đ Away Message: Hey everyone, Iâm sicker than ever today and unable to publish an update. Hoping to be back tomorrow (Friday). Thanks for your patience. This is absolutely the worst.
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WTF Just Happened Today? is a sane, once-a-day newsletter helping normal people make sense of the news. Curated daily and delivered to 200,000+ people every afternoon around 3 pm Pacific.
Day 739: Wrong track.
Today in one sentence: The shutdown cost the economy $11 billion; Nancy Pelosi invited Trump to give the State of the Union; Trump's golf course in New York relied on a dozen undocumented workers while Trump was demanding border wall funding during the shutdown; and 48% of Americans say they have no confidence "at all" in Trump.
1/ The partial shutdown â the longest in U.S. history â ended Friday with Trump agreeing to temporarily reopen the government without money for his wall. Trump, however, is threatening to shut down the government again in less than three weeks if Congress canât reach a deal to fund the wall, because he doesnât believe negotiators will strike a deal he could accept. According to acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, Trump will secure border âwith or without Congress.â (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
2/ The shutdown cost the economy $11 billion, with an estimated $3 billion in economic activity permanently lost. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected economic growth will slow this year to 2.3%, compared with the 3.1% rate last year, as the benefits of the new tax law begin to fade. Separately, the National Association of Business Economics found that the $1.5 trillion cut tax package has had no major impact on businessesâ capital investment or hiring plans. (CNBC / Reuters / Washington Post)
3/ Nancy Pelosi invited Trump to give the State of the Union on February 5. Pelosi previously rescinded Trumpâs invitation to give the address until after the shutdown ended. (Washington Post / Politico / CNBC)
4/ Trumpâs golf course in New York relied on a dozen undocumented workers while Trump was demanding border wall funding during the shutdown. They were fired midway through the government shutdown. The firings at the New York golf club follow a report from last year about an undocumented worker at Trumpâs Bedminster golf club in New Jersey. After that story, the company fired the undocumented workers. Trump still owns his businesses, but has given day-to-day control to Trump Jr. and Eric Trump. (Washington Post / NBC News)
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đ Day 686: An undocumented immigrant has worked as a maid at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J., since 2013 using fake documents to secure employment. After Trump became president, one of her managers told her to get both a new green card and new Social Security card because there were problems with her current ones. When she told the manager that she did not know how to obtain new forgeries, her manager suggested she speak with a maintenance employee to acquire new documents. Her manager lent her the money to replace the one that had âexpired.â (New York Times)
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đ Day 714: Trumpâs Bedminster golf club shielded at least one undocumented immigrant from a list of workers vetted by the Secret Service during the 2016 campaign. Emma Torres told a human resources employee that she did not have legal status. The woman replied: ââItâs O.K. No problem.â She scratched me off the list.â Torres later made sandwiches for Secret Service agents when they began visiting the property. (New York Times)
poll/ 48% of Americans say they have no confidence âat allâ in Trump. 64% also have no confidence in Trump to make the right decisions for the future of the country. (ABC News)
poll/ 63% of Americans believe the country is âoff on the wrong trackâ while to 28% believe itâs âheaded in the right direction.â 50% blame Trump for the shutdown. (NBC News / Wall Street Journal)
poll/ 60% of Americans say House Democrats should use their authority to obtain and publicly release Trumpâs tax returns. 46% say Democrats will go too far in investigating Trump, while 34% think theyâll handle it about right, with 17% thinking Democrats will not go far enough. (ABC News)
poll/ 57% of Americans support congressional Democrats investigating whether or not Trumpâs 2016 campaign colluded with Russia, 61% support investigating financial ties between Trump and foreign governments, and 59% support investigating Trumpâs relationship and communications with Putin. (Washington Post)
poll/ 35% approve of Trumpâs handling of foreign policy, while 63% disapprove. 76% of Republicans approve of his foreign policy, while just 8% of Democrats do. (Associated Press)
âď¸ Notables.
