Archives for February 13, 2018 at 9:51 pm EST

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Trump’s Lawyer Says He Paid Stormy Daniels Himself

February 13, 2018 at 9:51 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Michael Cohen, President Trump’s longtime personal lawyer, told the New York Times that he paid $130,000 out of his own pocket to a pornographic-film actress who had once claimed to have had an affair with Mr. Trump.

Cohen said he was not reimbursed for the payment.

Said Cohen: “Neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction with Ms. Clifford, and neither reimbursed me for the payment, either directly or indirectly. The payment to Ms. Clifford was lawful, and was not a campaign contribution or a campaign expenditure by anyone.”

Democrats Flip Another Legislative Seat

February 13, 2018 at 7:55 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Margaret Good (D) won a special election for state representative in Florida’s 72nd district on Tuesday night, beating James Buchanan (R) by 52% to 45%, WWSB-TV reports.

The win gives Democrats their 36th legislative flip since President Trump took office.

Trump carried the district by a 51% to 46% margin in 2016.

Trump Doesn’t Want Corker to Run Again

February 13, 2018 at 7:50 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) “has been reconsidering his decision to retire this year, but Mr. Corker’s hopes for retaining his seat are running into a potentially insurmountable object: President Trump,” the New York Times reports.

“Just over four months after Mr. Corker, upon declaring he would retire, unleashed a biting series of attacks on Mr. Trump, the president is refusing to bless his friend-turned-foe’s effort to re-enter the Republican primary race.”

“Instead, in a telephone conversation last week, Mr. Trump offered encouragement to Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), a conservative lawmaker and White House ally who has emerged as the favorite to win the Republican nomination for Mr. Corker’s seat.”

Trump’s Move to End DACA Blocked by Another Judge

February 13, 2018 at 7:49 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

President Trump’s “move to end a program protecting hundreds of thousands of children of undocumented immigrants from deportation was blocked by a federal judge in Brooklyn, New York,” Bloomberg reports.

“It’s the second time in less than two months that a U.S. judge ruled that rescinding the Obama-era program as proposed would be illegal.”

White House Reeling as FBI Contradicts Abuse Claims

February 13, 2018 at 7:41 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The White House struggled Tuesday to contain a widening crisis over its handling of domestic violence allegations against a senior official, as it reeled from sworn testimony by the FBI chief that directly contradicted what President Trump’s aides had presented as the official version of events,” the Washington Post reports.

“The latest bout of turbulence is exacerbated by the administration’s reputation, earned over 13 chaotic months, for flouting institutional norms and misrepresenting facts to the public — a culture set by the president himself.”

BuzzFeed Sues DNC Over Trump Dossier

February 13, 2018 at 6:55 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

BuzzFeed is suing the DNC over its refusal to release information about how Russians hacked into its servers during the 2016 election, Vanity Fair reports.

The website, which published the Steele dossier alleging connections between President Trump and Russia, believes that the information would help it fend off a libel suit filed by Russian billionaire Aleksej Gubarev, who is named in the dossier. But the DNC says releasing information might make it vulnerable to more hacking.

Trump Still Doesn’t Think Russia Interfered In Election

February 13, 2018 at 6:51 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

President Trump “still isn’t buying that Russia interfered in the 2016 election,” CNN reports.

“Even as his intelligence chiefs unanimously told a Senate panel Tuesday that Russia meddled in 2016 and is planning to do so again in 2018, three sources familiar with the President’s thinking say he remains unconvinced that Russia interfered in the presidential election.”

Women Send Tampons to GOP Lawmaker

February 13, 2018 at 5:19 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Women across Arizona are bombarding state Rep. Thomas “T.J.” Shope’s (R) office with tampons and pads, after he stalled a bill “to provide female inmates in Arizona with an unlimited supply of feminine hygiene products at no cost to the inmates,” CNN reports.

Scoring the Redistricting Plans

February 13, 2018 at 4:36 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Planscore is a very impressive undertaking.

“With the help of code and data from election experts around the country, we are building a service to score and publish district plans for all 50 states on an easy-to-use website.”

