“Paul Ingrassia, a conservative activist who withdrew his nomination to oversee a government watchdog agency last month after Politico reported he made racist comments in a group chat, said Thursday he is moving to a new job in the administration,” Politico reports.
Ingrassia said in one of the texts: “I do have a Nazi streak in me from time to time, I will admit it.”
Daily Beast: Trump rewards failed ‘Nazi’ nominee with new top job.
“A secret Justice Department memo blessing President Trump’s boat strikes as lawful hangs on the idea that the United States and its allies are legally in a state of armed conflict with drug cartels, a premise that derives heavily from assertions that the White House itself has put forward,” the New York Times reports.
“The memo from the department’s Office of Legal Counsel, which is said to be more than 40 pages long, signed off on a military campaign that has now killed 80 people in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean. It said such extrajudicial killings of people suspected of running drugs were lawful as a matter of Mr. Trump’s wartime powers.”
Laura Rozen: “For the first nine/ten months of Trump’s second term, it seemed that he wielded virtually unchecked power, with a supplicant Republican Senate, House and Supreme Court, incompetent but purely loyal cabinet chiefs like Pete Hegseth and Pam Bondi in place solely because they would not refuse Trump’s illegal demands to use US troops against Americans in American cities, and to prosecute Trump’s perceived political critics, or pardon his corrupt henchmen, which he continues to do at an astonishing pace.”
“But in the past week, Trump’s power has been facing a new reality check that even he at some level seems to have acknowledged is not fully in his control or malleable to his propaganda: American voters blame Trump and the GOP for the high cost of living and worsening economy under their unified control of Washington.”
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“After more than 12 years in Congress, Rep. Eric Swalwell is eyeing a new workplace: the California governor’s mansion,” MSNBC reports.
“According to two sources familiar with the matter who were granted anonymity to discuss the congressman’s private plans, Swalwell has all but decided he is running for governor, with one of the sources saying he has even been discussing an announcement as early as next week.”
The BBC apologized to President Trump after criticism over how a documentary edited his Jan. 6 speech, and said it does not plan to rebroadcast the program, Axios reports.
“The Justice Department on Thursday joined a Republican-led lawsuit that seeks to block a new Democratic-drawn congressional map in California that voters approved last week,” NBC News reports.
“The redrawn district lines could allow Democrats to pick up an additional five House seats in next year’s midterm elections. The Trump administration’s involvement in the case escalates the battle and adds another political layer to the ongoing redistricting efforts that are playing out across the country.”
The Washington Post looks at how Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has worked to appease President Trump in the past year in order to fend off a complete federal takeover of the city.
Behind closed doors, Bowser “assured Trump in an Oval Office meeting that she would publicly emphasize the benefits of his federal intervention,” and “worked to beautify city property that had drawn his attention.”
“In text messages sent in 2017, disgraced financier and registered sex offender Jeffrey Epstein appears to position himself as a middleman between president Donald Trump’s administration and Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates, even seemingly representing himself as passing on information directly from Trump to Gates through an intermediary,” Wired reports.
“The messages, which the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform released on Wednesday and originated with the Epstein estate, begin on January 27, 2017, years after Epstein had already pleaded guilty to state prostitution solicitation charges. In them, Epstein purports to show intimate awareness of Trump’s plans for domestic and global public health policy, and to be directly familiar with the president’s thinking.”
“Trump has continued to claim, as recently as this summer, that he stopped speaking with Epstein around 2004.”
“President Donald Trump’s push to send a tariff rebate check to Americans would take an act of Congress, his top economic advisers acknowledge,” Politico reports.
“Support among Republicans on Capitol Hill is lukewarm, at best.”
“Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) has stood by her signature on the discharge petition to force a vote on releasing the Epstein files, but White House officials say her decision is not a smart strategy to gain President Donald Trump’s support in the hotly contested primary for governor of South Carolina,” NOTUS reports.
While Mace isn’t the only Republican who defied Trump by signing onto the petition, she is the only one currently seeking higher office, and the White House has taken note of that.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has instructed U.S. diplomats to consider obesity alongside various chronic medical conditions as among the reasons to reject foreigners seeking U.S. visas, Politico reports.
A new Reuters/Ipsos poll finds that 44% of Democrats said they were “very enthusiastic” about casting their ballot next year, compared with just 26% of Republicans.
Cost of living remains voters’ top concern, with 45% saying it is the most important factor for deciding whether to vote for a candidate.
“We do need to stand up to him, but a shutdown, with all the pain it is bringing to the very people we want to help, is just not the place to do it. Will we be able to pass a bill next month extending the tax credits? It’s going to take some hard bargaining and is anything but a sure thing, but at least now there’s a chance where there was none before. And, in the meantime, the kids will be fed.”
— Sen. Angus King (I-ME), writing in the Portland Press Herald.
Associated Press: “Many are left feeling that their livelihoods served as political pawns in the fight between recalcitrant lawmakers in Washington and are asking themselves whether the battle was worth their sacrifices.”
A top housing official in President Trump’s administration has referred Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) to the Justice Department for a potential federal criminal probe, based on allegations of mortgage and tax fraud related to a Washington, D.C., home, NBC News reports.
He is the fourth Democratic official to face mortgage fraud allegations in recent months.
“Back pay owed to federal workers for the time they were furloughed during the government shutdown is expected to land in their bank accounts early next week,” CNBC reports.
“House Republicans are fuming that their Senate counterparts can now sue the federal government if their digital data is subpoenaed, acquired or accessed without notifying them, and they’re vowing to try to do something about it,” NOTUS reports.
“The provision, which was tucked into the funding legislation to reopen the federal government passed by the House on Wednesday, allows senators — and only senators — to sue the federal government for up to $500,000 if their digital data is seized without previous notification, and they can do so retroactively through 2022. They can also sue again for the same amount if the federal government actually obtains that data.”
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) has been hospitalized after a fall near his home, which caused minor injuries to his face, CBS News reports.
“Fetterman fell to the ground after feeling light-headed, which was due to a ventricular fibrillation flare-up, the statement said. Ventricular fibrillation is a type of irregular heartbeat.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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