Wall Street Journal: “The U.K. Parliament’s decision on Saturday to postpone a final vote on the country’s exit from the European Union marks the latest geopolitical development likely to swing financial markets, highlighting the extreme levels of uncertainty that some investors worry isn’t being properly accounted for with U.S. stocks near all-time highs.”
Trump Brags to Foreign Leaders About His Resorts
Politico: “Trump constantly brags about his properties around the globe when he speaks with foreign leaders in person or by phone, even more than the public instances witnessed out in the open, according to three people familiar with Trump’s conversations with foreign officials. The remarks are permeating every membrane of his presidency so much that they’ve left aides and allies mastering verbal jiu-jitsu to defend his unprecedented approach to fusing personal business interests with his position in high office.”
“The interactions have led House Democrats — who have already launched an impeachment inquiry into whether Trump is illegally profiting off the presidency — and sometimes even his own staff to question whether his namesake businesses are influencing U.S. foreign policy.”
Trump Is Why Hamilton Pushed for Impeachment Powers
Ron Chernow: “President Trump has described the impeachment proceedings as a ‘coup,’ and his White House counsel has termed them ‘unconstitutional.’ This would come as a surprise to Alexander Hamilton, who wrote not only the 11 essays in The Federalist outlining and defending the powers of the presidency, but also the two essays devoted to impeachment.”
“There seems little doubt, given his writings on the presidency, that Hamilton would have been aghast at Trump’s behavior and appalled by his invitation to foreign actors to meddle in our elections. As a result, he would most certainly have endorsed the current impeachment inquiry. It’s not an exaggeration to say that Trump embodies Hamilton’s worst fears about the kind of person who might someday head the government.”
Pompeo Distances Himself from Mulvaney
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told ABC News that he never saw the kind of quid pro quo that acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney referred to on Thursday with regard to the decision-making process he was involved in.
Said Pompeo: “I’ll leave to the chief of staff to explain what it is he said.”
Trump Campaign Floods Web with Ads
New York Times: “On any given day, the Trump campaign is plastering ads all over Facebook, YouTube and the millions of sites served by Google, hitting the kind of incendiary themes — immigrant invaders, the corrupt media — that play best on platforms where algorithms favor outrage and political campaigns are free to disregard facts.”
“Even seemingly ominous developments for Mr. Trump become fodder for his campaign. When news broke last month that congressional Democrats were opening an impeachment inquiry, the campaign responded with an advertising blitz aimed at firing up the president’s base.”
No, Putin Doesn’t Like Impeachment
Tatiana Stanovaya: “As impeachment proceedings loom over President Trump, some observers have speculated that Russia, actively enjoying sowing chaos in the United States, is delighted by the dysfunction tearing apart the U.S. government. Nineteen Republican members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee signed a joint letter to the Wall Street Journal that was published on the paper’s op-ed page last month with the headline, ‘Impeachment Is What Vladimir Putin Wants.’ The GOP members of Congress wrote, ‘His goal, now and before the 2016 election, has been to pit Americans against one another and erode confidence in our democratic process.'”
“That might be true up to a point. But the impeachment investigation might be a bit too chaotic, even for Russian President Vladimir Putin.”
“There are many ways in which the Ukraine affair is terrifying the Kremlin, because it threatens to unwind what little progress Russia has made in recent years and undercuts its wider goals. Putin’s long-term goal is pretty clear: He wants the United States to conclude a ‘big deal’ that would revise the outcome of the Cold War and limit the strategic threat that he believes the West poses to Russia through its military expansion, double standards in foreign affairs and liberal values.”
The Liberation of Mitt Romney
McKay Coppins: “In the nine years I’ve been covering Romney, I’ve never seen him quite so liberated. Unconstrained by consultants, unconcerned about reelection, he is thinking about things such as legacy, and inheritance, and the grand sweep of history. Here, in the twilight of his career, he seems to sense—in a way that eludes many of his colleagues—that he’ll be remembered for what he does in this combustible moment.”
Said Romney: “I do think people will view this as an inflection point in American history.”
He added: “I don’t look at myself as being a historical figure, but I do think these are critical times. And I hope that what I’m doing will open the way for people to take a different path.”
Mulvaney Insists He Never Said Quid Pro Quo
Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney insisted he never said the Trump administration never demanded a quid pro quo between U.S. military aid and Ukraine launching investigations into Joe Biden during an absolutely brutal interview on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace.
Mulvaney continued making this point even after Wallace showed video of him doing so.
U.S. Troops Leaving Syria Will Be Assigned to Iraq
Defense Secretary Mark Esper told the Wall Street Journal that all of the roughly 1,000 U.S. troops ordered to leave northeastern Syria will move to western Iraq and will conduct U.S. operations against the Islamic State extremist group from there.
