“The country needs a check against a bad-behaving or lawbreaking president. But the Constitution already provides that check. If the president does something dastardly, the impeachment process is available.”
— Justice Brett Kavanaugh, writing in the Minnesota Law Review In 2009.
“House Democrats are grappling with how to respond to President Trump’s blanket resistance to cooperating with their investigations — defiance that legal experts say could upend the nation’s fundamental principle of checks and balances,” the Washington Post reports.
“House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-MD) announced plans on Tuesday to hold one Trump administration official who defied a subpoena in contempt of Congress and has threatened a second with the same punishment if he failed to show for a Thursday deposition. And with Trump promising to bar all former and current aides from testifying, the House began confronting the possibility of issuing multiple contempt citations and initiating civil litigation to defend its oversight role.”
Said Cummings: “This is a massive, unprecedented, and growing pattern of obstruction.”
New York Times: “Mr. Trump’s flurry of moves this week to block multiple congressional investigations signaled a new phase of constitutional friction that could redefine long-murky boundaries of Congress’s power to conduct oversight of the executive branch — and the power of presidents to keep government affairs secret from lawmakers.”
An ex-aide to Chris Christie convicted of helping cause massive traffic delays on the nation’s busiest bridge to punish a political adversary attacked the former New Jersey governor ahead of her sentencing, telling the Washington Post that Christie knew in advance there would be lane closures because she had told him.
Said Bridget Kelly: “I’m angry. I think that he knew that I would be an easy target, and I’m wildly disappointed. I’m so angry at myself for trusting these people. I’m so angry at myself for not asking more questions. I find it really unfortunate.”
Stephen Moore said he was hopeful about his chances of being nominated and confirmed to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors but would bow out of the process if he became a political liability for the Trump administration or Senate Republicans, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Said Moore: “I want to help make America the most prosperous place in the world. I’m totally committed to it as long as the White House is totally committed.”
Facebook said that it expected to be fined up to $5 billion by the Federal Trade Commission for privacy violations after an investigation found that its handling of data had harmed consumers, the New York Times reports.
The F.T.C. opened a new investigation last year after Facebook came under fire again for the improper handling of people’s data involving Cambridge Analytica, a political consulting firm, as well as a major data breach.
New York Times: “Mr. Mueller’s report released last week brimmed with examples of Mr. Trump seeking to protect himself from the investigation. But his request of Mr. Sessions — and two similar ones detailed in the report — stands apart because it shows Mr. Trump trying to wield the power of law enforcement to target a political rival, a step that no president since Richard M. Nixon is known to have taken.”
“The report gave a detailed account of Mr. Trump’s bids to wield power. Nine months into office in October 2017, he reminded Mr. Sessions in a private meeting that he believed the Justice Department was failing to investigate people who truly deserved scrutiny and mentioned Mrs. Clinton’s emails.”
“Bridget Kelly, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s deputy chief of staff, was sentenced in federal court to 13 months in prison Wednesday for her role in the 2013 George Washington Bridge lane closure scandal, commonly known as Bridgegate,” CBS News reports.
“Kelly and Bill Baroni, a top Port Authority of New York and New Jersey official, were originally convicted in 2016, but a federal appeals court threw out some of the counts against the two last year. Baroni had his sentenced reduced to 18 months in February. Kelly was initially sentenced to 18 months.”
“Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D), his wife and his brother-in-law are under federal criminal investigation for a dubious residential property tax appeal that dogged him during his gubernatorial campaign last year,” WBEZ reports.
“A law-enforcement source familiar with the investigation confirmed that the probe, which has not been revealed publicly until now, began last October and remains active.”
“Deutsche Bank has begun the process of providing financial records to New York state’s attorney general in response to a subpoena for documents related to loans made to President Trump and his business,” CNN reports.
“Last month, the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James issued subpoenas for records tied to funding for several Trump Organization projects.”
A new Morning Consult/Politico poll finds Joe Biden leading President Trump nationally, 42% to 34%, with another 19% who aren’t sure who they would support, and 5% said they wouldn’t vote.
“Of course he’s a liar. I think everybody knows he’s a liar. Some people are willing to forgive it. But we should not have to have that question. We should never have to question whether the commander in chief is telling the truth.”
— Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA), quoted by the Associated Press, while calling for impeachment proceedings against President Trump.
Evangelist Franklin Graham called on Pete Buttigieg to “repent” for being gay.
Graham called homosexuality “something to be repentant of, not something to be flaunted, praised or politicized.”
He added: “God doesn’t have a political party. But God does have commandments, laws & standards… Mayor Buttigieg says he’s a gay Christian… The Bible says marriage is between a man & a woman—not two men, not two women.”
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) has reportedly signed a law banning bans and fines on plastic bags, KFOR reports.
“The piece of legislation prohibits municipalities from banning or putting a tax on auxiliary containers made of materials such as cloth paper, cardboard, aluminum, glass and yes, plastic.”
For those in other states: How to pass a plastic bag ban.
GOP presidential candidate Bill Weld is calling on President Trump to resign from office in the wake of Robert Mueller’s investigation, calling him “a one-man crime wave,” the Boston Globe reports.
Weld, writing for The Bulwark: “How can a president function if he instinctively lies to not only the public but to his own staff? There is one essential truth that leaps from the pages of the Mueller report: No one can trust Donald Trump.”
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) “suggested the federal government misused its power to spy on President Trump for political reasons as part of its investigation into Russia’s efforts to influence the 2016 election,” the Des Moines Register reports.
Said Ernst: “It begs the question too, with the federal government spying on political opponents — what have we come to?”
She added: “And that seemed to generate out of the Obama administration. So I think that there are some things that need to be looked at. We need to understand, when is it appropriate to misuse power so that you’re using your federal assets to go after a political opponent? It sounds very much like something you find in Russia or someplace like that.”
“The Mueller report is no Access Hollywood tape. While the 2016 bombshell sent Republicans sprinting away from then-candidate Donald Trump, special counsel Robert Mueller’s explosive findings that the president may have committed obstruction of justice is causing a far more muted reaction from Republicans,” Politico reports.
“Not even the most vulnerable Republicans who have pledged to support Trump have abandoned the president. And there is no sign any will.”
“The late Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) family plans to support former Vice President Joe Biden’s White House bid, backing the Democrat not only in his party’s crowded primary race but also in a general election matchup with President Trump,” the Washington Examiner reports.
“The former police officer who arrested Beto O’Rourke for driving drunk in 1998, along with the sergeant who signed the incident report, both say they believe now what they reported at the time: that O’Rourke tried to leave the scene of the wreck he caused,” the Texas Tribune reports.
“O’Rourke admits he was intoxicated and says there is no justification for his actions, but he has denied that he tried to flee.”
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.
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