Archives for 2019

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Fear of Kobach Increases Pressure on Pompeo to Run

January 23, 2019 at 8:38 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Fear that Kris Kobach will capture the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate is driving the effort to recruit Secretary of State Mike Pompeo into the race,” the Kansas City Star reports.

Said GOP steategist David Kensinger: “No one wants to relive the disaster that was the Kobach campaign.”

“Kensinger said attempts to entice Pompeo, who is fourth in line to the presidency as the nation’s top diplomat, to run to replace the retiring Roberts can absolutely be traced to concerns about a possible Senate run by Kobach, the party’s 2018 nominee for governor.”

First Read: “But what does it say about working in the Trump administration that Pompeo running for the Senate is even a possibility? Normally, it’s the other way around – a senator becomes a secretary of state.”

Political Wire Straw Poll

January 23, 2019 at 8:27 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

This piece is only available to Political Wire members.

Who do you think will win the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020?

Take the survey.

The results will be announced tomorrow!

Trump Disapproval Hits New High

January 23, 2019 at 7:36 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A new CBS News poll finds President Trump’s overall approval rating has dipped three points from November to 36%. Fifty-nine percent of Americans now disapprove of the job he is doing – a high for his presidency.

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Most Americans Think Trump Is Compromised by Russians

January 23, 2019 at 7:33 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A new Politico/Morning Consult poll finds 57% of Americans believe it’s likely that Russia “has compromising information“ on President Trump while just 31% feel confident that Russia is not blackmailing the president.

Buttigieg Announces Exploratory Bid for President

January 23, 2019 at 7:19 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, the young, gay, millennial Navy veteran, who ran unsuccessfully in 2017 to lead the Democratic National Committee — announced early Wednesday morning that he is forming an exploratory committee to run for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, CBS News reports.

Washington Post: “Buttigieg suffused his announcement with references to his youth and the generational exception he represents compared to most of the Democratic field. He turned 37 on Saturday, making him the youngest entrant so far in the presidential race.”

A ‘Go Big’ Idea to End the Shutdown?

January 23, 2019 at 7:16 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Jonathan Swan: “A new immigration idea has been circulating over the past 24 hours at senior levels inside the White House and on Capitol Hill: Give a path to green cards to the 700,000 current DACA recipients.”

“Republican senators, including James Lankford of Oklahoma, have advocated for this idea. And Jared Kushner has relayed the idea to his colleagues in the White House as a possible way to break the congressional deadlock.”

Both Senate Bills to End Shutdown Likely to Fail

January 23, 2019 at 7:07 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Playbook: “On Thursday, the Senate will vote on two different bills: President Trump’s plan, to reopen government alongside a short-term DACA patch and other immigration changes, and a clean funding bill that would reopen government through Feb. 8.”

“Both of these bills are likely to fail. Neither is expected to reach 60 votes. What this does do is it gives senators a chance to vote on government funding — something Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s Senate has not done in a few weeks.”

“There will be Republicans who vote for the clean stopgap bill — but, as of now, not enough to reopen the government. Ending this standoff doesn’t appear to be the purpose of this exercise at this point. This is a pressure-valve release, of sorts. This shows the president that neither option is workable, at the moment, and some dynamic has to change if government is going to reopen.”

Majority Still Blame Trump for Shutdown

January 23, 2019 at 7:03 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A new Politico/Morning Consult poll finds that nearly 6-in-10 voters — 57% — disapprove of President Trump’s job performance, compared to the 40% that approve.

In addition, 54% of voters blame Trump and Republicans on Capitol Hill for the government shutdown. Only 35% blame congressional Democrats.

Extra Bonus Quote of the Day

January 22, 2019 at 10:57 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“We get that this is unfair to you, but this is so much bigger than any one person. It is a little bit of pain, but it’s going to be for the future of our country and their children and their grandchildren and generations after that will thank them for their sacrifice right now.”

— Lara Trump, quoted by Newsweek, on the furloughed federal employees due to the government shutdown.

Hundreds of IRS Employees Are Skipping Work

January 22, 2019 at 10:22 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Hundreds of Internal Revenue Service employees have received permission to skip work during the partial government shutdown due to financial hardship, and union leaders said Tuesday that they expected absences to surge as part of a coordinated protest that could hamper the government’s ability to process taxpayer refunds on time,” the Washington Post reports.

