1/ Trump pulled the US from the Paris climate accord, prioritizing the economy over the environment and global alliances. Trump will stick to the process laid out in the Paris agreement, which will take about four years to complete, leaving a final decision up to American voters in the 2020 election. Trump said the US will “begin negotiations to reenter the Paris accord” to “see if we can make deal that’s fair. And if we can, that’s great.” He argued that the Paris agreement would “punish” Americans by instituting “onerous energy restrictions” that stymie economic growth, while leaders around the world said the exit from the accord is an irresponsible abdication of American leadership. The US is the world’s #2 greenhouse-gas producer, and would have accounted for 21% of the total emissions reduced by the accord through 2030. All but two countries — Nicaragua and Syria — signed onto the 2015 accord. (New York Times / Associated Press / Washington Post / Politico / NPR)
White House Memo:
“The Paris Accord is a BAD deal for Americans, and the President’s action today is keeping his campaign promise to put American workers first. The Accord was negotiated poorly by the Obama Administration and signed out of desperation.”
Al Gore on Trump’s withdrawl from the Paris Agreement: “Removing the United States from the Paris Agreement is a reckless and indefensible action. It undermines America’s standing in the world and threatens to damage humanity’s ability to solve the climate crisis in time. (Al Gore)
Obama: The Trump administration joins a “handful of nations that reject the future,” adding the accord “opened the floodgates” to jobs as opposed to being the economic drag Trump has cast it as. (ABC News)
Elon Musk quits Trump’s advisory council in response to the US withdrawing from the Paris climate accord. (The Daily Beast)
Am departing presidential councils. Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world.
2/ Germany, France and Italy respond: The Paris deal cannot be renegotiated. “We deem the momentum generated in Paris in December 2015 irreversible and we firmly believe that the Paris Agreement cannot be renegotiated since it is a vital instrument for our planet, societies and economies,” the leaders of the three countries said in a joint statement. (Reuters)
3/ Congress is examining whether Jeff Sessions had a third undisclosed meeting with Russia’s ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the presidential campaign. During his confirmation hearing on January 10, Sessions testified that he “did not have any communications with the Russians” during the campaign. In March, reports emerged that Sessions met with Kislyak in July and September. He insisted those meetings were part of Senate duties and not the campaign. (CNN)
4/ Senators had asked Comey to investigate Sessions for possible perjury before he was fired by Trump. “We are concerned about Attorney General Sessions’ lack of candor to the committee and his failure thus far to accept responsibility for testimony that could be construed as perjury,” Senators Patrick Leahy and Al Franken wrote to Comey in their first request. The Senators sent requests to Comey and, later, acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe in three letters dated March 20, April 28 and May 12. (CNN)
5/ Putin insists Russia never engaged in hacking, but praised Trump’s lack of political background as a good thing. Putin denied any state role, but acknowledged that some individual “patriotically minded” private Russian hackers could have mounted an attack. He added that Trump is “a straightforward person, a frank person,” which is a political advantage because “he has a fresh set of eyes.” (Associated Press / New York Times)
6/ The former pro-Brexit Ukip leader is a “person of interest” in the FBI investigation into Trump and Russia. Nigel Farage’s relationships with both the Trump campaign and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has raised the interest of the FBI. “If you triangulate Russia, WikiLeaks, Assange and Trump associates the person who comes up with the most hits is Nigel Farage. He’s right in the middle of these relationships.” (The Guardian)
7/ The administration is considering returning two Russian diplomatic compounds in NYC and Maryland, which were closed by Obama as punishment for interference in the election. The Trump administration told the Russians that it would give the properties back to Moscow if it would lift the freeze on construction of a new US consulate in St. Petersburg. (Washington Post)
8/ The White House will stop answering questions about the Trump-Russia investigation. Spicer told reporters that any future questions about the investigation would be addressed by Trump’s personal lawyer. (The Hill)
9/ The federal government now requires US visa applicants for their last five years worth of social media handles, email addresses and phone numbers. As well as the last 15 years of biographical information including addresses, employment, and travel history. (Reuters)
