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Democrats Plan Major Changes to Iowa Caucuses

January 22, 2019 at 6:28 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Bracing for record turnout and fearful of a repeat of the chaos that marred the 2016 caucuses, Iowa Democrats are racing to implement some of the most significant changes in the history of the first-in-the-nation event,” Politico.

“The party is shopping for larger facilities to fit expected overflow crowds, investing in new technology to stave off check-in and head counting snafus and pushing individual 2020 campaigns to create their own voter registration programs. And to abide by new rules set out by the national party, Iowa Democrats are even studying the possibility of what once would have been unthinkable: ‘Tele-caucusing,’ which would allow absentee voting by phone or possibly online for any Democrat who couldn’t make it on caucus day.

“It’s all an attempt to prepare for what’s expected to be the mother of all caucuses – a historic turnout next year in the Feb. 3 presidential caucuses, powered by a sprawling field of candidates and boiling hot anti-Trump sentiment.”

Banker with Ties to Putin Sought Access to Trump

January 22, 2019 at 6:22 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Nine days after Donald Trump won the presidency, as scores of supporters clamored for meetings with his transition team, the Hollywood producer of ‘The Apprentice,’ Mark Burnett, reached out to one of Trump’s closest advisers to see if he would sit down with a banker who has long held ties to Russia,” ABC News reports.

“The banker, Robert Foresman, never got the role he was seeking with the fledgling Trump administration. But he has recently attracted the attention of congressional investigators as one more name on an expanding list of Americans with established ties inside the Kremlin who appears to have been seeking access to the newly elected president’s inner circle, according to three sources familiar with the matter.”

Congress Pursuing Divergent Paths on Shutdown

January 22, 2019 at 6:18 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Congress takes up legislation in coming days to reopen the federal government after a new offer from President Trump, but divergent efforts in the House and Senate look destined to go nowhere, leaving hundreds of thousands of federal workers facing a second missed paycheck at week’s end with the impasse no closer to resolution,” the Washington Post reports.

Bonus Quote of the Day

January 21, 2019 at 8:56 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“These are challenging times in the United States of America. We have a hater in the White House: the birther in chief, the grand wizard of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.”

— Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), quoted by the HuffPost, referencing the leader of the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan.

Quote of the Day

January 21, 2019 at 7:54 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“This is the worst fucking job I’ve ever had. People apparently think that I care when they write that I might be fired. If that ever happened, it would be the best day I’ve had since I walked into this place.”

— Former White House chief of staff John Kelly, quoted in a new book by former West Wing communications aide Cliff Sims.

GOP Reaches Deal to Juice Small Donor Contributions

January 21, 2019 at 7:48 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“President Trump’s political team and top Republican officials have reached a landmark agreement to reshape the party’s fundraising apparatus and close the financial gap that devastated them in the midterms,” Politico reports.

“With the deal, Republicans hope to create a rival to ActBlue, the Democratic online fundraising behemoth that plowed over $700 million in small-dollar donations into Democratic coffers in the 2018 campaign.”

Giuliani Walks Back Statement on Trump Tower Moscow

January 21, 2019 at 7:43 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Rudy Giuliani walked back his statement from yesterday suggesting President Trump continued discussions on a Trump Tower Moscow deal through the 2016 presidential election, the New York Times reports.

Said Giuliani: “My recent statements about discussions during the 2016 campaign between Michael Cohen and then-candidate Donald Trump about a potential Trump Moscow ‘project’ were hypothetical and not based on conversations with the President. My comments did not represent the actual timing or circumstances of any such discussions. The point is that the proposal was in the earliest stage and did not advance beyond a free non-binding letter of intent.”

Fears Grow Over Global Economic Slowdown

January 21, 2019 at 7:40 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Washington Post: “Fears are rising about the state of the world’s biggest economies, with China posting its worst annual growth in decades and the United States injecting more uncertainty with tariffs and a lengthy government shutdown.”

“China reported Monday that its economy expanded at 6.6 percent last year — a figure that would be good for many countries but represents the slowest growth for China in 28 years. Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund downgraded its expectations for the global economy, highlighting sharp declines in Europe and warning that the risks of a major slowdown have increased.”

Trump Posts Altered Photos to Make Him Look Thinner

January 21, 2019 at 5:29 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“In recent months, Trump’s official Facebook and Instagram accounts have published photos of the president that have been manipulated to make him look thinner. If it only happened once you might be able to chalk it up as an accident. But Gizmodo has discovered at least three different retouched photos on President Trump’s social media pages that have been published since October of 2018.”

Russian Oligarch Benefits From Sanctions Deal

January 21, 2019 at 4:00 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“When the Trump administration announced last month that it was lifting sanctions against a trio of companies controlled by an influential Russian oligarch, it cast the move as tough on Russia and on the oligarch, arguing that he had to make painful concessions to get the sanctions lifted,” the New York Times reports.

“But a binding confidential document signed by both sides suggests that the agreement the administration negotiated with the companies controlled by the oligarch, Oleg V. Deripaska, may have been less punitive than advertised.”

“The deal contains provisions that free him from hundreds of millions of dollars in debt while leaving him and his allies with majority ownership of his most important company, the document shows.”