“The Trump administration last week ordered at least 30,000 IRS workers back to their offices, where they have been working to process refunds without pay… But IRS employees across the country — some in coordinated protest, others out of financial necessity — won’t be clocking in.”

Trump Exasperated By Giuliani

January 22, 2019 at 8:56 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Politico: “Trump was apoplectic after a pair of weekend media interviews by his personal lawyer, in which Giuliani said that the president had been involved in discussions to build a Trump Tower Moscow through the end of the 2016 campaign — a statement that enraged Trump because it contradicted his own public position.”

“Giuliani’s statement was the latest in a series of remarks over several months that have required walk-backs or reversals, and Trump spent much of Sunday and Monday fuming to aides and friends about his lawyer’s missteps. Most of those people share Trump’s frustration, noting that the former New York City mayor often appears to lack a mastery of the facts of Trump’s legal headaches.”

Four Progressive Democrats Named to House Oversight

January 22, 2019 at 8:20 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Four members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus — Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ro Khanna (-DCA), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) — were named Tuesday night to the House Oversight Committee, Axios reports.

Biden Allies Circulate Talking Points

January 22, 2019 at 8:17 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

New York Times: “Advisers to former Vice President Joseph Biden are circulating a document to his supporters that outlines a rationale for him to run for president and rebuts potential lines of attack — the latest indication that Mr. Biden is leaning toward a 2020 bid but has not yet fully committed.”

“The talking points reflect some of his core arguments he would make if he does enter the Democratic primary. He and his advisers contend that his long experience in politics — he served in the Senate for over 35 years — would represent an appealing contrast to President Trump’s erratic style.”

New Poll Finds Every Democrat Would Beat Trump

January 22, 2019 at 7:09 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A new Public Policy Polling survey found that every potential Democratic candidate in the 2020 presidential election — announced and unannounced — would beat President Trump in a head-to-head contest.

Biden 53%, Trump 41%
Sanders 51%, Trump 41%
Harris 48%, Trump 41%
O’Rourke 47%, Trump 41%
Warren 48%, Trump 42%
Booker 47%, Trump 42%
Gillibrand 47%, Trump 42%

Trump’s approval rate was a dismal 40% to 57%.

Also interesting: “Only 35% of voters agree with Trump that the government should be kept closed until he gets funding for the wall to 60% who disagree. 57% think Congress should vote today to reopen the government without funding the wall, to 38% who are opposed.”

State Department Cancels Border Security Conference

January 22, 2019 at 6:56 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“In the midst of a partial government shutdown stalemate over a border wall, the State Department has had to cancel, for now, an international conference focused on border security — due to that very shutdown,” CNN reports.

Romney Doesn’t See GOP Breaking with Trump

January 22, 2019 at 5:25 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) told UtahPolicy.com that he doesn’t know when or how the partial government shutdown will end, and he’s not sure what will break the budget impasse that is now more than 30 days old.

Said Romney: “I think it’s extremely unlikely that Republicans would say they’re not going to follow the president’s lead on this now. I think Republicans are going to say the president is negotiating on their behalf. I just don’t see very many Republicans that would be willing to depart from the leadership of the White House.”

Here Are the Trump Tower Moscow Plans

January 22, 2019 at 5:20 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

BuzzFeed News: “The president and his representatives have dismissed the project as little more than a notion — a rough plan led by Trump’s then-lawyer, Michael Cohen, and his associate Felix Sater, of which Trump and his family said they were only loosely aware as the election campaign gathered pace.”

“On Monday, his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, said ‘the proposal was in the earliest stage,’ and he went on to tell the New Yorker that ‘no plans were ever made. There were no drafts. Nothing in the file.’”

“However hundreds of pages of business documents, emails, text messages, and architectural plans, obtained by BuzzFeed News over a year of reporting, tell a very different story. Trump Tower Moscow was a richly imagined vision of upscale splendor on the banks of the Moscow River.”

Mueller Looking at Trump Campaign’s Ties to NRA

January 22, 2019 at 4:24 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team “has expressed interest in the Trump campaign’s relationship with the National Rifle Association during the 2016 campaign,” CNN reports.

Said former Trump campaign aide Sam Nunberg: “When I was interviewed by the special counsel’s office, I was asked about the Trump campaign and our dealings with the NRA.”

“The special counsel’s team was curious to learn more about how Donald Trump and his operatives first formed a relationship with the NRA and how Trump wound up speaking at the group’s annual meeting in 2015, just months before announcing his presidential bid.”