Rep.-elect Ross Spano (R-FL) has acknowledged that his campaign financing “may have been in violation” of federal law, the Tampa Bay Times reports..
“In a filing with the Federal Elections Commission which Spano released publicly Saturday afternoon, he acknowledged borrowing $180,000 from two people he has described as personal friends from June through October this year, and then lending his campaign $167,000 in roughly the same time period.”
Incoming Senate Finance Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) told Axios he may try to make it harder for the president to impose new tariffs.
“Grassley said he would take a favorable view of legislation limiting the administration’s power to impose tariffs to protect national security (known as Section 232 authority).”
Said Grassley: “Maybe the definition of national security or maybe the conditions under which national security could be used as an excuse is a little wide.”
Daily Beast: “Following the abrupt cancellation of Donald Trump’s G20 meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russian state media roasted him. Known for seamlessly adhering to the Kremlin’s viewpoint, the troupe of Putin’s cheerleaders took turns laying into the president of the United States.”
Said one commentator: “Trump is a rock hanging around Russia’s neck.”
Said another: “What kind of a man is this – first he says it will happen, then it won’t… This is just foolishness, he seems to be an unbalanced person.”
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“In November, Democrats in Wisconsin won the governor’s mansion and the race for attorney general after closely fought elections. In December, they find themselves preparing for an unexpected but equally fierce political fight,” the Guardian reports.
“Republicans controlling the state legislature are preparing an unusual lame-duck session, in which they will aim to pass measures to weaken Democratic governor-elect Tony Evers and attorney general-elect Josh Kaul before they take office next month.”
Meanwhile, Evers told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel that he “will take any steps possible” to prevent Republican lawmakers from removing key powers from his new administration.
Said Evers: “I view this as a repudiation of the last election. I will take any steps possible to assure the people of Wisconsin that I will not invalidate those votes. And frankly, I’m encouraging citizens across the state of Wisconsin to help me in that effort.”
“With a brutal finality, the extent of the Republicans’ collapse in the House came into focus last week as more races slipped away from them and their losses neared 40 seats,” the New York Times reports.
“Yet nearly a month after the election, there has been little self-examination among Republicans about why a midterm that had seemed at least competitive became a rout.”
Former FBI Director James Comey “has reached an agreement with Republican lawmakers to testify behind closed doors about investigations into Hillary Clinton’s email server and whether President Trump’s campaign advisers colluded with the Russian government to steer the outcome of the 2016 presidential election,” the New York Times reports.
“Republican lawmakers agreed to release a transcript of his testimony in 24 hours and to allow Mr. Comey to speak about the meeting publicly, he said on Twitter.”
Said Comey: “This is the closest I can get to public testimony,”
Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, told CBS News that his committee has made “a number of referrals” to special counsel Robert Mueller’s office for prosecution, and vowed to do the same for anyone who lies to congressional investigators probing Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Said Warner: “If you lie to Congress, we’re going to go after you. We’re going to make sure that gets referred.”
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) told NBC News that she will make a decision on running for president over the holidays.
Said Harris: “It will ultimately be a family decision… And over the holiday, I will make that decision with my family.”
The Raleigh News & Observer looks at data on mail-in ballots in North Carolina’s 9th congressional district, where there are allegations of improperly collecting mail-in ballots and voters receiving mail-in ballots they did not request.
President Trump said that he “intends to formally notify Canada and Mexico of his intention to withdraw from the nearly 25-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement in six months. The move would put pressure on Congress to approve his new trade deal with the two U.S. neighbors,” Politico reports.
Said Trump: “I’ll be terminating it within a relatively short period of time. We get rid of NAFTA. It’s been a disaster for the United States.”
