Daily Archives

November 14, 2017

30 posts · Tuesday

Top New York Fundraiser Quits Over Tax Bill

November 14, 2017 at 10:34 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Steve Louro, a Republican donor who hosted an event for Donald Trump at his Long Island home last year, abruptly quit his post as regional finance chairman for the state’s Republican Party over objections to the Republican-led tax bill advancing through Congress,” the New York Times reports.

Said Louro: “The bill that’s going to get passed is not going to take care of the American people. It’s a disgrace.”

He added: “The Republican Party took control of the government against all odds, and the bottom line is they fucked it up. It’s a disgrace. It’s going to hurt a lot of middle-class Republicans.”

At Least Two Lawmakers Have Sexually Harassed Staffers

November 14, 2017 at 8:39 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) “revealed that two current members of Congress, who she wouldn’t name, have sexually harassed staffers,” Fox 5 News reports.

Said Speier: “These harasser propositions such as ‘are you going to be a good girl,’ to perpetrators exposing their genitals, to victims having their private parts grabbed on the House floor.”

“Between 1997 and 2014, a little known Congressional fund paid out $15.2 million to 235 people who made sexual harassment claims in Congress.”

Hundreds of Federal Vacancies Are About to Matter

November 14, 2017 at 8:29 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

This piece is only available to Political Wire members.

After taking office, President Trump had 300 days to make nominations for roughly 1,200 jobs in the federal government that require U.S. Senate approval.

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New Poll Gives Moore a Lead In Alabama

November 14, 2017 at 7:43 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A new FOX10 News/Strategy Research poll in Alabama conducted just yesterday finds Roy Moore (R) leading Doug Jones (D) in the U.S. Senate race. 49% to 43% with 8% undecided.

Key finding: “Of those who indicated they would vote in the December 12 election, Moore lost 3 percentage points from the poll two weeks ago while Jones showed a 2 percent increase in support. Undecided voters went from 7 percent to 8 percent.”

RNC Abandons Roy Moore

November 14, 2017 at 7:40 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The Republican National Committee is withdrawing its support for besieged Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore, leaving him increasingly isolated as he confronts charges of sexual misconduct with teenagers,” Politico reports.

“Even before allegations surfaced against Moore, the committee believed he was in trouble. Internal RNC polling conducted around a week ago showed him leading his Democratic opponent by just two percentage points.”

Robocall Seeks Damaging Information on Roy Moore

November 14, 2017 at 5:50 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

At least one person in WKRG-TV‘s viewing area received a robocall seeking more damaging information about Alabama U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore (R).

Here is the text of that voicemail message:

Hi, this is Bernie Bernstein, I’m a reporter for the Washington Post calling to find out if anyone at this address is a female between the ages of 54 to 57 years old willing to make damaging remarks about candidate Roy Moore for a reward of between $5000 and $7000 dollars. We will not be fully investigating these claims however we will make a written report. I can be reached by email at albernstein@washingtonpost.com, thank you.

The Washington Post issued a statement: “The Post has just learned that at least one person in Alabama has received a call from someone falsely claiming to be from The Washington Post. The call’s description of our reporting methods bears no relationship to reality. We are shocked and appalled that anyone would stoop to this level to discredit real journalism.”

McConnell Steps Up Pressure to Force Moore Out

November 14, 2017 at 5:19 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell “deepened his bid to persuade Roy Moore to drop out of the race for an open Alabama Senate seat after accusations the Republican candidate engaged in sexual misconduct with teenage girls,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

McConnell “suggested he wanted Attorney General Jeff Sessions to run as a write-in candidate instead for his old seat, and he said that if Alabama voters elect Mr. Moore in the Dec. 12 vote, he would immediately face an ethics investigation.”

Meanwhile, the Daily Beast reports Steve Bannon “is keeping the door open to ditching” Moore.

Senate GOP Will Try to Repeal Obamacare Mandate

November 14, 2017 at 3:09 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Senate Republican leaders have decided to include a major change to their fast-moving tax cut bill that would repeal a key plank of the Affordable Care Act, trying to accomplish two of their top domestic priorities in a single piece of legislation,” the Washington Post reports.

“Republicans had so far resisted making the change, worried that injecting health care politics into the process could imperil the tax bill, but many of their members have supported the idea and they appear on the verge of including it.”

New York Times: “Repealing the so-called individual mandate, as President Trump had urged, would help Republicans with the difficult math problem they face in refining their tax plan. But it also risks reigniting the contentious debate over health care that Republicans found themselves mired in for much of the year.”

What Would Democrats Do?

November 14, 2017 at 2:08 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Jonathan Chait: “The Republican Establishment is trying to maneuver out of the binary choice of electing Roy Moore or putting their control of the upper chamber at risk by exploring exotic schemes, like voting to deny Moore a seat if he wins and replacing him with another appointed Republican. But if their machinations fail, they’ll be faced with a stark choice.”

“It’s easy to feel superior about this when opposition to grotesque treatment of teenage girls lines up neatly with your own party’s well-being. If you’re a liberal, ask yourself what you would do if the circumstances were reversed. Give the other party a Senate seat and a possible majority, and forfeit your control of staffing the Cabinet, appointing judges, and passing laws you consider vital for the country’s future? Or allow one of the votes for those things to be cast by a sexual predator?”

