Washington Post: “In two meetings in the White House in recent months, Trump said repeatedly that Russia’s efforts didn’t change a single vote, even though his advisers have never suggested that they did, and he continually insisted that the campaign was not ‘hacked.'”
Graham Urges Trump to Fight Subpoenas
“A defiant Sen. Lindsey Graham said Monday that President Donald Trump should ignore congressional subpoenas demanding the administration turn over records to Capitol Hill, even though the South Carolina Republican once noted a similar fight had contributed to Richard Nixon’s downfall,” CNN reports.
“Graham, who played a prominent role in President Bill Clinton’s impeachment proceedings in 1998, defended his past stance in an interview with CNN while calling on Trump to ‘fight like hell’ against House Democratic ‘political hacks’ and goading Democrats to carry through with impeaching Trump if they want.”
Chuck and Nancy Head Back to the White House
Playbook: “The main event today comes at 10:30 a.m. Eastern time, when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer along with a few top committee chairs, are due to meet with the president to talk about … at long last! … infrastructure.”
“Democrats laid out their bargaining position on the matter in a letter Monday, but meetings with Trump have a tendency to, er, roam. Will the president bring up any other topics that have been on his mind lately?”
Politico: “The last time Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer met with Donald Trump it was an unequivocal disaster, culminating in the longest government shutdown in history. … [T]he White House meeting Tuesday morning is likely to reveal whether anything at all can get done in Washington over the next 18 months.”
Trump Sues Banks to Block Subpoenas
President Trump is suing Deutsche Bank and Capital One in an effort to prevent them from providing financial records requested through congressional subpoenas, USA Today reports.
“The complaint is the latest in a series of disputes between the White House and Congress regarding Trump’s conduct. The president last week filed a federal lawsuit to block the Democratic-controlled House from obtaining financial records from his business’s longtime accountant.”
Trump Says Muslim Brotherhood Is Terrorist Group
“The Trump administration is pushing to issue an order that would designate the Muslim Brotherhood a foreign terrorist organization, bringing the weight of American sanctions against a storied and influential Islamist political movement with millions of members across the Middle East,” the New York Times reports.
Biden Gets an Announcement Bounce
A new Morning Consult survey of Democrats found 36% say Joe Biden is their first choice for president, up from 30% the week before.
The increase was enough to more than double his advantage over Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), from 6 points to 14 points.
Trump Orders Overhaul of Asylum System
“President Trump ordered major changes to U.S. asylum policies in a White House memo released Monday night, including measures that would charge fees to those applying for humanitarian refuge in the United States,” the Washington Post reports.
“Trump’s directive also calls for tightening asylum rules by banning anyone who crosses the border illegally from obtaining a work permit, and giving courts a 180-day limit to adjudicate asylum claims that now routinely take years to process because of a ballooning case backlog.”
Smear Merchants Try to Slime Pete Buttigieg
“A Republican source told the Daily Beast that lobbyist Jack Burkman and internet troll Jacob Wohl approached him last week to try to convince him to falsely accuse Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, of engaging him sexually while he was too drunk to consent.”
“The source who spoke to The Daily Beast said Burkman and Wohl made clear that their goal was to kneecap Buttigieg’s momentum in the 2020 presidential race. The man asked to remain anonymous out of a concern that the resulting publicity might imperil his employment, and because he said Wohl and Burkman have a reputation for vindictiveness.”
“But the source provided The Daily Beast with a surreptitious audio recording of the meeting, which corroborates his account.”
Trump Goes Hard After Biden
“President Trump appeared unnerved as Joe Biden secured the endorsement of the top firefighters’ union, issuing Monday a string of four tweets targeting the Democratic presidential candidate and union leaders,” CNN reports.
“That’s exactly the behavior several of the President’s political advisers have been warning him against, wary that Trump will elevate a potentially formidable rival.”
