“Accused Russian spy Maria Butina appears to have reached a plea deal with federal prosecutors,” CNN reports.
“Butina is accused of trying to infiltrate Republican political circles and party leaders during the 2016 campaign in order to advance Russian interests, and prosecutors have said the former American University student was in touch with politically powerful Russians about her activities in the US.”
“The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review lower court decisions that blocked efforts in two states to end public funding to Planned Parenthood, refusing for now to get involved in state battles over abortion rights,” the Washington Post reports.
The cases did not touch on abortion itself, but three justices who said the court should have accepted the cases said that was the reason the court declined to get involved.
The Washington Post has instituted a new fact checking category — called “Bottomless Pinocchios” — for President Trump’s false claims that have been repeated at least 20 times and were originally rated Three or Four Pinocchios.
“The Fact Checker has not identified statements from any other current elected official who meets the standard other than Trump. In fact, 14 statements made by the president immediately qualify for the list.”
“Facing the prospect of a devastating loss in Parliament, British Prime Minister Theresa May announced Monday that she would delay a vote on the Brexit plan she negotiated with the European Union,” the Washington Post reports.
Said May: “If we went ahead and held the vote tomorrow, the deal would be rejected by a significant margin. We will therefore defer the vote scheduled for tomorrow and not proceed to divide the House at this time.”
“May will likely go to Brussels this week for a last-ditch attempt to seek new concessions from European Union leaders and write a deal that her own party can support. But it remains unclear what Europe can offer May to placate her domestic critics. E.U. leaders have never had much patience for Britain’s domestic squabbling, since most view Brexit as an entirely self-inflicted wound.”
New York Times: May’s Brexit deal is probably going to fail. What happens then?
Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) told CNN that he is “past 50-50” when it comes to the odds of him making a White House bid in 2020.
Said Hickenlooper: “I’d say we’re past 50-50. I think we’re probably 63, 64 percent.”
He added: “We’re seeing all kinds of evidence that the Trump presidency isn’t succeeding. It’s not taking America where it needs to go. It certainly isn’t fulfilling his promises to the rural parts of America.”
President Trump asserted Monday that payments to buy the silence of two women about alleged affairs were not illegal campaign contributions, as federal prosecutors contend, but instead a “simple private transaction,” the Washington Post reports.
“In his tweets, Trump suggested that the payments were being scrutinized only because prosecutors have not been able to find evidence of collusion between his 2016 campaign and Russia. He also appeared to suggest that prosecutors are taking their cues from Democrats… He further asserted that even if the payments could be considered campaign contributions, he should be facing a civil case rather than a criminal case. And he said, Cohen should be held responsible, not him.”
“Trump’s tweets were criticized Monday by several lawyers, both for their substance and for his public airing of a defense that could complicate matters if charges are ever brought against him.”
For members: The John Edwards Defense Won’t Work for Trump
“The job of White House chief of staff is close to impossible at the best of times, but President Donald Trump’s new West Wing enforcer faces an even tougher mission — one that may eventually evolve into an effort to save his presidency itself,” CNN reports.
“The next chief will walk into a White House engulfed in scandal, in the sights of special counsel Robert Mueller and newly empowered Democrats, at what is shaping up as one of the most grave constitutional moments in US history.”
Pennsylvania Senate President Pro-Tempore Joe Scarnati (R) has asked Sen.-elect Lindsey Williams (D) “to provide more documentation about her residency as Republicans decide whether to block her from taking her seat next year,” the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.
“In the weeks before the November election, Republicans backed an unsuccessful legal effort to get her kicked off the ballot on the grounds that she did not meet the residency requirements outlined in the state constitution, which says that lawmakers must live in the state four years.”
“Ms. Williams, who has repeatedly said she does meet the requirements, prevailed and won election in the 38th Senatorial District, which includes parts of Pittsburgh and its northern suburbs.”
Rep.-elect Ross Spano (R-FL) “is struggling to hire office staff as he relies on a controversial adviser: one of the friends at the center of a campaign finance scandal that is rocking the Florida Republican,” Politico reports.
“Spano, an attorney and outgoing state legislator with past financial troubles, recently admitted in a letter to the Federal Election Commission that he might have committed a campaign finance ‘violation’ in failing for two months to disclose $180,000 he accepted from two friends.”
“But if the FEC deems the ‘loans’ to be campaign contributions, they would exceed legal donation limits of $2,700 per cycle, per contributor. And experts say it could constitute a criminal violation by Spano and, potentially, the two people who gave his campaign the money — Cary Carreno and Karen Hunt.”