However, Esper said the Pentagon had yet to work out exactly how it would conduct its campaign outside of Syria.
Trump Was ‘Honestly Surprised’ At Pushback
Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney told Fox News that President Trump was “honestly surprised” at the level of pushback he received from the decision to choose his own Doral resort in Miami as the site of next year’s G7 summit, which he walked back on Saturday night.
Red Flags All Over for Senate Republicans
Josh Kraushaar: “Buried in the Washington drama of impeachment, corruption, and foreign policy chaos this past week was a ground-shaking bit of news: New polling and fundraising figures show that Mitch McConnell’s hold on the Senate majority is looking awfully precarious. Indeed, the pathway for a narrow Democratic takeover of the upper chamber is looking clearer than ever.”
“Four Republican senators were outraised by their Democratic challengers in the third fundraising quarter, with three of them representing battleground states (Iowa, Maine, and Arizona) that Republicans will need to win to maintain power. And in North Carolina, Sen. Thom Tillis raised only $1.2 million, an underwhelming sum for a senator facing a credible primary threat and an expensive general election ahead. All four swing-state senators also are viewed unfavorably by their constituents according to new quarterly Morning Consult polling, underscoring the sudden shift in support away from Republicans.”
CNBC: Key incumbents losing the money battle.
Mulvaney Faced Ouster Before Impeachment Crisis
“Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney faced internal efforts to oust him before House Democrats moved ahead with their impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump,” multiple sources tell CNN.
“Top aides including Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner were in the process of reaching out to at least two potential replacements for the top West Wing job shortly before House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced in late September that she would move ahead with an impeachment inquiry.”
Revenge of the State Department
Politico: “In recent days, current and former Foreign Service officers have defied Trump administration orders and trudged to Capitol Hill to testify before House committees investigating whether to impeach the president. Colleagues inside the State Department and their allies in the broader foreign policy community are quietly hailing them as heroes, with special praise for those testifying despite still being on the government payroll.”
Trump Will No Longer Host G7 at His Resort
President Trump said that he would no longer be holding next year’s Group of Seven summit at his luxury golf club near Miami, citing what he said was “irrational” criticism that the choice would enrich his family business, the New York Times reports.
Said Trump: “I thought I was doing something very good for our country by using Trump National Doral, in Miami, for hosting the G-7 leaders. But, as usual, the hostile media & Democrat partners went CRAZY!”
Washington Post: “The decision — while it lasted — was an unprecedented one in modern American politics: The president awarded a massive contract to himself. The White House promoted Doral as the single best venue in all of the United States to host the G-7 next June, and the summit would have brought thousands of guests in the offseason to a resort that is struggling financially.”
Trump Weakened on Every Front
Washington Post: “President Trump, whose paramount concern long has been showing strength, has entered the most challenging stretch of his term, weakened on virtually every front and in danger of being forced from office as the impeachment inquiry intensifies.”
“Trump now finds himself mired in a season of weakness. Foreign leaders feel emboldened to reject his pleas or contradict him. Officials inside his administration are openly defying his wishes by participating in the impeachment probe. Federal courts have ruled against him. Republican lawmakers are criticizing him. He has lost control over major conservative media organs. And polling shows a growing share of Americans disapprove of his job performance and support his impeachment.”
British Government Asks for EU Delay
“The British government formally asked the European Union to delay the country’s departure for the third time, a request Prime Minister Boris Johnson had long resisted,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Mr. Johnson, who has rejected delaying Brexit, didn’t sign the letter. He also sent a second letter urging EU leaders not to grant an extension.”
“The request, in a letter to European Council President Donald Tusk sent late Saturday, marks a political setback for Mr. Johnson just days after he successfully concluded a renegotiation of Britain’s EU withdrawal terms that his political opponents assumed was all but impossible.”
Billionaire Governor Received Farm Subsidies
“A farming business owned by the family of West Virginia’s billionaire governor has received $125,000 in soybean and corn subsidies, the maximum allowed from a federal program meant to help American farmers through the U.S. trade war with China,” the AP reports.
“There is no evidence Gov. Jim Justice did anything illegal. But at least one analyst said the payments to the richest man in West Virginia are unseemly, given his wealth. And the subsidies have thrown the spotlight again on his business empire and the potential conflicts of interest it poses.”
Sanders Returns to the Campaign Trail
Sen. Bernie Sanders returned to the campaign trail Saturday with the support of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, making a comeback nearly three weeks after suffering a heart attack, the Washington Post reports.
Said Sanders: “I am more than ready to assume the office of president of the United States. I am more ready than ever to help create a government based on the principles of justice.”
He added: “To put it bluntly, I am back.”