10/ Trump exempted his entire senior staff from his own ethics rules, allowing them to work with political and advocacy groups that support the administration. Conway, for instance, can now communicate and meet with organizations that previously employed her consulting firm, while Bannon can talk with Breitbart News, which he chaired until last year. The White House said that the waivers were in the public interest because the administration needed appointees’ expertise on certain issues. (The Daily Beast / Washington Post)
11/ Comey will testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee next Thursday as long as Trump doesn’t block him. Trump could invoke executive privilege and try to prevent Comey from testifying, who is expected to be asked about several conversations he had with Trump. Presidents have a constitutional right to keep discussions a secret in many instances. However, Trump has made it difficult to assert executive privilege by repeatedly and publicly referring to his conversations with Comey. A public session will be held in the morning, followed by a private briefing. (New York Times / Politico)
poll/ A majority of Americans in every state say that the US should participate in the Paris Climate Agreement. 69% of all voters say the US should participate in the agreement, while 47% of Trump voters want the US to participate. (Yale - Climate Change in the American Mind)
1/ Trump will withdraw from the Paris climate deal. A small team is now deciding on whether to initiate a full withdrawal, which could take 3 years, or exit the underlying United Nations climate change treaty, which would be a faster, more extreme move. World leaders, the Pope, major oil companies, and even Ivanka and Kushner have pushed Trump to stay in the deal. (Axios / Politico / New York Times)
UN Secretary-General on climate change: “Get on board or get left behind.” (Axios)
2/ Elon Musk threatens to leave Trump’s advisory councils if the US exits the Paris climate deal. He joins twenty-five leading tech companies who signed a letter arguing in favor of climate pact that is set to run as a full-page ad in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal tomorrow. (Bloomberg / Politico / The Verge)
Don't know which way Paris will go, but I've done all I can to advise directly to POTUS, through others in WH & via councils, that we remain
3/ Comey will testify publicly about Trump pressuring him to end his investigation into Flynn’s ties to Russia. Comey will appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee and is expected to confirm that Trump confronted him over the Russia investigations. Mueller and Comey discussed parameters to ensure his testimony won’t hurt the special counsel’s investigation. It will be Comey’s first time speaking in public since Trump unexpectedly fired him. (CNN / Wall Street Journal)
4/ The House Intelligence Committee issued seven subpoenas. Four are related to the Russia investigation – Michael Flynn and Trump’s personal attorney Michael Cohen, and their businesses. The other three – to NSA, FBI, CIA – are related to how and why the names of Trump’s associates were “unmasked.” (Wall Street Journal)
5/ Al Franken: “everything points to” collusion between Trump’s campaign and the Russians. “My feeling is that there was some cooperation between the Trump campaign and the Russians,” the Minnesota Democrat said. (Bloomberg)
6/ The Russia probe has slowed Trump’s effort to fill hundreds of vacant jobs across the federal government. The growing scandal is scaring off candidates and distracting aides from finding new recruits. The White House has announced nominees for just 117 of the 559 most important Senate-confirmed positions. (Politico)
7/ Trump’s top advisers claim he backed NATO’s Article 5, despite never explicitly doing so during his speech to NATO last week. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed by the national security adviser and director of the national economic council, they wrote that by “reconfirming America’s commitment to NATO and Article 5, the president challenged our allies to share equitably the responsibility for our mutual defense.” (Wall Street Journal)
8/ Paul Ryan appointed a controversial cancer doctor to a Health and Human Services committee, which will advise the Trump administration on policy around health information technology. Patrick Soon-Shiong leads a network of for-profit and not-for-profit ventures researching cancer. The problem: the majority of the expenditures of his nonprofits flow to his for-profit businesses, raising questions about potential conflicts of interest. (Politico)
9/ Trump didn’t expect so much “covfefe” of his midnight tweet. The big guy fired off “…negative press covfefe” just before going to bed. Six hours later, he corrected the mistake, but not before becoming a worldwide joke on social media. So much for letting his lawyers vet his tweets. (Associated Press)
Sean Spicer offered a cryptic explanation for Trump’s incomplete, misspelled tweet that went viral overnight: “The president and a small group of people know exactly what he meant.” (The Hill)