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The Trump administration lifted sanctions against three companies owned by Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. The Treasury Department originally sanctioned Deripaska, six other oligarchs, and their companies in April in response to Russiaâs âmalign activityâ around the world. The sanctions against Deripaska himself will remain in effect, but his companies launched a lobbying campaign to argue that the sanctions against aluminum giant Rusal would disrupt the aluminum market and damage U.S. companies. (Reuters / New York Times / Fox News / Bloomberg)
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Roger Stone didnât rule out cooperating with Robert Mueller, despite repeatedly pledging his loyalty to Trump. Stone said heâd âhave to determine after my attorneys have some discussionâ about cooperating with Mueller. He added: âIf thereâs wrongdoing by other people in the campaign that I know about, which I know of none, but if there is I would certainly testify honestly.â (ABC News / Reuters / Wall Street Journal)
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Jerome Corsi, a longtime friend and associate of Stone, said the indictment against Stone is âaccurateâ and that he will be âhappyâ to âaffirm that if asked to in court.â Corsi was identified as âPerson 1â in the 24-page federal indictment filed by Mueller against Stone. (CNN / Politico)
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Trump and Jared Kushner thought firing Michael Flynn would end the âRussia thing,â according to Chris Christieâs forthcoming book, âLet Me Finish.â Christie recalled that Trump told him âthis Russia thing is all over now, because I fired Flynn.â Trump went on to explain that âFlynn met with the Russians. That was the problem. I fired Flynn. Itâs over.â Kushner added: âThatâs right, firing Flynn ends the whole Russia thing.â (New York Times)
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Trump endorsed states pushing legislation to allow Bible literacy classes in public schools, calling it a âgreatâ idea. (Politico / Washington Post)
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American and Taliban officials have agreed in principle on a framework for a peace deal in Afghanistan. The framework includes a guarantee that the Taliban will prevent Afghan territory from being used by terrorists in exchange for a ceasefire and Taliban talks with the Afghan government. (New York Times)
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The Justice Department accused Huawei of violating U.S. sanctions on Iran and of stealing trade secrets from T-Mobile. Federal prosecutors also filed paperwork to formerly requesting the extradition of Huaweiâs CFO from Canada. (Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / CNBC)
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The Trump administration sanctioned Venezuelaâs state-owned energy company PDVSA. John Bolton said the actions will block $7 billion in assets and cost the country $11 billion in lost exports during the next year. The sanctions come after Trump last week declared the U.S. would no longer recognize President NicolĂĄs Maduro government, proclaiming opposition leader Juan GuaidĂł as the rightful âinterim presidentâ of Venezuela. (Politico / CNBC / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / Washignton Post)
đ§ So Presidential.
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Hillary Clinton isnât âclosing the doors to the idea of running in 2020.â In October, Clinton said she wasnât planning on running, but has reportedly told people âas recently as this weekâ that she would âlike to be president.â (The Hill)
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Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz tweeted that he is âseriously thinking of running for presidentâ as an independent. The billionaireâs announcement was mocked by people pointing out that there were better ways of helping the country with his money than by jumping in the race and helping Trump win re-election. Trump tweeted that Schultz âdoesnât have the âgutsâ to be president.â (CBS News / Daily Beast / Politico)
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Michael Bloomberg warned that there âis no way an independentâ presidential candidate âcan winâ and would only ensure Trumpâs reelection. The former New York City mayor is weighing a bid for the Democratic Partyâs presidential nomination in 2020. (Politico)
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Kamala Harris formally launched her Democratic bid for president, promising to be a fighter âfor the peopleâ and to unify a country divided along social, cultural and political lines, saying weâre at âan inflection pointâ in history. She called on Americans to âspeak truth about whatâs happeningâ in the Trump era. (Los Angeles Times / CNN / New York Times / Washington Post)
A political newsletter for normal people
WTF Just Happened Today? is a sane, once-a-day newsletter helping normal people make sense of the news. Curated daily and delivered to 200,000+ people every afternoon around 3 pm Pacific.
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