate or not.” Giuliani added that his “references to timing were not describing my understanding of the President’s knowledge, but instead, my understanding of these matters.” (CNBC / ABC News)
4/ Trump on Giuliani: He’s still “learning the subject matter,” “he knows it’s a witch hunt,” and “he’ll get his facts straight.” Trump added that “virtually everything said has been said incorrectly, and it’s been said wrong, or it’s been covered wrong by the press.” Giuliani gave a series of interviews this week, claiming Trump had paid back Michael Cohen for the hush money payment to Stormy Daniels. Trump previously said he wasn’t aware of the payment. “Rudy is a great guy,” Trump said, “but he just started a day ago.” Giuliani started last month. (Washington Post / New York Times / CNN)
5/ Trump would “love to speak” with Robert Mueller, but only if he’s “treated fairly.” Trump said his lawyers have advised him against any talks, but he “would override my lawyer” if he “thought it was fair.” He added: “We’ve done nothing wrong.” (Reuters / CNN)
6/ Rudy Giuliani “think[s] it’s 50/50” that Mueller will subpoena Trump to testify before a grand jury, “but I got to prepare for that 50 percent.” Earlier this week, Mueller told Trump’s legal team that he could “compel” Trump to testify before a grand jury. (ABC News)
7/ Scott Pruitt paid himself nearly $65,000 in reimbursements from two of his campaigns for Oklahoma attorney general. At least one election watchdog says the 2010 and 2014 payments are so vague that there is no way to tell if the payments were legal or not. The payments could be a violation of two key pillars of campaign finance regulation: campaign spending transparency and a prohibition on using campaign funds for personal purchases. (CNN)
Pruitt’s scheduled trip to Israel was arranged by Sheldon Adelson, a major supporter of Israel, casino magnate, and Republican megadonor. The Israel trip was canceled days before his planned departure, after Pruitt’s penchant for first-class travel on the taxpayers’ dime was revealed. (Washington Post)
Notables.
Trump ordered the Pentagon to prepare for a drawdown of American troops in South Korea. The move comes weeks before a planned meeting between Trump and Kim Jong Un to discuss the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Trump told reporters that a time and date has been set for his summit with Kim and “we’ll be announcing soon.” (New York Times / ABC News)
The State Department froze all funding for a Syrian humanitarian group known as the White Helmets. State Department support for the group is now “under active review” as part of a larger $200 million reduction in funding for recovery efforts in Syria. (CBS News)
The Trump administration ended Temporary Protected Status for Hondurans, leaving potentially 57,000 people vulnerable to deportation. (McClatchy DC / Reuters)
House Republicans plan to support Trump’s military parade in the nation’s capital, saying it will honor “a century of military service” and focus on those “who sacrificed to secure America’s freedoms.” The proposal is scheduled to be taken up by the House Armed Services Committee on May 9th. (Bloomberg)
Qatar purchased a $6.5m apartment in one of Trump’s New York towers after a federal judge tossed out a lawsuit alleging that Trump was breaching the emoluments clause of the U.S. Constitution by collecting $3,151 a month from Qatar for the three apartments it already owned in the building. (The Guardian)
Mike Pence’s physician resigned following the collapse of Ronny Jackson’s nomination for secretary of Veterans Affairs. Dr. Jennifer Peña was among those who detailed Jackson’s professional misconduct to senators considering his nomination. (Politico)
Devin Nunes opted not to read Justice Department records after publicly demanding a fully uncensored version of the documents that explain how the Russia investigation began in 2016. Nunes threatened Rod Rosenstein with contempt of Congress if he didn’t comply. (CNN)
The unemployment rate dropped to 3.9%, falling below 4% for the first time since 2000. (CNN Money)
Trump plans to appoint Dr. Mehmet Oz to the Sport, Fitness, and Nutrition council. Doctors and lawmakers have criticized Oz for promoting unscientific medical approaches on his show. (Washington Examiner)
Mitt Romney’s “favorite meat is hot dog.” His “second favorite meat is hamburger.” (Washington Examiner)
1/ Rudy Giuliani: Trump reimbursed Michael Cohen for the $130,000 hush payment to Stormy Daniels, repaying Cohen through a series of payments over several months until the transactions were completed either in 2017 or early 2018. “The president repaid it,” Giuliani told Sean Hannity, but Trump “didn’t know about the specifics of it, as far as I know. But he did know the general arrangement, that Michael would take care of things like this, like I take care of things like this with my clients.” Giuliani said that Cohen had “settled several problems for” Trump, and the payment was one of them. (Washington Post)
Giuliani: There’s were “a few other situations that might have been considered campaign expenses” of a “personal nature” that Cohen took care of. “The president would have always trusted him as his lawyer, as my clients do with me. And that was paid back out of the rest of the money. And Michael earned a fee out of it.” (Washington Post)
2/ Giuliani’s comments directly contradicted Trump’s earlier statement to reporters that he didn’t know of any payments to Stormy Daniels or where Cohen got the money. Reporters asked him about both issues last month aboard Air Force One. (New York Times)
Stormy Daniels’ former manager is cooperating with the FBI as part of its investigation into arrangement she struck with Cohen. (CNN)
3/ Trump tweeted that campaign funds “played no roll in this transaction” — misspelling the word “role.” Trump and Giuliani both argued that the Stormy Daniels money came from Trump’s personal funds. Legal experts say that since it came right before the election, the transaction could be considered an in-kind campaign political contribution, making it subject to campaign finance laws. The Trump team never reported it. Trump tweeted that he paid Cohen a monthly retainer, suggesting that the payment by Cohen to Daniels could not be considered a campaign contribution. “The agreement was used to stop the false and extortionist accusations made by her about an affair,” Trump tweeted, “despite already having signed a detailed letter admitting that there was no affair.” Later, Giuliani said, “this was never about the campaign. This was about personal reputation. The money wasn’t paid to help the campaign or hurt the campaign.” (New York Times / USA Today)
Mr. Cohen, an attorney, received a monthly retainer, not from the campaign and having nothing to do with the campaign, from which he entered into, through reimbursement, a private contract between two parties, known as a non-disclosure agreement, or NDA. These agreements are.....
...very common among celebrities and people of wealth. In this case it is in full force and effect and will be used in Arbitration for damages against Ms. Clifford (Daniels). The agreement was used to stop the false and extortionist accusations made by her about an affair,......
...despite already having signed a detailed letter admitting that there was no affair. Prior to its violation by Ms. Clifford and her attorney, this was a private agreement. Money from the campaign, or campaign contributions, played no roll in this transaction.
Kellyanne Conway’s husband, George Conway, tweeted the Federal Election Commission’s personal gifts and loans rules, which state that “If any person, including a relative or friend of the candidate, gives or loans the candidate money ‘for the purpose of influencing any election for federal office,’ the funds are not considered personal funds of the candidate even if they are given to the candidate directly. Instead, the gift or loan is considered a contribution from the donor to the campaign, subject to the per-election limit and reportable by the campaign. This is true even if the candidate uses the funds for personal living expenses while campaigning.” (The Hill)
The former White House ethics chief suggested that Trump admitted to filing a false financial disclosure by revealing he reimbursed Cohen. (The Hill)
4/ Giuliani: The special counsel’s request for an interview is an effort to “trap” Trump “into perjury, and we’re not suckers.” Giuliani added that Robert Mueller’s “silly deposition is about a case in which he supposedly colluded with the Russians but there’s no evidence.” He called on Jeff Sessions to “step in and close it and say enough is enough.” (Washington Post)
Giuliani also called Jared Kushner “disposable” and warned that Mueller should stay away from Ivanka Trump, saying “the whole country will turn on” the special counsel if he doesn’t. (CNBC)
Trump “fired Comey because Comey would not, among other things, say that he wasn’t a target of the investigation,” Giuliani said during his appearance with Sean Hannity. He added that Comey was a “disgraceful liar” and a “very perverted man.” (Daily Beast / Politico)
5/ The FBI monitored Michael Cohen’s phone lines and at least one call between a Cohen line and the White House was logged. The monitoring was limited to a log of calls – known as a pen register – and was in place before the April 9th raid on Cohen’s home, hotel room, and office. Giuliani called for “the Attorney General to step in, in his role as defender of justice,” arguing that monitoring Cohen is a transgression of attorney-client privilege. (NBC News / CNBC / The Hill / Daily Beast)
[Editor’s Note: NBC News originally reported that Cohen’s phones were wiretapped, citing two sources. Later, three senior U.S. officials disputed that, saying that monitoring of Cohen’s phones was limited to a log of calls made from a specific phone line or lines. Following the wiretapping news, Giuliani said: “We don’t believe it’s true” that Cohen was wiretapped. “You can’t wiretap a lawyer, you certainly can’t wiretap his client who’s not involved in the investigation. No one has suggested that Trump was involved in that investigation.”]
6/ Former Trump campaign aide Michael Caputo said it’s clear that Mueller’s team is “still really focused on Russia collusion,” adding that Mueller’s team knows “more about the Trump campaign than anyone who ever worked there.” Caputo was interviewed this week behind closed doors by the Senate Intelligence Committee. (CNN)
7/ Mueller is focusing on alleged interactions between Rick Gates and Roger Stone during the campaign. Stone is a subject in Mueller’s investigation into potential collusion between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign. Stone publicly praised the hacker who claimed to have broken into the DNC’s servers in 2016 and had dinner with Julian Assange — the founder of Wikileaks, which published the emails — in August 2016. The link between Gates and Stone goes back to their work at a D.C. lobbying firm which was founded by Stone and Paul Manafort. (CNBC)
8/ Mueller filed a request for 70 blank subpoenas in the Virginia court presiding over one of two criminal proceedings involving Paul Manafort. The two-page filing reveals little, but says that each subpoena recipient must appear in the Alexandria, Va., courthouse on July 10th to testify in the case. The 70 blank subpoenas amount to 35 total possible witnesses — in each case, a subpoena is needed for the witness and another is needed for the defense. (Washington Examiner / Courthouse News Service)
Notables.
Executives at Cambridge Analytica, SCL Group, and the Mercer family created a new data firm last year called Emerdata. An executive and a part owner of SCL Group, Nigel Oakes, publicly described Emerdata as a way of rolling up the two companies under a new banner. (New York Times / Business Insider)
Trump has all but decided to withdraw the U.S. from the Iran nuclear deal. The administration wants to withdraw from the deal on May 12th, and the only question that remains is how Trump will go about announcing it. There is still a chance that the U.S. will remain a party to the deal by taking actions that don’t amount to “a full pullout,” but the source was unable to describe what that might look like. (Reuters)
The White House is exploring plans to host multiple summits on race between athletes, artists, and Trump following last week’s lovefest between the president and Kanye West. (Politico)
A third top EPA official is leaving the agency amid scrutiny of Scott Pruitt’s travel, spending, and condo rental. Associate Administrator Liz Bowman, the top public affairs official at the EPA, is leaving to become a spokeswoman for Senator Joni Ernst, a Republican from Iowa. (Bloomberg)
The House chaplain rescinded his forced resignation, saying he would like to serve out his full two-year term, “and possibly beyond,” unless he is officially terminated. Paul Ryan does not have the authority to fire him. (New York Times)
Trump doesn’t believe John Kelly called him an “idiot,” concluding that it was “fake news.” (New York Times)
💬 What’d I miss? It’s been a busy news day and I’m sure I’m overlooking some news of note. Let me know by hitting that button in the lower right-hand corner, tweeting @WTFJHT, or by using the hashtag #WTFJHT.
1/ Robert Mueller warned Trump’s legal team that he could subpoena the president to appear before a grand jury if he refuses to speak to federal investigators involved in the Russia probe. Mueller raised the possibility of a subpoena during a tense meeting in March after Trump’s attorneys insisted that Trump was under no obligation to speak with investigators. Unlike an interview with the special counsel, Trump would not be allowed to bring his lawyers to a grand jury hearing. (Washington Post)
2/ Trump’s current legal team lacks the security clearances required to discuss sensitive issues during a presidential sit-down with Mueller. Trump’s former attorney John Dowd was the only person on Trump’s legal team with the proper clearance – he resigned in March. (Bloomberg)
3/ Trump plans to add Bill Clinton’s impeachment lawyer to his legal team and replace Ty Cobb, who will leave at the end of May. Cobb has been the lead lawyer representing Trump in the special counsel investigation. Emmet Flood is expected to take a more adversarial approach to the Mueller investigation than Cobb. (New York Times)
4/ Ty Cobb said a Trump interview with Mueller is “certainly not off the table.” Rudy Giuliani added Trump’s legal team was still “several weeks away” from determining whether Trump would sit for an interview with Mueller. He also said that the White House needs to be “more aggressive” with the special counsel, saying that a potential interview would be “max, two to three hours around a narrow set of questions.” Cobb added that he has “no doubt” Mueller didn’t leak the list of 49 questions for Trump. (ABC News / Washington Post / The Hill)
5/ Trump threatened to “get involved” in the “rigged system” over the Justice Department’s ongoing dispute with the House Freedom Caucus about a memo outlining the topics being investigated by Robert Mueller. “There was no Collusion (it is a Hoax),” Trump tweeted, “and there is no Obstruction of Justice (that is a setup and trap).” (Bloomberg / Washington Post / CNN)
There was no Collusion (it is a Hoax) and there is no Obstruction of Justice (that is a setup & trap). What there is is Negotiations going on with North Korea over Nuclear War, Negotiations going on with China over Trade Deficits, Negotiations on NAFTA, and much more. Witch Hunt!
“The questions are an intrusion into the President’s Article 2 powers under the Constitution to fire any Executive Branch Employee...what the President was thinking is an outrageous.....as to the President’s unfettered power to fire anyone...” Joe Digenova, former US Attorney
A Rigged System - They don’t want to turn over Documents to Congress. What are they afraid of? Why so much redacting? Why such unequal “justice?” At some point I will have no choice but to use the powers granted to the Presidency and get involved!
6/ Trump dictated his 2015 glowing letter of health, his personal physician, Dr. Harold Bornstein, claimed. “He dictated that whole letter. I didn’t write that letter,” Bornstein said. “I just made it up as I went along.” The letter claimed, among other things, that Trump’s “physical strength and stamina are extraordinary” and “If elected, Mr. Trump, I can state unequivocally, will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency.” (CNN)
7/ Cambridge Analytica is shutting down and will file for bankruptcy following mounting legal fees in the Facebook investigation. Cambridge Analytica’s CEO called the current environment “futile” due to the company’s damaged reputation and a loss of clients from the ongoing investigations into the company’s data harvesting scandal that compromised the information of up to 87 million people. (Gizmodo / Wall Street Journal / New York Times)
poll/ 61% of Americans think Trump regularly has trouble telling the truth. 76% of Republicans, however, believe Trump tells the truth all or most of the time. (NBC News)
poll/ 62% of voters say the Trump administration is being run chaotically. 68% of Republicans say the Trump administration is running well. (Politico)
Notables.
Mueller’s office wants to wait two more months before sentencing Michael Flynn, who is cooperating with the special counsel after pleading guilty to lying to investigators. “Due to the status of the special counsel’s investigation,” Mueller’s team told the court, “the parties do not believe that this matter is ready to be scheduled for a sentencing hearing at this time.” (CNN)
Ukraine stopped cooperating with Mueller regarding Paul Manafort at the same time the Trump administration was finalizing plans to sell the country anti-tank missiles. Ukrainian law enforcement also allowed Konstantin Kilimnika, a potential witness to possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, to leave for Russia, putting him out of reach for questioning. (New York Times)
Iowa lawmakers passed the nation’s most restrictive abortion legislation, which would ban most abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected – before some women even know they’re pregnant. The bill now heads to Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, who is anti-abortion but hasn’t said publicly if she will sign it into law. (NBC News)
Planned Parenthood and two other reproductive rights groups are suing the Trump administration to block a “radical shift” in the federal Title X program. The changes would put the health of millions of low-income patients at risk by prioritizing practices such as the rhythm method over comprehensive sexual health services. (NPR)
A former contestant on “The Apprentice” is suing Trump for defamation after he called her a liar for accusing him of sexual assault. Summer Zervos was among the more than 10 women who came forward during the 2016 presidential campaign and accused Trump of sexual assault and misconduct. He denied all of their claims. (New York Times)
Trump has asked a federal court to dismiss a lawsuit accusing him of violating the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause, which bars officials from accepting gifts or other payments from foreign governments without congressional approval. Trump is asking the judge to dismiss the complaint against him as an individual. (Reuters / CNN)
Pence called Joe Arpaio a champion of “the rule of law.” Trump pardoned Arpaio last year after his contempt of court conviction for ignoring a federal judge’s order to stop detaining people because he merely suspected them of being undocumented immigrants. (Washington Post)
A group of House of Representatives formally nominated Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end the Korean War and bring peace to the peninsula. (CNN)
1/ Robert Mueller has at least 49 questions he wants to ask Trump regarding his ties to Russia and alleged obstruction of justice. The questions deal primarily with Trump’s firing of James Comey and Michael Flynn, as well as his treatment of Jeff Sessions and the 2016 Trump Tower meeting between Trump campaign officials and Russians who claimed to have damaging information on Hillary Clinton. Other topics of inquiry include Trump’s conversations with Michael Cohen about a real estate deal in Moscow, Jared Kushner’s attempts to set up a backchannel to Russia, contacts Trump had with Roger Stone, and Trump’s 2013 trip to Moscow for the Miss Universe pageant. (New York Times)
Read the questions Mueller wants to ask Trump about obstruction of justice and what they mean. (New York Times)
2/ Trump tweeted that it was “So disgraceful that the questions concerning the Russian Witch Hunt were ‘leaked’ to the media.” The leak didn’t come from Mueller’s office, but were provided to the New York Times by a person outside of Trump’s legal team. “No questions on Collusion,” Trump added. “Oh, I see…you have a made up, phony crime, Collusion, that never existed, and an investigation begun with illegally leaked classified information. Nice!” The list includes 13 questions related to possible cooperation between the Trump campaign and Russia. Trump followed up with another tweet 45 minutes later: “It would seem very hard to obstruct justice for a crime that never happened! Witch Hunt!”(Washington Post / Politico)
So disgraceful that the questions concerning the Russian Witch Hunt were “leaked” to the media. No questions on Collusion. Oh, I see...you have a made up, phony crime, Collusion, that never existed, and an investigation begun with illegally leaked classified information. Nice!
3/ A former Mueller assistant believes Trump was the source of the leaked questions. “Lawyers wouldn’t write questions this way, in my estimation,” said Michael Zeldin, a CNN analyst and former assistant to Robert Mueller. “Some of the grammar is not even proper,” he continued. “I think these are more notes that the White House has taken and then they have expanded upon the conversation to write out these as questions.” Zeldin worked with Mueller in the early 1990s. (The Hill)
Nixon’s White House counsel said that if the Trump administration leaked Mueller’s questions it could qualify as obstruction of justice. John Dean said leaking the questions could be an attempt to “try to disrupt the flow of information” or tip off a witness. (The Hill)
4/ Trump allies in the House have drafted articles of impeachment against Rod Rosenstein. House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows said the draft articles are “a last resort option, if the Department of Justice fails to respond” to his requests for more information. The draft articles are not expected to garner much support. (Washington Post)
5/ Rod Rosenstein to the House Freedom Caucus: “The Department of Justice is not going to be extorted,” adding “[t]hey can’t even resist leaking their own drafts.” A Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee said the Republican effort to impeach Rosenstein would send a “terrible message” and that “We should protect our democracy, protect this process, protect the rule of law.” (Axios / CNN)
6/ Trump’s bodyguard and a Trump Organization lawyer took the original and only copy of Trump’s medical chart from his doctor in February 2017 after Dr. Harold Bornstein told the New York Times that Trump takes Propecia. Keith Schiller, who was serving as director of Oval Office operations, also took lab reports under Trump’s name as well as under the pseudonyms the office used for Trump. Bornstein said he was not given a form authorizing the release of the records, which is a violation of patient privacy law. Sarah Huckabee Sanders called taking possession of medical records “standard operating procedure for a new president.” (NBC News)
The White House pushed back on claims that Dr. Ronny Jackson is no longer Trump’s personal physician, despite reports that Jackson will not return to his previous role as physician to the president now that he has withdrawn his nomination to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs. (The Hill)
7/ Mike Pence’s physician privately warned the White House in September that Ronny Jackson may have violated the federal privacy protections of Karen Pence and intimidated the vice president’s doctor. The previously unreported incident is the first sign that the White House knew about Jackson’s misconduct months before Trump and his staff defended Jackson’s professionalism and insisted that he had been thoroughly vetted. The incident is also the first allegation of medical misconduct by Jackson, adding to a long line of other allegations against the former White House physician. (CNN)
Notables.
California and 17 other states filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration to protect national vehicle emission standards from being rolled back by the federal government. The states argue that the EPA acted arbitrarily and capriciously, failed to follow its own regulations and violated the Clean Air Act. (Los Angeles Times)
A whistleblower from the EPA says that Scott Pruitt was “bold-faced” lying when he testified to Congress that no EPA employees were retaliated against for raising concerns about his spending decisions. (ABC News)
Scott Pruitt’s December trip to Morocco was arranged by a lobbyist who later won a $40,000-a-month contract from the Moroccan government for promoting the kingdom’s cultural and economic interests. The cost of Pruitt’s visit cost the EPA more than $100,000. (Washington Post)
Pruitt’s former head of security will meet with the House Oversight Committee tomorrow. Pasquale Perrotta, who left his job at the EPA yesterday, said he plans to “fully cooperate and answer any and all questions” from Congress. (ABC News)
Michael Cohen was hit with more than $185,000 in new state warrants for unpaid taxes on his taxicab companies, bringing the total he owes New York state to $282,000. (Bloomberg)
Former Trump campaign aide Michael Caputo met with the Senate Intelligence Committee investigators as part of the panel’s probe into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. (ABC News)
Former Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price said the GOP’s decision to repeal the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate will likely increase the cost of health insurance for consumers. The mandate required most Americans to have health coverage or face a financial penalty. (Washington Times / Washington Post)
1/ Michael Avenatti: Trump is in “panic mode” and expects Michael Cohen to cooperate with investigators. “We’re going to be able to prove that the president knew about the agreement,” Stormy Daniels’ attorney said, “and knew about the $130,000.” Trump has denied a relationship with Daniels or knowledge of the payment to her, but told Fox and Friends that Cohen was representing him in the “crazy Stormy Daniels deal” – contradicting what he said on Air Force One. (The Guardian / The Hill)
2/ The Trump campaign spent nearly $228,000 to pay for part of Michael Cohen’s legal fees. Federal Election Commission records show three “legal consulting” payments made from the Trump campaign to a firm representing Cohen between October 2017 and January 2018. Cohen did not have a formal role in the Trump campaign and it’s illegal to spend campaign funds for personal use. (ABC News)
3/ A federal judge granted a 90-day delay in Stormy Daniels’ suit against Trump, saying it appeared “likely” that Michael Cohen would be indicted in a related criminal investigation. The judge called Cohen “the alleged mastermind” of the deal, which makes his testimony “indispensable.” Cohen plans to assert his Fifth Amendment rights if asked to answer any further questions about Daniels’ suit, which seeks to void an agreement that led to a $130,000 payment Cohen facilitated before the 2016 presidential election. (Politico / Washington Post)
4/ Stormy Daniels filed a defamation lawsuit against Trump for his “total con job” tweet about the forensic sketch of a man who allegedly threatened her in 2011. The filing says the tweet was “false and defamatory,” arguing that Trump was speaking about Daniels and that he “knew that his false, disparaging statement would be read by people around the world, as well as widely reported.” (NBC News / ABC News / CNBC)
A sketch years later about a nonexistent man. A total con job, playing the Fake News Media for Fools (but they know it)! https://t.co/9Is7mHBFda
5/ Trump threatened to shut down the federal government in September if Congress doesn’t agree to include more funding for his border wall in the next spending bill. “We come up again on September 28th,” Trump said during a rally in Michigan on Saturday, “and if we don’t get border security we will have no choice, we will close down the country because we need border security.” (Reuters)
6/ John Kelly referred to Trump as “an idiot,” according to four officials who heard the comments. Some current and former White House officials expect Kelly to leave by July – his one-year mark. Trump fired Rex Tillerson for calling him a “moron” in front of colleagues. (NBC News)
7/ Ronny Jackson will not return to his former job as the president’s personal physician. A series of allegations caused Jackson to withdraw from consideration to become the next secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Sean Conley took over for Jackson last month and will continue in that role. (Politico / Washington Post)
✌️ Who the f*ck has left the Trump administration: A timeline of all the departures so far… (WTFJHT Community)
8/ Trump called on Montana Senator Jon Tester to resign and threatened to spread allegations about him in retaliation for releasing a document summarizing the allegations against Ronny Jackson. Trump said the allegations against Jackson were fabricated. “Tester started throwing out things that he’s heard,” Trump told the crowd. “Well, I know things about Tester that I could say, too. And if I said them, he’d never be elected again.” (New York Times)
9/ The Justice Department removed language from its manual related to gerrymandering, freedom of the press, and limits on prosecutorial power. Jeff Sessions’ tough-on-crime policies were added to the manual, as well as language that underscores his focus on religious liberty, and Trump’s attempts to crack down on government leaks. The last significant update to the manual happened in 1997. (BuzzFeed News)
10/ Trump Jr. and Emin Agalarov maintained a direct line of communication before and after the 2016 Trump Tower meeting. The two continued to communicate via a series of text messages until at least December 2016. (BuzzFeed News)
11/ Natalia Veselnitskaya also followed up with the Trump campaign in the wake of the 2016 Trump Tower meeting. Veselnitskaya reached out to the Trump family after the election and continued to lobby for the repeal of the Magnitsky Act. (CNN)
12/ The FBI questioned a Russian mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter linked to Putin, Trump, and Michael Cohen. The FBI showed up unannounced at Fedor Emelianenko’s hotel room in Chicago. “All I can say is that, yeah, they showed up unannounced, knocking on our doors,” Emelianenko’s manager Jerry Millen said. Trump announced a joint venture involving MMA and Emelianenko in 2008. Cohen was the project’s chief operating officer. (Associated Press / The Telegraph / NY Daily News)
poll/ 46% of Millennial voters support Democrats over Republicans for Congress – down about 9 percentage from two years ago. 28% expressed overt support for Republicans in the 2018 poll - about the same percentage as two years earlier. (Reuters)
Notables.
Trump is expected to speak at the NRA’s annual meeting in Dallas later this week. The address would be Trump’s third consecutive appearance at the NRA’s annual event. (CNN / Washington Post)
Kim Jong-un told South Korea that he would abandon his nuclear weapons if the U.S. promised not to invade his country. The South Korean government also said Kim would invite experts and journalists to watch the shutdown next month of the country’s only known underground nuclear test site. (New York Times)
South Korean President Moon Jae-in said Trump deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end the standoff with North Korea over its nuclear weapons program. (Reuters)
ICE’s acting director will retire and leave his post in June. Thomas Homan was nominated for post by Trump, but the Senate hasn’t acted on his confirmation. (Wall Street Journal)
U.S. Customs and Border Protection doesn’t plan to increase its capacity to process or temporarily house the roughly 150 Central Americans waiting in Tijuana. (NBC News)
The EPA granted a financial hardship waiver to an oil refinery owned by billionaire Carl Icahn. The waiver enables Icahn’s CVR Energy Inc to avoid tens of millions of dollars in costs related to the Renewable Fuel Standard program that is meant to cut air pollution, reduce petroleum imports, and support corn farmers by requiring refiners to mix biofuels into gasoline and diesel each year. (Reuters)
1/ The House Intelligence Committee found “no evidence that the Trump campaign colluded, coordinated, or conspired with the Russian government” in the 2016 election. The 253-page report criticized both the Trump and Hillary Clinton campaigns for “poor judgment and ill-considered actions” in their dealings with Russia-related figures. Democrats on the committee accused the Republicans of prematurely closing the investigation in “a systematic effort to muddy the waters and to deflect attention away from the President,” asserting that Trump associates’ willingness to accept Russian assistance suggests “a consciousness of wrongfulness, if not illegality.” The report accused the intelligence community of “significant intelligence tradecraft failings,” suggesting that Russia’s main goal was to sow discord in the United States and not to help Trump win the election. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico)
2/ Minutes after the committee’s report was released, Trump tweeted “Wow!” the Russia investigation is “A total Witch Hunt!” and “MUST END NOW.” (The Hill)
Just Out: House Intelligence Committee Report released. “No evidence” that the Trump Campaign “colluded, coordinated or conspired with Russia.” Clinton Campaign paid for Opposition Research obtained from Russia- Wow! A total Witch Hunt! MUST END NOW!
3/ Natalya Veselnitskaya, the Russian lawyer who met with Trump campaign officials at Trump Tower in 2016, was an informant for Russian Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika. “I am a lawyer, and I am an informant,” she said in newly released emails. “Since 2013, I have been actively communicating with the office of the Russian prosecutor general.” Veselnitskaya insists that she met with Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, Paul Manafort, and others in a private capacity – not as a representative of the Russian government – despite an intermediary promising that Veselnitskaya had documents that would incriminate Clinton. (New York Times)
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley wants to release interview transcripts from the Trump Tower meeting. The committee anticipates releasing written responses from Natalia Veselnitskaya, Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort following some redactions. (Politico)
4/ Trump tweeted that James Comey is “either very sick or very dumb” for having “illegally leaked CLASSIFIED INFORMATION.” Comey is not under federal investigation for leaking classified information or lying. Trump added that Comey “lied all over the place” and “doesn’t understand what he did or how serious it is.” Comey wrote a series of contemporaneous memos documenting his interactions with Trump, which he leaked after being fired in May. “That memo was unclassified then,” Comey said, and “it’s still unclassified.” (New York Times / The Guardian / Washington Post)
Is everybody believing what is going on. James Comey can’t define what a leak is. He illegally leaked CLASSIFIED INFORMATION but doesn’t understand what he did or how serious it is. He lied all over the place to cover it up. He’s either very sick or very dumb. Remember sailor!
Five months’ worth of text messages between FBI special agent Peter Strzok and FBI lawyer Lisa Page were recovered. The messages span December 2016 to May 2017 and capture the immediate reactions to Trump’s decision to fire James Comey, as well as the appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel. The cache of messages were originally thought to be missing, but the Justice Department’s inspector general recovered them using forensic tools. (CNN)
5/ Trump thanked Kanye West for his support, tweeting that the rapper has “performed a great service to the Black Community.” Earlier this week, Kanye tweeted that “the mob” could not stop him from loving Trump. He then shared a photo of himself in a Make America Great Again hat. Trump thanked West for the support, tweeting “very cool!” Trump also thanked Chance the Rapper for tweeting that “Black people don’t have to be democrats.” Trump Jr. took the opportunity to thank Chance for “breaking with convention.” He confusingly included basketball emojis in his tweet. Chance the Rapper released a statement distancing himself from Trump, saying, “I’d never support anyone who has made a career out of hatred, racism and discrimination.” (The Hill / Washington Post / VICE News / Daily Beast)
It’s always incredible to watch a cultural shift happen in real time. I respect those willing to take the lead breaking with convention. That takes guts... though there’s a better word for it. 🏀🏀 https://t.co/01jMdg6ETa
Kanye West has performed a great service to the Black Community - Big things are happening and eyes are being opened for the first time in Decades - Legacy Stuff! Thank you also to Chance and Dr. Darrell Scott, they really get it (lowest Black & Hispanic unemployment in history).
6/ Trump asked aides if he should invite Kanye West to the White House for dinner and a photo-op. A source close to Trump said they couldn’t tell if Trump was “kidding” or not, but reiterated that Trump enjoys that West has “always said wonderful” things about him. (Daily Beast)
Notables.
North and South Korea agreed to end their seven-decade war following a meeting between Kim Jong Un and Moon Jae-in. The deal includes promises from both leaders to pursue “complete denuclearization” of the Korean Peninsula. Trump hailed the peace effort on Twitter, saying “KOREAN WAR TO END! The United States, and all of its GREAT people, should be very proud of what is now taking place in Korea!” (Bloomberg / New York Times / CNN)
The Trump administration plans to freeze EPA fuel economy standards at 2020 levels through 2026, while revoking California’s authority to enforce its own rules on tailpipe emissions. The draft proposal is not final. (Washington Post / Los Angeles Times)
Federal prosecutors seized as many as 16 cell phones during the raids on Michael Cohen’s office, home, and hotel room. Prosecutor Thomas McKay intends to hand over the seized materials to Cohen’s attorneys by May 11. (New York Post)
A federal judge dismissed Paul Manafort’s civil suit challenging Robert Mueller’s authority. Manafort’s attorneys asked the judge to throw out all charges against Manafort, arguing that Mueller had exceeded his authority by bringing charges unrelated to Russian election interference. (CBS News / Politico)
Paul Ryan said he fired Chaplain Patrick Conroy because members felt like House members’ “pastoral needs” were not being met. Conroy said Ryan asked him to resign two weeks ago, a request that he complied with but was never given a reason for. (The Hill / New York Times)
Scores of vacant positions in the Trump administration are causing problems for the federal government. The number of unfilled positions is at an all-time high and the staff shortages have halted pay raises for thousands of federal workers, stalled legislation to help home buyers with their mortgages, and prevented the IRS from pushing out regulations related to the new tax law. (Politico)
Trump warned countries to not oppose the U.S.’s bid to host the 2026 World Cup with Mexico and Canada. “It would be a shame if countries that we always support were to lobby against the U.S. bid. Why should we be supporting these countries when they don’t support us (including at the United Nations)?,” Trump tweeted. (The Hill)
The White House medical unit served senior officials as a “grab and go” clinic for prescription drugs. “You need to just give people these meds when they ask for it,” multiple former medical unit employees said. (CNN)
Trump will visit the UK on July 13th. The trip is being billed as a “flying visit” rather than an official state one, in which Trump would have been hosted by the queen. (BBC / Sky News)
The US economy grew at a rate of 2.3% in the first quarter, slower than the 2.9% pace in the fourth quarter of 2017, but above Wall Street analysts’ forecasts of 2%. (CNN Money / Washington Post)
The conservative site RedState fired writers critical of Trump for being “insufficiently partisan.” (CNN Money)
Trump would like to appear regularly on “Fox and Friends,” according to Kellyanne Conway. “The president has said he would like to perhaps come once a month and as news breaks,” which caught the show’s hosts off guard. They asked Conway to clarify what she meant. (The Hill)
1/ Ronny Jackson announced that he was withdrawing his name for consideration to be the secretary of Veteran Affairs following allegations that he handed out medication with no patient history, wrote himself prescriptions, and drank on the job. Jackson denied the allegations, including one that he “wrecked a government vehicle” after getting drunk at a Secret Service party, and said they were “completely false and fabricated.” He continued: “If they had any merit, I would not have been selected, promoted and entrusted to serve in such a sensitive and important role as physician to three presidents over the past 12 years.” (Washington Post / New York Times / NPR)
2/ Trump: I try to “stay away from” intervening in the Justice Department, “but at some point I won’t.” During Trump’s half-hour phone interview on “Fox and Friends” he added: “I have decided I won’t be involved. I may change my mind at some point because what is going on is a disgrace. It is an absolute disgrace.” (CNN / ABC News / Washington Post)
3/ Jeff Sessions: The Mueller probe has taken on “a life of its own.” Sessions defended his decision not to appoint a second special prosecutor to investigate Republicans’ concerns about the FBI during a House appropriations budget hearing, saying the Justice Department needed to “be disciplined and stay within our classical procedure and rules” before rushing to hire more special counsels. (Reuters)
4/ Trump is “extremely opposed” to granting Robert Mueller an interview. Trump initially was open to meeting with Mueller, rejecting warnings from his lawyer John Dowd. His willingness to meet with the special counsel has cooled since Dowd resigned in March and investigators raided Michael Cohen’s office and residences in April seeking communications between the lawyer and Trump in the lead-up to the 2016 election. (Washington Post)
Rudy Giuliani met with Mueller to discuss whether Trump will sit for an interview with the special counsel as part of the Russia investigation. After joining Trump’s legal team last week, Giuliani signaled his intention to end the Russia investigation within “maybe a couple of weeks,” adding that “I hope we can negotiate an end to this for the good of the country.” (Politico)
5/ Trump admitted that Michael Cohen represented him in the “crazy Stormy Daniels deal,” marking the first time Trump has acknowledged that Cohen represented him as part of a $130,000 hush-money payment to Daniels. The statement by Trump is a “hugely damaging admission,” Michael Avenatti, Daniels’ attorney, said, and one he plans to use in his case against Trump and Cohen. Earlier this month, Trump told reporters on Air Force One that he was not aware of the payment by Cohen to Daniels, saying, “You’ll have to ask Michael Cohen. Michael is my attorney. You’ll have to ask Michael.” (NBC News / Washington Post / The Hill / Fox News)
6/ Michael Cohen will plead the Fifth Amendment in the lawsuit filed against Trump by Stormy Daniels, allowing Cohen to avoid being deposed and potentially revealing information about the payments Cohen made or helped arrange to Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal. “I will assert my 5th Amendment rights in connection with all proceedings in this case due to the ongoing criminal investigation by the FBI and U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York,” Cohen said. Trump proceeded to distance himself from Cohen, saying, “This has nothing to do with me. I’ve been told I’m not involved.” (New York Times / The Hill)
Trump told the federal judge overseeing the Cohen investigation that he wants to personally review records seized during raids on Cohen’s home and residences earlier this month in order to prevent prosecutors or the FBI from seeing privileged information. The judge already ruled against Trump and Cohen’s original request, but said she would be willing to consider their request to have a third party review the records before prosecutors do. (ABC News)
A former Manhattan federal judge will determine what materials seized in the Cohen raids are protected by attorney-client privilege. (Politico)
7/ Trump confirmed that he spent the night in Moscow during the 2013 Miss Universe pageant and accused James Comey of putting “a lot of phony stuff” in his memos, which were released last week. “Of course I stayed there,” Trump said. The admission contradicts statements Trump made to Comey on two separate occasions that he never stayed the night at the Ritz-Carlton during the trip, which is why – he claims – there is no way the “golden showers thing” happened. Flight records also confirm that Trump stayed overnight in Moscow. (The Hill / Bloomberg)
8/ The Senate Judiciary Committee approved legislation to shield Mueller from being fired by Trump. The bill, approved 14-7, would delay any action to fire a special counsel for 10 days and require that three federal judges review the decision. Mitch McConnell said he would not bring the bill to the floor. (Politico / Washington Post)
9/ Trump on his presidency: “I would give myself an A-plus.” Asked during a “Fox and Friends” interview how he would grade his presidency, Trump answered by first complaining that the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election is a “hoax” and a “witch hunt” orchestrated by Democrats before eventually replying: “I would give myself an A-plus.” (The Hill)
poll/ 58% of voters approve of Robert Mueller’s conduct so far, saying they believe he has “stayed within the boundaries of the Russia investigation.” (The Hill)
poll/ 74% of voters don’t want Trump to fire Robert Mueller. 52%, however, say they oppose impeaching Trump if he fires the special counsel. (Quinnipiac)
poll/ 71% of voters think Trump will fire Mueller before the investigation is complete. 56% think it’s likely that Mueller will find Trump committed criminal or impeachable offenses. (Fox News)
Notables.
One of the lobbyists closest to Trump is working for an ally of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. Brian Ballard’s firm, Ballard Partners, disclosed last month that it was working with a trading company based in Dubai called ASM International General Trading LLC. ASM is affiliated with a member of Syria’s wealthy Foz family, which has close ties to the Assad government. “We’re going to do more due diligence,” Ballard said. “We’re not the CIA, but if it were to turn out that there was any connection at all, we would withdraw from our representation of the Dubai trading company.” Ballard’s firm also represents an anti-Assad group. (The Daily Beast)
The Senate confirmed Mike Pompeo as secretary of state in a 57-to-42 vote. Pompeo was supported by all the Republican senators and by seven Democrats — five of whom face re-election this year in states that Trump won in 2016. (New York Times / Politico)
Paul Ryan pushed out the House chaplain. “As you have requested,” Patrick Conroy wrote to Ryan, “I hereby offer my resignation as the 60th Chaplain of the United States House of Representatives.” (The Hill)
Trump said he would support swapping the Electoral College for the popular vote, because the latter would make the presidency “much easier to win.” (Politico)
The Department of Homeland Security will end the humanitarian protection known as Temporary Protected Status for Nepal with a delay of 12 months to “allow for an orderly transition.” (ABC News)
The FBI said it told the White House about the allegations of spousal abuse by Rob Porter in March 2017, contradicting claims made by top Trump administration officials. (New York Times / The Hill)
The House Energy and Commerce Committee questioned Scott Pruitt over allegations of ethical lapses and excessive spending. The ranking member on the committee called Pruitt an “embarrassment to President Trump” and said that if he were president, “I’d just get rid of you.” (New York Times / NBC News)
1/ A federal judge ruled that the Trump administration must resume accepting new DACA applications, saying the Department of Homeland Security’s legal explanation for ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program was “arbitrary,” “capricious,” and predicated on “virtually unexplained” grounds and therefore “unlawful.” DHS now has 90 days to better explain its reasoning for canceling the program, or the judge will rescind the government memo that terminated the program. (New York Times / Politico / Washington Post / NBC News)
2/ Mick Mulvaney advised bankers and lobbyists that increasing campaign contributions would help weaken the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau – the agency he runs. Mulvaney capped off his speech at a American Bankers Association conference by arguing that trying to sway legislators with campaign contributions was one of the “fundamental underpinnings of our representative democracy.” Mulvaney, who is rumored to be at the top of the list when it comes to Trump’s next pick for chief of staff, also revealed that he would only meet with lobbyists who contributed to his campaign during his time as a congressman. “If you’re a lobbyist who never gave us money, I didn’t talk to you,” Mulvaney explained. “If you’re a lobbyist who gave us money, I might talk to you.” (New York Times / Washington Post)
3/ Ben Carson proposed tripling rent increases for low-income Americans receiving federal housing subsidies, which would affect more than 4.5 million families. The proposed legislation requires congressional approval. (Washington Post)
4/ In 2015, Ronny Jackson drunkenly banged on the hotel room door of a female employee in the middle of the night. The Secret Service stopped him out of concern that he would wake then-president Barack Obama. (CNN)
Jackson was known as “the candy man” inside the White House for “hand[ing] out the prescription drugs like they were candy.” (CNN)
5/ Scott Pruitt’s head of security, Pasquale Perrotta, moonlighted for American Media Inc. during the 2016 presidential campaign. A.M.I. owns the National Enquirer, which purchased the rights to Karen McDougal’s story about her alleged affair with Trump. A.M.I.‘s chairman, David Pecker, is a close friend of Trump’s. Perrotta received a waiver from the EPA under the Obama administration to hold outside employment. (New York Times)
6/ Trump praised Kim Jong Un as a “very honorable” person and expressed hope their meeting will occur “as soon as possible.” Trump sidestepped the question when asked to explain his comment that Kim, whom he once mocked as “Little Rocket Man,” is an “honorable” person. (CNN / The Hill)
7/ Don Blankenship is running for the U.S. Senate in West Virginia while living in a $2.4 million villa in Nevada. Blankenship refers to himself as an “American competitionist,” despite admiring China’s state-controlled economy and expressing interest in obtaining Chinese citizenship. Blankenship spent a year in prison for his involvement in a coal mining explosion that killed 29 people during his time as a coal mining executive. He is running as a champion of miners and using ads to dispute the settled facts regarding his role in the explosion. (New York Times)
poll/ 22% of voters reported seeing paycheck increases in April due to the new tax law, down from 27% the month prior. 55% of voters said they hadn’t noticed a bump in April, compared to 50% in March. (Morning Consult–Politico)
1/ Jeff Sessions will not recuse himself from the ongoing criminal investigation of Michael Cohen. By staying involved in the Cohen case, Sessions will receive briefings on the investigation, which puts Sessions in the position of being asked by Trump for information about the Cohen investigation. Trump condemned the FBI raid on his longtime lawyer and has called Sessions weak for recusing himself from the Robert Mueller probe. (Bloomberg / CNBC)
2/ The Senate Veterans Affairs Committee postponed Ronny Jackson’s confirmation hearing following reports that Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs oversaw a hostile work environment as the White House physician, allowed the overprescribing of drugs, and drank on the job. Jackson administered Trump’s annual physical in January, reporting that there is “no reason whatsoever to think the president has any issues whatsoever with his thought processes,” and that Trump could live to 200 years old if he had a healthier diet. (New York Times / Washington Post)
A 2012 inspector general report suggested removing Ronny Jackson and a rival physician from their White House roles after finding a “lack of trust in the leadership” and the two having exhibited “unprofessional behaviors” as part of a power struggle over the White House medical unit. (Associated Press)
3/ The White House stands by Ronny Jackson, but Trump hinted that Jackson might withdraw from consideration because the process is “too ugly, and it’s too disgusting.” Trump said he doesn’t want to “put a man through a process like this” over “ugly allegations.” (Washington Post / New York Times)
4/ Iran warned that it could withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty after Trump threatened to restore economic sanctions unless European allies fix what he has called a “terrible deal” by May 12. “If they restart their nuclear program,” Trump said, “they will have bigger problems than they ever had before.” French president Emmanuel Macron, German chancellor Angela Merkel and U.K. prime minister Theresa May have been coordinating potential side agreements they hope will convince Trump to remain part of the pact. (New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Reuters)
5/ The White House will host its first state dinner for France’s President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte, tonight. As a candidate, Trump argued that “We shouldn’t have [state] dinners at all. We should be eating a hamburger on a conference table.” Melania Trump, meanwhile, has instructed her staff not to worry about the details of the dinner. “Do not worry,” she wrote in an email to staff. (New York Times / NBC News)
No Democrats or members of the press were invited to the state dinner – a departure from past dinners. Sen. John Kennedy, who was one of four members of Congress to be invited, said “it would have sent a better message, just my opinion, if we included a cross-section of Congress.” (The Hill)
6/ The FBI interviewed Paul Manafort in March 2013 and July 2014 while he was working as a political consultant for a Ukrainian political party. Manafort’s deputy, Rick Gates, who also held a top role with Trump’s campaign, was interviewed by the FBI in July 2014. Gates pleaded guilty to conspiracy and lying to the FBI in February of this year and is cooperating with Robert Mueller’s investigation. (Washington Post)
7/ Mueller’s raid on Paul Manafort’s condo and storage locker last July was to gather documents related to the Trump Tower meeting between Russian lobbyists and Manafort, Trump Jr., and Jared Kushner. A new court filing by the special counsel confirmed that Mueller’s team raided Manafort’s home in July 2017 to recover “Communications, records, documents, and other files involving any of the attendees of the June 9, 2016 meeting at Trump Tower, as well as Aras and Amin Agalorov.” Manafort has been indicted on five counts, including conspiracy against the U.S., money laundering, and acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government, and is fighting to suppress evidence collected in the raid. (Newsweek / Politico / Bloomberg / Law and Crime)
8/ Republicans expect to win today’s special House election in Arizona, but the race in the conservative 8th Congressional District is being looked at closely, after Democrats recently won House and Senate seats in Pennsylvania and Alabama, respectively. Trump won the district by 21 points in 2016, but many GOP operatives believe the best-case scenario is a high single-digit margin of victory, which would be “a wake-up call to Republican elected officials that this is a radically different off-year,” and that “this anti-Trump mood has reached new a stratosphere [sic].” (Politico / NPR)
9/ Arizona state Democrats blocked Republicans from changing how the state fills vacant Senate seats. The GOP measure would have ensured that John McCain’s seat wouldn’t be on the November ballot if he leaves office early for reasons related to his ongoing treatment for brain cancer. The measure would have allowed the governor to appoint individuals to open seats – and hold them for two full years – if the seat becomes vacant within 150 days of a scheduled primary election. (Associated Press / The Hill)
study/ People voted for Trump because they were worried about losing their social status – not economic anxiety. A new study finds that Trump voters weren’t losing income or jobs. In particular, white, Christian, and male voters felt their status in society was threatened, and that Trump would restore it. (The Atlantic / New York Times)
Notables.
Sean Hannity’s real estate venture bought properties through a dealer who was involved in a criminal conspiracy to fraudulently buy foreclosed homes. Jeff Brock pleaded guilty in 2016 to federal charges of bank fraud and conspiracy for rigging foreclosure auctions between 2007 and 2012. Brock purchased 11 homes in Georgia following foreclosures and sold them to Hannity’s shell company in 2012. There is no evidence that Hannity was aware of Brock’s involvement in fraud. (The Guardian)
George H. W. Bush is alert but remains in intensive care. Bush was admitted to the hospital Monday morning after he contracted an infection that spread to his blood and led to sepsis. His doctor said he is “responding to treatments and appears to be recovering.” (CNN)
Scott Pruitt will face two congressional hearings this week. The hearings will focus on the EPA’s budget, but they will also give lawmakers an opportunity to grill Pruitt about other concerns and allegations about the agency’s use of taxpayer money under Pruitt’s leadership. (ABC News)
Pruitt proposed a “transparency” rule that would limit the EPA’s ability to use the best science to write new regulations. Under the rule, only studies where the raw, underlying data – including participants’ personal health data – is made publicly available would qualify. (Washington Post)
Russian hackers likely targeted more than 21 states before the 2016 election, a top Department of Homeland Security official said. (The Hill)
1/ Flight records contradict Trump’s claim he never spent the night in Moscow during the 2013 Miss Universe pageant. According to James Comey’s memos, Trump twice told the now-former FBI director that there is no way the “golden showers thing” happened because he claims he arrived on the morning of the event and left shortly after it ended in the early hours of the next morning. Christopher Steele’s dossier alleges that Trump had prostitutes perform “golden showers” on the bed in the Ritz-Carlton’s presidential suite in 2013 during the Miss Universe pageant. Flights records show Trump arrived in Moscow on November 8th, 2013, and left at 3:58am on November 10th, 2013. (Bloomberg)
Trump’s false claims to Comey about Moscow stay could aid Mueller. James Comey says the president told him that he never spent the night in Moscow in 2013, but flight records, social media and his bodyguard’s testimony show otherwise. (Politico)
TIMELINE: An hour-by-hour recap of Trump’s 2013 visit to Moscow. (Bloomberg)
Trump flew to Moscow on November 7th, 2013, landing Friday, November 8th.
The next day, Trump was at the Ritz-Carlton hotel, did a tour of Moscow, and attended the Miss Universe pageant, followed by an afterparty that started at 1am.
Keith Schiller, Trump’s bodyguard, testified before Congress that “a Russian participant” offered to send five women to Trump’s hotel room on November 9th. Schiller reportedly rejected the offer and stood outside Trump’s hotel room until he went to bed for the night.
The jet Trump took to Moscow left at 3:58am on the night of November 9th, 2013, landing in New Jersey at 4:11am local time.
2/ Trump’s new national security adviser chaired a nonprofit that promoted misleading and anti-Muslim news. Bolton was chairman of the Gatestone Institute from 2013 until last month. The advocacy group claims that a “jihadist takeover” of Europe is leading to a “Great White Death,” which was amplified by a Russian troll factory that sought to portray Western society as at risk of “Islamization.” (NBC News)
3/ The Trump administration is challenging Native Americans’ exemption from new Medicaid work rules because it would be illegal preferential treatment. Meaning Native Americans would need to get a job if they want to keep their health care in states that institute work requirements for Medicaid. The administration has allowed three states – Arkansas, Kentucky and Indiana – to begin instituting such requirements, and at least 10 other states have submitted or are preparing applications. (Politico)
4/ The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted in favor of Mike Pompeo’s nomination for secretary of state, after Rand Paul flipped from opposing to supporting. The committee approved Pompeo by an 11-to-10 vote along party lines and is expected to win confirmation from the full Senate later this week. Earlier, Trump tweeted that it’s “hard to believe Obstructionists May vote against Mike Pompeo for Secretary of State,” claiming Democrats “will not approve hundreds of good people” by “maxing out” the confirmation process. (Politico / Reuters / New York Times / NBC News)
Hard to believe Obstructionists May vote against Mike Pompeo for Secretary of State. The Dems will not approve hundreds of good people, including the Ambassador to Germany. They are maxing out the time on approval process for all, never happened before. Need more Republicans!
Sarah Huckabee Sanders: Democrats voting against Pompeo’s nomination don’t “love this country” and have to decide if “they hate this president” more. The press secretary’s comments came while she was appearing on Fox & Friends. (Daily Beast)
Pompeo has the support of three Democratic senators, increasing his chances of being confirmed by the full chamber. (CNN)
5/ Trump rejected speculation that Michael Cohen will flip, tweeting that he has “always liked and respected” his attorney. He added that “Most people will flip if the Government lets them out of trouble, even if it means lying or making up stories. Sorry, I don’t see Michael doing that despite the horrible Witch Hunt and the dishonest media!” In a flurry of weekend tweets, Trump called New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman a “third rate reporter” and a Clinton “flunkie” following her report that Cohen could end up cooperating with federal officials as legal fees and possible criminal charges pile up. (Washington Post)
The New York Times and a third rate reporter named Maggie Haberman, known as a Crooked H flunkie who I don’t speak to and have nothing to do with, are going out of their way to destroy Michael Cohen and his relationship with me in the hope that he will “flip.” They use....
....non-existent “sources” and a drunk/drugged up loser who hates Michael, a fine person with a wonderful family. Michael is a businessman for his own account/lawyer who I have always liked & respected. Most people will flip if the Government lets them out of trouble, even if....
Hillary Clinton: The First Amendment is “under open assault” in the Trump era. “We are living through an all-out war on truth, facts and reason,” Clinton said. “When leaders deny things we can see with our own eyes, like the size of a crowd at the inauguration, when they refuse to accept settled science when it comes to urgent challenges like climate change … it is the beginning of the end of freedom, and that is not hyperbole. It’s what authoritarian regimes through history have done.” (Washington Post)
6/ The former lawyer for both Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal is cooperating with investigators in the Michael Cohen probe. Keith Davidson provided the Southern District of New York with “certain limited electronic information” about the confidentiality agreements he negotiated between Cohen and the two women regarding their alleged affairs with Trump. (CNN)
Stormy Daniels is telling the truth that somebody threatened her to stay silent about her affair with Trump, according to her friend and fellow porn star. Jessica Drake is named in the nondisclosure agreement Daniels signed as somebody with whom she discussed her alleged affair with Trump. Drake claims she refused a $10,000 offer to have sex with Trump after meeting him during a Lake Tahoe golf event in 2006. (ABC News)
7/ Kellyanne Conway accused CNN of sexism for asking about her husband’s critical Trump tweets. Conway said the question by CNN’s Dana Bash “was meant to harass and embarrass,” which was inappropriate and created a “double standard.” Conway’s husband, George Conway, has been tweeting and retweeting critical comments about Trump, but deleted a handful of tweets last month. (The Hill / Politico / CNN)
8/ During Barbara Bush’s funeral, Trump tweeted about the DNC’s lawsuit over hacked emails, accused James Comey of leaking classified memos, and called Jeff Sessions “Mr. Magoo” and Rod Rosenstein “Mr. Peepers.” Melania Trump, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush, and Michelle Obama, meanwhile, attended the service. On MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Mika Brzezinski called Trump’s tweets “especially insulting to the United States of America” on a day “the world said goodbye to Barbara Bush.” (The Hill)
9/ Trump’s legislative affairs director won’t rule out Trump firing Robert Mueller or Rod Rosenstein, saying the special counsel has moved outside his original mandate. Marc Short said: “We believe the scope has gone well beyond what was intended to be Russian meddling in the election,” adding, “We don’t know how far off the investigation is going to veer.” (Politico)
poll/ 78% of Americans believe teachers are underpaid, but only 52% support the teacher walkouts protesting low teacher pay and school funding cuts. (Associated Press)
poll/ 59% of registered voters believe that Trump does not deserve to be re-elected. 37% of voters say Trump deserves re-election, which is on par with Clinton (38%) and Obama (37%) who had similar figures at the time of the 1994 and 2010 midterm elections, respectively. (Gallup)
Notables.
Mitt Romney failed to win the Utah Republican Party’s nomination and will now face 11 challengers in a June primary for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Orrin Hatch. (Reuters)
The Treasury Department eased sanctions on a Russian aluminum producer tied to Oleg Deripaska, a Russian oligarch who is close to Putin. (Politico)
A federal appeals court ruled that the Trump administration cannot delay fines for “gas-guzzling” cars that violate fuel efficiency standards. In July 2017, the Department of Transportation indefinitely postponed a scheduled increase in penalties for automakers while it reviewed the Corporate Average Fuel Economy program. (The Hill)
The Supreme Court will consider Trump’s third iteration of his travel ban on Wednesday, which bars most nationals from a small group of mostly Muslim nations. This is the first time the court has considered the merits of the policy. (Washington Post)
Sean Hannity is linked to a group of shell companies that spent $90 million buying more than 870 homes in seven states over the past decade through foreclosures and a Department of Housing and Urban Development assistance program. For some of the mortgages, Hannity obtained funding from HUD under the National Housing Act loan program, which the Fox News host didn’t disclose when he interviewed HUD secretary Ben Carson on his show last June. (The Guardian)
Hannity called it “ironic” that he’s “being attacked for investing my personal money in communities that badly need such investment.” In 2014, Hannity bought two apartment complexes in Georgia for $22.7 million, but funded the purchases with $17.9 million in mortgages through HUD’s National Housing Act program. (Politico)
The White House is cautioning Republicans and conservative allies to temper their defense of Scott Pruitt. Four Republicans and 170 Democrats have called on Pruitt to step down. (Bloomberg)
The RNC spent nearly $225,000 at Mar-a-Lago in March, according to Federal Election Commission reports. (The Hill / Daily Beast)
Ivana Trump: Donald “should just go and play golf” instead of running for reelection in 2020. “I’ll tell you something, I don’t think it’s necessary,” she said. “I think he probably [misses] a little bit of freedom, I don’t think he probably knew how much is involved of being the president. It’s so [much] information — you have to know the whole world.” (Page Six)
1/ The Democratic National Committee filed a lawsuit against the Russian government, the Trump campaign and WikiLeaks alleging a conspiracy to help Trump win the 2016 election. The 66-page lawsuit claims that Russian hacking, the Trump associates’ contacts with Russia, and the public cheerleading by the campaign of the hacks amounted to conspiracy to interfere in the election and cause damage to the Democratic Party. DNC Chairman Tom Perez said in a statement: “This constituted an act of unprecedented treachery: the campaign of a nominee for President of the United States in league with a hostile foreign power to bolster its own chance to win the presidency.” If the lawsuit proceeds, Trump and his campaign aides could be forced to submit to depositions that require them to answer questions under oath. (Washington Post / Reuters / New York Times / CNN)
2/ Trump invited Putin to the U.S. during a phone call on March 20. Trump reportedly said he “would be glad to see [Putin] in the White House,” according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. (Reuters)
3/ Roger Stone: Trump has long treated Michael Cohen “like garbage.” Trump’s lawyers and advisers believe Cohen, faced with the prospect of legal fees and criminal charges, could end up cooperating with federal officials investigating him for the work he did for Trump. A half-dozen people familiar with the relationship, say Trump had treated Cohen poorly for years, with insults, dismissive statements and, at least twice, threats of being fired. Cohen, who once said he would “take a bullet” for Trump, tried to apologize to Melania Trump for the news about Stormy Daniels. (New York Times)
4/ A federal judge said Michael Cohen will needs to plead the Fifth Amendment in order to delay the Stormy Daniels lawsuit. The judge gave Cohen until next Wednesday to do so. Cohen wanted the judge to grant a stay for at least 90 days. (NBC News)
5/ The Justice Department sent partially redacted copies of James Comey’s memos – 15 pages in total – to Congress, which leaked to the public within hours. The memos cover the first three months of the Trump administration. Following the release, Trump tweeted that the memos “show clearly that there was NO COLLUSION and NO OBSTRUCTION.” (Associated Press / New York Times / Washington Post)
James Comey Memos just out and show clearly that there was NO COLLUSION and NO OBSTRUCTION. Also, he leaked classified information. WOW! Will the Witch Hunt continue?
At least two of the memos that Comey gave to a friend contained information that officials now consider classified, prompting a review by the Justice Department’s internal watchdog. (Wall Street Journal)
6/ Trump was annoyed with Michael Flynn for making Putin wait six days for a return congratulatory phone call. Trump complained that Flynn “has serious judgment issues” as a result. Days before Michael Flynn was fired, then-White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus asked Comey if Flynn’s communications were being monitored under a FISA surveillance warrant. (Reuters / The Guardian)
7/ Trump tweeted that Michael Flynn’s life is now “totally destroyed” while “Shadey James Comey can Leak and Lie and make lots of money from a third rate book.” Flynn pleaded guilty in December to lying to federal agents and is cooperating with Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election and whether the Trump campaign was involved. (Bloomberg)
So General Michael Flynn’s life can be totally destroyed while Shadey James Comey can Leak and Lie and make lots of money from a third rate book (that should never have been written). Is that really the way life in America is supposed to work? I don’t think so!
8/ Putin once told Trump that Russia has “some of the most beautiful hookers in the world,” according to Comey. In a memo dated Feb. 8, 2017, Comey writes that Trump “brought up the ‘Golden Showers thing,’” saying that “‘the hookers thing’ is nonsense.” (The Hill)
9/ Comey explained why he thinks “it’s possible” that Russia has compromising information on Trump. First, he says, is that “the President is constantly bringing it up with me to deny it.” And, second, Trump “wouldn’t criticize Vladimir Putin even in private, which struck me as odd.” (CNN)
10/ Trump pressed Jeff Sessions and FBI Director Christopher Wray to find derogatory information on two senior FBI officials. Trump wanted to know why Peter Strzok and Lisa Page were still in their jobs, following allegations by his allies that they had been disloyal and had unfairly targeted him and his administration. Trump wanted information about Strzok and Page turned over to congressional Republicans in order to discredit them. (Vox)
BACKGROUND:
Strzok helped oversee the probe of Hillary Clinton’s email use and the investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Page provided legal and strategic advice about both investigations to both Comey and McCabe.
The two repeatedly disparaged Trump in their private text messages to each other.
11/ Trump’s legal team is still negotiating a possible interview with Robert Mueller, according to White House lawyer Ty Cobb. “The Cohen searches have not yet changed our strategy or level of cooperation with the special counsel,” Cobb said, referring to recent raids on the home, hotel room and workplace of Michael Cohen. At the time, it was reported that Trump was “less inclined” to sit for an interview with Mueller. (Daily Beast)
12/ Trump complained to advisers that Neil Gorsuch has been too liberal in recent cases. Trump was “incensed” that Gorsuch voted against the administration on an immigration case, renewing Trump’s doubts that Gorsuch would be a reliable conservative. (Washington Post / The Hill)
13/ In May 1984, Trump – pretending to be a Trump Organization executive – lied about his wealth to a Forbes reporter so he could make the Forbes 400 list. Trump, posing as “John Barron,” called Jonathan Greenberg and claimed he was worth $100 million. At the time, Trump was worth less than $5 million. (Washington Post)
Notables.
Trump will not attend Barbara Bush’s funeral in order to “avoid disruptions” and out of respect for her family and friends. (CNN)
Scott Pruitt spent $45,000 to fly a five-person “advance” team to Australia to prepare for meetings that were later canceled. (Reuters)
Mitch McConnell is intent on confirming as many conservative judges as possible to lifetime appointments this year, in part out of concern that Democrats may take back the Senate. Trump has already nominated 69 judges, but there are still 149 total vacancies. (Politico)
Andrew McCabe plans to sue the Trump administration for defamation and wrongful termination and other possible civil claims. (Axios / The Hill)
Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp will support Mike Pompeo’s nomination for secretary of state, becoming the first Democrat to say she’ll vote for the current CIA director. Pompeo is expected to receive an unfavorable recommendation from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, but GOP leaders plan to bring the nomination to the Senate floor anyway late next week. (CNN / New York Times)
A man linked to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks was captured in Syria by U.S.-backed forces more than a month ago. The 9/11 Commission report, a Congressional account of the 2001 attacks, said Mohammad Haydar Zammar was an “outspoken, flamboyant Islamist” who extolled “the virtues of violent jihad.” (Reuters)
Jared Kushner’s family business received a federal subpoena. Investigators are looking into whether the real estate company repeatedly filed false paperwork that claimed it had zero rent-regulated tenants, when it had hundreds. (Wall Street Journal / The Hill)
Wall Street banks saved at least $3.59 billion combined in taxes last quarter under Trump’s new tax law. (Associated Press)
1/ Rod Rosenstein told Trump last week that he isn’t a target of any part of Robert Mueller’s investigation. Following the meeting, Trump told his advisers that it’s not the right time to remove Rosenstein or Mueller since he’s not a target of the probe. Yesterday, at Mar-a-Lago, Trump told reporters “they’ve been saying I’m going to get rid of [Rosenstein and Mueller] for the last three months, four months, five months.” He added: “And they’re still here.” While Trump may not officially be a target now, he could become one in the future. (Bloomberg)
2/ Trump’s congressional allies threatened to impeach Rod Rosenstein if he didn’t provide them with documents about the FBI’s conduct related to the Russia probe and the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email server. Representatives Mark Meadows and Jim Jordan said Rosenstein could also be held in contempt of Congress if he doesn’t satisfy their demands for documents. Critics say the two Republicans are attempting to build a case against Rosenstein in hopes of closing the Mueller investigation. (Washington Post)
3/ The Justice Department will send James Comey’s memos to three congressional committees, which document the former FBI director’s interactions with Trump. It’s unclear if the memos will be redacted, but the House Intelligence, Oversight and Judiciary committees requested copies of the memos in both redacted and de-classified/un-redacted form last week. The memos are believed to be central to Mueller’s obstruction of justice investigation. (CNN / ABC News / Politico)
4/ The special counsel suspects that Paul Manafort served as a “back channel” between the Trump campaign and Russians intent on meddling in the presidential election. Manafort “had long-standing ties to Russia-backed politicians,” Justice Department attorney Michael Dreeben said. “Did they provide back channels to Russia? Investigators will naturally look at those things.” Manafort’s lawyers argued that Robert Mueller exceeded his authority when he indicted Manafort on charges of laundering millions of dollars while acting as an unregistered agent of the Ukrainian government. (Bloomberg)
5/ Trump: We’ll put sanctions on Russia “as soon as they very much deserve it,” adding that “there has been nobody tougher on Russia than Donald Trump.” The third-person comment capped a four-day stretch of confusion over whether the Trump administration would punish Moscow for its role in a recent chemical attack in Syria. (The Hill)
6/ Michael Cohen dropped a pair of libel suits against BuzzFeed and Fusion GPS over the publication of the dossier that details alleged ties between Trump and Russia. The dossier claims Cohen met with Russian operatives somewhere in Europe to “clean up the mess” created by the public disclosures of Trump associates’ ties to Russia. Pursuing the suit would require Cohen to “face a discovery process that would have forced him to defend his reputation and address the allegations of the Steele dossier under penalty of perjury.” (Politico / Washington Post)
7/ Trump’s legal advisers warned that Michael Cohen would flip and cooperate with federal prosecutors if faced with criminal charges. “They’re going to threaten him with a long prison term and try to turn him into a canary that sings,” said lawyer Alan Dershowitz, who met with Trump and his staff over two days at the White House last week. Jay Goldberg, who represented Trump in the 1990s and early 2000s, told the president not to trust Cohen, and on a scale of 100 to 1, where 100 is fully protecting the president, Cohen “isn’t even a 1.” (Wall Street Journal / Politico)
8/ The Justice Department’s inspector general referred its finding to federal prosecutors to determine whether Andrew McCabe should be charged with a crime for repeatedly misleading investigators. The referral came days after the inspector general, Michael Horowitz, released a report accusing McCabe of demonstrating a lack of candor and releasing sensitive information related to an ongoing criminal investigation. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN)
9/ Rudy Giuliani is joining Trump’s personal legal team to “negotiate an end” to the special counsel’s investigation “for the good of the country.” Giuliani added: “I have high regard for the president and for Bob Mueller.” (CNBC / Washington Post)
poll/ White evangelical support for Trump is at an all-time high, with 75% holding a favorable view of the president and 22% holding an unfavorable view. (Public Religion Research Institute)
Notables.
Trump will skip his summit with Kim Jong Un if he thinks the talks aren’t going to be “fruitful,” but said he’ll “remain flexible.” (Politico)
North Korea said it no longer demands that the U.S. remove troops from South Korea as a condition for denuclearization. For decades, North Korea demanded the withdrawal of 28,500 American troops, citing their presence as a pretext to justify its development of nuclear weapons. (New York Times)
A federal judge ruled that the Trump administration’s cuts to the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program were unlawful. The administration notified 81 organizations last summer that their five-year grants would end in 2018, rather than in 2020. (The Hill)
More than two dozen House and Senate Republicans have refused to endorse Trump’s bid for re-election. Trump announced his re-election bid immediately after taking office. (CNN)
43 House Republican incumbents have raised less money than their Democratic challengers in the first three months of 2018, and 16 Republican incumbents have less cash on hand than their Democratic challengers. (Politico)
The Senate confirmed Trump’s pick for NASA administrator, despite deep concerns from Democrats that he lacks the scientific and management expertise to lead the space agency. (Washington Post)
A federal appeals court blocked the Trump administration from making federal grant funding contingent on cooperation with immigration enforcement. A three-judge panel on the Chicago-based 7th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed that the administration exceeded its legal authority in trying to implement the conditions without approval from Congress. (Politico / The Hill)
Trump tweeted that he will not pay for California’s new deployment of National Guard troops after Gov. Jerry Brown said the troops will focus on combating transnational crime and drug smuggling and not immigration enforcement on the Mexican border, as Trump envisioned. (Los Angeles Times)
1/ Defense Secretary James Mattis wanted to get Congressional approval before bombing Syria last week. Trump overruled him because he wanted his tweets to be supported by action, despite warnings that an overly aggressive strike could spark a larger dispute with Russia. A limited airstrike on three targets was the compromise. (New York Times)
2/ Mike Pompeo met with Kim Jong Un over Easter weekend for a top-secret visit to lay the groundwork for direct talks between Trump and the North Korean leader. Pompeo was nominated as secretary of state shortly after the meeting. Trump is expected to meet with Kim by June. While meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday, Trump said his administration has “had direct talks at very high levels, extremely high levels with North Korea.” (Washington Post / New York Times)
3/ Sarah Huckabee Sanders said “the administration does not comment on the CIA director’s travel.” Hours later, Trump tweeted that “Pompeo met with Kim Jong Un in North Korea last week. Meeting went very smoothly and a good relationship was formed.” (Reuters)
Mike Pompeo met with Kim Jong Un in North Korea last week. Meeting went very smoothly and a good relationship was formed. Details of Summit are being worked out now. Denuclearization will be a great thing for World, but also for North Korea!
4/ Two Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will vote against Mike Pompeo, Trump’s nominee for secretary of state. Pompeo can still be confirmed by the full Senate without the committee’s support. Republicans hold a 11-10 majority on the committee and Republican Rand Paul has already said he’s also “no.” (Reuters / CNN)
5/ Nikki Haley: “I don’t get confused.” The comment by the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations comes in response to a White House official attributing her statement that Trump would impose sanctions on Russia to “momentary confusion.” Larry Kudlow, the president’s national economics adviser, said Haley “got ahead of the curve.” Later, Kudlow called Haley to apologize, saying “she was certainly not confused.” He added: “She was basically following what she thought was policy. The policy was changed and she wasn’t told about it, so she was in a box.” The White House sent out a document – titled “White House talking points” – to surrogates on Saturday letting them know that Trump had decided to take punitive action against Moscow. (New York Times / Politico / CNN)
Haley said her relationship with Trump was “perfect.” (Reuters)
6/ Trump denied that he fired James Comey because of the Russia investigation, directly contradicting his own comments on Comey’s dismissal. In May 2017, Trump told NBC’s Lester Holt that his decision to fire Comey was “this Russia thing,” which he called “a made up story” and “an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should have won.” Today, Trump tweeted that “Slippery James Comey, the worst FBI Director in history, was not fired because of the phony Russia investigation,” adding the requisite all-caps “NO COLLUSION (except by the Dems)!” (CNN / Washington Post / Axios)
Slippery James Comey, the worst FBI Director in history, was not fired because of the phony Russia investigation where, by the way, there was NO COLLUSION (except by the Dems)!
7/ Trump dismissed the sketch of the person that Stormy Daniels claims threatened her years ago on Trump’s behalf, calling the person a “nonexistent man” and said the sketch was a “total con job, playing the Fake News Media for Fools (but they know it)!” (ABC News / New York Times)
A sketch years later about a nonexistent man. A total con job, playing the Fake News Media for Fools (but they know it)! https://t.co/9Is7mHBFda
8/ American Media Inc. let Karen McDougal out of her contract that kept her from talking about her affair with Trump. In August 2016 American Media, which owns the National Enquirer, purchased the rights to McDougal’s story and spiked it in exchange for $150,000. David Pecker, American Media’s chairman, is friends with Trump. (New York Times)
9/ Trump is still “apoplectic” about the FBI raids on Michael Cohen’s hotel room, office and home, a source close to the president said. Trump’s concerned that the FBI has everything, including everything he’s told Cohen, and doesn’t feel protected by the FBI “taint team” that’s supposed to separate out information subject to attorney client-privilege. (CNN)
poll/ The race between Ted Cruz and Beto O’Rourke is “too close to call.” 47% of Texas voters support Cruz while 43% back O’Rourke. (Quinnipiac)
Notables.
Barbara Bush died at the age of 92 after a series of recent hospitalizations. Bush had recently refused to seek any further medical treatment. (NBC News)
The Senate Judiciary Committee will take up legislation to protect Robert Mueller despite opposition from Mitch McConnell. The legislation is on the agenda for a committee business meeting on Thursday, but an actual vote is expected to be delayed until next week. (The Hill)
Puerto Rico hit with an island-wide blackout after an excavator accidentally downed a transmission line. Officials said it could take 24 to 36 hours to fully restore power to more than 1.4 million customers. (Associated Press)
New York’s attorney general is trying change a state law so he can bring criminal charges against aides Trump pardons. Eric Schneiderman wants to exempt New York’s double jeopardy law from cases involving presidential pardons. (New York Times)
Mick Mulvaney said the Office of Management and Budget is opening a probe into Scott Pruitt’s spending since he took over the EPA. The OMB will look into the $43,000 spent on a “secure phone booth” for Pruitt’s office at EPA headquarters. (ABC News)
A group of 131 representatives and 39 senators introduced a resolution calling for Scott Pruitt to resign for ethics lapses. The resolution states that the co-signers have “no confidence in the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and [are] calling for the immediate resignation of the Administrator.” (The Hill / Reuters)
Trump’s trade representative Robert Lighthizer is spending nearly $1 million on new furniture. He blamed the Obama administration for the costs. (New York Post)
Trump tweeted that sanctuary cities are where undocumented immigrants go for “breeding.” (CNN)
Bob Corker said Trump governs in a state of “constant chaos” and denounced his attacks on the FBI and the media. The Republican senator once described the White House as an “adult day-care center.” (Washington Post)
Madeleine Albright: Trump is “the least democratic president of modern history.” The former secretary of state said the modern world provides a “petri dish” for fascism. (The Atlantic)
1/ The Supreme Court ruled that a law subjecting immigrants to deportation for some “crimes of violence” is unconstitutionally vague. Justice Neil Gorsuch – Trump’s pick for the Supreme Court – joined with the court’s liberal justices, providing the swing vote for the first time in a 5-4 ruling that invalidated the federal statute. (CNN / Politico / USA Today)
2/ The Senate will not take up legislation limiting Trump’s ability to fire Robert Mueller. “I’m the one who decides what we take to the floor,” Mitch McConnell said, “that’s my responsibility as the majority leader and we will not be having this on the floor of the Senate.” McConnell’s statement comes about a week after Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley said his panel would take up and vote on the measure during a meeting on April 26. A handful of House Republicans have also endorsed legislation that would protect the special counsel. (The Hill / Washington Post / Politico)
3/ Trump rejected a new round of sanctions that would have been imposed against Russia on Monday. Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters that “a decision will be made in the near future,” and Trump has now decided to not move forward with the sanctions. She added that Trump “has been clear that he’s going to be tough on Russia, but at the same time he’d still like to have a good relationship with them.” (New York Times)
4/ Trump’s National Economic Council chairman said Nikki Haley “got ahead” of herself in announcing new sanctions on Russia. Larry Kudlow insisted there was no confusion within the administration about the sanctions. Trump signed off on the sanctions package, but changed his mind following the airstrikes in Syria. “Russia sanctions were a part of the agreed-upon plan going into the strike and going into the weekend,” said a senior administration official. “As recently as Saturday that was reconfirmed as part of the plan.” (CNN / Politico)
Haley responds: “I don’t get confused.” (New York Times)
5/ A broadband adviser chosen by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai was arrested last week and charged with fraud for tricking investors into pouring more than $250 million into an Alaska-based fiber optic cable company. Elizabeth Pierce used forged contracts with other companies to guarantee investors hundreds of millions of dollars in future revenue. Pierce stepped down from her role as head of the Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee in September of last year. (Wall Street Journal / The Verge)
6/ Fox News pledged “full support” of Sean Hannity after it was revealed that he had an “informal relationship” with Michael Cohen. In a statement, the network said it “was surprised by the announcement in court yesterday.” (Reuters / CNN)
Sean Hannity has been represented by two other Trump-connected lawyers: Victoria Toensing and Jay Sekulow. The duo, acting as “Counsel for Sean Hannity,” once sent a cease-and-desist letter to a radio station based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Sekulow is Trump’s personal attorney working full-time on the response to Robert Mueller’s inquiry. He recently announced he was hiring Toensing to join him, but reversed course due to unspecified conflicts. (The Atlantic)
7/ The Trump campaign paid $66,000 to Keith Schiller’s lawyer, Trump’s former longtime bodyguard. Schiller’s lawyers, Schertler & Onorato LLP, received a single payment in January, despite having left his White House job in September. Schiller testified to the House Intelligence Committee in November that someone made an offer to send five women to Trump’s hotel room in Moscow during to the 2013 Miss Universe pageant. Schiller said he turned down the offer on Trump’s behalf and that no women ever came, as far as he was aware. Federal election law allows the use of campaign money for legal fees, but only if the fees are related to a matter connected to the campaign. (NBC News)
8/ Stormy Daniels and her lawyer unveiled a forensic sketch of the man she said threatened her seven years ago to keep quiet about her alleged affair with Trump. She is offering a $100,000 reward for information about the man she described as handsome and fit with sandy brown, slicked-back hair, about 5-foot-9 to 6 feet tall, and in his 30s or 40s. (USA Today / The Daily Beast)
9/ Trump has been advised not to back a candidate in the race to succeed outgoing House Speaker Paul Ryan. Trump wanted to endorse House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, but his advisers are concerned that an endorsement could complicate his future relationship with the next GOP leader. (ABC News)
10/ Scott Pruitt upgraded his official car to a larger, customized SUV with bullet-resistant seat covers. The first year’s lease of the Chevy Suburban cost $10,200. (Washington Post)
11/ Trump said the U.S. has had “direct talks” with North Korea at “extremely high levels,” adding that the U.S. was reviewing five locations for a one-on-one with Kim Jong Un. Trump is tentatively scheduled to meet Kim in early June. (Politico / Washington Post)
12/ North and South Korea are reportedly set to announce an official end to their 68-year war. Pyongyang and Seoul have technically been at war since the 1950-1953 Korean conflict ended with a truce – and not a peace treaty. While meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at Mar-a-Lago, Trump said the two Koreas “have my blessing to discuss the end of the war.” (CNBC / Associated Press)
poll/ Roughly 7 in 10 Americans support tougher U.S. sanctions on Russia, while nearly half say Trump has done “too little” to address Russia’s alleged violations of international law. Meanwhile, 52% say Trump should invite Putin to the White House in order to help improve U.S.-Russia relations; 42% oppose the invitation because they feel it would give Putin legitimacy. (Washington Post-ABC News poll)
poll/ 32% of all Americans have a favorable view of Robert Mueller. 30% view him unfavorably and 38% say they don’t know enough to have an opinion. Among Democrats, Mueller’s favorability is at 56%, while 49% of Republicans have an unfavorable impression of the special counsel. (NPR-PBS NewsHour-Marist poll)
Notables.
Ryan Zinke refers to himself as a geologist, even though he has never held a job as a geologist. The Interior Secretary has used the credential to justify everything from shrinking the Bears Ears national monument to making decisions regarding coal revenue, seismic activity, climate change, and endangered species, as well as fracking and drilling. (CNN)
GOP Congressman Charlie Dent will resign and leave office in May. Dent initially announced his resignation last year and said he planned to stay on until the end of his term, but has now decided, “after discussions with my family and careful reflection,” that he will instead leave office next month. (The Hill)
Sandy Hook parents are suing Alex Jones for defamation. The right-wing conspiracy theorist who operates Infowars has repeatedly claimed that the parents of the 20 dead children are “crisis actors” and that the shooting was “completely fake” and a “giant hoax” perpetrated by opponents of the Second Amendment. The parents are seeking at least $1 million in damages. (New York Times)
The IRS Direct Pay system went down on tax day and is still down. Direct Pay is the service that allows taxpayers to make their payments online. “This service is currently unavailable. We apologize for any inconvenience,” the website reads. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said online tax filers will get extension after the website outage. (USA Today / Fortune)
Trump requested an extension to file his 2017 taxes, as so “many Americans with complex returns” do, Sarah Huckabee Sanders said. Trumps returns will be filed by the Oct. 15 extension deadline. (New York Times)
1/ James Comey called Trump “morally unfit to be president” and likened “the loyalty oaths” to a mob boss at “the dominant center of everything” who is doing “tremendous damage” to institutional and cultural norms. In his Sunday interview with George Stephanopoulos, Comey said that it is “possible, but I don’t know” if Russia has compromising information on Trump. (ABC News / Reuters)
Annotated excerpts from James Comey’s “20/20” interview. (New York Times)
📚 Get Comey’s book: “A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership” (Amazon)
2/ Trump tweeted that Comey is a “not smart,” “self serving” liar, who deserves jail for being the “WORST FBI Director in history, by far.” The tweets came hours before Comey’s interview aired. Trump also insisted that Comey’s memos are “FAKE!” while doubling down on calling the former FBI director a “Slimeball!” Trump also charged that the only reason Comey reopened the Clinton email investigation in the final days of the 2016 election was because he wanted a job in her administration. Trump added: “I never asked Comey for Personal Loyalty.” (Washington Post)
Unbelievably, James Comey states that Polls, where Crooked Hillary was leading, were a factor in the handling (stupidly) of the Clinton Email probe. In other words, he was making decisions based on the fact that he thought she was going to win, and he wanted a job. Slimeball!
The big questions in Comey’s badly reviewed book aren’t answered like, how come he gave up Classified Information (jail), why did he lie to Congress (jail), why did the DNC refuse to give Server to the FBI (why didn’t they TAKE it), why the phony memos, McCabe’s $700,000 & more?
3/ Trump continued his Twitter attacks on Comey, accusing the former FBI director of lying to Congress and having “committed many crimes!” Trump did not specify what crimes he believed Comey and others have committed. (New York Times)
Comey drafted the Crooked Hillary exoneration long before he talked to her (lied in Congress to Senator G), then based his decisions on her poll numbers. Disgruntled, he, McCabe, and the others, committed many crimes!
Obama’s ethics lawyer believes Comey could sue Trump for libel and win. (The Hill)
4/ A federal judge rejected an attempt by Trump and Michael Cohen to block prosecutors from reviewing the materials seized in the FBI raids last week on Cohen’s office, home, hotel room, and safe deposit box. Trump had asked a federal judge to block the Justice Department from viewing evidence, arguing that some of the evidence seized should first be reviewed by Trump, because it may be covered by attorney-client privilege. (New York Times / Bloomberg / Washington Post)
5/ Michael Cohen also represents Sean Hannity, one of Trump’s outspoken advocates on cable TV. The revelation comes as part of a motion for a temporary restraining order to stop federal investigators from reviewing materials seized last week. The judge ordered Cohen to attend and provide information about his clients as she weighs the emergency action. Cohen’s attorneys acknowledged that he represented Trump and Elliott Broidy in legal matters, but avoided naming the third client. Under pressure from the judge, Cohen’s attorney said that the Fox News host was the third client. (Bloomberg / Politico / CNN / CNBC / NBC News)
Sean Hannity responds: “Michael Cohen has never represented me in any matter. I never retained him, received an invoice, or paid legal fees.” (Talking Points Memo)
Six times Sean Hannity defended Michael Cohen on Fox News. (Politico)
How Fox News reacted after Sean Hannity was revealed as Michael Cohen’s mystery client. (Slate)
6/ Trump wants the power to hire and fire all “officers of the United States” who “exercise significant authority” under the law. Trump’s solicitor general, Noel Francisco, intervened in a minor SEC case to urge the Supreme Court to clarify the president’s constitutional “power to oversee executive officers through removal.” The move comes as Trump has repeatedly claimed that he has the power to fire special prosecutor Robert Mueller. Francisco could also be in line to oversee the Mueller probe if Rod Rosenstein is fired. (Los Angeles Times)
7/ Paul Ryan: “I don’t think it’s necessary” to pass a bill to protect Robert Mueller from being fired by Trump. “I don’t think he’s going to fire Mueller.” Hundreds of former Justice Department employees, meanwhile, are urging Congress to “swiftly and forcefully respond” should Trump fire Mueller. (NBC News / Washington Post)
8/ Michael Cohen used the same Delaware LLC to handle the payoffs to Stormy Daniels and a former Playboy model who alleged Elliott Broidy impregnated her. Federal prosecutors are examining money flowing in and out of Essential Consultants as part of a broad investigation into Cohen’s activities to silence women with allegations against Trump or those near him. Separately, Cohen also killed a 2013 Us Weekly story that would have reported about Donald Trump Jr. having an affair with one of the singers in the group Dumblonde. (Wall Street Journal)
9/ Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign has spent about 22% of its funds raised on legal fees related to the ongoing special counsel investigation and a legal challenge by Stormy Daniels. The campaign has also spent about $125,000 at Trump businesses, including Trump International Hotel, Trump restaurants, and Trump Tower. (Washington Post / BuzzFeed News)
poll/ 56% of Americans disapprove of Trump’s job performance, versus 40% who approve. Those who strongly disapprove outnumber those who strongly approve by nearly 2-1. (ABC News)
poll/ 47% of voters want a Democratic-controlled Congress, compared to 40% who prefer a GOP-controlled Congress – down from the Democrats’ 10-point edge in March. (NBC News)
Notables.
Trump tried to block Pence’s national security adviser appointment. After Trump learned that Pence was bringing on Nikki Haley’s deputy, Jon Lerner, Trump told Kelly to get rid of Lerner. (Axios)
Jon Lerner stepped down two days after being named Pence’s new national security aide. Trump was told – in error – that Lerner was a “Never Trumper,” which caused him to boil over. Lerner offered to withdraw “to minimize the amount of conflict and internal drama.” (Reuters)
The Pentagon said there has been a “2,000% increase in Russian trolls in the last 24 hours,” following the airstrikes against Syria on Friday night. (Axios)
The Trump administration walked back Nikki Haley’s announcement that the U.S. Treasury plans to issue additional sanctions on Russia following the chemical weapons attack in Syria last week. “We are considering additional sanctions on Russia and a decision will be made in the near future,” Sarah Huckabee Sanders said. (The Hill)
Trump was “furious” that his administration was being portrayed in the media for taking the toughest stance on Russia following the announcement that the U.S. planned to expel 60 Russian diplomats and suspected spies. Trump believed that France and Germany would match the United States’ response. Instead, they each expelled four Russian officials. (Washington Post)
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke invited a self-professed “birther” on his radio show in 2013 and raised questions about then-President Obama’s college records. (CNN)
Scott Pruitt’s $43,000 secure “privacy booth” violated spending laws, the Government Accountability Office said. Pruitt told a congressional committee he needed the booth to make secure calls to the White House and discuss classified information, but he was unable to tell the lawmakers how often he would use it. (ABC News / Bloomberg / Washington Post)
Welcome to a rare Saturday edition of WTF Just Happened Today.
1/ The U.S., France, and Britain launched airstrikes targeting three Syrian chemical weapons facilities as Trump attempted to punish Bashar al-Assad for a chemical attack near Damascus last weekend that killed more than 40 people. The strikes targeted a scientific research center, a chemical weapons storage facility, and a command post. “We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents,” Trump said from the White House, adding that the U.S. and its allies had “marshaled their righteous power.” Putin called the airstrikes an “act of aggression against a sovereign state” and called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations’ Security Council. (New York Times / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
Trump sought advice on Syria from the lawyers defending him in the ongoing Russia investigation. (Wall Street Journal)
2/ Nikki Haley: Trump is “locked and loaded” to strike again if Syria uses chemical weapons again. The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations’ comment came during an emergency Security Council meeting called by Russia. (Washington Post)
3/ Trump declared “mission accomplished” following the airstrikes on three Syria targets, drawing comparisons to George W. Bush’s optimism about the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. Trump added: It “could not have had a better result.” (CNN / Bloomberg)
A perfectly executed strike last night. Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!
4/ Russian military claimed that Syrian air defenses shot down 71 of the 103 missiles fired by the US and its allies. The Pentagon denied the claim. (The Guardian)
5/ Robert Mueller has evidence that Michael Cohen made a secret trip to Prague during the 2016 presidential campaign, entering through Germany in “August or early September.” Confirmation of the trip corroborates part of the Christopher Steele dossier that Cohen met with an ally of Putin. Cohen has denied that he has ever been in Prague and that he colluded with Russia during the campaign. (McClatchy DC)
6/ A former Russian spy worked on the Moscow Trump tower deal during the 2016 presidential campaign. The former agent, who had served in the GRU, negotiated for financing for a Trump-branded tower in Moscow from a Russian state-owned bank that was under US sanctions at the time. The former Russian spy also passed intelligence to the US on key national security matters, including al-Qaeda’s weapons caches and North Korea’s attempts to develop nuclear weapons. (BuzzFeed News)
7/ The FBI seized recordings of conversations between Michael Cohen and the lawyer who represented Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal. Cohen recorded some calls he had with Keith Davidson, who at the time represented both Daniels and McDougal. (CNN)
1/ Rod Rosenstein is prepared to be fired by Trump, telling confidants he has done his job with integrity and repeating the phrase “Here I stand.” In recent private conversations, Rosenstein said history will prove he did the right thing by firing James Comey in May 2017, adding that Americans don’t have all the facts about what led to his decision to write the memo that led to Comey’s dismissal. If Rosenstein is fired, the next in line to oversee Mueller’s probe is Solicitor General Noel Francisco. Trump, however, could choose to replace Rosenstein with anyone who has been confirmed by the Senate. (NBC News)
Rosenstein has consulted with a career ethics adviser at the Justice Department throughout the Russia probe on whether he needs to recuse himself from the investigation. He’s followed their advice, which legal experts say legitimizes his decision to stay on. (CNN)
2/ James Comey called Trump an “unethical” man “untethered to truth and institutional values” in his new book, “A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies and Leadership.” Comey describes Trump and his advisers as being unconcerned with whether Russia meddled in the election, but rather “debat[ing] how to position these findings for maximum political advantage.” Trump, as president-elect, disputed the Steele dossier allegations that he watched sex workers urinate on each other. Comey writes that Trump insisted that “there’s no way I would let people pee on each other around me” because he is a self-professed germaphobe. “I don’t know,” Comey told ABC News, if Trump “was with prostitutes peeing on each other in Moscow in 2013.” (NBC News / New York Times / CNN)
New York Times Book Review: James Comey Has a Story to Tell. It’s Very Persuasive. (New York Times)
📚 Get your copy of “A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies and Leadership.”
3/ Trump tweets that Comey is a “weak and untruthful slime ball” who deserved to be fired “for the terrible job he did.” He added that Comey is a “proven LEAKER and LIAR” and that “it was my great honor to fire James Comey!” The pair of tweets are Trump’s first remarks since advance copies of “A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies and Leadership” surfaced. ABC’s “20/20” will air an interview with Comey on Sunday morning, while Fox News will air a special called “The Trial of James Comey” on Sunday night. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News)
James Comey is a proven LEAKER & LIAR. Virtually everyone in Washington thought he should be fired for the terrible job he did-until he was, in fact, fired. He leaked CLASSIFIED information, for which he should be prosecuted. He lied to Congress under OATH. He is a weak and.....
....untruthful slime ball who was, as time has proven, a terrible Director of the FBI. His handling of the Crooked Hillary Clinton case, and the events surrounding it, will go down as one of the worst “botch jobs” of history. It was my great honor to fire James Comey!
4/ The Republican National Committee launched a “Lyin’ Comey” website aimed at discrediting the former FBI chief. The GOP plans to fact check James Comey’s book and use “rapid response” to highlight any “misstatements” or “contradictions” in it. (Fox News)
5/ Trump’s allies are worried that the FBI may have seized recordings of conversations between Michael Cohen and his associates. “We heard he had some proclivity to make tapes,” said one Trump adviser. “Now we are wondering, who did he tape?” Cohen is known to record some of his conversations and store them as digital files. On Monday, FBI agents seized Cohen’s computers and phones. (Washington Post)
6/ Trump’s advisers believe the investigation into Michael Cohen poses a greater and more imminent threat to his presidency than Robert Mueller’s investigation. Cohen and Trump, through their lawyers, argue that the seized records were protected by attorney-client privilege. Trump called Cohen to “check in” as lawyers for the two men went to court to block the Justice Department from reading the seized documents. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, meanwhile, said she wasn’t sure if Cohen was still Trump’s personal attorney. (New York Times / Bloomberg)
7/ Cohen and a lawyer for Trump requested an emergency temporary restraining order to prevent prosecutors from looking at the materials seized in the FBI raids on Cohen’s office, home, and hotel room earlier this week. Cohen and the lawyer argued that the president has “an acute interest in this matter” because some of the materials are protected by attorney-client privilege. (CNBC / Reuters / NBC News)
8/ Cohen has been “under criminal investigation” for months in New York for his business dealings, federal prosecutors said in court documents. The revelation came as Cohen and Trump sought a court order barring federal prosecutors from accessing the records they took during raids on Cohen’s home and office Monday morning. (ABC News / NPR / CNN)
FBI agents who raided Cohen’s office sought information about taxi owners who had financial dealings with Trump’s personal attorney. The warrant specifically identified two Ukrainian immigrants who own a large taxi operation in Chicago. Cohen repeatedly loaned money to Semyon and Yasya Shatayner within the past 10 years. (CNN)
9/ Cohen negotiated a deal in late 2017 to pay $1.6 million to a former Playboy model who said she was impregnated by a top Republican fundraiser. Cohen arranged the payments to the woman on behalf of Elliott Broidy, a deputy finance chairman of the Republican National Committee with ties to Trump. In a statement, Broidy acknowledged that he “had a consensual relationship with a Playboy Playmate” who got pregnant. (Wall Street Journal / Washington Post)
10/ Elliott Broidy resigned as Republican National Committee deputy finance chair following reports that Trump’s attorney, Michael Cohen, had negotiated a $1.6 million payment on his behalf to a Playboy Playmate who said that Broidy had impregnated her. (Politico / Wall Street Journal)
11/ The Justice Department inspector general found that former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe “lacked candor” on four occasions when discussing the alleged improper authorization of information to a newspaper reporter and then misleading investigators about it. Trump tweeted that the report “is a total disaster. He LIED! LIED! LIED! McCabe was totally controlled by Comey - McCabe is Comey!! No collusion, all made up by this den of thieves and lowlifes!” McCabe was fired by Attorney General Jeff Sessions just hours before his retirement and the FBI officially filled McCabe’s roll with Associate Deputy Director David Bowdich today. (CNN / New York Times / Politico)
DOJ just issued the McCabe report - which is a total disaster. He LIED! LIED! LIED! McCabe was totally controlled by Comey - McCabe is Comey!! No collusion, all made up by this den of thieves and lowlifes!
McCabe’s lawyer may file a defamation lawsuit against Trump and his “colleagues” in response to a Trump tweet that claimed McCabe had “LIED! LIED! LIED.” (ABC News)
[PDF] Inspector General Report of allegations relating to former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe. (New York Times)
poll/ 69% of Americans support Mueller’s investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. 64% support Mueller investigating Trump’s business activities, and 58% support looking at allegations that Trump’s associates paid hush money to women who say they had affairs with him. (ABC News)
poll/ 48% to 32% see Comey as more believable than Trump. 47% disapprove of Trump’s decision to fire Comey, compared to 44% who approve. (Washington Post)
Notables.
Trump pardoned Scooter Libby for lying to investigators probing the leak of CIA officer Valerie Plame’s identity. Libby served as the former chief of staff for Dick Cheney during the George W. Bush administration. Bush commuted Libby’s 30-month prison sentence while leaving the 2007 conviction intact. (ABC News / Bloomberg)
A Health and Human Services appointee shared an image in 2017 that said “our forefathers would have hung” Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for treason. (CNN)
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai rejected a request from a dozen senators to investigate Sinclair Broadcast Group for “distorting news” coverage, saying an investigation would conflict with the First Amendment and freedom of the press. Sinclair forced anchors to read a scripted promo warning of “fake news” and media bias. (The Hill)
The U.S. accused Syrian of using banned chemical arms at least 50 times since Syria’s civil war began seven years ago. (New York Times)
Trump has been pushing for an attack on Syria that would punish the Syrian regime, Russia, and Iran. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, meanwhile, is warning that retaliation must be balanced against the threat of a wider war in order to “keep this from escalating.” (New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
1/ Steve Bannon is working with White House aides and Congressional allies on a plan to undermine Robert Mueller’s probe. The plan involves firing Rod Rosenstein, refusing to cooperate with Mueller’s team, and having Trump assert executive privilege “retroactively” in order to argue that Mueller’s interviews with White House officials over the past year should now be null and void. Bannon also said “Ty Cobb should be fired immediately.” Trump, however, tweeted that he has “full confidence in Ty Cobb.” (Washington Post)
I have agreed with the historically cooperative, disciplined approach that we have engaged in with Robert Mueller (Unlike the Clintons!). I have full confidence in Ty Cobb, my Special Counsel, and have been fully advised throughout each phase of this process.
2/ A Trump interview with Robert Mueller is now unlikely to take place following Monday’s FBI raid of Michael Cohen’s home, office, and hotel room, which has “significantly complicated” negotiations for a presidential interview, according to a person familiar with the discussions. Trump’s lawyers wanted a potential interview to last only a few hours, as well as force Mueller to release his report within three or four months. An interview was considered one of the last steps Mueller needed before closing the obstruction of justice portion of his Russia investigation. (NBC News)
3/ Trump asked James Comey to investigate “the golden showers thing” and “prove it was a lie” in January 2017 so he could “lift the cloud” because it upset Melania Trump. The infamous dossier, compiled by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, alleges that Trump watched sex workers urinate on themselves in the same Moscow suite that the Obamas had stayed in previously “as a way of soiling the bed.” Comey said Trump was obsessed with the sex workers portion of the dossier, asking about it at least four times. (Washington Post)
4/ Trump’s allies plan to discredit James Comey with digital advertising branding him “Lyin’ Comey” in an effort to undermine the credibility of the former FBI director ahead of his book launch next week. Republican talking points attack Comey’s credibility, conduct, and point out contradictions. (CNN)
Trump tweet-promoted Sean Hannity’s segment last night, in which Hannity tried to connect the “obvious Deep State crime families trying to take down the president” to the Clinton “family,” the Comey “family” and the Mueller “family.” (Washington Post)
5/ The White House is preparing talking points designed to undermine Rod Rosenstein’s credibility and cast the deputy attorney general as too conflicted to fairly oversee the Russia investigation. The White House is hoping that Trump’s defenders will paint Rosenstein and Comey as close colleagues and argue that Rosenstein is approving an expanding investigation as “payback for the President firing one of his best friends.” (CNN)
6/ Trump tweeted that an attack on Syria “could be very soon or not soon at all!” Trump, trying to clarify his tweet yesterday that U.S. missiles “will be coming,” claimed that he “never said when an attack on Syria would take place.” In response, Syria moved its military aircraft to the Russian base near Latakia yesterday. (New York Times / Washington Post)
Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria. Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and “smart!” You shouldn’t be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!
Never said when an attack on Syria would take place. Could be very soon or not so soon at all! In any event, the United States, under my Administration, has done a great job of ridding the region of ISIS. Where is our “Thank you America?”
7/ During his Secretary of State confirmation hearing, CIA Director Pompeo told senators that he has been interviewed by Robert Mueller. He declined to answer questions about his testimony to Mueller — or conversations with Trump — saying that the investigation is ongoing. (The Hill / Axios)
Pompeo failed to disclose last year that he owned a business that imported equipment from a company owned by the Chinese government. Pompeo’s new questionnaire submitted to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for his Secretary of State nomination is not publicly available. (McClatchy DC)
8/ A former doorman was paid $30,000 in late 2015 to sign over the rights to a story about a rumor that Trump fathered a child with an employee in the 1980s at Trump World Tower, a skyscraper he owns near the United Nations. American Media Inc., the publisher of the National Enquirer, paid Dino Sajudin to give up exclusive rights to the rumor – and then never published an article about it – five months after Trump had launched his Presidential campaign. (The New Yorker / CNBC / Washington Post / CNN)
9/ The company that owns the National Enquirer also paid Karen McDougal $150,000 for a story it never published. The payout to McDougal, a former Playboy Playmate, came eight months after American Media Inc. paid $30,000 to Trump’s former doorman for his story. American Media Inc. is facing a Federal Election Commission complaint claiming that the $150,000 payment represented an illegal campaign contribution. (Associated Press / New York Times)
10/ Stormy Daniels’s attorney said Michael Cohen is threatening to plead the Fifth Amendment if an upcoming motion to stay a defamation suit from Daniels is not successful. “We’ve learned within the last two hours that Michael Cohen will be filing a motion, an emergency motion to stay, or temporarily stop our case,” Michael Avenatti said. “And the grounds for that motion are going to be that it is his intention to plead the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination if our case goes forward.” (The Hill)
poll/ 56% of Americans believe that the National Enquirer paid for the exclusive rights to stories that may be damaging to Trump in order to keep them from being published. 39% said the allegation was “probably true,” while 17% said it was “definitely true.” (CNN)
poll/ 51% of Americans support a national health care plan, while 43% oppose it. (Washington Post)
poll/ Obama is more admired than Trump in every country except one: Russia. Obama ranked first in 19 of 35 countries, including the U.S. Trump, meanwhile, ranked 2nd in the U.S. and 11th in Russia. Obama ranked 12th. (YouGov)
Notables.
A Pennsylvania school district armed teachers with wooden, 16-inch baseball bats in the event of an active shooter situation. School Superintendent William Hall said the bats are a “last resort” for teachers who want to fight back. (NBC News)
Jared and Ivanka are heading to Lima, Peru with Pence for the Summit of the Americas. Trump originally planned to attend the summit but canceled to stay in Washington and monitor the situation in Syria. (Politico)
Federal judges indicated they have a problem with Mick Mulvaney’s dual role as acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau because he also heads the White House Office of Management and Budget. (Los Angeles Times)
Trump’s federal judicial nominee refused to say whether she agreed with Brown v. Board of Education, which desegregated U.S. public schools. Wendy Vitter also maintained she could “put aside” her “pro-life” advocacy, and as a judge enforce the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision on abortion rights. (HuffPost / NPR)
Trump wants to roll back billions in spending from the $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill he signed into law last month. Republicans who helped craft the legislation are skeptical. (Politico)
Trump asked officials to look at rejoining the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the multination trade agreement he pulled the U.S. out of shortly after taking office. (Washington Post)
A fired EPA staffer gave congressional investigators a detailed list of what he describes as Scott Pruitt’s wasteful spending and unethical behavior. Democrats in turn asked Pruitt to provide documents regarding allegations made by Kevin Chmielewski about his “unethical and potentially illegal” behavior. (BuzzFeed News / ABC News / Washington Post)
1/ Trump tweets that “smart” missiles “will be coming” toward Syria in response to a chemical attack, taunting Russia to “get ready.” Russia’s ambassador to Lebanon said any U.S. missiles fired at Syria would be shot down and the launch sites targeted. Trump also condemned Moscow’s backing of Bashar al-Assad, saying: “You shouldn’t be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!” In a pair of subsequent tweets, Trump said relations between the U.S. and Russia are “worse now than it has ever been” and the “Fake and Corrupt Russia Investigation,” Democrats, and everybody that worked for Obama are to blame. (New York Times / Washington Post)
Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria. Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and “smart!” You shouldn’t be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!
Our relationship with Russia is worse now than it has ever been, and that includes the Cold War. There is no reason for this. Russia needs us to help with their economy, something that would be very easy to do, and we need all nations to work together. Stop the arms race?
Much of the bad blood with Russia is caused by the Fake & Corrupt Russia Investigation, headed up by the all Democrat loyalists, or people that worked for Obama. Mueller is most conflicted of all (except Rosenstein who signed FISA & Comey letter). No Collusion, so they go crazy!
Trump’s tweets broke national security policy, known as operations security. The objective is to not publicly announce information that can be used to jeopardize a mission. The Department of Defense lists “social network sites, tweets, text messages, blogs, videos, photos, GPS mapping, newsletters” as a few of the ways in which operations security can be compromised. (CNBC)
2/ Paul Ryan will not seek re-election in November, ending what will be a three-year run as the leader of House Republicans. Ryan will serve until the end of this Congress in January, which will mark 20 years in Congress for him. He said that he won’t run for public office again. (Axios / Politico / New York Times)
3/ Trump is considering firing Rod Rosenstein following the FBI raid on Michael Cohen’s office, in order to limit Robert Mueller’s investigation through a new deputy attorney general. Rosenstein has been in charge of the Mueller probe since Jeff Sessions recused himself last year from all investigations involving the 2016 election. Trump is also weighing whether to fire Jeff Sessions and install a new attorney general. (CNN)
4/ Trump tried to fire Robert Mueller in December after incomplete news reports surfaced that subpoenas coming from Mueller’s probe were targeting his business dealings with Deutsche Bank. To Trump, the subpoenas suggested that the investigation had expanded beyond his “red line.” Trump backed down after his lawyers and advisers assured him that the reports were not accurate. (New York Times)
5/ Robert Mueller asked to subpoena 35 witnesses for Paul Manafort’s trial, which is set to begin on July 10th. (Bloomberg)
6/ The FBI agents who searched Michael Cohen’s office wanted all records related to the “Access Hollywood” tape, where Trump bragged about being able to sexually assault women, including that he would “grab them by the pussy” whenever he wanted and that he would sometimes “just start kissing them.” Federal prosecutors are investigating Cohen for possible bank fraud, but are also looking at whether these efforts amounted to improper campaign donations to Trump. (New York Times)
Michael Cohen said the FBI was “extremely professional, courteous and respectful” during the raids on his home, office, and hotel. “I am unhappy to have my personal residence and office raided,” Cohen said. “But I will tell you that members of the FBI that conducted the search and seizure were all extremely professional, courteous and respectful. And I thanked them at the conclusion.” (CNN)
7/ A bipartisan Senate bill designed to protect Robert Mueller’s job is on track for an an April 19 vote in the Judiciary Committee. If the bill passes out of committee, the legislation would allow the special counsel to be fired only “for good cause” by a senior Justice Department official, with a reason given in writing, and it would provide recourse if Mueller is fired without good cause. The bill will also require that materials be saved from the pending investigation. Mitch McConnell said that he is not convinced that a Mueller protection bill merits floor time in the chamber. “I haven’t seen a clear indication yet that we need to pass something to keep him from being removed,” he said. (Reuters / The Hill / Politico)
8/ Rebekah Mercer asked Facebook for an independent investigation into Cambridge Analytica, data collection, and the 2016 election in an attempt to get the data platform’s ban lifted. The meeting came four days after Facebook suspended Cambridge Analytica, and a day after Cambridge agreed to let Facebook audit the firm’s servers. Facebook initially considered the independent investigation, but then declined. Robert Mercer invested $15 million in Cambridge Analytica, where his daughter Rebekah is a board member. The Mercer family were major donors to Trump’s presidential campaign. (BuzzFeed News / New York Times)
Cambridge Analytica’s acting CEO is stepping down. Julian Wheatland, the chairman of Cambridge Analytica’s British affiliate, will take over. (Wall Street Journal / Politico)
9/ California’s governor agreed to deploy 400 National Guard troops at Trump’s request, but they won’t used for “enforcing federal immigration laws.” Gov. Jerry Brown said he would accept federal funding to add California National Guard troops to a program to “combat transnational crime,” which targets gangs, human traffickers and firearm and drug smugglers. (San Jose Mercury News / KCRA)
poll/ 48% of voters support Trump’s order to send National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border, while 42% oppose and 9% have no opinion. (Politico)
Notables.
Trump ordered the Department of Justice to hire a former White House official who was fired for showing Devin Nunes classified documents. Ezra Cohen-Watnick will advise Jeff Sessions on national security matters. (Bloomberg)
The US deputy national security adviser for strategy resigned. Nadia Schadlow is the third senior national security official to resign or be pushed out in the wake of national security adviser John Bolton’s arrival to the White House. She will leave her position at the end of the month. (CNN)
The NRA said it accepted contributions from about 23 Russians, or Americans living in Russia, since 2015. (NPR)
A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit claiming that Trump’s financial disclosures are insufficient because they blur the lines between his personal debts and those owed by the businesses he owns. The judge said that even if the forms are insufficient, there’s nothing she can do about it because ethics law has no provision allowing the public to enforce it. (Politico)
The Trump administration is considering a plan to allow states to require some food stamp recipients to undergo drug testing. Roughly 5% of participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program could be affected. (Associated Press)
James Comey sat down for a five-hour interview with George Stephanopoulos. In the interivew, Comey compared Trump to a mob boss. Comey’s book, “A Higher Loyalty,” comes out next Tuesday. (Politico / Axios)
Former House Speaker John Boehner will join the board of directors of a marijuana holdings corporation, nine years after he said he was “unalterably opposed” to legalization. (Bloomberg)
1/ Michael Cohen is under federal investigation for possible bank fraud, wire fraud, and violations of campaign finance law. Two potential crimes – bank and wire fraud – suggest prosecutors believe Cohen may have misled bankers about his use of certain funds or improperly used banks to transfer funds. Among the documents taken in Monday’s FBI raids on Cohen’s office, home and hotel room were those related to a 2016 payment Cohen made to Stormy Daniels. (Washington Post)
Lou Dobbs urged Trump to fire Robert Mueller in response to the raid of Michael Cohen’s offices. “This is now a man that has to be brought under control, it would seem to me,” Dobbs said. “Frankly, I can’t imagine ― because each of us has to come to terms with our own heart and conscience ― I would fire the SOB in three seconds if it were me.” (HuffPost)
“Why don’t I just fire Mueller? Well, I think it’s a disgrace what’s going on. We’ll see what happens,” Trump said. “But I think it’s really a sad situation, when you look at what happened. And many people have said, you should fire him.” (CNN / Politico)
Sen. Chuck Grassley, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said “it would be suicide for the President to fire” Mueller. “I think the less the President says about this whole thing, the better off he will be. And I think Mueller is a person of stature and respected and I respect him. Just let the thing go forward.” (CNN)
Trump “certainly believes” he has the power to fire Robert Mueller, Sarah Huckabee Sanders said. The White House’s stance on firing Mueller has been rejected by many legal experts who say Trump does not have the power to fire the special counsel directly. Sanders later added that “we’ve been advised that the president certainly has the power to make that decision.” (CNBC / The Hill)
The White House is “not sure” if Cohen still represents Trump. (The Guardian)
2/ Rod Rosenstein signed off on the FBI’s decision to raid Cohen’s office. Agents were looking, in part, for records about payments Cohen made to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, as well as information related to the publisher of The National Enquirer’s role in silencing one of the women. Rosenstein, a Republican prosecutor, was picked by Trump to serve as deputy attorney general. The interest in both Daniels and McDougal indicates that federal investigators are trying to determine whether any crimes were committed in the course of buying their silence. (New York Times / Washington Post)
3/ Federal prosecutors asked the Trump Organization for records related to the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels by Michael Cohen. The request came in connection with FBI raids on Cohen’s office, hotel room, and home. (Wall Street Journal)
4/ Stormy Daniels is cooperating with federal authorities investigating the $130,000 hush-money payment Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen paid her just before the 2016 election. Daniels has said the money was paid in exchange for her keeping quiet about an affair with Trump. FBI agents raided and seized evidence related to Daniels from Cohen’s office and residence on Monday. (CNBC)
5/ In a pair of morning tweets, Trump declared that the raids are “A TOTAL WITCH HUNT!” and that “attorney–client privilege is dead!” Attorney-client privilege is intended to encourage open communications between lawyers and their clients, so that lawyers can provide legal advice. The privilege is not absolute and there are exceptions for communications made to further a crime. The FBI would have to demonstrate probable cause to a magistrate judge that evidence of a crime would be found in Cohen’s offices, or in a hotel where he was living. “No question, a search warrant for a lawyer is an extraordinary act,” Frank Montoya, a former senior FBI official, said. “Everyone involved in this process, including the judge who signed the warrant, understood the scrutiny that would follow its execution. As such, everyone in the process would have done their damnedest to make the warrant as bulletproof as possible.” (Reuters / NBC News)
6/ Trump is “less inclined” to sit down for an interview with Robert Mueller after the raid on Michael Cohen’s office. One source said Trump is “understandably less trusting” of Mueller and his team. (ABC News)
7/ The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York is recused from the Michael Cohen investigation. Geoffrey Berman is a Trump appointee with ties to Rudy Giuliani, who donated money to the 2016 Trump campaign. The recusal was approved by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. (ABC News)
Former US Attorney Preet Bharara: The FBI raids were done by officials who were all “handpicked” by Trump. “If the reporting is true, particularly the part about this being approved by the Southern District of New York Attorney’s Office which I used to lead, are all people who are Republican, and all people who have basically been handpicked by Donald Trump.” (CNN)
8/ Robert Mueller is investigating a $150,000 donation to the Trump Organization in 2015 from Ukrainian billionaire Victor Pinchuk. The donation by the Ukrainian steel magnate was made in return for a 20-minute video appearance by Trump at a conference in Kiev, and is being investigated as part of Mueller’s efforts to examine foreign money Trump and his associates received prior to the election. (New York Times)
9/ Mueller is using the Paul Manafort investigation to probe Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, search warrant documents reveal. Mueller is seeking information from Manafort about foreign political donations and the meeting between top Trump campaign officials and Russian operatives in Trump Tower, in addition to Manafort’s interactions with a Russian real estate magnate and possible campaign finance violations. (CNN / Associated Press)
poll/ 25% of 18- to 29-year-olds approve of Trump’s job performance. 37% of Americans under 30 who are eligible to vote said they will “definitely be voting” in the midterms, compared to 23% who said the same thing in 2014. And 69% said they want to see Democrats in control, compared with 28 percent who favor Republican control. (Harvard University’s Institute of Politics)
poll/ 69% of voters, including 55% of Republicans, oppose Trump firing Mueller. 13% of voters said they support Trump firing Mueller. (Quinnipiac)
Notables.
Trump’s homeland security adviser, Tom Bossert, resigned at the request of new National Security Adviser John Bolton. Bossert is the second national security official to leave the White House since Bolton began the job on Monday. Michael Anton, a spokesman for the National Security Council, announced his resignation on Sunday. (Bloomberg / CNBC)
Mitch McConnell opened the door to a vote on cutting federal spending and a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget. Republicans would then need just 50 votes to rescind billions in spending under Senate rules. (Politico)
Trump won’t attend the Summit of the Americas in Lima, Peru, this week as planned. He will, instead, stay in the U.S. and “oversee the American response to Syria.” Pence will take Trump’s place at the meetings. (Politico / New York Times)
Mike Pompeo asked Hillary Clinton for guidance on how to prepare for the secretary of state confirmation process. Pompeo once called Clinton’s response to the deadly 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, “morally reprehensible.” (Politico)
The chairman of Sinclair Broadcast Group met with Trump at the White House to pitch a new broadcasting standard the company is heavily invested in, which would allow authorities to broadcast directly to any American’s phone. During the 2016 campaign, David Smith told Trump: “We are here to deliver your message.” (The Guardian)
The Russian military has been jamming the GPS systems of U.S. military drones operating in Syria. The Defense Department did not say whether the jamming is causing drones to crash. (NBC News)
The EPA’s chief of staff, Ryan Jackson, claimed responsibility for the pay raises given to two of Scott Pruitt’s top aides. Jackson also said that the pay raises had been reversed. “Administrator Pruitt had zero knowledge of the amount of the raises, nor the process by which they transpired,” Jackson wrote in an email statement. (Bloomberg)
1/ The FBI raided Michael Cohen’s office, home, and Manhattan hotel room seizing records related to Stormy Daniels and several other topics. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan obtained the search warrants after receiving a referral from Robert Mueller. The search warrants were executed by the office of the U.S. Attorney for Southern District of New York and are “in part” related to Mueller’s investigation. Trump characterized the FBI raid on his longtime personal attorney as a “disgraceful situation” that has reached a “new level of unfairness” and “an attack on our country in a true sense.” (New York Times / Politico / Los Angeles Times / Wall Street Journal)
2/ Trump vowed to make “major decisions” in the next 24 to 48 hours about how to respond to a suspected chemical attack in Syria that killed dozens of people. Trump said there will be a “big price to pay” for the “atrocious,” “horrible,” and “barbaric act.” Trump directly criticized Putin, Russia, and Iran for backing “Animal Assad” in a tweet. Later, Trump said “Everybody’s going to pay a price. [Putin] will, everybody will.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Reuters)
Many dead, including women and children, in mindless CHEMICAL attack in Syria. Area of atrocity is in lockdown and encircled by Syrian Army, making it completely inaccessible to outside world. President Putin, Russia and Iran are responsible for backing Animal Assad. Big price...
3/ John Kelly threatened to quit on March 28 after he blew up at Trump during an Oval Office meeting – the same day Trump fired Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin. “I’m out of here, guys,” Kelly said, and packed up some personal belongings. DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis attempted to calm Kelly down. (Axios / Washington Post)
“To hell with it”: Trump increasingly weary of staff advice. (Associated Press)
4/ The federal government’s top ethics officer asked the EPA to review Scott Pruitt’s actions and take “appropriate actions to address any violations.” In a letter from David Apol, the acting director and general counsel of the Office of Government Ethics, to Kevin Minoli, the EPA’s top ethics official, Apol summarizes reports of Pruitt’s conduct, including a rental agreement with a lobbyist whose husband’s firm lobbies the EPA as well as EPA spending on Pruitt’s travel and security. (New York Times / BuzzFeed News / CNN)
5/ An internal EPA email contradicts Scott Pruitt’s account that he “didn’t know” about a controversial pay raise for an aide last month. In mid-March, the staffer, Sarah Greenwalt, emailed HR to confirm that her pay raise was being processed. According to an administration official who saw the email chain: Greenwalt “definitively stated that Pruitt approves and was supportive of her getting a raise.” (The Atlantic)
6/ The U.S. budget deficit will surpass $1 trillion by 2020 – two years sooner than previously estimated. The Congressional Budget Office forecasts 2% less revenue and 1% more spending from 2018 to 2027. The Trump administration promised that tax cuts will lead to faster economic growth, which would offset deficit expansion. (Bloomberg / New York Times)
7/ White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow blamed threats of a trade war on China’s “decades of misdeeds,” saying “This president’s got some backbone, others didn’t and he’s raising the issue in full public view, setting up a process that may include tariffs.” (CNBC)
8/ Mark Zuckerberg: Facebook should have done more to prevent third-party apps from collecting users’ data without their permission and for being “too slow to spot and respond to Russian interference” during the U.S. election. In written testimony, Zuckerberg said that “It’s clear now that we didn’t do enough to prevent these tools from being used for harm as well” and that Facebook “didn’t take a broad enough view of our responsibility, and that was a big mistake.” Zuckerberg is scheduled to testify before the Senate Commerce and Judiciary committees on Tuesday, and the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday. The social network said it would form an independent commission of academic researchers to study social media’s impact on elections. (Reuters / Washington Post / New York Times)
poll/ Nationwide, whites over the age of 60 with college degrees now favor Democrats over Republicans for Congress by a 2-point margin. The shift represents a 12-point swing from 2016. (Reuters)
Notables.
Trump’s top national security spokesman will leave the White House. Michael Anton was one of the earliest and most forceful defenders of Trump’s “America First” foreign policy. Anton will join Hillsdale College as a writer and lecturer. (Politico)
Trump expects to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in May or June, and expressed hope they’d reach a deal on “de-nuking” the Korean peninsula. (Bloomberg)
Stormy Daniels’ legal team plans to release a composite sketch of the man who Daniels says threatened her in 2011. “We’re going to be releasing that tomorrow,” said Daniels’ lawyer Michael Avenatti, “along with a significant reward, asking that the public come forward, asking to identify this individual.” (CNN)
Paul Manafort’s lawyers filed a motion to suppress evidence found in an Alexandria, Va. storage unit. Manafort’s defense team contends that the initial entry was illegal because the employee did not not have authority to let the FBI into the locker. (Politico)
Manafort was denied bail, again, by a judge handling one of his criminal cases. The court, however, gave the former Trump campaign chairman a list of assets that could secure his release from house arrest. (Politico)
One man died after a fire broke out at Trump Tower. One resident said the phones inside the building didn’t work and that “Michael Cohen, who is Trump’s lawyer was texting me and said ’are you in the building? I said ‘yes.’ He said ‘you better get out ASAP!’” In the 1990s, Trump argued against retrofitting existing buildings with fire sprinklers. (ABC 7 / Washington Post)
The Trump Organization asked the Panamanian president to intervene in a dispute over the control of a luxury hotel. Trump’s business invoked a treaty between the two countries. (Associated Press)
Senator Tammy Duckworth became the first sitting senator to have a baby while in office after giving birth to her daughter, Maile Pearl Bowlsbey. (Chicago Sun-Times)
1/ Trump is informally preparing for a potential interview with Robert Mueller. The preparation efforts were described as “in its infancy” and include going over potential topics with Trump that Mueller would likely ask in an interview. Trump has not formally agreed to sit for an interview with Mueller. (CNN)
2/ Robert Mueller has evidence that questions Erik Prince’s congressional testimony about a chance meeting last year in the Seychelles with Kirill Dmitriev, the manager of a state-run Russian investment fund close to Putin. George Nader, a cooperating witness with limited immunity, told investigators that he facilitated and personally attended a meeting between Prince and Dmitriev days before Trump was inaugurated. The goal of the meeting was to discuss foreign policy and to establish a line of communication between the Russian government and the incoming Trump administration. Prince told the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in November that “I didn’t fly there to meet any Russian guy,” and the meeting with Dmitriev was unexpected. Prince founded the private military contractor Blackwater USA and is the brother of Betsy DeVos, who serves as Trump’s secretary of education. As of late March, Mueller’s team has not asked Prince to appear before the grand jury. (ABC News)
3/ Mueller’s investigators questioned a Trump Organization associate about Michael Cohen’s involvement in business deals in Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Russia. The special counsel’s team showed up unannounced at the home of the business associate this week with a subpoena seeking information about the efforts by Trump’s personal attorney and a former Trump Organization employee to expand the Trump brand abroad. (McClatchy DC)
Last year, Mueller seized three bank accounts a day before Paul Manafort was indicted. The previously unknown move was revealed in a list of warrants prosecutors submitted to a federal court in Washington after Manafort’s defense team complained that the government was withholding information about how the warrants were obtained. The special counsel also obtained a search warrant for information on five phone numbers last month. (Politico)
4/ A Trump foreign policy adviser asked the FBI, State Department and the Intelligence Community Inspector General to review materials from the dark web that he thought were Hillary Clinton’s deleted emails during the summer of 2016. Joseph Schmitz also took a memo outlining his claims to the House Intelligence Committee. The FBI interviewed him as a part of its ongoing criminal investigation into Clinton’s emails. Officials at the State Department and the Inspector General also interviewed Schmitz, but they declined to review or accept the information. The material was never verified. (CNN)
5/ The Trump administration imposed new sanctions on 17 Russian government officials, a state-owned weapons company, and seven oligarchs and 12 companies affiliated with them. “The Russian government operates for the disproportionate benefit of oligarchs and government elites,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said. “Russian oligarchs and elites who profit from this corrupt system will no longer be insulated from the consequences of their government’s destabilizing activities.” The sanctions were in response to the “totality of the Russian government’s ongoing and increasingly malign activities in the world,” including interfering in the 2016 election and aggressions in Crimea, Ukraine, and Syria. (New York Times / Politico / Washington Post / NBC News)
6/ Trump proposed an additional $100 billion in tariffs on Chinese products beyond the $50 billion in tariffs the White House announced earlier this week. China responded by announcing $50 billion in tariffs on American goods. Trump said the move was a direct response to “unfair retaliation” by China. (CNBC / New York Times / NBC News)
7/ Trump’s top economic adviser learned about the president’s latest tariffs last night. The White House announced the move at 6:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow said he found out about Trump’s decision to impose an additional $100 billion in tariffs “last evening.” (Politico)
8/ John Kelly urged Trump to remove Scott Pruitt last week following a series of negative reports about his spending habits and management style. Trump, however, is not ready to fire the EPA chief, who he sees him as an ally in his effort to roll back environmental protections. Trump tweeted that Pruitt is doing “a great job,” and that he is “TOTALLY under siege.” White House aides believe that Pruitt’s position is untenable. (Wall Street Journal / New York Times)
Do you believe that the Fake News Media is pushing hard on a story that I am going to replace A.G. Jeff Sessions with EPA Chief Scott Pruitt, who is doing a great job but is TOTALLY under siege? Do people really believe this stuff? So much of the media is dishonest and corrupt!
The lobbyist couple that Pruitt rented the Capitol Hill condominium from changed the locks in order to push him out. Pruitt reportedly didn’t leave when his lease end, causing Vicki and Steve Hart to kick him out. (Politico)
9/ 64 House Democrats called on Trump to fire Pruitt or force him to resign. “Scott Pruitt’s unethical behavior, wasteful use of taxpayer money, and his efforts to undermine the EPA’s core mission to protect our environment and public health demand an appropriate response: his resignation or his firing,” they wrote. (The Hill / Politico / Axios)
poll/ 20% of Americans attended a political protest, rally or speech since 2016. Among rallygoers, 44% are 50 or older, and 36% earn more than $100,000 a year. (Washington Post)
poll/ 41% of voters approve of Trump’s job performance – a record low in the Morning Consult poll. 54% disapprove of Trump’s job performance. (Morning Consult)
Notables.
The economy added 103,000 jobs in March while the unemployment rate stayed at 4.1%. The average hourly pay grew 2.7% from March 2017. March’s figures were below analysts’ expectations. (Washington Post / NBC News)
Trump will again skip the White House Correspondents’ Dinner this year. He’ll send Sarah Huckabee Sanders instead. (Politico)
Corey Lewandowski to House Intelligence Committee Democrats: I’m not answering your “f—ing” questions. Lewandowski, Trump’s former campaign manager, was the final witness in the yearlong House investigation, which resulted in two separate partisan reports. (CNN)
Blake Farenthold abruptly resigned from the House of Representatives today following news that he used $84,000 in taxpayer funds to settle a sexual harassment suit. He had promised to repay those funds but apparently has not done so. (Dallas Morning News / Texas Tribune / CNN)
A group of “concerned” evangelical leaders plan to meet with Trump amid sex-scandal allegations. “We’re very concerned” about the payout to Stormy Daniels to cover up a sexual encounter, said a leader of a faith-based ministry. (NPR)
1/ Trump denied knowing about the $130,000 payment his lawyer made to Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election to buy her silence. Trump said he didn’t know where Michael Cohen got the money from and he declined to say if he ever set up a fund for Cohen to cover expenses like that. “You’ll have to ask Michael Cohen. Michael is my attorney. You’ll have to ask Michael,” Trump said. Daniels’ attorney, Michael Avenatti, tweeted: “We very much look forward to testing the truthfulness of Mr. Trump’s feigned lack of knowledge concerning the $130k payment as stated on Air Force One. As history teaches us, it is one thing to deceive the press and quite another to do so under oath.” (USA Today / Bloomberg / New York Times / Washington Post)
We very much look forward to testing the truthfulness of Mr. Trump's feigned lack of knowledge concerning the $130k payment as stated on Air Force One. As history teaches us, it is one thing to deceive the press and quite another to do so under oath. #searchforthetruth#basta
2/ Trump considered replacing Jeff Sessions with Scott Pruitt as recently as this week. “He was 100% still trying to protect Pruitt because Pruitt is his fill-in for Sessions,” a person familiar with Trump’s thinking said. Trump remains frustrated that Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation more than a year ago. (CNN)
3/ The EPA’s top ethics official said he lacked key facts when he concluded that Scott Pruitt’s lease with a lobbyist last year didn’t violate federal gift rules. Kevin Minoli said Pruitt’s lease was predicated on the use of a single room, but Pruitt’s daughter stayed in the apartment’s second bedroom while she was a White House intern. (Washington Post / New York Times)
4/ At least five EPA officials were reassigned, demoted, or requested new jobs after raising concerns about Scott Pruitt’s spending and management of the agency. Officials were concerned about Pruitt’s unusually large spending on office furniture, first-class travel, as well as requests for a bulletproof vehicle and a 20-person security detail. (New York Times)
Samantha Dravis, a top Pruitt aide, resigned to work in the private sector. Separately, Pruitt’s chief of staff, Ryan Jackson, has grown frustrated enough with his boss that he has considered resigning. (CNN / Politico / New York Times)
5/ John Kelly to Scott Pruitt: The negative stories need to stop. Kelly called Pruitt a day after Trump told the EPA administrator that “we’ve got your back” to ask if there is anything else that “hasn’t come out” yet. Kelly impressed upon Pruitt that, even though he has the full public confidence of Trump for now, the flow of stories need to stop. (The Daily Beast)
6/ A White House spokesman: “I can’t speak to the future of Scott Pruitt.” The comment by deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley came during a Fox News interview following revelations about Pruitt’s travel expenses and ties to lobbyists, which has thrown his job security into question. Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters that “the president’s not” OK with reports the agency chief rented a condo from a lobbyist for $50 a night. (Politico)
7/ A cooperating witness in Robert Mueller’s investigation may have information linking the United Arab Emirates to Russia. George Nader has received at least partial immunity for his cooperation. Nader’s international connections helped him arrange several meetings that have drawn the attention of the special counsel, including a meeting in the Seychelles between Kirill Dmitriev, the manager of a state-run Russian investment fund, and a Trump adviser days before Trump took office. (New York Times)
Paul Manafort authorized a secret media operation on behalf of Ukraine’s former president featuring “black ops” “placed” articles in the Wall Street Journal and US websites, as well as briefing writers at Breitbart to attack HillaryClinton when she was US secretary of state. (The Guardian)
8/ Robert Mercer spent $2 million to back a far-right organization that purchased anti-Muslim ads on Facebook and Google targeted at voters in swing states in 2016 who were most likely to be receptive to them. Secure America Now, a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization, promoted travel ads meant to stoke fears of Muslims. (OpenSecrets)
The Kremlin accused Facebook of censorship for taking down more than 200 pages and accounts that were run by the Russia-based Internet Research Agency — the “troll factory” that is under indictment for interfering in the 2016 U.S. election. (NPR)
9/ Trump: Women are being “raped at levels that nobody’s ever seen before” and “caravans” of immigrants are headed for the U.S.-Mexico border, bringing drugs and crime with them. Trump didn’t provide evidence to support his claims. The comment came during a West Virginia event where Trump was supposed to speak about tax reform. (NBC News / Axios)
“You Hate America!”: How the “Caravan” Story Exploded on the Right. (New York Times)
Border Patrol Agents are not allowed to properly do their job at the Border because of ridiculous liberal (Democrat) laws like Catch & Release. Getting more dangerous. “Caravans” coming. Republicans must go to Nuclear Option to pass tough laws NOW. NO MORE DACA DEAL!
Mexico is doing very little, if not NOTHING, at stopping people from flowing into Mexico through their Southern Border, and then into the U.S. They laugh at our dumb immigration laws. They must stop the big drug and people flows, or I will stop their cash cow, NAFTA. NEED WALL!
The big Caravan of People from Honduras, now coming across Mexico and heading to our “Weak Laws” Border, had better be stopped before it gets there. Cash cow NAFTA is in play, as is foreign aid to Honduras and the countries that allow this to happen. Congress MUST ACT NOW!
10/ Trump dropped his “boring” prepared remarks about the Republican tax bill. Instead, he repeated his claim that “millions” of people are voting illegally. “In many places like California, the same person votes many times,” Trump said. “You’ve probably heard of that. They always like to say, ‘Oh, that’s like a conspiracy theory.’ Not a conspiracy theory, folks. Millions and millions of people. And it’s very hard, because the state guards their records. They don’t want to see it.” (Politico / The Guardian)
Trump holds up his opening remarks for his WV roundtable before tossing them.
11/ The National Guard troops deployed to the U.S.-Mexico border will not have physical contact with immigrants, and they will not be responsible for processing them at the border. Trump wants to send between 2,000 and 4,000 National Guard members to the US-Mexico border until a “large portion of the wall is built.” (NBC News / Associated Press)
poll/ 41% of Americans approve of Trump’s immigration policies, while 38% “strongly disapproved.” (Reuters)
poll/ Democrat Phil Bredesen has a 10-point lead over Republican Marsha Blackburn in the race to replace retiring Senator Bob Corker. 45% of respondents would vote for Bredesen if the race were held today, compared to 35% for Blackburn. (The Hill)
Notables.
The White House is considering a proposal to strip protections from hundreds of threatened species to give oil and agriculture companies more freedom to use land that was previously off-limits due to the presence of certain protected species. The proposal is called “Removal of Blanket Section 4(d) Rule,” which is used by the Fish and Wildlife Service to protect animals and plants that are at risk of becoming endangered. (The Hill)
A Las Vegas GOP political adviser has been accused of sexual enslavement and battery by his ex-fiancee. Benjamin Sparks’ ex-fiancee turned over copies of emails, texts, and a signed contract to police, which lay out her duties as Sparks’ “slave in training.” (Las Vegas Review-Journal)
John Bolton met with White House attorneys about possible conflicts of interest shortly before Trump nominated him for national security advisor. The details are unclear, but experts believe the sticking points may be related to Bolton’s possible future role with PACs and Super PACs. (CNBC)
Rex Tillerson spent roughly $12 million on consultants to “redesign” the State Department. As many as 90 consultants worked on the project, with some charging more than $300 an hour. (Politico)
A record-setting 309 women are running for seats in the U.S. House of Representatives – the majority of them Democrats. That previous record of 298 was set in 2012. (Los Angeles Times)
1/ Robert Mueller: Trump is not currently a criminal target in the Russia probe, but he remains under investigation. The special counsel also told Trump’s lawyers during negotiations in early March regarding a possible Trump interview that he is preparing a report about Trump’s actions and potential obstruction of justice. Mueller is required to report his conclusions confidentially to Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, who has the authority to decide whether to release the information publicly. Mueller’s investigators plan to report on their findings in stages, starting with the obstruction issue. Trump has privately expressed relief at his legal status and has repeatedly told allies that he is not a target of the probe and believes an interview will help him put the matter behind him. (Washington Post)
Analysis: Mueller told Trump he’s not a criminal target in the Russia probe. That may not mean what you think. (Washington Post)
Analysis: Mueller’s assurances that Trump is not a “target” don’t mean much. (Politico)
2/ Mueller’s team has been questioning Russian oligarchs who travel to the US. Investigators want to know if wealthy Russians illegally funneled money directly or indirectly into Trump’s presidential campaign and inauguration. Foreign nationals are prohibited under campaign finance laws from donating to US political campaigns. Mueller’s team has stopped at least three Russian oligarchs for questioning in recent weeks. (CNN)
3/ H. R. McMaster denounced Russia and said “we have failed to impose sufficient costs” in his last public remarks as Trump’s national security adviser. “Russia has used old and new forms of aggression to undermine our open societies and the foundations of international peace and stability,” McMaster said. Hours earlier, Trump claimed that “nobody has been tougher on Russia than I have.” (Washington Post)
4/ Trump is expected this week to impose additional sanctions against Russia, which are designed to target oligarchs with ties to Putin. The United States is expected to target individuals on a list of influential Russian political and business leaders that the Treasury Department released in January. (Washington Post)
5/ Roger Stone predicted “devastating” leaks about the Clinton Foundation the same day he sent an email saying he dined with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Stone’s comments came during an appearance on InfoWars on August 4, 2016. Stone sent an email to Sam Nunberg on August 4, 2016, about a dinner with Assange the night before. He also mentioned in the email that he spoke with then-Republican nominee Donald Trump on August 3. (CNN)
6/ The White House said the U.S. will remain in Syria despite Trump’s instructions to military leaders to withdraw all 2,000 troops. No date has been set. Yesterday, Trump told reporters that “I want to get out — I want to bring our troops back home.” Meanwhile, Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that “the United States and our partners remain committed to eliminating the small ISIS presence in Syria that our forces have not already eradicated.” (New York Times / Washington Post)
7/ Trump will deploy the National Guard to protect the southern U.S. border. Trump signed a proclamation directing the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security to work with governors to send troops to the southwest border to assist the Border Patrol in combating illegal immigration. “It’s time to act,” Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said. “Unfortunately – time and again – Congress has failed to act. Worse still, some members of Congress have continually opposed efforts to secure the border.” (Politico / CBS News / Washington Post / New York Times)
8/ China proposed tariffs on $50 billion worth of American goods after the Trump administration proposed similar tariffs on Chinese goods. Trump tweeted Wednesday morning that the U.S. was “not in a trade war with China” and “that war was lost many years ago by the foolish, or incompetent, people who represented the U.S.” Stocks fell early in the day after talks of a trade war escalated. The Dow erased a 510-point loss for a gain of 230. (New York Times / Reuters / CNN Money)
We are not in a trade war with China, that war was lost many years ago by the foolish, or incompetent, people who represented the U.S. Now we have a Trade Deficit of $500 Billion a year, with Intellectual Property Theft of another $300 Billion. We cannot let this continue!
The White House said there could be some “short-term pain” if there’s a trade war with China. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said it would be worth it because “we’re certainly going to have long-term success.” (Politico)
A U.S.-China trade war will cost 190,000 American jobs, according to the chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. (Axios)
Notables.
A Defense Department appointee resigned after being outed for posting birther conspiracies and other controversial things about Obama on social media. Todd Johnson is a former Trump campaign state director in New Mexico and joined the Defense Department in 2017. His job was to provide logistical support for the secretary’s events and appearances. (CNN)
Trump and congressional Republicans want to cut billions of dollars from the bipartisan funding deal they passed last month. They are being pressured by conservatives who don’t like the deal. (Politico)
Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards said Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner tried to bribe her with an increase in federal funding for Planned Parenthood in exchange for agreeing to stop providing abortion services. The bulk of federal money Planned Parenthood receives goes toward preventive health care, birth control, pregnancy tests and other women’s health services. Federal law prohibits taxpayer dollars from funding abortions. (CNN)
At least 18 email domains managed by the Executive Office of the President are not in compliance with a Department of Homeland Security protocol. Of the 26 domains tested, only one had fully implemented the security protocol, which means someone could theoretically send misinformation from a presidential aide’s account. (Axios)
Seventeen states, Washington, D.C., and six cities are suing the Trump administration to stop it from asking people if they are citizens on the 2020 census. A citizenship question has not appeared on the decennial census form since 1950. (Reuters)
Mark Zuckerberg: Most Facebook users should “assume” that their public profile has been scraped. “It is reasonable to expect,” Zuckerberg said, that “someone has accessed your information in this way.” (CNBC)
Cambridge Analytica improperly gained access to the data of as many as 87 million Facebook users – roughly equivalent to a quarter of the population of the United States. “That was a huge mistake,” Zuckerberg said. (New York Times)
1/ Rod Rosenstein authorized Robert Mueller to investigate Paul Manafort for allegedly “colluding with Russian government officials” in a classified August 2017 memo. Mueller was also given authority to probe Manafort’s work for the Ukrainian government. The memo was disclosed in a court filing as Mueller’s prosecutors seek to counter arguments by Manafort’s lawyers that his indictment should be thrown out. (CNN / Wall Street Journal)
2/ Alex van der Zwaan is the first person sentenced in Robert Mueller’s investigation. The Dutch attorney, who admitted to lying to federal agents about his work in Ukraine with Paul Manafort and Rick Gates, was sent to prison for 30 days and will pay a $20,000 fine. (Politico / Bloomberg / ABC News)
3/ Mueller’s investigation is asking about a private consulting firm working with the United Arab Emirates. Mueller’s team is asking about Wikistrat’s business relationship with George Nader, a Lebanese-American who serves as a top adviser to U.A.E. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed and was also close to the Trump administration last year. Wikistrat was contracted by the U.A.E. beginning in 2015 to conduct war game scenarios on Islamist political movements in Yemen. (Wall Street Journal)
4/ The EPA will revoke an Obama-era standard requiring cars to average more than 50 mpg by 2025. “The Obama Administration’s determination was wrong,” Scott Pruitt said, adding that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will establish a new standard that “allows auto manufacturers to make cars that people both want and can afford.” The EPA will also “reexamine” a waiver that allows California to set stricter standards than those mandated by the federal government. (New York Times / ABC News / Washington Post / Los Angeles Times)
5/ Scott Pruitt bypassed the White House in order to give substantial pay raises to two of his closest aides. After the Presidential Personnel Office rejected Pruitt’s raise request, the EPA administrator reappointed the aides using an obscure provision in the Safe Drinking Water Act. The move gave Pruitt total control over their contracts to grant the raises on his own. (The Atlantic)
6/ The EPA approved a pipeline-expansion project last year while Scott Pruitt was renting a $50-a-night condo linked to the company’s lobbying firm. The expansion of the Alberta Clipper pipeline, an Enbridge Inc. project, would allow for hundreds of thousands more barrels of oil a day to flow through this pipeline to the U.S. from Canada’s tar sands. At the time, Pruitt was living in the condo owned in part by Vicki Hart, the wife of J. Steven Hart, the chairman of Enbridge. (New York Times)
7/ The DC energy lobbyist and his wife helped fund Pruitt’s campaigns for Oklahoma attorney general starting in 2010. J. Steven Hart, as well as two principals at his firm, donated to Pruitt’s Oklahoma Strong Leadership PAC. The firm hosted a fundraiser for Pruitt’s reelection effort in 2014. Steven and Vicki Hart rented a room in their Capitol Hill home to Pruitt for $50 per night last year. (The Daily Beast)
8/ Trump called Pruitt to say “we’ve got your back,” urging him to “keep his head up” and “keep fighting.” John Kelly reiterated those sentiments in a call to Pruitt Tuesday morning. According to a senior administration official, Kelly has considered firing Pruitt, but is waiting for the outcome of an EPA inspector general’s report into Pruitt’s travel expenses. (Associated Press / Politico)
9/ Trump wants to deploy the U.S. military to guard the southern border until he can build a wall and tighten immigration restrictions. “We are going to be guarding our border with our military,” Trump said. “That’s a big step.” At a separate press conference, Trump said: “We are preparing for the military to secure our border between Mexico and the United States. We have a meeting on it in a little while with [defense secretary] Gen Mattis and everybody and I think its something we have to do.” (Bloomberg / The Guardian / New York Times)
poll/ Trump’s support among women fell from 41% to 35% this month. Trump’s support among men rose 3 points to 53%. (The Hill)
Notables.
The Department of Homeland Security acknowledged that it identified cellphone spying devices in Washington, DC last year. The unauthorized cell-site simulators are known as Stingrays and often used by foreign powers to track individual cellphones and intercept calls and messages. (Associated Press)
A senior leader in Russia’s spy agency has agreed to plead partially guilty to sharing information with foreign intelligence. Dmitry Dokuchaev is wanted by the FBI and suspected to be linked to Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election. (McClatchy DC)
Trump’s lawyers are asking a federal judge to order that an arbitrator resolve a dispute with Stormy Daniels over the alleged “hush money” agreement she signed just before the 2016 presidential election. (Politico)
Stormy Daniels’ lawyer wants the Treasury Department to release the “suspicious activity report” filed by the bank that Michael Cohen used to facilitate the $130,000 payment. (CNN)
Beto O’Rourke raised more than $6.7 million in the first quarter of 2018 to take on Ted Cruz. The $6.7 million came from more than 141,000 contributions. O’Rourke has outraised Cruz for three of the last four reporting periods. (Texas Tribune)
An Ohio State University study suggests that fake news stories dissuaded 4.2% of Obama voters from voting for Hillary Clinton in 2016. Hypothetical, fake news cost Clinton about 2.2 or 2.3 points apiece in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Clinton lost Michigan by 0.2 points and Pennsylvania and Wisconsin by 0.72 and 0.76 points, respectively. (Washington Post)
1/ Trump invited Putin to the White House, according to Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov. “When our presidents spoke on the phone, Trump suggested having the meeting in Washington at the White House,” Ushakov said. “This is quite an interesting, positive idea.” During a March 20 phone call, Trump congratulated Putin for his reelection victory and discussed a possible meeting. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that “a number of potential venues, including the White House,” were discussed during the phone call. (Washington Post / Bloomberg)
2/ Trump tweeted that “DACA is dead” and there would be no “NO MORE DACA DEAL” while pressing Congress to “immediately pass border legislation” because “our country is being stolen!” Trump claimed that “a lot of people are coming in because they want to take advantage of DACA,” even though the program is only available to people who have lived in the U.S. since 2007. Trump ended DACA in September. (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News)
DACA is dead because the Democrats didn’t care or act, and now everyone wants to get onto the DACA bandwagon... No longer works. Must build Wall and secure our borders with proper Border legislation. Democrats want No Borders, hence drugs and crime!
...Congress must immediately pass Border Legislation, use Nuclear Option if necessary, to stop the massive inflow of Drugs and People. Border Patrol Agents (and ICE) are GREAT, but the weak Dem laws don’t allow them to do their job. Act now Congress, our country is being stolen!
3/ Local news stations owned by Sinclair Broadcasting were forced to recite the same script warning of “biased and false news” and “the troubling trend of irresponsible, one-sided news stories” that have been plaguing the country. Local news anchors have reportedly been uncomfortable with the “forced read.” Sinclair is the country’s largest broadcaster and owns or operates 193 TV stations. (New York Times / Deadspin)
4/ Trump tweet-defended Sinclair’s “fake news” promotional campaign, which alleges “irresponsible, one-sided news stories” by mainstream media. “So funny to watch Fake News Networks, among the most dishonest groups of people I have ever dealt with, criticize Sinclair Broadcasting for being biased,” Trump tweeted. “Sinclair is far superior to CNN and even more Fake NBC, which is a total joke.” (Politico / Washington Post)
So funny to watch Fake News Networks, among the most dishonest groups of people I have ever dealt with, criticize Sinclair Broadcasting for being biased. Sinclair is far superior to CNN and even more Fake NBC, which is a total joke.
5/ Trump patched in Lou Dobbs, the Fox Business host, via speakerphone to senior-level meetings on issues such as trade and tax policy during his first year in office. Trump would often interrupt officials so Dobbs could offer his opinion. (The Daily Beast)
6/ Trump demanded that the Washington Post register as a “lobbyist” for Amazon while accusing the online retailer of a “Post Office scam” in a series of weekend tweets. Trump continued his Twitter attack on Monday, saying that “only fools, or worse, are saying that our money losing Post Office makes money with Amazon […] and this will be changed.” The Post is owned by Bezos. However, the Post and Amazon are two separate entities. (CNBC / The Hill / Politico / Washington Post)
While we are on the subject, it is reported that the U.S. Post Office will lose $1.50 on average for each package it delivers for Amazon. That amounts to Billions of Dollars. The Failing N.Y. Times reports that “the size of the company’s lobbying staff has ballooned,” and that...
...does not include the Fake Washington Post, which is used as a “lobbyist” and should so REGISTER. If the P.O. “increased its parcel rates, Amazon’s shipping costs would rise by $2.6 Billion.” This Post Office scam must stop. Amazon must pay real costs (and taxes) now!
Only fools, or worse, are saying that our money losing Post Office makes money with Amazon. THEY LOSE A FORTUNE, and this will be changed. Also, our fully tax paying retailers are closing stores all over the country...not a level playing field!
Shares of Amazon.com fell 6% after Trump attacked the online retailer over the pricing of its deliveries through the United States Postal Service and promised unspecified changes. (Reuters)
The Dow dropped more than 600 points and the Nasdaq fell about 3% as Trump attacked Amazon on Twitter. Trump accused Amazon of taking advantage of the US Postal Service, and he suggested that Amazon does not pay its fair share of taxes. (CNN Money)
7/ Trump’s presidential campaign spent $158,498.41 on office supplies at Amazon in 2015 and 2016. The Trump for President committee continued to use Amazon after the election, spending more than $2,000 in 2017. (CBS News)
poll/ 48% of Americans overall trust CNN as a source of information more than Trump. In addition, 45% trust MSNBC more than Trump while 30% trust Fox News over Trump. Republicans, however, trust Trump as a source more than either CNN (12% versus 75% for Trump) or MSNBC (11% versus 72% for Trump). Republicans are also more likely to trust Trump than Fox News (35% versus 21%). (Monmouth University)
Notables.
China will impose tariffs on 128 U.S. goods in response to Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminum. The new Chinese tariffs will affect more than $3 billion in U.S. exports to China, including a 15% tariff on American fruit and nuts and a 25% tariff on pork, recycled aluminum, and more. (Politico)
A third woman has sued to nullify a Trump-related non-disclosure agreement, which prohibits disparagement and disclosure of information about Trump, his company and family members. Jessica Denson claims she was harassed by a superior while working for the campaign. (Bloomberg)
Scott Pruitt’s daughter also stayed in the Capitol Hill condo where Pruitt rented a bedroom from a lobbyist. Ethics officials at the EPA signed off on the arrangement, which allowed Pruitt to pay roughly $2,150 less than other tenants would have paid during the same five-and-a-half-month stay. (CBS News)
Former Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin said he didn’t resign his position, as the White House previously claimed. Shulkin said he was never asked to submit a letter of resignation. (Politico)
Trump called the FBI and Justice Department “an embarrassment to our country!” in a tweet. House Republicans recently subpoenaed the Justice Department for its records relating to the probe of Hillary Clinton’s private email server. (Politico)
A new book claims that Kellyanne Conway is the “number one leaker” in Trump’s White House, and that she leaks more information to the press than any other individual. (CNN)
Robert Mueller’s team has been asking about Roger Stone’s 2016 claim that he met with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Stone wrote in a August 2016 email that “I dined with Julian Assange last night,” which Mueller’s team has been asking about during grand jury testimony. (Wall Street Journal)
Chris Christie is worried that Trump won’t be able to stop himself from committing perjury if he sits down with Robert Mueller. “He’s a salesman. And salesmen, at times, tend to be hyperbolic. […] That’s okay when you’re on the campaign hustle. […] It is not okay when you’re sitting talking to federal agents because, you know, 18 USC 1001 is false statements to federal agents. That’s a crime. That can send you to jail.” (Washington Post)
1/ Scott Pruitt’s lease of a D.C. apartment cost him $50 a night but only when he slept there. Vicki Hart, the healthcare lobbyist who co-owns the building the apartment is in, is the wife of J. Steven Hart, an energy industry lobbyist. The EPA administrator worked directly with Hart to set up the $50-a-night rental room in a prime Capitol Hill building. The arrangement required him to pay rent for just a single bedroom, even though the other bedrooms in the unit were unoccupied. Hart’s firm represents clients in the industries that are regulated by the EPA. (Bloomberg / ABC News)
2/ Pruitt’s 24-hour security in Washington extended to personal trips to Disneyland and the Rose Bowl game, as well as trips home to Tulsa, Oklahoma. House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy recently made Pruitt turn over all of his travel records for his first year. The EPA’s inspector general is also investigating Pruitt’s 2017 travel. (CNN)
Scott Pruitt’s protective detail broke down the door at the Capitol Hill condo where he was living last year, believing he was unconscious and unresponsive and needed rescue. The incident occurred in the late afternoon on March 29, 2017. The EPA agreed to reimburse the condo owner for the damage to the door. (ABC News)
3/ The EPA is expected to roll back greenhouse gas emission and fuel economy standards for automobiles. Pruitt and the Trump administration plan to frame the initiative as eliminating a regulatory burden on automakers in order to make more affordable trucks, vans and SUVs available for buyers. (New York Times)
4/ The White House office responsible for recruiting and vetting political appointees is inexperienced and understaffed, with less than a third of the staffing than in previous administrations. The Presidential Personnel Office is led by a college dropout with arrests for drunken driving and bouncing checks, and a lance corporal in the Marine Corps reserves with arrests for assault, disorderly conduct, fleeing an officer and underage drinking. On the campaign trail, Trump pledged to surround himself with “only with the best and most serious people.” (Washington Post)
5/ A federal judge ruled that a lawsuit seeking to preserve DACA can continue, citing Trump’s “racially charged language.” The order, by Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis of Federal District Court in Brooklyn, rejected a motion to dismiss the case, saying that Trump’s “racial slurs” and “epithets” as a candidate and as president are enough to warrant a “plausible inference” that the decision to end DACA would be a violation of the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution. (New York Times)
6/ Trump told White House aides not to publicly discuss a plan to provide new U.S. weapons to Ukraine to help the country fight back against Russian-backed separatists. Officials said Trump was concerned that doing so might agitate Putin. “He doesn’t want us to bring it up,” said one White House official. “It is not something he wants to talk about.” (NBC News)
7/ Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. can’t remember a period of worse relations between Washington and Moscow. Anatoly Antonov also said it’s “impossible to imagine” that the Kremlin was responsible for meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, adding that “there is great mistrust between the United States and Russia” at present. (NBC News)
8/ The FBI detained Ted Malloch and issued him a subpoena to testify before Robert Mueller about potential collusion between Trump’s campaign and the Russian government. FBI asked Malloch about his relationship with Roger Stone and if he had ever visited the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange resides. Malloch is reportedly close to Trump, Steve Bannon, UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage, and Stone. (The Guardian / NBC News)
poll/ 60% of Americans between the ages of 15 and 34 describe Trump as “mentally unfit,” 62% call him “generally dishonest,” and 63% say he “is a racist.” 33% approve of Trump’s job performance – 9 points lower than all adults. (Associated Press)
poll/ 57% of Americans say they are upset enough about an issue that they would carry a protest sign for a day. Among Democrats, 69% feel passionate enough about an issue to carry a protest sign, compared to 50% of Republicans and 43% of independents. (NBC News)
Notables.
Czech officials have extradited a Russian hacker to the U.S. to face charges that he hacked into LinkedIn, Dropbox, and other American companies. Yevgeniy Nikulin, who denies that he is a hacker, was arrested by Czech officials in Prague in cooperation with the FBI in October 2016. (Associated Press)
Trump wants the U.S. to end its military presence in Syria “very soon.” The comment comes hours after the Pentagon highlighted the need for US troops to remain in the country for the immediate future. (Politico / CNN)
The Trump administration will require nearly all visa applicants to submit five years of social media history. The move will affect nearly 15 million would-be immigrants to the U.S. (CNN)
Congress is investigating an August 2016 flight from Moscow to New Jersey in connection with a meeting between Paul Manafort and Konstantin Kilimnik. The jet, which is linked to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, who has close ties with the Kremlin, landed in the U.S. shortly before Manafort and Kilimnik met in Manhattan. Kilimnik is the unnamed person with “ties to Russian intelligence” in Robert Mueller’s indictment of Rick Gates. (Vice News)
More than 10,000 people have donated more than $460,000 to Andrew McCabe’s legal defense fund. The original goal was $150,000. (ABC News)
1/ Robert Mueller’s team pushed Rick Gates last year to help them connect the Trump campaign to the Russians. Mueller’s team plans to use information from Gates to tie Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman, directly to a Russian intelligence agency. As part of Gates’ agreement to cooperate with the special counsel last month, he earned a reduced potential sentence and had several charges against him dropped. (CNN)
2/ Mueller’s team has also been questioning witnesses about an event attended by both Jeff Sessions and Sergei Kislyak during the 2016 Republican National Convention. The team also has been asking if Sessions had private discussions with the now former Russian Ambassador to the United States on the sidelines of a Trump campaign speech at the Washington Mayflower Hotel in April 2016. (Reuters)
3/ Trump’s outside advisers told him he doesn’t need a chief of staff or a communications director. While John Kelly has tried to bring order to the policymaking process, Trump has grown frustrated by the long-established West Wing management structure, because it doesn’t fit his freewheeling style. As a result, Kelly has been absent from several key decisions lately. Since Hope Hicks’ departure, Trump has been open to rethinking the traditional communications director role. He’d like Kellyanne Conway to assume the role. (CNN / Bloomberg)
4/ EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt lived in a condo tied to an energy industry lobbyist. The townhouse near the U.S. Capitol is co-owned by J. Steven Hart, who wouldn’t say how much Pruitt paid to live there. Hart’s firm has lobbied on “issues related to the export of liquefied natural gas.” During a December 2017 trip to Morocco, Pruitt pitched “the potential benefit of liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports on Morocco’s economy.” (ABC News)
5/ Michael Cohen’s attorney denied that Trump knew about the $130,000 hush-money payment to Stormy Daniels, saying that “the president was not aware of the agreement.” David Schwartz added: “At least Michael Cohen never told him about the agreement. I can tell you that.” Experts suggest the denial could insulate Trump, but could also undermine the nondisclosure agreement that Daniels signed, which prevented her from disclosing her alleged affair with Trump. (Washington Post)
A federal judge in California temporarily stopped efforts by Stormy Daniels’ attorney to depose Trump and his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen. The court denied Michael Avenatti’s motion for an expedited trial and discovery process because Trump and Essential Consultants LLC have not yet filed a petition to compel arbitration, which they have stated they’re going to do. Essential Consultants LLC is the company established by Cohen to pay Daniels the $130,000 to keep quiet about an alleged affair between her and Trump. (CNN)
6/ David Shulkin said he was fired as the Secretary of Veterans Affairs because he was standing in the way of the Trump administration privatizing the VA, with “some political appointees choosing to promote their agendas instead of what’s best for veterans.” The former secretary said the “people who want to put VA health care in the hands of the private sector … saw me as an obstacle to privatization who had to be removed.” (New York Times / NPR)
7/ Trump’s nominee to run the VA has never managed a large bureaucracy. White House physician Ronny Jackson is the doctor who gave Trump a positive physical and mental health assessment in a televised briefing in January. Trump liked the way Jackson handled himself with reporters during the briefing, which played a part in Jackson’s nomination for secretary of Veterans Affairs. (Politico / CNN)
8/ The Department of Housing and Urban Development is attempting to reverse federal efforts to enforce fair housing laws. Under Ben Carson, HUD has been freezing enforcement actions against local governments and businesses while sidelining officials who have attempted to pursue civil rights cases. The goal is to roll back the Obama administration’s efforts to reverse racial, ethnic, and income segregation in housing and development projects subsidized by the federal government. (New York Times)
9/ The Justice Department will investigate the surveillance of Carter Page, a former Trump campaign official. The inspector general has faced increasing political pressure from Republicans in Congress and Attorney General Jeff Sessions to examine whether law enforcement officials complied with the law and DoJ policies while seeking approval from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to wiretap Page. (New York Times)
10/ Jeff Sessions said he will not name a second special counsel at this time. Instead, Sessions revealed that Utah’s top federal prosecutor, John Huber, is investigating allegations that the FBI abused its powers in surveilling Carter Page, and that more should have been done to investigate Hillary Clinton’s ties to a Russian nuclear energy agency. (CNN / Washington Post)
poll/ 54% of Americans expect Trump to lose his campaign for re-election. 79% of Republicans expect Trump to win his 2020 re-election bid, while 87% of Democrats expect him to lose. (CNN)
Notables.
Six House Democrats are calling for the FBI to investigate whether Jared Kushner leaked classified information to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman. The Intercept reported that the Saudi prince told confidants last year that Kushner had discussed Saudi leaders who are disloyal to the crown prince. (CNN)
The FBI investigated Trump’s plans to build a hotel in Latvia following Latvia’s request for assistance with an anti-corruption investigation. The investigation targeted Igor Krutoy, a wealthy Putin supporter who was in on the plans and with whom Trump and daughter Ivanka met for several hours at Trump Tower in 2010. The hotel plan was abandoned after the investigation began. (The Guardian)
Russia will close the American consulate in St. Petersburg and kick out 60 U.S. diplomats. The move comes in response to the coordinated expulsion of Russian diplomats from the U.S. and several European countries. (Washington Post)
Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe is raising funds to help cover costs defending against ongoing government probes. McCabe was fired by Jeff Sessions but says he was terminated because he is a witness in the Russia investigation. (Reuters)
Mike Pence’s hometown will host its first gay pride parade next month. A high school student who is hosting the parade said that just because Pence is “openly anti-LGBT, it doesn’t mean that the rest of us in his hometown are.” A spokeswoman for Pence says he supports the young activist’s efforts. (CNN)
Trump tweeted photos taken in 2009 and tried to claim that they were “the start of our Southern Border WALL”. The photos were from an ongoing project to replace sections of an existing border wall in California. (BuzzFeed News)
Trump took time out of his busy presidential schedule to congratulate Roseanne Barr on the “huge” ratings “Roseanne” had received. The show returned to the air this week more than two decades after it ended its run. The first episode attracted 18.2 million viewers. (New York Times)
1/ Rick Gates knowingly communicated with “a former Russian Intelligence Officer” during the 2016 presidential campaign, according to documents filed by Robert Mueller’s investigators. Gates was in frequent contact with “Person A” – who has been identified as Konstantin Kilimnik – during the time he worked for Trump’s campaign, including September and October 2016. The documents Mueller filed indicate that the communications between Gates and Kilimnik are “pertinent to the investigation.” Kilimnik worked with Paul Manafort for four years on behalf of a Kremlin-aligned Ukrainian political party. (New York Times / Washington Post)
Go Deeper:
Gates is a longtime business associate of Paul Manafort and served as Manafort’s deputy when Manafort was Trump’s campaign manager.
Gates pleaded guilty last month to conspiracy and lying to the FBI in a cooperation deal with Mueller.
2/ Gates told Alexander van der Zwaan that Kilimnik was a former intelligence officer with Russia’s foreign intelligence service. The London-based lawyer, who previously worked with Gates and Manafort, pleaded guilty last month to lying to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigators about his interactions with Gates and Kilimnik. Gates communicated with Kilimnik and van der Zwaan in a “series of calls” in September and October 2016. (CNN / Politico / The Hill)
Mueller’s office is asking for jail time for Alexander van der Zwaan, who pleaded guilty to lying to special prosecutors and the FBI. The special counsel’s office didn’t say how much jail time van der Zwaan should receive, but it did push back against van der Zwaan’s argument that he should receive no jail time at all. Earlier court filings show he faces up to six months behind bars. (BuzzFeed News)
3/ Trump discussed the idea of pardoning both Paul Manafort and Michael Flynn with his lawyers last year as Robert Mueller was building cases against both men. John Dowd, who resigned last week, was hired last year to defend Trump during the Mueller inquiry. Dowd told Flynn’s lawyer last summer that Trump was prepared to pardon Flynn. Dowd also discussed a pardon with Manafort’s attorney before Manafort was indicted in October 2017 on charges of money laundering and other financial crimes. (New York Times)
4/ Paul Manafort expects Trump to pardon him. Manafort doesn’t plan to cooperate with Robert Mueller and will fight the charges of conspiracy, money laundering, tax and bank fraud, and making false statements to investigators. Manafort’s co-defendant, Rick Gates, has agreed to work with the special counsel. (CBS News)
Paul Manafort asked a federal judge in Virginia to dismiss an indictment brought by Robert Mueller, saying the case falls outside the scope of Mueller’s authority and is unrelated to Trump’s 2016 election campaign. The motion to dismiss was similar to one filed this month in another federal court in Washington, DC, where Manafort is facing a separate but related indictment also brought by Mueller. (Reuters)
5/ Pro-Trump media outlets have been circulating tweets and videos critical of Robert Mueller’s investigation in an effort to undermine it. “It looks like the beginnings of a campaign,” a person familiar with Trump’s legal strategy said. “It looks like they are trying to seed the ground. Ultimately, if the president determines he wants to fire Mueller, he’s going to want to make sure there’s ample public record that he can fall back on.” (Politico)
6/ A pair of senators called on Trump to let Robert Mueller’s investigation proceed “without impediment.” In a bipartisan bill, Senators Thom Tillis and Chris Coons “urge President Trump to allow the Special Counsel to complete his work without impediment, which is in the best interest of the American people, the President, and our nation.” (Politico)
7/ A federal judge will allow an emoluments lawsuit against Trump to proceed. The ruling from the US District Court of Maryland said the District of Columbia and Maryland may proceed with an unprecedented lawsuit against Trump alleging that Trump’s business dealings have violated the Constitution’s ban on improper payments from individual states and foreign governments. The case is required to focus on payments made by foreign officials for services at the Trump International Hotel in Washington. It cannot include visits to Mar-a-Lago in Florida or other Trump properties. (CNN / Washington Post)
8/ Stormy Daniels’ attorney filed a motion to depose Trump and his lawyer, Michael Cohen, about their knowledge of an agreement to pay the porn star $130,000 a week and a half before the 2016 election. In the court filing, Michael Avenatti said each deposition would last for no more than two hours. He also filed a motion seeking a jury trial in no more than 90 days. (CBS News / NBC News)
9/ At least 12 states plan to sue the Trump administration over the proposed addition of a citizenship question on the 2020 census. Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Washington will join New York State attorney general Eric Schneiderman in a multi-state lawsuit to stop the Trump administration from including the question on the next census. California has filed a separate suit. (New York Times)
10/ The EPA sent staffers a list of eight “approved talking points” about how to downplay climate change. The memo, sent by the EPA’s Office of Public Affairs, encourages staffers to suggest that humans are only responsible “in some manner” for climate change and that there are “clear gaps” between “our understanding of the role of human activity and what we can do about it.” (Huffington Post / The Hill)
poll/ Overall, 45% of Americans surveyed said global warming will pose a serious threat in their lifetimes – the highest overall percentage since Gallup first asked the question in 1997. However, just 18% of Republicans consider global warming a serious threat compared to 67% of Democrats. Meanwhile, 69% of Republicans think global warming is exaggerated, compared to 4% of Democrats. (Gallup)
poll/ 56% of Americans believe Trump had an affair with Stormy Daniels and 51% believe Daniels’ allegations that they had an affair. 91% said honesty is “very important” for elected officials to embody and 75% said the same about morality. 80% said extramarital affairs were morally wrong. (Politico)
Notables.
Trump secured a bilateral trade deal with South Korea ahead of nuclear talks with North Korea. The deal, expected to be announced this week, opens South Korea’s markets to American automobiles, extends tariffs for South Korean truck exports, and restricts the amount of steel South Korea can export to the United States by nearly a third. (New York Times / Politico)
Trump: “THE SECOND AMENDMENT WILL NEVER BE REPEALED!” Trump tweeted the all-caps statement in response to retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens calling yesterday for the Second Amendment to be repealed, citing the right to bear arms is outdated and misunderstood. (New York Times)
Trump fired David Shulkin via tweet, announcing that he’ll nominate his personal physician, Ronny Jackson, for Secretary of Veterans Affairs. (Axios / New York Times)
A Democratic candidate challenging House Intelligence Committee chair Devin Nunes raised more than $1 million in the first quarter of 2018. The California congressman has aligned himself closely with Trump. (CNN)
A former Disney Channel star will join the Trump administration as a White House press aide. Caroline Sunshine is known for her role as Tinka Hessenheffer in “Shake It Up,” a 2010 show about teen dancers. (CNN)
James Comey will sit down with Anderson Cooper for a town hall on April 25th at 8pm ET. Comey will also talk with Jake Tapper at 4pm ET on April 19th. (The Hill / CNN)
1/ The 2020 census will ask respondents if they are United States citizens, despite concerns from the Census Bureau. Inclusion of a citizenship question could prompt immigrants who are in the country illegally not to respond, resulting in an undercount of the population, which would affect government agencies and groups that rely on the census data. The effects could also affect redistricting of the House and state legislatures over the next decade. It’s been 70 years since the government has included a question about citizenship on the census. (New York Times)
Why putting a citizenship question on the census is a big deal. (CNN)
2/ California has sued the Trump administration, arguing that the question about citizenship in the 2020 Census violates the U.S. Constitution. The Constitution requires a census every 10 years to count the “number of free persons” in each state. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra alleges the change violates the constitutional requirement of “actual Enumeration” of every person in every state, every 10 years, and that “California simply has too much to lose for us to allow the Trump Administration to botch this important decennial obligation.” New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said he would lead a multi-state lawsuit, which Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey said she would join. (Washington Post / Politico)
3/ Trump has privately suggested that the US military could pay for the construction of his border wall. Trump told advisers and discussed the idea in a private meeting last week with House Speaker Paul Ryan, saying the Pentagon could fund his wall by citing a “national security” risk. The latest reports echo Trump’s tweet last week: “Build a WALL through M!” (Washington Post / CNN)
Because of the $700 & $716 Billion Dollars gotten to rebuild our Military, many jobs are created and our Military is again rich. Building a great Border Wall, with drugs (poison) and enemy combatants pouring into our Country, is all about National Defense. Build WALL through M!
4/ The White House is investigating whether two loans – totaling more than $500 million – to Jared Kushner’s family business violated federal ethics regulations. A letter from the Office of Government Ethics, made public Monday, revealed that White House attorneys are looking into whether a $184 million loan from Apollo Global and a $325 million loan from Citigroup Inc. violated rules and laws governing the conduct of federal employees. (Wall Street Journal)
Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that White House attorneys are “not probing whether Jared Kushner violated the law.” She added that “the White House counsel’s office does follow up with staff to assist with compliance with various ethics standards.” (The Hill)
5/ Trump has been telling some of his advisers that he hopes Rob Porter will return to the West Wing. Porter stepped down after allegations surfaced that he had abused both of his ex-wives, but Trump has stayed in touch with Porter since his departure. (New York Times)
6/ Retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens called for a repeal of the Second Amendment, saying the right to bear arms is outdated and misunderstood. (The Hill / New York Times)
poll/ 21% of Americans support a repeal of the Second Amendment. 46% favor modifying the Second Amendment to allow for stricter regulations. (Washington Post)
poll/ 42% of Americans approve of the job Trump’s doing as president – up seven points from a month ago. 58% disapprove. (Associated Press)
poll/ 47% of Americans say they approve of how Trump is handling the economy. 46% approve of Trump’s tax policy. (Associated Press)
poll/ 58% of Americans want to see the investigation into Russian interference fully investigated, compared to 36% who think it’s an effort to discredit Trump’s presidency. 55% of Americans don’t think Trump is doing enough to cooperate with the investigation. (CNN)
poll/ 62% of Americans approve of Trump’s decision to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, while 31% disapprove. Overall, 43% of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of the North Korea situation. (CNN)
poll/ 63% of Americans believe the women who have alleged affairs with Trump over the president’s denials. 21% say they believe Trump. 16% say they have no opinion. (Politico)
Notables.
Paul Ryan denies that he will resign later this year. Nevada Republican Mark Amodei said there is a rumor going around that Ryan will resign in the next 30 to 60 days. “The speaker is not resigning,” a spokesperson for Ryan said. (CNN / The Hill / Washington Post)
Trump is reportedly planning to fire Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin amid several investigations into Shulkin’s alleged spending abuses. An unnamed White House official said the chance of Shulkin being pushed out in the next few days is about “50-50.” (Associated Press)
Two more attorneys have declined offers to join Trump’s legal team. Trump reached out to Tom Buchanan and Dan Webb and asked them to represent him. Both refused the offer. Buchanan and Webb said in a statement that they were “unable to take on the representation due to business conflicts.” (The Daily Beast)
The NRA confirmed that it accepts foreign donations but denied that it uses the money for election purposes. The Federal Election Commission is investigating whether a top Russian banker with Kremlin ties illegally funneled money to the NRA to aid Trump’s campaign for president. (NPR)
The FBI arrested a man near Seattle after suspicious packages were found at military bases and CIA headquarters in the Washington, D.C. area. The packages contained potential destructive devices. (ABC News)
Mark Zuckerberg will testify before Congress. Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley has invited Zuckerberg, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to a hearing on data privacy on April 10. (CNN)
Facebook shares fell 4.9%. The social network has lost nearly $80 billion in market value since March 16th, when it was announced that Facebook would suspend Cambridge Analytica. (CNN Money)
Trump will let the Deferred Enforced Departure status for Liberians expire on March 31st as is scheduled and will not extend legal protection for them to remain in the U.S. (Axios)
The author of the Trump dossier provided a report to the FBI asserting that Putin’s former media czar was beaten to death by hired thugs in Washington, DC. The assertion contradicts the US government’s official finding that RT founder Mikhail Lesin died by accident. (BuzzFeed News)
1/ Trump won’t hire two attorneys who were supposed to join his legal team after all. The appointments were announced last week, but Trump’s personal attorney, Jay Sekulow, said in a statement that “conflicts prevent Joe diGenova and Victoria Toensing from joining the president’s special counsel legal team.” He added: “Those conflicts do not prevent them from assisting the president in other legal matters.” (New York Times)
2/ Trump’s personal legal team is down to one member as he struggles to find lawyers willing to represent him. Jay Sekulow is the only personal lawyer for Trump working full time on Robert Mueller’s investigation. He is assisted by Ty Cobb, a White House lawyer paid by taxpayers to represent the institution of the presidency rather than Trump personally. John Dowd, who had been leading the team handling the Russia inquiry, resigned last week after strategy disputes with Trump, while Marc Kasowitz’s role was reduced after a series of clashes with Trump over the summer. Emmet Flood, the lawyer who represented Bill Clinton during his impeachment process, said he will not represent Trump if Kasowitz has any role on the team, and another, Theodore Olson, declined to represent Trump. (New York Times / Washington Post)
3/ Trump expects to “make one or two major changes to his government very soon,” according to Trump’s friend Christopher Ruddy, CEO of Newsmax. “He told me he thinks the White House is operating like a smooth machine – his words,” said Ruddy, and that Trump is “perplexed by all these reports that there’s chaos at the White House or mass staff changes.” (ABC News)
4/ Stormy Daniels said she was threatened not to speak about her affair with Trump, Daniels told Anderson Cooper during her 60 Minutes interview. She also discussed statements and denials she previously made about the affair. After the interview aired, Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen sent Daniels a “cease and desist” letter, demanding that she stop speaking out about her relationship with Trump. (CBS News / Reuters)
5/ Trump “does not” believe Stormy Daniels was threatened and that “there is nothing to corroborate her claim,” according to White House deputy press secretary Raj Shah. “The president doesn’t believe any of the claims Ms. Daniels made in the interview last night were accurate.” (Bloomberg / Politico)
The attorney for Stormy Daniels said Trump hasn’t tweeted about Daniels because he knows her allegations of an affair are true. After 61 weeks in the White House and more than 2,900 tweets, Trump hasn’t attacked two people on Twitter: Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model. (Politico / New York Times)
6/ Stormy Daniels accused Michael Cohen of defaming her by implying that she lied about her affair with Trump. “Just because something isn’t true doesn’t mean that it can’t cause you harm or damage,” Cohen said in a mid-February statement. “I will always protect Mr. Trump.” Daniels amended her existing lawsuit against Trump, adding Trump’s personal attorney as a defendant in the case, and charging that the confidentiality agreement was illegal, because Trump never signed it. The new complaint also says Cohen’s $130,000 payment exceeded federal campaign contribution laws and was never reported. (Washington Post / Politico)
7/ A government watchdog group accused Cambridge Analytica of violating federal election laws in a pair of legal complaints filed with the Federal Election Commission and the Department of Justice. The laws prohibit foreigners from participating directly or indirectly in the decision-making process of U.S. political campaigns. Cambridge Analytica sent dozens of non-U.S. citizens to provide campaign strategy and messaging advice to Republican candidates in 2014. The complaints were filed by Common Cause. (ABC News / Washington Post)
A government watchdog group has filed 30 ethics complaints with the White House and various federal agencies alleging that employees are working in violation of Trump’s executive order intended to “drain the swamp” and keep the government free of former lobbyists. Public Citizen identified 36 lobbyists who’d been tapped for government jobs dealing with issues they’d lobbied on, and only six of those appointees have received waivers since then. (NBC News)
8/ The Federal Trade Commission confirmed that it’s opened a non-public investigation into Facebook for its user privacy practices. Shares of Facebook fell as much as 6% after the FTC announced it is investigating the company’s data practices in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica leak of 50 million users’ information. (Axios / CNBC)
poll/ 69% of Americans support tougher gun control laws, up from 55% when the question was first asked in October of 2013. While 60% believe that making it harder to legally obtain a gun would result in fewer mass shootings, only 42% expect elected officials to take action. (Associated Press)
poll/ 62% of Americans think the country is headed in the wrong direction. 32% say they think things will get better while 45% expect things to get worse. (Associated Press)
poll/ 42% of Americans approve of the way Trump is handling the presidency, 54% disapprove. It is Trump’s highest approval rating since the 100-day mark of his presidency. (CNN)
Notables.
The U.S. will expel 60 Russian diplomats in response to the poisoning of a former Russian spy on British soil. The Russian consulate in Seattle will also be closed as part of the response. (NBC News)
George Papadopoulos was encouraged to improve relations with Russia because it was a top foreign policy goal of the campaign. Emails turned over to investigators, show Papadopoulos had more contact with key Trump campaign and transition officials than has been publicly acknowledged. (Washington Post)
Andrew McCabe: “Not in my worst nightmares did I ever dream my FBI career would end this way.” … Trump’s cruelty reminded me of the days immediately following the firing of James B. Comey, as the White House desperately tried to push the falsehood that people in the FBI were celebrating the loss of our director. The president’s comments about me were equally hurtful and false, which shows that he has no idea how FBI people feel about their leaders. (Washington Post)
Kim Jong-Un made a surprise visit to Beijing. It was his first known trip outside North Korea since taking power in 2011. (Bloomberg)
Jimmy Carter: John Bolton as his new national security adviser is “the worst mistake” Trump has made. Bolton will be Trump’s third national security adviser since taking office. (CBS News)
Ryan Zinke told Interior Department employees that diversity isn’t important and won’t be a department focus. Instead, Zinke has told employees that he’s looking for “the right person for the right job.” (CNN)
Zinke has appointed 15 representatives of the outdoor recreation industry to advise him on how to operate public lands, including three people who were flagged as potentially having a conflict of interest. (Washington Post)
Hundreds of thousands of people joined the Parkland survivors in Washington to “March for Our Lives” while Trump spent the day at the Trump International Golf Club. The White House released a statement saying “We applaud the many courageous young Americans exercising their First Amendment rights today.” Thousands more rallied at about 800 sister marches around the country and abroad, where students, like those in the capital, called for gun control and pledged to exercise their political power in the midterm elections this fall. (New York Times)
An NRA representative to the Parkland students: “No one would know your names” if a gunman hadn’t killed three staff members and 14 students at their school. The comment came on the eve of the March for Our Lives protest. (Washington Post)
Rick Santorum said kids calling for stricter gun control measures should take CPR classes instead of protesting. “How about kids instead of looking to someone else to solve their problem,” Santorum said, “do something about maybe taking CPR classes or trying to deal with situations that when there is a violent shooter that you can actually respond to that.” (CNN)
Remington, the oldest gun manufacturer in the US, filed for bankruptcy in the wake of slumping sales in order to cut a deal with its creditors. (BBC)
Trump issued orders to ban transgender troops who require surgery or “substantial” medical treatment from serving in the military except in select cases. LGBTQ advocates called the decision “appalling, reckless and unpatriotic.” (Politico)
1/ The Senate passed a $1.3 trillion spending bill late last night, avoiding another government shutdown with less than a day before the deadline. The bill funds the federal government through the end of September and includes $700 billion for the military ($66 billion more than last year) and $591 billion for domestic agencies ($52 billion more than last year). (Washington Post / NBC News)
2/ Trump threatened to veto the spending package because it didn’t provide funding for his border wall, but he signed it anyway. He was “unhappy” about it. The bill also doesn’t address the fate of young undocumented immigrants and bill adds nearly $1.6 billion for border security, including $641 million for about 33 miles of fencing. In a tweet, Trump said he is “considering a VETO” because the budget doesn’t include the $25 billion needed to build his wall or protections for young undocumented immigrants. Trump, who has tried to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, wanted to trade long-term wall funding for protections for some young immigrants. (New York Times / CNBC / Bloomberg / Washington Post)
I am considering a VETO of the Omnibus Spending Bill based on the fact that the 800,000 plus DACA recipients have been totally abandoned by the Democrats (not even mentioned in Bill) and the BORDER WALL, which is desperately needed for our National Defense, is not fully funded.
3/ Another Trump lawyer is expected to step down later this year, contingent on Trump finding a replacement. White House counsel Don McGahn has told associates he’d like to leave the White House by the summer, but his departure might be put on hold through the 2018 midterms. Trump personal lawyer John Dowd resigned on Thursday. Trump wants to have in place a new White House counsel with whom he’s comfortable before McGahn exits. (Politico)
4/ Trump will replace H. R. McMaster with John Bolton as his national security adviser. Bolton is a Fox News commentator and a former United States ambassador to the United Nations. McMaster had reportedly been discussing his departure with Trump for several weeks. “The two have been discussing this for some time. The timeline was expedited as they both felt it was important to have the new team in place, instead of constant speculation,” a White House official said. “This was not related to any one moment or incident, rather it was the result of ongoing conversations between the two.” McMaster, a three-star Army general, also announced that he would retire from the military. Bolton will be Trump’s third national security adviser in 14 months. Bolton was also passed over for a State Department job last year, because Trump didn’t like his mustache. (New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / CNN)
I am pleased to announce that, effective 4/9/18, @AmbJohnBolton will be my new National Security Advisor. I am very thankful for the service of General H.R. McMaster who has done an outstanding job & will always remain my friend. There will be an official contact handover on 4/9.
5/ Trump’s tweet firing McMaster disrupted John Kelly’s plan to announce multiple administration departures at once. The White House has been waiting for an inspector general report on Veteran Affairs Secretary David Shulkin and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, who have both been accused of misspending taxpayer money. The McMaster announcement was not expected to be made for at least another week. (Politico)
6/ Trump has reportedly considered firing and not replacing John Kelly, leaving Trump to essentially serve as his own chief of staff. Trump has discussed the possibility of having a handful of aides report directly to him, instead of going through a chief of staff. Steve Bannon said he doesn’t expect Trump to replace Kelly if he leaves. “I’ve actually argued that if General Kelly at any time does decide to leave — (or) the president decides it’s time for him to move on — I don’t believe there will be another chief of staff,” Bannon said. “I think there will be five or six direct reports like there was in Trump Tower.” (NBC News / The Hill)
7/ Steve Bannon oversaw Cambridge Analytica’s early efforts to collect Facebook data as part of a program to build detailed profiles of millions of American voters. The 2014 effort was part of a form of voter persuasion touted by the company, which Bannon used to identify and test anti-establishment messages that later would be used in Trump’s campaign speeches. Among the messages tested were “drain the swamp” and “deep state.” (Washington Post)
The political action committee founded by John Bolton was one of the earliest customers of Cambridge Analytica. Bolton, of course, is Trump’s incoming national security adviser. (New York Times)
The blueprint for how Cambridge Analytica claims it won the White House for Trump has been leaked. The 27-page presentation, produced by the Cambridge Analytica officials who worked closely on Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, shows how they used Google, Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. (The Guardian)
8/ Former Playboy model Karen McDougal said Trump once offered to pay her after they had sex. “After we had been intimate,” McDougal told CNN, “he tried to pay me, and I actually didn’t know how to take that.” McDougal said Trump tried to hand her money immediately after their first sexual encounter more than a decade ago and that they were together “many dozens of times.” (CNN / New York Times)
9/ Stormy Daniels’ attorney implied that he has hard evidence of Trump’s affair with the porn star, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford. Michael Avenatti tweeted a photo of what appears to be a CD in a safe, with the caption: “If ‘a picture is worth a thousand words,’ how many words is this worth?????” The White House has denied that Trump ever had an affair with Daniels, who was paid $130,000 by Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, in 2016, weeks before the presidential election. The payment, Daniels says, was intended to buy her silence on the alleged affair. (The Hill)
10/ The “lone hacker” known as Guccifer 2.0 is actually a Russian intelligence officer. Guccifer claimed responsibility for the breach of the Democratic National Committee and the data dump of the stolen DNC emails. He publicly portrayed himself as the “lone hacker” who was able to penetrate the DNC, but a team of investigators identified him as an officer of Russia’s military intelligence directorate, or GRU, after he failed to turn on the virtual private network (VPN) that he used to disguise his IP address. As a result, he left a real, Moscow-based IP address in the server logs of an American social media company. (The Daily Beast)
1/ Trump’s lead attorney dealing with the special counsel investigation resigned. John Dowd’s departure comes days after Trump called for an end to Robert Mueller’s inquiry and days after Dowd said the investigation should end, initially claiming he was speaking for Trump before saying he was only speaking for himself. Trump’s attorneys are in negotiations with the special counsel’s team over a potential interview with Trump. It is not clear who will take over the president’s legal team. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN)
2/ Trump: “Yes, I would like to” testify before Robert Mueller. His comment came shortly after John Dowd resigned from his personal legal team. (CBS News / CNN)
3/ Mueller’s team has discussed four main topics with Trump’s lawyers for a potential Trump interview. Specifically, the special counsel wants to know about Trump’s role in crafting a statement aboard Air Force One about Trump Jr.‘s June 2016 meeting with Russians at Trump Tower; the circumstances surrounding the Trump Tower meeting; and the firings of James Comey and Michael Flynn. Mueller’s team is also looking at connections between Trump’s campaign and Cambridge Analytica and how the data firm collected and utilized voter data in battleground states. (CNN / Associated Press)
House Democrats are attempting to force a vote on a bill that would protect Robert Mueller in the event that Trump tries to fire the special counsel. Steve Cohen, a member of the House Ethics Committee, filed a petition to call for a vote on a bill called the Special Counsel Integrity Act, which would prevent anyone from firing Mueller without just cause. “Recent events particularly concern me,” Cohen wrote in a statement, “because it seems the President fears that Mueller is close to revealing findings relevant to his mandate and that ending the investigation is the only way to prevent its public release.” (The Hill)
4/ Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee voted to end their investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, concluding that the evidence failed to amount to collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. (Politico)
5/ The House passed a $1.3 trillion spending bill to fund the government through September. The budget boosts military and domestic spending, and includes $1.6 billion for more than 90 miles of physical barriers along the border with Mexico. The bill provides no resolution for DACA. The Senate will now need unanimous consent from all members to waive procedural rules in order to vote before the Friday midnight deadline when government funding is set to expire. (New York Times / Associated Press / Washington Post)
Congress rejected Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’s school choice agenda and her attempt to spend more than $1 billion on promoting choice-friendly policies and private school vouchers. DeVos had sought to cut Education Department funding by $3.6 billion — about 5%. (Washington Post)
6/ Trump signed an executive memorandum to impose about $60 billion in tariffs on Chinese imports, saying “this is the first of many.” The Trump administration said the tariffs are designed to penalize China for trade practices that involve stealing American companies’ intellectual property. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer now has 15-days to come up with a proposed list of products that will face higher tariffs. The White House granted exemptions to American allies from steel and aluminum tariffs that go into effect on Friday, including the European Union, Canada, and Mexico. (CNBC / Bloomberg / New York Times)
The Dow dropped 724.42 points to close at 23,957.89 over concerns from investors about Trump’s tariffs on China and the threat of a global trade war. Earlier in the session, the Dow dropped more than 500 points. (CNN Money / CNBC / Bloomberg)
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said he doesn’t think this will be the start of a trade war with China, but he does expect that “there will be some ultimate retaliation.” (CNBC)
7/ Jeff Sessions wants prosecutors to seek the death penalty in drug-related cases whenever it’s “appropriate.” The move comes less than a week after Trump called for the execution of opioid dealers and traffickers. “In the face of all of this death, we cannot continue with business as usual,” Sessions wrote in a memo to U.S. Attorneys offices. (Reuters)
8/ Trump tweeted that he would beat Joe Biden in a fight in response to Biden’s suggestion that he would “beat the hell out of” Trump if they were in high school together. “Crazy Joe Biden is trying to act like a tough guy,” Trump tweeted. “Actually, he is weak, both mentally and physically, and yet he threatens me, for the second time, with physical assault. He doesn’t know me, but he would go down fast and hard, crying all the way. Don’t threaten people Joe!” (CNN)
Crazy Joe Biden is trying to act like a tough guy. Actually, he is weak, both mentally and physically, and yet he threatens me, for the second time, with physical assault. He doesn’t know me, but he would go down fast and hard, crying all the way. Don’t threaten people Joe!
poll/ 28% of Americans have a favorable view of Robert Mueller, compared to 19% who view him negatively. (NBC News)
Notables.
Washington, D.C., and Maryland filed a lawsuit against Trump for violating the emoluments clause of the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits public officials from receiving gifts and payments from foreign governments without approval from Congress. The suit claims that Trump’s refusal to divest from his personal businesses has allowed foreign governments to pay the Trump Organization directly for bookings and events. (WAMU)
Rex Tillerson called D.C. “a very mean-spirited town” in his farewell address to State Department employees. He didn’t mention Trump by name, said he hopes the department will “continue to treat each other with respect.” (CBS News)
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and his wife took a security detail on their vacation to Greece and Turkey last year, in what one watchdog group said could be a “questionable” use of taxpayer resources. (Politico)
Kellyanne Conway is poised to take over as the White House communications director in the wake of Hope Hicks’ departure. Melania Trump and Mike Pence’s chief of staff have recently encouraged her to take the job. (The Atlantic)
The FEC is investigating whether Devin Nunes violated campaign finance laws. Nunes has until April 24 to respond to the FEC. (The Daily Beast)
New York City’s buildings regulator is investigating possible “illegal activity” at more than a dozen Kushner Cos. properties following a report that the real estate developer routinely filed false paperwork claiming it had zero rent-regulated tenants in its buildings across the city. (Associated Press)
CBS will air its 60 Minutes interview with Stormy Daniels on Sunday, March 25, at 7:00 p.m. ET/PT. The adult-film star says she had an affair with Trump. The president has denied having an affair with Daniels. (CBS News)
Today’s update is brought to you by Gogo Inflight Internet. I’m on my way to the Society for News Design conference in New York to speak about how WTF Just Happened Today is powered by membership, and all the forms membership can take (financial vs non-financial).
1/ The Senate Intelligence Committee recommended that states buy voting machines that produce paper ballots and that they secure voter databases ahead of November’s midterm elections. Senators, concerned about Russian meddling in the midterms, called on Congress to “urgently” make funds available for states to update their voting systems, institute vote audits, and hire staff focused on cybersecurity. (New York Times)
2/ Senators criticized the Trump administration for not doing enough to prepare for the 2018 midterms. “I hear no sense of urgency to really get on top of this issue,” Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, said. Homeland Security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen testified before the committee, saying the 2018 midterms and future elections are “clearly potential targets for Russian hacking attempts.” (CNN)
3/ Trump ignored specific warnings from his national security advisers not to congratulate Putin on his recent election win. Instead, Trump called Putin and opened by congratulating him. A section in Trump’s briefing materials was titled “DO NOT CONGRATULATE” in all-capital letters. (Washington Post)
4/ Trump and John Kelly are reportedly furious over the leak that Trump congratulated Putin despite warnings from multiple national security advisers and briefing materials that said “DO NOT CONGRATULATE.” It’s still unclear if Trump read the guidance that was given to him by his advisers, but Trump defended his congratulatory call, tweeting that “Getting along with Russia… is a good thing,” and that his “energy and chemistry” with Putin will be constructive. He capped off his second tweet with an all-caps: “PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH!” (CNN / Axios)
I called President Putin of Russia to congratulate him on his election victory (in past, Obama called him also). The Fake News Media is crazed because they wanted me to excoriate him. They are wrong! Getting along with Russia (and others) is a good thing, not a bad thing.......
.....They can help solve problems with North Korea, Syria, Ukraine, ISIS, Iran and even the coming Arms Race. Bush tried to get along, but didn’t have the “smarts.” Obama and Clinton tried, but didn’t have the energy or chemistry (remember RESET). PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH!
A senior White House official who is not authorized to discuss the leak publicly commented that “leaking [president’s briefing papers] is a fireable offense and likely illegal.” A person in close contact with national security officials said John Kelly is “on a warpath” and “there’s going to be a scalp over this.” (Los Angeles Times)
5/ The former director of the CIA suggested that Russia may have compromising information on Trump “that they could always roll out and make his life more difficult.” John Brennan, the CIA director under Obama, said the fact that Trump “had this fawning attitude toward Mr. Putin, has not said anything negative about him, I think continues to say to me that he does have something to fear and something very serious to fear.” Brennan was the CIA director in 2016 when the dossier surfaced that claimed the Russians had compromising information on Trump. (CNN / New York Times)
poll/ 40% of voters view the NRA negatively, compared with 37% who view the organization positively. the first time since before 2000 that more people in the poll have viewed the NRA in a negative light than in a positive light. (NBC News)
poll/ 70% of millennial women now identify as Democrats, up from 54% in 2002. 23% of millennial women identify as Republicans, down from 36% in 2002. (Pew Research Center)
poll/ 67% of voters say Trump is not a good role model for children. 55% don’t think Trump has a good sense of decency. (Quinnipiac)
Notables.
The Austin bombing suspect blew himself up as a SWAT team tried to apprehend him on the side of a highway. Mark Anthony Conditt is believed to have been responsible for at least six bombs that killed at least two people and wounded five. Police were closing in on Conditt’s vehicle on Interstate 35 when “the suspect detonated a bomb inside the vehicle, knocking one of our SWAT officers back,” Austin Police Chief Brian Manley said. (NBC News / New York Times)
Mark Zuckerberg on Cambridge Analytica: “We have a responsibility to protect your data, and if we can’t then we don’t deserve to serve you.” Zuckerberg said Facebook will investigate all apps with access to Facebook data, limit access to data to prevent other kinds of abuse, and release a tool to help users understand who has access to their data. (Bloomberg / CNBC)
Andrew McCabe oversaw a federal criminal investigation into whether Jeff Sessions lacked candor when testifying before Congress about contacts with Russians. McCabe authorized the investigation nearly a year before he was fired by Sessions for a “lack of candor.” (ABC News)
Texas GOP Rep. Blake Farenthold is considering stepping down from Congress before the end of his term, which would allow him to dodge an Ethics Committee investigation into allegations of inappropriate office behavior. (Politico)
A Holocaust denier won the Illinois Republican primary in the state’s Third Congressional District. The Illinois Republican Party tried to distance itself from Arthur Jones, blanketing the district with campaign fliers and robocalls urging voters to “stop Illinois Nazis.” (New York Times)
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt spent more than $163,000 on first-class flights, military aircraft, and charter flights in his first year in office. The agency has said the expensive flights were necessary because of the high number of security threats Pruitt has received. (Politico)
The Republican National Committee spent at least $271,000 at Trump’s private businesses in February. The expenditures represent 86% of the RNC’s February spending. (Washington Post)
1/ Trump has discussed firing one of his lawyers, while another is contemplating resignation. Ty Cobb, who has urged Trump to cooperate with Mueller’s investigation, appears to be on the chopping block, while John Dowd has considered leaving the team because Trump ignores his legal advice. Trump tweeted that he’s “VERY happy with my lawyers, John Dowd, Ty Cobb and Jay Sekulow,” although he recently met with Emmet Flood, the lawyer who represented Bill Clinton during his impeachment proceedings. Trump also added Joseph E. diGenova to his legal team on Monday. DiGenova is a regular Fox News commentator who has suggested that the FBI and the Justice Department conspired to deny Trump his “civil rights.” (New York Times)
The Failing New York Times purposely wrote a false story stating that I am unhappy with my legal team on the Russia case and am going to add another lawyer to help out. Wrong. I am VERY happy with my lawyers, John Dowd, Ty Cobb and Jay Sekulow. They are doing a great job and.....
A seasoned, high-profile litigator declined to join Trump’s legal team. Theodore Olson served as solicitor general in the George W. Bush administration and has more experience on landmark cases than any of Trump’s current lawyers. (Washington Post)
2/ Paul Ryan says he received “assurances” that firing Robert Mueller is “not even under consideration.” The House Speaker did not elaborate on the assurances. In January, Mitch McConnell declined to take up proposed legislation to protect Mueller because he knew of no “official” White House effort to undermine him. Today, McConnell said legislation was “not necessary” to protect Mueller against the threat of being fired by Trump. (CNN)
3/ Stormy Daniels passed a polygraph exam in 2011 about her relationship with Trump. The examiner found there was a 99% probability Daniels was telling the truth when she said she had unprotected sex with Trump in 2006. The White House and Trump’s attorney have denied that the president had a sexual relationship with Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford. (NBC News)
4/ A former Playboy model, who alleges she had an affair with Trump, is suing to be released from a 2016 legal agreement requiring her silence. Karen McDougal is suing American Media Inc., the company that owns The National Enquirer, which paid her $150,000 to buy her story and bury it, a practice known as “catch and kill.” David Pecker is the CEO of American Media Inc. and a friend of Trump’s. (New York Times)
5/ A Manhattan Supreme Court judge ruled that Trump must face a defamation lawsuit by a former “Apprentice” contestant and that his job as commander-in-chief does not give him immunity from the lawsuit. Trump had argued that presidents are shielded from civil litigation in state courts under the US Constitution’s supremacy clause. The assertion has never been fully tested by the courts, however, making the ruling a first-of-its-kind decision. (New York Post / Washington Post / The Hill)
Dept. of #FacebookExit.
Cambridge Analytica harvested private information from more than 50 million Facebook users without their permission, making it one of the largest data leaks in the social network’s history. Cambridge Analytica – owned by Robert Mercer and headed by Steve Bannon at the time – hired Aleksandr Kogan, who built “a very standard vanilla Facebook app,” which would scrape information from participants’ profiles and those of their friends under the premise that the company was collecting information for academic purposes. (New York Times / The Guardian)
The Federal Trade Commission is investigating whether Facebook violated a 2011 consent decree over Cambridge Analytica’s access and use of the personal data of 50 million Facebook users. Under the settlement, Facebook agreed to get user consent for changes to privacy settings. (Bloomberg)
Facebook’s chief information security officer, Alex Stamos, is leaving the company following disagreements among top Facebook executives over their response to Russian interference in the 2016 presidential elections and potential interference in the 2018 midterms. The issue is rooted in how much Facebook should publicly share about the ways in which their platform was misused in the run-up to the 2018 midterm elections. Stamos oversaw Facebook’s security team, which was once 120 people, but is currently down to three people. Stamos plans to leave the company by August. (New York Times)
Cambridge Analytica’s CEO was caught on tape suggesting that the company could entrap political rivals through seduction or bribery. In an undercover investigation by Britain’s Channel 4 News, Alexander Nix said the British firm secretly campaigns in elections across the world using front companies, former spies, and contractors. (Channel 4 / New York Times / Washington Post)
Cambridge Analytica claimed it “ran all the digital campaign, the television campaign and our data informed all the strategy” for Trump, according the undercover investigation by Channel 4 News. (Channel 4)
Cambridge Analytica suspended CEO Alexander Nix and is launching an independent investigation to determine if the company engaged in any wrongdoing. (Wall Street Journal)
Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg didn’t attend an internal employee briefing about Facebook’s role in the Trump-Cambridge Analytica scandal. The session was instead conducted by a Facebook attorney. (The Daily Beast)
Facebook’s stock fell about 7% on Monday, cutting about $37 billion off the value of the company. Mark Zuckerberg personally lost about $5 billion in net worth. (CNN Money / Wall Street Journal)
How to delete Facebook. First, download your archive by going to “Settings,” click “Download a copy of your Facebook data” at the bottom of General Account Settings, and then click “Start My Archive.” When you’re ready to delete your account, click this link, which will take you to the account deletion page. Once you delete your account, it cannot be recovered. (The Verge)
Dept. of Swamp Things.