10/ Meanwhile, Trump’s been asking world leaders to call him on his cellphone, breaking protocol and raising concerns about the security and secrecy of his communications. (Associated Press)
11/ Jared Kushner built a luxury skyscraper using loans designed to benefit projects in poor, job-starved areas. Working with state officials in New Jersey, they defined a district that included some of the city’s poorest and most crime-ridden neighborhoods, but excluded wealthy neighborhoods blocks away, allowing Kushner Companies and its partners to get $50 million in low-cost financing. While not illegal, critics liken it to the gerrymandering of legislative districts. (Washington Post)
poll/ 8% think GOP health care bill should pass. Nearly half of consumers say that their cost of health care will be “worse” under the American Health Care Act, compared to 16% who think the cost will be “better” and 36% who feel it will be “about the same.” (CNN Money)
poll/ 43% want Congress to begin impeachment proceedings, but most don’t believe that Trump is actually guilty of an impeachable offense, like treason, bribery or obstructing justice. (Politico)
1/ Russians discussed having potentially “derogatory” information about the Trump team during the campaign. Intercepted communications suggest that the Russians believed “they had the ability to influence the administration through the derogatory information.” (CNN)
2/ Michael Flynn will turn over some business records to the Senate Intelligence Committee. Flynn initially refused to cooperate with a Senate subpoena, claiming his constitutional right against self incrimination. The committee then subpoenaed records from two of his businesses, which cannot be shielded by the Fifth Amendment. (Wall Street Journal)
3/ The Russia investigation now includes Trump’s personal attorney. Michael Cohen turned down invitations from the House and Senate investigators “to provide information and testimony” about any contacts he had with people connected to the Russian government. He said he’ll “gladly” testify if Congress subpoenas him. (ABC News / CNN / New York Times)
4/ Investigators are examining why Kushner met with a Russian banker during the transition and what they wanted from each other. It is not clear if Kushner wanted to use the banker as a go-between or whether it was part of the effort to establish a direct, secure line to Putin. The banker, Sergey Gorkov, is a close associate of Putin. (New York Times)
5/ James Clapper says Russia “absolutely” meddled in the 2016 election. The former director of national intelligence said there has never been a case of election interference more aggressive than what happened in 2016. He added, however, that it’s unclear if the “interference actually affected the outcome of the election.” (CNN)
Russian officials must be laughing at the U.S. & how a lame excuse for why the Dems lost the election has taken over the Fake News.
6/ Kellyanne Conway called Kushner’s Russian backchannel “regular course of business.” Former national security officials have said that backchannels are out of the norm for a presidential transition and that could possibly be illegal. (Politico)
7/ Trump called for the Senate to end the filibuster so his agenda could pass “fast and easy.” Eliminating the filibuster would allow legislation to pass with a simple majority (51 votes), rather than the 60 votes currently needed for a bill to pass the Senate. (The Hill)
The U.S. Senate should switch to 51 votes, immediately, and get Healthcare and TAX CUTS approved, fast and easy. Dems would do it, no doubt!
8/ The White House communication director resigned after three months. Mike Dubke’s exit comes as Trump weighs larger staff changes in an effort to contain the deepening Russia scandal. Dubke stepped down as communications director on May 18, but offered to stay through Trump’s first foreign trip, which just ended. (Politico / Axios)
9/ Intelligence briefings must be short and full of “killer graphics” in Trump’s administration. The daily briefings are so casual and visually driven – maps, charts, pictures, and videos – that the CIA director and director of national intelligence are worried Trump may not be retaining all the intelligence he is presented. Rank-and-file staffers are “very worried about how do you deal with him and about sharing with him sensitive material.” (Washington Post)
10/ A Texas lawmaker threatened to shoot a colleague after reporting protesters to ICE. Representative Matt Rinaldi called ICE on “several illegal immigrants” after seeing signs in the gallery at the State Capitol that read, “I am illegal and here to stay.” Rinaldi then threatened to shoot a lawmaker who objected. (New York Times / NPR)
11/ Trump called for more spending on health care so it’s “the best anywhere.” Trump’s budget proposal from last week called for cuts between $800 billion and $1.4 trillion in future spending on Medicaid, in addition to cuts in healthcare programs for low-income children. His budget did not propose new healthcare spending. (Washington Post)
I suggest that we add more dollars to Healthcare and make it the best anywhere. ObamaCare is dead - the Republicans will do much better!
