Day 354: Executive time.
1/ Trump’s legal team anticipates that Special Counsel Robert Mueller will try to directly interview Trump as part of the Russia probe. The team wants to submit written responses to Mueller’s questions instead of having Trump appear for a formal, one-on-one sit-down. Mueller informed Trump’s lawyers last month that he may want to interview Trump “soon.” A person with direct knowledge of the discussions described them as “preliminary and ongoing.” (NBC News / Wall Street Journal / Washington Post)
2/ Trump requires more “executive time” to watch TV, make phone calls, and tweet than he did in the early days of his presidency. The official schedule says Trump spends “executive time” in the Oval Office every morning from 8am to 11am, but officials say it’s spent in his residence. Trump often comes down to the Oval Office around 11am. By comparison, George W. Bush usually started his day in the Oval at 6:45am and Obama would arrive between 9 and 10am, after his morning exercise. That’s not all, Trump has several additional hours of “executive time” sprinkled throughout his schedule. All told, Trump spends roughly 5 hours on executive time over the course of an 8-hour workday. (Axios)
- How much of your life is spent on Trump’s “executive time.” (Washington Post)
3/ Over the weekend, Trump defended his mental fitness, describing himself as a “very stable genius” in response to details in Michael Wolff’s book that he is mentally unfit to serve. He insisted that opponents and the media were attacking his mental capacity because they had failed to prove collusion with Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign. Trump tweeted that “my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart.” (New York Times / CNN / The Guardian)
Now that Russian collusion, after one year of intense study, has proven to be a total hoax on the American public, the Democrats and their lapdogs, the Fake News Mainstream Media, are taking out the old Ronald Reagan playbook and screaming mental stability and intelligence.....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2018
....Actually, throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart. Crooked Hillary Clinton also played these cards very hard and, as everyone knows, went down in flames. I went from VERY successful businessman, to top T.V. Star.....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2018
....to President of the United States (on my first try). I think that would qualify as not smart, but genius....and a very stable genius at that!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2018
- Trump tweeted about his “consensual presidency,” misquoting a New York Post column that had said Trump’s presidency has been “enormously consequential.” (The Hill)
4/ Jake Tapper abruptly ended an interview with White House adviser Stephen Miller on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday. Miller was there to talk about Michael Wolff’s new book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, but refused to answer questions about Trump directly and repeatedly attempted to shift the conversation toward criticism of CNN. “I think I’ve wasted enough of my viewers’ time. Thank you, Stephen,” Tapper said as he cut off the interview. Miller then refused to leave the CNN set and had to be escorted off the premises. (CNN / Business Insider)
5/ The prospect of Trump’s removal from office is an almost daily topic of conversation in the White House, according to Michael Wolff. The author of Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House said the situation in the White House is so bad, “the 25th Amendment is a concept that is alive every day in the White House.” The 25th Amendment outlines the process of removal in case a sitting President is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.” (NBC News / Newsweek)
6/ Steve Bannon walked back his critical comments of Trump Jr. He said he “regrets” his “delay in responding to the inaccurate reporting” that the Trump Jr. meeting with Russians at Trump Tower during the campaign was “treasonous,” “unpatriotic,” and “bad shit.” In a statement, Bannon called Trump Jr. “both a patriot and a good man,” adding that “there was no collusion and the investigation is a witch hunt.” (Axios / CNN)
Notables.
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The Trump administration canceled provisional residency permits for 200,000 Salvadorans who have lived in the country since at least 2001, leaving them vulnerable to deportation. (Washington Post)
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Oprah Winfrey is “actively thinking” about running for president, according to two friends. Winfrey’s speech at the Golden Globes, where she said “a new day is on the horizon,” spurred chatter about a 2020 run. (CNN)
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Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg signaled that she intends to outlast Trump by hiring law clerks for at least two more terms. (CNN)
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National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster said there was already evidence of Russian meddling in Mexico’s election, which is set for July. (Reuters)
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The US Army’s official Twitter account liked a tweet critical of Trump by “The Office” and “The Mindy Project” star Mindy Kaling. (Washington Post)
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A Senate bill that would reverse the FCC’s decision to repeal net neutrality received its 30th co-sponsor, ensuring it will receive a vote on the Senate floor. (The Hill)
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Federal regulators rejected a proposal by Energy Secretary Rick Perry to subsidize coal and nuclear plants. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission sided with critics, who argued that Perry’s proposal would upend competition in the nation’s electricity markets, which favors lowest-cost power sources. (New York Times)