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos will testify before the House Appropriations Committee about her “Education Reform Plan,” which calls for a 5% spending cut and eliminates dozens of programs. It includes a $1 billion school choice proposal. Department staff said DeVos tried to withhold information in the budget justifications submitted to Congress. (New York Times)
Ben Carson defended the purchase of a $31,000 dining set, telling the House Appropriations Committee that the furniture was necessary because “people were stuck by nails, and a chair had collapsed with someone sitting in it.” He admitted, however, that he failed to adhere to a $5,000 federal spending cap for the purchase. (Bloomberg / New York Times)
Three Trump appointees with pro-abstinence beliefs directed the process to end a federal teen pregnancy prevention program last year, over the objections of career experts in the Department of Health and Human Services. One appointee was previously the president of Ascend, an association that promotes abstinence until marriage as the best way to prevent teen pregnancy. (NBC News)
A new Mississippi law bans most abortions after 15 weeks’ gestation with no exceptions for rape or incest. The only exceptions are if a fetus has health issues that are “incompatible with life” outside of the womb, or if a pregnant woman’s life is threatened by the pregnancy. (NBC News)
A federal judge temporarily blocked the new Mississippi law that bans abortion after 15 weeks. The temporary restraining order was requested by the state’s only abortion clinic. (Associated Press)
Notables.
An “ashamed” Fox News Commentator quit the “propaganda machine,” denouncing both the network and Trump in an email to colleagues. (BuzzFeed News)
Trump is preparing to impose $60 billion in tariffs on Chinese products. Trump plans to unveil the tariffs on by Friday. (Washington Post)
Shutdown Watch: Congress and the White House are moving closer to a $1.3 trillion spending bill ahead of a Friday deadline to fund the government. (Politico)
Trump called Putin to congratulate him on his recent re-election. The call comes days after the White House imposed sanctions on Russia for meddling in the 2016 U.S. election and “malicious cyberattacks.” The Trump administration has also recently criticized Russia for its apparent role in a nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy and his daughter in the U.K. (New York Times)
1/ Trump’s legal team recently turned over documents to Robert Mueller in hopes of limiting the scope of a possible presidential interview and minimizing Trump’s exposure to the special counsel. The documents include summaries of internal White House memos and communication about key moments, including the firings of Michael Flynn and James Comey. (Washington Post)
2/ Trump hired a lawyer who promoted the theory that the FBI and Justice Department framed Trump in order to keep him from becoming president. On Fox News in January, Joseph diGenova said: “There was a brazen plot to illegally exonerate Hillary Clinton and, if she didn’t win the election, to then frame Donald Trump with a falsely created crime.” He added, “Make no mistake about it: A group of FBI and DOJ people were trying to frame Donald Trump of a falsely created crime.” (New York Times)
3/ Jeff Sessions fired Andrew McCabe 24 hours before he was set to retire. Sessions announced the decision to fire the now-former deputy director of the FBI just before 10 pm ET on Friday, saying McCabe was fired because he “made an unauthorized disclosure to the news media and lacked candor — including under oath — on multiple occasions.” In an interview, McCabe defended himself. “The idea that I was dishonest is just wrong,” he said. McCabe added: “This is part of an effort to discredit me as a witness” and to undermine Robert Mueller’s investigation into the Trump campaign. (New York Times / Washington Post)
Andrew McCabe FIRED, a great day for the hard working men and women of the FBI - A great day for Democracy. Sanctimonious James Comey was his boss and made McCabe look like a choirboy. He knew all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels of the FBI!
4/ Three sources contradicted Jeff Sessions’ claims that he “pushed back” against a George Papadopoulos proposal for Trump’s campaign to meet with Russians in 2016. Some Democrats think the discrepancies in Sessions’ testimony suggest the attorney general may have committed perjury. (Reuters)
5/ Trump’s personal lawyer wants Rod Rosenstein to end Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. “I pray that Acting Attorney General Rosenstein will follow the brilliant and courageous example of the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility and Attorney General Jeff Sessions and bring an end to alleged Russia Collusion investigation manufactured by McCabe’s boss James Comey based upon a fraudulent and corrupt Dossier,” John Dowd wrote in an email comment about McCabe’s firing. Dowd initially said he was speaking on behalf of Trump “as his counsel,” but later said he was not speaking on the president’s behalf. (The Daily Beast)
6/ McCabe met with Mueller and turned over memos detailing his interactions with Trump, similar to the notes compiled by James Comey. The memos apparently include corroborating details about the firing of former FBI Director James Comey. It’s unclear when McCabe’s interview took place. (Axios / Associated Press / CNN)
7/ Trump attacked Mueller by name for the first time on Twitter, calling the special counsel’s investigation a “WITCH HUNT!” in a tweet. Trump also charged that the memos written by James Comey and Andrew McCabe were “Fake Memos” because he “spent very little time with Andrew McCabe, but he never took notes when he was with me.” In one tweet, Trump also complained that Mueller’s team is partisan with “13 hardened Democrats, some big Crooked Hillary supporters, and Zero Republicans?” Mueller and Rosenstein are both Republicans. (Washington Post / New York Times)
The Fake News is beside themselves that McCabe was caught, called out and fired. How many hundreds of thousands of dollars was given to wife’s campaign by Crooked H friend, Terry M, who was also under investigation? How many lies? How many leaks? Comey knew it all, and much more!
The Mueller probe should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime. It was based on fraudulent activities and a Fake Dossier paid for by Crooked Hillary and the DNC, and improperly used in FISA COURT for surveillance of my campaign. WITCH HUNT!
Spent very little time with Andrew McCabe, but he never took notes when he was with me. I don’t believe he made memos except to help his own agenda, probably at a later date. Same with lying James Comey. Can we call them Fake Memos?
8/ Republican senators warned Trump not to fire Robert Mueller and to let federal investigators do their jobs. Lindsey Graham said if Trump were to dismiss Mueller, it would mark “the beginning of the end of his presidency.” Trey Gowdy, meanwhile, said if Trump is innocent, he should “act like it” and leave Mueller alone. Paul Ryan issued a statement advising Trump that “Mueller and his team should be able to do their job.” Mitch McConnell, however, had no comment. Following the pushback, White House lawyer Ty Cobb issued a statement on Sunday night saying Trump was not considering firing Mueller. (Reuters / Politico)
poll/ 74% of Americans feel that a “deep state” of unelected government officials is probably manipulating national policy. 27% believe a deep state definitely exists, 47% think it probably exists, 21% don’t believe a deep state exists, and 5% don’t know. 31% of Republicans and 33% of Independents said they definitely believe in the existence of a deep state. 19% of Democrats, meanwhile, said the deep state definitely exists. (Monmouth)
Notables.
Jared Kushner’s family real estate company routinely filed false documents with the New York City housing department. Kushner Companies claimed that it had zero rent-regulated tenants, even though there were actually hundreds of such tenants living in dozens of buildings it owned throughout the city. The move allowed the company to circumvent rules that would have prevented developers from pushing low-rent tenants out of the buildings. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said he is “very concerned about the allegations” and plans to meet with tenant representatives in the coming days. (Associated Press / Bloomberg)
The DACA-border wall deal fell apart after the White House refused to provide a pathway to citizenship to 1.8 million young immigrants eligible under the DACA program. Trump wants $25 billion for his border wall in exchange for extending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program through fall of 2020. (Politico)
The Supreme Court declined to take up a Republican challenge to the redrawn Pennsylvania congressional map ahead of the 2018 elections. Republicans drew a gerrymandered map in 2011 that resulted in a 13-5 congressional district advantage. (NPR)
Senior White House officials are considering whether to re-hire Trump’s personal aide John McEntee, days after he was abruptly fired and escorted off the property. The reasons for McEntee’s firing are still unclear, but they are believed to be related to his gambling habits. (Politico)
Facebook, Cambridge Analytica, and Trump
*There’s a huge story here, but I haven’t had time to make sense of it. Here’s a few of the stories making the rounds. I’ll have a summary update tomorrow. *
How Trump Consultants Exploited the Facebook Data of Millions (New York Times)
50 million Facebook profiles harvested for Cambridge Analytica in major data breach (The Guardian)
Cambridge Analytica, Trump-Tied Political Firm, Offered to Entrap Politicians (New York Times)
The CEO of the Trump 2016 data firm was recorded pitching illegal overseas campaign tactics (Washington Post / Channel 4)
Ted Cruz under fire in Cambridge Analytica scandal (Dallas News)
Facebook’s value plunges $37 billion on data controversy (CNN Money)
1/ Trump plans to remove national security adviser H.R. McMaster and is currently considering potential replacements. Trump plans to take his time with the transition in order to avoid humiliating McMaster and ensure he has a strong replacement. Other Trump officials, like Ben Carson and Mick Mulvaney, are also rumored to be on the chopping block. “There will always be change,” Trump said. “I think you want to see change. I want to also see different ideas.” Sarah Huckabee Sanders, meanwhile, disputed the story that Trump had decided to fire McMaster, tweeting: “Just spoke to @POTUS and Gen. H.R. McMaster — contrary to reports they have a good working relationship and there are no changes at the NSC.” (Washington Post / New York Times)
Just spoke to @POTUS and Gen. H.R. McMaster - contrary to reports they have a good working relationship and there are no changes at the NSC.
— Kayleigh McEnany 45 Archived (@PressSec45) March 16, 2018
2/ Trump is on track to hire multiple cable news personalities to fill out his cabinet. Trump has discussed having Fox News contributor John Bolton succeed McMaster as national security adviser. Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin could be replaced with Pete Hegseth, the co-host of Fox and Friends Weekend. Trump has already named Larry Kudlow to replace Gary Cohn as his chief economic adviser. (Washington Post)
3/ John Kelly, whose departure has been rumored to be imminent, has settled on a temporary truce with Trump. After a meeting with Kelly, Trump told advisers that his chief of staff was “100% safe.” Kelly told colleagues that the two of them have patched things up for the moment. “I’m in,” Kelly told his staff. Later, Kelly speculated that all the recent news about possible staffing changes is because Trump has been talking with people outside of the White House when he’s not around. (Wall Street Journal / Axios)
4/ Stormy Daniels was threatened with “physical harm” in response to her claims that she had an affair with Trump in 2006. When Mika Brzezinski asked on MSNBC’s Morning Joe “Was she threatened [with] physical harm?,” Daniels’ lawyer said yes but didn’t say what the specific threats were, or whether Trump was the one who personally threatened her. During a CNN interview later in the day, Daniels’ lawyer confirmed that some of the threats have taken place during the Trump presidency. Daniels’ interview with 60 Minutes is set to air on March 25. (MSNBC / CNN / Washington Post)
Notables.
Ivanka Trump will meet with South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha in the U.S. in the wake of the abrupt firing of former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. (The Hill)
Vanessa Trump filed for divorce from Trump Jr. The filing comes a day after Robert Mueller subpoenaed documents related to Trump’s family businesses, which Eric Trump and Trump Jr. have been running while their father is in office. (Page Six)
All seven U.S. troops aboard a military helicopter that crashed in western Iraq on Thursday are dead. The cause of the crash is currently under investigation, but U.S. officials do not believe it was downed as a result of enemy action. (New York Times)
Rep. Louise Slaughter died Friday at age 88, while serving her 16th term in the House of Representatives. Slaughter was the oldest sitting member of Congress, and had been planning to seek reelection in November. (NPR)
The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals tossed out a rule that required financial advisers to act in the best interest of their clients. In a 2-1 ruling, the court said the fiduciary rule bears the hallmarks of “unreasonableness” and constitutes an arbitrary and capricious exercise of administrative power. (The Hill)
A resolution denouncing white nationalists and neo-Nazis died in the Tennessee statehouse 36 seconds after being introduced. (CNN)
1/ Robert Mueller subpoenaed the Trump Organization to turn over documents related to Russia and other topics he’s investigating. The subpoena was delivered in “recent weeks” and is the first known order directly related to Trump’s businesses. (New York Times)
2/ A lawyer for the Trump Organization filed documents to keep Stormy Daniels from talking about her alleged affair with Trump. A “demand for arbitration” document dated February 22, 2018, names Jill Martin, a top lawyer at the Trump Organization, as the attorney representing the company Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, established to facilitate a payment of $130,000 to Daniels. The new documents, marked “HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL PROCEEDING,” show a direct connection between Trump’s company and the nondisclosure agreement Daniels signed, raising questions about Cohen’s previous statement that “neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction with Ms. Clifford.” Stormy Daniels’ real name is Stephanie Clifford. (Wall Street Journal / CNN)
3/ BuzzFeed wants to use Michael Cohen’s libel suit against them to demand that Stormy Daniels preserve all records related to her relationship with Trump, including all negotiations, agreements, and payments involving Cohen and the $130,000 payment she received before the 2016 election as part of a nondisclosure agreement she is now trying to void. Cohen filed a libel suit in January against BuzzFeed and four staffers over the publication of the dossier of allegations about Trump’s relationship with Russia.(Politico)
Stormy Daniels said multiple women are exploring potential legal cases against Trump. Michael Avenatti, who represents Stephanie Clifford — known professionally as Stormy Daniels — said other women have reached out to him for representation in cases against Trump. (BuzzFeed News)
4/ Trump’s lawyers are preparing for a potential interview with Robert Mueller. They’re working out answers to possible questions and negotiating the terms of the interview. Trump’s lawyers argue that Mueller must first show that his investigation can’t be completed without an interview with Trump. They’ve also studied the possibility of answering questions in writing. (Politico)
5/ Trump imposed sanctions on Russian organizations and individuals in retaliation for interference in the 2016 presidential election and other “malicious” cyberattacks. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin called the cyberattacks “the most destructive and costly cyberattack in history,” having caused billions of dollars in damage in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. (New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg)
6/ The Trump administration accused Moscow of a deliberate, ongoing hacking operation to penetrate the U.S. energy grid, aviation systems, and other infrastructure. “Since at least March 2016, Russian government cyber actors” have targeted “government entities and multiple U.S. critical infrastructure sectors,” including those of energy, nuclear, water and aviation, according to an alert issued by the Department of Homeland Security and F.BI. (Associated Press / Bloomberg / Politico)
7/ At a fundraiser Trump bragged that he made up facts about U.S. trade relations with Canada during a meeting with Justin Trudeau, insisting that the U.S. runs a trade deficit with Canada without knowing whether that was true. Canada and the U.S. calculate the trade balance differently. According to Statistics Canada, Canada runs a surplus, while the U.S. Commerce Department reports a $12.5 billion U.S. surplus. Regardless, Trump doubled down on his claim of a deficit, tweeting: “We do have a Trade Deficit with Canada, as we do with almost all countries (some of them massive).” (Washington Post / NBC News / CNN)
We do have a Trade Deficit with Canada, as we do with almost all countries (some of them massive). P.M. Justin Trudeau of Canada, a very good guy, doesn’t like saying that Canada has a Surplus vs. the U.S.(negotiating), but they do...they almost all do...and that’s how I know!
“Trudeau came to see me. He’s a good guy, Justin. He said, ‘No, no, we have no trade deficit with you, we have none. Donald, please,’” Trump said during fundraising speech, according to audio obtained by the Washington Post. Trump continued: “I said, ‘Wrong, Justin, you do.’ I didn’t even know. … I had no idea. I just said, ‘You’re wrong.’ You know why? Because we’re so stupid. … And I thought they were smart.”
Notables.
The American military acknowledged that U.S. special forces were involved in another firefight in Niger in December. The battle took place two months after four U.S. soldiers died in an ambush in Niger, and after senior commanders imposed additional restrictions on U.S. military operations in the country. No American or Nigerien forces were injured during the firefight. (New York Times)
Conor Lamb officially won the special House election in Pennsylvania. Lamb won by a very small margin, securing his victory after just a few thousand absentee ballots came in. Rick Saccone may still contest the outcome of the election. (New York Times)
Paul Manafort asked a federal judge to dismiss five criminal charges against him, arguing that special counsel Robert Mueller had no right to indict him for work done before he joined the Trump campaign as chairman in 2016. (CNN)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu believes Trump will withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal in May. Israeli officials say that the departure of Rex Tillerson is another sign that Trump is headed towards withdrawing from the Iran deal. (Axios)
John Kelly may also be on the way out, according to congressional and administration sources. (CBS News)
1/ Students from more than 3,000 schools walked out today to demand stricter gun regulation, including bans on assault weapons and expanded background checks. The National School Walkout started at 10 a.m. ET and will continue across the country at 10 a.m. in each time zone, sparked by last month’s school shooting in Florida. The protests will last for 17 minutes to honor each of the 17 people killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School one month ago. Some school districts have said they will discipline students who participate in the walkouts. “Change never happens without backlash,” Pope High School senior Kara Litwin said. “This is a movement, this is not simply a moment, and this is only the first step in our long process.” (NPR / CNN / USA Today / New York Times)
2/ A teacher who is also a reserve police officer injured three students after accidentally firing a gun inside a California classroom during a class devoted to public safety. Immediately before the gun fired, Dennis Alexander told the class that he wanted to make sure the gun wasn’t loaded as he pointed it to the ceiling. “I think a lot of questions on parents’ minds are, why a teacher would be pointing a loaded firearm at the ceiling in front of students,” the district superintendent said. [Editor’s note: Why would a teacher be bringing a loaded firearm to school?] (KSBW / Washington Post)
3/ In a separate incident, a school resource officer with the Alexandria, Virginia, Police Department accidentally fired his weapon at George Washington Middle School. The officer was inside his office at the time, and a department representative declined to say whether the officer had taken his gun out of his holster. No one, including the officer, was injured. (WTOP / NBC Washington)
4/ The House of Representatives passed a school safety bill by a vote of 407-10 to help schools and local law enforcement prevent gun violence. The bill provides training for school officials and local law enforcement to respond to mental health crises, as well as money to develop systems for reporting threats. The bill now heads to the Senate for consideration. (Reuters / CNN)
5/ Democrat Conor Lamb is narrowly leading Republican Rick Saccone in a Pennsylvania special election that’s still too close to call. With 100% of votes counted, Lamb has a 627-vote lead over Saccone in a district that Trump won by nearly 20 percentage points and that was once considered an easy win for Republicans. The district will not exist in 2019, however, because the State Supreme Court ruled in January that Pennsylvania’s House map was gerrymandered unlawfully and district lines have been redrawn. Whoever wins will be forced to run in a new district in November. (New York Times / The Hill / Vox / FiveThirtyEight)
Republicans don’t plan to concede in the contested special election in Pennsylvania. The National Republican Congressional Committee said it is “not ruling out a recount.” Democrat Conor Lamb holds a lead of less than 700 votes over Republican Rick Saccone. There are still about 203 absentee ballots and then additional provisional and military ballots left to be counted. (The Hill)
6/ Emails show Ben Carson and his wife selected the $31,000 furniture set for his Department of Housing and Urban Development dining room, undercutting claims by his spokesman that he had little or no involvement in the purchase. An August email, with the subject line “Secretary’s dining room set needed,” refers to “printouts of the furniture the Secretary and Mrs. Carson picked out.” (CNN)
7/ The family of a slain DNC staffer filed a lawsuit against Fox News, an investigative reporter, and one of the network’s frequent guests over a story about Seth Rich and their allegations that he was involved in a conspiracy. (ABC News)
8/ Trey Gowdy contradicted his own Republican-led House Intelligence Committee’s findings in the Russia probe. Gowdy said Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election was motivated in part “by a desire” to hurt Hillary Clinton’s candidacy. The committee disagreed with the intelligence community’s assessment “with respect to Putin’s supposed preference for candidate Trump.” (CNBC)
9/ Trump is open to a short-term DACA deal in exchange for border wall funding. One idea under consideration is a three-year extension of DACA in exchange for three years of wall funding. Trump canceled the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in September. (Washington Post)
poll/ 51% of Trump voters think his alleged affair with Stormy Daniels was immoral, and 75% think the allegations are not relevant to Trump’s presidency. (HuffPost)
poll/ 41% of voters think Trump should meet with Kim Jong Un without preconditions. 36% want Trump to meet with Kim only if North Korea makes concessions regarding its nuclear program beforehand. (Politico)
Notables.
Trump floated the idea of developing a “Space Force,” a new branch of the military that would operate outside of earth’s atmosphere. The Space Force apparently started as a joke, but Trump has since decided it’s “a great idea,” because “space is a war-fighting domain, just like the land, air, and sea.” (CNBC)
Jeff Sessions is reviewing a recommendation to fire former F.B.I. deputy director Andrew McCabe days before he retires on Sunday. Justice Department officials expect McCabe to be fired before Friday, which would jeopardize his pension as a 21-year F.B.I. veteran. (New York Times)
Rand Paul opposes Mike Pompeo’s nomination to replace Rex Tillerson, and is vowing to do everything he can to stop Pompeo from becoming secretary of state. (Politico)
Trump will name economist and CNBC senior contributor Larry Kudlow to head the White House’s National Economic Council. Kudlow will replace Gary Cohn, who resigned over disagreements with Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. (CNBC / CNN)
British Prime Minister Theresa May expelled 23 Russian “undeclared intelligence officers” following the poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. May said there is “no alternative conclusion” other than Russia being responsible for their attempted murder. (Sky News)
Nikki Haley said U.S. believes Russia was responsible for the attempted assassination of a former Russian spy and his daughter in Britain. Haley told the U.N. Security Council it should hold the Kremlin “accountable.” (NBC News)
Melania Trump plans to meet with Amazon, Facebook, Google, Twitter, and Snap next week to discuss cyberbullying and ways to combat online harassment and promote Internet safety. (Washington Post)
1/ Trump fired Rex Tillerson. CIA Director Mike Pompeo will replace Tillerson as Secretary of State. John Kelly told Tillerson that Trump wanted to replace him last Friday. Tillerson received a call from Trump more than three hours after he’d been fired. A spokesman said Tillerson “had every intention of staying” in his job and was “unaware of the reason” for his firing. Trump said the move had been considered for “a long time” and that “we were not thinking the same.” (Washington Post / New York Times)
Mike Pompeo, Director of the CIA, will become our new Secretary of State. He will do a fantastic job! Thank you to Rex Tillerson for his service! Gina Haspel will become the new Director of the CIA, and the first woman so chosen. Congratulations to all!
Tillerson will remain in his post until March 31st, but is delegating all authorities for running the State Department to Deputy Secretary John Sullivan.
Tillerson thanked career diplomats for their “honesty and integrity” during a press conference. He did not thank Trump or praise his policies.
The White House fired Rex Tillerson’s spokesman, Steve Goldstein, for contradicting the official administration account of Tillerson’s own firing. (CNBC)
2/ Hours before being fired, Rex Tillerson called the poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter an “egregious act” that “clearly” came from Russia. He added that Russia is “an irresponsible force of instability in the world, acting with open disregard for the sovereignty of other states and the life of their citizens.” On Monday, British Prime Minister Theresa May said it is “highly likely” Russia is responsible for the poisoning, either directly or because it lost control of the nerve agent. The two were poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent in the U.K. and were found unconscious. (NBC News)
Trump: “As soon as we get the facts straight, if we agree with them, we will condemn Russia or whoever it may be.” (Reuters)
Russian exile Nikolai Glushkov was found dead at his home in London. The Metropolitan police said there was no evidence at present to suggest a link to the incident in Salisbury, where Sergei and Yulia Skripal remain in a critical condition. (The Guardian)
3/ Gina Haspel, currently the deputy director of the CIA, will replace Pompeo as the head of the CIA. Haspel oversaw the torture of two terrorism suspects and later took part in an order to destroy videotapes documenting their interrogations at a secret prison in Thailand. (New York Times)
4/ Trump’s personal assistant, John McEntee, was fired because he is currently under investigation by the Department of Homeland Security for financial crimes, which prevented him from obtaining a full security clearance. McEntee will rejoin Trump’s reelection campaign as a senior adviser of operations. (Wall Street Journal / CNN / Washington Post)
5/ Trump is considering firing Veterans Affairs chief David Shulkin and replacing him with Energy Secretary Rick Perry. Shulkin has been under scrutiny over ethics concerns, including ordering the VA’s third-most-senior official to alter an email to make it appear that he was receiving an award from the Danish government so the VA could pay more than $4,300 for his wife’s airfare. (New York Times)
6/ House Intelligence Committee Republicans said their investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election found no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians. The committee agreed with the findings of the intelligence community that Russia had interfered, but they disagreed that the Russians favored Trump. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the committee, said the Republican decision to end the investigation was “another tragic milestone for this Congress, and represents yet another capitulation to the executive branch,” adding: “By ending its oversight role in the only authorized investigation in the House, the Majority has placed the interests of protecting the President over protecting the country, and history will judge its actions harshly.” (New York Times / CNN)
THE HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE HAS, AFTER A 14 MONTH LONG IN-DEPTH INVESTIGATION, FOUND NO EVIDENCE OF COLLUSION OR COORDINATION BETWEEN THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN AND RUSSIA TO INFLUENCE THE 2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.
A Russian national who was extradited to the U.S. last year over Kremlin objections pleaded guilty to conspiracy and aiding and abetting computer intrusion, admitting he operated a dark web service that helped thousands of hackers conceal malware from detection. (The Daily Beast)
7/ In the spring of 2016, Roger Stone said he learned from WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange that the organization had obtained the emails of John Podesta and of the Democratic National Committee. WikiLeaks released the documents in late July and October. U.S. intelligence concluded the hackers who obtained the emails were working for Russia. Stone has since denied any communication with Assange or knowledge of the document dumps by WikiLeaks. Assange and WikiLeaks have also said they never communicated with Stone. (Washington Post)
8/ A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman resigned over what he says were “false” and “misleading” statements by Justice Department officials, including Jeff Sessions and ICE Acting Director Thomas Homan. James Schwab said he couldn’t continue to do his job after Trump administration officials made false public statements about a key aspect of a recent Northern California sweep. (San Francisco Chronicle / Washington Post)
poll/ 42% of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of North Korea, but 64% of Americans are uneasy about the situation. (CBS News)
Notables.
Rick Saccone asserted that his political opponents “hate” the president, the United States, and God. The Pennsylvania Republican congressional candidate trails Democrat Conor Lamb by six percentage points heading into today’s special election for the state’s 18th congressional district. (NBC News)
Paul Manafort could spend the “rest of his life in prison,” a federal judge said. Manafort was ordered to “home incarceration” and “24-hour-a-day lockdown at his residence” while he awaits trial. (Politico)
Trump wants to impose tariffs on $60 billion of Chinese imports, targeting the technology and telecommunications sectors, as well as imposing investment restrictions in response to allegations of intellectual property theft. (Politico / Reuters)
Trump blocked Broadcom’s $117 billion bid for the chip maker Qualcomm, citing national security concerns. Trump said “credible evidence” led him to believe that if the Singapore-based company were to acquire Qualcomm, it “might take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States.” (New York Times)
Trump has been seeking counsel on how to handle the Stormy Daniels situation. Confidants have advised Trump not to fight Daniels’ decision to break a confidentiality agreement because it would make him look guilty, which is the only reason Trump has stayed quiet on the issue and hasn’t tweeted about it. (CNN)
Trump missed the deadline to accept the return of a $130,000 settlement payment from Stormy Daniels, who had offered to return the money in exchange for the freedom to speak about her alleged affair with Trump. “Time to buckle up,” Daniels’ lawyer, Michael Avenatti said. (The Guardian)
Trump is in San Diego personally examining eight prototypes for his border wall to, as he put it, “pick the right one.” (NBC News)
1/ Trump still “intends to” meet with special counsel Robert Mueller under oath, according to White House principal deputy press secretary Raj Shah. He added that Trump doesn’t plan on firing Mueller, yet. “There’s no intention whatsoever to fire Robert Mueller, the special counsel, right now,” he said. “We’ve been fully cooperative. We respect their process. We’re hoping it will come to a conclusion in the near future.” (ABC News)
2/ Robert Mueller’s obstruction of justice investigation is said to be near completion, but the special counsel may wait until other parts of his probe are completed. The calculus: Any clear outcomes in the obstruction of justice case might undercut the broader investigation. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said Mueller “is not an unguided missile. I don’t believe there is any justification at this point for terminating the special counsel.” (Bloomberg / USA Today)
3/ Trump is considering whether to add Bill Clinton’s impeachment lawyer to his legal team. Emmet Flood met with Trump in the Oval Office last week to discuss the possibility, but no final decision has been made. (New York Times)
4/ The Qatari government chose not to provide information to Robert Mueller for fear of hurting their relationship with the Trump administration. Qatari officials gathered evidence of what they claim is illicit influence by the United Arab Emirates on Jared Kushner and other Trump associates, including details of secret meetings. (NBC News)
5/ Ivanka Trump received $1.5 million in 2017 from three companies affiliated with the Trump Organization. Ivanka’s continued ties to the family business and work as a special assistant to the president has created numerous potential conflicts of interest prohibited by federal law. Some Trump-branded developments have hired state-owned companies for construction, received public land or relaxed regulations from foreign governments, and accepted payments from foreign officials. Ivanka has been accused of violating the emoluments clause of the U.S. Constitution, which forbids government officials to accept gifts from foreign governments without the approval of Congress. (McClatchy DC)
Trump Jr. has a previously undisclosed business relationship with a friend who helped raise millions of dollars for his father’s 2016 presidential campaign. Gentry Beach last year met with top National Security Council officials to push a plan that would curb U.S. sanctions in Venezuela and open up business for U.S. companies in the oil-rich nation. (Associated Press)
6/ The Trump administration promised to fund “rigorous firearms training” for schoolteachers while walking back its commitment to raising the legal purchasing age for firearms to 21. The White House also formally endorsed a bill to improve the federal background check system, and Trump plans to establish a Federal Commission on School Safety to explore possible solutions, which will be chaired by Betsy DeVos. (Washington Post / NBC News)
7/ Education Secretary Betsy DeVos struggled to answer basic questions about education policy and schools during a “60 Minutes” interview. In particular, DeVos had a hard time explaining why public schools in her home state of Michigan have performed poorly despite the school choice policies she’s championed. A student who survived last month’s mass shooting at a Florida high school mocked DeVos on Twitter, saying “It’s unfair to put the United States Secretary of Education on the spot like that.” (CBS News / Washington Post / The Hill)
8/ White House lawyers are considering legal action to prevent “60 Minutes” from airing an interview with adult film star Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford. The legal argument behind the move to suppress the footage remains unclear. To stop the interview from airing, Trump would need to secure a restraining order against CBS, which makes it almost certainly too late for Trump to disrupt the telecast. The interview is slated to air on Sunday, March 18, on CBS. (BuzzFeed News / Washington Post)
9/ Stormy Daniels offered to return the $130,000 she received from Trump’s personal lawyer in 2016 for agreeing not to discuss her alleged relationship with Trump. In the letter sent to Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, Stephanie Clifford would wire the money into an account of Trump’s choosing by Friday. (New York Times / Reuters)
10/ Putin suggested that Jews were responsible for the cyberattacks during the 2016 election when asked about 13 Russian citizens charged by the special counsel Robert Mueller. “Maybe they are not even Russians,” Putin mused, “but Ukrainians, Tatars or Jews, but with Russian citizenship, which should also be checked. Maybe they have dual citizenship or a Green Card. Maybe the U.S. paid them for this. How can you know that? I do not know either.” Top Democratic leaders in the House and Senate urged Trump to employ “all resources available” to extradite the 13 Russians. (New York Times / NBC News)
11/ More than two-thirds of House Democrats have signed a letter “strongly urging” Trump to enact sanctions on Russia and adhere to the law he signed last summer. At least 137 of the Democrats in the House have signed the letter, which urges Trump to “reverse course, follow the letter and spirit of the law, and demonstrate that the security of our country and integrity of elections are sacrosanct.” (Reuters)
In 2013, Trump personally invited Putin to the Miss Universe pageant in Moscow. At the bottom of the typed letter, Trump added that he looked forward to seeing “beautiful” women during his trip. (Washington Post)
12/ The House Intelligence Committee has finished interviewing witnesses in its probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election. The Republican-run committee is preparing a report based on witness testimony and thousands of pages of documents. The panel is unlikely to come to a bipartisan conclusion on some of the central questions in the probe. (Wall Street Journal)
13/ Theresa May said it was “highly likely” that Russia was responsible for poisoning a former Russian double agent and his daughter last week in the U.K. The British leader said the poison was identified as a “military-grade nerve agent of a type developed by Russia” and that Russia either engaged in an “indiscriminate and reckless” attack against Britain or it lost control of the nerve agent it developed. Russian officials called May’s remarks “a provocation” and “circus show.” (The Guardian / BBC / Washington Post)
poll/ Democrat Conor Lamb has a 6-point lead over Republican Rick Saccone in Pennsylvania’s special election. Lamb holds a 51% to 45% lead over Saccone if the Democratic turnout is similar to voting patterns seen in other special elections over the past year. (Monmouth University Polling Institute)
Notables.
Steve Bannon: “Let them call you racist. Let them call you xenophobes. Let them call you nativists,” he told a crowd of far-right French politicians. “Wear it as a badge of honor. Because every day, we get stronger and they get weaker.” (ABC News)
Trump thinks Republican Rick Saccone is a terrible, “weak” candidate despite appearing at a rally for Saccone’s campaign in the Pennsylvania special congressional election. Trump barely mentioned Saccone during his 80-minute speech. Instead, he focused on Oprah, his plan to deal with drug dealers, and unveiling his new campaign slogan for 2020: “Keep America Great.” (Axios / CNN)
Some White House officials believe the chances of a Trump-Kim Jong-un meeting happening are less than 50%. The administration is deliberating over the logistics and location of the meeting although it hasn’t established direct contact with North Korea. (New York Times)
The White House “scolded” four Cabinet-level officials last month for embarrassing stories about questionable ethical behavior at their respective agencies. (CNN)
The Trump administration is studying a new policy that could allow prosecutors to seek the death penalty for drug dealers. The White House wants to make trafficking large quantities of fentanyl a capital crime because even small amounts of the drug can be fatal. A final announcement could come within weeks. (Washington Post)
1/ Michael Cohen used his Trump Organization email to arrange the $130,000 transfer to Stormy Daniels in exchange for her silence about her affair with Trump. Trump’s personal attorney regularly used the same email account during 2016 negotiations with the actress – whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford – before she signed a nondisclosure agreement. Daniels filed a civil suit against Trump alleging the contract she signed is invalid because it’s intentionally missing Trump’s signature “so he could later, if need be, publicly disavow any knowledge of the ‘Hush Agreement’” or the affair. (NBC News / NPR)
2/ Michael Cohen’s use of Trump Organization email address to organize payment to Stormy Daniels may have violated federal election law. Corporations and labor organizations are prohibited from making contributions to candidates or political committees. Daniels alleges that the money was paid to keep her from talking about a sexual relationship she had with Trump. Cohen, meanwhile, has argued that he used his personal funds to “facilitate” the payment and that he did not get reimbursed by the Trump Organization or campaign. (Washington Post / CNBC)
3/ Trump has added another lawyer in his outside legal team to take on Stormy Daniels. Lawrence Rosen, a New York attorney described as a “pit bull,” will join Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, in responding to the growing legal issues surrounding reports that Cohen paid the adult-film star to keep quiet about her affair with Trump. (ABC News / The Hill)
4/ Trump will meet with Kim Jong-un to negotiate “permanent denuclearization” of North Korea, which will cease all missile testing while the negotiations are being held. The two leaders are expected to meet in the next 60 days. News of a potential meeting has been met with positive reactions from China, Russia, and South Korea. (New York Times / Fox News)
Dennis Rodman is one of two people who have met both Trump and Kim Jong-un. The other is South Korean national security adviser Chung Eui-yong, who extended the invitation from Kim to Trump during a visit to Washington this week. (Washington Post)
5/ Trump’s lawyers want to trade a Trump interview with Robert Mueller in exchange for ending the Trump-related portion of the special counsel’s Russia investigation. Trump’s legal team wants Mueller to commit to ending the probe 60 days after the interview, as well as limiting the scope of the questioning. (Wall Street Journal / CNBC)
6/ Florida Gov. Rick Scott signed legislation to tighten gun restrictions, which raises the legal age for gun purchases to 21, institutes a three-day waiting period, and establishes a program to arm some school personnel. The NRA’s Florida lobbyist denounced the bill as an unconstitutional infringement on the Second Amendment and said it passed the state House in “a display of bullying and coercion.” (Washington Post / NPR)
7/ John Kelly stopped Scott Pruitt from staging a public debate to challenge climate change science. The EPA administrator wanted to hold military-style exercises known as red team, blue team debates in which one team attacks and another defends the robustness of climate change science. (New York Times)
8/ Sen. Dean Heller believes Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy will retire this summer, which would set up Trump to fill a second Supreme Court seat. Last year he nominated Neil Gorsuch to replace Antonin Scalia, who died in 2016. Heller is one of the most vulnerable Republican senators up for re-election in 2018, and he’s hoping a Supreme Court vacancy “will get our base a little motivated because right now they’re not very motivated. But I think a new Supreme Court justice will get them motivated.” (Politico / The Hill)
Notables.
Obama is negotiating a deal to produce a series of shows for Netflix. Netflix reportedly plans to pay Barack and Michelle Obama for exclusive content, which is expected to highlight inspirational stories. (New York Times)
Joe Biden is preparing for a 2020 run. He’s discussing with aides about announcing his candidacy either really early or really late in the primary process so that he’d either define the field around him or let it define itself. (Politico)
The U.S. economy added 313,000 jobs in February while the unemployment rate held steady for the fifth straight month at 4.1%, a 17-year low. (Washington Post)
The head of Veterans Affairs now has an armed guard standing outside his office. He has also revoked access to his 10th-floor executive suite for several people he believes have lobbied the White House to oust him. David Shulkin has canceled his morning meetings with his senior management team and instead meets with the aides he trusts. (Washington Post)
The Interior Department spent almost $139,000 on new doors for Ryan Zinke’s office. Zinke was apparently unaware of the expenditure until a reporter from the Associated Press reached out to him to confirm the cost. (Associated Press / Politico)
The White House rejected a House Oversight Committee request for a “list of employees” in the White House with pending security clearances or clearances that have been resolved since Trump’s inauguration. The panel’s senior Democrat called for a subpoena to compel the White House to respond. (ABC News)
Sam Nunberg appeared at a federal courthouse in Washington to deliver federal grand jury testimony as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. Nunberg made no comment to reporters as he entered the courthouse, other than to say that he would not make a statement after his grand jury testimony. (Reuters / CNN)
1/ Trump authorized tariffs on aluminum and steel imports, exempting Canada and Mexico, and leaving the door open for other countries to be excluded. The moves will impose a 25% levy on steel and 10% charge on aluminum. The tariffs will take effect in 15 days. (New York Times / CNBC)
2/ Trump said he still likes “globalist” Gary Cohn and he has a “feeling” he’ll come back to the White House. Trump’s economic advisor resigned Tuesday after losing his fight against stiff tariffs on steel and aluminum. (CNBC)
3/ White House counsel Don McGahn issued ethics waivers to 24 ex-lobbyists and corporate lawyers allowing them to regulate the industries in which they previously worked. Trump signed an executive order a week into his presidency that barred former lobbyists and lawyers from participating in matters that they previously lobbied for or worked on for private clients, purportedly as a way to prevent corruption and “drain the swamp.” (NBC News)
4/ Trump asked Don McGahn and Reince Priebus about their discussions with Robert Mueller’s investigators. In one episode, Trump wanted McGahn to issue a statement denying that McGahn told investigators that Trump once asked him to fire special counsel Robert Mueller. McGahn had to remind Trump that he did ask him to have Mueller fired. In the other, Trump asked Priebus how his interview with Mueller’s investigators had gone, and whether they were “nice.” (New York Times)
5/ Jared Kushner met with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto on Wednesday in an attempt to reduce tensions between the U.S. and Mexico in the wake of a contentious phone call about Trump’s proposed wall on the southern U.S. border. Kushner, however, did not invite the U.S. ambassador to Mexico to accompany him on the trip. Ambassador Roberta Jacobson is among the State Department’s top Latin American experts, with more than 30 years of diplomatic experience in the region. (The Hill / New York Times)
6/ The head of Trump’s voter fraud commission acknowledged that their plan for identifying voter fraud wasn’t a good one. The White House wanted to check voter information against federal databases to identify people who were on voting rolls illegally. (HuffPost)
7/ Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort pleaded not guilty to an 18-count indictment as part of Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. The judge set the trial to begin July 10. Last week Manafort pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to launder money and failing to register as a foreign agent. (ABC News / Reuters)
8/ A federal judge expressed skepticism about whether Trump can constitutionally block Twitter users and recommended that Trump mute rather than block his critics in order to resolve a First Amendment lawsuit. Trump’s lawyer in the case argued that Trump’s use of Twitter was personal and didn’t qualify as a state action. A lawyer for the plaintiffs said that the account is operated in an official capacity because Trump often uses Twitter to announce policies or policy proposals. (Reuters / Associated Press)
poll/ 41% of American voters think Trump is the worst president since World War II. The same poll shows Trump with a 38% approval rating. (Quinnipiac)
Notables.
California Gov. Jerry Brown shot back at Jeff Sessions and Trump for suing the state over its immigration laws. Brown called the administration “full of liars” and said Robert “Mueller is closing in. There are more indictments to come. So obviously the attorney general has found it hard to be just a normal attorney general. He’s been caught up in the whirlwind.” (CNN)
Trump is “very unhappy” with Sarah Huckabee Sanders over her handling of questions about his alleged affair with adult-film actress Stormy Daniels. (The Hill)
Kellyanne Conway declined to say whether Trump would discipline her for violating the Hatch Act. “The president and I have spoken about this,” Conway said, adding: “I won’t reveal my private conversations with the president about anything except that he would like me to speak about publicly, including steel and aluminum.” (Politico)
The head of the U.S. Forest Service resigned following reports of sexual harassment and retaliation at the agency. (Politico)
Republicans in Utah wanted to name a highway after Trump to thank him for reducing the national monuments in the state. The sponsor of the bill, who believed he had enough votes to pass the measure, dropped the bill after receiving too many personal attacks for the plan. (New York Times)
Corey Lewandowski met with the House Intelligence Committee for three hours, telling reporters he answered “every relevant question you could imagine.” (ABC News)
Eleven countries signed a revised Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, which spans a market of 500 million people. The U.S. withdrew from the deal three days after Trump’s inauguration. (Reuters)
1/ Stormy Daniels is suing Trump for failing to sign the non-disclosure agreement that prevented her from discussing their “intimate” relationship. Both Daniels and Trump’s attorney Michael Cohen signed the agreement, but Trump never did. Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, filed a civil suit with the Los Angeles Superior Court Tuesday night seeking to void the 2016 “hush agreement,” as it’s referred to in the suit. (NBC News)
2/ Michael Cohen, meanwhile, obtained a restraining order to prevent Stormy Daniels from speaking out about her affair with Trump. Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed that Trump’s lawyer had won an arbitration proceeding against the actress, Stephanie Clifford. Trump and Cohen have been trying to keep the affair and payoff involving the porn star quiet for well over a year. (New York Times)
3/ George Nader, former Trump aide and adviser to the United Arab Emirates, is cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller. Mueller is looking at how foreign money may have influenced Trump’s political activities and whether Nader funneled money from the UAE to support Trump’s political efforts. Nader testified last week to a grand jury. (New York Times)
4/ Robert Mueller has evidence about an effort to establish a back-channel between the incoming Trump administration and the Kremlin. Erik Prince, the founder of the private military company Blackwater, met with a Russian official close to Putin in January, 2017. Prince described the meeting to congressional investigators as a chance encounter. A cooperating witness told Mueller’s investigators that the meeting was set up in advance so that a representative of the Trump transition could meet with an emissary from Moscow to discuss future relations between the two countries. (Washington Post)
5/ Hope Hicks told the House Intelligence Committee last week that one of her email accounts had been hacked and that she could no longer access it and another account. It’s unclear which email account she was referring to: her personal account or the one she used during Trump’s campaign. (NBC News)
6/ The Trump administration is suing California over the state’s so-called sanctuary laws. The Justice Department claims California’s immigration policies are unconstitutional and make it impossible for federal immigration authorities to do their jobs, which include deporting criminals who are in the U.S. illegally. Justice Department officials have asked a judge to block California’s sanctuary laws. (New York Times)
7/ The Florida House approved gun control legislation that would impose a 3-day waiting period on most gun purchases, raise the minimum age to 21, and create a “school marshal” program to arm some classroom teachers. The bipartisan vote passed 67-50. The Hillsborough County School Board in Florida on Tuesday unanimously opposed a motion to arm school employees. (Washington Post / USA Today / Tampa Bay Times)
Trump plans to meet with the video game industry to discuss how violent imagery in games desensitizes young people to firearms. Industry leaders said they had not been invited to the meeting. (The Daily Beast)
8/ Trump is expected to sign a presidential proclamation establishing the tariffs on steel and aluminum tomorrow. On Monday, Trump said that Canada and Mexico would only be excluded after the successful renegotiation of NAFTA. European Union officials have pledged to place tariffs on an array of American-made goods if Trump follows through on his plan to impose 25% tariffs on steel imports and 10% tariffs on aluminum imports. (Reuters / New York Times)
107 House Republicans sent a letter to Trump “urging” him not to impose broad tariffs on steel and aluminum. In the letter, Republicans warned that “adding new taxes in the form of broad tariffs would undermine this remarkable progress” on tax reform. (CNBC)
poll/ Trump trails a generic Democratic candidate in 2020 by 8 points, 44% to 36%. (Politico)
Notables.
Democrats unveiled a $1 trillion infrastructure plan that would be financed by reversing two-thirds of the GOP tax bill and reinstating a top income tax rate of 39.6%. The plan includes $140 billion for roads and bridges, $115 billion for water and sewer infrastructure and $50 billion to rebuild schools. (Washington Post)
Trump tweet-blamed presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama for the U.S. trade deficits and the loss of manufacturing jobs over the last 30 years. “From Bush 1 to present,” Trump tweeted, “our Country has lost more than 55,000 factories, 6,000,000 manufacturing jobs and accumulated Trade Deficits of more than 12 Trillion Dollars.” (Politico)
Ben Carson removed the promise of inclusive and discrimination-free communities from the Housing and Urban Development’s mission statement. A HUD staffer explained that the statement is being updated “in an effort to align HUD’s mission with the Secretary’s priorities and that of the Administration.” (HuffPost)
Several White House staffers have been terminated or reassigned for issues related to their security clearances. Several more are under consideration for possible termination or reassignment in the coming days. (ABC News)
1/ Trump’s personal attorney received leaked witness testimony from within the House Intelligence Committee. The lawyer representing Michael Cohen contacted the lawyer of a former John McCain staffer after someone from the House Committee told Cohen’s lawyer that the former staffer had information about the Steele dossier that could help Cohen. The information came from closed-door, committee-sensitive testimony. The dossier alleges that Cohen met with Kremlin officials, which Cohen denies. The conversation was reported to the House Intelligence Committee. Robert Mueller, meanwhile, has requested documents and interviewed witnesses about two or more episodes involving Russian interests and Cohen’s involvement. (The Daily Beast / Washington Post)
2/ Gary Cohn will resign over Trump’s plan to impose large tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, although officials insist there was no single factor behind the departure. Trump’s top economic advisor had been working to stop the tariffs that threaten to cause a global trade war, which Paul Ryan said he was “extremely worried about.” Cohn is expected to leave in the coming weeks. (New York Times)
3/ Kellyanne Conway violated the Hatch Act on two occasions, the Office of Special Counsel said as it referred its findings to Trump “for appropriate disciplinary action.” In her official capacity, Conway endorsed and advocated against political candidates during two television appearances in 2017. The Hatch Act prohibits government employees from engaging in political activities. The OSC is not affiliated with special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. (The Hill / ABC News)
4/ Trump tweets “there is no chaos” in the White House, but there are “some people that I want to change” because he is “always seeking perfection.” The tweet comes a week after Trump called Jeff Sessions “disgraceful,” Hope Hicks resigned, and Jared Kushner’s security clearance was downgraded. (Washington Post / CNBC)
The new Fake News narrative is that there is CHAOS in the White House. Wrong! People will always come & go, and I want strong dialogue before making a final decision. I still have some people that I want to change (always seeking perfection). There is no Chaos, only great Energy!
5/ Sam Nunberg says he’ll probably cooperate with Robert Mueller’s subpoena after all. Yesterday, the former Trump aide appeared on multiple cable news programs to announce his plans to defy the special prosecutor’s demands. Nunberg conceded that he’ll likely find a way to comply with the requests for testimony and documents. “I’m going to end up cooperating with them,” Nunberg said. (Associated Press / Axios)
6/ The ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee wants to interview Nunberg as part of its Russia investigation. Adam Schiff said Nunberg’s assertion that Trump knew about the 2016 Trump Tower meeting before it occurred is an area that the committee needs to explore. Nunberg said he would be willing to testify. “I would go there, sure.” (CNN / The Hill)
7/ Kim Jong-un may be willing to negotiate with the U.S. on abandoning its nuclear arsenal in exchange for security guarantees, according to South Korean president Moon Jae-in. North Korea would suspend all nuclear and missile tests while the negotiations are in progress. It’s the first time North Korea has indicated that it’s willing to negotiate away its nuclear weapons. Trump tweeted: “We will see what happens!” Later, Trump attributed the progress to his administration’s sanctions against North Korea, but warned that he is “prepared to go whichever path is necessary.” (New York Times / Politico)
8/ The Trump administration will allow hunters to import elephant trophies on a “case-by-case” basis, breaking Trump’s earlier pledge to maintain the Obama-era protections. The Fish and Wildlife Service issued a memorandum last week withdrawing its 2007 Endangered Species Act findings for elephants from Zimbabwe and Zambia, saying that “the findings are no longer effective for making individual permit determinations for imports of sport-hunted African elephant trophies.” Trump previously called trophy hunting a “horror show.” (The Hill)
Big-game trophy decision will be announced next week but will be very hard pressed to change my mind that this horror show in any way helps conservation of Elephants or any other animal.
9/ A White House report shows that the benefits from “major” federal regulations between 2006 and 2016 outweighed the costs. The Office of Management and Budget report, released late last Friday, estimates that the aggregate annual benefit from the Obama-era regulations was between $287 and $911 billion, while the estimated aggregate annual costs were between $78 and $115 billion, as reported in 2015 dollars. The regulations offered a net benefit of up to $833 billion. (Vox)
poll/ 64% of American disagree with Trump’s stance that a trade war would be good for the U.S. and easy to win. 28% said they agreed with Trump’s position. (Quinnipiac)
Notables.
Michael Flynn is selling his house to pay his legal bills after pleading guilty last year to lying to the FBI. The house went on the market in December and is listed at $895,000. Flynn’s brother, Joe, says Flynn will use the money to pay for his legal defense. (ABC News)
House Democrats are calling for an ethics investigation into the practice of lawmakers sleeping in their offices. They argue it’s an abuse of taxpayer funds. (Politico)
Nashville Mayor Megan Barry resigned after pleading guilty to felony theft of more than $10,000 related to her affair with her former police bodyguard. Barry agreed to reimburse the city. (The Tennessean)
West Virginia lawmakers reached a deal intended to end a teachers’ strike by raising their pay by 5%. The strike has canceled nine consecutive school days across the state. (CNN)
1/ Robert Mueller’s grand jury issued a subpoena requesting all communications involving Trump’s associates, including Carter Page, Corey Lewandowski, Hope Hicks, Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, Roger Stone, Steve Bannon, Keith Schiller, Michael Cohen, and Sam Nunberg. Investigators are asking for emails, texts, working papers, telephone records, and more from November 1st, 2015, to the present. (NBC News / Axios)
Mueller’s investigators are questioning witnesses for information about any attempts by the United Arab Emirates to buy political influence by funneling money to Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign. (New York Times)
2/ Sam Nunberg plans to defy a subpoena to appear in front of Mueller’s grand jury. The former Trump aide said he will not provide the testimony or documents requested and that he refuses to cooperate with the subpoena because he believes investigators will make him testify against his mentor Roger Stone. Nunberg then went on MSNBC and said he thought Trump “may have done something” illegal during the presidential campaign. Soon after, Nunberg appeared on CNN for a pair of interviews where he challenged Mueller to arrest him, saying “I’m not cooperating. Arrest me.” He added that Mueller has “something” on Trump. “Perhaps I’m wrong, but he did something.” (Washington Post / NBC News / CNN)
MORE:
Sarah Huckabee Sanders refuted Nunberg’s suggestion that the campaign colluded with Russia, saying “I definitely think he doesn’t know that for sure, because he’s incorrect. He hasn’t worked at the White House, so I can’t speak to him or the lack of knowledge he clearly has. As we’ve said many times before, there’s been no collusion.”
Nunberg then went on NY1, the New York cable news channel to respond: “If Sarah Huckabee wants to start debasing me, she’s a joke. Okay, fine, yeah, she’s unattractive. She’s a fat slob. Fine. But that’s not relevant. The person she works for has a 30% approval rating, okay?” (Mediaite)
Following the NY1 appearance, Nunberg went back to MSNBC, this time with Ari Melber, to say: “Sarah should shut up, frankly… she should shut her mouth.” As Melber tried to move on, Nunberg underscored his position: “I’m warning her to shut her mouth!” (Mediaite)
"I think that he may have done something during the election," former Trump aide Sam Nunberg says of President Trump, but adds, "I don't know that for sure." pic.twitter.com/4qpzxGcS2s
Former Trump campaign aide Sam Nunberg said he's refusing to comply with a grand jury subpoena in the Russia investigation. Listen to his whole interview with CNN's Gloria Borger. https://t.co/ylRuQjVaEF
3/ A Belarusian escort claims to have more than 16 hours of audio recordings that prove Russia meddled in the U.S. elections. Anastasia Vashukevich, who is close to a Russian oligarch, said she would hand over the recordings if the U.S. granted her asylum. (New York Times)
4/ The author of the Trump dossier told Mueller’s team that Russia asked Trump not to hire Mitt Romney as secretary of state. Instead Russia advised Trump to pick someone who would ease sanctions against Moscow for its actions in Ukraine. Christopher Steele spoke with the special counsel’s investigators last September. In his 2012 presidential run, Romney called Russia “our No. 1 geopolitical foe.” (The New Yorker)
5/ 12 days before the election, Stormy Daniels threatened to cancel the nondisclosure agreement about her alleged affair with Trump after Trump’s attorney, Michael Cohen, missed the deadline to pay her $130,000. The payment arrived 10 days later on October 27th, 2016 – 13 days after the initial deadline – because First Republic Bank flagged the transaction as suspicious and reported it to the Treasury Department. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
6/ Trump praised President Xi’s consolidation of power in China and said he wouldn’t mind doing the same for himself. “He’s now president for life,” Trump said at a fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago, adding: “I think it’s great. Maybe we’ll have to give that a shot some day.” China’s ruling Communist Party eliminated the presidential two-term limit, which paves the way for Xi to serve indefinitely. (CNN / Reuters / New York Times)
7/ The State Department has spent $0 of the $120 million it has been budgeted for combatting foreign interference in U.S. elections. None of the 23 analysts speak Russian at the Global Engagement Center, which is tasked with countering Moscow’s disinformation campaigns. A hiring freeze has prevented the department from recruiting the kind of computer experts needed to track foreign efforts to meddle in the U.S. election process. (New York Times)
Former White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough said Mitch McConnell “watered down” a warning about Russia’s attempts to interfere in the 2016 election. McDonough defended the Obama administration’s response to foreign meddling in the campaign. (NBC News)
Notables.
Senate Republicans and more than a dozen Democrats are preparing to repeal major banking regulations put in place after the 2008 financial crisis. The new bill allows roughly two dozen financial firms with up to $250 billion in assets to avoid the highest levels of scrutiny from the Federal Reserve. (Washington Post)
Paul Ryan urged the Trump administration not to move forward on new tariffs on steel and aluminum, arguing the move runs counter to the core of their economic agenda and could cause political problems heading into the 2018 midterms. Ryan said he is “extremely worried” about the tariffs. Trump replied, “We’re not backing down.” (Reuters / CNBC)
Canada and Mexico pushed back against Trump’s suggestion that tariffs could be waived if they signed a new and “fair” NAFTA deal, threatening to retaliate unless they are exempted from the planned tariffs on steel and aluminum. Canada and Mexico export more than 75% of their goods to the United States. (Reuters)
Jared Kushner has “got to go” if reports about his role in the Qatar blockade are true, said Senator Chris Murphy, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “The situation is made much worse by the fact that we have family members in the White House,” Chris Christie added. (ABC News / NY Post)
The Trump Organization ordered a set of Presidential Seal replicas for its golf course tee markers. Under federal law, the seal’s use is permitted only for official government business. (ProPublica)
1/ A Kremlin-linked Russian politician spent six years building leverage and connections in order to influence the NRA and gain access to American politics. Alexander Torshin, a Putin ally, also claimed that his ties to the NRA afforded him access to Trump. Robert Mueller’s team is investigating whether Torshin, who serves as the deputy governor of the Bank of Russia, illegally funneled money to the NRA in order to help the Trump campaign in the 2016 presidential election. (NPR)
2/ Georgia lawmakers stripped Delta Air Lines of a $50 million sales tax exemption on jet fuel in retaliation for Delta ending its NRA member discount. The Georgia House and Senate had previously approved the tax break. The Atlanta-based airline said only 13 passengers have ever bought tickets with the NRA discount. (New York Times / USA Today)
3/ Mitch McConnell said the Senate will skip debate on gun legislation and instead turn to a banking bill next week, reflecting the reality that negotiators have not settled on legislation that can pass the House and Senate. (CNN)
4/ The NRA said it persuaded Trump to back away from his embrace of gun control. After a meeting with both Trump and Pence, NRA lobbyist Chris Cox tweeted that the two “support the Second Amendment, support strong due process and don’t want gun control.” (New York Times)
5/ A large cache of internal documents from a Russian troll farm were leaked and put up for auction on a Russian “information exchange” in February 2017. The auction received no bids for the Internet Research Agency documents, which promised “working data from the department focused on the United States.” The listing revealed details about the Kremlin-backed troll farm’s efforts to push propaganda and disinformation in the U.S. (The Daily Beast)
6/ Trump defended his plan to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, tweeting that “trade wars are good, and easy to win.” According to two officials, however, Trump’s decision was born out of his frustration with an internal process that didn’t provide him with consensus advice from his team. As one official familiar with Trump’s state of mind said: the president became “unglued.” Investors are concerned that the tariffs could invite U.S. trade partners to retaliate. Paul Ryan and Trump’s economic advisors asked the president to reconsider the tariffs in order to avoid “unintended consequences.” (CNN / NBC News)
When a country (USA) is losing many billions of dollars on trade with virtually every country it does business with, trade wars are good, and easy to win. Example, when we are down $100 billion with a certain country and they get cute, don’t trade anymore-we win big. It’s easy!
7/ A week before Trump announced his intention to impose tariffs on steel imports, his friend and former adviser Carl Icahn sold almost 1 million shares of Manitowoc Company Inc. – a steel-dependent company and the “leading global manufacturer of cranes and lifting solutions.” (ThinkProgress)
8/ FBI Counterintelligence is investigating Ivanka Trump’s role in the negotiations and financing surrounding the Trump Hotel and Tower in Vancouver, which opened just after Trump took office. The Trump Organization received more than $5 million in royalties and $21,500 in management fees from the Vancouver property. (CNN)
9/ Jared Kushner’s real estate firm appealed directly to Qatar’s minister of finance in an attempt to secure investment for a critically distressed property — the Kushners’ signature development located at 666 Fifth Avenue in New York City. The deal fell through, and a month later Kushner supported Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – Qatar’s neighbors – in a Middle East blockade of Qatar. Kushner also undermined Rex Tillerson’s efforts to bring an end to the impasse. (The Intercept)
Inside the 28 days of tumult that left Jared Kushner badly diminished. “Once the prince of Trump’s Washington, Kushner is now stripped of his access to the nation’s deepest secrets, isolated and badly weakened inside the administration, under scrutiny for his mixing of business and government work and facing the possibility of grave legal peril in the Russia probe.” (Washington Post)
10/ Robert Mueller’s team is investigating whether any of Jared Kushner’s foreign business ties influenced White House policies. Investigators want to know if Kushner’s discussions during the presidential transition later led to policies designed to either benefit or retaliate against those he spoke with. (NBC News)
Notables.
The possibility of oil and gas exploration in Bears Ears National Monument in Utah was central to the Interior Department’s shrinking the monument by 85%, according to internal documents. Utah’s senator Orrin Hatch asked a senior Interior Department official to consider reducing the Bears Ears boundaries about a month before Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke started his review of national monuments. Bears Ears was subsequently reduced to conform to a map Hatch had provided. (New York Times)
A Justice Department review is expected to criticize the former FBI deputy director for authorizing the disclosure of information about a continuing investigation. Andrew McCabe is at the center of Trump’s theory that the “deep state” has been working to sabotage his presidency. McCabe’s disclosures, however, contributed to a negative article about Hillary Clinton and the Obama administration – not Trump. (New York Times)
Former Trump campaign deputy Rick Gates canceled a planned trip after an online commenter invoked the Russian mafia. Gates told a federal court that he and his wife believe it’s “not prudent” to travel with their four children to Boston for spring break. (CNN)
Trump’s pick for the Sentencing Commission has publicly called for the commission to be abolished and has a history of making racially charged remarks about crime. The commission sets policy used to punish 70,000 federal criminals every year. (NPR)
1/ The White House is preparing to replace H.R. McMaster as national security adviser as early as next month. The move, orchestrated by John Kelly and Defense Secretary James Mattis, comes after months of strained relations between Trump and McMaster. (NBC News)
Gary Cohn, Trump’s top economic adviser, has been on the brink of leaving the White House for months. He stayed to stop Trump from imposing tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. One person close to Cohn said he wouldn’t be surprised if Cohn left as a result of the decision. (Politico)
2/ Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee were behind the leak of text messages between the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee and a Russian-connected lawyer. The text messages between Senator Mark Warner and Adam Waldman, a Washington lawyer with Russian connections, were leaked to Fox News. They show that the senator tried to arrange a meeting with Christopher Steele, author of the so-called Trump dossier. Warner and Richard Burr, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, were so “perturbed” by the leak that they met with Paul Ryan to raise their concerns about House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes and the Republicans willingness to leak classified text messages. (New York Times)
3/ Putin warned that Russia has developed nuclear weapons that can’t be intercepted by missile-defense systems and that they’re planning to add nuclear-powered cruise missiles to their arsenal, which would allow them to strike any target on the globe. Putin added that Russia would consider any nuclear attack against itself or any of its allies an attack on Russia, warning that such an incident would lead to immediate retaliation. “No one listened to us,” Putin warned. “Listen to us now.” (Associated Press / Washington Post)
4/ Jared Kushner’s family real estate business received a total of $509 million in loans from two lenders shortly after White House meetings. Chief executives from Apollo Global Management and Citigroup had multiple meetings with Kushner at the White House and, following those meetings, Kushner Companies received $184 million in loans from Apollo – triple Apollo’s average loan size – and $325 million from Citigroup. Government ethics experts say the meetings and the subsequent loans are virtually unprecedented for such a high-level White House staffer. (New York Times)
A New York regulator asked Deutsche Bank AG and two other banks to provide information about their relationships with Jared Kushner, his family, and Kushner Companies. All three banks are chartered in New York, placing them under the regulatory eye of the state’s Department of Financial Services. (Bloomberg)
Jared Kushner has recently started focusing on the 2020 election, leading some in the White House to wonder if he’ll transition out of the West Wing to become an adviser to Trump’s reelection bid. (Politico)
5/ Robert Mueller’s team is looking into Trump’s attempts to fire Jeff Sessions last July, in order to determine whether those alleged efforts to oust Sessions were part of a larger pattern of attempted obstruction of justice by Trump and the administration. Mueller wants to know if Trump attempted to remove Sessions in order to install a loyal attorney general who would exercise control over the special counsel investigation into possible coordination between Trump associates and Russia during the 2016 presidential election campaign. (Washington Post)
Robert Mueller is assembling criminal charges against Russians who carried out the hacking and leaking of Democratic emails. The possible charges are expected to rely intelligence gathered by the CIA, the FBI, the National Security Agency, and the Department of Homeland Security. (NBC News)
6/ The White House is reportedly “furious” over the stories about excessive spending at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Aides have been trying to manage the negative publicity, which includes Ben Carson spending $31,000 to replace a dining room set and demoting an administrative officer for refusing the spend more than the $5,000 legal limit on office decorations. Carson now wants to cancel the order for a $31,000 dining set, saying “I was as surprised as anyone to find out that a $31,000 dining set had been ordered.” (CNN)
7/ Trump is in favor of forgoing due process in order to confiscate guns from people who are deemed to be dangerous. “I like taking the guns early, like in this crazy man’s case that just took place in Florida … to go to court would have taken a long time,” Trump said during a bipartisan meeting on community and school safety, interrupting Mike Pence. Trump added: “Take the guns first, go through due process second.” (New York Times / The Hill)
GOP @SenToomey says Trump's remark about taking guns away without due process during a meeting with lawmakers took his breath away.
poll/ 58% of Americans say they want to elect a Congress that stands up to Trump – not one that cooperates with him. 60% of those surveyed say they disapprove of the job Trump is doing as president. (USA Today)
poll/ 57% of Americans think Trump is racist, including more than 8 in 10 blacks, three-quarters of Hispanics, and nearly half of whites. 85% of Democrats consider Trump racist versus 21% of Republicans. 57% of Americans think Trump’s policies have been bad for Muslims, 56% think Trump’s policies have been bad for Hispanics, and 47% think they’ve been bad for African Americans. (Associated Press)
poll/ 74% of Americans said they had a favorable view of Medicaid and 52% said it was working well. 41% believe the main reason for introducing Medicaid work requirements pushed by the Trump administration is to cut government spending. 33% believe the primary motivation is to help lift people out of poverty. (Kaiser Family Foundation / Vox)
Notables.
The three top ranking officials in the Justice Department met for dinner on the same day Trump called one of them, attorney general Jeff Sessions, “disgraceful.” Solicitor General Noel Francisco said the dinner was “in no way planned as pushback or an act of solidarity against the president.” Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein was the third member of the party. (Axios)
More than 30 Trump aides have been downgraded to lower-level “secret” interim security clearances. None have been asked to leave the administration. Their portfolios on top secret matters will be distributed to other staff members. (Bloomberg)
The U.S. will impose 25% tariffs on steel imports and 10% on aluminum. Trump is expected to sign a formal order next week. (Bloomberg / New York Times)
The Dow closed 420 points lower after Trump said the U.S. will implement tariffs on steel and aluminum imports next week. Before the announcement, the Dow was up more than 150 points. (CNBC)
Melania Trump was granted a green card in 2001 under a program reserved for those with “extraordinary ability” and “sustained national and international acclaim.” The EB-1 visa program was created for renowned academic researchers, Olympic athletes, and award-winning entertainers. Melania worked as a Slovenian model, appearing in the swimsuit edition of Sports Illustrated. (Washington Post / Axios)
Somebody forged a nomination of Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize – twice. While identities of the candidates are kept secret, the committee announced that it had uncovered what appeared to be a forged nomination of Trump for the prize. A forged nomination of Trump was also submitted last year. (New York Times)
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin blocked UCLA from releasing a video of him being heckled by students during a lecture and moderated discussion. The official video footage has not been posted because Mnuchin revoked his consent for it to be released. (New York Times)
John Kelly joked (?) that his job at the White House is a punishment from God. Speaking at an event in Washington honoring former leaders of the Department of Homeland Security, Kelly said he didn’t want to leave his job running the department, adding, “but I did something wrong and God punished me, I guess.” (ABC News)
1/ Hope Hicks will resign as White House communications director. Hicks, one of Trump’s longest-serving advisers, had been considering leaving for several months. Her resignation came a day after she testified for more than eight hours before the House Intelligence Committee. She declined to answer many questions during her appearance. (New York Times / Bloomberg / Politico)
2/ Hope Hicks told the House Intelligence Committee that she sometimes has to lie for Trump. After an extended conversation with her lawyers, however, the White House communications director insisted that she has never lied about matters related to Russian interference or possible collusion with Trump associates. (New York Times)
3/ Robert Mueller’s investigators have been asking witnesses about Trump’s business activities in Russia prior to the 2016 campaign. Mueller’s team has been asking about the timing of Trump’s decision to run, any potentially compromising information the Russians may have, and why a deal for a Trump Tower in Moscow fell through. (CNN)
A judge in Washington, D.C., set a September 17th trial date for Paul Manafort, putting the former Trump campaign chairman on trial at the height of midterm election season. (Politico)
Paul Manafort pleaded not guilty at an arraignment in federal court to a rewritten set of charges that had been levied against him late last week. (CNN)
4/ Mueller’s team is also asking witnesses whether Trump knew about the hacked Democratic emails before they were publicly released, and whether he was involved or aware of WikiLeaks’ plan to publish the emails. Investigators have also asked about the relationship between GOP operative Roger Stone and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, and why Trump took policy positions favorable to Russia. (NBC News)
5/ Trump attacked Jeff Sessions on Twitter for his “disgraceful” handling of an investigation into potential surveillance abuses. “Why is A.G. Jeff Sessions asking the Inspector General to investigate potentially massive FISA abuse. Will take forever, has no prosecutorial power and already late with reports on Comey etc,” Trump tweeted. “Isn’t the I.G. an Obama guy? Why not use Justice Department lawyers? DISGRACEFUL!” Yesterday, Sessions announced that the Justice Department is looking at whether the FBI properly handled FISA applications to monitor members of Trump’s transition team. (CNN / The Hill)
Why is A.G. Jeff Sessions asking the Inspector General to investigate potentially massive FISA abuse. Will take forever, has no prosecutorial power and already late with reports on Comey etc. Isn’t the I.G. an Obama guy? Why not use Justice Department lawyers? DISGRACEFUL!
Jeff Sessions pushed back: “I will continue to discharge my duties with integrity and honor.” (Bloomberg / ABC News)
6/ ICE arrested more than 150 suspected undocumented immigrants in the Bay Area, two days after Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf publicly warned of imminent ICE raids in Northern California. ICE Deputy Director Thomas Homan called Schaaf’s decision “reckless” and that “864 criminal aliens and public safety threats remain at large.” Schaaf said she didn’t regret sharing the information, calling it her “ethical obligation” and that “It is Oakland’s legal right to be a sanctuary city and we have not broken any laws. We believe our community is safer when families stay together.” (The Mercury News / Washington Post)
After a U.S. judge rejected an attempt by California to stop Trump from building a border wall, Trump “decided” that the California wall will not be built until the entire southern wall is approved. “I have decided that sections of the Wall that California wants built NOW will not be built until the whole Wall is approved,” Trump tweeted. It was unclear what Trump meant about parts of the wall “that California wants built.” (Reuters)
I have decided that sections of the Wall that California wants built NOW will not be built until the whole Wall is approved. Big victory yesterday with ruling from the courts that allows us to proceed. OUR COUNTRY MUST HAVE BORDER SECURITY!
7/ HUD agreed to spend $165,000 on “lounge furniture” and $31,000 on a dining set for Ben Carson’s office while the Trump administration proposed a $6.8 billion budget cut to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Details of the furniture purchases were revealed after a senior career official filed a whistle-blower complaint that she was demoted for refusing to break a $5,000 spending limit on improvements to Carson’s office. (The Guardian / New York Times)
8/ United Nations investigators accused North Korea of supplying Syria with materials used in the production of chemical weapons. North Korean missile technicians have also been spotted working at known chemical weapons and missile facilities inside Syria. (New York Times)
poll/ 83% of Americans are in favor of continuing DACA. The program has support from 94% of Democrats, 83% of independents and 67% of Republicans. (CNN)
poll/ 54% of Floridians disapprove of Trump’s handling of the issue of gun violence and 50% disapprove of Trump’s response to the recent school shooting in Florida. (Quinnipiac)
poll/ 38% of Floridians approve of Marco Rubio’s job performance – an all-time low. Rubio was criticized following the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School earlier this month for his stance on gun control reform. (Quinnipiac)
Notables.
Democrats flipped state legislative seats in Connecticut and New Hampshire, bringing the total number of flipped seats since Trump was elected to 39. The latest mark the fifth and sixth seats flipped in 2018. (The Daily Beast)
Reigning NBA champs the Golden State Warriors traded a White House visit for a trip to the Museum of African-American History with a group of students.💛💙 (CNN)
The NRA asked Trump not to raise the age limit for buying firearms. Instead, the NRA asked Trump to pursue school safety programs, which the White House plans to unveil on Thursday. (CNN)
A teacher was arrested after firing a gun inside a Georgia high school classroom and then barricading himself there for about 30 minutes before he was taken into custody. No students were harmed. (WGNO / Associated Press)
Trump stunned a group of lawmakers by telling them to pursue gun bills that have been opposed by the Republican Party and the NRA for years. Trump repeatedly suggested that lawmakers start with the bipartisan bill put forward in 2013, which died months after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, following intense Republican opposition. (New York Times)
1/ Jared Kushner’s security clearance was downgraded from “Interim Top Secret” to “Interim Secret.” The Interim Top Secret clearance, which Kushner has been operating under for about a year, allowed him to attend classified briefings and read the President’s Daily Brief, among other things. (Politico / Reuters / Axios)
2/ At least four countries privately discussed ways they could manipulate Jared Kushner by taking advantage of his complex business arrangements, financial issues, and lack of foreign policy experience. Officials in the White House were concerned that Kushner was “naive and being tricked” in conversations with foreign officials. (Washington Post)
3/ Robert Mueller moved to dismiss 22 tax and bank fraud charges against Rick Gates, a former Trump campaign official. Gates pleaded guilty last week to conspiracy against the U.S. and lying to federal investigators. As part of his plea, Gates agreed to cooperate with Mueller’s probe regarding “any and all matters” deemed relevant to his investigation. (Washington Post / Axios / CNBC)
4/ Trump tapped Brad Parscale to manage his 2020 presidential re-election campaign. Parscale was the digital director for Trump’s 2016 campaign. Trump filed a letter of intent to run for re-election with the FEC on January 20th, 2017 – the day he took office. (CNBC / Reuters)
5/ Hope Hicks refused to answer questions under instructions from the White House during a closed-door House Intelligence Committee session today on Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. “We got Bannoned,” a member of the House intelligence committee said, in reference Steve Bannon’s earlier refusal to answer committee questions. The White House communications director is one of Trump’s closest confidants and advisers. She was originally expected to appear before the committee in January, but her interview was cancelled due to concerns about the scope of questioning and conflicts over the White House’s assertions of executive privilege. (Bloomberg / CNN / Washington Post)
6/ A Department of Housing and Urban Development officer was demoted and replaced after she refused to illegally fund a redecoration of Ben Carson’s office. Helen Foster said she was told “$5,000 will not even buy a decent chair” after she reminded her superiors that $5,000 was the legal limit for improvements to Ben Carson’s suite in Washington. (The Guardian)
7/ The Supreme Court ruled that immigrants facing deportation are not entitled to periodic bond hearings. The 5-3 decision reversed a Ninth Circuit ruling that immigrant detainees and asylum seekers can’t be detained indefinitely and must be given a bond hearing every six months and that detention beyond the initial six-month period is permitted only if the government proved that further detention is justified. (NPR / Washington Post)
8/ Democratic lawmakers introduced legislation in both chambers of Congress to reverse the FCC’s repeal of net neutrality rules. Under the Congressional Review Act, Congress can strike down new rules with a simple majority vote. The bill currently has 50 supporters in the Senate, putting it one vote shy of the 51 needed to ensure passage. Even if the measure passes the Senate, it faces an uphill battle in the House where it needs 218 votes. There are 150 Democrats supporting the resolution and no Republicans. (The Verge / The Hill / Politico)
9/ Russian operatives “compromised” election systems in seven states prior to 2016 election, from hacking state websites to penetrating voter registration databases, according to a top-secret intelligence reported requested by Obama during his last weeks in office. Three senior intelligence officials said the intelligence community believed the states were Alaska, Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Texas, and Wisconsin. Several of those states were notified that foreign entities were probing their systems, but none were told the Russian government was behind it. (NBC News)
10/ The NSA director told lawmakers that he has not received orders from Trump to stop Russian hacking targeting U.S. elections. US Cyber Command chief Adm. Mike Rogers told the Senate Armed Services Committee: “I haven’t been granted any additional authorities,” adding, “I need a policy decision that indicates there is specific direction to [disrupt Russian election hacking]. The president ultimately would make this decision in accordance with a recommendation from the secretary of Defense.” (The Hill / CNN)
poll/ 58% of Americans don’t think Trump is taking the Russia investigation seriously enough, and 60% say they are not confident Trump is doing enough to prevent foreign countries from influencing future American elections. Meanwhile, 55% believe Trump attempted to interfere with the Russia investigation, up from 51% in January. (CNN)
poll/ 48% of Americans believe it is likely or very likely that Russia will meddle in the upcoming midterm elections – a seven-point increase from earlier this month. (The Hill / Marist)
Notables.
The EPA is dissolving a program that funds studies on the effects of pollution and chemical exposure on adults and children. The National Center for Environmental Research will no longer exist following plans to combine three EPA offices. (The Hill / Common Dreams)
Bob Corker will not run for reelection after all. The Tennessee Republican reconsidered running for re-election after some senators and state party officials urged him to stay in the Senate. (CNBC / Politico)
Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci called for John Kelly to resign, citing low White House morale. (Axios)
The Justice Department is investigating allegations from the House Republican memo that a FISA court was misled by prosecutors and FBI agents when applying for warrants to surveil a Trump campaign adviser with ties to Moscow. (Politico)
Melania Trump parted ways with her senior adviser and friend, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, after news surfaced that Wolkoff’s firm had received $26 million to plan Trump’s inauguration and surrounding events in January 2017. Wolkoff was terminated last week because the Trumps were unhappy with the news reports about the contract. (New York Times)
The lieutenant governor in Georgia threatened to kill a tax cut for Delta after the airline eliminated its discount for NRA members. In a tweet, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle added: “Corporations cannot attack conservatives and expect us not to fight back.” (USA Today / New York Times)
Obama: “We didn’t have a scandal that embarrassed us. I know that seems like a low bar.” (Reason)
1/ The Supreme Court rejected the Trump administration’s request to skip the appeals court process and review a district court judge’s ruling requiring the administration to resume renewals of protected status under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. In September, Trump announced that he would shut down DACA on March 5, but two federal judges ordered the administration to allow people to renew their protected status while legal challenges move forward. DACA shields some 700,000 young, undocumented immigrants from deportation. (New York Times / Politico / Washington Post)
2/ Trump’s refusal to drop his demand that Mexico pay for a border wall derailed a planned White House visit by President Enrique Peña Nieto. A contentious phone call between the two presidents led to an impasse over the promised border wall, which Mexico considers offensive and has no intention of paying for. (Washington Post / New York Times)
3/ The House Intelligence Committee released a redacted version of the Democratic memo rebutting the memo written by Devin Nunes, which claimed the FBI and Justice Department were biased against the Trump campaign and abused their power. Trump blocked the release of the latest memo two weeks ago. It was released after undergoing a review by top law enforcement officials and redactions. The White House dismissed the Democratic memo as an attempt “to undercut the president politically.” Click here to read the redacted version of the Democratic memo. (New York Times)
4/ Trump’s reelection campaign used a photo of one of the survivors from the school shooting in an email soliciting campaign donations. The photo shows 17-year-old Madeline Wilford in a hospital bed surrounded by members of her family and the president and first lady. “Trump is taking steps toward banning gun bump stocks and strengthening background checks for gun purchasers,” the email reads with a link to the campaign’s donation page. (CNN)
5/ Trump claimed he would have run into the Florida high school during the shooting without a gun to stop the gunman. “I really believe I’d run in there even if I didn’t have a weapon,” Trump told a group of governors at the White House. He added: “Don’t worry about the NRA. They’re on our side.” (The Hill / NBC News)
6/ Ivanka Trump thinks it’s “inappropriate” to ask her about her father’s sexual misconduct because she has a “right as a daughter to believe my father.” In the same interview, Trump also said her father’s proposal to arm teachers is “an idea that needs to be discussed.” She added: “I think that having a teacher who is armed who cares deeply about her students or his students and who is capable and qualified to bear arms is not a bad idea.” (NBC News / CNN)
7/ The White House declined to say if any interim security clearances have been revoked. In a memo earlier this month, John Kelly directed aides to “discontinue” interim security clearances for individuals whose security clearance applications have been pending since June 1 or earlier. Jared Kushner has been unable to obtain a permanent security clearance. (CNN / Politico)
poll/ Trump’s approval rating is back down to 35%, matching his lowest to date. Trump also earned his lowest approval rating among Republicans at 80%. Trump holds a 5% approval rating among Democrats and 35% among independents. (CNN)
poll/ 54% of registered voters say they back a Democrat in their congressional district. 38% say they back a Republican. (CNN)
poll/ 58% of Americans say they trust Robert Mueller’s investigation, while 57% say they don’t trust Trump’s denials, and 76% believe Russian will continue to meddle in American elections. (USA Today)
Notables.
Every public school in West Virginia was closed because of an ongoing teachers’ strike over pay, insurance and health care costs. All 680 public schools in the state’s 55 counties were closed. (CNN)
Net neutrality activists are holding a day of action to push for one more Republican senator to support a bill that would vacate the FCC’s decision to repeal net neutrality laws. The senator would become the tie-breaking vote needed to send the bill to the House. (The Hill)
Trump’s personal pilot is in the running to become the next leader of the Federal Aviation Administration. John Dunkin flew Trump during his 2016 presidential campaign, and is now on the shortlist to head the FAA, which sets civil aviation policies and regulations for the entire country. (Washington Post)
Trump privately talks about how he would love to execute all drug dealers in America. He’s been telling friends for months that Singapore’s policy of executing drug traffickers is the reason its drug consumption rates are so low. (Axios)
Stephen Miller was caught dozing off during a meeting with governors about school safety following the mass shooting at a Florida high school. (The Hill)
The Trump Organization said it donated profits from “foreign government patronage” at its hotels to the U.S. Treasury, but declined to identify those foreign customers, the amount donated, or how it was calculated. (ABC News / Washington Post)
1/ Rick Gates pleaded guilty to conspiracy and making false statements and will cooperate with Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, according to a letter Gates gave to family and close friends. Gates admitted to taking part in a conspiracy to hide tens of millions of dollars he and Paul Manafort obtained for their lobbying and consulting work related to Ukraine. (New York Times / Politico / Washington Post / ABC News)
2/ Jared Kushner has been unable to obtain a full security clearance because of Robert Mueller’s investigation and is unlikely to obtain the full clearance as long as the special counsel’s probe is ongoing. (CNN)
3/ The Trump administration announced new sanctions against North Korea that target 27 shipping companies and 28 vessels registered in North Korea and six other countries, including China. The Treasury Department said the shipping firms are part of a campaign to help North Korea evade United Nations sanctions restricting imports of refined fuel and exports of coal. Trump called the sanctions the “largest-ever set of new sanctions on the North Korean regime.” They are intended to increase pressure on Kim Jong Un’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs. (New York Times / Reuters)
4/ Trump suggested that armed teachers should get a “bit of a bonus” for carrying a gun in the classroom. The White House indicated that the U.S. could find the money to arm and train up to a million teachers. Trump said arming teachers would be a “great deterrent” to would-be killers, and suggested that up to 40 percent of teachers could be given a bonus of $1,000 if they agree to carry a weapon and undergo training to make them “gun adept.” The White House said the plan, if implemented, would involve distributing a total of roughly $1 billion to a million teachers across the country. (The Guardian / New York Times)
“We should change the names of AR-15s to ‘Marco Rubio’ because they are so easy to buy,” Stoneman Douglas junior Sarah Chadwick tweeted. (The Hill)
We should change the names of AR-15s to “Marco Rubio” because they are so easy to buy.
5/ Trump directed the Department of Defense to schedule his military parade for Veterans Day, according to an unclassified February 20th memo written by National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster. The memo also said that the parade route should begin at the White House and end at the Capitol. (Politico)
6/ The Republican National Committee has been paying more than $37,000 a month in rent at Trump Tower after the RNC came under pressure to stop paying Trump’s personal legal bills in the special counsel’s Russia investigation. (CNBC)
Notables.
John Kasich is reportedly considering a Republican primary challenge to Trump in the 2020 presidential election. Kasich’s team is counting on the “very real, maybe even likely, possibility” that Trump will not run again in 2020 — either by choice or due to the constantly changing political landscape surrounding the administration. (Politico)
Missouri’s Republican governor was indicted for felony invasion of privacy. Eric Greitens is alleged to have taken a semi-nude photo of a woman he was having an extramarital affair with, and then threatened to blackmail her by publishing it if she revealed their relationship. Missouri is holding one of the most competitive Senate races in the country, between the Democrat incumbent, Claire McCaskill, and her GOP opponent, Josh Hawley (NPR / The Hill / NBC News)
A Russian oligarch with close ties to Putin, said Russian mercenaries who attacked US troops in Syria this month were in close touch with the Kremlin and Syrian officials shortly before and after the assault. (Washington Post)
A car intentionally hit a security barrier near the White House, prompting a lockdown. The Secret Service said the car didn’t breach the secure complex that surrounds the executive mansion. (CNN)
1/ National Security Adviser H. R. McMaster could leave the White House after months of personal tension between him and Trump. The Pentagon is searching for a “four-star military job suited for McMaster.” This is not the first time that speculation has been floated over the future of McMaster’s role in the Trump administration. (CNN)
2/ A Trump-appointed federal judge who donated to the Trump campaign and worked on his presidential transition team is refusing to recuse himself from overseeing a legal battle involving Fusion GPS, the research firm that produced the dossier of intelligence that contains claims Trump has ties to Russia. U.S. District Court Judge Trevor McFadden donated $1,000 to Trump’s presidential campaign. (ABC News)
3/ Robert Mueller filed additional criminal charges against Paul Manafort and Rick Gates. The 32-count indictment adds new tax and bank fraud changes to the one filed on October 27th, which charged the two with failing to disclose their political consulting work in Ukraine and laundering millions of dollars. (Washington Post / Bloomberg / Associated Press)
Michael Flynn will not accept financial support from Trump’s “Patriot Legal Expense Fund,” which was established using Trump’s campaign funds to help White House and campaign aides with the legal expenses related to the special counsel’s probe. (ABC News)
4/ The NRA blamed the Florida school shooting on a “failure of school security” and a “failure of family.” Wayne LaPierre, CEO and vice president of the NRA, accused Democrats of “exploit[ing] tragedy for political gain,” blamed “rogue” leadership of the FBI, and attacked the left for promoting a “socialist agenda” intended to strip firearms away from law-abiding citizens. (ABC News / NBC News / NPR)
5/ In 2016, Trump tweeted that he didn’t want “guns in classrooms.” Yesterday, he made a “concealed carry” proposal to arm teachers. Today, Trump tweeted that he never said he wanted to “give teachers guns.” In the same tweet, however, he suggested that the government would “look at the possibility of giving ‘concealed guns to gun adept teachers.’” And, at a White House “listening session,” Trump said that “gun-free” school zones make it like “going in for ice cream” for school shooters. While on Twitter, he promised that “ATTACKS WOULD END!” with his strategy of arming “highly trained, gun adept, teachers/coaches would solve the problem instantly, before police arrive.” (Washington Post / BuzzFeed News)
Crooked Hillary said that I want guns brought into the school classroom. Wrong!
I never said “give teachers guns” like was stated on Fake News @CNN & @NBC. What I said was to look at the possibility of giving “concealed guns to gun adept teachers with military or special training experience - only the best. 20% of teachers, a lot, would now be able to
....immediately fire back if a savage sicko came to a school with bad intentions. Highly trained teachers would also serve as a deterrent to the cowards that do this. Far more assets at much less cost than guards. A “gun free” school is a magnet for bad people. ATTACKS WOULD END!
6/ Trump’s listening session talking points had to remind him to say “I hear you” and to ask “What would you most want me to know about your experience?” A photographer captured a picture of the talking points Trump was given for Wednesday’s listening session with survivors of the school shooting in Florida. (Washington Post)
7/ Marco Rubio and the NRA were repeatedly heckled after they refused to back a full ban on military-style assault weapons while discussing gun violence with the high school students who survived the shooting in Parkland, Florida. Rubio said he supported legislation to raise the legal age to purchase a rifle to 21 and to create gun violence restraining orders. He said he was “reconsidering” support for a ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines, and that he opposed Trump’s proposal to arm teachers or put armed security in classrooms. (CNN / The Guardian / New York Times)
8/ Paul Ryan removed the chairman of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. The House speaker will now recommend a nominee for the commissioner post, which Trump will formally nominate. The reason for passing on Matthew Masterson for a second four-year term, and whether the decision originated with Ryan or the White House, is unclear. (Reuters)
Notables.
A Republican congresswoman claimed that “so many” people who commit mass murders “end up being Democrats.” Claudia Tenney didn’t provide evidence to back up her claim. She is the incumbent for a contested congressional seat in Central New York. (Washington Post)
A man threw an explosive device over the wall of the U.S. Embassy in Montenegro, but ended up killing himself with the blast. The blast didn’t injure anyone else or cause any major property damage. (New York Times)
Trump Jr. “liked” conspiracy theories on Twitter about last week’s school shooting in Florida, including one that called a survivor an agent of “the deep state media.” (ABC News)
Melania Trump’s parents may have relied on “chain migration” – the same process that Trump has publicly called on Congress to end. Melania’s parents are lawful permanent residents of the United States and are reportedly close to obtaining their citizenship. (Washington Post)
Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner drank chocolate milk to demonstrate his commitment to diversity. The Republican governor called the drink “really, really good” and exclaimed: “Diversity!” (Chicago Tribune)
Trump is considering pulling Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from California as punishment for what he claimed was a “lousy management job” in patrolling illegal immigration. (CNN)
1/ Trump challenged Jeff Sessions to investigate the Obama administration for not doing enough to stop Russian interference in the 2016 election. “If all of the Russian meddling took place during the Obama Administration, right up to January 20th, why aren’t they the subject of the investigation?” Trump tweeted. “Why didn’t Obama do something about the meddling? Why aren’t Dem crimes under investigation? Ask Jeff Sessions!” Trump has singled out his own attorney general several times for not doing enough to protect him from the Russia probe. In July, Trump tweeted that Sessions “has taken a VERY weak position on Hillary Clinton crimes.” A few hours later, Trump called Sessions “beleaguered.” (CNN / New York Times)
Question: If all of the Russian meddling took place during the Obama Administration, right up to January 20th, why aren’t they the subject of the investigation? Why didn’t Obama do something about the meddling? Why aren’t Dem crimes under investigation? Ask Jeff Sessions!
2/ Jared Kushner is pushing back against attempts to revoke his access to highly classified information, setting up an internal struggle with White House Chief of Staff John Kelly. Last week, Kelly issued a five-page memo outlining that the White House will no longer allow some employees with interim security clearances access to top secret information if their background investigation has been pending since before last June. Kushner’s security clearance has been pending for more than 13 months. The White House, meanwhile, insists that Kushner can continue in his role as a senior adviser even without a security clearance. (New York Times / CNN / Reuters)
3/ Mueller is investigating whether Paul Manafort promised a Chicago banker a job in the Trump White House in return for $16 million in home loans. Manafort received three separate loans in December 2016 and January 2017 from Federal Savings Bank for homes in New York City and the Hamptons. (NBC News)
4/ Mueller filed new charges against former Trump aides Paul Manafort and Rick Gates. The sealed, single-page document does not shed light on the charges, but the new charges signal that Mueller may have filed a superseding indictment that replaces the one from October last year. (The Guardian / Politico)
5/ Alex van der Zwaan pleads guilty in Robert Mueller’s probe. The son-in-law of a Russia-based billionaire admitted to lying to investigators about his communications with Rick Gates, the former Trump campaign aide. Van der Zwaan also admitted that he deleted records of emails that prosecutors had requested. It’s the fourth guilty plea Mueller has secured, but van der Zwaan is the first not to enter into a cooperation agreement with the special counsel’s office. (New York Times / Bloomberg)
Mueller’s decision to charge van der Zwaan puts additional pressure on Paul Manafort and Rick Gates, both of whom worked with van der Zwaan on a report supporting the legitimacy of the criminal prosecution of a former Ukrainian prime minister. Prosecutors have also accused Manafort and Gates of laundering millions of dollars and concealing their lobbying efforts in Ukraine. (Bloomberg)
6/ Trump endorsed arming “adept” teachers or former military officers to prevent or shorten school shootings. He pledged to cover “every aspect” of school safety and he intends to be “very strong on background checks,” putting a “very strong emphasis” on mental health. (CNBC)
A superintendent in a Texas school district is threatening to suspend students for three days if they join the nationwide protests over the shooting at a Florida high school last week. (Houston Chronicle)
poll/ 51% of voters say they have not noticed an increase in their paychecks under the new tax law. 25% say they have. (Politico)
poll/ 67% of voters think Trump should publicly release his tax returns. 52% of voters think Trump has not released his tax returns because he has something to hide. (Quinnipiac)
poll/ Trump’s approval rating stands at 37%, down slightly from 40% approval earlier this month. (CNN)
Notables.
Democrats flipped a Kentucky state legislature seat in a district that Trump won by 49 points in 2016. Linda Belcher won the special election in Kentucky’s House District 49 by a 68-32 margin. Trump carried the district by a 72-23 margin in 2016, which also went 66-33 for Mitt Romney in 2012. (Vox)
Pence was set for a secret meeting with North Korea while at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in South Korea. The meeting never happened, according to Pence’s office, because the North Koreas pulled out of the scheduled meeting. (Washington Post)
A senior Department of Health and Human Services official was placed on administrative leave for promoting stories filled with baseless claims and conspiracy theories on social media. The agency is investigating Jon Cordova’s postings. (CNN)
The White House has given David Shulkin permission to purge “subversion” at the Department of Veterans Affairs, Shulkin says. The cabinet head said that those who have defied his authority “won’t be working in my operation” and “those who crossed the line in the past are going to have to be accountable for those decisions.” The move comes after a recent inspector general report found that Shulkin pressured the VA’s third-most-senior official to alter an email to make it appear that Shulkin was receiving an award from the Danish government in order to have the VA pay for his wife’s airfare. The IG investigation also found that Shulkin had improperly accepted Wimbledon tickets from a friend. Shulkin’s foes have been using the report in their push to oust the Veterans Affairs secretary. (Politico)
Former Trump political adviser Sam Nunberg will be interviewed by Robert Mueller’s investigators Thursday. Mueller’s office has informed him that he’s not a target of the probe and won’t be prosecuted unless he’s found to have lied to investigators (Bloomberg)
The Republican National Committee is paying Trump’s former bodyguard $15,000 a month for “security consulting.” Keith Schiller’s private security firm is being paid out of the RNC’s convention fund, – not its campaign fund – for consulting on the site selection process for the 2020 Republican National Convention. (CNBC)
1/ Robert Mueller charged an attorney with making a false statement to federal authorities as part of the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Prosecutors charged Alex Van Der Zwaan with lying to the FBI and Mueller’s office about conversations he had with Rick Gates, the former Trump campaign aide who is cooperating in the Mueller probe, about work done in Ukraine six years ago. Van Der Zwaan was charged by criminal information, which typically precedes a guilty plea because it can only be filed with a defendant’s permission and usually indicates the person is cooperating with investigators. (Bloomberg / New York Times / Washington Post)
2/ Trump endorsed Mitt Romney’s run for a U.S. Senate seat in Utah. Romney accepted Trump’s support but not endorsement in a carefully worded tweet 45-minutes later despite his frequent criticism of Trump and his policies. During the 2016 campaign, Romney tweeted that he would never have accepted Trump’s endorsement for his 2012 presidential bid had the former reality TV star publicly said the offensive things he did about the KKK, Muslims, Mexicans, and people with disabilities. (Reuters / Vox / ABC News)
.@MittRomney has announced he is running for the Senate from the wonderful State of Utah. He will make a great Senator and worthy successor to @OrrinHatch, and has my full support and endorsement!
3/ The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a challenge to California’s 10-day waiting period for firearms purchases, which is intended to prevent impulsive violence and suicides. The gun rights groups who challenged the waiting period argued that it violated their right to keep and bear arms under the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment. (Reuters)
4/ Trump recommended that Jeff Sessions declare so-called bump stocks illegal. Bump stocks are a device that enable semi-automatic rifles capable of firing hundreds of rounds a minute. Trump’s directive does not address restrictions on the purchase of AR-15-style rifles, like the one used in the Florida school shooting last week that killed 17 people. The gunman who killed 58 people and wounded hundreds of others in Las Vegas in October had at least 12 rifles fitted with bump stocks. (CNBC / Bloomberg)
5/ The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Trump’s decision to end transgender military service “was unexpected” and that he was “not consulted.” Less than 24 hours after Trump tweeted that “after consultation with my Generals and military experts” he was ending transgender service in the military, Gen. Joseph Dunford, the highest-ranking military general, emailed the generals of the Air Force, Army, Marines, National Guard, and Navy to say “I know yesterday’s announcement was unexpected” and that he would “state that I was not consulted” if asked at a scheduled Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on September 26th. (BuzzFeed News)
After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow......
6/ More than twice as many women are running for Congress in 2018 compared to 2016. At latest count, 431 women were running for or were likely to run for the House nationwide — 339 Democrats and 92 Republicans. At this point in 2016, there were fewer than half that: 212. Likewise, 50 women are running for or likely to run for Senate, compared to 25 at this point in 2016. (NPR)
7/ The Trump administration proposed regulations that would allow health insurers to sell so-called “short-term” policies that could last up to 12 months. The plans don’t have to meet the Affordable Care Act’s consumer protections, or offer a comprehensive benefit package. The proposal would reverse an Obama administration decision to limit the duration of short-term health plans to no more than 90 days in order to make them less attractive. (CNN / CNBC)
poll/ 62% of Americans blame Trump and Congress for not doing enough to prevent mass shootings. 77% say they think more effective mental health screening and treatment could have prevented the Parkland, FL shooting. (Washington Post-ABC News poll)
poll/ 66% of Americans support stricter gun laws. 50% of gun owners also support stricter gun laws. (Quinnipiac)
poll/ The Presidential Greatness Survey ranked Trump as the worst president ever. He came in first as the most polarizing president. (Washington Post)
Notables.
Scott Pruitt’s EPA is facing legal challenges to his rollback of Obama-era environmental protections and laws. The court challenges and legal delays have slowed rule rollbacks on everything from preventing dentists from washing excess mercury down the drain to curbing methane gas emissions. (The Guardian)
Trump’s infrastructure plan no longer includes the requirement that energy companies use American-made steel to build their pipelines. (CNBC)
Pennsylvania’s new congressional district map will give Democrats a better chance of winning back the House this fall. Early estimates of the new map, drawn by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, suggest that the number of Trump seats available has dropped from around 13 down to 10 – which could bring the Democrats a few steps closer to securing a majority in the House. (Politico)
Fox News is launching a new subscription-based streaming service for Fox super fans. It’s called “Fox Nation.” The stand-alone subscription service will focus on right-leaning commentary and feature original shows and appearances by right-wing personalities, like Sean Hannity. Fox Nation is expected to launch by the end of the year. (New York Times)
A Texas couple is suing the Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops alleging that weren’t allowed to foster a refugee child because they don’t “mirror the Holy Family.” (Dallas News)
A dating site for Trump supporters featured a man who was convicted for having sex with a minor on its homepage. In 1995, Barrett Riddleberger was convicted of videotaping himself having sex with a 15-year-old girl. He was 25. (Gizmodo / CBS News)
Trump denied a woman’s accusation that he forcibly kissed her when she worked at Trump Tower in 2006. Rachel Crooks is one of the 19 women who have accused Trump of sexual assault. (CNBC)
1/ March For Our Lives: Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School are calling for a March 24 march on Washington and a national student walkout to demand action on gun control and challenge the politicians that have failed to protect them. A shooting at the Parkland, FL, high school on Feb. 14 left 17 dead. The March 24 march is to bring attention to school safety, ask lawmakers to enact gun control, and “demand that their lives and safety become a priority and that we end this epidemic of mass school shootings.” They’re encouraging students from around the country to join the protest. (Reuters / ABC News / March For Our Lives)
CHART: How Have Your Members Of Congress Voted On Gun Bills? (NPR)
2/ Former Trump aide Rick Gates will plead guilty to fraud-related charges and has agreed to testify against Paul Manafort. Gates, currently facing roughly 18 months in prison, could see “a substantial reduction in his sentence’’ if he cooperates with Mueller’s investigation. (Los Angeles Times)
3/ Several conservatives want Trump to issue presidential pardons as a way of limiting Robert Mueller’s investigation. Larry Klayman, a conservative legal activist, said: “I think he should pardon everybody” – Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, Michael Flynn, George Papadopoulos – “and pardon himself.” (Politico)
4/ The new White House security clearances policy puts a “bull’s eye” on Jared Kushner, according to an official. John Kelly announced Friday that the White House will no longer allow some employees with interim security clearances access to top-secret information. Abbe Lowell, one of Kushner’s lawyers, said Kelly’s directive “will not affect Mr. Kushner’s ability to continue to do the very important work he has been assigned by the president.” Kushner requests more information from the intelligence community than any White House employee. (Washington Post)
5/ Robert Mueller’s interest in Jared Kushner has expanded beyond his contacts with Russia and now includes his efforts to secure financing for his company from foreign investors during the presidential transition. Mueller’s investigators have been asking about Kushner’s conversations during the transition to finance a Kushner Companies-backed New York City office building facing financial troubles. (CNN)
6/ Trump blamed everybody but Russia as he lashed out against the Russia investigation in a nine-hour, profanity-laced, and error-laden tweetstorm. He attacked the FBI, CNN, the Democratic Party, his national security adviser, former president Obama, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Hillary Clinton, and more. He never criticized Russia or Putin’s attempts to undermine U.S. elections. (Politico / Washington Post / CNN)
“They are laughing their asses off in Moscow”: Trump takes on the FBI, Russia probe and 2016 election. (Washington Post)
America Is Under Attack and the President Doesn’t Care. Trump’s gravest responsibility is to defend the United States from foreign attack – and he’s done nothing to fulfill it. (The Atlantic)
7/ National Security Adviser H. R. McMaster said the “evidence is now incontrovertible” that Russia meddled in the U.S. political system, essentially telling the Munich Security Conference to ignore Trump’s tweet. Trump countered on Twitter, naturally: “General McMaster forgot to say that the results of the 2016 election were not impacted or changed by the Russians and that the only Collusion was between Russia and Crooked H, the DNC and the Dems.” (Washington Post)
General McMaster forgot to say that the results of the 2016 election were not impacted or changed by the Russians and that the only Collusion was between Russia and Crooked H, the DNC and the Dems. Remember the Dirty Dossier, Uranium, Speeches, Emails and the Podesta Company!
8/ Trump suggested that the FBI could have stopped the school shooter at a Florida high school if they spent less time on the Russia investigation. “Very sad that the FBI missed all of the many signals sent out by the Florida school shooter. This is not acceptable. They are spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the Trump campaign - there is no collusion. Get back to the basics and make us all proud!” Trump tweeted. (The Hill)
Very sad that the FBI missed all of the many signals sent out by the Florida school shooter. This is not acceptable. They are spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the Trump campaign - there is no collusion. Get back to the basics and make us all proud!
Trump “is supportive of efforts to improve the federal background check system” for gun purchases, according to Raj Shah, principal deputy press secretary. (CNN)
A prominent Republican political donor vowed not to contribute to any candidates or election groups that didn’t support a ban on the sale of military-style firearms to civilians. Al Hoffman Jr. said he would seek to marshal support among other Republican political donors for a renewed assault weapons ban. (New York Times)
Notables.
Trump Jr. will give a foreign policy speech while on an “unofficial” business trip to India promoting his family’s real estate projects. (Washington Post)
Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court issued a new congressional map to replace the state’s current gerrymandered one, which the court said is so partisan it violates the state’s Constitution. (HuffPost)
Trump called Oprah “very insecure” and accused her of being “biased and slanted” after she moderated a discussion between 14 pro- and anti-Trump voters. (CNN)
Trump went golfing today, three days after skipping a weekend of golf out of respect for the 17 people killed in the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last week. (The Hill)
1/ Robert Mueller’s federal grand jury indicted 13 Russian nationals and three Russian entities for violating criminal laws with the intent to interfere “with U.S. elections and political processes.” Mueller’s office said that the government accuses all the defendants of conspiracy to defraud the United States. Three defendants are charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud. The indictment charges that a Russian organization, the Internet Research Agency, waged “information warfare” against the U.S. by using social media platforms and fictitious American personas for “supporting the presidential campaign of then-candidate Donald J. Trump … and disparaging Hillary Clinton.” Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said this “information warfare” didn’t affect the outcome of the presidential election. (CNBC / ABC News / Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg)
A California man charged with identity theft pleaded guilty in Mueller’s probe. Richard Pinedo is cooperating with prosecutors. (Bloomberg / CNN)
2/ Mueller’s investigation into collusion and potential obstruction of justice by Trump and his campaign is expected to continue for months. Trump, meanwhile, tweeted that the Russian indictments are vindication that there was “No collusion!” Rod Rosenstein said during his press conference today that there is “no allegation in this indictment that any American was a knowing participant” in the alleged scheme to interfere with the 2016 election. Mueller could still indict Americans for knowingly helping Russia. (Bloomberg)
Russia started their anti-US campaign in 2014, long before I announced that I would run for President. The results of the election were not impacted. The Trump campaign did nothing wrong - no collusion!
3/ Rick Gates is close to a plea deal with Robert Mueller. The former Trump campaign adviser has been involved in plea negotiations for about a month, and people familiar with the case say he is poised to cooperate with the investigation. If Gates agrees to a plea deal, he will be the third known cooperator in the special counsel’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. (CNN)
4/ The FCC is investigating whether its chairman “improperly coordinated with Sinclair” on rule changes that benefited the broadcaster. Ajit Pai is under investigation by the agency’s independent watchdog for his role in the FCC’s adopting new rules that allowed television broadcasters to increase the number of stations they own. The rules were adopted weeks before Sinclair announced a $3.9 billion deal to buy Tribune Media. The deal would not have been possible without the new rules. The investigation into Pai’s relationship with Sinclair began at the end of last year. (New York Times / Ars Technica)
The Justice Department wants to prevent AT&T from using Trump’s criticism of its merger with Time Warner in its arguments. AT&T intends to argue that politics played a role in government’s decision to stop the merger. (Reuters)
5/ The FBI acknowledged that it failed to act on a tip in January that Nikolas Cruz had the potential of “conducting a school shooting.” The tipster said Cruz had a “desire to kill people, erratic behavior, and disturbing social media posts.” The FBI said some “protocols were not followed.” (Politico / New York Times)
Paul Ryan doesn’t think the time is right to wage political battles over the issue of guns in America. “This is one of those moments where we just need to step back and count our blessings,” Ryan said, adding: “We need to think less about taking sides and fighting each other politically, and just pulling together.” (CNN)
The vice mayor of Florida’s Broward County called Trump visit with the victims of the school shooting “absolutely absurd.” Trump “coming here, to me, is absurd. Him coming here is absolutely absurd, and he’s a hypocrite,” Mark Bogen said. (CNN)
Florida’s governor called on the FBI director to resign. In a statement, Rick Scott said: “The FBI’s failure to take action against this killer is unacceptable … We constantly promote ‘see something, say something,’ and a courageous person did just that to the FBI. And the FBI failed to act. ‘See something, say something’ is an incredibly important tool and people must have confidence in the follow through from law enforcement. The FBI director needs to resign.” (ABC News)
Russia-linked bots are promoting pro-gun messages on Twitter in an attempt to sow discord in the aftermath of the Florida school shooting. (CNN)
Notables.
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 16-5 in favor of the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act, despite protests from Jeff Sessions that the bill would increase violent crime and hamstring federal law enforcement. The bill would reduce some federal sentencing rules along with implementing reforms in the federal prison system. (CNN)
Mitt Romney announced that he is running for the Senate seat being vacated by seven-term GOP Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah. During the 2016 campaign, Romney called Trump a “phony” and a “fraud.” (NPR)
Trump set the record for the longest period of time without a formal press conference in the last 50 years. The last time a president went more than a year between press conferences was during Lyndon B. Johnson’s administration. By the end of his first year in office, Obama had held 11 solo press conferences; George W. Bush had held five. (The Daily Beast)
Jared Kushner filed a new addendum to his personal financial disclosure form last month, revealing previously undisclosed business interests. (Talking Points Memo)
Scott Pruitt’s security team recommended he fly first class because somebody yelled at him: “You’re f—ing up the environment.” (Politico)
Steve Bannon told the House Intelligence Committee yesterday that he had been instructed by the White House to invoke executive privilege on behalf of Trump and declined to answer questions pertinent to the Russia investigation. Lawmakers are considering whether to hold him in contempt. (CNN)
40% of Trump’s first Cabinet-level picks have faced ethical or other controversies. Nine out of the 22 people Trump initially picked for Cabinet-level posts have found themselves facing scrutiny over their actions. (Washington Post)
John Kelly approved an overhaul for how the White House manages security clearance investigations. The onus is now on the FBI and the Justice Department to now hand-deliver updates and provide more information. (Washington Post)
1/ Trump, in a tweet, suggested that students and neighbors should have reported the Florida shooter to authorities, because there were “so many signs” that the shooter “was mentally disturbed.” The FBI was warned in September about a possible school shooting after a YouTube user named Nikolas Cruz – the same name as the shooter who killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School – left a comment that read: “Im going to be a professional school shooter.” The FBI said it had investigated the comment, but was unable to identify the person who posted it. (NBC News / CNN / BBC)
So many signs that the Florida shooter was mentally disturbed, even expelled from school for bad and erratic behavior. Neighbors and classmates knew he was a big problem. Must always report such instances to authorities, again and again!
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin called on Congress to look into issues related to gun violence. He is the first senior Trump administration official to call for a congressional review of gun violence. According to a Treasury official, however, says Mnuchin doesn’t support Congress examining new gun laws. (Washington Post / Politico)
Trump’s budget would cut millions of dollars from the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, which gun dealers use to verify if someone is banned from buying a gun before selling it to them. (HuffPost)
One of Trump’s first actions as president was to undo a regulation that would have made it more difficult for people with a known mental illness to buy guns by requiring their names to be entered into the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. Nikolas Cruz legally purchased the AR-15. (ABC News)
2/ A student who witnessed the shooting called out lawmakers on TV, looking directly into the camera and saying: “We’re children. You guys are the adults. You need to take some action and play a role. Work together, come over your politics, and get something done.” He added: “Ideas are great but without action, ideas stay ideas and children die.” (CNN)
3/ The leader of a white supremacist group said the gunman in the Florida shooting was a member of his “white separatist paramilitary proto-fascist organization.” Nikolas Cruz, 19, is accused of killing 17 people in one of the deadliest school shootings in modern American history. His peers say he also wore a “Make America Great Again” hat in school. (Anti-Defamation League / The Daily Beast / New York Times)
4/ The admission that Michael Cohen facilitated a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels is raising legal and ethical questions. In particular, Cohen declined to say whether Trump or another party later reimbursed him for the payment. He insisted that the payment was a legal, personal gift by him to Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford. A lawyer who represented Clifford in the 2016 transaction issued a statement that said Cohen told him that the $130,000 payment was coming from his personal funds. (New York Times)
Stormy Daniels said she has a “Monica Lewinsky dress” from the July 2006 night she allegedly had sex with Trump. According her, she’s kept the dress “in pristine condition” and wants to have it tested for samples of hair, skin or “anything else” that would contain DNA. (The Mercury News)
5/ Trump’s travel ban unlawfully discriminates against Muslims, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in a 9-4 vote. The court ruled that the ban, which targeted people from six Muslim-majority countries, violated the U.S. Constitution by discriminating on the basis of religion. (Reuters)
6/ The bipartisan immigration bill failed in the Senate after Trump threatened to veto the deal, which would have created a pathway to citizenship for nearly 2 million undocumented immigrants and allot $25 billion for border security. Negotiators in both parties reached a tentative agreement yesterday, but the measure fell short of the 60-vote threshold needed today. The final vote was 54-45. (Bloomberg / CNN / Politico)
7/ At least 130 White House officials did not have permanent security clearances as of November 2017, including Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner, Dan Scavino, and Rob Porter. 47 of them report directly to Trump. (CNN / NBC News)
Rob Porter was informed in September that his security clearance check was “delayed” in part because of concerns that he was “violent,” according to one of his ex-wives. (CNN)
8/ Steve Bannon was interviewed by Robert Mueller over several days this week, spending more than 20 hours in conversation with the team investigating possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. Bannon and his legal team also appeared for a closed-door meeting with the House Intelligence Committee, despite the White House telling lawmakers Bannon would not be answering questions pertinent to the Russia investigation. (NBC News / ABC News / CNN)
Notables.
The IRS and the Justice Department issued subpoenas for documents from lenders and investors related to projects managed by Jared Kushner’s family. The projects in question date back to at least 2010 and are reportedly unrelated to the Mueller investigation. (Bloomberg)
Reince Priebus convinced Jeff Sessions not to resign shortly after Trump fired James Comey in May 2017. Trump berated Sessions for recusing himself from the Russia investigation in a meeting in the Oval Office, which lead to Sessions offering his resignation. (New York Times / Vanity Fair)
Trump’s inaugural committee paid nearly $26 million to an event planning firm started by Melania’s adviser and longtime friend Stephanie Winston Wolkoff. The firm was created in December 2016 – 45 days before the inauguration. Trump’s inauguration committee raised $107 million and paid to WIS Media Partners $25.8 million. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
Trump’s 25-cent per gallon gas tax would wipe out 60% of tax cut benefit for individuals. The increased cost of gas at the pump would be about nine times larger than the estimated $4 billion companies are handing to workers in the form of bonuses, due to corporate tax cuts. (CNBC)
The Department of Defense has five options for Trump’s military parade, ranging from $3 million to as much as $50 million. (NPR)
A week after Rob Porter resigned following allegations of domestic violence, Trump said that he is “totally opposed to domestic violence.” It was his first condemnation of the conduct behind the allegations. (New York Times)
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1/ Trump’s lawyer paid Stormy Daniels $130,000 out of his own pocket in order to buy the porn star’s silence about Trump’s alleged affair with her. “Neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction with Ms. [Daniels],” Michael Cohen said in a statement, adding: “And neither reimbursed me for the payment, either directly or indirectly.” Cohen made the October 2016 payment through his LLC in exchange for the adult-movie star signing a nondisclosure agreement about her allegations of an affair that took place shortly after Melania gave birth to Barron. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
Stormy Daniels believes she can now discuss her alleged sexual encounter with Trump after Michael Cohen invalidated her non-disclosure agreement. Cohen told the New York Times he paid her $130,000 in exchange for her signing an NDA. He’s also shopped a book proposal that would detail her relationship with Trump. (Associated Press / The Blast)
2/ Trump doesn’t believe Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election, even though the heads of U.S. intelligence agencies testified to the Senate Intelligence Committee that Russia meddled in 2016 and is planning to do so again in 2018. (CNN)
Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats doesn’t think Jared Kushner should have full access to classified information. The top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, meanwhile, accused the White House of “showing a blatant disregard for national security.” (Washington Post / ABC News)
A former senior FBI official is leading BuzzFeed’s effort to verify the Trump dossier and defend itself from a Russian billionaire’s lawsuit. BuzzFeed in turn is suing the DNC for information the publisher believes could show a link between the Russian billionaire and the e-mail hacking, which would undercut his libel claim. (Foreign Policy / Vanity Fair)
Democrats have had “good discussions” with the FBI on declassifying their memo and hope to resolve the issue “very soon.” Adam Schiff the White House and FBI initially wanted too much information kept from the public. (Reuters)
3/ The House Oversight Committee is investigating the White House’s handling of the Rob Porter scandal and who knew what and when about the accusations of domestic violence. “I’m troubled by almost every aspect of this,” House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy said. “How in the hell was he still employed?” (NPR / CNN / Politico)
4/ Scott Pruitt has a “blanket waiver” to book first-class flights using taxpayer funds because past interactions that have “not been the best.” The EPA says concerns about Pruitt’s safety have required him to travel first and business class. (The Hill / CNBC)
5/ A bipartisan group of senators have reached an immigration deal that would include $25 billion for border security, provide a path to citizenship for 1.8 million Dreamers, and change the visa lottery program to a merit based system. The White House wants any immigration legislation to include the “four pillars” agreed to during a January meeting: A fix for DACA, border security, and changes to family-based immigration, and the Diversity Visa Lottery. (Politico / The Hill)
6/ Trump, meanwhile, called on lawmakers to oppose the bipartisan effort to address immigration and protections for Dreamers. Trump urged the Senate to support legislation offered by Republican Chuck Grassley, which would provide a path to citizenship for 1.8 million young immigrants, end the visa lottery program, build a border wall, and end what he calls “chain migration,” which is family-based immigration. (New York Times / Reuters)
poll/ On a generic ballot, 39% of voters say they’ll support the GOP candidate for Congress in their district. 38% say they’ll support the Democratic candidate. 23% are undecided. (Politico)
poll/ Voters favor Democrats 49-41 on a generic Congressional ballot. 65% of Clinton voters say they’re “very excited” to vote in the election this fall, compared to 58% of Trump voters. (Public Policy Polling)
Notables.
A suspected shooter is in custody and as many as 7 people are dead after a school shooting at a South Florida high school. The authorities said there were 14 victims, but did not say if they were injured or dead. *[Developing…] *(CBS Miami / New York Times)
The Veterans Affairs secretary had his chief of staff doctor an email and make false statements in order to justify the cost of his wife’s travel on a 10-day trip to Europe last summer. David Shulkin ordered the VA’s third-most-senior official to alter an email to make it appear that he was receiving an award from the Danish government. The VA paid more than $4,300 for his wife’s airfare. (Washington Post)
Refugee resettlement agencies are preparing to close more than 20 offices across the U.S. and cut back operations in more than 40 other offices after the State Department told them to pare down their operations. (Reuters)
Trump’s military parade would cost between $10 million and $30 million. The White House hasn’t budgeted for the parade, which would require Congress to appropriate the funds, or use money that already has been approved. (Washington Post)
A third White House official resigned after being informed that he would not receive a permanent security clearance due to his past use of marijuana. (Politico)
Trump wants a 25-cent hike to the federal gas tax in order to pay for the White House infrastructure plan. The current federal levy is 18.4 cents a gallon on retail gasoline and 24.4 cents a gallon for diesel. The increase floated by the president would presumably put the gasoline tax at 43.4 cents and diesel tax at just under 50 cents. (CNBC)
Democrats flipped a Republican seat in Florida’s special election. Margaret Good beat the Republican by 7 percentage points in a district that President Trump won two years ago by a 5-point margin. (NPR)
1/ U.S. intelligence agencies expect Russia to meddle in the 2018 midterm elections through hacking and social media manipulation. During testimony at the Senate Intelligence Committee’s annual hearing on worldwide threats, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats told the committee: “Frankly, the United States is under attack” and that Russia will continue to engage in cyber attacks to “degrade our democratic values and weaken our alliances.” He added: “There should be no doubt that Russia perceives its past efforts as successful and views the 2018 U.S. midterm elections as a potential target for Russian influence operations.” (New York Times / USA Today / NBC News)
2/ FBI Director Christopher Wray contradicted the White House’s timeline for Rob Porter, saying the Bureau’s file on Porter was closed in January 2018. Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah issued a statement last week saying that Porter’s “background investigation was ongoing” and that the White House was first contacted about Porter’s clearance in July. Wray, testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the FBI submitted a partial report on Porter’s clearance in March 2017 and that the investigation was completed in July. The FBI closed the file in January 2018, but received additional information in February, and “we passed that on as well.” (Axios / Washington Post / USA Today)
The system used to issue security clearances for top officials is “broken,” according to Dan Coats. “We have a broken system and I think everybody’s come to agree with that now.” (Associated Press)
The Porter Timeline:
March 2017: The FBI submitted a “partial report” on Rob Porter to the White House.
July: The FBI submitted a completed review in “late July.”
November: The White House requested follow-up information from the FBI on Porter’s review.
January 2018: The FBI “closed the file.”
February 6th: The Daily Mail story is published, detailing Porter’s abusive marriage with his second ex-wife.
February 7th: John Kelly called Porter “a man of true integrity and honor.” The Intercept published a story reporting that both of Porter’s ex-wives told the FBI that he abused them. Porter resigned, insisting that he is innocent. Kelly issued a second statement: “There is no place for domestic violence in our society.”
February 8th: It’s reported Kelly knew that Porter’s permanent security clearance was on hold in “early fall” and that both of his ex-wives had made allegations against him. White House principal deputy press secretary Raj Shah said that Porter was “terminated” shortly after the “full nature” of the allegations became clear. “In this instance, in the case of Rob Porter, we relied on the background check investigative process. That process hadn’t been completed.”
February 9th: Trump addressed Porter’s resignation, wishing him well and a “wonderful career.”
February 10th: Trump tweets: “Peoples lives are being shattered and destroyed by a mere allegation. Some are true and some are false. Some are old and some are new. There is no recovery for someone falsely accused - life and career are gone. Is there no such thing any longer as Due Process?”
February 11th: Kellyanne Conway said that Trump was “very disturbed” by the allegations against Porter.
February 12th: Sarah Huckabee Sanders refused to explain why Trump hasn’t offered a statement clarifying his tweet.
February 13th: FBI Director Chris Wray told the Senate Intelligence Committee that the bureau completed its background investigation on Porter in July 2017, responded to a follow-up request in November, and then closed its file in January 2018. The timeline contradicts the White House’s February 8th statement that the background check “process hadn’t been completed.”
3/ Rob Porter was up for a promotion despite allegations that he abused his two ex-wives. John Kelly and several other White House officials were receptive to promoting Porter. Kelly has found himself increasingly isolated in the White House as his timeline of the events surrounding Porter’s departure doesn’t align with what happened. The FBI’s “timeline makes one thing clear: the Kelly coverup is unraveling right before our eyes,” a White House official said. (Politico / CNN / Axios)
4/ The Trump administration proposed replacing food stamps with a monthly “American Harvest Box,” full of government-picked, nonperishable foods. The proposal, buried in the White House fiscal 2019 budget, would include items like milk, peanut butter, canned fruits, and cereal. The administration claims the plan would save more than $129 billion over 10 years. (Politico)
Nancy Pelosi shared a 2015 tweet from Trump claiming that he would not cut Medicare and Medicaid after his budget proposed cuts to both programs. “There really is a tweet for everything,” Pelosi wrote. (The Hill)
5/ Trump warned Democrats that March 5 is the “last chance” to pass DACA. The deadline is the same one he announced last year, but a federal injunction temporarily blocking the plan to rescind work permits for young undocumented immigrants essentially renders the deadline meaningless. “Wouldn’t it be great if we could finally, after so many years, solve the DACA puzzle,” Trump tweeted. He added: “This will be our last chance, there will never be another opportunity! March 5th.” (ABC News)
Negotiations on DACA have begun. Republicans want to make a deal and Democrats say they want to make a deal. Wouldn’t it be great if we could finally, after so many years, solve the DACA puzzle. This will be our last chance, there will never be another opportunity! March 5th.
6/ A second U.S. judge blocked Trump’s decision to end DACA in March while litigation plays out in the courts. The Supreme Court is due to consider whether to take up the administration’s appeal to the first ruling as Friday. (Reuters / The Hill)
poll/ Trump’s job approval climbed to 44%, compared to 53% who disapprove in a Priorities USA poll – a Democratic super PAC. In November, the same survey found Trump’s approval rating at 40%, with 54% disapproving. (McClatchy DC)
Notables.
Israeli police recommended that Benjamin Netanyahu be charged with bribery, fraud, and breach of trust in two corruption cases. The recommendations now go to Attorney General Avihai Mendelblit, who will review the material before deciding whether to file charges. Netanyahu can remain in office during that process. (Associated Press / New York Times)
More than 200 Russian mercenaries were killed in a clash with U.S. forces in Syria last week. The fighters attacked a base and refinery held by the U.S. and were defeated. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis called the situation “perplexing,” because it’s not clear whether the attack was a rogue operation or if it was ordered by Russia. (Bloomberg)
Kirsten Gillibrand pledged to stop accepting donations from corporate PACs. She joins Democrats Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and Maria Cantwell who have pledged to reject corporate money. (BuzzFeed News)
Of Trump’s 87 picks for federal judges, 92% are white. There is one African American and one is Hispanic nominee. (USA Today)
America First: Of the 144 job openings for seasonal work from across three Trump properties, one went to a US worker. (Vox)
1/ Rachel Brand quit the Justice Department in part over fears that she’d have to take over the Russia investigation if Trump fired Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. The Justice Department’s No. 3 attorney had been unhappy with her job for months, telling friends that she felt overwhelmed and unsupported in her job, primarily because four of the 13 divisions she oversaw as the associate attorney general remained unfilled. (NBC News)
2/ The White House proposed a $4.4 trillion federal budget that would add $7 trillion to the deficit over ten years. The plan calls for cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps and other social programs in favor of higher spending on a “ready, larger, and more lethal military,” $23 billion for border security and immigration enforcement, and $200 billion over the next decade for infrastructure spending. The State Department budget would be cut by 27% and the EPA would be cut by 34%. The budget will likely be ignored by Congress, which passed its own two-year spending plan last week. (Bloomberg / New York Times / Washington Post)
Here are the 22 agencies and programs Trump’s budget would eliminate. (The Hill)
The Trump budget falls short of the longtime Republican goal of eliminating the federal deficit. The administration has reportedly conceded that the recent federal tax cuts and new spending increases have made eliminating the deficit an unattainable goal. (Washington Post)
3/ Trump’s infrastructure plan will provide up to $200 billion in federal funding to encourage cities and states to invest in roads, bridges, and other building projects. The goal is to incentivize $1.5 trillion in infrastructure spending over the next 10 years without investing significant federal funding, while also reducing the time required to obtain environmental permits for the projects. (New York Times / Politico / Washington Post)
Read the full text of Trump’s infrastructure plan. (CNBC)
4/ The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau dropped a lawsuit against a lender that allegedly charged people up to 950% interest rates. Led by Trump appointee Mick Mulvaney, the CFPB will operate for the years 2018 through 2022 under a “revised mission and vision of the bureau” that will call upon the agency to “fulfill its statutory responsibilities but go no further.” (NPR / CNBC)
5/ Scott Pruitt often uses taxpayer funds to fly first-class and stay at luxury hotels, using unspecified security concerns as justification. The Environmental Protection Agency administrator typically brings a large group of aides with him on trips and usually flies with Delta, even though the government has contracts with specific airlines for specific routes. (Washington Post / CNN)
6/ The Education Department won’t investigate or take action on any complaints filed by transgender students who are banned from restrooms that match their gender identity. The Education and Justice Departments withdrew the Obama-era guidance on transgender restroom access in February 2017. (BuzzFeed News)
U.S. figure skater Adam Rippon said he would boycott a visit to the White House. Rippon also refused a meeting with Pence before the competition, citing the Trump administration’s values and Pence’s support of “gay conversion therapy.” (The Hill)
7/ Jeff Sessions called sheriffs a “critical part” of the “Anglo-American heritage of law enforcement” during a speech at the National Sheriffs’ Association. “We must never erode this historic office,” Sessions continued. The “Anglo-American” phrase was not in the prepared remarks released by the Justice Department early Monday before his speech. (NBC News / CNN)
Notables.
The U.S. and South Korea have agreed on terms of further engagement with North Korea – first by the South Koreans and then by the U.S. The U.S. will not stop imposing sanctions on Pyongyang until it begins denuclearization, but the Trump administration is now willing to sit down and talk with the regime. (Washington Post)
Trump’s inaugural committee won’t reveal what it’s doing with tens of millions of dollars it pledged to charity last year. The committee raised about $107 million, but only spent about half of it. The rest, it said, would go to charity. (The Daily Beast)
Trump’s pick to run the 2020 census withdrew from consideration after Democrats in Congress pushed back against the appointment. Thomas Brunell is a political science professor who has defended Republican redistricting efforts in more than a dozen states. (Mother Jones)
Trump Jr.’s wife was taken to the hospital after opening a letter containing an unidentified white powder that was later determined to be non-hazardous. (Reuters)
Devin Nunes’ “news” site went down after a distributed denial of service attack. The Nunes campaign has paid roughly $8,000 to a communications consultant since July to create “The California Republican,” which is listed as a “Media/News Company” on Facebook and claims to deliver “the best of US, California, and Central Valley news, sports, and analysis.” (The Hill / Politico)
Kirsten Gillibrand wants Congress to hold Trump accountable for the allegations of sexual misconduct against him. “I think he should resign, and if he’s unwilling to do that, which is what I assume, then Congress should hold him accountable. We’re obligated to have hearings,” Gillibrand said in an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes.” (The Hill)
1/ The Justice Department’s No. 3 official resigned. Rachel Brand was next in line behind Rod Rosenstein, who is overseeing the special counsel’s inquiry into Russian influence in the 2016 election. Trump has called the investigation a witch hunt and even considered firing Rosenstein. (New York Times / CNN)
2/ Top White House officials knew about the allegations of Rob Porter’s verbal and physical abuse for months. White House Counsel Donald McGahn knew in January 2017 that accusations by Porter’s ex-wives could threaten his security clearance. John Kelly learned this past fall that the domestic violence claims were delaying Porter’s security clearance after the FBI flagged its findings to the White House. He gave Porter more responsibilities. Until his resignation on Wednesday, Porter was one of Trump’s most senior aides. The White House has said Kelly was not “fully aware” of the abuse until this week. (Washington Post / New York Times)
John Kelly sent a memo to White House staffers Thursday night addressing the allegations made against Rob Porter. Kelly wrote, “While we are all processing the shocking and troubling allegations made against a former White House staffer, I want you to know that we all take matters of domestic violence seriously. Domestic violence is abhorrent and has no place in our society.” (CNN)
3/ Trump is frustrated with Hope Hicks’ role in the Porter scandal and is placing much of the blame on John Kelly. Trump is questioning the White House’s response and has told associates that he thinks Hicks put her romantic relationship with Porter ahead of his own priorities. Trump was not consulted on the White House statement, which defended Porter. Kelly, meanwhile, initially defended Porter and urged him to fight the allegations and to remain in the job. But after graphic photos emerged of the abuse, Kelly accepted Porter’s resignation. (CNN / Wall Street Journal)
4/ Meanwhile, Trump said the allegations of domestic abuse are “very sad,” but that he wishes Rob Porter “well” because “he did a very good job while he was in the White House. We hope he has a wonderful career ahead of him.” Trump added that he believes Porter is innocent, because Porter said “very strongly” that he was innocent. (Reuters / CNN)
5/ Trump has recently asked advisers what they think of Mick Mulvaney as a possible replacement for John Kelly as chief of staff. Mulvaney currently holds two posts, as director of both the White House budget office and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Kelly has told Trump in the last 24 hours that he’s willing to resign, but has not offered his resignation. (New York Times / ABC News)
6/ Trump doesn’t read the President’s Daily Brief, which outlines the most important information collected by U.S. intelligence agencies from around the world. Instead, he receives an oral briefing on select intelligence issues, because reading is not Trump’s preferred “style of learning.” (Washington Post)
7/ The government shut down for five hours last night, the second shutdown in three weeks. The House passed a spending bill late last night, which Trump signed into law early Friday morning. The measure keeps the government open until March 23. The bill also increases federal spending for the military and domestic and disaster relief programs by hundreds of billions of dollars. (Washington Post / New York Times)
Notables.
The FBI was monitoring Carter Page when he spoke to Steve Bannon about Russia in January 2017. The details of the call are vague, but national security experts say the FBI would have retained the conversation as evidence if it seemed pertinent to their investigation into allegations that Trump associates coordinated with the Kremlin. (Politico)
Dozens of White House employees still don’t have permanent security clearance. Employees have been working for months with temporary approvals as they continue to handle sensitive and classified information while they wait for the FBI to issue permanent clearances. (Washington Post)
Tim Kaine wants Trump to release a secret memo outlining his interpretation of his legal authority to wage war. Kaine sent a letter to Rex Tillerson seeking the seven-page memo the administration has kept under wraps for months. (NBC News)
Trump said the White House would release a letter regarding the possible release of the Democrat’s memo written which rebuts a Republican document claiming FBI and Justice Department bias against him in the federal probe of Russia and the 2016 U.S. election. (Reuters)
1/ Russian hackers penetrated voter registration rolls in several U.S. states before the 2016 presidential election. A Homeland Security Department official said that of the 21 states that were targeted, a “small number” were successfully penetrated. Officials maintain that there is no evidence that voter rolls were altered. (NBC News)
George W. Bush: “Clear evidence that the Russians meddled” in the 2016 presidential election. Intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia meddled in the presidential election, but Trump has consistently disputed allegations that members of his campaign team in any way “colluded” with Moscow. (USA Today)
2/ The Trump administration may target immigrants who use certain taxpayer-funded benefits to make it harder for them to gain permanent residency. The Department of Homeland Security has drafted rules that could weigh against an applicant if they received non-cash benefits, such as government food assistance programs or preschool programs – even if they were for the immigrant’s U.S. citizen children. (Reuters)
3/ Scott Pruitt suggested that climate change could benefit humans, despite scientific evidence to the contrary. The EPA administrator said: “I think there’s assumptions made that because the climate is warming, that that necessarily is a bad thing. Do we really know what the ideal surface temperature should be in the year 2100?” The National Climate Assessment concluded that “climate change presents a global public health problem, with serious health impacts predicted to manifest in varying ways in different parts of the world.” NASA’s consensus is that humans are the primary drivers of climate-warming trends, which are “proceeding at a rate unprecedented over decades to millennia.” (CNN)
4/ House Democrats are targeting 101 Republican-held congressional districts in the November midterm elections. Polling by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee shows Trump trailing not just in the 23 GOP-held districts Hillary Clinton won, but also in more than 60 districts Trump won, and 11 others where retirements have left the seat open. (NBC News)
5/ Members of Congress from both parties are calling Trump’s request for a military parade a waste of money that would break with democratic traditions. Defense Secretary James Mattis told a White House news briefing that preparations for a celebration are underway. (Politico)
6/ The House and Senate are expected to vote tonight on a budget deal that would increase federal spending by more than $300 billion over two years and avert another shutdown. The Senate is expected to pass its bill, which the House will then vote on. Conservative House Republicans, however, currently oppose the deal over its increase in spending, while some House Democrats are threatening to vote against the deal because it doesn’t address protections for Dreamers. The current temporary funding measure is set to expire tonight at midnight. (Politico / New York Times / Washington Post)
poll/ 57% of Americans believe Russia will try to influence this year’s midterm elections and 55% believe the federal government isn’t doing enough to prevent it. (NBC News)
Notables.
The Dow dropped more than 1,000 points, closing down 4.15%. The S&P 500 closed at 3.75% down – a two-month low – erasing its gain for the year and putting it on track for its worst week since the financial crisis. (Bloomberg)
Trump has decided to focus on opioid law enforcement instead of opioid treatment. “People form blue ribbon committees,” Trump said earlier this week during a speech in Cincinnati. “They do everything they can. And frankly, I have a different take on it. My take is you have to get really, really tough, really mean with the drug pushers and the drug dealers.” (NPR)
Republican Congressman Duncan Hunter of California has been accused of misusing campaign funds. A grand jury in San Diego is in the process of questioning several former aides to find out whether Rep. Hunter diverted hundreds of thousands of dollars from his campaign and spent the money on his family and friends. (Politico)
Senior Trump aides knew for months about the allegations of domestic abuse against top White House staffer Rob Porter by his two ex-wives. Porter continues to deny the allegations and the White House continues to defend Porter, even after his resignation on Wednesday. Democrats have requested an investigation into the White House’s “apparent low and inconsistent threshold” for granting security clearances. (CNN / The Hill)
1/ Senate leaders struck a budget deal to increase defense and domestic spending by about $315 billion over two years and add $90 billion more in disaster aid for victims of recent hurricanes and wildfires. The agreement also includes a four-year extension for the Children’s Health Insurance Program, in addition to the six-year extension that Congress approved last month. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the White House supported the deal, calling it “steps forward.” A vote on the plan in the Senate could come as soon as this afternoon. (New York Times / Washington Post)
2/ Nancy Pelosi, meanwhile, said she cannot agree to any budget deal without a vote on an immigration bill to protect Dreamers. Pelosi began reading stories about Dreamers who aspire to become U.S. citizens from the House floor at 10:04 a.m. and she hasn’t stopped. “Without a commitment from Speaker Ryan comparable to the commitment from Leader McConnell, this package does not have my support,” Pelosi said. (USA Today / Politico)
3/ A White House staff secretary resigned following allegations that he physically assaulted and emotionally abused his two ex-wives. Rob Porter, who is dating White House communications director Hope Hicks, called the allegations “outrageous” and “simply false,” but resigned with an undetermined effective date anyway. John Kelly defended Porter, calling him “a man of true integrity and honor.” (CNN / Politico)
4/ Trump wants a grand military parade with soldiers marching and tanks later this year in order to showcase the might of America’s armed forces. “The marching orders were: I want a parade like the one in France,” a military official said. From the Washington Post: “The inspiration for Trump’s push is last year’s Bastille Day celebration in Paris, which the president attended as a guest of French President Emmanuel Macron. Trump was awestruck by the tableau of uniformed French troops marching down Avenue des Champs-Elysees with military tanks, armored vehicles, gun trucks and carriers — complete with fighter jets flying over the Arc de Triomphe and painting the sky with streaks of blue, white and red smoke for the colors of the French flag.” (Washington Post)
5/ Trump’s allies are calling for a compromise when it comes to an interview with Robert Mueller. They don’t want Trump to sit down and speak freely with Mueller, but they also want to avoid a standoff that could make its way to the Supreme Court if neither side budges. Trump’s legal team is exploring the possibility of a written exchange with Mueller. (Politico)
6/ Trump still wants to talk to Mueller, despite lawyers, friends and lawmakers urging him to avoid a sit-down. Trump reportedly believes that he is entirely innocent, and his experience with lawsuits and testifying under oath during his time as a real estate mogul will allow him to get through his interview with Mueller unscathed. (CNN)
7/ Rex Tillerson: Russia is already trying to influence the 2018 midterm election. Tillerson warned that Russia has “a lot of different tools” that it can use to influence the election. He added: “I don’t know that I would say we are better prepared, because the Russians will adapt, as well. The point is, if it’s their intention to interfere, they are going to find ways to do that.” (Fox News / NBC News)
poll/ 40% of Americans approve of Trump’s job performance and 60% say Trump is doing more to divide the country than to unite it. In addition, 85% of Republicans say Trump is not a racist, 55% of men say Trump is not a racist, and 51% of white voters say Trump is not a racist. (Quinnipiac)
Notables.
Democrats are contemplating a post-Pelosi Democratic Party, which would likely trigger “an intraparty war,” according to Rep. Alcee Hastings. (Politico)
Democrats flipped a Missouri state House of Representatives seat in a district that went for Trump in 2016. Mike Revis, a 27-year-old Democrat, managed to beat out Republican David Linton by 108 votes, or about 3% of the vote. (The Hill)
Pence vowed that the Trump administration “will soon unveil the toughest and most aggressive round of economic sanctions on North Korea ever.” (Washington Post)
1/ Trump’s lawyers want him to refuse an interview with Robert Mueller, because they’re concerned that he could be charged with lying to investigators. Trump, however, has said that he is “looking forward” to speaking with Mueller as part of the investigation into possible collusion between his campaign and Russia’s election interference, and whether he obstructed justice. Ty Cobb, the White House lawyer Trump tapped to deal with Mueller’s investigation, has said the White House is in “total cooperation mode.” (New York Times)
2/ Steve Bannon will not testify before the House Intelligence Committee today, thus risking being held in contempt for failing to comply with a subpoena. The panel wants Bannon to testify a second time in its investigation of Russian election meddling. Bannon’s January 16th appearance failed to satisfy members of the committee. (CNN / Reuters)
3/ Trump is not expected to extend the DACA deadline past March 5th. John Kelly said “Dreamers,” however, would not be a priority for deportation, even if their protections expire. Kelly told reporters that he was “not so sure this president has the authority to extend” the program. (Washington Post / Associated Press)
4/ A FEMA contractor delivered just 50,000 of 30 million ready-to-eat meals to Puerto Rico before the contract was terminated. The Federal Emergency Management Agency awarded the $156 million contract to an entrepreneur with no experience in large-scale disaster relief, who also had at least five previously canceled government contracts. (New York Times)
5/ Government funding set to expire on Thursday. House Republicans have moved ahead with a temporary spending measure that would raise strict caps on military and domestic spending. Senate Democrats have promised to block the bill. They want to pair an increase in military spending with a similar increase in domestic spending. The measure needs 60 votes to pass the Senate, where Republicans hold 51 seats. (New York Times)
6/ Trump: “I’d love to see a shutdown” if Democrats don’t agree to his immigration plan, which would offer a path to citizenship for as many as 1.8 million immigrants who came to the U.S. illegally as children in exchange for funding for his border wall and deep cuts to legal immigration. Government funding will lapse if Congress cannot pass a spending bill by the end of Thursday. (The Hill / CNBC)
Notables.
Devin Nunes admitted that the FBI actually did disclose the political backing of the Steele dossier in its FISA application to surveil Carter Page. The Republican memo accused the FBI and Justice Department of anti-Trump bias because they allegedly didn’t disclose that the Steele dossier was financed by Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee. The FBI’s FISA application disclosed this detail in a footnote, which the GOP memo failed to mention. (Politico)
Trump will be briefed on the Democratic memo. John Kelly said that Trump has the 10-page document, but has not yet read it, telling reporters that “it’s pretty lengthy.” (The Hill)
Jeff Sessions called for a “fresh start” at the FBI following Andrew McCabe’s decision to step down. Sessions added that there has been an “erosion” of public trust in the Justice Department and that “we need to go the extra mile to make sure that everything we do is not political.” (CNN)
Kellyanne Conway’s “opioid cabinet” has been relying on political staff to address the crisis instead of drug policy professionals. Trump hasn’t named a permanent director for the office and the acting director hasn’t been invited to Conway’s opioid cabinet meetings. (Politico)
The House passed a measure requiring lawmakers to pay their own awards and settlements in sexual harassment cases instead of using taxpayer funds. (Reuters)
Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump as “clearly joking” when he accused Democrats of treason for not standing and applauding during his State of the Union address. (CNN)
A Pennsylvania lawmaker wants to impeach five Democratic state justices who found the Republican-drawn congressional districts map to be in violation of the Pennsylvania constitution. (New York Magazine)
1/ Trump accused Democrats of being un-American and treasonous because they didn’t clap for him during his State of the Union address. “Can we call that treason?” Trump asked during a speech at a factory in Ohio. “Why not? I mean, they certainly didn’t seem to love our country very much.” He added: “Your paychecks are going way up” and “your taxes are going way down.” (New York Times)
2/ The Dow had its worst single-day decline ever, plunging 1,175 points to close at 24,346. The drop came as Trump was touting the strength of the economy during his speech in Ohio. CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News all cut away from Trump’s speech to cover the market plunge. The S&P 500 fell by more than 4%. (CNN Money)
3/ Senators John McCain and Christopher Coons will introduce a bipartisan immigration deal aimed at reaching a budget deal before the federal government’s current funding expires on Friday. The legislation does not contain funding for the border wall. (Wall Street Journal)
4/ The White House dismissed the bipartisan immigration deal as a non-starter before it was formally introduced. Trump tweeted that “any deal on DACA that does not include STRONG border security and the desperately needed WALL is a total waste of time.” (CNN)
Any deal on DACA that does not include STRONG border security and the desperately needed WALL is a total waste of time. March 5th is rapidly approaching and the Dems seem not to care about DACA. Make a deal!
5/ The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau scaled back its Equifax probe. Hackers stole the personal data from more than 143 million Americans in a September breach at the credit bureau. (Reuters)
6/ Paul Ryan celebrated a secretary’s $1.50 weekly increase on Twitter as a sign of the Republican tax plan’s success. He deleted the tweet after lawmakers and social media users criticized him. “A secretary at a public high school in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, said she was pleasantly surprised her pay went up $1.50 a week … she said [that] will more than cover her Costco membership for the year,” the tweet read. (New York Times)
7/ The House Intelligence Committee voted to release the Democratic memo public, which rebuts allegations that the FBI abused surveillance laws. Trump has five days to review the request to release the memo. (Politico / Reuters)
Trump’s lawyers want to appoint a second special counsel to investigate the FBI and Justice Department’s actions during the 2016 presidential campaign. (Axios)
The New York Times asked the FISA court to unseal documents related to the wiretapping of Carter Page. Trump’s decision to declassify the Republican memo signifies that the public interest in the documents outweighs the need to protect the information. The Times argues that there is no longer a justification “for the Page warrant orders and application materials to be withheld in their entirety,” and that “disclosure would serve the public interest.” (New York Times)
8/ Trump accused Adam Schiff of being “one of the biggest liars and leakers in Washington.” He called the California representative “Little Adam Schiff” and that he “Must be stopped!” Schiff fired back: “Mr. President, I see you’ve had a busy morning of ‘Executive Time.’” Later, Schiff told CNN that “It may be time for General Kelly to give the President a time out.” (New York Times / CNN)
Little Adam Schiff, who is desperate to run for higher office, is one of the biggest liars and leakers in Washington, right up there with Comey, Warner, Brennan and Clapper! Adam leaves closed committee hearings to illegally leak confidential information. Must be stopped!
Mr. President, I see you’ve had a busy morning of “Executive Time.” Instead of tweeting false smears, the American people would appreciate it if you turned off the TV and helped solve the funding crisis, protected Dreamers or...really anything else. https://t.co/lVqQRu2Gjl
9/ The U.S. Supreme Court will allow Pennsylvania to redraw its congressional districts, rejecting an emergency GOP request to stop a reworking of the electoral districts. Last month the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that the current maps violate the state constitution and unfairly benefits Republicans. The new districts are expected to be in place by February 19th for use in the May 15th congressional primaries. (Associated Press / Reuters)
Notables.
Some Philadelphia Eagles players plan to skip the White House visit because of opposition to Trump. (CNN)
Department of Homeland Security documents for a Super Bowl terrorism drill were found in the seat-back pocket on a commercial plane. The reports were based on exercises designed to evaluate the ability of public health, law enforcement and emergency management officials to engage in a coordinated response were a biological attack to be carried out in Minneapolis on Super Bowl Sunday. (CNN)
Audit: A Pentagon agency can’t account for more than $800 million in construction projects. The Defense Logistics Agency failed to properly document its spending and cannot reconcile balances from its general ledger with the Treasury Department. (Politico)
The former leader of the American Nazi Party is running unopposed in the Republican primary for Illinois’ 3rd Congressional District. Arthur Jones is a Holocaust denier and also oversees the America First Committee, whose membership “is open to any white American citizen of European, non-Jewish descent.” (Washington Post)
The Justice Department sided with Robert Mueller in a lawsuit filed against him by Paul Manafort. Manafort filed the civil suit against Mueller on January 3rd, saying the special counsel’s investigation into collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia exceeded its legal authority. (Reuters)
1/ Trump approved the release of the Nunes memo after first attacking both the FBI and the Justice Department in an early-morning tweet. He accused them of having “politicized the sacred investigative process in favor of Democrats.” The memo, which alleges anti-Trump bias at the FBI and DOJ, was approved for release without the redactions that the FBI and the Justice Department had lobbied for. The House Intelligence Committee then made the memo public. Trump told reporters, “I think it’s a disgrace what’s happening in our country … A lot of people should be ashamed of themselves and much worse than that.” (New York Times / Washington Post)
The top Leadership and Investigators of the FBI and the Justice Department have politicized the sacred investigative process in favor of Democrats and against Republicans - something which would have been unthinkable just a short time ago. Rank & File are great people!
The memo didn’t provide the evidence to support the claim that the FBI abused its surveillance power under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act during the 2016 campaign leading to “a troubling breakdown of legal processes established to protect the American people from abuses related to the FISA process.”
The memo also doesn’t provide all the evidence the FBI and Justice Department used to obtain the initial warrant to surveil Carter Page, the former Trump campaign adviser.
The memo confirms that actions taken by George Papadopoulos, the former Trump foreign policy adviser, were a factor in the opening of the investigation. Papadopoulos pleaded guilty last year to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russians.
Memo actually confirms a timeline not favorable to Trump: 1. Counterintelligence probe opened in July 2016 by FBI because of George P./Wikileaks/emails. 2. FISA application on Carter Page obtained late Oct. 2016, after Page had left Trump campaign.
Sean Hannity advised Trump on the memo all week. Trump reportedly had several phone calls with Hannity over the last few weeks, reinforcing Trump’s determination to release the memo to the public. (The Daily Beast)
Comey praised the FBI in a tweet for speaking up against “weasels and liars”. He called on more leaders in the government to do the same. (The Hill)
All should appreciate the FBI speaking up. I wish more of our leaders would. But take heart: American history shows that, in the long run, weasels and liars never hold the field, so long as good people stand up. Not a lot of schools or streets named for Joe McCarthy.
John McCain: “The latest attacks on the FBI and Department of Justice serve no American interests – no party’s, no president’s, only Putin’s.” (The Hill)
2/ Yesterday, Paul Ryan said the memo is not “an indictment of the FBI, of the Department of Justice” and that he supports the release of the Democrats’ memo, which counters the GOP memo. Republican leaders in Congress have been arguing that the release of the memo reveals mistakes and bias at the FBI – not Robert Mueller’s special counsel investigation set up by the Justice Department. Trump undermined that argument with his tweet saying the memo would prove political bias at the FBI and Justice Department. (The Hill / Washington Post)
3/ Trump refused to say if he will fire Rod Rosenstein, who has been overseeing Robert Mueller’s special counsel investigation. “You figure that one out,” Trump told reporters, when asked if he has confidence in Rosenstein. (CNN)
4/ Two attorneys representing clients caught up in Robert Mueller’s probe believe Mueller could indict Trump for obstruction of justice. Many legal experts don’t believe Mueller has the standing to bring criminal charges against Trump, however. Neither attorney had specific knowledge of Mueller’s plans, but suggested that could try to bring an indictment against Trump if only to illustrate the gravity of his findings. (Politico)
5/ The Trump administration called for the development of two new, “lower-yield” types of nuclear weapons for ballistic and cruise missiles launched from submarines. The weapons could be used to respond to “extreme circumstances,” including non-nuclear attacks. The White House also publicly acknowledged for the first time that Russia is “developing” a “new intercontinental, nuclear armed, nuclear-powered, undersea autonomous torpedo.” (Politico)
6/ The White House wants to see more options for a military strike against North Korea, and is frustrated by what they consider to be the Pentagon’s unwillingness to provide them. The national security adviser, Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster ,believes threats are only credible if they are backed by well-developed military plans, but sources say the Pentagon is worried that the White House is too eager to use military action against the Korean Peninsula. (New York Times)
Notables.
Seven of the top nine jobs at the State Department are empty, including positions to oversee the agency’s role in trade policy, stopping the spread of nuclear weapons, refugee issues, and efforts to counter human trafficking. (Bloomberg)
K.T. McFarland asked to withdraw her stalled nomination to be the U.S. ambassador to Singapore. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee was concerned about her testimony to Congress over communications with Russia. (Reuters)
CIA Director Mike Pompeo met with the head of Russia’s foreign intelligence agency, even though the head of the GRU was barred from entering the US under sanctions put in place in 2014. Pompeo defended the meeting and claimed that he and other officials only met with the Russian operatives “to keep Americans safe.” The Russian Embassy in Washington announced the meeting with Pompeo in a tweet on January 30th. (CNN)
The director of Russia’s foreign intelligence, Sergey Naryshkin, has visited the United States for consultations with #US🇺🇸 counterparts on the struggle against terrorism - Ambassador #Antonov ➡️https://t.co/WPeQwBMrVJpic.twitter.com/NKl5oUaHVh
1/ Hope Hicks allegedly told Trump that the emails involving Trump Jr. and the Trump Tower meeting “will never get out” because only a few people have access to them. The White House communications director’s comment was in response to Mark Corallo, who served as the spokesman for Trump’s legal team, saying the statement they drafted aboard Air Force One would backfire when documents surface that the meeting was setup to get political dirt about Hillary Clinton from the Russians – and not about Russian adoptions. Corallo believed Hicks’ comment indicated that she could be contemplating obstructing justice. Corallo will tell Robert Mueller about the previously undisclosed conference call with Trump and Hicks when he meets with the special counsel’s team sometime in the next two weeks. Corallo resigned from Trump’s legal team in July. (New York Times / CNN)
2/ The White House is worried that FBI Director Christopher Wray will quit if The Memo™ is released. Wray has “grave concerns” that “material omissions of fact” make the document inaccurate. Trump is expected to approve the release of the memo on Friday, which alleges surveillance abuse by the FBI, without the bureau’s requested redactions. (CNN / New York Times / Washington Post)
3/ Trump Jr. tweeted that Andrew McCabe was “fired” because of the contents of The Memo™. Trump Jr. claimed that the information in the memo was “good enough” for the administration to “fire McCabe.” On Monday, the White House specifically denied involvement in McCabe’s decision to resign. (The Hill)
It was good enough to fire McCabe, no one argues its factually inaccurate, but now days later they want to protect the names of those involved in a scandal that was big enough to fire a senior official a month before retirement? They don’t deserve a pass on that!
4/ Adam Schiff accused Devin Nunes of giving Trump a “secretly altered” version of The Memo™ which contained “substantive” changes that had not been approved by the House Intelligence Committee. A spokesperson for Nunes denied Schiff’s allegations, referring to them as another “strange attempt to thwart publication of the memo.” (The Hill)
5/ Trump is telling friends that The Memo™ is a way of discrediting the Russia investigation. He believes it would expose bias at the FBI and that the bureau is prejudiced against him. (CNN)
A top Republican senator urged House Republicans to consider the FBI’s “grave concerns” before making the memo public. John Thune also said the Senate Intelligence Committee should be allowed to see the document before its release. (New York Times)
6/ Trump falsely claimed that his State of the Union address had “the highest number in history” in terms of viewers. Nielsen reported that 45.6 million people watched Trump’s address. In 2002, 51.7 million people watched George W. Bush’s address, 48 million watched Obama’s first address, and 46.8 million tuned in for Bill Clinton’s first SOTU speech. (Associated Press)
Thank you for all of the nice compliments and reviews on the State of the Union speech. 45.6 million people watched, the highest number in history. @FoxNews beat every other Network, for the first time ever, with 11.7 million people tuning in. Delivered from the heart!
7/ The Trump administration took away enforcement power from a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau office that pursued lending discrimination cases that imposed interest rates on minorities higher than those for whites. Mick Mulvaney said staffers will now be focused on “advocacy, coordination and education,” rather than enforcement and oversight of companies. (Washington Post)
8/ Three attorneys representing Rick Gates abruptly withdrew as counsel for the former Trump campaign aide. Lawyers Shanlon Wu, Walter Mack, and Annemarie McAvoy said the reasons for quitting is currently under seal, but added that “The document speaks for itself.” Gates recently added Tom Green, a prominent white-collar attorney, to his defense team. (Politico / CNN)
poll/ 71% of Americans think Trump should agree to an interview with Robert Mueller if asked. 82% think the interview should be under oath. (Politico)
Notables.
Trump sacked this year’s traditional pre-Super Bowl interview, rejecting requests to appear on NBC this Sunday. (CNN)
Mike Pence is launching a nationwide campaign tour to raise money for Republican candidates running in the 2018 midterms. Pence believes Republicans could expand their majority in both chambers. (Politico)
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will cut its epidemic prevention activities by 80% because it’s running out of money. (Washington Post)
Robert Mueller’s office isn’t ready to schedule a sentencing hearing for Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty in December to lying to the FBI. George Papadopolous’ case was also delayed, signaling that Mueller doesn’t plan on wrapping up his investigation before the spring. (CNN)
Carter Page was on the radar of U.S. intelligence agencies several years before he became a member of Trump’s campaign. Page had his first brush with a U.S. intelligence official back in 2013, when he was interviewed by FBI counterintelligence agent Gregory Monaghan about his contacts with Victor Podobnyy, who was serving as a junior attaché at the Russian consulate in New York City at the time. (Wall Street Journal)
A Republican candidate for U.S. Senate blamed human trafficking on the sexual revolution of the 1960s and ’70s. Josh Hawley told a Christian political group in Missouri that “We’re living now with the terrible aftereffects of this so-called revolution. […] The sexual revolution has led to exploitation of women on a scale that we would never have imagined.” (Washington Post)
1/ The FBI said in a statement that it has “grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo’s accuracy.” FBI Director Christopher Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein went to the White House on Monday in hopes of preventing the release of the memo, which was written by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes. Wray told John Kelly that The Memo™ contains inaccurate information and paints a false narrative. Republicans in the House Intelligence Committee voted along party lines on Monday to release the memo, as well as voting against releasing the Democrats’ 10-page point-by-point rebuttal of the document. Trump has five days to stop the release of the document, if he chooses to do so. While the FBI Director isn’t part of the official White House review process, he was allowed to read the memo on Sunday. (Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg)
Devin Nunes refused to say whether he worked with Trump’s team on The Memo™. “I’m not answering,” Nunes said during a contentious closed-door meeting of the House Intelligence Committee. (The Daily Beast)
2/ Trump promised “100 percent” to release The Memo™ as he was leaving the House chamber following his first State of the Union address. C-SPAN cameras captured Rep. Jeff Duncan on a hot mic asking Trump to “release the memo.” Trump replied: “Oh yeah, oh, don’t worry. 100 percent.” This morning, Sarah Huckabee Sanders said: “There are no current plans to release the House Intelligence Committee’s memo” and that Trump had not “seen or been briefed” on the memo’s contents. John Kelly, meanwhile, said the memo will “be released here pretty quick.” The Justice Department previously warned that the memo’s release could compromise intelligence gathering and threaten national security. (Washington Post)
3/ Trump asked Rod Rosenstein if he was “on my team” during a December meeting at the White House. “Of course, we’re all on your team, Mr. President,” Rosenstein said, who wanted Trump to push back on the Nunes memo. Trump, however, wanted to know where Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation was going. It’s Trump’s fourth loyalty request from a Justice Department official. Last year, Trump asked for Comey to pledge his loyalty at a private dinner seven days after the inauguration. Comey declined. (CNN / Axios)
4/ The FBI agent Trump accused of “treason” wrote the first draft of the James Comey letter reopening the Hillary Clinton email probe. Republicans have accused Peter Strzok of being a Clinton supporter, charging that the text messages between him and FBI lawyer Lisa Page prove that Mueller’s investigation is biased against Trump. (CNN)
5/ The Justice Department turned over documents on a proposed Jeff Sessions resignation prior to his interview with Robert Mueller’s team. The documents also included emails with the White House about Michael Flynn. (ABC News)
6/ Trump signed an executive order to keep Guantanamo Bay open, prior to the start of his first State of the Union address. During the speech, Trump reiterated the Bush-era notion that suspected terrorists should be treated as “unlawful enemy combatants” instead of criminals. The majority of detainees held in the facility were never charged with a crime. Of the 41 detainees that remain at Guantanamo, only seven are facing any formal charges. (CNBC)
7/ The director of the CDC resigned following a report that she purchased shares of tobacco stock after taking charge of the agency. Brenda Fitzgerald bought the shares a month into her tenure as CDC director, where her mission was to convince smokers to quit and keep children from becoming addicted. Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable disease and death. (Politico / CNN)
poll/ 48% of Americans who watched Trump’s State of the Union address had a “very positive” impression of the speech, the lowest net positive rating for a State of the Union address since 1998. (CNN)
Notables.
A train carrying members of Congress to their legislative retreat in West Virginia hit a truck, leaving at least one person dead. (CNN)
Trey Gowdy will not seek reelection in 2018. “I will not be filing for re-election to Congress nor seeking any other political or elected office; instead I will be returning to the justice system,” the chairman of the House Oversight Committee said in a statement. (Politico)
The Trump administration is seeking a 72% budget cut to the Energy Department’s renewable energy and energy efficiency programs, underscoring the administration’s focus on “beautiful clean coal.” (Washington Post)
Secretary of Defense James Mattis wants to ban personal cell phones from the Pentagon. There are approximately 23,000 military and civilian staff that work in the Pentagon. (CNN)
Trump called for Democrats and Republicans to come together in his first State of the Union address, while hailing his administration’s first year as an “extraordinary success” that represents “our new American moment.” (New York Times / Washington Post)
Fact-checking Trump’s first State of the Union address. (New York Times)
Here’s what you need to know for Trump’s inaugural State of the Union address:
Trump will deliver his first State of the Union address tonight at 9 p.m. E.S.T.
Stream the address: CBS News, C-SPAN, PBS and Reuters, or watch from the White House pages on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Or watch on the broadcast on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News or MSNBC.
A dozen Democrats plan to skip Trump’s State of the Union address. “The President is unworthy of the podium, the position and the power,” Tennessee Rep. Steve Cohen said. (Roll Call)
Ruth Bader Ginsburg and four other Supreme Court Justices won’t attend Trump’s address. Notorious RBG will instead host a fireside chat with students and faculty at the Roger Williams University School of Law in Rhode Island. (NBC News)
1/ The FBI is investigating a second Trump-Russia dossier. This one, written by former journalist Cody Shearer, was provided to the FBI by Christopher Steele in October 2016. Steele warned that he could not vouch for the accuracy of the memo, but provided a copy because it corroborated what he had separately heard from his own sources. The FBI is still assessing details in the “Shearer memo,” which suggests investigators have taken some aspect of it seriously. Both documents allege that Trump was compromised during a 2013 trip to Moscow that involved prostitutes urinating on a bed where the Obamas once stayed. (The Guardian)
2/ Paul Ryan called for a “cleanse” of the FBI as he defended the way that Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes handled a vote to declassify The Memo™ of alleged surveillance abuses by federal law enforcement agencies. Ryan, however, warned against trying to use it to discredit Robert Mueller’s probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 election. “Let it all out, get it all out there,” Ryan said. “Cleanse the organization.” (Fox News / Washington Post)
3/ Mitch McConnell sees no need to protect Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation or Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. “My understanding is there’s no effort under way to undermine or remove the special counsel,” McConnell said. “Therefore I don’t see any need to bring up legislation to protect someone who appears to need no protection.” Trump has discussed both possibilities. (Bloomberg)
4/ Trump is considering having Jeff Sessions prosecute Robert Mueller and his team in order to discredit the investigation and the FBI without officially firing them. As one Trump advisor said: “Here’s how it would work: ‘We’re sorry, Mr. Mueller, you won’t be able to run the federal grand jury today because he has to go testify to another federal grand jury.’” (NBC News / CNBC)
5/ Senate Democrats have been discussing whether to tie a bill protecting Robert Mueller’s investigation to the must-pass government funding bill. Current funding expires on February 8th. Chuck Schumer said he would “very much like to” merge the two efforts, which has strong support from the rest of the caucus. (The Daily Beast)
6/ Trump will not impose new sanctions on Russia because the threat is already “serving as a deterrent,” a State Department official said. A bipartisan bill overwhelmingly passed in July imposes penalties on companies doing “significant” business with Russian defense and intelligence entities. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said: “We estimate that foreign governments have abandoned planned or announced purchases of several billion dollars in Russian defense acquisitions.” (Politico / Washington Post)
7/ The US Treasury published a list of Russian oligarchs and senior officials at the Kremlin as part of the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act. The report includes 114 senior political figures with close ties to Putin and 96 oligarchs with a net worth of $1 billion or more. The list is designed to shame individuals and put them on notice that they could be the subject of future sanctions. (CNN)
8/ The Congress-mandated sanctions report was lifted from the Forbes “200 richest businessmen in Russia 2017” list, a Treasury Department spokesperson confirmed. Almost all 96 oligarchs listed in the government-issued report appear in the Forbes’ ranking. (BuzzFeed News)
9/ CIA Director Mike Pompeo has “every expectation” that Russia will attempt to influence this year’s midterm elections. Pompeo said he still sees Russia primarily as an adversary and he hasn’t “seen a significant decrease in their activity.” (BBC)
10/ Deputy Director Andrew McCabe’s decision to step aside was likely the result of a forthcoming inspector general report focused on why FBI leadership took three weeks to act on Hillary Clinton-related emails found in the latter stages of the 2016 election campaign. The internal investigation is asking if McCabe tried to avoid taking action until after the November 8, 2016 election. In a message sent to all bureau employees, FBI Director Chris Wray said “It would be inappropriate for me to comment on specific aspects of the IG’s review right now,” but that McCabe had submitted his intention to retire following a meeting in which the inspector general’s investigation was discussed. (Washington Post / NBC News)
poll/ Trump’s 2017 job approval rating averaged 38% throughout the U.S., ranging from a high of 61% in West Virginia to a low of 26% in Vermont. Trump averaged 50% or higher approval in 12 states in total. By comparison, Obama had an approval rate of 50% or greater in 41 states in his first year in office. (Gallup)
Notables.
Julian Assange thought he sent a direct message to Sean Hannity on Twitter offering news about Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election. Instead it was just a fake Sean Hannity account. (The Daily Beast)
Betsy DeVos wants to put student loan money onto prepaid debit cards. The move would allow the Education Department to monitor, and potentially control, how and when students spend excess federal student loan and grant money. (BuzzFeed News)
A procedural vote to ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy failed in the Senate, which voted 51-46 against advancing the bill. (Politico)
FEMA will end food and water aid for Puerto Rico. A third of Puerto Ricans are still without power, but “the reality is that we just need to look around. Supermarkets are open, and things are going back to normal.” (NPR)
The person responsible for sending a false missile alert to people in Hawaii was fired despite investigators determining that the worker believed the U.S. was under attack when he sent the alert. The worker sent the alert after mishearing a recorded message that was part of an unscheduled drill. (HuffPost)
The CEO of the Democratic National Committee is stepping down after less than a year on the job. Jess O’Connell didn’t offer a specific reason for her departure, but DNC officials say her decision was a personal one. (NBC News)
For $35, you can have your name displayed on the Trump campaign website during the State of the Union broadcast. (Washington Post)
Melania Trump was “blindsided” and “furious” with Trump after reports of his affair with porn star Stormy Daniels surfaced. She canceled a trip to Davos, visited the Holocaust Memorial Museum, and flew to Mar-a-Lago to relax at the spa. Melania will attend tonight’s State of the Union address. (New York Times)
Trump also cheats at golf, according to LPGA legend Suzann Pettersen. “He cheats like hell,” the 15-time LPGA Tour winner said. “So I don’t quite know how he is in business. They say that if you cheat at golf, you cheat at business.” (Golf)
In 2016, Scott Pruitt said Trump would take “unapologetic steps to use executive power to confront Congress in a way that is truly unconstitutional.” (Axios)
1/ Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee voted to release The Memo™ that accuses the Justice Department and FBI of misusing their authority to obtain a secret surveillance order on Carter Page. The vote effectively declassifies the memo, which was written by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes. Trump now has five days to review the document and decide whether to prevent it from going public. Last week, Trump called for the release of The Memo™, despite his own Justice Department warning him that releasing the memo to the public would be “extraordinarily reckless.” Trump reportedly erupted in anger aboard Air Force One when he learned that a top Justice Department official advised against releasing the memo, warning Jeff Sessions and others that they need to excel at their jobs or go down as the worst in history. Democrats said the three-and-a half-page document is an effort to build a false narrative in order to undercut the ongoing Russia investigation, using inaccurately summarizes classified investigative materials that are designed to smear the FBI. (New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg)
The Memo™ claims Rod Rosenstein approved an application to extend surveillance of Carter Page, a former Trump campaign associate, which relied on research by Christopher Steele, the author behind the dossier containing claims about Trump’s ties to Russia. Republicans argue that the FBI and Justice Department didn’t adequately explain this when initially seeking a warrant for surveillance from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. (New York Times)
2/ Republicans won’t advance bills to protect Robert Mueller and future special counsels, despite a report that Trump tried to fire Mueller last June. Two bipartisan bills under consideration would empower a panel of federal judges to review the case for firing the special counsel and determine whether there was good cause to do so. “It’s pretty clear to me that everybody in the White House knows it would be the end of President Trump’s presidency if he fired Mr. Mueller,” Lindsey Graham said. (New York Times)
3/ FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe is “stepping aside,” but will remain on the FBI payroll until he is eligible to retire with full benefits in mid-March. Trump has accused McCabe of political bias and has repeatedly pressured him to step down. McCabe’s retirement was widely expected, but the decision to immediately go on leave was sudden. (NBC News / New York Times)
4/ Trump demanded to know why James Comey was allowed to fly on an FBI plane after he had been fired in a phone call to then-acting director Andrew McCabe. McCabe hadn’t been asked to authorize the flight, but said he would have approved it anyway. Trump then suggested McCabe ask his wife how it feels to be a loser, referencing her failed 2015 campaign for state office in Virginia. In the past, Trump also asked McCabe how he voted in the 2016 election. (NBC News)
5/ The deadline to implement the Russia sanctions is today. In August Trump reluctantly signed the sanctions, which are designed to punish Moscow for meddling in the 2016 election, into law. The Treasury Department is required to produce a report on Putin-linked oligarchs and impose sanctions on entities doing business with Russia’s defense and intelligence sectors. (Politico)
6/ Russia accused the US of meddling in its upcoming presidential election. Moscow called the timing of the US Treasury report on Russian sanctions “a direct and obvious attempt” to interfere with the upcoming vote. (CNN)
7/ Sarah Huckabee Sanders claimed that “poll after poll” says that nobody cares about the Trump-Russia investigation. She did not cite a specific poll. However, poll, after poll, after poll, after poll, after poll, after poll, after poll suggest Americans do care about the issue. (Washington Post)
8/ Lawmakers in both parties are calling on Trump to drop his demands to slash legal immigration and focus more narrowly on DREAMers and border security. Many lawmakers are worried that Trump’s positions on legal immigration will sink a bipartisan deal. The White House’s DACA plan proposes a path to citizenship for 1.8 million DREAMers in exchange for $25 billion for the border wall and cuts to family immigration visas. (Washington Post / CNN)
9/ Democrats are well-positioned to end one-party government in Washington in the November elections. A Bloomberg analysis of historical data, election maps and public polling points to Democratic gains in the midterms, when all 435 House seats and one-third of the Senate are on the ballot. (Bloomberg)
“Since the end of World War II, the party in control of the White House has, on average, had a net loss of 26 House seats in midterm elections. Democrats can win control of the House with a net gain of 24 seats in November. They’d need to win two seats to gain a majority in the Senate.”
“Trump’s approval rating at this stage of his presidency, 36 percent, is lower than any of his predecessors going back to Harry Truman, according to Gallup polling data. The less popular the president, the more seats his party tends to lose.”
poll/ 63% of millennials think the country is on the wrong track. 63% of millennials also disapprove of the way Trump is handling his job. 46% strongly disapprove. (NBC News)
Notables.
The finance chairman of the RNC resigned amid controversy over sexual misconduct allegations by dozens of women. (Politico / CNN)
The chairman of the House Appropriations Committee will not seek reelection. Rodney Frelinghuysen, a 12-term congressman, is the eighth Republican committee chairman to forgo reelection in the House ahead of a midterm cycle. (Politico)
Melania Trump took 21 flights on Air Force jets at a cost of more than $675,000 in a three-month period before she moved to the White House in June 2017. (Wall Street Journal)
A Russian military jet came within five feet of a US Navy P-3 Orion surveillance plane while flying in international airspace over the Black Sea. (CNN)
The Russian lawyer from the Trump Tower meeting has been named in a Swiss court case involving bribery, corruption, and “unauthorized clandestine behavior.” (The Daily Beast)
Scott Pruitt was personally involved in erasing climate data from EPA website and directed staff to manipulate search results on the site, according to a Freedom of Information Act request. (Think Progress / Environmental Defense Fund)
Trump says he sometimes tweets from bed, because he is “very busy during the day, very long hours. I am busy.” He added: “I will sometimes just dictate out something really quickly and give it to one of my people to put it on.” (Reuters)
Hillary Clinton trolled Trump at the 2018 Grammys by reading an excerpt from Michael Wolff’s book “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House,” about Trump’s first year in the White House. (CNN)
Stuff Trump Said.
A few choice quotes from Trump’s interview with Piers Morgan. (The Guardian)
“I think I’m very popular in [Britain] … I get so much fan mail from people in your country.”
“I have tremendous respect for women … I wouldn’t say I’m a feminist … I think that would be, maybe, going too far. I’m for women, I’m for men, I’m for everyone.”
On climate change: “There is a warming and there is a cooling … I believe in crystal-clear beautiful water. I believe in just having good cleanliness and all.”
1/ Trump tried to fire Robert Mueller in June, but backed down after Don McGahn threatened to quit if Trump went through with it. After receiving the order from Trump, the White House counsel refused to ask the Justice Department to fire Mueller and said he would resign instead. Mueller learned about Trump’s intention in recent months through interviews with current and former senior White House officials. (New York Times / Washington Post)
To recap: Trump asked Comey for loyalty; asked him to drop the Flynn probe; fired Comey; pressured Sessions not to recuse; pressured Sessions to fire McCabe; pressured Coats, Rogers, Pompeo &multiple congressmen to say he wasn’t under FBI investigation; and tried to fire Mueller.
2/ Trump and his allies have repeatedly denied that Trump ever considered firing Mueller. At least eight times since June 2017 Trump and his team have said Mueller’s job was safe. (CNN)
3/ Mueller’s investigation is moving much faster than previously thought, and he appears to be wrapping up the part of the investigation that deals with possible obstruction of justice. Even if Mueller concludes the obstruction probe, other elements of the investigation are likely to continue for several more months. (Bloomberg)
4/ John Dowd said he is the one who will decide if Trump will sit down with Mueller. The statement from Trump’s attorney comes days after Trump said he would be glad to speak with Mueller and would do so under oath. (CNN)
5/ Trump’s immigration proposal is DOA after Chuck Schumer opposed the framework released by the White House. The one-page proposal would allow as many as 1.8 million young immigrants to become citizens in exchange for spending $25 billion on a border wall and security, as well as imposing restrictions on family-based immigration and eliminating the visa lottery system. (Politico / Axios)
Notables.
Trump said he’d be willing to publicly apologize for retweeting three anti-Islamic videos posted by a leader of Britain First, one of the U.K.‘s far-right groups. Trump said he didn’t know who the group was and that he didn’t want to cause any difficulty. (CNBC)
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency gained access to a nationwide license plate recognition database, which gives the agency access to billions of license plate records and real-time location tracking data. (The Verge)
Jeb Bush warned Republicans that Trump’s leadership, tweeting, and “racist” comments could cost the party control of Congress in November if they don’t distance themselves from the former reality TV star. (USA Today)
Several State Department employees have retained attorneys, charging that they have been put in career purgatory because of their previous work for Obama. (CNN)
Patrick Meehan will not seek reelection after coming under scrutiny for alleged inappropriate behavior with a longtime female aide that resulted in a congressional payout. (Washington Post)
Hillary Clinton kept a senior adviser accused of repeatedly sexually harassing a young subordinate on her 2008 presidential campaign, despite recommendations by her campaign adviser to fire Burns Strider. (New York Times)
The RNC finance chairman does not plan to step down despite dozens of people describing a decades-long pattern of sexual misconduct by Steve Wynn. (Wall Street Journal / Washington Post)
Robert Mueller’s team has interviewed at least one member of Facebook’s team that was associated with Trump’s 2016 campaign. Facebook had embedded staff on Trump campaign. (WIRED)
Trump will ask for $716 billion in defense spending in his 2019 budget, which will be unveiled next month. The proposed budget would be a 13% increase over 2017. (Washington Post)
Trump was booed at Davos for criticizing the media as “nasty” and “fake.” (HuffPost)
1/ Trump proposed immigration legislation that could provide a path to citizenship for an estimated 1.8 million DREAMers in exchange for a $25 billion “trust fund” to build a border wall and assorted border security upgrades. The plan will be sent to the Senate on Monday, which White House officials called an “extremely generous” take-it-or-leave-it proposal. Yesterday, Trump said he’d be willing to consider a path to citizenship for DREAMers that would allow young undocumented immigrants to “morph” into citizens after 10 to 12 years. The off-the-cuff comment sent White House staffers scrambling in what one official called a “fire drill.” (Washington Post / New York Times)
2/ Ty Cobb walked back Trump’s statement that he was “looking forward” to speaking with Robert Mueller’s team and that he would “absolutely” do so under oath. The White House lawyer said Trump was speaking hurriedly and only wanted to say that he was willing to meet, adding that Trump is “ready to meet with them, but he’ll be guided by the advice of his personal counsel.” (New York Times)
3/ Robert Mueller gave Trump’s lawyers a list of potential topics he wants to ask Trump about. The move is part of the ongoing negotiations surrounding an interview involving Trump and the special counsel. The topics are focused primarily on obstruction of justice issues, including the firings of Michael Flynn and James Comey. (CNN)
4/ The Senate Judiciary Committee intends to share Trump Jr.’s testimony with Robert Mueller. Democrats suggested that Trump Jr. may have made false statements to the committee, and are pressing the committee’s Republican chairman to give Mueller the transcripts from the panel’s interviews with key witnesses in the Russia probe. Chairman Chuck Grassley said he wants to release the transcripts the committee has done about the meeting at Trump Tower. (Politico / Reuters)
5/ A “spooked” Jared Kushner won’t agree to an interview with the Senate Judiciary Committee, according to Chairman Chuck Grassley. Kushner’s legal team has not officially decline an appearance, but has asked for guidance on when committee members would disclose information. (Bloomberg)
6/ Dutch intelligence spied on the Russian group believed to be behind the hack of the Democratic Party ahead of U.S. elections. AIVD provided information about the Moscow-based group known as Cozy Bear, who are believed to be linked to the Russian government to the FBI. (Reuters / de Volkskrant)
7/ The Justice Department warned the House Intelligence Committee chairman that releasing The Memo™ would be “extraordinarily reckless.” The memo claims that the FBI abused its powers under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act in order to spy on the Trump campaign. (New York Times)
poll/ 60% of Americans support marijuana legalization. 37% of Trump voters support legalization. (NBC News)
Notables.
The NSA has deleted “honesty” and “openness” from its core values website. The page outlines the agency’s mission statement, which now features “commitment to service” as its top value, instead of honesty. (The Intercept)
The Trump administration wants to end support for the International Space Station program by 2025. The ISS costs NASA between $3 and $4 billion each year, and represents a more than $87 billion investment by the US government. (The Verge)
Trump said he’d be willing to re-enter the Trans-Pacific Partnership if it were renegotiated into a “substantially better deal” for the U.S. Last January Trump signed an executive withdrawing the U.S. from the trade pact. (Politico)
A one-page memo from Paul Manafort suggests that federal investigators had an informant inside Manafort’s consulting firm. Manafort’s attorneys appear to have accidentally filed the memo in court as part of a routine scheduling motion. (Politico)
The missing texts between FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page have been recovered, the Justice Department said. (Axios / Twitter)
The Doomsday Clock moved forward 30 seconds as the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists called the current state of geopolitical affairs “grim.” It’s now 2 minutes to “midnight.” (Washington Post)
1/ Trump said he was “looking forward” to speaking with Robert Mueller’s team of prosecutors under oath as they investigate Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign, as well as possible obstruction of justice. “I would love to do it, and I would like to do it as soon as possible,” Trump said. “I would do it under oath, absolutely.” He is expected to talk to Mueller’s team in two or three weeks. (CNBC / New York Times / Washington Post)
2/ Michael Flynn didn’t tell the White House about his 2017 interview with the FBI. Flynn met privately with FBI investigators a year ago today to discuss his communications with Russia’s ambassador. The meeting took place without a lawyer present and without the knowledge of the president or top White House officials. (NBC News)
3/ Robert Mueller’s team has interviewed Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, National Security Agency director Mike Rogers, and CIA director Mike Pompeo. The three have been described as “peripheral witnesses” to the James Comey firing. Of note: Pompeo “was allegedly asked by Trump to lean on Comey to drop his investigation.” (NBC News)
4/ Trump asked the acting director of the FBI how he voted in the 2016 election shortly after he fired James Comey in May 2017. Andrew McCabe said he didn’t vote. Trump then “vented his anger at McCabe over the several hundred thousand dollars in donations that his wife, a Democrat, received for her failed 2015 Virginia state Senate bid from a political action committee controlled by a close friend of Hillary Clinton.” (Washington Post)
5/ Steve Bannon will meet with Robert Mueller by the end of the month, where he’ll be asked about the firings of Michael Flynn and James Comey. Bannon’s attorney has said that his client will not be able to use the protections of executive privilege, like he did when he refused to answer questions from the House Intelligence Committee about his work during the presidential transition and in the West Wing. (CNN)
6/ Sarah Sanders: Trump hasn’t fired Robert Mueller partly because of how the press would react. Sanders told reporters that “I think we all know what everybody in this room would do if the President did that, and I don’t think that is helpful to the process.” (CNN)
7/ Former Trump campaign aide Rick Gates added an attorney to his legal team. The move to hire Tom Green suggests there is an ongoing negotiation between Gates and Robert Mueller’s office. Gates pleaded not guilty in October to eight charges of money laundering and failure to register foreign lobbying and businesses. (CNN)
8/ Trump will declassify the Devin Nunes memo that alleges FBI surveillance abuse if the House Intelligence Committee approves the release. The four-page summary of Nunes’ investigation into the FBI and Justice Department’s use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act was written by staffers for Republican members of the House. (CNN)
Your guide to the anti-FBI conspiracy theories: The memo. The text messages. The dossier. (Washington Post)
poll/ 78% of Americans say Trump should testify if Robert Mueller asks him. 51% say Trump has obstructed justice, while 41% say he has not. (CNN)
poll/ 84% of American voters say the shutdown was “mainly unnecessary.” 32% blame Democrats, while 31% blame Trump, and 18% say Republicans were responsible. (Quinnipiac)
Notables.
The Justice Department threatened 23 so-called sanctuary cities with subpoenas if they fail to provide documents showing compliance with federal immigration officials. (USA Today)
A group of mayors canceled their meeting with Trump after the administration threatened to withhold funding from local governments they claimed aren’t following immigration laws. (NBC News)
The Justice Department wants to add a question about citizenship to the 2020 Census. Noncitizens are counted for the purposes of distributing federal funding, assigning congressional seats, and drawing district maps for elections. (Washington Post)
Tammy Duckworth will become the first US senator to give birth while in that office when she delivers her second child this spring. (New York Times)
Mick Mulvaney dropped a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau lawsuit against four payday lenders charging 900% interest rates without any explanation. The CFPB has also dropped an investigation into a lender that contributed directly to Mulvaney’s campaign. (NPR)
Trump is expected to tell world leaders at Davos that his “America First” doctrine has benefited the US exactly the way he said it would. (Washington Post)
1/ Robert Mueller wants to interview Trump in the coming weeks about his decisions to fire Michael Flynn and James Comey. Trump’s legal team wants his testimony to be part face-to-face interview and part written statement. (Washington Post)
2/ Jeff Sessions was questioned by Mueller’s team last week as part of the investigation into Russia’s meddling in the election and whether Trump had obstructed justice since taking office. As attorney general, Sessions was involved in the firing of James Comey and it’s the first time that special counsel investigators have interviewed a member of Trump’s cabinet. Sessions was not under subpoena and was questioned for several hours. (New York Times / CNN)
3/ Mueller’s team reportedly interviewed Comey last year. The interview focused on a series of memos Comey wrote about his meetings with Trump, documenting what he perceived as improper efforts to influence an investigation. In one memo, Comey said that Trump had asked him to end the FBI’s investigation into Michael Flynn. (New York Times)
4/ The head of the FBI threatened to resign after Jeff Sessions pressured him to fire Deputy Director Andrew McCabe. Christopher Wray told Sessions that he would resign if McCabe was removed from his position. Sessions and White House Counsel Don McGahn agreed that the issue wasn’t worth losing the FBI director over. Trump and other Republicans have repeatedly attacked McCabe – a Comey appointee – for his role in the Clinton investigation. In December, the New York Times reported that McCabe “is expected to retire after he becomes eligible for his pension [in] early [2018]. (Axios)
Christopher Wray is replacing two senior positions previously held by people who served under James Comey. The moves come as Wray has faced pressure from Jeff Sessions to make personnel changes. (Washington Post)
5/ Jeff Sessions ordered an investigation into the missing text messages exchanged between two FBI staffers that referred to Trump as an “idiot” and a “loathsome human.” The texts between FBI agent Peter Strzok and FBI lawyer Lisa Page are among a batch of messages that the FBI failed to properly archive because of a software update issue with Samsung 5 phones. (Reuters)
6/ Chuck Schumer retracted his offer to give Trump $1.6 billion in wall funding in exchange for a DACA deal. Trump turned down the deal last week, prompting a three-day government shutdown. One Democratic aide said Trump has now “missed an opportunity to get the wall.” A White House spokesman, meanwhile, said the Schumer offer “never existed.” (Politico)
7/ A Michigan man was arrested after allegedly threatening to shoot and kill CNN employees. The FBI launched an investigation after the man reportedly called CNN 22 times about a week ago and said, among other things, “Fake news. I’m coming to gun you all down.” (WGCL-TV / The Hill)
8/ Melania Trump will no longer accompany her husband at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Melania has not made a public statement since it was reported that President Trump paid $130,000 to a porn star a month before the 2016 election as part of an agreement to prevent her from publicly discussing an alleged affair. (CNN)
poll/ 39.5% of Michigan voters approve of Trump while 54% disapprove. In addition, a majority of those polled said they don’t believe Trump is qualified to be president. (The Detroit News)
poll/ In a series of hypothetical 2020 one-on-one matchups Trump trails Bernie Sanders by a 55% to 42% margin among registered voters. He trails Joe Biden 57% to 40%, as well as Oprah Winfrey 51% to 42%. (CNN)
poll/ 38% of Americans trust Trump to handle the authority to order nuclear attacks on other countries, while 60% do not. Among those who distrust Trump, almost 9 in 10 are very or somewhat concerned the president might launch an attack. (Washington Post / ABC News)
Notables.
A Republican U.S. senator from Mississippi was caught on a hot mic making comments about “beautiful” high-school-age girls. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) made the comments as the Senate prepared to pass the continuing resolution that would re-open the government. (Raw Story / CSPAN)
Montana became the first state to pass its own net neutrality laws in the wake of the FCC’s decision to deregulate the communications industry. Montana Gov. Steve Bullock (D) signed an executive order on Monday that requires all internet service providers with state contracts to adhere to net neutrality standards. (New York Times)
Floridians will decide in November to amend the state constitution and restore voting rights to felons once they complete their sentences. The move that could expand voting rights to more than 1.5 million people. (HuffPost)
The Trump administration is waiving dozens of environmental regulations to speed up construction of Trump’s proposed wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. (The Hill)
A 7.9 magnitude earthquake occurred roughly 167 miles off the coast of Kodiak, Alaska. (USGS)
One person was killed and multiple others wounded after a shooting at a Kentucky high school. (WPSD 6)
1/ Senate Democrats voted with Republicans to approve a short-term spending bill to fund the government through February 8th. The bill will also reauthorize the Children’s Health Insurance Program for six years and roll back several health care taxes. Democrats received assurances from Mitch McConnell that the Senate will vote on a bipartisan DACA bill in the coming weeks in exchange for reopening the government. The Senate voted 81-18 to move forward on a bill to fund the government, which the House passed, sending the bill to Trump to sign. (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico)
How every Senator voted on ending the government shutdown. The vote passed 81-18-1. (New York Times)
Mick Mulvaney thought it was “kind of cool” to be the person in charge of shutting down the government. The director of the Office of Management and Budget told Sean Hannity: “I found out for the first time last night that the person who technically shuts the government down is me, which is kind of cool.” (Vox)
The White House changed its public comment line to blame Democrats over the weekend for “holding government funding, including funding for our troops and other national security priorities, hostage to an unrelated immigration debate. Due to this obstruction, the government is shut down.” (CNN)
2/ The deal to end the government shutdown included $31 billion in tax cuts. The deal includes a temporary delay in implementing three Affordable Care Act taxes that will add to the federal budget deficit. (New York Times)
3/ Paul Ryan received $500,000 in campaign contributions from one of the Koch brothers after the House passed the federal tax bill. The Koch brothers spent millions of dollars lobbying to get the tax bill passed, and are currently spending millions more on a PR campaign to boost public support for the bill. (HuffPost)
4/ The FBI said Devin Nunes refused to produce a memo that alleges abuses by the intelligence community. Democrats say the Republican’s refusal to show the memo has them concerned, and that releasing the memo to the public before showing it to the FBI could make tensions between the Hill and the bureau even worse. (The Daily Beast)
#SchumerShutdown became the top trending hashtag promoted by Russian social media bots. The Alliance for Securing Democracy, a national security group led by national security officials from both parties, says the topic surpassed #releasethememo to become the highest trending hashtag as of 10 p.m. on Sunday. (HuffPost / The Hill)
5/ Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court ruled that the state’s GOP-drawn congressional districts were unconstitutional, ordering all 18 districts redrawn by February 9th. (Washington Post)
6/ Trump’s voter fraud commission asked Texas to identify all voters with Hispanic surnames as part of their request for detailed voter registration data. The voter data was never delivered because a lawsuit stopped the data handoff. The voting commission was then disbanded on January 3rd. (Washington Post)
7/ A member of the House Ethics Committee used taxpayer money to settle a sexual harassment complaint against him. Patrick Meehan had been tasked with investigating sexual misconduct claims against at least four congressmen. A spokeswoman for Paul Ryan said that Meehan would be removed immediately from the committee and that the panel would investigate the allegations against him. (New York Times)
poll/ 48% of voters think Trump is mentally stable, versus the 47% of voters who think he is not. 73% believe Trump is not a genius. (ABC News)
generic ballot poll/ 51% of voters say they would support the Democratic candidate in their congressional district over the Republican. 39% said they would support the Republican candidate. (Washington Post)
pre-shutdown poll/ 41% of voters said they would blame Republicans in Congress for a shutdown, compared to 36% who said they would fault Democrats. (Politico)
Notables.
A new book about the Trump administration is set to publish on Jan. 29. The book is titled “Media Madness: Donald Trump, the Press, and the War Over the Truth,” and it paints yet another picture of a White House in chaos. (Washington Post)
Trump sarcastically tweeted that Saturday was a “perfect day for all women to march. Get out there now to celebrate the historic milestones and unprecedented economic success and wealth creation that has taken place over the last 12 months. Lowest female unemployment in 18 years!” (Twitter)
Deutsche Bank reported “suspicious transactions” related to Kushner family accounts to German banking regulators. The bank also said it was willing to provide the information to special counsel Robert Mueller’s team of investigators. (Mother Jones)
The Army is preparing to send 1,000 more troops to Afghanistan this spring, beyond the 14,000 already in the country. (Washington Post)
1/ The Senate is heading toward a showdown vote on spending legislation to keep the government open past midnight. Democrats appear ready to vote against the short-term spending bill in an effort to secure concessions that would offer protections for young undocumented immigrants, increase domestic spending, provide aid to Puerto Rico, and more. The Senate adjourned Thursday night without scheduling a vote. (New York Times / Politico)
2/ Trump invited Chuck Schumer to the White House to discuss a deal with less than 12 hours to go before a possible government shutdown. Neither Mitch McConnell nor Paul Ryan plans to attend the White House meeting. Schumer left the closed-door meeting with Trump at the White House, saying, “We made some progress, but we still have a good number of disagreements.” Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn said the Senate would vote on the House-passed spending bill, but didn’t offer any details. (Washington Post / New York Times)
3/ Trump canceled his trip to Mar-a-Lago in hopes that lawmakers will avoid a shutdown. Trump had been planning to celebrate the first anniversary of his inauguration at the Florida resort. He’s hosting a Saturday night fundraising party. Tickets cost $100,000 per couple and include a photograph with Trump. (CNN)
4/ House Republicans are threatening to head home for the weekend, “virtually guaranteeing a shutdown unless some last-minute deal is struck.” The House passed a stopgap spending bill on Thursday night in a 230 to 197 vote to keep the government open through February 16. (Politico / CNN / New York Times)
5/ The Supreme Court will decide the legality of Trump’s latest travel ban, which targets people from six Muslim-majority countries. The court will hear arguments in April and issue a ruling by the end of June on whether the policy to block entry into the United States by most people from Chad, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen violates federal immigration law or the U.S. Constitution. (Reuters / New York Times)
poll/ 57% of Americans disapprove of Trump’s job performance, the lowest mark for any modern-day president ending his first year. 51% strongly disapprove with 26% strongly approving of Trump’s performance. (NBC News)
poll/ 56% of Americans say approving a budget in order to avoid a shutdown is more important than continuing DACA, while 34% say DACA is more important than a shutdown. (CNN)
poll/ 48% of Americans blame Trump and congressional Republicans for the potential government shutdown. 28% fault Democrats. (Washington Post)
Notables.
The chief of external affairs for the federal government’s volunteer service organization resigned after racist, sexist, anti-Muslim, and anti-LGBT comments he made on the radio in 2013 surfaced. (CNN)
A year into Trump’s presidency, five of his top staffers still have not certified their financial disclosures, which are required by law to ensure that these senior officials aren’t personally benefiting from their White House jobs. (McClatchy DC)
Swamp Things.
Omarosa Manigault-Newman may have taped confidential West Wing conversations. The former White House staffer believes she may become a fixture in Robert Mueller’s investigation into possible connections between the Trump campaign and Russia’s election meddling. (NY Daily News)
Hannity declared that Robert Mueller’s “witch hunt is now over.” In a monologue, Hannity claimed there is a memo circulating among lawmakers that reportedly details surveillance abuses by the U.S. government that are “far bigger” than Watergate. (The Hill)
Chris Christie was blocked from the VIP entrance at Newark Liberty International Airport, which he had used for eight years. The former New Jersey governor was directed to stand in the general TSA screening lines. (Bloomberg)
1/ Trump will back a short-term funding legislation after causing confusion on Twitter. Hours earlier Trump tweeted: “CHIP should be part of a long term solution, not a 30 Day, or short term, extension!” Trump contradicted the Republican legislative strategy by calling for a separate, long-term extension of the Children’s Health Insurance Program with less than 48 hours before a shutdown. The Republican proposal included a six-year extension of CHIP as part of their short-term spending bill, which would fund the government through February 16. (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times)
CHIP should be part of a long term solution, not a 30 Day, or short term, extension!
2/ Senate Democrats have the votes needed to block the stop-gap spending bill that the House is taking up, raising the likelihood the government will close. At least nine members of the Senate Democratic Caucus said they will oppose the latest short-term spending bill, which would keep the government open through February 16th, extend the Children’s Health Insurance Program for six years, but also roll back several Affordable Care Act taxes. It doesn’t, however, include a deal on DACA, which Democrats have demanded in exchange for their votes. Paul Ryan believes that he has the votes needed in the House to pass the short-term funding measure on Thursday night. (Politico / Washington Post)
3/ In the event of a shutdown, Mitch McConnell plans to keep the Senate in session and stage a series of votes. They’re intended to place blame for the shutdown on 10 Democratic senators, who are up for reelection this fall in states won by Donald Trump in 2016. McConnell called the Senate Democrats’ plan “irresponsible” for being “willing to shut down the government and the Children’s Health Insurance Program because they have yet to conclude a deal on DACA.” (Politico)
4/ Trump contradicted John Kelly’s statements about the proposed border wall, saying “The Wall is the Wall” and his plan “has never changed or evolved from the first day I conceived of it.” Yesterday, Kelly said that the U.S. would never actually build a physical wall along the entire U.S. border with Mexico. Trump recently said that the wall would be funded by Mexico “indirectly through NAFTA.” (The Hill / New York Times / Washington Post)
The Wall is the Wall, it has never changed or evolved from the first day I conceived of it. Parts will be, of necessity, see through and it was never intended to be built in areas where there is natural protection such as mountains, wastelands or tough rivers or water.....
....The Wall will be paid for, directly or indirectly, or through longer term reimbursement, by Mexico, which has a ridiculous $71 billion dollar trade surplus with the U.S. The $20 billion dollar Wall is “peanuts” compared to what Mexico makes from the U.S. NAFTA is a bad joke!
5/ Ty Cobb said Trump is “very eager” to talk to Robert Mueller in the hope that this will help wrap up the Russia investigation as quickly as possible. Trump’s personal lawyer expects the investigation to end in the next four to six weeks. (The Hill)
6/ The White House’s top lawyer may have a conflict of interest. Don McGahn was personally involved in instructing Steve Bannon about what questions he shouldn’t answer from the House Intelligence Committee’s Russia investigation. He is also a witness to events under investigation by both Congress and Robert Mueller. (Bloomberg)
7/ The House Intelligence Committee released the interview transcript with Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson. In the interview, Simpson claimed the Kremlin used the publication of the Trump dossier as pretext to “purge” people, including those who may have been sources for the American intelligence community. Dianne Feinstein previously released a transcript of Simpson’s interview with the Senate Judiciary Committee. (Politico / The Daily Beast / Reuters)
8/ The FBI is investigating whether a Russian banker illegally funneled money to the NRA in order to help Trump win the presidency. Alexander Torshin is the deputy governor of Russia’s central bank and has a close relationship with Putin. Torshin spoke with Trump Jr. during an NRA gala in May 2016, when Trump won the NRA’s presidential endorsement. The NRA spent $30 million to support Trump in the 2016 election – three times what they devoted to Mitt Romney in 2012. (McClatchy DC)
poll/ 53% of Americans see Trump’s first year as a failure. 61% believe Trump has divided the country. (NPR)
poll/ 37% of Americans approve Trump’s job performance after his first year in office. (CBS News)
Notables.