Russian Payments Included Suspicious Memo Line

November 14, 2017 at 1:29 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

BuzzFeed News: “On Aug. 3 of last year, just as the U.S. presidential election was entering its final, heated phase, the Russian foreign ministry sent nearly $30,000 to its embassy in Washington. The wire transfer, which came from a Kremlin-backed Russian bank, landed in one of the embassy’s Citibank accounts and contained a remarkable memo line: ‘to finance election campaign of 2016.'”

“That wire transfer is one of more than 60 now being scrutinized by the FBI and other federal agencies investigating Russian involvement in the U.S. election.”

Trump Approval Remains Near Record Low

November 14, 2017 at 1:22 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A new Quinnipiac poll finds President Trump’s approval rate at 35% to 58%, near his record low.

Also interesting: Just 40% of voters say Trump is fit to serve as president, while 57% say he is not fit.

By a 51% to 38% margin, Americans would like to see Democrats win control of the House of Representatives in 2018. By a 52% to 39% margin, they would like to see Democrats win control of the Senate.

Trump’s Nuclear Authority Questioned

November 14, 2017 at 12:07 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“A decades-old presidential authority to use nuclear weapons is suddenly coming into question as US allies and some lawmakers from both parties want the Trump administration to assure them that President Donald Trump cannot rashly launch a nuclear strike,” CNN reports.

“The potential that Trump could use existing law to authorize the deployment of a nuclear weapon on his own is becoming the subject of frequent conversation — and bipartisan anxiety — on Capitol Hill. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker will hold a hearing Tuesday on the authority of the President to maintain sole authority to launch nuclear weapons.”

“A NATO partner country raised concerns about the President’s command of the US launch system.”

80% of Trump Nominees Are Men

November 14, 2017 at 11:32 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Since he assumed office, Donald Trump has sent 480 nominations to the U.S. Senate for positions in the judicial branch and executive branches. Of those, the Daily Beast found, 387 were men—constituting just over 80 of all of Trump’s nominees.”

Sessions Insists He Didn’t Lie About Russian Contacts

November 14, 2017 at 11:05 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Attorney General Jeff Sessions “said that he has ‘always told the truth’ in describing his knowledge of Trump campaign contacts with Russians — though he acknowledged he now recalls an interaction with a lower-level Trump adviser who has said he told Sessions about contacts who could help arrange a meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin,” the Washington Post reports.

When asked previously about whether he believed Trump surrogates had communications with the Russians, Sessions said: “I did not, and I’m not aware of anyone else that did, and I don’t believe it happened.”

“Now, Sessions said he recalled a March 2016 meeting with Trump campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos. Papadopoulos, in pleading guilty to lying to FBI agents, has admitted he told Trump and a group of other campaign officials, including Sessions, that he had contacts who could help arrange a meeting between Trump and Putin.”

Sessions Not Interested In Returning to Senate

November 14, 2017 at 10:51 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Attorney general Jeff Sessions “has told political allies in Alabama that he is not considering running for his old Senate seat as a write-in candidate in next month’s special election,” the Weekly Standard reports.

“That’s according to a spokeswoman for Sessions at the Department of Justice, Sarah Isgur Flores, who also tells me that Sessions is telling Alabama Republicans he is not considering being appointed to the seat if Roy Moore wins and is either not seated by or is expelled from the Senate.”

Ryan Tells Moore to Drop Out of Race

November 14, 2017 at 10:44 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) said that Roy Moore (R) should drop out of the Alabama Senate race, CBS News reports.

Said Ryan: “He should step aside,” because the sexual misconduct allegations against him “are credible.”

Jones Hits Moore Over ‘Awful’ Allegations

November 14, 2017 at 9:47 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Alabama U.S. Senate candidate Doug Jones (D) is running a television ad about the allegations swirling around challenger Roy Moore (R).

The ad uses Republican voters to explain why they can’t vote with their party in next month’s election: “You read the story and it just shakes you. Just awful.”

David Weigel: “At no point does the ad get into the particulars of the scandal, which have included graphic descriptions of a 32-year old Moore, at the start of a long legal career in Alabama, initiating a sexual encounter with a 14-year-old and dating other teens. It’s a more careful approach than the one Democrats used in 2015, the last time the party won an upset victory in the Deep South, when now-Gov. Jon Bel Edwards loudly reminded voters of his opponent’s prostitution scandal.”

Robbing Blue States to Pay Red

November 14, 2017 at 9:38 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson: “Much of the debate over the Republican House and Senate tax plans has centered on how they will shift income toward the affluent. But there is a second kind of redistribution in the plans — from Democratic blue states to Republican red states.”

“Call it the Republican two-step: redistribute upward, then sideways. The biggest beneficiaries are corporations and the rich regardless of where they are. But under the Republican plans, half of these big cuts have to be paid for in the first 10 years (the other half will be added to the national debt, increasing it by $1.5 trillion). And these ‘pay-fors,’ as they’re called, are predominantly aimed at blue states.”