Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe told NBC News that the “Gang of Eight,” the congressional leaders regularly briefed by the executive branch on classified issues, did not object to the counterintelligence investigation into President Trump and his possible ties to Russia.
Said McCabe: “That’s the important part here, no one objected. Not on legal grounds, not on constitutional grounds and not based on fact.”
Associated Press: “Inside the West Wing and in conversations with outside allies, Trump has been workshopping other attempts to imprint his new adversaries with lasting labels, according to two people on whom the president has tested out the nicknames… He is also testing out lines of attack in public rallies, exploring vulnerabilities he could use against them should they advance to the general election.”
First Read: “The first: Can he compete in a much more crowded liberal/progressive lane than he encountered in 2016? Four years ago, he opened this lane and showed the party that voters will come. But now he’s got company – from progressive Elizabeth Warren, to the likes of Kamala Harris, Cory Booker and Kirsten Gillibrand, who are all running under the ‘Medicare for All’ banner.”
“This isn’t too different than what the Ron/Rand Paul family found out. In 2008 and then in 2012, Ron Paul opened the door to a much more libertarian message for the GOP. But by the time son Rand jumped into the presidential waters in 2016, other candidates had co-opted that message. (Of course, the un-libertarian in that field, Donald Trump, ended up winning the GOP nomination, though that’s a story for another day.)”
“In other words, by winning the message war in 2016, Sanders could become an also-ran four years later — because the new presidential field sounds a lot more like him.”
“The second challenge for Sanders: Can he convince rank-and-file Democratic primary voters to move on from 2016, which is an election cycle many of them want to forget?”
“For the first time since the midterms, Republicans find themselves playing offense as they push ‘socialism vs. freedom’ as an opening 2020 message,” Axios reports.
“Giddy House Republicans hope they can ride this message into 2020 — just as Dems seized their winning 2018 midterm message as soon as House Rs voted in 2017 to weaken protections for pre-existing conditions.”
Howard Schultz pledged in a letter to supporters that he is committed to making sure an independent run for president would do “nothing to re-elect Donald Trump,” Axios reports.
Said Schultz: “As I’m sure you’ve seen, there have been some skeptical and even downright angry comments from party activists and inside-the-Beltway pundits in the press and on social media. Others have expressed genuine fears that an independent candidate could help re-elect President Trump.”
He added: “I hear and respect this overriding concern, and have repeatedly promised that I will not be a spoiler. I am committed to ensuring that I will do nothing to re-elect Donald Trump. I mean it.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) confirmed to Vermont Public Radio that he is seeking the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.
Said Sanders: “I wanted to let the people of the state of Vermont know about this first. And what I promise to do is, as I go around the country, is to take the values that all of us in Vermont are proud of — a belief in justice, in community, in grassroots politics, in town meetings — that’s what I’m going to carry all over this country.”
Washington Post: “After Donald Trump became president, Sanders began to take a bigger role shaping the party, reintroducing ambitious bills, starting with ‘Medicare-for-all’ legislation. Those ideas have gained popularity since his 2016 run, but he now faces a diverse field of candidates, many of whom share his policy positions if not his democratic socialist beliefs.”
NBC News quotes from his email to supporters: “Together, you and I and our 2016 campaign began the political revolution. Now, it is time to complete that revolution and implement the vision that we fought for.”
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) “placed herself firmly in the center lane of the Democratic primary on Monday, calling popular progressive policy platforms ‘aspirational,’ and declining to fully commit to them,” Politico reports.
“The Minnesota Democrat called the Green New Deal ‘aspirational’ and said that Medicare-for-all is ‘something we can look to in the future,’ during a CNN town hall hosted in Manchester, N.H., on Monday night. On free four-year college, Klobuchar said: ‘No, I am not for four-year college for all.’”
Politico: “From shuttering coal-fired power plants to fighting the gun lobby, obesity and Big Tobacco, Michael Bloomberg’s philanthropy has given away $6.4 billion and earned the love and respect of progressive-minded activists across the country. The question is whether that goodwill is enough to fuel a Democratic presidential primary campaign.”