Trump released his 2017 Fake News Awards. (GOP.com)
Hundreds of Yelp reviewers have been giving the Trump International Hotel in Washington one-star reviews, describing the property as a “shithole.” (Washington Post)
The Trump administration is finalizing its infrastructure plan, which it hopes will encourage more than $1 trillion in state, local, and private financing to build and repair bridges, highways, and other infrastructure. Trump is expected to preview parts of the plan on January 30th during his State of the Union address. (Reuters)
The past four years were the hottest recorded period in the planet’s history, according to both NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (Washington Post)
Haitians will no longer be eligible to receive temporary agricultural and seasonal work visas. The decision by the White House removes Haiti from the list of countries that are eligible for H-2A and H-2B visas. (CNN)
House members introduced a bipartisan sexual harassment bill that would prohibit lawmakers from using taxpayer funds to settle claims. (NBC News)
Mick Mulvaney requested no additional funding for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The bureau has $177 million in the bank. Last quarter the CFPB asked for $217.1 million and it required $86.6 million the quarter before that. (Politico)
The Trump administration will protect health workers who oppose abortions or gender confirmation surgery based on religious or moral objections. Officials want people to report discrimination to the new conscience and religious freedom division of the office for civil rights at the Department of Health and Human Services. (New York Times) *[Editor’s note: I originally used the term “sex-change operation” but changed it to “gender confirmation surgery,” the correct term. More here.] *
1/ Trump accused Russia of helping North Korea evade sanctions and claimed that Pyongyang is getting “closer every day” to being able to deliver a long-range missile to the United States. Russian tankers were caught supplying fuel to North Korea on at least three occasions in recent months. North Korea requires imported fuel to keep its intercontinental ballistic missile and nuclear program functioning. “Russia is not helping us at all with North Korea,” Trump said. (Reuters)
2/ The Pentagon wants to allow nuclear retaliation in response to cyberattacks against the United States. The latest draft of the U.S. nuclear strategy, which was sent to Trump’s desk for approval, is the first to expand the list of justifications for “first use” nuclear strikes. It includes attempts to destroy national infrastructure via cyberattack. (New York Times / HuffPost)
3/ Steve Bannon cited executive privilege and refused to answer questions from the House Intelligence Committee yesterday. House investigators in both parties were outraged by his refusal, leading the committee to subpoena Bannon on the spot, vowing to force him to answer their questions about Russian interference in the 2016 election. (Politico)
What Steve Bannon told Congress yesterday. Bannon admitted that he’d had conversations with Reince Priebus, Sean Spicer and legal spokesman Mark Corallo about Don Junior’s infamous meeting with the Russians in Trump Tower in June 2016. (Axios)
4/ Bannon didn’t respond to House Intelligence Committee questions because the White House directed him not to. During Bannon’s testimony, his attorney relayed questions in real time to the White House asking if his client could answer the questions. Bannon was instructed not to discuss his work on the transition or in the White House. White House officials believed they had an agreement with the committee to limit questions to the presidential campaign. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the committee, called the “gag order” an “audacious” move by the White House. (Associated Press / CNN / CNBC)
5/ Bannon struck a deal with Robert Mueller to be interviewed by prosecutors instead of testifying before the grand jury. A source close to Bannon said he will cooperate with the special counsel and that “Mueller will hear everything Bannon has to say.” (The Daily Beast / CNN)
6/ The chance of a government shutdown increased as Trump aligned himself with the conservative House Freedom Caucus on immigration, criticizing a proposed bipartisan deal as “horrible” on border security and “very, very weak” on legal immigration reform. Democrats are threatening to vote against any spending bill that doesn’t include a DACA fix. Republicans, meanwhile, need 60 votes to pass a spending bill in order to keep the federal government funded past the Friday deadline. Trump is confident that Americans will blame Democrats for a shutdown, despite Republicans controlling the House, Senate, and the White House. (Reuters / NBC News)
7/ Robert Mueller’s probe would continue in the event of a government shutdown. Employees in the special counsel’s office are exempt from furlough and would continue their work, despite a potential lack of appropriations. The government is set to shut down Friday night if lawmakers are unable to agree on a spending bill. (CNN)
8/ The Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to review an order to restart DACA. A federal judge ordered that previous beneficiaries of DACA must be allowed to renew their status in the program, but the government is not required to accept new applications. The Justice Department also appealed a related decision, which imposed a nationwide stop on the Trump administration’s decision to end the program until the case can be heard. (New York Times)
Notables.
Robert Mueller’s team is investigating newly uncovered financial transactions from Russian diplomatic accounts and people or businesses inside the United States. Among them are transactions by former ambassador Sergey Kislyak 10 days after the 2016 presidential election and a blocked $150,000 cash withdrawal five days after the inauguration. (BuzzFeed News)
Trump’s alleged affair with a porn star and the reported $130,000 in hush money scandal, explained. (Vox)
Three-quarters of the National Parks Service advisory panel resigned in frustration. Nine out of 12 members abruptly quit, citing frustration that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke had refused to meet with them or hold a single meeting last year. All of the members who resigned had terms that were set to expire in May. (Washington Post)
Wisconsin Democrats flipped a state senate seat in a special election. The district voted for Trump and Mitt Romney in the past two presidential elections. (The Hill)
Jeff Flake delivered a speech from the Senate floor comparing Trump’s anti-press rhetoric to former Soviet dictator Josef Stalin that Trump inspires modern-day authoritarians. Trump promised to announce his “Fake News Awards” today. (Los Angeles Times / Reuters)
John Kelly told Democratic lawmakers that the U.S. will never construct a physical wall along the entire stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border and that some of Trump’s campaign promises on immigration were “uninformed.” (Washington Post)
Border patrol agents routinely vandalize containers of water and supplies left in the Arizona desert for migrants in an attempt to deter and punish people who illegally cross from Mexico. (The Guardian)
1/ Steve Bannon was subpoenaed to testify in front of a grand jury as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe. It’s the first time Mueller has used a grand jury subpoena to get information from someone in Trump’s inner circle. Mueller, however, may end up letting Bannon forgo the grand jury appearance if he allows investigators to question him at the special counsel’s offices in Washington. (New York Times)
2/ Bannon met with the House Intelligence Committee this morning behind closed doors. Lawmakers are sure to question Bannon on what he knew about the Trump Tower meeting, which he’s previously called “treasonous.” (The Hill)
Hope Hicks is expected to meet with the House Intelligence Committee as early as Friday. The White House Communications Director will be one of the closest Trump confidants to be privately interviewed as part of the Russia probe. The committee plans to ask her about any contacts that may have occurred between Trump associates and the Russians. (CNN / NBC News)
3/ The government could shut down if lawmakers can’t agree on a spending bill by Friday. GOP leaders are looking to a short-term funding measure to keep certain government agencies open while talks continue, but Democrats are unlikely to support any deal that doesn’t include protections for young undocumented immigrants who were brought to this country as children. (Washington Post)
4/ Trump preemptively blamed democrats for a shutdown, tweeting “The Democrats want to shut down the Government over Amnesty for all and Border Security. The biggest loser will be our rapidly rebuilding Military, at a time we need it more than ever.” Democrats presented Trump with a bipartisan immigration bill last week, and said Trump and Republicans would be to blame for a government shutdown. Current federal funding expires on Saturday. (NBC News)
The Democrats want to shut down the Government over Amnesty for all and Border Security. The biggest loser will be our rapidly rebuilding Military, at a time we need it more than ever. We need a merit based system of immigration, and we need it now! No more dangerous Lottery.
5/ Senate Democrats have 50 votes in favor of restoring net neutrality. Only one more Republican vote is needed in order to reverse the FCC’s decision to deregulate the broadband industry. The attorneys general from 22 states have filed a lawsuit to block the net neutrality repeal. (Washington Post / New York Times)
6/ Sarah Huckabee Sanders claimed Trump can’t be racist because he was on “The Apprentice.” Sanders said claims that Trump is racist were “outrageous,” adding, “Frankly, if the critics of the president were who he said he was, why did NBC give him a show for a decade on TV?” (Bloomberg)
7/ The White House doctor said Trump is in “excellent” overall health and that he performed “well” on a cognitive exam. At 6’3”, 239 pounds, Trump is one pound away from being considered obese as defined by the Centers for Disease Control. (The Hill / Politico)
poll/ The number of uninsured Americans rose by 3.2 million in Trump’s first year in office. The uninsured rate increased 1.3 percentage points since the last quarter of 2016, leaving 12.2% of Americans without health insurance. (Gallup)
poll/ 42% of Republicans consider negative news stories that are accurate to be “fake news.” (Washington Post)
Notables.
Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee want Devin Nunes to release the Fusion GPS transcript. Fusion also supports the release of the transcript. (Business Insider)
U.S. counterintelligence officials warned Jared Kushner about Wendi Deng Murdoch, who could be using their friendship to further the interests of the Chinese government. (Wall Street Journal)
Kim Jong-Un called Trump’s nuclear button tweet the “spasm of a lunatic.” (The Independent)
Paul Manafort’s trial will likely to start in September at the earliest after a federal judge rejected Robert Mueller’s bid to kick off the trial in May. (Politico)
Sixty-four trade groups, foreign governments, Republican candidates and more stayed at or held events at Trump properties during his first year in office. Before taking office, Trump said he would hand off control of his global business empire to his sons Donald Jr. and Eric. He didn’t, however, divest himself of assets that could cause a conflict of interest. (Reuters)
Watch Orrin Hatch remove a pair of glasses he’s not wearing:
1/ Trump vaguely denied calling Haiti a “shithole country,” tweeting that “the language used by me at the DACA meeting was tough.” Trump then blamed Democrats for the “outlandish proposal,” which he called “a big setback for DACA!” He did not, however, deny that he called El Salvador or African countries “shitholes.” (NBC News / Washington Post)
The language used by me at the DACA meeting was tough, but this was not the language used. What was really tough was the outlandish proposal made - a big setback for DACA!
Never said anything derogatory about Haitians other than Haiti is, obviously, a very poor and troubled country. Never said “take them out.” Made up by Dems. I have a wonderful relationship with Haitians. Probably should record future meetings - unfortunately, no trust!
2/ Senator Richard Durbin contradicted Trump, saying the comments were “hate-filled, vile and racist” and that he repeatedly referred to African countries as “shitholes” during the private immigration meeting. Durbin said, “The most disheartening thing to me is my belief that that was the first time words that hateful had been spoken in the Oval Office of the White House.” (New York Times / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
3/ The United Nations human rights office called Trump’s comments “shocking,” “shameful,” and “no other word for this but racist.” Haiti, the African Union, Mexico, and France all rejected Trump’s comments. (Reuters / USA Today)
4/ Don Lemon: “The president of the United States is racist.” The CNN Tonight host added that “A lot of us already knew that,” and that Trump’s comments were “disgusting,” but not shocking. “They’re not even really surprising.” (Washington Post)
5/ Anderson Cooper: “The sentiment the President expressed today is a racist sentiment.” Cooper also said that Trump’s remarks about American immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador, and African nations were “Not racial. Not racially charged. Racist.” (CNN)
6/ At an event to honor Martin Luther King Jr, Trump decried racism, saying: “No matter what the color of our skin or the place of our birth, we are all created equal.” He then signed a proclamation on Friday declaring Monday Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which every president since Ronald Reagan has signed. (The Guardian / USA Today / CNN)
poll/ 55% of Americans think Trump’s mental fitness is an issue. Republicans called the question “unfair and politically motivated.” (Axios)
poll/ 50% of Americans would vote for Oprah over Trump, but 54% voters don’t want her to run. (CNN)
Notables.
Trump canceled his visit to London to avoid mass protests. He was originally scheduled to open a new U.S. embassy, but will send Rex Tillerson to do it instead. Trump tweeted that the “reason” he canceled his “trip to London is that I am not a big fan of the Obama Administration” and their decision to sell the previous embassy. (The Guardian)
The US ambassador to Panama resigned over differences with the Trump administration. (CNN)
Jeff Bezos donated $33 million to a scholarship fund for young “dreamers,” which will help fund 1,000 college scholarships. (Washington Post)
Corey Lewandowski is scheduled to testify before the House Intelligence Committee next week. Lewandowski said he won’t plead the fifth as other witnesses have done. (The Daily Beast)
Trump extended the Iran nuclear deal, but said he will “terminate” the agreement unless Congress and European allies agree to improve it. (Politico)
The Education Department awarded a debt-collection contract to a company Betsy DeVos invested in before becoming education secretary. (Washington Post)
Trump paid a former porn star $130,000 one month before the 2016 election so she wouldn’t publicly discuss an alleged sexual encounter from 2006. Michael Cohen, the top attorney at the Trump Organization, arranged the payment to Stephanie Clifford. (Wall Street Journal)
1/ Trump questioned why the US would admit people from “shithole countries” like Haiti or African after lawmakers floated the idea of restoring protections for immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador, and African countries as part of a bipartisan immigration deal. “Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” Trump said, suggesting that the U.S. should instead bring more people from countries like Norway than African or Haiti. The White House didn’t deny Trump that called those countries “shitholes.” In a June meeting on immigration, Trump said Haitians “all have AIDS” and complained that Nigerians would never “go back to their huts” in Africa. (Washington Post / New York Times)
2/ The Trump administration will let states require people to work for Medicaid. Under the new guidance, states can now require Medicaid beneficiaries to work, volunteer or participate in job training. The elderly, disabled, pregnant women, and children are excluded. It’s the first time in the fifty-year history of the program that Medicaid recipients may be required to hold down a job in order to receive benefits. (Washington Post / New York Times / NPR)
3/ The House reauthorized the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows the US intelligence community to collect Americans’ email, text messages, photos, and other electronic communication without a warrant. The legislation, which passed 256 to 164, renews the program for six years and will now head to the Senate. (New York Times)
4/ Trump sent a series of confusing tweets about his position on the bill after a Fox News analyst appealed directly to Trump on-air, urging him to oppose the bill. First, Trump tweeted in apparent opposition to the bill that the “controversial FISA ACT … may have been used, with the help of the discredited and phony Dossier, to so badly surveil and abuse the Trump Campaign by the previous administration and others?” About 90 minutes later, Trump reversed course, tweeting that “today’s vote is about foreign surveillance of foreign bad guys on foreign land. We need it! Get smart!” (CNN / USA Today)
Disproven and paid for by Democrats “Dossier used to spy on Trump Campaign. Did FBI use Intel tool to influence the Election?” @foxandfriends Did Dems or Clinton also pay Russians? Where are hidden and smashed DNC servers? Where are Crooked Hillary Emails? What a mess!
With that being said, I have personally directed the fix to the unmasking process since taking office and today’s vote is about foreign surveillance of foreign bad guys on foreign land. We need it! Get smart!
5/ Democrats plan to invite sexual assault victims to Trump’s State of the Union address later this month to highlight the issue of sexual misconduct. The idea of inviting victims of Trump’s alleged harassment to the speech has been scrapped. (NBC News)
6/ Steve Bannon hired a lawyer in preparation for his interview with the House Intelligence Committee next week. Bannon retained Bill Burck, of the firm Quinn Emanuel. (The Daily Beast)
poll/ Trump is losing ground with women, in particular Millennial, white-collar, and blue-collar white women, according to an unpublished SurveyMonkey poll of 605,172 Americans. [Editor’s note: this is a must read] (The Atlantic)
poll/ 79% of Americans say “Dreamers” should be allowed to remain in the US and apply for citizenship. 63% oppose building a wall along the Mexico border. (Quinnipiac)
58% of voters say that marijuana use should be made legal.
70% oppose enforcing federal marijuana laws in states that have legalized medical or recreational marijuana.
47% of Americans have an unfavorable view of Jeff Sessions.
52% of voters disapprove of the Republican tax plan.
Notables.
Joe Arpaio resurrected false claims that Obama was not born in the United States. Arpaio claimed that Obama’s birth certificate is a “forgery document.” He is seeking the Republican nomination in Arizona’s 2018 Senate race. (The Hill)
Republicans have four convicted criminals running for Congress in 2018. Three of the men have suggested that their convictions show they were persecuted by the Obama administration for their political beliefs. (HuffPost)
Trump has not formally proposed any new resources or spending to tackle the opioid epidemic. The 90-day public health emergency declaration ends on January 23rd. (Politico)
The FBI will notify U.S. companies and the public about Russian efforts to manipulate social media and interfere in upcoming elections. The FBI’s “foreign influence” task force, which was created last year, could dramatically reshape the relationship between the government and social media companies. (Bloomberg)
Ryan Zinke announced a massive overhaul of the Interior Department that would move tens of thousands of government employees to new locations across the country and reorganize the management of federal lands. (The Hill)
Kellyanne Conway said Trump “discovered” there doesn’t need to be a “physical wall” along the country’s entire southern border. Trump has said he will not sign an immigration deal that doesn’t include funding for the border wall. (The Hill)
1/ A federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to end DACA, the Obama-era program that allows undocumented immigrants who entered the country as children to remain in the United States. A San Francisco-based U.S. District Court judge said Jeff Sessions’ claim that the program is illegal was “based on a flawed legal premise,” and ordered the administration to resume accepting DACA renewal applications. Trump responded, calling the court system “broken and unfair.” Sarah Huckabee Sanders added that the decision was “outrageous.” (Politico / Reuters / New York Times)
It just shows everyone how broken and unfair our Court System is when the opposing side in a case (such as DACA) always runs to the 9th Circuit and almost always wins before being reversed by higher courts.
2/ Trump declined to commit to an interview with Robert Mueller when asked at a news conference today. He said it “seems unlikely,” but that “we’ll see what happens.” Trump repeatedly argued there has been “no collusion” between his campaign and Russia, and questioned why he would need to be interviewed. (NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times)
3/ Trump’s personal attorney filed lawsuits against Fusion GPS and BuzzFeed over the Steele dossier. The lawsuits, one in federal and the other in state court, both claim that the dossier contained “false and defamatory” allegations against Trump that resulted in “harm to his personal and professional reputation, current business interests, and the impairment of business opportunities.” (ABC News / CNN)
Trump said his administration would take a “strong look” at libel laws. He criticized the current laws as a “disgrace” and a “sham.” He pledged to make it easier for people to sue news organizations and publishers for defamation. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
4/ A panel of federal judges ruled that North Carolina’s congressional map was unconstitutional on the grounds that Republicans drew the map with the intention of gaining a political advantage. The ruling, which imperils Republican seats in the upcoming election, marks the first time a federal court has blocked a congressional map on partisan gerrymandering grounds. (The New York Times)
5/ A member of Trump’s National Security Council proposed withdrawing U.S. forces from Eastern Europe as a way to please Putin during the first months of the Trump presidency. Kevin Harrington’s proposal, which was rejected, is the first known instance of senior Trump aides attempting to alter U.S. military actions to please Putin. (The Daily Beast)
6/ The Trump administration waived fines for Deutsche Bank and four other multinational banks convicted of manipulating global interest rates. Trump owes Deutsche at least $130 million in loans that were originally worth $300 million. The German bank was also fined $425 million by New York State for laundering $10 billion out of Russia. (International Business Times / USA Today)
7/ The Interior Department removed Florida “from consideration for any new oil and gas platforms” and won’t allow oil drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean off Florida. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said drilling would be “off the table” when it comes to waters. The move, following pressure from Republican Gov. Rick Scott, exempts Florida from the Trump administration’s plan to open up offshore drilling in coastal waters. (NBC News)
Taking #Florida off the table for offshore drilling but not #California violates the legal standard of arbitrary and capricious agency action. California and other coastal states also rely on our beautiful coasts for tourism and our economy. I believe courts will strike this down https://t.co/xWyB69F7Gg
8/ The White House plans to destroy the data collected for Trump’s voter fraud commission rather than giving it to the Department of Homeland Security. White House Director of Information Technology Charles Herndon added that the commission did not create any “preliminary findings,” despite Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ previous assertion that such findings would also be turned over to DHS. (The Hill / Politico)
9/ Canada believes Trump intends to pull the United States out of NAFTA. The three countries will meet in Montreal this month for the sixth of seven planned rounds of negotiations. Major differences remain between the United States on one side and Mexico and Canada on the other. (Reuters)
poll/ 49% of Americans believe Obama is more responsible for the current U.S. economy than Trump. 40% believe Trump is responsible. (The Hill)
Notables.
Rep. Darrell Issa will not seek reelection to the House, becoming the second California Republican to quit this week. Rep. Ed Royce also said he did not plan to seek reelection. (Politico)
A Senate Foreign Relations Committee report says the US is not prepared to defend against possible Russian meddling in the 2018 midterm elections or the 2020 presidential contest. (CNN)
Robert Mueller has added a veteran cyber prosecutor to his team, signaling a recent focus on possible computer crimes. (Washington Post)
Trump’s companies sold more than $35 million in real estate in 2017, primarily to shell companies that obscure the buyers’ identities. (USA Today)
White House aides must decide before the end of January if they plan to stay through the November midterm elections or leave the administration. The deadline is intended to bring a sense of order to an anticipated staffing exodus. (CNN)
Vermont’s Senate approved a bill legalizing adult consumption and cultivation of marijuana, defying Jeff Sessions’ escalating war on weed. (Vice News)
1/ Trump’s secretaries of state and defense are trying to convince him not to conduct a “bloody nose” attack against North Korea. Mattis and Tillerson are warning Trump that “a sharp, violent response to some North Korean provocation” is risky and could result in a global – possibly nuclear – catastrophe. (Business Insider)
The Trump administration plans to loosen constraints on the use of nuclear weapons and develop a new low-yield nuclear warhead for US Trident missiles. (The Guardian)
2/ Dianne Feinstein released the full transcript of Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson’s testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. The head of the research firm behind the dossier of allegations against then-candidate Trump told congressional investigators that someone from inside Trump’s network had also provided the FBI with corroborating information during the campaign. Simpson had asked the committee last week for the transcript to be made public, but Republican leaders declined prompting Feinstein to post the transcript today with “no agreement” from committee Republicans. (CNBC / Washington Post / Politico)
Read the full transcript of Glenn Simpson’s Senate testimony. (Senate.gov)
3/ Robert Mueller could interview Trump in the next few weeks on a limited set of questions. Mueller told Trump’s lawyers in late December that he’d likely request an interview with Trump. A person familiar with the discussions said Mueller is most interested in whether Trump tried to obstruct justice. (The Washington Post / New York Times)
Trump’s Russia ambassador warned lawmakers that the U.S.-Russia relationship would be “done” if the Kremlin interferes in the 2018 midterm elections. Jon Huntsman warned the House Foreign Affairs Committee in a closed-door meeting that “I don’t think Russia is going to quit,” and that “Putin probably has never been stronger.” (The Daily Beast)
4/ White House officials believe that Trump will be “sunk” if Robert Mueller looks into Trump’s finances as part of the Russia probe. “People don’t think in the White House — don’t think that he colluded with Russia,” Michael Wolff said, author of Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House. “They do think that if the investigation goes near his finances, he’s sunk.” (The Hill / CNBC)
5/ The Russian lawyer met Ivanka Trump after the Trump Tower meeting with Trump Jr., Paul Manafort, and Jared Kushner in June 2016. Natalia Veselnitskaya said that as she was leaving the building and waiting for an elevator, she exchanged pleasantries with a blond-haired woman whom she believed was Trump. (NBC News)
6/ Steve Bannon stepped down as executive chairman of Breitbart News. The moves comes after Rebekah Mercer cut financial ties with Bannon over his unflattering comments about Trump and his family in the Michael Wolff book. (New York Times / Politico)
7/ Trump said he would support a two-phase, bipartisan immigration deal in order to avoid a government shutdown. A potential deal would first address DACA protections and border security with what he called a “bill of love,” followed by a comprehensive immigration bill. Trump said such a deal must include money for his border wall and strict immigration limits. (New York Times / Associated Press)
Notables.
The Trump administration spending plan calls for cuts to proven security measures in order to pay for his wall along the Mexican border. (New York Times)
Trump renominated two judicial nominees that the American Bar Association rated as “not qualified” to serve. The ABA said one was unqualified for a lifetime seat on the bench due to his “work habits,” while the other wasn’t qualified due to her lack of trial court experience. In total, Trump resubmitted 21 judicial nominees to the Senate after their nominations expired in 2017. (HuffPost)
Joe Arpaio, the former Arizona sheriff known for his hard-line immigration tactics, says he’s running for Senate. Arpaio was convicted of criminal contempt for defying a court order to stop racially profiling Latinos. He was pardoned by Trump. (CNN)
The White House wants to find a new role for Andrew Puzder, the former head of Carl’s Jr. who declined the nomination to become labor secretary after old domestic abuse allegations resurfaced. The White House, however, is apparently considering finding another role for Puzder inside the Trump administration. (Politico)
Ahead of his first diplomatic trip to Israel, Jared Kushner’s family real estate company received roughly $30 million in investment from one of Israel’s largest financial institutions. (New York Times)
Trump was named the world’s most oppressive leader for “overall achievement in undermining global press freedom” by the Committee to Protect Journalists, beating out Erdoğan and Putin. Trump plans to announce his “MOST DISHONEST AND CORRUPT MEDIA AWARDS OF THE YEAR” on Wednesday. (HuffPost)
Trump will attend the World Economic Forum in Davos – an event synonymous with wealth and elite prestige. (New York Times)
1/ Trump’s legal team anticipates that Special Counsel Robert Mueller will try to directly interview Trump as part of the Russia probe. The team wants to submit written responses to Mueller’s questions instead of having Trump appear for a formal, one-on-one sit-down. Mueller informed Trump’s lawyers last month that he may want to interview Trump “soon.” A person with direct knowledge of the discussions described them as “preliminary and ongoing.” (NBC News / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post)
2/ Trump requires more “executive time” to watch TV, make phone calls, and tweet than he did in the early days of his presidency. The official schedule says Trump spends “executive time” in the Oval Office every morning from 8am to 11am, but officials say it’s spent in his residence. Trump often comes down to the Oval Office around 11am. By comparison, George W. Bush usually started his day in the Oval at 6:45am and Obama would arrive between 9 and 10am, after his morning exercise. That’s not all, Trump has several additional hours of “executive time” sprinkled throughout his schedule. All told, Trump spends roughly 5 hours on executive time over the course of an 8-hour workday. (Axios)
How much of your life is spent on Trump’s “executive time.” (Washington Post)
3/ Over the weekend, Trump defended his mental fitness, describing himself as a “very stable genius” in response to details in Michael Wolff’s book that he is mentally unfit to serve. He insisted that opponents and the media were attacking his mental capacity because they had failed to prove collusion with Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign. Trump tweeted that “my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart.” (New York Times / CNN / The Guardian)
Now that Russian collusion, after one year of intense study, has proven to be a total hoax on the American public, the Democrats and their lapdogs, the Fake News Mainstream Media, are taking out the old Ronald Reagan playbook and screaming mental stability and intelligence.....
....Actually, throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart. Crooked Hillary Clinton also played these cards very hard and, as everyone knows, went down in flames. I went from VERY successful businessman, to top T.V. Star.....
Trump tweeted about his “consensual presidency,” misquoting a New York Post column that had said Trump’s presidency has been “enormously consequential.” (The Hill)
4/ Jake Tapper abruptly ended an interview with White House adviser Stephen Miller on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday. Miller was there to talk about Michael Wolff’s new book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, but refused to answer questions about Trump directly and repeatedly attempted to shift the conversation toward criticism of CNN. “I think I’ve wasted enough of my viewers’ time. Thank you, Stephen,” Tapper said as he cut off the interview. Miller then refused to leave the CNN set and had to be escorted off the premises. (CNN / Business Insider)
5/ The prospect of Trump’s removal from office is an almost daily topic of conversation in the White House, according to Michael Wolff. The author of Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House said the situation in the White House is so bad, “the 25th Amendment is a concept that is alive every day in the White House.” The 25th Amendment outlines the process of removal in case a sitting President is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.” (NBC News / Newsweek)
6/ Steve Bannon walked back his critical comments of Trump Jr. He said he “regrets” his “delay in responding to the inaccurate reporting” that the Trump Jr. meeting with Russians at Trump Tower during the campaign was “treasonous,” “unpatriotic,” and “bad shit.” In a statement, Bannon called Trump Jr. “both a patriot and a good man,” adding that “there was no collusion and the investigation is a witch hunt.” (Axios / CNN)
Notables.
The Trump administration canceled provisional residency permits for 200,000 Salvadorans who have lived in the country since at least 2001, leaving them vulnerable to deportation. (Washington Post)
Oprah Winfrey is “actively thinking” about running for president, according to two friends. Winfrey’s speech at the Golden Globes, where she said “a new day is on the horizon,” spurred chatter about a 2020 run. (CNN)
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg signaled that she intends to outlast Trump by hiring law clerks for at least two more terms. (CNN)
National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster said there was already evidence of Russian meddling in Mexico’s election, which is set for July. (Reuters)
The US Army’s official Twitter account liked a tweet critical of Trump by “The Office” and “The Mindy Project” star Mindy Kaling. (Washington Post)
A Senate bill that would reverse the FCC’s decision to repeal net neutrality received its 30th co-sponsor, ensuring it will receive a vote on the Senate floor. (The Hill)
Federal regulators rejected a proposal by Energy Secretary Rick Perry to subsidize coal and nuclear plants. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission sided with critics, who argued that Perry’s proposal would upend competition in the nation’s electricity markets, which favors lowest-cost power sources. (New York Times)
1/ Trump ordered the White House’s top lawyer to stop Jeff Sessions from recusing himself from the Russia investigation, saying he expected his attorney general to protect him. Don McGahn unsuccessfully lobbied Sessions to remain in charge in March 2017. Trump reportedly erupted in anger in front of several White House officials. The previously unreported details have legal experts suggesting that there is currently a larger body of public evidence tying Trump to a possible crime of obstruction. Robert Mueller’s investigation is currently investigating whether Trump obstructed justice while in office and whether there was collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. (New York Times)
THE TIMELINE:
Comey testified on May 3rd that the Russia investigation was ongoing to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Two days after Comey’s testimony, a Sessions aide approached a Capitol Hill staff member asking for derogatory information about the FBI director. The attorney general wanted one negative news article about Comey per day.
2/ A third Republican called on Jeff Sessions to resign, saying he “is not able to take the reins and direct” the Russia probe because of his recusal. Chris Stewart, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, joins Mark Meadows, Freedom Caucus chair, and Jim Jordan, a member who sits on the oversight and judiciary committees in the US House of Representatives, who have called for Sessions to resign this week. (CNN)
3/ Paul Ryan supported House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes’ threat to hold officials at Justice and the FBI in contempt of Congress if they didn’t meet Nunes’ subpoena demands. Over the summer, Nunes subpoenaed the Justice Department and FBI for documents related to the dossier about Trump’s connections to the Kremlin and whether the FBI used information from the dossier to apply for warrants under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to conduct surveillance on Trump associates. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray argued that the documents were highly classified and would not be released or shared outside the bureau. (CNN)
4/ Republican senators recommended possible criminal charges for the author of the Trump-Russia dossier. Charles Grassley and Lindsey Graham suggested that the Justice Department investigate Christopher Steele for possibly lying to the FBI. (Washington Post / New York Times)
5/ The FBI is actively investigating allegations of corruption related to the Clinton Foundation. Prosecutors shut down the investigation in 2016 due to lack of evidence. FBI agents from Little Rock, Arkansas, are looking into whether Hillary Clinton promised or performed policy favors in exchange for donations to the foundation while she was secretary of state. (The Hill / CNN / New York Times)
6/ Michael Wolff called Trump the least credible person to ever walk on earth and that he “absolutely” spoke to Trump as part of reporting his book. The “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House” author added that “100% of the people around” Trump “questions his intelligence and fitness for office.” Trump tweeted that “I authorized Zero access to White House (actually turned him down many times) for author of phony book! I never spoke to him for book,” adding “watch what happens to him and Sloppy Steve” Bannon. (NBC News)
I authorized Zero access to White House (actually turned him down many times) for author of phony book! I never spoke to him for book. Full of lies, misrepresentations and sources that don’t exist. Look at this guy’s past and watch what happens to him and Sloppy Steve!
poll/ 61% of Americans believe marijuana should be legalized. In 2000, the adults who supported marijuana legalization stood at 31%. (Pew Research Center)
Notables.
North and South Korea will sit down for their first formal talks in more than two years next week to find ways to cooperate on the Winter Olympics in the South and to improve their poor relationship. (Associated Press)
The Trump administration froze $125 million in funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency – about a third of the annual US donation to the agency. (Axios)
Scott Pruitt told friends and associates that he’d like to be attorney general if Jeff Sessions leaves the administration. (Politico)
Pence’s chief lawyer and domestic policy director are leaving his office. (CNN)
The home of Roy Moore’s accuser burned in a fire that is now under investigation by the Etowah County Arson Task Force. (Al.com)
The White House asked to screen “The Post,” a recently released political drama about the Washington Post’s 1971 decision to publish the top-secret Pentagon Papers and the newspaper’s legal victory over the Nixon administration. (Hollywood Reporter)
Comcast fired about 500 salespeople, despite saying that the company would create thousands of new jobs in exchange for a big tax cut. (Ars Technica)
The economy added 148,000 jobs in December, which means 2017 had the slowest rate of job growth in six years. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.1% – a 17-year low. (MSNBC / Wall Street Journal)
1/ Steve Bannon received a cease and desist letter from Trump’s lawyer accusing him of breaching his confidentiality agreement by making “disparaging” and “outright defamatory statements” about Trump and his family. The letter comes after excerpts from Michael Wolff’s book were made public, with Bannon calling the Trump Tower meeting with Russians “treasonous,” “unpatriotic,” and “bad shit.” During the campaign, Trump had staffers sign a non-disclosure agreement which required all staff to refrain from making any disparaging comments about Trump, his family, or the campaign. (ABC News)
2/ Trump’s lawyer also demanded that Michael Wolff and his publisher immediately “cease and desist from any further publication, release or dissemination” of the forthcoming book. Trump’s lawyers are pursuing possible charges, including libel, in connection with the book, “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House,” which is scheduled to be released Friday – four days earlier than planned. (Washington Post / ABC News)
3/ Michael Wolff has tapes to back up the quotes in his book, including conversations with Steve Bannon and former White House deputy chief of staff Katie Walsh. On Twitter, Wolff thanked Trump for making his book the current best seller on Amazon. (Axios)
Here we go. You can buy it (and read it) tomorrow. Thank you, Mr. President.
Senior White House officials are debating whether Katie Walsh should be fired from America First after she was quoted as reportedly saying that dealing with Trump is “like trying to figure out what a child wants.” Walsh, a former White House adviser, has disputed the comment. (Axios)
4/ Breitbart board members are debating whether to fire Steve Bannon. Earlier in the day, Sarah Huckabee Sanders suggested that Breitbart News should consider removing its executive chairman. But that’s not all, Bannon’s billionaire benefactors, Robert Mercer and his daughter Rebekah Mercer, formally cut financial ties with Bannon today. (Wall Street Journal / Politico)
"Should Breitbart part ways with Steve Bannon?"
Sarah Sanders: "I certainly think that it's something they should look at and consider"
5/ The White House banned staff from using personal cell phones in the West Wing. Sarah Huckabee Sanders cited security concerns for the ban. Staff will now be required to use their government-issued devices in the West Wing, which don’t accommodate texting. The White House weighed a similar move in early November, after leaks to the media from within the administration angered Trump. (Bloomberg / NBC News)
6/ Trump dissolved his voter fraud commission. He blamed states for refusing to comply with the panel’s requests for voter information, including birth dates and partial Social Security numbers. The commission was set up in May to investigate Trump’s unfounded claims that massive voter fraud had cost him the popular vote. (CNN)
Many mostly Democrat States refused to hand over data from the 2016 Election to the Commission On Voter Fraud. They fought hard that the Commission not see their records or methods because they know that many people are voting illegally. System is rigged, must go to Voter I.D.
7/ Jeff Sessions will allow federal prosecutors to more aggressively enforce marijuana laws. Sessions is expected to rescind an Obama-era policy of discouraging federal prosecutors from bringing charges of marijuana-related crimes or from interfering with marijuana sales in states that have legalized sales of the drug. In February, Sessions said that while states “can pass the laws they choose,” he said it remains “a violation of federal law to distribute marijuana throughout any place in the United States.” (Associated Press / New York Times / Politico)
8/ The Trump administration plans to allow offshore oil and gas exploration in the Arctic, Atlantic, and Pacific oceans. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said the proposal would make about 90% of the U.S. outer continental shelf available for offshore leasing. (CNBC / Washington Post / New York Times)
Notables.
Freedom Caucus leaders called for Jeff Sessions to step down, citing recent leaks from the Justice Department and FBI. (The Hill)
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Chris Wray met with Paul Ryan about the House Russia investigation. The meeting was related to a document request by House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes this summer. (Politico)
Dianne Feinstein asked Dan Scavino and Brad Parscale to meet with the Senate Judiciary Committee. Scavino is the White House social media director and Parscale oversaw the Trump campaign’s digital operation. (Mother Jones)
More than a dozen members of Congress met with a Yale University psychiatry professor last month to discuss Trump’s mental state and recent behavior. (Politico)
Virginia determined the outcome of a tied House of Delegates race by random drawing after two delegates each received at 11,608 votes – a Republican won. Republicans will hold a 51-49 majority in Virginia’s state house. (Vox)
The US will suspend nearly all security aid to Pakistan as frustration mounts with the country’s efforts to fight terror groups. (New York Times)
The Trump administration proposed rules for health plans that bypass some Affordable Care Act protections. The alternative health care plans would be reclassified so they no longer would have to include a set of 10 essential health benefits that the ACA requires. (Washington Post)
1/ Steve Bannon called the Trump Tower meeting with Russians “treasonous,” “unpatriotic,” and “bad shit.” He added: “The three senior guys in the campaign thought it was a good idea to meet with a foreign government inside Trump Tower … with no lawyers … You should have called the FBI immediately.” Bannon’s comments come from forthcoming book the Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, by Michael Wolff. (The Guardian)
📚 Recommended Reading: What the WTF Just Happened Today community is reading.
2/ Trump responds: “Steve Bannon has nothing to do with me or my Presidency. When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind.” Trump’s statement added: “Steve was rarely in a one-on-one meeting with me and only pretends to have had influence to fool a few people with no access and no clue, whom he helped write phony books.” (Bloomberg / Politico)
JUST IN: President Trump statement on Steve Bannon: "When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind." pic.twitter.com/LxZoBI5Ng4
3/ Paul Manafort sued Robert Mueller, Rod Rosenstein, and the Justice Department. The lawsuit challenges the authority given to Mueller by Rosenstein, and argues that Mueller’s decision to charge Manafort with alleged money laundering crimes had nothing to do with the 2016 campaign and went too far. (CNN / New York Times)
4/ Trump taunts North Korea: My “Nuclear Button” is “much bigger and more powerful” than Kim Jong-un’s – and “my Button works!” Trump’s tweet came after Kim said he has a “nuclear button on the desk in my office” and “all of the mainland United States is within the range of our nuclear strike.” (New York Times / The Hill)
North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the “Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times.” Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!
The “Nuclear Button” explained: There is no button. (New York Times)
A House Democrat called on lawmakers to pass a measure restricting Trump’s ability to launch a preemptive nuclear strike on North Korea without congressional approval. (The Hill)
5/ Fusion GPS defended the dossier of alleged Trump-Russia ties and called on Republicans to release the firm’s testimony. “The attack on our firm,” the Fusion GPS founders wrote in a New York Times Op-Ed, “is a diversionary tactic by Republicans who don’t want to investigate Donald Trump’s ties to Russia.” Glenn Simpson and Peter Fritsch write they hired Christopher Steele to investigate Trump’s repeated efforts “to do deals in a notoriously corrupt police state that most serious investors shun.” They added: “As we told the Senate Judiciary Committee in August, our sources said the dossier was taken so seriously because it corroborated reports the [FBI] had received from other sources, including one inside the Trump camp,” referring to a drunk George Papadopoulos, who bragged about Russia having political dirt on Hillary Clinton to one of Australia’s top diplomats. (New York Times)
6/ Trump tweets that the “corrupt media awards” will be presented to the “fake news media” next week. In November, Trump suggested there should be a contest among news networks, except for Fox News, for a “Fake News Trophy.” A Rasmussen poll conducted after Trump’s suggestion found that most Americans would award Fox News the trophy. “THE MOST DISHONEST AND CORRUPT MEDIA AWARDS OF THE YEAR” will be presented Monday at 5:00 pm ET. (The Hill)
I will be announcing THE MOST DISHONEST & CORRUPT MEDIA AWARDS OF THE YEAR on Monday at 5:00 o’clock. Subjects will cover Dishonesty & Bad Reporting in various categories from the Fake News Media. Stay tuned!
We should have a contest as to which of the Networks, plus CNN and not including Fox, is the most dishonest, corrupt and/or distorted in its political coverage of your favorite President (me). They are all bad. Winner to receive the FAKE NEWS TROPHY!
📆 Mark Your Calendar: Upcoming events worth noting and where to find them.
Notables.
In 2017 US manufacturing had its strongest year since 2004. (Bloomberg)
Trump’s pick to run Immigration and Customs Enforcement called for politicians in sanctuary cities to be charged with crimes. Thomas Homan said the Department of Justice needs “to file charges against the sanctuary cities” and “hold back their funding,” and the politicians enforcing sanctuary city policies need to be held “personally accountable.” (The Hill)
Rupert Murdoch called Trump a “fucking idiot” after a conversation about immigration. “Murdoch suggested [in a Dec. 2016 phone call] that taking a liberal approach to H-1B visas, which open America’s doors to select immigrants, might be hard to square with his promises to build a wall and close the borders. But Trump seemed unconcerned, assuring Murdoch, ‘We’ll figure it out.’ ‘What a fucking idiot,’ said Murdoch, shrugging, as he got off the phone.” (New York Magazine)
Democrats Doug Jones and Tina Smith will both be sworn into the Senate today, narrowing the GOP majority. (NPR)
North Korea and South Korea established contact on a hotline that’s been dormant for almost two years. (CNN)
Sheriff David Clarke was temporarily blocked from tweeting after Twitter users complained that three of his messages violated the terms of service. Clarke was placed in read-only mode until he deleted three tweets that called for violence against members of the media. (CNN)
The National Security Agency is losing its top talent because of low pay, slumping morale, and unpopular reorganization. (Washington Post)
1/ A drunk George Papadopoulos bragged about the political dirt Russia had on Hillary Clinton to Australia’s top diplomat at a London bar in May 2016. Australian officials passed the information about Papadopoulos to their American counterparts two months later, when leaked Democratic emails began appearing online. The FBI opened its counterintelligence investigation in July 2016 into Russia’s attempts to disrupt the election following the revelation that the Trump campaign had information about the DNC’s hacked emails Trump and his advisers have dismissed Papadopoulos’ campaign role as just a “coffee boy.” (New York Times)
2/ Trump suggested that former Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin should face jail time after the State Department posted emails it found on Anthony Weiner’s computer. Abedin had forwarded State Department passwords to her personal Yahoo account. In a tweet, Trump called on the “deep state” Justice Department to prosecute both Abedin and James Comey. (Washington Post)
Crooked Hillary Clinton’s top aid, Huma Abedin, has been accused of disregarding basic security protocols. She put Classified Passwords into the hands of foreign agents. Remember sailors pictures on submarine? Jail! Deep State Justice Dept must finally act? Also on Comey & others
3/ Orrin Hatch will retire at the end of the year, resisting pressure from Trump to seek an eighth term. The move opens the door for Mitt Romney to run for the seat. During the 2016 campaign, Romney called then-candidate Trump a “fraud” and “phony” who was unfit to serve. Hatch is 83-years-old and the longest-serving Senate Republican. (New York Times / Politico)
4/ 2017 was the safest year on record for commercial passenger air travel with airlines recording no commercial passenger jet deaths. Trump took credit for the record on Twitter, but didn’t provide details what he did to improve airline safety. (Reuters / The Hill)
Since taking office I have been very strict on Commercial Aviation. Good news - it was just reported that there were Zero deaths in 2017, the best and safest year on record!
Workplace deaths in the coal mining industry increased last year to their highest point in three years. 15 miners died on the job in 2017, compared with eight in 2016. (The Hill)
5/ White House aides are worried about 2018 as several senior officials are expected to depart in the coming year – with no replacements lined up – and Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation looms. Aides expect few things to get done in Washington this year as they head into a contentious midterm election season. (Politico)
Democrats are already campaigning for 2020. Many Democrats and some Republicans say there’s a chance Trump may not be on the ballot in 2020 for any number of reasons: He resigns; gets removed from office; chooses not to seek re-election; or loses in a GOP primary. Steve Bannon placed Trump’s odds of completing his first term at 30%. (NBC News)
6/ More women than ever are considering a run for governor. At least 79 women — 49 Democrats and 30 Republicans — are running for governor or seriously considering it as filing deadlines approach. A record 34 women ran for governor in 1994. (Washington Post)
Elizabeth Warren is positioned to run for president in 2020 if she decides to. (Politico)
Kirsten Gillibrand’s voting record suggests she’s running for president in 2020. Gillibrand’s record is consistently anti-Trump. (Washington Post)
Notables.
Trump has made 1,950 false or misleading claims in 347 days – an average of 5.6 claims a day. (Washington Post)
Anthony Scaramucci is telling friends that Trump misses him and want him back in the West Wing. (The Daily Beast)
Trump rescinded proposed rules that would have required companies to disclose the chemicals used in fracking. (Associated Press)
The Interior Department won’t criminally prosecute energy companies and other businesses that accidentally kill migratory birds, reversing a longstanding practice at the agency. (Reuters)
Trump renewed leases for a copper and nickel mining operation on the border of Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, which reversed an Obama-era decision. (Washington Post)
Trump scrapped Obama’s proposal for the federal government to underwrite half the cost of an Amtrak tunnel connecting New Jersey to Penn Station. (Crain’s New York)
The Justice Department wants a question about citizenship to be added to the 2020 census. Critics say the move could limit participation by immigrants who fear that the government could use the information against them. (ProPublica)
South Korea proposed holding high-level talks with North Korea, a day after Kim Jong-un suggested inter-Korean dialogue to discuss easing military tensions and his country’s participation in the Winter Olympics in the South. (New York Times)
Trump tweeted that the US is watching the “brutal and corrupt Iranian regime” amid deadly protests in the country. The State Department lists Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism. (CNN)
Trump tweets the US “foolishly” handed Pakistan more than $33 billion in aid over the last 15 years while getting “nothing but lies and deceit” in return. He’s pledged to put a stop to it. (Reuters)
1/ Trump: The Russia investigation makes the US “look very bad” and “puts the country in a very bad position.” The comment came during an impromptu 30-minute interview with The New York Times at his golf club in West Palm Beach. Trump insisted 16 times that there has been “no collusion” discovered by Robert Mueller’s investigation. Additional quotes below. (New York Times)
On collusion with Russia: “There is no collusion” and even if there was collusion, “it’s not a crime.”
On reopening the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails: “I have absolute right to do what I want to do with the Justice Department.”
On China: “China’s hurting us very badly on trade, but I have been soft on China because the only thing more important to me than trade is war.”
2/ Russia said the worsening relationship with the US is a major disappointment. A Putin spokesman told reporters that Russia still wants improved relations with the US, but they have to be based on a “mutual trust and mutual respect” and that “it takes two to tango.” (Associated Press)
3/ Trump tweets that the US could use some “good old Global Warming” right now while most of the Northeast is experiencing record-breaking cold weather. Weather and climate change are two different things: Weather is the short-term atmospheric conditions, while climate change is how the atmosphere acts over long periods of time. (The Hill)
In the East, it could be the COLDEST New Year’s Eve on record. Perhaps we could use a little bit of that good old Global Warming that our Country, but not other countries, was going to pay TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS to protect against. Bundle up!
4/ Trump fired the remaining 16 members of his HIV/AIDS advisory council. Members received a FedEx letter informing them that they were fired. There was no explanation or reason given. (Washington Blade / Newsweek)
Notables.
Trump accused China of being caught “RED HANDED” for allowing oil into North Korea after U.S. spy satellites detected Chinese ships transferring oil to North Korean vessels about 30 times since October. (Reuters)
The Trump administration rolled back offshore drilling rules put in place after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster. The rule change will save operators $288 million over 10 years. (Bloomberg)
Romanian hackers took over two-thirds of Washington DC’s outdoor surveillance cameras a week before Trump’s inauguration. 123 of the D.C. police department’s 187 outdoor surveillance cameras were hacked, leaving them unable to record for several days. (Washington Post)
1/ Robert Mueller is investigating whether the Trump campaign and the RNC coordinated their voter outreach using Russian-acquired information. Russian hackers stole voter information from election databases in several states in 2016. Mueller’s prosecutors want to know if the Trump campaign used that information to target voters in key swing states and determine if the joint RNC-Trump campaign data operation effort was related to the activities of Russian trolls and bots aimed at influencing the election. Jared Kushner was in charge of the campaign’s digital operation and has recently searched for a crisis public relations firm to handle press inquiries. (Yahoo News / Business Insider)
2/ A jailed Russian said he can prove he hacked the Democratic National Committee computers on behalf of Russian intelligence. Konstantin Kozlovsky claims he left behind a data signature in a hidden data file that corresponds to his Russian passport number and the number of his visa to visit the Caribbean island of St. Martin. (McClatchy DC)
3/ Robert Mueller may indict Paul Manafort and Rick Gates a second time. Washington legal experts believe Mueller is preparing to file a superseding indictment to formally charge both men with violating tax laws. (The Daily Beast)
4/ Trump’s legal team plans to call Michael Flynn a liar seeking to protect himself if he accuses the president or his senior aides of wrongdoing. Flynn is the most senior former Trump adviser known to have provided Mueller’s team with information, and the lenient terms of his plea agreement suggest he has promised significant information to investigators. (Washington Post)
5/ Trump golfed two days in a row after tweeting “it’s back to work in order to Make America Great Again.” On the second day, a box truck was parked between cameras and the president in order to block the view of Trump golfing. (Associated Press / BuzzFeed News)
I hope everyone is having a great Christmas, then tomorrow it’s back to work in order to Make America Great Again (which is happening faster than anyone anticipated)!
6/ Trump falsely claimed that he has signed more legislation than any other president at this point in their term. While Trump did sign more bills in his first 100 days than any president since Truman, he has now signed the fewest number of bills into law of any first-year president dating back to Eisenhower. (Politico)
7/ 34% of senior Trump administration officials have resigned, been fired, or been reassigned this year. It’s the highest first-year departure rate of any other administration in the last 40 years. The next-highest first-year turnover rate was Ronald Reagan’s, with 17% of senior aides leaving the administration in 1981. (Wall Street Journal)
poll/ Obama and Hillary Clinton are the most admired man and woman in the United States. Trump was the second-most admired man. (Gallup)
poll/ 26% of Americans think Trump’s Twitter use is appropriate, with 59% disapproving and 15% unsure. (The Hill)
poll/ 44% of Republicans think Trump successfully repealed the Affordable Care Act. Overall, 31% believe Trump repealed the Affordable Care Act, 49% say he hasn’t, and 21% aren’t sure. (Vox)
poll/ 52% of Americans say the U.S. is less respected in the world than a year ago. 21% said they think the U.S. became more respected in the world and 26% think there was no change. (The Hill)
Notables.
Trump has spent 110 days as president at one of his properties. (CNN)
New York City, San Francisco, and Philadelphia filed a federal lawsuit against the Department of Defense, saying the system for reporting service members disqualified from gun ownership is broken. (Associated Press)
China is projected to overtake the US economy by 2032. (Bloomberg)
The Virginia State Board of Elections postponed plans for a name-drawing to decide the winner of a deadlocked House of Delegates race after one of the candidates announced plans for a court challenge over whether the election was really a tie. (Washington Post)
A US appeals court rejected a legal challenge to Trump’s voter fraud commission, saying the Electronic Privacy Information Center is “not a voter” and does not have legal standing to sue the voter fraud commission for alleged violations of the 2002 E-Government Act. (The Hill)
Roy Moore filed a complaint alleging “systematic voter fraud.” The Alabama secretary of state dismissed complaints of election fraud and officials plan to certify the results today. Moore was the first Republican to lose a United States Senate race in Alabama in 25 years and has refused to concede the election. (New York Times / NBC News)
1/ Trump claimed the “tainted” FBI is using the “bogus,” “pile of garbage” dossier to go after him. The dossier contains allegations about Trump’s connections to Russia and possible coordination between the campaign and the Kremlin during the 2016 election. Many of the details contained in the dossier have been verified. (Washington Post / Politico)
WOW, @foxandfrlends “Dossier is bogus. Clinton Campaign, DNC funded Dossier. FBI CANNOT (after all of this time) VERIFY CLAIMS IN DOSSIER OF RUSSIA/TRUMP COLLUSION. FBI TAINTED.” And they used this Crooked Hillary pile of garbage as the basis for going after the Trump Campaign!
2/ Andrew McCabe plans to retire in March when he becomes fully eligible for pension benefits. Trump attacked the FBI’s deputy director on Twitter, saying McCabe is “racing the clock to retire with full benefits.” McCabe served as James Comey’s deputy and has been the focus of conservatives who question whether the FBI conducted an impartial investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server. McCabe cannot be fired by Trump. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico)
How can FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, the man in charge, along with leakin’ James Comey, of the Phony Hillary Clinton investigation (including her 33,000 illegally deleted emails) be given $700,000 for wife’s campaign by Clinton Puppets during investigation?
The Justice Department’s inspector general review of the Clinton email investigation continues. Authorities are examining whether the Justice Department and FBI followed established “policies and procedures’’ when then-FBI Director James Comey announced that the bureau would not recommend criminal charges against Clinton. (USA Today)
3/ House Republicans are investigating an FBI lawyer’s contacts with the reporter that broke the dossier story. James Baker communicated with Mother Jones reporter David Corn weeks before the November 2016 election. Corn was the first to report the existence of the dossier on October 31st, but has denied that Baker was the source for his story. Baker was reassigned last week. (Politico)
4/ In a June meeting on immigration, Trump said Haitians “all have AIDS” and complained that Nigerians would never “go back to their huts” in Africa. Sarah Sanders called the report “outrageous.” (New York Times)
5/ A federal judge blocked Trump’s restrictions on reuniting refugee families and partially suspended the ban on refugees coming from 11 mostly Muslim countries. Trump’s October executive order banned entry of spouses and children of refugees who have already settled in the US, known as “follow-to-join” refugees. (Washington Post)
6/ The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the latest version of Trump’s travel ban violates federal law, but will remain in effect anyway. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court issued an order saying the ban can be enforced while challenges to the policy move through the legal system. (CNN)
7/ A federal appeals court rejected Trump’s bid to block the military from accepting transgender recruits starting on January 1st. It was the second appeals court to reject the administration’s policy change. (Reuters)
8/ A federal judge ruled that Trump’s voter fraud commission must give Democrats access to the panel’s records. The group held its last meeting in September and will not meet again this year. The commission is expected to issue a report early next year. (Politico)
9/ The United Nations Security Council placed new sanctions on North Korea, cutting off fuel supplies and ordering North Koreans working overseas to return home. North Korea called the sanctions an act of war. (New York Times / Reuters)
The Trump administration linked financial support for the United Nations to compliance with American demands at least four times in the past week. (New York Times)
10/ Trump told his friends Mar-a-Lago: “You all just got a lot richer.” The comment was in reference to tax reform Trump signed into law hours earlier. (CBS News)
11/ More than 4 in 5 Americans who enrolled in Affordable Care Act health insurance live in states that Trump won. The four states with the highest number of sign-ups – Florida, Texas, North Carolina and Georgia – account for nearly 3.9 million of the 8.8 million consumers who have signed up for coverage. (ABC News)
Notables.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin received a gift-wrapped box full of horse manure. A Christmas card inside the package read, “We’re returning the ‘gift’ of the Christmas tax bill. It’s bullshit,” adding “P.S. - Kiss Donald for me.” (NBC News / AL.com)
Federal prosecutors subpoenaed Deutsche Bank for records related to Jared Kushner’s family real estate business. The bank has lent the family hundreds of millions of dollars. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
The FBI asked Cyprus for financial information about a defunct bank that was used by wealthy Russians with political connections. The FBI’s request appears to be connected to Robert Mueller’s ongoing investigation of Paul Manafort and money that flowed between former Soviet states and the US through Cypriot banks. (The Guardian)
Russian submarines have been prowling around undersea data cables that provide internet to North America and Europe. (Washington Post)
Where is Trump’s Cabinet? It’s anybody’s guess. (Politico)
What happened to Trump’s wall? It’s in pieces, in the desert. (Bloomberg)
WTF Just Happened Today will be back on Tuesday, December 26th. Until then, join me in the community forum to share and discuss what the fuck is going on. ✌️
1/ The House Intelligence Committee asked Steve Bannon and Corey Lewandowski to testify as part of their investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Both were asked to testify in early January as part of a voluntary, closed-door meeting. The committee hasn’t received a response from either Bannon or Lewandowski, yet. (Bloomberg)
2/ Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act into law after cable news networks questioned if he would keep his promise to sign the legislation before Christmas. Trump was initially schedule to sign the bill in early 2018 in order to delay automatic spending cuts and give companies time to adjust to the changes in the new tax code. Instead, Trump called his staff to the Oval Office after seeing the news coverage and said the the legislation needed to be signed “now.” (New York Times / Washington Post)
3/ The Koch brothers network will launch a multimillion-dollar push next year to sell the GOP tax bill, with paid advertising and town halls to educate voters. About one-third of the country supports the tax plan. (Politico)
4/ More than 700 people have left the EPA since Trump took office and most are not being replaced. Of the employees who have left, more than 200 are scientists. (New York Times)
5/ Trump has visited his properties more than 100 times this year. His prolonged holiday visit to Mar-a-Lago will mark the 106th day Trump has visited one of his properties as President. (CNN)
6/ A meeting between Trump and his top advisers turned into a heated exchange over the midterm elections. Corey Lewandowski criticized the Republican National Committee and several White House departments for not raising enough money and not doing enough to support Trump’s agenda. Later, outside the Oval Office, Lewandowski political director Bill Stepien had a “very intense” conversation about the broader political operation that stretched for 10 minutes. (New York Times / Washington Post)
The White House is bracing for a bloodbath in the 2018 midterms, which could eliminate the Republican congressional majorities and stymie Trump’s legislative agenda. (Politico)
7/ Trump’s deputy chief of staff will leave the administration early next year to pursue private-sector work. Rick Dearborn oversaw the White House’s political operation, public outreach, and legislative affairs. (Wall Street Journal)
poll/ 28% of Americans have a positive view of Robert Mueller’s investigation compared to 21% who have a negative view, and 15% who have a neutral view. 36% of those polled have no opinion of Mueller yet. (Wall Street Journal)
Notables.
Trump left the White House without holding an end-of-the-year press conference. It’s the first time in 15 years that a president has opted not to. (CNN)
The Trump administration is considering separating parents from their children when families are caught entering the country illegally. The move is meant to discourage border crossings, but immigrant groups have called it draconian and inhumane. (New York Times)
Carter Page failed his Ph.D. twice and blamed it on “anti-Russian bias.” Examiners called the former Trump foreign policy advisor’s thesis “verbose” and “vague.” (The Guardian)
Nearly $1.5 million in taxpayers’ money has been spent over the past two decades to cover harassment claims across all Senate offices, a report released by the Senate’s Rules and Appropriations committee shows. (CBS News)
1/ Nearly 2 million children will lose health coverage if Congress doesn’t fund the Children’s Health Insurance Program by Friday. CHIP covers 9 million children across the country, but Congress failed to authorize new funding in September. (NBC News)
2/ Current government funding expires at the end of the day Friday. House Republicans are working toward passage of a stripped-down, temporary funding measure to keep the government funded through January 19th. The current plan includes $2.85 billion for the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which lapsed in October. (New York Times)
3/ Two measures intended to stabilize the Affordable Care Act markets were kicked to next year after conservatives in the House said they wouldn’t support the legislation. The inclusion of the ACA fixes as part of the year-end spending deal was a promise Mitch McConnell made to Susan Collins in order to get her vote on tax reform. (Bloomberg / Politico)
4/ Trump won’t sign his “big, beautiful” tax cut before Christmas due to a technical snafu. He will sign the bill on January 3rd so that automatic spending cuts to Medicare and other programs don’t take effect. (Bloomberg)
5/ Trump’s personal tax cut could save him as much as $15 million a year. Jared Kushner could see his tax burden cut by $12 million, while five other members of Trump’s inner circle will see benefits worth as much as $4.5m from changes to the estate tax. (The Guardian)
6/ Democrats tapped a constitutional law expert as their leader on the House Judiciary Committee. Jerry Nadler takes over as the ranking Democrat on the panel following the resignation of John Conyers. The Judiciary Committee would be responsible for initiating impeachment proceedings against Trump if Democrats win back the House in 2018. (Politico / Washington Post)
7/ The White House counsel knew Michael Flynn had probably violated two federal laws in January. Don McGahn learned on December 29, 2016, that Flynn had counseled Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the United States, not to retaliate against economic sanctions imposed by the Obama administration. McGahn then researched federal laws dealing with lying to federal investigators and negotiating with foreign governments. He also warned Trump about Flynn’s possible violations. (Foreign Policy)
January 24th: Flynn lied to the FBI in an interview.
January 27th: Sally Yates told McGahn that Flynn was in a “compromise situation”
January 27th: Trump asked James Comey to pledge his loyalty. He declined.
February 13th: Flynn was fired.
February 14th Trump asked Comey to shutdown the FBI investigation into Flynn.
May 9th: Trump fired Comey.
8/ Jeff Sessions asked the FBI to reexamine evidence in the dormant Uranium One deal. Trump and some Republicans have called the 2010 deal to sell U.S. uranium mining facilities to Russia’s state atomic energy company corrupt, because several people involved had contributed millions of dollars to the Clinton Foundation. Hillary Clinton, however, wasn’t involved in the decision while secretary of state, the State Department official who approved the deal has confirmed. (NBC News)
9/ A secret group of House Republicans has been investigating Justice Department and FBI officials for what they believe is corruption as it relates to the handling of a dossier describing allegations of Trump’s ties to the Kremlin. The group hasn’t informed Democrats about its plans. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said committee rules require cooperation between Republicans and Democrats, but it requires that Paul Ryan enforce them – that hasn’t happened. (Politico)
poll/ 47% of Americans approve of Robert Mueller’s handling of the Russia investigation. 56% say Trump’s comments on the Russia probe have been mostly or completely false. (CNN)
poll/ Voters prefer Democrats by 10 points on a generic 2018 midterm election ballot. The 44% to 34% preference by voters is the party’s largest lead of the year. (Politico)
Notables.
Al Franken will step down on January 2nd following allegations of sexually inappropriate behavior and groping. (Reuters)
The Trump administration has approved the commercial sale of weapons to Ukraine, which will be used by Ukrainian forces fighting a Russian-backed separatist movement. (Washington Post)
The GOP tax bill will open up oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The Congressional Budget Office projects that Alaska and the federal government could make about $1 billion from leases and sales in the area over the next decade. (ABC News)
Russian trolls promoted autocracy and fear during key events in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. They infiltrated the online conversations of millions of Americans on Facebook and Twitter. (NBC News)
The United Nations General Assembly rejected Trump’s unilateral recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. The General Assembly voted 128 to 9, with 35 abstentions, to demand that the US rescind its December 6th declaration on Jerusalem. (The Guardian)
“Fox & Friends” was named the “most influential” show in media because Trump watches it. Trump congratulated the hosts in a tweet: “You deserve it - three great people! The many Fake News Hate Shows should study your formula for success!” (The Hill)
1/ The Republican tax bill passed the Senate in a 51 to 48 vote. No Democrats backed the bill. The House, forced to vote a second time on the $1.5 trillion tax bill, approved it in a 224 to 201 vote. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is expected to head to Trump’s desk in the coming days. (New York Times / Washington Post)
2/ Trump claimed the Republican tax bill “essentially repealed Obamacare.” The bill eliminates the Affordable Care Act‘s individual mandate, but Trump said “we didn’t want to bring it up” until the legislation had passed. (Bloomberg / Talking Points Memo)
3/ Trump criticized the news media for its “demeaning” coverage of tax reform. “The Tax Cuts are so large and so meaningful, and yet the Fake News is working overtime to follow the lead of their friends, the defeated Dems, and only demean,” Trump tweeted, adding: “Jobs, Jobs, Jobs!” (The Hill)
The United States Senate just passed the biggest in history Tax Cut and Reform Bill. Terrible Individual Mandate (ObamaCare)Repealed. Goes to the House tomorrow morning for final vote. If approved, there will be a News Conference at The White House at approximately 1:00 P.M.
The Tax Cuts are so large and so meaningful, and yet the Fake News is working overtime to follow the lead of their friends, the defeated Dems, and only demean. This is truly a case where the results will speak for themselves, starting very soon. Jobs, Jobs, Jobs!
4/ Sarah Huckabee Sanders attributed Trump’s low approval rating to the media’s coverage of him. The tax bill is Trump’s first legislative accomplishment since entering the White House nearly a year ago. Trump’s 35% approval rating is a historic low for a president at this point in their first term. (Washington Post)
5/ Donald Trump Jr. suggested that “people at the highest levels of government” have conspired to block his father’s agenda, saying they “don’t want to let America be America.” He added that the investigations into Russian election meddling and his father’s campaign are evidence of a “rigged system.” Trump Jr. made the comments at a gathering of young conservative activists during an event in West Palm Beach, Florida. (CNN)
6/ Congressional Democrats are stepping back from their pledge to force a vote on DACA by the end of the month. Dozens of Democrats vowed to withhold support for the Republican legislation if the GOP refused to allow a vote on the Dream Act, which would allow roughly 1.2 million immigrants to legally remain in the United States. But a group of Democrats facing reelection in conservative states next year say they aren’t willing to hold the line, which means the party will likely be unable to block the spending bill. (Washington Post)
John Kelly met with a bipartisan group of senators to lay the groundwork for an immigration deal in January. Congressional Republicans and the White House have long said any DACA deal would need to be paired with security and other enforcement measures. (Politico)
7/ Nikki Haley told the United Nations that Trump would be “taking names” of the countries that vote against his recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. In a letter to several countries – including US allies – Haley warned that “the president will be watching this vote carefully and has requested I report back on those countries who voted against us. We will take note of each and every vote on this issue.” (Bloomberg / The Guardian)
poll/ 79% of Americans say they’re frequently stressed out and 41% say they lack the time to do what they want. (Gallup)
poll/ 56% of voters say they’ll vote for a Democrat in the 2018 midterm election. 38% plan to vote for a Republican. (CNN)
poll/ 36% of Americans say they would vote for Trump in 2020. 38% are dead set on voting against Trump and an additional 14% say they’ll probably vote for the Democrat on the ballot. (NBC News)
Notables.
Use of the “angry” button on Facebook by Democrats more than doubled since the presidential election. (Pew)
Paul Ryan called reports of his retirement ~~greatly exaggerated~~ “rank speculation.” It was previously reported that Ryan told confidants that he will not seek another term as speaker and expressed a preference for retiring shortly after next year’s midterm elections. (Politico)
France will ban the production of all oil and gas by 2040. (The Hill)
1/ The House passed tax reform today, but will have to vote again tomorrow after the Senate parliamentarian said three provisions violated the Byrd Rule and would have to be removed from the bill. Senate Republicans plan to vote on the measure tonight with the provisions removed, which would require the House to revote on the measure tomorrow, since both chambers must pass identical bills. The House initially passed the bill in a 227-203 vote with all but 12 Republicans voting for the bill. No Democrats supported it. Trump is expected to sign the Tax Cuts And Jobs Act into law before the end of the week. The bill will add $1.5 trillion to the federal debt over the next decade as it cuts tax rates for corporations, provides new breaks for private businesses, and reorganizes the individual tax code. The legislation also repeals the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate that most Americans buy health insurance coverage or face a fine. (NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post)
What’s in the final Republican tax bill. The legislation would cut taxes for corporations. Taxpayers in large part would receive temporary tax cuts that expire after 2025. (New York Times)
The GOP tax bill will impact large, high-tax, high-cost-of-living cities most by capping the state and local income and property deductions at $10,000. Capping the benefit will potentially expose residents of those areas to a higher tax liability and reduce their property values. (Politico)
Senator Mark Warner called the GOP tax plan “the single worst piece of legislation that I’ve seen.” (CNBC)
2/ The GOP tax bill will lower taxes for 95% of Americans in 2018, but within a decade 53% of Americans will pay more in taxes under the plan with 82.8% of the bill’s benefit going to the top 1%. In 2018, the highest earners on average will receive a larger tax cut than those making less. Those earning between $49,000 and $86,000 will receive an average cut of about $900, or roughly 1%. Those earning more than $733,000 would receive a cut of about $51,000, or roughly 6.9%. (Washington Post / Vox)
3/ Trump’s new campaign slogan is “How’s your 401(k) doing?” More than half of Americans don’t have one. (Bloomberg)
4/ Trump considered rescinding Neil Gorsuch’s nomination after the Supreme Court pick said he found Trump’s repeated attacks on the federal judiciary “disheartening” and “demoralizing.” Trump called the report “FAKE NEWS” on Twitter. (Washington Post)
A story in the @washingtonpost that I was close to “rescinding” the nomination of Justice Gorsuch prior to confirmation is FAKE NEWS. I never even wavered and am very proud of him and the job he is doing as a Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. The unnamed sources don’t exist!
5/ Members of Robert Mueller’s team believe their investigation will continue through 2018. White House lawyers were expected to meet with Mueller later this week in hopes of a sign that Mueller’s focus on Trump is nearing its end. White House lawyers said they’ll cooperate with Mueller despite Trump and his allies have recently accused the Justice Department and FBI of bias and overreach. (Washington Post)
The Senate Banking Committee rejected Trump’s nominee for the Export-Import Bank. Scott Garrett once called the institution “corporate welfare” and tried to have it shut down. (Bloomberg)
Tim Kaine’s request for data on Senate sexual harassment claims was rejected. The Office of Compliance said “confidentiality provisions” means that “the OOC does not possess reliable information regarding the number of sexual harassment claims that have been filed or settled.” (Politico)
The EPA terminated its contract with a GOP opposition research firm after Senate Democrats said Definers Public Affairs’ close ties to the GOP “presents an appearance of impropriety to which you as administrator should never be a party.” (The Hill)
Connecticut will close its health care program for low- and middle-income children on January 31st unless Congress provides new federal funding. Congress let the Children’s Health Insurance Program lapse in September, which provides insurance for nearly 9 million children nationwide. (The Hill)
The Senate Intelligence Committee is looking at Jill Stein for potential “collusion with the Russians.” The Green Party candidate attended a 2015 dinner in Moscow, which was also attended by Michael Flynn. Putin was seated next to Flynn and across the table from Stein. (Washington Post)
Control of the Virginia legislature came down to a single vote with the Republican seat getting flipped Democratic in a 11,608 to 11,607 vote. (Washington Post)
1/ The FBI warned Trump in 2016 that Russia would try to infiltrate his campaign. Both Trump and Hillary Clinton received counterintelligence briefings by senior FBI officials, which advised them to alert the FBI to any “suspicious overtures to their campaigns.” Trump was “briefed and warned” at the session about potential espionage threats from Russia. (NBC News)
2/ Robert Mueller obtained “many tens of thousands” of Trump transition emails, including the emails of Jared Kushner and 11 others. The emails came from the General Services Administration, which hosted the transition email system, and include exchanges about potential appointments, gossip about senators, vulnerabilities of Trump nominees, PR strategies, and policy planning. (Axios)
3/ A lawyer from Trump’s transition team accused Robert Mueller of unlawfully obtaining the emails in a seven-page letter sent to the House and Senate oversight committees. Kory Langhofer argued that the General Services Administration “unlawfully produced” emails which were subject to attorney-client privilege. Peter Carr, a spokesman from Mueller’s office, said: “When we have obtained emails in the course of our ongoing criminal investigation, we have secured either the account owner’s consent or appropriate criminal process.” (Politico / Axios)
4/ Trump said he is not considering firing Robert Mueller, but that “my people” are “very upset” with how Mueller obtained his transition team’s emails and the situation is “not looking good.” Congresswoman Jackie Speier, meanwhile, said “rumors” on Capitol Hill suggest Trump plans to fire Mueller on December 22nd, after Congress leaves Washington for the winter recess. (Washington Post / CNN / KQED)
The cooperation between Trump’s lawyers and Robert Mueller is fracturing. As the investigation has reached deeper into Trump’s inner circle, Trump’s lawyers and supporters have increased their attacks on Mueller. (New York Times)
5/ Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee are trying to wrap up their Russia probe by the end of the year. Democrats have requested as many as 30 additional interviews with new witnesses, but none have been scheduled beyond the end of this month. Some witnesses are scheduled to be interviewed in New York this week, leaving Democrats to choose between attending those depositions or voting on the tax bill coming before the House. (New York Times / NBC News)
6/ Trump has been telling people close to him that he expects Robert Mueller to clear him soon. His allies, meanwhile, are worried he’s not taking the threat of the probe seriously enough. (CNN)
7/ Trump unveiled his “America First” foreign policy, presenting both Russia and China as “revisionist powers” who “want to shape a world antithetical to US values and interests.” Trump’s strategy has four organizing principles: protect the American homeland, protect American prosperity, preserve peace through strength, and advance US influence. Trump attacked past administrations on immigration, the Iran nuclear deal, the Paris climate accord, trade pacts, and more. (Washington Post / CNN)
8/ The Trump administration ordered the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to stop using “diversity,” “fetus,” “transgender,” “vulnerable,” “entitlement,” “science-based,” and “evidence-based” in their 2018 budget documents. “Certain words” in the CDC’s budget drafts have been sent back to the agency for correction. (Washington Post)
9/ Chuck Schumer will force a Senate vote to reinstate the FCC’s net neutrality rules. Congress can overturn an agency by invoking the Congressional Review Act with a simple majority vote, without the possibility of a filibuster. The Republican majority will be 51-49 after Alabama Democrat Doug Jones is sworn in. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said she opposes the net neutrality repeal. (Ars Technica)
poll/ 50% of voters prefer a Democratic-controlled Congress, while 39% want Republicans in charge. Democrats hold a 48-point lead in congressional preference among voters under 35 years old (69% to 21%) and a 20-point lead among female voters (54% to 34%). (NBC News)
Notables.
At least four senators are urging Al Franken to reconsider his resignation, saying the calls for his resignation were a rush to judgment. Franken plans to formally resign in early January. (Politico)
Bob Corker hasn’t read the GOP tax bill, but denied changing his vote in exchange for a provision slipped into the bill that could personally enrich him. (International Business Times)
Witch Hunt at the EPA: Multiple employees have come under scrutiny after speaking out about the agency. Within a matter of days, requests were submitted for copies of their emails that mentioned either Scott Pruitt or Trump, or any communication with Democrats in Congress that might have been critical of the agency. (New York Times)
Puerto Rico ordered a recount of the number of people who have died because of Hurricane Maria. The official death count is 64. A New York Times review suggests that 1,052 more people died than usual in the 42 days after Maria hit. (New York Times)
A federal appeals judge abruptly retired today after 15 women accused him of inappropriate sexual behavior. (Washington Post)
Trump’s judicial nominee withdrew himself from consideration after a video went viral of him failing to answer basic questions about the law during his confirmation hearing. (HuffPost)
Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner are being sued over omissions on their public financial disclosure forms. The two failed to identify the assets owned by 30 investment funds they have stakes in. (Politico)
Putin called Trump to thank him for CIA intelligence that allegedly stopped a planned bombing in St. Petersburg. A readout of the conversation said that Trump appreciated the call and “stressed the importance of intelligence cooperation to defeat terrorists wherever they may be.” (NBC News)
At least six people were killed after an Amtrak train derailed from a bridge onto Interstate 5 near Olympia, Washington. 77 people were sent to hospitals after 13 cars of the 14-car train jumped the tracks. Trump tweeted that train accident “shows more than ever why our soon to be submitted infrastructure plan must be approved quickly.” (Seattle Times)
The train accident that just occurred in DuPont, WA shows more than ever why our soon to be submitted infrastructure plan must be approved quickly. Seven trillion dollars spent in the Middle East while our roads, bridges, tunnels, railways (and more) crumble! Not for long!
Congressional Republicans will try to pass both their tax reform bill and a budget plan by Friday in order to avoid a government shutdown. “GOP leaders hope to hold tax votes early in the week before moving to the budget bill. They need Democrats’ help to pass the budget measure through the Senate, and thus far they have made little progress bringing them aboard amid disagreements over spending levels, protection from deportation for certain undocumented immigrants and a federal health insurance program for low-income children.” (Washington Post)
Eliminates the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate that requires most Americans to buy health insurance or pay a penalty
The estate tax would remain but the exemption from it would be doubled.
The seven individual income tax brackets will remain, but at different rates: 10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35% and 37%.
Latest Senate version will cost $1.5 trillion over 10 years
The child tax credit will double
The standard deduction will increase to $12,000 for an individual or $24,000 for a family
The Senate is expected to vote Monday and House is expected to vote Tuesday
1/ Marco Rubio and Bob Corker will vote “yes” on the GOP tax bill, giving Republicans the votes needed to pass the measure in the Senate. Rubio announced his support after Republican leaders agreed to expand the Child Tax Credit for low and middle-income families. Corker called the bill a “once-in-a-generation opportunity.” Republicans will release the bill’s text today and will vote on it next week. (Politico / New York Times / Washington Post)
For far too long, Washington has ignored and left behind the American working class. Increasing the refundability of the Child Tax Credit from 55% to 70% is a solid step toward broader reforms which are both Pro-Growth and Pro-Worker.
2/ Cambridge Analytica handed over employees’ emails to Robert Mueller’s team as part of the special counsel’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. The firm provided the Trump campaign with data, polling, and research services during the race. The emails had previously been voluntarily turned over to the House Intelligence Committee. (Wall Street Journal)
3/ Trump called the FBI a “shame” shortly before speaking at the FBI’s National Academy. He told the graduating class of law enforcement managers that he has their “back 100%.” Trump promised “to rebuild the FBI” and make it “bigger and better than ever.” He called himself a “true friend and loyal champion” of law enforcement – “more loyal than anyone else can be” – but also said “people are very angry” with the FBI and Justice Department. Last week Trump said the FBI was in “tatters.” (NPR / Axios)
4/ Trump won’t rule out the idea of pardoning Michael Flynn. “I don’t want to talk about pardons with Michael Flynn yet,” Trump told reporters. “We’ll see what happens, let’s see.” (CNN)
5/ Trump’s lawyers will meet with Robert Mueller’s team next week. John Dowd and Jay Sekulow are hoping for signs that Mueller’s investigation is nearing its end, or at least the part that has to do with Trump. The meeting comes after Mueller’s team completed interviews of White House personnel. (CNN)
6/ Jared Kushner’s legal team is trying to hire a crisis public relations firm. Kushner’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, has called at least two firms “to handle the time-consuming incoming inquiries on the cases in which I am working that receive media attention.” (Washington Post)
7/ Trump spoke with Rupert Murdoch “to make sure [he] wasn’t selling Fox News” as part of the Disney deal. He also congratulated Murdoch for the $52.4 billion deal to sell a portion of 21st Century Fox. (CNN / Bloomberg)
Trump spoke with Murdoch ahead of Disney deal to make sure Murdoch wasn’t selling Fox News, person briefed on the call said
8/ One of Trump’s judicial nominees struggled to answer basic questions about the law during his Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing. Matthew Petersen is a member of the Federal Election Commission and a lawyer with no trial experience. During an uncomfortable five minutes of quizzing on the basics of trial procedure by Senator John Neely Kennedy, Petersen said, “I understand the challenge that would be ahead of me.” (Washington Post / NPR)
9/ Funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program lapsed three months ago. CHIP covers 9 million poor and middle-class children with health care. No state has had to kick a child off its CHIP so far, but the Trump administration did send emergency funding to several states to bridge the gaps. (Politico)
9/ A federal judge temporarily blocked Trump’s order allowing employers to opt out of providing contraceptive coverage if they have religious or moral objections. Judge Wendy Beetlestone of the Federal District Court in Philadelphia said the rule contradicts the text of the Affordable Care Act. (New York Times)
poll/ 54% of voters think Robert Mueller’s “relationship” with James Comey represents a conflict of interest because he is “the former head of the FBI and a friend of James Comey.” (Harvard CAPS-Harris)
poll/ 30% of Americans believe the US is heading in the right direction, and 52% think the country is worse off since Trump became president. (Associated Press)
Notables.
The EPA hired an opposition research firm to track and shape press coverage using taxpayer money. Scott Pruitt’s office signed the no-bid $120,000 contract with Definers Corp. (Mother Jones)
Betsy DeVos was hit with two lawsuits in one day over the letting more than 50,000 student debt relief claims pile up. (Washington Post)
Trump Jr. called Ajit Pai “Obama’s FCC chairman” in a tweet attacking the “outrage” over the agency’s repeal of net ‘neutality.’ Obama appointed Pai to the commission. Trump made him chairman. (USA Today)
A Wall Street Journal op-ed urging “everybody calm down about net neutrality” was written by a former Comcast attorney. (The Intercept)
Internet traffic sent to and from Google, Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft was briefly routed through a previously unknown Russian Internet provider on Wednesday. Researchers called it suspicious and intentional. (Ars Technica)
1/ The FCC voted to repeal net neutrality, which required internet service providers to treat all web traffic equally. The measure passed 3-2 with the Republican appointees supporting repeal and the Democratic appointees opposing. 83% of Americans supported the rules that are in place. Internet providers are now free to speed up services for some apps and websites, while blocking or slowing down others. In Ajit Pai’s first 11 months as FCC chairman, he’s lifted media ownership limits, eased caps on how much broadband providers can charge business customers, and cut back on a low-income broadband program that was supposed to be expanded. (Washington Post / New York Times)
In a letter to FCC chairman Ajit Pai, 18 attorneys general asked the commission to delay the net neutrality vote pending an investigation into fake comments. Of the 22 million public comments filed with the FCC, 94% of them “were submitted multiple times, and in some cases those comments were submitted many hundreds of thousands of times.” (The Hill / NPR)
The New York attorney general said the net neutrality public comment process was corrupted by more than two million comments that used stolen identities. Eric Schneiderman called on the FCC to delay the vote and cooperate with his investigation into illegal criminal impersonation under New York law. (New York State Office of the Attorney General)
2/ Trump’s pick to regulate toxic chemicals at the EPA has withdrawn his nomination due to his ties to the chemical industry. Michael Dourson spent decades conducting research that chemical manufacturers used to downplay the risks of hazardous substances. (NBC News)
3/ Paul Ryan is considering retirement. Three dozen fellow lawmakers, congressional and administration aides, conservative intellectuals and Republican lobbyists all said they believe Ryan will leave Congress after the 2018 midterm elections – and possibly even sooner than that. (Politico)
4/ Marco Rubio will vote against the Republicans’ $1.5 trillion tax plan unless it includes a larger expansion of a child tax credit. Republicans control 52 seats in the Senate and need 50 votes in order to pass their bill. Bob Corker already opposes the plan. (Washington Post)
5/ Omarosa Manigault: There “were a lot of things that I observed during the last year that I was very unhappy with” and “made me uncomfortable.” The former “Apprentice” contestant reportedly tried to enter the White House residence after a confrontation yesterday with John Kelly, who told her that her employment in the administration would end on January 20th. Manigault was then escorted off the White House grounds. (ABC News)
6/ Trump’s daily intelligence briefings are often structured to avoid upsetting him. Russia-related intelligence, specifically, is usually only included in the written assessment and not addressed orally. When it is, the CIA analyst leading the briefing will adjust the presentation’s structure in order to soften the impact (Washington Post)
poll/ 53% of voters think Trump should resign over the allegations of sexual harassment. 42% think he should remain in office. 53% of voters believe the women who have accused Trump of harassment compared to 31% who think they aren’t telling the truth. (Public Policy Polling)
Notables.
Congressman Blake Farenthold will not seek re-election following reports that he used taxpayer money to settle a sexual harassment complaint by a former staffer, who was fired after she confronted him about his behavior. (ABC 25)
Kentucky State Rep. Dan Johnson died from a single gunshot wound to the head. He was under investigation for alleged sexual molestation. (WDRB)
A congressional ethics official overseeing the investigations into misconduct by lawmakers is being sued of verbally abusing and physically assaulting women and using his federal position to influence local law enforcement. (Foreign Policy)
Mike Pence delayed his visit to Israel as Congress prepares to vote on tax reform. Republicans hold a 52-48 majority in the Senate and Pence holds the tie-breaking vote. (CNN)
Trump Jr. testified to the Senate Intelligence Committee yesterday, spending nine hours answering questions from the panel. (Reuters)
Lindsey Graham said there is a 30% chance Trump attacks North Korea, because “time is running out.” (The Atlantic)
1/ Democrat Doug Jones beat Republican Roy Moore in the Alabama U.S. Senate race, buoyed by 96% of the African American vote, which represented 29% of overall voter turnout. Jones won 49.9% of the vote to Moore’s 48.4%. The victory cuts the GOP’s Senate majority to 51-49. (New York Times / Bloomberg / Washington Post)
2/ Roy Moore hasn’t conceded the race, saying he will “wait on God and let this process play out.” The Alabama Republican Party said it would not support Moore’s push for a recount. Moore trails Jones by more than 20,000 votes. (USA Today / Washington Post)
3/ Trump tweets: “I was right” that Roy Moore would “not be able to win” in Alabama because “the deck was stacked against him!” Trump, however, endorsed Moore after his preferred candidate, Luther Strange, lost in the primary, recording a robocall on Moore’s behalf, and holding a campaign-style rally just across the state line in Florida last week. (CNN / Politico / New York Times)
The reason I originally endorsed Luther Strange (and his numbers went up mightily), is that I said Roy Moore will not be able to win the General Election. I was right! Roy worked hard but the deck was stacked against him!
Congratulations to Doug Jones on a hard fought victory. The write-in votes played a very big factor, but a win is a win. The people of Alabama are great, and the Republicans will have another shot at this seat in a very short period of time. It never ends!
4/ Senate Democrats called on Republicans to wait until Doug Jones is seated to vote on the tax bill. GOP lawmakers expect the two chambers to reach a deal in the coming days with a final vote early next week. The soonest Jones could be seated is December 26th or 27th. The Senate passed the tax bill early this month by a 51 to 49 margin. (Washington Post)
5/ House and Senate Republicans reached an agreement on their joint tax bill. The House and Senate are expected to vote next week. The agreement would set the top individual tax rate at 37%, down from today’s 39.6%. The corporate rate would drop to 21% from 37% and would take effect in 2018, rather than 2019. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post)
6/ Trump pulled two of his judicial nominees after the Senate Judiciary Committee said the candidates would not be confirmed. Earlier this week Chuck Grassley urged the White House to withdraw the nominations of Brett Talley, who has never tried a case, and to reconsider Jeff Mateer, who has called transgender children part of “Satan’s plan.” (Politico / Washington Post)
7/ Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein defended Robert Mueller’s investigation during a House Judiciary Committee hearing, saying he hasn’t seen “good cause” to fire Mueller. Republicans used the hearing to raise doubts about Mueller’s motives after it was discovered that an FBI agent assigned to the investigation sent anti-Trump texts to another FBI official during the Hillary Clinton email investigation. Peter Strzok was removed from the investigation after the texts were discovered. Republicans want a second special counsel to be appointed to investigate how the FBI handled the Clinton investigation. (Bloomberg / CBS News)
The Justice Department gave the House Judiciary Committee Peter Strzok’s text message conversations with FBI lawyer Lisa Page. Among many other comments, the two called Trump a “a loathsome human,” “an idiot,” and an “enormous d*uche.” (Washington Post)
poll/ 50% of voters think the sexual misconduct allegations against Trump are credible, while 29% don’t think they’re credible and 21% are not sure if they’re credible. (Politico)
poll/ 56% of voters disapprove of Trump’s job performance while 32% approve. (Monmouth University)
Notables.
USA Today editorial called Trump unfit to clean toilets in Obama’s presidential library. Trump tweeted that “more than 90% of Fake News Media coverage of me is negative.” (USA Today)
Trump Jr. asked the House Intelligence Committee to investigate the leaked information from his closed-door interview with the committee last week. (New York Times)
Chuck Schumer was the victim of a fake news hit and turned over to Capitol Police a document purporting sexual harassment accusations by a former staffer. (Axios)
John McCain is in the hospital for treatment related to his cancer therapy. McCain was diagnosed with glioblastoma in July, an aggressive form of brain cancer. (The Hill)
Omarosa Manigault Newman plans to leave the White House next month. (CNN)
The Federal Reserve increased interest rates and raised their forecast for economic growth in 2018. (Bloomberg)
Minnesota governor Mark Dayton appointed Lt. Gov. Tina F. Smith to fill Al Franken’s seat in the U.S. Senate. Smith would become the 22nd woman to serve in the Senate. (Washington Post)
1/ Alabama voters head to the polls today. Republican candidate Roy Moore, supported by Trump, has been accused of pursuing teenage girls while in his mid-30s, with one woman accusing him of sexual assault when she was 14. If Democrat Doug Jones wins, Republicans would have their majority trimmed to 51-49 in the Senate. Polls close today at 8pm ET. (NBC News)
UPDATE:
Democrat Doug Jones won Alabama’s special U.S. Senate election, beating Republican Roy Moore and narrowing the GOP advantage in the Senate to 51-49. (Associated Press / New York Times / Washington Post)
5 things to watch for in the Alabama Senate election. Doug Jones’ chances hinge on African-American turnout and college-educated crossover voters, while Roy Moore is banking on an animated conservative base. (Politico)
No one knows what will happen in Alabama. Today’s special election is forcing pollsters to confront just about every major challenge in survey research. (New York Times)
2/ Roy Moore’s wife argued that her husband is not a bigot because “one of our attorneys is a Jew.” At a Monday night campaign rally, Kayla Moore said: “Fake news would tell you that we don’t care for Jews. And I tell you all this because I’ve seen it and I just want to set the record straight while they’re here. One of our attorneys is a Jew.” Her comments came a week after Roy Moore attacked George Soros, the Jewish liberal mega-donor, saying Soros “is going to the same place that people who don’t recognize God and morality and accept his salvation are going.” (CNN)
Roy Moore’s wife Kayla: “Fake news will tell you that we don’t care for Jews. One of our attorneys is a Jew!” #ALsen
3/ The Alabama Supreme Court blocked a circuit judge’s order to preserve voting records from today’s special election. On Monday, a circuit judge ordered election officials to set voting machines to save all digital ballot images in order to preserve voting records in the event of a recount. Today, the state’s Supreme Court stayed the order, meaning Alabama is allowed to destroy digital voting records. (The Hill / AL.com)
4/ 56 female Democratic lawmakers asked the House Oversight Committee to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct against Trump, who has denied the accusations. “At least 17 women have publicly accused the President of sexual misconduct,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter. In response, Trump tweeted that these are “false accusations and fabricated stories of women who I don’t know and/or have never met. FAKE NEWS!” (NBC News / Reuters)
Despite thousands of hours wasted and many millions of dollars spent, the Democrats have been unable to show any collusion with Russia - so now they are moving on to the false accusations and fabricated stories of women who I don’t know and/or have never met. FAKE NEWS!
Videos and photos shows Trump with some of the women who have accused him of sexual misconduct after he said his accusers are “women who I don’t know and/or have never met.” (The Hill)
5/ Trump implied that Kirsten Gillibrand would do anything for money in a sexually suggestive tweet in which he called her a “lightweight” and accused her of “begging” for campaign contributions. Gillibrand called Trump’s tweet a “sexist smear” meant to silence her and those who have accused him of sexual misconduct, while Elizabeth Warren accused Trump of trying to “slut-shame” the senator. Yesterday, Gillibrand called on Trump to resign. (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News)
Lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a total flunky for Chuck Schumer and someone who would come to my office “begging” for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them), is now in the ring fighting against Trump. Very disloyal to Bill & Crooked-USED!
You cannot silence me or the millions of women who have gotten off the sidelines to speak out about the unfitness and shame you have brought to the Oval Office. https://t.co/UbQZqubXZv
A sixth senator called on Trump to resign amid renewed attention to past allegations of sexual harassment and assault. Mazie Hirono called Trump a “misogynist,” an “admitted sexual predator,” and a “liar” with a “narcissistic need for attention.” She said “nobody’s safe” from him and the only thing that will stop him is his resignation. (Politico)
Here’s Sen. Hirono calling for POTUS to resign amid resurfaced sexual harassment claims: pic.twitter.com/tFJ0nrNyht
The list of women who have accused Trump of touching them inappropriately touching or kissing them without their permission. (Washington Post)
6/ Trump was “infuriated” by Nikki Haley’s comment that the women who have accused him of sexual harassment “should be heard.” Trump has grown increasingly angry that the accusations against him have resurfaced, telling people close to him that the allegations are false. (Associated Press)
7/ Rex Tillerson told diplomats that Russia “interfered in democratic processes here,” something Trump continues to call “fake news” intended to delegitimize his presidency. The comment came in a closed-door meeting with US diplomats where Tillerson also praised Trump for trying to focus on “productive engagement” with Russia. (The Daily Beast)
poll/ 61% of voters think the Senate should expel Roy Moore if he wins the special election in Alabama, including 77% of Democrats, 59% of independents, and 45% of Republicans. (Politico)
poll/ 58% of Americans believe the level of government corruption has risen in the past 12 months. 44% now believe that most or all of the officials in the White House are corrupt – up from 36% last year. (Newsweek)
poll/ 57% of Americans disapprove of Trump’s job performance, compared to 37% who approve. (Quinnipiac)
Notables.
Sean Spicer is writing a book to “set the record straight” about what he says happened during the 2016 election, transition and his time serving in the administration. (CNN)
Trump’s lawyers want a second special counsel appointed, because they believe the Justice Department and the FBI are to blame for the “witch hunt” – not Robert Mueller and his investigation. (Axios)
Trump’s legal team is trying to protect him from Robert Mueller’s “killers” in the Russia probe, while facing criticism that they are outmatched. (Washington Post)
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman asked Trump to rethink two of his judicial nominees. Chuck Grassley advised the White House to “reconsider” the nomination of Jeff Mateer and said they “should not proceed” on the nomination of Brett Talley. (CNN)
The Trump administration will let Assad stay until Syria’s next Presidential election in 2021, reversing the US stance that Assad must step down as part of a peace process. (The New Yorker)
The House and Senate could reconcile their tax bills this week. An announcement could come as soon as today or Wednesday. The conference committee is scheduled to meet Wednesday at 2pm. (Washington Post)
1/ Three women who previously accused Trump of sexual harassment called for Congress to investigate the allegations. Jessica Leeds, Samantha Holvey, and Rachel Crooks said that “a non-partisan investigation is important not just for him but for anybody that has allegations against them, this isn’t a partisan issue, this is how women are treated everyday.” The White House called the accusations false and “totally disputed in most cases,” adding that “the timing and absurdity of these false claims speak volumes.” (CBS News / Washington Post / USA Today)
How Trump came around to support an accused child molester: He doesn’t believe the claims leveled by Roy Moore’s accusers. Who were these women, he asked, and why had they kept quiet for 40 years only to level charges weeks before an election? (Politico)
2/ Nikki Haley: The women who’ve accused Trump of sexual harassment “should be heard,” breaking from the administration’s assertion that the allegations are false. The US ambassador to the United Nations argued that Trump’s accusers should be treated no differently than the other women who have come forward recently with stories of sexual harassment and misconduct against other men. (New York Times)
3/ Democratic senators called for Trump’s resignation over sexual harassment and assault accusations against him. Bernie Sanders, Cory Booker, and Jeff Merkley suggested that the standard that brought down Al Franken should be applied to Trump. Kirsten Gillibrand added: “Trump has committed assault” and “he should be fully investigated and he should resign.” (Washington Post / CNN)
We have a president who acknowledged on tape that he assaulted women. I would hope that he pays attention to what's going on and think about resigning.
4/ Obama called on Alabama voters to reject Roy Moore. “This one’s serious,” Obama said in a recorded message intended for black voters whose turnout is critical for Democratic candidate Doug Jones. “You can’t sit it out.” Multiple women have accused Moore of pursuing relationships with them when they were teenagers while he was in his 30s, and one woman has accused him of sexual assault. (CNN)
A Nebraska Republican National Committeewoman resigned in protest of the committee’s financial support for Roy Moore. (Politico)
5/ Adam Schiff called the evidence of coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia is “pretty damning.” The ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee said: “The Russians offered help. The campaign accepted help. The Russians gave help. And the president made full use of that help.” (The Hill)
6/ Robert Mueller’s investigators are focused on an 18-day timeline related to possible obstruction of justice by Trump. Sally Yates testified that she told White House Counsel Don McGahn on January 26th that Michael Flynn had lied to senior members of the Trump team about his conversations with Russia’s ambassador, Sergey Kislyak. Possible obstruction of justice hinges on when Trump knew about Flynn’s conversations with Russia’s ambassador during the transition and when he learned that Flynn had lied about those conversations to the FBI. Trump fired Flynn on February 13th, saying he did so because he had misled Pence. Mueller is trying to determine why Flynn remained in his job for 18 days after Trump learned of Yates’ warning, and is interested in whether Trump directed him to lie to senior officials. (NBC News)
Steve Bannon’s name has surfaced a handful of times in the special counsel and congressional investigations of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Bannon was a key bystander when Trump decided to fire Michael Flynn, and was among those who Trump consulted before firing James Comey. (Politico)
7/ The Treasury Department admits the GOP tax plan won’t pay for itself through increased economic growth. The one-page analysis says “a combination of regulatory reform, infrastructure development, and welfare reform” is needed to offset the cost of the tax plan. (Politico / Axios)
poll/ 50% of Alabama voters support Democrat Doug Jones. 40% support Roy Moore. (Fox News)
poll/ 32% of Americans support the GOP tax plan - the lowest level of public support for any major piece of legislation enacted in the past three decades. 53% say it won’t help the economy in a major way. (USA Today)
Notables.
Four people were injured in an explosion in the passageway connecting the Times Square and Port Authority subway stations. A suspect is in custody. Mayor Bill de Blasio called the blast an “attempted terrorist attack.” (New York Times)
The Supreme Court refused to hear a case challenging sex discrimination protections in employment and whether they extend to sexual orientation. (The Hill)
A federal judge denied Trump’s request to delay accepting transgender recruits, who will now be able to enlist by January 1st. (Washington Post)
Police shoot Americans more than twice as often as previously known, according to data from the 50 largest local police departments. (Vice News)
Putin ordered the partial withdrawal of Russian troops from Syria. Putin made a similar withdrawal announcement last year, but Russian military operations continued. (BBC)
Inside Trump’s battle for self-preservation. tl;dr Twitter, cable news, and a dozen Diet Cokes. (New York Times)
The Trump administration is taking credit for killing 469 regulatory actions. 42% were already dead. (Bloomberg)
Macron will award US climate scientists with “Make Our Planet Great Again” grants to conduct research in France for the remainder of Trump’s current presidential term, totaling about $70 million. (ABC News)
1/ Trump, Trump Jr., and members of the Trump Organization received an email during the campaign with the decryption key needed to open the hacked DNC documents that WikiLeaks had posted two months earlier. WikiLeaks contacted Trump Jr. directly on Twitter about the campaign a few weeks after the September 14th email was sent by somebody named Mike Erickson. WikiLeaks began leaking the contents of John Podesta’s hacked emails a month later. Trump Jr. told investigators he had no recollection of the email. (CNN / Washington Post)
WIKILEAKS: Hillary Clinton Sent THOUSANDS of Classified Cables Marked “(C)” for Confidential https://t.co/RzMaW1uN0x via gatewaypundit
2/ Russian operatives tried to make contact with Hope Hicks at least twice since Trump took office and after US intelligence agencies publicly accused Moscow of trying to influence the presidential election. Hicks is one of Trump’s top advisers and there is no evidence that Hicks did anything wrong. The FBI gave Hicks the names of the Russians who had contacted her, and said that they were not who they claimed to be. Hicks met with Robert Mueller’s investigators this week as part of the investigation into Russia’s efforts to influence the 2016 election. (New York Times)
3/ Trump offered a second endorsement of Roy Moore, the Republican Senate candidate accused of sexual assault and misconduct by several women. Trump tweeted that Alabama voters should keep the Senate seat under GOP control and away from Democrat Doug Jones, a “Pelosi/Schumer puppet.” Moore has a history of saying controversial things. He’s argued that slavery was the last time America was great and that homosexuality should be illegal; he also doesn’t believe that Obama was born in the United States, and he blames drive-by shootings on teaching evolution. (Politico / Washington Post)
LAST thing the Make America Great Again Agenda needs is a Liberal Democrat in Senate where we have so little margin for victory already. The Pelosi/Schumer Puppet Jones would vote against us 100% of the time. He’s bad on Crime, Life, Border, Vets, Guns & Military. VOTE ROY MOORE!
4/ Arizona Rep. Trent Franks allegedly approached two female staffers about acting as a potential pregnancy surrogate. Aides, however, were concerned that Franks was asking about impregnating them through sexual intercourse, rather than through in vitro fertilization. One woman said she was the subject of retribution after rebuffing Franks and that he allegedly offered her $5 million to act as a surrogate. The eight-term Arizona lawmaker abruptly resigned today after Paul Ryan told Franks that he would refer the allegations to the Ethics Committee. (Politico / Associated Press)
5/ Trump won’t speak at the opening of the Civil Rights Museum after civil rights leaders said they would boycott the event in Jackson, Mississippi because of the president’s participation. (NBC News)
6/ Trump’s deputy national security adviser plans to leave the White House after the president’s first year in office. Dina Powell has been behind the Trump administration’s Middle East policy and is leaving on her own terms. Powell will continue to advise the administration on Middle East policy from outside the government. National security adviser H.R. McMaster called Powell “one of the most talented and effective leaders with whom I have ever served.” (Washington Post)
7/ Susan Collins could change her vote on the final version of the GOP tax reform bill if the Senate doesn’t pass a pair of bills to stabilize the Affordable Care Act‘s health insurance markets and resuming cost-sharing subsidy payments to insurers, which Trump stopped in October. Mitch McConnell made Collins an “ironclad commitment” in exchange for her initial vote. House Republicans, however, have signaled that they don’t intend to take up health care before the end of the year. Additionally, Collins added two amendments to the Senate bill that would allow taxpayers to deduct property taxes and lower the threshold for tax deductions for medical expenses, which House Republicans had previously voted to eliminate entirely. (Politico / The Hill)
poll/ 32% of the Americans approve of the way Trump is handling his job as president, while 63% disapprove. (Pew Research Center)
Notables.
The American economy added 228,000 jobs last month. Unemployment remained unchanged at 4.1%. (New York Times)
Trump didn’t invite Democratic lawmakers to the White House Hanukkah party, injecting a partisan tinge into a normally bipartisan celebration. (New York Times)
Trump withdrew an Obama-era proposal requiring airlines and ticket agencies to disclose baggage fees as soon as passengers start the process of buying a ticket. (The Hill)
The official death toll in Puerto Rico is 62, but the actual deaths may be as high as 1,052. (New York Times)
Moving the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem “is not something that is going to happen this year, probably not next year,” Rex Tillerson said. (CNN)
The Justice Department investigating Planned Parenthood for the transfer of fetal tissue, picking up where several Republican-led inquiries in Congress had dropped off last year. (New York Times)
1/ Trump Jr. cited attorney-client privilege and refused to discuss a phone call he had with his father about how to handle the fallout from his June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower with a Russian lawyer. He told the House Intelligence Committee that a lawyer was in the room during the call. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the committee, told reporters: “I don’t believe you can shield communications between individuals merely by having an attorney present,” adding “that’s not the purpose of attorney-client privilege” and that “the presence of counsel does not make communications between father and son a privilege.” (Politico / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
Background
Trump Jr.‘s initial response was that the meeting focused on the issue of adoption. It was later revealed that Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort also attended the meeting after receiving an email stating that a Russian government lawyer would provide incriminating facts about Hillary Clinton as “part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.” No damaging information was delivered.
2/ World leaders called Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel a “dangerous” and an “irresponsible and unwarranted step.” White House officials acknowledged that the move could temporarily derail the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Several advisers said Trump didn’t seem to have a full understanding of the issue and was focused on simply “seeming pro-Israel” and “making a deal.” Israel, meanwhile, thanked Trump for his “courageous and just” decision. (NBC News / CNN / Washington Post)
3/ The House passed a two-week stopgap spending bill. The measure would fund the government through December 22nd, but still needs to be approved by the Senate and Trump by Friday at midnight in order to avoid a government shutdown. The legislation passed in a 235-193 vote. Fourteen Democrats voted for the measure and 18 Republicans voted “no.” (New York Times / Politico)
4/ Al Franken announced his resignation from the Senate. The announcement comes a day after nearly all of the Senate’s Democratic women called for Franken to resign following the report of a sixth woman who charged that he had made an improper advance. Franken told colleagues: “I of all people am aware that there is some irony in the fact that I am leaving while a man who has bragged on tape about his history of sexual assault sits in the Oval Office, and a man who has repeatedly preyed on young girls campaigns for the Senate with the full support of his party.” (New York Times / Washington Post)
Paul Ryan called on Roy Moore to drop out of Alabama US Senate race over allegations of sexual assault and misconduct. (The Hill)
Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump treats women with the “highest level of respect” after Al Franken said it’s ironic that he is resigning from the Senate while Trump has “bragged on tape about his history of sexual assault” yet remains in office. (The Hill)
poll/ 70% of Americans think Congress should investigate sexual harassment allegations against Trump. 63% disapprove of the way Trump is handling sexual harassment and sexual assault. (Quinnipiac)
poll/ 59% of Americans think the Trump team “definitely” or “probably” had improper contacts with Russia during last year’s presidential campaign. 56% are very or somewhat confident Robert Mueller will conduct his probe fairly. (Pew Research Center)
poll/ 53% of Americans disapprove of the Republican tax plan, 41% expect their taxes to go up, and most expect businesses (76%) and wealthy Americans (69%) to benefit the most. 64% of Republicans think the GOP tax plan shows that Trump is keeping a campaign promise. (CBS News)
Notables.
FBI Director Christopher Wray defended the bureau’s integrity during his House Judiciary Committee testimony three days after Trump tweeted that the bureau’s reputation is “in tatters.” (Washington Post / Politico)
The British publicist who arranged the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting encouraged Dan Scavino to make a page for candidate Trump on the Russian social networking site VK, telling him that “Don and Paul” were on board with the idea. Don and Paul, of course, refer to Donald Trump Jr. and Paul Manafort. The previously undisclosed emails from Rob Goldstone to a Russian participant and a member of Trump’s inner circle later that summer raise new questions for congressional investigators about what was discussed at the meeting. Scavino is now the White House director of social media. (CNN)
The House approved a bill that would ease restrictions on carrying concealed firearms across state lines. The bill, which was supported by the National Rifle Association, now goes to the Senate, where it is likely to encounter a much tougher battle. (NPR)
Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee put KT McFarland’s nomination on hold until she answers questions about her knowledge of communications between Michael Flynn and Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. (CNN)
Devin Nunes met with Blackwater founder Erik Prince earlier this year despite his recusal from the Russia probe. Nunes discussed with Prince the House Intelligence Committee’s investigation into the unmasking of Americans’ identities in intelligence reports. (Business Insider)
Representative Trent Franks is expected to resign from Congress. It’s unclear why Franks is stepping down, but one Arizona Republican said there had been rumors of inappropriate behavior. (Roll Call)
The Senate voted to begin the process of reconciling its tax bill with the House version, though several big issues, including the size of the corporate tax cut, remain. (New York Times)
Trump will undergo a physical examination early next year and allow doctors to release details of his medical evaluation. (CNN)
1/ Michael Flynn promised that sanctions against Russia would be “ripped up” as one of the Trump administration’s first acts, according to a whistleblower. Flynn worked with Russia until June 2016 on a business venture to build nuclear power plants in the Middle East. Ending the sanctions would have allowed the project to move forward. During Trump’s inaugural address, Flynn sent the whistleblower a text message directing him to tell those involved in the nuclear project to continue developing their plans and that the project was “good to go.” The whistleblower approached the House Oversight Committee in June, but Robert Mueller’s investigators asked him to “hold on the public release of this information until they completed certain investigative steps.” (New York Times / Politico / CNN)
2/ Trump Jr. met with the House Intelligence Committee behind closed doors today. He told the committee that he spoke with Hope Hicks – not his father – about how to respond to news reports of his June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower. While aboard Air Force One, Trump helped write Trump Jr.’s initial response, which was sent through the Trump Organization under Trump Jr.’s name. The voluntary appearance is Trump Jr.’s first face-to-face meeting with Congress since Robert Mueller charged Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, George Papadopoulos, and Rick Gates. Trump Jr. met with the Senate Judiciary Committee in September. He is expected to meet with the Senate Intelligence Committee soon, although a date has not been set. (CNN / Bloomberg / ABC News)
3/ Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya told the Senate Judiciary Committee that Trump Jr. asked her for evidence of illegal donations to the Clinton Foundation during the June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower. Veselnitskaya said she told Trump Jr. that she didn’t have any meaningful information about the Clintons, at which point Trump Jr. lost interest and the meeting fizzled out. Veselnitskaya said that she wasn’t working for the Russian government and that her motivation for contacting the Trump campaign was to convince them to reexamine the incident that led to the Magnitsky Act. (NBC News)
4/ Trump’s voter fraud commission wants to create a centralized voter database. The commission intends to aggregate the names, addresses, party affiliation, and partial social security numbers of millions of American voters in a central location, which more than a half-dozen technology experts and former national security officials say could become a target for hackers. Rules defining who can access the database and how it should be protected have not been established. (Washington Post)
5/ The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reversed its position on a nearly concluded case less than 48 hours after Mick Mulvaney was named acting director. Lawyers withdrew their earlier brief and said they would no longer take a position on whether Nationwide should pay $8 million in penalties for misleading more than 100,000 mortgage customers. Mulvaney has also stopped approval of some payments to some victims of financial crime, halted hiring, and ordered a review of active investigations and lawsuits. (New York Times)
6/ The wealthiest 1% of American households own 40% of the country’s total wealth, up nearly three percentage points since 2013 and the highest percentage since 1962. As a result, the top 1% of households now own more wealth than the bottom 90% combined. (Washington Post)
7/ Trump said a government shutdown “could happen,” blaming Democrats for derailing the budget process. Democrats are vowing to vote against spending legislation if it doesn’t address so-called “Dreamers,” who may lose their ability to live and work in the US after Trump’s decision to end DACA. They also want the spending bill to include parity for defense and non-defense programs. The House Freedom Caucus, meanwhile, said they won’t support the funding bill if it includes increases in non-defense spending or deportation relief for Dreamers. The government is scheduled to run out of funding on Friday. (Politico / The Hill / Business Insider)
poll/ 63% of voters want Congress to avoid shutting down the federal government in order to enact policy changes. 18% of voters said members of Congress should allow a temporary government shutdown if it helps them achieve their policy goals. (Politico)
Notables.
A House vote to impeach Trump overwhelmingly failed as Democrats joined Republicans in a 364-58 vote to sideline the measure. (Politico)
Experts find the GOP tax plan riddled with bugs, loopholes, and other potential problems. Some provisions are so vaguely written that one expert asked, “holy crap, what’s this?” (Politico)
The Senate confirmed Kirstjen Nielsen as the next secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Nielsen was previously John Kelly’s chief of staff at DHS. (Washington Post)
Illegal border crossings along the Mexico border drop to their lowest level in 46 years. Border agents made 310,531 arrests, a decline of 24% from the previous year and the fewest overall since 1971. (Washington Post)
The Supreme Court appeared divided over a Colorado baker’s refusal to design a wedding cake for a same-sex couple. Justice Kennedy will likely cast the deciding vote. (USA Today)
Germany’s acting foreign minister said relations between the US and Germany “will never be the same” after Trump and that the Trump administration looks at Europe as a “competitor or economic rival” instead of as an ally. (New York Times)
Britain’s intelligence agency MI5 foiled a terrorist plot to assassinate Prime Minister Theresa May. Two men have been charged in connection with a plot to use improvised explosives to blow up the gate to the prime minister’s residence and kill May in the chaos. (NPR)
Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, reversing nearly seven decades of American foreign policy. The US Embassy in Tel Aviv will move to Jerusalem. (New York Times)
Kellyanne Conway defended Trump’s endorsement of Republican Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore, saying “president has tremendous moral standards.” (The Hill)
Senate Democrats called on Al Franken to resign amid more allegations of sexual harassment after a sixth woman came forward to charge that the Minnesota Democrat had sexually harassed her. (Washington Post / New York Times)
1/ Robert Mueller issued a subpoena for the banking records of people affiliated with Trump. The move forced Deutsche Bank – Trump’s biggest lender – to turn over documents related to certain credit transactions and the $300 million Trump owes the lender. Legal experts said it showed Mueller was “following the money” in search of links between the campaign and the Kremlin since Deutsche Bank may have sold some of Trump’s mortgage or loans to Russian-owned banks, which could potentially give Russia leverage over Trump. Jay Sekulow, one of Trump’s personal lawyers, denied that a subpoena had been issued. Since 1998, Deutsche has helped loan at least $2.5 billion to companies affiliated with Trump, which he used to build or purchase highest-profile projects in Washington, New York, Chicago and Florida. (The Guardian / Bloomberg / Reuters / Wall Street Journal)
Trump Jr. asked if the Russian lawyer had evidence of illegal donations to the Clinton Foundation during the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting. Natalia Veselnitskaya told the Senate Judiciary Committee that Trump Jr. lost interest after she said she did not have meaningful information about Clinton. (NBC News)
2/ Paul Manafort was ghostwriting an op-ed with a longtime colleague “based in Russia and assessed to have ties to a Russian intelligence service” while out on bail last month. The editorial was related to Manafort’s political work for Ukraine. Robert Mueller’s investigators argue that Manafort’s $10 million unsecured bail agreement should be revisited because it was written while he was on house arrest facing several felony charges, which would have violated a court order to not publicly discuss the case and “casts doubt on Manafort’s willingness to comply with court orders.” If the court sides with Mueller, Manafort could remain under house arrest until his trial sometime next year. (New York Times / The Guardian / Washington Post / Associated Press)
3/ Trump’s former deputy national security advisor may have contradicted herself during Senate testimony about Michael Flynn’s contacts with then-Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. In July, K.T. McFarland told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that she did not discuss or have any knowledge of Flynn’s contact with Kislyak. A December 29th email exchange, however, shows McFarland wrote a colleague that Flynn would be speaking with Kislyak later that day. (New York Times)
4/ House Republicans are prepared to block the legislative promises Mitch McConnell made to Susan Collins and Jeff Flake in exchange for their votes on the Senate bill. Collins and Flake were assured the Senate would consider legislation to offset the negative effects from repealing the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate, as well as permanent protections for so-called “Dreamers.” A conservative bloc in the House sharply opposes both measures. (The Daily Beast)
Senate Republicans accidentally stripped from their tax bill research and development tax credits companies use to encourage innovation. The change gave money for lawmakers’ other priorities, but could force many companies to lose tax breaks the bill’s authors intended to protect. (Wall Street Journal)
5/ Trump is considering plans to create a global, private spy network to circumvent the US intelligence agencies to counter the alleged “deep state” in the intelligence community, which he believes is attempting to undermine his presidency. Blackwater founder Erik Prince and a retired CIA officer submitted proposals to CIA Director Mike Pompeo and the White House to utilize an army of spies that report directly Trump and Pompeo. The intelligence gathered would not be shared with the rest of the CIA or the larger intelligence community. (The Intercept / BuzzFeed News)
6/ The Republican National Committee resumed its financial support of Alabama GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore after Trump endorsed Moore yesterday. The RNC initially cut ties with Moore after at least five women accused him of sexual assault and unwanted sexual advances as teenage girls decades ago. A senior RNC official said: “The RNC is the political arm of the president and we support the President.” (CNN)
poll/ Roy Moore trails Doug Jones by 4 points in the Alabama U.S. Senate race. 44% of voters support Moore, while 48% support Jones. (The Hill)
poll/ 64% of Americans believe the Republican tax plan will benefit the wealthy the most and 53% disapprove of the plan. 61% say the tax plan favors the rich at the expense of the middle class. (Quinnipiac)
poll/ 31% of Republicans want somebody other than Trump to be the GOP nominee in the next presidential election, while 63% are content with Trump running for reelection. (NBC News)
poll/ 15% of Americans say they approve of Trump and that “there is almost nothing he could do to lose their support.” 33%, meanwhile, say that they disapprove of Trump and that “there is almost nothing he could do to win their support.” (NPR)
Notables.
Representative John Conyers will retire from Congress today amid allegations of sexual misconduct leveled by multiple women. (NPR)
Obama had three of the top 10 most retweeted posts of 2017. None of Trump’s tweets from 2017 were among the top 10 most retweeted. (Politico)
Pence’s aides maintain he doesn’t know anything about Russia and the Trump campaign. (Politico)
Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation has cost at least $3.2 million so far. Other Justice Department agencies spent an additional $3.5 million to support the investigation. (USA Today)
FEMA employees who worked too much may have to repay some of their overtime. FEMA said the year of hurricanes, wildfires, and other disasters may force it to claw back employee compensation when it hits an annual pay cap. (Bloomberg)
Patagonia will sue Trump for shrinking two national monuments in Utah, saying “the president stole your land.” (CNN Money)
Germany sees Trump as a bigger challenge than North Korea or Russia. (Reuters)
Trump will recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, despite Arab and European leaders warning that the move could derail the security and stability in the region. (New York Times)
1/ Trump tweeted that he fired Michael Flynn because he lied to the FBI about his conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the presidential transition last December. “I had to fire General Flynn because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI. He has pled guilty to those lies,” Trump tweeted. (New York Times)
2/ Legal experts said Trump’s tweet is a public admission that he knew Michael Flynn had lied to the FBI, which is possible motivation to obstruct justice. In January, White House counsel Donald McGahn told Trump he believed then-national security adviser Flynn had misled the FBI and lied to Pence, and should be fired. Trump ultimately fired Flynn on February 13th. A day later, Trump asked if then-FBI Director James Comey could see “his way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go,” according to notes Comey kept. Trump then fired Comey in May. (Politico / CNN / Washington Post)
I had to fire General Flynn because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI. He has pled guilty to those lies. It is a shame because his actions during the transition were lawful. There was nothing to hide!
So General Flynn lies to the FBI and his life is destroyed, while Crooked Hillary Clinton, on that now famous FBI holiday “interrogation” with no swearing in and no recording, lies many times...and nothing happens to her? Rigged system, or just a double standard?
Emails dispute White House claims that Michael Flynn acted independently in his discussions with Russia during the presidential transition and then lied to his colleagues about the interactions. (New York Times)
A conservative operative offered the Trump campaign a “Kremlin Connect” by using an NRA convention to make “first contact.” Russia, Paul Erickson wrote, was “quietly but actively seeking a dialogue with the U.S.” (New York Times)
3/ Trump’s lawyer said he wrote the tweet about firing Flynn. John Dowd said he gave the “sloppy” tweet draft to Trump’s social media director Dan Scavino. The White House has insisted that Trump’s tweets should be taken as official statements. (ABC News)
4/ John Dowd claimed Trump “cannot obstruct justice,” because he’s responsible for the enforcement of the laws created by Congress and “has every right to express his view of any case.” Dowd added: “The tweet did not admit obstruction. That is an ignorant and arrogant assertion.” In 1999, Senator Jeff Sessions argued that Bill Clinton obstructed justice and should be impeached amid the investigation into his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. (Axios) / Politico)
5/ The Senate Judiciary Committee is building an obstruction of justice case, according to Dianne Feinstein, the panel’s top Democrat. “I see it in the hyper-frenetic attitude of the White House, the comments every day, the continual tweets,” Feinstein said. “And I see it most importantly in what happened with the firing of Director [James] Comey, and it is my belief that that is directly because he did not agree to ‘lift the cloud’ of the Russia investigation. That’s obstruction of justice.” (NBC News)
6/ Robert Mueller removed his top FBI agent this summer for sending anti-Trump text messages. During the presidential campaign, Peter Strzok and another member of Mueller’s team had exchanged texts disparaging Trump and supporting Hillary Clinton. At the time, Strzok was investigating Clinton’s use of a private email server. Strzok left the Russia investigation in August. (New York Times / Washington Post)
7/ Trump tweeted that the FBI’s reputation is “in tatters” and its standing was now the “worst in history.” The tweet: “After years of Comey, with the phony and dishonest Clinton investigation (and more), running the FBI, its reputation is in Tatters - worst in History! But fear not, we will bring it back to greatness.” The head of FBI Agents Association said any suggestion that agents aren’t dedicated to their jobs, “unwavering integrity and professionalism” is “simply false.” (New York Times / The Hill)
Tainted (no, very dishonest?) FBI “agent’s role in Clinton probe under review.” Led Clinton Email probe. @foxandfriends Clinton money going to wife of another FBI agent in charge.
After years of Comey, with the phony and dishonest Clinton investigation (and more), running the FBI, its reputation is in Tatters - worst in History! But fear not, we will bring it back to greatness.
Republicans are drafting a contempt of Congress resolution against Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray, claiming they’re stonewalling the House Intelligence Committee in producing material related to the Russia-Trump probe and other matters. (Bloomberg)
8/ The Russia investigation is “wearing” on the White House and “everyone thinks they’re being recorded.” Michael Flynn’s plea is the closest that Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian meddling and collusion has come to the Oval Office. Flynn’s plea deal includes an agreement that he could avoid a potential lengthy jail term in part by “participating in covert law enforcement activities.” (CNN / Politico)
9/ Senate Republicans passed a $1.5 trillion tax bill – the most sweeping tax rewrite in decades – early Saturday in a 51 to 49 vote. The nearly 500-page bill, which included several pages of handwritten changes, will lower the corporate tax rate from 35% to 20%, temporarily cut tax rates for families and individuals until 2025, and repeals the individual mandate from the Affordable Care Act. The Senate and the House now have to reconcile the differences in their two bills through a conference committee. Mitch McConnell called it “a great day for the country.” (Washington Post / Politico / New York Times)
10/ Trump endorsed Roy Moore, the Republican Senate candidate in Alabama accused of inappropriate sexual relations with underage girls. Trump called Moore a “fighter,” and wrapped up the call by saying, “go get ’em, Roy!” (CNN / New York Times)
Democrats refusal to give even one vote for massive Tax Cuts is why we need Republican Roy Moore to win in Alabama. We need his vote on stopping crime, illegal immigration, Border Wall, Military, Pro Life, V.A., Judges 2nd Amendment and more. No to Jones, a Pelosi/Schumer Puppet!
Putting Pelosi/Schumer Liberal Puppet Jones into office in Alabama would hurt our great Republican Agenda of low on taxes, tough on crime, strong on military and borders...& so much more. Look at your 401-k’s since Election. Highest Stock Market EVER! Jobs are roaring back!
11/ The US Supreme Court allowed the latest version of Trump’s travel ban to take effect while legal challenges go forward. Trump will now be able to prevent people from six mostly Muslim countries from entering the US. It’s the first time the Supreme Court has let Trump’s travel ban take full effect. (Bloomberg / CNN)
Despite agreeing not to engage in any new foreign deals, the Trump Organization plans to build a Trump-branded luxury resort development in Indonesia. (McClatchy DC)
Trump wants the 83-year-old Orrin Hatch to run for reelection in an effort to block Mitt Romney from the Senate. (Politico)
Trump reduced Bears Ears National Monument by 85% and shrunk Grand Staircase-Escalante by 46%. The land could potentially be leased for energy exploration, opened up to cars, and more. No president has tried to modify monuments established under the 1906 Antiquities Act in more than half a century. (Washington Post / New York Times)
Jared Kushner failed to disclose he was the co-director of a foundation that illegally funded an Israeli settlement while pushing Michael Flynn to sway a United Nations Security Council vote condemning the settlements. (Newsweek)
Billy Bush reminded Trump that it was his voice on the “Access Hollywood” tape where he said he like to “Grab ’em by the pussy.” (New York Times)
poll/ 71% of Alabama Republicans say the allegations against Roy Moore are false. (CBS News)
1/ Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about conversations he had with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the presidential transition last December. Flynn is the fourth Trump associate to be charged in Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. (New York Times)
2/ Flynn promised “full cooperation” with Mueller’s investigation and is prepared to testify that Trump directed him to make contact with the Russians. The FBI said Flynn communicated with Sergey Kislyak, then the Russian ambassador to the US, after being asked by a senior Trump transition official to find out where foreign governments stood on an upcoming UN Security Council resolution about Israel. The FBI did not name the officials. (ABC News / CNN)
3/ Jared Kushner was the “very senior” Trump official who directed Michael Flynn to contact the Russian ambassador and several other foreign governments. Abbe Lowell, Kusher’s attorney, declined to comment. (Washington Post / CNN)
Former Deputy National Security Adviser KT McFarland is one of the unnamed senior official referred to in the court papers filed in the Michael Flynn case. She was involved in a discussion with Flynn about what he would say to Russian government officials in response to U.S. sanctions imposed on Russia last year. (Associated Press)
4/ Trump lobbied several Senate Republicans over the summer “to wrap up” the Russia investigation. The chairman of the Intelligence Committee, Richard Burr, said Trump made a request “something along the lines of ‘I hope you can conclude this as quickly as possible.’” Trump also approached Senator Roy Blunt, who sits on the committee, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell with requests to end the investigations. Trump has now asked at least seven officials in both houses of Congress and the Department of Justice to end the multiple investigations. The White House said Trump “at no point has attempted to apply undue influence on committee members.” (New York Times / Newsweek)
5/ Senate Republicans said they have the votes needed to pass their tax bill. Holdouts Steve Daines, Ron Johnson, Jeff Flake, and Susan Collins all said they will support the bill. “We have the votes,” Mitch McConnell told reporters after meeting with his caucus. (Washington Post / Politico / New York Times)
Bob Corker will oppose the GOP tax plan, making him the only Republican senator expected to vote no. “This is yet another tough vote. I am disappointed. I wanted to get to yes. But at the end of the day, I am not able to cast aside my fiscal concerns and vote for legislation that I believe, based on the information I currently have, could deepen the debt burden on future generations,” Corker said in a statement. (The Hill)
6/ The Treasury’s inspector general is investigating whether Steve Mnuchin hid an analysis of the Republican tax bill — or if the Treasury Department even did one. Mnuchin has said economic growth from the bill’s large tax cuts would offset lost revenue and indicated his department would produce an analysis proving it. No report has been released. (Los Angeles Times / Bloomberg)
7/ Republicans intend to cut spending on Social Security and Medicare after tax reform. Paul Ryan said he wants Republicans to focus on reducing spending on government programs and, last month, Trump said welfare reform will “take place right after taxes, very soon, very shortly after taxes.” Marco Rubio said this week that “You also have to bring spending under control,” adding that “the driver of our debt is the structure of Social Security and Medicare for future beneficiaries.” During the presidential campaign, Trump vowed that there would be “no cuts” to Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid. (Washington Post)
8/ Trump said a government shutdown could be good for him politically if Congress doesn’t pass a short-term spending bill by the December 8th deadline. Trump wants to blame Democrats and use the shutdown to get money for his border wall. (Washington Post)
9/ Rex Tillerson called reports that the White House wants him to resign “laughable.” Trump called the reports that he is planning to fire Tillerson “fake news” and that “I call the final shots.” (New York Times)
The media has been speculating that I fired Rex Tillerson or that he would be leaving soon - FAKE NEWS! He’s not leaving and while we disagree on certain subjects, (I call the final shots) we work well together and America is highly respected again!https://t.co/FrqiPLFJ1E
1/ The White House plans to force Secretary of State Rex Tillerson out and replace him with Mike Pompeo, the current CIA director, at the end of the year. Pompeo would be replaced by Senator Tom Cotton. It’s unclear if Trump has signed off on the plan, which was devised by John Kelly. (New York Times / Washington Post)
2/ Jeff Sessions tapped Kellyanne Conway to oversee the White House’s response to the opioid crisis. The Justice Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) also announced $12 million in grants to combat the epidemic, which Sessions considers “the worst drug crisis in American history.” (CBS News / BuzzFeed News)
3/ Robert Mueller’s team questioned Jared Kushner about Michael Flynn earlier this month. The 90-minute conversation was aimed at establishing whether Kushner had any information that could exonerate Flynn. (CNN / New York Times)
4/ Paul Manafort reached an $11 million bail agreement with Robert Mueller’s team, clearing the way for Manafort to be released from house arrest. The deal involves Manafort pledging a Virginia condominium, Florida home, a condo in Manhattan, and another property in Bridgehampton, New York. (Politico)
5/ Jeff Sessions declined to say if Trump ever asked him to obstruct the Russia investigation when questioned today during his House Intelligence Committee testimony. Sessions said his conversations with Trump were subject to executive privilege and he would not respond to the question either way. (The Hill)
6/ John McCain said he will vote for the GOP tax bill, saying he believes the legislation is “far from perfect.” Republicans need at least 50 of its 52 members to pass the bill without Democratic support. Currently, Bob Corker, Jeff Flake, Susan Collins, and James Lankford have yet to commit to the bill. (Politico / Bloomberg)
Susan Collins said it would be “very difficult” for her to support the tax bill, citing concerns over healthcare and the loss of a deduction for state and local taxes. (Reuters)
7/ The Senate bill would add $1 trillion to deficit over a decade, even with economic growth taken into account, according to a Joint Committee on Taxation report. Republicans have promised that the tax bill would pay for itself. (Wall Street Journal / Washington Post)
8/ Trump falsely claimed that the Republican tax bill would cost rich Americans like himself “a fortune.” Trump and his family could save more than $1 billion under the House tax plan that passed two weeks ago. Under the Senate plan, wealthy Americans like Trump would receive nearly 62% of the benefit by 2027, while two-thirds of the middle-class would face a tax increase. “This is going to cost me a fortune, this thing, believe me,” Trump said. “This is not good for me.” He added that his “very wealthy friends” were “not so happy with me.” (NBC News)
9/ The Secret Service has spent nearly $150,000 on golf cart rentals since Trump took office. Trump has spent more than 100 days at Trump properties, and 81 days at golf courses in particular, during his presidency. (The Hill)
10/ Trump attacked Theresa May on Twitter after the British prime minister criticized him for retweeting anti-Muslim propaganda from a British far-right party. “Don’t focus on me,” Trump tweeted at May, “focus on the destructive Radical Islamic Terrorism that is taking place within the United Kingdom.” The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, issued a statement of condemnation and called on May to cancel Trump’s state visit and to demand an apology. (The Guardian)
.@Theresa_May, don’t focus on me, focus on the destructive Radical Islamic Terrorism that is taking place within the United Kingdom. We are doing just fine!
President Trump has used Twitter to promote a vile, extremist group that exists solely to sow division and hatred in our country. It's increasingly clear that any official visit from President Trump to Britain would not be welcomed. pic.twitter.com/oZ1Kt0JCfY
poll/ 40% of Americans think Fox News should receive the Fake News Trophy that Trump suggested earlier this week. 25% of respondents think CNN deserves a trophy. (Rasmussen)
1/ Trump retweeted three anti-Muslim videos on Twitter, which were initially shared by a far-right British activist who has previously been charged in the UK with “religious aggravated harassment.” The unverified videos, posted by Jayda Fransen, the deputy leader of Britain First, depict purported Muslims committing acts of violence and were titled: “Muslim migrant beats up Dutch boy on crutches!” “Muslim Destroys a Statue of Virgin Mary!” and “Islamist mob pushes teenage boy off roof and beats him to death!” Theresa May, the British prime minister, said Trump was “wrong” to share the videos, while Sarah Huckabee Sanders defended the tweets as part of a conversation about the need for national security and military spending. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN)
2/ Trump Jr. agreed to meet with the House Intelligence Committee on December 6th. It’s the first opportunity for lawmakers to question Trump’s son over his contacts with Russians during the campaign, including the June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower between campaign officials and Russian operatives promising dirt on Hillary Clinton. (CNN)
Mark Your Calendars. What the fuck is happening in Washington. (WTF Community Center)
3/ The Office of Special Counsel opened a case file into whether Kellyanne Conway violated the Hatch Act when she made comments about Doug Jones, the Democrat running against Republican Roy Moore in the December 12th special election for an Alabama US Senate seat. The Hatch Act prohibits federal employees from using their offices to campaign for or against political candidates. During an appearance on Fox News last week, Conway called Jones “weak on borders” and “weak on crime.” (The Hill)
4/ North Korea claimed its “successful” ICBM test yesterday was a “breakthrough” that puts the US mainland within range of its weapons. North Korea said the new Hwasong-15 missile reached an altitude of about 2,780 miles - more than 10 times the height of the International Space Station - and flew 590 miles during its 53-minute flight. (Reuters / Washington Post)
5/ Trump still questions the authenticity of Obama’s birth certificate and continues to promote the conspiracy theory in closed-door meetings. Advisers say Trump also harbors a handful of other theories, including one that widespread voter fraud cost him the popular vote and another that the voice on the “Access Hollywood” tape wasn’t his. Trump’s friends do not deny that he has an alternative version of events. (New York Times)
6/ Trump believes that Robert Mueller’s investigation will exonerate him by the end of the year. Trump has told friends that “this investigation’s going to be over with pretty soon” and the White House has little to fear because his “brilliant” lawyer, Ty Cobb, said so. Mueller has indicted Paul Manafort and a former Manafort associate, Richard Gates, on money laundering charges. George Papadapoulos, a former Trump campaign adviser, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. And Michael Flynn is no longer communicating with Trump’s legal team, suggesting that Flynn may be preparing to cooperate with Mueller’s investigation. (Washington Post)
Robert Mueller has postponed grand jury testimony linked to his investigation into Michael Flynn. Additional witnesses were expected to be questioned in early December. The grand jury testimony was postponed with no reason given. (CNN)
A federal judge allowed the DNC to depose Sean Spicer on whether he violated a decades-old court order on election night that prevented the RNC from challenging voters’ eligibility at the polls. (Politico)
Subpoenas are being sent to 23 Trump businesses requiring them to preserve records for lawsuit accusing the president of profiting from his office. The lawsuit contends that Trump’s continued ownership of his businesses – including the Trump International Hotel in Washington – enables him to make money from foreign and domestic governments, breaching two Constitutional clauses intended to prevent that. (Bloomberg)
poll/ 71% of millennials want a third political party, saying Republicans and Democrats are doing a poor job of representing America. 63% of millennials disapprove of the way Trump is handling the job. 65% believe the country is on the wrong track overall. (NBC News)
Dept. of Deplorable.
Trump wants to know why the “deep state authorities” aren’t investigating Hillary Clinton’s emails. (The Hill)
Charles McCullough, the respected fmr Intel Comm Inspector General, said public was misled on Crooked Hillary Emails. “Emails endangered National Security.” Why aren’t our deep State authorities looking at this? Rigged & corrupt? @TuckerCarlson@seanhannity
Trump asked if NBC will fire “low ratings” Joe Scarborough for a 2001 “unsolved mystery” in Florida where a Scarborough intern was found dead in his office. The “mystery” is that the intern had an undiagnosed heart condition. She collapsed, hit her head on the desk, and died from a blood clot. The medical examiner ruled the death an accident. (The Hill)
So now that Matt Lauer is gone when will the Fake News practitioners at NBC be terminating the contract of Phil Griffin? And will they terminate low ratings Joe Scarborough based on the “unsolved mystery” that took place in Florida years ago? Investigate!
1/ Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi cancelled a planned budget meeting with Trump after he cast doubt on their negotiations and attacked them publicly on Twitter. Trump tweeted that the “problem” with “Chuck and Nancy” is that they “want illegal immigrants flooding into our Country unchecked, are weak on Crime and want to substantially RAISE Taxes. I don’t see a deal!” The government’s current funding expires on December 8th and a temporary spending bill is needed to prevent a government shutdown. Democrats are pushing for the year-end spending bill to include protections for so-called “Dreamers,” which Trump ended in September. Pelosi and Schumer instead requested a meeting with Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell. (Associated Press / Wall Street Journal / Politico)
Meeting with “Chuck and Nancy” today about keeping government open and working. Problem is they want illegal immigrants flooding into our Country unchecked, are weak on Crime and want to substantially RAISE Taxes. I don’t see a deal!
2/ The White House accused Schumer and Pelosi of “pettiness” and “political grandstanding” for pulling out of the meeting with Trump after he attacked them on Twitter. Trump, seated between two empty chairs with placard props for Schumer and Pelosi, called the two “weak” and said “they’ve been all talk and they’ve been no action, and now it’s even worse — now it’s not even talk.” (ABC News / NBC News)
3/ The Senate Budget Committee advanced the GOP tax reform bill in a party-line vote, with both Bob Corker and Ron Johnson backing the measure a day after threatening to withhold their support. The tax bill now heads to the full Senate floor, where at least six Republicans don’t currently support the plan. Republican leaders in the Senate can only lose two votes and still pass their plan without the support of Democrats. (Politico / Reuters / Bloomberg)
4/ Trump paid $1.375 million to settle a class-action labor case in 1998. Trump employed a crew of 200 undocumented Polish workers who worked in 12-hour shifts and were paid $4 an hour to demolish the Bonwit Teller building on Fifth Avenue to make way for the Trump Tower. (New York Times)
5/ Trump is now suggesting that the “Access Hollywood” tape is fake, despite apologizing for what he described as “locker room talk” between men in October 2016. “Access Hollywood” responded to Trump, saying: “The tape is very real.” (The Hill / New York Times)
6/ Project Veritas got caught trying to spread fake news about Roy Moore. The organization, run by conservative activist James O’Keefe, targets the mainstream news media in an attempt to set up undercover “stings” that involve using false stories and covert video meant to discredit media outlets. The Washington Post reported that a woman falsely told its reporters she had been impregnated by Moore as a teenager. (Politico)
7/ The Trump Foundation donated $10,000 to Project Veritas in 2015, a month before Trump announced his candidacy for president. The organization is responsible for a video claiming to show that Hillary Clinton supporters were paid $1,500 to cause violence during Trump’s rallies, as well as videos targeting CNN and Planned Parenthood. (Newsweek)
8/ North Korea fired a ballistic missile for the first time in more than two months. Trump warned North Korea in a September speech at the United Nations that if it threatened the US or its allies, he would have “no choice but to totally destroy North Korea” and called Kim Jong-un “rocket man.” The US believes Pyongyang may be able to put a miniaturized warhead on a missile in 2018, which would theoretically give North Korea the capability to launch a missile capable of hitting the US. Trump told reporters that he “will take care of it,” adding that North Korea “is a situation that we will handle.” (New York Times / CNN)
1/ The Senate GOP tax plan would hurt the poor more than originally thought, according to a report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. If the tax bill becomes law, 4 million Americans are projected to lose health insurance by 2019 and 13 million by 2027. The bill would add $1.4 trillion to the deficit over the next decade, and Republicans are aiming to have the full Senate vote on the plan as early as this week. (Washington Post)
2/ Trump tweeted that the media should get a “fake news trophy” for its distorted “coverage of your favorite President (me).” It’s not clear what prompted the tweet, but over the weekend Trump criticized CNN International for representing “our nation to the WORLD very poorly.” CNN responded: “It’s not CNN’s job to represent the U.S. to the world. That’s yours.” (Politico / New York Times / Washington Post)
We should have a contest as to which of the Networks, plus CNN and not including Fox, is the most dishonest, corrupt and/or distorted in its political coverage of your favorite President (me). They are all bad. Winner to receive the FAKE NEWS TROPHY!
3/ Trump repeated his support for Roy Moore, although Senate Republicans are still trying to force the nominee from the race. “The last thing we need in Alabama and the U.S. Senate is a Schumer/Pelosi puppet who is WEAK on Crime, WEAK on the Border, Bad for our Military,” Trump tweeted, adding that Democrat Doug Jones “would be a disaster!” A White House official said that Trump, however, would not be traveling to Alabama to campaign for Moore. (Washington Post / Associated Press)
The last thing we need in Alabama and the U.S. Senate is a Schumer/Pelosi puppet who is WEAK on Crime, WEAK on the Border, Bad for our Military and our great Vets, Bad for our 2nd Amendment, AND WANTS TO RAISES TAXES TO THE SKY. Jones would be a disaster!
I endorsed Luther Strange in the Alabama Primary. He shot way up in the polls but it wasn’t enough. Can’t let Schumer/Pelosi win this race. Liberal Jones would be BAD!
John Conyers stepped down as the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee amid accusations of sexual harassment. Conyers is the longest-serving member of Congress and has held his seat since 1965. (Politico / Washington Post)
Al Franken returned to work following four allegations of sexual misconduct against him. He said he is “embarrassed and ashamed” and that he doesn’t know if more accusations are coming. (Star Tribune / Washington Post)
4/ Michael Flynn’s lawyer notified Trump’s legal team last week that they will no longer discuss Robert Mueller’s investigation with them. The move suggests that Flynn may be preparing to cooperate with Mueller’s investigation. Flynn’s legal team had previously been sharing information about the investigation with Trump’s lawyers. (New York Times / Washington Post)
Michael Flynn may have violated federal law by failing to disclose a Middle Eastern trip on his security clearance renewal application in 2016. Flynn traveled to Egypt and Israel in 2015 as an advisor to a company hoping to build two dozen nuclear power plants in the region. The plan relied on help from Russians to build the plants and take possession of the spent fuel, which could be used to build a nuclear weapon. (Washington Post)
The FBI failed to notify US officials that their personal Gmail accounts were being targeted by Fancy Bear, a Russian-government-aligned cyberespionage group. Many officials learned of the hacking attempts only when informed by the Associated Press. (Associated Press)
5/ Today, Flynn’s lawyer met with Robert Mueller’s team, a possible sign that both sides are discussing a plea deal. The process would likely include several off-the-record discussions between Flynn and the special counsel’s team, as well as an opportunity to make a proffer of evidence that could implicate others. (ABC News)
6/ The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has two acting directors each claiming control of the agency. Richard Cordray resigned on Friday, naming Leandra English his deputy director and the presumed acting director. The White House responded by appointing Mick Mulvaney, currently the director of the Office of Management and Budget, to be acting director until Trump decided on a permanent successor. English then filed a lawsuit against Trump in an attempt to block him from appointing Mulvaney. (New York Times / Reuters / Los Angeles Times)
7/ The CFPB’s general counsel sided with the Justice Department over Trump’s appointment of Mick Mulvaney to temporarily lead the bureau. Mary McLeod’s memo agreed with an earlier memo issued by the Office of Legal Counsel, which supported the Trump administration’s position. The OLC memo, however, was written by Steven Engel, a lawyer who previously represented a Canadian payday lender the CFPB sued in 2015 for using its foreign status to offer US customers with high-cost loans at odds with state and federal laws. Engel represented NDG Financial Corp. in the case against CFPB as recently as this August. (The Intercept / Politico)
8/ The White House is considering banning personal mobile phones while at work. Officials said the proposal is being driven by cybersecurity concerns. Trump, however, has repeatedly complained about leaks to the press since taking office. (Bloomberg)
9/ Trumped referred to Elizabeth Warren as “Pocahontas” during an event honoring Native Americans who served in World War II. Trump has repeatedly used the nickname to refer to Warren and poke fun at her claim of Native American heritage. Sarah Sanders defended the comment, saying “Pocahontas” is not a racial slur and “the most offensive thing” about the situation was Warren claiming to be Native American. (The Hill / CNN)
1/ Trump called LaVar Ball an “ungrateful fool” and said that getting his son home was “a really big deal.” Trump tweeted that “it wasn’t the White House, it wasn’t the State Department, it wasn’t father LaVar’s so-called people on the ground in China that got his son out of a long term prison sentence – IT WAS ME.” Ball is the father of one of the three UCLA basketball players detained in China for shoplifting and has refused to thank Trump for getting the players out of China. (CNN / NBC News)
It wasn’t the White House, it wasn’t the State Department, it wasn’t father LaVar’s so-called people on the ground in China that got his son out of a long term prison sentence - IT WAS ME. Too bad! LaVar is just a poor man’s version of Don King, but without the hair. Just think..
...LaVar, you could have spent the next 5 to 10 years during Thanksgiving with your son in China, but no NBA contract to support you. But remember LaVar, shoplifting is NOT a little thing. It’s a really big deal, especially in China. Ungrateful fool!
2/ Trump and the White House insisted that Trump was working from Mar-a-Lago and very busy today an hour before he went golfing. First, the White House told reporters that Trump “will NOT have a low-key day and has a full schedule of meetings and phone calls.” Soon after, Trump tweeted that he “will be having meetings and working the phones from the Winter White House in Florida.” But an hour later, Trump left Mar-a-Lago to spend the morning at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach. Since the inauguration, Trump has spent 98 days at his private properties – one out of every 3.1 days – and played golf approximately 60 times, or every 5.1 days. (Washington Post)
Will be having meetings and working the phones from the Winter White House in Florida (Mar-a-Lago). Stock Market hit new Record High yesterday - $5.5 trillion gain since E. Many companies coming back to the U.S. Military building up and getting very strong.
3/ The former director of the Office of Government Ethics filed a complaint over Kellyanne Conway’s comments about the Alabama Senate race. Walter Shaub said Conway may have violated the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees from using their positions for political purposes. Earlier this week, Conway attacked the Alabama Democratic Senate candidate Doug Jones, saying Jones “will be a vote against tax cuts. He is weak on crime, weak on borders. He is strong on raising your taxes. He is terrible for property owners.” (The Hill)
4/ Gary Cohn faked a bad connection to get off a phone call with Trump during a discussion with Democratic senators about tax reform earlier this month. The White House economic advisor wanted to have a conversation on tax reform without Trump, who was traveling in Asia at the time. Trump called in anyway and after 15 minutes Senator Tom Carper turned to Cohn and said, “We’re not going to have a real conversation here – can’t you just tell the president that he is brilliant and say we’re losing … the connection and then hang up?” And that’s what happened. (CNBC / The Hill)
Democratic Sen. Tom Carper says White House economic adviser Gary Cohn faked a bad connection to get President Trump off the phone so they could have a conversation on tax reform without him https://t.co/qcUnSEsysl
5/ The House GOP tax bill would scrap the $250 educator expense deduction. The deduction, for money that America’s 3.6 million teachers spend out of pocket on classroom supplies, costs the federal government $210 million a year. The Senate GOP tax plan would double the deduction to $500. (Washington Post)
6/ Out of 38 economists, 37 said the GOP tax plans would cause the debt to increase “substantially” faster than the economy. The 38th economist misread the question. (Washington Post)
poll/ 36% of Americans expect to pay more federal, state, and local taxes under the House tax plan. 39% said they “strongly” or “somewhat” support it, while 31% oppose it and the rest are undecided. (Politico)
News Notes:
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is investigating what he calls a massive scheme to corrupt the FCC with fake public comments on net neutrality. (The Hill)
The FBI warned Representative Dana Rohrabacher in 2012 that Russia regarded him as an intelligence source worthy of a Kremlin code name. (New York Times)
Jared Kushner’s horizons are collapsing within the West Wing. (Vanity Fair)
Michael Flynn’s business partner is now the subject of Robert Mueller’s probe. (NBC News)
1/ The FCC announced plans to roll back net neutrality regulations, clearing the way for companies to charge more and slow or block access to some websites. Net neutrality rules are aimed at giving consumers equal access to web content and prevent broadband providers from charging consumers more for certain content. The commission will vote December 14th on the new rules, which include a transparency provision requiring internet service providers to inform customers about their blocking and throttling practices. (New York Times / Reuters / Politico)
2/ Trump defended Roy Moore, the Alabama Republican Senate candidate accused of sexual misconduct with minors, saying that Moore “totally denies” the allegations. “We don’t need a liberal person in there, a Democrat, Jones,” Trump said. “I’ve looked at his record. It’s terrible on crime. It’s terrible on the border. It’s terrible on the military.” (New York Times / NPR)
The Moore campaign: “We don’t believe these women.” (CNN)
3/ A federal judge blocked Trump’s executive order to cut funding for so-called “sanctuary cities” that limit their cooperation with immigration authorities. US District Court Judge William Orrick said Trump cannot set new conditions on spending approved by Congress. (CNN)
4/ A second federal judge halted Trump proposed transgender military ban, saying that active-duty service members are “already suffering harmful consequences” because of the his policy. The preliminary injunction issued by the judge goes further than the earlier ruling and prevents the administration from denying funding for sex-reassignment surgeries. (Washington Post)
5/ Nearly 60,000 Haitians living in the US must leave within 18 months now that the Trump administration has ended their Temporary Protected Status. Temporary status was granted to Haiti in 2010, after an earthquake devastated the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. The Department of Homeland Security said that the “extraordinary conditions” justifying their status in the US “no longer exist.” Haitians with protected status are expected to leave by July 2019 or face deportation. (Los Angeles Times / New York Times / Washington Post)
6/ The Senate GOP tax plan would raise taxes on 50% of Americans by 2027, the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center said. Trump, meanwhile, touted the plan as a Christmas miracle, saying: “We’re going to give the American people a huge tax cut for Christmas – hopefully that will be a great, big, beautiful Christmas present.” (Washington Post)
7/ Tax experts say the House GOP tax bill is full of loopholes for the wealthy. As written, hedge funds could take advantage of the new, lower 25% tax rate intended for small businesses, while private equity fund managers could sidestep a new tax on their earnings. (Bloomberg)
8/ Trump is shutting down his charitable foundation. The foundation admitted to violating federal rules on “self-dealing,” which prevents nonprofit leaders from funneling their charity’s money to themselves, their businesses, or their families. (NBC News)
9/ The Trump National Golf Club in Westchester County settled a lawsuit using money from the Trump Foundation. The golf club then reimbursed Trump’s charitable foundation the $158,000 used to settle the lawsuit. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is investigating how the Donald J. Trump Foundation collects and disburses funds. The inquiry is ongoing. (Washington Post)
News Notes:
Trump campaign adviser Carter Page held high-level meetings with Hungarian officials in Budapest. (ABC News)
Special Counsel Robert Mueller probes Jared Kushner’s contacts with foreign leaders. (Wall Street Journal)
Roman Beniaminov, a low-profile real estate exec turned pop star manager, knew about Russia’s “dirt” on Hillary Clinton. (The Daily Beast)
1/ Trump designated North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism and said the Treasury Department will announce new sanctions on the country. He described the move as “a very large one.” Trump said the designation will impose “further sanctions and penalties” on North Korea in support of his administration’s “maximum pressure campaign to isolate the murderous regime.” The designation was rescinded by George W. Bush in 2008 in an attempt to negotiate a nuclear deal. (New York Times / Bloomberg / CNN / Politico)
2/ Nebraska regulators approved the Keystone XL pipeline. The 3-2 vote came four days after the existing Keystone pipeline leaked approximately 5,000 barrels of crude oil in South Dakota. The pipeline will transport up to 830,000 barrels a day of crude oil from Canada’s oil sands and North Dakota’s shale fields to oil refineries on the Gulf Coast. (Washington Post / Politico)
3/ Kellyanne Conway suggested that the White House supports Roy Moore because “we want the votes” to pass tax reform. Conway was discussing tax reform on Fox News when she began hammering Doug Jones, the Democrat in the Alabama Senate race, saying “He will be a vote against tax cuts.” Fox News host Brian Kilmeade interrupted: “So vote Roy Moore?” Conway replied: “I’m telling you that we want the votes in the Senate to get this tax bill through. Conway’s comment comes less than a week after saying “no Senate seat is worth more than a child.” (CNN / Washington Post)
Mick Mulvaney said Trump “doesn’t know who to believe” about the allegations against Roy Moore and “thinks that the voters of Alabama should decide.” (Axios)
4/ Robert Mueller requested documents from the Justice Department related to the firing of James Comey. Investigators are seeking emails related to the firing, as well as to Jeff Sessions’ recusal from the investigation, not only those circulated between Justice Department officials, but any related communication they had with the White House. (ABC News)
5/ Kushner failed to disclose that a senior Russian official tried to arrange a meeting between Putin and Trump. The Senate Judiciary Committee accused Kushner of withholding an email from Aleksander Torshin, who claimed to be acting at the behest of Putin in a May 2016 email. The subject line read: “Russian backdoor overture and dinner invite.” Torshin’s email came a few weeks after a professor with ties to the Russian government told George Papadopoulos that the Russians had “dirt” on Hillary Clinton in the form of “thousands of emails.” Spanish anti-corruption officials say Torshin is a “godfather” of the Russian mafia. (New York Times / NBC News)
Jared Kushner testified that he didn’t recall if anybody on the campaign communicated with WikiLeaks. But a letter from the Senate Judiciary Committee shows Trump Jr. emailed Kushner to tell him WikiLeaks had contacted him on Twitter. (CNN)
6/ Hope Hicks and White House counsel Donald McGahn are scheduled to meet with Mueller in the coming weeks. “Of course they are worried,” said a Republican in frequent contact with the White House, describing the current atmosphere. “It’s going to be a long winter.” Another person close to the administration said that some staffers now jokingly ask, “Good morning. Are you wired?” when they gather in the morning at the White House. (Washington Post / CNN)
7/ H.R. McMaster mocked Trump at a private dinner, calling him “dope” and “idiot.” The National Security Adviser added that Trump has the intelligence of a “kindergartner.” (BuzzFeed News)
8/ Trump called on the NFL to suspend Marshawn Lynch for standing during the Mexican national anthem and sitting during the US national anthem. Trump tweeted that the Oakland Raiders running back showed “Great disrespect! Next time NFL should suspend him for remainder of season. Attendance and ratings way down.” (CNN)
Marshawn Lynch of the NFL’s Oakland Raiders stands for the Mexican Anthem and sits down to boos for our National Anthem. Great disrespect! Next time NFL should suspend him for remainder of season. Attendance and ratings way down.
9/ A day earlier, Trump weighed in on three UCLA basketball players: “I should have left them in jail.” Trump took credit for the release of the three players arrested for shoplifting in China, but took to Twitter after the father of one of the players cast doubt on how much Trump was involved in freeing the players. “Shoplifting is a very big deal in China, as it should be (5-10 years in jail), but not to father LaVar,” Trump tweeted. “Should have gotten his son out during my next trip to China instead. China told them why they were released. Very ungrateful!” In a second tweet he added: “I should have left them in jail!” (New York Times / Politico)
Now that the three basketball players are out of China and saved from years in jail, LaVar Ball, the father of LiAngelo, is unaccepting of what I did for his son and that shoplifting is no big deal. I should have left them in jail!
Shoplifting is a very big deal in China, as it should be (5-10 years in jail), but not to father LaVar. Should have gotten his son out during my next trip to China instead. China told them why they were released. Very ungrateful!
poll/ 70% of Americans think Puerto Ricans aren’t getting the hurricane relief they need, up from 62% last month. (The Hill)
News Notes:
Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen will step down once her successor is sworn into the office. (Bloomberg)
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin didn’t think a picture of his wife striking a villainous pose while holding a sheet of dollar bills would go viral. (Politico)
Trump will keep the ban on importing elephant trophies in place. (New York Times)
The FCC is expected to release its plan for rolling back net neutrality this week. (Wall Street Journal)
Justice Department plans to sue to block AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner. (Bloomberg)
1/ Trump scolded Al Franken on Twitter for his sexual misconduct. “The Al Frankenstien picture is really bad, speaks a thousand words,” Trump tweeted, adding that last week Franken was “lecturing anyone who would listen about sexual harassment and respect for women.” During Trump’s presidential campaign, 11 women accused him of unwanted touching or kissing over several decades. Trump called the allegations “pure fiction” and “fake news” and referred to the women as “horrible, horrible liars.” Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the White House position is that the women who have accused Trump of sexual harassment are lying. Franken, meanwhile, apologized for his behavior and encouraged a Senate Ethics Committee review of his actions. (Washington Post)
The Al Frankenstien picture is really bad, speaks a thousand words. Where do his hands go in pictures 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6 while she sleeps? .....
2/ Trump has repeatedly declined to call on Roy Moore to quit Alabama’s Senate race despite several women accusing Moore of sexually assaulting them when they were teenagers. Trump has not publicly condemned Moore’s actions, or pulled his endorsement of the Republican candidate, even as Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan have called for Moore to drop out of the race. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, “The president believes that these allegations are very troubling” but that “the people of Alabama should make the decision on who their next senator should be.” (New York Times / Associated Press)
3/ Kellyanne Conway justified Trump’s silence on Roy Moore by saying the Al Franken story was a “brand new news story.” Conway told Fox News that “the Roy Moore story is eight days old and the president put out a statement,” which said Moore should step aside “if these allegations are true.” (Politico)
4/ Robert Mueller issued a subpoena to Trump’s campaign for Russia-related documents from more than a dozen officials. The subpoena, issued in mid-October, is the first time Trump’s campaign has been ordered to turn over information. It does not compel any officials to testify but it surprised the campaign, which had been voluntarily complying with Mueller’s requests for information. (Wall Street Journal)
George Papadopoulos claimed that Trump gave him a “blank check” to choose a senior Trump administration job and was authorized to represent the candidate in overseas meetings with foreign leaders. Papadopoulos also claimed that Trump called him last year to discuss his role as a foreign policy adviser and that the two had at least one personal introductory meeting that the White House has not acknowledged. (Politico)
Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak said he won’t name all the Trump officials he’s met with because “the list is so long” and that it would take him more than 20 minutes to do so. Kislyak made the remarks during an interview with Russia-1, a state-owned Russian TV channel. (CNBC)
The British publicist who helped set up the Trump Tower meeting will talk with Robert Mueller’s office. Rob Goldstone has been living in Bangkok, Thailand and is expected to travel to the US at some point “in the near future” to discuss the meeting between Trump Jr. and a group of Russians in June 2016. (NBC News)
Jared Kushner is working with an interim security clearance 10 months into Trump’s administration. Kushner’s interim clearance allows him to view sensitive material, and that it is valid unless revoked. (Politico)
5/ The Republican Party is no longer paying Trump’s personal legal bills related to the Russia probe. Trump is working with the Office of Government Ethics and tax firm to use his personal funds to help current and former White House staffers caught up in the Justice Department’s special counsel investigation with their legal costs. The RNC had previously paid out more than $230,000 for Trump’s legal bills. (Bloomberg / CNN)
6/ The FCC voted to loosen media ownership rules. The 3-2 vote rolls back a 1970s rule intended to ensure a diversity of voices and opinions could be heard on the air or in print, and makes it easier for media companies to be bought and sold. Critics of the FCC repeal say that the decision will result in less diversity in local news media and lead to inferior phone and broadband services in some areas. The FCC also voted to limit spending on the Lifeline program, which provides discounted internet and phone service to low-income homes. (Washington Post / CNET / The Verge)
7/ The Senate Finance Committee approved the $1.5 trillion Republican tax overhaul, but not without an angry shouting match between Republicans and Democrats after nearly 12 hours of talk about taxes. Sherrod Brown and Orrin Hatch sparred over Republican talking points about trickle-down economics with the Ohio Democrat charging “that whole thing about higher wages, well, it’s a good selling point.” Hatch replied: “I really resent anybody saying I’m just doing it for the rich.” The committee voted along party lines, 14-12, to forward the proposal on to the full Senate, where the Senate is expected to take action after the Thanksgiving break. (CNN / New York Times / Politico)
8/ Of Trump’s 58 judicial nominees, 74% are white men. About 19% are women while 2% are both female and non-white. In total, 53 of Trump’s judicial nominees are white, three are Asian-American, one is Hispanic, and one is African-American. He has nominated 47 men and 11 women. (Associated Press)
poll/ Obama is more popular in Alabama than Trump. 52% of likely voters in the state have a favorable opinion of Obama vs. 49% for Trump. (The Hill)
1/ House Republicans passed their tax bill, which would cut taxes by $1.5 trillion over 10 years in a rewrite of the tax code. The bill also cuts the corporate tax rate to 20% from 35%, collapses the number of tax brackets from seven to four, and eliminates or scales back many popular deductions of individuals, including the state and local tax deduction, medical expenses deduction, and student loan deductions but would double the standard deduction. The bill passed with 227 votes in favor and 205 against. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico)
2/ The Senate tax bill would raise taxes on the middle class while giving large cuts to millionaires over the next decade, according to analysis by the Joint Committee on Taxation. Taxpayers would see their taxes cut by 7.4% on average in 2019, but by 2027 their taxes would rise by an average of 0.2%. Those making between $20,000 and $30,000 would have their tax bills rise 25.4% by 2027 while people earning over $100,000 continue to receive tax cuts. (Washington Post / The Hill)
3/ A radio newscaster accused Al Franken of kissing and groping her without consent during a 2006 U.S.O. tour of the Middle East before he took public office. Franken apologized to Leeann Tweeden, saying he doesn’t remember the events of a kiss rehearsal “the same way” as she described. Franken added that a photo of him with his hands over a sleeping Tweeden’s breasts “was clearly intended to be funny but wasn’t. I shouldn’t have done it.” (New York Times / Washington Post / KABC)
Mitch McConnell immediately called for an Ethics Committee investigation of Al Franken after allegations that he groped a woman in 2006. “As with all credible allegations of sexual harassment or assault, I believe the Ethics Committee should review the matter. I hope the Democratic Leader will join me on this,” McConnell said. “Regardless of party, harassment and assault are completely unacceptable—in the workplace or anywhere else.” (Politico)
4/ The Alabama Republican Party is sticking with Roy Moore despite at least nine women accusing him of inappropriate, unwanted sexual behavior. Mitch McConnell has called Moore unfit to serve in the Senate and has threatened him with an ethics investigation if he is elected in the December 12th special election. Moore responded to McConnell’s threat in a tweet: “Bring. It. On.” (NBC News / Washington Post / CNBC)
5/ Senate Republicans are exploring the legal feasibility of a second new special election in Alabama in order to save the Republican seat. The plan would call for Luther Strange – who was appointed to fill Jeff Sessions’ vacant seat – to resign, causing a new special election in Alabama. Recent polling has the Democrat Doug Jones leading Moore by at least 12 points in the race. (Politico)
6/ The Trump administration lifted the ban on hunters importing elephant trophies from Zimbabwe and Zambia, reversing a 2014 rule put in place by the Obama White House. Elephants are listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. (ABC News / NBC News)
7/ A bipartisan group of senators introduced new gun control legislation to improve state and federal agency compliance with the existing background check system. The bill penalizes agencies that fail to report relevant records while incentivizing states to improve their overall reporting. (CBS News / The Hill)
8/ Jared Kushner forwarded emails about a “Russian backdoor overture and dinner invite” to campaign officials, according to a letter the Senate Judiciary Committee sent Kushner’s lawyer. Kushner received emails in September 2016 about Russia and WikiLeaks, but failed to turn them over to lawmakers with the rest of his documents on November 3rd. In the letter to Kushner, Chuck Grassley and Dianne Feinstein wrote: “There are several documents that are known to exist but were not included.” Kushner has been asked to turn over all relevant documents by November 27th. (Business Insider / Politico)
Carter Page delivered his subpoenaed documents to both the House and Senate Intelligence Committees. Page has interviewed with both committees in past weeks as part of their parallel investigations into Russian interference in the U.S. election. He declined to comment on his interactions with Mueller’s team. (The Hill)
9/ The Keystone Pipeline was shutdown after leaking 210,000 gallons of oil in Marshall County, South Dakota. The spill is equivalent to about 5,000 barrels of oil. Regulators in Nebraska will vote Monday on whether to approve the permit and construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. (CNN)
1/ The author of the Trump dossier believes his report is 70-90% accurate. Christopher Steele’s reports were commissioned by Fusion GPS as opposition report and detail allegations that the Kremlin had personally compromising material on Trump, including sex tapes recorded during a 2013 trip to Moscow, as well as evidence that Trump and his associates actively colluded with Russian intelligence to influence the election. (The Guardian)
RT registered in the US as a foreign agent, bowing to pressure from the Justice Department. Russia’s parliament voted to allow the Kremlin to brand foreign media outlets like CNN as “foreign agents” in retaliation. (NPR / The Guardian)
2/ Nearly 1.5 million people have signed up for an Affordable Care Act health care plan in the first two weeks of open enrollment, outpacing last year’s sign ups by nearly 500,000. The Trump administration cut the 2018 open enrollment period from 12 to 6 weeks, and reduced the ACA advertising budget by 90%. (Reuters)
3/ The Trump administration rejected 4,000 “late” DACA renewals despite some applications sitting in its mailbox at the October 5th deadline. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) only counted applications it had marked as “received” before the deadline. USCIS did not honor the postmarked date. The plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the Trump administration allege that many more DACA renewal applications arrived on time to USCIS mailboxes, but were rejected as late anyway. The US Postal Service has taken responsibility for an “unintentional temporary mail processing delay” in New York, Chicago, and two other states. (Vox / New York Times)
4/ A federal judge ruled that the Trump administration can’t withhold money from “sanctuary cities” for refusing to cooperate with federal authorities on immigration. Jeff Sessions and the Justice Department have argued that cities should hold foreign detainees until Immigration and Customs Enforcement can pick them up. (The Hill)
5/ Mitch McConnell proposed that Jeff Sessions could be run as a write-in candidate to replace Roy Moore in the Alabama Senate race and reclaim his old seat. McConnell suggested that if Moore won the election, he could be sworn in but immediately subjected to an ethics investigation that would include his testifying under oath. Moore has made no public indication he plans to leave the race. (Wall Street Journal / CNN)
poll/ Roy Moore trails Democrat Doug Jones by 12 points in the Alabama special Senate election. Jones leads Moore 51-to-39%. (Politico)
6/ Trump tweeted condolences about the wrong mass shooting. In the botched copy/paste job, Trump referenced the tragedy in Sutherland Springs, Texas from nine days ago while offering condolences for the shooting at the Rancho Tehema Elementary School in northern California. Roughly nine hours later the tweet was deleted without explanation. (Vanity Fair / Fortune)
Trump just tweeted again about the church shooting in Sutherland Springs. The 1st tweet was the day of the event, 9 days ago. Is this his shooting tweet template? He forgot to change the location to today's shooting: California. pic.twitter.com/IToC7UXkyP
7/ The House passed a $700 billion defense policy bill that would authorize a military buildup beyond what Trump has proposed. The legislation, however, is tens of billions of dollars above the $549 billion spending cap. (Politico)
8/ Trump’s economic adviser was surprised when a room of CEOs said they don’t plan to increase investments if the GOP tax plan is passed. The White House argues that cutting the corporate tax rate would increase average household income by making it less expensive for companies to invest in assets like machines… which would allow workers to produce more stuff… which would allow businesses to pay their workers more… because they can sell more stuff… etc. (The Hill / Vox)
9/ A key Senate Republican said he would not support the GOP tax plan and another expressed reservations about the bill. Ron Johnson said he was opposed to both the Senate and House bills because neither “provide fair treatment.” Meanwhile, Susan Collins said she was concerned about Republicans changing the tax bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate, calling it a “mistake.” Republicans can only lose two senators and still pass their tax plan in the Senate without Democratic votes. (Washington Post / Politico)
10/ The director of the Consumer Protection Bureau resigned. Richard Cordray told staffers he “will step down from his position here before the end of the month.” (New York Times / The Hill)
11/ Democrats introduced articles of impeachment against Trump. The articles, introduced by five Democrats, accuse Trump of obstruction of justice, undermining the independence of the federal judiciary, and more. The effort faces long odds in the Republican-controlled House. (Associated Press)
poll/ In a hypothetical matchup, Joe Biden leads Trump by 11 points in the 2020 general election. 46% of voters said they’d vote for Biden compared to 35% who would choose to reelect Trump. While Biden has said he has “no plans” to run in 2020, he’s also said it would be “foolish” to rule it out completely. (Politico)
poll/ 52% of voters disapprove of the Republican tax plan while 25% approve of the plan. 61% believe the wealthy would mainly benefit from this tax plan. (Quinnipiac)
1/ Jeff Sessions told the House Judiciary Committee he didn’t lie under oath, but he has “no clear recollection” of the proposed Trump-Putin meeting. Despite repeatedly answering “I do not recall” to questions about a March 2016 meeting where George Papadopoulos proposed that Trump meet with Putin, Sessions said he believes he rejected the suggested meeting. Later during testimony, Sessions was more direct: “At the meeting, I pushed back.” In January, Sessions testified that he had no communications with Russians during the 2016 campaign. It was later revealed that he met with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak at least twice during the campaign. (Politico / Reuters / New York Times)
2/ Sessions: There is “not enough basis” for assigning a new special counsel to investigate Hillary Clinton. Earlier, Sessions sent the House Judiciary Committee a letter informing them that the Justice Department was looking into whether a special counsel should be appointed to investigate the Clinton Foundation and a 2010 deal to sell a US uranium company to Russia. On November 3rd, Trump said he was “very unhappy,” “disappointed,” and “frustrated” with the Justice Department for not investigating Hillary Clinton. (Washington Post / New York Times / The Guardian)
3/ Senate Republicans added a provision to their tax bill that would repeal the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate. In order to be protected from a Democratic filibuster, the tax bill can’t add more than $1.5 trillion to federal deficit over a decade. The CBO said that repealing the mandate would free up more than $300 billion in funding over the next decade while also causing 13 million fewer people to have health insurance. Mitch McConnell said Republicans are “optimistic that inserting the individual mandate repeal would be helpful.” (Washington Post / New York Times)
4/ The US embassy in Moscow hired a security firm owned by Putin’s former KGB counter-intelligence director to provide “local guard services” for the US mission in Russia. Moscow forced Washington to cut its diplomatic staff in Russia from more than 1,200 to 455 in response to sanctions adopted against Russia in August. To make up for the loss of security guards, Washington awarded a $2.8 million no-bid contract to Elite Security, which was founded in 1997 by Viktor Budanov and his son Dmitry. Budanov retired from espionage in 1992. (The Telegraph / New York Times)
5/ The FBI is investigating Russian embassy payments “to finance election campaign of 2016.” The Russian foreign ministry made more than 60 wire transfers that exceeded $380,000 in total to its embassies around the world, most of them bearing the memo line “to finance election campaign of 2016.” Nearly $30,000 was sent to the Russian embassy in Washington, D.C. (BuzzFeed News)
6/ Trump tweeted about John Podesta’s hacked emails 15 minutes after WikiLeaks told Trump Jr. “we just released Podesta Emails Part 4.” While Trump Jr. didn’t respond to the message, he tweeted out a link WikiLeaks had provided him two days later. (The Hill / The Atlantic)
Very little pick-up by the dishonest media of incredible information provided by WikiLeaks. So dishonest! Rigged system!
Mike Pence denied knowing that Trump Jr. was in contact with WikiLeaks during the campaign. In October 2016, Pence was asked if the Trump campaign was “in cahoots” with WikiLeaks as it released droves of damaging information about Hillary Clinton. “Nothing could be further from the truth,” Pence replied. (Politico)
7/ Democrats raised concerns about Trump’s ability to use nuclear weapons during a Senate Foreign Affairs Committee meeting. “We are concerned that the President of the United States is so unstable, is so volatile, has a decision-making process that is so quixotic that he might order a nuclear weapons strike that is wildly out of step with US national security interests,” Senator Chris Murphy said. The bipartisan panel doesn’t plan to seek legislative changes to rein in the Trump’s authority to use nuclear weapons, but rather ensure legal and strategic oversight measures are in place to prevent ill-advised use of nuclear weapons. (CNN)
1/ Trump asked Putin if Russia meddled in the election. Putin said they didn’t. Trump believed him. After meeting on the sideline of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit meeting in Vietnam, Trump said he was done asking Putin about election meddling. “He said he didn’t meddle — I asked him again. You can only ask so many times … Every time he sees me he says, ‘I didn’t do that,’ and I really believe that when he tells me that, he means it.” Trump added: “I think he is very insulted by it, which is not a good thing for our country.” The comments came during a question-and-answer session with reporters aboard Air Force One on Saturday. (New York Times / CNN)
2/ Trump called US intelligence leaders “political hacks” and labeled the community’s conclusion that Russia interfered in the election as an “artificial Democratic hit job.” Later Trump tweeted: “When will all the haters and fools out there realize that having a good relationship with Russia is a good thing, not a bad thing.” On Sunday, Trump walked back his comments, saying “I’m with our agencies.” (Politico / The Hill)
When will all the haters and fools out there realize that having a good relationship with Russia is a good thing, not a bad thing. There always playing politics - bad for our country. I want to solve North Korea, Syria, Ukraine, terrorism, and Russia can greatly help!
CIA Director Mike Pompeo said he stands by the US intelligence assessment that Russia meddled in the election. Pompeo had falsely claimed Russian meddling didn’t affect the election results. (CNN)
Former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates called Trump “shamelessly unpatriotic” for accepting Putin’s denial that Russia interfered in the 2016 election. (The Hill)
POTUS embraces Putin yet again telling world he believes former KGB agent’s denial of attack on our election over our own Intel public servants, calling them “political hacks.” Disturbing and shamelessly unpatriotic, on Veterans Day no less.
3/ The former CIA director said Trump is being “played” by Putin regarding election meddling. “By not confronting the issue directly and not acknowledging to Putin that we know you’re responsible for this, I think he’s giving Putin a pass,” former CIA director John Brennan said. “I think it demonstrates to Mr. Putin that Donald Trump can be played by foreign leaders who are going to appeal to his ego and try to play upon his insecurities.” Brennan added that Trump called him and two other top intelligence officials “political hacks” in order to “delegitimize” the intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
4/ Trump Jr. corresponded with Wikileaks during the campaign via Twitter direct messages, which were turned over to congressional investigators as part of its probe into Russian meddling. Wikileaks made multiple requests of Trump Jr., including asking for Trump’s tax returns, urging the Trump campaign to reject the results of the election as rigged, not to concede if he lost, and, later, asking the president-elect to have Australia appoint Julian Assange as ambassador to the United States. Intelligence agencies believe Wikileaks was chosen by the Russian government to share the hacked DNC emails. (The Atlantic)
George Papadopoulos told Stephen Miller he had received “interesting messages” from Moscow a day after learning that Russia had “dirt” on Hillary Clinton. (Business Insider / New York Times)
5/ Kim Jong-un called Trump an “old lunatic.” Trump tweeted that Kim was “short and fat”. “Why would Kim Jong-un insult me by calling me ‘old,’ when I would NEVER call him ‘short and fat?’ Oh well, I try so hard to be his friend - and maybe someday that will happen!” (Washington Post / CNN)
Why would Kim Jong-un insult me by calling me "old," when I would NEVER call him "short and fat?" Oh well, I try so hard to be his friend - and maybe someday that will happen!
6/ Mitch McConnell called on Roy Moore to “step aside” from the race for the Alabama Senate seat. “I believe the women” who have accused Moore of sexual misconduct when they were teenagers, the Senate majority leader said. Moore tweeted that McConnell is “the person who should step aside … He has failed conservatives and must be replaced.” Republicans are exploring whether to pursue a write-in candidate for the December 12th special election in an effort to retain their Senate seat. (New York Times / Politico / The Hill)
7/ Trump nominated Alex Azar to lead the Health and Human Services Department, which was vacated by Tom Price after it was revealed that Price used government and private jets to take repeated trips that cost taxpayers more than $1 million. Azar is a former pharmaceutical executive and was a top health official during the George W. Bush administration. (Washington Post / Politico)
8/ Trump’s judicial nominee didn’t disclose he’s married to the chief of staff to the White House counsel. Brett Talley has practiced law for three years, has never tried a case, and has been unanimously rated as “not qualified” by the American Bar Association. (New York Times)
1/ Trump cast doubt on the accusations that Roy Moore initiated sexual contact with a 14-year-old when he was 32. “Like most Americans, the president believes that we cannot allow a mere allegation – in this case, one from many years ago – to destroy a person’s life,” Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement. “However, the president also believes that if these allegations are true, Judge Moore will do the right thing and step aside.” (Washington Post / ABC News)
2/ Roy Moore called the allegations against him “completely false and misleading” and that he would remain in the race for the Alabama Senate seat. Senate Republicans are trying to block their candidate, having discussed fielding a write-in candidate, delaying the December 12th special election, and possibly not seating Moore at all if he is elected. (CNN / New York Times)
3/ The Republican Party’s Senate campaign committee ended its fundraising agreement with Roy Moore. The joint fundraising committee involving Moore’s campaign, the Alabama Republican Party, the Republican National Committee, and the National Republican Senatorial Committee allowed Moore to raise $80,500 at a time from individual contributors. (Politico / The Daily Beast)
4/ Robert Mueller is investigating Michael Flynn’s role in a plan to extradite a Muslim cleric in the US and deliver him to Turkey in return for $15 million. Investigators are looking into the role Flynn and his son may have played in the alleged proposal to deliver Fethullah Gülen to the Turkish government. Erdoğan views Fethullah Gülen as a political enemy and has repeatedly pressed the US to extradite him. Flynn is facing military, congressional, and criminal investigations for concealing his financial ties to Turkey and Russia, and whether the ties played a role in his decisions as Trump’s national security adviser. Any deal where a government official is bribed to act on behalf of a foreign government would involve multiple federal crimes. (NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
5/ Mueller’s team is investigating a meeting between Michael Flynn and a pro-Russia congressman. The meeting between Dana Rohrabacher and Flynn took place in Washington on September 20th, 2016, while Flynn was an adviser to Trump’s campaign. Rohrabacher has pushed for better relations with Russia, traveled to Moscow to meet with officials, and advocated for overturning the Magnitsky Act, a 2012 bill that froze the assets of Russian investigators and prosecutors. It’s the first known time that Mueller’s investigation has touched a member of Congress. (NBC News)
6/ George Papadopoulos initially lied to the FBI out of loyalty to Trump. Papadopoulos has since pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, while Trump has tried to distance himself from Papadopoulos, tweeting that “few people knew the young, low level volunteer named George, who has already proven to be a liar.” (ABC News)
7/ The Senate Judiciary Committee approved a Trump nominee for a federal judgeship who has never tried a case. Brett Talley, 36, was unanimously rated as “not qualified” by the American Bar Association. Talley has practiced law for three years. As a blogger he denounced “Hillary Rotten Clinton” and pledged support for the National Rifle Association. He has been approved for a lifetime appointment to the federal bench. (Los Angeles Times)
8/ Five states have asked a federal judge to halt the rollback of the Affordable Care Act’s birth control mandate. California, New York, Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia filed the motion for a preliminary injunction, arguing that the policy change is unconstitutional and discriminatory. In October, Trump rolled back the federal requirement for employers to include birth control coverage in their health insurance plans, citing moral and religious grounds. (The Hill)
1/ Trump: “I don’t blame China” for taking “advantage” of the US with its “very one-sided and unfair” trade deal. Trump instead blamed past US administrations “for having allowed it to get so far out of kilter.” The comments were made during a joint appearance with President Xi in Beijing. Trump added: “After all, who can blame a country for being able to take advantage of another country for benefit of their citizens? I give China great credit.” (Washington Post / The Hill / Axios)
I don’t blame China, I blame the incompetence of past Admins for allowing China to take advantage of the U.S. on trade leading up to a point where the U.S. is losing $100's of billions. How can you blame China for taking advantage of people that had no clue? I would've done same!
My meetings with President Xi Jinping were very productive on both trade and the subject of North Korea. He is a highly respected and powerful representative of his people. It was great being with him and Madame Peng Liyuan!
“I don’t blame China. After all, who can blame a country for being able to take advantage of another country for the benefit of its citizens? I give China great credit. But, in actuality, I do blame past administrations for allowing this out-of-control trade deficit to take place and to grow. We have to fix this because it just doesn’t work for our great American companies, and it doesn’t work for our great American workers.” –Trump
2/ Affordable Care Act signups are outpacing last year’s enrollment with more than 600,000 people selecting a plan through HealthCare.gov in the first four days since enrollment opened. In the first 12 days of last year’s open enrollment, 1,008,218 people selected plans. Enrollment this year lasts 45 days – half as long as in the past – and for most states enrollment will end on December 15th. Several states are allowing residents to sign up for ACA plans into January. (Wall Street Journal / Washington Post)
3/ John Kelly pressured the acting Homeland Security secretary, Elaine Duke, to expel tens of thousands of Honduran immigrants after she granted them a six-month extension of Temporary Protected Status (TPS). Kelly and Tom Bossert, White House homeland security adviser, both called Duke, telling her that her decision “prevents our wider strategic goal” on immigration. Underlying the call was Kelly’s concern that his handpicked nominee for DHS secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen, would face potentially uncomfortable questions about TPS during her confirmation hearing on Wednesday. (Washington Post)
Background:
About 57,000 Hondurans are living in the US under Temporary Protected Status, which Congress created to refrain from deporting foreign nationals to countries too unstable to receive them following natural disasters, civil unrest, or health crisis.
4/ Robert Mueller interviewed Stephen Miller. The White House senior policy adviser is the highest-level aide still working at the White House known to have talked to investigators. Miller was at the March 2016 meeting where George Papadopoulos said that he could arrange a meeting between Trump and Putin. (CNN)
Papadopoulos represented the Trump campaign in a working capacity with foreign officials up until the inauguration. He’s been dismissed as a “low-level volunteer” and just a “coffee boy” by Trump and campaign officials. (CNN)
5/ Michael Flynn is worried about his son’s legal exposure as Robert Mueller continues to investigate Russian meddling and the business dealings of key campaign advisers to Trump. Flynn Jr. served as his father’s chief of staff and top aide, and was actively involved in his father’s consulting and lobbying work at their firm, Flynn Intel Group. In December 2015, the Flynns traveled to Moscow, where the elder Flynn dined with Putin at a gala for the RT television network, which US intelligence views as a Russian propaganda outlet. (CNN)
6/ The House Intelligence Committee will interview the Russian-American lobbyist who was at the Trump Tower meeting with Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort. Rinat Akhmetshin will meet with House investigators next week. The panel last week interviewed Ike Kaveladze, a Russian who attended the meeting on behalf of Russian billionaire Aras Agalarov, the oligarch who initiated the session. (CNN)
7/ The Justice Department is seeking a plea deal with Paul Manafort’s son-in-law. The investigation into Jeffrey Yohai by the FBI and the US attorney’s office in Los Angeles is separate from the Robert Mueller investigation. However, in the Mueller’s indictment of Manafort alleges that Yohai and his father-in-law worked together on real estate deals in Los Angeles and New York, some of which involved loan fraud. (Wall Street Journal)
8/ Trump’s bodyguard testified that Russians offered to “send five women” to Trump’s hotel room in Moscow. “We don’t do that type of stuff,” Keith Schiller said. The comments came as Schiller disputed the allegations made in the dossier that describes Trump as having an encounter with prostitutes at the hotel during the 2013 Miss Universe Pageant. Schiller testified that Trump went to bed alone and that he stood outside the room for a time before going to bed. He could not say for sure what happened during the remainder of the night. (NBC News)
9/ The Education Department has shed about 8% of its staff since December and hopes to offer buyouts to an additional 255 employees. The budget proposal Betsy DeVos plans to submit would cut $9.2 billion from the department’s budget, eliminating teacher training and college-prep programs while investing in charter schools and potentially offering vouchers for private schools. Congress would likely restore many of the cuts, but DeVos can cut staff and her proposal would cut 154 positions from the department — including 46 from the Office for Civil Rights. (Washington Post)
10/ The Senate unveiled an outline of its tax reform bill that differs significantly from the House and the White House. The Senate tax package would delay cutting the corporate tax rate from 35% to 20% until 2019 – a departure from Trump’s expectation for immediate tax cuts. The Senate bill would keep seven tax brackets, while the House bill would collapse them down to four. The Senate bill would also double the estate tax exemption and keep it, while the House bill would double the exemption but repeal it in 2025. The Senate bill wouldn’t change the mortgage interest deduction, while the House would cap it at $500,000, and not allow the deduction for second homes. Both the House and Senate plan to pass their bills this month and then sort out differences in an effort to get a final bill to Trump by the end of the year. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico)
11/ A former Treasury secretary charged that current Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin is making “irresponsible” economic assessments of the administration’s tax plan and acting as a “sycophant” to Trump. Lawrence Summers, who was Bill Clinton’s Treasury secretary, has been criticizing Mnuchin in podcasts, blog posts, and op-eds and on Twitter for suggesting that the tax plan currently being debated by Congress would not add to the federal deficit. “I’m not aware of so irresponsible an estimate coming from a Treasury secretary in the last 50 years,” he said. (New York Times)
12/ Trump’s voter fraud commission was sued by one of the panel’s own members. Matt Dunlap, one of four Democrats on the 11-member board, filed a suit claiming that he’s being denied access to the commission’s records and has been effectively frozen out of its activities. (Politico)
13/ Mitch McConnell called on the Republican nominee in Alabama to withdraw from the Senate race if the reports that he pursued teenage girls in his 30’s are true. Several women told the Washington Post that Roy Moore initiated sexual contact with them when as teenagers, including one who said she was 14 and he was 32. “If these allegations are true, he must step aside,” McConnell said. Moore, meanwhile, told supporters: “I refuse to stand down.” (Washington Post / Politico / The Hill)
poll/ 45% of voters who are familiar with the GOP tax plan support the proposal, down from 48% last week. (Politico)
poll/ A generic 2020 Democratic presidential candidate leads Trump by 10 points. 8% of the people who voted for Trump said they would instead vote for the unidentified Democrat candidate in 2020. (The Hill)
1/ Trump told 12 Senate Democrats that he would “get killed” financially by the GOP tax bill in an attempt to increase Democratic support by claiming the bill would hurt wealthy taxpayers like himself. Trump wants Democrats to support repealing the estate tax, because they need to give something to rich people. Repealing the estate tax would provide an additional $300 billion dollar tax break to the wealthy.
The Joint Committee on Taxation found that the tax bill would add $1.574 trillion to the deficit over a decade, which is $74 billion over the maximum amount it can add if Republicans want to take advantage of special Senate rules that would allow them to pass the bill with 50 votes. The Senate plans to release its tax bill this week; it is expected to differ significantly from the House bill. (NBC News / Washington Post)
The CBO: Repealing the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate would leave 13 million more Americans without insurance and reduce the federal deficit by $338 billion over a decade. Republicans are considering cutting the ACA’s requirement that most Americans obtain health coverage as part of tax reform. (Politico)
2/ Trump warned North Korea that developing nuclear weapons was putting the country in “grave danger.” Trump, during a speech to South Korea’s National Assembly, called on all countries to isolate Pyongyang by denying it “any form of support, supply or acceptance,” saying the “world cannot tolerate the menace of a rogue regime that threatens it with nuclear devastation.” He warned North Korea to “not underestimate us and do not try us.” Trump’s return to tough talk came a day after he had softened his rhetoric and asked Pyongyang to “come to the table” and “make a deal.” (Reuters)
3/ Corey Lewandowski’s “memory has been refreshed” about Carter Page’s trip to Russia. In March, Trump’s former campaign manager said he “never met Carter Page.” On Tuesday, Lewandowski described Page as a “low-level volunteer” who had “no formal role in the campaign,” and “to the best of my recollection, I don’t know Carter Page.” Page testified last week to the House Oversight Committee that he had asked Lewandowski and Hope Hicks for permission to travel to Moscow. After the trip, Page emailed Lewandowski, Hicks, Sam Clovis, JD Gordon, and then-Senator Jeff Sessions about his trip to Russia, where he met with Russian officials and discussed the presidential campaign. (Politico / Talking Points Memo)
4/ Leadership at the State Department is being “depleted at a dizzying speed,” the president of the Foreign Service officers’ union said. Since January, the State Department has lost 60% of its career ambassadors, 42% of its career ministers, and 15% of its minister counselors – and the numbers “are still falling.” (ABC News / Vox)
5/ Scott Pruitt will continue to roll back the Clean Power Plan despite a government report that finds climate change to be “unambiguous” with “no convincing alternative explanation” that anything other than humans are the cause. Pruitt said that the National Climate Assessment was part of the ongoing debate between scientists over the causes of global warming and the report won’t deter him from rolling back the rule aimed at combating climate change. Trump has dismissed climate change as a “hoax” perpetrated by the Chinese in order to gain an edge over the US. (USA Today)
6/ A fourth Trump judicial nominee has been deemed unqualified for the job by the American Bar Association. Brett Talley has faced criticism for a 2013 blog post in which he called on readers to “join the National Rifle Association” and characterized gun control legislation passed after the massacre at Sandy Hook as “the greatest attack on our constitutional freedoms in our lifetime.” Talley was tapped by Trump for the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama. (The Hill)
7/ A federal judge issued a gag order in the Paul Manafort and Rick Gates case, preventing both from making public statements about the case. The order doesn’t ban statements to the media outright, but prohibits any remarks that “pose a substantial likelihood of material prejudice” in the money laundering and conspiracy case. (USA Today / Politico)
8/ The Justice Department told AT&T and Time Warner to sell off CNN’s parent company or DirecTV if they want to approval of their proposed merger. During the campaign, Trump criticized the proposed merger, arguing that “deals like this destroy democracy” and that it’s “an example of the power structure” he was fighting. Trump has also repeatedly labeled CNN “fake news.” (New York Times)
Election Night in America:
Democrats won victories in governor’s races in Virginia and New Jersey last night. In Virginia, Democrat Ralph Northam beat Republican Ed Gillespie, 54% to 45%. And in New Jersey, Democrat Phil Murphy defeated Republican Kim Guadagno, 55.4% to 42.5%. (New York Times)
After going to bat for Gillespie during the run-up, Trump distanced himself after the loss, tweeting that Gillespie “did not embrace me or what I stand for.” (Washington Post / NBC News)
Ed Gillespie worked hard but did not embrace me or what I stand for. Don’t forget, Republicans won 4 out of 4 House seats, and with the economy doing record numbers, we will continue to win, even bigger than before!
The first African American woman was elected mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina. Democrat Vi Lyles won about 58% to 42% of the vote in unofficial returns. (Charlotte Observer)
The first openly transgender woman of color was elected to public office. Andrea Jenkins won a seat on the Minneapolis City Council. (The Hill / NBC News)
In Virginia, Danica Roem was first openly transgender person to be elected and seated in a state legislature after beating a 13-term incumbent who called himself Virginia’s “chief homophobe.” (Washington Post)
The first woman was elected mayor in Manchester, New Hampshire. Joyce Craig is the first Democrat to be elected mayor of Manchester in 14 years. (New Hampshire Union Leader)
In Maine, voters approved a ballot measure to expand Medicaid coverage. Some 80,000 adults will qualify under the expansion. Maine will be the 32nd state to expand the program, but the first where voters – not governors or legislators – have directly authorized an expansion. (Politico / New York Times)
Maine’s Republican governor said he won’t implement the expansion unless it is fully funded by the state’s Legislature. Paul LePage has vetoed legislation to expand Medicaid five previous times. LePage will be term-limited out of office next year. (Press Herald / The Hill)
House Republican Frank LoBiondo announced his retirement, which puts his New Jersey congressional district up for grabs in the 2018 election. (NJ.com)
Ted Poe also announced that he would not seek re-election, becoming the second House Republican to announce retirement yesterday. The Texas congressman was diagnosed with leukemia last year. (CNN)
Arizona congresswoman Martha McSally has told colleagues that she will run for Senate in 2018 as a GOP primary challenger to Kelli Ward. McSally would be the first Republican to join the Senate race since Jeff Flake retirement announcement. (AZ Central)
exit poll/ Half of Virginia voters said Trump was the reason for their vote with twice as many saying they were voting to oppose him (34%) as to support him (17%). (Politico)
1/ Carter Page testified that he received permission from Corey Lewandowski to visit Moscow in July 2016, he told the House Intelligence Committee during his seven-hour testimony yesterday. Page also told senior campaign officials Sam Clovis, Hope Hicks, and JD Gordon, as well as then-Senator Jeff Sessions, about his trip to Russia. When he returned, Page sent an email to campaign officials saying he had received “incredible insights and outreach” from “senior members” of Putin’s administration and suggested that Trump should make a foreign policy speech in Russia and “raise the temperature a little bit.” Page maintains that his trip was made as a private citizen and was unrelated to his role in the Trump campaign. (CNN / NBC News / Washington Post)
Carter Page hearing transcript. The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence has released the transcript of the committee’s hearing with Carter Page. (House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence)
2/ Jeff Sessions will testify before the House Judiciary Committee on November 14th about his past statements regarding contacts between Trump campaign and Russian intermediaries. Sessions is also expected appear in a closed session with the House Intelligence Committee on the same day. (Reuters)
Justice Department dropped their case against a woman who laughed at Jeff Sessions during his confirmation hearing. (HuffPost)
Another protester escorted out of Sessions hearing. Her original offense appeared to be simply laughing. pic.twitter.com/p6lWzBVFRW
3/ Trump told CIA director Mike Pompeo to meet with a former intelligence officer who claimed the DNC emails were “leaked” – not hacked. Pompeo met last month with William Binney, who has challenged a January 2017 intelligence community report from the CIA, the FBI, and the NSA that concludes “Putin ordered an influence campaign … to undermine public faith in the US democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency.” Trump has called the report “fake news.” (The Intercept)
4/ The White House has prepared an executive order to weaken the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate, which requires taxpayers to demonstrate proof of insurance or pay a fine. The order would broaden the “hardship exemption” that was established for those facing extraordinary circumstances (e.g., the death of a family member, bankruptcy, or natural disaster). Trump would sign the order if Republicans fail to include such a measure in the tax reform process. (Washington Post / Washington Examiner)
5/ Syria will join the Paris climate agreement, leaving the US as the only country to reject the global deal. France, meanwhile, said that Trump, “for the time being,” is not invited to December’s climate change summit in Paris. (New York Times / Reuters)
6/ Trump urged North Korea to “come to the table” and discuss giving up its nuclear weapons, casting the threat as a global crisis that required cooperation from Russia and China. Trump previously called Rex Tillerson’s effort to negotiate with North Korea a waste of time and threatened to unleash “fire and fury” against Kim Jong Un if he continued to provoke the US. (Bloomberg / Politico)
7/ Trump said “hundreds more” would have died in Texas if gun laws were tougher and another man using his own gun hadn’t been able to “neutralize” the shooter. Paul Ryan suggested that “prayer works” as an effective form of gun control. (Washington Post / The Hill)
8/ The Air Force failed to report Devin Patrick Kelley’s domestic violence court martial, which should have prevented him from buying guns. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis directed the Pentagon’s inspector general to review Kelley’s case and “define what the problem is.” The Pentagon has known for at least two decades about failures to report the outcome of criminal cases to the FBI, according to a 1997 report by the inspector general. (NBC News / Associated Press)
Senators plan to introduce bipartisan legislation to force the military to report domestic violence to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, the database used for firearms background checks. Jeff Flake and Martin Heinrich are introducing the legislation after the Texas shooting to close a loophole where the military has not been reporting misdemeanors of domestic violence. (CNN)
Trump’s nominees for a top Pentagon job said it’s “insane” that civilians can buy assault rifles. Dean Winslow, Trump’s nominee for the Department of Defense’s top health affairs job, was asked if service members, like Kelley, who are convicted of domestic violence charges should be dishonorably discharged. He replied that it is “insane” that “a civilian can go out and buy a semiautomatic assault rifle like an AR-15.” John McCain told Winslow that this isn’t his “area of responsibility or expertise.” (Politico / Vox)
poll/ 32% of voters in “Trump counties” believe the country is better off with Trump as president than before. 41% say the country is worse off than it was before Trump became president. 53% say they don’t think Trump has a clear agenda. (NBC News)
poll/ 37% of Americans have a favorable view of the Democratic party – the lowest mark in more than a quarter century of polling. 30% of Americans hold a favorable view of the Republican party. (CNN)
1/ Trump: The Texas church shooting isn’t a guns issue, it’s a mental health issue. “Mental health is your problem here,” Trump said. “This isn’t a guns situation. This is a mental health problem at the highest level.” Devin Patrick Kelley, a young white male, was dressed in all-black “tactical-type gear” and wearing a ballistic vest when he opened fire on the church using a Ruger AR-556 semiautomatic rifle. He killed at least 26 people. Kelley passed a background check despite being discharged from the Air Force for “bad conduct” – assaulting his wife and their child. The discharge did not show up as a prohibited offense on his background check. (CNN / New York Times)
Ted Cruz accused gun control advocates of “politicizing” the Sutherland Springs shooting, pointing out that trucks can kill people, too. He was, of course, referencing the terror attack in New York City where a driver ran over pedestrians and cyclists with a truck. (The Daily Beast)
Cruz says it’s not the time to “politicize” the deadly church shooting in Texas: “Evil is evil is evil" https://t.co/QnJMi14Mt5
2/ Robert Mueller has enough evidence to charge Michael Flynn and his son as part of the Russia probe. Mueller’s team is looking at possible money laundering charges, lying to federal agents, and Flynn’s role in a plan to remove an opponent of the Turkish president from the US in exchange for millions of dollars. (NBC News / Reuters)
3/ A Russian lawyer said Trump Jr. offered to have an anti-Russian law re-examined if Trump won the election. “Looking ahead, if we come to power, we can return to this issue and think what to do about it,” Trump Jr. said of the Magnitsky Act, which the lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, was lobbying against. Trump Jr. met with Veselnitskaya lawyer in June 2016 at Trump Tower with Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner after being promised “information that would incriminate” Hillary Clinton. (Bloomberg)
4/ Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross retained investments in a shipping company tied to Putin’s inner circle. Ross and his private equity firm are the biggest shareholders in Navigator Holdings. Navigator’s largest client is the Russian energy firm Sibur, which is partly owned by a Russian oligarch and Putin’s son-in-law. The revelation comes after the so-called Paradise Papers were leaked to the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. The trove of more than 13 million documents reveal how some wealthy individuals have used offshore havens to avoid paying taxes. (New York Times / The Daily Beast / Washington Post)
Russian tech leader Yuri Milner invested $850,000 in a startup called Cadre that Jared Kushner co-founded in 2014. Kushner did not disclose his ownership in Cadre on his initial financial disclosure form when he became a White House adviser. In July, Kushner told the Senate Intelligence Committee in a closed-door meeting that he never “relied on Russian funds to finance my business activities in the private sector.” (New York Times)
At least nine Trump associates had contacts with Russians during the campaign or presidential transition and include Paul Manafort, Michael Cohen, Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, George Papadopoulos, Carter Page, J.D. Gordon, Michael Flynn, and Jeff Sessions. Experts who’ve studied Russian tactics see a concerted and multifaceted Kremlin effort to infiltrate Trump’s campaign. (Washington Post)
5/ Paul Manafort’s attorney plans to challenge Robert Mueller’s authority. Kevin Downing will file pre-trial motions that question “the legal basis for and sufficiency of the charges, the suppression of evidence improperly obtained by search warrant, subpoena or otherwise.” Downing said he may try to prevent Mueller’s prosecutors from presenting some of their evidence during the criminal trial. (Politico)
6/ Trump told Japan that it can protect itself from North Korea by purchasing US military equipment to shoot down missiles. “The prime minister of Japan is going to be purchasing massive amounts of military equipment, as he should,” Trump said. North Korea launched a missile over Japan in September. (New York Times)
Trump asked Japan to build its cars in the US. Three out of four Japanese cars sold in the US last year were built in North America. “Try building your cars in the United States instead of shipping them over,” Trump told Japanese automakers. “Is that possible to ask? That’s not rude. Is that rude? I don’t think so.” (CNN)
7/ The House Republican tax plan would cause taxes to go up for 28% of Americans by 2027, according to analysis by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. Families earning less than $10,000 a year would see a tax cut of about $10. Those making $48,000 to $86,000 would get an average tax cut of $700 next year, while taxpayers in the top 1% (those making more than $730,000) would receive an average cut of $37,000. Overall, 70% of people would get a tax cut next year averaging $2,000, but 12% would pay an average of $1,560 more. By 2027, those paying more would grow to 28% of all taxpayers, who would pay an average $1,980 more, while 57% would save $2,400. (Washington Post / Vox / USA Today/ Tax Policy Center)
8/ George Bush called Trump a “blowhard” who is only interested in feeding his own ego. (New York Times)
9/ Donna Brazile admits she has “no evidence” the Democratic primary was rigged. “I found no evidence, none whatsoever,” she said. (CNN)
poll/ 65% of Americans say Trump has accomplished “not much” to “little or nothing” as president. 67% don’t trust him to act responsibly in handling the situation involving North Korea. (ABC News / Washington Post)
poll/ 44% of Americans are “very concerned” about the Trump campaign’s contacts with the Russians, up from 27% who said so in July. (CNN)
Current Status: Trump and Jeff Sessions have denied knowing about the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russia. Court documents suggest otherwise. Records show that at a March 31, 2016, meeting between Trump, Sessions, and the campaign’s foreign policy team, George Papadopoulos introduced himself and said “that he had connections that could help arrange a meeting between then-candidate Trump and President Putin.” (New York Times)
1/ Trump does not “remember much” from the meeting with George Papadopoulos, where Papadopoulos offered to arrange a meeting between Trump and Putin. Trump called it a “very unimportant meeting [that] took place a long time [ago]. Don’t remember much about it.” According to a person present for the meeting, Trump didn’t dismiss the idea of meeting with Putin, but Jeff Sessions did. Trump has described himself as having “one of the greatest memories of all time.” (Politico / NPR)
2/ Carter Page testified that he told Jeff Sessions about his 2016 trip to Russia during the presidential campaign. At a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing in June, Sessions testified that he had “no knowledge” of any conversations between “anyone connected to the Trump campaign.” During his confirmation hearing, Sessions was asked if “anyone affiliated with the Trump campaign communicated with the Russian government” during the campaign. Sessions responded: “I’m not aware of any of those activities … I didn’t have — did not have communications with the Russians, and I’m unable to comment on it.” (CNN)
3/ Republicans called on Robert Mueller to resign as special counsel over what they contend to be “obvious conflicts of interest.” Matt Gaetz, Andy Biggs, and Louie Gohmert introduced a measure to put the House on record describing Mueller as unfit to lead the Russia probe because of his relationship with James Comey, who was Mueller’s successor at the FBI. (Reuters / Politico)
Robert Mueller estimates he will need three weeks to present his case against Paul Manafort and Rick Gates to a jury. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson set May 7th as a possible trial date. (ABC News)
4/ Trump’s not worried about the unfilled State Department jobs, because “I’m the only one that matters.” As of last month, the administration had filled about a quarter of the roughly 600 State Department positions that require Senate confirmation. “We don’t need all of the people,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News, arguing that the lack of nominees for key positions at the State Department wouldn’t affect his agenda. “You know, it’s called cost-saving.” (NPR / The Hill)
Trump says he's not worried about unfilled State Department roles b/c "the one that matters is me. I am the only one that matters." pic.twitter.com/JxcWiy7ozY
5/ Trump is “very unhappy,” “disappointed,” and “frustrated” with the Justice Department for not investigating Hillary Clinton. Despite acknowledging that presidents are not supposed to intervene with law enforcement decisions – which he called “the saddest thing” – Trump insisted that the DOJ investigate “Crooked Hillary,” “Crazy Bernie,” and “Pocahontas,” a nickname he uses for Elizabeth Warren. (New York Times / Washington Post)
Everybody is asking why the Justice Department (and FBI) isn't looking into all of the dishonesty going on with Crooked Hillary & the Dems..
