While over 200 people attended President Trump’s speech last night at the historically-black Benedict College, CNN reports only 10 students were reportedly invited to attend — and just seven ended up attending.
Pompeo Says He’s Seen ‘Not Appropriate’ Behavior
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told the Wichita State Sunflower that he has “seen State Department officials engaged in behavior that is not appropriate” when discussing acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor.
Said Pompeo: “I have seen State Department officials engaged in behavior that is not appropriate—that wasn’t right, that didn’t reflect the highest values of the foreign service and American diplomacy around the world.”
Pompeo did not elaborate on what exactly he was referring to.
Trump Made Romney Relevant Again
New York Times: “If it’s possible to be both deeply troubled and having a blast at the same time, that is Mr. Romney in this strange iteration of his public life. In a sense, he has been gifted by Mr. Trump with a kind of late-career relevance that he might not have otherwise enjoyed.”
“It’s not a benefit he expected, or even asked for. Mr. Romney had to content himself at first with critiquing from the gallery of Republican elders: In a 2016 speech he said, ‘Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud,’ as Mr. Trump was in the process of rolling to the Republican nomination.”
“Since then, events have conspired to return Mr. Romney back into the dirty coliseum of politics.”
Biden Seeks to Steady Finances
New York Times: “Steve Ricchetti, one of Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s closest confidantes, is reaching out to wary donors to shore up support. The Biden presidential campaign is watching costs — some staff members are sleeping at homes of volunteers — and facing criticism for spending on chartered jets. Mr. Biden’s team is also urging allies to redouble fund-raising efforts before the calendar turns to 2020 and he has fewer days to devote to the money trail.”
“And in a confidential memo to top bundlers this week, Mr. Biden’s campaign manager, Greg Schultz, sought to allay growing concerns that Mr. Biden is facing a cash crunch and won’t be able to stay competitive with his rivals on the airwaves and on the ground.”
Key Witness in Impeachment Probe Asks Court
“A key witness in the impeachment investigation filed a lawsuit Friday asking a federal judge to rule on whether he can testify, a move that raises new doubts about whether President Trump’s closest aides, like the former national security adviser, John Bolton, will be able to cooperate with the inquiry,” the New York Times reports.
“House Democrats had subpoenaed the witness, Charles Kupperman, who served as Mr. Trump’s deputy national security adviser, to testify on Monday. But in an effort to stop Mr. Kupperman from doing so, the White House said on Friday that the president had invoked ‘constitutional immunity,’ leaving Mr. Kupperman uncertain about what to do.”
“The implications of the suit, filed in federal court in Washington, extend beyond Mr. Kupperman. His lawyer, Charles Cooper, also represents Mr. Bolton and is likely to address congressional requests for his testimony in a similar fashion.”
Giuliani Ties Hunter Biden, and Himself, to Romania
Rudy Giuliani “signaled this month that he planned to open a new front in his attacks against Joe Biden –work done by Mr. Biden’s son Hunter Biden for a wealthy Romanian business executive facing corruption charges,” the New York Times reports.
“But there’s a problem with that strategy: Mr. Giuliani participated in an effort that would have helped the same executive, and was in fact recruited to do so by Louis J. Freeh, a former F.B.I. director who had been brought onto the matter by Hunter Biden.”
Trump Fails to Defy Impeachment Probe
“After weeks of dismissing the impeachment inquiry as a hollow partisan attack, President Trump and his closest advisers now recognize that the snowballing probe poses a serious threat to the president — and that they have little power to block it,” the Washington Post reports.
“The dawning realization comes as Democrats rapidly gather evidence from witness after witness testifying about the pressure put on Ukraine to investigate Trump’s political rivals. The president is increasingly frustrated that his efforts to stop people from cooperating with the probe have so far collapsed under the weight of legally powerful congressional subpoenas.”
“The Democratic strategy got a boost Friday from a federal judge, who ruled that the House impeachment inquiry is legal.”
Trump Campaign Seeks to Soften Vaping Ban
“President Trump’s campaign manager Brad Parscale has privately warned the president that his plans to reduce youth vaping by banning flavored e-cigarettes could backfire in the 2020 election — placing Trump’s reelection campaign into the middle of a governmental debate over a major public health issue,” the Washington Post reports.