Former FBI Director James Comey asked American voters to end Donald Trump’s presidency with a “landslide” victory for his opponent in 2020, CNN reports.
“He all but begged Democrats to set aside their ideological differences and nominate the person best suited to defeating Trump in an election.”
Said Comey: “I understand the Democrats have important debates now over who their candidate should be, but they have to win. They have to win.”
U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May “has called off a crucial vote in Parliament on whether to approve her Brexit deal, after being warned she was on course for a devastating defeat,” Bloomberg reports.
“May’s office publicly insisting it was going ahead as recently as 11.20 a.m. on Monday but the prospect of an overwhelming revolt from members of Parliament forced the premier to think again.”
“Sen. Elizabeth Warren has the core of her 2020 team in place if she runs for president,” Politico reports.
“She has the seed money — there’s $12.5 million ready to go, left over from her recent Senate run — and a massive email list she’s amassed over years, boosted by a $3.3 million investment in digital infrastructure and advertising in the last election alone. Her aides have been quietly shopping for presidential campaign headquarters space in the Boston area in recent weeks, according to a source with knowledge of the move.”
“We’ve had limited success in dealing with this President. His word isn’t good. Within 48 hours he reverses himself. It’s very difficult to enter into a long-term agreement.”
— Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), quoted by Politico, on negotiations to avoid a government shutdown.
McClatchy: “Lindsey Graham laughingly says his sudden embrace of of Rand Paul is a sign of what the Bible calls ‘end times.’ Rand Paul jokes that their mind meld first needed couples’ counseling.”
“Long at odds when it comes to foreign policy, the South Carolina and Kentucky Republicans have discovered rare common ground: Fury over the role of Saudi Arabia’s crown prince in the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and frustration with the Trump administration’s support for the kingdom.”
Politico: “On Sunday evening, the vice president’s chief of staff, Nick Ayers, who had been the leading candidate to succeed outgoing White House chief of staff John Kelly, took himself out of the running. Ayers, who is only 36, is a savvy political operative wired with GOP donors and party leaders, and friends say he hopes to run for office himself one day.”
“In any ordinary White House, the job he is declining — for what he calls family reasons — would be an ambitious insider’s dream.”
“It’s a different story under Trump. A job that was once a ticket to Washington royalty has recently become a laughing stock. Trump’s first two top aides, Kelly and Reince Priebus before him, have left as diminished and arguably humiliated figures, unable to control the wild chaos of this president’s White House.”
Playbook: “We made a round of calls last night about the chief of staff job and heard the same thing over and over again: No one wants it this time, and it’s an exceedingly bad phase of the administration to take the helm. Whoever takes over right now would likely be at Trump’s side when special prosecutor Robert Mueller’s report drops, when Democrats on Capitol Hill start hammering him and as the market continues to slump.”
“The United States joined a controversial proposal by Saudi Arabia and Russia this weekend to weaken a reference to a key report on the severity of global warming, sharpening battle lines at the global climate summit in Poland aimed at gaining consensus over how to combat rising temperatures,” the Washington Post reports.
“The U.S. position lines up with the views of the Trump administration, which is plowing ahead with a raft of aggressive policies on coal power and oil exploration that are likely to worsen the effects of climate change — steamrolling over dire environmental warnings issued by the administration’s own team of experts in a major report just two weeks ago.”
In recent weeks, federal prosecutors contacted the Trump Organization “to renew a request they had made this year for documents and other materials,” the New York Times reports.
“The precise nature of the materials sought was unclear, but the renewed request is further indication that prosecutors continue to focus on the president’s company even as the case against Mr. Cohen comes to a close.”
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Jonathan Swan: On Tuesday at 11:30 am, President Trump plans to meet with Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer to see if they can cut a deal to keep the government open.”
“Over the past two days, we’ve emailed and spoken to more than a dozen Democrats and Republicans in close touch with leadership. None were optimistic that Tuesday’s meeting could yield a durable deal. The problem is simple: Trump wants $5 billion for his border wall, and Pelosi and Schumer don’t want to give it to him.”
“Especially not Pelosi, who won’t even commit to the $1.6 billion Schumer has already offered. She has offered a one-year funding extension at current levels ($1.3 billion for border security).”
“Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is one of the advisors to President Trump under consideration to be the next White House chief of staff,” CNBC reports.
“Yet Mnuchin has indicated to his inner circle that he feels best served as the head of Treasury… Even so, according to a source close to the Treasury secretary, some of Trump’s family members are pushing for Mnuchin as a possible replacement for the departing John Kelly.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt 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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