6/ A Twitter contractor leaving the company deactivated Trump’s account, which was down for 11 minutes before being restored. Trump tweeted Friday morning, “I guess the word must finally be getting out-and having an impact.” (CNN / Reuters)
Earlier today @realdonaldtrump’s account was inadvertently deactivated due to human error by a Twitter employee. The account was down for 11 minutes, and has since been restored. We are continuing to investigate and are taking steps to prevent this from happening again.
Through our investigation we have learned that this was done by a Twitter customer support employee who did this on the employee’s last day. We are conducting a full internal review. https://t.co/mlarOgiaRF
7/ The Trump administration approved a report that contradicts its position on climate change. The National Climate Assessment finds the global, long-term warming trend to be “unambiguous” and that there is “no convincing alternative explanation” that anything other than humans are the cause. Scott Pruitt, Rick Perry, and Trump have all questioned the extent of humans’ contribution to climate change. (New York Times / Washington Post)
8/ House Republicans passed legislation to fund the children’s health program in a 242-174 vote. Republicans plan to pay for the program by cutting a separate public health program and raising Medicare premiums. Senators, meanwhile, have agreed on a bill extending the program’s funding for five more years, but are divided over how to pay for it. The CHIP program provides more than 8 million low-income children with low-cost health insurance. (Associated Press)
poll/ 60% of Americans say Trump’s tax plan will benefit the wealthy, while 17% think it will treat people equally. Among those that make $100,000 or more, 61% think Trump’s plan will benefit them most. (ABC News)
1/ House Republicans unveiled the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which reduces the number of tax brackets from seven to five, maintains the top tax rate at 39.6%, raises the standard deduction from $6,350 to $12,000 for individuals and from $12,700 to $24,000 for married couples. The bill reduces the corporate tax rate from 35% to 20%, repeals the state and local income tax deductions, limits the property tax deduction to $10,000, and expands the child tax credit from $1,000 to $1,600. The treatment of pre-tax contributions to 401(k) and IRA would be preserved. Homeowners can keep their mortgage interest deduction, but the bill caps the deduction for new mortgages at $500,000, while also repealing the estate tax in 2024. The bill is estimated to cost $1.487 trillion over a decade, but lawmakers must keep the cost of the bill to $1.5 trillion if they want to pass it along party lines and avoid a filibuster by Democrats. (NBC News / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
Trump wanted to call the tax plan the “Cut, Cut, Cut Act.” Paul Ryan initially asked the White House for input because of the Trump’s knack for branding. Ryan and Kevin Brady, the House Ways and Means Committee Chairman, pushed back. (ABC News)
2/ Sam Clovis has withdrawn his nomination for the Department of Agriculture’s chief scientist role after coming under criticism for his lack of science credentials (he’s not a scientist) and for his role supervising George Papadopoulos. In a letter to Trump, Clovis wrote that he does “not want to be a distraction or a negative influence.” Clovis is a self-described skeptic of climate change. (Politico / Bloomberg)
3/ The White House learned that Sam Clovis testified before the grand jury from media reports. Last week Clovis testified before the investigating grand jury and was questioned by Robert Mueller’s team about his role on Trump’s campaign. Emails between Clovis and George Papadopoulos, whom he supervised, show Clovis encouraging Papadopoulos to engage with his Russian contacts. (ABC News)
4/ Senate Democrats asked Jeff Sessions to clarify his confirmation hearing remarks regarding attempts by the campaign to coordinate a meeting between Trump and Putin. Both the Senate intelligence and judiciary committees asked Sessions to formally clarify his remarks after it was reported that Trump declined to rule out the idea proposed by George Papadopoulos. Sessions weighed in and rejected the proposal to use Papadopoulos’ “Russian contacts” to arrange a meeting. During his confirmation testimony, Sessions testified that he was “not aware” of anyone from the Trump campaign communicating with the Russians. (CNN / NBC News)
Carter Page met with the House Intelligence Committee in private looking into Russian involvement in the 2016 election. Page originally wanted to be questioned by the panel in public. The committee agreed to release a transcript three days after the interview. (Bloomberg)
Paul Manafort wired millions of dollars into the US through a company linked to one of Russia’s most notorious criminals. The Cyprus-based Lucicle Consultants Limited received millions of dollars from a businessman and Ukrainian parliamentarian named Ivan Fursin, who is closely linked to Semion Mogilevich, who is frequently described as “the most dangerous mobster in the world.” (The Daily Beast)
5/ Jared Kushner turned over documents from the campaign and the transition to Robert Mueller in recent weeks. The documents are similar to the ones Kushner gave to the Senate Intelligence Committee. Mueller has been asking witnesses about Kushner’s role in the firing of FBI Director James Comey. (CNN)
6/ The Justice Department has identified at least six Russian government officials involved in the DNC hack that resulted in thousands of emails being released by WikiLeaks last year. Prosecutors have assembled evidence to charge the Russian officials and could bring a case next year. U.S. intelligence agencies have attributed the hack to Russian intelligence services. (Wall Street Journal)
7/ The hackers who targeted Hillary Clinton’s campaign had international targets corresponding with Russian interests. A digital “hit list” shows a multi-year operation that tried to break into the inboxes of 4,700 Gmail accounts worldwide and targeted the emails of Ukrainian officers, Russian opposition leaders, U.S. defense contractors, and more. The list was found by the cybersecurity firm Secureworks after the “Fancy Bear” hacking group forgot to set an active Bitly account to private. One of the experts who reviewed the list described the data as “a master list of individuals whom Russia would like to spy on, embarrass, discredit or silence.” (Associated Press)
8/ Robert Mercer, whose money helped elect Trump, will step down as as co-CEO of Renaissance Technologies in an effort to distance himself from Trump. Mercer will also sell his stake in Breitbart to his daughters “for personal reasons.” In a letter to investors, Mercer also that he was severing ties with Milo Yiannopoulos, a former Breitbart writer who had cultivated white nationalists and used them to generate ideas on the site. Mercer was also a large financial backer of Cambridge Analytica, a voter-data firm that worked for Trump’s campaign. (New York Times / BuzzFeed News / Bloomberg)
9/ Rick Perry suggested that expanding the use of fossil fuels could help prevent sexual assault. “From the standpoint of sexual assault,” Perry said. “When the lights are on, when you have light that shines, the righteousness, if you will on those types of acts.” The energy secretary also said that while he thinks climate change is real, “I still think the science is out on” whether humans are the cause of it. (The Hill / Axios)
U.S. government researchers say that it is “extremely likely” that human activities are the “dominant cause” of global warming, the Climate Science Special Report finds. The conclusions contradict statements by Trump and his Cabinet members, who have openly questioned the role humans play in changing the climate. (NPR)
10/ Elizabeth Warren and Donna Brazile both say the 2016 Democratic primary was “rigged.” In an excerpt promoting her upcoming book, Brazile accused Hillary Clinton’s campaign of “unethical” conduct that “compromised the party’s integrity” through a joint fundraising agreement with the DNC that allegedly gave Clinton control of the “party’s finances, strategy, and all the money raised” before she officially won the nomination. Bernie Sanders’ campaign also signed its own joint fundraising agreement with the DNC in 2015. Warren agrees that the 2016 Democratic primary was “rigged.” (CNN / Washington Post)
Do you agree with the notion that the DNC was rigged in Hillary Clinton's favor?
poll/ 49% of Americans think Trump likely committed a crime. 58% approve of how special counsel Robert Mueller is handling the investigation. (ABC News)
A look ahead:
Trump and Jeff Sessions denied knowing if anybody from the campaign was in contact with the Russians. Records suggest otherwise. (New York Times)
Carter Page testified that he told Jeff Sessions about his trip to Russia. (CNN)
1/ Trump did not dismiss the idea of meeting with Putin when it was suggested by George Papadopoulos in March 2016. “He didn’t say yes and he didn’t say no,” according to a person in the room at the time. Jeff Sessions shot down the idea. However, in a July 2016 email to his Russian contact, Papadopoulos proposed a meeting in August or September between “my national chairman and maybe one other foreign policy adviser” and members of Putin’s office and Russia’s foreign ministry. “It has been approved by our side,” Papadopoulos wrote. It’s not clear if the meeting ever occurred, but Paul Manafort was the campaign chairman at the time. (CNN / Bloomberg)
Paul Manafort and Rick Gates posed a “serious risk of flight,” Robert Mueller argued in the pair’s bail memo. He requested sizable bail and travel restrictions on the two because of their “substantial overseas ties, including assets held abroad, significant foreign work connections, and significant travel abroad.” Manafort’s bail was set at $10 million, Gates’s at $5 million. Manafort currently has three US passports. Both are on house arrest. (NBC News/ CNN)
Speculation: Jeff Sessions may have perjured himself. During his confirmation hearing in January, Sessions was asked “if there is any evidence that anyone affiliated with the Trump campaign communicated with the Russian government” during the campaign. Sessions responded: “I’m not aware of any of those activities… I didn’t have – did not have communications with the Russians, and I’m unable to comment on it.” (New Republic)
2/ Facebook, Google, and Twitter testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee. It was the second day in a row the tech companies answered questions on Capitol Hill. The tech firms admitted that they could have done more to prevent Russian meddling in the US election. Yesterday, the firms said that content by a Russian troll farm known as the Internet Research Agency sought “to create discord between Americans” during the election, but after the election, the troll farm sought to undermine Trump’s legitimacy. (Washington Post / Politico)
Members of the House intelligence panel released the social media ads Russia wanted Americans to see. (Politico)
3/ Twitter offered Russian television network RT 15% of its US election advertising inventory for $3 million dollars. The US intelligence community describes RT as “the Kremlin’s principal international propaganda outlet.” (BuzzFeed News)
As many as 20 million Americans may have seen Russian-backed content on Instagram in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election. (Reuters)
4/ In a call with Steve Bannon, Trump blamed Jared Kushner for his role in decisions that led to Robert Mueller’s appointment as special counsel. In the call, Trump complained about Kushner’s advice that led to the decisions to fire Michael Flynn and James Comey.
Separately, Roger Stone told Trump that Kushner was giving him bad political advice. A former Trump campaign aide described “Jared [as] the worst political adviser in the White House in modern history,” adding that “Trump is at 33 percent [approval] in Gallup. You can’t go any lower. He’s fucked.” In a call with the New York Times, Trump said he was “not angry at anybody” and that the investigation into his campaign’s links to Russia have “nothing to do with us.” (Vanity Fair)
5/ Trump blamed Chuck Schumer for yesterday’s terror attack in New York City where a motorist killed several people after driving onto a bicycle path near the World Trade Center memorial. Trump tweeted that “the terrorist came into our country through what is called the ‘Diversity Visa Lottery Program,’ a Chuck Schumer beauty. I want merit based.” Trump added: “I have just ordered Homeland Security to step up our already Extreme Vetting Program. Being politically correct is fine, but not for this!”
In 2013, Schumer was a member of the Senate’s Gang of Eight, which proposed to eliminate of the diversity lottery. The bill passed in the Senate but died in the House. Schumer’s response: “I guess it’s not too soon to politicize a tragedy.”
Speaking from the Senate floor, Schumer criticized Trump, asking: “President Trump where is your leadership? The contrast between President Bush’s actions after 9/11 and President Trump’s actions this morning could not be starker.” Trump, meanwhile, called the justice system a “joke” and “a laughing stock.” (Washington Post / CBS News)
In NYC, looks like another attack by a very sick and deranged person. Law enforcement is following this closely. NOT IN THE U.S.A.!
6/ House Republicans delayed the release of their tax bill until Thursday as they try to meet the $1.5 trillion spending limit set by the budget. The tax plan is expected to maintain the top individual tax rate of 39.6%, cut the corporate tax rate to 20%, delay the planned repeal of the estate tax, and limit the individual tax-free contributions to 401(k)s. Trump has insisted that the bill be called the Cut Cut Cut Act and called on Congress to repeal the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate as part of its tax overhaul. (NBC News / Wall Street Journal / ABC News)
Wouldn't it be great to Repeal the very unfair and unpopular Individual Mandate in ObamaCare and use those savings for further Tax Cuts.....
7/ The EPA barred anyone that receives EPA grant money from serving on panels that counsel the agency on scientific decisions. In doing so, EPA head Scott Pruitt removed six scientists and academics from advisory positions at the EPA. Pruitt is expected to now appoint several industry representatives to the panels. (New York Times / Washington Post)
8/ The Senate confirmed a circuit court nominee who has suggested that Roe v. Wade was an “erroneous decision.” Amy Coney Barrett has also called the Affordable Care Act’s birth control benefit “an assault on religious liberty.” Barrett was confirmed 55-43 to a lifetime position on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit — one level below the Supreme Court. (HuffPost)
poll/ 59% of Americans think this is the lowest point in the nation’s history that they can remember. 63% say they are stressed about the nation’s future. (American Psychological Association)
1/ Trump spent yesterday “seething” as he watched the Mueller probe unfold on TV. The indictments of Paul Manafort and Rick Gates weren’t a surprise to Trump, but the guilty plea by George Papadopoulos for making false statements to the FBI was not expected. “The walls are closing in,” said a senior Republican in close contact with top Trump staffers. “Everyone is freaking out.” (Washington Post / CNN)
2/ Team Trump dismissed Papadopoulos as a “liar,” their “coffee boy,” and just a “young, low level volunteer” after the former foreign policy adviser cut a plea deal with prosecutors yesterday. In a morning tweet, Trump cast the Manafort charges as a sort of vindication for the campaign, but belittled Papadopoulos as a proven liar, despite having called him “an excellent guy” in March 2016. On CNN’s “New Day,” Michael Caputo, a former Trump campaign aide, reduced Papadopoulos to a “coffee boy” that “never did anything” for the campaign. (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times)
The Fake News is working overtime. As Paul Manaforts lawyer said, there was "no collusion" and events mentioned took place long before he...
3/ Court documents show that Papadopoulos shared his Russian outreach with several senior Trump campaign officials. Here’s the breakdown:
“The Campaign Supervisor” named in the documents is Sam Clovis, who served as Trump’s national campaign co-chairman. Clovis urged Papadopoulos to organize an “off the record” meeting with Russian officials.
The “High-Ranking Campaign Official” named is campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. Papadopoulos wrote to Lewandowski several times to let him know that the Russians were interested in forging a relationship with the campaign, including an email about discussing “Russia’s interest in hosting Mr. Trump.”
“Another high-ranking campaign official” is Paul Manafort, who Papadopoulos sent an email to with the subject line “Request from Russia to meet Mr. Trump.” Manafort forwarded the email to another campaign official, stating: “We need someone to communicate that DT is not doing these trips,” referring to a trip to Russia. “It should be someone low level in the campaign so as not to send any signal.” (Washington Post / US v. George Papadopoulos)
Carter Page admitted that Russia “may have come up” in his Trump campaign emails, but “nothing major” was discussed. Former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser is scheduled to testify behind closed doors before a House Intelligence Committee panel on Thursday. (CNN / Politico)
4/ Sam Clovis was questioned by Robert Mueller’s team last week and testified before the investigating grand jury. Clovis supervised George Papadopoulos during the campaign. The former co-chair and policy adviser to Trump’s campaign was also interviewed recently by the Senate Intelligence Committee’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. He was described as “a fully cooperative witness.” Clovis is Trump’s pick to be the Department of Agriculture’s chief scientist and is awaiting Senate confirmation. He is not a scientist. (NBC News / Politico)
5/ Hope Hicks will meet with Robert Mueller in mid-November. The White House communications director, and longtime Trump aide, has been at the president’s side and in the room since before he launched his presidential campaign. The White House currently expects Mueller to wrap up his interviews by Thanksgiving. (Politico)
6/ Steve Bannon advised Trump to find new lawyers, because he believes that Ty Cobb and John Dowd, the top two attorneys on Trump’s legal team, “are asleep at the wheel.” Bannon is also pushing Trump to take action against Robert Mueller, urging him to defund the investigation – a move that would curtail Mueller without having to formally fire him. (The Daily Beast /Politico)
7/ Facebook, Twitter, and Google appeared before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee today for the first of three public hearings. Facebook told members that Russians bought 3,000 Facebook ads, which had the potential reach of 126 million users – equivalent to more than half of the total U.S. voting population. Google found 1,108 videos with 43 hours of content related to the Russian effort on YouTube. And Twitter identified 2,752 accounts controlled by Russian operatives and more than 36,000 bots that tweeted 1.4 million times during the election campaign. (Washington Post / Bloomberg / CNN)
What You Should Know about the Senate Judiciary Sub-Committee Hearing on Extremist Content and Russian Disinformation Online - Working with Tech to Find Solutions.
8/ House Republicans are rushing to finalize their tax bill before tomorrow’s anticipated release. Many key details of the bill, which has been drafted behind closed-doors, have not been finalized and some are worried that the unveiling may have to be postponed. Trump said he wants “the House to pass a bill by Thanksgiving. I want all the people standing by my side when we sign by Christmas.” (New York Times / The Hill / Politico)
poll/ 49% of voters support impeaching Trump, to 41% who are opposed to doing so. Of Trump voters, 79% think he should remain in office even if collusion is proven, and 75% claim the entire Russia story is “fake news.” (Public Policy Polling)
1/ In a 12-count indictment, Robert Mueller charged Paul Manafort and his associate Rick Gates with conspiracy to launder more than $18 million, making false statements to the Justice Department, and other charges stemming from probes into possible Russian influence in US political affairs. The indictment of Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman, and Gates focused on their work advising a pro-Russia party in Ukraine between 2006 to 2015, laundering money through 2016, and continuing the conspiracy against the US in 2017. The charges – the first by Mueller – make no mention of Trump or Russian election meddling. Both Manafort and Gates surrendered to Justice Department and pleaded not guilty on all counts today. (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / Politico)
Read the unsealed federal grand jury indictment against Manafort and Gates. (CNN)
The 12-count Manafort and Gates indictment, annotated. (Washington Post)
A conservative website funded by a major Republican donor was the first to hire Fusion GPS to conduct opposition research on Trump. The Washington Free Beacon, funded in large part by the New York hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer, hired Fusion GPS in October 2015. (New York Times)
2/ Trump’s former foreign policy adviser pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about an April 2016 conversation with a professor with close ties to the Russian government that said Moscow had “dirt” on Hillary Clinton in the form of “thousands of emails.” George Papadopoulos repeatedly tried to arrange a meeting between the Trump campaign and Russian government officials. Papadopoulos was arrested in July 2017 and has been working with Mueller ever since as a “proactive cooperator,” court documents show. The single felony count against Papadopolous directly relates to the 2016 presidential campaign. (New York Times / Bloomberg / NBC News / Politico)
Trump, Pence, and Jeff Sessions are schedule to meet today. Sessions was invited to Trump’s weekly lunch with Pence. (The Hill)
Trump will not interfere with Robert Mueller’s investigation or try to fire the former FBI director, Trump’s lawyer Jay Sekulow said. Sarah Huckabee Sanders added that Trump has “no intention or plan” to fire Mueller. (Reuters / Politico)
Russian agents began reaching out to Trump’s campaign as early as March 2016, the Justice Department established in documents released Monday. (NPR)
3/ Trump tweets loud noises in response to the indictment news. Starting Sunday, Trump in a tweet storm challenged Republicans to “DO SOMETHING!” about Obamacare, Hillary Clinton, Democrats, the Fusion GPS dossier, tax cuts, and the Mueller investigation. He continued Monday following the indictments: “Sorry, but this is years ago, before Paul Manafort was part of the Trump campaign. But why aren’t Crooked Hillary & the Dems the focus?????” Trump continued: “….Also, there is NO COLLUSION!” The White House added that “today has zero to do with the” Trump campaign. (NBC News / The Hill / Vox)
As usual, the ObamaCare premiums will be up (the Dems own it), but we will Repeal & Replace and have great Healthcare soon after Tax Cuts!
Fox News discussed the cheeseburger emoji instead of the Manafort indictment. (Vox)
4/ Tony Podesta will step down from his lobbying firm after coming under investigation by Robert Mueller. Podesta (the brother of John Podesta) and the Podesta Group had worked on a campaign with Paul Manafort to promote Ukraine’s image in the West. Podesta’s decision to leave the firm came on the same day that Manafort and Rick Gates were indicted on multiple charges. The Podesta Group and Mercury Public Affairs are the two unnamed companies in the grand jury indictment of Paul Manafort and Rick Gates, which were referred to as “Company A” and “Company B” in the indictment. (Politico / NBC News)
5/ Puerto Rico cancelled its contract with Whitefish Energy. The $300 million contract awarded to a two-person Montana utility company linked to the Trump administration to repair Puerto Rico’s electrical infrastructure has drawn criticism. FEMA said it has “significant concerns” about the contract. (NPR / Washington Post)
The FBI is investigating the decision by Puerto Rico’s power authority to award a $300 million contract to a tiny Montana energy firm to rebuild electrical infrastructure damaged in Hurricane Maria. (Wall Street Journal)
6/ More than 50% of Trump’s nominees are tied to the industries they’re supposed to regulate. Of the 341 nominations Trump has made to Senate-confirmed administration positions, more than half (179) have some notable conflict of interest. One hundred and five nominees worked in the industries that they were being tasked with regulating; 63 lobbied for, were lawyers for, or otherwise represented industry members that they were being tasked with regulating; and 11 received payments or campaign donations from members of the industry that they were being tasked with regulating. (The Daily Beast)
One of Trump’s judicial nominees has been deemed “not qualified” by the American Bar Association. The ABA says members of its standing committee unanimously concluded, with one person abstaining, that Leonard Steven Grasz was not qualified to serve as a federal judge. (Politico)
7/ A federal judge blocked enforcement of Trump’s ban on transgender troops in the military. US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said Trump’s reasons for the ban “do not appear to be supported by any facts.” Kollar-Kotelly added that current and aspiring transgender service members “fear that the directives of the Presidential Memorandum will have devastating impacts on their careers and their families.” (HuffPost / Washington Post / USA Today)
poll/ 38% of voters approve of Trump’s job performance – down five points since September – while 58% of voters disapprove. (NBC News)
poll/ 33% of voters approve of Trump’s job performance. 60% disapprove. (Gallup)
1/ Trump hasn’t imposed sanctions on Russia because Rex Tillerson dissolved the office that implements them. After the Coordinator for Sanctions Policy office was eliminated just one mid-level official is now responsible for coordinating the implementation of sanctions across the State Department and other government agencies. The administration missed the October 1st deadline to implement new penalties against Russia, which were adopted by Congress in August. (Foreign Policy / The Hill)
2/ Trump claimed that it’s “commonly agreed” that he didn’t collude with Russia. Instead, he accused Hillary Clinton of working with the Kremlin amid reports that Clinton and the DNC paid for the dossier of accusations about Trump and his ties to Russia. Trump tweeted that “after many months of COSTLY looking, that there was NO collusion between Russia and Trump. Was collusion with HC!” (Politico / The Hill)
It is now commonly agreed, after many months of COSTLY looking, that there was NO collusion between Russia and Trump. Was collusion with HC!
Two top Democrats denied knowledge of payments to the firm behind the Trump dossier. Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta and former DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz both privately told congressional Russia investigators that they did not know who had paid Fusion GPS for opposition research on Trump. (CNN)
3/ Republican lawmakers intend to wind down their Trump-Russia investigations even though the issue of collusion remains unresolved. The Senate Intelligence Committee wants the panel’s investigation to end by February – ahead of the first 2018 primary elections – while the House Intelligence Committee hopes to finish before that. (Politico)
Feinstein demands White House hand over details on Russia, Comey firing. “The Judiciary Committee requested documents related to the White House’s interactions with FBI Director James Comey regarding the FBI’s investigation of alleged ties between President Trump’s associates and Russia, or the [Hillary] Clinton email investigation. … To date, we have received no response to these requests,” Feinstein wrote in a wide-ranging letter to White House counsel Don McGahn. (The Hill)
4/ The memo Natalia Veselnitskaya brought to the Trump Tower meeting was coordinated with the Kremlin, undercutting the Russian lawyer’s claim that she was an independent actor when she sat down with Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort. In the months before the meeting, Veselnitskaya had discussed allegations that Democratic donors were guilty of financial fraud and tax evasion with Russia’s prosecutor general, Yuri Y. Chaika. The memo she brought to the meeting closely followed a document that Chaika’s office had given to Representative Dana Rohrabacher, a California Republican who is considered to be one of the most pro-Russia lawmakers in Congress and who heads a subcommittee that helps oversee U.S. policy toward Russia. (New York Times)
5/ Kellyanne Conway “can’t be bothered” that the Trump campaign’s data analytics firm attempted to partner with WikiLeaks. During the campaign, Cambridge Analytica reached out to WikiLeaks about locating Hillary Clinton’s emails. Julian Assange declined to work with the firm. Conway was Trump’s campaign manager at the time and said she knows “nothing about that.” (The Hill)
A Trump donor asked Cambridge Analytica to better organize the Hillary Clinton’s emails released by WikiLeaks. Rebekah Mercer wanted to index the WikiLeaks emails to make them more searchable so they could be leveraged by the Trump campaign or a super PAC. (Wall Street Journal)
6/ Trump personally directed the Justice Department to lift an FBI informant’s gag order so they could testify to Congress about Russia’s attempt to gain influence in the uranium industry in the United States during the Obama administration. The request is unusual for two reasons: 1) The DOJ limits the White House’s involvement in criminal law enforcement, and 2) the request is related to Obama and the Clintons.
Before Obama approved the 2010 deal to give Moscow control of a large swath of American uranium, the FBI had evidence showing Russian nuclear officials routing millions of dollars to the US designed to benefit Bill Clinton’s charitable foundation while Hillary Clinton was serving as Secretary of State. She was not involved in the review by the Committee on Foreign Investment, which approved the deal. (CNN / The Hill)
7/ The Whitefish contract with Puerto Rico doesn’t allow the government to “audit or review the cost and profit elements” under the agreement. FEMA said in a statement that it was looking into whether the contract “followed applicable regulations to ensure that federal money is properly spent.” The statement added that FEMA “has significant concerns over how PREPA [Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority] procured this contract and has not confirmed whether the contract prices are reasonable.” (The Hill / Washington Post)
8/ The White House claimed it had no involvement in the Whitefish Energy deal. “This is a contract that was determined by the local authorities in Puerto Rico, not something that the federal government played a role in,” Sarah Huckabee Sanders said. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke told Trump that “we have no role, the federal government, specifically he had no role in that contract.” (Associated Press / Politico)
9/ The White House: All of the women who have accused Trump of sexual harassment are lying. Last week Trump called accusations of sexual harassment by at least 16 women “fake news.” During a White House briefing, a reporter asked if the official position is that all of the women are lying. “Yeah,” Sanders said, “we’ve been clear on that from the beginning, and the president’s spoken on it.” (Washington Post)
1/ The House passed its budget blueprint, which maps out the recommended spending and revenue levels for the 2018 fiscal year. No Democrats voted for the budget, which passed 216 to 212. The legislation will also allow Republicans to now pass tax reform and add as much as $1.5 trillion to the deficit over the next decade without any Democratic votes. The deficit for the 2017 fiscal year totaled $666 billion (New York Times / Washington Post)
2/ After months of promises, Trump declared the opioid epidemic a public health emergency today – not a national emergency, which would have unlocked federal funding through FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund. Under the Public Health Services Act designation, no federal funding will be automatically directed to the crisis. Federal agencies will, however, be directed to devote more grant money to the problem. Jeff Sessions said that people should just “say no” to opioids while Trump suggested that “really great advertising” will keep kids off drugs. (ABC News / CNN)
3/ Premiums for the most popular Affordable Care Act plan have risen 34% due to the marketplace instability caused by the Trump administration’s actions, a report by Avalere Health concluded. Market instability has been driven by Trump’s decision to end subsidy payments to insurers, the continued debate over repeal and replace of the Affordable Care Act, and an executive order allowing for lower cost plans outside of the Obama-era law. (Associated Press)
4/ Congress will investigate the $300 million government contract awarded to a Trump donor. Members of the Natural Resources Committee said “the size and unknown details of this contract raise numerous questions” about how a two-person Montana utility company linked to the Trump administration won the contract to repair Puerto Rico’s electrical infrastructure. Whitefish Energy is also located in the hometown of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. (Associated Press)
5/ The Government Accountability Office will investigate Trump’s voter fraud commission. Three Democratic senators asked the government watchdog to look how the federal funds are being used, what information and methodology the commission is using for its conclusions, how it is protecting any voter information, and how it is following regulations. (CNN)
Georgia election servers and backups were deleted four days after a lawsuit asked the court to annul the results of the June 20 special election for Congress and to prevent Georgia’s existing computer-based voting system from being used again. The data was destroyed July 7th by technicians. (Ars Technica / Associated Press / NBC News)
6/ It’s been more than three weeks since the October 1st deadline passed for the White House to imposed new sanctions on Russia. The administration still has not implemented the sanctions that Congress passed with veto-proof majorities in July. The State Department issued guidance on how to implement sanctions shortly after Bob Corker and other Senate Republicans pledged to find out if the White House was intentionally delaying them. Trump signed the bill in early August, imposing new sanctions and limiting his authority to lift them. He called the bill “seriously flawed,” but signed it anyway. (The Daily Beast / CNN)
7/ Trump said the soldier’s widow must be wrong because he has “one of the greatest memories of all time.” Trump suggested that there was no way he could have stumbled on Sgt. La David Johnson’s name during his condolence call with Myeshia Johnson, because he has “one of the great memories of all time.” That and his staff gave him a chart with the Green Berets name on it. (Slate)
I “really started this whole fake news thing.” He went on to say that “if you look at the level of approval of the media, of general media—if you look at it from the day I started running, to now, I’m so proud I have been able to convince people how fake it is, because it has taken a nosedive.” (CNN)
“I think the press makes me more uncivil than I am. You know, people don’t understand. I went to an Ivy League college. I was a nice student. I did very well. I’m a very intelligent person. You know, the fact is I think — I really believe — I think the press creates a different image of Donald Trump than the real person.” (Washington Post)
Q: Should you be more civil? Trump: Press makes me more uncivil than I am... I went to an Ivy League college. I'm a very intelligent person pic.twitter.com/x2sYu4tYV2
“Your show is fantastic,” Trump to Lou Dobbs. He added that he watches the program “absolutely almost all the time.” Dobbs returned the compliment, calling Trump “one of the most loved and respected” presidents “in history.” (Newsweek)
Trump has given Fox News 19 interviews since his inauguration. No other media outlet comes close to Fox’s level of access. Here’s the current score: Fox (19), New York Times (4), NBC News (3), Reuters (3), Wall Street Journal (2), Christian Broadcasting Network (2), ABC News (1), CBS News (1), Washington Post (1), Associated Press (1), Time (1), Forbes (1). (CNN / Politico)
8/ Trump delayed the release of classified documents related to John F. Kennedy’s assassination, but approved the immediate release of 2,800 of the 35,000 documents by the National Archives. The rest will remain secret, due to national security concerns by the CIA, FBI and other federal agencies. The intelligence agencies have 180-days to re-review their reasons for keeping the records redacted. The files are the final batch to be released under a 1992 law that ordered the government to make all remaining documents related to the assassination public. While flying to Dallas’s Love Field, Trump tweeted that the “long anticipated release” of the files will take place today – the same airport where Kennedy landed just before he was shot. Trump described the files as “so interesting!” (Associated Press / NPR / Washington Post)
The long anticipated release of the #JFKFiles will take place tomorrow. So interesting!
How to Read the JFK Assassination Files. The government is releasing thousands of long-secret files on Kennedy’s murder. Here are some tips for making sense of all the code names, redactions and confusing jargon. (Politico)
poll/ Democratic candidates lead by 15 points in a hypothetical matchup for the 2018 midterm elections. 50 percent of respondents said that if the election for Congress were held today, they would vote for the Democratic candidate. Only 35 percent said they would vote for a Republican. (The Hill)
poll/ 53% of military officers said they have an unfavorable view of Trump. 40% of all troops have an unfavorable view of Trump. (Military Times)
1/ Senate Republicans repealed a rule that allowed Americans to sue their banks and credit card companies in class-action lawsuits. Senators passed the measure by a vote of 50-50, with Pence breaking the tie. The Obama-era rule banned Wall Street banks and credit card companies from inserting arbitration clauses into contracts that prevented consumers from banding together to bring class-action lawsuits. Democrats and consumer advocates called the effort a gift to financial institutions like Wells Fargo and Equifax. (New York Times / CNN)
Tonight @VP Pence & the @SenateGOP gave a giant wet kiss to Wall Street. No wonder Americans think the system is rigged against them. It is.
2/ Business is booming for a private prison company after it contributed to Trump’s campaign and moved its company meetings, dinner receptions, and golf outings to Trump National Doral. GEO Group, through a company subsidiary, gave $225,000 to a pro-Trump super PAC and an additional $250,000 to Trump’s inaugural committee. It also hired two former aides to Jeff Sessions as outside lobbyists. In exchange, Sessions reversed an Obama-era directive to stop using private prisons, which allowed the company to secure a deal with the government in April worth tens of millions a year. GEO’s stock price has tripled since last year. (Washington Post)
3/ Foreign steel imports are up 24% since Trump’s “Buy American” pledge. In particular, a Russian steel company has won several pipeline contracts, including the Keystone XL. The biggest shareholder in Evraz North America is an oligarch and Trump family friend. (Bloomberg)
4/ Rick Perry claimed Obama discriminated against the coal and nuclear industries. Perry has proposed rewarding nuclear and coal fired power plants that store 90 days of fuel on site for contributing to the reliability of the power grid. Natural gas producers, renewable energy generators, and public utilities – who rarely agree on anything – have asked regulators to reject the proposal, arguing that the approach would distort markets, inhibit competition, and raise consumer prices. (Reuters / Bloomberg)
5/ The House Ways and Means Committee chairman declined to rule out changes to 401(k) plans despite Trump’s promise that there would be “NO change” as part of tax reform. Kevin Brady said he’s working with Trump and “we think in tax reform we can create incentives for people to save more and save sooner.” Brady will introduce his tax bill when the House passes a budget. Orrin Hatch, the top tax writer in the Senate, also declined to agree with Trump’s vow to protect 401(k) plans. (Washington Post / NBC News)
There will be NO change to your 401(k). This has always been a great and popular middle class tax break that works, and it stays!
6/ The head of Cambridge Analytica tried to work with Wikileaks to find Hillary Clinton’s 33,000 deleted emails. Alexander Nix, whose firm worked for Trump’s campaign, wrote an email to Julian Assange asking if the two could work together to find and release Clinton’s emails. Assange replied that he didn’t want Nix’s help. (The Daily Beast)
7/ Paul Manafort is facing a third money laundering probe. The Manhattan US attorney’s office is working in collaboration with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation to look at Trump’s former campaign chairman. The state of New York also has its own money laundering investigation going. (Wall Street Journal)
8/ CBO Score: The bipartisan health care bill would reduce the deficit by nearly $4 billion over 10 years. If the insurer subsidies aren’t funded, however, the federal deficit would increase by $194 billion by 2026. (The Hill)
A judge rejected a request by Democratic attorneys general in 18 states to block Trump’s decision to end subsidy payments to health insurers under the Affordable Care Act. U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria in San Francisco said the government does not have to make the payments while litigation over the subsidies unfolds. (Reuters)
9/ The FCC will roll back media consolidation rules designed to preserve media diversity in local markets. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s plan will eliminate a 1975 rule that prevented a single company from owning a TV station and newspaper in the same market. Critics say the move will lead to greater media consolidation and the loss of independent voices, while Pai said it would help struggling media outlets in the age of digital consumption. The FCC could also eliminate a rule that prevents TV stations from merging in the same market in order to ensure a variety of perspectives on the air. (Washington Post / Reuters)
poll/ 56% of voters think Trump is reckless. 35% say Trump is honest. (Politico)
poll/ 64% of Americans support legalizing marijuana, including 51% of Republicans. The Trump administration said February that it viewed recreational marijuana use as a flagrant violation of federal law. (Gallup)
1/ The Clinton campaign and the DNC helped fund research that resulted in the Trump dossier. A lawyer representing the Clinton campaign and the DNC retained Fusion GPS in April 2016 to conduct the research. Prior to that agreement, Fusion GPS’s research into Trump was funded by a still unknown Republican client during the GOP primary. (Washington Post)
2/ The firm behind the Trump dossier asked a judge to block the House Intelligence Committee from obtaining its bank records. Fusion GPS argues that the committee’s subpoena threatens the First Amendment rights of the journalists who compiled the dossier by revealing the identities of clients who sought political research from the firm, and poses an “existential threat” to the company. (Politico)
3/ Two House panels opened a joint investigation into the Justice Department’s actions during the 2016 campaign. The House Judiciary Committee and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman said their investigation will look at FBI decisions regarding Hillary Clinton’s handling of classified information and the FBI’s investigation into Trump campaign associates. (Reuters / Politico)
4/ Rematch: The feud between Trump and Bob Corker was relit ahead of the president’s critical meeting with Senate Republicans on taxes after Corker appeared on both NBC’s “Today” show and ABC’s “Good Morning America.” He said Trump should “step aside” from tax reform, stop “kneecap[ing] your secretary of state,” and “leave it to the professionals for a while and see if we can do something that’s constructive for our country.”
Trump tweeted that Corker was trying to stymie his agenda, called him a “lightweight,” and charged that Corker “couldn’t get elected dog catcher in Tennessee” – whatever that means. Corker replied on Twitter: “Same untruths from an utterly untruthful president. #AlertTheDaycareStaff.”
Then, in an interview with CNN, Corker escalated his criticism, calling Trump a serial liar, saying he regretted supporting him for president, accused him of debasing the country, and refused to say whether he trusted Trump with the nuclear codes. In an interview with ABC News, Corker stopped short of calling Trump a liar. Instead, he characterized Trump as “utterly untruthful.”
Sen. Bob Corker doubles down on Trump critique; on North Korea "I would like him to leave it to the Professionals for a while" pic.twitter.com/ArgbRTxhnB
Paul Ryan: people should ignore the “Twitter this and Twitter that” and focus on the legislative actions taken by Congress. “So all this stuff you see on a daily basis on Twitter this and Twitter that, forget about it,” Ryan said. “Let’s focus on helping people, improving people’s lives, and doing what we said we would do that accomplishes that. That’s what we’re focused on.” (Business Insider)
5/ Jeff Flake announced that will not run for re-election, saying he “will no longer be complicit or silent” in the face of Trump’s “reckless, outrageous and undignified” behavior. The Republican senator delivered a 17-minute speech on the Senate floor less than an hour after Trump met with Republicans for lunch, saying the “stability of the entire world [is] routinely threatened by the level of thought that goes into 140 characters” and to “do nothing in the face of such mercurial behavior is ahistoric” and “profoundly misguided.” (New York Times / CNN)
The full transcript of Jeff Flake’s retirement speech. “None of this is normal,” Flake said. “And what do we, as United States senators, have to say about it? The principles that underlie our politics, the values of our founding, are too vital to our identity and survival to allow them to be compromised by the requirements of politics, because politics can make us silent when we should speak and silence can equal complicity.” (Vox)
6/ Mitch McConnell and John McCain praised Flake’s speech, while Sarah Huckabee Sanders characterized it as “petty,” adding: “I don’t think Sen Flake’s language was befitting of the Senate floor.” (The Hill / CNN)
7/ A two-person Montana utility company linked to the Trump administration won a $300 million contract to repair Puerto Rico’s electrical infrastructure. The private-equity firm that finances Whitefish Energy was founded by Joe Colonnetta, who contributed $20,000 to the Trump Victory PAC during the general election, $2,700 to Trump’s primary election campaign, $2,700 to Trump’s general election campaign, and a total of $30,700 to the Republican National Committee in 2016. Whitefish Energy is also located in the hometown of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, who is friends with the Whitefish CEO Andy Techmanski. (Washington Post / The Daily Beast)
Zinke funneled millions to questionable PACs. The Interior secretary has helped raise money for political operatives that some Republicans accuse of collecting donations from conservative voters while doing little for their cause. (Politico)
8/ Trump has personally attacked 1 in 5 Republican senators: Bob Corker, Ted Cruz, Jeff Flake, Lindsey Graham, Dean Heller, John McCain, Mitch McConnell, Lisa Murkowski, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, and Ben Sasse have all drawn Trump’s ire. Republicans hold a 52-48 advantage in the Senate and can only afford to lose two votes on any piece of legislation. (CNN)
9/ Trump’s personal lawyer met with the House Intelligence Committee today. Michael Cohen emailed Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, during the presidential campaign seeking help getting a Trump Tower built in Moscow. Peskov said he never responded to the email. (NBC News)
10/ The Trump administration will allow refugees admission from all countries, but with new rules to better vet applicants. Refugee admissions had been halted in June for 120 days as part of Trump’s travel ban. The administration will now collect more personal data, such as names of family members and places of employment, as well as mine social media posts. (Wall Street Journal)
poll/ 55% of white Americans believe they face discrimination, although only 19% of white people say they have been personally discriminated against when apply for a job. (NPR)
poll/ 35% of Americans feel that diversity initiatives have left out white men. Of that group, 62% said they thought white men were missing promotions and other advancement opportunities. (Washington Post)
1/ Betsy DeVos rescinded 72 guidelines that protect the rights of disabled students under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and the Rehabilitation Act. The Department of Education called the policies “outdated, unnecessary, or ineffective.” During her confirmation hearing in January, DeVos said she was “confused” about the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act when asked whether she supported it. DeVos said she thought it was best “left to the states,” but “is certainly worth discussion.” (Washington Post / VICE News)
Stunning: Maggie Hassan (who has a disabled son) realizes that DeVos doesn't know the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act exists. pic.twitter.com/ht2dK9iqL8
2/ Congress let funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program expire 23 days ago. The program’s budget lapsed on September 1st, which provides low-cost health insurance to 9 million children. While there is no evidence that any children have lost coverage, there are roughly 4 million CHIP enrollees living in states whose programs are at risk of losing coverage. (Vox / Politico)
3/ Trump rush-shipped condolence letters to military families last week after he falsely claimed he had called or written letters to “virtually all” of the families. Four families of fallen soldiers received next-day UPS letters from Trump two days after Trump told the widow of a fallen soldier “he knew what he signed up for.” (The Atlantic)
4/ Trump “stumbl[ed] on my husband’s name” in his condolence call to the widow of the fallen soldier. Myeshia Johnson told “Good Morning America” she was “very angry at the tone of [Trump’s] voice and couldn’t remember my husband’s name” during the same call where Trump said the solider “knew what he signed up for.” Trump defended himself on Twitter, saying: “I had a very respectful conversation with the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, and spoke his name from beginning, without hesitation!” (ABC News / NPR / Washington Post)
5/ Senators didn’t know there were 1,000 troops in Niger. Lindsey Graham, who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said “I didn’t know there was a thousand troops in Niger” when asked about whether Congress needed to vote on an Authorization of Use of Military Force for the mission that left four Green Berets dead. He added: “The military determines who the threats are, they come up with the engagement policy and if we don’t like what the military does, we can defund the operation.” Chuck Schumer also admitted that he didn’t know about the number of troops in Niger. (The Daily Beast)
6/ Trump dismissed the House Republicans’ plan to limit 401(k) contributions as part of their effort to rewrite the tax code. The plan could cap pre-tax 401(k) contributions at $2,400 annually. “There will be NO change to your 401(k),” Trump tweeted. “This has always been a great and popular middle class tax break that works, and it stays!” (Reuters / New York Times)
There will be NO change to your 401(k). This has always been a great and popular middle class tax break that works, and it stays!
Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee are considering retaining the income tax rate for people who earn $1 million or more per year. The current thinking is that people who earn between $418,000 and $999,999 will have their tax rate reduced from 39.6% to 35%, but those earning $1 million or more will not. (Axios)
Ivanka Trump characterized the Republicans’ tax reform plan as good for working middle-class families. “For me this tax plan really couples two things that are really core values as a country, which is work and supporting the American family,” Ivanka said. “We have to support the American worker, we have to create jobs, we have to create growth, but we also have to support that American worker’s family.” (Politico)
7/ The EPA blocked three agency scientists from discussing climate change at a conference. The scientists contributed substantial material to a 400-page report about how climate change is affecting air and water temperatures, precipitation, sea level and fish in and around the Narragansett Bay estuary. The EPA helped fund the report. (New York Times)
Scott Pruitt’s security detail is adding a dozen more agents as the number of threats against the EPA head has increased “four to five times.” Pruitt has also purchased a secure soundproof communications booth for his office at a cost of nearly $25,000, even though similar rooms already exist at the EPA. Congress has said the costs are a “potential waste or abuse of taxpayer dollars” and that “taxpayer funds are being misused.” (CNN)
8/ Trump’s digital director will meet with the House Intelligence Committee about Russian meddling in last year’s election. It will be Brad Parscale’s first interview with any of the committees investigating the matter. Parscale claimed that Facebook, Google, and Twitter employees were “embedded” inside the Trump campaign. (Reuters)
Special Counsel Robert Mueller is investigating a Democratic lobbying firm about whether it violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Tony Podesta (the brother of John Podesta) and the Podesta Group had worked on a campaign that Paul Manafort had organized to promote the Ukraine’s image in the West. John Podesta is not currently affiliated with the Podesta Group and is not part of Mueller’s investigation. (NBC News)
9/ Trump will spend at least $430,000 of his own money to cover the legal costs his aides have incurred related to the Russia investigation. The RNC has paid roughly $430,000 to lawyers representing Trump and Trump Jr. The White House said Trump has pledged to spend the same amount, from his personal finances, “to defray the costs of legal fees for his associates, including former and current White House aides.” (Axios / Washington Post)
10/ The State Department revoked the visa of a Putin critic after Russia placed Bill Browder on Interpol’s wanted list. Browder was responsible for the Magnitsky Act, a law aimed at punishing Russian officials believed responsible for the death in a Moscow prison of Sergei Magnitsky. In response to the Magnitsky Act, Russia cut off the US adoption of Russian children, which was the premise for the Trump Tower meeting between the Russian lawyer and representatives of the Trump campaign. (NPR / The Guardian / The Hill)
UPDATE:
The US rejected Russia’s criminal complaint against Browder and allowed him into the country. The initial action blocking Browder had been taken automatically in response to an Interpol notice filed against him by Russia and was not an affirmative action by the American government. (New York Times)
11/ Chuck Schumer said “all 48 Democrats” in the Senate are on board with the bipartisan health care deal. Mitch McConnell, meanwhile, said he would bring the Alexander-Murray bill to the floor if Trump signals that he would sign the legislation aimed at stabilizing health insurance markets. Last week Trump tweeted that he could never support the bill, which he characterized as “bailing out” insurance companies. (NBC News / Politico)
12/ Trump signed an executive order on Friday that would allow the Air Force to recall 1,000 retired pilots in order to address what the Pentagon says is a pilot shortage. The order amends a post-9/11 emergency declaration that allows the Air Force to recall pilots from retirement. The Air Force is currently short approximately 1,500 pilots. (The Hill / Washington Post)
The Air Force denied that it is preparing to put nuclear-armed bombers on 24-hour ready alert. On Sunday, it was reported that the Air Force could put its fleet of B-52 bombers on “a ready-to-fly posture” for the first time since 1991. An Air Force spokesperson said: “We are not planning or preparing to put B-52s on alert.” (CNBC)
13/ Trump’s voter fraud commission has left Democratic members in the dark about what it’s doing. Two of the commission’s four Democrats have written letters to its executive director, asking for basic information such as when the panel might meet again, what kind of research is being conducted, and when it might send a report to Trump. (Washington Post)
poll/ 42% of voters approve of the job Trump is doing, while 58% disapprove. (The Hill)
1/ The Senate approved its budget by a 51 to 49 vote. The spending blueprint will allow Republicans to use a procedural maneuver to pass tax reform in the Senate with just 50 votes while avoiding a Democratic filibuster. The House and Senate need to pass identical budgets in order for Republicans to sidestep the Senate’s typical 60-vote threshold for passage. Trump tweeted: “We got ZERO Democrat votes with only Rand Paul (he will vote for Tax Cuts) voting against. This now allows for the passage of large scale Tax Cuts (and Reform), which will be the biggest in the history of our country!” (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico)
The Budget passed late last night, 51 to 49. We got ZERO Democrat votes with only Rand Paul (he will vote for Tax Cuts) voting against.....
2/ Trump falsely attributed a spike in UK crime to a “spread of Radical Islamic terror,” tweeting that the 13% year-over-year increase in crime was “not good, we must keep America safe!” A report by the UK Office for National Statistics made no link between rising crime and terrorism, but instead showed a double-digit increases in violent crimes, such as gun crime, knife crime, and sexual offenses. (The Guardian)
Just out report: "United Kingdom crime rises 13% annually amid spread of Radical Islamic terror." Not good, we must keep America safe!
3/ Putin called on Americans to respect Trump. “Inside the country, disrespect is shown for him. This is a regrettable negative component of the U.S. political system,” Putin said. He continued, saying that “Trump was elected by the American people. And at least for this reason, it is necessary to show respect for him, even if you do not agree with some of his positions.” Putin’s comments came the same day that U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley accused the Russian government of committing “warfare” against the United States. (The Hill)
4/ A federal judge refused to void Joe Arpaio’s conviction despite Trump’s pardon. U.S. District Judge Susan Ritchie Bolton said Trump’s pardon does not “revise the historical facts” of his case and that she will not vacate her ruling. Arpaio had been found guilty of criminal contempt of a federal court order for his failure to stop detaining individuals on the basis of their suspected immigration status. (NPR / Washington Post)
5/ The EPA removed from its website climate change resources that local governments used to address climate change, curb emissions, and devise strategies for adapting to weather extremes. An EPA spokesman said the resources have been archived and are available by searching through the agency’s archive. (New York Times)
6/ The FBI has joined the investigation into the ambush that left four Green Berets dead after the 12-member team was attacked by 50 ISIS fighters in Niger two weeks ago. Investigators are questioning whether US forces had adequate resources for what Defense Secretary Jim Mattis called an “unlikely” attack. A senior congressional aide characterized the ambush as a “massive intelligence failure.”
The troops were engaged in a firefight for 30 minutes and relied on French military for air support, which made low-pass flyovers in an attempt to disperse the attackers. It did not have permission to drop bombs.
Private contractors used helicopters to evacuate the injured and dead, but Army Sgt. La David Johnson was somehow left behind for almost two days before his remains were found.
Trump waited nearly two weeks before mentioning the Niger incident, even though his staff had drafted a statement of condolence for him on October 5th. Some have asked if this is Trump’s Benghazi.
Yesterday, John McCain threatened to use a Senate Armed Services Committee subpoena in order to get more information about the attack, which prompted Mattis to meet with McCain today.
Mattis said the “US military does not leave its troops behind,” but did not provide additional details into why Johnson’s body was initially left behind. (Wall Street Journal / CNN / Politico)
7/ Trump called a congresswoman “wacky” and said she told a “total lie” about his call to the widow of a solider killed in Niger. “The Fake News is going crazy with wacky Congresswoman Wilson(D), who was SECRETLY on a very personal call, and gave a total lie on content!” Trump tweeted. Frederica Wilson said Trump told the widow her husband “knew what he signed up for” in a condolence call. (Politico)
The Fake News is going crazy with wacky Congresswoman Wilson(D), who was SECRETLY on a very personal call, and gave a total lie on content!
1/ George W. Bush all but called Trump a threat to democracy, saying “bigotry seems emboldened. Our politics seems more vulnerable to conspiracy theories and outright fabrication.” He called bigotry “blasphemy against the American creed” and that the “identity of our nation depends on the passing of civic ideals to the next generation.” He did not mention Trump by name. (Politico / New York Times)
2/ Trump suggested that the Democratic Party, the FBI, or the Kremlin paid for the dossier alleging ties between him and the Russian government. “Workers of firm involved with the discredited and Fake Dossier take the 5th,” Trump tweeted. “Who paid for it, Russia, the FBI or the Dems (or all)?” Two officials from Fusion GPS, the firm behind the dossier, invoked their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination and refused to answer questions from the House Intelligence Committee yesterday. (Politico)
Workers of firm involved with the discredited and Fake Dossier take the 5th. Who paid for it, Russia, the FBI or the Dems (or all)?
3/ CIA Director Mike Pompeo falsely claimed Russian meddling didn’t affect the election results. A US intelligence report released in January concluded that Moscow’s aims were to undermine the democratic process and help elect Trump. It did not reach a conclusion about whether meddling had altered the outcome, because the question was considered out of the scope of the report. (Washington Post / NBC News)
4/ Trump’s former campaign manager met with the Senate Intelligence Committee for a closed-door interview. Corey Lewandowski said earlier this year that he did not have any contact with Russian officials, but if there was contact, it was made by Manafort or others on the campaign and Trump didn’t know about it. (CNN)
Jeff Sessions declined to answer questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee about his conversations with Trump before he fired James Comey. As with his June testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sessions cited Trump’s executive privilege for his refusal to answer questions. (New York Times)
5/ On November 1st, the general counsel for both Facebook and Twitter will testify before the House and Senate intelligence committees on Russia’s use of technology to try to interfere with the 2016 presidential election. Google, which was also invited, has not said if it will send a representative to testify. (NBC News / The Hill)
The Internet Research Agency used Russian trolls to co-opt unwitting American activists to stoke fear and influence the election. Two online groups — BlackMattersUS and BlackFist — were among those used by Russian operators to encourage activists to help organize rallies, train in self-defense, and create music videos. In some cases, those activists even received financial support. (ABC News)
6/ John McCain and two Democratic senators will introduce a bill requiring Facebook, Google, and other internet companies to disclose who is purchasing political ads to the election commission. The tech industry has resisted previous efforts to mandate advertising disclosures, saying the ads on their platforms were too small to fit the disclaimers. (New York Times)
7/ Senate Republicans are set to pass their $4 trillion budget plan, which would serve as a vehicle for tax reform later this year without Democratic support. Trump endorsed the plan, tweeting that it is the “first step toward massive tax cuts” but suggested he’s not confident of the measure’s passage. “I think we have the votes, but who knows?” (ABC News / Fox News)
Republicans are going for the big Budget approval today, first step toward massive tax cuts. I think we have the votes, but who knows?
8/ John Kelly didn’t know Trump would publicize that Obama didn’t call when his son died. Kelly and the White House were caught off-guard by Trump using the death of Kelly’s son to defend his handling of four soldiers killed in Niger. Kelly also defended Trump’s condolence call to the widow of a fallen soldier where Trump said the solider “knew what he signed up for.” (CNN / New York Times)
9/ Trump sent the $25,000 check to the fallen soldier’s family the same day it was reported that he never did. The Washington Post reported that Trump had promised the soldier’s father a personal donation during a June condolence call but had never followed through. (CNN)
10/ Trump gives himself 10/10 for his response to Puerto Rico, which he called “worse than Katrina.” He said his administration has done “a really great job.” 30% of the island doesn’t have access to drinking water and 80% are still without power. (ABC News / HuffPost)
poll/ 42% of Americans think Trump will be remembered as one of worst presidents in history. 16% think Trump will be remembered as a below average leader. (Marist)
1/ Trump denied telling the widow of a fallen soldier “he knew what he signed up for,” contradicting a Florida congresswoman who was with the woman at the time. “Basically, he said, ‘Well, I guess he knew what he signed up for,” Congresswoman Frederica Wilson said, recounting the conversation she heard on speakerphone. “But I guess it still hurt.’ That’s what he said.”
Trump tweeted that the “Democrat Congresswoman totally fabricated what I said to the wife of a soldier who died in action (and I have proof),” raising questions about whether Trump tapes calls and conversations. Sarah Sanders said there is no recording of the call, adding that Wilson’s conduct is “appalling and disgusting.” The mother of the fallen soldier stood behind Wilson’s account, saying that Trump “did disrespect” the family with his comments during the call. (Washington Post / ABC News / CNN)
Democrat Congresswoman totally fabricated what I said to the wife of a soldier who died in action (and I have proof). Sad!
2/ The White House had drafted a statement of sympathy following the ambush in Niger where four Green Berets were killed. Trump never issued the statement, which was circulated to the National Security Council and Defense Department. On Monday, Trump was asked why he had not spoken publicly about the deaths. He defended himself by saying he’d written letters, and then lied that Obama and other past presidents had never or rarely called the families of troops who died. (Politico)
3/ Trump offered a grieving military father $25,000 and said he would establish an online fundraiser for the family. Neither happened. The father said the White House sent a condolence letter from Trump instead. “I opened it up and read it, and I was hoping to see a check in there, to be honest,” the father said. A White House spokesperson said “the check has been sent,” adding that “It’s disgusting that the media is taking something that should be recognized as a generous and sincere gesture, made privately by the President, and using it to advance the media’s biased agenda.” (Washington Post)
4/ Trump backed off his support for the bipartisan healthcare deal, tweeting he could never support legislation “bailing out” insurance companies “who have made a fortune” from Obamacare. The comment comes a day after Trump embraced the deal as “a short-term solution so that we don’t have this very dangerous little period.” The chairman of the Senate health committee said Trump “completely engineered the plan” to fund subsidies for health insurers, but “wants to reserve his options.” (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Axios)
I am supportive of Lamar as a person & also of the process, but I can never support bailing out ins co's who have made a fortune w/ O'Care.
5/ Paul Ryan does not support the Alexander-Murray healthcare bill. Ryan’s press secretary said “The speaker does not see anything that changes his view that the Senate should keep its focus on repeal and replace of Obamacare.” (Axios)
6/ A second federal judge blocked Trump’s latest travel ban attempt citing Trump’s tweets as evidence the policy carries the same intent as his Muslim ban proposal. The Maryland judge granted a nationwide preliminary injunction against the latest iteration of the travel ban, following a similar order by a federal judge in Hawaii. District Court Judge Theodore Chuang said the administration had “not shown that national security cannot be maintained without an unprecedented eight-country travel ban.” (Politico / Washington Post)
7/ Trump tweeted that James Comey had prematurely exonerated Hillary Clinton “long before [the] investigation was complete” into her private email use. The FBI released emails that indicate Comey had drafted a statement about ending the investigation two months before he announced he would not to seek charges. “Wow, FBI confirms report that James Comey drafted letter exonerating Crooked Hillary Clinton long before investigation was complete,” Trump tweeted. “James Comey lied and leaked and totally protected Hillary Clinton.” (Washington Post / Associated Press)
Wow, FBI confirms report that James Comey drafted letter exonerating Crooked Hillary Clinton long before investigation was complete. Many..
8/ Jeff Sessions appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee and defended Trump’s firing of James Comey. He linked the FBI director’s dismissal to his handling of the Hillary Clinton email server investigation. Sessions refused to discuss private conversations he had with Trump that led up to Comey’s firing. The attorney general also said he hasn’t been interviewed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, yet. (Associated Press)
9/ Democrats asked the chairman of the House oversight committee to subpoena the White House for documents related to Michael Flynn and his company the Flynn Intel Group. “[T]he White House has been openly defying this Committee’s bipartisan request for documents regarding General Flynn for months without any assertion of privilege of any kind,” 18 Democrats wrote in a 10-page letter to Trey Gowdy. “We believe that this paper trail must be pursued to answer the gravest questions of all — did General Flynn seek to change the course of our country’s national security to benefit the private interests he previously promoted?” A Gowdy aide said he was reviewing whether the White House’s limited response to previously inquiries was sufficient. (Politico)
10/ An exiled Russian oligarch believes Putin tried to collaborate with the Trump campaign. “I am almost convinced that Putin’s people have tried to influence the U.S. election in some way,” Mikhail Khodorkovsky said. He added that the Russian banker Jared Kushner met with last December was not “acting on his own behalf.” (NBC News)
11/ Several Republicans have called for the three congressional Russia investigations to end this year. The GOP members contend that the Democrats on a fishing expedition, which Trump has called a “witch hunt.” Democrats say they don’t want to rush testimony from witnesses. (CNN)
12/ A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to allow an undocumented teenager to get an abortion. The pregnant teenager, who was apprehended crossing the border from Mexico illegally last month, was being held in a federally funded shelter in South Texas where Trump administration officials had prevented the shelter from allowing her to travel to an abortion provider. The judge said she was “astounded” at the government’s position that the teen’s only options were to either carry the unwanted pregnancy to term or go back to her home country. (BuzzFeed News / Washington Post)
poll/ 46% of voters believe the news media fabricates stories about Trump and his administration. 76% of Republican voters think the news media invents stories about Trump compared to 65% of Democrats who think the news media does not. (Politico)
poll/ 52% of Americans oppose Trump’s recent tax reform proposal while 34% say they support the plan. The tax plan would consolidate the number of tax rates from seven to three: 12%, 25% and 35%. The plan would also increase the standard deduction, increase the child tax credit, repeal the alternative minimum tax, and drop the corporate tax rate to 20%, which could increase the deficit by $1.5 trillion over 10 years. (CNN)
1/ John McCain condemned Trump’s “America First” policy as “half-baked, spurious nationalism” and charged that Trump would “rather find scapegoats than solve problems.” McCain’s remarks came as he was honored with the Liberty Medal by the National Constitution Center. While he didn’t refer to Trump or his administration by name, McCain added that it’s unpatriotic to “abandon the ideals we have advanced around the globe” and to “refuse the obligations of international leadership.” (CNN / Washington Post)
2/ Trump warned McCain “to be careful because at some point I fight back,” adding that “I’m being very, very nice but at some point I fight back and it won’t be pretty.” McCain’s response: “I have faced tougher adversaries.” (Associated Press)
3/ Trump falsely claimed that Obama didn’t call the families of troops killed in the line of duty. “If you look at President Obama and other presidents, most of them didn’t make calls,” Trump said in response to a question about why he had not publicly acknowledged the four Green Berets killed in an ambush in Niger two weeks ago. “A lot of them didn’t make calls. I like to call when it’s appropriate.”
Obama’s former aides were quick to respond: Eric Holder tweeted that Trump needs to “Stop the damn lying - you’re the President.” And Benjamin Rhodes, a former deputy national security adviser, called Trump’s claim an “outrageous and disrespectful lie even by Trump standards.” Trump offered no evidence to back up his claim. (New York Times / Reuters)
Stop the damn lying - you’re the President. I went to Dover AFB with 44 and saw him comfort the families of both the fallen military & DEA. pic.twitter.com/HhE4KbTBkJ
4/ Trump told reporters to ask John Kelly if Obama called him after his son died in Afghanistan. “As far as other presidents,” Trump said, “I don’t know, you could ask Gen. Kelly, did he get a call from Obama? I don’t know what Obama’s policy was.” He added that “I really speak for myself. I am not speaking for other people. I don’t know what (George W.) Bush did. I don’t know what Obama did.” Kelly’s son died after he stepped on a landmine in 2010. (CNN)
A senior White House official said John Kelly “did not receive a call” from Obama after his son was killed in Afghanistan. Kelly and his wife, however, attended a 2011 White House event for Gold Star families, and sat at Michelle Obama’s table. (Axios)
5/ Senators have agreed “in principle” to a bipartisan deal to fund subsidies for health insurers and stabilize insurance markets under the Affordable Care Act. Trump had threatened to cut off the payments which lower out-of-pocket costs for low-income consumers. The deal will fund subsidies for two years, providing short-term certainty to insurers. (New York Times / ABC News)
6/ Putin’s “chef” is believed to have financed the Russian “troll factory” that used social media to spread fake news during the 2016 US presidential campaign. Yevgeny Prigozhin is a Russian oligarch and the main backer of the St. Petersburg-based Internet Research Agency. A declassified assessment by US intelligence concluded in January that the “likely financier of the so-called Internet Research Agency of professional trolls located in Saint Petersburg is a close Putin ally with ties to Russian intelligence.” It did not name Prigozhin directly. Prigozhin was at one point, allegedly, Putin’s “personal chef,” in addition to having catering contracts with Russia’s armed forces. He also once served caviar and truffles to George W. Bush during a summit in St. Petersburg. (CNN)
7/ Sean Spicer met with Robert Mueller’s team on Monday for an interview that lasted most of the day. Spicer was asked about the firing of former FBI director James Comey, his statements regarding the firing, and Trump’s meetings with Russians officials, including Sergei Lavrov in the Oval Office. (Politico)
8/ The Senate Intelligence Committee subpoenaed Carter Page as part of its investigation into Russia meddling in the 2016 election. Page previously said he would not cooperate and would invoke his Fifth Amendment rights and refuse to answer questions. (NBC News)
9/ The Senate Intelligence Committee has requested documents and testimony from Michael Flynn’s son. They have not received a response yet. Michael G. Flynn was involved in the day-to-day operations of Flynn Intel Group and served as his father’s chief of staff. The committee could issue a subpoena if he doesn’t comply, but he would likely assert his right against self-incrimination under the Fifth Amendment. The younger Flynn is also the subject of Robert Mueller’s criminal and counterintelligence investigation. (NBC News)
The content ad network Outbrain is investigating whether Russian ads or other forms of election tampering took place on its service during the 2016 election. Outbrain reaches more than 550 million visitors per month via content recommendation modules on websites of publishers such as CNN, People, and ESPN. Outbrain is “currently conducting a thorough investigation specific to election tampering and continue[s] to monitor our index,” the company said in a statement. (BuzzFeed News)
10/ A federal judge in Hawaii has blocked Trump’s third attempt to implement his travel ban, which was set to go into effect Wednesday. The order was found to discriminate on the basis of nationality. Judges said the two earlier attempts were motivated by bias against Muslims. (Bloomberg / Axios)
11/ Trump’s nominee for drug czar has withdrawn his name from consideration after it was reported the lawmaker guided legislation in Congress that made it harder for the DEA to act against giant drug companies. “Rep.Tom Marino has informed me that he is withdrawing his name from consideration as drug czar,” Trump tweeted. “Tom is a fine man and a great Congressman!” (CBS News / Washington Post)
Rep.Tom Marino has informed me that he is withdrawing his name from consideration as drug czar. Tom is a fine man and a great Congressman!
12/ The EPA issued new guidelines that claim higher radiation levels “usually” pose “no harmful health effects.” The change is part of the EPA’s “guidance” on messaging and communications in the event of a nuclear power plant meltdown or dirty bomb attack, and sets a level of acceptable radiation ten times the drinking water standard for radiation recommended under Obama. A 2007 version of the same document said that no level of radiation is safe and concluded that “the current body of scientific knowledge tells us this.” (Bloomberg)
13/ Scott Pruitt directed the EPA to stop settling lawsuits with environmental groups behind closed doors, saying the groups have had too much influence on regulation. Pruitt sued the agency he now runs more than a dozen times while he was the attorney general of Oklahoma. The practice of “sue and settle” is used by green groups to push the EPA to speed up regulation on issues such as air and water pollution, as well as climate change. (Reuters)
14/ A group of 18 Democratic attorneys general are suing Betsy DeVos over the Education Department’s refusal to enforce regulation meant to protect students from predatory career college programs. DeVos froze an Obama-era rule called “gainful employment.” The rule would have cut off federal financial aid funding from for-profit colleges that leave students with low incomes and massive debt. (BuzzFeed News / The Hill)
poll/ 46% of American believe things in the country are going well, down from 53% in August. Trump’s approval stands at 37% with 57% who disapprove – almost identical to his approval rating in late September. (CNN)
1/ Mitch McConnell and Trump met for lunch today after Steve Bannon called for a “season of war” against the Senate majority leader and the rest of the GOP establishment. Bannon compared McConnell to Julius Caesar and vowed to challenge any Senate Republican who doesn’t publicly condemn attacks on Trump. “Yeah, Mitch, the donors are not happy. They’ve all left you. We’ve cut your oxygen off,” Bannon said. (Politico / The Guardian / CNN)
2/ After his meeting with McConnell, Trump said they are “closer than ever before.” Trump also said he would try to talk Bannon out of declaring war on “some” of his primary targets saying, “I’m going to see if we can talk him out of that, because I think they’re great people.” (Axios / CNN)
3/ Rex Tillerson refused to answer whether he called Trump a “moron,” dismissing the question as the “petty stuff” of Washington. Meanwhile, Trump tweeted that Tillerson “is wasting his time” trying to talk with North Korea, and Bob Corker charged that Trump had “publicly castrate[d]” him. “I checked,” Tillerson said, “I’m fully intact.” (Washington Post / NBC News)
The next CIA director could be Tom Cotton if Trump replaces Tillerson with current CIA Director Mike Pompeo. (Axios)
4/ Robert Mueller’s team interviewed Reince Priebus. The former chief of staff was present for many key moments, including Trump’s efforts to limit questions about Russian meddling in the election and the discussions that led to James Comey’s firing. (Washington Post)
5/ Paul Manafort’s financial ties to a Russian oligarch total around $60 million over the past decade. Previously unreported documents revealed a $26 million loan between a Manafort-linked company and Oleg Deripaska, a billionaire with close ties to the Kremlin. (NBC News)
6/ Trump said that Pence “wants to hang” all gay people. The comment, an apparent joke, came after a legal scholar told the two that if the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, many states would legalize abortion on their own. “You see? You’ve wasted all this time and energy on it, and it’s not going to end abortion anyway,” Trump said to Pence. The conversation then turned to gay rights and Trump motioned toward Pence and said, “Don’t ask that guy—he wants to hang them all!” (The New Yorker)
Jeff Sessions sent a federal hate crimes lawyer to help prosecute a man charged with murdering a transgender high school student. Sessions has spoken out against same-sex marriage, voted against expanding federal hate crimes laws to protect transgender people, directed the Justice Department to no longer protects gay or transgender people from workplace discrimination, and reversed a policy encouraging schools to let transgender students use bathrooms that fit their gender identities. (New York Times)
7/ Trump’s top allies aren’t sure if he realizes his feuds with Republicans and lack of legislative wins are putting his presidency at risk. Top White House aides, lawmakers, donors, and political consultants have privately wondered if Trump grasps that losing the House next year could bring on new subpoenas, an intense focus on the Russia investigation, and possible impeachment proceedings. (CNN)
8/ Eighteen states sued the Trump administration to stop him from scrapping subsidies to insurers that help millions of low-income people pay medical expenses. Trump said he would dismantle the Affordable Care Act “step by step,” which prompted Adam Schiff to tweet that “Trump is the worst President in modern history,” accusing him of “deliberately undermining people’s health care out of spite.” The 18 states and District of Columbia are asking the court to force Trump to make the next payment, but legal experts say they face an uphill battle in court. (Reuters / The Hill)
ObamaCare is a broken mess. Piece by piece we will now begin the process of giving America the great HealthCare it deserves!
Latest reason why President Trump is the worst President in modern history: Deliberately undermining people’s health care out of spite. https://t.co/mh9JXLYJp7
poll/ 66% think it is more important for Trump and Congress to work to improve the ACA marketplaces rather than continue their efforts to repeal and replace the 2010 health care law. (Kaiser Health Tracking Poll)
9/ Steven Mnuchin: repealing the estate tax “disproportionately helps rich people.” The Treasury secretary’s concession contradicts what Trump said about the estate tax last month: “To protect millions of small businesses and the American farmer, we are finally ending the crushing, the horrible, the unfair estate tax, or as it is often referred to, the death tax.” (New York Times)
9/ A woman who said Trump groped her has subpoenaed his campaign for documents about “any woman alleging that Donald J. Trump touched her inappropriately.” Trump has denied her accusations and is fighting the subpoena, calling the accusations “lies, lies, lies.” Trump’s lawyers have sought to have the suit by the former “The Apprentice” contestant dismissed or at least delayed until he is out of office. (BuzzFeed News / NBC News)
10/ The firm behind the Trump dossier is objecting to subpoenas issued by the House Intelligence Committee to the partners who run Fusion GPS and questioned whether Chairman Devin Nunes, who recused himself from the investigation earlier this year, was authorized to issue them. The firm claims the subpoenas violate the First Amendment and would “chill” future opposition research. A lawyer for Fusion GPS called the subpoenas “a clear abuse of power” that were “designed to obfuscate the facts and conjure up rank conspiracy theories at the behest of the president and his most obsequious allies in Congress.” (Bloomberg)
11/ Trump will declare a national opioid crisis next week and will be “looking into” his drug czar nominee after it was reported that Tom Marino helped guide legislation that weakened the DEA’s ability to go after drug distributors, even as opioid-related deaths continued to rise. The law makes it very difficult for the DEA to stop suspicious drug distribution companies supplying doctors and pharmacists who sell narcotics to the black market. The drug industry worked behind the scenes with lobbyists and members of Congress, pouring more than a million dollars into their election campaigns. (Washington Post)
poll/ 58% of Americans believe the current reforms being discussed would favor the rich, while 18% think they would favor the middle class and 19% feel the changes would treat all equally. (CBS News)
1/ Trump will cut off essential subsidy payments to Affordable Care Act insurers. The subsidies are used to pay out-of-pocket costs for low-income people and represent an estimated $7 billion this year. A White House statement directed Congress to “repeal and replace the disastrous Obamacare law and provide real relief to the American people” because “the government cannot lawfully make the cost-sharing reduction payments.” Trump said the ACA was “imploding” and called it a “broken mess” in a pair of tweets. Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi responded, saying Trump had “apparently decided to punish the American people for his inability to improve our health care system.” Nearly 6 million enrollees qualify for the cost-sharing payments this year. (Politico / New York Times / CNN)
The Democrats ObamaCare is imploding. Massive subsidy payments to their pet insurance companies has stopped. Dems should call me to fix!
2/ Insurers pushed back against Trump’s decision to cut the ACA’s cost-sharing reduction subsidies. “This action will make it harder for patients to access the care they need. Costs will go up and choices will be restricted,” the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and America’s Health Insurance Plans said in a joint statement. “These benefits help real people every day, and if they are ended, there will be real consequences.” (The Hill)
3/ New York and California threatened to sue the Trump administration over health care subsidies the White House said it would cut off. “Again and again, President Trump has threatened to cut off these subsidies to undermine our healthcare system and force Congress to the negotiating table,” New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a statement. He added that Trump is using people as “political pawns in his dangerous, partisan campaign to eviscerate the Affordable Care Act at any cost.” (The Hill)
I am prepared to sue the #Trump Administration to protect #health subsidies, just as when we successfully intervened in #HousevPrice!
— Archive - Attorney General Becerra (@AGBecerra) October 13, 2017
4/ Trump will not certify Iran’s compliance with the nuclear agreement, but won’t immediately withdraw from the 2015 accord. Trump put the onus on Congress to amend the law and establish “trigger points,” which could be used to impose new sanctions on Iran to address continued ballistic missile development, alleged support for terrorist groups in Lebanon, Yemen and elsewhere, and more. Trump threatened to terminate the deal if Congress is not able to reach a solution. (New York Times / Associated Press / Washington Post)
5/ The background check chief said he has “never seen [the] level of mistakes” Jared Kushner made on his security clearance application. Kushner’s initial SF-86 form did not mention any foreign contacts. He updated the form in the spring, listing about 100 contacts, but omitted the June 2016 meeting with the Russian lawyer, Trump Jr., and Paul Manafort. He updated the SF-86 forms once more in June to include that meeting. (CNN)
6/ Twitter’s privacy policy required it to delete data relevant to the Russia probe. Whenever a user removes a tweet, promotion, or account, Twitter is obligated to also delete that data from its servers. Because Russian operatives immediately erase all of their digital footprint, a substantial amount of valuable information held by Twitter has been lost. Twitter engineers are trying to determine what data is recoverable. (Politico)
7/ Facebook removed thousands of posts from public view that were linked to the Russian disinformation campaign. The data was deleted a day after researcher Jonathan Albright published a report showing that the reach of the Russian campaign was at least twice what Facebook had said. Facebook claimed it simply fixed a “bug,” which allowed researchers to access cached information from inactive Facebook Pages. (Washington Post)
8/ Trump nominated a climate change skeptic to lead the White House’s environmental policy board. While a fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, Kathleen Hartnett White led a project to “explain the forgotten moral case for fossil fuels.” She’s written that carbon dioxide is the gas “that makes life possible on the earth and naturally fertilizes plant growth” and that “global warming alarmists are misleading the public about carbon dioxide emissions.” She’s called the Obama administration’s environmental initiatives a “deluded and illegitimate battle against climate change.” Her TPPF fellowship received funding from the fossil fuel industry. (The Hill)
9/ Trump will extend the March 5th DACA deadline if Congress fails to pass legislation before then. Trump told Senator James Lankford that he was willing to “give it some more time” to allow lawmakers to find a solution for “dreamers.” There are currently 690,000 young people with DACA status. (Washington Post)
10/ The Pentagon and FEMA accidentally included a reporter on their email chain about how to “spin” the Puerto Rico recovery effort. They suggested saying ‘the federal government’s full attention is on Hurricane Maria response’ to combat what San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz characterized as a ‘people-are-dying story.’” FEMA was told to stress its success in reaching “all municipalities in Puerto Rico” in response to Trump attacking the San Juan mayor for “poor leadership ability.” (Bloomberg)
quotables/ A selection of quotes from Trump’s speech at the Values Voter Summit:
My presidency is “substantially ahead of schedule” and he is making “tremendous strides” against ISIS, the Iran nuclear deal, tax reform, and repealing the Affordable Care Act. (Politico)
I’m “returning moral clarity to our view of the world” and ending “attacks on Judeo-Christian values.” (CNN)
It’s almost Christmas but “people don’t talk about [it] anymore. They don’t use the word Christmas because it’s not politically correct […] well guess what? We’re saying merry Christmas again.” (The Hill)
1/ Trump signed an executive order eliminating some Affordable Care Act insurance rules for small businesses that band together to buy health insurance as an association. The order will also lift limits on limited coverage, short-term insurance, and expand ways workers could use employer-funded accounts to buy their own insurance policies. Critics say that by relaxing standards, Trump would be creating low-cost insurance options for healthier, younger consumers, which would result in higher costs for the sick and potentially destabilize and undermine the ACA insurance marketplace. (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
How Trump’s executive order undermines the Affordable Care Act. Trump is asking federal agencies to look for ways to expand the use of association health plans, groups of small businesses that pool together to buy health insurance, and to broaden the definition of short-term insurance, which is exempt from the Affordable Care Act’s rules. (Vox)
2/ Trump on NAFTA: “We’ll see what happens.” Justin Trudeau visited the White House yesterday in hopes of seeking a “fairer trade” deal between the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The US Chamber of Commerce president said that abandoning the agreement would pose an “existential threat” to the continent’s national and economic security. Trudeau told members of the House Ways and Means Committee that he was worried about “poison pills,” proposals the US might make that were designed to kill, not repair, the NAFTA agreement. Trump has called NAFTA a “disaster” and that “NAFTA will have to be terminated if we’re going to make it good. Otherwise, I believe you can’t negotiate a good deal.” (Washington Post)
3/ European allies and Republicans are pressuring Trump to preserve the Iran nuclear deal. Trump is expected to decertify the nuclear deal tomorrow, despite his own cabinet saying that Iran has abided by the deal. Lawmakers have remained largely in the dark about what Trump’s ultimate plan is. Congress, however, will have 60 days to pass legislation to reimpose sanctions on Iran if Trump decertifies the deal. Trump was reportedly “incensed” by the arguments Rex Tillerson and Jim Mattis made when he certified Iran’s compliance in July. “He threw a fit,” said one person familiar with the meeting. “. . . He was furious. Really furious. It’s clear he felt jammed.” (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / CNN)
4/ The US withdrew from UNESCO, citing anti-Israeli bias from the United Nations cultural organization. The US hasn’t paid its roughly $70 million yearly dues to UNESCO since 2011, due to a 1990s-era amendment mandating a cutoff of American money to any UN organization accepting Palestine as a full member. Previously, the US withdrew from the organization in 1984 over Cold War concerns, but rejoined in 2003 in a show of international cooperation leading up to the Iraq War. (Bloomberg / Politico) / New York Times)
5/ Trump tweeted that “we cannot keep” federal relief workers in Puerto Rico “forever.” As of earlier this week, 84% of the island remained without electricity, two-thirds of cellphone towers were down, and about 6,000 people were still in shelters. Trump tweeted the situation represents a “total lack of accountability” and that the “electric and all infrastructure was disaster before hurricanes. Congress to decide how much to spend. We cannot keep FEMA, the Military & the First Responders, who have been amazing (under the most difficult circumstances) in P.R. forever!” (Politico / New York Times / Washington Post)
"Puerto Rico survived the Hurricanes, now a financial crisis looms largely of their own making." says Sharyl Attkisson. A total lack of.....
6/ The House passed $36.5 billion in emergency relief for Puerto Rico and other communities affected by recent hurricanes and wildfires. The package includes $18.7 billion for FEMA’s disaster relief fund, $16 billion to address national flood insurance program debt, and $576.5 million for wildfire recovery efforts. It also provided $1.27 billion for disaster food assistance for Puerto Rico. The bipartisan bill passed the Republican-controlled House in a 353-to-69 vote. (Reuters / The Hill)
7/ John Kelly told reporters “I’m not quitting today… I don’t think I’m being fired today,” either. The statement comes as Trump and Kelly have reportedly engaged in “shouting matches” recently. Kelly added that “I’m not so frustrated in this job that I’m thinking of leaving.” On Tuesday, Trump tweeted praise for Kelly, saying his chief of staff “is doing a FANTASTIC job.” (Politico / ABC News)
The Fake News is at it again, this time trying to hurt one of the finest people I know, General John Kelly, by saying he will soon be.....
8/ The phrase “climate change” does not appear in the EPA’s draft four-year strategic plan. Scott Pruitt outlines his agency’s prioritizes as a focus on the “core mission” of clean air, land, and water, “rebalance” the federal role in environmental regulation, and enforce laws “as Congress intended.” The plan does not mention carbon dioxide or greenhouse gas emissions. (CNN)
9/ Trump’s lawyers are open to having the president sit down for an interview with Robert Mueller in an effort to speed up the Russia probe and dispel suspicions surrounding Trump. Trump told reporters this spring that he was “100 percent” willing to testify under oath about alleged Russian ties to his campaign. Trump’s personal lawyer, John Dowd, called the report that they were willing to cooperation with the special counsel “Totally false!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” (Politico)
1/ Trump told his highest-ranking military leaders he wanted a tenfold increase in the US nuclear arsenal during a July 20th meeting at the Pentagon. Shortly after the meeting ended, Rex Tillerson called Trump a “fucking moron” to the officials who remained behind. Any increase in the nuclear arsenal would break with decades of US nuclear doctrine and violate international disarmament treaties signed by every president since Ronald Reagan. (NBC News)
2/ In response to the NBC News story, Trump tweeted that NBC’s broadcast license should be pulled as punishment for reporting what he considers fake news. “Fake @NBCNews made up a story that I wanted a ‘tenfold’ increase in our U.S. nuclear arsenal. Pure fiction, made up to demean. NBC = CNN!” Trump tweeted. “With all of the Fake News coming out of NBC and the Networks, at what point is it appropriate to challenge their License? Bad for country!” (Politico / The Hill)
Fake @NBCNews made up a story that I wanted a "tenfold" increase in our U.S. nuclear arsenal. Pure fiction, made up to demean. NBC = CNN!
One of Trump’s oldest friends says the president is “better than this.” Thomas Barrack Jr. said he has been “shocked” and “stunned” by Trump’s rhetoric and tweets, and wonders why his longtime friend spends so much of his time appealing to the fringes of American politics. (Washington Post)
3/ Homeland Security is exploring how it could transform the immigration system without Congress. The possible changes could limit protections for unaccompanied minors who come to the US illegally, expand the use of quick deportation proceedings, and tighten visa programs that could limit legal immigration to the US. None of the policies have been finalized. (CNN)
4/ The Supreme Court dismissed one of the challenges to Trump’s now-expired travel ban. The justices were not ruling on the merits of the issue, but said that because the executive order “expired by its own terms” on September 24th, “the appeal no longer presents a ‘live case or controversy.’” (Washington Post)
5/ Cambridge Analytica’s work for Trump’s campaign is now as part of the Russia probe. The company is in the process of turning over documents to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Steve Bannon had a stake in Cambridge Analytica worth between $1 million and $5 million as recently as April of this year. (The Daily Beast)
The House Intelligence Committee will publicly release the Facebook ads purchased by Russian operatives during last year’s presidential election. The committee received more than 3,000 politically divisive ads believed to have been purchased by Russia. (Reuters)
Russia hijacked Kaspersky Lab anti-virus software and turned it into a tool for spying. The software routinely scanned files looking for terms like “top secret” and classified code names of US government programs. (Wall Street Journal)
6/ North Korea hackers may have stolen joint US-South Korean military secrets, including a “decapitation strike” targeting Kim Jong Un and other leaders. The hackers broke into South Korea’s defense database in September 2016 and took a blueprint known as Operations Plan 5015, which was developed in 2015 in case war broke out with North Korea. (Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)
North Korea targeted US electric power companies with spearphishing emails. There is no evidence that the hacking attempts were successful. (NBC News)
7/ Republicans and close advisers are describing Trump as “unstable,” “losing a step,” and “unraveling.” There’s a new level of concern that the White House is in crisis as advisers struggle to contain him. Trump reportedly vented to his security chief: “I hate everyone in the White House! There are a few exceptions, but I hate them!” Meanwhile, John Kelly has tightened the flow of information and visitors, which has frustrated Trump and resulted in “shouting matches” between the two men. (Vanity Fair / Los Angeles Times)
poll/ 64% of voters support stricter gun laws, including 41% who strongly support them. 29% oppose stricter gun laws, including 16% who are in strong opposition. (Politico)
poll/ 53% of adults “strongly agree” that the wealthiest Americans should pay higher tax rates. An additional 23% “somewhat agree” the wealthiest should pay higher tax rates. (Reuters)
poll/ 55% of voters say that Trump is not fit to serve as president. 70% of voters say the president should stop tweeting from his personal account. (Quinnipiac)
1/ Trump plans to go around Congress to provide new insurance options for Americans. The White House is finalizing an executive order, which Trump is expected to sign this week, that would expand health care plans offered by associations and allow individuals to pool together to buy insurance outside their states. “Since Congress can’t get its act together on HealthCare, I will be using the power of the pen to give great HealthCare to many people – FAST,” Trump tweeted. By banding together to buy coverage, associations could join the large group insurance market, which is exempt from the ACA’s requirement that plans cover essential health benefits. (Washington Post / Bloomberg)
Since Congress can't get its act together on HealthCare, I will be using the power of the pen to give great HealthCare to many people - FAST
2/ The White House blamed Bob Corker for the Twitter tiff with Trump. On Sunday morning, Trump tweeted that Corker “didn’t have the guts” to run for re-election. Corker replied that it’s “a shame the White House has become an adult day care center. Someone obviously missed their shift this morning.” Kellyanne Conway called Corker’s tweet “incredibly irresponsible” with Pence defending Trump against what he called “empty rhetoric and baseless attacks.”
In an interview with the New York Times, Corker said that Trump is acting “like he’s doing ‘The Apprentice’” and that he could set the nation “on the path to World War III.” As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Corker could block the confirmation of a new secretary of state if Trump pushed out Rex Tillerson and would play a key role on whether to “decertify” the Iran nuclear deal. (New York Times)
3/ Trump gave Bob Corker a nickname as their feud escalates. “The Failing @nytimes set Liddle’ Bob Corker up by recording his conversation,” Trump tweeted. “Was made to sound a fool, and that’s what I am dealing with!” The transcript of the conversation has Corker saying “I understand we’re on the record. I don’t like normally talking to you on the record – I’m kidding you – but I will.” Labeling Corker “liddle” is a reference to the 2016 campaign, when he called Marco Rubio little. “Let me start with Little Marco. He just looked like Little Marco to me. And it’s not Little. It’s Liddle. L-I-D-D-L-E.” The New York Times reporter disputed Trump’s claim that Corker was recorded without his knowledge, tweeting that “Corker had 2 aides on line, also recording, and they made sure after it ended that I was taping, too.” (CNN / The Hill / New York Times)
The Failing @nytimes set Liddle' Bob Corker up by recording his conversation. Was made to sound a fool, and that's what I am dealing with!
4/ Trump challenged Tillerson to an IQ test after the secretary of state’s “moron” comment. “I think it’s fake news,” Trump said, “but if he did that, I guess we’ll have to compare IQ tests. And I can tell you who is going to win.” Tillerson reportedly called Trump a “fucking moron” and nearly resigned this summer. (Forbes / Washington Post)
Mensa offered to host the IQ test for Trump and Tillerson. “American Mensa would be happy to hold a testing session for President Trump and Secretary Tillerson,” said Charles Brown, the group’s communications director. (The Hill)
5/ Scott Pruitt wants to eliminate the federal tax credits for the wind and solar power industries, saying the credits prevent utility companies from making the best decisions about power generation. “I’d let them stand on their own and compete against coal and natural gas and other sources,” the EPA chief said. (The Hill / Bloomberg)
6/ Carter Page told the Senate Intelligence Committee he will not cooperate with any requests to appear and would plead the Fifth. The Trump campaign’s former foreign policy adviser met with Sergey Kislyak on the sidelines of the GOP convention last year. In addition, the FBI has been monitoring Page since he travelled to Russia and met with high-level associates of Putin last year. (Politico)
7/ The House Intelligence Committee issued subpoenas to the partners who run Fusion GPS, the research firm that produced the dossier of memos of alleged Russian efforts to aid the Trump campaign. Chairman Devin Nunes signed off on the subpoenas that demand documents and testimony. Nunes recused himself from the House’s panel earlier this year after going directly to the White House with information about “incidental” surveillance of Trump’s transition team. (CNN)
8/ Trump threatened to use federal tax law to penalize NFL players who kneel in protest during the national anthem. “Why is the N.F.L. getting massive tax breaks while at the same time disrespecting our Anthem, Flag and Country?” Trump tweeted. “Change tax law!” In a letter to all 32 NFL teams, commissioner Roger Goodell said he wants players to stand during the anthem despite the current NFL policy not requiring players to stand. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the White House “would certainly support the NFL coming out and asking players to stand.” (New York Times / ESPN / The Hill)
Why is the NFL getting massive tax breaks while at the same time disrespecting our Anthem, Flag and Country? Change tax law!
9/ Trump, meanwhile, sent a fundraising email praising Pence for walking out of an NFL football game after players kneeled. “Their stunt showed the world that they don’t believe our flag is worth standing for,” the email reads. “But your Vice President REFUSED to dignify their disrespect for our anthem, our flag, and the many brave soldiers who have died for their freedoms.” Nearly two dozen players from the 49ers knelt during the national anthem in what is now seen as an expensive political stunt. (CNN)
10/ Trump has made 1,318 false or misleading claims over the past 263 days. He has averaged five claims a day, even picking up pace since the six-month mark. (Washington Post)
poll/ Trump’s approval rating has fallen in every state since he took office. A majority of voters in 25 states and the District of Columbia said they disapproved of Trump’s job performance, including 55% in Michigan, 53% in Wisconsin and Iowa, and 51% in Pennsylvania. The share of Republicans who strongly approve of Trump has declined from 53% to 43% since January. 71% of Democrats strongly disapproved of Trump. (Morning Consult)
1/ The Trump administration will roll back the Clean Power Plan. Scott Pruitt will sign the new rule tomorrow, which will override Obama’s policy to curb greenhouse gas from power plants. “The war on coal is over,” Pruitt declared. (Associated Press / New York Times)
2/ The attorney for the Russian billionaire who pushed for the Trump Tower meeting said an email shows the meeting wasn’t about Hillary Clinton. In the newly disclosed email, Natalia Veselnitskaya asked music publicist Rob Goldstone if she could bring a “lobbyist and trusted associate” to the meeting, because of his knowledge of the Magnitsky Act, a 2012 law that imposed financial sanctions on wealthy Russians as punishment for human rights abuses. The email was disclosed by Scott Balber, who represents Aras and Emin Agalarov, the billionaire real estate developer and his son who requested the June 2016 meeting.
The emails between Goldstone and Trump Jr. tell a different story, however. Goldstone requested the meeting Trump Jr., saying the Russian government wanted to help the Trump campaign by providing documents that “would incriminate Hillary” and “be very useful to your father.” Trump Jr. replied: “If it’s what you say I love it.” (Washington Post / CNN)
3/ Trump is demanding funding for his border wall in exchange for signing legislation to provide legal status for “Dreamers.” The administration’s list of hard-line immigration principles includes overhauling the country’s green-card system, cracking down on unaccompanied minors entering the country, funding his wall along the southern border, and denial of federal grants to “sanctuary cities.” Last month, Trump rescinded the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which provides legal status for 800,000 young immigrants brought to the US illegally as children. (Politico / New York Times / Washington Post)
4/ Trump called Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer in an effort to revive a deal to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Trump said he would be open to cutting a one-year or two-year deal with Democrats. “I told the president that’s off the table,” Schumer said in a statement. “If he wants to work together to improve the existing health care system, we Democrats are open to his suggestions.” (Reuters / New York Times)
5/ Bob Corker: Trump is treating his office like “a reality show” and his reckless threats could set the nation “on the path to World War III.” The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee added that Trump acts “like he’s doing ‘The Apprentice’ or something.” On Sunday, Trump tweeted that Corker “didn’t have the guts” to run for re-election and that the Senator had “begged” for his endorsement. Corker responded on Twitter that it’s “a shame the White House has become an adult day care center. Someone obviously missed their shift this morning.”
Last week, Corker said that Rex Tillerson, James Mattis, and John Kelly “help separate the country from chaos” and hopes they stay “because they’re valuable to the national security of our nation.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico)
Senator Bob Corker "begged" me to endorse him for re-election in Tennessee. I said "NO" and he dropped out (said he could not win without...
6/ Mattis urged the military “to be ready” with options on North Korea as Trump tweets that “only one thing will work.” In a pair of tweets sent Saturday, Trump said that 25 years of agreements with North Korea have failed, “making fools” of the US. When asked what he meant, Trump told reporters: “You’ll figure that out pretty soon.” Sarah Huckabee Sanders was also cryptic: “You’ll have to wait and see.” Last week at a photo-op, surrounded by military leaders, Trump warned that “maybe it’s the calm before the storm.” (Politico / CNN / Washington Post)
Our country has been unsuccessfully dealing with North Korea for 25 years, giving billions of dollars & getting nothing. Policy didn't work!
North Korea is preparing to test a long-range missile which it believes can reach the west coast of the United States. “As far as we understand, they intend to launch one more long-range missile in the near future,” said Anton Morozov, a member of the Russian lower house of parliament’s international affairs committee. “And in general, their mood is rather belligerent.” (Reuters)
7/ Facebook, Google, and Twitter employees were “embedded” inside the Trump campaign. Brad Parscale, the Trump campaign’s digital director, said employees from the tech companies “were there multiple days a week” to “teach us how to use their platform.” Parscale said Trump’s digital team “took opportunities” that Hillary Clinton’s did not, like pulling Facebook staffers into their folds multiple times a week. The Clinton campaign confirmed they turned down the offer to have Facebook provide the same service. The Trump campaign spent roughly $70 million on Facebook by election day. (CBS News / Washington Post)
8/ Google said Russian agents bought ads aimed to spread disinformation on YouTube, Google Search, Gmail, and DoubleClick, the company’s ad network. The ads don’t appear to be from the same Kremlin-affiliated troll farm that bought ads on Facebook. Google runs the world’s largest online advertising business, and YouTube is the world’s largest online video site. (Washington Post)
Russian operatives used Twitter and Facebook to target veterans and military personnel with propaganda. Researchers found fake or slanted news from Russian-controlled accounts mixed with a wide range of legitimate content consumed by veterans and active-duty personnel in their Facebook and Twitter news feeds. (McClatchy DC / Washington Post)
9/ Pence walked out of the Colts-49ers game yesterday after nearly two dozen players from the 49ers knelt during the national anthem in what was an expensive, well-planned political stunt. Pence **tweeted **that he left because he “will not dignify any event that disrespects our soldiers, our Flag, or our National Anthem.” Shortly after Trump tweeted that he “asked @VP Pence to leave stadium if any players kneeled, disrespecting our country.” (New York Times)
I left today's Colts game because @POTUS and I will not dignify any event that disrespects our soldiers, our Flag, or our National Anthem.
— Vice President Mike Pence Archived (@VP45) October 8, 2017
I asked @VP Pence to leave stadium if any players kneeled, disrespecting our country. I am proud of him and @SecondLady Karen.
poll/ 47% of voters in non-metro areas approved of Trump’s job performance, while 47% disapproved. That is down from Trump’s first four weeks in office, when 55% said they approved of the president while 39% disapproved. (Reuters)
1/ Trump’s advisers are floating the idea of replacing Rex Tillerson with CIA Director Mike Pompeo after Morongate. Trump was reportedly furious that Tillerson didn’t deny he called the president a “fucking moron,” leaving many to believe their relationship is broken beyond repair. Tillerson praised Trump and insisted he never considered resigning in a public statement he made later that day. (Axios / NBC News)
2/ Surrounded by military leaders, Trump warned that “maybe it’s the calm before the storm.” The unprompted comment came during a photo-op at the White House with the top national security officials. “We have the world’s great military leaders in this room,” Trump said to reporters. When pressed to explain what he meant, he simply said: “You’ll find out.” (Politico)
3/ Robert Mueller’s investigators met with the author of the Trump dossier, Christopher Steele, this past summer in an effort to understand if people associated with the Trump campaign and suspected Russian operatives broke any laws. US intelligence agencies reportedly took the Steele dossier more seriously than previously acknowledged, keeping it out of a publicly-released January report on Russian meddling in order to not divulge which parts of the dossier they had corroborated. Trump and his allies have repeatedly called the dossier “totally made-up stuff” written by a “failed spy.” (CNN / Associated Press)
4/ Christopher Steele is talking with the Senate Intelligence Committee about formally speaking with its leaders. The sticking point for the former British intelligence operative, who authored a 35-page dossier alleging that the Trump campaign had colluded with Russia, has been over his unwillingness to discuss who underwrote his work. Steele was hired by Fusion GPS to conduct opposition research, which was originally funded by undisclosed Republican opponents of Trump. During the general election, unknown Democrats began picking up the tab. Senators had previously said they have had unable to get traction on the dossier, because Steele had not agreed to meet with investigators or the senators. (NBC News)
5/ White House tech support believes John Kelly’s personal cellphone was compromised. Staff discovered the suspected breach after Kelly turned his phone in to White House tech support this summer complaining that it wasn’t working properly or updating. Kelly now uses a different phone. Yesterday, Rachel Maddow reported the Secret Service will now ban personal mobile devices in the West Wing, according to a memo sent to agents. Other news outlets have not confirmed the authenticity of the memo. (Politico)
The Senate Judiciary Committee does not have an active “Russia probe” going. A staffer said the committee is engaged in routine oversight of the Justice Department. (The Daily Beast)
6/ Trump rolled back the federal requirement for employers to include birth control coverage in their health insurance plans. The new regulation allows for a broad group of employers and insurers to exempt themselves from covering contraceptives on religious or moral grounds. More than 55 million women have access to birth control without co-payments because of the contraceptive coverage mandate in the Affordable Care Act. (Washington Post / New York Times)
Critics fear the policy may provide a loophole for discrimination. l Jeff Sessions instructed federal agencies and attorneys to protect religious liberty in a broad guidance memo that critics fear could give people of faith — including government workers and contractors — a loophole to ignore federal bans on discrimination against women and LGBT people. (BuzzFeed News)
ACLU filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over the roll back of the birth control mandate. The rollback “basically gives broad license to employers to discriminate against their employees and withhold a benefit guaranteed by law,” said Brigitte Amiri, senior staff attorney at the ACLU. (The Hill)
7/ FEMA removed statistics about drinking water access and electricity in Puerto Rico from its website. A FEMA spokesman said both measures are still being reported, but are available on a website maintained by the Puerto Rican governor’s office. He did not explain why FEMA no longer maintains the statistics on the main FEMA website. (Washington Post)
UPDATE:
As of Friday afternoon, FEMA’s website is now reporting the two statistics about access to drinking water and electricity.
8/ Trump nominated a coal lobbyist to help lead the EPA. Andrew Wheeler, who is an outspoken denier of established science on climate change, would become the second most powerful person at the EPA. (New York Times)
9/ Treasury employees allege its Intelligence and Analysis unit is illegally spying on Americans’ private financial records. At least a dozen employees in the Financial Crimes Enforcement division at the Treasury Department have warned officials and Congress that banking and financial data had been illegally searched and stored. They say that other intelligence agencies have been using the Treasury’s intelligence division as a back door in order to gain access to citizens’ financial records. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin oversees how the department conducts intelligence operations. (BuzzFeed News)
Steven Mnuchin has flown on military aircraft seven times at a cost of more than $800,000 to taxpayers. In total, the treasury secretary has made nine requests for military aircraft, including a request to use a military plane for his European honeymoon with his wife. (New York Times)
poll/ 24% of Americans believe the country is heading in the right direction, representing a 10-point drop since June. 44% of Republicans agree that the country is headed in the right direction, down from 60% in June. (ABC News)
1/ Russian hackers stole NSA data about US cyber defense after an employee removed the highly classified material, put it on his home computer, and used an antivirus app made by Russia-based Kaspersky Lab. The US government had previously banned the use of Kaspersky Lab software over concerns of Russian cyberespionage. The stolen material includes details about how the NSA penetrates foreign computer networks, the code it uses, and how it defends networks inside the US. (Wall Street Journal)
Russian propaganda may have been shared hundreds of millions of times on Facebook, new research shows. From the 470 Facebook accounts that have been made public, the content had been “shared” 340 million times. (Washington Post)
The three Russians named in the Trump dossier are suing Fusion GPS for libel. Mikhail Fridman, Petr Aven and German Khan claim that their reputations have been unfairly ruined by the dossier. (Politico)
FBI deputy director on Russian hacking: We “should have seen this coming.” Speaking at the Cambridge Cyber Summit, Andrew McCabe implied that Russian meddling hasn’t stopped, either: “The experience in the 2016 elections allowed us to diagnose the problem. Have we cured it yet? Absolutely not.” (CNN)
2/ Two former CIA chiefs said Russia needed help targeting US voters and districts in the 2016 presidential campaign. “It is not intuitively obvious that they could have done this themselves,” former CIA director Michael Hayden said. Russia either needed someone to help give it information on who to microtarget or it stole the necessary information through hacking. (Bloomberg)
3/ Senate Judiciary Chairman said there is “no way of avoiding” a public hearing for Trump Jr., who has come under scrutiny from multiple committees in Congress for meeting with a Russian lawyer in June 2016. “Before this is over with,” Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr said, “we will know everything about the Don Jr. meeting.” (CNN)
4/ Trump criticized the Senate Intelligence Committee for continuing its investigation into possible collusion between Russia and his campaign, tweeting: “Why Isn’t the Senate Intel Committee looking into the Fake News Networks in OUR country to see why so much of our news is just made up-FAKE!” Trump tweeted. The tweet comes in response to yesterday’s news that the committee is still investigating possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 presidential race. (The Hill / ABC News)
Why Isn't the Senate Intel Committee looking into the Fake News Networks in OUR country to see why so much of our news is just made up-FAKE!
5/ Jeff Sessions rescinded a policy that protects transgender workers from discrimination. The Obama-era policy argued that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act protected employees from being discriminated against due to an “individual’s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.” Sessions said that “Title VII’s prohibition on sex discrimination encompasses discrimination between men and women but does not encompass discrimination based on gender identity per se, including transgender status.” (ABC News / CNN / BuzzFeed News)
6/ Rex Tillerson, James Mattis, and Steven Mnuchin have a “suicide pact,” where all three cabinet secretaries will leave in the event that Trump fires one of them. Bob Corker, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that Tillerson, Mattis, as well as Chief of Staff John Kelly “help separate the country from chaos” – meaning Trump. He added that “I hope they stay because they’re valuable to the national security of our nation.” Yesterday, Tillerson refuted reports that he’d been persuaded to stay on in his role over the summer by Mike Pence. He did not, however, address questions about whether he had called Trump a “fucking moron” or not. (BuzzFeed News / Politico)
Speculative.
The details about a “suicide pact” have not been confirmed by other, reputable news outlets.
7/ Trump will “decertify” the international nuclear deal with Iran, saying it is not in the best interest of the US. Congress would have 60 days to decide whether to reimpose sanctions on Tehran under the agreement. Trump has long criticized the nuclear pact with Iran. (Reuters / Washington Post)
8/ With the GOP agenda at a standstill, some donors are closing their wallets and threatening to deprive Republicans of resources ahead of the 2018 midterms. Fundraisers say they’re having an unusually hard time setting up meetings with major contributors. An email from a sought-after donor to a GOP fundraiser read: “The GOP leaders should know, no movement on remaining agenda: tax reform, infrastructure, deregulation, etc. means no funding from supporters like me. No meetings, calls, contributions until we see progress.” (Politico)
9/ The House GOP passed its budget today, which calls for more than $5 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade. The budget plan promises deep cuts to social programs while paving the way for a GOP drive to rewrite the tax code later this year using budget reconciliation – a key procedural hurdle that would allow Republicans to pass tax reform without the threat of a filibuster by Senate Democrats. (Associated Press / Politico)
10/ The House Homeland Security Committee approved $10 billion for a border wall as part of a border security bill. The legislation will head to the House floor, which Democrats have criticized as a political stunt to appease Trump. The bill is expected to pass the House, but unlikely to clear the Senate, where it needs a 60-vote majority. (The Hill)
11/ Democrats introduced a bill to ban “bump stocks,” a gun conversion kit that turns semiautomatic weapons into weapons capable of firing a continuous stream of bullets. Top congressional Republicans signaled they would be open to considering legislation on bump stocks, which the Las Vegas gunman used on his rifles. The legislation would ban the sale, manufacture and possession of bump stocks and other devices that increase a firearm’s rate of fire. (New York Times / NBC News)
The NRA called for a additional regulation on “bump stocks,” but stopped short of calling for legislation. Instead, they urged lawmakers to pass “National Right-to-Carry reciprocity,” which would allow gun owners to travel between states with concealed weapons – even when traveling to states with laws restricting concealed weapons. (The Hill)
The NRA doesn’t allow bump stock firing systems at their shooting range. Bump stocks increase the rate bullets are fired, causing the entire weapon to move back and forth in the shooter’s grip and decreasing accuracy. (Politico)
poll/ 62% of voters have an unfavorable view of the GOP. 43% of voters are looking to congressional Democrats to protect families when it comes to health care, compared to 15% who trust Trump on health care. Less than 10% say the Republican Party should lead the way. (Suffolk University)
1/ Rex Tillerson reportedly called Trump a “fucking moron” and nearly resigned this summer. The comment came during a July meeting at the Pentagon with members of Trump’s national security team and Cabinet officials. Mike Pence reportedly counseled Tillerson on how to ease tensions with Trump, with other top administration officials urging him to remain in the job until the end of the year. (NBC News)
2/ Today, Tillerson denied he considered resigning from his job, but did not address whether he called Trump a “moron.” Minutes before Tillerson’s remarks, Trump tweeted that NBC News was “fake news” and “more dishonest than even CNN. They are a disgrace to good reporting. No wonder their news ratings are way down!” Immediately after Tillerson spoke, Trump tweeted, again, that the NBC News “story has just been totally refuted” by Tillerson and that the news network “should issue an apology to AMERICA!” Later in the day Trump called it “a totally phony story” and said he has “total confidence” in Tillerson. (USA Today / CBS News / New York Times)
NBC news is #FakeNews and more dishonest than even CNN. They are a disgrace to good reporting. No wonder their news ratings are way down!
3/ The Senate Intelligence Committee endorsed the conclusions of American intelligence agencies that Putin directed a campaign of hacking and propaganda to disrupt the 2016 presidential election. Richard Burr, chairman of the committee, said they “trust the conclusions” of the Intelligence Community Assessment that Russia was behind the hacking of the John Podesta’s email account and had attempted to exploit public opinion with false information through fake social media accounts. The issue of collusion remains open.
Senators also acknowledged that they have been unable to get traction on the Steele dossier, which contains a series of claims about Trump and Russia. The memos’ author, Christopher Steele, has not agreed to meet with investigators or the senators. Robert Mueller’s special counsel has taken over FBI inquiries into the Steele dossier. (New York Times / Washington Post / ABC News)
4/ Facebook and Twitter agreed to testify publicly before the Senate intelligence committee as part of the congressional probe into Russian interference during the 2016 presidential election. Facebook will also testify at the House Intelligence Committee hearing. Twitter and Facebook have already briefed both committees on their findings regarding Russian use of their platforms to influence the election. While invited, Google has not said if it will also appear at either hearing. (Recode / The Hill)
The House intelligence committee is focusing on Russian ads bought on Google, search engine manipulation, fake news, and the potential uses of YouTube. Google had initially said it found no evidence of targeted tactics like the thousands of election-related ads purchased on Facebook. (Bloomberg)
Almost all RT ads on Twitter designed to push negative coverage of Clinton, Adam Schiff, the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, said. (The Hill)
5/ Russian-linked Facebook ads specifically targeted Michigan and Wisconsin, two states Trump won by less than 1% of the vote. The ads promoted divisiveness and anti-Muslim messages. Trump beat Hillary Clinton in Michigan by about 10,700 votes out of nearly 4.8 million ballots cast. In Wisconsin, Trump won by only about 22,700 votes. (CNN)
Russia targeted NATO soldiers’ smartphones in an effort to gain information about operations and troop strength in Poland and the Baltic states. The campaign targeted a contingent of 4,000 NATO troops deployed this year to protect the alliance’s European border with Russia. (Wall Street Journal)
6/ Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr. avoided a criminal indictment in 2012 after Trump’s personal lawyer met with the Manhattan District Attorney. Marc Kasowitz donated $25,000 to District Attorney Cy Vance Jr.’s reelection campaign and three months later the case was dropped when the DA overruled his staff. The donation was returned, but less than six months later, Kasowitz made an even larger donation of more than $50,000 to Vance’s campaign. For two years, prosecutors had been building a criminal case against Ivanka and Trump Jr. for misleading prospective buyers of units in the Trump SoHo hotel, which included emails showing coordination about how to move forward giving false information to prospective buyers. (ProPublica / The New Yorker / WNYC)
7/ Kushner and Ivanka were both fined $200 for missing a deadline to submit financial disclosures required by government ethics rules as part of a months-long process of divesting Kushner’s stock and assets. It’s the second time that Kushner has been fined for late filing. In July, Kushner made his 39th change to his financial disclosure. (McClatchy DC)
Paul Manafort’s son-in-law accused him of conspiring to mislead a federal bankruptcy court about four California real estate investments. Jeffrey Yohai alleged that Manafort and others had misled him and the court about the funding and ownership of the companies that have proposed to clear up the bankruptcy issues. (USA Today)
8/ A Texas judge ruled against Trump’s voter fraud commission, saying state officials would be violating state privacy laws if they hand over voters’ personal information to commission members. Kris Kobach’s voter fraud commission has asked state election officials to share specific voter information, including voters’ felony conviction history, voter history, and partial Social Security numbers, along with other personal details. (The Daily Beast)
9/ The EPA will propose repealing the Clean Power Plan, a central piece of Obama’s plan to cut carbon emissions from power plants, fight climate change, and meet emissions goals promised in the Paris Climate Agreement. Trump signed an executive order in March directing the EPA to start the legal process of withdrawing and rewriting the Clean Power Plan. The EPA will solicit input on “developing a rule similarly intended to reduce CO2 emissions from existing fossil fuel electric utility generating units.” (Reuters)
10/ The DACA renewal deadline is Thursday. The Trump administration didn’t notify immigrants about it. Jeff Sessions announced on September 5th that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which has provided renewable, two-year work permits to nearly 800,000 “dreamers,” would end on March 5, 2018. Citizenship and Immigration Services had sent out notices prior to the announcement reminding DACA recipients they had 180 days to reapply. USCIS, however, never sent out corrections notifying immigrants that if they followed the instructions in the letter, they would miss the new deadline. About 154,000 DACA recipients are eligible for one last two-year extension, but must file their their application by the end of the day Thursday. (Vox)
11/ Trump said the US will need to “wipe out” Puerto Rico’s debt in order to address the US territory’s financial crisis. Trump’s budget director, meanwhile, said not to take the suggestion literally. Mick Mulvaney tried to clarify Trump’s statement: “I think what you heard the president say is that Puerto Rico is going to have to figure out a way to solve its debt problem.” He added: “We are not going to bail them out. We are not going to pay off those debts. We are not going to bail out those bond holders.” (Politico / Bloomberg)
1/ Trump said he’ll “be talking about gun laws as time goes by,” echoing what Sarah Huckabee Sanders said yesterday that “there will certainly be a time for that policy discussion to take place, but that’s not the place that we’re in at this moment.” Steve Bannon warned that it “will be the end of everything” if Trump supports gun control legislation, and Roger Stone added that the “base would go insane and he knows it.” (Politico / Washington Post / Axios)
Jimmy Kimmel Seizes On Las Vegas Shooting to Champion Gun Laws in Emotional Monologue. Jimmy Kimmel, who is from Las Vegas, called on President Trump and members of Congress to act in the wake of the shooting. (New York Times)
2/ Robert Mueller’s top legal counsel is researching limits on pre-emptive presidential pardons. Michael Dreeben has been researching past pardons to determine if any limits exist as Trump’s current and former advisers come under the special counsel’s scrutiny. Trump previously tweeted that “all agree the U. S. President has the complete power to pardon.” Pardons of a president’s campaign workers, family members, and himself are largely uncharted legal territory. Mueller has a team of 16 seasoned prosecutors investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election as well as any potential collusion between Russian and members of Trump’s campaign. (Bloomberg)
3/ The Justice Department overruled memos that concluded presidents cannot appoint their relatives to the White House staff or presidential commissions, a Freedom of Information Act request revealed. The request to rule the earlier opinions erroneous or obsolete came from the incoming Trump administration in January, which cleared the way for Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump to take roles in the White House. Appointments of family members have been illegal under an anti-nepotism law passed in 1967. (Politico)
4/ Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump used a third private email address for government business. Hundreds of emails were sent from the couple’s White House email addresses to accounts on Kushner’s private domain that they shared with their personal staff. The emails contained nonpublic travel documents, internal White House schedules, and other official White House materials. It was previously reported that Kushner and Ivanka used personal email accounts to conduct some government business. The couple has since moved their personal email accounts to computers run by the Trump Organization. (Politico)
5/ The Senate Foreign Relations Committee wants to know if White House officials used private emails for diplomacy. Senator Ben Cardin, the top Democrat on the committee, asked Rex Tillerson and White House Counsel Don McGahn for information about whether Kushner or other officials communicated via private email or text with representatives of foreign governments, political parties, or international organizations. (ABC News)
6/ The CIA denied a request by the Senate Judiciary Committee to let them view information about Russian meddling that the intelligence committee was allowed to see. The material pertains to obstruction of justice matters that are in the Judiciary Committee’s jurisdiction. (Politico)
HP Enterprise let Russia scrutinize cyberdefense system used by Pentagon. The Russian review of ArcSight’s source code, the closely guarded internal instructions of the software, was part of HPE’s effort to win the certification required to sell the product to Russia’s public sector. (Reuters)
7/ Russian operatives used Facebook’s retargeting tool to target specific ads and messages to voters who had visited misleading web sites and social media pages designed to mimicked those created by political activists. By using Facebook’s Custom Audiences, Russian-linked ad buyers were able to spend $100,000 on more than 3,000 ads that were seen by roughly 10 million users — approximately 44% of which were seen before the November 8th election. (Washington Post / CNN)
Russian Ads Delivered to Congress. An estimated 10 million people in the US saw the ads. Of total ad impressions, 44% were before the US election on November 8, 2016. Roughly 25% of the ads were never shown to anyone. For 50% of the ads, less than $3 was spent; for 99% of the ads, less than $1,000 was spent. (Facebook)
8/ Trump visited Puerto Rico today, against urging from aides to put off the trip over concerns of protests about the slow relief effort. FEMA hasn’t authorized every disaster response tool it has at its disposal despite 5% of the electrical grid working, 17% of cellphone towers working, and less than half of residents with running water. (New York Times / Vox)
9/ Trump called for Puerto Rico to be “very proud” that more didn’t die in “a real catastrophe like Katrina,” adding that by needing hurricane relief funds, the devastated island has “thrown our budget a little out of whack.” He also praised the federal response, saying “what a great job we’ve done,” and that local officials in Puerto Rico “have to give us more help” in responding to the destruction caused by Hurricane Maria. (Washington Post / Associated Press)
10/ Pence’s chief of staff called for wealthy donors to “purge” Republican lawmakers that don’t support Trump’s agenda. Nick Ayers urged donors to “form a coalition” to take on leadership and members who don’t back the president, saying “we can purge the handful of people who continue to work to defeat [Trump].” The White House and Pence’s office declined to comment. (Politico)
11/ Scott Pruitt has held almost daily meetings with top corporate executives and lobbyists from all the sectors that he regulates. The EPA chief has held almost no meetings with environmental groups or consumer or public health advocates. (New York Times)
Trump’s pick for EPA safety chief believes children are less sensitive to chemical toxicity than adults. Michael Dourson faces a confirmation hearing this week. In a 2002 paper, paid for by the American Chemistry Council and the pesticide industry group CropLife America, Dourson suggested that most children are no more sensitive to chemical toxicity than adults and that in some cases, they are even less sensitive. This idea places him well outside the scientific mainstream and suggests how he might approach not just these pesticides but all chemicals affecting children. (The Intercept)
1/ Trump called the Las Vegas shooting “an act of pure evil.” At least 58 people were killed and more than 500 injured. Police said the gunman was found dead in his Mandalay Bay Hotel room. Trump praised the “miraculous” speed with which local law enforcement responded to the shooting, ordered flags flown at half-staff, and said he would visit Las Vegas on Wednesday. Gunmaker stocks, meanwhile, are up nearly 4% after one of the deadliest mass shootings in American history. (New York Times / Washington Post / MarketWatch)
Full Transcript and Video: Trump Speaks After Las Vegas Shooting. (New York Times)
My warmest condolences and sympathies to the victims and families of the terrible Las Vegas shooting. God bless you!
2/ The House could vote on legislation this week that would roll back restrictions on gun silencers. The silencer measure is part of the Sportsmen’s Heritage and Recreational Enhancement Act, a bill that was delayed in June after House GOP Whip Steve Scalise and two Capitol Hill police officers were shot during a congressional baseball practice. The House is also expected to vote this fall on separate legislation, the Hearing Protection Act, which would allow people to carry their legally concealed weapons across state lines into jurisdictions that restrict weapons concealment. (San Francisco Chronicle)
Sportsmen’s Heritage And Recreational Enhancement Act, H.R.3668. (Congress.gov)
3/ Trump’s associates had two more previously undisclosed contacts with Russia during the 2016 campaign. The documents were turned over to congressional committees and special counsel Robert Mueller. Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, was invited to a conference in Russia that would be attended by Putin; in the other case, Cohen received a second proposal for a Trump-branded Moscow project during the campaign. Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, Paul Manafort, low-level foreign policy advisers and, now, Cohen were all contacted by Russians with interests in business and politics in the weeks before or after Trump accepted the nomination. (Washington Post)
4/ Paul Manafort attempted to leverage his role on Trump’s campaign team to curry favor with a Russian oligarch close to Putin during the campaign. Emails turned over to investigators show how the former campaign chair tried to please Oleg Vladimirovich Deripaska, one of Russia’s richest men. Manafort was ousted from the Trump campaign after Manafort’s name was listed in a secret ledger of cash payments from a pro-Russian party in Ukraine that detailed his failed venture with Deripaska. At the time, Manafort was in debt to shell companies connected to pro-Russian interests in Ukraine for some $16 million. (The Atlantic)
5/ Rex Tillerson said the US is in direct communication with North Korea about its nuclear program even after Trump tweeted in August that “talking is not the answer!” and vowed to “totally destroy” North Korea. “We are probing, so stay tuned,” the Secretary of State said. “We can talk to them, we do talk to them directly, through our own channels,” adding that the US has “a couple, three channels open to Pyongyang.” (Bloomberg / New York Times)
6/ Trump called Tillerson’s effort to communicate with North Korea a waste of time, undercutting his Secretary of State and seemingly ruling out a diplomatic resolution to the confrontation with Pyongyang. “I told Rex Tillerson, our wonderful Secretary of State, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man,” Trump tweeted, adding, “Save your energy Rex, we’ll do what has to be done!” (New York Times / Politico / Washington Post)
I told Rex Tillerson, our wonderful Secretary of State, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man...
7/ Trump urged senior staff to portray him as a “crazy guy,” while discussing whether the US would withdraw from the South Korean trade deal. “That’s not how you negotiate,” Trump told trade negotiator Robert Lighthizer. “You don’t tell them they’ve got 30 days. You tell them, ‘This guy’s so crazy he could pull out any minute,’” adding “You tell them if they don’t give the concessions now, this crazy guy will pull out of the deal.” The White House did not dispute the account. Meanwhile, North Korean officials have been trying to arrange talks with Republican analysts in Washington in an attempt to make sense of Trump and his confusing messages to Kim Jong Un’s regime. (Axios)
8/ Congress let funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program expire, which provides low-cost health insurance to 9 million children. The CHIP program is a partnership between the federal government and states that insures American children from low and moderate-income families. States still have some CHIP money available, but several are expected to drain their funding by the end of the year. Trump, meanwhile, proclaimed today is Child Health Day and committed to “protecting and promoting the health and well-being of our Nation’s young people.” (ABC News / Washington Post)
9/ The National Security Agency warned senior White House officials against using personal cellphones and email, which could make them vulnerable to espionage by Russia, China, Iran, and others. The briefing came shortly after Trump was sworn into office on January 20, and before some top aides began using their personal email and phones to conduct official business. At least five current and former White House officials have used private email, including Kushner, Ivanka Trump, Gary Cohn, Steve Bannon, and Reince Priebus. (Politico)
10/ Since John Kelly took over the West Wing in July, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump’s role have shrunk. The couple has focused on the issues in their portfolios and making more of an effort to “stay in their lane.” Until Kelly’s arrival, Ivanka Trump and Kushner always had the last word with Trump, especially when it came to personnel matters. Kushner has complained to friends that he can no longer float in and out of the Oval Office. White House Counsel Don McGahn, meanwhile, considered resigning this summer after growing frustrated by the lack of protocols surrounding meetings between Trump and Kushner, which he said could be construed by investigators as an effort to coordinate their stories. Trump has been privately surveying people close to him about whether Kushner and Ivanka Trump are creating too much noise and how they can withstand the personal attacks. (Politico / Wall Street Journal / Axios)
11/ Facebook is turning over more than 3,000 Russian-linked advertisements to congressional investigators. The House and Senate Intelligence Committees and the Senate Judiciary Committee will receive copies of the ads. The Senate Intelligence Committee also wants Facebook, Google, and Twitter to testify before a Congressional panel on November 1 regarding Russian interference in the 2016 election. None of the companies have confirmed they will attend. The House Intelligence Committee will hold a public hearing in October, and would like the three companies to attend as well. (New York Times / ABC News / The Hill)
12/ Trump accused the San Juan mayor of “poor leadership” and suggested that the island’s residents are not doing enough to help themselves. “Such poor leadership ability by the Mayor of San Juan, and others in Puerto Rico, who are not able to get their workers to help,” Trump tweeted from his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey on Saturday, continuing: “They want everything to be done for them when it should be a community effort.” On Sunday, Trump dedicated a golf trophy to the people of Puerto Rico. (CNN / Associated Press)
The Mayor of San Juan, who was very complimentary only a few days ago, has now been told by the Democrats that you must be nasty to Trump.
1/ Tom Price resigned as Trump’s Health and Human Services Secretary after racking up at least $400,000 in private charter flights. Yesterday, in an effort to satisfy Trump, Price offered to reimburse the government $51,887. Price’s resignation came hours after Trump told reporters he considered Price a “fine man” but that he “didn’t like the optics” and would make a decision about his future by the end of the day. Additionally, Politico reported that Price had used a military aircraft to travel to Africa, Europe, and to Asia earlier this year at a cost of more than $500,000 to taxpayers. The overseas trips bring the total cost of Price’s travels to more than $1 million since May. (NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post)
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and his aides have taken several flights on private or military aircraft, including a $12,000 charter plane to take him to events in his hometown in Montana and private flights between two Caribbean islands. (Politico / Washington Post)
2/ The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center says the Republican tax plan would overwhelmingly benefit the wealthiest Americans and businesses. The report found that the average tax bill for all income groups would decline by $1,600 (2.1%) in 2018. Those earning incomes above $730,000 who would see their after-tax incomes rise by an average of 8.5%, or about $129,000, while those earning an average of $66,960 would see their after-tax income rise by 1.2% or about $660. (New York Times)
3/ Trump could personally save about $1.1 billion in taxes under his proposed plan. The analysis is based on Trump’s 2005 federal tax return and his estimated $2.86 billion net worth. In theory, Trump could save about $1.1 billion from repealing the estate tax, $31 million from repealing the alternative minimum tax, about $16 million from changes to certain types of business income, and about $500k from reducing the highest tax rate from 39.6% to 35%. (New York Times)
4/ Trump’s top economic adviser suggested that a family of four earning $100,000 can expect to save $1,000 a year in taxes – enough to “renovate their kitchen. They can buy a new car. They can take a family vacation. They can increase their lifestyle.” Yesterday, Gary Cohn said he “can’t guarantee” taxes won’t go up for the middle class” and “the wealthy are not getting a tax cut” under Trump’s tax plan. Cohn is worth an estimated $266 million. (HuffPost)
Uh, Gary Cohn (who is worth several hundred million dollars) thinks it costs $1000 to buy a new car (or renovate your kitchen) pic.twitter.com/6IwRDgGSCN
5/ Senate Republicans released their budget blueprint, paving the way for tax reform without Democratic support. The 89-page plan sets up the use of budget reconciliation to advance the legislation with 50 votes in the Senate, rather than the usual 60-vote supermajority. Under the proposal, Republicans can add up to $1.5 trillion to the deficit over 10 years, giving lawmakers the ability to lower tax rates for businesses and individuals. Republicans believe they will offset the lost revenue with increased economic growth prompted by the tax cuts. Trump described the blueprint as a “giant, beautiful, massive, the biggest ever in our country, tax cut.” (Politico / ABC News / Washington Post)
6/ The Treasury Department removed a paper from its website that contradicted Steven Mnuchin’s argument that workers would benefit the most from a corporate income tax cut. The analysis found that workers pay 18% of the corporate tax while owners pay 82%. A Mnuchin spokeswoman said that other “studies show that 70% of the tax burden falls on American workers” and that a “lower corporate rate, as proposed in the [GOP tax] framework, will generate the incentives needed to increase productivity and wages, as well as create jobs.” (Wall Street Journal)
7/ The acting Homeland Security Secretary called Puerto Rico’s recovery “really a good news story.” San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz shot back: “Dammit, this is not a good news story. This is a ‘people are dying’ story. It’s a life-or-death story.” Early this week, Trump placed some blame on Puerto Rico for its situation, tweeting that the US territory had “broken infrastructure & massive debt.” Today, he tweeted that “big decisions will have to be made as to the cost of its rebuilding!” (CNN / Politico / The Hill)
Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello just stated: "The Administration and the President, every time we've spoken, they've delivered......
8/ The Justice Department wants Facebook to turn over information about people who “liked” an anti-Trump Facebook page. The department obtained search warrants requiring The DisruptJ20 Facebook page – now Resist This – and two others to hand over “nonpublic lists of people who planned to attend political organizing events and even the names of people who simply liked, followed, reacted to, commented on or otherwise engaged with the content on the Facebook page.” Information from the three accounts could provide the personal details of thousands of activists who expressed interest in anti-Trump rallies. The DOJ originally requested that 1.3 million IP addresses from disruptj20.org be turned over, which a DC judge ruled that the web hosting company was obligated to turn over. (NBC News)
A social media campaign calling itself “Blacktivist” and linked to the Russian government used both Facebook and Twitter in an attempt to amplify racial tensions during the election. The Twitter account has been handed over to Congress with the Facebook account expected to be handed over in the coming days. (CNN)
9/ Russia warned the US not to take action against their government-funded media outlets RT and Sputnik: “every step against a Russian media outlet will be met with a corresponding response.” Earlier this month, the Department of Justice notified the company supplying services for RT America that it is obligated to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act due to the work it does for RT. Federal investigators are also looking into whether RT and Sputnik were part of Russia’s influence campaign in the 2016 election. (CNN)
The Senate confirmed Jon Huntsman to be the US ambassador to Russia. Huntsman testified earlier this month before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that there is “no question” that Moscow meddled in the election. Huntsman previously served as ambassador to China and Singapore. (Politico)
10/ The White House launched an internal probe of private email use after it was reported that Jared Kushner and several senior White House officials used private email accounts to conduct government business. At least five current and former White House officials have used private email, including Kushner, Ivanka Trump, Gary Cohn, Steve Bannon, and Reince Priebus. (Politico)
11/ The State Department ordered nonessential diplomats and families out of Cuba after several sonic attacks. At least 21 US diplomats and family members have been affected, causing an array of issues from hearing loss to dizziness to concussions. (CNN / New York Times)
12/ Republicans launched a group to fight Democratic-drawn political maps in court using data and legal efforts to “serve as a central resource to coordinate and collaborate” on redistricting for party organizations and members. Democrats setup a similar group earlier this year. Both the National Republican Redistricting Trust and the National Democratic Redistricting Committee are focused on influencing congressional and state legislative boundaries after the next census. (Politico)
poll/ 49% say NFL players who kneel during the National Anthem are doing the wrong thing to express their political opinion, while 43% say it’s the right thing. (CNN)
poll/ 83% of voters support a path for illegal immigrants to become legal residents, up nine points since last year. 14% say “deport as many as possible,” down from a high of 30 percent in July 2015. (Fox News)
1/ Trump’s top economic adviser “can’t guarantee” taxes won’t go up for the middle class. Gary Cohn said Trump’s tax plan is “purely aimed at middle-class families,” but “it depends which state you live in.” He added that the rich will not benefit under the plan. Trump wanted to propose a 15% corporate rate rather than the 20% announced, which is down from the current 35%. (ABC News / Axios)
2/ Jared Kushner didn’t disclose the existence of his personal email account to the Senate intelligence committee when he testified in July, which he used from January through August. The chair and vice chair of the committee wrote his attorney, Abbe Lowell, instructing Kushner to double-check that he has turned over all relevant documents to the committee, including those from his personal email account, “as well as all other email accounts, messaging apps, or similar communications channels you may have used, or that may contain information relevant to our inquiry.” (CNN)
3/ Trump waived the shipping restrictions for Puerto Rico, which were limiting access to food, medicine, clothing, and supplies for hurricane relief. The move comes after criticism that the White House had been slow to help Puerto Rico recover from Hurricane Maria. The waiver will be in effect for 10 days and will cover all products being shipped to the island. The State Department evacuated 225 people from the Caribbean island of Dominica, who signed promissory notes agreeing to reimburse the State Department for travel costs. (CNN / Washington Post / The Hill)
UPDATE:
The State Department is not requiring anyone evacuated from hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico to sign promissory notes reimbursing the government for travel costs.
The electric power grid in Puerto Rico is totally shot. Large numbers of generators are now on Island. Food and water on site.
4/ Twitter briefed members of the Senate and House intelligence committees about fake news spread by Russian accounts and what steps the company took to stop it. Twitter told Congress that about 200 accounts are tied to some of the same Russian-linked sources that purchased ads on Facebook. The vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee criticized Twitter for failing to aggressively investigate the Russian misuse of its platform beyond the accounts linked to fraudulent profiles already identified by Facebook. Mark Warner said the company’s presentation “showed an enormous lack of understanding from the Twitter team of how serious this issue is, the threat it poses to democratic institutions and again begs many more questions than they offered.” He added: “Their response was frankly inadequate on every level.” (Recode / New York Times)
An Oxford University study shows there was a higher concentration of misinformation, polarizing political and conspiratorial news shared on Twitter from Russian, WikiLeaks, and junk news sources in the swing states Trump won than in uncontested states. (Oxford Internet Institute)
A Russian hacker who previously worked for Putin’s United Russia party was arrested in Barcelona on a US warrant. Prosecutors charged Peter Levashov with operating a network of tens of thousands of infected computers used by cyber criminals. (Reuters)
5/ The Senate Intelligence Committee has asked Facebook, Google, and Twitter to testify on Russian meddling at a public hearing on November 1st. The House Intelligence Committee also wants to hold a public hearing next month with representatives from several unnamed technology companies (hint, hint) in an effort to “better understand how Russia used online tools and platforms to sow discord in and influence our election.” (Reuters / New York Times / Politico)
6/ A Russian-backed group impersonated a real American Muslim organization on Facebook and Instagram to spread misinformation. The United Muslims of America pushed memes that claimed Hillary Clinton admitted the US “created, funded and armed” al-Qaeda and ISIS, claimed that John McCain was ISIS’ true founder, and alleged Osama bin Laden was a “CIA agent.” (The Daily Beast)
7/ Tom Price will repay taxpayers for his private jet travel, saying “I regret the concerns this has raised regarding the use of taxpayer dollars.” He added: “The taxpayers won’t pay a dime for my seat on those planes.” Price has taken at least 26 charter flights costing more than $400,000 since May to conduct official business. Price, however, will only reimburse taxpayers for just under $52,000. Meanwhile, EPA chief Scott Pruitt has taken at least four noncommercial and military flights since mid-February, costing taxpayers more than $58,000. House Democrats introduced legislation to prevent Trump administration officials from using private jets with taxpayers funds. (Politico / Washington Post / The Hill)
1/ Trump’s tax plan will cut rates for businesses and the wealthy, while eliminating widely used exemptions and deductions. He dubbed the plan a “middle class miracle,” which would collapse the tax brackets from seven down to three while raising the lowest rate from 10% to 12% and cut the top rate from 39.6% to 35%. The standard deduction would double to $12,000 for individuals and to $24,000 for married couples. The White House and the Republicans haven’t said what loopholes would be closed in order to offset the trillions of dollars in revenue lost by cutting tax rates. Republicans want to pass a tax bill by the end of the year, which would be their first major legislative achievement this year. (Washington Post / Reuters / New York Times)
2/ Trump will cap refugee admissions at 45,000 in the next fiscal year. The ceiling has never been lower than 67,000, the number Ronald Reagan set in 1986, and the US hasn’t taken in so few refugees in a single year since 2006, when 41,223 were allowed to enter. In 2016, the US welcomed 84,995 refugees with Obama pushing to raise that number to 110,000 in 2017. Defense and State Department officials, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the United Nations had recommended that Trump admit at least 50,000 refugees during the next fiscal year. Meanwhile, Stephen Miller and John Kelly advocated admitting as few as 15,000 refugees. (Associated Press / New York Times)
3/ The acting head of the DEA will resign after losing confidence in Trump’s respect for the law. Last month, Chuck Rosenberg sent an agency-wide memo rebuking Trump’s suggestion that police were being “too nice” to suspects and shouldn’t shield their heads from hitting the roof of the police car during arrests. “We must earn and keep the public trust and continue to hold ourselves to the very highest standards,” Rosenberg wrote. “Ours is an honorable profession and, so, we will always act honorably.” Rosenberg will resign at the end of the week. (Politico / New York Times)
4/ Trump deleted his tweets supporting Luther Strange after Strange lost in Alabama’s primary runoff. The deleted tweets were archived by ProPublica and are no longer public on Twitter, but watchdog groups believe Trump is breaking the law when he deletes his tweets. Trump deleted at least three favorable tweets, including one saying that Strange “has been shooting up in the Alabama polls since my endorsement.” Strange lost to Roy Moore, who took nearly 55% of the vote. (New York Times / Washington Post)
5/ Russian-bought political Facebook ads criticized Hillary Clinton, promoted Trump, and supported Bernie Sanders even after his presidential campaign had ended. The ads appeared designed to create divisions while sometimes praising Trump, Sanders, and Green Party candidate Jill Stein. A number of the ads questioned Clinton’s authenticity and touted liberal criticisms of her candidacy. Trump took to Twitter to suggest that Facebook had colluded with the news media against him during the campaign, tweeting: “Facebook was always anti-Trump. The Networks were always anti-Trump hence, Fake News @nytimes (apologized) & @WaPo were anti-Trump. Collusion?” He added: “But the people were Pro-Trump! Virtually no President has accomplished what we have accomplished in the first 9 months – and economy roaring.” (Politico / The Hill)
The Russia hoax continues, now it's ads on Facebook. What about the totally biased and dishonest Media coverage in favor of Crooked Hillary?
The Senate Intelligence Committee will call executives from Google to help understand Russian election meddling. The panel is seeking Google’s cooperation as it studies how Russia’s government might have exploited American social media and Internet companies during the 2016 campaign. (Politico)
6/ Three Americans with Russian business connections contributed almost $2 million to political funds controlled by Trump. All three men are associated with Viktor Vekselberg, one of the richest men in Russia, who holds frequent meetings with Putin. Donations began flowing to the RNC just as Trump was securing the Republican nomination and culminated in two large gifts – totaling $1.25 million – to the Trump inaugural fund following his victory. Unless the contributions were directed by a foreigner, they would be legal donations. (ABC News)
7/ The House Oversight Committee will investigate Tom Price’s use of private jets for government business, which he’s done at least 26 times and cost taxpayers more than $400,000. Trump told reporters that he’s “not happy about it. I’m going to look at it. I am not happy about it, and I let him know it.” When asked if he would fire Price, he replied: “we’ll see.” (The Hill / New York Times / CNN)
poll/ 68% of Americans say the federal income tax system needs either a complete overhaul or major changes, cutting across party lines to include support by 77% of Republicans, 70% of independents, and 62% of Democrats. (CNN)
poll/ 57% of Americans disagree with Trump that the NFL should fire players who kneel. The results were split along party lines with 82% of Democrats and 29% of Republicans disagreeing with Trump’s comments about firing football players. (Reuters)
poll/ 51% of Americans say they are embarrassed to have Trump serve as president. 59% say Trump is not honest, 60% say he does not have good leadership skills, and 61% say he does not share their values. 69% of voters want Trump to stop tweeting. (Quinnipiac)
1/ The House Oversight Committee asked the White House for information about the use of private emails for government duties by Jared Kushner and five other current and former senior aides. At least six of Trump’s closest advisers, including Steve Bannon, Reince Priebus, Gary Cohn, Stephen Miller, and Ivanka Trump have used private email addresses to discuss White House matters. Elijah Cummings said the committee would examine whether administration officials were “deliberately trying to circumvent (federal) laws by using personal, private, or alias email addresses to conduct official government business.” Hillary Clinton called the revelation “the height of hypocrisy.” It is not illegal for White House officials to use private email accounts so long as they forward work-related messages to their government accounts so the records can be preserved. (Reuters / New York Times / ABC News)
2/ The Senate will not vote on the Graham-Cassidy bill to repeal Obamacare, Mitch McConnell told Republicans in a closed-door meeting. Opposition by Susan Collins, John McCain, and Rand Paul was enough to sink the legislation. McConnell said Republicans are not giving up on a health care bill, but will pivot to tax reform in search of a legislative victory. (CNN / Bloomberg / Politico / New York Times)
3/ Senate Republicans are discussing whether to merge another Obamacare repeal effort into tax reform. They would use budget reconciliation, which would allow them pass legislation with just 50 votes. Republicans have two options: attempt to pass both health care and tax reform for the 2018 fiscal year budget, or take up a budget for the 2019 fiscal year early next year and address an Obamacare repeal in that budget. Doing so would put health care back in the spotlight during the 2018 midterm elections. The CBO said the latest Senate health bill would cause millions of people to lose “comprehensive health insurance” over the next decade. (Politico / Axios / Forbes)
4/ Roger Stone rejected all allegations of collusion between Trump’s associates and Russia during the 2016 election. In a closed House of Representatives Intelligence Committee hearing, Trump’s longtime ally denied he had any contact with Russian operatives during the campaign. Stone also denied that he had any advance knowledge that emails of Clinton’s campaign chairman would be hacked and his emails released by WikiLeaks, despite tweeting days before that John Podesta’s “time in the barrel” would soon be coming. (Reuters / Washington Post)
Trust me, it will soon the Podesta's time in the barrel. #CrookedHillary
5/ Robert Mueller could start interviewing current and former White House staff as soon as this week. On Mueller’s short list are Reince Priebus, Sean Spicer, Hope Hicks, Don McGahn, Josh Raffel, and James Burnham. Related, Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, has said he’s been informed by Mueller that he will be indicted as part of the FBI’s Russia probe. Mueller has been looking at Manafort’s possible financial and tax crimes, his contacts with Russian officials, and his work as a foreign agent with links to the Kremlin and Ukraine’s pro-Russia Party of Regions. A Democratic senator said he’s “99% sure” Michael Flynn will also be indicted. (CNN / Yahoo / Business Insider / Politico)
6/ The IRS Criminal Investigation division is sharing information with Robert Mueller about Trump’s campaign associates, including Paul Manafort and Michael Flynn. IRS agents had been working before the election with the FBI to investigate Manafort in a similar probe that centered on possible money laundering and tax fraud issues. It’s unclear if the special counsel has asked for or has obtained Trump’s tax returns. (CNN)
7/ Wisconsin’s strict voter ID laws kept nearly 17,000 registered voters from the polls in the November election. The November turnout in Wisconsin, 69.4% of eligible voters, was the lowest in a presidential election year since 2000. Trump defeated Clinton by 22,748 votes. (New York Times)
8/ Trump will travel to Puerto Rico next week to survey damage from Hurricane Maria after tweeting that the Caribbean island was “broken” and in “deep trouble” because of its outdated infrastructure and large debt. San Juan’s mayor responded to Trump, saying “you don’t put debt above people, you put people above debt.” Puerto Rico’s governor said the island was on the brink of a “humanitarian crisis,” stressing that the United States commonwealth deserved the same treatment as hurricane-ravaged states. (Bloomberg / CNN / New York Times / The Hill)
Texas & Florida are doing great but Puerto Rico, which was already suffering from broken infrastructure & massive debt, is in deep trouble..
poll/ Only 54% of Americans know that Puerto Ricans are US citizens. Puerto Rico is not a state and does not vote in presidential elections, but they do send one nonvoting representative to Congress. (New York Times)
1/ The Graham-Cassidy bill appears dead on arrival after Susan Collins announced she’ll join John McCain and Rand Paul in opposing the legislation. The latest health care proposal included more funding to Alaska, Arizona, Kentucky, and Maine in an effort to win votes from Lisa Murkowski, McCain, Paul, and Collins. Ted Cruz said he doesn’t support the bill and suggested that Mike Lee also opposes it. The three “No” votes likely kill the last-ditch GOP effort to repeal Obamacare this week before protections against a Democratic filibuster expire. (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / Associated Press / CNN)
Healthcare.gov will be shut down for 12 hours on all but one Sunday morning during open enrollment for the Affordable Care Act. (PBS)
2/ Trump issued an executive order to expand his travel ban and permanently restrict visitors from eight countries. With his revised, temporary travel ban now expired, the new order will stay in place until Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, Chad, North Korea, and Venezuela meet security requirements set by Homeland Security. Starting October 18th, the new order indefinitely bans almost all travel to the US from the eight countries. (NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post)
Making America Safe is my number one priority. We will not admit those into our country we cannot safely vet.https://t.co/KJ886okyfC
3/ Jared Kushner used a private email account through his first nine months in the White House to trade emails with senior White House officials and outside advisers. At times, Steve Bannon and Reince Priebus also used private email accounts to correspond with Kushner. During the campaign, Trump routinely attacked Hillary Clinton for using a personal email account to handle government business when she was secretary of state. Kushner’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said he adhered to government record-keeping requirements by forwarding all the emails to his government account. (Politico / New York Times / Washington Post)
Ivanka Trump used a personal email address to communicate with a government official after her father took office. Documents from a Freedom of Information Act request show that on February 28, Trump emailed the administrator of the Small Business Administration from a personal domain. At the time, Trump was operating inside the White House in a nonofficial capacity. (Newsweek)
4/ Homeland Security notified 21 states that they had been targeted by Russian government hackers during the 2016 election campaign. Hackers penetrated computer systems in a handful of states, but there is no evidence that hackers tampered with voting machines. DHS left it to individual states to decide whether to publicly acknowledge if they had been targeted, but officials confirmed that Alabama, Colorado, Connecticut, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Wisconsin and Washington were among the states targeted. (Washington Post)
5/ The White House and Justice Department have missed deadlines and are withholding records related to the Russia investigation by the House intelligence committee and the Senate judiciary committee. The Senate judiciary committee has requested information about the DOJ’s decision to prevent two senior FBI officials from sitting down for transcribed interviews to provide eyewitness accounts of the Comey firing. The House intelligence committee is threatening to hold a public hearing over documents the DOJ failed to turn over regarding the FBI’s ties to the British operative who compiled a dossier of allegations on Trump’s connections with Russia. (CNN)
6/ North Korea accused Trump of declaring war, saying it has “every right to make countermeasures, including the right to shoot down U.S. strategic bombers, even if they are not yet inside the air-space border of our country.” The North’s assertion that the US has declared war comes two days after Trump tweeted that “Little Rocket Man (and North Korea) won’t be around much longer!” while the Air Force flew B-1B Lancer bombers and F-15C Eagle fighter escorts in international airspace near North Korea.
Last week, White House aides warned Trump not to personally attack the North Korean leader during his United Nations speech, saying that insulting Kim Jong Un in such a prominent venue could irreparably escalate tensions. Ignoring the advice, Trump went ahead and said the US may have to “totally destroy” North Korea and that “rocket man is on a suicide mission.” The White House rejected the notion that the US had declared war, calling the suggestion “absurd.” (New York Times / CNN / Politico / NBC News)
Just heard Foreign Minister of North Korea speak at U.N. If he echoes thoughts of Little Rocket Man, they won't be around much longer!
7/ Tom Price will stop using taxpayer-funded travel on private jets, pending a formal review by his department’s inspector general. The Health and Human Services Secretary has spent more than $400,000 on at least 24 private charter jets since May. (Politico)
8/ Steve Bannon tried to place a mole inside Facebook days before he took over Trump’s president campaign in August 2016. The plan was “for Breitbart to flood the zone with candidates” for a Public Policy Manager role at Facebook’s WhatsApp, who would then report back to Bannon. Breitbart News Tech Editor Milo Yiannopoulos forwarded Bannon’s request to a group of contracted researchers, one of whom responded that it “Seems dificult [sic] to do quietly without them becoming aware of efforts.” (BuzzFeed News)
9/ More than 200 football players, coaches, and team owners sat, knelt or raised their fists in defiance during the national anthem on Sunday after Trump called for NFL teams to suspend or fire players who protested the anthem. Several teams stayed in their locker rooms during the anthem. “Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now,” Trump said to a crowd Friday night at a rally in Huntsville, Alabama. “Out. He’s fired. He’s fired.” Later, Trump tweeted that “If NFL fans refuse to go to games until players stop disrespecting our Flag and Country, you will see change take place fast. Fire or suspend!”
Trump Jr. piled on, attacking Roger Goodell after the NFL commissioner released a statement criticizing Trump’s comments, saying “If only Roger Goodell cared as much about domestic abuse and traumatic brain injury as he does about disrespecting America.” Steven Mnuchin defended Trump’s comments, saying that players “have the right to have the First Amendment off the field.”
But that’s not all. Trump also disinvited the Golden State Warriors from the traditional White House visit because Stephen Curry said he didn’t want to go. LeBron James then called Trump a “bum,” and tweeted that going to the “White House was a great honor until you showed up!” Phew! (New York Times / Associated Press / Washington Post)
Going to the White House is considered a great honor for a championship team.Stephen Curry is hesitating,therefore invitation is withdrawn!
poll/ 52% of Americans disapprove of the Graham-Cassidy health care bill. 20% said they approved of the Republican legislation aimed at repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, while 28% don’t have an opinion. (CBS News)
poll/ 86% of Americans support DACA, the residency program for undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States as children. 62% oppose also Trump’s demand for a wall on the US border with Mexico. (ABC News)
poll/ 29% of Americans hold a favorable view of the Republican Party – down 13 percentage points since March. The previous low point for the GOP was 30% – hit twice – in 2013 following the shutdown over Obamacare, and 1998, in the wake of the House approving two articles of impeachment against then Bill Clinton. (CNN)
poll/ 72% of Americans trust military generals more than Trump on North Korea. 42% trust Trump “not at all.” 67% oppose a preemptive strike by the US on North Korea. (Washington Post)
1/ Following Trump’s United Nations speech, North Korea threatened to detonate a hydrogen bomb in the Pacific. Kim Jong Un in a statement called Trump a “mentally deranged U.S. dotard” who would “pay dearly” for his words, and that North Korea would enact the “highest level of hardline countermeasure in history.” The North Korean foreign minister clarified this phrase, suggesting it could refer to an H-bomb. (Financial Times / New York Times)
Kim Jong Un of North Korea, who is obviously a madman who doesn't mind starving or killing his people, will be tested like never before!
Trump signed an executive order authorizing sanctions on companies and individuals who conduct business with North Korea. The move comes after China’s central bank “told their other banks … to immediately stop doing business” with the country. (NBC News)
2/ After Paul Manafort left the Trump campaign in 2016, the United States placed him under surveillance as part of its early investigation into Russian election interference. The monitoring did not include listening to real-time phone conversations. It is currently unclear when the surveillance was suspended. (Wall Street Journal)
3/ Facebook agreed to turn over to Congress details of ads sold to Russia-linked accounts during the 2016 election. The decision represents a reversal of the company’s previous position. Facebook has already provided the ads and information to special counsel Robert Mueller’s team. On Twitter, Trump dismissed potential nefarious Russian use of the social media platform as a “hoax.” (CNN / Washington Post)
The Russia hoax continues, now it's ads on Facebook. What about the totally biased and dishonest Media coverage in favor of Crooked Hillary?
Russia denied having leveraged Facebook to sway the election. Speaking to reporters, a Kremlin spokesman said Russia does “not know … how to place an advert on Facebook. We have never done this, and the Russian side has never been involved in it.” (Reuters)
4/ Trump’s travel ban is set to expire on Sunday, and he is expected to broaden the order. Early reports suggest a new order may include additional countries and not specify an end date. On September 15, Trump tweeted the ban ought to be “far larger, tougher and more specific.” (Reuters / Bloomberg)
5/ Mueller requested phone records related to the statement coordinated aboard Air Force One about the Trump Tower meeting organized by Donald Trump Jr. Mueller also seeks documents related to a May 3 press briefing in which Sean Spicer claimed Trump had full confidence in James Comey. (Comey was fired on May 9.) (Politico)
6/ Trump will roll back existing limits on drone strikes outside conventional battlefields. The move encompasses commando raids, as well. National security advisors are also proposing dismantling a rule that limits kill missions to top militants, instead relaxing the constraint to cover foot soldiers. (New York Times)
7/ In defiance of Trump’s United Nations speech, Iran announced it will continue to strengthen its ballistic missile capabilities. Speaking at a military parade, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Iran will increase its “military power as a deterrent” and that it “will not seek permission from anyone to defend” itself. (Reuters)
8/ HHS Secretary Tom Price has chartered at least 24 private flights since early May for a total estimated cost of $300,000. While officials have suggested Price only flies private when commercial air travel is not feasible, an analysis of flight data suggests commercial flights that accommodated Price’s schedule were often available. (Politico / Washington Post)
poll/ Less than a quarter of Americans support the latest push to dismantle the Affordable Care Act. 54 percent support Obamacare. (Vox)
1/ Writing through an intermediary, Paul Manafort offered to give private briefings to a Russian billionaire during the 2016 campaign. Oleg Deripaska is an aluminum magnate and former business associate of Manafort’s with close ties to the Kremlin. It is unclear if Deripaska received or acted on the offer. (Washington Post)
Manafort also used his Trump campaign email account to communicate with Ukrainian political operative Konstantin Kilimnik, seeking payment for previous consulting work in Ukraine. Kilimnik is suspected to have ties to Russian intelligence operations. Manafort spokesman Jason Maloni said it is “no secret” Manafort “was owed money by past clients.” (Politico)
The Department of Justice is seeking documents related to a New York law firm’s handling of a 2012 draft report commissioned by Manafort on Viktor Yanukovych, the former president of Ukraine. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom’s report was used by the president’s allies to justify the imprisonment of a Yanukovych rival. The document request may or may not be part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe. (New York Times)
2/ Trump is reportedly leaning toward decertifying Iran’s compliance with the nuclear deal reached in 2015. Doing so would force Congress to decide whether the United States will pull out of the agreement. Trump faces international pressure not to withdraw. (NBC News)
3/ Trump pledged to impose new sanctions on North Korea, but did not offer further details. In New York, he met with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. In his United Nations address, Moon called for resolving the nuclear crisis in a “stable manner.” (Bloomberg)
4/ Nicaragua plans to join the Paris Agreement “soon,” leaving the United States and Syria as the only two countries outside the climate pact. Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega had previously refused to enter the agreement because it did not go far enough in combatting climate change and was “not very strict with the richest nations of the planet.” (Bloomberg / CleanTechnica)
5/ Trump appointed several campaign staffers with no agriculture or policy experience to Department of Agriculture posts. An analysis of documents also suggests some appointees lack the relevant credentials required for their governmental salary levels. In a statement, USDA defended the hires, writing that all “appointees have skills that are applicable to the roles they fill.” (Politico)
6/ In a speech to African leaders at the United Nations, Trump twice mispronounced Namibia as “Nambia” as he praised the country’s health care system. Before later White House clarification, it was unclear if Trump was referring to Namibia, Zambia, or Gambia. In the same speech, Trump said Africa has “tremendous business potential” and that he has “so many friends going to your countries, trying to get rich.” (CNN)
poll/ More than 70 percent of Americans support Trump’s recent deal with Democrats. Less than a quarter support his handling of race relations and the violence in Charlottesville. (NBC News/Wall Street Journal)
1/ Paul Manafort’s spokesman responded to reports of Manafort’s wiretapping, arguing “it is a felony to reveal the existence of a FISA warrant.” Jason Maloni said DOJ should “immediately conduct an investigation into these leaks and to examine the motivations behind a previous administration’s effort to surveil a political opponent.” The original FISA warrant was granted before Trump declared his candidacy. (CBS News)
2/ Special counsel Robert Mueller sent a document to the White House requesting details on Trump’s behavior in office. The request encompasses Trump’s Oval Office meeting with Sergey Lavrov and Sergey Kislyak the day after the firing of James Comey, as well as documents concerning the firing of Mike Flynn and the administration’s response to news of the 2016 Trump Tower meeting organized by Donald Trump Jr. (New York Times)
3/ Mueller interviewed Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein about the Comey firing. The interview occurred in June or July. Since Jeff Sessions recused himself from the investigation, Rosenstein is ultimately in charge of overseeing the Russia probe. (Wall Street Journal)
4/ The Senate will likely begin voting on the latest bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act next Wednesday. The Graham-Cassidy plan has received pushback from a variety of legislators, as well as from a bipartisan group of 10 governors. Lamar Alexander and Patty Murray continue to negotiate for a bipartisan approach to health care reform. (Axios / Washington Post)
5/ The Trump administration is shifting oversight of international gun sales from State to the Commerce Department. The move will make it easier to sell non-military firearms to foreign buyers. An administration official, noting the increased flexibility, said, “You could really turn the spigot on if you do it the right way.” (Reuters)
6/ Erdoğan said Trump apologized to him for the indictment of Turkish security personnel following their clash with anti-Erdoğan protesters in Washington in May. The Turkish president also said Trump told him “he was going to follow up on this issue when we come to the United States within the framework of an official visit.” The White House denied the apology had occurred. (The Guardian)
7/ Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price reportedly spent tens of thousands of dollars on private flights last week, breaking with his predecessors. Price did not comment on the expenditures, but a spokesman said charter flights are acceptable when “commercial aircraft cannot reasonably accommodate travel requirements.” Price flew to Maine, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania. (Politico)
8/ Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro called Trump “the new Hitler” following Trump’s speech at the United Nations. Trump has openly criticized the Maduro regime for weeks, citing the decline of democracy in the Latin American country. Said Maduro: “Nobody threatens Venezuela and nobody owns Venezuela.” (NBC News)
9/ At a United Nations luncheon, Melania Trump condemned bullying. Her speech follows a previous pledge to launch a White House anti-bullying initiative. In her speech, Trump argued that children should never “feel hungry, stalked, frightened, terrorized, bullied, isolated or afraid, with nowhere to turn.” (Politico)
poll/ Nearly half of voters support “a single-payer health care system, where all Americans would get their health insurance from one government plan.” Only 35 percent of voters oppose such a plan. (Politico/Morning Consult)
1/ Paul Manafort was wiretapped following an FBI investigation in 2014, and the surveillance continued through this year (albeit interrupted). A Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant was originally granted for Manafort’s work for the former Ukrainian government and later discontinued due to lack of evidence. A second FISA warrant—concerning the Russia investigation—was obtained at some point last year. The details of the recorded communications have been provided to special counsel Robert Mueller. (CNN)
2/ Federal agents raided Manafort’s Virginia home in July, and Mueller’s prosecutors told Manafort they planned to indict him. Agents picked Manafort’s lock, took binders and copied computer files, and photographed his belongings. The scope of the investigation also includes questions of money-laundering and foreign lobbying. Mueller’s team has subpoenaed several Manafort associates. (New York Times)
3/ Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly, Trump said the United States may have to “totally destroy” North Korea if the country refuses to back down from its nuclear rhetoric. “Rocket man is on a suicide mission for himself and his regime,” said Trump. In his 41-minute speech, he also called out Iran, Venezuela, and Cuba. (Reuters)
4/ Trump is paying legal fees related to the Russia investigation with RNC and reelection campaign funds. Under the FEC, the move is legal, but Trump is the first president in modern history to use campaign funding in this manner. Trump lawyer John Dowd told reporters the question of financing Trump’s legal bills was “none of your business.” (Reuters)
5/ The Trump administration rejected a Department of Health and Human Services study demonstrating the positive economic impact of refugees. The draft report said refugees “contributed an estimated $269.1 billion in revenues to all levels of government” over the past decade, amounting to a net gain of $63 billion. The White House is seeking a rationale for reducing the number of refugees the country accepts. (New York Times)
6/ Trump said the United States is “prepared to take further action if the government of Venezuela persists.” Speaking at a United Nations dinner in New York, Trump argued the United States must “take important steps to hold the regime accountable,” referencing the erosion of democracy under President Nicolás Maduro. (Politico)
7/ Trump Jr. and Kellyanne Conway are dropping their Secret Service detail. The two cases are unrelated: Trump Jr. seeks more privacy, and Conway was only temporarily covered due to threats she received earlier this year. (New York Times)
8/ The Senate Intelligence Committee canceled an interview with former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen. Cohen was set to deny he’d ever “engaged with, been paid by, paid for or conversed with” Russia to interfere with the election. Cohen’s lawyer said they look forward to “voluntarily cooperating with the House committee and with anyone else who has an inquiry in this area.” (Washington Post)
poll/ Most voters are happy with the ideological positions of their political parties. Despite the pervasive idea that parties are embroiled in internal wars, 60 percent of Democrats and 50 percent of Republicans believe their party is “about right.” (Morning Consult/Politico)
1/ Overheard in a Washington steakhouse, a White House counsel discussed the extent to which the administration should cooperate with the Russia investigation. Ty Cobb supports prompt turnover of all relevant emails and documents to special counsel Robert Mueller; Trump lawyer Don McGahn is concerned doing so might weaken the White House’s future position. (New York Times)
2/ Trump addressed the United Nations General Assembly, calling it out for “mismanagement” and claiming it had not reached “its full potential.” In his opening remarks, he also praised Trump World Tower, a “successful project” located “right across the street” from the United Nations. Trump’s rhetoric toward North Korea escalated over the weekend. (CNBC / The Week)
3/ Republican senators are pushing for a last-minute vote on the latest bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Led by Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy, the effort to pass the bill in question has not currently garnered enough votes. John McCain continues to advocate for putting the bill through committee. (New York Times)
4/ Mike Flynn’s family established a legal defense fund, citing a “tremendous financial burden” stemming from the Russia investigation. In a public statement, Flynn’s siblings emphasized that the legal fees required of former Trump aides “far exceed their ability to pay.” The Trump administration recently legalized anonymous donations to legal defense funds. (ABC News)
5/ The Trump administration confirmed it is indeed pulling out of the Paris Agreement despite reports to the contrary. Over the weekend, The Wall Street Journal reported that top officials were considering remaining a party to the agreement. National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster called the article “a false report.” The United States cannot formally withdraw from the deal until 2020. (Washington Post)
6/ The Department of the Interior recommended cutting, scaling back, or otherwise changing the boundaries of seven national monuments. An Interior report recommends, for example, reducing the size of Bear Ears in Utah and opening protected ocean waters for commercial fishing. The White House has not yet acted on the report’s recommendations. (Wall Street Journal)
7/ The Trump administration is considering closing the U.S. embassy in Cuba. Rex Tillerson attributed the potential move to “the harm that certain individuals have suffered” at the embassy from unexplained “health attacks.” The Havana diplomatic compound reopened in 2015. (AP)
1/ In response to a London subway attack, Trump touted his travel ban and claimed Scotland Yard had failed to be “proactive.” British officials called Trump’s tweets about “loser terrorists” unproductive. Said Theresa May: “I never think it’s helpful for anybody to speculate on what is an ongoing investigation.” The train bomb injured 22 people. (Politico)
Loser terrorists must be dealt with in a much tougher manner.The internet is their main recruitment tool which we must cut off & use better!
2/ North Korea launched another missile over Japan, further escalating the Pacific crisis. The missile—the latest of more than a dozen in 2017—had the range to reach Guam. Trump will meet with other world leaders at the United Nations next week to discuss Pyongyang. (Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg)
3/ A spokesman for Paul Manafort testified before a federal grand jury. Jason Maloni has worked for Manafort since early 2017. Sources suggest Maloni is not a target of the investigation. (Politico)
Roger Stone will testify before the House Intelligence Committee later in September. Despite the political operative’s claim that he “called for an open public hearing in the interest of full transparency,” he will meet with the panel behind closed doors. Stone corresponded with Guccifer 2.0 in 2016. (The Hill)
4/ The Senate Judiciary Committee will take steps to ensure Trump cannot fire Robert Mueller. Two bills in development come after concerns that Trump was considering dismissing special counsel Mueller in his frustration about the Russia probe, despite White House claims to the contrary. House Judiciary Committee heads met with Mueller on Thursday. (CNN)
5/ The Department of Justice declined to release visitor logs for Mar-a-Lago despite a federal court ordering the Secret Service to do so. Earlier this year, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the National Security Archive, and the Knight First Amendment Institute sued the administration for the Mar-a-Lago logs, as well as those for the White House and Trump Tower. The Department of Homeland Security had previously denied the groups’ Freedom of Information Act requests. (New York Times / CNN)
6/ The Trump administration will cut funding for Affordable Care Act enrollment groups by up to 92%. Known as navigators, the grassroots organizations help people sign up for ACA health insurance during the open enrollment period. Under Trump, the Department of Health and Human Services has repeatedly questioned their value. (Washington Post)
7/ The State Department held off on further sanctions on Iran while it decides to continue with the Iran nuclear deal. The administration will decide next month if Iran has met its commitments under the deal. An official said the Trump administration “seeks to bring a change in Iran’s behavior.” (Washington Post)
8/ Trump signed a congressional joint resolution condemning white supremacists. In a statement, he said Americans denounce “the recent violence in Charlottesville and oppose hatred, bigotry, and racism in all forms.” (NBC News)
Aboard Air Force One, Trump also resurrected his “both sides” argument, stating “you have some pretty bad dudes on the other side also.” The statement came one day after meeting with Tim Scott, who addressed the president directly about his false equivalence rhetoric. (New York Times)
9/ Trump visited Florida, where he praised recovery efforts and contradicted his previous comments on hurricanes. In Naples, he and Melania passed out sandwiches. When asked about climate change, Trump said “we’ve had bigger storms than this.” He’d previously called Hurricane Irma “of epic proportion, perhaps bigger than we have ever seen.” (Orlando Sentinel / CNN)
10/ The California State Assembly passed a bill requiring presidential candidates to release their tax returns. The Presidential Tax Transparency and Accountability Act now heads to the state Senate. (The Hill)
poll/ Repealing the Affordable Care Act remains GOP voters’ top priority. More than half of Republican respondents said repealing and replacing Obamacare is an “extremely important priority,” and 26 percent said it is “very important.” (Politico/Harvard)
1/ Top Democrats announced they had struck a deal with Trump to save DREAMers from deportation. After a White House dinner, Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi reported they would pursue a legislative option for DACA that included provisions for border security—excluding building a wall. In response to criticism from right-wing media and his base, Trump tweeted that “no deal” had been struck and that the wall “will continue to be built.” (Washington Post / AP)
@RealDonaldTrump If AP is correct, Trump base is blown up, destroyed, irreparable, and disillusioned beyond repair. No promise is credible. https://t.co/uJjxk6uX5g
2/ Flynn promoted a Middle East nuclear power plant deal while serving in the White House. The project, reported yesterday, originally involved several Russian companies, along with a group of former U.S. military officers with whom Flynn had worked on the potential deal. The deal would erect dozens of nuclear power plants in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in the Middle East. (Wall Street Journal)
3/ In a policy reversal, the Office of Government Ethics will now allow anonymous donations to White House legal defense funds. The anonymity frees up lobbyists and others “with business before the government” to step in and pay White House aides’ legal fees, including those related to the Russia probe. (Politico)
4/ Tim Scott, the sole black Republican in the Senate, sat down with Trump to rebut the president’s claim that “both sides” were to blame for the violence in Charlottesville. Scott said he shared his thoughts on “the affirmation of hate groups” and “the last three centuries of challenges from white supremacists, white nationalists, KKK, Nazis.” The White House described the meeting as indicative of Trump’s commitment to “positive race relations.” (New York Times)
5/ National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster wrote a memo outlining a new anti-leak program that encompasses unclassified information. The memo suggested “every Federal Government department and agency” hold trainings on the dangers and consequences of leaks. The memo subsequently leaked to reporters. (Buzzfeed News)
6/ Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin requested use of a U.S. Air Force jet for his and Louise Linton’s European honeymoon this summer. The jet costs $25,000 per hour to operate. Mnuchin’s request was ultimately denied. (ABC News)
7/ Russia reduced the number of parking spots available to U.S. diplomats at their consulates. The move represents the latest in a series of U.S.–Russian diplomatic expulsions and denials. The parking spots were painted over with a pedestrian crossing. (AP)
1/ Congressional Democrats told special counsel Robert Mueller that Michael Flynn failed to disclose a summer 2015 Middle East trip to broker a Saudi–Russian nuclear power deal. Upon returning to the States, the Democrats say, Flynn omitted his contacts with foreign nationals during his reapplication for security clearance, which includes paperwork and an FBI interview. (CNN)
Flynn has again refused to appear as a witness before the Senate intelligence committee. He first declined to speak with the committee following a subpoena in May, claiming Fifth Amendment rights. (CNN)
Flynn’s son, Michael G. Flynn, is a subject of the federal Russia probe, as well. The investigation focuses in part on Flynn’s work with Mike Flynn’s lobbying firm. (NBC News)
2/ The U.S. government has banned the use of Kaspersky Lab software over concerns of Russian cyberespionage. Federal agencies will have three months to remove the software. Homeland Security called the risk that Russia could “capitalize on access provided by Kaspersky products” a national security threat. Kaspersky Lab denies any wrongdoing and claims it is “caught in the middle of a geopolitical fight.” (Washington Post)
3/ Congress unanimously passed a joint resolution calling on Trump to denounce hate groups. The measure, which now heads to Trump’s desk in search of a signature, explicitly condemns “White nationalists, White supremacists, the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis, and other hate groups.” It is nonbinding. (New York Times)
4/ The Trump administration is mulling lowering the refugee quota to its lowest level since at least 1980. Trump has already reduced the resettlement cap to 50,000. Now, some White House officials, including Stephen Miller, are pressing for a lower ceiling. (New York Times)
5/ The Supreme Court blocked two rulings that would have forced Texas to redraw congressional and state districts. The lower court had ruled Texas had intentionally tried to weaken Hispanic voters’ political power via its district maps. The districts in question will likely be used in 2018. (The Hill / Bloomberg)
6/ The Department of Justice is blocking the Senate judiciary committee from interviewing two FBI officials over the firing of James Comey. DOJ cited the appointment of Mueller and “related matters” as the reasoning behind their stonewalling of Senate investigators. (CNN)
7/ The Department of Justice won’t bring civil rights charges against the Baltimore police officers who arrested Freddie Gray. Gray died of spinal cord injuries in April 2015 after the officers failed to secure him in a police van. In a statement, DOJ called his in-custody death “undeniably tragic.” (AP)
8/ Bernie Sanders introduced a universal health care bill with the support of at least 15 Democratic senators. Sanders argues “Medicare for All” is the only way to fix “a dysfunctional, wasteful, bureaucratic system.” The bill will not pass a Republican-led Congress. (Washington Post)
1/ Earlier this summer, a handful of Trump lawyers believed Jared Kushner should step down due to legal complications arising from the Russia probe. After internal debate, the suggestion was ultimately dismissed as one of several efforts “focused on sabotaging” Kushner, who had several interactions with Russia during the 2016 campaign and transition. (Wall Street Journal / Washington Post)
2/ A Supreme Court justice temporarily reinstated Trump’s refugee ban. Last week, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the government couldn’t prohibit refugees from entering the country if they had reassurances from a resettlement agency. Justice Kennedy overruled the lower court. The Supreme Court will hear arguments on the travel ban on October 10. (Bloomberg / Reuters)
3/ Trump’s voter fraud commission is heading to New Hampshire, where Kris Kobach claimed out-of-state voters’ ballots led to the election of Senator Maggie Hassan over Kelly Ayotte in 2016. Trump has repeatedly charged without evidence that millions voted illegally in the last election, and he established the commission in May. (Reuters / NBC News)
4/ Lawmakers rejected Trump’s proposal to slash health research funding. Trump had requested deep cuts to the National Institutes of Health. Instead, Congress increased funding for biomedical research, passing a $36.1 billion appropriations bill for the agency. (New York Times)
5/ Mexico rescinded its offer of aid to the United States after Trump failed to offer condolences following the Mexico City earthquake and its own hurricane. The country had previously pledged to help fund the Hurricane Harvey recovery effort “as good neighbors should always do in trying times.” (LA Times)
6/ The U.N. Security Council unanimously passed its toughest sanctions on North Korea yet. The sanctions will limit Pyongyang’s oil imports and halt its textile exports in an attempt to “take the future of the North Korean nuclear program out of the hands of its outlaw regime.” (Washington Post)
Trump will visit China in November. He has repeatedly called on Beijing to put an end to North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. (Bloomberg)
7/ Russian actors remotely organized and promoted pro-Trump, anti-immigrant protests via Facebook. A former FBI agent referred to the events as Russia’s “next step” in its influence campaign. Facebook confirmed it “shut down several promoted events as part of the takedown” it reported last week. (Daily Beast)
8/ The White House legislative affairs director said Trump would not tie border wall funding to DACA legislation. The claim echoes that of House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows, who made similar remarks last week. The legislative affairs director said Trump “is not backing off a border wall.” (The Hill)
9/ Two senators unveiled a bipartisan proposal to block Trump’s transgender military service ban. Kirsten Gillibrand’s and Susan Collins’ amendment would bar the military from removing transgender service members based on their gender identity alone. (CNN)
1/ Bannon called Trump’s firing of Comey the biggest mistake “in modern political history.” In an online-only segment from a sweeping “60 Minutes” interview, the Breitbart chairman claimed that if Comey was still in place, “we would not have a special counsel.” Bannon, who is plotting several GOP primaries, also criticized the “pearl-clutching mainstream media,” Paul Ryan, and Mitch McConnell. (CBS News / New York Times / Washington Post)
2/ The Trump administration has asked Supreme Court justices to continue to allow strict enforcement of its temporary refugee ban. Last week, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the government could not ban refugees who have formal assurances from resettlement agencies. The administration wants the Supreme Court to stay that part of the ruling. (ABC News)
3/ The FBI is investigating whether Russian news agency Sputnik has violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act. The law bars organizations from acting as undeclared governmental propaganda arms. The FBI has obtained several thousand internal Sputnik documents and emails and has interviewed a former White House correspondent who was fired in May. It is unclear whether or not the investigation falls under Mueller’s broader efforts. (Yahoo News)
4/ Aboard the papal plane, Pope Francis said the move to rescind DACA is not “pro-life.” Francis told reporters that if Trump is indeed pro-life, then he must understand that “family is the cradle of life and its unity must be protected.” Previously, the Pope has suggested calls to build walls are “not Christian.” (CNN)
5/ Infrastructure for Trump’s latest golf club, in Dubai, will be partially built by a Chinese firm, despite Trump’s promise not to work with foreign entities as president. Trump’s business partner awarded a $32-million contract to state-owned China State Construction Engineering Corporation for the work, which includes building a six-lane road. (McClatchy)
6/ A Senate report characterized Trump’s foreign policy as an “apparent doctrine of retreat,” given the budget request for the State Department. The International Affairs budget is 30 percent below 2017’s enacted level. Report author Lindsey Graham wrote that the United States’ distancing from multilateralism only serves “to weaken America’s standing in the world.” (The Hill)
7/ Trump said recent hurricanes are helping the U.S. Coast Guard improve its brand. “They are really—if you talk about branding, no brand has improved more than the United States Coast Guard,” he told reporters after returning from Camp David. (The Hill)
8/ Trump’s lawyer has hired a lawyer to advise him in the Mueller investigation. Mueller is seeking to question both White House Counsel Don McGahn and former Chief of Staff Reince Priebus. Priebus has retained the same lawyer. (Law360 / Business Insider)
9/ Jeff Sessions wants all National Security Council staff to be subjected to lie detector tests. The alleged goal would be to identify leakers. There are over 100 people on the NSC. (Axios)
1/ The House passed a $15 billion disaster relief package, sending the measure to Trump to sign. The bipartisan deal also raises the debt limit and funds the government through December, despite objections from conservatives. (NBC News / ABC News)
2/ ICE cancelled its plan to round up 8,400 undocumented immigrants, citing the “weather situation” in Florida and Texas. Homeland Security referred to the plan as “Operation Mega,” and described it as “the largest operation of its kind in the history” of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. (NBC News)
3/ The White House’s Election Integrity Commission accused New Hampshire voters of fraud for using out-of-state driver’s licenses to vote. In a Breitbart op-ed, Kris Kobach, the vice chairman of the commission, alleges that approximately 5,500 same-day voters may have stolen New Hampshire’s four electoral votes and a US Senate seat away from Republicans, because they haven’t registered vehicles in New Hampshire or gotten in-state driver’s licenses since the election. Experts say the allegation is baseless. New Hampshire is one of fifteen states that allow same-day voter registration. (Washington Post / New Hampshire Public Radio)
4/ Robert Mueller’s team wants to interview White House staffers about Trump Jr.’s initial statement regarding his meeting with the Russian lawyer at Trump Tower during the campaign. Trump personally helped craft his son’s misleading statement while aboard Air Force One. It claimed Trump Jr. “primarily discussed a program about the adoption of Russian children” during his meeting with the Russian lawyer. That claim was later debunked by multiple accounts of the meeting. Mueller wants to know whether information was intentionally left out and who was involved. (CNN)
5/ Scott Pruitt doesn’t want to talk about climate change right now. The EPA chief said that with Hurricane Irma, “to have any kind of focus on the cause and effect of the storm – versus helping people, or actually facing the effect of the storm – is misplaced.” Experts have said that climate change has contributed to the increased strength of hurricanes this season. (CNN)
6/ The Senate Appropriations Committee passed a $10 million spending bill to help fund the United Nations’ climate change group that oversees the Paris Climate Agreement, despite Trump’s decision to stop funding it. The panel approved funding for the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change as well as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (Reuters)
1/ Trump Jr. met with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya to determine Hillary Clinton’s “fitness, character or qualifications” for office, according to a prepared statement delivered to Senate Judiciary Committee investigators. He maintains that nothing came of the meeting, and he denies explicit collusion with Russia. Trump Jr. took questions behind closed doors. (New York Times)
2/ Nancy Pelosi urged Trump to reassure DACA recipients they would not be deported within the next six months, and he acquiesced. The message runs counter to previous White House talking points, which suggest DREAMers should “prepare for” imminent departure from the country. Pelosi later said that if Congress passes the DREAM Act, Trump “would sign it.” (The Hill)
For all of those (DACA) that are concerned about your status during the 6 month period, you have nothing to worry about - No action!
3/ Under Betsy DeVos, the Department of Education will replace an Obama-era guidance on campus sexual assault. In a speech, DeVos argued the move is “not about letting institutions off the hook,” but rather about balancing the rights of victims and the accused. The Obama guidance said universities were compelled to combat sexual harassment and violence under Title IX. (Politico / Washington Post)
4/ The United States is urging the U.N. Security Council to impose a North Korean oil embargo and ban exports of the country’s textiles. South Korea expects another North Korean ICBM launch on Saturday. (Reuters)
5/ In a meeting with Congressional leaders, Trump suggested the debt ceiling should be scrapped altogether. The suggestion came in the same meeting in which Trump struck a fiscal deal with Democrats for a short-term debt ceiling increase, angering Republicans. (Politico)
6/ Almost 400 EPA employees have left the agency in recent days, mostly due to buyouts. When combined with retirements in the same time window, the departures amount to a workforce reduction of about 2.5%. (Wall Street Journal)
poll/ About half of white evangelicals think Muslims and atheists want to “limit their freedom,” according to a wide-ranging Baylor University survey. Two-thirds of Americans with no religious affiliation said the same of conservative Christians. (Washington Post)
1/ Dozens of government lobbyists and contractors have memberships at Trump’s private golf clubs. At least 50 executives whose companies hold federal contracts and 21 lobbyists and trade group officials are members of the golf clubs Trump has visited most often as president – two-thirds have played the same day Trump was there. While legal, ethics experts questioned whether it’s appropriate for a sitting president to collect money from lobbyists trying to shape policy or win government business. (USA Today)
2/ Trump plans to “revisit” his DACA decision in six months if Congress can’t pass legislation on the issue. “Congress now has 6 months to legalize DACA (something the Obama Administration was unable to do). If they can’t, I will revisit this issue!” Trump tweeted. Administration officials tried to clarify Trump’s tweet, saying he would use the “tools at his disposal to put more pressure on Congress.” Trump said he has “no second thoughts” on DACA. (CNN / Politico / Washington Post)
Congress now has 6 months to legalize DACA (something the Obama Administration was unable to do). If they can't, I will revisit this issue!
3/ A White House talking points memo urged DACA recipients to prepare for a “departure from the United States.” The statement was contained in a memo sent by the White House to offices on Capitol Hill, providing talking points for supporters. “The Department of Homeland Security urges DACA recipients to use the time remaining on their work authorizations to prepare for and arrange their departure from the United States – including proactively seeking travel documentation – or to apply for other immigration benefits for which they may be eligible,” the memo says. (CNN)
4/ Fifteen states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit challenging Trump’s decision to end DACA. The multistate lawsuit argues their state economies will be hurt if residents lose their status and seeks to block Trump’s decision and maintain DACA. (Reuters)
5/ Trump sided with Democrats and agreed to increase the debt limit and fund the government until mid-December. The agreement came after the House approved nearly $8 billion in disaster aid for Hurricane Harvey victims. Democratic leaders offered to support the short-term package to fund the government, raise the debt ceiling, and provide relief for Harvey victims in order to maintain leverage on issues like government spending, health care, and DACA later this year. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico)
6/ Facebook found $100,000 in ad spending during the election tied to a Russian “troll farm” with a history of pushing pro-Kremlin propaganda. Facebook said 3,300 ads had digital footprints that led to a Russian company targeting voters. The Facebook team also discovered 470 suspicious and likely fraudulent Facebook accounts and pages that were operated out of Russia. (Washington Post)
7/ Trump Jr. will meet with the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday to discuss the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russia. It’s the first time someone from Trump’s inner circle will speak with the committee members about the campaign’s alleged attempts to engage with Kremlin surrogates. Committee members still hope to interview Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner about the meeting they held at Trump Tower with the Russian lawyer claiming to have damaging information about Hillary Clinton. Kushner and Manafort have already spoken to the Senate Intelligence Committee. (Washington Post)
8/ The House intelligence committee subpoenaed the FBI and Justice Department last month, seeking documents related to a dossier that alleged Russia collected compromising material on Trump. The pair of subpoenas were issued last month and are designed to “undermine” the claims about the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. “We’ve got to run this thing to ground,” said Republican Rep. Michael Conaway, who is heading the House Russia investigation. Rep. Adam Schiff said that he and other Democrats on the committee objected to the subpoenas. (CNN / Reuters)
9/ The Senate wants to force Trump to go on the record and condemn the white supremacist rallies in Charlottesville while “rejecting white nationalists, white supremacists, the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis and other hate groups.” The joint resolution means it will be sent to Trump to sign into law. (Politico)
10/ Putin: The North Korea situation could be “impossible” to resolve and may lead to a “global catastrophe” if its nuclear tests lead to anything other than talks. He added that sanctions and pressure won’t be enough to rein in North Korea. (CNN)
poll/ 55% of voters say they’re comfortable with the nation becoming more diverse and tolerant of different lifestyles, gender roles, languages, cultures and experiences. 24% say they’re uneasy with these changes, because they believe what makes the US special is the country’s uniquely American experience, speaking English and sharing a background that brings everyone together. (NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
1/ Trump rescinded DACA and called on Congress to replace the policy before it expires on March 5, 2018. The Department of Homeland Security will no longer accept new applications for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which has provided renewable, two-year work permits to nearly 800,000 dreamers. Jeff Sessions formally announced the shift of responsibility, saying DACA “was implemented unilaterally, to great controversy and legal concern.” He called the Obama-era policy an “open-ended circumvention of immigration laws” and an unconstitutional use of executive authority. “The executive branch through DACA deliberately sought to achieve what the legislative branch specifically refused to authorize on multiple occasions.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico)
Transcript: Jeff Sessions on Trump ending DACA program. (Politico)
2/ Obama called Trump’s decision to end DACA “cruel” and “self-defeating.” In a Facebook post, Obama added that “to target these young people is wrong – because they have done nothing wrong.” (CNN / Politico)
3/ The Department of Homeland Security will be able to use DACA recipients’ personal information to deport them. DACA recipients gave DHS information proving they are undocumented so they could get relief from the threat of deportation, including where they live, work, and go to school. DHS said it won’t proactively provide immigration officers with a list with the names and addresses of DACA recipients, but if ICE officers ask for it, the agency will provide it. (The Daily Beast)
4/ North Korea “is begging for war,” Nikki Haley told the Security Council. The US ambassador to the United Nations’ remark came a day after the North successfully tested a miniaturized hydrogen bomb capable of fitting on an intercontinental ballistic missile, and hours after South Korea said they might be preparing to launch another ICBM. Defense Secretary James Mattis warned of a “massive military response” and the “total annihilation” of North Korea if it threatens to attack the US and its allies. Trump accused South Korea of “appeasement” toward North Korea and warned that the US could halt trade with North Korea’s trade partners – an almost impossible threat given American dependence on Chinese imports. (New York Times / Politico / Bloomberg)
The United States is considering, in addition to other options, stopping all trade with any country doing business with North Korea.
Trump offered to sell Japan and South Korea more “sophisticated military equipment” after Pyongyang said it tested a miniaturized hydrogen bomb that could be placed on an intercontinental ballistic missile. (The Hill)
I am allowing Japan & South Korea to buy a substantially increased amount of highly sophisticated military equipment from the United States.
5/ The House and Senate intelligence committees are expected to conduct closed-door interviews with Michael Cohen, Paul Manafort and Trump Jr. in the coming weeks now that Congress has returned from the August recess. The two panels could possibly hold public hearings this fall. In addition, Trump Jr. is set to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The three committees are competing for information and witnesses with little coordination between them and Mueller’s investigation, leading to conflicts over how they can share information. (Politico / CNN)
6/ The Justice Department said that it has no evidence to support Trump’s claim that Obama wiretapped the phones in Trump Tower. The DOJ made the statement in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by the watchdog group American Oversight. “Both FBI and NSD confirm that they have no records related to wiretaps as described by the March 4, 2017 tweets,” the department’s motion reads. On March 4, Trump, citing no evidence, tweeted: “Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism! How low has President Obama gone to tap my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate.” (CNN / Politico)
7/ The EPA hasn’t visited 13 of the 41 Superfund sites in Texas that are “experiencing possible damage” because they had “not been accessible by response personnel.” The Associated Press, however, accessed 12 of the sites by vehicle or on foot, and used a boat to reach that last Houston-area Superfund site that was flooded. The EPA, citing Breitbart, labeled the Associated Press’ reporting as “misleading” but did not dispute any of the facts of the story. (Associated Press / New York Magazine)
8/ GOP leaders are expected to attach raising the debt ceiling to the Harvey relief package, because members are likely reluctant to vote against disaster relief. The House would pass the $7.85 billion disaster relief bill on Wednesday, and the Senate would then attach a debt ceiling increase and send it back to the House for approval by the end of the week. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that relief funding for Texas could be delayed if Congress doesn’t act quickly to increase the government’s debt limit. A number of Republicans have expressed reservations about combining the two bills. (Politico / NBC News / Reuters)
Trump joked that his hands were “too big” while putting on plastic gloves to serve food to victims of Hurricane Harvey in Houston. (The Hill)
9/ FEMA is expected to run out of money this week as Hurricane Irma approaches. The Disaster Relief Fund has just $1.01 billion on hand, less than half of the $2.14 billion that was there last Thursday morning – a spend rate of $9.3 million an hour. (Bloomberg)
10/ Trump’s pick to lead NASA doesn’t believe that humans are causing climate change. Representative Jim Bridenstine of Oklahoma would be the first elected official to hold the job and will need to be confirmed by the Senate. The two senators who represent Florida’s Space Coast have publicly objected to the choice of a politician as head of the space agency. (NPR/ New York Times)
Poll/ 58% of voters oppose deporting Dreamers and think they should be allowed to stay and become citizens if they meet certain requirements. (Politico)
1/ Robert Mueller has a draft of a letter outlining Trump’s reasons for wanting to fire James Comey. The letter was blocked by White House counsel, who believed its contents were problematic. A different letter was ultimately sent, written by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, focusing on Comey’s handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server. (New York Times)
2/ Senate Republicans accused Comey of trying to clear Clinton before the FBI had completed its investigation. Chuck Grassley, who chairs the Judiciary Committee, and Lindsey Graham, who chairs a subcommittee panel on crime and terrorism, say Comey drafted a statement exonerating Clinton’s use of a private email server. They base their timeline on heavily-redacted transcripts where an unidentified FBI aide says that Comey first wrote a draft of his July statement that the FBI was shuttering its investigation in May 2016. However, Comey was not involved in the day-to-day steps of the investigation and the FBI had already reviewed most of the evidence by the spring of 2016 where it was clear the investigation was unlikely to bring charges. “Wow, looks like James Comey exonerated Hillary Clinton long before the investigation was over,” Trump tweeted. “A rigged system!” (Washington Post / CNN / New York Times)
Wow, looks like James Comey exonerated Hillary Clinton long before the investigation was over...and so much more. A rigged system!
3/ Mueller has teamed up with the IRS’ Criminal Investigations unit, which focuses exclusively on financial crime, including tax evasion and money laundering. If Mueller wants to bring charges against Trump associates over tax violations, he will need approval from the Justice Department’s Tax Division. Trump hasn’t nominated anybody to run the division, yet. (The Daily Beast)
4/ Black smoke was seen pouring from the Russian consulate in San Francisco. Yesterday, the Trump administration ordered Russia to close the consulate after the Kremlin cut American diplomatic and technical staff in Russia. (Associated Press)
5/ Trump’s head of voter fraud is also a paid Breitbart News columnist. Kobach has published seven columns, most highlighting immigration and sanctuary cities, but also his own Commission on Election Integrity. “I get paid for my columns… just like you’re paid,” Kobach said. (The Hill / Kansas City Star)
6/ Adam Schiff is pushing to defund Trump’s commission on voter fraud, introducing an amendment to the upcoming government spending bill. The California Democrat accused the commission of “appearing to lay the groundwork for a push to place new restrictions on voting that disproportionately disadvantages minority voters.” (The Hill)
7/ Paul Ryan wants Trump to hold off on rescinding Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. “I actually don’t think he should do that,” Ryan said. “I believe that this is something that Congress has to fix.” Orrin Hatch added that rescinding DACA would be “an action that would further complicate a system in serious need of a permanent, legislative solution.” Hundreds of business leaders have signed an open letter encouraging Trump to preserve DACA, which allows undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children a two-year eligibility for work permits and deferred action from deportation. Trump will announce his decision on Tuesday. “We love dreamers; we love everybody…the dreamers are terrific,’’ Trump told reporters. (CNN / The Hill / ABC News / New York Times)
8/ Trump backed down from his threat to shut down the government over funding for his border wall. The White House notified Congress that the $1.6 billion needed to build 74 miles of border wall and fencing don’t need to be included in a short-term spending bill that must be passed by the end of September in order to fund the government into December. Trump, however, wants the funding included in the December budget bill. (Washington Post)
Customs and Border Protection awarded contracts to four companies to build wall prototypes. The four companies each proposed concrete walls. DHS expects to announce contracts for four non-concrete wall prototypes next week. (NBC News)
9/ Another Trump aide will leave the White House. Keith Schiller, director of Oval Office operation, has told people he intends to leave the White House at the end of September. Schiller’s departure comes just over a month after John Kelly became chief of staff and restricted access to Trump in an attempt to instill order inside the White House. (CNN)
10/ The ability for Senate Republicans to repeal Obamacare with 51 votes will end on September 30th when the budget reconciliation process expires, the Senate parliamentarian ruled. It takes 60 votes to overcome a Democratic filibuster, and Democrats are united against a full replacement of Obamacare. (Bloomberg / Vox)
1/ Robert Mueller and the New York attorney general have teamed up to investigate Paul Manafort and his financial transactions. Mueller and Eric Schneiderman have been sharing evidence on potential financial crimes, including potential money laundering, as well as attempting to get Manafort to cooperate by approaching his family members and former business partners. Several firms and people who have worked with him have received subpoenas. Mueller working with New York state is important because Trump’s pardon power does not extend to state crimes. If Manafort or anyone else is charged under New York law, there will be nothing Trump can do about it. (Politico / Washington Post)
2/ Manafort’s notes from the Trump Tower meeting mentioned “donations” near a reference to the Republican National Committee. Investigators want to know if the meeting included discussion of donations from Russians to either the Trump campaign or the Republican Party. It is illegal for foreigners to donate to American elections. (NBC News)
Manafort’s political-consulting work often involved Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, whose ventures have aligned with some of Putin’s foreign-policy objectives. Manafort worked with Deripaska for more than a decade on projects in Ukraine, Georgia, Montenegro, and other countries of political interest to Russia and its sphere of influence. Deripaska has offered to give testimony about alleged Russian meddling in the election to the House and Senate intelligence committees in exchange for immunity. (Wall Street Journal)
3/ Mueller’s grand jury heard testimony from the Russian-American lobbyist who attended the Trump Jr.-Russian lawyer meeting. Rinat Akhmetshin, a former Soviet military officer who served in a counterintelligence unit, testified before the jury for several hours on August 11th, signaling that Mueller is including the controversial Trump Tower meeting in his investigation. (Associated Press / The Hill / Financial Times)
4/ Trump’s lawyer “vehemently” denied working with Russia to disrupt the election. Michael Cohen gave Congress a point-by-point rebuttal of the 35-page dossier compiled by retired British spy Christopher Steele, which alleges he has deep ties to Russian officials. Cohen denied the dossier’s claims, including that he had secret meetings in Prague with a Russian official last summer. (New York Times)
5/ Trump’s outside legal team submitted memos to Mueller arguing that Trump didn’t obstruct justice when he fired James Comey and called into question Comey’s reliability as a potential witness. Trump’s attorneys hope the memos will end Mueller’s obstruction of justice investigation. (Wall Street Journal)
6/ The State Department ordered Russia to close its consulate in San Francisco and two annex buildings in Washington, D.C. and New York City. The move comes in response to the Kremlin’s decision to cut American diplomatic and technical staff in Russia by more than half, which itself was in response to Congress approving new sanctions against Russia. (Reuters)
7/ Trump is expected to rescind Obama’s Dreamer policy. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, protects nearly 600,000 immigrants who entered the country illegally as children. They will be allowed to stay until their work permits expire. (Reuters / McClatchy DC)
8/ Health and Human Services cut the Affordable Care Act marketing budget by 90%. They’ll spend $10 million promoting open enrollment, which starts in November. The Obama administration spent $100 million last year. (Axios)
9/ Trump’s treasury secretary won’t commit to putting Harriet Tubman on $20 bill. Last year, Obama and his treasury secretary proposed to replace Andrew Jackson’s image with Tubman, the famous abolitionist who helped free enslaved people. She would be the first woman on American paper money as well as the first African American. (Washington Post)
10/ Jim Mattis signed orders to send additional troops to Afghanistan. The defense secretary didn’t specify the size of the force, but Trump previously authorized him to send about 4,000 additional troops to Afghanistan. There are about 11,000 US troops serving in Afghanistan. (Reuters)
11/ The net neutrality comment period ended with nearly 22 million total replies. A telecom-backed study found that more than 90% of the comments were pre-written form letters. Of the unique comments, 98.5% oppose the plan to repeal the rules. The FCC has said it would consider the quality, not the quantity, of the comments in justifying its plans for net neutrality. (Recode / Ars Technica)
poll/ 61% of Americans have an unfavorable impression of Trump. 59% disapprove of the way Trump is handling his job as president. (NBC News)
poll/ 56% of voters feel Trump is “tearing the country apart,” compared to 33% who say he’s “drawing the country together.” (Fox News)
1/ Less than two weeks before Hurricane Harvey, Trump rescinded Obama’s coastal flood protections, which required federal, state, and local agencies to take steps to protect infrastructure from flooding caused by climate change. The Federal Flood Risk Management Standard aimed to “reduce the risk and cost of future flood disasters” and “help ensure federal projects last as long as intended.” (HuffPost)
2/ House Republicans want to cut almost $1 billion from FEMA’s disaster relief fund, which only has $2.3 billion remaining in its budget. Trump, meanwhile, is promising billions to help Texas rebuild from Harvey-caused flooding. The $876 million cut pays for roughly half the cost of Trump’s down payment on the border wall. (Associated Press)
3/ Contrary to reports, Mattis did not “freeze” the transgender ban. USA Today reported that the defense secretary would delay the implementation of Trump’s directive and “allow” transgender troops to continue serving in the military while the Pentagon studied the issue. Instead, Mattis is doing what Trump directed him to do in his memo, which ordered the secretary of defense and the secretary of homeland security, to “determine how to address transgender individuals currently serving in the United States military.” Mattis has until February 21st to submit a plan for implementing the new policy. (Salon / Vox)
4/ The Kremlin confirmed that Trump’s personal lawyer reached out during the 2016 presidential campaign requesting assistance on a stalled Trump Tower real estate project in Moscow. Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said they received Michael Cohen’s email, but the Kremlin didn’t reply. Peskov said that he had seen the email but that it was not given to Putin. (Associated Press / Washington Post)
5/ The Senate Intelligence Committee wants Michael Cohen to testify as part of its investigation into Russia’s meddling. Cohen has been in the spotlight this week following new revelations about his outreach to Russian officials for help with a proposal for a Trump Tower in Moscow. Trump Jr. and Paul Manafort are also likely to appear for closed-door interviews. Trump Jr. agreed to testify privately before the Senate judiciary committee in the “next few weeks.” (Politico)
6/ Trump called the Senate judiciary committee chairman to pledge policy support for the biofuel ethanol industry, a key issue for Chuck Grassley. The Iowa senator is investigating Trump Jr.’s meeting with the Russian lawyer. (The Guardian)
7/ Trump tweets that “talking is not the answer” when it comes to North Korea. “The U.S. has been talking to North Korea, and paying them extortion money, for 25 years,” Trump tweeted. “Talking is not the answer!” (CNN)
The U.S. has been talking to North Korea, and paying them extortion money, for 25 years. Talking is not the answer!