More Undisclosed Missile Sites Found In North Korea

January 21, 2019 at 1:40 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“With a second U.S.-North Korea nuclear summit looming in February, researchers have discovered a secret ballistic missile base in North Korea — one of as many as 20 undisclosed missile sites in the country,” NBC News reports.

“The Kim regime has never disclosed the existence of the Sino-ri Missile Operating Base to the outside world. Ballistic missiles are the primary delivery mechanism for North Korean nuclear warheads.”

Trump Marks MLK Day with Two Minute Memorial Visit

January 21, 2019 at 12:28 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

President Trump “made a brief appearance Monday at Washington’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, honoring the civil rights icon with a wreath on the federal holiday bearing his name,” Politico reports.

“The president, accompanied by Vice President Mike Pence and acting Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, spent roughly two minutes at the memorial.”

Christie Says Trump Hired ‘Riffraff’ for Key Posts

January 21, 2019 at 10:36 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) writes in his forthcoming memoir that President Trump filled his administration with “riffraff” instead of canny players who could help him overcome his impulses and shaky grasp of how government works, Axios reports.

Donald so urgently needed the right people around him and a solid structure in place. … Far too often, he’s found himself saddled with the riffraff.

Instead of high-quality, vetted appointees for key administration posts, he got the Russian lackey and future federal felon Michael Flynn as national security adviser. He got the greedy and inexperienced Scott Pruitt as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.

He got the high-flying Tom Price as health and human services secretary. He got the not-ready-for-prime-time Jeff Sessions as attorney general, promptly recusing himself from the Justice Department’s Russian-collusion probe. He got a stranger named Rex Tillerson as secretary of state. …

He got the Apprentice show loser Omarosa Manigault in whatever Omarosa’s job purported to be. (I never could figure that one out.) … Too few Kellyanne Conways. A boatload of Sebastian Gorkas. Too few Steven Mnuchins.

Inside Kamala Harris’ Campaign Plan

January 21, 2019 at 10:29 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Politico: “Kamala Harris’ Democratic opponents are already telegraphing that they plan to make her law-and-order background an enormous vulnerability with voters on the left. But the California senator, who announced her bid for the White House on Monday amid an early wave of scrutiny of her career as a prosecutor, thinks she can turn the criticism on its head.”

“According to interviews with a half-dozen of her confidants and strategists, Harris will court voters wary of law enforcement by presenting herself as a kinder and gentler prosecutor — a ‘progressive’ attorney who advocated for the vulnerable and served the public interest.”

“At the same time, they believe leaning into her background will allow her to project toughness against Donald Trump, and contrast what they call her evidence-based approach to law and politics with the president’s carelessness with facts and legal troubles with the special prosecutor.”

Los Angeles Times: “Her rivals could soon see the mix of cold calculation, relentless fundraising and force of personality that drove Harris’ quick rise, starting with the overthrow of her old boss in the prosecutor’s office. It set her on a path to statewide office and, barely two years into her Senate term, a top-tier try for the White House.”

Cohen Threatened to Sue Over Trump Rankings

January 21, 2019 at 9:33 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Donald Trump and his then-attorney Michael Cohen pressured CNBC in 2014 to place the real-estate tycoon higher in its list of the country’s top business leaders after Mr. Cohen failed to manipulate the rankings in Mr. Trump’s favor,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Mr. Cohen called CNBC and threatened that Mr. Trump would sue over his poor standing in the ranking, arguing that the news channel was ‘ignoring the will of the people’… CNBC didn’t respond to the threat, and Mr. Trump didn’t sue. Mr. Cohen didn’t respond to requests for comment.”

Giuliani Complicates Trump’s Russia Denials

January 21, 2019 at 9:01 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

The New York Times explains why Rudy Giuliani’s admission that President Trump was pursuing a Trump Tower Moscow deal during the presidential campaign is a big deal.

“The new timetable means that Mr. Trump was seeking a deal at the time he was calling for an end to economic sanctions against Russia imposed by the Obama administration. He was seeking a deal when he gave interviews questioning the legitimacy of NATO, a favorite talking point of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. And he was seeking a deal when, in July 2016, he called on Russia to release hacked Democratic emails that Mr. Putin’s government was rumored at the time to have stolen.”

As First Read notes, throughout the campaign Trump denied he had any business relationships in Russia: “I mean I have nothing to do with Russia. I don’t have any jobs in Russia. I’m all over the world but we’re not involved in Russia.”

Fox & Friends Suggested Ginsburg Had Died

January 21, 2019 at 8:33 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Fox & Friends apologized on Monday after briefly airing a graphic suggesting that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is dead, Mediaite reports.

Booker and Sanders Plunge Into South Carolina

January 21, 2019 at 8:27 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Politico: “For Booker, the state presents an opportunity for an early show of strength next year with the Democratic Party’s most loyal bloc of voters. As one of the few African-American candidates likely to run, he’ll have a moment to break out of the crowded field after voting takes place in overwhelmingly white Iowa and New Hampshire.”

“For Sanders, it’s an opening to move beyond his dismal 2016 performance with black voters here, when he won only 26 percent of the total vote in the primary against Hillary Clinton and exposed a weakness that was repeated across the South.”