Trump Has Given Just One News Conference

February 13, 2018 at 3:56 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Phillip Bump: “Trump mocked Clinton for going 235 days without giving a news conference. As of Friday, it will have been 365 days — a year — since he has given one as president.”

Police Say Netanyahu Should Face Graft Charges

February 13, 2018 at 3:04 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The Israeli police recommended on Tuesday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu be charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust, casting a pall over the future of a tenacious leader who has become almost synonymous with his country,” the New York Times reports.

“The announcement instantly raised doubts about his ability to stay in office.”

The BBC has a good backgrounder on the scandal.

Porter Was Up for Promotion Despite Abuse Allegations

February 13, 2018 at 2:26 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Rob Porter was involved in serious discussions to be promoted when he abruptly resigned from the White House last week amid allegations that he abused his two ex-wives,” CNN reports.

“Porter had been actively lobbying to take on new policy portfolios outside the traditional scope of the staff secretary, one person familiar with the matter said, which included speechwriting duties and a role in planning policy rollouts. Neither of those tasks is traditionally carried out by the staff secretary.”

‘The Kelly Coverup Is Unraveling’

February 13, 2018 at 2:22 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

White House Chief of Staff John Kelly’s enemies are ready to use FBI Director Chris Wray’s testimony as a weapon, according to Jonathan Swan.

Said one White House official: “Wray’s FBI timeline makes one thing clear: the Kelly coverup is unraveling right before our eyes.”

Louise Linton Is Really Very Normal

February 13, 2018 at 2:12 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Elle magazine profiles Louise Linton, the wife of Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin:

There are many other things Linton insists make her a regular person. She loves SoulCycle, for one. “That’s temple for me,” she says, dressed in a SoulCycle beanie and leggings. “This is my uniform. I wear SoulCycle stuff every single day of my life.” She’s fond of the expression super-duper. She is “super-duper” sorry for all of the missteps in her self-presentation. She finds the idea of doing a reality TV show, which many people have floated to her in recent months, to be “super-duper” scary.

Other ordinary-girl things: Linton loves calligraphy and big-band jazz. She enjoys taking cute selfies with Mnuchin using the Snapchat filters that make people look like puppies and piglets. Against her husband’s wishes, she shows them to me. (“I didn’t even know she had Snapchat,” her press rep says, faintly concerned.) She is obsessed with dogs, especially sick ones. So much so that she once made friends with a homeless man named Richard in a park in Los Angeles because she was concerned about the health of his dog. She wound up paying the vet bill.

The Curious Case of Melanija Knavs

February 13, 2018 at 1:49 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

As an immigration debate starts in the U.S. Senate, Roll Call notes that Slovenian-born Melania Trump’s own immigration history “has never been fully explained by the Trump camp.”

President Trump and his aides have “never thoroughly addressed the curious case of then-Melanija Knavs, who at 26 moved to New York City in the mid-1990s to pursue a professional modeling career. It would be two years before she met and began dating businessman Donald Trump. And still unresolved is whether she and her modeling agency properly handled her immigration status during that window.”

North Dakota Senate Candidate Quits Race

February 13, 2018 at 1:43 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

North Dakota U.S. Senate candidate Gary Emineth (R) says he’s quitting the race because he expects Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) to challenge Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp after all, the AP reports.

Emineth said he’s talked with Cramer several times in the past week and expects him to enter the race.

Wolf Rejects GOP Map

February 13, 2018 at 12:06 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D) “is rejecting a Republican-drawn map of Pennsylvania’s congressional districts to replace the GOP-drawn map struck down in a gerrymandering case, leaving him to make a different recommendation to the state’s high court,” the AP reports.

“Wolf’s move Tuesday comes six days before the Democratic-majority state Supreme Court says it’ll impose new boundaries for Pennsylvania’s 18 congressional districts.”

White House Was Warned of Porter Months Earlier

February 13, 2018 at 11:42 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

FBI director Christopher Wray “contradicted the White House timeline about the domestic abuse scandal involving Rob Porter, the president’s former staff secretary,” the New York Times reports.

“Mr. Wray said that the bureau delivered to the White House a partial report on problems in Mr. Porter’s background in March, months earlier than the White House has admitted receiving the information.”