8/ Mattis contradicted Trump: We’re “never out of diplomatic solutions” on North Korea. Mattis echoed Rex Tillerson’s statement that the US would continue its “peaceful pressure” campaign on Pyongyang, saying “We continue to work together, and the minister and I share responsibility to provide for the protection of our nation our populations and our interests, which is what we are here to discuss today.” (The Hill)
9/ The White House will end an Obama-era policy aimed at addressing pay disparities. The data collection requirement would have required business owners to document how much they pay workers based on their gender, race, and ethnicity. Ivanka Trump, supporting the policy, issued a statement saying: “Ultimately, while I believe the intention was good and agree that pay transparency is important, the proposed policy would not yield the intended results.” (Wall Street Journal)
10/ A focus group of Pittsburgh-area voters called Trump “outrageous,” “dishonest,” “disappointing,” “narcissistic,” “an abject disappointment,” “unique,” “not ready to be president,” “off the scale,” “crazy,” “unbelievable,” and “contemptible.” Five of the group’s 12 members voted for Trump. (NBC News / Politico)
poll/ 20% of Americans under 30 approve of Trump. Obama’s lowest approval rating for people between ages 18-29 was 42%. (Axios)
poll/ 61% of voters oppose shutting down the government in order to fund Trump’s border wall. 28% support a government shutdown for that purpose. (The Hill)
1/ Robert Mueller is investigating whether Trump tried to conceal the purpose of Trump Jr.’s meeting with the Russian lawyer. Prosecutors want to know what Trump’s role was in crafting Trump Jr.’s response to reports about the meeting. The White House initially said Trump only “weighed in” on Trump Jr.’s statement about the Russia meeting. It was later reported that Trump personally dictated Trump Jr.’s statement about the meeting. (NBC News)
2/ Trump Jr. agreed to testify privately before the Senate Judiciary Committee in the “next few weeks.” The panel had invited him to attend a July hearing to testify in public, but he declined. It’s unclear if he will eventually testify publicly. (Politico / CNN)
3/ Michael Cohen said he didn’t inform Trump that he had sent the email to Putin’s top press official asking for “assistance” in arranging a licensing deal for a Trump Tower in Moscow. The Trump Organization attorney sent the email in January 2016 to Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin’s top press aide, at the recommendation of Felix Sater, a Russian-American businessman who was serving as a broker on the deal. Cohen said he never heard back from Peskov and the project never got off the ground. (Wall Street Journal / Politico)
4/ Mueller issued subpoenas for Paul Manafort’s current spokesman and his former lawyer seeking documents and testimony. The subpoenas are among dozens that the Mueller investigative team has sent out in recent months since taking over the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Manafort is under investigation for possible tax and financial crimes. (CNN)
5/ Trump warned North Korea that “all options are on the table” after it fired a missile over Japan. The recent ballistic missile test “has signaled its contempt” for the international community, Trump said in a statement. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley added that “something serious has to happen.” (Politico / CNN)
6/ Trump fired the organizer for his Phoenix speech because he was upset about the crowd size and TV coverage. After his speech, Trump had his top security aide inform longtime aide George Gigicos that he’d never manage a Trump rally again. Gigicos has organized all of Trump’s main campaign events and occasional rallies since entering office and is one of the four longest-serving aides to the president. Gigicos joins Sean Spicer, Reince Priebus, Stephen Bannon, Sebastian Gorka, and Anthony Scaramucci, who have all resigned or been fired. (Bloomberg)
7/ Trump praised the crowd size while touring Corpus Christi in the aftermath Tropical Storm Harvey. “What a crowd, what a turnout,” Trump said to several hundred people surrounding a fire station where he spoke from a ladder between fire trucks. (The Hill)
8/ Trump tweeted that he intentionally understaffed FEMA in order to shrink the federal government. His tweet came in response to a critical Fox and Friends segment where Laura Ingraham said the damage and flooding in Texas from Hurricane Harvey is proof that the Trump administration needs to be fully staffed. Of the 591 key positions that require Senate confirmation, just 117 have been filled. (Politico)
.@foxandfriends We are not looking to fill all of those positions. Don't need many of them - reduce size of government. @IngrahamAngle
poll/ 16% of Americans say they like the way Trump conducts himself as president. 58% say they do not like the way Trump conducts himself. (Pew Research Center)
1/ Trump’s company was pursuing a plan to develop a Trump Tower in Moscow while he was running for president. Discussions about the Moscow project began in September 2015 until it was abandoned just before the presidential primaries began in January 2016, emails show. The details of the deal had not previously been disclosed. The Trump Organization has turned over the emails to the House Intelligence Committee, pointing to the likelihood of additional contacts between Russia and Trump associates during the campaign. (Washington Post)
2/ Trump’s business associate promised that Putin would help Trump win the presidency if he built a Trump Tower in Moscow. “I will get Putin on this program and we will get Donald elected,” Felix Sater, a Russian immigrant, wrote to Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, in 2015. “Our boy can become president of the USA and we can engineer it,” Sater wrote in an email. “I will get all of Putins team to buy in on this, I will manage this process.” At the time, Sater was a broker for the Trump Organization and was paid to deliver real estate deals. (New York Times)
3/ Trump discussed a proposal to build a Trump Tower in Moscow with his company’s lawyer three times. The project was abandoned in January 2016 “from solely a business standpoint” and had nothing to do with Trump’s campaign his attorney Michael Cohen told the House intelligence committee. “I made the decision to terminate further work on the proposal,” Cohen said. “The Trump Tower Moscow proposal was not related in any way to Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign.” (Bloomberg)
4/ Trump’s attorney sent an email to Putin’s personal spokesman to ask for help advancing a stalled Trump Tower project in Moscow. Michael Cohen sent the email in January 2016 to Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin’s top press aide, at the recommendation of Felix Sater, a Russian-American businessman who was serving as a broker on the deal. “I respectfully request someone, preferably you, contact me so that I might discuss the specifics as well as arranging meetings with the appropriate individuals,” Cohen wrote. “I thank you in advance for your assistance and look forward to hearing from you soon.” The email marks the most direct documented interaction of a top Trump aide and a senior member of Putin’s government. (Washington Post)
5/ Four months into the presidential campaign, Trump signed a “letter of intent” to pursue building a Trump Tower in Moscow. The involvement of then-candidate Trump in a proposed Russian development deal contradicts his repeated claims that his business had “no relationship to Russia whatsoever.” The Trump Organization signed a non-binding letter of intent in October 2015. (ABC News)
6/ Trump declined to single out Russia as a “security threat,” saying he considers “many countries threats.” He added that it would be beneficial for the US to have a better relationship with Russia, in order to ensure “world peace.” (The Hill)
7/ Rex Tillerson said that Trump “speaks for himself” when asked about the president’s values and response to the violence in Charlottesville. “I don’t believe anyone doubts the American people’s values or the commitment of the government or the government’s agencies to advancing those values and defending those values,” Tillerson said on “Fox New Sunday,” adding that “the president speaks for himself.” (The Hill)
Trump’s frustration with Tillerson is rising fast. “Rex just doesn’t get it, he’s totally establishment in his thinking.” (Axios)
Tillerson could be replaced by U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley. The Deputy Secretary National Security Adviser Dina Powell could then be promoted to Haley’s job in New York. (Axios)
8/ Trump pardoned former Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was convicted of criminal contempt related to his refusal to stop imprisoning suspected illegal immigrants. Trump didn’t follow his predecessors’ practice of consulting the Justice Department before announcing his first pardon. Arpaio was an early Trump supporter who also helped fuel unfounded allegations that Obama was not born in the United States. In a tweet, Trump called Arpaio a “patriot” and said he “kept Arizona safe.” (CNN / ABC News / Washington Post)
I am pleased to inform you that I have just granted a full Pardon to 85 year old American patriot Sheriff Joe Arpaio. He kept Arizona safe!
9/ Months ago Trump asked both Jeff Sessions and the White House counsel if Arpaio’s case could be dropped altogether. Trump was advised that it would be inappropriate and the case and charges could not be dropped. (New York Times / Washington Post)
10/ Paul Ryan, John McCain, and Jeff Flake all criticized Trump for pardoning Arpaio. “The Speaker does not agree with this decision,” a Ryan spokesman said in a statement. “Law enforcement officials have a special responsibility to respect the rights of everyone in the United States. We should not allow anyone to believe that responsibility is diminished by this pardon.” John McCain added that the president’s “pardon of Joe Arpaio, who illegally profiled Latinos, undermines his claim for the respect of rule of law.” Jeff Flake tweeted that “I would have preferred that the President honor the judicial process and let it take its course.” And, Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton called the pardon a “slap in the face to the people of Maricopa County, especially the Latino community.” (CNN / Wall Street Journal)
.@POTUS's pardon of Joe Arpaio, who illegally profiled Latinos, undermines his claim for the respect of rule of law https://t.co/2FckGtwQ2m
Joe Arpaio illegally targeted and terrorized Latino families. Our community voted him out of power. Donald Trump can't change that. pic.twitter.com/WZXjmXd76G
11/ Trump announced Arpaio’s pardon as Hurricane Harvey made landfall because he “assumed the ratings would be far higher.” Trump told reporters at a press conference: “In the middle of a hurricane, even though it was a Friday evening, I assumed the ratings would be far higher than they would be normally. You know, the hurricane was just starting.” (The Hill)
12/ Sebastian Gorka left the White House and will return to Breitbart News, reuniting with Steve Bannon. One White House official said Gorka submitted his resignation to John Kelly, while a second White House official said “Gorka did not resign, but I can confirm he is no longer with the White House.” The White House issued an unattributed statement saying that Gorka no longer works in the administration, but didn’t say he resigned. (New York Times / CNN / Politico)
13/ Trump rescinded Obama’s restrictions on the transfer of surplus military-style equipment to local police departments. Obama’s 2015 order came in the wake of the Ferguson riots, where police used armored vehicles and military-type equipment to quell protests after the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown, who was unarmed when he was shot and killed by police. The Justice Department concluded that the use of military-style equipment made matters worse in Ferguson. (NBC News / Politico)
The militarization of our law enforcement is due to an unprecedented expansion of government power in this realm.
14/ North Korea launched three ballistic missiles and at least one of flew over Japan. It was the second time in four days that North Korea launched a missile. On Saturday, the North launched three short-range missiles. (Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / New York Times)
BREAKING: North Korea fires missile over Japan at 5:58 a.m. and Tokyo alerts northern prefectures
1/ Trump’s top economic adviser said the White House “must do better in consistently and unequivocally” condemning hate groups. Gary Cohn, a prominent Jewish member of Trump’s administration, drafted a letter of resignation after Trump defended the white nationalist protesters in Charlottesville. Cohn’s remarks were in contrast to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who said that “under no circumstances” was he planning to resign after Trump’s remarks that “both sides” were to blame for the violence. Mnuchin is also Jewish. (New York Times / CNN / Politico / Financial Times)
2/ CIA Director Mike Pompeo has required that the unit investigating possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign report directly to him. Pompeo, who spends more time at the White House than his predecessors, has repeatedly played down Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. Officials in the CIA counterintelligence unit say they have to “watch” Pompeo over fear he might report new information directly to Trump. The worry among some at the agency is “that if you were passing on something too dicey [to Pompeo] he would go to the White House with it.” (Washington Post)
3/ Robert Mueller is examining what role, if any, Michael Flynn may have played in an effort to obtain Hillary Clinton’s emails from Russian hackers. The effort to seek out the hackers was led by longtime Republican activist Peter W. Smith, who in correspondence and conversations with his colleagues portrayed Flynn as an ally and implied that other senior Trump campaign officials were coordinating with him. Smith also named Flynn’s consulting firm and his son in the correspondence and conversations. At the time Smith was trying to find the emails, Flynn was a senior adviser to the Trump campaign. (Wall Street Journal)
4/ The former British spy who put together the dossier of allegations about Trump during last year’s campaign has been ordered to give a deposition in the libel case brought against BuzzFeed News, who published the document. Christopher Steele authored the 35-page dossier while working for Fusion GPS and its founder Glenn Simpson. The document was crafted as opposition research for unknown political rivals of Trump. None of the claims have been corroborated. Steele will now be questioned under oath about his role in producing the dossier. (Fox News)
5/ The White House’s new sanctions against Venezuela explicitly exempt Citgo, which donated $500,000 to fund Trump’s inaugural ceremony. The country’s state-owned oil company has also paid $160,000 to lobby the White House, hiring Trump’s former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and campaign adviser Barry Bennett to lobby for the exemption. (The Daily Beast)
6/ The Republican National Committee condemned white supremacy but didn’t call it a rebuke of Trump’s remarks, saying “this has nothing to do with the president.” (Washington Post)
7/ Trump is considering ending DACA, the Obama-era policy that shields some illegal immigrants from deportation. Jeff Sessions strongly believes Trump should end DACA, which would affect at least 750,000 people. Trump’s aides have recently pushed him to protect young children brought to the US illegally, despite his campaign promise to deport so-called Dreamers. (Axios / ABC News / NBC News)
8/ A federal court ruled that parts of Texas’ state House maps are intentionally discriminatory and ordered them redrawn ahead of the 2018 elections. Last week, the court required that the state’s congressional maps had to be redrawn because they illegally discriminate against Hispanic and black voters. In both the congressional and state House rulings, Texas’ attorney general signaled that the state would appeal both rulings. (Dallas News / The Texas Tribune)
9/ John Kelly and the White House staff secretary will now review all documents that cross Trump’s desk. The new system is designed to ensure that Trump won’t see any external policy documents, internal policy memos, agency reports or news articles that haven’t been vetted. For months, people wandered into the Oval Office throughout the day giving Trump pieces of unvetted information. Policy decisions were often based on whoever had gotten Trump’s attention last. (Politico / New York Times)
1/ Trump’s now deputy chief of staff received an email in June 2016 from a person attempting to set up a meeting with Putin. The email occurred around the time that Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort met with the Russian lawyer at Trump Tower. At the time, Rick Dearborn served as Jeff Sessions’ chief of staff. Investigators want to know if Dearborn played a role in arranging the two meetings that occurred between the then-Russia ambassador to the US, Sergey Kislyak, and Sessions. (CNN)
2/ Kislyak downplayed his contact with the Trump campaign, calling allegations that he tried to recruit people within Trump’s orbit as spies “nonsense.” Kislyak is considered to be one of Russia’s top spies and spy-recruiters in Washington. He left the US for Russia last month after concluding his tour of service. (CNN)
3/ The private investigator behind the infamous Trump dossier spent almost 10 hours behind closed doors with the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday. Glenn Simpson, who cofounded the private research firm Fusion GPS, answered questions about the 35-page document. Fusion GPS hired a former British intelligence officer, Christopher Steele, to compile the dossier, which alleges that Trump had a long-running relationship with Russia and that the Kremlin holds compromising material on him.
Fusion GPS was initially hired by Republicans and later Democrats to explore then-candidate Trump’s past. Simpson did not reveal who paid for the research, but Fusion GPS said it remains “proud” of the work and “stands by it.”
Simpson is the first of three major players to speak with judiciary staff in the ongoing Russia probe. Trump Jr. and Paul Manafort both cut deals to speak with committee staff in private, but their dates have not been scheduled yet. (ABC News / NPR / CNN)
4/ The White House set guidance for implementing Trump’s ban on transgender people in the military. The policy will give Defense Secretary Jim Mattis authority to expel transgender people from the military. The memo also directs the Pentagon to stop recruiting transgender troops and to stop paying for sexual reassignment surgery and other medical treatments for those already serving. Mattis has six months to prepare to fully implement the ban. (Wall Street Journal / New York Times)
5/ White House staffer paid to spot and distribute positive stories from the mainstream media has left his position. Andy Hemming worked at the White House from 5:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. every weekday, sending reporters stories favorable to the administration. Sarah Huckabee Sanders told us that it was a “[m]utual decision that he could best help promote the president’s agenda on the outside.” (Politico)
6/ Seven members of Trump’s infrastructure council resigned this week, citing his Charlottesville response and other issues. The National Infrastructure Advisory Council is made up of appointees from the private sector, academia, and government to advise the president on security for critical infrastructure. (HuffPost)
7/ Trump blamed Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan for the debt ceiling “mess,” saying it could have been avoided had they listened to him. The two GOP leaders refused to package legislation raising the debt ceiling to a measure on veterans affairs, which Trump advised them to do. “They didn’t do it,” Trump tweeted, “so now we have a big deal with Dems holding them up (as usual) on Debt Ceiling approval. Could have been so easy-now a mess!” Congress needs to pass both a debt ceiling increase and a spending measure by the end of September. Both could pass the Republican-led House by a simple majority vote, but the Senate will need 60 votes to pass, requiring support from Democrats. (Reuters / Bloomberg)
I requested that Mitch M & Paul R tie the Debt Ceiling legislation into the popular V.A. Bill (which just passed) for easy approval. They...
8/ Trump is reportedly “serious” about shutting down the government if he doesn’t get funding for his border wall. Kellyanne Conway said Trump was “steadfastly committed” to building the wall, and that he expects the funding to do it. “Anybody who’s surprised by that has not been paying attention for over two years,” Conway said. “So he’s telling Congress he’s building the wall, he expects the funding, and it’s up to them to work collaboratively. We hope they do.” (NBC News)
9/ A web hosting company was ordered to turn over information about an anti-Trump website to the DOJ despite arguments that doing so would impinge on users’ First Amendment rights and stifle online political discourse. The DC judge ruled that DreamHost was obligated to turn over subscriber data as long as it was limited to individuals linked to the Inauguration Day riots and not people merely using the site. The DOJ originally requested that 1.3 million IP addresses from disruptj20.org be turned over. (The Hill / Bloomberg / Politico)
poll/ 71% agreed Trump’s behavior is not what they expected from a president. 68% believe his words and actions could get the US “accidentally” involved in an international conflict. (George Washington University Battleground Poll)
1/ Trump ranted, rambled, and went on a rampage during his campaign-style rally in Arizona last night. Ignoring the message on his Teleprompter, Trump threatened to shut down the government over border wall funding, blaming “obstructionist Democrats” for standing in his way. He called for ending the filibuster in the Senate, a move that Republican leaders have refused to embrace. Trump suggested that “we’ll probably end up terminating NAFTA” despite the renegotiation just getting underway. He also signaled that he would pardon former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was convicted of criminal contempt for ignoring a judge’s order to stop detaining people because he suspected them of being undocumented immigrants. And, he attacked John McCain for his vote against repealing and replacing Obamacare: “One vote away, I will not mention any names.” (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Politico)
On his Charlottesville comments: Trump defended his responses to the Charlottesville violence while omitting his reference to “many sides” or “both sides.” He added that “I hit ’em with neo-Nazi. I hit them with everything. I got the white supremacists, the neo-Nazi. I got them all in there. Let’s see. K.K.K., we have K.K.K..”
On removing Confederate monuments: “They’re trying to take away our culture. They’re trying to take away our history,” Trump said, blaming “weak, weak people” for allowing the removal of statues commemorating the Confederacy.
On pardoning former sheriff Joe Arpaio: “I won’t do it tonight because I don’t want to cause any controversy. I’ll make a prediction: I think he’s going to be just fine.”
On the news media: “It’s time to expose the crooked media deceptions. They’re very dishonest people. The only people giving a platform to these hate groups is the media itself and the fake news.”
2/ James Clapper called Trump’s speech “downright scary and disturbing.” The former national intelligence director questioned Trump’s fitness for office and is worried about his access to the nuclear codes. “I also am beginning to wonder about his motivation for it,” Clapper said. “Maybe he is looking for a way out.” (Washington Post / CNN)
James Clapper, former director of national intelligence, says he questions President Trump's fitness for office https://t.co/IRRXg7paZM
3/ The White House has prepared the paperwork for Trump to pardon former sheriff Joe Arpaio. One of the talking points is that Arpaio served his country for 50 years and that it is not appropriate to send him to prison for “enforcing the law” and “working to keep people safe.” Arpaio was found guilty of criminal contempt for disregarding a court order in a racial profiling case. (CNN)
4/ Trump followed up his threat to shut down the government if Congress didn’t fund his wall by going after Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona. Trump tweeted “I love the Great State of Arizona. Not a fan of Jeff Flake, weak on crime and border!” Flake is one of two Republican senators up for re-election next year and was among a handful of GOP lawmakers who did not endorse Trump for president. Flake has been skeptical of building a border wall between the US and Mexico. (Politico / New York Times)
Phoenix crowd last night was amazing - a packed house. I love the Great State of Arizona. Not a fan of Jeff Flake, weak on crime & border!
5/ The United Nations issued an “early warning” to the US over its “alarming” racism, urging the Trump administration to “unequivocally and unconditionally” reject discrimination. The only other countries to be issued an early warning were Burundi, Iraq, Ivory Coast, Kyrgyzstan and Nigeria. (The Guardian)
6/ There are 3,500 additional troops in Afghanistan than the Pentagon has publicly disclosed. The Pentagon has acknowledged that about 8,400 troops are in Afghanistan, but this doesn’t include the approximately 3,500 troops there on temporary assignment, which brings the total number of troops above 12,000. The Pentagon is expected to send up to another 3,900 troops under the new Afghanistan strategy, for a total of about 16,000 troops. (Wall Street Journal / NBC News)
7/ The Secret Service agreed to stop erasing White House visitor log data while a lawsuit demanding public access to some of the information goes forward. Records held by federal agencies like the Secret Service are subject to Freedom of Information Act requests. (Politico)
8/ The editor in chief of The Wall Street Journal criticized his staff over their coverage of Trump’s rally in Phoenix, describing their reporting as overly opinionated. The Wall Street Journal is owned by Rupert Murdoch, who speaks regularly with Trump and recently dined with the president at the White House. (New York Times)
poll/ 62% of voters say Trump is doing more to divide the country, while 31% say he is doing more to unite the country. (Quinnipiac)
1/ Mitch McConnell has privately expressed uncertainty that Trump can salvage his administration. The two have not spoken to each other in weeks and in offhand remarks, McConnell questioned whether Trump will be in a position to lead the Republican Party into next year’s elections and beyond. (New York Times)
2/ Trump put forward his strategy for resolving the nearly 16-year-old conflict in Afghanistan last night. He insisted he would “not talk about numbers of troops” needed or telegraph military moves, but hinted that he supports the Pentagon’s proposal to add nearly 4,000 troops to the roughly 8,400 Americans there now. Trump also said the US will shift away from a time-based approach to a results-based approach, declining to specify the benchmarks for success or a timetable for withdrawal. He added, however, that there would be no “blank check” for Afghanistan and that “a hasty withdrawal would create a vacuum for terrorists, including ISIS and Al Qaeda.” He described his plan as “principled realism.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press)
3/ Trump’s national security team spent months talking him out of abruptly ending the war in Afghanistan. “It wasn’t a debate,” said a senior White House aide. “It was an attempt to convince the president.” Trump’s acceptance was less a change of heart than a willingness to be persuaded as long as he could be seen as a strong and decisive leader, even if it broke with his “America First” campaign rhetoric. “We are not nation-building again,” Trump said in his speech. “We are killing terrorists.” National security adviser H.R. McMaster used black-and-white photos from 1972 of Afghan women in miniskirts in an effort to convince Trump that Western norms had existed there before and could return. (Politico / Washington Post / New York Times)
4/ Trump’s aides are pushing him to protect young children brought to the country illegally despite his campaign promise to deport so-called Dreamers. White House officials want to use the issue as a bargaining chip for a larger immigration deal that offers Dreamers protection in exchange for legislation that pays for a border wall and more detention facilities, curbs legal immigration and implements E-verify, an online system that allows businesses to check immigration status, and more. (McClatchy DC)
5/ The Treasury Department sanctioned China and Russia for assisting North Korea’s development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. Six individuals and 10 companies were added to the sanctions list in order to increase economic leverage on North Korea and reduce the flow of money to its weapons development. (Bloomberg / CNBC)
6/ Pro-Trump rallies in 36 states have been canceled. The America First Rallies were scheduled for September 9th, but “out of an abundance of caution” due “to the recent violence in America and in Europe” the rallies will be held as online demonstrations because “citizens cannot peacefully express their opinion without risk of physical harm from terror groups domestic and international.” (Newsweek)
7/ Paul Ryan said Trump “messed up” his response to Charlottesville when he failed to denounce white supremacy and defended them as “fine people.” Ryan said that by blaming “both sides” for last week’s violence, Trump “made comments that are much more morally ambiguous, much more confusing” than he should have. He stopped short of calling on Trump to apologize for his Charlottesville response. (Politico / New York Times)
8/ Pence: the US should be building more monuments, not tearing them down. “I’m someone who believes in more monuments, not less monuments,” Pence told Fox News. “What we ought to do is remember our history,” arguing that America’s monuments should tell the country’s full history. “We ought to be celebrating the men and women who have helped our nation move towards a more perfect union and tell the whole story of America.” (The Hill)
9/ Mitch McConnell said there was “zero chance” Congress fails to raise the debt ceiling by late September in order to prevent an unprecedented default. He offered no information about how he hoped to persuade lawmakers to back such a measure. House conservatives have demanded significant spending cuts in return for lifting the debt ceiling. In addition, McConnell will need support from Democrats to increase the debt ceiling, who have not said what kind of bill they would support. (Bloomberg / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
10/ German police seized 5,000 Trump-shaped ecstasy tablets, worth tens of thousands of euros. (CNN)
11/ An email prankster fooled top editors at Breitbart into believing he was Steve Bannon. The editors pledged to fake Bannon that they would do the “dirty work” against White House aides, including having Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump ousted “by end of year.” (CNN)
12/ The Senate intelligence committee wants Congress to declare WikiLeaks a “non-state hostile intelligence service,” which would force spy agencies to release information about Russian threats to the US and open Julian Assange and his pro-transparency organization to new surveillance. The bill passed the committee late last month on a 14-1 vote. (The Daily Beast)
13/ In 214 days, Trump has made 1057 false and misleading claims. Trump averages nearly five false claims a day and more than 30 of his misleading statements have been repeated three or more times. (Washington Post)
1/ The Secret Service has blown through its budget to pay agents because of Trump’s frequent travel and large family. More than 1,000 agents have hit the federally mandated caps for salary and overtime allowances that were meant to last the entire year. The Secret Service has enough to money to continue protecting Trump and his family through September. If Congress don’t lift the cap, about a third of the agency’s agents would be working overtime without being paid. (USA Today / Washington Post)
2/ Republican political committees have spent nearly $1.3 million at Trump-owned properties this year. Federal Election Commission records show the Republican National Committee paid the Trump International Hotel in Washington $122,000 last month and at least 25 congressional campaigns, state parties, and the Republican Governors Association have together spent more than $473,000 at Trump hotels or golf resorts this year. (Washington Post)
3/ The Trump administration disbanded the National Climate Assessment panel, a group aimed at translating scientific findings into concrete guidance for both public and private-sector officials. Its members have been writing the Climate Science Special Report, due for release in 2018, which estimated that human activities were responsible for an increase in global temperatures of 1.1 to 1.3 degrees Fahrenheit from 1951 to 2010. (Washington Post)
4/ The Trump administration cut funding for Obama’s Teen Pregnancy Prevention program after three years instead of the planned five. The Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement that the “very weak evidence of positive impact of these programs stands in stark contrast to the promised results, jeopardizing the youth who were served.” (Axios / Wired)
5/ Trump will address the nation tonight on a “path forward” in Afghanistan at 9PM ET. The speech will “provide an update on the path forward for America’s engagement in Afghanistan and South Asia.” Defense Secretary Jim Mattis received authority in June to send as many as 3,900 troops to Afghanistan. It will be Trump’s first prime-time broadcast on a specific policy issue. (NBC News / Washington Post / New York Times)
Important day spent at Camp David with our very talented Generals and military leaders. Many decisions made, including on Afghanistan.
6/ Paul Ryan will hold his first public town hall in nearly two years tonight. The town hall will air tonight at 9:30PM ET on CNN. Last month, Ryan said he would not hold public town halls due to concerns over potential protesters coming in from outside districts. (CNN / The Hill)
7/ Trump’s pick for USDA chief scientist has argued that homosexuality could lead to the legalization of pedophilia. Sam Clovis also said that homosexuality is a choice and the science on “LGBT behavior” is unsettled. Clovis is not an agricultural scientist and lacks the “specialized training or significant experience in agricultural research, education and economics” required by law for the position. (CNN / Politico)
8/ At least 15 charities have cancelled their planned fundraisers at Mar-a-Lago. Large nonprofits began walking away from Mar-a-Lago after Trump blamed “both sides” for the violence in Charlottesville and claimed there were “very fine people on both sides.” (New York Times / Washington Post)
9/ Trump thanked a fake Twitter user and then attacked the “dishonest Fake News Media.” The account was created in October 2015, but it first tweeted just 3 days ago, gathering over 6,000 followers with memes and posts exclusively celebrating Donald Trump. Trump thanked the bot for its tweet saying that “Every single day the #FakeNews media try to take you down.. You never falter, you always stand strong!” (Mashable)
10/ Mitch McConnell undercuts Trump that “most news is not fake.” McConnell told a group at the Louisville Chamber of Commerce that he reads a variety of sources that Trump has blasted, including the New York Times, and that “it is my view that most news is not fake.” (Politico)
11/ Robert Mueller is investigating the Russian lobbyist with deep ties to Moscow who attended the Trump Jr. meeting. It was previously reported that Rinat Akhmetshin attended the June 2016 meeting between Paul Manafort, Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and the Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya. However, Akhmetshin’s ties to the Russian government and Kremlin-backed oligarchs are much deeper than was previously known. Akhmetshin has been accused of being involved in various hacking schemes and nurturing a relationship with the former deputy head of Russia’s intelligence service, who was until last year a top aide to Putin. (New York Times)
poll/ Trump’s job approval rating is below 40% in three key states that won him the White House. Six-in-10 voters in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin also say Trump’s conduct as president has embarrassed them. (NBC News)
poll/ 28% approve of Trump’s response to Charlottesville. 42% believe Trump has been equating neo-Nazis and white supremacists to those who oppose them. (ABC News)
1/ Trump fired Steve Bannon. The White House issued a statement saying, “White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and Steve Bannon have mutually agreed today would be Steve’s last day. We are grateful for his service and wish him the best.” A person close to Bannon insists that it was his idea to part ways and that he submitted his resignation on August 7th, but it was delayed in the wake of Charlottesville. A White House official said Bannon and then-Chief of Staff Reince Priebus were supposed to be fired at same time, but the chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus urged Trump to keep Bannon on board. (New York Times / CNN / Politico / Washington Post)
2/ Bannon will return to Breitbart News as executive chairman and will be “going to war” for Trump, vowing to intensify the fight from the outside. “Steve is now unchained,” a source close to Bannon said. “Fully unchained.” Another added that “He’s going nuclear. You have no idea. This is gonna be really fucking bad.” Earlier this week Bannon met with billionaire Republican donor Bob Mercer for five hours to plot out their political and media strategy. (New York Times / Bloomberg / Politico)
3/ Robert Mueller is focusing on Trump Jr.’s intent when he met with the Russian lawyer as prosecutors investigate possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign. Trump Jr. has acknowledged that he was looking for negative information about Hillary Clinton, but he claimed he didn’t receive anything useful. Prosecutors are trying to determine what information was provided. (BuzzFeed News)
4/ Mitt Romney called on Trump to apologize for his Charlottesville comments. Romney warned of “an unraveling of our national fabric” if Trump doesn’t take “remedial action in the extreme.” He added that “whether he intended to or not, what he communicated caused racists to rejoice, minorities to weep, and the vast heart of America to mourn.” (Washington Post / New York Times)
5/ Billionaire investor Carl Icahn stepped down as a special adviser to Trump. Unlike other executives who quit Trump’s advisory councils in protest over his refusal to condemn white supremacists, Icahn quit because he didn’t want to be subject to questions of potential conflicts of interests over his role. (Financial Times / Bloomberg)
6/ The remaining members of Trump’s arts commission resigned in protest over his comments on the violence in Charlottesville. The presidential arts and humanities panel, whose members are from Broadway, Hollywood, and the broader arts and entertainment community, said in a letter to Trump that “Supremacy, discrimination, and vitriol are not American values. Your values are not American values. We must be better than this. We are better than this. If this is not clear to you, then we call on you to resign your office, too.” (Washington Post)
Members of the digital economy council have resigned in protest. The committee’s aim is to “provide recommendations on ways to advance economic growth and opportunity in the digital age.” It’s the third advisory council to see resignations this week following Trump’s remarks that there were “very fine people on both sides” of the Charlottesville violence. (Vice News)
7/ House Democrats have introduced a measure to censure Trump for his response to the violent white supremacist march in Charlottesville. At least 79 Democratic colleagues have signed on, including Nancy Pelosi, Jerry Nadler, Bonnie Watson, and Pramila Jayapal. A censure is a formal condemnation from Congress that’s rarely used, but is the preliminary step before introducing impeachment. (Politico / ABC News)
8/ Five charities are cancelling planned fundraising events at Mar-a-Lago. The American Red Cross, The Salvation Army, Susan G. Komen foundation, the Cleveland Clinic, American Cancer Society, and the American Friends of Magen David Adom all said they wouldn’t hold their 2018 galas at the resort. (CNN Money / Washington Post)
9/ James Murdoch pledged to donate $1 million to the Anti-Defamation League in a rebuke of Trump and his response to Charlottesville. James, the son of Rupert Murdoch, is the CEO of 21st Century Fox and an informal adviser to Trump. “Standing up to Nazis is essential,” the younger Murdoch said in a statement. “There are no good Nazis. Or Klansmen, or terrorists. Democrats, Republicans, and others must all agree on this, and it compromises nothing for them to do so.” (New York Times)
10/ Pence praised Trump as the modern reincarnation of Theodore Roosevelt. “Just as President Roosevelt exhorted his fellow Americans to ‘dare to be great,’” Pence said, “President Donald Trump has dared our nation to ‘make America great again,’ and we’ll do it with all of our friends in the world.” (Washington Post)
11/ Neil Gorsuch will speak at the Trump International Hotel in Washington next month, raising questions about his impartiality and ethics concerns. The speaking engagement is for the celebration of the 50th anniversary of The Fund for American Studies group and is scheduled just days before the Supreme Court’s next term begins. (CNN)
12/ Trump reorganized the military’s Cyber Command, putting it on the same level as other combatant commands. The move will help the US bolster its cyber weapons so it can match Russia’s capabilities in addition to giving it some operational independence. The head of Cyber Command will eventually report directly to the secretary of defense. (CNN / Axios / Vox)
1/ Trump is “sad” that “our beautiful statues and monuments” to the Confederacy are being taken down. He tweeted that we’re seeing the “history and culture of our great country being ripped apart.” (Associated Press / Washington Post / New York Times)
Sad to see the history and culture of our great country being ripped apart with the removal of our beautiful statues and monuments. You.....
Apple’s Tim Cook “disagrees” with Trump’s take on neo-Nazi violence in Charlottesville and will donate $1 million each to the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League. (Recode)
Unlike His Predecessors, Trump Steps Back From a Moral Judgment. Asked if he would put white supremacists and neo-Nazis on the same “moral plane” as their liberal and leftist resisters, Trump replied, “I’m not putting anybody on a moral plane.” (New York Times)
The rabbi who oversaw Ivanka Trump’s conversion to Judaism criticized her father’s response to Charlottesville in a letter to his congregation. (CNN)
2/ White House aides are wrestling with how to respond to Trump after he doubled down that “both sides” were to blame in Charlottesville. Gary Cohn, Trump’s top economic adviser, who is Jewish, was “disgusted” and “frantically unhappy” by Trump’s remarks that there were some “very fine people” at the white nationalist rally. John Kelly, the new chief of staff, has been trying to instill a sense of discipline in the West Wing, but is “frustrated and dismayed” by Trump’s self-inflicted controversies, from his North Korea rhetoric to publicly attacking Mitch McConnell. (Washington Post / Reuters / Politico)
“He is stubborn and doesn’t realize how bad this is getting,” a White House adviser said. Trump’s temper has been a constant force in the White House, making policy decisions after becoming irritated with staffers and escalating fights because he doesn’t like being told what to do. (Politico)
3/ Jeff Sessions criticized Chicago’s “sanctuary city” policy, saying the “respect for the rule of law has broken down.” He tied the violence in Chicago to its refusal to cooperate with federal immigration authorities, arguing that it’s made Chicago a haven for predators and drug dealers. (New York Times / Reuters / Politico)
4/ Steve Bannon gave an outrageous interview then said he didn’t know he was being interviewed in an attempt to divert attention from Charlottesville. Bannon called Robert Kuttner, the co-editor of The American Prospect, to say his rivals are “wetting themselves,” called white supremacists “clowns” and “losers,” and contradicted Trump on North Korea. (Washington Post / Axios / CNN)
5/ Trump’s personal lawyer forwarded an email warning that Black Lives Matter “has been totally infiltrated by terrorist groups” and that Robert E. Lee’s rebellion was the same as the American Revolution against England. John Dowd forwarded the email with the subject line “The Information that Validates President Trump on Charlottesville” to conservative journalists, government officials and friends. (New York Times / CNN)
6/ Trump spread a debunked rumor while responding to the Barcelona terror attack on Twitter less than an hour after issuing an initial, measured statement. “Study what General Pershing of the United States did to terrorists when caught,” Trump tweeted. “There was no more Radical Islamic Terror for 35 years!” The reference is to General John J. Pershing who allegedly dipped bullets in pigs’ blood to execute Islamic terrorists in the Philippines whose religion forbid contact with the animals. The Pershing legend has been debunked multiple times. (CNN Money / Washington Post / PolitiFact)
The United States condemns the terror attack in Barcelona, Spain, and will do whatever is necessary to help. Be tough & strong, we love you!
7/ Trump abandoned plans for an infrastructure council after his two other business advisory councils disbanded in protest over his remarks legitimizing white supremacists. The council would have advised Trump on his plan to spend as much as $1 trillion upgrading roads, bridges and other public works. (Bloomberg)
poll/ 67% of Republicans approve of Trump’s response to the Charlottesville violence. 82% of Democrats disapprove. (CBS News)
poll/ 40% of Americans support impeaching Trump and removing him from office. That’s compared to 30 percent who said the same in February. (NBC News)
poll/ More people worldwide trust Putin over Trump to handle foreign affairs. 22 of the 36 countries polled, including Germany, France and Japan, trust Putin more than Trump, while 13 countries, including Australia, Canada, and the UK trust Trump slightly more. The survey was conducted February 16th to May 8th, which is before Trump threatened to rain “fire and fury” on North Korea. (Pew / Bloomberg)
poll/ 53% of Americans – both Republicans and Democrats – say there is nothing Trump could do to change their mind about him. 72% of female Trump supporters say they will never change their support. (CNN)
1/ Trump’s staff is “stunned and disheartened” by his Charlottesville remarks. They say they “never expected to hear such a voluble articulation of opinions that the president had long expressed in private.” While Trump has repeatedly said he is not prejudiced, his statements against white nationalists and racist organizations have been equivocal: It started on Saturday with his comment placing blame “on many sides,” which was followed by a stronger denunciation of hate groups via email, attributed to an unnamed “spokesperson.” On Monday, Trump said that “racism is evil,” but by Tuesday, Trump had reassigned “blame on both sides” for the Charlottesville violence, singling out “alt-left” groups who were “very, very violent.” (New York Times)
Donald Trump Denounces Amazon More Strongly Than Neo-Nazis. (HuffPost)
Pence: “I stand with the president, and I stand by those words.” (Politico)
What Steve Bannon thinks about Charlottesville. (Axios)
Jewish Trump Staff Silent on His Defense of Rally With Anti-Semitic Marchers. (New York Times)
2/ Obama’s response to the Charlottesville violence is now the most liked tweet in Twitter’s history. The former president quoted Nelson Mandela, saying: “No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion … People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love … For love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” Trump, meanwhile, placed “blame on both sides. And I have no doubt about it.” (BBC / Washington Post)
"No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion..." pic.twitter.com/InZ58zkoAm
3/ Former Presidents H.W. and W. Bush denounce racism in wake of Charlottesville. “America must always reject racial bigotry, anti-Semitism, and hatred in all forms,” the statement said. (CNN)
4/ The White House is telling Republicans to say Trump’s comments on Charlottesville are “entirely correct.” The evening communications briefing encouraged members to echo Trump’s line that “both sides … acted inappropriately, and bear some responsibility.” The memo adds that the “media reacted with hysteria” and that “we should not overlook the facts just because the media finds them inconvenient.” (The Atlantic)
5/ Paul Ryan called white supremacy “repulsive” in a tweet hours after Trump doubled down on his claim that “many sides” are to blame for the violence in Charlottesville. “We must be clear,” Ryan tweeted. “White supremacy is repulsive. This bigotry is counter to all this country stands for. There can be no moral ambiguity.” (Talking Points Memo / The Hill)
We must be clear. White supremacy is repulsive. This bigotry is counter to all this country stands for. There can be no moral ambiguity.
6/ Mitch McConnell issued a statement condemning white nationalist groups ahead of a planned alt-right rally in his home state of Kentucky. The Senate majority leader said their ideologies “should not be welcome anywhere in America.” (CNN / Axios)
7/ The Navy, Marines, Army, Air Force, and the National Guard have all denounced racism via Twitter following the violence in Charlottesville. (Army Times)
Events in Charlottesville unacceptable & musnt be tolerated @USNavy forever stands against intolerance & hatred...https://t.co/tg0cETibaq
— (Archive) Gen. Dave Goldfein (@GenDaveGoldfein) August 16, 2017
8/ Baltimore removed its four Confederate monuments early this morning after the City Council voted unanimously to take them down following the violence in Charlottesville. (CNN / New York Times)
Lincoln Memorial vandalized with profanity in Washington, DC. (BBC)
Holocaust Memorial in Boston Is Vandalized for Second Time This Summer. (New York Times)
9/ Hope Hicks is taking over as Trump’s interim Communications Director and will work with White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders to find a permanent person for the job. Hicks was a spokeswoman for Trump during his presidential campaign and at the Trump Organization. (New York Times / NBC News)
10/ Trump’s business councils disbanded after multiple executives quit over his equating white nationalist hate groups with the protesters opposing them. The Strategic and Policy Forum called to inform Trump the group would disband. After the call, Trump tweeted that it was his decision to disband that council. “Rather than putting pressure on the businesspeople of the Manufacturing Council and Strategy and Policy Forum, I am ending both,” Trump tweeted. (ABC News / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
Rather than putting pressure on the businesspeople of the Manufacturing Council & Strategy & Policy Forum, I am ending both. Thank you all!
11/ One of Robert Mueller’s top FBI investigators has left the team. Peter Strzok oversaw the beginnings of the Russia probe last summer. About a month ago, Mueller brought Strzok in to help manage the investigation into Russian election meddling. (ABC News / CNN)
12/ A panel of federal judges ruled Texas voter maps illegally discriminate against Hispanic and black voters and can’t be used in the upcoming congressional midterm elections. The state has three days to say if and when the Texas Legislature will fix the congressional map. The court will redraw the districts maps itself if Texas decides not to fix them. (Bloomberg)
Former Trump campaign aides are starting a group to identify “disaffected” rural and working-class Americans who either do not vote or are not on the voter rolls, in order to register and mobilize them ahead of future elections. (New York Times)
13/ The Trump administration agreed to continue making health care subsidy payments after the CBO reported that cutting off the payments would increase federal spending and cause insurance premiums to rise sharply. (Los Angeles Times)
poll/ 52% of Americans think Trump’s response to the violence in Charlottesville was “not strong enough.” No shit. (NPR)
1/ Trump retweeted an alt-right conspiracy theorist, a train hitting CNN, and a critic calling him a fascist. Last night, Trump retweeted Jack Posobiec, an alt-right figure who pushed the Pizzagate and Seth Rich conspiracy theories. Then this morning, Trump retweeted an image of a person holding a CNN sign being hit by a train, with the commentary, “Nothing can stop the #TrumpTrain!!” The White House said the tweet was inadvertently posted and it was deleted. And, finally, Trump retweeted a critic who called Trump a “fascist” for “seriously considering” pardoning former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was found guilty of ignoring a judge’s order to stop racially profiling Latinos during patrols. (USA Today / CNN / Washington Post)
Trump finally calls out racism in Charlottesville.
Trump says he’s seriously considering pardoning former Sheriff Joe Arpaio, a vocal Trump supporter during the 2016 presidential campaign. Earlier this month Arpaio was found guilty of criminal contempt for ignoring a court order to stop detaining suspected illegal immigrants. He faces up to six months in prison. (ABC News)
2/ Trump, again, blamed both sides for the Charlottesville violence, asking why the “alt-left” is not being blamed because, he says, they were “very, very violent” when they confronted white nationalist and Nazi groups. He asked if George Washington statues were going to come down next. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / Bloomberg)
Trump asks about "alt-left": "You had a group on one side that was bad, and you had a group on the other side that was also very violent" pic.twitter.com/9BpzwLqVVm
3/ Four CEOs have now resigned from Trump’s advisory council over his slow denouncement of white supremacists. The chief executives of Merck, Under Armour, Intel, Alliance for American Manufacturing have all quit the manufacturing council. Trump, meanwhile, tweeted that “For every CEO that drops out of the Manufacturing Council, I have many to take their place. Grandstanders should not have gone on. JOBS!” Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, left the council earlier this year after Trump announced the US would withdraw from the Paris climate agreement. (CNN Money / Recode / Reuters / The Hill)
For every CEO that drops out of the Manufacturing Council, I have many to take their place. Grandstanders should not have gone on. JOBS!
4/ Trump won’t visit Charlottesville, because “why the hell would we do that?” The White House official suggested that the administration sees no upside and whatever Trump might do in Charlottesville would be “used against” him by the media. (The Daily Beast)
5/ Trump went off script, ad-libbing his “many sides” remark in response to Charlottesville violence. “Those were his own words,” a senior White House official said. His “on many sides” comment “were not” in his prepared remarks. (ABC News)
6/ The leaders of four minority House caucus groups sent a letter to Trump asking him to fire Steve Bannon, Stephen Miller, and Sebastian Gorka. “Americans deserve to know that white nationalists, white supremacists, and neo-Nazis are not in a position to influence U.S. policy,” the heads of the black, Hispanic, Asian and progressive caucuses wrote, suggesting that their continued presence in the White House is emboldening a resurgence of white supremacy. (Associated Press)
7/ North Korea won’t fire missiles at Guam after all. State media said Kim Jong-un reviewed plans to fire missiles towards Guam but decided to hold off. He warned he could change his mind “if the Yankees persist in their extremely dangerous reckless actions.” (NPR / BBC / Wall Street Journal)
8/ The Justice Department has demanded that 1.3 million IP addresses from a Trump resistance site be turned over. The web hosting company, DreamHost, is fighting the search warrant, saying that the request for visitor logs, contact information, emails, and photos could be used to identify people who are exercising their Constitutional right of free speech to protest. Prosecutors obtained a search warrant for the records in July and are now asking a federal judge to force the company to turn over the information. (The Hill / Business Insider / CNN / DreamHost)
9/ Trump’s threat to end Obamacare insurance subsidies would send premiums up 20% next year and increase the federal budget deficits by $194 billion in the coming decade, the Congressional Budget Office said. Trump has said he would “Let Obamacare implode” in order to force Democrats to negotiate on a replacement plan. (New York Times / Vox)
1/ The White House issued a statement criticizing white supremacists for the violence that led to one death in Charlottesville more than 36 hours after the protests began. It was meant to clarify Trump’s earlier remarks and condemn “all forms of violence, bigotry and hatred” and “of course that includes white supremacists, KKK, Neo-Nazi and all extremist groups.” The statement came in an email sent to reporters and attributed to an unnamed representative. Trump had previously said: “We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides.” (New York Times / CNN)
Trump Is Criticized for Not Calling Out White Supremacists. He was the only national political figure to spread blame for the “hatred, bigotry and violence” that resulted in the death of one person to “many sides.” (New York Times)
2/ The White House’s clarification stopped short of what Republicans have urged Trump to do: directly call out and condemn white supremacy. Three of Trump’s top advisers attempted to defend his vague statements: Ivanka Trump tweeted: “There should be no place in society for racism, white supremacy and neo-nazis.” National security adviser H.R. McMaster said Trump was “very clear” in his statement and “called out anyone, anyone who is responsible for fomenting this kind of bigotry, hatred, racism and violence.” And, CIA Director Mike Pompeo said Trump was “specific,” “very clear” and, “frankly, pretty unambiguous” in responding to the violence, adding “when someone marches with a Nazi flag, that’s unacceptable, and I think that’s what the president said yesterday.” (Washington Post)
1:2 There should be no place in society for racism, white supremacy and neo-nazis.
Pence spoke out more forcefully than Trump on Charlottesville, saying: “We have no tolerance for hate and violence from white supremacists, neo Nazis or the KKK. These dangerous fringe groups have no place in American public life and in the American debate, and we condemn them in the strongest possible terms.” (Washington Post)
Even Anthony Scaramucci criticized Trump’s unwillingness to single out white supremacy groups. “I wouldn’t have recommended that statement,” the former White House communications director said. “I think he needed to be much harsher as it related to the white supremacists and the nature of that.” (Washington Post)
3/ Contrasting Trump’s reluctance to criticize white supremacists, Jeff Sessions said the “evil attack” in Charlottesville is an act of domestic terrorism. “You can be sure we will charge and advance the investigation toward the most serious charges that can be brought because this is unequivocally an unacceptable evil attack.” McMaster added: “Certainly I think we can confidently call it a form of terrorism.” (New York Times / NBC News)
4/ An African-American CEO quit Trump’s advisory council after Trump failed to condemn white supremacists. Kenneth Frazier, Merck’s CEO, is one of just a handful of black CEOs to run a Fortune 500 company. Frazier said: “America’s leaders must honor our fundamental values by clearly rejecting expressions of hatred, bigotry and group supremacy.” Within minutes, Trump attacked him on Twitter, saying Frazier’s resignation will give him “more time to LOWER RIPOFF DRUG PRICES!” (CNN Money / New York Times / The Hill)
Now that Ken Frazier of Merck Pharma has resigned from President's Manufacturing Council,he will have more time to LOWER RIPOFF DRUG PRICES!
5/ Trump finally denounced white supremacists 48 hours after initially blaming the Charlottesville violence on “many sides,” which prompted nearly universal criticism. “Racism is evil,” Trump said. “And those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans.” (New York Times / Politico)
6/ In May, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security warned Trump about the white supremacist movement and that it “likely will continue to pose a threat of lethal violence over the next year.” The report, titled “White Supremacist Extremism Poses Persistent Threat of Lethal Violence,” showed that white supremacist groups had already carried out more attacks than any other domestic extremist group over the past 16 years. (Foreign Policy)
7/ Special Counsel Bob Mueller wants to interview Reince Priebus. Mueller has been talking with the West Wing about interviewing other current and former senior administration officials about specific meetings, who attended them and whether there are any notes, transcripts or documents about them. Mueller also wants to ask the officials about Trump’s decision to fire James Comey. (New York Times)
8/ A junior Trump campaign adviser repeatedly tried to setup a meeting with Putin. Starting in March 2016, George Papadopoulos sent at least a half-dozen emails to Trump campaign leadership to set up “a meeting between us and the Russian leadership to discuss US-Russia ties under President Trump.” He said that his Russian contacts welcomed the opportunity and that he was receiving “a lot of calls over the past month” about arranging a meeting. “Putin wants to host the Trump team when the time is right,” he wrote. Intelligence officials said the messages may have represented a Russian campaign to use lower-level aides to penetrate the 2016 campaign and see if the Trump campaign would be willing to cooperate. (Washington Post)
9/ North Korea’s successful ICBM tests have been linked to a Ukrainian factory with ties to Russia’s Cold War missile program. The engine design on North Korea’s latest missiles match those that once powered the Soviet Union’s missile fleet and are based on a technology too complex for North Korea to have switched to so quickly themselves, a classified report by American intelligence agencies says. The report suggests that North Korea purchased black market rocket engines that were probably from the Ukrainian factory. (New York Times)
10/ Trump believes Steve Bannon is behind the White House leaks targeting McMaster and has considered firing him. West Wing colleagues say Bannon has instigated leaks to members of the far right, like Mike Cernovich, accusing McMaster of having a drinking problem (Trump is teetotaler) and getting the right-wing Zionist Organization of America to accuse McMaster of being anti-Israel. Rupert Murdoch has repeatedly urged Trump to fire Bannon and Scaramucci has said Trump’s “toleration of [white nationalism] by Steve Bannon is inexcusable.” McMaster has refused to say he could work with Bannon. (New York Times / Axios / ABC / CNN)
WATCH: Can National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster and Steve Bannon work together? McMaster won't say. #MTPpic.twitter.com/4iWhCHBBfC
Sheldon Adelson comes out in support of H.R. McMaster, disavowing a campaign against McMaster by a group Adelson funds, the Zionist Organization of America. (Axios)
A former Trump political adviser warned of consequences for McMaster and Matt Drudge if Steve Bannon is fired. Sam Nunberg said that “if Steve is fired by the White House and a bunch of generals take over the White House there will be hell to pay.” Nunberg is mad that the Drudge Report continues to link to negative stories about Bannon, saying “Matt should understand that people like me can blow him the fook up. F-o-o-k, Conor McGregor. Blow him the fook up [sic].” He added that there will be “serious fucking consequences if he continues this jihad against Steve Bannon” and that he would “blow” McMaster “the fook out [sic],” too. (The Daily Caller)
poll/ Trump’s job approval rating ticked down to 34% – the lowest of his presidency so far. (Gallup)
1/ Congressional investigators want to question Trump’s personal secretary as part of their ongoing probe into the meeting between Trump Jr. and the Russian lawyer. Rhona Graff worked at Trump Tower for nearly 30 years. Graff’s name was mentioned in the June 2016 email exchange between publicist Rob Goldstone and Trump Jr. leading up to the meeting with Russian attorney Natalia Veselnitskaya at Trump Tower. “Since her name is in the email, people will want her to answer questions,” said Peter King, a member of the House Intelligence Committee. (ABC News)
2/ Paul Manafort is switching attorneys as the federal investigation picks up steam into his financial transactions. Manafort’s case will now be handled by Miller and Chevalier, a firm in Washington that specializes in complicated financial crimes among other issues. (Politico)
3/ Trump was surprised by the FBI’s raid on Manafort’s home last month, calling the action “pretty tough stuff.” Manafort is “a very decent man,” Trump said, adding that “I thought [the raid] was a very, very strong signal, or whatever.” (Washington Post)
4/ Trump said he has no plans to fire Robert Mueller, despite people close to him telling reporters the opposite. “I haven’t given it any thought,” Trump said. “I’ve been reading about it from you people. You say, ‘Oh, I’m going to dismiss him.’ No, I’m not dismissing anybody.” (CNN)
5/ Trump to North Korea via Twitter: Our military is “locked and loaded, should North Korea act unwisely.” It was the third warning of military action against North Korea issued by Trump this week. (New York Times)
Military solutions are now fully in place,locked and loaded,should North Korea act unwisely. Hopefully Kim Jong Un will find another path!
China warns North Korea: You’re on your own if you go after the US. (Washington Post)
6/ Despite the rhetoric, the Trump administration has been engaged in back channel diplomacy with North Korea for several months. Officials call it the “New York channel,” which has been used on-and-off for years by past administrations. Shortly after the inauguration, the Trump administration reinitiated talks, which had gone silent over the last seven months of Obama’s presidency after Pyongyang broke them off in anger over US sanctions imposed on Kim Jong Un. (Associated Press)
7/ The Freedom Caucus is trying to force a vote on an outright repeal of Obamacare – a mirror of the 2015 repeal proposal that Obama vetoed. They’re seeking a “discharge petition,” which would enable them to bypass House leaders to put the bill up for a vote. To do so, they’ll need signatures from at least half the House – 218 members – to bring the bill to the floor, which is unlikely to succeed. (Politico)
poll/ 52% of Americans have a favorable view of Obamacare – the highest ever. 39% have an unfavorable view of the ACA. 60% of Americans say it’s a “good thing” the Senate didn’t pass the repeal and replace bill. (Kaiser Health Tracking)
poll/ 82% of Americans fear nuclear war with North Korea. 54% of Democrats and Republicans felt that war between the US and North Korea is somewhat close. (Axios)
1/ Federal investigators have sought the cooperation of Paul Manafort’s son-in-law in an effort to gain leverage over Trump’s former campaign chairman and turn him into a cooperating witness. Jeffrey Yohai, who hasn’t been accused of wrongdoing, is a business partner of Manafort’s. It’s unclear if investigators have secured Yohai’s cooperation. Manafort is a focus in the investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential campaign. He and Yohai are also under investigation for some of their business and real estate transactions. (Politico)
2/ Special counsel Robert Mueller subpoenaed Manafort’s bank records. The subpoenas were sent in recent weeks from a Washington grand jury to global banks for account information and transaction records involving Manafort and some of his companies. It’s unclear when it happened, but Manafort is responsible for alerting authorities to the meeting involving Trump Jr. and a Russian lawyer who promised damaging information on Hillary Clinton. (Bloomberg)
3/ Trump’s lawyer called the FBI raid on Manafort’s home a “gross abuse of the judicial process” for the sake of “shock value.” John Dowd also questioned the validity of the search warrant, calling it an “extraordinary invasion of privacy.” (Fox News)
4/ Trump doubled down on his threats to unleash “fire and fury” on North Korea, suggesting that “maybe it wasn’t tough enough.” Trump escalated his rhetoric, saying “things will happen to them like they never thought possible” should North Korea attack the US or its allies. He added that he’s “backed by 100 percent by our military, we’re backed by everybody and we’re backed by many other leaders.” (USA Today / ABC News / Washington Post)
5/ The White House has failed to coordinate with a coalition of Latino organizations to develop Affordable Care Act outreach campaigns ahead of the open enrollment period, which begins on November 1st. Since 2013, the Department of Health and Human Services and the White House have helped develop education campaigns aimed at helping millions of Latinos sign up for health insurance. Trump has repeatedly announced his intention to “let Obamacare implode.” (Talking Points Memo)
6/ A nonpartisan study found that Trump’s own actions have triggered health care premium increases. Trump’s mixed signals have created uncertainty “far outside the norm,” which is leading to double-digit premium increases on individual health insurance policies purchased by many consumers. 15 of the 20 major metropolitan areas will see increases of 10% or more next year. (Associated Press)
7/ Key posts across the executive branch are still empty, because the Trump administration has yet to nominate anyone – including several pivotal to relations with North Korea. (CNN)
8/ Trump tweeted that Mitch McConnell should “get back to work” and “put Repeal and Replace, Tax Reform and Cuts and a great Infrastructure Bill on my desk for signing. You can do it!” It’s Trump’s third tweet in two days calling out the Senate majority leader. Later in the day, Trump suggested that if McConnell doesn’t get health care reform, taxes, and an infrastructure bill passed, he should step down as majority leader. (CNN / ABC News / Axios)
Senator Mitch McConnell said I had "excessive expectations," but I don't think so. After 7 years of hearing Repeal & Replace, why not done?
9/ Scott Pruitt cast doubt on the idea that climate change poses a threat to the US, despite a recent report concluding that Americans are already feeling the effects of climate change. The EPA chief called for “red team/blue team” to try and challenge what he says is “so-called settled science” on climate change. Pruitt is skeptical of the scientific consensus that human activity is far and away the primary cause of climate change. NOAA and the American Meteorological Society published their annual “State of the Climate” report today, which concludes that 2016 was the third consecutive warmest year on record in 137 years of record keeping, with the highest levels of greenhouse gas concentrations, sea level, and sea surface temperature. (The Hill)
poll/ 70% of Americans believe Trump’s finances are fair game in the federal investigation into Russia’s efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election. (CNN)
poll/ Nearly half of Republicans say they would support postponing the 2020 presidential election if Trump proposed it in order to fix what they believe to be large-scale voter fraud. Claims that 3 to 5 million “illegals” voted in the election are not true, but that hasn’t stopped a substantial number of Republicans from believing the rumors. (Washington Post)
1/ The Pentagon has prepared a plan for a preemptive strike on North Korea’s missile sites should Trump order an attack. The plan calls for B-1B heavy bombers originating from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam to attack approximately two-dozen North Korean missile-launch sites, testing grounds, and support facilities. The B-1 bomber plan is one of several options under consideration. (NBC News)
2/ James Mattis warned North Korea that its actions will cause the “end of its regime” and the “destruction of its people.” Despite the defense secretary’s stern ultimatum, Mattis has consistently said that he prefers to resolve issues over North Korea’s missile and nuclear programs through diplomacy. (ABC News / CNN)
3/ Trump turned to Twitter this morning to continue his attacks on North Korea and assert that the US nuclear arsenal is “far stronger and more powerful than ever before. Hopefully we will never have to use this power, but there will never be a time that we are not the most powerful nation in the world!” (Washington Post)
My first order as President was to renovate and modernize our nuclear arsenal. It is now far stronger and more powerful than ever before....
President Trump: If North Korea makes any more threats to the U.S., "they will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen" pic.twitter.com/8dQed79L1W
4/ North Korea’s military dismissed Trump’s warning as a “load of nonsense,” warning that “only absolute force can work on [Trump].” A North Korean general said they’ll have a plan by mid-August to fire four mid-range missiles into the waters 18 to 25 miles from Guam. He called it a “historic enveloping fire at Guam.” (Associated Press)
5/ Rex Tillerson urged Americans to remain calm despite Trump and North Korea’s continued exchange of threats. He said Americans should have “no concerns,” adding that “Americans should sleep well at night,” because “nothing that I have seen and nothing that I know of would indicate that the situation has dramatically changed in the last 24 hours.” (Associated Press)
6/ Lawmakers in both parties criticized Trump’s warning to North Korea that it would “face fire and fury like the world has never seen” if Pyongyang keeps threatening the US. Democrats called Trump’s a reaction overly “bombastic” and “unhinged,” with the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee saying that Trump has undermined US credibility “by drawing an absurd red line.” John McCain said, “The great leaders I’ve seen don’t threaten unless they’re ready to act and I’m not sure President Trump is ready to act.” (CNN)
7/ Trump’s ominous warning to Pyongyang yesterday was entirely improvised. In discussions with advisers beforehand, Trump had not run the language by them, which has now escalated the confrontation with North Korea to a new level. (New York Times)
8/ One of Trump’s evangelical advisers says “God has given Trump authority to take out Kim Jong Un.” Robert Jeffress, a pastor at a Texas megachurch, released a statement saying that “When it comes to how we should deal with evil doers, the Bible, in the book of Romans, is very clear: God has endowed rulers full power to use whatever means necessary — including war — to stop evil.” (Dallas News / Washington Post)
9/ Trump pushed back on Mitch McConnell’s “excessive expectations” line about the legislative progress and his agenda, tweeting that “After 7 years of hearing Repeal and Replace, why not done?” in reference to Republicans’ promise to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. The White House director of social media, Dan Scavino, added his own take: “More excuses. @SenateMajLdr must have needed another 4 years - in addition to the 7 years – to repeal and replace Obamacare.” (Vox / CNN)
Senator Mitch McConnell said I had "excessive expectations," but I don't think so. After 7 years of hearing Repeal & Replace, why not done?
More excuses. @SenateMajLdr must have needed another 4 years - in addition to the 7 years -- to repeal and replace Obamacare..... https://t.co/6FOVBm6BQU
10/ FBI agents raided the Virginia home of Paul Manafort last month, using a search warrant to seize tax documents and foreign banking records. The predawn raid at the home of Trump’s former campaign chairman came on July 26, one day after he voluntarily met with the Senate Intelligence Committee. In that meeting, Manafort provided investigators with notes from the 2016 meeting with the Russian lawyer claiming to have damaging information on Hillary Clinton. Hours after the raid, Trump attacked Jeff Sessions for not firing Andrew McCabe, the acting FBI director. (Washington Post / New York Times)
11/ The Trump campaign has started to turn over thousands of documents to the Senate Judiciary Committee as part of the panel’s investigation into Russian election meddling. The Trump campaign has turned over 20,000 pages of documents, while Manafort has provided about 400 pages, and Trump Jr. about 250 pages. (Bloomberg)
12/ An unarmed Russian Air Force jet flew over the Pentagon, Capitol, and CIA as part of a longstanding treaty that allows the militaries of the United States and Russia to observe the other from the air. The flight is the 10th this year, which requires that the Russians give at least 72 hours notice and that the mission has American personnel on board as observers. (Politico / CNN)
poll/ 81% of self-identified Trump voters approve of the job he’s doing. However, just 18% of all registered voters “strongly approve” of his job performance. 64% of voters say the country is going in the wrong direction. (Politico)
1/ Scientists fear the Trump administration could suppress a report that concludes climate change is real and Americans are already feeling its effects. The findings contradict Trump and members of his cabinet who claim that the human contribution to climate change is uncertain. The report finds it “extremely likely” that more than half of the global mean temperature increase since 1951 can be linked to humans. (New York Times)
Notes:
The EPA is one of 13 agencies that must approve the report by August 18th, which is headed by Scott Pruitt, who has said he does not believe that carbon dioxide is a primary contributor to global warming.
If humans immediately stopped emitting greenhouse gases, the world would still feel at least an additional 0.50 degrees Fahrenheit of warming over this century compared with today.
Read the Draft of the Climate Change Report. The draft report by scientists from 13 federal agencies concludes that Americans are feeling the effects of climate change right now. (New York Times)
2/ The USDA is censoring the use of “climate change” and advising staff to use the phrase “weather extremes” instead. A series of emails from February between staff at a USDA unit that oversees farmers’ land conservation shows the incoming Trump administration’s impact on language by federal employees around climate change. Instead of “climate change adaption,” staff were told to use “resilience to weather extremes.” Instead of “reduce greenhouse gases,” use “build soil organic matter, increase nutrient use efficiency.” (The Guardian)
How Americans think about climate change in six maps. Americans overwhelmingly believe that global warming is happening, and that carbon emissions should be scaled back. But fewer are sure that the changes will harm them personally. (New York Times)
3/ North Korea has successfully produced a miniaturized nuclear warhead that can fit inside its missiles. Pyongyang has outpaced expectations in its effort to build an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of striking cities on the American mainland. (Washington Post)
4/ Trump threatened to unleash “fire and fury” against North Korea if it continues to provoke the US. Trump’s comments came hours after North Korea criticized the US and its allies for the latest round of UN sanctions, warning that it will mobilize all its resources to take “physical action” in retaliation. “North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States,” Trump told reporters from his golf club in Bedminster, N.J. “They will be met with fire and fury and frankly power the likes of which this world has never seen before.” (New York Times)
5/ North Korea said it is “carefully examining” a plan to strike Guam with missiles, hours after Trump told the North that any threat to the US would be met with “fire and fury.” North Korea also said it could carry out a pre-emptive operation if the US showed signs of provocation. (Reuters)
6/ US spy satellites detect North Korea loading two anti-ship cruise missiles onto a patrol boat. It’s the first time these missiles have been deployed on this type of platform since 2014. (Fox News)
7/ Trump retweeted a Fox News story containing classified information a few hours before US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley appeared on Fox. Haley indicated that the report of North Korea loading anti-ship cruise missiles onto a patrol boat were classified and leaked. “I can’t talk about anything that’s classified and if that’s in the newspaper that’s a shame,” Haley said. (CNN)
8/ Trump has sent private messages of “appreciation and greetings” to special counsel Robert Mueller. “The president has sent messages back and forth,’’ Trump’s chief counsel John Dowd said, declining to elaborate further. Trump has publicly called the investigation into Russia’s election meddling a “witch hunt” and a hoax. (USA Today)
9/ Trump is considering a plan to privatize the war in Afghanistan. The unprecedented proposal would rely on 5,500 private contractors to advise Afghan combat forces as well as a 90-plane private air force that would provide air support. The plan will cost less than $10 billion a year, lower than the more than $40 billion the Pentagon has budgeted this year. The US military has 8,400 troops in Afghanistan to train and guide local forces. They do not have a direct combat role. (USA Today)
10/ Trump’s Justice Department now supports Ohio’s purging of inactive voters, reversing the Obama administration’s position. Civil rights groups challenged Ohio’s process of removing thousands of inactive voters from the voting rolls, arguing the purge is prohibited under the National Voter Registration Act. Under Obama, the Justice Department filed an amicus brief siding with the groups. The Supreme Court is set to hear the case in the next term. (Washington Post)
11/ Mitch McConnell criticized Trump’s “excessive expectations” about how Congress works, saying that he’s set “too many artificial deadlines.” (CNN)
12/ Twice a day Trump gets a folder full of positive news about himself. Instead of top-secret intelligence or updates on legislative initiatives, he receives folders filled with screenshots of positive cable news chyrons, tweets, and news stories. The document is prepared around 9:30 AM and the follow-up around 4:30 PM. Some in the White House refer to the packet as “the propaganda document.” (Vice News)
poll/ 35% are confident in Trump’s ability to handle North Korea and its nuclear weapons. 61% are uneasy in his approach. (CBS News)
poll/ 36% of Americans consider Trump’s first 200 days a success while 59% consider it a failure. 47% say they strongly disapprove of Trump’s handling of the job and 43% say he can “bring the kind of change the country needs,” down from 48% in April. 60% don’t consider Trump honest and trustworthy. 52% say his tweets are not an effective way for him to share his views and 70% say they too often seem to be in response to TV news he may have seen. (CNN)
1/ Trump took to Twitter on his first day of vacation to lash out at the “Fake News” media and insist that his political base is only “getting stronger” despite a drop-off in his approval rating and the intensifying Russian investigation. “The Trump base is far bigger and stronger than ever before (despite some phony Fake News polling). Look at rallies in Penn, Iowa, Ohio and West Virginia,” Trump tweeted. “The fact is the Fake News Russian collusion story, record Stock Market, border security, military strength, jobs, Supreme Court pick, economic enthusiasm, deregulation and so much more have driven the Trump base even closer together. Will never change!” He added: “Hard to believe that with 24/7 #Fake News on CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, NYTIMES and WAPO, the Trump base is getting stronger!”
A recent Quinnipiac poll showed that 61% of voters disapprove of Trump’s job performance while 33% approve. Trump is at his golf resort in New Jersey for the start of a 17-day vacation. (New York Times / Washington Post)
The Trump base is far bigger & stronger than ever before (despite some phony Fake News polling). Look at rallies in Penn, Iowa, Ohio.......
2/ Robert Mueller asked the White House for documents related to Michael Flynn and whether he was secretly paid by the Turkish government during the presidential campaign. Flynn’s consulting business was paid $530,000 to discredit an opponent of the Turkish government. Investigators want to know if the Turkish government was behind those payments. Meanwhile, Mueller is investigating whether Trump committed obstruction of justice by pressing James Comey to end the Flynn inquiry. (New York Times)
3/ Kellyanne Conway refused to say if Trump has ruled out firing Mueller while appearing on ABC’s This Week. “He’s not discussed firing Bob Mueller,” Conway said. “He is not discussing that.” Four senators have introduced legislation to protect Mueller. (The Guardian)
4/ Rod Rosenstein said Mueller can investigate any crimes he discovers within the scope of his probe. Trump has said it would be inappropriate for Mueller to dig into his family’s finances, dismissing the probe as “a total fabrication.” The Deputy Attorney General added that “the president has not directed us to investigate particular people,” in reference to Trump’s recent comment that prosecutors should be investigating Hillary Clinton’s deleted emails. Democrats and some Republicans are concerned that Trump is looking for ways to undermine the investigation. (Washington Post / The Hill)
A Republican senator on the Senate Judiciary Committee doesn’t agree that the Russia investigation is a “witch hunt.” Thom Tillis said “I’m not sure that I agree with the witch hunt, and we’ll let the facts lead us to whether or not it was a hoax.” (ABC News)
5/ Rosenstein: Prosecutors don’t intend to go after reporters. “We’re after the leaker, not the journalist,” he said. “We’re after people who are committing crimes.” The comments come two days after Jeff Sessions warned that the “culture of leaking must stop.” The Justice Department is reviewing guidelines that make it difficult for prosecutors to subpoena journalists about their sources, calling them “procedural hurdles” that are delaying leak investigations. The number of criminal leak probes has more than tripled during the Trump administration. (NBC News)
6/ Chicago is suing the Trump administration for threatening to withhold public money from so-called sanctuary cities. In July, Jeff Sessions announced that the DOJ will only provide grants to cities that allow the Department of Homeland Security access to local jails and to provide 48 hours’ notice before releasing anyone wanted for immigration violations. Chicago claims that it already complies with the federal law and the new conditions are unconstitutional. (CNN / The Guardian / Associated Press)
7/ Trump called Richard Blumenthal “a phony Vietnam con artist” after the Democratic senator appeared on CNN to discuss the crackdown on leaks, sanctions on North Korea, and what he called “potential collusion” between the Trump campaign and Russia. Blumenthal was criticized during his Senate campaign for saying he had “served” in Vietnam, even though he did his full Marine service in the US. Trump, meanwhile, skirted Vietnam altogether due to bad feet. Blumenthal responded on Twitter that Trump’s “bullying” won’t be effective. (Washington Post / USA Today / CBS News)
Interesting to watch Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut talking about hoax Russian collusion when he was a phony Vietnam con artist!
8/ Pence shot down a report that he was positioning himself to run for president in 2020, calling it “disgraceful and offensive.” Pence has created his own political fund-raising committee, signaling to major Republican donors that he’s the heir apparent if Trump does not seek a second term. “Whatever fake news may come our way, my entire team will continue to focus all our efforts to advance the president’s agenda and see him re-elected in 2020,” Pence said in a statement. “Any suggestion otherwise is both laughable and absurd.” (Politico / New York Times)
9/ Peter Thiel dumps Trump. Silicon Valley’s most prominent Trump supporter has told friends that there is a 50% chance the Trump presidency “ends in disaster” due to the “incompetent” administration. In June, Thiel said the Trump’s administration is “off to a terrific start.” (BuzzFeed News)
10/ Trump has filled about a fifth of the essential executive branch jobs and lags behind his predecessors in staffing up his administration. There are roughly 4,000 positions across the government and more than 1,200 require Senate confirmation. Trump has nominated 277 people for these key posts. The Senate confirmed more than five dozen outstanding nominees last week – roughly doubling the number of nominees Trump has had confirmed to 124. (CNN)
11/ Stephen Miller is a candidate to lead the White House’s communications team. Miller is a senior policy adviser with hardline views on immigration, who recently sparred with reporters in a televised briefing. John Kelly, however, is eyeing his former Homeland Security spokesperson, David Lapan, for the role. (Reuters / CNN)
12/ The United Nations Security Council voted 15-0 to impose new sanctions on North Korea for its continued intercontinental ballistic missile testing. The resolution targets North Korea’s primary exports, which will impact its annual export revenue of $3 billion by more than a third. North Korea has vowed a “thousands-fold” retaliation. (CNN)
1/ Robert Mueller’s grand jury has issued subpoenas related to Trump Jr.’s 2016 meeting with the Russian lawyer. The subpoenas, issued in recent weeks, seek documents and testimony from people involved in the meeting. Yesterday, it was reported that Mueller had convened a grand jury investigation in Washington to examine allegations of Russian interference in the election. When Mueller took over the investigation in May, he inherited a grand jury in Alexandria, VA, which was impaneled to assist in the Michael Flynn investigation and focus on Flynn’s work in the private sector on behalf of foreign interests. (New York Times / CNN / Reuters)
Michael Flynn filed an amended disclosure showing his link to Cambridge Analytica, a controversial data analysis company that aided the Trump campaign. The disclosure shows that just before the end of the campaign, Flynn entered into a consulting agreement with SCL Group, a Virginia-based company related to Cambridge Analytica. (Associated Press)
2/ Trump used a campaign-style rally to attack the Russia investigation, hours after news broke that special counsel Robert Mueller had tapped a grand jury. He referred to the investigation as a “totally made-up Russia story” and a “total fabrication.” He insisted that Democrats “can’t beat us at the voting booths, so they’re trying to cheat you out of the future and the future that you want. They’re trying to cheat you out of the leadership you want with a fake story that is demeaning to all of us, and most importantly, demeaning to our country and demeaning to our Constitution.” (Politico / CNN)
3/ Kellyanne Conway tried to downplay the ongoing investigation, saying: “Let me remind everyone what the president has said about this. It’s a witch-hunt. It’s fake. Last night I believe [Trump] called it a fabrication. And we know that the nature of these types of investigations become fishing expeditions, where you’re just throwing jello up against the wall and hoping it will stick.” (Politico)
4/ The FBI monitored social media on Election Day to track a suspected Russian disinformation campaign spreading “fake news” and identify possible disruptions to the vote. For the FBI, monitoring the news put them “right on the edge of Constitutional legality” given the First Amendment’s free speech protections. (CNN)
5/ The Senate unanimously blocked Trump from being able to make recess appointments during the August break. The Senate will hold nine “pro-forma” sessions — brief meetings that normally last roughly a minute – and will not hold any legislative sessions until lawmakers return to Washington after Labor Day. (Axios / The Hill)
The Senate breaks for summer recess. There will be no more roll-call votes in the Senate until September 5th. (Washington Post)
6/ The Secret Service has vacated Trump Tower after a dispute between the government and Trump’s company over the terms of its lease. In March, the Secret Service requested $26.8 million to protect Trump Tower. Separately, the government is paying $130,000 a month to lease space in Trump Tower for a military office that supports the White House. Trump has not visited Trump Tower since he was inaugurated. (Washington Post)
7/ Jeff Sessions issued a warning that the “culture of leaking must stop” a day after transcripts leaked of Trump’s January phone calls with Mexico and Australia. Sessions vowed to bring criminal charges against people who had leaked classified information, while announcing that the FBI had created a new counterintelligence unit to manage these cases. The Justice Department is pursuing three times as many leak investigations as the Obama administration. Sessions wants to pursue “effective” subpoenas on media outlets, because “simply put, these leaks hurt our country.” Kellyanne Conway suggested using lie detectors to figure who’s leaking information. “It’s easier to figure out who’s leaking than the leakers may realize,” she said. (CBS News / ABC News / New York Times)
Diplomats laughing at Trump over leaked Mexico transcript, saying “he’s the opposite of Teddy Roosevelt. He speaks loudly and carries a small stick.” (McClatchy DC)
8/ John Kelly has brought rigor to the White House, attempting to give Trump bureaucratic competence while forcing staff members to stay in their lanes. He’s attempting to broker peace between the different factions in the West Wing, telling employees that he was hired to manage the staff, not the president. Kelly encouraged National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster to make any staffing changes necessary, which resulted in the firing of a top intelligence aide Ezra Cohen-Watnick, who was hired by Michael Flynn, after months of trying. Kelly has also assured Jeff Sessions that his job is safe. (New York Times / Politico / Wall Street Journal)
9/ The Trump administration will notify the United Nations today that the US intends to withdraw from the Paris climate change agreement, despite planning to participate in UN climate negotiations later this year. Under the terms of the Paris deal, the US can’t fully withdraw until one day after the next presidential election. (New York Times / Politico)
10/ A Republican donor is suing the GOP for fraud over the failed Obamacare repeal. The lawsuit alleges that the GOP raised millions of dollars in campaign funds knowing they weren’t going to be able to overturn the ACA, representing “a pattern of Racketeering which involves massive fraud perpetrated on Republican voters and contributors as well as some Independents and Democrats.” (The Virginia-Pilot / Axios)
poll/ 44% of Americans in battleground districts would strongly oppose Trump firing special counsel Mueller. (USA Today)
poll/ Most voters want Democrats to take control of Congress in 2018. 52% want Democrats to take the House, while 53% are in favor of Democrats taking the Senate. There are 10 Senate Democrats in red states up for re-election in 2018 and one blue-state Senate Republican. (Quinnipiac)
1/ Special Counsel Robert Mueller has launched a grand jury to investigate Russia’s interference in the 2016 elections and whether Trump or any of his team colluded during the campaign. A grand jury will allow prosecutors to subpoena documents, put witnesses under oath and seek indictments, if there is evidence of a crime. The decision to impanel a grand jury suggests he believes he will need to subpoena records and take testimony from witnesses. Trump has denied any collusion with Russia, calling the investigation a “witch hunt.” (Wall Street Journal / CNN)
2/ Mueller has turned his attention to Trump and his associates’ financial ties to Russia. Federal investigators have widened their focus on possible financial crimes, which could offer a more concrete path toward potential prosecution than the broader questions of collusion in the 2016 campaign. Trump previously warned Mueller that his financial dealings were a red line that he shouldn’t cross, despite Mueller being authorized to investigate matters that “arose or may arise directly from the investigation.” (CNN)
3/ Top FBI officials could be asked to testify against Trump. Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe told the highest-ranking members of the bureau that they should consider themselves possible witnesses in any investigation into whether Trump obstructed justice. McCabe acknowledged that he’s also a potential witness in the probe, as well as the investigation into whether Team Trump colluded with the Russians. (Vox)
4/ The Senate Judiciary Committee is introducing a bipartisan bill to protect Robert Mueller and ensure the integrity of independent investigations. The bill would allow any special counsel for the Department of Justice to challenge their removal in court, with a review by a three-judge panel within 14 days of the challenge. Lindsey Graham said that he was working on a similar bill that would prevent the firing of a special counsel without judicial review. (CBS News)
5/ Congressional investigators want the phone records related to Trump Jr.’s meeting with the Russian lawyer. They want “all relevant documents” connected to the people before, during, and after the meeting, including Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort. It’s unclear if it’s the Senate Intelligence Committee or the House Intelligence Committee seeking the records. Senator James Risch, who serves on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said, “I guarantee you there were phone calls in addition to those emails, and I want to hear all of it before I answer the question you put to me.” (CBS News)
6/ Trump blamed Congress for the poor US relations with Russia, a day after he imposed new sanctions, which he called flawed and unconstitutional. Trump described America’s relationship with Russia on Twitter as “an all-time and very dangerous low.” John McCain shot back that “our relationship w/ Russia is at dangerous low. You can thank Putin for attacking our democracy, invading neighbors & threatening our allies.” (New York Times / The Hill)
Our relationship with Russia is at an all-time & very dangerous low. You can thank Congress, the same people that can't even give us HCare!
7/ Trump urged the Mexican president to stop publicly saying that he would never pay for the border wall, during their January 27 call. “You cannot say that to the press,” Trump repeatedly told Enrique Peña Nieto. “If you are going to say that Mexico is not going to pay for the wall, then I do not want to meet with you guys anymore because I cannot live with that.”
The next day, Trump called Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, which was even more contentious and the conversation immediately devolved over a US agreement to accept refugees from Australian detention centers. “I hate taking these people,” Trump said. “I guarantee you they are bad. That is why they are in prison right now. They are not going to be wonderful people who go on to work for the local milk people” (Washington Post)
Transcripts of Trump’s calls with Mexico and Australia. (Washington Post)
8/ Trump criticized his military advisers because “we aren’t winning, we are losing” the Afghanistan war. Trump directed his frustration at Defense Secretary James Mattis, saying Trump had given the military authority months ago to make advances in Afghanistan and yet the US was continuing to lose ground. (NBC News)
9/ The White House conceded that the Boy Scouts never called to say his was the best speech ever. Trump told the Wall Street Journal last week that “I got a call from the head of the Boy Scouts saying it was the greatest speech that was ever made to them, and they were very thankful.” The Boy Scouts of America, however, said it was not aware of any call from its leadership to Trump. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, however, said that “multiple members of the Boy Scouts leadership” had praised Trump’s speech, but the conversations “simply didn’t take place over a phone call, they happened in person.” (New York Times)
10/ Stephen Miller told CNN’s Jim Acosta that his question “is one of the most outrageous, insulting, ignorant and foolish things you’ve ever said.” The White House senior policy adviser was responding to a question about Trump’s endorsement of a Senate bill that seeks to cut legal immigration to the US in half. He accused Acosta of “cosmopolitan bias” before apologizing “if things got heated.” (Politico / Washington Post)
11/ Federal prosecutors subpoenaed Kushner Cos. for its use of an investment-for-immigration program. The company drew attention in May for a marketing campaign that solicited Chinese investors to put up $500,000 for green card eligibility, known as the EB-5 program. The campaign mentioned Jared Kushner and used a video clip and photo of Trump in its pitch. (Wall Street Journal)
1/ Trump signed the bill to impose sanctions on Russia and limit his authority to lift them. He expressed concerns that the measure included “a number of clearly unconstitutional provisions,” leaving room for interpretation of how the law is enforced. Trump said he believed the bill to be “seriously flawed,” but signed it anyway. The bill also imposes sanctions on Iran and North Korea. (New York Times / CNN / Bloomberg)
2/ Trump endorsed a Senate bill aimed at slashing immigration levels over a decade and shift the system’s emphasis away from family ties and toward skills. GOP Senators Tom Cotton and David Perdue introduced a modified version of their bill, which would cut immigration by half, tighten rules for temporary workers, restrict family-based visas, and cap the refugee program at 50,000 per year. More than 1 million green cards are currently granted per year. The bill faces long odds, as Republicans will have difficulty getting the 60 votes needed to prevent a filibuster.
“This competitive application process will favor applicants who can speak English, financially support themselves and their families and demonstrate skills that will contribute to our economy,” Trump said. “This legislation demonstrates our compassion for struggling American families who deserve an immigration system that puts their needs first and that puts America first.” (Washington Post / CNN / Politico / New York Times)
3/ The Trump Justice Department will sue universities that it deems to have discriminated against white students through their affirmative action admissions policies. The new civil rights division doesn’t explicitly identify who is at risk of discrimination, but says it’ll investigate “intentional race-based discrimination in college and university admissions” that give an edge to disadvantaged groups over applicants with comparable or higher test scores. The project follows recent conservative Justice Department policy changes on voting rights, gay rights, and police reform. (New York Times)
4/ Trump’s nominee for Agriculture once accused progressives of “enslaving” minorities, called black leaders “race traders,” and labeled Obama a “Maoist” with “communist” roots. Sam Clovis wrote the blog posts in between 2011 and 2012. He’s since deleted the blog and is serving as the senior White House adviser to the USDA. Clovis’ nomination for the chief scientist job at the Department of Agriculture requires Senate confirmation. (CNN)
5/ The House Judiciary Committee has prioritized investigating Hillary Clinton over Russian meddling, Trump’s decision to fire James Comey, and the public attacks on Jeff Sessions. The panel asked Jeff Sessions to appoint a second special counsel to investigate the “troubling, unanswered questions” about Clinton and officials appointed by Obama, after Democrats tried to force a resolution demanding more information on Sessions’s role in Comey’s firing. The House Judiciary Committee would have jurisdiction over any impeachment proceeding. (Bloomberg)
6/ The lawyer in the Fox “fake news” suit wants Trump and Spicer to testify. Rod Wheeler’s lawsuit claims that Fox fabricated quotes implicating DNC staffer Seth Rich in the WikiLeaks scandal. “We’re going to litigate this case as we would any other,” and that means “we’ll want to depose anyone who has information,” including the president, Wheeler’s attorney. (Yahoo News)
7/ Rex Tillerson tells North Korea: “We are not your enemy.” He added that the US does “not seek a regime change, we do not seek a collapse of the regime, we do not seek an accelerated reunification of the peninsula, we do not seek an excuse to send our military north of the 38th Parallel.” Yesterday, Lindsey Graham said “there is a military option to destroy North Korea’s (missile) program and North Korea itself… (Trump) told me that to my face.” (Washington Post / BBC)
8/ Tillerson won’t spend nearly $80 million allocated for fighting terrorist propaganda and Russian disinformation, despite pleas from State Department officials. $60 million will expire on September 30th if it’s not transferred to the State Department by then. The money is potentially unwelcome because attempts to counter Russian influence would anger Moscow. (Politico)
9/ Senate Republicans are planning to pass their tax plan with just GOP votes. Mitch McConnell will use budget reconciliation in order to sideline Democrats and protect Republicans from a filibuster. McConnell needs just 50 votes to pass his tax reform bill. (Politico)
10/ Trump is considering Rick Perry for Homeland Security secretary. The Energy Secretary would replace John Kelly, who is now Trump’s chief of staff. Perry’s views on immigration don’t align with Trump’s. During Perry’s 2012 presidential campaign, he accused his Republican opponents of not having a “heart” about letting undocumented children of immigrants pay in-state tuition for college. (Bloomberg)
11/ Trump: “That White House is a real dump,” he told members at his Bedminster golf club. He then teed off. (Golf)
12/ Before running for president, Trump threatened to sue “Sharknado 3: Hell No!” for not casting him as president. While Trump wanted to do the film, he was also considering a run for president at the time. After weeks of silence from the Trump camp, producers pulled the part, prompting Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen to threaten action: “He basically said, ‘How dare you? Donald wanted to do this. We’re going to sue you! We’re going to shut the entire show down!’” (Hollywood Reporter)
poll/ 56.3% disapprove of Trump’s job performance. 38.9% approve. (RealClearPolitics)
poll/ 56.9% disapprove of Trump’s job performance. 37.6% approve. (FiveThirtyEight)
poll/ 58.6% disapprove of Trump’s job performance. 38.7% approve. (HuffPost)
poll/ 60% disapprove of Trump’s job performance. 36% approve. (Gallup)
poll/ 61% disapprove of Trump’s job performance. 33% approve. 71% say Trump is not levelheaded. (Quinnipiac)
1/ Trump personally dictated Trump Jr.’s statement about his meeting with the Russian lawyer, saying they had “primarily discussed a program about the adoption of Russian children” when they met in June 2016. Trump Jr. ultimately acknowledged that he met with the Kremlin-connected Russian lawyer after receiving an email promising damaging information about Hillary Clinton. Trump’s advisers fear his direct involvement leaves him needlessly vulnerable to potential obstruction of justice and could place members of his inner circle in legal jeopardy. (Washington Post)
2/ The White House said Trump only “weighed in” on Trump Jr.’s statement about the Russia meeting. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said “The statement that Don Jr. issued is true, there’s no inaccuracy in the statement. The President weighed in as any father would, based on the limited information that he had.” The White House response contradicts what Trump’s lawyer, Jay Sekulow, said in July: “The president did not draft the response…I can’t say whether the president was told the statement was going to be coming.” (CNN / Axios)
3/ George W. Bush’s ethics lawyer says Trump “very likely” obstructed justice by drafting a “knowingly false” statement for Trump Jr. “You’re boxing in a witness into a false story,” Richard Painter said. “That puts them under enormous pressure to turn around and lie under oath to be consistent with their story. I think it’s obstruction of justice.” (The Guardian)
4/ Senate Republicans intend to move on from health care, despite Trump’s continued pressure to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Republicans have signaled that they were looking for other victories, as the 50 votes needed to roll back Obamacare appears unlikely. (Washington Post)
Ryan Zinke said it’s “laughable” to suggest he threatened Alaska’s senators over the health care vote. Zinke had threatened retribution against Alaska over Lisa Murkowski’s no vote on health care. (Associated Press)
5/ A GOP House member called on special counsel Robert Mueller to resign, saying he has a “conflict of interest” since Comey was the deputy attorney general in 2003 when Mueller served as the FBI director. Trent Franks is attempting to cast Mueller and Comey as “longtime allies” who is “in clear violation of the law.” (The Hill / Washington Post)
A former Justice Department official joins Mueller’s team. Greg Andres is a white-collar criminal defense lawyer who served at the Justice Department from 2010 to 2012. He was deputy assistant attorney general in the criminal division, where he oversaw the fraud unit and managed the program that targeted illegal foreign bribery. (Reuters)
6/ The Senate confirmed Christopher Wray as the new FBI director, filling the post that has remained vacant since Trump fired James Comey in May. The vote was 92 to 5 with five Democrats voting against his nomination. The FBI has been run by Andrew McCabe, the acting FBI director, whom Trump has attacked repeatedly because his wife is a Democrat who ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the Virginia Legislature. (New York Times / Washington Post)
7/ The Senate and House have 12 working days to raise the debt ceiling before the Treasury Department defaults on its obligations. A default would likely set off a major disruption to the world financial system, with a stock market crash and surging interest rates that could send the economy into a recession. Congress has to raise the debt ceiling by September 29th to ensure the government can continue paying all of its bills. (Washington Post)
8/ Multiple White House officials were tricked by an email prankster masquerading as Jared Kushner, Reince Priebus, and Eric Trump. The UK prankster fooled Anthony Scaramucci, Homeland Security Adviser Tom Bossert, and others into responding. In Bossert’s case, he revealed his personal email address. Real Scaramucci responded to Fake Priebus: “You know what you did. We all do. Even today. But rest assured we were prepared. A Man would apologize.” (CNN)
9/ Jared Kushner told congressional interns that Trump’s election team was too disorganized to collude with Russia. “They thought we colluded, but we couldn’t even collude with our local offices,” Kushner said, adding: “I’m a lot more comfortable talking to you guys today ’cause there isn’t any press.” (Foreign Policy / WIRED)
10/ Fox News and a Trump donor created a fake news story to deflect attention from the administration’s ties to Russia, a lawsuit alleges. The story is about the death of Seth Rich, a Democratic National Committee staffer, which first aired in May, but was retracted a week later. The lawsuit, filed by Rod Wheeler, a paid commentator for the news network, claims a Fox News reporter created quotations out of thin air and attributed them to him in order to propel the story. A month before the story ran, Trump donor Ed Butowsky and Wheeler met at the White House with Sean Spicer to brief him on what they were uncovering. At a press gaggle after the story ran, Spicer claimed to have no knowledge of the Rich story. Spicer now confirms meeting with the two. (NPR)
11/ A former Fox News executive who helped Roger Ailes cover up sexual harassment could be joining Trump’s communications team. Bill Shine has been named in lawsuits that accuse him of abetting Ailes’s harassing behavior toward women. The former co-president of Fox News and top lieutenant to Ailes has denied knowing that Ailes had sexually harassed employees. (New York Times)
12/ The military will test launch an ICBM early Wednesday morning. The test launch comes days after North Korea’s second ICBM test and is meant “to validate and verify the effectiveness, readiness, and accuracy of the weapon system.” Lindsey Graham, meanwhile, said that military options are “inevitable if North Korea continues.” He added that “there is a military option to destroy North Korea’s (missile) program and North Korea itself. If there’s going to be a war to stop them, it will be over there. If thousands die, they’re going to die over there, they’re not going to die here and (Trump) told me that to my face.” (NBC News / CNN)
The US military has detected “highly unusual and unprecedented levels” of North Korean submarine activity and evidence of an “ejection test” in the days following Pyongyang’s second intercontinental ballistic missile launch this month. (CNN)
poll/ 60% of voters believe the White House is in chaos, compared with 33% who say it is running well. 29% believe Trump’s staff serves him well, compared with 39% who say his staff doesn’t serve him well. (Politico)
1/ Trump fired Anthony Scaramucci as White House communications director 10 days after he was brought in. Scaramucci’s verbal tirade led to the departures of Sean Spicer and Reince Priebus. The change came at the request of new chief of staff John Kelly, who “has the full authority to operate within the White House, and all staff will report to him,” including Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump, and Steve Bannon. Meanwhile, Scaramucci does not have an administration role “at this time,” Sarah Huckabee Sanders said. (New York Times / Politico / CNN)
2/ Trump swears in his new chief of staff, saying he has “no doubt” that John Kelly will do a “spectacular job” in his new role. Kelly is a retired four-star Marine general and will take over for Reince Priebus. (Washington Post / CNN)
3/ Kelly called James Comey after Trump fired him to say he was considering resigning from the Department of Homeland Security. Comey told Kelly not to resign. (CNN)
4/ Trump tweeted that Republican Senators look “like fools” and will be “total quitters” if they fail to revive their effort to rollback Obamacare. He threatened to cut lawmakers’ own health insurance plans. Republicans, meanwhile, may have to choose between attempting to repeal Obamacare or tackling tax reform, because they don’t have time to do both. The Senate and House must also pass a spending plan with Democrat cooperation in order to keep the government open past the end of the fiscal year on September 30th. Congress must also raise the debt limit in September or risk defaulting on its debt obligations. (New York Times / Bloomberg)
Republicans in the Senate will NEVER win if they don't go to a 51 vote majority NOW. They look like fools and are just wasting time......
The senate is too divided to keep up health care push, Orrin Hatch said. (Reuters)
5/ Trump threatened to end Obamacare payments unless a repeal-and-replace bill is passed. “After seven years of ‘talking’ Repeal & Replace, the people of our great country are still being forced to live with imploding ObamaCare!” Trump tweeted. “If a new HealthCare Bill is not approved quickly, BAILOUTS for Insurance Companies and BAILOUTS for Members of Congress will end very soon!” Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer responded, saying Trump should “stop playing politics with people’s lives and health care, start leading, and finally begin acting presidential.” (The Hill)
After seven years of "talking" Repeal & Replace, the people of our great country are still being forced to live with imploding ObamaCare!
Kellyanne Conway said Trump would make a decision “this week” on whether to make Obamacare payments. Trump tweeted a warning on Saturday that if Congress didn’t pass a bill to overhaul the Affordable Care Act soon, he would end the “bailouts” for insurance companies as well as for members of Congress. (CNN)
Susan Collins said Trump’s threats to cut off funding for key Obamacare payments won’t change her vote on the GOP’s plan to repeal it. “It would not affect my vote on healthcare, but it’s an example of why we need to act: to make sure that those payments, which are not an insurance company bailout, but rather help people who are very low-income afford their out-of-pocket costs toward their deductibles and their co-pays,” Collins said. “It really would be detrimental to some of the most vulnerable citizens if those payments were cut off.” (The Hill)
Health and Human Services secretary Tom Price suggested that he might expand waivers from the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate — a step that health insurers have warned against because it could drive up premiums. (Axios)
The official White House policy doesn’t want the Senate to vote on another issue unless it’s on health care. White House budget director Mick Mulvaney said “You can’t promise folks you’re going to do something for seven years, and then not do it.” (Politico)
6/ A bipartisan group of House members will unveil their plan to fix Obamacare. The plan will focus on stabilizing the insurance market by funding the cost-sharing subsidies and then pushing for Obamacare changes that have received bipartisan backing in the past. (Politico)
7/ After a contentious week in Washington, one GOP senator says Republicans are complicit if they don’t call out Trump. Jeff Flake added that the Republican Party has “lost its way,” and is urging members to turn back to what he calls traditional conservatism. “The last thing you want to do is wake up every morning and see a tweet… You know, it’s tough not to just say, ‘I’m not going to respond,’” Flake said. “And we can’t respond to everything. But there are times when you have to stand up and say, ‘I’m sorry. This is wrong.’” (CBS News)
8/ Trump plans to sign the Russian sanctions bill, which places sanctions on Russia, North Korea, and Iran. It also limits Trump’s ability to lift sanctions unilaterally. It was passed by veto-proof margins in the Senate (98-2) and House (419-3). (NBC News)
Pence reassured NATO’s Baltic member states that the US stands behind its mutual-defense commitment and will “hold Russia accountable for its actions.” (Politico)
9/ Russia slashed 60% of US embassy and consular staff in response to new American sanctions. The US will need to cut 755 of its roughly 1,200 diplomatic staff in Russia, meant to cause discomfort for Washington and its representatives in Moscow. (New York Times / Reuters)
10/ Democrats have moved to revoke Jared Kushner’s security clearance, introducing the Security Clearance Review Act, which gives the FBI Director the authority to revoke the security clearance of executive branch employees whose actions may pose a threat to national security. At least 20 Democrats have cosigned on the bill. (Salon)
11/ Trump appeared to advocate for rougher treatment of people in police custody. “Don’t be too nice,” Trump told law enforcement officers in Suffolk County, New York. He spoke dismissively of the practice by which arresting officers shield the heads of handcuffed suspects as they are placed in police cars. “I said, ‘You could take the hand away, OK,’” Trump said. (Associated Press)
12/ The Trump administration urged China to confront North Korea over its nuclear ambitions. At the United Nations, US Ambassador Nikki Haley said “the time for talk is over” and that a Security Council resolution that doesn’t “significantly increase the international pressure” on North Korea would be “worse than nothing.” Meanwhile, Trump told reporters that the US will “handle North Korea. We’ll be able to handle North Korea. It will be handled. We handle everything.” (Wall Street Journal / The Hill / CNN)
13/ Trump’s voter fraud commission is divided on whether there was widespread fraud at the ballot box. Trump’s appointees say yes, while others on the commission argue there wasn’t fraud and would rather focus on upgrading the voting systems and encouraging registration. (NBC News)
At a cybersecurity conference, hackers were able to breach 30 different machines in “only a few minutes.” The DEF CON conference hosted a “Voting Machine Village,” where attendees could try to hack a number of systems to help catch vulnerabilities and raise awareness about election machine security issues. The conferences hopes that the attendees will pressure states to do more to protect those systems. (The Hill)
14/ The Republican National Committee told staff to preserve all documents related to the 2016 campaign. RNC lawyers described it as precautionary, but necessary, as investigations continue into Russia’s meddling in the election. The memo orders employees not to “delete, destroy, modify, or remove from your paper files, laptop computer, desktop computer, tablet, mobile device, e-mail, or any storage system or device, any documents, records, or other materials that relate to the 2016 presidential election or that may relate to any investigation concerning the election.” (BuzzFeed News)
poll/ 64% of Americans want Congress to move on from health care reform by either keeping Obamacare “entirely as is” or fixing “problem areas.” That’s up from 54% in January. (Reuters)
poll/ 47% of Americans prefer the Republicans work with Democrats to improve Obamacare. 21% would rather Republicans try to repeal it outright. 19% want Republicans to replace it with something else. (CBS News)
poll/ 39% of likely US Voters approve of Trump’s job performance, while 61% disapprove. 26% “strongly approve” of the way Trump is performing and 49% “strongly disapprove.” (Rasmussen Reports)
1/ Trump’s hardball tactics backfired as the Senate rejected its slimmed-down Obamacare repeal with Collins, Murkowski, McCain all voting no. The bill would have left 16 million more people uninsured by 2026 than Obamacare. Earlier in the week, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski voted against the motion to proceed, causing Trump to attack Murkowski on Twitter, saying she “really let the Republicans, and our country, down.” Then, before yesterday’s vote, Trump had Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke call Murkowski and Alaska’s other Republican senator, threatening that the administration may change its position on issues that affect the state in order to punish Murkowski. She didn’t budge. Shortly after the vote failed 49-to-51, Trump took to Twitter: “3 Republicans and 48 Democrats let the American people down. As I said from the beginning, let ObamaCare implode, then deal. Watch!” (Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg)
Go Republican Senators, Go! Get there after waiting for 7 years. Give America great healthcare!
The night John McCain killed the GOP’s health care fight. A seven-year quest to undo the Affordable Care Act collapsed — at least for now — as John McCain kept his colleagues and the press corps in suspense over a little more than two hours late Thursday into early Friday. (Washington Post)
How McCain tanked Obamacare repeal. The maverick senator delivers a stunning rebuke to President Donald Trump and his own party leadership. (Politico)
How GOP rebels took down the Senate’s plot to kill Obamacare. John McCain joined Republicans Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski to obliterate President Trump’s health-care pledge. (The Daily Beast)
GOP Obamacare repeal bill fails in dramatic late-night vote. The Senate has dealt a devastating setback to Republican efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare, defeating a GOP “skinny repeal” bill early Friday morning. (CNN)
Why Senate Republicans couldn’t repeal Obamacare. The result is, for now, a crushing blow to seven years of promises to uproot the health care law. (Vox)
2/ A bipartisan group of roughly 40 House members have been exploring ways to stabilize Obamacare over the past month. Efforts are expected to take on greater urgency after the collapse of the Senate’s Obamacare bill. Trump has threatened to cut off Obamacare cost-sharing subsidies as soon as next month, which could leave about 25,000 people in 38 states at risk of having no insurers willing to offer coverage next year. (Politico)
Obama urged Congress to exercise the “political courage” to improve healthcare while praising everyone who “made their voices heard” against the GOP health care bill, an Obama spokesperson said. (The Hill / Vox)
NEW: Pres Obama reacts to repeal & replace failure, praising "everyone who mobilized, organized and made their voices heard." pic.twitter.com/yWf8pIVIgL
3/ Reince Priebus resigned. The move comes after a week in which Priebus endured a non-stop attack by incoming White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci. John Kelly, a retired Marine four-star general currently serving as secretary of homeland security who oversaw the implementation of Trump’s travel ban, will take over as the new White House chief of staff. Trump’s advisers pushed back on the Kelly appointment, saying Trump needs someone more in tune with the nationalist political agenda that helped propel him to the White House. Trump announced the news, naturally, on Twitter, saying Priebus was a “good man” but called Kelly a “star.” Priebus is the last of the RNC staffers to exit the West Wing. Months ago, Priebus’ deputy, Katie Walsh left after being accused of leaking documents, followed by Sean Spicer. (New York Times / NPR / NBC News / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
I am pleased to inform you that I have just named General/Secretary John F Kelly as White House Chief of Staff. He is a Great American....
Anthony Scaramucci’s wife filed for divorce due to his “naked political ambition.” Deidre Ball apparently despises Trump. (Page Six)
Why Anthony Scaramucci hates Reince Priebus. After Trump’s victory, Priebus was named chief of staff, and Scaramucci was assured that he was in line for a big position within the administration. Priebus told Trump that he felt Scaramucci had been offered too much for his stake in SkyBridge by HNA Group, a Chinese group that might expect favors from within the administration for the inflated price. (HuffPost)
4/ Russia retaliated against Congress’ new sanctions bill, ordering the US to cut “hundreds” of personnel at its embassy and consulates in Russia. The Senate and House passed a bill that strengthens existing sanctions on Russia and gives Congress the power to block Trump from lifting them. (Bloomberg / New York Times / Associated Press)
Senate slapped new sanctions on Russia, putting Trump in corner. The bill, which includes a provision that allows Congress to stop any effort by Trump to ease existing sanctions on Russia, will now be sent to the White House for Trump to sign into law or veto. (Reuters)
5/ North Korea fired another ballistic missile. The missile launched Friday flew for about 45 minutes and landed off the Japanese coast in waters between Japan and the Korean Peninsula. Experts estimate that the intercontinental ballistic missile had the reach to hit practically all of the major cities on the US mainland. (Associated Press / ABC News / New York Times / Politico)
6/ The House has passed a $788 billion spending bill to boost military spending and $1.6 billion for Trump’s border wall. The bill would increase the Department of Defense budget by $68.1 billion. (Associated Press / Reuters)
7/ The Trump Organization requires all employees at all levels to sign a confidentiality agreement, or else they will lose their jobs. The agreement rolled out after the election, which recently leaked, shows that employees must keep secret any information they learn about anyone in the “Trump family” and extended family, including their “present, former and future spouses, children, parents, in-laws.” The agreement lasts forever and is retroactive. (CBS News)
poll/ 58% of adults believe that transgender individuals should be allowed to serve in the military. When asked about the impact on military capabilities, 14% said prohibiting transgender service members made the military “more capable” while 43% said “no impact,” 22% said “less capable,” and the rest said they don’t know. (Reuters)
1/ The Department of Justice is arguing that the Civil Rights Act does not protect gay employees from discrimination. The DOJ filed an amicus brief (meaning the government isn’t a party in the case) weighing in on a private employment lawsuit. They argue that while Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act bars the discrimination in the workplace based on “race, color, religion, sex or national origin,” it does not protect employees from discrimination based on sexual orientation despite “notable changes in societal and cultural attitudes.” The brief claimed that the federal government has a “substantial and unique interest” in the proper interpretation of Title VII because it’s the largest employer in the country. (New York Times / BuzzFeed News)
2/ The Joint Chiefs said there will be “no modifications” to the military’s transgender policy until Trump clarifies what he meant. “I know there are questions about yesterday’s announcement on the transgender policy by the President,” Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a memo to military leaders. “There will be no modifications to the current policy until the President’s direction has been received by the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary has issued implementation guidance.” (NBC News / Politico)
3/ Trump has discussed a recess appointment to replace Jeff Sessions if he leaves the job, in an effort to sidestep Senate oversight. Democrats have said they’ll use parliamentary stalling tactics to prevent the Senate from formally adjourning throughout the upcoming August break — in part to prevent Trump from being able to unilaterally install a new attorney general. (Washington Post)
4/ Lindsey Graham will introduce a bill next week that curtails Trump’s power to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller without first getting approval from a federal judge. “We need a check and balance here,” Graham said. “A special counsel cannot be fired when they were impaneled to investigate the president or his team unless you have judicial review of the firing.” Trump could veto the legislation, which could be overturned by two-thirds of the House and Senate. (Wall Street Journal)
5/ The Trump administration threatened retribution against Alaska over Lisa Murkowski’s no vote on health care. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke called Alaska’s other GOP senator, Dan Sullivan, to deliver a “troubling message” that left him worried “that the strong economic growth, pro-energy, pro-mining, pro-jobs, and personnel from Alaska who are part of those policies are going to stop.” (Alaska Dispatch News)
6/ Mitch McConnell is expected to unveil the GOP’s “skinny repeal” bill during today’s “vote-a-rama.” The bill will rollback the individual mandate, partially repeal the employer mandate, defund Planned Parenthood for one year, and provide more money for community health centers. The skinny repeal isn’t really that skinny at all. The CBO estimated 15 million to 16 million Americans would lose coverage while premiums to rise 20% in the individual market. (Politico / Axios / Vox)
State health care waivers violate Senate budget rules. Republicans want to expand the ACA’s waivers that allow states to opt out of ACA rules, including the “essential health benefit” requirements. But, the Senate Budget Committee Democrats said parts of the proposal can’t be passed under Senate budget rules and would require 60 votes in order to pass. (Axios)
7/ Four Republicans said they would not vote for a slimmed-down partial repeal of the Affordable Care Act without guarantees that the House will negotiate a comprehensive measure. Read a different way: Senate Republicans hope the skinny repeal won’t become law. Lindsey Graham, John McCain, Bill Cassidy, and Ron Johnson want a guarantee from Paul Ryan that the bill will go to conference committee and not simply passed by the House and sent to Trump. Meanwhile, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy is warning lawmakers to hold off on leaving for the August recess this weekend in case the Senate passes a bill and they’re under pressure to act. “The skinny bill as policy is a disaster,” Graham said. (New York Times / Politico / The Hill)
House conservatives say the skinny repeal is untenable. Even if Senate Republicans can pass their minimalist plan to alter the ACA, uniting with their House colleagues to enact a bill would be far more challenging. Mark Meadows, chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, said a skinny repeal would be “dead on arrival” in the House. (Washington Post)
8/ Scaramucci blamed Reince Priebus for leaking his publicly available financial disclosure form, which showed that he still stands to profit from an ownership stake in his investment firm SkyBridge Capital. Scaramucci tweeted that “In light of the leak of my financial disclosure info which is a felony I will be contacting FBI and the TheJusticeDept.” He tagged Priebus in the tweet, which he later deleted after the internet pointed out that it was called a public disclosure for a reason. In a CNN interview, Scaramucci said that “if Reince wants to explain he’s not a leaker, let him do that.” Later in the interview, he added that foreign policy leaks “are the types of leaks that are so treasonous that 150 years ago, people would have actually been hung for those types of leaks.”
In a separate interview, Scaramucci continued: “Reince is a fucking paranoid schizophrenic, a paranoiac.” He then turned his sights on Steve Bannon while denying that he craves the media’s attention: “I’m not Steve Bannon, I’m not trying to suck my own cock,” he said. “I’m not trying to build my own brand off the fucking strength of the President. I’m here to serve the country.” (New York Times / Politico / The New Yorker / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
Scaramucci said his split with Priebus may not be reparable. Scaramucci joined the White House last week and reports directly to the president, rather than to the chief of staff as is customary. (Wall Street Journal)
9/ Trump gave Scaramucci the “green light” to go after Priebus, a White House adviser said. Additionally, Scaramucci himself claimed that he had secured Trump’s “blessing” for his words and actions. Sarah Huckabee Sanders declined to publicly express Trump’s confidence in the chief of staff during today’s press briefing. Privately, Kellyanne Conway has told people that Priebus is “gone” and that he is trying to figure out his next steps. (The Daily Beast / BuzzFeed News)
10/ The Senate approved sanctions against Russia, forcing Trump to decide whether to veto the bill or accept the tougher line against Moscow. The administration has said that Trump may veto the bill, despite there being veto-proof majorities in both the Senate and House. The Senate voted 98-2 to pass the bill two days after the House passed it 419-3. (Washington Post / New York Times / Reuters)
1/ Senate Republicans shot down their own repeal-and-replace bill last night as nine of the 52 Republicans voted against it. The repeal-and-replace bill was a compromise measure meant to appeal to both conservatives and moderate Republicans. Mitch McConnell needed 60 votes to pass the bill. Instead, the vote failed 43-57 just hours after the Senate had narrowly voted to begin debate on a bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act. (New York Times / Washington Post / Reuters / CNN)
2/ The Senate rejected the GOP repeal-only measure, which would have repealed major parts of the Affordable Care Act without providing a replacement. The vote failed 45-55. The last viable path for Senate Republicans is to now try their “skinny repeal,” which rolls back the mandate that most people have insurance, but leaves most of Obama’s health law in place. Senators would then take their narrow bill into negotiations with the House. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN)
The CBO estimated that the “skinny repeal” would lead to 15 million fewer Americans having health insurance 10 years from now. The skinny repeal would repeal the individual mandate, the employer mandate, and some taxes on the health care industry, while leaving most of Obamacare in place. (Vox)
Tom Price: do whatever “gets us to 50 votes so that we can move forward on a health-care reform legislation.” The Health and Human Services Secretary urged Senate Republicans to aim for the “lowest common denominator” to keep the Obamacare repeal alive. (CNBC)
Trump took aim at Senator Lisa Murkowski, tweeting that she “really let the Republicans, and our country, down yesterday. Too bad.” Murkowski and Senator Susan Collins were the only two GOP senators to vote against a procedural vote to begin debate on repealing Obamacare. (CNN)
Senator @lisamurkowski of the Great State of Alaska really let the Republicans, and our country, down yesterday. Too bad!
3/ The House approved bipartisan sanctions against Russia while limiting Trump’s power to waive them without a Congressional review. The package, which also includes sanctions against Iran and North Korea, passed 419 to 3. It sets up a veto dilemma for Trump: he can sign or veto the bill, but the Senate, like the House, is expected to pass the legislation by a veto-proof margin. (NBC News / Washington Post / CNN)
4/ Russia threatened to retaliate against the new sanctions, warning of a “painful” response and saying the sanctions make it impossible to achieve Trump’s goal of improved Russian relations. Russia has reportedly prepared “economic and political measures that will be adopted if the Senate and Trump support the bill.” (Bloomberg)
5/ Trump tweets that the US will no longer “accept or allow” transgender people in the military, saying the military “must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory” and it could not afford to accommodate them. The policy decision reverses the transformation of the military under Obama, whose administration allowed transgender people to openly serve in the military. The Pentagon will defer enlistments by transgender applicants, but it’s not clear how Trump intends to implement the ban as transgender people already serve in the military. (NPR / New York Times)
After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow......
Inside Trump’s snap decision to ban transgender troops. A congressional fight over sex reassignment surgery threatened funding for his border wall. (Politico)
The Texas Senate approved a bill that restricts bathroom access for transgender people, endorsing a piece of legislation denounced by civil liberties advocates as discriminatory. (Reuters)
The military spends 10 times as much on erectile dysfunction medicines as it does on transgender troops’ medical care. A Rand study estimated that treatment for transgendered troops cost the military between $2.4 million and $8.4 million annually. By contrast, total military spending on erectile dysfunction medicines amounts to $84 million annually. (Washington Post)
Trump’s transgender ban could force out thousands of service members. One research think tank estimated there are between 1,320 and 6,630 transgender Americans serving in the military out of 1.3 million active-service members. Another think tank put the total number of active-duty and guard or reserve service members higher, estimating that 15,500 transgender people are part of those military forces. The institute’s researchers also calculated that 134,300 veterans identify as transgender. (The Atlantic)
6/ At a rally in Ohio, Trump claimed he can be “more presidential than any president that’s ever held this office” – except for Lincoln. He said that it’s easier to “act presidential than what we are doing here tonight” (give a speech) and that “with few exceptions, no president has done anywhere near what we’ve done in his first six months. Not even close.” (The Hill / CNN)
7/ Trump attacked Jeff Sessions for not firing Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe after James Comey was fired in May. The attack came, predictably, via Twitter, where he wrote in a pair of tweets: “Why didn’t A.G. Sessions replace Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, a Comey friend who was in charge of Clinton investigation but got big dollars ($700,000) for his wife’s political run from Hillary Clinton and her representatives. Drain the Swamp!” At a news conference yesterday, Trump was asked if he would fire Sessions. “We’ll see what happens,’’ Trump said. (Politico / Washington Post)
Why didn't A.G. Sessions replace Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, a Comey friend who was in charge of Clinton investigation but got....
Several top White House officials have urged Trump to stop his public criticism of Sessions. Steve Bannon, Reince Priebus, and others have been talking up Sessions in conversations with Trump, reminding him that the attorney general has been one of the most effective members of his Cabinet in advocating for and advancing his agenda. (CNN)
An Alabama Senate candidate offered to withdraw from the race so Sessions can take his former seat. Mo Brooks proposed that all nine candidates drop out of the race simultaneously if Trump ousts Sessions from the Justice Department. The other candidates are almost certain to reject the proposal. (Politico)
8/ Sessions escalated his crackdown on so-called sanctuary cities, saying they could lose millions of dollars in federal grants unless they cooperate with federal agents to deport suspected undocumented immigrants held in local jails. The new policy will apply to all cities that apply for a federal grant program that provides roughly $250 million in crime-finding aid to states and local governments. (Los Angeles Times / The Guardian / NBC News / New York Times)
9/ Rex Tillerson is “just taking a little time off,” but has no plans to resign as Secretary of State. After Trump’s public attack on Jeff Sessions, rumors swirled that Tillerson could resign from his role citing Trump’s behavior as unprofessional. Tillerson took some days off earlier this week, but returned to work today after “a lengthy meeting with the vice president at the White House on some important policy issues.” (USA Today / The Hill)
10/ North Korea threatened a nuclear strike on “the heart of the US” if it attempts to remove Kim Jong Un as Supreme Leader. Meanwhile, US intelligence agencies believe North Korea will be capable of delivering a missile that can reach the continental US within a year. (CNN / New York Times)
poll/ 49% of Trump voters believe Trump won the popular vote. Kris Kobach — the vice chair of Trump’s election commission — floated the idea that “we may never know” whether Clinton won the popular vote. (Politico)
poll/ 45% of Republicans favor shutting down “biased” media outlets. Meanwhile, 18% of Democrats favor the courts to shut down news media outlets for publishing or broadcasting stories that are biased or inaccurate. (The Daily Beast)
poll/ Trump’s job approval stands at 43% in 11 states he won. Overall, Trump has a 40% approval rating among all adults over his first six months. (CNN)
1/ Senate Republicans secured the 51 votes needed to advance their health care bill after Pence cast the tie-breaking vote. The Senate will now begin debating, amending, and ultimately voting in the coming days on the future of Obamacare. The vote was too close to call until the last moments, when several Republican holdouts announced their support, including Rand Paul, Dean Heller, Rob Portman, and Shelley Moore Capito. Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski both voted against the motion to proceed. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN)
2/ The Senate will now have 20 hours of debate the health care bill, evenly split between the two sides. Senators can bring up and debate an unlimited number of amendments to the bill as long as they are “germane” to the bill and would not add to the budget deficit.
Then a period known as vote-a-rama happens, where Senators votes on the amendments. The first amendment will be the Obamacare Repeal Reconciliation Act, which repeals most of the Affordable Care Act without a replacement.
If that fails (as is expected), Senators will then vote on the Better Care Reconciliation Act, which cuts massive portions of the ACA. Because of reconciliation rules, these amendments would require 60 votes to pass. If BCRA fails, Senators will consider what is being called a “skinny repeal,” which repeals the individual mandate penalty, the employer mandate penalty, and the tax on medical devices. (New York Times / Vox / Time / NBC News)
John McCain returned to the Senate for the health care vote after being diagnosed with brain cancer last week. McCain’s vote is critical to today’s procedural vote. His absence would have left Senate Republicans with no margin of error. (Washington Post / Politico)
Senate Republicans don’t know what’s in their health care plan, but they voted anyway on the motion to proceed. About a half-dozen senators were publicly undecided about whether to start debate on rolling back the Affordable Care Act. Several senators have said they want a “replace” plan ready to go before voting “yes.” An agreed upon replace plan is not in place. The bill will have to pass the House before making its way to Trump’s desk. McConnell forced the procedural vote to put every senator on record. (Politico / Vox / CNN)
3/ Trump ripped Jeff Sessions on Twitter, calling him “very weak” when it comes to investigating Hillary Clinton. Trump has repeatedly taken aim at Sessions in recent days, leading to speculation that it’s just a matter of time before the attorney general resigns or is fired. The recent tweets come a day after Trump publicly described Sessions as “beleaguered.” (NBC News / CNN)
Ukrainian efforts to sabotage Trump campaign - "quietly working to boost Clinton." So where is the investigation A.G. @seanhannity
4/ Later in the day, Trump added that he is “very disappointed in Jeff Sessions” but won’t say if he’ll fire him. Trump has previously discussed replacing Jeff Sessions in a move viewed by some of Trump’s advisors as part of a strategy for firing special counsel Robert Mueller in order to end his investigation into the campaign’s efforts to coordinate with the Kremlin to influence the 2016 election. Sessions recently asked White House staff how he could patch up relations with Trump, but that went nowhere. Instead, Trump floated longtime ally Rudy Giuliani as a possible replacement for Sessions. (Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / Associated Press)
5/ Sessions is “pissed” at Trump for the attacks, but doesn’t plan to quit. Senate Republicans have said that attacks on Sessions, who spent 20 years in the Senate, strain their relationship with Trump. Many GOP senators have expressed annoyance with Trump’s tweets, saying “I really have a hard time with this” and “I’d prefer that he didn’t do that. We’d like Jeff to be treated fairly.” Senators have also been nonplussed by Trump’s criticism of Sessions’ decision to recuse himself, saying “Jeff made the right decision. It’s not only a legal decision, but it’s the right decision.” Trump’s senior policy adviser Stephen Miller and Steve Bannon also support Sessions. (The Daily Beast / McClatchy DC)
6/ Anthony Scaramucci says it’s “probably” correct that Trump wants Sessions gone. The new White House communications director didn’t want to speak for the president, but said he thinks Trump has a “certain style” and he is “obviously frustrated.” (The Hill)
7/ Senate Democrats are planning a procedural move to prevent Trump from making recess appointments by forcing the Senate to hold “pro forma” sessions – brief meetings, often only a few minutes. Democrats are worried Trump could attempt to bypass Congress and appoint a new attorney general and undermine special counsel Robert Mueller’s ongoing probe into alleged Russian meddling in the US election during the planned August recess. (CNN / Reuters)
8/ The Senate Judiciary Committee issued a subpoena to Paul Manafort to testify in its Russia probe. Manafort had agreed to provide notes of the meeting at Trump Tower last year with the Russian lawyer, according to a person close to the investigation. Committee chairman Chuck Grassley and ranking member Dianne Feinstein said they had been “unable to reach an agreement for a voluntary transcribed interview with the Judiciary Committee” with Manafort. (ABC News / Politico)
UPDATE:
The Senate Judiciary Committee has dropped the subpoena against Paul Manafort and plans are underway for the former Trump campaign chairman to speak to investigators. (Politico)
9/ Parents are angry after Trump delivered a politicized speech to tens of thousands of boy scouts. Over 35 minutes, Trump threatened to fire one of his Cabinet members, attacked Obama, dissed Hillary Clinton, marveled at the size of the crowd, warned the boys about the “fake media,” mocked the polls, and said more people would say “Merry Christmas.” Responding to criticism, the Boy Scouts of America insisted it was “wholly non-partisan and does not promote any one position, product, service, political candidate or philosophy.” (Washington Post / BBC)
Trump joked he would fire Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price if the health care bill doesn’t pass. “Hopefully he’s going to get the votes tomorrow to start on the path to kill this thing called ObamaCare that’s really hurting us,” Trump said during a speech to Boy Scouts at the 2017 National Jamboree. “He better get them, otherwise I’ll say, ‘Tom, you’re fired.’” (The Hill)
The 29 most cringe-worthy lines from Donald Trump’s hyper-political speech to the Boy Scouts (CNN)
Trump’s transcript from his 2017 Boy Scout Jamboree speech. (Time)
10/ Trump confirmed a covert CIA program while tweeting that the Washington Post had “fabricated the facts” about his decision to end a program aiding Syrian rebels fighting the government of President Bashar al-Assad. Trump was referring to a story about ending an Obama program where the CIA armed and trained moderate Syrian rebels, a move long sought by the Russian government. (Washington Post / Politico)
The Amazon Washington Post fabricated the facts on my ending massive, dangerous, and wasteful payments to Syrian rebels fighting Assad.....
11/ A federal judge ruled that Trump’s voter fraud commission may request voter roll data from states. Opponents contend the effort could infringe on privacy rights. The judge said the lawsuit did not have grounds for an injunction because the commission was not technically an action by a government agency – the commission is an advisory body that does not have legal authority to compel states to hand over the data. (Reuters)
12/ Jared Kushner bought real estate from an oligarch’s firm represented by the Russian lawyer. Lev Leviev was a business partner at Prevezon Holdings, where Natalia Veselnitskaya acted as legal counsel. Prevezon was being investigated by Preet Bharara for money laundering before he was fired by Trump in March. Prevezon Holdings attempted to use Manhattan real estate deals to launder money stolen from the Russian treasury. In 2015, Kushner paid $295m to acquire several floors of the old New York Times building at 43rd street in Manhattan from the US branch of Leviev’s company. The Prevezon case was abruptly settled two days before it was due in open court in May for $6 million with no admission of guilt on the part of the defendants. (The Guardian)
13/ A White House press aide resigned after Anthony Scaramucci said he planned to fire him over alleged leaks. Michael Short is the first to leave after Scaramucci promised all aides “a clean slate” and “amnesty” to prove that they were not leaking. “This is the problem with the leaking,” Scaramucci told reporters outside the White House. “This is actually a terrible thing. Let’s say I’m firing Michael Short today. The fact that you guys know about it before he does really upsets me as a human being and as a Roman Catholic.” Short, who initially said Tuesday that he hadn’t yet been informed of any decision, resigned Tuesday afternoon. (Washington Post / Politico / The Hill)
1/ Jared Kushner told a closed-door Senate Intelligence Committee “Let me be very clear: I did not collude with Russia, nor do I know of anyone else in the campaign who did so.” Kushner said he was unaware that the June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower with the Russian lawyer was about providing the Trump campaign with damaging information about Hillary Clinton. He added: “I had no improper contacts. I have not relied on Russian funds for my businesses and I have been fully transparent in providing all requested information.” Kushner was not under oath for the Senate meeting. He will speak to the House Intelligence Committee tomorrow. (New York Times / Washington Post / Associated Press)
Jared Kushner’s statement on Russia to congressional committees. (CNN)
2/ Kushner’s statement included details of a previously undisclosed meeting with the Russian ambassador from April 2016. Kushner met Ambassador Sergei Kislyak at an event at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC in April 2016 – the same event where Jeff Sessions met with the Kislyak, but didn’t remember. Kushner blamed the omission on his security clearance forms as a mistake made by his assistant. (Wall Street Journal / Politico)
3/ Trump pressured Republican senators to get on board and “do the right thing” and repeal Obamacare, saying: “Any senator who votes against starting debate is telling America that you are fine with the Obamacare nightmare.” Earlier, he threatened Republicans that the “repercussions will be far greater” than they expect and that Republicans are doing “very little to protect their President.” Mitch McConnell wants to move ahead with a procedural vote tomorrow to take up the health care bill. If he can find 50 votes, the Senate would begin debate on a bill to repeal and replace Obamacare. (New York Times / Reuters / Politico / The Hill)
It's very sad that Republicans, even some that were carried over the line on my back, do very little to protect their President.
The Trump administration scrapped Obamacare signup assistance in 18 cities. People will now have 45 days to shop for 2018 coverage, starting Nov. 1 and ending Dec. 15. They previously had twice that much time. (CNBC)
4/ A Texas Republican congressman blamed “some female senators from the Northeast” for the health care bill’s issues. Blake Farenthold said it’s “absolutely repugnant” that Susan Collins, Shelley Moore, and Lisa Murkowski have failed to show the courage to dismantle the health care law. “If it was a guy from south Texas,” Farenthold said. “I might ask him to step outside and settle this Aaron Burr-style.” Burr shot and killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel. (NBC News / BBC)
5/ Trump wants to know why “beleaguered” Jeff Sessions isn’t investigating Clinton. On Saturday, Trump tweeted that “so many people” were asking why Sessions was not looking into Clinton and her deleted emails despite Trump telling the Justice Department they should not investigate Clinton after he won the election. Last week, Trump said he never would have nominated Sessions if he knew he intended to recuse himself from the Russia investigation. (CNN / New York Times)
So many people are asking why isn't the A.G. or Special Council looking at the many Hillary Clinton or Comey crimes. 33,000 e-mails deleted?
6/ Trump floated the possibility of bringing in Rudolph Giuliani to head the Justice Department after sandbagging Sessions in recent days. Giuliani was an early Trump supporter, raising questions about his independence, and making it hard to find 50 Republicans senators to confirm him. (Axios)
7/ After Trump’s rebuke of Sessions, Rex Tillerson could resign from his role. Tillerson has expressed growing frustration with the Trump administration and sees Trump’s public attacks on Sessions as unprofessional. Tillerson has told friends outside of Washington that he’s determined to stay on the job at least through the end of the year. (CNN)
8/ Scaramucci: Trump is unconvinced that Russia attempted to influence the 2016 election. The new communications director said Trump doesn’t accept the intelligence community’s conclusion that the Russian government attempted to hurt Hillary Clinton and help Trump. Trump tweeted: “As the phony Russian Witch Hunt continues, two groups are laughing at this excuse for a lost election taking hold, Democrats and Russians!” (CNN)
As the phony Russian Witch Hunt continues, two groups are laughing at this excuse for a lost election taking hold, Democrats and Russians!
9/ Kellyanne Conway says Russia is “not a big story” and that Trump “doesn’t think he’s lying” about voter fraud and wiretapping. Conway claimed that the media doesn’t offer “complete coverage” of the Trump administration and that it’s “incredibly unfair and systematically against this president.” Trump has claimed that millions have voted illegally and accused Obama of wiretapping him — despite having no proof of it happening. Conway said Trump “doesn’t think he’s lying about those issues.” (CNN / Salon)
10/ Trump’s pick to lead the DOJ’s criminal division disclosed that he once represented a Putin-tied Russian bank while working for a US law firm. Brian Benczkowski is scheduled to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee for a confirmation hearing tomorrow. Alfa Bank is one of Russia’s largest financial institutions, whose owners have ties to Putin. Benczkowski previously worked in the Justice Department during the Bush era. (New York Times)
11/ Scaramucci outs Trump as his anonymous source while disputing the conclusion that Russian meddled in the election. “Somebody said to me yesterday — I won’t tell you who — that if the Russians actually hacked this situation and spilled out those emails, you would have never seen it, you would have never had any evidence of them,” Scaramucci said. After meeting with Putin in Germany, Trump said that “somebody did say” that if Putin did order the hacking, “you wouldn’t have found out about it.” Trump didn’t say who that “somebody” was but called the idea “a very interesting point.” (The Hill / New York Times / Reuters)
12/ To slow White House leaks Scaramucci plans to fire everybody. “If you’re going to keep leaking, I’m going to fire everybody.” He called leaking information “un-American,” “unprofessional and harmful.” (CBS News)
13/ Sarah Huckabee Sanders should use the hair and makeup person from Friday’s briefing, Scaramucci says on live TV. “I want to do everything I can to make her better at that podium… Like every athlete that’s training for the Olympics, every day we got to make ourselves incrementally better,” Scaramucci said. “The only thing I ask Sarah, Sarah if you’re watching, I loved the hair and makeup person that we had on Friday. So I’d like to continue to use the hair and makeup person,” Scaramucci added. (The Daily Beast / Washington Post)
Anthony Scaramucci says Sarah Sanders Huckabee would be better at her job if she looked better. No, really. #CNNSOTUhttps://t.co/0S758V1MTZ
poll/ Trump averaged a 50% or higher job approval rating in 17 states from January to June. And now, let the wild rumpus start: West Virginia (60% approval), North Dakota (59%), South Dakota (57%), Montana (56%), Wyoming (56%), Alabama (55%), Oklahoma (54%), Kansas (53%), Kentucky (53%), Arkansas (53%), and Idaho (53%). (Gallup)
poll/ Americans are split – 42%-42% – over whether Trump should be removed from office. 46% say Trump won’t complete his first term, while 27% are confident that he’ll serve all four years of his term. A third said they would be upset if Trump was impeached, while an equal third said they would be upset if he’s not. (USA Today)
1/ Trump lost his shit on Twitter today. In a two hour rant he asserted his “complete power” to pardon himself, decried “illegal leaks,” blamed Hillary, defended Trump Jr. and his new communications director, called Democrats obstructionist, and declared Obamacare dead. (The Daily Beast / ABC News / Washington Post / New York Magazine)
A new INTELLIGENCE LEAK from the Amazon Washington Post,this time against A.G. Jeff Sessions.These illegal leaks, like Comey's, must stop!
Legal experts doubt Trump could pardon himself in the Russia inquiry. The constitution does not weigh in explicitly on the issue and there is no direct precedent. No president has ever attempted to self-pardon. (The Guardian)
2/ Jeff Sessions discussed the Trump campaign with the Russian ambassador while serving as Trump’s foreign policy adviser. US intelligence intercepts show Sessions and Sergey Kislyak had “substantive” discussions on Trump’s positions on Russia-related issues, prospects for US-Russia relations in a Trump administration, and other policy issues important to Moscow. Sessions initially failed to disclose his contacts with Kislyak, but later said that the meetings were not about the Trump campaign. (Washington Post)
Senator Chuck Grassley called on the anonymous leaker to release the alleged Sessions-Russia conversations. “LEAKER: stop tease/leak entire conversation/end speculation,” Grassley tweeted. (The Hill)
So much speculation on CNN abt Session/Russian ph call bc of intelligence leak LEAKER:stop tease/ leak entire conversation/end speculation
3/ Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump filed new financial disclosures revealing they could be worth more than $762 million. In his 39th revised filing, Kushner “inadvertently omitted” 77 items from his first form. Ivanka Trump, for the first time, filed documents disclosing the couple’s art collection (valued at up to $25 million) and that she’s been paid as much as $5 million from her outside businesses between January 1st and when she entered the White House on March 8th. (CNN / Bloomberg / Washington Post)
4/ Key provisions in the Republican health care bill don’t comply with the Senate’s budget rules. The so-called “Byrd Rule” makes sure policies passed under “budget reconciliation” — which allows legislation to advance with only 51 votes instead of the usual 60 needed to get past a filibuster — either decrease federal spending or increase revenue. The 52 Senate Republicans will now need to vote to preserve each provision flagged by the Senate Budget Committee for violating the Byrd rule. (Politico / Vox)
5/ The House and Senate reached a Russia sanctions deal. The legislation will give Congress the ability to block Trump from easing sanctions on Moscow. The bill includes new sanctions against Russia, Iran, and North Korea. The bill is set for a vote Tuesday. (CNN / Washington Post / ABC News)
6/ The new White House communications director praised Breitbart News, saying they’ve “captured the spirit of what’s actually going on in the country.” Anthony Scaramucci said he wants to get Trump’s unfiltered message to his supporters via Twitter, bypassing mainstream media Trump often calls “fake news,” while hoping to de-escalate “unfairness and bias in the media.” (Politico)
7/ The Director of National Intelligence said no US intelligence agencies dispute Russian election meddling, pushing back on Trump’s claim there was a misunderstanding between the agencies. “There is no dissent, and I have stated that publicly and I have stated that to the president,” Dan Coats said. Trump had previously claimed that only “three or four” agencies came to the conclusion that Russia meddled in the election. (The Hill)
1/ Trump’s lawyers are discussing his authority to grant pardons to aides, family members, and himself in connection with the Russia probe. Because no president has ever pardoned himself, there is no precedent, which leaves the question open: can a president use their constitutional power to pardon themselves? The power to pardon is granted in Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution, which gives the president the power to “grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.” (Washington Post)
2/ Trump’s lawyers are exploring ways to stymie Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. They’re scouring the professional and political backgrounds of investigators hired by the special counsel, looking for conflicts of interest they could use to discredit the investigation or force members of the team to recuse themselves – and possibly build a case to fire Mueller. Trump has been particularly upset that Mueller could access his personal tax returns, which he has repeatedly declined to release to the public. (New York Times / The Hill)
3/ Trump tapped Anthony Scaramucci to be the new White House communications director, a wealthy Wall Street financier, schmoozer, and fixture on the global financial scene. Trump sees Scaramucci as a strong defender of him on television and wants him to focus on the surrogate strategy as communications director. Scaramucci supported Trump’s campaign, dealing with fundraising and appearing on cable TV as a frequent defender of the president. The role has been open since Mike Dubke resigned in May. (Axios / Washington Post / NBC News / Politico)
Scaramucci once called Trump a “hack politician” and said his rhetoric was “anti-American.” In August 2015, then-candidate Trump railed against “hedge-fund guys paying nothing” in taxes. Scaramucci shot back, calling him “another hack politician,” whose remarks “anti-American and divisive.” (Time)
4/ Sean Spicer resigned as the White House Press Secretary, telling Trump he “vehemently disagreed” with the appointment of New York financier Anthony Scaramucci as communications director. After offering the job to Scaramucci, Trump asked Spicer to stay on. Spicer declined, telling Trump he believed the appointment was a major mistake. Spicer was largely left in the dark, unaware of Trump’s intention to hire Scaramucci until this morning, as were Reince Priebus and Steve Bannon, both of whom fiercely opposed Scaramucci’s hire. Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump encouraged the move. Sarah Huckabee Sanders was named White House press secretary. (New York Times / CNN / ABC News / Politico)
It's been an honor & a privilege to serve @POTUS@realDonaldTrump & this amazing country. I will continue my service through August
— Kayleigh McEnany 45 Archived (@PressSec45) July 21, 2017
5/ Robert Mueller asked White House staff to preserve all documents relating to Trump Jr.’s meeting with the Russian lawyer. The notice, called a document preservation request, asked White House staff to save any text messages, emails, notes, voicemails, and other communications and documentation from the June 2016 meeting. (CNN)
6/ The Russian lawyer Trump Jr. met with had Russian intelligence connections. Natalia Veselnitskaya had previously represented Russia’s top spy agency, the Federal Security Service, in a land dispute in Moscow. There is no information that Veselnitskaya is an intelligence agent or an employee of the Russian government. (Washington Post)
7/ Russia’s foreign minister suggested Trump may have had more meetings with Putin at the G-20 summit. Sergey Lavrov shrugged off the importance of the encounters, dismissing speculation about the leaders’ meetings, and joking that “maybe they went to the toilet together.” Trump and Putin met three times at the summit. (NBC News)
8/ Susan Rice privately met with the Senate intelligence committee as part of the committee’s investigation into Russia meddling in the election. Rice, who served as Obama’s national security adviser, is under scrutiny from House Republicans because they believe she improperly “unmasked” the identities of Trump associates in US intelligence reports. (CNN)
9/ Trump reshuffled his legal team. Marc Kasowitz, Trump’s longtime personal attorney who has been the lead lawyer on the Russia investigation, will step aside as the role requires Washington-centric expertise. John Dowd and Jay Sekulow will now be Trump’s primary personal attorneys for the investigation, with Dowd in the lead. From inside the White House, Ty Cobb will take the lead on the investigation from a legal and communications perspective. (CNN)
10/ The spokesman for Trump’s legal team resigned two months after starting. Mark Corallo said the dynamics in the White House were untenable and that there was “too much fighting all the time.” He had grown frustrated with the operation and was concerned about whether he was being told the truth about various matters. (Politico)
poll/ 57% of all Americans say Trump Jr. shouldn’t have taken the meeting with the Russian lawyer. 83% of Democrats say the group should not have taken the meeting, while 48% of Republicans say they should have. (CNN)
poll/ Trump averaged a 38.8% job approval during his second quarter in office. No other president has had a worse second-quarter average. The historical average second-quarter rating is 62%. (Gallup)
1/ Trump would have never hired Jeff Sessions had he known he would recuse himself from the Russia investigation. “Sessions should have never recused himself,” Trump said, “and if he was going to recuse himself, he should have told me before he took the job, and I would have picked somebody else.” Trump called the decision “very unfair to the president. How do you take a job and then recuse yourself?” Asked if Robert Mueller’s investigation would cross a line if it started to look at his family’s finances beyond Russia, Trump said, “I would say yes,” but declined to say what he would do about it. “I think that’s a violation. Look, this is about Russia.” (New York Times)
Excerpts from Trump’s interview with the New York Times. Trump spoke on Wednesday with three New York Times reporters — Peter Baker, Michael S. Schmidt and Maggie Haberman — in an exclusive interview in the Oval Office. Also in attendance was Hope Hicks, a White House spokeswoman. (New York Times)
Trump’s blast of Sessions has a “chilling” effect inside the West Wing. White House officials are thinking: If this kind could happen to Sessions, it could happen to anyone. One official described the President’s blasting of Sessions as only intensifying the already low morale inside the West Wing. (CNN)
GOP senators rebuked Trump’s criticism of Sessions. “The attorney general is America’s top law enforcement official,” one GOP senator said. “It’s unclear if he understands that, and that’s pretty disturbing.” (CNN)
2/ Jeff Sessions plans to stay in his role despite Trump’s comments that he’d have picked someone else had he known Sessions would recuse himself from the Russia investigation. Sessions said he’s had the “honor of serving as attorney general,” and he planned “to continue to do so as long as that is appropriate.” (Washington Post / CNN)
3/ The White House says Trump still has confidence in Sessions, despite being “disappointed” in Sessions’ decision to recuse himself. Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters that Trump “clearly he has confidence in him or he would not be the Attorney General,” adding “if he wanted somebody to take an action, he would make that quite clear.” (NBC News)
4/ Robert Mueller expanded his probe to include Trump’s business transactions, ignoring Trump’s warning not to dig into matters beyond Russia. Investigators are looking at Russian purchases of apartments in Trump buildings, Trump’s involvement in a SoHo development with Russian associates, the 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow, and Trump’s sale of a Florida mansion to a Russian oligarch in 2008. In Trump’s interview with the New York Times, he defended his involvement with Russia saying, “it’s possible there’s a condo or something, so, you know, I sell a lot of condo units, and somebody from Russia buys a condo, who knows? I don’t make money from Russia.” (Bloomberg)
5/ Jared Kushner, Paul Manafort, and Trump Jr. will testify before Senate committees next week. Kushner will appear before the Senate intelligence committee on Monday, while Trump Jr. and Manafort are scheduled to testify before the Senate judiciary committee on Wednesday. (CNN / ABC News)
6/ Paul Manafort was in debt to pro-Russia interests when he joined Trump’s campaign in March 2016. Shell companies linked to Manafort’s businesses in Ukraine owed as much as $17 million. (New York Times)
7/ Mueller is investigating Manafort for possible money laundering. The inquiry began several weeks ago and looks at how Manafort spent and borrowed tens of millions of dollars in connection with properties in the US over the past decade. The Senate and House intelligence committees also are probing possible money laundering by Manafort. (Wall Street Journal)
8/ Trump’s embrace of Russia places him at odds with his national security and foreign policy advisers. “Deep divisions” are growing in the White House on the best way to approach Moscow. Foreign officials have said Trump and his team have sent “mixed signals” with regards to their Russia policy, leaving diplomats and intelligence officials “dumbfounded” by Trump’s approach. (Associated Press)
9/ The Trump team used Obamacare money to run ads that undermined the health care law. The Trump administration requested $574 million from the Department of Health and Human Services’ “consumer information and outreach” budget, which is supposed to be used for advertising the ACA and encouraging enrollment. Instead, they bought social media ads and produced more than 130 videos designed to damage public opinion of Obamacare. (The Daily Beast)
10/ John McCain was diagnosed with brain cancer. McCain had a blood clot removed from above his left eye last week and “subsequent tissue pathology revealed that a primary brain tumor known as a glioblastoma.” McCain and his family are reviewing further treatment options, including potential chemotherapy and radiation. (BuzzFeed News)
11/ After their White House meeting, Senate Republicans are still unlikely to repeal Obamacare in the coming days. Mitch McConnell needs 51 votes (or 50 plus Pence as a tie-breaker) to begin debate. There are 52 Senate Republicans and at least four Republican senators having announced opposition to starting debate on the current health care replacement plan: Susan Collins, Rand Paul, Mike Lee, and Jerry Moran. John McCain’s diagnosis of brain cancer also has the GOP down a vote. McCain has privately indicated that he would not support a repeal-only bill. Shelley Moore Capito and Lisa Murkowski say they would also oppose a repeal-only bill. The path to 50 votes is extremely unlikely. (Politico / HuffPost)
12/ The Senate confirmed a federal judge who once compared abortion to slavery, calling them “the two greatest tragedies in our country.” The Senate confirmed John K. Bush’s lifetime appointment as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth. The vote was 51-47. (HuffPost / The Daily Beast)
13/ Trump ended a covert CIA program to arm anti-Assad rebels in Syria, a move sought by Moscow. Closing the program is an acknowledgment of Trump’s limited leverage and desire to remove Assad from power. (Washington Post)
poll/ 88% percent of Trump voters would vote for him again. 12% said they would not vote for Trump “if the 2016 presidential election were held today.” (Reuters)
poll/ 47% of liberal Democrats can’t stand friends who voted for Trump, saying it puts a strain on their friendships. Among Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters more broadly, the number is 35%. White and more-educated Democrats are more likely to feel that it’s tough to even be friends with a Trump supporter. (Pew Research Center / Washington Post)
1/ Trump and Putin met for nearly an hour in a second, previously undisclosed meeting during a dinner for G20 leaders. The White House called the meeting “brief” and said Trump spoke with Putin through Russia’s translator. No other American officials other than Trump were present for the meeting. (CNN / New York Times / Reuters)
2/ In response to the news of the meeting, Trump tweeted that the “Fake News” story about his “secret dinner with Putin is “‘sick.’” He added that “the Fake News is becoming more and more dishonest” and makes his previously undisclosed meeting with Putin “look sinister!” (Twitter)
3/ A Republican congressman attempted to alter Russian sanctions after receiving a confidential document while in Moscow. Dana Rohrabacher tried to set up a virtual “show trial” last June, around the same time that Trump Jr. met with the Russian lawyer, in an attempt to undermine a set of sanctions placed on Russia. The document contends that the US – and the rest of the world – was “duped by a fake $230 million scandal that resulted in sanctions being imposed on 44 Russians linked to murder, corruption, or cover-ups.” During a congressional hearing, Rohrabacher wanted to present “a feature-length pro-Kremlin propaganda movie” made by the “Prosecutor General’s office in Moscow, which is run by Yuri Chaika, a close associate of President Vladimir Putin.” (The Daily Beast)
4/ Trump is threatening to gut the Obamacare markets, repeatedly telling aides and advisers that he wants to end the subsidy payments. The deadline for sending out the monthly Affordable Care Act subsidies to health plans is Thursday. Trump has the discretion to decide unilaterally whether the payments continue while a lawsuit House Republicans won in 2014 is being appealed. (Politico)
5/ Senate Republicans who opposed the health care bill are meeting tonight to try and revive the repeal and replacement bill after being told by Trump that they need to get a deal done before the August recess. Mitch McConnell wants vote next week for the procedural motion to take up the bill and start debate. Trump told senators that “inaction is not an option” and that “any senator who votes against starting debate is really telling America that you’re fine with Obamacare.” (Politico / Axios / New York Times / CNN)
6/ The CBO estimates that the Senate “repeal only” bill would leave 32 million more uninsured and double premiums over a decade. The legislation is on track to reach the Senate floor early next week, where it would likely fail. (Politico)
7/ The Supreme Court allows the “grandparent” exemption to Trump’s travel ban. The court upheld parts of a lower court order that temporarily exempts grandparents and other relatives from the travel ban. Now grandparents, grandchildren, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, aunts and uncles, nephews and nieces, and cousins are considered “close family.” (NPR / CNN / Washington Post)
8/ More than 20 members of Congress want the FBI to review Ivanka Trump’s security clearance. The group sent a letter to acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe asking him to “conduct a review of a potentially serious issue” involving Ivanka and whether she properly filled out her SF-86 form, which is the security clearance required for federal officials. (Yahoo)
9/ The Russian lawyer said she’s willing to testify to Congress about what she called “mass hysteria” regarding her meeting with Trump Jr. Natalia Veselnitskaya told Russia’s Kremlin-backed RT TV channel that she never obtained damaging information about Clinton and that she has no ties with the Kremlin. (Reuters)
10/ The military is paying $130,000 a month to lease space in Trump Tower for offices that support the White House despite Trump not spending a night there since becoming president. The military’s lease in Trump Tower is far above market rate for similarly sized apartments in the luxury high rise market, making it one of the most expensive residential rentals in Manhattan. (Wall Street Journal)
11/ Trump sanctioned Iran a day after certifying its compliance with the nuclear deal. The sanctions targeted 18 people and entities that were involved in missile development, weapons procurement, and software theft. (CNN / New York Times)
12/ Jeff Sessions rolled back an Obama directive that prevented police from seizing cash and property from people suspected of crimes but not charged. The technique has been linked to civil rights abuses where people lose their cash, cars, and homes without any proven link to illegal activity. (NBC News / Washington Post)
13/ Trump Jr. is reportedly “miserable” and wants “these four years to be over.” PEOPLE, who talked to “a source who knows the family well,” said that “Don can’t do any deals, because he’ll be overly scrutinized. He just goes to work every day and is miserable.” (People)
poll/ 32% of Trump voters don’t believe Trump Jr. had a meeting with the Russian lawyer about information that might be harmful to Hillary Clinton. 45% believe the meeting happened and 24% say they’re not sure despite Trump Jr. confirming the meeting took place and tweeting out the email chain used to setup the meeting with the Russian lawyer. (Public Policy Polling)
poll/ 53% of Americans say they want to see Democrats take control of Congress in 2018 “to act as a check on Trump,” versus 35% who’d like to see the GOP retain control in order “to support Trump’s agenda.” (ABC News)
poll/ 65% of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents say they are likely to vote next year, compared to 57% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents. “The survey results suggest … Democrats have not been able to capitalize yet on voter antipathy toward Trump. For one thing, Americans who strongly disapprove of Trump do not appear to be any more motivated to vote than the average American.” (Washington Post)
1/ The GOP health care bill collapsed after two more Republican senators said they would oppose the bill to repeal and replace Obamacare, leaving Mitch McConnell at least two votes short of the 50 needed to begin debate on their bill to dismantle the health law. Senators Mike Lee and Jerry Moran joined Rand Paul and Susan Collins of Maine in opposition of the bill, preventing GOP leaders from bringing the bill to the floor and ending Republicans’ seven-year goal of repealing Obamacare. (New York Times / Politico / Washington Post / CNN / Wall Street Journal)
Trump blindsided by the implosion of the GOP health care bill. While the president strategized with Republican lawmakers at the White House over steak, two senators were finalizing their statements tanking the current proposal. (Politico)
How the Republican health care bill fell apart. Trump was “annoyed” at the news, which came after a dinner with Republican senators. (CNN)
2/ Trump immediately called on Republicans to repeal Obamacare now and work on a healthcare plan that would draw Democratic support later. “Republicans should just REPEAL failing ObamaCare now & work on a new Healthcare Plan that will start from a clean slate,” Trump tweeted. “Dems will join in!” (Reuters / The Hill)
Republicans should just REPEAL failing ObamaCare now & work on a new Healthcare Plan that will start from a clean slate. Dems will join in!
3/ Trump blamed Democrats for the collapse of the GOP health care bill and urged Republicans to let Obamacare fail in an attempt to force Democrats to the negotiating table. In a series of tweets, just hours after saying Republicans should act now to repeal the law, Trump said: “We were let down by all of the Democrats and a few Republicans. Most Republicans were loyal, terrific & worked really hard. We will return! As I have always said, let ObamaCare fail and then come together and do a great healthcare plan. Stay tuned!” (Washington Post / Politico / The Hill)
We were let down by all of the Democrats and a few Republicans. Most Republicans were loyal, terrific & worked really hard. We will return!
4/ McConnell said he would attempt to hold a vote on a repeal-only bill in the coming days that would delay the repeal of Obamacare for two years. “Regretfully, it is now apparent that the effort to repeal and immediately replace the failure of Obamacare will not be successful,” McConnell said in a statement. He added that “in the coming days,” the Senate would vote on “a repeal of Obamacare with a two-year delay to provide for a stable transition period to a patient-centered health care system that gives Americans access to quality, affordable care.” (CNN / ABC News)
Why is Mitch McConnell still calling for a health-care vote? The effort to “repeal and immediately replace” Obamacare “will not be successful,” McConnell admitted. (Washington Post)
5/ Three Republican senators said they would oppose McConnell’s repeal-only idea. Susan Collins, Shelley Moore Capito, and Lisa Murkowski said they would oppose any vote to proceed with an immediate repeal of the health care law without a replacement — enough to doom the effort before it could get any momentum. (New York Times / Washington Post)
6/ House Republican unveiled their 2018 budget proposal, which slashes billions in spending to social programs like Medicaid and food stamp, and paves the way for a major overhaul of the tax code. Defense spending would steadily increase over the next 10 years while non-defense, discretionary spending would decline to $424 billion — about 23% below current spending in the category. The budget calls for at least $203 billion in cuts to programs such as Medicare and Social Security over the next decade. In addition, the proposal sets out special procedures that could allow Republicans to pass legislation over the objections of Senate Democrats using a process known as reconciliation and setting the stage for tax reform legislation. (Washington Post / New York Times / CNN / ABC News)
7/ House Republicans want to defund the only federal agency that works to ensure the voting process is secure as part of proposed federal budget cuts. Republicans say that the Federal Election Commission could bear the Election Assistance Commission’s responsibilities and that the EAC improperly interferes in the right of states to conduct their elections. (Wall Street Journal)
8/ The vice chair of Trump’s voter fraud commission wants to add new requirements for voting. The day after Trump was elected, Kris Kobach, the Kansas Secretary of State, proposed a change federal law to make voter registration requirements stricter and “to make clear that proof of citizenship requirements are permitted.” Kobach is now the vice chair of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity. (Washington Post / HuffPost)
9/ Thousands of voters are removing themselves from state voter rolls, worried that Trump’s vote fraud commission will reveal their personal information. Colorado has seen 3,738 voters remove their names from the rolls since Trump’s election commission sent letters to all states requesting voter information. (NBC News)
10/ The eighth person at the Trump Tower meeting has been identified. Ike Kaveladze, attended as an interpreter for the Russian lawyer, is an American-based employee of a Russian real estate company owned by Emin and Aras Agalarov, the Russian developers who hosted the Trump-owned Miss Universe pageant in 2013. In October 2000, a report by the Government Accountability Office accused Kaveladze of laundering $1.4 billion of Russian and Eastern European money through US banks. Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team is investigating the meeting. (Washington Post / CNN / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / The Daily Beast)
11/ White House staff is worried that Jared Kushner’s security clearance is in jeopardy. Kushner has an interim security clearance, but met with the FBI on June 23 to be interviewed for his permanent security clearance – two days after amending his SF-86 form for a third time with details of the meeting with Trump Jr. and the Russian lawyer at Trump Tower. Without a security clearance, Kushner wouldn’t be able to take part in most West Wing decisions and it would hamstring his foreign policy work. (CNN)
12/ Trump claims to have signed more bills than any president ever in his first six months. “We’ve signed more bills — and I’m talking about through the legislature — than any president, ever,” Trump said at a “Made in America” event. Carter signed 70 bills in his first six months, Clinton signed 50., W. Bush signed 20 bills, and Obama signed 39 bills during the period, including an $800 billion stimulus program to confront an economic disaster, legislation to make it easier for women to sue for equal pay, a bill to give the Food and Drug Administration the authority to regulate tobacco and an expansion of the federal health insurance program for children. Trump has signed 42 bills as of this week. (New York Times)
13/ Trump is fighting a demand that he testify in the suit by protesters that were roughed up at his rally. At a March 2016 event, Trump called out to the crowd to remove the three protesters, saying “get ’em out of here.” The three were then physically attacked. Trump has attempted to get the suit dismissed on First Amendment grounds, as well as arguing that he is immune from civil lawsuits while serving as president. (Politico / Washington Post)
poll/ 76% of Americans are worried that the U.S. will become engaged in a major war in the next four years, jumping 10 points since February, when 66% of Americans said they were worried about military conflict. (NBC News)
poll/ 81% of Americans see North Korea as a threat to the U.S., including 66% who see it as a “serious” threat, up 12 points from 2005. 36% trust Trump’s ability to handle the situation, while 63% distrust him, and 40% trusting him “not at all.” (ABC News)
poll/ 12% of key Trump counties supported the GOP health care effort, while 41% said it was a bad idea. Among Trump voters specifically in these counties, 25% believe the House GOP health care bill is a good idea. (NBC News)
poll/ Hillary Clinton more unpopular than Trump. 39% of Americans view Hillary Clinton favorably, compared to 41% for Trump. Meanwhile, 58% have an unfavorable view of Clinton, compared to 55% who have an unfavorable view of Trump. (Bloomberg)
1/ The Trump reelection campaign paid $50,000 to Trump Jr.’s attorney two weeks before the release of his emails. Alan Futerfas started representing Trump Jr. on July 10th, but was paid at least $50,000 on June 27th. Futerfas’s expertise is in white collar criminal defense, not political or election law. In total, Trump disclosed $677,826 in payments described as “legal consulting” between April and June. (Politico / The Daily Beast)
2/ Trump’s lawyer blamed the Secret Service for vetting and allowing Trump Jr.’s meeting with the Russian lawyer. The Secret Service pushed back, saying that Trump Jr. was not a “protectee of the USSS in June, 2016. Thus we would not have screened anyone he was meeting with at that time.” On ABC’s “This Week,” Jay Sekulow said: “Well, I wonder why the Secret Service, if this was nefarious, why the Secret Service allowed these people in. The President had Secret Service protection at that point, and that raised a question with me.” (Reuters / CNN)
3/ Sean Spicer contradicted both Trump and Trump Jr. on the Russian lawyer meeting. Spicer said that “there was nothing as far as we know that would lead anyone to believe” that the meeting was about anything other than international adoption policy. The statement contradicts the contents of Trump Jr.‘s email setting up the meeting. And, earlier in the day, Trump tweeted that “Most politicians would have gone to a meeting like the one Don jr attended in order to get info on an opponent. That’s politics!” (The Daily Beast)
Most politicians would have gone to a meeting like the one Don jr attended in order to get info on an opponent. That's politics!
4/ Mitch McConnell delayed the Senate vote on the health care bill until John McCain returns from surgery where he had to remove a blood clot above his left eye. Neurosurgeons said McCain’s recover could take a week or two. Rand Paul said the delay would strengthen critics’ position by giving them more time to mobilize against the bill. “The longer the bill is out there, the more conservative Republicans are going to discover it is not repeal,” he said. (New York Times / Washington Post)
McCain’s surgery will delay Senate votes on health care bill. McConnell said the Senate would “defer consideration” of the bill, scheduled for this week, because John McCain would be absent, recovering from surgery that he had to remove a blood clot above his left eye. (New York Times)
5/ The CBO will not release its updated score for the Senate health care plan today as planned. The Senate Budget Committee did not provide an explanation or when the analysis was expected, saying it will provide further information and updates as appropriate. (CBS News / Washington Post)
6/ Insurers called the Senate health care bill “simply unworkable in any form” and warned that it would cause major hardship for middle-class people with serious medical problems. America’s Health Insurance Plans and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association said “millions of more individuals will become uninsured.” (HuffPost)
7/ The office of a Republican senator who’s voiced concerns about GOP health care bill was burglarized. A note was found at Dean Heller’s office that reportedly read, “Vote no on the health care bill or I will lose my health care and die, and you will, too.” Heller has not said whether or not he will support the revised version of the bill. His seat is a top target for Democrats in 2018. (NBC News / Politico)
Breaking: Note on @SenDeanHeller's door: Vote no on the health care bill or I will lose my health care and die, and you will, too. https://t.co/laUgX3ndll
8/ Homeland Security will turn over Mar-a-Lago visitor logs. Citizens for Responsible Ethics in Washington filed suit with the National Security Archive and the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University for the logs of visitors from Mar-a-Lago, the White House and Trump Tower. DHS will release the logs by September 8th. (Politico)
9/ Trump tweets that his low poll numbers are “not bad at this time.” His 36% approval rating means he has his base, and that’s it. (ABC News)
The ABC/Washington Post Poll, even though almost 40% is not bad at this time, was just about the most inaccurate poll around election time!
poll/ Americans prefer Obamacare to the Republican replacement by a 2-to-1 margin – 50% to 24%. More specifically, 77% of Democrats prefer Obamacare, while 59% of Republicans favor their party’s solution. (Washington Post)
poll/ 61% of Americans say the nation is headed down the wrong path and 55% now view Trump unfavorably. Both up 12 points since December. (Bloomberg)
poll/ Trump’s job approval rating in counties that fueled his election victory stands at 50%, while 46 percent disapprove. (NBC News)
poll/ 36% of all Americans approve of Trump’s job performance, down 6 points from his 100-day mark, itself a low. The previous president closest to this level at or near six months was Gerald Ford, at 39%, in February 1975. (ABC News)
1/ A former Soviet counterintelligence officer attended the Trump Jr. meeting. The Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, was accompanied by Rinat Akhmetshin, a Russian-American lobbyist and former Soviet counterintelligence officer suspected by some US officials of having ongoing ties to Russian intelligence. The revelation brings the total in attendance to eight: Trump Jr., Kushner, Manafort, Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin, publicist Rob Goldstone, who helped set up the meeting, and at least two other people: a translator and a representative of the Russian family who had asked Goldstone to set up the meeting. Senator Charles Grassley said Akhmetshin failed to register as a foreign agent even though he had been lobbying in the US for Russian interests. Grassley also said that Akhmetshin had been working with the opposition-research firm that compiled the highly disputed dossier on Trump. Akhmetshin has denied ever working as an intelligence agent. (NBC News / Associated Press / CNN / Washington Post)
Government watchdogs filed a complaint against Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort with the Federal Election Commission, arguing the three violated the law by meeting with a Russian who was offering damaging information on Hillary Clinton. The complaint said the emails provided evidence that Trump Jr. violated the law by asking a foreign national for something of value. (Reuters)
The top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee fears Trump will pardon those convicted in Russia probe. “The possibility of presidential pardons in this process concerns me and also would be, I think, a really, really bad move,” Mark Warner said. (The Hill)
Kushner was angry that the White House wasn’t more aggressive in its defense of the Trump Jr. meeting. Kushner wanted the White House to complain about chyrons on cable news, call reporters to update stories with White House statements, and push out surrogates with talking points to change the narrative around the latest twist in the Russia scandal. Sean Spicer and other senior staffers have expressed reservations, saying it’s best to leave it to outside counsel. (Politico)
2/ The former intel officer was accused of hacking a Russian mining company and stealing documents. Court papers from 2015 say Rinat Akhmetshin was paid $140,000 to organize a public relations smear campaign targeting International Mineral Resources. Shortly after he began that work, IMR was hacked and gigabytes of data were allegedly stolen. Akhmetshin has denied the accusation, but admitted to passing around a “hard drive” filled with data on IMR’s owners he’d gotten from the former prime minister of Kazakhstan. The charges were later withdrawn. (The Daily Beast)
3/ Veselnitskaya presented the Trump team with documents that she believed showed people tied to Russia were funding the Democratic National Committee and supporting Clinton. Veselnitskaya brought a plastic folder with printed-out documents detailing the flow of illicit funds to the DNC and suggested that making the information public could help the Trump campaign. Trump Jr. said he did not receive the information he was promised. (Associated Press)
4/ The lawyer Trump Jr. met with was in contact with Russia’s top prosecutor. Natalia Veselnitskaya said she wasn’t working for Russia, but regularly met with and shared information with the Russian prosecutor general’s office, which included Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika. Rob Goldstone, the British publicist who arranged the meeting, wrote in an email to Trump Jr. that Aras Agalarov had met with Russia’s “crown” prosecutor – Yuri Chaika – and offered to provide the Trump campaign with incriminating information on Clinton. Veselnitskaya said she asked Agalarov to help arrange the meeting with the Trump campaign. Both Veselnitskaya and Agalarov denied that the meeting was arranged at Chaika’s request. Agalarov also denied meeting with Chaika as described in Goldstone’s email. (Wall Street Journal)
5/ Trump’s lawyers learned of Trump Jr.’s email chain more than three weeks ago. The White House has said Trump heard about the meeting “in the last couple of days” and hadn’t see the emails until Trump Jr. released them. Trump’s lawyer for the Russia investigation, Marc Kasowitz, and the chief legal officer for the Trump Organization, Alan Garten, were both informed about the emails in the third week of June, after they were discovered by lawyers for Kushner. (Yahoo)
6/ The White House is shaking up its legal team, bringing on board a veteran Washington criminal defense lawyer. Ty Cobb will join the White House staff as a special counsel to the president and will handle all legal and media-related issues relating to the Russia probe. Fun fact: The attorney is a relative of the baseball legend of same name. (Yahoo / Bloomberg)
7/ Kushner’s lawyer dropped the Russia case and turned over all responsibilities to Kushner’s other attorney, Abbe Lowell, a well-known Washington criminal defense lawyer. Jamie Gorelick will continue to represent Kushner on issues relating to ethics and his security clearance form. Gorelick was a partner at WilmerHale, where Bob Mueller was also a partner until becoming the special counsel. (Politico / National Law Journal)
8/ Homeland Security contradicted Trump’s claim that Loretta Lynch let the Russian lawyer into the US. “DHS paroled Natalia Veselnitskaya into the U.S. in concurrence with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York, allowing her to participate in a client’s legal proceedings,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement. In Paris, Trump said that “that her visa or her passport to come into the country was approved by Attorney General Lynch […] So, she was here because of Lynch.” Almost immediately, a spokesperson for Lynch put out a statement insisting that she had no authority over whether or not the Russian lawyer was allowed to enter the country. (BuzzFeed News)
9/ A Hawaiian judge loosened Trump’s travel ban, changing the definition of a “bona fide” relationship. The decision means that “grandparents, grandchildren, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and cousins of persons in the United States” will now count as close family relationships and can gain entry into the country. (Wall Street Journal / CNN)
10/ Jeff Sessions said the Trump administration will appeal the latest travel ban ruling to the Supreme Court. Sessions said “the district court has improperly substituted its policy preferences for the national security judgments of the executive branch in a time of grave threats, defying both the lawful prerogatives of the executive branch and the directive of the Supreme Court.” (Reuters / Politico / Associated Press)
11/ Trump’s lawyer threatened a critic in a series of emails to “watch your back, bitch… I already know where you live.” The email was in a response to a retired public relations professional sending Marc Kasowitz an email with the subject line: “Resign Now.’’ Kasowitz initially replied with “Fuck you,” before sending series of angry messages. Kasowitz has since apologized, saying “the email [exchange] came at the end of a very long day.” (ProPublica / Politico)
12/ Trump takes the upper hand in the Battle of the Handshakes with Macron, unleashing yet another awkward handshake that lasted for a 29-seconds. At one point, while still holding Macron’s hand, Trump reached over to kiss Macron’s wife, on her cheek and grabbed her hand as well, holding both Macron and his wife’s hands at the same time. The never-ending handshake between Trump and the French president is par for the course between the two. In May, Macron out-Trump’d Trump in a “fierce” handshake that lasted six seconds. Yesterday, Trump greeted Brigitte Macron by tugging her hand around in the air. He later told the French first lady that she’s “in such good shape.” (CNN)
poll/ 53% think Trump Jr.’s meeting with the Russian lawyer was inappropriate, while 22% thought it was appropriate and 25% were unsure. 47% of Republican respondents said the meeting was appropriate. (The Hill)
1/ Senate Republicans released their new Obamacare repeal bill. The new bill would maintain some Obamacare taxes on the wealthy, provide new financial support to help low-income people purchase health insurance, allow people to pay for insurance with pre-tax money, and spend $45 billion to fight opioid addiction. The plan also includes an amendment from Ted Cruz to win over conservatives aimed at building enough GOP support to open debate on the bill next week, but it’s not clear if the votes will be there. The Cruz amendment would allow insurers offering Obamacare plans to also offer cheap, deregulated policies meant to appeal to conservatives. The change could drive away moderates who are concerned the amendment would cause premiums to spike for those with pre-existing conditions. The revised bill would provide an additional $70 billion in funds that states could use to make health care more affordable on top of the more than $100 billion already included. (Politico / CNN)
2/ At least three Senate Republicans will vote against the revised health bill. Susan Collins, Rand Paul, and Rob Portman all remain opposed. Collins said the deep cuts to Medicaid were standing in the way. “My strong intention and current inclination is to vote no on the motion to proceed,” Collins said. Mitch McConnell needs the support of 50 of his 52 members to pass the legislation. (Washington Post / Axios)
Still deep cuts to Medicaid in Senate bill. Will vote no on MTP. Ready to work w/ GOP & Dem colleagues to fix flaws in ACA.
— Sen. Susan Collins (@SenatorCollins) July 13, 2017
3/ Two Republican senators introduced an alternative health care plan moments before McConnell briefed senators on the revised bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. The plan by Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy would keep most of Obamacare’s federal taxes in place, but direct that money to the states to control. “We’re going to support Mitch’s effort with his new plan, but we want an alternative and we’re going to see which one can get 50 votes,” Graham said. “We’re not undercutting Mitch, he’s not undercutting us.” (CNN / Politico)
4/ Senate Republicans exempt members of Congress and their staff from their latest health care plan. The exemption is similar to the loophole that existed in the House health bill, which the House voted to close. (Vox)
5/ Trump threatened to get “very angry” if Republicans fail to pass the health care bill. “I don’t even want to talk about it because I think it would be very bad,” Trump said in an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network. “I am sitting in the Oval Office with a pen in hand, waiting for our senators to give it to me.” (Washington Post / CNN)
6/ The DOJ issued a mostly blank security clearance form detailing Jeff Sessions’ contacts with the Russians. The form shows he denied having any contact with foreign governments or their representatives in the past seven years. The page, used to apply for a security clearance, was released in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. (NPR / The Atlantic)
— American Oversight (@weareoversight) July 13, 2017
Sessions gave a closed-door speech to a Christian religious freedom advocacy group known for its anti-gay stance. The “Summit on Religious Liberty” was hosted by the Alliance Defending Freedom, which is representing a Colorado baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple, claiming that to do so would violate his right to religious liberty under the Constitution. That case will be heard by the Supreme Court next term. (CNN)
7/ Trump, again, defended Trump Jr.’s meeting with a Russian attorney, saying that “zero” improprieties occurred in a meeting that “most people would have taken.” He added that “it’s called opposition research or even research into your opponent” as justification for the meeting with the “Russian government attorney.” (Washington Post)
8/ The Senate judiciary committee asked Trump Jr. to testify. Chairman Chuck Grassley also said he wants former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort to testify before the committee as early as next week. (CNN)
9/ Sarah Huckabee Sanders claimed the White House is “as transparent as humanly possible” in an off-camera briefing. “Every single day we do our very best to give you the most accurate information that we have,” Sanders said in response to a question about why so many members of the administration have not divulged meetings they had with Russian individuals. (Politico)
10/ A 2013 video shows Trump attending dinner with the associates tied to Trump Jr.’s email controversy. Trump dined with Aras Agalarov and Emin Agalarov, and their publicist Rob Goldstone. Aras Agalarov has ties to Putin. In the 2016, Goldstone claimed to have damaging information against Hillary Clinton and setup the meeting between Trump Jr., Paul Manafort, and Jared Kushner with the Russian lawyer. (CNN)
11/ Pence’s press secretary repeatedly refused to say if the VP had met with any Russians during the campaign. “Clear up a few things for us now. Did the vice president ever meet with representative from Russia?” Bill Hemmer, host of Fox News’ America’s Newsroom. “The vice president is not focused on the areas where, you know, on this campaign, especially things that happened before he was even on the ticket. As he has said, that when he joined the campaign his entire focus was on talking to the American people, taking the case that President Trump was going to make to the American people,” Pence’s spokesman Marc Lotter replied. (HuffPost)
12/ Trump won’t say whether he believed Putin’s denial of Russian meddling in the election. He did say, however, that he’s willing to invite Russian president to the White House. (Bloomberg)
13/ Trump’s friend Jim may not exist. Throughout the campaign, Trump mentioned a friend named Jim while linking immigration policies in Europe to increased terrorist attacks, particularly those in France. Trump has never given his last name. The White House has not responded about who Jim is or whether he will be on Trump’s trip to Paris. Jim allegedly claimed that “Paris is no longer Paris” and they he no longer visits because the city has been infiltrated by foreign extremists. (Associated Press / HuffPost / The New Yorker)
14/ Trump claimed he’s “done more in five months than practically any president in history.” He added that the current mood in the White House is “fantastic,” despite recent pressure following allegations of Trump Jr.‘s involvement with Russia during last year’s election campaign. (CNBC)
15/ Kellyanne Conway used flash card props to explain the Russia controversy and how the White House views the scrutiny of Trump’s associates’ ties to Russia. “What’s the conclusion? Collusion? No. We don’t have that yet. I see illusion and delusion,” Conway said. (CNN)
16/ Trump told the French first lady that she’s “in such good shape.” He then turned to French President Emmanuel Macron to affirm the fact, saying “She’s in such good physical shape,” before looking back at Brigitte Macron to say “Beautiful.” Earlier in the day, Trump and Brigitte Macron shared an “awkward handshake.” (NBC News)
WATCH: President Trump tells the French first lady, "You're in such good shape" pic.twitter.com/UjiSIWWzoq
17/ The CBO refuted Trump’s claim that his plan will balance the federal budget in a decade. The CBO did say that Trump’s budget proposal would reduce the federal deficit over a decade, but the estimated deficit reduction would be lower than the administration’s because the White House projects higher economic growth. (CNBC)
poll/ 65% of people that disapprove of Trump’s performance say it’s because of his character and personality. 16% say they disapprove of his work based on his policies and stances on issues. In contrast, Americans who disapproved of Obama’s job performance during his first year in office focused mainly on his policies and stances on issues. (Gallup)
1/ Investigators are examining if Trump’s digital operation helped guide Russia’s election meddling. The digital team was overseen by Jared Kushner. The House and Senate Intelligence committees and the Justice Department are focusing on whether Trump’s campaign pointed Russian cyber operatives to certain voting jurisdictions in states that supported Hillary Clinton. (McClatchy DC)
The White House is under siege by Trump Jr.’s Russia revelations. The president is enraged that the Russia cloud still hangs over his presidency and, now, over his family. (Washington Post)
2/ Jared Kushner’s lawyers discovered Trump Jr.’s emails while reviewing documents. The team amended Kushner’s clearance forms to disclose it, but Kushner still faces potential trouble because he currently works in the White House and neglected to mention the encounter on the forms he filled out for a background check to obtain a security clearance. (New York Times)
3/ The White House won’t say whether Jared Kushner still has a security clearance after he omitted the interaction with the Russian lawyer on his application for a security clearance. He later included the meeting on a supplemental form. Sarah Huckabee Sanders dodged the question, saying the White House has “never discussed the security clearance” of a staff member. (Talking Points Memo / CNN)
4/ Trump’s lawyer said the President didn’t see the emails until Trump Jr. released them. Jay Sekulow also said Trump was not aware Trump Jr. was offered information about Clinton from Russia. “The President, by the way, never saw an email – did not see the email – until it was seen today,” Sekulow said, referring to Trump Jr.’s tweets containing copies of the email chain. Trump said he did not fault his son for holding the meeting. “I think many people would have held that meeting,” he added. (CNN / Reuters)
5/ Trump’s other lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, isn’t seeking a security clearance. Several lawyers who have represented presidents and senior government officials said they could not imagine how Kasowitz could handle a case full of sensitive material without a clearance. Kasowitz is Trump’s attorney in the Russia investigations. (ProPublica)
6/ Kasowitz wants to wall off Jared Kushner from discussing the Russia investigation with Trump. The goal is to protect Trump from special counsel Bob Mueller’s investigation into Kushner’s three meetings with the Russians. Kasowitz has “complained that Kushner has been whispering in the president’s ear about the Russia investigations […] while keeping the lawyers out of the loop.” (Axios / New York Times)
7/ US intelligence overheard Russian officials discussing Trump associates before the campaign began. Starting in the spring of 2015, intelligence agencies detected conversations where Russian government officials discussed meetings with Trump business associates and advisers. It’s not clear which Trump associates or advisers the Russians were referring to, or whether they had any connection to his presidential aspirations. (Wall Street Journal)
8/ Trump tweets that he has “very little time for watching T.V.,” saying his “W.H. is functioning perfectly, focused on HealthCare, Tax Cuts/Reform & many other things.” (Politico)
The W.H. is functioning perfectly, focused on HealthCare, Tax Cuts/Reform & many other things. I have very little time for watching T.V.
9/ An Iowa Republican wants to use funding from food stamps and Planned Parenthood to pay for Trump’s border wall. Representative Steve King said the government needs to “ratchet back down” the number of Americans on food stamps and that he’d “find half a billion” of the $1.6 billion needed for the wall “from right out of Planned Parenthood’s budget.” (CNN)
10/ The State Department spent more than $15,000 for rooms at the Trump hotel in Vancouver. The 19 rooms booked represent the first evidence of State Department expenditures at Trump-branded properties since he took office in January. (Washington Post)
1/ Trump Jr. was told – in an email – that the Russian government wanted to help the Trump campaign. The email was sent by Rob Goldstone, who brokered the June 2016 meeting with a Kremlin-connected lawyer – Natalia Veselnitskaya – that promised damaging information about Clinton as part of a Russian government effort to aid the Trump campaign. The meeting took place less than a week before thousands of DNC emails were released by hackers. Goldstone is a publicist who represents a Russian pop star, whose father – Aras Agalarov – helped bring Trump’s 2013 Miss Universe pageant to Moscow. Agalarovis is also a close friend of Putin. (New York Times)
The Justice Department will look at Trump Jr.’s emails and meeting. Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigators plan to examine the meeting and email exchanges disclosed by Trump Jr. as part of the broader Russian-meddling investigation. (CNN)
Senators respond to Trump Jr.’s emails. Lindsey Graham called them “disturbing” and “very problematic,” while Tim Kaine suggested Trump Jr. may have committed treason. (CNN / The Hill)
Trump’s deputy assistant shrugged the news off. Sebastian Gorka said that getting dirt “is what political campaigns do.” (CNN)
Trump Jr. may have crossed the legal line on collusion, a white-collar lawyer who represented officials in the Clinton White House said. Jeffrey Jacobovitz said the emails are firm evidence that Trump Jr. had intent to commit a crime by conspiring with the Russians “to commit election fraud or conspiracy to obtain information from a foreign adversary,” he said. “You cannot benefit from a foreign adversary in this kind of scenario.” (Washington Post)
2/ The email sent to Trump Jr. said the documents “would incriminate Hillary” and “would be very useful to your father.” Within minutes, Trump Jr. replied: “If it’s what you say I love it especially later in the summer.” Four days later, Goldstone wrote back proposing a meeting with a “Russian government attorney.” Trump Jr. agreed, saying he would bring “Paul Manafort (campaign boss)” and “my brother-in-law,” Jared Kushner, now one of the president’s closest White House advisers. (New York Times)
3/ Trump Jr. tweeted out the email chain used to setup the meeting with the Russian lawyer. “To everyone, in order to be totally transparent, I am releasing the entire email chain of my emails,” he wrote. “I first wanted to just have a phone call but when that didn’t work out, they said the woman would be in New York and asked if I would meet. […] To put this in context, this occurred before the current Russian fever was in vogue.” (Politico)
4/ The White House said Trump didn’t know about his son’s meeting with the Russian lawyer. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump learned of the meeting “in the last couple of days,” adding that Trump Jr. “did not collude with anybody to influence the election.” Kellyanne Conway denied evidence of collusion, saying “everybody is trying to convert wishful thinking into hard evidence and haven’t been able to do that.” (CNN / Politico / ABC News)
Trump promised big news about Clinton’s crimes in his Republican nominee victory speech, which occurred four days after Goldstone’s first contact with Trump Jr. and two days before the meeting at Trump Tower on June 9th. “I am going to give a major speech on probably Monday of next week and we’re going to be discussing all of the things that have taken place with the Clintons.” (Talking Points Memo / Time)
Ten times Trump denied collusion with Russia. We can count at least 10 times when President Trump has directly said there was no collusion between Russia and his 2016 campaign. (NBC News)
5/ Trump called Trump Jr. a “high-quality person” after emails about the Russian lawyer and meeting were released. Sarah Huckabee Sanders held an off-camera press briefing to address the emails, which offer the most direct link between Trump’s campaign and the Russian government during the 2016 presidential campaign. She stood by her statement that there was no collusion, declining to clarify how the situation described in Trump Jr.’s emails was not collusion. (Politico)
6/ The Russian lawyer denied having any connection to the Kremlin or damaging information on Clinton. Veselnitskaya said she met with Trump Jr. in 2016 to discuss sanctions between Russia and the US. “I never had any damaging or sensitive information about Hillary Clinton. It was never my intention to have that,” Veselnitskaya said. “It is quite possible that maybe they were longing for such an information. They wanted it so badly that they could only hear the thought that they wanted.” Trump Jr. has confirmed that the meeting occurred, saying the topic of conversation was primarily about adoption. (NBC News)
7/ The man connecting Trump Jr. to the Russian lawyer checked in for the meeting at Trump Tower on Facebook. A screenshot from Rob Goldstone’s Facebook page suggests he was at Trump Tower the day of the meeting. The caption reads “preparing for meeting.” (Business Insider)
8/ Trump’s election commission freezes its effort to gather voter data from states as legal challenges grow. The panel’s designated officer, Andrew Kossack, asked state elections officers to “hold on submitting any data.” The panel asked states for voter data, including birth dates and the last four digits of voters’ Social Security numbers. Most US states have rejected full compliance, which many called unnecessary and a violation of privacy. (Reuters)
9/ Mitch McConnell delayed the Senate’s August recess in order to “complete action on important legislative items.” The move comes as McConnell aims to pass the GOP health care bill, which has been “stalled by a lack of cooperation from our friends across the aisle.” Disagreements within the caucus center on a conservative proposal from Mike Lee and Ted Cruz, which would allow the sale of cheap insurance plans outside of Obamacare’s regulatory structure. The next revision of the bill could be unveiled to as soon as Thursday, with a Congressional Budget Office score likely to follow as soon as Monday. The Senate will remain at work through the week of August 7th. (Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / Politico)
10/ Trump’s secret political appointees are trying to scale back government regulations. In February, Trump signed an executive order requiring federal agencies to form deregulation teams, many of which are staffed by political appointees with deep industry ties and potential conflicts of interest, such as reviewing rules their previous employers sought to weaken or kill. Most government agencies have declined to disclose information about their deregulation teams and what the appointees are working on. (ProPublica / New York Times)
11/ Twitter users blocked by Trump sued him and two White House aides, arguing that his account amounts to a public forum that he cannot bar people from as a government official. Sean Spicer previously said Trump’s tweets are official statements. (New York Times)
12/ Trump’s state visit to the UK has been delayed until next year, citing “a scheduling issue,” an official said. “Finding a date that works for everyone turned out to be difficult. We’re looking at next year.” (Reuters)
13/ Steve Bannon and Jared Kushner recruited two war profiteers to devise alternative options in Afghanistan to counter the Pentagon’s plan to send thousands of additional troops. Erik Prince, founder of the private security firm Blackwater Worldwide, and Stephen Feinberg, a billionaire financier who owns the giant military contractor DynCorp International, developed a proposal that relied on contractors instead of American troops. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis declined to include the outside strategies in his review of Afghanistan policy that he is leading along with the national security adviser, H. R. McMaster. (New York Times)
14/ Jared Kushner sought a half-billion dollar investment from Qatar’s former prime minister a few months before Trump encouraged the blockade. He didn’t get it and now Qatar is facing an ongoing blockade led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and joined by Egypt and Bahrain, which Trump has taken credit for sparking. Kushner reportedly played a key behind-the-scenes role in hardening the US posture toward the nation. (Bloomberg / The Intercept)
poll/ 58% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents think colleges hurt the country. 72% of Democrats say colleges and universities have a positive effect on the country. Overall, 55% think colleges and universities help the US. (The Hill)
1/ Donald Trump Jr. met with a Kremlin-connected Russian lawyer to acquire damaging information about Hillary Clinton in June 2016 at Trump Tower in New York City. On Saturday, Trump Jr. said the meeting was about the issue of US adoptions of Russian children and not the campaign. However, in March, Trump Jr. said he never met with any Russians while working in a campaign capacity. The meeting – attended by Trump Jr., Paul Manafort, and Jared Kushner – was disclosed when Kushner filed a revised form in order to obtain a security clearance. Manafort also recently disclosed the meeting, and Trump Jr.’s role in organizing it, to congressional investigators looking into his foreign contacts. (New York Times / Washington Post)
Putting the Trump-Russia timeline into perspective. This timeline of what now know is circumstantial evidence itself of some kind of relationship that the Trump campaign had with Russian sources. (NBC News)
Schiff: House Intelligence Committee “will want to question” Trump Jr. The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee said he will want to question Donald Trump Jr. after news came out that the President’s son met with a Kremlin-linked lawyer last June. (Talking Points Memo)
2/ Trump Jr.’s meeting may have violated a federal law prohibiting the solicitation or acceptance of anything of value from a foreign national. Trump Jr. admitted that the meeting was an attempt to acquire damaging information on Hillary Clinton. Despite the meeting not bearing any “meaningful information” about Clinton, solicitation itself is the offense. (Vox / Politico)
3/ Trump Jr. tried to downplay his meeting while hiring a lawyer to represent him in the Russia probe. He tweeted that “obviously I’m the first person on a campaign to ever take a meeting to hear info about an opponent.” He added that there was “no inconsistency” in his two statements, saying the meeting ended up being primarily about adoptions. Trump Jr. hired Alan Futerfas, a criminal defense attorney that’s represented organized crime and cybercrime cases. (ABC News / Reuters / BuzzFeed News)
Obviously I'm the first person on a campaign to ever take a meeting to hear info about an opponent... went nowhere but had to listen. https://t.co/ccUjL1KDEa
No inconsistency in statements, meeting ended up being primarily about adoptions. In response to further Q's I simply provided more details. https://t.co/FdT1D4hfhz
Schumer: Trump Jr. should testify before Senate Intel. “This revelation should be the end of the idea pushed by the administration and the president that there is absolutely no evidence of an intent by the Trump campaign to coordinate or collude. It is certainly not proof positive … but these reports in the press at least demand further investigation,” Schumer said from the Senate floor on Monday. (The Hill)
4/ The Kremlin denied knowing about Trump Jr.’s meeting with a Russian lawyer. A Putin spokesman said the Kremlin doesn’t know the lawyer, adding that they “cannot keep track of every Russian lawyer and their meetings domestically or abroad.” (Washington Post)
5/ Trump backtracked on his push for a US-Russia cybersecurity unit, saying it cannot happen. On Sunday, Trump tweeted that he and Putin “discussed forming an impenetrable Cyber Security unit so that election hacking […] will be guarded.” Just 12 hours later, Trump returned to Twitter to clarify his remarks, saying just because they discussed it “doesn’t mean I think it can happen. It can’t.” (Politico / CNBC)
Putin & I discussed forming an impenetrable Cyber Security unit so that election hacking, & many other negative things, will be guarded..
6/ Trump accused Comey of illegally leaking classified information. After Trump warned James Comey against leaking to the press, suggesting there are “tapes” of their private conversations, Comey asked a friend to leak his memos to the media which were an unclassified, a personal “recollection” of his interactions with Trump. There were seven memos by Comey after his nine conversations with Trump. Four were allegedly marked as “secret” or “confidential.” (Washington Post / The Hill)
James Comey leaked CLASSIFIED INFORMATION to the media. That is so illegal!
7/ Comey’s confidant refuted Trump’s claim he shared classified information with journalists. Daniel Richman, the Columbia University Law School professor with whom Comey shared at least one memo, said Trump was wrong and that “no memo was given to me that was marked ‘classified.’” Richman said the “substance of the memo passed on to the Times was not marked classified and to my knowledge remains unclassified.” During Senate testimony in June, Comey said he specifically wrote his memos to avoid including classified information. (CNN)
8/ Republicans grow pessimistic about their health care bill as Trump tweets that Congress wouldn’t “dare” leave for summer recess without its “beautiful” health care bill. John McCain said the bill is “probably going to be dead.” GOP leaders are debating a proposal from Ted Cruz that many have called a non-starter. Shelly Moore Capito has threatened to kill the legislation if the vote comes down to her. (The Hill / Reuters / Politico)
I cannot imagine that Congress would dare to leave Washington without a beautiful new HealthCare bill fully approved and ready to go!
9/ Paul Ryan will no longer hold public town halls because he doesn’t “want to have a situation where we just have a screaming fest, a shouting fest, where people are being bused in from out of the district to get on TV because they’re yelling at somebody.” (CBS News)
10/ Trump defended Ivanka’s seat-holding at the G20, saying “If Chelsea Clinton were asked to hold the seat for her mother, as her mother gave our country away, the Fake News would say CHELSEA FOR PRES!” Clinton responded on Twitter: “Good morning Mr. President. It would never have occurred to my mother or my father to ask me.” Ivanka sat in for Trump when he stepped away for a one-on-one discussion with other leaders. Ivanka serves as an unpaid adviser to Trump as the assistant to the president with an office in the West Wing, blurring the lines between family and official business. (CNN / Bloomberg)
When I left Conference Room for short meetings with Japan and other countries, I asked Ivanka to hold seat. Very standard. Angela M agrees!
Good morning Mr. President. It would never have occurred to my mother or my father to ask me. Were you giving our country away? Hoping not. https://t.co/4ODjWZUp0c
11/ Putin said Trump was “satisfied” with his denial of election meddling. Putin told Trump that Russia was not behind the hacking of emails belonging to rival Hillary Clinton’s campaign. Trump called it “a tremendous meeting” with Putin. (USA Today / Reuters)
12/ Mike Pence touched NASA equipment marked “DO NOT TOUCH” because Marco Rubio dared him. Rubio responded on Twitter, joking that he warned Pence not to break the equipment: “you break it, you own it.” (Time)
1/ Trump tells Putin “it’s an honor to be with you” during their first face-to-face talk. “I’m delighted to meet you,” Putin replied. Their closed-door session lasted more than two hours, far longer than the expected 45 minutes. Six people attended the meeting: Trump, Rex Tillerson, Putin, Sergey V. Lavrov, and two interpreters. (New York Times)
2/ Putin denied election hacking after Trump “pressed” him. The two had a “robust” conversation about the allegations that Russia tried to interfere in the election, discussing a “commitment that the Russian government has no intention” of interfering in future elections. The Russians have asked the US for proof of their interference in the election. Tillerson said the meeting did not focus on punishing Russia for hacking and leaking information that helped Trump win the election. Instead, Tillerson said the two focused on “how do we move forward.” (Washington Post / Associated Press / CNN)
3/ Trump tweets: “Everyone” at the G-20 summit is talking about why John Podesta wouldn’t give the DNC server to the FBI and CIA. Podesta did not run the Democratic National Committee, he chaired Clinton’s presidential campaign. Podesta fired back at Trump with tweets of his own, telling him to “Get a grip man, the Russians committed a crime when they stole my emails to help get you elected President. Maybe you might try to find a way to mention that to President Putin.” He added: “I had nothing to do with the DNC… Dude, get your head in the game. You’re representing the US at the G20.” A DNC spokeswoman tweeted that “1) Podesta never ran the DNC. 2) DNC worked with FBI to kick out Russians. Worked with DHS. 3) Putin make you tweet this before mtg?” (Politico / The Daily Beast / Associated Press)
Everyone here is talking about why John Podesta refused to give the DNC server to the FBI and the CIA. Disgraceful!
4/ Russian spies have stepped up their intelligence-gathering efforts, emboldened by the lack of retaliatory response from both Trump and Obama. It’s believed the Russians now have nearly 150 suspected intelligence operatives in the US. (CNN)
5/ Hackers have been targeting nuclear power plants in the US since May, according to a joint report issued by the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI. The report did not indicate whether the attacks were an attempt at espionage or part of a plan to cause destruction. (New York Times)
6/ The US and Russia reached a cease-fire deal in Syria, set to take effect Sunday at noon Damascus time. The agreement is part of broader discussions on trying to lower violence in the country. (Associated Press / Wall Street Journal)
7/ ICE officers were told to take action against all undocumented immigrants they encounter while on duty, regardless of their criminal histories. The Trump administration and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly had promised to ramp up enforcement of immigrants who pose a public safety threat. The new guidance goes beyond that promise. (ProPublica)
8/ A judge denied Hawaii’s motion to limit the scope of Trump’s travel ban. Hawaii argued that the travel ban wrongly excluded grandparents and relatives from the list of close family members who would be able to get visas to travel to the US. The motion was denied, saying the Supreme Court is the proper venue to deal with the issue. (NBC News)
9/ Trump still wants Mexico to “absolutely” pay for his border wall after meeting with Enrique Peña Nieto, Mexico’s president. Nieto has insisted that Mexico will not pay for the border wall while Trump has floated alternative ideas, such as paying for the wall with solar panels. (Politico)
10/ Mitch McConnell: Republicans will be forced to compromise with Democrats to shore up Obamacare if he can’t find 50 votes for the GOP health care bill. It’s first time McConnell has raised the prospect of drafting a more modest bill with Democratic support. (Washington Post)
11/ Ted Cruz aligned himself with Trump, calling for a “clean repeal” of the ACA if the Senate bill falls apart. He said the Senate should vote on a narrower bill to simply repeal the law and work on a replacement later. (Washington Post)
12/ Republican lawmakers are buying health insurance stocks as they attempt to repeal Obamacare. Representative Mike Conaway and Senator James Inhofe have added health insurance companies to their portfolios worth as much as $30,000 and $100,000, respectively. (The Intercept)
poll/ 28.2% support the GOP health care bill – the most unpopular legislation in three decades. It’s less popular than the Affordable Care Act when it was passed, the 2008 bank bailout bill, and Bill Clinton’s failed health reform effort in the 1990s. (Axios)
1/ Trump downplayed Russian election meddling, saying it “could be Russia” but “nobody really knows for sure.” He added that it “could’ve been other people and other countries,” casting doubt on the conclusion of 17 US intelligence agencies and likening it to the incorrect assessment that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. He blamed Obama for not doing anything to stop the meddling. (Bloomberg / CNN / The Daily Beast)
2/ Trump to Russia: stop “destabilizing activities” and end support for “hostile regimes,” like Iran and Syria. The remark came during his speech in Poland the day before he meets with Putin for the first time. (New York Times / NBC News)
3/ Democrats are urging Trump to confront Putin, calling it a “severe dereliction of duty” not to do so. Five Senate Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, sent a letter to Trump telling him to “set the agenda from the start” with Putin “and make absolutely clear that Russian interference in our democracy will in no way be tolerated.” (NBC News / Politico)
4/ Trump reaffirmed NATO’s mutual defense clause, after failing to do so on his first Europe trip. He then called on allies to honored the agreement to contribute at least 2% of their GDP to their own defense. (CNBC / Washington Post)
5/ Trump asks “whether the West has the will to survive,” saying military spending alone is not enough. He told the bused-in, friendly Polish crowd that “radical Islamic terrorism” has threatened “our civilization and our way of life,” adding that “the fundamental question of our time” is whether “we have the confidence in our values to defend them at any cost? Do we have enough respect for our citizens to protect our borders? Do we have the desire and the courage to preserve our civilization in the face of those who would subvert and destroy it?” (New York Times)
6/ Meanwhile, the Trump Organization renewed its Russia-related domain names. TrumpRussia.com and TrumpTowerMoscow.com are just two of more than 1,000 domain names renewed by the organization, which has said it will not pursue any new foreign business deals while Trump is in the White House. (Politico)
7/ Trump vs North Korea: They’re “behaving in a very, very dangerous manner.” Trump said he could respond to the North’s missile test with “some pretty severe things,” declining to elaborate. (CNN)
8/ The voter fraud commission may have violated the law, by ignoring federal requirements governing requests for information from states. The failure is potentially significant, since states could argue it means they are under no obligation to respond. (The Hill)
9/ Steve Bannon’s ally on the National Security Council has been reassigned. The move enables National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster to consolidate power by placing another staffer of his choosing on the council. (BuzzFeed News)
10/ Top White House aides have hired public relation staffs to support their own agendas instead of using the traditional White House policy and messaging operation. Kellyanne Conway, Steve Bannon, and Jared Kushner all have chiefs of staff, assistants, and PR people working for them in an effort to build up their own brands and policy portfolios. (Politico)
11/ 18 states are suing Betsy DeVos for delaying student loan regulations meant to protect borrowers from being defrauded by predatory schools. The regulations were finalized by the Obama administration and were set to take effect on July 1, but DeVos has delayed the implementation of the rules. (Politico)
12/ White House advisers have discussed using CNN as “leverage” in the AT&T-Time Warner merger. Time Warner is CNN’s parent company. Trump’s Justice Department will decide whether to approve the merger. (New York Times)
13/ The government’s ethics director resigns, saying rules need to be tougher. Walter Shaub Jr.‘s resignation follows months of clashes with the White House over Trump’s refusal to divest his businesses and the administration’s delay in disclosing ethics waivers for appointees. He was the government’s top ethics watchdog. (New York Times / Washington Post / NPR)
poll/ A majority of Americans believe Trump has done something either illegal or unethical when it comes to Russia. 54% believe he has done something illegal or unethical, with 25% saying he has done something illegal and another 29% thinking he has done something unethical although not necessarily illegal. (NPR)
1/ North Korea successfully fired an intercontinental ballistic missile. The test-launch came early Tuesday morning with the ICBM taking a steep trajectory to avoid flying over neighboring countries. The North’s state-run news agency said the missile was capable of hitting the “heart of the United States” with “large heavy nuclear warheads.” Experts don’t believe the North can make a nuclear warhead small enough to be mounted on ICBMs, yet. If fired at a conventional trajectory, the missile was capable of flying for about 4,160 miles – not enough to reach the lower 48 states or the large islands of Hawaii, but within range of Alaska. American lawmakers have long seen the development of an ICBM as a critical threshold that North Korea shouldn’t be allowed to cross. (Wall Street Journal / New York Times)
What can Trump do about North Korea? His options are few and risky. (New York Times)
2/ Trump tweets his reaction to North Korea’s missile test: “Does this guy have anything better to do with his life?” He added that it’s “hard to believe that South Korea and Japan will put up with this much longer. Perhaps China will put a heavy move on North Korea and end this nonsense once and for all!” (CNN)
North Korea has just launched another missile. Does this guy have anything better to do with his life? Hard to believe that South Korea.....
