Washington Post: “Ronald Vitiello, a veteran law enforcement official whom the president tapped to run ICE, faced criticism at his Senate confirmation hearing earlier this month after he refused to rule out the possibility that the Trump administration would resort again to separating migrant parents and children at the U.S.-Mexico border.”
The Senate Math for 2020
First Read: “With Hyde-Smith’s victory in Mississippi last night, the GOP will hold a 53-47 Senate majority next year (up from the 52-48 advantage they held to begin the 2018 cycle).”
“So here’s the Senate math you need to memorize for 2020: If Democrats win the White House, they will need a net of three pickups to control the chamber (since the vice president can break 50-50 ties in the Senate). But if they lose the White House, they will need to net four seats for control.”
“The early Senate battlegrounds for 2020: Alabama (D), Arizona (R), Colorado (R), Georgia (R), Iowa (R), Maine (R), Michigan (D) and North Carolina (R).”
Trump Slams Mueller for Third Straight Day
“President Trump compared the prosecutions of Robert Mueller to those in the McCarthy era on Wednesday, continuing his relentless attacks on the special counsel investigating possible coordination between Russia and Trump’s 2016 campaign,” the Washington Post reports.
In a morning tweet, Trump also claimed that “major players” under investigation have “intimated” that Mueller’s team “is viciously telling witnesses to lie about facts & they will get relief.”
“The tweet marked the third straight day in which Trump has taken to Twitter in an attempt to discredit Mueller, who is also examining whether the president has tried to obstruct the investigation.”
Manafort’s Cooperation with Trump Could Be Obstruction
Aaron Blake: “Once you agree to cooperate with the government, your interests no longer align (and often clash) with other subjects of the investigation, and such ‘joint defense agreements’ are usually instantly voided. That’s what happened when Michael Flynn flipped last year and with Michael Cohen this year. But that’s not the same as saying anyone involved will be punished — especially if they never misrepresented what they were doing.”
“There is another possible legal consequence, though, and it involves the broader obstruction of justice investigation. Basically, Mueller’s team could decide that this arrangement has amounted to witness tampering or obstruction, or that it adds to a mountain of evidence on that latter count.”
Inside the Push to Make Nancy Pelosi Speaker
CNN: The calls from wealthy Democratic donors, influential party bosses and long-time supporters alike are coming in this week to Rep. Kathleen Rice, the New York Democrat who’s trying to mount a coup against Nancy Pelosi.”
“And they all carry a similar message: Get behind Nancy Pelosi.”
“Rice, who’s helping to lead a faction of roughly 18 Democrats who say they won’t support Pelosi, is getting a small taste of the furious onslaught waged by Pelosi and her allies to lock down support, limit defections and ensure that she will once again reclaim the speaker’s gavel she first wielded more than a decade ago.”
Democrats Again Overperformed In a Red State
First Read: “In last night’s Senate runoff in Mississippi, appointed Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) defeated Democrat Mike Espy by 8 points, 54% to 46%. That’s down from President Trump’s 18-point advantage in the state in 2016 and former Sen. Thad Cochran’s 22-point win there in 2014.”
“Indeed, Espy’s 10-point overperformance from the 2016 presidential results is close to the average of Democrats’ showing in the eight other major special elections of the 2018 cycle – from GA-6 to the Roy Moore vs. Doug Jones Senate race in Alabama.”
Nathan Gonzalez: “Republicans were fortunate that most of them took place in GOP-friendly territory or they would have lost more of them.”
Trump Digs In on Border Wall
Playbook: “Not only does Trump seem a bit more dug in than before, he sounds more convinced than ever that the wall fight is good for him — something that Republican leaders have traditionally pushed back on. This means Democrats and Republicans are billions apart at the outset of the lame-duck session.”
“Plus, the president said the $5 billion he wants is just for the wall. Republicans, though, believe they can spread the $5 billion out over some time — but he told House Republican leaders he wasn’t happy about that either. If he doesn’t get $5 billion somehow, a shutdown seems almost unavoidable.”
Unauthorized Immigrants Dip to Lowest Level In Decade
“The number of unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. fell to its lowest level in more than a decade,” according to new Pew Research Center estimates based on 2016 government data.
“There were 10.7 million unauthorized immigrants living in the U.S. in 2016, down from a peak of 12.2 million in 2007… The decline is due almost entirely to a sharp decrease in the number of Mexicans entering the country without authorization.”
Russia Says Trump-Putin Meeting Still On
CBS News: “Russia said on Wednesday it still expects a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump to go ahead as planned. Mr. Trump, in an interview with The Washington Post on Tuesday, said he may cancel the sit-down with Putin in Argentina following Russia’s seizure of three Ukrainian naval ships last weekend.”
Signs Point to New Mueller Indictments
Garrett Graff tells Axios there are at least six signs special counsel Robert Mueller is moving towards more indictments:
- Mueller is tightening the screws on Jerome Corsi, a friend of former Trump adviser Roger Stone. A plea deal — or charges — appear imminent.
