Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) told MSNBC that she’s “seriously considering” running for President in 2020.
Said Gabbard: “I’m thinking through it very carefully. I’m thinking through it very carefully.”
Trump Eyes Bannon Ally as Chief of Staff
Gabriel Sherman: “Trump is scheduled to interview Citizens United president Dave Bossie at the White House on Friday. (Bossie declined to comment.) Bossie, who served as deputy campaign manager of Trump’s 2016 campaign, is known as a political street fighter and is a close confidant of Corey Lewandowski and Steve Bannon. With House Democrats poised to launch investigations of Trump in January, Bossie’s experience in political trench warfare is viewed by Trump as a plus.”
Said one Republican: “Trump is all over how Bossie knows investigations.”
Giuliani Tells Mueller to ‘Wrap the Damn Thing Up’
Rudy Giuliani unloaded on special counsel Robert Mueller, the FBI and Trump’s one-time fixer Michael Cohen in a Yahoo News interview.
Said Giuliani: “Our strategy is … to do everything we can to try to convince Mueller to wrap the damn thing up, and if he’s got anything, show us. If he doesn’t have anything, you know, write your report, tell us what you have, and we’ll deal with it. He can’t prosecute him. All he can do is write a report about him, so write the goddamned thing and get it over with now.”
National Enquirer Surprise Deal Could Imperil Trump
Politico: “Based on court documents and a plethora of media reports, Trump and his aides have worked for years with the tabloid to kill incriminating stories. AMI’s CEO David Pecker also had a decades-long copacetic friendship with Trump.”
“Legal experts say that could mean more legal peril for Trump, who has already been implicated in directing Cohen to work with the National Enquirer during the 2016 campaign to pay women in exchange for their silence about alleged affairs.”
Cohen Will Talk After Mueller Probe Is Done
“Michael Cohen, the former lawyer and fixer for President Trump, is willing to reveal publicly what he knows about his former client once Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation is complete and findings are released,” Bloomberg reports.
Said lawyer Lanny Davis: “There will come a time after Mr. Mueller is done with his work that Michael Cohen will be sitting in front of a microphone before a congressional committee and what he has to say about the truth will be judged by the members of Congress listening and then will be up to people to decide whether he has got the facts or not.”
Lawmakers Call for New Primary In North Carolina
“The North Carolina Legislature on Wednesday approved a bill requiring new primary elections if the state elections board calls for a second vote of a congressional election. The measure opens the door for Republicans to consider replacing Mark Harris, their candidate in the disputed race in the Ninth Congressional District,” the New York Times reports.
“The bill, backed by substantial majorities among both parties, could eventually place Republicans in the awkward position of choosing whether to stick with Mr. Harris, who appeared to have narrowly won a primary and general election — both now buffeted by allegations of irregularities including tainted absentee ballots — or replace him on the ballot.”
House GOP Can’t Find the Votes for Trump’s Wall
“House Republicans are struggling to come up with a strategy to fulfill President Trump’s demands that the lower chamber pass a funding bill that includes $5 billion for his promised border wall,” The Hill reports.
“By Wednesday evening, GOP leaders still had not settled on what vehicle they would use to fund the wall or if they would even take a vote this week to do so. Lawmakers in the House have until just Dec. 21 to avert a partial government shutdown, and are only scheduled to be working for four of those days.”
Pelosi Reaches Deal to Become Speaker
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) cleared a major hurdle in bid to be House Speaker, reaching a deal with Democratic rebels that includes stepping aside by 2022.
In a concession, the California congresswoman will also support a three-term limit for the top three House Democratic leaders. That means she would step aside no later than 2022 as party leader.
Inhofe’s Defense Stock Purchase Under Scrutiny
“Just days after signaling his support for unprecedented levels of U.S. defense spending, Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, reported purchasing tens of thousands of dollars of stock in one of the nation’s top defense contractors,” the Daily Beast reports.
“After The Daily Beast asked about the purchase, Inhofe’s office said the senator had contacted his financial adviser to cancel the transaction and instructed him to avoid defense and aerospace purchases going forward.”
Meadows Won’t Be Trump’s Chief of Staff
Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) is out of the running as a candidate to become President Trump’s next chief of staff, The Hill reports.