3/ The US tells North Korea it’s prepared to go to war if provoked. Rex Tillerson described the missile test as an escalation of the threat to the US and that the US “will never accept a nuclear-armed North Korea.” The US and South Korea then conducted a live-fire drill, launching tactical surface-to-surface missiles off the east coast of Korea. “Global action is required to stop a global threat,” Tillerson said, adding that any country helping North Korea “is aiding and abetting a dangerous regime.” (CNN / Wall Street Journal)
4/ At least 44 states and DC have refused to comply with Trump’s election integrity commission. In response, Trump tweeted that states are “trying to hide” things from his commission, which is seeking voter’s full names, addresses, dates of birth, political parties, the last four digits of their social security numbers, voting history since 2006, military status, whether they lived overseas, and more. Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who leads Trump’s Commission on Election Integrity, sent a letter to all 50 states last week requesting the voter data, which will eventually be made available to the public. (CNN / Washington Post)
Numerous states are refusing to give information to the very distinguished VOTER FRAUD PANEL. What are they trying to hide?
Trump’s voting commission asked states to hand over election data. Some are pushing back. (Washington Post)
5/ A federal court blocked the EPA’s effort to suspend an Obama restriction on methane emissions from new oil and gas wells. The court concluded that the EPA could reconsider a 2016 rule limiting methane and smog-forming pollutants emitted by oil and gas wells, but couldn’t delay the effective date while it rewrites the regulation. The EPA had proposed extending the initial delay to two years. (New York Times / Washington Post)
Scott Pruitt has moved to undo, delay or otherwise block more than 30 environmental rules, a regulatory rollback larger in scope than any other over so short a time in the agency’s 47-year history. (New York Times)
6/ Investigators are exploring if Russia colluded with far-right, pro-Trump sites during the election in order to spread bogus stories aimed at discrediting Hillary Clinton. The top Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee said that at least 1,000 “paid internet trolls working out of a facility in Russia” were pumping anti-Clinton fake news into social media sites during the campaign. The head of Trump’s digital team, Brad Parscale, has been asked to appear before the House intelligence committee. (The Guardian)
7/ Trump flew to Europe today, stopping in Poland where the government bused-in thousands to ensure a friendly, cheering crowd for his speech. In contrast, the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany is expecting up to 100,000 protesters. In London, mass demonstrations are expected when Trump makes his long-awaited state visit to the UK. (BBC / Associated Press)
8/ Trump’s top aides are worried he’ll get “boxed in” when he meets with Putin this week. After months of controversy involving Russia, foreign policy experts are starting to think Trump’s actions have made it impossible to improve relations with Russia. Trump will meet with Putin on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hamburg on Friday. (New York Times / Washington Post)
9/ The US denied visas for Afghanistan’s all-girl robotics team. The six teenage Afghan inventors made a 500 mile trek to the American embassy in Kabul to interview for one-week travel visas so they could escort their robot to the inaugural FIRST Global Challenge. Teams from Iraq, Iran, and Sudan were all able to secure travel visas. Only team Afghanistan and team Gambia have been denied visas so far. (Forbes)
10/ Trump tweets a WrestleMania video of himself body-slamming CNN; calls it “MODERN DAY PRESIDENTIAL.” The modified video from 2007 shows Trump attacking and subduing a figure whose face is obscured by a CNN logo. (The Hill)
My use of social media is not Presidential - it’s MODERN DAY PRESIDENTIAL. Make America Great Again!
Twitter says Trump’s tweets don’t violate its rules. Twitter said it considers three factors: the political context of the conversation surrounding the tweet, the various ways it could be interpreted and the lack of details in the tweet itself. (CNN)
11/ Trump used his Saturday night speech to continue his attack on the news media. “The fake media is trying to silence us,” Trump said. “But we will not let them. Because the people know the truth. The fake media tried to stop us from going to the White House. But I’m president and they’re not.” (New York Times)
12/ NPR tweeted the Declaration of Independence. Trump supporters called it “propaganda.” In 113 consecutive posts, NPR tweeted out the Declaration of Independence. Twitter users reacted angrily to the thread, accusing NPR of spamming them and trying to push an agenda. (BuzzFeed News / Washington Post)
poll/ 89% of Republicans view Trump as more trustworthy than CNN while 91% of Democrats think the opposite. Among all adults, trust for CNN is 7 points ahead of Trump. (Axios)
1/ Trump’s voter-fraud commission asked all 50 states to turn over their full voter roll data for every voter in the US. The request includes a person’s voting history, party affiliation, name, address, date of birth, last four of their Social Security number, and their voting history dating back to 2006. Trump created the commission to investigate the alleged 3 million to 5 million undocumented immigrants he claimed voted illegally in the 2016 election. There is no evidence this happened. The commission is chaired by Kris Kobach, the Kansas secretary of state and a voter-fraud hardliner. (Washington Post)
Presidential commission demands massive amounts of state voter data. A commission created by President Donald Trump to enhance confidence in America’s elections has asked all 50 states for copies of their voter records which often include names, addresses and ages. The commission has said it intends to make the information widely available. (ProPublica)
2/ At least 24 states are refusing to turn over voter data to Trump’s election panel. “At best this commission was set up as a pretext to validate Donald Trump’s alternative election facts, and at worst is a tool to commit large-scale voter suppression,” Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe said in a statement. (The Hill)
24 states won't provide voter data to Kobach: AZ, CA, CT, IN, KY, MA, MN, MS, NC, NM, ND, NV, NY, OH, OK, PA, RI, SD, TN, UT, VA, VT, WA, WI
3/ Trump wants to “immediately” repeal Obamacare if the Senate health care bill fails. Trump tweeted that “If Republican Senators are unable to pass what they are working on now, they should immediately REPEAL, and then REPLACE at a later date!” Trump’s tweet came minutes after Senator Ben Sasse said on Fox News: “We need repeal. We need replace. Trying to do them together hasn’t seemed to work.” McConnell declined to comment on Trump’s suggestion. (Axios / Politico / ABC News)
If Republican Senators are unable to pass what they are working on now, they should immediately REPEAL, and then REPLACE at a later date!
4/ Repealing Obamacare now would cause 18 million Americans to lose health coverage in the first year, which would reach 26 million a few years later. About 20 million people are covered now under the Obamacare markets or the law’s Medicaid expansion. One GOP aide said the chances of repealing first and then replacing are “zero.” Another added that it is “not going to happen.” (Politico / Axios)
Senate health bill could hit employer-sponsored plans. A
little-noticed provisions could cut four million people from employer coverage and boost out-of-pocket costs. (Wall Street Journal)
5/ A GOP opposition researcher sought Clinton’s emails while claiming to represent Michael Flynn. Peter W. Smith considered Flynn an ally in his effort to contact hackers hoping to find the 33,000 personal emails deleted by Clinton. “He said, ‘I’m talking to Michael Flynn about this – if you find anything, can you let me know?’” said a computer security expert who searched hacker forums on Smith’s behalf. Smith, who died on May 14, supported Flynn’s efforts to establish relations with Russian officials. (Wall Street Journal)
6/ “Morning Joe” hosts suggest Trump tried to blackmail them with a National Enquirer hit-piece. On Friday’s show, Joe Scarborough recounted a story where “three people at the very top of the administration” called and texted him to say the National Enquirer was going to run a negative story about him and Mika Brzezinski. “If you call the president up, and you apologize for your coverage,” the officials said, “then [Trump] will pick up the phone and basically spike this story.” In a Washington Post op-ed by Scarborough and Brzezinski today, the couple said that during the campaign, Trump called Mika “neurotic” and promised to personally attack them after the campaign ended. Trump is friends with David Pecker, the publisher of the National Enquirer. (CNN / Washington Post)
Watched low rated @Morning_Joe for first time in long time. FAKE NEWS. He called me to stop a National Enquirer article. I said no! Bad show
7/ Republicans and cable news talk shows denounced Trump’s attack on Brzezinski, accusing him of demeaning women and his office. Republican lawmakers, from Paul Ryan to Lindsey Graham, reacted by making public pleas for Trump to stop the personal attacks. (CNN / Washington Post)
Please just stop. This isn't normal and it's beneath the dignity of your office.
8/ Kellyanne Conway said the media’s coverage of Trump is “neither productive nor patriotic” and supports Trump’s use of social media to attack his opponents. “I like the fact that the president uses social media platforms to connect directly with Americans and in this case,” Conway said. “What [White House spokeswoman] Sarah Sanders said yesterday is true, that the president normally does not draw first blood. He is a counterpuncher as he said on the campaign trail.” (Politico)
9/ Trump appoints an anti-transgender activist to the office of Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment. In 2016, Bethany Kozma campaigned to oppose the Obama’s guidance to public schools that transgender students have the right to use bathrooms matching their gender identity, repeating an unsubstantiated assertion the policy leads to sexual assault. (BuzzFeed News)
10/ The White House council for women and girls has been silently disbanded while the administration evaluates whether to keep the office. Obama’s White House Council on Women and Girls was created in 2009 to monitor the impact of policy changes and liaise with women’s groups. (Politico)
11/ Scott Pruitt is launching an initiative to “critique” climate science at the EPA. Pruitt’s stated that he believes the climate is changing and humans have some role, but is skeptical that greenhouse gases are the primary cause of climate change, despite overwhelming scientific consensus. (Climatewire / The Hill)
12/ The House intelligence committee to interview another former Trump adviser in its Russia probe. Michael Caputo, a former Trump campaign communications adviser, has agreed to come before the committee next month. Caputo once worked in Moscow and has connections to Russia. He has denied any collusion with Russian officials. (CNN)
13/ A Russian-funded radio station replaced a bluegrass station in DC. 105.5 FM now broadcasts Sputnik, a “global wire, radio and digital news service” funded by the Russian government. (DCist)
14/ NASA denied that it’s running a child slave colony on Mars. An Alex Jones guest alleged the space agency had kidnapped children and sent them on a two-decade mission to space… (The Daily Beast)
1/ Trump assailed television host Mika Brzezinski on Twitter for “bleeding badly from a face-lift.” Trump targeted both Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough in a pair of morning tweets, referring to Brzezinski as “low I.Q. Crazy Mika” and Scarborough as “Psycho Joe.” He then opined on the physical appearance of Brzezinski, saying he declined meeting with the pair at Mar-a-Lago during the winter because “she was bleeding badly from a face-lift.” Brzezinski responded in a tweet of her own, mocking Trump’s “little hands.” Brzezinski and her fiancé Scarborough are co-hosts of the MSNBC show “Morning Joe.” About two hours before his tweets, Brzezinski said on the show that “it’s not normal behavior” for any leader to tweet about a person’s appearances, bully, lie, undermine managers, or throw people under the bus. (CNN / New York Times / The Daily Beast / Associated Press)
I heard poorly rated @Morning_Joe speaks badly of me (don't watch anymore). Then how come low I.Q. Crazy Mika, along with Psycho Joe, came..
Trump knocked CNN and Nancy Pelosi at his first re-election fundraiser, hosted at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. He derided CNN for errors and presented himself as a victim of its reporting, which he said was deeply unfair. (Politico)
The White House defended Trump’s tweets about Brzezinski. (Think Progress)
2/ The White House offered an unapologetic defense of Trump’s tweets. Sarah Huckabee Sanders responded to questions by reporters about Trump’s inflammatory tweets, saying “The only person I see a war on is this president and everybody that works for him. I don’t think you can expect someone to be personally attacked, day after day, minute by minute, and sit back. The American people elected a fighter.” (The Hill)
3/ Paul Ryan called Trump’s tweet attacking Brzezinski inappropriate. “I don’t see that as an appropriate comment,” Ryan said at a press conference. (Politico)
4/ Rex Tillerson ripped a White House aide for sinking his nominees, questioning his judgment, and leaking to the press. A frustrated Tillerson ripped into Johnny DeStefano, head of the presidential personnel office, in front of Reince Priebus, Jared Kushner and others, saying he did not want DeStefano’s office to “have any role in staffing” and “expressed frustration that anybody would know better” than him about who should work in his department. Kushner called the outburst unprofessional. (Politico)
5/ Trump’s travel ban takes effect at 8PM ET today. Visa applicants from the six countries — and all refugees — will be required to show close family or business ties to the US. Grandparents, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins, brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law, fiancees or other extended family members are not considered to be “close relations.” (Washington Post / New York Times)
US tightens aviation security to avoid broader laptop ban. (CNN / Washington Post)
6/ New CBO analysis: The Senate health bill would reduce Medicaid spending by 35% by 2036 compared to the current law. By 2026, Medicaid spending would be cut by 26%. (Washington Post)
7/ Putin will meet with Trump on the sidelines of the G20 summit next week in Hamburg. Trump asked White House aides to come up with possible concessions to offer as bargaining chips for the meeting. No other meetings are planned between the two. (Reuters / The Guardian)
8/ The House Intelligence Committee wants to talk to Trump’s longtime bodyguard-turned-White House aide as part of their investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign. Keith Schiller is the former head of security for the Trump Organization and now serves as the White House director of Oval Office operations. He’s been at Trump’s side for nearly 20 years. (ABC News)
9/ Pence is replacing his chief of staff with Nick Ayers, one of the leaders of America First Policies, which ran retaliatory ads against a Republican Senator who opposed the Obamacare repeal plan. (New York Times)
poll/ 42% of Americans feel “alarmed” about how things are going in Washington. 33% feel “uneasy” while just 11% are “excited.” (USA Today)
1/ Trump and the White House intensify their war on the media. It started with Trump tweeting about a “failing” New York Times story suggesting he was detached from the effort to overhaul the health care bill. He called the story false and said the Times didn’t call for a comment. The Times responded saying they did call – as they always do. (CNN)
The failing @nytimes writes false story after false story about me. They don't even call to verify the facts of a story. A Fake News Joke!
2/ Later, Trump tweeted that the “FAKE NEWS” Washington Post is the “guardian of Amazon” for taxes purposes. Amazon doesn’t own the newspaper. It’s privately owned by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. There is no federal “internet tax.” Fake news. (Politico / Recode)
The #AmazonWashingtonPost, sometimes referred to as the guardian of Amazon not paying internet taxes (which they should) is FAKE NEWS!
3/ Mitch McConnell wants to send a revised version of the health care bill to the CBO by Friday, in an effort to hold a vote before the August recess. Trump teased that “a big surprise” could be coming in the effort to repeal and replace Obamacare, suggesting that Senate Republicans are “going to get at least very close” to passing their health care bill. It’s unclear if Trump even knows what’s in the Senate bill. When asked by reporters if Trump understood the details, McConnell ignored the question and smiled. (Washington Post / Politico / New York Times)
4/ An estimated 208,500 additional deaths could occur by 2026 under the Senate health plan, based on the study of the effects of health care reform in Massachusetts on mortality. The authors found that for every 830 individuals insured, one life was saved. 14 million Americans could lose their health insurance in 2018 and 22 million by 2026, the CBO projects. Using state-level coverage losses and the findings of the study, it’s estimated that 22,900 excess deaths would occur in 2020 and grow to 26,500 extra deaths by 2026. [Editor’s Note: there’s some obvious nuance here and it’s recommended you read the entire article to fully grasp the potential impact of the health care bill on mortality] (Vox)
5/ Trump’s advisers are struggling to convince him that Russia still poses a threat. There is no paper trail – schedules, readouts or briefing documents – to indicate Trump has dedicated time to the issue. He has, however, continued to tweet about Obama failing to stop Russian meddling in the election. Trump has repeatedly blamed the Democratic National Committee, China, and “someone sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds” for election-related cyberattacks. (CNN)
Just out: The Obama Administration knew far in advance of November 8th about election meddling by Russia. Did nothing about it. WHY?
6/ Trump’s lawyer postponed filing a complaint about Comey and his memos in what Trump considered to be an illegal “leak.” Marc Kasowitz, however, still intends to file the complaint with the Justice Department. He has delayed it as a courtesy to Robert Mueller and his investigation, which Trump has repeatedly called a “witch hunt.” Trump has also refrained from publicly criticizing the special counsel lately as part of his legal team’s approach to reducing further confrontation. (Bloomberg)
7/ Paul Manafort’s consulting firm received more than $17 million from a pro-Russian Ukrainian political party. In Manafort’s retroactive registration as a foreign agent, he indicated that he was retained by the Party of Regions to advise Ukrainian officials in their dealings with American government officials. The report makes Manafort the second former senior Trump adviser to disclose work for foreign interests. Michael Flynn was the other. (New York Times / Bloomberg / Washington Post)
8/ Trump tapped the lawyer that helped draft the Patriot Act for the top State Department role. If confirmed, Jennifer Newstead would serve as the State Department’s top legal adviser, overseeing issues involving foreign policy and security, as well as playing a key role in justifying the use of military force, how to apply the laws of war to cyber attacks, determining what represents a military coup, and more. The Patriot Act was amended in 2015 after years of criticism from civil liberties groups that it violated Americans’ privacy. (BuzzFeed News)
9/ The FBI interviewed at least a dozen employees of a Russia-based cyber-security company, gathering facts about how Kaspersky Lab works, including to what extent the US operations report to Moscow. Kaspersky has long been of interest to the US government, whose founder graduated from the KGB-backed Institute of Cryptography, Telecommunications, and Computer Science. Kaspersky Lab paid former national security adviser Michael Flynn $11,250 in 2015 for cyber security consulting. (NBC News)
10/ The computer system of at least one US nuclear plant was hacked. There is no evidence that any sensitive or operational systems were breached. Authorities have not said who may be responsible, but agencies are looking at the possibility that another country may be behind the hack. (ABC News)
11/ Fox News hired Jason Chaffetz to provide political analysis. In May, Chaffetz announced that he he would resign from Congress to pursue other opportunities. His congressional job ends Friday and will start his role at Fox on July 1. (The Daily Beast / The Hill)
poll/ 17% of Americans approve of the Senate’s health care plan, according to a NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll. 55% disapprove. (NPR)
poll/ 16% of American voters support the Republican health care plan, according to a Quinnipiac University national poll. 58% disapprove. (Quinnipiac University)
poll/ 12% of Americans support the Senate Republican health care plan, a USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll finds. 53% say Congress should either leave Obamacare alone or fix its problems while keeping the framework intact. (USA Today)
1/ Mitch McConnell delayed the Republican health care vote until after the July 4th recess as they search for the 50 votes needed to start debate on the bill. McConnell told GOP senators that he wants to make changes to the bill, get a new Congressional Budget Office score, and have a vote after the holiday. Meanwhile, Trump has invited all Senate Republicans to the White House to discuss the health care bill. The senators-only meeting is scheduled for 4PM EST at the White House. (Politico / CNN)
2/ The Senate health care bill is “hanging by a thread” as Republicans struggle to find the votes needed. At least six Republican senators are currently opposed to the bill: Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, Ron Johnson, Dean Heller, and Susan Collins. Republicans can only lose two votes from their own party and still pass the bill. It’s been Pence’s team – not Trump – that has played the prominent role in trying to whip up votes this week. Stephen Bannon and Reince Priebus have been all but sidelined. (New York Times / CNN / NBC News)
The CBO estimates that 22 million more people would be uninsured under the Senate bill, leaving Mitch McConnell with less than the 50 votes he’d need for a procedural motion to bring his health care bill to the floor. (Axios)
The equivalent of 16 states’ populations could lose insurance under the Senate health care bill. 22 million people is equal to the total population of 16 US states. (Washington Post)
3/ McConnell: If Obamacare repeal fails, Republicans will be forced to compromise with Democrats. Failure to repeal the health care law would mean the GOP would lose its opportunity to do a partisan rewrite and have to enter into bipartisan negotiations with Democrats to save the failing insurance markets. Democrats will want to retain as much of Obamacare as possible. (Politico)
After the CBO score, Republicans can divvy up nearly $200 billion to secure votes for the health care bill. It’s “all about side deals” one Senate aide said. (Politico)
4/ The White House warned Syria that it would “pay a heavy price” if it carried out another chemical attack. The Pentagon said it detected “active preparations” similar to those that occurred before the chemical attack in April. Several military officials were caught off guard by the White House statement. (Associated Press / Washington Post / New York Times)
5/ Trump’s lawyer directed millions in nonprofit donations to family members. Since 2000, Jay Sekulow has steered more than $60 million to his family and their businesses after pushing poor and jobless people to donate money – a “sacrificial gift” – to his Christian nonprofit. The nonprofit has raised tens of millions of dollars a year, mostly in small amounts from Christians who receive direct appeals for money from telemarketers. (The Guardian)
6/ At least 10 Trump aides have hired lawyers for the Russia probe, or are planning to do so. Inside the White House, Trump, Pence, and Kushner have hired private attorneys, as have former campaign advisers Michael Caputo, Boris Epshteyn, and Roger Stone, among others. (Wall Street Journal)
Jared Kushner has hired Abbe Lowell, a leading criminal defense lawyer. Kushner has also kept his current lawyer, Jamie Gorelick, who was a partner at WilmerHale, where Bob Mueller was a partner until becoming the special counsel. (New York Times / Politico)
7/ Congressman making $174k wants a 17% pay raise. Jason Chaffetz wants to give House and Senate lawmakers a $2,500 per month allowance to subsidize lawmakers’ housing costs in D.C., which would cost about $16 million a year for all 535 congressional members. (The Hill)
8/ The Pentagon could cancel enlistment contracts for 1,000 foreign-born recruits, putting them at risk of deportation. The recruits have seen their visas expire while waiting for basic training leaving them without legal immigration status. They were recruited into a program designed to award fast-tracked citizenship in exchange for needed medical and language skills. (Washington Post)
9/ North Korea compared Trump to Hitler, likening Trump’s “America First” policy to “Nazism in the 21st century.” (Wall Street Journal)
10/ Sarah Huckabee Sanders lectured reporters about the “constant barrage of fake news” by the media. She then promoted a video by James O’Keefe, a journalist known for his deceptive video editing and interview tactics, who released an undercover video where a CNN producer called the network’s Russia coverage “mostly bullshit.” She conceded that she did not know “whether it’s accurate or not,” then added that “if it is accurate, I think it’s a disgrace to all of media, to all of journalism.” (Washington Post / Politico / HuffPost)
11/ Trump tweeted that CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC, The New York Times, and The Washington Post are all “fake news” after CNN retracted a story tying a member of Trump’s transition team to the ongoing Russia investigations. (Politico)
Fake News CNN is looking at big management changes now that they got caught falsely pushing their phony Russian stories. Ratings way down!
13/ Sean Spicer barred TV cameras and live audio broadcasts from Monday’s media briefing. Spicer has allowed question-and-answer sessions with reporters to be televised just six times in the past six weeks. A reporter asked, “Why are the cameras off, Sean?” Spicer’s eventual answer: “Some days we’ll have them, some days we won’t. The President is going to speak today in the Rose Garden. I want the President’s voice to carry the day.” (Washington Post)
14/ The EPA, the Army, and the US Army Corps of Engineers are proposing a new rule to rollback Obama’s Waters of the United States. Scott Pruitt’s EPA has prioritized the economic concerns of industry and agricultural interests over environmental concerns. (Wall Street Journal)
The EPA chief of staff pressured the top scientist to alter her congressional testimony and play down the dismissal of expert advisers. Deborah Swackhamer, who leads the EPA’s Board of Scientific Counselors, was told to stick to the agency’s “talking points” on the dismissals of several members of the scientific board. (New York Times)
15/ Rick Perry wants an “intellectual conversation” about the impacts of humans on the climate. While Perry said he believes in climate change, he doesn’t believe carbon dioxide is the main driver of climate change, putting him at odds with climate scientists. (Politico)
poll/ More people worldwide have confidence in Putin than Trump. Just 22% have confidence in Trump to do the right thing when it comes to international affairs, down from 64% who had confidence in Obama, and compared to 27% for Putin. Globally, the US favorability rating has decreased from 64% at the end of Obama’s presidency to just 49%. (Pew Research Center)
1/ The Supreme Court partly reinstated Trump’s travel ban. The administration may now impose a 90-day ban on travelers from Libya, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen and a 120-day ban on all refugees entering the US, as long as they lack a “credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States.” Trump said the court’s decision to hear arguments on the travel ban cases in October was a “clear victory” for national security and will go into effect in 72-hours. Three justices — Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch — said they would have let the complete ban take effect while the court considers the case. (Associated Press / Washington Post / New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
2/ Trump will meet with Putin in Germany next month. Trump wants a full bilateral meeting, while the State Department and National Security Council are urging for restraint. All 17 US intelligence agencies have agreed Russia was behind the hack of DNC’s email and tried to influence the election to benefit Trump. A former KGB general said Putin has “other priorities” than discussing the accusations that Russia hacked the election, such as easing sanctions, raising oil prices, as well as next year’s presidential elections in Russia. (Associated Press)
3/ A Russian government official making $75,000 per year spent nearly $8 million on Trump condos in South Florida. There is also no public disclosure of Igor Zorin’s properties in Russia, which is illegal under Russian law. None of Zorin’s property purchases used bank financing, meaning he most likely paid cash. He made roughly $75,000 in 2015 and $159,000 in 2016. In one sale, a Florida company transferred a condo valued at $1.5 million to Zorin. No deed of sale was recorded, meaning the price paid — if any — is unknown. (Miami Herald)
4/ Russia is recalling Sergey Kislyak as the FBI and Congress continue to investigate the 66-year-old diplomat’s contacts with Trump’s team during the 2016 presidential campaign. Kislyak spent nearly 10 years at the center of US–Russia relations. (BuzzFeed News)
5/ The Trump administration has done little to prevent Russian hacking in the next election. Trump has shown no interest about how to prevent future election interference. Comey testified that Trump never asked him about how to stop a future election attack, while Jeff Sessions, who sits on the National Security Council, testified that he has not received a classified briefing on Russian election interference. Sean Spicer has never addressed the topic with Trump, either. Despite blaming the 2016 hacks on Obama, Trump hasn’t said what he would do to stop Russian hacking. (NBC News)
6/ The Senate health bill would leave 22 million more uninsured by 2026, slightly lower than the 23 million the House bill was projected at. 15 million more people would become uninsured next year compared to the current law. The federal deficit would decrease by $321 billion over a decade, compared to $119 billion for the House’s version. (New York Times / Washington Post)
7/ White House allies are retaliating against a Republican Senator who opposes the Obamacare repeal plan. America First Policies launched a $1 million attack against Dean Heller to both punish and sway his vote. (Politico)
8/ Trump confirmed that he called the health care bill “mean” and then accused Obama of stealing his term. Last week Obama said the Senate health care bill “will do you harm.”, adding that there is a “fundamental meanness” to the Republican health care bill. In a Fox and Friends interview, Trump took credit. “Well he actually used my term, ‘mean.’ That was my term,” he said. “Because I want to see – and I speak from the heart – that’s what I want to see, I want to see a bill with heart.” (CNN)
9/ Kellyanne Conway suggested people who lose Medicaid coverage could find jobs to provide health insurance. Projections show the Senate health bill would cut Medicaid by $800 billion, which Conway asserted is not a cut, but rather “getting Medicaid back to where it was.” (CNBC / ABC News)
10/ Senate Republicans are skeptical their health care bill can pass this week. Republicans say the biggest problems with the Obamacare repeal bill are its steep Medicaid cuts and effects on older Americans’ premiums. “There’s no way we should be voting on this” before the recess, Senator Ron Johnson said, urging party leaders to “not rush this process.” (Politico)
11/ Trump tweets that Democrats are “OBSTRUCTIONISTS” and that Obama “colluded or obstructed” on Russia. Here is Trump’s full tweetstorm: “The Democrats have become nothing but OBSTRUCTIONISTS, they have no policies or ideas. All they do is delay and complain.They own ObamaCare! The reason that President Obama did NOTHING about Russia after being notified by the CIA of meddling is that he expected Clinton would win and did not want to ‘rock the boat.’ He didn’t ‘choke,’ he colluded or obstructed, and it did the Dems and Crooked Hillary no good. The real story is that President Obama did NOTHING after being informed in August about Russian meddling. With 4 months looking at Russia under a magnifying glass, they have zero ‘tapes’ of T people colluding. There is no collusion and no obstruction. I should be given apology!” (CNN / The Daily Beast)
The Democrats have become nothing but OBSTRUCTIONISTS, they have no policies or ideas. All they do is delay and complain.They own ObamaCare!
12/ Kushner finalized a $285 million loan from a bank trying to settle a federal mortgage fraud case and charges that it aided a possible Russian money-laundering scheme. The loan came a month before the election and both cases were settled in December and January. Deutsche Bank is Trump’s biggest lender. (Washington Post)
13/ Ivanka Trump, senior adviser to the president: “I try to stay out of politics,” gives him “an A, of course” for his performance. She’s met with senators to discuss paid family leave, delivered the keynote at the Republican National Convention, and has met with world leaders. She added that her father has “phenomenal” political instincts. (ABC News / Politico / CNN)
14/ Trump drives his golf cart on the green. Doesn’t care. Does it all the time. (Washington Post)
1/ Obama weighed pre-election retaliation against Moscow for the Russian assault on the US election. The Obama administration debated dozens of options for deterring or punishing Russia, including cyberattacks on infrastructure, the release of CIA material to embarrass Putin, and sanctions that could “crater” the Russian economy. Instead, he expelled 35 Russian diplomats and closed two compounds. Obama also approved an operation in late December to embed “digital bombs” in Russia’s infrastructure that could be detonated if the US found itself in an escalating exchange with Moscow. The project was still in its planning stages when he left office, leaving Trump to decide whether to use the capability. “It is the hardest thing about my entire time in government to defend,” a former senior Obama official said. “I feel like we sort of choked.” (Washington Post)
2/ Trump denied obstructing Comey’s FBI probe in a Fox & Friends interview. He said his tweet hinting of “tapes” was intended to influence Comey’s testimony before Congress, suggesting it was possible that anyone could have taped their discussions. “With surveillance all over the place,” Trump said in the interview, “…you never know what’s out there, but I didn’t tape, and I don’t have any tape and I didn’t tape.” (New York Times / Reuters)
3/ Trump called Preet Bharara the day before dozens of US attorneys were asked to resign. The now former US Attorney sent an email to the Justice Department expressing his concern about a voicemail he received from Trump’s secretary. “It appeared to be that [Trump] was trying to cultivate some kind of relationship,” Bharara said. “…It’s a very weird and peculiar thing for a one-on-one conversation without the attorney general.” Bharara refused to resign, and was fired the following day. (BuzzFeed News)
4/ The director of national intelligence told House investigators that Trump seemed obsessed with the Russia probe and repeatedly asked him to publicly acknowledge there was no evidence of collusion. At a Senate hearing earlier this month, Dan Coats said Trump never pressured him to do anything inappropriate, but refused to confirm or deny allegations that Trump asked him to push back against the FBI probe into collusion between the campaign and the Russian government. (NBC News)
5/ Trump: It’s “bothersome” that Robert Mueller is “very, very good friends with Comey.” He added that “there’s been no collusion, no obstruction, and virtually everybody agrees to that” and that Mueller’s team of lawyers are “all Hillary Clinton supporters.” (ABC News)
6/ Frustrated by the Russia probe, Trump loses patience with his White House lawyer. Trump took Don McGahn to task in the Oval Office for not doing more to squash the Russia probe early on despite having handed over the Russia investigation to his personal attorney Marc Kasowitz. (Politico)
7/ West Wing aides struggle to keep Trump calm on Russia. His new morning routine begins at 6:30 AM with a venting session with his outside legal team in an effort to prevent the Russia probe from consuming him all day. (Washington Post)
8/ Art of the Deal: Carrier is preparing to lay off 600 employees next month as Trump’s deal fails to live up to the hype. Carrier will continue to employ at least 1,069 people at their plant for 10 years in exchange for up to $7 million in incentives. But, only 730 of those positions are the manufacturing jobs that were at the heart of the debate. The rest are technical jobs that were never scheduled to be cut. (CNBC)
9/ The FBI is investigating business deals involving Paul Manafort and his son-in-law. Manafort helped finance a series of real estate deals by Jeffrey Yohai, who has been accused of defrauding investors. Manafort was Trump’s campaign chairman until reports surfaced that he had received millions of dollars off-the-book for his consulting work in Ukraine. (New York Times)
10/ Trump proposed a law that’s existed for 20 years. During his rally on Wednesday, Trump called for a new law barring immigrants from receiving welfare for at least five years. Clinton signed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act in 1996. The law prevents immigrants from receiving federal benefits, such as food stamps, Medicaid, and Social Security for five years after entering the country. (USA Today)
11/ The White House is frustrated with Rex Tillerson’s deliberate approach to hiring at the State Department. Tillerson is more concerned about setting the State Department up for success, rather than satisfying the White House’s desire to place Republican appointees in the numerous vacant positions. (Washington Post)
poll/ 13% of US adults have a favorable opinion of Putin, down from 22% in February. Putin’s unfavorable rating stands at 74%. (Gallup)
poll/ More Americans believe Comey over Trump. 45% say they believe Comey’s version of events compared to 22% who believe Trump more. (NBC News)
1/ The Senate unveiled its health care bill today. It’s similar to the House bill that passed last month, but with changes aimed at pleasing moderates: linking federal insurance subsidies to income, curbing Medicaid expansion, and ending the mandate that most Americans have health insurance. Mitch McConnell has vowed to hold a vote before senators go home for the July 4th recess, but he is still short the 50 votes he needs to pass the legislation. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Politico)
What’s in the Senate Republican health care bill. Like the House version, McConnell’s proposal would slash taxes, cut Medicaid, and eliminate Obamacare’s insurance mandates for individuals and employers. (The Atlantic)
The GOP health plan is really a Medicaid rollback. It would also permanently restructure Medicaid, which covers tens of millions of poor or disabled Americans, including millions who are living in nursing homes with conditions like Alzheimer’s or the aftereffects of a stroke. (New York Times)
2/ Obama said the Senate health care bill “will do you harm.” In a nearly 1,000-word critique, Obama framed the GOP health care plan as fundamentally inhumane. “The Senate bill, unveiled today, is not a health care bill,” he wrote. “It’s a massive transfer of wealth from middle-class and poor families to the richest people in America.” (Barack Obama / HuffPost / Washington Post)
3/ Four Republican senators say they will not vote for the GOP health care bill unless changes are made, putting passage of the bill at risk hours after it was unveiled. In a statement, Ted Cruz, Ron Johnson, Mike Lee, and Rand Paul said they are “not ready” to support the measure. They are open to negotiating changes to win their support. (Politico / NBC News / Washington Post / ABC News)
Where Senators stand on the health care bill. It needs at least 50 votes to pass. Every Democrat is expected to oppose the bill, which means three Republican “no” votes would block it. (New York Times)
4/ The White House refused to say if Trump will support the Senate health care bill. Trump previously called the House health care bill “mean” and wanted the Senate version to be “more generous.” (Politico)
5/ Trump tweets that he didn’t tape his conversations with Comey after all. In May, Trump warned Comey against leaking to the press, suggesting there were “tapes” of their private conversations. Soon after reports surfaced of memos Comey had written detailing Trump’s effort to shut down the Michael Flynn investigation. Today, Trump tweeted that “with all of the recently reported electronic surveillance, intercepts, unmasking and illegal leaking of information, I have no idea whether there are “tapes” or recordings of my conversations with James Comey, but I did not make, and do not have, any such recordings.” (NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post)
...whether there are "tapes" or recordings of my conversations with James Comey, but I did not make, and do not have, any such recordings.
Trump’s tease of possible Comey tapes fits familiar pattern. In 2011, Trump promised to reveal what his private investigators had found in Hawaii about Obama’s birth certificate. He never released anything. (Associated Press)
6/ Two of the top intelligence officials told Robert Mueller that Trump suggested they refute collusion with the Russians. Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers described the interaction as odd and uncomfortable, but that they don’t believe Trump gave them orders to interfere. The two repeatedly refused to say whether Trump asked them to intervene in the Russia probe during their public Senate intelligence committee testimony. (CNN)
7/ Trump at Iowa rally: “All we do is win, win, win.” He then blamed Democrats for his problems, boasted about his “amazing progress,” and called the Russia investigation a “phony witch hunt” at his campaign-style rally in Cedar Rapids last night. During the 70-minute speech, Trump promised to lay out the next steps in “our incredible movement to make America great again,” but continually veered off on tangents, reflected on the past, and contradicted himself. He knocked trade deals the Iowa economy relies on, dismissed wind energy in a state filled with thousands of turbines, and denounced the war in the Middle East despite reauthorizing troops in Afghanistan. Trump also revealed his plan for putting solar panels on his proposed border wall “so it creates energy and pays for itself.” (New York Times / Washington Post / CBS News)
8/ Trump: “I just don’t want a poor person” in charge of the economy. “When you get the president of Goldman Sachs, smart,” Trump told the crowd at his Cedar Rapids rally. During the campaign, Trump frequently bashed the investment bank for having too much influence in politics. Trump has one of the wealthiest Cabinets in history. (CNN)
9/ House Democrats want to suspend Jared Kushner’s security clearance. Kushner’s previously undisclosed meetings with Russian officials have drawn the attention of investigators. Democrats say these contacts should be enough to suspend his access to sensitive information. (ABC News)
10/ Hackers successfully altered at least one voter roll in 2016 and stole voter records that contain private information like partial Social Security numbers. Investigators have not identified whether the hackers in that case were Russian agents. (Time)
11/ The White House is urging House Republicans to weaken its Russia sanctions bill, which was overwhelmingly passed by the Senate. The bill would place new sanctions on Russia for its meddling in the 2016 election and allow Congress to block Trump from lifting penalties against Moscow. (New York Times)
12/ Betsy DeVos picked the CEO of a private student loan company to run the federal student loan system. 42 million Americans currently owe $1.4 trillion in student loans. (The Hill)
13/ Trump will host his first re-election fundraiser at the Trump International Hotel next week, raising ethics concerns from conflict of interest attorneys. Trump is “becoming more and more brazen in his efforts to monetize the presidency,” Obama’s lead ethics attorney said. (Associated Press)
14/ North Korea called Trump a “psychopath” and warned South Korea that no good will come from aligning with him. The commentary, published in a state newspaper, suggested that Trump could launch a preemptive strike on North Korea to distract from his domestic problems. (AOL News / Washington Post)
15/ The White House told reporters not to report on instructions about not reporting on a press conference. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said today’s press conference would not be a video affair and then said the announcement itself was “NOT REPORTABLE.” (Slate)
poll/ A majority of voters think the American Health Care Act would be harmful for low-income Americans, people with pre-existing health conditions, and Medicaid recipients. 41% oppose the House plan, while 30% support it. 13% think the plan will improve the quality of their healthcare. 9% think it would make their health care cheaper. (Reuters)
poll/ 16% of adults believe that House health care bill is a good idea compared to 48% who say it’s a bad idea. (NBC News)
1/ CIA Director Mike Pompeo continued to brief Michael Flynn on national intelligence despite concerns Flynn was vulnerable to Russian blackmail. The FBI, the CIA, the Justice Department, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence all concluded that Flynn had become susceptible to blackmail. Pompeo never raised these concerns with Trump. “Either Director Pompeo had no idea what people in the CIA reportedly knew about Michael Flynn, or he knew about the Justice Department’s concerns and continued to discuss America’s secrets with a man vulnerable to blackmail,” Senator Ron Wyden said in a statement. “I believe Director Pompeo owes the public an explanation.” (New York Times)
2/ Trump is expected to reveal whether tapes of conversations with Comey exist this week. After firing Comey in May, Trump tweeted that Comey “better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press.” Trump and aides have since refused to clarify the ambiguous warning. The House intelligence committee wants the White House to provide an answer about the tapes by Friday. Under a post-Watergate law, destroying recordings would be a crime. (Associated Press)
3/ Jeff Sessions hired a personal lawyer amid the expanding Russia investigation. The Attorney General’s longtime friend Charles Cooper has been providing counsel to Sessions, both for his Senate Intelligence Committee hearing last week, as well as during his January confirmation hearing. Sessions recused himself from the FBI’s investigation into Russia meddling and whether any Trump associates colluded in that effort. Special counsel Robert Mueller could seek information from Sessions about the circumstances surrounding the firing of James Comey. (Bloomberg / USA Today / National Law Journal)
4/ The Congressional Black Caucus will reject an invitation to meet with Trump. Members say the caucus-wide meeting would amount to little more than a photo op that Trump could use to bolster his standing among African-Americans. “No one wants to be a co-star on the reality show,” said one aide. (Politico)
5/ Queen Elizabeth didn’t mention Trump’s planned visit to the UK during her speech at the opening of Parliament. Trump’s visit was already in doubt after he insisted on a gold‑plated welcome in the Queen’s royal carriage and started a feud with London’s mayor on Twitter after the terrorist attack. The London mayor previously said Trump should be denied a state visit because of his “cruel” policies on immigration. The Queen’s speech is used to set the government’s legislative agenda for the next two years and announce planned state visits. (BBC / CNN / The Telegraph)
6/ Trump will hold a “Make America Great Again” rally to get a boost from outside of Washington. 8,600 political supporters will join Trump in Cedar Rapids, Iowa where he’s expected to repeat his campaign rhetoric at a time when he has the lowest job approval rating of any president in modern history at this point in his tenure. (Washington Post / AOL News)
Trump has only held one solo press conference since becoming president, lagging behind his predecessors. Obama had held six solo press conferences by this point in his presidency, George W. Bush had held three, and Clinton seven. Trump’s last press conference was four months ago, where he delivered a series of raw and personal attacks on the media in a news conference for the ages. (NBC News)
7/ Michael Bloomberg tells Trump to “stop tweeting and focus on running the government.” The former mayor of New York City added that Trump’s refusal to acknowledge that climate change is real is an embarrassment. “No reputable person or scientist doubts that we are creating an environmental and a climate change problem,” he said. (CNN)
Bloomberg: Trump not saying climate change is real is "embarrassing" https://t.co/HewjgcEEIs
8/ The EPA plans to buy out more than 1,200 employees this summer as part of a push by the administration to shrink the agency Trump once promised to eliminate “in almost every form.” It would be about an 8% reduction of the current 15,000-person EPA workforce. The administration has also proposed a 31% cut to the EPA budget. (Washington Post)
9/ Trump’s budget seeks to cut funding for programs that shelter the poor and combat homelessness, except for a federal housing subsidy that earns him millions of dollars a year. (Washington Post)
10/ The Pentagon spent $28 million on uniforms for Afghan soldiers, which were appropriate for just 2.1% of Afghanistan. In 2007, the Afghan Defense Ministry decided the army needed a “new and distinctive uniform” to set is apart. He chose woodland camouflage. (USA Today)
11/ Russian-linked hackers targeted election-related computer systems in 21 states. Systems involved in vote counting were not affected. The hackers appeared to be scanning for vulnerabilities. In May, it was reported that Russian hackers had hit election systems in 39 states, accessing software used by poll workers on Election Day. The Russian military intelligence executed a cyberattack on at least one US voting software supplier last year, sending spear-phishing emails to more than 100 local election officials days before the election. (Washington Post / CNN)
12/ Republican Karen Handel beat Democrat Jon Ossoff in Georgia’s special election for a House seat. Trump tweeted his excitement: “Well, the Special Elections are over and those that want to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN are 5 and O! All the Fake News, all the money spent = 0.” The Georgia race was the most expensive House race in history, with candidates spending roughly $55 million combined. (CNN / New York Times / Politico)
Well, the Special Elections are over and those that want to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN are 5 and O! All the Fake News, all the money spent = 0
1/ Sean Spicer is searching for his own replacement as he’s expected to transition to a behind-the-scenes role overseeing communications strategy – senior to both the communications director and press secretary. Spicer’s deputy, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, has frequently replaced him in the daily press briefings as he’s slowly retreated from public view over the past month. He’s often caught between striving for the respect of the press corps and Trump’s erratic tweets. (Politico / Bloomberg / Washington Post)
2/ Steve Bannon explains the change in Spicer’s role: “Sean got fatter.” The White House has pared back the daily press briefings, downgrading them from “briefings” to “gaggles,” and from on-camera to off-camera. They are now shorter and less frequent. (The Atlantic)
.@RosieGray asked Steve Bannon why White House briefings are now off camera. He texted back: "Sean got fatter.” https://t.co/90ZuVqt9Lx
3/ Spicer hasn’t talked to Trump about whether Russia interfered in the election. The US intelligence community concluded that Russia orchestrated a hacking and influence campaign to swing the election in Trump’s favor. “I have not sat down and asked him about the specific reaction,” Spicer said. “I’d be glad to touch base with him and get back to you.” Trump’s repeatedly raised doubts about their conclusions. (Politico / The Hill)
4/ The Senate will vote on their health care bill next week, despite not having enough support to pass it. The Senate will release the bill’s text Thursday, with the CBO expected to score its impact on the federal budget and insurance coverage by early next week. The Senate could hold a vote next Thursday, before lawmakers leave for the July 4th recess. Failure to vote by then would open Republican lawmakers up to pressure from constituents at town-hall meetings. (Wall Street Journal / BuzzFeed News)
Democrats held the Senate floor last night to spotlight Republicans behind-the-scenes efforts to repeal Obamacare. Democrats criticized the closed-door meetings using series of floor motions, inquiries, and lengthy speeches to highlight what Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer called “the most glaring departure from normal legislative procedure that I have ever seen.” (Reuters / ABC News)
Here’s what we know about the Senate health-care bill. The blurry outlines of an Obamacare overhaul are coming into focus as Senate Republican leaders prod their members toward a health-care vote next week. (Washington Post)
5/ Trump’s pick for FBI Director removed a past case involving the Russian government from his law firm bio at King and Spalding. Christopher Wray made the edit on January 12, when he was not considered for the FBI Director job, “or any position in government.” Wray’s law firm has worked closely with the Russian the energy sector, representing companies in deals with the Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft and Gazprom. (CNN)
6/ Wray billed New Jersey taxpayers more than $2.1 million while representing Chris Christie during the Bridgegate trial for legal charges and expenses. The public wasn’t aware that Wray was working for Christie for almost two years. Christie hasn’t said whether he recommended Wray for the FBI job. (WYNC)
7/ Michael Flynn failed to report a business trip to Saudi Arabia where he represented US and Russian state-sponsored companies, and Saudi financing interests to build 16 nuclear power plants a congressional letter issued Monday shows. The letter questions why Flynn failed to mention one trip and underreported a second for the renewal of his federal security clearance. It also questions why Flynn failed to mention “any of these contacts with Saudi or other foreign officials on his security clearance application or during his interview with security clearance investigators.” (McClatchy – DC)
8/ The FBI is investigating Flynn’s former business partner and looking at whether payments from foreign clients were lawful. The now-defunct Flynn Intel Group received payments by three Russian companies and the Netherlands-based company Inovo. (Reuters)
9/ Robert Mueller adds a witness-flipping expert to his team. Andrew Weissmann is best known for gaining witness cooperation in the Enron investigation. He previously headed the Justice Department’s criminal fraud unit. (Reuters)
10/ Rex Tillerson has a three-point plan for future US-Russia relations in an effort to seek constructive working relationship with Putin on a limited set of issues. Step 1: Tell Moscow that aggressive actions against the US are a losing proposition. Step 2: Engage on issues that are of strategic interest to the US. Step 3: Emphasize the importance of “strategic stability” regarding geopolitical goals. (BuzzFeed News)
11/ The House health care plan is unpopular in three states where a Republican Senator will have a swing vote. 31% of Nevada voters, 35% of West Virginia voters, and 29% of Alaska voters approve of the AHCA. (Axios)
poll/ 81% of Americans don’t want Trump to interfere with the Mueller probe. Trump’s approval rating stands at 36%, his lowest in the CBS News Polls since becoming president. 57% percent now disapprove. (CBS News)
poll/ 18% of Americans support Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord. 44% of Americans are “very concerned” and 26% are “moderately concerned” that withdrawing from the agreement will hurt the country’s standing in the world. 64% of Americans disapprove of how Trump is handling the issue of climate change, with 34% approving. (Associated Press)
poll/ 73% of Americans feel the current tone of politics is encouraging violence. 68% say the tone and level of civility in politics is getting worse. (CBS News)
1/ The US military shot down a Syrian fighter jet after it dropped bombs near local forces supported by Americans in the fight against the Islamic State. A US military statement said it acted in “collective self-defense” of its partner forces. This was the first Syrian plane shot down by the US. (Associated Press / New York Times)
Russia threatened to target US-led coalition warplanes over Syria in response. “Any aircraft, including planes and drones belonging to the international coalition operating west of the Euphrates river, will be tracked by Russian anti-aircraft forces in the sky and on the ground and treated as targets,” the Russian defense ministry said. (New York Times / BBC / Reuters / Associated Press)
BREAKING: Russia says it will treat US-led coalition planes in Syria, west of the Euphrates, as targets after US downed Syrian jet.
2/ Trump’s lawyer insists the president “is not under investigation.” Appearing on several Sunday morning news shows, Trump’s personal attorney Jay Sekulow stressed that “the president has not been and is not under investigation.” He added that Trump has not been notified of any investigation. On Friday, Trump took to Twitter, saying: “I am being investigated for firing the FBI Director by the man who told me to fire the FBI Director! Witch Hunt.” (New York Times / Associated Press)
I am being investigated for firing the FBI Director by the man who told me to fire the FBI Director! Witch Hunt
3/ Trump tweets that his “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN agenda is doing very well despite the distraction of the Witch Hunt” – aka Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. Mueller is considering whether there is evidence to launch a full scale obstruction of justice investigation. (CNN)
The MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN agenda is doing very well despite the distraction of the Witch Hunt. Many new jobs, high business enthusiasm,..
4/ The White House is pushing the House Republicans for a friendlier sanctions deal against Russia. Senate Democrats fear the Trump administration will defang the bill designed to punish Russia for election meddling. The legislation would tie the White House’s hands on US-Russia relations, the administration says. (Politico)
5/ Jared Kushner is reconsidering his legal team. He’s contacted high-powered criminal lawyers about potentially representing him in the wide-ranging investigation into Russia’s influence on the 2016 election. (New York Times)
6/ McConnell wants to force a health care vote by July 4th and is considering making even deeper cuts to Medicaid spending than the bill passed by the House. The Senate won’t vote without a CBO score, which means they need to finish negotiations this week. The CBO, however, found that the House bill would cause 14 million fewer people to be enrolled in Medicaid over 10 years. (Axios / The Hill)
7/ Democrats are turning to procedural moves to slow Republican efforts to repeal Obamacare by objecting to all unanimous consent requests in the Senate. It likely won’t change the timing of the health care vote, but it will force Republicans to answer for what Democrats say is a rushed process and bad policy. (Politico)
House republicans to are sending McConnell a letter demanding certain provisions remain in the Senate health bill. Republican Study Committee outlines four components of the House-passed health care bill that are “particularly crucial” to maintaining support from GOP lawmakers in the House. (Independent Journal Review)
Six people have resigned from Trump’s HIV/AIDS advisory council because he “doesn’t care.” Trump has not appointed anyone to head the White House Office of National AIDS Policy. The agency’s website has not been updated five months after taking office. “We have dedicated our lives to combating this disease and no longer feel we can do so effectively within the confines of an advisory body to a president who simply does not care.” (BuzzFeed News)
8/ The Supreme Court will hear a landmark case on partisan gerrymandering. The case could have “enormous ramifications” on how to draw district lines nationwide. Obama has said that one of his post-presidency projects will be to combat partisan gerrymanders after the 2020 Census. (CNN / Washington Post)
9/ The personal information and voter profile data on 198 million American voters was stored on an unsecured server owned by Republican data analytics firm Deep Root Analytics. The folder includes dozens of spreadsheets containing a unique identifier for each voter for the 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns, which link to “dozens of sensitive and personally identifying data points, making it possible to piece together a striking amount of detail on individual Americans specified by name.” (ZDNet / Wall Street Journal)
10/ Trump’s business ties in the Gulf raise questions about his allegiances after spending years trying to enter the Qatar market. As Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar feud, Trump has thrown his weight behind the two countries where he’s done business, raising new concerns about a conflict between his public role and his financial incentives. Qatar hosts America’s largest air base in the region. (New York Times)
11/ Energy Secretary Rick Perry said he doesn’t believe CO2 emissions from human activity are the primary driver of climate change, a view that is at odds with the conclusions of the Environmental Protection Agency, NASA, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (CNBC)
News You May Have Missed
At the height of Russia tensions last summer, Trump’s campaign chairman met with a former Russian army business associate. Konstantin Kilimnik had helped run the Ukraine office for Paul Manafort international political consulting practice for 10 years. (Washington Post)
Milwaukee Sheriff David Clarke withdrew his name from consideration for an assistant secretary of Homeland Security post. Clarke’s appointment had been subject to significant delays, contributing to his withdrawal. He was also accused of plagiarism, as well as drawing scrutiny for the conditions in his jails that left one mentally ill inmate dead. (Washington Post)
A 17-year-old Muslim girl was killed after leaving her Virginia mosque on Sunday. Police found human remains in a pond about three miles from where the initial altercation took place. A baseball bat was also recovered. Police charged Martinez Torres with the murder of the 17-year-old, which is not currently being investigated as a hate crime. (Washington Post / NBC News)
Trump demands face time with his favorite Cabinet appointees, turning the White House into a hangout for his chosen department heads. Trump doesn’t trust bureaucrats who do the day-to-day work of the federal government, referring to them as the “deep state,” and blaming them for the frequent leaks to the press. But for Trump’s Cabinet members, being present means they have a say in policymaking. (Politico)
The body-slamming congressman now calls for civil politics, four days after being convicted for assaulting a reporter who asked him a question about health care. In May, Greg Gianforte had grabbed a reporter by the neck with both hands, slammed him into the ground, and then began punching the reporter. Gianforte had to pay a fine, perform community service, and take anger management training, but no jail time. (Associated Press)
1/ Trump tweets that he’s under investigation for his role in firing James Comey and accused Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein of overseeing the “witch hunt” against him. Rosenstein wrote the memo recommending Comey’s firing, but also approved the appointment of Robert Mueller, the special counsel now leading the Russia investigation. (New York Times / CNN / Washington Post)
After 7 months of investigations & committee hearings about my "collusion with the Russians," nobody has been able to show any proof. Sad!
The greatest threat to Trump and his presidency comes from his own conduct. And his obsessive behavior. (Politico)
2/ Rod Rosenstein urged Americans to “exercise caution” when evaluating stories attributed to anonymous officials. It’s unclear why Rosenstein would issue the statement, but it follows several stories quoting unnamed sources on the direction of the Russia probe. (Washington Post)
3/ Rosenstein privately acknowledged that he may have to recuse himself from the Russia investigation. Rosenstein told Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand, the Justice Department’s new third-in-command, that if he were to recuse himself, she would have to step in and take over the probe. She was sworn-in little more than a month ago. (ABC News)
Former Bush official Rachel Brand takes over as the Justice Department’s third-highest-ranking official. Brand was confirmed in May. (Washington Post)
4/ Jared Kushner’s finances and business dealings are now part of the Mueller investigation. Kushner joins the list of Trump associates Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, and Carter Page who are now under investigation by FBI agents and federal prosecutors. Kushner has agreed to discuss his Russian contacts with the Senate Intelligence Committee. (Washington Post)
5/ The Trump transition team ordered members to preserve Russia-related documents, including records related to Ukraine and certain campaign advisers and officials. The memo says members “have a duty to preserve any physical and electronic records that may be related in any way to the subject matter of the pending investigations.” (New York Times / Politico)
6/ The House Intelligence Committee wants to talk to Trump’s digital director about Russia and possible connections between the Trump team and Russian operatives. Brad Parscale played a critical role on the Trump campaign, directing online spending and voter targeting with the use of a data bank built by the Republican National Committee. (CNN)
7/ The FBI won’t release Comey’s memos because they’re part of a “pending or prospective law enforcement proceeding,” a Freedom of Information Act request revealed. At least one of the memos is unclassified, but wouldn’t because it could “reasonably interfere with enforcement proceedings.” (BuzzFeed News)
8/ The White House is referring questions about a potential Oval Office recording device to outside counsel. A national security attorney suggested that the White House is attempting to defer and deflect the issue for as long as possible. (The Daily Beast)
9/ Trump’s personal lawyer hires his own lawyer to navigate the Russia probe. Michael Cohen’s decision is the latest sign that the Russia probe is intensifying and could end up focusing on many Trump associates, both inside and outside the White House. (Washington Post)
Exclusive: Trump personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, has hired his own counsel: Stephen Ryan, of McDermott, Will & Emery.- source w knowledge
10/ An American lobbyist representing Russian interests contradicted Jeff Sessions’ sworn testimony about not having contacts with lobbyists working for Russian interests over the course of Trump’s campaign. Richard Burt attended “two dinners with groups of former Republican foreign policy officials and Senator Sessions.” (The Guardian)
11/ Trump picked his family’s event planner to run federal housing programs in New York. Lynne Patton will oversee the distribution of billions of taxpayer dollars despite having no housing experience and claiming to have a law degree the school says she never earned. (NY Daily News)
12/ Senate Republican leaders want to bring their health care bill to the Senate floor by the end of June as disagreements threaten to derail their efforts. Mitch McConnell and a small group of GOP aides are crafting the bill behind closed doors. Earlier this week, Trump called the House version “mean.” The comment has angered House Republicans and its likely damaged his ability to negotiate with them on infrastructure and tax reform. (Washington Post / Axios)
13/ Trump rolled back Obama’s Cuba policy, tightening travel restrictions and blocking business with the island. Trump called it a “completely one-sided deal.” At one point, Trump considered severing diplomatic relations with Cuba. (NBC News / The Hill)
14/ The Pentagon will send about 4,000 more American troops to Afghanistan, the largest deployment of Trump’s presidency. Trump gave Defense Secretary Jim Mattis the authority to manage troop levels to help Afghanistan’s army against a resurgent Taliban. (Washington Post)
poll/ 65% think Trump has little to no respect for country’s institutions. Only 34% of Americans think Trump has a great deal or a fair amount of respect for them. (The Hill)
The three prongs of Mueller’s Russia investigation explained. Mueller is investigating Russian meddling in the election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign, attempts to obstruct justice, and any possible financial crimes. (Washington Post)
Mueller is examining whether Trump obstructed justice. The special counsel investigation has expanded to look into president’s firing of former FBI Director James Comey. (Wall Street Journal)
The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee wants obstruction to be part of House Russia probe. Adam Schiff is negotiating with his Republican counterpart about whether to investigate Trump for obstruction of justice as part of the panel’s Russia investigation. (Politico)
The Senate intelligence committee won’t investigate whether Trump obstructed justice, leaving the criminal inquiry to special counsel Robert Mueller. (CNN)
Putin – jokingly – offered Comey asylum during a marathon phone-in session with the Russian people. (The Guardian)
2/ Aides blame Trump for the obstruction of justice probe: “The president did this to himself” and “shot himself in the foot again with this cockamamie scheme to get Mueller to play ball” by spreading rumors that Trump might fire the special counsel. Senators, White House aides, former prosecutors, and FBI veterans are urging Trump not to do it, as firing Mueller now would require him to personally direct the Department of Justice to do so, which “could be shown that his purpose was to impede the investigation” and “could be additional evidence of obstruction of justice.” (The Daily Beast)
3/ Pence hired outside counsel to help with House and Senate committee inquiries, and the special counsel investigation into possible collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia. (Washington Post)
4/ Trump revised his travel ban to address arguments that it would expire today. Under the ban’s original wording, it would last “for 90 days from the effective date of this order.” A separate provision set the effective date as March 16, meaning the ban would have expired June 14. The administration is arguing that the court orders blocking the ban had implicitly delayed the effective date. (Bloomberg)
5/ A GOP congressman wants members of Congress to “curtail” their town halls after the Scalise shooting “until we agree that we need to be more civil.” In addition to yesterday’s shooting, Lou Barletta cited “those town halls where the police had to carry people out” as a safety concern and reason to cut back on hosting town hall forums. (CNN)
6/ Dennis Rodman gave Kim Jong Un a copy of Trump’s book “The Art of the Deal.” Rodman may be the only person in the world who has personal relationships with both Trump and the North Korean supreme leader. (Washington Post / CNN)
7/ The Australian Prime Minister mocked Trump in a speech. Malcolm Turnbull’s told a room of journalists, advisers, and politicians that “the Donald and I, we are winning and winning in the polls. We are winning so much! We are winning like we have never won before. We are winning in the polls. We are! Not the fake polls. Not the fake polls. They’re the ones we’re not winning in. We’re winning in the real polls.” (CNN / Wall Street Journal)
8/ Despite being investigated by the FBI, Paul Manafort is still offering prospective business partners access to Trump. Manafort consulted on a proposal for a Chinese construction billionaire. A lawyer involved in discussions said, “He’s going around telling people that he’s still talking to the president and — even more than that — that he is helping to shape Trump’s foreign policy.” Trump’s former campaign chairman is at the center of the FBI investigation into ties between Trump’s team and the Russians. (Politico)
9/ The Energy Department closed its office working on climate change abroad. The office was formed in 2010 to help the United States provide technical advice to other nations seeking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. (New York Times)
10/ Trump ordered the government to stop working on the Y2K bug, 17 years after year 2000 came and went. Federal workers still report on preparedness for the Y2K bug, consuming some 1,200 man-hours every year.[Editor’s note: I misunderstood this statistic. It was attributed to other, pointless paperwork. The Y2K requirements are often ignored in practice.] (Bloomberg)
poll/ 41% of Republicans say they are satisfied with the way things are going in the US, down 17% since May. (Gallup)
poll/ 50% of the CEOs, business leaders, government officials and academics gave Trump an “F” for his first 130 days in office. 21% gave Trump’s performance a “D” and just 1% gave him an “A.” (CNN Money)
1/ Robert Mueller is now investigating Trump for possible obstruction of justice, marking a major turning point in the nearly year-old FBI investigation. The obstruction of justice investigation into the president began days after Comey was fired on May 9 with the team actively pursuing potential witnesses inside and outside the government. The White House is referring all questions about the Russia investigation to Trump’s personal lawyer, Marc Kasowitz. (Washington Post)
2/ Almost 200 congressional Democrats will sue Trump over foreign business ties. They contend that Trump has ignored the emoluments clause of the Constitution, which prohibits federal officials from accepting gifts from foreign powers without congressional approval. The case is one of at least four pending lawsuits alleging that by retaining interests in a global business empire, Trump has violated the foreign emoluments clause. (Politico / New York Times / Washington Post)
3/ China preliminary approved six new trademarks for the Trump brand as it relates to veterinary services and construction sectors. The new marks brings his total to at least 123 registered and provisionally approved trademarks in China. (New York Times)
4/ The majority of Trump’s real estate sales are to secretive shell companies, which obscure the buyers’ identities. Since winning the Republican nomination, about 70% of buyers of Trump properties were LLCs, compared with about 4% of buyers in the two years before. Since the election, Trump’s businesses have sold 28 properties for $33 million. (USA Today)
5/ Trump gave the Pentagon authority to unilaterally send new troops to Afghanistan. The Pentagon is weighing plans to send 3,000 to 5,000 troops after years of reductions in hopes that Kabul could handle threats on its own. There is fewer than 9,000 troops currently in Afghanistan. (Wall Street Journal)
6/ Trump blocked a veterans group on Twitter that was critical of him. While on the campaign trail, Trump praised veterans as “amazing,” “distinguished” and “tremendous.” Today, he blocked them on Twitter for criticizing his tweet about the “Fake News Media.” (Talking Points Memo / Newsweek / The Hill)
The Commander in Chief can block @VoteVets, the voice of 500k military veterans and families, but we will NOT be silenced. pic.twitter.com/SaCN5hKU9R
7/ A Trump business partner is in the running for a $1.7 billion contract to build the new FBI headquarters. Vornado Realty Trust is a partial owner with the Trump Organization in two buildings and a major investor in a Kushner Cos. skyscraper. (Associated Press)
8/ Tomorrow’s congressional hearing to debate gun legislation has been canceled until further notice in the wake of today’s shooting at a Republican congressional baseball practice. The panel was suppose to debate the “Sportsmen’s Heritage and Recreational Enhancement Act,” which would make it easier to purchase silencers, transport guns across state lines, and ease restrictions on armor-piercing bullets. The bill’s sponsor was at the baseball practice. (CNN)
9/ Not a single state supports the House health care bill. Even in the most supportive states, like Oklahoma, Florida, and Texas, only 38%, 35%, and 34% of voters, respectively, support the law, compared to 45%, 48%, and 49% who oppose it. (New York Times)
10/ The Senate approved new bipartisan sanctions against Russia, which establishes a congressional review of any changes the Trump administration wants to make to the current penalties. Senators voted 97-2, but its future in the GOP-controlled House is unclear, as is whether Trump would even sign the bill. (Politico)
11/ Robert Mueller met with the Senate intelligence committee to plot a path forward on their investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. The two sides discussed to share information and not step on each others’ toes. (CNN)
poll/ Trump’s job disapproval rating hits 60%. When does the winning start? (Gallup)
1/ Russian hackers hit election systems in 39 states, accessing software designed to be used by poll workers on Election Day. The scope and sophistication was so concerning that the Obama administration complained directly to Moscow, detailing Russia’s role in the election meddling and warned that the attacks risked setting off a broader conflict. (Bloomberg)
2/ Senate leaders agree on bipartisan sanctions to punish Russia for election meddling, placing the White House in an uncomfortable position. The agreement would impose sanctions on “corrupt Russian actors” and people conducting “malicious cyberactivity on behalf of the Russian government,” and “provide for a mandated congressional review” if the White House sought to waive or ease existing sanctions unilaterally. “I’d be very, very surprised if the president vetoes this bill,” the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee said. (New York Times / Politico)
3/ The House Intelligence Committee is adding funding and staff to its Russia probe. A lack of resources has been an issue for the House investigation, due in part to Devin Nunes,the panel’s chairman, being forced to recuse himself over allegations that he was openly colluding with the White House. (The Daily Beast)
4/ Trump is considering firing Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating possible ties between his campaign and Russian officials. Trump was “considering, perhaps, terminating the special counsel,” Trump’s friend Christopher Ruddy said. To do so, Trump would have to order Rod Rosenstein to rescind department regulations protecting a special counsel from being fired and then to fire Mueller. If Rosenstein refused, Trump could fire him, too. Trump is being counseled to steer clear of such a dramatic move like firing the special counsel. (New York Times / CNN)
Chris Ruddy to @JudyWoodruff: President Trump is considering firing special counsel Robert Mueller, who he considered for another position. pic.twitter.com/X4IIHlh8at
Republicans tell Trump not to mess with Mueller. Mueller’s investigation is considered the most threatening to Trump’s presidency and is largely out of his control. (Politico)
5/ Rod Rosenstein: Only I have the power to fire the special counsel on Russia. During testimony before the appropriations committee, Rosenstein said he would only comply with “lawful and appropriate” requests. Rosenstein added that there’s no cause to fire Mueller and that he’s “confident” the special counsel has full independence. (Washington Post / USA Today / Wall Street Journal)
6/ Jeff Sessions declined to answer questions about his conversations with Trump, including whether he spoke to Trump about Comey’s handling of the Russia investigation. Sessions cited Trump’s executive privilege to not answer questions about his confidential talks with the president despite Trump not having invoked executive privilege. Sessions called any suggestion that he colluded with Russians during the campaign an “an appalling and detestable lie.” (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News)
Key moments from Jeff Sessions’ Russia testimony. (Politico)
7/ Senate Republicans are trying to rein in expectations for their Obamacare repeal effort, worried they’ll blow their July 4th deadline or fall short of 50 votes. Senators continue to raise doubts about coming to an agreement, even though McConnell has said that “failure is not an option.” (Politico)
Senate Democrats plan offensive to try to save Obamacare and potentially even delay a June vote to force the GOP to endure a July recess when Democratic allies will mobilize in their states. (Politico)
8/ Trump called the House health care bill “mean” and that the Senate version should be “more generous.” Trump told the lawmakers that the House bill didn’t go far enough in protecting individuals in the marketplace – and appeared to use that as his rationale for why he has ambiguously called twice for the Senate to “add more money” to the bill. (CNN / Associated Press)
9/ Trump’s personal lawyer told colleagues that he got Preet Bharara fired. Bharara was asked to stay in his job as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York when the two met in November at Trump Tower. But, in March Trump reversed himself and fired Bharara, who was investigating Trump’s secretary of health and human services at the time. (ProPublica)
10/ Senate Republicans barred reporters from filming senators in the Capitol hallways without special permission and breaking with years of precedent allowing videotaping and audio recording in the public areas of the House and Senate office buildings. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer tweeted, “Press access should never be restricted unfairly, particularly not when one party is trying to sneak a major bill through Congress.” (CNN Money / The Hill)
Senate Republicans back off their proposed restrictions on the media. (The Hill)
Press access should never be restricted unfairly, particularly not when one party is trying to sneak a major bill through Congress.
11/ Shocker: Trump criticized the latest court ruling against his travel ban. The three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Trump’s revised travel ban, using his own tweets against him in making their decision. (CNN)
Well, as predicted, the 9th Circuit did it again - Ruled against the TRAVEL BAN at such a dangerous time in the history of our country. S.C.
12/ Jeff Sessions asked congressional leaders to undo federal medical marijuana protections so he could prosecute providers. Research strongly suggests that cracking down on medical marijuana laws could make the opiate epidemic even worse. (Washington Post)
1/ The 9th Circuit court ruled against Trump’s revised travel ban. It’s the second federal appeals court to uphold the block on the travel ban, declaring that Trump exceeded his authority in suspending the issuance of visas to residents of six Muslim majority countries. “A reasonable, objective observer — enlightened by the specific historical context, contemporaneous public statements and specific sequence of events leading to its issuance — would conclude that the executive order was issued with a purpose to disfavor a particular religion,” Judge Watson wrote. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / NPR)
2/ Jeff Sessions will testify in an open hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday about his role in the Russia investigation. Last week, James Comey testified that Sessions may have had a third, undisclosed meeting with Russia’s ambassador to the US. Before Sessions recused himself from the investigation, Comey believed certain details made Sessions involvement in the investigation “problematic.” The Committee hasn’t allotted time for Sessions to privately discuss classified matters after his public forum. The hearing is scheduled for Tuesday at 2:30PM ET. (Washington Post / Politico / CNN)
3/ The Senate Intelligence Committee plans to interview Jared Kushner in late June or early July and is expected to be a closed session. A date has not been set, but Kushner is expected to provide documents and then return for questions from senators. (ABC News)
4/ D.C. and Maryland are suing Trump, alleging he violated anti-corruption clauses by accepting millions in payments and benefited from foreign governments since moving into the White House. The lawsuit says Trump’s continued ownership of a global business has makes him “deeply enmeshed with a legion of foreign and domestic government actors,” which has undermined the integrity of the US political system. (Washington Post / Politico)
5/ In a separate case, the Justice Department argued that Trump can accept payments from foreign governments while he is in office. Advocates from the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington brought the suit against Trump in January, asserting that because Trump-owned buildings take in rent, room rentals and other payments from foreign governments he breached the emoluments clause. (Washington Post / Politico / The Hill)
6/ Senate Republicans won’t release a draft of their health care bill. It’s unclear what changes Republicans have made, because there have been no hearings and no possibility for amendment. They want to vote on the bill before the July 4th recess. (Axios / The Week)
7/ Trump’s attorneys won’t rule out firing Robert Mueller, the special counsel appointed to look into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia. “I’m not going to speculate on what he will, or will not, do,” Trump attorney Jay Sekulow said. “That, again, is an issue that the president with his advisers would discuss if there was a basis.” (Politico)
8/ The secret service says it has no audio or transcripts of any tapes recorded in the White House. The FOIA request doesn’t exclude the possibility that recordings could have been created by another “entity.” (Wall Street Journal)
9/ Reince Priebus has until July 4th to clean up the White House. Trump has threatened to fire his chief of staff if major changes are not made. While Trump has set deadlines for staff changes before, he’s under more scrutiny than ever with the sprawling Russia investigation. (Politico)
10/ Trump’s visit to the U.K. might be put on hold to avoid large-scale protests. Trump’s come under criticism for starting a feud with London’s mayor on Twitter following the terrorist attack in London. Prime Minister Theresa May said there had been no change of plans for Trump’s state visit. More than half of the British public views Trump as a threat to global stability. (New York Times / Reuters)
11/ Preet Bharara said Trump tried to build a relationship with him before he was fired. The former US attorney in Manhattan said his contacts with Trump’s were strikingly similar to those between the president and Comey, which made him increasingly uncomfortable as they broke with longstanding Justice Department rules on communicating with the White House. (New York Times)
12/ The first full Cabinet meeting turned into a Trump tribute session. Pence, Sessions, Perry and Priebus took turns praising Trump’s first five months. Trump opened the meeting with a statement touting that he had led a “record-setting” pace of activity and that few presidents have passed more legislation than he has, despite Congress having passed no major legislation since he took office 144 days ago. (CNN / CNBC / New York Times)
poll/ 49% of voters think Trump committed obstruction of justice. 37% of voters say they think Trump is honest, to 56% who say he’s not. 53% of voters consider Trump to be a liar. (Public Policy Polling)
1/ Trump breaks his Twitter silence, declaring “total and complete vindication” in response to Comey’s testimony. The tweet ends his second-longest Twitter drought – at about 2,753 minutes – since he declared his candidacy. Comey detailed months of distrust during testimony and asserted that Trump had fired him to interfere with the probe of Russia’s ties to the campaign. (ABC News / Washington Post)
Despite so many false statements and lies, total and complete vindication...and WOW, Comey is a leaker!
Behind Trump’s temporary Twitter silence: Let others do the punching. First it was Donald Trump Jr. who played his father’s role on Twitter, then Trump’s personal lawyer delivered the formal response. (Washington Post)
“I was right”: Trump insisted to his legal team while he watched the Comey testimony. (New York Times)
Comey’s indictment of Trump. The fired FBI director’s demeanor did little to mask his barbed accusations. (Politico)
2/ Trump’s lawyer plans to file a complaint against Comey for leaking his memos. Marc Kasowitz will file complaints with the Justice Department Inspector General and the Senate judiciary committee accusing Comey of violating executive privilege, which was called “frivolous grandstanding” by an expert in whistleblower protection. (CNN / Washington Post)
Trump’s personal lawyer released a letter filled with typos in response to Comey’s Senate testimony. (Vox)
Trump’s lawyer claims Comey violated executive privilege. 10 legal experts say he didn’t. (Vox)
3/ Jeff Sessions may have met with the Russian ambassador a third time, Comey told senators in a closed hearing. The information is based in part on Russian-to-Russian intercepts talking about the meeting. (CNN)
4/ Paul Ryan insisted that Republicans wouldn’t call for impeachment of a Democratic president accused of the same actions as Trump. Ryan also suggested that Trump’s behavior might be the result of not having experience in government before becoming president. (The Hill)
5/ Trump will spend the weekend at his golf club in Bedminster, NJ. He’s claimed in the past that working from “home” will save taxpayers money by not being at Trump Tower in New York City. (NJ.com)
Rather than causing a big disruption in N.Y.C., I will be working out of my home in Bedminster, N.J. this weekend. Also saves country money!
6/ Mitch McConnell took a procedural step to fast-track efforts to repeal Obamacare, which side-steps typical committee processes. By invoking Rule 14, McConnell can now put the bill on the Senate calendar so that a vote can be held as soon as the bill is ready. The move means the Senate GOP can bypass committee hearings and debates of the Republican health care bill in an effort to get a vote by July 4. (Washington Post / Talking Points Memo / Think Progress)
It begins: McConnell initiates the "Rule 14" process of putting the House-passed AHCA on the Senate calendar for fast-track consideration.
1/ Comey blasted the White House for “lies, plain and simple.” The fired FBI director accused Trump and his aides during testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee today of defaming him after he was fired. Comey believed that Trump had clearly tried to derail the FBI investigation into Michael Flynn. (Politico / New York Times)
Comey goes nuclear in showdown with Trump. He accused Trump and his top aides of lying, suggesting that the president wanted special treatment in exchange for loyalty, and he said he thinks he lost his job because of how he handled the Russia investigation. (ABC News)
Comey’s testimony takes aim at Trump’s credibility. (Associated Press)
Comey’s testimony shifts focus to Trump and his conduct in the office. (Washington Post)
Comey said that he found the shifting explanations for why he was fired both confusing and concerning. (Reuters)
Annotated copy of Comey’s opening statement. Here are Comey’s full prepared remarks, annotated by NPR journalists. (NPR)
Comey’s testimony transcript. The full text. (Politico)
Republican National Committee will lead Trump’s response to Comey’s testimony. A team of about 60 RNC staffers will mount a political offensive aimed at Democrats in response to Comey’s testimony. The RNC has lined up a host of surrogates to appear on national and local television and radio to support Trump. The rapid response team will leverage their database of opposition research to use Democrats’ past statements against them. (Wall Street Journal)
2/ Comey has called Trump a liar 5 times today. The White House says that’s not true. Comey punched back at Trump’s characterization of him as being unpopular at the FBI and the idea that the bureau was disorganized and chaotic. In addition, Comey disputed claims by Trump that he had asked to keep his job. (CNN)
3/ Comey: The administration is working to “defame” me and the FBI, and telling “lies” to the American people. “Although the law requires no reason at all to fire an FBI director the administration then chose to defame me and more importantly the FBI by saying that the organization was in disarray, that it was poorly led, that the work force had lost confidence in its leader,” Comey said. (ABC News)
4/ Comey: “Lordy, I hope there are tapes.” During his testimony, Comey expressed his hope that his conversations with Trump were recorded. (The Hill)
5/ The White House won’t say if there’s a recording system in the Oval Office. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said she has “no idea” if Trump has a recording system in his office, despite the president suggesting he may have recordings of his conversations with Comey. (HuffPost)
6/ Paul Ryan defended Trump’s attempt to influence Comey: He’s “new at this.” He added that Trump is “new to government. And so he probably wasn’t steeped in the long-running protocols that establish the relationships between DOJ, FBI, and White Houses. (HuffPost)
7/ Comey helped release details of his meetings with Trump. Comey acknowledged that he shared copies of his memos documenting his Trump meetings with a “close friend” — a professor at Columbia Law School — who could share the information with reporters. (Washington Post)
8/ Trump’s lawyer said Comey made “unauthorized disclosures” of privileged talks designed to damage the president. Marc Kasowitz said Comey’s testimony “makes clear that the president never sought to impede the investigation into attempted Russian interference in the 2016 election.” (USA Today)
9/ Paul Ryan: Trump asking for Comey’s loyalty is “obviously” inappropriate and it’s clear that Russia meddled in the US election. “What we need to determine is not whether they did it – we know that. It’s what did they do, how did they do it, how do we prevent it from happening again? And then how do we help our allies so that this doesn’t happen to them?” (CNN)
10/ Comey’s testimony laid out the case that Trump obstructed justice and suggested senior leaders at the FBI might have contemplated the matter before Trump removed him as director. Whether justice was obstructed, Comey said, was a question for recently appointed special counsel Robert Mueller. (Washington Post)
11/ Former Watergate special prosecutor: I helped prosecute Watergate. Comey’s statement is sufficient evidence for an obstruction of justice case. The ball is in Bob Mueller’s court to decide whether he has enough evidence to charge Trump with obstruction and, if so, whether to reach the same conclusion that I reached in the Nixon investigation — that, like everyone else in our system, a president is accountable for committing a federal crime. (Washington Post)
12/ Trump’s FBI pick has Russian ties. Christopher Wray’s law firm – King & Spalding – represents Rosneft and Gazprom, two of Russia’s biggest state-controlled oil companies. (USA Today)
13/ The House of Representatives passed a bill that would gut major elements of Dodd-Frank, the regulatory legislation drafted in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. The Financial Choice Act exempts financial institutions deemed “too big to fail” from restrictions that limit risk taking. Republicans say Dodd-Frank regulations are the primary reason for anemic economic growth in the US. While the bill passed the House, it faces long odds of becoming law as it would require the support of Democrats in the Senate in order to reach Trump’s desk. (New York Times / CNN Money / Washington Post / CNBC)
14/ House and Senate Democrats plan to sue Trump over conflicts of interest related to the his corporation’s business deals and foreign governments looking to curry favor with the administration. They claim he is breaking the law by refusing to relinquish ownership of his sprawling real-estate empire while it continues to profit from business with foreign governments. (Politico)
15/ Trump doesn’t plan to fire Sessions, despite his frustration with Sessions for the handling of the administration’s failed travel ban and for recusing himself from the Russia probe. (Bloomberg)
The White House won’t say if Trump has confidence in Jeff Sessions. For two straight days, Sean Spicer and Sarah Sanders declined to say if Trump has confidence in the attorney general. (Axios)
16/ Pulling out of the Paris climate agreement could accelerate damage to Trump’s real estate empire. Mar-a-Lago, the apartment towers nears Miami, and his Doral golf course are all threatened by rising seas. (Associated Press)
17/ Hawaii passed a law to document rising sea levels and set strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Hawaii is the first state to enact legislation implementing parts of the Paris climate agreement. (NBC News)
poll/ Trump’s approval rating hits 34%, a new Quinnipiac poll released Wednesday finds. 40% of voters do not expect Trump to complete his four-year term. (CNN)
More Comey News
1/ Trump, Comey and Obstruction of Justice: A Primer. As the fired FBI director testifies about his dealings with the president, here’s what you need to know about a murky law. (New York Times)
2/ Comey’s Political Shrewdness Is on Display in Tussle With Trump. Comey, a savvy veteran of Washington, has shown why presidents are normally loath to fire their FBI directors. (New York Times)
3/ Trump vs. Comey: A timeline. Here’s a timeline on the rupture between the president and the FBI director. (Washington Post)
4/ How cable news networks are reacting to Comey’s hearing. Coverage of former FBI director James Comey’s testimony looks about the same across cable news channels. A closeup of a Senator forming a question, a wide show of the room — there’s just not much to show on TV. (Washington Post)
How partisan media covered Comey’s hearing. These are the headlines from right-leaning and left-leaning news organizations. (Axios)
6/ Comey’s Duty to Correct. The former FBI director’s insistence on setting the record straight may have cost Clinton the election and Comey his job—and now it’s costing Trump. (The Atlantic)
7/ Who are the senators asking Comey questions today? There are 15 full-time members of the committee — eight Republicans and seven Democrats — and the panel is considered to be one of the last bastions of bipartisanship on Capitol Hill. (Washington Post)
1/ Two intelligence chiefs repeatedly refused to say whether Trump asked them to intervene in the Russia probe during their public Senate intelligence committee testimony. Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers declined to discuss the specifics of private conversations they had with Trump and whether they had been asked to push back against an FBI probe into collusion between the campaign and the Russian government. Both hinted that they would share more information with senators privately. (CNN / Washington Post / Politico)
Democrats are furious at the evasive answers by Coats and Rogers during their Senate intelligence committee testimony. The two intelligence chiefs repeatedly said it wouldn’t be appropriate to discuss their conversations with Trump in a public setting. Both indicated they might be more forthcoming in a classified setting, however. (CNN)
Senator tells the NSA chief: “What you feel isn’t relevant, admiral.” Angus King became visibly frustrated after Mike Rogers repeatedly refused to answer questions about whether Trump tried to interfere in the FBI’s investigation before snapping. (The Hill)
2/ In March, Trump asked Dan Coats if he could get Comey to back off his investigation into Michael Flynn. The director of national intelligence chose not to step in, citing Trump’s prodding as inappropriate. CIA Director Mike Pompeo, who was also present for Trump’s request, declined to comment on the closed-door discussion. Trump had asked Comey to drop his investigation before he was fired in May. (Washington Post)
3/ Trump told Comey “I need loyalty, I expect loyalty” at a private White House dinner in January, according to Comey’s prepared remarks, which were released ahead of his Senate Intelligence Committee testimony tomorrow. Comey said he thought the encounter was designed to “create some part of patronage relationship.” Later, in March, Trump pressured Comey to “lift the cloud” put over the administration from the ongoing investigation and repeatedly asked Comey to announce that he was not personally under investigation. (Bloomberg / Washington Post / Politico / New York Times)
Comey’s seven-page written statement is the “most shocking single document compiled about the official conduct of the public duties of any President since the release of the Watergate tapes.” Comey’s statement makes no allegations and expresses no opinions, but instead recounts the set of facts Comey is prepared to testify on tomorrow. (Lawfare)
4/ Comey told Jeff Sessions he did not want to be left alone with Trump after the president pressured him to end his investigation into Michael Flynn. Comey confronted Sessions after the encounter, believing that the Justice Department should protect the FBI from White House influence, which it typically does to avoid the appearance of political meddling in law enforcement. (New York Times)
5/ Comey’s role in the Russia probe has Trump “infuriated at a deep-gut, personal level,” Newt Gingrich said. “He’s not going to let some guy like that smear him without punching him as hard as he can.” Trump’s lawyers and aides have been urging him to resist engaging on Twitter, but are bracing for a worst-case scenario tomorrow: he ignores their advice and tweets his mind anyway. (Washington Post)
6/ Jeff Sessions offered to resign after a series of heated exchanges with Trump. Sessions wanted the freedom to do his job and is upset by Trump’s tweets and comments about the Justice Department. Trump is still frustrated with Sessions’ decision to recuse himself from the Russia probe, viewing the decision as a sign of weakness. (CNN / Wall Street Journal / New York Times)
7/ James Clapper: Watergate “pales” in comparison to the Trump-Russia scandal. The former US director of national intelligence added that Trump sharing intelligence with Putin was “very problematic” and said firing James Comey was “egregious and inexcusable.” (The Guardian)
8/ Eric Trump says Democrats are “not even people” in an interview tirade with Sean Hannity. “I’ve never seen hatred like this. To me, they’re not even people. It’s so, so sad. Morality’s just gone, morals have flown out the window, and we deserve so much better than this as a country. You see the Democratic Party, they’re imploding. They’re imploding. They became obstructionists because they have no message of their own,” he said before added that the head of the Democratic National Committee a “total whack job.” (The Hill)
9/ Texas Democrat Al Green is drafting articles of impeachment against Trump, saying the president should be forced from office for firing James Comey in the middle of the bureau’s ongoing Russia investigation. (Politico)
10/ Trump’s pick for FBI director blindsided White House staff and Congress, leaving much of his senior staff out of the loop before announcing he’d picked Christopher Wray on Twitter. At least six White House and senior officials said that they weren’t aware of Trump’s decision before his early morning tweet. Wray acted as Chris Christie’s personal attorney during the Bridgegate scandal. Trump called him a “man of impeccable credentials.” (The Daily Beast / New York Times / NBC News / Politico)
I will be nominating Christopher A. Wray, a man of impeccable credentials, to be the new Director of the FBI. Details to follow.
11/ US investigators believe Russian hackers planted a fake news report in Qatar’s state news agency. The Qatar News Agency attributed false remarks to the nation’s ruler that appeared friendly to Iran and Israel and questioned whether Trump would last in office. In reaction, Qatar’s neighbors, led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, cut off economic and political ties, causing a broader crisis. (CNN)
12/ Fox News host to Trump: “Fake news media” isn’t the issue. “It’s you.” Neil Cavuto hit Trump for his criticism of how the media has covered his Twitter habits, saying “Mr. President, it’s not the fake news media that’s your problem. It’s you. It’s not just your tweeting, it’s your scapegoating. It’s your refusal to see that sometimes you’re the one who’s feeding your own beast and acting beastly with your own guys. Look at the critiques you’re now hearing from usually friendly and supportive allies as sort of like an intervention. Because firing off these angry missives and tweets risks your political discussion.” (The Hill)
13/ North Korea condemned Trump’s decision to pull out of Paris accord, calling it “the height of egotism” and a “shortsighted and silly decision.” Despite its international isolation, even North Korea signed the Paris agreement. (Washington Post)
poll/ 61% say Trump fired Comey to protect himself and most think Trump is trying to interfere with official investigations of possible Russian influence in the 2016 election. (ABC News)
1/ Senate Republicans’ are aiming for a vote on their Obamacare repeal by the Fourth of July recess. Republican leaders are faced with two choices: craft a bill that can get 50 votes, or bring up a bill they know will fail in order to end the health care debate and move on to tax reform, demonstrating that Republicans are too divided. They’re prepared to take a failed vote on the Obamacare repeal in order to “show them a body” and bring the seven-year quest to a definitive end. (Politico / Vox)
2/ Trump’s frustration with Jeff Sessions grows, blaming him for the “watered down, politically correct version” of the travel ban. He’s also upset with Sessions’ decision to recuse himself from investigations related to the Russia probe. (New York Times)
3/ Eric Trump called the Trump-Russia collusion allegations the “greatest hoax of all time.” He added that the investigation into possible coordination between his father’s presidential campaign and the Kremlin’s election meddling was a “witch hunt.” (The Daily Beast / ABC News)
4/ Donald Trump shifted money from Eric Trump’s kids cancer charity into his business. Eric Trump’s charity golf event was supposed to use his family’s golf course for free with most of the other costs donated, but the Trump Organization billed the charity for more than $1.2 million for its use. Golf charity experts say the listed expenses defy any reasonable cost justification for a one-day golf tournament. The “maneuver would appear to have more in common with a drug cartel’s money-laundering operation than a charity’s best-practices textbook.” (Forbes)
5/ The contractor that leaked classified NSA documents on Russian hacking was charged by the Justice Department. Reality Leigh Winner, 25, is accused of “removing classified material from a government facility and mailing it to a news outlet.” She leaked a top-secret NSA report showing that Russian military intelligence executed a cyberattack on at least one US voting software supplier last year. Winner faces up to 10 years in prison for leaking classified information. (CNN / Washington Post)
What we know about the leaked secret NSA report on Russia. (ABC News
6/ The Russian attacks on the election systems were broader and targeted more states than those detailed in yesterday’s leaked intelligence report. The top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee said, “I don’t believe they got into changing actual voting outcomes.” (USA Today)
7/ The acting US ambassador to China quit over Trump’s climate policy, feeling unable to deliver the formal notification of the US decision to leave the agreement. (Reuters / CNN / NBC News)
8/ Scott Pruitt falsely claimed that “almost 50,000 jobs” have been added in coal. The actual gains were in “mining” jobs, which have nothing to do with coal. 1,000 coal jobs have been added since Trump became president. (Washington Post)
9/ Trump took credit for the $110 billion arms deal to Saudi Arabia that began in the Obama administration. Further, there is no deal: just letters of interest for “intended sales,” but no contracts. (Brookings)
10/ He also appeared to take credit for the Gulf nations decision to cut diplomatic relations with Qatar, an important US ally. Qatar hosts one of the Pentagon’s largest military bases in the Middle East and is a linchpin in the campaign against ISIS. (CNN / The Daily Beast)
During my recent trip to the Middle East I stated that there can no longer be funding of Radical Ideology. Leaders pointed to Qatar - look!
11/ Kids are quoting Trump to bully their classmates. There’s been more than 50 incidents, across 26 states, where a white K-12 student used Trump’s rhetoric to bully Latino, Middle Eastern, black, Asian, or Jewish classmates. Teachers don’t know what to do about it. (BuzzFeed News)
12/ Comey will stop short of accusing Trump of obstructing justice in his congressional testimony, despite some legal experts saying Trump’s requests could meet the legal definition of obstruction. Comey will also dispute Trump’s assertion that Comey told him three times he is not under investigation. “He is not going to Congress to make accusations about the president’s intent, instead he’s there to share his concerns.” (ABC News)
13/ Trump might live-tweet during Comey’s testimony on Thursday. He “wants to be the messenger, his own warrior, his own lawyer, his own spokesman” and as such will directly respond to Comey on Twitter as the testimony is underway. “He wants to be the one driving the process.” (CNBC / The Hill / Raw Story)
14/ Sean Spicer said Trump’s tweets are official statements, but didn’t indicate whether that included both of his Twitter handles: @realDonaldTrump and @POTUS. Regardless, the ACLU said they will use Trump’s tweets to build their argument in the Supreme Court case on the travel ban. (CNN)
Yes, we may incorporate @realDonaldTrump's tweets about the ban into our Supreme Court argument.
The Knight First Amendment Institute asked Trump to unblock his critics on Twitter, saying his account is a “designated public forum” subject to the First Amendment and bars the government from excluding individuals from a public forum because of their views. (Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University )
1/ A top-secret NSA report shows Russian military intelligence executed a cyberattack on at least one US voting software supplier last year, sending spear-phishing emails to more than 100 local election officials just days before the election. The report indicates that Russian hacking penetrated further into voting systems than was previously understood and states unequivocally that it was Russian military intelligence that conducted the attacks. The NSA report is at odds with Putin’s denial that Russia had interfered in foreign elections: “We never engaged in that on a state level, and have no intention of doing so.” (The Intercept)
2/ Putin denied having compromising information on Trump. During an interview with Megyn Kelly, Putin called the dossier of unverified information “just another load of nonsense.” He added: “I haven’t seen, even once, any direct proof of Russian interference in the presidential election in the United States.” Seventeen US intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia interfered with the election. (Politico / The Daily Beast)
3/ Even Trump’s national security team was blindsided by his NATO speech. National security adviser H.R. McMaster, Defense Secretary James Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had all urged Trump to explicitly reaffirm America’s commitment to the NATO mutual defense clause (known as Article 5) in his speech. Instead, Trump, along with Steve Bannon and policy aide Stephen Miller, made a last-minute decision to remove the commitment reference without consulting or informing McMaster, Mattis, or Tillerson. (Politico)
4/ Trump won’t invoke his executive privilege to prevent Comey from testifying to Congress. Comey is scheduled to appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday, testifying about conversations where Trump encouraged him to stop investigating Michael Flynn, as well as asking Comey to pledge his loyalty, which he declined to do. Legal experts said Trump had a weak case to invoke executive privilege, because he has publicly addressed his conversations with Comey, and any such move would carry serious political risks. (New York Times)
5/ Trump doubled down on his original travel ban, attacking the Justice Department for the “watered down” version now headed to the Supreme Court. Trump’s latest tweets undercut his own staff, who’ve insisted the order is not a travel ban. The administration rewrote his original order, which was thrown out by the courts, in an effort to pass legal muster. The second version was also rejected, but the administration appealed has since appealed it to the Supreme Court. Trump’s called for the end to political correctness, saying terrorism “will only get worse” if the US doesn’t “get smart” and reinstate his travel ban. Legal analysts said Trump is undermining his own case. (New York Times / Politico / Washington Post)
People, the lawyers and the courts can call it whatever they want, but I am calling it what we need and what it is, a TRAVEL BAN!
Trump ramps up his push for a “TRAVEL BAN!” as opposition emerges from Republican and Democratic lawmakers. In a series of tweets, Trump circled back on his push for the travel ban in the wake of Saturday’s terrorist attack in London. (Washington Post)
6/ While world leaders called for unity after the London attack, Trump tweeted the complete opposite. Before London police had linked the attack to terrorism, or released any information on the identities, ethnicities or nationalities of the suspects, Trump retweeted an unsourced blurb from Drudge – “Fears of new terror attack after van ‘mows down 20 people’ on London Bridge” – and then started promoting his travel ban. (Washington Post)
We need to be smart, vigilant and tough. We need the courts to give us back our rights. We need the Travel Ban as an extra level of safety!
Trump’s tweets strain foreign ties, as he wasted little time defending his travel ban and attacking the mayor of London as not being tough on terrorism. (New York Times)
Trump can’t be counted on to give accurate information to Americans when violent acts are unfolding abroad. A look at some of his weekend tweets about the London attack and rhetoric that came from the president and his aides about climate change and more last week. (Associated Press)
Conway’s husband rips Trump for “travel ban” tweets. (The Hill)
7/ A Louisiana Congressman proposed an extreme solution to the London terror attacks: kill any suspected radical Muslim. Representative Clay Higgins wrote on his Facebook page that “all of Christendom… is at war with Islamic horror” and that “not a single radicalized Islamic suspect should be granted any measure of quarter” and their “entry to the American homeland should be summarily denied. Every conceivable measure should be engaged to hunt them down. Hunt them, identity them, and kill them.” He concluded that the only appropriate solution was to “Kill them all. For the sake of all that is good and righteous. Kill them all.” (Facebook / Mother Jones)
8/ Jeff Sessions and Rod Rosenstein never told Comey they were uneasy with his “deeply troubling” and “serious mistakes” before they fired him. The former FBI director is “angry” they failed to flag their concerns and he wants the public to understand why when he testifies publicly this week about his axing, and alleged collusion between Trump associates and the Russian government. (ABC News)
Conservatives question Comey’s credibility ahead of his Senate hearing. “I don’t know that he’s credible with facts. He hasn’t been credible so far.” (McClatchy DC)
The Comey hearing consumes Washington ahead of his appearance before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday and speculation grows on whether the ousted FBI director’s remarks could further damage Trump. (Politico)
9/ The Republican-controlled House Intelligence Committee asked to unmask organizations and individuals related to Russian meddling in the 2016 election. The requests came last year and required sign-off by Nunes, who’s the chairman of the committee. Both Nunes and Trump have called unmasking an abuse of surveillance powers by the Obama administration. (Washington Post)
poll/ Trump’s job approval rating drops to 36% with 58% of Americans disapproving of his performance. (Gallup / CNN)
poll/ Nearly 6 in 10 oppose Trump’s scrapping of the Paris agreement. 59% of Americans oppose the decision to withdraw, saying the move will damage the United States’ global leadership, while 28% in support the decision. (Washington Post)
1/ Trump asked the Supreme Court to revive his travel ban, appealing a ruling by the 4th Circuit that upheld a nationwide halt on the ban. The move sets up a showdown over a “president’s authority to make national security judgments in the name of protecting Americans from terrorism.” (Washington Post / New York Times / CNN)
2/ Cities, states, and companies are banding together to form a climate alliance. Washington, California, and New York – representing about a fifth of the US economy – have formed the United States Climate Alliance, which will serve as a way for states interested in dealing with climate change to coordinate. At least 80 mayors, three governors, more than 80 university presidents, and more than 100 businesses are preparing to submit a plan to the UN pledging to meet the United States’ greenhouse gas emission target, despite Trump’s decision to withdraw from the agreement. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / NBC News)
Climate Mayors commit to adopt, honor and uphold Paris Climate Agreement goals. 83 Mayors representing 40 million Americans, we will adopt, honor, and uphold the commitments to the goals enshrined in the Paris Agreement. (Climate Mayors)
Rex Tillerson said the US will likely to continue to reduce greenhouse gas emissions despite exiting the Paris climate change agreement. Trump has started to roll back nearly all of Obama’s climate change policies, including the limits on greenhouse and methane gas emissions. (The Hill)
3/ Michael Bloomberg pledges $15 million to help foot the Paris Climate Agreement bill. Bloomberg Philanthropies and its partners will cover part of the United States’ share of the operating budget. Trump’s budget could cut as much as $2 billion in funding for UN climate change programs as a result of leaving the Paris agreement. (CNN Money)
4/ The White House ordered federal agencies to ignore Democrats’ oversight requests, fearing the information could be weaponized against Trump. The goal is to choke off the Democratic congressional minorities from asking questions of the administration intended to embarrass or attack the president. (Politico)
5/ US intelligence agencies formally asked the Justice Department to investigate Russia-related leaks. As many as six recent leaks have been formally referred to the DOJ for criminal investigation. (ABC News)
6/ The Russia probe now includes a grand jury investigation into Michael Flynn. Robert Mueller’s investigation is looking into Flynn’s paid work as a lobbyist for a Turkish businessman and contacts between Russian officials and Flynn and other Trump associates during and after the election. (Reuters)
7/ Mueller’s also assumed oversight of the ongoing Paul Manafort investigation and could expand to include Jeff Sessions. Manafort was forced to resign as Trump campaign chairman related to business dealings years ago in Ukraine, which predated the 2016 counterintelligence probe into possible collusion between Moscow and Trump associates. Sessions role in the decision to fire Comey could also come under investigation. (Associated Press)
8/ The Trump team wanted to lift sanctions on Russia when he took office, but career diplomats pressured Congress to block the move. Bipartisan legislation was introduced in February to bar the administration from granting sanctions relief without a congressional review. The proposed bill was shelved six days later when Flynn resigned, making it “clear that if they lifted sanctions, there would be a political firestorm.” (Yahoo News / NBC News)
9/ Hurricane season started yesterday with nobody in charge at FEMA or NOAA. The agencies that oversee the government’s weather forecasting and response to disasters are both leaderless nearly five months after Trump was sworn in. Forecasters say the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season could bring “above-normal” storm activity. (NPR)
10/ At least one Republican senator thinks a health care deal is unlikely this year. At least three conservative Republicans are opposed to the health care goals of three moderate Republicans, making the path to 50 votes difficult despite Republicans controlling 52 seats in the Senate. (Wall Street Journal)
11/ Trump appoints a new CIA Iran chief, signaling a more aggressive line toward Iran. Michael D’Andrea oversaw the hunt for Osama bin Laden and the American drone strike campaign, and “perhaps no single CIA official is more responsible for weakening Al Qaeda.” (New York Times)
The Trump administration is returning copies of the CIA torture report. The return of the report to the Senate committee “is extremely disturbing on a number of levels” and raises the possibility that copies of the 6,700-page report could be locked in Senate vaults for good. (New York Times)
1/ Trump pulled the US from the Paris climate accord, prioritizing the economy over the environment and global alliances. Trump will stick to the process laid out in the Paris agreement, which will take about four years to complete, leaving a final decision up to American voters in the 2020 election. Trump said the US will “begin negotiations to reenter the Paris accord” to “see if we can make a deal that’s fair. And if we can, that’s great.” He argued that the Paris agreement would “punish” Americans by instituting “onerous energy restrictions” that stymie economic growth, while leaders around the world said the exit from the accord is an irresponsible abdication of American leadership. The US is the world’s #2 greenhouse-gas producer, and would have accounted for 21% of the total emissions reduced by the accord through 2030. All but two countries — Nicaragua and Syria — signed onto the 2015 accord. (New York Times / Associated Press / Washington Post / Politico / NPR)
White House Memo:
“The Paris Accord is a BAD deal for Americans, and the President’s action today is keeping his campaign promise to put American workers first. The Accord was negotiated poorly by the Obama Administration and signed out of desperation.”
Al Gore on Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement: “Removing the United States from the Paris Agreement is a reckless and indefensible action. It undermines America’s standing in the world and threatens to damage humanity’s ability to solve the climate crisis in time. (Al Gore)
Obama: The Trump administration joins a “handful of nations that reject the future,” adding the accord “opened the floodgates” to jobs as opposed to being the economic drag Trump has cast it as. (ABC News)
Elon Musk quits Trump’s advisory council in response to the US withdrawing from the Paris climate accord. (The Daily Beast)
Am departing presidential councils. Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world.
2/ Germany, France and Italy respond: The Paris deal cannot be renegotiated. “We deem the momentum generated in Paris in December 2015 irreversible and we firmly believe that the Paris Agreement cannot be renegotiated since it is a vital instrument for our planet, societies and economies,” the leaders of the three countries said in a joint statement. (Reuters)
3/ Congress is examining whether Jeff Sessions had a third undisclosed meeting with Russia’s ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the presidential campaign. During his confirmation hearing on January 10, Sessions testified that he “did not have any communications with the Russians” during the campaign. In March, reports emerged that Sessions met with Kislyak in July and September. He insisted those meetings were part of Senate duties and not the campaign. (CNN)
4/ Senators had asked Comey to investigate Sessions for possible perjury before he was fired by Trump. “We are concerned about Attorney General Sessions’ lack of candor to the committee and his failure thus far to accept responsibility for testimony that could be construed as perjury,” Senators Patrick Leahy and Al Franken wrote to Comey in their first request. The Senators sent requests to Comey and, later, acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe in three letters dated March 20, April 28 and May 12. (CNN)
5/ Putin insists Russia never engaged in hacking, but praised Trump’s lack of political background as a good thing. Putin denied any state role, but acknowledged that some individual “patriotically minded” private Russian hackers could have mounted an attack. He added that Trump is “a straightforward person, a frank person,” which is a political advantage because “he has a fresh set of eyes.” (Associated Press / New York Times)
6/ The former pro-Brexit UKIP leader is a “person of interest” in the FBI investigation into Trump and Russia. Nigel Farage’s relationships with both the Trump campaign and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has raised the interest of the FBI. “If you triangulate Russia, WikiLeaks, Assange and Trump associates the person who comes up with the most hits is Nigel Farage. He’s right in the middle of these relationships.” (The Guardian)
7/ The administration is considering returning two Russian diplomatic compounds in NYC and Maryland, which were closed by Obama as punishment for interference in the election. The Trump administration told the Russians that it would give the properties back to Moscow if it would lift the freeze on construction of a new US consulate in St. Petersburg. (Washington Post)
8/ The White House will stop answering questions about the Trump-Russia investigation. Spicer told reporters that any future questions about the investigation would be addressed by Trump’s personal lawyer. (The Hill)
9/ The federal government now requires US visa applicants to provide their last five years’ worth of social media handles, email addresses and phone numbers. They must also provide 15 years of biographical information including addresses, employment and travel history. (Reuters)
10/ Trump exempted his entire senior staff from his own ethics rules, allowing them to work with political and advocacy groups that support the administration. Conway, for instance, can now communicate and meet with organizations that previously employed her consulting firm, while Bannon can talk with Breitbart News, which he chaired until last year. The White House said that the waivers were in the public interest because the administration needed appointees’ expertise on certain issues. (The Daily Beast / Washington Post)
11/ Comey will testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee next Thursday as long as Trump doesn’t block him. Trump could invoke executive privilege and try to prevent testimony from Comey, who is expected to be asked about several conversations he had with Trump. Presidents have a constitutional right to keep discussions a secret in many instances. However, Trump has made it difficult to assert executive privilege by repeatedly and publicly referring to his conversations with Comey. A public session will be held in the morning, followed by a private briefing. (New York Times / Politico)
poll/ A majority of Americans in every state say that the US should participate in the Paris Climate Agreement. 69% of all voters say the US should participate in the agreement, while 47% of Trump voters want the US to participate. (Yale - Climate Change in the American Mind)
1/ Trump will withdraw from the Paris climate deal. A small team is now deciding on whether to initiate a full withdrawal, which could take 3 years, or exit the underlying United Nations climate change treaty, which would be a faster, more extreme move. World leaders, the Pope, major oil companies, and even Ivanka and Kushner have pushed Trump to stay in the deal. (Axios / Politico / New York Times)
UN Secretary-General on climate change: “Get on board or get left behind.” (Axios)
2/ Elon Musk threatens to leave Trump’s advisory councils if the US exits the Paris climate deal. He joins twenty-five leading tech companies who signed a letter arguing in favor of climate pact that is set to run as a full-page ad in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal tomorrow. (Bloomberg / Politico / The Verge)
Don't know which way Paris will go, but I've done all I can to advise directly to POTUS, through others in WH & via councils, that we remain
3/ Comey will testify publicly about Trump pressuring him to end his investigation into Flynn’s ties to Russia. Comey will appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee and is expected to confirm that Trump confronted him over the Russia investigations. Mueller and Comey discussed parameters to ensure his testimony won’t hurt the special counsel’s investigation. It will be Comey’s first time speaking in public since Trump unexpectedly fired him. (CNN / Wall Street Journal)
4/ The House Intelligence Committee issued seven subpoenas. Four are related to the Russia investigation – Michael Flynn and Trump’s personal attorney Michael Cohen, and their businesses. The other three – to NSA, FBI, CIA – are related to how and why the names of Trump’s associates were “unmasked.” (Wall Street Journal)
5/ Al Franken: “everything points to” collusion between Trump’s campaign and the Russians. “My feeling is that there was some cooperation between the Trump campaign and the Russians,” the Minnesota Democrat said. (Bloomberg)
6/ The Russia probe has slowed Trump’s effort to fill hundreds of vacant jobs across the federal government. The growing scandal is scaring off candidates and distracting aides from finding new recruits. The White House has announced nominees for just 117 of the 559 most important Senate-confirmed positions. (Politico)
7/ Trump’s top advisers claim he backed NATO’s Article 5, despite never explicitly doing so during his speech to NATO last week. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed by the national security adviser and director of the national economic council, they wrote that by “reconfirming America’s commitment to NATO and Article 5, the president challenged our allies to share equitably the responsibility for our mutual defense.” (Wall Street Journal)
8/ Paul Ryan appointed a controversial cancer doctor to a Health and Human Services committee, which will advise the Trump administration on policy around health information technology. Patrick Soon-Shiong leads a network of for-profit and not-for-profit ventures researching cancer. The problem: the majority of the expenditures of his nonprofits flow to his for-profit businesses, raising questions about potential conflicts of interest. (Politico)
9/ Trump didn’t expect so much “covfefe” of his midnight tweet. The big guy fired off “…negative press covfefe” just before going to bed. Six hours later, he corrected the mistake, but not before becoming a worldwide joke on social media. So much for letting his lawyers vet his tweets. (Associated Press)
Sean Spicer offered a cryptic explanation for Trump’s incomplete, misspelled tweet that went viral overnight: “The president and a small group of people know exactly what he meant.” (The Hill)
10/ Meanwhile, Trump’s been asking world leaders to call him on his cellphone, breaking protocol and raising concerns about the security and secrecy of his communications. (Associated Press)
11/ Jared Kushner built a luxury skyscraper using loans designed to benefit projects in poor, job-starved areas. Working with state officials in New Jersey, they defined a district that included some of the city’s poorest and most crime-ridden neighborhoods, but excluded wealthy neighborhoods blocks away, allowing Kushner Companies and its partners to get $50 million in low-cost financing. While not illegal, critics liken it to the gerrymandering of legislative districts. (Washington Post)
poll/ 8% think GOP health care bill should pass. Nearly half of consumers say that their cost of health care will be “worse” under the American Health Care Act, compared to 16% who think the cost will be “better” and 36% who feel it will be “about the same.” (CNN Money)
poll/ 43% want Congress to begin impeachment proceedings, but most don’t believe that Trump is actually guilty of an impeachable offense, like treason, bribery or obstructing justice. (Politico)
1/ Russians discussed having potentially “derogatory” information about the Trump team during the campaign. Intercepted communications suggest that the Russians believed “they had the ability to influence the administration through the derogatory information.” (CNN)
2/ Michael Flynn will turn over some business records to the Senate Intelligence Committee. Flynn initially refused to cooperate with a Senate subpoena, claiming his constitutional right against self incrimination. The committee then subpoenaed records from two of his businesses, which cannot be shielded by the Fifth Amendment. (Wall Street Journal)
3/ The Russia investigation now includes Trump’s personal attorney. Michael Cohen turned down invitations from the House and Senate investigators “to provide information and testimony” about any contacts he had with people connected to the Russian government. He said he’ll “gladly” testify if Congress subpoenas him. (ABC News / CNN / New York Times)
4/ Investigators are examining why Kushner met with a Russian banker during the transition and what they wanted from each other. It is not clear if Kushner wanted to use the banker as a go-between or whether it was part of the effort to establish a direct, secure line to Putin. The banker, Sergey Gorkov, is a close associate of Putin. (New York Times)
5/ James Clapper says Russia “absolutely” meddled in the 2016 election. The former director of national intelligence said there has never been a case of election interference more aggressive than what happened in 2016. He added, however, that it’s unclear if the “interference actually affected the outcome of the election.” (CNN)
Russian officials must be laughing at the U.S. & how a lame excuse for why the Dems lost the election has taken over the Fake News.
6/ Kellyanne Conway called Kushner’s Russian backchannel “regular course of business.” Former national security officials have said that backchannels are out of the norm for a presidential transition and that could possibly be illegal. (Politico)
7/ Trump called for the Senate to end the filibuster so his agenda could pass “fast and easy.” Eliminating the filibuster would allow legislation to pass with a simple majority (51 votes), rather than the 60 votes currently needed for a bill to pass the Senate. (The Hill)
The U.S. Senate should switch to 51 votes, immediately, and get Healthcare and TAX CUTS approved, fast and easy. Dems would do it, no doubt!
8/ The White House communication director resigned after three months. Mike Dubke’s exit comes as Trump weighs larger staff changes in an effort to contain the deepening Russia scandal. Dubke stepped down as communications director on May 18, but offered to stay through Trump’s first foreign trip, which just ended. (Politico / Axios)
9/ Intelligence briefings must be short and full of “killer graphics” in Trump’s administration. The daily briefings are so casual and visually driven – maps, charts, pictures, and videos – that the CIA director and director of national intelligence are worried Trump may not be retaining all the intelligence he is presented. Rank-and-file staffers are “very worried about how do you deal with him and about sharing with him sensitive material.” (Washington Post)
10/ A Texas lawmaker threatened to shoot a colleague after reporting protesters to ICE. Representative Matt Rinaldi called ICE on “several illegal immigrants” after seeing signs in the gallery at the State Capitol that read, “I am illegal and here to stay.” Rinaldi then threatened to shoot a lawmaker who objected. (New York Times / NPR)
11/ Trump called for more spending on health care so it’s “the best anywhere.” Trump’s budget proposal from last week called for cuts between $800 billion and $1.4 trillion in future spending on Medicaid, in addition to cuts in healthcare programs for low-income children. His budget did not propose new healthcare spending. (Washington Post)
I suggest that we add more dollars to Healthcare and make it the best anywhere. ObamaCare is dead - the Republicans will do much better!
12/ Trump is expected to roll back Obamacare’s birth control coverage for religious employers. The White House is reviewing a draft rule to provide “conscience-based objections to the preventive-care mandate,” which would undo the required free contraception requirement from the Affordable Care Act. (New York Times / Washington Post)
13/ Trump’s budget proposal wants the poor to work for their government benefits by enabling states to apply for waivers to add work requirements. Currently, states can’t force Medicaid recipients to work. While the food stamp program contains an employment requirement, it is often waived. Both would change if the budget is passed. (CNN Money)
1/ Trump is considering big changes at the White House in an effort to contain the escalating Russia investigation that threatens to consume his presidency. “Everything is in play,” an advisor said. Trump may bring back a trio of former campaign officials (Corey Lewandowski, David Bossie and David Urban) to handle communications and political duties related to the Russia investigation, and – shockingly – he’s even considering having lawyers vet his tweets. (Wall Street Journal / Washington Post)
2/ Kushner wanted a secret communications channel with the Kremlin so Michael Flynn could discuss strategy in Syria and other security issues directly with senior military officials in Moscow. The channel was never set up, but was proposed by Kushner during an early December meeting at Trump Tower with ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Kushner suggested using Russian diplomatic facilities in the US for the communications. (Washington Post / New York Times)
Kushner had at least three previously undisclosed contacts with the Russian ambassador to the US during and after the 2016 presidential campaign, including two phone calls between April and November last year. Kushner’s attorney said his client did not remember any calls with Kislyak between April and November. (Reuters)
In December Kushner met with Sergey Gorkov, a Russian banker and “Putin crony” who is also graduate of a “finishing school” for spies. (NBC News)
3/ Trump has “total confidence” in Jared Kushner, despite coming under fire that he tried to create backchannel with Russia to shield the Trump team from public view. Some Democrats are calling for Trump to revoke Kushner’s security clearances. (New York Times)
4/ National security adviser: “I would not be concerned” by backchannel communications with Russia. H.R. McMaster didn’t specifically comment on the controversy surrounding Kushner. (CNN)
5/ Kushner is under pressure to “lay low” and take a leave of absence from the White House amid reports that he is under FBI scrutiny. (NBC News / The Hill)
NEW: @jonkarl: People close to the president are saying it might be time for Jared Kushner to take a leave of absence from the White House. pic.twitter.com/pIgqkNJNx1
7/ The Senate Intelligence Committee wants all of Trump’s Russia-related documents, emails and phone records going back to his campaign’s launch in June 2015. It’s the first time that Trump’s official campaign structure has been drawn into the Senate committee’s ongoing bipartisan investigation. (Washington Post)
8/ The Trump campaign likely didn’t preserve digital documents. “You’d be giving us too much credit,” a former aide said. “The idea of document retention did not come up. The idea of some formal structure did not come up.” Failure to keep track of emails, messages and other records could expose Trump’s current and former aides to criminal charges down the line. (Politico)
9/ A Russian oligarch with ties to Paul Manafort wants immunity for cooperating with congressional intelligence committees. The Senate and House panels turned him down because of concerns that immunity agreements will complicate federal criminal investigations. The two did business together in the mid-2000s, when Manafort was providing campaign advice to Kremlin-backed politicians in Ukraine. Oleg Deripaska is a member of Putin’s inner circle. (New York Times)
10/ Trump privately said he plans to leave the Paris agreement on climate change, despite his public position that he hasn’t made up his mind. Leaving the Paris agreement is the biggest thing Trump could do to unwind Obama’s climate policies and signal to the rest of the world that climate change isn’t a priority for his administration. (Axios)
I will make my final decision on the Paris Accord next week!
Exxon CEO urges Trump to keep the US in the Paris climate agreement in a personal letter. (The Financial Times)
11/ Angela Merkel: Europe can no longer “completely depend” on the US after G7 leaders failed to persuade Trump to back the Paris climate accord. “There are no signs of whether the US will stay in the Paris accords or not,” Merkel said. (New York Times)
12/ Trump tweets that North Korea’s latest ballistic missile test showed “great disrespect” to China. North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile that landed in the Sea of Japan. (The Hill)
North Korea has shown great disrespect for their neighbor, China, by shooting off yet another ballistic missile...but China is trying hard!
1/ Comey acted on Russian information he knew was fake for fear that if it became public it would undermine the probe into Hillary Clinton’s email and the Justice Department. The Russian intelligence claimed that then-Attorney General Lynch had been compromised and suggested she would make the FBI investigation of Clinton go away. If the Russians had released the information publicly, there would be no way for law enforcement and intelligence officials to discredit it without burning their sources and methods. (CNN)
2/ Jared Kushner is now a focus in the Russia investigation. Kushner is being investigated for possible coordination between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign to influence the 2016 presidential election, as well as possible financial crimes. (Washington Post / NBC News)
Kushner is willing to cooperate with investigators. Kushner had meetings last year with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak and Russian banker Sergey Gorkov. (Bloomberg)
3/ Trump called the Germans “bad, very bad” for selling a lot of cars in the US. He vowed to block German car exports to the US at a meeting with EU leaders, ignoring the fact that many “foreign” cars are actually made in the US, while many “American” cars are made in Canada and Mexico. (Der Spiegel / Slate)
4/ The FBI won’t provide Comey’s memos to Congress, until it consults with Robert Mueller, the new special counsel overseeing the Russia investigation. (Politico)
5/ Senate Republicans are considering a plan to push the Obamacare repeal to 2020. They’re weighing a two-step process to replace Obamacare, as they seek to draft a more modest version than a House plan. (Bloomberg)
McConnell may have been right that it may be too hard to replace Obamacare. The meetings Republicans have held to discuss a Senate health care bill have exposed deep issues within the party. (New York Times)
6/ Trump told Macron that he did not back Marine Le Pen, contrary to media reports saying he liked the far-right leader. He added: “You were my guy.” (Reuters)
7/ John Boehner on Trump: “everything else he’s done has been a complete disaster,” other than getting the House to pass the health care bill. The former house speaker went on to say that Trump is “still learning how to be president.” (CNN)
1/ Trump’s prepping for a years-long war under the cloud of a special investigation. The White House is “getting street fighters ready to go” with legal, surrogate, communications, and rapid-response teams as part of a “new normal.” With Trump on tour in the Middle East and Europe, Steve Bannon and Reince Priebus are at home, putting in place the means to keep his agenda moving ahead and avoid “paralysis.” (Axios / Politico)
2/ Trump chastises “obsolete” NATO about how it’s “not fair” some members don’t pay their share. He lectured 23 of the 28 member for what he called their “chronic underpayments” to the military alliance. The mutual defense pledge requires nations to contribute at least 2% of their GDP. (ABC News / New York Times / Washington Post)
3/ A federal appeals court will not reinstate Trump’s revised travel ban, saying it “drips with religious intolerance, animus and discrimination.” The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the injunction, saying the executive order violated the First Amendment’s ban on government establishment of religion – In this case singling out Muslims. (New York Times / Politico)
4/ Macron out-Trumps Trump in “fierce” handshake duel. Editor’s note: The descriptions are too good to summarize, so I’m quoting in full:
From the Washington Post: “…the two men shook hands for six long seconds. Their knuckles turned white, their jaws clenched and their faces tightened. Trump reached in first, but then he tried to release, twice, but Macron kept his grip until letting go.” (Washington Post)
From Bloomberg: “Trump’s trick is to go in strong and then hold on just slightly too long, often pulling the other man toward him. Meeting Macron for the first time before a NATO summit in Brussels, Trump went in firm as usual. But this time, it was Trump – not Macron – who tried to back out first. Macron simply wouldn’t let go as Trump tried to pull back once, and then flexed his fingers straight to get out. On the second try, he was able to pull away.” (Bloomberg)
5/ A group of 22 Republican senators are urging Trump to exit the Paris climate deal. They say the provisions in the Clean Air Act and the Paris agreement would create “significant litigation risk,” which puts fully rescinding the Clean Power Plan in danger. (Axios)
6/ Paul Manafort remained in contact and continued to advise the Trump team even after the FBI launched its Russia probe. Manafort called Priebus a week before the inauguration to tell him the dossier by a former British spy that alleged Russia had compromising information on Trump and his associates was “garbage.” Manafort was forced to resign as Trump’s campaign chairman due to his ties to Kremlin-aligned politicians in Europe. (Politico)
Russians had discussed how to influence Trump advisors last summer. Specifically, Paul Manafort and Michael Flynn, who both had close ties to Russia. It’s unclear if Russian officials attempted to influence either. (New York Times)
7/ Sessions was advised not to disclose his meetings with Russian officials when he applied for security clearance. Democratic lawmakers are demanding for Sessions’s resignation. “He’s lied under oath,” Senator Kamala Harris said. “He’s misled on security clearance forms. It’s simple — he should not be the Attorney General.” (New York Times)
He's lied under oath. He's misled on security clearance forms. It's simple - he should not be the Attorney General. https://t.co/JKUdHUWVdg
8/ Reince Priebus is sweating Comey’s secret memos. Three White House officials said Priebus has expressed worry about a memo involving one of their chats, and how it might play in the press and to investigators. (The Daily Beast)
9/ A Montana GOP House candidate was charged with assault after “body-slamming” a journalist. Greg Gianforte grabbed the reporter by the neck with both hands, slammed him into the ground, and then began punching the reporter. Misdemeanor charges were filed against Gianforte, who was “sick and tired of this!” – “this” being a question. (The Guardian / Fox News)
Transcript of the “body-slam” audio. (The Atlantic)
10/ A Mar-a-Lago employee is doing work for Trump’s foreign trip. The guest reception manager at Trump’s “Winter White House” is in Italy helping Trump’s logistics team. (BuzzFeed News)
11/ Lieberman withdraws from consideration for FBI Director job. Once considered the front-runner to replace James Comey, he’s formally withdrawn citing the appearance of a conflict of interest now that Trump’s tapped his boss, attorney Marc Kasowitz, as outside counsel in the Russia investigation. (Wall Street Journal / Politico / ABC News)
12/ Trump condemned “leaks of sensitive information” after complaints From Britain. Manchester police said they would no longer share details of the investigation with the US after crime-scene photos and suspected bomber’s name were leaked to American media. (New York Times / Washington Post)
poll/ 40% approve of Trump job performance, with 53% disapproving. Pence, meanwhile, clocks in at a 42% approval to 43% disapproval rating. (The Hill)
1/ Trump called Kim Jong Un a “madman with nuclear weapons,” days before stating publicly that he would be “honored” to meet with Kim. In an April 29 call with Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, Trump asked for his input on whether Kim is “stable or not stable.” Duterte has been accused of presiding over the extrajudicial killing of thousands of drug dealers and users. (Washington Post)
2/ The US has two nuclear submarines off the coast of North Korea, Trump told Duterte during last month’s call. He revealed that “we have a lot of firepower over there. We have two submarines — the best in the world. We have two nuclear submarines, not that we want to use them at all.” (New York Times)
3/ The Pentagon is in shock that Trump told Duterte about the submarines. The Pentagon never talks about the location of submarines on the belief that stealth is key to their mission. (BuzzFeed News)
4/ Trump congratulated Duterte for doing an “unbelievable job” in his war on drugs, where the government has allowed extrajudicial killing for drug dealers and users. “You are a good man,” Trump told Duterte. “Keep up the good work.” The State Department’s human rights report calls the Philippines “disregard for human rights and due process” one of the “most significant human rights problems.” (The Intercept / Politico)
Transcript: Trump’s call with Duterte. (DocumentCloud)
5/ Pope Francis urged Trump to meet US commitments on climate change. He gave Trump copy of his 2015 encyclical (a type of papal document used for significant or important issues) calling for urgent, drastic cuts in fossil-fuel emissions. Trump has called climate change a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese. (Bloomberg)
6/ Jeff Sessions did not disclose meetings with Russian officials when he applied for his security clearance. Sessions met with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak at least twice last year, but didn’t failed to note those interactions on the security clearance form. (CNN)
7/ The House Intelligence Committee will subpoena Michael Flynn after he declined to appear before the panel. Flynn already rejected requests from the Senate Intelligence Committee for a list of his contacts with Russian officials, invoking his Fifth Amendments rights against self-incrimination. (Reuters / Associated Press / Politico)
Flynn hit with two Senate Intelligence Committee subpoenas and risks being held in contempt of Congress if he doesn’t comply. (ABC News)
8/ Trump lawyers up and retains Marc Kasowitz for the Russia investigation. Related, former Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman joined Kasowitz’ law firm in 2013 and was Trump’s top choice for the FBI director job. The administration hit the reset button on the search today, wanting to see a broader list of candidates. (NBC News / CNN)
9/ Trump’s hotels are failing to track payments received from foreign governments despite his promise to donate all profits back to the Treasury. A Trump Organization policy suggests that it is up to foreign governments, not Trump hotels, to determine whether they self-report their business. (NBC News)
10/ The House health care bill would leave 23 million more uninsured by 2026, the Congressional Budget Office projected. If passed, 14 million people would lose insurance next year and would make coverage less comprehensive than it is now for those still insured. The Senate has already said it will make substantial changes to the measure passed by the House. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / Bloomberg)
11/ Mitch McConnell on Obamacare: “I don’t know how we get to 50 (votes).” The Senate Majority Leader has not asked the White House for input on the legislation being crafted to dismantle Obamacare. McConnell has promised to undo Obamacare “root and branch,” but Congress and the White House have struggled to come up with a consensus plan despite controlling both branches of government. (Reuters)
12/ Ben Carson called poverty “a state of mind.” He said he believes that government can provide a “helping hand” for people to climb out of poverty, but warned against programs that are “sustaining them in a position of poverty.” (Washington Post)
13/ Democrats flipped seats in two districts that voted for Trump. The new legislature seats in New York and New Hampshire won’t change the balance of power, but may signal a change in the country’s political climate. (HuffPost)
Poll/ 65% of voters believe there is a lot of fake news in the mainstream media. 84% of voters said it’s hard to know what news to believe online. (Editor’s Suggestion: Get the fuck off Facebook.) (The Hill)
1/ Trump’s first budget can be summed up like this: Cuts for the poor. The budget would boost defense spending by $54 billion for the next fiscal year and another $2.6 billion for new border security measures, including $1.6 billion to build the border wall. Medicaid, food assistance and other anti-poverty and welfare programs – which provide benefits for up to a fifth of all Americans – would be cut by more than $1 trillion. Spending overall would be reduced by $3.6 trillion over 10 years. Trump’s budget is based on sustained growth above 3%, much higher than the expectations of most private economists. (CNN Money / Washington Post / New York Times / Associated Press / NBC News)
By The Numbers:
State Department – 29.1% decrease
Homeland Security – 6.8% increase
Department of Education – 13.5% decrease
EPA – 31.4% decrease
Department of Transportation – 12.7% decrease
Department of Defense – 10.1% increase
Department of Housing and Urban Development – 13.2% decrease
Republicans say the White House has gone too far with its proposed cuts to programs that help the poor. (Washington Post)
Trump’s first budget proposal calls on Congress to spend $4.1 trillion next year, a little more than what is being spent this year. But it would greatly reallocate where many federal funds go: spend more on defense, border security, and infrastructure, but cut safety nets and domestic programs that focus on everything from the environment and education to student loans and scientific research. (CNN Money)
Which budgets would see the biggest cuts – or boosts? Only three departments would see increases in their budgets. (NPR)
Trump wants to sell off half of the US strategic oil reserve in order to trim the national debt. By draining the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, Trump’s would raise $500 million in fiscal year 2018 and as much as $16.6 billion in oil sales over the next decade. (Bloomberg)
2/ Trump’s budget will hit his own voters the hardest. The budget blueprint cuts taxes for the wealthy, boosts defense spending, and reduces programs for the poor and disabled – potentially hurting many of the rural and low-income Americans who voted him into office. (Politico)
3/ The budget is based on a $2 trillion math error. It appears Trump is double counting the benefits of economic growth: Once to offset the effects of lower tax rates and a second time to help close the budget deficit. (Wall Street Journal / New York Magazine)
4/ Russia may have successfully recruited Trump campaign aides and “brazenly” interfered in the election. John Brennan, the Former CIA Director, told the House Intelligence Committee that there was a “very aggressive” effort to intervene in the 2016 campaign, which he warned his counterpart in Russian intelligence about. Brennan said he didn’t know if the Trump campaign colluded with Russia, but his confirmation that there was contact undermines Trump’s account of his campaign’s links to Russia. (Politico / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / Associated Press)
5/ Flynn was hit with two new subpoenas by the Senate Intelligence Committee in an effort to compel him to turn over documents about his contacts with Russian officials. Flynn invoked the Fifth Amendment in response to the previous subpoena attempt. The new subpoenas are aimed at Flynn’s businesses, believing they can’t plead the Fifth. (Politico)
6/ Comey’s public House Oversight Committee testimony postponed. He wants to speak with Robert Mueller first, who is investigating the ties between Russia and the presidential election campaign. Comey is also expected to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the Russia probe later this month. (Reuters)
7/ ISIS claimed responsibility for the Manchester attack; Trump calls them “evil losers” and vows to “call them, from now on, losers because that’s what they are: losers.” (Washington Post / NBC News)
8/ Chris Christie gave Jared Kushner legal advice when asked if Trump should hire a lawyer. In private, Christie told Kushner that the president “better lawyer up and keep his mouth shut,” according to a person who recounted Christie’s conversation with Kushner. (Vanity Fair)
9/ Jeff Sessions narrowed Trump’s executive order on sanctuary cities. A federal judge said Trump had overstepped his authority in attaching conditions to federal money. Sessions’ new memo says Trump’s order will only apply to grants from the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security “and not to other sources of federal funding.” (New York Times) / Politico)
10/ Sheriff David Clarke is unsure if the Trump administration will still hire him. A review of Clarke’s master’s thesis found 47 examples where Clarke copied entire sentences, but credited them with a footnote – not quotation marks to indicate that he took the language verbatim. (CNN)
11/ Democrats warned Trump against a pre-emptive attack on North Korea. In a letter, 64 Democratic legislators urged Trump to talk directly to the North Koreans and warned that he would need congressional approval for any pre-emptive military strike. (New York Times)
1/ Michael Flynn will invoke his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination as he notifies the Senate Intelligence committee that he will not comply with a subpoena seeking documents. His decision to invoke his Fifth Amendment right puts him at risk of being held in contempt of Congress, which can also result in a criminal charge. After Flynn rejected the subpoena, Elijah Cummings released a letter saying Flynn misled Pentagon investigators about his income from Russian companies when he applied for a top-secret security clearance last year. Separately, he also failed to properly register as a foreign agent while advising the Trump campaign. Both are felonies. (Associated Press / New York Times)
Chris Christie weighs in on Flynn: “I wouldn’t let General Flynn in the White House, let alone give him a job.” The New Jersey governor said he repeatedly recommended that Trump not give Flynn the job while on the campaign and as President-elect. (Washington Post)
2/ Trump asked two of the top intelligence chiefs to push back against the FBI investigation into possible collusion after Comey revealed its existence. Trump asked the director of national intelligence and the director of the National Security Agency to publicly deny the existence of any evidence of collusion during the 2016 election. Both refused to comply with the requests, which they both deemed to be inappropriate. (Washington Post)
3/ Trump: “I never mentioned the word or the name Israel” to the Russians. It was an off-script effort to push back and refute the damage he did to Israeli intelligence capabilities after revealing highly classified information to Russian operatives earlier this month. To add further insult to injury, he also told a room of Israelis that he “just got back from the Middle East.” (CNN / Slate)
4/ Trump’s budget is expected to cut $1.7 trillion from Medicaid and anti-poverty programs over the next 10 years. Assuming the GOP health care bill becomes law, the budget proposal will cut $800 billion from Medicaid leaving an estimated 10 million people without benefits. SNAP, the modern version of food stamps, will be reduced by $193 billion – about a quarter. During the campaign, Trump promised not to cut Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid. (Bloomberg / Washington Post / CNN)
5/ Comey believes that Donald Trump was trying to influence his judgment on the Russia probe. He initially thought he could teach Trump and the White House what was appropriate during their communications, despite noting that the new President was not following normal protocols during their interactions. (CNN)
6/ Trump is assembling outside counsel to help him navigate the Russian investigation now that Robert Mueller has begun work on the possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russian officials. The outside legal team would be separate from the White House Counsel’s Office, which is led by Donald McGahn, who served as the Trump campaign’s lawyer. (Washington Post)
Priebus and Bannon returned to Washington after Saudi visit. Major issues await Trump back home, including the possible hiring of outside legal counsel in the Russia probe, the selection of a new FBI director, and the effort to pivot his domestic agenda. (CNN)
7/ The White House is trying to block the disclosure of ethics waivers granted to former lobbyists who work in the administration or federal agencies. Ethics watchdogs are concerned that former lobbyists are taking high-ranking political jobs working on the exact topics they had previously handled on behalf of private-sector clients — including oil and gas companies and Wall Street banks. The Office of Government Ethics was created in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal to oversee compliance with federal ethics standards. The administration is challenging the legal authority to demand the information. (New York times)
8/ Sheriff David Clarke plagiarized portions of his master’s thesis on homeland security. Clarke will be joining Trump’s administration as assistant secretary in the Department of Homeland Security. He denied the report, calling the journalist a “sleaze bag.” (CNN / Reuters)
9/ Commerce secretary Wilbur Ross said he was pleased that there were no protesters with “a bad placard” during his trip to Saudi Arabia. American-style protest is illegal in Saudi Arabia and can result in a death sentence. (Washington Post)
10/ McMaster won’t say if Trump confronted Russian officials about election interference during the meeting at the White House. He said “there already was too much that’s been leaked from those meetings,” but wouldn’t deny that Trump called Comey “crazy, a real nut job.” (ABC News)
11/ The White House plans to ask a federal court for another 90-day delay in a lawsuit over Obamacare insurance subsidies, leaving the future of the health care marketplaces in limbo through late August. The suit centers on Obamacare’s cost-sharing program, which reimburses health insurers to help low-income people make co-payments at the doctor or hospital. House Republicans say the program was never legally funded in Obamacare and Trump has argued that the markets are fatally flawed and will collapse no matter what his administration does. (Politico)
12/ Students walked out of the Notre Dame commencement ceremony in protest of Mike Pence’s policies that “have marginalized our vulnerable sisters and brothers for their religion, skin color, or sexual orientation.” (NPR)
1/ A White House official close to Trump is now a person of interest in the Russia probe. The senior adviser under scrutiny by investigators is someone close to the president, according to multiple sources, who would not further identify the official. Investigators are also interested in people who were previously part of the Trump campaign and administration, including Michael Flynn and former campaign chairman Paul Manafort. (Washington Post)
2/ Trump told the Russians in the Oval Office last week that firing Comey had relieved “great pressure” on him. A document summarizing the meeting quotes Trump as saying “I just fired the head of the FBI. He was crazy, a real nut job. I faced great pressure because of Russia. That’s taken off.” (New York Times)
3/ The Trump-Russia probe now includes a possible cover-up. Former FBI Director Robert Mueller, “has been given the authority to investigate the possibility of a cover-up,” though that “does not mean that is part of the investigation” currently. (McClatchy)
4/ Mike Pence wasn’t informed about Flynn’s alleged wrongdoings, a source close to the administration said. It’s the second time that Pence claims he was kept in the dark about Flynn. The source said there is concern about “a pattern” of keeping the vice president distant from information about possible Flynn wrongdoings, calling it “malpractice or intentional, and either are unacceptable.” (NBC News)
5/ James Comey has agreed to testify in a public session at the Senate Intelligence Committee. The hearing will occur after Memorial Day, committee leaders said. (Politico)
Comey tried to preserve distance between the FBI and the White House, by educating the administration on the proper way to interact with the bureau. Comey told Trump that if he wanted to know details about the bureau’s investigations, he should not contact him directly but instead follow the proper procedures and have the White House counsel send any inquiries to the Justice Department. (New York Times)
Comey may testify as soon as next week despite the appointment of a special counsel to investigate Russian meddling into last year’s election. (The Hill)
The FBI warned a Republican congressman in 2012 that Russian spies were trying to recruit him. Dana Rohrabacher of California, has been known for years as one of Moscow’s biggest defenders in Washington and as a vocal opponent of American economic sanctions against Russia. He is one of Trump’s staunchest allies on Capitol Hill. (New York Times)
6/ Trump heads out on his first foreign trip since taking office, to meet with some of the most important figures in the Middle East and Europe during a nine-day, five-country journey. He’s bucking tradition by not visiting Canada or Mexico with his first visits abroad, which the past five presidents have all done. The trip will conclude with the president meeting with NATO and attending a G7 summit, where leaders have been told that he prefers short presentations and lots of visual aids. White House aides fear that a difficult trip might lead Trump to hand off future traveling duties to Pence. (ABC News / Associated Press / (Wall Street Journal)
7/ Kushner intervened to help seal a $110 billion arms deal with the Saudis - just in time for Trump’s visit to the kingdom this weekend where he hopes to frame it as a symbol of America’s renewed commitment to security in the Persian Gulf. (New York Times)
8/ Trump said he is “very close” to choosing a new FBI director. A senior White House official said the odds of a selection coming today were “better than 50-50.” Former Sen. Joe Lieberman is his top choice. (CNN / NBC News)
9/ Trump’s attorney didn’t want him to sign his financial disclosure to certify the information was true, because he was filing voluntarily. Trump’s 2016 disclosures will span his general election candidacy, election, and transition to power, which would potentially shed light on the impact his nomination and election had on his Trump Organization. (Associated Press)
10/ Health insurers are planning rate hikes on Obamacare — and they blame Trump. State insurance regulators — both Democrat and Republican — have concluded they cannot count on the Trump administration to help them ensure that consumers will have access to a health plan next year, which is forcing them to make plans to raise premiums to account for the turmoil. (Los Angeles Times)
11/ Nearly 700 positions at the CDC are vacant because of Trump’s hiring freeze. Programs supporting local and state public health emergency readiness, infectious disease control and chronic disease prevention are all affected. At least 125 job categories have been blocked from being filled. (Washington Post)
12/ American warplanes attacked a pro-Syrian government convoy, which ignored warnings and violated a restricted zone around a base where US and British Special Forces train rebels to fight the Islamic State. The Syria and its Russian allies condemned the attack, which marked an escalation in hostile US action toward Bashar al-Assad. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal)
13/ Jeff Sessions and the Department of Justice are telling lawyers to stop representing immigrants in deportation proceedings. They’re accusing immigrant-rights lawyers of breaking a rule that was put in place to protect people from lawyers who take their money and then drop their case. The cease and desist letter could dissuade law firms from letting their lawyers volunteer for these cases, scaring those firms away by convincing them that immigration-related projects are too risky pro-bono projects. (The Nation)
14/ White House lawyers are researching impeachment procedures in an effort to prepare for what officials believe is a distant possibility that Trump could have to fend off attempts to remove him from office. (CNN)
1/ The Trump campaign had at least 18 undisclosed contacts with Russians during the last seven months of the election. Six of the previously undisclosed contacts were phone calls between Sergei Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the US, and Trump advisers, including Michael Flynn. (Reuters)
2/ Flynn stopped a military plan Turkey didn’t like while being paid $500,000 as its lobbyist. The decision came 10 days before Trump was sworn in as president. Obama’s national security team asked for Trump’s sign-off, since the plan would be executed after Trump had become president. Lawmakers are questioning whether Flynn acted on behalf of a foreign nation when making a military decision, with some going so far as to ask whether it constitutes treason. Flynn also failed to register as a foreign agent, which is a federal crime. (McClatchy)
3/ Flynn told the Trump team he was under investigation for secretly working as a paid lobbyist for Turkey weeks before he came to the White House. Trump made Flynn his national security adviser anyway, giving him access to nearly every secret held by American intelligence agencies. (New York Times)
4/ Trump pressured a “reluctant” Michael Flynn into accepting the national security adviser job even after Flynn warned that he was under investigation over undisclosed lobbying on behalf of a foreign government. Trump has expressed hopes that a resolution of the FBI investigation might allow Flynn to rejoin the White House in some capacity. (The Daily Beast)
Trump sends Flynn a message: “stay strong.” The two have remained in touch, raising questions about the president’s reported request to James Comey to shut down a federal investigation into Flynn. (Yahoo News)
5/ Trump denies telling Comey to back off the Flynn investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. Asked whether he urged Comey to ease up on the Flynn investigation, Trump said at a news conference, “No, no,” before ordering the media to move onto the “next question.” (Washington Post)
6/ Flynn hasn’t responded to a subpoena from the Senate intelligence committee. Legal experts say that it’s unlikely Flynn will agree to turn over the personal documents because he would be waiving his constitutional protection against self-incrimination by doing so. (Washington Post / ABC News)
7/ Trump Tweets: Where was the special counsel for Hillary and Obama? He then called the investigation into his campaign’s links with Russia “the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history!” hours after issuing a more muted official statement in coordination with aides. (CNN)
This is the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history!
8/ Rod Rosenstein already knew James Comey was going to be fired when he wrote the three-page memo that the White House used to justify firing Comey. Rosenstein learned Comey was being fired on May 8, but the memo is dated May 9 — the day the firing took place. (Politico / Los Angeles Times)
9/ Sean Spicer is no longer expected to do a daily, on-camera briefing, as Trump is frustrated with the way Spicer defends and explains his message. When Trump returns from his foreign trip, Sarah Huckabee Sanders will likely appear at the podium more with Spicer’s public role being downsized. (Politico)
10/ NATO critic Stephen Miller is writing Trump’s NATO speech. Miller, an anti-globalist, has called the military alliance “incongruent with our current foreign policy challenges.” (BuzzFeed News)
11/ Trump notified Congress that he plans to renegotiate NAFTA, which triggers a 90-day consultation period between the administration and Congress. Negotiations with Canada and Mexico can begin as soon as August 16th. Trump has called NAFTA the worst trade deal in history. (New York Times / CNN Money / Washington Post)
1/ Rod Rosenstein appointed former FBI Director Bob Mueller to oversee the investigation of Russian interference in election. Mueller will take command of the prosecutors and FBI agents who are working on the far reaching Russia investigation. Trump said that he expects the probe will find no collusion between his 2016 White House campaign and foreign countries, calling the Russia inquiry a “taxpayer-funded charade.” (NBC News / New York Times / Washington Post / Politico)
Former Trump aides Michael Flynn and Paul Manafort have emerged as key figures in the FBI’s investigation into Russian campaign interference. Multiple grand jury subpoenas and records requests have been issued in connection with the two men. (NBC News)
Federal investigators have subpoenaed records for Manafort’s $3.5 million mortgage that he took out on his Hamptons home just after leaving the campaign. (NBC News)
2/ The House majority leader told colleagues last year: “I think Putin pays” Trump. Paul Ryan told them not to leak the remarks and swore them to secrecy. (Washington Post)
3/ Jason Chaffetz asked the FBI to turn over all documents it has on Trump and Comey’s conversations. The FBI has until May 24 to produce the records before the Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee subpoenas them. Chaffetz said that if the memo exists and accurately reflects the conversation, “that seems like an extraordinary use of influence to try to shut down an investigation being done by the FBI.” (NBC News / CNN)
.@GOPoversight is going to get the Comey memo, if it exists. I need to see it sooner rather than later. I have my subpoena pen ready.
— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) May 17, 2017
Comey’s memos were a product of a culture of note-taking. It is standard for people who work in law enforcement to keep detailed phone and meeting logs. (New York Times)
4/ Senate and House Republicans and Democrats want Comey to testify about his interactions with Trump, including whether Trump tried to obstruct the criminal probe into Michael Flynn. The collective political fallout from the past week “will make it difficult” for Republicans to resist a change in approach, Representative Charlie Dent said. “I think we need to hear from him as soon as possible in public to respond to the issues that have been raised in recent days,” Mitch McConnell said. (Politico / Washington Post / (Wall Street Journal)
The Senate Intelligence Committee requested that James Comey testify publicly in the wake of his firing by Trump. Senators Richard Burr and Mark Warner sent a letter asking Comey to testify before their panel in both open and closed sessions. The senators had previously asked Comey to testify in a closed session, but he declined. (Politico)
The House Oversight Committee invited Comey to testify next Wednesday. Jason Chaffetz has officially scheduled the hearing and is in the process of trying to connect with Comey. The hearing will be the day the FBI is due to send documents to the oversight panel. (Politico)
5/ Democratic congressman Al Green called for “the impeachment of the President of the United States of America for obstruction of justice.” Green said it was the House of Representative’s “duty” to take up impeachment. More Republicans and Democrats are starting to talk of the possibility that Trump could face impeachment after reports that he pressed James Comey to end an investigation of Michael Flynn. Representative Justin Amash said if the reports about Trump’s pressure on Comey are true, it would merit impeachment. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi both raised concerns about Trump’s action, but avoided the topic of impeachment in their statements responding to the news of Comey’s memo. “At best, President Trump has committed a grave abuse of executive power,” Pelosi said. “At worst, he has obstructed justice.” Democrats can’t impeach Trump without significant Republican support. (CNN / The Hill / BuzzFeed News)
6/ Republicans blocked the Democrats attempt to force a vote on creating a bipartisan congressional commission to investigate Russian interference, how the intelligence community handled the matter, and the Trump administration’s involvement. “You’re watching an obstruction of justice investigation developing in real time,” said Senator Richard Blumenthal, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. “If there were ever any question about the need for an independent special prosecutor, this report is the nail on the argument.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Reuters)
Calls grow for an independent investigation. The deputy Republican whip Adam Kinzinger switched his position for an independent commission or special prosecutor to investigate possible ties between Trump’s campaign and Russia, saying the recent news reports had marked a turning point for him. (NBC News / Washington Post)
7/ Paul Ryan tried to contain the political fallout from the Comey memo by urging members to avoid “rushing to judgment.” He called himself “a person who wants to get the facts” and said that “there are some people out there who want to harm the president.” (CNN / Washington Post / Politico)
8/ McCain compares Comey memo about his meeting with Trump to Watergate. “The only thing I can say is I think we’ve seen this movie before. I think it’s reaching the point where it’s of Watergate size and scale,” McCain said. His advice to Trump is “the same thing that you advised Richard Nixon, which he didn’t do… get it all out… it’s not going to be over until every aspect of it is thoroughly examined and the American people make a judgment. And the longer you delay, the longer it’s going to last.” (ABC News / The Daily Beast)
9/ Putin offers to provide Congress with the transcript to prove Trump didn’t pass Russia secrets, turning up the pressure on the White House to provide its own transcript of the meeting. Putin said Russia could hand over a transcript of Trump’s meeting with Lavrov, if the Trump administration deemed it appropriate. (Reuters / New York Times / CNN / Washington Post)
Adam Schiff: “Last thing” Trump needs “is Putin vouching for him.” Schiff called Putin’s offer “yet another twist in the road” and said, “all of this gets more baffling every day.” (CNN)
Senator Susan Collins says Trump needs to “right the ship” and get his “house in order” because “we cannot have this constant chaos” every single day from him. (CNN)
10/ Trump provided Russia with secrets so sensitive that news organizations are being asked not to report it. Trump told the Russian foreign minister and the Russian ambassador that the Islamic State had used stolen airport security equipment to test a bomb that could be hidden in electronic devices. US intelligence officials have asked media organizations not to report on the type of equipment, where it was stolen, and the name of the city where the intelligence was gathered. The intelligence has led to the new rules banning electronic devices in the cabins of certain flights. (NBC News)
11/ Trump: No politician “has been treated worse or more unfairly,” warning graduating Coast Guard cadets that life is unfair. (Politico)
12/ Sally Yates disputed Sean Spicer’s characterization of her warnings that Flynn could be open to blackmail by Russia as a “heads up.” Yates said she expected the White House to act urgently on the information that Flynn had been compromised by his contact with Russian officials prior to Trump’s inauguration. (CNN / NBC News)
13/ Members of the Turkish president’s security team breached police lines and attacked protesters outside the Turkish ambassador’s residence in the US. About two dozen demonstrators showed up outside of embassy hours after Erdogan met with Trump and a brawl erupted when Erdogan’s security detail attacked protesters carrying the flag of the Kurdish PYD party. (CNN / The Guardian / New York Times)
14/ The Iran nuclear deal will remain as Trump imposes new penalties over its ballistic missile program. The new sanctions is the latest attempt by the administration to signal its displeasure with Iran while not jettisoning the 2015 nuclear deal. (Politico / New York Times)
15/ Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke accepted a job at the Department of Homeland Security. Clarke has made a name himself for supporting Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration and for patrolling of Muslim neighborhoods. (Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel / Los Angeles Times)
16/ Trump has turned to Corey Lewandowski, Jason Miller, and David Bossie as scandals pile up. The former campaign aides have slid back into his group of advisers as a steady stream of damaging leaks and critical blind quotes that have flowed out of the West Wing. (Politico)
17/ Trump’s education budget calls for deep cuts to public school programs in pursuit of school choice. Funding for college work-study programs would be cut in half, public-service loan forgiveness would end, and hundreds of millions of dollars that public schools could use for mental health and other services would vanish under the plan, which cuts $10.6 billion from federal education initiatives. (Washington Post)
poll/ Trump’s approval rating hits a new low: 42% – and that’s before claims that he disclosed sensitive information to Russian officials and tried to shut down an FBI investigation into Michael Flynn. (Politico)
1/ Trump asked James Comey to shut down the Michael Flynn investigation in a February memo he wrote shortly after meeting with Trump. “I hope you can let this go,” Trump told Comey. The request is the clearest evidence that he tried to directly influence the Justice Department and FBI investigations. Comey kept detailed notes of his meetings with Trump, documenting what he perceived as improper efforts to influence a continuing investigation. An FBI agent’s notes are widely held up in court as credible evidence of conversations. (New York Times)
2/ Trump defended his decision to share ISIS intelligence with Russia, tweeting that he had an “absolute right” to do so in the interest of fighting terrorism. Trump’s tweets undercut his administration’s effort to contain the report, where Rex Tillerson, H.R. McMaster, and the deputy national security adviser for strategy all called the report that Trump revealed highly classified information to Russia false. The information was considered so sensitive that US officials had not shared it widely within the government or among allies. (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
As President I wanted to share with Russia (at an openly scheduled W.H. meeting) which I have the absolute right to do, facts pertaining....
Three administration officials conceded that Trump simply did not possess the interest or knowledge of intelligence gathering to leak specific sources and methods that would do harm to United States allies. (New York Times)
Trump revealed highly classified information to Russian diplomats during their Oval Office meeting last week, which has jeopardized a critical source of intelligence on the Islamic State. (WTF Just Happened Today)
“This is really the nightmare scenario for the intelligence community,” a former CIA officer said, and as a result Trump could have hampered the US response to ISIS. (Politico)
Initial thoughts on the Washington Post’s game-changing story: It matters who we have running the most powerful institution in the world. (Lawfare)
3/ McMaster backs Trump’s sharing of sensitive intelligence with Russians: “It is wholly appropriate for the president to share whatever information he thinks is necessary.” He added that Trump “wasn’t even aware where this information came from. He wasn’t briefed on the source or method of the information either.” McMaster refused to confirm whether the information the president shared with the Russians was highly classified. (ABC News / Washington Post / Politico)
4/ Israel was the source of ISIS-related intelligence that Trump shared with Russia last week. Two Israeli officials said that the intelligence shared by Trump “syncs up” with intelligence that shared with its US counterparts. The revelation is Israel’s “worst fears confirmed” as it raises the possibility that the information could be passed to Iran, Russia’s close ally and Israel’s main threat in the Middle East. (New York Times / BuzzFeed News / NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
5/ CIA Director Mike Pompeo will brief the members of the House intelligence committee today on what Trump discussed with Russian officials last week, following claims that Trump apparently revealed classified information. (CNN)
6/ Republican and Democratic lawmakers to Trump: hand over the transcript of the meeting with the Russians. Members of Congress have spent several days demanding that Trump turn over tapes of White House meetings after he suggested that he records his conversations. Those calls intensified after Trump acknowledged on Twitter that he had shared sensitive information during his meeting with the Russians. White House aides have neither confirmed nor denied the possibility that Trump records his conversations at the White House. (Washington Post)
Lawmakers express shock and concern about Trump disclosure of classified information. “They are in a downward spiral right now and have got to figure out a way to come to grips with all that’s happening,” the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee said of the Trump administration. “The chaos that is being created by the lack of discipline is creating an environment that I think makes — it creates a worrisome environment.” (Washington Post)
7/ Mitch McConnell called for “less drama” from Trump. “I think it would be helpful if the president spent more time on things we’re trying to accomplish and less time on other things,” McConnell said. (Bloomberg)
8/ Trump will disclose some of his personal finances this year, which will likely indicate his personal income, assets, and liabilities. They won’t contain details like his tax rate or any charitable donations. (Associated Press)
9/ Paul Manafort took out a $3.5 million mortgage and never paid taxes on it. The former Trump campaign manager took out the mortgage through a shell company just after leaving the campaign and never paid the $36,000 in taxes that would be due on the loan. (NBC News)
10/ Trump to meet with Turkey’s president amid differences over the Trump administration’s plan to directly arm Kurdish rebels in Syria for the fight against ISIS. Turkey considers the group a terrorist organization, because it maintains ties with a Kurdish revolutionary group inside Turkey. (ABC News)
11/ Gingrich urged Trump to shut down White House press room in order to send a message to the country “that the media is a corrupt institution and [Trump] is tired of being harassed by people whose only interest is making him look bad.” (Politico)
poll/ 48% of voters support impeaching Trump compared to 41% that are opposed to the idea. 43% of voters think Trump is actually going to end up serving his full term, while 45% think he won’t. 12% aren’t sure one way or the other. (Public Policy Polling)
1/ Trump revealed highly classified information to Russian diplomats during their Oval Office meeting last week, which has jeopardized a critical source of intelligence on the Islamic State. Trump’s decision to disclose information risks cooperation from an ally that has access to the inner workings of the Islamic State. A US official said Trump “revealed more information to the Russian ambassador than we have shared with our own allies.” Trump’s disclosures are not illegal as he has the power to declassify almost anything. But sharing the information without the express permission of the ally who provided it represents a major breach of espionage etiquette, and could jeopardize a crucial intelligence-sharing relationship. (Washington Post / New York Times)
2/ Trump is considering a “huge reboot” that could take out everyone from Reince Priebus and Steve Bannon, to counsel Don McGahn and Sean Spicer. Trump is irritated with several Cabinet members and “frustrated, and angry at everyone.” (Axios)
3/ Senate Republicans are looking at steep cuts to Medicaid that could drop millions of people from coverage and reduce programs for the poor. Under pressure to balance the budget, Republicans are considering slashing more than $400 billion in spending on food stamps, welfare, and even veterans’ benefits through a process to evade Democratic filibusters in the Senate. If the Medicaid cutbacks get passed by both chambers, it could significantly scale back the federal-state insurance program that covers 73 million low-income or disabled Americans and shift significant costs onto hospitals and states. (Politico /
Wall Street Journal)
4/ James Clapper said that US institutions are under assault from Trump and warned that federal checks and balances are eroding. Former Director of National Intelligence called on the other branches of the federal government to step up in their roles as a check on the executive. (CNN / Associated Press)
Republicans and Democrats agree that if Trump has tapes, he’ll need to turn them over to Congress. Lawmakers from both parties said any White House recordings must be preserved for congressional review and that “it’s probably inevitable” that they would be subpoenaed. (Washington Post)
5/ North Korea successfully test-fired a new type of ballistic missile, signaling an advance in their development of an intercontinental ballistic missile program. North Korea said the new “medium long-range” missile is capable of carrying a large nuclear warhead, warning that the United States’ military bases in the Pacific were within its range. (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Reuters / Associated Press)
Putin warns against “intimidating” North Korea after its latest missile launch. Putin called for a peaceful solution to the ongoing tensions on the Korean peninsula and said that Russia is “categorically against the expansion of the club of nuclear states.” (CNN)
6/ The 9th Circuit Court will hear the travel ban appeal, again. A three-judge panel will hear a challenge to a Hawaii judge’s decision to halt travel ban 2.0. Lawyers at the Justice Department must convince at least two of the judges to ignore Trump’s record of campaign calls to ban Muslims from entering the US. (CNN)
7/ Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein will brief the full Senate on Thursday about the firing of James Comey. The briefing is classified and will take place in the regular secure room in the Capitol Visitors Center. (CNN / Washington Post)
8/ The Supreme Court rejected an appeal to reinstate North Carolina’s voter identification law, which a lower court said targeted African-Americans “with almost surgical precision.” Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. issued a statement noting that there was a dispute about who represented the state in the case and that nothing should be read into the court’s decision to decline to hear it. (Associated Press / Politico / New York Times)
9/ The Dakota Access pipeline has its first leak. The $3.8bn oil pipeline is not yet fully operational, but managed to spill 84 gallons of crude oil. (The Guardian)
10/ White Nationalist Richard Spencer led a torch-bearing group protesting the sale of a statue of Robert E. Lee in Virginia. The group chanted “You will not replace us.” Spencer added: “What brings us together is that we are white, we are a people, we will not be replaced.” (NPR / Washington Post)
11/ Trump thinks that exercising too much uses up the body’s “finite” energy. Trump mostly gave up athletics after college because he “believed the human body was like a battery, with a finite amount of energy, which exercise only depleted.” (Washington Post)
12/ Comey said he’d be willing to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee, but wants it to be in public. Comey originally declined an invitation from the committee to be interviewed in a closed-door hearing. (New York Times)
13/ Syria is using a crematorium to hide executions, the State Department said. The US believes Syria’s “building of a crematorium is an effort to cover up the extent of mass murders taking place in Saydnaya prison.” A State Department official said the regime could be killing as many as 50 detainees a day. (CNN / BuzzFeed News / Washington Post)
14/ Senate Republicans are breaking away from Trump as they try to forge a more traditional Republican agenda and protect their political fortunes. Republican senators are drafting a health care bill with little White House input and pushing back on Trump’s impending budget request. Many high-ranking Republicans have said they will not support any move by Trump to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement. (New York Times)
poll/ 29% approve of Trump’s firing of James Comey. Trump’s job-approval rating stands at 39%. (NBC News)
1/ In a tweet, Trump threatened to cancel all future press briefings for the “sake of accuracy,” saying it’s “not possible” to always tell the truth. While the White House can’t get its story straight about the firing of FBI director James Comey, Trump has offered his solution: cancel all press briefings. Spicer declined to say whether Trump had decided to stop holding daily news briefings, saying that Trump is “a little dismayed” about the unwillingness of reporters to focus on the policy actions of his administration. (CNN / New York Times / Washington Post)
As a very active President with lots of things happening, it is not possible for my surrogates to stand at podium with perfect accuracy!....
2/ In a tweet, Trump warned James Comey against leaking to the press, suggesting there are “tapes” of their private conversations. It’s unclear if any tapes exist. Regardless, Comey is “not worried about any tapes,” a CNN source said, adding that “if there is a tape, there’s nothing [Comey] is worried about” that could be on it. (Washington Post / Politico / CNN)
James Comey better hope that there are no "tapes" of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!
3/ Trump asked for Comey to pledge his loyalty at a private dinner seven days after the inauguration. Comey declined to make the pledge, but instead told Trump that he would always give him “honesty.” Trump pressed him on whether it would be “honest loyalty.” Comey agreed. Trump claims Comey assured him “three times” that he was not under FBI investigation. (New York Times / NBC News / CNN)
4/ Comey declined to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee. The panel is investigating Russia’s election meddling and allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow. Testifying would have provided Comey a chance to discuss with lawmakers the circumstances of his firing. (Politico)
5/ Sean Spicer won’t say if Trump is taping conversations in the Oval Office. The White House won’t deny Trump taped meetings with Comey — or that Trump may be recording conversations in the Oval Office. “The president has nothing further to add on that,” Spicer said, repeating the answer or some variation of it several more times as reporters pressed. (NBC News / New York Times)
6/ Trump shifts his reason for firing Comey to “this Russia thing” being a “made-up story.” He labeled it “an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should have won.” (New York Times)
Comey’s reportedly furious by the lack of respect the White House showed him. Trump called Comey a “showboat” and “a grandstander,” and even suggested he was not “competent.” (ABC News)
7/ Jeff Sessions directed prosecutors to seek the toughest drug charges for offenders. The new sentencing guidelines roll back an Obama-era policy of avoiding charging nonviolent, less-serious drug offenders with long, mandatory-minimum sentences, and instead revives a Bush-era policy that tasked federal prosecutors with charging “the most serious readily provable offense.” (Wall Street Journal / Washington Post / CNN)
8/ The lawyers who said Trump has no ties to Russia was named Russian law firm of 2016. Morgan Lewis tax partners said that a review of Trump’s last 10 years of tax returns don’t show “any income of any type from Russian sources.” Except for some income from the 2013 Miss Universe pageant that was held in Moscow as well as a property sold to a Russian billionaire in 2008 for $95 million. The attorneys did not release copies of Trump’s tax returns. (The Guardian / Associated Press / Reuters)
9/ The EPA may allow a massive gold and copper mine at the headwaters of one of Alaska’s salmon fisheries. The Trump administration will allow a Canadian-owned company to seek a federal permit to build a mine near Bristol Bay. In 2014, the EPA released a study that concluded large-scale mining in the bay posed significant risk to salmon and could adversely affect Alaska Natives in the region. (Associated Press)
10/ Rex Tillerson signed a declaration acknowledging climate change. The move is at odds with the Trump administration’s skepticism of climate change and comes at a time when he is weighing a potential withdrawal from the Paris Agreement. The Fairbanks Declaration acknowledges the threat posed by climate change to the Arctic and the need for action to curb its impact on the region. (The Hill)
1/ Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe vowed to report any meddling in the Russia probe and said that the firing of James Comey had not affected the Justice Department’s investigation. McCabe also told the Senate Intelligence Committee that Comey had not lost the confidence of rank-and-file FBI agents, contradicting a claim by the White House. Trump then offered a new version of his decision to fire Comey, saying he would have dismissed him regardless of whether the attorney general and his deputy recommended it. He called Comey a “showboat” and “grandstander,” and said that while he never tried to pressure Comey into dropping the FBI probe of the Trump campaign, he did ask Comey whether he was under investigation. (Politico / New York Times / NBC News / ABC News / Reuters)
The man now running the FBI just testified that the Trump White House is lying about Comey. McCabe’s statement directly contradicts what White House deputy press secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters, when she said Comey was fired because Trump, along with Jeff Sessions, had “lost confidence in him.” Sanders added that “most importantly, the rank and file of the FBI had lost confidence in their director.” (Quartz)
White House’s FBI story unravels as Trump undercuts statements from White House officials about the decision to fire Comey, underlining a growing credibility crisis for the administration. (The Hill)
Trump contradicted his three top spokespeople and offered a polar-opposite version the White House’s entire Comey narrative. (Washington Post)
2/ Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein threatened to resign after the White House cast him as the prime reason to fire Comey and that Trump acted only on his recommendation. The day before, Trump gave Sessions and Rosenstein a directive: to explain in writing the case against Comey. The next day Trump fired Comey. The White House says it is unaware that the deputy attorney general threatened to quit. (Washington Post / ABC News / BBC News)
Rosenstein says he’s “not quitting.” Rosenstein expressed frustration with how the White House used his reputation as cover for how they handled Comey’s dismissal. (CNN)
Rosenstein pressed the White House to correct the record on the Comey firing, saying he objected to the description of events, and hinted he couldn’t work in an environment where facts weren’t accurately reported. (Wall Street Journal)
Rosenstein is expected to brief all senators on Comey firing. The briefing will likely be closed and may be partially classified. (Politico)
Rosenstein has requested to meet with the Senate Intelligence Committee. (Politico)
3/ The White House was misled about the role of the Russian photographer and were surprised to see photos posted online showing Trump not only with Sergey Lavrov but also smiling and shaking hands with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Russian officials described the person as Lavrov’s official photographer without disclosing that he also worked for Tass, a Russian state-owned news agency. (Washington Post)
4/ Trump launched a commission to investigate voter fraud. The effort will be spearheaded by Mike Pence and will look into allegations of improper voting and fraudulent voter registration in states and across the nation. Trump is expected to sign the executive order today. (Associated Press / ABC News / CNN)
5/ The Justice Department won’t say whether Jeff Sessions will recuse himself from any part of hiring the next FBI director. In March, Sessions recused himself from investigations concerning the 2016 presidential campaigns. The DOJ declined to comment when asked if that policy would apply at all to the hiring process for the interim FBI director or the future nominee. Sessions has already interviewed candidates for interim FBI director. (BuzzFeed News)
6/ Trump is “very likely” to visit FBI headquarters soon. One intelligence official said that agents are more determined than ever to pursue probes into the alleged Russian interference in the presidential election and that Trump had “essentially declared war on a lot of people at the FBI. I think there will be a concerted effort to respond over time in kind.” Separately, Trump will meet with Acting Director Andrew McCabe today to discuss the morale at the FBI. (CNN / Washington Post / CNBC News)
Trump nixes plan to visit FBI after being told he would not be greeted warmly. The FBI told the White House the optics would not be good and made clear that Trump would not draw many smiles and cheers, having just unceremoniously sacked a very popular director. (NBC News)
7/ Comey refused to preview his Senate testimony for Trump, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who wanted a heads-up about what he would say regarding his handling of an investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server. (Reuters)
8/ Jason Chaffetz asked the inspector general to expand the Russia probe to include Comey’s firing. The Trump administration has denied Comey’s firing was related to the FBI’s Russia investigation. (HuffPost / Politico / CNN / Reuters)
9/ Trump admits his White House is too combative. He said it could be his fault, but added that “the only way you survive is to be combative.” (Time)
Trump thinks he invented the phrase “priming the pump.” (The Economist / CNN)
10/ Trump is considering former congressman Mike Rogers to replace James Comey as FBI director. Rogers is a former Intelligence Committee chair and FBI agent. (Bloomberg)
11/ Trump signed an executive order to bolster the government’s cyber security. The order seeks to improve the network security of US government agencies, from which hackers have pilfered millions of personal records and other forms of sensitive data in recent years. (Reuters)
12/ Trump will nominate a member of DOJ transition team to be DC’s US attorney. The US attorney’s office in Washington has long played a leading role in national security investigations and corruption cases against public officials and federal employees. If confirmed, Jessie Liu is poised to become an important player in both the local and national law enforcement community. (BuzzFeed News)
poll/ 54% think Trump’s abrupt dismissal of Comey was not appropriate, while 46% think that Comey was fired due to the Russia investigation. (NBC News)
Perspective.
A sense of crisis deepens as Trump defends his abrupt dismissal of the FBI director. On Capitol Hill, at least a half-dozen Republicans broke with their leadership to express concern or dismay about the firing of Comey. They stopped short of joining Democrats’ call for a special prosecutor to lead the continuing investigation of Russian contacts with Trump’s aides. (New York Times)
Inside Trump’s anger and impatience — and his sudden decision to fire Comey. Trump had long questioned Comey’s loyalty and judgment, and was infuriated by what he viewed as the director’s lack of action in recent weeks on leaks from within the federal government. By last weekend, he had made up his mind: Comey had to go. (Washington Post)
America isn’t having a constitutional crisis, but Trump may have just made one more likely in the future. (The Atlantic)
Trump after hours: From where he eats and sleeps, everything is going just great. Now if only everyone else would see it that way. (Time)
After Comey, justice must be served. Congress needs to get serious about holding the president accountable. (Bloomberg)
“Enough was enough”: How festering anger at Comey ended in his firing. The collision between Trump and the FBI director culminated with Comey’s stunning dismissal. It had been a long time coming. (New York Times)
Comey has been invited to testify at a closed Senate Intelligence Committee hearing next week. Democratic Sen. Mark Warner said the invitation went out with Republican committee chairman Sen. Richard Burr’s consent. (Reuters / ABC News)
The Senate intelligence committee subpoenas Michael Flynn for documents regarding his interactions with Russian officials. The order went out Wednesday after Flynn’s attorneys informed the panel they would not cooperate with the probe unless the former general was granted immunity. The Senate panel first requested the documents on April 28. (Politico / CNN)
1/ Trump met with Putin’s top diplomats at the White House. The talks came one day after Trump fired the FBI Director, who was overseeing an investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election. Sergey Lavrov met with Rex Tillerson earlier in the day and sarcastically acknowledged the dismissal of James Comey by saying “Was he fired? You’re kidding. You’re kidding.” The Kremlin said Trump’s firing of Comey will have no effect on bilateral relations between the two countries. Trump also met with Sergey Kislyak, a key figure in the Flynn investigation. (Associated Press / Reuters / Washington Post / NPR)
2 photos of Trump in the Oval Office with Russian FM Lavrov and Ambassador Kislyak. They're from the Russians. Nothing from White House yet. pic.twitter.com/s8BSYDGn62
2/ Trump defended firing Comey and said both parties will thank him in an early morning tweetstorm. Trump justified dismissing Comey, saying Democrats and Republicans had lost faith in his leadership due to “scandals.” Trump then mocked his critics and suggested that a Democratic senator be investigated after appearing on TV condemning the president’s action. Later, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Comey was dismissed because he committed “atrocities” and that Trump had been considering the decision to fire Comey before his inauguration. Putin weighed in, saying the firing will have “no effect” on US-Russia relations and that Trump acted in accordance with the US law and Constitution. Thanks Putin! (New York Times / Vox / Associated Press / The Daily Beast / CBS News)
Cryin' Chuck Schumer stated recently, "I do not have confidence in him (James Comey) any longer." Then acts so indignant. #draintheswamp
Sessions was told to find reasons to fire Comey. To justify the decision, Sessions and his deputy, Rod Rosenstein, cited Comey’s handling of the probe into Hillary Clinton’s private email server, which Trump repeatedly promoted during the 2016 campaign. (The Hill)
Trump has now fired 3 officials who were investigating his campaign or administration. 10 days into his presidency, Trump fired Acting Attorney General Sally Yates, who announced that the Justice Department would not defend Trump’s travel ban. A month later, Trump fired Preet Bharara, the US attorney for the Southern District of New York, who was investigating Rep. Tom Price, then Trump’s nominee for Health and Human Services secretary. Then, on May 9, Trump fired FBI Director James Comey was fired who was leading the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. (Washington Post)
Pence praised Trump’s decision to fire Comey and insisted the decision wasn’t due to the ongoing probe into alleged ties between Trump’s campaign and Russia. (CNN)
3/ Days before he was fired, Comey asked for a significant increase in money and personnel for the Russia investigation. Comey asked for the resources during a meeting last week with Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general who wrote the Justice Department’s memo used to justify his firing. (New York Times)
4/ Trump also met with Henry Kissinger, Richard Nixon’s national security adviser, less than a day after firing Comey in Nixonian fashion. Kissinger was there to discuss “Russia and various other matters.” (Slate)
5/ Mitch McConnell rejected calls for a special prosecutor or independent commission to investigate Russia’s election meddling in the wake of the firing of FBI Director James Comey. The Senate Majority Leader said, “Today we’ll no doubt hear calls for a new investigation, which could only serve to impede the current work being done.” Democrats exerted pressure on their Republican colleagues, moving to shut down Senate committees, using procedural moves to block or delay hearings on Russia, cybersecurity, presidential nominees and more. (Politico / New York Times)
6/ Federal prosecutors have issued grand jury subpoenas to associates of Michael Flynn seeking business records. The subpoenas represent the first sign of a significant escalation of activity in the FBI’s broader Trump-Russia investigation. (CNN / Reuters)
Senate Intelligence Chairman threatened to subpoena Trump campaign aides if they ignore deadlines to turn over records. Richard Burr has received just two responses to an initial request for information. The panel has asked a number of Trump campaign aides to provide records, including Page, Roger Stone, Paul Manafort and Michael Flynn. (Politico)
7/ Rudy Giuliani is visiting the White House, but says he’s not a candidate for FBI director. A source close to the president confirmed Giuliani was in consideration for the position. Giuliani, hanging out at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., said he was “in town for several business meetings, law firm meetings.” (New York Magazine / The Atlantic)
8/ Senate Russia investigators asked the Treasury criminal investigation division for financial information related to Trump, his top officials and his campaign aides. Sen. Mark Warner said they made the request to FinCEN, the federal agency that has been investigating allegations of foreign money-laundering through purchases of US real estate. (CNN)
9/ The Senate failed to revoke Obama-era methane rules. The measure would have given oil and gas companies a reprieve from methane emission rules on federal land. The defeat is a blow to oil and natural gas drillers who had made this a top priority. (Reuters / Bloomberg)
10/ The Census Bureau director resigns as the agency faces a funding debate over the 2020 Census. Congress wants the cost of the 2020 count to not exceed the cost of the 2010 count, the bureau wanting to implement a new system that relies more on electronic data collection, which was promoted as a cost-saving measure. (NPR / Washington Post)
11/ A West Virginia journalist was arrested after asking HHS Secretary Tom Price a question. Dan Heyman was charged with willful disruption of governmental processes, a misdemeanor, for allegedly causing a disturbance and yelling questions at federal leaders in town. (WSAZ News)
12/ Students booed and turned their backs on Betsy DeVos as she gave the keynote address at a historically black university. The speech was part of an effort by Trump and DeVos to reach out to historically black schools. Students and alumni said that outreach is an empty gesture. (Washington Post)
poll/ Trump’s first 100 days have been “mainly a failure,” 58% of voters say. (Quinnipiac)
poll/ Just 36% of voters approve of Trump’s job performance. His disapproval rating rose to 58%. (Quinnipiac)
1/ Trump fired James Comey on the recommendation of Jeff Sessions. In a letter dated Tuesday to Comey, Trump concurred “with the judgment of the Department of Justice that [Comey is not] able to effectively lead the bureau.”
Earlier today, the FBI notified Congress that Comey misstated key findings involving the Clinton email investigation during testimony, saying that only a “small number” of emails had been forwarded to disgraced congressman Anthony Weiner, not the “hundreds and thousands” he’d claimed in his testimony.
The move sweeps away the man who is responsible for the investigation into whether members of Trump’s campaign team colluded with Russia in its interference in last year’s election.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein laid out the reasons for Comey’s firing, arguing that the handling of his investigation into Clinton’s private server, his decision not to recommend charges be filed, and the news conference he held to explain his reasoning were the cause of his dismissal.
Democrats reacted with shock and alarm, accusing Trump of ousting the FBI director to escape scrutiny over his campaign’s Russia ties.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer urged deputy Rosenstein to appoint a special prosecutor for the federal probe into the Trump campaign’s ties with Russian officials — warning that failing to do so will lead the public to “rightly suspect” that Comey’s surprise firing “was part of a cover-up.” (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News / CNN / Politico)
“Today will mark a new beginning for our crown jewel of law enforcement,” Trump says in a statement. (Politico)
At the Pentagon, the news of Comey’s firing was met with shock and a sense of foreboding that similar sudden change could befall their agency or department. (BuzzFeed News)
Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein recommended Comey’s removal. (CNBC News)
The attorney general will likely name an interim FBI Director in the coming days while the search is on for a permanent replacement. The acting FBI Director is Andrew McCabe, who was Comey’s deputy prior to his firing. (ABC News)
A timeline of James Comey’s consequential final months as FBI director. (CNBC News)
Here’s how unusual it is for an FBI director to be fired. (Washington Post)
2/ Trump is preparing a certified letter attesting he has no ties to Russia. Senator Lindsey Graham said he wants to explore possible ties between Trump’s businesses and Russia. US intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia interfered in the election in attempt to help Trump. (Bloomberg)
3/ James Comey’s testimony on Huma Abedin forwarding thousands of emails was inaccurate. The FBI hasn’t decided how to correct the director’s false claim. Abedin forwarded a handful of Clinton emails to her husband for printing — not the “hundreds and thousands” cited by Comey. (ProPublica)
Comey overstated key findings involving the Hillary Clinton email investigation during testimony to Congress last week. None of the forwarded emails were marked classified, but a small number contained information that was later judged to contain classified information. (Washington Post)
4/ Trump pointed the finger at Obama for failing to vet Flynn. At the time Flynn was fired, he had an interim clearance in order to allow him to do his job while he waited for his CIA clearance. The concerns about Flynn came after US intelligence realized he was discussing sanctions with the Russians and then misleading US officials about the nature of his conversations. He didn’t disclose his payment from RT to government officials until after he was fired by Trump. (Washington Post)
Sean Spicer weighed in, suggesting that Obama’s advice was taken with a grain of salt because Flynn “was an outspoken critic of President Obama’s shortcomings.” (Washington Post)
Obama warned then-President-elect Trump in November against hiring Michael Flynn as his national security adviser. (WTF Just Happened Today: Day 109)
How the White House explained waiting 18 days to fire Flynn. Here are the various explanations he and other administration officials have given in the past. (New York Times)
5/ Sean Spicer downplayed Sally Yates’ warnings about former Michael Flynn, calling her little more than a Democratic appointee with an agenda against Trump. Yates testified yesterday that the Justice Department believed Flynn had been “compromised” and was susceptible to blackmail after misleading Mike Pence about his discussions with the Russian ambassador to the US. (Politico)
6/ Wisconsin’s voter-ID law suppressed 200,000 votes in the 2016 election. Trump won by 22,748 votes. A new study by Priorities USA shows that strict voter-ID laws, in Wisconsin and other states, led to a significant reduction in voter turnout in 2016, with a disproportionate impact on African-American and Democratic-leaning voters. (The Nation)
7/ The US is poised to expand military efforts against the Taliban in Afghanistan. Trump’s most senior military and foreign policy advisers have proposed a major shift in strategy in Afghanistan that would effectively put the United States back on a war footing with the Taliban. The plan would add at least 3,000 troops to the existing force of about 8,400. The US force would also be bolstered by requests for matching troops from NATO nations. (Washington Post)
The US weighs sending as many as 5,000 more troops to Afghanistan. Trump, however, is still deciding on a variety of options being presented to him by military leaders. The current force in Afghanistan is about 8,400. (NBC News)
8/ Trump authorized limited arming of Syrian Kurds to help in the fight against ISIS and includes small arms, machine guns and armored vehicles. The move that has long been under consideration at the Pentagon but has been delayed due to strong opposition from American NATO ally Turkey. (CNN / NBC News)
9/ White House advisers postponed their meeting to decide US participation in the Paris Climate Agreement. Trump’s key advisers are divided over whether he should keep his campaign promise to pull the United States out of the Paris agreement, which won the backing of 195 nations in 2015. Trump is expected to make a final decision on whether to withdraw sometime this month. (Reuters / Politico)
10/ An Iowa congressman abruptly ended a TV interview and then walked into an angry town hall meeting. He was unhappy with questions about who would be allowed into the series of town hall events he is holding this week in his district. A few hours later, he showed up at his town hall meeting where most of the prescreened audience screamed at him because of his vote on the House Obamacare repeal bill. (Politico / Washington Post)
11/ The Trump administration cited a segregation-era ruling to defend its travel ban. In 1971, the Supreme Court decided that courts shouldn’t investigate the motivations of officials who closed public pools in Jackson, Mississippi, rather than integrate them. (HuffPost)
12/ Trump Photoshopped a tweet denying collusion with Russia into his Twitter header. During Senate testimony yesterday, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said he was not aware of any evidence that proves there was collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. Trump has since changed his Twitter header to a picture without the Photoshopped tweet. (New York Magazine / The Guardian)
13/ Mitch McConnell stacks the Senate Republican working group on health care with 13 conservative men – but no women. The working group includes the party’s top leaders, as well as three committee chairmen and two of the most conservative senators, Ted Cruz and Mike Lee. (New York Times / Los Angeles Times)
14/ Trump’s review of Dodd-Frank will not be completed by early June as originally targeted. Instead, officials will report findings piece-by-piece, with priority given to banking regulations. In February, Trump ordered Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to review the law and report back within 120 days, saying his administration expected to be cutting large parts of it. (Reuters)
15/ Trump’s team marks its 6-month election anniversary by vowing to air video of the Clinton campaign’s concession call. The White House director of social media tweeted a screen grab of the late night phone call where Hillary Clinton conceded to Trump and promised to share video of the conversation. (Yahoo)
Screen shot via @KellyannePolls cell phone- of Huma's call at 2:30amE....6 months ago. I have on video & will share that in the near future. pic.twitter.com/Mzy2o8XXwQ
16/ Republicans are struggling to recruit Senate challengers in states where Trump won. In Wisconsin and Michigan, Republicans have passed on challenging Democrats due to Trump’s approval ratings. (ABC News)
1/ Obama warned then-President-elect Trump in November against hiring Michael Flynn as his national security adviser. Obama, who had fired Flynn as the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told Trump that he would have profound concerns about Flynn becoming a top national security aide. Trump hired Flynn anyway, only to fire him 24 days later when news broke that Flynn had lied to Mike Pence about his conversations with the Russian ambassador to the United States, amid an ongoing investigation into connections between the Russian government and the Trump campaign. The warning, which has not been previously reported, came less than 48 hours after the November election when the two sat down for a 90-minute conversation in the Oval Office. (CNN / New York Times / NBC News)
2/ Sally Yates said she warned the White House that Flynn could be “blackmailed” by Russia, and gave the White House a warning “so that they could take action.” The former acting attorney general’s testimony raises questions about how Trump responded to her concerns about Flynn, who wasn’t fired until two weeks later. Former director of national intelligence James Clapper also testified, saying Russia launched “cyber operations” against the Democratic and Republican parties during the 2016 presidential campaign. He said Putin sought to “advantage” Trump’s campaign and confirmed that British intelligence officials shared “very sensitive” information about Russian connections to Trump’s campaign. (Washington Post / New York Times / NBC News)
Flynn was warned by the Trump transition team about the risks of his contacts with the Russian ambassador weeks before the December call that led to Flynn’s forced resignation. Officials were so concerned that Flynn did not fully understand the motives of the Russian ambassador that the head of Trump’s national security council transition team asked Obama administration officials for a classified CIA profile of Kislyak. The document was delivered within days, but it is not clear that Flynn ever read it. (Washington Post)
Flynn never told the Defense Intelligence Agency that Russians paid him. Flynn was paid nearly $34,000 by a Russian state media outlet when the DIA renewed his security clearance in April 2016. (NBC News)
Sally Yates testified today before the Senate Judiciary subcommittee investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. The hearing was Yates’s first appearance on Capitol Hill since her firing in January and is expected to fill in details about what and when she told the Trump White House in regard to Michael Flynn’s ties to Russia. (CNN / Associated Press / Washington Post)
Hearing may shed light on what White House knew about Flynn. (New York Times)
3/ Trump’s revised travel ban goes before a federal appeals court today. The 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals will examine the ruling that blocks the administration from temporarily barring new visas for citizens of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. It’s the first time an appeals court will hear arguments on the revised travel ban, which is likely destined for the Supreme Court. If the court sides with Trump, the travel ban will remain blocked unless the president also wins in another appeals court: the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals will meet next Monday to hear arguments in that case. (Associated Press / CNN)
4/ Trump’s call for a Muslim ban was deleted from his campaign site shortly after Sean Spicer was pressed on why the plan was still there by a reporter. The site had a press release from then-candidate Trump’s call for the “total and complete shutdown” of Muslims entering the US until the government could “figure out what is going on.” A US district court judge in March said he found “the history of public statements continues to provide a convincing case that the purpose of the second executive order remains the realization of the long-envisioned Muslim ban.” The Trump administration has argued that the order is not a Muslim ban, but rather a travel ban. (CNN / Washington Post)
5/ The EPA dismissed half of its scientific advisers on a review board, which provides guidance on whether research has sufficient rigor and integrity. The move, which Scott Pruitt cited as his desire to make a “clean break” with the Obama administration, came as a surprise to members of the board, who had been informed both in January and recently by EPA career staff members, that they would be kept on for another term. (Washington Post / New York Times)
6/ Trump expressed his “unwavering support” for historically black colleges after the White House announced that it would treat a program that helps HBCUs get low-cost loans “in a manner consistent with the (Constitutional) requirement to afford equal protection of the laws.” (Washington Post)
7/ Macron wins French presidency, bringing relief to European allies who had feared another populist upheaval would follow Britain’s vote to quit the EU and Trump’s election. Macron won 66% of the votes compared to just under 34% for Le Pen - a gap wider than the 20 or so percentage points that pre-election surveys had suggested. (Reuters)
Macron faces many domestic challenges in translating his centrist promises into policy. He laid the groundwork Monday for his transition to power, announcing a visit to Germany and a name change for his political movement and appearing with his predecessor at a solemn World War II commemoration. (New York Times / Associated Press)
The French National Front will change its name after Le Pen’s defeat. The far-right leader said that her party would undergo a “profound transformation” after its heavy loss to Emmanuel Macron. (Politico)
8/ An Idaho congressman told his constituents “nobody dies because they don’t have access to health care.” The republican representative drew criticism after a town hall where he responded to a question suggesting that the lack of health care was essentially asking people to die. (Idaho Statesman)
9/ The Texas governor signed a “sanctuary cities” ban into law while broadcasting on Facebook Live. The measure threatens law-enforcement officials with jail time if they don’t cooperate with federal agencies in cracking down on undocumented immigrants. Dubbed a “Show Me Your Papers” law, it allows police to inquire about a person’s immigration status, which has been condemned by Democrats and human-rights groups as legalized discrimination. (Texas Observer)
10/ Kushner’s sister is promising Chinese investors a path toward US residency in exchange for putting $500,000 into a New Jersey real-estate project. She cited the EB-5 immigrant investor visa program to make her pitch, though critics have accused organizers of the event of playing up their ties to the White House. (New York Times)
Jared Kushner’s family apologized for name dropping in its pitch to Chinese investors. Nicole Kushner Meyer mentioned the name of Trump’s son-in-law when seeking more than $150m from wealthy Chinese for New Jersey real estate project. (The Guardian)
11/ Obama called on members of Congress to exercise the “political courage” to save the Affordable Care Act. In his first public comments about the law since the House voted to repeal it, Obama urged Republicans to be guided by a personal standard of ethics and integrity. “It takes great courage to champion the vulnerable and the sick and the infirm.” (NPR / Politico)
12/ Trump has privately expressed regret with his choice of national security adviser, complaining during intelligence briefings about General H.R. McMaster “undermining” of his policy and screaming at McMaster on a phone call, accusing him of undercutting efforts to get South Korea to pay its fair share. On policy, Steve Bannon is convinced McMaster is trying to trick Trump into the kind of nation building that he campaigned against, while Reince Priebus is blocking McMaster on a key appointment. (Bloomberg)
13/ White House advisors asked Canadians to call Trump to talk him down from scrapping NAFTA. Staff reached out to the Canadian Prime Minister’s office to get Justin Trudeau to call Trump and lobby for NAFTA in what the paper calls with some understatement an “unconventional diplomatic manoeuvre.” (National Post / Axios)
1/ Hospitals, doctors, and insurers are united in their criticism of the Republican health care bill and are urging significant changes to the legislation. The bill’s impact could potentially cause millions to lose coverage through a combination of deep cuts to Medicaid, scaled back employer-sponsored health care, lifetime limits on coverage, and rising costs for people with pre-existing conditions that could effectively price them out of the market. (New York Times)
Republicans claimed a major victory on the health care vote even as the measure faces an uncertain fate in the Senate. Under pressure to make good on their promise to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, Republicans pushed the bill through after adopting a last-minute change that earned it just enough votes to pass. However, the House version fell significantly short of the GOP’s long-held goals of an outright repeal. (Washington Post)
2/ The Senate GOP rejects the House Obamacare bill. Senate Republicans say they’ll take the time they need to understand the bill’s ramifications and will insist on getting a score from the Congressional Budget Office before voting, unlike the House. The Senate needs to end up with a bill that can win over 50 of the 52 GOP senators. And even if they accomplish that, the Senate bill could be unpalatable to House conservatives, which squeaked through on a 217-213 vote. (Politico)
The Senate moves the House Obamacare repeal to the slow lane as recent changes to the measure complicate its path in Senate. (Bloomberg)
3/ Health care looks to be the defining issue in the next election cycles. GOP members of Congress will be asked to defend their votes for a bill that could strip insurance from 24 million Americans and jack up premiums and deductibles for the country’s sickest and oldest citizens in the 2018 midterms. Meanwhile, governors, gubernatorial candidates, and state legislators will be asked whether they intend to “opt out” of provisions in the Affordable Care Act that are overwhelmingly popular with voters. (Washington Post)
4/ Trump praised Australia’s universal health care system hours after the Obamacare repeal, saying America’s new plan is “going to be fantastic health care.” Australia’s universal health care system gives citizens free access to doctors and public hospitals paid for by the government. (CNN)
Of course the Australians have better healthcare than we do --everybody does. ObamaCare is dead! But our healthcare will soon be great.
Trump Tweets: “Everybody” has better healthcare than US. His latest comments appear to contradict his own spokeswoman, who said that Trump “was simply being complimentary of the prime minister and I don’t think it was much more than that” after saying Australians have better healthcare than we do. (The Hill)
Trump called his relationship with Australia’a prime minister “fantastic” following a meeting in New York. It was their first encounter since an acrimonious phone call in February where relations were strained due to Trump’s reluctance to honor a deal to accept up to 1,200 refugees from Australian detention camps. (BBC)
Trump admits to his “testy” phone call with the Australian prime minister, but still calls it “fake news.” (Washington Post)
5/ The US added 211,000 new jobs in April as the unemployment rate hits a 10-year low. The unemployment rate was 4.4%, the lowest in more than 10 years, however labor participation fell slightly to 62.9% – a signal that workers who had been sidelined are not being drawn back into the labor market. Outdated skills and the inability to move to a place where jobs are available may be preventing some people who would like to work from getting back into the labor market. (New York Times)
6/ North Korea accused the US and South Korea of an unsuccessful assassination attempt involving biochemical weapons. The alleged plan resembles the assassination earlier this year of Kim Jong Un’s exiled half brother. That attack, using the chemical war agent VX, was widely blamed on North Korea and led to calls in the United States to relist the North as a state sponsor of terrorism. (Associated Press)
7/ The White House fired its chief usher — the first woman and second African American to hold the position. The chief usher oversees all activities in the White House residence and works as general manager of the building. The job is one that typically involves a long tenure — there have been just nine since the beginning of the 20th century. (Washington Post)
8/ Refugee admissions plummet under Trump’s threats to bar their entry. The US accepted 2,070 refugees in March, the lowest monthly total since 2013, and 3,316 in April, the second-lowest total since 2013. (USA Today)
9/ A New York GOP congressman admits he didn’t read the health care bill and was unaware the bill would nix funding for a health care program in his state. The AHCA would eliminate the Essential Plan option, which provides New York with $3 billion annually for a program that offers benefits for low-income residents who do not qualify for Medicaid. (Talking Points Memo / The Buffalo News)
10/ The Senate asks Trump associates for records of communication with Russians in an effort to accelerate its broad investigation into Russian meddling in the presidential election. Roger Stone, Carter Page, Paul Manafort, and Michael T. Flynn were all sent requests. (New York Times)
11/ Trump’s fiscal 2018 budget would cut about 95% of funding for the drug control office, effectively ending its mission as the lead agency in charge of combating opioid and drug epidemics. (Politico)
12/ Trump’s pick for Army Secretary has withdrawn his name from consideration after offending both the LGBTQ and Muslim communities with comments and policy positions seen as offensive and discriminatory – including comparing transgender people to ISIS militants. (NBC News)
1/ House Republicans narrowly passed the controversial health care bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. The vote passed 217-213 six weeks after House leaders failed to get the votes needed to pass an earlier version of their bill. The bill included last-minute amendments designed to draw votes from the most conservative House Republicans in the House Freedom Caucus as well as from their more moderate counterparts. The vote occurred before the Congressional Budget Office had released a new analysis of the revised bill with its cost and impact. The measure moves to the Senate, where its fate is far from certain. Democrats are confident that some provisions of the House bill will not comply with special budget rules that Republicans must follow in order to skirt a Senate filibuster. (Washington Post / NPR / New York Times)
What’s actually in the GOP health care bill. (Politico)
Obstacles await the Republican health care bill in the Senate. Here’s what the Senate might do to change it. (Vox)
How every member voted on the House health care bill. (New York Times)
The Obamacare replacement bill would protect just 5% of people with pre-existing conditions. The Republican bill would potentially allow insurers to charge sick people higher premiums. To offset those costs, the bill also allocates funding for financial aid for sicker people. High-risk pools in states before Obamacare tended not to cover enough people. (CNBC)
Democrats troll House Republicans and sang “nah nah nah nah, hey hey hey, goodbye” to their GOP colleagues after the American Health Care Act passed. (Washington Post)
House Republicans plan health care vote today with few votes to spare and no assessment of how much it will cost. Republicans insist they’ve secured the 216 votes needed to pass their bill. About 15 Republicans are still on record rejecting the proposal and several others are undecided. House leaders can afford only 22 defections, since Democrats will vote en masse against the proposal. The measure to repeal Obamacare is still opposed by health care providers, patient advocates, and retirees. (Politico / New York Times / Associated Press / Reuters)
Watch the House session. The House took up the Republican replacement bill for the Affordable Care Act. (CSPAN)
What to know about today’s House health care vote. The House will vote on this version of the Affordable Care Act replacement without a Congressional Budget Office estimate, and therefore no idea what it costs, how many people it might help, or how many it might hurt. (Axios)
2/ A last-minute amendment to the health care bill will allow states to waive 10 essential benefits and potentially impact everyone not insured by Medicare or small-business plans. People who obtain health insurance through their employers could be at risk of losing protections that limit out-of-pocket costs for catastrophic illnesses, maternity care, prescription drugs, mental health treatment, and hospitalization. (Wall Street Journal)
Sexual assault could be considered a pre-existing condition under the new MacArthur-Meadows amendment, which allows states to discriminate based on medical history. In addition to rape, postpartum depression, cesarean sections, and surviving domestic violence are all considered preexisting conditions. Companies can also deny coverage for gynecological services and mammograms. (New York Magazine)
The GOP health bill will cut special education funding by 25%. The $880 billion in cuts over the next 10 years would effectively “convert Medicaid from an entitlement designed to cover any costs incurred to a more limited program.” Republicans say the cuts are necessary due to skyrocketing health care costs. (New York Times)
3/ Several Senate Republicans said they will set aside the House health-care bill and write their own version instead. Without changes, the House bill arrives in the Senate well short of the 50 votes it needs to pass (including a tie-breaking vote by Mike Pence). Republicans have hold a 52-48 majority in the Senate, which means they can only afford to lose two votes. The bill is expected to undergo major changes that might leave it unrecognizable, including stripping away the provisions that earned the support of hard-right House members to secure its passage. Senate Republicans have opted to use a maneuver known as reconciliation to try to pass the bill with a simple majority, instead of having to clear the 60-vote threshold that is required for most legislation. (Bloomberg / New York Times / Washington Post)
4/ ~~Health care bill will exempt members of Congress and their staffs from losing popular Obamacare provisions. The amendment would ensure that staffers continue to have access to Obamacare programs, like a ban on discriminating based on preexisting conditions, while other enrollees could lose those policies if their state applied for a waiver. A Republican legislator has vowed to close the loophole in separate legislation. (The Hill / Vox)~~ [Editor’s note: This was amended by H.R. 2192, which eliminated the non-application of certain State waiver provisions to Members of Congress and congressional staff.]
5/ Tillerson is asking State Department employees to weigh in on the agency’s budget cuts. The Trump administration wants to cut State Department budget by 26% for “efficiency improvements.” (CNN / CBS News)
Tillerson said that the US had been too accommodating to emerging nations and longtime allies and that “things have gotten out of balance.” Fulfilling Trump’s promise to put “America first” will right those imbalances. (New York Times)
6/ Sean Spicer debates the press over the definition of a wall. Spicer got into a heated back-and-forth with a Breitbart correspondent after he asked whether the Trump administration had lied to the public when he promised to build a concrete wall along the southern border, only to downgrade his proposal to a series of fence-like boundaries. The issue is over the definition of whether a “levee wall” or a “bollard wall” is more of a fence than a wall. (The Guardian)
7/ Trump called out Susan Rice for refusing to testify before a Senate committee investigating both Russian meddling in the 2016 election and allegations of Obama-era spying on Team Trump. Rice’s lawyer said she was declining to appear because the ranking Democratic member on the subcommittee did not agree Rice should testify, thereby making the request “a significant departure from the bipartisan invitations extended to other witnesses.” (Fox News)
Susan Rice declined to testify before Senate subcommittee on Russian hacking. Republicans have raised concerns that Rice may have acted improperly, but GOP and Democratic lawmakers so far have found no evidence of wrongdoing. (CNN / Politico)
8/ Border agents are wrongly telling asylum-seekers that the US won’t take them. Customs and Border Protection said its policies haven’t changed and it’s adhering to the law, but more than 100 individuals and families seeking safety were turned away by border agents from November to April. (HuffPost)
9/ Trump signed an order aimed at allowing churches to engage in more political activity. The executive order would provide “regulatory relief” from the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that health insurance cover birth control and other family planning services. The signing took place on the National Day of Prayer. (Politico / Washington Post)
10/ Trump attacks “fake news media” while congratulating Fox News for its high ratings. It’s not clear what provoked Trump’s criticism of the media on Twitter this morning. (Politico)
The Fake News media is officially out of control. They will do or say anything in order to get attention - never been a time like this!
11/ The Senate passed the $1 trillion spending deal to avert a government shutdown. The spending bill funds the federal government through September. (Politico)
1/ James Comey said he’s “mildly nauseous” at the suggestions he swayed the election. The FBI director defended his “painful” decision on the Clinton email probe during testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee today. “This was terrible,” Comey said. “But honestly, it wouldn’t change the decision,” because failing to inform Congress would have required an “act of concealment” which would have been “catastrophic.” Comey added that Russia is actively involved in trying to influence US politics, emboldened after the outcome of last year’s election, because “this works.” (New York Times / Politico / Associated Press / CNN / CBS News)
FBI Director Comey was the best thing that ever happened to Hillary Clinton in that he gave her a free pass for many bad deeds! The phony...
