Daily Archives
September 26, 2017
33 posts · Tuesday
Kushner’s Lawyer Fooled By Email Prankster
“Top Washington lawyer Abbe Lowell engaged in an email exchange with a prankster posing as client Jared Kushner on Monday, at one point telling the prankster that he needed ‘to see all emails’ sent and received from a private email account the president’s son-in-law had set up in December,” Business Insider reports.
The prankster wrote to Lowell from the email address “kushner.jared@mail.com” asking what he should do with “some correspondence on my private email … featuring adult content.”
He added: “I’m so embarrassed. It’s fairly specialist stuff, half naked women on a trampoline, standing on legoscenes, the tag for the movie was #standingOnTheLittlePeople :(”
Lowell replied: “Don’t delete. Don’t send to anyone. Let’s chat in a bit.”
GOP Undecided on How Best to Fail on Obamacare
“Senate Republicans are on track to fall short in their last-ditch attempt to repeal Obamacare this week — now they’re just debating how best to fail on their seven-year campaign pledge,” Politico reports.
“The discussion will take place at the Senate GOP’s weekly party lunch later Tuesday, Republicans said. McConnell could go ahead and schedule a vote, in order to show the conservative grass roots and the broader party that the Senate GOP did all it could to dismantle the law. But there is also concern about the optics of going ahead with a failed vote.”
“Republicans are also privately worried that President Trump could continue to attack them if they give up on the effort publicly.”
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Murphy on Track to Win In New Jersey
A new USA Today/Suffolk poll in New Jersey finds Phil Murphy (D) with a nearly 20 percent point lead over Kim Guadagno (R) in the race for governor, 44% to 25%.
Meanwhile, Gov. Chris Christie (R) continues to suffer from a historic low 16% approval rating while 74% disapprove.
A Moore Win Could Spark a Populist Revolt In 2018
First Read: “If Roy Moore is victorious tonight – and if he wins the general in December – that will only strengthen the Steve Bannon/Breitbart/Nigel Farage forces in future GOP primaries. Think Arizona (where Sen. Jeff Flake is incredibly vulnerable), Nevada (ditto Sen. Dean Heller) and even Colorado (where Rep. Mike Coffman has dared Tom Tancredo to primary him).”
McCain Says His Cancer Prognosis Is ‘Very Poor’
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) says doctors have given him a “very, very serious prognosis” as he battles brain cancer, CNBC reports.
Of his chances for survival, McCain says: “Some say 3 percent, some say 14 percent.”
“McCain underwent surgery in July for a brain tumor that was later found to be a form of glioblastoma, the same type of cancer that took the life of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy in 2009. McCain said that he thinks about Kennedy a lot. He says Kennedy continued to work despite the diagnosis and ‘never gave up because he loved the engagement.'”
Quote of the Day
“Everybody knows that’s going to fail.”
— Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), quoted by the Washington Post, on a planned vote on the GOP’s latest health care plan.
Most Think Corporations Aren’t Taxed Enough
A new ABC News/Washington Post poll shows that 65% of Americans feel large corporations pay too little in taxes.
“Given what the public knows about it, they opposes Trump’s tax plan by 44% to 28%, with a substantial 28% undecided. Half of those polled expect the administration’s plan to reduce taxes on the wealthy, while just 10% think it’ll reduce taxes on the middle class. A quarter expect equal treatment.”
Team Trump Prepares the Shiv for Mitch McConnell
“The Trump White House is gearing up to lay blame for a series of likely failures this week squarely at the feet of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY),” the Daily Beast reports.
“On Tuesday, Republican primary voters in Alabama are poised to reject Trump and McConnell’s preferred pick for the seat, Sen. Luther Strange (R-AL). The next day, a Republican-authored last-ditch attempt to repeal and replace Obamacare is almost certain to go down to defeat after , if it comes to a vote at all.”
“The dual setbacks could have profound ramifications throughout the party, forcing it to reckon with a Republican electorate deeply upset with its inability to move an agenda and its own inability to get that agenda moved. The rush to assign responsibility for that failure is taking place before it even occurs.”
Use of Personal Devices Widespread In White House
Politico: “Frustrated with West Wing aides’ rampant use of personal communications devices for official business, former chief of staff Reince Priebus tried over the summer to stop – or at least limit – the practice. During a July senior staff meeting, Priebus asked aides to store their personal phones in secure lockers in the White House or either leave them at home during the workday, according to people who attended. The administration subsequently installed additional lockers, typically only found outside secure rooms, in the West Wing, as part of an effort to force aides to use their White House accounts for communications.”
“But the request was largely ignored, according to six current and former administration officials, advisers and others who correspond with White House. Aides laughed about Priebus’ request, and senior officials — including Priebus — continued to use their personal phones for phone calls, text messages and emails for White House matters.”
Tax Plan Gives GOP Limited Room to Maneuver
Wall Street Journal: “Republicans face a daunting challenge as their tax plan comes into sharper focus: They are trying to fit more than $5 trillion of tax cuts inside a $1.5 trillion box.”
“In all, the Republicans’ wish list will likely add up to more than $5 trillion worth of tax cuts over a decade, estimates Kyle Pomerleau of the Tax Foundation. Getting it into a budget blueprint that allows for just $1.5 trillion in cuts over 10 years could require paring back ambitions for rate cuts and curtailing long-cherished breaks. It could also mean resisting calls to use the bill to repeal a whole other set of taxes created as part of the 2010 Affordable Care Act.”
Caitlin Owens: Some Republicans want to merge tax reform and health care.
Clinton Aide Will Now Protest Trump Full Time
“Hillary Clinton’s longtime gatekeeper Philippe Reines is no longer just a freelancing critic of the Trump administration: he has quit his day job to devote himself full-time to excoriating the president and his top aides,” Politico reports.
Said Reines: “It’s stand in front of the tank time.”
Ivanka Trump’s China Ties Shrouded In Secrecy
“It is no secret that the bulk of Ivanka Trump’s merchandise comes from China. But just which Chinese companies manufacture and export her handbags, shoes and clothes is more secret than ever,” an Associated Press investigation has found.
“In the months since she took her White House role, public information about the companies importing Ivanka Trump goods to the U.S. has become harder to find. Information that once routinely appeared in private trade tracking data has vanished, leaving the identities of companies involved in 90 percent of shipments unknown. Even less is known about her manufacturers.”
Bannon vs. the GOP
Politico: “In a thundering 20-minute speech Monday night that was partly a rally for insurgent Senate candidate Roy Moore but equally a declaration of war on the Republican Party hierarchy, Bannon made clear that this next act of his political career could make the Republican civil war of recent years look tame.”
Said Bannon: “Mitch McConnell and this permanent political class is the most corrupt and incompetent group of individuals in this country. They think you’re a pack of morons. They think you’re nothing but rubes. They have no interest at all in what you have to say, what you have to think or what you want to do.”