12/ Trump is expected to roll back Obamacare’s birth control coverage for religious employers. The White House is reviewing a draft rule to provide “conscience-based objections to the preventive-care mandate,” which would undo the required free contraception requirement from the Affordable Care Act. (New York Times / Washington Post)
13/ Trump’s budget proposal wants the poor to work for their government benefits by enabling states to apply for waivers to add work requirements. Currently, states can’t force Medicaid recipients to work. While the food stamp program contains an employment requirement, it is often waived. Both would change if the budget is passed. (CNN Money)
1/ Trump is considering big changes at the White House in an effort to contain the escalating Russia investigation that threatens to consume his presidency. “Everything is in play,” an advisor said. Trump may bring back a trio of former campaign officials (Corey Lewandowski, David Bossie and David Urban) to handle communications and political duties related to the Russia investigation, and – shockingly – he’s even considering having lawyers vet his tweets. (Wall Street Journal / Washington Post)
2/ Kushner wanted a secret communications channel with the Kremlin so Michael Flynn could discuss strategy in Syria and other security issues directly with senior military officials in Moscow. The channel was never set up, but was proposed by Kushner during an early December meeting at Trump Tower with ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Kushner suggested using Russian diplomatic facilities in the US for the communications. (Washington Post / New York Times)
Kushner had at least three previously undisclosed contacts with the Russian ambassador to the US during and after the 2016 presidential campaign, including two phone calls between April and November last year. Kushner’s attorney said his client did not remember any calls with Kislyak between April and November. (Reuters)
In December Kushner met with Sergey Gorkov, a Russian banker and “Putin crony” who is also graduate of a “finishing school” for spies. (NBC News)
3/ Trump has “total confidence” in Jared Kushner, despite coming under fire that he tried to create backchannel with Russia to shield the Trump team from public view. Some Democrats are calling for Trump to revoke Kushner’s security clearances. (New York Times)
4/ National security adviser: “I would not be concerned” by backchannel communications with Russia. H.R. McMaster didn’t specifically comment on the controversy surrounding Kushner. (CNN)
5/ Kushner is under pressure to “lay low” and take a leave of absence from the White House amid reports that he is under FBI scrutiny. (NBC News / The Hill)
NEW: @jonkarl: People close to the president are saying it might be time for Jared Kushner to take a leave of absence from the White House. pic.twitter.com/pIgqkNJNx1
7/ The Senate Intelligence Committee wants all of Trump’s Russia-related documents, emails and phone records going back to his campaign’s launch in June 2015. It’s the first time that Trump’s official campaign structure has been drawn into the Senate committee’s ongoing bipartisan investigation. (Washington Post)
8/ The Trump campaign likely didn’t preserve digital documents. “You’d be giving us too much credit,” a former aide said. “The idea of document retention did not come up. The idea of some formal structure did not come up.” Failure to keep track of emails, messages and other records could expose Trump’s current and former aides to criminal charges down the line. (Politico)
9/ A Russian oligarch with ties to Paul Manafort wants immunity for cooperating with congressional intelligence committees. The Senate and House panels turned him down because of concerns that immunity agreements will complicate federal criminal investigations. The two did business together in the mid-2000s, when Manafort was providing campaign advice to Kremlin-backed politicians in Ukraine. Oleg Deripaska is a member of Putin’s inner circle. (New York Times)
10/ Trump privately said he plans to leave the Paris agreement on climate change, despite his public position that he hasn’t made up his mind. Leaving the Paris agreement is the biggest thing Trump could do to unwind Obama’s climate policies and signal to the rest of the world that climate change isn’t a priority for his administration. (Axios)
I will make my final decision on the Paris Accord next week!
Exxon CEO urges Trump to keep the US in the Paris climate agreement in a personal letter. (The Financial Times)
11/ Angela Merkel: Europe can no longer “completely depend” on the US after G7 leaders failed to persuade Trump to back the Paris climate accord. “There are no signs of whether the US will stay in the Paris accords or not,” Merkel said. (New York Times)
12/ Trump tweets that North Korea’s latest ballistic missile test showed “great disrespect” to China. North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile that landed in the Sea of Japan. (The Hill)
North Korea has shown great disrespect for their neighbor, China, by shooting off yet another ballistic missile...but China is trying hard!