Comey says classified Clinton emails were forwarded to Anthony Weiner. (Washington Post / CNN)
2/ A pair of Republican holdouts now back the health care bill. The latest proposal provides $8 billion over five years to help about 160,000 people with pre-existing medical conditions afford coverage by putting “downward pressure” on premium costs. The total individual market claims over those five years will probably be about $500 billion, mostly from people with pre-existing conditions. Republicans are still two or three votes away from being able to guarantee passage, but are pushing for a vote sometime this week. (Bloomberg / Associated Press / New York Times / Axios / Washington Post)
UPDATE:
House Republicans plan to vote on their health care plan Thursday. They said they would hold a vote this week only if they felt certain it could pass — meaning they now believe they have the votes. If it passes, it will then face a challenge in the Senate, where widespread disagreement remains among Republicans about how to proceed on health care. (Washington Post)
The House doesn’t know how many people the health care plan will cover or how much it will cost. The bill to repeal and replace Obamacare hasn’t been scored by the Congressional Budget Office, yet. (Vox)
3/ Trump’s national security adviser described his foreign policy approach as “disruptive.” H.R. McMaster said Trump’s unpredictable and unconventional ways could stabilize the Middle East, because Trump “does not have time to debate over doctrine.” Instead, he seeks to challenge failed policies of the past with a businessman’s results-oriented approach. (Reuters)
4/ Trump weighs how to approach a Middle East conflict while hosting Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas at the White House today. The conflict has eluded resolution for seven decades. Trump called it the “ultimate deal” and has tasked Jared Kushner with negotiating the peace agreement. (Bloomberg / NBC News)
Trump vowed to broker an Israeli-Palestinian peace, but offers no new policies. (Reuters)
5/ Trump was “directly involved” in the post-inauguration hunt for the rogue National Park Service tweeter. A Freedom of Information Act request revealed that Trump was “concerned” about who used the National Park Service Twitter account to retweet a side-by-side comparisons of the crowds at the Trump and Obama inauguration ceremonies. The tweet was deleted. (CBS News)
6/ Trump is expected to sign a long-awaited and highly controversial executive order on religious liberties on Thursday – the National Day of Prayer. A draft of the order, which leaked in February, would establish broad exemptions and legal protections for people and groups to claim religious objections. Civil liberties groups claim it would allow for discrimination against LGBT Americans. (Politico / Fox News / CNN / New York Times)
7/ The NSA collected more than 151 million records of Americans’ phone calls last year, despite Congress limiting its ability to collect bulk phone records. Under the old system, the NSA collected “billions of records per day.” (NBC News / New York Times)
8/ Ben Carson is not a fan of comfortable government housing projects for low-income Americans. Compassion, Carson explained, means not giving people “a comfortable setting that would make somebody want to say: ‘I’ll just stay here. They will take care of me.’” As he toured facilities for the poor in Ohio last week, Carson nodded as officials explained how they had stacked dozens of bunk beds inside a homeless shelter and purposefully did not provide televisions. (New York Times)
9/ Spicer: It’s “somewhat sad” we’re still debating why Trump won. The press secretary hit back at Hillary Clinton’s assertion that she would have won if not for late-in-the-game interference from the FBI and WikiLeaks, saying “you don’t get to pick what day the election is on.” (Politico)
David Axelrod on Clinton: “It takes a lot of work to lose to Donald Trump.” The Democratic strategist add that “Jim Comey didn’t tell her not to campaign in Wisconsin after the convention. Jim Comey didn’t say don’t put any resources into Michigan until the final week of the campaign.” His advice to Clinton is to move on and stop talking about the election. (The Hill)
The Comey letter probably cost Clinton the election. The impact of Comey’s letter, at a maximum, might have shifted the race by 3 or 4 percentage points toward Trump, swinging Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Florida to him, perhaps along with North Carolina and Arizona. At a minimum, its impact might have been only a percentage point or so. Clinton lost Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin by less than 1 point. Meaning, the letter was probably enough to change the outcome of the Electoral College. (FiveThirtyEight)
10/ Susan Rice declined to testify before the Senate subcommittee on Russian hacking. Republicans have raised concerns that Rice may have acted improperly, but GOP and Democratic lawmakers so far have found no evidence of wrongdoing. (CNN / Politico)
1/ House Republicans are floundering on the Obamacare repeal as 20 Republicans have now opposed the plan. Paul Ryan can only lose 22 votes and still pass the bill. With the 20 lawmakers against the bill, GOP leaders would have to persuade almost every undecided lawmaker to support the legislation in order to reach the 216-vote threshold needed for passage. Republicans insist they’re close. If only two more members come out as “No” votes, there will be no majority to pass the bill. (Politico / CNN)
An influential Republican attacked the party’s latest health care bill, saying the measure now “torpedoes” protections for people with pre-existing medical conditions. (New York Times)
2/ Trump: The US “needs a good shutdown” in September to fix the Senate “mess.” He’s frustrated by Senate rules that require a 60 vote supermajority to approve most major legislation. Trump’s solution is to either elect more Republican senators in the 2018 midterms, “or change the rules now to 51%” and scrap the legislative filibuster altogether. Congress is poised to approve a budget to fund the government through September, but it doesn’t include several provisions sought by Trump, including funding for a border wall and language for stripping federal money from so-called sanctuary cities. (The Hill / New York Times / ABC News / CNN)
The reason for the plan negotiated between the Republicans and Democrats is that we need 60 votes in the Senate which are not there! We....
McConnell shoots down Trump’s call to end the filibuster. (The Hill)
3/ Hillary Clinton – describing herself as “part of the resistance” – criticized Trump’s conduct in office, his foreign policy, and for posting on Twitter. She also said that Trump “should worry less about the election and my winning the popular vote” than about urgent matters of policy confronting the country. While Clinton said she took “absolute personal responsibility” for her defeat, she said she believed she would have won if not for Russian meddling and Comey’s surprise announcement. (New York Times)
4/ Sally Yates is expected to contradict the administration’s version of events surrounding Michael Flynn. The former acting attorney general is prepared to testify before a Senate panel next week that she gave a forceful warning to the White House that Flynn’s was lying when he denied in public and private that he had discussed US sanctions on Russia in conversations with a Russian Ambassador, which made him potentially vulnerable to being compromised by Russia. (CNN)
5/ The South Korea THAAD missile defense system is now operational. The system is meant to protect South Korea from ballistic missiles fired by North Korea, but China and other critics say the move will only increase tensions on the Korean Peninsula. (NPR)
6/ Trump’s attack on Syria was “in lieu of after-dinner entertainment” for the guests dining at Mar-a-Lago the US commerce secretary Wilbur Ross said. Trump interrupted dessert to tell Chinese President Xi about the cruise missile attack. The “entertainment didn’t cost the president anything.” (The Guardian / CNN)
7/ Trump puts antiabortion activist in charge of family planning funding for poor Americans and those without health insurance. About 4 million Americans receive family planning coverage through the Title X program, and the majority of them are low-income and people of color. (Washington Post)
8/ Putin said allegations that Russia had meddled in the US election were based on rumors and that Moscow did not want foreign powers to interfere in Russian politics. He blamed the allegations on the result of domestic US political battles. (Reuters)
South Korea’s likely next president warned the US not to meddle in its democracy. (Washington Post)
9/ A Republican congressman implied that people with pre-existing health conditions aren’t living their lives “the right way.” After catching himself, Brooks quickly conceded that people with pre-existing conditions may have them “through no fault of their own.” (The Daily Beast)
10/ Pro-Trump farmers now worry he was serious about the NAFTA repeal. Corn, soybean, and dairy farmers are worried that Trump’s rhetoric could directly impact their narrow margins. The same rural communities that animated Trump’s campaign, would feel the brunt of the changes to the trade deal. (CNN)
Here are the 23 environmental rules Trump has rolled back. Citing federal overreach and burdensome regulations, Trump has prioritized domestic fossil fuel interests and undone measures aimed at protecting the environment and limiting global warming. (New York Times)
11/ Trump keeps praising international strongmen, alarming human rights advocates. He praised the Egyptian president for doing “a fantastic job” on gunning down his opponents, invited Thailand’s prime minister to the White House who jailed dissidents after he took power in a coup, and congratulated Turkey’s president after eroding basic freedoms. (Washington Post)
12/ Jared Kushner didn’t disclose his stake in a company that makes him a business partner with Goldman Sachs, George Soros, and Peter Thiel. Kushner is currently a part-owner of a real-estate finance startup and has a number of loans from banks on properties he co-owns, but didn’t identify these on his government financial disclosure form. (Wall Street Journal)
1/ Congress reached a deal to keep the government open through September. The plan would add billions for the Pentagon and border security, but it doesn’t allow the money to be spent on building Trump’s wall. There is no money provided for a deportation force and there are no cuts of federal monies to so-called sanctuary cities. Votes in both chambers are expected by the end of the week. (CNN)
2/ North Korea said it will continue its nuclear weapons tests and bolster its nuclear force “to the maximum.” The North called US sanctions and its show of force – sending an aircraft carrier to the Korean peninsula and joint drills with South Korea – aggression and hysteria. (Reuters)
3/ Trump said he would be “honored” to meet with Kim Jong Un if the circumstances were right. “I would be honored to do it,” he said amid heightened tensions over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. (Bloomberg)
Trump calls Kim Jong-un a “a pretty smart cookie” for managing to hold on to power after taking over at a young age. (The Guardian)
4/ Trump doesn’t know what’s in his health care bill. The Republican health care plan Trump described on Face the Nation is at odds with his health care goals. He said that people with preexisting conditions will be protected, but the latest amendment says they won’t be. Trump also said deductibles will go down under the Republican plan, but a nonpartisan analysis expects deductibles to go up. (Vox)
GOP faces a make-or-break moment on Obamacare repeal. This week may be the last, best chance to get it done in the House. (Politico)
5/ The administration ends Michelle Obama’s girls education program. The “Let Girls Learn” program comes to an end as Melania Trump begins to define her own platform as first lady. (CNN)
6/ The Department of Agriculture is relaxing Obama-era school lunch standards. The new rules suspend the sodium reduction and whole-grain requirements, as well as allow 1% fat chocolate milk back into school cafeterias nationwide because of “palatability issues.” (ABC News)
7/ Trump claims Andrew Jackson was upset about the Civil War and wonders why that the issues “could not have been worked out.” Jackson died 16 years before the war began. Trump suggested that if Jackson had been president “a little later, you wouldn’t have had the Civil War.” (Associated Press)
Here's Trump's full answer on "swashbuckler" Andrew Jackson and the Civil War: "Why could that one not have been worked out?" pic.twitter.com/Zb8OQaDqyq
8/ Trump abruptly ended an interview after being pushed on his claims that Obama ordered surveillance of him. He said his allegation that he was illegally surveilled has “been proven very strongly” and that he is entitled to his own “opinions.” (Politico)
Trump’s interview with “Face the Nation.” (CBS News)
9/ Trump invited Duterte to visit him at the White House after their “very friendly conversation.” The authoritarian leader is accused of ordering extrajudicial killings of drug suspects in the Philippines, which has drawn criticism from human rights groups. The State Department and the National Security Council were both caught off guard by the invitation and raised objections internally. (New York Times)
Rodrigo Duterte says he may be too busy for a White House visit. (New York Times)
10/ Reince Priebus said the Trump administration has “looked at” changes to libel laws that would curtail press freedoms. Trump has frequently slammed the press for its coverage of him and has suggested changing libel laws. Libel is when defamatory statements about someone are published. But the American press enjoys some protection from lawsuits claiming libel because of the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech rights. (ABC News)
11/ Trump says his rally crowd broke records despite empty seats at his 100-day rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday night. Journalists pointed out rows of empty seats at the expo center. (The Hill)
Trump says "we have a lot of ppl standing outside" and he "broke the all time record" in this arena. There are rows of empty seats here pic.twitter.com/ixbErKjrQu
1/ How Trump reshaped the presidency and how it’s changed him. In his first 100 days, Trump has transformed the highest office in ways both profound and mundane, pushing traditional boundaries, ignoring longstanding protocol and discarding historical precedents as he reshapes the White House in his own image. (New York Times)
2/ At 100 days, Trump’s big talk on the economy lacks substance. Trump has tweeted a great game, but other than reversing some of Obama’s executive orders, he hasn’t really done much on the employment and economic fronts. Consumer confidence has risen, but it’s not clear what impact it will have on the economy. Or how long that optimism will last. (Washington Post)
3/ Trump’s first 100 days ranked by the best, the worst, and everything in between. Sizing up the milestone than with a ranking from best to worst, smooth to chaotic, squeaky-clean to scandalous, of all the president’s days in the White House so far. (Politico)
What mattered and what didn’t. Trump has done more—and less—to change America than you think. (Politico)
4/ In its first 100 days, the GOP scrambles to learn how to govern. As Republicans reach the end of their first hundred days of controlling all the levers of power in Washington, they now acknowledge that being put in charge of both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue has brought out the long-standing divisions within the party and tensions between the two houses of Congress. (Washington Post)
Congress at 100 Days: Frenetic action but few accomplishments. The broad policy agenda that Republicans bragged that they would deliver if they won control in Washington has eluded them thus far, disenfranchise the minority party, and created one of the least productive opening acts by Congress in recent memory. (New York Times)
5/ How the world sees Trump. The number of campaign promises that have morphed into presidential U-turns is staggering. Allies and adversaries alike are trying to figure out whether a Trump Doctrine is emerging, or whether one even exists. (CNN)
6/ White House reporters recall their most vivid moments of Trump’s first 100 days. Covering the Trump White House can be exhilarating, maddening, exhausting – but never boring. (New York Times)
7/ Inside Trump’s tumultuous first 100 days. Trump wraps up his first 100 days with the lowest approval rating of any president at this juncture since Dwight Eisenhower. That vulnerability is underscored by the willingness of even Trump’s closest GOP allies to critique his shortcomings. (CNN)
8/ Trump’s presidency has become the demoralizing daily obsession of anyone concerned with global security, the vitality of the natural world, the national health, constitutionalism, civil rights, criminal justice, a free press, science, public education, and the distinction between fact and its opposite. (The New Yorker)
9/ Trump has given progressives so many causes for fear and outrage, it can be difficult — both practically and psychologically — to keep on top of them all as they happen. (New York Magazine)
Trump has galvanized activists on the left, but can they stay energized? Thousands of groups have sprouted across the country, aimed at resisting the Trump’s agenda. (Washington Post)
The Women’s March still inspires, but can the enthusiasm hold? (NPR)
10/ A president’s very public education. Over the course of his 100 days in office, Trump has been startlingly candid about health care being complicated, China as an ally, NATO obsolescence, and that being president is hard. (Associated Press)
WTF Happened Today:
1/ Trump is talking about consolidating his power. In an interview with Fox News, he dismissed the “archaic” rules of the House and Senate — using that word four times — and suggested they needed to be streamlined for the good of the country. Also, he doesn’t like the filibuster. (Washington Post)
2/ In defiance of international pressure, North Korea tests another ballistic missile. The missile blew up over land in North Korean territory. It was the second consecutive failure in the past two weeks. (CNN)
3/ The People’s Climate March draws thousands in DC. Rather than pushing for stronger climate action, organizers this year say they are fighting to preserve the gains that have already been made. (Washington Post)
4/ The EPA removed its climate science site the day before march on Washington. The website previously housed data on greenhouse gas emissions and reports on the effects of climate change and its impact on human health. (The Guardian)
5/ Patagonia threatens to sue Trump over national monuments order. Earlier in the week Trump ordered federal officials to review two decades of national monument designations, calling them “another egregious abuse of federal power.” (The Hill)
6/ Trump, again, derides Elizabeth Warren as “Pocahontas” – a jab at her Native American ancestry. During the 2016, Trump suggested Warren was exaggerating or even lying about her background. (NBC News)
7/ Trump proclaims May 1 is “Loyalty Day” as a way to “recognize and reaffirm our allegiance to the principles” upon which America was built and express pride in those ideals. (Fox News)
1/ Congress passed a short-term spending deal to keep the federal government open for another week. House and Senate negotiators will work through the weekend to finalize a longer-term deal that would fund the government through the end of the fiscal year in September. (Washington Post)
2/ Trump says a “major, major conflict” with North Korea is possible over its nuclear and missile programs, but would prefer a diplomatic solution. The administration is preparing new economic sanctions, but has not taken the military option off the table. (Reuters)
China warns situation with North Korea is at a “critical point.” (Reuters)
Tillerson urges the UN to act “before North Korea does,” calling on the international community to implement sanctions and suspend or downgrade diplomatic relations with Pyongyang. (Reuters)
3/ North Korea released a propaganda video showing the White House in crosshairs and aircraft carriers exploding. The video declares that “the enemy to be destroyed is in our sights.” (Washington Post)
4/ House Republicans failed to round up enough votes for their bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Again. Revisions to the bill won over the Freedom Caucus this week, but those same changes drove away other members, including some who supported the first version. (New York Times)
Trump is “just a few” votes shy of having enough votes to pass his Obamacare replacement bill through the House. (Politico)
5/ The economy turned in the weakest performance in three years as consumers slowed their spending. Gross domestic product grew by just 0.7% in the first quarter following a gain of 2.1% in the fourth quarter. (Associated Press)
6/ Trump agrees with the majority of Americans: He wasn’t ready to be president. “This is more work than in my previous life,” Trump said. “I thought it would be easier.” (Washington Post)
7/ Trump expands offshore oil drilling activity with new executive order. The order also reconsiders rules designed to prevent a repeat of the Deepwater Horizon disaster. (Bloomberg)
8/ Sessions recused himself from any Michael Flynn investigation, extending his recusal from investigations into the 2016 election. (Politico)
9/ Trump’s original campaign manager is now promising to arrange meetings with Trump and “key members” of the administration. While Corey Lewandowski says he’s not a lobbyist, ethics watchdogs say he is flouting the spirit of the lobbying rules and abusing his access to the White House. (Politico)
10/ The State Department wants to clear Nikki Haley’s remarks before she speaks in an attempt to foster greater coherence with American’s foreign policy efforts. (New York Times)
11/ The NSA halts the collection of Americans’ emails and texts due to compliance issues with FISA court rules. The warrantless surveillance program was suppose to only collect information from people overseas that mention a foreigner under surveillance. But, the NSA ended up collecting messages sent and received domestically as a byproduct. Oops. (New York Times)
1/ The Pentagon warned Flynn in 2014 against accepting foreign payments without prior approval. He’s now under investigation by the Defense Department’s inspector general to determine whether he failed to get permission to receive payments, as he was explicitly told to do. Flynn received $45,000 from RT for a 2015 speech, which was not disclosed at the time, and belatedly he filed paperwork as a foreign agent for his work lobbying on behalf of Turkey. He was paid more than $500,000. (New York Times)
The Pentagon will try to determine whether Flynn “failed to obtain required approval prior to receiving” foreign payments. Retiring officers are advised that they may be subject to the Constitution’s rarely enforced emoluments clause, which prohibits top officials from receiving payments or favors from foreign governments. (Washington Post)
Spicer blames Obama for Flynn’s security clearance, brushing aside the notion that Trump has regrets over hiring Flynn. (The Hill)
2/ Trump said he will either renegotiate NAFTA or terminate it. Yesterday, the White House had drafted an executive order to withdraw the US from NAFTA. After hearing “pleas” from Canada and Mexico not to withdraw immediately, Trump warned he would pull out if he could not negotiate a better deal. (New York Times)
I received calls from the President of Mexico and the Prime Minister of Canada asking to renegotiate NAFTA rather than terminate. I agreed..
Trump says no plan to pull out of NAFTA “at this time.” (Washington Post)
Republicans tell Trump that a NAFTA withdrawal would be a “disaster.” (Politico)
3/ Congress aims to vote on a short-term spending bill Friday in order to avoid a shutdown. The bill would keep the government running through May 5. The White House has also backed off its threat to withhold payments that help lower-income Americans pay their medical bills, as well as its demand for money for Trump’s border wall. (Associated Press)
4/ The GOP is still divided over the latest healthcare plan. While the Freedom Caucus has endorsed the latest version, moderate conservatives are now holding out. A Friday vote appears less likely now that the Republicans are still shy of the 216 votes needed. (Axios)
The race for votes on health care is on again. GOP leadership is setting the groundwork to move quickly if it becomes clear they can pass the bill. (CNN)
Trump is unlikely to get his healthcare vote this week as House Republican leaders search for the votes needed. Republicans are confident they can win over moderates for a new Obamacare repeal plan, but they’re not there yet. (Politico)
5/ Democrats threaten to oppose short-term funding bill to prevent a shutdown if the healthcare vote happens this week. The House Rules Committee passed a rule that allows any legislation to be brought up between now and Saturday, including a vote on the latest healthcare plan. No vote has been scheduled. Paul Ryan said he was “confident” the government would keep running, but placed the threat of a shutdown on Democrats for “dragging their feet.” (CNN)
6/ Steve Mnuchin can’t guarantee the middle class won’t pay more under his new tax plan. He said the “objective” of the plan is to ensure no absolute tax cuts for the wealthy, but declined to say how the plan would affect Trump himself. (ABC News)
Economists fear Trump’s tax plan will only heighten a “mountain of debt.” The proposed tax overhaul calls for steep tax cuts with only modest offsetting revenue increases. Economists estimate it would add trillions to the national debt over the next decade. (New York Times)
7/ Ivanka Trump says the US should consider admitting Syrian refugees. If you haven’t been paying attention, this is a significant break from her father, who is so against the idea that both failed versions of his travel ban have included temporary suspensions of all refugee resettlement. (New York Magazine)
8/ Homeland security unveils Trump’s controversial immigrant crime office set up to support the victims of crimes committed solely by undocumented migrants. Critics warn that the office is misguided and is a device for “scapegoating immigrants” by advocates who pointed to numerous studies showing immigrants are significantly less likely to commit crime. (The Guardian)
9/ The White House says Ivanka will have “no authority” over the World Bank fund to invest in women-owned businesses. The idea is under consideration at the World Bank – inspired by Ivanka – but has raised legal and ethical questions due to her formal role as “assistant to the president.” By rule, she would be prohibited from using her official position to solicit money. (Washington Post)
10/ Sessions vows to press legal fight on sanctuary cities despite a court order barring federal officials from targeting localities that decline to cooperate with enforcement of immigration laws. (Politico)
poll/ Trump’s first 100 days get “mixed reviews.” 45% approve of the job he’s doing, below Obama’s 62% approval and Bush W’s 63% approval at this same point. More than 50% think Trump is failing in bringing real change to Washington, and 52% say the US is less respected now compared to a year ago. (Fox News)
poll/ 44% approve of Trump’s handling of the presidency, which is last among approval ratings for newly-elected presidents at the 100-day point. (CNN)
1/ Trump unveils his plan to overhaul the tax code. The proposal — a one-page outline that leaves key details incomplete — would eliminate key tax breaks and reduce the number of income tax brackets from seven to three. It would also lower the corporate tax rate from 35% to 15%. (Washington Post)
Trump’s tax plan would cut corporate and small business rates and boost the standard deduction to $15,000 for individuals and $30,000 for families. The proposed plan could potentially put thousands of dollars each year into the pockets of tens of millions of Americans, but could lead to a large loss of government revenue and bloat the federal deficit. (Washington Post)
2/ The White House trumpets its tax cuts as the “biggest in history.” It’s unclear how the cuts would be financed, although the administration noted that the proposed cuts could dramatically add to the national debt. (New York Times)
Trump’s goal of reducing the corporate tax rate has a fatal problem: Senate rules. (CNN)
Trump’s tax plan extends the corporate tax cut from mom-and-pop businesses to his own real estate empire. (New York Times)
3/ House Republicans gather to revive their Obamacare repeal. The latest proposal, which came late Tuesday, is a compromise designed to corral skittish Republicans reluctant to support earlier versions of the proposal. The new language allows states to opt out of some Obamacare protections as long as they offer an alternative that lowers premiums and increases the number of people insured. The plan retains Obamacare’s guarantee of “access” to coverage for people with pre-existing conditions, but allows states to waive the prohibition on charging sick people higher premiums. (Politico)
Republicans are far from repealing Obamacare as nobody is sure the House has actually found a compromise that can pass. (Vox)
Latest GOP health bill amendment would exempt members of Congress from its effects. Democrats argue that Republicans are willing to take away protections for the general public, but not themselves. (The Hill)
4/ Lawmakers are leaning toward passing a one-week funding extension to avoid a shutdown. In the meantime, the White House said it would continue paying Affordable Care Act cost-sharing subsidies. (Politico)
5/ Trump attacks “ridiculous” 9th circuit judge who blocked his order to deny federal funding to “sanctuary cities.” Judge William Orrick doesn’t sit on the 9th circuit. He sits on the court of the Northern District of California, which appeals to the 9th circuit. (Politico)
First the Ninth Circuit rules against the ban & now it hits again on sanctuary cities-both ridiculous rulings. See you in the Supreme Court!
6/ US missile defense system moved to a deployment site in South Korea, triggering protests from villagers and criticism from China. The deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system will be used to defend against missiles launched by North Korea. China says the system’s advanced radar can penetrate deep into its territory and undermine its security, while it will do little to deter the North. (Reuters)
7/ The administration is considering an executive order to withdraw from NAFTA. A draft has been submitted for review and could be a hardball negotiating tactic designed to bring Mexico and Canada to the table to renegotiate NAFTA. (Politico)
Trump loses trade dispute with Mexico over dolphin safe tuna. The World Trade Organization ruled in Mexico’s favor that its fishermen played by the rules, allowing it to impose sanctions worth $163 million a year against the US. Related, Trump’s decision to go after Canada first with tariffs was surprising given his harsh criticism of Mexico on the campaign. Now Trump has upset Canada while suffering a trade defeat from Mexico. (CNN Money)
8/ Trump triggers a review of national monument designations, which protect more than a billion acres of US public land and waters. The designation of monuments could be “rescinded, modified or resized” as part of the review. (The Guardian)
Trump is expected to sign an executive order aimed at opening up protected waters in the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans to offshore drilling. (New York Times)
9/ The Senate confirms the deputy attorney general who will now be in charge of the Russia probe. Rod Rosenstein takes over the high-profile inquiry and will make the decision on whether to appoint an outside prosecutor. (NBC News)
10/ Trump and his top national security advisers briefed congressional lawmakers on the “very grave threat” posed by North Korea. The administration has developed a range of economic, diplomatic, and military measures in the wake of a series of provocations from Kim Jong Un. There was no talk about a preemptive strike on North Korea. The approach would be “mainly events-driven.” (Washington Post)
poll/ 56% think Russia tried to influence the election, and 39% think the Trump campaign intentionally tried to assist such an effort. (ABC News)
1/ The House oversight panel says Flynn did not comply with the law. Trump’s former national security adviser did not properly disclosed payments from Russia on his security clearance application. Flynn received $45,000 for a speech he gave to RT-TV in Russia. (CNN)
2/ Flynn’s Turkish lobbying now linked to Russia. A Turkish man that gave Flynn a $600,000 lobbying deal just before Trump picked him to be national security adviser had business ties to Russia. (Politico)
Sally Yates is set to testify at the May 8 Senate hearing. Yates was supposed to tell lawmakers last month about phone calls between Michael Flynn and Russian ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. The hearing was abruptly postponed amid accusations the White House didn’t want her to testify. (CNN)
3/ A federal judge has blocked Trump’s directive seeking to deny federal funding to “sanctuary cities.” The ruling is another high-profile blow to Trump’s efforts to use executive orders to carry out major policy moves. (Politico)
4/ Trump promised the biggest tax cut in history. The plan he put forward as a candidate would reduce revenues by 2.6% of GDP. That would be less than the cuts that Truman made (2.7%) in 1945, as well as those that Reagan enacted (2.9%) in 1981. (Washington Post)
5/ The government’s costs could increase by $2.3 billion in 2018 if Congress and Trump decide not to fund Obamacare-related payments to health insurers. Trump has threatened to withhold the payments to force Democrats to the negotiating table on a healthcare bill to replace Obamacare. (Reuters)
6/ The White House is “confident” it will avert a shutdown as Trump shows flexibility on his wall. Trump softened his demand that a deal to keep the federal government open include money to begin construction on his long-promised border wall. He is open to delaying funding for wall construction until September. (Washington Post)
White House backtracks after Trump opens the door to delaying funding for border wall. Sean Spicer said Trump has not given up on getting funding for the wall now, despite Trump telling conservatives he could come back to it in September. (ABC News)
7/ Mexico is worried that the border wall will worsen flooding. Engineers believe construction of the border barrier may violate a 47-year-old treaty governing the shared waters of the Rio Grande. If Mexico protests, the fate of the wall could end up in an international court. (NPR)
8/ Republican lawmakers ask Trump to scale back Obama-era protections for gays and lesbians in order to make good on campaign promises to protect religious liberty. Trump has said that he supports the LGBTQ community and does not support any kind of discrimination. But Trump also believes there should be policies that allow for people to express their religious beliefs. (USA Today)
9/ Ivanka Trump gets booed and hissed at during a Berlin event. She was put on the spot about her father’s attitudes toward women and grilled by the moderator about what, exactly, her role is in the Trump administration. She defined her goal as enacting “incremental positive change.” (Politico)
10/ The US imposed sanctions on 271 employees of the Syrian government it said were responsible for producing chemical weapons and ballistic missiles. (New York Times)
11/ Trump warns Canada over its import tax on dairy: “We will not stand for this.” Last April, Canada implemented a new import tax on dairy, which had been duty-free under the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement. (The Hill)
12/ Trump slaps Canada with 20% tariffs on softwood lumber in response. The move has drawn criticism from the Canadian government, which vowed to sue if needed. (Bloomberg)
Analyst says Canadian lumber tariffs will not affect home prices. The US Home Construction ETF dropped nearly 1% following the announcement, which a homebuilding analyst called “a papercut.” Investors worried about an increase in costs. (CNBC)
13/ State Department posts, then removes article promoting Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort. Critics had complained that the website was moonlighting as a promotional outlet for Trump’s real estate empire. (Salon)
poll/ 37% of Americans say Obamacare should be repealed and replaced. 61% say it should be kept and fixed instead. 79% say Trump should seek to make the current law work as well as possible, not to make it fail as soon as possible, a strategy he’s suggested. (ABC News)
poll/ 50% have little to no confidence in the GOP healthcare plan. 51% say Obamacare is either working well the way it is or that it needs just minor modifications to improve it. (NBC News)
1/ Trump pushes for border wall funding in spending dispute with Democrats. Aides have stressed that funding for a border wall and a vote on an effort to repeal and replace Obamacare could both be accomplished this week despite a budget deadline looming that could lead to a government shutdown. (ABC News)
Nancy Pelosi calls Trump’s border wall “immoral, expensive, unwise.” The Trump administration is willing to push a government shutdown if funding for the border wall is not included in a bill to fund the government this week. (NBC News)
The border wall would be “catastrophic” for the environment and endangered species. (NBC News)
2/ As a government shutdown looms, lawmakers could pass a short-term spending bill that would keep the government open in the interim while a longer-term measure is finalized. (New York Times)
3/ The French president called on voters to reject far-right candidate Marine Le Pen and back Emmanuel Macron to succeed him. President Hollande said “France’s make-up, its unity, its membership of Europe and its place in the world” are all at stake. (BBC)
4/ The Senate probe into Trump’s connection to Russia has no full-time staff. Seven part-time staffers are working on the inquiry, none with significant investigative experience, and no interviews with key individuals have been conducted. (Daily Beast)
The Senate Intelligence Committee has made little progress in its investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. It is increasingly stymied by partisan divisions that are jeopardizing the future of the inquiry. (Yahoo News)
5/ A California Democrat called Attorney General Jeff Sessions “a racist and a liar,” after Sessions’s comments about a federal judge in Hawaii. (The Hill)
Dear "Attorney General" Sessions: You are a racist and a liar. Actually, just joking. Oh wait, your record shows you are a racist & a liar. https://t.co/efSMggbe9Y
6/ Defense Secretary Mattis is in Afghanistan to discuss war needs and how best to confront Russia for providing machine guns and other medium-weight weapons to the Taliban. (ABC News)
7/ Republican donors, leaders, and candidates worry the 2018 midterms will be a referendum on Trump’s performance. Republicans are expressing early concern over Trump’s lack of legislative accomplishments, his record-low approval ratings, and the overall dysfunction that’s gripped his administration. (Politico)
8/ Anti-Semitic incidents have surged since the election of Trump, and a “heightened political atmosphere” has played a role in the rise of actions ranging from bomb threats and cemetery desecration to assaults and bullying. (Reuters)
9/ Trump blasts approval rating polls as “fake news” conducted by media outlets whose polling about last year’s presidential election had proven incorrect. (Politico)
10/ “When I won,” Trump thought, “now I’ll get good press.” Once again, Trump displays a fundamental misunderstanding of the role of the media, which is to act as a check on power. (Washington Post)
Here’s the full transcript of an Oval Office interview between Trump and Associated Press White House Correspondent Julie Pace. (Associated Press)
Trump: I gave “Face the Nation” the highest ratings “since the World Trade Center came down.” (The Hill)
11/ As the carrier group heads for Korean waters, China calls for restraint. The deployment of an aircraft carrier strike group has angered North Korea, which called it “an extremely dangerous act by those who plan a nuclear war to invade.” The US and Japan have begun joint naval drills in the region. (Reuters)
12/ The entire US Senate to go to the White House for a North Korea briefing. All 100 senators have been asked to attend the briefing by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, and General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It’s unusual for the entire Senate to go to an event like this at the White House. (NBC News)
13/ Trump wants to cut the corporate rate to 15%, even if it means a loss of revenue and exacerbating the procedural and partisan hurdles he faces in search of his first major legislative victory. (Wall Street Journal)
1/ Jeff Sessions says DREAMers, like “everyone that enters the country unlawfully,” are “subject to being deported.” On Friday, Trump said, “We aren’t looking to do anything right now” about DREAMers and that young people protected under this policy “should rest easy.” (ABC News)
DHS Secretary John Kelly reaffirmed Trump’s claim that DREAMers could “rest easy” despite heightened fears of deportation. He said that undocumented immigrants would face deportation if they break US law, however. (CBS News)
2/ Sessions: We’ll get the border wall paid for “one way or the other” noting that he does not expect the Mexican government to outright pay for Trump’s border wall. Rather, Trump has threatened to target cash transfers from people within the US to people in Mexico. (CNN)
Trump’s push for the border wall threatens to cause a government shutdown. Officials are worried that Trump won’t sign a funding bill without money for his wall. (The Guardian)
3/ French election: Macron and Le Pen are projected to advance to the runoff election. Polls closed in France’s bitterly divisive presidential election and early projections suggest Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen have made it through to the second round runoff after securing 24% and 21.8% of the vote, respectively. The centrist and far-right candidates will face each other in presidential runoff on May 7. (CNN)
4/ The Trump administration is pushing for a vote this week in the House to replace Obamacare. Trump tweeted that Obama’s healthcare program is “in serious trouble.” House members, however, return from recess on Tuesday and are expected to concentrate on a must-pass bill to keep the federal government funded beyond April 28. (Bloomberg)
Paul Ryan promised to keep the government open but makes no promises on health care. (Washington Post)
5/ The White House offers conflicting details of Trump’s tax plan after he tweeted that tax reform and reduction will be announced Wednesday. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin suggested the announcement would pursue a long-term overhaul of the tax code. But, Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney cast doubt on Mnuchin’s statements, saying the White House still hasn’t decided whether to pursue a long-term or short-term overhaul. (Washington Post)
6/ More than 11,000 women in all 50 states plan to run for political office. Several dozen are considering runs to challenge House Republican incumbents.(Washington Post)
7/ North Korea detains a third US citizen. The Korean-American accounting teacher was arrested as he attempted to leave the country. Pyongyang University of Science and Technology says the arrest had nothing to do with his work as a teacher, but speculated that it was due to “some other activities… such as helping an orphanage.” (Reuters)
8/ North Korea is “ready to sink” a US aircraft carrier heading for the peninsula. State media warned that the USS Carl Vinson could be sunk “with a single strike” and threatened to strike Australia with nuclear weapons if it remained an ally of the US. (BBC)
poll/ 42% of Americans approve of Trump’s job performance, the lowest recorded at this stage of a presidency dating back to Dwight Eisenhower. (Washington Post)
poll/ 57% believe the government should do more to solve problems and help people. 39% said the government is doing too many things that are better left to business and individuals. (Wall Street Journal)
poll/ 96% of Trump voters say they’d do it again today. (ABC News)
1/ People are marching for science because “there is no Planet B.” Scientists and “friends of science” are participating in the March for Science at the National Mall today, which is expected to draw tens of thousands of people. More than 600 satellite marches are scheduled across six continents to raise concerns about the erosion of the value of expertise, and the rise of pseudoscientific and anti-scientific notions. (Washington Post)
For first time since the 1800s, Britain goes a day without burning coal for electricity. Coal powered Britain into the industrial age and into the 21st century, contributing greatly to the “pea souper” fogs that were thought for decades to be a natural phenomenon of the British climate. (New York Times)
2/ Trump vows to unveil a “massive” tax cut for Americans next week, surprising Capitol Hill and leaving Treasury officials speechless. Trump said his tax reductions would be “bigger, I believe, than any tax cut ever,” but revealed no details about what is an enormously complicated effort to overhaul the nation’s tax code. The announcement is supposed to come Wednesday. (New York Times)
3/ The Trump administration claims NYC is “soft on crime.” Data says otherwise. Jeff Sessions said NYC “continues to see gang murder after gang murder, the predictable consequence of the city’s ‘soft on crime’ stance” and is “crumbling under the weight of illegal immigration and violent crime.” Since 1993, murder has decreased 82%, shootings have decreased 81%, and overall crime has decreased 76%. (WABC-TV)
4/ Russian bombers fly near Alaska for the 4th time in 4 days. While the Russian aircraft did not enter sovereign airspace, American and Canadian fighter jets intercepted the two military aircraft flying around the north coast of Alaska and Canada. (ABC News)
5/ Russian operatives tried to use Trump advisers last summer to infiltrate the Trump campaign. FBI investigators have found signs of possible collusion between the campaign and Russian officials, but there is not enough evidence to show that crimes were committed. (CNN)
6/ The US will “honor” the refugee resettlement agreement with Australia, despite Trump previously calling it a “dumb deal.” (CNN)
7/ Trump asks Obama Surgeon General to resign. Vivek H. Murthy has been replaced by his deputy, Rear Adm. Sylvia Trent-Adams, one of the first nurses to serve as surgeon general. It was not immediately clear why Dr. Murthy was relieved from duty. (New York Times)
8/ The Florida state senator that unleashed an expletive-laden rant and racial slur resigns. Frank Artiles apologized the day after the episode, saying he let his “temper get the best of me.” (New York Times)
9/ Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California lawmakers all balk at Trump’s wall request. No House or Senate members that represent territories on the southwest border have expressed support for Trump’s $1.4 billion funding proposal. (Wall Street Journal)
1/ The threat of a government shutdown hinges on the Mexican border wall and Obamacare funding. Trump and Republicans will have four days to overcome intraparty ideological divisions and win over some opposition Democrats next week to pass a spending package to keep the government open beyond April 28. Mick Mulvaney, the White House budget director, says money for Trump’s wall and immigration agents is a must. Democrats have taken a hard line against any money for the border wall and insist that the measure include the Obamacare payments to insurance companies. (Reuters)
Conway is “confident” there will be no government shutdown. (Politico)
Lawmakers hope to unveil a catchall spending bill next week in order avert a government shutdown. (ABC News)
Mattis tells Congress that Trump’s budget request isn’t sufficient to cover the cost of rebuilding the military. (CNN)
2/ Jeff Sessions dismissed Hawaii as just “an island in the Pacific” while criticizing a Federal District Court ruling last month that blocked the Trump administration from carrying out its ban on travel from parts of the Muslim world. “I really am amazed that a judge sitting on an island in the Pacific can issue an order that stops the president of the United States from what appears to be clearly his statutory and constitutional power,” Sessions said. (New York Times)
Hawaiians to Jeff Sessions: “We’re not just some island.” (Washington Post)
3/ The Justice Department escalates its crackdown on “sanctuary cities”. The DOJ sent letters to nine jurisdictions that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities, threatening to withhold funding unless they comply with federal law. (New York Times)
4/ The Treasury denied Exxon’s request for a waiver from Russian sanctions. Exxon won’t be allowed to bypass US sanctions against Russia in order to resume drilling for oil. (Bloomberg)
5/ South Korea is on heightened alert as the North readies for its anniversary of the Korean People’s Army. The 85th army anniversary comes at the end of major winter military drills. The US and South Korea have been saying for weeks that the North could soon stage another nuclear test. (Reuters)
Trump puts pressure on China to rein in North Korea, saying “if they want to solve the North Korea problem, they will.” (The Hill)
6/ Trump says Iran has not “lived up to the spirit” of the nuclear agreement. He also criticized the deal days after his secretary of state certified that Iran was complying with the terms of the agreement. Trump called it “terrible” and “as bad as I’ve ever seen negotiated.” (Washington Post)
7/ Syria still has chemical weapons. Israeli defense officials estimate that Syria still has up to three tons of chemical weapons in its possession. Mattis says Syria has “dispersed their aircraft” in the wake of the punitive US missile strike. The implication is that Syria may be concerned about additional strikes and is moving its combat aircraft to make them less vulnerable to an attack. (ABC News)
8/ The House Intelligence Committee asked former acting Attorney General Sally Yates to testify publicly in the panel’s probe into Russian interference in the US election. The committee has also asked FBI Director James Comey and NSA Director Mike Rogers to return before the committee to testify in a closed setting. (The Hill)
9/ Trump’s lawyers have argued that anti-Trump protesters “have no right” to “express dissenting views” at his campaign rallies. Lawyers for Trump’s campaign say that his calls to remove the protesters were protected by the First Amendment. (Politico)
10/ Jeff Sessions makes arresting WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange a priority. WikiLeaks allegedly played an active role in helping Edward Snowden disclose a massive cache of classified documents he took from the NSA. (CNN)
11/ Georgia NAACP chief is suing the state for trying to block newly registered voters from taking part in a runoff election. Georgia law requires that individuals who vote in a runoff election must be registered to vote in the initial election. Election officials say that the June runoff is simply a continuation of the special election, so they don’t have to allow newly registered voters to participate. (Huffington Post)
12/ Nearing the 100-day mark with limited accomplishments, Trump calls it a “ridiculous standard.” Trump hits the 100-day mark at the end of the next week and has no major wins on Capitol Hill beyond Gorsuch. (Washington Post)
The White House is desperate to demonstrate progress on Trump’s promise to repeal the Affordable Care Act. The Republicans are trying to resurrect the health care bill before his 100th day in office. (New York Times)
13/ At least 25 temporary political appointees are now getting permanent federal jobs with little or no public notice. In January, the Trump administration installed more than 400 political appointees across the federal government. Hiring rules allow them to have those positions for up to eight months. (ProPublica)
1/ House Republicans are making a new bid to repeal Obamacare. The current proposal gives states more flexibility to opt out of major Obamacare provisions, while preserving popular protections like banning discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions. The text of a new bill is likely to circulate by the weekend with intentions to have a vote by midweek before the president reaches his 100-day mark. (Politico)
Congress may have to choose between keeping the government open and voting to repeal Obamacare. Trump thinks they can do both. The current resolution funding the government expires on April 28. (CNBC)
2/ North Korea warns of a “super-mighty preemptive strike” after Rex Tillerson said the US was looking to put pressure on the country over its nuclear program. (Reuters)
Satellites spot unexpected activity at North Korean nuclear test site: volleyball. The games were probably intended to send a message, but what meaning the North wanted to convey is unclear. (New York Times)
3/ The CIA and FBI are searching for the leaker who gave top-secret documents to WikiLeaks. The leak exposed thousands of top-secret documents that described CIA tools used to penetrate smartphones, smart TVs, and computers. (CBS News)
4/ Tillerson accused Iran of “alarming ongoing provocations” aimed at destabilizing the Middle East and undermining American interests. Iran’s foreign minister dismissed Mr Tillerson’s criticism as “worn out.” (BBC)
5/ Carter Page’s trip to Russia last July became the catalyst for an FBI investigation into ties between Russia and the Trump campaign. In 2013, a Russian spy was trying to recruit Trump’s former foreign policy adviser, and his 2016 trip further stirs the agency’s interest in the businessman. It is unclear what about Page’s visit drew the FBI’s interest: meetings, intercepted communications, or something else. (New York Times)
The FBI used the unverified dossier detailing Trump’s ties to Russia in order to bolster its Trump-Russia investigation and win approval to secretly monitor Carter Page. The FISA court approved the monitoring of Page’s communications, who advised Trump on national security last year. (CNN)
6/ A Russian think tank controlled by Putin developed a plan to swing the 2016 US presidential election. Two confidential documents provide the framework and rationale for what intelligence agencies have concluded was an intensive effort to undermine voters’ faith in the American electoral system. (Reuters)
7/ The judge Trump denigrated for his Mexican heritage last year will hear deported DREAMer case. Trump claimed that US District Judge Gonzalo Curiel could not impartially hear a lawsuit against Trump University last year because of Curiel’s background and Trump’s own hardline immigration policies. Curiel will now oversee a lawsuit where a California resident was deported despite being approved for the Deferred Actions for Childhood Arrivals program, which provides protective status for undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children. (CNN)
8/ Trump blows his own deadline for developing an anti-hacking plan within 90 days of taking office. Yesterday was the 90-day mark. There is no team, there is no plan, and there is no clear answer from the White House on who would even be working on what. Trump has repeatedly promised to get to the bottom of Russian election hacking. (Politico)
Trump claims that “no administration has accomplished more in the first 90 days.” So far he hasn’t taken action on 60% of the 60 promises he said he would fulfill in his first 100 days. Trump’s also broken five of them, such as his promise to label China as a currency manipulator. (Washington Post)
9/ Chaffetz is considering an early departure from Congress. Chaffetz stunned Washington yesterday with an announcement that he is not running for reelection. Now he might not even finish his term. Chaffetz cited a desire to spend more time with his family in Utah and return to the private sector. (The Hill)
Why is Jason Chaffetz running away? A rising Republican star doesn’t just retire from Congress for nothing. (Salon)
10/ The Trump administration launches national security investigation into steel imports and whether the way other countries sell steel compromises US security. The review would consider how much steel the US needs to defend itself, and whether current domestic capacity meets those requirements. (Los Angeles Times)
11/ The White House sidewalk will be closed to public permanently. The closure will “lessen the possibility of individuals illegally accessing the White House grounds.” (Reuters)
12/ The Justice Department is weighing whether to bring criminal charges against members of WikiLeaks. Prosecutors are examining the 2010 leak of cables and military documents, as well as the more recent revelation of sensitive CIA cyber-tools used to convert cellphones, televisions, and other ordinary devices into implements of espionage. (Washington Post)
poll/ Trump gets an “A” on his performance from 16% of voters. He received an “F” grade from 24% of voters. (Politico)
poll/ 63% of Democrats say they’re “very excited” about voting in the 2018 election, compared to only 52% of Republicans. (Public Policy Polling)
1/ Jason Chaffetz will not seek re-election. The Utah Republican, who chairs the House Oversight Committee, has drawn attention and criticism for his handling of conflicts of interest investigations into Clinton and Trump. (BuzzFeed News)
2/ The US says Iran is complying with the terms of the 2015 nuclear deal negotiated by Obama. The US has extended the sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its atomic program. Tillerson, however, said the administration is reviewing the agreement to evaluate whether it “is vital to the national security interests of the United States.” (Associated Press)
3/ Mike Pence warns North Korea that “the sword stands ready.” From the deck of the USS Ronald Reagan, Pence promised that the US would make an “overwhelming and effective” response to any use of conventional or nuclear weapons by North Korea. (Los Angeles Times)
4/ Fox News is preparing to cut ties with Bill O’Reilly. Advertisers fled from his show following the news that 21st Century Fox and O’Reilly had settled multiple sexual harassment complaints. (Wall Street Journal)
O’Reilly’s 21-year run at Fox News will come to an end. (New York Magazine)
5/ A Miami state senator referred to his fellow Republicans as “niggas.” The Florida Democratic Party called on him to resign Tuesday night, saying his conduct was “disgusting, unacceptable and has no place in our democracy or our society.” (Miami Herald)
6/ The Justice Department does not have any US attorneys in place a month after dismissing federal prosecutors. Attorney General Jeff Sessions abruptly told the dozens of remaining Obama attorneys to submit their resignations immediately last month. None of them have been replaced. The 93 unfilled US attorney positions remain open. (Washington Post)
7/ Emirates is cutting flights to the US because of Trump’s restrictive travel policies. Stricter visa regulations, heightened security vetting, and restrictions on electronic devices in aircraft cabins have had a direct impact on consumer interest and weakened travel demand into US. (Business Insider)
8/ Trump is expected to shift his weekend plans to his golf club in New Jersey once Mar-a-Lago closes for the season. Bedminster, New Jersey officials have been struggling to explain to the public who will pay for all the extra overtime work when the president is in their small rural town. (Politico)
9/ Exxon has asked the Treasury for exemption from US sanctions on Russia in a bid to resume its joint venture with oil giant PAO Rosneft. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is Exxon’s former CEO. In 2012, Tillerson negotiated a deal for Exxon to explore Russia’s arctic waters. 2014 sanctions sidelined the deal. (Wall Street Journal)
10/ The White House is looking to revive Obamacare repeal before the 100-day mark. The renewed effort comes as Congress returns from recess and as the Trump administration is fielding questions about its legislative accomplishments during its first 100 days in office. (CNN)
1/ Ivanka Trump won approval from the Chinese government for three new trademarks the same night she dined with the president of China at Mar-a-Lago. Criminal conflict of interest law prohibits federal officials, like Ivanka and Kushner, from participating in government matters that could impact their own financial interest or that of their spouse. (Associated Press)
2/ Spicer argued that more public disclosures are unnecessary and harmful to Trump’s ability to govern. He defended Trump’s reversal of Obama’s practice of periodically releasing visitor logs, and suggested that doing so would discourage outsiders who require anonymity to offer frank advice to the president and his top advisers. (New York Times)
Elijah Cummings on Trump’s transparency: “If you want privacy, don’t go into politics.” Cummings knocked the White House’s public disclosure practices, saying that Trump needs to learn there’s little privacy in politics. (The Hill)
3/ The promise to enact a sweeping overhaul of the tax code is in jeopardy nearly 100 days into Trump’s tenure. His refusal to release his own tax returns is emerging as a central hurdle to tax reform as Democrats pledge not to cooperate on any rewriting of the tax code unless they know specifically how revisions would benefit the billionaire president and his family. (New York Times)
Tax reform will be delayed because of Trumpcare failure. (New York Magazine)
4/ Democrats aim to “make Trump furious” in Georgia election. Today’s special election lumps all 18 candidates on one ballot and is expected to be more competitive than Republicans’ single-digit victory in Kansas last week. Unless one candidate captures a full 50% of the vote, there will be a runoff between the top two finishers, on June 20th. Democrats are hoping Jon Ossoff can pull off a major upset in the conservative Georgia congressional district. (ABC News)
5/ Georgia voting machines were stolen just days before the polls open for a special election. The Cobb County Elections waited two days to tell the Secretary of State about the theft of four ExpressPoll machines. (WSBTV)
6/ In an upcoming executive order, Trump will have the Department of Homeland Security review how H-1B visas are awarded. The agency will be instructed to suggest reforms to move away from the current lottery system and to a merit-based system so that visas only land in the hands of highly paid, specially skilled applicants. (Record)
Trump’s executive order is aimed at making it harder for technology companies to recruit low-wage workers from foreign countries and undercut Americans looking for jobs. (New York Times)
7/ The South Korea-US free trade agreement will be reviewed. Pence said the US trade deficit has more than doubled in the five years since the agreement began and there are too many barriers for US businesses in the country. (Reuters)
8/ Theresa May stunned the UK political world by calling for an early general election in order to strengthen her hand in Brexit negotiations. May became PM by default last year in the days after the Brexit vote and David Cameron’s resignation. (CNN)
9/ Trump called Erdogan to congratulate him on his contested, controversial referendum, which changed Turkey from a parliamentary democracy to one led by an executive president with strong central powers. It passed by a slim margin, 51.3% to 48.7%. The State Department urged Turkey to respect the basic rights of its citizens and noted election irregularities witnessed by monitors with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. (Washington Post)
10/ Trump on North Korea: Obama and Clinton were “outplayed by this gentleman.” He must be confused. Kim Jong Un has only been the leader of North Korea since 2012. His late father, Kim Jong Il, was the dictator who ruled from 1994 to 2011. (The Daily Beast)
11/ Critics of the Department of Homeland Security should “shut up” and assume the agency is acting appropriately, Secretary John F. Kelly said in a speech. The problem, Kelly said, is not the federal agents enforcing immigration laws, but the political games that have been played. He called criticism of the agency’s work misguided and based on inaccurate reporting. (Washington Post)
12/ US warships are now on a northerly course for the Korean Peninsula after sailing in the opposite direction. The Navy posted a photo of the U.S.S. Carl Vinson sailing in the Sundra Strait off the coast of Indonesia on Saturday - 3,500 miles southwest of the Korean Peninsula. The picture was taken four days after Sean Spicer described the warship’s mission in the Sea of Japan. (New York Times)
1/ Pence puts North Korea on notice, warning them that “the era of strategic patience is over” regarding its nuclear and ballistic missile program. “North Korea would do well not to test his resolve — or the strength of the Armed Forces of the United States in this region,” the Vice President warned. (NPR)
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said “we need to apply pressure on North Korea so they seriously respond to a dialogue.” He also urged China and Russia to play more constructive roles on the issue. (Associated Press)
Pence warns North Korea of US resolve as shown in Syria and Afghan strikes. (Reuters)
2/ North Korean envoy at UN warns of nuclear war possibility. The North Korean UN ambassador condemned the US naval buildup in the waters off the Korean Peninsula and said his country is ready to react to any “mode of war” from the United States. Any missile or nuclear strike by the United States would be responded to “in kind.” (CNN)
North Korea “will test missiles weekly” despite international condemnation and growing military tensions with the US. (BBC)
3/ China and Russia have dispatched spy vessels to shadow Trump’s “armada” as it approaches North Korean waters. The two navies are hoping to track the movement of US ships in an effort to prioritize stability by “strengthening warning and surveillance activities in the waters and airspace around the area. (The Telegraph)
4/ South Korea is deploying an American missile defense system despite Chinese opposition. China had previously sanctioned South Korea to persuade them not to deploy the missile defense system. South Korea’s acting president vowed to press ahead with the “swift deployment” of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system. (Washington Post)
5/ Trump taunts Democratic candidate in Georgia special election. He called the 30-year-old candidate a “super Liberal Democrat” that is soft on crime and big on raising taxes. Many see the special election as an early referendum on Trump’s performance so far. (Fox News)
6/ Jeff Sessions has brought sweeping changes to the Department of Justice. He’s moved quickly to roll back protections for transgender students, rescinded plans to phase out the government’s use of private prisons, and is resurrecting the tough-on-crime policies. (The Hill)
7/ Swing state voters wonder when the “winning” will start. Many still trust Trump, but wonder why his deal-making instincts don’t translate. They admire his zeal, but are baffled by his tweets. They insist he will be fine, but suggest that maybe Pence should assume a more expansive role. (New York Times)
8/ Corporate America is uniting on climate change. While consumer brands and industrial giants have been supporting government action on climate change for years, the biggest and most important US energy companies are now dropping their resistance to a global climate deal. The consensus is the broadest it’s been in a decade. (Axios)
9/ Trump’s border wall could leave some Americans on the “Mexican side.” Technically residents living near the Rio Grande Valley would be on US soil, but outside of a barrier built north of the river separating the two countries. (NBC News)
10/ The EPA becomes a target after Trump asks manufacturers how to boost domestic manufacturing. Nearly half of the 168 recommendations submitted were aimed at the EPA. (Washington Post)
11/ Russian TV says Trump is more dangerous than Kim Jong-Un. The Kremlin’s top TV mouthpiece said “Trump is more impulsive and unpredictable than Kim Jong Un.” (Bloomberg)
poll/ 45% say Trump keeps his promises, down from 62% in February. (Gallup)
1/ Trump “will take action” to end any North Korea threat to the US and will not accept a hostile regime with nuclear weapons. While the administration is not planning to respond to the failed missile launch, Trump’s national security adviser said the launch “fits a pattern of provocative and destabilizing and threatening behavior on the part of the North Korean regime.” (ABC News)
Trump administration warns North Korea to end its nuclear testing or face US reprisals. North Korean leader is “unpredictable” and a threat to the world, McMaster said, and it’s “clear” that Trump would not allow the North to threaten the US. (Los Angeles Times)
Trump is willing to consider “kinetic” military action to counteract North Korea’s destabilizing actions, including a sudden strike. Trump’s preference is for China to take the lead on dealing with North Korea. (Bloomberg)
2/ From South Korea, Pence calls the North Korean missile launch “a provocation.” Trump is considering an array of military, diplomatic, and other options to respond to the “risks plaguing both the region and the United States.” Pence is in South Korea on behalf of Trump to convey to the troops stationed there that “we’re proud of you and we’re grateful for your service.” (New York Times)
3/ Trump is “trying to out-North Korean the North Koreans” with his aggressive rhetoric against the totalitarian state, the former US ambassador to South Korea said. He added that people are nervous because they’re not sure what Trump means by it. “When you talk in those terms, you’ve got to be prepared to back it up.” (Politico)
4/ A raft of potential conflicts are arising across the executive branch, according to an analysis of recently released financial disclosures. Trump’s filled the White House and federal agencies with former lobbyists, lawyers and consultants who in many cases are helping to craft new policies for the same industries in which they recently earned a paycheck. (New York Times)
5/ The energy chief is ordering a study of the US electric grid to examining whether policies that favor wind and solar energy are accelerating the retirement of coal and nuclear plants critical to ensuring steady, reliable power supplies. The effort suggests that the administration may be looking for other ways to keep coal plants online. (Bloomberg)
6/ Trump wants to know why people are still talking about his taxes following a nationwide Tax March that drew thousands of people in dozens of cities. He declared on Twitter that “The election is over!” (Washington Post)
Protesters clash with Trump supporters in Berkeley, California. At least 21 people were arrested and 11 were injured, with seven transported to the hospital in unknown condition. (CNN)
7/ A GOP lawmaker responds to concerns about Internet privacy by saying the “Nobody’s got to use the Internet.” Town hall attendees were told that using the Internet is a choice by their Wisconsin congressman, F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (Washington Post)
8/ Marijuana is “not a factor” in the war on drugs Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said. Solving the nation’s drug problem does not involve “arresting a lot of users,” either. Instead, he said methamphetamines, heroin, and cocaine were responsible for the deaths of 52,000 people that cost the country $250 billion. (Politico)
1/ North Korea parades new missiles in show of force, worrying analysts. Pyongyang’s military hardware includes a new intercontinental ballistic missile, which appears to have elements of two other ICBMS, the KN-08 and KN-14 missiles. The KN-08 has a theoretical range of about 7,500 miles, which is enough to reach all of the United States from North Korea. The KN-14 is also capable of reaching the US mainland, although it has a shorter range. (Washington Post)
North Korea – defying warnings from the Trump administration – fired off a ballistic missile that exploded almost immediately after launch. The launch occurred the morning after Kim Jong Un oversaw an elaborate military parade in the center of Pyongyang. (Bloomberg)
North Korea shows off long range missiles in military parade. (New York Times)
2/ Trump’s strategy on North Korea is to apply “maximum pressure and engagement.” The US is hopeful China and Russia will agree to tighter UN sanctions on North Korea if it conducts another nuclear test. The two countries are critical to pressuring North Korea because they both hold veto power on the UN Security Council. (Associated Press)
3/ Jeff Sessions says he admires Steve Bannon and that he has received no pushback from Ivanka Trump or Jared Kushner on his agenda. (CNN)
4/ Protesters call on Trump to release his taxes in tax day march. More than 100 marches are expected to occur throughout the day. (Washington Post)
5/ The US tourism industry expects 4.3 million fewer visitors and lose $7.4 billion in revenue due to Trump’s travel ban and reports of plans to implement “extreme vetting” of foreign travelers. (Washington Post)
6/ MOAB death toll up to 94 ISIS fighters, Afghanistan says. The US estimates there are 600 to 800 ISIS fighters in Afghanistan. (The Hill)
7/ Trump insists on a gold‑plated welcome in the Queen’s royal carriage when he visits Britain later this year. Obama chose not to travel in the carriage during a 2011 visit, opting to make the trip in his armored limousine. (The Times of London)
8/ Trump claims he can’t be sued for inciting his supporters to hurt protesters during a campaign rally. Trump’s lawyers argue that he cannot be sued for inciting violence because, as the President, he is immune from civil lawsuits. (Politico)
9/ The West Wing is a place where the ground is always shifting, with the exception of Ivanka and Kushner. The amount of time staff members have spent talking about one another to the media they despise has made the White House more visible to the public than any other presidential staff. (Vanity Fair)
10/ Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign has raised $13.2 million in the first quarter. Meanwhile, the Republican National Committee says it raised another $41.3 million in the first three months of the year. (Politico)
poll/ Americans want to tax the rich. About 60% say they are very worried that corporations and wealthy individuals aren’t paying their fair share. (Vox)
1/ As global tensions flare over North Korea, Trump heads to Mar-a-Lago without his top aides. This is Trump’s seventh trip to Mar-a-Lago since taking office. (CNN)
2/ The US is ready to launch a preemptive strike if North Korea is about to test a nuclear weapon. North Korea has warned that a “big event” is near. The threat of a preemptive strike comes on the same day the US announced the use of its “mother of all bombs.” (NBC News)
North Korea’s vice foreign minister says Trump’s policy is more “vicious and aggressive” than Obama’s. He added Trump’s tweets that the North was “looking for trouble” were making tensions in the region worse. (Associated Press)
3/ North Korea threatens a preemptive strike of its own. The North said it would “hit the US first” with a “merciless retaliatory strike” should there be any signs of a US attack. (The Hill)
4/ China warned that tensions on the Korean Peninsula could get out of control and urged an end to “mutual provocation and threats.” North Korean military issued a statement threatening to attack American military bases in South Korea, warning that it could annihilate those targets “within minutes.” (New York Times)
5/ 36 ISIS fighters killed by “mother of all bombs.” The blast destroyed three underground tunnels as well as weapons and ammunition, but no civilians were hurt. The military previously estimated ISIS had 600 to 800 active fighters in the area. (CNN)
6/ Russia said there is growing evidence that the Syrian chemical attack was staged. Russia says Syrian forces struck a building where terrorists kept the internationally banned chemical. The US says it has images proving the bomb left a crater in a road rather than hitting a building. (Bloomberg)
7/ Scott Pruitt called for an “exit” from the Paris climate agreement. It’s the first time a high-ranking official has explicitly disavowed the agreement endorsed by nearly 200 countries to fight climate change. It would takes three years under the accord’s terms for a party to withdraw, followed by a one-year waiting period — about the same length as Trump’s first term in office. (Washington Post)
8/ The White House won’t release records of its visitors, raising new concerns from transparency advocates. The decision not to voluntarily disclose visitor logs is a break from the policy of Obama’s, which released logs about about three months after visits occurred. Trump has called Obama the “least transparent president.” (Politico)
9/ DeVos pick to head the Civil Rights Office once claimed reverse racism because she couldn’t receive calculus help from a program designed to assist minority students while at Stanford. She is white. (ProPublica)
1/ British spies spotted the link between Trump’s campaign team and Russian intelligence operatives in late 2015. The GCHQ alerted their counterparts in Washington of suspicious “interactions” between figures connected to Trump and Russian agents. As part of routine surveillance of Russian intelligence assets, agencies began to see a pattern of connections emerge. (The Guardian)
Trump on Russia: “Things will work out fine.” Despite candidate Trump’s repeated praise of Putin, the US has had a rocky relationship with Moscow under his administration. “We may be at an all-time low in terms of our relationship with Russia.” (Politico)
2/ The US dropped the largest non-nuclear bomb in Afghanistan. The Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb – or MOAB – targeted an ISIS tunnel and cave complex. The bomb is more commonly known as the “mother of all bombs,” since it’s a 21,600-pound, GPS-guided munition with a one mile blast radius. (CNN)
Trump: I don’t know if using the “mother of all bombs” in Afghanistan will send a message to North Korea. He’s not worried though, saying “the problem” with that country “will be taken care of,” regardless. (Politico)
3/ An airstrike by the American-led coalition fighting the Islamic State mistakenly killed 18 Syrian fighters allied with the US. The strike was the third time in a month that American-led airstrikes may have killed civilians or allies. The military called the episode “tragic.” Central Command said the airstrike was “misdirected.” (New York Times)
4/ Assad called the alleged chemical attack a “100 percent fabrication” in order to justify a US military strike. He denied any use of chemical weapons. Moscow said the deaths where the result of a conventional strike hitting a rebel arms depot containing “toxic substances”. (Agence France Presse)
5/ Satellite photos show a North Korean nuclear site is “primed and ready” for a sixth nuclear test. Activity at the site over the past six weeks suggests they’re in the final preparations for a test. North Korea marks the “Day of the Sun” this Saturday, which has typically been marked by displays of military strength. (CNN)
Trump threatens action on North Korea, but expressed “great confidence” in how China would deal with the North. He added the US would step in if needed. (Politico)
Trump says he offered China better trade terms in exchange for help on North Korea. He also said his administration won’t label China a currency manipulator in despite his campaign promise to do so. (Wall Street Journal)
6/ Kim Jong Un’s rockets are getting a boost from China. A North Korean booster rocket recovered by South Korea’s navy
show that many of the key components were acquired from businesses based in China. (Washington Post)
7/ Trump privately signed a bill aimed at cutting off federal funding to Planned Parenthood and other groups that perform abortions. The bill allows states to withhold federal money from organizations that provide abortion services, whether or not these facilities also provide other family planning and medical services. Planned Parenthood says 3% of the services it provides are abortions. (CNN)
8/ Scott Pruitt will receive around-the-clock security detail as the EPA budget shrinks by 31%. The proposed budget would double the agency’s infrastructure and operations staff as it gets slashed from $8.1 billion to $5.7 billion, eliminating a quarter of the agency’s 15,000 jobs. (New York Times)
9/ On the same day that Paul Manafort left Trump’s campaign he borrowed $13 million from Trump-connected businesses. Manafort’s ties to Ukraine and Russia have come under scrutiny as federal officials investigate Russian meddling in the American presidential election. (New York Times)
10/ Portland joins Seattle in suing the Trump administration over its order to withhold federal grants from “sanctuary cities”. (The Oregonian)
11/ Sanders: Trump will be a one-term president. Bernie promises to “expose the Republican Party for what it is” during a nationwide tour to rally Democrats that launches next week. (Detroit News)
1/ Putin meets with Tillerson in Moscow. Relations between the US and Russia have grown so tense that it was unclear whether Putin would meet with the Secretary of State. Tillerson’s job is to persuade Moscow to abandon its support for Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad. (New York Times)
Tillerson and Putin appeared to be unable to agree on the facts involving the deadly chemical weapons assault on Syrian civilians or Russian interference in the American election. “There is a low level of trust between our countries,” Tillerson said. Both sides did agree to establish a working group to examine “the irritants” in relations between the United States and Russia. (New York Times)
Trump and Putin trade barbs as ministers meet. Trump said Russia was backing “an animal” while Putin said the US had violated the law and that the level of trust with the US had worsened since Trump took office. (BBC)
2/ $1.2 million in payments from a pro-Russian political party have been linked to Paul Manafort’s firm in the US. A handwritten ledger surfaced in Ukraine last August with dollar amounts and dates listed next to the name of Manafort, who was then Donald Trump’s campaign chairman. Manafort originally said the transactions in the ledger were fabricated. Now, he says the transactions corroborated are legal. A Ukrainian lawmaker said $750,000 received by Manafort was part of a money-laundering effort. (Associated Press)
Paul Manafort’s lobbying firm has registered as foreign agent. The moves comes after the fact that the firm worked on a covert influence campaign in the US under the direction of Manafort and his deputy Rick Gates, two former campaign advisers to Trump. (Associated Press)
3/ Trump won’t say he still backs Bannon. Instead he offered up that “Steve is a good guy,” but “I’m my own strategist.” (New York Post)
4/ DeVos rolled back an Obama administration attempt to reform how student loan debt is collected. Obama issued a pair of memorandums last year requiring that the Federal Student Aid office do more to help borrowers manage their debt. DeVos withdrew the memos, saying the approach was inconsistent and full of shortcomings. She didn’t detail what fell short. More than 1 million Americans are annually defaulting on their student loans. (Bloomberg)
5/ The Trump administration is moving quickly to build up a nationwide deportation force. A Department of Homeland Security assessment shows the agency has found 33,000 more detention beds to house undocumented immigrants, and has opened discussions with dozens of local police forces that could be empowered with enforcement authority and identified where construction of Trump’s border wall could begin. (Washington Post)
6/ The Trump administration is lifting the federal hiring freeze. The impact is likely to be limited. It will be up to Congress to set spending levels for federal agencies. Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are highly critical of Trump’s spending plan. (NPR)
7/ Trump’s budget director says their goal is to maximize high inequality, not low deficits. Republicans typically frame spending and taxes as a way to reduce out-of-control deficits, while framing regressive tax cuts as being unrelated to deficits. Mulvaney is conceding that deficits have nothing to do with the Republican fiscal agenda. (New York Magazine)
8/ Classified documents contradict both Nunes and Trump that Obama ordered wiretaps of Trump Tower to spy on him during the campaign. Lawmakers have not found evidence that Obama did anything unusual or illegal after reviewing the same intelligence reports brought to light by House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes. Nunes prompted outrage after claiming to have learned of possible “incidental collection” of the Trump team’s communications. (CNN)
9/ Silicon Valley is beginning to fight Trump’s net neutrality plan. The lobbying group representing Facebook, Google, Twitter and others told FCC Chairman Ajit Pai that it shouldn’t weaken net neutrality rules. (Recode)
10/ Trump is “100% committed” to NATO. He reiterated that all NATO members need to increase their military spending to 2% of their economic output in order to strengthen the alliance’s long-term capabilities. (Wall Street Journal)
11/ Shifting course, Trump says health care repeal must happen before tax overhaul. Congressional budget rules will make it easier to pass broad overhauls of the tax code once the $1 trillion in Affordable Care Act taxes have been repealed. (Washington Post)
12/ The Trump administration has suspended its weekly report aimed at putting political pressure on sanctuary cities. The report was designed to name and shame sanctuary jurisdictions. (CNN)
1/ Sean Spicer claimed Hitler “didn’t even sink to using chemical weapons.” Instead he sent Jews to “the Holocaust centers.” While emphasizing how serious the US takes Assad’s use of sarin gas, Spicer – unprompted – said that even someone as despicable as Adolf Hitler didn’t use chemical weapons. Hitler used gas chambers to kill millions of Jews. (Washington Post)
Spicer apologized for claiming Hitler didn’t use chemical weapons. “I mistakenly used an inappropriate, insensitive reference to the Holocaust,” he said. (Politico)
2/ The White House accused Russia of engaging in a cover-up of the chemical weapons attack in Syria. US intelligence confirmed that the Syrians used sarin gas on their own people. In a declassified four-page report, the White House asserted that the Syrian and Russian governments sought to confuse the world community about the assault through disinformation and “false narratives.” (New York Times)
3/ Tillerson warned Russia that Assad’s reign is “coming to an end” and that Russia is becoming irrelevant in the Middle East by supporting him. Putin insisted that the chemical attack had stemmed from anti-Assad rebel units and are “worth investigating thoroughly.” Putin likened the accusations to the flawed intelligence that the Bush administration used to justify the invasion of Iraq. (New York Times)
Russia wants the UN to investigate Syrian chemical attack. The Kremlin has blamed Syrian rebels for the chemical weapons attack delivered by a conventional airstrike. (Politico)
4/ Tillerson tells Moscow to pick Assad or the US. Putin immediately showed he wouldn’t back down, saying Russia knew about planned “provocations” to blame Syria’s government for using chemical weapons and that the U.N. should investigate the attack. (Associated Press)
5/ Putin says the US is planning a “fake” gas attack in Syria in order to discredit Assad and accuse him of using chemical weapons. Putin also says the US is planning to launch more missile strikes on Syria. (Reuters)
Spicer adds “barrel bombs” to the list of reasons why the US could attack Syria again. The use of barrel bombs is a near daily occurrence in Syria and taking action each time one is dropped would mark a dramatic shift in strategy. Spicer clarified that his comments should not be interpreted as a change in policy. (Washington Post)
6/ Eric Trump says Donald’s decision to bomb Syria was influenced by a “heartbroken and outraged” Ivanka. Eric described his dad as “a great thinker, practical not impulsive.” He also said “Ivanka is a mother of three kids and she has influence.” Correct. (NBC News)
7/ Republicans are sweating a surprisingly close Kansas congressional race to fill Mike Pompeo’s seat, which he gave up in order to head the CIA. The Republicans are up about a point in the polls and a slim win would be read as a sign of a backlash against Trump in the heartland. The situation has caused Trump and Pence to record robocalls, and Ted Cruz to flew to Wichita for a rally. (Kansas City Star)
8/ North Korea issued a warning as the US Navy strike group headed toward the Korean Peninsula. The North said it’s “ready to react to any mode of war desired by the US” and will defend itself “by powerful force of arms.” The North called the deployment of Navy ships a “reckless moves.” (BBC)
North Korea is looking for trouble. If China decides to help, that would be great. If not, we will solve the problem without them! U.S.A.
9/ China offers concessions to avoid a trade war with the US. Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to a 100-day plan for trade that would provide better market access for financial sector investments and US beef exports. (Reuters)
I explained to the President of China that a trade deal with the U.S. will be far better for them if they solve the North Korean problem!
10/ The Government Accountability Office is reviewing Trump’s presidential transition, focusing on funding, ethics and communications with foreign governments. (Huffington Post)
The FBI obtained a secret FISA warrant last summer to monitor former Trump adviser Carter Page. This is the clearest evidence so far that the FBI had reason to believe during the 2016 presidential campaign that a Trump campaign adviser was in touch with Russian agents. (Washington Post)
11/ Trump’s on pace to surpass 8 years of Obama’s travel spending in 1 year. Travel to Mar-a-Lago have cost an estimated $21.6 million in his first 80 days as president. Trump has spent 21 days at Mar-a-Lago. Do the math. (CNN)
Palm Beach County is tired of spending money on Trump’s frequent visits to Mar-a-Lago. They spends more than $60,000 a day when Trump visits and are considering special tax be levied against the property if the federal government doesn’t reimburse its costs. (Pioneer Press)
poll/ People love Bernie Sanders, hate Mitch McConnell. 75% of Sanders constituents approve of his job performance – the highest approval rating in the poll. 44% approve of McConnell’s performance. (Salon)
1/ The Trump administration demanded that Russia stop supporting the Syrian government with military aid and diplomatic cover. Rex Tillerson is set to meet in Moscow this week and says Russia bears partial responsibility for the chemical attack on villagers. The Kremlin said Putin has no plans to meet with the secretary of state. (Washington Post)
McCain: administration rhetoric is “partially to blame” for chemical attack in Syria. He disagrees with Tillerson’s position that the US needs to concentrate on defeating ISIS before it can further address Assad’s purported brutality against his own people, saying ISIS and Assad are “totally connected” issues. (CBS News)
Spicer: Trump’s foreign policy is still “America first,” calling the potential proliferation of chemical weapons a national security threat to Trump’s America-first. (Politico)
2/ Tillerson is taking a hard line against Russia on the eve of his first diplomatic trip to Moscow. He called the country “incompetent” for allowing Syria to hold on to chemical weapons and accused Russia of trying to influence elections in Europe using the same methods it employed in the US. (New York Times)
Tillerson: US will hold nations accountable for atrocities. Russia’s support of the Syrian regime has made it complicit in Assad’s actions, Tillerson said. (CNN)
US air strike gives Tillerson a boost for Moscow talks. (Reuters)
3/ Neil Gorsuch was sworn in as Supreme Court justice. It’s taken more than a year of partisan fighting to get to this day. Obama nominated federal Judge Merrick Garland on March 16, 2016, but Republicans refused to consider Garland in the Senate, arguing that the next president should choose the nominee. (ABC News)
4/ The Office of Management and Budget will send a “guidance” letter to agencies ordering them to plan for big cuts. Agencies will likely consider selling real estate, laying off personnel, and eliminating programs deemed redundant in an effort to make themselves significantly smaller and less costly. (Axios)
5/ Trump scrapped the tax plan he campaigned on and is going back to the drawing board in a search for Republican consensus behind legislation to overhaul the US tax system. White House aides say the goal is to cut tax rates sharply enough to improve the economic picture in depressed rural and industrial pockets of the country where many Trump voters live. (Associated Press)
6/ Trump prepares order to expand offshore oil drilling, reversing an Obama-era policy that restricted the activity. The order is set to schedule the sale of new offshore oil and natural gas rights in US Atlantic and Arctic waters. The order is also expected to revoke former Obama’s decision to indefinitely withdraw most US Arctic waters and some Atlantic Ocean acreage from future leasing. (Bloomberg)
7/ Spanish police arrested a Russian programmer for alleged involvement in “hacking” the US election. Pyotr Levashov was arrested in Barcelona and was the subject of an extradition request by the US. (BBC)
8/ Trump makes nice with the Koch brothers, stopping by the table of the billionaire brothers while they were eating dinner at Mar-a-Lago. (Politico)
9/ Kushner and Bannon agree to “bury the hatchet.” Reince Priebus told the feuding pair to end the “palace intrigue” after weeks of damaging infighting. (The Guardian)
Breitbart editors tell staffers to stop writing stories critical of Jared Kushner. Kushner had become a target of Breitbart after reports of his feuding with Stephen Bannon, the website’s former executive chairman. (Business Insider)
10/ Three organizations sue Trump for not releasing White House visitor logs. The Secret Service has not provided visitor log information despite FOIA requests. The groups are asking for the records of who is visiting the White House and who Trump is meeting with at his private properties in New York and Florida. (The Hill)
11/ Trump takes credit for Toyota’s planned $1.33 billion investment in an existing US factory. He said Toyota’s investment “is further evidence that manufacturers are now confident that the economic climate has greatly improved under my administration.” The spending plans have been in the works for years. (Bloomberg)
1/ Two bombs targeting Egyptian churches killed at least 38 people and wounded more than 100. The first attack hit the St. George Church in the Nile Delta town of Tanta, north of the Egyptian capital. Hours later a second blast went off in front of St Mark’s Cathedral in Alexandria. (NBC News)
2/ ISIS claimed responsibility for both attacks on Egyptian Coptic Churches in the deadliest day of violence against Christians in the country in decades. The bombings came at the start of the Holy Week leading to Easter. The Egyptian government has struggled to protect Christians against the Islamic State, which is intent on driving a wedge between the two religions. (New York Times)
3/ The USS Carl Vinson strike group is headed toward the Korean Peninsula as a show of force. The group – an aircraft carrier and three other ships – will make its way from Singapore toward the Korean peninsula as concerns grow about North Korea’s advancing weapons program. (Reuters)
4/ Schiff says Russia is absolutely “complicit” in the Syrian chemical attack. He added “Russian intelligence may not be as good as ours, but it’s good enough to know the Syrians had chemical weapons, were using chemical weapons.” (ABC News)
5/ Trump’s deputy National Security Advisor has been asked to step down. K. T. McFarland lasted less than three months and will become the US ambassador to Singapore. (Bloomberg)
6/ The Trump Administration contradicts itself on regime change in Syria. The secretary of state says there’s no change to US policy, but the U.N. ambassador says there can be no peace with Syrian President Bashar Assad. (Huffington Post)
McMaster weighs in: The US eager for regime change in Syria. The national security adviser said that while the US would push for regime change in Syria, “We’re not the ones who are going to effect that change.” (Politico)
1/ Trump’s had enough of the Bannon and Kushner knife fights in the media. Fed-up and frustrated, Trump tells Bannon and Reince Priebus to “work this out” with Kushner. (New York Times)
2/ Trump ordered Bannon and Kushner to sit-down and attempt to bury the hatchet. The two have been feuding in the media over policy differences, with both accusing the other of planting negative stories in the media. (Politico)
3/ Bannon could be forced out unless he adopts a more cooperative approach. Trump is planning a more inclusive style and “either Steve becomes a team player and gets along with people, or he’ll be gone.” Priebus would likely stay, however. (Axios)
4/ Twitter erupts over whether Trump should #FireBannon or #FireKushner. Amid the power clash between Bannon and Kushner, conservatives on Twitter began fighting themselves as to who should get the heave-ho. (Mic)
5/ Trump’s “America First” constituency is furious about the Syria strikes. The conspiracy site Infowars called the nerve agent attack a “false flag” planted by the US deep state meant to force the country into a war. The now-furious supporters rallied around the hashtag #SyriaHoax to urge Trump to stay out of Syria. (Washington Post)
6/ Warplanes returned to the Syrian town devastated by a chemical weapons attack to bomb them again. There are no reports of chemical weapons being used this time. (CNN)
7/ Russia deploys warship to Mediterranean after US missile strikes. The missile-armed frigate is headed toward the Syrian port of Tartus on a routine voyage. The USS Porter and the USS Ross are stationed in the eastern Mediterranean sea. (The Hill)
8/ Obama aides pushed back against criticism of inaction on Syria, saying they proposed similar airstrikes in Syria, but were stymied by a Republican-controlled Congress. Trump blamed for the chemical attack on Obama, saying the deaths were a “consequence of the past administration’s weakness and irresolution.” (ABC News)
9/ Betsy DeVos’ security detail is costing the Department of Education almost $1 million per month. The US Marshals Service will provide protection for DeVos for the next four years and is hiring nearly two dozen people specifically to guard her. No other cabinet-level official is being guarded by federal marshals. (NBC News)
1/ Trump fired 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at Syria in response to a chemical weapons attack that killed more than 100 people. All but one of the missiles hit their intended target – a military airfield in Homs. Syria claimed at least six people were killed. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Russia failed to carry out a 2013 agreement to secure Syrian chemical weapons, adding that Moscow was either complicit or incompetent in its ability to uphold that deal. (NBC News)
The US is “prepared to do more” in Syria, US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley warned. Haley said the Russian government “bears considerable responsibility” for Assad’s use of chemical weapons. (CNN)
Dozens of US missiles hit Syrian air base in response to the government’s chemical weapons attack. Trump said his decision was prompted by a failure of the world community to respond effectively to the Syrian civil war. (New York Times)
2/ Russia condemns missile strike and suspends air operation cooperation with the US. The accord was meant to prevent accidental encounters between the two militaries. Russia said it would bolster Syria’s air defense systems. Syria called the strikes “a disgraceful act.” (New York Times)
Syria strike puts US relationship with Russia at risk. Putin called the missile strike a “significant blow” to the Russian-American relationship, while Trump suggested Russia bore some responsibility for the chemical weapons attack on Syrian civilians. (New York Times)
3/ The US warned the Russians ahead of Syria missile strikes. In a statement: “Russian forces were notified in advance of the strike using the established deconfliction line. US military planners took precautions to minimize risk to Russian or Syrian personnel located at the airfield.” (CNBC)
Eyewitness says Syrian military anticipated the airstrike. The military evacuated personnel and moved equipment ahead of the strike. (ABC News)
4/ Three killed in Swedish “terror attack.” A truck drove into a crowd on a shopping street and crashed into a department store in central Stockholm. Nobody has been arrested in connection with the attack. (Reuters)
Man arrested after truck plows into store killing 4. It’s unclear whether he was the wanted man seen in the images released by police earlier in the day. (Fox News)
5/ The Senate confirmed Neil Gorsuch as the 113th Supreme Court justice. The vote was only possible after the Senate Republicans changed the rules meant to ensure deliberation and bipartisan cooperation. On Thursday, Democrats waged a filibuster, denying him the 60 votes required to advance to a final vote. (New York Times)
6/ Trump is contemplating major changes to his White House staff, which could include the replacement of Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and Steve Bannon. A top Trump aide said the situation is fluid, “but it’s very unclear the president’s willing to pull that trigger.” (Axios)
Bannon attended National Security Council meeting after he was removed from the committee. Bannon attended the meeting because “he is one of the president’s closest and most trusted advisors.” (CNBC)
7/ House Freedom Caucus signals support for healthcare bill with changes. The group wants to see health insurance coverage waivers related to community rating protections with the exception of gender, essential health benefits and guaranteed issue. (Reuters)
8/ US employers added just 98,000 jobs in March, the fewest in a year. The unemployment rate, however, fell to a nearly 10-year low of 4.5%. (ABC News)
9/ The government withdraws its request ordering Twitter to identify a Trump critic. Twitter filed a lawsuit to protest that order, saying that it violated the user’s First Amendment right to free expression. (Washington Post)
1/ Senate Republicans deploy the “nuclear option” to clear the path for Neil Gorsuch. Republicans changed the Senate rules to bar filibusters of Supreme Court nominees, allowing Gorsuch’s nomination to go forward on a simple majority vote. The rule change fundamentally alters the way the Senate operates and will likely lead to the elevation of ideologically extreme judges if only a majority is required for confirmation. (New York Times)
The legislative filibuster will be at risk now that the Senate has gone nuclear. Since Mitch McConnell has loosened the rules for judicial nominees, he is certain to face intensifying pressure from conservative activists and Trump’s White House to do it again for legislation. (Washington Post)
Lawmakers once again choose partisanship over compromise. Even Republicans who voted with McConnell expressed regret. (Bloomberg)
2/ Democrats filibuster Gorsuch after Republicans fall short of the 60 votes needed to end debate on the nomination and proceed to a final vote of Gorsuch. Mitch McConnell has vowed to change the Senate rules in order to break the filibuster and move to a final vote to confirm him by simple majority. (New York Times)
The Senate is poised for a historic clash over Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch. Democrats are vowing to block a procedural vote to advance Gorsuch’s nomination. Republicans are expected to retaliate, changing the Senate rules to allow Gorsuch and future Supreme Court nominees to be confirmed by a simple majority. A final vote is not scheduled til Friday. (Washington Post)
3/ Devin Nunes temporarily steps aside from leading the House Intelligence Committee. The move comes as the House Committee on Ethics announced that Nunes was under investigation for “unauthorized disclosures of classified information.” Nunes blamed his decision on “left-wing activist groups” that filed accusations against him, which he called “entirely false and politically motivated.” (New York Times)
4/ Team Trump turns on Bannon. Here’s what Steve Bannon’s demotion tells us about the Trump White House. (Axios)
Trump was not pleased by the “President Bannon” puppet-master theme promoted by magazines, late-night talk shows and Twitter. (New York Times)
Kushner believes Bannon’s desire to deconstruct the government is hurting Trump. The onetime New York Democrat has clashed with the hard-right nationalist, as Kushner’s taken on an increasingly prominent role in the West Wing. Bannon complained that Kushner is trying to undermine his populist approach. (Politico)
Bannon threatened to leave White House after he was removed from the National Security Council. “It hasn’t all been fun, and I know he’s been frustrated,” a Republican close to Bannon said. (Fox News)
Republican mega-donor, Rebekah Mercer, urged Bannon not to resign, saying his role is a “long-term play.” (Politico)
Bannon calls Kushner a “cuck” and a “globalist.” The fighting between Kushner and Bannon has been “nonstop” in recent weeks and is an “open secret” that the two often clash “face-to-face.” (The Daily Beast)
Breitbart opens fire on Kushner. The news site published articles highlighting Kushner’s meetings with the Russian ambassador, questioning the ethics of his business dealings, criticizing his “thin resume in diplomacy,” and speculating about whether he is leaking negative stories about Bannon. (Media Matters)
Bannon to associates: “I love a gunfight.” After a series of high-level White House leaks portraying Steve Bannon as fed up with his job and ready to quit, Trump’s chief strategist has told associates the stories are “100 percent nonsense” and he’s playing for keeps. (Axios)
5/ The EPA moves to dismantle programs that protect kids from lead paint. The proposed cuts would roll back programs aimed at reducing lead risks by $16.61 million and more than 70 employees. 38 million U.S. homes contain lead-based paint. (Washington Post)
6/ Trump prodded House Republicans to tweak the health care bill before leaving for spring break. The House Rules Committee will consider an amendment to the bill in an effort to show momentum toward a deal as lawmakers return home for two weeks. (Bloomberg)
7/ Ivanka Trump reached out to the president of Planned Parenthood seeking common ground. In a sit-down with Cecile Richards, the two talked about how the organization is being targeted by Republicans seeking to defund it. Richards made sure Ivanka fully understood what Planned Parenthood does, how it is funded, and why it would be a terrible idea to prevent it from being able to see Medicaid patients. (Politico)
8/ GOP senator believes Trump’s promise to build a border wall “was a metaphor for securing the border.” Trump has never referred to his campaign promise as a metaphor and repeatedly insisted and vowed the wall will be built. (The Hill)
9/ Trump on Syria’s Assad: “Something should happen” after this week’s chemical attack on civilians. Defense Secretary James Mattis will lead Trump through his options, including the potential consequences for military action. (CNN)
Tillerson: “No role” for Assad in Syria. The Secretary of State is considering an “appropriate response” to the Syrian government’s apparent use of chemical weapons. (The Hill)
10/ The CIA had information last summer indicating that Russia was working to help elect Trump. The briefing revealed a split between the CIA and FBI, where officials believed that Russia’s cyberattacks were aimed only at disrupting America’s political system – not at getting Trump elected. (New York Times)
11/ Twitter sued the federal government to block the unmasking of an anonymous account that had been posting critical messages about the Trump administration. Twitter said it could not be compelled to disclose the account holder’s identity. The company argued that the government’s request and reasoning were unlawful, and that uncovering the identity of the user would have “a grave chilling effect” on the speech of the many “alt-accounts” that voice resistance to government policies. (New York Times)
12/ Trump reflects on his “successful 13 weeks” in office. It’s been 11 weeks. (Talking Points Memo)
1/ Steve Bannon has been removed from the National Security Council. The White House said Bannon was placed on the committee to monitor Michael Flynn - he never attended a meeting. The national intelligence director and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff are “regular attendees” of the NSC’s principals committee, again. National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster made the change. (Bloomberg)
Pence says Bannon’s removal from the National Security Council is not a demotion. Adding, Bannon is a “very highly valued” member of Trump’s administration and will “continue to play important policy roles.” (Talking Points Memo)
2/ Neil Gorsuch failed to cite the source of work he copied in his book and an academic article. Gorsuch borrowed from the ideas, quotes, and structures of scholarly and legal works without citing them. The White House pushed back against suggestions of impropriety. Hey, @Gorsuch, here’s how you cite a source => (Politico)
3/ Democratic senator holds floor in 15 hour marathon speech criticizing Gorsuch. Democrats say Gorsuch is too radical in his strict interpretations of the Constitution to serve on the Supreme Court. (ABC News)
4/ A federal appeals court ruled that companies cannot discriminate against LGBT employees because of their sexual orientation. The judge wrote that the Civil Rights Act, which bars discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin or sex, needed to be interpreted based on evolving societal norms. The battle is likely headed to the Supreme Court. (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
5/ North Korea fired a ballistic missile as Trump prepares to meet with Chinese President Xi. The missile fell into the Sea of Japan, but the concern surrounding North Korea’s weapons program is that it could eventually equip long-range missiles with a nuclear warhead. (CNN)
6/ Ivanka Trump: “If being complicit is wanting to be a force for good… then I’m complicit.” Trump said people will have to do without her “public denouncements” and trust that she’s telling her dad hard truths about his policies. (CBS News)
7/ The House Intelligence Committee wants Susan Rice to testify in the probe of alleged Russian election interference. The White House and the House panel’s chairman have accused the Obama administration of improperly using surveillance information, including “unmasking” the redacted names of Trump’s transition team members for political gain. (Wall Street Journal)
8/ Trump says Susan Rice may have committed a crime by seeking the identities of his associates. Trump provided no evidence to back his claim, but said he thinks this is “going to be the biggest story. It’s such an important story for our country and the world. It is one of the big stories of our time.” Current, former, Republican and Democratic intelligence officials have all said that there is nothing unusual or unlawful about Rice’s requests. The identities of Americans swept up in surveillance of foreign officials by intelligence agencies are supposed to be obscured, but can be revealed for national security reasons – a regular occurrence. (New York Times)
Rice denies compiling and leaking names of Trump officials from intelligence reports. Rice said she “absolutely” never sought to uncover “for political purposes” the names of Trump officials concealed in intelligence intercepts. (Washington Post)
9/ Rubio: It’s no coincidence that the Syria gas attack happened after Tillerson’s “concerning” comments. Last week in Turkey, Tillerson said he thinks the long term status of President Assad will be decided by the Syrian people. (CNN)
10/ Trump: Chemical attacks in Syria “crossed many, many lines beyond a red line.” He then criticized Obama for not taking military action in Syria – at the time Trump had publicly urged the president not to do so. (Politico)
Trump’s changes his view of Syria and Assad Altered after “unacceptable” chemical attack, say he would not tolerate the “heinous” chemical weapons attack. (New York Times)
11/ The Senate’s most senior Republicans are split on the going “nuclear” and changing the rules to confirm Gorsuch. McConnell says the “nuclear option” helps the Senate, while McCain says “whoever says that is a stupid idiot.” (Washington Post)
1/ The Republican health care proposal would undermine coverage for those with pre-existing conditions. States could could opt out of requiring insurers to cover essential health benefits. As well as do away with requiring insurance companies to charge the same price to everyone who is the same age. The result might be a market that is much more affordable for healthy people, but would become largely inaccessible to anyone who really needs help paying for medical care. (New York Times)
House Republicans rekindled health care talks. The White House and the Freedom Caucus discussed a proposal to revive the bill, which would cast aside the Affordable Care Act’s pre-existing conditions provision. (Washington Post)
Trumpcare revival talks are falling apart ahead of Pence’s meeting tonight. Conservatives are blaming Paul Ryan for blocking the White House bill, while the Freedom Caucus is making unreasonable demands that are losing net votes. (Axios)
2/ Assad apparently “gasses” civilians days after Tillerson suggested he could stay in power. In a series of airstrikes, helicopters dropped what is likely sarin gas in an attack on the city of Khan Sheikhoun – the signs of trauma suggest it’s a nerve agent, like sarin. The Trump administration has shifted from their accommodationist tone, to blaming the Assad regime and Obama for the attacks. (The Daily Beast)
Spicer said Syrian chemical attack is a “consequence” of Obama “weakness.” Despite the attack, the Trump administration has said that it is up to the people of Syria to pick a leader and that their priority is not getting Assad out of office. (CNN)
McCain blames the Trump administration’s decision to no longer prioritize ending the Syrian civil war. He called it “another disgraceful chapter in American history.” The Trump administration has doubled down on prioritizing the fight against ISIS over ending the Syrian civil war and getting rid of Assad. (CNN)
3/ The Trump administration is considering steps for “extreme vetting.” Foreigners entering US could be forced to disclose contacts on their mobile phones, social media passwords and financial records, and to answer probing questions about their ideology. (Wall Street Journal)
4/ Attorney General Jeff Sessions ordered a review of federal agreements with dozens of law enforcement agencies. In an effort to improve relations between the police and the communities they serve, the Obama administration negotiated reform agreements with troubled police forces. Sessions directed his staff to look at whether the consent decrees adhere to the Trump administration’s goals of promoting officer safety and morale while fighting violent crime. The sweeping federal review could affect consent decrees nationwide. (New York Times)
5/ Trump revoked the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces order Obama put in place to ensure that companies with federal contracts comply with 14 labor and civil rights laws. Advocates say the order rolls back two hard fought victories for women in the workplace: paycheck transparency and a ban on forced arbitration clauses for sexual harassment, sexual assault or discrimination claims. (NBC News)
6/ Trump signs internet privacy bill, gutting rules that prohibited internet providers like Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T from sharing your web browsing history with other companies. The rules would have required wireless and broadband providers to get your permission before sharing your sensitive, private information. (CNET)
The Normal Person’s Guide to Internet Security. A quick and dirty guide to basic internet security for the normal internet user. (What The Fuck Just Happened Today?)
7/ The State Department cut off funding to the UN’s family planning agency that works on maternal and reproductive health. In 2016, US funding prevented an estimated 320,000 unintended pregnancies, averted almost 100,000 unsafe abortions, and provided about 800,000 people with access to contraception. (BuzzFeed News)
8/ Trump urged investigators to scrutinize alleged spying on his transition team. Trump’s administration is concerned about the Obama administration’s role in unmasking identities in intelligence reports. Trump is facing two congressional investigations into Russia’s alleged meddling in the election. The FBI is also conducting its own investigation. (Wall Street Journal)
Susan Rice may “be of interest to us” the Senate Intelligence chairman says. Republican lawmakers are asking the Senate Intelligence Committee to force Rice to testify under oath after a report from Bloomberg suggested Rice requested the identities of people connected to Trump be “unmasked” on dozens of occasions. (Washington Post)
9/ California’s Senate passes “sanctuary state” bill – gives middle finger to Trump. The bill limits state and local police cooperation in enforcing federal immigration laws in order to protect local immigrant populations. Jeff Sessions has said the administration will use federal funds to crack down on “sanctuary cities” and states that choose not to comply with federal immigration laws. (CNN)
poll/ Trump approval rating plummets. 34% of Americans approve of Trump’s job performance. (The Hill)
1/ Democrats secured the 41 votes needed to filibuster Gorsuch, setting the stage for Senate Republicans to enact the “nuclear option” – a unilateral rule change to eliminate the filibuster. Trump and the Republicans have vowed that Gorsuch will be confirmed despite any filibuster. (Washington Post)
Democrats are close to the 41 votes needed to block the nomination of Gorsuch. Mitch McConnell reiterated that he’s prepared to kill the filibuster to get the high court nominee confirmed. (Politico)
Senators fear fallout of nuclear option. Both parties are speculating that a blowup over Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court could lead not only to the end of the filibuster for such nominations, but for controversial legislation as well. (The Hill)
2/ Trump says the US can “solve” North Korea’s nuclear weapons testing program without the help of China. The assertion comes four days ahead of Trump’s first meeting with the Chinese President. (NBC News)
North Korean defector says the “world should be ready.” The country’s “desperate” dictator is prepared to use nuclear weapons to strike the US and its allies. (NBC News)
3/ Trump can take profits from his businesses at any time. Previously unreported changes to Trump’s trust stipulate that it “shall distribute net income or principal to Donald J. Trump at his request” – without ever telling us. (ProPublica)
4/ A former national security adviser requested the identity of dozens of people in raw intelligence reports. White House lawyers say Susan Rice requested intelligence reports that related to Trump transition activities. Rice’s unmasking requests were likely within the law. (Bloomberg)
5/ Blackwater founder Erik Prince and a Russian close to Putin established a back channel line of communication between Moscow and President-elect Trump. The meeting was brokered by the United Arab Emirates nine days before Trump’s inauguration to explore whether Russia could be persuaded to curtail its relationship with Iran, which would likely require major sanction concessions. Prince had no formal role with the Trump campaign or transition team, but he was seen in the Trump transition offices in New York in December. His sister Betsy DeVos serves as education secretary in the Trump administration. (Washington Post)
6/ Trump’s proposed budget would disproportionately harm the rural areas and small towns that were key to his win. Excitement about Trump’s presidency has been dulled by confusion over an agenda that seems aimed at hurting communities more than helping them. (Washington Post)
7/ Trump shifts course on Egypt and praised its authoritarian leader, saying President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has “done a fantastic job in a very difficult situation.” Trump’s predecessors considered authoritarians like Sisi to be distasteful and at times barred them from the White House. Instead, Trump signaled that a partner in the battle against international terrorism is more important to the US than concerns over its brutal suppression of domestic dissent. (New York Times)
8/ Jared Kushner flew to Iraq to get a first-hand assessment of counter-ISIS operations. Kushner was invited by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to examine ways of accelerating a US-led coalition campaign in uprooting Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria. (Reuters)
9/ Trump won’t throw out the first pitch on opening day. But it isn’t because he can’t. White House officials cite a scheduling conflict. CNN writes nearly 1,000 words that Trump can, indeed, get the ball over the plate. (CNN)
1/ Trump may have incited violence during a Louisville campaign rally a federal judge in Kentucky said. Trump’s attorneys sought to have the case dismissed on free speech grounds. The judge noted that speech inciting violence is not protected by the First Amendment and ruled that there is plenty of evidence that the protesters’ injuries were a “direct and proximate result” of Trump’s words. Trump repeatedly said “get ’em out of here” before the protesters were shoved and punched by his supporters. (Washington Post)
2/ Michael Flynn initially failed to disclose payments from Russian propaganda network. The former National Security Advisor’s financial disclosure forms made no mention of a $45,000 payment from a Russian state-run media network. (The Daily Beast)
3/ The United Nations warns that Americans’ right to protest is in danger under Trump. At least 19 states have introduced measures that would criminalize peaceful protests, stiffen penalties for demonstrators who block traffic, and even allow motorists to run over and kill agitators as long as the crash was “accidental.” The bills represent an “alarming and undemocratic” trend that could have a chilling effect on activism. (Washington Post)
4/ Democrats are urging Trump to veto the bill allowing your internet provider to sell your browsing history without your permission. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer said consumers would be stripped of critical privacy protections and would make private data from laptops, iPads, and cellphones fair game for internet companies to sell.(Associated Press)
5/ The Chinese ambassador has established a back channel with Jared Kushner. The Chinese have found Trump to be a bewildering figure, but Kushner has been a steady hand, helping orchestrate a fence-mending phone call between Trump and the Chinese President over the four-decade-old “One China” policy on Taiwan. (New York Times)
6/ FBI is probing whether Trump aides helped Russian intelligence carry out cyberattacks on the Democratic National Committee and other political targets in early 2016. The FBI is going back further than originally reported to determine the extent of possible coordination. (CBS News)
7/ Obama administration officials made a list of Russian probe documents to keep them safe. The former administration was so concerned about what would happen to key classified documents after Trump took office that they created a list of document serial numbers to give to senior members of the Senate Intelligence Committee. (NBC News)
8/ Mark Cuban doesn’t think Trump could have pulled off Russia collusion. Cuban argued that Trump “isn’t detail oriented, organized or big picture enough” to pull off any such “conspiracy.” (The Hill)
9/ The Senate Judiciary Committee panel is set to vote on Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch. The vote sets the stage for a showdown in how Gorsuch’s confirmation will be achieved: Democrats will try to filibuster the vote. Republicans have vowed to change the Senate’s rules if necessary. (USA Today)
10/ Russian government posts April Fools’ Day prank offering “election interference.” The Russian Foreign Ministry posted on an audio message of an automated telephone switchboard to arrange a call from a Russian diplomat to “to use the services of Russian hackers,” and “to request election interference.” (CBS News)
1/ The Trump administration released the financial disclosures for White House staff. Here’s the tl;dr. (New York Times)
Bannon made between $1.3 and 2.3 million last year.
Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner still benefit from their real estate empires. (New York Times)
Gary Cohn, a former Goldman executive, is among the wealthiest White House employees.
Kellyanne Conway made over $800,000 from her consulting firm.
2/ Kushner’s privileged status stokes resentment among White House staff. Colleagues question if he is capable of following through on his commitments, complaining that he dabbles in a myriad issues and walks in and out of meetings. (Politico)
3/ Trump tweets at NBC to stop covering the “phony” story about Russian interference in the election. It’s not clear what set Trump off, but he wants NBC News to devote more attention to the unproven claim that Obama spied on him. (The Hill)
When will Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd and @NBCNews start talking about the Obama SURVEILLANCE SCANDAL and stop with the Fake Trump/Russia story?
4/ The White House is exploring a reorganization to stabilize the administration consumed by crisis and chaos. Following the failure to advance the health care legislation, Pence, Priebus, Kushner, Bannon, and chief economic adviser Gary Cohn gathered held post-mortems about what went wrong. (Politico)
Trump’s White House struggles to get out from under the Russia controversy. Aides have expressed frustration at their inability to gain control of the narrative. (Washington Post)
5/ Trump skipped out on signing two executive orders after a reporter asked about Michael Flynn. Pence tried to persuade Trump to return to his desk, where the orders remained unsigned. Instead, Trump made a gesture to Pence to gather the orders. Trump signed the orders out of sight of the media. (Huffington Post)
1/ Trump urged Flynn to seek immunity, calling the congressional inquiries a “witch hunt” by the media and Democrats. Trump tweeted the statement after Flynn asked for immunity in order to testify to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees. (New York Times)
Mike Flynn should ask for immunity in that this is a witch hunt (excuse for big election loss), by media & Dems, of historic proportion!
Flynn offered to cooperate with congressional investigators in exchange for immunity from prosecution. Officials said the idea of immunity was a “non-starter.” (Washington Post)
2/ The Senate Intelligence Committee rejected Flynn’s request for immunity in exchange for his testimony. Flynn’s lawyer was told it was “wildly preliminary” and that immunity was “not on the table.” (NBC News)
3/ Schiff said it’s too early for the House Intelligence Committee to discuss immunity in exchange for Flynn’s testimony. Schiff said he would discuss Flynn’s offer with the Senate Intelligence Committee and the Justice Department, and that he would need to receive details about what Flynn would say. (Bloomberg)
4/ Tom Price helped kill a rule that would hurt drug company profits the same day he acquired drug stock. The HHS secretary bought $90,000 worth of pharmaceutical stock. He said his broker acted on his behalf without his involvement or knowledge. (ProPublica)
5/ The first two Democrats back Trump’s Supreme Court pick. The support by Senators Joe Manchin and Heidi Heitkamp of Neil Gorsuch give Republicans two of the eight Democratic votes needed to avoid a fight on the Senate floor next week. (Reuters)
6/ Trump says he will hold Congress “accountable” on health care. He began the day on Twitter, calling for his supporters to fight conservative members of his own party in the midterm elections. Trump’s director of legislative affairs called that “accountability.” (ABC News)
The Freedom Caucus will hurt the entire Republican agenda if they don't get on the team, & fast. We must fight them, & Dems, in 2018!
7/ Germany balks at Tillerson’s call to spend more on NATO defense. The German foreign minister said it was neither “reachable nor desirable” for Germany to spend the 2% of member states’ economic output on defense. NATO allies have until 2024 to do that. (Reuters)
8/ U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis says North Korea has “got to be stopped.” He emphasized diplomatic means of changing Pyongyang’s “reckless” agenda. (Washington Post)
9/ Senate voted to eliminate a rule aimed at boosting retirement accounts for low-income workers. Senators voted 50-49 to roll back a rule meant to encourage states to create retirement plans for private-sector workers whose employers do not offer their own retirement plans. (The Hill)
1/ Flynn offers to testify in exchange for immunity. The former national security adviser tells FBI, the House and Senate intelligence committees he’s willing to be interviewed in exchange for a grant of immunity from prosecution. (Wall Street Journal)
2/ The Energy Department’s climate office banned the use of the phrase “climate change.” It’s also the only office with the word “climate” in its name. Staff were told not to use “emissions reduction” or the “Paris Agreement” in written memos or briefings. (Politico)
The Vatican urged Trump to reconsider climate change position and listen to “dissenting voices.” The US could be passed by China as the leader in environmental protection, which is investing heavily in the export of clean energy products such as solar panels and wind turbines. (Reuters)
The House voted to restrict the kind of scientific studies and data that the EPA can use to justify new regulations. The Honest and Open New EPA Science Treatment Act passed 228-194 and prohibits the EPA from writing any regulation that uses science that is not publicly available. (The Hill)
3/ EPA chief Scott Pruitt rejected the agency’s scientific conclusion to permanently ban one of the most widely used insecticides at farms nationwide. The agency’s own chemical safety experts said that exposure to chlorpyrifos potentially causes learning and memory declines. The insecticide was banned in 2000 for use in most household settings, but is still used at about 40,000 farms on about 50 different types of crops, ranging from almonds to apples. (New York Times)
4/ Trump declared war on the House Freedom Caucus, tweeting “we must fight them” in the 2018 midterm elections. The group of hard-line conservative Republicans blocked the health care bill. (Washington Post)
The Freedom Caucus will hurt the entire Republican agenda if they don't get on the team, & fast. We must fight them, & Dems, in 2018!
Ryan warned Republican holdouts they need to unify or risk Trump cutting a deal with Democrats. Republicans appear uncomfortable with the harsh new tone coming from Ryan. (Bloomberg)
Paul Ryan said the health care bill is going through a “growing pain.” He’s been encouraging members to keep talking to each other until they figure out “how we get to yes.” (CBS News)
5/ A pair of White House officials provided intelligence reports to Devin Nunes that showed Trump and his associates were incidentally swept up in foreign surveillance by American spy agencies. Nunes has been faulted by his colleagues for sharing the information with Trump before consulting with the intelligence committee. (New York Times)
6/ Putin called Russia election meddling claims “fictional, illusory, provocations and lies.” When asked if Russia interfered in the election, Putin responded: “Read my lips: No.” He also downplayed the meeting between Kushner and Russian banker and says US-Russian relations have reached the “point of absurdity.” (CNN)
The House and Senate probes on Russia are headed down different paths. The House Intelligence Committee has been publicly marred by controversy by Chairman Devin Nunes. The Senate Intelligence Committee has presented a united front as they shared details of their ongoing inquiry, including possible collusion, and vowed to “get to the bottom of this.” (ABC News)
7/ North Carolina reached an agreement to repeal the restrictive transgender bathroom law. Gay rights advocates raised objections, arguing that the compromise would continue to allow discrimination. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people would have no statewide anti-discrimination ordinance or ability to seek protections from local government for several years. (New York Times)
8/ The city of Seattle sued the Trump administration over its executive order to withhold federal funds from “sanctuary cities.” Seattle argued it amounted to unconstitutional federal coercion and the mayor called the Trump administration a “bully.” (Reuters)
9/ The Trump administration signaled it would seek only modest changes to NAFTA, including a government-procurement section that could open up door for more “Buy American” policies. Trump called the North American Free Trade Agreement a “disaster” during the campaign. (Wall Street Journal)
10/ Pence breaks tie in Senate vote on Planned Parenthood funding. The Senate can now debate on a resolution that would reverse a proposed Obama administration action that bans states from blocking Title X family planning grants to Planned Parenthood and other health care providers that offer abortion. Title X funding covers services such as contraception, STD screenings and treatments but cannot be used to pay for abortion services. (Politico)
1/ Nunes could be facing an ethics probe after disclosing the existence of a foreign surveillance warrant. House Ethics Committee rules compel Congress to investigate any “unauthorized disclosure of intelligence.” (The Daily Beast)
2/ FBI Director James Comey attempted to reveal Russian tampering months before the election. Obama administration officials blocked him. Comey had pitched the idea of writing an op-ed about Putin’s effort to influence the election. It would not have mentioned whether the FBI was investigating Trump’s campaign workers or others close to him. (Newsweek)
3/ The Senate Intelligence Committee has asked to question 20 people in its investigation into Russian interference in the election. The bipartisan composure contrasts the House Intelligence Committee, where Representative Devin Nunes ties to the Trump White House have raised doubts about his ability to conduct an impartial investigation. (New York Times)
Senate steps up as House Russia probe flails. The leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee delivered a bipartisan show of force. (Politico)
4/ The US won’t tally LGBT people in the 2020 census. A draft of subjects planned for the census initially had a proposal to include sexual orientation and gender identity for the first time. That inclusion was not listed in the finalized report delivered to Congress this week. (Huffington Post)
5/ Neil Gorsuch looks short of the 60 votes needed to avoid a filibuster. This is as close to must-win as it gets for Trump and the GOP after last week’s health care debacle and McConnell has guaranteed Gorsuch will be confirmed on April 7. If Democrats filibuster, McConnell will then need to whip 50 of his 52 members to change the rules unilaterally to end the filibuster by simple majority and allow Gorsuch’s confirmation. (Politico)
6/ Ivanka Trump will take an unpaid federal job as her father’s assistant. She’ll be moving from an informal, voluntary role to an official adviser. Her previous role raised ethics concerns, which would allow her to avoid some rules and disclosures. (New York Times)
7/ House GOP is weighing another vote on Obamacare. Paul Ryan is encouraging members to continue talking about how to “get to a place of yes” on health care. Members of Freedom Caucus have been talking with Republican moderate holdouts in an effort to identify changes that could bring them on board with the measure. (Bloomberg)
8/ Theresa May triggers the official Brexit process in a letter to the EU. The move kicks off a two-year negotiation period for both sides to agree to the divorce and establish a new trade deal before the March 2019 deadline. (BBC)
9/ DNC Chairman asks all staffers for their resignation letters in a major overhaul of the party’s organization. The mass resignation letters will give Tom Perez a chance to completely remake the DNC’s headquarters from scratch. (NBC News)
10/ Trump’s company pursues a second Washington hotel amid criticism over ethics. The second hotel would be under the new Scion brand and licensed by a developer from the Trumps. (Washington Post)
11/ Police union warns Trump’s “sanctuary city” cuts could risk safety. The Fraternal Order of Police were one of Trump’s biggest supporters during the 2016 election. (Reuters)
12/ Sean Spicer lashes out at a reporter: “Stop shaking your head.” Spicer snapped at the American Urban Radio Networks’ correspondent April Ryan after she asked how Trump’s administration would work to repair its image. (NBC News)
13/ Trump attacks The New York Times again. It’s not clear what set Trump off this time, but he took to Twitter falsely recalling the time when the “failing” New York Times “apologized” to its subscribers after the election “because their coverage was so wrong.” (Talking Points Memo)
.@realdonaldtrump False, we did not apologize. We stand by our coverage & thank our millions of subscribers for supporting our journalism.
14/ Health secretary pledges to uphold Obamacare, but little else. Tom Price was non-committal when asked if he would continue to promote Obamacare enrollment and enforce essential health benefits requirement, such as maternity benefits. (CNBC)
poll/ Republicans blame bill, not Trump, for the health care defeat. 49% of those surveyed said the Republican bill failed because it “just wasn’t popular.” 30% of Republicans said it didn’t pass because “Democrats didn’t compromise.” (CBS News)
1/ Democrats call for Nunes to recuse himself in Russia probe. Pelosi and Schiff both say Nunes is too close to the White House to lead a thorough investigation into Russia. His behavior has discredited and tarnished the House Intelligence Committee, making it difficult for him to remain credible. The committee has scrapped all meetings this week amid the turmoil. (CNN)
The first GOP lawmaker calls for Nunes to recuse himself. “How can you be chairman of a major committee and do all these things behind the scenes and keep your credibility? You can’t keep your credibility,” Walter Jones said. (The Hill)
2/ Trump administration tried to block Sally Yates from testifying to Congress on Russia. The Justice Department notified Yates earlier this month that the administration considers a great deal of her possible testimony to be barred from discussion in a congressional hearing because the topics are covered by the presidential communication privilege. (Washington Post)
3/ Trump signs an executive order to dismantle Obama’s climate change policies. Trump celebrated the move as a way to promote energy independence and restore thousands of lost coal industry jobs. The executive order directs the EPA to start the legal process of withdrawing and rewriting the Clean Power Plan. (New York Times)
Trump to sign an order dismantling Obama’s efforts to reverse climate change. The order will suspend, rescind, or flag for review more than a half-dozen measures in an effort to boost domestic energy production in the form of fossil fuels. Trump has called global warming a “hoax” invented by the Chinese. (Associated Press)
Trump moves decisively to wipe out Obama’s climate-change record. The sweeping executive order seeks to lift a moratorium on federal coal leasing and remove the requirement that federal officials consider the impact of climate change when making decisions. (Washington Post)
Despite Trump’s move to ease carbon emissions, companies will continue to shift from coal. Energy experts say Trump’s expected roll back of the Clean Power Plan is unlikely to reverse the U.S. utility industry’s shift to natural gas, solar and wind as leading sources of electricity. (Wall Street Journal)
4/ Trump repeatedly turned to wealthy Russians and oligarchs allegedly connected to organized crime. Trump and his companies have been linked to at least 10 wealthy former Soviet businessmen with alleged ties to criminal organizations or money laundering. (USA Today)
5/ Congress votes to gut internet privacy rules. The vote repeals a set of landmark privacy protections, allowing internet providers to sell your browsing history, monitor your online habits, and deploy hidden tracking cookies on your phones. The measure heads to the White House, where Trump is expected to sign it. The measure was approved by the house 215-205. The Senate approved it last week by a 50-48 vote. (BuzzFeed News)
6/ Trump tweets: “Russia story is a hoax.” In a 37-minute, four-tweet Twitter tirade, Trump attacks Bill and Hillary Clinton, the “Podesta Russian Company,” the Freedom Caucus, Democrats, and Obamacare. (Politico)
7/ Congress may stiff Trump on funding to build his wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump’s hoping to jump-start construction with money in a must-pass government funding bill. Democratic leaders are vowing to block any legislation that includes a single penny for the wall. The result could end in a government shutdown next month if the bill doesn’t pass. (Politico)
8/ Trump wants to do tax reform and infrastructure at the same time. The shift to infrastructure is to buy the support of Democrats while avoiding negotiations with the Freedom Caucus, which sank the health care bill. The infrastructure plan was likely going to be parked until next year. (Axios)
9/ Paul Manafort has engaged in a series of real estate deals in New York City over the past 11 years that fit a pattern used in money laundering. The former Trump campaign manager is also facing multiple investigations for his political and financial ties to Russia. (WYNC)
10/ The White House is asking Congress to cut $18 billion on everything from education to mental health programs. The cut would help pay for Trump’s military supplemental request, the proposed border wall, and the rest absorbed to help prevent a government shutdown. (Politico)
11/ House Republicans and the White House have restarted negotiations on legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Just days after Trump said he was moving on to other issues, the White House is now saying hope they can still score the kind of big legislative victory that has so far eluded Trump. (New York Times)
12/ Trump believes the Supremacy Clause bars state lawsuits against a sitting president. A lawsuit claims Trump tarnished an “Apprentice” alum’s reputation and accuses him of kissing her twice in 2007 and attacking her in a hotel room. (Hollywood Reporter)
13/ Sanctuary city mayors fire back at Trump administration’s threat to cut fed funding. “If they actually act to take away our money, we’ll see them in court,” vowed New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. (Fox News)
1/ Kushner to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee as part of their inquiry into ties between Trump and Russia. The Committee wants to question Kushner about previously undisclosed meetings he arranged with the Russian ambassador Sergey I. Kislyak. The Senate’s decision to question Kushner would make him the closest person to Trump to be called upon in any of the investigations, and the only one currently serving in the White House. (New York Times)
2/ Nunes says he was on White House grounds the day before revealing Trump surveillance information. He was not in the White House itself that day and nobody from the White House even knew he was there. Nunes said he went to the White House grounds for additional meetings “to confirm what I already knew” and needed a secure area to view the information he has received. (CNN)
Devin Nunes explains his White House visit. Nunes went off the grid to view dozens of intelligence reports the night before announcing that the “intelligence community incidentally collected information about U.S. citizens involved in the Trump transition.” After briefing reporters the next day, Nunes then went back to the White House to inform Trump. (Bloomberg)
3/ Democrats delay the vote on Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch. At least 19 Democrats have come out in opposition to Gorsuch and Chuck Schumer has said that he will filibuster the nominee. Republicans hold 52 seats, which means they will need at least eight Democrats to vote with them to end the filibuster and send Gorsuch forward for a final confirmation vote that would then require a simple majority. Republicans have the extreme option of employing the “nuclear” option – changing Senate rules to eliminate the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees. (NBC News)
4/ Trump taps Kushner to lead a new White House office aimed at fixing government using business ideas. The White House Office of American Innovation will operate as its own power center within the West Wing and will report directly to Trump. The office will be staffed by former business executives and is designed to infuse fresh thinking into Washington and float above the daily political grind. (Washington Post)
5/ Republicans set their sights on tax reform after the bruising collapse of their health care plan. The failure also makes the tax overhaul more politically complex. If Republicans use a procedure called budget reconciliation to have the Senate pass tax legislation with a simple majority, their plans cannot add to deficits over a period of 10 years. Eliminating the $1 trillion of Affordable Care Act taxes and the federal spending associated with that law would have made this easier. (New York Times)
6/ Sessions says grants to be withheld from sanctuary cities. Compliance with federal immigration laws will be a prerequisite for states and localities that want to receive grants from the department’s Office of Justice Programs that provide billions of dollars in funding to help criminal justice programs across the country. (The Hill)
7/ Stocks sank on worries that the Trump White House may not be able to help businesses as much as once thought. Many of the trends that have been in place since Election Day went into sharp reverse: The dollar’s value sank against other currencies, as did bank stocks, while prices jumped for Treasury bonds. (ABC News)
8/ US economy expected to grow slower than Trump pledged. According to 50 economists, the economy will grow 2.3% this year and 2.5% in 2018. Those rates would be up from 2016’s 1.6%, but below the 3% to 4% growth Trump has promised to bring through steep corporate and individual tax cuts and more spending on roads, airports and tunnels. (Associated Press)
9/ Russians take to the streets in nationwide anti-government protest. The Kremlin dismissed the protests as “provocation” by anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny. Thousands of Russians turned out to protest corruption under Putin. More than 1,000 people taken into custody by police. (NPR)
10/ White House denies report that Trump handed Merkel a bill for NATO services. The Times, a U.K.-based publication, cited unnamed sources that claimed Trump handed Merkel a bill for the US’s services to the alliance when the two met recently in Washington. (CNBC)
11/ Carl Icahn’s role dual role as investor and Trump advisor raises ethics flags. Ichan has been busy working behind the scenes to try to revamp an obscure Environmental Protection Agency rule that governs the way corn-based ethanol is mixed into gasoline nationwide. The issue: Icahn is a majority investor in an oil refinery that would have saved $205.9 million last year had the regulatory fix he is pushing been in place. (New York Times)
poll/ Trump’s approval rating drops to new low of 36%. Trump’s three-day reading prior to the failed effort to pass a new health care bill was 41%. (Gallup)
1/ Trump shifts blame to conservatives on health care bill failure. Two days after pointing his finger at Democrats for the failure of the GOP health care proposal, Trump says he is open to working with Democrats on health care reform. (ABC News)
Lindsey Graham on health care: Republicans and Democrats need to work together. “I don’t think that one party’s going to be able to fix this by themselves,” he said. “I think the President should reach out to Democrats.” Trump blamed Democrats and vowed to let Obamacare “explode.” (CNN)
2/ Fox News host demands Paul Ryan resign, hours after Trump urged followers to watch. Jeanine Pirro, host of “Justice With Judge Jeanine,” delivered a diatribe against the House speaker, calling on him to step down after letting Trump down by not doing his share of the work in corralling Republican votes to fulfill a seven-year promise to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. (New York Times)
3/ EPA chief Scott Pruitt says Trump will sign a new executive order this week that unravels Obama’s plan to curb global warming. The order will undo the Clean Power Plan, which restricts greenhouse gas emissions at coal-fired power plants. (Talking Points Memo)
~~4/ Trump handed Angela Merkel a bill for more than £300bn when they met last week. The bill is for money Germany “owed” NATO, calculating the extent to which German defense spending had fallen short of the 2% of GDP target required and then charged interest. (The Times and The Sunday Times)~~ [Editor’s note: Germany didn’t receive NATO invoice from Trump. There is no “debt account at NATO,” says German government spokesman. (Politico)]
5/ Democrats introduce “MAR-A-LAGO” act to force Trump to provide visitor logs. The act would require the Trump administration to disclose the names of anyone who visits the White House or “any other location at which the President or the Vice President regularly conducts official business.” (NBC News)
6/ Nearly 1 out of every 3 days he has been president, Trump has visited a Trump property. 21 of the 66 days he has been in office, meaning that for the equivalent of three full weeks of his just-over-nine weeks as commander in chief, he has spent all or part of a day at a Trump property. (Washington Post)
7/ A pro-Trump rally ended with a man getting beaten with a “Make America Great Again” sign. One man was held down to the ground and punched and hit in the face with pepper spray. (Washington Post)
1/ Bannon tells Trump to “keep a shit list” of Republicans that opposed him. The proposed “hit list” for Republicans not sufficiently loyal is to send the message that “we’ll remember you.” (The Daily Beast)
2/ Flynn met with Turkish government ministers and discussed ideas about how to get a Muslim cleric to Turkey without going through the U.S. extradition process while he was serving as an adviser to the Trump campaign. Turkey has accused Fethullah Gulen of orchestrating last summer’s failed military coup. (Wall Street Journal)
3/ The U.S. military admitted that an airstrike in Iraq corresponds to a site where 200 civilians allegedly died, but said it is still assessing the details of the strike and the validity of allegations of civilian casualties. (ABC News)
4/ Trump’s unhappy that Jared Kushner was skiing while the health care bill was floundering. It has not clear what specific role Kushner would have played in the legislative effort, but Trump is already pointing fingers at his top staffers for what he considers shoddy support. (CNN)
5/ Schiff says Nunes canceled the Russia hearing to spare the president a bad news cycle. Nunes said the hearing would be postponed to allow FBI director James Comey and NSA director Mike Rogers to address the committee in a closed session. (New York Magazine)
6/ Trump claims credit for creating 20,000 jobs that were actually created in 2015. The jobs were promised as part of assurances made to an Obama-appointed FCC chair to help approve Charter Communications’ purchase of Time Warner Cable for $56.7 billion. (The Daily Beast)
7/ Keystone XL pipeline would only create 35 permanent jobs. Trump hailed the State Department’s approval of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline as a big win for American workers. (CNN)
8/ Eric Trump will share business updates with Donald “probably quarterly.” Trump and his White House have argued that he is exempt from any conflicts of interest, despite opting against selling his business or placing it in a blind trust. (Politico)
9/ Toronto schools will no longer allow student trips to US. The Toronto District School Board cited uncertainty over the travel ban and expressed concerns about how the US immigration policy could affect students on school trips. (CNN)
10/ The American Action Network PAC ran ads congratulating Republicans for repealing Obamacare. Several Republican-adjacent TV markets saw prematurely bought ads inviting viewers to call their representatives and thank them for repealing Obamacare – something that did not happen. (Deadspin)
11/ Breitbart says the White House and GOP lawmakers are talking about replacing Paul Ryan after he failed to deliver the votes needed on the health care bill. The main complaint is that Ryan misled Trump on the level of GOP support for the bill. (Axios)
12/ Russia’s state news service applies for a White House press pass. The state-owned news website Sputnik is seeking membership in the White House Foreign Press Group in order to become a part of pool rotations. Sputnik has been described as the “BuzzFeed of propaganda.” (Politico)
poll/ 66% of Americans want an independent commission to investigate Trump-Russia ties. 65% of respondents think alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election is either “very important” or “somewhat important,” and 63% said they were “very concerned” or “somewhat concerned” about Trump’s relationship with Russia. (Politico)
1/ House leaders pull Obamacare repeal bill. A slew of late-breaking defections by Republicans were unbowed by Trump’s ultimatum to vote for the plan or live with Obamacare. House Republican leaders abruptly pull the bill moments before the vote was due to begin. The House is now holding an emergency GOP caucus meeting. (Politico)
President Trump just called me. Still on phone. "We just pulled it," he tells me.
Trump’s first legislative effort fails as GOP pull bill to repeal Obamacare. Facing a revolt among conservatives and moderates in their ranks, House Republican pulled legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act in a humiliating defeat for Trump. (New York Times)
House Republican leaders abruptly pull their rewrite of the nation’s health-care law. The opposition continued despite Trump’s ultimatum: Vote for the bill, or reject it and move on. (Washington Post)
Ryan lacks enough votes for the health care bill as Republicans mutiny. Ryan rushed to the White House to inform Trump he did not have the votes to pass legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act. If the bill does not pass, it would represent multiple failures for Trump and the Republican Congress. (New York Times)
After Trump’s ultimatum, some GOP lawmakers change stance on the health care bill. It’s unclear whether Trump and Paul Ryan have the votes to get the package through the House. At least three lawmakers who had previously pledged to vote against the bill have changed their minds. (Washington Post)
GOP leaders not confident they have the votes to pass the health bill. (Bloomberg)
2/ Trump blames Democrats for his health care defeat and predicted that they would seek a deal within a year after “Obamacare explodes” because of high premiums. Trump and Stephen Bannon demanded to see a confidential whip count list compiled to exact revenge on the bill’s Republican opponents. (New York Times)
The White House is prepared to blame Paul Ryan if the health bill fails. In public, however, Trump said that Ryan shouldn’t lose his job if the bill goes down. (Bloomberg)
White House on health care bill: Don’t blame Trump. The iron-clad confidence is gone and damage control is underway. “The president has given it his all,” Sean Spicer said. (Politico)
3/ “It’s time for Ivanka to… stand for women.” Planned Parenthood’s president called on Ivanka to step into the debate over the Republican health care bill, saying her silence has been “deafening” and that the bill is “the most anti-woman bill that I have ever seen.” (BuzzFeed News)
The irony is that the Freedom Caucus, which is very pro-life and against Planned Parenthood, allows P.P. to continue if they stop this plan!
4/ Schiff: New evidence shows possible Trump-Russia collusion, suggesting “it’s the kind of evidence” that a grand jury investigation would want to consider. (CNN)
5/ Nunes cancels Tuesday’s public hearing with the former director of National Intelligence, CIA director, and attorney general. The former members of the Obama administration were scheduled to testify on Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. Schiff suggested the move was to avoid more bad publicity for the White House. (Politico)
Trump’s former campaign chairman volunteers to testify before the House Intelligence Committee. News surfaced this week that Manafort signed a multimillion-dollar contract with a Russian oligarch in 2006 to advance Putin’s interests around the world. (The Hill)
Intelligence chair now unsure if Trump associates were even directly surveilled. Nunes does not know “for sure” whether Trump or members of his team were even on the phone calls. (ABC News)
6/ Trump grants approval for Keystone XL pipeline, calling it “the first of many infrastructure projects” that he would approve in order to put more Americans to work. (Washington Post)
7/ ICE is targeting “sanctuary cities” with raids in an effort to pressure those jurisdictions to cooperate with federal immigration agents. (CNN)
8/ Treasury secretary “not at all” worried about robots taking jobs. The displacement of jobs by artificial intelligence and automation is “not even on my radar screen” because the technology is “50-100 more years” away. The techcommunityisdumbfounded. (The Verge)
1/ Trump demands vote on health care plan Friday. If the bill fails, Trump is prepared to move on and leave Obamacare in place. Regardless, Trump and Paul Ryan are finished with negotiations on their health care bill. (CNN)
2/ GOP health care plan in doubt after Freedom Caucus rebuffs White House offer to strip a key set of mandates. Ryan can only lose 21 Republican votes. 37 Republicans say they will vote against the bill as it now stands. The only existing mandates conservatives are open to preserving are ones that bar insurers from denying coverage based on preexisting conditions and allow children to stay on their parents’ plans until age 26. (Washington Post)
UPDATE:
The House will not vote on the Republican health care bill today. Enough Republican publicly said they would vote against the bill to sink it. (CNN)
Today’s vote on the health care bill has been canceled. Paul Ryan likely did not have the votes needed to pass the measure after Trump’s inability to clinch an agreement with Freedom Caucus members. (Bloomberg)
The Freedom Caucus is closing in on a deal to rewrite the health care bill at the 11th hour. The group is negotiating directly with Trump and the White House on an amendment to the bill, cutting out GOP leadership from the conversation as Paul Ryan and his deputies work to corral votes for a bill that is, in these latest provisions, a mystery even to them. The changes could save face in the House, but doom the bill in the Senate. (Huffington Post)
Trump struggles to win votes on Obamacare repeal. Trump and Ryan need strong support from their side of the aisle and can only afford to lose 21 Republican votes. (Reuters)
3/ Latest House GOP health care bill would still cause 24 million more Americans to be uninsured. The CBO analysis says the newest plan would reduce savings in federal spending by half as much as the original legislation, but would leave just as many uninsured by 2026. (Washington Post)
4/ Trump’s health care repeal concessions to the House likely wouldn’t pass in the Senate. Democrats in the Senate say they have enough votes to block any Republican attempt to repeal health benefits at a 60-vote threshold. (Politico)
5/ Democrats plan to filibuster Gorsuch nomination. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer announced he would oppose Gorsuch and join Democrats in filibustering the nomination, making it likely that the judge will struggle to find the support needed to clear a 60-vote procedural hurdle. (Washington Post)
Democrats are weighing a deal to let Gorsuch through In exchange, Republicans would keep the filibuster intact for a subsequent vacancy during Trump’s term. The next court opening could alter the balance, and some argue that will be far more consequential than the current one. (Politico)
6/ Nunes puts the credibility of the House Intelligence panel in doubt. Nunes raised questions about his own ability to conduct an impartial bipartisan investigation when he bypassed Democrats and went directly to the White House with information that showed intelligence agencies may have “incidentally” picked up communications of Trump’s transition team members. (New York Times)
Nunes apologizes after going directly to White House with monitoring claims. Schiff blasted Nunes for briefing the White House on his claims before telling his own committee. (Politico)
McCain calls for select committee to investigate Russian interference following the “bizarre” behavior by Nunes and Schiff. Republican leaders on Capitol Hill have so far resisted such a move. (NBC News)
7/ In a step toward “extreme vetting,” Trump orders new security checks on people seeking visas for family, business or tourism reasons. Diplomatic cables sent from Rex Tillerson to all American embassies instructed consular officials to broadly increase scrutiny. (New York Times)
8/ Trump defends his wild claims: “I’m president, and you’re not” in an interview with TIME about the way he handles truth and falsehood. (TIME)
9/ Senate Republicans vote to gut privacy rules that require internet providers to first get your permission before they can sell your private information, like browsing history and location data. (BuzzFeed News)
1/ Trump associates may have coordinated with Russians to release of information damaging the Clinton campaign. One official said the information suggests the “people connected to the campaign were in contact and it appeared they were giving the thumbs up to release information when it was ready.” (CNN)
2/ Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman, secretly worked for a Russian billionaire to advance the interests of Putin a decade ago. He proposed a political strategy to undermine anti-Russian opposition across the former Soviet republics, contradicting assertions by the Trump administration and Manafort himself that he never worked for Russian interests. (Associated Press)
3/ Trump and House GOP leaders lack the votes needed to pass the Obamacare repeal. More than 25 Freedom Caucus members are threatening to derail the legislation, saying the latest revisions don’t go far enough. It only takes 22 GOP lawmakers to block the bill. (Politico)
4/ Schumer calls for delaying Gorsuch vote because of the Trump-Russia probe. While his demand is unlikely to gain traction with Senate GOP leaders, the move illustrates a strategy of using the stain of an FBI probe to undercut the rest of Trump’s agenda. (Politico)
5/ While Gorsuch was testifying, the Supreme Court unanimously overturned his ruling on providing students with disabilities with an education. Gorsuch’s 2008 opinion said school districts simply had to provide disabled students with a little more than nothing, rather than a free and “appropriate public education.” All eight justices said Gorsuch 2008’s opinion was wrong and that public school instruction must be “specially designed” to meet a child’s “unique needs.” (Think Progress)
“I’ll criticize judges,” Trump says, hours after Gorsuch said he’d rule against Trump if the law required it. “When anyone criticizes the honesty or integrity or motives of a federal judge,” Gorsuch said at his confirmation hearing, “I find that disheartening and demoralizing.” Trump called out a federal court judge in Hawaii who placed a stay on his second travel ban. (New York Times)
6/ Members of the Trump transition team were under inadvertent surveillance following the election. House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes said the surveillance appears to have been legal, incidental collection and that it does not appear to have been related to concerns over collusion with Russia. (Politico)
7/ Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn didn’t sign Trump’s ethics pledge. The pledge barred federal appointees from lobbying their former colleagues for five years after leaving the administration and banned them from lobbying on behalf of foreign governments for life. (The Daily Beast)
8/ North Korea has no fear of U.S. sanctions move and will pursue “acceleration” of its nuclear and missile programs. This includes developing a “pre-emptive first strike capability” and an inter-continental ballistic missile. (Reuters)
9/ The White House is preparing to dismantle Obama’s climate change policy. Trump will order Scott Pruitt, EPA chief, to withdraw and rewrite a set of Obama-era regulations known as the Clean Power Plan, which was devised to shut down hundreds of heavily polluting coal-fired power plants and freeze construction of new coal plants, while replacing them with vast wind and solar farms. (New York Times)
10/ Trump signs NASA bill aimed at sending people to Mars. The bill authorized $19.5 billion in funding to support NASA’s long-term goal of sending humans to Mars by the 2030s. (Washington Post)
11/ The Secret Service has asked for $60 million extra for travel and protection resulting from the complicated Trump family lifestyle. $26.8 million would pay to protect Trump Tower. (Washington Post)
Trump’s team said it didn’t ask for military vehicles at inauguration. Emails show it did. (Huffington Post)
12/ Ex-Colorado GOP leader said only Democrats committed voter fraud. Now he’s charged with voter fraud. (Washington Post)
1/ GOP leaders unveiled changes to healthcare bill in an effort to win more votes for their ObamaCare replacement. The tweaks addressed optional work requirements and block granting in Medicaid, as well as more help for older Americans to buy insurance. (The Hill)
2/ Trump to Republicans: Vote for Obamacare repeal or lose your seat. Trump went directly to Congress two days ahead of a planned vote to repeal the 2010 health care law in a test of the new president’s deal-making prowess in a notoriously factional and conflict-prone Republican conference. (Politico)
3/ Trump’s adviser Roger Stone repeatedly claimed to know of forthcoming WikiLeaks dumps as well as having a backchannel line to founder Julian Assange. Stone’s comments about WikiLeaks have come under scrutiny as the FBI and congressional committees investigate the Trump-Russia connection. (CNN)
4/ The FBI is investigating whether members of Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 election. Comey’s testimony on Monday was the first public acknowledgment of the case. (New York Times)
Kremlin says US intelligence committee is “confused” after hearing testimony from Comey about an investigation into the Russian ties of Trump’s associates. “They are trying to find confirmation of their own conclusions but can’t find either proof or confirmation and are going round in circles.” (ABC News)
5/ Tillerson prioritizes Moscow and China over NATO. Tillerson is skipping what would have been his first meeting with the 28 NATO allies so that he can attend Trump’s visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort. The move could be interpreted as another snub to the US’ traditional allies in favor of Russia. (CNN)
6/ Gorsuch vows to “put politics aside” on the second day of his confirmation hearing. He called the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling a “precedent” of the Supreme Court that has been “reaffirmed.” During the campaign, Trump, said that his Supreme Court nominees would be “pro-life,” and that Roe would “automatically” be overturned once he had made enough appointments. (Bloomberg)
7/ Ivanka Trump moves into West Wing office despite no formal White House job. She acknowledges there is “no modern precedent” for her role and will “voluntarily” follow government ethics rules. (Washington Post)
8/ Fox News boots Judge Napolitano off the air for pushing Obama wiretap claims. The senior judicial analyst is off the air indefinitely amid the controversy over his unverified claims that British intelligence wiretapped Trump Tower at the behest of former Obama. (Los Angeles Times)
9/ Trump won’t allow you to use iPads or laptops on certain airlines. Emirates, Etihad Airways, and Qatar Airways have long been accused by their US competitors of receiving massive effective subsidies from their governments. The airlines are likely to lose a major amount of business from their most lucrative customers — people who travel in business class and first class. (Washington Post)
1/ Comey says the Justice Department has no information supporting Trump’s tweets alleging Obama ordered a wiretap in the run-up to the election. “I have no information that supports those tweets,” Comey says. (Washington Post)
Trump’s wiretapping accusations come to a head as Comey testifies at the House Intelligence Committee. He is expected to say that there was no wiretapping, debunking allegations that Trump has repeatedly refused to withdraw. (CNN)
Gowdy used Trump-Russia hearing to accuse Obama officials of leaking Flynn’s undisclosed contact with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. He proceeded to grill Comey as to which former official in Obama’s administration could have potentially “unmasked” Flynn’s name. (Talking Points Memo)
NSA Chief denies British spying accusation when asked about a claim that British intelligence might have spied on Trump tower on behalf of the US. (CNN)
2/ Comey confirms FBI probe into Trump-Russia collusion. The director of the FBI says the probe is part of a larger investigation into whether Russia meddled in the 2016 U.S. election, but sees “no information” to support wiretapping claim. (Politico)
Comey says Russia wanted to hurt US and Clinton, and help Trump. “They wanted to hurt our democracy, hurt her, help him. I think all three we were confident in at least as early as December,” Comey said. (CNN)
3/ Trump slams Comey hearing as “fake news” four hours before Comey confirmed the existence of a probe on “the Russian story.” Trump preemptively tried to swat down lingering allegations that his campaign engaged in improper activities with the Russian government during the 2016 election. (Salon)
James Clapper and others stated that there is no evidence Potus colluded with Russia. This story is FAKE NEWS and everyone knows it!
4/ Gorsuch begins his confirmation hearings. While Judge Neil Gorsuch faces broad support among Republicans, but Democrats are angry that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell decided to block a hearing in 2016 for Obama’s nominee, Judge Merrick Garland. (Washington Post)
CALL YOUR SENATOR
Gorsuch is an avowed originalist and an enemy of women’s healthcare, LGBTQ rights, and access to justice. Here’s everything you need to know to call your senator. (5 Calls)
Democrats make case against supreme court nominee, challenging Gorsuch’s “originalist” approach to the constitution. Gorsuch believes he should interpret the words of the constitution as they were understood at the time they were written. Which, you know, was in the era of slavery. (The Guardian)
5/ White House installs political aides at Cabinet agencies to be Trump’s eyes and ears. The unusual shadow government of political appointees is tasked with monitoring the secretaries’ loyalty to Trump. (Washington Post)
6/ New York attorney general steps up scrutiny of the White House as it hires a public-corruption prosecutor to target the Trump administration. (Wall Street Journal)
7/ At least 10 GOP lawmakers have said that Trump should release his tax returns. They’ve all declined, however, to join efforts to use the power of Congress to make it happen. (The Hill)
8/ Germany rejects Trump’s claim it owes NATO and U.S. “vast sums” for defense. “There is no debt account at NATO,” the German Defense Minister said, adding that it was wrong to link the alliance’s target for members to spend 2% of their economic output on defense to NATO. (Reuters)
9/ Latest North Korean rocket test shows “meaningful progress” in its effort to build a more powerful rocket and missile. The test indicates that the North has developed a more sophisticated engine. (New York Times)
North Korea says it’s not afraid of US threat of military strike. “The nuclear force of (North Korea) is the treasured sword of justice and the most reliable war deterrence to defend the socialist motherland and the life of its people,” the official Korean Central News Agency quoted the spokesman as saying. (ABC News)
10/ Biden to rally with House Democrats to save Obamacare a day before House Republicans vote to dismantle the health law. Republican leaders have scheduled a vote on their Obamacare repeal bill for Thursday, the actual anniversary of the signing of the law. (Politico)
poll/ Almost half of Canadians want illegal border crossers deported. 40% of respondents said the border crossers could make Canada “less safe.” (Reuters)
poll/ Trump approval rating sinks to 37%, lower than any other commander-in-chief at this point in his first term since Gallup started tracking the issue in 1945. (ABC News)
1/ The head of the House Intelligence Committee said there is no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. Rep. Devin Nunes wants to focus the committee on the alleged espionage and leaks of classified information, such as releasing information about Michael Flynn speaking to the Russian ambassador. (NPR)
2/ Schiff: “Circumstantial evidence of collusion” exists between the Trump campaign and Russia despite denials from top intelligence officials that Russian operatives tried to interfere with the 2016 election. Schiff defended the House Intelligence Committee continuing to look into the matter. (NBC News)
3/ Five things to watch at Monday’s House Intelligence Committee’s Russia hearing. Both the FBI director and the director of the NSA will speak about alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 elections, including potential connections between Trump’s inner circle and the Kremlin. (Washington Post)
4/ Top NSA official ridicules allegations that Britain spied on Trump, calling the claim “arrant nonsense.” Richard Ledgett, deputy director of the NSA, said the idea that Britain had a hand in spying on Trump was “just crazy” and that “it belies a complete lack of understanding of how the relationship works between the intel community agencies, it completely ignores the political reality of ‘would the UK government agree to do that?’” (Reuters)
5/ Ryan plans tweaks to the health care bill in order to help people in their 50s and 60s buy insurance. Ryan said he would “most likely” bring a health care bill forward for a floor vote on Thursday. (Bloomberg)
6/ Tom Price says Trump’s health care promises will be true down the line. Meaning, the government would pay for health care for those who need it and everyone would be covered. Price said the passage of the health care bill is just one of three steps. The second two being administrative reforms and the passage of other legislation dealing with health care outside of the American Health Care Act. (CNN)
7/ Trump administration is asking the federal judge in Hawaii to limit the scope of his ruling so the U.S. can immediately stop taking in refugees worldwide. The judge temporarily halted Trump’s new travel ban. (Fox News)
8/ Trump’s budget director says Meals on Wheels is not being gutted. The funding source Trump seeks to eliminate — the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s community development block grants — accounts for 3% of Meals on Wheels’ overall funding. (Washington Post)
9/ Trump continues the use of Special Forces to keep war against the Islamic State and terrorist groups at arm’s length. Trump has maintained the strategy of training and supporting local forces to fight their own wars instead of deploying large American forces to far-flung hot spots in an effort to minimize the American military’s footprint overseas. (New York Times)
10/ Despite millions of dollars being spent on security for Trump’s trips to Mar-a-Lago, Mulvaney says the president is cutting costs in the administration budget. Trump’s first three Mar-a-Lago weekends cost taxpayers an estimated $10 million. (CBS News)
1/ U.S. attorney Preet Bharara was investigating HHS Secretary Tom Price when he was fired. Trump’s head of the Department of Health and Human Services traded stocks of health-related companies while working on legislation affecting the firms. Bharara was overseeing the investigation into the trades made by the health secretary. (ProPublica)
2/ U.S. breaks with allies over trade issues amid Trump’s “America first” vow. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin signaled that American policy would follow the campaign promises to not accept existing trade norms and pursue a more antagonistic approach with trading partners around the world. (New York Times)
3/ Tillerson calls the North Korea nuclear program an “imminent” threat while ruling out negotiations with the country. He left open the possibility of a pre-emptive military strike to eliminate its nuclear program while China’s foreign minister urged the U.S. to remain “cool-headed.” (Politico)
The Trump administration is prepared to scrap nearly a decade of U.S. policy toward North Korea in favor of a more aggressive effort to eliminate the country’s nuclear weapons program. Whether that means pre-emptive action, which he warned was “on the table,” will depend a great deal on how China responds. (New York Times)
Tillerson says “all options are on the table” when it comes to North Korea. The Trump administration challenged China to do more to pull its ally North Korea back from the nuclear brink as Tillerson bluntly declared that the U.S. will do whatever is necessary to prevent a North Korean attack. (Washington Post)
4/ Trump seeks proposals for 30-foot-high, “physically imposing” wall at the Mexican border. The request from Customs and Border Protection also said that wall designs should make it essentially impossible for a person to climb or gain access with a ladder. (Associated Press)
5/ Trump administration files notice that it will appeal the ruling against its second version of the travel ban. The Justice Department filed papers in federal court in Maryland, setting up a new legal showdown in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit. (Washington Post)
6/ Trump optimistic on new health law, saying he expects the House Republican health plan will be passed “substantially pretty quickly.” Trump called it a “great plan” and says it is “getting more and more popular with the Republican base, the conservative base and with people generally.” (Associated Press)
7/ Trump seems to ignore Merkel’s handshake request.
In the exchange, photographers gathered around Trump and Merkel in the Oval Office and suggested that the two leaders shake hands for the camera. Merkel turned toward Trump and asked, “Do you want to have a handshake?” Trump did not respond. When Japan’s prime minister visited Trump, they exchanged a 19 second handshake. (Politico)
8/ Rex Tillerson blocked reporters from his first diplomatic trip to Asia, then defended the decision, saying “I’m not a big media press access person. I personally don’t need it.” For decades, newspapers have paid the state department for airplane seats when the diplomat travels. This time, however, the only one reporter that was allowed to join him was from the conservative Independent Journal Review, a website partly owned by a top adviser to Vice-President Pence. (The Guardian)
9/ Kellyanne Conway’s husband is set to lead the Justice Department’s civil division. The job would put George Conway at the forefront of defending immigration executive orders and other lawsuits against Trump administration. (Wall Street Journal)
10/ Russian elites invested nearly $100 million in Trump buildings. At least 63 people with Russian passports or addresses have bought $98.4 million worth of property in seven Trump-branded luxury towers in southern Florida. (Reuters)
1/ Trump offers no apology for claim on British spying. Trump has stuck by his unsubstantiated assertion that Obama ordered his telephone tapped last year despite across-the-board denials and wryly used Merkel’s visit to repeat his contention that the White House had nothing to retract or apologize for. (New York Times)
Sean Spicer flatly denies that the White House apologized to the British government over the allegations that a UK intelligence agency wiretapped Trump Tower. Spokesman for UK Prime Minister says Britain has received assurances that claims won’t be repeated. (CNN)
Ryan, Senate Intel committee see no evidence of Trump wiretap. Ryan said, however, that he still trusted Trump, and that the apparently false claims the President aired on Twitter would not damage the White House’s credibility. (CNN)
2/ Britain’s surveillance agency says it’s “utterly ridiculous” that it was involved in the Trump “wiretap.” The GCHQ – the British equivalent of the National Security Agency – usually remains tight-lipped on allegations, neither confirming nor denying claims. Not this time. (Washington Post)
3/ Spicer says Trump “stands by” unproven allegation that Obama ordered wiretapping of Trump Tower, quoting a report from Fox News alleging that Obama used British intelligence to gain access to transcripts of conversations involving Trump. (Washington Post)
4/ Rex Tillerson rules out negotiation with North Korea to freeze its nuclear and missile programs and said that the Trump administration might be forced to take pre-emptive action “if they elevate the threat of their weapons program” to an unacceptable level. (New York Times)
Tillerson says diplomacy has failed as North Korea warns of nuclear war after 20 years of trying to persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear program have failed. (Chicago Tribune)
5/ Scientists brace for a lost generation in American research after Trump’s budget proposal calls for major cuts to funding for medical and science research. Private funding isn’t enough to offset Trump’s proposed budget cuts. (The Atlantic)
6/ The GOP health care bill advances despite opposition from three conservatives on the panel. The budget panel passed the American Health Care Act, which now heads to the House Rules Committee. The vote was 19-17. (ABC News)
7/ Secret Service laptop with Trump Tower floor plans and details on the Clinton email probe stolen from a Secret Service agent’s vehicle in New York City. In addition to the laptop, the thief made off with official Secret Service lapel pins – in case you wondering… (ABC News)
8/ Trump affirms support for NATO but says member nations “must pay what they owe.” Trump said some NATO countries owe “vast sums” in dues, which is “very unfair to the United States” — an allegation that appeared based on an incomplete understanding of how the alliance is funded. (Washington Post)
poll/ Americans break with Trump on immigration policy. 60% say the government’s top priority should be a plan to legalize undocumented immigrants, and 9 in 10 support a bill to allow certain undocumented immigrants to become citizens. (CNN)
1/ Trump’s budget slashes funds for the EPA and State Department. The budget would funnel an additional $54 billion into defense programs, beef up immigration enforcement, and significantly reduce the nondefense federal work force to further the “deconstruction of the administrative state,” in the words of Trump’s chief strategist, Stephen K. Bannon. Major elements of the plan have already been declared dead on arrival by the Republican leadership in Congress, and much of the fiscal fine print will be filled in by Capitol Hill lawmakers and their aides over the next month. (New York Times)
Trump federal budget 2018: Massive cuts to the arts, science and the poor. $54 billion bump in defense spending would be offset by stripping money from more than 18 other agencies. (Washington Post)
2/ Mulvaney justifies budget: We can’t ask a coal miner to pay for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. “Make no mistake about it, this is a hard-power budget, not a soft-power budget,” Mulvanery says. (Politico)
3/ Federal judge in Hawaii freezes Trump’s new entry ban order hours before it would have temporarily barred the issuance of new visas to citizens of six Muslim-majority countries and suspended the admission of new refugees. (Washington Post)
2 federal judges ruled against Trump’s latest travel ban. A judge in Hawaii issued a nationwide order Wednesday evening blocking Trump’s travel ban. Meanwhile, a second judge in Maryland ruled against Trump overnight, with a separate order forbidding the core provision of the travel ban from going into effect. (New York Times)
Judges used Trump’s own words in ruling against his revised travel ban. Two federal judges halted the Trump’s second attempt at his executive order, citing his campaign trail vows to seek a Muslim ban, which amounted to “significant and unrebutted evidence of religious animus driving the promulgation of the Executive Order and its related predecessor.” (Politico)
4/ Trump says he will submit evidence of wiretapping to House committee “very soon.” Trump added that he “will be, perhaps speaking about this next week” and predicted that “you’re going to find some very interesting items coming to the forefront over the next 2 weeks.” (Fox News)
5/ Senate Intelligence Committee leaders say there is no indication that Trump Tower was under surveillance. The Republican chairman and top Democrat said in a joint statement they have seen no evidence to support Trump’s claim about Trump Tower being wiretapped. (Politico)
6/ Paul Ryan says health care bill is still on track, despite increasing GOP opposition. Don’t worry, everything is going according to plan. (NPR)
Ryan: Health care plan must change to pass the House, marking a significant retreat from his earlier position that the carefully crafted legislation would fail if substantially altered. Rah roh. (Washington Post)
7/ Trump aides are privately blaming the health care bill’s problems on Paul Ryan. The Trump administration is trying to put some distance between them and Ryan, as the House’s Obamacare replacement bill gets criticized by conservative activists and Trump’s base of voters. (BuzzFeed News)
Trump acknowledges that the repeal bill wouldn’t be great for his supporters. Trump signaled that the Republican bill is not in its final form, admitting that the current legislation does not favor the voters who elected him. (Talking Points Memo)
8/ John McCain accused Rand Paul of “now working for Vladimir Putin” after the Kentucky senator objected to a bill advancing Montenegro’s push for NATO membership. (The Daily Beast)
9/ Tillerson promises new policy on North Korea after “20 years of a failed approach.” China is expected to present a plan to cool North Korea tensions and suspend its ballistic missile tests and nuclear activities. The United States and South Korea would also halt their large-scale military exercises that annually antagonize Pyongyang. (CNN)
10/ Trump wants $4.1 billion for border wall. Republicans are showing increasing reluctance to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, as Trump prepares to ask Congress to include billions for one of his signature campaign promises in his first budget proposal since taking office. (Politico)
11/ Moscow paid $45,000 for Flynn’s 2015 talk at RT’s 10th anniversary party. RT is the Russian state-owned television network described by U.S. intelligence officials as “the Kremlin’s principal international propaganda outlet.” (Yahoo News)
Flynn worked for several Russian companies and was paid more than $50,000 shortly before he became a formal adviser to the then-candidate. (Wall Street Journal)
Flynn collected nearly $68,000 in fees and expenses from Russia-related entities in 2015, a higher amount than was previously known. (Washington Post)
1/ The cost of failure on health care repeal? It may be the rest of Trump’s agenda. Tax cuts, infrastructure and other White House priorities hinge on scaling back Obamacare. (Washington Post)
2/ Nervous GOP Senators call for changes in health care bill They want to see lower insurance costs for poorer, older Americans and an increase in funding for states with many hard-to-insure people. Conservative House Republicans already believe the bill is too generous. (New York Times)
GOP Senators say house health bill won’t pass without fundamental changes as concerns mount that millions would be uninsured. (Wall Street Journal)
3/ Comey will testify on Russia investigation next week at a public House Intelligence Committee hearing. Separately, Comey will brief the two top senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee today. (Politico)
Kaine expects FBI to announce White House-Russia investigation. Kaine stressed that the investigation must look into whether the highest office in the land is connected to Russia. (The Hill)
Lindsey Graham on Trump wiretap claims: “If it’s not true, just tell me.” Graham said the FBI needs to stop stonewalling his request to clear up wiretapping claims Trump made against his predecessor and produce evidence that it happened. (Today)
4/ House Intelligence Chair says he doesn’t believe Trump Tower was wiretapped. The top Democrat on the House committee, Adam Schiff, said he has seen “no evidence whatsoever” that supports Trump’s claim that Obama tapped his phone at Trump Tower. (NPR)
5/ Spicer is “very confident” that wiretapping evidence will emerge, bolstering Trump’s unproven accusation about his predecessor. (New York Times)
6/ The FBI was investigating former Trump national security advisor Michael Flynn as recently as December. It remains unknown when the FBI first started investigating Flynn and whether the probe has since been closed. (BuzzFeed News)
7/ Trump will reexamine fuel efficiency standards set in place during the Obama administration, opening the door for the regulations to potentially be reduced in the coming years. Trump will not take steps to revoke a waiver that allows California and a dozen other states to enforce emissions standards beyond those of the EPA. If those regulations remain intact, automakers will still be compelled to produce more fuel efficient cars regardless of any changes at the federal level. (Washington Post)
Trump to shelve fuel mileage rules, inviting a fight with California. The state has made it clear that they will not waver from the ambitious mileage rules finalized by the Obama administration, which require passenger cars to average about 54 miles per gallon by 2025. Today’s passenger cars average 36 miles per gallon. (Los Angeles Times)
8/ Justice Department charges Russian spies and criminal hackers in Yahoo intrusion. The indictments mark the first criminal cyber charges ever brought against Russian government officials. (Washington Post)
9/ China to Trump: We don’t want a trade war — but if there is one, your companies would bear the brunt.. China’s trade and investment ties with the United States created up to 1 million American jobs last year. (Washington Post)
10/ House Republicans seek flexible, less costly approaches at U.S. border, while Democrats oppose adding wall funds to government spending bill. (Bloomberg)
poll/ Only 24% of voters support the GOP health care plan. The Affordable Care Act, meanwhile, continues to post some of the best numbers it has ever seen, with 47% of voters in favor of it to 39% who are opposed. (Public Policy Polling)
1/ Trump wrote off $100 million in business losses to reduce his federal taxes in 2005. Trump paid $38 million in federal income taxes on reported income of $150 million, an effective tax rate of 25%. By claiming losses from previous years, Trump was able to save tens of millions of dollars in taxes that he otherwise might have owed. (New York Times)
Trump and his wife Melania paid $5.3 million in regular federal income tax in 2005 – a rate of less than 4%. However, the Trumps paid an additional $31 million in the so-called “alternative minimum tax,” or AMT. Trump has previously called for the elimination of this tax. (The Daily Beast)
White House: Trump paid $38 million in taxes in 2005 on more than $150 million in income. The White House put the information out ahead of an anticipated MSNBC news report about the returns. Trump had promised during the presidential campaign to release his returns – which every presidential nominee in modern times has made into a precedent – after the conclusion of a routine audit, but the White House has not spelled out when exactly that would be. More recently, aides have suggested that since he won the election, he would not release his returns. (CNN)
2/ White House tries to salvage GOP health-care proposal as criticism mounts. The White House has launched an intensive effort to salvage support for the Republican plan to revise the Affordable Care Act, even as a growing number of lawmakers weighed in against the proposal. (Washington Post)
Trump’s backing a healthcare plan that breaks his promises. Trump was clear both as a candidate and as president: No one would be left behind under his health care plan. But the CBO found Trump would break his promise — by a mile. (NBC News)
Trump said it could take several years for health insurance prices to start to drop under the healthcare replacement plan he is promoting, creating a rocky transition period that could pose a risk for members of Congress up for re-election next year and Trump’s own bid for a second term in 2020. (Bloomberg)
Trump administration shifts away from “insurance for everybody,” instead promising that the House GOP plan to repeal and replace Obamacare offers “more people the option to get healthcare.” (Los Angeles Times)
3/ Rattled by CBO report, moderate Republicans turn against GOP bill. Republican leaders are struggling to unify conservative and moderate factions on health care. (CNN)
Conservatives’ reaction to CBO report casts doubt on GOP health plan’s viability. Lawmakers continue to push back on healthcare plan, saying the bill doesn’t repeal Obamacare, doesn’t unite Republicans, and doesn’t bring down the cost of premiums. (Washington Post)
Republican Rep. Peter Roskam: GOP healthcare bill “very much a work in progress.” Roskam voted for the plan just days ago in his position as a member of the House Ways & Means Committee, but has been drawing substantial fire in his district for his stance on health insurance. (Crain’s Chicago Business)
4/ The Trump administration slammed the CBO estimate that millions of people would become uninsured under the Republicans’ plan to repeal and replace ObamaCare. The CBO found that 14 million people would lose their insurance coverage by next year under the bill, with the number rising to 24 million over a decade. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price said “it’s just not believable” and “virtually impossible” for the CBO estimate to occur. (The Hill)
Paul Ryan: CBO report on ObamaCare repeal “exceeded my expectations.” Ryan said the CBO’s prediction that 14 million more Americans would be uninsured in 2018 was due to the bill’s overturning of ObamaCare’s individual mandate. C’mon guy. (Fox News)
Sanders responds to CBO score: “Thousands of Americans will die” if the legislation is passed and millions of people are thrown off health insurance. (The Hill)
White House analysis of Obamacare repeal sees even deeper insurance losses than CBO. The executive branch analysis forecast that 26 million people would lose coverage over the next decade, versus the 24 million CBO estimates. (Politico)
CBO: Defunding Planned Parenthood would lead to thousands more births. Analysts estimate that excluding the women’s health organization from the Medicaid program for one year would affect low-income areas and communities without many health care options, leaving 15% of those people “without services that help women avert pregnancy.” (Washington Post)
Ted Cruz calls rising premiums “most troubling aspect” of CBO health care report. “This is not the mandate that we were elected to fulfill,” Cruz said. (Dallas News)
5/ Secretary of State Rex Tillerson used an email alias to discuss climate change while he was CEO of Exxon Mobil. Tillerson used the account for “secure and expedited communications between select senior company officials and the former chairman for a broad range of business-related topics,” after his primary account began receiving too many messages. (Bloomberg)
6/ Several states jointly sue to block Trump’s revised travel ban. Washington, California, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, and Oregon asked a judge to stop Trump’s revised temporary ban on refugees and travelers from taking effect. (Reuters)
7/ DOJ asks for more time on inquiry into Trump wiretapping allegations after it failed to meet the House Intelligence Committee’s deadline to turn over evidence. (ABC News)
8/ Trump gives CIA new authority to conduct drone strikes against suspected terrorists, changing the Obama administration’s policy of limiting the spy agency’s paramilitary role and reopening a turf war between the agency and the Pentagon. (Wall Street Journal)
9/ Breitbart turns up the heat on Paul Ryan, leaking audio of Ryan disavowing Trump. “I am not going to defend Donald Trump—not now, not in the future,” Ryan says in an October conference call intended for House Republican members. (Breitbart)
10/ Trump is set to sign a sweeping directive to dramatically shrink the role climate change plays in decisions across the government, ranging from appliance standards to pipeline approvals. Trump’s order also will compel a reconsideration of the government’s use of a metric known as the “social cost of carbon” that reflects the potential economic damage from climate change. (Bloomberg)
1/ 24 million would lose insurance under the G.O.P. health bill within a decade, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found. Democrats criticized Republicans for pushing the health care bill through two House committees last week before the Congressional Budget Office had weighed in, saying it was irresponsible to begin considering legislation without a firm grip on its potential costs and ramifications. (New York Times)
Republicans may soon get a preview of the political price of health reform. The CBO will issue a report likely showing that millions of people may lose coverage under Republican health care legislation. (CNN)
2/ Trump’s budget proposal is expected to create historic contraction in the federal workforce if enacted. The spending budget Trump is set to release this week will offer the clearest snapshot of his vision: a smaller government, less involved in regulating life in America, with private companies and states playing a much bigger role. (Washington Post)
3/ The House Intelligence panel wants wiretapping evidence today. Trump has not offered evidence to support his explosive wiretapping tweets, in which he compared the alleged wiretapping to the Watergate scandal. (NBC News)
4/ House investigators on a Trump-Russia “collision course” as the top Republican on the intelligence committee was also on Trump’s transition team. The lead Democrat is a fierce Trump critic. (Politico)
5/ Kellyanne Conway: “I don’t have any evidence” of Trump wiretapping claim. Conway said that previous comments she made linking WikiLeaks’ release of nearly 8,000 documents that purportedly reveal secrets about the CIA’s tools for breaking into targeted computers, cellphones and smart TVs to Trump’s claims were about “surveillance generally” and not meant to be taken as specific proof that his allegation was true. (ABC News)
UPDATE:
Spicer: Trump didn’t mean wiretapping when he tweeted about wiretapping. Last week, Spicer said Trump’s tweet “speaks for itself” and declined to provide any further explanation. But today, Spicer was open to providing an interpretation for Trump’s tweet, saying the President told Spicer he was referring to means of surveillance beyond wiretapping. (CNN)
Conway: Magic microwaves may have spied on Trump. There’s really nothing else left to write… (The Daily Beast)
Conway defends Trump’s wiretap claim by citing “microwaves that turn into cameras.” The Trump administration continues to provide no evidence for the president’s claim that Obama ordered wiretapping of Trump Tower. (Huffington Post)
6/ Trump said no Americans would lose coverage under Obamacare repeal. Paul Ryan won’t make that promise. The GOP House speaker said it depends on how many choose not to buy insurance once the mandate is lifted; he ducked the question of how many would no longer be able to afford it. (Washington Post)
Ryan said he agrees with Trump that there will be a “bloodbath” in 2018 if Republicans don’t follow through on their repeal promises. (Axios)
Another key Republican senator knocks the GOP Obamacare plan. Sen. Dean Heller panned House Speaker Paul Ryan’s bill to repeal and replace Obamacare during a closed meeting with constituents, raising numerous objections to the House bill. (Politico)
7/ The big winner in Trump’s decision to fire Preet Bharara might be Rupert Murdoch. The federal prosecutor was in the middle of a delicate case focusing on the conduct of Fox News executives. (New York Magazine)
Abrupt dismissals leave US attorneys scrambling. The quick exits aren’t expected to have a major impact on ongoing prosecutions, but they gave U.S. attorneys little time to prepare deputies who will take over until successors are named. (Associated Press)
8/ Trump’s budget director claims the Obama administration was “manipulating” jobs data. Mick Mulvaney said he has long thought the previous administration framed data to make the unemployment rate “look smaller than it actually was.” (CNN)
9/ Trump expected to announce vehicle emissions rules review. Automakers have been pushing the Trump administration for months to reverse the Obama administration decision, which would raise the fleet average fuel efficiency to more than 50 miles per gallon by 2025 from 27.5 mpg in 2010. (Reuters)
1/ “Nobody will be worse off financially” under the GOP health care plan, according to Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price. He says no one will be adversely affected by the new bill once it’s enacted and that more people would be covered. I bet. (NBC News)
The White House pledges no one “worse off” in Obamacare replacement with sweeping promises that insurance premiums will fall and more people will have coverage under the replacement plan may be hard to keep as conservatives demand limits to government involvement in health care before they support the measure. (Bloomberg)
Trump budget chief: The President is focused on health care, not insurance coverage. Mick Mulvaney said critics of the new GOP health care bill should not be too “worried about getting people coverage.” Preliminary analyses from Brookings Institution and Standard and Poor’s estimate that six to 15 million people could lose coverage under the Republican proposal for repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act known as Obamacare. (ABC News)
2/ Here’s how much millionaires would save under GOP Obamacare repeal bill. People earning more than $1 million annually would save an estimated $165 billion in taxes over 10 years. (CNN Money)
3/ Major health insurer backs GOP’s Obamacare repeal bill. Anthem endorsed major parts of the repeal bill, known as the American Health Care Act, and urged lawmakers to move the process forward “as quickly as possible.” (Politico)
4/ McCain to Trump: Retract wiretapping claim or prove it. The senator’s call for more information follows a request from two leading members of the Senate Judiciary Committee for “copies of any warrant applications and court orders — redacted as necessary… related to wiretaps of President Trump, the Trump Campaign, or Trump Tower.” (Washington Post)
5/ US attorney Bharara was fired after a standoff with Trump. Bharara was asked for his resignation along with every other US attorney. His sudden dismissal came as a surprise since the US attorney had been told after a meeting with Trump in November that he could stay on. “I did not resign. Moments ago I was fired,” Bharara wrote in a tweet. (CNN)
I did not resign. Moments ago I was fired. Being the US Attorney in SDNY will forever be the greatest honor of my professional life.
New York federal prosecutor Preet Bharara says he was fired by Trump administration. Bharara had been asked to resign Friday, but confusion ensued because Trump in November had asked him to stay on. (Washington Post)
Bharara was one of 46 U.S. attorneys appointed by Obama that the Trump administration asked to resign. All presidents choose their own appointees for U.S. attorney positions and almost always ask those from their predecessors to leave. But the process under Trump was unusually abrupt, and it was yet another rocky encounter between the Trump administration and the nation’s law enforcement apparatus. (New York Times)
6/ Elizabeth Warren says Trump pushed out prosecutors to install “cronies.” The senator attacked Trump over the firing of Preet Bharara, saying the Senate will see a “massive fight” over picks to replace US attorneys. (The Guardian)
Preet Bharara had authority over Trump Tower. @realDonaldTrump called him directly, breaching protocol. 24 hrs later he was asked to resign.
7/ Democrats may abandon the Russia inquiry if it is not “legitimate.” The Republican-controlled panel may offer their best chance for scrutinizing links between people close to President Trump and Russian officials, but some House Intelligence Committee Democrats are warning that they may pull their support for the inquiry if it becomes mired in party-line politics. (New York Times)
8/ 134 foreign policy experts denounce Trump’s revised travel ban as just as damaging to the United States’ interests and reputation as his original order that halted refugees and froze travelers from predominantly Muslim countries. (New York Times)
9/ Trump associate plays down Twitter contact with Guccifer 2.0 – the online persona who claims responsibility for hacking the Democratic National Committee. Roger Stone called it an innocuous “brief exchange” of a few direct messages that he says amount to nothing. (CNN)
1/ Trump abruptly orders remaining 46 U.S. attorneys to tender their resignations immediately, sweeping away the remaining vestiges of the Obama administration’s prosecutors at the Justice Department. It is not unusual for a new president to replace United States attorneys appointed by a predecessor, especially when there has been a change in which party controls the White House. Other presidents, however, have done it gradually in order to minimize disruption. (New York Times)
Anger mounts over handling of US attorney firings. Many prosecutors had not been formally notified or even told before they were fired when the Justice Department announced the firings on Friday. (CNN)
Preet Bharara has yet to submit his resignation letter as Trump demands U.S. attorneys resign. Bharara met with Trump shortly after the election and was told that he would stay. Just this week, Attorney General Jeff Sessions assured him in a phone conversation that he’d remain atop the Southern District. (The Daily Beast)
2/ Revised Trump travel ban suffers first legal setback after a federal judge in Wisconsin barred enforcement of the policy to deny U.S. entry to the wife and child of a Syrian refugee already granted asylum in the United States. The temporary restraining order applies only to the family of the Syrian refugee. (Reuters)
3/ Scott Pruitt’s phones have been ringing off the hook since he questioned the link between human activity and climate change. Pruitt’s comments on the CNBC program “Squawk Box” — that “we need to continue the debate and continue the review and the analysis” over climate change — prompted an immediate pushback from many scientists and environment groups. (Washington Post)
4/ Flynn attended secret intelligence briefings while taking money to lobby for Turkey. Flynn was being paid more than half a million dollars to lobby on behalf of the Turkish government. (NBC News)
5/ White House official says Breitbart was source of Trump’s wiretaps claim. A staffer placed the story, published on Breitbart, into Trump’s daily reading pile. The Breitbart article was a reprinted version of radio host Mark Levin’s on-air claim that Obama wiretapped Trump Tower. (Axios)
6/ Muhammad Ali Jr. questioned again at Washington airport. Ali Jr. was trying to get his boarding pass at Reagan National airport in Washington, D.C. when the computer “flagged” him. The ticket agent rejected his Illinois state-issued ID and put Ali Jr. on the phone with the Department of Homeland Security. Ali Jr. was asked over the phone to verify his date of birth and where he was born. He was not asked about his religion. (USA Today)
7/ Trump’s plan for Medicaid could hurt the opioid abusers he promised to help. The current version of the Trump-backed Republican health care plan would end the Obamacare requirement that addiction services and mental health treatment be covered under Medicaid in the 31 states that expanded the health care program. The GOP plan would instead leave it up to states – and their budgets – to decide whether or not to cover drug treatment and mental health services under Medicaid. (CNN)
1/ Conservatives want to blow up Senate rules to kill Obamacare. A growing number of conservative lawmakers urged GOP leaders to push the limits of how much of the health law they can reshape under a powerful procedural maneuver known as budget reconciliation — and to overrule the Senate parliamentarian if she doesn’t decide in their favor. (Politico)
Trump supporters have the most to lose with the repeal of Obamacare. The Republicans’ plan offers less help to older and lower-income Americans, especially in rural areas. The voters hit the hardest — eligible for at least $5,000 less in tax credits under the Republican plan — supported Trump by a margin of 59% to 36%. (New York Times)
2/ House GOP leaders defend health-care overhaul as they prepare to meet Trump. The leaders dismissed the suggestion from conservative members that the proposed phaseout of Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion should be moved up by two years, from 2020 to 2018. (Washington Post)
3/ Jeff Sessions calls Guantanamo Bay a “very fine place” to send captured terrorists and recommended Trump do so in an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt. The attorney general added he was opposed to shuttering the controversial Cuban prison. (New York Daily News)
4/ Trump promised $1 trillion for infrastructure, but the real estimate is almost $4.6 trillion over the next eight years to bring the country’s crumbling infrastructure up to an acceptable standard. A report by civil engineers gives the nation’s infrastructure a D-plus grade and sees little progress in the past four years. (Washington Post)
5/ The Office of Government Ethics says the Trump administration has an “incorrect” view of ethics laws. The OGE urged punishment after Kellyanne Conway endorsed Ivanka Trump’s fashion line. The White House says the agency’s rules don’t apply to its workers. (NPR)
Ivanka Trump’s brand saw an online surge in February. Sales of Ivanka Trump merchandise dropped 26 percent online in January compared to January 2016, but the trend reversed in February. According to Slice Intelligence, online sales of Ivanka Trump merchandise swelled 207 percent in February from the prior month. (CNBC)
6/ States ask court to stop Trump’s new travel ban from ever taking effect. At least five states are banding together in a legal drive to block key elements of Trump’s second travel ban. Washington state is asking a federal judge in Seattle to rule that an existing injunction against Trump’s earlier travel ban apply to parallel portions of his new directive. (Politico)
7/ John Huntsman reported to be named next U.S. ambassador to Russia. The former Republican governor served as ambassador to China under Obama. His appointment comes at a time when the complex relationship between the two countries has been particularly strained in light of recent developments surrounding the Trump administration. (New York Times)
8/ Is Trump being investigated? “No comment,” the Justice Department says. By venting his ire against Obama in a series of tweets last week, Trump awkwardly raised the possibility himself, since any wiretapping could have been the direct result of an investigation targeting him. (New York Times)
Pelosi: Comey should publicly reject Trump wiretapping claims. “Maybe in a short period of time much more will be in the public domain,” she said. (Politico)
Schiff: I haven’t seen any evidence Obama admin wiretapped Trump. After meeting with FBI Director James Comey, the California representative said he has not “seen any evidence” to back Trump’s claims that he was wiretapped by the Obama administration during the campaign. (CNN)
9/ FBI investigation continues into “odd” computer link between Russian bank and Trump Organization. Questions about the possible connection were widely dismissed four months ago. But the FBI’s investigation remains open and is in the hands of the FBI’s counterintelligence team – the same one looking into Russia’s suspected interference in the 2016 election. (CNN)
10/ Russian ambassador denied meeting with Trump or any campaign officials in October speech. But Jeff Sessions met with Kislyak last September in Sessions’s DC office when he was still a US Senator and top Trump adviser. Sessions also interacted with Kislyak in Cleveland at a Heritage Foundation event held during the RNC in July. (CNN)
11/ ACLU files ethics complaint against Sessions over communications with Russian ambassador based on his testimony to a Senate committee that he had no communications with the Russian government. (Washington Post)
12/ A bill moving through Congress could give employers access to workers’ genetic test results. The bill, HR 1313, was approved by a House committee on Wednesday, with all 22 Republicans supporting it and all 17 Democrats opposed. Employers may provide insurance premium discounts to workers who take part in their companies’ voluntary wellness programs. Once enrolled, businesses are allowed to collect “information about the manifested disease or disorder of a family member” of participating employees. (STAT)
13/ The U.S. added 235,000 jobs in February and the unemployment rate dropped to 4.7%. Employers added jobs at an above-average pace for a second month. Trump has set a goal of adding 25 million jobs over 10 years, which would require job additions of 208,000 a month, or 2.5 million positions a year. (Bloomberg)
14/ U.S. is sending about 400 Marines to Syria to help local fighters wrest control of Raqqa, which ISIS considers its capital. (NPR)
1/ The House Ways and Means Committee gave an approval to a major part of the Republican plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, rejecting a flurry of Democratic amendments. Republicans are a step closer to a full vote on the measure despite the growing opposition of senators, health care providers, and some conservatives. The White House is increasingly confident about the prospects for a health care overhaul to pass in the House. Trump anticipates the most trouble in the Senate, where moderate and conservative lawmakers are opposing the plan for different reasons. He said he was prepared to pressure holdout senators by holding the kind of stadium-style rallies he led during his presidential campaign. (New York Times)
2/ Trump goes into dealmaking mode, working behind the scenes on health bill and quietly courting wary conservatives in private meetings and keeping himself somewhat out of the picture as party leaders and his Cabinet officials defend the proposal to revise the Affordable Care Act. “If we need to bring in the big gun, we’ll bring in the big gun” – meaning Trump. (Washington Post)
3/ Trump to conservative leaders: If this health care plan fails, I’ll blame Democrats. During an hour-long meeting with conservative groups against the House Republican plan to repeal and replace Obamacare, Trump chastised the groups for calling the House GOP proposal “Obamacare lite,” warning the tea party activists, “you are helping the other side.” (CNN)
4/ Spicer attacks “double standard” in response to WikiLeaks dump. Spicer cast aside the playbook of cut-and-dry condemnations of national security leaks and instead framed his response along political lines, arguing forcefully that there was a “double standard” when it comes to the level of outrage elicited by different leaks. (CNN)
5/ The White House says Trump isn’t the target of any investigation despite Trump’s unsubstantiated claim that Obama ordered the wiretapping of Trump Tower. Either the president’s assertions that Obama wiretapped him are baseless, or he may have implicated himself in a government investigation of contacts between his presidential campaign and Russia. (New York Times)
6/ EPA chief Scott Pruitt says carbon dioxide is not a primary contributor to global warming. Pruitt’s view is at odds with the opinion of NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (CNBC)
7/ Trump administration considers $6 billion cut to HUD budget. The move would drop Housing and Urban Development funding by about 14% as part of the plan to cut domestic spending and increase the defense budget. (Washington Post)
8/ Hawaii becomes the first state to sue Trump over new travel ban, saying in a lawsuit that it will disrupt families, harm Hawaii’s Muslim population, tourism and foreign students and is “antithetical to Hawaii’s state identity and spirit.” (USA Today)
9/ Trump begins to map out his $1 trillion infrastructure plan that would pressure states to streamline local permitting, favor renovation of existing roads and highways over new construction, and prioritize projects that can quickly begin construction. Trump expressed interest in high-speed rail and spectrum auction. (Wall Street Journal)
10/ Jeff Sessions likely met with the Russian Ambassador a third time. The attorney general initially denied any contact with the Russians, then later admitted to just two meetings. (Huffington Post)
11/ The White House is scrutinizing job candidates’ old social media posts for criticism of Trump. Officials are having trouble filling vacancies in their departments because of questions about the loyalty of the people they want to select. (Vox)
12/ Homeland chief: Illegal border crossings dip 40%, as measured by arrests and people halted from entering the country at the border. (USA Today)
1/ Trump met with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the campaign. The encounter with the Russian Ambassador resurfaced last week after revelations that at least five members of Trump’s campaign team - including Jeff Sessions - had contact with Kislyak before Trump took office. The meeting is at odds with a spokeswoman’s claim that Trump had “zero” involvement with Russian officials during the campaign. (Bloomberg)
White House calls reported Trump meeting with Russian ambassador “absurd.” As a candidate Trump met with the Russian ambassador to the United States at a campaign event, just before Trump delivered a speech that called for “an easing of tensions” with Russia. (ABC News)
2/ The rapport between Trump and Obama is unraveling. Trump is convinced that Obama is undermining his nascent administration, while Obama is furious over Trump’s tweets accusing him of illegal wiretapping and questioning both the integrity of the office of the president and Obama himself. (Wall Street Journal)
3/ Aides address Trump’s wiretapping claims: “That’s above my pay grade.” Trump’s team has been uncharacteristically muted when pressed about his explosive and unproven accusations that Obama wiretapped his phones in Trump Tower. (New York Times)
Obama’s reaction to wiretap claims stopped short of outright fury. Uncorroborated wiretapping accusations irked and exasperated Obama and his aides, who have responded with disbelief. (CNN)
4/ To fund the border wall, Trump weighs cuts to Coast Guard and airport security. The plan puts the administration in the unusual position of trading spending on security programs for other security priorities at the southern border, raising questions among Republican lawmakers and homeland-security experts. (Washington Post)
5/ FBI’s Comey says “you’re stuck with me” for another six years and intends to finish his full 10-year term as director. Comey signaled he has no plans to resign despite once again being at the center of a political storm – this time over probes into Russian hacking of the 2016 election and his request that Justice Department officials reject Trump’s claims that his predecessor “tapped” his phones. (Bloomberg)
6/ The GOP health care plan is in critical condition. The plan is going to have to fight a three-front war to survive: 1) conservatives are calling this “Obamacare-Lite” or “Obamacare 2.0”; 2) moderates want to keep Medicaid expansion and Planned Parenthood funding; 3) and powerful/influential industry groups, like AARP and the American Hospital Association have voiced their opposition. (NBC News)
Ryan downplays conservative backlash against health-care plan. The most imminent and serious threat to the plan was the criticism from conservative lawmakers and powerful outside groups that argue that the draft is nothing more than “Obamacare Lite,” a disparaging reference to the former president’s signature 2010 domestic achievement. (Washington Post)
The American Medical Association opposes the Republican health plan. The doctors’ group is concerned that too many people would lose health coverage under the House bill. (New York Times)
Conservatives pick up “mixed messages” from the White House on health care plan, suggesting the White House isn’t completely sold on the bill advancing through committees. (Huffington Post)
GOP slams budget scorekeeper as Obamacare repeal bill moves forward. Republicans, anticipating that their plan will leave fewer Americans insured than Obamacare and potentially cost the federal government more, launched a preemptory strike against forthcoming predictions from Congress’s independent scorekeeper, the Congressional Budget Office. (Politico)
7/ Democrats are trying to delay House GOP health care bill*. Democrats are complaining that the hearings are taking place before the Congressional Budget Office has a chance to “score” the House legislation, a process that will provide answers on how much it will cost and how many people it will cover. Republicans are holding the line to block Democratic efforts to delay the bill to repeal Obamacare. (CNN)
8/ A federal criminal probe is being opened into WikiLeaks’ publication of CIA documents. The FBI and CIA are coordinating an investigation into how the documents came into WikiLeaks’ possession and whether they might have been leaked by an employee or contractor. The CIA is also trying to determine if there are other unpublished documents WikiLeaks may have. (CNN)
9/ Comey to testify in the House Intelligence Committee probe on Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential campaign. The hearing will likely be the first in-depth public inquiry into allegations of connections between Trump’s presidential campaign and the Russian government, as well as Russia’s efforts to influence the U.S. election. (Bloomberg)
10/ North Korea may be Trump’s greatest foreign policy challenge. The administration must come up with a plan to curb North Korea’s missile and nuclear development program — and it must do so quickly following a round of provocative missile tests. (ABC News)
poll/ 56% of registered voters support appointing a special prosecutor to investigate alleged ties between Trump’s campaign staff and the Russian government. (Politico)
1/ House Republicans unveiled their plan to replace Obamacare. The plan scraps the mandate for most Americans to have health insurance in favor of a new system of tax credits to induce people to buy insurance on the open market. The bill would roll back the expansion of Medicaid that has provided coverage to more than 10 million people in 31 states, reducing federal payments for many new beneficiaries. The requirement for larger employers to offer coverage to their full-time employees would also be eliminated. (New York Times)
The American Health Care Act: the Republicans’ bill to replace Obamacare, explained. Two big questions — how many people it will cover and how much it will cost — are still unresolved: It will likely cover fewer people than the Affordable Care Act currently does. And the Congressional Budget Office has not yet scored the legislation, so its price tag is unknown. (Vox)
2/ Chaffetz: Low-income Americans will have to choose health care over iPhones. “Americans have choices, and they’ve got to make a choice. So rather than getting that new iPhone that they just love and want to go spend hundreds of dollars on that, maybe they should invest in their own health care. They’ve got to make those decisions themselves,” Chaffetz said. (CNN)
3/ With income-based tax credits, the GOP is considering an approach to health care it has long been against. The GOP had intended to veer away from the ACA subsidies that help poor and middle-class people obtain insurance, insisting that the size of the tax credits should be based entirely on people’s ages and not their incomes. The latest draft proposed refundable tax credits that would hinge on earnings as well as age — providing bigger credits for older and poorer Americans. (Washington Post)
4/ The GOP Obamacare replacement will defund Planned Parenthood and restrict abortion coverage. The plan would keep poor women on Medicaid from getting health care at Planned Parenthood, and cut off affordable abortion coverage for many privately insured women. (Vox)
5/ WikiLeaks released the “entire hacking capacity of the CIA.” The documents describe the agency’s tools used to hack into smartphones and TVs, as well as to bypass encryption on programs like Signal and WhatsApp. The initial release, which WikiLeaks said was only the first part of the document collection, included 7,818 web pages with 943 attachments. (New York Times)
WikiLeaks says it has obtained trove of CIA hacking tools. WikiLeaks indicated that it planned to post nearly 9,000 files describing code developed in secret by the CIA to steal data from targets overseas and turn ordinary devices including cellphones, computers and even television sets into surveillance tools. (Washington Post)
6/ The UN says Trump’s revised travel ban will worsen plight of refugees. Some of the Muslim-majority countries affected by the ban expressed their disappointment, insisting they had fully cooperated with US anti-terrorist efforts, saying refugees are not criminals. (The Guardian)
7/ China warns of an arms race after the U.S. deployed a missile defense system in South Korea. Beijing denounced the United States’ decision to use the THAAD technology and vowed to “take the necessary steps to safeguard our own security interests.” The U.S. deployed the defense system after North Korea launched four simultaneous missiles into the waters off the Japanese coast, which Pyongyang said was a drill for striking American bases in Japan. (New York Times)
8/ Carson: “There were other immigrants who came in the bottom of slave ships, who worked even longer, even harder, for less.” Ben Carson appeared to liken slaves to immigrants who choose to come to the United States while addressing employees at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. (CNN)
1/ Trump signed a more limited executive order on immigration. The revised travel ban blocks entry to the US for citizens from six of the seven countries named in Trump’s original order. People from Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Syria and Libya will face a 90-day suspension of visa processing. Iraq was removed from the list of countries affected. The order will keep in place a 120-day suspension of the refugee program, but it will no longer identify Syrian refugees as subject to an indefinite ban. The revisions are meant to help it withstand a court challenge. (The Guardian)
New executive order bans travelers from six Muslim-majority countries applying for visas. Trump is preparing to sign a new executive order that imposes a 90-day ban on entry for new visa seekers from six majority-Muslim nations. The nation’s refugee program will also be suspended for 120 days, and it will not accept more than 50,000 refugees in a year, down from the 110,000 cap set by Obama. (Washington Post)
2/ FBI Director Comey asked Justice officials to refute Trump’s unproven wiretapping claim. The former director of national intelligence under Obama flatly denied that any wiretap of Trump or his campaign was carried out. (Washington Post)
3/ White House spokeswoman: Trump doesn’t believe Comey that Obama didn’t wiretap. Asked by George Stephanopoulos if Trump was willing to accept the denial of his FBI director, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said he was not. (Politico)
Trump rejects Comey assertion that wiretapping claim is false. On “Good Morning America,” a spokeswoman, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said President Trump continues to believe he was wiretapped by President Barack Obama. (New York Times)
4/ Chaffetz: I’ve seen no evidence Obama ordered wiretap of Trump. If Trump’s allegation is true, Chaffetz said, “the paper trail should be there” from whatever court authorized the wiretap. (Politico)
5/ Conway blames Trump’s wiretap dust-up on “double standard.” Criticism directed at the president is unfair, Conway said, especially from the media that she complained has regularly cited anonymous sources in reports that have proven damaging to the Trump administration. Those same media outlets have too quickly dismissed Trump’s wiretapping allegation, Conway said. (Politico)
6/ Russian hackers are targeting U.S. liberals in a new wave of attacks, scouring the organizations’ emails for embarrassing details and attempting to extract hush money. (Bloomberg)
7/ The Supreme Court won’t hear the Case on transgender rights after the Trump administration changed the federal government’s position on whether public schools had to allow transgender youths to use bathrooms that matched their gender identities. (New York Times)
8/ The Supreme Court ruled that confidential deliberations must be disclosed if there’s evidence of racial bias by jurors. “The nation must continue to make strides to overcome race-based discrimination,” Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote for the majority. (New York Times)
9/ Russia’s take on Trump: Glee gives way to frustration. Russian officials bemoan “witch hunt” and “hysteria” in Washington. (CNN)
poll/ Most back special prosecutor for Russia investigation. 65% of Americans would rather see a special prosecutor handle the investigation, while 32% think Congress is capable of handling it. (CNN)
1/ Trump wants congressional probe of claims that Obama had him wiretapped during last year’s election, but won’t comment further. Trump is “requesting that as part of their investigation into Russian activity, the congressional intelligence committees exercise their oversight authority to determine whether executive branch investigative powers were abused in 2016,” Spicer said. (USA Today)
2/ Trump called “reports” about the wiretapping “very troubling” and said Congress should examine them as part of its inquiry into Russia’s meddling in the election. (New York Times)
3/ Senator: Intel panel to look at alleged wiretap. Trump’s unsubstantiated allegations that his predecessor ordered wiretaps of Trump Tower will become part of the committee’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. (ABC News)
4/ Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper denied any suggestion that Trump Tower communications were wiretapped before the election. Asked again whether there was a FISA Court order to monitor Trump Tower, Clapper said, “Not to my knowledge.” (NBC News)
5/ Schumer: “The president is in trouble.” The Senate minority leader said that Trump’s Saturday morning allegations about Obama will be damaging to his presidency whether they are true or not and that “the president makes it worse with these tweets.” (Politico)
6/ The Trump administration may be skirting its own ethics rules by hiring of three former lobbyists to work in the White House. The administration appears to be either ignoring or exempting top staffers from its own watered-down ethics rules. (ProPublica)
7/ Trump angry and frustrated at staff over Sessions fallout for stealing his thunder in the wake of his address to Congress. “Nobody has seen him that upset,” one source said, adding the feeling was the communications team allowed the Sessions news, which the administration deemed a nonstory, to overtake the narrative. (CNN)
8/ Trump plans to sign updated travel ban early next week. Trump was scheduled to sign the order last week but pushed it back after his joint address to Congress received overwhelmingly positive reviews.
“We want the (executive order) to have its own ‘moment,’ “ a senior administration official said. (CNN)
9/ Russia is the slow burn of the Trump administration, and it’s not going away. Not much is known about the controversy, but that there were contacts is not in dispute. The Session controversy shows the administration doesn’t know what it doesn’t know, leaving itself vulnerable to calls for more investigations. (Washington Post)
10/ Trump skips the Gridiron Dinner as his staffers get roasted. Trump declined his invitation as tensions between him and the press are as high as ever. Gridiron Club is an exclusive group of Washington’s top political reporters. (NPR)
1/ Trump, citing no evidence, accuses Obama of “Nixon/Watergate” plot to wiretap Trump Tower in the run-up to the election. Trump offered no citations, but he may have been referring to commentary on Breitbart and conservative talk radio suggesting that Obama and his administration used “police state” tactics last fall to monitor the Trump team. (Washington Post)
Trump accuses Obama of tapping his phones at the Trump Tower a month before the election. Without offering any evidence, Trump fired off a series of tweets claiming that Obama “had my ‘wires tapped’” and likened the supposed tapping to “Watergate/Nixon” and “McCarthyism.” (New York Times)
Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my "wires tapped" in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!