Maureen Dowd: “I’m looking around Scotiabank Arena, the home of the Toronto Maple Leafs, and it’s a depressing sight. It’s two-for-the-price-of-one in half the arena. The hockey rink is half curtained off, but even with that, organizers are scrambling at the last minute to cordon off more sections behind thick black curtains, they say due to a lack of sales. I paid $177 weeks in advance. (I passed on the pricey meet-and-greet option.) On the day of the event, some unsold tickets are slashed to single digits.”
“I get reassigned to another section as the Clintons’ audience space shrinks. But even with all the herding, I’m still looking at large swaths of empty seats — and I cringe at the thought that the Clintons will look out and see that, too.”
“Israeli police on Sunday recommended indicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on charges of bribery and corruption in a third case — this time on suspicion that the leader eased business regulations for the country’s largest telecommunications company in exchange for favorable coverage for him and his wife on a popular news website owned by the firm,” the Washington Post reports.
“Britain’s opposition Labour Party is ramping up the pressure on Prime Minister Theresa May, saying it will call a no-confidence vote in the Conservative leader if Parliament rejects her Brexit deal on Dec. 11,” the AP reports.
“May is battling to persuade skeptical British lawmakers to back the deal agreed between her government and the European Union last month. Rejecting it would leave the U.K. facing a messy, economically damaging ‘no-deal’ Brexit on March 29.”
Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), the incoming chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, told NBC News that new revelations from Michael Cohen amount to proof that Russia had “leverage” over Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Said Nadler: “The fact that he was lying to the American people about doing business in Russia and the Kremlin knew he was lying gave the Kremlin a hold over him.”
He added: “One question we have now is, does the Kremlin still have a hold over him because of other lies that they know about?”
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), the incoming chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told ABC News the same thing: “There is now testimony, there is now a witness, who confirms that in the same way Michael Flynn was compromised, that the president and his business are compromised.”
Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX) “may have lost in Texas, but he’s winning in Obamaland,” NBC News reports.
“Aides to the former president and the man himself say O’Rourke’s campaign against Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) gave them flashbacks to Obama’s precocious political rise and has positioned the young white congressman as an early if unlikely heir to the first black president’s ‘hope and change’ mantle.”
“Obama said as much at an event in Chicago last week and some of his former political lieutenants have been publicly encouraging O’Rourke to consider a 2020 presidential bid, while privately counseling him on what to expect should he jump in.”
“The United States and China called a truce in their trade war on Saturday after President Trump agreed to hold off on new tariffs and President Xi Jinping pledged to increase Chinese purchases of American products,” the New York Times reports.
“The compromise, struck over a steak dinner at the Group of 20 meeting here and announced in a White House statement, was less a breakthrough than a breakdown averted. The two leaders remain far apart on basic issues of market access and trade policy, and there was no sign that either planned to back down on those.”
Washington Post: “The temporary cease-fire in the U.S.-China trade war left the toughest issues to future bargaining sessions, which will attempt to succeed where earlier efforts failed — and under an ambitious 90-day deadline.”
Stan Collender: “Bush’s death and the events that have been scheduled this week to commemorate his life almost certainly will be a cover story rather than the actual reason this Friday’s shutdown showdown may be delayed.”
“The real reason will be that neither the White House nor Senate Republicans have the votes they need. If they did, the debate and vote would have taken place this week ‘in President George H.W. Bush’s memory and honor.'”
“This is one of the most basic truisms of legislating in Washington: You stop talking and take the vote as soon as possible when you’ve got enough to win. When you don’t, you figure out a way to delay.”
Politico: Trump said he would back a two-week delay of a government shutdown.
“Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman sent at least 11 messages to his closest adviser, who oversaw the team that killed journalist Jamal Khashoggi, in the hours before and after the journalist’s death in October, according to a highly classified CIA assessment,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The Saudi leader also in August 2017 had told associates that if his efforts to persuade Mr. Khashoggi to return to Saudi Arabia weren’t successful, ‘we could possibly lure him outside Saudi Arabia and make arrangements.'”
Politico: World leaders shy away from confrontation over Khashoggi killing.
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map 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.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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