- Ecuador may be moving toward turning over WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. The government removed its Assange-backing U.K. ambassador last week, and has prohibited his lawyers from meeting with him.
- Russian spy and NRA superfan Maria Butina is reported to be in talks for a plea deal.
- A number of Mueller’s prosecutors were hard at work on Veterans Day —when Michael Cohen took the train to Washington to talk to Mueller’s team.
- ABC News reported an “unusually high” number — nearly three dozen, in fact — of sealed indictments filed over the course of the year in D.C. Fourteen of those have been added since August, a period when Mueller’s investigation was publicly quiet.
- And this big one: President Trump last week finally turned in long-awaited written answers to Mueller’s investigators.
Mexico to Honor Jared Kushner
“Outgoing Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto has stunned the country by bestowing the nation’s highest honor for foreigners on Jared Kushner,” The Guardian reports.
Peña Nieto praised Kushner as “a grand ally of Mexico” who helped achieve a renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement between the US, Canada and Mexico.
Ivanka Trump Defends Her Use of Private Email
Ivanka Trump defended her use of a private email account for official government business in an interview with ABC News, insisting it’s different to the case of Hillary Clinton who was attacked by her father during the 2016 campaign for doing the same thing.
Said Trump: “All of my emails are stored and preserved. There were no deletions. There is no attempt to hide.”
She added: “There’s no equivalency to what my father’s spoken about.”
Quote of the Day
“I don’t do anything just for political gain. But I will tell you politically speaking, that issue is a total winner. People look at the border, they look at the rush to the police, they look at the rock throwers and really hurting three people, three very brave Border Patrol folks — I think that it’s a tremendous issue, but much more importantly, is really needed.”
— President Trump, in an interview with Politico, on threatening to shut down the government over funding for a border wall.
Trump Wouldn’t Talk About Manafort On the Record
Although he was willing to talk about a lot of things in his Washington Post interview yesterday, President Trump went off the record when asked if he was “planning to do anything to help” his embattled former campaign chief Paul Manafort.
Trump asked to “go off the record because I don’t want to get in the middle of the whole thing.” When asked if there was “any version” of what he said off the record that he’d be “willing to give us on the record.” Trump said he’d “rather not” and proceeded to go off the record again.
Obama World Loves Beto O’Rourke
“Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX) is inspiring aides and allies of former President Obama, who say they could support him if he decides to run for president in 2020,” The Hill reports.
“The Obama allies are quick to point out similarities between O’Rourke, 46, and the former president, who was 47 when he was elected to the White House.”
“Both are political upstarts with unusual names who seemingly came out of nowhere and inspired thousands upon thousands of people to be part of a movement.”
Seth Moulton Is Playing a Risky Game
Boston Globe: “Moulton, who’s emerged as the unofficial leader of the group trying to dislodge Pelosi, may find himself in a jam, and perhaps a pariah in the party caucus, if she is able to quell the dissent in her ranks as her allies confidently predict. The question for him isn’t just how defeat will play inside the House but also what it will look like outside the Beltway, where his larger ambitions may well lie.”
“Much will depend on the tone he sets when this contretemps is done; will he beat a retreat or carry on as a critic? Certainly, the Marine veteran has been aggressive to this point, deploying every weapon in his arsenal against the longtime Democratic leader, prompting blowback from liberal pundits and some of his own constituents. He recruited House candidates who largely repudiated Pelosi on the trail, gathered signatures on a letter opposing her, and went on a media blitz warning of the dangers to Democrats if she’s reelected.”
Trump Tells Lawmakers He Won’t Back Down on Wall
“President Trump told House Republican leaders on Tuesday that Congress must accede to his demand to include $5 billion for a southern border wall in a hefty year-end spending bill, intensifying a fight over one of his signature campaign promises that could lead to a partial government shutdown next week,” the New York Times reports.
“With less than 10 working days to wrestle out the details of an anticipated seven-bill spending package and deliver a measure to the president’s desk, Democrats have shown little sign of giving in to Mr. Trump’s demands. But House Republican leaders said after a private White House meeting that Mr. Trump would not back down, and sought to turn Democrats’ opposition against them.”
Manafort’s Lawyer Repeatedly Briefed Trump’s Lawyers
“A lawyer for Paul Manafort, the president’s onetime campaign chairman, repeatedly briefed President Trump’s lawyers on his client’s discussions with federal investigators after Mr. Manafort agreed to cooperate with the special counsel,” the New York Times reports.
“The arrangement was highly unusual and inflamed tensions with the special counsel’s office when prosecutors discovered it after Mr. Manafort began cooperating two months ago… Some legal experts speculated that it was a bid by Mr. Manafort for a presidential pardon even as he worked with the special counsel, Robert Mueller, in hopes of a lighter sentence.”
Earlier for members: Was Paul Manafort an Unwitting Double-Agent?