Obama denies Trump’s unsubstantiated accusation that he wiretapped phones in Trump Tower.“A cardinal rule of the Obama administration was that no White House official ever interfered with any independent investigation led by the Department of Justice,” Obama spokesman Kevin Lewis said in a statement Saturday. “As part of that practice, neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any U.S. citizen. Any suggestion otherwise is simply false.” (ABC News)
Untangling Trump and Russia: What we know – and what we don’t. The last 48 hours have been dominated by a steady stream of new information about previously undisclosed conversations between Trump aides and Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak, one of Moscow’s foremost operators in the US. (CNN)
2/ Trump went “ballistic” on his senior staff over the latest news reports connecting Russia with the new administration and Jeff Sessions abrupt decision to recuse himself. Trump felt Sessions’ recusal was unnecessary. (ABC News)
3/ The U.S. can’t effectively counter a nuclear threat from North Korea. Trump inherited a secret cyberwar against North Korean missiles designed to “manufacturing errors.” The threats pose such a danger that Obama warned Trump that a nuclear threat would likely be his most urgent problem. (New York Times)
4/ Sessions will submit amended testimony and address Senators’ questions over his contacts with Russia’s ambassador last year. The offer came after all nine Democratic senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee in a letter asked the committee chairman to bring Sessions back for a follow-up hearing to explain his past testimony and recent decision to recuse himself from any investigation involving the Trump campaign. (NBC News)
5/ A growing list of contacts between Trump associates and Russia is drawing increased scrutiny. Part of the problem underlying the disputed contact is Trump’s pugnacious style that leaves little room for nuance. At a news conference last month, he said that he had “nothing to do with Russia,” and that “to the best of my knowledge, no person that I deal with does.” But in fact, reporting by multiple news organizations turned up multiple contacts between Trump associates and Russians who serve in or are close to Putin. (New York Times)
6/ The Trump administration will temporarily suspend expedited applications for H-1B visas. The H-1B non-immigrant visa allows U.S. companies to employ graduate-level workers in several specialized fields, including information technology, medicine, engineering and mathematics. (Reuters)
7/ Keystone XL oil pipeline won’t use US steel despite Trump’s pledge. The executive order Trump signed to greenlight the project only applies to new pipelines or those under repair. Last week Trump said the Keystone and Dakota Access pipelines must use American steel “or we’re not building one.” (Fox News)
8/ Trump to roll back stringent federal regulations on vehicle pollution that contributes to global warming. The move marks a U-turn in the efforts to force the American auto industry to produce more electric cars. (New York Times)
1/ Moscow blames anti-Russian hysteria in the U.S. for Sessions’s plight, saying “fake news” and a “witch hunt” are intended to head off better relations. (Washington Post)
2/ Trump cries “total witch hunt” as questions about Russia pile up as to why so many people had so many meetings with Russians that they all forgot about. (NBC News)
3/ Trump’s blaming the Democrats for Cabinet delays that are normal — and his own fault. It is true that, at one time, Senate Democrats were dragging their heels on Trump’s Cabinet picks. Two of the main problems are that Trump’s pick for Secretary of Labor withdrew last month and his pick to run the Department of Agriculture hasn’t been sent to the Senate yet. (Washington Post)
4/ The White House looks to slash the budget of NOAA by 17%. The cuts to one of the government’s premier climate science agencies would reduce funding for research and satellite programs used for weather forecasts. The proposal would also eliminate funding for a variety of smaller programs, including external research, coastal management, estuary reserves and “coastal resilience,” which seeks to bolster the ability of coastal areas to withstand major storms and rising seas. (Washington Post)
5/ Photo contradicts Pelosi’s statement about not meeting Russian ambassador Kislyak. The Democratic House leader sat with the Russian ambassador in 2010. (Politico)
6/ Sessions used campaign funds for RNC trip, where he met Russian ambassador for “official” reasons. Records show the attorney general used campaign account for travel expenses to Cleveland, where he met the Russian envoy and spoke about Trump’s campaign at the event. (Wall Street Journal)
7/ Lawyers say Sessions could face legal ordeal over testimony if a special counsel takes over Trump-Russia probe even if he didn’t commit perjury. “It is, at best, very misleading testimony,” said Richard Painter, formerly the top ethics lawyer in President George W. Bush’s White House. “I don’t go so far as to say that it’s perjury, but there is a lesser charge of failing to provide accurate information to Congress.” (Politico)
8/ Trump’s advisers are urging him to purge the government of Obama appointees. Frustrated by the gush of leaks, the president’s allies say it’s time to take action and install people who are loyal to him, amid a cascade of damaging stories that have put his nascent administration in seemingly constant crisis-control mode. (Politico)
Trump’s latest attempt to stop the damaging leaks coming from the White House has been leaked to the press. The White House has limited access to its classified computer systems in an effort to reduce leaks to the media. (The Hill)
9/ NC man accused of committing anti-gay attack: “You live in Trump country now.” A man on a rented scooter harassed two men riding bicycles together in Key West, striking the back tire of one of the cyclists knocking him to the ground. He accused them of voting for Clinton. He was then arrested on an extraditable warrant for aggravated battery with a deadly weapon with evidence of prejudice. (Fox 8)
10/ The GOP’s bold prediction: Obamacare repeal will pass this month. Trump is reportedly on board, which suggests the House is poised to steamroll conservative opposition by daring their constituents to vote against an Obamacare repeal. (Politico)
New details in of the GOP Obamacare replacement leak. The latest plan still includes a new tax credits for individuals based on age, which hardline conservatives have derided as “Obamacare lite.” (Politico)
11/ A St. Louis man was arrested for making at least eight threats against Jewish community centers. The man allegedly made threatening calls to Jewish groups in his name or the name of his ex-lover. Federal prosecutors called it a “campaign to harass and intimidate.” (ABC News)
12/ Trump tried Twitter discipline this week. He decided it’s totally overrated. For precisely four days, eight hours and five minutes, Trump refrained from tweeting anything inflammatory. He finally succumbed Thursday night to the urge to vent his anger and reverted to form, tweeting Democrats “have lost their grip on reality,” he railed against a “witch hunt,” and insisted yet again that the “real story” is leaks. He was back on Friday morning, airing another grievance about another subject: accusing Democrats for not approving his full Cabinet. (Washington Post)
13/ Breitbart editor slams mainstream media in Pulitzer Hall, calling out mainstream media bias and inaccuracy while accepting no similar responsibility for the misleading and at times incendiary work. (Columbia Journalism Review)
14/ Rex Tillerson skips the State Department’s annual announcement on human rights, alarming advocates that the Trump administration places a low priority on advancing human rights. (Washington Post)
15/ Planned EPA cuts will hit black and Hispanic communities the hardest, which already suffer disproportionately from toxic pollution. (The Guardian)
1/ Jeff Sessions recused himself from the Russia inquiry and from any future investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. His conversations with the ambassador, Sergey Kislyak, came amid suspected Russian hacking directed at Clinton’s campaign. (New York Times)
Top Republicans call on Sessions to recuse himself from Russia investigation. Some Democrats have called on Sessions to resign and have demanded an independent investigation. The calls from two of the House’s most prominent Republicans follow revelations that Sessions met with the Russian ambassador during election season. Under oath in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee for his confirmation hearing in January, Sessions had said that he had not met with any Russian officials. (Washington Post)
Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer say Sessions perjured himself and demand that he resign. “For the good of the country, Attorney General Jeff Sessions should resign,” Schumer said. Pelosi took the same position: “Sessions is not fit to serve as the top law enforcement officer of our country and must resign. There must be an independent, bipartisan, outside commission to investigate the Trump political, personal and financial connections to the Russians.” (New York Times)
Sessions met with Russians twice last year, but didn’t disclose the encounters during his confirmation hearing when asked about possible contacts between members of Trump’s campaign and representatives of Moscow. (Washington Post)
Sessions: “I will recuse myself” if necessary. Sessions confirmed he met with the Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak before the presidential election in his capacity as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee — not as a representative of the Trump campaign – and denied discussing the Trump campaign when he met with him. Kislyak is considered a top spy and is the same person who met with former national security adviser Michael Flynn. (NBC News)
Trump taps Putin critic for senior White House position as Trump administration draws fire for contacts with Russian officials. (Foreign Policy)
2/ Republicans continue to stick with Trump despite news that Sessions had met with the Russian ambassador, contradicting testimony he had given under oath. Republicans are resisting calls for a special prosecutor or select congressional committee to review the matter. (Washington Post)
3/ The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee accused FBI Director James Comey of withholding information on Russia probe. “In order for us to do our investigation in a thorough and credible way, we’re going to need the FBI to fully cooperate… to fully tell us the length and breadth of any counterintelligence investigations they are conducting,” Rep. Adam Schiff told reporters after emerging from a classified meeting with Comey. “At this point the director was not willing to do that.” Schiff raised the prospect of subpoenaing the agency. (Politico)
4/ Kushner and Flynn met with Russian envoy in December to “establish a line of communication.” The extent and frequency of their contacts remains unclear, and the disclosure of the meeting at Trump Tower adds to the emerging picture of how the relationship between Trump’s incoming team and Moscow was evolving to include some of the president-elect’s most trusted advisers. (New York Times)
Former Trump adviser Carter Page also met with Russian envoy. Sergey Kislyak and Page spoke on the sidelines of the GOP convention last July. (Politico)
5/ Pence used personal email for state business — and was hacked. As governor of Indiana, Pence communicated via his personal AOL account with top advisers on topics ranging from security gates at the governor’s residence to the state’s response to terror attacks across the globe. (USA Today)
New EPA head told Congress he never used personal email for government business. But it turns out he did. Senators are demanding a review of the personal email account of Scott Pruitt after he said during confirmation hearings that he never used that account for official business as Oklahoma state attorney general. The result of an Open Records Act lawsuit shows Pruitt using his personal email address to conduct official state business, something he was not honest with the Senate about this during his confirmation process. (Washington Post)
6/ Paul Ryan’s feeling confident about repeal-and-replace. McConnell not so much. Ryan and his top lieutenants are increasingly optimistic they will have the votes to pass their version of legislation to repeal the health-care law and replace some elements of it. In the Senate, McConnell can lose just two GOP senators and then use Vice President Pence to cast the tiebreaking vote to get the legislation to President Trump’s desk. (Washington Post)
Rand Paul protests outside room where House Republicans are hammering out an Obamacare replacement. Paul couldn’t get a copy because the bill is still being drafted in private. Paul has described the passage of the ACA as an opaque and secret-laden process and that that Republican Party shouldn’t act the same way. (Washington Post)
7/ Trump’s team nixed ethics course for White House staff that would have provided training on leadership, ethics and management. The program could have better prepared officials for working within existing laws and executive orders, and provided guidance on how to navigate Senate confirmation for nominees and political appointees, how to deal with congressional and media scrutiny, and how to work with Congress and collaborate with agencies. Sounds boring. (Politico)
8/ The White House intentionally misled reporters ahead of Trump‘s congressional address in order to generate positive press coverage as part of a “misdirection play.” The White House indicated Trump would embrace a more moderate tone on immigration in his speech. He made no such remarks. CNN’s Sara Murray called it a “bait-and-switch.” (The Hill)
BACKGROUND:
Trump went on background with reporters as a “senior administration official” ahead of his address to Congress night. Trump has taken issue with the use of anonymous sources in stories about his administration, saying “They shouldn’t be allowed to use sources unless they use somebody’s name” on Friday. Four days later, he was one. (BuzzFeed News)
9/ The White House is fiercely divided over Trump’s campaign promise to “cancel” the Paris agreement. The 2015 accord binds nearly every country to curb global warming. Bannon is pushing for the U.S. to exit the deal, but Rex Tillerson and Ivanka Trump see a grave downside in pulling the rug out from under allies. (New York Times)
10/ Some of the EPA’s longstanding and best-known programs are facing potential elimination. Details of an Office of Management and Budget proposal would cut the EPA’s budget by 24% and reduce its staffing by 20%. (CNN)
11/ McMaster rolls back Flynn’s changes at NSC. McMaster did away with two deputy assistant spots. It’s unclear if Steve Bannon will stay on the principals committee of the NSC. (Politico)
12/ Ben Carson confirmed to lead HUD despite no prior government experience and a staunchly conservative view of public assistance. (Washington Post)
1/ Sessions met with Russians twice last year, but didn’t disclose the encounters during his confirmation hearing when asked about possible contacts between members of Trump’s campaign and representatives of Moscow. Sessions oversees the Justice Department and the FBI, which have been leading investigations into Russian meddling and any links to Trump’s associates. He has so far resisted calls to recuse himself. (Washington Post)
Obama administration officials scrambled to ensure intelligence of connections between the Trump campaign and Russia was preserved. They had two aims: to ensure that such meddling isn’t duplicated in future American or European elections, and to leave a clear trail of intelligence for government investigators. (New York Times)
Graham and McCain want answers on Sessions-Russia report. If the FBI determines that Trump’s campaign illegally coordinated with Russia, Attorney General Jeff Sessions should recuse himself from making the decision whether to pursue prosecutions. Graham said a Trump appointee “cannot make this decision.” (CNN)
Pelosi calls for Sessions’s resignation, saying “Jeff Sessions lied under oath during his confirmation hearing before the Senate.” (The Hill)
— Oversight Committee Democrats (@OversightDems) March 2, 2017
2/ Trump defended his tumultuous presidency and asked Congress to put aside its “trivial fights” to help ordinary Americans in his first speech. Trump reiterated a host of familiar themes from his campaign and called for unity to address a litany of issues that he says are plaguing the country. “The time for small thinking is over,” Trump said. “The time for trivial fights is behind us. We just need the courage to share the dreams that fill our hearts. The bravery to express the hopes that stir our souls. And the confidence to turn those hopes and those dreams into action.” (New York Times)
Sanders tells supporters after Trump’s speech to “continue the fight” and publicly push back against the administration. “Keep showing up. Keep calling Congress and continue the fight. The Republicans are now on the defensive and we’ve got to continue to push them back,” Sanders said. (The Hill)
Trump seeks to parlay post-speech boost into action on contentious agenda. Pence said the reception Trump received gave him “great confidence that the agenda that the president articulated last night is the right agenda for America, it’s resonating with the American people.” (Washington Post)
Trump’s softer tone masks hard road ahead with few details on how he’d turn them into reality. (Bloomberg)
Speech marks a shift in tone. Trump’s pitched his agenda to voters and Congress with language that was much more presidential and traditional in tone, even as he made no major policy changes. (Wall Street Journal)
The 5 main takeaways from Trump’s speech. (New York Times)
6 things we learned from Trump’s address to Congress. (CNN)
Key moments from Trump’s speech: Condemning the recent vandalism of Jewish cemeteries; celebrating his own accomplishments; announcing a “historic tax reform”; repeating the line “radical Islamic terrorism”; outlining what he said would be a “better healthcare system”; and referring to illegal immigration as “American carnage.” (Politico)
Fact checking Trump’s first address to Congress. (New York Times)
The full text of Trump’s speech to Congress. (CNN)
The Democratic response to Trump’s address by Former Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear, annotated by NPR journalists. (NPR)
3/ DeVos backpedals on remarks about historically black colleges due to a fierce backlash after she called historically black colleges and universities “real pioneers” of school choice. In a series of tweets, DeVos acknowledged that the schools were not created simply to give African-American students more choices, but because black students across the country were not allowed into segregated white schools. (New York Times)
Providing an alternative option to students denied the right to attend a quality school is the legacy of #HBCUs.
4/ New Trump order drops Iraq from travel ban list. The decision follows pressure from the Pentagon and State Department, which had urged the White House to reconsider Iraq’s inclusion given its key role in fighting the Islamic State group. (Associated Press)
Trump called on the Department of Homeland Security to “create an office to serve American victims” of crimes committed by immigrants. The Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement (VOICE) would provide “a voice to those who have been ignored by our media, and silenced by special interests.” He made no explanation as to why the targets of crime perpetrated by immigrants should receive the support of a new federal government agency that apparently excludes the victims of crime committed by U.S. citizens. (CNBC)
Trump delays signing new travel ban order. The delay was due to a busy news cycle, and Trump wanted the new executive order to get its own “moment.” Signing the executive order today, as originally planned, would have undercut the favorable coverage of Trump’s speech. (CNN)
Trump seesaws on legal status for undocumented immigrants. (New York Times)
5/ Republican governors divided on Obamacare replacement. States that expanded Medicaid coverage fear they’‘ll be left holding the bag if the federal government doesn’t provide enough money to pay for the entitlement they expanded under the Affordable Care Act. (Washington Post)
Fundamental disagreements remain between Republican leaders and the party’s most conservative members around the plan to replace the Affordable Care Act, particularly over the details of a proposed tax credit. (New York Times)
House Republicans announce only Republicans are allowed to see the new health care plan. Paul Ryan had previous boasted that they were “not hatching some bill in a backroom and plopping it on the American people’s front door.” Oh well… (New York Magazine)
6/ Police chiefs object to Trump’s efforts to involve them in immigrant deportations. A letter from more than 60 law enforcement heads asks to soften push to include police in round-ups, saying it makes their communities less safe. (The Guardian)
7/ Generals may launch new ISIS raids without Trump’s approval. The White House is considering delegating more authority to the Pentagon to greenlight anti-terrorist operations after Trump took heat for a raid in Yemen that killed a SEAL. (The Daily Beast)
8/ Pelosi to Democrats: Treat Trump voters like a friend whose boyfriend is a jerk Pelosi is confident a good portion of Trump’s voters will eventually turn on him – and Democrats just have to wait it out. (CNN)
9/ The State of Trump’s State Department. Anxiety and listless days as a foreign-policy bureaucracy confronts the possibility of radical change. (The Atlantic)
10/ “You People” are doing an amazing job, Trump told HBCU presidents during meeting. Trump repeated the complimentary refrain three times. A White House adviser called the characterization of the meeting false, and said it was “ridiculous spin.” (BuzzFeed News)
11/ White House: Conway acted “without nefarious motive” in Ivanka Trump plug. A letter from the White House to the Office of Government Ethics says a White House lawyer met with Conway to review federal rules prohibiting endorsements by government employees. The letter makes no mention of plans for disciplinary action. (CNN Money)
12/ Rubio asked to leave Tampa office over disruption from weekly protests. The owner of the building notified Rubio on February 1st that they will not be renewing the lease because the rallies have become too disruptive to the other tenants. (Tampa Bay Times)
13/ Sen. Lindsey Graham says he wants all presidential candidates to be required by law to release their tax returns, starting in 2020. The proposal would include Donald Trump if the president seeks reelection. (Politico)
14/ Senate approves Trump’s nominee, Ryan Zinke, for the Department of the Interior. The Republican congressman promised to review Obama-era actions limiting oil and gas drilling in Alaska and said he rejected President Donald Trump’s past comment that climate change is a “hoax.” (CNN)
poll/ Trump’s speech was a hit with viewers in two early polls. A CBS News/YouGov poll found 76% of viewers approved of the speech and 82% found it “presidential.” A CNN/ORC poll found 70% felt more optimistic. (Politico)
1/ Betsy DeVos press release celebrates Jim Crow education system as a pioneer of “school choice”, saying the legal segregation of historically black colleges and universities gave black students “more options.” Trump met with the leaders of a number of HBCUs yesterday. DeVos commemorated the meeting in a press release today. (Slate)
DeVos slammed for calling black colleges “pioneers” of school choice. DeVos’ statement painting African Americans’ efforts to create higher education options for themselves in a segregated society as a “choice” earned her criticism from Democratic members of Congress and others. (Talking Points Memo)
2/ House leaders are split on whether a Russian inquiry is needed. The top Republican and Democrat on the Intelligence Committee gave sharply conflicting views of their investigation into Russian efforts to influence the election, raising questions about whether they will be able to work together. Republican Devin Nunes said that there was no evidence anyone from the Trump campaign had communicated with the government in Moscow. Democrat Adam Schiff said that it was too early to rule out the ties, because the panel had not yet been provided with any evidence collected by intelligence and law enforcement agencies. (New York Times)
FBI once planned to pay former British spy who authored controversial Trump dossier to continue his work. While Trump has derided the dossier as “fake news” compiled by his political opponents, the FBI’s arrangement with the spy shows that bureau investigators considered him credible and found his line of inquiry to be worthy of pursuit. (Washington Post)
GOP intelligence chairman David Nunes: “There’s no evidence of anything” regarding Russia-Trump campaign contacts. Nunes said the House Intelligence Committee won’t subpoena Trump’s tax returns and decries “McCarthyism” and “witch hunts” based on reports that Americans may have connections to the Russian regime. (Salon)
George W. Bush said ‘‘we all need answers’’ on the extent of contact between Trump’s team and the Russian government. He didn’t rule out the idea that a special prosecutor could be necessary to lead an investigation. (Boston Globe)
3/ Trump goes to Congress to make a sale. Trump is under pressure to show that his White House can be effective in delivering on the sweeping changes he has promised by working with allies on Capitol Hill. Trump’s aides are promising an “optimistic” speech designed to rally Americans toward a hopeful future. Trump will address Congress shortly after 9 p.m EST tonight. (CNN)
A guide for Trump’s first speech to Congress. Instead of reflecting on the state of the U.S., like a State of the Union address, the first joint session speech is typically used to outline a new president’s goals for his administration. Trump will do exactly that — and try to downplay the chaos that has plagued his first 40 days in office. (Politico)
Trump prepares to address a divided audience: The Republican Congress. On health care, tax reform and federal spending, GOP lawmakers hold differences of opinion within their own party that are obstructing passage of ambitious Republican policies, and so far Trump has shown little desire to openly referee those disputes. (Washington Post)
4/ Sessions vows to get tough on crime, saying a recent spike in violence in some cities is “driving this sense that we’re in danger.” He’s pledged to commit more federal energy to fighting crime even though crime rates remain far below their 1970s and 1980s levels. Trump is expected to emphasize that the rise in violence in some cities was not “a one-time blip” but rather “the beginning of a trend” during his address to a joint session of Congress tonight. (New York Times)
Sessions tells the Justice Department to ease up on police probes into alleged civil rights abuses by local police departments. The attorney general says it’s undermined police and led to an increase in violent crime in some cities. (Wall Street Journal)
Sessions pushes tougher line on marijuana even though a growing number of states are moving to legalize or decriminalize pot. “Most of you probably know I don’t think America is going to be a better place when more people of all ages and particularly young people start smoking pot,” Sessions said. (Politico)
5/ Trump envisions a compromise bill allowing many immigrants to stay in US where those who aren’t serious or violent criminals could stay in the US legally, hold a job and pay taxes, without having to worry about being deported. A path to citizenship for those in the country illegally would not be part of Trump’s vision for this deal, with the possible exception of “Dreamers” – those brought into the US illegally as children. (CNN)
6/ Trump gave himself an A grade for his presidency, but only a C for communicating. how. great. he. has. been. in a “Fox and Friends” interview today. He also blamed Obama for organizing opposition against him, called the House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi “incompetent,” and criticized his own press secretary for how he has handled leaks. He has called “Fox and Friends” one of his favorite shows. (New York Times)
Trump gave himself a “C or C+” grade for communicating with the public: Needs improvement. He offered high marks for his accomplishments, but he gave himself a “C” for messaging, conceding that he has not been able to properly explain what he’s done. (Washington Post)
7/ Trump says Obama is helping organize protests against his presidency. Trump has been dismissing the protests against his presidency and demonstrations at congressional town hall meetings across the country as concocted by his political enemies. “I think that President Obama is behind it because his people certainly are behind it,” Trump said. “In terms of him being behind things, that’s politics. It will probably continue.” (Washington Post)
8/ Trump begins E.P.A. rollback with executive order on clean water rules. The order, which will have almost no immediate legal effect and could take longer than a single presidential term to dismantle, directs E.P.A. chief Scott Pruitt to rewrite the 2015 rule known as the Waters of the United States. The rule gives the federal government broad authority to limit pollution in major bodies of water as well as in streams and wetlands that drain into them.
Trump is also expected to sign a similar order instructing Pruitt to begin the process of withdrawing and revising Obama’s 2015 climate-change regulation, aimed at curbing emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases from coal-fired power plants. In his former job as attorney general of Oklahoma, Pruitt led or took part in 14 lawsuits intended to block the E.P.A.’s major regulations, including the clean water and climate rules that he is now charged with dismantling. (New York Times)
Trump to direct rollback of Obama-era water rule. Trump will instruct the E.P.A. and Army Corps of Engineers to “review and reconsider” a 2015 rule known as the Waters of the United States rule. The move that could ultimately make it easier for agricultural and development interests to drain wetlands and small streams. (Washington Post)
9/ Sen. Lindsey Graham: Trump budget is “dead on arrival.” Trump’s proposing $54 billion in cuts to fund an equivalent boost in defense spending, but lacks key details stoking bipartisan concern. (The Hill)
E.P.A. braces for a possibly “devastating” 25% budget cut. There is widespread concern within the E.P.A. that the changes will dramatically alter the function of an agency that was created under Republican President Richard Nixon in 1970, and will weaken the agency to the point where it can only do its most basic functions. (CNN)
Trump proposes cutting the State Department budget by 37%. The plan would cut aid given by U.S. Agency for International Development. (Wall Street Journal)
The Pentagon budget next year sounds huge at first, but… it comes with a significant cut in foreign aid, including programs that military officials say contribute to global stability and are seen as important in helping avoid future conflicts. (New York Times)
Trump says “revved up economy” will pay for budget proposals. The extra $54 billion dollars he has proposed spending on the U.S. military will be offset by a stronger economy as well as cuts in other areas, he said. (Reuters)
10/ Trump urges insurers to work together to “save Americans from Obamacare.” Trump met with major health insurers in the midst of political divisions over how to dismantle and replace Obama’s signature health-care law and intensifying public pressure to preserve the policy. He criticized the Affordable Care Act for creating minimal health coverage requirements that restricted the types of plans insurers could sell. (Washington Post)
Schumer predicts health-care law “will not be repealed.” Schumer pointed to widespread disagreement among Republicans about how to go about undoing key parts of the law, as well as intense pressure from constituents urging them not to rush ahead with their effort. (Washington Post)
11/ Trump’s silence on deadly Olathe shooting is disquieting. Nearly a week has passed since two India-born engineers were singled out and shot at an Olathe bar, presumably because they were immigrants, darker in skin tone and possibly viewed by the shooter as unwanted foreigners. (Kansas City Star)
White House condemns Kansas attack, calling it “racially motivated.” The comments are the most direct the White House has made on the incident. (CNN)
12/ New NSC chief pushed Trump to moderate his language on terrorism, urging him to stop using the phrase “radical Islamic terrorism.” The phrase, however, will be in Trump’s speech to a joint session of Congress tonight — even though McMaster reviewed drafts and his staff pressed the president’s speechwriter not to use it. (Politico)
13/ Trump signed off on checking White House staffers’ phones to make certain they weren’t communicating with reporters by text message or through encrypted apps. The decision sent a signal across the administration that Trump is furious at leaks from inside the White House. (CNN)
14/ Trump appears to blame generals for SEAL’s death in Yemen raid. Trump highlighted that the controversial raid in Yemen that left one Navy SEAL dead had been a success, and in the works before he took office. He said “they lost” the SEAL — apparently in reference to the generals who planned the mission. (The Hill)
poll/ Trump is delivering on his campaign promises. 56% of registered voters say that Trump is staying true to his 2016 campaign message. 65% say Trump has accomplished what was expected of him — or more. Overall, half of voters approve of the job Trump is doing as president, while 45% disapprove. (Politico)
1/ Trump to propose 10% spike in defense spending, massive cuts to other agencies. The federal budget proposal dramatically increases defense-related spending by $54 billion while cutting virtually all other federal agencies by the same amount. (Washington Post)
The White House sets its budget guidance: calls for $54 billion increase in defense spending. The proposal represents a 10% bump in defense spending and national security-related efforts. (Politico)
Trump’s proposed budget: major defense spending increases and big cuts to the E.P.A. Congress ultimately determines how the federal government’s money is spent. Mnuchin said Trump’s first budget won’t touch entitlement programs such as Social Security or Medicare. It will instead focus on ways to produce long-term economic growth by slashing taxes. (Bloomberg)
Trump’s promised economic stimulus won’t happen this year. If it happens at all, the soonest the economy will begin to feel the impact of a Trump stimulus is in federal fiscal year 2018, which begins October 1st. (Forbes)
Trump to demand a budget with tens of billions of dollars in reductions to the E.P.A. and State Department while social safety net programs, aside from Social Security and Medicare, will get hit hard. The move comes a day before delivering a high-stakes address to a joint session of Congress. (New York Times)
2/ Sean Spicer personally arranged CIA and GOP intelligence push-back in attempts to discredit a New York Times article about alleged contacts between members of Trump’s campaign team and Russian intelligence operatives.
On February 15th, Spicer called CIA Director Mike Pompeo and Senate Select Intelligence Committee Chair Richard Burr, and connected them with reporters from The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. Pompeo and Burr told the journalists that the New York Times story wasn’t true but provided no details.
The Washington Post reported on the push back Friday with the article, “Trump administration sought to enlist intelligence officials, key lawmakers to counter Russia stories.” (Axios)
3/ Bush breaks with Trump, calling the media “indispensable to democracy.” Recalling his own presidency, when he was often the target of withering media critique, Bush said he devoted significant time to extolling the virtues of a free and independent press around the world. Trump has called the press “the enemy of the American people.” (Politico)
4/ GOP’s new plan to repeal Obamacare: Dare fellow Republicans to block the effort. Republican leaders are betting that the only way for Congress to repeal the Affordable Care Act is to set a bill in motion and gamble that wavering rank-and-file Republicans don’t have the guts to block it. Republican lawmakers have expressed concerns about forging ahead with a repeal plan that could leave millions with no coverage — especially after enduring raucous town hall events during last week’s recess. (Wall Street Journal)
After meeting with Trump, governors say he’s crafting his own Obamacare plan. Congressional Republicans are looking to move forward with committee markups on legislation in the House within a few weeks. A separate plan from the White House could throw a curveball into the process and shift the debate. At the same time, congressional Republicans themselves are still grappling with a range of issues, with Medicaid expansion among the most prominent. (The Hill)
A divided White House still offers little guidance on replacing Obamacare. Lawmakers, state leaders, and policy experts say the administration is largely delegating the development of an ACA substitute to Capitol Hill. Trump appears more interested in brokering specific questions, such as how to negotiate drug prices, than in steering the plan’s drafting. (Washington Post)
Trump: “Nobody knew health care could be so complicated” he noted with some exasperation about the complexity of the nation’s health laws, which he’s vowed to reform as part of a bid to scrap Obamacare. (CNN)
Freedom Caucus chair would vote against draft Obamacare repeal bill. The North Carolina Republican finds refundable tax credits in the bill unacceptable and said plenty of other lawmakers in the Freedom Caucus share his concerns. (CNN)
5/ Trump navy secretary nominee withdraws citing concerns about privacy and separating his business interests. Philip Bilden announced his decision only days after White House said he was 100% committed to the role. (The Guardian)
6/ The U.S. hopes of hosting the World Cup in 2026 will be damaged if Trump’s travel restrictions come into full force. The United States is a clear favorite to be awarded the 2026 tournament, either on its own or as part of a joint North American bid with Mexico and Canada. Immigration policy is among the areas considered during the evaluation of a World Cup bid, and is was suggested that it would “not help” if Trump succeeded in placing harsher restrictions on travel. (New York Times)
7/ U.S. detains and nearly deports French Holocaust historian. Henry Rousso, one of France’s most preeminent scholars and public intellectuals, attempted to enter the U.S. to attend an academic symposium. He was detained for more than 10 hours — for no clear reason. (Washington Post)
8/ Trump’s Justice Department is ending the government’s opposition to a controversial voter ID law in Texas. For the last six years, the Justice Department has sided with the citizens and civil rights groups fighting Texas’ voter ID law, which a federal judge at one point found to be intentionally discriminatory against black and Latino voters. (Talking Points Memo)
9/ U.S. State Department tweets, then deletes congratulations to the Iranian people and Asghar Farhadi for his Oscar win. Farhadi directed “The Salesman,” which won an Oscar for best foreign-language film, criticized Trump’s travel ban as “inhumane.” (Reuters)
10/ Russia looks to exploit White House “turbulence” as it’s becoming increasingly convinced that Trump will not fundamentally change relations with Russia. The Kremlin is instead seeking to bolster its global influence by exploiting what it considers weakness in Washington. Russia has continued to test the United States on the military front, with fighter jets flying close to an American warship in the Black Sea this month and a Russian naval vessel steaming conspicuously in the Atlantic off the coast of Delaware. (New York Times)
11/ This is how Planned Parenthood is fighting to survive in the era of Trump. A leaked draft of a bill shows Congress is getting ready to defund the women’s health clinic and abortion provider. The organization’s president says that “no one really knows what will make a difference anymore, but that’s why we have to do everything we can.” (BuzzFeed News)
12/ Rep. Darrell Issa backtracked on his call for a special prosecutor to look into Russian involvement in the 2016 Presidential election. “I think it’s very important to realize there’s been no allegation by any part of this administration or by anyone who’s been to the hearings about any crimes,” Issa said. “So one of the challenges we have is a special prosecutor exists when you have an individual under suspicion. Currently we don’t have that.” Wat? (CBS News)
13/ Sen. Tom Udall floated a plan to confirm both Gorsuch and Garland to the Supreme Court together. The plan would put both Obama and Trump’s picks on SCOTUS at the same time. His proposal is for Trump to meet privately with Supreme Court justices who are interested in retirement. If one of those justices decided they would be willing to retire, and if Trump promises to nominate Garland, President Barack Obama’s unconfirmed former SCOTUS pick, in their place, then the retiring justice would submit a letter of resignation contingent on that promise.
Then, both Garland and Gorsuch would be voted on simultaneously. (CNN)
14/ House Democrats forced the GOP to take recorded vote on Trump tax returns. The effort failed on a party line vote, 229-185, with two Republicans voting “present.” The move was the latest in a series of Democratic efforts to push Congress to request Trump’s tax returns, and Democrats demanded a roll call vote to force Republicans to go on the record. (The Hill)
1/ Sean Spicer targets own staff in leak crackdown. After becoming aware that information had leaked out of a planning meeting, Spicer reconvened his staff and told them to dump their phones on a table for a “phone check,” to prove they had nothing to hide. Spicer also warned the group of more problems if news of the phone checks and the meeting about leaks was leaked to the media. (Politico)
2/ White House: Too early to say whether a special prosecutor should look into apparent election meddling by Russia. The assessment comes as a growing number of Democrats are calling for Jeff Sessions, who was a key figure in Trump’s campaign, to step aside as the FBI and the Justice Department probe what happened. (Washington Post)
3/ Chris Christie tells GOP lawmakers to hold town halls: “You asked for the job. Go do it.” Christie said that the Trump administration needs to be more mindful of their “perception” and urged GOP lawmakers not to shy away from holding town hall events, though they might be confronted by protesters. (Washington Post)
Rubio on skipping town halls: Activists will “heckle and scream at me.” Rubio won’t participate in town hall meetings because he says political activists will crash them to create a media spectacle. (Politico)
4/ Trump’s upcoming budget won’t touch entitlement programs such as Social Security or Medicare. The administration thinks tax cuts and regulatory relief will lead to a sharp increase in economic growth of 3% or higher. (Bloomberg)
5/ The New York Times will run its first-ever advertising during the Academy Awards tonight with a spot that appears to target the Trump administration titled “The Truth Is Hard.” Trump has already lashed out at the new ad campaign on Twitter, hours before the spot runs. (The Hill)
For first time the failing @nytimes will take an ad (a bad one) to help save its failing reputation. Try reporting accurately & fairly!
6/ Trump will be the first president in 36 years to skip the White House Correspondents Dinner. The last president to not attend the dinner was Ronald Reagan in 1981. But he had a pretty good reason — he was recovering from being shot in an assassination attempt. (NPR)
7/ France’s Hollande fires back at Trump over comments that “Paris is no longer Paris” after attacks by Islamist militants. French President said Trump should show support for U.S. allies. (Reuters)
8/ Churches across the US are fighting back against Trump’s mandate to ramp up deportations with new sanctuary practices of their own: They’ve created a modern-day underground railroad to ferry undocumented immigrants from house to house or into Canada using private homes in their congregations as shelter. (BuzzFeed News)
poll/ Trump’s job approval rating stands at just 44% — a record low for a newly inaugurated commander-in-chief — and half of Americans say that his early challenges suggest unique and systemic problems with his administration. (NBC News)
1/ A Department of Homeland Security report casts doubt on the need for Trump’s travel ban. The report concludes that citizenship is an “unreliable” threat indicator and that people from the banned countries have rarely been implicated in U.S.-based terrorism. (Washington Post)
Trump rejects the Homeland Security intelligence report that contradicts the White House’s assertion that immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries pose a particular risk of being terrorists and should be blocked from entering the U.S. (Wall Street Journal)
2/ A California Congressman calls for a special prosecutor to lead an investigation into the alleged ties between Trump and Putin. Rep. Darrell Issa said on HBO’s “Real Time” that Attorney General Jeff Sessions should not handle the problem because he was both on the Trump campaign and was appointed by Trump as the nation’s top law enforcement officer. (San Diego Tribune)
Top Republican says special prosecutor should investigate Russian meddling in Trump’s election. Issa became one of the few Republican representatives to state publicly the need for an independent investigation into Russia’s reported election meddling. This comes as Democrats have increasingly pushed for an investigation into President Trump’s associates’ ties to Russia. (Washington Post)
3/ Trump’s newly appointed national security adviser breaks with the administration on his views of Islam. McMaster told his staff that Muslims who commit terrorist acts are perverting their religion, rejecting a key ideological view of Trump’s senior advisers, and signaling a potentially more moderate approach to the Islamic world. (New York Times)
National security adviser: Term “radical Islamic terrorism” isn’t helpful for US goals.. McMaster said jihadist terrorists aren’t true to their religion and spoke in starkly different terms about Russia, saying the talk about Moscow being a friend of Washington is over. (CNN)
4/ Recently confirmed EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt used a private email for state business. The revelation is in direct conflict with the former Oklahoma Attorney General’s written and oral testimony before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. Pruitt told lawmakers he had never used private email for state business in his confirmation process. (Fox 25 - KOKH)
Scott Pruitt vows to slash climate and water pollution regulations at CPAC. Head of the EPA told the conservative audience they would be “justified” in believing the environmental regulator should be completely disbanded. (The Guardian)
5/ Trump turns the power of the White House against the news media, escalating his attacks on journalists as “the enemy of the people” and berating members of his own F.B.I. as “leakers” who he said were putting the nation at risk. (New York Times)
Fox’s Shepard Smith: CNN is not “fake news.” The Fox News anchor defended CNN after several news organizations were barred from Sean Spicer’s question-and-answer session at the White House. (The Hill)
“For the record, ‘fake news’ refers to stories that are created, often by entities pretending to be news organizations, solely to draw clicks and views and are based on nothing of substance,” Smith said during his program.
Jake Tapper: White House excluding the press is “un-American”. (CNN)
Trump’s blistering speech at CPAC follows Bannon’s blueprint. The chief strategist laid out a hard-edged new definition of conservatism animated by attacks on “the administrative state,” globalism and the “corporatist media.” (New York Times)
Trump has found himself subsumed and increasingly infuriated by the leaks and criticisms he has long prided himself on vanquishing. Now, goaded by Bannon, Trump has turned on the news media with escalating rhetoric, labeling major outlets as “the enemy of the American people.” It is a sharp break from previous presidents — and from his own comfortable three-decade tango with the tabloids. (New York Times)
Pro-Trump megadonor is part owner of Breitbart News empire, the far-right media outlet that heralded Trump’s rise and was once led by his top White House strategist. The news comes as Breitbart has enjoyed a higher profile within the White House press corps. (Washington Post)
Trump is skipping the White House Correspondents Association dinner. The annual, celebrity-studded WHCA dinner has long been criticized as a display of too-cozy relations between the media and people they are supposed to cover fairly and critically. (BuzzFeed News)
6/ Muhammad Ali’s son reportedly detained at airport and asked twice about his religion because of his “Arabic-sounding” name. When Ali Jr. could not produce a photograph to show himself with his father (!?), who died last year, immigration officials separated Ali Jr. from his mother, and then detained him for approximately two hours. (Washington Post)
7/ Trump orders agencies to reduce regulations. The latest executive actionis aimed at reducing red tape and directs each federal agency to set up a task force to identify costly regulations that could be scaled back. (NPR)
8/ Trump administration makes its first move to build the border wall. U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued a preliminary request for proposals “for the design and build of several prototype wall structures in the vicinity of the United States border with Mexico.” (Bloomberg)
poll/ Most Americans continue to oppose U.S. border wall and doubt Mexico would pay for it. 62% of Americans oppose building a wall along the entire U.S. border with Mexico. 70% think the U.S. will ultimately pay for the wall, compared with just 16% who think Mexico would pay for it. (Pew Research)
poll/ Majority of Americans believe that Congress should investigate whether Trump’s presidential campaign had contact with the Russian government in 2016. 53% of the American public wants Congress to look into the alleged communications, while 25% disagree and 21% say they don’t have an opinion. (NBC News)
1/ The New York Times, CNN and Politico were prohibited from attending a White House briefing by Trump’s press secretary. Spicer allowed reporters from only a handpicked group of news organizations: Breitbart News, the One America News Network and The Washington Times, all with conservative leanings. Journalists from ABC, CBS, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and Fox News also attended. “Nothing like this has ever happened at the White House in our long history of covering multiple administrations of different parties,” Dean Baquet, the executive editor of The Times, said in a statement. “We strongly protest the exclusion of The New York Times and the other news organizations. Free media access to a transparent government is obviously of crucial national interest.” (New York Times)
White House blocks news organizations from press briefing. The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Politico and BuzzFeed were excluded from the meeting, which is known as a gaggle and is less formal than the televised Q-and-A session in the White House briefing room. The gaggle was held by White House press secretary Sean Spicer. Asked whether CNN and The New York Times were blocked because the administration was unhappy with their reporting, Spicer responded: “Because we had it as pool, and then we expanded it, and we added some folks to come cover it. It was my decision to expand the pool.” (CNN)
In December, Spicer said barring media access is what a “dictatorship” does. Today, he barred media access. (Washington Post)
2/ Trump administration sought to enlist intelligence officials and key lawmakers to counter news stories about ties to Russia. Acting at the behest of the White House, officials made calls to news organizations in an attempt to challenge stories about alleged contact between members of Trump’s campaign team and Russian intelligence operatives. The calls were orchestrated by the White House after unsuccessful attempts by the administration to get senior FBI officials to speak with news organizations and dispute the accuracy of stories on the alleged contacts with Russia. (Washington Post)
Reader’s guide to an opaque Washington Post story on the Russian thing. The Post appears to be signaling that to whom it granted anonymity is the real story. (Jay Rosen, Twitter Moment)
White House confirms conversation with FBI about Trump and Russia. Reince Priebus, FBI director James Comey, and deputy director Andrew McCabe had a conversation which appears to violate justice department rules. (The Guardian)
3/ Trump to CPAC: “Now you finally have a president, finally.” In a wide-ranging speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Trump blasted the media for its coverage of his administration and promised that the Republican Party would “be the party of the American worker.” Trump said that in a matter of days, he would have “brand new action” to keep the country safe, a reference to a second attempt at an executive order to restrict travel into the country from several majority-Muslim nations. At one point the crowd started chanting “lock her up” after Trump derided Hillary Clinton for describing some of Trump’s supporters as “deplorables.” (Washington Post)
Trump intensified his slashing attack on the news media at CPAC, reiterating his charge that “fake news” outlets are “the enemy of the people.” The opening portion of Trump’s free-range, campaign-style speech centered on a declaration of war on the press — a new foil to replace vanquished political opponents like Hillary Clinton. (New York Times)
4/ Republican lawmakers expect that their Obamacare replacement will result in fewer Americans covered by health insurance. The new plan would do away with the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that all Americans have health coverage or pay a fine, and replace it with rules that let people choose not to buy insurance, instead paying higher premiums or penalties if they need it later. The result would be fewer people covered. (Bloomberg)
Leaked GOP Obamacare replacement would dismantle Obamacare subsidies and scrap its Medicaid expansion. The legislation would take down the foundation of Obamacare, including the unpopular individual mandate, subsidies based on people’s income, and all of the law’s taxes. It would significantly roll back Medicaid spending and give states money to create high-risk pools for some people with pre-existing conditions. Some elements would be effective right away; others not until 2020. (Politico)
GOP Rep. Mo Brooks says town hall protests may prevent Obamacare repeal. “I don’t know if we’re going to be able to repeal Obamacare now because these folks who support Obamacare are very active,” Brooks said. (CNN)
Pence: “America’s Obamacare nightmare is about to end.” In a 21-minute speech, Pence ticked through issues on which the administration has acted or plans to act soon, including cutting taxes, rolling back regulations, ending illegal immigration, expanding the military and restoring what he termed the “culture of life.” (Washington Post)
5/ DHS report disputes threat from banned nations. Analysts at the Homeland Security Department’s intelligence arm found insufficient evidence that citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries included in President Donald Trump’s travel ban pose a terror threat to the United States. (Associated Press)
6/ Trump turned to manufacturing executives to help him develop measures to bring jobs back to the United States, giving powerful business leaders a potentially influential hand in shaping his still-evolving economic policies. Trump has yet to outline specific proposals for overhauling the tax and regulatory systems, rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure or reshaping the work force, all of which would be essential to accomplishing his ambitious employment goals. (New York Times)
U.S. factory CEOs to Trump: Jobs exist; skills don’t. They urged the White House to support vocational training for the high-tech skills that today’s manufacturers increasingly require — a topic Trump has seldom addressed. (Washington Post)
7/ Justice Department will use private prisons again, reversing an Obama-era directive to stop using the facilities, which officials had then deemed less safe and less effective than those run by the government. (Washington Post)
8/ Trump administration signals a possible crackdown on states over legalized recreational-use marijuana. Sean Spicer told reporters that the administration had no plans to continue the permissive approach of the Obama administration and that it viewed recreational marijuana use as a flagrant violation of federal law. (Los Angeles Times)
Roger Stone: Marijuana crackdown would be “huge mistake”. Trump’s longtime ally tweeted the president that a crackdown on legal marijuana in the states will cost thousands of jobs and bankrupt local governments. #StatesRights, yo. (The Hill)
A crackdown on legal marijuana in the states will cost thousands of jobs & bankrupt local govt- huge mistake #StatesRights@realDonaldTrump
9/ Caitlyn Jenner to Trump: “Call Me” — your transgender restroom letter is a “disaster”. In a video the transgender icon harshly called out Trump for withdrawing the federal government’s legal guidance on allowing transgender youths to use the restrooms of their choice in schools. (NBC News)
10/ State Department writes anti-leak memo, which promptly leaks. It’s the latest sign that the relationship between the Trump administration’s appointees and the State Department’s professional workforce is still very much a work in progress. (Washington Post)
Trump denounces FBI over leaks and demands an investigation. Trump assailed the FBI as a dangerously porous agency, charging that leaks of classified information from within its ranks were putting the country at risk. (New York Times)
Trump hits the FBI over “national security” leaks, saying the agency is “totally unable” to keep information from the news media. (Wall Street Journal)
11/ Mexican officials tell US: We don’t agree. John Kelly and Rex Tillerson were in Mexico to try to smooth the relationship and address some of the differences that have emerged between the United States and its neighbor. Mexico ain’t having it. (CNN)
12/ He yelled “get out of my country,” and then shot 2 men from India, killing one. A 51-year-old man faces first-degree murder charges after shooting three men in an Olathe, Kansas bar Wednesday night. He reportedly told two local Garmin engineers from India to “get out of my country.” Authorities would not classify the shooting as a hate crime, but federal law enforcement officials are investigating with local police to determine if it was “bias motivated.” (Washington Post)
13/ At the request of Kushner and Ivanka, language critical of a global climate deal was struck from an executive order that Trump plans to sign soon. The issue is aimed at rolling back Obama climate agenda. (Wall Street Journal)
14/ Under fire, GOP congressman calls for Trump tax returns, but stopped short of saying Congress should subpoena those returns. (CNN)
15/ Santa Cruz and federal agents in war of words over whether a gang sweep was really a secret immigration raid. The police chief accused Homeland Security officials of lying about the scope of the raids conducted jointly between his department and federal agents this month aimed at apprehending MS-13 gang members. (Los Angeles Times)
16/ Republican lawmakers introduce bills to curb protesting in at least 18 states in what civil liberties experts are calling “an attack on protest rights throughout the states.” None of the proposed legislation has yet been passed into law, and several bills have already been shelved in committee. Critics doubt whether many of the laws would pass Constitutional muster. (Washington Post)
poll/ Support for Obamacare hits an all-time high. 54% of Americans approve of the Affordable Care Act, while 43% disapprove. That’s up from an even split (48%-47%) in a Pew survey from December. (CNN)
Weekend Reads
Trump, Putin, and the new Cold War. What lay behind Russia’s interference in the 2016 election—and what lies ahead? (The New Yorker)
I was a Muslim in Trump’s White House. When Obama left, I stayed on at the National Security Council in order to serve my country. I lasted eight days. (The Atlantic)
The only groups that have majority approval of Trump? Republicans and whites without college degrees. Most Americans don’t think that President Trump is doing a good job. (Washington Post)
Here’s what non-fake news looks like. Genuine news, and not fake news or hyped news or corrupt news, puts reality first; it does not subordinate honest reporting to ideological consistency or political advocacy. It does not curry favor with advertisers, or with the publisher’s business interests, or even with the tastes of the audience. (Columbia Journalism Review)
1/ The FBI rejected a White House request to publicly knock down media reports about communications between Trump’s associates and Russians during the 2016 presidential campaign. Comey rejected the request for the FBI to comment on the stories, because the alleged communications between Trump associates and Russians known to US intelligence are the subject of an ongoing investigation. The White House did issue its own denial, with Priebus calling The New York Times story “complete garbage.” (CNN)
Paul Manafort faced blackmail attempt while he was Trump’s campaign chairman last summer. Stolen text messages from his daughter’s phone appear to be threats to expose relations between Russia-friendly forces, Trump, and Manafort. Manafort confirmed the authenticity of the texts and added that, before the texts were sent to his daughter, he had received similar texts to his own phone number from the same address. (Politico)
House Republicans plan to derail a Democratic resolution that would force disclosure of Trump’s potential ties with Russia and any possible business conflicts of interest. Democrats have blasted Trump for failing to make a clean break from his real estate empire, accusing him of being vulnerable to conflicts of interest. They also are suspicious of his campaign’s relationship with Russia. U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that top Russian officials orchestrated interference into the 2016 presidential election on Trump’s behalf. (Politico)
2/ Trump touts recent immigration raids, calling them a “military operation”. The effort to ramp up deportations are aimed at ridding the U.S. of “really bad dudes.” Under the administration’s guidelines, any immigrant who is convicted, charged or suspected of a crime is considered a priority for removal. (Washington Post)
Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly promised there will not be any military force used in immigration enforcement. The statement contradicts what President Trump had said hours before when he referenced Kelly’s and Secretary of State Tillerson’s trip to Mexico. (CBS News)
Spicer: Trump didn’t mean “military operation” literally. Spicer added that “the president was clearly describing the manner in which this is being done.” (The Hill)
3/ Tillerson and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly head to Mexico amid deep strains in bilateral ties in what is expected to be the first in a series of high-level meetings focusing on drug trafficking, trade and immigration. Twin threats hang over the frayed relationship between the two nations: Trump’s new orders to round up and deport immigrants who are in the United States illegally, and a separate effort to take a hard look at all American aid to Mexico, possibly using it to pay for a border wall instead. (New York Times)
Mexico’s foreign minister drew a sharp line against “unilateral” U.S. immigration policies before the top-level Trump administration team could cool tensions that threaten to derail trade and other agreements. (Washington Post)
4/ Trump wants to make sure U.S. nuclear arsenal at “top of the pack”, saying the United States has fallen behind in its weapons capacity. Trump said in the interview he would like to see a world with no nuclear weapons but expressed concern that the United States has “fallen behind on nuclear weapon capacity.” (Reuters)
5/ Trump has largely benched the State Department from its long-standing role as the preeminent voice of U.S. foreign policy, curtailing public engagement and official travel and relegating Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to a mostly offstage role. Tillerson has also been notably absent from White House meetings with foreign leaders. (Washington Post)
Tillerson looking for ways to raise his public profile. The secretary of state’s lack of visibility has worried diplomats who fear it suggests Tillerson may lack sway with Trump. (Politico)
6/ Trump has assigned the Department of Homeland Security, working with the Justice Department, to help build the legal case for its temporary travel ban. Some administration intelligence officials see the White House request as the politicization of intelligence. One of the ways the White House hopes to make its case is by using a more expansive definition of terrorist activity than has been used by other government agencies in the past. (CNN)
White House punts new travel order to next week. No explanation was given for the delay, and it remains unclear how the White House will tweak the travel ban to avoid future legal pitfalls. (The Hill)
My flight from SFO to JFK. We were told we couldn't disembark without showing our "documents." pic.twitter.com/9ugQspTqeX
These are customs agents forcibly checking the ID of every passenger deplaning from Delta flight 1583 tonight at JFK. A domestic flight. pic.twitter.com/fHMgyzCjo5
7/ Repeal of Obamacare face obstacles in House, not just the Senate. Conservative Republicans are pushing for a fast repeal with only a bare-bones replacement plan, but moderates are interested in coming up with a clear and robust plan. It’s becoming increasingly likely that a consensus in the House may be just as hard to reach. (New York Times)
John Boehner: a full repeal and replace of Obamacare is “not going to happen.” He said changes to former President Barack Obama’s signature legislative achievement would likely be relatively modest. (Politico)
ObamaCare will be replaced with something that actually works—bringing freedom and individual responsibility back to American health care.
8/ Protests break out after an off-duty LAPD officer fired his gun in a scuffle with teens. No one was shot. The officer detained a 13-year-old boy after he allegedly threatened to shoot him. The officer has been placed on administrative leave while the Force Investigation Division conducts an investigation to “determine whether the use of deadly force complied with LAPD’s policies and procedures.” (CNN)
9/ New research suggests that private school vouchers may harm students who receive them. Voucher advocates often cite poor test scores in public schools to justify creating private school vouchers in the first place. The new evidence on vouchers does not seem to have deterred the Trump administration, which has proposed a new $20 billion voucher program. Secretary DeVos’s enthusiasm for vouchers, which have been the primary focus of her philanthropic spending and advocacy, appears to be undiminished. (New York Times)
10/ McCain made a secret trip to Syria to meet with U.S. troops and Kurdish fighters amid their longstanding battle to defeat ISIS. The trip comes as Trump administration continues to re-evaluate the U.S. plan to defeat ISIS. On the campaign trail, Trump frequently criticized Obama’s policy to defeat the group, which controls territory in both Syria and neighboring Iraq. ISIS has lost significant territory in the last two years. (ABC News)
Iraqi forces storm Mosul airport in a push to recapture the city from Islamic State. The advance into the airport will allow Iraqi troops to launch operations into the fortified western suburbs, where several thousand of Isis’s most seasoned fighters have prepared defences. (The Guardian)
11/ Trump’s plan to hire 15,000 border patrol and ICE agents won’t be easy. The time to recruit and hire Border Agents, administer medical exams and drug screening, polygraph tests, fitness tests, and training could take a year or more to bring a new agent on board. Customs and Border Protection has also had a problem retaining Border Patrol agents: the agency is down some 1,600 agents from the 21,000 it’s authorized for. (NPR)
Arizona Senate votes to seize assets of those who plan, participate in protests that turn violent. The bill expands the state’s racketeering laws to include rioting and redefines it to include actions that result in damage to the property of others. (Arizona Capitol Times)
Trump campaigned as the populist protector of federal programs for the working class, yet he has surrounded himself with traditional small-government conservatives bent on cutting back or eliminating many of the programs he has championed. Many of his aides and cabinet members have expressed views that are fundamentally opposed to those he campaigned on. (New York Times)
12/ Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says he won’t designate China a currency manipulator… yet. Mnuchin wants to use a regular review of foreign-exchange markets to determine if the U.S.’s largest trading partner is cheating. The decision contradicts a pledge by then-candidate Trump to direct his Treasury secretary to name China a manipulator on the first day of his administration. (Bloomberg)
13/ Ivanka and Kushner publicly silent as White House rolls back transgender protections. The couple is seen as a moderating force on social issues, but transgender allies want them to take a stand as the new administration rolls back Obama-era policies on school bathrooms. (Politico)
14/ Air Force stumped by Trump’s claim of $1 billion in savings on jet. Trump has boasted that he’s personally intervened to cut costs of two military aircraft – the F-35, the fighter jet built by Lockheed Martin Corp., and Boeing’s Air Force One, but the Air Force can’t account for this alleged $1 billion in savings. (Bloomberg)
15/ Chaffetz is investigating a months-old tweet from his state’s Bryce Canyon National Park instead of Trump. The House Oversight Committee Chairman’s probe comes amid criticism that Chaffetz is not aggressively investigating the Trump administration for potential conflicts of interest or collusion with Russia. Chaffetz recently launched a probe into Trump’s handling of classified intelligence information while on an open patio at his private Mar-a-Lago resort. (The Hill)
Welcome to the family Bears Ears (& Gold Butte) NM! A hopeful slot in our front desk maps has long been held for you pic.twitter.com/r1vCLO7Uts
16/ Donald Trump returns to CPAC six years after he was loudly booed there. Trump will take the main stage with some new allies at the conservative confab. In 2011, Trump told the conservative political action conference that prominent libertarian Ron Paul “can not get elected”. He was loudly booed for taking a shot at one of their heroes. (The Guardian)
Bannon: Trump administration is in unending battle for the “deconstruction of the administrative state” — meaning a system of taxes, regulations and trade pacts that the president and his advisers believe stymie economic growth and infringe upon one’s sovereignty. (Washington Post)
1/ Trump’s immigration crackdown will likely bring a flood of lawsuits. The Department of Homeland Security is pushing ahead with what the ACLU calls a “hyper-aggressive mass deportation policy.” The administration wants to unshackle Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who have been “handcuffed” by policies that determined who “could and couldn’t be adjudicated.” (Bloomberg)
Mexico calls Trump’s plan to deport non-Mexicans to Mexico both “hostile” and “unacceptable”. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly are due to meet and “walk through” the implementation of Trump’s immigration orders with Mexico today. Sean Spicer said he expected it to be a “great discussion.” (Reuters)
Trudeau says Canada will continue to accept asylum seekers crossing illegally from the U.S., but will ensure security measures are taken to keep Canadians safe. If caught by police, asylum seekers are taken in for questioning. They are then transferred to the CBSA for fingerprinting and further questions. If people are deemed a threat or flight risk, they are detained. If not, they can file refugee claims and live in Canada while they wait for a decision. (Newsweek)
A “Refugees Welcome” banner was unfurled atop the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. The stunt happened the same day the Homeland Security Department announced expanded immigration enforcement policies. (NBC New York)
2/ The Trump administration plans to roll back protections for transgender students, reversing federal guidance that required the nation’s public schools to allow children to use the bathrooms and locker rooms that matched their gender identities. (Washington Post)
Trump rescinds rules on bathrooms for transgender students, overruling his own education secretary and placing his administration firmly in the middle of the culture wars that many Republicans have tried to leave behind. Under Obama, nondiscrimination laws required schools to allow transgender students to use that corresponded with their gender identity. (New York Times)
Trump pits Sessions and DeVos against each over draft order to rescind protections for transgender students in public schools. DeVos initially resisted signing off on the order, telling Trump that she was uncomfortable with it. Sessions, who strongly opposes expanding gay, lesbian and transgender rights, fought DeVos on the issue and pressed her to relent because he could not go forward without her consent. The order must come from the Justice and Education Departments. Trump sided with Sessions, while DeVos, faced with the choice of resigning or defying the president, has agreed to go along. (New York Times)
Trump deportation threats could constrict the already-tight job market. One study suggests that removing all of the undocumented immigrants would cost the economy as much as $5 trillion over 10 years. (Bloomberg)
3/ GOP senator wants Flynn to testify on Russia ties before the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is investigating ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. (Politico)
4/ John Podesta: “Forces within the FBI” may have cost Clinton election. Podesta did not offer any specific evidence to advance the argument, but the Clinton campaign has long pointed to Comey’s letter – 11 days before the election – as a turning-point in the election which may have caused their electoral college defeat. (Politico)
5/ Thousands of emails show that the E.P.A. chief worked to battle environmental regulation as attorney general of Oklahoma. Scott Pruitt, now head of the Environmental Protection Agency, closely coordinated with major oil and gas producers, electric utilities, and political groups to roll back environmental regulations. (New York Times)
6/ Trump said his team has “enormous work to do” to assemble a federal budget that will bring down deficits and deliver on priorities such as a military buildup, public infrastructure investments, expansion of immigration enforcement, and tax cuts. Trump said he would release a health plan in early to mid-March, ahead of tackling his promised tax overhaul. (Bloomberg)
Congressional Republicans don’t expect Trump to offer his own health or tax plans. Instead, they anticipate he will simply align himself with theirs. (CNBC)
Trump officials weigh fate of birth-control mandate. The requirement that insurance companies cover contraception at no cost is believed to be on the chopping block now that Tom Price has taken over the Department of Health and Human Services. (The Hill)
7/ Maryland school asks teachers to take down pro-diversity posters because they’re “anti-Trump” and perceived as “political” after one staff member complained. The posters depicted Latina, Muslim, and black women were designed by Shepard Fairey, the artist who created the “Hope” posters from Obama’s 2008 campaign. The women are rendered in patriotic colors, with messages like “We the people are greater than fear.” The teachers put up the posters as a “show of diversity.” (Huffington Post)
8/ Trump aide calls Guantanamo Bay an “incredibly important intelligence asset”. The Obama administration and human rights groups spent eight years attempting to close the facility, calling it a stain on America’s reputation around the world. (ABC News)
9/ The Anti-Defamation League received a bomb threat to its New York headquarters, making it the latest in a series of threats targeting U.S. Jewish organizations. (The Atlantic)
10/ How Trump’s campaign staffers tried to keep him off Twitter. The trick? Ensure that his personal media consumption includes a steady stream of praise. And when no such praise was to be found, staff would turn to friendly outlets to drum some up. (Politico)
Kellyanne Conway sidelined from TV after making statements that were at odds with the administration’s official stance. Sources said the administration is enjoying a reprieve from the controversy created by her appearances. (CNN)
11/ The White House recently deleted all of the data on its open data portal, which serves as the public clearinghouse for data on everything from federal budgets to climate change initiatives. Most of this data should still be available through an archived version of the portal. (The Hill)
poll/ Support for Obamacare is rising. Voters are now split evenly on the Affordable Care Act: 45% of registered voters approve of the law, and 45% disapprove. Before Trump took office, the poll showed only 41% of voters approved vs 52% who disapproved. (Politico)
poll/ Majority of Americans worried about war. Nearly two-thirds of Americans are worried that the U.S. will become engaged in a major war in the next four years; 62% think that U.S. should take into account the interests of its NATO allies, even if it means making compromises with them. (NBC News)
poll/ Americans overwhelmingly oppose sanctuary cities, believing that cities that arrest undocumented immigrants for crimes should turn them over to federal authorities. Hundreds of cities across the nation are refusing to do so. The top 10 sanctuary cities in the U.S. receive $2.27 billion in federal funding for programs ranging from public health services to early childhood education. Trump’s executive order directs Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly to find ways to starve these cities of federal funding. (The Hill)
1/ Homeland Security unveils a sweeping plan to deport undocumented immigrants. The memos instruct all agents, including Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to identify, capture, and quickly deport every undocumented immigrant they encounter. The vast majority of the nation’s 11 million undocumented immigrants are at risk of deportation. (USA Today)
The Trump administration seeks to prevent “panic” over the new immigration enforcement policies, saying the goal is not “mass deportations”. Federal officials cautioned that many of the changes detailed in a pair of memos from Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly will take time to implement because of costs and logistical challenges and that border patrol agents and immigration officers will use their expanded powers with care and discretion. (Washington Post)
Mexican officials riled by Trump’s new deportation memos. The release of the documents come on the eve of Tillerson and Kelly’s trip south of the border. The timing of the guidelines’ release threaten to severely hinder what could have been a diplomatic make-up session. (Politico)
Trump keeps DACA but chips away at barriers to deportation. The newly released memos from the Department of Homeland Security leave intact two specific executive orders from Obama that granted protection from prosecution for so-called Dreamers, young immigrants who were brought to the US as children, and a second one that included parents of US citizens and legal residents. (CNN)
New Trump deportation rules make it easier to deport people immediately. Under the Obama administration, expedited removal was used only within 100 miles of the border for people who had been in the country no more than 14 days. Now it will include those who have been in the country for up to two years, and located anywhere in the nation. (New York Times)
2/ Trump: Anti-Semitism “has to stop”. Trump denounced anti-Semitism after coming under pressure to address an uptick in incidents targeting Jewish institutions across the U.S. Trump has insisted he has spoken out against anti-Semitism “whenever I get a chance,” even though he has refused to confront the issue directly on multiple occasions. (The Hill)
Anne Frank Center criticizes Trump’s denouncement of anti-Semitism a “pathetic asterisk of condescension”. Trump refused to address a series of bomb threats against Jewish community centers when asked about the threats by a Jewish journalist last week. Trump cut the journalist off and said “I hate even the question.” The White House’s statement on Holocaust Remembrance Day also left out any mention of Jews. (Talking Points Memo)
11 more bomb threats target Jewish Community Centers. JCCs in 27 states and one Canadian province have received nearly 70 bomb threats this year. The FBI and Justice Department “investigating possible civil rights violations”. (CNN)
Up to 200 headstones damaged at Jewish cemetery. The incident comes on the same day several Jewish community centers around the country received bomb threats. The regional director of the Anti-Defamation League said she didn’t know if the headstones had been damaged as an act of hatred but questioned motives that would lead to the act. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
A brief history of Donald Trump addressing questions about racism and anti-Semitism. Since the beginning of his campaign, Trump has been repeatedly asked for his thoughts on racial or religious harassment. Many observers have felt his responses left something to be desired. (Washington Post)
3/ Trump has insisted that he had no contact with Russia during the campaign. Russia says otherwise. Russian officials have at least twice acknowledged contact with Trump aides before the election. That contact would have taken place during the period when it’s believed that the Russian government was trying to disrupt the election. (New York Times)
Donald Trump’s streak of falsehoods now stands at 33 days. There hasn’t been a single day of Trump’s presidency in which he has said nothing false or misleading. The total count stands at 132. (Washington Post)
Chuck Schumer: Jeff Sessions must recuse himself from the Flynn investigation. The gravity of Flynn’s contact with the Russians and the reports that he may have lied to the FBI cannot be overstated or ignored. Revelations about that contact may be only the tip of the iceberg. There’s an overwhelming view in our intelligence community that Russia tried to influence our election. (Washington Post)
4/ Bannon told Germany that the EU is flawed a week before Pence pledged America’s “steadfast and enduring” commitment to the European Union. The encounter unsettled people in the German government, in part because some officials had been holding out hope that Bannon might temper his views once in government and offer a more nuanced message on Europe in private. (Reuters)
5/ The Trump White House is already cooking the books. The Trump transition team ordered the Council of Economic Advisers to predict sustained economic growth of 3 to 3.5%. The staffers were then directed to backfill all the other numbers in their models to produce these growth rates. (Washington Post)
6/ Trump energizes the anti-vaccine movement in Texas. Trump’s embrace of discredited theories linking vaccines to autism has energized the anti-vaccine movement. Once fringe, the movement is becoming more popular, raising doubts about basic childhood health care among politically and geographically diverse groups. Public health experts warn that this growing movement is threatening one of the most successful medical innovations of modern times. (Washington Post)
7/ Trump’s nominees gripe that the White House isn’t protecting them. Candidates for top jobs in Trump’s administration are getting spooked after Andrew Puzder’s torpedoed nomination, and they fear the White House isn’t doing enough to protect them from grueling confirmations, according to several sources involved in the process. (Politico)
8/ How Trump spent his first month in office, by the numbers. Golf: 25 hours. Tweeting: 13 hours. Intelligence briefings: 6 hours. (Washington Post)
9/ Breitbart’s Milo Yiannopoulos resigns following outrage over his past comments about pedophilia. As recently as last week, Breitbart editor Alexander Marlow called Yiannopoulos “the No. 1 free speech warrior of his generation in America at the moment” in an interview. But Yiannopoulous’s views on pedophilia apparently went too far even for Breitbart. (Washington Post)
1/ Pence met with open skepticism in Brussels. “Too much has happened over the past months in your country, and in the EU,” Donald Tusk said, European Council President. “For us to pretend that everything is as it used to be.” Pence came to the European Union to reassure them that Trump actually supports the 28-nation bloc and that the US will continue its commitment despite the partial disintegration Trump has hailed. Pence was insistent that support for the alliance was a bedrock of US policy. But he demanded that other member nations scale up their defense spending to meet NATO’s requirements, a longstanding request of US presidents that Trump has amplified. (CNN)
Tusk asked Pence whether the Trump administration was committed to three things: 1) maintaining an international order based on rules and laws, 2) whether Trump was committed to NATO, and 3) whether Europe could count “as always in the past, on the United States’ wholehearted and unequivocal, let me repeat, unequivocal support for the idea of a united Europe.” Pence said “yes” to all three. (New York Times)
2/ Trump names Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster as national security adviser, replacing the ousted Michael Flynn. Kellogg, who has been serving in an acting capacity as national security adviser, will be the chief of staff on the National Security Council. Trump shared the news with reporters as he prepared to leave his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. (Washington Post)
3/ US Defense Secretary, James Mattis told reporters, “We’re not in Iraq to seize anybody’s oil.” His comments are a departure from Trump who said, “We should have kept the oil. Maybe we’ll have another chance.” (CNN)
4/ Revised travel ban targets same seven countries listed in Trump’s original executive order and exempts travelers who already have a visa to travel to the U.S. The new draft also no longer directs authorities to single out — and reject — Syrian refugees when processing new visa applications. (Washington Post)
5 things to watch for in a new travel ban. Here are the main issues to look for in the new executive order. (CNN)
5/ Russia compiles psychological dossier on Trump for Putin. Its preliminary conclusions is that Trump is a risk-taker who can be naïve. (NBC News)
6/ Trump to roll back Obama’s climate and water pollution rules through executive action. While both directives will take time to implement, they will send an unmistakable signal that the new administration is determined to promote fossil-fuel production and economic activity even when those activities collide with some environmental safeguards. (Washington Post)
7/ Statisticians worry about alternative economic facts and doctored data from the government if the economy turns sour. Trump has yet to nominate anyone to the Council of Economic Advisers, established in 1946 to provide presidents with objective economic analysis and advice. The fears about data manipulation arise from the nontraditional approach the Trump administration has taken to interpreting economic data. Trump has has repeatedly cast the “real” unemployment rate as far above the official rate, using figures that incorporate all those of working age who aren’t employed. (Bloomberg)
Trump is basing his budget projections on the assumption that the U.S. economy will grow almost twice as fast as independent institutions like the Congressional Budget Office and the Federal Reserve expect. The Trump team is apparently projecting growth at between 3 and 3.5 percent for a decade. This wouldn’t be unprecedented: the U.S. economy grew at a 3.4 percent rate during the Reagan years, 3.7 percent under Bill Clinton. (New York Times)
8/ Republican health proposal would redirect money from poor to rich. The Republican plan would substantially cut funding for states in providing free insurance to low-income adults through Medicaid. And would change how tax credits are distributed by giving all Americans not covered through work the same flat credit by age, regardless of income. The draft proposal largely contains provisions that could be passed through a special budget process that requires only 50 Senate votes, and fulfills President Trump’s promise that the repeal and replacement of the law would take place “simultaneously.” (New York Times)
9/ More than 100 protesters across the country were fired after joining the “Day Without Immigrants” demonstration. The protests were aimed at showcasing the impact immigrants have on the U.S. economy. (NBC News)
10/ Trump’s Navy secretary nominee on the verge of withdrawing. Philip Bilden, a former Army Reserve military officer with little naval experience, has drawn resistance to his lack of familiarity with Navy issues and has encountered difficulty separating himself from his financial interests. The White House has publicly denied that Bilden is reconsidering his nomination. (CBS News)
11/ White House confirms adviser reassigned after disagreeing with Trump. Craig Deare was removed from his role as a senior adviser at the National Security Council’s Western Hemisphere. Deare knocked the Trump administration’s handling of Latin American policies during a speech and criticized the overall White House dysfunction. (CNN)
12/ Pence “disappointed” Flynn misled him about the nature of his conversations with Russia. In his resignation letter, Flynn said he “inadvertently” gave “incomplete information” about multiple calls with the Russian ambassador. He previously said he did not speak with Russian officials about the pending sanctions. (ABC News)
13/ Milo Yiannopoulos lost his keynote slot at the Conservative Political Action Conference after tapes surfaced of him advocating for sexual relationships between “younger boys and older men.” The right wing provocateur says he “deeply regret[s]” the way his comments were interpreted. (Politico)
Milo Yiannopoulos book deal cancelled after outrage over child abuse comments. Simon & Schuster pulls forthcoming autobiography, which it had reportedly paid a $250,000 advance. His fellow Breitbart employees have reportedly threatened to quit if he is not fired. (The Guardian)
CNN’s Tapper blasts CPAC for Milo Yiannopoulos invite. (The Hill)
Preying on children is the definition of evil. Justifying it in any way is sick and disturbing.
14/ Trump’s former aide concedes there was no voter fraud in New Hampshire in a rare message contradiction. Trump has insisted that he was cheated out of a win in New Hampshire because thousands of Democrats came from Massachusetts and illegally cast votes for Clinton. (Huffington Post)
15/ Trump escalates his attack on Sweden’s migration policies, doubling down on his suggestion that refugees in the Scandinavian country were behind a rise in crime and terrorism. The Swedish officials say they have not seen any evidence for the claim that migration has driven an uptick in crime. (New York Times)
16/ Trump’s aides don’t want to admit the President is golfing. Trump has visited his two golf courses near his Mar-a-Lago estate six times in his first month in office. Aides would not confirm that Trump has played golf each time, but through a series of social media posts and interviews with the professional golfers who joined him, it is clear the President golfed during most of these visits. (CNN)
17/ “Not My President”: Thousands of demonstrators turned out across the US to challenge Trump on Presidents Day and call attention to Trump’s crackdown on immigration, his party’s response to climate change and the environment. Organizers said they chose to rally on the holiday as a way to honor past presidents by exercising their constitutional right to assemble and peacefully protest. (Washington Post)
1/ “Last night in Sweden”? Trump’s remark baffles a nation. During a campaign-style rally on Saturday in Florida, Trump issued a sharp if discursive attack on refugee policies in Europe, ticking off a list of places that have been hit by terrorists. Nothing particularly nefarious happened in Sweden on Friday — or Saturday, for that matter — and Swedes were left baffled. (New York Times)
Trump clarifies remarks on Sweden: I got it from Fox News story. Trump confirmed speculation that a Fox News story about immigration and crime rates that aired on Tucker Carlson’s show was the origin of his statement. (The Hill)
My statement as to what's happening in Sweden was in reference to a story that was broadcast on @FoxNews concerning immigrants & Sweden.
Trump cites non-existent terror attack, possibly confusing it with Sehwan in Pakistan. The source of Trump’s remark is unclear, but it came after Fox News aired an interview with film-maker Ami Horowitz, whose latest documentary examines whether high crime rates in areas of Sweden is linked to its previous open-door policy on people fleeing war and persecution. (The Guardian)
Twitter mocks Trump for citing non-existent incident “Last Night In Sweden”. Twitter was quick to skewer him for the gaffe while speculating pointedly about what he might have meant. (Talking Points Memo)
— Jeanna Louise Skinner is UPDATES ONLY (@JeannaLStars) February 19, 2017
Trump hands the mic to a supporter at Florida rally. In what appeared to be an improvised moment, Trump invited one of his supporters to join him on stage during a rally in Melbourne, Florida, on Saturday night. (CNN)
Trump made 13 dubious claims during his rally in Florida. The president’s fishy statements included an attack on the “dishonest media” and an attempt to take credit for economic growth that preceded his administration. (Washington Post)
2/ Memos signed by DHS secretary describe sweeping new guidelines for deporting illegal immigrants. The new guidelines empower federal authorities to more aggressively detain and deport illegal immigrants inside the United States and at the border. A White House official said the memos were drafts and that they are under review by the White House Counsel’s Office, which is seeking some changes. The memos do not include measures to activate National Guard troops. (Washington Post)
DHS memos describe aggressive new immigration and border enforcement policies. The border security guidance expands the use of “expedited removal” proceedings for unauthorized immigrants. The enforcement memo leaves deferred action for childhood arrivals intact. (CNN)
3/ “That’s how dictators get started”: McCain criticizes Trump for calling the media “the enemy” during “Meet the Press” interview. Trump lashed out against the news media several times over the past week, at one point declaring it “the enemy of the American People!” (Washington Post)
4/ Defense Secretary Mattis disagrees with Trump, says he does not see media as the enemy. Mattis, asked directly about Trump’s criticism of the media, said he has had “some rather contentious times with the press” but considers the institution “a constituency that we deal with.” The defense secretary added: “I don’t have any issues with the press myself.” (Washington Post)
Fox News anchor Chris Wallace warns viewers: Trump crossed the line in latest attack on media. Trump’s contentious relationship with the press has again been in the spotlight after the president repeatedly attacked the media as “fake news”. All presidents fight with the media, but Trump had taken it a step further in making them out to be “the enemy,” Wallace said. (Washington Post)
Fox News host Chris Wallace to Priebus: “You don’t get to tell” the press what to do. Priebus argued that the media has not covered Trump’s actions as closely as it has covered his notable failures, calling “unsourced” stories about turmoil inside Trump’s administration “total garbage.” On Saturday, Priebus said Trump should be taken “seriously” in his claim that the news media is “the enemy of the American People.” (Talking Points Memo)
Trump attacks “dishonest media” while making false claims at Florida rally. Insisted that the White House is running “so smoothly” despite reports of chaos and infighting. (The Guardian)
5/ Trump’s personal lawyer advanced a back-channel plan for the conflict between Ukraine and Russia. The sealed proposal was hand-delivered to Trump’s office and outlines a way to lift sanctions against Russia. (New York Times)
Trump ally admits he has a “back-channel” tie to WikiLeaks. Roger Stone said he had communications with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange over the release of thousands of emails stolen from the Hillary Clinton campaign. (CBS Miami)
6/ Priebus denies any involvement between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russian officials. Priebus said he’s spoken with high-level intelligence officials in Washington who have told him that no such involvement occurred. (Politico)
Senators want Russia-related materials preserved. The Senate Intelligence Committee is asking more than a dozen agencies, organizations and individuals to preserve communications related to the panel’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. The move comes amid inquiries into whether Trump’s campaign officials were in contact with Russian officials and other Russians known to US intelligence during the 2016 race. (CNN)
7/ Foreign policy experts find scant reassurance in Trump’s plans. At the Munich Security Conference, diplomats, generals, policy experts, and security officials were deeply disturbed by Trump’s difficulty finding a pliant national security adviser to replace Michael Flynn, and by Trump’s long and rambling news conference on Thursday, which was followed Saturday with a campaign-style rally where he suggested, wrongly, that something terrible had happened in Sweden. Pence, who carried a direct message of reassurance from Trump, could not manage to comfort many of the experts. (New York Times)
Trump meets with four candidates for National Security Adviser. Trump’s first choice to succeed Flynn turned down the job. The White House has had trouble filling some senior positions in part because so many experienced Republicans criticized Trump during the campaign, and he has vetoed choices over that. (New York Times)
8/ London mayor says Trump should be denied state visit because of his “cruel” policies on immigration. British legislators are expected to debate a proposal to downgrade Trump’ planned state visit. (PBS)
1/ Pence: US will hold Russia accountable and stands with NATO. Trump has repeatedly called NATO “obsolete,” but U.S. officials appear to be concentrating more on pushing allies to meet NATO defense spending commitments rather than focusing on Trump’s desire for a new relationship with the Kremlin, a major fear in Europe. Many European allies see Russia as a security threat following its 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula. (Washington Post)
2/ The F.B.I. is pursuing at least three separate probes relating to alleged Russian hacking of the U.S. presidential elections. The FBI’s Pittsburgh office is trying to identify the people behind breaches of the Democratic National Committee’s computer system. The bureau’s San Francisco office is trying to identify the people who posted John Podesta’s stolen emails. And, agents based in Washington are pursuing leads from informants, foreign communications intercepts, and financial transactions by Russian individuals and companies who are believed to have links to Trump associates. (Reuters)
FBI Director James B. Comey met with the Senate Intelligence Committee behind closed doors on Friday, amid an uproar over alleged contacts between members of President Trump’s campaign and Russian officials. (The Hill)
3/ The White House abruptly dismissed a senior National Security Council aide after his harsh criticism of Trump at a private, off-the-record think tank gathering. The aide laced into Trump, his chief strategist Steve Bannon, as well as Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. (Politico)
4/ Trump down to three candidates to replace Flynn after former CIA Director David Petraeus pulled his name from consideration for National Security Adviser. Still on the short list for the position are acting national security adviser Keith Kellogg, former United Nations ambassador John Bolton, and Army strategist Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster. (The Hill)
5/ Trump weighs new travel ban that won’t stop green card holders or travelers already on planes from entering the U.S. The Homeland Security chief says there will be a “short phase-in period” to avoid people being stopped in transit. (Reuters)
Legal analysts said a new executive order that maintains bans would not likely allay the concerns of federal judges who put the original order on hold. Even if Trump made clear his order did not apply to green-card holders, or limited it so that it affected only those applying for visas, a three-judge panel with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit said that would not necessarily convince them to lift their freeze. (Washington Post)
6/ Trump yells at CIA Director Mike Pompeo for not pushing back hard enough against reports that the intelligence community was withholding information from him. The White House denied the report. The president “did not yell at the CIA director,” a White House spokesperson said. (CBS News)
7/ DeVos criticizes teachers after visiting D.C. school — and they are not having it. After visiting D.C.’s Jefferson Middle School Academy, DeVos said teachers at Jefferson seemed to be in “receive mode. They’re waiting to be told what they have to do, and that’s not going to bring success to an individual child.” The school responded to DeVos on Twitter, saying “We’re about to take her to school.” (Washington Post)
8/ Popular domestic programs could face budget cuts. Trump’s budget office has drafted a hit list of programs that could be eliminated or have their domestic spending trimmed. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Legal Services Corporation, AmeriCorps, and the National Endowments for the Arts and the Humanities are on that list. Most of the programs cost under $500 million annually, a pittance for a government that is projected to spend about $4 trillion this year. (New York Times)
9/ Ben Carson “baffled” and “speechless” at the firing of one of his Housing and Urban Development staffers. One of Carson’s closest aides was fired from the agency after writings critical of Trump from October resurfaced. Carson had no knowledge his staffer was going to be escorted out of the building until after it happened. (BuzzFeed News)
~~10/ Leaked Trump tape: “You are the special people”. While meeting potential Cabinet nominees in November, Trump invited partygoers at his New Jersey golf club to stop by to join him on staff interviews. “We’re doing a lot of interviews tomorrow — generals, dictators, we have everything,” Trump told the crowd. “You may wanna come around. It’ll be fun. We’re really working tomorrow. We have meetings every 15, 20 minutes with different people that will form our government.” (Politico)~~
[Editor’s Note: This story was removed because it is speculative.]
10/ The first casualties of Trump’s trade wars are Texas cattle ranchers. By threatening a trade war with Mexico within days of inauguration, the president helped trigger a slide in cattle futures. Mexico is a major export market. By sinking the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the new administration cut off long-sought access to the Japanese market. Now banks have raised the conditions for collateral for loans for ranchers. (Dallas News)
11/ CNN host Don Lemon abruptly ended his segment after a commentator continued to call a story they were discussing “fake news” while defending Trump. Lemon was moderating a discussion on the cost of Trump’s visits to Mar-a-Lago in Florida when Paris Dennard, a political analyst and commentator, called it “fake news.” Dennard insisted that “this is a fake news story,” after which Lemon ended the segment altogether. (The Hill)
11/ Reince Priebus advised Americans to take Trump’s attacks on the media “seriously,” following the president’s denunciations of the press as the “enemy.” The chief of staff continued to hammer the press for its coverage, saying “the American people suffer” because of it. (CBS News)
poll/ Americans want Democrats to work with Trump. The inaugural Harvard-Harris poll found that 73% of voters want to see Democrats work with the president, while 27% said Democrats should resist Trump’s every move. (The Hill)
1/ Trump weighs mobilizing National Guard for immigration roundups. A draft memo proposes to mobilize 100,000 National Guard troops to round up unauthorized immigrants, including millions living nowhere near the Mexico border. The 11-page document calls for the unprecedented militarization of immigration enforcement as far north as Portland, Oregon, and as far east as New Orleans, Louisiana. (Associated Press)
US doesn’t plan to use National Guard to arrest immigrants. The White House and Department of Homeland Security both said they are not planning to use the National Guard to apprehend and arrest undocumented immigrants, despite a “preliminary draft memo” that indicated doing so was a possibility. (ABC News)
Homeland Security on AP’s National Guard: “Absolutely Incorrect”. The memo the AP cited was an early, pre-decisional draft, that DHS Secretary John Kelly never approved, and that the department as a whole never seriously considered. (The Daily Beast)
Migrants choose arrest in Canada over staying in the U.S. People who work with immigrants in Canada say these border-jumpers would rather be arrested in Canada than live in fear of how U.S. officials might handle their cases. (NPR)
2/ Senate on track to confirm Scott Pruitt as EPA administrator despite calls from Democrats to delay until he turns over thousands of requested emails from his time as attorney general as part of a public records lawsuit. Democrats boycotted a committee vote on Pruitt’s nomination last month in an effort to delay his confirmation. Republican leaders have shown no signs they intend to wait for the documents to be released before voting to confirm him. (ABC News)
Senate confirms climate-change skeptic Scott Pruitt to lead EPA, an agency he sued as Oklahoma attorney general. Pruitt’s confirmation marked a serious defeat for environmental advocacy groups. Pruitt has sued the EPA more than a dozen times during the Obama administration, challenging the agency’s authority to regulate toxic mercury pollution, smog, carbon emissions from power plants and the quality of wetlands and other waters. In Oklahoma, he dismantled a specialized environmental protection unit that had existed under his Democratic predecessor and established a “federalism unit” to combat what he called “unwarranted regulation and systematic overreach” by Washington. Pruitt cleared the Senate by a vote of 52-46. (Washington Post)
3/ Trump – under fire – returns to his scorched-earth politics that served him during the campaign. He’ll continue his campaign-style reboot with a rally in Florida, reuniting with the devoted supporters who view Trump as a political crusader dedicated to the obliteration of Washington’s elites. (CNN)
4/ More Democrats call on Sessions to withdraw from Russia probe. A letter sent to Sessions by 55 lawmakers asks him to withdraw based on his ties to Trump’s campaign and key figures who have been alleged to have ties to Russia. (Washington Post)
5/ House G.O.P. leaders outline their plan to replace Obamacare. Their plan leans heavily on tax credits to finance individual insurance purchases and sharply reducing federal payments to the 31 states that have expanded Medicaid eligibility. They did not say how the legislation would be paid for, essentially laying out the benefits without the more controversial costs. (New York Times)
6/ Republican strategist Ana Navarro hits Kushner for complaining about CNN: “Oh, baby boy, I’m so sorry”. Kushner complained to an executive of Time Warner, CNN’s parent company, about unfair coverage of the Trump administration on CNN. (The Hill)
7/ Chaffetz seeks charge of ex-Clinton aide in email inquiry. The chairman of the House Oversight Committee, who has refused Democratic requests to investigate possible conflicts of interest involving Trump, is seeking criminal charges against a Bryan Pagliano, the former State Department employee who helped set up Hillary Clinton’s private email server. Chaffetz sent a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions asking him to convene a grand jury or charge Pagliano. (Washington Post)
8/ Tillerson aides layoff staff at the State Department. While Rex Tillerson is on his first overseas trip as Secretary of State, staffers were told that their services were no longer needed at the Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources and the Counselor offices. (CBS News)
9/ Trump has a four-person short list for his national security adviser after retired Harward turned down the job. Trump gave no indication on how soon a decision could be made, but he is expected to move quickly even as questions grow over contacts with Russia by the former security adviser, Michael Flynn. (Washington Post)
10/ Trump hires Mike Dubke as White House communications director. The Crossroads Media founder will relieve pressure on Sean Spicer, who has been both the press secretary and communications director since Trump took office, which have traditionally been separate positions. (Washington Post)
11/ Ryan struggles to sell tax reform plan to fellow Republicans. Ryan has framed his proposal as a compromise between a tariff, which the president wants, and conservative orthodoxy against border taxes. He has suggested it’s in keeping with Trump’s “America first” mantra, since it would reward American manufacturers that make products here and sell it abroad. But the idea is sharply dividing Republicans — even within the White House. (Politico)
12/ Trump promises new immigration order as DOJ holds off appeals court. Trump said his administration will issue “a new and very comprehensive order to protect our people” next week. The Justice Department wrote at length in a 47-page about the “seriously flawed” Ninth Circuit ruling from last week, but nevertheless said: “(r)ather than continuing this litigation, the President intends in the near future to rescind the order and replace it with a new, substantially revised executive order to eliminate what the panel erroneously thought were constitutional concerns.” (CNN)
13/ Trump call the news media “the enemy of the American people” in his escalating war against journalists. Trump has regularly referred to the media as the “opposition party,” and has blamed news organizations for stymieing his presidential agenda. But the language he deployed typically used by presidents to refer to hostile foreign governments or terrorist organizations. (New York Times)
The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!
Trump wants you to take this bizarre survey on media bias. The “Mainstream Media Accountability Survey,” which was emailed to people who had previously signed up for campaign updates is designed to record his supporters’ anger at news organizations. (BuzzFeed News)
1/ Donald Trump delivered a series of raw and personal attacks on the media in a news conference for the ages. It was a return to what worked for him during the course of the 2016 campaign: A circuslike atmosphere in which he used the media — and his supporters’ distrust of the media — as a sort of tackling dummy to re-center the narrative on ground more favorable to him. Trump didn’t just run down the media — although he did a lot of that — but he also mocked various outlets, reviewed shows on cable TV that he likes (and doesn’t), told reporters to sit down and be quiet, and critiqued the quality of the questions he was being asked. There was a rawness to his attacks, a personal invective that seemed well beyond the typically antagonistic relationship that exists between the media and the president they cover. This was not a piece of political strategy. This came right from Trump’s gut. (Washington Post)
Fact-checking Trump’s press conference. Here’s the rundown of the event. (PoltiFact)
The transcript from Trump’s combative, grievance-filled press conference, along with analysis and annotations. (Washington Post)
The most memorable lines from Trump’s news conference. His back-and-forth with reporters touched on everything from his critique of the media, his Electoral College margin of victory, the workings of his administration, former national security adviser Michael Flynn’s resignation and more. (CNN)
The 8 craziest moments of Trump’s impromptu press conference. In short, it was a doozy. Here’s the 8 most jaw-dropping moments. (Talking Points Memo)
2/ Trump laments, “I inherited a mess,” as he names new labor pick. Trump’s first choice for labor secretary is R. Alexander Acosta, a Florida law school dean and former assistant attorney general for civil rights. Acosta is the first Hispanic to be tapped for Trump’s cabinet. (New York Times)
3/ Spies keep sensitive intelligence from Trump, underscoring deep mistrust. U.S. intelligence officials have withheld sensitive intelligence from Trump because they are concerned it could be leaked or compromised. (Wall Street Journal)
Office of Director of National Intelligence: We don’t withhold intel from Trump. “Any suggestion that the U.S. Intelligence Community is withholding information and not providing the best possible intelligence to the President and his national security team is not true,” an ODNI statement said. (Politico)
4/ House Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz asks the Department of Justice to investigate the leaks surrounding Michael Flynn. The steady stream of “potentially classified” intelligence community leaks that have thrown the Trump administration into turmoil. (Politico)
In FBI interview last month Flynn denied discussing sanctions with Russian ambassador. The Jan. 24 interview potentially puts Flynn in legal jeopardy, as lying to the FBI is a felony, but any decision to prosecute would ultimately lie with the Justice Department. (Washington Post)
Harward says no to national security adviser role. A friend of Harward’s said he was reluctant to take the job because the White House seems so chaotic. Harward called the offer a “s*** sandwich,” the friend said. (CNN)
U.S. allies intercepted a series of communications between Trump advisers and Russian officials before the inauguration. Sources said the interceptions include at least one contact between former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and a Russian official based in the U.S. (Newsweek)
5/ White House plans to have a Trump ally review intelligence agencies. Trump’s plan to assign a New York billionaire to lead a broad review of American intelligence agencies has members of the intelligence community fearing it could curtail their independence and reduce the flow of information that contradicts the president’s worldview. (New York Times)
Trump’s professed love for leaks has quickly faded. As a candidate, Trump embraced the hackers who had leaked Clinton’s emails to the press, declaring “I love WikiLeaks!” Trump has changed his mind. (New York Times)
6/ The Kremlin ordered state media to cut way back on their fawning coverage of Trump, reflecting a growing concern among senior Russian officials that the new U.S. administration will be less friendly than first thought. In January, Trump received more mentions in the media than Putin, relegating the Russian leader to the No. 2 spot for the first time since he returned to the Kremlin in 2012 after four years as premier. (Bloomberg)
GOP senators unnerved by Trump-Russia relationship. While Republicans aren’t yet willing to endorse a special investigative committee, GOP senators have indicated that could change. Democrats are treading carefully in hopes that Republicans make their concerns public and support a thorough and public investigation of contacts between Trump and Russia. (The Hill)
7/ Businesses across U.S. close, students skip school on “Day Without Immigrants” to underscore how much migrants form the lifeblood of the country’s economy and social structure. Immigrants in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Austin, Texas, and other major U.S. cities plan to stay home from work and school as part of a strike. Demonstrators also planned a march to the White House. (USA Today)
8/ ICE detains woman seeking domestic abuse protection at Texas courthouse. A hearing in El Paso County in Texas went from ordinary to “unprecedented” last week when half a dozen Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents showed up at a courthouse where an undocumented woman was seeking a protective order against the boyfriend she accused of abusing her. She left under arrest. (Washington Post)
The White House has found ways to end protection for “Dreamers” while shielding Trump from blowback. Trump’s aides have examined at least two options for repealing DACA that would not directly involve Trump: a lawsuit brought by states, and new legal guidance that details who is a priority for deportation. Trump has repeatedly promised to end the program on “day one” of his presidency and called the protections “unconstitutional executive amnesty.” (Los Angeles Times)
9/ Leaked emails show Justice Clarence Thomas’s wife pushing travel ban. In an email sent to a conservative listserv, Ginni Thomas asked for advice on how to organize in favor of Trump’s travel ban. But by doing so, she may have inadvertently made it harder for the executive order to survive the Supreme Court. (The Daily Beast)
10/ Trump signs law rolling back disclosure rule for energy and mining companies. The bill cancels out a Securities and Exchange Commission regulation that would have required oil and gas and mining companies to disclose in detail the payments they make to foreign governments in a bid to boost transparency in resource-rich countries. (Washington Post)
11/ The Endangered Species Act may be heading for the threatened list. A Senate hearing to “modernize the Endangered Species Act” unfolded just as supporters of the law had feared, with round after round of criticism from Republican lawmakers who said the federal effort to keep species from going extinct encroaches on states’ rights, is unfair to landowners and stymies efforts by mining companies to extract resources and create jobs. (Washington Post)
12/ The EPA posted a mirror of its site before Trump can cut the real one. The mirror is an archive of the site the way it appeared the day before Trump took office. (Vice)
EPA workers try to block Trump’s contentious nominee to run the agency in show of defiance. Employees of the EPA have been calling their senators, urging them to vote against the confirmation of Scott Pruitt. Many of the scientists, environmental lawyers and policy experts who work in EPA offices say the calls are a last resort. Pruitt has made a career out of fighting the agency. Trump has vowed to “get rid of” it. (New York Times)
Oklahoma judge orders EPA nominee Scott Pruitt to turn over emails to watchdog group. The Center for Media and Democracy charges Pruitt violated the Oklahoma Open Records Act for declining to make public official documents the group has requested since 2015. (CNBC)
13/ More than 200 Republicans in Congress are skipping February town halls with constituents. After outpourings of rage at some early town halls, many Republicans are opting for more controlled Facebook Live or “tele-town halls,” where questions can be screened by press secretaries and followups are limited. (Vice News)
14/ Christie says Trump made him order the meatloaf when they dined together at the White House. Trump pointed out the menu and told people to get whatever they want. Then he said he and Christie were going to have the meatloaf. (Boston Globe)
1/ Trump campaign aides had repeated contact with Russian intelligence during the 2016 campaign according to four current and former American officials. Phone records and intercepted calls show that the communications happened around the same time evidence was discovered that Russia was trying to disrupt the presidential election by hacking into the Democratic National Committee. U.S. intelligence agencies sought to learn whether the Trump campaign was colluding with the Russians on the hacking or other efforts to influence the election. They have seen no evidence of such cooperation, so far. (New York Times)
It’s bigger than Flynn. New Russia revelations widen Trump’s credibility gap. Trump’s long-term fixation on and admiration for Vladimir Putin as well as Flynn’s departure has lent new gravity and intensity to long-simmering questions about Trump and Russia. (Washington Post)
Trump aides were in constant touch with senior Russian officials during campaign. The communications stood out to investigators due to the frequency and the level of the Trump advisers involved. Investigators have not reached a judgment on the intent of those conversations. (CNN)
2/ Andrew Puzder withdraws from consideration as labor secretary. The Hardee’s/Carl’s Jr. CEO came under intense fire from Democrats and liberal groups who accused him of mistreating his workers, opposing the minimum wage and supporting automation in the workplace. The attacks on his policy views were compounded by intense scrutiny of his personal life, including allegations that he abused his ex-wife in the 1980s. (New York Times)
McConnell to White House: Andrew Puzder lacks the votes to win confirmation. At least seven Republican senators said they planned to withhold support for Puzder, saying that they wanted to see how the political novice fares at his confirmation hearing. (Washington Post)
3/ Senators from both parties pledge to deepen probe of Russia and the 2016 election. Mitch McConnell said an investigation is “highly likely,” and the top two members of the Senate Intelligence Committee announced that the committee’s ongoing probe must include an examination of any contacts between Trump campaign officials and the Russian government. (Washington Post)
Senator Lindsey Graham: Any Trump ally working inappropriately with Russia “needs to pay a price”. If the reports are true about communication between Trump’s aides and Russia during the campaign, Graham said Congress needs a joint select committee to examine Trump’s business ties to Russia. Trump called recent news stories reporting that his aides had contact with Russian intelligence officials during the 2016 elections “fake news” Wednesday morning and said the “Russian connection non-sense” was an attempt to “cover-up the many mistakes made in Hillary Clinton’s losing campaign.” (Politico)
4/ Jeff Sessions resists pressure to remove himself from his role in investigating Trump’s aides and their relationship with Russia. Democrats and outside groups say Sessions lacks the independence to oversee criminal investigations that might lead back to the White House. Sessions and Flynn were both early, influential advisers in Trump’s presidential campaign. (New York Times)
5/ Flynn’s departure erupts into a full-blown crisis for the Trump White House. The circumstances leading up to Flynn’s departure have quickly become a major crisis for the fledgling administration, forcing the White House on the defensive and precipitating the first significant breach in relations between Trump and an increasingly restive Republican Congress. (Washington Post)
Mike Pence told about Flynn warning two weeks after Trump. The White House kept Pence in the dark for weeks about the warning it had gotten about national security adviser Michael Flynn from the Justice Department. (NBC News)
Trump lashed out at the nation’s intelligence agencies again, accusing them on Twitter of illegally leaking information to the news media. The flurry on tweets come as new disclosures about his dealings with Russia during and after the presidential campaign surfaced. (New York Times)
This Russian connection non-sense is merely an attempt to cover-up the many mistakes made in Hillary Clinton's losing campaign.
6/ House panel votes against requesting Trump’s tax returns. Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday argued that requesting Trump’s tax returns is important to get more information about Trump’s potential conflicts of interest. (The Hill)
By a vote of 23-15, Republicans just voted to not request President Trump's tax returns from the Treasury Department.
7/ Republican congressman reveals bill to abolish the EPA. The freshman congressman from Florida has finally released a summary of the agency-killing bill. It tops out at just more than 40 words. This news item is 37 words. (CNBC)
Trump aims to sign executive orders cutting into the EPA’s climate work shortly after his nominee to lead the agency is confirmed by the Senate. Trump has vowed to roll back Obama-era EPA actions, including major climate change regulations like the Clean Power Plan and a water jurisdiction rule opposed by many conservatives. (The Hill)
This is the entire bill to terminate the EPA (Congress.gov)
8/ A DREAMer was arrested during a raid and now a federal magistrate judge has ordered officials to defend the arrest of an undocumented immigrant who has protection from deportation. Attorneys filed a lawsuit accusing federal authorities of unlawfully arresting a Mexican immigrant in Seattle despite him having protection from deportation under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. (BuzzFeed News)
9/ Trump to welcome Netanyahu for talks that could shape the contours of future Middle East policy. Palestinians fear the U.S. will abandon its two-state solution for the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Palestine living peacefully alongside Israel has been the bedrock U.S. position for decades. Negotiations broke down in 2014. Under a two-state solution, Israel would end its military occupation of Palestinian areas and allow the Palestinians to form their own self-governing state. (Reuters)
Trump said that the U.S. would no longer insist on a Palestinian state as part of a peace accord between Israel and the Palestinians, backing away from a policy that has underpinned America’s role in Middle East peacemaking since the Clinton administration. The comments are a striking departure from two decades of diplomatic orthodoxy. The Palestinians are highly unlikely to accept anything short of a sovereign state. (New York Times)
10/ Trump skirts tough questions again. In a joint appearance with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump only called on reporters from conservative news outlets, or at least outlets likely to be favorable to him. This is now the third bilateral appearance in which Trump appeared to skirt questions about controversial issues by not taking questions from the traditional stable of the press corps. (CNN)
11/ Doubts grow that GOP can repeal Obamacare. Republicans are sniping over how much of the law to scrap, what to replace it with and when. At this moment, it’s far from a sure thing any plan could get through Congress. (Politico)
12/ Defense Secretary Jim Mattis issued an ultimatum to NATO allies, warning that if they do not boost their defense spending to goals set by the alliance, the United States may alter its relationship with them. It marks an escalation in Washington’s long-running frustration that many NATO countries do not spend at least 2 percent of their gross domestic product as they have pledged. (Washington Post)
13/ Trump will not fill out an NCAA tournament bracket. Fun sponge. (Washington Post)
poll/ Trump trails generic Democrat in 2020. In a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll. roughly a quarter of voters think Trump is the worst president in the last century. 43% percent of voters are ready to vote for a nameless Democrat in 2020. Just over a third say they’ll vote for Trump in 2020. In a hypothetical matchup, he beats Sen. Elizabeth Warren 42% to 36%. (Politico)
survey/ Americans are seriously stressed out about the future of the country. No shit. 66% of Americans reported stress about the future of the country, 57% about the current political climate and 49% about the election outcome. The survey was conducted by Harris Poll. (Washington Post)
1/ Russia has secretly deployed a new cruise missile despite violation of the arms control treaty that helped seal the end of the Cold War. The move presents a major challenge for President Trump, who has vowed to improve relations with Putin and to pursue future arms accords. (New York Times)
2/ Trump knew Flynn misled officials on Russia calls for “weeks” the White House says. The comment contrasts the impression Trump gave aboard Air Force One that he was not familiar with a report that revealed Flynn had not told the truth about the calls. White House counsel Don McGahn told Trump in a January briefing that Flynn had discussed U.S. sanctions with Russia. (Washington Post)
The timeline of Michael Flynn’s resignation looks bad for the Trump White House. Was the White House concerned that Flynn had apparently lied to them — or at least done something he shouldn’t have and failed to disclose it? Would it ever have taken corrective action if the situation hadn’t been made public? (Washington Post)
The F.B.I. interviewed Flynn in the first days of the Trump administration about his conversations with the Russian ambassador. If he was not entirely honest with the F.B.I., it could expose Flynn, who resigned his post, to a felony charge. (New York Times)
Flynn sets record with only 24 days as national security adviser. The average tenure is about 2.6 years. (Washington Post)
3/ A member of the Senate Intelligence Committee calls for an exhaustive investigation into Trump-Russia connections following Flynn’s resignation. “The national security adviser of all the people that work with and for the President has to be absolutely trustworthy and truthful and apparently he wasn’t and he paid the price for that…” (CNN)
McConnell: Flynn investigation “highly likely” in Senate committee. The Senate’s second-ranking Republican and other GOP senators have called for an investigation into the episode, building on a string of investigations underway on Russian interference in the US elections. (CNN)
House Republicans rejected calls for an independent investigation into Flynn’s communications with Russia, laying bare the party’s reticence to challenge Trump in the early weeks of his presidency. The chair of the intelligence committee said he was less concerned with investigating Flynn’s conduct than with the question of who was behind the leaks that quickly spiraled into the former official’s dramatic resignation. (The Guardian)
Democrats demand that Flynn’s resignation spur broader Russia investigation. In a joint statement, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee and the ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said, “We in Congress need to know who authorized his actions, permitted them and continued to let him have access to our most sensitive national security information despite knowing these risks. We need to know who else within the White House is a current and ongoing risk to our national security.” (New York Times)
FBI needs to explain why Flynn’s call were recorded with the Russian ambassador and later leaked information to the press. Intelligence officials had recorded Flynn’s conversations with the Russian ambassador before Trump took office. Those recordings appeared to contradict Flynn’s own claims that he had not discussed easing U.S. sanctions on Russia. (Washington Post)
4/ Ethics office: Conway committed “clear violation” with Ivanka plug and recommends that the White House investigate Trump’s senior adviser. Conway offered what she described as a “free commercial” for Ivanka Trump’s clothing line after Nordstrom pulled her items from its racks, drawing a Twitter rebuke from Trump. (Politico)
Scarborough rips Conway as an “out of the loop” liar after Flynn resignation. Conway’s assertion that Flynn enjoyed “the full confidence of the president” just hours before he offered his resignation is proof that Conway is acting recklessly. (Politico)
Matt Lauer: “Kellyanne, that makes no sense” (Vox)
Conway claims she doesn’t know who retweeted a white nationalist from her twitter account. Seriously, WTF? (BuzzFeed)
5/ Russian lawmakers defend Trump’s ex-national security adviser. Russia’s foreign affairs committees are calling Flynn’s resignation a dark campaign of Russophobia and “thoughtcrime”. (Washington Post)
The Kremlin is starting to worry about Trump. Vladimir Putin’s entourage cheered the outcome of the U.S. election. Now that Trump is in power, political elites in Moscow have stopped cheering. They recognize that Russia’s position has become abruptly and agonizingly complex. (Foreign Policy)
6/ How leaks and investigative journalists led to Flynn’s resignation. Journalists at The Washington Post, The New York Times and other outlets spoke with government officials who provided vital information about Flynn’s contacts with Russia. (CNN)
Trump: The “real story” of Flynn resignation is illegal leaks. Democrat Hillary Clinton. In October, he told the crowd at a campaign rally “I love WikiLeaks” as the group continued to release hacked emails from Clinton’s top aides. (The Hill)
The real story here is why are there so many illegal leaks coming out of Washington? Will these leaks be happening as I deal on N.Korea etc?
7/ Bannon’s Breitbart takes shot at Priebus: As Flynn resigns, Priebus’ future is in doubt as Trump allies circulate list of alternate chief of staff candidates. (Breitbart)
8/ House conservatives fret GOP is blowing Obamacare repeal. Hard-liners are plotting a major push to repeal the law immediately without simultaneously approving an alternative. Trump has sent conflicting signals, initially saying he wanted Congress to act immediately but then cautioning the process could take all year. (Politico)
9/ US allies in Europe have no idea “what the fuck is going on” with the Trump Administration.“It’s a wake up call to European leaders that counting on America isn’t currently a smart policy,” one European intelligence official said after the sudden resignation of the US national security advisor. (BuzzFeed News)
10/ Secret Service director to step down, giving Trump chance to select his own security chief. The head of the Secret Service is leaving his post, a little more than two years after arriving in one of Washington’s toughest jobs. (Washington Post)
1/ Michael Flynn resigns as National Security Adviser after it was revealed that he had misled Pence and other top White House officials about his conversations with the Russian ambassador to the United States. Flynn served in the job for less than a month. (New York Times)
UPDATE:
Flynn on thin ice but still in at the White House after turbulent few days. Despite a turbulent 72 hours caused by the national security adviser’s inability to deny that he spoke about sanctions against Russia with the Russian ambassador before Trump took office, Flynn has no plans to resign and no expectations that he will be fired. (CNN)
Flynn apologizes after admitting he may have discussed sanctions with Russia. The apology was directed most notably to Pence, who had emphatically denied to CBS News last month that Flynn had discussed “anything having to do with the United States’ decision to expel diplomats or impose censure against Russia.” (USA Today)
The Justice Department had warned White House that Flynn could be vulnerable to Russian blackmail. Current and former officials said that although they believed that Pence was misled about the contents of Flynn’s communications with the Russian ambassador, they couldn’t rule out that Flynn was acting with the knowledge of others in the transition. (Washington Post)
Trump declines to say whether he has full confidence in Flynn, deferring to a statement to come. (NPR)
Trump remains silent as Flynn falls under growing pressure. Neither Trump nor his advisers have publicly defended Flynn or stated unequivocally that he has the president’s confidence. Privately, some administration officials said that Flynn’s position has weakened and support for him has eroded largely because of a belief that he was disingenuous about Russia and therefore could not be fully trusted going forward. (Washington Post)
Flynn’s dealings with Russia aside, there are even deeper ties that connect the current administration to the Kremlin. Some Pentagon officials say they have “assumed that the Kremlin has ears” inside the White House ever since Trump’s inauguration. (Washington Post)
2/ At Mar-a-Lago, Trump tackles crisis diplomacy at close range. Wealthy members looked on from their tables, and with a keyboard player crooning in the background, Trump and Abe’s evening meal quickly morphed into a strategy session, the decision-making on full view to fellow diners. (CNN)
Trump turns Mar-a-Lago Club terrace into open-air situation room. Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe could have discussed classified documents within earshot of waiters and club patrons. Those cellphones-turned-flashlights might also have been a problem: If one of them had been hacked by a foreign power, the phone’s camera could have provided a view of what the documents said. (Washington Post)
Trump responds to North Korean missile launch with uncharacteristic restraint. Trump read a statement of just 23 words that pledged American support for Tokyo without even mentioning North Korea. The muted comment stood in sharp contrast to his response after Iran tested a ballistic missile, when he directed his national security adviser to publicly warn Tehran that he was “officially putting Iran on notice” and followed up with sanctions. (New York Times)
3/ Steven Mnuchin wins slim vote for Treasury secretary. The Senate’s 53-47 vote split along party lines and was one of the slimmest ever for a Treasury pick. By March 17, Mnuchin needs to persuade Congress to increase the nation’s debt limit. If he can’t, he would have to start using a series of so-called extraordinary measures to extend the deadline for several weeks to avoid a U.S. default on its debt. (Los Angeles Times)
4/ Trudeau and Trump try to bridge some gaps while avoiding others. Trump has called for a halt to the admission of refugees, while Trudeau has held out Canada as a haven for refugees, particularly people who have fled the war in Syria. (New York Times)
5/ Trump reviews top White House staff after tumultuous start. Trump, frustrated over his administration’s rocky start, is complaining to friends and allies about some of his most senior aides — leading to questions about whether he is mulling an early staff shakeup. (Politico)
Turmoil at the National Security Council. Staff members are struggling to make policy to fit Trump’s tweets. (New York Times)
G.O.P. lawmakers like what they see in Trump – they just have to squint. Trump has made clear that he is going to continue promulgating conspiracy theories, flinging personal insults and saying things that are plainly untrue. And the Republican-controlled House and Senate seem to have made a collective decision: They will accommodate — not confront — his conduct as long as he signs their long-stalled conservative proposals on taxes, regulations and health care into law. (New York Times)
6/ Courts still proceeding with lawsuits — and a new injunction — against Trump’s travel ban. While the Justice Department lawyers attempted to confine the court battle to the federal appeals court hearing the challenge out of Washington, two district court judges on Monday sided with challengers to the president’s executive order. (BuzzFeed News)
7/ Federal immigration officials arrested more than 600 people across at least 11 states last week, detaining 40 people in the New York City area, law enforcement officials said. It’s unclear whether the actions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were part of continuing operations to round up illegal immigrants with criminal convictions or a ramping-up of deportations by the Trump administration. (New York Times)
8/ California governor asks Trump for storm disaster declaration, as the state grapples with a massive dam spillway glitch in the Sierra foothills. A disaster declaration frees up federal funds to help pay for damage. Presidents usually respond positively to such requests. Trump called California “out of control” last week without explaining exactly what he meant. Trump also threatened to block federal funds if California goes ahead with plans to become a sanctuary state for immigrants. (Huffington Post)
Evacuations ordered below Oroville Dam after a hole is found in its emergency spillway. The erosion could undermine the concrete top of the spillway, allowing torrents of water to wash downhill into the Feather River and flood Oroville and other towns in Yuba, Sutter and Butte counties. (Los Angeles Times)
9/ Trump undertakes most ambitious regulatory rollback since Reagan. The new administration is targeting dozens of Obama-era policies, using both legislative and executive tactics. The fallout is already rippling across the federal bureaucracy and throughout the U.S. economy, affecting how dentists dispose of mercury fillings, how schools meet the needs of poor and disabled students, and whether companies reject mineral purchases that fuel one of the world’s bloodiest conflicts. (Washington Post)
10/ America’s biggest foreign creditors dump Treasuries in warning to Trump. Few overseas investors want to step into the $13.9 trillion U.S. Treasury market right now. Whether it’s the prospect of bigger deficits and more inflation under Trump or higher interest rates from the Federal Reserve, the world’s safest debt market seems less of a sure thing. And then there is Trump’s penchant for saber rattling, which has made staying home that much easier. (Bloomberg)
11/ Trump ran a campaign based on intelligence security. That’s not how he’s governing. The president discussed a national security incident in a public room, with phone flashlights lighting the way. Why is this important? Mobile phones have flashlights — and cameras, microphones and Internet connectivity. Phones — especially phones with their flashes turned on for improved visibility — are portable television satellite trucks and, if compromised, can be used to get a great deal of information about what’s happening nearby, unless precautions are taken. (Washington Post)
1/ North Korea challenges Trump by firing a ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan. The missile launch came as Trump hosts Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, on an official visit. The missile was a medium- or intermediate-range system and “did not pose a threat to North America.” South Korea condemned the missile launching, saying that it violated a series of United Nations Security Council resolutions that bar North Korea from developing or testing ballistic missile and nuclear weapons technologies. (New York Times)
Trump: “America stands behind Japan” after North Korea missile test. (Politico)
Few good options in Trump arsenal to counter defiant North Korea. Possible responses include additional sanctions to beefed-up missile defense. (Reuters)
2/ Senior White House policy adviser Stephen Miller doubled down on President Trump’s unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud, including the president’s reported claim that thousands of voters were bused into New Hampshire to illegally cast ballots in the presidential election. (ABC News)
Miller says White House will fight for travel ban. The White House is pursuing several options to reinstate Trump’s travel ban, fighting back against “judicial usurpation of power.” He said legal options to restore the ban — “the very apex of presidential authority” — include an emergency hearing with the full 9th Circuit. (Washington Post)
Miller is a “true believer” behind core Trump policies. Miller has been at the epicenter of some of the administration’s most provocative moves, from pushing hard for the construction of a wall along the border with Mexico to threatening decades-long trade deals at the heart of Republican economic orthodoxy, to rolling out Trump’s travel ban. (New York Times)
3/ New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie criticized Trump’s national security adviser Michael Flynn, saying he needs to clear up questions about whether he discussed sanctions in his pre-inauguration conversations with the Russian ambassador to the United States. (CNN)
Pelosi: Flynn should be suspended and for his intelligence clearance to be revoked until U.S. officials fully review his contacts with Russia’s ambassador. (The Hill)
Does the White House stand by Michael Flynn? No comment. “That’s a question for the president.” (Washington Post)
4/ Trump friend says Priebus is “in way over his head”. One of Trump’s longtime friends publicly argued that Trump should replace his White House chief of staff after talking privately with the president. (Washington Post)
5/ The spy revolt against Trump begins. Fears that the White House is too friendly to Moscow is causing close allies to curtail some of their espionage relationships with Washington. The development has grave implications for international security, especially for counterterrorism. (Observer)
6/ Sanders rips Trump, jokes about “fake news”. In an 11-minute interview, Sanders weighed in on Trump’s travel ban, his clashing with the media, and the controversy surrounding National Security Advisor Michael Flynn. (CNN)
Bernie Sanders calls Trump a “pathological liar”; Al Franken says “a few” Republicans think Trump is mentally ill. (Washington Post)
7/ Betsy DeVos’ Department of Education flunks spelling test, misspells W.E.B. Du Bois’ name, then misspells its apology. Both tweets have since been deleted. (Politico)
8/ Defections by Sears, Kmart cap week of controversy for Trump brands. The moves may be a rare sign of companies taking calculated risks in making business decisions that might invite criticism from Trump’s Twitter account. (Reuters)
9/ A US-born NASA scientist was detained at the border until he unlocked his phone. Reentry into the country should not have raised any flags. Not only is he a natural-born US citizen, but he’s also enrolled in Global Entry — a program through CBP that allows individuals who have undergone background checks to have expedited entry into the country. He hasn’t visited the countries listed in the immigration ban and he has worked at JPL — a major center at a US federal agency — for 10 years. (The Verge)
Related:
Pre-clearance bill would give U.S. border guards power to question, search, and detain Canadian citizens on Canadian soil. The bill could erode the standing of Canadian permanent residents by threatening their automatic right to enter Canada. (CBC)
What is pre-clearance? Pre-clearance allows Canadian visitors to the U.S. to clear U.S. Customs and Immigration while still in Canada at a Canadian port of departure.
poll/ Trump’s job approval rating hits a new low: 40% of Americans approve of the job that the president is doing, while 55% disapprove. (Gallup)
1/ Reports of raids have immigrants bracing for enforcement surge. Officials at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, said the immigration roundups did not represent an increased tempo. ICE described it as a routine “targeted enforcement action” in which roughly 160 people were arrested in six counties around Los Angeles. Of those, 150 had criminal histories. The agency has about 100 fugitive teams constantly working to bring in those wanted on a variety of immigration offenses. These teams have been just as active as they were during the Obama administration. (New York Times)
2/ The Trump administration is turning on Mike Flynn while the CIA freezes out Flynn’s aide. The agency denied a security clearance for a key aide to the National Security Adviser, effectively ending his tenure on the National Security Council and escalating tensions between Flynn and the intelligence community. (Politico)
Flynn holds call with Pence amid calls for probes of contacts with Russian ambassador. Flynn had urged Moscow to show restraint in its response to punitive sanctions being imposed on Russia by the Obama administration, signaling that the Trump administration would revisit the issue when it took office. (Washington Post)
Michael Flynn’s debacle. Trump’s national security adviser’s potentially false statements about his pre-inauguration contacts with Russian officials are a major scandal. (The Atlantic)
3/ GOP bill would gut EPA. A House Republican is sponsoring legislation to do away with large portions of the Environmental Protection Agency, including environmental justice and greenhouse gas programs. The Wasteful EPA Programs Elimination Act would save $7.5 billion annually and would leave the EPA with a budget of less than $1 billion. Major EPA climate change programs would be eliminated under the measure. (The Hill)
4/ Trump: Refugees are flooding the U.S. and creating a “dangerous” situation after the judge blocked his travel ban. The percentage of refugees arriving from the so-called seven banned countries — Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen — has risen considerably since the directive was suspended. However, the weekly total of refugees arriving from the targeted countries has risen by only about 100. All are stringently vetted. Trump made the post at the start of a day of golf with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan at his resort in Jupiter, Florida. (New York Times)
Our legal system is broken! "77% of refugees allowed into U.S. since travel reprieve hail from seven suspect countries." (WT) SO DANGEROUS!
5/ The Justice Department is taking a step back from efforts to protect transgender people under existing law. The department withdrew a request to limit an injunction halting enforcement of existing civil rights laws that provide protections for transgender people. The moves suggests that the federal government’s position on the pending legal questions surrounding transgender people’s rights could be changing soon. (BuzzFeed News)
6/ Hundreds of protests against Planned Parenthood and counterprotests in support of the nonprofit are taking place across the country today. A national coalition opposed to abortion rights seeks to end any public funding for Planned Parenthood. Supporters of Planned Parenthood are rallying today to show solidarity for the nonprofit organization, which provides a variety of health services including cancer screenings, HIV testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections as well as family planning, birth control and abortion. (ABC News)
7/ Al Franken to Maher: GOP senators privately express “great concern” about Trump’s temperament. Franken isn’t the first Democrat to say Republicans senators are privately fretting. Sen. Sherrod Brown said his GOP colleagues privately worry about Trump’s “incompetence” and “ethics.” (Washington Post)
Trump to Dems: “Pocahontas is now the face of your party” – his insult of choice for Elizabeth Warren. Trump said the only reason Warren claimed Native American heritage was “because she has high cheekbones.” Trump was referencing questions over Warren’s ancestry from her 2012 Senate race. (CNN)
8/ Trump: Border wall price “will come WAY DOWN” when I negotiate. Trump responded to reports that the cost of his proposed border wall is much higher than expected, insisting that it will be much cheaper after he gets involved in negotiations. (The Hill)
I am reading that the great border WALL will cost more than the government originally thought, but I have not gotten involved in the.....
9/ “We’re going to see more” sanctuary cities cave in face of Trump’s funding threats. Several towns, cities and counties around the nation are caving to President Trump’s threat to pull funding, and abandoning their “sanctuary” pledges to shield illegal immigrants from federal authorities. The changes come on the heels of Trump’s executive order giving the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security the power to cut federal funding to communities that are deemed sanctuaries for illegal immigrants. Trump also has authorized the DHS to publish a weekly list of sanctuary communities. (Fox News)
“A sense of dread” for civil servants shaken by the Trump transition. Across the vast federal bureaucracy anxiety, frustration, fear and resistance has spread among many of the two million nonpolitical civil servants who say they work for the public, not a particular president. (New York Times)
10/ Utah’s Rep. Jason Chaffetz faces the “Resistance” in his home state. The backlash was not just about policy—it was fueled by anger that the congressman was shirking his duty as chairman of the House Oversight Committee by refusing to investigate Trump. In their view, his was not just a failure of government, but of character. Despite Utah’s status as one of the most conservative states in the country, Trump has never been very popular there. He carried the state’s electoral votes last year with just 45 percent of the vote. (The Atlantic)
Chaffetz said the protesters were Democrats and paid to demonstrate and disrupt his town hall because they don’t like Trump and are upset about the results of the 2016 election. (Talking Points Memo)
11/ State G.O.P. leaders move swiftly as party bickers in Congress. While Republicans in Washington appear flummoxed by the complexities of one-party rule, rising party leaders in the states seem far more at ease and assertive. Republicans have top-to-bottom control in 25 states now, holding both the governorship and the entire legislature, and Republican lawmakers are acting with lightning speed to enact longstanding conservative priorities. (New York Times)
12/ Army veterans return to Standing Rock to form a human shield against police. A growing group of military veterans are willing to put their bodies between Native American activists and the police trying to remove them. (The Guardian)
1/ White House now says it may take travel ban to the Supreme Court. Minutes after one White House official said Trump would not appeal the 9th Circuit ruling upholding a temporary stay of the travel ban, Reince Priebus said the White House is now “reviewing all of our options in the court system,” including possibly going to the Supreme Court. (Washington Post)
Earlier: When asked if Trump was considering signing a new executive order on immigration: “Nothing’s off the table.” Trump also has the option of going back to the drawing board and coming up with a new way to impose “extreme vetting” restrictions he says are necessary. But it seems certain he will not take the route since to do so would involve not only admitting the bitter taste of a high stakes legal defeat but repudiating the combative win-at-all-costs attitude that animates his character. (CNN)
2/ US investigators corroborate some aspects of the Russia dossier compiled by a former British intelligence agent. None of the newly learned information relates to the salacious allegations in the dossier. The intercepts do confirm that some of the conversations described in the dossier took place between the same individuals on the same days and from the same locations as detailed in the dossier. (CNN)
3/ Russia considers returning Snowden to U.S. to “curry favor” with Trump. Trump has called the NSA leaker a “spy” and a “traitor” who deserves to be executed. Russia considers turning over Snowden to be a “gift” to Trump. (ABC News)
4/ National security adviser Michael Flynn discussed sanctions with Russian ambassador, despite denials. Flynn had “a series of contacts” with Sergey Kislyak in 2016 that “began before the Nov. 8 election and continued during the transition.” Flynn’s communications with the Russian ambassador were interpreted by some senior U.S. officials as an inappropriate and potentially illegal signal to the Kremlin that it could expect a reprieve from sanctions that were being imposed by the Obama administration in late December to punish Russia for its alleged interference in the 2016 election. (Washington Post)
Did Mike Pence get burned by Michael Flynn? Either the national security adviser misled the vice president, or the vice president knowingly misled the American people. (Washington Post)
5/ Trump tells President Xi Jinping U.S. will honor the “One China” Policy, reversing his earlier expressions of doubt about the longtime diplomatic understanding and removing a major source of tension between the United States and China since shortly after he was elected. Trump had to publicly commit to upholding the 44-year-old policy for President Xi to take his call. The concession was clearly designed to put an end to an extended chill in the relationship between China and the United States. (New York Times)
The US’s One-China policy explained: It has been the policy of the United States to recognize Taiwan as part of China. The one-China policy is the delicate balance between respecting China’s claim to the territory and maintaining close ties to Taiwan. (ABC News)
Trump’s retreat over Taiwan and China’s currency may be tactical. Trump has threatened to label China a currency manipulator and to slap tariffs of as much as 45% on Chinese goods. If he follows through with that, the result could be a trade war that damages both economies. But, talking with China, rather than trading threats, could help Trump come away with some kind of deal on issues like import tariffs and currencies that he could tout as a victory. (CNN)
6/ Jared Kushner proves to be a shadow diplomat on U.S.-Mexico talks. Kushner’s back-channel communications with Mexico reveals he’s operating like a shadow secretary of state, operating outside the boundaries of the State Department or National Security Council. (Washington Post)
7/ Tom Price confirmed as the new secretary of Health and Human Services. He was approved by a party-line vote of 52-47. Democrats were concerned that the conservative congressman wants to pare down government health programs. They were also troubled by lingering ethics questions over Price’s investments. (NPR)
12.2 million people have signed up for Obamacare this year, even with the uncertainty created by Trump’s vow to repeal and replace it. Enrollment is about 4 percent lower than last year, the sizable number of sign-ups illustrates the risk Republicans face as they begin moving to dismantle the Affordable Care Act and put in its place a yet-to-be-defined conservative approach. (Bloomberg)
8/ Kellyanne Conway apologized to Donald Trump after Ivanka clothing line comments. Conway, in a Fox News interview, urged viewers Thursday to “go buy Ivanka’s stuff.” The top White House adviser tweeted that she had the full support of Trump. (CNN)
POTUS supports me, and millions of Americans support him & his agenda. https://t.co/FTaPXTymGV
9/ Trump border wall to cost $21.6 billion and take 3.5 years to build, based on a U.S. Department of Homeland Security internal report. The report’s estimated price-tag is much higher than a $12-billion figure cited by Trump in his campaign. (Reuters)
10/ Treasury nominee vows no tax cut for rich. But the math says the opposite. Mnuchin said any rate reductions at the top would be offset by the closing of fat loopholes, his guarantee appears impossible to fulfill either under the tax overhaul that the House Republicans are pushing or similar, sketchier proposals that Mr. Trump has offered. (New York Times)
11/ Trump vexed by challenges, scale of government. The president’s allies say he has been surprised that government can’t be run like his business. Nearly two dozen people who’ve spent time with Trump in the three weeks since his inauguration said that his mood has careened between surprise and anger as he’s faced the predictable realities of governing, from congressional delays over his cabinet nominations and legal fights holding up his aggressive initiatives to staff in-fighting and leaks. (Politico)
12/ Republicans push bill to split up “nutty 9th Circuit”. They argue that the 9th is too big, too liberal and too slow resolving cases. If they succeed, only California, Oregon, Hawaii and two island districts would remain in the 9th’s judicial fiefdom. Nevada, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Arizona, and Alaska would be part of the brand new 12th Circuit. (Fox News)
13/ A blueprint for resistance to Trump has emerged. Here’s what it looks like: faith in the system, pressure Republicans to exercise oversight, use all the procedural tools in the Senate, leverage civil society, keep Trump distracted. (Washington Post)
14/ FBI terrorism taskforce investigating Standing Rock activists. FBI representatives have contacted several “water protectors,” raising alarm that an indigenous-led movement is being construed as domestic terrorism. (The Guardian)
poll/ Americans believe the world sees the U.S. more unfavorably (57%) than favorably (42%) – the worst in a decade. (Gallup)
poll/ Americans evenly divided on impeaching Trump. Support for impeaching Trump has crept up from 35% 2 weeks ago, to 40% last week, to its 46% standing this week. (Public Policy Polling)
1/ The 9th Circuit Court refused to reinstate travel ban, delivering the latest and most stinging judicial rebuke to Trump’s effort to tighten the standards for entry into the United States and make good on a campaign promise. The ruling was focused on the narrow question of whether the travel ban should be blocked while courts consider its lawfulness. The decision is likely to be appealed to the Supreme Court. (New York Times)
Federal appeals court maintains suspension of Trump’s immigration order. (Washington Post)
SEE YOU IN COURT, THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE!
2/ Conway may have broken key ethics rule by touting Ivanka Trump’s products. Federal employees are banned from using their public office to endorse products. “I’m going to give it a free commercial here,” Conway said. “Go buy it today.” (Washington Post)
Related:
Trump’s defense of Ivanka reflects approach that could hurt the economy. The prospect of a costly Trump tantrum could give factory bosses reason to think twice before setting up shop in the United States. In the short run, perhaps Trump’s threats can slow a painful decline. But in the longer run, defending the status quo may do more harm than good. (New York Times)
My daughter Ivanka has been treated so unfairly by @Nordstrom. She is a great person -- always pushing me to do the right thing! Terrible!
Trump’s Oval Office tweets force CEOs to choose fight or flight. The president crossed a new line with Nordstrom attack. Apple, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Starbucks, and others have emerged as vocal critics of Trump’s immigration executive order. (Bloomberg)
3/ Spicer misspoke on attack, meant Orlando, not Atlanta. Three times in one week, Spicer alluded to a terror attack in Atlanta by someone from overseas. Spicer eventually admitted he misspoke. Oops. (CNN)
Spicer claims he “clearly meant Orlando” after citing mystery Atlanta terrorist attack three time. Trump and his aides have been using the attacks in Orlando, San Bernardino and Boston as talking points during media circuits to defend the ban. (Washington Post)
4/ Sessions sworn in as attorney general while Trump signed three executive actions aimed at bolstering law enforcement. Sessions pledged to attack a crime problem that he described as “a dangerous permanent trend that has places the health and safety of the American people at risk.” Although murder jumped by 11% in 2015, the biggest one-year increase in more than 40 years, the overall rate remains the lowest in decades. (USA Today)
ACLU vows to sue Sessions if he violates Constitution as Attorney General. The ACLU made the first successful lawsuit against the Trump administration in late January when it filed a complaint on behalf of two men who were detained at an airport as a result of Trump’s controversial executive order. (The Hill)
5/ Trump attacks McCain for questioning success of deadly Yemen raid. McCain initially referred to the raid as “a failure” but later dialed back his criticism, saying that some objectives were fulfilled in the mission but that he would “not describe any operation that results in the loss of American life as a success.” (Washington Post)
Sen. McCain should not be talking about the success or failure of a mission to the media. Only emboldens the enemy! He's been losing so....
6/ Republican Senator admits GOP health-care plan has to remain secret because it will be unpopular. Senator Mike Lee insists that Republicans repeal Obamacare first, before they decide on an alternative. And his reason is straightforward: If people saw the Republican alternative, they might not like it! (New York Magazine)
7/ Gun rights advocates prepare push for more guns in schools. Attempts to allow more guns in K-12 schools were defeated in 15 states last year but second amendment campaigners are only encouraged by Trump’s election. (The Guardian)
8/ Trump lashes out at Blumenthal for relaying Gorsuch’s “disheartening” comments. The president resurfaces Senator Blumenthal’s military record to minimize fallout from Gorsuch’s Supreme Court’s statements. (Politico)
We’re careening “toward a constitutional crisis” Sen. Richard Blumenthal warned moments after Trump attacked him for sharing Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch’s concerns with the president’s attacks on judges. (The Hill)
Trump questions credibility of senator who disclosed comments by Judge Gorsuch. (Washington Post)
Texas Democrats angered by Trump’s remark on destroying senator’s career. Republicans, who control both chambers of the State Legislature, described Mr. Trump’s comment as a joke. Democrats, however, said they were shocked that the president of the United States would speak so flippantly about destroying a lawmaker’s career. (New York Times)
UPDATE: Story is dated 2016. ~~8/ Feds try to forcefully search Wall Street Journal reporter’s phone. A Wall Street Journal reporter was detained by federal agents at the Los Angeles airport who demanded to confiscate her two cell phones – and was surprised to find that border agents have the authority to do that. (CNN)~~
9/ In call with Putin, Trump denounced Obama-era nuclear arms treaty that caps U.S. and Russian deployment of nuclear warheads. When Putin raised the possibility of extending the 2010 treaty, Trump paused to ask his aides in an aside what the treaty was. The phone call with Putin has added to concerns that Trump is not adequately prepared for discussions with foreign leaders. (Reuters)
10/ Whatever happened to the Trump-Russia story? The biggest election-related scandal since Watergate occurred last year, and it has largely disappeared from the political-media landscape of Washington. (Mother Jones)
11/ Is the anti-Trump “Resistance” the New Tea Party? The parallels are striking: a massive grassroots movement, many of its members new to activism, that feeds primarily off fear and reaction. (The Atlantic)
12/ Burst your bubble: five conservative articles to read as protests stymie Trump. Rightwing commentators try to explain to the left how best to agitate, while others reveal the hidden costs of America’s “war on terror.” (The Guardian)
charts/ Trump’s approval rating in context. Just how bad is Donald Trump’s approval rating, historically speaking? (Borderline)
1/ Jeff Sessions confirmed as Attorney General, capping a bitter and racially charged nomination battle. Sessions survived a near-party-line vote, 52 to 47, in the latest sign of the extreme partisanship at play as Trump strains to install his cabinet. No Republicans broke ranks in their support. (New York Times)
Why Jeff Sessions is so uniquely dangerous. Sessions will not prioritize citizens who have had their lives ruined by racial disparities in policing, or by the persistent use of excessive force by officers who are shielded from accountability. He won’t be an attorney general who will side with those consigned by petty judges to cycles of poverty and crime, or those circulating in and out of a new generation of debtors’ prisons. (Esquire)
2/ Republicans vote to rebuke Elizabeth Warren for impugning Sessions’s character. In an extraordinarily rare move, Mitch McConnell interrupted Warren’s speech in a near-empty chamber, as debate on Jeff Sessions’s nomination, saying she had breached Senate rules by reading past statements against Sessions. (Washington Post)
Silencing Elizabeth Warren backfires on Senate GOP. Warren went straight from the Senate floor to a call-in appearance on Rachel Maddow’s MSNBC show. Adding fuel to the backlash, supporters noted the apparent hypocrisy that Warren’s male colleagues were able to read from the letter uninterrupted. (CNN)
“Nevertheless, she persisted” becomes new battle cry after McConnell silences Elizabeth Warren. If the Republican senators had intended to minimize Warren’s message, the decision backfired — severely. (Washington Post)
Jeff Merkley reads Coretta Scott King’s letter about Jeff Sessions on Senate floor. Uninterrupted. (The Oregonian)
3/ Appeals Court panel appears skeptical of Trump’s travel ban. The appeals court judges seemed taken aback by the assertiveness of the administration’s position, which in places came close to saying the court was without power to make judgments about Trump’s actions. (New York Times)
Trump decries “disgraceful” opposition as appeals court weighs immigration order. Trump also repeated claims that politics plays a role in the challenges to the travel ban and questions about his authority to implement it. (Washington Post)
Gorsuch calls Trump’s tweets about the judiciary “demoralizing” and “disheartening” to the independence of the courts. Gorsuch took exception to Trump calling a federal judge in Seattle a “so-called judge” after blocking the President’s travel ban. (CNN)
Homeland Security chief admits travel ban was rushed. People caught up in the confusion after the ban was imposed were denied access to lawyers, held in detention for hours without food, and in some instances coerced into signing away their entry visas. (New York Times)
4/ House Republicans voted to eliminate the only federal agency that makes sure voting machines can’t be hacked. In a little-noticed 6-3 vote, the House Administration Committee voted along party lines to eliminate the Election Assistance Commission, which helps states run elections and is the only federal agency charged with making sure voting machines can’t be hacked. (The Nation)
5/ Trump invites sheriff to “destroy” Texas state lawmaker who opposes asset forfeiture, a practice by which law enforcement can seize the cash and property of individuals suspected of committing a crime without a guilty verdict. Proponents of the practice argue that allows law enforcement to effectively combat terrorism and the drug trade, while opponents, including some conservatives, argue that it allows police to seize assets without due process. (Politico)
6/ Leaks suggest Trump’s own team is alarmed by his conduct: an impulsive, sometimes petty chief executive more concerned with the adulation of the nation than the details of his own policies ― and quick to assign blame when things do not go his way. (Huffington Post)
7/ Yemen withdraws permission for U.S. antiterror ground missions after the raid, in which just about everything went wrong, killed several civilians, including children. It was an early test of Trump’s national security decision-making. The White House continues to insist that the attack was a “success.” (New York Times)
8/ US military to rent space in Trump Tower. Military support for a president, including the military staff assigned to keeping the “nuclear football” nearby, requires close proximity to the commander in chief, which is why the Pentagon needs to rent a more expensive space closer to the penthouse where Trump resides when he’s in New York. The floors available to rent cost about $1.5 million a year. (CNN)
9/ Trump faults media while lying about murder rate. Trump has suggested that the national news media suppresses bad news about violence. He has implied that this is for ideological reasons. (CNN)
Trump says his critics “pull out the racist card” when they characterize him or his policies as anti-Muslim or anti-black. Trump also defended himself against criticism that he makes comments without factual evidence to support them, such as his unsubstantiated claim that millions of undocumented immigrants voted illegally. (Washington Post)
Conway clashes with CNN’s Jake Tapper on air. Tapper pressed Conway sharply on Trump’s false claim that the U.S. murder rate is “the highest it’s been in 45 to 47 years.” Conway then tried to shift the conversation to the criticism she has received from media reports, while asserting that she’s “the most open press person in the White House. (Politico)
10/ Democrats to plot anti-Trump strategy in Congress and at the polls. Democrats are thinking about how to capture the fast-growing wave of resistance to the Trump administration, as seen at congressional town halls, congressional offices, and airports since Trump was sworn. Trump is polling poorly across the country but stronger in swing seats. (Washington Post)
11/ White House weighs terrorist designation for Muslim Brotherhood, targeting the oldest and perhaps most influential Islamist group in the Middle East. Officially designating the Brotherhood as a terrorist organization would roil American relations in the Middle East. (New York Times)
12/ Spicer: Nordstrom dropping Ivanka Trump’s line is “direct attack on Trump”. Spicer told reporters during his daily press briefing that the decision – which Nordstrom said was a result of poor sales, not politics – was because of the clothing company’s displeasure with Trump’s executive orders and his policies. (Talking Points Memo)
Nordstrom’s shares up nearly 5 percent after clash with Trump. (Vox)
My daughter Ivanka has been treated so unfairly by @Nordstrom. She is a great person -- always pushing me to do the right thing! Terrible!
T.J. Maxx backs away from Ivanka Trump as President assails Nordstrom. T.J. Maxx and Marshalls stores sent a note to employees telling them to throw away signs for Ivanka Trump products. (New York Times)
13/ Republicans push carbon tax at White House. A carbon tax, long favored by economists as the most straightforward way to address climate change, could gain traction as part of a broad tax overhaul. (Bloomberg)
1/ 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to hear challenge to Trump’s ban today. The issue in front of the court at the moment is whether the ban will remain suspended for now. The hour-long hearing, conducted by telephone among three West coast judges at 6 p.m. ET, will determine the immediate fate of the nationwide temporary restraining order against Trump’s travel ban. The three-judge panel is expected to rule this week. (CNN)
Trump: I’ll take “common sense” travel ban to the Supreme Court, if necessary. (Washington Post)
Justice Department urges appeals court to reinstate Trump’s travel ban, saying immediate action was needed to ensure the nation’s safety. (New York Times)
“If something happens”: Trump points his finger in case of a terrorist attack. President Trump appears to be laying the groundwork to preemptively shift blame for any future terrorist attack on U.S. soil from his administration to the federal judiciary, as well as to the media. (Washington Post)
Trump’s loose talk about Muslims gets weaponized in court against travel ban. The states of Washington and Minnesota, which sued to block Trump’s order, are citing the president’s inflammatory rhetoric as evidence that the government’s claims — that it’s not a ban and not aimed at Muslims — are shams. (Washington Post)
Because the ban was lifted by a judge, many very bad and dangerous people may be pouring into our country. A terrible decision
Trump’s real fear: The Courts. Over the past few days, he’s added an entire branch of the federal government to his enemies list. (New York Times)
2/ Betsy DeVos is confirmed as education secretary thanks to an unprecedented tie-breaking vote. The Senate voted 50-50 on Trump’s controversial pick to head the Department of Education, forcing VP Pence to cast a historic vote to break the tie. (BuzzFeed News)
The senators who opposed DeVos represent 36 million more people than her supporters do. The 50 senators who opposed DeVos represent 179,381,386 people, while the 50 senators who supported her represent only 143,064,962 individuals. (Think Progress)
Franken: DeVos “fundamentally incompetent” to lead Education Dept. “During her hearing, Ms. DeVos proved beyond a shadow of a doubt not only that her ideology is fundamentally incompatible with the mission of the Department of Education, but that she is fundamentally incompetent to be its leader,” Franken said Monday from the Senate floor. (The Hill)
Live: Senate Vote on Betsy DeVos. She needs a majority of votes to be confirmed, though Vice President Mike Pence can vote if there is a tie. Here’s a full list of Senate confirmation votes. (New York Times)
3/ WH official: We’ll say “fake news” until media realizes attitude of attacking the President is wrong. Trump and his staff have repeatedly used the term “fake news” to discredit reporting on the administration, often offering no evidence to back up their disputes with those outlets’ stories. (CNN)
Trump claims media doesn’t cover terrorist attacks; archives say otherwise. Trump did not say why the media might not report on terrorist attacks but gave no examples of stories that went uncovered. (NBC News)
InfoWars is behind President Trump’s idea that the media is covering up terrorist attacks. Conservatives have long accused the media of obscuring the details and motivations of radical Islamic terrorists in an effort to downplay the role of religion. (Washington Post)
Librarians take up arms against fake news. Librarians have always helped people sort fact from fiction, reliable sources from deceptive ones. (Seattle Times)
Trump White House coaxes media into re-running terrorists’ greatest hits. (Washington Post)
4/ FBI axes FOIA requests by email, so dust off your fax machine. Starting next month, the FBI will no longer accept Freedom of Information Act requests by email. In lieu of its popular email service, the FBI suggests sending a fax or snail mail, a procedural change that has more to do with obstructing the law than a dearth of resources. (TechCrunch)
5/ Hundreds of current, former EPA employees urge Senate to reject Trump’s nominee for the agency. The controversial nomination advanced out of a Senate committee last week after Republicans used their majority to suspend committee rules and approve Pruitt despite the absence of all Democrats, who boycotted the nomination vote partly because of his anti-regulatory bent. He could be approved by the full Senate as early as this week. (Washington Post)
6/ Trump’s White House tries to rehab its Hill outreach. The administration has been on a hiring spree to smooth congressional relations but some of the interactions are still rocky. (Politico)
7/ Melania Trump reveals plan to leverage presidency to ink “multi-million dollar” endorsement deals. The admission came in a defamation lawsuit the First Lady filed against the Daily Mail. (Think Progress)
8/ Europe must defend itself against a dangerous president. The United States president is becoming a danger to the world. It is time for Germany and Europe to prepare their political and economic defenses. (Der Spiegel)
9/ BuzzFeed vs. Trump. BuzzFeed News pushes further than its competitors, but can it handle the consequences? (Recode)
10/ Trump administration to approve final permit for Dakota Access pipeline. The deputy secretary of the Army will grant the final permit needed for completion of the Dakota Access Pipeline, clearing the final bureaucratic hurdle standing in the way of the massive infrastructure project. (Washington Post)
11/ White House ramping up search for communications director after Spicer’s rocky start. Trump is disappointed in Spicer’s performance during the first two weeks of the administration.
Spicer has served as both White House press secretary and communications director for the new administration. Those roles are typically filled by two staffers. (CNN)
1/ Trump will not be allowed to address Parliament on UK state visit. Members of Parliament will not permit Trump to address Westminster Hall because of his racist and sexist attitudes. (The Independent)
2/ After 2 weeks of stumbles, Trump and staff rethink tactics. The backlash against a series of executive orders has Trump and his top staff reconsidering their improvisational approach to governing. Trump, who was not fully briefed on the executive order he signed giving his chief strategist a seat on the National Security Council, has demanded that he be looped in earlier. (New York Times)
“We are moving big and we are moving fast,” Bannon said, when asked about the upheaval of the first two weeks. “We didn’t come here to do small things.”
But one thing has become apparent to both his allies and his opponents: When it comes to governing, speed does not always guarantee success.
The big lesson of Trump’s first 2 weeks: resistance works. Protests, phone calls, and mobilization are making a difference. (Vox)
3/ 97 companies file opposition to Trump’s immigration order. Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter and other tech companies filed an amicus brief voicing opposition to Trump’s executive order on immigration on the grounds that it is discriminatory and has a negative impact on business. (TechCrunch)
Opposition to Trump travel ban grows as key court decision looms. Ten former high-ranking diplomatic and national security officials, nearly 100 Silicon Valley tech companies, more than 280 law professors, and a host of civil liberties and other organizations have formally lent their support to the legal bid to block President Trump’s immigration order. (Washington Post)
Amicus Brief U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit (PDF)
4/ Trump says “negative polls are fake news.” Trump turned to Twitter early Monday and began challenging polls that showed his travel order was not popular. (New York Times)
Trump is encouraging his 24 million Twitter followers to ignore accurate polls. A CNN/ORC’s poll found Trump had a 44% approval and 53% disapproval of his job performance. 53% of Americans oppose the travel ban, 47% in favor. (CNN)
Any negative polls are fake news, just like the CNN, ABC, NBC polls in the election. Sorry, people want border security and extreme vetting.
5/ The massacre that wasn’t, and a turning point for fake news. The Bowling Green episode made such a splash because it played directly into concerns that the Trump administration would use untrue assertions to rally support for its agenda while denigrating as “dishonest” all the valid reporting pointing out the falsehoods. (New York Times)
Not the first time Kellyanne Conway referred to the “Bowling Green Massacre.” Conway used the same wording in a conversation with Cosmopolitan.com on Jan. 29. (Cosmopolitan)
Democrats confront lefty fake news. As opposition to President Trump consumes social media, Democrats are facing their own troubles with conspiracy theories and sketchy stories going viral. “It exists on the left and that’s a problem because it misinforms people.” (BuzzFeed New)
6/ Trump is now speculating that the media is covering up terrorist attacks. Trump went off his prepared remarks to make a truly stunning claim: The media was intentionally covering up reports of terrorist attacks and complicit in making terrorists successful. It’s part of a recent pattern of suggesting that others are standing in the way of his terrorism-fighting efforts, which includes disparaging a federal judge who halted his immigration executive order. (Washington Post)
7/ Kremlin says it wants apology from Fox News over Putin comments. Fox News host Bill O’Reilly described Putin as “a killer” in the interview with Trump as he tried to press the U.S. president to explain more fully why he respected his Russian counterpart. (Reuters)
Trump’s continued defense of Putin confounds Republicans. Congressional Republicans have broken with Trump over dozens of controversial statements he has made during his campaign, his transition and now his presidency. But few issues appear to have confounded lawmakers as much as his consistent defense of Putin. Trump’s coziness is at odds with years of Republican foreign policy orthodoxy calling for a more aggressive stance toward Putin’s regime. (Washington Post)
8/ Senate Democrats plan to debate all night in hopes of stopping DeVos. The 24-hour marathon of speeches is expected to conclude at noon on Tuesday, when the Senate is expected to vote on DeVos’ confirmation. That vote is likely to be a 50-50 tie, with Vice President Mike Pence then taking a rare tiebreaker vote to ensure that DeVos is confirmed. The debate is not a filibuster. (Politico)
9/ Trump speaks of “strong support” for NATO in call with leaders. Trump pressed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s general secretary on how to encourage member nations to pay more for their defense while expressing “strong support” from the U.S. for the alliance (Bloomberg)
10/ Bracing for Trump’s revenge. Some conservatives unequivocally opposed his election. Now he’s the president, with all the levers of government at his disposal. (The Atlantic)
Does Trump actually want to succeed? How to run a White House that works, why the world is so scared right now—and how the new president could stop screwing up: Stop blowing up the U.S. relationship with Mexico, don’t expect them to pay for the wall, don’t act as “Israel’s lawyer,” don’t be an isolationist, support NATO and do a much better job of working with the other power centers of Washington—Congress and the Cabinet—before unveiling disruptive new policies like the temporary refugee ban. (Politico)
1/ Appeals court rejects request to immediately restore travel ban. A federal appeals court early Sunday rejected a request by the Justice Department to immediately restore President Trump’s immigration order. The ruling meant that refugees and travelers from seven predominantly Muslim nations would, for now, continue to be able to enter the country. (NY Times)
tl;dr
A judge in a lower federal court had put a temporary stop to the travel ban. Because the appeals court declined to intervene immediately, affected travelers can enter until at least until Monday. The appeals court set a schedule asking challengers to the ban to file a response by roughly 3 a.m. Eastern on Monday, and the Justice Department — representing the Trump administration — to reply to that by 6 p.m.
Trump administration had said it was improper for a lower court to engage in “second-guessing” of President Trump’s controversial immigration order and asked the appeals court to dissolve the judge’s order that stopped its implementation. (Washington Post)
Pence defends Trump’s criticism of judge who blocked travel ban. “The judge’s actions in this case,” Mr. Pence added, “making decisions about American foreign policy and national security, it’s just very frustrating to the president, to our whole administration, to millions of Americans who want to see judges that will uphold the law and recognize the authority the president of the United States has under the Constitution to manage who comes into this country.” (NY Times)
What happens if Trump decides to ignore a judge’s ruling. If Trump were to ever go down this road, the ultimate arbiter would be the other branch of government. He said Trump could be held in contempt of court, and it would then be up to the House of Representatives. the Trump administration has given no indication that they’ll actually ignore this particular court order. (Washington Post)
2/ Trump tells O’Reilly he “respects” Putin in Super Bowl interview. In a preview, Trump reveals his plans for dealing with Putin. O’Reilly asked Trump whether he “respects” the former KGB agent: “I do respect him, but I respect a lot of people,” Trump said, “That doesn’t mean I’m going to get along with him.” (Fox News)
Pelosi calls for probe of possible Russian blackmail of Trump. House and Senate panels are also investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election, including possible contacts between the Kremlin and Trump’s campaign. (Politico)
3/ McConnell rebukes Trump’s attack on the federal judge who temporarily halted his travel ban. The Senate Republican leader also distanced himself from the president on Russia, voter fraud and the travel ban. (Politico)
Related:
McConnell: No federal money for voter fraud prob. While McConnell says there is voter fraud, he doesn’t believe it’s as widespread as Trump claims or requires federal intervention. He says that cleaning up voter rolls is best left to the states. (The Hill)
4/ Sanders on Trump: “This guy is a fraud” and is working with Wall Street as he looks to roll back some banking regulations. Sanders criticized Trump for appointing “all of these billionaires” to his Cabinet, and singled out his major financial adviser, who comes from Goldman Sachs. (Politico)
From “drain the swamp” to Government Sachs. Although Trump campaigned as an economic populist, his brand of populism was simply old-school Reaganomics—giveaways to the rich and pro-corporate deregulation—rebranded with a nationalist and protectionist twist. After the election, Trump stocked his Cabinet with Wall Street billionaires and mega-millionaires—Wilbur Ross, Steve Mnuchin, Cohn—who had benefitted personally from the lax regulatory regime that was in place before 2010. (The New Yorker)
5/ “We’ll do better”: Trump’s White House tries to gain a sense of order amid missteps. The big thinker remains chief White House strategist Stephen K. Bannon, who has used chaos as a tool for implementing transformative policy but who aides said is now trying to adapt to working within Priebus’s structure. (Washington Post)
6/ White House pulls back from bid to reopen C.I.A. “Black Site” prisons, where the C.I.A. once tortured terrorism suspects. The White House circulated among National Security Council staff members a revised version of the draft order on detainees that deleted language contemplating a revival of the C.I.A. prisons. (NY Times)
7/ New FCC chair blocked 9 companies from providing affordable Internet to the poor. The program, known as Lifeline, provides registered households with a $9.25-a-month credit, which can then be used to buy home Internet service. As many as 13 million Americans may be eligible for Lifeline that do not have broadband service at home, the FCC has found. (Chicago Tribune)
8/ Trump’s F.D.A. pick could undo decades of drug safeguards. (NY Times)
9/ Trump posted a false news report to his Facebook page and got thousands of shares.The report claimed that Kuwait had also issued a visa ban on several Muslim-majority countries after President Trump’s immigration order. They didn’t. (BuzzFeed News)
Trump’s lies are not the problem. It’s the millions who swallow them who really matter. As the alt-right continues to set the agenda in global politics at a frightening pace, has the world reverted to a 20th-century era of totalitarianism? (The Guardian)
10/ Trump is right: Silicon Valley is using H-1B visas to pay low wages to immigrants. This drafted executive order could actually mean higher wages for both foreign workers and Americans working in Silicon Valley. (Huffington Post)
11/ “The Senate is coming apart.” The Senate is barely functioning. And the future looks even bleaker. Things have gotten so bad in the chamber lately that Chuck Schumer even voted against Mitch McConnell’s wife. (Politico)
1/ Homeland Security suspends travel ban, and will resume standard inspections of travelers as it did prior to the signing of the travel ban. The White House announced the Justice Department would file an emergency motion to stop the halt, but it had yet to do so as of Saturday afternoon. Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson said he was prepared to take his case all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary. (CNN)
tl;dr:
On Friday night, a federal judge in Seattle temporarily halted the enforcement of President Trump’s executive order on immigration. By Saturday, federal officials had announced they would be complying with the ruling, and airlines said they would resume boarding travelers covered under the ban. (NPR)
U.S. authorities end enforcement of travel ban after judge puts Trump executive order on hold. The State Department had “provisionally revoked” 60,000 visas since the Jan. 27 order. It has started re-accepting those visas from people in the countries affected. (LA Times)
Trump lashes out at federal judge over ruling on travel ban.(Seattle Times)
The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!
Trump called the decision “big trouble” and said it would be overturned. (BuzzFeed News)
2/ USDA abruptly purges animal welfare information from its website about the treatment of animals at thousands of research laboratories, zoos, dog breeding operations and other facilities. The removed documents are now accessible only via Freedom of Information Act Requests. Those can take years to be approved. (Washington Post)
3/ Trust records show Trump is still closely tied to his empire. Trump’s situation is unprecedented because it involves a wealthy president acting to avoid an appearance of conflict of interest. (NY Times)
Newly released documents show that Trump himself is the sole beneficiary of the trust and that it is legally controlled by his oldest son and a longtime employee. (Washington Post)
Early signs suggest Trump’s actions are taking a toll on the Trump brand. Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus dropped Ivanka Trump’s jewelry line. (NY Times)
4/ Trump’s pick for Army Secretary drops out. Vincent Viola concluded that he would not be able to successfully navigate the confirmation process citing his inability to get around strict Defense Department rules concerning his family businesses. (Military Times)
5/ Pence says Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch will be seated on the high court “one way or the other.” Trump urged the Senate’s Republican leader to scrap longstanding rules and “go nuclear” if Democrats block Gorsuch. (Associated Press)
6/ Tech companies fight Trump immigration order in court. Amazon and Expedia stepped up their opposition to the order with filings that were part of a lawsuit in federal court against the Trump administration, arguing that the order will hurt their businesses. (NY Times)
The ACLU filed a class action lawsuit that uses Trump’s tweets against him – pointing out specific instances where the president has described the action as a “ban” on Muslims. Plaintiffs argue that a de facto Muslim ban is unconstitutional—the First Amendment specifically prohibits “establishment of religion,” including the government favoring one religion over another. (Ars Technica)
7/ BuzzFeed sued over unverified Trump dossier. McClatchy says XBT Holdings, a tech firm with Russian ties named in the document, is suing BuzzFeed, editor in chief Ben Smith and former British spy Christopher Steele over the January 10 publication of what the suit calls “libelous, unverified and untrue allegations.” (The Hill)
8/ New Yorkers hold mock vigil at Bowling Green for ‘massacre’ victims as Kellyanne Conway ripped for bogus claim. The group decided to take to the streets to poke fun at presidential adviser Kellyanne Conway’s false claim that Iraqi refugees committed an atrocity that never happened called the “Bowling Green massacre.” (NY Daily News)
Conway says she misspoke on Iraqi terrorists, calls some critics “haters.” Conway admits she made a mistake in talking about a Kentucky massacre that never took place. But that’s not all she has to say about it. (Fox News)
1/ Federal judge in Seattle halts Trump’s immigration order. The temporary restraining order is granted on a nationwide basis. (Seattle Times)
Government reveals over 100,000 visas revoked due to travel ban. (Washington Post)
U.S. segregating Muslims as part of travel ban. Lawsuits being filed contend that the Department of Homeland Security is subjecting refugees, immigrants and travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries to flagrant religious and racial discrimination. They also claim that customs officials refuse to provide information in a timely fashion on the numbers and identities of detainees being held, and are aggressively blocking detainees’ access to legal advice. (Newsweek)
2/ Kellyanne Conway cites non-existent “massacre” defending ban. There’s no such thing as the Bowling Green massacre. (CNN)
Kellyanne Conway cites “Bowling Green massacre” that never happened to defend travel ban. Kellyanne Conway has taken “alternative facts” to a new level. During a Thursday interview with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, the counselor to the president defended President Trump’s travel ban related to seven majority-Muslim countries. At one point, Conway made a reference to two Iraqi refugees whom she described as the masterminds behind “the Bowling Green massacre.” (Washington Post)
Conway admits “Bowling Green massacre” error. “Honest mistakes abound,” she wrote on Twitter. (NY Times)
Facebook users are marking themselves “Safe” from Kellyanne Conway’s made-up terror attack. The fabricated attack—which she told Hardball’s Chris Matthews was carried out by two Iraqi refugees—“didn’t get covered,” implying the press were complicit in covering up a massacre that never took place. (Gizmodo)
3/ Trump will order a sweeping review of the Dodd-Frank Act rules enacted in response to the 2008 financial crisis. Trump also will halt regulations that requires advisers on retirement accounts to work in the best interests of their clients. (Bloomberg)
Related:
Trump has mounted an all-out assault on financial regulation, announcing an array of steps to tear down safeguards enacted to prevent a repeat of the 2008 financial crisis and turning to the Wall Street titans he had demonized during his campaign for advice. The actions constitute a broad effort to loosen regulations on banks and other major financial companies. (NY Times)
4/ Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner worked to sink LGBT executive order. The couple favored putting out a clear statement from the president, promising to uphold the 2014 Obama executive order and stopping the momentum for the turnaround in its tracks. Members of the religious right with ties to the Trump administration say they have been led to believe that some changes will still be coming. (Politico)
5/ The jobless rate ticked up to 4.8 percent. Employers added 227,000 to payrolls, but pay gains were scant despite increases in minimum-wage laws. Trump said that this latest report showed there was a “great spirit in the country right now.” (NY Times)
Trump said unemployment rate wasn’t real. if the president wants to set a different measure of the job market for his administration to focus on and improve, it would be best if he could let us know what it is now, so that we can really assess whether things get better or worse during his presidency. (NY Times)
Opinion: Trump is preparing to gut Wall Street oversight. This gives Democrats a huge opportunity. It presents a new and very specific way for them to press the case against Trump for more transparency around his own holdings and the unprecedented welter of conflicts-of-interest — and possibilities for corruption — they may be creating. (Washington Post)
6/ Hill Republicans revolt over Trump’s plans to build border wall. A growing number of congressional Republicans are objecting to the cost and viability of a proposal that was a rallying cry for the billionaire businessman during his insurgent campaign. (CNN)
7/ Senate advances DeVos’s nomination, setting her up for final vote. Senators voted 52-48 to advance DeVos’s nomination. No Democrats voted yes. Pence is expected to have to break a 50-50 tie, the first time a vice president will cast the deciding vote on a Cabinet nomination. (The Hill)
How DeVos became Trump’s least popular cabinet pick. Nine out of 10 students in this country attend public school. So DeVos’ rhetoric about replacing “failed” public schools with charter schools and voucher programs may have rubbed many people — even Trump supporters — the wrong way. (NPR)
8/ Trump missing top lieutenants across federal government. The work at some agencies has slowed because of the lack of deputies. Trump has so far failed to nominate deputies and other top officials to run the day-to-day operations at most federal agencies, creating a vacuum across the government that has businesses, lobbyists and lawmakers in limbo as they wait to see how Trump’s agenda will be carried out. (Politico)
9/ The Trump administration is showing white nationalists it won’t fight them at all. The Trump administration is reportedly planning to rebrand a government effort to combat violent extremism into one that focuses only on terrorists acting in the name of Islam and take advantage of yet another opportunity to ratify white nationalism and white supremacy. (Washington Post)
10/ More companies back away from Donald Trump under pressure from customers. Uber CEO Travis Kalanick quit Trump’s 15-member council of business leaders yesterday. Nordstrom announced last night that it will stop selling Ivanka Trump’s name-branded line of clothing and shoes. (Washington Post)
11/ Trump’s Mar-a-Lago getaway could cost taxpayers more than $3 million. Trump regularly hassled Obama for his travel. Now Trump is about to get a taste of his own medicine. (Politico)
Eric Trump’s trip to Uruguay cost taxpayers $97,830 in hotel bills. (Washington Post)
12/
Holy shit.
The Germans seem to be not be thrilled with Donald Trump...
1/ Trump badgered, bragged and abruptly ended phone call with Australian leader. Trump blasted Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull over a refugee agreement and boasted about the magnitude of his electoral college win. Trump called it “this was the worst call by far.” (Washington Post)
Trump had heated exchange with Australian PM, talked ‘tough hombres’ with Mexican leader. The disagreement came as the two leaders discussed a deal, reached under the Obama administration, for the US to accept refugees from Australia who are living on islands in detention centers off the mainland due to strict government policies. (CNN)
2/ Trump tells Israel to hold off on building new settlements, saying new settlements “may not help” achieve Middle East peace. (NY Times)
The statement marks a more nuanced position in what has been Trump’s consistently pro-Israel stance. (Washington Post)
3/ Tehran shrugs off pressures from “inexperienced” U.S. president. Trump and Iran traded sharp statements Thursday, with Trump amplifying warnings over Tehran’s missile tests. (Washington Post)
UPDATE:
U.S. expected to impose fresh sanctions on Iranian entities, following Tehran’s recent ballistic missile test. Trump said earlier on Thursday that “nothing is off the table” in dealing with Iran following the missile launch. (Reuters)
Spicer falsely accuses Iran of attacking U.S. Navy vessel, calling it an act of war. National Security Adviser Michael Flynn said he was “officially putting Iran on notice” following the country’s ballistic missile test and an attack on a Saudi naval vessel – Iran did not attack a U.S. Navy vessel. (The Intercept)
4/ House rolls back rule restricting gun sales to severely mentally ill. Republicans are using the Congressional Review Act to roll back all manner of regulations. Rep. Kevin Brady said the Social Security Administration “overstepped its mission.” The vote was 235-180. (CNN)
5/ Scott Pruitt, Trump’s EPA pick, is approved by Senate committee. Senate Republicans pressed forward with the confirmation of Trump’s controversial nominee, suspending the Environment and Public Works Committee’s rules to approve the cabinet pick despite a Democratic boycott. The 11-0 vote sends the nomination to the full Senate, where Mr. Pruitt is most likely to be approved next week. (NY Times)
6/ Democrats plot protest for Trump’s speech to Congress. Democrats are planning to make Trump’s first speech to Congress as uncomfortable as possible by inviting guests they say will suffer under new White House policies. Trump will likely face a crowd including ethnic minorities, LGBT people, undocumented immigrants, the disabled and others when he addresses a joint session on Feb. 28. (The Hill)
7/ Trump vows to “totally destroy” law restricting political speech by tax-exempt churches, a potentially huge victory for the religious right and a gesture to his political base. Repealing the law would require approval by Congress. (NY Times)
Trump at national prayer breakfast: “Pray for Arnold… for those ratings”. Trump veered off script at the start of the National Prayer Breakfast Thursday when he asked a room full of lawmakers, foreign dignitaries and religious leaders to pray for Arnold Schwarzenegger so that ratings of his show – NBC’s “The Apprentice” – would go up. (CNN)
Schwarzenegger to Trump: “Why Don’t We Switch Jobs?” (NY Times)
Leaked draft of Trump’s religious freedom order reveals sweeping plans to legalize discrimination. If signed, the order would create wholesale exemptions for people and organizations who claim religious objections to same-sex marriage, premarital sex, abortion, and trans identity. (The Nation)
8/ An anti-Trump resistance movement is growing within the government. The bureaucracy is fighting back. While dissent among federal workers isn’t unique to the Trump era, the scope of the resistance is unprecedented. (Vanity Fair)
Distrust in Trump’s White House spurs leaks, confusion. “Trying to nail down who the leakers are is like trying to count the cockroaches under the couch.” (Politico)
9/ Still no executive order on voter fraud, as Trump moves on. A full week has passed since President Donald Trump said he would sign an executive order opening a Justice Department investigation into his unsubstantiated claim that millions of people voted illegally in November. The Oval Office signing was abruptly canceled and never rescheduled. The White House hasn’t talked about it since. (CNN)
10/ The G.O.P. campaign to repeal Obamacare hits a wall. Republicans are struggling to come up with a replacement and a key senator has declared that the effort is more a repair job than a demolition. (NY Times)
11/ Shouting match over Russia erupts at House hearing over Russian interference in the presidential election. Th fight exposed bitter frustration amongst Democrats that Republicans have kept the issue locked in a single committee. (The Hill)
News of Lesser Importance:
Gallup Poll: About half of Americans say Trump moving too fast. When Gallup asked the same question in early 2009, 63% said Obama’s pace was about right, with 22% saying it was too fast. (Gallup)
Jon Stewart on Donald Trump: if we survive, he’ll have accidentally proven America’s greatness. “No one action will be adequate. All actions will be necessary,” Stewart said. (Vox)
Is Steve Bannon the second most powerful man in the world? (Time)
America’s leading authoritarian intellectual is working for Trump. (New York Magazine)
Obama’s White House worked for months on a plan to seize Raqqa. Trump’s team took a quick look and decided not to pull the trigger. (Washington Post)
Why Congress just killed a rule restricting coal companies from dumping waste in streams. (Vox)
Ivanka Trump promised to resign from the family business, but hasn’t filed paperwork (ProPublica)
1/ Trump Picks Neil Gorsuch, A Scalia Clone, For The Supreme Court. Ideologically, Gorsuch would almost certainly represent a reliably conservative vote and voice. Gorsuch would be the most conservative justice save for the silent stalwart Justice Clarence Thomas and would sit somewhere just to the right of the ideological space occupied by Scalia. (FiveThirtyEight)
UPDATE: What Gorsuch means for the Supreme Court. 13 top legal scholars weigh in. (Politico)
Related:
Where Gorsuch would fit on the Supreme Court. Should he be confirmed, the court will return to a familiar dynamic, with Justice Anthony M. Kennedy holding the decisive vote in many closely divided cases. (NY Times)
Who Is Neil Gorsuch? Like Justice Antonin Scalia, Gorsuch has cultivated a reputation as a memorable and clear author of legal opinions. (NPR)
Why Liberals should back Gorsuch. One basic criterion should be paramount: Is the nominee someone who will stand up for the rule of law and say no to a president or Congress that strays beyond the Constitution and laws? (NY Times)
Why Democrats should oppose Gorsuch. The presumption should be that Gorsuch does not deserve confirmation, because the process that led to his nomination was illegitimate. (NY Times)
2/ Trump to McConnell: Go nuclear if necessary. But McConnell, a well-known institutionalist, has been noncommittal about whether he would invoke the so-called “nuclear option” to force Gorsuch through the upper chamber. (The Hill)
Related:
Make Republicans nuke the filibuster to confirm Gorsuch. Once Mitch McConnell blockaded Barack Obama’s last Supreme Court nomination, and then Donald Trump carried the Electoral College, the chance that Republicans would fill the vacancy rose to 100 percent. McConnell already indicated that he does not respect Democrats’ right to filibuster, and that he would eliminate the filibuster for Supreme Court nominations if one is used. It is McConnell, his extraordinary blockade tactic, who has functionally changed the rules of the game. He should be forced to do it in name. (New York Magazine)
3/ Rex Tillerson is confirmed as Secretary of State amid record opposition. The votes against Mr. Tillerson’s confirmation were the most in Senate history (NY Times)
4/ Sessions approved by Senate committee. The Senate Judiciary Committee approved Sessions 11-9 along party lines. His nomination now goes to the floor, where he is widely expected to be confirmed given the GOP’s 52-seat majority. (The Hill)
5/ Republicans suspend committee rules, advance Mnuchin, Price nominations after confronting a boycott from Democrats. Senate Committee rules normally require at least one Democratic senator present to have a vote. But when Democrats refused to show, the committee’s chairman suspended those rules. (CNN)
6/ Two Republican senators says they aren’t committed to voting for Betsy DeVos on Senate floor. Democrats say they have 48 votes against DeVos on the floor but need 51 — and they have been looking for Republican votes against her. (Washington Post)
UPDATES:
Two GOP senators to vote no on Betsy DeVos. The first two Republicans to break with Trump on his Cabinet picks. (The Hill)
DeVos nomination stands at 50-50. It could come down to Vice President Mike Pence, in what would be a history-making confirmation vote. (Politico)
7/ Resistance from within: Federal workers push back against Trump. Less than two weeks into Trump’s administration, federal workers are in regular consultation with recently departed Obama-era political appointees about what they can do to push back against the new president’s initiatives. (Washington Post)
Related:
State Dept. dissent cable on Trump’s ban goes viral at U.S. embassies, attracting around 1,000 signatures – far more than any dissent cable in recent years. The letter, which harshly took apart the executive order, said the visa ban would “alienate allies” and “hurt America economically.” (NY Times)
Trump transition email shows initial effort to oust all inspectors general. (Washington Post)
8/ White House ices out CNN. Trump administration refuses to put officials on air on the network the president called “fake news.” (Politico)
Fatigued by the news? Experts suggest how to adjust your media diet. Or, just read WTF Just Happened, Today? instead. (NY Times)
Covering Trump the Reuters way. In a message to staff, Reuters Editor-in-Chief Steve Adler wrote about covering President Trump the Reuters way. (Reuters)
9/ Bannon thinks there will be war with China in the next few years. Comments on his radio show are re-surfacing as the “special counsellor” assumes unprecedented power in the White House. (The Independent)
UPDATES:
Trump administration “officially putting Iran on notice.” National security adviser, Michael Flynn, issued a statement in reaction to an Iranian missile test and an attack on a Saudi warship by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. “It’s either an empty threat or a clear statement of intent to go to war with Iran.” (The Guardian)
Trump to focus counter-extremism program solely on Islam. (Reuters)
Trump to Mexico: Take care of “bad hombres” or US might. Trump threatened in a phone call with his Mexican counterpart to send U.S. troops to stop “bad hombres down there” unless the Mexican military does more to control them itself. (Associated Press)
News of Lesser Importance:
Bannon explained his worldview well before it became official U.S. policy: countries should protect their citizens and their essence by reducing immigration, legal and illegal, and pulling back from multinational agreements. (Washington Post)
President Trump campaigned as a Washington outsider. But his first Supreme Court nominee has deep roots in the city and the establishment Trump criticized. (NY Times)
How Democrats missed a chance to reshape the Supreme Court for a generation. If it weren’t for 77,744 voters in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, the Supreme Court would have had, for the first time in nearly 50 years, a majority of Democratic-appointed justices. (Vox)
Trump has a message for poor immigrants: Get Out. The ban targeting seven Muslim-majority countries was just the beginning. (The Atlantic)
Tweets to Shake Your Head At:
The est. security cost for Melania living 200mi away from Trump is double the annual budget for the National Endowment for the Arts.
1/ Hill staffers secretly worked on Trump’s immigration order. Several House Judiciary Committee aides helped craft the controversial directive without telling Republican leaders. The news of their involvement helps unlock the mystery of whether the White House consulted Capitol Hill about the executive order, and confirms that the small group of staffers were among the only people on the Hill who knew of the looming controversial policy. (Politico)
UPDATE: San Francisco sues Trump over executive orders it claims are unconstitutional. (LA Times)
Draft executive order points to more immigration restrictions, focusing on protecting U.S. jobs. The Trump administration is considering a plan to weed out would-be immigrants who are likely to require public assistance, as well as to deport — when possible — immigrants already living in the United States who depend on taxpayer help. (Washington Post)
Trump’s travel ban polarizes America. A Jan. 30-31 Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll found that 49 percent of American adults said they either “strongly” or “somewhat” agreed with Trump’s order, while 41 percent “strongly” or “somewhat” disagreed and another 10 percent said they don’t know. (Reuters)
Related:
Under fire, Trump weighs new changes to refugee ban. The Department of Homeland Security may issue “implementation guidance” that would allow for softening, and even policy changes, to the travel restrictions on migrants. The White House insists that any further guidance wouldn’t constitute a walk-back. (Axios)
White House aides who wrote Trump’s travel ban see it as just the start. (LA Times)
Paul Ryan urges Republicans to back travel ban despite anger over its rollout. (The Guardian)
2/ Obama’s protections for L.G.B.T. workers will remain. The White House said Trump would leave in place a 2014 order that created new protections for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, pledging to protect the community from violence and oppression. It uses stronger language than any Republican president has before in favor of equal legal protections for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. (NY Times)
3/ DeVos questionnaire appears to include passages from uncited sources. In written responses to questions from senators, DeVos used several sentences and phrases from other sources without attribution. (Washington Post)
4/ Democrats boycott confirmation hearings for Price and Mnuchin, forcing Republicans to reschedule both votes. (Washington Post)
UPDATE: Dems delay Sessions vote. Democrats have fiercely criticized Trump’s executive order and Yates’s firing, and said that any vote for Sessions is a vote to let Trump stifle dissent in his Justice Department. (The Hill)
Related:
Senate Democrats renewed an assault on Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general, Republican Senator Jeff Sessions, questioning his independence after the president fired the acting attorney general for refusing to enforce his executive order on immigration. (Bloomberg)
5/ Trump bringing Supreme Court favorites to Washington. Trump is announcing his choice at 8 p.m. EST tonight. (CNN)
Related:
People think Trump is treating his Supreme Court nomination like a reality show. Because he is. (BuzzFeed News)
Democrats shouldn’t go scorched-earth on Trump’s Supreme Court nominee. (Washington Post)
6/ Deutsche Bank AG agreed to pay $425 million to New York’s banking regulator over a “mirror trading” scheme that helped Russian investors launder $10 billion between 2011 and 2015 through its branches in Moscow, London and New York. Clients would buy stocks in the Moscow branch in rubles and then related parties would sell the same stocks in Deutsche’s New York and London branches. (Reuters / New York Times / The Guardian / CNN Money)
News of Lesser Importance:
How to build an autocracy. The preconditions are present in the U.S. today. Here’s the playbook Donald Trump could use to set the country down a path toward illiberalism. (The Atlantic)
Trump ignored all of Obama’s advice and now he’s in a world of trouble. There’s no need for Obama to hold his tongue anymore. (New Republic)
The tale of a Trump falsehood: How his voter fraud claim spread like a virus. The blow by blow on Trump’s claim that 3 to 5 million undocumented immigrants illegally voted in the election. (Washington Post)
The incompetence displayed by Trump’s immigration orders will be terrifying in a crisis. All presidents eventually face a crisis that is not of their own creation. And it will be in the interest of Donald Trump to respond in a calm, well-informed, and effective manner. (Vox)
Can Jared and Ivanka outrun Trump’s Scandals? Less than a fortnight into his new post, Kushner appears unable to control his father-in-law—and is “furious” that his efforts are being undermined. (Vanity Fair)
Fox News’ Sean Hannity: The media ‘doesn’t understand’ Donald Trump. By highlighting pundits and polls that dismissed Trump’s chances of winning the Presidency, Hannity argues, the “mainstream media” effectively delegitimized itself. (Politico)
“When you have The New York Times, a host on CNN, a guest on MSNBC, all calling the President of the United States a liar, if that is their coverage, they will never get their credibility back,” Hannity said. “They don’t understand Donald Trump, they don’t understand the phenomenon, they don’t understand what happened in this election, the level of elitism is breathtaking to me.”
Related:
Kellyanne Conway ramps up Trump’s war on the media. (Fortune)
President Bannon’s hugely destructive first week in office. The puppet master is leading the Trump administration down a road of carnage. (Foreign Policy)
1/ Acting Attorney General declares Justice Department won’t defend Trump’s immigration order. The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote Tuesday on Trump’s pick for attorney general, Jeff Sessions, whose views align much more closely with the president’s. (Washington Post)
Trump fires acting attorney general, after she defiantly refused to defend his immigration executive order. (NY Times)
White House said the attorney general had “betrayed the Department of Justice by refusing to enforce a legal order designed to protect the citizens of the United States.” (Washington Post)
2/ Bannon seizes security role usually held for generals. The move puts Bannon on the same level as the national security adviser. (NY Times)
Bannon is making sure there’s no White House paper trail. The Trump administration’s chief strategist has already taken control of both policy and process on national security. (Foreign Policy)
How Bannon Took Charge Of The Trump Administration (BuzzFeed News)
3/ Obama rejects comparison between Trump’s immigration policy and his own, saying he fundamentally disagrees with the notion of discriminating against individuals because of their faith or religion, and encourages protests. (Washington Post)
4/ Democrats prepare bill to overturn Trump immigration order. The bill would declare the order “null and void” and bar federal agencies from using any funds to enforce it. The measure faces long odds given that Republicans control Congress and the White House. (Politico)
Senate Dems will filibuster Trump’s Supreme Court nominee. It will be only the second time in modern history that the Senate has mounted a filibuster against a nominee. (Politico)
5/ US Diplomats consider filing “dissent” over immigration ban. Dozens of Foreign Service officers and other career diplomats stationed around the world are so concerned that they are contemplating taking the rare step of sending a formal objection to senior State Department officials in Washington. (ABC News)
The State Department’s Dissent Channel is a mechanism for employees to confidentially express policy disagreement, created in 1971 as a response to concerns within the Department over the government’s handling of the Vietnam War. (Lawfare)
6/ Trump’s hard-line actions have an intellectual godfather: Jeff Sessions. The senator lobbied for a “shock and awe” period of executive action that would rattle Congress, impress Trump’s base and catch his critics unaware. Trump opted for a slightly slower pace, because he wanted to maximize news coverage by spreading out his directives over several weeks. (Washington Post)
How Trump’s rush to enact an immigration ban unleashed global chaos. The confusion that erupted is the story of a White House that rushed to enact with little regard for basic governing. The secretary of homeland security was on a White House conference call getting his first full briefing on policy as Trump signed the sweeping executive order to shut the borders. (NY Times)
From order to disorder: How Trump’s immigration directive exposed GOP rifts. (Washington Post)
7/ Kellyanne Conway defends Trump’s criticism of GOP Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, saying Republicans need to back his leadership. Conway also asserted that Trump had accomplished an impressive amount in the short time since he took office, calling his achievements “breathtaking.” (ABC News)
McCain, Graham broke the GOP silence on Capitol Hill, issuing a scathing condemnation of Trump’s ban on travel to the U.S. from seven Muslim-majority countries.
(CNN)
8/ Trump signs executive order requiring that for every one new regulation, two must be revoked. (Politico)
9/ Tracking congress in the age of Trump. How often every member of the House and the Senate votes with or against the president. (FiveThirtyEight)
1/ Trump’s first defeat. The immigration order creates an international mess and a political embarrassment. The hastily crafted order was temporarily and partially blocked by a U.S. District Court Judge. (Politico)
UPDATE: Trump doubles down on his executive order barring refugees and some legal immigrants from entering the United States, even as one of his top aides walked back one major element of the order, signaling a growing sense of confusion and fissures within the 10-day-old administration. (Politico)
Bannon’s longtime suspicion of successful immigrants is the key to this weekend’s chaos. (Vox)
2/ Despite growing dissent, Trump gives no sign of backing down from travel ban even as lawmakers from both parties spoke out against the action and federal judges ruled against parts of it. Judicial rulings in several cities across the country overnight immediately blocked enforcement of the ban to various degrees, but the Department of Homeland Security issued a statement early Sunday indicating it would continue to implement President Trump’s action. (Washington Post)
UPDATE: 271 Republicans in Congress have taken no position on Trump’s refugee ban. (Vox)
3/ A clarifying moment in American history. There should be nothing surprising about what the Donald Trump has done in his first week, but he had underestimated the resilience of Americans and their institutions. (The Atlantic)
4/ Donald Trump, the refugee ban, and the triumph of cruelty. The reasons for Trump’s ban on refugees could not be more feeble, and could not be more petty. It serves no actual security purpose. You have a better chance of getting killed by a train, or by your own clothes catching on fire, than by an immigrant terrorist attack. The odds of a refugee killing you in a terrorist strike are about 1 in 3.6 billion. That’s about four hundred times less likely than being hit by lightning twice. If you look back at significant terrorist attacks in the US like San Bernardino or the Pulse nightclub shooting or 9/11, exactly none of them would have been prevented by this policy. (Vox)
5/ Trump puts Bannon on security council, dropping joint chiefs. The reshuffling of the National Security Council downgrades the military chiefs and gives a regular seat to his chief strategist Steve Bannon. The director of national intelligence and the joint chiefs will attend when discussions pertain to their areas. (BBC)
Trump chief-of-staff Reince Priebus will also have a seat in the meetings. (The Guardian)
UPDATE: McCain blasts Bannon placement on National Security Council,calling the move “radical” because it minimizes the role of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. (Politico)
6/ Trump signs two more executive actions. The first bans administration officials who leave government from lobbying those federal agencies for five years, fulfilling a campaign pledge. The second is a memorandum giving military leaders 30 days to construct and present a “comprehensive plan to defeat ISIS,” stating that “there can be no accommodation or negotiation” with the group. (The Hill)
7/ Trump’s state department purge sparks worries of ‘know-nothing approach’ to foreign policy. The sudden dismissal of several senior officials has left a gaping hole at the heart of US diplomacy: “The machinery is still there, but no one’s in the cockpit.” (The Guardian)
8/ Trump continued his longstanding assault on media outlets. This time labeling the NY Times as “fake news,” and said that it and the Washington Post’s coverage of Trump has been “so false and angry.” It is unclear as to what prompted Trump’s criticism. (Politico)
9/ The White House statement on International Holocaust Remembrance Day didn’t mention Jews or anti-Semitism because “others were killed too.” (CNN)
From Earlier:
Trump’s First Week: Misfires, Crossed Wires and a Satisfied Smile. No president in modern times, if ever, has started with such a flurry of initiatives on so many fronts in such short order. (NY Times)
The malevolence of President Trump’s Executive Order on visas and refugees is mitigated chiefly – and perhaps only – by the astonishing incompetence of its drafting and construction. (Lawfare)
1/ Trump’s order blocks immigrants at airports, stoking fear around the globe. The executive order suspended entry of all refugees to the United States for 120 days, barred Syrian refugees indefinitely, and blocked entry into the United States for 90 days for citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. The Department of Homeland Security said that the executive order also barred green card holders from those countries from re-entering the United States. White House officials said that green card holders from the seven affected countries who are outside the United States would need a case-by-case waiver to return to the United States. (NY Times)
UPDATE: A federal judge in Brooklyn came to the aid of scores of refugees who were trapped at airports across the United States.
The judge’s ruling blocked part of the president’s actions, preventing the government from deporting some arrivals who found themselves ensnared by the presidential order. But it stopped short of letting them into the country or issuing a broader ruling on the constitutionality of Trump’s actions.
Meanwhile…
A religious test for entering our country is not reflective of America's fundamental values. I reject it. pic.twitter.com/DdsYj2XoLS
2/ A federal judge issued a stay against Donald Trump’s “Muslim Ban”. The ruling – a stunning defeat for Trump at the end of his first week in office – protects from deportation refugees or visa holders who were detained at American airports since the signing of so-called “Muslim ban.” It also protects those in transit when the emergency ruling was filed. (Mother Jones)
3/ Trudeau says Canada will take refugees banned by U.S. He also intends to talk to Trump about the success of Canada’s refugee policy. (PBS)
To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength #WelcomeToCanada
4/ Inside the confusion of the Trump executive order and travel ban. Administration officials weren’t immediately sure which countries’ citizens would be barred from entering the United States. The Department of Homeland Security was left making a legal analysis on the order after Trump signed it. A Border Patrol agent, confronted with arriving refugees, referred questions only to the President himself, according to court filings. (CNN)
5/ Facing intense criticism, some Republicans are speaking out against Trump’s refugee ban. Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell aren’t among them. (Washington Post)
6/ The silence from Silicon Valley had been deafening. After weeks of deafening silence and quiet acquiescence, top tech leaders finally began to react strongly to policies of the new administration, spurred by a capricious immigration ban on some Muslim countries ordered by Trump. (Recode)
Will tech leaders come out strongly and publicly against Trump's Muslim ban? I'm taking names. First part of that expression to follow.
7/ ‘Up Is Down’: Trump’s unreality show echoes his business past. Trump’s falsehoods have long been viewed as a reflexive extension of his vanity, or as his method of compensating for deep-seated insecurities. But throughout his business career, Trump’s most noteworthy deceptions often did double duty, serving not just his ego but also important strategic goals. Mr. Trump’s habitually inflated claims about his wealth, for example, fed his self-proclaimed image of a business genius even as they attracted lucrative licensing deals built around the Trump brand. (NY Times)
8/ How hyper-targeted pyschometric data helped Trump win election. Granular personality data might have been the key to the candidate’s unexpected victory where online quizzes were correlated with public Facebook Likes. (The Outline)
1/ Trump executive order suspends admission of all refugees for 120 days while a new system is put in place to tighten vetting for those from predominantly Muslim countries and give preference to religious minorities. Trump said that the goal is to screen out “radical Islamic terrorists” and that priority for admission would be given to Christians. (Washington Post)
2/ The extreme vetting plan to establishes a religious test for refugees from Muslim nations. The order also stops the admission of refugees from Syria indefinitely, and bars entry into the United States for 90 days from seven predominantly Muslim countries linked to concerns about terrorism. Those countries are Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen. (NY Times)
3/ The order will block 500,000 legal U.S. residents from returning to American from trips abroad. The president has also used language that will affect those who are in the U.S. already on visas and green cards. (ProPublica)
4/ Trump’s immigration ban excludes countries with business ties. His proposed list doesn’t include Muslim-majority countries where his Trump Organization has done business or pursued potential deals. Properties include golf courses in the United Arab Emirates and two luxury towers operating in Turkey. (Bloomberg)
5/ Trump’s immigration ban is illegal. More than 50 years ago, Congress outlawed such discrimination against immigrants based on national origin. (NY Times)
6/ Following Trump’s executive order green card, visa holders already blocked by airports. Within hours of the executive order limiting immigration from Muslim countries, green card and visa holders were already being blocked from getting on flights to the U.S. The Department of Homeland Security issued a directive at 4:30 p.m. ordering the Customs and Border Protection to enforce the executive order. People who were still in the air as of 10:30 p.m. likely face being blocked at the airport when their planes land, he said. (NY Daily News)
7/ A little-noticed move by Trump could make it easier to deport immigrants. The move stripped federal privacy protections from many immigrants, raising fears among advocacy groups that information people willingly submitted to the federal government during the Obama administration could now be used to help deport them. (Washington Post)
8/ Governing without a script. Trumps seems to be running his administration much like he ran his company and campaign, eager to weigh in on every issue and willing to make last-minute calls. (Wall Street Journal)
9/ Trump blows up the U.S.-Mexico relationship. In one of his first instances of Twitter diplomacy as President, Trump wrote, “If Mexico is unwilling to pay for the badly needed wall, then it would be better to cancel the upcoming meeting.” Not surprisingly, Peña Nieto cancelled. (The New Yorker)
10/ The theater of access. Trump’s relationship with the media may be obsessive, but it’s also deeply transactional — the media has always been a tool in his pursuit of fame and power. (NY Times)
11/ The Bannon coup. White House and Hill GOP leaders are astonished by the unambiguous, far-reaching power of Steve Bannon and policy guru Stephen Miller over, well, just about everything.(Axios)
12/ Trump’s first seven days in office were historic, chaotic, astonishing and unsettling. With a flurry of provocative executive orders, surreal events, unapologetic falsehoods and did-he-really-say-that tweets, Trump continued to obliterate political norms, serving notice that the gaze of history won’t change who he is. He made so much news and did so many unorthodox things that it was hard to keep track of everything that was changing in Washington. The question, though, is what did all that sound and fury signify? (Politico)
13/ Republican lawmakers fret about how to repeal Obamacare. Republican lawmakers aired sharp concerns about their party’s quick push to repeal the Affordable Care Act inside a closed-door meeting Thursday, according to a recording of the session obtained by The Washington Post. (Washington Post)
14/ Pence vows “full evaluation of voting rolls” over claims of fraud. In a private meeting with congressional Republicans this week, the Trump administration would pursue a wide-ranging probe of voting rolls in the United States to examine whether millions of people voted illegally in the 2016 election as President Trump has charged. (Washington Post)
15/ Can a president who disregards the truth uphold his oath of office? His job demands a basic level of respect for the concepts of law and meaning. (Washington Post)
16/ Trump backers like his first draft of a New America. Trump voters interviewed said they cared little if the president spouted off on Twitter because he was issuing the kind of executive actions many had long craved — freezing federal grant money for environmental research, banning foreign aid for groups that give abortion counseling and cutting off immigration from several Muslim-majority nations. (NY Times)
1/ Steve Bannon says media should “keep its mouth shut.” Trump’s chief strategist, laced into the American press during an interview, arguing that news organizations had been “humiliated” by an election outcome few anticipated, and repeatedly describing the media as “the opposition party” of the current administration. (NY Times)
2/ One of the greatest threats Trump poses is that he corrupts and corrodes the absoluteness of truth, facts and science. It is no coincidence that the rise of Trump is concurrent with the rise of “fake news.” It is no coincidence that his rise comes during an age of severely damaged faith in institutions. Our president is a pathological liar. Say it. Write it. Never become inured to it. And dispense with the terms of art to describe it. A lie by any other name portends the same. (NY Times)
3/ Fake news is about to get even scarier than you ever dreamed. What we saw in the 2016 election is nothing compared to what we need to prepare for in 2020. If there’s one thing we learned from this election cycle, it is that there are a number of reasons that people create fake-news stories. And, it has become clear that most new consumers don’t want to know if what they are reading is real or fake; they just want to know that it helps support their worldview. (Vanity Fair)
4/ The State Department’s entire senior management team resigned. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s job running the State Department just got considerably more difficult. The entire senior level of management officials resigned as part of an ongoing mass exodus of senior Foreign Service officers who don’t want to stick around for the Trump era. (Washington Post)
5/ The Trump administration’s day one moves were copied from Mitt Romney’s would-be playbook. Literally. (Buzzfeed)
6/ Trump pressured Park Service to find proof for his claims about inauguration crowd. (Washington Post)
7/ (The cost of) Trump’s wall keeps getting higher and higher. Republican Congressional leaders signaled plans to move forward with Trump’s planned border wall, estimated to cost between $12 billion and $15 billion. That’s well below many outside estimates of the construction cost (let alone maintenance), but is significantly higher than what Trump himself has said in the past. (Axios)
8/ Americans think Trump will be worst president since Nixon. Voters are so dim on Trump that they think, in the first week of his administration, that he will prove to be a worse President than everyone who’s held the office since Richard Nixon. (Public Policy Polling)
tl;dr The full (tweetstorm) that ends with this whopper:
And finally by a 42/39 spread Trump voters think he should be allowed to have a private email server: https://t.co/0kvoEMK527
1/ Trump’s voter fraud example? A troubled tale about Bernhard Langer meant to illustrate rampant, unchecked voter fraud. (NY Times)
tl;dr Langer was standing in line at a polling place on Election Day. Ahead of and behind Langer were voters who “did not look as if they should be allowed to vote.” Langer left feeling frustrated. Here’s the problem: Langer, who lives in Boca Raton, Fla., is a German citizen with permanent residence status in the United States who is, by law, barred from voting.
2/ Declining trust in government is denting democracy. America, which has long defined itself as a standard-bearer of democracy for the world, has become a “flawed democracy” according to the taxonomy used in the annual Democracy Index from the Economist Intelligence Unit. Although its score did not fall by much – from 8.05 in 2015 to 7.98 in 2016 – it was enough for it to slip just below the 8.00 threshold for a “full democracy”. (The Economist)
3/ Trump’s impulses now carry the force of the presidency. Impetuous and instinctive, convinced of broad, but hidden plots to undermine him, eager to fight and prone to what an aide called “alternative facts,” Trump has shown in just days in office that he is like few if any occupants of the White House before him. (NY Times)
4/ Those flashy executive actions could run aground. The White House failed to consult with many of the agencies and lawmakers who will be critical for their success. (Politico)
5/ Oh, and Donald Trump is building his wall on the Mexico border as undocumented crossing reaches a 40-year low. In taking his first step towards building a US-Mexico border wall, Trump begins an attack on a vanishing issue. (Quartz)
6/ Tweetstorm by Maggie Haberman of the NY Times. (Twitter)
A few final thoughts on the weekend/first few days. Trump had less than 4 hours sleep on Saturday, when he woke up and, at about 7 am., 1/
1/ Trump believes millions voted illegally – but provides no proof. The claim has long been debunked. (CNN)
2/ Trump orders the construction of a Mexican border wall. It’s the first in a series of actions to curtail immigration and bolster national security. It includes slashing the number of refugees who can resettle in the United States and blocks Syrians and others from “terror prone” nations from entering temporarily. (NY Times)
3/ Federal works told to stop talking to Congress and the press. The freeze has startled aides on the Hill and people at those agencies, who worry that it could abruptly upend current operations and stifle work and discussions that routinely take place between branches of government. (Huffington Post)
4/ Trump has imposed a freeze on grants and contracts by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (ProPublica) Trump also banned employees from giving social media updates and speaking with reporters. (The Hill)
5/ USDA scientists have been put on lockdown. “Starting immediately and until further notice” the department’s main research division “will not release any public-facing documents,” according to an internal memo. UPDATE: The order was rescinded by the department on Tuesday. (Buzzfeed)
6/ USDA disavows gag-order emailed to scientific research unit. An internal email sent to staff at its Agricultural Research Service unit this week calling for a suspension of “public-facing documents,” including news releases and photos, was flawed and that new guidance has been sent out to replace it. (Reuters)
7/ A National Park deleted tweets on climate change after Trump silenced federal scientists. The tweets were posted by a former employee and officials decided to delete them because the account had been “compromised,” a National Parks official said. (Buzzfeed)
8/ GOP Rep.: ’Better to get your news directly from the president.” The chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee said that Donald Trump was a more credible news source than the entire press corps. (Talking Points Memo)
Spicer: The media “disposition should be” Trump is correct “unless we can prove otherwise”
“…at some point, the disposition should be he is going to do it unless we can prove otherwise. He has shown through every step of the way that he’s going to win. And so it just seems to me it’s just odd that if those are the odds, if you are looking at his track record, the track record is a proven track record of success and winning. And yet, the media’s default is on every scenario, whether it’s hasn’t nominees getting through or winning a primary or him accomplishing something, it’s immediately negative and a failure.” (Media Matters)
9/ Trump’s disregard for the truth threatens his ability to govern. In the first five days of his presidency, Trump has put the enormous power of the nation’s highest office behind spurious — and easily disproved — claims. (Washington Post)
10/ Trump dogged by insecurity over popular vote, media coverage. He might hold the most powerful office in the world, but he’s dogged by insecurity over his loss of the popular vote in the election and a persistent frustration that the legitimacy of his presidency is being challenged by Democrats and the media, aides and associates say. (Associated Press)
11/ For Trump, everything is a rating. Trump spent his first weekend in office at war with math. He said that his inauguration crowd — which photographs showed was dwarfed by Barack Obama’s estimated 1.8 million in 2009 — “looked like a million, a million and a half.” His staff members backed up that claim with what his adviser Kellyanne Conway memorably termed “alternative facts.” (NY Times)
12/ Trump 101: What he reads and watches.
With an allergy to computers and phones, he works the papers. With a black Sharpie in hand, he marks up the Times or other printed stories. When he wants action or response, he scrawls the staffers’ names on that paper and either hands the clip to them in person, or has a staffer create a PDF of it — with handwritten commentary — and email it to them. An amazed senior adviser recently pulled out his phone to show us a string of the emailed PDFs, all demanding response. It was like something from the early 90s. Even when he gets worked up enough to tweet, Trump told us in our interview he will often simply dictate it, and let his staff hit “send” on Twitter. (Axios)
13/ “We the People” demand Trump release his tax returns. One of the features on the White House website that didn’t vanish when President Trump took the oath of office on Friday is the “We the People” page, which allows ordinary Americans to petition their government to address an issue of importance to them. The Obama White House, which created the feature, responded to petitions that received at least 100,000 signatures within 30 days. (NY Times)
1/ The first days inside Trump’s White House: Fury, tumult and a reboot. President Trump had just returned to the White House on Saturday from his final inauguration event, a tranquil interfaith prayer service, when the flashes of anger began to build. (Washington Post)
2/ Spicer: ‘Negative’ Trump coverage is ‘demoralizing’ The White House press secretary pushed back at what he said was negative coverage of the Trump White House, describing the media narrative as “demoralizing. It’s not just about a crowd size. There’s this constant theme to undercut the enormous support he has,” Spicer said of Trump. (The Hill)
3/ No White House leaks like this… until now. The Trump White House not only leaks like crazy. It casually leaks the most intimate and humiliating details about the President - hurt feelings, ego injury, childlike behavior, self-destructive rages over tweets, media failure to credit his own grandiosity. We have simply never seen this level of leaking, with this little respect for the President’s dignity or reputation, this early. (Talking Points Memo)
4/ Without evidence, Trump tells lawmakers 3 million to 5 million illegal ballots cost him the popular vote. Days after being sworn in, President Trump insisted to congressional leaders invited to a reception at the White House that he would have won the popular vote had it not been for millions of illegal votes, according to people familiar with the meeting. Trump has repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that widespread voter fraud caused him to lose the popular vote to Hillary Clinton, even while he clinched the presidency with an electoral college victory. (Washington Post)
5/ Why Trump’s staff is lying. One of the most striking features of the early Trump administration has been its political uses of lying. The big weekend story was the obviously false claim that Trump pulled in the largest inauguration crowds in American history. This raises the question of why a leader might find it advantageous to promote such lies from his subordinates. (Bloomberg)
6/ The Right is building a new media “upside down” to tell Trump’s story. Armed with its own set of facts, the right has created a parallel media universe that’s risen all the way with Trump to the White House. (Buzzfeed)
7/ Trump pays a fence mending visit to the CIA after weeks of mocking U.S. intelligence officials. Trump told staffers that he’s now with them, “a thousand percent.” (NPR)
8/ An official said the visit “made relations with the intelligence community worse” and described the visit as “uncomfortable.” (CBS News)
9/ Trump names his Inauguration Day a ‘National Day of Patriotic Devotion’. (Washington Post)
1/ The Trump Administration started with a big lie over a small thing. It wasn’t about an affair with an intern or in an attempt to wage war. The Trump administration kicked off with a whopper about the media’s role in maliciously minimizing the crowd size for Trump’s inauguration in a dastardly attempt to make him look bad. (The Daily Best)
2/ Crowd scientists say Women’s March in Washington was three times the size of the audience at Trump’s inauguration (NY Times), and may have been the largest demonstration in US history. Marches held in more than 500 US cities were attended by at least 3.3 million people. (Vox)
3/ Kellyanne Conway said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the White House had put forth “alternative facts” to ones reported by the news media about the size of Mr. Trump’s inauguration crowd. (NY Times)
KELLYANNE CONWAY: Don’t be so overly dramatic about it, Chuck. What– You’re saying it’s a falsehood. And they’re giving Sean Spicer, our press secretary, gave alternative facts to that. But the point remains–
CHUCK TODD: Wait a minute– Alternative facts?
KELLYANNE CONWAY: –that there’s–
CHUCK TODD: Alternative facts? Four of the five facts he uttered, the one thing he got right–
KELLYANNE CONWAY: –hey, Chuck, why– Hey Chuck–
CHUCK TODD: –was Zeke Miller. Four of the five facts he uttered were just not true. Look, alternative facts are not facts. They’re falsehoods.
4/ Alternative facts are a needless lie by the Trump Administration.
If the president and his aides will tell easily disproven falsehoods about crowd sizes and speeches, what else will they be willing to dissemble about? (The Atlantic)
5/ The traditional way of reporting on a president is dead. And Trump’s press secretary killed it. The presidency is not a reality show, but President Trump on his first full day in office made clear that he’s still obsessed with being what he once proudly called “a ratings machine.” (Washington Post)
6/ The costs of Trump-branded reality: America’s credibility. When Trump swore the presidential oath, he assumed responsibility not only for the levers of government but also for one of the United States’ most valuable assets, battered though it may be: its credibility. (NY Times)
7/ Meanwhile, Trump’s top aides are troubled by his rocky first weekend in office, unfolded much the way things often did during his campaign: with angry Twitter messages, a familiar obsession with slights and a series of meandering and at times untrue statements, all eventually giving way to attempts at damage control. (NY Times)
8/ WikiLeaks calls out Trump for refusing to release tax returns. (Politico)
9/ Trump is violating the Constitution by allowing his hotels and other business operations to accept payments from foreign governments, a team of prominent constitutional scholars, Supreme Court litigators and former White House ethics lawyers say. (NY Times)
1/ Photos comparing Trump’s inauguration crowd to the Women’s March (CNN)
2/ White House press secretary Sean Spicer attacked media for accurately reporting inauguration crowds. “This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period,” Spicer said, contradicting all available data. Aerial photos have indicated that former president Barack Obama’s first inauguration attracted a much larger crowd. Nielsen ratings show that Obama also had a bigger television audience. Spicer, at times almost yelling while reading a prepared statement, took no questions. (CNN)
3/ Trump used his first full day in office on Saturday to unleash a remarkably bitter attack on the news media, falsely accusing journalists of both inventing a rift between him and intelligence agencies and deliberately understating the size of his inauguration crowd. (NY Times)
4/ Trump says he has “running war” with media, criticizes the “dishonest media,” gets facts wrong, in CIA speech. (CNN)
5/ At CIA headquarters, Trump denies feud, lashed out at critics, boasted of his magazine covers, and exaggerated the size of the crowd at his inauguration. (Politico)
6/ Trump’s real war isn’t with the media. It’s with facts. He needs to delegitimize the media because he needs to delegitimize facts. (Vox)
1/ Donald Trump has named only 29 of his 660 executive department appointments, the Partnership for Public Service said. (NY Times)
2/ Trump boasted his inauguration would have an “unbelievable, perhaps record-setting turnout.” But aerial shots of the National Mall from Obama’s 2009 inauguration and today show that isn’t likely. (Vox)
3/ All references to climate change have been deleted from the White House website. The only mention of climate on Trump’s new website is under his “America First Energy Plan” page, in which he vows to destroy Obama’s Climate Action Plan, which is a government-wide plan to reduce carbon emissions and address climate change. (Motherboard)
4/ New poll shows Obamacare is more popular than Donald Trump. Fox News finds that 50% of voters feel favorably about the Affordable Care Act compared to Donald Trump, whom 42% view favorably. President Obama received an approval rating of 60%. (Vox)
5/ There’s no record Trump has resigned from his companies. To transfer control of his companies, the president has to submit filings in Florida, Delaware and New York. We spoke to officials in each of those states. (ProPublica)
6/ Trump’s pick to be Treasury secretary failed to disclose nearly $100 million of his assets on Senate Finance Committee disclosure documents and forgot to mention his role as a director of an investment fund located in a tax haven. Steven Mnuchin struggled to answer the Senate Finance Committee’s questions about his use of tax havens as a hedge fund manager and whether he thought such loopholes should be closed. (New York Times)
7/ Trump attacked the Washington establishment throughout his inaugural address, declaring that the “ American carnage stops right here and stops right now.” Trump offered “a new vision will govern our land,” pledging that “From this day forward, it’s going to be only America first.” (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico)
Trump’s full inauguration speech transcript, annotated. (Washington Post)