1/ Comey acted on Russian information he knew was fake for fear that if it became public it would undermine the probe into Hillary Clinton’s email and the Justice Department. The Russian intelligence claimed that then-Attorney General Lynch had been compromised and suggested she would make the FBI investigation of Clinton go away. If the Russians had released the information publicly, there would be no way for law enforcement and intelligence officials to discredit it without burning their sources and methods. (CNN)
2/ Jared Kushner is now a focus in the Russia investigation. Kushner is being investigated for possible coordination between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign to influence the 2016 presidential election, as well as possible financial crimes. (Washington Post / NBC News)
Kushner is willing to cooperate with investigators. Kushner had meetings last year with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak and Russian banker Sergey Gorkov. (Bloomberg)
3/ Trump called the Germans “bad, very bad” for selling a lot of cars in the US. He vowed to block German car exports to the US at a meeting with EU leaders, ignoring the fact that many “foreign” cars are actually made in the US, while many “American” cars are made in Canada and Mexico. (Der Spiegel / Slate)
4/ The FBI won’t provide Comey’s memos to Congress, until it consults with Robert Mueller, the new special counsel overseeing the Russia investigation. (Politico)
5/ Senate Republicans are considering a plan to push the Obamacare repeal to 2020. They’re weighing a two-step process to replace Obamacare, as they seek to draft a more modest version than a House plan. (Bloomberg)
McConnell may have been right that it may be too hard to replace Obamacare. The meetings Republicans have held to discuss a Senate health care bill have exposed deep issues within the party. (New York Times)
6/ Trump told Macron that he did not back Marine Le Pen, contrary to media reports saying he liked the far-right leader. He added: “You were my guy.” (Reuters)
7/ John Boehner on Trump: “everything else he’s done has been a complete disaster,” other than getting the House to pass the health care bill. The former house speaker went on to say that Trump is “still learning how to be president.” (CNN)
1/ Trump’s prepping for a years-long war under the cloud of a special investigation. The White House is “getting street fighters ready to go” with legal, surrogate, communications, and rapid-response teams as part of a “new normal.” With Trump on tour in the Middle East and Europe, Steve Bannon and Reince Priebus are at home, putting in place the means to keep his agenda moving ahead and avoid “paralysis.” (Axios / Politico)
2/ Trump chastises “obsolete” NATO about how it’s “not fair” some members don’t pay their share. He lectured 23 of the 28 member for what he called their “chronic underpayments” to the military alliance. The mutual defense pledge requires nations to contribute at least 2% of their GDP. (ABC News / New York Times / Washington Post)
3/ A federal appeals court will not reinstate Trump’s revised travel ban, saying it “drips with religious intolerance, animus and discrimination.” The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the injunction, saying the executive order violated the First Amendment’s ban on government establishment of religion – In this case singling out Muslims. (New York Times / Politico)
4/ Macron out-Trumps Trump in “fierce” handshake duel. Editor’s note: The descriptions are too good to summarize, so I’m quoting in full:
From the Washington Post: “…the two men shook hands for six long seconds. Their knuckles turned white, their jaws clenched and their faces tightened. Trump reached in first, but then he tried to release, twice, but Macron kept his grip until letting go.” (Washington Post)
From Bloomberg: “Trump’s trick is to go in strong and then hold on just slightly too long, often pulling the other man toward him. Meeting Macron for the first time before a NATO summit in Brussels, Trump went in firm as usual. But this time, it was Trump – not Macron – who tried to back out first. Macron simply wouldn’t let go as Trump tried to pull back once, and then flexed his fingers straight to get out. On the second try, he was able to pull away.” (Bloomberg)
5/ A group of 22 Republican senators are urging Trump to exit the Paris climate deal. They say the provisions in the Clean Air Act and the Paris agreement would create “significant litigation risk,” which puts fully rescinding the Clean Power Plan in danger. (Axios)
6/ Paul Manafort remained in contact and continued to advise the Trump team even after the FBI launched its Russia probe. Manafort called Priebus a week before the inauguration to tell him the dossier by a former British spy that alleged Russia had compromising information on Trump and his associates was “garbage.” Manafort was forced to resign as Trump’s campaign chairman due to his ties to Kremlin-aligned politicians in Europe. (Politico)
Russians had discussed how to influence Trump advisors last summer. Specifically, Paul Manafort and Michael Flynn, who both had close ties to Russia. It’s unclear if Russian officials attempted to influence either. (New York Times)
7/ Sessions was advised not to disclose his meetings with Russian officials when he applied for security clearance. Democratic lawmakers are demanding for Sessions’s resignation. “He’s lied under oath,” Senator Kamala Harris said. “He’s misled on security clearance forms. It’s simple — he should not be the Attorney General.” (New York Times)
He's lied under oath. He's misled on security clearance forms. It's simple - he should not be the Attorney General. https://t.co/JKUdHUWVdg
8/ Reince Priebus is sweating Comey’s secret memos. Three White House officials said Priebus has expressed worry about a memo involving one of their chats, and how it might play in the press and to investigators. (The Daily Beast)