“Parscale has commissioned internal campaign polling to argue that Trump supporters who use e-cigarettes could abandon the president if he follows through on a ban.”
Mueller Grand Jury Evidence Must Be Given to Congress
A federal judge on Friday said that the House of Representatives can be given grand jury material collected as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, especially since there is an ongoing impeachment inquiry, CNBC reports.
From the decision: “Tipping the scale even further toward disclosure is the public’s interest in a diligent and thorough investigation into, and in a final determination about, potentially impeachable conduct by the President described in the Mueller Report.”
Also important: “Even in cases of presidential impeachment, a House resolution has never, in fact, been required to begin an impeachment inquiry.”
The ruling is a major win for House Democrats.
Graham Adds Co-Sponsors to His Resolution
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) tweeted that 50 Republican senators have now signed on to his resolution criticizing the House impeachment process. At last count, just 46 senators had signed on.
It appears that three Senate Republicans are missing: Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and Mitt Romney.
David Graham: “Graham may eventually be able to cajole the rest of the Republican caucus into signing on to his resolution condemning the House process. The final vote isn’t the point, though. Graham’s resolution was intended to send a message about Senate support for Trump—and it already has.”
Giuliani Butt-Dials a Reporter
NBC News: “Giuliani can be heard discussing overseas dealings and lamenting the need for cash, though it’s difficult to discern the full context of the conversation. The call appeared to be one of the most unfortunate of faux pas: what is known, in casual parlance, as a butt dial.”
And then he did it again the next day.
“In the message, Giuliani is heard talking to at least one other person. The conversation appears to pick up almost exactly where Giuliani’s phone call with the reporter left off the day before, with Giuliani insisting he was the target of attacks because he was making public accusations about a powerful Democratic politician… Giuliani spends the entire three minutes railing against the Bidens. He can be heard recycling many of the unfounded allegations he has been making on cable news and in interviews with print reporters.”
Federal Budget Deficit Continues to Soar
“The U.S. government’s budget deficit ballooned to nearly $1 trillion in 2019, a $205 billion increase from a year earlier, as America’s fiscal imbalance widened for a fourth consecutive year despite a sustained run of economic growth,” the Washington Post reports.
“The country’s worsening fiscal picture runs in sharp contrast to President Trump’s campaign promise to eliminate the federal debt within eight years. Since taking office, Trump has endorsed big spending increases and steered most Republicans to abandon the deficit obsession they held during the Obama administration.”
The GOP’s Rocky Race In Colorado
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Identity of Whistleblower Is Now Irrelevant
Lawyers Andrew Bakaj and Mark Zaid writing in the Washington Post:
“Our client’s whistleblower complaint about President Trump’s efforts to solicit interference from Ukraine in the 2020 U.S. election was publicly released a month ago, and since then, speculation about the whistleblower’s identity has only increased. As each allegation in the complaint is substantiated by new witnesses, the president and his supporters remain fanatically devoted to bringing our client into the spotlight. But the reality is that the identity of the whistleblower is irrelevant.”
Biden’s Lead Slips In South Carolina
A new Charleston Post & Courier poll finds Joe Biden leading the Democratic presidential field with 30% support, followed by Elizabeth Warren at 19%, Bernie Sanders at 13%, Kamala Harris at 11% and Pete Buttigieg at 9%.
Biden is down 6 points from August, while Warren has moved up 2 points and Buttigieg has gained 4 points.
Buttigieg Says Meaning of ‘Medicare for All’ Changed
Pete Buttigieg told the Nevada Independent that he never supported Medicare for All, despite a tweet last year that suggested he did.
Said Buttigieg: “Only in the last few months did it become the case that Medicare for all was defined by politicians to mean ending private insurance, and I’ve never believed that that’s the right pathway. I still think that we should move toward an environment of Medicare for all.”
Extra Bonus Quote of the Day
“He looks for corruption wherever he goes.”
— President Trump, quoted by the Wall Street Journal, talking about his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.
Trump Dismisses Need for Impeachment Team
President Trump dismissed the need for a bolstered group of aides to defend him against impeachment, The Hill reports.
Said Trump: “Here’s the thing. I don’t have teams. Everyone’s talking about teams. I’m the team. I did nothing wrong.”