“The network of Bloomberg Philanthropies recipients is vast, and it includes mayors throughout the country as well as grassroots climate-change, gun-control and education advocates and others who could form a ready-made army of campaign supporters, volunteers and paid staffers. Bloomberg’s political team is beginning to press the issue. As the former New York mayor nears a decision on whether to run, his advisers — led by right-hand man Kevin Sheekey — are asking beneficiaries of his largesse if they’d be on board for his presidential bid.”
“In front of another friendly audience Monday, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) urged his supporters to pray for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to restore King’s committee assignments, saying the California Republican needs to ‘separate his ego from this issue and look at it objectively,'” the Sioux City Journal reports.
“McCarthy stripped King of all his committee assignments for the next two years following a national uproar over King’s quote in a New York Times story in which he asked, ‘White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?’”
“More than 6-in-10 Americans disapprove of President Trump’s decision to declare a national emergency so he can build barriers along the U.S border with Mexico,” a new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll finds.
“Nearly 6-in-10 also don’t believe there is an emergency at the southern border and that the president is misusing his presidential authority. They also believe that his decision should be challenged in court.”
“The U.S. is considering opening a liaison office in North Korea, in what would be another potential step toward normalizing relations while the two sides negotiate to curtail Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile forces,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The proposal comes as President Trump prepares to meet later this month in Hanoi, Vietnam, with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The plan would allow North Korea to also open an office in the U.S., the official said, but it wasn’t immediately clear how strongly North Korea supported the idea.”
Charleston Post and Courier: ““Make nice with party officials at every level … Develop a taste for barbecue: If you’re trying to watch your red meat intake while on the trail — or if you’re a vegan like U.S. Sen. Cory Booker — good luck. Even the collard greens will likely have some pork in them.”
“Get away from the big three: Spend time in South Carolina’s three major media markets — Charleston, Columbia and Greenville — but don’t count on that alone. … Pay attention to black voters, especially black women … If you don’t have a Southern accent, don’t try one now.”
WMUR has learned that an email announcing Sen. Bernie Sander’s (I-VT) plans to run for president will be sent to his supporters on Tuesday.
Sanders has reportedly already recorded a video in which he says he is running for president.
Sen. Kamala Harris told a crowd Monday that she would push for the federal government to rename Columbus Day “Indigenous Peoples’ Day,” a focal point for some progressives who say the holiday should emphasize the history of Native Americans instead of the European conquerer, BuzzFeed News reports.
A new HuffPost/YouGov survey finds a majority of Americans ― 55% ― disapprove of President Trump’s decision to declare a national emergency along the U.S.-Mexico border in order to pay for construction of a border wall. Just 37% approve.
The emergency declaration is significantly more unpopular in the poll than building the wall itself, of which 49% disapprove and 45% approve.
“Days after a federal judge imposed a limited gag order on him, Roger Stone posted a photograph of that judge to his Instagram page that included her name, a close-up of her face and what appeared to be the crosshairs of a gun sight near her head,” the Washington Post reports.
“Stone, a longtime confidant of President Trump, deleted the picture soon afterward, then reposted it without the crosshairs before deleting that second post as well.”
NBC News says Stone later posted a statement on Instagram saying the image had been “misinterpreted.”
“State election officials in North Carolina said that a political operative for Republican Mark Harris orchestrated a ‘coordinated, unlawful, and substantially resourced absentee ballot scheme’ in the 9th Congressional District last year, hiding evidence of the operation as it unfolded and obstructing the state’s investigation after the election,” the Washington Post reports.
“Those explosive charges opened an evidentiary hearing in Raleigh Monday, where the North Carolina State Board of Elections began listening to witness testimony to decide whether enough ballots were tampered with to taint the outcome of the 9th District race.”
The Charlotte Observer has more on the hearing.
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.
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