9/ A Montana GOP House candidate was charged with assault after “body-slamming” a journalist. Greg Gianforte grabbed the reporter by the neck with both hands, slammed him into the ground, and then began punching the reporter. Misdemeanor charges were filed against Gianforte, who was “sick and tired of this!” – ”this” being a question. (The Guardian / Fox News)
Transcript of the “body-slam” audio. (The Atlantic)
10/ A Mar-A-Lago employee is doing work for Trump’s foreign trip. The guest reception manager at Trump’s “Winter White House” is in Italy helping Trump’s logistics team. (BuzzFeed News)
11/ Lieberman withdraws from consideration for FBI Director job. Once considered the front-runner to replace James Comey, he’s formally withdrawn citing the appearance of a conflict of interest now that Trump’s tapped his boss, attorney Marc Kasowitz, as outside counsel in the Russia investigation. (Wall Street Journal / Politico / ABC News)
12/ Trump condemned “leaks of sensitive information” after complaints From Britain. Manchester police said they would no longer share details of the investigation with the US after crime-scene photos and suspected bomber’s name were leaked to American media. (New York Times / Washington Post)
poll/ 40% approve of Trump job performance, with 53% disapproving. Pence, meanwhile, clocks in at a 42% approval to 43% disapproval rating. (The Hill)
1/ Trump called Kim Jong Un a “madman with nuclear weapons,” days before stating publicly that he would be “honored” to meet with Kim. In an April 29 call with Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, Trump asked for his input on whether Kim is “stable or not stable.” Duterte has been accused of presiding over the extrajudicial killing of thousands of drug dealers and users. (Washington Post)
2/ The US has two nuclear submarines off the coast of North Korea, Trump told Duterte during last month’s call. He revealed that “we have a lot of firepower over there. We have two submarines — the best in the world. We have two nuclear submarines, not that we want to use them at all.” (New York Times)
3/ The Pentagon is in shock that Trump told Duterte about the submarines. The Pentagon never talks about the location of submarines on the belief that stealth is key to their mission. (BuzzFeed News)
4/ Trump congratulated Duterte for doing an “unbelievable job” in his war on drugs, where the government has allowed extrajudicial killing for drug dealers and users. “You are a good man,” Trump told Duterte. “Keep up the good work.” The State Department’s human rights report calls the Philippines “disregard for human rights and due process” one of the “most significant human rights problems.” (The Intercept / Politico)
Transcript: Trump’s call with Duterte. (DocumentCloud)
5/ Pope Francis urged Trump to meet US commitments on climate change. He gave Trump copy of his 2015 encyclical (a type of papal document used for significant or important issues) calling for urgent, drastic cuts in fossil-fuel emissions. Trump has called climate change a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese. (Bloomberg)
6/ Jeff Sessions did not disclose meetings with Russian officials when he applied for his security clearance. Sessions met with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak at least twice last year, but didn’t failed to note those interactions on the security clearance form. (CNN)
7/ The House Intelligence Committee will subpoena Michael Flynn after he declined to appear before the panel. Flynn already rejected requests from the Senate Intelligence Committee for a list of his contacts with Russian officials, invoking his Fifth Amendments rights against self-incrimination. (Reuters / Associated Press / Politico)
Flynn hit with two Senate Intelligence Committee subpoenas and risks being held in contempt of Congress if he doesn’t comply. (ABC News)
8/ Trump lawyers up and retains Marc Kasowitz for the Russia investigation. Related, former Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman joined Kasowitz’ law firm in 2013 and was Trump’s top choice for the FBI director job. The administration hit the reset button on the search today, wanting to see a broader list of candidates. (NBC News / CNN)
9/ Trump’s hotels are failing to track payments received from foreign governments despite his promise to donate all profits back to the Treasury. A Trump Organization policy suggests that it is up to foreign governments, not Trump hotels, to determine whether they self-report their business. (NBC News)
10/ The House health care bill would leave 23 million more uninsured by 2026, the Congressional Budget Office projected. If passed, 14 million people would lose insurance next year and would make coverage less comprehensive than it is now for those still insured. The Senate has already said it will make substantial changes to the measure passed by the House. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / Bloomberg)
11/ Mitch McConnell on Obamacare: “I don’t know how we get to 50 (votes).” The Senate Majority Leader has not asked the White House for input on the legislation being crafted to dismantle Obamacare. McConnell has promised to undo Obamacare “root and branch,” but Congress and the White House have struggled to come up with a consensus plan despite controlling both branches of government. (Reuters)
12/ Ben Carson called poverty “a state of mind.” He said he believes that government can provide a “helping hand” for people to climb out of poverty, but warned against programs that are “sustaining them in a position of poverty.” (Washington Post)
13/ Democrats flipped seats in two districts that voted for Trump. The new legislature seats in New York and New Hampshire won’t change the balance of power, but may signal a change in the country’s political climate. (HuffPost)
Poll/ 65% of voters believe there is a lot of fake news in the mainstream media. 84% of voters said it’s hard to know what news to believe online. (Editor’s Suggestion: Get the fuck off Facebook.) (The Hill)