“The president discussed the position with the outgoing House Freedom Caucus chairman but told him that he needs him to remain in Congress.”
Washington Post: “The removal of Meadows from contention leaves a panoply of other potential contenders, including acting attorney general Matt Whitaker, whom Trump praised as he sat next to him Saturday at the Army-Navy football game in Philadelphia Saturday.”
Trump Moves to Deport Vietnam War Refugees
“The Trump administration is resuming its efforts to deport certain protected Vietnamese immigrants who have lived in the United States for decades—many of them having fled the country during the Vietnam War,” The Atlantic reports.
“This is the latest move in the president’s long record of prioritizing harsh immigration and asylum restrictions, and one that’s sure to raise eyebrows—the White House had hesitantly backed off the plan in August before reversing course. In essence, the administration has now decided that Vietnamese immigrants who arrived in the country before the establishment of diplomatic ties between the United States and Vietnam are subject to standard immigration law—meaning they are all eligible for deportation.”
Theresa May Survives ‘No Confidence’ Vote
British prime minister Theresa May has won a confidence vote in her leadership of the Tory party by 200 to 117, the Guardian reports.
New York Times: “But the victory celebration, if any, is likely to be short-lived. While Mrs. May survived to fight another day, her win did nothing to alter the parliamentary arithmetic that forced her this week to delay a critical vote on her plan for withdrawal from the European Union, or Brexit.”
“She won only after promising that she would step aside soon after the Brexit agonies were over, according to reports from a meeting of Conservative Party lawmakers preceding the vote. That removed the generally unwelcome possibility that she would stand as party leader in the next general election.”
National Enquirer Admits to Paying Off Playboy Model
Federal prosecutors said in a filing that the National Enquirer admitted to “working in concert” with the Trump campaign to pay off a woman who said she had an affair with Mr. Trump in order to squash her story, CBS News reports.
The company “admitted that its principal purpose in making the payment was to suppress the woman’s story so as to prevent it from influencing the election.”
Steyer Seeks Aides for Possible 2020 Run
“Tom Steyer, the Democratic billionaire who has paid for television ads calling for the impeachment of President Trump, is also considering a run for president himself. And he is taking a novel approach to staffing up a potential campaign for 2020: An anonymous LinkedIn page advertising ‘state director’ jobs in three of the first four states that will kick off the nominating contest,” the New York Times reports.
“Nowhere is Mr. Steyer’s name mentioned in the posting. But the language and structure matches verbatim those of job opportunities listed with one of Mr. Steyer’s other political efforts, NextGen America.”
McCaskill Says She’s Done with Elective Politics
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that she does not plan to run for elected office again after she leaves the Senate next month.
“McCaskill said she may teach and will remain involved in Democratic politics in Missouri after a new Congress is seated in January. She views Missouri’s heavy tilt toward Republicanism as a function of President Trump’s appeal to disaffected Missourians and failures by her own party to deliver on change.”
New Congressman Falsely Claims Vaccines Cause Autism
Rep.-elect Mark Green (R-TN) — who is also a medical doctor — told constituents “he believed vaccines may be causing autism, denying data from the Centers for Disease Control and other institutions disproving such a theory,” the Tennessean reports.
Not only did Green express hesitation about the CDC’s stance on vaccines, Green said he believed the federal health agency has “fraudulently managed” the data.
Trump’s Focus on Immigration Unites a Smaller GOP
Join now to continue reading.
Members get exclusive analysis, bonus features and no advertising. Learn more.
Caro’s Next Book Isn’t the One You’ve Been Waiting For
“Robert Caro’s next book isn’t his fifth and final volume on Lyndon Johnson or like anything he has done before. Working: Researching, Interviewing, Writing, to be published in April, combines personal reflections and professional guidance as Caro looks back on his singular history as a writer and reporter,” the AP reports.
“Caro does have disappointing news for those waiting for the next Johnson book: The author remains ‘several years’ from completion. The fourth Johnson biography, The Passage of Power, came out in 2012, and ended in the initial months of Johnson’s presidency, after the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The fifth book is expected to cover the rest of his time in the White House, which he left in 1969, and continue to his death four years later.”