Mattis Ignored Orders from Trump
Former Defense Secretary James Mattis declined to carry out orders from President Trump or tried to limit his options in attempts to prevent tensions with North Korea, Iran and Syria from escalating, the New Yorker reports.
Said one former national security official: “The president thinks out loud. Do you treat it like an order? Or do you treat it as part of a longer conversation? We treated it as part of a longer conversation.”
The official added: “We prevented a lot of bad things from happening.”
Trump Has Sold a Million MAGA Hats
President Trump’s re-election campaign manager, Brad Parscale, told CBS News that the campaign had sold almost a million MAGA hats.
Said Parscale: “We’re closing in on selling our one millionth red MAGA hat. You know those are 45 bucks a piece. You do the math there really quick, it’s $45 million. So those kind of things—this president has changed the game in the way merchandise, rallies, the entire experience of being part of the political movement. He’s changed it.”
Rosenstein Will Resign Next Month
“Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein submitted his resignation letter to President Trump on Monday, ending a tumultuous two years in which he tried to steady a rocky Justice Department and its relationship with the White House,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
His resignation is effective May 11.
Biden ‘Takes Responsibility’ for Treatment of Anita Hill
Joe Biden told ABC News he takes “responsibility” for Anita Hill’s treatment when she testified before the Senate Judiciary committee during Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’s confirmation hearing.
Said Biden: “I believed her from the very beginning, but I was chairman. She did not get a fair hearing. She did not get treated well. That’s my responsibility. As the committee chairman, I take responsibility that she did not get treated well. I take responsibility for that.”
He added: “I apologized for it. I apologize again.”
Tariffs Boost Cost of Washing Machines Almost $100
“A little more than a year after President Trump slapped a 20% tariff on imported washing machines, new research finds that American shoppers have been the ones to pay the price,” NBC News reports.
“A study conducted by two researchers at the University of Chicago and a Federal Reserve Board Governor found that washers cost an average of 12% more after the imposition of the tariffs, or roughly $86 to $92 more per appliance.”
Meanwhile, Bloomberg reports personal income for farmers “fell by the most in three years in the first quarter, as losses to U.S. agriculture mount from Trump’s trade wars.”
A Visit to the Clinton Library
Walter Shapiro: “What is lacking throughout the Clinton Library is context. No one should be surprised that the impeachment saga is as airbrushed as an old-time Hugh Hefner-approved Playboy centerfold. Monica Lewinsky is mentioned in a single sentence—and Clinton is portrayed as morally, as well as legally, blameless. As the signage puts it, ‘After the Republicans won Congress in 1994, the fight for power culminated in two government shutdowns and an impeachment battle, bringing partisan opposition to a new high and attempting to deny the very legitimacy of the President’s election.'”
“To give Clinton a break, honesty about sex has never been his strong suit. But the true missing figure in Little Rock, whose shadow dominated the Clinton years, is Ronald Reagan.”
White House Reviewing Stephen Moore’s Writings
“The White House is reviewing past writings by Stephen Moore, the conservative commentator whom President Trump plans to nominate to the Federal Reserve Board, amid criticism that many of the opinion columns he penned denigrated women,” the New York Times reports.
Ex-Envoy Says Trump Authorized North Korea Payment
“Joseph Yun, the former State Department Special Representative for North Korea, confirmed Monday that he signed an agreement to pay North Korea $2 million for the release of American student Otto Warmbier in 2017,” CNN reports.
Said Yun: “As soon as North Korea side told me that this bill for $2 million would have to be paid … I contacted my boss then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. He got back to me very quickly thereafter to say yes, go ahead and sign.”
Trump has flatly denied any money was paid for the release of Warmbier.
Most Say Good Economy Hasn’t Helped Them
A new Monmouth poll finds just 12% of Americans say that their family has benefited a great deal from recent growth in the U.S. economy and another 31% say they have received some benefit from the economic upturn.
A majority, though, say they have been helped either not much (27%) or not at all (27%) from the nation’s macroeconomic growth.
